Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked.

Well, that’s not quite fair. The fire nation hadn’t necessarily attacked. They just… favor brute force as a means of policing their nation. And then a few other nations. And then the entire world. And in a matter of years, it began to feel as though society started constantly bracing itself for an attack that may never come.

It’s been sixteen years that Midoriya Izuku has been hearing these same stories, time and time again. Sixteen years that the previous avatar has been dead. Sixteen years since Fire Lord Enji began his worldwide coalition to keep the world safe until a new avatar emerged.

Incidentally, it has also been sixteen years that Midoriya himself has been living on this small island off the coast of the Earth Kingdom. Though he has never met the man himself, it doesn’t take long for stories of the brave and charismatic Avatar Toshinori to fill Midoriya’s head with plans of heroics and grandeur.

The only problem is, Midoriya is not a bender.

That may not have stopped him, as there are plenty of non-benders famous for their abilities as fighters, or leaders, or warriors. Yet as the only non-bender on Musutafu Island, there has been no shortage of people telling him his dreams are unrealistic. Even his own mother, an airbender herself, broke down crying one day during his childhood, having come to terms with the fact that his bending would have emerged by then.

Midoriya still does all he can to learn about it, though. He spends his days watching the waterbenders fishing at the lake, studying under the blacksmith with his firebending, asking the airbenders about how it feels to be able to bend. When no one is looking, he’ll try to watch them practice their techniques and replicate them from his hiding spot. The fluid movements of the waterbenders, the steady stance of the earthbenders, the power and force of the firebenders, the lightness and agility of the airbenders.

If people see him, they don’t comment on it. Or, at least, most don’t.

One does.

“Deku!” an angry voice calls from down the road. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You trying to learn to bend from people better than you? You think that’ll make you finally worth something?”

Midoriya freezes, hoping that maybe he’ll go ignored if he stays completely still, like facing off against an angry saber-toothed mooselion. Honestly, he would prefer that to-

“Hey! I’m talking to you!”

Midoriya sighs at the scowling face that appears in front of him. “Hi, Kacchan.”

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“You know what I’m doing, so why are you asking?”

Bakugou grins. “Fine. You want to see some top notch bending? Then I’ll show you.”

A palm appears in front of Midoriya’s face, and he feels the heat before anything. There’s only a split second for him to duck out of the way before a blast of fire erupts right where his face had been.

Another hand comes towards him, and Midoriya slides one foot wide and slips to the ground, trying to mimic the waterbenders he saw sparring last night. It works, though the tips of his hair are singed, and a burning smell fills the air.

He turns on his heel and sprints in the other direction without looking back. He doesn’t need to, as the blasts flying over his head are all the indication needed for whether or not Bakugou will let this go. Is he on fire? It doesn’t matter. Getting away is the only thing that matters right now.

It hasn’t always been this way. Midoriya has tried for many years to repair his friendship with Bakugou, but it seems there’s no time to waste on somebody who can’t even bend. Sure, their island was peaceful, and hosted a wide diversity of bending abilities, but he is the only non-bender there. Everybody knows he is different.

At least Bakugou has the guts to tell him how it is. The other members of their village try to tell him stories about warriors who couldn’t bend, about the first avatar who learned from the original masters, about how knowing how to use a weapon and move his body are just as effective as bending.

He sees it on their faces, though. They know he’s different.

Part of him longs for the early days of childhood, before anyone his age was expected to display their bending abilities. Back when he and Bakugou were friends. Even after his firebending came in, Bakugou would tell stories of how Midoriya would inherit his mother’s airbending and serve as a way to fuel his flames. Bakugou would be the one to end the tyranny of the fire nation, he swore.

Now, though, it only seemed like he would become one of them. People admired his abilities, but they spoke about him as they did the guards who watched over the village. Someday, maybe that maroon and black suit would be worn by him, too.

Midoriya doesn’t know much about the Fire Lord. Based on the rumors he hears, though, he doesn’t think he wants to. When the guards first arrived in the village, before he was even born, they had been searching for airbenders. Asking if anybody in the village was pregnant.

The avatar died only a few months later.

Patrols increased after that, and more guards showed up. This time, their methods were less subtle. They had every mother bring their child before them. Asked about bending abilities. Poked and prodded and examined. Each year, like clockwork, they would return, asking the same questions.

The Fire Lord was looking for the next avatar.

Their island doesn’t have many airbenders, though it still houses a surprising amount for an earth kingdom colony. While the nations were no longer strictly divided by bending abilities, it was still rare to see such an even blend as there was on Musutafu. It should be enough to help Midoriya to not feel so different.

It isn’t.

His home is small and simple, perfect for just him and his mother. It faces the main street of the village, so the chaos of outside floods through the windows at all hours of the day. The building across the street is the pottery studio where Midoriya Inko works with an earthbender and another firebender, Bakugou’s mother.

Inko must be there still, as the house appears empty when he returns home. It’s one of the few places Midoriya could be safe from Bakugou’s rage.

“Mom! I’m home!” he calls to make sure. His voice is only met with silence.

Most of his days are spent at the local school, though the low population of the island meant only a few students were ever there, Bakugou included. Midoriya does his best to receive good grades, though his true passion is found in combat and bending styles. It often made him the subject of ridicule, as well as embarrassed the other students; the most enthusiastic one about bending was the only kid who couldn’t bend.

If his mother isn’t home, that means something had come up that required her to stay late. Either some part of town had been destroyed, or she had been working on one of her special projects, large pots with strange shapes molded in and intricately detailed painting.

Midoriya’s favorite is the long, twisted one, with a bright green dragon coiling up it. The top is painted in a blend of oranges and reds, the fire pouring from the dragon’s mouth. She had made it for him when he came racing home one day, the day Bakugou got his bending, talking nonstop about how much he wanted to be a firebender too.

Sometimes he wants to smash it.

Frustrated tears well up in his eyes. As hard as he works, as many people as he studies with, he would always be fundamentally different. Nobody supports him, only looks at him with pity before telling him in a gentle voice that it was more practical to stay in the village. That dreams of being a hero were never going to be realistic.

Well, that isn’t good enough. Until the avatar himself stared him in the face and told him he could never be a hero, he would keep working. Midoriya tosses his bag aside and runs back out, hoping to find the earthbenders practicing in the small canyon to the north.

It’s nearly dusk, with the trail through the woods slowly growing darker under the cover of treetops. The forest is the only place typically free of the chaos of the town. He breathes deeply as he walks, trying to regain his composure.

An arm grabs him from behind.

There hadn’t even been a sound to indicate someone had been there. Whoever this was, they’ve been waiting for a while. Either they knew he would come, or they were just aiming for the first person to walk by. Midoriya doesn’t know which option is worse.

Another arm coils around his neck, and suddenly Midoriya is being blindly led through the woods.

A strong, earthy scent strikes him before the world suddenly tilts. He is thrown to the ground, his face landing in a pile of mud. He wipes it away to find himself at a swamp, mud and algae-filled water leaving the air thick.

He whirls around to face his attacker. One stands before him, arms hoisted on his hips, while another approaches from the woods and throws another person on the ground. Both of them are huge, probably earthbenders or firebenders, with devious grins on their faces.

Midoriya turns to his side and realizes their other captive is none other than Bakugou. Who still hasn’t moved.

Bakugou is never this quiet.

“Kacchan?” he calls hesitantly, tracking the movements of their kidnappers out of the corner of his eye. “Kacchan, get up.”

One of them walks over to Bakugou and grabs him, dragging his limp body over towards the water. The other approaches Midoriya, the same one who grabbed him in the woods, and bends the mud around him to pull him into the ground.

“Kacchan!” he calls, his head barely poking above the ground. “Kacchan, you have to wake up! How are you gonna save the world if you can’t even defend yourself against some stupid thugs?”

A boot hits him in the face. Midoriya twists his neck back to his assailant. “Why are you doing this?”

The guy smirks at him. “This punk ruined our shop. Started blasting fire all over the place. Figured a nice bath could put those flames out.”

Midoriya’s eyes widen. “No, Kacchan, no!”

Bakugou’s body is thrown into the water. Still, nothing happens.

The guy laughs. “You were there, too. Don’t pretend you don’t remember. He got mad over something, and you just let him go off. Just watched as he burned the place to the ground. So now, you get to sit and watch again.”

He sinks a bit lower into the mud. “No, we were just kids, he didn’t have any control over his bending yet! He didn’t mean it!”

“Yeah?” the guy asks with a smirk. “And what’s your excuse?”

“I…”

The water is completely still, no bubbles even rising to the surface to prove Bakugou is breathing down there at all.

“I couldn’t...”

Just as a head begins to rise above the surface, the other guy, apparently a waterbender, swirls the water around into a vortex to suck him downwards. The blonde hair that poked up disappears just as quickly as it came.

“Stop!” Midoriya screams again, fighting with all of his might to free his arms from the mud encasing him. He only sinks deeper in the struggle.

Minutes pass, and a small splash rises through the water. Midoriya barely makes out a hand slapping against the surface, looking for anything to pull him up.

“I said stop,” Midoriya commands.

The entire world goes white.
__________

This is it, he thinks. He and Bakugou will die here, smothered by some mud before either of them could ever hope to see where the future takes them.

Only the white space isn’t empty.

Midoriya blinks, but it feels wrong because maybe he doesn’t have eyelids here. The white space starts to focus regardless, and bits of color blend into the haze. Slowly, the scene he had been looking at before stares back at him, only now it is lighter, as if someone had painted a washed-out picture of it. Only the water isn’t just swirling; now it ripples and splashes dangerously, thick waves rolling into the mud. Their captors aren’t there, and neither is Bakugou.

Someone else is, though. Someone Midoriya doesn’t recognize. He’s thin, and smiling, with golden blonde hair and eyes hidden by shadows. He sits cross-legged in front of him, and Midoriya looks down to realize he is mirroring the stranger’s position.

“Hello,” the man says, in a deep but friendly voice. “I see you’ve entered the spirit world.”

“The spirit world?” Midoriya repeats, looking around to the scene around him. At second glance, he notices glowing blue insects flying around that hadn’t been there before. “Am I dead?”

“Of course not, my boy!” the stranger responds, laughing. “Quite the opposite, I’d say!”

Midoriya clutches at his head, a pressure like nothing else building between his ears. “I don’t… I don’t understand what you mean.”

The man stiffens. He looks around at the scene before them, his eyes apparently catching on something behind Midoriya’s back.

“You don’t…” he says, incredulous. “You’ve never performed waterbending before?”

Midoriya shakes his head. “No, I’m not a bender. I never got anything.”

The man’s eyes widen, and Midoriya makes out the color blue, bright as the insects in the air. “Well,” he says, smiling softly, “aren’t we one and the same! Allow me to explain.”

He extends his hand, and for a moment, Midoriya’s vision flashes. He’s still in the swamp, back in the cruel darkness he had seen just before he fainted, only higher this time. The water is still rippling, a funnel forming and reaching to the sky.

Midoriya startles, snapping back to see the extended hand lower back to the man’s side. “My name,” the man continues, “is All Might. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”

Midoriya’s eyes widen. “You’re… you’re the avatar. You’re Avatar Toshinori.”

“Not quite,” he says. “I was the avatar. I passed over sixteen years ago.”

“Right,” Midoriya agrees in a wobbly voice. “But, well, the new avatar hasn’t shown up yet. So everyone still considers you the avatar.”

He nods. “That is correct. Until now. You, my boy, are the next avatar.”

Midoriya freezes. “No, that’s not p-possible. I wasn’t born on-”

“I was wounded in battle badly enough to send me out of the public eye. My death came a few months later. It was kept private for a number of weeks in order to maintain peace at a difficult time. I doubt many knew exactly when the next reincarnation would appear. Even... ah. Well. It doesn't matter.”

“But you-”

“I began as a firebender. The issues within the fire nation were issues within my own home, contrary to popular belief. In this time of diversity, the avatar is not so strongly defined by the region from which they originate. My origins were kept especially quiet so as to establish myself as a symbol for all, especially as tensions rose in the fire nation. As the cycle says, though, the next avatar is an airbender. You are the descendant of airbenders, yes?”

“I- yeah,” he agrees. “B-but, All Might. I’m not a bender.”

All Might shakes his head. “Your abilities must have stayed dormant for many years. Not common, but possible. I faced the same situation as a child.”

“No,” Midoriya argues, “I know I’m not. I’ve tried for years, I practiced everything, I nearly killed myself trying to force something to happen. Wouldn’t the avatar state have awoken then? I know I can’t bend, and I know I’m definitely not the avatar.”

“I see,” All Might says with a nod. “Turn around.”

Midoriya turns and sees… himself.

Only, not quite. This version of him has glowing white eyes, with hair standing on end as a tornado of dark water circles around him.

“That’s… that’s not-”

“It is. It is you, back in the material world. You must have somehow triggered the avatar state. Now you must go back and face it.”

“I can’t-”

“You can, and you will. You are the next avatar, and I know you will bring greatness to the world. Return it to the peaceful times I helped maintain. You are the only one with the power to do it.”

“Wait, please-!”

“Do not worry. We will meet again. Once you have mastered the avatar state, I will be able to speak with you again, as will all of your other past lives. It is time for your true journey to begin.”

Midoriya sighs. “I… I get it. Well, I don’t, because this is a lot to take in, but I’ll do it. This is… this is so much more than I’ve ever wanted. And my friend is out there, and he needs my help. I have to go save him.”

“Good,” All Might says with a firm nod. “And young man, before we part: what is your name?”

Midoriya stares, drinking in the image of the man who he has idolized all his life, an image he has always held in his hand of the legendary avatar but never saw. Somehow, it lines up with everything he had imagined.

He nods. “Midoriya Izuku.”

All Might laughs. “Well, it is time to return to the world. To your world, Avatar Midoriya!”

And just as before, the world turns white.
__________

The swamp is drastically different than it looked when he left it. Mud and slime and algae cover everything; the trees, the rocks, himself. The remnants of the water he had seen earlier slow and sink back to the swamp. This time, instead of staring at the image of himself suspended in the air, he feels his own body lower to the ground along with the tornado.

The two men who kidnapped them are nowhere to be found. That partially satisfies Midoriya, and partially terrifies him. They could have run off, but out of his mind like that, they could have easily…

Don’t think about it.

Bakugou is on his side, lying on the ground to the side of the swamp. His body jerks and spasms as he chokes up the last of the water in his lungs, but his eyes stay wide and focused on Midoriya. They look confused, furious, and… sad.

