Chapter 3: Culture Shock


Midoriya sat between a huge silver-haired man named Mael and Drystan while Bryan and his sister Anna held an arm-wrestling contest with a pink-haired guy named Gowther acting as their referee.

When Merlin brought him to the room that acted as their group's meeting office, he was pounced on by a small (even compared to him) young woman with pinkish-orange hair and deep purple eyes who was the Flora he had heard about while sleeping.

He was immediately embarrassed but the young fairy hardly cared; she openly declared that Midoriya was the cutest boy she had ever seen and that he was now her boyfriend, much to her brother's annoyance and Midoriya's horror. Her brother, Drystan, quickly apprehended her and apologized profusely over her inappropriate actions.

"She's not bright and acts without thinking." He had said before dragging her out of the room to scold her.

After that, Bryan seized the green-haired teenager and brought him to his younger sister Anna. These two, unlike Drystan and Flora, looked nearly identical and acted as if they were one person in two bodies. They spoke in unison, though not always, loved to play games (especially any that involved alcohol or physical strength), and they both decided on a whim that they liked him.

It was through them that he was introduced to Gowther, who eagerly greeted Midoriya but was unable to engage in a conversation with him as the other two suddenly demanded their arm-wrestling match. As they required a referee, Gowther suggested that Midoriya greet Mael as they would be the ones to work together the most.

"A good relationship between you will make this a lot smoother." Was what he said before turning to the wild siblings and starting the match.

It took Midoriya five seconds to realize that he hadn't a clue who Mael was and given that he had met everyone in the room at present, he had decided to just sit in a corner of the room and wait for someone to throw themselves at him again.

It didn't take that long; Flora and Drystan eventually returned and she tried to throw herself at him again, only to be caught by Zelda.

"How many times do we have to tell you to stop throwing yourself at people?" Zelda asked with a heavy sigh. "If you keep this up, I'll happily leave you behind when we leave."

Flora took the threat with all seriousness and reluctantly sulked off to pout quietly to herself. Drystan and Zelda weren't the least bothered and the tall brunette took it upon himself to properly educate Midoriya on everyone he'd be working with.

"There's a total of five main races and clans in this world," he stated as he seated himself next to the teenager. "In this room, all five are represented as most of us are half-breeds."

"What are the clans?" Midoriya asked as his hand twitched in anticipation. Nothing bothered him more than the fact that he hadn't one of his notebooks to write in.

"Humans, Giants, Fairies, Goddesses, and Demons. There are subraces included, like Vampires, which is what Zelda is, but that's a little complicated."

Midoriya nodded and glanced around the room, "So, what are you? I-If I may ask…"

Drystan shrugged, "Half-Giant, half Fairy. Flora takes after our dad so she's more fairy. I'm like our mom, so I have to take medicine that lets me be human-sized for a bit."

"Huh…" it humiliated Midoriya that he couldn't think of a better response than that, but Drystan didn't seem to mind. "Can...can you tell me about the others? They don't seem too keen on talking right now."

"Sure, pick someone and I'll tell you what you need to know."

Again, Midoriya nodded and took a moment to think of who might be the most interesting to learn about. He had a lot of questions and he didn't know what Drystan's patience would be like, so he figured that he should start with whoever might have a lot to talk about. Which meant, he asked about Merlin.

"Her?" When Midoriya confirmed that he asked about her, Drystan's demeanor changed slightly leaving Midoriya to wonder what her status among them was. "Don't get too comfortable with her, she's not known for her strict loyalty unless it involves her goals or interests. She's an ally, for now, she's paying off an old debt by helping us."

"How much do you trust her?"

"Very little," he stated coldly, "Eveline trusts her more than any of us, even Mael can't bring himself to have faith."

Midoriya took that in with an innocent frown, and asked if there might be things he should look out for that could mean trouble.

"It's hard to tell with Merlin, she keeps her intentions well-guarded and you could think you figured her out but she'll always surprise you."

