Declination

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

-Winston Churchill

Izuku's eyes slowly peeled themselves open. He coughed, groaning. For some reason, his hand itched. He tried to scratch it, but nothing happened. He looked down. Right. His arm was gone. But it did itch.

The door opened, and a doctor walked in. She smiled at Izuku. "You're awake at last. We've had you in a medical coma for the last 36 hours. How do you feel?"

"Where's Mei?" Izuku croaked, his lips dry and cracked. "Is she safe?"

"Mei Hatsume is resting and recovering, just like you. She will be fine in a few days, as will you, young man. You'll be able to see her soon. But how are you doing?"

Izuku tried to smile, but it was more of a grimace. "My hand itches. And...and everything hurts."

"We can do something for the pain. Here. Drink this. It's just water, don't worry." He tried to raise his arm to steady the cup, but his right sleeve only twitched. Instead, the doctor held it up for Izuku, who greedily gulped the water down. It was barely a swallow, but it felt like a lead weight going down his throat.

"Careful. Not too fast now. This should help with the pain." The doctor took out a needle, placing it into a slot in the IV connected to Izuku's remaining arm. "You need to rest. Don't worry. You're going to make it."

A warm sensation, like a tingling fire, ran up Izuku's arm. His eyelids fluttered shut, and he rode away into sleep on a warm tide.

When he awoke again, someone was sitting by his bed, snoring. He tried to sit up, but it was too hard. "Mom?"

"Izuku?" his mother gasped, suddenly sitting up. She reached out to hug Izuku, then hesitated, settling for a death grip on his left hand. "Oh God! Izuku! You're awake! I'm so sorry, I wasn't here the last time, I had just stepped out and-"

"Mom, it's OK," Izuku said, smiling. "I'm OK. We did it. Mei's alright."

"Oh, oh Izuku…" His mother burst into tears, clutching his hand.

Doctors came and went, and Izuku's mother stayed at his side for long hours, talking to him, mostly about whatever came into her head, from vacation's they'd taken when he was a child to playing in the rain when she was a girl. Izuku let the soothing stream of words wash over him. He drank a little water, and they fed him a clear, nearly tasteless broth. Then he slept again.

When he awoke, it wasn't his mother sitting at his bedside. "All...All Might?"

"Hey kid," the skeletal hero said, cracking a grin. His arms were in casts and there were bandages all over his head, and he was sitting in a wheelchair. What had happened to him? Well, Izuku knew that. The same thing that had happened to him.

"All Might...what...what happened?" Izuku whispered. "I know...I know you were hurt before, but...but it was like... like you lost your quirk."

All Might gave Izuku a crooked smile. "Yeah, well, now I'm just like you again. Another quirkless wannabe hero. Well, in your case, that's not much of a wannabe anymore."

That made Izuku flinch, and he glanced at where his right arm should have been. There was just an empty sleeve, pinned up to keep it shut.

"Ah, yeah. Sorry. I would say that an injury like that would keep you from ever becoming a hero, but frankly, that would be a lie. You're already a hero, Izuku Midoriya. And really, I think I've learned not to doubt you. You'll find a way past this."

Those words made Izuku's heart leap with joy. He looked up at All Might, a smile tugging at his lips. "You think so?"

"Yeah. I do. What can I say? You wouldn't be the first quirkless boy who rose to greatness."

"You said...you said you were quirkless before. That...that can't be true, can it?"

"I'll tell you a secret. But you can't tell anyone, not even Mei. Understand?" All Might asked.

Slowly, Izuku nodded. All Might leaned close, and his voice was barely a whisper. "I was born quirkless."

Izuku started, his eyes going wide. "What? That's impossible! Your quirk is amazing! Everyone has always speculated just what it is, but it's one of the greatest strength enhancing quirks ever!'

"Nope. That quirk was never mine. I only got to borrow it for a time. And, well, that time has passed. My time as a hero, as the Symbol of Peace, has passed."

Izuku looked down. "I guess...my time as a hero has probably passed as well, huh? Have they expelled me from UA yet?"

"Expelled you? Well, I'll let Aizawa fill you in on that one. Summer vacation ends in a few more weeks. They might let you out of the hospital by then. Recovery Girl's paid you a few visits. Part of why you've been sleeping so much."

"But...but we broke the law," Izuku said, tears entering his eyes. He sniffed, then shook his head. He wouldn't cry about that. "I would do it again, to save Mei, to save you. But I knew what the consequences would be. We all did."

