"Eat this!"

Izuku blinked in surprise and confusion as All Might held out a single golden hair plucked from his head. When the Symbol of Peace had offered to give him his quirk, this hadn't been what he'd expected.

Still, he gingerly reached out his hand to the hero and took the hair from him and looked at it.

Taking a deep breath he steeled himself and looked at it for a long moment before...

"STOP!"

A childish scream resounded across the beach stopping both he and All Might in their tracks. They turned to see a small form rushing to them. It was a small girl, maybe five at most, wearing an oversized shirt as a dress, her arms covered in bandages.

The child had pale hair and from her forehead sprouted a large glowing golden horn. As she stumbled towards them, she called out.

"NOT YET! STOP!" she cried out as she half ran, half stumbled towards them.

Without pause, without thought, both Pro Hero and student rushed towards the girl's side, with All Might arriving well before Izuku.

As he approached he could see that the pale girl's face was a rictus of agony. Across her skin, he could see what looked like angry cracks of energy under her skin, while her crimson eyes literally glowed as she looked up to him.

"Do not worry, young girl," All Might said, his heroic smile spread wide across his face. "For I am here."

"Izuku," she said through gritted teeth, ignoring the Number One Hero. "Take it! Please! I don't know how much longer I can hold on."

"W-what?" he gasped. Take what? How did this girl know his name? What was going on.

Looking to All Might, he saw that the large man seemed just as confused as Izuku did.

"One for All!" she gasped in agony, the tears of pain running down her face, "It's ripping me apart! Take it!"

Izuku's confusion redoubled, how did this little girl have All Might's quirk? He felt his brain go into overdrive as he considered it, but his instinct to analyze was driven down by something much deeper and more fundamental to his nature.

All Might had spent the last ten months training him to properly contain his quirk. Without it he'd been told he'd explode... and apparently this little girl, a small child with no preparation was in the process of doing just that.

Without a moment's hesitation, or any demand for explanation, he plucked a hair from her head and swallowed it.

"What is going on here, young girl?" All Might said furrowing his brow. "How do you know about One for All?"

"Hair... takes time... to digest," she said with an agonized growl as tears of pain made their way down her face. "Blood... It has to be blood."

Izuku went wide eyed. "B-blood?!"

Seizing what looked like a second wind she sat up and looked him dead in the eyes.

Then she bit off the tip of her own tongue.

"Young girl!" All Might cried out in horror as she spat out the bloodied piece of flesh. Doubly shocked when a moment later she cried out, opening her mouth, and behind blooded teeth they could see that she had a complete tongue.

"Open a wound!" she screamed, "Mix my blood with yours!"

"I-I don't have a knife!" he cried out. If they had to mix blood, how could they do it if he couldn't injure himself?

"Your pen!" his mentor and hero said to him. "Break it and stab yourself, Midoriya-shonen. It is the most convenient way."

Izuku reached into his pocket and withdrew the aforementioned plastic shaft from where he kept it. After all, he never knew when he might feel the urge to take some notes. Then he snapped it off, transforming the cheap plastic writing implement into a crude shiv, and stabbed himself in the hand.

Ignoring the pain, he pulled it out of the now bloody wound and reached down to pick up the small, grotesque lump of bloody flesh that laid in the sand at his feet, before rubbing it against his wound, mixing his blood with that of the girl before him.

The effect was almost instantaneous. He felt a sensation of warmth spreading through his being while the girl gasped in shock and relief.

"Thank god," she muttered as the energy cracking under her skin began to fade, and her rictus of agony was replaced with a smile of relief as her horn began to stop glowing.

"Now you're going to have to explain what is going on," All Might said in the stern but caring tone of a skilled teacher.

She smiled up at him. "Let me give you this first..."

She wrapped her hand around his and her horn flashed.

If he hadn't been looking at All Might, he wouldn't have even been able to see it. One moment, he looked as he always did. In the next he could see the years evaporate off of the man in an instant, making him look like he had during his introduction to the hero scene, so long ago.

"W-what?" he gasped as he actually dropped the girl onto the sand in shock pulling away as he looked at himself.

