Chapter Text
Izuku was born a prince, not an heir. At four years old, he was already accustomed to his quiet life in the castle. Watching the other kids play together, he found in himself a strange ache he couldn't name, a sort of emptiness that felt too big for his small body. It was a kind of cold even the endeared smile of his mom couldn't warm.
He had woken up in the middle of the night and got drawn by the beautiful lights in the sky. Clutching his sheep plush against his heart, he looked in wonder at the distant dots through the glass where the frost left its crystal patterns.
"They are stars," the gentle voice of his mother startled him. Instead of sending him back to his bed as he expected, she gently put a coat on his son's back. Izuku filled his arms into the warm sleeves and beamed. Then, she opened the door and invited him to join her on the balcony.
Izuku tightened his grip on the plush and shyly stepped outside. The small kid flinched when the fresh wind kissed his face. He rose his head in awe around him. The stars were covering the entire sky. He couldn't tell where they ended.
"These stars are our Fates," his mom sounded amused by his amazement. "Look." She showed her forearm, where a large white double-bloomed flower was. Mesmerized, Izuku found himself tracing the edges of its white petals with his small finger.
"Fates are the path you will follow to become who you are. When my Camellia blossomed, I knew I had found what I needed." She stayed silence and Izuku wondered what she had found. "Perhaps you'll share one with someone."
Now aware of his own lack of control on his destiny, the world seemed suddenly so big, scary; Izuku felt too small. The immensity of the night sky wasn't as inviting as before. All these beautiful lights had turned into anxious uncertainties. What if his Fate was so little, he never found it among all of them?
"Everyone has a Fate", his mom had reassured him." You'll know yours soon enough."
It didn't appease him, however he put on a brave face and smiled back to his mom, and when she brought him back to in bed, he couldn't ignore the void inside his heart who had just grown a little bit more this night.
Izuku woke up in a jolt. A gentle hand on his shoulder had extirpated him from his sleep. His eyes took a minute to acclimate to the sudden source of light, leaving his brain to catch up an instant later. He sat up on his bed, an arm shielding his face from the beam of the lamp his mother was holding.
"Are you okay, Izuku?" she sounded worried. "I came to check on you and you didn't look well."
He looked at his mother, finding comfort in her eyes.
"Do you want to talk about your dream?"
He shook his head. The feeling of urgency who had been scouring his body had slowly left — it was as if the memories of his dream had flown away from his mind. His mom delicately wiped the single tear that was silently rolling on his cheek.
"Do you want me to stay until you fall asleep?" she offered her embrace.
The small kid nodded and rushed to find comfort into his mother's arms.
While his eyes closed and he slowly felt his tiredness win over, his heart ached once more; the emptiness was back inside.
Izuku grew up into a very passionate kid. He read everything he could find in the castle's library about Fates. He was a loyal admirator of All Might, the greatest warrior whose Fate never ended. His story always brought him comfort, particularly when the melancholy inside spread too much.
At night, he would still watch the stars, yearning for his own fate, apprehensive of what to expect. Sometimes, staring at them, his heart would inexplicably ache.
Some days, he would attend parties celebrating someone else's coming-of-age — their forearm finally showed their Fate. Izuku grew more and more restless each time a bud appeared on another kid's skin and his own stayed nude.
He devoured All Might's legends, daydreamed about his owns. Every so often, he would wish for a Fate that made him go on adventures around the kingdoms, heroically braving the cold blizzards and fighting Nomus. He read a lot about the all the places he yearned to discover through his own eyes.
He most likely wouldn't get the chance to follow that kind of Fate, but perhaps when his flower had bloomed, he could go explore the outside.
He's flying over the ocean. He's never seen a body of water like this — endless. There is no land, only blue, blue, blue. The feeling of urgency scours his being, yet he cannot go faster. The horizon seems even farer; the distance between them grows. When he speaks, his voice is strained, desperate. "Ka—" He wakes up.
At sixteen, Izuku had realized he was a unique case. He was the only one left whose forearm still didn't exhibit any bud. As he read a lot about Fates, he speculated that he should be a very late bloomer. He told himself it was fine, most people would wait until they were adults to make their flower bloom. His father only started his journey when he, his child, was three. As long as it appeared in time.
It was fine.
Until his mother's tears made him accept the hard truth.
He was Fate-less.
"I'm so sorry, Izuku."
It felt like some part of him had already heard those words before, but it didn't hurt any less.
He doesn't know why this dream haunts him. It is the only place he fully feels all of his emotions, it is as overwhelming than trying to discern the blurry limit between the sea and the sky. Blue is surrounding him, conquering his senses. The pressure of not being too late constricts his chest. His mind is picturing the worst. He feels like he'll lose half his soul, if not all of his heart. He is stuck, here, between emotions he cannot name and places he doesn't know.
