Izuku quickly plummeted through the starry abyss, his head aimed downward and his arms glued to his sides. Then, as he approached fifteen feet above the ground, he pulled out his wings and his entire body recoiled as the wings caught the air around him and vastly slowed Izuku's descent.
Gently landing on the ground feet first, Izuku took in the horrifying sights of the vault. A statue of Aphrodite was in the middle, moss overtaking most of it, her left arm extended out and a single apple in it.
Littered throughout the vault were large, purple, seed-shaped objects that spewed a constant cloud of noxious green spores.
And hanging above him, was a constellation of Typhon, made of red stars. It glared down at Izuku with an unchanging prejudice, boring into his soul without remorse.
"So, you've come to collect her essence have you?"
Izuku drew his sword and whiled around, but upon hearing who exactly was speaking, he stopped in his tracks, and his sword arm went slack.
Aphrodite stood facing him in her human form, but something about her wasn't right: her hair was jet black, and rested on her back in a simple braid; her eyes were a deep and threatening purple, same as her lipstick; her toga and sandals matched her hair, and a red flower pinned the shoulder straps together; finally, she wore a crown of red flowers.
(Zeus- Since when was my daughter a goth?)
(Prometheus- That's not your daughter.)
(Zeus- Hey! Just because she's adopted doesn't mean she's not family!)
(Prometheus- Ugh.)
"Aphrodite, how did you get out of your tree form?" Izuku questioned.
"Oh, because I'm not exactly Aphrodite," she smiled, but it wasn't a real smile, it was one of contempt and jealousy.
"Then who are you?"
"That's not really important at the present moment now is it? All that matters is you getting her essence out of this vault. Come, follow me," Aphrodite commanded.
After a moment of confusion, Izuku fixed his grip on his sword and slowly advanced towards Aphrodite.
She stopped at a wall made of pale blue bricks, it was mostly destroyed but there was a door-shaped hole in it. Through it, Izuku could see a cloud of spores, a couple harpies, one of the seeds, and a burning pedestal.
Aphrodite lifted her hand, and Izuku followed her finger to the pedestal, "In order to pass, you must destroy that which produces the toxic gas," she said, as she moved her finger over to the seed.
"I have to burn them," Izuku realized.
Aphrodite let out a single chuckle, "Good luck," she grinned, before disappearing into a cloud of red petals.
Phosphor landed on his shoulder and squaked loudly.
"I know, I don't trust her either. Anybody who wears that much black and red has to be at least somewhat evil," Izuku agreed.
Phosphor squaked again while giving him a disapproving glare.
"That is not stereotyping!" Izuku bit back while he pulled his bow from his back.
Phosphor glared at him even harder, before leaving his shoulder, to which Izuku simply rolled his eyes as an arrow formed in his hands.
Izuku's eyes fell shut and he held his breath, lifting his bow level with his arm. The arrow flew from the string like a bullet out of hell, soaring through the fire and igniting.
Izuku held his breath for just a few more seconds, and when he finally exhaled, the arrow took a sharp right.
The arrow wedged itself into a gap between the shell of the seed and the whole thing went up in flames, creating an explosion that blew Izuku's hair back.
He opened his eyes to see the harpies burning bodies disintegrate, giving him free passage through the room. Stepping onto a root that served as a bridge from there to the next platform, where he could see at least four or five more seeds, but there were definitely more hidden from sight.
Izuku cracked his neck and adjusted his bracers, before another arrow formed into his hands.
The first puzzle he came across several pillars, below which was a pool of poison gas, Izuku was able to find a metal block and place it down on a pressure plate located at the other side of the valley, doing so dispensed a flaming boulder from out of nowhere.
"Ares thinks he was me locked down, but I'll show him," Aphrodite's voice growled.
Izuku then had to navigate the boulder through the pillars and into another seed, setting it ablaze. After that, the boulder rolled back into a crater-shaped pressure plate, in turn igniting another pedastal. Izuku fired an arrow through the small flame and into the second seed blocking his way, getting rid of all the gas.
"I think Athena is just jealous that she's a hag compared to me," Aphrodite chuckled.
The second puzzle consisted of two arenas, his fighting ability was limited due to the the small bubble of clean air he could breath, but he managed to beat all the monsters back, and burned away the seeds.
"Persephone really needs to grow up. That stupid girl's mother won't take her claws out of her until she makes her."
The third puzzle was fairly simple, he simply had to stand on a pressure plate and fire a flaming arrow at a seed.
"Artemis thinks she's so much better than me, she acts so pure and innocent, like I'm the only one with skeletons in my wardrobe."
The fourth puzzle was what stumped Izuku; it was some kind of elaborate Rube Goldberg machine, pressure plates, moving platforms, flaming boulders, the works. Finally, Izuku fired an arrow that threaded through several buildings and obstacles until it set it's target up in an Inferno.
