Beta'd by Poliamida and Kylekatarn77
61. In Heavenly Peace
So is human life made of clouds and sunshine, and it is hard to tell whether there is more light than shade; whether there is more joy or sorrow in this world of ours.
-Amherst Collegiate Magazine, January 1855
A soft blanket of snow had fallen over UA, covering it in a layer of white. The campus lay still, slumbering in peace despite the tumultuous events of the past few weeks. Izuka lay sound asleep, snoring softly, wrapped in a layer of warm blankets. Beside his bed sat his prosthetic arm, charging in its stand. Though he had lost one of his cybernetic arms when he'd been kidnapped by the Shie Hassaikai, this time he and Mei Hastsume had been prepared with a spare. Currently, his arm was functioning as a sort of alarm clock. The time read 5:59, and slowly ticked over to 6:00.
Downstairs, there was a loud thump, then the pounding of feet up the stairs and along dorm halls to Izuku's room. He was just stirring when he was shocked into wakefulness by Mei diving headfirst into his chest.
"Izuku! Wake up! It's Christmas!"
Izuku gapsed, his eyes popping open to see Mei's grinning face hovering only inches above his own.
"I...what?" he wheezed. He glanced over at his arm, the time readout still showing only 6:00am. "Mei, we don't have any duties today, why are you waking me up?"
"Because it's Christmas!" Mei repeated, standing and tugging on Izuku's arm. "Come on! That means presents! Santa came! Come on, you like presents don't you?"
"I do like presents," Izuku agreed, allowing himself to be dragged out of bed. The door next to his slammed open, and Shinso stuck his head in, his eyes wild.
"What happened? Are there villains? Is it the MLA?" The other boy had his capture weapon wrapped around one arm, and was dressed only in a pair of long pants. Izuku was somewhat grateful he'd fallen asleep with a shirt on, and had worn sweatpants himself.
"It's Christmas!" Mei cried happily, dragging Izuku out of his room and pushing Shinso aside. "Come on Shinso, you have a present too! Santa brought presents for everyone!"
A few doors down, Uraraka stumbled out of her room, wearing only a t-shirt that was far too large for her. Behind her, Bakugo hopped out, struggling to put on his pants.
"Where are they?!" Bakugo roared. "I'll blow their heads off! I mean, I'll punch them, or something!"
"What happened, Mei?" Uraraka gasped. "Are you hurt? Is Hari ok?"
"Everything is OK! It is Christmas!" Mei declared. "It is time for presents! Come on, we have to wake everyone up!"
Shinso muttered a string of curses that made Izuku blush slightly. "I am not getting out of bed when it is this cold for freaking Christmas cake. Jesus Christ."
"Yes!" Mei agreed. "Shiozaki told me about him! Apparently it's his birthday!"
More doors burst open, with everyone from the class piling out into the hall and demanding to know what the emergency was. Uraraka slunk back into her room, her face flaming red, while Bakugo stood in front of her door, arms across his chest. A few minutes later, Uraraka emerged fully clothed and gave Bakugo back his shirt while Izuku was still trying to explain that Mei was simply excited it was Christmas and neither the Meta Liberation Army, the survivors of the Shie Hassaikai, nor the reclusive League of Villains, or any other nefarious organization, was currently attacking them.
"No, I told you, there are PRESENTS!" Mei finally shouted. "You have to come downstairs! Santa came!"
"You expect me to believe some fat bastard snuck in last night and left us presents?" Bakugo demanded.
"Just stop questioning her," Uraraka yawned. "It will be easier if we just go downstairs and see what she's talking about."
Everyone trooped downstairs, where the other half of the class was standing around looking confused as Mei's older sister Hari Hatsume and their resident RA explained what was happening.
"Look, she gets like this every year. Ever since dad told her Santa would bring her a new welding torch if she was good when she was six. And if one of you tells her Santa isn't real, so help me I will-"
"Santa is real!" Mei declared. "He brought presents! Look, they are all under the tree!"
All eyes turned to the living room, where there was indeed now a large Christmas tree, complete with a pile of presents.
