"Who are you really?" Demanded Toshinori. He didn't know what it was that was happening, but he felt as if things were either getting even more confusing or clearer. He finally found the person who killed his family but they took off again before he got a clear hit in that would have knocked them out. Curse it all to hell.
Zuko looked around, a frown on his face before he looked back at Inko and Toshinori. "I'll explain, but can we go somewhere privet please? I don't want anyone else hearing, plus you may think I'm crazy." Toshinori frowned a little at the young man. It was strange enough to see that he had the same birthmark as himself, no one else should have that as only the first born son should always have it. Any daughter in the line wouldn't have it but their child wouldn't have the mark unless the first born son was killed off.
It was a weird thing for sure but it was just how it worked for the most part.
There shouldn't be anyone that has his mark other than himself or any future child that he would have should the child be a boy.
"Toshi, I think we should listen to what he has to say, and let him explain." Inko said with a frown on her face. He looked at his future bride and frowned a little at that. He knew that he shouldn't take requests from someone but, at the same time Zuko saved Inko. Had done everything he could to help fight off that shadow creature and knew that he had to at least give Zuko a chance to speak.
Toshinori sighed softly before nodding his head. He knew that he was going to regret this but knew that he needed these answers more than anything. Toshinori had noticed, that while Zuko fought he was like a different person, someone on a mission. Someone who had lived a hard life to get at where they are today. It seemed rather odd, that was for sure though Toshinori knew that he still couldn't just let his own personal feelings judge everything yet.
He had to be sure that Zuko could still be trusted.
"My study isn't far let's go." Toshinori said as he started to make his way out of his study. Though, he frowned as he looked over at Inko as he saw her picking up something with her quirk. "Inko?" He called, causing her to look up and gave a small smile before pocketing something and made her way after the two men. He knew that she had found something, and he'll have to ask her about it later but for now he had more important things to deal with.
Running a hand through his hair, he knew that today had been rough on all of them. To think, it had turned out great at first, finally being able to confess his love to the woman of his dreams and of course, chose her as his bride. Then it went to hell after the announcement and he almost lost her. Then of course Inko finding out about him being All Might, now that was something that he had planned to tell her but not in this way.
Then of course fighting that shadow creature and Zuko's birthmark being revealed to the both of them. How was that even possible in the first place? He hoped that Zuko had a damn good explanation because there is no way that it could be real.
Though, then again if it wasn't real and just paint he wouldn't have had to wear gloves at all times of the day nor would he have to wear a mask to hide his face. Ugh, so many things that he had to figure out but at the same time he had no answers.
Turning his attention back to Inko, she seemed to be in deep thought. Maybe she was trying to figure out how her quirk worked on that shadow creature? Even he had no idea, he knew that she had been able to latch onto something that pulled the creature toward her, not to mention distracted the creature so Toshinori and Zuko could attack it. Though did Inko pick up something that had fallen off of the shadow? Such as a personal item that would identify who it was?
To think, all these years he had thought that the shadow creature was a man. But it was a woman, yet how did Zuko know that? That had to be something that he would have to explain as well. There is no way that he would allow the man to not answer everything. He had to make sure that he explained everything that was going on. And of course, he would make sure that Zuko removed that damn mask, if he was going to talk, he would make sure that the young man took off his mask and the rest of his glove.
He had to make sure that this wasn't some kind of trick to get his title. After all, a lot of women tried to worm their children into his castle in the hopes that they were of royal blood of his family in one way or another. Though that had failed as his father was an only child, as was the rest of his father's family but his mother was a twin much like Toshinori and his sister Miyoko. They tried to say that Miyoko had a child but he knew that was false as she was too shy to even speak to another man outside of the family, let alone have a child.
Shaking his head, the young man felt a headache coming on. This was going to be stressful that was for sure though the end result would be worth it. At least, he hoped that would be the case. He just hoped that Zuko didn't say anything that the younger man would regret later.
"Okay here we are." Toshinori said as he opened the door, allowing Inko and Zuko to walk in before he followed suit. Locking the door behind him, he wouldn't put it past Hizashi to suddenly barge in like he has in the past. It still irked him how many times the blonde man had barged in when he was either trying to kiss Inko or, when he tried to confess to her. Looking back, he saw Zuko pacing back and forth, it seemed that he was nervous about this and he has a right to be.
Walking over, Toshinori made his way over to his desk and grabbed onto Inko's wrist, holding her close as he sat down as he looked at Zuko. "Explain. Now."
