Last Christmas
My Hero Academia fanfiction
By thrillerartist
NOTE: I DO NOT OWN MY HERO ACADEMIA!
It was a long, difficult year-and the same could be said for every single person in the world.
Starting in the early spring, when winter was still trying to keep its hold on the land, a series of natural disasters struck the world. Tsunamis, and hurricanes; earthquakes and floods; tornadoes and mudslides; blizzards and wildfires; droughts and torrential rainstorms.
One after another, each natural disaster just kept coming, without any break. Each one worse than the last.
Heroes all over the world were dispatched on rescue missions. Izuku had never worked so hard or been so exhausted in all of his life-except for maybe those five grueling months of training to get into UA.
It was even harder on missions where he was separated from Ochako, his then girlfriend of three years, and best friend since high school.
Almost every night when they returned to their apartment, Izuku and Ochako would fall asleep in their field gear-if they even fell asleep at all. Sometimes, they would be called back into duty right as they got home. Sometimes, they'd get a good few hours in before they had to answer the call of duty again.
It was hard, backbreaking work-but it was the life that Izuku had chosen. It was the only life he'd ever wanted for himself. The life and work of a hero was what excited him when he woke up in the morning, and it was what he looked forward to when he went to sleep every night.
But this was almost too much to bear.
Digging through collapsed buildings to look for survivors, only to find fatalities and the few dismembered survivors. Swimming through floodwaters to rescue what they thought were drowning children, only to discover they were already they did manage to save in time were in such horrible condition they often died in the medical tents. Those lucky enough to survive and make it to the hospital often endured permanent conditions.
Not to mention the few who died in Izuku's arms as he was rushing them to safety. It was thankless work they were doing, and because of the constant tragedies and casualties, few heroes were in the spotlight.
When the Year of Catastrophe finally began to let up, people came down with diseases caused by the floods. Mass outbreaks of pneumonia in coastal areas were powerful enough to shut down entire cities for months at a time.
The collapsed economies did nothing to help rebuild the world, with so many businesses destroyed and important business tycoons being arrested for doing less than legal things to try and save their corporations.
It really seemed like the beginning of the end, but every day that Izuku woke up to go to work as a hero was a day that he was grateful he could help make a difference to those he could save.
After all, that's what his mentor,All-Might, always did; face the world with a smile when things got hard. Izuku was determined not to let him down. With his girlfriend, Ochako, and his friends from UA by his side Izuku believed there wasn't any villain or problem they couldn't face.
He was naive to think that.
Some villains are just too small, too quick, and too deadly to defeat with a smile.
The cities in Japan have always decorated somewhat for Christmas, as well as the more traditional Japanese winter holidays-but it was never anything this huge.
Americans really go all out during Christmas, Izuku thought, strolling down the sidewalk, holding hands with his girlfriend, Ochako. The two were in town for an international hero convention that was set to take place the week before the Christmas holiday. Izuku and Ochako were there, working on the team representing Japan.
Wreaths were strung up on every door. Huge pine and cedar trees were decorated with twinkle lights and red and silver ornaments. The smells of hot chocolate and winter spices permeated in almost every coffee and tea shop on the street. Every street corner had a fat man in a red suite-Santa Claus- ringing a bell and collecting change for charities. The streets of Boston, Massachusetts were bustling with people shopping, dining out, and walking around. Occasionally, there were groups of carolers singing holiday songs, or musicians wearing red and white Santa hats, playing jazzy songs for tips.
The world was beginning to come alive again for the first time since the early spring. Boston had been ravaged by the catastrophes, just like any other city-let alone a coastal city-but was able to rebuild quickly due to remarkable technicians and support hero colleges in the area. It was the main reason why Boston was chosen as the location for the International Hero Coalition Convention that year.
The world was beginning to return to what it used to be-though it still had a very long way to go. So the moods of the streets were joyous, and it seemed everyone that passed them was in the Christmas spirit, so much so that it was almost contagious.
Almost, because Izuku Midoriya was feeling anything but the Christmas Spirit.
He and his mother celebrated the holiday every year since he was little, and it was easily his favorite one. For years, it was always just him and his mother, until his mentor, All-Might, started to join them for the holiday during Izuku's senior year at UA, and continued to come even after his graduation.