Bakugo snorted, but Uraraka elbowed him and he limited his remarks to several under his breath swears.
"Well then, if we have presents, clearly we should open them," Iida said, attempting to restore some order.
"Screw that, I'm going back to bed. The damn rabbits kept me up all night again," Jiro muttered, turning around to head back to her room.
Hari whirled about, her odd eyes skewering Bakugou and Uraraka with a glare.
"Um, Merry Christmas?" Uraraka said, smiling sweetly.
"Hey, you're not going anywhere," Kaminari said, grabbing Jiro's arm. "If we have to get up for presents, so do you."
Hari muttered under her breath, then sighed. "Well, Merry Christmas, I guess. Everyone go sit down, Mei's not going to stop vibrating until she gets to open her presents."
"And everyone else has to open their presents too!" Mei stated as they all moved towards the couches. "I got one for everyone, and there are some from Santa too!"
Izuku sat down on the floor by the tree, while Mei ran around distributing presents and lecturing everyone to wait until she had passed out all of them. Hari forced herself between Bakugo and Uraraka, loudly sipping her coffee and smiling sweetly at them. "We're going to have another fun chat later! I just hope you two didn't manage to give your parents a surprise present."
Uraraka looked down and blushed, but then looked back up at Hari, her expression firming. "I already told my parents, and Bakugo's know too. And...and neither of us could sleep again."
"We're not stupid," Bakugo muttered. "We did like Recovery Girl and you said."
"They are so not paying me enough for this," Hari sighed as Mei handed her a present.
"Here Izuku!" Mei said, sliding into place beside him and handing him a brightly wrapped package.
Izuku examined the tag, which read, "To Izuku, from Santa." He recognized the rough scrawl as belonging to Mei's father, Shu Hatsume. He guessed he had a pretty good idea as to "Santa's" identity.
"Ok, everyone can open presents now!" Mei declared, then cackled and shredded the wrapping around her own present like a kitten attacking its prey.
Izuku was far more careful; he had to be with only one hand. He slowly peeled back the paper so as not to rip the brightly colored wrapping. Inside he found the latest copy of Hero Fight!, along with a note.
"Mei says you like playing video games with the other kids at school. This one's popular, and you're even all in it."
Smiling, Izuku examined the box, which showed the entire roster of Class 1A (including Mei) on it. "Experience Heroes like never before! Now with the Pillars of Peace, Class 1A and Lemillion of UA! Face evil as Izuku Midoriya the Quirkless Wonder, or unleash the power of SCIENCE! on your foes as Genius Inventor: Mei Hastsume. Battle against the other heroes from Class 1A like the Bakugo: Demon of Battle, or take on the dastardly All For One and the League of Villains. Includes classics like All Might, with more available as DLC!"
Izuku slowly lowered the box, his stomach writhing. He looked up at Bakugo, who was holding up a t-shirt printed with a drum kit that read "BEAST OF THE BEAT'' on it. He apparently seemed to like it, and Izuku had heard him banging away on his drum kit enough to know where the idea for the present had come.
On the back of the games box, Bakugo was flying through the air on the back of an explosion, rushing toward a smiling Todoroki with one fist covered in flame, the other in ice. But the image there wasn't real, not anymore.
Katsuki Bakugo was now quirkless, and that was thanks entirely to Izuku Midoriya. He'd been the one foolish enough to meet with a yakuza captain, and had only barely bought enough time for Mei to escape the trap. When the others had come to rescue him, Bakugo had led the charge. And ran straight into a quirk erasing bullet.
In the days that had followed Izuku's rescue, Mei had thrown herself into frantic work. The first priority had been to obtain a sample of Bakugo's DNA before the quirk erasure.
"We have to find a source where Katsuki hasn't been, otherwise the sample will be contaminated," Mei had muttered as they walked through the dorm. Spying Uraraka, Mei had called, "Ochako! Where can we find some of Bakugo's DNA?"
The other girl had whirled about, her face going first pale, then bright red. "W-w-why would you think I would have any of Bakugo's DNA?!"
