The Bright Hero, Cobalt

Chapter Fifteen

A/N: Thanks again to my editors, friends, readers, and reviewers! Here comes the finale of the Sports Festival Arc! I've actually been waiting for a while to write this part! I hope each of you enjoys this chapter!

"Normal speech."

"Buff Might/SHOOOOOOTOOOOO/AI/Explosively angry speech."

'Thinking.'

"Telepathic communication."

'Sign language.'

Several Months In The Future

Izuku tucked a small, adorable, sweet child into bed. Eri had become an important part of everybody's lives by this point, all of Class 1-A, along with several others, helping her adoptive mother and father take care of the little albino unicorn. "Unca Zuku? Can you tell me about how you and Auntie Chako started d...da…"

"Dating?" the verdette supplied. The small creature of adorableness gave an excited nod, prompting the red-shoed hero-in-training to ask, "Didn't your mom or dad tell you that story yet?"

An adorable grumpy look crossed the tiny tot's face. "Mama said it wasn't her story to tell, and Papa was…"

"Papa was Papa?"

The potential second coming of Recovery Girl nodded. "Papa is silly," she said with a giggle.

Izuku nodded. "Yup. Your papa and mama are really silly, but that's just why we all love them!" he said with a grin, then added, "I'm gonna need Auntie Chako to come here and help, so she'll be here in a few minutes to tell her parts of the story. While we wait, how about I give you a head rub?"

The little girl nodded, and got a little head rub while they waited. The white-haired girl grabbed his hand, feeling it as it performed its task. "I like your hands. They're warm and kind," the girl said as she shut her eyes in contentment.

Izuku gave the kid a bashful grin. "Your hands are warm and kind, too. I know you'll do wonderful things with your hands someday. People will start saying how kind and gentle you are, and how brave, too! Now, Auntie Chako's outside, so I'm gonna let her in, okay?" he said, then got up and let his girlfriend in.

"You know you can just walk in, right?" Izuku reminded the brunette, a welcoming smile on his face.

Ochako blushed and gave him a glare that lacked any sort of malice. "Y'know it's really embarrassin' to do somethin' like that! Yah can't bring yerself to just walk into mah room either, after all, even with the invitation to do the same!" the gravity girl retorted, flustered.

After a bit of silent communication between the two, Izuku smiled and sat nearby, while Ochako sat before the girl in the bed. "This all happened before we properly knew your mama, and before we'd even heard of your papa, nearly a year ago now. It was the final round of the U.A. Sports Festival…"

Start Of The Final Round

The boy wearing Izuku's face looked down at the girl below, a bit of contempt for the girl stirring to the surface. "You woke me up. The only reason I haven't seriously hurt anybody here is because it would upset Izuku, Inko, and Aureck," he said to the one called Uraraka as he pushed off the commentator's box and slowly descended to the ring.

The brunette across from him scowled at the being wearing her crush's face. "Who are you? What did you do to Izuku-kun?" she asked as the two of them gave Nemuri the okay to start the match as this was happening.

Even as the go ahead was given, the individual pulling the strings of Izuku's puppet body smirked. "Well, since Aureck doesn't want me to tell you anything, and Inko feels a desperate need to show the two of you the letter she's nearly finished, I will simply throw the two of you both a bone and a curveball. I'm the one who created Midoriya Izuku," he said before conjuring up an enormous green shield wall, along with a few redundant ones behind it. "You want Izuku? Come and get him, and I will return him to you. Prove to me that your determination to help him is stronger than my determination to stop you!"

Ochako was about to leap up and run up the walls to the other side, but out of nowhere, she felt terrible. She sank to her knees, suddenly incredibly nervous and scared. 'W-what is this? Where did this fear come from? I'm suddenly so scared…' the brunette wondered to herself, the terror beginning to overcome her before she was suddenly given a glimpse of several memories.

"We're in this together, after all."

"You can just use this bond to chat with me, if you're ever feeling lonely."

"Thank you, Uraraka-san."

