Nezu sank into his chair. He was going to call for a meeting with the rest of the pro heroes, but Tsukauchi apparently had something to talk about, and had already called up a meeting. They were discussing the Kamino Incident, and the after effects of the attack, but it didn't seem to take them too long to settle the problem at hand.

Tsukauchi sighed, and spoke up, "Nezu? I know you wanted to say something about Midoriya?"

Nezu frowned, and looked at the heroes gathered in the room, "Have... any of you talked to Izuku? During the rescue, while he was in the hospital, whenever?"

Tatsuma frowned, "As far as I know... not really."

Nezu looked at them, "Did you even say anything that might give him the impression that... you didn't want to save him?"

"What do you mean by that?" Nishiya asked, confused, "Why wouldn't we want to save him?"

"I mean... we did talk more amongst ourselves than with the pup." Sakamata mumbled, "Maybe he got the wrong impression or something. Did something happen?"

Nezu sighed, "No. It's nothing."

Tsukauchi glanced at Nezu worriedly, before he dismissed the rest of the heroes. His quirk had quickly detected Nezu's statement as a lie, and it was clearly bothering Nezu, whatever had happened.

He wasn't going to ask about it. Nezu probably also wanted to respect Midoriya's boundaries and not tell other people something that's private. Maybe after it got better, Nezu would spill. But for now, he wasn't going to pry on what was obviously a sensitive and private matter.


Nezu slumped into his chair.

Midoriya was still doing his work, as per usual, and there weren't any major things that he had to keep track of. He just had to deal with the paperwork from the Hero Commission that just seemed to keep on piling up despite his best efforts to finish them as fast as possible.

The phone on Nezu's table rang, and Nezu frowned, before picking it up.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"Excuse me... this is UA, right?" A voice on the other end in broken Japanese replied, "My name is Basilisk, uh... I'm a pro hero in Italy. Venice, to be exact."

Nezu blinked in confusion, before he switched to Venetian, "Hello? Is this better for you?"

"No, no... Japanese is fine. I am Japanese, I'm just really rusty.. haven't spoken it much lately.. uh... quick question, Midoriya Izuku... I believe that's his name... he attends your school right? Green fluffy hair, freckles... was involved in that Kamino incident -"

"Yes, what is your business with Midoriya Izuku?" Nezu bit back a growl, as he pressed the phone closer to his ear suspiciously. The man's pronunciation was odd, but he did pronounce "Midoriya" correctly.

What on earth did this pro hero want with his pup? And from Venice?

"I would like to talk to the boy. With permission, of course. I know things are a bit difficult over there with the recent Kamino Incident and the fall of your Symbol of Peace."

Nezu sighed, "What do you want to talk to him about? Sorry I'm being a bit pushy, but I need to know you aren't going to endanger him in any way."

"Understood. I worked with Midoriya Hisashi, his father, and due to... reasons... Midoriya Izuku never saw much of his father. I... I think he deserves an apology. I'll be free next week, I think, if nothing pops up, so hopefully I could arrange a time to talk to Izuku. Also... his father left a gift for him. I would like to personally give it to the child."

Nezu bit his lip. He knew that it was selfish of him to not want this hero to meet Midoriya, given the state his poor kid was in, and all the security issues that Japan, and especially UA, were facing, but Midoriya did deserve to know more about his father.

Nezu had found out through newspaper archives that Midoriya had lost his parents when he was seven, and was never really given the chance to think and process what had happened before he had been haphazardly tossed into the foster system and promptly dumped into an abusive family. The poor kid had lost his parents in a fire, had been bullied by everyone, from his foster siblings and mother, to his classmates in elementary and middle school, and even his teachers, to the point where he had attempted suicide several times. And the only reason he wasn't dead was because he had manifested a quirk that messed with his head and prevented him from dying, a quirk that he somehow got from his parents.

