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Slowly, he opened his eyes. And quickly had to close them again before something got in them.
He shook his head, rubbing his face as more of it landed on his skin. Rolling to his side, he could safely open his eyes again. He could see the specks that gently fell from the sky. Was it snow? It looked like snow. But when he looked at his hand and arm, he could tell it wasn't; they were covered in a thin grey matter.
It was ash.
Raising his head, Izuku didn't know what to think. Beneath him was a thick layer of ash, the scorched ground just barely visible outside of several pockets. There were faint traces of burnt vegetation all over, mainly what few trees had managed to survive... whatever it was that happened here. Wherever "here" even was.
What did he remember? He remembered leaving school that day... he remembered being attacked by some kind of slime Villain... he remembers All Might saving him, and being generous enough to provide him with an autograph without him even asking... he remembered doing the dumbest thing in his whole life, and grabbing on to the busy Hero as he jumped high into the air... and then being told by his idol that he could never be a Hero...
Was that really the last thing he remembered? No... no, that couldn't be it. He left the building. He wandered aimlessly through the city for a few minutes. He remembered that. He remembered-... the Villain escaped. He'd escaped because of him. And he caught Katsuki. Because of him. Izuku ran. He ran without even knowing what he was going to do. And then...
...
What then? He didn't remember that. Was Katsuki safe? He didn't know. There was fire there, but... this isn't Musutafu, that's for certain.
He looked towards the horizon that lay under the coldest grey sky he'd ever seen. There were clouds in the air, he thought, but they remained still. There wasn't any wind blowing. There wasn't any sound. He could only see ash, and dirt, the occasional burnt tree. As far as his eyes could see, there was nothing but that; no buildings, no roads... nothing. There was no way he was in Musutafu anymore. Not without it being absolutely leveled to the ground, which was a harrowing thought he did not want planting roots in his brain, but it was easy to ignore. The terrain was all wrong, and surely there would be more vestiges of one of the largest cities in Japan, even if something so catastrophic happened that would do this.
He wasn't in Musutafu, that much he was certain of. But then... where was he?
Looking down, he was still wearing his uniform from that day. That only raised more questions. Did the slime Villain have an accomplice with teleportation powers? Maybe? But why use it on him, and not the multiple Heroes at the scene? No backpack though; he'd thrown it at the slime Villain, so he lost that.
This was ridiculous. He pushed himself to his feet with surprising ease; whatever happened, it didn't seem to make him very tired. His head kinda hurt though, and he reached back to cradle it as he adjusted to-
"...b-...blood...?"
Izuku mouthed, unsure if he'd even said anything out loud. But sure enough, his hand was stained with- well, more accurately, the back of his head was stained with blood, and he'd just placed his hand on it. He quickly reached back again, which in hindsight was probably a bad idea to try and touch a possible open wound on your head, but he didn't actually find anything. Was it not his blood? Was that more or less reassuring? Why did he have to question the origin of his own bloody head?
Alright, just relax. relax, and think. Surely there must be somewhere he can go, or a road he can find, right? He was standing on a small hill, but the whole area was hilly, and there were some much larger than the one he was on. All he had to do was find a good high spot to get a better understanding of his surroundings; he'd probably find some indication of where to go.
He did not.
It seemed no matter the spot he'd choose, the terrain never changed: more hills, more dust, more dead trees, and not a sign of the blue sky parting through the grey clouds, or the ash stopping any time soon. How was there even this much ash in the air? There wasn't any wind, and he couldn't see any fire burning either, not even a hint of it. No smoke, no glow, and yet the ash kept pouring. This really can't be healthy for him, and the best idea he had to deal with it was to try and wrap his uniform's jacket over his mouth and nose. He didn't know if that would actually help, but what else could he do?
The more he walked, the quicker the despair started to set in. He couldn't find anything. No roads, no speck of civilization, no sign of life as he traveled through the hills and valleys of wherever he was. What could possibly have happened here to create this?
And then, something caught his ears. He'd stepped on something that made a different sound from the dirt and ash he'd been dragging himself through for the last thirty or so minutes. Beneath his foot lay a sword, broken, worn down, singed and burnt, very old and not really of a design he was familiar with. He shifted his foot to get it off the sword, moving away some of the dust in the process.
Another sword. A shield rested next to it.
