Hey everyone,
So March has come and gone, which means it passed my birthday :O and while it was better than it had been better in the most recent years, it's always a weird time for me where I get a tad depressed.
And writing doesn't tend to get much easier during that time as well, so if this chapter is a "little" off, I apologize and hope you enjoy what is coming next.
Also, I do hope everyone enjoyed the update to chapter 51 with the smut scenes that were originally taken out and had to be re-written back in X_X never doing that again I can tell you.
But yea, sit back and enjoy this chapter once I get through the reviews as we get closer and closer to a long-fated battle.
Reviews:
Silvanium: Considering the fact that not only is Quinn's Aether within Izuku, but also ALL the aether from the various job stones that were used would make something similar and quite different, it makes sense why Feo Ul didn't recognize her sapling.
For the crossing of shards, Pixies can't really cross them physically, but they can look into the dreams of people across the shards, much like Feo Ul did for the Player's retainers as well as communicate with Tataru in making the ShB outfits for Urianger, Thancred, and Y'shtola. And while Quinn's Aether was still connected to everyone's favorite red-headed pixie, he was still an anchor point for her, and when his aether left his body, that went away until it was given to a certain green bean. :D
MGoH: She missed her Sapling, and now some stranger has his aether! how DARE they!
PMC-MM: While the idea of Magitek becoming more widespread is a scary thought, remember that technology in the MHA world is fairly limited and that Nezu basically controls the worlds aether crystals, so there would be some control, and even if someone was trying to bypass the use of said crystals, nothing in the MHA world has that kind of power compared to the darn things.
As for Titan? Probably the ShB, because I REALLY hate the ARR version _; he looks so dumb.
And maybe Nabriales will have his sights set on something else for the time being to realize Izuku has left the country.
fallendemon248: Yea, funny how a book on MHA earth knew of a way to summon Feo Ul to their world. And talking about what happened may help, if the hot-headed pixie king is willing to listen.
BIGGZ1344: Even as cute as they are, the fae can be truly terrifying.
chunnin33: SUPER SPICY!
TheRealShenron: Izuku meeting Matoya outside of flashbacks to when Quinn met her is never going to happen, considering 600 years have passed and she is probably long dead.
Which begs the question... How is Krile still alive after all this time? ;o
Fyr RedNight: Well wait no more! hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter 54
Two for the Price of One
If Izuku knew how this day would have turned out today, he would have opted to stay in bed.
Granted, that in itself would have been a great idea, given that he had awoken to Tsuyu cuddling up to him in his bed, only to then wake up and 'work out' with him while the dorm rooms were still vacant of their classmates and before Eri would wake up and their focus turned towards her.
But no, Izuku was never one to waste a day doing nothing, much to the girls and his mother pleading to take a day of rest from time to time. But after today and what he had just been a part of, Izuku felt like he would need to take a vacation soon.
"Well, you certainly had an interesting afternoon, wouldn't you say, Mr. Midoriya? Miss Komori?" Nezu spoke calmly as he rested his paws on the desk, looking across towards the three individuals before him. Two of which were his students, their clothes disheveled and torn in a few places with some grass stains here and there, along with a few stray mushrooms that would eventually fall off and join the small number that had already landed on the ground.
"Y-you can say that….'' Izuku sighed, scratching his cheek as the now much smaller Feo Ul sat on top of his green curls cross-legged while looking about the room with curiosity.
"W-We aren't in trouble, are we, Dean Nezu?" Kinoko spoke up, her eyes hidden, but from her body language was clearly embarrassed and also frightened of what would happen with her and Izuku.
"Considering that no one was hurt, and you were able to keep the fight secluded in the forest, There shouldn't be any issues, Miss Komori… but if you could be so kind as to further continue telling me of your confrontation with King Titania."
"Oi! Don't be talking like I am not here, you fuzzball!" said 'King' had spoken up, knocked out of her sightseeing and flew right into his face, "Just because you are in charge here doesn't mean you can ignore me!"
"Feo Ul!" Izuku said aloud, shocked at how the pixie was behaving towards Nezu, and Komori had a frightened look on her face. Even if the mushroom girl didn't know about the dean's 'true' nature, she knew, like all the students and teachers here, that one should never anger Nezu.
