"Did you know? There are three kinds of aces: those who seek strength, those who live for pride, and those who can read the tide of battle."

-Larry "Pixy" Foulke

"Now onto today's news: it has been confirmed that our favorite pilot, All Might, has done it again! North of Anea today, people have reported that sapphire and crimson X-02 was seen engaging an enemy squadron all on his own! He is now on his way to Valais air base after his operation in the Razgriz Strait."

A young boy was sitting in front of the TV with his mother sitting on the couch behind him. His hair was spikier than a durian with a dark green hue. He wore a bright orange t-shirt with a picture of a fighter pilot giving a thumbs up and brown shorts. He was holding a plastic model of the aforementioned X-02 Wyvern, flying it around like any other seven year old, all with a big smile on his face. His mother watched him get up and fly the toy around the room, making *fwoosh* noises. He stopped right behind his mother and jumped up on the back of the couch then put his arms around her neck with his head on top of hers. She placed her hand on his as he raised his toy jet into the air and laughed with glee.

"When I'm a big boy, I'm gonna be a pilot just like him!" he gleefully declared. His mother knew about his dream, he never stopped talking about it. But that didn't stop her from being afraid. Her experience with pilots has been bad ever since the Lighthouse War, where she lost the only man she ever truly loved. Still, she was very supportive of her son's dream and wouldn't have it any other way.

"Yes honey, I think everyone in town knows that already," she said before lightly giggling.

"But what if they don't, Mom?" Izuku said with a more questioning tone.

"I think they'll find out sooner or later sweetie," Inko said happily before getting up, causing Izuku to face-plant onto the couch cushion. He tumbled off the couch and followed his mom, flying his toy around.

"What do you want for dinner sweetie?" Inko said in a soft tone as she walked over to the kitchen. Izuku jumped up on one of the stools at the kitchens bar and pretended he was landing the toy.

"Izuku?" Hearing his mom, he looked up towards her, not knowing what she said first.

"Did you even hear me, Izu?"

"Umm… No," he said, which made Inko sigh, exasperated.

"I asked what you wanted for dinner, sweetie," Inko said while she was writing things on her shopping list. Izuku sat there while staring up at the ceiling. Finally, he decided and looked back at his mother.

"Pork chops!" he announced.

"Pork chops? It's been a while since we've had that. I'll need to see if the grill even works, but sure, honey," Inko replied as she put her shopping list in her purse.

"Go get your shoes on, honey. Mommy needs to go get some things from the store," she said as Izuku ran to the front door to put his shoes on. Sadly, he didn't know how to tie them.

"Mom!" Izuku lightly yelled out.

"Yes, sweetie?" she replied.

"Can you help me with my shoes?" Inko forgot about that part entirely and ran over to help him. Once his shoes were tied he jumped up with his toy and ran outside to the car. It was a partly cloudy day, but aside from the clouds, it seemed like a normal summer day in Ustio. A group of kids passed Izuku on their bikes while he stood at the car, A sprinkler was spraying the grass around it in the yard next door, and the faint sound of a jet could be heard above.

Izuku looked up and saw the sapphire and crimson stripes he'd become so familiar with. The jet was currently heading about 1200 km/h with the wings folded inward to the more speed-oriented position. He raised his toy back up and pretended to trail the jet with his toy, with sparkles in his eyes. Inko came outside and watched with a small smile on her face. She also looked up to the sky, with a mix of hope and worry in her heart.

"Izuku! Time to go!" Inko yelled from the front porch as Izuku climbed in the back of her sedan and buckled up, with Inko following soon after in the driver seat.

The drive wasn't fairly long. It only took about 10 minutes before Inko pulled into her parking spot. She then turned around and asked; "You want mommy to keep the car on or do you want to come in?"

"You can keep it on," Izuku said as he dragged his toy across his forearm, turning it into a makeshift runway. Inko nodded and climbed out of the car with her purse in hand. She told Izuku all the standard things a mother would say like, "don't let anyone in.", "don't turn the car off." and "come in if you need me." Before locking the doors and walking off.

Izuku sat in the back seat, now pretending to have a dogfight against his toy and his hand. He had his hand do a pitchback turn with his hand and ending up behind his toy.

"Oh no, All Might! Look out!" he cried out. He made his plane pull a Pugachev's Cobra and end up behind his hand.

"Ha Ha! Fear not, Citizens of Ustio! For I shall defeat this dastardly villain! Hyah!" he said in a heroic sounding voice and making louder whoosh noises, acting like he was shooting miles which made his hand explode in the air. He made small "Yay!" and "Woohoo!" sounds with his hand on his lap, pretending they were a crowd as he made his plane fly above his hand. Suddenly heard a low growl outside. Izuku turned to the window with the growling noise only getting louder. The clouds began to churn and spin as people started to come outside from the grocery store, also hearing the noise.

