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His fiancee died a long time ago. 5 years ago? He still didn't want to believe it, he was always alive in his heart. But he remembers how he found his lifeless body on the cold floor of their bathroom, remembers how he held his hand and begged not to leave him, but it was in vain.
He was never with him at the wedding of their dreams, even if he did not like noisy events, but he wanted the whole world to know about him, he was ready to go to great lengths for him.
Now, at 23, as a professional dungeon hero, he tried to hide. He understood that there was almost no strength left, his form was torn in places, and blood oozed from his wounds.
Trying to speed up, he feels something pulling him by the shoulder, and suddenly he finds himself in some kind of house, and an old woman with a cane in her hand, gray strands and red eyes, of medium height, she was wearing a dressing gown with flowers, is looking at him .
He hears the running and screaming subside. Great, he's safe.
"Thank you very much, Miss...?" he suddenly realized that he did not know the name of his savior, so he raises his head and his silent question is accepted.
"You can just call me an old woman, honey," she waves away. "Today, let's take care of you and your injuries," she beckons him to follow her, and he, not knowing what to say, just follows.
The old woman, approaching the heaps of shelves with various jars, takes out the one that had a purple color and approaches the hero, offering to take a sip.
"Drink it all down, you'll feel better."
For the hero, this seemed strange and unsafe, but the old woman did not seem to be dangerous, so the hero drank in disbelief. The contents tasted strange. A minute later, he noticed that his wounds began to heal, and fatigue was replaced by cheerfulness, which he had last felt for a very long time.
“Well, Shota Aizawa, I was glad to help you,” the old woman casually said, and Shota sharply choked on air and wildly looked towards the woman with a surprised look.
"How do you know my name?"
She chuckled, "I know everything about everyone. I'm well over 200, it was time to find out everything about everyone, flying on a broomstick at night."
"Sounds like you're the witch from the old fairy tales," the man says bluntly.
"To the point! Only now I'm real."
After sitting in silence for a minute, Shota begins to speak.
"Why did you decide to help me, and even revealed yourself as a witch? I could not believe or put you in a psychiatric hospital."
"Haha. You're funny. You would have believed me, because your fiancee was the same witch as me, only much younger," she smiles kindly at him.
"How? .." - it was true, his fiancee even taught him some tricks, hoping that it would be useful to him someday. But they all firmly knew that it was impossible for anyone to disseminate this information, no one trusted the witches even when they were known to everyone more widely and roamed the streets. Now no one would believe in these nonsense simply.
“I’m telling you, I know everything about everyone. And I decided to help you because you really want something,” she pokes a finger at his chest, from the side of her heart, “And this is something you wish for the last years 5. I'm torn by your despair, I want to help you."
"But he's dead... it's impossible to do something, it would be... bad" - and the truth, the witches could do a lot, but the resurrection of someone... it would be too difficult, it would hardly be crowned success.
"Or everything would have gone according to plan. I don't think his soul has left us... Have you ever felt a strange 'presence' of someone nearby?"
Shota thought about her question. Sometimes something covered his refrigerator, and sometimes something pushed him away and the throwing knife did not pierce his arm.
"Miss, do you think it was him...?"
"Shoot! And drop all that familiarity! I don't think we need it. Just an old woman."
"Then just Shota..." Still shaken by the new information, Aizawa decides he really needs it all.
"Great, Shota, I think you need to know what my idea is! Once upon a time, spells that resurrect existed, and their use among witches was quite common. But not entirely intelligent witches tried to resurrect bloodthirsty assassins in order to a piece of power in this world. It follows that we had to complicate the way to get the resurrection enchantment. Locked the enchantment behind 3 gates, 3 different tasks that must be overcome before you can put the spell together and be able to use it."
This arrangement suited Aizawa quite well. It didn't look all that difficult.
"But, you must remember that you will stop aging by using this spell, you, in addition to the life of your bride, acquire a kind of immortality, are you ready to live forever, in exchange for his life?"
This made him stop. Eternal life did not seem so terrible. He was determined.
"I agree with everything, I want to return it," he said seriously, the old woman just grinned and answered.
