Toshinori had long since finished telling his story, in all its glory and terrible shame, but the silence that began when his voice ebbed away continued to linger. He wasn't sure if it was awed silence, or stunned, or any other emotion. His students just stared at him, or at each other, their minds still processing the enormity of the secret that they had just been entrusted with. Bakugo was hanging his head, unable to meet his classmates' eyes. Uraraka was studying Toshinori, disbelief mingling with dawning understanding on her face.
The silence seemed to grow and grow until it was nearly unbearable, until at last, Yaoyorozu said, "You're serious, aren't you?"
Toshinori nodded gravely. "I am," he confirmed, "Izuku is the new bearer of my quirk, a torch I inherited from my own mentor, who inherited it from her mentor, and on and on back to the beginning of quirks themselves."
That seemed to rouse the class a little. They murmured among themselves, though none of them seemed to doubt Toshinori's words. Instead, they just looked surprised, or amazed, or thoughtful.
Uraraka finally stopped studying Toshinori long enough to ask softly, "Did you tell him to keep this a secret?"
Toshinori nodded, feeling slightly guilty. "I have kept it secret all my life," he admitted, "and I assumed that my reasons for doing so would hold true for Izuku, as well. I thought it was too much of a risk, too big of a truth to trust to others. I wasn't expecting…"
"Wasn't expecting what?" Ochako pressed, crossing her arms expectantly.
"You," Toshinori replied truthfully, gesturing at Ochako, and at Bakugo, and at the rest of the class scattered around the room, "any of you. I didn't realize how quickly you all would become comrades, how you would exceed even the greatest expectations we placed on you. I realize now that trying to do what I did, be a single man who holds the world together through sheer force of will, is…it isn't what this world needs. It needs many pillars, many truths, many heroes. Izuku will be one of them, perhaps the greatest of them…but he won't be the only one. And pillars have to trust each other. I'm sorry for convincing him not to tell you…you should have known long ago."
Ochako held his gaze for a moment longer, then smiled brightly. "Don't worry about it," she said lightly, "you had good reasons for it. And besides…I don't know if I would have trusted these meatheads with a secret like that."
"I heard that, Ochako!" Mina called from across the room, making their friends snicker.
Ochako snorted, "How do you know I was referring to you?"
Mina paused, realizing her mistake. "Shit," she swore, only to blanch as she looked at Toshinori. She mumbled an apology as a purple blush spread across her cheeks.
Toshinori raised an eyebrow. "Why are you apologizing?" he asked, sincerely confused.
Several students snickered, and Toshinori could only sit there, helpless and lost, until Jirou replied, "Everyone knows you don't swear in front of All Might! That's like, a mortal sin or something."
Sero nodded emphatically. "Absolutely," he agreed, "it's one of those big sins too, the kind that gets you sent straight to Hell, no passing go or anything."
Toshinori was, if anything, even more confused now. "What are you even talking about?" he asked.
Ochako shrugged. "I think it's just your fatherly aura or something," she replied.
Incredulously, Toshinori repeated, "Fatherly aura?"
"Sure," Ochako told him, "why do you think we all believed that Shimura was your daughter so readily?"
Toshinori spluttered at that, especially as every single student nodded in agreement, even Bakugo.
Todoroki added, "And why we all thought Midoriya was your secret lovechild before that."
Toshinori blinked; he decided not to dignify that with a response.
Todoroki, completely unbothered, continued, "You know, All Might, I wonder if you'll have to call Midoriya "Dad" now."
Toshinori immediately exploded into a coughing fit, holding a handkerchief over his mouth as blood splattered out. His mind screeched to a stop at that thought, and by the look on the students' faces, they were much the same. The idea of calling his successor"Dad" was so weird, it tangled Toshinori's brain into knots.
Soon, though, things returned to normal. The class began to chatter among themselves, the common room turning into its usual cacophony of noise and humor, as the students all talked among themselves. Toshinori didn't quite feel like he belonged here, but he remained in his seat anyway; he couldn't leave, and from the looks in the eyes of his students, they couldn't either. In some odd, illogical way, it felt like standing vigil, waiting for the two glaringly missing pieces to return.
