Chapter Text
One for All had been warm- never overwhelmingly, but rather comfortably. A gentle, soothing kind of warmth, like steamed buns in January, billowing out steam amidst frost. A warmth like his mother's hands tracing his scars, while he dozed off.
Then the warmth had stuttered. Izuku didn't need danger sense to know. For a brief moment, a mere second, he had felt devastatingly void. No one had to tell him- he could feel it slipping. One for All was leaving; it was a fact as instinctual as knowing how to breath.
Past the windows and walls and forest and gates, he ran, One for All surging through him; if he stopped, Izuku didn't know if the next step would ever touch the ground. His lungs burned as it had on that fateful April, all those years ago, watching the beach shimmer at dawn. Warmth still streamed through his veins, and he latched onto it- don't.
Don't let this end. Don't take this away from me. Don't take it back.
He ran past UA, through the half-constructed Mustafu buildings, around the destruction and the healing. He ran on pavement, his steps pounding louder than his heartbeat, passing railways and valleys, and still, Izuku didn't stop. Each step was a reminder; he could still move. He wasn't done yet. Deku the hero was still here.
"Stop." Izuku whispered, feeling the whisps of Fa Jin and Gearshift hang onto his skin, before eventually drifting into the sunset. Kudo and Lee patted him on his shoulders, their eyes telling him messages he could never bound to just words alone. "Don't leave!" Why did he think he could outrun time? Why did his whole body seem to be collapsing upon itself, a supernova soaring down towards the ground?
Smokescreen left next, puffs of glistening purple shrouding him in an embrace one last time. En gave him a smug thumbs-up and, under his turtle neck, there was definitely one last defiant grin. Then, he was gone. Izuku was like a starving man, desperately consuming the energy strumming through his veins. The warmth of filtered sunlight on floorboards. The warmth of a hotpot with his class. The warmth of being lifted out of rubble, and embraced in safe arms. His quirk ignited in his cells, a field of a thousand fireflies slowly being cremated, bright and powerful at its end. With one fell launch, Izuku let himself soar.
Float carried him upwards, pushing through the clouds, guiding him closer and closer to the sun; if he flew far and fast enough, would he escape his fate? Would he manage to salvage his wings?
"Shinomori-san." Izuku cried, as Danger Sense bled from him- he was a sole missile launching skyward, flying through the landscape.
"You'll be alright, Nine." the air seemed to whisper, but Izuku wasn't sure he wanted to believe in the Fourth. To be alright was to be subpar. Average. Not enough to be comforted, but too little to be celebrated.
Through the tears, Izuku could see a kaleidoscope of colours splattered across the sky he was flying through. Bright oranges, sleepy purples, pretty pinks, dazzling blues; his own green sparks lit them up, letting them glow.
Just a bit closer. One more leap. One more surge of power. If he tried enough, he knew that he could touch those clouds, could dissolve up there with the horizon, could grow to know nothing about being bounded by the ground again. Just one more time.
But Izuku knew he was descending, his body free-falling. Float was leaving too.
"Shimura-san," and he could see her marigold gloves ruffling his hair, brushing away his tears, guiding him down to the ground safely, "Not you too. Please, please don't leave me."
"Izuku-kun." and a tragically beautiful smile stretched across her lips. She was emanating with the sun's light, golden and transcendent all in one, and so devastatingly home. "Oh, Izuku you're more than we could have ever hoped to be, squirt."
"I'm not enough yet." he urged, his tears gone to the wind, his clothes billowing with freezing air. "Nana, Nana-san, please. Please don't leave me."
Izuku landed softly in sand. Shimura, and Float, disappeared into the waves, with a last reassurance:
"You're the greatest hero this damn world has ever seen, Nine."
If Izuku couldn't be carried by the winds, he would carry himself. He dashed, his lungs never having stopped burning. Black Whip slithered out of him, but this time, not even rage could keep it powered. The tendrils gave him a squeeze, promising eternity in a vessel that had run out of time.
"Banjo-san! Banjo, please...please!" Izuku ran, chasing after the ghostly image of the Fifth.
"I'm that popular, huh?" Banjo teased, slowly fading away, even as the Ninth chased, relentless in his pursuit. Daigoro's expression turned slightly more sombre. "Oh, kid. We'll miss you too. But we're so proud, you hear? This world is lucky to have you, whether or not you have a quirk."
Izuku tripped, crashing into the sand. He inhaled desperately, kicking up sand in his frantic attempt to keep chasing Banjo. But by the time he had looked back up, the Fifth had left, along with Blackwhip.
He knew that there was no way for First to stay. Izuku had chosen this for himself, but how it hurt for his long-awaited dream to shatter before his very eyes.
"I'll always be here." First promised, gently lifting the boy to his feet. The First pointed to Izuku's chest, still so warm with the flow of One for All. "I'll always be here, in your heart. Don't forget us, Midoriya."
"Never." Izuku reassured, tears flooding out of his sockets endlessly. The First wrapped the shorter male in his embrace. "You guys- You guys were the best thing that has ever happened to me."
"And you for us too." The First's eyes glowed with pride, ponds filled with koi fish, illuminated by sunlight. Izuku was mesmerised by his eyes, the one that had started it all, that had given him his dream.
The beginning and the end embraced. Izuku clung on tight, desperately, hopefully. Sparks of One for All flew everywhere, like a billion stars in the galaxy. They ignited, tantalising in their brightness, blinding in their hope. He couldn't blink; if Izuku just kept his eyes open long enough, would One for All forever be seared into his very being? If he stared just a bit further into the distance, would he come face to face with the Deku that could've been? Just for one selfish second, Midoriya wished that Tenko hadn't been saved, for maybe Deku could have been instead.
"I'll do anything." he whispered. "I'll stop making mum, and All Might, and my friends worry. I'll take break days. I'll help save the world with my friends at my side, instead of burdening it all on my own. So please." He felt his eyes close, melting into the warmth shrouding him, "Please let me use One for All just one more time- even once would be enough. Let me be the type of hero who can save everyone with a smile. Don't let this all end."
Izuku opened his eyes.
There was no one but him.
He clenched his fists, and tried to bring up One for All one more time; but he knew instinctively that there we no point- he wasn't warm anymore. The embers had burnt out, leaving nothing but the memory of a brightness that was once his. Still, he tried.
Just one percent. Even one percent would be sufficient for him- would be enough to fill the void that was opening up in his chest.
"Come on, come on, come on!" Izuku sobbed, furiously wiping his tears away to no avail. "I won't! I promise, I won't hurt myself with it ever again! I- I won't even try to be a hero with it. I won't ever wish for anything ever again, as long as- as long as..."
There were no sparks.
No matter how hard he searched, Izuku couldn't find the warmth that once was.