A/N: Hey. Guess what? *AHEM*

*inhale*

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I do not own the cover image

Chapter 51: Much Needed Talk

Meditation was a key step in maintaining control over your emotions. Control your emotions, and you would be better able to adapt to your Berserker state. There was no "controlling" that part of yourself, not entirely. Sure, you could use it in a pinch. It might even save your life. But you should never, ever rely on it completely. If you can, only use its full power as an absolute last resort, and even then, do so with caution. It has the potential to overwhelm you should your concentration slip for even a moment.

That was the reason that Bakugo and Ghira had been sitting out here, legs crossed as they sat, breathing in harmonic rhythm, under the brutal light of the sun, for an Oumdamn hour. It was only the first day of this new regimen, and it was already starting to unnerve him. The ashen blonde direwolf hadn't been this still since the times he'd had to meditate on the ship, and even then he sometimes found it hard to stay still. He'd been doing this for four months! What was new about it?!

"You're slipping. Try to relax. I understand that you've been doing this repeatedly for the months you've been traveling, but that doesn't mean you should simply stop. It will be gradual, but the day will come when you do not have to meditate nearly as much to maintain a calmer mind. But for the moment, I recommend at least an hour of meditation, daily, without exception," Ghira explained as he sensed his pupil's distress.

"... yes, sensei," Bakugo replied reluctantly. He couldn't deny that the man was right. While the blonde direwolf was far better than he had been previously, he still had quite a bit of feral anger. At least, that's what it felt like lately. Sure, he had it somewhat under wraps and only got mildly annoyed at worst most of the time, but he did have his moments.

After another few minutes passed, with the sound of waves in their ears and the smell of the sea and fresh wood in the air, Ghira let out a big breath and rose from his spot on the ground. Sensing their current session was over, Bakugo rose up and joined him, stretching out his back, arms and legs before Ghira said, "Well, I do believe that was enough for today. Now then...

"What say we have a proper spar?" he asked with a benign smile. Bakugo internally smirked to himself. This was gonna be easy.

(a few minutes later, Belladonna household)

CRACK!

Bakugo's head snapped back once again as Ghira made a seemingly perfect counter with open palms to yet another one of his moves. Damnit! The massive guy hadn't even moved! Or tapped into his Berserker state! What the hell?! Why was nothing working?!

After they had gotten back to the house and entered the now cleared workout space, the two of them had struck a deal. If Bakugo could land a single, proper hit on him, they would move on to the more advanced set of moves. He was free to use as much Berserker power as he could reasonably manage as well as any training that his mother had instilled to him, but no semblance. While it was indeed powerful, he'd been using it as a crutch way too often, and Ghira wished to see what he was capable of without it.

And, if Bakugo failed to hit him, they'd start from the fundamentals and head upwards from there.

Ghira had thrown him to the mat within the first ten seconds and barely moved an inch. He was free to try as many times as he could; all he had to do was land a single blow. A task that now seemed nearly impossible.

The hulking man then shifted back into his counter stance, which at this point seemed to be damn near impregnable. A single hand outstretched, palm facing inward while the other remained at this side. Both remained open.

Bakugo dashed forwards once again, leaping into a wide kick that Ghira easily managed to sweep aside. However, the blonde direwolf had prepared for this, using the additional momentum to rotate around and make another kick with his other leg, though this too was blocked by a quickly raised arm.

Bakugo couldn't resist the smile spreading across his face as he put the next part of his plan into action, hooking the edge of his foot around Ghira's arm and twisting his body in turn, placing himself right above the man's head as he prepared a brutal heel kick-

Before he could execute it, however, Ghira's large hand shot up and firmly grasped his foot, and only a half a second later swung him around and slammed him into the ground once again, causing him to bounce once, twice, and land roughly on his hands and feet, digging his fingers into the floor.

"... well, I think that's enough of that, don't you?" Ghira said as he shifted out of his stance. "Come here, Katsuki. You'll need a few minutes to breathe after that."

As much as he hated to admit it, the panther faunus was right on the money. That beatdown was... well, quite frankly, a complete and total beatdown. He could feel where the bruises would be through his aura. Ghira was really good at giving out counters. Insanely good. It seemed to be a specialty of his.

