Final Stretch

He woke up to the sound of someone talking and the smell of something delicious wafting through the air.

Izuku groaned and tried to sit up, only to flinch and lay back down at the awful pounding in his head. He heard a small gasp and the sound of someone running away.

What happened?

He tried to think through the fog in his mind, struggling to look back at the previous events. It was all a blur, there were a few things that stood out but he couldn't quite connect the pieces yet. A hand appeared and placed itself on his head, Izuku jumped and sat up in a hurry. Colors and pain exploded in his eyes, leaving him blind for a moment.

"Easy, easy. It's okay, you're okay."

He felt another hand place itself on his shoulder and lay him back down. It took a moment for him to recognize the voice and relax into the soft comfort of what he figured must have been the couch.

Once the pain subsided Izuku managed to open his eyes to see his Master standing over him, watching him with concern.

"Hey…" She murmured. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired. What happened…?"

"You collapsed after I intervened with that interaction between you and that boy. You've been out for a few hours." She answered. "Izuku, I need you to-"

"Hours?!" He sat up abruptly, again, and held his head in pain. "What time is it? Just how long was I out? Oh no, I gotta head home I have to-"

"Izuku!" Aqua grabbed his shoulders and made him sit back. "Calm down, you're still not at 100% and I don't think you will be for a while." She frowned.

Izuku sputtered. "M-Master I'm okay! Really, I-I-I just...I'm just tired and-"

"Izuku Midoriya, don't you dare lie to me."

Izuku closed his mouth and looked down, his face turning pink.

Aqua watched him, looking over his form. He was hunched over and tense, he tried to keep his head down but it was easy to see he was blushing and trying to blink away the few tears that began to gather.

Izuku was wringing his hands, trying to hide under her gaze and attempting to calm himself down. He couldn't though, he couldn't even stop the slowly rising panic. He didn't have to see her face to know she was disappointed in him, he could hear it in her voice. The silence between them was tense, the student shaking terribly in his mentor's hold. Aqua sighed and sat back, letting him go. "Izuku, this is not something I can just leave unchecked. I can't just ignore what happened, especially after I saw what that boy was going to do to you."

He gasped as the pieces finally clicked together. He remembered now, how he accidentally shocked Katsuki, the chase, the threats, how Aqua had stopped him.

"Oh…"

"How about we talk about this somewhere a little more private?" She asked.

Izuku raised his head to look around at a few of the Moogles sitting around. One of them sat on the couch beside Izuku, they looked at him and waved.

"Y-Yeah...that sounds good…" Izuku mumbled, putting his head down again.

"Can you walk?"

"I think so…"

Aqua helped him to his feet and guided him through the room, saying nothing and leaving Izuku to stew in his own silent anxiety. Izuku grasped onto the railing of the stairs in an attempt to ground himself and get the dizziness to stop. He took a shuddering breath and forced himself to push forward despite the nauseating fear building up inside. As he followed her he couldn't help but let his thoughts run wild. She knew now, she saw how weak he was. She saw that he couldn't even defend himself against a single person. She could see how scared he was, and how much of a waste he was. After all this time he should have been able to hold his own, but he couldn't and it was clear she had wasted her time on him. He lost his chance, and after this talk and he only further confirmed how weak he was that would be it. He would be alone again, and that would be that.

He slowly came to a stop as Aqua stopped as well, stepping away from the stairs and guiding him to the table in the room.

He was still on autopilot as he followed her, each passing thought wound him up more and more. By the time he sat down in front of her he was visibly shaking.

Aqua sat across from him and watched him, taking note of how he was hunched over, how he tried to make himself smaller. He gripped the edge of the table so tight his knuckles were white.

"Izuku."

He ducked his head lower if that was possible. "Y-Yes..?"

"You're not in trouble, I want to make that clear. I just need you to talk to me, okay?"

Izuku silently nodded.

"That boy who was about to hurt you, do you know him?"

Izuku nodded. "That was Ka-Kacchan…" He whispered.

"Kacchan...isn't that the boy you saved from the Heartless that night? The one you asked about?"

Izuku nodded again.

Aqua frowned to herself. She knew she recognized that boy, she just wasn't aware of how much of a bad attitude he had on him. She had heard yelling before she approached Izuku when he was alone, she hadn't thought it would be him of all people. Yelling at the one who saved him no less. There was something about that boy that made her uneasy, a terrible darkness that was slowly brewing within him. If left unchecked it may consume him, or worse snuff out a bright light that was slowly being worn down by it.

"Do you know why he was going to hurt you?" She asked. It was a loaded question she knew that, but it was better to bite the bullet and get it over with rather than beat around the bush.

Izuku froze and closed his mouth. He knew the answer, and either way, it wasn't going to look good for him. It never did, to begin with.

He gulped and took a shaky breath. "He...I uh…" He kept his gaze on the table, unable to look her in the eye. He could just see the look of disappointment she was going to give him, how she would voice her disapproval of not only the gross misuse of his magic but also his lack of courage to stand up for himself.

"Izuku, look at me."

He began to tug at his jacket, keeping his head bowed.

"Izuku." She was more firm this time, making his flinch.

Slowly he drew his head up and looked her in the eye. He was barely holding back tears and he was biting his lip so hard he drew blood. Aqua faltered for a moment before opening her mouth almost fearing for the worst.

"Izuku, what-"

"I-I didn't mean to!" He blurted out. "Really, really I di-didn't. He was...I mean...I got, I got scared and I…" He took a deep breath. "I accidentally...I shocked him."

"You shocked him?" She repeated.

He nodded.

"He scared you, am I understanding that right?" She saw him nod again. "It was an accident, and it was an emotional response. That doesn't warrant hunting you down and threatening you Izuku. Not at all, that's unacceptable."

She doesn't get it…

He knew she wouldn't, but then again she didn't have the full picture. But she didn't need it, she didn't have to know all that, because all that was important was the basic things. She didn't care, she didn't have to.

Even if she did know, who's to say she'd react any differently like his teachers in the past? Would she really care to hear any of it? It was always his fault anyway...was this really any different?

The words tumbled out before he could think about it.

"He's been mad at me...because I have a Q-Quirk now."

Aqua stopped.

"Excuse me?"

He slapped his hands over his mouth.

"Izuku, what do you mean? What do you mean by that?"

He shook his head, it was like torture. He wanted to say it but refused to allow himself to. He wanted someone to know, but at the same time, he didn't. It was his problem to deal with, his own battle to fight. He shouldn't have to unload all this onto anyone else. He had no right to.

"Why would he be mad at you for having powers?"

"Because I'm Quirkless."

The dam broke and tears began to pour down his face. He continued before she had a chance to speak.

"I-I'm not supposed to have any powers, Master, none. And, and everyone knows this. They all know about poor defenseless Izuku Midoriya and how he doesn't have anything spe-special about him. He's just the weird Quirkless kid who talks to himself and wants to be a hero, even though to everyone else it's such a stupid dream!"

"Izuku." Aqua stood up and tried to approach him as he began to pace.

"He's known me since we were...since we were kids. H-He knows I don't- shouldn't have a Quirk. I'm not supposed to, and now that I do it's like I've been lying to him. And I-I think that's only part of it, because there's always more, there's always a reason to be mad at me apparently." He sniffed.

Knowing that they've known each other since they were kids worried Aqua. Had he always been like this? Did that boy really hurt him since they were kids? Though the thing that worried her most, was wondering how long he had been bottling this up.

"S-So yeah...To everyone else I'm just Quirkless Deku. And even, and even if everyone found out about my power they probably wouldn't expect much from me. And you know what? I wouldn't blame them, they h-have 10 years of experience on me. I have to work even harder to catch up to them, to even be good enough to try for UA. I have to work hard, since that's all I really have."

"What you call 'hard work', is you actually overexerting yourself." She stepped forward and took his shoulders, stopping his pacing. "When was the last time you actually slept? When was the last time you ate something?"

Izuku flinched and looked down. He didn't have any real answers for her there.

