Apologies it's been a while, but life is a kick between the legs and it's the only swing to make the contact all before it could never make. Been bouncing on and off this chapter trying to word it correctly, especially with the mange by my side to loosely follow with the narrative I've built. I don't plan on always trying to mirror what's happening there, but the opportunity arouse with the recent chapters and I'd be reminisced not to take advantage of the situation. NaNoWriMo has begun, so for now my works here will be on hold as I take the challenge upon myself and attempt to make my dreams a reality. I hope this will be the step in the right direction I need.

Doesn't mean I can't do the usual and read the comments left for last chapter.

Lightningblade49: it's actually a theory I've been pondering for quite some time. It's either an event so obvious to predict or one easy to write as impossible, since it takes making some facts where there are none, but I'll be playing with it my own way anyways.

Dxdluver: Manga spoiler: Monoma can't. He's tried. It's sadly an option blown out of the water quicker than I think anyone was expecting it to.

Xavier Arias Gonsalves: I'm excited myself to see who he gets to talk to next in the canon story. The chapters involving their spirits are some of my favorites of recent ones, and I hope it isn't too far away that we get another meeting like those.

Necrogod and Chopper911: Thank you for the kind words. I'm always happy to write these in hopes others enjoy them too.

"So" – All-Might's fingers drummed along the side of his teacup – "All For One's soul is currently residing along the rest of our predecessors."

Izuku nodded his head gravely. His eyes jumped from his own cup on the table to his mentor across it and back. "It wasn't what I wanted to wake up to either," he noted, the bags under his teacher's eyes catching his attention.

"I'd argue the past few days feel more like a surreal dream than anything," the retired hero commented with a weak laugh. He took a small sip of his drink and leaned back against his office couch. "I'd say the New Year's started off with a bang, now that he's no longer physically around, but it sounds insensitive no matter who he was and I don't think celebrating your situation would be any better."

"It's not like he's actually here," Izuku argued, rubbing his hands over each other. "He's like the rest of them; I don't know they're there until I've lost consciousness and I see them in dreams. He's…he's dead and some younger version of him is left inside One For All but it's not like he can do anything. It's not like he's a voice constantly talking in the back of my head."

"Pardon me if it does little to settle my worries." All-Might set his cup aside, leaning over his lap towards his apprentice. "My efforts to keep All For One out of your hair were not supposed to be his opportunity to dig beneath your scalp. Even if I wanted him to come back simply so you wouldn't have to deal with his presence in any form, his body has already been cremated. The officials in Tartarus and the Heroes Association weren't open to taking the risk of letting him rise from the grave so easily."

Izuku could feel the shiver down his spine, even with the windows closed. "So he's…gone gone?"

"If he wasn't in your head, yes, he would be."

"But he isn't in my head." Izuku sighed and massaged his temple. He had hoped his mentor and idol would be less stressed over the news than he was. "He's not the All For One you fought, that I watched you punch into the ground. He's apparently a 'him' from however long ago it was since he passed on our quirk to his brother, and all he knows is what he knew up until that point and everything we know; that the other wielders knew. All he knows is that he lost in the end, that he failed what he wanted to do. The League has been absent for months and he left them with far less than what they had when he was around. With him dead there's no telling how many of them are even left fighting with Shigaraki or how many will leave him now. He can look through my memories all he wants and all he will know is that his legacy ended in failure."

The silent stare All-Might gave him wasn't exactly settling Izuku's stomach. The distant clattering of his classmates chatting over lunch down the halls were muffled through the office door. His mind had been plagued by thoughts and assumptions on All For One and the facts of the matter as he knew them, overlapping even his time in class. As far as the once-villain had shown himself and his long-deceased brother would explain, Izuku could only assume he was further from danger than he was in it. It wouldn't get rid of the problem at hand – and he wanted nothing more than to get rid of the memories of the man who had plagued the lives of all the heroes before him – but if it wasn't going to be a problem then why should he consider it as such?

"You aren't wrong about that, Young Midoriya," All-Might commented in a hush. "All For One did fail, but he's left behind a legacy of many more villains, probably more than we even know about. They may never be as strong as he was or could ever become, but just because he's dead doesn't mean the rest of the world is going to stop with him."

