Master of Heroes (MHA/Fate/Grand Order)

[ThatOnePsycho]

So, the event going on, plus insomnia, plus rewatching Case Files has reminded me of how much I love Gray, so have this bit of fluff!

Yeah, I have no idea how frequent these will be, I tend to get a flash of inspiration and chunk them out.

---

The gravekeeper sat in a comfortable chair, looking down at the tablet in her hands while chewing her lip. Finally, she pressed the button and pulled up the file she had been given unrestricted access to. And those words alone felt strange and foreign. She had never had unrestricted access to… well, anything, in her life. Growing up, she had been a prisoner in all but name, a sacrifice for a ritual. And after she had met Sir, he had always been slightly closed off. The closest she had experienced was clothing, and she was relient of Reines for that.

Chaldea combat report.

Singularity 1: Fuyuki City, Japan, February 2004.

Nature of Divergence: First Holy Grail War (victory: Maris Bury Animusphere) becomes Fifth. Corruption of the Holy Grail by unknown figure (amendment-2015 figure identified as Avenger class Servant Angra Mainyu).

Deployment:

A-1 Kirschtaria Wodime Status- Critically Injured

A-2 Daybit Sem Void Status- Critically Injured

A-3 Ophelia Phamrsolone Status- Critically Injured

A-4 Kadoc Zemlupus Status- Critically Injured

A-5 Beryl Gut Status- Critically Injured

A-6 Scandinavia Peperoncino Status- Critically Injured

A-7 Akuta Hinako Status- Severely Injured

Gray stopped, blinking at the names. Those were… those were the names of the men and women they were fighting… they had worked at Chaldea at one point?

She scrolled passed name after name, all saying the same thing: Critically Injured until finally.

S-4: Izuku Midoriya Status- Successfully Deployed.

D-1 Mash Kyrielight Status- Successfully Deployed. Servant status: active.

Deployed Servants: Mash Kyrielight- Shielder, Master: Izuku Midoriya. On sight summoning: Atalante- Archer, Master: Izuku Midoriya.

Enemy Servants: Servant Lancer: True Name: Medusa. Servant Berserker: True Name: Heracles. Servant Archer: True Name: Unknown. Servant Saber: True Name: Artoria Pendragon.[/I]

Gray breathed in through her nose as she read the name, hands tightening. She knew Artoria was walking around Chaldea, several times over in fact, but so far she had managed to avoid any reference to the Heroic Spirit she had been intended to be a vessel for beyond that warning from Sir.

She-

"You could have just asked me about whatever your reading," Gray whipped around so hard she felt her neck pop, watching Izuku limp into the room, tossing Add up into the air and catching him as he went, "Also, maybe next time don't use Add? He's kinda… loud. And reminds me of Orion."

"Stop- this- right- now-!" Add yelped with each toss, before Izuku plopped him on the desk Grey was sitting at and sat down across from her. His eyes ran across her face in a way she wasn't quite used to. It wasn't the way Sir looked at her, like he could barely stand it, but it wasn't the marveling in it that Svin gave, but it wasn't the uncaring look from Flat, "Sorry, Gray, he noticed me."

"You weren't hiding," Izuku said with a laugh, before returning to stare at Gray. The… well, grey haired grave keeper blushed and tugged on her hood, even though it couldn't do anything more that it already was, "so, this might be nosy of me, but what are you reading?"

Gray stared at Izuku for a long moment, before an incredulous laugh rose up in spite of herself, doubling her over as Izuku sat there, a look of confusion spreading across his face, "I'm sorry, it's just- haha- I'm the one reading about your adventure behind your back- and you're worried about being nosy?"

"Yes?" Izuku said, still looking confused.

"I- I was reading about Fuyuki," Gray finally got her laughter under control, sitting up while Add continued to give his high pitched 'ihihihihi' of a laugh.

"Oh, that was… yeah, I guess it makes sense to start at the beginning," Izuku said, adjusting the scrunched up tie of his waistcoat before scratching the palm of his hand, where the Command Spells in the shape of a cross shaped shield sat.

"Why are you wearing that, Master?" Gray asked.

"Just got done with a wine tasting for James," Izuku said, grimacing, "it wasn't the worst, but still not my favorite thing. I can tell you more about Fuyuki than the official report, if you want?'

"Sure," Gray said, putting down the tablet, "Why weren't you injured… and how did the others…?"

"There was a bombing," Izuku said, sucking the last bit of joy from the room, "a… uh, a guy who worked for us… well, at the time it was more I worked for him, it turns out he was possessed by Beast I. So he tried to cut us off at the hip by blowing up all the Masters. I only survived through dumb luck, if I'm honest. I got pneumonia when I arrived at Chaldea and was off the roster because of it."

"So you did the first mission-?"

"No, Mash's… her shield heals all poisons, when it's working a hundred percent. I recovered right after we got to Fuyuki."

"And you… you beat all the Servants with just her and Atalante?"

"No," Izuku said, "We had help from a Servant already there, Caster Cu Chulainn. And we never beat the Berserker, just kinda booked it past where it was. Why are you curious about thi-?"

"Sir wanted to go to the Grail War," Gray admitted, "and I heard Olga Marie was originally in charge of Chaldea. I knew her… or a version of her, so I was curious why she wasn't… Master?"

Izuku had grimaced again, not the joking one he had about the alcohol, but a full blown one like someone had punched him in the heart, "it's probably on the file, but… that same guy who was mind controlled killed her by throwing her into CHALDEAS… it was… it was bad, I'm not gonna pretend otherwise."

"Oh…" Gray breathed.

"I tried to stop him," Izuku said, voice quivering, "used Phobos Catastrophe on him, but…. He just shrugged it off. I felt so helpless and… and… then she was gone. I never really thought… everything everyone said made her sound kinda distant and closed off. I didn't think about her having friends before now."

"We weren't really friends," Gray said, wondering what had happened to Trisha in this timeline, "We only met once or twice…"

"I'm still sorry," Izuku said, eyes downcast as he ran a hand through his hair. Before sighing as it snagged on a knot, "I'm gonna need to get this cut."

"I could try brushing it first," Gray said, to another 'ihihihi' from Add. Oh dear God, n-

"Oh, does gloomy Gray ha- AH- No! Not-! You-! Too! Stop it-! Stop!" Add yelped as Gray began tossing him into the air like Izuku had done.

"As I was saying, I have a lot of practice with Sir, Master."

"If you want to," Izuku said, "I don't want to be an inconvenience."

"You're not falling asleep playing video games like Sir does," Gray said, "and you don't drool over dry clean only suits. Brushing your hair isn't an inconvenience, Master."

"Then let's go," Izuku said, pushing himself up.

"Please-! Stop-! I'll stop-! Teasing you- about your- cru- AAAHHH-!"

---

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

I'm not saying I wrote this on a meltdown, I just wrote it on a meltdown.

---

"We're going to have to do something about this," Goredolf said once the Count had left, not that it would have done anything if he was around, "Not Inko of course, we all knew that was an inevitably, not a possibility… but the police, the heroes and such. We don't have the UN and Mage's Associations backing anymore, we can't just ask them to make Izuku's disappearance go away."

"Yes," Sherlock said, tenting his fingers before pressing the intercom, "Sion, Anderson, Nursery and… hah… Moriarty? Can we see you in the CIC?"