But the diminutive Dean merely smiled, bowing his head gently to the much smaller fae king, "You have my apologies; that was not my intention, your Majesty. But we do need to finish the rest of the tale."
Feo Ul merely huffed, floating over towards Kinoko and lightly landing on her shoulder, beginning to braid the girl's hair. Kinoko froze, making sure not to shake or bother the literal fairy on her shoulder as, at the same time, Nezu turned towards Izuku, "You may continue, Mr. Midoriya."
Izuku turned his gaze away from the shorter woman and pixie and looked back to the dean, nodding his head, "Right, So…. "
Izuku grunted as he tackled both himself and Kinoko away from the roots that had shot up from the ground, looking to ensnare them. However, it was all for naught as the roots had continued to lengthen, quickly wrapping around his ankle and calf and yanking him back and into the air.
"Evil! WICKED Body snatcher! As if it was bad enough for one of your ilk to take the Warrior of Darkness' body as a puppet, but now you do it to MY sapling!" Titania shouted, with more roots beginning to push up from the ground and coil around the struggling teen.
"W-Wait, I can expl-MMF!" Izuku had tried to call out but was cut off when a thick root wrapped around his mouth and pulled tight, neatly choking the boy as the gigantic fairy's shadow loomed over his struggling body.
"No! I will not listen to ANY of your filthy, naughty LIES!" Titania spoke in a deep and foreboding tone, her eyes cold and uncaring as more roots and branches began to entrap the teenager, "I will take back his aether and cleanse it of your evil!"
Slowly raising up her staff, the end where it was decorated with large flower petals began to glow as from within the roots came the pained and muffled shout of Izuku, continuing to struggle from within his prison, unable to shift into his kits for whatever reason as he could feel something deep within him begin to drain from his body.
"Hush your screams, for they won't do anything to save you, Ascian!" Titania spoke over the pained shouts, only to notice a small mushroom suddenly sprout on top of her nose. Halting her spell for the moment, the Fae King gently plucked it off before another soon appeared on her cheek, then another and another until most of her face and neck were covered with the bulbous fungi.
"L-Leave Midoriya alone!" came the cry of Komori, not only holding the book close to her body, but her hand stretched out as more and more mushrooms began to form along the King's gown and body.
"Foolish mortal! You do not know the powers you pit yourself against- Ack! *patooey* One got in my mouth!" cried the King, having tried to keep the demeanor of the King of the Fae, only to fail as a few of the mushrooms had ended up in her mouth.
Kinoko, for the most part, was panting heavily, focusing on her barrage of ever-growing mushrooms and using those spores to create more of her fungal children upon the giant fairy's body. The shorter woman's knees were wobbly, however, despite her courage in trying to aid her crush, she knew that this was only a temporary measure, given the fact that, according to her many books on the subject, Titania wasn't just any fairy.
She was one of the most powerful ones.
This proved to be the case, as a sudden shout of 'Enough!' coming from the red-headed king had caused all of the mushrooms that had grown on her body to wither into nothing, falling to the ground harmlessly as more roots suddenly sprouted up and took hold of Kinoko's ankles and wrists, causing the book she was holding tightly fall to the ground and open on a random page in front of her. Izuku watched as his class 1-B counterpart struggled while Titania dusted off a few errant mushrooms before leveling her icy glare down at the student.
"Think you are, oh so clever, don't you?" Spoke the king while Kinoko looked up in fear, with the vines curling up her arms and legs to secure her to the ground.
"N-no! B-But you were hurting Midoriya! A-and I couldn't allow that!" Kinoko shouted up to Titania, who tilted their head with a raised eyebrow before her gaze hardened her gaze as if peering into her soul.
After a few silent moments, with Izuku still struggling and beginning to feel the roots loosen around one of his arms, Titania sighed and shook her head after a bit, speaking in a low tone of voice, "Poor child, to have such feelings for a nasty trickster like the Ascian, but don't worry… I have plans for you."
Kinoko's eyes widened in fright at how this giant person had spoken and also outing her to Izuku, who kept on struggling to free at least one of his arms. One of her eyes could be seen as she looked up to the King but knew she had to buy some time somehow, "W-what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to turn you into a Leafman." Titania said bluntly while resting the top of her staff upon her free hand, "I can feel your connection to nature itself from within you, little one, as if your little magic trick with those mushrooms were a given, and to be honest, I would turn you into a pixie, but you don't have enough aether to fully accomplish that. So! Leafman you shall become!"