Aqua was quiet, trying to gather her thoughts to the best of her ability. "Izuku, what that boy was doing to you is unacceptable. It's none of his business whether-hey look at me. It is none of his business whether you have powers or not. Understand? Nobody has any right to treat you poorly just because you didn't have powers."

Izuku continued to cry, saying nothing at first.

"You're working so hard, and pushing yourself far beyond than you should, and you're only hurting yourself Izuku. You can not be doing this, because you're only hurting yourself in the end and as your master I will not allow it. You're talking about catching up when...Izuku you've already made so much progress, you have come so far from where you've started."

Izuku shook his head and tried to wipe away some of his tears. Once he had started he couldn't stop. Everything was spilling out whether he liked it or not.

"How are you...How are you not angry at me?"

Aqua paused, having to take a moment to process the words.

"What? Why would I be angry at you?"

He grabbed at his chest and took a heaving breath, like the mere thought of the words caused him physical pain.

"Because you wasted your time…" A hoarse whisper. "B-Because you wasted your time on me...and even after all this time I'm still so weak. I-I can't even defend myself from Heartless or anyone else. You've put all this effort into me and I don't have anything to show for it…"

His legs gave out beneath him and would have fallen over if Aqua hadn't been holding him.

"No...oh Izuku no." She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. "Izuku you...the last thing you've done is disappoint me." She felt her voice waver as a tidal wave of emotion crashed into her.

Was this how he felt around her? A constant pressure to not disappoint when that's the very last thing he could ever do to her? To know he had felt this way for so long, probably since the very beginning hurt her. She never wanted him to feel that way.

It was funny in a way, he didn't want to disappoint her and she didn't want to let him down either.

"Izuku, training you has and will never be a waste of time. Never, okay? And I don't expect you to know how to take on Heartless straight away, you're still a beginner. Do you hear me? You're still learning, and I don't expect you to get everything right away. Everything you do is enough."

She softly rubbed circles into his back. At some point he had hugged her back, and was crying into her shoulder.

"Izuku, if anything, it's me who has disappointed you."

"W-What?" He pulled away and looked at her. "N-No...what you mean-"

"It is my job as your Master to not only train you, but to take care of you as well." She answered, pulling her sleeve down and wiping away a few of his tears. "Instead I made you feel pressured to impress me, and like you had to rush everything. I never wanted you to feel like that. And even so, I may not be able to do much but I'm supposed to protect you. And clearly…" She looked down at the exposed bandages on his arm. "I have failed at that."

Izuku looked down and pulled his sleeve down to hide the bandages.

"I don't want you hiding things like this from me anymore, okay?" She took his arm. "Promise me. Promise that you'll start taking care of yourself, and stop putting so much pressure on yourself. And promise that you'll talk to me if you have to, because you don't have to hide anything from me. Okay?"

Izuku took a shuddering breath and wiped at his face as more tears came. "I-I promise…"

Aqua nodded and smoothed over a few of his messy curls. "And I promise I'll be better too. I'll be here for you whenever you need me. I promise."

Izuku nodded and devolved into a sobbing mess once again.

They stayed there for a while until they calmed down and Izuku eventually passed out, his exhaustion evident on his face.

-.-

Aqua yawned as she made her way downstairs, a hyper 6 year old on her heels and asking what they were having for breakfast. She hummed out some kind of response coherent enough for her.

"Morning kupo," A Moogle muttered as they floated by, a small mug in their hands.

"Good morning." Aqua nodded.

She made her way to the kitchen and poured herself some coffee while handing Eri a juice box. "I'll make us some pancakes." Aqua promised.

"Can I help?"

"Of course, but we have to put our hair up before we start cooking. Can you grab us some hair ties?"

"Yup!" Eri took another sip of her juice before hurrying up the stairs, greeting a few of the Moogles on her way up.

Aqua smiled to herself and took a step out of the kitchen, catching sight of the couch in the next room. There still fast asleep was Izuku, sleeping peacefully. He still had dark bags beneath his eyes and was a little on the pale side, but he'd be okay.

She suppressed a laugh as she caught sight of a few Moogles asleep on top of him. It was a few of the younger ones, one had settled on top of his head and made a bed out of his hair. Another one was tucked into his arms, snoring softly and hugging him back while a third was on his back and had the blanket bunched all around them.

There was still a lot they needed to talk about, she knew that. They'd get there, but for now they were okay. He was okay.

She walked over and pulled more of the blanket over him.

It was best to let him sleep for a little while longer.

-HoL-

"I think I've finally tracked Guardian down."

"You what?"

Toshinori and Naomasa sat in a restaurant, huddled in a booth in a quiet corner. It was still early morning so there weren't many guests to overhear their conversation.

Naomasa laughed and stirred around his coffee. "Well that's certainly one way to start a conversation."

"I know you've been trying to track her down for a long time Tsukauchi, so have I and I finally found a lead." The skeletal man insisted, pausing for a moment to cough.

"Mind if I ask how long you've had this lead?" Naomasa questioned as he handed Toshinori a napkin.

"A few months, but I had figured I'd better see if it was a good source just in case. Lo and behold," he pulled out a map of the city with an area circled in red ink. "I found her."

Naomasa's eyes widened and he took the map in his hands, scanning it over. "This is way on the other side of town, it's practically deserted there. A perfect place to hide. How exactly did you say you found her?"

Toshinori sighed and slumped in his chair a bit. This was the part he wasn't too excited to share, none of it was but it was better to have this information on her just in case.

"Well, I tailed this kid. Guardian took on a student five months ago, and I saw them when I went to go find him. She offered to take him in, and the kid was in tears. Now at the time I hadn't gotten a good look at her face, it was pretty dark then."

Naomasa watched him and glanced back down to the map. "Do you at least know the kid's name? That way we can look him up?"

Toshinori nodded and prodded at a small tower of sugar packets he had made.

"Midoriya Izuku. I had actually run into him earlier in the day, saved from from a villain. Or, rather saving him from himself. His Quirk was insane, he nearly burnt that villain and himself to a crisp. Had to knock him unconscious to get it to stop, he had no control."

"That's not good…" Naomasa wrote down a few things.

"Then I saw him again, that monster attack that swept up a few people. Though only one of them had gotten out, a young kid about the same age as Young Midoriya."

"Yeah I think I know which one you're talking about."

"Tsukauchi, he froze those monsters. And when they shattered they stayed gone, none of them came back."

Naomasa stopped his writing and looked up at Toshinori. "They stayed gone, as in the same way they do when Guardian slays them?"

Toshinori nodded.

"I take it you followed him after that whole incident." He sighed. "Why though? Unless you were planning on giving him…"

Toshinori gasped and shook his head. "No, no. Offering him that was the last thing on my mind. What that young man did was brave no doubt, but it was also foolish and impulsive. No, I had tailed him for a different reason."

"And what reason was that?"

Toshinori stared at the table for a moment and shivered. "His power Tsukauchi, it felt very similar to Guardian's. Initially, before I had seen their interaction, I had thought they may have been connected in some way. I suppose they are though, considering the current situation."

"What do you mean by that Yagi? You've always been vague when describing the 'feel' of power whenever you end up face to face with her."

Toshinori sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Because it's hard to explain. It feels off, like it doesn't belong in a way. It doesn't have a malicious air to it, it's just...off. It doesn't belong."

"Neither do those monsters, yet here we are."

"You know I actually had looked for him and followed him because I was initially worried for him. I still am. I mean she's a vigilante, he may be in danger being around her. Even if she had taken him on as a student. I mean I saw him the other day and that poor kid was half dead on his feet, I had thought she was overworking him and putting him through hell. Well, I actually saw the opposite when I stumbled upon the alley. She was worried about him, she looked scared when he blacked out…"

A woman came up and handed them their plates of food, thanking them for waiting before hurrying off and leaving the two men alone again.

Toshinori waited until Naomasa began digging into his food to speak.

"Tsukauchi, I understand that this information is important and all, but for now I feel that it's best we don't use it quite yet."

