A Sad Boy in a Tree house
Chapter 42
Final Day
"And so!" Izuku flipped his coat as he wrote along the chalkboard, the feeling of scratching a rock against a flat surface and creating knowledge far beyond the technology being used. "After the cyber invasion of America the International Western Alliance proposed that technology integration of the human mind should be banned. That proposal was then accepted by every national super power as the heroes who first responded against it campaigned to have laws passed in their countries of origin. Soon, the largest and most powerful nations began to implement the laws with small alterations to account for local quirks and medical morals. Germany, Russia, Japan, and the Republic of Hawaii all pressured their allies into making the same laws. Though smaller powers such as Canada, France, and China didn't agree, and were then accused of attempting to replicate their own cyber armies."
Turning back to see the focused/confused faces on the teens' faces, Izuku really hoped they were getting this. It's not everyday you learn history from the people who were at the heart of it.
"Just one question on the subject." Momo said, adjusting the glasses she wore on her face. "Which country or organization do you think could have created your cyberman counterpart?"
"I don't think that will be on the test." Izuk's demeanor fell slightly at the mention of the cyber Midoriya.
In the luxurious home of the Yaoyorozu's, the students seated themselves in a large study hall. Tall bookshelves lining the walls with a long glossy table running down the center of it with twenty cushioned chairs along the sides. Each of them had an assortment of books around them, notes, papers, anything to cram in some extra knowledge needed for the test. Izuku would introduce a subject, with Momo adding some thoughts or helping someone who didn't understand it the first time Izuku explained it.
Because this was after school hours, they were all in casual dress. If you counted Izuku's bowtie as casual.
Sero decided to pipe up from his seat. "Do you think they might have something like the cyber you for the practical?"
"That's a better possibility." Izuku hummed.
"They could use that robot." Ojiro mentioned.
"Android." Momo corrected. "But I don't believe UA would-"
"Use a robot to beat up a bunch of teenagers?" Mina laughed. "Yeah, I can totally see them using her."
"If they use Maid-A then Mei would be involved." Izuku pointed out. "And she would only be involved if it was to test or create any new creations."
"They could give her more tools in exchange?" Kaminari guessed.
"She finds a way to get them anyways." Izuku sighed, trying to count how many times she managed to sneak his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket.
Ochaco tapped her pencil against the table, wondering how she was going to bring it up. Ask someone why they weren't who they said they were when they believed they were trying to convince the other person they were who they said…...Yeah she had no idea how to bring it up.
"Hey Midori!" Mina waved the boy over, Izuku approaching the two. "Ochaco and I had some questions about early France."
"...How early?" Izuku hesitantly asked, Ochaco feeling herself freeze up.
"Well." Mina scooted the boy closer to sit between her and Ochaco. "They had this really violent revolution over the rich hogging the resources yeah? But what protected them from the next one?"
"Nothing." Izuku flipped one of the pages. "What finally ends any kind of conflict is when both sides sit down and talk. Which from that they created the Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen of 1789."
Ochaco snapped her eyes towards Mina's direction, who acted all innocent about it. Well whatever, she would try and take advantage of this. "Midori-"
"Hey Midoriya!" Hagakure's sleeve waved towards the boy. "If mirrors reflect all colors light, and anything white also reflects all the colors, then how come mirrors aren't white?"
"That's a good question." Izuku left them, walking over to stand next to the invisible girl. "You see, a mirror is essentially a plate of glass coated with a thin film of metal, such as silver. At the atomic scale, metals are a crystal network of atoms whose outermost electrons dissociate and wander with high mobility-"
"Mina!" Ochaco hissed over at her friend. "What the hell are you doing?"
"You looked like you wanted to talk to him." The pink girl whined in defeat.
"Well, yeah but….shut up!" Ochaco huffed, scribbling back on her paper. "It's complicated."
"Complicated how?"
"Very."
"It can't be that complicated."
"Tell me one thing simple about Midoriya." Ochaco demanded, Mina briefly thinking over about it.
"I know he's upset that you're not talking to him." She finally stated, no doubt in her words.
Ochaco's eyes fell down towards the table again. "Really?"
