Warning: this chapter is not beta'd.
Chapters 1 to 17 had a beta, but they were unable to continue. After a while, I decided to update this fic, even with the mistakes (I'm not native), so you know how the story ends, mistakes or not. If you want to help me and beta the last 3 chapters, please send me a DM. Thanks!
The sadown leading my way
19: Symbol of hope
First thing Izuku knew, someone was holding his hand.
Second, the bed he was laying on was not the island's nor his own, in his home.
Third, his body weighted as if he had run tree complete marathons, one after another.
His body was very heavy, and he wanted to keep sleeping, but something told him it was very important to look around. His eyelids refused to listen, but at the fifth time he did it. Blinked, confused, until his surroundings became clear, in soft colours. A green spot near him. Green hair as his own. His mother was sitting beside his bed, sleeping and with an arm in his bed, her hand over his own.
Izuku felt his heart melting with relief.
His eyes were a little blurry, then his face was wet, and then he turned his hand to join his palm with his mother's. He saw how the movement woke her up, how she turned her head, how she changed her expression when she saw him, and then both of them were crying, holding each other and hugging.
.-.
"Oh, Izuku"
"Mom... I missed you so much"
"Oh, my boy. I knew you were alive. I knew it. I knew a young man so smart like you will... will..."
She started to cry again, and she hugged him, sobbing. Izuku followed, feeling the tears rolling down his face. It was almost dreamlike, after all it had happened. He did not want to let her go. He wanted to sink in these warm sea of relief and happiness, of love and shared moments. She wanted to tell her mother how much he loved her.
A few minutes later, a doctor arrived, and when she saw him awake she started to check on him, not saying anything about their tears.
"Young Midoriya..." she started, dubious "Physically, you have no wounds nor bruises. We did not find any injuries, but the nervous tension will prevail for a while. The best you can do now is absolute rest, and we will give you psychological assistance. You went to therapy before, right?"
Izuku nodded.
"Then, keep going more often. There are some people who want to talk with you"
.-.
An hour later, the police arrived, with Erasehead and Toshinori. Izuku smiled at his teachers, and looked with worry the bandages around Aizawa's torso.
"I will live, and in a few days I will be back to teach you and Shinsou, you hard-nosed" he said, almost smiling. The boy smiled back, relieved, and dried his tears off his face.
Before the police could finish their greeting, Izuku went for a notebook his mother had left in the night stand besides the bed, and she gave him some pens. He smiled and nodded, and then he turned towards the police officer. He uncapped the pen, opened the notebook and looked at them.
"Ask" he said.
.-.
His mother left, strong and with wet eyes.
The police wanted to know all the details of what had happened, from the moment of the kidnap in the camp to the day of his rescue. The pen fled over the paper. Izuku finished with everything they asked him in an hour and a half, but they stayed for another hour, while Izuku wrote and spoke of everything he remembered of the island, answering the questions as accurate as he could. How it was to woke up in All For One's dungeon, his captivity, the plane of the house (the maze was a lost cause), and all the powers and skills he saw the villain had.
"Was there a crime of a private nature?" asked an officer, cautious.
Izuku raised his eyes towards her, letting the question sink in his brain.
"Sometimes he said things, or looked at me in a way making me uncomfortable, but that was it. Except the day I woke up in the dungeon. He didn't even put a foot inside the room assigned to me, only his ghost. And he never started any physical contact, but he seemed open for me to start it, outside training."
All the adults relaxed in a very visible way.
He knew they wanted to ask him more, but the doctor told them he had to rest, and they had asked him enough for that day. Izuku gave the notebook to the police, and told her he was going to write everything he could remember for next time.
He omitted to say he himself was an ajin.
They didn't ask him.
Erasehead approached the bed slow, when the police left.
"Sometimes, I see you and I see him" he pointed at Toshinori "Are you hiding a child from me, Yagi?" he asked, looking at him, and the other adult smiled.
"I don't think so. I am not so lucky" he smiled, and Izuku felt his face heat up.