Curiosity got the best of him, and Izuku brushed his foot over more ash. And there lay more weapons: swords, axes, spears, more shields, even helmets; a real treasure trove of artifacts that would probably make historians and collectors freak out. Izuku was kinda freaking out too, just for entirely different reasons. There were hundreds of weapons just lying on the ground, and had seemingly been there for ages. The fact Izuku hadn't seen any corpses was a small miracle, but one that only raised more and more questions. If a battle had happened here, then there should be remains. If a battle didn't happen here, why were there so many weapons and helmets strewn about? The most comforting answer would be some kind of ancient dumping ground for such things, like a junkyard, but that wasn't something he really believed.
He looked at the pile beneath his feet, and carefully reached down. He'd been walking up and down so many hills, his legs were starting to get tired. Even if he wasn't sure how to feel about any of this, he could use some reprieve if he was to keep moving. Among all the weapons, he grabbed hold of a spear, the long pole-arm making for a decent walking stick for the time being. He just had to be careful with the pointy end; it didn't look very sharp, but looks could be deceiving and carrying all sorts of rusty diseases. He'd have to break it off later; for now, he really just wanted to leave this area in partic-
"-!?"
Izuku turned his head to look behind him. He could've sworn he'd heard something. Something walking over the weapons. There was nothing there, though. And it's not like there were any hiding places in the valley, so he didn't think too much of it. He'd been trampling over all this stuff, he'd probably just dislodged some of the weapons and gotten them to fall, that's all.
But then he heard it again.
And again.
And again.
The sound almost seemed like it was circling him, the weapons clicking and clattering as if something moved on top of them. Izuku frantically looked everywhere the sounds came, and yet he never saw anything. Whatever this was, it didn't take Izuku long to realize its plan: with each sound of movement, the ash and dust on the ground would kick up, starting to create an ashen fog around Izuku to impair his vision further.
Izuku could feel his heartbeat drum inside his ears as fear took over. He couldn't see what was moving around him, rushing by too fast as it drew nearer, and the ashen fog only made things that much harder to see. He heard something near his ear, and it almost felt like all the pieces came into place as he knew where to look now. It wasn't something invisible moving around him. It was something in the sky diving down, and kicking up the ash to cover its patterns.
Before he knew it, Izuku was brandishing the spear, despite having no idea how to use it.
And then something pierced through the ashen fog, a darkness that filled his entire vision.
He saw red.
And then blacked out.
Slowly, he opened his eyes. And slowly, his blurry vision came back to him.
There was a roof above him. But only barely. It was torn and Izuku could still see the still cloud-filled sky above.
Another blink. He was lying on a bed; or at least, what could be called a bed. It was more like a bunch of hay, but there was a pillow and sheet beneath him, and another covering him, so it was a bed.
Another blink. He wasn't wearing his jacket around his face anymore, but he glanced aside to see it hanging on the stone wall. Had he been rescued? His fists clenched as he felt his strength returning to him.
Another blink. He was still holding on to the spear. He assumed, anyway, because the top of it was missing. It looked like it broke off, so he was pretty sure it was the same spear. Or, well... now it was just a pole, he reckoned.
Izuku pushed himself up from his bed, pushing past the throbbing in his head, starting to get a feel of the room he was now in. For better or worse, there wasn't much to see: it was a single room, a circle-shaped hut, with very little of interest to speak of. Besides the bed he was on, there seemed to be a strange stone pit in the center of the hut filled with wood (a fireplace, maybe?), a smaller pile of hay in one of the corners that also had a sheet over it (maybe another bed, but it seemed really small), and finally, some fairly large... actually, Izuku had no idea what he was looking at. It looked like a big feathery coat that was curled up and thrown onto a corner. Only it was huge, and its shape seemed to indicate it was covering something. And Izuku was pretty sure he could see it trembli- that was not a coat.
They had remained huddled together all this time, the black feathers making the illusion of them being one, but as they moved, Izuku could get a better understand of just what he was looking at. There were three of them, three women clad in feathery cloaks, and ancient metal masks that obscured the top half of their faces; their skin was an unnatural grey color, something Izuku couldn't shake the feeling that it may have been faintly glowing; hair draped down their shoulders, one a very pale blonde, the others completely covered in ash, the grey masking its true colors. Each one seemed to be at least twice his size, and despite their sickly complexion and bodies that seemed to have been devoid of any food or water for weeks, they still felt powerful in a way Izuku couldn't describe. Their metal masks completely covered their eyes, and even if Izuku wasn't sure if they could actually see him or not, he felt very confident they didn't need to see him to know where he was.