"Then that's fine. I haven't seen such a brave one in a long time. Well, I'll guide you. Luckily for you, the first gate is in Japan, near an almost dry old tree, the gate is right in it."
"When can I start?"
"At any moment! You can always find me here, I'll tell you if anything."
"Thanks!" - he runs out the door, thanking for everything done and conceived. Now, he needed a plan.
Arriving home, he shines in his own way, he had the opportunity to return his beloved bride! However, he thought a little.
His fiancee is gone - killing herself. Did his betrothed want to return at all? This was baffling. He had already made up his mind, he would provide any support to the betrothed, so it shouldn't be a big problem. And the job... well, he could take the day off from both jobs. Then tomorrow he will be on his way.
The next day, he stood at the exit door, wondering if he had done everything. He had already taken a week off from both jobs, he was wearing his hero costume, and his pockets were filled with a couple of packs of biscuits, a phone and keys.
He went to the place the old woman had spoken of.
The thicket was dark, approaching that tree, he began to examine it: it is huge, almost dry, and it seemed that it had been dead for a long time. He puts his hand on it, as if hoping to hear something, but instead, he is sucked into it, and the wooden tablet driven into the ground went unnoticed. Well, to hell, the sign would already be useless.
Shota opened his eyes already in some space where there was nothing but platforms. There was nothing below the platform, but other platforms above. Logically, Shota should have climbed higher. It's just like, he could use his scarf to get up quickly.
And at first this one really worked, but... through platforms 24, he... slid off. He fell into the abyss that was under his feet. He could feel his muscles tearing and the air leaving his lungs, he could still see the platform moving away and away, and then only darkness.
Opening his eyes again, he found himself on the first platform. He might have thought that he needed to start over, but he could not believe that he was alive.
He looks at his arms, legs... taking out the phone, he looks at his face, which are still intact.
"Okay, this time be careful," he thought, and he started over.
His feet stomped on black platforms with acid rainbow lining. It seemed that a very long time passed before he raised his head and realized that he had gone half the way at the strength.
Standing firmly on his feet, he looks at the time on his phone.
"Damn, is it real?" the time on the clock has not changed. Putting the phone back in his pocket and zipping it up, he went up again.
Oh, I looked up and climbed higher and higher.
When his eyes were already blind, he reached the highest point. He takes a deep breath and looks around to see where he is.
Ahead were the same platforms, however...
"Fuck your mouth, they're disappearing," the man thought in horror, but didn't back down.
After watching them appear and disappear, he realized that he just had to run as soon as the first platform appeared.
And so he did.
Then he stopped at a permanent platform. Shota thought that something more difficult would happen next and he would have to die again due to negligence, but no.
"I've arrived..." he said.
In front of him was some kind of box, to which he moved. He opens it, and inside he finds a book and a crystal. As he lifted it up to inspect it, he heard something appear from behind.
It was a door with a stopwatch on top showing the days... 27 days 8 hours 19 minutes.
"Damn, it's been a long time."
He went through the door, hoping that he would get home and that he would not die again.
Death is extremely painful...
He tears his eyes away already near that tree, only on its other side. Now he is walking home. He has a lot to do.
When he comes home, he finds out that for the world he was gone for 27 minutes. Fast.
Then he opens the book. The cover was blue with gold patterns, obviously dusty, and a wide red ribbon as a bookmark.
There was nothing specific on the first pages, just a typical witch's guide, so he jumped straight to the bookmarked page.
"A spell to... resurrect?" read aloud by a man.
At what point? They started with simple paper manipulations and children's tricks, and ended with resurrection magic. And this is not the end of the book!
In general, Shota studied the section on resurrection and understood how he should proceed. To digest the information and plan everything properly, he went to bed, because he does not know when he can lie down next time.
When he wakes up, he goes to the kitchen, where coffee wakes him up. The book was not enough, he had to go further to find the second gate and go in search of other parts of the spell.
Following the directions of this book, the next gate was at the other end of the country, where he was to go immediately.
He goes by public transport from the very early morning, behind him is only a bag with some kind of food and water, a few knives and a phone with a power bank.
Most of the time he slept (6 hours), but spent the remaining 3 hours awake.