"Posiedon, ugh that salty old codger, he tries to lord over me almost as much as Zeus himself. He thinks that he owns me just because I was born from the sea. It's a wonder he ever managed to find a wife to deal with all of his obsessiveness."
The fifth and final puzzle consisted of a maze, where Izuku had to move flaming boulder after flaming boulder into seeds to reveal pressure plates, until after the sixth boulder, a pedastal ignited, allowing Izuku to destroy yet another seed.
"Hephaestus is nice and all but oh, that face alone could sink a thousand ships. Oh and down there...well let's just say it's no riptide."
Izuku walked across the outstretched arm of Aphrodite's statue, which lead to a large platform shrouded in a cloud of toxic spores. The winged boy lit up an arrow and slowly stalked towards the final seed, it was done in an instant, the last seed gone and the big platform clear.
The first thing Izuku noticed upon setting foot on the platform was a large cherry blossom tree, billowing in the wind. The second, was the black-haired Aphrodite, standing dead center in the platform and staring him down.
"So you've made it," Aphrodite scoffed.
Izuku drew his sword and began to circle Aphrodite, "Who are you exactly?"
"I am the guardian of this vault. Typhon has tasked me with protecting Aphrodite's essence from you," Aphrodite explained.
"You've been using Aphrodite's thought to try and deter me this whole time, haven't you?" Izuku asked.
"Yes, but it's clear to me that you are simply too thick-headed to know what's good for you," Aphrodite growled.
(Zeus- Huh, can't say I didn't expect this.)
(Prometheus- It's like Izuku said, anyone who wears that much black has to be evil on some level.)
Suddenly, the leaves of the cherry blossom tree exploded off of their branches and began to swarm around Aphrodite, completely shrouding her body.
"You wanted to know who I am?"
The leaves were expelled by a sudden whirlwind, revealing a harpy, but it wasn't like any harpy Izuku had ever seen. It was at least three times bigger, with a human face and a purple crown. Most harpies he had faced were red, but this one was a deep purple color.
"My name is Ozomene, the Hurricane!"
Izuku's eyes slanted as he sheathed his sword and grabbed his bow, before charging at Ozomene. The bird glared back at Izuku and mimicked his charge, Izuku's wings helped him get above Ozomene, and he whirled around to fire his bow.
Ozomene too turned around to face him, blowing a strong gale in Izuku's direction that snagged him by the wings.
As Izuku was blown back, he managed to switch out his bow for his axe, and drive it into the ground, stopping him from falling into the stary night abyss below.
However, when he tried to pull himself back up, Ozomene flew feet first at Izuku and dug its claws into his shoulders. Izuku let out an agonized scream as the so called hurricane began to lift him in the air.
They were about two hundred feet up when Ozomene finally stopped flying, and gazed downwards at Izuku with a furious glare, its throat began to glow red, and what almost looked like a grin worked its way onto the thing's face.
Izuku looked all around to try and find a way out of the situation, he still had his weapons but the way the claws were in his shoulders prevented him from really moving his arms, he had to do something about those first.
With a grimace, Izuku lunged his neck out and bit down on the bird's right leg, Ozomene screeched and let go of Izuku's shoulder, allowing him to move out of the way just before a fireball came down on him.
"Take this you big ugly vulture!" Izuku roared as he slammed his axe into the creature's spine.
"I am Aphrodite, the goddess of love!" Aphrodite's voice rang out.
Ozomene cried out once more and let go of his other shoulder. Izuku let go of his axe and spread his wings as Ozomene crashed into the ground.
"My beauty demands to be celebrated, not locked away!"
The large harpy tried to stand up, but its left wing was suddenly pinned to the ground, then its right wing suffered the same.
"And it certainly doesn't deserve to be tied down to a husband that I don't love!"
Ozomene managed to crane its neck to look up, just in time to see Izuku dive towards it, pull back his sword, and then slice the beasts head clean off.
The constalation of Typhon exploded the moment Izuku's sword cut through Ozomene's neck, raining down red star dust onto Izuku.
"And if Zeus tries to stop me, then I'll make the power of my passion drive him mad," Aphrodite finished.
Izuku signed as he sheathed his sword, and walked away from Ozomene's vanishing corpse, her crossed a small bridge into a shallow pond, reeds and catails sticking up from the water. In the very center was a large pink clam.
(Zeus- I had no idea that Aphrodite felt this way I… I shouldn't have pushed her so far.)
(Prometheus- So you finally realize.)
(Zeus- I've only ever wanted to keep her safe, Prometheus.)
(Prometheus- Sometimes we hurt the one's we love, because we think we know what's best for them.)