Izuku was furiously trying to free one arm now, his bewildered look from before turned almost feral as he was also trying to bite through the root that was placed over his mouth, watching on as Titania slowly moved the top end of her staff towards Kinoko, who was struggling to free herself, but stopped when the orb was directly above her and beginning to glow.
Titania could see the tears starting to stream out of Kinoko's visible eye, "Do not worry, little one, you won't feel a thing."
Time seemed to stop, with Izuku reaching out his now free hand towards Kinoko, in some vain attempt to stop Titania. Kinoko closed her eyes, screaming out for the green-haired boy to rescue her, and as Titania was smugly smirking down at the mushroom topped girl, eager to see a new Leafman, only to suddenly recoil as from the book laying in between them suddenly burst to life with a semi-dim light pillaring out from its pages, only for a whirling ball of green light to spring forth and block the spell with a barrier that surrounded Kinoko.
All who were watching the event gasped slightly when the ball landed on the ground, this time not as a ball but as a brightly colored green fox creature appeared before them; its big eyes looked about as it flitted its head from side to side, long ears shifting about as the ruby on its forehead shone gently.
The creature's three tails whiffed about as it was clearly looking for something, only to have its head stop when it gazed upon the entrapped boy with his arm still reaching out towards the two.
Titania snapped out of her surprise, moving her staff towards the creature, "No! It's not him! Don't you dare-" but it was already too late; the small beast had dashed quickly towards the outreached hand of Izuku, dodging and weaving past more roots trying to catch it, before leaping high into the air towards the constricting heap that was trying to pull Izuku away.
As the small green fox traveled towards Izuku, the young warrior of light mustered all of his strength to reach his hand out towards the creature now, all the while the heavy migraine within his head pulsed back to life, similar to when he found this forest clearing, and as he felt the somewhat fuzzy head of the creature, three similar words echoed in his head, and his vision turned pure white, he could hear a mighty roar ring out in his ears.
Both Titania and Kinoko screamed loudly from the pillar of light that had engulfed the pile of roots and the strong wind that had kicked up when it had appeared. Kinoko grew more frightened when she heard the furious roar coming from within the pillar before it had disappeared just as quickly as it came and allowed not only her but also Titania to look to the source of the chaos, only to gasp at the sight.
Standing upon the outspread roots was Izuku, his arms crossed over his chest and looking down upon both women, but his eyes were focused on Titania, who merely gulped when she could feel the coldness from within his usually bright green eyes.
The clothes he was wearing were very regal, almost scholarly in a way, although they looked straight out of the European Victorian age from what Kinoko could guess, with the golden trimmings along with the cuffs and edges of the ebony jacket, with a frilled white shirt that could be seen underneath, with green silken cloth hung loosely at his side and held up by more golden ornaments, with matching (and tight) dark pants and leather boots that traveled up to his knees where they were capped off with golden protectors. Hanging off of his waist was a hefty tome, and from the angle where she was, Kinoko could see the spine and what was odd was how there seemed to be a latch or something similar attached to the thing, with what looked like a small ornament shaped like the strange fox creature that had protected her before. And even with an unimpressed look on his face, the mushroom-loving woman would admit he looked like a prince from one of her fairy tales.
But while Kinoko was admiring the 'dashing' new outfit of her savior, Titania was growing far more worried as it wasn't just him that was causing the Fae King to do so, but the giant dragon, glowing slightly blue with its enormous wings spread out the exuded not only elegance, but power that was currently hovering behind the boy like some great protector.
Staring at him for a few moments more before snapping herself out of shock, Titania began to speak, "Y… You can't… how? How are you able to use my sapling's abilities?! W-what trickery is-"
"Feo Ul."
The fae king's voice dropped to silence at the mention of her actual name, gripping her staff tightly as she began to curl inward to herself. She knew that tone of voice and the look he was giving her.
