Hey all, I hope everything is going well with you guys! January is going by so fast haha, it'll be February before we know it! Thank you to my reviewers, seeing a review always brightens my day and so for that, I deeply appreciate you guys who take the time to write a review, I also appreciate everyone who has favorited or followed! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! For legal purposes: I own neither BNH/MHA or LOK/ATLA, not creative enough for that!
Aiko was running. The formerly quirkless man sprinted as fast as he could away from the place he had grown up, away from what had once been his home, and then became his prison. His chest heaved as he forced himself to run, wishing that he had left earlier in the night as opposed to now, the rising sun lightening the sky and making his flight more visible. He hadn't been thinking though when he bolted. He had only known that he needed to get away, and the moment his brother left he took his chance. The white-haired man quickly made his way to the 24-hour convenience store that was located by his house, grabbing the first pack of hair dye that he saw and a bottle of water He pulled his hood up as he walked up to the counter, setting it down. He debated with buying contacts, but then decided it wasn't worth it. While his eyes were distinct, it was his hair that betrayed him the most. Only two people in this area had white hair, and one of them was the exact person that Aiko was running from. He paid the cashier and quickly exited the building, melding into the lightening shadows of the alleyway behind the store. He moved as quickly as he could, doing a rush dye job that ended up coming out more grey than black, but it didn't matter. As long as he got rid of the snow-white hair, he'd be fine. Tossing the empty box dye and water bottle into the trash, he shouldered his bookbag once more, moving as quickly and as silently as he could as he rushed away. He had no idea of where he was going, but he had heard whispers of a resistance forming against his brother. A band of people who were against the mass genocide of benders, people who didn't think that people with quirks were superior, people who would possibly take him in. He didn't know what quirk his brother had given him, only remembered the sheer pain that had wracked his body at the forceful imposition, but it wasn't a quirk that was visible. He could continue to pose as being quirkless, and he would join the resistance that would bring his once-beloved older brother down.
He wandered for days, taking refuge in dark alleys during the day, only daring to move under the cover of night, making his way from the city that he had lived to the very outskirts of the Wasteland as they called it. It was a place that had apparently once had towering buildings called skyscrapers, but now it was a flat wasteland where no life grew. No one knew what happened to make it that way, but there were rumors of a bombing of some sort, though Aiko didn't know what kind of bomb would be that powerful to level an entire city. He was tired and hungry, having long ago eaten the last of his rations while wishing he had the forethought to pack more. The only thing he had left was two pairs of clothes and three bottles of water. In a few more days though, they too would be gone. There had been a few close calls where people had nearly found him, too many. His brother was aware of his absence, and he wanted Aiko back. Aiko himself was very nearly tempted to return, his body unused to the constant movement that he was putting himself through, forcing himself to bear the weight of his body shaking coughs and his ever plaguing migraines without the help of his brother. His brother, who before he took on the name All For One, would tenderly sit next to him and cover his eyes with a warm damp cloth and would card his hands through his weak little brother's hair. They had been so close then, Aiko thought wistfully before pushing away the thought. He had no time to focus on the past, to look back at what once was. He only had time to move forward.
It was nearly two weeks later after he had run away that he found them, or rather, they found him. He had finally dropped to the ground of exhaustion, his water bottles long gone, his throat dry like parchment paper. His vision was blurred from the migraine that currently pounded through his head with the force of a drum, and he laid there collapsed in the middle of the wasteland, the sunlight beaming down harshly on him. Sweat ran down his face as he tried to force himself to his feet, begging his body to listen, but as it always had, his body betrayed him. Acceptance washed over him as he realized he was probably going to die here, and as his eyes began to close he heard a shout followed by the outlines of several weirdly clothed figures sprinting towards him.
Izuku didn't know where he was, but he had a strong hint. He stood in the middle of a grassy green field where there were no trees in sight. Bright purple and blue flowers twisted through the field, some flowers rising higher than he was tall. Little spirits the size of flower petals floated around him, mostly continuing on their own path though a few veered close to him, bringing a bright smile to his face as he reached forward to pet one, only to freeze as he looked at his hand. The familiar green tint that normally covered him when he was in Sena's grove had appeared in full force, instead of it just being a light around his figure, he was completely made out of green. There was only one place where he could appear in his spiritual form like this.
"Young one." A voice came from behind him and as he turned the terrain around him seemed to edge and blur until he was no longer standing amidst the flowers, but instead appeared to be in a totally different place where the sky was a bright lilac and the only thing insight were rolling blue hills, one of which he was currently standing atop of. The green bodied spirit looked up, awe covering his face as a giant white kite spirit stood in front of him, blue markings covering a big portion of the spirit. Though he had never physically met this spirit before, he would be remiss in his Avatar teachings if he didn't know who it was. "We have much to discuss and a short amount of time to do it."
"Raava. What's going on?" The spirit turned away from him, her tendrils flickering as she spoke.