"What are you planning?" Goredolf started, "wait, don't tell me… not that you all bother to tell me half the time. Sion, Anderson, Nursery Rhyme… hm… you're planning to do memory modifications?"

"Light, non invasive ones," Sherlock said, "or as non invasive as a memory modification can be. We simply add that after Izuku went missing, he was recovered from a kidnapping and we, as Chaldea Security, offered to take him in until such a time that it was safe for him to return."

"That sounds pretty invasive, Sherlock," Da Vinci said, "We're going to have to add memories of a sting operation or something to explain why it's safe for him to come back now."

"True," Sherlock nodded, "fine, it won't be noninvasive, but it's necessary."

"I didn't say it wasn't," Da Vinci said, "Lily?"

"Jimmy is wrapping up his bar keeping," the younger Da Vinci said, "and Sion is making some last checks on the engines now that the resonance is reaching its peak. Nursery and Hans are on their way, though."

"What's Moriarty for, if you don't mind me asking?" Goredolf finally asked with a sigh, crossing his arms and furrowing his brow.

"I hate to admit it," Sherlock said, "but if we're going to be here, and we are, then every human on the Border is going to need an identity. Birth certificates, IDs, passports, the works. If there's anyone on this world that can counterfeit those to the point nobody will be able to tell they're false, it's Moriarty."

---

Reines twisted her head to look up at the speaker, before looking back down toward James and sighing, "Any chance I can take the bottle with me?"

"It will cost you," James said.

Several synthetic crystals appeared in her hand, and she passed them to the barkeep, "I don't get why we use this stuff, it's only valuable because we say it is."

"That sounds dangerous communistic, my dear," James said, handing her the bottle and turning towards Drake. The privateer had already piled enough crystals, toasting Reines.

"Ain't gonna get out of this so easily," Drake said, swigging back the brandy, "Thanks for this, James. Sailing this bastard nearly blind was stressful enough, then you add that arse Nemo and… aye, I needed this drink."

"Any time," James said, pulling down the reinforced and enchanted sheet metal to lock up the store of alcohol, "so long as you're paying."

Drake barked a laugh as she vanished down the hall, and Reines watched the bartender finish his work before leaving with the wine bottle and glass in Trimmau's hands.

Two lefts, up a flight of stairs, a right and…

"I'm back," Reines deadpanned, pushing open the door with her foot, "I hope you didn't stay up."

Gray looked up from the textbook she was reading, biting the eraser of a pencil in bewilderment. Her mostly grey hair, interrupted with a single streak of blonde she normally kept hidden under her hood and in her braid, was hanging loose.

While the life of a Servant didn't quite suite Reines as much as it did Gray or Waver, in her opinion, she would quietly confide in herself that it was worth it just to see Gray's slow transformation into a perfect clone of Artoria Pendragon she had played witness to stop.

While it hadn't ever been as bad as the first night, when her face had begun to become a replica of Artoria's, according to Gray, that just made things more haunting. Reines had watched her de facto best friend writhe as her spine violently aligned itself. Watched bones snap like twigs and heal as excess fragments had pushed themselves out through Gray's skin. The Magus in her found it utterly fascinating, the part of her that she tried to kill, that cared (because Kayneth and Waver had both cared about someone, and look where it got them.) found it utterly horrifying.

"What was the lights going out about?"

"I don't know," Reines shrugged, taking her drink from Trimmau, "How's the school work?"

"It's… going," Gray said, glaring at the math problem.

"Missing Izuku yet?" Reines asked, smirking as Gray locked up… though regretting it a second later as Add finally decided to make himself known.

---


"Ihihihi," Gray's head snapped towards her Mystic Code, who was hopping up and down in his birdcage, "Yeah, are you missing Izu yet, Graaaaaaaah!"

"He really does just ask for it, doesn't he?" Reines asked, sipping her wine as she watched Gray viciously whip the cage up and down. Shut up. About. Her feelings. You stupid box!

"He likes it, I think," Gray said, dropping Add onto the table and ignoring his theatrical groaning.

"Why would I like it?" Add protested. Gray steadfastly ignored him, biting the eraser of her pencil-

Sharply enough to tear through the rubber as Reines continued, "And I wasn't talking about your feelings for Izuku. I just mean, well, like I've had to be on my best behavior without him around. It's so boring!"

"I," Gray spat the eraser, feeling heat crawl to her face as she leapt up, "I don't have-"

"Pull the other one first," Reines deadpanned, "at least it has bells."

Ohhhh… that… that…!

Gray grabbed a pillow, tossing it at Reines who batted it aside.

"What is it about him anyways? I mean, I get you not having any interest in Svin, he's cute but his behavior around you-"

"Uhg," Gray muttered, hearing the ghostly noise of the Beast Magus sniffing around her. It had taken her a couple of years to realize Svin was attracted to her, not that he hated her, "I… don't remind me."

"And I'm pretty sure Flat isn't interested in girls, assuming he's even interested in anyone," Reines continued, checking her communicator and eyes widening, "b-but you had plenty of people interested in you at Clocktower. So why Izuku?"

…

"He was… the first person to look at me like I was normal since this," Gray finally said, reaching up to touch her face, "ever since, I was Gray the cute," Reines jerked at that, "or pretty or… even Sir, he looks at me and sees Artoria. That's why he has me wear my hood around him. But Izuku… he recognized Goddess Rhongomyniad when he saw me for the first time, despite his amnesia… but he never let that make it so he looked at me as anything but, but just "Gray"..."

"...Yes..." Reines sighed, finally, "I suppose that would do it, wouldn't it?"

"Why do you think I keep bringin' it up," Add said, the cube hopping in place and forcing the cage back into position, "Master can't be that oblivious, sooner or later he'll catch the mem-"

"Izuku," a cold voice said, and all three whipped around to see Anastasia standing there, "is willfully oblivious. And you should have talked to me about it."

"What… I… why…"

"How else was I supposed to use you as evidence that people care about him to get through his thick skull," Anastasia huffed, "We're showing Inko around the Border, come on."

"Showing…?" Gray stopped, before hoofing it towards the Grand Duchess. Standing there, hand held by Jeanne Lily, was Inko Midoriya while Mash talked to her.

"This is where some of the female British Servants live," Mash was explaining.

"I se- hello?" Inko started, tight lipped, before they fell open as her eyes landed on Gray.

---

{Classified channel}

Reines-{Redacted}

You were right, ME-phenomena confirmed. Type unknown, suspect having to do with similarities between IM and MM, more information coming when I have the chance to gain it. Keep this low, has the potential to be dangerous to everyone, but mostly him.

---

Inko stared at the girl with long hair and a face similar to that of Artoria and Jeanne. Looking between the two, she worked her lip before saying, "Are you… related?"

It was, she felt, a fair question given how similar the two looked. Both had nearly identical facial structures, both had hair in shades of grey with a strand of hair stubbornly out of place… but the minute the question was asked, the older girl visibly recoiled before rushing back into her room. The noise of rustling clothes came a second later as the blond with her retreated back into the room.

"Gray isn't my sister," Jeanne said.

"Cousin?"

"Don't have any of those," Jeanne said, "Just Perè and Jeanne and Jeanne Alter."

"I'm… sorry?"

"Jeanne Lily is a… unique Heroic Spirit," Mash said as she made her way over to the open door, "One moment- Gray? Are you- oh, you're just-? Do you want to come with us? We can wait a minute, of course. Sorry, Lily's full name, as it were, is Jeanne D'arc Santa Alter Lily."