When one of her little 'pranks' went too far, like when she had replaced one of Urianger's tarot cards with a bunch of leaves with crudely drawn and vulgar images on them or changed the color of the twin's clothes to the opposite ones and causing confusion amongst the Scion's, that was when that tone of voice and look would emerge, which would mean she was either going to be lectured upon or in a world of hurt.
And judging by the dragon behind him, it looked like the latter.
"N-Now, let's be civil about this-" "Akh Morn!"
The shrill screech echoed out of the forest as a fiery pillar of white blasted out of the canopy had caused many birds from within the trees to scatter.
"... and once we were able to clean ourselves up a bit and convince Feo Ul to come with us, we came directly here." Izuku had finished the story, sipping some tea given to him during his retelling by Nezu, as the dean looked towards the still slightly miffed but equally distracted fairy still braiding one of his student's hair.
Turning his attention to his green-haired charge, Nezu smiled while leaning back in his chair, "I take it you had to reveal much to Feo Ul for her to come, somewhat quietly?"
"Oh, aye, my green sapling told me many things, and while I'm still not totally convinced of his stories, I could see in his heart he was telling some of the truth." Feo Ul spoke with mirth in her voice before going back to humming and continuing her work on Kinoko's hair, before gasping with a big smile, "And there we are, my dear little one, a cute braid for a cute girl such as yourself."
While both Nezu and Izuku tried to hide their amused chuckles from the slightly embarrassed Kinoko, who eventually stammered out a thank you as the dean turned back to Izuku, his tone of voice non-threatening but having an air of authority to it, "And how much did you reveal, Mr. Midoriya?"
Izuku bit his lower lip, thinking of the best and least damaging way to answer the Moogle King, "W-Well… I told Feo Ul what Quinn did for me, as a baby… and how because of that, I have access to his former powers, amongst other things."
"And I assume Miss Komori was in earshot of all this?"
While Izuku hesitated to answer, Kinoko spoke up, "Y-Yes, I heard what he told Feo Ul, b-but I promise not to say anything! I-I know that it's something personal to Midoriya if he has been keeping it quiet for so long."
"Well, that's good!" Nezu clapped his hands, a smile beaming on his face, "That means we won't need to wipe your memory!"
"W-What?!"
"Nezu!"
"Now, now, none of that, you two! I was merely joking." The dean cackled lightly, ignoring the deadpan look on Izuku and the frightened one on Kinoko as both knew that Nezu wasn't joking. Once he had calmed down, he had raised a paw out to Midoriya, "Now, I am curious about this new tome of yours; if you could present it to me, my boy?"
Izuku blinked before nodding and quickly shifted into the new kit he had obtained earlier that day, presenting the book to the dean before shifting back to his more casual look, "Is there something wrong, sir?"
"No, no, I am just curious about it, given that you obviously unlocked the powers of the 'Summoner'... yet your attire just now was more akin to the 'Scholar'." Nezu said as he looked over the hefty book with surprising ease, and while the three others in the room watched the small creature flip about the item, Nezu's beady little eyes soon fell upon the strange latched ornament on the spine, "Well, this is fascinating."
"What is it, sir?"
"Hmm? Oh! It's quite simple. Thanks to today's earlier events, you have awakened two kits!" Nezu raised his hands in celebration, causing Izuku to go wide-eyed and stammering for a few moments.
"Two?! H-How is this possible?!"
"Well, to put it simply, the two kits are very similar regarding how Quinn was able to use them before and branching from the same school of magic." Nezu held up the book to show the spine to the three people across his desk, "The first one, referred to as the 'Summoner' I mentioned previously, is akin to a puppeteer of sorts. They can summon great aspects of 'Primals' to use in battle and strike down their foes."
"Um.. what… is a 'Primal'?" Kinoko asked, clearly confused at the naming concepts.
Nezu smiled at the mushroom girl, "A 'Primal', my dear, is an intelligent being summoned forth using special magical rituals. Our guest Feo Ul would be considered such a being since she holds the mantle of 'King Titania'."
Kinoko quickly turned her head towards the tiny pixie, who was floating in place and looking at her nails, and with a bit of pride in her voice, "Not that I would call myself a 'Primal', but what he said is technically true, by his definition."
