If the Walls Could Talk (Tell Me Darling, What Would They Say)?
"If the cosmos could talk, tell me, baby, what would it say? 'Cause I whisper sweet nothings to it all day. Our hearts beat in time - just two of a kind - but they say love can leave you blind every goddamn time. Don't wait for the stars to align…"
('Adventurer' by 'Valiant Hearts')
Izuku spent a lot of time with Eri in the next two weeks trying to figure out how the Hell the magic worked.
It was kind of scary at first because Izuku didn't know when the next time someone would come in looking for the Wizard. It turned out the answer was 'not until an entire week had passed,' and that was around the time that Izuku realized that Kai, the previous Wizard, might have been the laziest and worst person that Izuku had ever met.
By that point Izuku had figured out - with both gentle prompting and encouragement from Eri - how the big brass machine worked. It had a lot of functions, including both some kind of speaker system for him to talk through as well as the projection. Izuku learned that the projection actually could move, and there was even a little screen to look at that showed both what the projection was 'looking at' and what it looked like on stage, as well as a little stick to rotate and make it look around. Kai was literally just too lazy to do anything other than speak into the speaker.
Izuku got a quick crash course in how the machine worked past just theory when Joi came walking in one day a week after Izuku arrived.
"Master? Master! Someone has asked to see the Wizard!" Izuku scrambled over to the machine and quickly flipped the appropriate switches and dials and doodads. A projection of Toshinori's head and upper chest, wearing his preferred show costume from his younger days - which Izuku had memorized posters and old photographs of - appeared on the stage to peer over at Joi. "Master! You've… changed…"
Izuku cleared his throat to speak into the speaker system.
"I GOT A MAKEOVER!" He declared as little green sparks crackled across his arms and hands. The machine responded to the magic and his speech came out on the other end as Toshinori's big, booming voice from when he was younger, amplified by the machine to be even louder still. On the little screen, Izuku watched Joi jump and begin to cower a little bit again as Izuku rotated Toshinori's face to peer down at him.
"Right!" Joi declared, and Izuku could hear his voice clear as day from his position behind the curtain. "Well… Do you want me to send them in? It's an annoying girl and her three idiot companions. They're insisting they need to see the Wizard and they just got here."
Oh no, I can't see someone who might actually see through the illusion! Izuku thought with dismay. Outsiders might not be as readily accepting as Joi was.
"NO! TELL THEM THEY MUST WAIT, BECAUSE… ER, WELL, I'M BUSY! YEAH, BUSY! THEY CAN COME BACK ANOTHER TIME!"
"Yes, sir!" Joi said, then Izuku heard the squeaky sound as Joi spun on his tiny heel and marched back off. Izuku breathed a sigh of relief once Joi left, then he turned off the machine and spun around in the spinning chair to face Eri.
He might've spent a lot of time using the spinning chair to entertain Eri in the past week. She had begun to actually laugh spending time with him, as she noted that he was so much nicer than Kai had been. She also really enjoyed it when he accidentally fell off the chair.
"Alright, Eri, how are you feeling today?" Izuku asked once Joi was gone, and Eri gave him the tiniest, shiest smile. She was still working on the whole 'smiling' thing, but it was better than the grimaces she started with.
"I'm feeling good, Izuku!" She said happily. Eri wore a little red dress over a white long-sleeved shirt and black leggings now, which Izuku had helped her make using her own magic. Eri's control over her magic was still shaky but it was improving over time, and it wasn't like Izuku could say much on the front of controlling magic, either. He hadn't broken any bones yet, but he'd come close when his third attempt at a spell threw him right into the ceiling.
He still felt that one, though.
"That's awesome, Eri. Why don't we try something really simple, huh?" Izuku said, and he smiled back at Eri. She kept her very tiny smile but she felt happy.
Izuku had noticed that the longer he spent with her. He could feel other people now in a way that was new and different. He had kind of felt it before, back in… Well, home, he supposed. But it had been faint and only certain with people. Once upon a time, he had felt it with Tomura, but the more Tomura got twisted and manipulated by his father, the more it seemed to go away. Like his dad was smothering him.
Izuku was sure that he had also felt it with Ochako and Himiko, but it was tough to test something like that without them there to actually take a look at it.
"Izuku, are you okay?! Your face is all scrunched up!" Eri cried, and Izuku jumped a bit before smiling again.
"Sorry, Eri, I was just thinking really hard. Let's start practicing again, yeah?" Izuku said, and Eri gave a firm, determined nod, then held out her hand. It began to glow a beautiful yellow, and Izuku held out his own hand and watched the green lightning dance across his suit. Today, he was going to focus on figuring out if he could clean their clothes with magic. They had food brought to them every day by the staff of the Emerald City, but that was only one thing.
