July 17th, 19:40.
The Man's island; the lab.

*******************

One For All journal, October 19th.

Last entry by Nana Shimura.

"It's been long since my last entry, but I've been busy. And I know for sure I'll be even busier soon.

I hoped I had more time to properly train my pupil, but problems are piling up and villains don't give a truce.

Speaking of Toshinori... last week he risked his life and his body (again) to save dozens of civilians from a certain death. When I knew how close to that monster of All For One he had come, I got so angry I hit him and scolded him for having disobeyed me. He was so stubborn... he simply can't keep his promise of staying out of trouble. But... oh, my... there he was: standing still, smiling, fist raising, with just superficial injuries, and acclaimed by the people after showing how far he has come to dominate his power.

I will never regret having chosen him as my successor. I know I lost the right to call myself a mother, but... I think young Toshi just made me feel the pride of one.

Gran Torino is right: I'm still such a crybaby...

Now, back to the subject, like my predecessors, I have continued this diary and studied this power we have shared. However, I just discovered something strange about One For All.

This power is not only a Quirk.

All the former users: they're... there somehow. It's like they were still living and watching what happens in this world from some sort of limbo.

I have sensed their figures and heard their voices for years, and last night I was able to slightly interact with them for the first time.

The strangest thing of all is that Toshinori seems to have never sensed them. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that he was the only born Quirkless who ever held One For All.

What if there was a way of controlling this communication? Even more, what if a user could actually enter that... place, whatever it is?

What could it be found there?

These are questions I'll try to answer in the future.

Everything I know is that whatever knowledge I can get, the enemy must be several steps ahead. That only adds more danger to this mystery.

And I also know that every One For All user faced All For One at least once before dying. I can feel the day I'll face All For One for good is near. I wish I could be certain about the result of that confrontation but I already talked to Gran Torino: Toshinori must be ready if anything happens to me, and my old friend will make sure he goes to the States and become stronger than any hero.

I know he will succeed. He was simply born with the heart for this.

One day I will tell him what he truly means to me and all the good he has brought to my life. It is so sad an orphan has unintentionally reminded a mother the true meaning of family. As I watch him progress, I have come to realise the past will be going nowhere unless I amend my mistakes.

Yes. I must do this. I must make sure my future Symbol of Peace, All Might, keeps following his path without me. And to do so, I must defeat All For One. And once I do that, I'll go back home... and see my boy again. No matter if he never makes it to forgive me, somehow I'll return and fulfil my duty as a mother...

End of the entry

The mastermind of the League of Villains watched the last record of the diary in cold silence. He didn't miss any word or gesture by those long gone seven people, specially the last one.

"But you never made it home with father, did you?"

When the decodification was over, Shigaraki took the file to the deepest and largest room into the volcano. He only allowed Dr Garaki to go with him. The content of that file was a personal thing.

"Toshinori. Toshinori Yagi..."

The legacy of Nana Shimura's lifetime: the all powerful hero that would continue her dream of turning everything into a world made for heroes. Now he was nothing more than an old weakling with nothing left than past stories to tell his students. If only Nana Shimura could...

Ohh, that's right: she actually could. It was her dear Toshinori who could only see her again in death.

"Just wait, All Might. I will personally send you with her soon enough. But the last One For All holder will fall first, and you will be there to taste the failure of nine generations of heroes."

The time had come. It had cost tons of money and work, but that underearth installation of the size of a a football camp was the culmination of every study of the two most powerful Quirks in history.

"Al last: the last piece of the puzzle" Dr Garaki spoke, more to himself than to his boss. Behind his eyes there was nothing else than the ecstasy of a man witnessing how history was made. "We must contact All For One for..."

"I already have" Shigaraki said as he left his coat on the floor and looked directly into the by then empty illuminated space.

"He... he is...?" Garaki asked in shock and expectation.

"Near enough" that old scientist had known All For One for decades, but Shigaraki doubted he knew his master as well as he did. "What matters is that we will all meet inside."

"We must get started. Midoriya will soon find his way here" Dr Garaki hurried up to start the protocol and give instructions to the scientists in the upper level.

They had followed Deku's development almost as good as Shigaraki's. Hero were at the peak of their potential, but there was one aspect neither of them fully dominated, and that was the interaction with that alternate place where those dead people were still connected to the living. And it was there where Shigaraki was destined to finish the lord of terror's job and bring in the new era.

Garaki couldn't be more ecstatic. Heroes were divided, desperation grew in society, villains answered to the call of Tomura Shigaraki and the League finally had all the means they needed. There was just one remaining obstacle.

"Everything is disposed. I regret not being here for your moment of glory, but I must leave and get back to work on..."

"You aren't taking the girl anywhere" Shigaraki cut him.

The old scientist got quiet as quick as if he had been shot in the head.

"... I beg your pardon?" he asked carefully.

"I made Eri an offer. And she rejected it. A mistake she will unfortunately regret in the future, but from this moment on, her role is no further than that of a hostage."

