A New Foundation

Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?

The Gospel of Matthew 21:42

The stink was what stood out to Izuku the most. Night was approaching soon, but the air buzzed with flies, and crows and other carrion feeders that swarmed about, despite efforts to drive them off. It stank of blood, of excrement, of pain, and of death.

And of victory.

The PLF hadn't fled when Shigaraki had fallen. It had taken Togata popping up in their rear and killing Hanabata, finally ending that damned music, to make the enemy falter. But when Todoroki and Burnin had finally brought down Iceman and melted the flesh from his bones, the enemy had broken. With the quirk that had been inciting them to violence gone, and their last lieutenant dead, Spinner having apparently died in the missile barrage, and Gigomantia in an attack led by Aoyama and Tsu, the PLF had finally come apart. They had seen too much death, and routed.

Izuku just wished they had done it earlier. He reached down, gently closing Aoyama's eyes for the last time.

"Sparkle on forever," Izuku whispered. He didn't try to move Tsu from under Aoyama just then. He'd died atop her corpse, ripped in half by Gigantomachia after she'd been impaled by some blade quirk. There were a dozen dead around them, Gigantomachia included, but it didn't seem like enough. And yet, at the same time, it seemed like too much.

Izuku trudged back across the field, passing by corpses of friend and foe alike. He made it to the remains of the highway, and slumped down on the pavement, exhausted. A moment later, footsteps approached. He looked up, expecting Mei, but instead, Mr. Aizawa groaned and sat down with him.

"Ms. Joke?" Izuku asked, afraid to hear the answer.

"Fine. Both of us made it through," Aizawa said. He reached to his belt, and pulled out a canteen. He took a long swig, then passed it to Izuku. "Just sports drink. Sugar, electrolytes, and a few dissolved caffeine pills."

Izuku took it gratefully. He swished a little around in his mouth, spat to the side, then took a long swallow. He passed it back silently, staring out over the field. "You were right."

"I usually am," Aizawa sighed. "You'll have to be more specific."

"It cost more than we could ever know, what we did at Kamino" Izuku said quietly. "The price was too great for some of us."

Aizawa nodded, his red eyes filled with unshed tears. "Hizashi is dead. Took a blast for me. Son of a bitch never should have done it. He was always the better man."

"Present Mic won't be the only friend we'll have to bury today," Izuku said, feeling exhausted to his bones. He glanced over to where Bakugo had fallen. A small monument had been erected there, a simple section of iron railing, his body carried away. But people would want to remember, one day. Izuku just hoped there would be people to remember.

"I just pray Dabi doesn't reorganize them and come for us," Izuku said, closing his eyes. "We're down to under 100 combat effectives. We'll be overrun in minutes. And...and we don't have One For All."

"They don't have All For One," Aizawa pointed out. "We have a chance."

"Not much of one," Izuku said, grimacing. "Then again, I suppose we never did have much of a chance."

Aizawa nodded, taking another swig from his canteen and passing it back to Izuku. "Good never does seem to have much of a chance. But in the end, justice prevails."

"I don't know how. It feels like a miracle," Izuku sighed, sipping at the vile lukewarm concoction. "When Bakugo went down...I thought it was all over."

"It was, but not for us," Aizawa said. He waved the canteen off. "Finish it. Not much left."

Izuku took the last swig, sighing when he was done. He set the empty canteen down, looking back across the field. "Was it worth it?"

Aizawa was silent for a long moment. Then he nodded to the side. Izuku looked, spying Mei wrapping a bandage around Emi Aizawa's arm. She was laughing, and so was Mei, about what, Izuku didn't know. But it didn't matter. They were alive to laugh.

"Some advice, Midoriya?" Aizawa said.

Izuku nodded, too tired to speak.

"Don't count the ones you didn't save. Count the ones who you did," Aizawa told him. "It's hard. But it's the only way you can sleep at night."

Izuku considered that, and nodded. "Yeah. I suppose it is."

The relief team from the bunker arrived around sunset, and despite her tears, Eri set about healing the injured, bringing back those who were on the brink of death to miraculous full health, as they'd been hours before. She cried the whole time, and it broke Izuku's heart to have a child see the ravages of war, but he knew she would have wept harder if she hadn't managed to save those she could. Despite her best efforts, she failed to revive Bakugo, or any of the other dead. Apparently, that was too much, even for her.