Reluctantly, he took a seat next to Ghira as he slowly resigned to the fact that he was going to have to go over the fundamentals all over again. Oumdamnit.

"I know you're frustrated, young Katsuki; but don't be discouraged by these losses. Try to not think of them as such, and look at them instead as opportunities," Ghira said, doing the best he could to encourage the wrathful blonde.

"For what?" Bakugo asked.

"Improvement. Hopefully," Ghira responded. "You're a great fighter with an instinct that many never achieve with a lifetime's worth of effort. But that's not enough to carry through everything you'll likely have to face. And your semblance, while powerful, has been a primary asset for you throughout much of your life. I assume you discovered it around middle school. Thus, you've become too reliant on it. Try not to think of it as a solution to every situation. Instead, think of it as a tool. Not a be-all, end-all solution for everything, but something that, when used with enough imagination, could be more useful than everything else at your disposal.

"The same could be said of your Berserker powers. I will not claim that they are benevolent by any means. However, I also can't say that it's entirely malicious either. They are primal sources of power, and you can be overwhelmed by them. But given time, patience, and the training of a calm mind and a sound body, it too can become a powerful tool," the massive man finished explaining.

"... I suppose that's one way of looking at it," Bakugo said as he looked down at his heavily calloused hands. "But... I dunno. I'm not sure I'd be able to really think of this as a tool."

"... ah. I see, then. Your aura was unlocked early as a child?" Ghira asked, now having a better understanding of how much Bakugo's semblance really meant to him.

"Yeah. The old hag said it was because Berserker signs could show up pretty early in life and wanted me to at least have some way of healing if they showed up when she wasn't around. And then I unlocked my semblance... early. Really fucking early. Since then... it's felt like if I didn't try to use it on a regular basis, it would be like... denying part of myself. Hell, even when we were on the ship, I at least took the time to make a few sparks every now and then. Maybe even a brief bomb, if I felt the need. And..."

"And you're so afraid of this new, foreign power that you didn't know you had that you'd rather avoid it altogether. You don't know how to handle it," Ghira said.

"... no, no, that's not it," the blonde direwolf denied. "I just don't like losing control of my own body for minutes on end. If I'm going to beat the ever-loving shit out of someone, I'd rather be doing it myself instead of letting some 'primal force' do it for me."

"... forgive my bluntness, but I must ask again. Answer me honestly... you are afraid of it, aren't you?" Ghira asked with the most serious tone that Bakugo had ever heard him use.

The blonde was perplexed by this question. He'd never really been afraid of much other than the reasonable things: a painful demise, depths, those freaky gigantic spider Grimm that he would never admit still gave him in nightmares to this day, etc. But his Berserker powers... oh. That was what he meant.

"... yeah," he responded after several long seconds of silence. "I just... I don't really know enough about them not to be."

"Good," Ghira said, causing Bakugo to snap his head towards him in disbelief. How could fear of this power be anything but a hinderance?!

As if sensing his distress, Ghira then continued, "It means you're not arrogant enough to believe that this force can be tamed through sheer willpower alone. At least, not any longer, from what Blake, Sun and Neo have told me."

Bakugo honestly couldn't be mad at them for that. He had been pretty arrogant back then. Probably still was now, even though it was to a lesser degree. However, that didn't mean he wasn't going to hunt them down later and spar every single one of them to get this annoyance out of his system.

Then, a thought occurred to him.

"Hey, Ghira?"

"Mm?"

"Since you're a Berserker... and this is genetic... what about Blake? Is she one of us too?"

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The silence lasted for several achingly long moments, to the point that it was actually getting a bit uncomfortable. But, after a few more seconds of contemplation, Ghira sighed to himself, relenting to the question. He answered, "... I would give you an honest answer if I could, but that question currently doesn't have one. My daughter is strong willed, steadfast, and caring. Were we in different times, she would have made an excellent Berserker.

"...but these are not different times. I truly hope that she does not become one. Now, I believe it would only hinder her. She doesn't need this on top of everything else."