When she came out of the flashbacks, she felt...warm, like she was being hugged. Soon, she realized why. A green aura came off of her. 'Right, he leaves all of us with some of his green aura in case we need it. It activated on its own, though?' she wondered to herself before reaching out experimentally, creating a small wall of her own, and giving it a mental push, sending it crashing through all the walls not-Izuku had erected, the barriers shattering with little resistance. With a smug grin, she taunted her opponent. "You should be more like Izuku-kun, and appreciate how powerful I am! Now…" At this, she reached out with her green aura and gripped not-Izuku with it. "Give me my friend back!"

The person in her grasp seemed defeated for a moment, before he smirked. "You're strong, but there's more to Izuku's power than either of you know. You've seen Green and Blue, but neither of those are suited to combat the way Red is," he said ominously before the green aura that had been grasping him suddenly was holding nothing, the boy having transformed into particles of red aura that slipped away, moving up into the air a bit before reforming into Izuku's body, now glowing with a bright red aura. He flew at the girl on the ground, a manic grin on his face that would look more fitting on a user of explosions.

Ochako only just barely put up a shield to prevent a flurry of blows from hitting her, before the boy suddenly vanished, afterimages of him flowing around to behind her, where a shield erected itself before she even realized he was flanking her. 'Izuku's still defending me, even when he's not in control? What is this?'

"Don't you see yet? His heart is responding! He feels that you're afraid, and so he protects you the only way he can, even when tucked deep in the recesses of his mind! He would move entire mountain ranges to protect the innocent, and for his friends, for the people who make his life worth living, he would be able to move the country itself! For you, though, he could move the very earth we stand on! He appreciates your power, yes, but he has yet to appreciate HIS!" the imposter roared as he continued zipping around the brunette, delivering powerful, swift blows that were always intercepted, regardless of Ochako's ability to sense where he was coming from.

The holder of Izuku's heart smirked, getting an idea. With a shove outward, the barrier the body-snatcher was currently wailing on pushed him back, taking him off balance. "I'll be sure he does that in just a few minutes, you damned friend-snatcher!" she exclaimed as she broke through her own barrier, dropping it as she wrapped her arms around the boy before her.

The boy grinned. "Gotcha. TALK NO JUTSU!" he exclaimed, and suddenly, Ochako found herself in some clothes she wears around her parents' apartment, while the boy before her…

Ochako was startled to see a younger, less healthy looking version of Izuku, wearing a hospital gown with a little duck pin on it. "Yeah, Izuku had a nice idea for a technique name, all things considered. He's a good guy. I'm glad he found somebody like you," the little boy said softly.

The brown-eyed girl blinked. "You're...not who I thought I'd be seeing...Are you some kind of alternate Izuku-kun?" she asked softly, hoping not to spook the little boy before her.

The tiny verdette shook his head. "Sorta, but honestly, I'm nobody important. I just sleep in the back of his head, to help if he needs it. You...made me a bit happy just now, though, so I'll give you a hint. I won't let you share it with him, but you guys like references, so I think you'll be able to figure it out for yourself. It's my duty to protect the little ones who come after. That's who I am to Izuku," the tiny tot said with a bit of a smirk on his face that should be more adorable than it was, the dark circles around his eyes belying the hurt he'd suffered.

The Protector, which is what she'd be calling him until she knew who and what he was, floated forwards and patted her on the shoulder, having levitated until he was at eye level with her. "Please, keep being there for Izuku and Aureck. Inko-san as well. And...tell Inko-san that if she wants to tell you who I am, I'm okay with that, but I'm more than a little upset when I remember what I was, so I won't be telling you guys myself anytime soon. Now, I've got to go. This body isn't mine anymore, after all," he said as he floated back to the body he'd hijacked, and Ochako floated back to hers. The world around them started moving again, and she felt the Bond reignite, filling her with an intense joy that spilled over to Izuku, who seemed a bit confused at where he was.

"U-Uraraka-san? W-what happened? The last thing I remember-"

"Look into my heart and mind, Izuku-kun. Please, look. I want you to know my feelings," she said happily as she held her Bonded partner closer.

And look he did. "You...really? This isn't some elaborate prank?" he asked, knowing the answer despite his doubts.