Izuku also, if he could, wanted to try and make two beds for them. Sleeping on the floor wasn't super comfortable. But Izuku knew he had to take baby steps with the magic, because it was somewhat unpredictable and could definitely hurt him if he wasn't careful.
They spent another week practicing… and Izuku had no idea how much he had screwed up.
Eijiro was whistling.
Shouto was squeaking as he walked.
Ochako was humming to herself.
Sero's little bell on his new pink collar that the Munchkins gave him was jingling.
Katsuki was pissed.
"AH! For fuck's sake you three, can't you be quiet?!" Katsuki yelled as he came to a stop in front of them. He had been leading, and all three of his companions also stopped in confusion.
"But Kats, I'm whistling the song about the rainbow, that one you said you didn't like but actually-"
"DON'T SAY THAT!" Katsuki screeched. Ochako couldn't help but snicker as Eijiro smiled at Katsuki.
"Could I hear this song, Eijiro?" Ochako asked mischievously, and Eijiro looked very excited to share. He opened his mouth, then Katsuki moved like a blur to immediately cover it.
"I will eat both of you," Katsuki said with absolute seriousness and conviction.
"I think you'd choke on the straw, Katsuki," Ochako replied smugly. Eijiro looked very confused - and was turning a bit red with Katsuki's hand on his mouth - but Ochako watched understanding of her double meaning cross Katsuki's face.
Katsuki immediately turned strawberry red from neck to ear under his fur, muttered several swear words at lightspeed, then ran away grumbling incoherently down the Yellow Brick Road. Ochako watched confusion give way to worry on Eijiro's face, then Eijiro took off running after Katsuki, little tufts of straw falling in his wake. Ochako gave a cheeky wave and turned to Shouto with a smirk.
"Got 'em," Ochako said, and Shouto looked absolutely lost as to what had happened.
They continued on, chatting and pointing out what was along the road. The journey was supposed to take a week and Ochako did not consider exactly how long that was going to be until the first night.
The Munchkins had filled her basket with food for herself and Sero, since Katsuki, Eijiro, and Shouto were magical beings and didn't have to eat. The boys made a fire for her, and really, it was for her, Eijiro pointed out, since he didn't like fire and the other two claimed not to care. The night was surprisingly pretty cold and Ochako watched Katsuki sit next to the fire and pretend not to be shivering. Eijiro sat next to him, having taken note of the shivering, and immediately wrapped Katsuki up in a side-hug on the log they were on. Katsuki made a rather indignant squawk in response… but he did not move or throw Eijiro off.
Ochako smiled at them from her own log, before turning to Shouto. Shouto had adopted a very stiff posture next to her, staring blankly at the fire.
"You okay there, Shouto?" Ochako asked, and Shouto jumped a bit, releasing an awful sounding squeak as he did so.
"Yeah, just… memories," Shouto said in a rather vague tone. Ochako tilted her head in confusion but Shouto just shrugged. Shouto winced at the squeak sound he made. "Sorry about that. I wish I didn't make that noise…" Shouto admitted sadly. Ochako shook her head slowly.
"It's part of who you are, isn't it? Though maybe some oil could fix it…"
"'Oil?' I've never tried that," Shouto admitted. "I don't… What is 'oil?'"
Ochako held out her right hand habitually to begin waving it as she explained.
"Well, it's a… Er, I'm not much for science. Not much education for that back home but… it comes from the ground? And different kinds get used for different stuff? Some of it gets used for cars, but we also use it to help machinery run better!" Ochako was flailing a bit by the end with her hand.
"Cars? Machinery? I'm sorry, Ochako, I don't understand," Shouto said frankly. Ochako just sighed.
"The… world I'm from? There's a lot of… things made of metal, and they move, kind of like you do! They don't usually talk, though… They're just tools." Ochako was struggling to find the right words.
"That's how they treated Eijiro, where he's from. He got stuck up in cornfields for weeks at a time because he could talk to ward away the crows." Ochako gasped. "Katsuki, too. Far away, they had a circus and they held him prisoner as the 'Amazing Talking Lion.'"
"Well that's terrible," Ochako declared, feeling entirely silly. She wasn't sure how else to express how horrifying that was in words to Shouto. "Normally, though, the things in my world… They don't talk or feel anything. They're really just things."
"Are you sure about that or do you just assume?" Shouto challenged. Ochako felt a proverbial rock hit her stomach and bring it right to her feet.
"I don't… I guess I'm not sure," Ochako admitted. "That's… a scary thought."