"No, I don't think you did, young Midoriya. But time will tell," All Might said. "But I came to say something. Something you need to hear, maybe now more than ever. Young man. You too can be a hero."

That made Izuku smile again. "Thanks. That does mean a lot. At one time, that would have meant more than anything in the world to me. But now…"

"But now a certain pink-haired lady holds the keys to your heart and spirit," All Might said. "Don't blush, it's alright. She's been in a few times to see you. The doctors have her resting again. She's mostly recovered, but she did lose a lot of blood. And...and something else."

"What happened?" Izuku said, feeling a sense of dread overwhelm him. "She's not, she didn't-"

"Her quirk is gone," All Might said quietly. "One For All took it."

Izuku's heart nearly stopped. "What?"

"He can do that. Take quirks from people. That's how he got so powerful. Perhaps you'll be able to learn more later, but for now, just be ready. Losing your quirk can be...hard. I should know. I've been staring that in the face for over a year now. But you'll both get through this. You're strong. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's someone else who wants to see you."

The door slid open, revealing Mei. She smiled at Izuku, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw her eyes. The distinctive crosshairs were gone. Her pupils were normal; brown, round, and utterly quirkless.

"Hi, Izuku. I would give you a hug, but the doctor says you are still hurt." Mei carefully stepped forward, taking Izuku's hand in hers. She squeezed it tightly. "Are you OK?"

"I am now," Izuku said. And for a while, he was.

Mei stayed with him as long as she could. Eventually though, the doctors made her leave so Izuku could rest again.

Two days later, he was released from the hospital. However, instead of going home, he and Mei were taken by the police to UA. Izuku felt his heart sink as they pulled up. He knew what was coming. Mei had to come around and help him out of the police car, as he was still weak and learning how to move again with his missing limb.

"It's OK, we'll make a super cute baby for you, and you'll have two arms again," Mei promised. "I think this one should have a flamethrower. Or maybe a grappling hook. Possibly both!"

"I don't know, Mei," Izuku said quietly. "I don't think they'll let me be a hero now."

That made her frown. "Why not? You're already a hero. You saved me and All Might."

"I broke the law to do it," Izuku told her. "They'll definitely expell me, and I'll probably never have the chance to earn a hero license."

"Well then that's a stupid law and they should change it," Mei declared. "How else can you show off our super cute babies?"

"You never stop believing in me, do you Mei?" Izuku asked, feeling content despite the fate he was marching towards.

"Of course not," Mei stated, as if that were the natural state of the universe.

"Well. Then I guess I can live with being your hero," Izuku chuckled.

They were led by the police officers to a large conference room. Inside, Izuku found all the members of Class 1A and Shinso.

"Midoriya! Good to see you're still kicking!" Kirishima called, standing and coming over. "How's it going, man?"

"Mei's alive. So am I. Right now, I think that counts for a lot," Izuku said.

Kirishima nodded. "Yeah. It does. Don't worry. We all agree. It was worth it."

"No regrets," Ashido agreed. "Plus, we got to save All Might. How many people can say that they did that?"

"Whatever," Bakugo grumbled. "It's not like they were going to let me be a hero anyway."

"Maybe if you had a better attitude they would," Urakara sighed. "Now we'll all have to find other jobs. I haven't been able to look my parents in the eyes for two weeks when they visited me. At least they finally let us all out of the hospital."

It had been 18 days since the fight against All For One in Kamino Ward, but the battle had been intense. Izuku had been mildly shocked to learn that no one had died. Shinso had very nearly done so, being dropped into a mass of nervous police who had just finished fighting the nomu. Thankfully, they had asked questions first and shot later. That had been when Togata had been told what was happening.

He had been putting down the nomu, left behind by All Might. Shinso had told everyone how poorly the battle had been going, and Togata had dashed off at super human speed, arriving only moments later. It had felt like an eternity to Izuku, but then again, he had a hard time figuring out just how long that fight had lasted.

"I'm sure we'll find another school to take us in," Iida said encouragingly. "Well, in the general studies course. They have schools for delinquents, right?"

"I don't know, I'll have to ask the state youth penitentiary," Mr. Aizawa said, stepping into the room.

"Mr. Aizawa!" the class gasped, and everyone stood, though many still bore the marks of injuries from the battle.

"Sit down you idiots. Midoriya, you look like you can barely stand even with Hatsume's help. Sit down before you fall over," Aizawa ordered.

Shakily, Izuku managed to sit in the chair, but he didn't look away from Mr. Aizawa, meeting the teacher's gaze. For a long moment, Aizawa looked around the room, meeting each of his pupils' eyes.

