The first noise Anton heard was his own desperate choke for air.

Anton's eyes shot open. He looked at his own translucent reflection in the plexiglass shell that entrapped him in the strange mechanical cocoon. His hair was long and ragged, and his green skin was pale like a sickly moss growing on a tree. Around his body clung a tight periwinkle jumpsuit that matched the blazer of his school uniform. A steady beep rang out muffled through the glass with the tall white ceiling dim and lifeless. Only the light from the machines parked next to the tube and the ruby tint of the hallway snuck into the room. From what he could gather, his head was on a plush bed that was as narrow as his shoulders. Was this the actual real world?

His chest wracked for air, and his hands spasmed out with his lungs growing hot and burning with the stress of a marathon sprinter. His brain pounded with his arms attempting to lift up and pound on the glass. However, his limbs remained glued to the bed. As much as his muscles spasmed, they would be imprisoned in an atrophy that made him writhe as much as he could in the tube.

Then, a loud hiss blew out of the tube. A small ring of smoke shot out of the cracks and billowed out of the cocoon. With it, precious air sucked into Anton's lungs. He gagged on the oxygen with a low moan croaking from the back of his throat. The glass slid all the way down and disappeared into the strange pod leaving him open to the elements of the real world.

Overhead, a shadow released a lever on the wall. High heels clacked towards the tube before stopping right by one of the machines feeding a plastic tube into the head of the pod. Edith loomed over Anton and peered down at the boy with a terse smirk stretched over her face.

"Don't worry," Edith said. "Your first breath is always the hardest. Gotta inflate your lungs."

Anton's breathing receded and gaped at the woman. He ran his thumb over the padded bed underneath him. The soft fabric scratched at his nail with his knuckles twitching to bring movement to his body.

"I wouldn't worry about escaping," Edith said. "You've never used your muscles before, so you're as useless as a newborn."

His eyes trailed over the woman who stuck her arms out above Anton. She held a small knife by her wrists and pressed the blade at the tip of a vein.

"I'm really impressed you were able to make it," Edith said. ""The Salton Sea Scrolls were supposed to be a rumor. An ancient myth. Who knew they would come from different universes? For that matter, who knew different universes existed until this simulation? Frankly, I really didn't care about any of that. I only wanted my Martel in this world, along with the perfect versions of yourselves. To be future Pro-Heroes."

Her knife dug into her skin. The dark blood bubbled over the wound and trailed over her bony wrist towards the side of her arm. "We could have kept this simulation going forever if it weren't for their meddling. The glitch that took us from the Sports Festival to Christmas. The insertion of all of those weird characters. I even tried to have you killed by that villain I hired. I really thought it was just you causing problems. You and that Drake moron."

Anton gurgled with a droplet of blood clinging to the underside of Edith's arm.

"I still have no idea who they were or where they came from," Edith said. "Or who sent them. But it's a moot point now. Once I get rid of all of you, I can go to Montserrat and start over. Maybe the feds find your bodies, and they'll probably connect it to me and my operations. But they can't stop us. Operations like this are almost everywhere nowadays. People trying to manipulate humanity. Play God. But let's be honest. Most people don't really care unless it's their characters. Their creations. Frankly, no one would even be searching for you if it weren't for Deku. Likely my only mistake. Never work with Pro-Heroes, Anton."

Edith cut into her skin further. She grimaced with the blood pooling at her wrist and falling over to the back of her arms. Any second, the droplets would fall onto Anton.

"Finally," Edith said. "You probably wonder why I did all this to begin with. Really, it was just so I could have a son. My son. My precious Martel. Do you know why I couldn't have my Martel in real life? It's because of my quirk."

Edith lowered her arm towards Anton's face. He closed his eyes and tried to move his head away and hide it in his shoulder. However, Edith used her other hand and grabbed it to force Anton to look upward.

"My quirk," Edith said. "is that my blood and DNA kill whoever come in contact with it."

Drip.

Anton felt the blood splash onto his cheek. The viscous liquid melded into Anton's skin and disappeared into his body. Then, more droplets rained down on him. Anton tried to fight Edith's hand, but she squeezed his chin and remained firm with the blood pattering onto his face. Anton let out a grunt, but instead of pain, he just felt disgusted by the blood on his face. When the blood entered him, there was a temporary warmth that emanated from the impact.

However, just a second later...

Yum! That's really good!

Edith frowned and let go of Anton's head. More blood poured on him, but the boy remained physically fine.

Mmm! That's tasty blood. Why have I never had this before. Boss, can we get more of this kind of blood.

"Why aren't you dying?" Edith asked.

Sorry. I'm not very good at dying.

Anton coughed and tried to move his vocal chords into a slight vibration. However, no sound except for his involuntary grunts spawned out of his throat.

Edith rolled her eyes and got the hint. She pulled back her arm and reached into her pocket. "Of course. The first student I try to kill, and your quirk eats my blood. Great going, Edith."

From her pocket, Edith whipped out a pistol and cocked the firearm. She pointed it down at Anton's head and pressed her finger onto the trigger.

"Arrivederci," She said when she pressed the barrel at Anton's forehead.

