Authors note:
Speaking: "…"
Thinking: '…'
___
Izuku
The next day
UA Teachers' Lounge
"You wanted to see me, Ayato, and I see Toshinori tagged along. What can I do for you today?" the green-haired teacher said calmly while starting to brew a kettle of tea on the small table between the sofas where they were seated.
"Well, I wanted to ask if you maybe know what the Void Veil could be?" the student asked while fidgeting with his feet.
'Oh, how curious. Where could they have possibly learned that name?' he thought. Keeping his composure, he answered, "That name doesn't ring any bells. Could you be more specific about what it's supposed to be, and where you got the information?"
Ayato opened his mouth, but this time Toshinori spoke instead. "It concerns One For All, young Midoriya. During the time the three youngsters were unconscious after the USJ, young Ayato had a brief conversation with a previous user named Raika Blackwood. She mentioned we should find the current inheritor of the Void Veil, but she disappeared before elaborating."
At the mention of the Blackwood name, Izuku nearly lost his grip on the kettle while pouring tea. 'One of the previous users of One For All was a Blackwood? And they know about the Void Veil?'
"How interesting. But what makes you think I would know anything about it?" he asked, regaining composure.
Ayato continued, "Well, you see... at the USJ, your eyes briefly changed colors before you left to fight the enemy, and that's when everything started. Yaoyorozu and my brother even said I was briefly possessed or something, and my eyes looked exactly like yours."
Toshinori added, "You might not be aware of the name, but we believe your eyes might be the key to this. I saw them too, briefly, two years ago when we first met." A faint edge of desperation crept into his voice.
'So my tendency to lose emotional control and rely on the Void Veil seems to be biting me back. But no matter. I'll simply play along' Izuku thought. He closed his eyes, then opened them to reveal the black-and-white pattern they had been talking about.
"This is what you meant, right?" he said calmly, looking at Ayato.
For a fraction of a second, he saw Ayato's eyes, and the eyes of the OFA holders inside him, shift to match his own. Then the world went dark.
___
When he opened his eyes again, he was somewhere unfamiliar. A half-destroyed concrete room, with one remaining intact wall segment and a door. The rest opened into a tunnel of vibrant, flashing lines of color.
He sat in a red chair with golden edges. Nine more identical chairs stood in a semicircle in front of him, facing the door. Behind him lay an endless abyss of swirling color, and before the abyss stood a massive obsidian throne. A man sat atop it.
He was enormous, nearly twice Izuku's size, with long ginger hair and a beard braided with metallic rings. A large beer belly. Norse armor on his arms and legs. His scarred torso exposed. Eyes closed, seemingly asleep.
'I'm guessing that must be Thor. I was skeptical, but I guess Shoto really did implant a god's will into the two Masakis...'
His thought ended when the door creaked open. Eight people walked in, along with a yellow ghostly figure, whose identity was obvious.
'Toshinori. He's still incomplete since he's alive. Then this must be Ayato's mindscape.'
The nine figures sat before him. One ghost, three women, five men. The previous OFA users.
The young, frail man in the center with white hair, green eyes, wearing simple clothing, was the first to speak.
"Welcome, inheritor of the Void Veil. We've been expecting you," he said with a low voice and a faint smile.
'Is he the one who originally knew about it?' Izuku wondered.
"Well, the pleasure is mine. You're the first user, aren't you?"
"Yes. My name is Yoichi Shigaraki. I'm the one One For All originally belonged to."
"Shigaraki? As in—"
"No, I'm not related to Tomura. My brother gave him that name as a symbol, I'm afraid."
"I see. And when you say brother... you mean All For One."
"Exactly. But that shouldn't surprise you, since im aware Toshinori told you the quirk's origin."
Izuku looked around the semicircle, recognizing the others as Yoichi identified them: the second and third users as old resistance fighters , the fourth who was a hermit that spent his life strengthening the quirk before mysteriously dying. Then unexpectedly a woman sat in the fifth seat, followed by Raika Blackwood, then Banjo, then Nana Shimura, and finally Toshinori's ghost.
"That might be true, but even Toshinori didn't know everything about this quirk," Izuku said, looking at the unfamiliar woman. "After all there are nine of you, not eight."
"Ah yes. Our precious fifth," Yoichi said. "She was erased from history after only three weeks of holding the quirk before regrettably passing."
Still staring, Izuku said, "You're also a Blackwood, aren't you?" Distaste clung to his tone.
"Oh? Quick-witted, aren't you," she replied. "Yes, my name is Wendy Blackwood. Though how did you know?"
"Based on my experience, silver hair seems to run in your family."
She indeed had breathtaking silver hair in a long low ponytail, crimson eyes, a silver masculine blazer and black dress pants that somehow only amplified her femininity, along with absurdly tall heels.
"What do you mean, 'your family'? Don't you—" she began, confused, before Yoichi raised a hand.
"That's enough, Wendy. I didn't bring him here to argue about your family's problems."
"Then why did you bring me here?"
Yoichi closed his eyes. "Simple, to speak of your family's history. Or rather... our family's history." He opened his eyes, now bearing the unmistakable Void Veil.
Izuku froze. 'H-hold on. Me? I'm related to the first user of One For All? That means—'
"Yes," Yoichi finished. "That also means you're the last descendant of the same bloodline as All For One."