"I suppose. My… 'father' was a toymaker. When his wife died, he began to try and figure out if he could attach souls to metal bodies." Shouto tapped his own shoulder with his knuckles and it gave a rhythmic sound. "I was the fourth attempt, and my older siblings were tossed aside as failures."
Ochako clenched her teeth and didn't even realize she was still holding out her hand. She felt like the world was falling away with how much fury she felt at Shouto's 'father.' How could a parent be so cruel? How could they even call themselves a parent at all?
"I was the first 'success,' insofar as… he did attach a soul to me. But it wasn't his wife's soul. It was an errant child who had died in the area a long time ago." Shouto turned to Ochako and gave a sad, squeaky smile. "My 'father' threw acid on my face when he realized and I was sent away after that."
"Is it too late to find him and drop him off the edge of a cliff?" Ochako asked, and she was not joking whatsoever. Shouto looked pensively back to the fire.
"It is. He died soon after, having expended all of his magical energy. I still… I still dream of fire and the forge he made me in, sometimes. It's…" Shouto trailed off before looking back to Ochako. "It's unpleasant."
"Oi! Tin Stuff, we could always go piss on his grave if ya want," Katsuki added from his seat. Ochako turned to look and found that Eijiro and Katsuki had shifted into an even closer cuddling position, and she couldn't help but smile.
"Hell yeah! It would be super manly to get back at your dad for being a jerk!" Eijiro added, and Ochako turned to find Shouto smiling again, more genuinely now but still pensive.
"That's nice of you guys but you already know I'm… I want to move on," Shouto said. Ochako's smile turned into a thin line but… she could understand that.
Moving on was hard; she'd seen that much first hand on the frontier. Even now, she herself was still homesick and she had spent long moments when the boys weren't paying attention praying that her parents were okay and weren't too worried about her. She thought about her mother, and how her mother had been working in the garden, and couldn't help but smile again.
There was an abrupt, bright pink glow, and Ochako looked down at her outstretched right hand and found a container of oil in it, meant for machinery.
All three boys looked at Ochako's hand and gasped in unison.
"You can do magic!" They yelled, but Ochako was just dumbfounded.
I can do real magic?!
"Alright, Eri, are you ready?"
"Ready!"
Izuku held out both hands as Eri stood beside him with her hands out as well. She had a little red witch hat now, because she said she wanted to be 'fancy' and Izuku couldn't think of something better to go with a magical theme than that. Their hands glowed together - his green and crackling, hers soft and yellow and beautiful - then, with a poof of smoke and energy, two beds appeared hovering six inches off the ground next to each other.
The beds - one a medium-sized one about as big as what Izuku had at home and the other rather tiny to suit Eri - fell to the ground with a flop of fabric and springs. Izuku gave a little cheer and turned to give Eri a low-five. She returned it gladly - it took a bit of doing to teach her what a low-five was but now she loved them - and began to jump up and down in excitement.
"Now we need to work on sheets…" Izuku mumbled to himself. He brought his hand to his chin and looked at the beds, thinking carefully about the kind of dimensions and size they would need.
It had been another week and even though he didn't really have to leave the room with the device often, Izuku was having a blast learning how to be a real magician. He'd explored the back rooms a bit and found mostly mundane areas - some storage closets, a bathroom (thank God), a cool library, and an area where Kai was hoarding snacks for himself. Kai actually had a bedroom back there, but Eri didn't want to sleep there anymore. So, Izuku decided they would make beds and just sleep next to the projection machine, or maybe in the library.
"Let's see here, now we need sheets, something sturdy to put the beds on top of, pillows, and more blankets," Izuku said, and he smiled as he looked at Eri's red little blanket.
Izuku never did figure out how to wash clothes with magic, but there was some kind of amazing pair of machines in the back that both washed and dried clothes. Izuku also found a closet that was definitely magic - it was far bigger on the inside than the outside - and it had incomprehensibly vast numbers of clothes, most of which seemed to have never been worn. So at least Izuku had pajamas.
There weren't a lot of children's clothes in that closet, though, so Izuku and Eri worked together to make her more clothes to wear and switch in and out of. It was a bit tough when Eri didn't actually know what size she was for anything, but Izuku eventually found a yardstick buried in one of the closets.
Tomura still hadn't come back yet and that concerned Izuku. He had asked Inasa and Tenya, one time when they reported to the Wizard, if the Gale Force had any knowledge of Tomura. They replied that they didn't but they had been told that guards had seen a man matching Tomura's description leaving the Emerald City and heading east.
Izuku wondered if Tomura had figured out how magic worked… and if he did, Izuku was deeply concerned.