Blinking he looked at his hands, and without a moment of hesitation pulled up his shirt. What had once been a hideous mangled wound that took up the side of his body was now unmarred flesh.

"Oh my!" he gasped. "Oh my! Oh my...! GOODNESS!"

The injury that had been limiting him, that had forced him to seek a successor was gone. Somehow, in but a moment, this small girl had reverted All Might back to his prime.

For a moment, a shock of terror filled Izuku. All Might no longer needed a successor, so what would become of him? But at the same time, he knew his fear was unfounded. He knew, in the depths of his heart, that she hadn't been lying when she said she needed him to take One for All from her.

He could feel it inside him, like a raging fire. Which raised the question - what was going on? How did she have a second One for All?

How had she done all of this?

His brow furrowed for a moment as he considered what he'd seen. Her horn had been glowing the entire time she'd rushed towards them, until he had taken One for All. Then once it was gone, the glow had stopped. Was her quirk some form of regenerating quirk? Repairing her body as quickly as One for All could destroy it?

But then she'd used it on All Might and he hadn't just healed but he looked visibly younger? He looked like he was in his twenties again. She'd not only healed him but had somehow completely revitalized him.

And when she bit her tongue off, it seemed to have been like she'd never bitten it the very moment she spat it out. He'd watched thousands of hours of hero fights in his years and had scarfed down as much theoretical and scientific knowledge on the subject of quirks as he could understand without specialized degrees... and only then because the related virtual class work simply wasn't readily available on the internet.

And from there he'd learned two things. First, regenerative quirks didn't work that fast, and there was virtually always some form of ramp up time. You didn't just get injured one second and be utterly fine the next. It had to heal, even if it was very very quickly. Also, it was universally accepted that regenerative quirks didn't work on old injuries. The wound had to be open and even then they often had limits as to how much they could heal. Do too much damage and there would still be lingering scaring.

Eri's quirk just broke every rule he'd read about on the subject, a fact that made his head swim.

However, all of that was secondary to the simple fact that there was a little girl in trouble in front of him, a fact which shut down his normal need to take notes hard and fast as he looked down at her unmoving form, his heart filling with dread. "All Might, is she..."

The Number One Hero looked up to him with a small smile. "Don't worry, Midoriya-shonen, she's simply asleep. I imagine that whatever she's gone through has taken a great deal out of her..."

Izuku nodded dumbly. "Um, yeah..."

"Midoriya-shounen," All Might said as he pulled several coins from his pocket. "Go to the vending machine on the street and fetch some juice and sugar candy for this child. When she wakes up, she will be in dire need of the carbohydrates."

Izuku nodded and gingerly accepted the money. "A-alright."

"And once she awakens, she'll have a great deal to explain..."

Izuku paused for a moment. "I-I have some thoughts..."

All Might looked back down to the girl before laughing. "Of course you do, Midoriya-shonen. And I will happily hear them once you have retrieved the juice and candy. Remember, as a hero, that those in need must always come first."

He smiled and nodded. "Right!"

Toshinori Yagi was concerned. Deeply concerned. And quite confused, to be honest. He'd expected today to be an emotionally charged one. After all, he'd been expecting to name young Midoriya as his successor. Instead things had gone infinitely more... strange thanks to the intervention of this mysterious child who was quietly snoozing before him.

She'd somehow arrived with a second copy of One for All, and he was rather sure it was One for All, because the marks and energy running across her body were similar to the way his own master had described it manifesting in some of its previous hosts. Then she'd proceeded to pass her copy of One for All to young Midoriya and then heal the very injury that had necessitated him passing on the quirk to begin with.

Now, if he was a more suspicious man he'd be suspecting that this had something to do with him, but in all honestly it wasn't his modus operandi. While All for One was capable of an almost supernatural degree of patience and was vindictive beyond measure, he wasn't a man who favored tricks and subtly.

That and he was dead. Or at least Toshinori hoped he was. The idea of that man being alive and recovering was Toshinori's greatest fear.