Bakugo wanted to disagree. He didn't know Blake well, but he knew that if anyone could control and master these powers better than he ever could, it would probably be her. But then, of course, he remembered the history of the Berserkers. The blood, the fighting... the ones who went feral. That kind of pressure, on top of trying to recover from everything else that had happened... he suddenly found himself agreeing with Ghira's answer.

"Well, now that that's out of the way... let's get back to training. From the fundamentals," Ghira said as he stood, a sly smile making its way ever so slightly across his lips.

"... right."

(meanwhile, somewhere in Anima, Shoto's POV)

Well... that was... a whole hell of a lot to take in. Apparently, the Seasonal Maidens were real, the current Fall Maiden was the person who'd shot Pyrrha dead through the chest, there was a Grimm queen named Salem, and there was a secret organization working behind the scenes of the kingdom in order to stop threats from her before they ever arrived. At least, as much as they could. After that, it would usually fall to the hunters to do their best to quell the threats before negativity got out of hand.

At least, that was the basic gist of what Qrow had just told them.

"... you're kidding me, right? No questions?" he asked in genuine surprise. "C'mon. You could at least give me a 'this can't be real, can it?' That one always seems to come up."

"We do have questions. But this is... Oum, this is a lot to process," Jaune said as he rubbed his head to dull what was likely a suddenly spawning headache.

"Take as long as you have to. I was pretty shocked when I learned most of this stuff," Qrow said in understanding.

"So... how exactly do the Maiden powers... work?" Nora asked. An understandable question, given that Qrow had really only given them the most basic of the basics. At least, that's what Shoto was inferring.

"Well... they essentially reincarnate. Not in a typical 'rebirth' sense, though. The first candidate for reincarnation is the last person in a Maiden's thoughts. But, if it's a guy, or some old crone, the power will go to a random young woman under the age of... about thirty-five or so. It's unnecessarily complicated, and annoying as hell to keep track of. I'd go into more detail, but that was the simple version and we don't exactly have all night.

"Now, on to the actual powers. I want to say that they essentially have what most people would describe as 'real magic,' and that it's far more powerful than most semblances. Which isn't exactly wrong. But that's oversimplifying things. Each Maiden's powers are tied to one of the four primary aspects of humanity, and though they might share some similarities, their powers do differ in some key ways," Qrow explained.

"How, exactly?" Shoto asked.

"As an example... let's take into account the last two Fall Maidens. Amber was powerful. I daresay she was one of the most powerful Maidens that this world has ever seen. As the Fall Maiden, she was connected to the aspect of Choice. Due to a number of circumstances and a deep attachment to the place she was born, she was given the ability to control storms of all kinds. Amber could command a blizzard in a desert, a hurricane in the arctic, and a sandstorm in a forest. She was particularly fond of thunderstorms. And despite that, she had one of the biggest hearts that I've ever seen someone possess. But... raw power can't make up for a lack of experience, no matter how potent.

"Cinder was no slouch either. But her power primarily revolved around glass, its formation, and its application. And fire. Lots and lots of fire. I never saw much of her, but what little I did see made it clear she was... volatile. She definitely had a lot of hatred brewing in her," Qrow said as he briefly gave off a slight shudder. "It freaks me the fuck out just thinking about it."

"Wait... what are these 'aspects of humanity' you keep talking about? And what do they have to do with those people who were after us earlier? Why..." Ruby asked in quick succession, faltering at the last question she wanted to ask. But still, she pushed through. "... why are they after Izuku?"

"And Ruby, too," Ren said. "Don't give me that look. Tyrian called you a Silver-Eyed Warrior. I think we at least deserve to know why they're after you, too."

"Erm... geez, that's a lot of questions," Qrow said as he rubbed his forehead with his first three fingers. "Okay. But, in order to explain that... you're gonna need more context."

"This is a lot to remember," Nora noted with some dread.

"I know. One of the reasons I quit teaching," the red-eyed reaper commented as he began to regale them with a tale of brothers. Godly ones, to be precise. The elder, of light, creation, and life. The younger, of darkness, destruction, and death. Their beginning, which gave them purpose. Their quarrels, which spawned the Grimm. And eventually, their understanding. From that understanding, came humanity, and the four gifts bestowed upon them, embodied in four relics that they left behind before the brothers departed Remnant.

The Lamp of Knowledge. The power to think, to learn, and to question.

