Epilogue - There's No Yellow Bricks to Follow Back (and Run From That Disaster)
"My old friend, it's time to say goodbye again. No need to tell me where you've been, I feel it. Shallow graves for shallow hearts, for pick-me-ups and fall-aparts - for promises that never started right…"
('No Place Like Home' by 'Marianas Trench')
For the first few days after she tried the shoes, Ochako felt like she had truly died.
She just… sat in one of the rooms provided for guests in the Emerald City. It was, in practice, 'her' room now, at least for the time being. She sat and she looked out the window and watched the clouds, thinking about how stark and beautiful and vivid the blue sky was. She thought about how stark and beautiful and vivid everything in Oz was, and how that should make her happy.
It was difficult for Ochako to grapple with her overwhelming, conflicting feelings of joy and grief. She had found home, she had found love, and she had found friends. But she had lost family and while she comforted herself with the idea that in theory, Izuku might be able to work a spell to send her back later on once Himiko or Tomura came to understand their magic better…
She knew that wouldn't happen. It could take years, even if Izuku could, and by then it would be too late. Ochako couldn't bear to stay for so long only to go back after all that. She already felt too attached to want to go home and the guilt from that feeling killed her in a deep way, right through her soul.
Izuku brought her food and they would sit in her room and chat. He told her everything about his life, all the things he had been too shy to admit before but now felt like he needed to tell her. About how he had left home from his mom and abusive stepfather, taking Tomura with him and jumping at the chance to work under Toshinori the Great. How Toshinori didn't actually think much of Izuku on their first meeting but Izuku's persistence and dedication to magic as a way to give people joy and happiness swayed Toshinori to take on Izuku as a student. How Izuku had practically dragged Tomura out of the house with him, hoping that Tomura would take to performance rather than continue following along with his delinquent father's awful ideals.
How Tomura had taken to it, quite well actually, though he also took to the dark underbelly of things. How Izuku had followed and said nothing until it was too late because he was afraid to lose the last family he had left. And how Izuku was so happy that Tomura was going to change now, for the better, so that they might be family yet.
It twisted Ochako's heart with guilt at how jealous she felt that Izuku would still have family in Oz while she had lost that entirely. As the days turned into weeks, she felt comfortable - and vulnerable - enough to share that thought with him, expecting him to be upset or disappointed with her. He just smiled, though, and offered to be her family if she'd have him. And in fairness, the answer to that was yes.
It was always yes.
The weeks went on and slowly Ochako began to leave her room sometimes. Eri was delighted to see her, and Ochako found solace in spending time with Eri and Sero. Ochako watched the two run and play, she spent time learning how to draw with Eri, and sometimes Ochako even took Eri out on walks in the gardens of the Emerald City. Izuku would join them and it was very nice.
Sometimes Ochako even forgot how sad she really was.
Katsuki and Eijiro were the first pair to leave. Katsuki had located the traveling circus that had held him prisoner and planned to go with Eijiro to take it over and reform it into something that would bring genuine joy to people without abusing its staff and attractions. Eijiro was along for the ride but he was ecstatic at the prospect. Katsuki got some tips from Izuku on how to run a show and in the end Katsuki left with an entire short book Izuku wrote for him on the subject. Six months later, Ochako and Izuku got a letter from Eijiro detailing how the circus was so much better now and how Katsuki had found the old circus head and may have dangled him over a pit of snakes for a few minutes until the circus head apologized to him.
Ochako just laughed as she read the letter. That was very Katsuki, and she was glad for him and Eijiro; they were happy.
Nana retired as the Good Witch of the North about a month after Ochako used the glittering shoes and, to Ochako's surprise, Tomura began to travel with Nana. Tomura explained, before they left, that something felt… right, with Nana. Something right in a deep and metaphysical sense, as Nana offered to teach Tomura how to use his magic and they traveled the world together to see the sights.
Tomura began to use the name 'Tenko' in his letters home after that, to Izuku's slight confusion. But Izuku took it in stride and accepted the name if that's what Tenko wanted to be called.