A small smile, one unlike his normal wide, comforting smile, crossed his face. Or at least it had been. The idea of facing All for One in his diminished state filled him with an unspeakable dread, but already he could feel the fires of One for All burning within him at an intensity he'd not felt since before the battle that had left him broken. That alone was proof enough that there was no malicious intent. There was simply no way in the burning depths of hell that All for One would ever heal his arch-nemesis. The idea of a fair fight wasn't even in the man's vocabulary.

He gently scooped up the tiny girl in his great arms, holding her delicate form with the greatest of care. Now, thanks to this child he would not be training Izuku as a successor. No, he'd be training the young man to become his equal. Together they would stand side to side against injustice as if brothers.

And Toshinori had to admit, that thought filled him with a heady sensation, not one of pride but of anticipation. The world no longer needed a replacement Symbol of Peace... and perhaps that was for the best. Now young Midoriya would be gifted with something Toshinori felt that he'd never been given himself. One that All for One had taken from him with the death of his master: the opportunity to chart his own destiny.

He had to wonder, what high ideal would his noble student decide to embody?

But first, he had more immediate concerns. Now that the chaos was put to rest and the girl was no longer being torn apart by this second manifestation of One for All, he had to wonder how she'd gotten it and how she'd known to find them. She couldn't have had it for long, her body had been ripping itself apart at the seams. He was one long accustomed to pain, and the agony on her face had been apparent to all but the most blind of men, to say nothing of the telltale signs of One for All's power manifesting within her.

Even more, her small form was covered in bandages and her clothing was sparse and tattered. No loving parent would dress their child as such and between the loose bandages on her limbs he could see the telltale signs of scars, some old, some fresh. It set off his heroic instincts like nothing else, and while some would call it a baseless assumption, he knew in his heart what was going on.

He'd seen this before. Someone had been mistreating this girl. Someone had been experimenting on her. And that was something that he, as a hero, as a man, and as a human being... It was something he could never, would never, tolerate.

And that was nothing to say of the boundless personal debt that he owed to this little girl. He'd long adapted to living in a state of constant pain from his injury, and had long abandoned all hope that it would ever cease. Yet here he was, finally free. He found it almost impossible not to smile from the infinite physical relief that she'd given him.

And that wasn't even counting the other benefits both great and small. He could once again enjoy a full meal. The days of eating spoonfuls of food according to a strict diet and subsisting on what felt like an apothecary's worth of supplements and medications were over.

To say nothing of the fact that he could once more stand proud and unimpeded as the world's symbol of peace without having to limit his active time due to his wounds! And while he realized it was very selfish to put that second to his own personal gain, one never realized how important the little things were to one's emotional well being until they were taken away.

Anything this child needed, he'd see to it, no matter what it may be.

"A-all Might!" Izuku greeted him as he approached the entrance to the beach. "Is she still alright?."

"Yes she is!" he replied with a smile. "I decided that it was unbecoming for me to simply wait on a cold wet beach for her to awaken. Whatever she's been through has taken a lot out of her and it wouldn't do for her to catch cold now would it?

"Um, of course not!" he replied. Such a shy boy, but brave. He knew he'd become one of the greats.

"So, where are we going?" he asked a moment later after he'd fallen in behind Toshinori.

"We're going to Might Tower," was his response, which caused his student to gasp.

He couldn't help but smile even more as young Midoriya had what only could be described as a 'nerdgasm'. Some would belittle him for it as the boy began to stammer off facts about his home/headquarters in a near illegible stream of consciousness muttering, as young Midoriya would sometimes do. Toshinori however, he wasn't one to judge.

After all, finally being able to acquire an authentic copy of Action Comics Number 1 had left the Symbol of Peace nearly insensate for the better part of a day!

"S-so how are we getting there?"

"Drove here," was his casual response which caused Izuku to gasp. "I'm taking her to my car."

"Are we going to drive in the Allmobile!?" He asked excitedly, referring to the iconic vehicle originally created by his dear friend, college companion, and gadgeteer sidekick, David Shields.