That night, Izuku and Mei slept together in a tent, clinging desperately to one another. They both awoke multiple times in the night, weeping, but they had one another, and that was enough. They were too exhausted for much more than a few kisses, but it was enough to know that she was alive, and so was he.

The next day, they started picking up the pieces. The dead were separated into two piles; friend, and foe. The PLF were dumped in a mass grave, made by collapsing a canyon on top of the corpses.

For their friends, more care was taken. A pyre was made of wood, soaked in gasoline, then lit by Burnin and Todoroki. It was far too large, and burned for hours, but they had no other way to dispose of so many bodies quickly enough. No one said any heroic speeches. Everyone was too numb, too weary.

One body, however, was not burned, what little remained of it. Urarak had told Izuku she'd black his eye if he tried, and honestly, he couldn't bring himself to do it anyway.

Katsuku Bakugo was buried a short distance from where he had breathed his last, on what remained of one of the hills. His grave marker was a large stone, etched by Mei with his name for now. There was no service then, just a shallow hole dug by Maijima. Bakugo's battered form was laid inside, and Uraraka lifted a rock, and set it atop it.

"I'm sorry," Uraraka wept, kneeling before his grave. "I'm sorry I couldn't take it from you, Katsuki. Keep it, forever now."

Then she vomited on the grave. "Dammit! I can't even use my quirk a little now..."

Recovery Girl stepped forward, frowning. "Young lady, how long have you had an upset stomach?"

"I don't know, maybe a couple weeks now?" Uraraka groaned, wiping at her mouth. "I've always had a hard time with my quirk, but lately it's been really bad."

Recovery Girls lips pursed. "Hmm. Come with me. I think I might know what ails you."

"No, I can't just leave, not yet," Uraraka cried, turning back to face the grave.

"Well, I suppose you'll just keep vomiting on the grave all night then?" Recovery Girl demanded.

"Yes," Uraraka said stubbornly.

Sighing, Recover Girl hobbled forward over the broken ground. She knelt, whispering to Uraraka.

"What? I don't know, I don't remember how long, I've been busy! No, I forgot them when we left UA. Um, usually? I mean, sometimes we kinda forgot…" Uraraka glared at Recovery Girl. "Why are you asking me all this? This isn't the time!"

"Mhmm," Recovery Girl said, standing and dusting herself off. "Well. Come along then, I suppose you'll want to know, and Lord knows I'll want to start monitoring you."

"Know what?" Uraraka demanded.

"That you're pregnant," Recovery Girl called. "Idiot children. They always think, 'oh no, won't happen to us. It was just one time, we're fine.' But you never are."

Uraraka looked wide eyed after Recovery Girl, then scrambled to her feet. "I'm what?! How?"

"If you consider what you and that young man have been up to for months now, I'm sure you'll figure it out," Recovery Girl told her. "Now come. Jiro, you too. You'll have to make do for an ultrasound."

"I, what?" Jiro asked, looking baffled.

"She wants you to check on Uraraka's baby," Kaminari told her. "You know, with your ears and stuff."

Jiro turned to Kaminari, her jaw dropping. "What, you think?"

Kaminari grinned. "With the way they were going at it? Oh yeah. Looks like Katsuki's not gone after all!"

That got Jiro and Uraraka to scramble down the hill into the ambulance Recovery Girl was using as a mobile medical station. The rest of them gathered around outside, shuffling nervously.

"Wow, there are going to be a lot of babies soon," Mei observed. "First Hari, now Uraraka. Hmm. Izuku, we may have to move things up. I think three years might be too long."

"Um, yeah, OK," Izuku agreed, anxiously watching the doors. A few minutes later, Uraraka burst out, leaning on Jiro and crying and laughing. Jiro was a mess as well, and the two of them pulled several of the other girls into a hug.

"Seven weeks, give or take a day or two," Recovery Girl pronounced as she stepped down. She eyed the other girls of 1A, who were now all in a huddle, laughing and crying together, with Mei swept up in the whole thing, looking slightly baffled as she gave Uraraka a hug and told her it was going to be OK. "Well, I guess she will have something to remember him by. I suppose I'd best check the rest of them. Bakugo might have escaped my wrath, but I'll give the rest of you young men a talking to, so help me."

"Wait, but we haven't-" Izuku began, slowly backing away.

"Oh shit," Kaminari groaned. "I am so dead if my folks find out."

Kirishima doubled over laughing. "You dumbass! We just survived the biggest quirk battle in history, and you're worried you got your girlfriend pregnant?"