The clouds finally gave way, revealing a massive airship, resembling a whale. It had wings that could span several city blocks and several air tankers trailing above it. Several low rumbles followed by thumps were heard, getting more intense with each passing second. Before people realized what was going on, it was too late. Several black Su 35's passed the people overhead, causing them to hold their ears before it all hit them.

Panic ensued, people were seen carrying their children bridal style to their cars as the rumbles became ever more intense. People were screaming bloody murder as they ran, one man even collapsed and held his chest tightly, but slowly got back up before he continued running. Izuku could only watch as the large ship passed overhead, giving them a good look of seven large black letters.

"AIGAION"

The only thing he could feel was fear as a large boom was heard and it all went black...

Izuku's head felt heavier than what his body could support. He slowly opened his eyes, showing that they were covered in blood. He wiped it away and looked around. He was hanging upside down with the roof of the car slightly bent around him. His toy jet still intact albeit somewhat scratched. Looking up down he saw that one of his legs had a large red gash, blood oozing out slowly. His ears rang like they were sirens themselves. He was confused for a moment until he saw a severed arm across the way coming out from under a truck. Thankfully it wasn't his but that didn't stop his heart from racing. Then, it all hit. Like a freight train full of steel beams, it hit. Hard.

He screamed like an air raid siren, his lungs nearly giving out. He reached down and held his leg for dear life as the floodgates opened wide, scalding hot tears staining his face and hair as they fell.

"Mom! Mom!" Izuku screamed out as he continued to cry and sob. his ears were starting to clear up, he heard loud repeating wails. He thought they were screams. Some were but most of it was another sound. A much louder sound associated with saviors and heroes...

Sirens.

He faintly saw the blue lights through his tear stained eyes. When he did notice them he reached down and unbuckled himself from the seat. His back hit the roof before his head did but it didn't hurt compared to his leg and head. He tried crawling but he didn't get more than a few centimeters before his leg recoiled harshly. He didn't know if he could even get out, all he could do was sob. Luckily, his hearing cleared up a bit more and he heard faint shouting, a voice calling in the dark.

"Somebody get me the jaws! We got a live one!" it was a slightly gruff male voice, getting ever louder with each step. Izuku continued to sob, only now he was staring out a little peephole in the chunks of asphalt. He heard multiple other voices approaching, as well as more black boots coming closer. Izuku looked back and grabbed his toy jet, holding it close to his chest as the sound of metal whining filled his ears. The asphalt began to give way as the voices continued to grunt loudly, struggling to lift the metal. Izuku thought back to what even happened, why he was there, and why it happened. Then he realized, he hasn't seen his mom yet. He began to call out to her, hoping she would come to him. He only put his head down and started sobbing again, pain enveloping him like a mist.

A loud crack was heard as the rubble finally gave way, revealing 4 Ustian soldiers in their urban camo uniforms and identically colored combat gear. One of the men struggled to hold the large metallic jaws used to break through the rubble. They all stared at Izuku as he just laid there with his head down on the ground, sobbing ever louder. Each of them looked to one another before a younger looking soldier got down on one knee and extended his hand out to Izuku.

"Come on little buddy, we won't bite." the soldier said in a calming voice. Izuku looked up and reached his smaller hand out toward the soldier. He started looking over the man, he had dark brown eyes with dirty blonde hair and a small scar through his five o'clock shadow of a beard. Izuku than trailed down and looked at the soldier's name tag.

'Nagase…' Izuku thought to himself as he was slowly pulled out from the car, still clutching his toy. Nagase carried Izuku over his shoulder as he ran away from the others.

"I'll take this one to the relief camp, you guys keep searching!" he yelled as he ran. Izuku could only look at the ground, thinking of two words repeating in his head…

'Where's mommy?'

Izuku looked all around him, all he could see was devastation. Asphalt was scattered throughout the entire lot with large craters around the area, cars had either been completely scorched or crumpled like tissue paper. A thin layer of dust and smoke covered the entirety of the parking lot, making it a bit difficult to breathe. But above all else, there was one thing Izuku would never forget, even in his later years. The smell of death. Random limbs, blood, and corpses were strayed about this asphalt wasteland. Some of the bodies he recognized, they seemed to peek into his very soul with the way they looked at him. Lifeless eyes, all of them.

When Nagase finally stopped, Izuku looked up and saw they were at a relief center. Mobs of people thrown about, some with worse wounds than others. He could see a child crying on the ground with an already bloodstained bandage covering her eye, a man lying on a stretcher with doctors trying to resuscitate him, an elderly man praying with his only working hand against his wrist. He also saw a father cuddling his daughter as the soldiers brought her lifeless body to him. Izuku would have these images engraved into his head forever, and at such a young age…

Nagase put Izuku down on the large green tarp before kneeling down to his level. He grabbed a pack of gauze and peroxide from the medkit on his back and began prepping it. He looked up to izuku as he held it there in his hand.

