New week meant training was back on the usual track.
Truth to be told, after the weekend break, Izuku felt more confident. Whether it was for the new opening on how to use his quirk or for the much-needed rest, he started the week ready for whatever it came.
All Might took note of that too, even if the image of the syringe was almost as strange as the egg one to him, but whatever helped was fine, he guessed.
Usagi was as happy as she could: she actually hoped her genius friend could be of some help, even if the actual work was for Izuku to do, and they chattered about that in their after school training.
It was supposed to be a normal run. Nothing too challenging since Izuku had put a lot of strain on his body during Foundational Heroics that day, so they were going to take it slow and wait until All Might was free from his obligations at Yuuei and could reach them.
They were jogging in comfortable silence when they made a turn into a more crowded area. People walked slowly there, so the two kids had to slow down as well not to bump into anyone. Music could be heard from the other side of the road, maybe an impromptu concert or an exhibition was what had made the street clogged.
It wasn't unusual, Izuku said to Usagi, he remembered there has been this Vigilante a few years before, Pop Step, who did this kind of things all the time.
Except everyone looked a little too slow: dragging feet, putting their hands to their heads, looking disoriented.
Weird. And a bit scary too.
Izuku was busy looking around and trying to figure out what was actually going on to notice Usagi's hands digging in her pockets, looking for some item she couldn't find, if her worried face was any indication.
When they had to stop to assist a child who had collapsed on the ground all of sudden, unable to answer any kind of question, he started to feel an increasing feeling of worry.
Something was going on, nothing good. But what? There wasn't the chaos a Villain attack would cause and people weren't panicking...
«This is wrong. I feel weak» Usagi affirmed, a hand on her head, the other clasped around her brooch.
Izuku looked around: several people had started collapsing, as if too tired to stand up, but he didn't feel different than usual. Well, nothing except a flare, from the inside, like the feeling he got right before using One for All, without the rush of adrenaline that came with risk and immediate fight. It was like... like the quirk activated on its own, but not in full. Just enough to give him strength. Just enough to protect him.
«You need to find shelter. It must be...» Usagi's phrase was cut by the sudden screech of a daimon.
So it was a Villain, after all.
The boy found himself in a pinch: on one side, it was wiser to follow Usagi's suggestion and look for a place to hide until pro Heroes arrived, on the other... how could they leave all those people at a Villain's mercy?
She didn't give him the chance to ponder, quickly grabbing his arm and dragging him away from danger.
They hid in a side alley, from where they watched a few pro Heroes show up, ready to fight the menace.
Both kids tried to take a peek in the main road, Usagi's hand still clasped tight on her brooch that was... glowing? Must have been a trick of the light, Izuku said to himself, then focused on the upcoming battle. He wished he had not left his notebook behind because there were no less than four pro Heroes!
«That's Death Arms and Glosswire. I can't see well, but by the colours that one must be...»
«Izukun, you need to leave» she urged «This is not just another Villain. It's a daimon»
The boy turned at her, taking in her appearance. He had never seen her this serious: Usagi's brows were furrowed, her eyes focused further down the road, lips tight.
It wasn't the first time they accidentally witnessed minor Villain attacks and the relative Hero interventions during their runs. True, they usually arrived after the Heroes had started to handle the situation, but he was sure she saw them in Juuban too, the general rule was to stay out the immediate perimeter of the fight, they would be fine...
It was sudden: one moment the Heroes were coordinating to encircle the threat, the next they collapsed to the ground one by one, unconscious, like the other victims down the road.
Horror and worry surged in the boy, his mind mulling about sleep-inducing quirks, maybe gas or hypnosis, he turned quickly at Usagi, only to see not only she didn't share his worrying feelings, but wasn't there anymore. Looking up, he saw a glimpse of her golden hair from up the emergency stairs of the building at his right.
Then his brain caught up.
"You need to leave", Usagi had said.
Not "we". She said: "you".
She knew what was going on and planned to act on her own. How could he not realize it before?!
But he too had that power to help, that was why All Might gave it to him. He just couldn't let her intervene, not alone.
«Usagi-san!» he tried to call her back, his own scream covered by the chilling screech from earlier. He climbed the staircase as well in newfound urgency. He was almost on top when a sudden light filled the sky for a few seconds, then someone jumped in the road, right in the middle of it.
Long twin tresses that looked almost exactly like Usagi's, but... not quite hers, not to his eyes? Izuku found it hard to recognize her, even if reason told if there was no Usagi on the top of the building, then the one who jumped down the road had to be her. Even if her face didn't match and her clothes changed...
It didn't matter. She stood between most of the civilians and the purple thing. Even with all the weird quirks there were around, he had never seen something that looked like that.
Bulbous core, red glowing eyes, fangs that spread out an uneven mouth and thick claws coming from four elongated appendages.
«How dare you ruin this peaceful afternoon! I'm Sailor Moon and I'll punish you, in the name of the Moon!»
Of course, the thing didn't care about her introduction, only that a new target showed up, so it attacked.
She jumped over in a quick but not inelegant move, then away, again and again, with the daimon trying to slash her at every jump, missing her just by inches each time.
Izuku realized she was putting distance between the monster and the unconscious civilians, but he had no idea what to do. One for All still hummed quietly within his bones, the warm feeling pulsing at a steady rhythm along with his heartbeat, pumping the adrenaline as well. He had to help, that much was obvious.
So he jumped down to join the battle.