"Midoriya," Jeanne said without any room for argument. Inko considered trying to explain to her that Izuku was too young to be a father, that her and Hisashi were too young to be grandparents, only for Mash to cut her off before she could start.

"Midoriya," Mash agreed after a giggle, "She is a… fragment of the Heroic Spirit Jeanne D'arc Alter… she was the girl I was with when we met."

"Right," Inko said. This was still ridiculous, but everyone seemed to believe it so fervently.

"Jeanne Alter is in turn a darker copy of Jeanne D'Arc, the Maiden of Orleans. Those are her sisters. Technically, Jeanne Alter could be called her mother, but-"

"-She's more like a sister," Lily said.

"Then how is Izuku like your father?" Inko asked, grabbing onto the hole in the logic.

"Perè… he worked really hard to keep me alive," Lily said, "I'm not something that should exist normally, Grandmerè. Alter already stretched the limits of what a Heroic Spirit named Jeanne D'Arc could be, and I'm a step further than that. Perè… is probably the world's expert on Heroic Spirits, so he found a way to give me something to latch onto and make me Jeanne D'Arc too."

Inko felt a headache building at that. What did it even mean? "And what was that?"

"He took me to see the sea," Lily said, a happy smile spreading across her face.

"Jeanne only saw the sea at the end of her life," Mash explained, "so by making Lily "Jeanne who saw the ocean as a child", Senpai managed to make her enough of a Heroic Spirit to keep on existing. Like how Alter is "Jeanne who hates France"... it can be confusing, I know. Heroic Spirits are as much concepts as people. The wishes of humanity crystalized… you still don't believe us, do you?"

"It's hard to believe," Inko protested even as the nugget of doubt wormed in her gut.

"Wait," Anastasia said, "She doesn't believe us? About what, that we're not actually Heroic Spirits? Does she think we're using code names based around legends?"

""She" can hear you," Inko bit out, breathing in, "That's a more believable explanation than magic and legends and everything but… if I were to believe you, and I'm not saying I do… why do you all work for Izuku? He's just a boy."

"Why would we work for him if we were secret agents?" Serenity said, causing Inko to jump as she realized he had completely forgotten the girl with dark purple hair had been behind her, "We follow Izuku because he is our Master and friend."

"And he's my Perè," Jeanne said, "like Jack and Leonardo Lily!"

Just as Inko's mind began to wrap around the situation, it broke again, "Jack and…? There are more?"

"Yeah," Jeanne nodded, turning to Mash, "can we go show her them?"

"Give us a second," Mash said, "We're waiting for-"

"Sorry that took so long," Gray said, stepping out of the room with a cloak over her head, covering enough of her features to make her look almost plain, "I had to-

Inko pulled down the hood gently, "why are you covering your face? We're indoors, and someone as pretty as you-"

"Please," Gray said, grabbing the hood and pulling it back up, "let me? I'm a bit conscious of how I look-"

"That's an understatement," the other girl said, before curtseying to Inko, "I am Reines El-Melloi Archisorte, Sima Yi and Rider Class Servant of your son. A pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, yes," Gray said, bowing once she had put her hood back on, "and I'm Gray, Assassin Class Servant. Please take care of me!"

---

Jack breathed in, staring down at the body and raising the forceps. Slowly, carefully she reached into it and-

BBZZZZZ

Bugger!

Dropping the "funny bone", Jack fell back from the operation game and huffed. She knew how to do surgery (kinda… sorta… ok, she was better at vivi, viv- cutting things open), why was this so hard?

"Hey, Jackie?" A voice said from all around her, and she looked up.

"What's it, Leo?" Jack asked, kicking her feet. There were so many Lilies and Alters and… bleh, that it made life so hard to do. So as far as she cared, Da Vinci-Chan Lily was Leo.

"Are you wearing the dress that padre got for you? We've got a surprise of ya, but you need to be wearing that."

"We're wearing the dress that Mommy got us," Jack said, tugging at the white dress.

"Alright then," Leo said, before continuing, "then get ready because-"

"And this," Mash said, pushing open the door and letting a woman Jack recognized, even if she had never met her, immediately. Long green hair in a ponytail, only a couple of centimeters taller than Mash, slightly chubby, "is Jack. Jack, this is-"


"Grandma!" Jack cried, throwing herself at the green haired woman and crashing into her waist, causing her to stagger back and let go of Jeanne Lily's hand. Green eyes blinked at her in confusion, "You are Grandma, right? Mommy's mommy?'

"Mommy?" Grandma said.

"Izuku," Gray said, sliding into the room with Reines, who looked like she was watching one of Edison's shows, "Jack calls him Mommy because… well, she does."

"Mommy is Mommy," Jack said, continuing to hug Inko.

"Then… yes," Inko said, "I am your Grandma."

Jack beamed up at her, squeezing harder.

---

Inko's heart melted as the white haired girl, and she couldn't help but wonder if all of Izuku's "adopted" children had that trait, seemed to do her best to melt into Inko. After a second, Jeanne joined in, both of them hugging her. It was a familiar hug, the type of hug she had given her own grandmother after a long time away.

It, more than anything, convinced Inko that they were telling the truth. She knelt down, hugging them both just as tightly as they hugged her and met Mash's eyes.

"I've never heard of a Hero named Mash before," she said.

"I'm fused with a Servant," Mash said, "Mash Kyrielight was the name I was born with. I hold the power of Galahad, Knight of the Round Table. I am Shielder, the Heroic Spirit of the Shield and your son's loyal kouhai."

"And his leg and the stab wound?"

"I didn't have my powers at the time," Mash said, "I have them again, and Izuku will not be harmed so long as I remain standing. That is my oath as a knight."

"He won't be hurt so long as I'm around either," Anastasia said, her eyes as hard as ice, "I lost loved ones before. Ones I'll never see again because my Mystery is stronger than theirs. I refuse to lose Izuku until the chance that we will be reunited by the Grail's call is a hundred percent."

"Everyone on the Border would sooner die than see Izuku hurt again," Serenity said, "There was a day where he… he was comatose and began to vomit up blood. I remember him being rushed to medical to be given a transfusion. The Count was by his side in a heartbeat, and every one of us would have been if we could. Don't worry, Inko, your son is in the best hands possible. As little as it is, I swear that on my position as Hassan-I--Sabbah."

"We care about him," Gray said, simply and without the flourish of the others while Reines shrugged.

"I'm not head over heels for Izuku like them, but he's a source of constant entertainment. I wouldn't let that disappear for anyone."

"That's her way of saying he's her friend," Gray said, smiling at Inko before she could open her mouth.

"I don't have friends."

"Keep telling yourself that," Gray said.

"We'll protect Mommy too," Jack said, "if we gotta dissect some people to do it, we will."

That was… disturbing… really disturbing, "Who are you, Jack?"

"People call us Jack the Ripper," Inko closed her eyes and internally screamed. Her son... Had adopted… the most infamous serial killer of all them, "I'm Jack, or some people call me Jackie."

---

"-Please," Izuku's voice cracked, tears welling up as the Border flew towards the rift. Musashi laughed, reaching out to wipe away the tears in his eyes.

"C'mon, don't be like that," Musashi said, "I hate sad goodbyes."

"I don't-" Izuku's tears grew worse, if anything.

