Dear Reader, I think it's time I give you a little bit of background information.

Hisashi Midoriya was a normal child with normal parents from a normal home. He wasn't born with an aura of evil and he never showed signs of wrongness as he grew up. He was, like every other child, normal.

He went to elementary school, made friends, and pretty soon his own quirk showed up. He could breathe fire. It was not a particularly powerful quirk, but it was a useful one nonetheless. Hisashi went through middle school and became fascinated by the idea of becoming a hero. Eventually, that fascination grew into an obsession.

He met Inko in high school. She busied herself with acing her business courses while Hisashi struggled with his hero coursework. He did not go to a prestigious school such as UA or Shiketsu. Instead, he had to settle with being accepted into a lesser-known school. He graduated with average grades and married Inko that same year. He loved her at one point, I think.

Months after their marriage, Inko and Hisashi were on their way to becoming parents. Normally this would be thrilling news. They were going to have a child! Yet Hisashi couldn't be overly excited. He applied to every hero agency he could think of. He didn't receive a single acceptance letter. He had no way to support his family and more importantly, no way to achieve his lifelong obsession.

Hisashi was approached by a doctor for a business deal. He accepted.

He broke the news to his wife that he was moving overseas. Inko was distraught, obviously, but Hisashi told her there was simply nothing to be done. The family needed money and this was the only way to provide it.

Inko never heard from Hisashi again. Occasionally there would be mysterious transactions to her bank account but, other than that, she was forced to raise their child on her own.

Izuku finds himself in his childhood bedroom. His hero posters covered the walls, his action figures lined his shelves, and his desk remained littered with comics and UA homework. It was just as he'd left it.

Except for the person sitting on Izuku's bed.

Izuku recognized him instantly, even though he hadn't seen that photograph in what felt like years but was probably only a few months.

It was Suzu. Mr. Sato's dead son.

Suzu sat on the bed, his eyes empty. "Why are you in here?" His voice was almost a whisper.

"I need help," Izuku said.

"With what?"

"UA is under attack and everyone is dying. I need to do something."

Suzu scoffed. "The only thing you could do at this point is to just give up. You couldn't save anyone. Just stop trying."

Izuku stared at the person sitting on his bed. He was barely eighteen and yet his eyes were full of grief that Izuku found he could understand. "It doesn't matter that I failed. It doesn't matter that I failed more times than I can count and it doesn't matter that I can't do anything right. I know I'm a failure but my friends shouldn't have to suffer for my failures so I am going to continue to try even if it kills me." Izuku realized that for the first time in a long time, he believed what he was saying. This was the calmest he had ever been in the face of failure. He felt at peace.

Suzu said nothing, but he did lift his head to look Izuku in the eyes.

"So?" Izuku asked. "What can I do? You're here in my mind for some reason. You must know."

The boy on the bed hesitated.

"Well?"

"Shit, you're stubborn," he remarked, "how did your mom put up with you?"

"She's more stubborn than I am."

"That makes sense. Look, kid-"

"I'm not a kid."

Suzu continued as though he hadn't been interrupted. "There is something you can do but there's a good chance it will kill you and it will not be pleasant. Trust me. You don't want to die like that."

"What will happen?"

"Well, bending the fucking fabric of reality tends to have big consequences, kid."

"I'm not a kid," Izuku said again.

"Jesus, let me talk, will ya? Depending on how much you change the worse the backlash will be. If you just summoned an apple out of nowhere the worst thing that might happen to you would be a headache. If you tried to fix this entire war, I'm not sure if you will ever have existed. If you manage to even survive that, any wounds you heal will be given to you twice as much." He winced. "Nobody could survive that."

"How do you know all of this?"

"There's no time to explain. If you want to do this you need to decide now. There's not much time left." Suzu examined Izuku's face and seemed resigned with whatever he found there. "There's no way I can convince you not to do this, is there?"

"My friends need help and I'm probably going to die either way." Izuku had been prepared for death for a long time. "I might as well die trying."

Suzu wore a tentative smile. "I wish I was more like you when I was alive."

"From what your dad told me, you were better."