Next, about three months after Ochako used the shoes, Himiko and Tsuyu, and Shouto and Momo, left as a group of four to travel on their own. They looked like they were having the time of their lives as they left the Emerald City, and Izuku and Ochako had joined a crowd of well-wishers in waving them off. They literally skipped as a group down the Yellow Brick Road, hand-in-hand between the pairs, and Ochako couldn't help but smile.
She was happy that her friends were happy and, in a small way, it made her happy, too.
That left her and Izuku mostly alone to try and work out how to run things in the Emerald City. Izuku got some things sorted out straight away: he made it illegal to discriminate against people who were also animals, or Munchkins, and other groups that were historically not treated well in Oz. He made it illegal to go hunting for witches who were deemed 'wicked,' and invited 'wicked' witches to visit Oz and seek recompense for any wrongs committed against them.
A surprising number of them actually did show up, and most were fairly nice. A few were genuinely dangerous and used their magic for bad things, but that didn't last long in the Emerald City under the watchful gaze of Tenya and Inasa and their toy soldiers. Izuku met with them all individually and in person, and soon 'good' and 'wicked' witches were practicing and learning together in the libraries of the Emerald City.
Izuku then offered to hold elections, figuring it wasn't really fair if he was just an unelected dictator when he wasn't even from Oz. To his minor disappointment, he won the election anyway, so it didn't amount to much. But at least he could say he tried, he told Ochako, and she smiled at the thought.
It was a year after she tried to use the magical shoes that Ochako asked if they could share a room.
Izuku was absolutely red in the face and, to be fair, so was Ochako, but he admitted he didn't mind that. They had a second bed brought into his bedroom as the Wizard of Oz - which he had to have redecorated, since his predecessor had a terrible sense of interior design - and Ochako felt… peaceful when she slept, finally.
Izuku ended up having Kai exiled, which Ochako thought was a little harsh at first. But Izuku explained what Eri had told him about Kai's treatment of her and Ochako wondered if maybe they shouldn't have just dangled Kai off the roof of the tallest spire of the Emerald City, instead. Exile was a mercy, in retrospect.
One year turned into two years, then she finally felt up to traveling. Izuku had created a bizarre contraption: a large kind of flying balloon that he devised from reading books in his library. Ochako had heard that such things existed on Earth, too, but Izuku's ran more on magic than lighter-than-air gas, he explained. Ochako nodded and pretended like she understood, and Izuku smiled and accepted that. She didn't have to understand his ramblings to find him adorable, and he was abruptly silent when she kissed him on the cheek and asked him to show her how it flew instead of explaining it to her verbally.
So they flew and traveled the world, too. The Emerald City, it turned out, was the seat of power for a surprisingly large swath of Oz but not all of it. There were other nations - other peoples - who had their own things going on, and they all greeted Izuku and Ochako with… confusion. They learned quickly that historically, past Wizards of Oz had not been the kindest people in the world. So Izuku began a long, very tedious, and sometimes frustrating process of meeting the leaders of other nations and assuring them that things would be different and better, and that he was going to make changes.
He was the new Symbol of Hope for Oz, and Ochako had jokingly told him that she was now his First Lady. Izuku did not quite understand the joke, since he had been too busy with magic to learn about American politics, but Ochako just chuckled and patted his arm as she followed along.
Ochako and Izuku practiced magic a lot with each other and Ochako found that she could reliably do magic now. That was pretty interesting, though it made her sad to realize why. All the same, she practiced: she could fly a broomstick now, she could reliably make food and small objects, and she could make things weightless. Izuku had stronger magic than her, though Ochako was not precisely sure if that was because of innate ability or because of his title as 'the Wizard of Oz.'
Magic in Oz tended to revolve around symbolism as much as faith, Ochako recalled with some degree of melancholy.
Ochako never felt bad or envious of Izuku's magic, though. She just found it very curious, and eventually they sat down and began to write down their observations. Eventually, Izuku had their writings collected and made into an actual book, and Ochako was kind of proud to note that he had listed them together as co-writers. He had them listed as co-writers and he had her listed first.
Ochako had lightly chided him for that; he definitely did more of the writing. But he just smiled and reminded her that without her, he wouldn't be where he was or who he was. So Ochako just pouted and crossed her arms at him while he chuckled. Then she may have attacked him with some kisses.