"You are most unusual, young one. There have not been benders born into your world in centuries, the spiritual connection between your world and this one too far degraded. The spirits have retreated from your world, choosing instead to take refuge within the world from whence they came. It has been the balance of things, until you came along, the first bender to be born in centuries and the last avatar. Do you think it a coincidence?" Izuku didn't know how to respond, instead choosing to keep quiet as he digested what Raava had just said. He was the only bender to be born in centuries? Surely other ones had been born since then...but Raava would know wouldn't she? The Avatar cycle surely would have continued had there been benders alive still…The spirit went quiet, and Izuku realized she was waiting for a response.
"No, but why me? Why now?" The confusion was evident in his voice, prompting Raava to turn to him once more. Above him, the lilac sky began to deepen into a royal purple, a strange sort of energy beginning to hover in the air around him. It was a static feeling, one that he wasn't sure that he liked.
"I do not know why now. But why you? It has always fated to be you, young one. Tell me, do you not sense it now? The corruption from your gifted abilities?" Izuku tilted his head, gifted abilities? What- oh. Realization crossed his face, and Raava said nothing, instead pointing one tendril high in the sky above them. Almost instantly 8 bright lights appeared in the sky, all of them different solid colors, except for the first one. The first light was white like a star, but it had a blue tint intermixed with it. None of the other lights had secondary colors. "Our connection was formed with the breath of your first holder, the breath of my intended last. Even as powerful as we are, the Avatar was never meant to last forever." A sharp pain pierced through Izuku, his spiritual form wavering slightly as he grimaced, a fragmented memory floating into his mind.
We will unite at the 9th. Unite at the 9th. What exactly did that mean? It sounded so familiar, but Izuku couldn't focus on it as Raava continued to speak. "Do you not notice it, young one? How your abilities have been enhanced due to the corruption of your gift? How the man with the changing eyes is able to disrupt our connection and block me away from you? Only one person has been able to sever the Avatar's connection to me, and even then that person was backed by a spirit. Do you understand what I'm saying young one?" He did understand, but what he didn't know was how. How did OFA warp his connection with Raava and the elements? He had noticed that he was able to do more extreme types of bending than he had been able to before inheriting OFA, but he had attributed that to him being so close to becoming a fully realized Avatar. Maybe that was part of it, but like I thought before, OFA is doing something to my bending, making it more quirk like than before. He looked at Raava and opened his mouth, asking the first question that came to mind.
"Sena was meant to be the last Avatar?" All the information that Izuku was receiving only left him with more questions than he was getting answers to. If Sena was meant to be the last Avatar then why was he gifted with bending, especially when there had been no other benders in the centuries before him? What made him, useless Deku, so special?
"Yes, I was." The kite spirit was gone, and in her place stood Sena in her corporal form. She was dressed in her water tribe garments, and an image of her crouching down in front of him, grabbing him by his arm suddenly appeared in his mind. He watched as she made her way up the hill that he was standing on, plopping down next to him in a lotus position. She wordlessly patted the ground, Izuku taking a seat beside her as he continued watching the bright lights in the sky. "There isn't enough time to explain now, but you've been seeing my life, haven't you? They aren't dreams Izuku, they're memories. I want to explain more, I really do kid but the time isn't right. I will give you the hints, but it's your job to piece them together." He moved so that he was fully facing her, wondering exactly what she was talking about. He did remember having dreams, but he could never fully remember them fully when he was awake, they were always fragmented.
"Alright, but then I have another question. What did Raava mean by the corruption of my gifted abilities?" Blue eyes glanced over at him as Sena suddenly switched positions, leaning back against her elbows with her legs kicked over each other. T
"You already figured it out haven't you? You've always been a smart kid, you know the answer to the question that you're asking." She opened her mouth to say something else when suddenly his spiritual form wavered again, sharply this time. He watched as his hands slowly began to fade from existence, his eyes wide with alarm. "Sena!"
"You're being recalled to the physical world, kid. Try to come back to me again, but in a less violent way!" There was more she was saying, but everything sounded like it was underwater as the world around him began splintering, the bright lights falling out of the sky like shooting stars. His eyes focused on her lips, and he barely made out her words of The solstice! Full moon- and then there was nothing but blackness and he was falling.
Yagi Toshinori didn't know when he had started caring for his young successor in the way that he had. He remembered when the boy had first met him, he remembered watching the boy spring into action to save his friend, and he remembered watching the boy grow as he trained to become his successor-but he would never remember when he had come to look at the boy with a strange fondness that sometimes made his heartache from how strong the feeling was. Maybe it was during their weekly meetups when Midoriya had off from training and he would take the boy out to get something to eat as a little cheat day. Maybe it was when Midoriya would call him in the middle of the night after a nightmare, not knowing that Toshinori was still up for the same reason. The boy would apologize profusely but Toshinori would always laugh it off, preferring the boy's mumbling to the silence of his own apartment. Either way, no matter when it came to fruition, Toshinori was extremely fond of the boy.