He saw his head shoot up at that. "Now hear me out. We want to catch her, that's true. But in doing so she gets jail time and has to be put through rehabilitation. That's time where we're left defenseless against those monsters and we may be overtaken. She may be going about it the wrong way, but if we're being honest here Tsukauchi she's pretty much our only defense."

Naomasa stared at him as he began to speak again.

"Not to mention we may be leaving a child without her parent."

That was when Tsukauchi began to choke.

-HoL-

Izuku yawned as he doodled on the side of his notebook. He was on the last problem of the worksheet, and he had been at it all day.

He hummed to himself, and heard a hum echoed from across the table. Izuku smiled to himself and looked up to see Eri working on her own worksheet. She was already done with her real one, she was just sitting there and mimicking Izuku. She had grabbed a blank sheet of paper and drew a few things.

"What are you working on?" Eri asked.

"English." He answered.

Eri tilted her head and walked over to him, peeking over the table to see his work. Her eyes widened at the amount of problems on the page, there were a lot more on his than there were on hers.

"Woah, that's a lot."

"It is." Izuku laughed. "But I'm almost done."

"Do you have any more homework?" She asked.

"Nope, this is the last of it. Some of my homework isn't due into a few days but it's better to get it out of the way. That way I have more time to train, or just relax."

Eri nodded and watched him write down his answer.

"What's going to school like?" She asked, pulling out the chair next to him. "Is it fun?"

Izuku paused. "Well...sort of. I mean at school you can make friends and join sports and stuff. I don't really do that, I just go because I have to."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you have to?"

"It's kind of the law Eri, if I don't go my mom or I could get in trouble."

"Oh."

Eri watched him write down another line and erase the last few words and rewrite them in a different order.

"Do you like your school?"

Izuku paused, frowning to himself and tapping the paper before writing again.

"If I have to be honest, not really." He scratched at his face. "It's not very fun for me there. I don't have any friends there, and people think I'm weird…"

Eri frowned. "But you're not weird. Why do they think that?"

"Well…" Izuku checked over his work and nodded to himself. "It's because I'm Quirkless, and I have been for a long time. So everybody kind of knows I don't have powers, and people like to poke fun at that."

Eri stared at him. "You don't have a Quirk?"

"Yeah, magic and Quirks are two different things."

"I know." She nodded. "I think I'd rather have magic than a Quirk." She fiddled with his pencil.

Izuku stopped what he was doing and looked at her. "Why's that?" He asked and closed his backpack.

"You and Aqua make magic look really cool and fun, and I think magic is a lot better than my Quirk…" She poked at her horn.

"If you don't mind me asking Eri, what's your Quirk?"

Eri fumbled with the pencil a bit before answering. "Rewind. I can reverse a living person's body back to its previous state…" The definition echoing in her mind. The look of disgust on that man's face still sent shivers down her spine. "It only works on people...which means I can really hurt someone."

"Eri, your Quirk sounds amazing!"

She gasped and looked up to see Izuku writing furiously in one of his notebooks.

"Your Quirk is awesome, you can heal people that others can't help. You can give people a second chance that they might not have otherwise." He began to ramble on and on about her Quirk, listing off all the possibilities.

Eri watched him in awe and listened to him go on and on. Aqua had said something similar, how her Quirk was amazing and how it was a gift, not a curse. For some reason it hit different hearing it from Izuku.

"You could be a support hero, or even a doctor if you don't want to go down the hero track. Your Quirk can help so many people and…" He stopped when Eri hugged him. "Hey, is everything okay?"

She nodded and mumbled something he couldn't quite hear.

Izuku lightly patted her back, fearing he had upset her. It hadn't occurred to him that a Quirk called 'Rewind' might actually lead to some sensitive subjects. Before he could ask if he offended her she sat up straight and wiped at her eyes. She looked over to the table to only see his notebook, none of the worksheets present.

"Are you done with homework?" She asked.

Izuku nodded and Eri smiled. "Do you wanna play tag with me and the Moogles?"

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like fun."

"Okay then." She grinned and tapped his arm. "You're it!" She yelled and ran out of the room.

"What? Hey, that's not-" He shoved his notebook in his bag and ran after her.

-HoL-

Izuku panted as he fell to the ground with a thud.

"Healing is...healing is hard." He wheezed.

"It is, but at least you're getting the barrier spell down pretty good." Aqua sat beside him and sighed. "And using Cure is so hard because it uses up all your magical energy at the moment. But at least you were able to still run around. Not bad for your first few tries."

"It's a lot of magic energy for a...for a few small injuries."

"Well I'd rather not beat up my student, and that's because Cure is the beginning class of the spell. Mind naming me the other variations of it?"

"Cura, Curaga. Each one is more powerful than the last, but from what you said they all use the same amount of magic energy. How do you learn the more powerful variations?"

"Well, it's more like you growing more powerful and your magic growing stronger in turn. You can feel how strong they are."

"Oh, so basically more training." Izuku sighed.

"Yup, but the spells I'm teaching you are basic ones. There are many other spells, a lot more complex. There's a few I can't even use, and I'm not sure if I ever will." She looked up at the sky.

"What kind of other spells are there?" He asked.

Aqua sighed and shook her head. "A lot. So many, a few of them I had learned on my own through trying to combine one technique with another. Then I had a new spell that surprisingly worked out, and then I honed it and tried to combine it with something else."

"Is this your way of telling me that you can't teach me every spell in the book, and that I have to learn some things on my own?"

"Pretty much."

Izuku groaned and sat up. "Magic is kinda just something ever evolving huh? No way to really say where it's going to end or become?"

"Nope not really." She shook her head. "And I think it's too early to be discussing the philosophies of magic."

"It's 4 in the afternoon." He argued.

"Way too early."

"Aqua! Izuku!" Eri shouted from across the field. "Look what I can do!" She started running and tried to do a cartwheel, only to fall over halfway through. The two flinched at the loud thud and got up, ready to run over just in case.

Eri only coughed and stood up to brush herself off. "I'll get it next time!"

"Keep practicing Eri!" Aqua cheered.

"Yeah!" She yelled, running away and ready to try again.

The two sat back down and watched Eri from afar.

After a while Izuku began to play around with his magic. Making a tiny flame in his hand and making it grow bigger and smaller, trying to best to see what his limit was. After a moment he sighed and let the flame go out, flopping onto his back again.

"Burn off the rest of your magic?" Aqua asked.

"Yeah, feels like it."

"Let yourself recover." She tapped his head. "The more exhausted you are physically and mentally the longer it's going to take for you magic to restore itself."

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'm just worried, there's three months left and-"

"Three months is plenty of time and you're improving everyday. Don't get so wound up about it, you're going to be okay.."

Izuku sighed and nodded, staring at the sky. Watching clouds pass over and burd glide through the air before disappearing from his view.

"Hey, Master?" He asked.

"Yeah?"

"What kind of worlds are out there? How many have you visited, what are they like?" He looked up at her.

"Different worlds...it's been a while since I've thought about them." She tapped her finger on the ground. "Well, the few I've visited were very interesting. I didn't stray too far from home now that I think about it…"

Izuku sat up straight in interest.

"It's hard to describe the worlds, there are so many and each one is more different than the last. There was a world I visited where I had to fight a witch that turned into a dragon to help a prince reach his love, another where I was sucked into a mirror and had to fight off the spirit living in there. There was another one where I was mistaken for another prince's dance partner, and in the same world I was shrunk down and helped a mouse get a key to his friend's room so she could escape."

Aqua withheld a laugh when she saw the stars in his eyes, it was the same look Eri gave her when she told her about the worlds.

"Originally I had to leave my home to fight creatures called Unversed, and to bring Ven home, and keep an eye on Terra…"

"Unversed?" Izuku tilted his head.

"Creatures made of negative energy, they originated from one person but...that person is gone now." She sighed. "As a Keylade Wielder it is our job to keep peace between worlds and protect light, to keep balance. Generally we're not supposed to interfere or meddle but…"

"You can't help it?"

Aqua nodded. "Sometimes you just have to jump in."