Zuko looked up at Toshinori and Inko before letting out a soft sigh. He scratched the back of his head as if he was trying to find the right words to explain this. "Well, I guess I should start off with my name." Toshinori raised an eyebrow at that. Wasn't Zuko his name? That couldn't have been a lie was it? "My real name is Yagi Izuku."
"What?!" Toshinori all but shouted, his blue eyes narrowed into slits. "That isn't true! I am the only Yagi left in the line, there is no way that you can be a Yagi." He knew for a fact, he was the only one left, he had searched for another Yagi but had come up empty handed. That much was true so there is no way that it could be possible!
"You're right, at the moment you are the only Yagi by blood."
"Huh?"
Zuko, no, Izuku let out a soft sigh as he paced a little back and forth. "I have mentioned before my king, that I am an orphan right? That my mother died in childbirth and my father died when I was sixteen due to his injuries and the loss of my mother?"
"Yes, I remember that."
"That wasn't a lie, but I have changed that fate from happening. At least, part of it from happening as there is still more to come." Izuku said with a soft sigh before he looked at both the king, and his intended bride. Toshinori just narrowed his eyes, this made no damn sense. It couldn't be possible, there is no way that this man was even speaking the truth. It just can't be!
Toshinori narrowed his blue eyes at the young man before him. There is no way that he could allow this lie to keep going. The young man had to be lying, he had to be lying about everything! Some kind of delusion that had been set up with the man. "Tell me the truth!" Toshinori all but slammed his hand on the table and growled at Izuku.
"I am. I'm not from this timeline, I'm from the future, you have to believe me." Izuku said with a frown.
"You can't be from the future. It isn't possible for time travel." Toshinori pointed out.
"If it wasn't for the fact that my quirk, my natural born quirk, is a mutation of my ancestors from mom's family. I am a child of this kingdom, I am the child that you, King Toshinori, will have with Inko in a few years' time." Izuku calmly said, which only made Toshinori and Inko stare with wide eyes, a deep blush on their faces. How dare Izuku say such a thing to them! They had just confessed for crying out loud and now he was claiming to be their child from the future?!
"Prove it."
Huh? Toshinori looked down at Inko and frowned a little as she displayed a seriousness on her face that he had never seen before. "Prove that you are a child of ours from the future. Take off that mask…"
Izuku just stared at the two of them for a moment. As if thinking about the pros and cons about what would come of him coming clean. About confessing who he really was to the two of them and Toshinori knew better than anyone, that if this was indeed their future child, then he would have to look like them.
Toshinori wanted to see this for himself. To see what this young man looked like without his mask, he had to know. Just had to know what this man looked like without the mask covering his face anymore.
Izuku sighed softly as he reached up and started to remove the mask. Toshinori stared in shock, he didn't think that Izuku would remove his mask, he must be serious about his claim of being the son of Toshinori and Inko from the future for this.
As he removed the mask from his head, Toshinori made out thick curly green hair that reminded him of Inko's hair, though it had a blackness to it as well but was mostly green. His cheeks dotted in freckles that Toshinori knew that he didn't have, though maybe someone from Inko's family did? Izuku reached for his eye mask before he removed it and blinked his eyes a few times, yet Toshinori knew those eyes better than anyone.
It was Inko's eyes, but they had a spark within their depths like his own.
Inko gasped out in shock as she stared at the unmasked man before them. It seemed that she had come to the same conclusion as he did.
He really was their future son, but how? How did Inko's quirk mutated into this? To allow their future son to come this far back in time? "How?" Was all Toshinori could ask.
Izuku sighed softly before he started to explain his story. "In my time, the world is surrounded by darkness. By shadows created by one person. Someone who wanted you to suffer for all eternity as a user for One for All."
"One for All?" Inko repeated with a frown.
Izuku gave a nervous laugh as he said "Oh right, dad never explained that to you yet. Uh…" It seemed that the green haired man wasn't sure if he should explain it or not, Toshinori just sighed and waved his hand saying to hold on a moment.
"One for All is the quirk that I use as All Might. It is a quirk that my master, Nana bestowed upon me after the death of my family. Seeing how, even while gravely injured I was willing to keep fighting. I wouldn't allow myself to go down until I could no longer move so, she trained me to keep fighting." Toshinori explained before looking at Inko and frowned a little at her confusion. "Nana was a powerful guard in her own right. Thanks to being the seventh user, Nana trained me until I was ready to take her quirk and after that, she disappeared. I don't know what happened to her only that she never came back. I assume at this point that she's dead."
Inko couldn't help but frown a little at Toshinori from that. He gave her a small smile as he said "It's fine, I just hope that she lived a full life."
