Chapter Text
Izuku slowly and heavily walked up to to the hills that he had become to see as his own after years of visiting there again and again.
He would have wished that these hills hadn't existed at all, that these hills had been left unknown to him, that he hadn't needed to come here again and again... Or maybe it would have been better, if he had been able to visit this place with anyone of his friends, anyone of his family... but that was just an empty wish.
He remembered every body that he dragged up the hill, every grave that he dug, and every time that he burried one of his loved ones there.
Because how could he not remember it, when they were like wounds that had yet to heal, wounds that would maybe never get closed.
On the hills, were the graves of his loved ones located, and he had been the one to carry and burry all of them. Some had been harder to burry than others, but all of them had been hard nonetheless...
Izuku had never really known how much others had cared for him, just how many people had cheered him on till now, as he had a hard time counting all of the graves around him.
He looked over the flowers that he had carefully chosen, carefully picked, and sighed, as he went towards the oldest graves that he had dug
He laid a total of 30 White Lily’s as he paid his respects to his friends who had died in the first raid 4 years ago. One for the invisible girl that would cheer anyone with just her presence, one for the fastest boy that he had ever met, one for the bluntest girl in their school who had 6 frogs as her pets, for the boy who powered up on sweets- who had the sweetest heart to ever exist.
(Hagakure, Iida, Asui, Satou)
He laid another on the boy who shined brighter than the stars, the boy who found comfort in the shadows, the girl that had slowed down every single one of his falls again and again, one for the one who could befriend every single thing that breathed, the saintess that had left their sensei baffled way too many times.
(Aoyama, Kuroiro, Uraraka, Kouji, Shiozaki)
He took out another batch of Lilies from his pile, and continued on.
Izuku placed one lily on the boy who had a shadow as his best friend, another on the girl who knew everything and nothing at the same time, and another on the grave of the boy who could shake the world with just slamming his tail once and the girl who had hands that were made to hold the sun. He laid one for his Sempai who had shown them to push through their weaknesses way too many times.
(Tokoyami, Momo, Ojirou, Kendou, Amajiki-Sempai)
Another lily for the boy who had died before discovering his true self, for the girl who expressed too little yet felt too much, for the one who could express himself with his quirk.
(Sero, Kodai, Fukidashi)
For the boy who had the heart of a lion and the strength of a wolf, the dark haired girl who could make anything (except her heart) smaller if she wanted to, the boy who could stick anything- even people together together, the boy with the iron will that never wavered.
(Shishida, Kodai, Bonda, Tetsutetsu)
For the light blue haired boy with the heart of a giant, the girl who used her long brown fringes to hide her cat like big eyes with crosses and endless passion within them, the green haired one with the passion for battles and training along with an aggressive behaviour that could rival that of Katsuki’s, the level-headed boy with a warm heart, one for the innocent blonde girl who had a way of making her classmates smile with the limited knowledge she had of Japanese.
(Shouda, Komori, Kamakiri, Kaibara, Tsunotori)
Lastly, Izuku picked up the last four lilies, laying them on the graves of Tsubaraba, Honenuki, Yanagi and Rin, who he hadn’t had the pleasure of knowing that well.
He fixed all of their eternal-beds, and took in a deep breath. His hands went to the two White Carnations, but he stopped and picked up the Purple Epiphyllum instead.
He laid the Epiphyllum's on the graves of his teachers that had died in the first attack, leaving the grave of Toshinori-san alone, and laid them on the graves of every single one of his teachers. The five flowers that had been left were laid on top of Fat gum’s, Ms.Joke’s, Sir Nighteye’s, Ingenium’s, and Mr.Compress’ graves.
Izuku hadn’t had the pleasure of personally knowing Ms.Joke nor Mr.Compress, but he knew that they deserved both the honor and the appreciation of all the stories that he had heard of them.
Eight Orange Roses, symbolizing a free spirit for Inasa, Twice, Keigo-san, Rumi-san, Spinner, Rappa, Mei, Nejire-san and lastly Natsuo-san.
He took out two of his Daffodil’s, and laid them carefully on the graves of his master’s that he had learned the most from. The second one for Gang orca, who had trained him- protected him till he had met his end, a month or two after Shouta-san. He placed the third and fourth daffodils on the graves of Stain-san and Knuckleduster, who had helped him see the world for the first time as it was; they had shown him how fragile, how dirty, yet how beautiful their world was…
Izuku then picked out the five Roses, that were a crimson red, and laid them carefully on the graves of his four friends. Mina, Shouji, Shindou and Kugisaki.
