Chapter Text
The inferno raged and dragons roared overhead. Shigaraki Tomura was loving every bit of the damage he'd created. He'd worked hard for this very day, fighting off that pesky 'Deku' and his friends to prove himself to his Sensei.
But in the end, the only way to get something in this world is to take it forcefully, even from those you love. Tomura didn't love his Sensei any less, but he could only take the power by killing him. Attempt after attempt, after all, he knew his Sensei best.
And now this world would be in his palm. His thumb and index finger stroked the green emerald necklace hung at his neck, glowing greener next to his pale skin. His eyes drifted to the dragons that this tiny, little gem controlled and even he had to commend himself on his genius and all the efforts he'd gone through for this day to finally arrive.
...
"We have to stay here..." Tenya, now in tattered clothes, murmured. His eyes were closing on their own, and Ochako had tried her best to heal what she could but the scars would never fade, he knew. He'd lost his armour against the dragons - a miracle he was still alive (it was all because of Eijirou) - and his home had burned down. He'd dedicated his life to the Todorokis and the only thing keeping him alive then was Todoroki Shouto, seated beside him by the fire.
Izuku, who was standing by the entrance of the cave faltered for a second. He was just as exhausted as the rest of them, mentally and physically. But even as he swayed on his feet, he refused to give in. "We can't just let them win. It'll all be over if we don't stop them now!'
Ochako sighed. She'd done what she could to fix her own clothes but they were just as charred and tattered as the rest. She was used to this, however, she couldn't imagine how Tenya and Shouto were dealing with this. She got up, already feeling the chill now that she was no longer beside the fire, "That's not true. We can take back what we've lost once we're in better shape and have a good plan."
A glance at Kirishima Eijirou and Mina Ashido who was curled in the corner of the cave they were hiding in, with Bakugo Katsuki by their side, was the perfect example. He convulsed though his eyes were closed, he looked as if he was in deep sleep. Still, Eijirou's face scrunched like he was having a nightmare. Mina had broken out in cold sweat herself.
The poor dragons had fought off the urge to turn on Izuku and his teammates long enough to fight off the dragons and get them here, safe, but had to be knocked out afterwards. Even unconscious, the spell tortured them. Ochako's heart clenched with fury. She wanted to kill Shigaraki Tomura.
"Then what? We sit here like cowards?' Izuku spat.
"No! That's not what I mean..." Ochako averted her eyes - isn't that what she was suggesting? She was tired of sitting around too, but
she was scared.
And he wasn't and she wished she could be brave.
"And what are you suggesting?' Shouto finally spoke up for her. Ochako's eyes met his and that old electricity coursed through her. Even now, his eyes were so beautiful and that's all she noticed when she lost herself in them.
Everything about him had made her fall deep from the very start, but now wasn't the time to think about that.
"That we go get ourselves killed so there's no hope for the future? We need to live to see another day before we can try and succeed."
Izuku's rage simmered down at his logical words. He didn't want to admit it and he wouldn't but he could listen.
He sat there silent and unmoving, the tense silence only being interrupted anytime Ashido or Eijirou's breathing turned ragged and loud, or when a scream cut loose.
They all stared at the fire. It was the only fire still burning, the one in their heart had been turned to ashes by Tomura days ago.
They'd lost everything.
The entirety of the situation hit Ochako so suddenly, so out of the blue and so hard that she only realised she'd begun to cry when Tenya wrapped his arms around her and Shouto wiped her tears gently.
Not certain what drove her, but maybe it was the fear of death in the future, Ochako leaned over and kissed Shouto on the lips.
Short and soft, like the touch of a butterfly, but his cheeks flushed and his eyes lit up for a second in a way she hadn't seen them do in weeks now.
"Tch," Katsuki scoffed. "You losers are disgusting."
But still, something had lightened, there wasn't as much tension in the air. Maybe, now they could talk about what to do next? Ochako licked her lips nervously, "Um. I don't know if this will change anything but..."
She dipped her hand in her bag, one of the only few possessions she'd managed to salvage (the rest were in the bag itself). She felt the hard, rough exterior of the book, feeling along the cover, she pulled it out.
