SO ITS UPDATE TIME! Hopefully ya'll peeps like this one, and if you wanna go check out some SUPER FUN FANART, go over to my AO3 account (Pipefoxesonthemoon) to check it out.
Anyways, not much else to say other than READ ON MY DUDES!
It had been an exhausting week for Hitoshi. Getting his ass kicked repeatedly by an old man hadn't done wonders for his sleep schedule, as hadn't the sudden and shocking ability to see the unborn thanks to the weird, unexplained mysteries of his new quirk.
At least he had figured out how to start channeling it through his body without blowing his arms off as All Might had warned. Though he had to wonder at just what kind of moron would go using One For All at one hundred percent right off the bat. And now he was back at U.A. he could drill All Might for answers, well, when he had the chance to do so anyway. He also had to pull Izuku or Fumikage to one side at some point and ask them about the unborn.
He knew what the others knew of course, but it wasn't like Fumikage or Dark Shadow had gone into any great detail about them. He knew at the very least they couldn't directly harm him, though he'd had to chase more than a few away from Gran Torino when the old man had been distracted. He had no idea what they could actually do after all and he wasn't taking chances.
Of course, really, all of that was background noise to what was really digging at his soul.
Hosu.
His hand clenched into his fist the moment he thought about it but it couldn't stop the cold, sick feeling in the very pit of his stomach.
The day was a nice and sunny one, the kind that made one wish it was still the weekend and not a school day. Hitoshi stood with his friends at the entrance to U.A. as they chatted about their work experiences. Well, Ochaco talked mostly, Tenya occasionally cut in with some commentary though he seemed worn out and drained, and every now and then Fumikage would nod and mutter something.
Izuku had yet to arrive, and Hitoshi wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not. The boy had gone irritatingly quiet right about the time that Hosu had gone down. Hitoshi knew for a fact that Izuku had been there with Hawks, Tenya had mentioned it in a small slip that he had immediately regretted.
Hitoshi knew also that Tenya's brother had been hurt. He was recovering, though it was up in the air if he'd ever get to truly return to his hero work, and he knew Tenya was blaming himself for allowing his brother to run off on his own.
He admired Tenya for the fact he was trying to put a brave face on things even with the guilt he felt. Though, he wondered who it was eating at more. Himself, or Tenya.
"He told me not to worry, that it had nothing to do with me, but," Tenya spoke with an almost false sense of calm that collapsed as he continued, "If he doesn't get cleared, then it's up to me to continue the Ingenium name."
"If he is passing it to you, you should accept it gracefully," Fumikage spoke in a low tone. Hitoshi had no idea how Fumikage's on studies had gone as the crow-headed teenager had barely spoken a word about it. "It would be a great honor, and you should do all you can to earn it."
"I know, and I fully intend to!" Tenya tried a smile, but it failed.
"It's not your fault," Ochaco sighed as she put a hand to his arm, "He gave you direct orders. You did your job and obeyed them, and you saved lives! Which is way more than what I did in my patrols."
"I know, I know, he's explained this to me a hundred times I just…" He sighed heavily, "I will make it up to him. I swear it."
"I'm… sorry," Hitoshi said softly, surprising the others. "I should have been there. I was in Yamanashi, a fucking train ride away," He rubbed his tired eyes, "Goddamnit."
"Don't you go blaming yourself either!" Ochaco huffed, "You went the opposite way! There was literally no way you could have known."
Her words felt hollow. He was supposed to be the successor to the Symbol of Peace, and yet he had let Hosu almost burn to the ground while he fucked around in some other city catching bag snatchers with Gran Torino.
Not to mention letting the secret slip to Izuku so quickly and…
"Ah! Izuku!" Tenya announced suddenly, causing the others to look up.
The boy was striding towards them, one hand waving, the other holding his hero suitcase, a big smile plastered on his sharp-toothed mouth.
Hitoshi immediately knew something was wrong. No, wait, not wrong but… off. Different. New.
As the boy came up to the group, his grin only seemed to widen, "Hey guys!" His eyes turned to Tenya and his grin faltered, "Hey, how's your brother doing?"
"Fine, thanks to- well," Tenya seemed to glance to the others and sigh, then nodded to Izuku, "He's doing fine."
"Good," Izuku nodded back and Hitoshi got the intense impression that there was something they were hiding from the others. His eyes narrowed, even though he knew the giant hypocrisy of the jealousy he felt.
He didn't like secrets, especially ones kept from him. It reminded him too much of the way eyes would look to him and mouths would whisper into ears from his days back in middle school.
"You seem different," Fumikage stated flatly, with a slight narrowing of his crimson eyes.
"Yeah, what's up with that?" Ochaco mused, leaning towards the boy and frowning at him.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Izuku put on a nervous smile, "W- I- erm-"
"You're smiling," Hitoshi suddenly snapped out, "That's what it is. You're smiling. Why are you smiling?"
"Can't I smile?" And for a flash of a moment, there was something… other to his grin. A cunning, maybe even malicious laughter that vanished in the blinking of an eye.
