Hi, I'm Chip Mulaney, I'm your father

Thinking was a rather slippery slope, like sledding down a snowy hill in a particularly large greased frying pan, and Izuku Midoriya found out that truth around the same time as Katsuki. Once one found something to think about that happened to be of particular importance to their soul, they would ponder, and it became impossible to ignore the world. Izuku had been sitting on his rooftop for the past hour, an endeavor that became easier without human limitations like the discomfort of the concrete or food or a particularly tired office worker deciding to come up to the roof for a break and wondering why a kid was sitting on the roof instead of being in school where he should be. He could just lie in the air and ponder for as long as he liked, a small joy he found in being dead, one of the only ones he had, for that matter. His rooftop that had so many bad memories connected to it had become a second home of sorts. Yes, he almost had a panic attack if he came close to the edge, but otherwise, it was familiar and a place he tended to go when he wanted to get a little sunlight or a few thoughts in.

"Hey kid, it took me forever to find you."

"Miss Shimura!" Izuku sat up in the air, recognizing Nana's voice.

"Please, just call me Shimura. The 'miss' makes me feel old." Nana chuckled. "What brings you up here?"

"There was an attack on U.A earlier today."

"What?!"

"The league of villains. They found a way to teleport into the cafeteria."

"But weren't they arrested yesterday?"

"They were, for the most part, but Shigaraki brought some weird monsters. He called them nomus. They looked like they had been made in a hurry. Shigaraki was arrested, though, and so was his foggy assistant."

"Hm." Nana pursed her lips. "I'll be back. I have to look into something."

"What? But you just got here!" Izuku protested.

"It's important. If you want to come, you can, but I have to check it out."

"Then I'll come with! I want to talk with you."

Nana nodded. "Come then. Stay close by." She motioned for him to come closer and Izuku floated down closer to the ground. Nana scooped him up in her arms and took off running, hopping off the building and gliding through the air. Izuku was more used to it this time, and was less nervous than he had been when Nana first took him jumping from roof to roof.

"Where are we headed?"

"Tartarus."

"We're going to Tartarus?" Izuku exclaimed.

"You'll see what I mean," Nana said, running and jumping to another building. The journey was relatively quick, as it was made by ghosts, and it was filled with conversation.

"So this is Tartarus,"

"I've been a few times. Some ghosts come to visit, but many others haunt the place. Many of the villains here have made a lot of enemies in life. Some of them have killed people, and the ghosts of their victims or the families of the victims have taken to haunting the prisoners. Sometimes the torment is worse than the punishments in Tartarus. It's a terrible fate, but almost all of the employees at Tartarus believe in ghosts now. It's hard to find any other reason for the things that happen there."

"The prison is haunted?"

"Very much so. You can barely walk through the place without bumping into a vengeful spirit or poltergeist. So stay close when we walk through the prison, alright? I don't want to lose you in the crowd. And after I check out the thing I'm looking for, I need to meet somebody."

"Who is it?"

"An old friend. She might know more about this." Nana set Izuku down. "Here. Let's go." And so Izuku Midoriya went to prison. It was a strange feeling, really. If someone rubbed their fingernails on stone and had to use the big spoon in the drawer because all the little spoons were in the dishwasher and they had a hangnail, the discomfort wouldn't be exactly that of how Izuku felt, but is would be somewhat reminiscent of what was going on in his brain. Nana and he walked down the rows of cells, Izuku finding himself more and more curious as they passed the villains. One villain was chained to the ground, but more or less able to move freely. She was sitting on her bed, staring at the flames flickering across her outstretched hand. Other cells were completely closed off, offering only a small window that would allow somebody to see inside, and others didn't even have the window. Nana and Izuku passed many ghosts, but Nana barely acknowledged any of them.

Nana stopped in front of a cell. "Is this it?" Izuku asked.

"Not exactly. I'm asking for directions." Nana passed through the wall into the cell, and Izuku followed close behind. Inside was a young man chained to a chair and a ghost looking at him like she was about to cry. "Juniper! It's nice to see you." Juniper was a particularly beautiful woman, in the way a tiger was beautiful, and like a tiger, she had an aura of power about her. She was much taller than Izuku was and could probably crush him like a can if she wanted. Her hair was white like fresh-fallen snow and was cut to about her shoulders. She clearly worked out often, or at least she did before she died. Somehow, the name Juniper was familiar, but Izuku couldn't figure out where he had heard it.

