Chapter 42: Answer
"Let's go already! We have to grab everything on the list before going back home." Izuku lugged a tree trunk over his shoulder. They had divided the group to gather all they would need to build the raft that would take them to other worlds!… Hopefully.
"I'm going, I'm going. Hey, do you really think we can get to other worlds with a raft?" And it seemed Izuku wasn't the only one unsure.
Izuku turned back to give the other boy a look, green eyes meeting blue ones. He had his usual red overall, blue belt, yellow shoes, and white short jacket and gloves on. His spiky brown hair was a mess as always, not that Izuku could say much. Their untameable hair was just another thing they had in common.
"Why do you ask?"
"Uh, you know, I don't feel like drowning."
Izuku gave him an unimpressed stare, "And you only say something now, when we're halfway done?"
"Oops?"
Of course. Izuku put the trunk down and shrugged, "Hey, maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. Worst case scenario, we pay Grandpa a visit."
Those blue eyes brightened along the beaming smile he opened, "Oh right! He'll probably find us if anything happens, right?"
"That or we'll wash up on him." They spoke in perfect synchrony like they always did.
Izuku laughed and lifted his cargo again, "Now that you know there's nothing to worry about, go gather your part, lazy bum!"
"Hey! Don't call me a lazy bum!"
"Why, only Kairi can do it?"
"N-no! That has nothing to do with it." He turned away with a red face.
"Yeah right." Izuku gave him a solid kick on the behind to get him moving. He complained, but there was no heat behind it.
It was all in good fun, just the two of them roughhousing and being silly.
After all, they were brothers.
"C'mon, the raft won't build itself. We have a lot of work ahead of us if we want to see other worlds, right, S-"
The memory abruptly came to an end, with the final part shattering like glass. It cut deep, making his heart weep like it had never before.
Izuku finally remembered. He remembered why an all-encompassing loneliness followed him everywhere, just at the edge of his perception.
Half of him was missing.
A presence that had been constant at his side since before Izuku drew breath wasn't there anymore. His brother, his twin brother. The person who had been with Izuku even before the start.
Izuku couldn't even remember his name.
The missing fragments were not unknown anymore. No, Izuku knew exactly the shape of each little part missing, and the edges cut him deep.
The weight of the uncertainty he felt before, of not being sure who 'Izuku' truly was, felt like nothing compared to the debilitating anguish of knowing the answer to what he lost.
Izuku lost himself. Every part of him that made him 'Izuku' in the first place, gone. He had to find them and put himself back together piece by piece.
Only to learn half of the whole set was never with him in the first place. It was his brother. The other piece he belonged with, the part that was always missing.
The one Izuku had not a single clue where it was. What happened in their past that led to this? What broke them apart, and all but shattered Izuku into a million pieces?
Had his brother suffered the same fate?
And Vanitas… Why did Vanitas look just like him?
Each question just crushed Izuku's heart more and more under the growing weight of his Suffering.
Suffering that was in itself Darkness. Darkness that pulled him down and down and down…
To where the Light couldn't reach him.
Ochaco felt the exact moment her heart seized in her chest.
It should have been so simple. Izuku would have taunted Vanitas and then wrecked the little cheater like he deserved. He would have used his Unversed because of course he would, and Ochaco would have swooped in to take care of them while Izuku finished pummeling Vanitas.
It was a simple plan, it had everything to work.
That only made it hurt more when it didn't.
She didn't know what had happened at that moment when Vanitas' mask had broken. All she knew was the stab of pain in her chest when Izuku screamed.
It sounded so, so hurt. So painful.
And then, Darkness.
A wave of almost solid blackness burst from Izuku's form, tearing through the top of I-Tower like a feral beast. It tore down Vanitas' barriers, flipped the helicopter stationed there on its side, and fell all who stood on its path.
All except Ochaco, who could only stare with tearful eyes.
Izuku's form became vague, the edges blurry, almost like a dark cloud. Wisps of Darkness, accented with toxic green, flowed out of his body like smoke. His clothes, skin, hair, everything became pitch black with eerie green. The clothes Eri made, both the ball garments and the scarf Izuku so loved, were marked by ghostly white thorns.
And his eyes, at first two yellow lanterns piercing the night, were slowly filled with toxic green. Then, he wept, the corrosive color spilling out as fat drops followed by his body being afflicted by tremors of silent sobs.
Ochaco's heart broke at the sight.
Izuku, one of the strongest people she knew. Izuku, who was always so bright. Izuku, who she loved from the bottom of her heart…
Miserable.
The numb stillness of the scene was broken by none other than the one who caused it.
Vanitas ever so slowly got back to his feet, no mask hiding his cruel smirk as he laughed at the scene before him. Loud, cruel, taking enjoyment in the pain the Darkness-consumed Izuku all but irradiated.
"It seems like you do remember. Good." Vanitas ripped what was left of his mask off his head and smashed it on the ground. Marching closer, each step followed by the crack of black glass made Izuku stumble a step back. "So, little Keyblade Master, why are you letting your Darkness consume you? Wasn't you supposed to be so much better?!"
"Get away from him!" Ochaco couldn't handle it anymore. She would not leave Izuku alone to his pain.
