He opened his eyes, expecting to see nothing but light and clouds all around him. But instead, there was a woman with long mauve hair and a dark fuschia dress that covered her feet. In front of her outstretched hand was a fuschia barrier. A tall, black crown sat atop her head.
Dimentio crawled to Izuku and he helped the jester back to his feet. "Izuku...That is...the Queen herself..."
"The Queen? The Queen of what?"
"The Underwhere..."
"Wait, so that's-"
"Queen Jaydes." By the tone of her voice, Izuku realized she was not the elderly woman he expected. Her voice was rather youthful. "I fail to believe Olive recreated the Chaos Heart Entity. I feel terrible knowing he failed. I should have expected such from a child sent to recover the most powerful item of Dark Magic in existence."
Izuku noticed everyone else was also inside the barrier, including Olivia's fallen body, which Olly had gone back to mourning. Ochaco was trying her hardest to comfort him, which resulted in him tossing himself on her and crying so much his paper began to get soggy.
"Queen Jaydes...You came to save us...?" Dimentio said, weak.
She used her free hand to smack him across the face. "We shall be having a talk later. How dare you escape from me."
Dimentio straightened his mask. "Yes...my Queen..."
Izuku was surprised Dimentio actually listened. "Queen Jaydes, what is the Chaos Heart Entity?"
"It has been made exactly once before," she explained. "When the CHaos Heart finds a perfect host, it creates a monsterous form from their body and uses it to kill others and conjoins their spirits into itself. It speaks in the voices of those whose souls have fallen to its corruption. Your friend, Dimentio, tried to recreate it using Luigi as a host. But he failed."
"So Super Dimentio is-"
"No. It was not powerful enough. I had to step in because I am the only one that can stop this beast. I apologize for your friend, Olivia's, sacrifice. I had actually talked to her before coming here and want to speak with her brother when this is done."
The barrier forced the Chaos Heart Entity back. It didn't move afterwards, which surprised Izuku. Instead, it begun laughing maniacally.
"Queen Jaydes...How we've missed you..."
"I see you've stolen more souls since our last encounter. Do you realize how hard that makes my job?"
"We are strong enough to beat you now with this!" They held up a small blue orb.
"Princess Olivia's soul?! How did you get that?"
"This place works as a connection to the Afterworld. We simply grabbed this after you left." It opened its mouth, sounds of creaking metal following, and held the orb above it.
Izuku didn't think.
He used a full-powered smash on it, not even stopping to think of the damage he would cause on his fingers. He mixed it with Fa Jin, using the energy he had been building up during the school test and the beginning of the fight with the Chaos Heart Entity, and fired it at its arm. He felt his fingers break, and watched as its arm cracked out of shape from the attack. Olivia's soul vanished. Its arm bent back into shape and it clenched its hand into a fist. It whipped its head to look at Izuku.
"How many times must we teach you this lesson? Your soul will do just nicely! And what's with the others with you, hm?! Yes...We'll steal every soul inside of that accursed power of yours!"
It charged, but Queen Jaydes stopped it with her hands. She cracked its neck by bending its head upside down and tossed it behind them. It fixed itself and grabbed Ochaco.
"No! Uraraka!" Izuku wanted to rush after her, but Queen Jaydes stopped him.
"We'll steal hers. Open wide, girly."
She tried to fight it. It opened its mouth, splitting Olive's head further apart than it did the first time. She began kicking around.
"Deku! Help me!"
"Use your power," Queen Jaydes instructed calmly.
"But it didn't work last time!"
"I weakened it. Your ability should work on it now. Use it. And then we can stop this nonsense."
Ochaco looked down at her hands. She took a deep breath as a sort of beam came from their mouth, aimed right at her heart. She tapped her pinkies onto their hands and the beam vanished.
"What?" It formed its blocky feet into claws and clamped itself into the ground. "You thought that would do something?! Fools, every single one of you!"
It tossed her at Izuku. He caught her, but fell down in the process.
"How is your Quirk still working on us?!" It attached its lower arms to the ground. "Tell us how you did this, child!" The tempered glass began to crack. "No! We will not go down in utter embarrassment!" They tried to reach their upper arms to the ground, but was having difficulties fighting Ochaco's Quirk.
"Do you see what happens when you mess with mortals?" Queen Jaydes shot back.
