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Chapter Text

Odysseus: Izuku

Polities: Uraraka 

Eurylochus: Bakugou 

Athena: Nana

Penelope: Shoto

Telemachus: Eri

Zeus: Endeavour 

The infant: Kouta

Cyclops: shigaraki 

Perimedes: Iida

Elpenor: Tsu

Aeolus: Ms Joke

Winions: Mina & Hagakure 

Hermes: Hawks

Poseidon: AFO

Circe: Camie

Anticlea: Inko

Teiresias (Prophet): Sir Nighteye 

Siren Penelope: Toga

Sirens: Twice clones

Scylla: Lady Nagant

Calypso: Rody

Hephaestus: Power Loader

Apollo: Present Mic 

Aphrodite: Yoichi (First User)

Ares: Kudo (Second User)

Hera: Rei

Suitors: Class 1-B

Antinous: Monoma

Chapter Text

It was supposed to be a simple exercise. The students take turns going into each other's minds and finding a way to break out, to test the students on how to break out of a mind control quirk. But it was Nezu's idea so Aizawa should have known something was bound to go wrong. Of course it would happen when it's the Problem Child's turn.

It all started with the two Commission workers Nezu had brought in. One who would put a student into a dreamlike state based on the student’s mindscape, and the other who could project what is going on inside the student's head for everyone not affected by the Quirk to be able to observe. Aizawa shouldn't have trusted Nezu's ideas, especially with the smile he gave. 

Shinsou had tapped out of the training after his turn, apparently it gave him a migraine due to having his own mind control quirk. Though it was amusing watching him tear up at the idea of having to leave a cat cafe. The other students’ minds were fascinating too.

Tsu had a swamp filled with frogs. Iida had to break the rules to escape. Todoroki's mind was concerning, it seemed to be a training room in his home. Bakugou's and Kaminari’s minds were similar, though Bakugou's fantasy realm was more serious than Kaminari's comedic fantasy realm. Uraraka's mind seemed to be the galaxy while Tokoyami’s mindscape was ripped straight from the pages of a Lovecraft novel. The class had elected not to speak about Mineta's mindscape ever. Aizawa agreed with that consensus, and he’d seen some things in his time as an Underground hero.

Which brought them to Midoriya’s turn. But of course, nothing could be so simple when it came to the Problem Child™.

“Alright, Problem Child, you're up next.” Aizawa calls out after a 10 minute break. “Get comfortable, everyone. Shinsou will be rejoining us shortly, he just needed time to recover. Continue taking notes on how your classmates got out of their dreams, maybe it’ll help those of you who struggled do better.”

“I bet it'll be an All Might shrine.” Uraraka whispers to Tsu, giggling slightly.

Midoriya plays with his fingers awkwardly before taking a deep breath and nodding firmly. He sends a smile to All Might, that looks more like a grimace, before laying down on a mat in front of his class. The one in charge of making the Midoriya enter his own mindscape gets to work.

Without any warning, Midoriya lights up into green lightning, eyes glowing bright green before they slide shut and his quirk turns off. The other person, in charge of projecting, immediately projects Midoriya's mind onto the wall to the side showing… darkness… what the fuck.

“Fucking problem child…” Aizawa sighs heavily as a light from a wooden torch seems to light up within Midoriya's mind, wooden constructs around… his class? His problem child was in full view, standing in front of his classmates with a familiar look of determination on his face.

Seems like the chaos is about to begin, and Aizawa isn't sure there's anything they can do to stop it now that it's begun.

Chapter Text

The whole class is silent, staring up at the big screen, taking in as much detail as they can. Before anyone can start speaking, Izuku's voice rings out… singing?

“Alright my brothers, listen closely. Tonight, we make the Trojans pay.” Izuku starts, holding a wooden torch up higher, casting shadows around him and everyone in front of him.

“A fucking musical!? What bullshit goes on in the nerd’s head?” Bakugou snaps out, glaring up at the screen.

Uraraka has a pout as she hands over a few yen to Tsu, clearly losing a bet.

“Ten years of war, they've killed us slowly. But now we'll be the ones who slay,” Izuku seems to continue, the projection panning across what seems to be a mix of 1-A classmates and some hero students from other schools.

“Woah, that's trippy.” Kaminari blurts out, staring up at himself on the screen before yelping as Jirou pokes him with one of her earphone jacks.

“Think of your wives and your children. Your families wonder where you've been. They're growing old and yet you're still here.” Izuku continues, standing straighter and staring at his comrades.

“Midoriya seems to do well in the role of a leader,” Aizawa comments, glancing over at Nezu. Nezu’s whiskers twitch, a smile curling across his face and Aizawa knows they're both thinking of the same thing. Midoriya should be given an opportunity to lead a team more often.

“Do what I say and you'll see them again!” Izuku yells out, holding the torch above his head. 

“Yes sir!” The students- no they're soldiers in this mindscape- yell out, their expressions matching the determination in their captain's face.

“Aoyama will lead the charge. Kaminari will flank the guards. Kirishima will let our mates through the gates to take the whole city at large. Tokoyami will shoot any ambush attack and little Momo will stay back. Jirou, secure Helen and protect her. Sero, avenge your father, kill the brothers of Hector!” Izuku orders, hand pressed to the wooden wall beside him.

“That'd be a very strong plan.” Nezu hums curiously, wondering if the young boy can come up with a plan as good as this outside of his mindscape.

Aoyama was practically sparkling at being placed in the lead, preening under the whispered support of his classmates.

Kirishima pumped a fist in the air, grinning widely. “Hell yeah, I’d let everyone in! Manly plan Midobro!” Bakugou quickly shut him up with a hand over his mouth and a sharp glare.

Tokoyami’s feathers ruffle up in embarrassment at being given such an important job, even if that isn't actually him there. While Momo smiles at being mentioned.

Jirou grins with full teeth at being promised with protecting someone who's clearly important to the enemy side. Sero proceeds to both deflate and grin at the same time at the idea of being allowed to fight, though he does exclaim, “My dad died!?”

“Yes sir!” Aoyama, Kaminari, Kirishima, Tokoyami, Momo, Jirou and Sero within the mindscape shouts back in response to the orders given.

“Find that inner strength now. Use that well of pride. Fight through every pain now. Ask yourself inside: What do you live for? What do you try for? What do you wish for? What do you fight for?” Izuku commands.

“Now he's sewing in some encouragement, riling his troops up in preparation for the oncoming fight.” Aizawa points out, side-eying Nezu at the expression on the chimaera’s face.

It seemed to even be working in the gymnasium, the students eagerly leaning forward, even shoving the chosen students with bright laughter and sharp grins.

“What do you live for? What do you try for? What do you wish for? What do you fight for?” The soldiers, Izuku's fellow hero students, echoes back to him. Izuku's expression seems to take on a wistful look.

“Shoto~” Izuku sings out, a perfect riff coming from him, causing Jirou to sit up in shock at the sound of it. “Shoto and Eri-chan~”

A quick glance over at Shoto showed the teen looking baffled, his normally stoic demeanour broken in favour of confusion while teasing ‘ooh’s broke out in the room.

Aizawa huffed at the mention of Eri. That tracked for his Problem Child, Midoriya would move mountains, literally, if it would make her smile. If Aizawa could move mountains, he would do so to honestly.

“I fight for us, I fight for us!” Izuku continues to sing, a wide and determined smile across his features.

“What do you live for?” The soldiers call out to their captain, all getting hyped up.

“Shoto.” Izuku responds easily, walking around the edge of the room he's in.

“What do you try for?” The soldiers continue shouting out.

“Eri-Chan.” Izuku continues, hand reaching out for what seems to be a lever sticking three feet out of the wooden floor.

“What do you wish for?” The soldiers continue to chant out, seeming to ready themselves.

“I'm on my way.” Izuku answers, seemingly to himself, gripping the lever tightly.

“What do you fight for?” The soldiers all shout out in unison, weapons clutched in their grips as they stand in front of what seems to be a hidden door.

“Attack!” Izuku yells, pulling the lever. The hidden door drops outward, everyone rushing out and following the plan perfectly. The projection scans around, showing that the soldiers under Izuku's command are spilling out of a massive wooden horse.

The projection continues to pan around, showing Aoyama shouting out orders, Kirishima knocking down around 15 enemy soldiers and slamming the gates to a palace open. Momo stood beside Tokoyami on a wall, the bird headed soldier taking out the enemy from the high ground. Sero is weaving through the fight, seemingly hunting down his target while Jirou is seen leading a woman in a cloak out of the palace safely, other soldiers rallied around her to give the two protection.

“Just how elaborate is this kid’s mind?” Aizawa muttered over the rallying cries of the students watching, shaking his head as he watched the fight play out.

“It seems that the plan is working out well,” Nezu observed mildly, pulling a full tea set from seemingly midair and pouring himself a cup.

The projection pans down to Izuku climbing up the side of a wall. When he gets on top, a misty figure is seen creeping up on him before it lashes out and stabs the green haired commander through the stomach causing a yell of pain to escape the boy as he drops to his knees, gripping his stomach.

“What the hell!?” Came several startled yelps across the students watching. Aizawa simply leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he watched with a frown hidden behind his capture scarf.

“Who was that?” Izuku gasps out, removing his hand from his stomach to see himself uninjured, looking up at where the misty figure dissipates, showing he's alone atop the wall.

A bunch of students whisper amongst each other in confusion at seeing a person disappear along with Midoriya not actually being injured.

A crack of thunder echoes from the projection, the clouds rolling into a figure in the clouds before Endeavour’s voice echoes with an otherworldly boom. “A vision. Of what is to come, cannot be outrun. Can only be dealt with right here and now.”

A few students startle at the loud sound that comes from the projection while Todoroki frowns visibly at the sound of Endeavor’s voice, folding his arms across his chest. 

“Tell me how.” Izuku practically begs, stumbling to his feet as he stares up at Endeavour, ignoring the fighting that's going on below.

“I don't think you're ready.” Endeavour cuts Izuku off. “A mission. To kill someone's son, a foe who won't run. Unlike anyone you have faced before.”

“Say no more, I know that I'm ready.” Izuku responds, following a path of mist into the palace.

“I don't think you're ready.” Endeavour responds, shifting from being seen in the clouds into an eagle on a window sill inside the bedroom he led Izuku to.

Izuku enters the room, stopping dead before hesitantly walking closer at the sight of a crib in the centre of the room, eyebrows knitting together in a mix of confusion and discomfort. “It's just an infant… It's just a boy. What sort of imminent threat does he pose that I cannot avoid?”

Uncomfortable whispers swept across the students and even Aizawa frowned, though it was tucked behind his capture scarf.

“Interesting,” Nezu mused, taking a sip from the tea he had poured himself. 

“Deku would never,” Uraraka said, her voice quivering with worry. “Right?”

“This is the son of none other than Troy's very own Prince Hector. Know that he will grow from a boy to an avenger. One fueled with rage as you're consumed by age. If you don't end him now, you'll have no one left to save.” Endeavour explains, his eagle form shifting slightly as it watches Izuku with intelligent eyes.

“You can say goodbye to Shoto…” Endeavour continues, the eagle somehow smirking. “You can say goodbye to Shoto.”

Todoroki’s frown deepens at hearing his father say his name in such a mocking tone, feeling deeply uncomfortable despite the comforting hand on his shoulder.

Izuku stumbles away from the crib, dropping his sword as he stares pleadingly at the eagle. “I could raise him as my own!”

“He will burn your house and throne.” Endeavour counters.

“Or send him far away from home!” Izuku continues, legs shaking with the effort to stay standing.

“He'll find you wherever you go.” Endeavour responds, flapping his wings to fly higher to loom over the boy.

“Is there really no other choice?” Aizawa mused, tilting his head downward to hide his discomfort further in his scarf.

“It seems not,” Nezu replied. “It seems that this is a prophecy of things to come if Midoriya does not do what he is being told to do.”

Izuku lets out a choked sob “Make sure his past is never known!”

Endeavour starts circling around Izuku, “The gods will make him know.”

“I'd rather bleed for ya!” Izuku yells, losing the fight to stay standing.

“He's bringing you-” Endeavour and Izuku start to sing overtop of each other.

“Down on my knees for ya!”

“-down on your knees.”

“I'm begging please!!” Izuku cries out, kneeling below Endeavour.

“Oh, this is the will of the gods.” The god's voice echoes through the room causing Izuku to curl in on himself.

Nezu hummed beside Aizawa. “As I thought,” he said, setting down his cup of tea. “It seems this must be done to win whatever war Midoriya and the students seem to be fighting.”

“Please don't make me do this, don't make me do this…” Izuku gasps out, bowing his head, resting it atop his knees.

Uraraka, Tsu, Iida and Todoroki share looks. They know Deku saves everyone he can, but they also know that he would do anything if it meant getting home because that's just what type of hero he is.

“The blood on your hands is something you won't lose. All you can choose is whose.” Endeavour finishes what he's saying, fading away into mist, leaving Izuku knelt next to the crib, sobbing.

You could hear a pin drop in the room as everyone held their breath, waiting for the decision.

Chapter Text

Izuku picks up the baby boy, cradling him in his arms as he kneels where Endeavour had left him, staring down at the smiling baby. “I look into your eyes and I think back to the daughter of mine…” Izuku sings out softly, brushing a lock of hair out of the boy's face.

Aizawa huffed softly, a swell of warmth curling in his chest. “He really does love Eri,” he murmured to Nezu.

“You're as old as she was when I left for war.” Izuku seems to say to himself, eyes taking in everything about Kouta in his arms. “Will these actions haunt my days? Every man I've slain is the price I pay, endless pain.”

Nezu poured himself another cup of tea. “It’s a moral and ethical dilemma. This is something that the students will face, though hopefully never to this degree.”

Izuku stands, his hand moving away from baby Kouta's face to grip the knife on his belt. “Close your eyes and spare yourself the view…”

Kouda covers his face as Shoji wraps his arm around his shoulders to help cover his face. Uraraka lets out a choked sob, covering her mouth at the sight of Izuku reaching for his weapon.

Letting go of the knife’s handle, Izuku tilts his head up. “How could I hurt you?”

Cradling the baby close, Izuku starts to pace around the room. “I'm just a man, who's tryin' to go home. Even after all the years away from what I've known.”

“C’mon Midobro,” Kirishima encourages softly, tucking Mina against his side. “Make the manly choice… He always makes the manly choice…”

“I'm just a man, who's fighting for his life. Deep down I would trade the world to see my daughter and husband.” Izuku continues, placing Kouta into his crib, “I'm just a man...”

No one even thinks to tease Todoroki at Midoriya calling him his husband, too busy holding their breath in fear for what might happen. The idea that one of their own is about to kill a child too terrifying to even think of light-hearted jokes.

Izuku paces a few more times before stopping in front of the mirror, staring at his own reflection as it warps slightly to show a future version of himself. “But when does a comet become a meteor? When does a candle become a blaze? When does a man become a monster?” The future version of himself looks worn down, anger distorting his features and his eyes are glowing red, almost like Aizawa's quirk is being used.

Nezu made a note on his notepad. “We will need to present more of these ethical dilemmas to the students.”

Aizawa shook his head at the chimaera. “Not now Nezu,” he said. Aizawa is more focused on the mirror Midoriya is looking at instead of Nezu brushing off his comment. His frown deepens at the weary figure of his student that looks vastly different to the one stood in front of the mirror. Especially with his normally bright green eyes being a terrifying glowing red instead, unsure of what the sight means for what is to come but he can tell it isn't anything good.

“When does a ripple become a tidal wave? When does the reason become the blame? When does a man become a monster?” Izuku turns away from the mirror, eyes flashing red briefly. He walks back over and picks baby Kouta back up, walking out of the room and back down the top of the wall with purpose, face set in grim determination.

The soldiers voices can be heard, a haunting echo of what Izuku had just sang. "When does a comet become a meteor? When does a candle become a blaze?"

Though Izuku's voice can be heard in the middle of the soldiers singing, sounding sad. “Forgive me…”

“A decision has been made,” Nezu observes mildly, whiskers twitching lightly.

“I can see that,” Aizawa said, looking away from the screen both to not contemplate the significance of Midoriya's eye's flashing red like what was seen in the mirror and to check in on the students who were silent, some clinging to each other while others were on the edges of their seats. Anticipation laid thick in the air as they all waited.

“When does a man become a monster?” The soldiers' voices echo up from where the fighting is coming to an end down below in the courtyard.

“Forgive me…” Izuku repeats, standing in the centre of the wall, looking across his comrades. His voice cracks slightly, making it obvious that he's reluctant with his decision.

“Deku…” Uraraka whispers, tucking herself against Iida’s side, ducking her head so she doesn't have to watch.

“Midobro…” Kirishima pleads quietly, his hand a death grip on Bakugou’s shoulder while Mina hides her face against his other arm.

“When does a man become a monster?” The soldiers repeat, looking up at their captain.

“Forgive me… I'm just a man.” Izuku sighs out, holding baby Kouta up, closing his eyes and let's go. The baby drops from the top of the wall as the projection goes black before anyone sees the baby hit the floor, but everyone is aware of what just happened.

The students erupt into a cacophony of reactions. Some shriek and scream at the sight, a few let out sobs of disbelief and one (Bakugou) let out a vicious string of curses.

Aizawa looks away from the screen, even with it black and silent, he can almost hear the sound of a body hitting the ground. Whether it comes from the projection or his memories as an underground hero, he's unsure.

“Interesting,” is all Nezu murmurs, producing a thermos of coffee for Aizawa without a word.

All Might is deathly pale, unable to tear his gaze away from the black screen. He just couldn't get his mind to grasp that Young Midoriya would actually do something like this.

Chapter Text

The projection lights back up, showing a fleet of ships on the ocean. It pans down to where Izuku stands at the front of the ship in the middle of the fleet. “Six hundred men. Six hundred men under my command. With only one goal in mind.”

“Oh so we’re just supposed to move on?!” Kaminari cries from where he’s draped over Sero’s back.

“Apparently…” Sero said, voice hoarse and laden with disbelief.

The soldiers' voices echo with Izuku's voice in the next line “Make it back alive to our homeland.”

“Six hundred men, six hundred miles of open sea But the problem's not the distance…” Izuku continues, eye bags clear under his eyes as he stares out at sea.

“It's what lies in between.” Izuku finishes off, the projection flashing too fast for anyone to catch the foes Izuku will face.

The crew’s voice overlaps with Izuku's. “And UA’s waiting, UA’s waiting. My school is waiting!”

Nezu made a pleased noise in the back of his throat that could almost be called a purr. “So he needs to return to the school to break from this dream.”

“Yes but who knows what problems the Problem Child has placed in his own way,” Aizawa replied, his own voice still rough from the previous scene. He has also noticed the clear exhaustion on his student's face within the projection.

“The school is waiting!” The ship crew called out in response.

“Shoto's waiting for me. So full speed ahead, full speed ahead~!” Izuku sings out, hands resting on the wooden beam at the front of the ship, leaning forward slightly.

There was a ripple of gentle teasing from the students towards Todoroki, but not nearly as much as prior to the last scene. Todoroki still looked confused as to why Midoriya continued to reference him as his husband.