Vanitas stopped his warpath and glanced over his shoulder, his citrine eyes locking with her brown ones. "Heh, I already got what I came for. Have fun picking up the pieces." With those words coated with venom and spoken with malice, he left. A dome of Darkness quickly covered Vanitas, and a moment later both it and him were gone without a trace.
Ochaco didn't care. He could go back to his groupies in the League of Villains or die in a ditch, the latter would be preferable. "When I see you again…" Ochaco's silent threat was lost to the wind. It didn't matter, Izuku mattered.
She had to help him-
The door of the upturned helicopter was ripped open in a bluish glow. Wolfram dragged himself up and out of the vehicle, glaring at everyone on the rooftop. "You bastards ruined everything!"
Ochaco ignored the man in favor of Izuku, seeing him flinch with his whole body at the shout. She took a step closer, only to feel a stab in her chest when he took a step back. Like with Vanitas.
Wolfram wasn't in the right state of mind to let slide a snot-nosed brat ignoring him. His plan, his perfect heist, was ruined by that masked brat! And now this?! "You look here when I'm talking bitch!" He pulled the briefcase and ripped it open.
David, who was helping Melissa and Eri up, gasped, his face quickly losing color, "No, don't!"
The villain paid the warning no mind, he grabbed the device and roughly shoved it on his head. It latched on the back of his head, a frame going around and fastening to the orbit of his eyes, its blue tips lightning up. "I will make all of you pay for getting in my way!" The magnetic blue light of his quirk darkened and without even touching anything, metal from the tower's structure twisted and ripped itself free, floating over Wolfram.
"Lookout!"
Ochaco heard David's warning just in time to raise her glowing hand at the steel spikes coming at her. Her gravity magic struggled against the villain's quirk.
Gravity was a fundamental force of the universe, but so was magnetism. Ochaco pushed and pushed, putting her whole body into it as if she were physically holding the offending projectiles back. Not only for her but to keep Eri and the Shields who were right behind her safe.
She gritted her teeth and pushed, pushed, and pushed. Still, try as she might, they didn't move an inch.
"Keep struggling all you want. Shield's precious device was made to take All Might back to his prime. With it, I'm invincible!" Wolfram extended his hand and pressed down against Ochaco's resistance, making the girl lose ground bit by bit. "You brats are all leaving in body bags."
"Wanna fucking BET?!" A deafening explosion heralded the blond and angry missile's arrival. Katsuki roared and let his quirk off. No magic, no tricks, just a healthy dose of overwhelming rage.
The sky was lit up for a single moment and Wolfram's improvised metal weaponry was completely decimated.
Katsuki touched down beside Ochaco with both his hands smoking like an industrial park and trembling like a chihuahua, his palms as black and cracked as bad asphalt. All in all, not his worst state, he didn't even have anything broken. "Oi! Can someone explain to me where Deku didn't kill this fucker already-?" His voice died a painful death when Katsuki's eyes finally landed on Izuku.
No. No way. That had to be a trick. Some bad joke. Deku couldn't have…
Those spilling green lanterns turned to them, and both Katsuki and Ochaco stumbled back as if struck.
They lost him.
All that byplay brought Wolfram's attention to the other pest on the rooftop. That one was why the stupid masked freak ruined everything. "You." He swung his arm in a sharp arc, and dozens and dozens of metallic debris shot at the dark-covered brat.
"No!"
"Deku move!"
Before the barrage of tons over tons of sharp metal, Izuku kept standing, his unfocused form still looking a moment away from dissipating.
Then he violently grabbed his head and threw it down in a silent cry. From the ground around him, black vines covered in thorns tipped green burst forth in a brutal upheaval.
All the deadly rain of metal was stopped, blocked, entangled, and hanged by the wall of Darkness briars.
The dark-taken hero raised his head slowly, the tears falling from his eyes increasing. He jerked back, then launched himself at the sharp maze of his own making.
Obstacles were cleared in blitzing fashion by the shadowy figure, the unfocused form seemingly phasing through solid material or simply ghosting over it.
From the very top, Izuku leaped at Wolfram. Arms opened wide, blurry hands poised, the vague outline of claws sailing through the air.
Wolfram raised a wall to protect himself, and quite timely at that. Another second and it wouldn't have been the half-a-meter thick slab of steel that got torn to shreds.
"Damn brat!" The villain roared and raised a wave of spears to impale Izuku.
The shade once more abruptly jerked back and forth like a marionette being pulled by unseen strings. Izuku landed at the very tip of a metal pike, his whole dark-clad body appearing weightless.
More tears fell and flailing thorns once more arose. They tangled their way through the field of metal hazards and whipped at Wolfram.
The robber wasn't taken down by only that. Moving his hand was all he needed to create a dome of metal that kept him safe.
Katsuki saw the thorns carving at the dome just as he saw them moving closer to them. He wasn't about to take chances when Deku was in that state, so Katsuki threw himself at the front and blew the briars away from Ochaco and him. "We need to fall back!"
"What?! But Izuku-!"