The Scepter of Creation. The power to make, to give, and to express.

The Sword of Destruction. The power to raze, to take, and to kill.

The Crown of Choice. The power to wander, to contemplate, and to be content.

It's said that these four relics, together, could reshape the face of Remnant as they know it. Whether for the better... or for the worse.

"Is that why the huntsman academies were created in the first place?" Shoto asked. It was an obvious inquiry, now that he had this information. Four schools, four relics. The four safest places on Remnant. Until recently, that was.

"You catch on quick," Qrow commented. "But yeah. That's the simple version of it. The hope was that they'd be kept under constant guard, and keep humanity from using these relics against themselves. But... well, you all know that plan's shot now. Luckily, Oz made the Crown particularly hard to find."

"Why that one? Why not the others?" Jaune asked curtly.

"Because of all the relics under our guard, that one is by far the most powerful. If it fell into the wrong hands, I guarantee that by now, Vale would've been wiped off the face of the planet," Qrow answered.

...

"... that's... one of our questions answered," Ruby said with briefly widened eyes.

"Right. On to the next one," Qrow said as he stretched his left arm above his head, wincing when he went too far and shifted his bindings.

"Careful. We won't have enough gauze to redo this until we get to Athens," Jaune said as he readjusted the red-eyed reaper's bindings.

"... thanks, blondie," Qrow said. "Anyway, those two, earlier? They work for Salem. And while I personally don't know much about her, what's basically common knowledge among those who know is that she... well, this sounds cheesy as hell, but she essentially wants to destroy everything. And I don't mean the cartoon villain, 'I'm going to destroy the world' plot that always gets stopped in the end. No. She's relentless. It's all she seems to want. She's been waiting for humanity to start splitting at the seams for years, waiting for the right time to give it a push in the wrong direction. Watching. Waiting. Listening. And now, the seams are starting to fray.

"She desires to see all in this world perish in the most painful, efficiently miserable way possible. And then, when our spirits are broken and we think that there's nothing more to live for... that is when she'll take it all away. It's all she wants. She's the Queen of the Grimm, after all. And she, like the Grimm, desire few things but these. Death. Destruction. Misery. And Oblivion.

"And the reason they're after you, Ruby... well, not many people know about Silver-Eyed Warriors. For a simple explanation, they can essentially evaporate the Grimm simply by looking at them. They're incredibly rare, and one who can use their powers at all, let alone control them, is even rarer. But the ones who do are either really happy you're alive and able to use your powers at all... or they want you dead," Qrow explained.

"But... Tyrian said they wanted me and Izuku alive. Why?" Ruby asked.

"I... that's..." Qrow said as he went back into thought. "... why... after everything, why the hell..."

"What is it?" Ren asked.

"... nothing. I hope," Qrow said.

"And what about Izuku?" Nora asked again. "Why are they after him?"

This time, the silence went on for so long that not even the slightest chirp of a cricket could be heard in the background. Qrow looked intently at his flask before shaking his head and putting it back into one of his inside pockets, then saying, "That... is something you'll have to ask him yourselves."

"But-"

"I know what I promised, but that's the only exception. I'm sorry, but I really only know the bare basics of Izuku's situation. Besides, this really is something that he needs to tell you himself. He could explain it way better than I could, and... it also involves some very personal stuff that he actually hasn't told a whole lot of people. As far as I know, at the very least," Qrow explained with a finality that Shoto had never heard him use before.

"I've also got a question," Jaune said, to which Qrow gave a welcome gesture. "Pyrrha. How was she involved in all of this?"

"... she was the primary candidate to become the next Fall Maiden. You see... Amber got attacked. Despite her power, she was completely outmatched and ended up having half of the Maiden's soul stolen from her. I barely managed to get there to stop the full process from completing. She was left in critical condition, and a potentially permanent comma. We got her into stasis as quickly as we could, but we all knew there was no real chance of a full recovery. She was just... Oum, the damage done to her brain... we would've been surprised if she'd even be able to speak, let alone wake up.

"So... Ironwood came up with the backup plan. Fucking hell, I hated that plan," Qrow said, reaching into his shirt and taking a very long swig from his flask. When he stopped, he stared into the fire for even longer, as though debating how best to inform them of this plan that he seemed to hate with a passion that they'd seldom seen before that moment.