"No." Hitoshi pushed himself from the wall he had been leaning against, "Tell us why."
"Oh, I dunno," Izuku looked to his friends before looking over to the school, "It's a sunny day, the birds are singing, Tenya's brother is doing good… Life isn't so bad, you know?"
The group shared a mixture of confused, maybe even concerned, looks. Though before they could comment on this extremely odd behavior, Izuku began walking towards the school, "Come on guys, we don't want to be late for class!"
The others followed, but Hitoshi felt his stomach tighten at Izuku's words. He could have sworn there had been an echo to his voice…
All Might stood upon a familiar scene. The assembled grouping of students from class one-A looking up to him as he looked down on them, his fists on his hips and his grin on his face.
Behind him was the open stretch of streets, pavements, and buildings that served as training ground gamma. Before him was the tunnel heading back to the U.A. grounds, as always dark and shadowed from the midday sun.
He took a moment to allow his gaze to linger on young Shinsou, his personal successor. The boy had changed his costume a little, having it no longer appearing so bleak and with new streaks of purple, red and white striping along his arms and legs. A small nod to All Might's own costume colors, perhaps? He'd also put on some thicker-looking off-white gloves that ran up to his elbows, no doubt for punching his opponents without breaking his own fists. On his feet were a rather thick looking pair of black boots that went up to his knees, probably to support his legs.
He'd heard good news from Gran Torino during a quick call the other day. Hitoshi had already mastered the basic idea of One For All, allowing its mighty energy to push his speed and strength to their limits, though any advanced fighting skills needed work, as well as generally bulking up his strength and stature.
They had yet to see how it interacted with his original quirk, too, though All Might expected great things. The boy's own hero name was to speak, to shout, to inspire hope with his words.
He would, hopefully, do exactly that with time, patience, and training.
Yet he frowned as he continued to scan the class. There was a student missing.
"Where is young Midoriya?"
The class looked around and mumbled before Tenya stepped forward, raising up an arm. All Might had heard about Hosu, and what had happened to his brother. He also knew that Shoto, Izuku and Ibara Shizozaki from class one-B had been involved somehow, though the details had been kept quiet.
"He said he needed to get changed alone, sir," Tenya spoke with his usual class president authority, "He said he had a new costume."
There was a quick murmur throughout the class. A new costume? Midoriya? Really? Most of them had gotten wind one way or another that, for some bizarre reason, the number three hero Hawks had chosen him for his internship. How and why was utterly beyond them all, and more than a few were jealous at such a windfall.
Especially since it was Midoriya of all people. The kid who could barely use his quirk on the best of days, and the worst…
"Well, we can't wait forever," All Might sighed loudly, "Can someone- oh! There he is!"
His eyes caught sight of someone emerging from the shadow. No, not emerging but almost… being formed from it. Though he knew that was surely impossible. Yet the way the shadows moved from young Midoriya seemed… not quite right.
There was a flash of memory, the night before the Sports Festival, the way the shadows had moved from… he shook his head. No, that was just his imagination.
The class turned, and more than a few eyes went wide at the sight.
Izuku's costume had changed and changed drastically.
Gone was the black and green top and pants with the geometric patterns. In its place was… armor. Armor that called to images of Hellenistic Spartans or Roman legionnaires, yet somehow seemed older than both. A breastplate of what he first thought was brass but somehow did not shine in the light wrapped around his chest and back, molding to his form yet moving with him, as if it were fabric and not cold metal.
Around his middle was a dyed black leather belt with similar brass-but-not-brass studs that came down in low tassels at the front, almost brushing to his knees. From behind, that strange, black coated tail with the spear tip kept low to the ground, though it did not drag.
On both of his arms he wore matching vambraces, and on either of his legs he wore greaves that segmented at his feet and knees. On his feet he wore what looked to be encompassing footwear built into the greaves themselves as if they acted like attached boots.
Under it all was an off-white tunic that seemed to move like smoke to his every step. Under it he could spy the same sort of black bodysuit that Hawks wore, though this was cut off at his thighs, and left his arms clear. Across his eyes he wore a shaded visor, one which All Might recognized as Hawk's personal brand.
Though Hawks had never worn anything like that.
Whispers and some giggles immediately spouted up from the class as Izuku strode forwards. And he did indeed stride with a confidence that All Might had never seen in him before. The boy ignored the others with the sort of regal grace that was both new, and yet, fitting.
He quickly fought to overcome his shock, deciding that he couldn't allow the students to see the surprise on his face. They'd lose confidence in him if they thought he was caught off guard. As the boy approached the front of the class to stand beside a wide-eyed Hitoshi, All Might grinned down on him.
"That's a very… unusual looking costume there, Izuku! I-"
"Morningstar."
"Th- excuse me?" Did Izuku just interrupt him?
"Morningstar," Izuku repeated, his voice so… so calm, yet so certain. And that look in his eye, the one that made the whites of his pagan green gaze seem just that little bit darker… "It's my hero name, All Might. I registered it with the school yesterday."