He ended up in the wilderness, the feeling that there was not a living soul here for 200 years. It was the final one, so the bus turned around and drove in the opposite direction.
He had to walk through the overgrown streets, no one had looked after the buildings and houses located here for a long time, he goes deeper and deeper until he reaches the lake. Something seemed to be looking at him from the water, he leans to look and then they grab him by the shoulders, drowning him in the water.
Blinking, he finds himself in a different place, presumably the bank of a river. He could see people, but when he approached them, trying to ask for something, they did not seem to hear him and did not even turn around at his voice, when he tried to grab someone by the shoulder, his hand went through him.
"What the hell is this?" - he abruptly moves away from the person, suddenly, a loud siren flashed, his ears did not want to endure it.
People became a little more active and went in several directions.
He wanted to follow them, but he couldn't figure out where they were going, the notifications on their phones weren't in Japanese or English, blocking communication for the most part.
There is a front, seeing different signs, these were not hieroglyphs or Latin, it was Cyrillic! This even more closed the possibility of communication, the language was not like the one he knew.
Another thing he noticed was that there were a lot of people in military uniforms, and the people themselves did not look like those that he usually saw. These people had no quirks. Does this mean that he moved in time? Or was it a corridor to another task? He did not know.
Then, the walls of the world seemed to start catching up with him, he took this as a signal to run away from the walls.
Running leads him to the bridge, it is big and old, below the trains went on business, and above the car, pedestrian and bicycle paths.
What caught his attention the most was the flash of light above the bridge, which obviously shouldn't have been there, so he uses his hands to climb higher and secures himself at the height he has reached with a scarf. When he gets to the top, the walls get close to him and he touches the flash and it sucks him in.
His gaze opens up to endless fields and a pile of grass, from which he would have vomited if his gaze had not been attracted by a village standing in the distance.
He goes to him, opening the book, because he obviously saw these houses somewhere.
Yes, that is right!
The book described the places where fist and sword fights took place, the one who defeats everyone could get the sphere, which is exactly what he needs.
The locals did not notice him and dragged him to the bar, where they poured a drink for everyone who wanted to compete - for nothing!
Shota drinks a kuhol beer, fresh and invigorating, until someone calls him to a fight.
He takes off his bag, putting it naively on the counter, and removes his scarf.
They check him for knives, but he will leave everything in his bag ... or hide it securely.
The first were very frail boys who tried to break a little ahead for free alcohol. Shota easily defeats drunken youths in hand-to-hand combat, because this was his specialty.
He grabbed their hands and went behind their backs and they quickly fell.
He drinks more and more, until the alcohol completely loosens his tongue and he lets out to a random passerby about his goals.
- And why are you, good fellow, so vehemently lashing out on alcohol, easily defeating each of the boys, you do not look like an alcoholic. - says some guy in a white apron smeared with oil and rust.
He didn't know how he understood the guy, he didn't know how he could speak his language, but it's true they say that drunk people speak the same language.
- I... I don't need this alcohol at all, I came... I came...
- Well, why did you come?
- I want to resurrect my wife... - he did not see the surprised face of the young man, because the amount of alcohol he had drunk finally turned off his brain.
He wakes up already in the hay, the district is loud, and his things lay nearby.
- Master, I'm telling you! He doesn't lie! someone shouts from the next room.
- And I say that I do not get involved in this! a rougher voice answers.
Then the guy with an offended look enters the room where Shota was.
- O! Are you awake! he smiles at him.
"Yes..." He still understood them, and seemed to be speaking their language, even if his tongue didn't let all the sounds come out correctly.
- You may not remember, but yesterday you told me why you are here! His eyes burned with sparks. - I looked through your book and it seems you are not lying. I want to help!!
Shota told everything? It would be a disaster.
- Do not worry! I won't tell anyone! Well, except for my mentor. He refused to help. He lowers his head in shame.
- I couldn't ask for more. Shota says.
- But still! Your goal is marvelous and noble! My name is Svyatoslav, and you?
- Shota Aizawa.
- Shota? Sounds wonderful and so overseas! Like our Alexander. You're not from here, are you?
