Chapter 16:
Reminders of Home
Izuku ripped open the sealed bags and sorted through the envelopes.
Each was addressed to him and signed by a different person, with his mother's signature on the top one. Kachan and both of his parents had written, as had Tsukune Hyoudou, the boy who warped him to this world in the first place. Along with, of course, his parents. He didn't recognize the names of the other letters, though the one signed by a chief Tsuragamae seemed obvious.
He opened his mother's first.
Izuku.
I know you are alive, but I know not where. Some of us think Tsukune's warp ability is an annihilation ability, but I hold out hope. Even though the last time we sent a gps tracker through it lost all signal we sent one with this package hoping it finds you well. Hopefully this one leads us to you.
Your father is working extra hours to save up the money to hire a proper hero agency to help find you, and I took on two part time jobs to do the same. We are going to get you home
Love, your mother.
Izuku sincerely doubted the GPS tracker would work across galaxies or even universes, but he was happier than words could describe to learn they were actually looking for him. The first tracker they must have sent was destroyed by the elements, but he looked at the one in the bag and decided it was paramount that it be destroyed. He knew he needed to avoid information of such advanced technology getting into the hands of these primitive peoples at all costs, especially the forces of Burning Hells. They almost assuredly wouldn't even be able to recognize it as technology, let alone reverse engineer it and learn the principles behind it, but the incredible unlikeliness of the latter happening wasn't quite zero, and such a thing would be apocalyptic.
He held the chip between his thumb and index finger and fried it with as much lightning as he could force through it. Every circuit was ruined by the assault and the plastic began to melt. He put it on the ground and melted it further with controlled fire.
He opened the letter from Chief Tsuragamae next.
Dear Izuku Midoriya.
Hoping against hope that you have survived your trip and are able to receive this, I am writing to you to tell you how our investigation into the incident leading to your disappearance is going. Know that it has been ruled an accident, despite this punishment for those involved has been harsh.
Young Bakugo and Hyoudou in particular have been placed into the juvenile villain prevention program and all of the children involved in the incident are in mandatory therapy. Hyoudou in particular is being trained and tested rigorously to determine the nature of his power. We are fairly certain it is a warp ability, or else I would not have bothered writing to you. We are hopeful that this accident may be reversed by simply helping Alex develop his powers so he might pull you back to our side.
Remain steadfast! We are doing all that we can
Yours sincerely, Chief Tsuragame.
Accident?
Accident?! Between the teacher's willful negligence of the bullying to the sociopathic behavior of his peers, they labeled it an accident? This was all incredibly fishy, and he suspected that the other children ganged up to pin the blame on Kachan and Tsukune for the entire thing to absolve themselves of the blame.
His hands shook so hard by the time he finished reading the chief's letter that he actually ripped it, and then, as his rage overcame him his hands erupted in fire. The other letters burned all the way through where he held them in his hands.
He dropped the stack as quickly as he could and smothered them out, but the damage was already done. The remaining envelopes and letters inside were now fragments and impossible to read. He went through them, trying to piece together what the partial sentences said, and he was able to get the gist of it. They were all false apologies from the other students or their parents.
One actually said "I'm sorry I couldn't stop Bakugo and Tsukune in time." Confirming his suspicion that the other students had banded together to lie and pin the blame on the innocent parties. Who would you believe, the aggressive Bakugo and child whose quirk was responsible or the rest of the class?
He took the cleanest surviving fragment of an envelope and retrieved his quill and ink before scrawling a message for anybody who might eventually get the bright idea to have Tsukune's ability used on them. They surely could have used Endeavor these last few months. It would have made short work of Andarial and her forces. It would have taken him an entire day to clear out the moors and the citadel and they'd all have caught up with the dark wanderer months ago.
He pinned the note to his wooden sign using a dagger and then applied a fine coating of glue for added protection.
He cleaned up behind him, burning all evidence of the letters until not but ash remained. He had been careless about clues to his origins for the last time. He finished his work there by hiding his sign from the back by a bush, that way only somebody coming from inside the bog would be able to see it. It was vague enough that even if it was found, nobody would draw any conclusions about his origins. It just seemed like a sign pointing to the citadel and warning about the dangers of the moors.
