Author's Note: This new ending diverges from the point in Chapter Three when Tsubasa tripped Izuku, and Izuku almost stole his gift.

Chapter Five: ALTERNATE ENDING

In an alternate timeline:

Izuku's heart burst with joy at his Very Important Mission as he flew down the hallway.

A rock bounced off Izuku's wing, and he flew into the wall and landed on the floor. "Ow."

"Oops, my hand slipped," Tsubasa landed next to Izuku and kicked his leg. "I slipped again."

Izuku's rage spun out of control. He grabbed Tsubasa's ankle, fingers seeking skin. Latching onto something shiny, he yanked.

Tsubasa staggered backward. "What did you do? I feel funny." The boy's voice had turned high-pitched and afraid.

"I…I…" Izuku didn't know. Strange energy surged through his body.

"Give back what you took!" Tsubasa's fear turned to anger. He lunged.

Izuku's wings moved by reflex. He shot straight upward, out of reach. This was new. He'd never been able to take off from a sitting position before.

With a howl, Tsubasa rose up in the air too. But he couldn't catch up. Even though Tsubasa's gift had always been swift and skilled flight, Izuku flew even faster.

Izuku had stolen Tsubasa's gift.

"Stop the thief!" Tsubasa screamed.

Izuku ran straight into a shrieker. Of course shriekers didn't obey Tsubasa, but in Izuku's panicked state, it seemed to him like the creature was trying to grab him. Izuku ripped the gifts from the shrieker. It dissolved away.

A gasp came from further down the hallway. A group of half a dozen adult demons had seen.

In a wild panic, Izuku fled.

Izuku soared through the door to his family quarters. He was still afraid Tsubasa might be chasing him, so he slammed it shut and locked it. His whole body shook from anxiety. He'd promised Uncle Yoichi to keep his gift secret, and he'd failed. What would happen now? Tsubasa would definitely tell everyone. The other boy had been angry and wanted his gift back. Would Izuku be punished for the theft? Worse, would his father realize that this meant Izuku could sneak past his wards?

"You're back earlier than I expected," Inko called.

In his surprise, Izuku shot up to the ceiling again.

Inko stepped into the living room. "Sweetie, you're flying so much better now. I'm impressed—wait, what happened to your face?"

Izuku put up his hand to cover the bruise. "I fell." He landed on the ground.

From Inko's narrowed eyes, she did not believe him. "I'll get bandages." She ran to the bathroom, then returned with a first aid kit. She gasped. "Your bruise is gone!"

Izuku's face no longer hurt. This healing must be one of the gifts he'd stolen from the shrieker. Izuku fluttered backward. "Uh…I guess I didn't fall that hard?"

Inko put her hands on her hips. "You stole a gift. At least two gifts, one having to do with flight and one with healing."

"Um…"

"Sweetie, your mother has been studying magic since before you were born. I've seen your father steal countless gifts, and he always has that same punch-drunk look afterward. You can't fool me." Inko's face collapsed into exhaustion. "Under any other circumstances I'd be happy for you, but I don't know how your father will react. Given how…difficult he's been recently. Did anyone see you?"

Miserably, Izuku admitted, "A bunch of people saw."

Inko blew out a breath. "Well, maybe Hisashi will favor you more if he sees your strength." She did not sound like she believed this. She muttered, "Or maybe he'll exile you so that you can't threaten his power. Even if we get sent somewhere unpleasant, it would still be safer than this castle."

Izuku cried, "Let's go live with Uncle Yoichi in his castle in the mountains!" He'd been thinking about it for a while, but he hadn't asked his uncle yet. Now he felt sure of this plan. They would all be a happy family together.

Inko's head snapped up. She demanded, "How would you know where Yoichi lived before his capture?"

"Oopsie," Izuku said in a small voice.

"Izuuuuuuuuuuuuuuku," Inko growled in the back of her throat.