She grinned. "Really really! I really like you, Izuku-kun! I like like you! I only realized it a week ago! I was just scared to say it, but I can't pretend otherwise anymore!" she exclaimed before the two of them began glowing bright blue, the glow putting the very edges of the ring in shadow.

The binary stars, once more together, ascended to the sky, flitting about and just barely missing one another as they just let out their excitement. Again and again, they flew past each other, giving off the image of two super saiyans clashing if you only saw it with your eyes. "I like you too, Uraraka-chan! I really do like like you!" the boy with the azure glow exclaimed.

Just then, it was like a dam was broken. The two of them now saw something...different. Ochako's eyes widened. "Is this what you saw when you first awakened this power? It's...beautiful...The world is so full of good people!" she exclaimed in awe.

The freckled boy nodded. "Yeah, but there's something different this time...Do you see it, too?" he asked, his grin even wider than before.

The brown-haired sometimes-heavyweight took another look before realizing something. "There are...lines everywhere, like constellations on top of constellations...Are these...everybody's bonds?" she asked, then answered her own question when she looked at the object of her affections, and saw a bright, solid line between the two of them. Also connected to her, heading off in the distance, was a single line that she somehow just knew was actually two lines very close together. She frowned, a feeling of longing for home making itself known in her heart. "I...I miss my ma and pa," she said softly, remembering happy times with them.

Izuku didn't know how he knew, but he knew he'd be able to take her home then and there, his mind suddenly just knowing what these lines were for. "Do you want to see them?" he asked, a grin on his face.

The brunette's eyes widened as the empath freely shared what he just realized. "B-but our match! I mean, I wanna, but we shouldn't just be floatin' here like this, we're supposed ta be beatin' the tar outta each other!" Ochako explained, panicking a bit.

Izuku gave his partner of mutual pining a cheeky grin, before looking down at the ref. "Midnight-sensei, we're going to Mie for a couple minutes. I'll be touching the ground first, so call the match in Uraraka-chan's favor! We'll be back real quick, so don't call a search party or anything!" he exclaimed, startling the envoy of dreams.

"WAIT, MIE?! THAT'S TWO BULLET TRAINS AWAY! WHY CAN'T YOU FINISH YOUR MATCH LIKE A NORMAL KID?!" the R-Rated Hero exclaimed, startling the audience a bit.

With a grin, Izuku waved, then pulled his opponent into a one-armed hug, and grasped the bond to shouts of joy and an explosion or two from their class's section. The two of them began transforming into particles of blue aura, and a line visible to the naked eye formed, linking their last location to their destination…

With Mina And Eijiro

The manly man and the alien queen stared in awe out the window of the infirmary the two of them were in, having decided to hang out alone for a bit. Invisible to the two of them, a bright, solid line connected the two, much like their hands at the moment.

With Shoto

The boy sat in the infirmary, one arm in a sling, the other holding his phone and going through his miniscule contacts. A banner sat folded in one of the chairs in the room, having been written on with blue marker recently. The boy gazed at a photo of his family before everything went wrong, unseen lines linking him to his family, and now to his new friends as well.

At The 1-A Section

The entire section was cheering with elation at the sight of the sweethearts everybody was shipping to some extent vanishing to head to Mie, enough of them knowing the prefecture Ochako called home that they had a good idea of why they were headed there.

Katsuki...found himself with a passenger. "Get me to that Hatsume girl! I wanna hit her with my sword!" his invisible hijacker exclaimed, pointing an unseen finger in the direction of the workshop.

"HAAAH?! Do I look like a fucking taxi to you? And what sword? You're unarmed, you fucking weirdo!" the bombastic blond roared.

"Do I look like I care? Don't answer that, nobody knows what I look like yet! Just get moving, my explosive steed!" Tooru exclaimed loudly, wrapping around Katsuki tighter.

Everybody laughed uproariously as the screaming duo took flight, invisible bonds connecting them all.

