The Bright Hero, Cobalt
Chapter Twenty-five
A/N: Thanks for all the positive feedback, and all the constructive criticism over the past few months. We're getting close to where it's gonna be almost all original, because a lot of problems that stuck around canonically are being dealt with early in this fanfic, a lot of it offscreen, so I feel like I should confess that after the conflict-laden portion of the fic, I'm gonna make it mostly just snippets of the characters' lives afterwards in a slice-of-life kind of story. I hope you are all able to enjoy that. Also, because I'm amped for the upcoming arc...POWAAAAAH!
"Normal speech."
"Twice speech. Twice speech."
"Buff Might/AI/SHOOOOOTOOOOOO/Kacchanese speech."
"Telepathic speech."
'Thinking speech.'
'Sign language.'
On An Inconspicuous School Day
Eraserhead rolled his eyes as the empath in his class began shedding blue aura and vibrating in his seat. "Problem child, I appreciate the enthusiasm for the lesson, but why are you leaking your good mood all over my classroom?" the tired teacher asked blandly.
To his credit, the green-haired telepath reeled his aura in quickly. "Sorry, Sensei. Somebody in range thought loudly enough about what we'll be doing later today that I got really excited. Also, have I mentioned that thank you for being awesome, Aizawa-sensei?" the boy explained, finishing up with a wide smile and watery eyes as he thanked his homeroom teacher.
The Erasure Hero stared at his student for about five seconds before responding. "Just don't spoil it for your classmates, problem child," he said simply before going back to the current lesson. With his face turned away from his students, Shota allowed himself a little grin of his own. 'We'll see if you're still so enthusiastic after you get knocked off your feet, Midoriya-san. Regardless of the outcome, I'm looking forward to seeing what all of you rugrats show me.'
Immediately After That Lesson
Shota turned to his class, where now both Uraraka and Midoriya were producing bits of blue aura, and rolled his eyes. "I suppose I can't blame you for Uraraka-san finding out, Midoriya-san, so you're off the hook, I guess," the inhaler of caffeine said, then tapped a button on his desk and said, "You can come in now."
The front classroom door opened, and Izuku's desk now vibrated with him. "It's them! Lemillion the Phantom, Nejire-chan the Swift, and Suneater the Chimera! U.A.'s Big Three!" the freckled ninth inheritor exclaimed, releasing a tiny noise of excitement when he noticed two of his three senpais brighten when hearing his fan titles for them. The third just seemed confused.
"Wait, I have a fan?" Amajiki Tamaki asked nervously, finding the idea to be very foreign. Nearly all of the class raised their hands and announced themselves as one of his fans. "Oh no...The pressure...I can't handle the youth…" the manifest user softly complained before turning around and leaning his forehead against the wall.
Suddenly, Nejire was flitting around the classroom. "Ne, ne, you produce acid, but is it just acid, or can you produce any acidic liquid? Can you produce water with your quirk? Hey, your quirk produces electricity! Does that mean your body produces more electricity than a normal body even when you're not using your quirk? Oh, your quirk lets you talk to animals! Do they talk back? What's the best conversation you've ever had with a non-human who isn't our principal?"
This continued for a while, though she noticeably avoided talking with Himiko, Ochako, and Izuku. Soon enough, she passed close enough to her fellow third years for them to pull her back down to the floor. The Vault Boy-esque Togata Mirio grinned at all his kohais. "Well, Eraserhead-sensei said he wanted the three of us to give you some examples of what you'll all learn at your internships over the years, but I don't think we can do that all that well with just words. So, Eraserhead-sensei, do you mind if the three of us go up against your wet behind the ears kids for a practical lesson?"
The eternally tired underground hero smirked despite himself. "Knock yourselves out. Or them. Get your costumes on, all of you, and head to Gym Gamma," Shota said to the future of hero society.
Gym Gamma
"I can't believe we're gonna fight the Big Three!"
"I can't believe we're gonna fight the people who beat All Might in a mock battle!"
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT FUCKING BUTTER!"
Shoto looked between the fanboying Izuku and the fangirling Nejire for a few minutes, before his eyes widened. "Is Hado-san secretly also Midoriya-san's half sister?" the half and half boy mumbled as those close enough to hear him rolled their eyes and tried to talk the boy out of his new conspiracy.