"Yeah!" Mina threw her hands on Ochaco's shoulders. "I mean, you two were super fast friends! Then all of a sudden you stop talking to him and every time he looks at you he keeps getting those sad puppy dog eyes. Well, different than the first times he looked at you. Now that I think about it he always seemed sad whenever looking at you, but he was getting happier when you talked with him!"
The brunette threw a hand over Mina's mouth, silently pointing harshly towards the still present Midoriya who was talking with Hagakure.
"Look, I'll talk to him ok." Ochaco sighed, lowering her hand. "You might want to be there too."
"You need some emotional support?" Mina offered with a smile.
"No it's...it's also about you."
Now Mina was visibly worried, not understanding what in the slightest Ochaco was talking about. She just thought it was some drama between friends or something, but how would that involve her?
"Everyone!" Momo clapped her hands to get their attention. "We're going to take a quick break before we switch over to math. In the meantime please help yourself to some refreshments."
The girl then rolled forward a very luxurious cart with teas, cake, granola bars, and many other snacks and drinks. It even had a small battery powered refrigerator built into it alongside a conventional oven, and microwave.
"Wow, I think that cart is more expensive than my home." Kaminari chuckled.
"You could make one of those with the stuff you have at home though, probably even from a local dumpster." Izuku informed the boy.
"Well none of us are that smart." Jiro flicked her pencil with her finger, watching it roll across the table.
"Or have a quirk that could let us make one." Sero pointed out, Momo being the target of the conversation again.
"Say.." Izuku folded his hands together. "You wouldn't happen to have a big robot companion would you?"
"No, why do you ask?" Momo poured herself a cup of golden tips, smelling the sweet aroma.
"Just making sure." Izuku dismissed the thought. "Don't want to deal with another metal me."
"Hey Yaomomo." Jiro came up to the two of them. "I wanted to ask about the weird noises coming from downstairs. Also Midoriya, you should talk to Uraraka."
"Why?" Izuku directly asked her.
"Because neither of you have talked to each other for the last few days, and I hear both of you keep mentioning how you want to talk to the other."
The Time Lord was also pretty sure that the last time he tried talking to her she yelled in his face. Peeking behind Jiro, he did catch Ochaco looking at him only to turn her head away. Guess she really did want to talk to him.
As he walked away, Momo turned to Jiro with confusion on her face. "But we don't have a basement."
"Just do it!" Mina whispered with some force.
"It's gonna happen today." Ochaco tried to assure her exuberant friend. "Just, probably after the-"
"He's coming over right now!" Mina nearly screamed, leaping out of her chair and behind Ochaco's to physically turn the girl towards the approaching boy.
"Wait!" Ochaco gripped the seats of her chair, bracing herself. She was frozen, stiff as Izuku was walking right towards them. He stopped his foot, seeing a hyped up Mina bouncing behind Ochaco who was holding the seat like it was the only thing keeping her to the earth.
"I want to ask but I'm afraid of the potential answer." Izuku admitted.
"She wants to talk to you." Mina scooted Ochaco forward, the girl in question sweating profusely now.
"Um..what about?" Izuku asked while he scratched his cheek.
"I don't know. Why don't you ask her!" Mina fully pushed Ochaco to only be inches away from Izuku, both of them feeling very uncomfortable with this.
"So….do you wanna...talk?" He hesitantly asked, giving her a little room.
"It..can wait." Ochaco lowered her head, unable to bring it up.
"Geez!" Mina sprawled out on the ground in defeat. "We don't have all day."
The brunette frowned in sad disagreement. "We kind of do."
*click* The room went dark, the lights all off with no warning.
"AHHHHH!" Multiple voices screamed out.
"Calm down!" Ojiro shouted. "It's probably just a power outage."
"We're on our own power supply though." Momo's voice cut through the dark. "And there isn't any scheduled maintenance today."
*Brzzzzzz* Izuku held up his sonic screwdriver, the small light piercing through the darkness. "There's no power, that's a fact."
"Well gosh darn." Mina exageratedly put her hands on her hips. "Looks like we can't study down here! We'll just have...to.."
Everyone watched as the buzzing light on Izuku's screwdriver began to go down, the buzzing growing softer and softer.
"But that's impossible." The Time Lord muttered. "It just, isn't!"