"I know." Izuku gripped at his lap, his hands white and shaking. "But the way he is now, at least we have one less villain to worry about causing us trouble."

"That we do," All-Might agreed. "And…as long as you are alright despite this mess, I'll lay off on discussing it more. I will be telling Chiyo so she knows ahead of time if you have to come to her regarding him, along with everyone else who knows about One For All, is just to get another perspective on this to settle things one way or the other. And with the League's main mode of transportation is still locked away in Tartarus with his master gone from the picture, there may be information we can garner from him to shed light on the situation—"

"Don't tell Kacchan." Izuku's interruption stopped All-Might quickly, and the greenette flinched slightly from his own action. "He's…he's got a lot on his plate right now. He doesn't need to be a part of this, especially if this becomes nothing in the end anyways. He'd hate to waste his time like that."

"I don't think either of you should have to mull over this during the internships upcoming." Oh, right. Principal Nedzu was having the classes jump back on the internship bandwagon to open their final semester of the school year. He was almost out of luck, watching the rest of his classmates return to their prior districts and agencies from last year while he was sidelined by Bubble Girl and Centipeder as they tried to pick up the pace of running the agency Nighteye was previously in charge of. Katsuki was in a similar state of disappointment, what with Best Jeanist MIA in the wake of the Dekia City incident. "Speaking of which, I noticed the two of you had applied to intern at Endeavor's agency alongside Shoto."

Izuku nodded. "He offered it to us over text, or at least to me since I was home for Christmas. Shoto thinks we'd both be welcomed at Endeavor's agency to learn under him, and I thought it wouldn't be a bad opportunity to learn under him."

The retired pro hero mirrored his student's nod. "It would be a good experience to learn under a hero like Enji…but he only accepted Bakugou's application and Shoto's return. He turned you down."

The reveal jolted Izuku to his feet, nearly knocking his legs into the coffee table between them when he rose. "W-what? Why? Why did he turn me down?"

"Because of what was added to your profile, Young Midoriya. And we both know what that is."

All-Might's statement stilled the young hero-in-training, leaving the teen to ease himself into a sullen expression. He knew well what his mentor was talking about: the suicide watch decision. Izuku had yet to see his own profile since Chain came to the dorms and handed them papers, and he remembered the notes regarding his physical and mental health the Heroes Association had sat on for months since Izuku applied to Yuei. He didn't know how public that information would be to anyone outside of himself and his family, but it seemed it reached far enough for other heroes to be notified of it.

"That alongside the self-appointed "fatherly duties" you have over Eri and the recent developments with Blackwhip still out of your control, Enji think you're unfit to keep up with his regimen and teachings," All-Might elaborated. "That your time and effort would be better spent with an agency with simpler tasks for you to practice your control and keep closer to your family. He'd probably argue Bakugou has less on his plate than you do, too, if we were to ask him."

That…wasn't something Izuku had taken into account; that Endeavor would outright refuse their applications, much less just his own. He couldn't help collapsing back onto the couch sullenly in response.

"I'd think to agree with him if I thought micromanaging what you can and can't do was the right way around this." A jolt passed through Izuku's heart for a single beat as his mentor continued. "I understand where he's coming from, when he looks at you and finds himself unfitted to teach you what you need to, at least from a surface level view. As great as learning under the current number one hero would be, I don't believe even I'd recommend him for teaching you on Blackwhip or any form of therapy he thinks you might need. There are many heroes better suited for that."

"I don't need therapy," Izuku interjected weakly.

"I didn't think you need it, either. Eri has a school of people who will help you in raising her and keeping her safe, and you know that. And if…All For One really is going to be an afterthought in your head, then I won't press on the matter until it steps out of line. One For All isn't our quirk anymore, Young Midoriya; it's yours. You're exploring areas of it I never saw before, and even if I still had it I doubt there's little I could teach you in how to control what you have now, and we know Blackwhip isn't the last of the quirks you might find yourself using. And what happens with it now is more up to you than me. All I can do now is work with the rest of your teachers to help guide you forward."