A figure is seen walking up to Izuku before a familiar voice calls out, “Captain,”

“Kacchan!” Izuku responds, turning around to look up at Bakugou from where he stops just to the right of him.

Bakugou, predictably, explodes. “THE FUCK?! I’M NO SECOND IN COMMAND TO THAT NERD!!”

Kirishima caught the blond easily, tossing him back into his seat. “Chill Bakubro, it’s just Midobro’s dream.”

“Six hundred men, Six hundred men with big mouths to feed and we've run out of supplies to eat.” Bakugou reports to Izuku, arms crossed over his chest, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.

“Curse the war, our food stores’ depleted.” The crew echoes behind them. The projection pans over, showing barrels of supplies nearly empty.

“Probably because Kiri has a massive stomach,” Kaminari chirped.

“Hey!” Kirishima squawked in offence as the rest of the class giggled at the much needed comedy.

“Six hundred men.” Bakugou repeats, staring down at Izuku.

“Six hundred men.” The crew repeats, all staring up at Izuku as they wait for their orders.

“Six hundred reasons to take what we can. So Captain, what's the plan?” Bakugou asks.

“Captain, what's the plan?” Some of the crew comes closer, asking the same question.

Izuku looks back over the ocean before looking up and noticing something. “Watch where the birds fly!” He points up at the flock of birds flying overhead of the fleet of ships.

“Watch where the birds fly?” The crew asks, all seemingly looking confused.

The students look around each other in confusion. “But what would bird watching do to help?” Iida questions, not noticing Kouda signing something.

“That's a good plan.” Aizawa hums, glancing over at Nezu. Nezu seems to be swishing his tail in excitement at how Midoriya’s brain works.

“Young Midoriya has always been good at coming up with plans on the fly.” All Might tells Aizawa, he still looks pale but he's sitting upright as he stares at the screen.

“They will lead us to land!” Izuku answers their unasked question, turning around to face everyone on the ship.

“They will lead us to land!” The crew responds, all moving around and preparing the ship to follow orders when they finally realise the plan.

“There we'll hunt for food, my second in command.” Izuku states, turning around and placing a hand on Bakugou's shoulder. “Now full speed ahead, full speed ahead!”

Bakugou sputtered in incoherent rage at being called second in command while Kirishima wrapped arms around his waist and held the raging blond in place. Mina was smiling now, though it was wobbly around edges, as she poked Bakugou’s cheek playfully.

“We're up, we're off, and away we go!” Bakugou calls out, shrugging Izuku's hand off and walking back down onto the deck.

“We're up, we're off, and away we go,” The crewmates repeat Bakugou's orders. “We're up, we're off, and away we go.”

Izuku is still standing at the front of the ship when another figure runs up to him. “Captain!”

“Uraraka!” Izuku responds, smiling wide as he turns to his friend standing to the left of him.

“Look! Look, it's me! I'm Deku’s left hand!” Uraraka exclaims excitedly at seeing herself on the screen, gripping Tsu’s arm to keep herself from floating.

“Look!” Uraraka shouts, pointing towards what seems to be land not far away in the darkness. “There in the distance, I see an island. I see a light that faintly glows. Maybe they're people lighting a fire. Maybe they'll share some food, who knows?”

“Something feels off here, I see fire but there's no smoke…” Izuku comments, looking over towards the island with a slight frown.

All Might took the cup of tea Nezu offered him. “Observant as always,” All Might said, pride evident in his tone despite his pallor.

Nezu hummed in agreement. “I wonder if he’s this observant in his day to day life…”

“Ask him about his notebooks,” All Might replied, unaware of what he had just done.

Aizawa shivers at the look in Nezu’s eyes at what All Might suggested. He may not be aware of what's in his Problem Child's notebooks, but if All Might believes that the contents will intrigue Nezu, then it's bound to cause chaos.

“I say we strike first, we don't have time to waste. So let's raid the place and-” Bakugou begins speaking before Izuku cuts him off.

“No.” Izuku turns to look at Uraraka . “Uraraka gear up, you and I'll go ahead.”

Kirishima tightens his grip on Bakugou at witnessing Midoriya brush off the explodo-boy’s suggestion. “C'mon Bakubro! You know you can't go fighting everywhere. That isn't even you, it's just Midobro’s mindscape!”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the gym, Uraraka is seen basically vibrating in her seat from excitement at how Deku trusts her to join him on the trip to the island for food.

“You and I'll go ahead!” Uraraka cheers, gathering the equipment needed for the exhibition.

“We should try to find a way no one ends up dead,” Izuku continues, turning to look at Bakugou.

“We don't know what's ahead.” Bakugou counters, eyebrows furrowing in anger.

Bakugou's expression echo's the expression the version of him has in the projection, though the anger is for two different reasons.

“Give me 'til sunrise, and if we don't return, then six hundred men can make this whole place burn.” Izuku tells Bakugou, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Now full speed ahead. Full speed ahead!” He shouts, walking away from Bakugou, not seeing him face palming. “Full speed ahead!”

“Fucking idiot,” Bakugou grumbled as Kirishima shoved him back into his seat. “He should be listening to me!”

Kirishima chuckled, shaking his head. “I’m sure he did take your thoughts into consideration Bakubro.”

“Yeah, he just decided to ignore it!” Kaminari chirped.

“Shut it Sparky!” The blond snapped.

“We're up, we're off, and away we go,” The crew sings out, changing the ships direction to the island ahead. “We're up, we're off, and away we go!”

“Full speed ahead~!” Izuku continues to sing, strapping his sword to his belt.

Some of the students watching start to sing along, getting into the light-hearted music. They mainly did this to distract themselves from what happened in the last song.

“We're up, we're off, and away we go!” The crew continues to sing, some people, it seems to be mostly Kirishima, Shoji, Sato and Kouda, sitting down to row.

“We're up, we're off, and a-” Izuku cuts himself off as his crew shouts out.

“Full speed ahead!” The projection goes black again, leaving everyone wondering what'll happen next. Aizawa rests his hand on his jaw, wondering just what Uraraka and Midoriya will encounter on the island.

Chapter Text

The projection lights back up showing Uraraka and Izuku trekking through wildlife on an island before Uraraka speaks up. “You can relax, my friend.”

Everyone is in awe at the view of wildlife, the bright colours of the bushes, trees and flowers surrounding Uraraka and Midoriya. The remaining members of the Deku Squad also noticed that Deku looks tense, just like the projection of Uraraka had stated.

Confusion on his features, Izuku pauses to look at Uraraka. “Huh?”

“I can tell you're getting nervous, so do yourself a service and try to relax, my friend.” Uraraka continues, wrapping her arms around Izuku's shoulders.

“I'm fine, Uraraka.” Izuku shrugs off Uraraka's grip, continuing to walk forwards.

“Oh Deku,” Uraraka sighed. “He really does need to relax more…”

Iida’s hand chopped through the air. “I agree, we need to plan something for him after this is all over.”

“Kero, maybe a spa day,” Tsu said, touching one finger to her chin thoughtfully.

“Think of all that we have been through. We'll survive what we get into, I know that you're tired of the war and bloodshed. Tell me, is this how we're supposed to live?” Uraraka questions, running forward to walk backwards in front of Izuku, mentioning to Izuku gripping his sword. “Look at how you grip your sword, enough said. Why should we take when we could give?”

“What a great mindset to have!” All Might states, beaming widely at Uraraka.

Aizawa lets out a heavy sigh, shaking his head. “It’s a good mindset for heroes to have. But it's not the mindset of a soldier coming out of a war.”

“Quite right, Aizawa-Kun.” Nezu chirps, sipping at his fresh cup of tea.

“You could show a person that you trust them, When you stop and lower your guard. Here we have a chance for some adjustment. Give it a try, it's not that hard!” Uraraka continues, grabbing Izuku's hands and pulling him into a run through the forest and passing a river.

“I'm telling you! This life is amazing when you greet it with open arms. Whatever we face, we'll be fine if we're leading from the heart.No matter the place, we can light up the world, here's how to start.” Uraraka sings, her arms open wide as she spins in a circle in front of Izuku. “Greet the world with open arms. Greet the world with open arms!”

Light teasing erupted from the so-called Dekusquad, poking Uraraka about her optimistic and bright attitude, much to the blushing girl’s chagrin.

“Course Cheeks thinks like that,” Bakugou groused from his spot, slumped in his chair.

“Welcome!” Multiple voices call out small figures surrounding Izuku and Uraraka.

“Stay back!” Izuku shouts, drawing his sword and pointing it at the little figures surrounding them.

“Stay back.” The Lotus eaters call out to each other, scuttling back from the blade. “Stay back.” A couple of them whisper out. 

“Oh my god look at how adorable they are!” Mina squeals out, pressing her hands into her cheeks. Hagakure’s uniform moves around excitedly, showing her agreement to Mina's exclamation.

Momo tilts her head curiously. “They look a bit like a mythical creature.”

“My friend, greet the world with open arms…” Uraraka tells Izuku softly, resting her hand on the tense arm holding his sword.

“We're only here for food,” Izuku states, lowering the sword slightly at Uraraka's touch.

Nezu grins slightly at seeing Izuku in the projection following along with what his left hand suggests. The Dekusquad continues to tease Uraraka.

“Food!” The lotus eaters call out. “Food, ah.”

“Six hundred friends are waiting for us to show our faces.” Izuku continues, looking around at the Lotus eaters.

“Food!” The Lotus eaters call out, moving in closer to the duo.

“Stay back, I'm warning you!” Izuku demands, holding his sword up again and a couple of the lotus eaters that come too close.

“Food~” The creatures say again, one in the background miming eating sounds. “Omnomnom!”

Mina and Hagakure let out more squeals, gushing about how they want their own little creatures. “The little eating sounds they make!” Mina exclaims, gripping what seems to be Hagakure’s hands, bouncing in her seat.

“If we don't get back safely, my men will turn this place into blazes,” Izuku warns, continuing to look around. 

“Here you go!” The lotus eaters exclaim, holding up a basket of what seems to be fruit.

Aizawa's eyebrows furrow slightly as a frown tugs at his lips. “It can't be that easy…” 

“Maybe it just is sometimes?” All Might responds before deflating in his seat at the glare Aizawa sends his way.

“See?” Uraraka calls out, pushing forward to lift the basket up with a wide smile, turning to Izuku. “This life is amazing when you greet it with open arms. Whatever we face, we'll be fine if we're leading from the heart. No matter the place, we can light up the world, here's how to start.”

Izuku holds up one of the fruits, studying it while Uraraka continues to sing. “Greet the world with open arms. Greet the world with open arms”

“It seems to be fine…” All Might tries again, shrinking back under Aizawa’s dark look once more. Nezu remained silent, studying the screen interestedly, tail swaying behind him.

Izuku pushes the fruit away from Uraraka's mouth just before she takes a bite. “My friend, I wish that I could say that I agree. But look at the way this fruit is glowing and filled with glowing seeds,” Izuku cracks open the fruit he's holding to show the seeds are glowing. “It took me a while to notice just what kind of fruit they eat. It's a lotus, it controls your mind and never lets you free… That's what we'd get with open arms...”

“See,” Aizawa deadpanned towards his colleagues. All Might seems to shrink further into his seat.

“Oh my god,” Uraraka slaps a hand to her forehead. “I totally would try to accidentally eat something like that wouldn’t I?” She whines mournfully while her friends giggle at her dramatics.

Uraraka drops down to her knees in front of the lotus eaters. “Lotus eaters, I'd like to show my friend that kindness is brave. Could you tell me where there's other food to eat?”

“The cave!” The lotus eaters call out, one of them muttering, ”scary cave.”

“I can't have been the only one to have heard that, right!?” Jirou asks, looking around at her classmates, seeing everyone's confused expressions. “The Lotus Eaters literally just said that the cave is scary!”

“A cave!” Uraraka shouts, standing up and bouncing on her heels slightly, “You're saying there's a cave where we could feast? And where do we sail to find this food-filled cave?”

The lotus eaters point in a specific direction. “East!” Another one helpfully responds. “That way.”

Jirou huffed, folding her arms. “I have a bad feeling about this…”

“Oh it’ll be fine,” Kaminari waved a hand, dodging the earphone jack that poked in his direction with a laugh.

“Thank you!” Uraraka states, smiling down at the lotus eaters.

“Welcome!” They say, one of the lotus eaters climbing up onto Izuku's shoulder, holding a lotus.

Uraraka turns back to Izuku, smiling at him softly. “This life is amazing when you greet it with open arms. I see in your face, there is so much guilt inside your heart.” She walks closer to Izuku. “So why not replace it and light up the world, here's how to start… Greet the world with open arms, Greet the world with open arms.”

Everyone goes silent again, bowing their heads in respect to the infant that Izuku had to kill. “At least he's feeling guilty…” Uraraka whimpers out quietly, wrapping an arm around Tsu's.

Izuku sighs softly, putting his sword away. “Greet the world with open arms…”

“You can relax, my friend.” Uraraka tells Izuku, turning around to make her way back to the ship, trusting Izuku to follow behind.

Everyone whispers to each other, wondering what'll happen next. The Dekusquad hype Uraraka up for comforting Deku during a time he's struggling.

“Something is bound to go wrong.” Aizawa tells Nezu quietly, watching the projection of Uraraka walking back to the ship as Midoriya stands there, staring down at the ground.

Chapter Text

The music becomes distorted as the projection lights up in a pinkish purple shade, time slowing down around Izuku in the mindscape.

“Have you forgotten the lessons I taught you?” A voice calls out from within the mindscape.

All Might freezes in his seat, eyes widening at the familiar voice. “It can't be..” He breathes out, gripping his seat tightly.

“Nana!” Izuku shouts, looking around and notices an owl peering down at him.

All Might barely slammed his handkerchief over his mouth in time to catch the blood he coughed up in surprise. He felt Aizawa’s curious gaze on him, but he ignored it in favour of looking at Nezu with a concerned expression.

Nezu didn’t say anything, simply grinned as his tail flicked faster.

“Have you forgotten to turn off your heart? This is not you. I see you changing from how I've designed you.” The owl shifts into a tall woman in a hero costume, black hair half up in a bun. “Have you forgotten your purpose? Let me remind you.”

Shimura Nana. The 7th user of One for All. She places her hand on Izuku's forehead, the pinkish purple haze taking over the screen as it seems to play a memory. “Goddess of wisdom, master of war! My life has one mission, create the greatest warrior.”

“Who is that?” Uraraka wondered curiously.

“Dunno,” Mina replied, leaning forward eagerly. “But she’s really pretty!” From the rapid movement of Hagakure’s uniform everyone knew she was nodding in enthusiastic agreement.

The memory shows a young Izuku, Uraraka and Bakugou in front of a drawing of a boar. “I had a challenge, a test of skill! A magic boar only the best could kill.”

Izuku, Uraraka and Bakugou hold ropes as they circle around the boar. “One day a boy came for the thrill. A boy whose mind rivalled the boar's own will~”

“Let's go!” Young Izuku calls out to his friends, throwing the rope over the boar as they work to take it down.

Aizawa watched as something complicated crossed All Might’s face, something tinged with sorrow and love, pride and grief. He had many questions, but that could wait for the moment. All Might had yet to remove his eyes from the woman on the screen.

“Maybe one day he'll follow me, and we'll make a greater tomorrow, then they'll see I know he'll change the world 'cause he is a warrior of the mind!” Nana sings, her figure is now an owl on a tree watching Izuku's plan come together as he successfully takes down the giant boar with Uraraka and Bakugou's help. “Maybe one day I'll reach him And we can build his skills as I teach him. If there's a problem, he'll have the answer, he is a warrior of the mind!”

“Fuck yeah!” Bakugou shouts, slamming his fist into his palm, light explosions going off in his hand.

Iida chops his arm as he speaks. “Of course Midoriya would be able to do that, you seemed to help a lot Uraraka.” Uraraka's cheeks flush at the praise from her friend, the blush deepening as Tsu agrees with Iida.

The memory shifts to show the young Izuku walking through a crop of trees, looking around. “Show yourself… I know you're watching me, show yourself.”

Izuku gets no response before a mischievous expression appears on his face as he stands still. “I can see you~”

Aizawa let out a snort. “Oldest trick in the book.” He states, tucking his proud smirk into his capture scarf. All Might seems to be beaming again, a look of longing being hidden by the pride he feels for his successor.

Nana shifts from an owl to human as she stands taller than izuku. “How can you see through my spell?”

“Haha! I was lying and you fell for my bluff! Haha, haha.” Izuku laughs out, bouncing on his heels as he stares up at Nana with a wide grin.

The students erupt into laughter at Midoriya's laugh, leaning over each other as they gasp for breath.

“Well done, enlighten me, what's your name?” Nana requests, staring down at Izuku.

“You first, and maybe I'll do the same.” Izuku answers, hopping up onto a fallen tree so he can stand eye to eye with Nana.

“Nice try, but two can play this game.” Nana smirks down at Izuku, head tilting to the side in an owl-like manner.

All Might was hit by a rush of fond deja vu at Nana’s words and behaviour.

“Nah, don't be modest, I know you're a goddess. So let's be honest You are Nana!” Izuku calls out, holding up a stick and pretending it's a sword.

“Nana~” the mindscape seems to echo with some form of power, the pinkish purple tinge to the projection becoming stronger.

All Night's breath catches as he recognises that the mindscape has adjusted for the vestige being shown, though no one else seems to notice.

“Ah, so this ‘Nana’ is being used as the personification of the goddess Athena.” Nezu states, picking up his notebook to add his observations. “Which means that Endeavour was the personification of Zeus, if that thunder we heard before he started speaking is anything to go off of.”

“I just wonder how the problem child seems to know this woman. She seems like a pro hero, but I don't recognise her.” Aizawa responds to Nezu, side-eying All Might as the man seems to spew out more blood.

“Badass in the arena! Unmatched, witty, and queen of the best strategies we've seen!” Izuku continues, swinging the stick around.

Nana catches the stick and holds it up, Izuku follows along as he hasn't let it go. “If you're looking for a mentor, I'll make sure your time's well spent.”

The Dekusquad glare over at Bakugou at hearing Deku swear, knowing that he learnt it from the blonde. All Might doesn't notice the student's reactions, more caught up in fond memories of when Shimura Nana had trained him when he was Young Midoriya's age.

Izuku lands on the grassy floor, smiling wide. “Sounds like a plan! Goddess and man! Bestest of friends!” He holds his hand up for a high five.

“We'll see where it ends.” Nana smirks, walking past Izuku.

Izuku pouts, lowering his hand, “Okay..”

“Classic Deku! Always wanting to be friends with everyone.” Uraraka states, giggling slightly at Deku's expression up on the screen.

The other students let out giggles and snickers at seeing the high five being rejected. “Don't worry Mido! You have us!” Kaminari shouts, holding his hand up for a high five that Kirishima responds to enthusiastically.

Aizawa snorts, covering his mouth slightly at how disappointed the Problem Child looks. All Might let's out a soft sigh, smiling softly, “Nana and Young Midoriya would've got along well.” He whispers to himself.

“Maybe one day they'll follow me and we'll-” Nana starts to sing, Izuku joining in as he walks beside Nana.