He ached for Shouji and his big heart that had so much mercy and love in it, ached for Mina who had lost her fragile self with the death of their other friends, before also losing her soul weeks later. He ached for Shindou who had hardened after witnessing the death of his friends, and had sacrificed himself for them and lastly for Kugisaki who had mourned his lover’s death till the end.
Izuku laid one of the two crocuses in his hand, that symbolized the cheerfulness of his two friends, on the grave of the passionate redhead who had sacrificed himself during the first attack and the other for the dark green haired girl who had been daring and charming till her last moments.(Kirishima, Tokage)
He laid one Hibiscus for all the delicate yet strong beauties that he had known throughout his too-long 19 years of life, one for the electric blonde that always went forward, the second for the dark-haired boy who had been their motivation till his last moments, for the sarcastic teen who had named himself after a sauce and lastly for the ice queen with the warmest heart that he had ever known (Kaminari, Awase, Mustard, Fuyumi)
Izuku took out two Pink Carnations with shaking hands, from the pocket of his black jacket that had been left to him from Touya, and laid the flowers for his two rivals who had pushed him far- who had supported him for so long in their own ways, one with aggressive remarks, the other with silent support, both of them by his side till their last breath.
He laid the two Purple Hyacinths on Monoma’s grave, and Touya’s grave; as he softly apologised for not being able to save them, not being able to protect their loved ones like they had asked him to… But he guessed that he hadn’t been able to protect anyone, as he was the only one left alive, the only one that knew that they had existed, that they had done all they could to protect this world…
He picked the Dill Flowers as he ignored the tears that threatened to fall and looked at the graves in front of him. ‘Strong Against Evil’ , that was how they all had been, unwavering with a heavy heart that had left him in awe. With an aching heart, Izuku laid one of them on Mirio Senpai's grave, one on All Might’s grave, one on Lady Nagant’s grave, one on Oboro’s grave and the last one… he looked towards the hills up high and started walking towards where the owner of the last flower laid.
He walked higher and higher, passing by the graves of his teachers, his companions, his classmates till he reached the very top of the hill, the cliff where a grand tree stood proudly.
He took a deep breath for the millionth time as he looked down at the scenery, before looking under the tree.
There laid six graves, seven bodies that he had carefully carried up the hills, seven graves that he had carefully dug, before he had carefully lowered them underground with his blackwhip.
These had probably been the most hard to dig, most hard to bury. The hardest goodbye’s that he had ever said in the short 20 years that he had lived.
He laid the last Dill flower on the grave of Tenko Shimura.
Shimura had died only three weeks ago, and the wound that he had left in Izuku’s heart had yet to leave. Izuku had seen his crumbling face every time that he had blinked, had heard his voice every single second, telling him that he had saved him…
‘It is not your fault…’ whispered the voice of Nana in his head, and he sighed.
It was, he had failed in protecting him… he had promised to save him but he hadn’t succeeded, and the man with a child’s heart had died in his arms as he hadn’t been able to do anything but cry like a helpless fool !
‘You couldn’t have known…’ whispered the First, but Izuku ignored him, and kept on moving forward.
The first grave after him was for Shouta-san and his husband Yamada-san. Shouta-san had been the first Sensei that had ever been nice to him, like a real Sensei to him. The Sensei that had tried to protect him again and again… and had lost his life protecting him.
Izuku had failed him, had failed to be the hero that he had asked for him to be…
He laid a single Purple Epiphyllum and a Daffodil on their grave, paid his respects to the two of them before moving on.
The third and fourth graves had made him weep for days, and had broken him the most…
He tried not to think about it as he kissed both of the White Carnations and laid a single one on Eri’s grave, and another on Kouta’s grave. He had failed to protect them, to be there for them in their last moments… he had failed as their hero…
He fixed the flowers that surrounded their graves- that had bloomed all by theirselves, and stood up before taking another deep breath, for probably the millionth time ever since he had passed through doors of the hills.
Izuku looked down at the three flowers that were left in his hand and sighed fondly this time. Ivy Flower’s, Sweet Pea’s and Zinnia’s… he kissed both the Sweet Pea’s and the Zinnia’s a single time. He checked all of it’s flowers to see if it had any damage on them, before looking down to the two graves in front of him.
He laid the Sweet Pea’s on Hitoshi’s grave, and the Zinnia’s on Himiko’s grave, one for ‘Thank you for a lovely time’ and the other for ‘Lasting affection’...
He wished that he had had the pleasure of having met them earlier on in his life… but found himself glad that he had ever known them at all, as he wouldn't have been Deku without them.
