Part of him never wanted to get back up. His scars ached, his fresh wounds burned, and he was just so tired. But he forced himself up with a groan, glancing around warily. He already knew he wasn't in any danger, as Danger Sense hadn't gone off, but he also knew that could change at any given moment.

It appeared that he was in a dead end alley. The absence of rain was a nice change, but he was still soaked from the fight that led him to be warped here.

Must be pretty far if it isn't raining, Izuku thought, moving down the alley towards the street. But where-

He peered out of the alley and gazed upon true destruction. The cities of Japan were damaged from what Izuku had seen from his search for All For One, but it had been nothing like this. Very few buildings stood and everywhere he looked he saw the aftermath of what could only have been a devastating battle.

It's worse than Kamino Ward, Izuku gripped his fists. What happened here!? How haven't I heard about it!?

"Something's wrong," Nana spoke from beside him, her ghostly hand gripping his shoulder. "Everything feels...off."

Izuku pulled out his phone and tried calling All Might. No connection. Silently cursing, he tried again, but to no avail. Then Danger Sense flared and his head snapped up, mask covered eyes already zeroing in on the direction it was coming from. It wasn't directed towards him, but he could feel it pulsing louder and louder.

"Be careful Nine," Yoichi's soft voice warned him. "Something isn't right."

"I know," Izuku whispered before taking off with a super powered leap and activated Float. He was beginning to hear the sounds of battle now. Then he saw them. Fighting in the ruins of a building, several people were using low walls as cover as a group of four kept them pinned down with their quirks.

Izuku's eyes widened as he recognized the people ducking behind cover. Jiro. Pixie-Bob. Honenuki. Pixie-Bob looked wounded as both hero students were holding her up. Eyes whipping towards the enemy, he quickly analyzed their quirks. Blasts of energy that corrodes what it touches. Flamethrowers for hands. Cactus mutation quirk, can shoot out her needles. And someone with a support item, some sort of machine gun. All long range attacks. I can work with this.

A shout from the villain firing the machine gun. He'd spotted him. Danger Sense flared as the weapon was aimed towards him. Izuku fired an air blast, shooting him away from the spread of bullets. He aimed his hands behind him, blasting off with both hands, propelling himself towards the enemy. A strand of Blackwhip shot out, latching onto the support item. He yanked on it, simultaneously jerking it out of the villain's hands and pulling himself along, landing a punch on the guy. He leaped out of the way as fire scorched the air, pulling the downed villain with him to avoid him getting caught in the attack.

Shooting forwards, Izuku leaped to one side as a corrosive blast tore a hole in the ground, a glob of the substance catching on the hem of his suit, burning a piece away. After creating enough wind pressure to knock aside the flames directed at him, he landed a solid kick against the guy's chest with a minimal output of One For All before leaping back and shooting out Blackwhip and latching onto the cactus lady. He yanked her forward and she crashed into the corrosive villain.

Landing on the ground, Izuku quickly gathered all the villains together and binding them with Blackwhip. When the cactus lady tried shooting him, he flicked his finger at her, knocking her needles away and knocking her unconscious.

"What happened here?" Izuku questioned the one with the corrosive quirk.

"Whaddya mean?" He snapped, glaring at him.

Izuku drew nearer. "This city is in ruins. I want to know what happened. Was it All For One?"

The man blinked at him as the guy with the flamethrowers sneered, "Yeah it was All For One you dipshit. Where've you been?"

"This couldn't have happened in just a short time," Izuku muttered. "I would've known. And why can't I get in touch with them..."

He heard footsteps behind him and he turned to see Jiro and Honenuki hobbling towards him, still half-carrying Pixie-Bob, who had blood smeared across her head and was currently unconscious, but judging from the bandages wrapped across her body, she had been quickly tended to and thankfully wasn't in any immediate danger.

"Whoever you are, thank you," Honenuki spoke. "We couldn't have-"

"Oh my god," Jiro nearly dropped Pixie-Bob as she stared at Izuku in disbelief. "You can't be- Izuku!?"

Honenuki's jaw dropped. "Wait, what!? But you're-"

"Izuku- Midoriya !?" The choked voice came from the corrosive villain, who was now staring at Izuku in absolute fear. "But you're supposed to be dead!"

"What?"

Izuku was dumbfounded. What was going on here?