Izuku, noticing his sister still in her school uniform, quirked an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to join us, Neechan?" he asked curiously.
Himiko let out a quick bark of laughter then smiled fondly at her baby brother. "You forget, I'm already a pro. I'm in this class to help develop my social skills and education, not to become a hero. Also, I wanna see what this next bit looks like from the outside. Good luck, baby bro. You'll need it," the elder of the test tube siblings said with a slightly ominous smirk.
Noticing the siblings' conversation, Eraserhead spoke softly to the three near-graduates. "Try not to beat them too badly. I don't want to get on Recovery Girl's bad side," the homeroom teacher of 1-A requested.
Suneater's eyes widened comically before he began muttering gloomily to himself, and Lemillion tried his hardest to lift his friend's spirits. Nejire simply grinned at the sleepy man. "We'll do our best, but you know what they say about plans! Everybody has one until they get punched in the face!" she exclaimed with way too much brightness.
Eraserhead pinched the bridge of his nose, then motioned for everybody to get in position. "All right, go kick each other's asses!" the man called out.
"Kelvin Force: Glacier!" Cobalt and Shoto called out in combination, the latter forming a huge wall of ice between the first years and the third years that was quickly reinforced with green aura. The aura began spreading out and connecting to each of the students of 1-A, outside of Himiko, and they began positioning themselves to better prepare for their opponents, information on the fighting styles of the Big Three suddenly entering their minds.
Earphone Jack whirled around and grinned, startling Lemillion a bit when he emerged and saw her confident expression. "Sonic Force: Reverb!" the girl said ominously in conjunction with the green-clad empath as she glowed with his aura. Lemillion landed his punch, but it was as if he had been struck, the savior of many being flung away, phasing through the wall he was flung into.
Nejire-chan and Suneater both made it over the wall shortly after, and the latter joined the fray, quickly overwhelming several of the students of 1-A at once with tentacles, vines, and claws. The sudden disruption of their frontlines threw many of them off, Izuku included. He, Tsukuyomi, and Darth Raven, tried to use Shadow Force: Armor of Night, but it was quickly blown through by the blue-haired badass Surge user, who looked up at Izuku with an unnerving grin and floated up to him.
"Ne, ne! You have empathic and telepathic abilities, right? What does my mind feel like to you?" the girl asked innocently. Despite himself, Izuku found himself entering her thoughts, however…
There were so many! She didn't have just three or four trains of thought, she had an entire railroad system's worth! Unit 2 and Uravity, both fighting on the ground at the time, suddenly fell over, the latter with swirly eyes, and Cobalt dropped like a brick, the thud he made upon hitting the ground sounding far louder than it actually was as the melee stopped for a moment, 1-A suddenly exuding a menacing aura that had the Big Three pausing.
Kacchan gazed with faraway eyes at the fallen verdette and brunette for a moment, before he exploded violently, as he was wont to do. "THEY SANK OUR BATTLESHIP! KILL THESE STUPID FUCKS IN THEIR DUMB FACES!" he roared with the fury of a thousand suns, his classmates letting out their own warcries as well, as they began fighting with renewed vigor.
The proceeding fight was incredibly brutal, even if it was somewhat one-sided. The Big Three won in the end, but they had to fight for long enough that they knocked out a couple of their underclassmen multiple times. Kacchan went down in history as being too angry to stay down, the boy occasionally getting up and rejoining the fight less than a minute after being knocked out, and he was not the only one to do this. Eraserhead was forced to call the fight after each of his students, sans Cobalt and Uravity, got back up to rejoin the fight at least once, and had to use his capture weapon to restrain Kacchan and a few others to prevent them from continuing the fight anyway.
Needless to say, there were bruises and other minor injuries aplenty, and Eraserhead got on Recovery Girl's bad side, exactly as he'd feared.
Hours Later In The 1-A Common Room, After 1-A Let Go Of Their Rage
"Sorry about the black eye, Nejire-chan!" the Alien Queen apologized to the girl she, quite frankly, looked up to.
"Don't worry about it! I haven't had a good fight like that in a while! Villains don't normally take me seriously, so the angry little Nejire-chan inside of me doesn't get to properly express herself often!" the taller bluenette responded with a grin and a peace sign.
"Don't move so much, Mirio. I need to keep the pressure on, and the ice pack slips when you fidget," Tamaki scolded the blond.