Midoriya Hisashi had a pretty powerful fire breathing quirk, and had gone to Shiketsu, so it did make sense that he would be a pro hero. His records did also say that he was working in Venice, so that checked out with this... Basilisk's story as well. Hisashi didn't have a good family, in fact, he had a less than satisfactory home life. It took a bit more digging to that usual, but unlike most others, whose quirks usually manifested before the age of four, his quirk had manifested when he was seven. There was something about him having a minor throat infection in the records, but really, other than the fact that the location of his quirk factor was the same as the location of the infection, there didn't really seem to be any correlation between the two events at all. It could just be a coincidence.

Midoriya Inko, on the other hand, was a nurse, having gone to medical school. She had what was considered a "weak" telekinesis quirk, but there were some older rumours that she had held up a burning building with her quirk, buying enough time for the firefighters and heroes to evacuate the building, before a hero with a fire-based quirk saved her. Much like Hisashi, her quirk also manifested late, at the age of nine, though there weren't any details about it that he could find.

Midoriya deserved to know more about his father, deserved some closure from his past; Nezu couldn't take that away from him.

"I... Alright. I'll allow it. When are you planning on coming?"


Aizawa glanced worriedly at the boy who was sitting at the sidelines, staring at the ground, barely moving. Midoriya did react, like if Ectoplasm asked him to answer a question in a desperate attempt to involve Midoriya in lessons, but unless it was necessary, he just seemed to be completely shut off, an empty, hollow shell, a ghost of his former self. He didn't talk, didn't eat, didn't sleep, no one was sure if he even drank water. Aizawa could tell that it was starting to affect the other students. Hagakure, Ashido and Kaminari were quieter than usual, Kirishima, Yaoyorozu and Sato were eating less, heck, even Dark Shadow seemed reluctant to fight anyone.

It wasn't just the 1-A students who were affected; 1-B seemed equally upset at Midoriya's deteriorating condition. They weren't in the same class, but they did hang out together. Tetsutetsu, Awase and Tokage sometimes hung out with the Bakusquad, while Kodai, Shishida and Kaibara usually had study sessions with Iida and Todoroki, while Shinsou and Monoma sometimes joined in.

Aizawa glanced at the clock on the wall, before he turned his attention back to the students. Nezu had mentioned that someone wanted to talk to Midoriya, but Aizawa didn't think it was a good idea. Midoriya was already wary and untrusting of strangers, and in his current condition, he wasn't even reacting to anything. But Nezu knew Midoriya the best, and if he thought it was good for the boy, then Aizawa would allow it.

Plus, if this supposed pro hero did anything to hurt Midoriya, Aizawa would have his head.

Not to mention that Ishiyama and Yagi were also in the room. No one was going to hurt Midoriya any more than he was already hurt.

Aizawa heard the sound of the door being opened, and he, along with Ishiyama and Yagi, turned around to see what it was. There was a man with gleaming green and blue hair, piercing amber eyes, and sharp claws. He was wearing a casual shirt and jeans, and had a long, blue and green tail flicking around behind him. He had a bag in his hand, and Nezu trailed into Gym Gamma behind him.

Shinsou and Uraraka had been sparing against each other, and was taking a water break, and they also stopped to stare at the stranger.

"This is Basilisk?" Aizawa asked, and the stranger nodded, raising the bag, and replied, "Yes, that would be me. Can I... give this to Midoriya?"

Aizawa kept a suspicious eye on Basilisk, as the man walked towards Midoriya, who was still sitting by the side, his empty, hollow gaze glued to the ground, not even reacting as Basilisk got closer to him.

Basilisk stopped in front of Midoriya, waiting for a reaction from the green haired boy, but Midoriya didn't move at all.

"Hey, Midoriya?"

No reaction.

Basilisk cocked his head in confusion, before he asking again, "Uh, Midoriya? Hello?"

Still no reaction. Basilisk frowned, and pinched his nose, "Gods, calling you Midoriya is awkward, no offence."

Basilisk stood there, thinking for a few seconds, before reaching into his bag, and Aizawa was pretty sure he wasn't the only one watching the supposed pro hero's actions warily. Shinsou and Uraraka were definately wary of this new person, but Aizawa was sure that there were more than six pairs of eyes glued on the man.