Two Christmases ago, Izuku had invited Ochako and her family to his house for Christmas Day. Every year, they exchanged gifts and ate dinner together. Last year, All-Might brought with him a bunch of Western holiday movies that they all watched well into the night (and a little bit of drinking sake may have been involved, too). It was rare for Izuku to be able to relax like that ever since he started working at Night-Eye's agency, and last Christmas had become one of the happiest moments of Izuku's life.
But that was last Christmas.
Last Christmas...Izuku thought.
A pressure around his gloved hand got his attention.
"You've been quiet." Ochako said, slowing her pace, stopping to look at his face. "Are you feeling okay?"
Izuku looked away. "I'm fine. It's nothing." He muttered.
"It's totally not nothing." Ochako said. "Are you sick?"
"No, just a lot on my mind, I guess." Izuku replied, hoping that would be enough to put his girlfriend at ease.
It wasn't.
"Izuku…" Ochako sighed. "I know that it's been a difficult year for you-it has been for me, too. But he wouldn't want us moping around because he isn't here. He'd want us to celebrate his life, at this time of year especially."
Izuku sighed out of his nose. His eyes stung with frustrated tears, and he felt his throat tighten up from emotion.
"Let's get a drink." Izuku said. "It's cold."
The Year of Catastrophe didn't get it's name for nothing.
Not only was it a year of treacherous natural disasters, it was also a year of hardship for millions of people.
And Izuku was one of them.
All-Might's health had been declining for years. After the final remains of One-For-All left his body, other health complications began to pop up out of nowhere. A few major surgeries to repair damage caused by his accident years ago here;
It all happened so slowly, so much so that no one-not even Izuku-noticed there was anything wrong. He had just thought that All-Might was starting to slow down, much sooner than he thought, but it wasn't too unusual for a man with as many health problems as he had.
But Izuku was dead wrong.
He got the call in the early summer, with the catastrophes were finally beginning to slow down, but when the crime was just beginning to go up as desperate people turned to desperate measures of survival.
The call came from his mother, Inko, who had stopped by All-Might's house every afternoon during the catastrophes to make sure he was okay.
That day, he wasn't.
All-Might had started coughing blood that morning, and was too weak to call for help. Izuku's mother had called an ambulance once she realized how bad it was, and stayed with All-Might all the way to the hospital.
Tests had determined that All-Might had stage four bladder cancer, seemingly caused by the years of smoke inhalation during various fire rescue operations. The years of breathing in smoke cause it to build up and collect in his organs, leading to malignant tumors that metastasize to his major organs. Chemotherapy and radiation to shrink the tumors could allow doctors to remove the tumors that posed the most danger. But it would cost money, and so, so much time.
Inko had All-Might move into her apartment, since she was closer to the hospital than All-Might's apartment at UA. She would drive him to and from the hospital, and take care of him while he suffered through the effects of chemo. All-Might never stopped smiling, never stopped fighting, even though he was in pain.
A series of scans three months after All-Might had started treatments showed that the tumors hadn't shrunk at all; rather, they continued to grow, despite the treatments.
That was how cancer worked sometimes. Sometimes, those fucking tumors just wouldn't die from the poison that was pumped throguh the body.
Some villains were just too quick to catch in time.
Izuku had wanted to be there for All-Might. Izuku had wanted to be there for every hospital visit, every chemo and radiation session. He wanted to be there for his mentor like All-Might was there for him.
But Izuku had duties to perform as Deku. He couldn't just drop what he was doing when there were many other people counting on him. Izuku wasn't there for the appointments or the rounds of chemo or the radiotherapy sessions; his mother was. Izuku could only come and help All-Might on his few days off from hero work. On those days, Ochako would often come along and cook for the Midoriyas and All-Might.
Izuku didn't have much to give All-Might. With his job as a front-line hero, Izuku had to work many days as Deku, just like Ochako had to be Uravity for much of the time. But on the rare days when he could be himself, Izuku would be Izuku for All-Might.
"I'm not always going to be around, you know." All-Might said on one of the last days Izuku had been able to come home and visit.
"Please, don't say that." Izuku replied. "I just...I can't think about that right now."