"It... the plan was for us to take Amber's aura... and give it to someone else."

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"... so you forced it on Pyrrha," Jaune said in a tone so cold that Shoto's worry for the blonde knight only began to grow.

"We forced nothing. We explained the situation, we explained the potential consequences, the good and the bad, and gave her a choice. She chose. You were there. You heard her. In any other situation, I'd rather not even approach the possibility of anything remotely like this. But... this was still her choice. No matter what it cost her in the end," Qrow said with genuine regret.

Jaune seemed to be at a loss for words. He seemed angry, confused, remorseful, and a myriad of other emotions that Shoto feared he would never be able to accurately list. After a few more tense seconds of silence, the blonde knight stood, turned, and made his way away from the campfire. Not long afterward, Shoto too stood and followed his friend, for fear of what might be going through his mind at that moment.

He heard Nora and Ruby try to stop him from going after Jaune, but he pressed on anyway, making through the thick of the woods as he followed the blonde knight's not at all subtle footsteps. He wasn't trying to hide. He just wanted to be alone.

But Shoto didn't want to think about what could happen to him if he was alone for too long. It may be what he wanted, but it was not a healthy headspace.

The clearing was modest in size, enough for the moonlight to come down and bathe the place in a silvery hue, a contrast to the dark greens and rough, earthy tones that would normally decorate it. Standing off to the side of it was Jaune, his eyes and head turned down to the grass beneath his feet as Lancelot's helmet floated around him, observing his master's mental state with a prepared caution that Shoto had seen only a few times before, polite though he was.

"..."

"..."

"... if you wish to speak, master Jaune, you may do so freely," Lancelot offered.

"What good would that do? You already know what's in my head, don't you?" the knight retorted.

"True though that may be, I've found that you've always come to terms with your emotions far easier when you vocalize your thoughts. Difficult though that may be at times," Lancelot explained, as he briefly turned to Shoto. Though he didn't have eyes, the half and half leader could swear that would be the closest the Fable would ever come to giving a 'tell anyone about this and I'll make you suffer' stare. Shoto gave a brief nod, understanding where the ghostly knight was coming from. This was the person he was closest to, after all.

"... I... I'm feeling... too many things. This kind of stuff is supposed to be simple, damnit. It was with Cinder! I want to see her choke on her own fucking words while she's carted off in chains! I want to be angry at them. At Qrow, at Ozpin, at Ironwood, at the Oumdamn plan they couldn't perfect in time... but I... I don't know why, but... I'm not. It feels like I should be angry but I'm not."

"A sense of righteous anger and feeling guilty for not having it are two different things. On some level, you might understand why they did what they did. It would not appear as though they had many options. They were under the pressure of a timer that none of them could see," Lancelot explained.

"That doesn't excuse what happened. They could've been more patient, or had more caution, or just..." Jaune said as he slumped against a nearby tree. The blonde knight knew that debating this point wouldn't do anything but keep him up far past the normal throes of sleep. No matter the 'what ifs' or 'maybes' he had floating around in his head, there was still one, overarching, painful truth. Pyrrha was gone. And she wasn't coming back.

"... I know she wouldn't want me here, debating this. Honestly, she'd be in the right to slap me out of it if she could. I... I don't know how I felt about her. Platonically, romantically, somewhere in between; I just don't know anymore. I think I did before everything happened, but now... whenever I think of her... all I feel is guilt. And regret," Jaune put his face in his hands, his longest fingers running through his bangs as he continued, struggling to keep slowly deepening sobs out of his voice. "She did so much for me. Taught me how to fight, gave me the confidence to lead. She made me realize that there's so much more to people than the stuff in stories and news reports. And when she needs me most, I repay her by screwing up like I always do and let her die!"

It was at that point that Jaune could no longer hold back the tears that flowed freely from his eyes, Lancelot only floating in a solemn, understanding silence as he let his master's emotions run freely. To cry was not a sign of weakness. Not for Jaune, and certainly not for Ruby. It was a sign of heart.

But that didn't mean it wasn't painful.

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"... we all screwed up, Jaune."