It was after a year of traveling that they returned to the Emerald City. Things were in order when they returned, though Ochako was unsurprised by that. Tenya and Inasa ran a tight ship and there was another celebration thrown upon Izuku and Ochako's return. It celebrated their return but also a new era of peace for Oz with regards to surrounding lands.
Izuku and Ochako got to dance formally once more, with the spotlights on them and the entire Emerald City watching, and it felt… right to Ochako. Right in a way that was surprising.
Like she was really home.
They didn't stutter or fluster this time, they didn't step on each others' shoes or struggle with their words. They smiled and danced for all of the Emerald City and showed them that there was a reason now to have hope for the future, and that through them things could be better now.
Eri had matured so much in their time away, Ochako noticed immediately when the girl ran over to greet Ochako and Izuku. When Ochako had met Eri, she was about six or seven. Now, at about ten, she was so much braver than the girl Ochako had first run into in the Wizard's chamber. Eri had always been brave; it took bravery to walk up to a boy-lion and produce an entire sword right in his face to tell him to back off. But now she had grown up past her troubled past. She skipped and danced through the halls of the Emerald City, and staff and guests alike waved and smiled to her - and she smiled and waved back like she had no reason to ever do anything else.
Eri was beautiful and so was her smile, and Ochako enjoyed picking back up with Eri and resuming her practice with magic with the young girl.
Izuku spent a lot of time in the library upon their return. Ochako wondered about that, sometimes; he still made plenty of time to sit with her and Eri but he spent so long in the library. When she asked him what he was up to, he mentioned something about 'metaphysics' and Ochako immediately decided not to follow that train of thought. Nana had already provided well enough metaphysics for her tastes, so Ochako left Izuku to his brainstorming.
It was a little more than three years after Ochako tried the shoes that her friends began to filter back to the Emerald City for a reunion of sorts. Katsuki and Eijiro, first to leave, were also first to return. They were taller and a bit broader, and walked into the Emerald City holding hands and smiling. Katsuki looked utterly happy and also, to Ochako's delight, at peace. Like he had made peace with his past and was ready to move forward. Eijiro looked like he was on top of the world but also like he had grown up. He was still the lovable boy she had known but he looked like he understood the world so much more than he had before.
He had always been good with people but when he and Katsuki returned, all of the Emerald City was enthralled with them as they put on a show. Because, after all, their circus was a traveling one, and they brought the whole circus with them. Ochako, Eri, and Izuku got front-row seats, and the show was marvelous.
Shouto and Momo were next and they pretty much looked like royalty, much to Ochako's amusement. Momo was now the Good Witch of the North and Shouto was her constant companion. They spent several hours regaling Izuku and Ochako with all the people they'd met and helped, all the problems they had fixed, and how much more talented with magic Momo was now than she had been.
Izuku and Ochako also learned that Shouto, Katsuki, and Eijiro could do magic now, though they obviously weren't very well versed with it yet. Katsuki and Eijiro mostly used it for the circus, but Shouto had been practicing with Momo and he impressed everyone by creating a bouquet of roses for Momo on the spot. Momo was quite elated and, to Ochako's amusement, turned scarlet, too.
Himiko and Tsuyu were last, and Himiko made her entrance by flying right into an open window on a broomstick, cackling like a crazy person with Tsuyu on her shoulder. Ochako just rolled her eyes and waved while Himiko looked for a place to land. Ochako got to hug her friends and it was wonderful, and…
She realized, abruptly, that she didn't feel as sad as she used to. She wondered if that was what moving on felt like. She wasn't sure how she felt about that at all.
Ochako took Tsuyu and Himiko on a tour of the Emerald City, showing them all the things that had changed. There were new places that served new foods, there was more housing so that no one would be homeless, and there were even embassies now from other nations. It was, in a manner of speaking, kind of surreal to be running what amounted to a country when she and Izuku were so young, but they made due and nobody in Oz considered it strange at all.
Or maybe they just didn't know enough about humans to tell the difference.
When Ochako, Himiko, and Tsuyu returned, they sat down in a common area and chatted. Much to Ochako's surprise, after a few hours Nana herself walked in and smiled at the girls.