"Izuku, do you understand what have you done?" Aizawa was looking at him, serious "you confronted the biggest supervillains on history, deceiving him, and rescued the rescue team sent to bring you back. I lost count how many ghosts I saw in the last wave after number thirty-five"
"I think... they were fifty" Izuku said, blushing.
"Fifty?"
"And then I lost count"
Aizawa looked at Toshinori, and Izuku knew what they were saying to each other.
"Young Midoriya" he said, and the boy looked at him "During all this time had been some changes in Yuuei. Your mother has moved to the new dorms... Yes, after the camp it was decided to build dorms for the students. Your room, I mean, if you want it, there is a room available for you there..."
Izuku nodded with energy.
"I had never... I had never seen someone do what you did, young Midoriya. You are the kind of boy who could carry the torch my predecessor passed to me, and make it more bright. The history went to a different direction, but I want to... want to... "
"Midoriya" Aizawa said, and he looked at him. He was bowing, a little rigid "It was our fault for not to take care and protect both classes in general, and Bakugo, Shinsou and you, specially you, in particular. We rescued him both the same day you... you were carried to the island. And we never could have escaped alive if not for your help. That's why, in the name of the other five who are still not up, and of everyone you had saved, we are deeply thankful"
Izuku felt his head was about to boil.
He tried to refuse, but Toshinori looked at him, and he knew there was more.
"Young Midoriya" he started "I hope you could now understand why to see, and to hear, your ghost in the USJ caused what caused on me. It was the only one I saw besides his. And then... when you came to talk to me, it was as if I was capable to breath for the first time after months underwater. Like a ray of sunshine in the middle of a snow and wind storm. I could be the "symbol of peace"... but I had never seen someone who brings as much hope as you do"
Izuku's hands were trembling, and he hid his head behind it, a face as hot as ever. He had blurry eyes and wet cheeks.
"So we called Recovery Girl, and she will arrive any moment now" Aizawa said "And if he were your son you will not deserve him, even when you two look very alike in how stubborn you can be" he said, smiling
.-.
When Recovery Girl arrived, Izuku had given him his answer to the two adults.
"As soon as I can" he said, and looked Aizawa in the eye until he understood he was not going to give. It was not so difficult now.
"Bunch of hard-nosed..." he sighed, but smiled.
Inko went back to the room with Recovery Girl, who said Izuku his nerves will heal with absolute rest, and he had the option to go to sleep, or she will forbid him to go to the press conference, and she will give him tranquillizers. Her mother was with her, and Izuku sighed, shrugged and gave himself in with no resistance.
When he woke up again, he felt almost perfect, and his mother was at his side, with another clothes and ten years younger than before.
"A friend of yours came to see you while you slept. The boy, Shinsou, had his father come and drag him out of here, it seems he works in this same hospital" Izuku smiled "I think he is now in the staff room, his father order him to stay there. Do you want him to come to say hi?"
Izuku gave her the obvious response.
.-.
Hitoshi saw him and smiled.
"Welcome back" he said, and extended his hand for a handshake.
Izuku one his arms and hugged him. A couple of seconds later, he felt he hugged him back and his smile grew.
"It's good... to see you... alive"
Izuku rolled his eyes, with a muffled chuckle.
"I saw you helped the pro heroes in the rescue mission"
"Saw?"
"Who else could make Kurogiri cooperate with his portals?"
Shinsou blushed a little.
"It was about time. Too much talent wasted and too much attention given to the ones who do not deserve it. Did they give you the provisional licence?"
"No, but it was a pro hero request, so I could use my quirk"
"Excellent work, if I have a say in the matter"
Hitoshi chuckled.
While they catch up, he saw the little changes his friends had going trough. He seemed do have stronger arms and walked differently. Hitoshi told him he didn't look like a balloon of water. He changed the topic when he saw how the look in Izuku's eyes shifted, and told him they were going to give him a welcome back party on the dorms. He had missed the room contest, contest Satou won by the power of his chiffon cake. And Sato had plans to bake something new when he came back. He won the second place: it seems the girls liked his cat-themed room.
"I want to see that"
"Get well soon, then, and you will. There are a couple of training partners suggested for us, and one of them is part of the Three Big Ones. All Might named him his successor in the press conference he announced his retirement... even when Aizawa said you two seemed to be family"
"I had been told that a few times"
.-.
