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"Life belongs to the living,

and He who lives must be prepared for changes."

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Power thrummed in the air, and with that power came a swirling mass of darkness. Unknown and unseen, a boy merely 14 years of age slipped through the cracks of space itself. When the towering and overbearing power dissipated, nothing was there. That day, the boy known as Midoryia Izuku vanished from the world itself.

The dark, inky mist resurfaced in another place. The laws shackling the world broke in an instant, and then reformed in that very same instant. Slowly, a pale young boy fell out of the mist.

His green eyes were dull and pale, as if they were gems that had lost their luster. And those very same gems were defined by deep, dark lines. His matching green hair was dry and crusty, with wayward strands of hair springing up in rebellion. Most importantly, his complexion was as pale as a ghost's. He looked as if he could drop dead at any minute, and truthfully, the boy would probably prefer to do so.

Silently, a man of fog that had been standing behind him put a hand down upon his shoulder. As to whether it was a threat or whether it was consolation... No-one knows. It could have even been both. The boy suppressed a shudder of revulsion, as if he was opposed instinctively to the concept called touch. His mouth stretched into a straight line before opening to ask an almost inaudible question:

"Why?"

It could have meant a lot of things: Why am I here? Why did you save me?... Why didn't you let me die? In the end, the man had found his own answer.

"Please hold onto all of your questions for now. All will be answered when you meet sensei."

In a split second, the mist man put a blindfold over Deku's eyes.

"I am sorry for the inconvenience, but I must ask you to put up with it for a little while longer."

Deku didn't bother to dignify that statement with a response, and the two of them continued on in silence. Well, almost silence. The occasional raindrop or movement of mice were made deafening sounds as they traversed the long passage way. They had been walking for almost seven minutes when they finally reached an open air cavern.

And right smack dab in the middle, was All for One. No, he was 'sensei'.

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"It's nice to meet you, Midoriya Izuku."

"He said you would answer all of my questions," Deku directed his gaze towards Kurogiri before lazily spinning his head back toward All for One. "So tell me, why did you save me? Don't feed me some bullshit like you did it out of the goodness of your heart."

Kurogiri looked like he wanted to brutally dismember him with his own hands, but All for One stopped him with a simple shake of the head. Despite the crude phrasing, he still had the same demonic smile on his face.

"You're right, Izuku. If you were a normal suicidal boy, I wouldn't have stopped you from your ultimate fate. However, I happened to gain possession of a certain notebook minutes before you took that little jump of yours. In the many years that I have been alive- trust me, it's been quite a while- I have never seen such talent for analysis."

Deku was taken aback for a moment, not expecting such a high compliment. But that wasn't nearly enough to escape the grasp of depression. His lips eventually settled into a mocking expression.

"Even if that is the truth, what do you expect me to do? In plain terms, I'm tired. I don't want to do anything, be anything, or live anymore through this zombie-like existence. You can't get me to do anything for you. Killing me would be a service I would appreciate, Sensei."

Even as Deku turned around to walk away, Sensei kept his smile on his face. He still had his trump card after all.

"Even if I told you that it would be possible to take revenge on Katsuki Bakugo? All Might himself?"

Deku's footsteps stopped. One for All's smile widened.

"There's an organization that my protege heads. Its main purpose is to kill All Might. If you do enough for them, they can even help you with that Bakugo fellow. Though I'm sure that you would want to kill him with your own hands. They- and I, if you're good enough- can make you more than strong enough to do so."

Deku turned around.

"You are aware that I'm a 'quirkless loser,' correct? I couldn't kill him even if I wanted to. If you want to make claims, do some research first."

All for One let out a deep, raspy chuckle full of sarcastic humor.

"My dear friend, that is the last thing you'll have to worry about."

The room exploded. Water, electricity, floating objects, fire, darkness, light, swords, erosion, poison, plants- Quirks from all colors of the spectrum appeared within the room. There were even more that had more 'subtle' effects.

Deku's eyes opened wide as he began to mumble.

"All elemental manipulation? No, there is telekinesis in there too... Is it some type of energy that can transform into other outlets? No, that's been confirmed to be impossible. It couldn't be..."

All for One's satisfied smile grew wider. He was truly in awe of the boy's ability to deduce so much in so little time. He slowly drew the quirks back in while making a minute flinch at the backlash. His body really was getting old and decrepit.

"I have the power to steal quirks and store them. Most importantly, I can gift quirks as well."

Deku's eyes flared open in what could only be surprise, disbelief, and the slightest bit of hope.

"Now, choose. However, the moment you make this choice, you have to be a villain from now on. Is that clear?"

"Crystal."

There wasn't any hesitation. Even if it was a trap, the bait was simply too incredible to resist. There was still a chance that he could escape the fate of being reeled in, and Deku was willing to take that gamble. After all, in this game, the Chess-master and the pawn can switch places at any time.