"Ah...I see.." In truth, he was more concerned with Merlin's unpredictable nature but he felt he should move on to see who else might be on the fence. "What about Zelda…? What's she like?"

Drystan smiled, seemingly out of amusement, and answered, "That's Eveline's cousin, daughter of the second demon prince Zeldris and the vampire queen, Gelda. I might suggest you call her Lady Zelda because she's proud of her heritage."

Before Midoriya could say anything, a deeper voice interrupted them.

"If you're going to suggest that, then he should call you and Flora Lord and Lady too."

Glancing to his right, Midoriya felt small compared to this new man; he stood about two feet taller than him and had a body type comparable to Endeavor without his costume. He seemed like the stern type, but Drystan's casual response to him made Midoriya wonder what this man must be like.

"That's rude, Mael. I'd like to keep a friendly relationship with our homestay host. Speaking of which, what is your name?"

Midoriya blushed and lowered his head as he realized that is being introduced to everyone, no one heard Merlin say his name. Then again, everyone was rowdy when they entered. "Izuku Midoriya, but everyone calls me Deku."

"Deku? Alright, Deku it is!" Bryan cheered as he struggled against his sister's might. "Let's share a drink later!"

"A-Ah…" Midoriya's face heated and he tried to stammer out an excuse but Mael beat him to the punch.

"Don't worry about that," Mael gently smiled as he patted the young man's shoulder. "He'll drink your cup before you can touch it."

"I-Okay…" From there was how Midoriya found himself sitting between Drystan and Mael.

Drystan had finished giving Midoriya all he needed to know about everyone, including that Bryan and Anna were his cousins, but he didn't tell the flustered teen much else after that. Mael, however, had struck up a conversation with Midoriya, though it was mostly about what his world was like and few things like if Midoriya knew how he planned to accommodate everyone he would be taking back to his world.

"H-How many am I taking?!" He asked, his voice cracking was the last he wanted at the moment but it happened regardless. "S-Sorry, but Merlin never told me who was going and it's not like I came to this world knowing what was going on."

Mael nodded and explained that most everyone in the room was going with him. "Merlin, myself, and Gowther plan to stay behind."

"You're forgetting Bartra," Drystan added with a yawn, "He's not letting Eveline out of his sight once we get her."

"Yes, Bartra too. So, that's six people."

H-How am I gonna hide six people from the teachers!? No, no, no I can't hide anyone from them! But what am I gonna do!? There's nowhere for them to go once they get to my world! His internal struggle was felt by another and the voice that he longed and dreaded to hear again flooded his mind.

Izuku? What's wrong?

It took so much willpower for him to not jump or make his surprise obvious to everyone around him. He didn't answer her though, fearing that he wouldn't be able to hide this connection the two of them had. He didn't know how anyone would react and he hadn't figured out who to trust in this group of wild individuals.

I'll tell you later.

Eveline made some protests but he remained firm. Besides, they needed to talk about that photo Bakugo showed him and why it seemed that Eveline didn't remember him.

Merlin eventually returned with an older man (Mael pointed at him and told Midoriya that he was Eveline's grandfather) and a young man with wild orange hair who Bryan greeted as Arthur. She called everyone to order, "Alright, is everyone here?"

"As present as ever!" Anna cheered with a grin, "So what's the plan?"

Merlin urged the two newcomers to take a seat and began explaining what they currently knew of Eveline's situation.

"She's been moved from tower cell to the lower ones, I can't say for sure which floor or roughly where we can find her. The guard who tipped me could only say that Guinevereknows for sure where Eveline is."

Midoriya saw where Zelda's lip twitch and she demanded to know why Eveline had been moved.

"The day we brought in Izuku Midoriya; something happened at the prison and it was decided that Eveline needed to be under special observation. From what was described, I believe that her powers activated somehow and that alarmed the guards. We can only guess what happened after that." Merlin turned her gaze toward Zelda and smiled, "I don't think it puts us at too much of a disadvantage, but we can still make changes to our plan if you wish."