The blonde knight's tears and sobs briefly stopped as Shoto walked beside him, a calm melancholy on his face as he continued, "We weren't prepared for Cinder. She took on seven of us at once, with the help of an Oumdamn dragon no less. And despite her disadvantages, us breaking that thing's wing, and everything else we could think of to throw at her... she still won. I hate to say it, but we were entirely outmatched. I... I couldn't react in time. None of us could. So, if you're guilty of screwing up...

"... then so am I."

The low sounds of the forest encapsulated their silence as Shoto slowly lowered himself to the ground and set himself down in the grass. He gave a brief pat to a spot next to him, offering Jaune a place to sit. After some hesitation, the blonde knight complied, and the half and half leader continued.

"You really should talk to your teammates about Pyrrha. I know you two were close. Closer than a lot of us were. And I don't mean to discount that connection. But... you're not the only one who lost her, Jaune. We all lost her. Some of us lost an ally. Most of us lost an amazing friend...

"But you three lost family. Ren and Nora are just... better at hiding the pain, I suppose."

Jaune, after a moment of contemplation, simply said nothing. He leaned back on his hands and looked up to the shattered moon. It seemed like he had a million things to say... but in the end, he couldn't decide.

Shoto joined him in his stargazing. Just a few more minutes of quiet. After everything that had happened that day, he could safely say that they deserved a bit of peace and quiet. At least for now.

(meanwhile, some miles north northeast, Izuku's POV)

Yang swept one hand against the other as golden sparks flew from her open palm to the prepared tinder like pebbles off a cliff, striking once more, twice more, until finally it took to the paper, the blonde brawler gently blowing on it as Izuku finished sorting through the supplies they currently had. A few bottles of water, their sleeping bags, what little bandages and disinfectant remained in their bags, and a couple of rations each. Enough to last them a couple more days, maybe a little less than a week if they really stretched what they had.

By the time Yang had the fire going properly, the green haired inheritor had already repacked everything he'd taken stock of. Their campsite was a small one, easily hidden by the foliage that surrounded them. Their fire wasn't very big either, only enough to keep them warm and give them some light. Not nearly big enough to give off a smoke signal.

But those were only a few of the many, many things he tried to think of to keep his mind occupied and away from the other two dominating thoughts as much as possible. But of course, they were temporary measures, and he was left with the same two thoughts once again.

The first was the really, really, really awkward tension between him and Yang. Had they just confessed to each other? Like, five hours ago? It... argh! Why was this so confusing?! It would be so simple to just say yes, yes they had; and he really, really wanted to say that and have her agree and they could finally be together... but they'd hardly talked about anything since the clearing. And he didn't want to assume they were a thing when they clearly needed to talk more about it and establish what exactly they were to each other now.

… okay, emotionally charged internal rant over. Now, on to the other, more pressing subject.

Izuku knew that, at this point, there was basically no doubt in his mind that he was going to tell Yang what he was involved with. The Maidens, Salem, Ozpin and his council; all of it. But that also brought up the other stuff. One for All. All for One. The other Inheritors. All Might. And his past.

The latter was something that he was particularly terrified of. But not for a reason that one might normally think of. At this point, if he couldn't trust Yang with any of that stuff, he might as well trust no one at all. No, the problem laid in who he really was. How he was born. The fact that he had been, and felt he still was, a Fractured. Even all of the amazing times at Beacon, and meeting all of his wonderful friends, couldn't erase ten years of self-loathing and loneliness.

Yang had never spoken much about her opinions on the Fractured. It had never really come up, so there was no real reason to talk about it. And that was what was terrifying him right now. He honestly had no idea how she would react to this revelation, be it good or bad. He wanted to believe that she'd take it without batting an eye, accept him for who he was just as she always had before...

… but what if she didn't? What if she hated him for this? For keeping all of this from her? He didn't want to think that it would be possible for someone with as big a heart as hers to do something so cruel... but the doubt sank in all the same.

"... Izuku? You okay?"

Speaking of whom, the blonde brawler had noticed that Izuku had begun staring into space for the last minute and finally decided to voice her concern. She'd gotten a bit closer in the time that Izuku had drifted through his thoughts, debated the many pros and the few terrifying cons of telling her everything.