"I- ahem, well, clearly your internship has paid off enormously!" All Might quickly continued, trying to get over the strange sense of… was it fear? No, not fear, never fear. Unease. Yes, it was unease.
Young Midoriya was making him feel unease.
How the hell was that possible?
"Dude, why didn't you tell me about any of this?" Hitoshi suddenly spoke with a snapping irritation in his voice. He was glad someone else said something, and even more so that it was his own successor.
Izuku turned to his friend and smiled, and it was genuine, "What, and ruin the surprise? We'd never do that to you!"
All Might pressed a finger to his ear for a moment and frowned. He could have sworn Izuku's voice had some kind of echo. Nevermind. If the boy had found some confidence in himself, then that was surely all for the best. Though he would like to ask Hawks how he'd done that, if possible. Seriously. All Might had spent months trying to get the boy to feel even the slightest bit of self-confidence, and somehow Hawks had done it in a handful of days? He needed answers, and no doubt Aizawa would want the same the second he heard about this.
Unless however, all of this was just false confidence, and Hawk's idea of 'helping' was to give the young man a makeover.
… somehow, All Might didn't believe that was true.
"Ahem, well, now that we're all here," All Might clasped his giant hands together and grinned, "Your task today is simple! At the center of this training ground is a briefcase, and within the briefcase is a personally signed autograph from my silver age! Your mission is to get to it before the others, or at the very least, secure the briefcase and bring it back to me in one piece. You'll be competing five at a time, and whoever gets back here first, wins the prize!"
There was a quick cheer from the class as they began excitedly getting ready. All Might noticed that Izuku didn't cheer with the others, and neither did Hitoshi. Though to be fair, Hitoshi never cheered at anything and Izuku… Izuku looked almost like he was smirking.
But Izuku didn't smirk, it wasn't in his nature.
The man knelt down before the boy and placed a hand onto his shoulder, drawing the young man's attention back to him. "Now, Izuku," He began performing the task he had done ever since that first dreadful exercise at the start of the year, back when Katsuki was still in class one-A, "This exercise will involve you fighting the other students, are you okay with that?"
"Sure," Izuku spoke the words without a drop of the nervous, anxious energy he had displayed only a week before now. Again, All Might was sure he saw the whites of the boy's eyes darken behind those glasses, and the natural heat he gave off seemed to grow. "We're fine. Don't worry about me, All Might."
The hero hesitated as the question of the 'we' crossed his mind, as well as the fact that Izuku's voice most certainly echoed that time, before he nodded and straightened up. "Alright ladies and gents! Let's get this show on the road." He turned put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small holo-screen device, "This thing is set to random, so, without further ado, your opening match is between…"
All Might stood in the control room, which was set within one of the buildings near the tunnel entrance. In fact, he could literally see the thing out the window if he was so inclined to turn his head. Behind him were the students not lucky enough to go first and before him stood a number of monitors, each focused on different areas of the city, and five focused on the starting positions of the five students.
They had been set to different, but equally distanced, places in the city to secure an equal race to the center. Hanta Sero, Eijiro Kirishima, Mina Ashido, Yuga Aoyama, and Izuku Midoriya.
His darkened gaze scanned the screens. The students looked ready, some of them even crouched as if preparing to run.
Izuku simply stood with one arm across his chest, supporting his elbow as one hand covered his chin, as if in thought. All Might's eyes narrowed. Was he… talking to himself? His lips seemed to be moving ever so slightly as if he was whispering some mantra. All Might couldn't hear him, he'd have to switch the channels over to do that and it would expose his words to the entire room which he wasn't willing to do, but still, it concerned him.
Schizophrenic. The word danced through his mind, as it always seemed to do when around Izuku, and he hated himself for it.
He shook the thought off. He was teaching a class, he had to be focused.
"So, who's taking bets?" Denki called out from behind him, "I've got a thousand yen on Eijiro!"
"I'll take that action," Rikido chuckled in his baritone voice, "A thousand on Hanta."
"What? Why?"
"He can swing in there with his tape! He'll be super-fast, and he can secure the briefcase in no time!"
"I'll put a thousand on Hanta too if that's the case," Toru's voice chimed in, "Oh, but I should support Mina, she'll be mad if I don't!"
"I'm gonna be nice and put a thousand on Yuga," Reiko chipped in with her half-whisper voice.
"You're all wrong," Shoto's voice suddenly cut in, as cold as the ice he wielded, and All Might turned to look at the small crowd that had gathered. Shoto wasn't even with them, he was standing to one side, closer to the secondary group that dominated the classroom politics, the one made of Tenya, Ochaco, Fumikage and Hitoshi with Izuku their one missing member. "Fifty-five thousand on Midoriya."
The others seemed to pause, then Denki and Reiko burst out laughing.
"Shoto's lost it!" Denki managed through his guffaws, "All that ice has gone to his brain!"
"Yeah, let me bet my house on Izuku!" Rikido added, leaning against Denki, "That'll sure pay off!"