Izuku and Eri both jumped together when the door to the Wizard's chamber slammed open.
"Master, they won't wait-!" Joi was cut off and Izuku heard the distinct sound of what he guessed was somebody's foot connecting with Joi's ass, before there was a crash that Izuku assumed was Joi hitting the far wall.
Izuku winced and ran over to the contraption to begin turning it on. Eri scrambled to hide under the contraption, which was where she usually stayed when Izuku spoke to somebody as the Wizard of Oz.
"Oi! Wizard! We've been here for a fuckin' week!"
Oh dear, they're very mad, Izuku thought. Whoever that was, they were yelling quite loud, and Izuku just hoped he could talk his way out of this one.
Ochako was terribly, terribly bored.
They had made it to the Emerald City after a week of following the Yellow Brick Road, as had been anticipated. For the most part, it was a fairly uneventful trip. Eijiro and Katsuki kept being adorable together, Katsuki kept pretending like he didn't like it, and Shouto explained a bit more of his story to Ochako as they walked.
He had run into Momo after his 'father' sent him away, and Momo had taken him in. At the time, Momo was just a regular resident of Oz, though through caring for Shouto she discovered that she also could do magic. That was uncommon, and Ochako wondered about that.
She hadn't been able to do magic again since making the oil container appear. She had tried every night when they camped, to no avail. She couldn't figure out how she'd even done it the first time… but at least Shouto didn't squeak when he moved anymore.
Shouto, she realized, had fallen utterly in love with Momo when he was staying with her. Ochako wasn't precisely sure that Shouto realized that yet, but she could tell by the way he described her. It wasn't just about Momo being pretty, either; she had offered stability and human (well, personal; Ochako had gathered that there weren't really other humans in Oz) contact to Shouto for the first time in his life, and he was smitten with her.
He was also tragically convinced that the meeting between them was not that significant to Momo and that he was just too cold and distant for other people to connect with. All three boys, actually, had interesting problems they were hoping the Wizard could fix with magic.
Katsuki was convinced that he should be braver and be able to take on the world. Ochako didn't precisely understand why he thought he wasn't already brave - considering how he took problems head on at every available opportunity - but Katsuki insisted he should be the bravest, whatever that meant.
Eijiro was convinced that he was dumb as a bag of rocks and that the Wizard could give him a real brain. Now, Ochako wouldn't have claimed to be a genius by any stretch, but she generally was reasonably smart and she didn't really think Eijiro was dumb at all. Perhaps he wouldn't be designing complex machinery or skyscrapers anytime soon, but he wasn't dumb. Eijiro had just frowned at her with his pointy teeth and insisted he could be so much smarter if the Wizard helped.
Shouto, meanwhile, revealed that he believed that he couldn't be friends with Momo - or other 'normal' people - because he was 'heartless.' He believed he was defective, that he was not completed by his 'father,' and that his borrowed soul meant he couldn't connect with other people. Ochako pointed out that she was normal and he was her friend, but Shouto just insisted that meant she couldn't be normal at all, just like Katsuki and Eijiro were, supposedly, not normal.
Ochako had resisted the urge to flick Shouto in the forehead because she knew that would hurt with his tin body.
They arrived at the Emerald City only to be greeted by a cadre of what appeared to be toy soldiers led by two eccentric young men named Inasa and Tenya. They had explained - Inasa being extremely enthusiastic the whole time while Tenya vaguely chopped his arms to accentuate their points - that they were officers of the 'Gale Force' and they would escort the four (plus one dog) to see the Wizard of Oz.
Then they got brought into the city and it was amazing. Everything was glittering and beautiful and stunning and it was the highest concentration of wealth and power Ochako had ever seen in her life. She idly wondered if she could chip off a bit of the emerald brickwork and sustain her parents for the rest of time with it, but that would be rude.
Unfortunately, they got as far as the waiting room for the Wizard before the bizarre little bird man told them they would have to wait a long time. They were led away after that and that was peculiar to Ochako. It didn't seem like they were in trouble; indeed, they were offered rooms to stay in, food and drink, and all that. They ended up with three rooms: Ochako and Sero in one, Shouto in one, and Eijiro and Katsuki in the last one.
Ochako did not verbally comment on that, but the intolerably smug expression she made at Katsuki turned him strawberry red again, though Eijiro didn't notice at all. Eijiro was too busy having incredible fun meeting new people, seeing new things, and learning more about the Emerald City - and dragging Katsuki along for the ride.