The daimon could extend its legs to some extent, and every time it did, it left a new hole in the street, right where Sailor Moon had been before her next jump. But she was getting too close to the other section of the street, where there were more civilians, so she had to stop it before it got to them.
She crossed her arms in front of her face and got ready for the impact. She had to dig her heels into the ground, the pressure more than a simple puncture, but her fuku's gloves were sturdier than regular cloth and resisted. She didn't.
She slipped back, and with the tail of her eye, she caught glimpse of another limb coming at her, but also a green blur from behind the daimon.
Izuku had managed to control the flux of One for All to avoid major strain on his legs in his jump down, but it wasn't enough not to feel the small pains. He ignored them, nothing was broken yet, and charged his fist to hit the daimon on his way down.
He felt a stinging pain on his side, something that should have not been there, and in half a second he was flying on the other side of the road from where he jumped. It took him a second to realize the daimon had hit him with one of its arms and Izuku, too focused on his punch, didn't see it. Not that he could have avoided it, mid-air as he was...
He managed to catch himself before hitting the wall, instinctively focusing power on his legs to stop his fall, then pushed to flow himself towards the daimon again, but in his strain, he landed badly and stumbled a bit on the concrete.
In the meantime, Sailor Moon had had the chance to catch a breath. Unfortunately, the daimon kept its focus on the boy for too less and reprised its attacks, using its limbs to either catch her or attack her directly, destroying more of the road, the debris starting to fly around too close to the people, forcing her to move back and forward and in circles to avoid major damages.
Midoriya found himself to try and catch some larger bits that would have hit the unconscious victims. He knew with One for All, All Might would have been able to turn all the debris in powder in seconds, but he couldn't risk a similar move for his lackluster control could lead people to be injured. The only chance was to defeat the purple thing.
He started running towards the fight, smashing pieces of concrete and glass with his bare arms, without using his quirk, getting ready to attack when he saw it.
It was too fast. The daimon's back appendages delved into the ground, but Sailor Moon, too busy defending herself from the front ones, couldn't see them.
Izuku moved without thinking: he sprinted forward, charging his feet and fist with One for All where he predicted the spikes would emerge: right behind the girl.
«Smaash!» he shouted, his powered fist hitting the ground, disintegrating the concrete and the danger coming from underneath. The backlash threw him back and he barely had time to balance himself for the fall.
«Izukun!» Sailor Moon screamed, in surprise and worry, but the pained screech of the daimon and the hissing of its retreating limbs, or what remained of them after the powerful hit, covered most of it.
«Go!» he shouted, biting back the pain in his arm. Darn, he completely forgot the plan about how to control the output and his bones were likely broken while they were still in danger.
"I have the other arm," he thought to himself "Another hit, if necessary. Five, if I use my fingers one by one, it should be enough to keep it at bay, but then..."
Pink light invaded the road.
Izuku barely had time to have a quick glance of Sailor Moon's outline pointing a scepter towards the monster and the light became too blinding to look at further. His ears caught some kind of phrase - the name of her attack? a catchphrase? - and his eyes ran towards the enemy, the screeching monster that shrunk under the attack, releasing a thick fog until it dissipated and a girl in Mugen's school uniform collapsed to the ground.
He caught glimpse of a small, oval thing leaving the girl's body and dissolving into a tiny cloud of purple smoke, only then Sailor Moon relaxed and approached him.
«We need to fix your arm soon. Along with the street» she added, looking down at it. She was covered in scratches and her suit was dirty, but she didn't seem to care as she turned back at him «And we have to hope no one saw you, you can't do this kind of things yet even if you are in Yuuei, no?» she added with a tense smile.
Izuku could only nod, for once at loss for words at what she was implying: he knew if he got a huge scolding for acting when he was quirkless, him using One for All in broad daylight without permission from authorities could cost him expulsion from Yuuei.
He followed her towards the same alley as before, hidden from the scene of the attack. He must have hit his head without noticing, he decided, because his mind felt clogged and he couldn't quite see her face when she planted her feet on the ground and held her rod with both hands above her head, commanding: «Moon Healing Escalation!»
Concentric light waves emerged from her rod and invested the whole area, putting back together the broken concrete, clearing the few stray bits along the way and even glass went back at its place as if never broken in the first place.
Not only that: Izuku's arm stopped pulsing and twitching, the pain in it subdued faster than ever before and he could feel his bones shift back in place, flesh expelling the shards and the blood draining from the broken capillaries and flowing back as normal. Moreover, unlike when Recovery Girl used her quirk, this healing didn't leave him drained, but stronger, filled with new energy.
It felt very similar to Usagi's Healing Tears, but a hundred times stronger.
Amazed, he couldn't stop looking with eyes wide as saucers, while people started to wake up left and right, confused but unharmed, including the pro Heroes, who were possibly more confused than anyone.
He tried to speak up, to ask what exactly had happened or just... he didn't know, how did she do that?
Satisfied, she jumped back to him. Once hidden from the main road, she touched her brooch again and in a flash of light Sailor Moon left the place to Usagi, in her usual pink tracksuit. She started to sprint the other way, then she stopped.
«Izukun, move on. We got to go!» she exhorted.
«B-but...» he barely uttered, his wits slowly coming back.
Usagi huffed and walked back a couple of steps to grab his sleeve and pull him towards the other entrance of the road, where she pretended to start jogging again, a hint he followed suit despite the chaos of questions on the tip of his tongue.