"But... but the heroes... they are here to save her..."

"Let them take her if they can. I made her an offer and she rejected it. Which is a shame, since that might have helped to save some of her friends' lives. But like I said, I'm not forcing her into anything she doesn't want to do. Sadly, this is how stubborn children must see the error of their ways."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Garaki's tone revealed he may have forgotten for a second who was he talking to. Shigaraki didn't like that. "You know her blood is essential for us to keep moving!"

Shigaraki turned to face the doctor and spoke with her sinister calm:

"Everything is going as planned. We kept Overhaul's work when he fell from grace, and we used those bullets occassionally..."

"But we never had the girl until now!"

"Yes. We never did. I never wanted. You know why?" Shigaraki got more somber. "Because I am not Overhaul. I can think way wider than he ever did. It is irrelevant if some hero saves her or we return her ourselves: when we're done, Eri will be back at home."

"Don't you see it? We aren't done with her. I'm sure there is more I could..."

"I gladly made deals with our host because his fighters were willing to test our scientific advances on their own skin in order to become more powerful nobodies. And I agreed to share that sample of blood in Mexico as a sign of my willingness to be in good terms with crime bosses from all over the world. Those wrestlers, those mobsters, those people whose lives they may have damaged or ruined, mean nothing to me. But I won't have experimentation on children under the League's name. My priority now is to smash any hero with the potential to oppose me."

"I know All For One. And he will strongly disagree with you" Garaki frowned to Shigaraki for the first time ever. "Eri has a power that could put any kind of villain at risk! How can you be so reckless of suggesting to simply let her go?!"

"I have plans for Eri that will be discussed in the future. Right now we have more urgent concerns. For example... did I hear you wrong... or did  you just say I "suggested" to let her go...?"

When Shigaraki turned to look at him, temperature in the chamber felt like it fell a dozen degrees.

"In case you have forgotten, my good doctor Garaki..." Shigaraki wasn't surprised by his reaction, but he didn't have all day and his patience had a limit. "... I have been in charge of the League of Villains for almost a decade. The sensei failed to defeat All Might. All For One's moment passed, and today I'm going to prove it for good when I do what he was unable: kill the last One For All user."

Any simulated courage the doctor may have tried to exhibit evaporated when Shigaraki levitated slightly over him and his red eyes, right under his also floating blue hairs, fulminated him.

"You served my sensei well, doctor. And you have followed his orders by assisting me these years, so you must know where the bond between All For One and me leads to.

Others, on the other hand... still accuse me of being nothing more than the rabid pet of a supervillain destined to live forever as the greatest of them all...

What do you think of that, Dr Garaki?"

"Tomura... please, listen..." Garaki hardly noticed he was on his knees. "I have always served the League of Villains..."

"Dabi, Toga, Spinner... they will tell you I am grateful to those loyal to me. But like All For One rewarded you with a long life to keep doing that job you love so much..." when Shigaraki approached his bare hand to Garaki's face, all he could feel was horror. "... I could end that as easily as it began, if you choose to defy me."

"I... I'll just... go back up... and..."

Shigaraki wondered if the doctor's dignity would be running the way down of his legs at that moment, but he had already imposed his authority.

"That's right. Go back up and make sure everything keeps running as planned" he ordered, back in composture. "I can do the rest alone here."

Dr Garaki wouldn't even remember whatever excuse he babbled before getting into the elevator. There was no way he would face Tomura Shigaraki, but there was no way either he would let the key to his ambitions escape so easily.

"There's been a change of plans: you and your friend, go help Muscular guard the girl's cell" he called when his phone got signal.

All For One would agree his boss was wrong and he had to do something. Yes, it was like that.

*************
Meanwhile, on the superior level...

There weren't many occassions where Deku and Bakugou thought exactly the same. But when they recognized the two young men that accompanied Muscular, one with a long hair and finger lengthening Quirk, and a fat one with bat wings, there was little to say.

"D... Dynamight..." Dr Garaki's grandson stuttered in sweat. "If you're looking for The Man..."

"I am" Bakugou was dying for a rematch, but first Todoroki had to find his brother, and they had to save the last remaining prisoner. He didn't look very happy to see the two kids who helped him torment Deku for years. "But since Eri comes first, we are here for some warm up."

"You.. you remember us, don't you, Bakugou?" the other one asked, trying to find out how to avoid a fight.

"I do" Deku harshly spoke through the mask.

"It was Garaki's decision to bring his grandson and the other good-for-nothing here" Muscular stepped ahead. There was the hero to whom he had lost more times he could count. A hero who had earned his hatred by pulse. "Your friend can have them, Midoriya; but you are mine."

"Hey! Bakugou is our friend too! I mean, we attended school together before he joined UA..." the Garaki kid cried. "Right, Bakugou?"

"If you can take care of the human beast for a hundredth time, I'll wash the floor with those two" Bakugou told Deku.