"Because Bakugo's always in your room like Hari yelled at you about," Mei stated matter of factly. "I need to check to see if he left any of his hair there."
Uraraka had been flustered, unable to come up with a sensible response "I, um, I don't-"
So Mei had pushed right into her room, combing through it with her goggles on to scan for blonde hairs. Bakugo hadn't been the only one to lose his quirk from Class 1A; Mei had lost hers to All For One when she too had been taken during their summer camp. Much had happened in only eight months. Izuku glanced at his empty right sleeve. He hadn't had time to put his prosthetic on when Mei had dragged him out, but that was all right. He was rather adroit at doing things one handed.
"Izuku! I got you a present too!"
Izuku blinked and looked up as a grinning Mei held out a package. Unlike the neatly wrapped one from "Santa" this one was haphazardly coated in what looked like Iida's old newspapers. Izuku accepted it, setting it down on the ground before him.
"Open it up!" Mei encouraged.
Carefully, Izuku unwrapped the small box, revealing a framed photograph. In it was a picture of he and Mei from the first night she'd come over to his house. She was grinning broadly, her arm wrapped around Izuku's shoulders, other hand pointing to the TV which showed a video of him piloting the old Power Suit MK II. Izuku was blushing and smiling, one hand rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, but the other was around Mei's shoulders.
"Mei, I…" tears filled Izuku's eyes, and he gently touched the glass pane.
Mei crouched down, looking concerned. "Do you like it?"
"Yes, very much," Izuku said, sniffing and reaching up to put his hand behind Mei's head, resting his forehead on hers. "You know, I think I was in love with you even then, I just didn't know how to say it."
"I do not think I started to love you until our date," Mei admitted. "When we graduated from Junior High. You were the first person I ever met who listened to me, and thought I was nice to be with. I had thought you only liked me because I was smart and made cute babies, but you wanted to listen even when I talked about dumb movies."
"You listened to me too," Izuku pointed out. He reached for the tree, rummaging around a bit, and pulled out a neatly wrapped box tied with a ribbon. "Hari warned me. Merry Christmas."
The box immediately turned into confetti, and Mei eagerly pulled out two new tools that made her whoop with excitement; an arc welder, and a multimeter.
"You remembered!" Mei said happily, grabbing Izuku and kissing him passionately. He was out of breath when they finished, but Mei was eagerly examining her new toys. "You are the best multimeter ever Izuku!"
"And you're the cutest arc welder," he chuckled.
While most of the others hadn't gotten gifts to exchange, everyone seemed happy with "Santa's" presents. The real star of the show though was the tame white rat that Koda had received, which the quiet boy soon had performing complex tricks to the delight of his classmates. Unlike most white rats, it had dark eyes, and was thus dubbed "Ink-Eyes" by Ashido. Mei eyed Ink-Eyes eagerly, muttering to herself about "experiments."
"You already have half a dozen of your own," Hari scolded her sister. "And would it kill you to remember to clean out their cage?"
"I did it a few days ago," Mei grumbled.
Not long after, a knock sounded at the door, which then burst open as Nikiawa and Komaru burst in. "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" the two boys roared, running up to their sisters.
"What did you get me?" Komaru demanded of Hari. "It better be something cool!"
"You'll see. Now put your goggles back on before you give me a headache kiddo," Hari lectured, reaching up and pulling Komaru's goggles down over his iridescent eyes. Izuku knew from experience that if you looked into them for too long, you became disoriented, and open to suggestions from the mischievous boy.
"Izuku, what did you get?" Nikiawa asked, practically vibrating with excitement. "Did you get something cool?" He cheered with excitement when Izuku showed him Hero Fight! and demanded to be allowed the first turn.
Izuku handed the game off, then stood to watch as Mr. Hatsume entered, carrying Eri in his arms.
"Merry Christmas, Eri," Izuku said, coming over to kneel down in front of the young girl as Shu set her down. "Are you ready for presents?"
Eri looked around at the decorations that Mei had insisted be put up the night before, lights, tinsel, and pine boughs, looking uncertain. "Maybe. Is...is it safe here? Overhaul, he's not here, is he?"