"No," Was Toshinori's reply. One that caused the young man to look somewhat like a kicked puppy. "The Allmobile is too ostentatious for everyday use. We're taking that..."

He indicated over the boy's shoulder to his daily driver. It was a far more subtle vehicle, much better suited to traveling the streets of Japan without attracting undue attention.

His wonderful 1968 Shelby Cobra GT-500!

"All Might?" Izuku asked nervously, speaking up to be heard over the roar of the ancient vehicle's archaic, and from the sound of things, massive and powerful internal combustion engine.

"Yes, Midoriya-shonen?" All Might calmly asked.

"Um, so what's the plan?" He asked nervously. Right now he was just along for the ride and a little confused. After all this was all just a bit much to take in. He felt like he'd been swept up in a storm by it all.

"Well, like I said, I'm taking her to Might Tower to keep her safe until she wakes up," All Might replied.

Izuku nodded, but couldn't help but feel nervous. After all. Today was the day of the UA entrance exam...

His eye twitched. The UA entrance exam.

With a trembling hand he pulled his phone from his pocket and his heart turned into a block of ice when he read the time. 7:02 AM.

The exam started in less than two hours. LESS THAN TWO HOURS!

He released a sound that sounded not unlike a terrified piglet, causing his mentor to look down at him with concern.

"Is everything alright, Midoriya-shonen?"

He held up the phone with a trembling hand. "The UA exam is in two hours!" he exclaimed in shock.

"Oh," All Might blinked, "I'd actually forgotten about that..."

Forgotten! How could he forget something so important! Without it he'd never be able to go to UA! He'd never be able to become a hero, how could he forget something like that? He'd be stuck going to some normal highschool and would never be able to make something of himself!

Izuku turned to the door and looked at the street running below them. Okay, if he opened the door right now and fell out sideways he could turn some of his forward momentum into sideways momentum, bleeding it off and allowing him to clear the highway! Then he could make it to the closest train station and rush home for a shower and change...

No, he didn't have the time he'd have to make due by just picking up some washcloths and a cheap track suit or something at the closest department store and wiping himself down in the bathroom. And if he was fast about it he could make it to the train station in time to...

"Calm down, Midoriya-shonen..."

"I AM CALM!" he exclaimed, sounding anything but.

"Relax, my boy," All Might said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, and stop muttering about jumping out of my car. Making me rescue you isn't going to help either of us get there any faster."

Oh god, he said all that out loud?

He wanted to die.

"If you're a little late," the Symbol of Peace continued, "I'll take the blame and say you were with me. Besides, even if you do somehow miss the test..."

Izuku felt his stomach bottom out and his vision began to fill with spots at the mere thought of it...

"Then it really doesn't matter anyways. You were always going to make it to the Hero Track no matter what."

Izuku couldn't help but blinked in shock as everything came to a grinding halt.

"What?" he blinked in confusion, "I-I don't understand, All Might."

"I only told you to take the test because I wanted to challenge you." He grinned. "So even if you were to fail utterly... or, perhaps, had taken a little longer to finish the beach and missed it, then I would have simply exercised my prerogative to have you entered as a recommended student! You're in no danger of failure! I didn't intend to tell you this because I find that without a mountain to climb, you'll never go beyond your limits. Plus Ultra, right?"

Izuku could only laugh frantically. Alright. So this was all a test. And not the kind of test he'd thought. Yeah. Wonderful. "Heheh..." he giggled frantically, "P-Plus Ultra..."

"That's the spirit!" All Might exclaimed, "Now here is what we're going to do. We're going to take the girl to Might Tower, you're going to take a shower, I'll have a fast meal prepared for you, and a change of clothes sent up while this darling girl is settled in one of the guest rooms under watch. Then I'll take you to UA with me and you'll do your best on the test! Don't worry about your grade. Just be the best hero you can be, and if you fail, own that F! Show us what you've got!"

Izuku slowly nodded and took a deep breath and gave his hero a weary smile. Okay. He could do that. "R-right!"

"That's the spirit!"

"Just own question?"

All Might nodded.

