AN: thanks for reading and leaving a review, everyone!
Even though he knew it was coming, Izuku was still shocked by the force of the impact as he awoke in the vestige realm.
"Izu I'm so sorry," Nana sobbed, tears already threatening to spill. "I saw everything!"
"Wha?!" Izuku squeaked out.
"It's true kid," Second said. He was leaning against a pillar on the other side of the atrium. "Maybe it was because of all the power you and Uraraka were channeling, but partway through that battle Ol' Yoichi discovered we can start watching what's going on out there."
"Wait, you can do that?" Izuku said.
"Sure can." Second pulled himself away from the wall. "We can project ourselves to be near one of you two so that we can experience all that's going on."
"But we didn't see you?"
"And wouldn't others be able to see you?" Ochako asked, announcing her presence.
"Nope!" Second had a lopsided grin on his face.
"Eventually Yoichi said we can choose to manifest, but even then the only people who'd be able to see us are the two of you…"
"...or All For One," Nana said grimly. "Maybe if someone else had a quirk powerful enough to sustain a vestige realm they'd be able to see us as well, but we haven't met anyone like that yet."
"I see," Izuku said awkwardly as he looked at Ochako, noticing the distinct blush on the back of her neck. "You- you won't use this to spy on us, will you?"
"Of course not!" Nana insisted.
"We've already agreed to only use it when you're in battle," Second said. "Nana here was actually the loudest voice in arguing for that arrangement."
"Really?" Ochako asked in surprise.
"I know I can be a lot," Nana admitted, an uncharacteristic blush coloring her cheeks, "but I know there are limits. Besides…" She offered Izuku a coy smile. "That gives me a reason to talk to my grandson in the evenings."
"Ehe." Izuku gave her an awkward smile, heat rising up the back of his neck. He desperately looked toward Ochako for help, only to see her blush spreading beyond the permanent marks on her cheeks. Noticing his gaze, she responded by mouthing the words 'sorry' back to him. Returning his attention to his grandmother, he continued. "That's a fair compromise."
"Yeah!" Ochako quickly agreed, thankful that the vestiges wouldn't see their more private moments together.
"I thought so too," she replied. "But enough about us. How are the two of you doing?"
"We're about as good as we can be," Izuku admitted.
"Izu and I talked about it," Ochako added, "and you were right. Now we're flying blind but…"
"But instead of finally breaking the cycle, we've got a different threat than what we were expecting. And… Homura."
"My granddaughter," Nana said sadly.
"I'm sorry." Ochako hung her head. "If I had known…"
"It's not your fault." Nana rushed over to hug the girl. "I know you wouldn't keep something like that from us."
"Thanks." Ochako smiled at the woman as she leaned into her embrace. "I still feel bad though."
"Well-" Nana gave the girl one final squeeze before releasing her from her grip. "Why don't we go somewhere more comfortable and you two can tell me all about it?"
"I see," Nana said, leaning back in her chair. She had dragged the two to a conference room where they were joined by Second, Yoichi, and Ichirou to hear their story.
"So it seems there are ripples we never accounted for," Ichirou mused as he turned toward Second.
"Hey, I never expected my quirk to fuse two different timelines to begin with," the vestige defended himself. "We thought it just picked from one or the other in a way that made sense."
"But this is an unknown variable," Yoichi said. "We'll have to think this over, especially how it affected our brother…"
"Do you think he could have been affected by a similar merge?" Izuku asked.
"Hopefully not," Nana said before letting out a resigned sigh. "I wish we could talk to Toshi directly…"
"Do you think he could see you? If you manifest, I mean?" Ochako asked curiously.
"We doubt it," Ichirou said. "But we can always try once we have the strength to do so."
"It's worth an attempt," Yoichi agreed.
"Enough about us," Second said as he turned his attention to Izuku and Ochako. "What'll you two be doing now?"
"We're not sure," Izuku said as he looked at Ochako. "We're still figuring things out."
"Probably talk to our friends first," Ochako added.
"What are you going to tell them?"
"I don't know," Ochako replied softly.
"I think you should tell them everything," Nana said.
"What?"
"They already know most of it, don't they?" Nana asked. "Why didn't you bring them in on your plans?"
"We said Nezu thought there was a spy–"
"And do you believe any of your friends could possibly be that spy?"
"No," both replied simultaneously.
"Well there you go," Nana said smugly. "I thought you two were all about a whole system of pillars. So why are you acting like it's just the two of you?"
Izuku and Ochako looked at each other awkwardly before turning toward Nana.
