Chapter 12: Think Of Me
The rest of Midoriya's day had been filled with emotional tension that clouded his thoughts. He found himself in a perpetual fog, questions rambling through his mind and throwing his analytical brain into a repetitive loop. Often he found himself asking and answering the same questions over and over, but with varying responses. There had never been a moment in his life where his own mind had become unreliable to him.
After classes had long been dismissed, Midoriya sat on his bed, contemplating everything he had to share with Eveline and what might change between them as a result. He certainly wasn't sure how she might react to this information; he still didn't know how to handle it on his own, but he could guess that it had more to do with his lack of understanding magic. Or his lack of understanding of these kinds of situations in general.
Might she be understanding, just as she's been thus far? He hoped so.
What if she didn't understand either? At this point, he could say that it's likely that she might not have a full comprehension of the situation but also, she might know something and that's better than nothing.
But what if she gets angry? Could he blame her? He didn't feel angry because…
Wait, why wasn't he angry? Shouldn't he be angry? He was beginning to feel like he should be because this was interfering with his life. He didn't want to deal with problems that didn't involve him like this.
But didn't it involve him?
He fell back onto his bed, a groan followed as his back bounced against his mattress. He was involved and yet he didn't know if this was his problem. The more he thought about it, the more he was beginning to feel torn in a way that hadn't occurred to him before. After all, he was the one to put himself in Todoroki's business and Kota's too. Didn't All Might tell him that being involved like this was what makes a hero? He had no problem before getting involved to help his classmates, to help strangers, so why was it that he was doubting his place in this?
"Eveline…" The name escaped his lips without him realizing it had been at the tip of his tongue. The more he thought about it, he came to understand that much of these changes seemed to stem from her. He didn't know how nor understand why, but he knew something and, at this point, he'd take it for now.
Midoriya slowly pushed himself up and off of his bed. He glanced at his clock and noticed that it was almost time for Eveline to arrive at his room. He was a little excited to have her in his room, having been such an outcast in middle school he never got to enjoy having anyone over at his house. Because of the dorm system, there wasn't a need for anyone to visit him in his room since they could meet in the common room. Since this was a private matter, it made sense for them to talk in the privacy of his room, however, he couldn't shake his boyish giddiness at the thought of having a friend in his room.
A sudden knock on his door pulled him out of his thoughts, he hurried and tore open the door to see Eveline's confused smile looking down on him.
"Izuku?"
Midoriya blushed slightly and looked away. He shouldn't have been so quick to open the door. "Sorry, I was just-"
A giggle escaped Eveline, pausing his apology, "You apologize a lot, you know."
"Ah…" he blushed a little more before moving aside for her, "Come in."
She nodded and entered the room, seating herself on his bed while he carefully closed the door, his mind racing once again. Now that she was here, he couldn't chicken out though he hadn't thought of doing that until this very second. No, he needed to do this! He needed to get this out of the way if Eveline was going to help her friends, family, and kingdoms!
"U-Um…" Midoriya's back quickly tense as he, in a panic, stood straight, while Eveline's soft voice filled the room. "Do you...always mutter like that?"
"M-mutter?!" Had he been muttering? Why did it have to happen right now? He immediately turned around, trying to think of something to say but was met with laughter.
Eveline wasn't bothered by his mutterings at all. In fact, because he muttered so fast, she hardly understood him. "You did that the other day too! When we were walking around!"
"A-Ah…" Midoriya was forced to only sheepishly smile in response, scratching at the back of his head. "Um… It's just a silly habit…"
"A cute one!"
His blush deepened, "Yeah, I guess it is…" He let out a soft chuckle. No one ever saw his muttering as cute before. Even Uraraka was a little bothered by it when she had first seen him do it.
Eveline's laughter lessened into a mild case of the giggles until she managed to control herself. "So, what is it you wanted to talk about?"
It took a great deal of self-control for Midoriya to not suddenly backtrack. This needed to happen. Better get it over with.
"I-" Midoriya opened his mouth but promptly shut it. Where should he start and how should he say it? "I don't know where….Hold on…"
Eveline waited patiently as Midoriya collected his thoughts. She could have allowed for his thoughts to enter her mind but thought better of it. He might be an open book, especially to her, however, that didn't mean she should indulge in his intimate thoughts for her own comfort. So she shut out all possible thoughts, including her own as she waited for him.
It took about three minutes for Midoriya to decide on how to proceed. "I think… no, wait let's start with this." He moved toward his desk and took the little ornate bottle from a shelf.