Bakugou was never going to be the avatar. The cycle dictated that the next one would be an airbender, so they’ve known since birth that it wasn't him. And yet, here, covered head to toe in mud and sludge, it’s as though Midoriya had just snatched the world from beneath his feet.

Bakugou was never going to be the avatar, because all this time it has been Midoriya.

His world goes black, and he falls to the ground.

Chapter Text

The thing about being a small, friendless non-bender growing up on a tiny island is that nobody really pays you any mind. The local moms sometimes fret over the boy who has nobody but the boy who torments him day after day, who made it his mission to see everyone smile, who has the spirit of a hero and the body that never matched.

When you’re the avatar, though, suddenly everyone is paying attention. Everyone is listening to hear what you have to say, or sometimes just watching. Staring. Scrutinizing. And suddenly, they all want to tell you what they think.

“Are you going to confront the fire nation guards?”

“Midoriya! Come help me out!”

“That kid’s the new avatar? Has anyone even seen him bend?”

Midoriya sighs in frustration as he walks towards his home, keeping his head low and eyes trained forward. Of course they’re skeptical, of course they’re expecting great things of him. This is what it means to be the avatar. This is everything he’s ever wanted and more.

Why does it feel so wrong, then?

It hadn’t taken long for word to spread of what happened. Apparently the guys who attacked them had made it out, fleeing as soon as the avatar state was triggered and telling everybody. Bakugou, on the other hand, had disappeared without a word to anybody. After making sure he was alright, the townsfolk brushed him aside in order to confront their new avatar.

Inko is waiting inside their home once Midoriya arrives, and her arms are wrapped around his neck before he can even say anything.

“It’s alright,” she says in a wavering tone. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, you must have been so scared. I promise it will be alright, okay? We’ll...we’ll figure this out.”

Midoriya steps back to look up at her. Inko’s eyes are welled up with tears, but she refuses to let them fall, and her mouth is creased in determination. “I don’t know what will happen next, but I will stand by you, Izuku.”

Midoriya’s face, frozen in shock and molded to shut out everyone around him, finally cracks into a smile. “Thank you,” he says. “That’s all I needed to hear.”

She loses control over the tears in her eyes and rushes towards him again. “Oh, my baby is the avatar! I’m so, so proud of you. You’re going to be great.”

She leans back to look him in the eyes and places her hands on his shoulders. “But you be safe, you hear me? I’ll track you down and drag you back if you’re not!”

Midoriya freezes. “Drag me back where?”

“Why, back home, of course!” She looks him over. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

He hesitates. In all the excitement, Midoriya hadn’t bothered to think about what comes next. Sure, the townsfolk had a million and one suggestions, but he didn’t make a plan.

“I guess, but… you-”

“Oh, Izuku,” Inko interrupts. “We both know this isn’t the place for you. Whatever comes next, it’s not here. It’s okay. I’m not… I don’t like it. I don’t want you to leave, but I know you need to. It’s okay.”

Midoriya looks at her, really looks at her. Looks at her standing taller than usual, back arched straight even if her legs are shaking beneath her. Looks at the determination that hasn’t left her face even as she breaks down crying. Looks at how sad her eyes seem, but how much brighter they are than usual.

“I’ll visit,” he says, “whenever I’m able. I’ll be safe. I’ll be back.”

She smiles. “That’s right, you will! Just because you’re going on an adventure doesn’t mean you don’t have time for your mother. Go, now, you pack whatever you need while I go see when the trade ships leave for the earth kingdom tomorrow morning.”
__________

What do you pack when you’re leaving to travel the world and can only bring what you can carry on your back? Clothes aren’t an issue, since he mostly wears the same things every day. His room is filled with possessions, gifts from certain townsfolk and his mother’s pottery, but there’s nothing he can really bring with him.

He woke up this morning as the same nobody he had been for his entire life. This room and all its treasures and trinkets held weight; it contained the sum of his life, a collection of all his dreams and aspirations. It painted a picture of Midoriya Izuku.

But that wasn’t who he was anymore, was it? Midoriya Izuku needed these reminders.

In the end, he settles for nothing but the money he’s collected from doing odd jobs for the villagers over the years.

He woke up in this room as Midoriya Izuku. He leaves it as Avatar Midoriya.
__________

“Deku! You worthless piece of shit, where are you going?”

Ah, good. Midoriya was worried that Bakugou wouldn’t be the same after everything that happened. Such a shame that he was.

He turns from watching the boats loading their supplies to see a figure marching towards him. His mouth opens before Bakugou can even approach him.

“I’m leaving, Kacchan. Did… did you think I wouldn’t? You can’t tell me what to do anymore.”

Bakugou appears in front of him, looking angrier than ever. “Not yet, you’re not. The boats don’t leave for hours. You’re coming with me.”

“N-no,” Midoriya argues, cursing himself for stuttering. He would not let himself be pushed around anymore. He has a legacy to live up to now.

“Oh, so you think you’re all high and mighty now that you’re the avatar? Cut that shit out! Just follow me!”

Bakugou stomps off and marches away, not even bothering to look back and see if he’s being followed. Midoriya restrains himself. Bakugou just expects him to follow, and that’s not who he is anymore.

But…

But he really does have a few hours. And even as angry as he sounded, Bakugou looked different. That look of confusion hadn’t left his eyes. And this was his last chance to settle things.

Midoriya takes a hesitant step forward, then shakes his head. If this was happening, it was happening. He jogs to catch up to Bakugou, striding behind him in silence.

Bakugou leads them to a beach. The same beach where he watched the waterbenders practice, where he ran around in the water as a child, where he searched for the rumored elephant koi. It’s a more secluded area than the shipping docks, and the area is completely empty.

Bakugou stops and turns back to him. “Fight me.”

“What?”

“Fight me, dumbass! You think you’re better than me because you’re the avatar now?”

“N-no, I didn’t say that!” Midoriya protests.

“You think you’re finally worth something now? You think just because you’re the avatar that all of a sudden you have something over everybody else?”

“I- I don’t, I-”

“I was going to be the one to do it, you idiot! It didn’t matter who the avatar was because I would still be stronger, and I would go kick that fire lord’s ass, and destroy whoever killed the last avatar! And you, you’ve never been anything, but now all of a sudden everyone thinks you’re hot shit! But I know better. So fight me, and I’ll show you that I’m still better than you, avatar or not.”

Bakugou leans into a fighting stance, eyes wild and blazing. Fire grows over his outstretched palms, and Midoriya glance down to his own.

The thing is, he doesn’t feel any different. After he passed out, he expected everything to feel new, like something had woken up inside of him. But nothing is different. There’s no new sensation under his skin, pulling him towards the elements as if they could dance under his touch.

Bakugou charges him while he’s distracted, and Midoriya barely manages to dodge.

“Stop, I don’t-”

“What, the avatar won’t use his bending? Fight back!”

An arm comes towards him. Midoriya knocks it away, sending a jet of flames shooting over his head. Bakugou takes advantage of his open stance and punches him in the face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Before Midoriya can jump to his feet again, Bakugou is on top of him, pinning his arms into the sand. His pupils are blown wide, boring straight down into Midoriya’s.

Bakugou’s anger had always been explosive, but still somehow controlled. It had focus, which is what made him such a good fighter and bender. Now, though, it’s as if a wild animal has taken over. His arms shake, and Midoriya’s skin burns under Bakugou’s grasp, but there’s no malicious look in his eyes. If Midoriya had to guess, he would say Bakugou doesn’t even realize he’s burning him.

“You can’t even bend!” Bakugou shouts into his face. “How are you going to save anyone?”

“I don’t know,” Midoriya answers honestly.

“Why does anyone think you can do anything? I’m the strongest bender in this shitty town, and they all say I’m going to end up as a villain! But you do one trick, and they all think you’re their savior. They don’t know shit!”

“They don’t.” And it’s true. As much as Bakugou tormented him, Midoriya never once believed Bakugou would become a villain.

“I’m the best! You hear that, you shitty avatar? I will always be better than you, and I’ll kill the fire lord and any other piece of shit out there! I was going to be the first one to leave this place and make something of myself!”

His entire body is shaking now, his face nearly pushed against Midoriya’s as he screams. The circulation has been cut off in Midoriya’s hands, turning his fingertips purple. Bakugou still sits on top of him, panting in his face.

“Kacchan,” Midoriya says. “Would you like to come with me?”

Bakugou freezes. “Fuck you,” he spits, rolling off of Midoriya’s abdomen and pushing himself to his feet. He brushes the sand from his hands and walks back towards the village without looking back.

Two hours later, Midoriya arrives back at the docks to find Bakugou already there waiting.
__________

In all his sixteen years of life, Midoriya has never been off the island. He’s seen the neighboring villages on the other side of the canyon, looked over maps and paintings of other places, but nothing prepares him for how different the city is.

The first thing he notices is how loud it is. People chatter as they walk through the market near the docks, sailors shout commands from the decks of their ships, kids laugh and shout as they run around. It’s not too different from his village, only there are about fifty times as many people here.

Midoriya barely steps off the boat before Bakugou is gone.

“Don’t follow me, Deku!” he shouts over his shoulder.

“Kacc- hey, wait!” Midoriya tries to chase him, but he is quickly lost in the crowd. He only makes it a few steps before bumping into somebody else and tripping over his own feet.

He braces himself for the fall, but it never comes. Instead, a small pocket of air seems to swirl beneath him and lift him back to his feet. Midoriya jumps at the feeling and nearly falls again, but a hand reaches out to grab him.

“Sorry about that!” a voice calls. “I didn’t mean to scare you! You looked like you needed help.”

Midoriya turns to face a young girl with short brown hair and a round, smiling face. “Wouldn’t want to fall as soon as you get here, right? That would be bad luck!”

There’s no way she doesn’t notice the blush rapidly taking over his face, but she’s generous enough not to comment on it. “I-I, uh…”

“Come on!” she continues, grabbing his wrist and pulling him forward. “You just got here, right? Where are you headed? I’ll help you find it!”

“I don’t...I don’t really have anywhere I’m going?”

She whirls around to him and gasps. “What? Why did you come here?”

“I-I just…” What does he say? Does he just go around announcing that he’s the new avatar? It’s not like anyone would believe him, especially if he can’t use his bending yet.

Where should he go? Avatar Toshinori didn’t give him any directions on what he was supposed to do. Was it just something he was supposed to know as the avatar? But he still doesn’t feel any different, so that wouldn’t work. He needs someplace to think, but he has no idea-

“Um… are you okay? You’re mumbling.”

Midoriya startles from his thoughts and realizes he’s been talking under his breath. This girl must think he’s crazy.

He takes a deep breath and slowly releases it. “Sorry about that. What did you say your name was?”

“Uraraka Ochako! And your name is Deku, right? I heard that guy say that before he left. Were you supposed to go with him?”

He grimaces. “No, that’s… he just calls me that. I’m Midoriya Izuku. Say, Uraraka, do you know if there’s any good places around here for me to meditate?”

She hesitates, mulling it over. “No,” she says, “but I think I know someone who would. Come with me!”

She grabs his wrist again and yanks him back into the crowd.
__________

“Iida!”

Uraraka stands before a large house after dragging him through the streets for a while. She doesn’t even bother to knock on the door, just shouts into the open window as if expecting someone to answer such an ungracious call.

Sure enough, someone does. A tall boy, probably around Midoriya’s age, stands before him, though his posture and dress make him look years older.

“Uraraka!” the boy, apparently named Iida, responds. “I am always pleased when you come to visit, but please just knock on the door!”

Uraraka giggles. “But you always answer when I yell! That’s more fun.”

They start arguing then, with Uraraka trying to explain why her method is better while Iida lectures her, his arms gesturing wildly as he talks. Midoriya wants to be concerned, but it seems playful enough. Nothing like his arguments with Bakugou.

“Oh!!” Uraraka shouts suddenly. “This is Midoriya!” She gestures to him, and suddenly Iida’s stern gaze falls over him. Midoriya feels himself grow tense under the scrutiny, and he scrambles for something to say or do.

“I, uh… hi, I’m- well, I guess I’m looking for-”

“He’s looking for someplace to meditate!” Uraraka cuts in with her ceaseless cheer. Midoriya sighs to release the anxiety pooling in his stomach, though it doesn’t help much. At least Uraraka can handle this better than he can.

“Meditate?” Iida asks. “Yes, I know a few places nearby. There is a garden on the edge of town or a swamp through the forest. Which-”

“No swamps,” Midoriya insists.

“Alright then, I will show you to the garden. May I ask why you are looking for a place to meditate?”

“I, well…” Midoriya says. “I just got here, and I don’t really know what to do next, so I thought that meditation might help.”

Iida’s eyes narrow slightly. “I see. Well, follow me.”

The garden isn’t far, but it’s such a stark difference from the bustling city full of buildings and people that Midoriya has trouble believing they’re even in the same place anymore. It’s an outdoor area, but wooden frames line the whole square, with vines in all sorts of colors crawling everywhere and leaving the area feeling secluded. The grass is lush and long, with all sorts of trees and flowers growing everywhere.

Midoriya understands immediately why Iida recommended this place. It feels like walking into another world.

It’s perfect, then, since he is literally trying to get to another world.

Midoriya finds himself drawn to a small area, an open circle of grass with a tall tree in the center. It is surrounded by tall grasses and bright flowers, and as Midoriya situates himself at the base of the tree, everything else disappears. The world becomes nothing but plants and a bright blue sky.

He crosses his legs and draws his hands together in front of his stomach. The scent of clean air and fragrant flowers fills his nose as he inhales, and releases all the tension inside him as he exhales. His eyes flutter shut, and he focuses on his breathing.

Inhale… exhale.

He gives up after half an hour.

It isn’t as easy as he had hoped, and of course it wouldn’t be. The lack of progress leaves him antsy and agitated, and Midoriya feels even less relaxed than he was when he started.

When he stands, he’s surprised to see Iida and Uraraka still there, waiting for him. Uraraka seems concerned, but Iida only appears annoyed.

He approaches them. “Sorry, I, uh… thought that would work.”

“You spent half an hour there and didn’t come up with anything?” Iida questions, scrutinizing him as he did earlier.

“No,” Midoriya admits. “I really don’t know what I’m doing.”