The pair ran in silence for a while, both finding the will - and maybe the courage too - to speak only when further away from the incident's road.
«Are you okay?» she asked, finally stopping after a quick check the panoramic bridge they stopped on was empty.
Izuku nodded, still shook «S-sure»
«I'm glad,» she said, softly, a bit of her usual smile returning «Thank you for helping me. That daimon was really strong and I forgot to bring my comm to call the others»
The simple admission broke the dam for the confused boy: «You know what those things are? How? Do you do this often? Wrong question, of course you do, you are a Vigilante and notjustanyVigilianteyou'reSailorMoonhow...»
«Shhh!» she tried to shush him, eyes darting around to check again if anyone could hear «Please, don't make a fuss about it!»
He gaped «But... but... It's a huge thing, Usagi-san! And by all accounts, it shouldn't be possible with your quirk and there never were quirks that combined powers that different, only combinations of similar factors, like Todoroki-kun who has probably secretion glands of two types or something of that sort and still you have some extra-healing, plus an object creation, or is it evocation? Isthateventherightwor...»
Once again, Usagi stopped him mid-ramble, her hands held together in front of her face «Izukun. Please. You have to promise to never tell anyone»
Midoriya shut his mouth and stared at her.
She looked worried but decisive. A strength, like a light, seemed to come from her even now, out her other form, and he couldn't but nod his assent.
«I... I promise. But, Usagi-san... Does All Might know?»
«It's the reason papa came to pick me from Juuban» she sighed, leaning on the railway and looking at her feet «When Ikuko-mama figured it out she called him and, you know, I moved here so Toshi-papa could help me doing things the right way»
She explained the rest too. How she and the girls - they too!? which ones? - decided to enter Yuuei to do everything according to the law, how they all needed to take the Provisional License to stop be considered Vigilantes sooner than expected given the issues with the daimons. She left out the training at Yuuei and a few other things, but it gave him enough to think about.
He had questions, of course. Like a ton of questions.
«So your quirks and your, you called them planetary powers, right? So, your planetary powers are independent? How do they work? Is the Moon considered a planet by this standard? Is you power tied to Moon phases? At what age did you find it? HowmanyplanetshaveSailorSenshi? Dodwarfplanetscountasplanets?BecauseifstatellitesliketheMooncount...»
«Eeeh, Izukun, too many questions!» Usagi screamed, «I can't really say that much!»
It was more an admission of incapability than an actual will of secrecy, not to mention she didn't understand the last questions due to how fast he spoke: she didn't know much of it, it came natural doing this or that act when she fought in the past, so she never delved into studying the "how" and "why". In a way, she could say tinkering with it would erase some of the sacrality of it all, but that was just an excuse.
Truth to be told, it was because she never had the time to think about it, not when any great conflict was followed by another, that once one enemy was defeated, another would attack, so she never pondered too much on how the whole thing worked and she just went with the flow, trusting her feelings on what she had to do.
But Izuku made good questions and maybe it was a good idea to follow his lead into finding out more.
The boy, though, took her answer a different way, and apologized «I'm sorry, you said it's a secret, I shouldn't ask!»
«Ah, it's not that, Izukun! I...»
«Can't really leave you two alone, uh?»
The two teens jumped up at the voice of Toshinori, who stared at them with hands of his hips.
«I saw the newsfeed» he explained, then gave both a scolding pat on the back of their heads «What did I say about jumping into stuff unprompted?»
«Ahi, papa! It wasn't unprompted! There was a daimon!» Usagi explained, passaging her head, even if the hit wasn't hard at all.
«And a few pro Heroes with instructions to capture it ready to intervene» the man replied «Do you know I had to take responsibility for the overall incident? It was the only way to cover up for your presence there. Consider yourself lucky no one saw you, Midoriya-shonen, especially the pros there»
Izuku had gotten a similar scolding the previous year, after the Slime Villain incident. If, back then, he had felt too tired and ashamed to stand by his choice to intervene, he had had a lot of time to mull over that kind of situations and now could defend himself.
«Well, statistically, none of them would have been able to, All Might!» Izuku explained, then blurted out in a long stream of calculations, quirk evaluations and various hints from his Hero analysis, put together to show how inadept to the job the Heroes present to the fact would have been, if they would have managed to get past the energy drain, which they didn't.
Most of them went down before they could even see the daimon! Usagi added, «Did you want us to just stand there and look as people got hurt?!»
His and Usagi-san's intervention, Izuku reprised, was the only thing that saved those people.
Just like he was the main reason Kacchan survived the Slime Villain, whether his old friend and Heroes were willing to admit it or not. Obviously, he kept the last bit to himself, but the feeling underneath was the same.
Once again, Toshinori was surprised by the smart reasoning, swelling in pride for the energy and assurance the boy exuded, a far cry from the scaredy-cat of a mere year ago, but at the same time he guessed the kid was doing his best to let Usagi off the hook, and she was doing the same for him, and couldn't but smile to himself at how protective they had become of each other in such a short time.
«You told him everything, haven't you?» he interrupted Midoriya and turned to Usagi, who nodded with an apologetic smile.
«Izukun promised to not tell anyone. I'll have to tell Luna, she will not be happy about it...»
«Isn't Luna your cat?» Midoriya was confused.
«Yes, but she's also my friend and sort of... manager? I mean, she can use the Control Center and made sure we teamed up, she even knows Nedzu-sensei...»