The boy closed his eyes and braced himself for the final blow. However, he instead was greeted with a raucous scream. Blood splattered onto his face with the metallic taste tickling the tip of his tongue. He peeked through his eyelashes and saw Edith's arm sawed clean off her body with the gun still planted in her hand. The arm fell and rested onto Anton's side with a sickening thunk while still pooling blood by his hip. Edith shrieked and whipped around before falling onto the side of the pod.

Standing at the doorway drenched in red light, Hawks panted for air with his hair disheveled and face covered in black soot. His her uniform was torn with his undershirt ripped down the middle. However, his wings were in one piece with the feather that sliced Edith's arm off returning back to his body.

"Edith Void," Hawks said. "You are under arrest by order of The Syndicate and the State Of California."

At the end of the hallway, a golden light morphed into two distinct figures.

Soon, the light gave way to the two people standing over the linoleum tile. Moxie and Alistair stood before a large bay window that looked out on an untouched desert. The cactus wiggled in the harsh breeze with sand whipping above in the clear blue sky. The sun, as hot and vibrant as ever, beamed down on them with a flock of four doves flapping past them and soaring into the air. Moxie followed the birds until they disappeared over the horizon, her mind blank as she processed the sight both of them examined like a priceless painting.

Next to each other, and they both looked down at their own bodies. Moxie patted her arms and face. Her skin seemed smooth and vivacious with a slight tan reddened by the flush that ran over her body. Her toes scrunched within her shoes, and the cross hanging around her neck kissed her throat with the cool metal tugging on the golden chain. She breathed in with the sterile smell of rubber and sanitizer tickling her sinuses.

She turned around, an intense stare at Alistair. The boy froze and craned his head around to face the girl. He gawked at her with a stunned expression shining through his green eyes.

Moxie held out her arm. She reached her palm out towards Alistair. With a slow lean, the tips of her fingers touched the soft silk of Alistair's cloak. Then, she pressed her palm into his chest. His heartbeat pulsed underneath her fingers, and she gazed up at the blonde boy.

The two stared at each other. Both of them alive and real for the very first time.

"Alistair," Moxie said. She stepped closer to the boy with a tight grin around her face to avoid the tears coming from her eyes. "Alistair. We're...we're really here!"

Moxie began to weep with joy. She grabbed onto Alistair's green tie with one hand and threw her arm around his waist. Alistair smiled and stroked the top of Moxie's chestnut hair. He could not believe it, but he was in a place that he could actually live in. His journey had finally come to an end, and he could enjoy the paradise that this world had to offer.

"I've been trying so hard to finally be real," Alistair said. "It wasn't easy. But now I think...we finally found a home. And we're as real as we can get, Moxie."

Moxie laughed and gave Alistair a warm hug. Alistair scrunched his head next to her's with the tungsten light glowering over them. She breathed in his mint scent and basked in the soothing touch that ran over her back. Nothing could ruin this moment of the to celebrating their new home on Earth.

Until a gun cocked behind them.

Moxie released Alistair and turned to face the source of the noise. A familiar man wearing a white lab coat held a shotgun in his hand and pointed it right at the pair.

"It's you," The Robber shouted. "I knew it!"

"Oh, hey," Moxie pointed at the man. "You're the guy I shot at the gas station."

"Sure am," he said. "I'm head of Experimentation here at Void Industries, and I entered to test out the pain receptors on the system."

"Uh...do they work?" Moxie asked.

"Yeah, and they work especially well on a shotgun blast to the stomach," the man said. "But guess what? It hurts even more in the real world, lady!"

Moxie dived for the side of the hallway. Before Alistair could respond, The Robber pulled the trigger. The blast rocketed for Alistair's midsection, and the boy closed his eyes to brace for the impact.

Whoosh! The remnants of the shell flew straight through him like he was not even present. A hole punched into the wall behind him with sheetrock littering the floor and dust kicking through the air. Alistair looked down at his body and touched the area where the shotgun should have maimed him. He patted his chest again and surveyed his clothes for any imperfections.

When he saw no damage, he looked up at The Robber. "That," the boy said. "Is a new wrinkle."

The Robber's jaw hit the floor, his eyes running over Alistair who was completely unharmed. Moxie sat by the wall and tilted her head in curiosity towards the boy. The Robber, with a quick shrug, cocked the shotgun again and prepared to aim the barrel at Alistair for another shot.

BLAM! The glass by the window shattered with three men dressed in heavy black padding and helmets swung through the glass.

Alistair let out a not-so-manly scream with one of the man's feet sailing through his body. When they landed, the three armed people pointed rifles at The Robber and shouted for him to drop the weapon. Alistair fell next to Moxie. They grabbed each other when the ceiling tiles pounded onto the ground. More armored people fell from the ceiling and confronted The Robber who had no choice but to drop the shotgun and throw his hands into the air.

"We got two of them secure," One of the men said on the radio.

Hawks, seeing the scene at the end of the hall, whistled for the men to come over the room with Anton and Edith. Behind him, however, more raiders ran through and rushed past him into the room to arrest Edith.

"They're all on this level," Hawks shouted. "But the oxygen has been shut off. We need them all out now!"

Moxie gasped when she heard the words. She grabbed Alistair's hand and yanked him around the corner to the narrow hallway. She bounced off some of the armed agents and pulled open a glass container for a fire axe. She pulled out the axe and threw it at Alistair.

