02/07/2024
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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 33 - Landscapes of the Mind
Izuku knew that like most people, he dreamed, but, also, like a lot of people, he didn't remember them. That's what made it so odd when he did and as he lay in bed and thought, he wasn't certain that what he remembered was a dream.
It was odd enough for a dream. And now that he was awake, the memory lacked the hard feel of reality but he knew, at the time, that it had felt so real. Now that he was awake, it was obvious that it wasn't real.
He had been on a beach. Probably on an island because when he'd looked to the left and right, it had turned and disappeared. It felt like an island. Izuku had turned to look at the ocean and it had stretched into forever before him. The water was clear and small waves washed against the white sand beach. He'd heard a noise then. Something that was so out of place yet perfectly suited to a beach, the squeal of a child.
Izuku had known immediately that the child wasn't in any danger. It was a squeal of happiness but as he turned to look at the island, he realised he couldn't see any footsteps in the sand and there was lush greenery shielding whatever was happening on the island.
He was curious now and had stepped forward. His bare foot dug into the sand and he felt it hit something solid. Without even thinking Izuku had brushed the sand away using Caeli Imperium and was left staring at a skull. It looked to be a human skull but it wasn't complete. Half of it was missing so he was looking at one eye socket, and a half row of teeth. The lower jaw was gone… Izuku had looked at it for a few moments and was surprised that he didn't feel anything at seeing it. Then he'd realised, it was just a skull. He had no idea how it had gotten here, who it was or anything. It was bleached white, which would indicate it had been on the beach for a long time, so long it was the same white as the sand. Whoever it had been, their skull had been here for a while, so there was nothing he could do for them.
Another happy squeal had distracted him and Izuku had looked up. It sounded like it was coming from just behind the shielding layer of greenery. He took another step and soon, the sand under his feet turned into the softer feel of soil. It was moist without being squelchy and he carefully lifted the big leaves as he headed further on to the island. He did cast one eye back to the beach. He couldn't see the skull but he could see the way the white of the sand and the blue of the water interacted with each other. The colours were so vivid, and not even the shadow in the water could change that.
Izuku looked back at the greenery. There were trees and bushes and as he took a few steps further, he could see a sort of path between them. It was narrow, but definitely there because it was the only part of the ground that wasn't covered in leaf litter. Izuku had frowned at that. There was something odd there and it was only because he was awake now that he realised what it was. There were no trees that had leaves of the shape that were covering the ground.
His dreams were weird!
He hadn't been concerned then. There was sort of a blanket over his mind, keeping him calm in his dream, something that told him he was safe and that nothing would hurt him. Izuku hadn't minded that. It was kind of nice and he walked with a sort of dreamy lassitude towards where he could hear the squeals of the child… children, he figured, listening to their pitch.
It didn't take long for the leaves and foliage to open up into some sort of clearing. It was the oddest clearing Izuku had ever seen as it seemed to be bigger than the island and it was covered in an assortment of things. There were tables bearing food! A jumping castle. A ball pit and what looked to be a petting zoo, the type that could travel for events. There were even some beds, which appeared to be occupied by children who were sleeping soundly. Izuku just took it in for a few moments and then his eyes focused on the outer areas of the clearing. They were different. There was a series of solid looking poles driven into the ground. He was actually standing beside one. Izuku looked up at them and just stared. Each of the poles had a cross beam and adorning each of those cross beams was a crucified person. He just stared at them for a few moments, feeling oddly detached.
It was only now, that he was awake that Izuku could put names to the faces of those crucified. Overhaul, Kai Chisaki had been there, and his two henchmen. There was the other guy there too, the one who wouldn't shut up. Izuku frowned. Why had they been in his dream?
He didn't have an answer now and in his dream he hadn't cared about the answer. He'd been distracted from the crucified people by another happy squeal. This one had been directed at him.
"Dragon! Look at me! Look at how high I can jump!" The cry had surprised him and Izuku's eyes had immediately snapped to the jumping castle. There was a little girl there, bouncing in it with wild abandon. She had long grey hair that was going everywhere as she moved and she was grinning at him with every bounce.
In his dream, Izuku had recognised her, even though he'd only met her for a few minutes in real life. This was the girl who was behind the Shie Hassaikai's drugs. He hadn't been able to answer her. He wanted to but in his dream he had been silent but Izuku knew he'd smiled at her and felt a vague worry. It wasn't about the bodies that lined the clearing, instead he was worried that she could see them. She had to be able to but she showed no sign that they were distressing her.
