Chapter Text
I’ll see you soon!
"What do you think about a dinner break honey?" asked Inko, in an exhausted yet cheerful tone. It was a given, considering the long journey the two had already embarked on this morning. By now, the sun was already close to touching the horizon and the two of them had only taken 2 short breaks so far.
Everywhere the same color no matter where you look, Izuku thought melancholically to himself, if nothing else, the people here seem to be a bit more eye-catching than in a big city. At least his mother, who was struggling with the navigation system, seemed to like it here.
"Mom?" began the 10-year-old Izuku, completely oblivious to his mother's question as he continued to watch the small crowd of people on the side of the street. There seemed to be some sort of festival going on, since the crowd walked around in a wide variety of colorful costumes. Long drooping or short pointed ears, long hooked or short stubby noses, and even a few tails here and there could be seen.
"Yes, honey?" his mother replied as she looked in the rear-view mirror at Izuku with a kind smile. Slightly flushed, Izuku thought, seems like she has given up her fight.
"What are they all celebrating here?" asked Izuku, his gaze still fixed on the crowd. Inko let her gaze wander to the crowd and hummed briefly. "Seems like it's about the dam we're about to drive over, honey. The posters we just passed talk about an opening of the dam, which was built years ago. I guess it was built to protect the village through which it flows.”
Izuku finally turned his gaze to his mother, his eyebrows furrowed. "Then why are they all running towards the forest on the other side then and not staying for the opening?" asked Izuku again. It was rather strange in his opinion. People dressing up and walking past the dam when they really wanted to celebrate the opening of said dam?
"I don't know exactly, dear. But it seems like they're walking in the direction of our new house. We can be glad that I have given our house key to the nice gentlemen from the moving agency." Inko laughed softly to herself, still a bit tense from all the driving. "Otherwise, we'd have to see how quickly we could arrange our new home ourselves."
Inko stepped off the pedal even more as she noticed children occasionally jumping off the narrow sidewalk of the dam and onto the street. From closer inspection, you could tell that no costume resembled another, even contact lenses seemed to be worn by the people in the crowd as they all had different colors and shapes of irises.
The two drove slowly past the crowd. "Did I take a wrong turn, maybe?" muttered Inko to himself. The solid ground of the road gave way to a crumbling cobblestone path and dirt as it grew darker around the two the longer they followed the road. Occasionally one could still discover people in costumes at the roadside.
Izuku got jolted around in the back seat, even though Inko was trying to drive as carefully as possible. After what felt like endless shaking, thickly overgrown trees and the occasional face statue in the forest, where Izuku insisted that the gaze of those statues followed them, they finally came to the end of the road. Of their house or any of the kind, however, there was no trace whatsoever.
Another statue blocked the way for the two, a long black tunnel behind it and Inko now stopped the car completely. She frowned and looked around while she slowly unbuckled her seatbelt. The sporadically appearing people who disguised themselves didn’t seem to notice the two in their car and simply walked past them, as if the car wasn't even there.
Inko stopped her muttering and turned towards Izuku in the back seat, her gaze still glancing around. "I'm going to take a quick look around, maybe I can ask someone here how to get to our destination. You just stay in the car, honey. This won't take long."
Izuku did not like this at all, however, his mother already opened the door and got out. He looked down at his lap, the photo album still open in his lap. Below, clearly and distinctly was the scratchy handwriting of Kacchan.
Below the picture was the scratchy handwriting of Kacchan which said ‘I’ll see you soon!’. Shortly after, however, he sighed. "I hope I'll see you again sometime soon, the thought of trying to find my way around here without someone I know doesn't sound very nice."
He quickly closed the album, put it in his backpack and climbed out of the car. "Wait for me mama!" he called after his mother and sprinted after her as fast as his short legs could carry him.
He quickly caught up with his mother, who appeared to be currently engaged in conversation with one of the costumed individuals. "... don't know exactly which estate you're talking about, kind lady."
The person his mother was talking to, a young male judging by the raspy voice, was wearing a black jinbei, which was a surprising change from the other colorful people. He seemed to be wearing some kind of bird mask, which was evident from the tufts of feathers that covered his entire face.
"I'm sorry to have disturbed you then.", his mother said with a slight bow. However, it was obvious that something was bothering her, as she brushed her hand over her abdominal region in a clockwise direction. Exactly where her stomach could be clearly heard.
The boy's eyes widened slightly when he heard the sound and slightly tilted his head to the side. "If you want something to eat, I know a little shop. Not really expensive, but they serve some very invigorating meals there." came out of his mouth. Mouth? Beak? Izuku didn't really know, but it didn't really matter in principle. What he did admire was the head of the costume. It almost seemed like a real thing.