Suzu sighed. "You need to go now. There's not much time left."

Izuku startled. "How will I know how to activate my quirk?"

"Don't worry about that. I'll handle it." The world around Izuku began to fade but Suzu paid it no mind. "I'll see you on the other side, kid."

Izuku smiled. He was ready. Before he could regain consciousness completely, however, Suzu spoke again.

"Oh, and kid, by the way - the voices are going to get pretty intense. Sorry about that."

Izuku's eyes snapped open as fast as a kid in bed when they remembered that they didn't finish their homework. He was still pinned to the ground in shackles, but he barely noticed. His head pounded with noise. He couldn't hear himself think. He couldn't hear anything asides from the cacophony of voices ringing in his ears. The voices were too much for him to keep track of. They demanded revenge. Some were screaming. Some were crying. They wanted blood. They wanted pain. They wanted anger.

They wanted to hurt.

Izuku understood.

That voice in his head for all that time was never a single voice. It was an amalgamation of many voices. A monster made up of pain, hurt, and fear. Izuku pitied them.

They heard his pity and they raged.

But there was no time. Izuku had to do something. Todoroki was in danger. His mom was in danger and Izuku was the only person that could help.

A sense of calm washed over him just like when he was talking to Suzu.

Then there was nothing but the sensation of power and the glee of the many voices in Izuku's mind.

The shackles binding his limbs to the ground snapped with ease.

Todoroki opened his eyes. What the fuck is going on?

The young hero was somewhat surprised that he hadn't been killed (he was sure that the villain was going to finish him off. Why didn't he?) but his attention was more focused on the scene in front of him.

The villain was levitating off the ground, power pouring off of him in droves. In front of him stood... Inko? Inko Midoriya. Why was she here? Todoroki couldn't focus through the haze of pain. Pain? Why was he hurting? Todoroki glanced down.

Oh, he thought, that's why.

Blood was seeping through the hole that the ice had punched in his body. He shouldn't be alive right now, but he couldn't seem to make himself care too much. It was as though he was seeing the world through a lens of slight pain, confusion, and no cares whatsoever.

Maybe it was all a dream. That's why Inko is glaring at the most powerful villain in the world and Izuku is pulling himself from the ground with ease while glowing and why is Izuku glowing this all must be some kind of crazy dream. But Todoroki couldn't stop watching.

Izuku wasn't... Izuku anymore. He looked like something else altogether. He looked like something angry.

His eyes were dark. There was no color in them, only darkness. He was covered in blood and parts of his body were bending at unnatural angles but he didn't seem to notice. His mouth was contorted into a shape that was probably supposed to be a smile but instead was nothing like it. It was sinister.

"É̴̼͙͓̯̜̳͚̻̇̑̕͝x̶̡̤͖̩̝̩͖̓č̸͍͕̫̥̲͚̏͜ͅű̸̫̄̇̍̎̕̕͘͝s̴͇̪̳̺͔̯͙̏̿̿͜ȩ̸̡͉̙̟̫͚̬̰̳̒ ̵̯͚̘̠́͂̍͝͝m̴͚̯̫̯̫̻̣͈̈̽e̵̡̪̪̟̫̤͇͋͑̊̅͆͊.̶̡̧̥̻̣̹̍̀̊̓͂̓̉" Izuku said. But it wasn't Izuku. It was him talking but that was definitely not his voice.

The man of shadows paused before slowly turning to face Izuku. "Well. Isn't this a pleasant surprise? Look, Inko, our son finally decided to live up to his potential."

Our son? Now Todoroki was even more confused.

The voice laughed. It was not a pleasant sound. "𝕎𝕖 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕟𝕠 𝕤𝕠𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤, ℍ𝕚𝕤𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕚 𝕄𝕚𝕕𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕪𝕒." The man froze. "𝕐𝕖𝕤, 𝕨𝕖 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕟𝕒𝕞𝕖. 𝕎𝕖 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦."

Izuku's body walked forward, glowing with darkness and surging with power. "𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕪𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕤 𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕦𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕔𝕒𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕡𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕗𝕦𝕝 𝕟𝕖𝕖𝕕 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕟𝕠𝕨," they (it?) said and the not-smile stretched wider, covering the entirety of Izuku's face, "𝕨𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦."