"You're alive!" Jiro pushed her share of Pixie-Bob onto Honenuki, who grunted under the extra weight as Jiro ran to Izuku, throwing her arms around him. "We thought you'd died." Tears streamed down her cheeks. Izuku had no idea what to say or do, arms rigid at his side as his mind tried to process what was going on.

"We need to get back to base," Jiro pulled back, wiping at her tears, a huge smile on her face. "Wait until the others see you!"

"And, you know, get Pixie-Bob medical attention," Honenuki grunted.

"What about-" Izuku turned to the villains.

"Go and we'll never hurt anyone ever again!" One pleaded.

"Yeah, we- we'll never try anything like this again, we promise!" another cried. "We're so sorry, Deku!"

"Let them go," Jiro advised with a glare at them. "They're not worth the time. We have to get back to UAH, and they can't come with us."

"UA...H?" Izuku blinked at her.

"I'll explain on the way," Jiro said, already turning away. "Come on."

Izuku stood there for a moment, hesitating, before relinquishing Blackwhip and letting the villains fall, huddling together in fear. Fear of him. Shaking his head, he moved over to Honenuki, taking her weight off him and carrying her bridal style. "I got her. Lead the way."

As they jogged, Izuku took stock of the situation. Something was definitely wrong here. They had thought he was dead. But hadn't they gotten his note? And how come those villains shook at the very mention of his name?

"Jiro-," Izuku began, only to be interrupted by the girl saying, "Kyouka. Come on Izuku, aren't we close enough to call one another by our first names?"

"I..." Izuku was lost. Sucking in a breath, he focused his mind. One question at a time, the most important ones first. "What happened here?"

"This is Musutafu," Honenuki said. "Or what's left of it after you and All For One fought."

Izuku slowed to a stop. "When I fought..."

Ji- Kyouka and Honenuki stopped as well, looking back at him.

"We'd thought you had died," Kyouka said gently. "Hell, we saw your corpse in All For One's hands as he took One For All from you."

"How'd you do it?" Honenuki asked, lifting his visor. "I mean, everyone saw you die, but clearly you're here, so you must've done something. Plus you still have your quirk."

"Quirks," Kyouka corrected him.

"But I don't remember any of this," Izuku stated, then jolted when he heard Pixie-Bob moan. Right, she was injured. He hurried forward, letting Kyouka and Honenuki take the lead again.

"Amnesia?" Kyouka spoke in disbelief. "You've injured yourself in so many ways, but this is definitely new. Ah, here we are."

They stopped at a road, or the ruined mess of a road. A beat up red car sat there with its top missing. Kyouka slid into the driver's seat, her earphone jack plunging into a pocket and came back out connected to some sort of device she used to plug into the car, starting it.

Izuku set Pixie-Bob in the back and lowered her head onto his lap as Honenuki hopped into the passenger's seat. Kyouka took a quick glance back at Izuku as she started driving. "Man, you look like hell chewed you up and spit you back out. Your costume is so worn you look like a villain."

"Sorry," Izuku apologized and lowered his mask, letting the rushing wind blow back his matted hair.

He saw sympathy flash in Honenuki's eyes. "Dude, you look tired. What happened to you?"

Kyouka took another glance back at him and swore. "You look like crap. When's the last time you slept? Or ate?"

"Can you just please tell me what's going on?" Izuku asked, desperation creeping into his tone, trying to hold the hero in his lap steady as the car jerked. All around the scenery of destruction rushed by and it was all Izuku could do to not imagine all the lives lost. "All I can remember was fighting a villain with a warp quirk and I got sent here..." he trailed off. "What's the date?"

"Uh," Honenuki tapped the side of his helmet. "Sorry, one sec. Let's see... May18th, XX39."

Izuku paled. "Th-thirty-nine?"

"Your battle with AFO was literally nearly two months ago," Kyouka added.

"No no, this is all wrong," Izuku interjected. "The day, the year I was at, it was XX37!"

"WHAT!?" Kyouka yelled and the car swerved. Cursing, she struggled to right it. Once she had it back under control, she looked back at Izuku in shock.

"Maybe... maybe it was a time warping quirk," Izuku muttered aloud. "But she clearly warped objects to and from me, so maybe instead of reaching across the third dimension it also reaches the fourth dimension. If that's true, then that would be a literal game changer, and it wouldn't make sense if she works for AFO because it wouldn't be just some quirk he'd hand out when he could've just used it to change history as we know it..."