"I've had plenty of time to think about it, Young Midoriya." All-Might said. He'd weakly grabbed Izuku's scarred right hand, and Izuku held it tight as he could without hurting All-Might.
"I know you don't want to think about horrible things," All Might continued, "because then you'll spiral into a hurricane of possible scenarios and 'what-if' situations. I don't want that for you...but this is something that you need to realize. We both knew that this was a possibility-that I would die from my condition. Though, to be honest, I never really thought it would be cancer that did me in." All-Might coughed out a laugh, that quickly turned into just-plain coughing.
"I'm so proud to have been your mentor." All-Might croaked. "And you don't know how proud I am of everything that you've done. Though...I know I put you through a lot while you were in high school. I wish I could have done more to prevent that. But I am so proud of the man you have become, Izuku Midoriya. And I'll be watching over you to see what you're going to do next."
All-Might had died a week later after that conversation. Izuku received a call in the middle of the night, after an eighteen hour patrol through the city. He and Ochako had barely crawled into bed that night.
When he heard the words, "he's just passed away", Izuku dropped the phone from the shock, because even though he had months to prepare himself emotionally, there is no way to prepare yourself for a person's death.
Izuku was numb against his sheets, gasping for air and blinking rapidly, waiting for tears and heartache that just wouldn't come.
He had woken Ochako. He had told Ochako what happened, and she wrapped her arms around him, buried her head into his neck, and cried for her teacher, for a mentor that was as much of hers as he was Izuku's. They held each other close, as if both were afraid the other would float away if they did.
That was a month ago. Izuku and Ochako had just received the invitation for the hero conference in America. They had made plans with their parents to have a joint Christmas celebration together in Japan, to ring in a much welcomed new year.
But it seems that last Christmas would also be All-Might's Last Christmas.
Then again, isn't that a possibility for everyone?
They didn't have to search far for a place to get a drink- almost every street corner in Boston had a coffee shop or a pub. Ochako insisted they needed something hot to drink, not something strong. Izuku allowed himself to be led to an orange and pink coffee shop on the street corner.
The heat was blasting as they walked in. Ochako ordered their drinks-two green tea lattes-since she was only slightly better at English than Izuku. Izuku sat down in a secluded booth in the back of the shop.
"Izzo-ku and Ocho-ko?" A barista called. Ochako nearly died laughing at the table, and Izuku felt his ears blush-and not just from the cold. Ochako got their drinks, thanking the barista despite his butchering of their names, and returned.
"Thank you." Izuku said, accepting his latte and taking a sip, the strong taste waking him up, and the foam coating his throat and mouth in a creamy sweetness.
"So, what's really going on, Izuku?" Ochako asked him. "You've been out of it ever since we got to the convention. This morning, you were so out of it you tried to comb your hair with a toothbrush." Ochako smiled at the memory, but the turn of her lips didn't meet her eyes. "I know something's going on with you," she said, "and I've been hoping that you'd tell me when you're ready-but I can't wait anymore, because you won't talk about it. Please, Izuku, tell me what's wrong."
Izuku sighed heavily, wiping his eyes to keep tears from spilling out on their own. "I...I don't know." He said. "It's just...we're here, in America...and I can't help but think that All-Might should be here, too." Izuku let out another sigh, frustrated with how confusing his emotions were. "But...it's selfish for me to be thinking that," Izuku said, "so I'm trying not to think about it...and as horrible as this sounds...I just don't feel in the Christmas mood this year."
Izuku was wiping his eyes with his jacket more frequently now. Ochako was ignoring her drink, instead clasping his one free hand in both of hers. He was thankful they were speaking Japanese, he didn't want anyone eavesdropping on their conversation-though anyone could probably guess the mood of their discussion.
"How-how horrible is that?" Izuku whispered. "To have so many people I love in my life-to have you in my life-and still be unable to live because one person isn't here? What kind of person does that make me?"
"A regular person." Ochako said. "All-Might was your mentor. He taught you everything you know, not to mention he was your idol ever since you were little. It makes sense that him being gone would make you not want to celebrate."
Izuku couldn't meet her eyes, but he couldn't turn away either. So instead, he just raised his eyes, and looked past her, over the tops of the booth, towards the windows. The night was black, and snow had begun to softly fall again. But Boston was beginning to come to life again, with people shopping, and drinking, and eating; couples walking up and down the streets looking at the Christmas lights.
