Author's Note: Hi, guys! Thank you all for reading this far, but this will be the last chapter of Spectrum. I planned to have it go past this point, but with school starting back up, I won't have as much time to write as I have had recently. 2.5k views on here and 1k on AO3 is more than I could've ever hoped for, but the number is still going up! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!
Just a quick disclaimer: this chapter is more of an epilogue of sorts, so it isn't as long as the others.
Now, back to the story!
Izuku was pulled back to reality sooner than he would've hoped, once again staring at the sterile white light of a hospital room. He looked around and saw that Recovery Girl, All Might, wearing his Hero outfit in his skinny form, Uraraka, Asui and Iida had come.
"Hi," he croaked.
"Midoriya! You're awake," Iida said, alerting everybody.
"Are you okay?" All Might asked.
"All Might. Whoa, is this okay, them seeing you like this?!" Izuku asked, starting to panic.
"They caught me. As soon as we touched back on the ground, I deflated," All Might said, smiling sadly at his ward.
"What happened?" Asui asked.
"Bakugo was going to kill me. He was unstable. I tried to get him to focus on me, but he targeted Uraraka instead, just to get to me," Izuku explained.
"How did you do that super move thingy?" Uraraka asked, tilting her head adorably again.
"I absorbed his explosion and sent it back at him, but I think I put some of my energy reserves into it as well," Izuku said, feeling oddly cold.
While Izuku shivered, All Might and Recovery Girl shared a look. They both stood up, signalling a tonal shift in the room that could be felt. Izuku looked between the two, getting a bad feeling.
"Children, will you please step out of the room?" All Might asked, and they obeyed.
Once the others were out of the room, All Might ran a shaky hand through his hair, breathing deeply. Recovery Girl came and sat on the end of Izuku's bed, visibly shaken. Izuku wondered what had her so worried. He felt fine.
"Izuku, you used all of your energy reserves in that final blast," All Might revealed.
Izuku stared, wide eyed, at his mentor. That couldn't be right. He felt fine, if a little … cold. He felt cold. He had always thought of Spectrum as a heat filling him, but now that it was gone, he just felt cold.
"Does that mean that I've … lost my Quirk?" Izuku asked.
"No. You still had a Quirk Factor. You would've been able to keep absorbing energy, though it would've taken you a while to collect enough to use," Recovery Girl said.
"Would have been able to? As in … not anymore?" Izuku asked, sitting up.
"A strange thing happened when you ran out of energy. We discovered that your body, over the years, had developed a dependence on it. Your energy reserves powered your body. When you ran out, your body started failing, going into cardiac arrest," All Might said.
"Started? It never finished," Izuku connected some dots.
"Yes. I saved you with One for All. I made the transfer, and now you're healthy again. I don't know what effect this has had on your powers, so we'll have to find out," All Might told him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Wow," Izuku said, his voice quiet.
Izuku looked out the window, wondering about what new changes this development could bring. He looked back to All Might, who wore a pained expression that he was trying his best to hide.
"What's wrong, All Might?" Izuku asked.
"Now, my powers will start to fade even faster. I fear that All Might will be gone before your first year at UA is done," All Might revealed.
Izuku couldn't help but emulate his mother in times of acute stress, and started to cry. He sobbed in premature mourning for his hero, letting himself be overcome with sadness. The two sat in that room, with Recovery Girl monitoring Izuku's health, for hours, simply sharing each other's company.
That was enough.
That night, Izuku woke up in a void. He saw nothing except for a bright white light directly in front of him. Suddenly, that light turned red, and he saw a figure dressed in a leather jacket that showed he wasn't wearing a shirt. He was bald, but wore stylish goggles on his head. The man walked up to Izuku and pointed his finger at him.
"You! How the hell is this happening right now?" the man asked.
Izuku had no mouth, so he could not respond. He simply blinked at the man, trying to express his confusion at the situation.
"I guess it's a good time, with All for One on the rise. Anyway, I'm Daigoro Banjo, but you'll be calling me Lariat! When you wake up, you'll be able to use my power, but don't get it wrong! Blackwhip is a power that responds to your anger, so if you use it while you're angry, it'll react angrily," Lariat explained.
Suddenly, another white light appeared, and a man in all white appeared. He studied Izuku's face, looking for something he had trouble seeing. After a moment, the man smiled. He turned to Lariat.
"It's his Quirk. He has the power to absorb energy. His powers have molded his body into the perfect vessel for our energies. He has incredible potential with controlling our power," the man said.
"Damn, Shiggy. It's been a while since you've had to do that!" Lariat said, chuckling to himself.
"You have a large part to play in the coming conflict, Izuku Midoriya. You must be ready," Shigaraki said.
Izuku, back in the real world, shot up in his bed. He had remembered exactly what those people had said.
"Be ready," they had said.
But for who?
A week later, Izuku walked down the halls of UA, walking toward his Homeroom class. It had felt different ever since his fight with Bakugo, emptier. Maybe he was emptier. He couldn't tell. Izuku made it to class on time, but saw that Uraraka was standing outside the door.
"Uraraka, hey!" Izuku said, getting her attention.
"Hi! How is Bakugo?" Uraraka asked.
"He still won't see me, but he gets out of the hospital tomorrow," Izuku answered.
"At least he's still alive after what you did to him," Uraraka joked, but it fell flat.
"Hey, can we talk for a second before we go in?" Uraraka asked, ushering Izuku over to the locker area.
"Is this about what happened on the first day? After school?" Izuku asked, getting a nod from Uraraka.
Izuku remembered that they had been standing under his static umbrella, shielded from the rain. It hurt to think about his birth Quirk, but this was a nice memory. They were standing under the umbrella and looking into each other's eyes. Izuku had felt the strange urge to be closer to Uraraka, so he gave in and started to lean in.
Uraraka had reciprocated, standing on her toes due to the height difference between the two. It wasn't a major difference, but it was noticeable. They had leaned in close, but Izuku had snapped out of his haze, realizing what they would look like to random strangers on the street …
… a couple.
Izuku had blushed, pulling away from Uraraka at the last second. He started apologizing rapidly, almost giving himself whiplash from bowing at the speed of sound. Uraraka had simply sighed, and started to walk away. She turned back to give a final message, a look to Izuku, and left.
"I'm sorry that we haven't been able to talk about it, but it's been a crazy week," Uraraka apologized.
"It has been a pretty wild couple of days. Uraraka, I like you. I do, but I don't think we have room in our lives for whatever this is," Izuku said.
"I think we could make it work! I like you and you like me. Why can't we just see what happens?" Uraraka asked, leaning on the door.
"You know why. One for All requires me to be fully devoted to the advancement of my powers. The past users' Quirks are starting to manifest, just like Lariat told me. You know that I want to be with you, I really do, but I can't form attachments, it'll just end badly for everyone," Izuku explained.
Izuku, with nothing left to say, walked into the classroom. Uraraka gripped her skirt, trying not to cry. She looked at the ground, pushing her emotions deep down. She looked up, put on her best smile, and entered the classroom.
She had to accept her new normal, and what better way than to dive right in and see what happened?