"Maybe he likes Izuku in that stupid dress he has on!"
"Didn't know you swung that way, Shoto!"
"Don't be mean, guys!" Toru whined, "Izuku can't help struggling!"
"Shut up, both of you," Hitoshi snapped suddenly, "I'm betting on Izuku too. Ten thousand yen says he proves you all wrong."
"Class! Quiet!" All Might commanded before turning back to the screen.
Shoto was betting on Midoriya? They had been together at Hosu, so what had he seen? Well, he supposed he'd be finding out soon enough.
All Might raised the mic to his lips, and with a quick, deep breath, simply announced, "Begin!"
And as if it were a sign of things to come, the second he gave the command, the camera-drone focused on Izuku died an instant, static-hissing death.
Hanta rushed towards the center with all the confidence of a man given the keys to a Lamborghini in a Moped race. He swung from building to building with a well-practiced ease. He had managed to build up the toughness of his tape so now it could support his whole body, which was helpful as it gave him a huge boost to getting to places quickly.
Not that he could use it in public until he got his license, but still.
As far as he was concerned, he had won the match before it started. Maybe Mina could get there second using her acid, but she was still nowhere near as fast as he was with his tape. He had briefly considered Izuku catching them, but that would mean using his power for more than ten seconds, which was something he knew Izuku was pretty much incapable of doing.
Though he had to admit, that strange, unnerving confidence that Izuku now displayed, along with that weird new costume hadn't set his nerves to rest. Nothing about Izuku had ever really sat right with him. Not since the USJ, not since Katsuki had snapped in the face of whatever that thing was that Izuku had become.
Hanta didn't consider himself anything like a normalist, or some kind of mutant quirk hater, his own elbows weren't exactly normal, but Izuku was just… wrong. Something about him was wrong.
Nothing would ever change his mind on that.
The USJ had exposed him for what he was, or rather, what was inside him. Hanta would never, ever forget that experience, and he was unashamed to admit it had permanently colored his perception of Izuku.
Even as he swung around a building to come out into a large open area, which would have been a roundabout in a normal city, he couldn't help but feel that weird, dark dread he always felt around Izuku. He landed onto a lamppost and took a moment to look around as if the teenager might be right there next to him.
He wasn't of course, and the only thing he heard, other than the wind, was the sound of some bird taking off somewhere far, far above him. Nothing he should take note of.
Hanta shook off his thoughts, he needed to refocus on the objective. No matter if Izuku seemed to be acting weirder than ever, it didn't make his power any less chaotic than it already was, and there was no way he could catch up.
He swung down from the lamppost, coming to a halting jog along the asphalt floor. Sitting in the middle of the roundabout was a briefcase, simple and black. The objective.
The teen even took a moment to crack his fingers and glance up at the camera drone which had been following him the entire time and shot finger-guns up at it, "Easy as cake!"
He was working on a catchphrase, might as well test it out while he had to the chance.
Just as he was approaching the briefcase, he heard someone yell loudly, and he turned to see Mina rushing towards him on skates of acid. There was a joyous, determined look in her eyes, one that told him he wasn't going to get away with this so easily.
Well, at least it was just her. From somewhere within the city, and growing increasingly louder, he could hear the bangs of Eijiro smashing his way towards him. The others were catching up faster than he had anticipated, but again, that was fine.
He didn't see any sign of Izuku or Yuga, so that was a relief. He could easily deal with just Mina and Eijiro.
"Not so fast, Cellophane!" Mina shouted as she rushed towards him, "That All Might photo is mine!"
"Yeah, right!" Hanta darted back, throwing out a line of tape to snag the briefcase, yet just as it touched it, a wad of acid landed onto his tape, burning through it in seconds. He couldn't stop a growl of annoyance escaping his lips, okay, so maybe he had really underestimated how much Mina had learned.
Instantly a cat and mouse game broke out as Hanta tried to evade her attacks while grabbing the briefcase, yet every time he got close, Mina sprayed out acid in an arc, essentially cutting him off. It had always been a little like this for the two of them, she was a good counter against him, yet with his new movability, she couldn't get close enough to the briefcase without risking his tape getting to it first.
Eijiro showed up with a bang only a minute or so later, and the brawl took on a new phase, with the three of them darting around one another, trying to reach the case while avoiding the other. Eijiro of course barreled through everything thrown at him, though even he had to avoid the acid that Mina threw to the floor.
Moments after that, Yuga arrived, though his contributions were… minimal at least. He could at least fire a little more than before, though that was hardly much. Still, it was something Hanta was forced to avoid as he danced from lamppost to lamppost, always trying to get closer before one of the others could.
And yet, as the squabbling continued, a weird, creeping sensation was starting to gather in his guts, now more than ever before.
Izuku wasn't the best in class, but even he should have arrived before Yuga. Where was he? Surely, he should be here by now, throwing out fire and then quickly retreating back, as he always tended to do to avoid his own power overwhelming him.