"What's happening?!" Hagakure shouted in panic, hearing Izuku's voice actually worried. "Are we going to have to deal with creepy ghost kids in mirrors again?!"
"No no." Izuku shook his head as he saw the sonic screwdriver's power drain drastically. "Nothing like that."
"If there's no power." Jiro said as the last of the screwdriver's light went out. "Then what am I hearing below us?"
"Describe it." Izuku said, grabbing a cup, throwing its contents out, and placing it against the ground.
"It's metal that's for sure." Jiro started, plugging a jack into the ground beside Izuku. "It's hard to make out over all the people running around and tripping in the dark."
"Well, guess we'll start there." Izuku got up from the floor, slowly sliding his foot forward in circular motions to quickly navigate through the dark.
"Maybe I can make something that can help." Momo's glittering quirk sparked to life as she created a pair of night vision goggles. Once her quirk deactivated, she tried using the newly created goggles. "How can the battery already be dead?"
"Are they rechargeable?" Kaminari asked, letting his quirk spark to bring some light. He felt something bump his right, so he used his quirk to let out a few sparks and see Izuku standing there.
"Are you not feeling drained?" The Time Lord asked.
"Nah, I can keep this up all day." Kaminari boasted.
"You might have to." Izuku muttered, opening a section on his sonic screwdriver and exposing a reflective piece of golden metal. "Press your thumb against this and give it some power."
"Alrighty!" Kaminari felt like he was being used like a battery a lot around Izuku, but that was pretty much his quirk so whatever. He held the sonic screwdriver, pumping a small arc of his quirk into it. The buzzing came back to life, Izuku reaching over to dial one of knobs.
"Watcha doing?" Hagakure came over to see the little device do it's magic.
"Sending out a signal to my friend."
"Is it your girlfriend?" Sero teased, trying to make light of the situation.
"Y-yeah actually." Izuku blushed with a smile gracing his face. "We shouldn't just wait around though."
Twisting another dial, the screwdriver emitter slightly changed its pitch.
"That should get us through most, if not all the doors in the house." Izuku explained.
"So I can just point this at any lock and this thing will unlock it?"
"What do you think he meant?" Jiro asked in some annoyance.
"Why would we need to get through any locked doors?" Momo questioned them, her voice laced with concern.
"Nothing on this planet should be able to drain power indirectly from my sonic screwdriver." The Time Lord began walking forward with Kaminari using the sonic screwdriver as a light source.
"Jiro."
"Yeah?"
"Lead the way." Izuku put a hand towards the main door, the punk rock girl stepping ahead with her jacks raised.
"Sure thing."
Everyone began to follow them, the ones in the back having a harder time seeing their way around. "Now hold on!"
Momo's voice yelled out to them. "I'm sure this is just temporary, but I assure you that my home is completely safe! Furthermore, there is no basement! I've lived here my whole life, and I would know if there was! So, let's just sit down, wait for the in house maintenance to do their job, and have a nice cup of-"
*crash*
Kaminari turned the sonic screwdriver around, highlighting Momo sitting on the floor with a shattered tea set next to her. Ochaco winced, only imagining how much it would be to replace that and the carpet.
"Ok fine. We'll investigate."
Their steps echoed through the hallways, Kaminari happily lighting the way with the sonic in hand while Jiro had them moving towards the right direction. Izuku felt heavier the closer they got to wherever they were heading towards. Something was wrong. Yes gravity was treating him the same but his body was weighing down on itself.
A pink light emanated from behind them, gaining their attention.
"Hey Yaomomo!" Mina asked the taller girl lingering in the back.
"Yes?"
"Watcha doing?"
"Attempting to bring us some more light." Momo then held up a match box she just created. She grabbed a single one, stuck it, only to fizzle in under a second. "No matter what material I use, the reaction stops as soon as it starts. I've tried phosphorous sulfide, potassium chlorate, I've even attempted to burn a canister of butane fluid."
"That seems really dangerous." Sero pointed out.
"While this is pretty freaky." Ojiro chuckled. "I'm glad it stopped that disaster."
"I merely used smaller portions that could hardly burn a hair." The rich teen uttered in annoyance. "I promise I haven't conducted any unsafe experiment so far."