"Is in the middle of this clusterfuck. We need a clear shot to him and I can't see shit with all these damn things in the way!" He exploded more and more of the Darkness-born thorns, but they just kept coming. "Let's take a step back and use our fucking heads for a sec, how about it?!"
Ochaco all but growled, relenting and grabbing Katsuki in her gravitational hold. They flew back, landing beside the Shields and Eri.
The little Princess of Heart had her hands covering her mouth and tears in her eyes. One glance and Ochaco was by her side, hugging the girl tightly and whispering reassurances.
Katsuki was at the end of his rope, in multiple ways, but he took in a deep breath and did the equivalent of driving his heel on his feelings' throat. He was the one in control, and it would stay like that. No panic, action. "Eggheads, explain, now! What's that thing on the fucker's head?"
"It's my quirk enhancer," David confessed as if it was a sin. "Unlike Trigger, there's no side effects. His quirk is hundreds of times more potent now, it should be closing to a class six."
Katsuki clicked his tongue. His own quirk was a category five when he was firing at all cylinders, but Katsuki fought his way up the whole fucking I-Tower. Forget fumes, he was keeping on through sheer spite at that point. "Great, of course, why not? It's not like we can have one easy and straightforward win. And where's my fucking backup?!"
The blond's shout was answered by the crackling of ice. From somewhere below, a massive glacier sprung into existence and sent two figures flying up to the top.
"Heeeaaaads uuuuup!" Eijiro smashed onto, into, and almost through the rooftop. He popped out from another Eijiro-shaped crater and roared, "The cavalry has arrived!"
"Where the fuck is Peppermint?!" Katsuki's answer was a pile of snow forming by his side and Shoto crash landing into it.
The scarred boy burst out of the mound and shook himself free of the lingering snow on his suit, "Hi. What did we miss…" Shoto trailed off, seeing the almost ghostly figure standing at the center of a field of dark and sharp thorns made of Darkness.
"Looks like you got the memo already. Come on fuckers, we're getting through that, then we're dragging Deku's ass back." Back from what, Katsuki couldn't say, but he wasn't afraid of figuring it out. "Now move it!"
—
Toshinori, both when suited up and just in general, always had this strange itch on the very back of his head when things took a nosedive all the way to hell. A conversation with Izuku had them raising the possibility of it being the faintest traces of Danger Sense.
Nana explained to them that no, before Izuku and One For All reached singularity, the other quirks just couldn't manifest at all. Toshinori's disaster premonitions were just his gut sense being right on point.
Well, his guts were telling him everything went pear-shaped and he had to get his kids, now.
The sight of All Might's smile slowly being replaced by a serious frown and cracking his neck would send 99% of the world running away in fear. He turned his blazing eyes to the tower, "Ah, seems like it's time to put my back into it." His whisper was so charged with raw power the words appeared to visibly distort the air they traveled through.
In a fraction of a fraction of a second, All Might cleaved his way through every single Unversed terrorizing I-Island. No stops to reassure civilians or coordinate with heroes and Dream Eaters, just a massacre of unimaginable proportions.
Beating the remnants of pitch-black smoke from his hands, All Might turned to I-Tower. A normal person would go inside and then make their way up. All Might wasn't a normal person. He wasn't one person, he was the result of eight people forged from a shadow war for two centuries.
"Nana, everyone, give me your strength. Just a little more." With his silent prayer to One For All done, All Might crouched. His legs bulged, the muscles in his body being flooded with strength, more than any mind could conceive. The embers inside him roared with what fire they still held.
All Might jumped. The ground cracked, splintered, cratered, and burst. The hero's body broke the sound barrier multiple times, each creating a sonic boom that was heard by the whole island.
The world was incapable of holding him down, gravity and friction giving way to this other force of nature in the shape of a man. All Might ascended to the very skies, the moon so close he felt he could extend his arm and grab it.
His goal wasn't the moon. No, the only thing in his mind was the people below who needed him.
"DON'T FEAR, EVERYONE. I AM HERE!" All Might threw his limbs back at an angle, the sheer force of the movement sent him shooting down like a bullet.
His aim was as true as ever. The top of I-Tower got closer at breakneck speed, and it didn't take long for All Might to see the mess of thorns covering most of it.
No matter, he would not be stopped that easily! "SMASH!" The briars were triturated by hands that could cut through steel. All Might didn't even slow down, breaching the core of the hazard zone and pulling his fist back to give whoever caused it a piece of his mind!
Imagine his surprise, and how much his heart fell, when he saw his boy there. Covered by a heavy blanket of Darkness like a stormy sky filled with black clouds, yes, but that was unmistakably Izuku.
Toshinori felt his heart breaking at the sight. What had they done to his boy?
His moment of distraction cost the hero. The miserable shade grasped one of the thorn-covered and twisted vines, not caring how the sharp points went through his hand, and swung it.
A veritable tidal wave of thorns and blackness crashed on All Might, slapping the hero away from Izuku and into the writhing mass of Darkness.
"Stars dammit old man, keep your head on the game!" Katsuki's shout was followed by a salvo of fiery explosions that burnt away the thorns, a wall of ice right behind it to catch the hero and slide him back to his feet.