Even though Izuku tried his hardest to be brave, he quickly ended up spilling everything to his mother.

A certain glint in her eye, Inko demanded, "Your uncle Yoichi told you to keep all of this a secret from me?"

"I'm sorry, Mommy," Izuku said meekly.

"It's not you that I'm angry at." Inko's chest heavy. A tiny spark of magic danced down her shoulder like static shock. Oh, dear. Izuku's uncle was in serious danger.

The door hummed, then a golden envelope on wings flitted through the letter box. Izuku tensed, sitting up straighter. Only Very Important letters were delivered on enchanted wings. In the days before, Izuku would have eagerly anticipated a letter from his father, but now it only filled him with dread.

From the pursing of her lips, Inko didn't seem happy either. She ripped open the letter.

Izuku peered over his mother's shoulder. The big words swam, but he understood "trial" and "theft of gift." He gasped. "Mommy, am I in trouble?"

Inko hissed. "It looks like your father already knows about your new power. I'd hoped we could keep it secret a little longer. The fact that he decided to turn this into a trial…is a very bad sign." She stood up. "I'm going to protect you. I promise."

Hopefully, Izuku asked, "Are we leaving the castle?" His fingers tensed with anticipation. He did not mention the mountains again because his mom was still angry at his uncle. But he silently prayed for it.

"I think that would be a good idea. But we can't just leave with nowhere to go. Unless we can find someone to protect us, the High Lord would drag us straight back. He already made that clear to me." Inko straightened her shoulders. "If Hisashi is in the throne room issuing decrees, then he's not in his quarters. It's time for me to have a chat with your uncle."

Izuku issued an additional prayer for his uncle's continued breathing.

Inko stood with her hands on her hips before Yoichi's birdcage. Yoichi cowered away from her, his back pressed to the back of the bars. Izuku peeked out from behind his mother, holding onto her kimono with one hand. Mom was scary when she got like this. Izuku shot his uncle an encouraging thumbs-up but didn't dare help.

Yoichi asked, "Are you going to kill me?"

Inko scowled. "Only for using my child, not for my husband's worthless affections."

"Oh, good. Because I was going to tell you that Hisashi wouldn't love you even if you killed me."

"I've heard about Hisashi's last five exes. I assure you, our marriage was political."

"That explains a lot." Yoichi nodded. "My brother would never have the good taste to fall in love with such a beautiful, clever, and magically gifted woman. To say nothing of merciful."

Inko raised her eyebrow. "Flattery won't make me forget that you put my child in danger."

"It's not his fault, Mommy!" Izuku said from behind her. "I came down here to see him on my own, the first time. I offered to help Uncle Yoichi because I thought it would make Daddy love us again."

"She's right. I shouldn't have let you." Yoichi hung his head. "Now that your gift has been uncovered, you're in great danger."

"Why is it bad if I steal gifts?" Izuku pouted. "Daddy does it all the time!"

Yoichi sighed. "You stole from a shrieker. Big brother sees them as belonging to him."

Inko muttered, "All for One never had a problem with hypocrisy."

"My older brother doesn't tolerate rivals. Even worse, if Hisashi thinks to check his wards, then he'll see someone has tampered with them. Then he'll found out that you've been visiting me. That would be…very bad." Yoichi and Inko exchanged glances.

"Oh." Izuku's wings sagged. "I messed everything up."

Yoichi's face fell. "No, no. Please don't blame yourself. It was self-defense."

Sadly, Izuku said, "You aren't going to like me anymore because I'm not useful."

Yoichi reached through the bars, but couldn't stretch far enough to touch Izuku. "Look at me." Izuku raised his head, his eyes teary. Yoichi said, "You don't need to be useful to be valuable. I like you no matter what. I promise."

"Okay," Izuku whispered in a voice choked by tears. A weight lifted off his chest.

Yoichi's face hardened with resolve. "I'll find a way to get you out of the palace. I promise you sanctuary with me and my husbands."