The pro hero pulled out a box wrapped in light blue paper, with what looked like to be a small card on it, and crouched down slowly, before holding the box out to Midoriya, right in his line of sight, "Come on, kid. If you're not going to say anything... at least... take this?"

Much to Aizawa's surprise, Midoriya's eyes suddenly widened, and he blinked, leaning away from Basilisk slightly, almost like he was taken aback. He looked at Basilisk, before glancing at the gift, before blinking and looking at Basilisk again.

"I'm sorry."

Midoriya blinked in what looked like mute confusion. Aizawa was sure that the only people who weren't surprised were Nezu and Basilisk himself; of course Nezu would want to know what Basilisk's intentions were before even allowing him to step through UA's gates.

"I worked with your father. He originally wanted to return when you were three, and visit every month or so, but we had put him on a stealth mission that took... longer than we expected. Your father was supposed to infiltrade this... crime syndicate, or Yakuza, I think that's the term in japanese, and we all thought it would only take a month or two at maximum. Turns out, the group was bigger than we though, and their inflence spanned across several countries and cities. Your father was already a mamber of the group; pulling him out of there would be a death sentence. We had no choice, and he spent almost two and a half years with the Yakuza, and I think he only retured home a month or two before your sixth birthday."

Basilisk carefully placed the gift on Midoriya's lap, and promptly retracted his hand.

"I'm sorry. Because of us... you only got slightly more than a year to see your father... given what had happened after."

Midoriya's entire body started trembling slightly, unnoticeable to the untrained eye, but given that Midoriya had literally been as still as a statue for the past few days, the movement was obvious.

"You know, your father never really told us your name. He said it was too dangerous for you, in case it got out that he had a quirkless kid. He didn't want any villains going over to Japan to kidnap you or something, Midoriya. That's still weird, calling you that; up to this point, I've only called your father Midoriya." Basilisk scratched the back of his head, "He's only showed us pictures, of you and your mother. He loved you, and he was always praising you in some way during our breaks. Your father ordered this specially for you; custom made, he designed the entire thing, said you liked puzzles, even though we told him it was probably too complicated. There were some problems during the delivery; there was this storm and the delivery was late, but the company said that they couldn't deliver it to your house, so they sent it to us cause the company address was the back-up address. We would have given this to you sooner but, uh... while Midoriya is not a common last name... it's not that uncommon. We also didn't know if you would have changed your name, or something like that, assuming you went into the foster system, so the name on the card wasn't very helpful either. We also didn't really have a way to find out who you were through your quirk because... well... that's kind of classified information and we had no way to access it all the way in Venice."

Midoriya's hands shook more violently, and Basilisk continued, "We just kept a hold of this, hoping we'd find a chance to give it to you. It was the least we could do for your father... given that it was our fault that you never saw much of him... We only found you through the news of the Kamino Incident. Green fluffy hair and freckles just like your father, uh, not the green, the fluffy part. Quirkless, uh, though that wasn't very helpful, since you might also have developed your quirk late like your father. Same surname, also in the right age range; we figured we got the right kid. Then one of our colleagues found your Sports Festival Fights, and I remember your father being so proud over the phone that you were learning how to fight while blinded and... that just sealed it. We found you."

Midoriya continued to look at Basilisk, not so wary, but more like in disbelief. The hero looked around, "I think I'm making him uncomfortable... I should... go now, I guess?"

Basilisk stood up, and made his way to Aizawa, Midoriya watching his every movement. He turned around, "Just... I'm sorry... for everything that happened."

Yagi walked over to Nezu, whispering, "I'll bring him to the gate. You make sure that Midoriya's okay."

Nezu mutely nodded. Yagi's attempt at whispering failed completely; while Nezu did appreciate the intent, he was sure that whispering did not entail everyone nearby being able to hear what was being said.

The animal principal walked over to Midoriya as Yagi led Basilisk out, and settled down beside the green haired boy, watching as Midoriya's gaze trailed from Basilisk back down to the neatly wrapped present in his hands in disbelief, his entire body shaking as he stared at the card on the gift.