«Eeeh?»
Toshinori laughed at the disbelief of his successor, then at the clumsy answers Usagi tried to give to his stream of questions.
It was comforting to see the two of them going along and trust each other to this point. A source of hope for the future.
He knew both were stronger than they looked, but at the same time, they were just teens with kind hearts. Pushing them to work together had they been antagonists would have been a recipe for a disaster, but they went along without effort and this gave him relief.
He had not dared to tell Midoriya about Sir Nighteye's prediction, even though he knew he should have when he had the chance. Usagi didn't know either. They both had too big burdens already.
His wish was for the two of them to support each other when the moment came.
In a year, two tops, he could be gone, but the progress the two kids - his two kids, because in different ways they both were so - were making and their trust in each other were meant to last and increase, their friendship to tighten, and they would bring the best out each other.
Midoriya had the marks of a true Hero, a sharp mind - when he remembered to use it and didn't rush in without thinking - and the ability to encourage people with his example and drive them forward alongside him. He was just too insecure to take advantage of it yet.
Usagi had the brightness and kindness of the best leaders and the aptitude to drag people to her and pull out the best out of anyone. She was only too inexperienced to see who powerful this trait was.
They were complementary: he was bound to set an example for her to follow, she was going to be the encouragement he needed to improve himself and get past his hurt. And the other way around: Usagi was the example of how easy it was to win people's hearts, to get in contact with others and help their souls, Izuku the epitome of how efforts pay back in the end and make achieve great goals.
Together, they were going to change the world, he was sure.
Until then, he'd have to watch over them at the best of his abilities.
Four days before the famed Sports Festival, Toshinori cut the afternoon training earlier, telling Usagi they had to visit Recovery Girl.
Izuku assured he could continue on his own, not before he made some worried questions about All Might's health and was reassured the visit was for Usagi, then the two left.
«I was wondering about some specifics of your quirk, so I asked Recovery Girl to run some tests» he explained to Usagi as they went «Remember the tears we bottled up some time ago?»
She did. They guessed they could come in handy, but they had not worked as expected on the small burnt mark she gave herself trying to cook and she had had to resort to fresh ones for complete healing.
Once in her office, Recovery Girl stood in deep thought for a while, only after a few minutes she looked up from the monitor towards the girl.
«It appears you quirk was misdiagnosed. It happens sometimes, especially because children take a while to understand the actual extent and working of their abilities. It's rarer to be figured out this late, but not unheard of»
Usagi's head tilted «So my tears don't heal?»
«They do, to an extent. Your tear ducts secern an excellent disinfectant substance. But this doesn't explain the energy boost, which appears to have nothing to do with you crying. An in-depth analysis could say more, but...» the old woman stared more intently «I have a feeling you can tell us more on your own, if you think well about it, dear»
«It has nothing to do with...?» All Might asked in hushed tones, to which Recovery Girl shook her head.
«Let her think about it. Quirks are tricky and no one like their owner can really understand them in depth»
Usagi looked down. So her Tears weren't that special per se.
Of course, why would they be? Her power, her real power, resided in the Silver Crystal even in her previous reality. In her mind, she separated the Silver Crystal and her supposed quirk as two different things, but Ami-chan had mentioned the quirks they had were more or less tied to their Senshi powers...
Her hand hovered over her brooch, always fixed to her person.
A part of her, even if separate from her body. Something peculiar, unique, only hers.
Just like a quirk.
She should have figured it out sooner.
«It's the Silver Crystal» Usagi whispered.
«Silver... Crystal?» her father repeated.
She nodded, then, finally, untied her brooch from her clothes and opened it. Under the heart-shaped covers, lied the closed gem with its thin chain. The pendant glowed even in the dim artificial light as she let it out, and its power, usually contained inside the compact, overpoured in the room.
The girl held it in her hands and, in front of her father's astonished eyes, it blossomed like a living flower in its open form, light spreading from it.
It was... like a breath of fresh air. Better. Purer. It was cold calm, weightless, comforting.
«It came out of my tears. When Mamo-chan was dying» she explained. She wanted to tell everything else, all that happened, what it meant, but something stopped her. This wasn't a story she was ready to tell, not there, not yet.
The light dissipated when she placed it back in the brooch, which she fastened back on her clothes.
«I'm sorry I didn't say anything before. I didn't understand it had to do with my quirk»
Recovery Girl nodded in comprehension «I had a guess» she said «I wasn't expecting that, but still. Your own healing is incredibly fast, and even your health» she turned at Toshinori «Is better ever since she moved to your home. A lot better than expected»
«Uh?» father and daughter looked equally confused.
«Some of the most degenerative parts of your situation stalled. Saying it simply, you're not getting weaker as fast as you were and you're making improvements that no cure could provide for you. How could you not notice?» the old woman reprimanded with a scowl.
Well, he had, sort of, but he had almost bought in the psychosomatic theory Recovery Girl had explained some time before. This made more sense.
«You'll probably have some problems to update your file, but it won't be hard» the nurse added.
Usagi shook her head, in slight panic, hands clenched on the brooch on her chest in a protective gesture «No one has to know! The more people know, the more dangerous it is!»
The two adults looked at her, waiting for an explanation.
The girl looked down, eyes lost in painful memories: «The Silver Crystal... They tried to steal it from me. Different times, to get its power»
The Dark Kingdom's attacks, both in Silver Millennium and in the present.