“That is precisely the problem,” Iida says. “You just arrived in this city, correct? You have no possessions with you, no one here to stay with, and no clue as to what you are doing. Excuse my insensitivity, but it seems as though you have made a mistake in coming here. Whatever it is you have come here to accomplish, I advise that you go home and wait until you are more prepared to do it.”

Frustration flares up in Midoriya’s chest, but it is easily overwhelmed by the nervousness that has always lived there. “I’m sorry for wasting your time, Iida. But there is something I need to do, and I can’t go home until it is done. It’s not… I don’t have a guidebook or anything to tell me how to do this.”

“What are you trying to do?” Uraraka asks. “Why did you come here? You never told me.”

“That’s…” Midoriya sighs. “I can’t say. I’m not sure how to do this, but I know I need to do it.”

He pauses, thinking back to the first time he went into the avatar state. It’s not as if he could replicate that, since Bakugou is nowhere to be found, and Midoriya wouldn’t risk his life as a means of channeling his power, let alone anyone else’s lives. Still, there must be some way to get back into that state of mind, the one he was in just before-

Oh.

“You’re mumbling again,” Uraraka informs him.

He blushes. “Sorry. Iida, I know I’ve been an inconvenience, and I’m sorry, but could you do one more favor for me? I think I know what I need to do.”

Iida sighs and nods. “Yes. I apologize for being blunt. What can I help you with?”

“I need you to take me to that swamp you mentioned.”
__________

The swamp, as it turns out, is not as easily accessed as the garden was. To even get there, Uraraka enlists the help of her friend Tsuyu, a waterbender who lives nearby.

“Tsuyu is there all the time!” Uraraka explains as they walk to her house. “She’s a waterbender, but she loves practicing at the swamp instead of the beach like most of the others around here. I think her dad is an earthbender, so she seems to like the mud more. She can even bend the water inside the plants there!”

Tsuyu’s house is small, much smaller than Iida’s, but also much livelier. When she steps out to meet them, Midoriya gets a small glance through the doorway and sees at least 4 people run by.

Uraraka explains the situation as Midoriya looks her over. She’s short, even shorter than him, but somehow… large. Her facial features are large, though they don’t move at all as Uraraka talks to her. Her gaze stays fixed on him the whole time.

“Alright,” she agrees. “Let’s go.”

The swamp is farther away, and the walk is filled with chatter, mostly from Iida and Uraraka. Tsuyu stays toward the back, next to Midoriya.

“Why are we going to the swamp?” she asks.

“Um…” Midoriya says. “Meditating. Uraraka told you that, remember?”

“I know that,” she agrees, “but why are you meditating?”

“Just t-trying to figure some stuff out, I guess.”

“And you need the swamp to do it?”

“Well, I-I-”

“It’s okay if you can’t tell me, Midoriya. But can I ask if everything is alright?”

Midoriya sighs. Despite Tsuyu’s bluntness, she is somehow very perceptive to others’ feelings. “Yeah,” he says. “Everything will be fine.”

As muggy and treacherous as the swamp is, moving through it is fairly easy with Tsuyu there. Midoriya understands why they asked her to come; there would be no chance of them making it through this on their own. She pushes water aside to create pockets of air for them to move through, and even bends vines for them to grab onto as they swing over puddles of mud.

It is so much larger and more beautiful than the swamp back home, and Midoriya is surprised to find himself having fun.

That is, until they reach the center. This, apparently, was the spot Iida had been talking about earlier, and Midoriya can see why. It’s similar to the exact spot where he and Bakugou were taken, only so much more. The pond of water before him is so much bigger, the water too dark and murky to see through at all. The tree behind it is massive, too massive for words, and Midoriya swears its roots must reach out to every other tree in this swamp.

When they approach, everybody turns back to face him. He nods, steps forward, and sits in the mud at the edge of the water. The ground sinks beneath him, and his heart lurches at the memory of being sucked down into it, helpless and afraid, forced to watch-

No, he isn’t there anymore. Bakugou isn’t here, and Midoriya has others here to help him now. Still, the feeling doesn’t leave his chest, and he tries to force it away.

Only, no, that wasn’t the point of this. The last time he triggered the avatar state was when that feeling was there, ugly as it was. That feeling of being helpless, trapped and alone, with nobody around to save him, save Bakugou. It almost aches, that feeling of wanting more than anything to do something yet being unable to do a thing.

He holds onto that feeling, the heaviness in his heart as the world seems to slow around him, as static fills his brain, while there must be something to do, anything that can help. No matter what the cost is for himself, so long as he can save just one person, because that person needs help, and he is the only one who can answer that call.

It’s terrifying, he remembers, and can feel that terror still, but there’s power in it. There’s power in being held back as his body and mind fight to do anything, a willpower stronger than anything he’s ever felt before. It feels like nothing else matters, like the world can bend just under the twitch of his thumb, like the energy building inside him is enough to stop time, stop reality, stop everything and make the world listen-

He couldn’t do anything.

He was trapped, sucked deep inside a pit of mud while somebody fought for just one more breath, one more chance-

He couldn’t do anything, he couldn’t do anything-

And even though he couldn’t, he decided to do something anyways, and-

And then he could.

And then the world went white.

Chapter Text

Entering the spirit world isn’t like last time, not exactly. The white fades, and he’s in a swamp again, only it’s not the one he was in when he sat down. The trees are the same, the water just as dark, but-

The energy in the air is different. Instead of entering the same swamp filled with glowing blue bugs like before, it feels like the world is made of those bugs now. Like an entire new light is shining in on this swamp, leaving everything lit yet feeling detached.

Time seems to stop; no birds chattering in the trees or flies skidding across the water. The air is still, the trees don’t creak, the water stills and shines like glass.

“I see you’ve made it to the spirit world.”

The water before him ripples, and the old avatar is there, sitting cross-legged on the surface.

“All Might. How did I get here?”

He laughs. “My boy, why are you asking me that? You are the one who got here yourself!”

“I…” Midoriya starts, unsure of himself. “I was meditating. I had to go to a swamp to do it. It reminded of… of what happened before. I thought maybe being in a similar place would trigger some memories of what I did the first time to enter the avatar state.”

“And did it?”

“No,” he says, shaking his head, though it feels stiff and difficult to move. “Well, it did make me remember what happened, but that’s not- I didn’t do anything in particular the first time. It was more like a feeling. So I followed it, and it led me here.”

“What sort of feeling?”

He thinks about it. “Power.”

“Ahh.” All Might nods. “Yes, that is one way of looking at it. As the avatar, you hold within yourself the spirits of all the elements, as well as of your many past lives. The key is accessing them. It is no easy feat. I am surprised you achieved it so soon.”

“I had to,” Midoriya insists, his heart rate picking up. Wait. Does his heart even beat here?

“Don’t look so scared, my boy, it is no problem. In fact, I am glad you were able to channel me so easily. But there must be a reason for it, no?”

“I… yeah. All Might, I- I don’t know what to do now.”

“Ahh, I see. Yes, that must be difficult. Unfortunately, I cannot help you. There are some things you must figure out on your own, with time.”

“Please, but-”

“But,” All Might interrupts. “I know of somebody who can help you. My old mentor. He can be found in the western air temple.”

“An air temple? But weren’t you a firebender?”

All Might laughs. “Yes, but that is exactly why I needed somebody else! When I first found out I was the avatar, I had the passion and strength of a firebender, but lacked the discipline and calm of an airbender. My mentor is… a very intelligent man. But also very strict.”

Midoriya swears Avatar Toshinori begins to tremble.

“Yes, he will be able to help, I am sure. His name is Gran Torino. Go ask for him, tell him I sent you. He will see you. That is all I can tell you.”

“Okay,” Midoriya says with a nod. “But, there’s still one problem.”

“Yes?”

“I… I still can’t bend.”

All Might looks him over thoughtfully. “Yes, I can see how that would be an issue. The world cannot unite itself under an avatar that cannot prove himself.”

“So how do I fix it?”

All Might hesitates. “I am not sure, to be completely honest. I found my bending early, and mastering the other elements was not difficult. It was with channeling my past lives and entering the spirit world where I struggled.”

Midoriya feels his maybe-nonexistent heart begin to crumble.

“Say, you said you entered the spirit world when you focused on your power, yes?”

“Yeah,” Midoriya agrees. “It was like… I could remember how helpless it felt when I couldn’t save Kacchan, but I wanted to so badly. It seemed like I could do anything, even when I knew I couldn’t.”

“Hold onto that feeling,” All Might instructs him. “It is not unlike bending the elements. You have the ability inside of you, but lack the will to command it unless that feeling takes over. It is not something to think about, young Midoriya. It is just something to do.”

“But-”

“That is all I can tell you,” he says. “Our time here is limited. I cannot tell you where your path may lead; you must carve it yourself. Go to the western air temple, and your destiny will reveal itself to you. Good luck, Avatar Midoriya.”

And Midoriya wakes up.
__________

Everyone is staring at him.

Midoriya looks around first, to make sure he hasn’t accidentally started bending again. But no, the swamp looks just like it did when he left, and everyone looks fine. Still, their eyes are wide like saucers, and even Tsuyu’s stoic face seems frozen in disbelief.

And maybe he should have said something sooner. Whatever happened while he was out, it’s obviously enough to give them some indication of what’s going on. But Midoriya has never had friends; never had secrets, or power, or anything. Everyone knew who he was on Musutafu, and knew how harmless he was. But that’s not the case anymore, and dealing with the consequences of his choices if more terrifying than ever.

“Um,” Midoriya starts.

“Your eyes were glowing,” Iida tells him.

“Your-” Uraraka’s voice cuts off as she giggles a bit. “Your freckles were glowing.”

“Did you do what you needed to do?” Tsuyu asks.

Midoriya pauses. It’s startling, how respectful they are about it. He surely can’t get away without explaining himself, though. Maybe he doesn’t want to. They’ve been so helpful, and he wants to tell them. But how is he supposed to do that? This is all as new to him as it is to them, and it’s not like he has any control over it yet. How does he explain to these strangers that he’s the avatar?

“I’m the avatar.”

That’s how, apparently.

Midoriya stands up, and Iida flinches, just a bit. He deflates.

“I…” This is too frustrating. There are a million questions without answers, and how can he explain to people that he’s the avatar when he can’t even bend?

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he starts. It’s not much of an explanation. “I just found out. I’ve never been able to bend, and then I was kidnapped, and my… someone I knew almost died. And I couldn’t do anything, and then I accidentally went into the avatar state. Otherwise, though, I’m completely useless.”

Uraraka frowns. “That’s not-”

“It is,” he interrupts. “It’s true. I’m the avatar, but I can’t do anything. I managed to channel the previous avatar, but even he doesn’t know how to help me. My whole life, nobody paid attention to me, no matter how much I wanted to do something. Then the moment people find out I’m the avatar, they all look to me to do something. Only I don’t know what I’m doing now! This is everything I wanted, but it’s so much more complicated than I expected, and…”

He trails off and chokes back a sob. “I can’t even bend,” he says, digging his palms into his eyes. “I’m the avatar, and I can’t even bend! And I don’t know how to learn, because it’s not like I’ve ever felt it before.”

“Midoriya,” Uraraka calls.

And I know I want to help,” he continues. “I’ve always wanted more than anything to be a bender so that I could help, but now I have the ability and I can’t even use it. I feel so helpless, like I have the power sitting inside me to bring peace and I’ll still never be able to accomplish anything.”

“Midoriya,” Uraraka says, more urgently this time.

“I’ve always known!” he continues, ignoring her. “Nobody ever believed in me, but that’s never stopped me. I’ve always known I could do this, and being held back like this, it’s so… frustrating! I know this is what I’m meant for, I feel it so strongly, so why can’t I just-”

“Deku, turn around!”

He spins around on instinct at the name, arms still thrown up in anger from his rant, only to see a massive wall of water building behind him.

His arms drop, and so does the water.

“Oh.”

Uraraka steps forward and grabs his hand. “See? You can do it.”

“Oh,” he repeats. He pulls his hand back up, feels his blood still pumping all the way to the tips of his fingers, and the water rises with it.

He drops it, then pushes his hand forward. The water doesn’t move.

The trees, however, do. A breeze, weak but definitely there, blows the vines and leaves back.

“I have to go,” he says, shocked and breathless. “All M- or, Avatar Toshinori. He told me to go to the western air temple. I have to go.”

“I can help with that,” Iida says. Midoriya turns to face him. Iida stands with his same impeccable posture, though his eyes refuse to meet his. “I feel I must apologize. I judged you earlier for not having a plan, but it appears you did have one. You knew that meditation was the only way to learn what to do, and I was the one who did not understand what you were hoping to accomplish. I was foolish, and I apologize.”

He bows, and Midoriya finds himself too flustered to respond properly.

“N-no!” he insists, waving his hands in front of him. Thankfully, his nervousness has taken back over, and he doesn’t accidentally create a typhoon to blow Iida away. “I- you don’t need to apologize! I didn’t- this was just a guess! I-I just got lucky!”

Iida stands and shakes his head. “No, it was not luck. It was intuition, and it was correct. Do not underestimate the value of intuition, Avatar Midoriya.”

He has nothing to say to that.

“As I mentioned,” Iida continues. “You need to get to the western air temple, yes? My family keeps many animals. You may borrow our eelhound. It is the fastest animal on land and on water. I am certain my family would be pleased to aid the new avatar in his quest however they may.

“That’s… very generous of you, Iida.” Midoriya nods at him. “Thank you.”

Iida glances away under his gaze once again. “It is my pleasure. After all, I must do what I can to help, after… ah. Nothing.”

“What?” Midoriya asks. “You can tell me. After what?”

“Well,” Iida says, his brow wrinkling. “My brother is an earthbender, as I am. He was one of the best in the entire earth kingdom, and helped the previous avatar in one of his last fights. Only, they had someone among them. I do not know who, or what his ability was. But he somehow took my brother’s bending away. I have always looked up to him, and now… I feel it is my duty to serve the world as he did.”

Midoriya freezes. “He… took his bending away?”

Iida looks to him then, his gaze cold and unwavering. “The current state of our world is much more fragile than it appears, Avatar Midoriya.”

Fear clamps at Midoriya’s heart, but another feeling pushes at it. The same as earlier, that feeling of ceaseless determination. It feels as though it can face whatever darkness is out there and fill it with light.

“Come with me,” he says, looking back to Iida. “Come to the western air temple with me, Iida.”

“I-I,” Iida sputters. “That is…”

“Go on, Iida!” Uraraka insists. “Help the avatar, just like your brother did!”