In the middle of the night, they moved Izuku and his mother to the Yuuei dorms. They dodged the press camping around school, and they make their way to the dorms. All their furniture and personal elements were there, since the day the dorms were built, in what the press think it was a move to make the school look better... and Izuku was so happy they did.
The only one of their classmates knowing about the move was Hisothi.
He helped them to arrange some basics, and then each one went to their own room. The rest of the class will arrive in the afternoon, even the most punctual, and before the night fell everyone was there.
He practised with Shinsou first.
He was not going to go on a try without any kind of feedback, so they sneaked to Hitoshi's room, and he smiled when he saw so many cat themed things, even some pillows. He felt himself relax, and he started to practice, taking as many precautions as needed. It was going to be a very important event, maybe the most important, and Izuku wanted to do it right.
After a full morning of practice, Izuku did it,
When he could do to twice without any stutter, he heard the class coming back to the dorm, after lunch. Izuku remember he had yet to eat, and Hitoshi asked him if he wanted to do it now. He took a deep breath and nodded. Shinsou went to see if everyone was in the main room, and he said he had something important to show them, to wait here a few minutes. And it was better for Hakagure to not spy, or he was going to make her wait here.
When he opened the door again, Izuku was ready. And nervous.
"Look who is going to live with us" Shinsou said, followed by a still nervous Izuku.
Silence fell over the room.
"Er, hi" he said "It is good to be back"
The next moment the chaos started.
.-.
"...we saw you on live tv and..."
"...we didn't want to believe..."
"...your mother knew, Midoriya, and that's why..."
"...she chose your room first, and then..."
"...so relieved you are here..."
"...gods wanted you to come back..."
Izuku felt himself a little overwhelmed for the constant come and go of the questions, the hugs, the pats in the back, the relief and happiness tears he saw around him. Shinsou, meanwhile, went for some of his mother's food, and with the chime of the microwave some voices fell in silence.
"Let the poor boy eat, he had yet to have lunch, people"
"Good! So I will bake an inverted cake with brown sugar and apples!" Satou said before leaving the main room.
With a bowl of food in his hands, he tried to answer the best he could all the questions of his classmates. He avoided some topics, and they get it, but there were others he had no problem answering. Before he could finish his food, a sweet aroma filled the room.
"And here it is" Satou said, with a steamy inverted cake in a tray "It is the best cold, but is not bad out of the oven"
Izuku told them what was going to happen that night.
"The press conference?" Iida asked "What are your plans, Midoriya?"
"It is something I have to do" he said, leaving the plate with the memory of a slice of cake aside "And something than can not be hidden any more... There are two things I need to ask you all. First, please honour the principal's directives of not revealing to anyone I am back, at least until the press conference ends. And the second... well, I do not know how... " he looked at Hitoshi "My quirk is not... telekinesis"
He felt he had to continue, but he got stuck. The seconds came and went, but the words didn't, and he had to... to...
"It's hero's luck" Shinsou said "It is such an All Might fan he inherited his stubbornness and his luck, that's all"
Izuku laughed, the bowl fell to the floor (it was empty and made of plastic, so it didn't break) and little by little the rest laugh too. Hitoshi smirked, looked at his evil plan in action.
"Ah, thanks, Hitoshi" Izuku said, rubbing his eyes to dry the incoming tears.
"Come on, what could happen? If they had no problem with me, they will have no problem with this"
Izuku felt the tension disappear from his shoulders.
"Hey" he said, way more driven now "I hope you all do not get scared..."
"And if you do, I will tell you not to" Hitoshi said, not skipping a beat.
"...it is time for you to know what my real quirk is" he said, joining his palms and letting the sand flow, making it visible.
The silence was almost palpable.
Tokoyami was the first one to move.
He went over the being made out of sand behind the sofa, looking at his face, and then at Izuku's.
"Your eyes are red" he said, and looked at the ghost, moving his hand. The ghost waved back "Can you see me from there?"
-Hello, pal- said the metallic voice, and it was like an expansive wave with the centre in Izuku and Hitoshi, who did not move.