"Force of habit," Ochako admitted. "Before the reset…"
"Same," Izuku said shamefully. "Toshinori insisted on secrecy…"
"And look at where that got you," Nana said, folding her arms. "I'm glad you two have each other, but you certainly painted your friends in a noble light earlier."
"You're right," Izuku said.
"They know almost everything already…" Ochako mused. "It wouldn't be a big jump to bring them into the planning."
"Especially since we have no idea what's coming next," Second pointed out. "We're effectively in a new future now."
"I know Himi hates being out of the loop," Izuku admitted.
"And Jiro's still mad at us," Ochako pointed out. "Maybe this will help…"
"Mhm." Izuku nodded and smiled at Ochako. "I guess we'll talk to them soon."
"Yeah!" Ochako gently pumped her fist in the air.
"There's the two of you I wanted to see," Nana chuckled. "I'm glad you're feeling better."
"I'm still nervous," Izuku confessed.
"Me too."
"Of course you're nervous!" Nana said. "I'd be worried if you're not. But hopefully with your friends in on things, you'll be a little less nervous." She smiled as she watched their tense shoulders loosen up. "And I know the two of you will figure things out."
"What about you?" Ochako asked.
"I'll be here cheering you on. And waiting for you to save my other grandkids."
"We'll try our best," Izuku assured her.
"I know you will."
After wishing Ochako a good morning with a kiss, Izuku closed his eyes and drifted back to the physical world. He sat up and stretched before silently padding out of the hallway and toward the bathroom. As he approached, he heard the sound of the shower running. With a quiet sigh, he turned around, ready to go to their other bathroom–
–only to run right into his sister.
"We need to talk," Himiko said in a low voice, her arms crossed as she looked up at him.
"Can I at least go to the bathroom first?" Izuku asked awkwardly.
Himiko weighed her options in her head before she relented, uncrossing her arms. "Fine, but we need to make it quick!"
Himiko's eyes darted to the shower and Izuku realized what she was referring to. Nodding in understanding, he hurried to the other restroom before returning to his own room. Himiko sat on his bed, a plush scientist in her hands being over-worked by nervous fingers.
"What's up Himi?" Izuku asked as he quietly closed the door.
"It's Emmy– I want her to know," Himiko began. "About you and Ochako. I know that means…" She swallowed nervously. "She finds out about me too. But yesterday, after everything…"
"That was a lot worse than we expected," Izuku realized with a shaky sigh.
"Yep," Himiko agreed without her usual bright tone. "Emmy was worried about me, and I didn't like having to lie to her."
"I understand." Izuku sat down on the bed. Himiko leaned into his side. "Ocha and I we… were wrong. We thought we could end things once and for all and then we wouldn't have to worry anymore."
"Just like with me?" Himiko asked.
"Something like that," Izuku replied. "And then… you saw what happened."
"So now what?" Himiko asked.
Izuku threw an arm over Himiko's shoulder. "We'll tell Song. And then… we'll talk to Jiro and Shizu."
"Thanks Izu." Himiko curled into his side more fully. "I'm not looking forward to this."
"I think you'll be okay," Izuku assured her. "Song loves you."
"Yeah she does," Himiko said in a tone that caused Izuku's face to heat up. Noticing the change, she barked out a laugh before sobering up. "But it's still scary."
"Did you have a nightmare last night?"
"Mhm," Himiko admitted. "I was… one of the people attacking the USJ and Emmy was one of the students."
"I'm sorry." Izuku held his sister tighter.
For a few minutes, the two sat in silence until they heard the door slam open revealing Emily. Her hair was tied off in a ponytail; she wore a tee shirt and shorts she borrowed from Himiko, the normally loose clothing snug on her. She looked like she was about to speak until she saw the worried look on Himiko's face.
"What's going on?" Emily asked, her voice uncharacteristically quiet.
Untangling herself from her brother, Himiko stood up and pulled her girlfriend into the room before slamming the door behind them. "Remember how we told you about One For All?"
"Of course!" Emily said as her eyes darted between the two.
"That's not the only thing Izu's been hiding."
Emily's eyes went wide, ready to shout before Himiko shut her up by crashing her lips into her girlfriend's. Izuku rolled his eyes at his scene and turned away until they were done.
"Ok rude," Emily said as she glared at her girlfriend, "but I'll allow it because you're cute. So what else is there?"
Slowly turning around, Izuku took a deep breath. "Ocha and I knew about the attack yesterday."
"What? How?!"