God, Toshinori hoped Nana and Izuku were okay. Checking his watch, he realized that they'd been missing nearly all night; the orange light of dawn was just beginning to peek through the windows. He wondered where they were, whether Izuku had found the love of his life.
As weird as it still was to think of them in that way, Toshinori knew it was true. He'd even come to terms with it. As strange as it was, as much as a small part of him felt slightly horrified, he knew that Nana and Izuku were happy together. He knew that that wasn't going to change, and…a larger part of him, the new part that thought of Nana not as his mother but his daughter, even approved. They were good for each other, making each other better, stronger, greater. Toshinori supposed that that was all he could ask for.
Suddenly, Toshinori became aware of Ochako tapping him on the shoulder. Smiling apologetically, he asked, "Sorry, Young Uraraka. What were you saying?"
Ochako asked, "Do…do you think they'll be back soon?"
Toshinori shrugged slightly. "I don't know," he admitted, his voice soft but unwavering, "but they will be. I have faith in them."
Ochako nodded, but the worry she bore openly wouldn't let her be satisfied with that. "But when do you think they'll be back?" she asked.
Toshinori opened his mouth to respond, to find some appropriate platitude to reassure his student…but before he could, there was a loud, aggressive series of knocks on the locked front door. They were followed by a familiar voice, demanding, "Hey, morons, let us in! It's fucking cold out here!"
As students scrambled to get the door open, Toshinori met Ochako's eyes, and grinned widely.
"I think that that's your answer," he told her, eyes teasing and full of light.
Nana and Izuku strode into the common room, hands clutched tightly together. Nana gripped Izuku's fingers even harder as their friends' eyes landed on them, and they were quickly swarmed, overwhelmed by the incoming questions and worries.
It took a moment, but at last, Izuku's firm glare, and the sight of Nana looking pale and more than a little exhausted at last got them all to quiet down again.
Nana paused for a second, taking a deep breath; she wondered just what her friends were thinking, now that they knew the truth. Were they angry at her for lying? Shocked at what she truly was? Would they even want to be around her anymore?
She and Izuku saw Toshinori, sitting there among the class, and they both knew instantly what had happened; it was really the only thing that could have happened, after Nana's outburst had brought a lifetime of secrecy crashing down in one moment.
At last, holding Izuku's hand for strength, Nana began, "So, uh…hi, guys."
She waved slightly, but got no response. Her friends just looked at her, then at Izuku, then back to her.
Fighting off a wave of worry, Nana tried again, saying, "I…I know it's been a weird day, and I'm really sorry for running off. And I'm really sorry for lying and saying I was All Might's daughter…although, honestly, the truth is so much weirder that I feel like you guys would have preferred that to be true."
Finally, she got a response; multiple members of the class chuckled softly, and Nana heard snorts of amusement. Behind her, she heard Izuku laugh under his breath.
Heartened, she continued, "So…yeah. Here's that truth: I'm actually the teenage resurrected ghost of a pro hero who died thirty years ago after passing down a two-hundred-year-old transferable quirk to a skinny blonde middle schooler who grew up to become the most powerful man in Japan. Oh, and I have a psychic link with this idiot from that quirk bringing me back, and lost most of my memories while coming back."
Nana jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Izuku, who snorted and added, "Why am I an idiot if you're dating me?"
"Because," Nana retorted, a wide grin on her face, "who said I'm any less of an idiot?"
The room rang with laughter, and the fear around Nana's heart melted a little bit more. Maybe this was all gonna be okay. Maybe her second life wouldn't be as lonely as her first.
Her voice quieted as she said, "I…learned some things about my…my first life yesterday, things that were…they weren't things I thought I was capable of. It really messed me up, and I…I needed to get away from it all for a while. Izuku found me, though, and helped me realize some stuff."
While Izuku and Nana hadn't really talked about whether they should keep the appearance of the past wielders quiet or not on the flight back, Nana could sense the agreement in Izuku's mind as she omitted them from the story. They weren't really important, not to what Nana meant to her friends, or to what they meant to her.