But, after looking at her again, seeing her eyes filled with genuine worry, remembering what had transpired earlier in the clearing... he couldn't let these doubts into his mind any longer. She deserved to know as much as he did. Whatever happened after that... would happen. And that would be that.

"I'm fine. You... you sitting comfortably?"

Yang gave a sharp nod, crossing her legs as she did so. "Remember, you don't have to tell me everything all at once. Pace yourself. It doesn't have to all be tonight."

"... yeah. But you still deserve to know. Okay. Here goes..."

And so, he told her everything that came to mind. He told her about the Maidens, their powers, how they reincarnated, convoluted though it was. He spoke of Salem and her agents; what little he truly knew about her. He told what he knew of Cinder, that she was once a half-Maiden, using stolen powers that were given fully to her when she killed the previous Fall Maiden. The Silver-Eyed Warriors, what he could tell of them, and that Ruby was one of them. The brother gods, the gifts they left behind, and the dual purpose of the Hunter Academies. And then... there remained only one more story to tell.

Izuku took a deep breath and sighed as he approached the final topic. Yang already looked as though she was going through shock after shock every time he revealed more and more about what he knew.

"Are you alright? Do you want to stop?" he asked. If she wanted to process what she'd already learned, it could wait another night.

But still, she shook her head and replied, "I should be asking you that. I'm willing to listen if you're willing to talk."

"Okay. It's... a really, really long story, though. Longer than basically everything else I've talked about. It also... might change how you think of me. You're sure?" he asked.

Yang, determined as she ever was, simply nodded. Izuku took a moment to brace himself. "Here goes...

"I was a really simple kid. I loved everything hunter related. Weapons, clothes, semblances; I ate it all up. But All Might... he had a special place in my heart. He was my idol. My everything. A hero, not just a hunter, a hero, who always managed to smile in the face of danger. There was no one he couldn't save. I wanted to be just like him, when I grew up. It was all I wanted.

"... and then I went to a doctor. I was diagnosed... as Fractured."

The silence was deafening. If someone were to drop a pin, it would sound like a bomb. Yang's already shocked face somehow grew even moreso, her hand twitching as though she were resisting the instinct to reach up and cover her mouth. He could only imagine the thoughts running through her head at that moment. But he couldn't ponder that right now. He had to finish the story.

"After that, my whole life changed. What seemed like a future dream was nothing more than a fantasy. None of my preschool friends wanted to talk to me anymore. Bakugo got a huge ego boost after he learned about me. 'What a weakling.' 'Defenseless Izuku.' That kind of stuff became commonplace. It didn't take long for me to get used to it.

"But... that wasn't going to stop me. So I kept trying, kept writing, kept thinking. I still wanted to be a hunter. I still wanted to be a hero. I still wanted to be an inspiration to someone just like me. And then... I met my hero. I met All Might."

And then, there came the real meat of the story. His instinctual saving of Bakugo, his ten months of absolute hell, the inheritance of One for All, and the significance of his doing so. And then there came talk of how One for All and All for One originated in the first place. The fairy tale had never been a popular one, even back during the brief Renaissance period the previous century, but the expanded version slowly put the pieces into place, causing Yang to gradually take on a face of epiphany as everything came together.

"... so, yeah. That's... basically everything. Well... almost. There was something that happened pretty recently. It can wait for tomorrow, if you want it to," Izuku said, despite the fact that, after all of this explanation, he still hadn't talked about Raven or the rather intense encounter he and Qrow had had with her in that bar. It was starting to eat at him.

I also feel kinda guilty for cussing her out. I think Bakugo may have rubbed off on me a little too much.

"Oum, this is a lot," Yang said as she rubbed her forehead as she currently processed all of that with everything else that Izuku had just explained. "Sorry. I think I've taken in all I can right now."

"... are you gonna be alright?" Izuku asked. It was a dumb question, but he felt it needed to be asked. He learned everything at a drip, sure, but that didn't change the fact that it was all very overwhelming.