- No, I'm from the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan.
- Cool! It must be far! You practically do not pronounce all our sounds, but you speak very well! Shota raises an eyebrow. - I suppose you don't know where you are? Shota shakes his head.
- Are you in Kyiv.
- Kyiv?
- Yes! Maybe it's not like in Japan, but it's definitely not worse!
- Yes... - Shota agrees. - You have a very beautiful nature, a lot of plants.
- The land is like that and the people. In general, we will make plans for your winnings! Do you need that area?
- How do you know about her?
- I looked at the pictures in the book!
Shota, whom Svyat now constantly called Sasha, was dressed in a shirt and pants, his clothes seemed too strange.
Shota and Svyat trained together. Svyat often asked me to show some techniques, and Shota showed with pleasure, he was a teacher, it suited him to acquaint people with his subject.
Svyat was only 17, he was an apprentice to a blacksmith - an old man who picked up Svyat a few years ago. The guy wanted to learn and help people all his life. This holy nobility made Shota smile, the guy in the future will be the sun of this place themselves.
While they were studying, months passed, that they even survived the winter all three of them (the old blacksmith did not trust Shota, but did not abandon himself)! Shota did not know such cold winters, they played with the snow, which was very much.
These people accepted him as their own, he fell in love with them, as part of his family.
On the night of the duel between all the brave, which would take place from dusk to dawn, they sat under a warm blanket made of the skin of some animal, near a hot fireplace.
- Sasha! But you never showed a picture of your wife! I'm interested! - shouted Svyatoslav.
Svyat asked for a picture, Shota realized long ago that he was not in his time, he was in the distant 16th century, when there was no electricity and the Internet, especially quirks, he did not dare to explain to Svyato why his eyes glowed red, and his hair flew, but that night, he could tell him everything, he was like a younger brother, whom it was impossible to even dream of!
- Good good. Shota reaches into his backpack, pulling out his phone. He practically did not discharge during this time, he did not even turn it on. He presses the button to turn the phone on.
- What is it?! - Svyatoslav screams in surprise.
- This is a phone. A piece from the future. Shota calmly explains.
- From the future!! Cool! I always knew that you are not an ordinary person! - Svyat says, clinging to Shota's hand, examining the glowing screen.
- I am the simplest person. Shota says with a soft smile.
- You are special! Everyone is special! - Svyat reproaches, poking Shota on the cheek.
Meanwhile, the phone turns on and Shota unlocks it by going to the gallery. Since the day the bride died...he didn't dare delete any of his photos. Everything is left in its original form. He goes into the folder where he dumped most of Izuku's photos, even blurry and ridiculous, which is true, those photos that he took in secret (it was not such a secret) he kept in a separate folder and now he was grateful for that, he I didn't want to show it to my child.
The first photo makes Svyat touch the screen with his hands in surprise, and then, looking at the photo, he sharply gives out:
- So this is Ivanna! - shouts the guy.
- Name Ivanna? Shota asks in surprise.
- Yes! She, initially, was given a different name, but it was so consonant with Ivanna that from that moment I called her that! He helped us a lot! But he said he had to leave. I started thinking of him as my sister. - Svyatoslav explains with a sad smile.
- Are you Ivanna's fiancé? She said a lot of good things about you. - The old man appears around the corner, still in his uniform. - Do you even have a sword for tomorrow's fight?
- SWORD!
So they realized that everyone forgot about the most important thing.
- Sasha, we urgently need a sword!
- No, you need strength. Go to bed. Early tell those that the evening will not say.
After some argument, they fall asleep, trusting in the wisdom of the old man.
In the morning, they wake up to do something out of steel for work. Hands were shaking and everything was going tight.
- Move away, I'll help.
- Master?
- He is.
- We will not make it on time!
- Let's make it, I have a basis.
- Thank you... - Shota says, lowering his head.
- And you, Oleksandr, do not relax, you can also invest in this product. Can you forge?
- I grasp knowledge on the fly.
- But this is a good mood.
They spent the next few hours shaping the sword into its final shape, wrapping the handle and securing everything.
- Do you want to sign? - asks his old man sipping a piece of metal.
