Ochako took a deep breath, steeling her nerves for what was to come. Almost everything in the past three years had been leading up to this moment. Her graduation from UA.
Ochako adjusted her cap one last time before something plowed into her legs. She looked down to see the smiling face of her daughter.
"Eri, you're supposed to be with Mom, Dad, and Inko," Ochako lightly scolded as she picked the little girl.
"I know, but I wanted to see you," Eri said innocently.
Ochako chuckled slightly, Eri had definitely gotten better at not being with her for periods of time, but she still stuck to her like glue, even after a full year.
"Can't I stay with you Mama?" Eri's eyes grew wide and sad.
The puppy dog eyes, Eri had learned that her grandparents couldn't resist them, and often used them to get what she wanted. Although Ochako couldn't really tell if it was the eyes or they just loved to spoil her.
At least they didn't work on her.
Most of the time.
'Resist those eyes of hers Ochako, hold your ground!' She told herself, setting her daughter back on the ground.
"It'll be ok sweetie, I'll be back in a little bit. Your grandparents will take care of you!"
Eri huffed but ultimately complied, running back to Ochako's father who gave her a thumbs up in response.
Ochako heard her name called and she ran up the steps with giddiness, eager to finally close this chapter of her life.
Nezu handed her the diploma and she bowed to him before running off stage, joining the rest of her class.
Mina grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her a bit, her usual bubbliness amplified by the importance of this day.
One Momo had taken her diploma and sat down with the class, Nezu stepped up to a podium, seemingly about to give a speech. The principal opened his mouth to speak but never got the chance to, as the dirt erupted, sending both teachers and students flying, and destroyed the stage.
A large amount of figures began crawling out of the hole in the soil, the smoke making it difficult to make out what they actually looked like until—
"Nomus!" Eijirou shouted, hardening his body and removing his gown, revealing his hero costume.
The rest of the class did the same and as the smoke cleared, they saw the Eijirou had told the truth, as about two Dozen Nomus stood across from them, their eyes dead and their brains exposed.
In front of the Nomus were three people, This first a short blonde girl whose hair was tied up in twin buns, she wore a school girl's outfit and carried a multitude of small blades.
The second was a man with multiple medical staples across his body, parts of his skin were an unsettling dark purple color, his hair was black and he wore a black and grey trenchcoat over a simple white shirt.
The last was a man with light blue hair, he wore a black long sleeve shirt and black sweatpants, and his entire body was covered in severed hands, including his face, where a red eye stood out from between the fingers.
The blue haired man spread his arms out wide, gesturing to those behind him, "This game is not over yet heroes, it is time for the final level, and me and my crew shall make sure you don't survive it! Such is the will of Tomura Shigaraki, ALL FOR O—!"
A knife flew out from nowhere and lodged itself in Tomura's head, putting an end to his rant, and his life as blood spurted from the wound.
"You know, I remember reading that All For One was a freakishly powerful villain, one that seemed to predict every event days before it happened. I figured it would take more than throwing a knife," a familiar voice said from behind everyone.
Ochako swiftly spun on her heel and faced a pair of tired emerald eyes, his hair was just as wild as it used to be but his beard wasn't as long, he was missing his pinkie finger on his left hand, and he wore a three piece suit with a green tie.
"Izuku?" Ochako quietly asked.
"Surprise?" Izuku softly chuckled.
"But how, Rhys said you died."
"Yeah, Rhys did say ye died?!" The small gremlin seemed just as confused as her.
"Hey guys did it work?" A new voice said.
Everybody turned to where Tomura had once been to see that his body was now a brown goop, and a man wearing a mask that was half white and half black was poking his face out from the dirt hole.
The masked villain turned his head down and looked at the pile of goop in the grass, "Aw man, I was so sure it would work. Hmph, I knew it wouldn't work!"
"Leave the Nomus to deal with them, we should escape while we still can," the black haired villain ordered.
The female villain began to pout, "But I wanted blood!" She whined.
"You can get it from some random civilian. Nomus, attack!" The black haired villain pushed the female down the hole and jumped in after her as the monstrosities advanced.
"Stop," Hitoshi ordered, causing the Nomus to cease their attack, "Sit down and wait to be arrested."
"What was the purpose of that?" Izuku asked after a few minutes.