"Yeah, so far." Hagakure giggled.
"So it's more than just electrical." Izuku hummed. "Chemical, electric-"
"It's colder." Ochaco spoke, the air escaping her mouth becoming a small cloud in the emerald light of the sonic screwdriver.
"Thermal." Turning towards the group, Izuku looked over the group, the curious phenomena becoming more dangerous. "Yaoyorozu, I need you to make some blankets, coats, anything to keep us warm."
"Ponchos!" Mina immediately cheered, Sero, Hagakure, and Kaminari following her example.
"Very well." Momo lifted her shirt to expose her stomach, making some warmer clothes.
Nejire looked at herself in the mirror, trying on the larger sweater she spun in place. "What do you think?"
"I don't think it's cold enough for this kind of attire." Dreamer poked her head out of the incredibly thick fur coat she wore, unable to lower her arms to her side.
Nejire stared at the small child and her choice of vocabulary. "You're only like, a little over five right?"
"I read a lot." The Dreamer answered the teen's real question before Nejire could even ask it.
The two girls were in the wardrobe room of the TARDIS, an elevator in the center of the room that took them to whatever floor they desired. Each one had its own decade, the wardrobe having hundreds of floors. Before them stood a large mirror that stretched to the ceiling with intricate golden borders that intertwined with one another.
"Hm, I wonder if there's something in between?" Nejire skipped over to a rack lined with clothes. With a push on the art deco styled button, it began to shift the outfits down the track. "Nineteen twenties had weird dresses. Almost all of them looked like trash bags with fur and funky hats."
"Hm." Dreamer just sat down on a cushion, tired of spending hours in here while Nejire kept trying on everything that was available.
"Hey Dreamy!" Nejire stopped the rack, and with a turn of a dial the colors shifted to a pleasant grassy green. "I think this might look cute on you!"
"Fine." The Dreamer stood back up, letting Nejire pull the coat off her and throw the small dress on.
"Dawww, you look so cute!" The girl cooed over the ginger, throwing on one of the small trimmed hats onto her. "There! Even if you're cold, there's these cool fuzzy cloaks that go right with it!"
Nejire spun back to look at the clothes, and with the adjustment of a few more controls on the side panel the clothes changed sizes. Grabbing a pale mint green casual dress of similar style, Nejire threw off the clothes she was wearing and placed the new attire on herself. "Now we match!"
"We're not doing that."
"Whatever do you mean?" Nejire asked innocently.
"I just got new hair! I don't wanna dye it blue!"
"But we could look like sisters!" Nejire fell to her knees, embracing Dreamy into her arms.
Her pilot needs help!
Dreamer's head snapped upwards, hearing the voice shout above the sporadic mind of Nejire. Her legs moved, carrying her body towards the elevator she knew would lead to the console room. Only after she slammed into the interior wall did her mind begin to think.
"Dreamy!" Nejire flew straight towards the girl, Dreamer rapidly pressing the button to get them to where they needed to go. "What's going on?! What's wrong?! How come you just zoomed off and-"
"Izuku's in trouble!" Dreamy shouted, the elevator shooting up and turning the view outside into a blur.
The bluenette forgot how to breathe for a moment, the image of Izuku's burning body in a basement swarming her mind.
"Stop!" Dreamer grabbed Nejire's dress, pressing her teary eyed face into her stomach. "Please, don't think about that."
Nejire's arms hovered over Dreamy, until she gently embarrassed the small girl in her arms again. "I'm sorry, I'm just worried about him."
"Was that real?" Dreamer's voice muffled in Nejire's clothes.
"...Yes." She admitted, knowing she couldn't exactly lie to a mind reader.
"I thought he was a hero."
"He is, but he can still get hurt sometimes." Nejire brushed her hand in the girl's hair. The elevator doors slammed open, a short hallway directly to the console room before them. On a coat rack, Nejire saw a furry cloak hanging on it that she knew wasn't there before.
The senior hero school student sprinted ahead towards the door. A deep bell sounded throughout the room, raising both of their anxieties. Dreamy ran up to the screen, seeing a message being displayed.
"He says that something is draining the power from everything in the mansion!" The Dreamer informed the girl, who looked back to see a bunch of circles and lines on the screen.