- Only if with all of you. The man laughed at this.
- Well done! Well, let's put it together!
Shota goes to battle in his heroic costume, with a sword on his back and with his grappling weapons. Going to the field, he sees that everyone has a lot more protection, someone even in armor! He is a little depressed, then a large leather coat falls on his shoulders to the bottom. It seemed massive, but comfortable.
- Put it on. Turning around, he sees an old man. - Don't stand still.
Shota reacts immediately and quickly pulls on his jacket.
- Why?
- My gift to you. You seem like a good young man. And Ivanna means a lot to all of us. When she came, she helped many. She always spoke warmly of you and regretted that she had left you. You're going to help her, you're worth it.
- Thanks...
- All right, it's your turn. Go, fighter!
Shota is picked up and runs, indeed, it is his turn.
The first two fights are fairly easy. In yuei, he somehow tried to pass cold weapons with the rest of the weapons, but then, the whole course just disappeared somewhere and he could not master it exactly, plus, he had half an hour to support the sword in his hands, he knew its weight, he hoped for cooperation.
There was a third fight, it became more and more difficult.
The fighters became more and more skillful and handy, they even hit him several times.
The fourth and fifth battles are the same.
With the sixth fight, the open skin of his hand is damaged, but he can live.
The seventh fight, tense silence, but even then he could feel the eyes of the Saint and the blacksmith on him, they were rooting for him. At stake is the very sphere, he did not even know how to use it!
And so, they raise their swords.
The sound of swords is heard, they hit each other, emitting sparks.
- Why are you silent? - a voice is heard from under the opponent's helmet. - Are you dumb, or do you just want to appear above us? Tell me honestly, why do you need this useless thing? - Shota raises an eyebrow. - Ahh, you're aware. What do you want to capture?
Shota did not understand what exactly the man meant, but remained silent as he retaliated.
- Maybe we could come to an agreement?
It can be seen that this person also needs a sphere, but what goal will he pursue?
- You are strong.
- The theater of one actor, Shota did not even participate, so he rolls his eyes.
Sharply, the opponent starts to hit faster, Shota does not lag behind.
- You see, I need this city and I don't need you at all. - Shota raises his eyebrow again, his indignation seemed to leave the planet Earth soon to question everything that this person says.
- I can give you everything, whores, money, but I need this sphere! - he screams softly.
Hmm, Shota didn't get acquainted with the local nobility, maybe this person is one of them?
Then Shota is pushed forward, forcing him to fall, a sword is pointed over him, but his fear takes over and he jumps, turning over. People have long understood that this is a fight without rules for a valuable prize, from that moment everyone was only concerned about the show.
- I offered. - say the opponent and starts swinging the sword towards Shota.
- Дідько. Shota scolds, standing firmly on the ground.
They circle again, trying to hurt each other.
When a person points a sword at Shota's eyes or throat, bringing it closer to him, and then his eyes flashed. The audience fell silent to deathly silence. Dark hair flew up and the scarf began to fly, obeying Shota's every desire. The grappling weapon grabs the opponent's slap, pulling him forward, the knight falls, losing his sword along the way, and Shota stands behind him. All the people roared sharply.
- HE'S DAMNED!
- He's a mage!
- GRAB AND BURN!
- WE ALL WILL DIE!!!
Loudly heard from all sides.
Shota notices the counter, where the bag with the sphere was. Impossible to be mistaken, the sphere glowed. Shota grabs her with his scarf, hurrying to hide.
- HE'S LEAVING!
Shota jumps on all the tops of the roofs, sliding down them and climbing again, several times he almost falls, grabs the ledges of the balconies.
Having reached the forge, he sees again a bright flash on the pillar, the one he saw on the bridge.
The wind is picking up, it's turning away from the forge, it has to go.
- Stop, Sasha! - he hears Svyat, turning around, he sees a boy.
He tosses him all of his things in his bag, running up to hug him. - Good luck! Take it!
The blacksmith also throws a bag into his hands.
- This is a gift for both of you, see you soon! - shouts the old man after him.
- I will try! Thank you! Don't say goodbye! We will definitely meet sometime! Shota promises and runs to the portal.