"My guess is they were trying to scare us, All For One is powerful, even all of us wouldn't be able to take him on. So we should be thankful that he's still locked in Tartarus," Hitoshi surmised.
Izuku sighed as he still felt Ochako's eyes on him, "Ochako, I know you're mad but if you'll just let me explain—"
Ochako quickly shushed him, "Just...shut up for a second." Her hands grabbed the sides of his face and brought him down to her level for a chaste kiss, but not one lacking in any passion.
Ochako let him go and his face held a starstruck expression, "That was...wow," Izuku said.
"Yeah, it was."
"Papa!"
Izuku instantly turned to his left and crouched down, picking up his daughter as she slammed into his chest, her face soaked with tears.
"Hey, it ok baby, I'm here. I promise I won't leave again." Izuku stroked her hair and whispered calming words to her, which did little to calm her down.
"So we're just going to ignore the fact that this guy has been dead for a year?!" Eijirou shouted. He then proceeded to shrink under Ochako's glare.
"Technically it was only a day," Izuku explained, "My quirk saved me."
"You don't have a quirk though," Katsuki pointed out.
Izuku chuckled, "That's what I thought too. I've called it Lazarus. When I died, I was given a choice: continue to the afterlife, or go back, but at a price."
"Your finger," Tenya realized.
"Yep, I woke up and I was short a finger."
"So where have you been all this time then?" Ochako asked.
"He's been staying with me," Inko admitted, a slightly guilty look on her face.
"But why not come to me— I mean your daughter immediately?"
"The process of rebuilding takes a bit. I was little more than a skeleton with flesh on it when I got to my mom's house. I didn't want either of you to see me like that," Izuku said.
"Well, what really matters is that I have you back now." Ochako wrapped her arms around him before quietly whispered, "And by the way, I saw that thing you wrote about soulmates."
A small grin painted itself across Izuku's usually stoic face
-- 11 years later.
"I don't understand why I have to wear this monkey suit," Izuku griped as he tugged at the collar of his suit.
"Because you're not gonna wear a flannel to a charity gala," Ochako sternly told him, adjusting his tie, she then leaned in close with a coy smile on her face, "And just to make sure you behave, I'm wearing that little blue thing you like."
The two heard giggling coming from the kitchen, Ochako didn't even look up she just yelled, "Eri, I know what you and your boy toy plan to do with that chocolate sauce, put it back!"
"Mom!" Eri yelled, dragging her boyfriend up to her room.
Ochako moved to a vanity they kept near the TV to do the rest of her makeup.
Something came barreling down the stairs, and once again she didn't even look. Ochako stuck her hand out and tapped all five fingers against her son's chest, causing him to float off of the bright green riot shield he was sat atop, his messy brown hair standing on end.
"Sachi, what have I told you about shield sledding in the house?" Ochako asked, still paying more attention to her makeup than her scolding.
"Sorry mom," Sachi laughed as his mother let him down.
"We'll be back in a bit, don't burn the house down again!" Ochako called out to her children as she dragged her green haired husband out the door.
Once inside the limousine that was meant to take them to the gala, the two got a chance to relax. Ochako knew taking care of one child was stressful but two was much harder, especially when one of those was an eighteen year old.
"You look beautiful," Izuku said, interrupting her monologue.
"Thanks. You don't look so terrible yourself," Ochako smiled.
Finally, she had everything she could ever want, enough money to have both her parents and her family more than comfortable. Two amazing children, and a third on the way as she recently found out but she didn't have to tell Izuku about that just yet. And she had the love of her life, the person she knew she wanted to grow old with.
With a smug look on her face, she leaned in close to Izuku's ear and whispered, "Y'know, it's still a few hours drive till we get to the gala. If you want we can start playing with that blue thing now, and don't worry about noise, the carriage is sound proof."
"I love you."
"I love you too." Ochako's smile went wider as the two leaned in for a kiss.
She had finally got her fairy tale ending.
And that's it for Slaughterhouse Woods, this is the first story that I've actually finished and that feels like a rather big accomplishment. I know that the ending reads like the script to a Hallmark movie but I know for a fact that a lot of people would've been pissed with my original ending.
I'm going to be responding to comments on the AO3 version, just to clear up any questions you guys have. Here are the links to the two discord servers I lurk around in the most:
The Hoard: https/discord.gg/vxe2Bu
LoM: https/discord.gg/R9BU25t
That's it for now, peace.