Aizawa turned his attention back to the students, only to find that all of them had stopped practising, and were looking at Midoriya from the top of the cement structure that Ishiyama had manipulated for them.

"What are you looking at?" Aizawa growled, his voice lacking the usual bite behind it, "Get back to practicing!"


Ashido let out a peel of laughter as she watched Bakugou swearing as he waved his arms, before haphazardly scribbling down an answer on her physics homework. Kaminari had challenged him to some boxing on Wii Sports, and Bakugou couldn't deny the challenge. It resulted in Bakugou winning five games straight; he did almost lose the first game, but that was only because he had never used a Wii controller before.

"Kaminari, stop playing, help me with this!" Ashido whined, "It's not fair that you're so good at physics!"

"Well, you're good in chemistry." Kaminari replied, turning away from the screen, "Help me with chem and I'll help you with physics?"

"Deal." Ashido nodded, and Bakugou roared, "I'm the best, you can't beat me at this game, Pikachu!"

"My turn!" Sero laughed, and Bakugou gleefully smirked, "I'll fucking kill you, Office Supplies!"

"Just try me." Sero taunted, and Bakugou roared as he started another match, Kaminari giving his controllers to Sero before plonking himself down on the couch next to Ashido.

Shinsou stretched, and stood up, going into the kitchen to grab himself a glass of water. He had just finished the homework that Ectoplasm had given them, and he was slightly sore from his spars with Uraraka. Shinsou finished his water, and placed his cup on the sink, before walking over to the couch.

Ever since they had gotten back to the dorms, Midoriya had been sitting on the couch, still staring at the wrapped box that Basilisk had given him, the look of disbelief still etched on his face. Reiko and Ryuto were sitting beside the boy, but Nezu had been called off for another meeting, and Shinsou was very sure that the animal principal wanted to spend more time with Midoriya.

"Hey... can I... sit here?" Shinsou softly asked, not wanting to startle Midoriya. He didn't get a verbal response from the green haired boy, but Midoriya did shift slightly to the side, giving Shinsou enough space to wedge himself between Midoriya and Ashido.

Shinsou snuck a peek at the card stuck on the present, and he blinked.

"Happy 7th Birthday, Izuku!"


Midoriya couldn't believe it. He didn't own anything from his parents; everything from them that he owned had gone up in flames when he was seven.

He hadn't seen it in so, so long, but he could recognise his father's handwriting anywhere; the curly way he wrote his "y"s, the way his "h" slanted, the messy "u"s. He never thought he'd actually see it again, and he wasn't too sure whether this was real or not.

His favourite colour was light blue, and the box was wrapped in a very nice shade of light blue wrapping paper. The dimensions of the box also seemed about right, he remembered his father lamenting that morning that the delivery was late, his hands waving about, trying to show the seven year old Midoriya how big his gift was.

He still didn't believe that this was real, that he had something from his parents, sitting right in front of him.

He recognised Basilisk from a picture that his father had shown him. He was a colleague of his father's, and he had the ability to turn into a gigantic snake. He wasn't too sure whether was dreaming the whole thing up, whether his brain was showing him something that he wanted to see. The memory of what his parents looked like were starting to fade from his memory, and Midoriya hated that; he remembered everything, everything his classmates had told him, every single suicide attempt, the Nomu trying to kill him, his torture at the hands of the League, but he could barely remember what his parents looked like.

"Are you going to open it?"

Midoriya was immediately startled out of his thoughts, and glanced at Shinsou, before looking back at the present.

Shinsou can see it. Someone else other than me can see it. This was very much real.

Midoriya gulped slightly, and carefully tried to peel away the tape that was keeping the wrapping paper around the box, trying to do his best not the rip the paper at all; this was something from his parents, he wanted to treasure every single thing from them. It took him a while, the tape was sticky from being so old, and his hands were shaking quite a bit, but he finally managed to peel off the tape.

