Chapter Seven: GOOD ENDING
Author's Note: This ending diverges right before Izuku calls Tomura on the train.
Also, we have new fanart! Remove the spaces to check out this gorgeous drawing by LaDyRaVen:
clearslimeshepherdmuffin.
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Izuku reached for his phone. The movement of the train made it rattle before he picked it up. "If I can convince Tomura to believe me, I only hope he doesn't take this as confirmation that everything to do with the ocean is bad luck."
His uncle tilted his head, a seal-like gesture. "Your big brother doesn't like the ocean?"
"His older sister was lost at sea."
His uncle's fingers drummed on the armrest. "They never found a body?"
"No, so he still refuses to believe she's dead."
"Doesn't that story sound…familiar?"
It took Izuku a moment to realize what his uncle was implying. "I know it sounds like you and my dad, but that's not possible. If Tomura knew anything about selkies, he would have told me. I trust him completely."
"Yeah, I know all about that." His uncle snorted. "I trusted my older brother, and I ended up inside a bank vault."
Izuku started to feel upset. "Tomura would never hurt me. I trust him with my life."
"I would trust my older brother with my life too, but I'd never trust him with my freedom." His uncle leaned forward, red eyes intent. "I'm sure your brother loves you. But tell me honestly. What has he said to you about the ocean?"
"After I ran away to the beach, he made me promise not to go into the water…" Izuku slapped his forehead. "Aargh! I feel so stupid."
"You're not stupid, but I don't think we should call your big brother."
"Not until I'm safely away with mom and my pelt back," Izuku muttered. "Then he'll have some explaining to do to me." Right now, he didn't even want to think about it. Learning another family member had been lying to him doubled the betrayal.
"This is going to make it harder to get into the house." His uncle gnawed on his lip. "On second thought, I do think we should try to get your mother on our side. I'm sure my brother's house is riddled with alarms, assuming his personality remains this same. This will be difficult without someone on the inside."
Izuku unlocked his phone, not looking forward to that conversation.
Inko met them a block away from the house. "Izuku, you'd better have a very good reason for this. Who on earth is this circus clown?" She gave his uncle a suspicious look. "Wait, I was so busy staring at your exceptionally ugly shirt that I almost missed your face…but aren't you my husband's long-lost brother?"
Izuku glanced around the dark street lit only by a glowing billboard. "You didn't tell Dad? Please, don't. We have a good reason to keep stay hidden."
"I promised, so I didn't tell him I was meeting you." Inko crossed her arms. "You've been the perfect son for fourteen years, and you're burning up every bit of that trust right now. Whatever you have to say had better be good."
Izuku exchanged a nervous glance with his uncle. What could possibly be convincing enough to explain this whole magical mess? The silence stretched out uncomfortably long.
His uncle said, "Selkie says what?"
Inko blinked. "What?"
"Exactly." His uncle opened his bag and threw his pelt at her face.
Inko's hands caught up to catch it by reflex. She remained silent for worryingly long. Then she screamed, "I'm going to kill him!"
"I'm sorry!" Izuku yelped. "My uncle is a little eccentric, but he's been stuck as a seal for too long. He can't even remember how to put on clothes. He doesn't mean any harm, so please don't kill him."
"Not him! Your father!" Inko's fingers twitched into claws. Her bloodshot eyes widened. "I'm going to slice him into sashimi!"
"Oh, good, she remembers," his uncle said. "The sight and touch of any selkie's pelt can weaken the compulsion."
Inko screamed, "He'll be so dead by the time I'm done with him that even a necromancer couldn't resurrect the ashes! He stole my pelt and my identity and acted like he was doing me a favor! He silenced me! 'No need to worry your pretty little head about the dead seals, Inko, just get back into the kitchen.' I'm so angry at myself—but not nearly as angry as I am at him!"
His mother was quite literally frothing at the mouth. Izuku started to feel somewhat terrified. "Mom? I know it's bad, but if you keep shouting, we might draw attention."
Inko broke down into sobs. "And…and…I still love the bastard. Ha! I bet it's Stockholm Syndrome! But I won't let that stop me from leaving. I'm taking back everything he's stolen from me!"
Izuku didn't even know what to say. He just took his mother into his arms and held her.
Inko was the one who lured both Hisashi and Tomura out of house, by faking an email saying that Izuku had been found. She disabled the house alarms. Then she greeted them at the door with a coat and a black bag. "Here, put this on and cover up that unholy monstrosity of a shirt before it makes my eyes bleed."