"What do you mean by 'Own that F'?"

All Might blinked. "Oh, right. That's an American thing. They use "F"'s instead of "E"'s, you see. So, uUm. Own that E!"

Okay. He guessed that made more sense.

Izuku took a deep breath and leaned back before looking up to the hero. "All Might, I'm sorry... I was just..."

"No need for apologies! It's a big day, It's natural to be nervous."

He nodded. "I just feel like..." he looked at the girl in the back seat. "...Like I was being selfish."

All Might simply chuckled. "Don't worry, Midoriya-shounen. You can't be selfless every moment of every day. As long as you keep your heart in the right place, that's all that matters..."

"I see," he said with a nod, "I just hope she's okay."

"As do I, Midoriya-shonen. As do I," he smiled, "It is why I intend to do all in my power to see to her safety and security. And I believe that, with the possible exception of UA, there is no safer place for her in all of Japan than in the heart of Might Tower."

Izuku nodded. He could agree with that. Might Tower was almost the center of heroics in Japan. While it was most famous for being All Might's center of operations, the Number One's home base hosted a number of smaller hero teams and independents who operated under All Might's aegis, being given ready access to the state of the art faculties within for a mere pittance compared to the immense cost of setting up their own bases. It was said that all that All Might asked in return was that they hold themselves up to the same sort of lofty standards of courage and good behavior that he himself followed.

He couldn't help but smile. He'd visited the tower on a field trip when he was 10 and had been blown away by the experience. He even had the 3D puzzle of the tower proudly dominating the top of his book shelf. And the chance to visit it as not a tourist, but as All Might's protege?

It was a dream come true. It was almost enough to still his burning concern for the girl lying on the bench seat behind him.

Almost.

Looking back, he just hoped that Eri was going to be alright...

Once they arrived at Might Tower, All Might had been quick to get into action. First, he'd called in his medical team to pick up the child and take her to somewhere safe, warm, and comfortable. If he was right and she'd been experimented on, he didn't want her anywhere near the sterile environment of a hospital room.

He'd had her taken to one of the tower's many guest suites to sleep it off and had asked that one of the many Pro-Heros based in the tower keep an eye on her along with a nurse until he was able to return from UA.

As for young Midoriya, he'd ushered him up to his personal locker room for a quick shower while ordering a proper change of clothes to be sent up to him while All Might changed into his Hero costume.

"All Might?"

"Well, speak of the devil, Midoriya-shonen!" he said with a deep laugh as the boy walked into view.

One thing that Toshinori would never openly admit is even after all these years he still found it flattering, and maybe a bit embarrassing, when he saw someone dressed in imitation of himself. So of course, he had to hide a bit of a blush when he saw what Izuku was wearing.

The brave young lad was clad in a tracksuit, but not just any tracksuit, no. An All Might branded tracksuit he had brought up from the giftshop. This way he didn't have to go through the trouble of having anything bought, as he technically already owned everything in that shop. Buying from one of the other stores would have introduced additional complexity, and with it, possible points of confusion. As this was already an odd day, he wanted to give that rat bastard Murphy as little additional purchase as possible on the day's events as was physically possible.

This way all he'd had to do was order a selection of clothes brought up and let the young man simply take what he felt he needed and be done with it.

"Thank you for the clothes, All Might..." Izuku said with a slight blush followed by a deep bow, "I'm sorry for being a bother..."

"Nonsense," Toshinori said in a tone that brooked no argument, "I'd been prepared to pass you my quirk. A simple change of clothes is nothing."

"Still I..." the boy stammered, causing Toshinori to smile.

"Really, there's no trouble, Midoriya-shonen," he spoke with a chuckle. "Come along, we don't want to be late!"

Izuku nodded furiously and jumped in step beyond him, following him dutifully as he walked down the halls. For a moment, they were in silence before the boy looked up to him.

"All Might?"

"Yes, Midoriya-shonen?" his mentor asked a peaceful smile on his face.

"I was thinking about the girl's quirk," he said after a moment of thought. "She has me a little confused."