“Make a greater tomorrow, then they'll see I know we'll change the world 'cause we are the warriors of the mind!” The projection cuts to a montage of Nana training Izuku how to fight while the two sing together. “Maybe one day we'll reach them And we can build their skills as we teach them. If there's a problem, we'll have the answer. We are the warriors of the mind~!”

Everyone rushes to take notes on the way the woman is teaching Midoriya how to fight with weapons, feeling Aizawa's heavy stare on them.

Nezu hums, looking down at his notebook in his lap, making some more notes. “I wonder if Midoriya has these skills himself or if this is just within his mindscape.”

The projection switches to Nana standing in front of the present day Izuku, gripping his wrist and holding it up. “I still intend to make sure you don't fall behind. Don't forget that you're a warrior of a very special kind. You are a warrior of the mind~”

Nana lets go of Izuku's wrist and fades away, the pinkish purple tinge to the screen following it. “Don't disappoint me…”

All Might frowns sadly at seeing Nana disappear. While Aizawa frowns in slight anger. “I don't like how she spoke to the Problem Child at the end there.” 

The projection seems to go black before pausing. “Due to this one seemingly being longer than the other students, I believe it would be best for breaks to be taken so everyone can talk amongst each other about what has happened so far.” The person in control of the projection states. “Not to worry, you won't miss anything happening within Midoriya Izuku's mindscape as it is just travelling across the sea towards the cave those creatures mentioned."

Chapter Text

The doors to the gym opened after that announcement and Shinsou padded in, rubbing his eyes. “‘S it over?”

“Just a short break before we continue, Shinsou.” Aizawa tells him. “We'll catch you up to speed on what has happened so far. Though we have realised that the only way for the Problem Child to break out is if he returns to UA within his mindscape.”

Shinsou has a confused expression, looking up at his mentor. “Huh. I thought he'd have no problems breaking out, since my quirk hasn't worked on him since the sports festival.”

All Might is silent for a moment, opening and closing his mouth a few times before he finally speaks up. “I… I believe the quirk is being affected by Young Midoriya's, making him go through what's happening, instead of it simply not working like with your quirk, Young Shinsou.”

Mina bounces in her seat. “Anyway, we should tell Shinsou about what he missed!” Many of the students nod their heads, a few verbally agreeing.

“Ok, ok ok,” Kaminari leaned forward, bracing his hands on the back of the chair in front of him. “So can we talk about the opening? I mean, who knew Midobro could sing!”

Jirou snorted. “If I'd known Midoriya could sing, I would’ve had him on vocals at the Cultural Fest. I’m gonna kick his ass after this.”

“What about the giant horse! And how he had us all casted as his comrades?! So cool!” Kaminari grinned.

“I noticed that there were a few students from other hero schools too, Kero. Though it seemed like a select few of our classmates that were given important roles within the war.” Tsu speaks up, her finger resting on the side of her lips.

“So let me get this straight,” Shinsou lowered himself into a chair near Tokoyami. “There’s a war in Midoriya’s head and he’s… singing.”

Bakugou snorted. “It’s a fucking musical apparently Eyebags,” he informed drily.

“Oui, c'est magnifique!” Aoyama exclaims, smiling wide, “Monsieur Midoriya had me as the leader!”

“A leader, Twinkle Toes,” Bakugou reminded Aoyama with a roll of his eyes. “Not the leader. The damn nerd is the fucking leader.”

Nezu sits up in his seat, flipping through the pages in his notebook. “Midoriya had a very good plan in place for this war. It seemed like he had his comrades sneak in within the dead of night.”

Aizawa nodded in agreement. “A stealth infiltration like that and executed well? It shows remarkable forethought and planning.”

All Might smiles proudly. “Young Midoriya has always had very detailed and thought out plans, that's what makes him such a great hero and commander.”

“He’s still the moron who ran through the woods with two broken arms after fighting a villain,” Bakugou called.

“Hey did we ever figure out who he fought?” Sero piped up curiously.

Jirou shoved his head aside. “Not the point.”

Todoroki cuts in. “Endeavour is still a dick, even in Midoriya's mindscape.”

Startled laughter rippled across the Dekusquad at the blunt statement. The other students are unsure of how to react to Todoroki’s hatred for his father.

“He seemed to be playing an almost prophetic role,” Nezu muses. “Taking the place of Zeus if I’m correct about the setting here.”

“Still a dick, especially with what he forced Midoriya to do.” Todoroki responds to Nezu, crossing his arms and glowering at the floor.

The class grew quiet while Shinsou frowned. “What’d he make Midoriya do?”

Uraraka leans into Tsu's side, covering her face while Iida seems to go still. Todoroki seems to have frost travelling up his side while the rest of the class seem to exchange uncomfortable glances.

Nezu cleared his throat. “Endeavor gave Midoriya a moral and ethical dilemma,” he says, looking over the students. Shinsou looks confused at the heavy atmosphere within the room.

“The problem child had to choose between the death of his husband and daughter or the life of his enemy's infant.” Aizawa states bluntly, frowning into his capture weapon. Shinsou seems to startle at this, eyes widening as he sits up straight in his seat.

“Correct you are Aizawa-kun,” Nezu squeaked, tail flicking. “It was a lose-lose scenario, something you will all come across in your careers are heroes. Though hopefully not to this extent. The child, had Midoriya not killed him, would have grown up to murder Midoriya’s husband and daughter. So think for a moment, what would you choose?”

“Wait wait wait!” Shinsou shouts. “Husband and daughter?” He looks at everyone confused. The students let out giggles, though they're not happy due to the memory of the infant.

“We'll get to that in a moment, Young Shinsou,” All Might tells the tired student, leaning back in his seat heavily.

“Okay…” Shinsou breathes heavily. “Okay. So what did Midoriya do about the dilemma?”

“Why, he chose his family of course,” Nezu said. “He is known to have strong ties to those he loves after all.”

Quiet settled over the room for a moment after that, letting Shinsou digest the information, frowning heavily. “But… How did he do it? I'm aware he killed the infant… But how did he kill it?”

Nezu hummed. “Dropped him off a wall. He couldn’t bring himself to stab the child and instead let terminal velocity and gravity do the work.”

Shinsou lets out a surprised laugh. Though the laugh was more out of shock than amusement. “What the fuck.”

“That’s what we all said,” Bakugou grunted, folding his arms.

Kaminari perks up, “yeah! And it just cut away to everyone on a ship! Like what the fuck man! Mido had just killed a baby and now we're just sailing away like nothing fucking happened!”

“It was total whiplash,” Kirishima agreed, shaking his head.

“But can we note how Midoriya made Bakugou his second in command?” Sero said teasingly, steering the class away from the previous heavy topic easily.

“And Uraraka was the left hand, Kero!” Tsu cuts in, ignoring Bakugou's renewed anger at the reminder of the position he was given within the mindscape.

Shinsou snorted, shoving a hand through his hair. “Honestly, that makes sense,” he said, ignoring the literal explosion that occurred two seats away at his words.

Mina bounces in her seat. “But the way Uraraka and Mido interacted when they got to that island was so friendship goals!”

“Yeah!” Hagakure squealed, shaking Uraraka excitedly. “The way she totally just chilled Midoriya out with an impassioned speech, or well, song? So cool!”

Jirou frowns slightly. “I didn't like how those Lotus Eaters were talking about the cave they directed Midoriya to.”

Shinsou looks confused. “I'm sorry. Lotus eaters? Cave?”

Tokoyami chimed in for the first time, folding his arms. “The sunshine entered the island and met creatures known as Lotus Eaters,” he intoned. “They carry a shadow that forebodes darkness for those going to the cave.”

“Deku totally saved my butt when he stopped me from eating one of the Lotus fruits.” Uraraka states, crossing her arms with a pout.

Mina giggles. “You even said yourself that you totally would eat that fruit though!”

Uraraka points at Mina threateningly, “that's besides the point!”

Shinsou holds his arms up, “girls! Can we get back on track? What happened after the cave was mentioned?”

“Well it cut to like a flashback or something?” Kaminari frowned.

“It was a goddess,” Nezu states, glancing at All Might freezing in his seat. “A woman called Nana, seemingly the personification of the goddess Athena.”

“She was like, so pretty!” Hagakure chirped excitedly. 

Aizawa frowns in annoyance. “I’m still not sure who she is- or was- or how the Problem Child knows her.”

All Might coughs slightly. “Shimura Nana. Her quirk was Float. She was my mentor before she… before she died. She was a pro hero. I've told Young Midoriya about her a lot, that's probably why she's within the mindscape.”

The girls of the class cooed delightedly. “Awwwh Deku, that’s so sweet of you,” Uraraka said, putting a hand on her heart. “Including your mentor’s mentor.”

Mina gasped. “Grand Mentor! Like Grandma!”

Aizawa's frown becomes stronger. “I didn't like how demanding she was at the end.” Nezu just lets out a soft hum, looking through the notebook, not speaking up about what he knows.

“My master was… fierce,” All Might said slowly, something nostalgic in his tone. “She pushed me to work harder, be better… This must be Young Midoriya’s interpretation.”

Aizawa glares at All Might, crossing his arms silently . Shinsou nods slowly. “Okay… can we circle back to the husband and daughter thing now that I'm all caught up?”

The Dekusquad bursts into a fit of giggles as Aizawa smirks in slight amusement. Todoroki seems to be flushed and smoking though with a look of confusion across his features.

“I still don’t understand it either,” Todoroki said. Uraraka leans over and whispers something to Todoroki, a mischievous grin on her face. Seconds later she was jumping back as Todoroki’s left side erupted into flames.

Those nearby scrambled back as Todoroki used his right hand to try and pat out the flames, eyes trained on the floor to hide his embarrassment.

Aizawa hides a fond smile within his capture scarf. “It seems the Problem Child views Eri as his daughter within the mindscape. Kept referring to her as such. As for the husband, well…” Aizawa glances over at the still burning Todoroki, literally burning. He quickly uses Erasure to stop the flames.

“Thank you,” Todoroki whispered, still not looking up from the ground.

Aizawa continues speaking. “Midoriya has been fond of Eri since he saved her. So I'm not surprised that the fondness was transferred to his mindscape.”

All Might hummed in agreement. “It is quite sweet how Young Midoriya dotes on her.”

“Oh I noticed that too!” Mina grinned. “He really loves Eri huh?”

“And Todoroki,” Hagakure whispers out teasingly. Though it was loud enough to be heard by everyone.

Aizawa flared Erasure in Todoroki’s direction before the poor kid could ignite again, much to All Might’s snickering amusement.

Uraraka giggles, clapping her hands. “To be honest, Deku-Kun has been gushing about Todoroki-Kun for months! So I'm not surprised.”

“Ever since the Sports Festival, kero,” Tsu croaked in agreement, setting off another round of laughter from the class.

Iida pats Todoroki on the shoulder consolingly when the poor boy lets out a mix between a wheeze and a groan, sinking in his chair and hiding his face in his hands.

Shinsou just looks baffled by what's going on around him, looking around at everyone with wide eyes. A heavy sigh leaves him as he deflates into his seat. “Alright.. okay. Midoriya is in love with Todoroki and adores Eri. Can we continue now? Or do we have to continue waiting. I'm pretty sure I'm up to speed on everything now.”

Nezu claps his hands(? Paws? No one is quite sure). “Good idea Young Shinsou, we have much more to cover it seems! Is everyone ready?”

At a resounding cheer of ‘yes, Sensei!’ the Commission worker nodded and touched Midoriya’s forehead lightly. Colour flickered on the screen and a new scene melted into view.

Chapter Text

The person in control of projecting the mindscape looks around at the students and teachers as they settle into their seats before looking towards the screen again. “It seems Midoriya is at the Cave now…”

The projection is still dark, causing everyone to whisper in confusion. Everyone goes silent when the sound of sheep is heard within the darkness before a whizzing sound goes past and a sheep lets out a noise of pain.

“Over here!” Izuku calls out, walking forward, the torch lighting up the projection, casting the cave in an eerie red, the whizzing noise seemed to be an arrow, if the bow in Izuku's hand seems to show anything.

Jirou shivered at the lighting. “I still have a bad feeling about this cave,” she murmured, Tokoyami nodding sagely beside her.

“There is a darkness that makes even us night dwellers uneasy,” Tokoyami said gravely.

Uraraka is seen walking up to the left of Izuku, arms out wide open as she looks around. “Look at all this food! Look at all these sheep! I can't believe this cave has all this for us to keep!”

Bakugou seems to walk up to Izuku's right, arms crossed over his chest. “I've gotta hand it to you both, this is quite the treat. There are enough sheep here to feed the entire fleet."

Nezu hums curiously at the placement of Uraraka and Bakugou. Tilting his head slightly at the sight.

“What have you noticed, Nezu?” Aizawa asks, turning to look at the principal.

Nezu taps a claw onto his closed notebook. “It's just curious. Uraraka is on Midoriya's left side. Closest to his heart. Also, the way she has her arms wide open, showing she's soft hearted and open.”

Aizawa nods at Nezu, realisation crossing his features. “Whilst Bakugou is on Midoriya's right side. The right hand is where you usually hold a weapon. Bakugou is also stood with his arms crossed, showing he's cautious and closed off.”

Nezu let's out another hum. “Yes. It is interesting.”

A frown seems to be on Izuku's face as he places the bow on his back, cautiously walking forward, “It's almost too perfect, too good to be true. Why would the lotus eaters pass up on all this food?”

Nezu’s whiskers twitched, a knowing glint in his eyes. “His intuition is strong, this is something we should nurture.”

Aizawa nodded in agreement. “Every hero develops this gut instinct to know when something is wrong,” he murmurs lowly, folding his arms and slouching more comfortably in his seat.

“Who are you?” A voice booms from the shadows, thudding footsteps coming closer.

“Hey there! We're just travellers,” Izuku calls out, stepping forwards further into the cave. “We come in peace.”

“You killed my sheep. My favourite sheep.” The light of the torches casts an eerie red over the figure, which is now clear to see is Shigiraki, though he seems to only have one eye. He's at least 20 feet taller than the crew, holding up the sheep that was just killed.

Bakugou sneers at the sight of Shigaraki, the small explosions popping in his palms the only indication that he was anxious. The rest of the class flinched away from the sight of the villain who had been hunting them since their first days of school.

Aizawa instinctively gripped his capture scarf with one hand, eyes darting around the room, checking to make sure that villains hadn’t infiltrated the exercise.

“What gives you the right to deal a pain so deep? Don't you know that pain you sow is pain you reap?” Shigiraki reaches down and grabs Izuku, holding him high up in the air causing everyone to freeze. “Time to drink your blood over where you stand. Your life now is in my hand. Before I'm done, you will learn that it's not so fun to take. You came to my home to steal, but now you'll become my meal. A trade you see? Take from you, like you took from me.”

Nezu opens his notebook and jots down a few notes, his cup of tea left abandoned. “It seems like quirks are nonexistent within Midoriya's mindscape.” All Might has gone pale again as he shares a look of concern with Aizawa, both mentally thankful that Izuku hasn't disintegrated, though Aizawa is curious as to why Midoriya’s mindscape doesn't have any quirks when the other student's mindscapes did.

A few of the students yelp in fear seeing Izuku being held by Shigiraki, half expecting him to be disintegrated or dropped. 

Izuku holds his hands up, looking calm even in the grip of the cyclops-Shigiraki. “There's been a misunderstanding, we never came here to steal! But now that I see we've done some damage, maybe you and I can make a deal!”

Izuku reaches over his shoulder, grabbing a flask from his back. “I'll give you our finest treasure, so long as we leave alive! You can keep the world's best tasting wine!”

“Wine?” Shigiraki asks, bringing Izuku closer.

Izuku holds up the flask, out of sight from Shigaraki as he seems to put something into it, though it's difficult to see. “Have a drink! One sip and you'll understand, the power that's in your hands! A wine so fresh you'd never wanna eat human flesh again. Then we shall be on our way. No bloodshed in here today. A trade you see? A gift from you and a gift from me!” Izuku's eyes dart to the Lotus eaters clinging to his shoulder, a spark in his eyes and a smirk pulling at his lips before he drops the look.

Aizawa tightens his grip on his capture scarf as he mutters to himself, “what's your plan, Problem Child?” Though Aizawa doesn't notice the glint in Nezu's eye as the principal notices Midoriya putting something into the wine.

Shigaraki opens his mouth as Izuku pours the wine into Shigiraki’s mouth. “Ahh..” Shigaraki sighs out, putting Izuku down and the captain steps back a bit. “I'd like to thank you.. Stranger, what's your name?”

There are relieved sighs from the students in the room as Midoriya is released. Aizawa though looks suspicious, years of underground training screaming that this was likely a trap.

“My name is Nobody, Nobody, Nobody~” Izuku sings out, looking up at the Cyclops.

Aizawa is still tense from his suspicions though a smirk does tug at his lips at Midoriya's response. “Smart kid, not giving away his name.”

Nezu chirps in response, “Indeed!” He turns to the students, “This is why heroes have a moniker, so that the villains are unaware of their real names so as to keep their friends and family safe!”

“Nobody… For your gift I've one to reply…” Shigiraki states, bending down so he's face to face with Izuku.

Izuku bows to the Cyclops with a smile, “I'm so glad we see eye to eye…” Izuku turns around and runs towards Bakugou and Uraraka, holding his thumbs up.

“Yes… You shall be the final man to... die.” Shigiraki states, standing up to his full height.

Izuku stumbles to a stop, looking towards the Cyclops with wide eyes. “What…?”

Nezu had that sparkle in his eye that sent shivers down Aizawa’s spine. “Clever plan, trying to avoid bloodshed. I rather think that, if Shigaraki was mentally stable it may have worked,” he observed, tail swishing thoughtfully.

The students have all gone pale, all in disbelief just like Midoriya seems to be on the screen.

“Watch out!” Izuku's voice rings out when the Cyclops brings his fist down to the ground.

Mina lets out a shriek of fear at the loud sound, jumping in her seat as she grips at Kirishima's arm. Bakugou lets off small pops of explosions in his hands while a few other students whimper in worry and fear. They're too scared to see what'll happen next.

Chapter Text

“My brothers! The rest of our fleet, they wait at the beach and if we're defeated they're good as dead. Straight ahead! That is who we're fighting!” Izuku commands, pulling his sword out as the mindscape seems to echo out “Shi-ga-ra-ki.”

Bakugou grinned, wide and feral. “Fuck yeah, we’re fighting him!” 

Kirishima pumped a fist into the air. “We can take him! We’ve faced worse!”

Jirou hummed, still rattled from the loud noise the last scene ended with. “I don’t know guys… Who all’s with Midoriya right now?”

“No backup! No chance for support, so draw out your swords! Our foe must be thwarted right here and now, show me how great is your will to survive!!” Izuku yells, rallying the group of people around him. 

The group seems to consist of Izuku, Bakugou, Uraraka, Mineta, Aoyama, Tokoyami, Jirou, Shouji, Ojirou, Kaminari, Momo, Iida and Tsu.

Bakugou , Uraraka, Aoyama, Tokoyami , Shouji, Ojirou, Kaminari, Momo, Tsu, Jirou and Iida all sit up straight in their seats as they see themselves on the screen, though Mineta whimpers and sinks into his seat in fear when he sees himself there also.