"THANK YOU, BOYS!" Toshinori had to keep their spirits up, had to show everything would be alright, even if he felt like a hole opened in his chest. "BUT THIS IS ENOUGH. FALL BACK AND LET ME HANDLE THIS."
"Cut the crap." Katsuki incinerated another wave of crooked and deadly vines and slid beside All Might. The bomber had his sleeves burnt off to almost the elbows, his hands looking more and more like coal at each explosion. "We all know shit hit the fan. The mask fuck ran away, that bastard has some quirk enhancer gizmo, and Deku…" He couldn't make himself finish.
Thankfully, there would always be an idiot who couldn't read the room.
"Izubro is in there covered in that Darkness junk." Eijiro crashed before them and held the thorns at bay with his Unbreakable mode. His shirt was in tatters, and his skin underneath wasn't fairing much better, but that didn't stop him from soldiering on. "So we have to stop talking and start acting if we want to save him!"
"He has a point." Shoto, who was infuriatingly fine in the clothes department, used his fire to keep burning the Darkness away. "Can we please throw the rule book in the trash for five minutes and get Izuku back?"
Toshinori ruefully shook his head, these kids. "COVER ME, I'LL CLEAR A PATH STRAIGHT THROUGH!"
"Then get onto it already!" Katsuki spit on his palms to cool them off some and got ready. When All Might barreled through the wall of thorns, he was right behind throwing cover fire.
Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones that made a move.
Wolfram went to the offensive again, making the dome over him ripple and change. Various sharp protrusions formed from the metal shell, the phalanx pushing the dark vines away. From the top, a pillar arose higher and higher, with Wolfram standing at the top. "Don't you dare get in my way!"
Izuku bent back, his cascading eyes boring into the villain. With the same eerie silence, the Darkness-taken hero charged forward. His maelstrom of thorns cut into his vague form, but he let off no scream of pain, no signs of emotion beyond the tears constantly being shed.
"Die already damn brat, as compensation for what you have done!" Wolfram abused his enhanced power to throw a tornado of shrapnel at the shade.
Just like with the thorns, he ignored the attack cutting into him and kept going for the pillar. Izuku jumped at it, and the center of the metallic death cloud, only to be stopped by a glacier.
"You're gonna get hurt like that," Shoto spoke as if his friend could listen, and only got a mass of pointy blackness thrown his way for the trouble.
"Stop running you fuck!" Katsuki, who used the distraction to explode himself at Deku while his back was turned, didn't get halfway to him before another wall of briars blocked the path forward.
"LOOKOUT!" All Might chopped the obstacle into pieces with a hand, trying to proceed at all costs.
The sheer effort put into reaching Izuku left them with nothing to throw at Wolfram. The villain kept turning everything worse by using the very tower they stood on as a weapon.
Most attacks got diverted or outright negated by Izuku, but what got through slowed the group down all the same.
"Guys, I don't think this is working!" Eijiro sharpened his hands, wishing he had brought his compression gloves with him to help with that. He cut and cut and cut whatever got in front of him, but that barely put a dent in the dangerous terrain the two clashing forces created.
The Darkness coming from Izuku seemed infinite in its depths, and Wolfram had all the metal he could ask for just below his feet.
They were getting nowhere.
As if to break the stalemate, everything changed in a blink.
Spheres of pink-purple Gravity pushed away both metal and Darkness, making them falter. "Get the villain, I get Izuku!"
Katsuki had a fraction of a second to decide how to make Ochaco's suicide rush at Deku actually work. The answer wasn't anything too complicated to reach. "All Might, get the metal fuck! Peppermint, get him a straight shot! Eijiro, get back and cover those three!"
The bomber thanked all his lucky stars that the idiots knew exactly what he wanted from them without any further explanation. Eijiro turned about-face and dashed back, putting himself in front of the Shields and Eri. Shoto put a freezing right hand on his left arm, took in a deep breath, and let loose an almost solid pillar of flame.
When the fire died out after short moments of existence, All Might had a tunnel leading him right to Wolfram. The hero got at it and Katsuki stopped paying attention.
He had bigger problems.
"Plus. Fucking. Ultra!" Katsuki bombed himself to Ochaco and Deku, exploding everything that moved on the way with clinical precision and merciless violence. "On three!"
Ochaco, floating in the middle of all that chaos, had the presence of mind to only nod. Deku was there, surrounded by thorns and shrapnel while holding his head again.
He was in so much pain. Ochaco couldn't stand it, wouldn't stand it. She was going to save Izuku and nothing was getting in her way, not even him.
"Three!" Katsuki never bothered with the one and two. Not giving an inch of ground or a second to breathe, that was how he did things. "Die!" His abused palms let out a barrage of explosions that both carved at the Darkness and pushed Katsuki deeper into it.
Deku got closer at each boom that sent flares of pain to his brain. Katsuki ignored his body's protests, because he was no fucking wuss, and kept fighting through sheer force of will. His Light flickered wildly but refused to go out.
When he got close enough to take a swing at Deku, Katsuki blew himself back. Ragdolling through the air, he had the perfect view of Ochaco rushing in, "Go get him!"