Inko said, "That sounds like incentive for me to let you live." She patted her son on the head. "Izuku, can you go wait for me in the hallway while the grown-ups talk?"

"Okay, Mommy!" Izuku flitted off. The first meeting between his mother and his uncle had gone unexpectedly well.

Once the door closed, Inko sat down in front of the cage. Both seated, they were at close to eye level. "I want us out of the castle before this farce of a trial."

Yoichi nodded. "It's the only way to keep Izuku safe. Frankly, even without the risk of finding out about the visits to me, I don't think my brother would react well to a child with his own power. He might try to take Izuku's gift for himself."

"What if he can't steal another version of his own gift?" Inko asked.

Yoichi winced. "Then he'll make sure Izuku never becomes strong or well-regarded enough to be a threat. I hope he's too possessive to kill his own child. But I'm not absolutely certain of it. We have to get Izuku out within the day. That means we need Hisashi gone first." It was a shame throat spiders wouldn't be fast-acting enough, because Yoichi knew where to obtain some of those.

Inko closed her eyes and sighed. "I agree. I don't dare try to escape when Hisashi is in the castle. We need to make him leave. But I fear with his current obsession with you, no business would be important enough to lure him away."

"Then we use that obsession," Yoichi said. "Do you know spells to create illness? It will have to be something powerful enough to break through the healing wards around my cage. Not a natural illness, but a curse. Cast Wing Rot on me."

"I know that one, but I swore to never use it. Wing Rot is agonizing. For every hour that you're under it, you won't be able to fly for a month. It will kill you within the week. I've seen the pain put adult demons into comas."

Yoichi met her gaze with cold determination. "Wing Rot can't be healed by most magic. It takes a special herb located in the mountains. That's where I used to live with my husbands. They'll be able to cure me." In this desperate situation with Izuku's life at stake, he did not withhold any information about his past. "Hisashi won't risk me dying, and he won't trust anyone else with such an important task. It's a rare herb, and he may need to search several shops in town before he finds it. That will keep him out of the castle long enough."

Inko said, "I'll break into Giran's shop and steal your book. Then I can contact your husbands. If we're fleeing the country, it doesn't matter if everyone knows it was me."

Yoichi said, "Cast the curse now. We need to make sure Hisashi is too busy to care about Izuku's trial."

Inko hesitated. She steeled her face. She nodded.

Yoichi said, "Give me time to bite down on something. I promise that I won't scream until you're safely away." Removing his sash, Yoichi balled it up and stuck it in his mouth.

In a subdued voice, Inko said, "I know what you're sacrificing. This will cancel your debt for using Izuku."

Yoichi nodded his acknowledgement.

Blackness swelled up from Inko's hands and wrapped around Yoichi like a cloak. A muffled sound came as he bit down on the cloth. Sweat dripped down his forehead. When the darkness retreated, it revealed red spots on the tips of his wings. The spots rapidly spread up his feathers. Yoichi thrashed on the ground, his eyes already sightless.

Inko turned and ran up the stairs so he did not have to restrain his screams for too long.

Sitting in a wagon, Izuku squirmed in his mother's arms. Their belongings were piled high around them. They'd left the castle just minutes after his father's official departure. In the panicked frenzy, no one had been paying attention to them. Not for the first time, Izuku asked, "Where is Uncle Yoichi? We can't leave without him."

Inko said, "We certainly can't. Your father would send the shriekers after us, and we wouldn't last long without anyone's protection."

Izuku scowled. "That's not what I meant! He was very sad locked up in the cage. You shouldn't be too mad at him."

Looking down, Inko stroked her son's hair. "I'm not angry any longer. I promised him our debt was cleared in exchange for his help."

"How did he help from inside a cage?"

"He let me make him sick so we could lure your father out of the castle."

"Uncle Yoichi pretended to be sick?"