Todoroki did not even blink but the next thing he knew Izuku was now floating in front of Hisashi and had his hands gripped around his father's neck.

Hisashi struggles but Izuku's face exhibited no signs of concern. "𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕡𝕚𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕕 𝕦𝕤 𝕠𝕗𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕥𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕦𝕤. 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕕 𝕒𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕤𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕤 𝕡𝕠𝕜𝕖𝕕 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕕𝕕𝕖𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕖𝕕𝕝𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕕 𝕒𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕕𝕠𝕔𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕤 𝕣𝕚𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕕 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕒𝕨𝕖𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕖 𝕤𝕔𝕒𝕝𝕡𝕖𝕝𝕤, 𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕠𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕤𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕞𝕤. 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕗𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕡𝕦𝕥 𝕦𝕤 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕡𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕥𝕚𝕔 𝕤𝕠𝕟." Izuku's head tilted and he tossed Hisashi to the ground. "𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥'𝕤 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕞𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖. 𝕎𝕖 𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕨𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘. 𝕎𝕒𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘. 𝕎𝕖 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕙𝕦𝕣𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦. 𝕋𝕠 𝕖𝕟𝕕 𝕪𝕠𝕦. 𝔹𝕦𝕥 𝕨𝕖 𝕒𝕝𝕤𝕠 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥."

Hisashi struggled to his feet. He breathed fire at Izuku but it did nothing. The flames licked at his skin gently and left no damage behind. Hisashi's shadows had long since faded away and the look in his eyes was one of fear. Izuku surged forward, his face more centimeters from Hisashi's.

"𝕎𝕖 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕙𝕦𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦."

Todoroki's world went dark.

Izuku was scared. He had no idea what was going on. He was surrounded by hate and anger and he couldn't see what was going on and he was so, so scared.

"Izuku, stop!" Inko reached out to her son. Her son. Oh, how she had missed her son. He was here but he wasn't himself and she just wanted her baby back. "Izuku, please," she begged. Her hand wrapped around her son's forearm and she pulled gently. "Just come back to me, sweetie. You don't need to keep doing this."

The dark eyes that had once held so much emotion stared at her blankly, yet Inko did not back down. The chaos of the battle continued around them and neither of them paid it any mind. Inko was too worried about her child. Her child who has been gone from her life for so long. Her child whose limbs were bent so wrong and who was covered in far too much blood for her taste.

"𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕕 𝕚𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖." Izuku's voice was condescending which was not right. Her son was never condescending. He was loving and kind and brave even if he didn't think so. "ℍ𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕕 𝕚𝕟 𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕕. ℍ𝕖 𝕕𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝕪𝕠𝕦."

"I know Izuku, and I know that he never gives up. He always fights, even when he doesn't think he can anymore." Inko glared at the thing that had taken her child from her. "You will give him back."

Her son's throat let out a distorted laugh that was not his. "𝕎𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕕𝕠 𝕟𝕠 𝕤𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘. 𝕎𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕕 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕚𝕟 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕘𝕠𝕒𝕝. 𝕎𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕟𝕠𝕨."

Inko raised her chin defiantly and glared. "I'd like to see you try."

Something felt wrong. Izuku could feel it. Something was not right and he didn't know what was going on. Izuku began to panic before he heard it. There were voices floating in the emptiness.

I know Izuku, and I know that he never gives up. He always fights, even when he doesn't think he can anymore.

Was that his mother? Why was she out there? She shouldn't be here.

We had planned to leave you alone but now you are standing in front of our goal. We must kill you now.

No. "Stop it!" he screamed. "Give me my body back! You are not going to control me anymore. I want to go back."

There was no response. "Let me go!"

Izuku was tired of being scared. He was tired of being upset and he was tired of being told what to do. Now he was angry.

No, it was more than that. He was furious. Izuku reached out into the darkness and started tearing it apart.

Inko's arm was gripped by a strong hand yet she refused to flinch. She stared into the dark eyes that reminded her so much of Hisashi and hoped.