"It... it's majestic" he raised his hand, hesitating. Dark Shadow came out with curiosity and looked at the creature raising a hand-claw, slow, and extending it to the bird-head boy.
-Is this like your Dark Shadow?-
"Oh, no, I mean, yes, it is similar..." he closed his beak for a few seconds "So that's why, Midoriya, when could we start to train together? This... is like a dream come true. To be able to train with... do you know for how long I was sure this was a lost species? One not coming back, ever... I mean, are you...?" he cut himself short, looking him at the eyes, hesitating.
-The name is ajin- said the metallic voice.
Tokoyami hold his chest, moved.
"Midoriya, I am fanboying right now"
Izuku laugh, with his face hidden between his hands, red in the face.
"Wow, dude, and here I was thinking you only go so red with the pretty girls in class"
.¡Hitoshi!.
Shisnou grinned with malice, looking at the ghost and at Izuku's face.
"Midoriya" Tsuyu talked with a too calm voice "Have you...?" she stopped, not sure how to continue.
"I died after a seven stories free-falling, ten months before Yuuei's entrance exam" he said, dissolving hos ghost "It was... a nice surprise to go back to life. Even more... with some things happening before my birth, and other than will happen in the next days"
"Remember I am the B plan" Hitoshi said, and Isuku smiled again, nervous but a little more relieved.
"Guys" he started "and gals. Lots of things happened since... since I first came to Yuuei. And there is something... something is going to happen, In a few hours... there will be a press conference. Please, until then, do not say anything about my return. There had been things... things since way before... before All for One kidnapped me. Yes, that was... an experience" Shinsou put a hand on his shoulder.
-One I do not want to experience, never again-
Izuku dissolved his ghost.
"And that's why, for everything to go according to plan, the best possible, please keep the secret. I know it's... a lot to ask for, but there are things I can't tell right now"
Bakugo stood up, not uttering a word. He seemed lost. He exited the room as if he was made out of wood, no one stopped him. Izuku, not skipping a beat, started to answer questions about being an ajin.
.-.
He had an hour before leaving, Shinsou had left and Izuku had finished showering, contemplating all the things in his room. It felt so familiar, refreshing and comforting to be back, even if it was in a different room. How different from the last time he saw it. From even before he knew he was not the only ajin All Might had met.
Someone knocked on the door.
"Who is there?"
Silence. Rustling of feet moving in place, not a word. They knocked again.
"Who is there?"
"Mido... " the voice was unable to finish, but Izuku recognized the voice immediately.
"Come in, it is unlocked"
Bakugo didn't seem to be himself.
Izuku looked at him, with a neutral expression, waiting.
"C-can I come in?"
The other nodded, not smiling.
The boy came in, dodging his stare, moving as if his fuse was cut, detonated weeks before. He was so quiet Izuku began to think this was not Bakugo, but a fake. There was none of the rampant pride nor the supercharged ego of his. He looked like...
He looked like a pile of wood failing to the floor because the ropes keeping it together were cut.
Izuku looked at him.
The silence extended for eternity.
"I'm sorry" he said, with a muffled voice "I shouldn't have... I didn't mean what I said. You, jumping of the roof. It was something... horrible what I did to you. Before and after. Jumping... I didn't, didn't mean it, and I don't know... how to compensate... how to mend, such thing, Lots of people... had suffered because of... of me... for my fault and for... for..."
He was shaking in the floor.
"I-I hope somed-day I c-could mend what I-I did to y-you" he took a deep breath and the shaking grew "A-and i-if I don-If y-you w-want, I will leave Y-yuuei. And I-I will be a d-different thing"
Izuku looked at him, with big and round eyes.
The shaking figure on the floor remind him another similar scene, but in that time there were tree actors and the current motives were not life or death related. He took a deep breath, feeling mixed emotions in the present. He took one of his notebooks and tapped the blonde head. When he could see his red eyes, much more later he raised his head, he spoke to him.
"Don't be an idiot. That is putting it too easy for me"
Bakugo sniffed, confused.
