Heyo, I'm back with another chapter, but please refrain from celebrating because I do tend to take a while between chapters and for the last while I have been rewriting previous chapters, not completely but just select bits which when combined change the story a little.
Anyway let's get to it.
Aizawa walked down the halls towards his class, though had trouble missing the ceaseless muttering that followed, it seemed that although the News didn't reveal Izuku's name, most if not all of UA had figured out it was him who died, so to see him in the flesh must've surprised a few.
So to say homeroom was awkward would be an understatement, it wasn't everyday that a student who died was currently sitting down in their seat as if nothing had happened.
He chose to inform the class of the Sports festival without much buildup, figuring the news would rouse the students from their slump.
The excited uproar that came after proved him right.
Unfortunately, there was one last thing he had to do, both as a teacher, and a hero.
"As you have noticed, Midoriya is here, there was an aspect of his quirk that we were unaware of, one that allows him to return from death" he looked at Izuku, the boy feeling the class's eyes on him as he tried to shrink down as much as he could.
"However that does not mean that this will never happen again, sometimes heroes fail, sometimes they die, know your limits and don't be reckless" Aizawa raised his voice a little, pain from seeing this over and over again coming to the surface.
He took a breath, "Class dismissed, wait until the bell"
Before he left though he turned to Izuku.
"the principal wants to see you, go to the his office at lunch"
After Aizawa left, the class fell into their respective groups, Kirishima approached Bakugo slowly, a few hushed words were shared that Izuku didn't hear before they seemed to fall into a normal conversation.
Izuku took his focus off them, finding that his table was now surrounded by Ochako, Tokoyami and Iida, who spoke above Izuku, most of the conversation was about their mutual excitement of the sports festival until the next class began.
But as the day carried on, Izuku started picking up on something and he didn't need the wraith to see that there were multiple pairs of eyes on him, as if to make sure he was still there.
He thought he'd have a break when the bell for lunch sounded, but no, even on his way to the principal's office he felt eyes on him, hushed whispers sounding behind him yet silencing when he turned, it was getting annoying.
Finally, he got to a hall devoid of students and teachers, allowing him to let out a sigh, who knew coming back from death would be this awkward.
Izuku stood outside the principal's office, mentally preparing himself for whatever was going to be discussed within before going to knock on the door.
"Come in" the principal's cheery voice came through the door just as Izuku raised his arm.
"What the?" Izuku froze, his mind going blank for a second, which was enough time for his wraith to continue for him.
It began knocking rapidly, snapping Izuku out of his surprise.
"No! Quit it!" Izuku tried to stop the wraith as it continued knocking while laughing at Izuku's embarrassment.
Inside, Principal Nezu, Aizawa and Toshinori Yagi listened to the rabid knocking and laughter in silence.
"They certainly have an interesting dynamic" Nezu hummed cheerily as the door opened, revealing an annoyed Izuku.
"Sorry about that, but I hope you can understand why I named my quirk as such" Izuku bowed before taking a seat opposite them.
"Greetings Midoriya, my name is Nezu, and this is my secretary Mr Yagi, how are you after your…recovery?" The principal began with small talk.
"I'm fine, I've healed from everything" Izuku replied short and sweet, glancing at the secretary with familiarity.
"Good to hear, now let's just get right into it so we can all have time for lunch. In your file, it says your quirk was activated by death, but it doesn't say how you died, care to share?" Nezu asked, seeing the select symptoms of stress in Izuku's body language.
"From what I've heard from your sister, you've died before, falling off a roof?" Aizawa said before Izuku could answer, making sure to draw Izuku in.
"You mean my mom?" Izuku asked, walking into his trap.
"That was your mom? damn" Aizawa cursed under his breath, enjoying the deadpan look on Izuku's face, "anyway what were you doing on that roof?" He added, this technique was something he used with most students and a few criminals to drop their guard and reduce their time to lie.
However Izuku quickly answered, almost as if he rehearsed it.
"I was up there to think and lost my balance, next thing I know I'm waking up with this talking to me" Izuku pointed to his wraith who gave a wave.
"So it was…just an accident?" The principal asked, making some equations in his head regarding the information in Izuku's file, the death of his father, his quirklessness and the rate of suicide among those with similar…disabilities. All Nezu's conclusions led to a 17% chance that Izuku was telling the truth.
"Thank you for clarifying, now onto the next topic, the USJ, the blood villain?"
"Chichi" Izuku corrected with a hidden distain in his voice.
"I understand this was the villain who…" Nezu began, pausing when he saw Izuku's discomfort.
"Yes, he's the one who did…it" Izuku answered, eyes still and unmoving.
