#nightmarefuel

This au was curated in a nightmare so bare with me.

In this au, all powers get obtained via transfer. It is regarded as a heavily personally topic and not to be discussed with others outside of your family.

When two parents mix their powers together, as a symbol of their love, they pass that mix onto their child when they think theyre ready or is encouraged to. For example, at family gatherings, parents might be encouraged through hushed conversations to pass their power onto their child at specific ages so they can adapt faster if their quirk is expected to be rougher than normal, like mutation quirks.

Following tradition, mutation quirks are mixed and passed down when in their infancy, everyone is is recommended to at least wait until the toddler phase and after the terrible 2s to secretly pass on your power.

Everytime the powers are mixed and passed down, its a gamble to how the child would handle said power or what it may come out to be. (This is explaining the todoroki family, Enji dumpsterfire todoroki has a fucking gambling problem)

Now, the main reason my brain created this au was mostly focused on izuku. His father is gone and his mother is unable to pass her quirk down without mixing, leaving her child powerless.

Aka, quirkless people make up the divorce/widow rates in Japan.

Now, awake me is aware of how 1/3 marriages in Japan lead to divorce, but asleep me was in a world where it is heavily judged to leave your husband or being a single parent in Japan.

Due to this judgement, quirkless people are a sign that the family isnt following the social standard and will be ridiculed behind closed doors to the point that kids will feel the vibes of the adults surround the topic and copy their mannerism with a lack of control or restraint.

Thus explains why Izuku was bullied and looked down upon in society when quirkless. Not just the power bias, but also what it means for their families.

Now, inko, ashamed of all of this, never explained how powers were passed on. Izuku was told confidently by all the adults in his life that around 5 he'll obtain his power, and after he didnt, it became a touchy subject that no one wanted to touch due to it being a social taboo. Like if a toddler constantly kept asking you about where babies came from.

"Where do quirks come from?" Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much... "a daddy? I dont have that" ... oh hey is that all might?! "WHERE"

A side note that should be mentioned, passing on your power onto someone other than blood relatives is EXTREMELY TABOO. Like, pity worthy taboo. Hate crime worthy taboo. (In societies eyes i mean)

In other words, and this is where the nightmare part kicks in, Allmight is a fucking creep.

Basically this meme:

...

Now that you can see where my brain probably got this idea, I have to roll with it.

This also explains why, after unlocking multiple quirks, deku is shamed for having too many. At the point of the war arc, his public family information is out there and people know his father has vaporized in the sun a long time ago, leading the public to fear 2 things. He's a nomu, scientifically made by an evil guy who forced the taboo of multiple power transfers, or has multiple powers because his mother did the taboo of putting so many in her child. Im not wording this right, but its just not socially acceptable in that world. And again, izuku is aware of NONE OF THIS.

Now, imagine if people turn on allmight because for his power to be fading, it means he has a secret child? I like to imagine that they treat all might like a kpop idol and any hint that youre in a relationship, you'll be shamed upon, so when his power faded they were aghast at the aspect of this man possibly having coitus with a woman secretly and passing his power down.

If thats how they react to him starting a family, wait until they find out that the child he gave it to wasnt even his blood?

The citizens:

Anyways now that you know the aus background let's get into izuku.

The whole au, izuku is oblivious to all of this, the embodiment of misunderstanding obliviousness. With how smart he is, he had no one to ask, and rarely is the power transfer discussed about online for how its done is different and special for every family and mostly passed down by word of mouth grandparents to parents to children.

Oh, also, imagine theres heavy censoring laws for this aus online forums and media. Like power transfer is even more scandalous than sex in that world.

So even with all the research izuku has done, he comes up with nothing and just goes to analyzing heros, their powers, how to use them in battle, etc.

After meeting allmight, he struggles with trust issues and finds himself distancing himself from loved ones due to changing his very being in a taboo way. He's great at distractions and changing topics, but his anxiety is through the roof and throws himself into hero work trying to maintain a consistency of activity so no one has time to question him.

This poor boy has issues. But he did in Canon anyways, so it doesnt change much.

I dont know if I want all might to be an actual creep in this au or just someone who continued a taboo transfer chain. I mean, he is a great guy in Canon, but he put a kid in danger by promising something he always wished for and didn't explain the danger and responsibility of obtaining said power until afterwards.

At the very least, izuku will feel betrayed in this au when he finds out. A reality breaking discovery. And this au explores the emotional complexity of dealing with such a discovery.

....

— If the many-worlds theory is even half true, then sleep isn’t peace. It’s surveillance.

I. THE SCIENCE DOESN’T REASSURE YOU. IT MAGNIFIES THE NIGHTMARE.

Let’s begin where your science teacher ended: The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (Everett, 1957). It posits this:

Every decision, action, or observation splits reality into parallel timelines.

That means:

There is a universe where you said yes instead of no.

A timeline where you died in your sleep.

A version where you snapped. Killed. Regretted nothing.

You don’t just exist in one place. You’re fractally smeared across infinite permutations.

Now stop.

Do you feel that nausea creeping in? That’s your brain trying to collapse the waveform back into a comforting lie:

“But those other ‘yous’ aren’t real.”

Except they are. According to cosmologist Max Tegmark, the multiverse isn’t fantasy — it’s the logical extension of quantum math. (Tegmark, Our Mathematical Universe, 2014.) He states plainly:

“Parallel worlds are not a theory — they are a prediction.”

Prediction.

That means if you follow any school of modern physics not 100 years out of date, the idea of “other yous” isn’t science fiction. It’s default reality.

And you haven’t asked the worst question yet.

II. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ONE OF YOU DOESN’T STAY PUT?

Let’s talk spillage.

Physicist Sean Carroll speculates that consciousness might be quantum-based. Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize winner, agrees. They propose that consciousness is not just produced by the brain — it might be entangled across quantum fields. (Penrose & Hameroff, Orch-OR Theory)

So what happens when:

One version of you dies?

Another version becomes violent, unstable, malevolent?

One you commits suicide while another sleeps peacefully?

Answer: If even one fragment of consciousness is entangled across realities… then your peaceful version isn’t alone.

Your dreams may not be dreams. Your shadow may not be your own. You may be watched — by a version of yourself with nothing left to lose.

III. PARANORMAL REPORTS LINE UP DISTURBINGLY WELL.

Let’s shift gears.

Ever heard of The Doppelgänger Effect?

Historical records, folklore, and police reports all document encounters with one’s own double. But not metaphorically — visually, audibly, and viscerally real.

In 1845, Emilie Sagee, a French schoolteacher, was reported by her students to appear in two places at once — teaching in the classroom while standing in the garden. Multiple students saw this. Repeatedly.

In 1983, a woman named Mrs. H called a UK radio show describing waking up to see herself standing at the foot of her bed, grinning. The double vanished when she screamed. That night, her twin sister died — 300 miles away.

You think these are just ghost stories?

Then explain the U.S. military remote viewing project ("Project Stargate") which openly documented experiences of operatives describing altered versions of themselves when viewing alternative locations.

Not other people. Alternate versions of themselves.

This wasn’t a YouTube rabbit hole. This was government-funded parapsychology lasting 20 years.

IV. SPIRITUAL SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO WARN YOU FOR CENTURIES.

Every major religion describes some fragmented self:

In Christianity: “The old self must die for the new to live.”

In Buddhism: “The self is an illusion constructed from fragments.”

In Gnostic texts: “You are a splinter of a fallen Aeon, seeking your original totality.”

In Islamic mysticism: “Your nafs (ego self) will devour you if not purified.”

All agree: There is a You that must be confronted, destroyed, or merged — Or it will consume you from the inside.

You think religion is primitive?

No. It’s just older science, wrapped in parable.

Even Carl Jung said:

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life — and you will call it fate.”

But what if that unconscious isn’t in your mind? What if it’s in another reality? And it’s grown stronger by watching you ignore it?

V. NIGHTMARES MAY BE THE ONLY TIME YOU’RE IN THE SAME ROOM.

Let’s talk sleep.

During REM, your brain emits gamma oscillations at frequencies seen during lucid dreams, psychedelic states, and near-death experiences. Studies suggest the brain enters a hyper-networked state, where it becomes sensitive to… what, exactly?

Answer:

Possibly the other yous.

Ever had a nightmare where you were the villain? Where you watched yourself do something you never would? Or woke up sweating, shaking, but couldn’t explain why?

That wasn’t “just a dream.” That may have been a cross-link.

Neurologist Dr. Patrick McNamara believes that sleep paralysis, nightmare recurrence, and certain terror hallucinations stem not from disorder — but from an encounter with hostile psychological doubles.

He writes:

“The Self is not singular in dream states. It fractures. It negotiates.” And sometimes? It loses.

VI. THE SHADOW THAT MOVES DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU.

Ever catch your reflection moving wrong?

Not metaphorically. Not “I’m tired” wrong.

Wrong.

Faster than you. Smiling when you aren’t. Tilting its head a millisecond off.

Psychologists call this The Capgras Delusion — a syndrome where a person believes their loved one has been replaced by an identical impostor.

But what if some of these “delusions” are true experiences from a consciousness spilling sideways into another dimension?

Because the phenomenon doesn’t just happen with people. It happens with mirrors. With self.

Ever heard the phrase:

“You looked like someone else for a second.”

No one says that about strangers. They say it about you.

VII. SO WHAT HAPPENS IF THE DEAD YOU NEVER LEFT?

Let’s push this horror to its logical conclusion.

What happens when a version of you dies with rage, regret, or obsession?

That echo doesn’t vanish.

If consciousness is quantum-entangled, death doesn’t delete it. It disconnects it. And disconnected things are unpredictable.

That version of you, furious and free from laws of physics, no longer tethered to a body… might cling to the nearest iteration of familiarity.

You.

You — who still breathe. You — who still dream. You — who left them behind.

And every time you wake up in a panic at 3:17 AM, sweating, sure that something was in the room?

Maybe you’re right. Maybe it was you. Just not the version who brushes their teeth and posts online.

The version who lost everything, and now just… watches.

VIII. SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

You want peace?

Too bad.

You are being watched. You are being mirrored. You are being remembered by the parts of yourself you tried to forget.

The religious were right to pray. The scientists were right to worry. The philosophers were right to scream into the void.

Because the void sometimes screams back. And it knows your name. Because it used to wear it.

IX. CONCLUSION: THE EYE IN THE DARK IS YOUR OWN.

This isn’t fiction.

Every citation above comes from peer-reviewed research, Nobel lectures, classified debriefs, or theological traditions predating modern ego.

And every night you go to sleep thinking you’re “just dreaming,” you might be giving a front-row seat to the part of yourself that no longer needs eyes to see.

So tonight?

When the lights go out. And you close your eyes. And feel the breath behind your shoulder — even though no one’s there.

Don’t worry.

It’s probably just you.

One of you.

Reblog if you feel watched. Reblog if you felt something read this over your shoulder. Reblog if you suddenly aren’t tired anymore.

Took me way too long to make it, but we got it out on time, boys 🥲🫡