"Go to whichever room is empty," Moxie shouted.

She ran down the hall towards the center room that were still uncleared by the agents swarming the building. Seeing the first closed door to her right, she pulled on the handle and flung herself inside. The room, similar to Anton's, held a glass tube with a boy who appeared to be struggling for air. He coughed and lifted his head up to hit the glass, but his neck would not budge any further. It was a luscious head of black hair that tried as hard as he could to get out.

"James!" Moxie yelled. She ran towards the tube and examined the machines on the side. She pulled the lever, and the hiss of the glass sliding away from James caused oxygen to flow into the pod. James was released form the prison, and he gagged on the air and writhed within the confines of the pod.

"M-M-Mox..." James trailed off.

Moxie wrapped her arms around James and lifted his limp body upward to sit upright in the pod. She kissed his cheek and rubbed the warm skin of the boy who wheezed and flailed one of his thin hands into her hair. He was emaciated as opposed to the muscular state of his frame in the simulation. A slight stubble on his chin, his face was much slimmer with his eyes dull and clouded like he had just been pulled from a tidal wave in the ocean.

"James," Moxie said. "It's okay. You're safe."

Behind her, more officers burst into the room. Moxie let go off James and stared into his dim, unfocused eyes.

"Moxie," James stammered out. "You jumped...off...I thought...you were..."

James melted in her hug and took in the scent of the woman. He burrowed his face into the soft nape of her neck. The last time he saw her, she had jumped off the platform, and he remembered how horrified he felt when he could not save her. He vowed that he would not be helpless anymore, and having to be propped up by Moxie with his arms barely being able to move, he could not feel more helpless. His heart tugged in his chest when Moxie let go of the boy.

"I'll explain later," Moxie placed James leaning on the back of the pod. "But I gotta get the others first!"

Moxie ran out with the agents securing the area. She rushed out into the chaotic hallway and ran towards the end opposite the smashed window. Alistair left one room with his axe and ran next to Alistair towards a steel door similar to the one in the white room. They snuck past the agents and got up to the door. On the side, a keypad blinked with a red light surrounding the frame.

Alistair, not waiting on a passcode, slammed his axe into the door. The blade made a small scuff, but the metal remained solid and firm form the impact.

"Can't you make yourself invisible," Moxie said. "Like you did a second ago?"

"I don't know how," Alistair said. "I just did it."

Moxie hovered her finger over the keypad. She closed her eyes and concentrated on what the number could possibly be. For some reason, she felt a strange connection tapping at her head ready to communicate with her. She opened her mind and pushed every other thought to the side.

Then, a whisper echoed in her head.

032620.

Moxie pressed the combination on the pad. The frame glowed green. With a loud shush, the steel door slid open and revealed a dark square room.

"What? How did y-." Alistair started before Moxie snagged his hand and shunted him into the chamber.

Within the room were simple graphite walls with a matching marble floor that ran up to three tubes placed vertically at the end of the small area. In the three tubes, Shoto and Bakugo's bodies were dormant and lifeless in their pods. Above Shoto, a golden light shined in the light at the top of his tube. Atop Bakugo's tube shined a crimson red light. In the center, underneath the green light, Izuku gagged and punched at the plexiglass. However, his jabs did not lay a dent into the surface with his body contorting from the lack of air. He let out a silent scream with his finegrs clawing thin scratches at the interior of the tube.

The pair rushed up to Izuku. Moxie looked at the wall and found no lever to release Izuku. She glanced at the machines by the tubes and realized she had no clue in deciphering the strange buttons and lights. Alistair decided brute force was more necessary and aimed his axe at the center of the tube. He cried out and swung the axe into the plexiglass. It bounced off with a small mark etched into the top.

In the pod, Izuku felt his gaze start to drop. Without oxygen, his body faltered in energy. His punches became slow and weak, and his chin dropped to his chest.

Alistair swung again. Bop. Bop. Bop! The surface warbled, but it would not break.

Izuku's eyes closed. His shoulders slumped, and the black he had just escaped from began to suffocate his consciousness again.

Before Alistair could swing one last time, Moxie pushed him aside. She balled up her fists with scarlet electric sparks popping from her fist. Her arm vibrated with the energy of One-For-All, and she shouted out while giving her fist a strong push into the glass.

Bang! The plexiglass shattered and collapsed into large shards at Izuku's feet. Moxie cried out with her hand decimated from the impact. Every bone felt broken with her fingers dangling limp. Izuku, however, was free and huffed for air. He fell forward and plummeted for the ground. Fortunately, Alistair and Moxie grabbed each shoulder and held him up. He panted in their hold, and he clawed at their backs to gain balance with his weak legs betraying no movement.

The two kneeled down with Izuku on the ground. All of three of them tried to calm their jumping hearts and shaking nerves with the officers rushing in behind them.

"We got contact with Deku," one of them spoke into a radio. "Preparing extraction now."

"Good," A female voice said. "Then, our operation was a success. Let's bring them home."

The trio on the ground remained for quite a while as more people came in. Soon, medics rushed in behind the officers with stretchers and wheelchairs preparing to take Izuku and the other students to a real medical facility.

"Moxie," Izuku finally said. "You're here."

"I am," Moxie said into Izuku's here. "I am. I am."