Shouto spent most of his time sitting near the fountain at the center of the entrance plaza, contemplating the waters. When Ochako wasn't attending Eijiro's Brand New Official Tour of the Emerald City along with Katsuki, she sat with Shouto and watched the clouds, threw coins at the fountain (the fountain would spit them back at her after a moment, so it became a game of catch for her), or just staring into space.
Sero was starting to get a bit plump from all the food he was eating and Ochako was worried she would join him if she didn't get up and do something soon enough. She was getting antsy, despite how pretty and perfect everything appeared to be there. But it wasn't home, so after a week, she wasn't quite of the right mind to shut down Katsuki's inane plans.
"Why don't we just fuckin' go in there and make him see us?" Katsuki asked in an angry whisper as they sat in one of the dining halls so Ochako could eat. Shouto frowned at Katsuki.
"We'd be arrested," Shouto deadpanned, and Ochako couldn't help but sigh.
"Inasa and Tenya go out for patrol every day with the Gale Force around mid-afternoon, maybe we could do it then," Ochako said observationally and slightly conspiratorially.
"Are you encouraging him?!" Eijiro whispered, scandalized. He looked nervously between Katsuki and Ochako, who were both varying levels of 'determined to make something happen.'
"Well, I would like to go home, Eijiro. You guys need to see the Wizard about…" Ochako trailed off for a moment because she didn't want to say 'your issues that aren't actually your issues,' since that would be mean. "Your desire for assistance," Ochako settled on, and she made a vague waving motion with her right hand between all three boys.
"Yeah, but what if he zaps us?!" Eijiro whispered urgently. Nobody was really sitting near them - Ochako quickly noted that most of the Emerald City's 'polite society' steered well clear of the weird people from the country, as they were called in hushed conversations - but it was better to be safe than sorry.
"I can't help but agree with Eijiro here, I am… concerned," Shouto whispered solemnly.
Unfortunately, they didn't discuss it further, because Katsuki abruptly stood up then and mimed the action of rolling his sleeves up. He didn't actually have sleeves - or a shirt - but Ochako had noticed that he did that habitually when he was really serious about doing something. They were really in for it now.
"C'mon, I bet the Wizard of Oz ain't actually shit. Anybody who hides between that much ceremony and nonsense is probably weak anyways," Katsuki declared as he began marching off.
"But Kats! The rumors said the Wizard of Oz is a great and terrible bird demon!" Eijiro said, though he scrambled to follow Katsuki without hesitation.
"Yeah, and I'm a great and terrible lion and nobody is actually afraid of me, Ei!" Katsuki retorted. Then he rawred at Eijiro and made a little clawing motion with his hands. Katsuki was not terrifying whatsoever and Ochako stifled the urge to giggle at him.
"I think we're going to die," Shouto said in a flat monotone, and while Ochako agreed with him, she also didn't want to spend the rest of her life trapped in a glittering prison full of annoying rich people.
"It'll be fine, what's the worst that could happen?" Ochako said, and she made a little half-wave with her right hand to accentuate her point. She knew that the answer was 'something terrible' based on her experience already with magic in Oz but… there were worse ways to die than being hit by a fireball, she supposed. At least that way she could say she did everything she could to get home and to see her parents again.
So she, Shouto, and Eijiro hurried along to follow the marching Katsuki. Katsuki's aura of angry malice intensified as he walked, until the four (plus one dog, as Sero's collar dinged while he followed) ran right into the curious little bird man.
"You can't go in there without an invitation!" The bird man yelled, but Katsuki just picked him up by the collar, between his index finger and thumb.
"Lead us in or I'm gonna turn you into tomorrow's chicken dinner," Katsuki declared as he held the tiny bird man up to his face. Then Katsuki dropped the bird man, who scurried forward to open the door and allow them into the Wizard's chamber.
It was very bright and disorienting in the hallway, with flashing green lights and swirling designs on the walls. Ochako shielded her eyes with her hand as she walked because the effect was honestly nauseating. It wasn't very nice of them to put that there at all.
"Master, they won't wait-!" The bird man began to yell as they came into the main chamber. Then Katsuki punted him like a football.
He sailed through the air and Ochako cringed as he hit the far wall with a comical thud, then slowly slid all the way down. When he landed, he was upside down on top of his head, then his legs drooped over his face and he toppled over. The bird man appeared to be out cold, and he did not get back up.
"Ouch," Ochako said, and Eijiro also cringed as he nodded in agreement. Katsuki just spun around with a slightly irritated expression, looking for anybody in the room.
"Oi! Wizard! We've been here for a fuckin' week!" Katsuki yelled vaguely at the ceiling.
