A/N: This is an alternative scene to my story "Muse" chapter 45 where Izuku and Alyssa make up at the end of the story. I wanted to use it but just didn't have the right flow and emotional impact an ending should have. So instead of deleting it forever, I tweaked it and posted it in honor of April Fool's Day. Didn't want to delete it so I published it here as a one-shot and a deleted scene with a twist!
CHAPTER 45
"Are you sure this isn't bothering your eyes?" Izuku sat across from Alyssa's hospital bed on the visitor's chair with the bed table that was acting as a surface for their game of Blackjack. They had been at this for the last fifteen minutes or so, killing time until Alyssa's release. She was going to be discharged tomorrow morning and while watching TV had been entertaining, a person could only re-watch so many sitcoms before wearing out their phone battery.
Alyssa leaned down to squint at the miniature playing card in her hand. "Hasn't bothered me so far. I'm not blind, you know. My vision is 20/30. My eyes can still see things plus I can read if I put something really close to my face, and it's not like my ASD can affect my vision," she said, giving Izuku a wry smile. "Besides, don't think me being 'blind' will stop me from kicking your butt at Blackjack, Deku. I'm so good at this game, I don't need glasses to win."
Now that the word was out about both their identities, it was easier for them to be themselves around each other. In fact, it was sort of a relief to Alyssa that he knew about Alyssa's autism and the anxiety it brought her without having to explain or worry he'd run straight for the hills when he found out, and vice versa for his pro-hero identity. He was still a bit overly gallant from time to time, but she didn't mind too much. That was just the kind of guy he was. Alyssa set down the seven of hearts. "Eighteen- hit or stand?"
"Hit- What makes you so confident?"
"Skills, faith, and sheer dumb luck- which I have in spades." Alyssa held up an seven of spades and gave him another cocky grin. "Twenty-five. That's nine times you've lost to me."
"I'll win the next one."
"I like your tenacity." Alyssa cleared the surface and began reshuffling the cards. Ever since they had made up on Friday, Izuku had come to visit her any chance he could. Many of his lunch breaks had been spent by her side and he always made an effort catch her towards the end of his shift when her family had gone home for the evening. It was such a calm dynamic, it was like they'd gone back to being friends.
Neither of them appeared to want to bring up the big subject of what they actually were now, but friends seemed to be the easiest label to put on it at the moment. She was certainly wasn't going to cast the first stone and break the little sliver of peace she'd had in almost two weeks. Thoughts about work, stress, and Patre0n trudged through her head like a herd of elephants, mentally planning a list of things she'd have to do this week to catch up before they broke off at a sudden realization.
"Oh! Before I forget, I have something for you." Alyssa set down the reshuffled deck and turned towards the other side of her bed to lean down and grab her bag. "Originally, I was supposed to meet an online friend and give him this gift, buuuuut I guess you'll have to suffice," she teased, theatrically going into her purse before presenting the object to Izuku like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. "Tada! Vigilante Knights Issue #1 First Edition, signed, sealed and delivered. One to keep and one to collect, as promised." Alyssa handed him the two Vigilante Knights comics in all their glory and watched as Izuku gawked at the comic.
"Holy whoa! I can't believe you finished it," he uttered, his voice in awe as his fingers traced the edges displaying Arisa Buraki in an action pose with her sword, illuminated by the large full moon in the background.
"Yep. Took me three days to put together. I mean, I probably need you to help me spellcheck my grammar, but I figure any mistranslations I can get away with since it's an international first edition. Plus-" Alyssa continued, still on a roll. "-it comes with a bonus gift." She held up a Funko POP figure in the other hand, causing Izuku's already big eyes to grow wider still.
"Is that the Might-T edition of All Might?! I thought those were sold out!" he exclaimed, his face bewildered as he snatched the figure from her outstretched hand, bombarded with yet another gift.
"Apparently not. I found this little guy hidden with the Hero Academy figures. I guess he was picked up and then put down in the wrong section by mistake."
"Is this really all for me!?"
"Of course it's for you. I got them for you as an apology- and because I owe you," Alyssa said, unsure if he knew she was referring to him in the joke. Maybe I had been a bit too vague...
Izuku's eyes filled with tears. "Thank you... I love it!" he gushed, vibrant sparkles in his watery, verdant eyes. "This will look so great on my desk!"
"You're welcome," Alyssa said, beaming at his bright, dopey smile. Was she awesome at makeup presents or what? "You can read my comic whenever. I still have a little while before I need it edited for Comiket."
Izuku sniffled a little before wiping his eyes with the back of his arm. "I guess that means you'll be wanting those Tween Titan comics, huh?"
Alyssa's brow furrowed in confusion before brightening. "Oh yeah... only to borrow, though," she amended quickly. "Remember? The deal for me to keep them forever was seeing my watercolor paintings."
"And when will I get to see those?"
"Actually, you've probably already seen them. I may be busy with Patre0n, but I still post on Deviantart and my personal Instagram accounts. You're still SmallMight39 on there too, right? Then you're good."
Izuku contemplated for a moment while he stared at the two presents in his hands, his expression sober. "So... you're not disappointed that it's me? That I'm SmallMight39?"
"Disappointed?" Alyssa stifled a laugh. "No! Why would I be disappointed? I liked you first, dummy, back when you were awkward and Quirkless." Izuku let out a soft 'oh,' his tense expression melted into a small, warm smile. "Hey, how'd that change, by the way?"
"Oh I uhh... got my Quirk later in life," he admitted somewhat bashfully.
"Oh yeah... All Might gave you One For All, right?"
Izuku froze, his jaw agape with shock. "WHAT?! W-W-What are y-you talking about?"