Get him she did. Without slowing down even a tad, Ochaco crashed onto Izuku fearlessly. The ghostly form flinched and shook, but before he could run away again she looped her arms over his misty body. She held him tightly, even if Izuku's very being seemed to try slipping away.
"Izuku. It's okay. Come back to us, we're all here for you. Come back to me, please."
Fat tears spilled from the miserable shade's ghostly eyes with a vengeance at each of her words. Distantly they heard loud impacts as All Might dismantled the villain assaulting them, but it all got drowned by the roar of the thorn mass rushing upwards.
The vines twisted and tangled, forming a circle above Wolfram and All Might. The hero knew better than to wait and see and fell back, grabbing Shoto on the way and putting him beside Eijiro.
Just in time. The halo of Darkness and Suffering was filled with a toxic green glow, a high-pitched timbre sounding. Then a pillar of pure ruin fell.
So abruptly, Wolfram was consumed by the attack, his form blocked from view along with his screams. The halo of thorns collapsed into itself after a moment, cutting the power and letting the ray fade.
Only a circle of blackened ground with Wolfram at the center, lying unconscious, remained.
The danger was gone, but Izuku remained thrashing in Ochaco's arms. She held on for dear life, trying her best to not let him escape and lose himself in his pain.
"Izuku, please, come back!"
—
"Seems like the fun is over."
"Says who?" The cloaked man gave his bedridden friend a glance, a cocky smirk clear in his tone. "We can't let it end before the best part, can we?"
"I clearly remember you saying Tomura had all our stock booked for his plan."
"Not so clearly it seems." The cloaked figure chuckled, making a show of raising a finger and wagging it, "I said I could only spare one Shadow. The thing is, one Shadow is more than enough!" He snapped his fingers at the monitor they had used to watch all the debacle in I-Island.
On the screen, while everybody had their backs turned, a Shadow popped out of the ground beside Wolfram's downed form. It jumped on his chest, clawing until it reached his heart.
And the Darkness did what it has always done since time immemorial.
It consumed.
—
Izuku was lost, drifting down and down and down…
Then he heard her voice.
Why was it so sad? She, who was so bright, so joyful. Her smile that warmed his heart…
His heart. Why did his heart hurt so much? Izuku was lost, adrift, being pulled deeper and deeper.
Sharp sparks of pain lit up on his body, the points digging in with fervor. The thorns curled over him, tightening at each second. Everything was so, so dark.
Until it wasn't.
A bright light pierced the blackness mercilessly. It came from the dreamcatcher tied to his braid, bathing the surroundings in brightness. The thorns tried to snuff it, but the vines tangled themselves on the strings and burned away before the radiance.
The pain stopped, the blackness pushed back, and Izuku struggled. He was lost, but he couldn't be, he had to get back. Izuku had to get back to them. Her to get back to her. She was calling for him, Izuku had to respond, had to go back-
A gruff hand snatched his flailing one. "There you are. Up and at 'em Little Nine!"
Izuku was harshly pulled from the Darkness, breaking out from it as if breaking the surface of the ocean. He coughed, trying to get his bearings, seeing himself on his hands and knees in a void that stretched everywhere the eye could see.
The Fifth holder was beside him, trying to steady Izuku. "Breathe kid, you had been in there for a while. We were looking all over for you, only found ya thanks to that thingy." He pointed to the dreamcatcher, now on the 'floor' by Izuku, completely broken beyond repair and with its glow quickly dying out.
"At least I know what it did now." Izuku huffed out with a raspy voice. "Thanks, Fifth."
"Think nothing of it, boyo. I'm a hero too, you know." The man grabbed Izuku by the arm and hosted him to his feet. "Banjo Daigoro, the hero Lariat, at orders!" He grinned, earning a weak smile from Izuku.
The moment was short-lived. Izuku felt another pang of pain in his chest, making him grasp his suit with a vice grip. "What happened?"
Daigoro felt for the kid, but he had to get his head back on the game. "You remembered him, your brother, and what the Other Ninth feared happened. You fumbled the ball kid!"
Izuku stared at his feet, head hanging, "I know. I know I let things get this bad, but what am I supposed to do?!" The tears came unabashed, falling like waterfalls.
Daigoro flicked his forehead, hard enough for him to stumble back. "Why are you asking as if you don't know?!" The man got onto Izuku's face and poked his chest harshly. "You remember him now. You know he's out there somewhere. That means you have to raise your head, grit your teeth, and go look for him! Got it?!"
Izuku took all the shouting to his face quietly, but when Daigoro's tirade was over, he couldn't help but chuckle. He quickly took a step back and dried his tears on the sleeve of his overcoat, "You're right. You're right! I had to find him before, I just need to find him again!"
"That's the spirit, dammit! Now what are you gonna do?"
Drawing himself up barely got the top of Izuku's head to Daigoro's shoulders, but the thought was what counted, "I'm going to raise my head, grit my teeth, and find my brother!"
"Damn right, you will! But first, you're gonna get out there and kick some ass. So what do you say, kid? Together?" Daigoro offered Izuku a hand.
The boy smiled brightly and grasped it firmly, "Together!"