Being trapped inside Metalia, when the evil being tried to absorb her and Mamoru.
Chibiusa's clumsy attempts to steal the brooch.
The awful imprisonment at the mercy of prince Diamond.
The image of her future self's body encased in crystal.
Being dragged towards Nemesis and Des Phantom.
All those events resurfaced to her mind. She didn't even realize she was shaking and holding so tight her brooch her knuckles were livid, but Toshinori did. The most different, terrifying outcomes surfaced to his mind, none close to the truth.
His clenched fists grew with the strength on One for All as he tried, once again, to figure out who hurt his daughter and when. But most importantly, how was it possible he did not know before.
«The Silver Crystal is a source of pure power, it can be used by other people if taken from me. I can't... I have to protect it» Usagi affirmed, «If everyone knew about it...»
All Might stopped her with a hand on her head, trying to calm her down even if, on the inside, he was shaken himself «It's not indispensable to do it, princess. We can have the correction made another way, or not at all»
He had kept the secret of One for All for decades, this wasn't going to be any harder with only a handful of people knowing.
Recovery Girl shook her head, but knew she had to accept it was the right call.
"The health and safety of the patients have to come first" she reminded herself, as she pushed aside yet another secret of that family.
Father and daughter were dismissed with the assurance Recovery Girl were going to keep the medical discretion, and walked back home in thoughtful silence.
Only once in the calm of their kitchen, in front of a cup of tea, Toshinori asked: «Tell me now... Is that the power you told me about? The one you girls have to protect?»
Not that he needed much confirmation after seeing it first hand. The effects of those few seconds of exposure still lingered on him like a safety blanket.
She fidgeted with her cup and nodded «This is a very long story...»
He pushed a chair and let himself fall on it with a tired smile «It's a good thing it's still early, then»
His calm tone was all she needed to speak up. After all, she was weary of keeping that secret and she knew her dad could help her more than Luna believed.
He wasn't only a Hero, but most importantly a good man, one who gave his dedication, his life and his own health to the world. She trusted him.
«The Imperial Silver Crystal» she started «Long ago was the heirloom of the Moon's Royal family. In my previous life, I was the Princess of the Moon and the girls were my guardians»
She explained a lot more, things he found hard to wrap his mind around. The reincarnation was possibly the hardest to digest, but the notion a group of teens defeated extremely powerful supernatural forces on daily basis ever since the middle of the previous year and no one noticed a single thing was no joke either.
There were things left unclear by Usagi's inability to explain, because they were too complex and she didn't understand them either, or simply because she didn't know.
The fact the Silver Crystal was an integral part of her being separated from her body, though, was a terrifying concept.
What could a Villain do with such power? Usagi said there had been attempts, luckily to no avail, to steal it from her, but should someone manage to do that, what would be of her?
It was so similar, yet so very different from One for All.
Both were incredibly strong powers, both called for powerful enemies. The difference was that she couldn't give it away because it was a part of her being, but unlike One for All it could be taken forcefully.
He had to repress a coughing fit when he thought All For One could find out. The clues that that monster was still alive, much to his dismay, couldn't be ignored.
If he did find out, what could prevent him from killing Usagi to take the Silver Crystal and use that power to recharge himself and then render in slavery not only Japan, but the entire world?
And... One for All was leaving him. All Might's career as the Symbol of Peace was almost over, he couldn't protect Usagi for much longer... No wonder her friends, her Guardians, weren't happy with him taking her to Musutafu, away from their protection...
«Papa?» Usagi called. It snapped him out his thoughtful state and forced him to look up.
«Papa, it's okay. The girls and Mamo-chan have been with me all this time, you don't have to worry!» Usagi's features were calm, but her eyes were filled with concern.
Not for herself, he realized, but for him.
«I promise I won't be a problem, papa. I'll do everything I can to learn and be a good Hero, so you don't have to worry for me» she repeated «I promised I was going to help the others, not be the one always in need of protection. That I was never going to be a tragic princess again»
Tragic princess, she said. It sounded like a cruel irony, how he called her that in those years, only to find out she was a real one. Or had been. The idea wasn't that clear yet.
But back then, she explained, she wasn't a Senshi, only the Princess, the Inners her only defence and the Silver Crystal wielded by the Queen, not her yet.
Now she could and would fight. Now she could be a Hero in her own right. Who cared if she wasn't born for it, or if she, indeed, was? That was her choice, her will, her calling.
She didn't want him to protect her. She never expected it, not from All Might, not from anyone. The Senshi were by her side of their own accord, not a duty, but a bond of friendship. Mamoru, too, stood by her side out of love, not an obligation.
She loved and protected them with the same force they did for her. If it was in her power, no one would sacrifice for her ever again.
«You said "again"» Toshinori realized «"A tragic princess again". What does it mean, my girl?»
«Ah, I was talking about our previous life. In Silver Millennium. It was attacked by the Dark Kingdom and we, well, everybody died. Queen Serenity decided to revive us in the future. According to Luna, the Silver Crystal went through so much strain it took it millennia to reform properly and bring us back»
He finally had an answer to that name, "Silver Millennium", he overheard Luna talking about. So it wasn't a person, but a period of time, long long ago.
The affirmation poised another interrogative, or well, many, about the Silver Crystal. How exactly powerful was it? What could it do? Bringing people back from the dead to new lives seemed to cost a high price, if this Queen Serenity wasn't with them, what else was there?