"Oh." Kaminari considered that, then shrugged. "Eh, what's the worst that could happen? Feels like it sort of already did."

As it turned out, none of the other girls were in a family way, much to the relief of most and the concern of others. Uraraka, however, seemed delighted and mortified at the same time.

"I never thought, I mean, if I'd known, I would have told him, oh God." She cried for a long time after that, but then again, they all did.

That evening, Shinso approached Izuku. "I found out who Legacystain is," he said without preamble.

"Who?" Izuku asked, looking up from his meal of cold rice and sausage.

"Dabi. But he wants to talk to you," Shinso said, holding out his phone.

Izuku wiped a hand across his lips, looking to Mei. She nodded. "Maybe...maybe we should talk. I don't think more fighting is good right now, Izuku."

"This is Midoriya," Izuku said, pressing the phone to his ear.

There was a sigh on the other line. "And, this is...Dabi. I suppose you know me as Legacystain."

"You were the traitor, then?" Izuku asked.

"No. I never betrayed the memory of Stain," Dabi answered. "It was his goal, and mine, to reshape hero society. I'd like to think we accomplished that."

Izuku looked out into the dark, where the smell of death still lingered. He felt rage build within him, but tamped it down. They were not ready for another fight. "What do you want, Dabi?"

"To surrender," Dabi answered. "The PLF is broken. We lost at Kyoto today, too. And it seems heroes around the country are remembering what it means to be a hero. You're just the face of them."

That made Izuku frown. He'd been contacted by a few hero groups around the country in the past hours, it was true. Some to congratulate him on his victory, others to offer alliance. It seemed like too little too late, but at least Izuku had proved he could win against the PLF.

"Why? You have thousands of followers left," Izuku pointed out.

"No I don't. Most of them have fled. I have a few hundred die-hards. Curious is holding them together for now, but she's gone off the deep end. You'll need to hurry. I'm restraining them from slaughtering every quirkless we've rounded up by my fingernails. Be in Tokyo tomorrow. Bring whoever you want, however many you want, but come."

Then he hung up. Izuku slowly moved the phone away from his ear, dumbfounded. He looked at Shinso, who was hovering nearby, anxious.

"Well?" Shinso asked, rubbing his hand together.

"It's over," Izuku said numbly. "We won. Dabi's surrendering."

The trip to Tokyo the next day was grueling, passing through ruined towns and fields of the dead. Izuku brough Burnin, most of Class 1A save Uraraka who was now on strict orders not to go into combat, Tsuragamae, Pixie Bob, Aizawa, and a few dozen police along with Hado and her squad for air support.

They didn't arrive to a parade, or any fanfare. A few people nervously looked out of homes and businesses, but for the most part, the streets were deserted. They arrived at UA, where Dabi along with a few ranks of PLF soldiers and Curious were waiting for them. A small table had been set up under a tarp, and Izuku walked forward alone to sit with Dabi. He was wearing a spare set of armor and one of his extra prosthetic arms, while Dabi was dressed in a PLF uniform.

"What conditions are you demanding?" Izuku asked.

Dabi shrugged. "The foot soldiers of the PLF go home. Officers will go into custody, and you can try them for war crimes, but the rank and file are free to go, all charges dropped."

Izuku considered that. "And you?"

"No immunity for me. Or Curious. She's agreed to that, as long as she can publish her autobiography and the history of the war before you execute her, if you wish. Me, you have to execute."

That caught Izuku off guard. "You want us to execute you?"

Dabi looked down at his mottled hands, burned flesh stitched to what was mostly whole. "They say there is no greater sin than patricide. I deserve death. You can hold a trial, but the verdict must be execution. Stain faced justice, and went out with a smile on his face, and Kurogiri's blood on his swords."

"You killed your father?" Izuku asked, unsure of what to do.

"Helped to," Dabi said, making a fist. "Stain told me something before he died. I watched the footage. I was wrong. He did change." He looked up at Izuku. "Do we have a deal?"

"How do we know that the rank and file PLF won't turn on us?" Izuku demanded, deciding not to press the issue of Dabi's parentage. "They're still dangerous."

Dabi considered that. "I have the bullets still."

"Chisaki's?" Izuku asked.

"Yes." He took something out of his pocket, a bullet with a needle point. He held it up so Izuku could see. "More are stored in UA. Will that suffice?"