Before they could do anything to Inko there was a sound that resembled a scream. But it was worse. It was demented and shrill. The entire battle had to cover their ears against the noise, but Inko wasn't bothered at all. She was too busy staring into the eyes of her son. His eyes, which were fading back into their natural green color. The eyes of her son.

The screaming was silenced then Izuku stared at Inko in surprise.

"Mom?"

"Izuku."

Then she was hugging him and someone was crying but Inko did not care. Her son was here and she was hugging him and he was going to be okay.

Izuku pulled himself back into consciousness and found himself being held in a tight grip by his mother. He held onto her even tighter. He had missed her. Of course, he had been with her plenty of times but she had never known it was him. Now she knows that he is her son and now he does not have to worry about pretending. There was wetness running down Izuku's face yet he paid it no mind.

Inko pulled away and reached up to hold her son's face in her hands. She wiped his tears with her thumbs and smiled at him. "I missed you, sweetie."

Izuku leaned into her gentle touch with relief. That felt nice. "I missed you too, mom."

Izuku took a moment to get his bearings then looked around. That was when he spotted Todoroki.

"Shoto!" Izuku ran over to the unconscious boy (which was quite a feat considering the majority of his bones were broken and there was definitely some type of internal bleeding going on) and kneeled next to him, checking for a pulse. Todoroki's heart was beating. It was faint, but it was there. Izuku searched for someone who could help when he realized.

He was on a battlefield. The bodies of heroes he had worshipped as a child were surrounding him as well as the bodies of people he knew. His friends. Those who were standing were no longer fighting. They simply stared at Izuku as though he was some kind of monster. He did not care.

"Hold on, Shoto, you're going to be okay. Just give me a minute to figure this out first," Izuku said. He turned to Inko, eyes squeezing shut with regret. He had just gotten her back and now there was a chance he was going to leave her again. "Mom, I need to do something."

Inko knew that tone of voice. She hated it. It was the voice her son used when he was telling her he was going to do whatever it takes to help people. To be a hero, even at the cost of his own self. "Is there any way I can convince you to just stop and come home with me?"

"No."

Inko smiled a tired smile that was not a smile at all. He was still the same Izuku. "I love you, Izuku. Do what you need to but, please try and come back home for me."

Izuku wanted to cry but he did not. This might be the last time he saw his mother. He did not want their goodbye to make her sad. "I'll do my best, Mom. I love you too."

Then Izuku reached back into his mind and pulled.

This time was different. Izuku's body flooded with power and it felt as though he knew the secrets of the universe. He was not thrown into the dark. He was in control this time and it was glorious.

It is impossible to describe the rush of power one can get when you know the secrets of everything and can do anything. Many have tried. All of them have failed.

Izuku snapped his fingers and Todoroki's body began to heal. He waved a hand across the battlefield. Hearts that had previously stilled began to beat again. Bricks that had crumbled from the school building found themselves once again standing strong and proud as the day they were first laid down. Windows were unshattered. The grass was unstained with blood.

Izuku snapped his fingers again. The army of villains disappeared.

Not even I am sure where they had gone. There are rumors that their lives had reversed and they were given another chance to live. A chance to try again. Others say that they were banished to a place of nonexistence where they were forced to live a life of nothingness. Nobody is sure. It remains one of the world's great mysteries.

Izuku turned and faced Hisashi Midoriya, who lay on the ground and was staring up at his creation with terror.

"I pity you."

And then the man was gone.

There was a slight shift in the world; it was something everyone could feel. It was a sense of rightness, as though all of the wrongness that had occurred had never happened at all.

Of course, that isn't true, just ask any therapist. They have been quite busy these past years. My own included. But it was a sense of peace, as though the world had become a slightly better place. It was the soothing balm on a wound we had not been sure would ever heal.

The world will not heal completely. It is scarred. But there is a chance that the scar will fade with time and healing, and there is a chance that we as a people have grown closer through this sadness. We appreciate what we have while we have it more. We hug our loved ones just a little tighter, we live just a little more happily, and we love just a little more strongly.

It's not perfect but it's a start.

But I'm sure I don't have to explain any of this to you, Dear Reader. You felt the shift along with the rest of the world, after all. I'm sure you know exactly what I mean.