A day that defines the hero career of the greatest hero to ever walk the earth, yet it's a day few had even heard about and even fewer knew the inner workings of. Toshinori Yagi fighting tooth and nail against the age old enemy with the entire world on his back. He couldn't falter. He wouldn't falter. He finds himself in a crater in what is a scarred battlefield, he exhales heavily as he goes to stand once again. He hears a crackle in his ear, his communicator still worked at least.
"You should be careful in this coming skirmish Yagi. All for One's trying to get under your skin, he'll make you lose your cool. So... brace yourself" instructed his trusted sidekick Sir Nighteye.
"Your armour isn't going to hold out much longer either. I'm detecting numerous failures on the legs and lower torso portions. If you're gonna finish this fight Toshinori, it needs to be soon" iterates his best friend David Shield.
As relieving as it was to have the two of them here alongside him, fighting against armageddon, they could at least show a bit more encouragement couldn't they?
"Gee, you're both very encouraging. Have some faith in your old pal, would you? I just need a second to get to my feet." Toshinori croaks out as he stands up, meeting the gaze of the one he was here to conquer. All for One.
"You won't lose will you All Might? After all, this world would be so boring should you not be around to cower at my victory!" the demon lord arrogantly calls out.
Thankfully he knew what to expect thanks to Sir Nighteye's foresight being used on him, he strikes up a pose and then readies himself to charge forward and take the demon lord head on. Just as his mentor did so long ago.
"You never shut up do you? CALIFORNIA SMASH!" All Might bellows as he barrels into All for One, knocking him back over the desolated landscape, however All for One laughs maniacally, he could feel the quirk that rightfully belonged to him from within All Might, he could feel it pulsing in anger and fury. Exactly what he wanted.
"When I speak the truth? Why should I silence myself! Your master once spoke as hastily as you do now." he smugly retorts.
Toshinori screams in fury as he lunges forward across the plain towards All for One.
"You don't get to talk about her!"
Toshinori gets closer and closer, All for One smirks.
"Nana Shimura was weak... just like you."
Toshinori grits his teeth and readies himself to go full power into the bastard. His communicator crackles into life, his sidekick on the other end.
"Yagi! Please! Don't do it!"
But it was far too late, Toshinori wouldn't back out of this attack, All for One laughs as his arm contorts and manipulates into an abomination of a weapon and he lunges it straight at All Might, intending to skewer this 'symbol of peace', to watch him suffer. However Toshinori had noted the words of his friend, he sees the attack coming, he takes a deep breath and he forces himself wide. One meter to the right. Not a wide distance, but enough to re-write history, All for One's face turns to one of shock as All Might lands to the side of him. Unscathed.
"That's... not possible." croaks the Demon Lord.
Toshinori yells out with the fury of the previous wielders of One for All as he throws his fist forward with all of the power he can muster.
"UNITED STATES OF SMASH!!!" he cries as the punch connects perfectly into All for One. Sending him through piles of rubble, debris and the land itself as he finally grinds to a stop on the floor. A battle scarred, bloody and exhausted mess. However like all good villains. All for One never knew when to quit.
"Damn you... You false symbol! You disgrace! Have you any idea how I'm going to make this world run red with-"
There's a sickening crack as All Might stamps down on All for One's head as hard as he can, he wasn't pulling his punches anymore. Why should he?
"Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!" screams the symbol of peace.
"Toshi! You can stop now!" pleads David down the communicator, however it falls on death ears as All Might stands over the bloody and broken All for One. However, a small chuckle escapes out of his mouth.
"I should kill you for what you've done! For everything you've done!" bellows All Might to the fallen Demon Lord.
He stands there, looking down on the man that had caused so much misery and suffering. To those he never met and to those he viewed as family. Now he stands above that same man, triumphant. The communicator crackles into life again, his sidekick this time on the other end.
"Yagi... there's something wrong. I-"
Sir Nighteye's cut off as something more pressing attracts All Might's attention. The raspy voice of his nemesis from below him.