"Want this to be goodbye?" Musashi asked him, giving him a smile, "Neither do I, Master, but that's not a choice we have anymore. Ah, hell, I might as well."

"Might as well-?" Before Izuku could finish, Musashi swept in and give him a kiss on the lips, pulling back with a teasing smile.

"Give you something nice to remember me by," Musashi said, shoving him into the arms of the Count and turning towards the approaching Dyson Sphere, Chaos. A beam of energy strong enough to kill gods fired at the Storm Border, and Musashi unsheathed her sword and activated her Mystic Eyes of the Empyrean. The blast that should have destroyed them was deflected along the first of her four blades while it disintegrated.

"I am Shinmen Musashi no Kami Fujiwara no Harunobu," Musashi said, magical energy crystalizing the air around her as she reached for a single sword. The founder of Niten Ichi-ryū gripped one sword, the Myoujingiri Muramasa, "the flower of Tengen. Not once have I swung a perfect swing."

Wind, fire, earth, water, void all howled around her as she pushed the sword up just enough for the blade to glint in the flames of Chaos. She shifted raising both hands above her head and breathing in as the hellish noise of Chaos preparing to attack howled again.

This will be my last slash. It will be perfect, and it will keep Izuku safe.

"One" wouldn't do it.

"Zero" wouldn't do it.

If she wanted to stop Chaos, she would have to use " "

"For the first and last time," she said, the tranquility of the dead falling across her like a shroud. There was no escape from this, no trick to do it and walk away laughing. If she did this, it was the end.

But Izuku, Mash and the Missionary too, but Izuku… he'd walk away alive. Was this what people meant when they said love made a fool of people?

"I swing perfectly and claim my place at the throne of gods!" Musashi said, sheath falling away and blade fully drawn, "My roaring sword is now unsheathed! (Six Realms Five Rings) Ishana, Daitenshou!"

The world faded from her eyes as she swung the blade, becoming nothing more but herself and the portal leading to Chaos. The blade slid from her hands as the portal faded, leaving her in a void with a figure in red.

"So this is the Root all those mages want to find?" Musashi said, feeling herself fade, "Not all that it's made out to be, I guess.

---

The Count pushed the cup of tea into Izuku's hands, waiting for the inevitable explosion. Izuku couldn't hold anger over long periods of time well, but when he exploded, he exploded with the best of them. And the explosion was-

"Why?"


Imminent.

"Why did you STOP ME!" Izuku snarled, smashing the mug and slamming his cane into the ground, "I could have- have-!"

"Stopped her and got us all killed?" The Count shot back, "We had to-"

"What kind of hero stands by and lets their friend kill themselves-"

"The kind that can't afford to count the costs!" The Count barked, "Izuku. I say this as your friend, but we need to focus on your priorities right now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Izuku demanded.

"We're the last holdout of Proper Human History," the Count pointed out, "I know losing Musashi hurts you, but you're not thinking straight. Billions of people are reliant on us to save Proper Human History. A few sacrifices, except for you, are acceptable losses. We are ghosts who died, our lives don't matter!"

"You matter to me!" Izuku snapped, "You're my friends."

"I know," the Count said, "and if it were that easy, we wouldn't be having this conversation. But it isn't.

--


"Can you do it?" Sherlock asked Moriarty.

"I'll need help," he said, "Hassan of the Hundred Personas and Evil Wind… but yes, I can fake IDs for Izuku, Mash, Gray and the others. It won't be too hard.

---

Thoughts, questions and opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

I wrote a thing, I doubt it'll ever come up.

Class: Ruler (only normally capable of being summoned as Grand)

True Name: Izuku Midoriya.

----

Stats:

STRENGTH: E

ENDURANCE: E

AGILITY: -

MANA: C

LUCK: EX (Not "the greatest" but "too erratic to be quantified")

Noble Phantasm: C

Class Skills:

Magic Resistance: E

True Name Discernment: EX: as the Last Master of Humanity, Izuku was once the master of hundreds of Servants. There is a high chance he was the master of any particular Heroic Spirit at one point in time, and even if he wasn't, he can normally gather enough information from context clues to identify their true identity.

Divine Judgement: B (A+ as Grand Ruler): One Command Spells per Servant (Three if Grand Ruler), cannot repurpose the Command Spells of others ([Data Expunged])

Personal Skills:

[Expunged]: B: [Expunged]

Nega-Beast: EX: The personal skill verging on a Noble Phantasm and part of what Qualifies Izuku for Grand despite his personal weakness. A sphere of domain where all those Izuku identities as an ally make a Luck check using Izuku's Luck, on a success, the effect of a Beast Class Servant's own personal Nega skill is negated. However, on a failure, the skill continues to work as intended. Against Beast VII's Nega-Chaldea, this check is made with disadvantage.

[Expunged]: A: Tied to his Divine Judgement skill due to [Expunged], Izuku must use a Command Spell to activate this skill.

Noble Phantasm:

[Expunged]: Blade of Incineration (C Rank Anti Unit): a cane weapon forged from two of Izuku's daggers, the Spiritfuge and [Expunged], Izuku can use it in three formations. The first is as a staff, allowing him to use it as a focus for his Magecraft. The second is as a sword, allowing him to augment his Strength characteristic by one rank. The third formation, which requires the declaration of it's true name to be released. Upon doing so, Izuku casts the weapon into his opponent's shadow, burning them significantly. However, as this enchantment is only the equivalent of a Single Action spell, most Servants are immune to its effects.

Heart of Chaldea: Ephemeral Home of Heroes A+ Anti-Army: The Noble Phantasm that grants Izuku the title of Grand. An Irregular Bounded Field that augments any Servant that lived within the boundaries of Chaldea by one characteristic. For those allied to Izuku, their stats are increased, while those who have forsaken the bonds of friendship they forged within the halls of that frozen outpost feel their stats lowered. However, as Izuku is incapable of turning it off, the mana output needed to maintain him within this world is at a premium.

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

Medusa watched Izuku scratch at the corner of his jawline, before glancing over at Roman. The doctor looked like he needed a doctor himself, his hair a mess, a patchy beard growing on his yellowing skin, eyes jumping erratically.

It almost made her wish that Solomon would hurry up and attack them so Roman could get some rest and stop whatever cocktail of drugs he was using to pull triple shifts. At this rate, he would keel over dead and destroy the morale of the humans.

Medusa got the feeling this was Roman's fault somehow, but she didn't want him dead.

"Can she do it?" Izuku asked, the long stiletto bladed knife of the Spiritfuge whirling around one finger by the ring pommel. Roman blinked owlishly, like he hadn't really been paying attention to the conversation.

"It goes against protocol," he finally said, "Servant removal is supposed to be impersonal-"

"So no?" Izuku finished.

"Uh, well, no, actually," Roman said, "we're already way past the point where fudging that rule would be a thing we should worry about. We've already broken the "seven Servants" protocol, like, twelve or more times over… do you think it's a good idea?"

"Me?" Izuku asked, returning the owlish blink with one of his own. Remove the hair color from the equation and you could honestly believe they were brothers.

"I'm not gonna puff up my chest and try and act like I'm important," Roman said, "Heroes are your thing Izuku, it's who you are. If you think Medusa being the one to take down Gorgon is the best way to do this, it's the best way."

"Yeah," Izuku said, standing up, "C'mon, Medusa, let's do this."