"Oh no, thank you, but we don't want to be a burden to you." his mother replied again with her usual smile gracing her lips. "But could you do us another favor and maybe tell us what exactly is being celebrated here?"
Now Izuku became a little more attentive. He had been already somewhat interested in the festive matters, and this could be especially useful as soon as he wanted to do something with other kids his age.
The face of the black-feathered boy took on a slightly skeptical expression, as if he thought that his mother would take him for a fool. And that beak, Izuku thought, the boy has definitely practiced his expression well.
It took a short while for the boy to answer, the skepticism now evident in his voice. "How can you not know?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Do birds even have eyebrows? Izuku wondered as the boy continued with his explanation. "Lord All Rivers in One's son, the lord of our realm, is about to return as soon as the man-made dam is reopened.
After the brief, and to the two of them confusing explanation, there was an uncomfortable silence outside the entrance to the long, dark tunnel which the group of three stood in front of.
The boy blinked a few more times before turning and entering the tunnel, the black jinbei and dark feathers adorning his head making it really hard to see him from a distance.
Izuku turned to his mother, who still seemed to be deep in thought. "Who was that, mama?" Izuku asked his mother, who shook her head slightly to escape her train of thought. His mother began to open her mouth, but stopped short before she could answer and closed it again.
"Mama?" asked Izuku, his voice a little quieter as his mother made no sound. It seemed as if something invisible was holding her down, robbing her of her voice. But after a few moments, which felt like minutes to Izuku, Inko shook her head and smiled in Izuku's direction.
"Could you repeat yourself again honey? I feel that my thoughts were a bit jumbled just now, sorry." She still had the smile on her lips, however, this time there were some teeth showing, yet Izuku thought nothing of it and asked her again with a slightly uncomfortable voice, "What was the boy's name?"
His mother laughed softly. "Oh, you mean the boy I was just talking to? He introduced himself as Fumi when I asked him for directions to our house." Her smile slowly faded, however. "Unfortunately, he couldn't help us." She seemed to be thinking about something again, as her eyebrows drew together. "He had an idea, though, that might please both of us."
At that moment, the stomachs of both of the Midoriyas growled, causing Izuku to remember that the two of them had barely eaten anything so far. "Speak of the devil," Inko smirked. "Come on, honey, let's go find that booth Fumi was talking about."
Inko held out her hand to Izuku and waited for him to grab it. Izuku, however, wasn't really sure about that. The long, dark tunnel radiated an unpleasant aura, although the red cement was supposed to be a more cheerful color, there was only one source of light in the whole tunnel, which seemed to shine at the other end. There was something ominous about this tunnel, which caused a feeling of unease in Izuku.
Izuku turned around and his eyes swept over the bushes, clusters of statues, and the car parked quietly in front of the single statue. Where did all the people go that we saw on the way here? thought Izuku to himself, turning back to his mother, who was still holding out her hand towards him.
Another growl of his stomach reminded him of the measly piece of bread from this morning and he took his mother's hand in a firm grip.
With Inko in front and Izuku right behind her, the two set off. The stomping of shoes was the only sound echoing through the long tunnel, and he gripped his mother's hand a little tighter. When the two arrived on the other side, they were greeted by the dim light of a stained-glass window, which cast a warm and comfortable glow on the room, which, mind you, consisted only of benches.
"What is this place?" muttered Izuku to himself, and Inko grinned down at him. "Come on," she said, leading Izuku to the door, which seemed to go outside, "let's take a look around outside. I have a feeling this might get interesting.
Blue and green as far as the eye can see greeted the two as they stepped through the exit. This place really seems to have a thing for monotonous colors, thought Izuku, although he had to admit to himself that he was amazed by what he saw in front of him at that moment.
A thickly overgrown grass blanket stretched over the entire landscape, while some statues were scattered around the area. In front of the two stretched a dirt road along, which led to a distant village. Quiet noises could be heard from afar and the lights of the village decorated the sky of the setting sun. And was that a train that he just heard?
"Come on honey, if we are already here, then we should take a look around, don't you think?" Inko asked her son while she led him by the hand up the path. Izuku, meanwhile, was still completely speechless. As his mother led him to the village he couldn't help but think about how such a thing was possible. The tunnel through which they have just gone, was not that long to end on such an open area, especially since his mother had left the car in the forest and before that nothing was to be seen from this scenery far and wide.
