*Izuku's POV*

When we turned the corner, Shoto and I saw out friends huddled together, talking in hushed voices and watching the many TV screens on display around the city square we were in. "What's happening?" Shoto asked, looking up at the TV screens. "All Might is fighting that fleshy potato guy." Kacchan said, his voice lacked its usual snark. He sounded slightly concerned. "Izuku, I've made you this hoodie, so that nobody recognises you and you don't get cold." Yaomomo said as she offered me a plain black hoodie. I thanked her and pulled it on before pulling the hood as far over my head as I could. I didn't particularly want people staring at my bruised and battered face. After, the six of us exchanged a look before we collectively moved towards the crowd so that we could watch the fight on the TV screens. I gripped Shoto's hand tighter as we were swallowed by the crowd. Our little group stuck together as we looked up at the screen. I felt my heart clench as I watched All Might exchange blows with All for One. The potato man seemed to possess multiple quirks. With every punch exchanged and drop of blood spilt from All Might's body, I became more and more worried.

The fight raged on. It destroyed all of the buildings around it. I could feel a slight wind blowing through and ruffling my hair because of the punches the two men exchanged. I squeezed Shoto's hand tighter as All Might was knocked down. I could feel Shoto hold my hand tighter in return as we both watched the blood flow from All Might's forehead. It was painful. It was so hard to see such a strong man, one of my heroes, forced to kneel before what I can only describe as the embodiment of evil. I could see Kacchan clenching his fists in frustration as he watched the fight. His teeth were gritted and his crimson eyes were wide with anger and frustration. I placed my hand on his arm, causing him to jump slightly, and gave him a reassuring smile. I think he could see my fear though. It must have shone in my eyes. Kacchan took a steadying breath before turning back to the screen and looking at it with less anger. I looked around Shoto to look at Momo and Iida. They were both staring up at the TV with wide eyes. I could see the fear in them. Seeing fear in my friends' eyes had become a common occurrence by this point. That simple fact made me realise how much we had all been through. How much more we would have to go through. It was dreadful. I didn't know what to do to comfort them. I turned the other way and looked around Kacchan to see Kirishima. I wanted to cry at the look of hopelessness in his eyes. I wanted to run over to him and hug him. 

I pulled my hand from Shoto's. He gave me a bemused look, but I waved him off and pushed myself through the crowd so that I was by Kirishima's side. He looked down at me with tears in his eyes before rapidly wiping them away. "Sorry, Izu, it's not very manly to cry." Kirishima choked slightly. I reached up and gently pulled his hand away from his face. "If you ask me, it's very manly to cry," I said gently, " It's important to express your emotions. I think we're all scared right now.". Kirishima looked down at me with a slight smile, "Thanks Izu. I don't know how you can be so kind and level headed after what's just happened to you." he chuckled slightly. There was no humour to his laugh. I was solely comprised of anger and sadness. "Thanks, Kiri. I'm sure I'll breakdown once this is all over." I laughed myself. It was somewhat hysterical. He nodded before looking up at the screen once again, he still looked scared, but there was a glint of hope in his blood-red eyes.  

I sidled back to my previous position between Kacchan and Shoto and took my boyfriend's hand in mine once again. He squeezed my hand, not taking his gaze off of the screen. I looked up to see that All Might still hadn't gotten up from his position of kneeling on the ground. It looked like the fleshy potato was gloating. There was also a lot of smoke. It seemed to be coming off of All Might's body. I shared a look of concern with my friends before we all looked up at the screen to see something we thought we'd never see.  It seemed impossible. 

All Might had shrunk. 

All Might's body looked decrepit. Sickly. Bony. He had no muscle. I looked closer at the man and recognised him. I had seen him in passing so many times. I had greeted him. Bid him a good afternoon as I rushed out of a convenience store to get to band practice with snacks. Picked up his shopping after he had tripped over. I had never found out that man's name. It was certainly a surprise to find out that the man I had helped and seen on various separate occasions had been All Might. 

A shocked silence descended onto the crowd like a blanket. Nobody said a thing. The only sound you could hear was the sound of multiple helicopters flying around the fight. Even the news reporters commentary on the fight had come to a stop at the shock of All Might's abrupt transformation. I saw the look of determination on All Might's face as he looked up at potato face. Although the rest of his body was skinny and looked in no condition to fight, when All Might looked up, I could see it. His fighting spirit was still there. If you looked into his eyes, you could see that they still had the same shine in them. Just the look in his eyes reignited the flames of hope in me. All Might might lose his power. All Might may not be able to fight on, but his spirit would never die. His presence would forever be felt by today's heroes and citizens. A chant started at some point. Calls for All Might to continue fighting. That he could win. That he was still our hero. "You can do it All Might!" "We believe in you!" "Keep fighting All Might!" "You're our hero All Might!". People shouted words of encouragement all around the square we resided in. Although All Might most likely couldn't hear us, he stood up a little bit straighter.

Everyone continued to yell words of encouragement as other heroes arrived on the scene, I could see Endeavour yell something at All Might before he fired a plume of fire at potato head. The other heroes rushed around, rescuing civilians and trying in vain to hold off All for One. In the end, it was only All Might and potato face on the battlefield again. Their battle only got more fierce, despite the feeble condition of All Might and the obvious strength of All for One. It pained me to see the amount of blood coming from All Might, but the cheers of encouragement around me and stemming from me pushed away the fears I held. 