Nejire opened up the front door, about to fly off to the mansion to help however she could. There was something wrong though as she dawned the coat to fight the sudden chill that was outside. "It's not just the mansion." Nejire said in a grave tone.
The Dreamer didn't need to go out and see what occupied Nejire's thoughts, but still she went to the front door to see it herself. It was already dark, the midnight sky filled with millions of stars. It was too clear, never had she seen a starry sight. Looking across the silhouette of the mountains, the distant buildings, there was not a single light visible in the city.
Nejire checked her phone, clicking on the button on the side to try and turn it on. Nothing, no power.
"What's happening?" Dreamer asked, and got no clear response from Nejire's mind. Instead the bluenette put both her hands on the little girl's shoulders.
"Dreamy." Nejire cautiously spoke. "Stay here in the TARDIS, you'll be safe."
"What about you?"
"I need to go make sure Izuku is safe, and save the day." The taller girl quirked her lips into a small smile.
"What about you?"
Nejire straightened her posture as she stood to her full height, looking towards the dark mansion. "Izuku will save me if I need help. He always does."
The Dreamer watched as Nejire flew away to do her hero work. She trusted the teen, who held a lot of confidence in her tone with plenty of surface thoughts to back up her words. Though as she was left alone with the ringing bells of the TARDIS, the ringing echoes in her mind.
It sounded like a song. A sad, sad song.
Ochaco lifted her arms, feeling like a walking rug with a hood. Well, the inside was fur lined so that was nice. They found themselves back in the large entrance hall with staircases leading to various areas in the building that she could hardly think of a home. The library alone could fit her parent's business.
*Brzzzzzzz..z..z*
The sonic's buzzing began to stutter, the lightning around the boy's hand coming out in spurts.
"You ok?" Jiro came closer to the blond, the boy's sweat reflecting some of the dimming light.
"F-fine." Kaminari grunted, pushing more juice into the sonic. The green light brightened, the earphone jack watching in worry.
"Let's hurry." Izuku said as he quickened his pace. He buttoned up his coat as the temperature continued to drop.
"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Momo asked him.
"The rate of energy consumption is increasing." He quickly replied. "Kaminari's bio electricity is getting increasingly more difficult, and you had to have noticed making the ponchos for the others was more taxing than it should have been."
"That's, correct." The tall teen pondered, questioning how her quirk would be affected by these events.
"Midoriya." Hagakure came up to the boy. "Do you just happen to attract lots of weird things to you?"
"I'm...not sure how to answer that." Izuku admitted, knowing full well his life seemed to be filled with a bunch of chaotic events. He didn't even seek them out! Well the dalek he was searching for but he ended up running into it.
"Ok, so you know how Ochaco has those books yeah?"
His mind paused, said writer of those books now listening more intently.
"Yes." Izuku listened with caution.
"I was reading them again, after Mina pointed out that the boy actually has the same name as you." Toru began.
"Oh yeah!" Mina put her fist in her palm. "I think Ochaco's can see the future."
"That would make sense." Toru nodded, not that anyone could see her invisible head in the dim light. But she leaned in a little closer to whisper to Midoriya. "The mirror people could see the future too, and as freaky as they were I just can't get them out of my head. They called you a Time Lord, and the book called Izuku one too."
"Wait, are you saying our Izuku is an alien?" Sero asked with a big smile.
"Just like me!" Mina added on with some light humor. "Welcome to the alien club!"
Izuku froze in his steps, looking straight into the dark eyes of Mina. "I'm sorry."
"...why?"
"I should have told you sooner." Rubbing his arm in guilt, Izuku looked away from her.
"Wait, are you saying I am an alien?!" Mina screamed, tugging on her own horns.
Ochaco ran forward, grabbing Mina and putting a hand over her mouth. "She was just joking! Haha! Good joke Mina. Cause you look like an alien and everything."
Ojiro's tail wrapped around to scratch his head. "I thought she was playing off her own character in the book. You know, the French baby?"
*GASP* Mina moved Ochaco's hand out of the way. "Are you accusing me of being related to Aoyama?!"
"Being French doesn't automatically make you related to Aoyama." Momo sighed.
