The night of Ryuu's rescue...
The industrial district of Tokyo sat under a blanket of grey smoke. Sharp pieces of concrete and jagged metal bars pointed up from the dirt where the underground facility once stood. Floodlights from the hero rescue teams shined on the rubble. The workers sat on the back of their trucks. They held metal cups of warm coffee.
"I am telling you. It is a total mess down there." One rescue worker leaned over and spat a thick glob of spit onto the cracked road. SPLAT.
Down the street, a massive transport truck swerved around a yellow police barricade. The driver yanked the steering wheel. The tires screamed against the pavement. SKREEEEEE! He leaned his head out of the window. His face was red. He looked like he was about to explode.
"F##K THIS SHIFT!" The driver's voice cracked with rage. "I HAVE GOT DELIVERIES TO MAKE! GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY YOU LAZY BUMS!"
The rescue worker stood up. He raised his middle finger high in the air at the truck.
"GO TO HELL! WE ARE TRYING TO FIND BODIES HERE! DRIVE AROUND THE BLOCK YOU FAT IDIOT!"
The truck driver slammed his hand against the horn. HONKKKKKK! The engine roared. The truck peeled away down the side street. The worker sat back down and took a sip of his coffee. The hot liquid burned his throat but he didn't care.
Behind him, the air pulled apart in the shadows near a pile of bricks.
SHHH-ZIP!
A circle of purple and black mist spun in the air. The mist looked like thick, living smoke. A tall man stepped out of the portal. He wore a black suit with a white shirt. His face was covered in thick, lumpy scar tissue. He had no eyes. He had no nose. A large metal mask covered his mouth and neck. Long black tubes went from the mask into his chest.
HISS. CLICK. HISS.
The machine on his back pushed air into his lungs. The man turned his head toward the center of the ruins.
"Kurogiri." His voice was deep and steady. like a teacher addressing a student. "The heroes have been remarkably thorough with their search. It is a pity they do not possess the proper tools to find what is truly valuable."
The mist narrowed into the shape of a man with yellow, glowing eyes. "The perimeter is stable, Master. They will not notice our presence for at least twelve minutes."
The man merely raised his hand. He pointed a long, pale finger toward a pile of collapsed structural beams.
"Forty meters northwest. Eight meters below the primary load-bearing pillar."
He activated a quirk. His skin didn't change, but his posture shifted. He processed the heat signatures and the faint, rhythmic pulse of a dying heart.
"Search shows him fading. Kurogiri, if you would be so kind."
VROOOOM!
Kurogiri's mist expanded. It didn't just move; it multiplied. A dozen small portals opened simultaneously around the debris.
CLANG. THUD. WHAM.
Massive chunks of concrete disappeared into the dark holes and reappeared hundreds of yards away, tumbling into the bay with a distant splash.
The excavation was silent, and within three minutes, a deep pit sat in the middle of the ruins. At the bottom, a man lay twisted in the dirt.
Kurogane Takeshi, The Collector, looked like a discarded piece of scrap metal. His metallic skin was cracked. Long ribbons of chrome hung off his arms, revealing raw, red muscle and white bone beneath. One of his legs pointed in a direction no human leg should go.
The man floated down into the pit. His polished shoes didn't touch the mud; he hovered an inch above the ground. He knelt beside the broken man.
"Fascinating," The man's voice cut through the silence in awe. He reached out and touched the Collector's forehead.
DING.
A faint green glow pulsed from his palm.
"You... you came..." The Collector's voice came out hoarse. He coughed, and a spray of black, viscous fluid hit the front of the man's suit.
"I did. You are far too interesting to leave for the crows, Kurogane. Your research into quirk synthesis is a bridge I have been looking to cross for a long time."
"The boy..." The Collector's fingers twitched, scratching uselessly at the dirt. "Ryuu... he did it. The Resonance. It... it fixed the gaps. of that man's body... for a second... It was perfect."
The man's grip tightened on the man's head. "I know. I felt the shockwave of both of you dancing from miles away. It was a beautiful song, wasn't it?"
SHHH-WIPE!
The mist swallowed them both. The pit sat empty.
Seconds later, heavy boots crunched against loose gravel. A rescue worker walked past with a flashlight. The beam cut through the darkness. He stopped at the edge of the pit. The light swept across the bottom. Nothing but dirt and twisted metal. He grunted.
"Clear down here, too."
The worker turned and walked back toward the trucks. His flashlight bounced with each step. Behind him, the shadows in the pit settled back into place. Silent. Empty. Like nothing had ever been there at all.
While in somewhere entirely different...
The air in the secret medical wing was cold and smelled of ozone and bleach.
GLUB. GLUB. GLUB.