"I told you that son of a...biscuit...would never hurt you again," Mr. Hatsume rumbled, reaching down to set a calloused hand on Eri's head. "You're safe now, you hear? No need to fret."
Eri nodded. "Ok, daddy."
"Eri come on!" Nikiawa said, running over and grabbing her hand. "There's presents!" he dragged Eri towards the tree, laughing and telling her excitedly about Santa Claus.
"Merry Christmas, son," Mr. Hatsume said, giving Izuku a big bear hug.
"Merry Christmas, dad," Izuku said, and meant it.
Mrs. Hatsume came over to give Izuku a hug as well, standing on her tiptoes to do it. "Merry Christmas dear. You are getting tall! What are they feeding you? Must be the same thing those boys of mine are getting. Komaru! Put your goggles back on! Yes, even if it is Christmas, you are not challenging Shinso to a staring contest!"
She bustled off, scolding Komaru and then sitting down with Hari, putting Eri in her lap.
"How is she?" Izuku asked quietly as he and Mr. Hatsume moved towards the living room.
"She's gettin' better. She's still young. They bounce back fast at that age," Mr. Hatsume answered, keeping his voice low. "But she's had a bad time of it. Looks like we're gonna get to keep her though. Ain't no one else wants a kid who's already killed somebody with their quirk."
Izuku flinched. It was true that Eri's quirk was powerful, and erratic. Taking her into their home had been a danger for the Hatsume's, but at least they had some precautions. Izuku looked at the headband Eri wore, which was bright pink with unicorns running up and down it, and wrapped around the horn growing out of Eri's head. Mei had created it, though the decorations had been Izuku's idea and had been provided by Aoyama. It worked to suppress Eri's quirk using principles Mei had learned from studying Mr. Aizawa's. So far, it seemed to be working.
"Thanks, for taking care of her," Izuku said. "I know it's got to be hard."
Mr. Hatsume grunted. "Nori always said she wanted another girl, but we stopped after four. Between the boys and Mei, things were tough. Now they're older, and we didn't exactly want to start from scratch, so Eri's been nice. She ain't been no trouble."
With the Hatsume youngsters there, Class 1 quickly went into doting older sibling mode, the girls cooing over Eri while the boys competed to see who could impress Komaru and Nikiawa the most. Both the Hastume sons were adamant they wanted to become heroes just like all of their new favorite older siblings.
After the children opened their new presents, Sato called everyone into the kitchen. He'd whipped up a culinary creation he called "Monkey Bread" which was a pull apart bundt cake dripping in cinnamon sugar sauce and layered with walnuts and almonds.
"Just like you Mashirao!" Komaru pointed out. "'Cause you're Monkey Boy!"
"Um, it's just called that in an old recipe I found," Sato said, scratching his head. "I wasn't tryin' to tease anyone or anything."
"If you can make something taste this good, you can call it whatever you want," Ojiro laughed, taking a big bite of the cake.
Mei gave her enthusiastic approval as well, eagerly tearing into her portion. While Izuku's sweet tooth wasn't nearly as large as Mei's, he rather enjoyed the treat as well.
Halfway through breakfast, Togata popped up out of the floor. "Merry Christmas everyone!" he laughed. "What's that? Smells good! You save any for me?"
"There's still some left, help yourself," Sato encouraged, serving up another plate. "I made lots."
"Thanks! And good morning to you, Princess Eri! I take it you've come to claim your tribute?" Togata said, taking the plate and smiling down at Eri.
She looked up, face and hands covered in sticky sauce and blushed. "Um, actually, I didn't know you got gifts at Christmas, so I didn't bring anyone any." She looked down, looking forlorn. "Sorry."
"Your mere presence ir present enough for us," Togata said with a sweeping bow. He pulled a wrapped package out of his coat and set it on the table. "Merry Christmas!"
Eri hastily grabbed the package, then looked embarrassed when she realized her hands were still messy. Mrs. Hastume leaned over and quickly wiped Eri's face and hands with a damp napkin, and Eri opened her present. Inside was a small stuffed dog that Izuku recognized, having played the role of hostage in several of his training sessions with Togata back when he'd still been in the support course.