"Will they agree to it?" Izuku asked, worried.

"They will if I tell them the other choice is death," Dabi replied. "They think you've still got One For All. I haven't disabused them of that notion, though I notice that Katsuki Bakugo isn't with you."

Slowly, Izuku nodded. "If they give up their quirks, the rank and file are free to go. We will hold trials for all of you. I won't promise that you'll be executed, Dabi, but…"

"But considering the body count I have, it's likely," Dabi said. "Never tell anyone I betrayed the PLF. Say it was Spinner, if you have to. He was a good friend. He just...once he lost his quirk, he went a bit mad. And then All For One gave him a new one, and he lost sight of the cause. It can happen to the best of us."

For a long moment, Izuku studied Dabi. At last, he managed, "Why?"

"You'll never know for sure. But I think you should be grateful for my offering," Dabi told him. "Perhaps I've just seen enough death."

Izuku considered that, then reached out his hand. The one of metal. "I think we all have."

The PLF's surrender was accepted on the spot, with no further negotiations. The quirkless prisoners were released, and taken to hospitals across the city for treatment. Over the next week, the PLF would disarm itself, forcibly administering a quirkless shot to all its members, under the supervision of the police force as it reestablished order. Tsuragamae was appointed interim Prime Minister, and was elected to the office fully once a government was reestablished over the next year.

For the next few months, Izuku worked with the remaining heroes of Japan to establish order once more. The total number of deaths and the widespread destruction made the Quirk Civil War rivaled the Times of Change for the sheer chaos and instability. Thankfully, several foreign powers offered humanitarian aid, now that active conflict was over. The complete recovery would last years, and it would be the great work of Izuku and Mei's lives.

Dabi was executed six months after the end of hostilities, along with most of the remaining PLF high officers. Every officer who had helped round up quirkless for internment, or who had served as a guard, was also executed. Curious was granted a stay of execution for three years to finish her books. They were published as quickly as she could manage, and she spent the last year of her internment giving as many interviews as she could. She was the last of the PLF to be executed, after which the death penalty in Japan was abolished. Her works would go on to become international best sellers.

Kazumi Bakugo was born seven months after the end of the war, after a relatively easy pregnancy considering the circumstances. His mother said that he was their hope of peace, and Izuku couldn't help but agree. He had many doting aunts and uncles, and had a good life.

Uraraka would not retire from hero work, and only a month after her son was born, she returned to the field. Once more, the Belle of the Brawl brought justice to the land, and helped create the new foundations of society with Izuku and the rest of Class 1A, along with a new generation of heroes. Like her lover, she would die in the field, saving others.

As for Izuku and Mei, they lived a long life together, creating many adorable babies of a myriad of different kinds, the story of some of which can be found in the epilogues. They would both go down in history as two of the greatest heroes to have lived, and the couple that rebuilt Japan and set humanity on a course for a new golden age beyond even the limits of Earth.

But it would be Katsuki Bakugo who Izuku and Mei would remember as their greatest hero.

The End of Rejected Stones

Authors Note:

This has been a long journey, and I thank you for coming on it with me. Rejected Stones took me quite a long time to write the first draft, with months more of editing and revising with the help of my dedicated beta readers. I'd like to thank Poliamida again, for his help in shoring up plot holes, adding some needed silence, and ensuring that the emotional beats hit right. I also wish to give a special thanks to kylekatarn77, who was the first person to tell me I had something special to share, and to help me polish it from a rough plan into a more refined work that was free of a lot of the errors I'm prone to make. And of course my mother, who was just happy I finished a story for once.

Of course, this wouldn't have been the same journey without all of my readers! I appreciate those of you who stuck with me from the early days where it was just Mei and Izuku with a box of scraps, to those who joined later on. It's been quite a trip over the past year or so. I hope you liked it. I know some of you won't have enjoyed the more religious elements, and that's alright. I still hope you enjoyed the rest of it.

This isn't quite the end of the story. There will be a few slice of life chapters covering what happens to Izuku, Mei, and the rest of Class 1A and the other heroes. In fact, the first Epilogue chapter will take place after several years, and detail important events in Mei and Izuku's life. Those will be published over the course of the next few months at a slower pace, and I've marked the story "complete" as the plot is over. As to what else I write, we'll have to see, as right now I'm sort of drained from writing what is definitely my longest story. But it was worth it to see it through.

As always, thanks for reading

-Full-Paragon