Izuku raised the Ivy’s to his chest, and looked over the hills, at how peaceful everything seemed. He would have loved to be buried here by someone that cared for him, would have wished for someone that had known him to take care of his grave and to lay flowers like he had laid down for his loved ones… But he didn’t deserve that, after letting all of them die.
And even if he had deserved to rest by his loved ones, there was no one who could do that for him now, as everyone that Izuku had known, and everyone that had known of his presence was dead.
No one left alive that knew the real Izuku…
He sighed, as he walked closer to the end of the cliff, stopping at the edge of it.
He trailed the flower petals that had bloomed on the ivy in his hand, sighing.
The flowers which symbolled ‘memory, immortality, friendship, fidelity, faithfulness, undying affection and eternal life…’
He looked ahead, and took another step forward, letting his body fall down.
The ground rushed towards him, and then, he was gone...
‘’What the hell are you waiting for? Show me where you will be f*cking taking your practical exam!’’
Izuku blinked, and turned towards the voice, frowning.
This wasn’t right…
‘Izuku what the hell were you thinking! How could you-’ the overprotective voice of Yoichi was nothing new...
He looked to his side, and felt himself freeze as his forest green eyes met crimson red ones.
Platinum blonde hair, mated in blood. The boy that laid in front of him much more silent than he had ever been.
No, this was definitely wrong…
The male’s hands freezing cold in his own, as he tried to wake him up again- as he tried to bring the boy back to the land of the living.
Katsuki was dead, Izuku was supposed to be dead!
He placed his hand against his chest, and didn't know what to do with his new obtained fact for a minute.
‘I swear to Kami-’
‘Yoichi, wouldn’t it be better if we did this after we get out of this situation?’
‘He tried to kill himself!’
‘Yoichi.’
‘’Do you need me to f*cking blast you to wake you up you sh*tty-’’
Izuku wasn’t dreaming. There was absouletly no f*cking way that he could imagine this, no way that he could imagine the way they had been before the sports festival- after ow far their friendship had went...
But this was Katsuki noentheless, just a bit more unruly than how he had been before his death.
But how was that even possible? He had felt the ground slam into him, had felt his-
‘Izuku… isn’t this from the first day of school?’ asked the uncertain voice of the seventh, stopping his train of thoughts and he frowned.
Has this happened to any one of you before? He asked, and was only met with no’s.
‘Second, is this a part of your quirk?’
‘No.’
‘This doesn’t make any sense…’
A small explosion made him slowly turn to his side once again.
‘’Are you f*cking underestimating me?!’’ the blonde growled.
Had he somehow returned to the past?
‘Could this be the result of one of your quirks merging?’
‘No, there is no way.' the second muttered, 'What are the chances of Tenko transferring a time travel quirk to you right before he died?’
‘If he had such a quirk, he would have used it himself to go back to the past and save his family.’ Nana argued, and Izuku let out a deep sigh.
‘Izuku, could this be your quirk?’ The fourth wondered, and he held back the urge to shake his head.
‘There is no way, I have a second toe joint, if I was going to get a quirk I would have gotten it even before…’
‘I also had a second toe joint.’
‘I did too.’
‘Kami…’
‘You are lucky that you are back.’ said the first and Izuku gritted his teeth.
‘You have no idea how excited I am to be controlled by you once again.’
‘I didn’t control you!’
‘Maybe not like how AfO controlled Tenko, but you controlled me nonetheless.’
‘How can you say that? How can you even compare me to him?!’
‘A puppet with loose strings is still a puppet nonetheless.’
Silence took over and Izuku sighed, feeling relieved.
However, his relief didn’t last long.
‘’Answer me you dipsh*t!''
Kami, had he always been this loud?!
He had forgotten how irritating it could be to listen to Katsuki’s assumptions in the past. All those self centered talk as if he was the centre of the world, as if he was some main character of a film… He loved the boy like his own brother and he was the perfect rival that he could ever ask for, but… After going forward all alone for a long time, he had been used to the silence. He could already feel the terrible headache that he was going to have to take care of soon…
‘’Don’t worry Katsuki, we wont be having our exams in the same place.'' he answered the boy before putting his card away, which both baffled and angered the boy.
''You f*cking think that you are-''
‘OfA is the only reason that you were able to pass the exams and become the person you are today, without me you wouldn't have even tok place in the exam in the first place...’
Izuku frowned at that, before sighing. He stood up as those around the hall him did so too.
‘Watch me.’ he bit out, and smirked.