"Indeed," Nezu continued on, gaining everyone's attention once more, "The one exception, however, would be the small green creature Midoriya had summoned initially, that is called a 'Carbunkle', and it acts as a sort of a blank slate until the essence of those beings are introduced, where they take on their 'forms' and gain elemental powers based upon the aether of the Primal."
Izuku was deep in thought as he listened to Nezu's explanation before realization dawned on him, "W-Wait, is that why the Carbunkle turned into that dragon?"
"Excellent deduction, Midoriya! During Quinn's adventures and as he learned the summoning arts, he had exposed his body to the primal aethers of these 'divine' beings to harness and use for his own needs." Nezu took a sip of his tea, sighing happily while he explained, "The dragon you summoned is one based on the elder primal, Bahamut."
And while it wasn't asked upon, both Kinoko and Izuku knew that this 'Bahamut' must have been a more powerful being than the standard primal.
"The others I can go into detail with you later, but this would be an excellent time to explain the other aspect, the 'Scholar'."
It was then that Nezu had reached out towards the small and clearly, dragon wing-like ornament on the spine of the closed book, pulling it down with an audible clicking sound to reveal the other side to be that of a more angelic wing.
"Scholars would prioritize healing and boosting magic with the aid of their faerie companions. Unlike the Carbunkle, they can think for themselves and act independently, and the more powerful 'Seraph' they could summon if the scholar was powerful enough."
"Now, as to why these two different aspects merged together, it may have to do with the fact that when Quinn had combined all the aether of his powers into you, Midoriya, and since the summoner and scholar have similar principles… well… I'm sure you can figure out the rest."
Izuku nodded his head, his hand on his chin while muttering to himself as the dean had finished his explanation, while Kinoko looked a little lost, as well as Feo Ul, who at this point was resting on top of the Class 1-B student's head. But, a buzzer from the intercom on Nezu's desk broke the green-haired boy's thought process as Nezu clapped his hands together, "Excellent, they arrived on time."
"Um... who are you talking about, Dean?" Izuku asked before suddenly getting a chill running up his spine and feeling the temperature in the room drop when a mass of shadows appeared at the door leading into the office they were currently in. Kinoko gasped as she tried to shrink down as much as possible into her seat as Feo Ul moved off of her head and flew underneath the desk, clearly distressed as if someone had said the most evil and dreaded word of fairies over a loudspeaker.
Nezu just smiled, resting in his much comfier chair and sipping his tea, "Why, your partners, of course. They grew rather worried when you failed to return to the dorms in a timely manner and the sudden explosion out in the middle of the forest."
The door slowly opened, revealing the four women in his life, and while there was a quick flash of relief of seeing their boyfriend relatively safe on their faces, before fading back instantly to cold fury, considering that he had JUST survived an encounter with not only Stain but had witnessed his battle against the Primal Nomu on television and then had been silent since then to all of them but Tsuyu.
As they slowly filed in, forming a semi-circle around the green-haired boy, who was slowly looking around the angered, yet still beautiful faces of the most precious people in his life. Izuku spoke softly and with his trademark stutter in full effect, clearly frightened of the 'aura' they seemed to have currently, as he too began to shrink himself inward.
"I-I can explain?"
The darkened halls of Aldera High School lit up briefly when the passing of a car drove past the building before returning back to the cold darkness once again. The sound of metal boots on the polished floors echoed through the silence as Deku rounded the corner. His pink irises looked about as he casually and slowly walked down the hallway.
He raised one of his hands as he strolled through the corridor, dragging the clawed fingers of the gauntlet against the wall as he sighed heavily. Even if the school was clearly empty, given that this was the middle of the night, he could still hear the faint echoes of the everyday life present at the school.
The faint echoes of students rushing to classes, teachers shouting out names or lost lessons to the ignorant masses of young people, or the various buzzers that would ring that told the future generation to move to their following lecture of falsehoods and empty promises.
Eventually, Deku had reached the door he had been searching for, the one where he spent his final days at this hell hole before the event that changed his life, and he escaped. Knowing that the door would be locked, Deku grunted as he had ripped the door off its track, causing the old wooden thing to splinter and crack before colliding against the floor with a resounding thud that echoed off the walls.
The dark aspect didn't care for the noise, knowing that even the teachers that would roam as security had been long gone at this point. The pink-haired being soon entered the room he had just opened up, taking in the various scents and sights, slowly making his way to his target.