"Oh," Eveline leaned forward, eager to learn about that bottle. "I was wondering about that. Mael said everything was in that bottle, but I didn't understand what he meant by that."
"Yeah…" Midoriya rolled the bottle in his palm, staring deep into the dark-colored glass. "I...I know a little, but nothing that's going to make this easy on both of us."
Eveline only cocked her head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I mean… I mean that there's something we've both forgotten."
It took about two hours for Midoriya to explain all that he knew. Granted, it should have taken less than an hour but he approached it slowly, pausing whenever he thought Eveline needed a moment. He also told the story as he had learned it, starting from the concert and ending when Mael had given him the memory bottle. Eveline took the information without showing her emotions, though if her face had changed he wouldn't have noticed thanks to her long bangs covering most of her face.
When she lifted her head, he found that her expression was clearly guarded. Her eyes were narrow, the vibrant green had darkened to roughly the color of his hair, and her brows furrowed together as if she were either concentrating or angry. He decided against breaking the silence; Eveline needed to process this and it was now up to her to make a move.
When she did speak, he found himself afraid of the woman before him.
"You knew this whole time?"
"Yes?"
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Because," he took a deep breath and prepared himself to be yelled at. "I didn't know how to bring it up."
Silence.
He was a little surprised that she hadn't gone off on him, but he didn't stop waiting for her to explode. She had every right to be angry. Maybe not at him, however, he was right there and it made sense to him if she lashed out at him. That never came though. Instead, she lowered her head a little further down before raising it to meet his worried gaze.
"Everything makes a lot more sense now."
He wanted to be relieved, however, he knew it was too soon for that. "Does it?"
She nodded, "If we met as children...there is a point where my childhood is kind of fuzzy for me. But for Mael to do that to me, to us, he wouldn't have done it on his own accord."
Midoriya's brows furrowed, "Are you thinking…"
"My parents could have easily reversed it once they noticed something was a little off with me," she stated plainly, "severing a spiritual link like ours, especially for a child, I would have been comatose for some time."
"But I wasn't," Midoriya insisted suddenly, though the outburst didn't faze the young half-goddess. "I mean, I don't think I was. Kacchan would have said so."
Eveline nodded, taking in the additional information with a hard frown. "It was done after I came back and only through me."
"What do you mean?"
"Spiritual links are like two trees growing beside each other and their branches are intertwined," She explained softly. She brought her hand the level of her chin and interlaced her fingers, demonstrating her explanation. "You could cut the branches to separate the trees, but the branches will grow back and touch again."
Midoriya struggled to really grasp what she was saying, "So, if it was only destroyed for you?"
"It was dormant for you," she answered, "it went dormant when Mael erased your memories, whereas I was forced to have it partially destroyed because they realized it was there after I came back to my world."
"So it only affected you."
"Yes," she ran her slender fingers through her golden locks, for the briefest moment, he could see the pain in her eyes. "But why? Why would my parents want that?"
Midoriya didn't know what to say. Frankly, he wondered why it was such a problem. Had their link negatively affected Eveline? He somehow doubted that.
Still, they technically had the answer to all of their questions.
"So that brings us back to this," Midoriya held out the bottle, "Mael said everything he knew was put into this bottle."
Eveline absentmindedly nodded and carefully took the bottle from Midoriya. "Everything he knew? Somehow, I feel like that still won't be much…"
He had to agree. "But it's something. All we need now is time to drink it," He paused and then softly asked, "You said we'd both go unconscious if one of us drinks it, right?"
"That's right," Eveline said in a softer, heartfelt tone. "Had Growther done this to us, it wouldn't be a problem but memory bottles always have a side effect."
"We won't know how long we'd be out for?"
"No, it varies from person to person," she gently rolled the bottle between her palms before holding it with her thumb and index finger and holding up to the light. "To be honest, I'm afraid to find out."
He nodded again and then sighed, "That does bring me to the other thing I wanted to talk about?"
"Oh?" Eveline tilted her head again, just as she had when he started this painful conversation.
"My teachers…" He paused before continuing, "I guess you might have figured out that I'm kinda...well…"
"You're a problem child?" Eveline giggled lightly, covering her mouth with her knuckle.
"...Yeah..." he looked away sheepishly, "Is it that obvious?"
Eveline nodded, much to his chagrin. He didn't like that he had gained a reputation for his recklessness, even though he knew he only had himself to blame for it. However, it did lighten the mood, so he couldn't complain.
"I was told that, well because of how I am, I have to tell them everything that's going on between us and," He gently took the bottle from Eveline, their fingers brushing against each other in a way that felt skittish to them. "This is something I'm sure they'd want to know about."