With his work done he turned around and began the long trek back to the citadel.
He made good time on the return trip, despite stopping early the first day to get some extra rest at the campsite that was mere hours from where he had left the signpost. He mostly did this because the saddle sores from riding on a horse for the first time and for so long was getting to him. He resorted to riding sidesaddle for the return trip, which was awkward in the extreme, but it didn't make his pelvis feel like it'd been carved with a serrated knife.
He switched back to riding the horse properly when the citadel finally came into view and rode the last distance to the new stable that the carpenters had finished while he was away. He returned the horse to the stable hand and made for the entrance.
"Kashya and Isendra have requested you at the chapel." A guarding rogue told him.
Izuku nodded and meandered through the citadel by the path he remembered to the ornate courtyard and from there through the barracks and smithy. He noted with concern that Charsi was not manning the still lit furnace and wondered for her whereabouts. It was upon entering the chapel that he got his answer.
"Happy birthday!"
Surprise birthday parties came as even bigger surprises when it wasn't even your birthday. He was sure if he could sit down and count the days since his arrival he could figure out when it passed, but he was sure it passed. He regained his sensibility in time to feign pleasant surprise instead of consternated confusion, though he did share a look with Isendra. He hoped it portrayed his desire to discuss cover stories like this in the future.
It was a small gathering. It included pretty much everybody who had nearly sacrificed themselves to save him and Isendra from that poison and the rogues rescued from Blood Raven.
"Wait, that can't be today, is it?" he asked. "What is today anyways?"
"I kept track." Isendra told him. "You have been too busy training, studying and fighting. Now, open mine first."
She handed him a wrapped book of some kind, and he opened it to find a leatherbound journal. Prying the covers apart he discovered the pages were not blank, but instead had empty and filled diagrams, likely for spell formulae in a format he hadn't learned yet. There were also what looked like star charts and a lunar calendar, among other references he was probably expected to fill in himself and memorize.
"You will be learning about runes and alchemy soon, and this is a proper journal for such things. I spent all week making it. With help." Isendra told him.
"I love it!" Izuku said. "It will be the perfect companion to my chicken scratch book of questions."
And so the gifts came from everybody.
Cain gave him a companion to his journal in the form of a book strap with locks on it.
"A sorcerer must keep his secrets safe. For magic is not meant to become common knowledge." He said wisely.
Izuku wasn't so sure of that. He came from a world where "magic" was pretty much available to everyone. If everybody on sanctuary learned magic could they develop a society like his? Or would it more resemble the dark age of villains? Neither could be worse than the state it was in now.
His budding book collection grew from there. Kashya provided him a book on hunting techniques, Charsi gave him a book on butchery and Gheed gave him a book on clothing repair. Each passed on a piece of wisdom
"Lest you forget the skills you learned under my sisterhood, or the applications thereof." Kashya told him.
"Properly prepared meat is not only the most important sustenance for a man, but the only food he needs. And when prepared properly it is a greater booster of morale than any drink or other vice." Charsi said, patting her stomach.
"Poorly fitted or maintained clothes and especially shoes will defeat a great hero more ruthlessly than any demon, let alone mortals like us. Take proper care of your equipment, all of it." Gheed told him.
He accepted each gratefully, and showed a great deal of restraint in not digging into their worn pages then and there.
Speaking of boots. Warriv provided him with a new pair of those.
"I second what Gheed said, but with extra emphasis on poorly fitted or maintained shoes. Take care of your feet, they're the only thing that can carry you on most journeys and they complain loudly when not cared for." Warriv said.
Akara came next and handed him a box full of vials too small to be potions.
"Perfumes." Akara said. "Both in oil and alcohol spray varieties. When one cannot wash themselves properly, it is the next best thing to cover their offensive odors."
Izuku thanked her confusedly. Nobody had ever complained about his body odor before, as he had made sure to bathe with everyone else and had even done so in the river yesterday while out in the wild. Maybe it was intended to serve him as he hit puberty and started to smell like a teenage boy?
Then came the entire group of rogue sisters. Mary, Alexis and the others. Together, they carried a set of green clothing. A cloak, a jumper, a pair of gloves and trousers. Each looked positively toasty with thick, green fur.