“You too, Uraraka!” Midoriya says with a smile. “And you, Tsuyu. I don’t know what I’m doing, but… you all helped me. Come with me.”

“Well,” Tsuyu says. “I have a duty to my family, first. But thank you for the offer, Midoriya. You are always welcome to ask for my help if you return to the earth kingdom.”

Midoriya smiles and nods. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I want to come!” Uraraka chirps. “After all, I am an airbender, and there aren’t many skilled airbenders in our city. Maybe I can learn something from the air nomads! Besides, I’ve always wanted to leave and explore the world. This will be so fun!”

“I will come as well,” Iida says. “Uraraka is right. My brother served the previous avatar, and it is my duty to do the same. I will see you on your journey to the western air temple, Avatar Midoriya.”

“Just Midoriya, please. The formalities aren’t necessary. Besides, I don’t want people knowing until I have a better handle on my bending.”

Iida nods. “Very well, Midoriya.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Uraraka calls, turning to walk with Tsuyu. “Let’s go!”
__________

Musutafu Island had hosted a great number of animals, but nothing as large or alien-looking as an eelhound. Iida wasn’t lying; it really is the fastest animal that he’s ever seen.

It only takes a few days to reach the western air temple. They stop at a few cities and villages as they cross the earth kingdom, and even take the time to visit a few nearby islands. It’s stunning, seeing so many different places after being cooped up on one small island his whole life, though the anticipation of what’s to come still lingers in his stomach.

His status as the avatar is still kept a closely-guarded secret, though he does meet a number of people on his journey that he finds himself telling. Ojiro, the airbender in a small earth kingdom city, who teaches Midoriya some close-range combat skills and shows him how he uses his airbending to help. Ashido, the waterbender from a large island city, who keeps vials of acid with her at all times after being attacked one night. Kouda, the quiet earthbender who takes him to the caves to meet the badger moles he works with to learn about the origins of earthbending. Jirou, the Kyoshi warrior, and her girlfriend Yaoyorozu, who teach him how to make weapons with metalbending and enhance them with airbending.

He learns from them all, and even though he still has a lot to learn before he’s ready to save anyone, a spark of hope grows in his heart where before there had only been fear.

That hope is quickly dashed when they arrive at the western air temple, only to find… nothing.

“I don’t understand.” Iida remarks.

“This is… wrong,” Midoriya says. “All Might told me to come here. He said-”

“Wait.” Uraraka says. She grabs the staff strapped to her back and holds it in front of her. The sides expand, and large pink wings form at the top, with a smaller tail towards the bottom.

“Be right back!” she calls, pulling it over her back and leaping off the cliff.

“Wait, Uraraka!”

He and Iida stand there, staring as far over the edge of the cliff as they dare, but she’s not there. Midoriya’s heart drops into his stomach, and-

“Hey!” a voice calls back up. “It’s here!”

She launches back up the side of the cliff, nearly blowing Midoriya backwards, and he watches as she glides overhead before landing back next to them.

“It’s there!” she says with a smile. “It’s built into the cliffside, so it could stay hidden from intruders. You have to see it!”

“Whaa….”

Uraraka looks them over, then glances to her air glider. “What, have you never seen one of these before?”

Midoriya shakes his head, but Iida nods. “I have, but I never… considered that they would actually be structurally sound enough to work.”

“Of course they are! Come on!” She grabs Iida’s hands and wraps them around her waist. “Hold on!”

And they’re gone.

Midoriya look back to the eelhound, then shrugs his shoulders and starts climbing down the cliffside.

When he gets there, Uraraka is already chattering away with one of the airbenders, while Iida talks with another as he stares over the upside-down architecture, awestruck. Midoriya laughs. They’ve only been there thirty seconds, and already these two have completely inundated these people with their outlandish personalities. He’s glad he brought them.

Another man walks by him, tall and blonde with his hair slicked backwards, and Midoriya stops him. “Excuse me, do you know where I might find a man called Gran Torino?”

The man turns to him, then flashes a bright smile. “Of course!” he shouts, a bit louder than necessary. “Follow me!”

They end up walking through a long tunnel carved deep into the cliffside. There are other hallways and rooms built in off the sides, like an ant colony carved sideways. A large door sits in the back of the hallway. The man walks up to it and bangs the side of his fist against it.

“Torino!” he shouts. “You have a visitor! Open up!”

A muffled clattering sound rings through the door, then a voice. “What? Who are you?”

“Sorry about that, kid,” the man says to Midoriya. “Old man’s lost his marbles.”

Midoriya nods as the man continues to yell, and he swears the whole temple must hear him. Was this really what All Might thought was best for him?

Wait.

”Tell him I sent you. He will see you.”

“Gran Torino,” Midoriya shouts through the door, forcing himself to keep his voice steady and sure. “My name is Midoriya Izuku. All Might sent me to meet his mentor.”

“All Might?” the guy next to him questions. “You mean Avatar Toshinori? He’s-”

“Come in,” the voice says through the door, lower and more clear than before.

The guy shrugs. “Well, that’s a lot farther than most of us get. Good luck, kid.”

He leaves, and the door swings open. The room is massive, with tall ceilings and all sorts of furniture to fill the space. A short man sits in the middle, cross-legged on a mat in front of a short table. The door shuts behind him.

“You are the next avatar?” the man, Gran Torino, asks. It sounds more like a statement than a question.

“Yes,” Midoriya says, and the man nods to the seat across from him. Midoriya sits.

“Well?” he asks. “What did he send you here for?”

“Uh, well,” Midoriya starts, startled by the sudden abrasive tone, “he says I have a duty to fulfill. I’m supposed to ask you about what happened to him, and the fire nation.”

Gran Torino nods, then looks him over. “Alright,” he says. “Hit me, and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

“What-”

He can’t finish the question before Gran Torino launches himself into the air, moving across the room.

“Hit me, avatar, and I will answer your questions!”

Midoriya jumps to his feet and lunges towards Gran Torino near the door, but he’s gone just as quickly as Midoriya can even step forward. He darts across the floor, up the walls, under the furniture. Every step Midoriya makes, Gran Torino makes two more, landing hits all over Midoriya’s body in the process.

“The new avatar won’t even use his bending? There are no rules here, kid! Do what you must!”

Midoriya throws everything he can, using all the techniques he’s learned from others, though they’re reckless and untrained. In the end, he ends up pinned to the floor, Gran Torino sitting over him like Bakugou did on the beach all that time ago.

“You may have the ability to use your bending, but that does not mean you have mastered it,” Gran Torino says, standing and climbing off Midoriya’s body. “You don’t know how to use your body as a bender, because you don’t see yourself as the avatar. Air is your original element, yes?”

Midoriya nods as he sits up. “I never knew it, though. I couldn’t bend until the first time I entered the avatar state.”

“That would explain it,” Gran Torino says. “You didn’t believe yourself to be a bender, so your first experience with it is as the avatar. But your bending is not the only thing that makes you the avatar, and being the avatar is not the only reason you can bend. The spirit of the avatar lives in you, but being a bender is about your body. It is an extension of yourself.”

“I don’t… I don’t understand.”

“When you tried to stop me, you used your feet to run and your hands to fight. Why didn’t that work?”

“Because… because you were using your whole body to airbend. You used it to move yourself faster than I could chase after you.”

Gran Torino nods. “The air doesn’t just exist around your hands, it is all around you. Water does not just lie in the sea, but can be found everywhere. In you, in others, in the air, in the dirt. The earth is not just the rock beneath your feet, but in all the metal and crystal people use to construct this world. Fire is not just a blaze of destruction, but is in the warmth of the sun and in the heat of your fingertips.”

“They’re the elements,” Midoriya says, nodding as realization dawns over him. “They don’t just exist where they see them. They make up the entire world we live in.”

“Yes. Out of it we came, and unto it we return.”

“So that means… I don’t just control the elements. I am the elements.”

Gran Torino extends a hand, creating a small whirlwind in his palm. “The reason we control them is through the spirits that give us control. The way we control it is by connecting our bodies with them, by extending who we are into them. It is not a power just to fight, as you have come to see it, but a new way to shape the world around us and interact with it.”

Midoriya nods. “I think I understand. But before I can work on that any further, I need you to tell me about All Might.”

Gran Torino sighs, and gestures for him to move back to the table. He fills a cup with tea and slides it across the table. “All Might was alive for much longer than most believe. He was engaged in a fight with the leader of an organization that planned to dismantle our society built around benders. While he himself was a bender, many of those who followed him were not. They believed our world is unjust, that a world focused on benders automatically glorifies them for their power.”

“It, uh, seems like they had a point, though, doesn’t it?” Midoriya says. “I was mistreated by my entire village for being the only non-bender. My ideas were considered useless, regardless of what they were.”

“It is a fair point,” Gran Torino agrees, “which is why they are able to gain followers so easily. But their method is not just. They use violence against benders, seeking out those most powerful and killing them as a lesson to the world. Their tactics are brutal and deranged. And their main goal was Avatar Toshinori.”

“All Might.”

Gran Torino nods. “He was not known as such by most, though it was a nickname granted to him by the people in his early days. He was the symbol of peace, an unwavering figure able to save anybody. He was injured in his fight against this organization, though, and his days of fighting were over.”

“But he was still alive?”

“He was. Not many saw him in his weakened state, but I was one of the few around for his final days. The leader of the organization, the one who injured All Might, did not make it out unscathed, either. He went into hiding, and without knowing what became of the avatar, they went quiet.”

Midoriya tenses. “But that will change soon. Now that...”

“Yes,” Gran Torino says. “Unfortunately, when word of your arrival gets out, they will most likely resurface and come for you next. It is important that you master the elements before your identity is revealed, so that you may be prepared to face them when the day comes.”

“I’m confused, though,” Midoriya says. “If that organization didn’t kill All Might, then who did?”

Gran Torino stares at him. “Fire Lord Enji did.”
__________

Uraraka and Iida don’t see Midoriya for days. They each become involved in their own work, with Uraraka practicing airbending and Iida learning to meditate with the monks, though they encounter each other often enough during meals and breaks.

Midoriya, on the other hand, becomes a ghost.

Just as they begin to worry that something has gone wrong, he appears as if from nowhere.

Uraraka and Iida are sitting together after their training one day, drinking tea and chatting about what they’ve been learning. A thump sounds from the ground next to them, and they look to the edge of the table to see Midoriya sitting there.

He looks terrible, with bags under his eyes and bruises littering his body, but a lazy smile crosses his face. He glances at each of them.

“Hey guys, how has your training been going?”

“Deku!” Uraraka calls, rushing to his side to fuss over him. “What happened to you? Were you attacked?”

Midoriya shakes his head. “Nope. Training.”

“And...did it go well?” Iida asks, though he seems pretty sure of the answer as he looks Midoriya over.

“It did,” Midoriya says with a sigh. “I think I have a better handle on things now.”

“Oooh!” Uraraka says. “You have to show me, and I’ll show you what I’ve learned too!”

Midoriya nods. “Sure. Just… later. First, sleep.”

“Alright,” Iida agree. “But… what comes after that? Have you finished your training here?”

Midoriya’s face darkens. “Yes. Tomorrow, we leave for the fire nation. I have business with the fire lord.”

Chapter Text

The fire nation, Midoriya is reluctant to admit, is much nicer than he had expected.

Of course, the idea that everyone there would as evil as the fire lord or the guards in his village is preposterous. Midoriya is not like Enji; he is not going to lump people together into one idea of how he thinks the world works.

Still, though, the air in the village near the coast is lively and bright. Merchants stand to the sides of the streets marketing food and artwork, gamblers stand at the corners, and kids run laughing through the crowd. One particularly dazzling performer creates dragons of fire and sends sparks flying everywhere, boasting about how much he sparkles and shines.

It’s so… similar to his home. Not the same, not in any way; it’s so full of people, and the sun is bright and warm here, as opposed to the crisp breeze from the sea back on his island. But still, there’s something so peaceful here that reverberates the part of his heart that will always belong to Musutafu Island. It hurts, but in a way that he can’t seem to let go of.

For the first time in what feels like forever, Midoriya is well and truly alone. Uraraka and Iida immediately took off for the mountains in search of a famed swordsman. Iida had wanted to improve his metalbending, and Uraraka was looking to improve her hand-to-hand combat skills so as to not rely so heavily on her bending. The innkeeper where they were staying had warned them that he turned most people away, but the two of them took off with a skip in their step regardless.

Midoriya has a feeling they won’t be turned away.

However, that leaves him to explore the fire nation all alone. Since no one knows who he is, remaining hidden isn’t an issue, but he doesn’t exactly have a plan. This whole “vengeance quest” thing is new to him. Does he just march up the palace and demand to fight the fire lord? That doesn’t seem right. Surely someone would stop him long before he got to the throne room.

And even if he does manage to do that, what comes next? Fighting the fire lord won’t exactly be easy, and Midoriya has no clue how to defeat him. Defeating him in a duel would be difficult enough, not to mention the fact that Fire Lord Enji does not come across as an honorable man by any means. It would take much more than a formal defeat to stop him.

Does he…

Does that mean…?

No, of course not. Midoriya has been in plenty of fights, most of them with Bakugou, a fairly talented firebender despite his inexperience. They’ve always stopped things before it got too drastic. Besides, surely Enji wouldn’t actually…

Well, Midoriya thinks, it’s not fair to say that the fire lord is above killing him, after what he learned about All Might.

A hot burst of anxiety floods Midoriya’s veins and he struggles to choke the feeling back.

Will he truly have to kill the fire lord?

Lost in his thoughts, Midoriya becomes distant from the world around him, the individual faces and voices around him phasing into a swirling, chattering mob. He can’t do this. Why did he even come here?

This is silly, he should just-

Something appears in front of him, and Midoriya crashes and falls forward, tumbling over and landing on his back. He squints away the sun shining directly into his eyes before a figure appears above him and blots it out.

“My cabbages!” the person above him shouts, and Midoriya sits up to see an older man, dressed head to toe in green, glaring at him beside a pile of splintered wood. True to his word, a mountain of cabbages is spilling everywhere, rolling in every direction and quickly taking over the entire street.

Midoriya panics, backing up from his place on the ground before his back hits a post. “Oh, uh, I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t… I wasn’t looking where I was g-going, and, uh…”

“Well you clearly weren’t!” the man continues, poking a finger towards Midoriya’s chest. “Who are you? I expect you to pay for all of this!”