"I…" Izuku could feel the bulging in his wrists, threatening to burst from his skin and yank the former number one across the room. His other hand brushed along the cuff of his sleeve, finding no bumps present. "Thank you, All-Might. I guess I'll have to look for another agency to intern at."

"I had someone in mind for that actually." All-Might rose from his couch and traversed the room to his desk, swiping a folder from the countertop. "It's why I pulled you over once the lunch bell rang. After finding Enji's rejection sent to the school, I decided to spend some time looking for another hero who could take you in. Young Tokoyami is in a similar predicament to yourself, actually, that Ectoplasm was helping to find a replacement for that gave me the idea." He made his was back over, passing to Izuku's side of the table and standing beside the green student. The folder hung between his hands. "Has Endeavor's words changed your mind on what kind of hero you want to intern under, or do you still believe intensity and a situation like his is still on the table?"

Izuku rose to his own feet slowly, analyzing the cream folder his mentor balanced between them before he look to his teacher's face. "I…don't want to hold myself back," he replied simply. "I don't want anything to." He put on a smile, soft and honest, and his mentor mirrored the expression.

"Good." The folder was shoved into Izuku's chest. "Fill out the application before lunch. It took me too long to convince her to take you in, and she wants an answer as soon as possible. I don't want a kick to the ribs."

Izuku kicked himself mentally for the small thought bubble that convinced him Endeavor would have been more stress-inducing to intern under. Endeavor was taller than him, ranking as the current number one hero in the world, taking Bakugou and Shoto under his wings and running arguably the most popular agency in the world.

His body twitched as Miruko's ears did, her eyes continuing to gaze up and down his shivering form.

Now he was the tallest in the room, occupied by him and the 5th ranked pro hero worldwide with no one around to join them because she was the highest ranking freelanced hero in the business. It was the latter of the information that he was having trouble settling in his head, because he knew just how little heroes would run interns without an agency of their own.

Thank you All-Might, he prayed silently.

"The old sack of bones was right," Miruko opened, an ear flickering to the mask over his face. "You really do look like a rabbit."

All-Might, why? Izuku sobbed internally, holding himself from falling backwards in tears. He was grateful for how much his mask hid.

"So," the hero continued, stalking around him like a predator, "All-Might also said you wouldn't butt in or slow me down on patrols. He was insistent you learn under me directly, and I'm guessing these steel legs of you are part of the problem." Izuku gave a shaky nod to confirm her guess. "I don't do groups, so you best tag along and do your best not to eat my dust or rely on me. You at least got the guts to follow me around and not get in my way if I let you tag along?"

"Yesma'am," he responded in haste. He knew the rules of interning under her, a list she had given his teacher to give to him to skim through and memorize on the train ride over. Her guess based off his boots was spot on, too; Miruko was one of the few heroes Izuku watched online to emulate the fighting style of, given how proficient she and several over heroes were with their legs in battles and even rescue situations. His arms weren't cards off the table just yet, but putting all his attention where he could was a better plan than lagging behind for the rest of his body to catch up. It's not like One For All was showing any new changes yet, so he had no reason to rush what he didn't know—

"Good." A clang erupted behind him, startling Izuku out of his thoughts and turning him around. The door to the study room the pro hero had reserved was blasted open, its hinges creaking as it eased away from the wall it had swung into from the rabbit girl's leg. "Then let's go."

Izuku shied behind the number five hero from the eyes of the library that followed them. Miruko had no agency, which meant she had no official place for them to meet, which resulted in a meet-up at a public library and possibly some damages to a wall where a door handle had indented itself. Probably not the best impression to leave on his first visit, Izuku grimaced. Miruko was at least kind (?) enough to leave a stack of yen on the front counter as they left, he acting in her place to bow an apology as he hurried after her.

"Alright then." Miruko brushed off the attention of civilians that caught attention of her presence, and Izuku attempted the same as he focused on her voice over others' chatter. "That costume's all you need, kid?"

"Y-yes ma'am," he responded with a quick nod.

"Then keep up!" Suddenly the rabbit hero was off, shooting from the sidewalk with a kick and leaving a small indent in the concrete where her foot had been. Izuku turned around in a worry, watching her soar off above the buildings and activated Full Cowl before he took off down the street after her. He launched off into the sky as he reached the first crosswalk, trailing being her figure as he dashed off rooftops to keep up with her fewer and farther launches.