"Nana." Juniper turned and nodded to acknowledge her. "What brings you here?"

"I need to visit one of the people here, but I don't know the way."

"Which one?"

"I'm told that a villain was brought here today, a man by the name of Tomura Shigaraki. Do you know where I can find him?"

"Oh, you mean the kid," Juniper laughed. "He was brought in kicking and screaming. Borderline throwing a tantrum. He had some sidekick brought in with him. I wonder who raised such a miserably annoying person."

Nana nodded and sighed. "I know. He's my grandson."

"Ooh, that's rough." Juniper grimaced. "Who are his parents?"

"My son and his wife. They died when he manifested his quirk. Shigaraki was raised by a man named All For One."

"That explains a lot. The old fart is barely qualified as a parent. I should know, I dated the guy a while back before I met my Kiyoshi. He had some kid he brought under his wing, but he really sucked as a parent and the kid ended up running away. Good for the kid, too. I hate All For One for a reason and it's not his awful cooking. I found out he was an awful person soon after and dropped him like a sack of potatoes."

Nana laughed. "Fitting. He looks like a potato now."

"You knew All For One?" Izuku spoke up.

Juniper raised an eyebrow. "What's with the kid?" She seemed to recognize him, but the expression vanished as soon as Izuku had seen it.

"He's a friend of mine. He was just curious." Nana put her hand on Izuku's shoulder.

"I'm Midoriya," Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. "But most people just call me Deku," he muttered.

"That's an awful nickname," Juniper said, furrowing her eyebrow. "It just means 'useless.' Who would call you that?" Juniper glided over, and crouched down a little to be able to see him better. "You seem like an absolute angel." She paused. "Pun intended, I suppose." Izuku looked at the ground, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

"It was some kids I knew. Actually, most of everyone at school. Some of the teachers, too."

"Who do I need to fight?" Juniper cracked her knuckles, then paused. "Wait, when did you die? I need to know if these people are dead or not."

"Around ten or eleven months. And please, don't fight them."

"Why?" Juniper asked. "I'm dead, I'm not affected by societal conventions like embarrassment or getting in trouble. And if these people are alive, I don't even need to do much. I just gotta unplug their phone as soon as they go to sleep." Izuku just stared at the floor. "Fine, I won't fight them." Juniper wove her hand dismissively.

"Wait, I think I know where I've heard your name," Izuku said quickly. "Do you know a girl named Sakura and a ghost named Yosuke?"

"You know Yosuke?" Juniper raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he taught me possession."

"That's hardly news to me. He tries to pass the skill to anyone who'll listen. But I'm more surprised he introduced you to Sakura. In my experience, he tends to be pretty selective on who he brings to her." Juniper looked back at the man in the chair. "But, then again, I promised I would tell you where Shigaraki is. Last I heard he's in a holding cell awaiting trial. I don't know much from there, but I hope you find what you're looking for."

"Thank you, Juniper," Nana said.

"Anytime. It's all I can do for an old friend."

"I'll find a time to come back and chat. "

"That would be great. But, since I know you two are on a time crunch, shoo. Get out of here, I won't hold you back."

"Goodbye, Juniper!" Izuku chirped. "It was nice meeting you." Izuku and Nana left the room, and once they were gone, Juniper's smile fell. She turned back to the man in the chair.

"Oh, Kiyoshi," she murmured, floating closer to him and softly brushing her fingers against his face. The man seemed to register her presence, if only just barely. "I have a place prepared just for you. Justice will be served long before you return to my side, and the two of us will be able to rest. Trust me, my love. It will be alright."

Izuku and Nana found their way to the holding cells, which seemed to be a slightly less dismal part of the prison, in the way that a pot that had been underground for thirty-seven years and was more rust than metal at this point was a better thing to cook stew in than a slag heap. They floated down the hallway, seeing ghosts and living visitors with the prisoners in the cells. A few prisoners were crying, some were chatting with their visitors, but for the most part, they were all silent. Despite how the cells were somewhat less miserable than the rest of the prison, it was still Tartarus, and it had been named as such for a reason, as the chains and ugly beige wallpaper and dirty gray tile were a torturous hell from which it seemed one could never escape.