Aizawa leans forward as he stares at the screen. “That's a strong group of fighters the Problem Child has with him.” He places his hand on his jaw, narrowing his eyes slightly.

“Six hundred lives at stake! It's just one life to take and when we kill him then our journey's over!” Izuku yells out, manoeuvring his comrades swiftly, “No dying on me now! Defeat is not allowed! We must live through this day so-”

The soldiers' voices echo with Izuku's at the next line, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

All Might swallowed nervously. “He seems to have learned his lesson…” he said. 

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Aizawa rebutted, shaking his head. “Problem Child really does want to save everyone.”

Izuku is seen attacking the Cyclops while shouting orders. “Surround him!”

Soldiers echo back, showing they heard the order as they start circling around the cyclops-Shigiraki’s ankles, “Surround him!”

“Attack from behind! Keep distance in mind and stay in his blind spot and strike his heels!” Izuku continues, slashing out at the Cyclops's ankles before darting away again.

“Strike the heels!” The soldiers shout back, repeating what Izuku had done, slashing at the heels and retreating to be out of reach.

“Another clever plan!” Nezu squeaked, whiskers flicking. “It seems that Midoriya-kun’s analysis skills also apply to battle strategy, something we haven’t taught the students yet.”

All Might perked up at that, almost glowing with pride. “He is a very clever young man,” he agreed with a smile.

“Show him that we're deadly!” Izuku yells, the mindscape echoing “Shi-ga-ra-ki.” Again, though it seems that it's not something anyone within the mindscape can hear and it's only something everyone watching can hear.

“Exhaust him!” Izuku shouts, swiftly darting around, narrowly dodging a fist that comes down.

“Exhaust him!” The Soldiers shout out in agreement.

“Don't let him get close! He's strong but he's slow! He can't land a blow if we're out of reach! Find a breach! Stand up and fight for your lives!” Izuku shouts.

A fight breaks out, all the soldiers following Izuku's orders as they all swiftly attack the Cyclops, singing in unison, "Six hundred lives at stake! It's just one life to take! And when we kill him then our journey's over!”

“Push forward!” Izuku bellows above the singing as he climbs up the rocky wall and jumps across, slashing down the Cyclops’s back with his sword. Uraraka is seen standing to the side, away from the fighting with a frown.

In the back, Shigiraki is seen reaching into the darkness, though no one notices this action.

Uraraka mirrored her on-screen expression. “Why am I standing to the side?” She murmured. “I’d definitely be right by Deku’s side…”

Tsu croaked quietly and placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

Nezu turns to Uraraka, his whiskers flicking slightly. “You seem to be standing to the side because, in Midoriya's mindscape, you seem to want to solve conflict without any blood being shed.”

“It is an admirable trait, young Uraraka,” All Might added. “You are his voice of reason, at least that’s how it seems.”

Nezu nods at All Might's analysis. “Indeed. Whilst Bakugou seems to personify Midoriya's bloodlust and desire for violence.”

“Fuck yeah I do,” Bakugou snapped, a vicious grin crossing his face.

“No dying on us now! Defeat is not allowed! We must live through this day so fight, fight, fight!” The soldiers yell while Izuku lands on the ground just behind Uraraka before a loud thud and squish is heard. The projection is on Izuku's face, eyes wide in horror as he seems to stare down at something.

Aizawa instinctively leans back in his seat, becoming deathly pale at the sight. Nezu comfortingly pats him on the knee. The underground hero is intimately familiar with that expression, he wore that on his own face during his second year at UA, when he witnessed Oboro die in front of him.

The projection pans to what's in front of Izuku. “Captain…” Uraraka chokes out. The gore of her flattened by the Cyclops is almost Impossible to look at.

Uraraka hides her face in Iida's shoulder at seeing her own dead body, letting out heavy sobs. Iida and Tsu wrap their arms around Uraraka to comfort her, their own eyes wet with tears.

The rest of the class is frozen in horror, eyes wide and mouths covered. The excitement of seeing the fight now completely gone at the sight of Uraraka dead on the screen.

“Enough.” Shigaraki growls out, dragging a club across the ground. The projection seems to lock onto Izuku's face, frozen in horror and grief.

“He's got a club! He's got a clu-” Mineta shrieks out, the screen cutting away from him and back to Izuku when the sound of wood hitting flesh is heard. Blood splashes across Izuku's frozen face.

The reaction isn’t quite as strong to the loss of Mineta, the small boy cringing further into his seat. Most of the outcries from the class seem to be directed at the level of violence Shigaraki is employing.

The projection shows Kaminari, looking pleadingly at Izuku, “What are our orders? Captain? Capta-” The projection cuts back to Izuku as a different splash of blood crosses his face along with the sound of wood hitting flesh again. Izuku seems to be panting, gaze hazy, eyes locked on where Uraraka lays dead.

Kaminari let out a high, distressed noise, immediately curling into Mina who held him tightly, murmuring soothing words to him.

Choked sobs come from a few other classmates as they realise just how bad this will be. It's not funny or lightheaded like everyone else's turns.

“You've hurt me enough… Six hundred lives I'll take,” Shigiraki yells, bringing his club down onto Tokoyami. “Six hundred lives I'll break,” Jirou is hit next, “and when I kill you then my pain is over…” Ojirou is seen being hit by the club next “You're dying here and now," Aoyama is next to go down, "Escape is not allowed,” Momo and Bakugou are seen narrowly dodging the club’s strikes whilst Izuku is still standing frozen. Iida pulls Tsu out of the way of another hit whilst Shouji dodges to the other side.

All the students are crying now. Iida and Tsu are comforting Uraraka, Todoroki is frozen in his seat, Shouji has his hand on Tokoyami's shoulder, Momo is hugging a crying Jirou, Kouda has an arm around Aoyama’s shoulder, Mina has a tight grip on Kaminari's arm (it looks like she's scared to let go, incase he dies here too) and Hagakure seems to have situated herself into a pale Ojirou's lap.

All Might flinched at each heavy strike, his mind casting back to his last encounter with All For One and the devastation that came in his wake. The scar on his side twinging at the memory as phantom pain echoes from the remembered feeling of pain.

Aizawa was frozen in his seat, eyes rapidly flicking from the screen to the students, almost as if making sure that they were still there, that what he was seeing was indeed a dream.

“C'mon Deku… fucking move.” Bakugou growls out, fists clenched in his lap as he glares at the screen, fighting not to set off violent explosions.

“You won't live through this day now Die!” Shigaraki seems to stumble slightly, “Diii-iii-ii-ieee…” With that, a loud thud is heard as Shigiraki passes out, landing on his side. 

Everyone is frozen in shock and horror, eyes wide and faces pale. Shinsou breathes shakily as he looks at everyone. “I'm guessing this didn't happen in what I missed…” 

No one answers him.

Chapter Text

Izuku is seen staring down at Uraraka's corpse, face covered in splashes of blood as a ringing sound comes from the mindscape, echoing what Izuku must be hearing. “Captain!” A muffled voice is heard, though Izuku doesn't seem to react. “Captain!” The muffled shout is there again until Bakugou yanks at Izuku's arm and yells again, “Captain!”

Uraraka quickly looks away from the screen again, letting out a whimper and a soft whine of, “Deku…” at both the sight of herself dead and the broken, empty look on his face.

Aizawa closes his eyes briefly, his memory flashing back to a familiar empty expression on his own face from when he caught his reflection in a mirror a week after Oboro’s death. The knuckles in his right hand spasms at the phantom feeling of pain from when he'd punched and broke the mirror because he couldn’t stand what he saw there in response to seeing his own reflection.

“We must move quickly, we don't have much time…” Izuku states, his voice devoid of any emotion, still staring down at Uraraka, “He didn't notice I mixed lotus in his wine… Mark my words now, this is not the end.”

Bakugou grabs at Izuku's arm again as he asks, “But captain, what'll we do with our fallen friends?”

Izuku looks up into Bakugou's eyes, his own green eyes dull and cold. “Remember them.”

Aizawa hissed out a breath, knowing the tone in Midoriya’s voice intimately. He remembers his own voice sounding nearly identical when he spoke to Mic, Midnight, and everyone else during the time after Oboro.

All Might was still as a grave, silently staring at the screen, thinking back to when he had lost Nana. To the grief that pervaded every word he spoke, every move me made, every breath he took for months after that loss. He hated to see that reflected in his young successor and hoped he would never know this beyond what his dreams were concocting. 

Nezu said nothing, simply pressed a cup of tea into All Might’s hands to give the man something to disguise the tremors in his hands.

“When the fire begins to fade. For the fallen and afraid, we are not to let them die in vain.” Izuku states, seemingly pulling himself together as he stands straighter, though his eyes have none of the usual spark in them.

“Remember them.” Izuku states again, though Bakugou says it at the same time, in agreement with Izuku.

Bakugou grits his teeth, breathing through them as he tries to hold back a growl.

“Aww, Bakubro will remember us!” Kirishima coos, though the attempt at lightening the mood doesn't work, the atmosphere is still heavy around the room. Kirishima proceeds to shrink in his seat at the glare he receives from Aizawa, the look clearly stating ‘not the time’.

Izuku continues to speak, staring at Bakugou, gaze seemingly both staring right into his soul yet right past him at the same time, “We're the ones who carry on… The flames of those who've gone And our comrades will not-”

“-die in vain!" The soldiers seem to say in time with Izuku.

“I need all our hands on his club. This is how we're getting out of here, use your swords to sharpen the stub, and turn it to a giant spear.” Izuku turns to the remaining members of his comrades within the cave, a look of determination in his dull eyes.

The comrades hold their swords up and baring their teeth angrily, “Let's kill him!”

The students sit upright, all mentally agreeing with the desire to kill Shigaraki.

Nezu’s whiskers twitch, his tail twitching being the only sign of his anger. “Seems despite the painful sight of watching his comrades die, Midoriya is still able to come up with a feasible plan. He isn't letting what happened cloud his mind.”

“His body is blocking the path.” Izuku states, shaking his head at them, “If we kill him we'll be stuck inside.”

“Captain, where do we attack him?” Bakugou asks, tightening his grip on his own sword.

Izuku turns to face Bakugou, “We gotta stab him in the eye.”

“Yes sir!” The comrades shout in agreement.

Bakugou grits his teeth, glaring heavily at the screen. He hates that they're not going to kill this version of Shigaraki but he also understands that they also have no way to escape if they follow through. Kirishima has a tight grip on Bakugou's shoulder.

Uraraka has her face pressed into Iida's side, watching through one eye both with the need to look away but a desire to see what will happen.

“Remember them.” The soldiers sing out as everyone gets to work whittling away at the club. The projection pans to show Izuku turning back around to look down at Uraraka. He kneels down and pulls her headband off, wrapping it around his left wrist and tying it off.

Uraraka covers her mouth at seeing Izuku caring so much about her to want a piece of her with him. Iida tightens his arm around her shoulder whilst Tsu tucks herself closer to Uraraka's side. Todoroki awkwardly pats her head, unsure of how to comfort her.

Nezu lets out a curious hum. “It seems that Midoriya is able to work through his turmoil and command his comrades effectively, look at how well they're doing in whittling such a large object.”

“Yeah, I'm just more concerned over how this will affect the Problem Child when he finally breaks out of the mind control.” Aizawa grumbles, keeping his face mostly hidden as his eyes have a haunted look in them.

“Compartmentalising like that isn’t always good,” All Might murmured in quiet agreement. “It can be during the heat of battle but if it continues afterward…”

“When the fire begins to fade… For the fallen and afraid. We are not to let them die in vain.” The soldiers continue to sing, continuing their work at turning the club into a spear.

Izuku's voice echoes above the soldier’s singing, watching them work with empty eyes. “Remember them! We're the ones who carry on. The flames of those who've gone and our comrades will not die in vain.”

The soldiers have finished whittling the club and they all lift the club onto their shoulders as Izuku screams, “Now!” With the order, the soldiers ram the club turned spear into Shigiraki's eye causing him to wake up with a scream of pain as Izuku screams for everyone to “Scatter!”

Everyone sucks in a breath, watching in silence at seeing Shigaraki wake up, all terrified about what will happen.

Aizawa sits forward, glaring at the screen. His sight is tinged red as his quirk fights to activate, but he knows he shouldn't activate it because it'll shut off the projection.

“Who hurts you?” Dabi’s voice can be heard from the back of the cave as Shigiraki crawls towards the opening to a deeper part of the cave.

Bakugou pales, turning to Izuku, “There are more of them?”

“Who hurts you?” Magne’s voice join’s Dabi's.

“Hide.” Izuku orders in a hushed tone as the soldiers and himself all hide behind rocks.

“Deku…” Uraraka whimpers from behind her hands. Tsu shivers in Uraraka's hold whilst Iida's whole body tenses up.

Bakugou growls as he clenches his fists in his lap, shoulders shaking in repressed rage. “Should've fuckin killed him.” He hisses out, ignoring Kirishima's grip shifting from his shoulder to his arm.

“Who hurts you?” Dabi, Magne and compress all repeat.

“Captain, we should run…” Bakugou whispers from where he's hidden next to Izuku.

Izuku just holds his hand up and whispers, “Wait…”

Dabi, Magne, Compress and Mustard all speak up now, “Who hurts you?”

Nezu sits up straight. “Oh, that is smart.” He states, grabbing his notebook to jot down what he noticed.

Aizawa turns to look at Nezu, mouth open to ask but the principal just waves his paw at him. Aizawa decides to sit back and continue watching instead. Surely whatever Nezu has noticed will become obvious soon.

Bakugou lets out another growl, Kirishima now actively holding the explosive boy back. “The damn nerd never fucking listens to me. He's gonna get us all killed.”

“Captain, please…” Bakugou whispers, a cold sweat going down his back.

“Wait.” Izuku just responds, just as quietly.

“It was Nobody, Nobody…” Shigiraki responds, his hands covering his bleeding eye.

“If nobody hurts you, be silent!” Dabi, Magne, Compress and Mustard harshly tell Shigaraki, disappearing back into the cave.

Shigaraki stretches a hand out in desperation, “Don't go!”

There's a round of exhales that escapes everyone around the room at the group being able to leave safely. Aizawa looks towards Nezu again, now realising what it was the principal has picked up on. The Erasure hero manages to catch a glimpse of what's in the notebook Nezu is focused on.

Lesson plans. For the Problem Child. Aizawa just lets out a heavy sigh, slumping back into his seat in defeat, knowing there isn't anything he can do to stop it.

“Let's grab the sheep and away we go.” Izuku tells his comrades as everyone grabs at least two sheep each and exits the cave quickly and quietly.

As they get on the ship, a pinkish purple haze goes over the projection around Izuku as Nana appears, though only Izuku can see her. “Have you forgotten the lessons I taught you? He's still a threat until he's dead. Finish it.”

All Might sucked in a breath. “I mean, she’s not wrong in this scenario…”

“But it’s Problem Child,” Aizawa finished for him, tucking his face into his scarf. “He’s a creature of forgiveness.”

Nedzu hummed. “It’s something that he needs to learn,” he said thoughtfully, making a note on his page. “There is a fine line and he needs to learn that sometimes having a soft heart will backfire.”

Izuku turns to look at Nana and frowns at her, eyes cold with grief, “No.”

“No?” Nana questions, raising a disappointed eyebrow.

“What good would killing do when mercy is a skill more of this world could learn to use.” Izuku asks Nana, crossing his arms over his chest as he raises his voice in anger, fingers trailing over the bandana he grabbed from Uraraka, “My friend is dead, our foe is blind, the blood we shed, it never dries. Is this what it means to be a warrior of the mind?”

Nezu hums, “it seems that Midoriya's grief is clouding his judgement. But he also has a point.” His claws tap at the side of his cup.

All Might watches hopelessly whilst Aizawa nods in agreement. “The problem Child has seen the worst of the worst, he's no longer disillusioned with the view of being a paragon of a god. Though sparing the life of Shigaraki may have unforeseen consequences.”

The class listen to the teachers talk silently, watching the screen with rapt attention, curious yet also scared about what their fellow classmate is about to do next.

Nana's eyes widen in realisation as she reaches towards Izuku, but the pinkish purple haze is forcefully ripped away. All that's heard before she disappears is a loud, “Don't!”

“Hey, Cyclops!” Izuku yells, resting his hands on the front of the ship, anger covering his face. “When we met, I led with peace, while you fed your inner beast. But my comrades will not die in vain!”

Aizawa sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “He’s about to do something very stupid, isn’t he.”

“He’s a student,” Nedzu reminded calmly. “This is a lesson he must learn.”

Bakugou seethes quietly, he can already tell what Deku is going to do due to growing up with him. Bakugou knows that Deku is over emotional right now and is about to do something stupid and he'll end up regretting it.

“Remember them! The next time that you dare choose not to spare, Remember them!” Izuku yells at the Cyclops, his knuckles going white, “Remember us! Remember me!”

The soldiers watch on, singing out, hyping Izuku up. “Ohh oh-oh-oh oh.”

“I'm the top student of UA!” Izuku continues on.

“oh-ohh-oh.” The soldiers continue to sing.

“I am neither man nor mythical!” Izuku's voice raises in volume.

The soldiers' vocals start to overlap with Izuku's yelling.

All Might frowned. “Even though it seems he’s about to do something he’ll come to regret… the other soldiers are egging him on…”

Nedzu shot All Might a blank look, one that had the man squirming in his seat. “Peer pressure is no excuse for losing one’s head,” he said sagely.

“You also have to take into consideration the grief he's feeling and the pressure that Shimura has put on him.” Aizawa adds to what Nezu said, glaring at the screen.

“I am your darkest moment….” Izuku points towards the island where the Cyclops is on as the boat starts to sail away, his eyes holding a manic gleam of anger. “I am the infamous IZUKU!”

Aizawa lets out a breath through his nose, sighing heavily as he drops his head into his hands. “Seems like Shimura caused Midoriya's mind to be clouded and he fucking doxxed himself.”

The students shiver in discomfort at the smile that's seen on Shigaraki’s face before the projection pans to Izuku washing blood off his face on the ship.

Chapter Text

The whole screen lights up a pinkish purple again, the ship deck fading away to show Nana and Izuku standing in a void on a platform. Nana stands behind Izuku with her arms crossed and a disappointed expression on her face. Izuku turns to look at her. “You are reckless, sentimental at best. That's not a teaching of mine.”

Nana walks forward, towering over Izuku, “You've grown soft, your dead friends can attest.”

Anger crosses Izuku's face as he steps towards the taller woman. “Hey!”

Aizawa huffed irritably. “I don’t like how she used the people he lost as a point,” he groused, folding his arms. “It’s almost like she doesn’t want him to do what heroes try to do, save everyone.”

All Might visibly cringed at Nana’s words, a frown etching itself across his features as he listened to Aizawa, his eyes never leaving the screen.

“Compassion is one of Midoriya’s strengths,” Aizawa half growled under his breath. “It’s like she wants him to be nothing more than a weapon.”

“Untrue,” All Might countered, feeling the rising urge to protect his late mentor. “She knows that there is a time and a place for compassion, she’s trying to show him that.”