Black began pouring from the cracked glass. "We...will...KILL YOU!" It let go of the ground with one arm to try and attack Ochaco, but the glass shattered and its body began to rip. "No, no, NO!" It attached back to the ground, straining to free the final two arms from her Quirk's grasp.
Metal creaked and glass shards rained from above as it began to rip in two. It gave up trying to fight it and let go entirely to prevent being torn. It used its chest beam to fire itself towards Ochaco, but came up short as it floated above her.
"We will not lose this way! Let us down, right now!"
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"We will rip you apart and devour your soul, brat!"
She clapped her hands together and it stopped floating skywards. It realized its mistake as it fell from high above them towards the ground.
"No, NO! NOOOO!"
It crashed against the ground, shattering into pieces. Black liquid spurt skywards. Queen Jaydes brought her barrier back out to block them all from the splash. She shattered it and walked to the Chaos Heart floating above Olive's shattered body. She walked so gently, it looked as if she was floating.
"Queen Jaydesss! Pleassse! Ssspare usss! We meant no harm, we sssimply wissshed for more power!" It hissed its two-faced lie.
She grabbed it and it vanished. "Lubvi, Grambi, and I will deal with that when I return." She faced Dimentio.
"Queen Jaydes I-"
She held up her hand. "Don't. I know what you're going to say and I don't want to hear it. I know what happened to you long before you turned against Lord Blumiere. I know Izuku Midoriya knows too."
Dimentio fell to the ground, arms in front of him. "I am so, so, so, so, sorry, my Queen! I went too far, with everything! I had no need to do any of this! But Izuku showed me that I can change, so I will try my best! Just please, by Grambi's name, don't punish me!" His voice cracked near the end, implying that he was crying.
"Punish you? You believe I came all the way here to punish you? Ahaha!" Her laugh wasn't forced, she actually thought that was funny. "I would be cruel to do such a thing! I did keep an eye on you however."
She held her hand in Olive's direction, and the android repaired itself with the big pieces that remained. He now matched the Origami Twin's small form-their true form. He happily flew over to them.
"I was working for her the whole time! I was supposed to bring the Chaos Heart to her so she and her husband could destroy it once and for all, but things went a little out of control there. Apologies, my Queen." He bowed.
"Your side of the deal has been succeeded. I will grant you your wish soon." She faced back to Izuku and Dimentio. "He was my eyes here. I knew you were going to escape long before you even planned on it. So I created Olive with help from a friend. That is why he worked under you. I needed to keep a close eye on you. I let go of his attachment a bit when Izuku Midoriya watched over you instead."
"Y-you...Aaaaah! This is too much! I cannot process this!" He ruffled his hat, bells jingling and it coming loose a bit to reveal some of his hair.
She went to Olly next.
Olly looked up from Olivia, tears staining his paper face. She looked at Olivia and smiled gently at the king.
"I know who you are. You are King Olly. You failed to fold the world, correct?"
Olly nodded. "Olivia..."
"I actually talked with her before this."
"What...? But how could you do that? She's gone. Her game ended. I'm alone...I can't imagine how heartbroken the Origami Craftsman will be when I tell him about this..."
"You used your ancestor's power back then, King Olly."
He finally looked at her. "Huh? Are you talking about Sandi? How do you know about her?"
"I have talked with her."
"Alright...now you're not making any sense. She's been dead for years. You couldn't have talked to her unless you're almost two-hundred. Trust me, you don't look the part."
"You have no clue on who I am?"
He looked up, then examined her fully. "The crown implies you are royalty, and the flat body implies you are from my world...But I have no idea who you are."
"I am Queen Jaydes, Mistress of the Underwhere."
He stayed silent for a minute, then jolted. His crown had floated off his head, but landed back on. "THE Queen Jaydes?! The Queen Jaydes Dimentio is so afraid of?!"
"Hey...I am not afraid of her!"
"Silence, Dimentio."
"Y-yes my Queen."
She nodded. "I have never seen anyone use that much power before, and you can use it to revive your sister."
"Really? I can do that? Could you tell me how?"
"However, it comes with a price."
Olly knelt back next to his sister. "Oh...I see...What is it, then? What will be the cost for her life?"
"Both your and her lives will be shortened. You will only live half as long as your ancestors once had."
"So we'd live as long as humans."
"Yes. But you and your sister will still be alive. You have the ability to heal yourself, you just need to learn how to use it to heal others."
"C-could you teach me how? Please? I would do anything for my sister. I would die for her."