The closer the two got to the village, the more Izuku could perceive. The colors became more diverse and went away from the 2-tone unison, the smell of freshly cooked food tickled his nose and was heavy in his stomach and the colorful houses reflected the light of the sun which was almost starting to set.
"Seems like there used to be some kind of river here, quite small and dried up unfortunately." claimed his mother as the two crossed the dried-up river bed that lay between them and the village. Izuku found it somewhat sad that the river had dried up. It must have been much nicer here when the river still contained water, he thought, as the two crossed the river bed.
His mother stopped just before the stairs leading up to the village, and Izuku's hunger only became harder to suppress. It didn't really help that his mother sort of pulled him up the stairs while she was basically sniffing up the stairs. "Smell that honey? That must be one of the booths Fumi was talking about."
She tugged on Izuku's arm as she walked through the narrow streets of the city. No matter where Izuku looked there was a show of colors. Houses in a variety of hues, signs in a variety of fonts, shapes, colors, and sizes hung everywhere, and the smell of food was now so ubiquitous that Izuku could think of little else but finally getting something to bite between his teeth.
The turnings made Izuku all confused though. From the outside, the city looked much smaller, Izuku thought. The longer his mother dragged him around, his hand in hers, the more he lost track. The slowly rising skepticism in him helped him to clear his thoughts a little.
Izuku looked around while he was still being dragged behind his mother. He no longer knew where he was...
"Mom, isn't it a little strange that even though the smell is here, there are no people. Not a single person is here!" The longer he talked, the more uncomfortable he felt. Through the different heights of the houses you could watch the sunset from far away, which illuminated the different roofs of the houses in an intense orange color.
His mother ignored him, however, and just before she turned into the next street, she let go of Izuku's hand.
It was hard enough to keep up with her steps while she held his hand. Now that she was no longer literally carrying Izuku's weight, she disappeared in a few moments into one of the stores, which seemed to show off their food with pride.
If all the food, from meat to vegetables, was so freshly prepared and now presented without a single human being around, then something must be wrong, Izuku thought as his eyes followed his mother.
His mother apparently did not care what happened to him now. Izuku saw her lean back, her mouth stuffed with salad, and beckoned him to join her. When she saw that Izuku was still stuck in place, she turned her attention back to her food.
With a slightly scrunched up face, Izuku stamped his right foot on the ground, causing a small cloud of dust to settle into the air. Why his mother thought only of the food and not of herself and him was a question he could not answer himself.
He turned around, took a few steps in the direction from which he and his mother had come, and found himself walking down a large wide street. “Now it's getting pretty weird”, Izuku whispered to himself, “we hadn't crossed this street before.”
The street was devoid of life, if it weren't for all the signs and houses, which were surprisingly well preserved, and the food, Izuku would have assumed that the town was a ghost town.
Everything looked the same, yet every little detail could not be more different than the one before. Izuku turned his head in the other direction and his eyes fell on something he had now glimpsed for the first time since coming with his mother to this godforsaken place.
It looked like some kind of structure, no - a shrine, on which the most diverse engravings were to be seen. There were 2 mizuchi, which were dragons associated with rivers, on it. The elegant image seemed to move, the largest of them, a white dragon, scaled with red accents and a red belly that looked almost too similar to the color of blood, had black fur that went from head to tail end and ended in a fluffy black tuft of fur, while it coiled around itself like a snake.
The other dragon, which was many times smaller, seemed to make himself comfortable on the head of the adult dragon. He seems to be very comfortable, Izuku thought and looked at the picture more closely. The younger dragon had white scales with green accents, but the fur he possessed was as green as his own hair.
Izuku took his eyes off the shrine when he heard the whoosh of a train. If he remembered correctly, he had heard the train once before, shortly after he and his mother had left the tunnel.
Almost guided by an invisible, curious hand, he walked to the bridge from where he heard the sound. If only the large ominous house wasn't there, Izuku thought, shuddering slightly, but nevertheless made his way to the railing of the bridge.
He stuck his head, along with his unmanageable curls through the bars of the railing and saw the last car of the train disappear into a tunnel.
"Hey! What are you doing here?" it suddenly growled behind him. No one could blame him for being startled, especially since it wasn't his mother's voice. When he tried to pull his head out as quickly as possible, he got caught between the bars of the railing with his ears, because he was not careful which hurt a bunch.
His next attempt was successful, although slower. When he turned to the person who had growled at him, he held still. Blonde, almost spiky hair, an angry look that could make even the strongest person in the world whimper, pointed teeth and... was that a blond tail he saw behind him?
“K-Kacchan?” Izuku stuttered.