"I'm sorry sir, but it had to be done," Iida stated, sitting up straight, eyes forward. "I fully understand the consequences of my actions, and accept them."

"Really. Well, you might be the only person in all of Japan to figure it out then," Aizawa snapped, but Iida didn't back down, staring back until Aizawa looked on to the next student.

"Well, Midoriya, I suppose you're the one who got everyone into this," Aizawa said at last. "Have anything to say for yourself?"

"Why are you picking on them?" Mei burst out. "They saved me! They saved All Might! You should be thanking them! Not being mad at them!"

"You think this is me mad, Hatsume?" Aizawa demanded. His eyes narrowed. "You have not yet begun to see the depths of my fury. Or to grasp the consequences of what you've done. Do you all even begin to understand what you did?"

"We saved Mei," Jiro stated, folding her arms over her chest. "And to hell with the rest."

"Yeah," Kaminari agreed. "I might be an idiot, but I knew you'd expell me. Figured I might even end up in jail or something. But dammit teach, Mei was captured! And if we hadn't gone after her, she and All Might would have died!"

"Plus Midoriya," Bakugo said, putting his feet up on the table and leaning back in his chair. "That moron would have gone after her alone."

Aizawa's scarf snapped out, striking Bakugo in the shin. He winced and put his feet down.

"Yes. And God help me, I don't know what would have been worse," Aizawa said. He let out a heavy sigh. "I asked to speak to all of you before the rest of them get at you. And...well, let me just say this: none of this is a logical deception. So, understand that what I say next is true: From one Pro Hero to another, you all did well. Better than we could ever have imagined."

"What?!" the class gasped.

Then Aizawa slammed his fists on the conference table. "And as your teacher, I have to say I have never seen such reckless, idiotic behavior! You all rushed in like a pack of damn fools! You nearly all got yourselves killed, most of you were injured, some seriously so! Midoriya lost his arm! You should all be punished most severely!"

Everyone looked down. Yaoyorozu was the one to break the silence. "But we did the right thing. And...and we accept the price we have to pay."

"It's going to be steep," Aizawa said. "More than any of you can ever imagine."

"Ai am too prettay to go to jail," Aoyama moaned. "Zey do tairribuhl theengs to ones who sparkle such as I!"

"Oh, it's going to be worse than that," Aizawa stated. "Much, much worse. You'll hardly have a free moment or day to yourself again. The next few decades of your life are going to be a brutal hell, worse than anything I've put you through. I didn't think any of you got that yet, you still thought being a hero was going to be fun. Well, I hope you've had that knocked out of you. Now it's time to wake up, and smell the roses."

Aizawa turned to go, but then he paused, turning his head. "Oh, and one last thing. I'm proud of you. You're the finest group of young heroes I've ever had the privilege to teach. I'll do what I can to help you live up to the promise you've shown."

On that baffling note, Aizawa opened the door, and the Chief of Police, flanked by two officers, strode in.

"Class 1A, woof. You've broken more rules than I care to list. The statues against using quirks to harm another. Wearing costumes and operating as heros in public without a license. Destruction of property, woof. And a dozen more if I bothered to look hard."

"We're not apologizing," Izuku said, feeling more than a little frustrated. "We had to do it. Lives were on the line."

"I could never live with myself if I turned my back on my friends, ribbit," Tsu agreed. "I did what I had to."

"Lock us up, old man," Bakugo said with a grin. "See how people like that."

"Lock you up? I suppose that might be the sane thing to do, woof," the chief of police mused. But that's simply not going to happen. Perhaps a medal ceremony would be more appropriate."

"What?!" the class gasped.

"They don't know," Aizawa said. He pulled out a remote and pointed it at a TV mounted on the wall. "It will be easier if we just show them."

"Go ahead," the chief said with a sigh.

The TV clicked on, showing news footage. It was an aerial shot of the early part of the battle, zoomed in on All Might. He was on his knees, cradling Mei in his arms, bleeding and broken from a blow from All For One.

"-is down! I repeat, All Might is down!" a panicked reporter cried. The video cut away to the studio, where one anchor was speechless, and the other was sobbing uncontrollably. They quickly cut back to the battle, where the camera was trembling as the stunned reporters looked on, the only sound the dronning of the helicopter. For a terrible moment, All Might knelt on the ground, alone, and defeated, and all hope was lost.

Explosions suddenly shook the battlefield, shockwaves rocking the helicopter.