"I see. But, you can learn how to do it yourself. It will be much more powerful that way."
He looked to Olivia. "Don't worry, Livi. Big brother is here to save you as you once had done for me." He gently pressed his forehead against hers. "Don't worry, Mani...Sandi's here to save you this time. I promise."
She moved away from Olly a bit. He placed his hands on Olivia's chest and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Izuku saw his hands begin to glow a faint purple.
"Take my life for your soul, take my soul for your life. I grant you the freedom to return. Turn back the hands of time, and bring back what once was mine." He fought tears. "Bring back...what once...was mine..." Olly removed his hands and reopened his eyes. "Did it...work...?" He fainted.
"Olly!" Izuku tried to go to thim, but Queen Jaydes blocked him once more.
"Calm yourself, that means it worked. They may need medical attention for a bit, but he successfully revived her."
"Did I just kill the Chaos Heart Entity?" Ochaco finally asked. "But it said nobody could hurt it! You said yourself that you were the only one who could damage it!"
"I am, but I wanted you to be the hero you strive to be. So I weakened it for you. I knew your Quirk could stop it, Ochaco Uraraka. You are far more powerful than you think."
"Why did Olly say multiple times that he'd save Mani? What happened between her and Sandi?" Izuku asked.
He knew about the twin's ancestors, Mani and Sandi, because Olly told him about them. Izuku didn't even question on how Olly reincarnated from a girl, since nothing else in Olly's world made sense to him anyways. However, he kept the secret of how they died from him and the rest of the class.
"In a spur of rage, Sandi slew her sister. After finding out this information, King Olly promised he would protect Olivia better than Sandi and Mani had done for each other. He was healed by the Water Vellumental, Lemon, so occasionally he...let's just say that sometimes he believes he is Sandi still. I believe that connection to his past life is what caused him to use Sandi's power."
"So that thing he did with the Magic Circle-" Izuku said.
"And the wings," Tokoyami added.
"-was Sandi's power?"
She nodded. "Olivia has a long way to go to keep up with her brother, but she has little to realize her powers are different from his. Hers are special. Hers are a mixture of Mani's abilities, along with Mario's grandmother's."
"Mario's grandma was Origami Folk?" Hakugure asked.
"Yes. In a way, the twins are distantly related to he and his brother." She looked around. The world had returned to normal, and the teachers were coming back. "Alas, I must take my leave. I hope I do not see any of you soon. If I do, I will have a long talk with you." A pillar engulfed her, and she vanished with it.
Olivia sat up and rubbed her head with a groan. "What happened...? My memory is all fuzzy..." She noticed her brother. "Ols?"
He didn't move.
"Olly? Are you okay?"
He stood and faced his sister. "Olivia I-"
"You don't need to say anything. I don't want to know. I'm just happy you're okay-"
He pulled her into an embrace without warning.
"Olly? What's wrong? You never hugged me like this before."
"Olivia...I wanted to tell you something for a while now, but never trusted myself enough to say it."
She pushed off of him. "Olly, what's wrong? Are you going to die?!"
"No...It's just...I'm so happy you're still alive."
She tilted her head. "I don't understand. I've always been alive. Why are you making it sound like I'm dead? If I was, I'd be being judged by Queen Jaydes about now."
"I love you, Olivia, and I never want you to do anything like that again. I almost lost you. I don't want to loose you again. I don't want to kill you again."
"Silly! Are you having one of those dream moments again? I never died! I would remember if I did!"
His eyes slanted downwards. "Olivia, promise me you'll stay safe. Please."
"Olly...Did something happen? I know you don't trust promises after what happened with the Origami Craftsman and the twins...You can tell me, I don't care about not knowing anymore. I want to know why you're so worried."
"I brought you back to life. We'll live half as long, but you're safe and that's all that matters to me."
"You used a revival spell?! Olly, not even Sandi could do that kind of magic! What are you, crazy?!"
"Just promise me that! Promise me you won't do anything else that would get you hurt or potentially murdered!"
Olivia sighed and smiled. "You know I can't so that. And neither can you; and we both know that. If I make that promise, it'll just be one to break. Let's not make the same mistake as Sandi and Mani, okay?"
He looked at the ground. "Okay...I understand."
"I love you too, brother, and I'm glad you're worried for me. But as long as you can sense magic, I don't think any of us will be a hundred percent safe."
Present Mic returned first, followed by the rest of them. "Woah! What happened here? Not a sound and you guys managed to bust this place up even more than it already was!"