"My goal is not to defeat you, my goal is to be a hero and help the ones in need. Any chance of being friends died that day, but I am not going to cut your wings"
"Iz-Izuku..."
"Midoriya"
"Midoriya... All Migth..."
"He told me. And he told me it was the end of his cycle, it could have been us or others"
Bakugo looked at the floor.
"Why?" the other looked at him "Why you do not want to punch me?" he looked lost.
"Because I am not a violent beast solving each of their problems with violence. I am not Endeavour"
"But I... caused so... much pain... almost like the..."
The notebook patted him in the head again.
"And did you joined them when they offered?"
"...No..."
"And are you going to start now?"
"...No..."
"And are you going to give up and leaving behind all the disaster you were in just like that, like a coward?"
"No" he said, lifting his head and looking him in the eye. For a second. Then he looked away, thoughtful "Midoriya... I did hurt you a lot"
"And that's why we can't be friends again"
"I didn't expect it" he swiped his tears of his face, ashamed "It's just... I am not used to... to this"
Izuku didn't need to respond.
"If there was a way for me to... to mend it..."
"Stop being a bomb and start to be something worthy of being called hero, then"
Bakugo, with tears still running down his face, nodded.
.-.
Hitosi arrived the minute after Bakugo left. He was dressed for the press conference and started to ask him if he was ready when he saw him in the bed, looking at the ceiling with open arms.
"Hey, Izuku, are you asleep?"
"No, but something so weird happened I am starting to think it was a dream"
"A nice one?"
"Let's say more or least" he sighed "I think it was the better than could have happened. I almost am nicely surprised"
"Well, then, should we got ready for the press? Being on a Sunday put them in a bad mood, and they want blood"
"And what a good thing is they could drink all of mine and I can go back to life and again, right?"
"Dude, they are not vampires. But a teacher may help you with that..."
"Nah, better get ready" he sat in the bed and looked at him "You have no idea how great you are, Hitoshi"
"Well, I try to be around great people"
Izuku smiled and went for her suit. He took a deep breath, letting the nerves go. It was time to be at the required level, and go beyond.
"Plus... ultra" he said, serious.
.-.
Aizawa was surprised to hear he wanted to be present in the conference. When he saw that look in these green eyes, he understood what he was planning to do, and he looked at him in a different light. Izuku saw pride, and an almost not trembling smile bloomed in his face.
"Only the mad ones can reach the impossible" the adult said, smiling, and his bags seemed less deep for a few seconds.
All Migth had a similar reaction.
"I know you passed the torch to a worthy successor, sensei" Izuku said to him "And it is time for me to go up, at the same level"
.-.
The press conference started as expected, with a constant bombing of questions from the journalists. Yes, they found new clues about the current location of Midoriya Izuku. Yes, he had being kidnapped by the villain known as All For One. Yes, the were currently taking actions at the respect. No, All Might was not going to come back, his retire was definitive. Yes, they will return with Midoriya Izuku safe and sound. Yes, they were sure about it. The microphone in the middle of the table, empty and with no chair, was for someone who had yet to arrive. Yes, he knew they will want to see them.
And there they were, answering questions with all the honesty and diplomacy they could. Izuku waited, serious, very well hidden in backstage, until the moment arrived. He looked at his mother, smiling with him, and Hitoshi, who was here for moral support, at Toshinori's back and Aizawa-sensei, and when he saw Erasehead's signal, he went to the stage.
The journalist went silent when they saw him, like the waves in the water after a stone fell on it. The flashes continued, the cameras filmed, and all the world could see how he took the microphone without a chair and looked at the front, confident.
"My name is Izuku Midoriya. I am Green Ghost" he said, with the calm voice in front of the cameras. He left the microphone in the table, raised his hands, joined his palms, and focusing in making it visible, he let his sand flow. A black hand took the microphone raising it to a place when it was supposed to be a mouth, had the black ghost had one. Hundreds of people in the room raised their heads, following the ghost taking shape behind Izuku.
Izuku could only hear his own breath and the sound of the cameras filming.
-My name is Izuku Midoriya- said the metallic voice, echoing in the microphone and in font of millions of people around the world -And I am an ajin-