Merlin didn't receive much of a response from the dark-haired woman, only a soft growl and an averted glare, though Bartra had plenty of questions regarding his granddaughter.

"They wouldn't have done anything to her, right? If it was an accident..."

"I don't know if it was an accident," Merlin admitted with some dejection, "Eveline wouldn't have done anything like that purposefully, but we can't cross out the possibility."

Midoriya felt his body tense slightly; he had a feeling that the use of power that they were talking about was when Eveline helped him against Gentle and when she watched the festival. If he had known she was putting herself in danger, he would have told her not to do anything to help him! But then again, what if the accident was caused because she wasn't expecting some kind of backlash. He wondered if he should ask Merlin for specifics or the culprit herself; now wouldn't be the best time for that though.

"I know she's still alive, and we should be grateful for that much." Merlin stated rather coldly, "still, I think we might need to change tactics regarding how we'll get in. With an increase of guards, I doubt we can get in and out unnoticed."

The group agreed with that idea and a sort of gloom fell over them as they discussed what they could do for their friend. Everything they discussed made little sense to Midoriya; he didn't know anything about some Demon Realm nor did he understand what they meant about attack magic and Illusion magic. In fact, he had plenty of questions about this magic they kept talking about.

So Quirks aren't a thing here? Or is Magic what they call Quirks? I'm so confused and I don't know how to ask about this. He glanced around the room, noticing that everyone was wholly invested in their strategy; to interrupt them and ask all of his questions would annoy them, no doubt. So, he turned to the only person who would listen to him.

Eveline, are you...Will you tell me about magic?

To his dismay, he didn't get an immediate response as he had hoped, but he realized that Eveline might be confused as to why he was asking about something she never shared with him. He told her all about Quirks and how they worked, but she never told him about her world or her powers. The first time he had ever learned about her having powers was the fight with Gentle.

How do you know about that, Izuku?

How he should answer that evaded him; just blurt out that her friends abducted him from his world so that he could help save her? She took great pains to hide the truth of her situation from him and as much as it hurt him (and in a way, he didn't understand why he felt that way) he could guess that she had her reasons. After all, until now, there was nothing he could have done for her and maybe she knew that based on what he had told her about himself and his world.

And then it clicked.

Eveline knew they weren't from the same world from the beginning. She knew more of their bizarre connection than him and kept herself shrouded in mystery to spare him the pain of when she'd disappear because she accepted that she's going to die.

Eveline? His mental voice cracked as he spoke to her. In-person, he lowered his head and fought against the tears that were trying to fall from his eyes.

Yes?

If I asked you for your honesty, will you tell me what's happening to you?

She was silent, which he expected, and when she answered he felt a weight place itself on his shoulders.

My sister plans to publicly execute me by the week's end. She has me imprisoned for false crimes and labeled me a traitor to….everyone in my world. Izuku, why are you asking these weird questions?

So, you don't know? Do you really believe you're going to die?

Izuku…?

Don't you know? There are people trying to save you! Zelda, Mael, Drystan, Anna, Flora, Bryan, your grandfather, Gowther, Merlin, and someone named Arthur! They took me from my world and brought me here to help save you!

What do you mean? Why would they pick you? And why were they looking in other worlds for help?

Immediately, Midoriya felt regret in telling her what was going on as he could hear the fear and pain in Eveline's voice. He hadn't told why they were looking at other worlds, but he had a feeling that she was able to figure that part out. Maybe, she's already aware of that part of the plan…

I-I don't know for sure...But Merlin told me that since no one in this world knows me, it'd be a good way to tie up loose ends. But that's beside the point! Why are you acting as no one will save you?!

B-Because! After everything that has happened, everyone's turned on me! My family, my friends! Even the people I fought so hard to protect don't want me! Her voice weakened and he could tell that she was crying both in her mind and in person. Guinevere's too powerful now and I can't bring myself to fight my sister...