"Oh, don't play dumb with me, mister. I know all about it. I have for awhile now, thanks to my father, though I didn't know you had the Quirk until later when I researched your hero persona. After that, I just put two-and-two together and figured it out," she explained matter-of-factly.
"Your father? Why does your father know about One For All?" Izuku blinked in dumb confusion, trying to keep up with the sudden whirlwind reveal, his mind spiraling with the new information. Had there been some sort of info leak? Sure, some of the pro-heroes knew about his Quirk and most of his class had an idea about it, but very few of them knew what the Quirk did, much less its origins- only that All For One was after it and that Izuku had a large subset of powers because of it.
"Because he was the one that created it."
Izuku's blood ran cold, his whole body like ice in his veins as the dots began to connect. "...What's your father's name?"
"Shigaraki."
"Shigaraki?! But I thought your father was named Blake!" Izuku exclaimed. Alyssa only tilted her head at him.
"I never said what his name was. I just said that my last name is Blake and that my dad has a water Quirk. Really, Izuku, I thought you knew this already," Alyssa frowned at his reaction. This had not been how she had wanted things to go. She thought he would have been thrilled about her parentage. What better way to end a century's old feud between brothers than by uniting with their ancestors?
"But that can't be! You're Tomura Shigaraki's daughter?!" Izuku shrieked. How was this possible?! Was there a time travel Quirk involved?
"Eww no! I'm not related to Tenko. I meant the other Shigaraki, Hisashi Shigaraki."
"Oh that makes way more sense," Izuku sighed in relief before doubling back. "Wait- you're All For One's daughter?!"
"Uhh yeah? Isn't it obvious?" she gestured, as if to say 'can't you see the family resemblance?' "I mean, I'm hardly his only kid, but after you killed him the first time, he needed a back up plan, like it totally makes more sense to flee to another country and start over rather than stay in Japan when everyone is gunning for you."
"But that was nine years ago!"
"I aged very quickly," she deadpanned.
"Hold on! You said you don't have a Quirk. How can you not have a Quirk?"
"The same reason you didn't at the beginning. I don't have a Quirk because my father took my ability to steal Quirks, like you. Ironic, no?" She gave him a sardonic smile but Izuku couldn't find the strength to return it this time. "Seriously, you're the one that told me that your dad was never around. Didn't you ever wonder where he was, why he couldn't show his face to you?"
Izuku's brow furrowed. His father? Why was she bringing up his-? Izuku looked back at Alyssa, giving her a good look for a spark of familiarity. Hisashi was the name she had said, and Alyssa's father was bald. No, it couldn't be! His father was... All For One- which meant they were... siblings!?
The hero reeled back in horror. "No, that's not true! That was impossible!"
"Search your feelings. You know it to be true."
"NOOOOO! NOOOOO!" Izuku shrieked in anguish.
Suddenly there was a loud rap on the door. "FBI! OPEN UP!" Suddenly, the hospital door burst open, kicked open by the squad of FBI agents and Japanese police officers gathered outside the room. "FREEZE!" shouted the lead officer as the agents stormed in, rifles raised behind their riot shields. "GET ON THE GROUND! PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!"
Izuku and Alyssa stilled at the assault, their arms raised as the swooshing of helicopter rudders could be heard outside by the CIA and HNN News helicopters outside. A spotlight shined on the hospital window that had been cracked to let in the cool spring air.
"Any last words, Shigaraki?" snarled one of the agents as red dots trained on Alyssa from the many sniper rifles clustered on her chest.
"Yeah," Alyssa smirked before shouting, "APRIL FOOLS, MOTHER TRUCKERS!" Then Alyssa cackled madly as she flipped off the cops and jumped out the open window. Izuku screamed as he watched Alyssa fling herself from the window, leaping for the sill before staring out the window. After a moment, he relaxed before turning towards the screen the readers were viewing this from and gave them a tiny wave.
"Hi, everyone. Don't worry about Alyssa. She's fine and none of this is in any way canon, for My Hero Academia or 'Muse,'" Izuku explained with a nervous grin. "The author just wanted me to tell you guys April Fools. She actually loves this holiday and thought you guys would like to get a taste of the alternative chapter that she originally wanted to write but it just didn't work emotionally for the ending. The real chapter should be posted sometime next week. Until then, Snowcloud8 and I want to wish everyone a Happy April Fool's Day."
"Deku! Deku!" Izuku looked over towards the female officer that had yelled at Alyssa as she took off her helmet, revealing it to be Snowcloud8. She was bouncing excitedly in place. "Do the thing!"
"Oh! Right!" Izuku startled before nodding in understanding. He then raised his fist and said with a final shout as he punched the air, "Go beyond! PLUS ULTRA!"
"Nice~ I was wondering when I would fit that into the story."
"I know, right? I haven't said it at all!"
"Ha, I know. It's so cheesy, I just can't imagine anyone other than All Might saying it."
"You forgot, didn't you?"
Snowcloud8 rolled her head back with an exasperated groan. "Give me a break! I've been writing this story for almost two years. I'm tired! I just want to be done and over with this story before I send this whole thing to my beta reader for another revision."
"...There's not going to be any big changes, right? Like I'm still going to be in the story?" Izuku asked, pointing uneasily towards himself.
"Of course," Snowcloud8 sniffed. "I'm just going to be doing some minor edits like pulling some characters and scenes out that never got referenced again for word count, probably place them into one of my future stories, this whole chapter included- nothing too drastic. In fact, I'll probably post this whole thing as a separate parody one-shot once this whole thing is over."
"Oh good," Izuku sighed in relief before turning back towards the audience. "Anyways, have a great day everyone. Be sure to drink water and have a happy April Fool's Day."
"'Til next time!"