A cruel part of him hoped the boy was just hiding somewhere. Probably by the entrance, waiting to ambush whoever won. That was a cowardly tactic, but honestly, it was the best way for Izuku to attack.
He swung back up onto a lamppost, letting the three students battle it out for just a moment while he took welcomed panting breaths. As his eyes scanned the battlefield, he was suddenly distracted.
There it was again, the beating of wings.
He looked up and squinted against the sun just as something moved over it. Some giant bird. Some giant bird that was quickly descending in on them and…
"No… fucking… way."
He dived from the lamppost just in time as the giant black bird turned into a person. A person who let out a scream that was like the ending of the world, like the universe itself being ripped apart by the rending talons of chaos and undoing.
Everyone fell to their knees. Hanta felt bile rising through his throat and almost threatening to exit his mouth, and fear that echoed the terror and horror he had felt that dreadful day in the USJ bite at his insides like a parasitic worm within his own guts.
And yet he gathered enough of himself to look up from the ground to see a young demi-god slowing from his swooping landing to a casual walk. A walk that took him directly towards the briefcase. Izuku's scars glowed the azure blue of his accused flame, yet they were not eating at him. The black shadow of his power coated his arms to his elbows, and had reshaped his legs to his knees, yet it was not battling to overtake him.
Perhaps most shockingly of all, were the wings. Great and black and bat-like they stretched from his back. Amazingly, the greaves and boots he wore had somehow reshaped to his new form, as had his bracers, and even the back of his new body armor had reshaped to allow his wings to unfurl.
Along with the curling horns upon his head, the whole image, the armor, the white, unburned tunic, the fire and shadow. It all somehow made him seem… regal. Terrible, but regal.
He was the image of a demon prince. Strong, proud, confident, and powerful beyond the measure of the mere mortals around him. Hanta blinked, and he could almost see the afterimage of that blasphemous halo that Nemesis had worn all those months ago.
Izuku was striding towards the briefcase without a care for the horror he had just knifed into the hearts and minds of those he was supposed to call his classmates.
Izuku was about to win.
No. The thought punched its way into Hanta's mind, even as his instincts told him to run. He didn't know what was going on, or what the hell this new Izuku was capable of, but he wasn't going to lose.
Not to Izuku of all people.
He threw out a reel of tape towards him, intent on trapping him if possible.
Izuku dodged. He hadn't even been looking in Hanta's direction, and he dodged. A swift arching of his body which left the tape streaming past him. And yet, as fluid as water flowing in a river, he turned, grabbed the tape in one clawed hand, and instantly set fire to it.
The fire raced towards Hanta, and the teenager yelped, cutting it off before it could meet him, though not before the fire had almost leapt to his body, like a hungry wolf snapping at its prey.
As he fell back, there was a roaring cry as Eijiro leaped towards the demonic figure, a fist as hard as stone rushing towards him. Izuku simply stepped aside as if Eijiro had telegraphed it from a mile away, and dodged two more fists in similar fashion before, suddenly, his tail whipped up, and grabbed his opponent's wrist. He was pulled off balance and Izuku spun on the spot as he grabbed Eijiro by the shoulder plates.
In a move that one could have blinked and missed, Eijiro was thrown halfway across the intersection with the force of a speeding truck. He hit the ground hard, smashing into asphalt and pavement in a shower of dust that would have seriously injured anyone but the toughest of foes.
Mina was next, though Hanta could see she was shaking, terrified of this new, almost impossible threat before her. She threw acid forwards in a mad shower of attacks, perhaps hoping to coat the air and ground with enough of her corrosive power to halt his movements.
This was answered with a wall of blue fire which didn't so much explode out of Izuku's palms, as it did flow, like a tidal wave that he practically summoned from the air itself. The fire fried the acid before it could even touch him, and the blast hit Mina so hard she too was thrown backward.
Hanta scrambled to his feet just as Izuku reached out to grab the handle of the briefcase.
A beam of sparkling light rushed at him, and Izuku's hand moved just in time to stop from being blasted from his wrist. The teenager turned his horned head to glare at the source. A standing, shaking Yuga who was clutching his stomach tightly.
He growled. It was not a human noise, but a deep, guttural, wolfish thing that practically poisoned the air around it. Hanta could see the sharpened fangs within Izuku's mouth, and again he felt that knife thrust of fear enter his brain.
"He's not human."
How right Katsuki now seemed, despite the impossibility of it all.
As Yuga collapsed from overuse of his own power, Izuku grabbed the briefcase tightly.
And then, almost in the same movement, his arm came up to block the tape that Hanta threw at him.
Hanta struggled against the shocking strength Izuku now possessed, trying to pull him off balance but barely moving him an inch. "You're not-"
"Shut up," The words stopped the young hero in his tracks. They weren't Izuku's. That was the voice of Nemesis, speaking through Izuku's lips.
Their eyes met, and Hanta felt his strength practically draining out of him. Those eyes, while hidden behind the visor he wore, were dark. Not quite black, not that far gone, but dark. Dark and foreboding and wrong.