The clam creaked open, revealing a pear-shaped vial holding a strange purple liquid, on any side was a bronze emblem of Typhon's face. Izuku quickly nabbed the vial and smiled as his wings pulled open.
Once Izuku landed on the ground, he immediately pulled out his phone, it was six fifty-six.
His mom was going to kill him.
He quickly dialed her number and nervously tapped his foot against the ground. The moment his mom picked up the phone he felt like his eardrum was shattered.
"Izuku?! It's past your curfew where have you been?" Inko shouted.
"Mom, I thought was abolished the curfew when I turned eighteen? I- I lost track of time hanging out with Ochako, I'll be back in about two hours," Izuku said.
"Why's it gonna take two hours for you to get back?" Inko asked.
"I-I was gonna take Ochako to get something to eat," Izuku mumbled.
"Oh, I see, well have fun on your date sweetie!"
"Mom! It's not a date!"
Inko had already hung up.
Noticing that he was all alone, he began too look around, finding a post-it note on one of Gaia's roots.
"Dear Izuku, we've gone back to the hall of the gods to make sure Aphrodite arrived ok, come meet us, Hermes. P.S don't call me a bum," Izuku read aloud.
"Fuckin' bum," Izuku grumbled as he crumpled up the note and stowed it away.
"Ah, Izuku, finally you're back. Now we can restore my sister," Hermes cheered.
Izuku nodded as he pulled out the vial, approaching Aphrodite, who was rooted into one of the large golden pedestals.
"Ready?" Izuku asked, shaking her essence a little bit.
"Well, no not really, but you've gone through so much for me... it'd be rude to not do it," Aphrodite weakly chuckled.
Izuku smiled as he placed the vial onto a crater on the front of the pedestal, where it began to drain up through two pipes that looped around the perimeter of the pedestal. After a few seconds, a golden flame consumed Aphrodite, but unlike someone consumed in fire normally would, she didn't scream, she laughed.
"Give me your passion, protect me with it, and let it invigorate my spirit—"
A larger version of the Aphrodite he met in the vault suddenly appeared, wrapped in a warm gold glow. This version had blonde hair, a crown of purple flowers, and the flower that pinned her dress together was purple as well.
"—Rise, Golden Goddess, Aphrodite!" Izuku shouted.
Aphrodite pressed a kiss to his finger tips, and blew it in his direction, the kiss turning into a golden ball of fire that slammed into his chest.
The room sat in silence for a few seconds, Aphrodite floated above the pedestal, her body cut off at the waist. Suddenly, she began to giggle, and those giggles soon turned into a hearty laughter as she did a small twirl.
"Oh Izuku you've done it! I'm back!"
Aphrodite slowly ran her hands down her fingers, stopping for a few seconds to grope her own ample bust, "Oh, can you believe you had to convince me to return to this body."
"Woah...you're astonishingly beautiful," Ochako blurted out.
"Thanks, you're not too bad yourself," Aphrodite laughed.
"O-Oh, gee, thanks," Ochako said with a blush as she rubbed at the back of her neck.
"Oh, Izuku, I have to thank you again. If not for you I would have lost the ability to love myself forever," Aphrodite smiled and gave a small bow to him.
"I stole that ability years ago," Hermes interjected.
"Oh you sure did. And uhh, speaking of which, it looks like you've been loving yourself a bit too much lately. You might want to disinfect that toga," Aphrodite grimaced.
Hermes laughed, "It is so good to have you back sister!"
"It's good to be back. Izuku, Ochako, you're free to go. Me and Hermes have some...catching up to do. Oh, and be back here tomorrow so we can talk about your outfit Izuku, I have some notes," Aphrodite told them.
"Ugh, I didn't even pick this stupid thing," Izuku groaned.
"Hey, I like the outfit," Ochako said in an effort to comfort him as she followed Izuku out of the hall
Izuku let out a single chuckle, "Thanks Ochako," his face suddenly grew pink and the winged-boy began to tap his index fingers together nervously.
"So uh, I'm pretty hungry, do you wanna go grab dinner or something?"
"Oh yes, thank the gods you suggested that I'm so hungry," Ochako moaned. She then stood behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders, then wrapped her legs around his waist.
"Uh, w-what are you d-doing, Ochako?" Izuku stuttered.
"Well you are the one with the wings dummy, now up, up and away or however these things work!" Ochako yelled, pumping her fists in the air.
Ochako stared in adoration as Izuku regaled her with the story of his fight with Ozomene. She couldn't get enough of it honestly, how happy he looked when he was talking about all this hero of prophecy stuff.
For as long as Ochako could remember, being a hero was almost all Izuku ever talked about, and now he had the chance to be a hero twice.