Toru tapped Izuku's shoulder, getting his attention again. "I'm serious though, it's one thing if Ochaco happened to write it in a book but I know those mirror people were saying the truth about time lines and all of that. I can feel it in my guts. Just like when they said you were a Time Lord."
"So, are you an alien?"
Izuku and Ochaco glanced at one another, both unsure how or if the questions of their classmate should be addressed.
"Gah." A pained gasp came out of Kaminari's mouth, the boy falling down as he continued to try and keep the power going.
"Denki!" Jiro wrapped her arms around him, his body trembling as he continued to exert himself. "That's enough, we can use something else for light."
"No, no if I s-stop now I w-won't be able to g-get it going a-again." He grunted, being lifted by Jiro.
"How much farther?" Izuku came up, asking Jiro.
The girl immediately stuck her jacks into the ground, listening intently. "We're close, if we go to a room just down that hall we should be right over it."
"Ok, then let's-"
"Wait." Jiro heard something, some type of groaning or whining coming from the basement. It vanished, but there was still an eerie hum coming from the source. Before she could report a false alarm something else caught her hearing. It was fast, and coming right towards them! "Everyone get down!"
Her warning was all they got, when the doors blasted open from spiraling swirls of glowing energy. Nejire shot forward, barreling right into the Time Lord.
"Oof!" Izuku recoiled, Nejire spinning him around in her arms as she held him in her arms.
"Thank-Mwa-goodness-Mwa-you're-Mwa-ok!"
Izuku really liked the kissing, but he wished he didn't have to have his spine bending so drastically. "Y-yes! I'm F-fine!" He coughed out.
"Senpai!" Toru called out from below.
"Hey! It's the mirror girl!" Nejire floated down, her quirk giving off plenty of light for them all.
"When you were a kid, did you win every game of hide and seek?"
"Yep!"
"Guys!" Jiro yelled at them. "If we're gonna investigate the power outage for the place we need to do it now!"
"She's right." Izuku said, following Jiro who marched back forward towards the strange noises. "Let's go."
"Isn't this a lot of effort for one house?" Ojiro asked.
"It's more than that." Nejire told them. "It's everywhere. No one has power."
"Wait." Ochaco piped up. "Isn't this like before?"
"What do you mean?" Sero questioned.
Izuku's eyes widened, power outages on this scale were rare..the last time he knew this happened was when he first arrived to Earth. "It's always been this. The power issues. Over and over there's been power issues. That was an issue that the host of that interstellar race had with the teleports with Earth, and it was a multi-city blackout the day I arrived."
Jiro stopped in front of a cherry red wood door, Kaminari pointing the sonic towards it to let out a resounding click as it unlocked. The exhausted boy fell over, the teens huddling around the entrance of the room as they felt their hearts start to pump louder. The air stung their skin as they made out frost around the frame of the looming door. Ochaco instinctively felt her hand reach out for Izuku's but stopped herself when Nejire took his instead.
"Whatever is in front of us." The Time Lord announced in a dark tone. "Is so strong, it has been sucking the energy out of the entire universe."
Next chapter, we get answers to questions we never truly knew we had. Ochaco is dancing around the subject, while more members of the class are starting to question the complicated life written in Ochaco's books.
What could be behind those doors? How does it connect to other points in Izuku's life? Why has the TARDIS been so sad?
If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, feel free to send them! That includes grammar mistakes. Please let me know and I'll fix them.
AbyssDragonslayer777: Tempting, very tempting. I love those lectures and concepts so maybe I'll throw something in.
Harleking31: The exact answer to that is in the next chapter.
joeyginise: Here's a good question, does this Izuku fit in well with the hero course expectations? Or does he usually do his own thing instead? I have heard the proposition for calling him the Traveler, but he hasn't been doing that as often recently and instead focused on school life.
I do like fluff scenes, we need them between the sad parts. Speaking of the TARDIS, while she does know each of their pasts she can get them mixed up with their futures as demonstrated in "The Doctor's Wife."
Midsunris: While that would be a good name for a Japanese person, this is a Time Lord name. Izuku is just a name that our Time Lord uses to blend in with humans. He has yet to actually decide on what name he will choose to live by.
I don't own anything except a bunch of Christmas sweaters