Izuku hummed and looked into the distance.

"Out of all the worlds you've visited, which one was your favorite?" He asked.

Aqua laughed. "Well, I dunno, does the one I called home count? If not then...hm. I think I might have to say Disney Town."

Another question popped into his head, before he could voice it Aqua continued.

"I got there when something called the Dream Festival was going on. There was music and dancing everywhere, and so many different activities to take part in. I didn't get to enjoy much of it, seeing as I had a job to do and had to fight off some Unversed. But it was fun, and then Ven, Terra, and I won the Million Dreams Award. Though I didn't get to see them…"

She looked down and picked at the grass before shaking her head. "But yeah, that place was great. If I could I would take you and Eri there, even if the festival wasn't taking place it's just a place that seems like a lot of fun. Maybe one day...I'll go there again with Terra and Ven, and we can enjoy it together."

Izuku glanced over at her to see the beginnings of a sad smile on her face. He fumbled with his words for a moment before speaking again.

"So, uh...what was your homeworld like?" He asked quietly.

"Hm, the place I called home was the Land of Departure." She looked at him.

"That sounds kind of sad…" He mumbled.

"It does, doesn't it? But it isn't, not really. Or maybe I just think that because I grew up there. That world is actually a bit more special than the other worlds. Master Eraqus once said that the Land of Departure is a neutral ground, where light and dark peacefully coexist. Not too much of one, not too much of the other."

"So, what was it like?"

Aqua smiled. "It was a beautiful place, with so many tall mountains and rivers winding around everywhere. At night the sky was so bright, you could see so many stars wherever you stood. The library we had there was huge, and the halls were so big you could just run through them for hours. It was home."

Izuku picked at the grass some more. "It sounds really nice. Compared to everything you've seen this world must be kinda boring. Especially after 10 years or so."

"It isn't actually, there's so much of this world I haven't seen. It feels small sometimes, but only because I forget that there's so much more out there." She hummed. "You know, if the circumstances were different I probably would have brought you and Eri to the Land of Departure. To take care of Eri and train you…"

Izuku paused. "Why's that?"

"Well, I feel like it would be the best place to train you. Not to mention that I have no idea what I'm doing, I would have asked my Master for help." She looked up at the sky, as if to search for the world.

"Well, I'd say you're doing a pretty good job for not knowing what you're doing."

"You're only saying that because you're my student."

"No, no really." He laughed. "So...why can't we?"

"Hm?"

"Why can't we go there?" He asked.

Aqua stopped. "Well, there are a lot of reasons Izuku. It's not as simple as making a portal from one world to another. Remember how I told you about the lanes?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's dangerous to go through those lanes without any protection. The space between worlds is brimming with darkness, and if you're not careful it will overtake you. Not only that, but...well. It'd be hard to leave this world seeing as it's sealed off, and it'd be pretty hard to get to the Land of Departure seeing as it doesn't exactly exist at the moment."

Izuku stared at her for a moment before processing what she said.

"Wait...what? What do you mean that this world is sealed off!"

Aqua sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I had the exact same reaction when I learned about that too. Well, the Moogles have been around for a very long time, and it's knowledge they've passed down from generation to generation. Just like the other worlds this world was open and anybody could come and go as they please. According to the Moogles, about 200 years ago the few Keyblade Wielders that were here panicked for some reason and left this world and sealed it off. Cutting it off from the lanes and effectively other worlds, ever since then nobody in, and nobody out."

"This world is sealed off? But then, how did you get here if it's nobody in and nobody out? How did that happen?"

Aqua nodded. "When they sealed it, I don't think they quite cut it off completely. I got here the same way the Heartless got here. The Realm of Darkness."

For some reason the name sent waves of dread churning through Izuku. "The Realm of Darkness?"

Aqua nodded. "Where we are is the Realm of Light. Where the worlds reside, while in that place...there's only darkness. It's endless, and there's no end to the Heartless that dwell there. I had fallen off the path after fighting for so long, and instead of falling deeper into the darkness a bright light saved me and brought me here. I had been relieved at first, and the very first thing I tried to do was open a gate and go somewhere I knew was familiar. Looking back that was reckless, seeing as I had no armor and I ended up hurting myself trying to open a gate."

"Then what?" He asked.

"Nothing much I just...I saw the trouble this world was in and I did what I'm supposed to do. I helped defend it."

"A-And the Land of Departure?" He asked. "You said it doesn't exist anymore?"

"It doesn't exist in the way you're thinking. I personally sealed that world off."

Izuku sputtered. "What? Why?"

"I had to." She answered. "My home was lost to darkness, and I had to keep my friend safe. So what better place to hide him than in a world that would be hidden from everyone but one person. Also, with me sealing that place away, the world could heal from the damage."

Izuku nodded, it was killing two birds with one stone he supposed. That friend that she hid, must be the one who was asleep and couldn't wake up. Ven was his name right?

"So...say you had the chance to. Would you leave this world?" He asked, drawing his knees to his chest.

"...I would want to. But it'd be pretty hard, I don't think I could leave."

"Why not?"

Aqua smiled and ruffled his hair. "Who would take care of Eri, and who would train you? I do want to see my friends again, but right now this world is my home and I'm needed here more than I am out there."

Izuku stopped and looked down. "But...wouldn't you want to go look for them?"

"We'll find our way to each other again, one day. I know we will."

"How?"

Aqua pulled out a star shaped charm out of her pocket and showed it to Izuku. "This, our good luck charms. You see, somewhere out there there's this tree with star shaped fruit." She let Izuku hold the charm. "They say the fruit represents an unbreakable connection, so as long as your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing can drive you apart. And you'll always find your way back to each other."

"Woah…" He looked over the charm and handed it back to Aqua.

"So, I'll find them again. I know I will." She smiled. "One day."

Izuku nodded.

Aqua stared at the charm for a bit before pocketing it and standing up. "Alright, let's head back. You have to get home and I don't want you out in the dark. Eri, come on it's time to come back!"

As Izuku gathered their things he couldn't help but wonder what it was like to have friends like that.

-HoL-

Izuku sighed as he made his way out of the school, much later than he was supposed to. There was a reason for that, one he was not too thrilled for anyone to find out. He lightly touched the burn on his face and flinched in pain.

As much as he would like to use a Cure spell on it he just couldn't muster up the energy to. He felt drained from the day and Katsuki's beating. He was almost out the main doors when Katsuki grabbed him and dragged him off. Demanding to know who the woman who stopped him was, and why the hell she'd care about someone like Izuku.

More insults towards him and his 'flimsy power' but most of the interaction was based around how many times Katsuki could hit him before it was time to head home.

Izuku had heard all the insults before, being called worthless and trash and the like. He was more or less used to it, but for some reason it just hit differently that day. The words stung more and knocked more air out of him than the punches did.

At first he wanted nothing more than to ask Master Aqua if he could take the day off and just spend it at home. His home. That was until he got a text from his mother saying she wouldn't be home that night due to the influx of patients and the fact that by the time she did get off it'd be way too dark for her to feel safe to travel across town. So she was spending the night at the hospital, again.

Izuku knew he could just pick something up on his way home and warm it up when he got hungry but he just couldn't bring himself to. He just wanted to lay down and sleep, if not that then just have time to zone out. But he didn't necessarily want to be alone in an empty house.

He sighed and pulled out his phone to see a text from Aqua, asking if he was still coming to the field to train that day.

He stared at the words for a moment, trying to get himself to focus long enough to type out an actual response rather than imagine one. His fingers hovered over the keyboard twitching a bit before he began to type.

"I'm not feeling very good today"

"Is everything okay? Are you feeling sick?"

She was quick to reply. It took him a bit longer than he'd like to answer back.

"It's just a day."

"Can I still come over?"

"Of course!"

Izuku sighed and pocketed the phone and began his trek over there. It had been a while since he had a day like that, where he was just mentally and physically exhausted despite not doing much. He almost forgot how much they sucked.