She was fast and she was powerful; Izuku had never doubted that. Watching her fly off with each leap while he struggled to follow along running along the rooftops – it reminded him of All-Might, the way she posed in the air, her legs tucked together as she soared. There was power in her legs to lift off like that and leave little damage in her wake with each leap. Guess the technique was universal, Izuku assumed, and he'd have to use it himself once he had the power in his legs to match theirs. At least in the meantime in his training, he could take in the sight of the city while following her.

Miruko was one of the few heroes to stay in their hometown when she got her license, and Izuku could see why. Hiroshima was a pretty city, and jumping from rooftop to rooftop was he able to experience it better than the TV had ever shown him. There were very little heroes who actually came from the city – in the top fifty, there was only one other hero Izuku knew that info of by heart – and chose to keep their work within their home limits. With how fast Miruko could move, she possibly had the best excuse to stay close to home when she could reach Tokyo in just a few short movements. If she wasn't so blunt and loud when approaching people and answering questions on interviews, Izuku was positive she would have been a closer runner up to the number one position in the rankings—

"Where ya goin', short stack?!"

Izuku snapped out of his thoughts as his foot caught the edge of a building in surprise and sent him tumbling across the rooftop. His back impacted the ground into a hard stop, and he groaned as he pushed himself up to sit. The rabbit hero's legs fell into his view with a quiet landing in front of him, the hero leaning on one leg as she frowned down at him.

"The old pro said you could follow along well," she chided him, as he rushed himself up and dusted off his uniform. "Thought you'd be attentive. Space out like that again and I'm leaving you behind for good."

"S-sorry, Miruko," he apologized with a quick bow. His thought bubbles would be the death of his, he chastised internally. "I won't let it happen again."

"Better not." With a quick turn on her heel she shot off again, across the street and to another rooftop.

Izuku took a deep breath through his nose. He needed an internship, and interning with any of the best was exactly what he needed to experience his quirk best. Anything that could push him and his quirk – or even quirks – further is what he needed most of all. He wasn't going to get any better easing around with a quirk like his; not after waiting 11 more years than anyone else to get one. He lost one opportunity already, and he wasn't going to lose another one just as quickly.

Full Cowl sparked to life again, and he rocketed after the pro hero just as she landed on the other building.

Fuyumi would often joke about Shoto having a sixth sense, or that he'd make a pretty good detective if he wanted to pursue that career. It was an offer he was all too quick to turn down with his eyes on the prize of becoming the greatest hero. That didn't mean he didn't understand where he joke came from.

The "Midoriya/All-Might" bulletin board in his room didn't do much to stop his sister from continuing the nickname of Todotective.

He could understand fully well where her conclusion on the subject derived from: his tendency to sit back and analyze those around him, picking out from a crowd who would be the most troublesome to deal with. In public places it was all about sizing up anyone who could snap and threaten the public at any moment. In class, it was about who else was trying their hardest to be the number one and give him a run for his money. Midoriya and Bakugou were easily the ones who fit that classification, but Yaoyorozu, Iida, Kirishima and even Ashido were strong contenders to outdoing the three of them for the rankings and the public perception. The tendency itself was one his father ingrained in him early on, and while it had died down from being as competitive as it was back at the Sports Festival, it lingered on in other ways.

The "Midoriya/All-Might" was one example, yes, but it wasn't the only digging he did with the little surface information he was given.

Bakugou scoffed and brushed his bottom lip with his knuckles, looking over the city skyline from atop the new number one hero's agency. "It's dumb you kicked Deku from this," he commented, gazing at Endeavor from the corner of his eyes. "Half-n-Half was the one who told us we'd get to intern here."

"And whether or not you could was still up to me," Shoto's father responded over his shoulder, keeping his own gaze on the city. The flames on his shoulders cackled under the winter weather, and their heat tickled Shoto's skin even from afar. "Had Shoto not brought up either of you to me, I wouldn't have considered this myself. You and Midoriya are both impressive students – don't twist my words – but an internship in my agency isn't an open invitation. Your acceptance was my choice."