Even without taking One for All into account, he'd been far too hasty in claiming that the boy had no potential as a Hero during their first fated meeting. His gift for quirk analysis was exceptional, to the point he honestly wondered if the boy's apparent 'quirklessness' was simply the result of a lazy pediatrician being unable to spot a subtle ability. After all, not all super powers were flashy. Sometimes even the most powerful could be anything but.

"Do your best thinking in the shower, do you?" he lightly teased, causing the boy to stammer lightly before laughing aloud. "I know the feeling. So what have you been thinking, my boy?"

"Well, I don't think she actually has a healing quirk," young Midoriya stated, causing All Might to raise an eyebrow. He'd like to know the boy's logic.

"Really now?"

"I've never heard of a healing quirk that works instantaneously," he said after a moment, causing Toshinori to nod in agreement. Not had he. "Plus she was able to heal... well... you. And it was strange to see. It was like one moment you were the way you were then I just blinked and you looked young again."

He chuckled. He was right. He'd gone from a broken man to hearty and whole in a blink. What an amazing ability that girl possessed.

"So what do you believe her ability is then, if not a healing quirk?"

He paused for a moment, "I have some ideas but they're a bit silly."

"Lay it on me, Midoriya-shounen!"

He blushed and lowered his head. "No, it's kind of stupid I shouldn't have..."

"Nonsense, Midoriya-shonen!" All Might exclaimed. "I'm sure whatever you've surmised may be outlandish, but never stupid. And I've run into some very outlandish things in my years so no matter how odd it may seem, it may at least worthy of being acknowledged as a valid theory, even if it is something of a longshot!"

Izuku took a deep breath. "I think her ability might have something to do with... time. You don't just look healed. You look young."

Toshinori frowned slightly for a moment. He was right. He'd been so busy just basking in the sensation of good health he hadn't honestly considered it, but now that he did...

He paused for a moment and stepped back, looking at his reflection in one of the windows that lined the hall. This wasn't just his relief taking years off of him, was it? He really did look like a young man again.

As he began to walk again, he could only chuckle at one thing though. The girl had kind of set herself up for some troublesome interactions with his female compatriots. Midnight alone would outright hound the poor girl...

"So what are you thinking?" he asked, looking at the young man walking lock and step with him.

"I think her ability is somehow connected to time..." Izuku stated. "Like she's somehow able to reverse the flow of time on something. Like maybe when she bit her tongue off, she just reverted her body to the way it was before she did. Or when she healed you, she didn't actually heal you, but just put your body into a younger state?"

"So you believe her quirk is somehow able to rewind an object?" he asked.

The boy paused and then lowered his head, "Yeah, it's kinda stupid and impossible I know. I'm sorry I..."

"Stupid? Absolutely not! Impossible, maybe!" he exclaimed with a boisterous laugh, "But in the absence of the probable, the most feasible impossibility becomes the probable! I believe it was Aristotle who said something along those lines?" He paused in thought, "I may be confusing the quote. I'll admit, it's been quite a few years since I took philosophy in college."

The boy blushed brightly.

"Besides, my own former sidekick, Sir Nighteye..." Who he'd absolutely needed to inform about his new state. "He has the ability to see into the future. Compared to that, a little girl who can reverse time isn't that outlandish, now is it?"

Izuku nodded. "No, I guess not."

They continued to walk for a moment before reaching the elevator.

Without pause, he pressed the button for the top floor causing the boy to blink in confusion.

"Wait, why are we going up?" he asked, a small amount of fear making its way to his voice.

"Because we have less than an hour to make it to UA," was his honest response, "We'll never make it in Tokyo traffic."

The boy's eyes went wide with horror.

"Which is why we're going to be driving in this..." All Might finished, timing his words perfectly with the opening of the door.

Young Midoriyta's squeal of horror transitioned seamlessly into an earsplitting fanboy squee as he beheld what lay beyond the door.

It had been some time since he'd used it, after all, he didn't travel with others much these days, but there it sat, as pristine and majestic as the day that David Shields had built it...

His personal heroic conveyance...

The Allmobile.