“Y-yes, of course! Midoriya agrees, reaching into his pockets for any money he has.

Nothing.

Midoriya sighs. “Well, I can’t pay now, b-but-”

“Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you destroyed my precious cabbages! Listen, kid, you better pay up or I’ll call the authorities, don’t think I-”

“Now, now,” another voice interrupts. “There’s no need for this.”

Midoriya turns to see another boy approaching them. He holds his hand to his eyes to blot out the sun, but a shock of bright white hair shines like fresh snow, making him difficult to look at. Still, Midoriya can’t bring himself to look away.

While they appear to be about the same age, this boy somehow seems much older than him. Midoriya can tell he’s also definitely taller than him, as most people are, even from his place on the ground. It’s not his height that makes him intimidating, though; instead, it’s the presence he gives off just in the way he holds himself. It’s as if the entire weight of the world sits on his shoulders, yet he is determined to show everybody that he can hold it.

Whatever it is, the cabbage vendor feels it too. His eyes widen, and he backs away on shaky legs, hanging his head.

“You know, this wouldn’t happen so often if you used your funds to buy a cart made of sturdier wood, instead of trying to see how many cabbages you can fit into the one you already have.”

“Y-you’re right.” the man says, cowering in… fear?

Now, Midoriya is not usually a jealous or spiteful person, but he can’t fight the flare of annoyance he feels. He’s the avatar, after all! And this kid, despite his presence, isn’t all that different from Midoriya. Sure, the guy doesn’t know that he’s the avatar, and his personality doesn’t exactly give it away, but he deserves respect too, right?

“Now, while I know you have a very… fragile business, it seems it is still relatively successful. I don’t think it’s necessary that you make this young man pay for damages when you can so easily pay them yourself. After all, you’re just as much responsible for running into him as he is for running into you. Maybe next time you should get a larger cart so you can actually see where you’re going?”

“Of course,” the man says, giving a respectful nod before turning on his heel and striding away, leaving his cabbages gently rolling across the pavement.

Midoriya sighs and turns to the boy next to him. While the gesture was nice, he doesn’t want people saving him when he’s the one who’s supposed to be saving others. As he turns to say just that, the boy turns to him.

While Midoriya was not incorrect in saying that the boy had white hair, he apparently only had half of the story. While his right side is framed by bright white hair, the other half is startlingly red. His eyes, too, are mismatched: the right is brown, while the left is blue, surrounded by a dark scar. Despite his intimidating presence, there is something gentle and reserved about his expression.

A hand extends out before him, and all of Midoriya’s previous protests die on his tongue. Screw not being helped. He will let this guy help him any day.

Midoriya grabs his hand and nearly flinches at how cold it is. Still, though, he puts on a smile and bows in gratitude.

“Thank you for helping me! I, uh, got a little lost in thought. My name is Midoriya, by the way. Nice to meet you!”

The boy looks him over and shrugs. “That merchant’s cart breaks about once a week, and he always tries to get other people to pay for it. No need to thank me.”

Midoriya stiffens at the dismissive tone, but his smile doesn’t waver. If he can’t save himself, he can at least keep smiling. Just as the other boy, whose name he still doesn’t know, turns to move away, Midoriya steps in front of him.

“Still,” he says, “it was a nice gesture. Besides, I think it’s pretty clear that I’m completely out of place here. I just arrived here today, so getting tangled with the local authorities already wouldn’t be a great start.”

The boy freezes then, and turns back to him, looking him over. Midoriya tries to stand taller, push himself up to hide his anxiety and hesitance, but he still can’t match the cool, steely presence in front of him. He stiffens under the boy’s gaze, as his eyes move to his hair and clothes.

Finally, the boy speaks. “You don’t know who I am?”

Midoriya startles, looking back up at him. Should he know who this is? The face isn’t a familiar one.

“Uh, no,” Midoriya answers. “Like I said, new here. Well, new to everywhere. I’ve lived on the same small island my whole life, and only left a few months ago. You don’t… you don’t know who I am, do you?”

The boy actually smiles at that, and Midoriya counts that as a win, no matter how small. “No,” he says, “I can’t say that I do. I just thought… ah. Never mind. Where are you headed?”

Midoriya freezes. “Ah, well, I came here to see someone, but, um…”

He looks over amongst the crowd of smiling, chattering people. Regardless of what happens next, something big will come. While it seems so easy in his head, as he thinks of All Might and Gran Torino and his home, being here changes everything.

These aren’t drones serving under a corrupt leader; they’re just everyday people with lives as simple as his was. As long as they feel safe, they can keep on smiling. Midoriya isn’t ready to deprive them of that just yet.

“I guess I haven’t really been to the fire nation before. And it’s not like I’m on a tight schedule. I thought it might be nice to explore a bit before…”

Before I ruin everything.

No, not ruin, help. As pleasant as this place seems, they are just as oppressed by the fire lord as every other kingdom. Whatever comes next has to be better.

He’ll make sure it is.

“Ah,” the boy beside him says, and Midoriya startles from his thoughts. “Well, if that’s the case, maybe I could show you around. At least I could help you find what you’re looking for. I… know the area fairly well.”

“Great!” Midoriya chirps, his forced smile turning genuine. “You can be my tour guide. Of course, that does require me to know your name, you know.”

The boy smiles again, softer and more fond than before. “Of course. Call me Shouto. What would you like to see first?”

Midoriya beams. “You’re the expert. You pick!”

He nods. “Very well.”
__________

While Shouto initially comes off as cold and reserved, his demeanor begins to shift over the course of the day. He smiles more and more frequently, even laughing gently as Midoriya burns his tongue on a handful of fire flakes. Occasionally he’ll point to an object in the market, or a nearby plant, and make a pun about it.

Midoriya thinks he’s in love.

It’s kind of nice, just two strangers spending time together. Sure, he doesn’t know Uraraka or Iida that well either, but they know who he is. What he is. Anyone that Midoriya spent time with along the way learned at least a bit about his situation, even if they didn’t know the whole story.

Here, though, there are no expectations.

Shouto seems to be the same way. The way his eyes dart nervously to the side as if watching for somebody, or how he startles at every loud shout that echoes through the streets. Midoriya isn’t dumb; there’s obviously something else going on here.

Maybe Shouto is using him as an excuse to get away from somebody. Maybe he’s avoiding going home, or trying to hide in plain sight by standing with somebody unknown. After all, once they left the site of the cabbage incident, he had pulled his maroon hood over his head and kept his head low as they walked through the streets.

But when Shouto smiles at him, or sighs in relief after he realizes no one is looking for him, or just tilts his head back to let the sun warm his face, Midoriya knows he’s not just an excuse. Both of them are finding freedom in this anonymity.

Midoriya is still curious, but he understands. He doesn’t want anyone to realize who he is either. If they know who he is, they’ll surely know why he’s here. And if they know that, then-

“Midoriya?”

He startles out of his thoughts and turns to Shouto, who looks down at him with a concerned glance. “You were mumbling,” he says.

“Ah,” Midoriya sighs. “Sorry, bad habit. Lost in thought. Were you saying something?”

Shouto shakes his head. “Not really. I just wanted to show you something.”

Midoriya glances upwards towards the darkening sky. “Will we have time? It’s getting late.”

When will he do this? How does he decide when the time is right?

Shouto smiles, and Midoriya’s doubts disappear. “This is the perfect time. Follow me.”

They move away from the main streets in the market and weave their way through back alleys. Midoriya can’t imagine that Shouto isn’t hopelessly lost, but he moves so quickly and deliberately that he must know these streets like the back of his hand.

It only takes a few minutes to get out of town, and the world quickly devolves into a wide, lonely street flanked by trees, small houses scattered throughout. Further still, and only the road remains, opening more and more on one side until Shouto pauses. He guides them through a small clearing in the trees, down a winding path that eventually opens to a small beach.

Shouto turns back and extends his hand, hesitating momentarily before wrapping his fingers — and they were so cold before, but now are so impossibly warm — around Midoriya’s wrist, pulling him forward until their toes just meet the sand. He reaches down and removes his shoes, and nods at Midoriya to do the same.

They walk forward and sit side by side in the sand, the waves lazily rolling up the shore to occasionally reach the tips of their toes. The bright blue of the sky has faded into a soft pink, casting a warm glow on the world around them. The water turns a deep purple in its wake, and the sand shines golden as the sun.

They’re the only two here.

“Why did you bring me here, Shouto?” Midoriya shudders as a wave of cold water rushes around his ankles.

Shouto takes a deep breath and pulls the hood off of his head. “I come here to get away from things. The bigger public beach is further down the road, closer to town. Nobody really comes over here.”

Midoriya nods, though he still doesn’t understand. Shouto doesn’t seem to be finished, though, so he remains silent.

A light breeze brushes through their hair and sends a spray of seawater into their faces.

“You sort of feel the same way,” Shouto continues, turning his head away slightly to hide the color rising to his cheeks. “We don’t even know each other. I liked spending the day with you. I didn’t have to worry about… anything else.”

Midoriya nods. “I think I get it. I wouldn’t have before, but so much has changed. My life has always been so calm and mundane, and all I ever wanted was an adventure. And I got it.”

“But it’s not what you wanted.”

“It’s not that,” he says. “This is what I wanted, even more than I realized I could want. I just gained a new respect for what I had. And this place… as different as it is, it reminds me of home. You do, too, in a way. If I had someone like you back home, maybe… maybe I would have wanted to stay.”

Shouto nods. “I could have used more friends here. I still could. But you’re not staying, are you?”

“I…” Midoriya trails off with a wince. No, he supposes he can’t stay, not after what he’s about to do. “I can’t. Once I finish what I came here for… well, I don’t think this is the place for me. But thank you, Shouto, for showing me how nice this place can be. I was nervous about coming. I didn’t know what to expect. It’s good that I saw this side of things, so that I can fully appreciate it when I’m gone.”

And maybe that’s what hurts the most. The fact that he can appreciate it. The fact that there’s someone here, someone just like him when he was on Musutafu. The fact that any stability here will soon be gone, however it may happen.

Even with his own life at stake, Midoriya’s heart stings at the thought of ruining this. In a way, he hates seeing things like this. Hates seeing the happy people, and the beautiful sunsets, and the thriving markets. Because he is going to end whatever peace is here.

But it is necessary. If he’s going to cause pain, it’s important to understand what it truly feels like. In a way, it feels like he’s punishing himself. Maybe he deserves that.

“You’re doing it again.”

Midoriya shakes himself from his thoughts and glances over to Shouto, who smiles down at him. “You’re thinking too hard.”

Midoriya laughs nervously. “I have a lot to think about.”

“Sure, but this isn’t the place to do it. This is the place to not think about it.”

This peace will be gone. The world may go to war.

“This is the place to just be okay.”

He may die.

“Shouto…”

Shouto leans towards him, his gaze not leaving Midoriya’s own. “Don’t let yourself think about it. Just think about this.”

Midoriya can’t help but mirror his movement, his back leaning forward as if it’s acting against his will.

Can he feel it?

The tide still washes up on the beach. The leaves on the trees still rustle in the breeze. This same sun will set tomorrow, regardless of whether he’s here to see it.

“I have to think about it, though.”

Shouto suddenly freezes and sits back up. He looks down at Midoriya as if he’s afraid, as if he’s just been punched in the gut.

“My problems won’t go away if I avoid them, Shouto,” he continues. “I have to think about them. If I know something bad will happen, and there’s a way for me to stop it, then I have to think about it.”

Shouto leans back onto shaking arms. “You’re right. You do have to think about it, don’t you? It’s not that easy.”

Can he feel this, too?

“Shouto, no, I didn’t mean-”

“No,” he interrupts. “I understand. I need to think too, and I… I wasn’t. Didn’t. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t-”

“This was a mistake. You shouldn’t — you can’t be around me. You don’t know me.”

Midoriya huffs out a breath. “You don’t know me either. I thought that was a good thing?”

“It was,” Shouto agrees. “It is. But it’s just for the day. You were right, you do need to think about the bad things, and so do I. This was a nice day, but it was just that. A day.”

It feels bad. It feels oppressive.

Midoriya wraps his fingers around Shouto’s, buried in the sand. “That’s not what I meant. This has nothing to do with you.”

“Well for me, it does. I was wrong to bring you here. I’ve never shown this place to anybody, and after less than a day I brought you here. It was a mistake.”

He feels it, Midoriya knows, and it’s too much on him. Too much on both of them, and they are powerless to stop it.

“It wasn’t!” Midoriya insists. “It wasn’t. I promise. I just… I can’t forget about the bad things. I need to face them, and only then can I be okay. Then I can appreciate this place as it is, as a freedom from whatever bad things might happen. I have to earn it. Do you understand that?”

Shouto swallows thickly. “I understand very well, Midoriya.”

“Good. Then tomorrow we will face whatever bad things we need to face. And it’ll turn out okay in the end.”

It feels like too much.

“You don’t know that.”

Midoriya laughs, but it feels bitter in his throat. “No, I suppose I don’t. So how about this? If we both face this, and it does turn out okay, then we’ll meet here tomorrow. Sunset. And if one of us comes and the other doesn’t, then that’s that.”

“That’s that?”

“Yes. And this was just a day. But it was a very nice day, Shouto, I promise you that much.”

Shouto nods. “Okay.”

It feels like so much, and Midoriya can’t bear it. It’s like a weight sitting in his stomach, like lava flowing through his veins, like ice trailing down his back. It’s pure dread, and nothing can fight it off.

It’s the calm before the storm, and they both feel it. It threatens to blot out the sun, to send the ocean churning and crashing, to turn the gentle breeze into vicious typhoons.

The final pricks of glowing light fade as the sun finally sets.

Will it set tomorrow, too?
__________

The walk back to town is quiet. It’s tense, at first, but the roar of water and the rustle of leaves fills the air, and the uncomfortable quiet soon turns into an amicable silence.

The streets are still busy when they return to town, but the bustling crowds have now been replaced by the a few stray people lazily strolling along. Lanterns illuminate the street, and a trickling fountain at the center of town glistens under their light.

Shouto and Midoriya walk side by side, their shoulders occasionally brushing against each other. The sensation sends tingles down Midoriya’s arm, all the way to his fingertips. They sit along the marble edge of the fountain, legs turned inward in order to face each other.

Midoriya barely has the chance to dip his fingers into the water before a few things happen.