Izuku and Himiko spent the next twenty minutes filling Emily in with the details. Or more specifically Izuku did most of the talking. When he and Emily got going, Himiko found it hard to keep up despite her best efforts, and usually she resigned herself to finding out the most important details after the fact. Despite that, she tried her hardest to contribute when she could. Emily already knew about her incident with Saito and attacking Izuku, but she didn't know about the breakdown that happened when she learned the truth - or about the nightmares she's been visited by ever since then.
Once they were done, the three sat silently, Izuku and Himiko waiting for Emily's response.
"I know it's a lot," Izuku said awkwardly as he tried to fill the air with noise. "But I hope you understand why we did it."
"Of course I understand!" Emily snapped before softening and raising her hand. "It weirdly makes sense though. Finding Himi. The extra training. Your whole I-Island thing, One For All, All Might." She ticked off the reasons one by one until she had a closed fist before sighing. "It felt like something was going on. Like your mom was secretly working with the Shields or something."
"Sometimes I wish it was that simple," Izuku admitted.
Himiko felt an uncharacteristic nervousness as she looked at her girlfriend. Taking a deep breath, she asked the question she want- no, needed to know the answer to.
"Are we okay?"
Emily responded by kissing her girlfriend. "Of course we are! You're my Himi, trying to become a hero! You're not the same girl that those two had to face. And if you do decide you'd rather be a villain…" Her face steeled as light flared from her palms. "I'll kick your ass and drag you back myself."
"Good," Himiko said, but the tears threatening to spill let Emily know how grateful she really was. She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's shoulders and pressed her face on Emily's neck, savoring her warmth. "Thank you."
Holding Himiko close, Emily turned her attention back to Izuku. "So what next?"
"J-just like that?"
"How long have you known me? Once things calm down I've got Questions, but those can wait."
"Good point," Izuku conceded. "For now we have to wait on the heroes, but once they find a lead for the League…"
"Great. I'm in."
As the morning made way to the afternoon, the three students finally left their apartment. Kissing her girlfriend goodbye, Emily left for home, leaving Izuku and Himiko alone.
"Ready to talk to Jiro?" Himiko asked her brother.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Izuku replied.
The two made their way to their normal meetup spot where Ochako was already waiting for them. Taking her hand in his, Izuku quietly informed her that Emily knew everything. The two had a quiet conversation while walking, and Ochako's mind was put at ease as they made their way to the hospital. As they walked through the sliding doors into the main lobby, they saw Kyoka waiting for them, her arms crossed as she looked them over.
"There you are!"
"We promised we'd come," Ochako pointed out.
"I know," Kyoka sighed. "I just wish you made it harder so I could have gotten some frustration out."
"I know how that feels," Himiko admitted, earning a look of betrayal from her brother. "But these two aren't the problem, are they?"
"No," Kyoka sighed, "they're not." She balled her fists at her side. "I just hate feeling so helpless."
"Us too," Izuku assured her.
"That's why we're here," Ochako said as she gently touched Kyoka's arm. "We screwed up, and now we're gonna make things right."
Kyoka's eyes drifted down to Ochako's hand and back up to her friend's waiting gaze. She responded by giving the two a lopsided smile. "Let's go then. Aika's awake, even if she's not feeling chatty."
"That's a weird sentence," Himiko said.
"Believe me, I know," Kyoka agreed. "But she'll bounce back soon. I know it."
The three followed Kyoka further into the hospital as she led them to Aika's room. Slowing down as she approached, the punk girl rapped her knuckles against the door before turning the handle.
"Hey Aika, they're here."
As the four entered the room, they noticed Aika lying in bed, covered in far more bruises and bandages than they remembered. Despite that, they saw a weak light in her eyes that refused to go out.
"Hi guys," she wheezed.
"Hey Shizu," Ochako said as she moved around the bed to make room for the others.
"How're you feeling?" Izuku asked.
"Tired. Guess I've gotta train my quirk more huh?" Aika gave them a sheepish look.
Kyoka plugged a jack into a nearby wall and closed her eyes while everyone watched. A minute later, she opened them and gave a thumb's up. "All clear for now."
Ochako nodded as she turned toward Aika. "We're sorry we didn't tell you about the attack."
"Huh?" Aika blinked in confusion.
"All of our training and prep work… was to fix everything at the USJ," Izuku explained. "We were supposed to capture all of the villains and disrupt well… everything that came after."
"It would have given us a normal school year," Ochako added. "But something went wrong."
"Oh." Aika closed her eyes. "That's okay."
"Aika," Kyoka said in exasperation.
"Without Mido and Raka, I wouldn't even be at UA," Aika pointed out. "I wouldn't be able to reach out my hand…" She held her free hand up and opened her eyes, staring through her fingers. "It's not your fault the villains didn't behave."