It almost wasn't fair.
"All-Might would slap you over the head, you know." Ochako said, taking her hands away and sipping on her cooled latte. "And then he'd give you a big lecture on how you need to keep going and living on, despite how bad life gets." Ochako took another sip of her drink. "Death is a part of the job, Izuku." Ochako said. "We both saw the meaning of that this summer. We saw how desperate people could be this fall. But life is going to go on whether we want it to or not. The difference is whether or not we choose to go along with it."
"What did it all even mean?" Izuku muttered, feeling suddenly bitter. "To spend his whole life fighting for others, only to die fighting for his own. To spend the last few months of his life on treatments that we all knew wouldn't work. What was the point of all that?" Izuku sounded bitter, he knew, but Izuku had never been sullen a day in his life. Even though he knew he had every right in the world to be angry, Izuku couldn't stop himself from forcing those feelings away.
Heroes shouldn't be angry people, Izuku thought. And I'm not the only one who lost someone important to would be selfish of me to start being angry and bitter over things that I can't control.
Izuku revelled in the warmth of his latte, not really minding how the hot liquid burned his palm and fingertips.
Izuku had felt pain that was much worse than this.
"I know we were both planning on going home and celebrating Christmas with our families once we get home." Izuku said. "But he...All-Might was a part of my family, too, much more than I realized. He was always there to celebrate with my mom and me once we graduated, and to celebrate without him-"
"Is what he would want us to do." Ochako said. "He wouldn't want our worlds to stop spinning just because he isn't here. He wouldn't want you to stop living your life. Honestly, he would probably take it as a huge insult, with how much work he put into training you. Training me." Ochako took another sip of her drink. "I know your heart must be broken from all of this, Izuku. Mine is, too. All-Might was a great mentor, an incredible teacher, and probably one of the greatest heroes to ever walk the earth. But if there's one thing he always hammered into our thick skulls as his students, it was the importance of facing the world with a smile, no matter what."
Izuku couldn't stop his silent tears from falling down his face. No matter how much or how hard he wiped them away, more just took their place. He was the proverbial leaking water vase, asked to hold a burden he wasn't built to carry.
"I just…" Izuku sighed harshly, and ran a hand through his messy green hair. "I thought I was doing okay, and I thought that this trip would be good for us-good for me-just to get away for awhile. I thought that a change in scenery would be healthy to get my mind off of Mustafu, but being here, all I can think about is All-Might, and how he would've loved exploring the cities, and…"
Izuku was gripping his hair so hard, he almost pulled out a few strands. Ochako reached across the table, and gently pried his fingers from his hair. Instead, she laced her fingers between his, and held him tight, excluding only her pinkie fingers so as to not make Izuku float.
"And everything you thought you weren't feeling just followed us here." Ochako finished for him. Gosh, Izuku didn't know how he was so lucky to have a girlfriend like her. On his worst days, she knew how to talk him down from his mental ledge. She knew when to pull him away from a subject in time before he would dive down a rabbit hole that would only lead him to a depressed and confused attitude. She was able to bring out the best in him, and he made sure she knew just how important she was to him every day.
But when was the last time I told her I loved her? Izuku thought. Have I even bothered to check in and see how she's handling things? She's always been the one to consider my feelings, to make sure I've been doing okay, but have I done the same for her lately?
Izuku found that he couldn't answer those questions. His memories of the days following All-Might's death and funeral service were all a blur-an effect of shock on his heartbroken psyche.
"Hey." Ochako said, squeezing his hand and bringing Izuku back to reality. "What's going through your head?"
The same question she'd asked out on the street, the one that he wasn't able to answer.
Izuku gulped, hoping that he wouldn't fumble his next words. "Have I...have I been…" Izuku let out a sigh.
"You know how much I love you." Izuku said gently. "Right?"
Ochako squeezed his hand. "Of course, silly. You tell me about fifty times a day."
"Have I told you that lately, though?" Izuku said. "Have I even checked in with you to see how you're doing? I feel like I've been selfish lately, feeling sorry for myself because I miss him. But I can't help but feel that way. I can't help but miss him, to feel like-"
"Everything you're feeling is justifiable." Ochako said sincerely. "Izuku, look at me."