"What is that? It's...it's some sort of robot?! It just jumped out from behind those buildings, it's firing missiles! I don't recognize that, what hero is that?"

"Jesus Christ!" another voice cried. "That's the kid who won the 1st Year UA Sports Festival! What is he doing here?!"

"That's a UA student!? What on earth-oh my God, there's more! There are dozens of heroes now, entering the battle! Is that Endeavor?!"

"No! That's his son! He's another 1st year at UA High! I think...I think those are all UA Students! They...they're saving All Might! They've saved All Might! And they're battling the villains! They're battling the League of Villains, and they're winning!"

The battle raged on for a few minutes, the reporters cheering and weeping by turn as they provided color commentary. They seemed ready to wail in despair as Class 1A fell back before the League, until Togata showed up.

"That's Lemillion! He's the one who captured Stain! He's...he's another UA student! My God, this is just a bunch of high school kids, facing down against the most dangerous villains in Japan! And by God, they're WINNING! Not even All Might could take on these guys, and yet a bunch of high school kids can, and they're WINNING!"

"Look, Lemillion, he's forced them to retreat! And-my God! DID YOU SEE THAT!?"

"THIS IS FOR ALL MIGHT!"

All For One zoomed up into the sky as the camera desperately tried to stay focused on him.

"THIS ONE'S FOR CLASS 1A!"

There was another boom and the camera lost focus as the helicopter spun wildly from the force of the winds caused by Togata's crushing blow.

"AND THIS ONE'S FOR ME!" the helicopter rocked harder than before, and it was long seconds before it steadied.

When the camera refocused, it was on Lemillion, striking his pose and screaming, "POWERRRR!"

"They did it!" the reporter wept. "Those kids did it! They defeated All For One and the League of Villains. We're saved! We're all saved!"

"All Might… All Might has fallen," the other reporter gasped. "But...but I think we have new Pillars of Peace!"

The TV shut off. Izuku felt as though he were floating, watching himself from some surreal vantage point. Had that really happened? Had he really done that? That had been insane, rushing in like that. But…

"People across the nation, no, across the world, are hailing all of you as the new Pillars of Peace, woof," the chief of police said. "If we locked you up, the entire nation would descend into anarchy."

"Officially, and every pro hero who was there will swear to this, you were all there as interns," Aizawa stated. "You were acting under authorization from UA, All Might, and the rest of the pro heroes. It helps that several of you did intern under many of the heroes present."

"Are you serious?" Sero gasped. "That's...that's crazy!"

"Crazier than a bunch of high school kids charging in to save the Number 1 hero, and then go on to defeat not only the greatest threat this nation has ever faced, but also the very organization that's struck fear into our hearts for the past months, woof?" the chief of police asked.

Slowly, Izuku shook his head. "But...but it's not true."

"Paperwork and those present say otherwise," Aizawa stated. "You remember how I said your lives were going to be very, very hard for the next 20 years? Well, you saw what happened to All Might. Guess what? You've all just volunteered to take his place."

"You mean, Izuku really is the world's greatest hero now?" Mei demanded.

Aizawa shrugged. "One of them. But yes."

Mei whooped and jumped up. "I knew it, Izuku! You are the world's greatest hero!"

Izuku could only blush, but when he met Mei's eyes, he smiled. "Yeah. I guess we are now. And that means you, too, Mei."

"Ha! Two quirkless kids, the world's greatest heroes!"

"No. We're just heroes. Our quirks don't matter. It's what we do that counts."

The End of Book 1

Authors Note:

I hope you've enjoyed this story so far. This isn't the end of the story, far from it. It is, however, the end of what I wrote before I started publishing the story back in January 2020. As of time of publishing, I've written the rest of this story, but I'll need time to edit and revise to make sure it's up the standards of quality I expect from myself now. There will be one chapter in June that is a bridge between Books 1 and 2, and then Book 2 will begin in July 2020.

I'd like to extend a special thanks to kylekatarn77 for beta reading this story. His careful editing and thoughtful suggestions have made this a better, more readable and most importantly more fun story. Special thanks to Poliamida as well for their help in hitting just the right notes in the more emotional parts of the story, as well as reminding me to shut up and let the characters be quiet once in a while. And to my mother, for putting up with my crazy stories for all these years.

Thanks for reading, and especially reviewing. If you've enjoyed the story, please do consider leaving a review, and if you already have, thank you so much. It's the feedback and support from the community that really motivates me to continue publishing these stories. And, if you want notifications when the story resumes, just follow this story as I'll continue posting new chapters under the same story.

Until next time,

Full-Paragon