- I'LL SEE YOU! - shouts at last, throwing a bag over a shoulder.
He runs up to the bell tower, the sword long since sheathed on his back. He climbs to the top until he catches on the roof, bouncing and falling right into the portal.
There are spots in his eyes, but he ends up in a cave.
Yes, this is clearly a cave, judging by the look and smell.
It's completely dark.
He uses his phone's flashlight to fix it.
Looking around, he sees parkour. Apparently, he will have to go through it, he does not want to know what will happen if he does not pass it or dies (he did not want to feel those feelings anymore).
He tries to climb, but nothing works. Tiredness attacks him, he falls asleep. He wakes up in the same wet place. His head hurts. He helps, his head hurts more, when he hears a sound, he turns around sharply, instead of a monster he sees a rat, but it is very loud. And wait. Where is the light from?
Shaking his head in different directions, he realizes that there are no lamps anywhere. It is the light from his eyes. The headache does not subside, so he drinks water and tries to calm down.
His senses are too heightened. It seemed that he could see what was going on behind the walls.
The headache subsides after a few minutes. Then he decides to move on.
Now, he can see the small ledges he missed. They stood out a little from the rest of the wall.
It grabs and climbs higher and higher until it reaches a height. Behind him, the passage is further, so he jumps over and lands on his feet.
The road leads forward. A piece of wood connects small corridors of stone, and Shota carefully walks along it, like on a tightrope, to get to the other side.
Goes further. He jumps to the beam, going down.
There he sees the mechanism. He turns it on and sees a platform that appears out of the ground. Also, he hears a tick.
The platform is temporary.
He doesn't run. Therefore, it turns on the mechanism a few more times.
When he actually manages to reach the platform and jump onto it, he hears someone running after him. He jumps over ledges, almost falling several times, and grabs a piece of wood, standing on top of it. The rocks were breaking off behind him, and when he turned, he could have sworn he could see through the wall with his eyes the huge red figure of a monster that had fallen into the water.
He breathes heavily, sitting on a piece of wood.
The piece of wood also makes a mournful crunch, so he hurries to move on before he falls after the monster.
He crawls into some room above. It is beautifully decorated, even though there was almost nothing there. Wooden floor and burnt wallpaper. But in the center of the room he sees a gilded coffin.
With the body of his wife.
"Izuku!" He runs over, making sure it's really him.
Something is pulling him back, he does not understand why someone is pulling him back! He's been looking for Izuku for so long. As he reaches to get the book for the rite, something cold grabs his wrist, looking up he sees not Izuku, he sees a green monster. He has arms like a crocodile and clearly doesn't look like Izuku at all.
He rips his arm off and draws his sword, slashing at the monster faster than it can attack him, even though the monster was ready to jump.
The monster carcass dissipates into the light of fireflies.
Something pulls him by the arm and the other side, to the bags. He follows. One of them is filled with potatoes, another with flour, and the third...
Opening it, he saw Izuku, wearing only a knee-length nightgown. Now he seems to be reaching for a book, no one grabs and attacks him.
He reads the rite, drawing his sword from its scabbard and pushing a precious stone into its handle. He plunges it into the heart of the bride and she, illuminating with white light, like a light bulb inside him, flies up, "And let the sword become your heart when I can't be it," Shota holds Izuku's hands, and then Izuku falls on him, wrapping his legs around him. Shota doesn't mind.
"You...returned..." Shota clings to Izuku's body as he says those words.
A portal then appears under Shota's feet, but their bodies are consumed by the tar.
They woke up on the shore of the ocean that washed the shores of the Japanese islands.
Shota raised his head first. Izuku's body lay next to him, he hugs him.
"Yes, I'm back." Izuku's voice suddenly sounded out. "Thank you." - in response, he also clings to Shota, who kisses him on the lips with tears.
Sometime later, Shota will show up on the doorstep of a certain Midoriya Inko with her dead son, shouting at the top of his voice: "YES! I RETURNED HIM!"
No one will know about Izuku's miraculous resurrection anytime soon, even when Shota walks too happy for his normal days.
They learn with the rings that the same blacksmith made for them.