Chapter Text
[Travel Delays – Alan Silvestri]
A cracked voice, floating in the white noise. A small cry for help.
This is the superhuman school UA. We are under assault. I repeat, we are under assault.
But unheard. Helpless.
There are mostly children and teachers here, this is not a military compound. I repeat, this is not a—
And hopeless.
Fire and smoke was all around Izuku Midoriya, blinding him, making his senses numb and useless. He could only hear the steps of a pair of boots cracking the debris, walking among the fallen bodies.
‘Hear me, and rejoice! You have had the privilege of being saved by the Great Titan.’
A female voice, coming from a blonde woman with her arms raised and a crooked smile on her face.
‘You may think this is suffering. No. It is salvation. Universal scales tip toward balance because of your sacrifice.’
Deku tried to move again, but the giant hand of that flesh and metal being had him trapped. It all happened so fast, so violently… They were on their residency, sleeping right after the Festival, and then everything turned into a living hell. It didn’t make any sense.
He raised his gaze. He saw one of Iida’s legs, severed and covered in blood. Tokoyami’s knocked out body. Every single one of his friends defeated, maybe dead. Deku then turned to look at Todoroki, who was grabbed by what appeared to look like a giant ape. Their eyes met with infinite despair.
‘Aizawa-sensei is not moving…’ Ochako’s weeping could be heard behind him.
‘Smile’, the woman continued. ‘For even in death, you have become children of Eren Jaeger.’
And there he was. Eren Jaeger. Standing just a few meters away from Deku, backwards, with All Might on his knees next to him. A tall, strong young man, his dark hair tangled in a bun.
And on his left hand, a golden Gauntlet.
‘I know what is like to lose,’ he whispered as he turned. ‘To feel so desperately that you’re right, yet to fail, nonetheless.’
He then grabbed All Might by the throat, and started to drag him as he walked.
‘It’s frightening. Turns the legs to jelly. But I ask you, to what end? Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same. And now, it’s here. Or should I say… I am.’
He raised the Gauntlet, a glowing blue light coming from one of its slots. All Might scoffed, his pale face twisted in a painful grin.
‘You talk too much,’ he muttered, choking with his own blood.
Jaeger hardened his grip, looking now directly to Deku. ‘The One For All, or your master’s head. I assume you have preferences.’
His voice was deep, cold as ice. His empty gaze had no place for mercy.
Deku closed his eyes, trying to find inner strength. The other heroes must’ve heard about the attack, it was just a matter of time before they arrived with reinforcements. He knew what he had to do.
‘Of course I do. Kill away,’ he whispered, lowering his gaze.
Eren squinted and then placed his gauntlet next to All Might’s head. The blue gem started to glow harder and the professor screamed in agony. Deku tried to keep himself together, desperately. He couldn’t give the One For All away, not to that maniac. The boy swallowed, his face blank, but as seconds passed and All Might kept on his inhuman pain, he broke in a desperate scream.
‘All right, stop!’
Eren did so, and All Might gasped, trying to catch some air. Deku inhaled deeply, devastated look in his eyes. He had failed.
I am sorry, All Might.
‘The One For All is gone,’ All Might scoffed. ‘I lost it.’
Eren stared at Deku, waiting. And somehow, the young boy knew that monster was aware of everything. Of Deku’s power. The young boy looked at his mentor, his hero.
‘I assure you, All Might, the sun will shine on us again.’
Eren chuckled. ‘Your optimism is misplaced, boy.’
Deku clenched his mouth, furious. ‘Well, for one thing, I’m a hero, not a boy. And for another…’ He looked behind Eren with a furious smile. ‘You forgot Bakugo.’
The familiar explosion of Kacchan’s blasters broke the darkness and silence surrounding them.
‘POINT BLANK STUN GRENADEEEEE’ His scream penetrated Deku’s ears and made him feel renovated strength, as the blonde boy jetted of directly to Eren Jaeger, tackling him several meters away.
An abysmal explosion surrounded Jaeger, blinding Deku and freeing a strong gust of wind.
Come on, Kacchan. Get him!
The strong hand of the metallic giant trapping Deku softened and he heard how the monster was about to take a step towards Bakugo, but a deep voice stopped him.
‘Let him have his fun, Reiner.’
Deku turned to realize it was the giant ape who just talked.
Have his fun?
The fire finally dissipated, and Deku saw Bakugo’s figure, panting. And in front of him, Eren Jaeger, standing as if nothing had happened.
‘You just made the worst mistake of your life coming here, you turd!’ Bakugo roared, closing his fists as he prepared to strike again.
But Deku felt something strange in Eren’s eyes, an abnormal bright inside them. Then he looked at his right hand, pouring with blood. Thunder came from it, and before Bakugo could even move, another huge explosion (this time coming from Jaeger) made Deku look away. The explosion cleared and he saw a giant human figure roaring, black-haired, just like Eren.
The Great Titan that woman was preaching about.
Who is this man?
Kacchan dodged Eren’s titan first blow, that cracked the ground, and tried to reach the titan’s head with another blast, but at the same time several white spikes came from earth itself, surrounding him. Bakugo roared, and with an explosion destroyed the spikes. But it was too late, and from the titan’s hand appeared another white giant spike, this time with a hammer on its end. Eren smashed it against Bakugo with a terrible roar. Dust covered Deku’s vision, and by the time he could see something, his heart skipped a beat.