And a flash hit him: «What about what Recovery Girl said about my health? It is its doing?»
Usagi looked surprised, then glanced down at her now cold tea that stood untouched on the table, and nodded: «I... I've been trying to use the Silver Crystal to fix you» she admitted, defeated by something he couldn't point out «It's powerful, overall, but there are some things it can't seem to do now. We guess it had not regained its full power since my last fight, that it's still too weak and it'll take some more time for it to do big things again»
She certainly didn't mean...
«I can't make your body come back as it was. I tried, but it doesn't work. I probably used too much power to defeat Metalia and Des Phantom and the Silver Crystal is still too weak from that. I can fix most objects, even big things, but for some reason living beings are a lot harder. I'm so sorry, papa. I know it's important for you to be All Might and now you can't do it so much because you're hurt. I really wanted to help you...»
She had tried to heal him. Toshinori wondered when.
And how he had not realized it sooner? Recovery Girl told him, more than once, he was doing better than expected given his medical history. And he managed to have several nights of good sleep and, God!, he wasn't coughing blood as much recently, never chocking on it in his sleep ever since that night when he dreamt of Nana and that ominous thing in the sky...
Oh.
Usagi must have acted when he was asleep.
How frustrating it must have been for her to act in secret, only to figure out her powerful gift could do so little for him!
Because there wasn't much she could do. It didn't depend on his body, not only.
Yes, his body was damaged and frail, but All Might was both the man and his power, not unlike Sailor Moon and the Silver Crystal, they made a whole, active Hero together.
«Usagi-shojo. It's not your fault, my dear girl» he stopped her, then he sighed «My body is already better. You heard what Recovery Girl said. You helped me a lot»
She sniffed back a sob «But...»
«But there is nothing you can do for my quirk. It is leaving me for good and that's exactly what it's supposed to happen»
To her confusion, he took a breath.
It was time to tell the truth for both of them, it seemed. He didn't want to hurt her further with his secret. She deserved better and he trusted her to keep it.
«My quirk... a few, selected people know of it as it truly is. It's called One for All and it was passed from one owner to another, like an Olympic torch, to help and protect the powerless»
Usagi's brain took a second to process the information and let him continue without questions.
«I received it from my Master when I was a teen, a quirkless boy with big dreams I worked hard to realize. A world at peace, held by a pillar of strength. One for All allowed me to become that pillar»
«The Symbol of Peace» she completed.
«Yes. This power I took and refined was not mine to wield forever and eventually it came my turn to pass it down. After the injury, I couldn't control it like before any longer, but I was supposed to let it go anyway sooner or later. I did it earlier this year. Now, One for All is leaving me for good. Little by little, only faint traces of it will stay within me, and I'll soon be back to quirkless, as I was born»
An inquiring gaze lingered on him. Usagi didn't find regret in his skeletal face, nor melancholy at the idea. If she could see his heart, she'd find worry and fear, but the sunken blue eyes didn't betray him.
Comprehension flashed in her mind: «It's Izukun, right? The one who has your quirk now?»
He nodded, unsurprised by her deduction. After all, he had been the one who introduced Midoriya to her as his successor and Usagi had witnessed One for All used by both the current holders.
Toshinori waited for the question that never came: why didn't he choose to leave One for All to her?
It was natural for a child wanting to inherit from a parent, even fleeting or impalpable belongings like quirks were, not only because of feelings of entitlement to goods, but for the value that could be given to the legacy of loved ones, to keep a piece of them alive with us.
At least, he wished he had more from his late parents, who he barely remembered, or from Nana, whose only inheritance to him were her teachings, the habit to smile in front of adversities, and the quirk he was bound to let go of from the beginning.
Usagi didn't think about that. She didn't mind. Her sad gaze was on the ground for other reasons entirely.
«So there is really nothing I can do?» the girl wondered, choking back a sigh «I can't help you at all?»
He left the chair and knelt in front of her, ignoring his aching joints. He took her small hands in his much bigger ones and held tight. It was so astonishing how different they were in those small things, but how similar they were overall.
«You are doing so much already, my dear, wonderful daughter»
Two pairs of eyes of the same colour mirrored with unshed tears on both sides.
«You are helping me going through this delicate situation. You have been stalling my illness, easing my pains, warding off my loneliness. When I look at you, I see a brave young woman with a heart bigger than her body, who wants to help others no matter her wishes, or what the world thinks. This is faith in its purest form and you don't know how important that is. It's pushing me forward and it's helping so many people, even if you don't realize it yet. You're making me the proudest of fathers by being yourself every day, not because you're working to be a Hero, but because you already have the soul of one. And one day, soon, you'll have the chance to show it to the world»
«That I am here?» she smiled through tears.
«That you are here» he repeated, smiling back.
Usagi let hersef slide from the chair and hugged him, to which he immediately held her tight.
She was going to make it, he was sure. He only wished he'll manage be there to witness when the time came for her to be properly recognized.
A trail of destruction, embedded in darkness. Ominous, livid light, barely enough to see in front of his nose.
«Papa!» he heard, faint, far away.
He followed, anguish strangling his breath the more he went forward. He pushed forward anyway, feeling he had to answer the call, that it was important. Urgent.
«Papa! Where are you?»
Usagi's voice had grown clearer, but more desperate, pained. Toshinori struggled to run, finding himself unable to. His limbs were heavy with aches and the dark road offered no chance to see how much progress he was making.