"But how? Toshinori's records never mentioned any heirs, let alone anything about the Void Veil."
"Who said my brother was your ancestor? I am part of the family as well. As for the Void Veil, I regrettably only awakened it after death, in here. My descendant in the outside world kept it alive for centuries unchanged."
Izuku leaned forward, elbows on knees, overwhelmed. 'No wonder there are no records of my father...'
He snapped back upright. "But doesn't that mean you had two completely different quirks?"
"If you look at our family, I guess you could say we're simply built to hold multiple quirks in one body," Yoichi replied. "It's always been that way."
"But enough about us. Now for the second reason I brought you here—"
"We need you to train our boy, Tenth, to beat All For One and the Eight Rings!" Banjo interrupted loudly.
"No, Banjo. That is not the second reason," Yoichi sighed.
"But you sai—"
"I lied," Yoichi admitted. All the users turned to him, stunned.
"Why would you lie?" the second user demanded.
"I'd like that answer too," Wendy added.
"Because until now, I couldn't reveal it. I'm sure Izuku understands why," Yoichi said, looking at him meaningfully.
"You're referring to the precognition ability the Void Veil gives us," Izuku said.
"Indeed. It has a tendency to be quite specific about timing. As for the truth: we do not require Izuku to train young Ayato to beat the Eight Rings or All For One."
"Huh?" the users said collectively.
"I hope you're joking!" the second barked. "Defeating AFO is the purpose of One For All!"
"That was once true," Yoichi answered. "But compared to the power the Eight Rings wield, my brother is a lowly thug. The only reason he isn't dead already is his talent for hiding. The way it will play out is that they will annihilate my brother before disappearing themselves"
Nana stared. "Then what are we supposed to do?"
" You're forgetting what Toshinori accomplished. After all one for all is the symbol of hope the world needs, the guiding light that Toshinori lit aflame. So we are not without purpose, we must now focus on molding our young tenth to succeed the all might sized footsteps Toshinori left behind." He spoke with calm conviction, and absolute certainty.
Yoichi stood, walked to Izuku, leaned down, and whispered so only he could hear
"Isn't that right... Dragon?"
The Void Veil activated automatically, steadying Izuku's emotions. "Well said, ancestor."
Wendy and Raika narrowed their eyes but held their tongues.
Yoichi returned to his seat, but before he could speak again...
"ALRIGHT LADS, I'VE FINISHED DECIDING THA BRAT'S PROMISE! EHAHAHAHA! QUITE THA POTENTIAL HE'S GOT! GOOD ONE, FATHER! I, THOR ODINSON, DECLARE THA LAD WORTHY TO BECOME THE NEXT GOD OF THUNDER! EHAHAHAHA!"
All heads whipped around. The massive man on the obsidian throne was now wide awake and hysterically laughing, slapping his belly.
"Well, it seems our uninvited guest finally woke up," Yoichi commented.
"Aye, watch yer tongue, fishbone, lest I show ya tha bottom of a fjord!" Thor barked.
"What the heck did he even say?" Banjo muttered.
"No idea," Raika whispered to him "But I know he was somehow threatening or insulting the First."
Ignoring the noise, Yoichi addressed him. "I assume you're Thor."
"In tha flesh, fishbone. Thor Odinson, at yer service," he said, giving a thumbs-up.
"So what are you doing here?" Izuku asked over his shoulder.
"Trainin' tha lad, of course! Can't have 'im embarrassin' my glory at that tournament thingy," Thor said proudly.
"Well then," Yoichi said, "it seems we have much to discuss with our new friend. Izuku, I'm afraid it's time for you to go."
"See ya soon, Mosshead!" Thor bellowed.
"Hold on, Yoichi I still have questions!" Izuku protested as his body began fading.
"Sorry, my dear grandson. Another time," Yoichi said with a sly smile, and everything went black.
___
His consciousness snapped back into the real world. He gasped softly, disoriented. Ayato and Toshinori stared at him.
"So... did something happen? The two of you were staring at each other so intensely I didn't want to interrupt," Toshinori said, pouring fresh tea.
"Sorry, All Might. My mind's blank for the last few minutes," the tenth OFA wielder said, rubbing his neck awkwardly.
"Well, I had a very informative conversation with the eight previous users," Izuku said casually, taking a sip.
"Wait, eight? Aren't there only supposed to be seven before All Might and me?" Ayato asked.
"That's one thing I learned. Ayato is actually the tenth user, not the ninth. One was apparently erased from history entirely."
"That's wonderful news, young Midoriya! What else did they tell you?" Toshinori asked eagerly.
Izuku raised a hand to shut him down. "Patience, Toshinori. You'll learn everything in due time."
He stood to leave, but Ayato suddenly panicked. "All Might, there's a blue mini-Viking flying around me! What do I do?"
Izuku paused.
Ayato yelled at the air, "Stop shouting at me! My name isn't 'Chick',and no, 'Bean Sprout' is not better!"
Izuku sighed. "Oh, right. Have fun with Thor. And heads up: you may need to brush up on some Norse vocabulary."
"Huh? What do you... stop calling me that! And what even is a Midgard?!" Ayato yelled at the empty space mid conversation.
"Well, Toshinori, I'll leave these two to you. See you soon," Izuku said, walking out and closing the door behind him.
'Yoichi Shigaraki... you're quite the schemer. But honestly, I expected nothing less from my ancestor.'