Nana took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and slowly turned her head from side to side to survey the room full of people who had accepted her for what they thought she was. She hoped they didn't hate her now.
Her back straight and her head held high, Nana finished, "I have my memories back now. I know who I was…and for all that I wish I'd made better choices then, I won't let those choices define me, not when I have a second chance. I'm sorry for lying to you all about who I am. Can…can you forgive me?"
Nana fell silent, and for a few moments, nobody replied. Nana felt the icy fear start to creep back in. Would they not forgive her? Would they be too hurt? Would things be different now?
She heard a rustle, and turned to see Ochako rising to her feet. Nana's heart sank. Ochako…Nana had lied to her more than just about anyone else. She'd woven fake stories, all to justify stealing Ochako's best friend and old crush away. How could the brown-haired girl possibly forgive her?
Ochako met her eye, and then she surged forwards. She moved so fast Nana couldn't make out where she went…until the shorter girl slammed into Nana's ribs and grabbed her in a hug so tight it drove the air from her lungs.
Nana gasped for breath, while Ochako beamed at her and said, "Welcome back, Shimura. It doesn't matter who you are or where you came from…you're our friend."
Nana was still trying desperately to get air, but now the tears beading at the corners of her eyes weren't from oxygen deprivation.
"Thank you," she choked out, and then she was getting mobbed. The whole class seemed to race for her at once, burying her and Izuku in greeting hugs, slaps on the back, and tearful words, grateful that they were okay. It reminded Nana oddly of what she had walked into after her license test; a swarm of people who all cared about her, who valued her and who she was, no matter what. A place where she was loved and valued. It filled Nana's heart, and she laughed and cried openly as her classmates proved her wrong in the most beautiful way.
On the edge of the circle of people still hugging Nana, Katsuki watched quietly, knowing he wasn't welcome.
His secrets were out now; he couldn't hide the worst of himself from the people who actually admired him, not anymore. They all knew he was a bully, that he was cruel and angry and violent. It hurt, losing the respect of people he'd finally been able to admit were his friends…but in a strange, backwards way, Katsuki welcomed that pain, felt a strange happiness at being exposed as a monster.
The fact that they hated him now was proof that there was justice in the world. That he couldn't get away with what he'd done because of his shiny quirk and fighting skill. That, at the end of the day, there were true heroes in the world, people who were more than violent thugs in fancy costumes.
Katsuki could live with that kind of person hating him; he'd earned it.
Suddenly, Katsuki was shocked out of his thoughts by a familiar voice asking, "Aren't you gonna join in the group hug?"
Katsuki's head shot up in surprise. He stared openly at the hand being offered to him, or the beaming, shark-toothed redhead that hand belonged to.
Katsuki couldn't really figure out a good response to an offer that made such little sense; instead, he blurted out, "How can you still bear to look at me? You know who I am, what I am."
"Yeah, I do," Kirishima acknowledged with a grimace, "But I don't care."
"What do you mean?" Katsuki asked. The thought of Kirishima not caring about someone being hurt so unjustly, the way Katsuki had hurt Izuku for so long…it went against everything that Katsuki had ever known about his friend.
Kirishima, apparently deciding that Katsuki was going to get off the chair whether he wanted to or not, grabbed his arm roughly, hauling him upright, pulling him into a tight embrace as Katsuki stared in empty-eyed confusion. In a steady, rock-solid voice, Kirishima told him, "What you did in your past…it doesn't matter anywhere near as much as what you do next. You were shitty, yeah…but you aren't going to stay shitty. I admire the man I know you'll become, not the boy you were."
Katsuki kept staring at Kirishima, as though seeing him properly for the first time. "I…I don't understand," Katsuki admitted.
Kirishima just smiled, pointy teeth flashing proudly. "You will, eventually," he assured the explosive boy.
Then, Kirishima spun around and tossed Katsuki into the group hug, laughing as Katsuki yelped in betrayal. Katsuki got dragged in against his will, but he didn't fight it too hard as Kirishima joined back in. Katsuki's classmates accepted him without hesitation; it was the greatest gift he'd ever gotten.