He heard a hiss from the blonde woman, followed by two other from her companions. Izuku's hands gripped around the pole he still held, and he felt himself staring down death one more time.
But he stopped himself before he aimed the weapon, because he spotted it. One of the ash-haired women had a piece of cloth tied around her arm. A piece of cloth that was stained red with blood. He glanced at his broken spear, then back at the women in black. Did he do that? Did he hurt her? But then why carry him here? Why put him in a bed, and-
Izuku's mind went silent for a moment, as the blonde woman dragged herself over to a small metal container. It looked like a very roughly made kettle to Izuku, and he was proven right as the woman picked it up, along with a small wooden cup, and poured some water into it. She then turned back to Izuku, and slowly moved closer, holding out the cup before her to hand it to him.
He glanced between the woman's covered face, the metal mask being so worn and old that any details that may have existed on it at some point being completely gone, and the offered cup. Without even thinking about it, he had accepted it with a brief "thank you", but still took a few seconds to inspect the water. It sure looked like water. With his throat feeling very dry, he threw caution to the wind and drank it. A bit warm, but it was water. He quickly took a second sip, trying to not show just how desperate he'd been for a drink, but his thirst betrayed him. His third sip just had him pour the whole thing into his mouth.
The blonde woman lifted the kettle again, but Izuku was quick to raise his hand to stop her. "N-No, th-thank you, that's-...that's OK... I don't need any more... thank you..." he couldn't help but think they needed that water much more than he did. The woman didn't argue, just shortly bowing her head, and moving to place the kettle back where it was without a word. None of them had said a word all this time, really. Maybe that was the least worrisome thing here, but it did make things a bit awkward.
"Uhm... I-I'm... sorry..." he finally got some more words to crawl up his throat, looking over at the woman with the bandaged arm. "I...I-I did that, r-right...? I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." he trailed off, not being too sure how to finish that sentence. He was certainly being very jumpy earlier, but it's not like he didn't have a reason for it. He had no idea why they'd rescued him, not only because of what he did to one of them, but because their actions before that didn't really seem like those of someone just trying to help him.
Unfortunately, it seemed like he had to stew on that himself. None of the three women said a word, reacted to his apology, or moved to offer any kind of explanation. Even the one he'd apologized to simply tilted her head in, what he assumed was, confusion before her focus shifted to the others. The cloaked women huddled together again, crouching on the floor as if to keep each other warm. It didn't feel particularly cold to him, but they seemed to be in much rougher shape than he was. Seeing them huddling closer to one another that way, that quickly dispelled all of his previous fear; now he just wanted to do something to help them.
"E-Excuse me, I-"
Before he could finish that sentence, however. "GAH! Blast these wretched thorns!"
A voice. He heard a voice.
Izuku's head turned to the entrance into the hut, which simply had an old curtain in place of a door. Soon after, a figure rushed in, small and on all fours; an old and slightly emaciated hound, quickly shaking off the ash from its grey fur, and wasting very little time in heading towards its small haystack and unceremoniously drop onto it for its rest.
But right afterwards, an old walking stick pushed aside the curtain to allow entry to an old man in a tattered grey cloak, a patched-up hat with a brim large enough to shield both his head and his shoulders from the fallen ash; the old man was shorter than Izuku, a lengthy crooked nose poking out from a rugged and grey-bearded face, that Izuku quickly noticed had a large and deep gash running over his right eye, which was being kept closed. As soon as he got inside, the man lifted the bag he carried off his shoulder, throwing it on the ground with a heavy breath, before he refocused his efforts on the thorny vines that were stuck around his ankle. "Cursed things couldn't be the first to die off, could they..." and grumbling through every second of it, "No, no, I bet they'll stay alive out of pure spite against me, they will!" with one more grunt, he finally yanked the annoying plant off his leg, quickly throwing it onto the fireplace. "If you'd just burn half as good as you cling to me, you'd have some merit to-"
The old man stopped his argument with a dead plant as he quickly noticed something amiss.
Something that he most definitely did not expect to see when he arrived at his hut.
Izuku's eyes met with the man's one, and he saw the old man's expression shift back and forth between a number of emotions, from confusion, to disbelief, to joy, sadness, and many others he couldn't really pin down.
"Where-" the old man turned to the cloaked women, "Where did you find him?" he asked, just barely containing himself. "How did you find him? Which- How did you bring him here!?"