"We found a dead gargantuan beast frozen solid in a stream and assumed it was your work, so we made some clothing out of it. You probably won't need it in the jewel of the desert most days, but some nights can drop below freezing, especially with winter coming. Be careful out there." Mary explained.
The rest of that day was spent drinking and eating. It was an oddly quiet celebration, but Izuku suspected that was because they understood his appreciation of quiet, not to mention the three new books they left him to enjoy while meandering and chatting among themselves. When evening finally approached they all went their separate ways, with Isendra escorting Izuku to her personal quarters.
She had a bunk bed from the barracks brought in, likely for his benefit so he could rest with her that night.
"We have an early start tomorrow. Sleep well and be ready to have one of the last baths you may have for some time. The desert is not known for providing enough extra water to bathe with."
"Oh! So that's what Akara meant by her gift. I thought she was rudely suggesting I needed a bath." Izuku said.
Isendra laughed.
"No. But we will sorely miss them soon. I am just as fond of bathing as you are." She said. "Now, I do apologize for the unexpected party. The real reason I sent you on your task alone was to wear you out and make you miss everyone, that way the party would feel that much nicer. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, and a week without cooked food and drink makes them taste all the better. I see it worked, based on the genuine smiling you did today."
Izuku felt his face darken.
"Have my smiles not seemed genuine lately?" He asked rhetorically.
"They have not. And that saddens all of us. You are growing older and seeing too much for one so young. Your heart is hardening and it is not a wholly good change." Isendra explained. "You are learning anger. You are learning hatred for evil. These are good things to have, but don't let them drag you or us down, okay?"
Izuku swallowed hard, but nodded.
"Good. Now go to sleep." She commanded.
She crawled into the bottom bunk and closed the blinds to hide the last light of the evening sunset. He climbed up to the top bunk and rolled himself up in as many layers as he dared. The combination of his weariness from his six-day trip, satiation from the delicious meal Charsi had prepared and the lightness in his head from Gheed's mead all conspired to put him to sleep, and he rested soundly that night.
"Well, that ought to be enough food to last us all three months." Gheed said in satisfaction as he tossed the last barrel of dried fruit into the back of the last wagon. "You won't be eating fancy, but you'll be fed."
"Thank you, Gheed. I am sure it will taste delicious. All the more for being the product of your hitherto mythical philanthropy." Isendra said with a mocking smirk.
"Oho! Still with a vicious tongue. I know I am not the most likable or polite of company, but I want you both to know I am glad to have met and done business with you." Gheed said with a hand on his chest. "And I hope you know the way I operated, meanness and all, was my own way of working hard to keep everything in motion and everyone alive. You two were good with magic, I am good with... well, goods. And I did my best."
"And I expect you will continue doing your best, now that you have an official capacity as the sole trader of the Sisters of the Sightless eye." Kashya butted in, carrying a blanket.
"Of course, ma'am. How else will I fund my sudden interest in philanthropy towards refugees?" Gheed said with his own mocking smirk before slinking away.
They all watched him leave with bemused sighs, before turning back to one-another.
"We can never thank you enough for all you've done here. You are both heroes in the making and I hope you call on us in future battles if you need us. In the meantime, I think the last thing I can do to help is to gift you these." Kashya said, handing Isendra the blanket.
She unfurled the blanket, and inside found another piece of green cloth. Scratch that, they were hide of some sort.
"These are enchanted demonhide items from our treasury. The sash I give to Izuku. It helps to regenerate wounds, and I think we can expect his tendency to get injured will continue. The gloves have the same effect, but would not fit the boy, so I gift them to you, Isendra." Kashya explained.
Her insinuation that she would have rather just given Izuku two gifts and left Isendra with nothing was clearly a joke. Or, at least, he hoped it was. He recalled how antagonistic she and his mistress had been in the beginning. How untrustful she was.
"We shall seldom take them off." Isendra promised.
"Ew, no. Please, take better care of them than that. The stench of you two wearing them at all times while traveling east might never be removed. Now, be on your way." Kashya ordered them around one last time.
She bowed to them and left back inside after Gheed. Cain exited the citadel after her, carrying a large pack with him.