A sudden, wordless scream sent him tumbling down a side road he didn't see before - was it even there before? - and he finally caught a glimpse of long golden tresses.
But not only that.
A figure, one he knew far too well, stood there, holding his precious daughter from the throat. Toshinori couldn't see him clearly, the outline of broad shoulders in a pressed suit and the shadowed face... he just knew...
«All For One»
The loathed name came out between a spit and a strangle and he could almost see the manic grin on his nemesis' face as the centuries-old man turned ever so slightly.
«Did you really think you could hide her from me?» there was a laugh in those words, twisted by an insane gloat.
«Keep your damn hands off her!» he shouted, trying with all his desperation to call One for All, but only aches answered from his battered limbs.
«Or?» the Symbol of Evil smiled even more maniacally, ignoring Usagi's weakening protests «There is nothing you can do. Nothing anyone can. Not you, not your successor, not her pathetic guard»
Toshinori looked down, four, no five bodies on the ground.
The four Inner Senshi. Still. Unmoving. The bright fabric of their colourful fukus stained with dirt and blood.
Chiba-shonen, a red splotch streaming on the ground and soaking the white cape he was wearing.
And...
Behind All For One's polished shoes one more... just as unmoving. A green head of unruly hair, turned the other way. Arms and legs bent in multiple weird angles, the skin purple.
Even with the horror, the dread - no no no - filling his chest, Toshinori couldn't look away, not until he heard Usagi's strangled cry again and his eyes were dragged back up to her teary ones.
"Do something. Do something! DO SOMETHING!" he screamed to himself, but his body couldn't move, darkness engulfing him along with pain.
Pain from his body and from his heart.
«Pitful» All For One reprised with the same controlled mirth as before «But you know whose fault is this. This is all because you didn't stop me before. Now you are a failure, not only as a Hero, not only as a mentor, but a father as well. And now...»
Toshinori tried to shout, to scream at the monster to leave her at once, but even his voice was gone, the lack of air in his lung preventing even the slightest sound.
He could only watch, desperate, powerless, as All For One rose his other hand towards Usagi's chest, to the ever-present brooch that hosted the Silver Crystal.
"No! NO!"
Toshinori awoke with a startled scream that didn't quite get out, feeling his chest still constricted by more than the nightmare he just had.
He fought to breathe again, tried to remind himself it was a nightmare, nothing happened to the kids, to his kids, but even with air flowing back in his single lung he couldn't find it in himself to calm down.
Wiping his face, he found it moist, sweat or tears, he wasn't sure which.
He rose from his bed in a tired daze, half-running half-stumbling barefoot towards his daughter's room to see if she was alright, overwhelmed with the need to check, to be sure, to be absolutely certain she was safe and sound at home and not in the clutches of his greatest enemy.
He stopped on the doorframe, almost collapsing on it.
Usagi was in her bed, sleeping peacefully, legs and arms spread on the mattress and covers in disarray, snoring lightly.
Relief washed over him, and he could feel the remainders of the dream were starting to leave, but not so the worries that dream, that nightmare was the expression of.
"I have to tell her. Soon. To Midoriya-shonen too. They need to know, they must be ready should he come after them" he told himself.
He padded inside and fixed the blanket around her, making sure she was fully covered - protected - then he bowed to leave a light kiss to the crown of her head, careful not to disrupt her sleep.
She looked so peaceful, even if she already had so much to worry about for someone so young.
Toshinori told himself this could wait, that she had enough going on, that it was alright to wait a bit more, but the reasoning sounded hollow to his own ears, the self-justifications of an over-protective father.
He couldn't shield her forever. Hell, he barely could now and it hurt.
After allowing himself a minute more of watching over his sleeping daughter, he left the room and went to look for his phone. He doubted his successor was awake at the unholy hour of two in the morning, but his hands ached to call, or at least send a message to check on him his surprise, the screen lit up with an incoming call for a moment, only to shut abruptly.
He looked at the screen and found the name of his successor in the list of the missed calls. Obviously, he pushed the call back button, alarm still high in his system.
One, two rings in and the boy answered.
«Ah! All Might, I didn't mean to wake you up, I'msorryI shoudn'thavecalledatthistime...»
He smiled to himself, relief washing over him again as soon as he realized there was no emergency. It was fine, Midoriya-shonen was fine and called right then it meant the world to him to hear his usual antics.
«It's okay, my boy. I wasn't sleeping» he quickly stopped the muttering flow.
«Oh. Y-you sure? I... it can wait until m-morning, I don't k-know why I... I...»
«My boy. Breathe»
The kid obeyed. Toshinori could hear the sharp intake of air in his pupil's nose and had to hide his own comfort at hearing such a simple thing.
«All Might?»
«I'm here» the usual phrase came out softer than he ever uttered it «What is it, my boy? There must have been a reason for you to be awake at this hour»
«I-it's a stupid thing. I shouldn't have bothered you with that...»
«Midoriya-shonen, you are my successor. Anything concerning you is a concern to me as well. Especially if it keeps you awake in the middle of the night»
A pause, long and full of hesitance.
«I... I'm having those weird dreams lately. Not really nightmares, some are even nice, happy too, but... they feel so real. Only... some times they are bad. Like the world is ending and I can do nothing...» Midoriya chocked up. He was likely crying, Toshinori knew him enough to figure that much, but interrupting him when he was finally speaking up felt like a bad move.