It didn't mean he had expected the pain that had slammed into his chest when he cradled the injured boy to his chest after the battle at the USJ. At that moment the sturdy young man that All Might had come to know, that Yagi Toshinori had come to know, that young man was small and frail. He was covered in blood that Toshinori had frantically tried to stem, blood from his head, from his arms, and from his ruined back.
He had been lucky. The doctors had said. Had that quirk been activated on his back for a moment longer, it's possible we wouldn't be having this conversation. Had that creature slammed him one more time instead of leaving him for dead. A cold chill had gripped Toshinori's heart at that as he sat hunched over in a chair that would have once been too small for him, digging his hands through his blonde hair. Once the worst of the damage had been repaired, Midoriya had been transferred to U.A in order for Chiyo to keep a close eye on him. All of that had occurred in a single day, and the OFA user was exhausted. He had been the one
to inform his successor's mother that he had been injured, though he refused to tell her that her son almost hadn't made it. He would not put that burden on the poor woman. It would be better for her to know that he had been injured and would live, not for her to know that he almost hadn't. He would bear that burden for her. The burden of knowing that he failed to keep one of the people that he unknowingly cared most for, safe.
The blonde-haired man let out a soft sigh as he changed his position in his chair by Midoriya's bedside in Chiyo's office, grabbing the boy's bandaged hand and using it as an anchor to remind himself that despite everything going wrong, he had gotten there in time to prevent any further injuries. He had been about to leave his meeting with Nezu when the principal received the code about a code black at the USJ. Toshinori had transformed into All Might and taken off instantly, not waiting for the rest of the teachers, and the sight that met him would haunt his dreams, and he knew it.
Aizawa on the ground bleeding sluggishly, young Yaoyorozu creating bandages and towels that her classmates pressed against their teacher. Thirteen unconscious with the back part of her suit ripped to pieces, young Ashido holding the space hero's hand. And then his eyes moved from the entrance hall and landed on the central plaza where young Midoriya stood with his ruined back to him, hair rising from an unseen force, red veins dipping up and down his arms, and then he moved- landing next to the boy who had several large rocks floating around him. It was only then that he noticed the young man's glowing eyes.
He was ripped from his memories as a groan permeated through the air. His electric blue eyes snapped from the floor to the bed watching with pure shock as green eyes slowly opened. Toshinori squeezed the boy's hand once, causing green eyes to drift over to him and a smile to cross the green-haired OFA user's face as he croaked out
"Hey...Toshi-san" The boy was clearly still out of it, and as quick as they opened the eyes closed again, the boy's previously labored breathing evening out to the soft breathing of sleep. Toshinori dragged an arm over his eyes, a small smile crossing his own triangular pointed face as relief swept through him like a tidal wave. If he secretly flushed at the boy calling him Toshi-san, no one but Chiyo would know.
The next time Izuku woke up, it was dark. He didn't immediately open his eyes, instead wiggling his fingers and toes to allow the sensation to return back to them. He took a mental stock of his body, and while he ached everywhere, there was only a slight burning sensation around his ribs and his arms where he had expected there to be an intense burning pain after getting his ribs broken and his arms snapped. He grimaced as he opened his eyes and tried to sit up, a light suddenly flooding the room causing him to grunt and close his eyes as quickly as he opened them.
"Don't move deary, you took quite the beating." He cracked an eye open as the light dimmed down some, and he muttered his thanks. Recovery Girl walked over to him and handed him a glass of water, neatly stepping around the chair that was by his bedside. It was only then that he noticed unkempt blonde hair sticking over the side of it, the owner of said hair sound asleep. Recovery Girl followed his eyes and shook her head in exasperation. "I tried to get him to leave but he refused, stubborn man. Now open both of those eyes for me, deary, let me check." He did what she said, opening his eyes and tried not to flinch back as she shone a bright light in them. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fi-" He started to say automatically, only to stop as the dangerous glare was leveled on him. So scary. He thought, shivering. "My ribs and arms burn a little, and I have a headache. The rest of my body is just sore." The nurse tsked at him as she suddenly puckered her lips and gave him a kiss. Almost instantly the burning sensation and aches went away, though a wave of exhaustion washed over him.
"Thank you for being honest deary. I've healed you as much as I dare, so after you get some sleep we'll redo your bandages and you'll be allowed to go home. You've been out of it for around 2 days now, it's Sunday night. School is canceled until Tuesday. You're approved to attend but I don't want you doing anything strenuous for a week, you hear me?" The boy gave her a tired nod before sinking back into the sheets. A hand came up to brush his bangs out of his face, and he turned bleary eyes to the woman who gave him a sad smile. "Rest deary." He nodded once and closed his eyes, and as he dreamed of a room that held a figure of the lunar cycle, watching the sun disappear and rise repeatedly he could have sworn that a man with white hair and violet eyes was watching him.