"We are," Izuku said. "We are home."

Cue "Love Train" by The O'Jays!

The next few hours were a landslide of memories that sped through Izuku's mind like a boulder racing downhill into a raging rapids. The students were rushed out of the laboratory towards the desert landscape outside. Some of them were taken in stretchers while a couple were of sound mind enough to be rolled out in wheelchairs. Izuku, however opted to trudge out with his arms around Alistair and Moxie. Behind a wall of federal agents and armed police, Izuku pushed open the glass doors to the hidden bunker that held him for the last few years.

For the first time, Izuku felt the beautiful sunlight tickling his skin. The soft, sweltering breeze flew through his hair and made his body relax with his legs still waking up from the long respite. Somehow, word leaked to the press, and rows of news helicopters and over-dressed reports swarmed the man with camera bulbs shuttering like machine guns and microphones jabbed at his mouth. Officer held out their hands and pushed away the mob with a deafening symphony of questions being stabbed into Izuku's ears.

"Mister Deku, what is it like to be free?" One reporter asked.

"How did you end up in this lab? Did you enter willingly?" Another inquired.

"Are you endorsing Governor Linda this election since she launched this operation?"

Izuku said nothing and simply flashed a weak smile at the cameras. Lifting his head over the reporters, he saw he was incarcerated within a laboratory completely hidden in the landscape of the desert. Behind him, only the glass doors wedged in the crevices at the base of a small tart clay rock formation that dotted the horizon of the endless ocean of sand. The only way a person would find it was if they were looking for it, and Izuku was grateful that at least some people were.

One female reporter who stood by the medical helicopter waiting for Izuku pressed on her earpiece. The wings of the helicopter started to revolve overhead and kick up sand with the engine raising from a low hum to a spinning shriek.

"Following up on breaking news here in the Mojave Desert," the reporter said. "After five years, Izuku Midoriya, known as Deku who is the Number One Pro-Hero in Japan and arguably the world, has been found. He was located in a secret laboratory run by Void Industries along with a number of other children, some of whom are sadly deceased. Also fond with him were the Pro-Heroes Shoto and...Dynamight? Really? That was his name?"

Izuku grabbed the hand of an officer who pulled him into the cockpit of the helicopter. Alistair helped Moxie inside, and the co-pilot slid the door shut. The helicopter started to lift into the air.

"Anyway, Shoto Todoroki and Katsuki Bakugo have sadly been pronounced dead at the scene. The Prime Minister of Japan is flying to Los Angeles as we speak to meet with Governor Linda who launched this operation. The purpose of this lab and the people inside is still unknown. However, Miss Void has been arrested and...I am just receiving word that other raids across the country have been conducted to arrest her conspirators who allegedly aided in the imprisonment of these children."

Bang!

SWAT Team members broke down the door of one man eating a hot dog at his table. He screeched like a little girl and fell onto his back. Two men in armor grabbed him and dragged him to the door.

"Unhand me, heathens!" the blonde man shouted. "I'm getting married soon! It was my wife! Arrest her! She submitted the information for Abel! I don't even like Motley Crue!"

Another raid. This time, a man in a tuxedo cried as the agents ripped him away from his television.

"I just wanted Katsu to be important. I didn't know Shoto was actually apart of this!"

This time, a small woman who thrashed within the arms of two burly men who had trouble keeping her at bay.

"I left the best notes! The best reviews of the whole Project! And my character still died! Let me go, you useless cumdumpsters!"

She broke away and ran for the road. The officers caught up to her a second later and tackled her onto the ground.

"I didn't even come up with the animal name thing. That was all them!"

"Okay, but you gotta admit the dragon thing is cool, right? Right? Oh, God, please don't arrest me! I didn't even remember this until a few months ago! I have D&D tomorrow!"

"I was high when I filled out the application! I didn't even know they actually did it! What kinda quirk is thorns on an arm, anyway?"

Izuku pressed his hand onto the window of the helicopter. He sniffled and gazed at the parking lot of paparazzi in front of the hidden laboratory. The rock formation grew smaller before the helicopter lunged forward and started to fly away. He felt so much relief, but also he felt melancholic over the lost time on his life. He saw his own face in the window, his body much thinner and weaker. It would never be as strong without One-For-All. What would he do now?

Moxie tapped Izuku on the shoulder. She knocked his arm with a small juice box with a straw already poked into the hole. Izuku smiled and grabbed the box. He sighed and sat back in his seat. He sucked on the plastic, and the cool apple juice assuaged his parched throat. The liquid gold soothed Izuku so much, he closed his eyes and shivered at the feeling of the juice flowing down his esophagus into his stomach.

He leaned his head on the side of his safety belt. Whatever would come, he would confront it as he had everything else. For now, as sad as he had been, he could feel nothing but gratitude at being out and still alive. He would still have a life to live, and he gave in to the fatigue that comforted his body. Despite being in a pod for five years, he was extremely tired and just needed a good sleep.

Izuku dozed away with the last thought being of finally seeing his old classmates and his family again.

Over the next few days, Izuku gathered up his strength in the hospital.

He was approached by many patients and nurses for autographs and questions. He remained polite, but tried to shy away from any direct answers. He would receive cheers and adoration everywhere he walked in his hospital gown, and he waved back at each fan with a twinge of guilt. Soon, he would have to be honest about his future, and he would also have to see the rest of his kids.