Izuku looked around. He was right, the battle with the Chaos Heart Entity damaged the testing zone even further.
"Huh," Todoroki said, playing it cool. "I have no idea how that happened."
Aizawa sighed. "That's enough for today. We'll redo this test in a couple of days when we fix this up. I expect you to know your partner better by then." He specifically eyed Dimentio, who was covering the hole in his chest.
Inko took them to the barber after school, just as she agreed. Izuku didn't tell her about the Chaos heart Entity or the test at school, so the car ride was strangely quiet. While they waited for their turn, Izuku sat next to Olly and decided to ask him a question.
"If you die, would Olivia die too?"
"What brings that up?"
"She has half of your life now, right. Does that mean that you will die if she dies, and vise-versa?"
"Oho, no. That's not how revival spells work. If they die, you're still alive."
"Ah."
"Izuku Midoriya? It's time for your trim."
"Oop. See you in a bit." He stood and walked to the counter. "Thank you," he bowed and sat in an empty seat.
"Hello, darling. Just a trim? Are you sure? I could always make it better."
"Yes, but thank you for asking. My name is Izuku Midoriya," he introduced as the barber tied the large apron around him.
"My name is Marker, darling. But you can call me Marko."
"Marker? Like, a colored marker?"
"Yes. You catch on quick, darling." He reached over Izuku's shoulder to adjust the mirror's position and grab the scissors.
That's when Izuku saw the giveaway. Olly's insignia was on his wrist as a tattoo.
"Olly made you, didn't he?"
He smiled. "Yes, he did."
Izuku looked up at his reflection in the mirror. He had pale green hair with colored tips and a slate blue shirt with a darker shade of it on the shoulders, elbows, and as an 'x' mark across the front. They were a light shade of tan, their red eyes standing out against it. Their pupils were deep blue.
"I go by any pronouns, so just call me whatever you're comfortable with."
"What's the reason, if you don't mind me asking."
"I was made to be a shapeshifter. Having no specified gender makes it easier to switch between the two. You can say I'm non-binary. I will be helpful if you want to take me on a stealth mission, but for now I'll stay here in the Salon. Hair is my passion!"
"I'm glad you found something you enjoy," Izuku said with a smile. "Does that mean you're actually a marker? What color?"
"Green, hench the hair color. You're very friendly, I like you already. Do you have a favorite color?"
"I like red."
"Red, yes. A color full of emotion, full of passion. Such a wonderful color. It's no wonder Jean-Pierre likes it as well."
"What about you? You have a favorite?"
"It changes; usually per day. It depends on what I'm feeling that day."
Part of the deal of taking Dimentio with them was that he had to pay for his own cut and dye. Izuku watched in the reflection as he walked over to the counter when a seat was empty. He decided to listen in since Marko got quiet when he started concentrating.
"Hello there! What are you here for today?"
"I would like a haircut and re-dye please." He removed his hat, getting surprised reactions from other people around them, including Olly.
"Oh! Would you like to donate that? It'll go to a company that creates wigs from donated hair for children that don't have any."
"I'm not going to cut it all off..."
"Oh no! You don't have to! We'll donate what we cut, if you want to!"
He glanced at Izuku, who gave a thumbs up in return.
"Um...sure?"
"Okay..." She scribbled onto her paper. "And what name would this be under?"
Dimentio stood in silence for a while, then finally asked, "Can it be a nickname?"
"Of course! Whatever you feel comfortable with that we can identify you by!"
"My name is Dimentio."
"Would you spell that please?"
Dimentio spelt out his name quickly, but she aced every letter.
"Alright, if you wouldn't mind taking that empty seat there."
Dimentio sat down and the barber asked him to flip his hair over the chair.
"Ooh, his hair is so long," Marko said, looking over. "He didn't take very good care of it though."
"He didn't even know it grew out," Izuku said. "He should take that hat off every now and then."
"You are done now, Izuku. Do you like it?"
It didn't look any shorter to anybody else, but Izuku could tell Marko had shortened it. "Yes, thank you."
"No need to be so formal. A thanks does nicely. I hope you enjoy your day, darling!"
Izuku rejoined his mom and Olly in the seats near the door. She went to the counter to go pay. Izuku listened in on the conversation with Dimentio's barber.
"You a hero or something? Dimentio sounds like a hero name."