The Fifth laughed in all his gruff and funky glory, turning into an orange star that flew to Izuku's chest.
"Up and at 'em, Little Nine!"
—
Cold.
The cold that made you shiver and your stomach plummet. That cold hit Katsuki like a freight train, made the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end, and sharpened his instincts to a knife point.
He turned away from Ochaco and Deku, his eyes zeroing in on the villain they had just bodied.
Just to see a Shadow finishing its job.
Yet another wave of Darkness washed over the rooftop. This one is much angrier than the ones before. It came quickly, but Katsuki was just fast enough to put himself in front of the group and squeeze what magic he recovered to raise a Barrier.
The crash came and Katsuki saw stars for a second. He had emptied his tank so many times that night that having it happening again almost made him hurl. He compared magic to an overexcited puppy before, in that line of thought his magic looked more like an old dog that didn't have the energy to even breathe heavily anymore.
Fuck it, Katsuki would punch the thing to death if he needed to, "Come and get some, bastard! A loser that gets turned into a Heartless doesn't have shit on me!"
His trash-talking was answered by a howl. The villain turned Heartless arose from the mass of Darkness, a giant lupine form, a werewolf more monster than man, completely encased in plates of dark gray metal. Chains tied to its limbs flailed in the air of their own volition, spearheads at their tips. The beady yellow eyes of a Heatless shone from behind a grid-like visor covering each eye. It stood on two legs, showing the Heartless emblem stamped on its chest.
Katsuki prepared to explode himself at the ferrous wolf. Unfortunately for him, the voracious predator, wishing to devour the very world, howled at the moon and the whole tower shook at the call of Fenrir.
Blades of steel and Darkness burst from the ground, spinning through the air until they stopped with their tips pointed at Katsuki.
All Might tensed, about to leap at his student's rescue.
Eijiro dashed, trying to reach his friend before he turned into a pincushion.
Shoto froze in indecision, not knowing if he should follow or protect the Shields in turn.
Eri still only had eyes for Izuku's shadow-afflicted form, that was why she saw it.
Ochaco flinched when the dark cloud in her hands vanished, her heart stilling for a second that quickly passed when his voice graced her ears.
"Thanks." Darkness gave way to green light with the faintest touches of orange that quickly fused with it. "I am here now." 30% of One For All roared, and Izuku moved.
A green thunderclap that shook the air and blinded all the people on the rooftop occurred. When the flash died down, Izuku stood past Fenrir, both Heartless and its arsenal trapped by black tendrils marked with a neon-green glow of power.
Izuku's coat fluttered in the wind, his extended arm overflowing with the Fifth's quirk. Blackwhip buzzed with energy like a power cable, its hold stronger than a vice. The quirk fed off Izuku's emotions, the Light in him making the shadowy tendrils extend far and wide.
Izuku knew of the Darkness in his heart, it was a part of him, just like it was a part of every other heart save for a few exceptions.
He was not an exception, which meant Izuku had to accept this part of himself, embrace it, and use it to fight for his friends…and his brother.
With 30% pulling several tons and snapping them onto the ground was child's play. The metal let out ear-rending groans at being smashed on the floor, over and over until only lumps of steel remained.
Fenrir didn't share its weapons' fate. The Heartless used its claws to slash at the tendrils, cutting them and freeing itself.
Izuku used the time the monster took to land to turn back and grab his friends. Blackwhip lassoing and pulling them up before gently depositing them on the floor.
They all got a look at Izuku, now free from the black clouds of Darkness that took him and felt pity at the sorry sight.
All Might sighed softly, "How do you feel, my boy?"
"Miserable." Izuku dried the fat tears still running down his face and opened a wet smile. "But I'll get better."
"Don't push yourself like that." Toshinori rubbed his head, earning a chuckle from the boy. "It's okay to not be okay."
"I know. I know it is, but it's better with you all here." He passed his eyes over each of them, seeing the people still by his side even after all that. There was one person missing, since the very start, and Izuku would get him back. "I can't mope around now. I have a job to do."
Fenrir howled again, forming more blades and making the heroes flinch.
"Okay, two jobs." Izuku hopped beside Ochaco, Melissa, and Eri, taking off his overcoat and putting it over the three of them. "You guys hold this for me. It's heavy but it will be fine if you three share the weight."
Eri finally had in herself to laugh again, "Stop being a baby!"
Melissa tried to grab Izuku's sleeve, "Wait! You just, you turned into that black thing and now you're gonna fight that?!"
"I'm not gonna fight." Izuku threw her a grin over his shoulder, his arms bursting with Blackwhip tendrils and Heroes Rising materializing in his hand. "I'm gonna win."
Katsuki barked a laugh and punched his shoulder, not bothered by the black stripes, "What are you waiting for then? Heartless are your problem, we already dealt with all the rest so at least do your part!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Izuku crouched, his aura flaring, and then he zipped away in a blur of green and black.
All Might watched his successor go with a smile back on his face. His boy would be alright.
David didn't share his certainty, "Toshi, you can't let him face that thing, he's just a student!"
The clash of steel started before the words could end. All Might knew he could break the blades into tiny little pieces and smash the Heartless to kingdom come, but it wouldn't solve anything. Only a Keyblade would get the job done, and more than that, "Didn't you see?"