Medusa nodded, standing up and adjusting her Mystic Eye Killers. Roman nodded and waved at them, turning back to the files he was reading.

"Thank you," she said as they walked through the halls of Chaldea. Servants and employees turned to watch them pass, some stopping them for brief conversations before noticing the uncharacteristically grim look on Izuku's face.

"I don't like this," Izuku said, "that we have to do this or that you have to be-"

"I asked to do this," Medusa cut him off, "don't put blame where it doesn't belong, Master. If someone has to do this, I want it to be me."

"And I wish it were me," Izuku said, hand gravitating towards the Command Spells in the shape of Lord Camelot.

"Why?" Medusa said, turning her head to see Izuku through the Mystic Eye Killers.

"It doesn't sit right with me," Izuku said, "it's my choice that gets them executed, I wish I was the one to do it. They deserve that much."

"Sometimes," Izuku and Medusa jumped as Sanson spoke up from behind them, deastralizing. Nail and Knife stopped millimeters from the headsman's throat, a chain and line of energy holding them in place, "it's better for the judge to wash their hands and leave the rest to the executioner, Maître. We are trained to make this process as quick and painless as we can."

"Did Roman tell you-?" Izuku started, lowering the blade of the Spiritfuge.

"Doctor Archaman informed me, yes," Sanson nodded, "I thought I might offer my assistance, as always, Maître, Mademoiselle Medusa. It is best to have an executioner at an execution, I find."

"I'm going to do it myself," Medusa said, meeting his eyes.

"I didn't mean to imply you wouldn't," Sanson said, "I fully expect you to. But it was standard of operation to have an executioner on hand just in case. I would offer my services as that role. Your… second, as it were. Gorgon will not go gently, we both know, and I wouldn't want her to risk her escaping and endangering Chaldea's staff. Even if she wouldn't get far, someone else would put her down, and I do not wish to see you robbed of putting your demons to rest."

"I… yes, thank you, Sanson."

"I'm going to talk to her, fir-" Izuku started.

"No!" Medusa snapped.

"I have to give her a chance-"

"She won't take it," Medusa said.

"How can we know that if we don't give her a chance-" Izuku started.

"Because I know myself," Medusa said, "I had the chance to stop before I became what I became. If she, if I, didn't listen to my sisters we won't listen to you," then she switched to greek, "Be a good boy so I don't need to tie you up, Master."

Izuku feel silent, gaping and blushing before returning, "I thought you hated when your sisters teased us?"

"I like teasing when it's on my own terms, Master," Medusa reached out and squeezed his hand, "and you are far, far too easy to tease."

---

Gorgon looked over as the room's door swung open, staring at the woman and man standing inside… but more the woman, "Get out…"

"I'm sorry," the woman said, stepping into the room, carefully taking off a pair of glasses and putting them in a case. She put that in the pocket of her riding jacket before shrugging it off and handing it to someone outside the door. The minute her hand returned to their side of the door, the dark clad executioner slammed the door shut.

"GET!" Snakes hissed as Gorgon rose up, towering over her younger self and pouring out enough killing intent to give an elephant a heart attack, "OUT!"

"We're here to kill you," Medusa said, snapping open her eyes and flaring her hair with her hands. Chains whipped out towards her, and the battle began.

---

If there was anyone who understood how Gorgon fought, it was Medusa. It was a simple fact, they were one in the same.

It was for this reason, Medusa had opted to confront her here, in her room. She couldn't grow to her full height, things were too cramped.

Her chains struck the walls and ricocheted towards Gorgon, only for her snakes to release beams of magical energy. Each one that hit the chains turned them to stone, before they crumbled away.

One of Medusa's chained nails lashed out, driving into Gorgon's side and out the other end in a spray of blood. Wrapping her hand around it tight, Medusa pulled herself in and landed feet first on her older, monstrous self.

"Killing me won't erase the past," Gorgon hissed, her snakes lunging at Medusa with dripping venom. Stabbing the other nail in, the purple haired Servant dove off Gorgon and activated her Monstrous Strength to smash her into the ground before ripping the nails from her skin. Two snakes immediately released another burst of magical energy, only for Sanson to lunge in the way and catch both blasts on the flat of his executioner's sword, which became chipped and weathered before her eyes.

"YOU!" Gorgon howled.

"You'll forgive me for stepping in for a moment, Rider," Sanson said, stepping to the side.

Medusa quietly nodded, ripping her nails from Gorgon and rushing forwards. Claws tore into her side even as she landed a heavy kick on Gorgon's jaw, using the momentum to spin away and land.

It was a simple equation. Gorgon was stronger and tougher than her. She'd also go on a rampage if she managed to kill Medusa and Sanson now that she knew her threat level had outweighed her usefulness. And since there were only two people who could have ordered this, Roman and Izuku would be at the top of her hitlist.

Even with all the Servants in Chaldea, Medusa wasn't going to risk that. So she was going to use the one thing she definitely had on Gorgon.

Her speed and her trump card.

Rushing behind Gorgon, Medusa stabbed with her nails, before dodging the tail strike by leaping over it and landing on the blades. Kicking off, and tearing through the flesh Medusa landed on the ceiling and kicked off again.

The pull of the nails sent Gorgon crashing into the ground, only for dozens of snakes to shift from her hair and firing beam after beam of red-black magical energy at Medusa, who bobbed and weaved around them as fast as she could, becoming little more than a purple blur.

Then, behind them, muffled by a door that was scarred with blasts of magical energy, a thud came across. And Medusa's heart stopped.

Gorgon wasn't drawing energy from the Grails, she was drawing energy from Izuku.

Her twin nails lashed out light lightning as her hair became more chains. Gorgon's eyes were put out before she had time to react, and Medusa's chain wrapped around her.

"Breaker Gorgon," Medusa breathed, a familiar mask appearing over Gorgon's empty eye sockets to stop her from using her Noble Phantasm before she turned to Sanson, "finish her. I need to go check on Izuku."

"Are you sure?" Sanson asked, "this was you closure-"

"I fought her," Medusa said. And abandoning her revenge on herself to help Izuku felt… right.

"Very well," Sanson said, walking towards Gorgon. Around her, ghostly hands bound her tighter as she thrashed. Medusa turned, rushing from the room as Sanson intoned, "Death is the Hope for Tomorrow, La Mort Espoir!"

Grabbing her jacket and sliding on the Mystic Eye Killers, Medusa turned Izuku onto his back. Piercing eyes stared up at her, slightly blue lips quivering as the fractals of his Magic Circuits burned across his body and up his wan face.

"It's done?"

"It should be," Medusa said, scooping up the young man, "We need to get you to the medical ward. You look like you're about to suffer necrosis."

"Should have cut the connection," Izuku said, "They don't normally fight that hard."

"Well, I'm not most people, Izuku," She said, hurrying along with long strides, few occasions making her happier for her long leg span.

"I know," Izuku said, "No one at Chaldea is most people, I guess."

"And we wouldn't trade it for the world," She said, "Now, keep talking, I want to make sure you don't black out on me. About anything. What's that school you want to go to?"

---

Don't ask me how Sanson got involved, he used Presence Concelment on me I swear. One second it was just Izuku and Medusa, next he was there. And yes, I know Gorgon didn't get the best showing.

Also, ships ahoy!

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

Izuku's eyes jumped open, finally free from the memories as he stared up at the ceiling. His mouth tasted like death.