It was slightly blackened but that didn't show much because its cover was dark in colour anyways. The swirly, golden title reflected her own eyes. "Look what I managed to take."
The History of the land of Izoris.
"The history of our land?' Shouto asked, motioning for her to hand over the book. She passed it over, trying not to notice how their fingers touched.
How every little touch she noticed, how it made her aware of him. How she would never not be aware of him.
He flipped through the pages. "The kingdom of Dianthus, the town of Cyrus. It has our kingdom in it too,"
He pointed to a page titled 'The Kingdom Of Aurora, first rulers, the late Todoroki Dai and his first wife Todoroki Amaya. Current ruler, Todoroki Shouto.'
"Wait...how can it be up-to-date?' Tenya asked. "His Majesty...Todoroki Enji didn't die until a week ago..."
It was still a sore subject for Tenya. He had sworn an oath to serve the king of Aurora, just like his family before him.
And Enji had recognised his talent, made him the captain of his own elite army. That kind of honour had won Tenya's heart.
He had wanted to die with Enji, but he still had a king to serve (and possibly a queen, from what he'd seen of Ochako and Shouto's interactions).
"It's enchanted," Ochako replied. "And it's a strong enchantment, too. The longer it is on this book, the stronger it gets."
As the only person who didn't use magic - though, he'd certainly inherited his family's enhanced speed and strength - Tenya was a bit confused at that logic, but Magic was already confusing anyways.
Shouto flipped through nearly every page, and Ochako and the young king stayed up reading despite their weariness even when all the others went to sleep.
The sun went down then came back up, and the rest of the group were woken up by two excited voices.
"What section was the spell again?' Ochako sounded excited, that was new.
"Ancient spells of Aurora. Ochako, where did you get this book," Said Shouto's impressed voice.
"Oh, I stole it from King Enji's private library. I mean the whole place did burn down."
"...No wonder. That library is shared between Enji, the Sage and the four Justices."
"Oh...whoops..."
"It's...fine. It belongs to me now anyways and you're welcome to all of it once we defeat Shigaraki and rebuild it."
Izuku woke up to a rare smile on Ochako's face as she gazed at Shouto.
"What the fuck are you two on this early?' Katsuki's growl interrupted the moment.
Ochako jumped up, her cheeks slightly pinker, but she was distracted by the question.
"Turns out this book might personally belong to King Enji or even the Sage himself!' Ochako grinned smugly.
Both Katsuki and Izuku burst up, exchanging looks. None of the others knew fully where Izuku had actually gotten his powers (and the magic sword he carried around) from or the history behind it.
Of course, they planned to come out with the truth at some point, but every day it got harder to let them know.
They would feel betrayed.
"W-what did the book say?' He cursed himself, wishing he'd taken her more seriously when she mentioned it, but he'd just been so tired.
"A lot of enlightening things, in fact." Ochako chuckled, proudly. "We took a look at the histories of the different lands and kingdoms and towns. We found some useful things, I guess. But then we came across the spells. Most of these spells were kept secret."
"They did have dark magic included in it, so that's why I suppose." Shouto explained.
The others all tensed at the mention. Dark magic was forbidden and for good reason, because this was what happened when people like Shigaraki got their hands on these spells.
"Don't worry, we skipped most of those pages. We did find a very peculiar spell..."
Ochako flipped through the pages back, until she was back in the middle-ish of the book.
"Here!'
'A spell to get away during times dark. This spell was created by the twelve strongest wizards and witches, including the Sage himself hundreds of years ago, during the Dark Ages (read page 345 for more information on this). To this day, this spell was only used once. The ingredients to this spell can be found at the end of this book, as well as how to do this spell.
To find out more about the history of this spell, please keep reading to page 400.
The others were already gathered around her, meeting Ochako's brown eyes with their wide ones.
"Are you telling me what I think you're telling me...?' Katsuki asked in disbelief, for once not raising his voice.
Ochako let a small smile take to her lips, flipping to said page.