"Er, hello Nana! How is your… retirement going?" Ochako called to Nana when she saw her. Nana turned and walked over to them, beaming at them all the way.
Nana didn't wear her fancy witch outfit anymore. She had a rather simple day dress that was black on top and had a white skirt. She still had yellow gloves, though they weren't glittery and shiny anymore. Nana stopped as she reached them, then did a little bow.
"Hello, girls. My retirement is going quite well, thank you. I assume you are all having fun, too?" Nana asked, and all three girls smiled together at her.
"Ribbit, we've met so many new people, it's been wonderful," Tsuyu said with a smile. She wore a pretty green and white dress, while Himiko opted to wear her usual witch outfit and hat. Himiko did have longer hair now, though, and she wore it down. The look suited her, Ochako decided distantly.
"Yeah, it's been very fun!" Himiko said enthusiastically. "But hey… Where's Tenko?"
Nana smiled and strangely she appeared rather mischievous to Ochako, much to the latter's confusion and concern.
"Ah, he went to see little Izuku. They are working on something together, actually. I came to let you know that I was wondering if you could give me a tour of the Emerald City? I've been gone for quite a while now, haven't I?"
Ochako's eyebrow slowly crept up. She recognized an attempt to keep her busy when she saw one. She could only imagine what nonsense Izuku and Tenko were up to but… she was also willing to play along. She loved Izuku so much and… she would enjoy whatever surprise he had, no matter what it was.
He had idly mentioned marriage a few months ago, though the practice wasn't very common in Oz. In Oz, most families were large and extended and there was no formal legal structure to marriage the way there had been in America. That didn't really bother Ochako, though; they could still have a ceremony if they wanted.
Izuku had brought up the idea strictly as a hypothetical and Ochako had given him a slightly neutral, encouraging answer. She was in no hurry to be married, content with the life they had together, but she would say yes if he asked. He had turned red from neck to ear, insisting that he had just been daydreaming and didn't mean to make things awkward for her. She just kissed him and told him he never made things awkward for her. Not anymore, at least.
So Ochako smiled at Nana and stood up to gesture for the former witch to follow her. She would give Nana the fancy tour she had given Himiko and Tsuyu, channeling her inner Eijiro all the way, and she'd do it with a smile.
It felt like the least she could do, all things considered.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Tenko asked Izuku. Izuku slowly closed the doors to the chamber for the Wizard of Oz. It was a room he didn't go into often anymore but it was perfect for today's surprise.
"I'm very sure, Tenko. We went over everything for three hours and they're all on board. It's going to be wonderful, I'm sure of it."
"But you didn't mention I was here, did you?" Tenko countered immediately.
"I didn't. It's part of the surprise, trust me," Izuku said with a smile. He wore his green suit today, slightly resized by magic, since he was taller than he used to be. Tomura wore his fancy black three-piece suit, though his hair was more in order these days and tied back in a ponytail. He had also used magic to remove the scar from his lip and he looked much more… personable, now. Tomura smiled and clasped Izuku on the back.
"I'm glad that I got to meet Nana, Izuku. Traveling with her and learning magic has felt like…" Tenko trailed off and he squinted at a nearby wall, probably searching for words.
"Like home?" Izuku provided, and Tenko lit up and refocused on Izuku.
"Yes! Wait… That's one of Nana's favorite metaphors for stuff." Tenko narrowed his eyes at Izuku, but in jest. "Did she teach you that before me?"
"Not exactly," Izuku said as his smile became more playful. "Come on, we should go get our friends and show them the surprise!"
"Am I allowed to tell them this took three years of practice and reading to get right?" Tenko asked as they began to walk down the halls of the Emerald City's main building and towards the common area.
"You can tell them you did all the work if you want, Tenko. It wouldn't be that far from the truth," Izuku said with a wink. Tenko just scoffed at him, then they both smiled.
This was nice. Izuku was happy and he hoped that, after this surprise, Ochako would be truly happy as well. He hoped he could provide a home for her for real this time.