Huge glass cylinders lined the walls. Inside, green fluid swirled around grayish blue, muscular bodies. With a tag on them saying a word: "NOMU"....some of the Nomu had multiple limbs; others had exposed brains that pulsed with every beat of their artificial hearts.
A man with a white lab coat who seems to be the doctor around the facility hurried across the metal floor. His thick goggles reflected the overhead surgical lights. He hopped from foot to foot as Kurogiri deposited the dying Collector onto a waiting hover-stretcher.
"Master! You brought him!" Dr Garaki's high-pitched voice echoed. He grabbed a tablet and began scanning the Collector's vitals.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.
"Oh, look at this! The quirk factor is in total collapse! It is a mess! A disaster! His cells are eating each other to stabilize his body!"
"Can you stabilize him, Doctor?" The tall man in an oxygen mask asked. He walked toward the back of the room, his shoes clicking on the steel grates.
"Stabilize? Yes! But he is a leaking bucket, Master! I can patch the holes, but he will be empty in a month! Four weeks! That is all I can give you before he turns into a puddle of grey meat!"
"Four weeks is plenty of time to talk," The man scoffed out.
He pushed open a set of heavy blast doors.
Behind the heavy door was a throne room...
The throne room was dark, lit only by a massive wall of monitors. Each screen showed a different feed: news reports, satellite footage of UA High School, and police radio transcripts.
A young man with a dehydrated body sat on a low stool in front of the screens. He was hunched over, his white hair messy. He used his thumb to scratch at his neck, the skin there looked so red and raw.
SCRATCH. SCRATCH. SCRATCH.
"You're back," he said, but he didn't turn around. "Did you get the NPC?"
"Yes...I'm back, Shigaraki...he is in the medical bay," The man replied. He sat in his stone throne, the life support tubes clicking into ports in the back of the chair.
Beside the monitors, another young man leaned against a wall but was taller than Shigaraki. He wore a heavy coat, and the staples in his skin glinted blue under the LED lights. He held a small piece of paper between two fingers.
PHOOM!
A small spark of blue flame ignited on his thumb, burning the paper to ash in a second. "He looks like garbage. Is he actually worth the effort, or are we just collecting strays now?"
"He's not more than garbage Dabi...he's a gem." The man on the throne voiced out with what looked like a smile playing on his lips.
"Is he here yet?! Is he here yet!?"
A young, bubbly girl bounced into the room from a side door. She wore her beige cardigan and a short skirt that showcased her big thighs and thick hips. She carried a knife with a heart-shaped charm on the handle. She skipped over to the monitors and pressed her face against the glass of the center screen.
"Ooh! Is that him? Is that the pretty boy?"
The man sitting on the throne gestured with his hand. The screen changed. It showed a high-resolution image of Ryuu Kazama along with Mirko after his rescue. He was on his knees, his face wet with tears, his violet eyes wide and filled with pain while staring at the burnt building.
"Kazama Ryuu," The man's voice came out hoarse. "The boy who can make the imperfect... perfect."
A man dressed in clothes that resembled the "Deadpool" get-up stood in the corner, his mask twitching. "He looks weak! / HE LOOKS LIKE A GOD!"
"Shut up, Jin, All for One is speaking," Dabi muttered.
All For One tapped the armrest of his throne. "Tomura, look at the data from the facility. The boy touched his father. He activated Resonance. In that moment, Kenji Yamamoto...a man with a low-tier copy quirk, was able to hold three high-tier abilities at once. He achieved 100% efficiency with zero brain-strain."
Shigaraki stopped scratching his neck. He looked at the image of Ryuu. "Then that means...If he touches me... the decay... I wouldn't have to touch things with five fingers?"
"It is possible your quirk would evolve to affect things you haven't even touched," All For One straightened up a bit on his throne. "Or perhaps things that aren't even physical. It might be able to boost your quirk to the extent that it affects concepts. Memories. And if possible...space itself."
Shigaraki's eyes widened. A slow, jagged smile spread across his face. "I want him. I want to use him to break the game."
"We all want him, Tomura. But he is a hero-in-training. He believes in the 'light.' If we take him by force, he will close his heart. His quirk is fueled by emotional bonds. If he hates us, the amplification will be unstable. It might even kill the user."
"So we make him love us?" Toga giggled and stabbed her knife into the wooden table. "I can do that! I can be anyone he wants! I can be the pink girl! I can be the tall girl! I can be his mommy!"
"No," All For One said. "He is too smart for a simple disguise. We need to wear him down. We need to let the grief hollow him out until there is nothing left but a hole that only we can fill."
He turned to a smaller screen. "Are you listening, little bird?"
A voice came through the speakers. It was soft and sounded like it was coming from a girl in a large room. "I'm here."
"The target is back at UA," All For One stared at the small screen. "Report on his current state."