When the group hug finally broke apart, the smart thing to do probably would have been to go to sleep; instead, the whole class, and Toshinori, settled back into chairs for a long session of questioning Nana about all sorts of things.
"So you really have a psychic link with him?" Mina asked.
Nana nodded, curled shamelessly against Izuku's side, basking in his warmth as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Yeah," she confirmed, "it's…weird. Cool, but weird."
"You make it weirder with all the jokes you crack in the middle of class and during fights," Izuku pointed out, his fingers stroking through Nana's hair. The sensation was so great, Nana had to fight the urge to purr like a cat; she settled for poking him in the side instead.
"What can I say?" she responded, "I have to share my genius with someone!"
Izuku just snorted. Both he and Nana ignored the cooing of Hagakure, and the whisper she made to Mina about how cute they were.
Then, of course, Kaminari made it weird. He asked cautiously, "So…Midoriya, you're really fucking All Might's mom?"
Instantly, people began to choke on their spit. Izuku turned bright, neon red, and Toshinori looked like he wished a meteor would drop out of the sky and kill him at that very moment. Nana, though, smiled widely, her grin as evil as it could get.
"Actually," she replied, echoing a joke that returned to her from months ago, "All Might's mom is fucking him."
As the room filled with the sounds of desperately suppressed laughter and incredulous spluttering, Kaminari groaned and slumped back on the couch he was sitting on. "I walked right into that one, didn't I?" he mumbled, mostly to himself.
"You did," a deep, unfamiliar voice agreed. Kaminari felt a strange sensation on his shoulder, as though something not quite corporeal was patting him there in sympathy.
Kaminari turned his head, and instantly tried to leap straight up. "G-G-GHOST!" he screamed, scrambling away as quickly as he could.
Next to him on the couch, the slightly glowing, slightly translucent figure of Daigoro Banjo, Fifth Wielder of One For All, reacted much the same way. His eyes widened comically as he yelped, "Ghost? Where?"
By the time the rest of the class had seen him, they had all started to scream or otherwise freak out, too. Nana and Izuku, meanwhile, exchanged confused, disbelieving glances.
"Did you do that?" Izuku asked her.
Nana shook her head. "No," she responded, "Where the hell did he come from?"
Eventually, things calmed down slightly, and Daigoro looked down at his own see-through hands. "Oh," he realized, "I'm the ghost! Er…wait, no. I'm not a ghost!"
Kaminari, who had huddled behind the couch in an effort to avoid being seen, suddenly raised his head back up. "Y-y-you mean you aren't dead?"
Daigoro studied the electric boy for a long moment, then told him, "Oh, no, I'm definitely dead. Not a ghost, though."
Kaminari yelped in fear, ducking back behind the couch.
Then, out of nowhere, another ethereal figure appeared. Hana's head emerged upside down from the ceiling as if from behind a pair of curtains, glowing and slightly translucent just like Daigoro. She looked annoyed, and didn't seem to notice the increasing hysteria as she appeared.
"Really?" she snapped at Daigoro, "why did you have to do that?"
Daigoro shrugged. "It was funny," he explained, wilting slightly under the fury of Hana's gaze.
"Stop scaring the children!" she ordered him.
The burly man looked torn between agreeing and laughing out loud. He pointed out, "You're telling me not to scare them, Miss Disembodied Floating Head?"
Hana looked down suddenly, as if just now becoming aware of how unnerving her appearance was.
"Shit," she muttered, "he's got a point."
Then, she suddenly retreated back into the wall, dissolving into mist. A moment later, she reappeared as a full apparition, slim dancer's body and all. She waved and smiled brightly to the students, who were still trembling in terror.
"Hi! I'm Hana!" she said kindly, which did nothing to fix the situation.
There was a scoff from the corner of the room, making people's heads swivel rapidly. Kenji, leaning up against the side of the doorway to the stairs, looked simultaneously disinterested and irritated by his fellows' antics.
"Why are we doing this again?" he asked.
Hana disappeared again, reappearing in the perfect position to grab Kenji by the ear and drag him, protesting and struggling, over to where the class was sitting.
