Paradise, End of a Symbol

Chapter 10

Joke of the Day

Syrup: People say that I 'act' like I don't give a fuck. Motherfuckers… I'm not acting.

All Might laid exhausted on the ground. Injured beyond anything he had experienced during his Hero career and frightened of what was to come next. A couple minutes ago when the ice meteorite struck, he knew he had no chance of smashing it into pieces or even blasting the shockwaves away from civilization…but as the Symbol of Peace, he had to try.

He watched as All For One disappear under the impact and Snowfallen teleport herself away to somewhere safe. He saw the blinding light of the collision before the earth itself began to wave from the unyielding force of the massive ice. From the dust and earth exploding into the air, he knew that he might not make it out alive from this one. A shockwave that dwarfed the previous explosion less than ten minutes ago.

Still, he got up onto his feet once more as he braced for impact. A Symbol was a shield. A symbol was more than an ideal for people to look at. A symbol was a shield to protect people and their beliefs in society. To do so, he must endure…he must persevere through this.

All Might: DELAWARE SMASH

The massive shockwave exploded from his fist and into the coming wave of destruction. In the corner of his heart, he hoped that it would at least do something to the coming wave but instead the current simply absorbed it like nothing before continuing on.

It was in that instant, he made the conscious decision of becoming a shield. Not as a metaphor or an ideal as a symbol but to stand firm exactly where he stood…and block all that would come.

For the first time, he felt his quirk, One For All, expand to become more as he felt power…but not his own…flood his muscles and body. He thought he heard the encouraging words of his dead master, Nana Shimura, behind him and all of the previous bearers of the quirk as they held him steady against the coming wave.

He must have imagined it…after such was not the nature of One For All, but he was not an idiot to turn down the given strength.

He girt his teeth as One For All flowed throughout his entire body, shielding him from what he was about to defend.

Then it hit.

Shards of metal, molten stone, blasts of wind, and anything that could have been mixed up crashing into him at unspeakable velocities as bit by bit he felt himself fail. His clothes began to rip apart and his skin accumulated cuts. He felt his eyes scratched before he closed them. His right leg took a step back from the wind pressure but the momentary stumble cost him more as he lost his balance and was bombarded by god-knows-what to his face.

As his body began to fail and his quirk weaken, his will stood his ground. While his body began to step back, his determination never let him fall.

A broken skull piece of the Gaster Blaster was blown as well as he realized too late. The massive spear-like construct pierced him directly through his stomach and left lung as his breath left him. As the spear pierced through him, he was brought down to his knees as he held onto life…but he refused to give up.

The pain intensified and his vision began to turn dark. His mind screaming and his heart slowing but his will pushed him on…until it was over. After an eternity of crucification, the destruction had finally passed…and he finally fell onto both hands and knees…one arm clutching his new hole, holding in what was supposed to be there.

Approaching him from the shadows was Snowfallen, walking slowly and easily across the broken terrain. It now looked like a scene taken directly from chaos as apart from the ruins that scattered this land, some parts were frozen solid due to Snowfallen's influence while other parts were oozing Earth's hot blood.

She calmly stepped over both ice and fire as she made her way to the downed form of the Symbol of Peace, in her hands was a head. A very familiar head.

All Might: You…have you come to finish me off as well?

His question was ignored as she twirled around the severe head of her former enemy.

Snowfallen: This is quite the surprise. I wouldn't have thought anyone other than Fujitora would be able to survive something on that scale. Perhaps clenching your buttcheeks and calling upon the power of the dead does have its merits. Or maybe it's the power of being half a century old and still a virgin? Something about becoming a great sage I'm sure.

She smirked as she couldn't believe that such a powerful quirk needed to be activated by clenching one's butt-cheeks. It just sounded so ridiculous as if a god (author) had just pulled it out of his ass.

All Might: A Symbol must never fall…at least not one of Peace. For Peace…I shall bring you in for Justice.

Snowfallen: Justice…? Justice you say? Justice in this quirk based world of discrimination? In this Hero saturated society where desires and greed are covered by nothing but a plastic license? The same Justice that breeds the villains roaming your very streets? You are directly responsible for breeding a world full of villains who exist only to take down the very idea you stand for. The ideal of Peace you symbolize is something I respect but others who follow your path simply hide in the shadow cast by your stature. They mock your ideals and spit on your efforts. The Peace you have brought is not one based on society but one based on the fear Villains have on you. The moment you are gone…it would be as if a Symbol never existed.

All Might: A Symbol is eternal. You can kill me…or break me…but another will take my place and Peace will be restored. And you…a villain, will be brought to Justice. If not today…then the next.

His words intrigued her as she searched her mind for who could possibly replace All Might. Was there another candidate for the Symbol of Peace? Did he mean the number 2 Hero Endeavor? No…that could not be it. Endeavor, while stronger than most, did not have the proper qualities or makings of a hero.

Then who could it be?

According to Doctor Kyudai, One For All was an inherited quirk. From it's first user to the eighth (All Might), the torch has been handed down; the quirk and the power growing with each new generation.

Snowfallen: A Successor

All Might: No…not yet…but my Sidekick will continue on my will as he will find someone suitable to continue on my legacy. After all…*cough* *cough* He is always right. He has already looked into the future…it has been set in stone.

Snowfallen seemed to take interest at his words, thinking about the benefits of having such a quirk. A quirk that could predict the future to such a degree…but was something really so accurate? Did someone like All Might believe it to the point that the future truly was set in stone once it was seen?

No. Impossible.