Fortunately, Izuku still maintained his ability to heal in a rapid pace from the trauma he had endured. Within a few days, he was walking with the speed of a purposeful teenager training for school. His arms regained some of their strength, though his muscles were almost completely depleted. His voice was also stronger with a deep timbre that spoke at an even and steadfast tone.

Soon, his hero agency called up. Thrilled at seeing their most prized possession still alive, they scheduled a press conference in front of the hospital with the class together. It would be the first time Izuku would see them together along with his mother and the other members of Class 1-A back at his old school. While he had received a new cell phone, he only replied to his mom and spoke with her over the phone. She was surprisingly composed and only spoke of seeing him once again at the conference. Most of Izuku's day since then was to watch the news on the ongoings of the scandal. Edith, along with many members of Void Industries, were facing life in a Supermax prison. The creative forces behind the members of Class 1-A were in just as much trouble and being held in San Quentin.

The day before their trial started, Izuku slid on his old hero costume. The fabric had been repaired by a seamstress, but the width of the arms and hips enveloped his thin body. The costume clung loose on his wry shoulders with the pants sagging and threatening to fall down. As he tugged on the cuffs of the sleeve, he folded it upwards to thicken the fabric and close the space between his wrist and the material. The arm still fell beneath his hand, and he sighed before rolling up his sleeves. At his forearm, the sleeve latched onto his skin and stopped.

He rolled up the other sleeve before the door opened. Poking his head through the door, Steve Buscemi looked around before finding Izuku by the mirror.

"Wah," Izuku stammered. "Steve Buscemi."

"In the flesh," he said. He threw the door open to reveal Linda and Hawks behind him. "You got a moment?"

Linda strutted in. Hawks closed the door behind them and took a chair from the desk by the doorway to the restroom. He squeaked the wooden chair over the linoleum floor before sitting backwards on the seat. He faced Izuku with Steve and Linda grabbing two other chairs by the window. Izuku sat down on his bed and examined the odd trio before him.

"So," Linda said. "We don't really have many more questions for you."

"Good," Izuku said. "I already told you guys everything I know. The lab. The glitches inside the simulation. Everything."

"Listen, Izuku," Linda smiled. "You'll need to start trusting us more eventually."

"I trust the heroes," Izuku said. "And I trust the people I've spoken to. I don't trust you. You saw an easy way to re-election, and you took it."

"Oh, calm down Izuku," she said. "Your rescue has only brought my approval rating up five points. Now, if I ran for Governor of Japan, I would win that."

"We thought we owed it to you to fill in some blanks," Hawks said. "I've been pursuing your case for the last few years. Edith did a good job at keeping everything under wraps from us. Project Daedalus may as well have been on another planet with how well she hid the computer signals. We were pretty lost till somebody uploaded All-For-One into the system. That signal was more than enough to get us to track down where you were. So...I got with Linda, and I was officially made the head of the task force to get you out."

"But," Izuku said. "That was a while ago. Did you know where I was sooner?"

"Sadly, yes," Hawks said. "I was ready to run in there the next day. However, we didn't initially know the signal we were reading was from All-For-One. Once we did, things became much more complicated. It's tough to explain, because a lot of things that happened to you can't be explained by just technology alone. We were worried that, even if we busted you all out and shut down the servers, All-For-One would be able to escape and wreck havoc on our world. Whether through the digital space or physically, we aren't sure."

"So we set up an operation," Steve said. "We created an exit chamber at my house to bring people into that digital universe. I, Linda, and Hawks all went inside to gather more information and find a way to get you out and defeat All-For-One. Midnight even went in a few times, and she even thought I was working with Void for a little bit. That was awkward. You work with villains like one time, and suddenly, no one trusts you."

"Why your house?" Izuku asked to Steve.

"He was the least suspicious," Linda said. "I mean, a transport to a digital universe at Steve Buscemi's house? Who would expect that?"

"Also, Nic Cage was busy with Wicker Man 2," Steve said with a shrug. "So I was on the list."

Izuku sighed and stood up. "So...you all were real when you went in? You weren't part of Daedalus?"

"Nope, but we played the part," Linda said. "We were able to mask the coding of our consciousness to mimic that of any random...extras in the system, if you will," she said.

"But we knew if we did anything brash," Hawks said. "It would cause immediate suspicion. That's why we were so concerned when we lost contact on the missing Salton Sea Scroll page."

"You lost it," Linda said. "We didn't just lose contact."

"It was taken by Robyn after I was run over by a taxi cab," Hawks said.

"What?" Izuku said.

"Oh, it was a whole thing," Hawks waved it off. "But the point was that we were stumped on how to stop All-For-One and then save you all. Then...well...something unexplainable."

"A glitch," Linda said. "Caused from a signal that we couldn't track. And new characters we also couldn't track."

"I decided to go in and investigate to see if Edith Void was up to it," Hawks said. "She wasn't, but they caught me snooping around and stuck me in a cage in the basement. Really, I could have broken out at any time, but I learned quite a bit from the loudmouth guards that gave me a ton of intel. I was able to use a small computer hidden in my goggles to create a code that I flew out on a flash drive to our friends at The Syndicate. They were the closest group I could trust to relay the message."