Musashi.

Reaching out and grabbing the comm next to his bed, he spoke into it in greek, "Asclepius? How long have I been out?"

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Asclepius responded, voice deadpanned, "You've been unconscious for about a month. The transfer of Aro's Command Spells delayed your recovery by several weeks. As I told you it would."

"Still for the best," Izuku said, "can you get here? I want to start the recovery as soon as possible."

"Of course you do," Asclepius said, "Why would you want to rest?"

"I just woke up from a month long coma," Izuku pointed out. Eyes landing on a familiar cane at his bedside.

James…

"Don't you dare try to stand up," Asclepius said, "I'll be right there."

"Thank you," Izuku said, before switching frequencies, "Detective?"

"Izuku!" Sherlock breathed, "awake, I see?"

"Just woke up," Izuku rasped, glancing at the heart rate monitor and IV, "Correct me if I'm wrong, Detective, but aren't naps supposed to make you feel refreshed?"

"Depends on the person," the Servant said, "how are you?"

"Wish I could stand up," Izuku said, "but I'm pretty sure Asclepius would be beside himself in anger," something moving out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, "Lobo!"

The King of Currumpaw's head had snapped up at some point, cresting over the bedframe even as the rest of his body lay on the ground. The minute Izuku finished the word, Lobo was half on him, less like a dog and his owner and more like a fretful mother.

"Excluding the procedure," Sherlock said, "he hasn't left your side. He was beside himself when we brought you in, and nearly smashed down your door to see you."

"You did?" Izuku asked the wolf, before giving him a broad smile and a one handed hug, "Thank you. What happened while I was out, Sherlock? Is Beast VII-?"

"Gone, alongside the last Lostbelt and the blank Texture," Sherlock reported.

"And… and Olga?"

"We weren't able to find her body," Sherlock said, "I can't say if that's because it was disintegrated by the force you brought to bear against Type-Oort or if a rogue element stole it away."

"Goetia," the smallest amount of frustration leaked into Izuku's voice. Could he stop making things frustrating for ten seconds!?

"Or Muramasa, the Priest, Douman or the Alien," Sherlock said, "We weren't capable of confirming their termination."

"Why are there always loose ends?" Izuku sighed.

"Yes, well, these ones will be slightly looser."

"What."

"I'm… ah, I'm sending some photos to your terminal, Master," Izuku quietly swiveled to the other side of the bed, pulling up the holographic screen and pressing his wristband against it while punching in his credentials, "if you haven't figured it out yourself, the last one should explain it."

Izuku scanned the photos. A man in dark clothes, one covered in wood, "New Servants? Did a Singularity for-"

a familiar building looming over a modern suburban landscape and then…

"-m. Sherlock."

"Master."

"You have ten seconds," Izuku gritted out, "Where you got a picture of my MOM!"

"She's touring the Border as we speak," Holmes answered, voice blaise.

"How and why?!" Izuku exploded, standing up… and only Lobo rushing under him kept him from hitting the metal floor as his good leg gave out. Grabbing James' cane, Izuku forced himself up.

"Sit back down, Izuku," Holmes said, "Asclepius will be beside himself in anger-"

"Explain what's going on!" Izuku ordered, but fell back into his bed, voice cracking, "Why? We, we can't abandon those people, Sherlock! Vitch, Goetia, Doumen-"

"Something tells me they'll follow us," Sherlock said, "forgive me for saying this, Master, but danger tends to follow you like a plague."

Izuku laughed in spite of himself, something wet siding down his cheeks, "It does, doesn't it? Why'd you do this, Sherlock?"

"We're technically still disavowed," Sherlock said, "and even with Goredolf and the Wandering Sea siding with you, I can't see the Clock Tower being very thankful you violated how many Servants we can have summoned again. Here, we have the power to do what we want and need to to stop Beasts V and VI, alongside any other threat that follows us. Goredolf, Da Vinci-Chan and I all agreed this was the best course of action."

"Still heroes nobody knows, eh?" Izuku said, trying to sound blaise as his voice quivered.

"Not if we have anything to say about it," Sherlock said, "Moriarty is working on some things. We may have to… finagle some numbers, but I believe we can get you, Mash and a small guard into UA."

---

"If I'm honest," James said as he approached the police station with Evil Wind, Danzo, Chiyome, Hans, Sion and Nursery Rhyme, "This really isn't what I'm used to."

"How so?" Sion asked, the alchemist looking up at him as he took off his glasses and began to clean them.

"'The Napoleon of Crime', my dear," James said, sliding on an earpiece, "I prefer if people know I was the one behind it, even if they can't prove it was me. Hundred, have you finished deploying the pages?"

"Last one will go on when you say the word," Hundred Faces said.

"Are you all ready?" James asked, putting his glasses back on, "Remember, once I say the word, we have half an hour-"

"To two hours," Hans said, "I've never been the best at precision work when it comes to time, so I went for broke, as the saying is. I figured it best to drastically overshoot how long we cut the station off from the outside world than to undershoot ir."

"Still, best to assume we're running on the minimum time we can be assured," James said.

"Excuse me?" An officer with the head of a cat walked towards them, "I have to ask you to stop loitering, you're-"

"Now," James said into the mic and watched as a rippling haze formed around the police station. In the same breath, he brought both hands down on the sides of the cat's head and watched him drop, "Fuma, Danzo, Chiyome, Persona, mop up. If they're awake, knock them out. If they're asleep for whatever reason, make sure they won't be getting up. Hans, Nursery, Sion, memory modification and examination. Make sure they remember Izuku being rescued and a sting, find out what pro heroes were on the case so we can clear them up next. I'll be in the mainframe within two minutes. Go!"

James strode into the police station with his coat billowing, just because you wouldn't be remembered didn't mean you shouldn't still do the crime with class, ignoring the Assassins dropping officers like they were flies. Stepping into the chief's office, he nodded to giant persona, Gozou and threw the police chief's unconscious body out of the swivel chair. Spinning once, James cracked his fingers and pulled the keyboard closer.

Compared to Chaldea's security, this would be child's play.

---

Asclepius looked at Izuku, who was staring at his terminal to the near complete exclusion of anything else, fingers tapping against the cane while a sheathed dagger of the Spiritfuge whirled in his other hand. Finishing changing the bandages around Izuku's leg, Asclepius straightened himself in his chair, "May I inquire what's going through your head, Master?"

"...I'm not sure how this meeting with Mom is gonna go," Izuku said.

"Hmm," Asclepius caught the spinning hand, examining the mark on the opposite side of Izuku's hand from his Command Spell, the ones that had once belonged to Scandinavia Peperoncino. While what had happened in the Indian Lostbelt hadn't directly been the Crypter's fault, Asclepius would be lying if he said he would weep for the pink haired man. Izuku would, but not him, "And why is that?"

"What if she just… just wants things to go back to the way they were?" Izuku asked.

"Then I'm sure someone can take her to the side and explain to her why that is an expectation of the most stupid metric," Asclepius said, not stopping the tracing.

"Asclepius!"

"You are not the same boy who left this world," Asclepius said, "anyone can see that, Izuku. Your mother is not blind, is she?"

"No-"

"Then expecting you to go back to who you were is the domain of two things, insanity, or willing blindness. To treat the former is my job, to treat the latter is kindness."