The women moved away from their huddle pile, turning their heads at the man, but still not saying a word.
Despite this. "...I see..." the old man seemed to take that as an appropriate enough response. "I see... I see..." he stroked his beard, eye kept on the floor as he seemed to be thinking something over. The women started to approach the bag he'd brought, the old man snapped out of his thoughts to tell them, "Oh, yes- Go, go! Cook it up and eat! Hurry!" the women took the bag and quickly made their way out of the hut, but one of them quickly rushed back in to grab the tired hound in her arms, and carry it outside to join them.
Izuku was confused, that much was clear, but he almost didn't feel it right for him to be the one to speak up right now. The old man was still mumbling to himself, practically chewing on his thumb as he wandered closer to Izuku, still droning on about something he couldn't quite decipher under his breath. Finally, the old man came to a stop, lifting his head to look Izuku in the eyes from beneath his wide-brimmed hat. And he just... stared.
"..."
"..."
"...u-uhm-"
"Who are you, boy?"
Izuku flinched a bit at the abrupt question. "M-...Midoriya! Midoriya Izuku! I-I'm a student at Aldera Middle School!"
"...how hard did you hit your head, boy? You're speaking gibberish." another flinch from Izuku at the man's bluntness, but also because he'd drawn closer right after saying that. He held up a heavily scarred, calloused and wrinkly hand up near Izuku's. "...feel better?"
He blinked, soon realizing- "Th-...The headache's gone..."
"Good." the man nodded, withdrawing his hand and placing it on his walking stick. "Now, how did you get here?"
"I-I was hoping you could-"
"Quiet."
Yet another flinch, Izuku really only getting more confused by the second at this man.
"...I see... very strange... Musutafu, is it? Japan?"
Izuku didn't know if he should be impressed, or starting to freak out again. "H-How did you-"
"I said quiet, boy! I'm trying to concentrate." the man ordered again, and again, Izuku felt compelled to obey. What was he going to do: argue with the one person who might actually give him some answers? "Strange... very strange... you're not supposed to be here..."
That was an understatement. "...u-uhm... I-I'm sorry to interrupt, b-but... m-might I ask where here is...?"
At least he didn't get shushed this time. "...I don't know..." unfortunately, he wasn't getting the answers he wanted. "But I know how to get you out."
Izuku's emotional state felt like it was stuck in a roller coaster by this point. "R-Really!? You know the way back!?"
"Something like that..." the man cryptically answered, before turning to head towards the entrance to the hut. "Come along, boy. And bring your spear with you."
He wasted little time in following the order, getting up faster with the help of his pole (it wasn't until later that he wondered how the man knew it had been a spear at some point), quickly following the old man outside. Their present location was, surprisingly, a little more colorful than where he'd been before, but that wasn't a very high bar to cross: Izuku could see trees that still barely hung on to their leaves, a few flowers on the floor (along with plenty of those annoying thorny vines), and there was even a small river nearby with running water. Struggling to keep it as it may be, this place still had life in it. Izuku looked beside him, spotting the three women sitting around an open flame, carefully cooking and preparing the meat of what seemed to be a deer or something, but Izuku didn't look at it for very long to check; the hound was lying down next to them, patiently waiting for any scraps or leftovers thrown its way. There was a small tarp propped up nearby to shield the food from the ash, that continued to fall from the lifeless sky.
"What happened here...?" Izuku spoke up without thinking about it, and certainly without expecting an answer.
But he saw the man point his walking stick behind Izuku. "That."
Izuku blinked and looked over his shoulder, and immediately felt his stomach drop. His eyes widened, pupils shrinking to the size of a needle's point as his brain tried to comprehend just what it was he was staring at. It was fire, but more than that. It was so far away from them, and yet he could see it clearly. It stretched up towards the clouds, a pillar of flames that, to his best estimate, was large enough to engulf Tokyo. It was fire, but it almost felt like it shouldn't be. It wasn't acting like fire, but what else could he possibly describe that acted like this. It was moving, but only barely; there was no flickering of its flames, no twisting or churning; there was a stillness to it that he simply couldn't believe happened naturally.
"W-...W-W-What is-...!?" Izuku couldn't stop his brain from only asking the most obvious of questions, because what the hell else could he ask!?
The old man let out a weary sigh. "...I don't remember..." that was the best answer he could possibly give. "But it's what's keeping all of this alive, still..." the boy turned to him, still very much lost and confused. "You... you came from outside. The closer to the fire, the more life still clings to relevancy. The farther you go, only death."