"Is that why you were so aggressive and killed him?"
"I killed a villain who had killed many, including me" Izuku reiterated, no remorse in his tone.
"That's not your call" Toshinori piped in.
"You're right, I should've just let them attack, that's what All Might did after all" Izuku chuckled, immediately shutting up Toshinori and giving both Nezu and Aizawa a hint of Izuku's thoughts towards the Symbol Of Peace.
"I- All Might got there as soon as he could"
"He was meant to be there at the start, and people nearly died because of him, people DID die" Izuku and the wraith reminded them of the temporary casualty and the motive of the villains.
"Honestly, why is he even here? So far all he's done is put a target on UA" the wraith interjected.
"We are not here to discuss All Might, we are here to discuss your actions, you killed someone, villain or not, that's cause for expulsion" Nezu raised his voice, going from welcoming to stern.
"Are you serious! We died sav-" Izuku stood up, anger in his voice before he was silenced with Aizawa's scarf wrapping around him.
"However, given the circumstances and your efforts in saving both Katsuki Bakugo and Mr Aizawa, and slowing the villain's retreat enough that All Might could capture the leader, we will let you remain, but you're on thin ice" Nezu finished as Izuku was released, choosing not to inform the child of the villain's escape.
"That concludes the meeting with me, I understand that you two also want words with Midoriya, so feel free to use this room while I go to lunch" Nezu jumped off his chair giving a side wave as he left Izuku with his teacher and the secretary.
"I'll let you go first Toshinori" Aizawa said before zipping up his sleeping bag.
"Oh uh, thanks" Toshinori gulped, surprised by Aizawa, still getting used to his unique traits.
"Young Midoriya, I, like many of the staff, first saw you at the entrance exam and I was personally interested in how you saved your classmate…Ochako Uraraka at the cost of damaging your arm. I wanted to know why. You didn't know of rescue points and were under no obligation to risk injury to yourself".
Izuku found himself confused at the secretary's question, why was he asking a hero in training why they acted like a hero?
"...because she needed help, heroes help people, connect the dots" Izuku was finding this secretary rather annoying to talk to, losing respect for the skinny man with every word that came out of their mouth.
"So you helped for the sake of helping? Good, may I ask you what made you want to be a hero?" Toshinori asked, seeing Izuku's potential as a hero that may be worthy of being the next bearer of One For All and with the power to return from the dead? He may become the most powerful user.
Izuku however, found himself hesitating on his usual answer, he still wanted to stop what happened to him from happening again, but could he really? Was this goal now worthless since he could truly stop it from happening again with the power of the Brand.
"I…I" Izuku paused, what could he do to stop villains? Just fight them? That's what heroes have been doing since the beginning of quirks and clearly that hasn't been enough.
"I want…" Izuku could do something that no one could, he could stop all villains, permanently.
"I want to fight for a better future, one without villains" Izuku answered with a certainty in his voice.
"T-thats rather ambitious, sounds like All Might" Toshinori asked, knowing that Izuku didn't seem to like All Might too much, but maybe now he could learn why Izuku looks at All Might so negatively.
"No, sure the end goal is the same and All Might is strong and charismatic, but that doesn't deter villains anymore"
"I don't think we need a symbol of peace, I think we need a Symbol of Terror, someone that will sow fear into the heart of villains" in that moment, Izuku's eyes weren't glowing, yet Toshinori could see the fires of determination in them.
With this answer, All Might decided.
'He is not the one'
"Well then, I have satisfied my curiosities" Toshinori stood up with a little struggle and grunt before cautiously tapping Aizawa's cocoon with his foot, the latter springing up almost instantly as Toshinori left the room.
Getting up and looking at Izuku for a moment, Aizawa began, "So Midoriya, you got revenge, do you feel good?" Aizawa shed his sleeping bag and walked round the desk.
Izuku didn't intend on lying to his teacher and someone he had grown to respect, but he still couldn't bring himself to answer and look him in the eye.
"Yea-hmph!" However, just as he answered, he received a swift kick across the chest, knocking him to the ground as well as knocking the air out of him.
"You ignored my orders, you put yourself and everyone at risk and you died, yet you feel good?" Aizawa's tone didn't change as he rested a foot on Izuku's chest, compressing his ribcage and making breathing difficult.
"You shouldn't feel good, you should feel downright ashamed, do you have any idea how many heroes die everyday? Don't think you're better just because you are exempt from that statistic" Aizawa withdrew his foot, allowing Izuku to gasp for some much needed air.
"Get up" Aizawa said as he went back to his seat, waiting for Izuku to get up.