"But… what if she doesn't understand?" Izuku's voice warbled, "I… I've got a lot of blood on my hand, Asclepius. More than any murderer in history."

"Do not look at it that way," Asclepius said, "Excepting Gut, there was no malice in your, no our actions. To pretend we are innocent would also be willing blindness. We helped you bring the end to the Lostbelts, Master."

"But I ordered you-"

"We were summoned by the providence of Alaya," Asclepius said, "I was summoned before you arrived to eliminate Spiral. Dozens of Servants fell in Atlantis alone. We would have fought for the right of Proper Human History to exist either way, for Proper Human History is, as the name implies, the proper way for things to go. We were the history that won, and to corrupt that is to blight the tree called "history". It is my job to treat disease. Now, away from you changing the topic."

"I-"

"If your mother tries to force you into being the Izuku Midoriya who existed before your time in Chaldea, I will correct her. If she refuses to be corrected, she is a tumor and must be cut ou-"

"My mother is not-"

"A tumor? She will act as one if she cannot accept the reality of the situation, Izuku," Asclepius said, taking both of Izuku's hands, "Master, I am your loyal Servant and I am your doctor. We brought you home for your own sanity. You cannot go back to who you were before Chaldea. To try otherwise will destroy you. I won't remove your mother from your life if there is any other choice. I won't do it if she stumbles on the path anymore than I would abandon an addict. But if she refuses to even step on the path of acceptance, then I will make it clear as you doctor, as your Servant and… yes, even as your friend, that it is unhealthy to you. Are you ready to meet her?"

"I- yes," Izuku said, gripping the cane.

"Don't-"

"I'm not gonna meet her in a bed," Izuku said, eyes hard jewels as he forced himself to stand and lean on the cane, "or a wheelchair. I'm gonna… I'm gonna stand up and give my mom a hug, Asclepius."

Asclepius was silent for a second, before quietly offering Izuku his arm, "fine, but once this meeting is done you will remain in a wheelchair until your recovery is done, even if I have to strap you into it."

Those eyes. As hard as jade. Full of determination.

The reason why Izuku was so extraordinary in spite of being so ordinary.

---

Inko stepped into the office with a long table in front of a desk, looking around as she did, "What's going on in here?"

"Just…" Mash looked down at her wrist, before licking her lips, "just give it a minute. Do you want refreshments? I'm sure Nemo Bakery can whip something up and have it down here in a few minutes."

"Can we have cookies?" Jack asked, jumping into one of the chairs and kicking her feet.

"Give it a few minutes," Mash said, walking to a terminal in the wall, "Gray? Reines? Tea?"

"No thank you," Gray said.

"I've got a bottle of wine back at room," Reines said.

"Aren't you a bit… young to be drinking?" Inko asked, looking over to the blond girl.

"Why'd I let that stop me?"

"Anastasia? Serenity?"

"I already ate," Serenity said, "but thank you."

"I'd take some cookies if the kids get them," Anastasia said.

"That depends," a voice just deep enough to remind Inko of Hisashi said, causing her to tense up as Izuku limped into the room wearing a black shirt and pants with a harness and belt of pouches over them. The brushing of his hair was all but faded, leaving the tri-colored hair in its natural curls. In one hand was a cane he was using to stable himself, while in the other was gripping tightly to an IV stand. Behind him, Asclepius and a giant wolf came into the room, the doctor looking like he had eaten a lemon, "Were you well behaved while I was gone?"

"Pére!" Jeanne rushed at Izuku, tackling him into a hug that was joined by Jack a second later. Izuku grunted, staggering back into the wolf that braced him.

"Thanks, Lobo," Izuku said, before giving a strange kneel to accommodate his bad leg. He wrapped his arms around the children, "Hey, you two. Were you well behaved while I was sick?"

"Yeah!" Jack nodded.

"Didn't get up to anything bad with Nobu again?"

"No," Jack shook her head, trying to look like an angel. Izuku hummed quietly, "I didn't!"

"I'll have to ask Marie later," Izuku said, using the cane to push himself back up with Asclepius's help, "You can have the cookies for now, but Mommy is gonna be very unhappy if he finds out you lied to him, Jack."

"I didn't lie!" Jack said, a shade too quickly, and Izuku looked down at her and shook his head, laughing.

"Oh, I see," Izuku said, glancing at Jeanne, "Who was it?"

"Mephy," Jeanne said.

"Jeanne!" Jack whined.

"He was gonna find out either way," Jeanne said.

"An," Izuku sadi, continuing around the room, "Did anyone get hurt?"

"Not this time. It was just some water balloons," she said, "let her have her cookies."

"You would say that, Shvibzik," Inko couldn't speak Russian, but could tell Izuku had mangled the word, "fine. But you're gonna be grounded for trying to trick me, Jack."

"K," Jack sounded completely and utterly unworried about it, getting back into her chair.

"Gray," Izuku said, offering her the smile next, "I saw you brushed my hair. Sorry it's already messed itself up."

"It always does," Gray said in turn.

"Serenity," Izuku said, before opening his arms up so she could give him a long hug. That was all, no words were shared, just a long, long hug. Finally, Serenity breathed in and pulled back.

"I missed that," she said quietly, a sad smile on her face.

"Any time," Izuku said, before finally turning to Mash… and immediately frowning, "Have you been sleeping well, Mash?"

There was a heartbeat, and then the noise of hands hitting heads. Gray and Asclepius had executed textbook facepalms as Reines began to cackle like a witch.

"I… I've been sleeping roughly, Senpai," Mash said, a small tick in her smile, "I was worried about you, you know?"

"I don't want you neglecting your health because of me," Izuku reproached softly, "I get hurt a lot Mash, then I get up. It's what I do."

"Took you a long time to get up this time, Senpai," Mash said.

"But I'm up, I'm alright," Izuku said, "I'm not gonna leave you that easily."

Anastasia huffed, but didn't say anything.

"I still worry," Mash responded, and Izuku spread his arms out, letting her hug him in turn. She breathed in, " I missed you."

"I wish I could say the same," Izuku said, "but it's all just kinda a big fog. I think I had some memories, but… yeah. It's good to be back. I can't wait to show you the world."

Finally, Izuku broke from the hug and turned towards Inko, licking his lips as eyes that had changed to a light jade slowly but surely darkened to their natural color, "Mom… hi…"

---

Izuku licked his dry lips, staring at Inko. What… what did you say, when you hadn't seen your mom in years, had fought two separate apocalyptic scenarios and-

"Mom… hi…"

Smooth, Midoriya, Smooth.

Inko stood up, reaching out to touch Izuku's shoulders. The seventeen year old Master swallowed.

"You've… grown…" Inko said, tears welling in her eyes. Her grip on Izuku's shoulders tightened to the point of aching, "You've grown so much."

There were so many things Izuku could have said there. That he hadn't grown that much. That what growth he had tended to happen over the years. That she had shrunk. Instead, Izuku quietly pulled his Mom into a hug and buried his head into her shoulder, tears pouring from his eyes, "I missed you. I missed you so much."

"I was… I was worried sick when you disappeared," Inko said, "What… what happened that day, Izuku?"

"I… still don't know for sure," Izuku said quietly, "There was a villain attacking me, and I remember not wanting to die, and fighting with everything I had to survive and then.. Then I woke up at Chaldea with pneumonia. I don't remember how I did it… but… it might have had its ups and downs, but I don't regret it. I made friends."