None of the children here seemed to be distressed at the bodies and for his dream self, that was enough.
He'd remained watching for what was probably a few minutes, taking in all the activities. There were mostly children here and they seemed to be having fun.
Movement from behind him startled him and Izuku turned. This time he knew immediately who was there. It was the lady who had given him Solar Force, Saisho Kijo. She was dressed in another kimono. It looked fancy but Saisho wore it as if it meant nothing.
"Well, little man," she greeted him. "I told you that I wanted a part of me to see the future," she said with a grin.
Izuku nodded. He could still remember everything from that day, including the way Saisho had been sitting in the sun. She'd almost glowed then but that was just his memory. Saisho looked younger now but he still knew exactly who he was.
"I just never thought I'd be running a nursery," Saisho said.
Izuku had frowned, and looked back at the clearing. Is this what it was? It looked like a huge birthday party for a child.
"You do know how to make things interesting, don't you?" Saisho asked him.
He couldn't answer and Izuku, in the dream, had known that Saisho didn't need him to answer. She already knew what he'd say. Instead she'd looked up at the sky and smiled. "And here comes the other star of the show!" Saisho had announced.
Izuku wasn't sure what she'd been saying but then a shadow passed over the clearing and everything became darker. There was a shower of water, which elicited more squeals of excitement from the children. The water was salty and Izuku looked up, straight into the enormous eye of a huge sea dragon that was looming over them.
And then he'd woken up.
Izuku took a deep breath. It was such a weird dream and he had no idea what any of it meant. The obvious inference was that the people there were those who's quirks he'd taken but if that was the case then why were some crucified and others were just playing? And why did those playing not care about those who were crucified?
Or was he just dreaming and subconsciously putting the faces of those who's quirk's he'd taken to the figures he encountered? That would then save him from having to imagine real people and… their features were in his memory. Maybe it was just that he recognised the girl and Saisho because they were important to his life? The girl hadn't done anything but he could see the potential of her quirk.
Maybe he was reading too much into this?
But if he wasn't then… what was that eye, that sea dragon? The last dream he'd had like this had included something like that. A huge eye had been behind everything and…
Izuku sat up and shook his head. It was a dream.
A particularly lucid dream. One that featured people he knew. But it was a dream.
He'd never been to the previous setting and he sure as hell had never been to the island he appeared to have been on in the dream he'd just had so… They were just dreams. Nothing more.
He sighed and yawned before stretching. If the dream meant something then he'd just have to find out what it was later. For now he had to get up and…
Actually it would probably be a good time to test Eri's quirk again. Yakuni said it required some sort of energy but he didn't know what. He had said that sometimes the girl couldn't use it, presumably because it didn't have energy. So… It had been a couple of days since he'd tried it. He should try it again. Yakuni was copying Himiko's quirk but if he could cure her faster then that would be best. And the sooner he could figure out Eri's quirk, then the sooner he could figure out if it could be used to help his dad and Ochaco. He thought it could but it was best to be sure.
Izuku got up and got dressed and then went to the kitchen. No one else was up so he fixed himself a bowl of cereal and picked out several pieces of fruit from the bowl. Kurogiri would probably complain he was using the expensive stuff. Fruit was more expensive than vegetables but… the fruit was here! And he wasn't entirely sure where Kurogiri was putting the vegetables.
Besides, if he got the quirk working, then… Well, there wouldn't be any fruit but the payoff was far more valuable than some fruit.
He ate some cereal and then looked at the first piece of fruit. Maybe he should practice with Overhaul's quirk as well? It couldn't hurt. Carefully Izuku envisaged the fruit lying in four neat quarters. The cuts would be clean, and go through the white, crisp flesh of the apple evenly. A seed would be cleanly cut through as well and there would be no juice under the fruit because the cuts would be sharp.
Wait… Izuku remembered the quirk worked to disassemble and then reassemble an item. He got to decide how far he went with the process. Izuku shifted his thoughts slightly. The image he wanted was the disassembled fruit, and that was the limit to what he wanted disassembled and he did not want to reassemble it at all.
With that vision and thought firmly in mind Izuku pulled on Overhaul and directed the quirk to cut the fruit. There was a moment where nothing happened before the fruit fell into quarters.
Izuku held back his smile, which was just as well, because a moment later the pieces of apple slumped further, into a pulpy, juicy mess. He sighed. Overhaul, the quirk, was as recalcitrant as its owner had been. Instead, he focused on the girl's quirk, and briefly imagined the apple as it had been. Smooth and red with some yellow dapples on the skin. He wanted that, not pollen, Izuku told himself, and the quirk firmly before he let it go.