"Cellophane," The voice of Nemesis continued as Izuku clenched his fist tightly. Then he grinned, and Hanta felt like the devil himself was grinning at him, "We're going to enjoy beating you most of all."
Suddenly Hanta was yanked forwards and before he could react a claw grabbed his face. He could feel his skin burning at the contact with Izuku's palm, but it lasted barely a second before he was suddenly spun around and thrown into the air.
He collided with Eijiro, who was only just emerging from the pavement to try another run at Izuku.
They hit hard and Hanta's world was nothing but a dizzying, spinning, tumbling ball of pain and heat for a moment before he came to a stop.
He managed to push himself up on his elbows as he glanced up, and through his dizzy vision he saw the devil prince's great wings begin to beat, kicking up dust and dirt around him. He stretched out a hand, utterly defeat but somehow still not believing it.
"What was it you said?" The echoing voice of the monster of the USJ rang out, clear across the roundabout. The beast given human form rose above them, a terrible being of shadow black and hellfire blue, marked by that bronze armor which reflected no light.
"Oh yes. Easy as cake."
The room was silent.
All Might was… beyond words. Beyond anything. He had just witnessed something which only an hour or so ago he would have considered absolutely impossible.
Izuku Midoriya had beaten four students in less time than it took to make a cup of coffee. The boy who had come into his class cowering at his own power, terrified and brought to tears at the very thought of hurting people. The boy who had a monster living inside him, a beast which had left a permanent scar across All Might's own throat.
He had just won and won overwhelmingly.
He knew, without looking, that the rest of the room was having the same reaction. They'd watched it all on the monitors, after all, though the cameras had gone fuzzy in some places. Most of the long-range had kept their focus though, so they'd had nice, wide-angle shots of Izuku demolishing his competition piecemeal.
And he'd done it so calmly. So cleanly. The second All Might had seen those terrible black wings and the claws he had almost darted out the room, afraid that Izuku had lost control of his inner beast once again and all that confidence had truly been false.
But then he'd watched as Izuku had handled his opponents. He had not clawed at their faces or burned their flesh. He had not raged and become that hulking demonic beast that had sowed so much terror at the USJ.
This was… this was control. He had realized it as soon as he saw Hanta launch that first attack. This was Izuku in control of Nemesis, or at least having reached some manner of balance with that dreadful horror.
So, this was what Hawks had taught the young man. This was why he had come back so radically changed.
As he watched Izuku take flight, and his mind still reeled at that revelation, he knew he had to find answers. Either himself, or Aizawa would find Hawks and they'd find out everything.
He had to know. He had to know how he'd done it.
All Might turned and rushed out of the classroom, though not with the speed of one going to rescue another. It was a joyous rush. The student to whom he had feared so much for was about to return like a prodigal son, one who had finally conquered his demons and come out on top.
The rest of the class followed behind him, just in time to see the shadow on the sun grow larger and larger, forming into the shape of Izuku, no, of Morningstar, the hero that had risen from the ashes of Izuku's defeats.
The boy again performed that swooping landing, though as an obvious act of posturing he landed with a flurry of cursed blue flame that danced up around him, swirling before dissipating into the air.
And there he stood. His feet and arms still clad in midnight-black with his vast wingspan spreading out victoriously behind him. Then he bowed low and loudly announced in a voice that echoed softly, "Ta-daaa~!"
As he straightened up again, there was only silence from the utterly stunned class. All Might's mind struggled to wrap itself around this new reality. He lived in a world where Izuku Midoriya had some kind of control over Nemesis, a power which had almost torn his throat out.
A power that had been so utterly Hellish and demonic and…
And this boy now stood before him, it's master, though somehow, in his heart, he knew that wasn't the right term.
He quickly gathered himself and stepped forward, "Young Midoriya! I have never, in all my time seen such a dramatic turnaround of events! I don't know what you learned at your internship but it must have been something incredible!"
Izuku chuckled, and flashed that sharp-toothed smile, "Oh it was," He paused, practically for effect. Now All Might could see Hawk's influence on him, "You could almost say it was a-"
"Is something burning?" The question arose as the smell of smoke began to filter into the air. A second later, someone cried out, "The briefcase!"
Izuku looked to the briefcase and his eyes grew wide as, indeed, eating away at it was a wayward blue flame. He yelped and quickly went to try and put it out, only for a wall of ice to come rushing at him a second later, trapping the now ruined and mostly destroyed briefcase within it.
Izuku gaped at the suitcase, then looked back to the crowd, "Why didn't anyone tell me it was on fire?"
"Sorry," Fumikage replied, scratching his cheek awkwardly, "I thought it was part of your look."
"No, it wasn't part of my look!" Izuku shot back before wrenching the now utterly ruined suitcase out of the ice, where the ashes of the signed picture fell to the wind. "The picture's ruined now."
"Well, I'll, hum," All Might paused, putting a hand to his chin, "I can find you a new one, but it'll have to be after class. For now," He clapped his hands together, "Congratulations again young Midoriya! When the other students return, we'll start the next round!"