Nedzu cut off whatever Aizawa was about to say with a raised paw. “Save it for the next break,” he instructed calmly and Aizawa settled back into his chair.

“Put your emotions aside! You're a warrior, meant to lead the rest, I don't know where I went wrong! But I warned you and you failed the test.” Nana continues, glaring down at Izuku, stepping away and puts her arms behind her back, standing in a parade rest.

“So now I'm gone. This way, you'll know what your place is! This way, you can't cross the line! This way, when all is over you'll keep yours and I'll keep mine!” She sings, walking around Izuku to stand behind him. She grabs his wrist, gripping the bracelet signalling the short boy as her chosen warrior, “This way, you won't disappoint me! This way, you won't waste my time! This way, I'll close the door! Consider this as my goodbye.”

“Good fucking riddance.” Bakugou growls out. Many of the students around him nod in agreement.

“Yeah! If she wants him to be a warrior, she has to understand that grief is real and seeing someone you're close to dying affects you!” Uraraka shouts out. Other students start to shout too, all glaring at the screen. Though they all quickly fall silent at the quirked glare from Aizawa.

“That's just like you, why should I be surprised?” Izuku asks, ripping his arm out of her grip to spin around and face her. A mix of grief and anger is on his face. “Selfish and prideful and vain. Unlike you every time someone dies, I'm left to deal with the strain.”

Izuku unlatches the bracelet, holding it up in his left hand towards her. “What's a title that a Goddess could lend, If I'll never sleep at night? I'll remind you, I saw you as a friend!”

All Might winced, ducking his head slightly. He knew that his protege was carrying a heavy burden and that it was likely the vestiges were pushing him to act against the League in a way contrary to what Midoriya wanted. But to think that his relationship with the vestiges had become this friction filled? All Might could only hope that it was an exaggeration and not what was actually happening.

Izuku drops the bracelet at Nana's feet, stepping away from her, crossing his arms as he fights back the tears. “But now we're done. This way, you're out of my head now. This way, you won't plague my life. This way, when all is done, you're out of sight and out of mind!”

Izuku turns his back to Nana, looking towards the void. “This way, you get what you wanted! This way, you can save your time! This way, you close the door and have your damn goodbye!!”

Mina cringed in her seat, wrapping her arms around Kirishima’s arm. “I’ve never seen Midoriya so angry…” she murmured. 

Iida exchanged glances with Todoroki and Uraraka. They had seen this anger before, they had seen how Midoriya had raged against Stain, against Overhaul. They had seen when Midoriya stopped smiling.

“Midobro is kinda scary…” Kirishima agreed quietly.

Bakugou was silent in his seat, arms crossed as he looked away from the screen. He thought back to middle school for a moment, back to when Deku had kept quiet, hadn’t fought back, hadn’t snapped back. He briefly wonders if he would have respected Deku had he fought back. Deep, deep down he knows he would’ve, but he’ll take that secret to his grave.

“You're not looking for a mentor, I'm not looking for a friend.” Nana states coldly, causing Izuku to freeze as his shoulders tense up. Nana reaches down, picking the bracelet up and holds it gently, staring down at it. “I mistook you for a general… What a waste of effort spent.” Nana clenches her hand, crushing the bracelet, causing it to crumble and fade away.

Izuku whips around and faces Nana, watching the bracelet fade away as he steps towards her, tears rolling down his cheeks as he places his hand on his chest. “At least I know what I'm fighting for! While you're fighting to be known! Since you claim you're so much wiser, why's your life spent all alone?!”

All Might's breath catches at the raw tone to his successor's voice. The conflict he feels at this moment is strong. Yagi wants to side with his past mentor but he also wishes to side with his mentee and it hurts to see them fighting.

“You're alone!” Izuku shouts through his tears, poking his finger into her chest.

Nana has a clear expression of pain and loss at Izuku's words before she takes a deep breath and steps away, a cold mask on her face. “One day, you'll hear what I'm saying… One day, you might understand…” Nana's tone is soft and quiet.

Nedzu hummed, the flicking of his tail the only indication of his agitation. 

“I do understand where she is coming from, but she is going about it all wrong for young Midoriya-kun,” All Might murmured.

Aizawa shot him a dirty look. “She was your mentor, you should’ve known this was coming.”

The students sat with tears in their eyes, not used to how hurt Izuku sounds. The Dekusquad are curled up together, comforting each other to sooth the deep need to comfort Deku.

The Bakusquad are - mostly - curled together too, Bakugou sat to the side with a deep frown whilst glaring at the projection whilst Denki, Mina and Kirishima comforted each other. 

Shinsou crosses his arms, his expression eerily similar to Aizawa's, “This is just fucked up.” He growls out, frown deepening, “Who knew goddesses could be so heartless.”

Her voice becomes stronger as she turns away from Izuku, hiding the pain in her expression. “One day, but not today… For after all you're-”

“Just a man…” Kaminari, Jirou, Mineta, Tokoyami, Aoyama and Ojirou’s voices drone out along with Nana's. Their spirits floating up and curling around Izuku.

Bakugou shot out of his seat. “Ok fuck this lady Deku!” He shouted at the screen.

Uraraka was inclined to agree. “You’re already a hero Deku-kun,” she said quietly, leaning into Tsu who nodded her agreement.

Even All Might looked offended by Nana’s words, his bony fingers gripping the arms of his chair so tightly the wood creaked under his grip. Midoriya was more than ‘just a man’, he was the Ninth, a hero, and he knew that Nana should know that too.

“This day, you sever your own head! This day, you cut the line! This day, you lost it all, consider this as my goodbye… Consider this as my goodbye!” Nana strengthens her expression again, eyes hard and cold as she turns back to face Izuku's broken expression.

“oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh~” The soldiers who died sing out.

“This is my goodbye~!” Nana sings again, walking towards Izuku, looming over him again.

“oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh~” The dead soldiers continue to sing.

“Consider this as my goodbye!” Nana continues, closing her eyes momentarily.

“oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh~!” The soldiers drone out again.

All Might frowned, eyes casting away from the screen and down to the floor. He knows his mentor, he knows that as hard on him as she could be, she would never give up. Where did everyone think he got it from? But this Nana, this must be the Nana his successor interacts with. He knows about the vestiges, and knows that young Midoriya can talk to and interact with them. So this Nana on screen must hold some kernel of truth. All Might doesn’t know how to reconcile that with his memories.

Nana turns away from Izuku and yells, “This is my goodbye!!” She fades away, the spirits of the dead soldiers fizzling out along with her. The pinkish purple tinge and the void fades away, showing Izuku standing on the sailing ship again, staring blankly out at sea before he turns away to continue his work. Though he's seen rubbing at the wrist that the bracelet used to be on.

The room is silent, tension laying heavy in the air across students and teachers alike. Nedzu hops off his chair and gestures to the Commission workers. “I believe now would be a good time for a break,” he says into the dark room.

The worker nods and taps Midoriya on the forehead, the projection screen displaying a pause symbol for the moment.

Chapter Text

Silence continues to reign in the auditorium before Bakugou explodes, literally and figuratively. “This is bullshit! Why can't we just pull him out now?”

The Commission worker gave him a deadpan look. “For his own safety. Pulling him out now could cause untold damage to his psyche. He must find his own way out,” he said.

Bakugou slumps back into his seat, grumbling and cursing under his breath as he holds his hands into tight fists to stop more explosions from going off. Kirishima just lays a comforting hand on the blonde’s shoulder.

Kaminari cleared his throat. “So, how ‘bout Dusty being a giant cyclops huh?” He said, clearly trying to change the subject with a forced laugh but doing so with little grace.

Tsu hummed, pressing one finger to her cheek. “He seemed as childish as ever, kero,” she croaked.

“That does seem to be a running theme,” Iida noted, taking the subject change with a relieved expression. “He tried to characterize us as best as possible within his own set of parameters.”

Nezu just lets out a quiet hum, reading through the notes he's taken so far and jotting a few things down occasionally. His tail is swishing in agitation at the pieces he's putting together but he knows he can't bring it up until there's proof. He's just not liking where all of this is going.

Meanwhile, Uraraka was nodding her head. “Well he definitely got Shigaraki right on with how childish the cyclops seemed,” she agreed. “But can we ignore the cyclops’ for now because Deku-kun’s brilliant!”

Mina nodded eagerly. “Like, I always knew Mido was smart but seeing it like this? It’s wicked cool!”

Aizawa lets out a huff, “I just wish the Problem Child would put that much planning into his training instead of just running in without a plan.”

All Might lets out a booming laugh at Aizawa. “Young Midoriya looks like he's running in without a plan, but his mind runs faster, so you'll find he actually has a fully formed plan with at least three backup plans in place the moment he runs forward.”

Nezu looks up from his notebook, ear twitching slightly as he stares intently at All Might in interest. “His brain is fast, hmm? Interesting.”

“Yeah sensei!” Sero called. “And even if he really doesn’t have a plan, he usually has like half a plan 2 seconds later.”

“And half a plan from Midoriya is better than a whole plan from us,” Kaminari added, drawing snickers and murmured agreements from both the Bakudquad and the Dekusquad.

Aizawa just tucks a smirk into his scarf at this new information about Midoriya, it seems like he'd misjudged his Problem Child a lot more than he thought he did.

As the snickers died out, Uraraka sighed deeply. “I guess if we’re talking about plans we should also talk about the plans going wrong…”

“Despite best efforts,” Iida added, reaching over to rub Uraraka’s back soothingly.

“I just don't understand why Shiggy targeted you…” Kirishima murmurs, crossing his arms over his chest, “so not manly.”

“He targeted everyone around Midoriya-kun, kero,” Tsu observed. “It’s like he wanted him to suffer…”

Nezu tilts his head to the side, listening to his students before he decides to speak up. “Whilst that is true, you'll notice how the cyclops said that Midoriya had killed his friend. Shigaraki killing Ochako first must've been his way to pay back the pain to Midoriya.”

Aizawa nods with a frown. “An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.” Aizawa states, glaring down at his feet.

All Might lets out a quiet, sad sigh, “A friend for a friend…”

“But Shiggy took more than a friend!” Kaminari shouts, standing up in a rare show of anger. “It wasn't just Mido’s best friend who died it was-”

Aizawa cuts Kaminari off swiftly, “it was all his friends. Midoriya sees all his comrades as his friends. But it was Ochako’s death that caused him to freeze, resulting in the others dying too.”

Kaminari sinks back into his seat like a deflated balloon at the logic behind his teacher's words.

“I knew that cave was bad news…” Jirou grumbles out, playing with one of her ear jacks dejectedly.

“Can anyone tell me how Izuku pulled off drugging Shiggy though?” Mina asked, looking up.

Shouji answered, turning one of his limbs into a mouth to speak. “You missed him slipping the drug into the wine?” He asked. “It was subtle but we’re heroics students, you should’ve seen it happen.”

Aizawa turns to Nezu and murmurs under his breath, “I still stand by the belief that the Problem Child would be a great underground hero if someone -” Aizawa glares at All Might, “- didn't fill his head with the belief that being a daylight hero is a good choice.”

All Might chuckled slightly. “I didn’t teach him that, Aizawa-kun, he came that way.”

Aizawa stares intently at All Might. “I'm fully aware you didn't, you taught him to be self sacrificial. He'd be a better underground hero than Daylight and you're filling his head with dangerous beliefs that'll just end up getting him killed.” 

All Might sighed. “Again, I didn’t teach him to be self-sacrificial. He came that way. You should look up the sludge incident from before the school year and you’ll understand.”

Aizawa's dead stare shifts into a glare, “but you are teaching him to keep secrets and that he has to carry the world on his shoulders. Reminds me of someone.”

Nezu raises his paw when All Might opens his mouth to respond, “this is neither the time nor place for this argument. We'll discuss this after the lesson.”

The students look between All Might and Aizawa silently, unsure of what to say or what to do. 

Until Mineta opens his mouth, that is. “Midoriya looked so pathetic.”

Bakugou reacted first, explosions immediately crackling across his palms. “You would too, you snivelling little bastard!”

“Kero, you looked worse at the USJ,” Tsu stated bluntly.

“He’d just lost most of his friends right in front of his eyes!” Uraraka shouted, Iida having to hook an arm around her waist to prevent her from launching at the small boy.

“I'm just saying!” Mineta shouts, holding his hands up defensively, “he was acting like such a big shot because of the war just to freeze up at some blood and gore!”

“And you nearly pissed yourself at the USJ!” Kirishima shouted, his normally kind face set in a mask of unadulterated anger.

“Mineta.” Aizawa's voice causes everyone to go deathly silent, Mineta going ghostly white. “The way Midoriya reacted to the deaths was completely reasonable. He'd worked hard to make sure everyone survived the war, just to watch some of them die when he tried to prevent it. I will not tolerate you being insensitive to your classmate in such a way. You'll be serving detention for a week and taking lessons on sensitivity for your words.”

“And if you complain,” Nedzu chirped before the boy could protest. “It will be detention with me!”

Mineta lets out a snivelling whimper as he tries to sink into his seat, away from the matching glares of his teacher and principal.

“Ok but why did Midoriya leave Shiggy alive?” Kaminari asked, once again trying to diffuse the situation by changing the subject again.

“We should’ve killed the fucker,” Bakugou snarls, getting up to pace off to the side, letting off small, controlled explosions to burn off his excess sweat.

Uraraka frowned. “But that’s Deku-kun’s whole thing right? Redemption? He wants to save everyone he can, even villains…”

Bakugou scoffed. “He’s a fucking idiot,” he snapped, continuing to pace.

Kirishima huffed. “I dunno man,” he said slowly. “We’re supposed to try right?”

Bakugou whirls on Kirishima with a heavy glare, “Well the fucking nerd isn't a hero there, is he!?” He shouts, pointing at the frozen screen, “he's a fucking general which means all threats must be killed off before it comes back to bite us in the ass later!”

Kirishima, lifts his hands. “I’m just saying man, Midobro is still gonna be Midobro, no matter what. Maybe he didn’t want to repeat his actions like he did with the infant ya know?”

Bakugou growls, continuing to pace again, “it’s fucking pink cheeks words from earlier that caused him to spare that dusty fucker.” He scoffs, crossing his arms as he glares at the floor, “the whole ‘greet the world with open arms’ bullshit wouldn't get us- him or the crew home.”

“Bakugou-kun,” Nedzu interrupts. “It’s important to note that Midoriya-kun’s world view is different from your own and there is nothing you can do about it,” he reminds, tone even if slightly jovial.

Bakugou grumbles for a moment. “Well the fucking nerd definitely would've killed that fucker if it wasn't for that goddess cutting in. He definitely wouldn't have announced who he was if he hadn't killed the Cyclops creep.”

“I agree,” Iida spoke up. “While it seemed she was supposedly a mentor, their relationship seemed fractured during that scene,” he said thoughtfully.

“She seemed so cool,” Kaminari murmured, looking down at the ground. “Now she just seems… mean.”

All Might shrank into his seat, ignoring the dark glare from Aizawa beside him.

Shouji lets out a sigh from the mouth on his hand before speaking up. “I'm more concerned about that look Shigaraki gave when Midoriya announced his name before they sailed away. What could it have meant?”

Nedzu lets out a few chitters, looking down at his notebook. “I believe I know, but I wouldn't want to spoil anything or even be incorrect unless I'm proven anything, but it definitely spells danger for Midoriya-Kun and his crew.” 

Aizawa stares down Nedzu, “what do you know, rat?”

“Oh, you know I know a lot about Greek mythology, Aizawa. Who are the Cyclops the sons of?” Nezu grins at Aizawa, flipping through his notebook. “But that's neither here nor there. I'm sure you'll find out soon. We should move on to the next topic of discussion.”

“Oh so we can talk about his mentor now?” Aizawa slid his glare to All Might.

The students stay silent, watching the teachers. They're too scared to speak up, because they're aware that this is an argument that needs to happen.

“You want to explain to us why your mentor is treating Midoriya like he’s a weapon and not a person?” Aizawa’s eyes flash with the briefest of red, his hold on his Quirk slipping for just a moment in his anger.

All Might frowned. “I wouldn’t go that far…”

“Then how would you describe it?” Aizawa snapped, folding his arms.

“I would say that she had been trying to warn him of danger and when that failed, she turned to harsher methods,” All Might said carefully.

“Harsher methods?” Aizawa hissed.

“I can’t explain more,” All Might said through his teeth, anger flashing in his blue eyes. “I can not presume to know everything about the woman, she died before I could know more about her. But she was always a tough teacher.”

Aizawa shook his head. “And I’m assuming you learned to teach from her then?” He raised a hand when All Might opened his mouth. “You were definitely ‘harsh’ during the final exams.”

All Might frowned. “I just wanted them to do their best,” he said. “And it worked didn’t it? Bakugou and Midoriya both ended up working together in the end.”

Aizawa huffed a laugh under his breath, dry and sarcastic. “Oh sure. Look at you modeling your mentor, the ends justifying the means.”

Nedzu held a paw up, cutting off whatever retort All Might was about to say. “I believe that is enough. You two can continue this later in a secured location because I believe it has come time, All Might.”

All Might’s head whipped to the rat. “Nedzu-”

“Not now Yagi,” Nedzu replied calmly, ignoring the look of curiosity on Aizawa's face.

Everyone is silent at the end of the argument, no one speaking up due to the oppressive atmosphere in the room from Aizawa's, frankly justified, anger.

It's Uraraka who hesitantly speaks up, “I feel bad for Deku… not only has he lost some of us… but his mentor too…” She wipes away a few tears from her eyes, “did you see how hurt he looked through it? Especially the end?”

Tsu croaks and Iida nods firmly, “Indeed. He was rubbing at the wrist that had the bracelet on that Shimura broke. He seemed regretful for what he said but it was too late for him to take it back.”

Shinsou decides to speak up at this point, “grief does that shit to a guy. Shimura said some pretty insensitive things and Midoriya reacted violently, but we know he's gonna keep moving forward anyway. He's too stubborn to give up now.”

Bakugou snorts, finally sitting down again, “damn right. That nerd doesn't know when to fucking give it up, he ain't gonna let some uppity goddess stop him from making it home.”

A few people let out a few laughs at Bakugou's harsh words, but everyone knows it's true. Todoroki and Iida share a look, knowing just how far Midoriya is willing to go.

Nezu claps his paws, “well. Should we continue then?” He looks around at everyone, checking to see if anyone is ready to continue before sending a firm nod to the commission workers.

With a nod in return, the one in control of the projection rests their hand back on Izuku's head, palm lighting up as the projection starts back up, everyone settling back in to continue watching what'll happen next.

Chapter Text

The projection lights back up to show the fleet of ships sailing through an abnormally strong storm, the view moves closer to the ship at the front of the fleet. Izuku’s ship.

“These waves and tides have grown in strength and size.” Izuku starts singing, gripping the rope to the sails tightly as violent waves crash against the side of his ship. “Is it nature or divine or a blessing in disguise?”

Izuku looks across the ship, his comrades running around swiftly despite the rocking of the ship. “Our home's in sight. This storm's our final fight. There's no time to die. Comrades?”

The comrades all turned to Izuku, all stood to attention. “Sir!”

“Brace for a storm!” Izuku demands, his grip on the rope tightening when another wave crashes against the side of the ship.