At first, no response was forthcoming. Ochako looked around and squinted. They were in a kind of theater and all the 'walls' were made of green curtains. There was a big stage with lights along the outer edge, but none of them were on. The floors, meanwhile, were made of fancy black marble. Ochako had seen pictures of theaters in books and magazines, but it was kind of wild to actually be in a theater. She didn't think that would ever happen, honestly.
"I AM HERE AS THE WIZARD OF OZ!"
Ochako, Shouto, Katsuki, and Eijiro all screamed in unison and grabbed each other in a group hug as they stared at the stage. There, on the stage, a giant image of a man's head and upper body appeared. He had a huge, imposing, toothy smile and pointed blonde hair, and he appeared to be wearing… a red, white, blue and gold wrestler's outfit? He had a cape, at any rate, and his colors were distorted by a green tinge.
"WHY HAVE YOU DISTURBED THE WIZARD OF OZ? I HAVE… IMPORTANT THINGS TO BE DOING! YES!"
Ochako, Shouto, and Eijiro continued to hold each other and scream at the stage like dorks. However, Katsuki stopped and let go, then marched forward.
"Wait a fuckin' minute," he grumbled under his breath. Ochako stopped screaming then and soon after Shouto did, too. Eijiro kept screaming, though, until Ochako reached over and flicked his forehead.
"Ow," Eijiro muttered, though Ochako knew it actually didn't hurt. Eijiro basically couldn't be hurt by anything other than fire due to the magic that animated him, but he liked to pretend to make other people feel like they had a relevant effect on him. It made him feel more 'normal,' too, he admitted to her.
"This shit ain't real at all," Katsuki muttered as he got close. Ochako also crept closer and realized that Katsuki was right.
The image of the big man was just two-dimensional and she could barely see the flickering white lights of a projector. She had only ever seen one movie in her life but she remembered what that looked like. As she got closer, however, the image of the big man gasped and turned to look specifically at her.
"YOU! LITTLE GIRL! STAY AWAY!" The Wizard of Oz said, and Ochako glared at the projector.
"Where's the real you?! We need to talk to you, please!" Ochako yelled, looking around the room as she did so to check for a reaction.
Katsuki, Eijiro, and Shouto also looked around, but nothing happened. Then, Ochako heard it: there was a muffled squeak of surprise in the left corner of the room. Ochako also saw the bottom of the fabric billow a bit there, so she ran over, determination on her face and in her heart. Ochako ripped away the fabric, intending to give the Wizard of Oz a piece of her mind as she curled her hand into a fist.
Then she gasped when she was met with Izuku, as he tried to stand in between her and a little girl with remarkable white hair and red eyes… and a horn on her head?
"Ah!" The little girl and Izuku screamed in unison, and Ochako groaned in frustration.
"How the hell did you get here?!" Ochako yelled.
Unfortunately for Izuku, he did not get a chance to answer, as Katsuki came over in a blur and dragged him into the middle of the theater. Then he grabbed Izuku by the lapels and began shaking him like a bobblehead - or perhaps, like a chew toy.
"We've been waiting for a week for your sorry ass to see us and you're just sitting in here with a little girl and hanging out?!" Katsuki yelled, though Izuku did not look like he could properly respond as Katsuki shook him. Indeed, Izuku was turning a little green, though in the sense of being sick and not like his-
Holy mother of God, his hair is green now! Ochako thought, and she realized his eyes were vivid green as well. He also had a fancy new black and dark green suit, which he was wearing quite well.
She had seen glimpses of his 'true' features back in Kansas, but now it was honestly kind of shocking how well she could see it in the light of the theater. Well, it was a little hard to see in between Katsuki's shakes but…
Izuku looked pretty good.
Ochako did not get to interrogate that realization, as the little girl marched up past Ochako and thrust her right hand out at Katsuki. Katsuki stopped shaking Izuku briefly to look down at the little girl only to be surprised when an entire sword materialized out of her hand in a brilliant yellow glow. The sword tip stopped right between Katsuki's eyes and drew a little blood, and he went cross-eyed looking at it.
"You stop shaking my big brother or I'll make you!" The little girl said with stunning conviction, and Katsuki immediately dropped Izuku and stepped away with his hands raised in surrender.
"It's, uh… It's okay, Eri, I know… well, one of them," Izuku mumbled. Eri dropped the sword, which clattered to the ground - then abruptly disappeared in another yellow glow - and ran to Izuku to attack him in a hug.
"Then why did you let them hurt you?!" Eri cried, but Izuku just smiled and hugged her. Then he looked meaningfully at Ochako over Eri's shoulder.