Izuku grumbled, "It was the only shirt I could find."
"Thanks." His uncle put on the coat. "Cool, it has these things I can put my hands in! Are these a new modern invention too?"
"Those would be pockets," Izuku said. "They've been around a long time, you just forgot about them."
"I think I found all the lockpicking tools you asked for." Inko handed over the bag.
His uncle peered inside. "This looks perfect. Thank you."
"It's the least I could do, since I couldn't find any of the keys," Inko said.
His uncle sighed. "Knowing my brother, there's a good chance he carries them around everywhere on his body. We'll make do, especially since you got him out of the house for the day."
"I got him out of the house for as long as it takes him to realize the email was fake," Inko warned. "We'd better be fast."
Izuku waited in tense silence as his uncle worked on the lock the basement door. He had it open in seconds.
His uncle flinched as he laid eyes on the large steel bank vault, but Izuku didn't comment.
Inko bit her lip. "That looks like a much harder lock."
"I've done it before." His uncle cracked his knuckles. "It's even harder from the inside, believe me."
While his uncle worked on the lock, Izuku stood at the top of the stairs, watching through the living room window. The sound of every passing car made him flinch.
Finally, he heard a triumphant cry. "It's open!"
At that exact moment, Izuku spotted his father's familiar black car tearing down the street at an illegal speed. Running down the stairs, he screamed, "Dad's back!"
Inko paled. "I can't let him take my memories away from me again. I can't."
His uncle held the lockbox containing the pelts. He worked the lockpick with a maniac speed. "This lock isn't nearly as hard. I almost have it."
Izuku heard the door opening. Should they run? But if they could just get their pelts back, they could teleport back to the ocean. That would be a far more certain escape. Could he barricade the basement door? He started forward.
Footsteps came too rapidly. He was out of time to run.
Hisashi stood at the top of the stairs.
Behind Izuku, his uncle shouted, "Got it!" The box clicked.
Hisashi opened his mouth. But before he could speak a single word, Inko screamed, "Shut up!"
For a brief moment, this actually worked. Izuku credited the sheer shock on his dad's face.
Inko took off her wedding ring and threw it at her husband. "I want a divorce!"
Then she threw Izuku's pelt into his arms. At the same time, Inko and his uncle grabbed their own pelts.
Izuku loved the ocean. His uncle had taken him to visit the most beautiful coral reefs. His mom taught him how to catch a fish. He did a backflip in the water, his whiskers twitching in happiness.
Behind him, his mother and uncle carried out a conversation. They seemed able to speak inside each other's heads, in this form. Another cool power.
Inko said, "Izuku still needs to attend school this fall."
"I wouldn't even wait that long before transforming back," his uncle replied. "I didn't realize what a number being a seal had done on my mind until I changed back. I don't want to end up like that again."
"Selkies don't end up in good shape without the sea, either," Inko said. "I lost too much of my passion and will. We need both."
"We need a human's touch to transform back." His uncle sighed, blowing out a bubble. "Isn't that the problem?"
"Trustworthy humans aren't easy to find." Inko's flippers twitched anxiously.
"Especially with my brother still looking for us."
While they kept discussing the problem, Izuku drifted away, following a particularly beautiful rainbow fish. He batted at it, not hunting, just playing.
A net wrapped around him and lifted him into the air. Izuku barked in surprise and terror.
A fisherman with blond hair gelled up in two tuffs peered at him. "My apologies, young seal. I didn't mean to catch you. Once I retrieve the fish, I'll let you go." He turned the wheel to lower the net to the deck of his ship. "What an odd coloring you have. But I daresay you're the most beautiful seal I've ever seen."
As the fisherman reached to pull off the net, he touched Izuku's head. The pelt fell off, revealing a green-haired boy.
Shivering, Izuku looked up at the fisherman, desperately trying to think of a story to get him out of this.
The man immediately took off his raincoat and wrapped it around the boy. "Are you cold? Can I get you a hot drink?"
"You're not surprised?" Izuku asked.
The fisherman laughed, a kindly sound. "I've never been more astonished in my entire life, but I'll save the questions until after I make sure you're safe." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Not that you need to tell me anything. I'm sure selkies must have reasons to stay away from humans. That's what you are, correct? I've heard the legends." He held out Izuku's pelt. "I won't steal this from you. I'd never do that. I promise."