The apple reformed. The juice disappeared from the table and the flesh reassembled into an apple. Izuku held his breath and waited but unlike last time he couldn't feel the quirk still working. He took a breath. The apple stayed. He took another one. The apple was unchanged.
He smiled. "That's a good girl," Izuku murmured before touching the apple. It felt like it should. He brought it to his nose and sniffed. It even smelt like it should. He was half afraid that it would still be pulpy flesh and a skin holding it in shape but the apple felt firm and good.
Izuku ate some more cereal as he thought about it. His Father had once told him that he didn't like naming quirks because it confined what you thought they could do. He had also explained that using quirks was often about intent. There were those that were simple. Enhanced strength made him stronger, regeneration healed him but others were more complicated… which is where intent came into it.
Hitoshi's quirk was a great example. He had to intend to use his quirk when he spoke to you for it to work. At least, he did now. There had been incidents in the past where he hadn't meant to use his quirk but they were when he was learning.
Ochaco's was the same, though with her's she also had to activate the quirk with the five finger touch. Then she had to intend to use it. And more than that, she then had to determine how high something should rise. That was all intention.
Eri's quirk appeared to be the same. At least at where it stopped rewinding. That was good. He'd been slightly worried that it was more complex. It was more complex, Izuku immediately reminded himself. There was still the matter of energy.
He looked at another apple and felt for the quirk. It still felt… It felt strong and Izuku contrasted that with the way it had felt after turning the apple to pollen. Then it had felt somehow hollow. He nodded to himself. It wasn't exact but it was a way of telling how much power he had with the quirk. Izuku looked back at the apple and thought this time that he wanted it to be half formed. It would be smaller but much the same. He'd had a chance to look at some pictures of apple growth patterns so he knew that's what it should be like. Then he released the quirk.
Quickly the apple shrunk and then there was a pop.
Izuku sighed and looked at the table. There was a small amount of yellow dust there. Pollen again.
Though, interestingly the quirk wasn't exhausted the way it had been last time…
Izuku stirred the last of his cereal in the milk as he thought. He should catalogue the facts. Lots of people said quirks were illogical but they followed their own rules. He'd determined that the quirk results were about intent… Mostly. He had to work on his concentration and now he had to figure out the energy.
Last time, he'd had the quirk for about twelve hours when he used it and it turned an apple into pollen. This time it was longer between uses. Could it be that simple? Apples took between 40 to 60 days to form so if he said an average of 50 days… Izuku pulled out his phone. If 12 hours equated to about 50 days of time then X hours since he'd last used the quirk, must equate to about Y days of time. He'd rewound the first apple only a few moments, maybe a few days at the most and the second one the full 50 days, which meant he had energy to spare.
He finished the last of the cereal and rested his chin on his hands. It was only a guess and he'd need to check. He'd also need something far more precise to measure the amount rewound to the time to charge the quirk… What could he use for that?
Maybe one of the Nomu? If the Doctor or Yakuni did something to one of them, and he rewound them then that could give them a timeline. It would also allow him to check if size made a difference on the energy use to rewind time. Thus far he'd only used apples, and they were small. Would the greater mass of the Nomu make a difference? And if he used a Nomu he'd have a chance of practicing on a person.
And if he went too far…
He didn't want to think of people as expendable or collateral damage but in the case of the Nomu, he knew they were already dead, so it really wouldn't matter.
Izuku nodded to himself. That was a plan and to properly implement it, first he had to exhaust the quirk's energy supply. Though if his theory was right, even if his numbers were wrong, that would explain why the girl's first use of it had been so unfortunate. She'd have activated it without the slightest thought of intent and it had just run until it was out of energy. But then she'd had it for years after that and…
He shook his head. The Yakuza had never really figured out what they had. Their failure was his gain.
Izuku looked at the fruit bowl… Kurogiri would kill him if he turned them all back to pollen… He'd better go find the vegetables. They were cheaper.
And then he'd need to note down the time and start really paying attention.
He could do that.
-ted-
Dreams and practicing :D Izuku wants to use Rewind on Himiko but he's not going to use it until he's sure he knows exactly what it does. This is especially true because he also wants to use it on Daddy-dearest. And Ochaco... and potentially any hero who annoys him but Rewind might be a bit too valuable to use as a combat quirk. Depends on how fast it charges.
Discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all! Not just about MHA.
-ted-
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