It turned out Izuku wasn't the only one in class to show up with some new, flashy tricks. As he had stood with his friends, whispering the few scant details he thought he could get away with revealing about his internship, he had been cut short by the images of Hitoshi on the large screen.
He was covered in lightning.
Purple lightning to be exact. A royal purple that shone bright and strong and crackled around every move his body made.
And he was out-punching Sato, who was universally agreed to be, at least physically, the strongest kid in class, well, after Izuku himself of course.
The room had once again fallen silent as they had watched the young man in absolute amazement. He moved as fast as Izuku had done, dodged as fast as Izuku had done, and even managed to grab the briefcase just as quickly.
However, as they again ran outside to greet this amazing twist in events, there was one large, major difference between himself and Izuku.
When Hitoshi finally landed and the lightning turned off, he almost fell to his knees and would have done so if All Might hadn't grabbed him.
"Young Shinsou!"
"I'm fine, really," The boy winced as the mighty hero steadied him, "Just… new tricks, you know, ironing out the wrinkles."
"What the hell was that?!" Denki announced loudly, waving his arms in irritation, "First Izuku shows up all overpowered, and now you do too? Maybe I should start shooting trigger, seems to be pretty popular all of a sudden."
"Young Kaminari!" All Might quickly scolded as the other students who had fought against Hitoshi started to catch up behind him, being led in part by a slightly frustrated looking Fumikage, "We do not make those kind of accusations at our classmates!"
"Sorry All Might," Denki mumbled before looking to Hitoshi and Izuku respectfully, "Sorry guys."
"Dude, it's not trigger," Hitoshi was standing on his own now, though it was clear he was in some form of discomfort, "It's self-hypnosis."
There was a murmur of fascination from the others, and Izuku felt Nemesis move through his blood as they both mused on this rather fitting lie. It was clever, he'd give him that.
"What?"
"I've always heard that people only unlock like, ten percent of their actual physical and mental abilities, the rest is all subconscious," Hitoshi continued, rubbing at his arms, "So I thought, what if I brainwashed myself into using that power? Like a short-cut to working out," He winced again, grinding his teeth as he did so, "Turns out too much is a huge strain on the body though."
"… and what about the lightning?" Izuku asked with a slightly amused smile, though the echo in his tone revealed another source for the question.
Hitoshi paused, then shrugged, "I 'unno. Kinetic energy maybe?"
"Are you sure you're alright, young Shinsou?" All Might seemed to fret around the student, "Perhaps you should go see Recovery Girl. That much, erm, kinetic energy can't be healthy for the body."
"I'll take him," Izuku offered quickly, remembering that Hitoshi had been wanting to talk to him anyway. It would be a nice chance to get away and have a private conversation without having to make any further excuse.
"Good idea, young Midoriya."
"I need to go too."
Izuku's eyes turned to look at Fumikage in surprise. The raven-headed teen had come closer than anyone to overcoming Hitoshi's new and improved abilities. It seemed during his internship he and Dark Shadow had begun practicing more close-range abilities, with Dark Shadow even wrapping their shadow over Fumikage's hands to create a pair of massive shadow-black claws.
Though Hitoshi had been just that second faster.
Currently, the demon was sitting, cat-like, on Fumikage's head, eying both Izuku and Hitoshi with a kind of casual malice.
"What's wrong, young Tokoyami?"
He held up his arm, "I think I strained my wrist in the fight. I would like it checked out before rejoining the class."
The mountain of a man nodded, "Alright. The three of you return as soon as you can, I don't want you missing the chance to observe your fellow students, after all."
The three of them quickly set off, with Izuku offering to help Hitoshi along should he need it, though the stubbornness of the teenager denied needing any help.
It was odd, however. As they walked, an uneasy silence fell over all of them. Izuku had the distinct impression that Hitoshi was also looking forward to a quick, private chat, though with Fumikage at their side it was a talk that would apparently have to wait.
So… why was the air so strained?
The few attempts Hitoshi made at idle talk seemed to die as quickly as he started them, half because of the coldness Fumikage was projecting, and half because he kept wincing at the aches within his bones.
They were mid-way to the medical ward when Fumikage finally broke the silence, this time for good.
"So, Hitoshi, you took a piece of All Might's soul."
The reactions from the other two boys were… shocked, to say the least.
"What are you-"
"That's totally-"
"I know." Fumikage stopped his walking and turned to face the other two teenagers properly, his eyes glowering and the demon atop his head breaking out into a vicious grin, "Did you think that Dark Shadow wouldn't notice how your soul has changed? And then today, fighting like you did. It's obvious."
Both Hitoshi and Izuku stopped. Izuku felt an uncomfortable twist in his stomach, even as Nemesis growled through his blood, irritated at the anger from the Seventh Son. Hitoshi, however, didn't seem that bothered at all. Though it was hard to tell, he was usually so implacable, after all.
"We can see your soul, swirling with the new colors of his power," Dark Shadow cawed in dark drawl, "How did he do it? How did he pass his divine gift to you?"