"The Syndicate," Izuku said. "I thought they were a myth."

"Very real," Hawks said. "And one of your students, Megan, was working with them. Turns out, they had their own operation, and they had quite a bit of intel that was extremely helpful. They were able to contact Megan through a man named Father Enzo Andretti. They were the ones to actually find the final page of the Sea Scrolls here on Earth and insert it into Daedalus where Megan would be able to retrieve it, have Anton translate it and use the instructions to end Daedalus and All-For One. However, I found it by accident before she did, and Robyn took it from me in the desert. That night, Father Enzo personally went into the system and took the page back undetected by Robyn nor anyone else. They brought it back into the real world and planned on just handing it to Megan. At that point, however, it mysteriously vanished. After that, they felt that they were being found out by Void, so they decided to not come to us with a copy of the page they made, and they let Megan believe Robyn still had the page in case Void was listening in. We asked why they didn't come to us sooner, but their response was based more on an...unproven theory that we can't endorse."

"And that would be?"

"Well, Izuku," Hawks smiled. "You probably know more than us about this. But let me tell you, people who are on a need-to-know, people will get the whole story, they're going to have many questions. Who sent the Crystal? Who sent the Sea Scrolls page to begin with? How did it disappear from The Syndicate only to be put back into Daedalus? Who sent the other three from other so-called universes? How you somehow came back from the dead? Publicly, we're going to say everything weird that happened was just a glitch. A bug in an unstable system that created strange scenarios that you were roped into."

"Yet?"

"Yet," Linda said. "The Syndicate believes that there was a specific plan for involving other universes. And if we had interfered with this plan...it wouldn't work out for anybody."

"But that plan worked," Izuku said. "And those other universes...they are real. Aren't they?"

"Publicly, the answer is no," Linda said. "But to The Syndicate? To us? To you and your students? Well...all those questions Hawks just asked could be answered with some...divine intervention."

"So basically," Hawks said. "It was the State of California versus The Syndicate versus Void Industries versus All-For-One versus God. And let's be real Izuku. You can put all the calculating and computing power in the world together. All the best and brightest minds. All the energy humanity could muster. And guess what? It wouldn't come close to what God can do."

Izuku nodded and glanced out the window. The mob of reporters was growing larger by the second. He could already see some of his students being helped down the hospital steps to circle around the podium he would speak at.

"I still have to answer for that, don't I?" Izuku muttered under his breath.

"What?" Linda asked.

Izuku blinked and shook his head. "Nothing. Just preparing for the press conference."

Linda clapped her hands together and stood up along with Hawks. "Great. Then, we will see you soon. I'll get the crowd hyped up for you."

Izuku frowned. "Okay, but remember. This isn't a campaign event for you. It's for me and my class."

"Sorry, I can't hear you," Linda opened up the door. "Old age. See ya!"

Hawks held the door for Linda. He looked back at the room and grinned at Izuku. "All Might and Endeavor would have been so proud of you, Izuku. Don't forget that."

Izuku returned the smile and put on his gloves. "I won't."

"Oh, Steve," Hawks gestured at the man. "Aren't you coming?"

Steve, who still sat in his chair, tugged at his collar. "Actually, I wanted to ask Izuku a favor. My grandkids are big fans."

Hawks snickered. He closed the door with his shadow disappearing from the stained glass on the door towards the exit. When he was sure nobody was left in the room, Izuku got up and stood in front of Steve by the window. A moment of tense silence drowned them within the thick air of the room. Izuku narrowed his eyes and stared down at Steve.

"So," Izuku said with a serious face. "I still have to answer for what I did, don't I?"

Steve sat up in a refined state. He folded his hands in his lap and frowned at him. His face was much sturdier than earlier, the friendly and almost goofy way he entered the room paling in comparison to the cutthroat businessman seated in front of the hero. "You do, Izuku. You were on the list, and you manipulated our technology and our circumstances to escape your fate. The end of your story. You should be dead right now."

"So you've come to collect?"

"I wish," Steve said. "Your friend, Shoto, was quite passionate about keeping you alive. A bunch of bull about training the new owner of One-For-All and being a moral symbol of peace in the world. I personally didn't care about any of that. However, a certain being above me decided Shoto was correct, and he allowed him to take you and the others to that weird place with the classroom. He decided to override the list for you and the other students you saved. He's only done it a couple times in the past, and one of those instances was due to nepotism. But...I'll warn you. These things don't come without costs. I initially came to transport you back to the Central Platform. However, I was overridden again."

"So...I get to live? Here on Earth?"

"For now," Steve said. "You're already scheduled for transport, but it's very far into the future."

"When?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Izuku shut his mouth. He certainly would not want to know the day he was supposed to pass.

Steve sighed and stood up. He extended his hand towards the hero and demurred. "Well, this will be the last you see of me until then. Our agenda as far as you and this weird universe is concerned is over. Which is great, because I was getting sick of it here. A world where an average citizen has superpowers? I'm shocked more people don't abuse it."

"Why do you think...he made it then?" Izuku asked.

"Why do I think he makes anything?" Steve asked in annoyance. "He can do whatever he wants. It's his will, and his will is our reality. His will is our future."