"Um…" Izuku said, causing them both to look up at them in confusion. "I really do hate to say this but, she didn't live a full life. Nana had gone off to fight the man that the original owner's brother gave him."
Toshinori stared with wide eyes at this. But, how would Izuku know this? "Word would spread about her demise in a couple years, after you had given your quirk to me and after the war had started. Nana fought, and killed All for One, but sadly his legacy still lived on."
"What do you mean?" asked Toshinori.
"All for One, had a child, a daughter that wanted revenge on any user of One for All, as Nana used the last embers of the quirk left behind to kill him. That shadow, is the child of All for One… and she wants to start the war."
Toshinori frowned a little more as he looked at Inko. Who would have thought, that before he thought their future to be nothing but bright but now, it was nothing but empty darkness. "In fact, the part of the future that I did managed to change was the injury mom would have received."
"Huh?"
"If mom had been hit, she would have been poisoned. The poison, not being treated in time would have weakened mom a great deal to the point that…"
"She died in childbirth."
"Yes. It's why I stayed close to you both, I wanted to prevent it from happening. I didn't want to lose either of you. It was hard, growing up without you mom, if it wasn't for Tenko I would have been alone after dad passed."
"Tenko?"
"You uh… you both kinda adopted him." Izuku said with a small smile. "Surprise?" He chuckled weakly. Inko and Toshinori felt like their worlds are being toppled over but they still had to learn more about this. They still didn't even understand the power of this quirk in the first place!
"What about this quirk of yours? How does it work?" asked Inko.
"Well, in order for me to travel back there have to be a few conditions that needed to be followed once I understood."
"Which are?"
"I can't be around in that point of time, and I have to have on me an object, an item that was there in that point of time." Izuku said with a sigh as he reached into his shirt and pulled out a necklace with two rings on them. "I carried both of your wedding rings, which allowed me to travel in time. And of course, One for All would allow me to travel this far back to make sure my body wouldn't be torn to shreds from the strain."
"Strain?"
"If I went too far back, my body would be ripped to shreds. Just going this far back, it hurt my body but I'm still strong enough to handle staying back until the job is done. I just went a little too far back, a year before mom came here." Izuku said with a sigh before looking up at his parents. Toshinori and Inko were still trying to process everything that was happening. The king didn't think that this could get any stranger than it already was but damn it, the proof was right there.
It just made it all the harder for him but he knew that he had to be careful at the same time. If Izuku came back in time just to stop this, to stop his dark future then so be it. Yet… "But, Inko can only pull small objects to her and I was originally quirkless, so how…"
"There was someone in the family with a time travel quirk, but it was almost never used. The quirk will appear in the family once in a while, and it just so happens that I was the chosen wielder for this quirk this time around. I only wanted to use it to help you." Izuku explained with a small frown on his face. "I'm sorry, I know that it was wrong to lie but I couldn't reveal myself to you both. I know if I did too soon there was a chance that you both wouldn't have confessed and… I wouldn't be here."
Inko frowned at that, as did Toshinori. So that was why he hid himself, gave himself a new name to go by until he could ensure not just their safety but his own existence just so he could protect his parents. A life without them had to have been lonely, even with Tenko there.
Toshinori set Inko on the floor before pushing himself up and made his way over to Izuku. The blonde towered over the green haired young man though Izuku was still far taller than Inko it seems. "I'm sorry, but I had to lie. I know how much you hated it when Tenko and I lied growing up but, I figured since this lie was to keep you all safe I-" Izuku didn't get a chance to speak more as Toshinori pulled the young man into a hug. "Dad?"
"It had to be hard. But, I'm sure that my future self wouldn't have cared if you lied about this, you did it to protect yourself along with us. So, I know I can't be mad about it." Toshinori said with a chuckle as he patted his future son on the head.
"I can't be mad either." Inko said softly.
Izuku sniffled a little at that. It seemed that the young man had been holding up so many pent up emotions that it was over whelming and he couldn't help but grab onto his father and cried his heart out. "Just like his mother." Toshinori whispered softly. He felt like, that this whole mission that Izuku had gone on, had really worn him out, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. It was a wonder how he was able to keep this act up for as long as he had.
"Izuku, we may not be your parents yet as of now but we are still proud of you." Inko said as she made her way over to him. Izuku looked over at his mother and more tears streamed down his face. He pulled himself away from Toshinori's arms and hugged Inko, as he cried all the more.
'Definitely like his mother… he's a crier but, I don't care… I'll protect him and his mother better this time.' Toshinori promised himself.