“Storm~” The crew sings back, getting back to work.

The class gapes at the strength of the waves along with the rain and wind. “That can’t be a normal storm… right?” Kaminari asks, turning to look up at the teachers.

“It is not. Hmmm, it is curious as to why it is happening all of a sudden.” Nedzu responds before opening his notebook, like it’ll hold all the answers. It probably does, if Aizawa know’s Nedzu correctly.

Uraraka perks up the best she can after watching herself die, “Maybe it has to do with that creepy smile Shigaraki gave at the end of the last song!”

“Yeah!” Mina jumps in, leaning into Kirishima’s side, looking up at Nedzu curiously. Though the rat just gives a smile to his students, not giving an answer to what’s going on in his mind. 

“The likes of which we've never seen before!” Izuku states, swiftly moving across the ship to catch one of his crewmates before they can go overboard. “Brace for a storm~”

“Storm~” The crew continues to chant.

“With home so close, we must keep pushing forward!” Izuku yells, clapping the crewmate he caught on the shoulder before walking off.

“Full speed ahead!” The crew shouts, some people scooping up water and throwing it overboard whilst others hold onto ropes to keep the sails in control.

Iida sits up with a firm arm chop, “Well if they’re nearly back to UA then this must be over soon, right? Class is nearly over.”

At least three students let out loud groans and Uraraka even hits Iida in the shoulder for what he said, the poor boy looking around in confusion until Aizawa sighs out, “Well done, Iida, you just jinxed it.”

The look of realisation appears on the class rep’s face before he slumps back in his seat with his own heavy sigh.

“Hey, at least we can enjoy some great music from Midobro?” Kirishima questions, trying to lighten everyone’s moods, just to get a punch in the arm from Bakugou for his poor attempt.

“Head towards the island but avoid the crashing waves. Tread where the tide is flat and then you will be saved.” Izuku orders, watching the strong waves and the crashing of lightning with a critical eye, giving a solid plan to sail through.

“Captain, we will capsize with these waves, our fleet will fail.” Bakugou shouts to Izuku, holding onto Kirishima before the redhead can fall overboard.

Izuku walks over to Bakugou, clasping his shoulder firmly. “Have them follow my ship, I'll ensure that we prevail.”

Kirishima grins and wraps his arm around Bakugou's shoulders at seeing him catch him from falling off the ship, but he knows not to say anything this time. Jirou flinches slightly at Bakugou's shouting in the projection, due to the loud noise of the storm overlapping everything. A few other students watch with rapt attention.

“You clearly aren't handling being second in command that well, Bakugou. You're arguing with Midoriya a lot.” Todoroki states, lips twitching slightly at the look of anger on the mentioned boy's face, only Aizawa's heavy stare stopping the bomb boy from predictably blowing up at the words.

As everyone works to keep the ships from capsizing, they continue to sing in unison with Izuku. “Storm~ Storm.”

“We're taking too much damage to survive!” Bakugou shouts out from where he's yanking at a rope to keep the sails in place, teeth gritting painfully.

“We'll beat this storm.” Izuku answers Bakugou as he runs over to help with the sails, watching out for any damage or anyone else who needs help.

“Storm~!” The crew continues to sing, some people moving the barrels to the lower part of the ship so nothing falls off.

“So pessimistic, Bakubro!” Kirishima jests, throwing his arm over a cursing Bakugou's shoulders, pulling him into a side hug. The rest of the Bakusquad join in on the teasing, poking at the seething boy.

Uraraka sniffles slightly, wiping at her eyes. “Deku-Kun is still working hard to get back, he's not letting anything stop him.”

“Yeah. Even with Bakugou sewing doubt through everyone, Kero.” Tsu answers, rubbing Uraraka's shoulder softly.

“At this rate, we won't make it out alive!” Bakugou shouts back, turning his head to glare at Izuku before he's cut off.

“Captain, look!” Iida and Tsu call out, pointing up towards something that is coming from the clouds.

“An island in the sky…” Bakugou and Izuku harmonise surprisingly well, both looking up at the island.

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Kaminari practically pouted as he leaned against Sero.

Sero snorted. “Because everything thus far has been ‘oh look cool thing’ followed immediately by ‘oh shit cool thing is gonna kill us’.” He pointed out.

“Kacchan, grab the harpoons.” Izuku states, letting go of the rope to the sails as he heads closer to the rails of the ship, staring up at the floating island. “As many as you can find.”

Securing the rope to the mast, Bakugou looks towards Izuku in confusion, “What do you have in mind?”

“We're gonna shoot for the sky~” Izuku responds, turning to look at Bakugou with a serious expression.

“What?” Bakugou deadpans, crossing his arms over his chest with an expression on his face that says he's done with Izuku's bullshit.

The Bakusquad bursts into laughter at Bakugou's response and reaction. Mina and Kaminari lean into each other whilst Sero wipes tears out of his eyes. Jirou snickers into her hand whilst Bakugou just sighs and rolls his eyes, a small smile tugging at his lips at his idiots.

“Hmm. I'm curious about what Midoriya is planning to do.” Nedzu states, scratching something down into his notebook before getting up to make a fresh pot of tea.

All Might and Aizawa share a glance before the Erasure hero speaks up. “Whatever it is, the Problem Child has a reverse anchor, so they'll definitely have time to plan something from a safe position.”

“Storm, storm~” The crew continues to sing, following Izuku's orders by grabbing and passing around harpoons.

“Everyone grab a harpoon and aim it high~!” Izuku sings out loudly, grabbing his own harpoon and aiming for the island himself.

“Storm, storm~” The crew continues, all copying Izuku, aiming for the island with their own harpoons.

“We're shooting for the island in the sky!” Izuku yells out, swiftly throwing the harpoon with a critical eye. “In the sky~!”

“Storm, storm!” The crew all continues to sing, throwing their own harpoons until one catches and lodges into the side of the island. Izuku walks to the rope hanging down and grabs it before Bakugou grips his arm tightly, stopping him from climbing up.

Bakugou grits his teeth, “He's gonna do something stupid. That's the only reason why I'd stop him.” The explosive boy crosses his arms, eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

Todoroki looks over at Bakugou. “You think anything Midoriya does is stupid, even when it's a smart idea. So you're not making a good judgement on what's good or not.” He leans back as he watches explosions leave Bakugou's hands, lips tugging in amusement at the anger.

“Please don't do anything stupid Problem Child.” Aizawa huffs into his capture weapon.

Chapter Text

“Please don't tell me you're about to do what I think you'll do…” Bakugou states, staring down at Izuku as he lets go of his arm and crossing his arms, eyebrows furrowed.

“You've heard the legends of the island in the sky, this proves they're true~” Izuku answers, waving his hand up to gesture towards the floating island. “We're in the home of the wind god~”

Nedzu makes a pleased noise, scribbling on his notepad. “I like when I’m right.”

Aizawa and All Might traded glances, Aizawa suppressing a shiver at the words.

“We don't know for sure…” Bakugou refutes, stepping away from Izuku, the crewmates coming forward to stand behind the explosive boy. All of them are looking towards Izuku curiously.

“How many floating islands have you seen before?” The deadpan tone to Izuku's voice is obvious as he looks at Bakugou, eyebrow raised, “This is the home of the wind god~”

Uraraka burst into giggles, shaking her head. “Oh my god,” she said, mirth lacing her tone. “We’ve heard that tone before.”

Todoroki nods. “Mostly when I have said something Midoriya believes is either dumb or common knowledge,” he said sagely.

“He’s gentle parenting Bakubro!” Kirishima wheezed, shaking Bakugou by his shoulders.

Bakugou grunts with a roll of his eyes. “He gets it from Auntie…”

Bakugou simply scowls at Izuku, his frown becoming stronger. “And what's your plan?”

“I'm gonna climb to the top and ask 'em for a hand.” Izuku answers with a simple shrug, turning to grab the rope again.

Bakugou lets out a groan, “Deku is definitely doing something stupid.”

Todoroki simply tsks at Bakugou's response, but doesn't say anything at the look he gets from Iida. Uraraka and Tsu share a look before rolling their eyes in unison.

Nezu hums, “If Midoriya is going to meet the wind god, I wonder who is cast as them in his mindscape.”

Aizawa watches the screen, his mind casting back to a blue haired boy who could make clouds with his quirk, but shakes the thought out of his head. Oboro died well before Midoriya was old enough to understand what's going on, he wouldn't know him, which means it can't be Oboro cast as the wind god.

Bakugou surges forward again and yanks Izuku back by the shoulder, “You could be caught off guard and lose your life… Or piss off this god and infuse us with strife. Don't forget how dangerous the gods are-”

“Have faith, friend, we've come this far.” Izuku answers, shrugging Bakugou's hand off his shoulder and turning to face him again, crossing his own arms.

Aizawa lets out a small huff, hiding the fond smile at Midoriya's words. “I understand why Bakugou is being cautious, especially after what happened with Shigaraki…”

“But there's nothing wrong with Young Midoriya reaching out for help when given the chance. It is quite admirable.” All Might responds, sitting straighter in his seat with an obvious fond smile of his own. “And Young Midoriya is careful with his words. It's unlikely for him to say anything to ‘piss off this god's as Young Bakugou has said.”

“Yes, but how much longer 'til your luck runs out? How much longer 'til the show goes south? How much longer 'til we all fall down?” Bakugou demands, glaring down at Izuku as the crew look between each other, some murmurs coming from them. “You rely on wit, and people die on it, whoa~”

“I still believe in goodness. I still believe that we could be kind.. Lead from the heart, and see what starts-” Izuku sings out until Bakugou cuts him off with a growl.

“And what will we do when it tears us apart?” The snap in Bakugou's voice is obvious.

“Jeez, even dream Bakugou can’t give Deku-kun a break,” Uraraka frowned, shaking her head.

Bakugou growled at Uraraka. “Not when he’s being an idiot! Someone’s gotta call him on his shit and none of you are willing to.”

Todoroki turned impassive eyes on Bakugou. “Yes we are, we just don’t yell and rage like a caged beast.”

Kirishima’s quick reflexes were the only thing that saved Todoroki from an explosion to the face.

“Where is this coming from, my friend?” Izuku asks, tone softening as he grips Bakugou's arm lightly as he looks up at him in confusion.

Bakugou just shrugs Izuku's hand off of him and looks to the side with a vicious scowl, “I just don't wanna see another life end. You're like the brother I could never do without…”

“Awwwww!” Mina, Hagakure and Uraraka say in unison, gripping their hands to their chests at how sweet Bakugou was being.

Bakugou just scoffs, crossing his arms and looking away from the screen. Momo hums, smiling slightly, “I mean, they do act like siblings. Midoriya and Bakugou bicker and fight a lot.”

Jirou nods at Momo's comment, “Yeah. It can be annoying at times, but they do act like brothers.”

Izuku tilts his head to the side, observing Bakugou with a familiar glint in his eye, “And suddenly, you doubt that I could figure this out?”

“Captain, how much longer 'til your luck runs out? How much longer 'til the show goes south? How much longer 'til we all fall down?” Bakugou continues, looking back to glare at Izuku. “You rely on wit, and people die on it, woah~”

The crew all have an expression on their faces that show they agree with Bakugou as they rally around him, their voices joining the blondes, “How much longer 'til the snake breaks free? How much longer 'til your great days cease? How much longer 'til your strength takes leave?” Bakugou glares down at Izuku whilst the crew becomes restless, “You rely on wit, and people die on it, whoa~”

“Bakugou is stirring up discontent with everyone. If he continues a mutiny may happen.” Aizawa comments, scowling in his capture scarf.

The students look between each other nervously, wondering who they would follow if a mutiny did happen, Bakugou or Midoriya. No one is sure whether they want to comment on who they would choose.

“Thank you for the concern, but brother, I can assure you, our journey is almost done.” Izuku states, voice strong which silences the crew and causes Bakugou to glare more, “I understand that we're tired, I understand that we're fazed. But don't forget how much we've already faced.”

Izuku steps closer, arms crossed as he looks at Bakugou with a severe expression, “I took 600 men to war and not one of them died there. In case you needed a reminder.” Izuku grips Bakugou's arm tightly, tugging him away from the crew slightly, “If you'd like to speak more, let me pull you aside then. I need to talk to you in private.”

Aizawa smirks slightly, “The problem child is definitely going to lay into Bakugou, nothing good comes out of discussions in a private setting.”

“Like fuck! I'm right and everyone knows it.” Bakugou snarls out, crossing his arms over his chest, trying to cover up how pale he's becoming just at the thought of having all of Deku's anger pointed at him.

“Someone's in trouble~” Kaminari teases, hiding behind Kirishima before he can be hurt.

Izuku leads Bakugou towards the captain's quarters. Once they enter, Izuku lets go of Bakugou's arm and stares down at the map on the table, back to his second in command. “I can't have you planting seeds of doubt. I can't have you disagreeing each route.” Izuku's voice is strong and low, anger clear in his tone as he turns to stare Bakugou down despite his short stature. “I need you to always be devout and comply with this or we'll all die in this… Okay~?”

Everyone goes silent at Midoriya's tone, sitting up straight in their seats. They almost feel like they're the ones being scolded by the short boy. Bakugou growls under his breath, though he's pale as he stares at Deku on the screen. “Fucking nerd…” He hisses out, hands clenched into fists on his lap.

“Oh my,” Nedzu comments in amusement, ears twitching as he watches the interaction, “Midoriya-Kun would be a great teacher if he could get someone to back down with a few words.”

All Might coughs into his fist before responding, “I'm not sure where he got it from, his mother or maybe from observing Young Aizawa.”

Bakugou keeps eye contact with Izuku for a moment before letting out a sigh and looking away, the disrespect in the action clear despite his answer, “Okay…”

“Thank you..” Izuku answers, smiling wide as he claps his hand down onto Bakugou's shoulder before exiting his quarters.

Iida frowns, “that was very disrespectful of you, Bakugou.” Frowning more at the rude gesture he gets from the boy in return.

“Ooo I can't wait to see who the wind god is!” Hagakure cheers, clothes rustling as she waves her arms around excitedly.

Chapter Text

Izuku is seen climbing the rope until he grips the edge of the floating island and hoists himself up, “Great wind God, Ms Joke.” Izuku's starts to sing, looking around the entrance to the palace on the island.

Aizawa groaned deeply, sinking into his chair. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The class sits up in interest, some bobbing their heads to the music and looking between each other in curiosity.

“I don't know if you know this, but our path to home is blocked by an impenetrable storm.” Izuku continues, his green eyes locking on to a glowing pair of eyes behind a cloth divider and he takes a few steps closer. “I ask for your assistance, so we at last can go the distance.”

Izuku watches the eyes move higher up as he finally asks his question, “Can you cast the perfect winds for us and aid our journey home?”

“Well… at least he's being polite?” All Might questions, grimacing at Aizawa's expression, leaning away from the man.

“Why did it have to be her?” Aizawa asks, running a hand down his face in clear exhaustion.

“Haha, Ha!” Giggles are heard as Izuku whips around from a tap on the shoulder, coming face to face with Ms Joke floating on a cloud, “I am the wind god, twisting and turning,” Ms Joke twirls around with the cloud, hanging upside down, “I give the fire enough to stay burning!”

Izuku watches Ms Joke as her face lights up and she floats around him, smiling wide, “Lets play a game?”

Izuku looks up at Ms Joke in confusion and asks, “A game?”

Aizawa lets out another groan, sinking further into his seat. “She can never take anything seriously. A game? Really?”

Nedzu just pats Aizawa on the arm before passing him a fresh coffee.

Uraraka giggles, “Her laugh is so funny!” 

“Well, her quirk does work that way.” Iida responds, arm chopping away.

Tsu let's out a croak, “But there's no quirks in Midoriya-Kun’s mindscape.”

Ms Joke nods enthusiastically, “That's what I'm serving and if you win, you will get what you're yearning!”

Izuku's eyes light up as he steps forward with his hand out, “Deal!”

“Don't take deals you don't have all the details about, Problem Child!” Aizawa groans out into his coffee, exhaustion pulling at his features.

Bakugou scowls, crossing his arms tightly. “This is why I call him an idiot.”

Ms Joke drops a bag into Izuku's outstretched hand and he fumbles to catch, finally gripping it firmly as he inspects it. Ms Joke continues to sing, “Take a look right here at this bag! It has the winds of the storm all trapped!”

Izuku grips the bag tighter at hearing this, looking back up at Ms Joke as she finishes what she's saying. “All you have to do is not open this bag~!”

Izuku's eyebrows furrow at this as his eyes narrow, “Sounds too easy, what's the catch?”

Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s because it is too easy, Problem Child. Nothing with Joke is ever simple.”

All Might tilted his head. “You have an issue with Ms. Joke?”

Aizawa turned a withering look on All Might. “I want to throw her as far away from me as possible,” he deadpanned. “She continually asks me to marry her anytime I so much as breathe in her vicinity despite the constant rejections. She is loud, obnoxious-”

“Now, now,” Nedzu interrupted over the soft laughter Aizawa’s grumbling was drawing. “Pay attention Aizawa-san.”

“Haha, Ha!” Ms Joke laughs again as she dances around Izuku, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer~”

Mina and Hagakure appear, floating around Izuku's shoulders as they sing, “Never really know who you can trust~!”

Mina squealed excitedly, pointing eagerly at the screen. “Hagakure! Look, look! It’s us!”

Hagakure’s uniform was bouncing up and down as the invisible girl bounced. “I was wondering where we’d be!”

Ms Joke stands up on her cloud, “If they wanna get the bag open, you gotta say ‘No Sir’!” She giggles and wags her finger at Izuku.

“Sometimes killing is a must~!” Mina and Hagakure continue, floating to one side of Izuku.

Whipping his head to the side, Izuku stares at the two girls in confusion, “What?”

Mina sits up straight in shock. “Woah! Why are we saying that!?” She glances over at Hagakure, noticing how the girl's clothes have gone still, clearly showing she's shocked too.

Kirishima pats Mina on the shoulder, “well, maybe it's ‘cause Mido-Bro is a warrior in his mindscape?” His attempt at comforting the pink girl falls flat as Mina whines and rests her head on his shoulder.

Ms Joke continues her warning without acknowledging the girls, “Cause the end always justifies the means-”

Mina and Hagakure continue after Ms Joke, dancing around her, “Friends turn into foes and rivalries~”

Izuku turns away from the girls and Ms Joke to climb back down as Ms Joke floats beside him, “So keep your friends close and your enemies closer!”

“Never really know who you can trust~” Mina's voice can be heard as Izuku continues to climb down.

“Never really know who you can trust!” Hagakure sings after as Izuku lands onto the ship deck and cuts the rope so the ship can continue sailing.

As Izuku turns around, bag in hand, Iida and Tsu are in front of him. Iida starts off, “Captain, what's happening?”

Tsu and Iida speak up at the same time, “What's trapped in that bag?”

Iida frowns. “Why would we ask about what’s in the bag? Do we not trust Midoriya as our captain?”

Tsu shrugs. “Kero, we have to remember the point of the exercise,” she points out.

Iida sighs. “I wonder why we were cast to be the ones to ask though… Does Midoriya not trust us?”