"This is gonna sting a bit, but you'll feel a lot better when it's on," Nagase said as he placed the gauze wrap on Izuku's leg. He was right, it stung a lot but Izuku ignored it and stared down at his plane. The cockpit on the toy was cracked with 3 scratch marks going across the middle to the right, starting at the stabilizers. He was lost in his own thoughts when he heard the soldier speak up.

"What's your name, little buddy?" Nagase said in his soothing tone. Izuku couldn't even muster up the power to speak like he usually did, only coming out as a tiny squeak.

"What was that?" Nagase said as he moved his head closer to Izuku.

"Izuku…"

"Izuku huh? Well, buddy… mine's Daniel." he said as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from a large pouch on the front of his vest. He then pulled out a lighter and ignited the cig before taking a long drag.

"Is your mom here little guy?" Daniel said after exhaling the smoke in his lungs.

"I… I don't know…" Izuku croaked out as he began to cry, tears falling on his jet.

"I bet she's here little guy, what does she look like?"

"She… has green hair… like me. She has a pink vest… and… and... " he started to sob loudly again after remembering the images of his mother.

"Don't cry little buddy, it's going to be ok," Dan said, putting his hand on Izuku's shoulder and giving him a soft smile. Izuku looked up with only what can be described as the face of pure and unfiltered sadness, his cheeks and eyes stained with his tears and dried blood. Dan pulled out a bandana from his front pouch and started to clean his face, starting with his cheeks and ending on his forehead. Some traces of the blood were still visible but it wasn't a very big deal. Izuku finally mustered up and began to speak.

"She… she's wearing a pink sweater and blue pants." Izuku croaked out.

"Ok, buddy. What's her name?" Dan said, turning his head to the side.

"Inko. her name is Inko." Dan then got up, took a drag of his cig, and stomped it out under his heel.

"Alright, buddy. I'll be right back. Don't move." Dan said as he started to walk into the mobs of people.

It felt like an eternity for dan as he continued searching. He was going by what Izuku had said to him but he had the feeling she wasn't here. He walked past multiple people as they were set up in the green relief tents, he looked through each one and finding no such woman. After about 20 minutes he grabbed his radio and put out a call to the other soldiers to look for Izuku's mom, some didn't answer but others said they would try their best. Dan walked back to the tarp where he put Izuku but didn't find him. He put out another call asking where he was, one replied saying; "I saw a kid like that over at the nurse's tent, holding one of their hands." Dan thanked them and headed towards the nurse's tent. Outside the tent, there was a long line of people with varying degrees of injuries waiting to be tended to. He moved in front of the line and looked around the tent, spotting Izuku sitting by one of the nurses on a metal folding chair sipping a cup of water. But the woman he was with, that was someone Dan knew by heart. He walked over to them and the nurse, a 32-year-old Asian lady in pink scrubs got up and her eyes lit up when he saw dan coming over.

"Daniel!" the woman yelled, startling Izuku which caused him to spill some of his water. The woman noticed this and grabbed some extra bandages for him to use. When she was done she jumped up and hugged dan fiercely, kissing him as well.

"It's so good to see you Kei," Dan said as their lips separated.

"it's good to see you too darling," Kei said as she got off of Dan and walked back over to Izuku.

"Where did you get him from Kei?" Dan said in a questioning tone.

"I found him looking at his little plane on the tarp. Why do you ask?" Kei replied.

"I went to go find his mom but sadly, I couldn't" Kei went silent and looked over to Izuku. He had cleaned up the spilled water from his shirt and put the bandages on the ground beside him. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes before dan broke the tension.

"Did you hear my call?"

"Yeah. I told all the others that didn't have their radios to look for a woman like that but nobody did." Kei said. Dan could only look down at the ground as he feared the worst. He was about to speak and tell Izuku about his mom until he heard a crackling on his radio.

"Hey, whoever said they were looking for the mother of a green haired boy, come to tent 32," a female voice said. As soon as the call ended Dan ran out of the tent and ran towards where the established location was. Although he didn't know where that tent was, there were signs that pointed him in the right direction.

When he got there, he found a group of his comrades surrounding a black tarp. They all had removed their helmets before looking over to Dan when he arrived, all knowing what was going to happen. Dan removed his helmet and walked over to the tarp. Pulling it up, revealed the half torn off head of Inko Midoriya. The entire left side of her head had been scorched and torn apart, dried blood staining where her head laid. Her green eyes, always so full of energy, had now gone to a lifeless grey. Dan looked down to the ground, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. He barely knew the kid yet… he still felt more than terrible for what will come next. He placed the tarp back over her head and gave a silent prayer to her.