Bakugo laid down a few meters away, unconscious and covered in blood.
Deku felt a tight grab on his hair and tried to resist as the blonde woman dragged him in front of Eren, who just had jumped off the titan’s head among a cloud of vape, his hair lose and thin marks around his eyes. She then kneeled in front of him, behind Deku.
‘My humble personage bows before your grandeur. No other being has ever had the might… No, the nobility to wield not one, but two Infinity Stones. The universe lies within your grasp.’
Deku trembled as he felt Eren taking a step closer to him. His right hand was extended towards the boy, waiting. Deku raised his gaze to meet Eren’s. He saw that emptiness, that sick determination, and knew there was no other way. Jaeger would kill every single one of his friends if that meant getting the One For All.
Deku had to do it.
Remembering the moment All Might gave the One For All to him, Deku took away a strain of hair from his head and then putted it on Eren’s hand, shaking.
‘Swallow it,’ he whispered. ‘And the One For All will be yours.’
‘Midoriya, what are you…?’ Todoroki’s confused voice made it even more painful to watch.
With no words, Jaeger did so. And Deku felt the power of the All For One leaving his body. A beam of light made Deku close his eyes, accompanied by a soft growl from Eren.
Now, they were on a dark space of nothingness, blurry stars around Deku. He recognized the place: it was where he had met the other iterations of the One For All, where he had received the Blackwhip.
‘Ninth one’, a tender voice called him from behind.
Deku turned to face eight figures, each one illuminated with a different color. He recognized them.
The previous heirs of the One For All…
Then, a white-haired young man stepped closer to Deku and pressed his shoulders, smiling. Yoichi Shigaraki, the original owner of the One For All.
‘We’re sorry, ninth one. But I’m afraid everything has changed.’
Deku followed the man’s gaze and stared at the lonely shadow of Eren Jaeger, his dark hair blowing with the wind and his eyes glistening with power.
‘I don’t know how, but he has managed to absorb the One For All and store it in that Gauntlet.’
Deku lowered his gaze, ashamed. ‘It’s my fault. All of this. I failed you.’
‘No, ninth one. You just have been chosen. You, out of infinite versions of yourself. The paths are now open. This war is a war for the universe. And the universe needs you.’
The boy stared at the eight figures, eight heroes who had given him the real weight of the One For All. Yoichi nodded, reassuring.
‘You can save them, Deku. You can save them all… And be free.’
When he opened his eyes again, Eren was raising his gauntlet with a silent note of determination in his eyes. Now, the Power Stone pulsed purple radiant energy next to the blue one. Eren Jaeger inhaled deeply.
‘There are two more stones on the near worlds.’ His hard voice reverberated on the fallen UA. ‘Find them, and bring them to me on Shiganshina.’
A hissing sound came behind Deku and another cloud of vape erupted from the other titan’s head. He turned to see a blonde man with glasses coming from the ape’s one.
‘We will not fail you, Eren,’ he said.
Eren stared at the metallic titan that was holding Deku.
‘Reiner, you’ll go get the Mind Stone.’ As he said so, a blue portal appeared behind him, the blue gem on his Gauntlet now shining.
The titan’s head shifted and from the inside came another young blonde man, his face pale and consumed. He went down with a jump and nodded in silence.
‘Zeke, get Floch and…’
As Eren spoke, Deku caught a movement from the corner of his eyes. It was Todoroki, staring directly at him. Deku looked back, trying to know what he meant. Shoto then nodded at the portal.
No. I won’t leave you guys.
Todoroki seemed to understand him, because he made a reassuring nod to him. Deku closed his eyes, remembering Yoichi’s words.
You just have been chosen.
He could save the distant between him and the portal using the One For All, even though he was still recovering from the fight earlier. He had to warn whoever was on the other side of that portal.
Please forgive me. All Might. Kacchan. Shoto. Everyone. I’ll make it up to you.
Then, Deku opened his eyes, and they glowed with a thunderous power. He noticed Eren was staring directly at him.
You can save them, Deku. You can save them all... And be free.
His body shook and the small rocks around him levitated with the static. Jaeger didn’t move, and Deku would have sworn he saw a smile flashing on Eren’s face.
One For All, 5%…
The young boy screamed as he jetted off towards the opened portal behind Eren, leaving his world behind.
‘I’m just saying, I can’t think of a better place to have a first date than Ichiraku’s ramen.’
‘Are you seriously gonna ask Hinata to go eat ramen? The girl who literally took a spear for you.’
‘It’s as romantic as any other place! Besides, what do you care? You could pick the place of your date if you accepted anyone who proposed to you…’
‘SHUT UP, NARUTO!’
Just another day in Konoha.
Naruto Uzumaki crossed his hands behind his neck, a lazy smile on his face. ‘Ah, Sakura-chan… Don’t worry, everything will turn out just fine—’
A blue portal appeared just above them, and from it fell a figure, landing a few meters away with a huge explosion. Both ninjas moved as fast as thought and leaned on the crater that projectile had made, ready to face any enemy.
Only that in the middle of the collision there was just a teen boy with green hair and a terrified look in his eyes.
‘Eren Jaeger is coming,’ he whispered. ‘He’s coming.’
Naruto and Sakura exchanged glances, frowning.
‘Who?'
JAEGER WAR
- AN ANIME + AVATAR FANFICTION -