A bit delirious, Mirio grinned at his friend. "Did I tell you I love you, Tamaki?" he asked with a goofy smile.
The dark-haired boy rolled his eyes. "Every morning for the last year, Mirio. What did I do to deserve such a friendly, troublesome boyfriend?" the pointy-eared teen replied with a blush and a tiny smile.
With a grin, Eijiro hollered his thoughts. "Ha! GAAAAY!" the manly son of two moms joked loudly, getting a few chuckles as several of the couple's underclassmen congratulated the two on their steady relationship.
Meanwhile, Himiko couldn't stop laughing at her baby brother. "Neechan, it couldn't have been that funny!" the verdette pouted, before his sister stopped for a second to show him the memory. "Okay, it was kinda funny."
It wasn't long before Mirio had gained enough lucidity that he remembered something important. "Oh, that's right! Sir Nighteye wants to meet you two, Midoriya-kun, Uraraka-chan!" the buff blond announced with a smile.
Izuku's eyes widened, the boy suddenly recalling something important as well. "I mean, I can't speak for Ochako, but as you can tell from the blue aura, sorry about that, by the way, I'd really like to meet him, too!" the fidgety verdette said with literally bright eyes.
The brown-haired building-flinger giggled at her boyfriend. "I'll go with you. Even if whatever he needs us for doesn't work out, I'll get to see Izuku fanboy all over the place," Ochako said as she grabbed her slowly levitating boyfriend and pulled him back down.
That would have to wait until later, though. Curfew was approaching, and each of the students would be needing their sleep.
Late At Night, In Izuku's Room
The freckled teen woke with a startled shout that he quickly silenced, not wanting to wake anybody up. He could sense that the gripping fear that had awoken him had also roused his girlfriend, Ochako slightly confused at the turn of events. Stretching out his senses, since it hadn't been his nightmare that had interrupted his sleep, the boy sensed sorrow coming from his sister and her partner.
"Common room?" the boy suggested, getting feelings of assent from the three he conveyed the thought to.
"Give me a few minutes...Sorry, you guys," Himiko said, sounding quiet and a bit afraid even in his head.
Uravity, he sensed, was not bothered. "Don't be sorry. Be Himiko-chan," the girl conveyed the feelings of kindness and love, letting the test tube woman know she had their support.
The four gathered in the common room, where the tv turned on and quickly lowered its own volume, Mei's oil-stained face appearing on the screen. "I sensed a disturbance in the Force, so I checked the feeds. You need me to come over there, Ko-chan?"
The fanged blond took a seat on the couch, where her boyfriend, brother, and friend had all gathered to be close to her. "...Yeah. Sensei might be upset, though," Himiko said, somehow looking more tired at that moment than the on-screen insomniac.
The rosette nodded. "I'll bring some chocolate milk," she said before the tv shut off. The four remained huddled together in the dim lighting for maybe three minutes before the front door was unlocked and Mei wandered in with one of the campus drones, the automaton locking the door behind her and carrying a few blankets while the teenage genius carried a few packets of chocolate milk. Soon, the quintet were piled around each other under blankets while they sipped the tasty drink through their straws.
When he sensed his sister was calm enough, Izuku asked the question on his and Ochako's minds. "So...do you want to talk about it?" he asked softly.
The shorter of the two yellow-eyed girls stared at the recently emptied drink packet. "It's not something that can be solved in a day, and you and Ochako-chan definitely shouldn't be thinking about doing anything about it for another decade, honestly, but...I'm scared. Assuming I don't die in the line of duty, I'm going to outlive all of you by a lot. That idea scares me. It's gonna sound weird to ask this, but if you two have a kid, could you ask them to make sure I'm not lonely when you're all gone?" she asked, and Izuku could tell the subject made her very afraid.
If not for the seriousness of the situation, he and Ochako would have been a blubbering mess right then. The two had thoughts of a future together already, but children? That thought hadn't passed through their minds just yet. However, they could both already tell. If they did end up having a kid, either adopted or...biologically...they'd definitely make sure the tiny tot would keep an eye on Himiko for them. "Yeah," Ochako said with a soft smile, having come to the same conclusion as him, even as the two looked at one another with a blush.
Mei smiled, adding her two yen. "You already know I've offered up my first born to you, Ko-chan," the rosette joked as she tightened her arms around her friend gently.