"To introduce ourselves, remember?" she said with the air of a lecture, "these are our successors' friends, we should at least say hi!"
Kenji freed himself from Hana's grip (how ghosts could grab each other, nobody could tell), only to get trapped in a headlock from Daigoro, who laughed and announced, "Hey, guys! I'm Daigoro, and this gloomy idiot is Kenji!"
Kenji slumped as Daigoro held him tight, pouting as he muttered, "I hate both of you."
The past wielders' antics seemed to break the tension a little, and the students began to relax, though they were obviously still incredibly confused. Nana and Izuku exchanged a look, not sure whether they should intervene when there were still three wielders unaccounted for.
That number shrank by one a moment later, when Katsuki felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see a nightmare three inches from his face.
It had blonde hair, spiked like his own, but every inch of skin was covered in molten red lines, flowing and twisting like lava about to spill down a volcano, split by black patches like obsidian. It had no nose or ears, just enormous, pitch-black eyes with burning red pupils, and a mouth spread wide in a terrifying mockery of a grin. It chittered at him, as if laughing, and he saw rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth, some like needles, others like steak knives.
Katsuki wasn't equipped to deal with something that terrifying appearing behind him, and he screamed louder and higher than he would ever admit later, diving away from the thing and yelling desperately. Explosions popped to life in his palms.
Kirishima, next to him, turned slowly, asking, "What's wrong, Baku- JESUS CHRIST!"
The redhead threw himself to the ground next to Bakugo, as a chorus of screams rose from the students who saw it. The being just floated there, upside down and cross-legged as it chortled to itself.
Across the room, the other wielders were laughing too, even Kenji. "Damn, Fuji!" Daigoro called out, "you got him good!"
Nana and Izuku exchanged another look as the terrifying monstrosity vanished in a puff of smoke, revealing the mild-mannered, kindly Second Wielder. He chuckled to himself as he floated down above his victims. He said, "Sorry about that, but I don't get many opportunities to prank people with my quirk nowadays."
Katsuki and Kirishima were too busy recovering from heart attacks to respond, but Mina's shout of "What the hell is going on?" was enough of a response. Nana and Izuku were about to step in, when another familiar voice said, "Oh, let them have their fun. It's almost finished anyway."
As one, the two wielders of One For All turned, and found Suzuki sprawled across the arm of the loveseat they were sitting in. He wore a faint grin, and something about the look in his eye proclaimed that if he could have held it in his hands, the cool-blooded former pro would have been chowing down on popcorn at that moment.
Once Nana had gotten over her shock and confusion at seeing her old mentor again so soon, she asked, "Why are you here?"
"To say hello, obviously," Suzuki replied, "What's the point of sitting quietly in the afterlife if we can mess with the living instead? We have to take our entertainment where we can, you know."
Nana shrugged. "Fair enough, I guess," she said, "but shouldn't we…explain this? I would appreciate you not making my friends die of heart attacks."
Suzuki chuckled, "By all means, go ahead and explain it to them…in a minute, of course."
Nana looked like she wanted to argue, but before she could, there was a rumble, and the First appeared in a flash of white lightning. Students shrieked, cringing back away from the halo of light.
The First hovered in the air, looking otherworldly as power swirled around him.
"GREETINGS, MORTALS," he began in a voice like thunder, "I AM HERE TO PUNISH YOU FOR YOUR SINS!"
Suddenly, the First doubled over mid-speech. Nana and Izuku watched as he began chortling, holding his sides as laughter threatened to overpower his lungs.
"Apologies," the man who had created One For All gasped when he'd finally gotten control of himself, "I've just always wanted to do that."
Nana and Izuku rolled their eyes. Then, as their friends stared in confusion at the motley collection of long-dead heroes, Nana stood up. "What are you guys doing here?' she asked, crossing her arms expectantly.
While Ochako shot Nana strange looks in the background, the First shrugged. "What is anyone doing here?" he asked mysteriously.