"Never saw your muttering habit in action before," Honenuki whistled. "But is what I'm hearing about time travel correct?"

Izuku fought a blush. This whole situation had caught him with his pants down so to speak that he was devolving back to old habits. "Uh, yeah. You said you saw your Izuku die, right? And the year is XX39. I come from the year XX37. I'm still..." he bit his lip. "I'm still in Class 1A. I'd be in 3A now, huh?"

"We all are," Kyouka said. "Well, we're all in our third year I should say."

"I encountered a villain with a warp quirk," Izuku went on. "And maybe she's able to warp someone through time, and that's how I ended up here. But if All For One had someone like that at his disposal, why use it on me and not on himself?"

Both Kyouka and Honenuki were silent on that, exchanging a glance between them that he couldn't see. A groan from his lap diverted his attention. Pixie-Bob's eyes fluttered before cracking open slightly. She blinked, then groaned as she shut her eyes, nestling her head further into Izuku's lap, making him blush crimson.

"If this is a dream then I don't wanna wake up," she moaned before passing out again.

"Um, I think she'll be okay," Izuku squeaked, looking up, his breath suddenly disappearing. They had just made a turn and now he could recognize his surroundings. A hill sat in the distance where UA had normally stood, but now he could see that the school was in ruins, half of it missing and the other half battered looking even from this distance. What had once been a fortified wall surrounding a vast perimeter only stood in certain areas. He could see dotted fires across the area within the border.

"What..." his voice trailed off. He couldn't speak. Sure, the devastation had been bad from when he had come from, but this... this was like seeing the remnants of the apocalypse. UA was one of the last bastions of Hero Society in Japan, and to see it having fallen... it brought tears to his eyes. He could only watch in silence as they drove through the ruined streets.

Soon they had reached the gates of the UA Barrier, or what was left of them.

"You're back!" A voice shouted and Izuku recognized it to be from Ashido before he saw her. And beside her was-

"Where is Ryuko!?" Tiger hurried over as the car slowed.

Twin gasps from him and Ashido when they saw Izuku. "How-!?"

"No time to explain," Kyouka snapped. "We're heading straight on through. Code Zeta."

Both student and hero jerked in surprise at that, glanced at Izuku, then nodded, letting Kyouka floor the accelerator.

"Code Zeta?" Izuku asked. "What's that?"

"Oh, uh, Pixie-Bob," Honenuki answered hurriedly. "We need to treat her right away, just in case there's more damage, y'know."

"Recovery Girl should be able to heal these wounds in no time," Izuku looked back at the injured hero, not noticing how Kyouka's grip on the wheel tightened and Honenuki's breath caught. But he did feel Danger Sense. It was faint, steadily growing. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kyouka glancing at him in the rearview mirror before quickly glancing away once their eyes met.

Something was... wrong. Very wrong.

Code Zeta... Izuku thought, this time making sure his thoughts stayed inside his head. Why would they need to say that when they could just say she was hurt?

"I don't like this," Daigoro's image hovered just behind him. "These kids ain't right. They're up to something."

Why would they be? Izuku asked. They're my friends. Well, Kyouka is, but Honenuki is a student at UA.

"There's always the UA traitor," Daigoro said, crossing his arms. "Maybe in this future some of the heroes joined the villains."

"That makes no sense," Nana argued. "Not based on what we've seen so far. They were acting fine up until-"

Up until I mentioned time traveling, Izuku interjected. Something changed then, but I don't know what or why. It's like they're acting cautious around me... The answer came to him at the same time it came to the two vestiges, judging by their sudden intake of breath. They can't trust my word. Dammit, they say they saw me- their Izuku die. And suddenly I appear out of nowhere. I wouldn't trust me either, not right away.

"Be careful, Nine," Nana repeated Yoichi's warning from earlier. "If they don't trust you, you better be prepared to fight. Can you do that when you're up against your friends?"

I just have to convince them it's actually me, Izuku told her, eyes taking in his surroundings as he conversed with the previous holders of One For All. Makeshift buildings stood in place of ruined homes and people milled about open fires burning in trash cans, weary and battered expressions fitted on all. Most barely acknowledged the car speeding through, but some glanced their way. Those few gazes widened upon seeing Izuku, stumbling after them for a few seconds as if they couldn't believe their eyes.