He carefully unwrapped the box, only to find a pretty wooden box inside, painted in pretty shades of light blue and green, and a shiny layer of lacquer on top as a finishing touch. There weren't any hinges, and there were small holes on the sides of the box. He didn't notice that Ashido and Kaminari had stopped doing homework, and was not-so-subtly looking at him.

A picture slid out of the wrapping paper, fluttering to the ground, and it immediately caught Midoriya's attention. He saw a small green haired boy sitting on top of a light blue haired man's shoulders, with a woman with long, green hair standing beside them. They were all smiling, and Midoriya distinctively remembered that they had taken this picture at the park near their home, a month after his father had returned home.

He gently clutched at the picture, his eyes glued onto every single detail, burning it into his memory. He finally had something, a visual of his parents, something he'd never thought he'd see again. He didn't want to forget any detail about them.

Midoriya carefully placed the photo on the table, and turned his attention back to the box. He ran his fingers along the shiny, smooth surface of the box, finding small ridges between what seemed to be two seperate pieces of wood. Iida and Todoroki had made their way behind the couch, looking at the box, but Midoriya paid them no mind, and moved his hand to the bottom of the box, finding a loose piece of wood and pulling it out.

It was a puzzle box. When he was a kid, he used to love puzzles. He liked solving puzzles with his parents.

Midoriya's hand trailed to the side of the box, finding another loose piece and pushing it inwards, and an opening on the top of the box popped open. Midoriya tilted the box slightly, and a small, cylindrical piece of wood slid out. He grabbed the small piece of wood, and inserted it into the circular hole on the side of the box, which pushed out another compartment near the corner.

Midoriya repeated the process; using the previous step to, quite literally, unlock the next step. Shinsou wasn't too sure how long he had been watching Midoriya fiddle with the puzzle box, very much intrigued by the intricate craftsmanship that went into the making of the box.

It took quite some time, and in that time, Bakugou and Sero had stopped playing Wii, and almost all of 1-A was crowding around in the common room. There were also several 1-B students; apparently, Bondo and Kamakiri accidentally blew up the stove in the 1-B dorms, and they were currently going to be joining 1-A for meals until they got the stove fixed. Shishida, Kaibara, and Kendo were currently with Sato and Tokoyami in the 1-A kitchen.

Midoriya slid another piece into place, before a much larger compartment at the back of the box opened. Midoriya leaned over carefully, not wanting to dislodge anything by accident, and his eyes widened. Shinsou leaned over, curious and worried as to what would elicit such a reaction from Midoriya, only for Midoriya to reach out into the compartment, gingerly pulling out a small, oddly shaped chatoyant brown rock with pretty yellow-golden bands, hanging on a silver chain.

Upon closer inspection, Shinsou realised that it wasn't just an oddly shaped rock, but it was actually a dragon, its wings slightly unfurled, its tail wrapped around its body. It was intricately carved, and as Shinsou moved his head, he could see specks of yellow and gold, the colours reflection off the inclusions in the stone that made up the dragon like wisps of fire.

Midoriya stared at the dragon, cradelling it gently.

He remembered this dragon.

He remembered his father, holed up in his room, working on something that he said was a secret. He didn't heed his father's warnings, and had entered the room in the middle of the night, only to see white hot fire.

Midoriya let out a small yelp, and the fire immediately disappeared, and Hisashi turned around, spotting the small boy.

"Izuku..." Hisashi sighed, and carefully placed whatever he was holding into a bucket, before walking over to Midoriya, picking him up.

"I'm sorry... you said I shouldn't come here..." Midoriya mumbled, and Hisashi let out a small chuckle, "I don't blame you, Izuku; I knew you'd visit sometime. You're too curious sometimes. This was supposed to be a secret, but now that you're here, you can't tell anyone, okay?"

Midoriya vigorously nodded his head, "Mhm!"

Hisashi grinned, and settled down at his table. He placed Midoriya on his lap, and reached into the bucket, pulling something out and drying it with a towel. Midoriya noticed that the bucket had water in it.