Uraraka pats his shoulder with a sympathetic hum.

“Something dangerous, friends.” Izuku warns, holding the bag firmly as he walks further onto the ship, “We mustn't lag.”

Mina and Hagakure appear on either side of Izuku and grin with mischief, “It's treasure!"

“What?” Izuku questions, eyes wide as he turns to look at the girls.

“Buh-bye!” The two girls giggle before fading away.

“What! Why would we do that!?” Mina shouts, pointing at the screen before looking towards Hagakure with wide eyes.

Nedzu hums, “There's always more to the deal than what is stated. I believe you did it to make keeping the bag closed more difficult.”

Mina whines, sinking into her seat with a pout, “It still wasn't nice of us to do that!”

Iida comes forward, staring at the bag, “Open the bag!”

Tsu stepped up also, stood beside Iida, also looking at the bag in curiosity, “Let's see what you got.”

“No, do not!” Izuku shouts, side stepping the reaching hands of Iida and Tsu, keeping a tight hold of the bag, “Everybody listen closely, see how this bag is closed?” 

Izuku holds the bag up for emphasis, “That's how it's supposed to be! This bag has the storm inside! We cannot let the treasure rumour fly!”

“We'll try!” Iida and Tsu state, disappointed as they turn back to what they were doing.

Todoroki snorts softly. “Gentle parenting them again.” He points out.

Uraraka nods, frowning some. “Hopefully it works again…”

Iida waves an arm with a frown. “Our dream counterparts are acting rather shifty though…”

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer~” Ms Joke sings, trailing along the sailing ship on a cloud.

“Never really know who you can trust!” Mina and Hagakure sing together, floating around Ms Joke.

Tsu and Iida are seen watching Izuku from the side, “Never really know who you can trust…”

“Now they wanna get the bag open so they can have closure~’ Ms Joke continues, lounging back on her cloud as she watches the ship.

Tsu and Iida are huddled together with a few other crew members as the two sing, “Sometimes sneaking is a must!”

The crew with them echo their words, “Sometimes sneaking is a must…” they turn to look at Izuku standing at the front of the ship, bag in hand.

Mina pouts in her seat. “We’re just stirring up trouble…” she whines to Hagakure.

Hagakure shrugs. “I mean, yeah I guess… Do you think we were cast for these roles because Midoriya knows we know all the gossip?”

Mina lightly shoves the invisible girl. “I mean sure but still!”

Ms Joke sits up on her cloud, cross-legged and grinning widely, “Cause the end always justifies the means~”

The sky fades from day to night multiple times, signifying the days passing. It stop at night, the crew exhausted and watching Izuku rub his tired eyes at the front of the ship as they sing, “Everything's changed since Uraraka, so-”

Ms Joke stands up on her cloud, watching more intently as the sky fades to day again, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer~”

Uraraka whines at the mention of her dream counterpart's death. Tsu wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned her head on Uraraka’s shoulder.

“Are we the enemies?” Iida asked quietly, his eyes fixed on the screen, rigid in his seat.

“Never really know who you can trust…” Iida and Tsu sing, turning to look away from Izuku and towards Bakugou, who's watching the captain closely.

“Never really know who you can trust~” Mina and Hagakure giggle, floating around the ship.

The projection pans over Izuku, who's resting heavily on the wooden banister at the front of the ship. his eyebags worse now as he stares at the ocean, hand still clasping the wind bag. “For nine days, I've stayed wide awake, trying to make it home with no storm or tidal wave.”

“Nerd looks like shit,” Bakugou grunts, folding his arms.

“Well yeah Baku-bro,” Kirishima shoves him lightly. “He just said he’s been awake for 9 days dude.”

Kaminari snickered as Bakugou shoved Kirishima back, the two devolving into a minor wrestling match in their seats before the Quirked glare of Aizawa had them both settling back down.

“I remain unopposed, the bag is still closed,” Izuku blinks heavily, the projection becoming hazy as a figure is seen standing in front of Izuku, “and I'm getting closer to you, Shoto~” Izuku reaches out for the figure, now coming into focus as Shoto Todoroki.

Another, shorter, figure runs up to Shoto, “I can't wait to make some new memories! Eri~! Time for me to be the father I never was!”

The figure is an older looking Eri, but her face is blurred out. Shoto rests his hand on Izuku’s Cheek as he sings, “Just keep your eyes open~”

Iida and Uraraka shifted away from Todoroki who was radiating heat from his left and icy cold from his right, Uraraka giggling lightly at Todoroki’s facial expression.

Aizawa frowns slightly at the sight of an older Eri, face blurred out. “Hmm, maybe it's like that because the last time he saw Eri was when she was young so he can't picture her as older.”

Nedzu hummed. “It would make sense seeing as he is also seeing Todoroki-kun at the same age he would’ve been when Midoriya-kun left.”

“Why are my eyes and my heart and my soul so heavy?” Izuku questions, leaning his face into Shoto's hand.

Shoto cups Izuku's face with both hands, thumbing under his eyes softly, causing Izuku to close his eyes. However, he opens them again when Shoto sings, “Just keep your eyes open~!”

Izuku reaches out but is unable to grip Shoto or Eri, desperation filling his features, “I keep trying to embrace you both, why won't you let me!?”

“Just keep your eyes open!” Shoto and Eri Sing. Shoto is holding Izuku's face and Eri is gripping Izuku's hand. The hand that once held the bag.

Uraraka rapidly tapped Iida’s arm with one hand, pointing to the screen with the other. “Iida, Iida look!”

“I see…” Iida murmurs quietly, looking rather ashamed despite knowing that this was just a dream and not reality.

Mina coo’s softly at Midoriya's interaction with Todoroki and Eri, cupping her hands over her mouth to try and cover it after glancing at Todoroki.

“So much has changed but I'm the same, yes I'm the same~!” Izuku sings loudly, becoming more desperate.

“Just keep your eyes open!” Shoto and Eri Sing together, slipping away from Izuku as the screen fades to black.

The crew can be heard singing in the darkness, “Just keep your eyes open…”

All Might frowned looking at the screen. “I am wondering how much of this is a reflection of how Midoriya sees his classmates…”

Nedzu hummed, making a note on his notepad. “It is something I will have Ryo-kun bring up when we send Midoriya-kun to him.”

Aizawa frowns at the screen. “The Problem Child does seem to have a lot of trust issues, especially with how he tries to handle everything on his own despite being surrounded by people willing to help.”

Bakugou sinks into his seat at Aizawa-Sensei’s comment, knowing that it was because of how he treated Deku whilst they were in middle school.

“Wake up…” Shoto's voice calls out in the darkness. “Wake up… Izuku, they're opening the bag! Wake up!”

The screen lights back up to Izuku's eyes snapping back open, turning to see the wind bag open on the deck as the storm rages on, “Noooo~!”

A small riot breaks out in the so-called ‘Dekusquad’. Uraraka is on her feet, yelling at the screen versions of Iida and Tsu. Iida’s arm is flailing through the air as he rants about the stupidity of his dream counterpart while Todoroki simply glares at the screen. 

Bakugou keeps silent as he watches his on screen counterpart acting shifty, frowning slightly at what it might mean. Everyone else is focused on the chaos happening.

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer~” Ms Joke sings, complexion now completely grey as she sucks in air and blows out a large gust of wind towards the rocking ships.

The crew is running around, trying to keep the fleet upright through the rough beatings of the waves, singing, “Never really know who you can trust!”

“Never really know who you can trust!” Mina and Hagakure shouts, also grey, leading the fleet of ships along the storm's path.

The crew call out between each other, “Storm~!”

Mina and Hagakure continue to float around as they mockingly sing, “Full Speed Ahead!”

Aizawa frowns, watching the screen. “We need disaster simulation training,” he muses quietly. “They’re keeping their heads but it could be better…”

All Might hums in response to Aizawa's comment, “we tried but the attack on the USJ happened. Maybe we should wait a bit longer before we do so, the students will still have trauma over the event.”

Aizawa narrowed his eyes at All Might, the scar on his cheek catching the light of the screen and making All Might flinch slightly. “I vividly remember what happened last time we had disaster simulation training. I am saying we need to go back and actually do the training.”

All Might takes a shaky breath before steeling himself, “but are the students ready to go back to the USJ to hold disaster training?”

Nedzu clears his throat. “We will let Ryo-kun assess the students and decide,” he says calmly, making another note on his pad.

Aizawa continued to glare at All Might for another moment before turning his attention back to the screen.

Izuku turns towards Ms Joke as he asks in desperation, “Where’s the storm taking us?”

Ms Joke floats down in front of Izuku to respond, “I said to keep the bag closed, but you weren't compliant! If I had to guess? You're heading to the-”

“Land of the Giants!!” Mina and Hagakure’s voices overlap with Ms Joke's as they sing together, floating away from Izuku to continue leading the ship through the storm.

“THE FUCKIN’ WHAT?!” Kaminari couldn’t help but yelp, reaching over to grab Bakugou’s shoulders and shake the ash blond in his worry.

“He literally just said Sparky,” Bakugou smacked Kaminari’s hands away with a sneer. “Pay attention.”

Uraraka lets out a small shriek, gripping onto Tsu tightly as she burrows into the frog girl, “Giants!?”

Todoroki nods solemnly, “Giants.”

The crew can be seen throwing water off the deck with buckets and desperately pulling at ropes to try and keep the sails in control, chanting “Storm! Storm~!”

Izuku runs past Bakugou as he yells at him, “Help me close the bag!”

Katsuki follows after, frustration on his features, “But sir! It's too late!”

Bakugou frowns at his counterpart. “You’re supposed to be the second in command moron, trust the nerd’s plans.”

Kirishima grins over at Bakugou despite the tension on the screen. “So manly Baku-bro…”

“Shut it Shitty Hair,” Bakugou snaps at him.

Kaminari frowns slightly, “But you never listen to Mido’s plans in training, Bakugou.” 

“Yeah well this is fucking dream Sparky! It’s different!” Bakugou shot back, small explosions popping in his clenched fists.

Mina hops in her seat, grinning wide, “well we're acting how Midobabe views us so why would you be any different?”

Bakugou sneers at her. “Cause we’ve literally known each other since we were in diapers, Pinky. Fuck off.”

Mina leans in closer to Bakugou, grinning wider -somehow- “So you'll start listening to Midobabe's plans in training then?”

“Fuck no his plans are fucking stupid in training,” Bakugou rolls his eyes. “Idiot.”

The pink girl sits back in her seat in victory, “I rest my case.”

Kirishima is quick to catch Bakugou around the waist and harden his arms as the blond tries to launch himself at Mina, chuckling the whole time.

Izuku grapples with the bag, sending a glare towards Bakugou “We can use whatever wind is left to use another day! Come on!”

Bakugou lets out a growl before helping Izuku close the bag. Once it's successfully tied closed, the fleet stops in front of a rocky island.

The projection focuses on Izuku as an unfamiliar voice yells out to him, “Midoriya of UA!” 

Izuku whips around and the projection focuses on the expression of horror and fear on his face. The voice growls out, “Do you know who I am?”

All Might coughs out a mouthful of blood, quickly wiping his mouth with his napkin. His hands are shaking and he's gone deathly pale from the familiar voice.

Nedzu sits up straight at All Might's reaction to the voice, staring intently at the screen with slight impatience, wondering what will happen next. Whilst Aizawa looks between the former number one hero and the principal with narrowed eyes at the reactions.

Chapter Text

Kurogiri can be seen standing on the rocky terrain, chanting, “All For One. All For One. All For One. All For One.”

“Ooooooh shit more League!” Kaminari calls, adjusting so he is perched on his chair, elbows braced on his knees.

Bakugou grimaces at the depiction of Kurogiri on the screen. “God I hate that fucker,” he grumbles, sinking into his chair more.

The projection pans closer to Kurogiri as he continues to chant. “All For One. All For One. All For One.”

“All For One!” Izuku gasps out, the projection showing his expression of terror on the curly haired boy's face as he stares up.

All Might visibly cringes back in his seat at the name, one hand moving to the wound on his side as he wipes blood away from his lips. Aizawa's eyes widened in realisation, now understanding All Might and Nedzu’s reaction from the end of the last ‘song’.

The projection focuses on a man with white curly hair, red eyes glaring angrily down at Izuku. In the man's hand is a golden trident, voice smooth as he starts to sing. “In all my years of living it isn't very often that I get pissed off.”

AFO stands on top of the waves, just off to the side of the ship, looking down at the fleet with clear disgust. “I try to chill with the waves~” He sings, moving his hand causing some of the ocean to playfully move across his hand and up his arm before pooling off of him.

“How does Young Midoriya know what he looks like…” All Might whispers, the hand not pressed against his scar gripping the arm of his chair so hard the wood creaked in his grip.

Bakugou glares at the depiction of AFO on the screen, eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Didn't he have no face the last time we saw this fucker!?”

“Maybe Mido-bro is improvising?” Kirishima offers. “You said you grew up with him, does he look familiar?”

Bakugou scoffs, looking away with his arms crossed. “Not at all.”

“But damn… you crossed the line.” AFO growls out, bringing his trident up, causing the ocean to wrap around his waist which lifts him up onto the ship to stand in front of Izuku, “I've been so gracious and yet you hurt this son of mine-” AFO towers over Izuku, a familiar and eerie grin pulling at his lips, “That's right… The Cyclops you made blind… Is Mine!”

“No!” Izuku choked out, stumbling away from AFO. Bakugou swiftly catches Izuku and pulls him further back, glaring up at AFO though the boy's hands are shaking.

“All For One is Shiggy’s dad confirmed?” Kaminari tries to lighten the mood.

Todoroki frowned thoughtfully at Kaminari's comment, “Is that why Shigaraki is trying to attack Midoriya? Family feud?”

“That fuck isn’t Deku’s shitty father Icy-Hot,” Bakugou rolled his eyes.

Todoroki just stares at Bakugou with a blank stare for a moment before letting out a small hum and looks away, back at the screen.

“I'm left without a choice and without a doubt, guess the pack of wolves is swimming with the sharks now.” AFO sings smoothly, twisting his free hand which causes the waves around the fleet of ships to contort into the image of wolves and sharks, “I've gotta make you bleed, I need to see you drown!” He slams the trident down, causing the ocean to drop back down, causing waves to rock into the ship heavily.

Izuku stumbles further away from AFO, “But before you go, I need to make you learn how ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves!”

Kurogiri’s voice can be heard chanting again, “Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves!”

“Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves!” AFO yells, swiping his free hand causing the waves to rise up and slam into the fleet of ships, water rushing along the decks and the fleet rocks unsteadily. “Ourselves!!”

Uraraka sits up with a squeak of horror, “What!? How can being ruthless be a mercy!?”

Nedzu clears his throat, placing his cup of tea down and interlocking his paws somehow, “Well, when it comes to the choice between living and dying against an enemy, the idea that ending the enemy permanently is what saves the many. This is the idea that being ruthless is a mercy to yourself, because permanently removing the enemy makes it impossible for them to spread the word and have other enemies sent after you.”

Aizawa decides to chime in, eyebrows furrowed but clearly in agreement with Nedzu, “The best example would be Problem Child’s decision to let the cyclops live. It may not have had lasting consequences for him, but he also shared his name which made it possible for him to share that name with All for One, aka Poseidon. This wouldn’t have happened if Midoriya had chosen not to show mercy towards the Cyclops.”

Uraraka shrunk into her seat with a disappointed frown, crossing her arms over her chest. On the other side, Bakugou scoffs viciously, “It’s obvious the nerd was being dumb when he did that, but All for One is clearly a dick and no one would listen to his stupid ass advice!”

“You are the worst kind of good cause you're not even great.” AFO grabs Izuku by the throat and throws him across the ship, catching him with a wave, “A Japanese who reeks of false righteousness, that's what I hate!”

AFO manipulates more waves into a depiction of Izuku's confrontation with the Cyclops, “cause you fight to save lives but won't kill and don't get the job done!”

This causes the whole class to chime in angrily, words overlapping each other as they shout about being heroes, how killing is bad and how that isn’t something they should do. Though they all fall quiet quickly with a quirked glare from Aizawa. 

“This is clearly not our era, the views on how people should react to life threatening events are different. Whilst killing is not something a hero should do, it is a last resort when you’re against a villain who is stronger than you. Especially if that villain poses a risk of starting a war like how AFO and Shigiraki did.”

This mollifies the students, though many of them clearly aren't happy about this knowledge, if Kirishima’s grumbling about it “not being manly,” has anything to say about it. But the class do settle back down to continue watching, hoping everything would end out okay for Midoriya and the alternative versions of what remains of their class.

“I mean, you totally could have avoided all this had you just killed my son!” AFO sings out, violently waving his hand to the side causing the water to rush back down due to gravity, causing Izuku to drop and slam into the deck. “But noo~” AFO states mockingly.

“What the fuck! How could killing that fucking weird ass Shigiraki Cyclops freak have solved everything!? Poseidon would’ve still attacked if he found out his son was dead!” Bakugou predictably explodes, seething and letting off explosions in the palms of his hands that are pressed against his chair.

Nedzu lets out a small chuckle at this whilst Aizawa pinches the bridge of his nose. All Might still hasn’t looked away from the screen the entire time, face pale and hand held protectively over where his scar is located. Though All Might does snap out of it at Bakugou’s predictable behaviour and clears his throat to respond. “Well, Young Bakugou, If Young Midoriya had… er- killed Shigi- The Cyclops, he wouldn’t have shared his name and All For One wouldn’t have known who- who exactly killed his son, just that his son had died.”

A few more curses leave Bakugou’s mouth as Kirishima tries to calm him down, encouraging him to keep watching so they could get this over with, the whole class feeling the stress of such a high ranked villain mocking their fellow classmate.

“You are far too nice, mercy has a price! It's the final crack we're bound to break the ice now,” placing his foot on Izuku's chest as he holds his free hand up. Some ocean water collects on his hand, showing a depiction of Izuku shouting. “You reveal your name, then you let him live!”

AFO crushes his hand, causing the water to trickle through the gaps of his fingers. He presses his foot down onto Izuku's chest, “Unlike you, I've got no mercy left to give cause ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves!”

Kurogiri yet again emotionlessly chants again, “Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves!”

AFO looks around at Izuku's crew who are frozen in fear, watching what's happening, “Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves! Ourselves!!”

Nedzu hums thoughtfully. “Unfortunately he has a point…”

All Might gapes at Nedzu. “Excuse me?! He’s just repeating what he said before!”

“While, yes, he is. It's clear he wants the message that mercy is a good thing to strive for but Midoriya did have a moment of hubris in revealing himself to the cyclops,” Nedzu states calmly. “And now he is reaping the consequences of that decision to sink in.”

Aizawa grunts. “I hate to agree with the rat, but I agree with the rat. Midoriya made a choice and revealed information to an enemy without knowing more about the enemy. Midoriya didn’t know that the cyclops had All For One backing him up, and instead of either finishing the job or fleeing without saying anything, he gave the cyclops information who then gave it to All For One and this is the consequence.”

All Might sunk back into his chair, still pale, eyes wide as he looked between his colleagues.