However, unlike the rest of the prison, the holding cells seemed more like an eternal office building. It was a miserable flavor of dull, with mind-numbing boredom in every direction and the constant hum of fluorescent lights buzzing in Izuku's ear like a mosquito. It was unsettling, that's what it was. After far too long of walking down the hallway, they found Shigaraki with his hands cuffed to a pole. It looked uncomfortable, and like the cops had done their best to make sure that he couldn't decay anything. His hands had been twisted so he couldn't break out of the cuffs or disintegrate the pole itself. The disembodied hands had been confiscated, and with that and the way his hands were twisted, Shigaraki looked deeply uncomfortable.

He was a young man in his early twenties, but you wouldn't know it from the quality of his skin. His face was covered in scars and dry, flaking skin. He was staring at the floor, either deep in thought or pouting from his defeat. He looked a lot less intimidating without the hands on his body and now just looked like some guy you would see on the street.

"Why are we here?" Izuku spoke first.

"Shh. Watch." Nana pulled Izuku under her cape like a chicken gathering her chicks under her wing. The two of them backed into the shadows and watched in silence. After a minute or two, a ghost passed through the wall. They were distinctly a ghost, but something was off. They seemed to be made of shadows and floated more than they walked. A thin white fog in the color of fresh-cut asphodel floated off of the figure like steam off of a fresh glass of tea. Most concerningly were the figure's hauntingly familiar golden eyes. The ghost's features became more distinct as they floated closer to the ground, and it soon became clearer that the figure was a man who looked either like a high schooler or like he was in his early twenties, but you could never really tell with ghosts.

Most ghosts appeared in the body they had when they were in the prime of their life, rather than the way they were when they died. Unfortunately for Izuku, this was the best his body could do. He had died too early to have a 'prime of his life' so he just stuck with a default setting. He sure wished he could at least age a little so he wouldn't be stuck being fourteen his whole (after)life. But this ghost was weird in a way Izuku couldn't pinpoint. Izuku was sure he knew who this person was, but he wasn't sure where from.

"Tomura," the ghost said, his voice in a familiar low pitch that felt like it scrambled Izuku's DNA.

Shigaraki scoffed. "It's you again. What kind of 'intel' have you got?" Shigaraki wasn't happy to see this ghost, and the fact he could see him shocked Izuku. The ghost hadn't appeared in the world of the living, so did Shigaraki have some kind of ghost-seeing quirk like Sakura? It was unlikely, since he already had the decay one. Or maybe the decay was part of another quirk?

"I'm here to help."

"You could have helped earlier," Shigaraki hissed. "I saw you just watching at the attack on U.A."

The ghost's laugh echoed through the cell. "And how would I have helped?"

"Oh I'm sorry, what with all your boasting of your great powers, you couldn't do anything then, but you can now?" Shigaraki's words dripped with contempt.

"Do you want me to break you out or not?"

"Fine. Give it your best." The ghost approached Shigaraki, but then he noticed something. After a moment or two, Izuku realized he and Nana had been spotted. A flash of recognition flickered in the ghost's eyes, and suddenly the ghost looked very nervous. Did he recognize Nana? "What's going on? Why are you just standing there like the idiot you are?"

"I saw something. But I need you to let me in."

"You're going to possess me?" Shigaraki snorted. "No. I'm not doing that. I already got possessed earlier today. I hate the feeling."

"And I'm sure you hate being in prison."

"I have a plan," Shigaraki hissed. "I'm not staying here for long."

"Fine. I guess I'll pay attention to the news and see your grand, daring escape." The ghost vanished through the wall.

"Why can he see ghosts?" Izuku asked Nana.

"I'm not sure," Nana whispered back.

"You two have been there for a while," Shigaraki rasped. "What do you need?"

"So you can see us?" Izuku spoke up first.

"Obviously. I'm very sensitive to the spirit world. I'm told it runs in the family."

"Oh, that's right." Nana snapped her fingers. "My dad mentioned that he could see ghosts. It probably skipped me."

"What do you mean?" Shigaraki hissed.

"Oh that's right, we've never properly met." Nana floated over. "Hi. I'm Nana Shimura, and I'm your grandma."