So you'll take an unjust death? Just like that? Midoriya took a few uneven breaths to calm himself. He couldn't damn her for feeling like no one cared about her; he didn't even know the particulars of what was happening in this world. But he did know this: he was going to save her.

I don't know what else to do...I'm weak compared to the others. My powers are unpredictable…

Don't worry about that, because...I am here now and I swear that I will save you. Midoriya lifted his eyes and saw that everyone was too invested in arguing among themselves to have noticed him. There was one thing he needed to know though. Eveline, who do you trust?

Zelda. She answered promptly, If there's anyone who should be trusted, it's her. Out of everyone you named, she's the best fighter and she knows me better than anyone.

May I tell her what you've told me? Better yet, I am going to tell her but she might not believe me.

You want me to prove that we can talk to each other like this?

Can you?

I can try, I don't exactly know how to force a projection of myself like I did for you but I can try. Worst case scenario, I could just tell you her embarrassing stories that only I know.

I'd like to not die. He said quickly as he worriedly glanced Zelda's way, relieved that she wasn't looking his way.

I meant that as a last resort….

Still not okay with it. But tell me, now that we're being honest; What is magic and how does it work?

It's hard to explain, there's nothing definitive about it like there seems to be for your quirks. I suppose in general terms, it's a manifestation of belief, willpower, and is usually found through training and even experimentation. Races like Goddesses and Demons are technically born with this kind of power, but we must unlock it and learn to harness it for ourselves. Humans are born with the capability, but they have to put themselves through rigorous training to achieve anything magical.

They're talking about magical attacks, do you know anything about that?

It depends on who you're talking about: our powers vary from person to person just like Quirks. Take Merlin for example; she's a powerful sorceress because her power is Infinity. She can learn any magic and perform it without any drawbacks.

That was interesting to him as he realized that, in theory, quirks and magic weren't that different. However, they couldn't be that similar so he decided that he needed to see his companion's powers in action to fully understand how different they were from Quirks. It would give him the advantage to know should he have to join any battles.

Alright, is there anything else I should know?

Yes, and I need you to relay this to Zelda when you talk to her.

What is it?

They have the twins.


When the meeting finally adjourned, Merlin asked Mael to escort Midoriya to his room for the time being which was conveniently across from Zelda's bedroom. She wasn't bothered by it like he was, but she seemed suddenly interested in talking with him so she invited him into her room. And by invited, she hauled him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him into her room, telling Mael that she just wanted to have some words with him.

"Aren't there nicer ways you could have done this?" he asked rather pathetically as she dropped him onto the floor.

"I don't care if there is," She replied with a half-amused smirk, "besides, pleasantries aren't my style. You would have known that if you had asked Eveline."

"Ha?"

Zelda had seated herself on top of her bed, cross one leg over the other as she looked down on the green-haired teenager. "I'm not dumb, nor am I blind. I know what it looks like when you have a telepathic link with someone. And who else would you have a link with?"

"W-What..? What makes you think it was Eveline? It could have been someone from my world!"

"Because the goddess symbol briefly appeared in your eyes, I'm amazed you didn't know that."

"G-Goddess symbol?!"

Eveline! Help!

What's wrong?

Zelda says that a symbol appears in my eyes when you talk to me!

The Triskelion? That can't be right, someone from your world would have noticed it before. Unless….

"For it to show up, a Goddess has to be possessing your body," Zelda explained, almost as if she knew what Eveline was about to say. "She's not in full possession, not even half. I'd say it's probably even less than a quarter, but it's enough for such a change to briefly occur. Your eyes don't even turn orange like they're supposed to."

"Possession…? So then, you saw us talking earlier?"

"I'll give you some credit, I thought you were deep in your thoughts until the Triskelion appeared," she uncrossed her legs and leaned forward slightly. "So, care to share what you were talking about?"