"Because, Eri, I… I put off seeing them because I was afraid. But I think they need our help." Ochako, at that point, was absolutely lost. She looked over to Katsuki, who rubbed his forehead off and was now standing between Eijiro and Shouto. The boys all shrugged in unison, then looked back to Izuku. Izuku stood back up and set Eri down, then he looked over to Ochako. "I take it you need to see the Wizard of Oz?" Izuku asked quietly, and Ochako slowly frowned.
"Well… I would like to go home, and the Good Witch of the North, Nana, told me that I had to see… you, I suppose, to get home." Izuku smiled wryly as Ochako spoke, but Ochako kept frowning. "You're not exactly a wizard, though, are you?"
Izuku straightened at that point and gave Ochako a curious, even expression that she couldn't place. Then he turned and looked at the boys, who were kind of afraid of him.
"You'd be surprised," Izuku said, then he turned back to her and smiled.
He smiled as viridian, glittering lightning crackled across his arms and hands.
"So why do we need her broomstick?" Ochako asked as they walked towards the entrance of the Emerald City.
"I don't precisely know," Izuku answered as he stared at the paperwork he'd brought with him from Kai's things. "Kai's work says that it would let a wizard do a spell involving transportation, but it's vague…" Izuku looked over to Ochako and smiled a bit. "Kai was not a very smart or nice man," Izuku said, and Ochako frowned.
Izuku didn't care for when Ochako frowned. It didn't suit her at all. He wanted people to smile around him - especially people like her, who were generally kind and thoughtful. And pret-
"So you don't even know where we're going or why we're going, but you're telling me that you can get Ochako home even still?" Katsuki asked incredulously, interrupting Izuku's impending embarrassing thought. Izuku wilted a bit and Katsuki scoffed. "Sounds to me like you're useless, then."
"Yeah… yeah I probably am," Izuku admitted softly, looking down at the ground as they walked. He glanced back up after a moment to find both Ochako and Katsuki looking horrified.
"You're not… supposed to just let people say shit like that about you!" Katsuki said, dumbfounded. Ochako turned to him with an expression of surprising irritation and anger.
"Well then stop saying mean things to people if you're not ready for them to take it seriously, Katsuki, Jesus."
"Sorry, Ochako," Katsuki mumbled. He rubbed his neck awkwardly and looked away.
"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Izuku!" Ochako said with more than a little annoyance in her tone.
"Sorry, Izuku," Katsuki said, and he looked back over to meet Izuku's eyes.
"That's alright, Katsuki. I think your reading of me is probably about on the ball, honestly," Izuku admitted casually. His tone was cheerful, but Izuku was sad. Not specifically at what Katsuki had said - Katsuki was just a guy who could read people well and Izuku didn't hold anything against him - but more so that Izuku was used to being told that. He never really had anything going for him his whole life… and was reminded often of that.
Katsuki frowned and turned back to Eijiro, then they began whispering something Izuku couldn't quite pick up. Ochako didn't look very happy as she glanced back to Izuku but she also didn't look like she wanted to - or perhaps know how to - argue with him.
"So, anyway, the plan is: we need to go here," Izuku began, hoping to head off that conversation, and he pointed at the map. Ochako leaned in to look where he was pointing and Izuku blushed a bit.
She was awfully close…
"And there, we leave the Yellow Brick Road-"
"Are you fuckin' nuts?!" Katsuki interrupted, and both he and Shouto specifically looked suitably horrified.
"I mean, I may be a little nuts," Izuku said frankly. He stopped on the path and watched as Ochako, Katsuki, Eijiro, and Shouto all stared at him in dumbfounded horror. "But this is the only plan I see working, so unless you have a better plan to help Ochako get home, I suggest you keep walking."
The four others blinked in unison, then they (plus one dog) started walking again.
"I wish people would believe in me…" Izuku muttered to himself. He looked over and was horrified to realize he'd said that louder than he intended; Katsuki, Eijiro, and Shouto didn't hear but Ochako did, so she frowned at him once more.
"I think you should believe in yourself," Ochako whispered, and Izuku smiled a little bit at her. She smiled more convincingly in response and became a little hard to look at.
"That all being said," Izuku said, intent on powering through before he embarrassed himself, "I have a spell here that will help guide us. I'm not… sure I can actually cast it, but I'll try!"
"I was able to do magic," Ochako replied. "Maybe I could try, too?"
"Huh. Well, I wouldn't mind if you did!" Izuku said. That was utterly fascinating to him and he wondered what could possibly be the common thread between them. They were both just about the same age, height, and weight, within reasonable tolerances. They were both Japanese and both had lived in America for at least some length of time. Perhaps being an outsider to Oz was the defining-
"I can't understand what you're saying, Izuku," Ochako admitted calmly, and Izuku made a frightened yelp of embarrassment.