Izuku, satisfied with the answer, grabbed Steve's hand and shook it. He smiled and clasped his other hand to envelop Steve's more clammy one. "Thank you, Steve. Or, The Creator. Whatever you go by."

"Oh, right," Steve said. "By the way, don't expect me to look like this when you get up there. I've just been using Steve's body and likeness to blend in."

Izuku blinked. "Blend in? Wait...Have you been in Steve's body this entire time?"

"He was the least suspicious," Steve said. "Also Nic Cage was unavailable."

"What?"

Steve stared with a blank look at Izuku. His shoulders hunched, and the man's jaw dropped open with a stream of drool pooling at the corner of his cheek. His hand stopped shaking, and Izuku stepped forward with concern painted over his face. He let go of Steve's hand, and it fell limp to his side. Izuku waved his arms in front of Steve's dead eyes hoping for a response.

Then...

"Bwah!" Steve screamed and jumped away from Izuku. He held his fists out in a defensive state. "What am I doing here?"

"Ah," Izuku leapt backwards. "Mister Buscemi?"

"What?" Steve asked. "Deku? Aren't you missing? Wait...how did I get here? Did Sandler drug me again? I'm calling the cops."

"No," Izuku grabbed Steve's hand. "Mister Buscemi, I...I...I'm a really big fan."

Steve, taken aback, sneered at the taller man. "What?"

Izuku pulled out a pen and clicked it. "I was wondering if you would sign my copy of Con Air."

"And now, after five years, one of the world's greatest heroes...Deku!"

The crowd roared when Izuku stepped out of the hospital entryway. The fans stretched down the packed street with some people holding signs and shooting party streamers into the air. Music blared out with people dancing and cheering in the streets. The scent of party smoke bombs and fireworks stung Izuku's nose with some people even climbing up light poles to get a better glimpse of the found hero. The downtown area was as joyful and crowded as any celebration of a sports team's championship. Izuku's ears fizzled with the explosion of sound that pushed down the endless sea of celebrating revelers. It was a perfect night with the dark sky dotted by helicopters and shooting stars stretched above them like a velvet blanket, and the crisp air cooled Izuku and brushed over his face.

Izuku smiled and gave a polite wave to all of them. However, his eyes were locked on his students who all sat next to the podium on raised bleachers. All of them appeared to be in much better health with more colored complexions and strength in the way they clapped and cheered for their professor. They wore indigo blazers similar to the ones they wore in their old school. Some, like Hunter and Drake, were still in wheelchairs. A few of the others had crutches and walkers. However, all of them were in high spirits and resolved to be strong for their teacher. Izuku felt tears already dotting his vision, and he tightened his lip to keep them at bay.

On the other side of the podium, a different Class 1-A sat in a similar set of bleachers. It appeared that all of them showed up for the occasion. Denki shot off a bolt of lightning into the sky that popped above his head like a firecracker. Kirishima pumped his fist with Sero blasting a layer of tape over Izuku and landing right by the other class across from them. Mina leapt on Jiro's shoulders and let out a loud welp that Izuku could hear over the ballistic crowd. At the bottom of the bleachers, Momo sat with a pensive smile on her face. She clasped an unlit candle in her hands and rocked in her red and white striped dress.

Finally, Izuku saw his mother next to Momo. Instead of running up and throwing her arms around him, she placed her hand on her heart and started to bawl with happiness. Izuku tapped his heart as well, and he turned back towards the crowd before he joined his mother's state of emotional upheaval.

Izuku saw his face on jumbotrons standing throughout the crowd. All cameras pointed at him, and he stepped up to the podium. Linda clapped him on the shoulder and flashed a diplomatic thumbs-up gesture before sitting behind the podium in a chair by some other politicians. Izuku perched behind the microphone and scanned the crowd. Soon, the people calmed down and stopped jumping to listen to his words.

Izuku took a long breath. He saw the teleprompter start to run words through the screen, but he decided to ignore it. A pre-written speech would not work for his students or the people that actually knew him.

"I've never been very good with speeches," Izuku said. "Which is weird because I keep having to give them."

The crowd laughed. It echoed along with his voice throughout the tall buildings of the block.

"I started on this journey many years ago. I started it, and I thought it was by myself. I was given a gift by someone very important to me. It was a power that I would use to save the world time and time again. But...it wasn't a weapon. It wasn't a quirk. No, it was a gift from my mother. She gave me this chance at something called life, and for a long time...I hated her for it. I really did. I thought it was a curse. I thought there was nothing for me in this world. That...that I would have to try again in some other universe. I'd like to tell you those feelings went away the moment I met All Might."

A few cheers for the mention of the hero. Izuku chuckled and held his hand up at the crowd.

"I wish I could say that went away when I met my best friends, Kacchan and Shoto. Or when I fought against the League of Villains. When I defeated All-For-One, or when I finally became the number one hero. But...those feelings didn't go away. Until one day, when I spoke to my mother about it. She's a person who has a quirk some wouldn't think is special. And she's a person that maybe couldn't lift up a fire truck or fly in the sky. But she's easily the strongest person I've ever met. She has a power within her stronger than any quirk or power. And she told me something one night when I was still feeling very vulnerable. And when she said it to me, I found a new perspective in life. One that made my purpose much clearer. One that made me stop worrying so much about rankings or popularity."