They all turned to the hero, his students knowing what he meant while David and Melissa were both confused and shocked by his inaction.
Eri was the one to address their doubts, "Izuku's eyes. He was crying, but…he had his fire back."
"Exactly, my girl. Young Izuku found his resolve again." It had been lost since that day in the USJ, where Vanitas' appearance threw everything Izuku thought he knew on its head. Izuku had been left uncertain of who he was and what his reasons to fight really were.
Not anymore. Now, the fire in his eyes blazed brighter than any flame. He didn't need their help, no. At that moment, Izuku only needed to prove a point.
He had to prove to himself his resolve was true.
"I worried for nothing. This kid… All of you, children, already proved you can build a better future than I ever could." All Might let out a slow sigh, his shoulder relaxing minutely. "The world doesn't need me, it has all of you."
David stumbled back as if struck, the words almost a physical force against his worldview. Not only him, but Melissa stared shocked at her Uncle Might and how he seemed to make peace with his lot in life.
Ochaco, silently watching it all, finally felt the tightness in her chest easing. "The future is in good hands. Leave it to us."
"̴̼̟̓̌̓͛͒W̸̧̛̮̻͗̈̀̑̐̈̓̿̚ę̷̡̡̢̪̬͙̺͖̩̘̙̃̀ ̷̛͚̭̤̠̮̫͍͓͓̝̂̎̀̑̿̆̄̾͠ả̷͓͙̪̮̖̪͗̓̇̊͋̔̈́̉͆͘̕͝l̸̡̧̺̘̬̤͖̙̎̍̋̈́͛̽͛̒̀̉̄͘͝r̸̨̩̫̥̹̰̩̈́̋ë̸̯̹̘̪̠́̇̆̎̇̚̕͜͠ą̴̛̲̤̠̱̼͚̝̖̠͖̱̎͂̇̀̆͋̏̚͜͝ḑ̶̡̝͔͎͈̼͔̇̃̅̓͑̍͘̚͝ỵ̴̢͇̪̰̹̂͑͌͑͂̈́̇͑͜ͅ ̶̠͕̠͎͔̩̹͚̲͈͙͂̀̋̾̓͝b̸̞̜̳̈̄u̵̡̨͙̦̟̗̠̳͈̗̓̎̋͊͌͋̿̍̌ī̷̱̫͇̬̻̦̩̅̋̾̅̆̉̚l̴̛̛͙̹͑̿̽̒͝t̵̹̼̃̿͌̾ ̵̨̹͖̖͍͎̙̫̪̍̈́̋͊̅͋̂̂́͝ą̶̖̱̝̌̀͆̈́͐̉͜ ̴̘̥͉̿̈́͐͜ͅb̶̢̧̪̰̣̖̗͈̭̍͒̔͜e̴̛̪͓̯̱͕̖͔͍̫͐͊͝ͅt̵̫̗̣̗̲̖͓̰̩̄̐̈́͑̀̽̋͋͂t̵̢̝̠̣̲͓̪͍͈̖͈̓́̿̈̐͐̇̔̔͘͝ḛ̷̏͐͊̄́r̷͔͎̬̭͎͎͇̜̺̩̐͘̚͜ͅ ̶̘͙̻̥̙̫̘̟̎̍͒̅̀͛̈̄̒̾̚͝ͅf̴̧͍̜̜̫͎̀̈́̃͑̉͑́̈́͠u̴͓͕̘̙͚̭͓̬̮̳̩̾́̀͛̋̃̀̀̓̀̒̚͜͠ţ̴̠̤͚̱̻̄͗̈́̚ų̸̨̱͖̳͖̳̗͇̓͌ř̶̨̻̭̖͍̲͉̭͖̪̌̑̀̔͜e̸̠͛̔̕ ̷̘͔̪̺̞͓̖͙̱̜̗̤̮̂͠ô̸̡͔̮͔̝̟̰͚̙͔̽̽̃͗̓͝ͅń̵̨̡͉̰͚̙̣̱̰́̋̓̀̒͜ͅc̵̪̭̈́̕ẹ̷̰̼̬̹̗̻͎͈̈́͗̓͌̃̌͘̕͝͝.̷̺͚͕͇͙̺͕͚͉̔"̴̢̱̤̳̣͕̥͖͚̗͎͒̐̋͗̈́̚͝͝͝͝͝
A roar pierced the night, not from Fenrir, but from Izuku. The key bearer ripped and tore his way through a storm of swords, his eyes fixed on the Heartless while Danger Sense guided his blade.
Blackwhip spazzed and twisted, then it flowed right into Heroes Rising. One For All overcharged the Keyblade, creating a blade construct over it, and Blackwhip painted it from the inside.
"Black Armament!" With the colossal black blade leaving a trail of light from its neon-green edge, Izuku painted the night with each slash. They cleaved and hacked metal asunder, getting Izuku to Fenrir.
The Heartless pounced with its maw open wide, only to have it snapped closed by black tendrils.
"Get over here!" Izuku yanked the armored werewolf to him, distantly hearing First cheering about something. Either way, it was time for a beating.