A voice calls out. “Deku!” Two figures trot forward, too distant to make out clearly, but Midoriya would recognize that voice anywhere. Uraraka waves a hand high in the air, Iida trailing just behind her.

Another voice. “Deku!” Angrier, more violent. This voice, too, can only be one person. How did Bakugou find him?

Someone wraps their fingers in Shouto’s hair and dunks his head into the water.

Before Midoriya can even move, another strong pair of arms are wrapped around his body, hauling him to his feet.

“Come on, waterbender!” a rough voice mocks. Midoriya looks up to see the woman holding Shouto down. She’s smiling.

“Isn’t water your element? Save yourself!”

Shouto is trying, clearly. But panic has taken over, and the hands around him are too strong for him to fight. His arms flail, and Midoriya watches small bits of water leap into the air, but he cannot free himself.

Midoriya has seen this before.

He can’t reveal himself to be the avatar. Not yet. What reason could there be for the avatar to come to the fire nation, if not to see the fire lord? He’ll delivered straight to Enji if he can’t escape and hunted if he does.

But Shouto can’t breathe, and he’s seen this before.

There’s only one thing to do, and that’s to do something.

That same feeling overcomes him again, even if he doesn’t want it. It feels like power, and it’s dangerous, and something inside him still says it shouldn’t be this way. But that fear and uncertainty is dwindling, and he knows. He knows this is the only thing. It’s dangerous, he knows too well, but it feels so right.

“Let go of him” he snarls.

And that power consumes him.

Only this time, he’s in control. Midoriya lifts his foot, smashing it into the ground and splintering the earth beneath it. A jagged chunk of stone shoots upward and knocks away the man restraining him. Midoriya spreads his arms wide and splits the earth, slamming his hands to the ground and sucking the man down into the crevice.

The woman is staring at him in shock, but her arm still keeps Shouto’s head submerged.

He sees red and draws water from the fountain, throwing it to side and freezing it in the process. The woman’s head is frozen and thrown backwards, sending her tumbling to the ground. She grips at her head, trying to claw the ice away. Midoriya melts it before quickly forming braces in the ground, chunks of rocks cuffing her to the ground. He walks to stand above her, sticking out two fingers on his right hand. A thin flame emerges like a blowtorch, mere inches from her neck.

She stares at him with wide eyes, pleading for forgiveness.

“Leave,” he says, his voice dripping with an anger he’s never heard from himself before. “Don’t come back here again, and don’t ever touch him again in your life. Got it?”

She nods, and he sighs, releasing the earth around her and sending it crumbling to dust. She scrambles to her feet, rushing to her partner’s side. Midoriya spreads the crack in the ground back open, and she pulls him out, dragging him through the street before Midoriya can change his mind.

“Deku!”

Uraraka and Iida have reached him now, both wearing matching looks of concern. Iida begins talking, but Midoriya can barely hear him over the rush of blood in his ears. The world seems to cave in around him, invisible walls being pushed in by the stares of the crowd around him.

A fist meets his jaw, and Midoriya stumbles to the ground.

“Snap out of it,” Bakugou growls. “This isn’t the time.” Two boys stand behind him, a blonde and a redhead, looking equally confused and excited.

“He’s right,” Iida says, though he throws a weary glance their way. “We need to get out of here. People are staring, and it’s only a matter of time before word spreads that the avatar is here.”

“I know somewhere we can go!” the blonde boy behind Bakugou says. “There are some secluded cliffs not too far from here. I practice there a lot. No one really goes there because it’s hard to get to.”

“We have an eelhound!” Uraraka chirps. “We should be able to get there no problem!”

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” the other boy says with a glance over his shoulder. “If we’re looking to avoid a fight, it’s time to go.”

The cliffs aren’t far when they have an eelhound, though they almost get stopped a few times by people trying to stop them. Iida and the redhead use their bodies to shield Midoriya from view as much as possible, but he doesn’t quite see the point. Everyone already seems to know that he’s there.

The blonde boy directs them into a cave built into the cliffside. The last remaining light of the day has faded, so Bakugou starts a fire before pushing his back against the stone wall and glaring at Midoriya.

“Where did you go, Kacchan?” Midoriya asks, looking to the two boys beside him. “How did you even get here?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Deku,” Bakugou spits.

“Aww, Bakugou, calm down, would ya?” the redhead says as he elbows Bakugou in the side. Surprisingly, Bakugou doesn’t lash out at him.

“I’m Kirishima!” the boy continues, jabbing a thumb at his chest with a grin. “I met this guy back in the earth kingdom. He, uh, broke a shopkeeper’s fruit stand and almost got arrested. I stepped in and got him out of there. He mentioned that he wanted to learn lightning bending, and I’ve been wanting to learn lavabending, so we came here to meet up with my buddy Kaminari over here.”

“I don’t know much about lavabending,” Kaminari says with a shrug, “but I sure know how to work with lightning. There was a storm a few days ago, but the skies have been clear since. Not that it stops this guy from trying. He picked it up fast.”

Midoriya stares at them, eyes wide. “You almost got arrested, Kacchan? Last time you ruined a shop, the owners tried to drown you.”

Bakugou scowls. “But they didn’t.”

“Yeah, because I-”

“Sure, because Avatar Fuckface was there to save me. You think I need your help? I will be the strongest; stronger than you ever could be. I’m already learning to bend lightning. What have you been doing all this time, huh? Fighting idiot criminals and getting your stupid ass into trouble? You didn’t need to leave our shitty island for that, Deku.”

Midoriya sighs. “No, I-”

“Hey, uh, sorry to interrupt, but can we talk about that?” Kirishima asks. “Bakugou didn’t to mention that he was, uh, friends with the… with the avatar.”

“We’re not friends,” Bakugou says with a huff.

“I’m not exactly used to it myself,” Midoriya admits. “I know what I have to do, and I know a lot of people have been counting on me to do some really important things, but… well, I don’t know what I’m doing, to be honest. I have to face Fire Lord Enji. But I don’t know how to beat him, and he may kill me. I don’t know if we can reach a solution without having to kill him.”

Midoriya glances warily towards Kaminari, who shrugs in response. “We know. I mean, this place is fairly peaceful, and Enji does have a lot of supporters. But we’re not all brainwashed. A lot of people would be glad to see that guy gone.”

“Okay,” Midoriya says with a deep breath. “Okay. Then I guess… I have to prepare to face him, then. I was going to try and train more while I was here, but I don’t think this hiding spot will last for long. I have to go there tomorrow.”

“It would be prudent to get some rest now, then,” Iida suggests. “There is no more time to prepare. You must just trust in yourself.”

“Like hell,” Bakugou says. “You think you can just show up here and pretend everything is fine? Let’s go, Deku. You and me, right now. I want a rematch.”

“Come on,” Kirishima says. “He’s about to fight the fire lord. Asking for a fight right now isn’t very manly, dude.”

Bakugou scoffs. “I’m sure the avatar can handle it. I’ll show this piece of shit once and for all that I’m the strongest bender ever.”

Midoriya shakes his head and lets the lingering feeling of power and determination wash over him once more. “No, Kacchan, I can’t humor you anymore. We both know you’re strong, and we both know that I can’t change the fact that I’m the avatar. So it’s time to decide.”

Bakugou goes wide-eyed.

“Whose side are you really on here?” Midoriya continues. “Everyone back home said you were just as bad as Enji. I have to fight him. If you try and fight me now, that means you’re just going to make things harder on me later. So maybe they were right. Maybe you are just like him.”

Bakugou steps forward. “You think-”

“I never agreed with them, and I still don’t. I think we’re on the same side here, but you’re still hung up on the fact that I can bend now. You see me as your biggest threat, when I’m trying to be your biggest ally. The real threat here is the fire lord, and I’ll need your help to take him down.”

The familiar scowl returns to Bakugou’s face. “I’m not here to help you.”

Midoriya sighs. Reasoning won’t work here, apparently. Maybe their relationship can be repaired someday, but that day isn’t today. Time for a new tactic.

“Fine,” Midoriya says with a shrug. “I guess you’re right. I just figured, well, I’m about to face the strongest firebender in the world. Seems like a pretty good way to prove that maybe he isn’t-”

“Fuck you,” Bakugou says. “I’m coming.”

Midoriya smiles. “Good. Now the question is, will the rest of you help me? I understand if you have to say no. This will be dangerous.”

Uraraka smiles softly at him. “I’ll be by your side, Deku. You know that.”

Iida nods. “I will aid you as well. I admit, I don’t know the full details of the crimes this man has committed, but my job is to support the avatar. I will do whatever I can.”

“Yeah, uh, I could do without having that guy in power anymore,” Kaminari says. “The fire nation has changed so much since I was a kid. I’d be down to kick his ass.”

“Hell yeah!” Kirishima cries. “The avatar is back and ready to fight against all the bad guys in the world. That’s what I’m talking about!”

Midoriya smiles. He’s never had this kind of support before, and now he suddenly has a group of people who will follow him to whatever hell may come. It hurts to burden them with his own battles, but at the same time, it fills him with warmth. Because they’re not just his, are they? Everyone here want to fight injustice just as he does. Even if he is the avatar, he’s not alone.

“Good,” he says, and he means it. “I’ll need all the help I can get.”

Bakugou glances towards him. “So it’s settled, then.”

Midoriya nods. “We leave for the fire nation palace at dawn.”

Chapter Text

“So who was-”

“Nope.”

“Come on, just-”

“No.”

Midoriya had worried that this would come up the night before, but the subject went untouched while everyone learned about each other and discussed their plans. He had hoped it was clear that he didn’t want to talk about it, so the uncharacteristic quiet left him eternally grateful. But no, apparently that was only a brief courtesy. Midoriya wants to be annoyed, but the only one he can blame is himself for believing this wasn’t coming.

“Midoriyaaaaa,” Uraraka whines, dragging out his name while she pouts. “Who were you with, seriously?”

Midoriya huffs, but relents. “I barely even know him. I just ran into him yesterday morning, and he helped me out of a bad situation.”

“Ha!” Kirishima laughs, elbowing him in the side. “Did you ruin someone’s shop, too?”

It was meant to be a joke, Midoriya knows, but he blushes anyways.

“See, Deku,” Bakugou says, flashing a wicked grin. “You’re no better than me.”

“I never said I was!” Midoriya defends. “Although, at least no one tried to drown me.”

“Hey, fu-”

“It is strange, though,” Iida interrupts. He had a particular knack for ending Bakugou’s rants, which left Midoriya wishing they had met years earlier. “Who would attempt drown a child in the middle of so many people? It appeared that no one else was stepping in to help, as well.”

Midoriya shrugs. “I’m not sure, either. I know — well, I think we both realized it was a sensitive subject. I didn’t ask about who he was because he didn’t ask me. Those thugs yesterday, they called him ‘waterbender.’ But how did they know that?”

“Waterbender?” Kaminari asks, with an uneasy look on his face. He shrugs. “Nah, it’s — never mind. I just thought it might… well, it wouldn’t make sense. Never mind.”

Bakugou groans and rises to his feet. “Are we done gossiping now? Let’s go kill this guy already.”

“We don’t know if we’re going to kill him yet!” Kirishima calls after him as he walks away. “Bakugou! Dude! Don’t sound so excited about murder!”

Kaminari watches their retreating backs, eyes wide. He turns back to the rest of them and shrugs. “Don’t know why I hang out with idiots like them. Anyways, I think that’s our cue to leave. You ready, Avatar Midoriya?”

Midoriya gulps. “Not in the slightest.”

“Well, too bad!” Kaminari says, clapping him on the back. “Let’s go do a murder!”

Kirishima whips around to stare at him. “Not you too, bro!”
__________

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, really, how large and elaborate the palace is. It’s a historical building, home to generations of fire nation royalty. Still, the image sits wrong with Midoriya. After all the stories he’s heard about Fire Lord Enji, some sort of menacing evil castle seems more appropriate. But this…

The light of the sun glints off golden ornamentations along the roof. Bright white marble steps contrast with the dark red walls of the building, a grand beacon amidst a sea of white flowers in the surrounding gardens.

It’s too peaceful. Midoriya almost resents it, resents that he’s going to do something so terrible in a place that seems so peaceful. He wants to be a hero, he knows who he is, and yet…

And yet.

Why does he seem to always cause destruction where there once was none?

“Ah!”

A shout startles him out of his thoughts. He whips around to see Uraraka there, her staff held out to brace against the grip of a castle guard. Behind her, more guards pour from the castle doors and start moving for his friends.

Well, at least he wasn’t the one to start the chaos this time.

Midoriya runs towards one of the guards, drawing a stream of water from the pond to his right. Just as he lifts his arms over his head to bring it crashing down, a hand wraps around his arm.

Iida stands there, staring him down. “Don’t. Let us handle this. You go inside and find Enji.”

Midoriya’s heart sinks. “No, I can’t leave you out here to face all of these guards alone. There’s too many of them.”

Iida steps back, straightening his posture and grinning proudly. “Nonsense! It is our duty to serve the avatar. You must go on ahead in order to reach your goal.”

“But-”

“Midoriya,” Iida says, his voice dropping low and quiet. As intense of a person as he is, this is possibly the most serious that Midoriya has ever seen him. “All of us here have put a lot of faith into you. I think it is time you had some faith in us, as well.”

He’s afraid, Midoriya can see it now. They’re all afraid. Uraraka, as she flinches at each hit, though the grip on her staff holds strong. Kaminari, as he hesitates at the thought of going against his own country, but draws forth a bolt of lightning regardless. Iida, as the hand on his arm shakes wildly, but his gaze betrays no regrets.

Midoriya nods. “Alright.”

Iida nods in return, pulling Midoriya behind him and bringing his sword forth to block the guard approaching them from behind.

Midoriya does something he hasn’t done in a long time, yet still comes like second nature.

He runs away.
__________

Something is wrong, right off the bat.

The gardens outside were littered with guards and soldiers when Midoriya left. It was overwhelming, and Midoriya fights the protective instincts in his head telling him to go back, that there were too many out there for his friends to fight on their own.

The castle, meanwhile, is completely barren.

Is that it, then? Enji fled when news of the avatar’s arrival came. The guards are going to wipe them out before they’ve even had a chance. It makes sense, honestly. Better to prepare in order to gain the upper hand, now that the element of surprise has been lost. As terrible as Enji sounds, he must be a sensible man, doing what he must to protect his country.

Midoriya wanders the halls, pushing random doors open, searching for any sign of life. One door towards of the back of the castle stands taller than any of the others, so he uses his shoulder to throw it open.