Inko looked away. "It wouldn't have worked if he'd pretended."

Before Izuku could ask what that meant, two men landed alongside the wagon. One had short spikey hair and a scar across his face. The taller man had his hair pulled back in a high ponytail. He had a splatter of blood across his face, but not his own. Both looked very grim. They carried a bundle wrapped in a blanket.

Izuku clamored off his mother's lap. "You must be my other uncles! But where is Uncle Yoichi?"

The bundle moaned. A bit of white hair flopped out. The scar-faced man sat down in the wagon, settling the bundle across his lap. "We fed him the cure as soon as we found him, but he hasn't woken up."

"I'll get another potion," the ponytailed man said. His voice sounded choked. He scrambled in his pack and pulled out a glowing bluish bottle. As he placed the bottle to someone's lips, the blanket fell off to reveal that person.

"Oh, no," Izuku whispered. Uncle Yoichi lay wrapped in the blanket. His face was so pale that he looked dead. His white hair was completely soaked from his sweat. Horrifically, his beautiful white wings had black, sticky gunk covering the feathers.

"I'll start the wagon," Inko said, scrambling to the front. She flicked her fingers, and white wispy outlines of winged horses appeared. They leapt into the air, lifting the wagon up into the sky.

Izuku scrambled over the bags toward his uncle. "I'll help."

Wearily, the scar-faced man said, "There's nothing you can do."

Izuku placed a hand on his uncle's cold cheek and transferred the healing ability.

It did not magically make the illness go away as Izuku had hoped. But Yoichi's chest heaved, and he sucked in a huge gust of air. The color started to return to his face.

"Oh," the scar-faced man said, looking at Izuku with newfound esteem. "Thank you."

"Seriously, thank you!" The ponytailed man patted Izuku on the head. "I'm Sanzou, and this is Kaiji."

"You're my new uncles?" Izuku asked hopefully.

Sanzou beamed at him. "Yes, we are."

High Lord Hisashi returned to a castle with a hole in the side and his entire family gone.

The castle shortly obtained several more holes as the High Lord expressed his wrath. Every demon fled and hid. Only shriekers roamed the ruins, looking for clues and a trail.

Hisashi collapsed to his hands and knees in front of the broken bird cage, panting. His mind could still not fully wrap itself around the horror. This could not be happening. He could not lose his little brother mere days after finding him again. Yoichi could not have slipped off like a ghost fading away at the first morning light the very moment that Hisashi took his eyes off him.

Horror transformed into rage. How dare Yoichi do this to him? Hisashi had gone too easy on his little brother. He had allowed Yoichi to have a bed, food, and nice clothing. He'd kept Yoichi's humiliation private rather than parading him before the court in chains. He hadn't shoved his little brother's pretty face into the bloodshed his foolish escape had caused. No more of that. After Hisashi re-acquired his little brother, Yoichi would not be allowed a single moment of privacy for the rest of his long existence. If Yoichi couldn't be left alone for a moment, then they'd never be apart.

Then cold reason broke through his fantasies. How had Yoichi broken through the wards that could only be removed by All for One's magic? It could only be the child who had just recently developed the same power: Izuku. In his distress over losing his little brother, Hisashi had barely paid attention to the discarded doll who had also gone missing. He never should have created that child, to become a potential threat and to steal his little brother away.

What if that was why Yoichi had taken Izuku with him? Why else would he have bothered to bring a useless child? With a twinge of jealousy, Hisashi remembered how Yoichi had inquired after Izuku's well-being during his imprisonment. Back when they'd been children, Yoichi had cared about Hisashi like that. Did Yoichi plan to replace his big brother with someone else with a similar physical appearance and magic? Izuku must be like a weaker and more malleable version of Hisashi. No doubt Yoichi preferred a cute and innocent version.