He and Tenko walked in a companionable silence for a while, their hands in their pockets. Izuku and Tenko had exchanged a book's worth of letters in the last three years and come to a greater understanding as siblings than Izuku ever thought would be possible. Nana was like a second mother to Tenko and Izuku was so glad to see it. He wondered sometimes, what exactly the real connection was between Tenko and Nana. Something magical, knowing the former witch but…
He decided it wasn't his place to ask.
Izuku and Tenko reached the common area and, as planned, found Nana and Ochako, along with Himiko, Tsuyu, Katsuki, Eijiro, Shouto, and Momo, all smiling and waiting patiently for them.
"Took ya long enough, ya damn slow pokes," Katsuki said. But he grinned and Izuku gave him a little wave. Eijiro threw his arm around Katsuki's and waved back, and Izuku couldn't help but smile.
"I have a little surprise today, for Ochako, but I would like all of you to come with. To be… witnesses, if you would," Izuku said. Ochako began to turn a little red, figuring where Izuku was going with things. Himiko and Nana had intolerably smug grins on their faces, also figuring where Izuku was going with things.
Well. Knowing Nana, she actually knew, but Izuku couldn't say for sure.
The rest of his friends, not being used to customs from America, simply looked confused.
Izuku made a motion for them to follow along, then they walked as a group back towards the chamber of the Wizard of Oz. Izuku knew that Sero and Eri were with Tenya right now, playing in the gardens of the Emerald City, so it would just be them for today. As he walked, Shouto spoke up from behind.
"You said in your letters you don't really use this room anymore," he said, and it came out as much an accusation as a question.
"You are indeed correct," Izuku said without remorse or hesitation. He didn't look back but he could feel Ochako pouting at his lack of clarity. They reached the chamber and Izuku stopped and held his hand on the door. "Actually, Tenko. Would you do the honors?" Izuku said, and he turned to his stepbrother. Tenko looked taken aback but then he nodded and smiled.
Izuku walked back and put a hand gently around Ochako's waist. She continued to pout at him, puffing out her cheeks, but her permanent blushmarks still expanded across her face all the same. Then she let him lead her into the chamber after Tenko opened the door.
"Tomura?"
"Ochako!"
"Himiko!"
There were five people in the Wizard's chamber and they all spoke at once. Izuku smiled as his mom stood up and strode over to Tenko, then immediately burst into tears and cradled his face. Tenko was crying, too, as he explained his new name in a hushed whisper to his stepmother. Inko had already seen Izuku and had her reunion because Izuku had addressed the parents when they came to Oz.
Because he and Tenko had finally been able to create a true witches' broomstick and had used it to pull the parents to Oz instead of going back. It was a feat that had only been theorized in the books Izuku had read but he and Tomura spent literal months of their lives working on the project.
Ochako fainted in Izuku's arms, as he had anticipated, and he couldn't help but chuckle through the tears now on his face at the sight. Her parents ran over to her, shock all over their faces as they fawned over their daughter - their daughter they had believed was dead for the past three years, killed in a tornado.
Izuku looked over and saw that Himiko was also enjoying a tearful reunion with her own parents as Tsuyu stood off to the side with a smile and waited to be addressed. Shouto, Momo, Eijiro, and Katsuki stood farther back and all of them looked confused, yet happy; Eijiro and Katsuki specifically were crying and holding hands, while Shouto and Momo smiled as they looked on and tried to follow along with what had happened.
Izuku's attention was torn away however, when Ochako stirred in his arms.
Her parents and Himiko's parents hadn't quite believed him when he spent several hours explaining to them what had happened. He had essentially teleported them right into the Wizard's chamber, and even explaining what he had done took forever as they had endless questions and were thoroughly disoriented.
They were convinced he was playing some kind of con on them, but his mother's enthusiastic, gut-wrenching tears of joy at seeing him again at least convinced them that something worth paying attention was going on. After he had answered their questions to the best of his abilities, he left promising he was going to bring their daughters to them and, once they were satisfied, they would be able to live comfortably in Oz for the rest of their lives.
And so here Izuku was, though he slowly tried to regain his composure as he noticed that Ochako's parents had slowly transitioned from their joy at seeing Ochako again to staring intently at him.
"I, er… Um, so as I said, my name is Izuku Midoriya, and I am the Wizard of Oz," Izuku said, trying very hard to keep an even tone and deliberately using his mother's first married name as opposed to her second.