“Well, it seems the new avatar has finally decided to grace me with his presence.”

As it turns out, Enji is not a sensible man at all. It doesn’t come as much of a surprise, in retrospect.

“You know, it’s rude for someone as important as you not to stop and meet with the nation’s ruler. I suppose it makes sense that you would take after your predecessor, though.”

Midoriya scowls. “You know why I’m here.”

“I do,” Enji says, glaring down at Midoriya from atop his throne, surrounded by a wall of flames. “I’ll admit, I am very glad you found your way here. Your presence in my country is… undesirable. Now I can take care of you quickly.”

“I will make you pay,” Midoriya says, doing his best to stand tall against a figure so much larger than him. “You will pay for what you did to All Might.”

“Defeating him was a great victory, as easy as it was. I admit, there is no glory in taking someone down when they are already on the verge of death, but I did what had to be done. You, on the other hand…”

Enji looks him over, and Midoriya feels a cold grip on his spine under the scrutiny. What is he playing at? Admitting to killing the previous avatar could easily be grounds for his arrest, and Midoriya is surprised to hear him boast about it so freely.

Unless he has no intention of letting Midoriya leave with his life.

“Yes,” Enji continued, “this is perfect. You lack experience, yet you hold such an important title, just like my son.”

“What does-”

“Just as you have been raised to fulfill the role of the previous avatar,” Enji interrupts, “he has been raised to fulfill mine. I defeated the previous avatar in his weakened state, and gained nothing from the victory. You, though, you’re a different story. Now it is time to prove, once and for all, that the avatar will no longer be the strongest bender in the world.”

Midoriya freezes, at a complete loss for words.

Enji grins down at him, flames bursting forth from his body. “I declare a duel between you and my son. You have one hour to prepare.”
__________

“I can’t do this.”

“Shh,” Uraraka soothes, holding her hands out to keep him from pacing. It doesn’t work. “You can do this. It should be easier than taking on Enji himself, right?”

“But what if-”

“Come now,” Iida says. “You are the avatar, after all. This is your duty!”

Kirishima winces. “I don’t think that’s helping.”

Bakugou rolls his eyes. “Deku, you idiot. We’ll all be there, too, so I’ll just kill him if it goes too far.”

“Yeah!” Kirishima agrees. “Wait, no-”

Bakugou grins as sparks begin to fly over his palms. “Then I’ll kill that bastard fire lord, too. Then I’ll be the strongest!”

“Dude, this isn’t about becoming the strongest. It’s about doing what’s right, remember?”

“Yeah!” Uraraka claps her hands together. “Do the right thing, Bakugou!”

“Who even asked you, you f-”

“Come now,” Iida says. “I’m sure things probably won’t come to killing.”

“Probably? I thought you were the rational one here, Iida!”

“If anyone is killing someone around here, it’s me!” Bakugou shouts. Iida turns to argue, lecturing Bakugou on his intentions, while Kirishima and Uraraka jump in to take sides.

Kaminari looks down to Midoriya, who stands shell-shocked before the whole thing. He shrugs. “I know this is all pretty scary, Midoriya, but at least these dummies are on your side. I almost pity the fire lord, honestly.”

Midoriya laughs despite himself. Kaminari isn’t wrong; he has a lot of scary people on his side, too.
__________

Midoriya kneels in an open arena with high walls, clearly built specifically for duels like this. His back faces the center, and his gaze trails over each of his friends, standing behind pools of water lining the boundary. They look stiff and uneasy, and anyone who didn’t know them would say they were frightened. Midoriya knows them, though; he knows they’re just waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

“The duel will now commence…” a voice calls.

He can do this.

“...between Avatar Midoriya Izuku and Prince Todoroki Shouto.”

Shouto?

“Rise, and face your opponent!”

No, that’s not…

Midoriya stands on shaky knees, turning towards the center of the arena. Towards the back, atop the towering wall opposite him, stands Fire Lord Enji.

And just below, a familiar face.

“Wait, you-”

A wall of ice comes barreling towards Midoriya before he can finish, leaving only a moment’s notice for him to dive out of the way. He still can’t manage to shake the disorientation, but the cold look in Todoroki Shouto’s eyes shows nothing but steely determination.

He knew.

Of course he knew. After all, Midoriya basically announced it to the whole world when he took those thugs down. And Todoroki… had just disappeared. Midoriya had thought he was afraid, shaken by nearly being drowned.

Todoroki pauses, staring at Midoriya as he mulls everything over in his head. “We were destined to face each other,” he says, all previous warmth drained from his voice.

He hadn’t been afraid.

“No, you don’t-” Midoriya attempts, his voice cut off by another wave of ice rushing his way. A blast of air from Midoriya shatters it before it can hit him, sending shards flying through the air.

He had been preparing.

“I was born for this,” Todoroki says, melting the ice and lashing the water back around. “I was raised for this.”

“It’ll be alright, Todoroki,” Midoriya says. It doesn’t quite feel true.

“It won’t,” Todoroki argues, though his voice maintains its cool, casual tone. “You realize that, right, Avatar? From the moment we were born, our destiny was sealed. Things would never be alright for both of us. We were never both going to go back to the-”

Todoroki cuts himself off, scowling as he sends water up Midoriya’s legs and encasing his body in a layer of ice, restraining his hands and feet. He approaches, then, secure in the knowledge that Midoriya couldn’t bend even if he tried.

He isn’t going to try.

“My mother was the strongest waterbender in the northern water tribe.”

Midoriya blinks at him. “What does that-”

“It was a bending marriage. My father charmed the chief of their village, and they were betrothed. My mother never wanted it. My father, however, wanted to bring together the element opposite to his so he could breed the most powerful bender possible.”

Midoriya nods his head, the movement restrained by the ice creeping around his neck. “That’s why you’re a waterbender. Even though you’re the heir to the fire nation throne.”

“Yes,” Todoroki says with a sneer. “‘A traitor to his own blood’, they call me. I was not his first experiment. When Avatar Toshinori was killed, however, he found his chance. He ordered a manhunt all over the air temples, then the rest of the world, searching for the next avatar so he could take them.”

Midoriya’s eyes fall to the ground, unable to look Todoroki in the eye as he speaks.

“Toshinori was a firebender. You are an airbender. The next in the cycle is-”

“A waterbender.”

Todoroki nods. “He figured that he could kill the avatar at the moment of my birth, forcing the spirit of the avatar to become reincarnated through me.”

“He never f-found me, though.”

“And it didn’t stop his plans, either. If he could not have the avatar, then he would raise someone strong enough to defeat them. That is what I was made for. I was given a waterbending tutor, the same one who taught my mother so long ago. I was made to do horrible things, just as he did horrible things to me. My mother could not handle the pressure.”

Todoroki pauses, drawing his hand to the left side of his face.

“She told me my left side was unsightly as she bent boiling water into my face.”

Midoriya wants nothing more than to escape this ice prison. Half of him wants to flee, to escape this and never look back. The other half wants to break free and grab Todoroki, showing him that everything will be fine.

But it’s not fine, and he’s encased in ice.

“That is why we must do this,” Todoroki continues. “Now you know. I will do whatever it takes to defeat you, Avatar. But I won’t use his methods. I will defeat you with my ice alone. We both came here today to fight each other. We both have something to prove.”

The ice melts around Midoriya, freeing his hands as water drips to the ground. “No, I didn’t come here to fight you. I came for him.”

Todoroki launches another wave of ice towards him, which Midoriya narrowly dodges. “It is the same. I am his successor, and you are the avatar. Fight me.”

Another shot, and Midoriya doesn’t move as quickly this time. A pillar of ice peaks from the top, barreling straight into his stomach and launching him backwards. He pushes himself to his feet, though the pain in his ribs makes itself known. He has to put a stop to this quickly, before his friends jump in and hurt Todoroki.

“No. You know this isn’t right.” He melts the ice pillar, sending the stream of water back to the edges of the arena.

“It doesn’t have to be right,” Todoroki says, drawing a wave from behind him. He splits it down the middle, sending a rush of water around him and towards Midoriya. “This is how it was meant to happen.”

Midoriya, in turn, draws the ground upwards, sending the wave crashing against a makeshift wall. It sprays against his face, so much like the waves on the beach before, yet so different now.

“No.” Midoriya argues, shouting over the roaring water. “Fighting me won’t prove anything to your father.”

Todoroki takes hold of the water again, leeching it upwards into the cracks in the rock wall. It freezes suddenly, sending stone crumbling to the ground. The ice rushes forward once more, chunks of rock still frozen in, knocking Midoriya over once more.

“You don’t have to fight!” he insists, drawing himself back up. If he doesn’t retaliate soon, he will certainly lose. But this is not a fight worth fighting.

“I do.”

“No, you don’t.”

Todoroki growls. “Yes, I do!” He sends another wall of ice shooting beneath him, sending him gliding forward toward Midoriya.

Midoriya takes control, sending the wall curving to the side and back around to the other end of the arena. “Why didn’t you fight me yesterday?”

Todoroki hesitates. “I didn’t know who you were yesterday.” He sends another pillar of ice forward, which Midoriya sends trailing to the other side. Bright white loops surround him like the swirling frost that crawls over everything come winter.

“Does that change who I am? Or what I’ve done? I was always the avatar, Shouto.”

More ice shoots forward. Midoriya stops it before it even has a chance to reach him.

He’s slowing down.

“Is this what your bending is for? Do you want to be like him? No matter what power you use, you’re still using it the same way.”

A flat pillar rises in front of Todoroki, and he sends a disk of ice flying towards Midoriya. It narrowly misses his face, just barely slicing the edge of his cheek.

“I didn’t always have my bending, you know.” Midoriya sends a disk flying to the side before taking a small step forward. “In fact, it didn’t show up too long ago. I was powerless until then. Nobody thought I had what it takes to do something, no matter how desperate I was to help people. I would’ve done anything for power like yours.”

A wall of rock rises from the ground just in time for another disk to wedge itself in. He moves around it and takes another step.

“But then I found out that I was the avatar, and suddenly everyone saw me differently. You did the same too, didn’t you?”

The disks move faster now, but Midoriya sends them crashing to the ground, shattering at his feet as he walks forward.

“It’s still always been me, though. I am only defined by what I choose for myself. When there’s so many bad things in the world, I always knew what I wanted to be. I never changed. Everyone else did.”

The disks thin out into something like darts, long icicles launching forward. Midoriya takes control of one, snatching it out of the air and melting it in his palm. He doesn’t stop walking.

“I liked spending the day with you yesterday. I liked you, and I think I still do. I think you have the potential to be a great person. But I can’t help but be annoyed that someone so skilled is choosing to do something wrong.”

An icicle launches directly towards his face. It misses by a wide margin. Midoriya hadn’t even needed to dodge.

“You stopped calling me Midoriya, Shouto. But that’s still my name.”

He moves to step forward again, now only a few feet from where Todoroki stands, hunched over pillars of ice.

“Stop!”

Midoriya’s foot hovers in the air, and he looks up. Todoroki’s chest is heaving, breathless from pushing himself too hard. His arms tremble from the patches of frost that have begun to form over his skin.

He pulls all the water around him into the air, turning one large mass into two, then four, then eight, soon spreading a dome of droplets around them. They freeze, small shards of ice all pointed directly at Midoriya. He doesn’t move.

“You’re wrong,” Todoroki says, still fighting to catch his breath. “This is about me.”

The pillars of ice turn, their sharp edges pointing towards Todoroki.

“I have to prove that I’m not him. I have to show him that I will be the best bender, but it won’t be by doing things his way. I made that choice. But don’t you understand? I have to take you down in order to be the best bender. And even if I don’t believe in my choices, that’s my burden to bear. Don’t you understand that? I will do what I need to do, but not without the punishment that comes along with it. And I’ve accepted that. It’s what I deserve.”

Midoriya sighs. “That’s dumb.”

“What?”

“You’re right, I do understand it. I thought the same thing. I thought… no matter what I chose, people would end up hurt. And I blamed myself for it. But now I see that I was wrong. I can’t punish myself for the mistakes I haven’t made yet. All I can do is learn from what I’ve already done. Because I know I’ve made mistakes, but I also know who I am. I am a hero.”

He steps forward then, pushing shards of ice away as he approaches.

“I’m not going to fight you, Shouto. Because my job is to fight the bad people, and save the good ones. And I think you are a good person, Todoroki. And I know you can make the right choices, because it’s your power, right? You control what you do with it.”

A drop of water hits his forehead. Midoriya looks up to see more drops fall, dripping from the shards suspended in the air. They melt slowly, rain falling over them all at once.

Midoriya looks back down. Todoroki’s face is frozen, tears welling in his eyes.

“You…”

He raises a hand, reaching out his upturned palm. Midoriya begins to extend his hand in return.

“You have to fight me.”

He feels his body stiffen, though it’s not out of fear.

His arms raises. He isn’t the one who moved it.

“Don’t you see?” Todoroki says, a trail of water rolling down his face. Midoriya doesn’t know if it’s rain or tears. “That choice was never mine. This is the monster he made me to be. All I can do is make the most of that.”

Todoroki steps forward, pulling water from the ground and freezing it into a blade. He holds it out to Midoriya, who takes it. He doesn’t mean to take it.

“Bloodbending,” Todoroki says. “That is the power he forced upon me. That is why he needed a waterbender. The power to control another person. It is what I have been trained for, all these years. But it is the one power I never use. I will still be the strongest bender without it. Because this… all I can do is point it at myself.”

The blade of ice rises to point at Todoroki’s throat.

“You have to fight me. That is the only way I can walk away from this. Even if I have to do it myself.”

Just a hair closer, and the tip pricks against his throat. A small drop of blood bubbles up, though Todoroki doesn’t flinch.

An explosion sounds behind him, though Midoriya lacks the power to turn and see what it is. Footsteps approaching, louder and louder and louder and-

“Hey, you icy piece of shit, what are you- hrrk!”

Midoriya strains his eyes to see Bakugou standing beside him, frozen stiffly in place just as he is. He remains there for only a brief moment before being thrown backwards, a crash to indicate he hit the back wall.

None of the others run forward after that, and Midoriya is grateful for it.

“There it is!” Enji says, and Midoriya can see him, at least. The flames around him have grown, almost an unintentional reaction to his emotions, a mirror to the fire blazing in his eyes. He smiles broadly, the first sign of anything from him during the entire match so far. Until this point, he had only frowned stoically, a looming presence watching from above.