He considered using Cure to heal himself again, yeah it would leave him even more tired but at least he wouldn't have to sit through uncomfortable questioning by his Master. Knowing how upset she'd get that this happened again. She was upset at Katsuki, not Izuku. He always had to remind himself of that, she never blamed him for getting hurt.

At some point after his breakdown, which he still kind of embarrassed about despite the major relief it brought, he ended up telling her how he was treated as a Quirkless person. The insults, how little faith everyone had in him, especially his teachers. She was horrified, and it was an understatement to say she was angry. She was enraged, he could feel it radiating off her at the time. She hadn't known how badly Quirkless people were treated, she knew there was some prejudice against them; but she hadn't thought it was as bad as he described.

He pulled out his phone again and plugged his headphones in and put on a podcast he had been putting off listening to. He didn't really listen to it, couldn't bother to focus on the words that turned into gibberish after a while. It was just some background noise to listen to.

By the time the episode was halfway through he had made it to his destination. He shimmied through a small opening after putting his things away. He stumbled forward but stayed on his feet. He was greeted with a few hello's that he mumbled back some replies.

No sooner had he placed his bag down did his Master come out of the next room.

"Hey you, I was wondering where you were. Is everything...oh my god Izuku what happened to you?" She walked over briskly and looked him over. Looking over the burn on his cheek and bruising around one of his eyes.

"Kacchan er...I wasn't paying attention and he dragged me off."

"That boy, again." She huffed, hating that she had already known the answer. "Come here." She gently took his arm and guided him to the table and sat him down. "Stay there I'll get something for you."

Izuku looked confused as she walked off towards a cabinet. He thought she would have used a healing spell rather than actually dress his wounds this time around. She grabbed something from inside while murmuring to herself.

She handed him a small bottle filled with some bluish, green liquid with some stuff floating around in it. Shaped like tiny stars.

"What's this for?"

"This is a little something called a potion, go ahead and drink it." She nodded.

Izuku stared at it and looked back up at her before going back to the bottle. Why not, he figured.

He uncorked the bottle and gulped down the contents quickly, almost gagging on the sweetness of it. He emptied the bottle and sighed, almost gagging again as the sweetness lingered on his tongue. Though the small things that were apparently some kind of gummies help cut back on it. He was about to ask what it was for when he felt the wounds from earlier start to heal and disappear. He lightly touched his cheek and felt no pain, the other injuries began to fade as well until they were completely gone.

"Potions are used for healing, quick use items when you can't use a Cure spell. They don't always go down easy, but in the heat of battle you don't really mind the taste." She smiled, ruffling his hair.

"Thank you." He muttered.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

Izuku shook his head. "It's just been a day. I'm gonna go lay down, okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, go ahead. I'll be making dinner in a bit if you want to eat later."

He nodded and trudged over to the couch before just collapsing onto it. Though not before making sure there wasn't anyone he would squash. He let himself get comfortable before turning his back to the rest of the room and just lying there.

Aqua sighed and put the empty bottle in the sink before sitting at the table and going over the work she had given Eri earlier that day. She knew that feeling herself, the days where you just wanted to lay down and do nothing. To be alone but not alone.

She heard footsteps coming down the stairs and heard a small gasp.

"Izuku's here!" Eri smiled and hurried down the stairs. She wasn't even halfway to him when she realized something was wrong. He hadn't said any kind of greeting in response to her cheer, and he was just laying on the couch. It wasn't like him to take naps on days like this, usually he'd be studying or writing in his notebooks.

Eri walked over to Aqua who was almost finished grading her work. She tugged on her shirt.

"What's wrong with Izuku?" She whispered.

"He's just having one of those days." Aqua answered. "You know those days where you don't feel very good and just want to sit there and not do much?"

Eri frowned, she knew that feeling all too well and she wouldn't wish it upon anyone.

"Oh…"

She looked over to him again and slowly walked over. She climbed onto the part of the couch he wasn't occupying and sat beside him. He looked up at the shift in pressure to see Eri smiling at him. He rested his head again and smiled softly.

Aqua watched them and smiled to herself. She looked at the stairs and reminded herself that there was one unused room they had.

She thought maybe it was time to put it to use.

-HoL-

"I'm heading out!" Aqua announced as she walked down the stairs with her helmet under her arm. The sun had gone down and she had gotten a few hours of sleep so she was ready for her nightly patrol.

"Already?" Izuku looked up from his phone before getting an angry huff in return and forced to put his head down again.

"Stop moving your head Izuku, I'm not done yet." Eri lightly scolded him and continued to make small braids in his hair. He had to get a haircut, but Aqua would remind him of that later.

"Eri, sweetie, after you're done with his hair I need you to brush your teeth and go to bed okay? Izuku, can you braid her hair before she goes to bed?"

"Can do!" Izuku gave her a thumbs up.

"Can we have desert?" Eri asked, pausing her braiding to look up at her. "Please?"

Aqua hummed and looked at the time before looking back at her. "As long as you're in bed by 10."

"11." Eri grinned.

"10."

"10:50?"

"10:30 take it or leave it."

"I'll take it!"

"Okay." Aqua sighed. "Izuku, make sure she gets to bed okay. And I want you to go to sleep early too, no more late nights understand?"

"I got it…"

"If you stay up I'll know." She put her hands on her hips.

Izuku glanced over to see one of the older Moogles glance at him before looking back to the book they were reading.

"Got it." He nodded.

"Stop moving your head!"

"I'm sorry!"

Aqua smiled and walked over to the entrance and put her mask on, bidding them one last goodbye before walking out and covering up the entrance again.

Eri watched her walk out and gave her a little wave before looking back to Izuku. "I'm almost done, there's not a lot left."

"Okay, it's 9:45 so we've got 45 minutes."

"Okay, so we can have some ice cream. Can we watch some more of that game you were showing me?"

"The one with the little fox? The singing one?"

"Yeah, that one." She nodded, working on the last mini braid.

"Yeah, but only while we eat okay? We don't want to lose track of time."

"Why not?" She asked. "If we do we can stay up later."

"Master will make me run so many laps next training session if we do and she finds out. And she always finds out Eri."

They look over to the Moogle to see them staring at them and going back to what they were doing. They both shivered and Eri continued.

"But you're good at laps." She tied off the last mini braid and smiled. "Done!"

Izuku stood up and stretched before looking down at Eri. "Yeah I'm good at it, but you get tired after a while. You try running a lap with us next time and see how you feel."

Eri shrugged and followed him to the kitchen where a few Moogles were sitting on the countertop and sipping at some leftover coffee. They were competing to see who could stay awake longer, and so far they were a few hours into their competition.

Eri grunted as she sat at the table and watched Izuku pull out two bowls and the tub of ice cream. She watched him for a bit before sighing.

"Hey, Izuku?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"When you get into UA, are you still gonna visit us?" She asked.

"Huh?" Izuku looked up. "Of course I'm still going to visit, I'm still Master Aqua's student and I still have a lot to learn from her. Just because I'm training to be a hero there doesn't mean I'll stop training to be a Keyblade Wielder. I mean...I don't even have a Keyblade yet. I've still got a long way to go…"

Eri tapped on the table. "But won't you be really busy?"

"My schedule might be a little more cramped, but I'd find a way to make time to. But that's a big what if, I don't even know if I'll even get into UA."

"You will." Eri smiled.

"I dunno…" He quickly gave them both a scoop and put the ice cream away. "I dunno if I'm ready yet. I mean I don't have a lot of time until the entrance exams take place. I don't even think I'm ready for the written exam."

"Why not?" She frowned.

"I-I dunno. I just don't think I am. I know that it'll pretty much touch on the stuff we've been studying for the last few years and some stuff and some more advanced stuff but yeah." He sat down beside her and gave her a bowl.

"Well I think you're gonna do great. You're gonna be a hero!"

Izuku smiled to himself and pulled out his phone, opening an app and typing in the title "Uh, so what episode are we on again?"

"Three." She answered, starting on her ice cream. "We were at the part where the fox was in the swamp."

"I thought he was still in the forest." Izuku looked at her.