When he did, with difficulty, Aizawa continued
"So to confirm, when you were younger, your dad was murdered by Chichi the blood villain in a hostage situation" Aizawa summarised, continuing when Izuku nodded.
"Naturally you wanted revenge, or to stop others from going through what you did, but you found that you had an invisible quirk, which would inhibit your goal"
Izuku hesitantly nodded.
"You weren't on that roof to think, you were there to kill yourself"
"What? No-"
"Cut the shit Izuku, you are smarter than most, you knew you wouldn't be able to do a thing without any power so instead of moving on, you killed yourself" Aizawa stated while Izuku tried to deny his theory.
"You're wrong! I…I was there to think" Izuku repeated, he could tell that Aizawa didn't believe him.
"Remember when we first met? I used my quirk on you and you started coughing up blood? Now that I know you can come back from the dead, I can use my quirk on you all day until you tell the truth" Aizawa threatened, he knew of the numbers of quirkless suicides around the world and Izuku was no different.
Izuku remembered the pain he felt back then, and after all the pain he had endured, losing contact with his quirk was probably the worst.
"Fine, I killed myself" Izuku looked down as tears spilled.
"I used to believe I could be a hero without a quirk, but I guess at some point I just gave up, I remember a lone hero running in to save my dad, they were killed almost instantly, I saw myself dying in a similar way" Izuku revealed, feeling the pit of shame grow.
"Look at me Izuku" Aizawa drew his attention.
"Regardless of your past, I believe you can be a great hero, but you have a lot of anger, you may think that your anger and your tenacity is your strength, and in a way, it is, however it is also your weakness, control your emotions, and you will win every battle" Aizawa led Izuku out the office into the empty hall.
"I'm sorry I had to do that, but I hope you can see why" Aizawa patted Izuku on the shoulder before taking out a bento box that he received from…an obsessive old friend.
"Eat, lunch ends soon" was the last thing he said before leaving Izuku in the hall.
Izuku opened the box, seeing a note from someone which had love hearts and rambles of love which made Izuku blank.
"Ms Joke?"
The rest of the day, the staring continued, it was starting to get to Izuku, he needed some air, some space to escape this tension.
The class flinched at the chair scraping when Izuku stood up.
"Midoriya?" Iida asked, concerned as Izuku walked towards the door.
"The day's nearly over, we're just waiting for the bell at this point, and I need the toilet" Izuku smiled as he swung open the door, only to be greeted by what looked like the whole school.
"Green hair? Freckles? You must be the 'zombie' people keep talking about" a tall indigo haired student commented, gasps sounding all round as the students were finally able to see 'the zombie' in the flesh.
"So is it true? You went all crazy on the villains and ended up getting killed? Doesn't really sound heroic, but hey, what does a gen ed know right?" They shrugged, looking smug as Izuku could only look at the ground.
"What would you have done? If the man who ruined your life stood in front of you?" Izuku spoke barely louder than a whisper.
"Excuse me?" The indigo haired kid replied only to come face to face with Izuku's hypnotic stare.
"I said, if the man who ruined your life stood in front of you? What would you do?" Izuku's presence caused a shift in the students.
Bakugo was half listening until he heard Izuku, and then, it all made sense.
The blood villain, the way Izuku reacted…oh shit.
"Oi Deku" Bakugo spoke up, drawing the attention to him.
"In the USJ, I was being manipulated by a villain and nearly killed Froggy and Kirishima, before I could deal the killing blow, my arm was knocked away by an arrow, that was you, wasn't it?" he stated as he walked past Izuku and stood confidently in front of the indigo haired student.
"You! Tall and purple, can you count?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you see 20 people in this class?"
"Yes"
"That's because of him, more of a hero than any of you wannabes" Bakugo growled as he shoved past everyone.
"Oh so he saves a couple people and he's better than us?!" A grey haired student with strange eyes yelled.
"Uhh actually…" Kaminari interrupted as he raised his hand and joined those at the entrance, looking to Izuku and mustering up some confidence.
"I saw one of your arrows hit that cloud when Iida tried to run, without that arrow, I don't think he would've been able to get out and get help, thanks man" Kaminari bowed, followed by Ojiro, who knew the lightning bolt wasn't lying.
In fact, just about everyone in the class bowed at Izuku, except an obvious few.
Now Izuku was stunned, he hadn't expected this to happen just because a few arrows, and he certainly didn't think he would get this sort of thanks.
And although Izuku was stunned, his wraith however…
"If I may join in" the wraith appeared, causing the expected shockwave of students as they witnessed its appearance.