"Are you coming with us mister Cain?" Izuku asked in surprise.
"But of course! The sisterhood has things well under had here, and my use as a repository of knowledge in combating the prime evils is needed out east." Cain explained. "That, and I still owe you two my life and have a strong feeling that you are both tied intimately to the fate of this world. I will follow you into the burning hells, and were you to ask, so would many of those we are leaving behind."
Izuku held out his arms to offer to take Cain's pack and the elder obliged, handing Izuku his burden to be added to their wagon where Izuku soon put it. After that, Deckard climbed into the front seat to wait for the caravan's departure.
"Three entire months of free shelter and food in exchange for our protection of them." Isendra said wistfully. "It is quite an enviable job we have been offered. I will be taking the day shifts, and you the night. Seeing as you were gifted the warm clothing necessary to be about on such freezing nights in the desert."
Izuku nodded at her command.
"During the daytime, when you are not sleeping, you will be studying runes in particular. At night you shall focus on quarterstaff fighting, in so much as you can while remaining vigilant of your surroundings. I am sure you will not be alone on your watch. With the hundred other vagabonds joining us you will have plenty of time. During times we are both awake we shall focus on your spellcasting. You are a hair away from being able to cast nova, and from there, I expect you to flourish." Isendra explained the immediate future to him. "Today, I suggest you sit with Cain and be lectured into unconsciousness that way you may be awake by evening when we make camp. I will patrol the perimeter on horse."
She then left him there, likely in search of Warriv for her patrol horse, and Izuku followed her instruction by joining Cain on the front seats.
"I have been trying to imitate the magic of your shirt." Cain began. "Imprinting images as they appear to one's mind isn't unheard of, but I've never met somebody able to do it as perfectly as whoever made your shirt. I deduced it required great knowledge of the mind and how it interacts with the light of the world. Few sorcerers have such magics and knowledge, fewer still are willing to admit to it. I am one of them."
Izuku looked at Cain, trying to parse his meaning. Something about it sounded familiar. Cain noticed that he wasn't catching onto his doublespeak so he leaned in to whisper a more direct message.
"I was told about the concern you showed regarding the health of my mind and the inevitable lecture you received on one of the most dangerous and forbidden forms of magic." Cain whispered.
Izuku made an "Oh!" face at the explanation and nodded in understanding.
"Well, even though I did not have anybody else on hand to provide such aid to me, I am a believer in... ah, self-healing we shall say and I have been working diligently on aiding myself. It is a secret I thought important to share with you, and expect you will keep." He explained.
He gave Izuku a pointed look and held a finger to his lips. Izuku mimicked the motion and nodded in agreement.
"Now, like I said, I have been trying to imitate the magic done to create that shirt you wear when you sleep. I had some success, and I even had a volunteer when I told others I was trying to create something for you. Here you are." He said before handing him a square of leathery parchment tied with a bow.
Izuku didn't know what he was expecting to find when he opened it, but he certainly didn't expect to see a playboy centerfold of a woman.
It was a nearly photo-perfect depiction of Alexis in a flirtatious pose. She covered herself with what looked like a white, ornate tablecloth that barley covered her chest and groin, not that he hadn't seen it before with all the communal bathing. The partially covered pose was somehow more sexual than her naked body. She had all of her scars from her torture by Blood Raven prominently displayed.
There was a love letter written beside it.
I bear these scars you give me, and every time I see them I am filled with joy.
Joy at the young man who risked his life to save mine.
The pain inflicted on me was worth every scream that seared my throat, for through them I came to know your touch.
Come back to me, my little hero, when you are older and taller but hopefully no more hardened or less sweet of a boy.
Come back to me, and bring with you your own wounds inflicted by evil, so that I may caress them with hot fingers as you did mine.
Izuku tied the centerfold and love letter back up and hid it in his pack beside his All Might shirt. He remained positively silent for the remainder of the preparation for their departure. The last hour of waiting for everyone to be settled dragged on, and he breathed a sigh of relief when the caravan began to move.
He dared to look back at the cathedral entrance to see and hear a throng of farewells and well wishers, among them Alexis.
Lut Gholein could not come soon enough.
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