Izuku's relief turned into hope. Maybe he'd met the kind-hearted human his family had been looking for. "Thank you. What's your name?"
A giant grin filled the man's face. "Toshinori Yagi. No need to fear. I'm here."
OMAKE TIME!
Omake: The Pelt Thing Had Zero Malice Behind It
First: How do I break the news to Inko? Maybe I'll do it in a humorous fashion. That might soften the blow.
First: Well, that didn't work at all. She's just staring at me like I'm insane. Time for my backup plan! Quick, throw my pelt at her!
#
Omake: If Inko Hadn't Covered Up the Hawaiian Shirt
Hisashi: I'm here to recapture you and—(Sees the shirt his younger brother is wearing.) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Inko, Izuku, and the First grab their pelts and vanish.
Hisashi: I should be flipping out, but that shirt—it was the ugliest thing I've seen in my life—I can't stop laughing—HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
#
Omake: Also On The Shirt
Hisashi: Izuku, transforming into a seal will destroy your mind. Did you see what my poor pathetic little brother was wearing?
Izuku: Actually, I picked out that shirt.
Hisashi: The mental degradation happens so quickly? This is worse than I realized. Into the vault with you.
#
Omake: Dadmight
Toshinori: I heard you ran away from your dad? Fear not, your emotionally healthy, non-abusive father figure is here!
Hisashi: You wrote yet another fic where my family got stolen by All Might? I'm past the point of killing you. Death alone will no longer compensate for your sins.
Author: (Packs bags and heads to Antarctica.)
Author's Note:
Edited to add: This story was originally complete after three chapters, but upon receiving great ideas from readers, I've added one more ending: the Crack Ending.
Here's the tutorial to get to each ending if this was a dating sim game. Bad ending: call Tomura for help. Normal ending: call Tomura, then also call Inko. Good ending: don't call Tomura, only call Inko.
In the Good Ending, Izuku, Inko, and the First meet a kindly fisherman named Toshinori Yagi who agrees to take and return their pelts whenever they like and never use the power against them. Just to make this a really good ending, let's say they find Hana swimming around and help her, too. She's the one with the best shot at talking Tomura around. Toshinori helps enroll Izuku in school to study environmentalism. Of course, as soon as Izuku returns to land, his dad could potentially find him…
If Tomura leaves Hisashi too, even I'd start to feel a little sorry for the bastard.
Hisashi: Why does everyone I love run away from me? Do I not give them enough expensive presents and smothering protection?
I don't know where to start explaining it to him. Readers, let's take up a collection to send him to a shrink.
#
Bonus Omake: Hisashi Versus Therapy
Hisashi: I'll have you know that I'm only here because my wife and sons told me that they'd video-call me once a week without revealing their location if I went to mandatory therapy. They even promised to occasionally drag my brother in front of the camera.
Therapist: That's okay, even if you're here under duress, I can still help you. Why did your family want you to attend therapy?
Hisashi: I'm trying to protect them from dying and they think that's bad or something.
Therapist: I feel like there's more to the story than that. Why do you worry about your family dying?
Hisashi: My mother left me, then she died. Ever since then, I realized that the only way to keep my loved ones safe was to never, ever allow them to leave.
Therapist: Hoo boy. Give me a moment to cancel my next couple appointments. I have a feeling we're going to be here for a while.
#
For the readers who are optimists, you can imagine an eventual redemption for Hisashi. It certainly wouldn't be easy or quick, though.
Since Sealed with Love is now complete, I'm starting two new stories. Here's my new update schedule:
Tuesday evening: New oneshots added to A Life Not Lived
Thursday evening: Five Times Darth Omnus Found Out He Had a Son and One Time He Succeeded in Turning Izuku to the Dark Side—The Dad for One BNHA Star Wars AU.
Sunday: Karma Quirk—When forcing a quirk on his younger brother, All for One accidentally switches their bodies. Both of them are about to learn valuable life lessons…mostly, All for One learns that it's very frustrating not to be able to murder people.
Other oneshots posted miscellaneously (I added Ghost in the Quirk to my oneshots series last Friday)
Endorsements:
"Very funny stuff, I made myself giggle while writing it." –The Author
"I fully support any stories promoting the domination of younger siblings over older ones." –The Author's Little Sister
"Why are you asking me for a quote, I don't read fanfiction?" –Stephen King