"I strive to be...I made some awful mistakes in the past...I hope to fix myself for the better after what happened to a friend of mine...They got hurt because of me."
Izuku leaned over to Olly. "He blames himself for what happened to Olive."
"I heard. I feel bad; it wasn't his fault."
The barber fluffed Dimentio's hair. "It's real soft for being so messy. Did'ja even brush it?"
"No...I had no idea it grew out...I was imprisoned for a while so I had no clue about my hair because I was more focused on my escape."
"Would'ja mind taking off that mask? Don't want to get hair all over it."
"No!" He covered it with his hands. He peeked to see a few people giving his strange looks. "I...I should not...I feel better with it on..."
"I don't want to ruin it. I'll try not to look at your face when it's off, if that'll make'ja feel better."
"I-Fine...I suppose that works. I appreciate you doing this for me."
"No problem, Dimentio. Glad to help."
Izuku remembered a question he meant to ask. "Olly, Marko is yours, right?"
"Mine? Oh-ho no! I made him for Olivia. If I have my own Legion of Stationery, I only find it fair Olivia has one too in case something happens to me! But my Legion does have a special order to protect Olivia with their lives if I ever were to get killed."
"It's sweet how much you care for her."
"Don't think too much about it. I only try so hard to protect her since I was the reason she was almost killed...Not to mention, Sandi was the reason Mani died. I want to break a family curse, if I can help it."
"That's pretty selfless of you; doing so much for your family even though you almost tore them apart. That's very heroic of you."
"I'm not a hero. I'm a king, and that's the Kingly thing to do. I'm trying my best to be a fair and kind King," he gripped his gut, "just like what my father wanted...I want to make him proud. After all, he sent me here just so I can control my overpowered abilities. I respect him so much, but feel I amount to nothing compared to him..."
"When is his birthday?"
"October second."
"That's tomorrow! You should get him something to show your appreciation."
"But I can't get him anything..."
"Why not? Don't you have a lot of money? I'd expect royalty to be well, rich."
"Well...I don't have any coins anymore."
"What did you do?!"
"I bought a game system because Roseanne suggested I play a few of the games on it! But then I used the rest to buy a couple of games..."
"How many did you buy, exactly?"
"About the entire stock...And a lot of them were still new so most of them costed about sixty thousand coins or something ridiculous like that...It was such a waste of my time because I'd't even played any of them yet, much less even opened the game system's box..."
"That's fine! You can always fold him something!"
Olly's eyes slanted. "I shouldn't do that. He won't even notice. It's almost impossible to get his attention when he's working on his origami. And trust me when I say he is always doing his origami."
Izuku placed a hand on his shoulder. "He'll notice, Olly. You're his son, he'll pay attention to you when you feel like you need it. Just ask him. And I'm sure he'd appreciate it even more than some store-bought gift; especially if it's origami. He's a nice person, Olly. I know sometimes you can get stuck in the past but you forgave him and he forgave you. He'll understand that you really mean it."
"That's a lot, coming from somebody who doesn't have a father. But thank you."
Izuku pulled his hand away. Olly's eyes widened a bit.
"I-I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said that! That was so rude of me! I am an idiot!" He slammed his head against the wall and slid down it.
"No, no. You're okay! I understand that you're still getting used to...everything. And you're right. The Origami Craftsman is everything I wanted my dad to be, so I know for a fact that he will appreciate any gift you give him. Honest."
Olly smiled. "Thank you, Izuku. I can see why you have so many friends."
Dimentio came over, rubbing the back of his newly-shortened hair. The bottom and front of his bangs were died yellow, leaving the rest black. His hair now only reached his shoulders, the slight upwards curl making it seem shorter. Izuku saw Dimentio had pointed ears, much like his puppet did.
"Oh, wow!" Inko went to him. "They did such a good job! You look great!"
He placed his hat back on and went to the counter to pay. Izuku was surprised to see Dimentio tip his barber so much extra; he must have really loved the way it turned out. He rejoined Izuku.
"Do you like your hair? I saw you tipped ten dollars over."
"Like it...? No, I do not like it...I love it! This is the best self-confidence I have had since I was trapped in the Underwhere!"
"Glad to see you like it," Olly said, rising from his seat. "Shall we leave?"
"Yeah. And when we gte home," Izuku said, pointing at Olly, "you're going to make your dad that gift for him. And you'll set up that game system and play a few of those games so you wouldn't have used your money in vain."
"I can agree to that."