"And Midoriya's denial was too," Shoto commented, drawing an elongated sigh from his father.

"With his absence, I wasn't expecting either of you to bring him up more." There was a distaste to his words Shoto could pick up; more disappointed than disgusted, but crude all the same. "I presumed your own desires to get stronger would have preceded most other thoughts."

"That's cuz you excluded the nerd for no good reason," Bakugou retorted, his breath easing out in a long stream of cold air. Shoto was inclined to agree, an act he was all too sure the blonde would try to twist away from. He hadn't given Bakugou or Midoriya the offer to intern under his father with him if he believed the offer wouldn't be open to them. While he was still far from a man Shoto could trust, his father had gradually mellowed in his attitude, so much so that Shoto had heartily believed the old man would have accepted both his classmates to join the internship opportunity.

Endeavor took a gaze over to them both, landing on his own son first before turning to the other boy. "Given his profile provided by the Heroes Association, I had every reason to turn down Midoriya's application. The kid has plenty on his plate, and he has other places to be more important than interning under me."

A red and a white eyebrow furrowed. Midoriya's HA profile? Shoto remembered his own, given to him by the representative the Association sent to their dorms last semester with a handful of papers for him and his classmates. He was handed plenty of notes on the use and growth of his quirk and the endless possibilities for sidekick and pro hero work in his future being labeled as the son of the world's current number one hero. He wasn't particularly fond of the Association's choices of words, and the Chain gentleman who came to their school offered more in the way of businesses built on keeping a hero's family safe when the name they made for themselves worked part-time as a target on their back, on and off the job.

Shoto had no-so-discretely shoved the papers under his futon and forgotten about their placement once or thrice.

"Deku's stronger than what any pencil pusher behind a desk can note of him." Bakugou's praise of Midoriya was far more pleasant than Shoto was expecting out of the blonde, as he snapped out of his own thoughts.

"I'm sure he is," his father agreed. "But the boy has enough responsibilities as it is. And with a new member in his family self-proclaiming him as her father figure, he should spend more time looking after her and finding a balance in his life instead of committing to this. If he's smart enough, he will have heeded my denial as a message to take it easy for the time being."

Shoto dug into a lot of things for information he wasn't given. The "Midoriya/All-Might" was one example, yes, but it wasn't the only digging he did with the little surface information he was given. As surprised as his father's praise and judgement on Midoriya's "fatherhood" was leaving him, the answer he gave wasn't leaving Shoto satisfied. He doubted the Hero Association would call Midoriya "weak" in any sense – if not just undertrained – and Eri had more than just the green teen to look to for guidance and support, especially nowadays as she greeted Shoto into the New Year asking him to be her "mommy" along with the rest of the class. If Midoriya needed to find a balance between work and his life outside it, there was no reason Endeavor would turn him down; not when he had promised to train Shoto and Bakugou about finding their own balances too.

His father may not be the best role model as a father but Shoto didn't doubt the new number one wouldn't have something to say on the matter—

"Enough about him." Endeavor's costume bellowed a new wave of flames over those preexisting. The two teenagers before him snapped to attention. "I may not be fit to teach the boy what he needs, but I have just enough to teach the two of you. And with one less present, we'll have more time to balance out your attitudes and quirks. I don't expect either of you to be slacking around just because you're a man short; you'll be picking up work in his place as any other hero would. If you want to grow stronger, than I expect you both to give it your all. No holding back."

Shoto noted the grimace Bakugou wore before agreeing to Endeavor's words loudly, but the fire and ice user held back his tongue as he nodded along. Something was off; maybe it was nothing as big as he thought it to be, but something was there nonetheless. There was no reason to push for answers now, however. He'd find out eventually. Better to keep his attention on the now instead.

If you weren't aware before, I do have a Discord up and "running" if you wish to talk with me or anyone else about anything. discord . gg/QYKaGkG (just remove the spaces) Topics there don't stick to much, but there may always be something that you could fancy. I'd love to talk if you're up to it (though as I write this I am heading off into sleep, so I'll make sure my awake form is known when morning comes for me.)