Nana sighed; she'd expected just about that much help from the First. Looking at her friends, who were all staring in obvious confusion at her as she conversed with the strange apparitions, she decided to deal with the absolute idiots who were the greatest heroes of the age later. Instead, she cleared her throat to get the attention of her class, and began, "Hey, so, sorry about my friends here. They decided that they had nothing better to do with their time than mess with us. But, uh, they are kinda ghosts, actually. You see, they're the spirits of the past wielders of One For All…"
As Nana explained the secret past of One For All, and just what had happened to her in that graveyard, Toshinori found himself listening in rapt attention. He'd never expected this; it was stunning and exciting and terrifying all at once.
Was this what would happen to him once he passed on? An eternity spent among his fellow wielders, guiding the living, never able to pass through the veil of death for true rest?
An infinite time alongside the people he most admired, alongside Izuku and Nana, when their times came…
Toshinori found himself thinking that he could get used to that. Although it would be nice if he wasn't so sickly in the next life…
Suddenly, there was a tapping on his shoulder, snapping Toshinori out of his thoughts. He looked up into the plain, thin face of the spirit Nana had named the First. The man who had begun the long chain of heroism that had produced Toshinori himself.
The First smiled, and said softly, "Hello, All Might. I've been waiting to talk to you for a very long time."
Toshinori blinked in surprise. Suppressing a cough, he asked, "Really?"
The First nodded. "After all, you are the one who finally defeated my brother," he said evenly.
Toshinori felt a brief stab of…what emotion he wasn't sure. Fear, maybe. Fear of not being good enough, of being told he had failed in the end thanks to Shigaraki, fear of being cursed for trying to kill All For One. Who knew what the First thought of one of his successors being an attempted murderer?
The First knelt down, cupping Toshinori's thin, spindly hands with his own ghostly ones. He met Toshinori's gaze, and Toshinori was shocked to see tears there.
"Thank you," he whispered, in the tone of a man saved by a miracle, "for ending it. For putting a stop to him. For doing…what I couldn't. You, Toshinori Yagi, are a true hero."
Toshinori stared at him, stunned; he looked for words to say in return, something as profound as the strange, sudden peace the First had given him. But there was nothing, and the First faded again before he could speak.
Toshinori decided that he could happily spend an eternity beside a man who could still wish he had done more after countless lifetimes spent fighting for good. It seemed he and the First were kindred souls.
At long last, after hours of talking and explaining and just basking in being here, in being loved, Nana couldn't fight off exhaustion any longer. Most of the class was the same, and everyone-even the past wielders, who had rapidly become honorary members of the class once the class got used to them and their particular brand of humor-agreed that it was time to put things off till tomorrow.
As the students broke off towards their dorms, though, Nana and Izuku were stopped nearly at the same time, by different people.
Toshinori came first, asking, "Nana, may I speak to you?"
Nana nodded tiredly, letting Toshinori lead her to a corner. Izuku waited patiently by the stairs…or at least, he did until there was a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Katsuki standing there, looking like he had decided to walk straight through a fire, knowing it was necessary, but certainly not enjoying it.
"Nerd," he began, only to stop and try again, "Izuku. Can we talk?"
In the corner, Toshinori regarded the woman who had been his only family for so much, and far too little, of his life. The woman who had broken because of his words.
He began, "Nana, I am so, so sorry for-"
She hugged him. Toshinori rocked back, gasping as the air escaped his lung. Nana held him tight, face pressed into his chest.
"Don't you dare," she said warningly, though the words were a little muffled.
"Don't I dare what?" Toshinori asked when she finally let him breathe.
Nana's eyes were as fierce and penetrating as they had always been as she looked at him. "Don't you dare apologize," she said, "for telling the truth."
Toshinori gaped at her. "But it hurt you," he responded, aware he sounded childish, and not caring.
Nana nodded slightly, but her chin jerked upwards, and her hands were on her hips, and Toshinori had never been reminded more of the woman she had once been. Unfortunately for him, that woman had been the most terrifying force of nature he'd ever known, and this time was no different.