"You have heard alot of what occured at the USJ, and now with this information I find it necessary to ask…" the wraith looked at the indigo student as it merged with Izuku.
"Could you honestly say you would've done a better job in that situation?" The Wraith's words came through Izuku mouth, the lack of a response from the indigo haired student seemed like a good enough reply as Izuku turned and bowed back to his class before walking through the crowd, intending on talking to Kacchan.
However, he couldn't just leave it at that, he really didn't appreciate being called a zombie, and wasn't wanting that name to stick, so he chose to nip it in the bud, and when he tried to think of an alternative name, he chose the one that stuck with him since he heard it.
"If you're gonna call me anything other than my name, call me…the GraveWalker" Izuku declared before he rushed after Kacchan.
That felt good, Bakugo thought to himself as he exited the school, there was this feeling of satisfaction when he came to Deku's aid, and it was deserved, only he could talk down to that undead bastard, not some shitty gen ed student who was just jealous that they didn't stand where he did.
"Kacchan!" Bakugo knew that bitchy voice from anywhere.
"Fuck off"
"I just wanted to say thank you, you didn't need to say what you did and I appreciate it" Izuku smiled at Bakugo, the first time in a long time, that goofy look reminded Bakugo of better days.
"Deku…do me a favour" Bakugo exhaled, perhaps it was time he forgave himself.
"Yeah sure" Izuku perked up, that smile still on his face.
"Eat shit and die" Bakugo turned and carried on his way, he didn't deserve forgiveness, he didn't deserve anything that Izuku would give him.
"Oh" he heard Izuku from behind, the evident sadness in his voice was what Bakugo deserved, the pit of self loathing was what he deserved.
"Wait!" Izuku called after him, and against his better judgement he turned, only to see Izuku with a smile on his face, this one showing something…rather reflective of Bakugo.
"Eat shit and live" Izuku grinned, this simple insult tearing through Bakugo's pit and igniting his fighting spirit.
"What the fuck did you just say you walking dead son of a bitch! Oh it's fucking on! You better do well on the sports festival! Because I'm going to beat your ass on live television"
"I'd like to see you try, you mortal bitch" Izuku's reply sent Bakugo into a frothing rage, oh he was going to kill this fucker, he was going to bury him under the Titanic with fucking cement.
'take a swan dive-
Oh he was going to make Izuku take a swan dive, he was going to slam that little shit so hard into the ground that he would get another quirk.
As Bakugo stormed off with smoke trailing behind, Izuku smiled and nodded.
"Guess no more Mr Nice Deku?"
"He died in the USJ along with his vengeance, I'm going for the top" Izuku grinned as he left with a new purpose, forget this Bright Lord nonsense, he was going after number one.
"So you think Midoriya is the Bright Lord?" Nezu watched the boy leave the school and head home.
"Well let's review the facts, all the villains that were in Izuku's area were the ones that turned on their allies, and they had both the same green eyes and the handprint from Sir's vision" Toshinori said from beside him, he didn't want to believe it, but the kid had goals that reflected his psyche, and could easily align with the villain who defeats All Might.
"I say we get the man himself to see, how is he holding up"
"He's well, after the vision was ignored, he tried taking trigger and looking into my future, but said he saw multiple, too many to pinpoint which was the true future, but he has recovered in the last 3 years, though I have feared for his sanity after the sludge villain incident 10 or so months ago"
"Ah yes, the first one with a handprint, attacked Bakugo Katsuki before…hm, I see why you think it's Midoriya" Nezu chuckled while also feeling his fur begin to stick up.
"We shouldn't tell anyone of this yet, not until Sir sees him"
That night, when everyone was asleep, one stayed awake.
"What is it? You want more? Well aren't you a glutton? But who am I to deny you? Not when you give me so much" A lone figure left the bar in a familiar Pikachu hoodie.
"Blood for the ring, Grish tor ul Nazg"
And as the ears of the hoodie walked down the street, cameras followed.
"Insolent fool, you thought the ring a gift and didn't hesitate to wear it, now you sealed your fate" All For One chuckled as Chichi rounded the corner.
The origins of the ring were mysterious to say the least, it was found in mountain that used to be a volcano, and it was not meant to be used for was clearly not for the benefit of humanity, rather to enslave the user till there was nothing left.
The homicidal junkie that currently wielded the ring was now like a juice box, slowly emptying until there was nothing left.
And when that happens, it would be thrown out, just like the rest.
Whew, that was a fun chapter to write, it was less fun to rewrite the previous chapters but I do tend to change my mind like a girl changes clothes and I will probably continue to rewrite chapters till I'm satisfied, apologies in advance.
Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed, see ya next time.