The final blow to All for One was extravagant. The floor exploded with how much power All Might drove the villain into the ground with. Whilst everyone else was cheering and shouting about how All Might had done it once again, I couldn't help but notice that the light in All Might's eyes dimmed ever so slightly. It wasn't noticeable unless you looked, but I could see it as clear as day. All Might had used up all of his power to defeat this villain. His quirk was gone. I was the next holder. I now possessed all of his quirk. I felt tears bead in my eyes at the thought.  All Might lifted his fist in victory. The crowd went crazy at this. In their eyes, if he had the strength to lift his fist, it was a sign that he could continue to be their hero. I knew that wasn't the case. I knew that the era of All Might's protection had come to an unfortunate and abrupt end. 

I watched as heroes rushed onto the scene and started rescuing people once again. I watched as a camera crew rushed towards the yellow tape which marked the fight scene. I watched as All Might lifted his finger and pointed directly at the camera. Everyone around me was starting to turn away, but my eyes were glued to the screen as All Might spoke. Despite the softness of his voice and the swelling noises of jubilation around me. I could still hear his voice as he spoke. "Now...It's your turn." he said. His voice lacked emotion. It was monotone and tired. His journey had come to its end. Everyone exchanged confused looks before shrugging and moving on. I didn't move from my space. I was rooted to the floor. I could do nothing but stare at the screen which showed the devastation of All Might's fight. I saw my friends exchange a look, out of the corner of my eye. I don't know what their exchanged gazes and mouthed words meant and I couldn't find it within myself to care. I was frozen with the realisation that I was All Might's successor.

After I had managed to rip my eyes from the screen, my friends had guided me to the closest hero. Coincidently, the closest hero just happened to be Auntie Joke. "Izuku!" She shouted as soon as she saw me. She rushed over to me and pulled my hood down before gasping at the damage to my face. "Oh my. What did they do to you?" she asked with tears in her eyes. Emi took a deep breath before pulling me into a hug and stroking my hair soothingly. In the arms of my Auntie, everything finally caught up to me. Tears began to fall down my cheeks. I sobbed into her neck. Letting everything out. Emi patted my back gently as she spoke to the others. She told them to go and speak to the police so that they could escort them back to the dorms safely. I heard my friends' footsteps as they walked away. I knew I'd most likely see them the next day, but that's wasn't on my mind at that moment. All that was going through my head was that I had been victim to Hisashi's abuse once again, even if it was only for three days. I had relived my childhood in less than 72 hours. I had seen the devil's face. It was too much for me. My body didn't want to put up with the pain and anguish. "It's ok, Izu. I'm here for you." Auntie Joke whispered into my ear as she carried me away. I assume the sight of Ms Joke carrying a teenager (who was only 10cm shorter than her) was quite amusing. But there was nothing funny about how I was feeling. My mind just didn't want to comprehend what was happening. What had happened. I passed out in the familiar, muscled arms of my Auntie. I relished in the familiarity of the situation. Nights of watching comedy films in Emi's arms flashed through my mind as I descended into darkness.

When I woke up, the familiar sterile smell of a hospital room greeted. I opened my eyes to be greeted by a white ceiling and the top of pale blue curtains surrounding my bed. I closed my eyes against the artificial white light of the room before I sighed slightly. Not finding the view of the ceiling all that interesting, I managed to push myself up in the bed so that I was leaning against my pillow. My movement caused the mess of black hair at my bedside to jolt up. The ebony eyes of my dad stared at me for a second before I was pulled into a rare hug from him. I didn't hesitate to wrap my arms around his shoulders and begin sobbing into them. I cried out my apology and how much I was scared. I cried out my fears. Dad didn't let go of me once. He let me cry into his shoulder and ran his hands through my hair in the way he knew calmed me down. When I finally pulled away, his entire left shoulder was wet with tears and snot. "Oh." I muttered, looking at the mess I had made on his shoulder. Dad looked at his shoulder as well before smiling ever so slightly and waving it off. "It's fine Izu. You can cry all you want." Dad sighed solemnly. I nodded, rubbing my arm absently. "Izu, you don't have to tell me now, but you're going to have to speak to someone soon." Dad whispered as he continued to run his fingers through my knotted hair. I nodded slightly and stopped rubbing my arm. "How long am I going to be here?" I asked quietly. I wanted to be back in the familiar environment of the dorms, surrounded by my friends. Dad sighed and ran his hand through his own hair, "Well... when you were first admitted, we thought you'd only need to be kept in overnight, but then they did some tests on you. There was a drug in your system which temporarily healed a lot of your injuries, but it wore off and your injuries got 10x worse." Dad began to explain, "You had internal bleeding, bruised lungs, multiple broken bones, signs of electrocution, fractured ribs and a lot more. The point is, they're going to keep you in hospital for a week or so to ensure that you heal properly. The drug in your system made it so that all of your injuries will heal well, but they're still there." Dad finished explaining. I didn't notice at first, but there was an IV line going directly into my hand. It made me slightly uncomfortable seeing the tube coming from my hand. "Can... can people visit me?" I asked, somewhat desperately. Dad nodded and pulled me in for another hug, "Of course Izu." he whispered into my hair before kissing my forehead. I slumped back onto my bed, suddenly really tired. "Go to sleep, Izu," Dad whispered as my eyelids became heavy and I slipped into unconsciousness. 

Can someone explain to me how all of the people who comment on this story are so sweet? Reading your comments, even the ones which threaten death upon Hisashi, warms my heart. Anyway, thank you for reading chapter 6 of Phenomenon and I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are.