“And now it is finally time to say goodbye, today you die. Unless of course, you apologise-” AFO flips the trident around, the middle spoke lightly pointing at Izuku's Adam's apple, “-for my son's pain and all his cries~”

“All For One, we meant no harm! We only hurt him to disarm him!” Izuku sings desperately, hands held above his head, palms up in surrender, glancing between AFOs glare and the trident cautiously, “we took no pleasure in his pain, we only wanted to escape~”

Bakugou scowls angrily, “the fuck kind of apology is that!?”

Nedzu hums, looking over at the explosive boy, “since Midoriya-Kun is playing as a Greek man, that is how the ancient Greeks conducted apologies. So I'd say it's a rather valid apology to give.”

AFO pulls the trident away from Izuku's throat and steps off his chest, glaring down at the short man. “The line between naïveté and hopefulness is almost invisible.” AFO twists his free hand, the water gripping his waist and lifting him up above the fleet of ships. “So close your heart, the world is dark and Ruthlessness is mercy…”

Aizawa huffs. “I think we need to have a lesson or two about negotiating with villains,” he says, folding his arms.

Nedzu grins at Aizawa, “Oh but All For One isn't a villain here. He's a God. Poseidon to be specific. He is notoriously difficult to negotiate with, he holds grudges quite strongly.”

“I understand that, but it just reminded me that we should ensure our lessons on negotiations are prepared,” Aizawa replies with a shrug.

AFO points his trident at the fleet as he darkly and calmly states, “Die…”

The ocean becomes dangerous as it rocks violently. Kurogiri is seen throwing boulders as he sings, “Ruthlessness is mercy upon our-”

One ship takes a boulder into the body off it as waves violently throw it on its side, causing it to sink. Izuku can hear his crew screaming out. “Captain! Captain!”

Any chatter from the students quieted quickly at the screams from the screen. Uraraka reached over and took Tsu’s hand, the girls gripping each other tightly.

Mina huddles against Sero and Kirishima, letting out a soft whine. Jirou nervously plays with her earphones jacks as Momo grips her free hand tightly. Kouda squeaks and hides in Shouji's side.

Aizawa frowns heavily, wishing to do something but unable to act upon his students distress because this isn't something physical he can fight.

Kurogiri continues to fling boulders as waves unnaturally crash over the ships, destroying more. “Ruthlessness is mercy upon our-”

More screaming from the ships surrounding Izuku's can be heard, “Captain! Captain!”

Izuku, Bakugou and everyone else on his ship hold on desperately as they watch more ships around them be destroyed by boulders and unnaturally strong waves. Kurogiri just continues to chant. “Ruthlessness is mercy upon our-”.

The crew watch helplessly as more ships are sunk, Izuku's eyes wide as he hears his dying crew call out to him, “Captain! Captain!”

Kurogiri flings one last boulder, causing Izuku ship to rock to the side dangerously, the short boy stumbling as he stares at the wrecked remains of his fleet, dead bodies draped over wooden scraps and floating around them. “Ruthlessness is-”

Iida stared at the screen, at the wreckage floating in the violent waters. “We caused this,” he murmurs quietly.

“What do you mean?” Uraraka asks, looking over to him.

“Tsu and I… we opened the bag,” Iida says, voice low as he turns his gaze to the floor. “We caused all of this…”

Uraraka frowns at Iida, gripping his arm with her free hand. “Hey! There's no proof that you and Tsu-Chan opened the bag! Don't assume anything until we find out who did it!”

“It was quite obvious that we had something to do with it, kero,” Tsu replied, leaning on Uraraka’s shoulder again.

Todoroki looks between his friends for a moment before responding, “it may have been obvious but it hasn't actually been shown. We're still unaware as to who actually opened the bag. Midoriya wouldn't want you two to feel guilty over something you might not have even caused. All For One is to blame for this.”

One last rock of the ship causes Izuku's legs to give out, falling back as he stares up at AFO, choking out, “What have you done?”

AFO uses the ocean to lower himself back onto the deck of the final ship floating. The dead crew mates can be heard droning out “When does a ripple become a tidal wave?”

AFO stares down and Izuku, red eyes glinting in triumph. “43 left under your command.”

All Might slumps back into his seat, frowning in defeat, “Over 500 dead…”

Aizawa side eyes All Might. “It’s almost a scale model of war against a nearly unstoppable foe,” he points out.

Sniffles can be heard from the students before Shinsou speaks up, “If over 500 are dead… who are still alive…?”

Nedzu sits up, looking through his notebook thoughtfully, “most of class 1A seem to be alive, along with students from other schools. We have yet to see class 1B so I do not believe they were part of those caught in the massacre.”

“When… does a man become a monster?” The dead crew mates sing out in a monotone voice.

“I~ am your darkest moment… The monster that always draws near~” AFO holds the trident up to Izuku's threat again, snarling out, “Any last words?”

Izuku is seen looking to the side before his eyes light up in realisation.

“It appears Midoriya-kun has a plan,” Nedzu says with a small smirk.

All Might looks to Nedzu. “How can he get out of this situation? There’s no way…”

Aizawa ignores the two, frowning thoughtfully. “All for One said the same thing the Problem Child did to the Cyclops. ‘I am your darkest moment’.”

“That is an interesting point Aizawa-kun,” Nedzu agrees, nodding.

Aizawa continues to voice his thoughts, “Along with the dead crew singing what Midoriya did earlier, ‘when does a man become a monster’. All For One also adds to that by calling himself a monster. I don't like where this is going.”

“What do you mean?” Nedzu prods, a knowing glint in his eyes.

Aizawa burrows his face into his capture weapon, silent for a moment as he puzzles through his thoughts. “The Problem Child has become reckless. Especially with what happened with Ms Joke. This recklessness started with Uraraka dying, I think Midioria will be losing a part of himself as this progresses. The part of himself that will surely be what All Might won't like to see Midoriya missing.”

Nedzu grins and nods. “Almost like Midoriya-kun is learning to harden himself against the pain of loss to get back home,” he muses.

Aizawa frowns more at Nedzu's words. “I don't believe that's it. But I'll go with that for now.”

Nedzu shrugs. “I look forward to hearing more of your analysis, Aizawa-kun.”

All Might looks between the two, baffled for a moment before he remembers an offhand comment from one of the fellow teachers that Aizawa had once been Nedzu’s personal student and he suppresses a shudder.

“All I gotta do is open this bag!” Izuku yells, swiftly throwing a dagger at the bag laid on the deck not far away, causing it to rip open.

“What!?” AFO yells, the heavy wind causing him to tumble off the ship, the water catching him before he can fall in. Ms Joke floats around the ship, sending it sailing off and stopping at a different island.

Aizawa watches the dagger with an interested look. “Maybe we should give Midoriya more weapons training…” he says absently as a roar of cheers erupt from the students.

Jirou covers her ears at the sudden loud noise of everyone cheering. Shinsou smirks slightly, watching the screen intently. He wasn't aware that Midoriya could pull off something like this, but he can't say he is surprised.

AFOs voice can be heard from the fog rolling across the ocean in front of the island where the rest of Izuku's crew start to disembark. “Remember me…”

“Another echo of something the Problem Child said before, but this is clearly meant as a threat rather than a warning.” Aizawa states, crossing his arms over his chest, scowling into his capture weapon.

Nedzu grins, writing in his notebook frantically, noting down the rest of what happened and other connections he's made that he'll refuse to share until necessary.

With that, the screen darkens, heralding the end of the song and the Commission worker tapped Midoriya’s forehead, a pause symbol appearing on the screen. “Now would be a good time for a stretch break,” the worker says, sitting down near the screen.

Chapter Text

Everyone stares at the screen with a mixture of emotions, unsure of what to say. So much has happened in such a short amount of time since Nana had left Midoriya, giving the entirety of Class 1A and the teachers whiplash. The only person who seems unaffected is Nedzu, who is apparently taking the time to prepare tea and coffee for everyone. Tea for himself, All Might and the students, coffee for Aizawa, though Shinsou is silently miffed that he’s getting a cup of tea instead of some coffee.

“So, I believe the best place to start this discussion would be the beginning.” Nedzu states after handing the drinks out to everyone, “Which would be the storm that Midoriya-Kun and his crew encountered, of course.”

Kaminari perks up slightly, “Hey! I was right about the storm not being normal at least!” He yelps immediately afterwards when Jirou stabs him with the end of her earphone jack.

“It seems so. The storm must've been the result of All For One-” Nedzu cuts off slightly at seeing All Might flinch at the name of the villain, but he powers on anyway, “-who seems to be the personification of Poseidon, whom, in Greek mythology, is the father of the Cyclops that was blinded.”

Aizawa side eyes the rat, knowing this is exactly what the principal refused to talk about earlier, but he decides to just let out a tired sigh instead of bringing it up. It’d be pointless considering they all learnt pretty soon after what the rat had decided to hide from them when they were first witnessing the storm. 

Iida lifts a hand. “I also noticed that we are seeing more and more of the crew, Bakugou in particular, doubting Midoriya’s leadership, not just during the storm but also at the floating island.”

Uraraka puffs out her cheeks and nods. “We would never betray Deku like that!”

Bakugou lets out a scoff at Uraraka’s comment, “Speak for yourself pink cheeks. I wouldn’t trust that nerd in a training exercise let alone on a journey home like that!” He clenches his hands to cut off his explosions before he damages his seat further, “Anyway, you can’t say shit, fucking Deku’s leadership is what ended up with you dead, even though you were dumb enough to stand around not do shit against that Cyclops freak!”

“In that world, he got all 600 men under his command through war!” Uraraka shot back, getting to her feet. “And dream me was trying to get Deku to relax after the war! How could we have known there would be a cyclops there? You literally saw it happen and you’re still doubting him?!” She threw her arms up.

Aizawa glares at Bakugou, “Watch your mouth, I’ll give you detention if you continue with that.” Bakugou quickly closes his mouth, prompting Aizawa to continue speaking, “We’re supposed to be discussing the floating island right now and how close the mutiny was to happening.” 

Uraraka huffs and throws herself back into her seat, folding her arms. Tsu and Iida rest comforting hands onto each of Uraraka’s shoulders, also making sure she stays in her seat.

Denki laughs awkwardly. “Well, the floating islands were pretty cool…” He tried, looking at Kirishima and Mina. 

All Might nods thoughtfully, “I’m not surprised Young Midoriya’s mind conjured it up. He was pretty impressed when we visited I-Island.” 

“I’m still curious why he chose Ms. Joke for that role,” Mina said. “Like, she’s totally the perfect pick but why someone outside of UA when everyone else has been UA related?”

Nedzu lets out a thoughtful noise, “Well, it seems like it’s Pro- Heroes are cast as the gods. After all, Endeavour is not UA related and yet he was Zeus.”

A loud groan comes from the direction of where the teachers are sitting, causing the class to look over just to see Aizawa slumped in his seat, face firmly hidden in his capture weapon. “Can we not talk about her yet, she’s bad enough in person, I’d rather not deal with her in this either. We should discuss Bakugou’s behaviour before the Problem Child actually visits the island.”

“You said to talk about the floating island Aizawa-Sensei,” Mina giggled, immediately clamping her mouth shut when she got a glare in response.

Yaoyorozu cleared her throat. “Well, it seemed almost like a parent talking to a child,” she said, side-eyeing Bakugou briefly. “Midoriya seemed to have to point out an obvious fact to the crew.”

Tsu lets out a croaking laugh whilst Todoroki hides a smile. “Well, kero, people think that it's Iida that keeps our group in check, but it's actually Mido-Chan who makes sure we’re kept in line and are taking care of ourselves. We’re quite familiar with him being like that.”

Todoroki straightens out his expression whilst Iida’s eyes widen, “Iida and I are quite familiar with Midoriya like this, remember how he treated you when we were in the hospital, Iida?” Todoroki asks, sending a slight smug look over at the engine boy.

Iida spluttered, waving his hands. “Todoroki, we are not supposed to share anything about that!” Iida covers up his embarrassment, “but yes… It was a lot worse than being lectured by Tensei, and that is definitely saying something.”

Uraraka giggled, “Yeah! Deku-kun has the disappointed parent look down to a T!”

“I’m curious about why the creatures lied about the wind bag to everyone,” Kirishima said suddenly, cutting off the chatter from the Dekusquad.

Nedzu perks up with a wide grin, “Well it was obviously a test! Aeolus clearly wouldn’t make it so easy for Midoriya, so the wind sprites lied about the treasure to test who Midoriya would trust to keep the wind bag secure during their voyage.”

Uraraka pouts, “I wouldn’t have let anyone open the bag.” She crosses her arms over her chest whilst Iida and Tsu wince, still under the belief that they were the ones involved in the bag being opened despite no proof of the matter.

A glare from Aizawa is sent Bakugou’s way when the explosive boy opens his mouth, clearly about to make a retort at what Uraraka said, but Bekugou wisely shuts his mouth again with a small growl. “The Problem Child did the best he could, I’m honestly surprised he lasted so long awake before ultimately passing out from exhaustion.” He comments after looking away from Bakugou.

Hagakure wiggled excitedly in her seat if her uniform were anything to go by. “Oh! And we were cute little sprites Mina!”

Mina grinned over at her. “Yeah! We weren’t very nice though… We helped deceive the crew.”

Kouda signs something over to Shouji, causing the tall boy to let out a chuckle, but simply smiles with his eyes when he gets a confused glance from Tokoyami, refusing to translate what the quiet boy had just told him.

“Ok but Todoroki waking up Midoriya?” Mina sighs dreamily, leaning against Kirishima. “Couple goals, am I right?”

Todoroki flushes bright red at Mina’s comment, prompting a squawk from Uraraka as she desperately pats at his shoulder to put out the fire on his shoulder. “What about Eri?” Uraraka asks, trying to keep Todoroki from setting Iida, Tsu and herself on fire with his embarrassment. “Why was her face so blurred out?” 

Mina whined. “What if it’s cause he doesn’t know what an older Eri would look like? Oh my god, that’s heartbreaking!”

Ojirou lets out a cough before speaking up, “But is that due to the mindscape story or because the Eri we know is young so we genuinely wouldn’t know what she’d look like as a teenager, which is how old she would be during this period of Midoriya’s journey?”

Yaoyorozu piped up. “Well I don’t think it’s the mindscape, we’ve seen other people altered into forms that they would never be in,” she said, tapping her chin. “I’m more aligned with Mina’s theory that Eri is blurred out because Midoriya is either unable to imagine what his ‘daughter’ looks like or because he’s forgetting what she looks like.”

Jirou nods at Momo, “Yeah, we’ll definitely see what Eri will look like when Midoriya gets home. Though, even with Todoroki waking him up, I still wonder who opened the wind bag, there wasn’t anyone standing near the bag when we finally saw it. Maybe whoever opened it was blown back? My bet is on Bakugou opening it.”

Kirishima yelps, “Bakubro would never do that! Even if he doesn’t trust Midobro, he wouldn’t sabotage their only chance to get home!” Whilst Kirishima is speaking, he’s holding Bakugou down to keep the growling boy from attacking Jirou, meanwhile Kaminari and Sero are leaning away from the duo to get out of the possible blast radius.

Jirou lifted an eyebrow before looking at the predicament Kirishima had landed himself in. “Yeah, that reaction definitely inspires confidence in your statement,” she deadpanned.

“I am curious as to why All For One is Poseidon whilst the rest of the gods are other Pro-Heroes. Though I do have a theory.” All Might murmurs, raising a hand to subtly rub at his side, to soothe the imaginary pain flaring up there.

Nedzu chittered in amusement. “Well, if you know anything about The Odyssey, Poseidon is the main antagonist to Odysseus. And as we all know now, All For One is the one pulling the League of Villian’s strings. It is a logical conclusion for Izuku to place All For One as Poseidon.”

Aizawa stares at Nedzu and All Might suspiciously, picking up that there is something they are both leaving out. He’ll figure it out, but he decides to leave it for now and let the conversation move on instead. Aizawa is aware there is something he’s missing when it comes to Midoriya’s quirk and All Might’s interest in the boy, something he’s been trying to investigate but has had to constantly put on hold due to all the attacks by the League of villians.

Tokoyami lets out a deep sigh, “It is a shame a deep darkness overshadowed everyone leaving only one ship left and a cryptic message.” Shouji and Ojirou raise an eyebrow at the bird boy’s comment, not quite sure what he’s talking about.

“You mean the last song?” Kaminari asked, turning in his seat to look at Tokoyami. “With all the deaths and that last line during the escape?”

“A mad banquet of darkness it was, All For One is so deep within the darkness that it overtakes every part of his being.” Tokoyami solemnly responds to Kaminari with a deep nod towards the boy.

“How’d you manage to translate that?” Kirishima whispered and Denki shrugged.

Shouji makes a mouth on his hand to respond to Kirishima, “What he means is that All For One clearly felt no remorse for killing all those people. An eye for an eye.” He lets out a small sigh, “Though he definitely went overboard with what he did. But I think he did it to make Midoriya suffer as much as he made the Cyclops suffer.”

“But why did he leave Deku-kun’s ship alone? He’s a god, wouldn’t he just wipe them all out?” Uraraka asks sadly, gripping onto Tsu’s hand as she remembers how horrible it was to watch all those ships sink, even if they were all filled with people from other hero schools as the rest of their class was all on Midoriya’s ship, people still died.

Aizawa huffs, interlacing his fingers as he leans forward, “It is clear that All For One was intending to kill the Problem Child and possibly the rest of the crew, if it weren’t for the wind bag being opened forcefully.”

“And the wind was from another god,” Yaoyorozu pointed out. “Maybe it’s only delaying All For One, putting some space between them?”

Aizawa nodded approvingly towards Yaoyorozu’s deduction, “This definitely won't be the last time we see him. But when he’ll show up again, we won’t know until it happens.” He tugs at his capture scarf at the thought of his student having to face that man- god? - again, even if he can’t do anything to stop it.

“Yeah, especially with that creepy ‘remember me’ at the end.” Sato comments, “what was that all about?” He shudders slightly at the memory of it, still so fresh as they saw it not so long ago. 

Kaminari groaned in agreement. “It was super creepy,” he agreed, leaning against Kirishima’s other side.

Nedzu hums, flipping through his notebook for a moment, making the class briefly think about their fellow classmate. “It is a direct quote to what Midoriya had said to the Cyclops, but as a threat instead of a warning. I believe that All For One wanted to make sure Midoriya would remember that, no matter where they go, he could show up at any time and that our student shouldn’t forget that he hasn’t escaped his punishment, just delayed it.”

“But what about now? Where is Midobro?” Kirishima asks, tilting his head to the side, “He’s surely safe on that island, since All For One is the God of the ocean. So nothing can go wrong, right? They can just regroup, gather supplies before moving on.”

Many students let out groans at what Kirishima says, “Well done, now you’ve jinxed it.” Jirou huffs out, ignoring the boy’s pout with her arms crossed.

The person in control of the projection, coughs slightly to gain everyone’s attention, “well, if you’re all curious to find out where your classmate and student is, I can press play and you can find out by continuing to watch?”

Nedzu closes his notebook with a firm nod, noises of cautious agreement coming from the students, a quiet noise of frustrated agreement from Aizawa and a strained grin from All Might. Everyone is ready, but wary of what’s to come.