Izuku dismissed his Keyblade and buried his fist into the metal shell, passing Fenrir and spinning it around with Blackwhip only to come back for a repeat. The Heartless trashed and clawed, but with Danger Sense it was almost trivial to dodge its attacks.
Each punch, kick, knee, and elbow left a dent in the Heartless armor. Still, it wasn't enough to take it out of the fight.
Fenrir's chains snapped at Izuku like angry snakes, missing the key bearer by millimeters every time. Blackwhip retaliated, flailing at the chains.
The Heartless howled directly at Izuku, sending a Darkness-infused soundwave that would have taken down a house.
Melissa already taught him the trick. Izuku guided a charge of Fa Jin into Blackwhip, making the ghostly fiber solidify. The straps of black-tinted green folded and stitched themselves over his fist, "Black Powder Cannon!"
The flaps strained, and a compressed stream of air formed from his punch pierced through the wall of sound.
Fenrir's armor had yet another dent added to it as Izuku's Black Powder Cannon spiked the Heartless onto the floor. Said warrior of light flew right behind it, crashing feet first on it and worsening the damage on the metal shell.
"Better get ready!" He backflipped, Blackwhip dragging the villain-turned-Heartless along. "Because this!" Izuku spun his Keyblade and hammered his fist on the bottom end, sending it right at Fenrir's chest where Heroes Rising impaled itself into the armor. "Will hurt a lot!"
Izuku reeled the Heartless closer, also shooting himself at it. Fist winded back, shining green and red with One For All and Fa Jin, making Izuku's intentions clear.
He was ending this!
"DETROIT SMASH!" Like a hammer on a nail, Izuku's fist transferred all the force behind it into his Keyblade with a punch covered in green lightning and letting out a red circle of light. The weapon went straight into the Heartless' core without delay, vanquishing the Darkness inside.
Fenrir let out one last howl before its form faded, a crystalline heart escaping the black smoke and floating away.
Izuku landed softly and looked up, at the heart disappearing in a flash and the moon up above.
"I'll find you. I promise."
With the silent vow made, the young hero turned back to his friends, all watching him prove his conviction. "And that's a job well done."
Katsuki, Eijiro, and Shoto cheered in their own distinctive ways, congratulating Izuku on another Heartless defeated.
When the boy rejoined them, All Might rubbed his head affectionately, but also with some strength, "YOU ARE STILL IN FOR AN EARFUL, MY BOY!"
"Fair." Izuku went to the girls and got his coat back, "Thanks for holding this for me, and sorry for the trouble."
Ochaco, clearly seeing those green-with-blue eyes bright again, found in herself to let the weight of that night slip away, "It isn't that heavy, stop being a baby."
"It is heavy!"
"It isn't."
To his pout, both Ochaco and Eri poked Izuku's cheeks, making the boy laugh.
"You guys are insane." Melissa broke their little moment, making them all look at her funny.
"You only realized that now?" They all said at once, as if practiced. From how they all shared surprised looks and laughs, it wasn't.
Melissa joined them, "But that's fine. I must have a screw or two loose too, seeing as I'm one of you guys."
"One of us. One of us. One of us!" Eijiro's cheering was quickly accompanied by the others, who drew Melissa into their middle.
David watched the kids being… well, kids, and sighed softly. "How can they be fine after all that?"
Toshinori put a firm hand on his friend's shoulder, "Because they're stronger than us."
Seeing them all laugh away a disaster and help each other pick themselves up after a veritable war, David had to agree.
—
"And that's a wrap. I have to say, not bad. Had me at the edge of my seat for a moment."
"Yes. My brother always had a penchant for theatrics, it seems his newest chosen do too."
"Yeah, because you aren't also a drama queen."
"I never said that."
The old friends shared a chuckle. That night had proved itself…
The figure looked at another screen, showing Vanitas rejoining the League of Villains without his mask.
…fruitful.
And that's mission complete!
Yes, a lot happened in this chapter. Let's go in parts. This chapter is called Answer because:
1) Izuku got his answer to what he has been missing and found his resolve again.
2) 42 is the answer to everything in the universe.
3) I literally just finished Episode Aigis which was called The Answer in the original Persona 3. And I mean literally, I watched the credits before preparing to post this.
All the parts aligned perfectly for this.
Now into more important parts. Izuku's Darkness form will be more explored soon, but I'll say in advance, it's nothing like his brother's or anyone else's. Blackwhip has joined Izuku's arsenal, and he's already putting it to good use, he even figured out Armament Haki!
The dreamcatcher Eri made sure was perfect for that situation, I wonder why that? How does she know exactly what he needed, huh? Eh, I'm sure it's nothing (laughs in plot).
Next chapter, the aftermath!
Also, of course, if you want to support me somehow, go to the infamous site that starts with P and search for Bola8. It's purely a tip jar, but it has helped me a lot, thanks to these wonderful people:
Guipa, SilverZero90, Godeater23, and kennine.
My most heartfelt thanks to you all!
Also, join the discord and join us in the madness! (Remember to delete the spaces!)
discord . gg / stAGY4V