"Do you have any of her belongings?" Dan said in an ice-cold voice to anyone willing to listen. One of the soldiers behind him handed him her purse. Scorch marks and all scattered the expensive leather. He put his helmet back on and walked out of the tent, seeing soldiers carrying a stretcher. He motioned them to head in while he stepped off to the side. Looking through the purse he found multiple things, a wallet, keys, shopping list, makeup kit, and a watch. The watch had a silver band with black and green highlights covering the case. But on the inside, was a picture of Inko and another green haired man, he wore an Erusean fighter pilots uniform and glasses. They both smiled happily towards the camera, without a care in the world. Behind them stood the Gunther bay lighthouse, standing taller than ever.

"An ocean of stars beyond our reach… waiting to be discovered." Dan mumbled to himself as he set the purse down and slowly walked back to the nurse's tent. Time nearly seemed to slow to a halt as he got closer to the tent, with thoughts racing rampant through his head. He was afraid to do what he was going to do, but who wouldn't be? Before he even knew it, he was at the front of the tent. A large red cross on a white background directly above him.

"This is it…" Dan said to himself as he walked inside. Spotting Izuku and Kei jump up and run towards him. Izuku wrapped his hands around his upper waist, nuzzling his head against Dan's stomach. No matter how tightly Izuku hugged Dan, all he could feel was cold. Cold on the inside and the outside.

"Did you find mommy?!" Izuku cried out, begging for an answer.

"Yes…" Dan breathed out.

"Is she okay?!" he cried out again, louder this time. Dan could feel tears starting to roll down his cheek as he kneeled down to Izuku's level and hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry little buddy…" Dan croaked out.

Izuku stood their shell shocked. He knew what happened. No matter how hard he calls into the dark… she won't answer. He wrapped his arms around Dan's neck and cried. Cried harder than he ever did before. The pain he felt in his leg and head could never, ever compare to what he felt now.

They stayed like that for a while. Just rocking back and forth together. In Dan's head, he was singing 'Wake me up when September ends.' soon, some of the soldiers back at tent 32 came by and gave Izuku their condolences, some patients came by and gave theirs too. Some say that the entire tent went silent out of respect.

Suddenly, Dan stood up. He handed Izuku over to Kei, who which gave him a blanket from the supply crate in the back while Dan went outside. When Kei gave her condolences too, she went outside to find Dan. She found him behind the tent smoking a cigarette, humming to the beat of 'chasing cars' after each exhale. She stood next to him, leaning on his shoulder, humming along to his song. Suddenly, Kei felt rain against her head. It may be by some miracle, or the Razgriz coming back to wreak havoc. Still, she didn't care, It was the least of her worries

"What do we do now?" Kei softly spoke. All she received was silence. When Dan stomped out his cigarette, he sighed loudly.

"I'm… not sure to be honest. We could see if he has any extended family willing to take him." He said coldly before speaking again.

"But… something is telling me that's not gonna happen. I'm not sure what it is. But it says he's on his own." Kei just stared into the darkening sky as he spoke. She also felt the same thing he did, only stronger.

"I'll get a call out. See if anyone has been looking for him." Kei said as Dan pulled out the watch from his pocket. He flipped it over, revealing a small note on a blank sticker.

"To Izuku. From Mommy and Daddy."

Those words pulled at Dan's heartstrings even more. He knew what he had to do now.

He walked back inside while Kei went to the radio hut. Izuku was looking down again at his toy jet, only he had no expression on his face. His eyes were just as grey as his mother's, if not more. He was a husk of his former self, devoid of all life. Dan came over to Him and showed him the watch. Izuku stared blankly at the watch before Dan turned it over. There, he saw the message. He took the watch and held it close to his chest as if he was hugging his mother again. Just then Kei came back and took Dan back outside, leaving Izuku once more. Luckily a middle-aged man with crutches came over and sat down next to Izuku, keeping him company.

Kei was crying into her own hands again. Her mascara running down her cheeks. Dan lifted her head up and wrapped his arms around her. He didn't know what else to do but comfort her and Izuku. They stayed like that for a minute before Kei pulled herself off him and wiped her mascara off and rubbing it on her scrubs.

"Nobody. Right?" Dan said in a saddened tone. Kei gave a nod in response. Dan sighed loudly, that intuition was right.

"You know what we need to do now right?" he said, hugging her tightly. Kei gave out a small "yes" in response before they both went back inside, their clothes stained from the rain. The man in crutches was still sitting by Izuku, but when he saw Dan and Kei he shot up and wished Izuku Farewell. He passed Dan and Kei, shooting them a dirty look. Kei felt a shiver run up her spine when he looked at her, but Dan ignored it. When they got to Izuku, Dan reached his hand out and shot him a smile. Izuku only looked up at him with his blank stare, but his eyes re-ignited to their normal green after Dan said these words;

"You ready to go home?"