Eveline's expression saddened slightly, "I see…" She looked away again, contemplating their options. Who could they tell this to? Aizawa was the first to come to mind, though he didn't seem like he would like to hear this kind of information. In fact, she had the slightest suspicion that he would get livid if they told him first. The principal was also immediately off the table because he had to worry about this entire school and it seemed unfair to drag him into this.
"Who-?" Eveline began before Midoriya cut in.
"I was thinking of telling All Might," He spoke rather quickly, "my mentor."
Eveline turned back to Midoriya who was staring at the bottle, "All Might?" The name was familiar to her, but she hadn't a clue who it was. Even when she looked at the merchandise that covered his room, she couldn't recall seeing this blonde man. As she was about to ask who All Might was, she remembered that a sickly blonde man was wandering about the school grounds. She had only seen him in passing, never having spoken to him, much less seen him with Midoriya.
"Um," Midoriya looked around his room, realizing that his posters and figures were probably giving her the wrong idea. "Here, you've must have seen him, but give me a minute."
He pulled out his smartphone and pulled up a picture of the withered hero, showing it to Eveline.
"That's him," Eveline took the phone from Midorya, completely in awe of the image. "Is he like Lord Escanor?"
"Huh?" Midoriya had never heard that name before. "Who's that?"
"Lord Escanor was one of the Seven Deadly Sins," She perked with a starry-eyed look, not too different from the looks Midoriya would give anyone when given a new All Might figure. "He was the Lion Sin of Pride and he wielded the grace of Sunshine. He was small and unassuming during the night but got bigger and stronger with the rise of the sun! Mael wields Sunshine now since Lord Escanor died during the war…"
"Sunshine? You mean Mael's grace?"
"Yes," Eveline chirped, "It's confusing, but Lord Escanor had been born with Mael's grace years after the first Holy War ended. Graces are really powerful though and using it took a heavy toll on his body."
"Oh…" Midoriya considered this rushed and general explanation and compared it to All Might and One For All. They were sort of similar. "I guess you could say that they are alike. But All Might can't look like this anymore."
Eveline handed the phone back to Midoriya, her awe had faded though a smile remained. "Is that so? It wouldn't have to do with the people inside you, would it?"
Midoriya's eyes grew twice their size as he began to stutter uncontrollably. "People?! What are you-!?"
"Oops," Eveline looked away sheepishly as she had spilled a secret. "I thought maybe you knew about them."
"About who though?"
"The eight people inside of you," Eveline explained calmly. "I can't see their faces, they were like blacked out phantoms when I was in your head, but they talked to me during the concert. One even told me her name, Nana Shimura."
Midoriya felt his body stiffened, he didn't know that Nana Shimura was inside of him. He knew that her quirk was, but she herself?! "I-I didn't know All Might's mentor was…"
"So this isn't your quirk," Eveline stated rather abruptly, "It's a quirk that can be passed down, right?"
Midoriya found himself completely baffled by Eveline. How was she able to deduce that so quickly? "Well...I mean, okay hold on. We're off-topic!"
Eveline only laughed rather innocently at the flustered boy. It was too easy to get him riled up like this, he left himself open to it. Deep down, she knew that it was unfair of her to bring up less important topics just to avoid dealing with the memory bottle.
"Right, you want to tell All Might."
Midoriya nodded, "Yeah."
Eveline fell silent for a brief moment. As she had never met All Might, she was naturally hesitant to want to confide in him. Even though he is Midoriya's mentor, Eveline couldn't quite bring herself to accept his wishes. "May I ask why him?"
Midoriya was taken aback by her question. He wasn't expecting her to question him, though, in retrospect, he should have considered it. "What?"
"Why do you trust him over everyone else?" She asked softly.
"Well, I mean he's the one who's helped me get to where am I and he's..." Midoriya choked slightly, "He's been like a dad to me this whole time."
A smile spread across Eveline's lips. She couldn't argue with that if that's how he felt on this subject. "Alright, I'll trust you."
A/N: So, I just realized that you can clearly tell when I was working on this and my Anthropology paper at the same time by the use of big words. I would have changed them, but, in a way, I thought it was kind of funny so I left them. Anyway, I have some great news. Since this semester is over, I will try to post a new chapter every Saturday. It sounds like a lot considering I was struggling to just post monthly, but that was only because I had a lot on my plate with classes. Since I am free, I have a lot more time for this which I figured would make a nice Christmas present for everyone who's enjoyed my story.