At A Hospital In Hoth

Tenya paced the waiting room, his mother weeping softly in her seat as his father gazed out the window with a bit of wonder on his stern face. The second son of Iida followed his father's eyes and saw the bright line of blue cutting across the sky, a sad smile on his face as he knew somehow what it was, the boy reaching out before pulling his hand back and shaking his head, doubts clouding his heart.

In A Small Apartment In Mie Prefecture

The Urarakas were startled, to say the least. They were watching their little girl and the boy she spoke so fondly of over the phone floating over the ring on the tv one second, then the next, there's a bright blue line headed off in the distance on their tv, that led to their living room, right next to them, where the two reformed before they'd even fully vanished on their screen, the two floating before the boy dropped to the floor, bowing to them.

"Uraraka Naoto-san, Uraraka Mizuki-san, I'm sorry for the intrusion, but I'd like to ask for your blessing to date your daughter!" he exclaimed, the position made even more awkward by him using his aura to prevent his outdoor shoe-clad feet from touching their floor.

"IZUKU-KUUUN!" Ochako screamed in shock and embarrassment as she covered her bright red face with both hands and started floating away via her own quirk as well as Izuku's blue aura.

Naoto turned to look at his giggling wife, who was pulling their daughter back down to the couch to sit between them, then to their aforementioned daughter, a smile on his face. "Does he make ya happy, Ochako-chan?" he asked, a tear forming in his eye.

The younger of the two Uraraka women nodded behind her hands. "More than anything, Pa. But what about lettin' the two of ya live the good life?" she asked, pulling her face out from behind her hands as she cancelled her quirk.

Mizuki gave her husband a knowing look, the man nodding with a smile as she turned to her daughter. "Ochako, sweety, we're yer parents! We ain't livin' the good life no matter what if yer sacrificin' yer own happiness fer ours! You date this sweet boy, and don't worry so much about us, all right?" the older brunette said, reminding her daughter of the reason parents raise their kids, for them to become happy and successful.

Crying just a bit, the gravity-wielder smiled. "Ma, Pa, thanks! W-we'll come visit soon, all right? We can have dinner an' everything!" she exclaimed.

Izuku got up, and bowed to his girlfriend's parents. "Th-thank you both! I'll treat your daughter with the care and respect she deserves! I'll bring her over to visit anytime you want, too!" he exclaimed with joy.

Naoto grinned at the boy, then turned to his daughter. "We were gonna get on the bullet train an' visit, but since you two can just come by anytime now, how 'bout we have dinner tomorrow? If ya can bring his ma, too, that'd be even better. We'll pull out all the bells n' whistles!" he suggested, before his phone started ringing. Checking the caller ID, he saw it was the school. "Looks like they're lookin' fer ya. Y'all had better head back now. We'll talk more later. I've gotta take this," he said with a chuckle, before Ochako got a mischievous grin on her face and grabbed her boyfriend with one arm, and his bond to his mother with the other, the two vanishing once more.

Izuku and Inko were both startled when Ochako picked the woman up effortlessly and brought her to the center of the ring, then bowed before her, and asked, "Can I date yer son? I promise ta cherish 'im ferever!"

After a bit of sputtering, the woman grinned and gave Ochako her blessing, before Izuku shouted, "ON LIVE TV?! REALLY?!"

Plenty of people laughed at the incident, having ended happily and all. Kayama, upon getting confirmation from Izuku that he did, in fact, touch the ground outside the arena first, called the match in favor of Ochako. She would need to devise new ways to embarrass the couple, since she didn't want to corrupt the cinnamon bun too much.

Meanwhile, the Midoriyas just kept bawling with joyous tears, prompting further laughter from their friends and the audience, the two embracing one another in their happiness. Plans were made later on to visit the Urarakas for dinner.

Several Months Later, In Izuku's Room

Izuku and Ochako smiled at the entire class's adopted niece, having gotten tuckered out part way through the story, breathing softly as sleep gently embraced her. They'd have to tell her the parts she'd been asleep for later, but that'd be a good time as well, they were sure. Ochako grinned and hugged her boyfriend before the girl left, headed to her dorm room to get ready for bed, the smile never leaving her face as she recalled that day.