"He doesn't eat," the voice whispered. "He's in his room, but he's not alone... The girls...Ashido and Yaoyorozu...are also with him. He hasn't used his quirk. He looks like a ghost."
"Good," All For One voiced out after a few seconds of internal mulling. "Keep watching. Become his shadow. When he feels the most alone, that is when you will show yourself."
"Understood, Master."
The line went dead.
Two days later, the medical bay hissed as the pressure seals broke.
The Collector sat up in his bed. His chest was wrapped in thick, white bandages that were already turning black with seeping fluid. He looked at his hands. They were no longer his usual metallic sheen...they were pale, trembling flesh.
Dr. Garaki stood at the foot of the bed, holding a large needle filled with a glowing purple liquid.
"You are awake! Good! I have pumped you full of stabilizers, but your heart is working at 200% just to keep you sitting up! Your body is a war zone!"
STAB.
Garaki drove the needle into the Collector's arm. The villain gritted his teeth, his jaw muscles bulging.
"He needs the... the data," the Collector wheezed.
All For One stepped out of the shadows. "No. I want the feeling, Kurogane. Tell me what it felt like looking at that man when he got boosted by his father."
The Collector leaned back. He stared at the ceiling. "It felt like... like being blind my whole life and suddenly seeing the sun. That man's quirk...wasn't supposed to be like that. But that wasn't all...it was strong...strong enough to almost knock me out on our first exchange...that man whom I faced on that rooftop was vastly different from the man I spared with when I first met him..."
He coughed, and a thick rope of black spit landed on the floor.
SPLAT.
"With what I observed, he seems to be able to see the 'code' of the quirk," the Collector continued. "He doesn't just make quirks stronger. He makes it right. He fixes the mistakes the user makes. He makes the quirk... what it was meant to be before human biology limited it."
"And the range?" All For One crunched his nonexistent brows.
"*Sigh* Unfortunately, it's short...he has to touch the person to start it. But once the link is made, he can stay connected for about fifty meters. If he gets further than that, the signal drops."
All For One nodded. "And the emotional component?"
"He has to feel something. If he's just doing it for a job, it's a 2x boost. If he's doing it for someone he loves... it's a 10x boost...which he himself doesn't even know of... it can even be more. He gave his father a god-tier status because he 'loved him'."
"Interesting," All For One turned to Garaki. "Doctor, prepare the recording equipment. I want every memory of that battle extracted...if possible. Every sensation. We will build a profile for the boy. We will find his 'frequency.' And then, we will tune him to our station."
The Collector looked at his hands again. They were starting to turn grey. "I'm dying... aren't I?"
"You are serving a great purpose," All For One turned and walked out of the room. "The greatest purpose a man can have. You are becoming a stepping stone for the new world."
The doors slammed shut.
CLANG.
Somewhere entirely different, the sun was dropping behind the tall, modern buildings of the UA campus.
Toga stood on the roof of a nearby apartment complex. She was wearing the face of a thirty-year-old businesswoman with short brown hair and a tan suit. She held a pair of black binoculars to her eyes.
"Where are you... where are you..."
She scanned the training grounds. She saw the Class A students walking back toward the dorms. She saw the boy with the engine legs waving his arms around, rounding up all his classmates. She saw another person she has been stalking for a while laughing at something.
Then she saw him.
Ryuu was walking between Mina and Momo. He looked smaller than he did in the news photos. His shoulders were slumped. He walked with his hands in his pockets, his eyes fixed on his own shoes.
Mina reached out and grabbed his arm. She pulled him toward her, leaning her head on his shoulder as they walked.
Toga's grip on the binoculars tightened.
CRACK
.
The plastic casing of the binoculars splintered under her fingers.
"She's too close," Toga whispered. Her voice was high and shaky. "She's touching him. That's my spot. That's where I should be."
She watched as the trio entered the Heights Alliance building. Ryuu didn't look back. He looked like he was barely holding his head up.
Toga pulled a small notebook from her pocket. She used a pen to write in jagged, messy strokes.
1. He likes the pink one.
2. He likes the tall one.
3. He is sad.
4. HE NEEDS TO BLEED.
"If I cut you," Toga said to the empty air, "would your blood be violet like your eyes? Or would it be red like everyone else's? I bet it's pretty. I bet it tastes like a sad person."
She licked her lips. Her tongue was a livid pink color.
BZZT.
The phone in her pocket buzzed. She pulled it out.
AFO: Report.
Toga typed with one hand, her eyes never leaving the dorm windows.
*He is very sad. He is surrounded by girls. They love him. I want to kill them. Can I kill them? Not yet? Okay. I will wait. I am being a good girl. I am watching.*
She put the phone away and sat on the edge of the roof. She swung her legs back and forth over the long drop.