"Sorry… I get really into things…" Izuku admitted sheepishly. Ochako just smiled brightly at him again, and he turned away before he made more of a mess of the situation.
"I think it's endearing," Ochako said, and Izuku turned back to attempt to smile at her without acting like a total dork. They reached the exit to the Emerald City and looked up at the big wrought iron gate - and beyond it, the Yellow Brick as it led away into the hills.
"You mentioned there was a forest surrounding a mountain alongside the path on your way here, right?" Izuku asked. Ochako nodded, but that was when Shouto interjected.
"I believe her exact words when we passed it were that it's 'a big, scary, spooky forest, probably full of monsters and witches,'" Shouto said flatly. Ochako turned to glare at him.
"Excuse me, Izuku didn't need to know that part!"
"Well… You're probably not wrong, Ochako," Izuku said, trying to be helpful.
"That is not helping, Izuku!" Ochako moaned.
Well. He tried.
"Anyway, we're looking for the Wicked Witch of the West. According to the books in the library I found, she hasn't been seen for a long time, but the… 'Wicked Witch' part is more like a title than a person. When a witch dies, the title just gets passed on to someone suitable nearby."
"Interesting," Ochako said. "I guess that means there's a new Wicked Witch of the East, then?"
"Probably," Izuku said frankly. They told him that story before the five (plus one dog) had left. "But it can take a while, especially if no one suitable is around. 'Wicked' and 'Good' are also value judgments, of course."
"Do what, now?" Ochako said, looking a bit blankly at Izuku.
"Uh… A witch is just a witch, whether they're good or bad is up to them. But the magic tries to… force them into the role they're given," Izuku said with a small frown. Ochako looked slightly suspiciously at him. "I read a lot of books in the past two weeks. Reading to Eri helped her sleep, regardless of what I read," Izuku admitted sheepishly. Ochako was surprised for just a moment, then she smiled fondly at Izuku.
Eri had taken a liking to Ochako while they were there. They stayed for an additional day to rest and prepare, then set out with backpacks and tents and food and such. Eri was being watched over by Inasa and Tenya, and Izuku had explained to them in private that he was the real Wizard of Oz and stressed to them that they were not allowed to leave Eri unattended for any reason.
Eri was not super pleased at the change but Inasa and Tenya insisted that they could handle it. They donned their full plate armor and marched into the Wizard of Oz chambers carrying armloads of toys and things to play with. They also hung a little sign on the door that said 'The Wizard is Out for Business' and brought Joi to the infirmary.
(Izuku also had them find where Kai had been stuck by Tomura - they found him locked in a trunk in a closet in the basement - and throw him in the dungeon)
Izuku was confident they could handle it. What was the worst that could happen?
Izuku blinked in confusion when Ochako gently tapped on his shoulder. Then he felt himself turn red from neck to ear as his face got hot.
"Sorry! I was daydreaming there…"
"I know, I could hear you mumbling about 'the best toys for Eri to play with,' and it was adorable." Ochako's words caught up with her about a half-second later, then both of them were red in the face as they looked away.
"How's it feel, huh?" Katsuki piped up from the side as he gently elbowed Ochako. Izuku did not understand what Katsuki meant at all, but Ochako groaned in annoyance at the boy-lion.
"Quiet or I'll pull your tail," Ochako retorted, and Izuku was just absolutely lost at that point. He didn't get a chance to ask, though, to his shock.
"Why hello there, my pretties. My crystal ball told me that the five of you are coming to see me!"
All five kids (plus one dog) looked up in unison to find the Wicked Witch of the West, hanging about fifty feet in the air and sitting side-saddle on her broomstick. She wore a traditional black witch's outfit and the magic had turned her skin green, to Izuku's growing dismay and horror. She also had a frog on her shoulder that was not quite only a frog, as it glared down at the group with unnaturally huge eyes - like it knew it should be glaring.
"It's so cute that you think you can hurt me. I'll show you, my pretties - and your little dog, too!"
Sero barked angrily up at the Wicked Witch of the West, dinging as he bounced, and the frog on her shoulder responded by sticking its long tongue out at Sero.
"We'll get you, ya old hag!" Katsuki declared, and Eijiro and Shouto nodded in determined unison.
But Izuku and Ochako were rooted to the spot with how stunned they were. Ochako reached out and grabbed Izuku's hand, and he squeezed back and held on for dear life, as they looked up into the sky. They watched together as the Wicked Witch of the West twirled a knife in her right hand and showed off her new, pointed fangs.
Because the new Wicked Witch of the West was Himiko Toga.