If Hisashi had felt rage before, then it was nothing compared to the maelstrom of fury that consumed him now. The soundwaves of his howl ripped a hole through the ceiling. As dust rained down on him, it brought an ice-cold clarity. He knew what he must do.

Hisashi gathered his shriekers and equipped them with the most powerful spells to track and see through magic. He placed a bounty on his brother of double the previous amount, alive only. Inko was preferred alive so she could talk, but dead would also be accepted. Izuku was to be killed on sight.

His legs dangling over the futon, Izuku examined the drawings in front of him very carefully, because one of them would become his new face. Like his uncle, he would need to take a transformation potion in order to reemerge with his new identity as Mikumo.

Pointing at a drawing of a dark-haired boy with longer hair, Izuku said, "I want to be that one." He thought that child looked edgier and cooler.

"Excellent choice," Yoichi said, standing behind the sofa and peering over his nephew's shoulder.

Izuku looked up with a grin. "I wanna be taller! Even though you got shorter." He was still getting used to seeing his uncle in his Kazuki disguise, with pink hair and a round face. Frankly, Izuku didn't care what his uncle looked like as long as he was walking around again. Yoichi had been bedridden for a very anxious week. Now the color had returned to his face and he could stand up. He still had a brace on his wings. The healers had forbidden him to try flying for the next four months. The only very small silver lining was that Yoichi's illness made a great cover story for why "Kazuki" hadn't been seen in court lately.

Sitting by her son's side, Inko examined the drawing. "I think we'll have to change the design a little to remove your freckles."

"But the freckles are adorable!" Yoichi moaned.

"Naturally, I agree, but they're too distinctive," Inko said.

Yoichi sighed. "Please, let's at least save the curls. The curls are cuteness and life!"

Sanzou and Kaiji entered together. "Hey new sister," Sanzou said, cheekily winking. Inko was passing herself off as Sanzou's biological sister, to muddy the connection to Yoichi.

Yoichi mumbled, "Stop rubbing it in my face that you stole my nephew."

Sanzou laughed. "He's still your nephew either way."

"I'm your favorite, right, Izuku?" Yoichi asked, hugging Izuku from behind.

Kaiji said, "We have excellent news. Toshinori found Tenko and retrieved him. The boy got calmer when Toshinori promised to take him to Izuku. I don't think the Young Demon Army had time to completely finish brainwashing him, but in case I've acquired potions to purge any mind control from his system. They'll arrive here today or tomorrow."

Inko smiled. "I look forward to meeting my new husband. We'll need some time to get our stories straight before we appear in front of your court."

Toshinori and Inko were to pretend to be married. Since All for One was looking for a single mother with a son, they'd decided to disguise themselves as a family unit with a father, a mother, and two sons—Tenko and Izuku. Toshinori Yagi had been like a son to Nana Shimura, and when he'd found out that her grandson still lived, he'd insisted on adopting the boy. Since Toshinori was a powerful and influential demon, it was plausible that he might have a hidden family. Especially after how his mentor's family had been murdered by All for One. They would pretend to accidentally reveal Toshinori's secret family in order to hide a far more deadly secret.

Izuku wondered what his new father would be like. Just about anyone would be an improvement over All for One.

"Am I your favorite?" Yoichi pestered, playing with Izuku's hair.

"My mom is my favorite," Izuku said.

Yoichi staggered backward, clutching his heart in mock-agony. "A blade to the heart! Curse your betrayal!"

Inko put her arm around Izuku. "He knows that if he'd answered differently, I would have been forced to kill you in order to preserve my title."

Izuku nodded. "My mom could fucking murder you, assharpy."

The entire room went dead silent.

With a ghastly grin, Inko asked, "Who taught my son those words?"

Weakly, Yoichi said, "I could have sworn I cut myself off before I taught him more than half a curse word."

"Then I'll only kill you half dead." Inko leapt to her feet and chased Yoichi out of the living room. Their footsteps faded away.

Sanzou asked, "Should we save him?"