"That won't bring any of them back though... will it? All the better just to let me rot in some prison. Whilst you whittle yourself down into dust. Then everything you've worked so hard for will come crashing down around you. And I'll stand over your broken bodies with a smile on my face." utters the Demon Lord as he begins to laugh, hysterically. It was almost as if he was entirely oblivious to the situation he was in.
That was it. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. All Might thrusts his right hand down and grasps All for One's head tight as he lifts him into the air, all the while the maddening Demon King laughs.
"You... BASTARD" screams All Might
"TOSHINORI DO-" David pleads but it's too late. Far too late.
A sickening crunch echoes across the now dormant battlefield as All Might squeezes down on All for One's head, the maniacal laughter wavering into a whimper and then nothing at all. All Might's head limply falls backwards as he looks up at the darkening sky, realising what he'd just done. He screams out, an era of misery and tribulation forced on those who bared the brunt of One for All in their possession, put to rest by the simple act of clenching his hand shut. He's so deep into his own thoughts, what would Nighteye say, what would the first wielder say... What would his master say?
"Toshinori..? What did you just do?" David says quietly behind his friend.
All Might didn't even hear his friend's armour crunch along the ground towards him, he turns to meet the voice with an expression that could kill, but his intense stare slowly softens seeing it's his best friend. As his anger quells, the question he was just asked runs around his head like an athlete around a track. All Might exhales sharply as he realises what he's just done.
"I... I killed him. Dear god, I killed him" croaks the symbol of peace. He's anchored to reality but the grasp of his best friend's hand on his arm, the squeeze keeping him somewhat calm and composed.
"It's alright. You'll be alright. We won; the people of this nation might finally know peace thanks to you, Toshi."
"But... To do it in that way, it's... horrifying. It's..." All Might shakes his head disappointedly, he didn't know what to think or even to do. It takes his trusty sidekick evaluating the situation to properly help him adjust.
"It's a timely reminder of why power must fall to those who can appropriately wield it. Yagi; you had no other choice, imagine the chaos he could've caused should he continue." calculates Nighteye. However David looks concerned, this statement, this precedent, it couldn't be set, could it?
"Let's not play down what just happened Sir, this was a big moment. It may have been a necessary outcome, but it can't be an outcome that this society can start to depend on so frequently to resolve it's problems." retorts David.
There's an uneasy silence between the three, they'd just defeated the most villainous entity they'd ever encountered, but the way it was done... It's All Might's sigh that shatters the deafening silence between the three as he summarises his opinion.
"You're both right. He was evil, and irredeemable. But we as heroes must do better, to give people those second chances, we have no idea what kind of lives they could go onto lead with our help and mercy."
Sir Nighteye and David both nod, as David realises something they'd overlooked earlier.
"Speaking of which... Sir? You said something was wrong earlier?" he states, All Might's interest also peaked by this comment.
"Yes; what was that about?" All Might adds.
A worry creeps across Sir Nighteye's face, but he attempts to cover it up.
"It's nothing."
"Nighteye, we've been working as hero and sidekick for years now. I can tell your pokerface from a mile off." parries All Might. David looking increasingly more unsettled by this apparent look of concern from Sir Nighteye, a man who was always calm and reserved.
"It's... my foresight. Something happened in that skirmish." mutters the sidekick.
"Oh? An awakening perhaps Sir?" All Might optimistically asks. However he's met with a somber shake of the head from his sidekick.
"Your future; I couldn't read it anymore. There was one outcome I could see, it then suddenly changed and sheered out of my view." he solemnly says. David tries to offer some comfort to the sidekick.
"That's good right? He's so powerful that he can change the future?" David offers, however All Might feels they've overlooked something yet again.
"The original event... what was it?" he asks gently.
That deafening silence returns as Nighteye struggles to find the right words. It's an agonisingly long moment before he finally comes out with it.
"... You were to be impaled by that massive attack All for One unleashed. You would still win; however you would've been horrifically wounded. I fear the injuries you would've incurred would've been life changing." he gasps out as he gestures to the uninjured portion of All Might where an attack was supposed to tear through.