The two of them were in a ramen shop in downtown Musutafu, for how cheap it was, the food was pretty good, which was good for Ochako as admittedly she was a bit of a penny-pincher.
Ochako sighed as she placed her chin on her fist, watching as Izuku delved into further details about his fight. She loved watching him get like this, so full of energy and passion for something.
If she was being honest with herself, Ochako loved everything about Izuku, his hair, his freckles, to Ochako, he was the perfect guy.
Her love for Izuku wasn't exactly something Ochako tried to hide, Izuku was just a bit dense was all. Just another thing that she loved about him.
And she knew that he had feelings for her too, he just wasn't aware of them. When Izuku was good and ready, she'd be there.
That being said, Ochako could feel herself getting impatient, she was just sick of not being able to cuddle him, and kiss him, and wrap her legs around his face and—
Ochako rapidly shook her head free of those thoughts, as much as she loved them, she couldn't think about that around Izuku. She just her to wait until he was ready to confess and then she can slap a collar around his nec—
Ochako slapped herself across the face, catching Izuku's attention.
"Are you ok Ochako?" He asked.
"Y-yeah, I'm just getting tired, I think I may have to call it a day," Ochako stuttered out.
"Yeah, I gotta get home soon too, our letters from U.A should arrive any day now," Izuku stood up and place a couple hundred yen on the table.
"Hey, I thought we were gonna split the check?"
Izuku just smiled and shrugged, "Think of it as a thank you, for helping me out with all this hero stuff."
"Izuku I'm your best friend, you don't have to repay me for anything," Ochako smiled back.
"You do realize that this doesn't mean I'm going to let you pay for anything right?"
"At least let me pay for my drink!"
Izuku returned to a dark house, the only light being the one from the TV. He slowly walked over to the living room and found his mom passed out on the couch, probably waiting for him to return.
Drapping a blanket over his mother, Izuku let out a sigh through his nostils, ever since that night, things hadn't really been the same between him and his mother.
It was just after he was diagnosed as quirkless, she found him crying at the computer while watching All Might's debut video, he asked her a simple question: Izuku asked if he could still be a hero.
And she just said that she was sorry.
She wasn't the only family member he was having issues with though. Mikumo had been even worse, he was so much better at everything he did than Izuku, and he was such a massive dick about it.
When Mikumo had found out about Izuku's quirklessness, he just shrugged and said 'that sucks', not to mention how many times he had made fun of Izuku's dream.
(Zeus- Wow, this guy's sucks.)
Izuku loved his family, he just wished they believed in him, like Ochako did.
Izuku's sour mood immediately improved upon thinking about her. She was his best and, at least to him, so much more.
He'd been in love with her since he knew what love was, but he refused to ruin what he had with her. In Izuku's mind he was lucky Ochako was his friend, there's no way in Hades that she'd feel the same way.
(Zeus- Prometheus can just just skip to the part where they end up together?)
(Prometheus- Izuku saves two more gods before that happens why would you want that?!)
(Zeus- what can I say, I'm a romantic, and then dancing around each other is driving me nuts.)
Izuku's thought were interrupted however, when he saw a bright red glow escaping under Mikumo's door. The glow was forbidding and familiar, like running into your teacher at the grocery store.
Slowly, Izuku grabbed the doorknob, waited for a few seconds, and barged into his brother's room unannounced.
"Oh, hey little bro, check out the new lava lamp I got," Mikumo grinned as he tapped against the class of the red lava lamp.
"Uh, sorry I thought I heard something," Izuku said apologetically.
"Your U.A letter got here by the way," Mikumo told him offhandedly.
"What?!"
Izuku and his family sat on the couch, the letter gripped tightly in his hands.
"Now, whatever happens, don't get too disappointed," Mikumo told him.
Izuku ripped open the envelope, only for a small silver disk to flop out, it then whirled to life and began to project an video of All Might himself.
"Greetings young Midoriya!" All Might shouted.
"All Might knows my last name," Izuku whispered.
"Now, as I'm sure you're aware, you barely got any destruction points, infact, you didn't even make it to ten," All Might reminded him.
Izuku's head tilted down, ready for the inevitable rejection.
"However—"
Izuku immediate sat up straight.
"— destruction points weren't the only things we were counting. For rescuing contestant Uraraka from the zero pointer, you have been awarded sixty rescue points. Welcome to U.A young Midoriya."
Izuku fell to his knees in front of the coffee table, Inko and Mikumo just stared in confusion at the hologram.
"I did it...I finally did it."
This chapter was a lot of fun for me to write and I do hope that it was a lot of fun for you to read. Discord links:
Epsi's Hoard: https/discord.gg/2Nw3AjvDK6
LoM: https/discord.gg/yrVySwnUj6
That's it for now, Peace.