"That's a secret," Hitoshi replied flatly, no long denying the accusation.
"A secret you told Izuku but not me?" Fumikage's voice tinged with hurt.
"To be fair, I kinda… stumbled onto it," Izuku mumbled, knowing exactly where this was heading, "And I don't know how it was passed on, just that it was."
"And yet you kept it from my master," Dark Shadow was curling around the boy now, though it was clear Fumikage was making no move to stop him, "For shame."
"It's not like that," Hitoshi's vice rose, but he winced again and wrapped a hand around his chest, glancing down, "Fucking ribs…" He then looked back to Fumikage, "It's a secret, obviously it is. I mean if this got out-"
"I understand the consequences," Fumikage's voice was cold, flat, and edged, "And I have told no one of what Dark Shadow has told me. But what I don't understand is why you wouldn't take the time to tell me personally when you knew my familiar would see it."
The silence stood long, deep and heavy.
"I'm sorry. You're right. I should have said something," Hitoshi finally admitted with a nod, "In my defense, I was still getting my head around it myself. I mean, I'm supposed to be his successor now. It's… it's not an easy thing to come to terms with, honestly. It's a lot of weight to put on anyone's shoulders, and mine aren't even half as big as All Might's."
"And after I kinda splurged your secrets out last time, I didn't want to do it again," Izuku added shyly.
Fumikage didn't reply, but Izuku could see the temptation of anger in his crimson gaze, the whisper of his own demon's eagerness to enact a violent revenge for this betrayal.
Then, breaking the tension, Hitoshi suddenly announced, "I can see the unborn, too."
Izuku's eyes went wide with shock, as did Fumikage's and even Dark Shadow seemed surprised.
"Wha- what?"
"It's true," Hitoshi moved to lean against the wall, panting a little, "It happened during the internship. I was being trained by All Might's old teacher, you know, trying to get a handle on the new power? Then one night I had this really, really weird dream and when I woke up…" He shrugged, "I could see them. They're fucking way freakier than you made them out to be, by the way."
Fumikage was as stunned as Izuku.
"You can't just… wake up and see the unborn!" Nemesis hissed through Izuku's mouth, causing the other two to stare. It took Izuku a second to realize that they hadn't yet been acquainted with this new 'Nemesis can talk' reality and took a moment to reel his inner Fallen back, "I mean- Okay, I'll explain that later but seriously, you can't just… do that."
"Can All Might see them?" Fumikage paused, putting a hand to his chin, "Surely not…"
"I would have been able to tell if he had the true sight," Dark Shadow grumbled, swirling around their master one again.
"Look, guys, I would love to sit here and discuss the finer details of All Might's power, or my new power, I guess, whatever," Hitoshi breathed a slightly shuddering breath, "But I'm pretty sure I've bruised every bone in my body and I really do need to go see Recovery Girl."
"Oh! Right!" Izuku rushed over to grab his friend, though found lifting Hitoshi along was an easy task.
Because Fumikage had joined him on the Hitoshi's opposite side.
"I'm… sorry, for confronting you both as I did," The teenager began as they helped Hitoshi down the corridor, "I was angry. I felt-"
"Left out? Ignored? Pushed aside?" Hitoshi chuckled as he shot a pained grin towards the raven-headed teen, "I get it, dude. Honestly, I do. It fucking sucks when you think your friends are talking behind your back."
Fumikage's beak twitched a sad smile, "I overreacted."
"No, I think you reacted about right," Izuku piped in, sharing his own smile, "And honestly, Fumikage, I really did find out by accident."
"So, where do we go from here?" Fumikage mused as they rounded the corner to spot the medical office at the end of the hallway. It was a corridor Izuku was, unfortunately, all too familiar with at this point.
"Where else?" Hitoshi replied with a pained smile, "We go where we always go. Stumbling forward into the grim but hopeful future."
"You know, for the future symbol of peace, you really should get a sunnier outlook."
"Hey, I'm the future symbol of peace, not the future symbol of smiling," Hitoshi shrugged, "I'll leave that nonsense to everyone else, and besides," He paused, putting a hand to the office doorknob, "If I smile using All Might's power, I'll probably break my teeth."
SO YEAH. The boiz are all friends again, after that momentary standoff. Also, Izuku has a NEW OUTFIT OF AWESOMENESS, and is kicking ass left right and center. Though it seems All Might might wanna talk to Hawks, and of course I cheated everyone out of the 'Dark Shadow realizes the truth' scene. Which IS COMING. I swear. But we have some breathing room now and I intend to use it. Maybe flip about and catch up with Ibara and some other characters.
But HOPEFULLY, ya'll enjoy this chapter though it was kinda 'short' for a chapter with not a whole ton happening. But it's fun to see Izuku showing off and being cool for once.
OH, and thank you thank you THANK YOU to all the peeps who leave kudos. I never seem to thank ya'll but thank you, it really does mean the world that you do that.
So yes, thank you all again for reading and, till next time peeps!