Izuku nodded at his mother and Momo. "But...one day, my best friend Shoto Todoroki got bad news. Brain cancer. And it was inoperable. It was the toughest fight of his life, and he was very close to giving up. He never did, but one night after barely beating a villain he normally would have taken down in five seconds, he came to me. And he broke down and said he was close to taking a swan dive off the roof of his old school. And I remember my mother's words, and I told them to him. And there was a fire that burned brighter than any that could come from his quirk. He would fight this all the way to the bitter end, and he did just that."

Izuku turned to his class. All of them held unlit candles in their laps as they listened to Izuku. "Then, I met these children. Some of the brightest, unique, and most inspiring children you will ever meet. We had a lot of problems at the beginning. Two of my students seemed to argue over anything from who was Class President to the sky being blue."

Abel pushed James on the shoulder with Katsu ruffling Lloyd's hair. James blushed and gave a sheepish smirk at Lloyd who returned it with a bright grin.

"They would fight and they would tease each other. They would get on each others nerves, and they would throw hot dogs at one another. Sometimes, someone said something too personal. Sometimes, they would have to apologize. Not all of them would do their homework, and a few of them would try to show off way too much. But...they all cared about one thing. They wanted to leave the world a better place than before. They wanted to be better people than who they were the day before. They wanted to be a generation of heroes better than the one before. They were funny and quirky and sometimes...they were smarter and more mature than even myself. These students are the bravest, strongest people I've ever met, and they will keep the world safer for all of you."

The crowd applauded. Austin clapped Drake and Hunter, who was in a wheelchair, on the shoulder. Drake wiped away a tear and dabbed at his eye with his shirt.

"One day, I've never told anybody this, but one day, I came across a student who was very sad. He was out of place. He was smaller than the others. He was from England, so he was far from anybody he knew. He was quiet. He was a lot like me in that way. He came up to me after class, and he said something to me very similar to what Shoto had told me. He was a person with a lot of guilt and regret in his life, and he thought the best way to solve that was to pay the ultimate price. So, I told him what I told Shoto. What my mother told me. And...while it took time, something he was pretty good at, he was the one that would actually save me from that world I was trapped within. His name was Leo Agravain. He, along with Robyn Guang and Blake Marseilles, and the efforts of my class, are the reason I am still here today."

Izuku blew out one last breath. He gave a quick glance at both of his classes and swallowed. "Finally, my mother. That night, I cried for hours and hours. Crying is normal for me, but even that night, it was too much. And I felt more alone than I have ever felt in my life. I was stuck on an island. On a cliff with a black ocean raging underneath me. And...my mother walked into the room. When I needed somebody, she was the one person I could rely on. She never judged me. She never treated me as less than. She always listened and took my emotions seriously. And...that night...when I told her I was ready to jump out my window towards the sidewalk outside my apartment building, she held me and looked me dead in the eye. And she said those words that saved my life. And they are words that I promised her I would use to save others lives along with a great smile on my face."

He looked right at his mother and cried along with her. "She said, Izuku. You're going to be alone in life. You're going to have people hurt you. You'll have people break your heart and make you hate yourself. You'll have people that make you feel worthless. There will be times where you will feel worthless. But what matters in life isn't how strong your quirk is or how many people you save. All you need to do is make somebody out there feel just a little less alone in the world. Because...if you love others and show them what's in your heart...you won't ever truly be alone. Because there's always something worth loving within everybody. There's always something worth loving within you."

Izuku looked at the camera directly at you, the person reading this.

"You'll always be worth looking for."

Izuku stepped off the podium. The crowd cheered as the students rose from their spots by the bleachers. They lit their candles as Izuku grabbed an armful of beige sky lanterns handed to him by Linda and Hawks. Izuku's mother rushed up to him and gave him a long hug. Momo formed a lighter within her hands and flicked it on. The flame danced over the wick of the candles before igniting within their grasp.

With all of the students, along with Momo's candle lit, Izuku grabbed his own candle and set it ablaze with the help of Momo's flame. He held up the sky lanterns in front of the students. Three students went underneath the lantern and held up their candles to the center of the lantern. With Izuku, Momo and Alistair lit up the lantern, and they glowed underneath the bright spotlights of the stage.

Then, the lights shut off on the street. The crowd fell into silence when the entire class released the lanterns into the sky. The golden lights rose up over the Los Angeles street and floated over the rooftops of the skyline. The crowd raised up their own lighters and candles and rose them as high as they could. The auburn glow danced over Izuku's face, and the boy grinned at the peaceful sight. He gave one last glance at the night sky, and he saw the lanterns fly into the full moon that hovered above them like a guardian angel.

When Izuku closed his eyes, the wind disappeared. The copper glow gave way to a familiar tint of his old classroom. For just a brief second, he was back in that old room. When he opened his eyes, Shoto and Bakugo stood in front of him. Both of them smiled. The trio spoke together one last time a message between them and for everyone.

"You'll always be worth looking for."

There we go. That wasn't so bad, was it?

I admit. The last speech made me quite emotional. Let me know if you felt the same!

An epilogue chapter is coming next. A few more things to tie up. Stay until they end. And then stay for what's beyond! ;)

Please review and tell me what you think!

Thank you. See you soon!