"If I'm being entirely honest, if I heard this coming from anyone else, I probably would've called them crazy. But you wouldn't make any of this up. For one thing, on the logical side, it's way too dense to be fake. And I know you wouldn't lie to me about something this important. Not after trusting me with such a personal story. Hell, I think I can count the number of times you've lied at all on one hand," Yang said as she ran her hands through her long mane of hair.

Then, another question occurred to her. "How much of this does Ruby know? Does she know about you?"

"I'd be the wrong person to ask about that. As far as I know, she only knew the bare basics of the Silver-Eyed Warriors. I'm hoping Qrow told her, and everyone else. After everything that happened today, they deserve an explanation," Izuku said. The red-eyed reaper was fairly good at dodging questions, but after all the time they'd spent training together, he knew that the man had one of the biggest hearts in all of Remnant, second only to Ruby's.

"Well, that's good," Yang said with a brief sigh. "Erm... actually, this is kinda weird to ask after everything else and what I said earlier, but... could you... maybe... tell me that last thing now? I don't want to keep us up all night with that hanging over us."

Izuku briefly panicked. Well, it was less a panic and more an intensely brief moment of surprise. But, it was a moment nonetheless, and it never spread to his face. He took a brief moment to note that they were sitting much closer than they had been at the start of his regaling. Their shoulders nearly touched, hands barely half a pinkie's length away from intertwining the aforementioned fingers.

For a single second, he hesitated. But that was all it was. A second.

"Qrow and I... we ran into Raven. At that bar in Higanbana. It was... really tense. I think she might've wanted to kill me. She was asking about the relic, and... things sorta just started to escalate from there. And when she left... Oum, I should've just told you all right then and there. I... I'm so sorry..."

Izuku turned to look at her reaction. It was a mix of pure, shock widened eyes that briefly held red in their edges, as her lip trembled before straightening into a thin line. Despite the lack of actual distance between them, it suddenly felt as though there were a thousand miles between them.

For a full minute, Izuku regretted bringing the subject up at all.

But then, after hearing nothing but the flicker and crackle of the campfire, the green haired inheritor felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around him and gently squeeze themselves around his torso. Long, golden locks of hair fell onto his left shoulder as a light weight perched itself on the same shoulder. "No. Don't be sorry. I... thank you so much for telling me that. I won't ask what else you guys talked about, not right now. But..."

Her grip tightened a bit as Izuku further relaxed into her hold, letting his head brush against hers as their cheeks came only a hair's breadth from touching. He could feel the heat radiating off of her skin. Had he less self-control, he would've gladly lost himself in it.

"And... about what you told me? I'm still processing a lot of this, but I do know one thing. I do care about you. Nothing's going to change that, no matter what the context of those feelings might be. Nothing."

For the next several minutes, he wished that they could simply stay like that for as long as they wanted. An eternity, if they felt so inclined. Something guttural told him that Yang felt the same.

But, once this thought was given some room to breathe as the two slowly drifted off to their inevitable slumber, it became nothing more than a passing fantasy. But what an appealing fantasy it was.

A/N: And that's a wrap! As I'm finishing this up, it's nearly ten thirty, and mine brain is tired. So very, very tired. I'm taking the summer off again, so chapters should be more frequent now! Hopefully... but, for now:

Review Responses:

Thunder Dragon: Well, they're not quite there yet. But they're getting there. It just might take a little while longer. And maybe one or two more intense fights.

Odin's Eye: Yeah. After they got separated and all, I thought you guys could use one last moment with all of them together and just being friends.

Leviathan's Heir: Yeah. I hope you enjoyed this aftermath chapter. I feel like I could've spent a bit more time on it, though.

Enku: Indeed they can't. And... yes and no? To put it simply, after everything that happened that day, Yang is probably just as confused as you guys are, though she does know that she still cares about Izuku.

King Ceasar Jr: Indeed.

KongKing94: Yep! Though that may or may not involve a few broken bones along the way.

Uruk-Hai: Oh, how simple that would be... I wish it was that simple. Unfortunately, this is Remnant! Nothing's as simple as it should be!

Kaiser Dragon: Indeed she will... when they both admit how they feel. Which is not quite yet, unfortunately.

jaalco: Yes. Kind of. It's sentient, but its existence is tied to Jaune.

And that's everything for now!

Next Chapter: Jun. 7th

Seeya in the next one!