The last coming-of-age party he attended was of the youngest of the Todoroki. He was eighteen when his kingdom received an invitation, a few years after the news that stars had gifted this kid the right flower had reached them. His family, which consisted of his mother and him since his father was still completing his Fate somewhere, had been sent to honor it. The festivities lasted for a whole week, punctuated with large banquets and flamboyant spectacles. It was no wonder it had taken years to plan.
On the third day, Izuku already felt overwhelmed. Everything and everyone were about Fates — something that he missed. At night, he strolled by himself in the gardens, looking for some calm. What he found was a wide glass house with a culture of all kinds of flowers.
He spotted his mother's white Camellia on the side. There was a multitude of species. He had read so much about Fates, he could recite each of their meanings.
In the middle of all of them, surrounded by the most beautiful flowers, stood a single Edelweiss. Courage and purity. The Todoroki emblem.
"I hate flowers," he sighed to the silent clearing.
"Did you wish of another flower too when yours appeared?" a soft voice answered his lament, startling him.
Izuku turned his head around where a man his age stood. He recognized the star of the party. Even if he had never seen what he looked like, his mismatched hair and eyes would have sold him away. He wore a cobalt blue jerkin with gold details over a white linen shirt. On his right forearm, the sleeve had been altered to leave uncovered the part where his mark had come to light. Izuku recognized the infamous Edelweiss' bud. He briefly wondered what would have happened if if had been another flower, like the Azalea — patience — or Hydrangea — pride — of his siblings. Or worst, the orange lilies — hatred — of the oldest.
The crown prince's eyes went to his own covered arms. Izuku sighed once more and slightly rolled his sleeve up, exposing his nude skin.
"Mine never showed," he expected to watch the familiar embarrassment wash over his interlocutor's features as he explained, but the man seemed curious. "No one knows why, it is unheard of." As he was met with silence, he continued. "I don't know which kind of flowers I would have liked to bear. Perhaps the same as my mother, a white Camellia, which would have prompted me to stay and wait by her sides for the rest of my life. A Zinnia would have gave me good position in the castle as a councilor or a knight. There aren't much Warrior of our status, but I wouldn't have minded an adventurous Fate. With a yellow Chrysanthemum, I could've taken over my kingdom," he chuckled as his own witticism. "I guess—"
"Why do you want so much to conform to a Fate that undeniably doesn't exist?" Todoroki interrupted his rambling. "I always told myself that if I were a Warrior, I would leave. But this…" he glanced to Izuku's right forearm. "Having no flower at all… I could actually do anything I'd want."
Izuku stood flabbergasted. The bluntness of the crown prince astounded him. Usually, people would rather pity him or ignore his existence when they learned about his unique situation. Moreover, his mom once told him one's flower could only bring them felicity. It seemed that it wasn't always the case.
"Why don't you?" Izuku defiantly responded.
Todoroki didn't entertain his question. Instead, he walked past him and stomped on the beautiful and rare Edelweiss.
"I feel a bit better," Todoroki declared.
Izuku glanced toward the sky, where stars were certainly deeply offended by their behavior. He laughed. Stars had never looked his way regardless.
They stayed in each other's company until the feast ended, when one went back to his duties, the other to his lonesomeness.
At night, he replayed his new friend's words in his head. If I were a Warrior I would leave. They floated in his mind with the same brightness as stars in the night.
I would leave. I would leave. I would leave. I would leave. I would leave. I would leave.
When his dreams brought him back to the vast body of water, he asked himself how he could do it.
Leave.
This time, the end of his feet slightly touch the ocean. He is so close he can look at his own reflection without as much alteration as in his other dreams. He wears clothes he has never seen before, a green overall with gold accents and red satchels on his belt. He feels and sees the wind flying through his yellow cape.
Below himself, deep into the sea, something new catch his interest. There is a boy, unmoving, who goes at the same speed as he is flying in the air. He doesn't discern his figure so well, tries to catch a glimpse of his eyes, but his own image and the waves make it a task too difficult.
It jolts once.
A last breathe escapes his mouth, the liberated puff of air flows to the surface, where Izuku is.
When it blows around and dissipates, he sees that the body is now sinking.
He dives into the water.
As he walked on his own path, the familiar castle stood behind him, he rose his head towards the sky, where stars seem to scoff at his insolence. Time had passed since the first time he contemplated the beautiful and distant constellations that scattered the night, and he had since accepted there weren't any up there looking out for him. It didn't mean that he couldn't carve out his own.
His last glance to the sky came with a wish he threw in the immense well above him— a wish that held his hopes to fill the void in his chest, even only for a little bit.