"NO!!" the long haired one begged. "Dammit, Garaki! Your grandfather said we would only have to watch!! He never said we'd have to fight you!!"

"Too bad" orange shinnings from Bakugou's hands underlined his last words. "You are on my way. And that pisses me off just like back then."

"Ahh come on, Midoriya!! He was always the first to bully you!! You can't be on his side like that!!"

"You are doing no favour to yourself by reminding me that..." Bakugou was getting angrier than he expected.

"I won't accept a no for an answer, Deku..." Bakugou growled. He was determined to crush the two old bullies.

Deku shrugged in fake defeat, as green lighting involved his body.

"Oh I'm sorry" Deku answered, drawing his attention back to an already transforming Muscular. "But I have already reserved my next dance to this other gentleman. Kacchan, please, just don't forget..."

"I know" he grinned, ready to jump over his terrified once bullying partners. "I'll go help the Icy-Hot when he's caught up with his family. Nobody wants you to have a witness missing..."

***************

Little they knew that, not far from there someone was making use of Melissa Shield's cloaking item to get closer to Eri's cell.

After all those days full of sorrow and dangers, he finally saw the whitenette girl at the other side of a yellow ray shield. His heart was full of relief to see her safe, despite how racing it immediately got. Luckily he was still invisible to the human eye and there were no henchmen left guarding the cell.

After a while taking deep breaths and thinking carefully of what to say, he deactivated the cloaking mode of the collar, and let Eri gasp in joy when he became visible again.

"KOTA?!" she happily cried almost hitting the ray shield on the other side. No wonder, since she never knew what happened to Kota after the attack on the wedding. "Thank goodness you're okay!! What are you doing here?"

"I'm asked those questions very often, lately..."

"Good evening, lady" Kota gave the most accurate depiction of a boy of his age trying to look cool in front of a pretty girl. "I just brought you your order: a hero who made all the way here to save you..."

"Oh... my... is that the Deku costume I gave you for Halloween?" Eri awed so widely it was like she forgot she was imprisoned. "I knew you'd look adorable on it!"

Kota quietly growled as he deactivated the shield so Eri could get out. That wasn't the reaction he was expecting. However the powerful bear hug he got from Eri was even better than he dreamed of. And if he remembered all the superhero movies he had watched, he knew very well what came next.

"This is the moment"  he thought in a blush. "Just she and I after saving her..."

"You, young girl" a dry panting voice was heard behind them. It belonged to an old bald scientist with a moustache and big round glasses. He was aiming at them with a pistol. "You're coming with me. And you, kid, I don't care who you are: get lost or I won't hesitate to shoot you."

"Hey! You're not doing him any harm!" Eri valiantly replied, but Kota softly pushed her behind him.

Eri already protected him for enough time when they were little. And that doctor really deserved some for ruining their reunion and trying to take her away again.

"No. You get lost, old creep" Kota knew he wasn't a hero, but he was determined to protect Eri and honor the hero whose costume he was wearing. "No villain is getting his hand on Eri again."

"If you want my girl, it shall be over my dead corpse."

"What!?" Kota violently blushed again. That was his voice but he hadn't say that loud at all.

"Very well" Dr Garaki aimed at Kota's forehead. "It makes no difference to m..."

Dr Garaki was suddenly quiet and still right where he was, like he had been petrified.

"Eri!!"

"MIRIO!" Eri cried as she run to hug him. "And Shinsho!! You're okay too!!"

"Just a moment, Eri" Shinsho said as he removed his voice simulator from his face. "Now, doctor, since you want to leave this place, I will please you: you'll drop the gun, get out of the base, go down to the beach... and count all the grains of sand you find there until we finish to clean up this mess."

Garaki did as he was told in his brainwashed state and began to walk his way out.

"Come on, Shinsho. We are the heroes" Mirio reluctantly reminded. It's not like he felt pity for that scientist.

"Fine" Shinsho sighed. "You may stop when you reach a million."

Kota stood there, feeling like an idiot. Why did heroes like Mirio or Shinsho always had to steal the kind of specific attention he wanted from Eri?

Then he remembered. There was one member of the team with whom they hadn't contacted with for a while.

End of chapter 42.

It's been over a month, but I've been busy!

You know, studying, family issues, drawing, reading, movie and anime binge watching, lack of inspiration...

But I couldn't stay away from writing forever! I don't want to blame anyone, but the thing is that I love you too much, Watties...🧡🧡🧡🧡

Oh, and that punishment for Dr Garaki... I took it from a story from Vertigo Comics. Hope I didn't earn hell with that😰😰...

Anyway, let's celebrate Herooji and Nugget just returned home with a new Wedding Bells chapter! Did it make your await worth of it? Or did it leave you wanting way more?

Fear not! I'm back in schedule!

If you are still enjoying this longer than life fanfic, let me know with a vote or a comment!

I'll see you soon!