Izuku raised his eyes, and saw that Ochako had unshed tears in her own. The cold of Boston had painted her nose and cheeks with a fair blush, and her hair was frizzy from the hat she had worn to protect herself from the cold and snowfall. She still looked like she was recovering from jetlag, bags still carried under her eyes. She looked slightly sweaty from the winter gear that she was still wearing inside.
But Izuku could only think, Gosh, you're beautiful.
"I don't need to be told how much you love me in order for me to know that." Ochako smiled, one tear slowly tracing her cheek. "You show me how much you love me everyday. And you have been distant lately, but so have I. So have many of our friends. We're all grieving, and we each do it in a different way. And yes, it feels like a little piece of my heart is missing now that my old teacher is gone. I miss him every day, just like you do." Ochako lifted her hand away to wipe her tears, which had started to fall just like Izuku's-slow and steady and relentless.
"It's hard to lose someone you love," Ochako said. "But it's because you loved them that you miss them. You miss the memories you made, you miss who they are and what they were when they were alive. But just because All-Might is gone doesn't mean that the legacy he left behind is any less important. His smile-the one he taught us to give even when all hope is lost-that will never be forgotten."
Ochako reached forwards again, taking Izuku's hands in her own, forgetting their drinks but remembering to keep her pinkies raised. "The love you felt for him as your mentor will never be forgotten. And the legacy he left behind in you will never be forgotten, so long as you remember what he taught you."
Izuku sniffed, cleared his throat, wiped his tears with one hand while holding Ochako's in the other. "You're right." He chuckled. "But then again...you usually always are."
"Darn right." Ochako laughed. She looked at him with a sad smile, her eyebrows creased with slight worry. "Are you going to be alright for the rest of the trip?"
"I'll be fine." Izuku said. And this time, he thought he really meant it. Though crying in public wasn't his most favorite past-time, he had to admit that it felt good to release the pent-up emotion he didn't know he'd been collecting. "I really am glad that we came here. And I'm really glad that you're here with me. I love you."
"I love you too." Ochako said. "Do you want to go back to the hotel?"
Izuku shook his head. "Not unless that's what you want."
"I kinda wanna keep walking around the city. We aren't in Boston every day, and I wanna find this 'Oyster House' everyone keeps talking about online."
"Then to the Oyster House we shall go." Izuku said with a smile, taking a swig of his chilled latte before standing and offering Ochako his elbow.
"What a gentleman." She said in her best English. Izuku couldn't help but laugh (to which she slapped his arm jokingly).
They walked down the streets, going off of directions they looked up on their phones. The Oyster House was five blocks from where they were standing, and along the way, it was all Christmas lights and quiet happiness.
Izuku took a deep breath, reveling in the chilly air and how it stung against his nose and throat.
He looked down at his girlfriend, her breaths creating puffs of steam, her hat pulled down over her eyebrows, and he couldn't help but feel his heart gush at how adorable she was.
"Merry Christmas, Ochako." He whispered.
"Merry Christmas, Izuku." She replied, just as soft.
At a stoplight, with cars whizzing by, Izuku took a moment to look up at the stars, and wondered if his mentor was among them, looking down on them as they walked through an unknown city.
Merry Christmas, All-Might.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Yeah, I've been absent from the writing game for a long time, partly because of school, and partly because of a very difficult family situation.
A close relative of mine recently passed away from cancer, and it's taken a hard toll on me. Christmas was their favorite holiday to celebrate with my family, and this year's Christmas season hasn't felt much like Christmas to me. Because of COVID-19, I can't see distant family members that I'm also especially close with, and some of my immediate family haven't been able to come home at all for a long time.
It's hard to look forward to Christmas when the things that made it so special in the past aren't really there anymore.
But I was brought back to reality by the reminder that Christmas wasn't a season that was only about family and love, but that it was also a season of hope.
Hope that we can end an incredibly difficult year on somewhat-okay(ish) terms.
Hope that we can strive for better in the year to come. Hope that things will eventually turn around.
Here's to a year of hope, everyone.
Happy Holidays!
-thrillerartist.