"Ryuu-kun," she whispered. "I'm going to find out what makes you cry the most. And then, I'm going to do it again and again until you only smile for me."
She pulled the mask of the businesswoman off her face. It melted away into a grey, liquid substance, revealing her real face. She grinned, her fangs white and sharp.
DING.
An elevator chime sounded from the apartment building below.
"Time to go," she said. She stood up and leaped off the roof, falling into the darkness of the alley below.
Back to the present...
Midnight at UA.
The dorms were silent. The only sound was the hum of the vending machines in the common area.
Inside Ryuu's room, the air was heavy. Ryuu lay on his bed, his eyes open, staring at the dark ceiling.
Mina was asleep on his right side, her breathing heavy and rhythmic. Momo was on his left, her hand resting on Ryuu's chest as she dozed.
In the corner of the room, near the closet, the carpet depressed.
THUMP.
It was a light sound, like a footstep.
Someone stood there. 'She' was completely naked, her clothes left in her own room. She was like a void in the air. No light reflected off her. No shadow followed her.
She watched Ryuu.
But she didn't move; she merely stood in the corner of Ryuu's dorm room. To the world, she was nothing. No skin, no hair, no shadow. All For One had spent years keeping her in dark rooms, training her to be a "void" so her quirk would reach its peak. She wasn't a girl to him; she was a living camera.
The moonlight through the window cut through the dark, but it passed right through her. While on the bed, Ryuu's slight blink caused a single tear to roll out of his eye and soak into his pillow.
She felt a cold knot in her stomach. Strangely, she felt heavy pity for the boy she had only just started stalking. She had been watching him for a week now, seeing him scream in his sleep and stare at the walls for hours. He was a "tool" to All For One, just like her. But he was allowed to cry. He was allowed to be seen.
She reached out her hand. Her invisible fingers stopped an inch from his cheek.
'We are the same,' she thought. 'Both of us are just pieces on a board. But you still have a heart that breaks. Mine is just... empty.'
She wanted to touch his skin just to feel if he was warm. To confirm that a human being was actually there. But she pulled back. If she touched him, she became "real," and "real" things got broken by the Master.
She turned and walked to the door. She moved like a ghost, her feet making zero noise as she stepped over a shoe. She slipped into the hallway, where the air felt even colder.
She pulled a small, black burner phone from a pouch on a string around her slim waist. The phone looked like it was floating in mid-air. She tapped the screen with a focused expression.
CLICK. CLICK. CLICK. It was all that sounded in the quiet hall.
REPORT: Target is still in a state of emotional collapse. He is not eating. He is not training. The grief is deep. He is ripe for the next phase.
She stared at the text. She felt a flicker of something...which was a slight spark of self-recognition...she saw her past self in him...and now, she was helping her Master break the boy more than he was already.
BZZT.
The phone shook in her hand.
AFO: Excellent work, Toru. You are my most valuable tool. Continue the observation. Do not become "visible."
"I am never visible," she whispered to the empty hallway. Her voice was flat, like a recording.
She put the phone away and walked back into the quiet hall, like a void moving through a world of solid things.
All For One sat in his throne room.
The monitors showed everything. He saw Toga walking through a crowded street. He saw the GPS marker for Toru moving back to her 'room'. He saw the heart rate monitor for the Collector, which was a flat green line.
BEEP—
The Collector was dead.
"Doctor," All For One spoke into his headset. "The Collector has passed. Secure the brain. I want every last scrap of data."
"Already on it, Master! Already on it!"
All For One leaned back. He looked at the center screen, which still held the image of Ryuu Kazama.
"You think you are alone, Ryuu," All For One voice was a low, soothing rumble. "You think you are surrounded by friends who care for you. You think the heroes will save you."
He laughed. It was a dry, hollow sound that filled the empty room.
"But the friends you love are the ones who will hand you to me. The grief you feel is the chain that will pull you into my arms."
He raised his hand and closed it into a fist.
"Resonance. A quirk that brings people together. A quirk that creates perfection through connection."
He leaned forward, the light from the monitors reflecting off his scarred face.
"I have been alive for a very long time, Ryuu. I have seen empires rise and fall. I have seen heroes become legends and legends become dust."
HISS. WHEEZE. HISS.
"But I have never seen a tool as beautiful as you."
He tapped a key on his console. A new file appeared.
It was labeled PROJECT: HARMONY.
"Sleep well, little hero," All For One said. "The world is going to change very soon. And you are going to be the one who changes it for me."
The monitors went black. The room fell into total silence.
In the darkness, the only sound was the steady, rhythmic breathing of a monster.
HISS.
WHEEZE.
HISS.
A/N: Sorry for the late update, I passed out at my friend's place.