"Nah, he deserves it." Kaiji tossed Izuku a lollipop. "I brought you a treat from town. Take this as a bribe not to repeat all the other curse words he probably said around you."

"Yay! Candy!" Izuku stuck the lollipop into his mouth as screams rang out in the distance.

Then Izuku's head jerked up as he detected a far more delicious scent drifting through the cracked door. He ran over and peeked out. A tall blond man climbed up the path, wearing a plaid traveler's cloak and a straw hat. The magic power blazing off him dazzled Izuku's eyes more than the sun. The man held the hand of a white-haired boy. When the boy looked up, Izuku caught red eyes and Tomura's very familiar face.

"Big brother!" Izuku shouted, pushing the door open and flying out.

OMAKE TIME!

Omake: Incorrect Quotes, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Kaiji: I don't trust All for One's son, he's sus.

Izuku: (Heals Yoichi.)

Kaiji: I have only known Izuku for five seconds, but if anything happened to him then I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.

#

Omake: The Good Ending for Shouto Todoroki

Toshinori: How should we reveal that I have a secret family, but make it look like an accident?

Shouto: (Shoving his way into the story) Me! I'll tell everyone! Breaking news: All Might has a lovechild!

#

Omake: Competitiveness

Izuku: I've replaced my deadbeat dad with a new one.

Hisashi: Yawn, what a transparent and pointless attempt to make me jealous. I don't care about you.

Izuku: It's your archnemesis Toshinori Yagi.

Hisashi: HOLD UP—

#

Omake: Meet the New Wife

Toshinori: Oh, no! I must rescue Yoichi from this assassin!

Yoichi: (Being strangled by Inko) It's okay, I deserve this.

Inko: I'm sorry for showing you something unsightly. It's a pleasure to meet you, new fake husband—Yoichi, don't you dare try to run.

Toshinori: (Internally) Oh no, she's hot.

#

Omake: Meet the New Son

Toshinori: I read five books on parenting during the journey over to prepare myself for fatherhood.

Izuku: (Drooling at the power coming from One for All) My new dad looks delicious.

Toshinori: I don't know enough about children to tell if I should be alarmed by this.

Author's Note: The change resulting in the good ending was largely a matter of luck. Izuku's gift being discovered early could have turned into a bad ending, especially if Hisashi realized that this meant Izuku could sneak into Yoichi's prison. At the bare minimum, as soon as Hisashi finds out that his son shares his gift, he'll change the wards so Izuku can't remove them. That ruins the escape plan.

Ironically, the danger to Izuku forced Yoichi and Inko to work together, cutting through all the tragic misunderstandings last chapter. The previous ending really came down to miscommunication. Yoichi didn't trust Inko, and in all fairness he had reason not to given his brother's last five exes all tried to kill him. But he would have gotten a better ending if he'd involved her in the plan. Inko didn't read Yoichi's letter because she had no faith in him after he used and abandoned her five-year-old son. Her rage was completely justified but she shouldn't have passed up on free information. Neither of them trusted each other at the start of this chapter either, but they had no choice except to ally in order to save Izuku.

Since I was so hard on Izuku in the previous chapter, I bestowed happiness on him and everyone he cares about the good ending. He's even getting a big brother Tomura and a free bonus Dadmight. Speaking of which, Toshinori and Inko's fake marriage seems like the perfect setup for my adored fake dating turned real trope. Let's add in some tropes I love to go with the ones I hate!

Last Tuesday, I posted a new collaboration with LittleLovelyLizard on my Archive of Our Own account, katydid.

Title: Fae Food

Summary: Fae King All for One kidnaps Izuku to become his new son. Izuku is determined to escape, but can he return to his mother before he loses himself?

Delete the spaces to get the link:
archiveofourown.
org/
works/41978757/
chapters/105386403

I have another collaboration planned next week as well, so expect fewer updates on since this website won't allow me to post author collaborations.