All Might thinks for a moment.
"I see... Well, all the better he didn't hit me, right?" his light hearted tone enough to make David smile softly.
"Of course... but I can't ready you. When I read a person's future events, it's like I tug on a small string." states Sir Nighteye, he contemplates for a moment, before he continues. "But, it's like you don't have a string anymore... I'm not sure I'll ever be able to read you should this persist." he adds, looking grim. His greatest asset to the symbol of peace had been somehow deactivated.
All Might puts on a trademark grin to reassure his sidekick.
"Well, don't think you'll be getting an early retirement! You're still invaluable as a hero and as a friend Nighteye. The same goes for you David of course!" he states.
David smiles as he pats his dear friend on the shoulder, whilst Sir Nighteye stretches out and begins to take a walk, wanting to inspect the sight of the fallen former Demon King.
"And here I was thinking you'd forgotten about me." David jokes.
"We'll know an end to this terror now, thank you again for helping me with this Dave. I wouldn't have asked if I had any other choice." states the symbol of peace.
"Relax Yagi. Melissa will understand why I had to miss that science fair, you're here uncle after all. Knowing her she's probably won the whole thing by now." David adds.
All Might leans his head back and produces a hearty laugh, something that put David immediately at ease, seeing his friend starting to act more and more like himself again.
"She's a bright spark in this world; I can't wait to see all the wonderful things she accomplishes."
David smiles at this, it always meant a lot to him that the greatest hero the world had ever seen thought so highly of his pride and joy. However the happiness is short lived, when Sir Nighteye trudges back over to the duo, with a face like he'd just seen a ghost. Or more accurately, like he'd not seen one at all.
"Everything okay Sir?" inquires David.
"He's... He's gone."
All Might's eyes widen as he turns and walks to his sidekick.
"What?" All Might shouts as he storms past Sir Nighteye, he moves as fast as he can to where the body should be, the body of the Demon King. But it's not there. Only the dent in the ground from where All for One landed.
"That's... not possible" All Might mutters under his breath.
David starts to beep away on his wrist computer, there's a flat humming sound and then suddenly silence once again, he looks towards Sir Nighteye with a grim face.
"I can't sense any anomalous readings either... what do we do?" David asks.
Sir Nighteye stands there, carefully adjusting his glasses and folding his arms, for someone so shaken up by the fact his quirk didn't work only a few moments ago, he was eerily calm, his voice normal too as he speaks.
"Judging by the state he was in at the end of his battle with All Might? Chances are he won't be active for a very long time, if ever again given the injuries he sustained."
All Might turns around, his voice absent of the patience and calmness that was so present in his sidekick.
"But he'll still be out there Nighteye!" he shouts.
"And when the time comes, we'll find him again; and beat him again. Nighteye adds.
David puts his hands on his hips and starts to pace around, his best friend was the symbol of peace and the third member of their party had the quirk to literally see into the future. Compared to them he viewed himself as just as scientist with a knack for building. What could he do? But, what could any of them do?
"So... what do we do now?" David finally spits out.
"The symbol of villainy is reduced to skulking around in the shadows whilst the symbol of peace is alive, unharmed and free to do as he pleases. We rally behind our symbol and when the time comes, we'll support him again." It was a simple answer from Sir Nighteye.
But the pair hadn't noticed that their symbol had taken a few steps away from them, looking out into the scarred and deformed land that had been wounded by their battle. All Might stands with his hands on his hips, he'd won. He'd not even got much of a scratch on him besides a few bruises. He was their hero, their symbol. Their pillar. But it wasn't enough, if he couldn't be wounded, if he was this grand hero they all thought he was... He had to do more, a good job had become poor and an excellent effort had become average. They all looked up to him everywhere. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and he wouldn't let it down for anything.
"I... I'll do better. No harm will come to anyone, Because I am here. I will always be here. I'll be the symbol, I'll be the pillar. I'll be the hero." All Might states
Sir Nighteye and David Shield look to their friend, as he accepts his new role.
"I'll be invincible... I am invincible."
Made by: truen