"Sure, it hurt me," Nana agreed, "But it was still the truth. And I needed to know it. All of it. Would you rather have me be happy because of a lie, because I was ignorant, or happy because I rebuilt myself from learning what I did in my first life?"
Toshinori hung his head, knowing how badly he'd screwed up. He said, "I see. I'm sorry for-"
"Stop that," Nana commanded, hauling his chin up until he was looking her in the eye again, "Toshi, listen to me. I understand that you're feeling guilty for what I did after I learned the truth…but there is nobody to blame for that but me. And believe me, I've done all the blaming I need to do. You had two bad options, lying to me or telling me the truth…and I think you made the right one."
Toshinori let out a long, agonized breath, fighting back sobs. He whispered, "I…I didn't want you to break again. It…you were in so much pain last time…and I couldn't see you like that again."
"I know," Nana whispered back, the two hugging again by now, "and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for leaving you, Toshi. But I'm back now…and I'm stronger than I was. I'll never leave you again."
Toshinori stopped fighting it. He drew Nana in, and let the tears fall. He couldn't see her face, but he could feel her shaky breaths as she did the same. It was cathartic; decades of pain and fear, falling away, burned up by hope, by belief that this time, they would do better. They would be better.
When the crying was fading away, Nana whispered, "You know, this time around, you get to deal with all the stupid stunts I pull, instead of the other way around, Dad."
Toshinori winced, hissing as the word struck his ears. "That still doesn't feel right," he muttered, "I still feel so uncomfortable every time you call me that."
Nana laughed, even as tears kept coursing down her cheeks. "I know," she rasped, "that's why I keep doing it."
Izuku stared down at his oldest friend, his longtime bully. Katsuki looked…resigned. Worried, but resigned, as if he knew this might not go well, but had accepted that.
Izuku asked, "What's up, Kacchan?"
After a second's hesitation, Katsuki replied, "I'm…sorry for causing this whole mess."
Izuku blinked. Confused, he asked, "Hang on, what are you talking about?"
"Earlier today, when I tried to drag the truth out of you in the middle of the common room and made Shimura snap at me," Katsuki explained, the words flowing steadily, if a little begrudgingly, "I'm sorry. It's my fault shit went sideways."
Izuku held Katsuki's gaze for a moment longer, then, to Katsuki's shock, he laughed.
Katsuki felt his temple twitch in irritation, but held his temper as Izuku took a deep breath, then chuckled, "I appreciate the apology, Kacchan. But it isn't necessary. None of this is your fault."
Katsuki looked off balance, confused. He protested, "B-but…what do you mean?"
Izuku shrugged. "I can't really be sure if anyone's to blame for what happened," he admitted, "I think…it was just a lot of people, all doing what they thought was right, based on the information they had. There aren't any villains at fault, no malice, nothing. We all failed, but we all failed trying to do the right thing."
"Even so, people got hurt," Katsuki pointed out.
Izuku nodded, and agreed, "They did…but it turned out alright, didn't it?"
Katsuki shrugged. "I guess it did…but still," he admitted.
Izuku just smiled, and Katsuki let out a long, deep breath. There was silence for a second, the drawn-out quiet of a bomb about to drop.
And then, Katsuki said, "That's not the only thing I want to apologize for."
Another silence followed, as Katsuki gathered every last drop of courage he could find. And at last, he began, "Look, I know nothing I say is gonna fix the shit I did. I was a monster, pure and simple. All the bullying, all the threats, all the times I beat the shit out of you…I'm sorry. It took me way too fucking long to realize it, but I'm sorry."
Katsuki let his head hang down; if Izuku had turned and walked away at that moment, Katsuki would have accepted it. But that wasn't what happened.
Izuku…didn't know what to say to that at first. But eventually, he found the words. Putting a hand on Katsuki's shoulder, he said softly, "Good. You've always been better than how you acted. It's high time you figured that out."
Katsuki looked at him with surprise in his eyes. "How can you be like this, after all the shit I put you through?" he asked, something between awe and envy in his eyes, "I don't deserve a drop of it."
Izuku couldn't help the smile that came over him then. He said gently, "It's easy, Kacchan; it comes with being a hero. You never leave someone questioning themselves to suffer alone."