Eri shook her head. "No, he was in the swamp. You just weren't paying attention to the end of the video."

"Okay then." Izuku set the video up and they sat in silence, watching the game play. There were a few times both of them held their breath in anticipation when the character was spotted by an enemy.

By the time the two had finished and the video was halfway through, Eri was struggling to stay awake. She kept shaking her head to try and stay awake, only to start dozing off again.

Izuku noticed and took the now empty bowls and placed them in the sink. He walked back over and asked for the hair tie she and around her wrist.

"Hm? Oh, okay…" She mumbled and handed him the red hair tie.

Izuku hummed to himself as he braided her hair, feeling her slump over as time went on. It was only 10:20, so at least she'd be getting to bed on time. Aqua and Eri had taught him how to braid hair, he sort of had a basic idea on how to do it. As he would make messy braids with his mother's hair when he was a kid, but he had no real idea what he was doing.

"Okay, done." He sighed. "Now let's go brush our teeth."

"No…" Eri whined. "It isn't even 10:30 yet."

"Yeah, but Master wanted you in bed by that time, so we have to start getting ready now." Izuku turned off his phone and picked her up. She mumbled out a few excuses and protests but couldn't do much to fight back, she only wanted to argue again once Izuku handed her a toothbrush with toothpaste.

In the end she lost and resigned herself to bedtime, already half asleep by the time Izuku was tucking her in.

"Please turn on the nightlight, and don't close the door…"

"I know Eri." Izuku answered and flipped on the small turtle she had on the desk. He smiled as it began to change colors.

"Goodnight Eri." He whispered.

Eri shifted in her bed, already fast asleep.

Izuku smiled to himself and stepped out of the room, leaving the door halfway open so there was plenty of light still in her room should she need it.

Izuku sighed and made his way downstairs to wash the bowls. As soon as he put them on the drying rack the Moogle that had been watching them walked over and began to usher him towards the stairs.

"Your turn Kupo, go to bed. She said no more late nights and I intend to make sure it stays that way."

"Alright, alright, I'm going." He headed up the stairs with the Moogle still calling after him.

"If you're not asleep by the time I go up there to check on the two of you, you're in for it!"

"Understood!"

Izuku made his way towards the room he called his own now. A few doors down from Eri's room.

It was just an empty room before, mostly used for keeping synthesis items away from the younger Moogles who wanted to experiment and possibly waste the rarer items. When he had come by one day and was about to leave later than he meant to, Aqua had surprised him with a room of his own.

He stayed over a lot as it was, she reasoned, and if anything this place seemed like a second home for him. She wasn't wrong, he did consider it home. It was warm and welcome and he was never alone. Not for a second.

He had actually burst into tears when she showed him the room he would call his own.

He took a deep breath and stepped into his room, mostly closing the door and leaving it ajar should anyone need him. Izuku looked over to the small desk they managed to put together using stuff they found at the beach. There laying open were the sketches he had for his hero costume, so far he had gone through 4 different variations. Each one more different than the last, he still wasn't sure what he was going for, but at least it was better than his first idea. So that was a start at least.

He ran a hand through his hair and climbed into bed, getting comfortable before staring at the ceiling.

Things were changing.

He couldn't deny that.

Things were changing, he was changing.

He had more control over his powers, sure they would get away whenever he was excited or scared, but he was working on that. He didn't feel as scared of it as he used to, if anything it felt natural. Like something that really was part of him, no kind of disconnect that he used to have with it. It was an extension of himself, he couldn't help but wonder if that was what a Quirk felt like.

Maybe, maybe not. Not that he'd ever know.

And that was something he was okay with.

Something he wasn't sure he was okay with, or maybe he was, there were still a lot of feelings flying around it. But something he had been thinking about for a while was his relationship with Kacchan, or maybe...maybe Katsuki was the best way to regard him. He had changed too, maybe not for the best or at least towards Izuku in that regard. He was aggressive, he was mean, abusive.

For a while he was Izuku's best friend.

He almost felt stupid when he actually started analyzing their relationship, and he realized just how bad it was. For so long he had clung to Katsuki as his best friend, as a source of strength he always admired. Then after a while there were way too many displays of that strength he used to admire, used against him to 'put him in his place'.

In the end, clinging to Katsuki only really hurt him. He wanted to be close to this person that was the only one who let him hang around. Even if it meant being teased. He wouldn't be alone, nobody else would pick on him. Maybe that was it, that was why he had considered Katsuki his best friend even after so long. Maybe in the end he was just afraid of being alone.

In the end he actually was alone.

Because they weren't friends, they were just two people who grew up together and grew apart. He never really had any friends.

Izuku turned over in his bed and hugged his pillow.

It was a hard pill to swallow, and one he didn't want to face just yet. And he wouldn't, instead he'd go to sleep. Like he was supposed to.

The door cracked open and he heard small footsteps walking over to him.

"Kupo?"

Izuku sat up.

"There's a bug on the stairs…"

Izuku sighed to himself and got up. "Okay, let me see this bug…"

Then he'd go to sleep.

-.-

She was running in the dark, in the twisting and turning labyrinth of the alleyways that never seemed to end.

Footsteps followed after her at a quick pace, she knew the sound of his footsteps. Each tap only added to her terror. She couldn't get away, not when he was so close, she stood no chance.

She wanted to call out for help but couldn't find her voice. She couldn't make a noise to save her life, crying out would mean punishment should she be caught. And she was always caught. She could only conjure up the names of those she wanted to cry out for in her mind, maybe if she managed to find her voice they'd come and save her. Take her far away from that place. Her body ached the further she ran, her lungs burning and begging for some kind of relief but she couldn't stop. She didn't want to go back to that place, never again. She couldn't.

If she ever had to, she'd die.

She rounded a corner and sprinted down the path, almost certain that she was close to the end. There had to be an exit somewhere!

She pressed onward, turning another corner and hoping to lose that man until she slammed into a wall. She scrambled to her feet and ignored the pain, turning around to find another way out only to see him standing in her way and blocking her exit.

"Naughty naughty girl, you know what happens when you disobey me." He narrowed his eyes and took a step towards her. She backed up and looked around, looking for some kind of escape.

His distorted voice surrounded her, making the shadows grow larger and loom over her.

"You belong to me." He hissed.

No she didn't, she didn't belong to anybody!

She wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head.

"N-No...No! I-I don't-" She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what was behind him. A mangled body thrown off to the side and hardly recognizable. The only thing she had been able to recognize was the armor that had once been different blue hues.

"Nobody is coming here to save you, I told you…" He was right in front of her, reaching a hand towards her. "You belong to me, and you always will."

She was broken into pieces, disassembled into bits of blood and gore and lost to the void. She didn't exist, not anymore. And all that was left for her was to fall into the unending darkness she'd never escape.

Eri sat up with a gasp and covered her mouth, barely stifling a loud cry. She felt tears burning her eyes and running down her face. She sat in her bed and shook violently as her horn began to crackle with energy.

She gasped loudly when she saw light gathering around her horn, lighting up the room and casting large shadows on the wall.

Eri swallowed hard and took a deep breath. In and out, in and out. She had to calm down, if she didn't she was going to hurt someone and that was the last thing she wanted. Just like Aqua said, take a deep breath, hold it, and let it out.

Eri looked around and saw the light start to die down, she made herself look around the room and find something familiar. There was her night light still changing colors, on the walls were the many drawings she made.

She was okay, she was safe. Chisaki was gone, Aqua made sure of that. She felt her Quirk turn off.

It still didn't make her fear leave, a terrifying phantom that still haunted her two years later. She was alone, and she really didn't want to be alone. She wanted Aqua.

Eri looked around before climbing out of the bed and slowly making her way towards the door. The dim hallway light acting as a small beacon of safety.

She slowly opened the door and stepped out into the quiet hall. Without a sound she slowly crept forward, careful to make sure her footsteps were silent. She didn't want to wake anybody else up over a nightmare.