«And... and... I had this one tonight. There was a voice that said, warned, about talismans. And to protect the Prince and Princess? I think... Usagi-san may be the Princess?» he chuckled «It must be because you call her that, no? It's really stupid, I know dreams are the way of the brain coping with life events andevensoIgetsoworriedit'sstupidsorrysorry...»
Toshinori blanked out for a second. Any other day, he would have just agreed with his student there had to be a rational, clinical explanation to it.
In the light of what he just found out, and his own nightmare, though...
«It's not stupid, my boy. You don't have to apologize» he managed to say «Sometimes dreams are just dreams. Sometimes they feed on our fears. Sometimes they mean more than we know. But, in the end, they are passing»
They kept talking for a few minutes more before Toshinori sent the boy back to sleep, reminding both the following was a school day and closing the call, both calmer than before.
Still, a heaviness rested in Toshinori's heart at the end of it.
He trusted the kid. He truly did. But he knew there existed ways - quirks and tortures and horrible things - that could drag the truth out the most loyal person and Usagi's secret was so great, so dangerous, so personal in nature he couldn't tell the truth he just found out to his student. Knowing of it would put the boy even more on the line of danger than he already was, especially given how protective and selfless Midoriya was and how close he and Usagi had become.
Moreover, they were both too troubled, each with their own burdens: Usagi had the responsibility to protect the Silver Crystal; Izuku had the heavy inheritance of One for All to deal with.
Pushing the two weights together could turn out too heavy for the two of them and he didn't want his kids to be overwhelmed.
He stood up until dawn. Unable to get back to sleep, he tried to push down the heavy thoughts with grading papers and reading the teaching books, with next to no avail.
If he fell asleep on the couch only in the early hours of the morning, with papers sprawled around and the open book on his abdomen, no one was there to judge.
The following morning, after being awakened by Usagi's alarm clock with a kink in his neck he tried to fix while starting breakfast, Toshinori found he still had a few questions to make about the situation, but he tried to stick to the most trivial ones, to keep the heaviness of the night at bay.
«Do you...» it was a whim, really, a mere curiosity without meaning. An innocent, harmless thing to ask over breakfast «Do you remember your name in your... previous life?»
Usagi gulped down her mouthful of food and nodded «Serenity, like the Queen. Mamo-chan and the girls still call me that sometimes, when something important is going on»
For the first time in a while, Toshinori grinned in sort-of amusement. A bizarre thing resurfaced in his mind. A happy memory, for once.
«You know, before you were born, when your mother and I were picking names, I suggested to call you Serena, among the others»
«Really?»
He looked up, half-lost in the memory «It was my... third choice, I think. Except your mother vetoed not-Japanese names»
It had taken them a while to agree on "Usagi" and only because Ikuko realized it could be shortened in "Usa" only after he started using it at home. Obviously, Ikuko obliged him to stop shortening it immediately after she made the connection between their daughter's nickname and the nation he was so fond of.
Now she was curious: «Which were the first two?»
«Eirene. It means "peace" in some European language, I believe it's Greek, but I learned it when I was in the States. My friend Dave picked a Greek name for his daughter Melissa and I liked the idea. The other...» he sort of struggled with that.
Back then, he really wanted to give his first daughter that name, as a homage and a reminder, but it sounded like a bad omen giving a new life the name of someone who met such a brutal and untimely demise. Also, he didn't know if it would have been a welcomed gesture. He never had the chance to ask.
«Nana» he said, eyes down on the coffee he didn't feel like drinking anymore «I wanted to call you Nana, like my Master»
«Your mentor? Like you for Izukun?»
He nodded. Nana was much, much more. He still thought as her as his putative mother, the biggest influence in his life, both personal and professional. But he couldn't bring himself to say this much.
«Yes. She was the one who passed me One for All, and taught me how to use it. Until...»
Words got stuck in his gut, but Usagi smiled wide, eyes soft with understanding «She must have been amazing, papa»
«She was» he agreed, smiling back.
"And you would have lived up to her name" he thought before she rushed out home to go to school, joining Chiba-shonen who was waiting down the road to accompany her part the way like every other morning.
Usagi could smile in front of pain just like Nana did. Despite the now reflex-like nature of the gesture, it originally took Toshinori a long while to master that smile, for it to be, or rather look, natural.
Nana would have been proud of her too, or so he liked to believe. On his side, he couldn't be happier how his daughter was, flaws and all.
His thoughts were darkened again.
The matter of alerting his kids about All For One stayed. He knew he had to, soon, burst the bubble of ignorance he was keeping them in, for their own safety. The possibility the Symbol of Evil was still alive and getting ready for the next move was too concrete to ignore.
"A few more days" he told himself "After the Sports Festival I'll speak with both of them" he decided.
He had to hope it was the right choice.
Notes:
The cat is out of the bag! In more than one way...
I've been pondering when and if Izuku was supposed to find out about Usagi's main secret and I decided no moment was better than this. Moreover, now Toshinori knows more or less everything and Usagi knows a lot of important things as well.
The nightmare bit was an idea from a reader, who I dearly thank: jawmax. I hope I made justice to it and you like the final result and my own addictions.
In case you were wondering about the names, I studied Ancient Greek in high school and Eirene is one of my favourites. It sounds very fitting to me that All Might would want to name his child "peace". Melissa, instead, means "honey bee", fitting for her hard-working character too, I think.
Next chapter: someone appears and makes an unlikely friend.
In the meantime, Happy Holidays!