Izuku could sort of follow, but just barely. He didn't know how any of this made sense, but it really should be clear to him by now that none of this should make sense. He looked back at the pillar of fire in the distance, his eyes trying to adjust beyond the sight of it, and he could see that the forest extended through the valleys and hills, growing greener and lusher the closer it reached the pillar, and yet the flames never seemed to set any of it on fire.
"Come here, boy." he got snapped out of it when he heard the old man call him, but he was a bit surprised to see him take a seat by the fire, as it cooked the meat. Izuku approached, a slight look of trepidation on his face, which the old man clearly took notice of. "You're here now, aren't ya? Might as well get something to eat before leaving. Don't worry about wasting time; there isn't any to waste around here anymore..."
Izuku wasn't sure how to feel about that logic, but he moved closer to the small group regardless. He took a seat on one of the small wooden blocks they were using as chairs, and kept to himself for the short time it took for one of the masked women to carve up some meat, adding some greens for garnish onto the plate, and hand it over to Izuku. Part of him wanted to say he didn't mind waiting for his portion, but he accepted the meal anyway. Not that he was really looking forward to eating unsalted meat from some animal he never actually got a good look at...
He glanced around him again as he waited for the food to cool down a little, seeing the woman prepare the same plates to hand off to the other two, but when it came time to prepare the old man's plate, she simply gave him the few vegetables he seemed to have managed to gather earlier. When she returned to the meat, she just cut off a good chunk, and gave it to the patient and hungry dog, who didn't wait to start voraciously digging at his meal. At the very least, that brought a small smile to Izuku's lips, even if the entire situation still felt very depressing to him.
"...if you know the way back..." which is why the question left his mouth before he could even properly think about it, "Why are you staying here?"
The old man only gave Izuku a quick glance. "Because we can't leave... this is where we belong."
"Nobody belongs in a place like this!" again the words just left Izuku's lips without putting too much thought behind them.
Not that the old man seemed at all phased by them one way or the other. "Maybe... maybe not anymore... but there was a time when this... this was a beautiful place..."
"...then... what happened...?"
"I don't remember..." the old man stroked his beard, letting out another sigh. "Something... something went wrong, I think... something happened that wasn't meant to happen... and all that remains of that time are these trees, these... flowers, these accursed thorns, some wildlife... and us. Only us..." he raised his head to look at Izuku. "But you... somehow, you fell here by accident. You definitely don't belong here. That's why I can take you back."
Needless to say, none of this made any sense to Izuku, and he should probably stop thinking it ever would. How did he somehow fall into this place; what even was this place? Was any of this even real to begin with? "...there has to be a way..."
The old man looked at Izuku again, a slightly surprised look crossing his lone eye. "...why do you care?"
"Eh?" Izuku blinked, not really expecting that question. Mainly because he didn't understand why it was a question at all. "H-How can I not care? All of you are just... barely surviving out here... and it isn't going to last, is it?"
To his surprise, this earned a lightly amused chuckled from the old man. "So you noticed, did you..."
"That pillar of fire... it's dwindling... a-and not very slowly... and if that's the only thing keeping this much alive, then..." he shrunk into himself slightly at the thought. "Then... you don't have much time left..."
Silence fell around the fire, besides the hound as he kept happily munching on his meal. The old man looked over at the three women, their expressions impossible to read for Izuku, but he suspected that much wasn't the case for the old stranger. The man reached up to place a thumb over his lower lip, quietly mumbling something to himself again, only stopping to remind Izuku- "Eat."
The boy flinched slightly, looking down at his meal, and figured he didn't have much to lose anyway. He took a bite out of the piece, and surprisingly, it wasn't that bad? Whatever herbs the woman had used seemed to mask the whole unsalted bit, making it decently edible. It was probably the best anyone could hope for in this world now. He glanced up, seeing the old man still very much contemplating his own navel, which Izuku could at least take some solace in; if he'd gotten him to consider at least try and get them all to leave with him, then that was a good thing!
He saw the old man finally lift his head, turning his eye towards the sky. He slowly raised one of his arms, which at first confused Izuku, but almost as soon as he did so, something landed on the man's arms. It took Izuku a second before he recognize the dark blue shape to be that of a raven. The man took a moment to give it a gentle pet, before it walked down his arm and rested on his shoulder. "...there... could be a way..." the man said.
That was all Izuku wanted to hear.