His old desk.
Deku squinted his eyes in the dark; flashes of memories appeared within his mind, of all the times his classmates would bully him or the way the teacher would offhandedly encourage the treatment or give a blind eye to the constant harassment he suffered daily. As his fingers slowly moved along the clearly refurbished surface, the echoes of the past seemed to fade back into silence.
Clearly, this place wasn't what he was looking for.
Stepping out into the hallway, Deku moved past the destroyed door towards the staircase. Clearly, the new administration had begun to clean and wipe away the stain of the previous staff's sins, which meant that any signs of his pain and horrific events within these walls would be similarly erased.
But, there was one place Deku knew that was still 'safe'; it was so evident that he would have needed to look there first rather than waste time in his old classroom.
As the classroom wasn't the worst of his experiences within Aldera.
Heading down the stairs until he reached the first floor, Deku continued his pace towards the one place he knew would give him what he desired.
As he made his way down the still empty hallways, more echoes of his past could be heard ringing in his ears, growing louder with every step towards his destination, so much so he could begin to listen to key words and sounds within his mind.
"Failure."
"Evolution Reject."
"Disruptive Nuisance."
"Quirkless Loser."
These phrases, the phantom pains caused by the beatings he would take, and the echoing cries of himself calling out at every hit began to plague his mind, and were the shadows of the classrooms and hall suddenly growing more prominent and moving closer to him?
And then there was silence.
Deku shook his head at the weird tingling from the sudden departure of noise and visions as he gazed upon the one place he never would have thought to come back to.
Before the armor-clad aspect was a very old door, not a sliding one similar to classrooms, but a regular door that looked old and marred by time, with semi-faded dark stains sprinkled against its surface that looked to be the splatter of dried blood.
A place hidden away from the rest of the school, blind to any of the security cameras, where any of his tormentors could easily drag him off or corner him. How many times was he beaten here? Ridiculed? Told to kill himself for being a waste of space?
While Bakugo's had been the most impactful, given their previous history, it was far from the only time he had been told to kill himself. And it wasn't just the boys either that 'suggested' him to do so. The girls would do the same, albeit more psychologically, as they tormented him with their constant 'pranks' and twisted his emotions.
Deku was taking deep breaths; his finger twitched with hesitation as he slowly reached out to the handle. The echoes of insults and harassment grew louder with every inch his hand got closer to the old metal doorknob, as well as a beating of a heart that seemed to be coming from behind the door pounded in his head, with the shadows once again creeping eagerly and almost hungrily towards the boy.
As soon as his hand grabbed the knob, everything grew silent except for the deep pants of his breath echoing out into the void. The world seemed to stop as if waiting for the boy's final decision, that one last step needed to either complete what he wished to do from the start or shove it back down deep within him to try and forget everything once again.
And while the latter seemed to be the more sane and safer option, Deku's grip on the metal tightened in regards to that option as that is what happened to him for so many years.
Shoved down into the darkest pits of one's soul and hoping to be forgotten.
Never again.
The door slammed open, the inky blackness suddenly consuming the person before it, like a creature opening its maw and swallowing them whole. The shadows from within the classrooms and hallways rushed towards the mass and joined the cocoon as deep within, Deku was shouting in pain and agony, twisting and turning from the feeling of the pure darkness pushing itself into every orifice and crevices on his body.
It wasn't just his own pain now, but he could feel the countless others who had suffered just as much or more so than he ever did, their 'ghosts' crying out for help only to turn into anger from the lack of assistance.
While it felt like an eternity for the young man, the experience was only for a few moments as the school grew quiet once more, the door to the abandoned broom closet wide open with its various expired and outdated cleaning supplies seeing the outside world once again after so many years.
The silence was broken by a sudden inhale of air coming from the silhouette of a person standing in the middle of the hall, only to turn around and begin heading back towards the school entrance, finished with whatever it was seeking.
As it did so, however, with every step, the pressure radiating out from them was causing the floor to crack under their footsteps and pushing the doors and windows of the classrooms to creak and crack under the person's presence.
But from the pure red gaze of the being, they slowly smirked, eager for what would come next.
It was time to show the world and those hypocrites at UA just how "weak and useless" a quirkless person truly was.