"We still don't know why that is…"
"And that's why we're here," Ochako said. "It's time to do what we should have done from the beginning."
"Hmm?" Aika blinked in confusion.
"You believed in us," Izuku said. "But it wasn't enough. We weren't enough. But maybe if we had a little more help…" Izuku gestured to indicate the others.
"We can't do this alone," Ochako elaborated. "Especially not now. More importantly, we don't want to do this alone. It'll be dangerous but…"
"I survived a grenade." Aika gave a pained smile. "Danger doesn't scare me."
"What about you?" Izuku turned toward Kyoka. "Are you okay with us?"
"I still… need time," Kyoka admitted as she gave a sideways glance at her friend. "But it'd be dumb of me to be angry at you when there's still bad guys out there. Besides-" She used a jack to point at the girl on the bed. "-someone's gotta look out for her."
"I don't need you to watch out for me," Aika protested weakly.
"Who's the one who took a grenade again?"
"You're never going to let me live that down, will you?"
"Nope!" Kyoka gave her a lazy smile. "It's hell of a debut story."
"Oh," Aika's eyes momentarily lit up. "I didn't think of that."
"See?" Kyoka crossed her arms. "Reminding you is just a bonus."
"Hey," Aika protested weakly. "Just you wait, sometime I'll have something to hold over you."
"I hope not," Kyoka closed her eyes and shuddered. Opening them, she turned her attention toward Izuku and Ochako. "Alright, so what's next?"
After filling in the remaining blanks, exhaustion caught up to Aika. She wanted to fight her sleep, but the others insisted that she rest. After wrangling promises to continue later, the wounded girl finally relented and closed her eyes to nap, while the others quietly left.
Stepping out into the hallway, Izuku finally noticed the name card on the next room.
K. Bakugo
"Ocha–" Izuku swallowed as he turned toward his girlfriend.
"Hmm?" Ochako asked before her gaze followed the direction of his finger. "Oh."
"Why do you want to talk to him?" Kyoka asked.
"They've got a lot of unfinished business," Ochako explained.
Frowning, Himiko placed her hand on her brother's arm. "You don't owe him anything. He's made his choices."
"I know." Izuku turned toward his sister. "But I want to talk to him anyway."
Himiko wanted to argue, but she bit down on her lip instead, her fang piercing the thin skin and drawing blood. She knew she was the last person who could get annoyed by what Izuku was about to do, but she still didn't like it. Relenting, she let out a pained sigh. "Of course you do. Just… don't get hurt."
"I won't," Izuku promised his sister.
"Good!" Himiko chirped. "Otherwise I'll have to stab him the next time we spar… well stab him more than usual, that is." She giggled. "I'm gonna call Emmy, see you tonight!"
With a wave, Himiko took off down the hallway. Taking her cue, Kyoka looked at the couple. "I'm gonna spend some more time with Aika. Spirits knows she wouldn't be able to sit still without me." She turned around to look at the pair over her shoulder. "And thanks, we won't let you down."
"We know," Ochako assured her. She watched as the girl opened the door and re-entered the room, leaving her alone with her boyfriend in the hallway. "Do you want me to go with you or…"
"I think it'd be better if I go alone," Izuku answered. "Wait for me out here?"
"Of course." Ochako reached out and squeezed Izuku's arm. "I'll be here."
"Thanks." He gave her a warm smile.
Taking a deep breath, Izuku walked to the door and knocked. A moment later, he heard Bakugo's raspy voice calling from behind it.
"Come in."
AN: All For One sat in silence, a frown on his face when the light on his console began to beep. Pressing the button, he answered the call.
"Doctor, what is your assessment?"
"Despite her anger at today's events, I don't believe it is enough," He let out a frustrated sigh. "It is temporary and focused entirely on her brother's capture. By the time she encounters One For All again, her anger will have cooled below the necessary levels to overcome its defenses."
"A shame," All For One sighed. "But not unexpected. Tomura's anger took a decade of careful cultivation, and there was a reason we selected him to begin with."
"I assume you have a plan?"
"Of course," All For One replied. "I wish to take a hostage. Someone valuable enough that All Might will have no choice but to return Tomura."
"And then?"
"Why, if the heroes kill Homura during the chaos afterward, it would be a shame."
"A real shame sir," Garaki chuckled on the other end of the line.
"In the meantime, expedite the Nomu research. It appears that our informant was right, and we will need more of them in the future to handle these troublesome students."
"Very well sire."
The line cut off, once again leaving All For One in silence. Hands dancing across the keyboard, he once again brought up an image of All Might.
"Now who is valuable enough that you'd be willing to give up my prized protegee?"