After their meal, it was time for them to leave. He didn't know what to expect, but the old man simply asked that the boy trust him. They found themselves near a small sapling that seemed to be on the very edge of its meager life. Izuku was told to stand next to it, as the old man took some old pieces of cloth, and tied them around Izuku's hand as he held the broken spear to, in the old man's word, "make sure you don't lose it". Maybe a bit of a worry flag, but Izuku trusted the man; what other options did he really have? The man took a few more pieces of cloth, placing them around Izuku's shoulders and neck, almost as if he was wearing a scarf. Izuku definitely wanted to question all of this, but didn't. All he could do was wait and see what was in store for him.
"Uhm... so... are all of you going to do the same, or...?" well, OK, he did question one thing.
"That won't be necessary." the old man answered, using his walking stick to lightly nudge Izuku closer to the sapling.
"OK, so... how will you... follow me?" Izuku didn't know how else to describe the process.
The old man nodded, seemingly satisfied with where the boy now stood. "That is up for you to decide." he answered before he took a step aside. "I've told you already... we cannot leave this place."
"B-But you said-"
"We cannot leave... but there is always more than one way for someone to carry on."
Izuku fell silent, watching the old man raise his hand to let the raven on his shoulder hop onto it, before he held it out to let the bird jump onto Izuku's own shoulder.
"Our time has passed... but you will carry us, boy... in your thoughts... in your memories... however you may choose, that is how we will live... how we will be reborn."
The old man turned to the sapling, ignoring Izuku's confused look, and growing concern. The boy was clearly expecting they'd all go back together, and he was most certainly not getting that. Izuku opened his mouth in protest, just as the old man tapped his walking stick against the sapling. In one second, the sapling had grown twice its height. In two seconds, it was grown as tall as the cloaked women. By the third, it was a fully grown tree, towering above everyone there.
Izuku might've been shocked by this, but he felt his neck tighten. The pieces of cloth around him were now thick, and only briefly during his panic did Izuku realize it had somehow turned into a rope. Or, more accurately, a noose that held tightly to his neck. A noose that tied itself to the tree's branches, and lifted Izuku off the ground. One feet. Two feet. Six feet. He thrashed and tried to cry out, smacking himself across the face with the spear tied to his hand as he desperately tried to claw the rope off of him, but only felt that rope tighten further, his breath constricting, the air flowing through him stopping.
Through tear-filled eyes, he looked down at the women and the old man, wanting to scream and cry out in anger and betrayal. But for a brief moment, he felt his mind clear. He saw the old man raise his walking stick, a brilliant crimson light engulfing it, until in his hands, now rested a blood-red spear instead.
"Midoriya Izuku..."
The boy's eyes widened.
"Learn."
The spear was thrown, high into the air. High towards Izuku.
The last thing he saw was red.
And then blacked out...
Slowly, he opened his eyes. And he saw the rain pour down, feeling it splash on his face.
There was a man staring down at him, a smile on his face that immediately put the young boy's mind at ease.
"There is no reason to be afraid anymore... do you know why?"
A smile slowly stretched over Izuku's own lips, realizing where he was. "A-...All... Might... you're... here..."
He heard the sirens of ambulances and police cars around him, the rain quickly beginning to clear, and letting the Sun shine down on the area.
Izuku wouldn't know what had happened until a few hours later. He'd tried to rescue Katsuki, tried to claw past the slime that held his friend captive, but the Villain swatted him away in the process. He apparently hit his head on some rubble, which had apparently left him bleeding from the back of his head. It was less than a second afterwards that All Might had jumped in and intervened, stopping the Villains in one blow, and even causing the rain by utilizing air pressure to clear away the fires raging all around them.
It all maybe lasted only three seconds.
Despite All Might and the paramedics concerns, Izuku was found to be perfectly healthy. The injury to his head wasn't nearly as severe as they had feared, but the questions he'd gotten about possibly having a regeneration Quirk caught him and his worried mother by surprise.
As it turned out, the gash on the back of his head was fully healed by the time All Might had rescued Katsuki and him. Not even a scar was left behind, and he didn't show any adverse effects despite the amount of blood he seemingly had lost.
But more than that, there was another question left unanswered.
All Might had noticed it as soon as the boy opened his eyes at the scene, but Izuku wouldn't know what people were talking about until he was given some way of looking at himself.
And he found that his right eye lacked its iris and pupil, leaving it a glassy and unnatural white...