"Aqua?" She squeaked out, hoping to get some sort of reply. Hoping that maybe, just maybe she came home early. She crept past the Moogle's rooms, hearing snoring from both rooms. She passed Izuku's room which was as quiet as ever.

The hallway felt like it went on forever as she made her way towards the room at the end of the hall. She was so thankful for the hall light, the light took away most of her fears and made sure nothing else was hiding from her in the hall.

Eri hoped with all her heart that Aqua was in her room fast asleep. She quietly opened the door and walked inside. The room was dark and she couldn't see much, but she knew her way around well enough to navigate through the room quickly.

She hurried over to the bed and reached for where Aqua would be, only to feel a cold space of a still made bed.

She was still out, she was still gone, and Eri was still alone.

Eri whimpered and hurried out of the room, back to the safety of the lit hallway. She closed the door behind her and stood wide awake in the hallway.

She was alone, and she didn't know where to go. She didn't want to be alone, but she didn't want to bother anybody else. Although, she did have one more option.

Eri walked back down the hall, each footstep heavy as she walked forward. It felt like she was on autopilot but she knew exactly where she was going. She just hoped he wouldn't be angry that she woke him up.

Eri stood outside his door, hand shaking as she opened the door and headed inside. It was a lot hotter in his room than everywhere else. She gulped and approached the bed that was pushed up against the wall. She could hear some mumbling from the body in the bed, something she might have found funny if she wasn't scared out of her wits.

Eri scooted closer and looked over to him, he was drooling into his pillow and the blankets were a mess. She took a deep breath and reached over, and tugged on his sleeve.

"Izuku?" She asked and tugged a little harder. "Izuku?"

He stopped mumbling for a minute and opened his eyes. Eri took a step back as he sat up and looked around, rubbing his eyes before seeing Eri beside the bed.

"Huh? Oh, hey Eri is everything…" He stopped when he saw her crying, and managing to not make a sound. "Woah, woah hey what's wrong?" He swung his legs over the bed and knelt down in front of her.

"I-I had a nightmare…" She mumbled, messing with the hem of her shirt. "I got scared a-and I want...I want Aqua but she's not here!" She wiped at her eyes. "I'm sorry but I-I didn't want to bother you b-but I…" She trailed off and started crying loudly.

Izuku put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Eri, you don't bother me. It's okay if you need to come to someone, especially since this sounded like a really bad nightmare."

Eri sobbed and continued to wipe at her eyes. She tried to speak but failed to form words, she could only form incoherent noises as she tried to say what she was thinking. Izuku grabbed his phone off the charger and looked to see it was 4:30 in the morning. Just a little bit before the sun came up. He pocketed his phone and looked back to Eri, keeping a smile on his face.

"Hey, Eri. I know it's really early in the morning, but you know Master is always back just before the sun rises. The sun will be up soon, so she's gonna come back soon. Do you wanna wait downstairs for her and greet her when she gets here?" He asked.

Eri took a shuddering breath and nodded quickly, looking confused when Izuku took the blanket off his bed. He gathered it around himself so himself so his hands wouldn't be occupied, after making sure he could move around with ease he gently picked Eri up and wrapped the blanket around her too.

"This is the safety blanket, as long as you're wrapped up in it nothing's gonna happen to you. I promise." He smiled. It was something his mother used to do with him all the time when he was small and suffered from some kind of night terror. She'd wrap them in some kind of blanket and go to what they considered a safe spot in the house.

Izuku slowly made his way downstairs and made sure not to make noise, he didn't want to wake anybody else up if he had to. He stepped over the step he knew would make a loud creak and continued his way downstairs.

Soon enough they were downstairs where the kitchen light was still on, but on the counter a few Moogles were passed out. Only two left awake and furiously drinking coffee, thankfully they paid no mind to the two that should be walked over to the couch and made sure nobody was sleeping there before sitting down and adjusting the blanket over them.

"See? Now we're right here, and as soon as Master comes back you can see her. And I won't go anywhere until she comes back."

Eri clung to him tightly. "You promise?"

"I promise." He hugged her to assure her he wasn't moving.

Izuku rubbed her back as she managed to calm down after a while, her sobs dying down and leaving her sniffling quiety. She tugged at Izuku's sleeve every once in a while just to make sure he was really there, and every time he snapped to attention and asked if she was okay. She would nod and begin to settle down again.

There was silence for a while, save for the occasional sip and clink from the kitchen.

Izuku looked down to see Eri starting to doze off but still staring at the door where Aqua was supposed to come through.

"Hey Eri, I know a lot of nightmares can be bad but sometimes it helps when you talk about them. Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked.

Eri shook her head and continued to stare.

"Isn't the sun going to come up soon? Shouldn't she be here by now?"

"Yeah, she will be. She's always here, so don't worry."

Eri nodded and pulled the blanket around her tighter. "You're really warm." She mumbled.

"Yeah, I've always been a bit of a heater. When I was small my mom used to joke around that he didn't have to turn the thermostat high in the winter, she just had to come to my room and she'd warm up easily." He hummed.

"You don't feel hot?" She asked, yawning and beginning to drift off.

"Not really no." He yawned. "Just normal."

Eri shrugged her shoulder and fell into a light sleep, prompting Izuku to fall asleep as well. Eri was safe, she felt safe and she was heading back to sleep. He sighed and leaned back, falling back to sleep in no time.

-.-

Aqua slowly made her way back to the house, downing a potion as she headed into an alley. She was exhausted, more so than usual. The Heartless were getting stronger, more aggressive, thankfully though she had been able to fight them back without losing anyone that night. At least to her knowledge. If she wasn't fighting the Heartless she was running away from the heroes that were rather persistent that night.

She was letting her magic recover, so she wasn't too keen on using a great deal to heal up the rest of her scrapes and bruises, as well as a few burns but that was something she wasn't too concerned with. She couldn't wait to get home and just fall asleep. It was the weekend, so she and the others could sleep in.

She wasn't going to make Izuku do any hardcore training, not when there were only two weeks until the entrance exams. If anything she just wanted him to focus on studying and maybe a few sets of magic and weapons combat.

Aqua smiled to herself as she turned the corner and saw her home just up ahead, just across the street from where she was. She quickly ran across the street to the somewhat cluttered alley and pushed aside a few boxes to get to the entrance. As quietly as she could she pushed aside some of the trash to reveal the hidden doorway.

Aqua slipped inside and covered up the entrance again to a room. Much to her surprise there was a light in the kitchen. That was a bit concerning, considering that the kids should still be asleep. It wasn't until she had taken a few steps forward that she became so aware of how warm it was in the room.

The air almost felt thick, she could still breath but it wasn't very comfortable. She looked around the room and caught sight of two bodies on the couch. She raised an eyebrow and walked over while taking off the mask.

On the couch fast asleep was Izuku and Eri, wrapped up in a blanket. Looking closer she could see Eri clinging onto Izuku for dear life, she had been crying.

Aqua frowned and gently brought a hand up to place it on Eri's back.

"Eri? Eri, wake up. I'm home." She murmured softly. After a moment Eri jolted awake and looked around in a panic before catching sight of Aqua.

"Aqua!" Eri shouted, startling Izuku awake as she jumped out of the blanket and jumped at Aqua who was quick to catch her. "Y-You're home! You're okay!" She yelled.

"Yeah, I'm home Eri." She hugged her as Eri began to tear up again. "What happened? Is everything okay?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"She had a nightmare…" Izuku said as he sat heat in the room began to dissipate.

"He was- He was back!" Eri buried her face into Aqua's shoulder. "He was back, a-and he cau-caught me and you…he, he used his Quirk t-to…" She shook her head and Aqua was quick to catch on.

"No, I'm okay Eri I promise. I promise that you're okay, you're safe. He's gone and he can't hurt you anymore." She murmured, rubbing her back. "I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere."

"I-I couldn't find you when I woke up! You were gone and I…" She swallowed hard.

"I decided we could wait for you to come home, since that seemed like the best thing to do." Izuku shrugged.