"I see. I… cannot believe you were telling us the truth," Ochako's mother said, and Ochako began to giggle wetly. She was too busy holding both of her parents in a hug, not intending on letting go any time soon.
"He was, Momma. I am… I am so glad to see you two again, I thought I never would…" Ochako said, and Izuku smiled at her. Ochako's father cleared his throat. They had declined to give him their names when he met them, since they thought he was a liar.
"So was the part about you two being in a romantic relationship for the past three years also true, Mr. Midoriya?"
Izuku opened his mouth to answer, feeling the appropriate fear of God and death at that moment. But thankfully, like an angel, he was saved by his mother walking over.
"Oh, I've missed you so much, Izuku. And look at this lovely young lady, I am so glad to see how happy she makes you!" She said, and Izuku smiled awkwardly as his mother pinched his cheeks a bit. "And now I can introduce myself properly. I am Inko Shi… Midoriya, Izuku's mother," she added, and she held out a hand to shake. Mr. Uraraka slowly offered his hand to shake, then Mrs. Uraraka did as well. That was finally when Ochako extracted herself from her hug and walked over to take Izuku's arm.
"Yes, Daddy, that part was also true," Ochako said with surprising conviction, and Izuku never felt more love for her before that moment than he did as she defended him to her parents. "He makes me very happy, too, and… I cannot stress enough how important he is to my life."
Her father hummed in neutral acknowledgement and looked Izuku up and down.
"Do you love my daughter?" He asked. Izuku nodded very quickly. "Will you always love my daughter?" Izuku nodded again and Ochako giggled a little bit. "And what do you have going for you?" Her father said, and Izuku stopped nodding.
"I… am technically the duly elected leader of the largest country in this land?" Izuku said, and he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. Ochako's parents looked utterly stunned. Ochako looked at them with a completely straight face and nodded.
"I'm the First Lady of Oz," she said, though her composure finally broke as she began to snicker at that and, after a moment, her mother began to laugh as well.
"Amazing. Our baby girl is amazing," her mother said, then her dad couldn't help but begin to laugh, too.
They made small talk after that, though eventually Tenko and Nana walked over and joined them. Nana gave Izuku's mother a curious look, and his mother returned the look just as curiously. Izuku was struck in that moment that Nana really did remind him of his mom, in a good way, and Izuku couldn't help but smile.
Ochako was smiling so much it looked like it hurt, and Izuku turned to her with a grin as well. She dared to lean up and give him a kiss, then she giggled against his lips. When they looked up, all three of their parents looked happy, and Nana was positively beaming.
Izuku was proud of his little surprise he'd made for Ochako and Himiko, and they were very happy. He hoped that they would continue to be happy here in Oz with him, now that he'd brought their families to them, too. He was also overjoyed to see his mother again, and Tenko was finally happy, too.
And if Izuku thumbed a velvet box in his pocket that he planned to bring up to Ochako later, well.
Nobody else needed to know that yet.
Closing notes: So this is the end of 'Right Through My Soul, I Know: I'll Never Make it Home (Oh No)' This story was not particularly popular on AO3, not that any of my work is strictly 'popular.' That's okay, though. That's not why I write. For this one, I'm very happy with how whimsical and silly it is, and even though I know very few people will read it, I hope that those who do enjoy it for what it is.
I invite feedback on this story, especially if any of the formatting broke; some of it didn't transfer nicely from AO3, unfortunately. This story happened because 'The Emerald Ghost' used a song by 'Marianas Trench' for the title of the final chapter and I was listening to 'Ever After' on repeat writing the epilogue for that. 'The Wizard of Oz' is extremely foundational and influential to my work, and a lot of my favorite motifs and themes in this series are derived from my love for that movie as a child. I don't think it's a perfect story by any means, and indeed as you can see this adaptation was a bit deconstructionist, but I hope you enjoyed my rendition of this AU from IzuOcha Week 2021.
The next story is another villain Izuku AU, and one that was quite popular in fact. It also contains one of the sequences that I am most proud of as an author, and I hope that if you love IzuOcha, you'll like it, too.
Thank you for reading! Maybe I'll see you next time.