It was only then did Izuku notice them. Heroes. Or what was left of them. Along the sides of the main road stood what he'd first mistaken as banners, but now that he looked closer, he saw that they were poles with pieces of torn fabric hanging off them. Fabric from the costumes of heroes.

Something caught in Izuku's throat as he stared at them. Even though they were driving fast, Izuku was able to put the faces to the pieces of costumes. He'd studied just about every known hero that it was impossible not to.

Mt. Lady. Midnight. Ragdoll. Cementoss-

Izuku nearly cried out as he finally became aware of the tears streaming down his cheeks. The car had begun to slow, making its way up the hill to UA. There, standing in the distance, one of the last poles, and one of the tallest, held the fabric of a familiar red, white, and blue spandex. He choked down a sob.

"Izuku," Nana's ghostly arms wrapped around him in a hug from behind. "It's okay. He's not dead, not where you came from."

But- he-

"Nine," Hikage spoke this time, interrupting Izuku's thoughts. "You need to focus. They're stopping. You need to be ready for anything. Danger Sense is going wild. It's not just them. You can sense them too. There are others out there and they're ready to strike."

Izuku quickly wiped at his eyes, taking a couple deep, calming breaths. He was right. He had to focus. But as they entered the gates and into the courtyard, Izuku's eyes weren't drawn to the ruined grounds, nor the school missing half of itself. No, he stared at the highest pole yet, standing in the middle of what looked to be a thousand burnt out and melted candles. At the top, swaying gently, was a torn piece from a dark green hero costume with black stripes.

For a moment he didn't recognize it, nor understand why it stood here as a memorial when All Might's pole was just outside-

It's mine, Izuku sucked in a shaky breath. That's... my costume.

Kyouka parked the car, turning to the back seat. "Izuku, give Pixie-Bob to Honenuki."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked. "Oh, yeah, here." He gingerly transferred the hero to Honenuki's arms who began hobbling away. Izuku almost started after them, then stopped, Danger Sense suddenly blaring in his head. He stood stock still, watching them get further away until they disappeared into the ruined UA building.

He heard the telltale signs of Kyouka clicking her earphone jacks into her speakers. "Who are you?" She asked as he heard her edge away from him slowly. "Who are you really? And why are you impersonating Izuku!?"

Izuku bit his lip at her strangled cry. It hurt to hear it. "I am Izuku. I... I don't know what's going on. One moment I was fighting a villain, the next I was-"

"Cut the bullshit!" Kyouka snapped and Izuku leaped into the air just as her sound waves ripped up the concrete where he'd been standing. Danger Sense flared again and he twisted, a stream of tape flying past him followed by a creature made from shadows. He landed and immediately dodged to his right at the sound of a cannon firing, the explosion from the impact knocking him back. He found himself near the memorial to him, planting a clawed hand down as he stared up at the people gathering in front of him.

Kyouka stood there, flanked by Iida and Sato, as Sero swung in, setting down Tokoyami. There were still others in hiding judging by Danger Sense, enough to let Izuku know they were intent on taking him down.

Izuku grit his teeth. He didn't want to fight. This was all just a big misunderstanding. It especially didn't help that he really didn't know how or why he was here. If he was going to figure it out, he would need help from his friends. And as it stood right now, his friends were getting ready to attack him again.

"Please," Izuku tried again, desperation in his tone. "I don't want to fight. I don't even know what's going on!"

No reply, only hard stares from all around as they advanced. Reluctantly, Izuku slid into a stance. He didn't have a choice here. He was going to have to fight them despite how weary he felt. He could only hope that he could make them see reason before things got too out of hand.

Yet another story I've added to my list of works. This one, however, is planned to be a shorter story. Only 10 chapters if you can believe it. But I plan to make these 10 chapters some of the best I've ever done, so hopefully I can live up to my own ridiculous standards. It's set during the Dark Hero Arc and as such features a battle worn and mentally exhausted Izuku, so expect angst.

Because of the shorter length of the next chapter, it'll be immediately available to read, but the third chapter, while already written, will be posted on a later date. Something else to keep in mind that this story will likely have slower and less frequent updates than WMAH, but only time will tell if I stick to that.

Cover and banners made by the wonderful Juni_Penguin_. Thanks again!

Hopefully you all enjoy this story and what it has to offer. Toodles~