She scoffed at the notion of a set future. No one other than perhaps that damn Supreme Being could possibly be powerful enough to defy all chances of a different future. Only someone of her caliber would one's future be set in stone.

Against herself though? The future was always open. No matter what future this sidekick saw, the future would change. She had spent too much effort and time finding ways to thwart fate and destiny to be held back by a mere quirk.

The future would not be set in stone because a quirk predicted it. The future is a culmination of the efforts and will of people who put in to make it such a way as well as the chances of it happening.

Her? She had covered both areas. Through pure fucking dedication and will, she had ripped through all obstacles. She had gained ways to manipulate chance itself. If anyone was free of destiny in this world., it was her. If anyone could mold the future to their liking, it would be her.

Snowfallen: Allow me to tell you this Almighty Virgin. The Future is not a result of a quirk or sight. The future is always flowing…always changing. The freedom we have and the actions we take shape the future…but those who are stronger simply have more influence on what the future will be.

She leaned forward to match All Might's kneeling figure.

Snowfallen: The future is free of the chains of your peace and broken justice. It is free to flow to wherever it wishes. A quirk is faulty in nature being nothing more than a genetic mutation. A quirk holds secrets of the human body and the great pace of evolution we are taking as a species…but it does not hold the blueprint to the future. The future is something that those with the power and will can shape to their wishes. So what am I telling you?

Her eyes began to glow eerily as she looked him in the eye, unblinking.

Snowfallen: Allow me to return your words but with my belief. When someone of overwhelming power threatens you, then your future is set in stone. This is True Power. This is the Future

All Might: The power you possess is too dangerous to be let free. You use your power like a child would…you care not for anything but yourself.

At his words, Snowfallen simply laughed.

Snowfallen: *cough* Oh my! You're making me cough now too! Are you really that slow? That dumb? Of course I use my power as I wish! I hold the strength to do anything I wish, and thus when I have a desire, I act on it. It is a simple motivation…but a good one.

All Might: Do you…do you truly have no regards or feelings for the countless innocents buried under your snow? The blood of the faultless dyeing your snow red?!

Snowfallen: …no? After all, I don't target them. If they choose to get involved by standing in my way, then they have no one to blame but themselves.

All Might: Hundreds of thousands of innocents lost to your whims…some might hail you a hero…but all I see is a girl with no regards for the value of life. You are no different from a villain.

All Might wasn't sure if he was expecting a response but seeing as she was quite talkative, he wanted to hear her answer. Instead, Snowfallen simply sighed as if she was done with the business before beginning to walk off.

Snowfallen: Pirate, All Might. I am a Pirate. Also, you can thank me for sparing your life. Of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that I prefer a weak Symbol of Peace than one I don't know.

She she began to walk away, All Might clutched his missing side harder as the pain was beginning to get hard to bear. He needed to see Recovery Girl or any talented Health Quirk user fast…could he make it to U.A in time? Perhaps if his teacher Gran Torino was with him…

But what about her? What about Snowfallen? She took no chances with All For One and eradicated him once and for all, but him? Did she really underestimate him that much? Or did she find more benefits in him being alive than dead.

All Might: *coughing blood* This isn't over Snowfallen…Sooner of later Justice will catch up.

Surprisingly, Snowfallen turned back one last time. Her orange eyes glowing in the dark ominously.

Snowfallen: Ironic. That was what the Marines told me as well.

She took one more step, she was gone…just like that.

POV Mirai Sasaki, aka Sir Nighteye

The future…was broken.

How? How is this possible?

For the first time he felt blind, scared, and unsure. No longer certain of his sight, the future no longer solid.

He had kept it a secret from his master but it was necessary; his master wasn't one to be able to keep secrets. His quirk was able to see into the future…but it was also limited.

By touching an individual and then making eye-contact, I could activate my quirk Foresight in which I could see the future of the individual from a third-person view for 1 hour.

Through the years of learning and being the brains for my sensei, All Might, I had continuously used my ability on him so I could start the paperwork before it even happened. What this did, however, was develop my ability in sync with sensei and thus I could see his future for far longer than normal. 7 hours to be precise and 7 hours should have been plenty.

As Sensei went out of that door, the future I had seen was a hard fought victory but a victory nonetheless. With Sensei shaking but standing with his nemesis on the ground…but the future had been forcibly changed.

In all of my life I had regarded my quirk as both a blessing and curse due to it's single factor I had absolute faith in. 'An unchangeable future'. It allowed me to know exactly what would happen when…but it seemed that the moment I saw what would happen, it would inevitably happen.

For example the times I had tried to save people from accidents only to realize that it was hopeless or the times I held the hands of the ones on the sickbed and knew there was nothing I could do. Not the doctors, not the quirks, and not me. The quirk was a curse that stole away hope by locking the future.

And here it was now when the memory of the vision I had was forcibly changed and suppressed. Under the worst headache I had ever experienced, it was as if someone had crudely put a marker on the film of what was to come and wrote whatever they wanted on it.

If it was any other time I would have put more thought into it and try to reason out the possibilities. I would have calmed myself down from the notion that the future is no longer a single outcome or that my quirk could be overcome, but in that moment only one thing truly mattered.

The short glimpse of my sensei lying on the ground, bleeding out…all while knowing that I was nowhere near him at the moment.

I dialed Recovery Girl and yelled out a hurried message and location as I began running out of my master's office. We would need every second if we wanted to save master.

Please don't die sensei. This world still needs you

AN: Comments and reviews are love! At least make a dumb joke in the comments :D