Then, he added, "Besides, I forgave you years ago."
Katsuki stared at him, at the man who, he knew at that moment, he would never be able to beat, would never be better than…and was satisfied, because that meant that the better man had won, too. He said, "Jeez, Izuku, you make the rest of us look bad."
Izuku chuckled. "You're better than you think you are, Kacchan."
Katsuki shrugged a little, but said nothing. At least, until he admitted, "I've been thinking…of what I want to do as a hero. And I think…maybe doing some advocacy on the side would be good. Quirkless kids. Anti-bullying stuff. That kind of thing."
Izuku's eyes widened, but then he frowned. "You know you don't owe me anything like that," he told Katsuki.
Katsuki nodded, but his jaw was set. "I know," he replied, "but I think…I owe it to myself."
Izuku looked impressed, then. He seemed to want to say something else, but at that moment, Nana appeared at his side, pressing herself against him as if they had been born to fit together like that, and it became clear who was going to win the tug-of-war.
So Izuku nodded to Katsuki, and Katsuki nodded back. It was simple, and understated, and momentous; a thousand thoughts and pains began to crumble, invisible, intangible, and fading. It would not be quick, or easy, or painless…but it had begun.
Izuku turned towards the stairs. Behind him, Nana and Katsuki exchanged a look.
"Go fuck yourself, Blasty," Nana said evenly, with the hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
Katsuki returned the expression as he retorted, "Go to hell, Twinkle Toes."
And then they turned away, too, and all was quiet, even the ghosts.
Unlike so many nights, Izuku and Nana didn't tumble into bed already ripping at each other's clothing. Instead, they barely managed to get out of their dirty clothes before they were falling together into exhausted, emotionally raw heaps. Izuku pulled the covers up over them as Nana snuggled against him, one hand tracing patterns on his chest.
He held her tight, and whispered, "I love you."
Nana smiled, her eyes half-shut already, "I love you too," she replied quietly.
Izuku let his head fall back, but Nana wasn't quiet done. Slowly, she crept up his body, lips tracing his neck and collarbone, gentle hands tracing his outlines. His hand found her waist as she pushed up to lay next to him on the pillow, face-to-face.
She said, "Izuku…there's one last thing I want to do. One last…piece of unfinished business."
Izuku's eyes were open, though he was moments from sleep. He asked, "What is it?"
"I want to go to Tartarus," Nana whispered.
Instantly, Izuku was fully alert again. He didn't bolt upright, but his body was tense as he hissed, "What?"
Nana met his gaze steadily, her eyes full of determination and sorrow. She repeated, "I want to go to Tartarus. I want to see…I want to see Tenko for myself. I need to know."
Izuku hesitated. "Are…are you sure?" he asked, "I…don't think there's much of him left. It's all Shigaraki now…and Shigaraki isn't really there anymore, either."
Nana nodded grimly. "I know," she said, with the certainty she could only have thanks to Izuku's memories, "But I still need to see him. Call it…one last goodbye."
Izuku didn't look convinced, but he didn't try to tell her it was a bad idea, either. Instead, he said, "You know that…that he's there, too, right?"
Suddenly, Nana's expression changed. Instead of a soft, sleepy, sorrowful smile, it was a vicious grin, the kind she wore when she was enjoying her opponent's pain. It was an ugly thing, and terrifying, and utterly deserved for what she had in mind.
"I know," she said, "and I'm counting on it."
Izuku, recognizing Nana's conviction, decided not to dwell on it. Instead, he pulled Nana close, kissing her deeply. Then, he asked, "And what happens after you take care of that "unfinished business?"
Nana's smile softened; it was proud now, and tender, and full of so much love the air around them sang. In the quiet, lonely night, it was all Izuku needed to wrap himself up in, because he knew it would never fail him.
Nana's hands encircled Izuku's head, tugging him forward inch by inch. Her eyes teased and loved in equal measure as she nuzzled against him.
Her answer was simple and sweet and full of enough promise for a dozen lifetimes. As they drifted off to sleep together, he said, "After that…is the future."