"This is Fluffles," Togata explained. "He's a very brave dog that I rescued from some dangerous villains. The heinous Smiley and Nerd."
"Ha ha," Shinso said, giving Togata one of his creepy grins. "Sure it wasn't the dastardly Lemillion, breaker of trainee spirits?"
Eri giggled and hugged the dog. "I like him."
"Please, keep Fluffles safe. He gets scared sometimes, and needs someone to hold him," Togata said seriously. "Can you make sure he stays safe?"
"Yes. I will make sure he gets hugs when he's scared," Eri said seriously, setting the toy in her lap and petting it.
"That was sweet of you," Hari said, putting her hand on Togata's arm. "Thanks. And Merry Christmas. Santa brought you something too."
"Because I've been a good boy?" Togata asked with a grin.
"You have," Hari agreed, giving Togata a quick kiss on the cheek and handing him a present.
Togata, for his part, went bright scarlet, then hastily opened his present. Upon seeing the contents, Togata let out a bark of laughter, then held up his present for all to see. "I think Santa might regret giving me this, because I'll end up on his naughty list!"
"Hari, you didn't," Shinso groaned, resting his head in his hands.
"One Thousand and One Jokes and Pranks Kit," Mei read. "Ha! Because you are very funny! It is a good present! And do not blame Hari, the presents are from Santa!"
Shinso looked up, a disgruntled sneer on his face. "Oh come on, you still believe in Santa?"
"Yes!" Komaru, Nikiawa, and Mei declared together, while Hari nodded seriously.
"If you do not believe in Santa, he does not bring you presents," Mei explained. "And, if he was not real, how did we get presents last night?"
Shinso raised a finger and opened his mouth, but Bakugo of all people elbowed Shinso. "Let Goggles and the small fry have their fun. Things are damn well bad enough, let them be happy while they still can."
"Katsuki! That was really sweet of you," Uraraka said, smiling and leaning in to give Bakugo a kiss. He flushed and muttered something under his breath, but he looked pleased.
"That's enough of that you two," Hari ordered, coming around the table and shoving Bakugo and Uraraka apart. "Don't make me sic my dad on you both."
"Huh?" Mr. Hatsume said, looking up from his breakfast. "What's the trouble now Hari?"
"Nothing!" Uraraka said quickly. "Um, can I get another bit of cake, please?"
After breakfast everyone helped clean up the mess from the present opening or helped wash dishes in the kitchen, even the three youngsters were desperate to get to play with their new toys. They were just finishing up when Jiro suddenly looked to the door, frowning.
"What is it?" Kaminari asked, pausing with a trash bag full of wrapping paper.
"I hear…" Jiro trailed off, then gasped in delight and hurried to the door, pulling it open, letting in the sound of singing.
"God rest ye merry gentlemen let nothing you dismay,
remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day!"
"The hell is that?" Bakugo demanded, stomping over to the door. Izuku and the others quickly followed, piling out onto the porch.
Down below in the snow stood Shizaki and Tetsutestu, who were both holding books open and singing, their breath forming great clouds of steam before them. The songs they were singing were strange to Izuku. He'd heard some Christmas music before on occasion, though it was usually all about Santa, Reindeer, or other holiday icons. This music was different somehow. It was bright and joyful, true, but also spoke of things Izuku had never heard before. What exactly where "Tidings of Comfort and Joy?" A part of him found the songs odd, but more of him was soothed by the music and the message of peace and love it seemed to speak of.
Jiro suddenly ran back into the house, appearing a few moments later carrying a guitar. She sat down on the steps before Shizaki and Tetsutetsu, and began to accompany them as they started in on a new song. After hearing the chorus a few times, Jiro joined in with the two singers. While Tetsutetsu and a decent enough baritone to go along with Shizaki's mezzo-soprano, Jiro and an astonishingly clear, bright soprano voice that sounded as though it belonged in a concert hall, not sitting on the steps of a dorm building.