“I have to say, Shouto, I hate the way this feels,” Midoriya says, eyes trained on the blade that’s so close to doing something unforgivable, even if he isn’t in control.

Todoroki glares, but keeps the blade at his throat carefully still.

“And I think you might hate it, too. This is what he wanted, and you’ve done it.”

“I know that,” Todoroki shoots back. “But it’s the only way.”

Midoriya pushes himself, nearly feels his veins popping at the force with which he tries to shake his head, but only manages a small twitch. “No. You think the options are limited to what it takes to get me to fight. But think for a minute. And don’t think as Prince Todoroki, but as Shouto, the one who wanted to be free of all of this.
Think of who he wants to be. Is this it?”

Todoroki keeps his hand still, though his finger twitches ever so slightly. Midoriya’s entire hand does the same, but it’s thankfully not the one holding the blade.

“I know what I have to do,” Midoriya continues, “and I know that there are a lot of bad people out there. But if I let myself think the only options are to give up or take someone’s life, then I’ve already lost. There has to be a third option. So tell me, Shouto. What is it that you’re really doing here?”

Todoroki drops his hand, and the blade of ice clatters to the ground and smashes into pieces. Todoroki stares at him, unmoving.

“Because there’s another choice here, one you haven’t realized even is a choice yet.”

“What are you doing?” Enji shouts, stomping down the stairs towards the base of the arena. “Finish this, Shouto!”

“What is it that you really want?” Midoriya repeats. Even as Enji approaches, Todoroki remains still, one tense hand holding Midoriya in place.

“Do you want to be powerful? Or do you want to be good? Who is it that you want to become?”

Todoroki’s eyes widen.

“You insolent brat! Kill this child before I do it for you!”

For the first time since he arrived, Todoroki’s eyes lose that icy stare. In them, now, Midoriya can see fire.

His hand launches into the air, fingers clenched in a tight fist. Midoriya shuts his eyes in preparation, but his body only falls loosely to the ground. He opens his eyes and looks upward, Todoroki’s stance blotting out the glow of the sun.

Enji stands still behind him, his arms frozen at his sides, face screwed up in fear and anger.

“This is not what you were made for, Shouto.”

Todoroki ignores him, using his unoccupied left hand to reach out to Midoriya. He grabs it and pulls himself to his feet.

He watches Todoroki, who keeps his gaze firm even as his entire body trembles.

“I want to be both,” he answers.

Midoriya beams. “You found the third option.”

“He… I was made to control others,” Todoroki says. “This power is wicked, and I only ever thought it could be used to hurt others. And by having it, I thought that I was made to hurt others. I believed it because he raised me to believe it.”

Midoriya shakes his head. “But you didn’t hurt me.”

Todoroki frowns. “I did, though. I… said horrible things. And, and the ice, I hit you very hard, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“Hey,” Midoriya says with a shrug. “I’m the avatar. I can handle it. But I meant what I said. You didn’t hurt me, not in the way that matters.”

Todoroki smiles then, shaky and barely noticeable, but there. “Thank you for believing in me.”

He steps aside then, turning to face both Midoriya and his father. Bakugou, freed from Todoroki’s grip, leaps to his feet and runs forward, the others following closely behind. Todoroki holds a hand up before they can approach. They freeze in place, though it’s under their own volition.

“Avatar Midoriya,” he says, that same authority from earlier back in his tone. Only, instead of being cold and uncaring, it is now strong and warm, a voice that could carry armies into battle. “Please restrain Fire Lord Enji using any means necessary. He is under arrest for the assassination of Avatar Toshinori and the attempted kidnapping and killing of his successor. I will rise as Fire Lord Todoroki in his place.”

“Shouto, I did not raise you for this! Stop fooling around!” Enji shouts through his forcibly clamped teeth.

“I would be happy to,” Midoriya says with a smile. He lifts two slabs of rock from the ground, each rising to restrain Enji’s wrists and pull him to the ground. More slabs rise and lock his feet into place.

Midoriya steps forward, mere inches away from Enji’s face. He feels the same light wash over him, and he knows his eyes are glowing bright white, yet the only one in control now is him.

“This is where your reign ends,” he says. His voice is not just his own; Toshinori is there, as well. As are the voices of so many that he has yet to meet, every avatar that has come before him.

Just as the power fades, he turns to walk away. Only, as he passes by Todoroki, he notices the trembling still wracking his limbs.

Midoriya turns to him one last time. “Hey. I know it doesn’t feel right, not at first. But you did the right thing. And we have to stand by the choices we make and learn from them, right? So learn from it. And move forward as the fire lord you know this nation needs.”

Todoroki remains frozen in place, his eyes drawn to the ground. Midoriya sees a barely perceptible nod before his arm is yanked away.

“You did it, Deku!” Uraraka says with a bright smile. “That was so scary, but you got through to him!”

“But this isn’t over yet,” Iida continues. “There is still an evil organization out there who wants to kill you and eliminate all benders. As deserving you are of a break, we must stay vigilant and continue on with our plan. So, I must ask: where do we go from here?

Midoriya sighs. “I honestly don’t know.”

Another set of footsteps approaches from behind Midoriya, and he flips around with a smile. “Shouto, did you want-”

Only it’s not him. Todoroki is gone, though Enji still remains restrained on the ground. Instead, a stranger stands tall above them, and Midoriya recognizes him as the one who initially introduced the match.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” the man says, his words muffled by a large scarf covering his mouth. “My name is Aizawa. I was Prince Todoroki’s waterbending teacher and mentor, but before that I was an acquaintance of the previous avatar.”

Midoriya nearly chokes on his own tongue. “You worked with All Might?”

The man nods, though his expression seems unbothered by the whole affair. “I wasn’t there when he fought against those guys, but yes, we worked together for a long time. We both collaborated with someone else for a bit as well. Nezu. He’s a little rough around the edges, but he’ll know how to help you. An expert strategist and more information stored away in his head than anyone else on the planet.”

“Where might we find him?” Iida says, eyes wide.

“He runs a school now. The metalbending academy in the northern earth kingdom. Tell him I sent you, and he’ll lead you from there.”

“Well,” Kirishima says with a grin, “looks like we have our next stop! Let’s go!”

“Aww,” Kaminari whines, “we don’t even get a day to celebrate? We just took down the freaking fire lord, for crying out loud!”

“Tch,” Bakugou hisses with a scowl. “No. We got shit to do. Let’s get out of this creepy palace and leave the guards to deal with this piece of shit before I decide to kill him.”

They begin walking towards the exit, and Midoriya trails behind them. They move towards the outer exit, passing over the grates covering the rushing water that lines the arena. The roar of the water drowns out the chatter of his friends up ahead, and droplets of spray fly up and hit him in the face.

His foot freezes in mid air before he can take another step.

“Before we go,” Midoriya says, prompting the others to stop and look back at him. “I have one more stop to make.”

“Well let’s hurry and make it quick, then!” Kirishima says with a thumbs up.

Midoriya turns his head back, scanning over the arena once more. Aizawa is now gone as well, and four guards have arrived to handcuff Enji and take him away.

“Sorry, I need to do this one on my own. Uh, spiritual avatar stuff, you know how it is! But you guys should go down to that market area from yesterday and pick up some supplies for the trip. I’ll meet you there!”

“Deku!” Uraraka calls, though he ignores her as he runs in the opposite direction, back towards the palace.
__________

It’s a long shot by any means. Midoriya knows it, and yet he still can’t let himself walk away from this.

He’s running out of time, though. The sun has nearly set, and his friends will start a wild search party if he isn’t back soon. It’s not just that, though; the time was clear. He can only wait for so long before it becomes a lost cause.

The last sliver of the sun finally fades away, and the sky flares up bright orange in its wake. He sighs, rising to his feet, warm sand rising up into the gaps between his toes.

“So, this is your idea of everything being okay?”

Midoriya spins around to see a silhouetted figure slowly approaching. Sure enough, as it moves away from the trees and onto the beach, the bright sky lights up Todoroki’s face.

Midoriya smiles softly. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

Todoroki smiles, but it’s hesitant. He doesn’t walk towards the shore, doesn’t let the water lap up against his feet. “I suppose you are.”

Midoriya steps forward, reaching a hand out. “Todoroki, I’m-”

“I’m sorry.”

“Wait, what?” Midoriya pauses to stare at him. “Why are you sorry? I just invaded your home, invaded your privacy and your beliefs, and then arrested your father. If anyone is sorry here, it’s me.”

Todoroki’s smile grows. “I technically did that last part.”

“Fine,” he relents. “But still. What are you apologizing for?”

Todoroki sighs, the smile fading from his face, and he looks to the ground. His hair is blown around by the breeze, red and white becoming tangled together.

“I knew.”

“You knew?”

A small nod, though he doesn’t look up. “I knew that my father killed Avatar Toshinori. It was a point of pride for him, actually. For a while, I was proud of him for it, too. But even when I began to realize that it was wrong, I did nothing. I had the grounds to have him arrested for years, but I let him stay because I was afraid. And he hurt a lot of people as a result, including you.”

Midoriya does walk forward then, reaching his hand out to grab Todoroki’s right. Todoroki whips his head up at the contact, and he stares at Midoriya in awe.

“It’s okay,” he says. “Well, maybe it’s not totally okay. You’re right that Enji did some horrible things, and he should have been dealt with a long time ago. But as for killing the previous avatar…”

Midoriya trails off with a sigh, his eyes drifting towards the water. He turns back to Todoroki, tugging gently on his hand and nodding towards the waves rolling up the shore. They move forward together, fingers still interlaced, and sit in the sand. The tide just barely reaches their toes.

“It’s strange. Knowing in a way that I am him, but still being unable to exist without his death. We’re the same, but we’re not, and people want me to be him while still being different. And I can see him, and speak with him, so I know who he is. But he’s not here anymore. And now everyone is looking at me. As much as I cherish being given this power, it frightens me.”

Todoroki swallows. “I know the feeling.”

Midoriya smiles at him. “I know you do. But all of that already happened. It’s not your fault that he was killed, and it’s not mine, either. We’re the ones who are here now, and all we can do is live with what happened and promise to try our best to make it better.”

“But-”

“But nothing, Shouto. And you know what? As tragic as it is that he died so young, and as much as I wonder if it would have been someone else had your father not murdered him, I’m still okay with how things turned out. Because without all of that, I wouldn’t have met you.”

Todoroki blushes and looks away. “I don’t think that makes up for the rest of it, though.”

Midoriya shakes his head. “Well, then you don’t know me very well yet, because I know it does. But that’s okay. We’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other, and I’ll prove that I mean it.”

Todoroki’s head whips back around to look at him. “What do you mean?”

Even now, after everything that has happened in the course of this day, this place feels exactly the same as it did the night before. Midoriya can’t help but remember how much he didn’t want Shouto to have to say goodbye to Shouto yesterday. He won’t make that mistake again. He’s learned from it.

Midoriya clears his throat. “I want you to come with us. To wherever we end up next. I know… I know that’s a lot to ask, since you’re the fire lord now. But, but, I still want to make the offer. I want you to be by my side during all of this. I know you could do a lot of good for us. For everyone.”

Todoroki goes quiet, bringing his fingers to his mouth for a moment to think. After a few minutes of near impossible waiting, he finally turns back to Midoriya.

“You know, there’s this guy named Aizawa.”

Midoriya nods. “Your waterbending teacher. I met him, after you left.”

Todoroki gives him a puzzled glance, but it fades after a moment. “Well, he wasn’t just my waterbending teacher. He taught my mother, too, back at the northern water tribe. He was also one of their tribe leaders, before he left to help my mother when she moved to the fire nation. My father relied on him for a lot of political advice and daily work, even if he was never given a say in proper meetings or given credit for the amount of help he provided.”

Midoriya doesn’t understand where this is going. “So…”

“So,” Todoroki continues. “He’s already accustomed to handling a lot of the everyday matters around the palace. And he has a number of trained messenger hawks on hand, should he ever need to contact me about urgent matters.”

Midoriya brightens, and his jaw drops. “So you’ll come?!”

Todoroki smiles. “Yes, I will come with you. I would be honored to accompany the avatar on his journey.”

“Thank you!” Midoriya says, grabbing Todoroki’s hands and shaking them up and down. “I think you’ll really help us out, and you’ll get along with everyone so great. Well, maybe not Bakugou, but no one really gets along with Bakugou, though Kirishima seems to tolerate him for some reason. But other than that, you’ll love it, I promise! And Aizawa told us about someone he and All Might used to work with, like some sort of secret organization I think, but he didn’t necessarily say that. And I bet we’ll meet even more people that worked with them, and don’t even worry about being from the fire nation, we can tell them all about how you-”

“Midoriya,” Todoroki says with a laugh. “I already agreed to come. No need to convince me any further.”

“Sorry,” he says with a chuckle. “Thinking out loud. It happens.”

He calms down then, though Todoroki’s hands are still wrapped up in his own. Midoriya’s face burns and looks up to apologize, but finds himself met by a similar expression. He means to let go, he really does, but even now he still finds himself captivated by the sight of Todoroki, and…

He doesn’t mean to do it. But the sky is shining bright pink and orange, and the light casts a warm glow across Todoroki’s face, and the spray from the ocean is so cool and refreshing, and it feels as if the gentle breeze is pushing him forward, and suddenly he’s kissing Todoroki.

Or maybe Todoroki is kissing him. Either way, they’re there, toes curled in the sand, hands holding onto each other as if the ocean will carry them away should they let go, and Midoriya doesn’t know how long they sit there like that.

It must be a while, though, because the sky has faded to a light lavender the next time he looks up. Todoroki’s hand is still wrapped around his, and they both watch as the deep purple of the ocean blends into the slowly darkening sky.

Midoriya turns to face him after a few minutes of silence. “We should go. The others are waiting in the market. They’ll be worried if we’re not back soon.”
Todoroki smiles. “I hope they aren’t in the market for cabbages.”

Midoriya can’t help it when he starts to laugh. It starts as a light chuckle, which in turn makes Todoroki laugh, and soon both of them can barely contain themselves as they roll onto their backs in the sand.

“Todoroki?” Midoriya asks hesitantly. “When I — yesterday, when I told you to come back if you faced what you had to do and it turned out okay. Is this what you imagined? You asked if it was my idea of things being okay. But is it yours?”

Todoroki squeezes his hand. “I’m here, aren’t I?”