Himiko couldn't help the smile that found its way on her face, being reminded of the support she had. "Thanks, you guys. Thank you so much," she said softly.
Though Mei eventually left to get back to work, the other four slept in their cuddle pile through the rest of the night.
A Few Days Later, Outside Of Sir Nighteye's Office
Cobalt gulped nervously. To appear more friendly, the boy had forgone wearing Unit 2, instead holding it in place at high altitude so he could just bring it down from above in case of emergencies. The hooded portion of his costume was settled around his neck as well, revealing his face in its entirety. However, at the moment, part of him wanted to turn tail and hide.
He could tell, even from the other side of the door and without actively sensing for anything, that his host was in a foul mood. The green-haired esper was thankful Uravity was here with him. Truly, his girlfriend was a blessing. The girl had already started to counter the negativity coming from the room before them with her positivity. A not-so-soft pat on the back had him in better spirits a lot more quickly than what should be possible.
"You ready to help some folks, Cobalt?" the heroic stargazer queried with pep in her voice.
The quirkless hero nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Uravity," he responded, before the two of them opened the door together, chuckling a little at the redundant hand on the door handle.
"Cobalt, reporting as requested!"
"Uravity, also reporting as requested!"
Sir Nighteye turned his head around ominously from his task, which seemed to be...tickling a restrained hero. "I guess this is what happens when you fail to make him laugh," Uravity said with a hint of a giggle of her own.
The Foresight user rolled his eyes and released his sidekick. "Bubble Girl, ensure nobody interrupts this meeting. Classified info will be discussed," the lanky former sidekick said sternly.
The bluenette wheezed as she pulled herself back together. "Of course, Sir!" the woman managed to get out as she skedaddled with haste, occasionally letting out giggles as she went.
Sasaki Mirai took a seat at his desk, his fingers steepled as he gazed harshly at the two students standing before him. "You know why you two are here." The pro was not asking. He was stating what he believed. And to an extent, he was right.
Izuku fidgeted a little as he responded. "I mean, I assume it's something to do with One for All, but other than that, I don't know," the boy confessed, twiddling his thumbs a bit before Uravity placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Sir blinked, and Izuku sensed a hint of surprise from the pro. "I was under the impression you had less control over your mind reading powers than you clearly have. That was unprofessional of me. Even with a power that isn't a quirk, there will be room for improvement, and you have improved. Yes, you are here because I wished to discuss One for All. Normally, I would call All Might about this, but he has been difficult to get in contact with as of late," the man said, stoic as a mountain on the outside. The pang of regret and sorrow at the end of his statement would have gone unnoticed if not for his company.
With a grin, Uravity nudged her boyfriend. "Now's your chance, Izuku! Bring these two together!" the tenth inheritor exclaimed encouragingly.
Izuku nodded. "Um, if you want, I can make that conversation happen. Right now, even," the boy said with a soft smile.
The frown on the former sidekick's face deepened. "Not likely. He's certainly busy right now, and I doubt he wants to talk to me," the man lamented.
With a smirk, Izuku did what he does best. "Prepare to be surprised. Talk no Jutsu!" the teen called out, and blue aura flooded the office. Unseen to them, a line of blue connected the three of them and flew off into the distance, connecting them to one other.
Mirai gasped, as before him stood his friend, thin, a bit shorter, but clearly very happy to see him. "Sir Nighteye. I'm...very glad to see you again. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've gotten taller!" the number one hero exclaimed with joy.
The taller green haired hero frowned. "This...can't be real. I've wanted this for so long, and it was this easy?" the future gazer cried in disbelief. But no, he could feel the heart and mind of his friend. More importantly, he could feel the hug the big oaf pulled him into.
"I'm sorry, Sasaki-kun. I was afraid that you didn't want to see me, but it seems like we both felt the same way this whole time. But now...I'm so glad I can talk to you…" the Symbol of Peace said tearfully.
Team G-Force smiled. "We'll let you two reconnect in private. Time is dilated here, so you don't have to worry about missing anything important while you catch up," Uravity said as she walked a weeping Cobalt out of the room.
Soon after they left, Izuku turned to Ochako. "All Might was right. This really is the best part of the job," he said with a smile, wrapping his girlfriend in a mighty hug that was returned twofold.
Life was good now. The young couple hoped it would remain so.