At the last repetition of, "sleep in heavenly peace," Shizaki bowed to Jiro. Everyone clapped enthusiastically, Eri and Komaru demanding more music.
"I did not expect to have such wonderful accompaniment," Shiozaki said. "Thank you. I hope our carols have brought you some joy this blessed Christmas morning."
"That was nice. I haven't had a chance to really play in a long time," Jiro said, smiling and caressing her instrument. She suddenly flushed. "Oh, sorry, I know it's cold out here! Won't you come inside? I think there's still some cake left."
"Yeah, I was just about to put it in the fridge," Sato said happily. "Come on in! Maybe we can sing some other stuff, I don't know what those songs you were doing earlier were but they were nice."
"They are traditional Christmas hymns," Shiozaki explained. "Tetsutestu heard me singing a week ago, and joined in. I suggested we go caroling, though I confess the tradition is not widespread here in Japan."
"Just seemed like somethin' to do, seein' as we can't go out and patrol and stuff now," Testsutestu muttered. He blushed and looked up. "Not that I blame you guys or anything! You did the right thing. It's just…"
"Stop standing around out in the cold like a bunch of idiots and come inside," Bakugo barked. "I'm freezing my ass off!"
Everyone went back in, and after sharing a bit of cake with their new visitors, they all sat down around the tree. It turned out Kaminari could play guitar as well, and retrieved his to accompany Jiro. This time they mostly sang more familiar songs, from the sort of Christmas songs that Izuku was more familiar with, to more contemporary pop songs. Shiozaki did lead them in a few more of her sort of songs, which were interesting enough even if Izuku didn't really understand what they were about. It was just something fun to do together.
It was drawing close to lunchtime when Togata's phone rang. He excused himself, standing up from where he was sitting next to Hari. "It's Sir Nighteye, probably just wants to wish me a Merry Christmas," Togata chuckled. He walked a few steps away, and Jiro and Kaminari continued to play and sing, this time the theme song to "Spongebob," to much laughter.
Jiro suddenly played a wrong note, her face going pale, her fingers twitching then falling still.
"Woah, what's up Ears, you haven't missed a note yet!" Kaminari teased. "Don't stop now, you-Kyoka?"
Jiro's guitar crashed to the ground in a discordant cacophony as she suddenly stood, staring at Togata. All eyes turned to the upperclassmen, who was leaning against a wall, his phone pressed against his ear.
"...yes. I understand. I'll...I'll come as soon as I can." He pressed a button on the screen, then his hand slumped to his side. He stood slowly, smiling at everyone else as tears ran down his face. "No, please, that was fun! Keep singing, you're having a good time! I've just got to go now. Hari, can you give me a ride, I-"
"Togata?" Hari asked, jumping up and hurrying over to him. She put her hands around his face, forcing Togata to meet her eyes. "What's wrong? What happened?"
Togata's lips started to tremble, the smile slipping, Then he suddenly pulled Hari into a hug, tears running down his face as he rested his forehead on her shoulder.
"Togata?" Hari asked, now sounding frightened. Izuku found himself standing, his laser module popping out of his palm. Everyone else was on their feet, and Eri and Nikiawa were crying and being scooped up by Mr. and Mrs. Hatsume to comfort them.
"It's All Might," Togata wept. "He's dead."
Authors Note:
Out of all the characters in My Hero Academia, All Might is my favorite. He represents so much of what it means to be a true hero, but at the same time, is a flawed, mortal man.
Sleep in heavenly peace, All MIght.
This will not be the last major character death in this final book of Rejected Stones. This is the climax of this story, and it will be yet darker and more fraught with conflict and death. There will also be other, more adult themes taking place. Though there will be no pornographic sections, the characters are going to behave increasingly like adults as they are put in adult situations.
There will also be a more philosophical and religious part of the story. As a Christian, it's part of how I deal with death, and I've included parts where the discussion of the need for a savior, for mercy and redemption is important. I know some people are allergic to religion, so I figured I would give you fair warning.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy this last part of Izuku and Mei's journey.
-Full-Paragon