"What are you making?" Midoriya asked, and Hisashi smiled, bringing the object closer to Midoriya. It was a beautiful dragon head, partially carved into the rock, and it gleamed in the light.

"Took me a couple of tries to figure out how to not break the stones." Hisashi sheepishly laughed at Midoriya's awe, "But I've gotten the hang of it."

It was only then that Midoriya noticed that there were many broken, cracked, or melted rocks littering Hisashi's desk, and in the dustbin. Hisashi reached out, and picked out a smaller rock, before giving it to Midoriya, letting the child see just what kind of material he was working with.

"Hisashi? Have you seen Izuku? I heard a noise and he wasn't in his room and -" Inko's voice rang out, as she pushed open the door. Her eyes lay on Midoriya, and she heaved a huge sigh of relief, "Izuku!"

She rushed over, picking Midoriya up and hugging him, before smiling, "He's seen it?"

Midoriya nodded excitedly, pointing at the rock on Hisashi's desk, "Papa's making a pretty dragon!"

Inko glanced at Hisashi's slightly burnt hands, and sighed, "I told you not to do this while I wasn't around. You may breathe fire, but you're not fireproof."

"I'm fine, really. They're just minor burns." Hisashi protested, as Inko carefully put Midoriya down and cradled Hisashi's hands gently.

"No more carving for tonight." Inko berated, "I'm putting ointment on those burns and wrapping them in bandages. I don't care that you're the mighty pro hero Dragon; I'm treating that, and you can't stop me."

Midoriya gave a small giggle as Hisashi comically pouted, letting out a reluctant, "Yes, ma'am."

"Good." Inko nodded, and led them out to the living room, "Now be a good little lizard and sit there."

Hisashi immediately obeyed, as Inko rummaged through the cupboards for the first aid kit. She pulled it out, as Midoriya hopped onto the sofa, next to his father. She gently rubbed the ointment on Hisashi's palms, all the while berating her husband for making bad decisions and being so impatient. Midoriya had gotten bored, and admired the rock that his father had given him.

"It's really pretty. I like it. What kind of rock is this?" Midoriya asked, and Hisashi laughed, "I thought you'd like it. It's actually a metamorphic rock in the quartz group. It's more commonly known as the Tiger's Eye, but there are people out there who call it the Dragon's Eye. It's said that it can dispel fear and anxiety, and is considered the stone of survival, vitality and self worth, especially during difficult life transitions."

Midoriya didn't really understand all the big words that his father was talking about, but he accepted it anyways. Vitality sounded cool.

"Are you making the dragon for someone?" Midoriya asked, and Hisashi nodded, "Yep. Someone close to both your mother and I. Someone we both care about. You know him too."

"I do?" Midoriya asked, and Inko nodded, "The person we're giving this to... he's facing some hardships, and will face more in the future. We just want to remind him that no matter what happens, he should never give up on himself, and that there would always be someone who cares about him. Falling down is a normal part of life; learning from our mistakes, and standing back up and trying again shows that you're strong. As long as you don't give up on something you truly believe in, you will find a way to succeed."

In the days to come, Midoriya sat in Hisashi's office, watching in awe as his father used his fire to soften the rock, using his tools to carefully cut and shape the stone, before Inko used her quirk to put the rock in water, letting it cool. And he watched as the dragon emerged from the stone.

Midoriya hadn't really understood all the words his parents had told him, and he just stared at the dragon, lost in thought.

They wanted him to live. Push past all the difficulties and finally, live his life.

People will always hate you, Deku! The voice in his head spat, You'll never be loved, never be cared about you. Don't be stupid, did you really think that -

Midoriya just did his best to ignore the nonsense his head was spouting.

Sato yelled, "Hey, dinner's ready."

"Hey, Midoriya, we're having dinner. Are you going to come join?" Shinsou asked. He wasn't really expecting a reply; he still wasn't too sure how Midoriya was feeling.

To his surprise, Midoriya tightened his grip on the small dragon pendant, turning to look Shinsou in the eye, and a quiet, barely audible whisper escaped his mouth.

"Okay."