HISTORY OF THE QUANTUM JUMPING SPELL
People from this world were teleported to another universe, where they were safe. Unfortunately, the world was without magic and versions of the people here already existed there. This all caused so much confusion that even that world became unsafe when Magic (or Quirks as they begun referring to them there) got banned and wars broke out. After hiding out for years, finally, the population spoke up against the governing bodies of that world. These days, eighty percent of the population uses magic on a daily basis, and these Quirks are even coveted by the general society there.
However, performing this spell comes with its own risks. There are two doorways that open once you start the spell. One doorway has to be kept open in the world you're leaving and the one leaving must be capable of magic in order to open the second doorway in the other world. The one who is opening the door here is likely to lose their life, in fact, all the wizards and witches died with the exception of one. Since then, I (Nana Shimura, the eighth Sage), have researched this spell. It took me nearly all my life to figure out that you didn't need twelve strong Wizards or Witches to do this.
There is one person who is now strong enough to power up the doorway by themselves in this time. That person's name is Midoriya Izuku. This power that he holds has existed for centuries before he was born but has only now gotten strong enough to open the doorway on its own. However, it's still not strong enough to keep him alive. If he were to ever go through with this spell, he will, for certain, die in the process. Perhaps, if we were to wait a few years, someone who will be stronger than the past will be born and they will be able to successfully open and close this doorway and complete this spell with no risks.
Ochako, who hadn't actually read the whole thing, deflated immediately. "I don't know what this book is talking about, but we can't risk you dying."
Izuku stared at the ground in shame as everyone turned to him except for Katsuki. But Katsuki wouldn't say anything unless Izuku gave him consent to, so that didn't matter.
"I-I...I have to do this..." He admitted. "Because it's what I deserve."
"What?!' That's not true!' Tenya cried.
"It is. I lied to you guys, I betrayed your trust." Izuku's eyes warmed up.
"You deserve someone who's honest and the least I can do is make things right." He said, his voice watery.
"No," Katsuki said. "You made a promise and you kept it. Nothing more to it, don't be an idiot."
"What...are you guys talking about...?'
"You inherited Yagi's power, didn't you?' Shouto asked, surprisingly on point. "I had my suspicions."
Izuku was fully crying now. "We're not related, but All Might is able to pass on his magic and he chose me and I didn't tell you and I hate myself for it."
"Oh, Deku." Ochako said, holding him closer and patting his back, "it's okay. If you think you being dishonest for the sake of a promise is our biggest worry right now, you're dead wrong."
Izuku was still crying, but he wasn't sure if it was tears of sadness or anger at himself or even joy at how lucky he was he'd gotten friends like these. "B-but I still have to do this. Maybe I can get all the survivors somewhere safe."
Shouto, who was the only one who'd read the whole passage, shook his head. "I'm afraid that's not an option, Izuku."
"What do you mean?' Ochako asked for the sake of Izuku, who was still wiping his eyes on his dirty sleeves.
Shouto just turned the page and motioned at the rest of the text.
"There's more?' Tenya asked. Shouto nodded somberly.
There is one catch, if Midoriya were to do this spell himself. It took twelve of the strongest Wizards and Witches, including the Sage, to make this spell a possibility and even then that was only one kingdom.
This kind of spell is used during predicaments such as the one in the land of Izoris at this very moment. But even just the survivors all together make a population as big as at least a million people. Midoriya Izuku, by himself, cannot send that many people anywhere.
In fact, if it's his first time using such a spell (as it has to be, otherwise he would be dead) he can only send a small group of people.
Another risk of this spell is if he sends multiple people they're likely to forget their memories once they reach that place, so it's very unlikely that they could even gather an army to bring back. That point, however, brings me to another aspect of this spell, the doorway back.
In reality, the door doesn't close until you come back. So if someone were to remember, they would have to sacrifice themselves as well (along with maybe others) to send the army back. This hasn't been tested out so I don't know much about how it works. But I do know that when you reach that other place, you'll be making history in both worlds. I do know that soon, these worlds will collide. So,
Best of luck,
Uraraka Ochako.