Aqua nodded and smiled at him. She slowly walked up and down the room while Eri calmed down. "Are you feeling a little better?" Aqua asked softly once she began to quiet down. Eri nodded and put her head down.

"Are you ready to go back to sleep?" She asked.

Eri shrugged and yawned, her breaths still a little uneven.

"Why don't you sit here with Izuku for a little bit while I go wash up, and as soon as I'm done I'll come back to tuck you in. Does that sound good?" She asked.

Eri looked up and slowly nodded, letting go of Aqua so she could sit back down on the couch.

"I'll be 15 minutes tops." She promised. Aqua turned and hurried up the stairs, leaving the two alone again. From where they were they could hear the sound of a door opening and shutting.

Eri rubbed at her eyes and gathered the blanket around herself. "What time is it?"

"About 5:30." Izuku answered, trying to wake himself up. It was a somewhat reasonable hour to be up, but he just wanted to go back to sleep.

"It feels like she was gone a long time."

"It does, doesn't it?"

Eri looked up at Izuku and frowned when she saw his hair. "Some of your braids got messed up." She muttered, reaching up to mess with his hair again. Izuku lowered himself so she could reach easier and let her rebraid some parts of his hair that came undone in his sleep.

15 minutes came and went, and by the time Aqua came back downstairs she was met with the sight of a half asleep Eri messing with Izuku's hair. Izuku had let her, and looked like he was already asleep.

She smiled to herself and went over to pick Eri up. Eri let out a small whine before realizing it was Aqua. "I didn't finish his hair…" She mumbled.

"You can finish it when you wake up again, you look tired."

Eri nodded and laid her head down while Aqua made the trip upstairs again to tuck her in. Her fears from earlier fading away with her mere presence.

After a while Izuku realized he was alone when the feeling of his hair being played with was gone. Figuring Aqua was tucking her back in he got up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen. He figured it was best to eat something before going back to sleep. He grabbed some cereal and milk, then walked over to the coffee machine where the two Moogles were still going at it.

One of them was vibrating while drinking yet another cup of coffee while the other seemed to be just fine. Izuku grabbed the half empty coffee pot behind them and a cup from the cupboard. He wasn't paying attention as he poured one thing into another, put everything away and sat down.

"Kupo! Don't drink that coffee, you'll end up seeing things." One of them tried to stop him.

"Don't listen to them kupo, he's been up all night." The other sighed.

Izuku shrugged and took a bite of his cereal, realizing he had put coffee in the bowl instead of milk. He looked at his cup to see milk. Izuku groaned internally and poured a little bit of milk into the bowl and took another bite. It actually wasn't that bad.

"Is that...is that coffee in your cereal?" He heard Aqua ask behind him.

"Mistakes were made, but it's a pretty tasty mistake." Izuku hummed.

"You should go to sleep." Aqua ruffled his hair and grabbed a bowl for herself.

"I was hungry, and you should sleep too Master. You look tired."

"Well maybe I'm hungry too." She made her way to the coffee machine and grabbed the pot. "Is this decaf?" She asked the two Moogles.

"Nope." They answered.

Aqua sighed and poured herself a cup anyway. "You two better not have used all the caffeinated coffee."

"We didn't."

"Good."

She sat herself down in front of Izuku and dug into her breakfast. "As soon as you're done eating, back to bed with you."

"Got it."

The two ate in silence for a bit before Aqua spoke up again.

"You're curious about it aren't you?" She asked. "About what Eri was talking about…"

Izuku kept his head down and pushed around bits of the cereal. "Well, kind of but it's none of my business and it seems like a touchy subject."

Aqua hummed and sipped at her coffee. It was a touchy subject, for more reasons than one. But it was something he should know about, just in case something should ever happen. She wouldn't have been surprised if he actually heard of the fight that was a result of all that, or at least the aftermath.

"Two years ago I saved Eri from a villain, he was a horrible man who would hurt anyone who got in his way. I ran into her while she was running away from him, I didn't find out what was happening to her until the next time she had managed to get away, she had run all over the place just to find me."

"But at least she found you, that's a good thing, right?" He asked. "You…"

"He managed to track us down, and then he raised hell and took her back." She looked down. "I was actually really, really lucky to survive that encounter. One wrong move and he would have torn me to pieces, but oh I made him wish he did." She looked towards the stairs. "I went through whatever resources I had to to get to Eri, it took me forever but I finally found out where he took her. Then I raised a hell of my own. I'm glad I managed to keep the damage to a minimum, especially since it was near a few residential areas."

Izuku gasped. "Wait, was that fight the one with the monster in the sky? The one with the six arms in broad daylight?" He asked.

Aqua nodded. "Yes, that's the one. Honestly I was surprised it hadn't been broadcasted as much as other fights, though that was a blessing in itself too. I had been able to fight mostly uninterrupted, the heroes hadn't shown up until later in the fight where he…" She sighed. "He turned into a monster, a real monster. The darkness consumed him inside and out."

Izuku took note how tightly she was holding her cup, if her grip was any stronger she might shatter the glass.

"You had to…" He trailed off.

She nodded. "I came out of that fight messed up in more ways than one, but I saved her. That was the most important thing to me, I got her away from that place. I went through hell and back for Eri, and I'd do it again just so she can be happy." Aqua sighed.

Izuku looked down at his food again and hummed. "You're her hero." He muttered. "I guess being a hero is really hard sometimes."

Aqua nodded and sipped away at her coffee, her mind going back to that day. She herself had nightmares about it too sometimes, either being torn apart by his Quirk should she have gotten too close. Or sometimes it was her Master looking at her in shame, she had still taken a life as vile as it was. She could only imagine how much he'd disapprove of that, that was not a day his spirit was smiling down upon her.

After a while she sighed and down the rest of her coffee and took an empty bowl to the sink. She looked over her shoulder to see Izuku mindlessly scrolling through his phone, most likely new articles if she had to guess.

"Are you done eating?" She asked.

Izuku looked down. "Uh, yeah."

"Then go to bed."

"But-"

"I'll take care of the dishes."

"But I can-"

"Bed. Now."

"Right, okay. Understood." He scrambled out of his chair and hurried up the stairs. Aqua listened to him take the stairs two at a time and heard the opening and closing of his door. She heard a bit of shuffling before it quieted down.

Aqua sighed and shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?"

-HoL-

"Are you excited?" Aqua asked, watching Izuku pace up and down the length of the room. He was fiddling with the hem of his jacket, occasionally sparking and zapping himself. Eri followed him in his pacing, keeping enough distance so she wouldn't get zapped as well.

"I'm nervous!" Izuku answered. "Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick."

It was the morning of the exam, and as Aqua suspected would happen, as the day of the exam grew closer he'd get more and more nervous until his anxiety full blown and he was freaking out.

"You're gonna do great." Aqua assured him, stepping forward and stopping him in his tracks. There was a small zap that didn't faze her. "You've been training for 10 months, you've given it your all and studied everything you could. Look at yourself Izuku, you have come so far from where you started." She smiled.

Izuku looked up at her and bit his lip, trying to keep himself from mumbling.

"So here's what's going to happen. You are going to relax, and you're going to stop worrying. Why? Because you're ready. You hear me? You are ready." She smiled down at him.

Aqua stepped back after a moment and looked him up and down. He was still tense, but some of his anxiety left him.

"Izuku." She grabbed his attention.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Repeat after me. You can do this."

"Wh-What?" He asked. "Why…"

"Trust me."

Izuku sighed and shrugged. "I can do this…"

"Louder." Aqua said.

Izuku fiddled with his hands before standing up straight. "I can do this."

"You've come so far."

"I've come so far."

"You're gonna do great!" Eri added.

"I'm gonna do great." He said it louder, a smile on his face.

"You're ready." Aqua grinned.

"I'm ready!" He shouted.

Aqua glanced at her phone and nodded. "Now get going, you don't want to be late."

"Oh yeah I'm cutting it kinda close." He looked at his own phone before jumping. "Okay, I'm going! I'll see you later Master!"

"Good luck!" Eri called after him.

-HoL-

Discord: /UWtM2he