Reines began to give an evil laugh. Izuku, with practiced ease, ignored her. She liked it when you responded, so he wouldn't.

"And adopted some kids," Inko said, pushing Izuku into a chair and beginning to fret over him, whispering in his ear, "I'm too young to be a grandma, Izuku."

"They're legends," Izuku said, "if they want to call me dad, or mom, I don't really have any room to tell them no."

"Now if only that carried over to every other aspect of his li- oof!" Anastasia shot a glare at Gray, who had silently elbowed her, "You were thinking it too!"

Gray didn't respond.

"...I still have some trouble believing it," Inko said, "All of it. They said… they said that you were a sorcerer"

"Magus," Izuku corrected instantly and immediately, "Sorcerer means something very different. I'm barely a mage, I'm definitely not a sorcerer."

"Technically, you can be a Sorcerer and a terrible Magus," Reines said conversationally, "I'm probably a more versatile magus than Five, and you're probably not all that worse than her in number of Magic Circuits, even if hers are of far better quality. But as a Sorcerer, she could probably engage a Servant and have a non-zero chance of winning, she's destroyed Greater Dead Apostles before. To put it into terms you could understand, Inko, Sorcery is breaking reality to force something that should be impossible to become possible, while Magecraft is using a cheat to skip past several steps, but still ultimately arrive at a conclusion that you could do without magic."

"And traveling to a different world isn't magic?"

"Sliders are rare, but the fact that we're having this conversation is proof they are not an impossibility," Reines said, "There is a Sorcerer that makes Sliders look like children stumbling through a forest, but it's not Sliding alone that makes him one."

"Old Man Kaleidoscope is another level entirely," Izuku agreed. They had contacted Clock Tower to make sure he wasn't responsible for all the dimensional… flotsam for lack of a better term, that had ended up in Chaldea over the years. The letter of denial they had gotten back had been perhaps the most politely worded mocking laughter Izuku had ever seen, even if he legitimately believed Zelritch to be telling the truth, "Do you want to see some Magecraft? I'm not the best, but I can show you… assuming Asclepius won't stop me."

"If I was going to stop you," Asclepius said, "you wouldn't have finished that sentence, Master."

"I'd love to," Inko said, smiling at Izuku.

---

James finished printing out the files he had pulled from the police department, deleting the records with a few keystrokes and adding five pieces of paper. Standing from the chair, he quietly returned the police chief to it and began to walk from the room.

"I have the names," James said, "Eraserhead, Snipe, Mt. Lady, Kamui Woods and Death Arms. We'll split up and deal with them. Hundred, you go after Snipe, his Quirk is called "Homing", and lets him land a shot on anything within six hundred meters."

"With us, we can outnumber him," Hundred Faces said, Asko taking the piece of paper and fading into shadows.

"Exactly," James said, "Evil Wind, you will go after Mt. Lady. She likes attention according to the police reports. Make sure she doesn't get any."

The fifth Fuuma Kotarou nodded, taking his page and walking away.

"Hans and Chiyome," he continued, "I leave Mr. Woods to you. Make sure to not leave any burns noticable enough to give up the game."

"On a man who controls wood?" Hans said, "Not the easiest of jobs, but still, with me right there we can edit his mind on the spot."

"Exactly," James nodded, "unlike the others, he doesn't seem flakey enough to miss wherever he should be. So interception is the name of the game."

"We'll see it done," Chiyome said.

"Danzo," James said, "You're after Death Arms with Nursery Rhyme."

'And you and Sion are after Eraserhead?" She finished.

"I'm the least reliant on magical energy of the Servants, while Sion is capable of fighting him in hand to hand of it comes to it," he nodded, "we don't know the exact details of how his Mystic Eyes, ah that is to say his "Quirk" works. I don't want to risk him dispelling Hans and Nursery's Magecraft, Chiyome's curses, or anything of the sort. Though preferably, we'll ambush him with Etherlite."

"Easily done in the right positioning," Sion nodded, hands pressed against an oddly shaped case she had brought with her.

"Never assume anything can be done easily if it can be done right, my dear," James said, "We have one chance apiece. If any of us are caught in the act, we're only going to make life harder for Izuku and Chaldea. So let's do this right."

---

Izuku closed his eyes and breathed in, pressing his hands together. Within his head, the image of a lighter appeared, four Magic Circuits were "opened", their physical representation spreading as emerald fractals across his arms. Breathing in, Izuku sparked the lighter once, the air between his fingers shifting, his body temperature rising. Breathing out, he sparked it again, opening his eyes and hands to reveal a cat's cradle of burning strands.

He smiled at the wide eyed look on Inko's face, stopping the spell and dropping his arms. Then his eyes fell on the desk and he bit a tired sigh back, and began to limp towards it, falling into the deep chair, "I should probably start working on the backlog of requests I've got."

"Requests?"

"This is my office," Izuku said, pressing his wristband against the terminal and reentering his credentials. Oh, by the Root that was a lot of requests… "when any of my friends want something, they send it here for me to authorize or veto. I gotta deal with this backlog before it gets bigger, I'm sorry Mom."

Izuku flipped open one pouch, pulling out a case and cracking it open. He opened the faintly glowing blue glasses, sliding them on and pulling up the first request.

Transfer of Mastership of Servant Rider (Captain Nemo) from Sion Eltnam Sokaris to Izuku Midoriya so the former can try to facilitate-

Izuku didn't even finish the request, hitting yes and moving on to the next one, "Asclepius, can you make sure my wheelchair is here by the time I'm done, and ask Nemo Bakery to send down whatever you'll let me eat."

I'd prefer you go back to bed," the doctor said in frustration.

"Work doesn't wait," Izuku waved a hand, denying the request to add another weapon to the Storm Border. The torpedo tubes and point defense guns were good enough.

"I never got my snack," Jack said.

"An, make sure she gets those cookies?"

"Considering I wanted them too?" Anastasia said.

"Why are you wearing those?" Inko said, "You never needed glasses…"

"They're a gift from a friend, Sigurd," Izuku said, "the lenses are essentially just for show, the actual frames are enchanted help with eyestrain, memory retention and keeping dust out of my eyes."

"Oh," Inko said.

"Mash," Izuku said, "can you show Mom around the Border some more? I'll catch up with you when I'm done this. It shouldn't take more than an hour or two if I'm fast."

Nero wanted to go shopping. That was a "no" until he had more data about the boots on the ground.

"Of course," Mash said, touching Inko's shoulder, "Come with me, please."

"..."

---

Inko followed Mash out, taking one last look at Izuku sitting behind the desk and rapidly typing, occasionally pausing before continuing. Finally, as the door swung shut, she spoke, "I didn't think it would hurt so much…"

"What?"

"Watching my baby boy grow up like that."


---

Thoughts, questions and opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?

This chapter was really stressful to write.

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

Things went to hell, have what part of chapter 8 I have done


---
It was Jesse "Snipe" Jeremiah's training regime that saved him from the first blow. Which was a damn bad sign, since he had created that regime to take down Nagant.

He whirled as the air displaced itself, a single dagger flying forwards and bouncing off the concrete where his spine had been. Where were they…?

"Sir," Snipe said into his mic, opening the filters of his gasmask and taking in a hissing breath of air while the telescopic lens zoomed in, "Got a cocky one."

"Do you need help?" Nezu asked.

"They're a cocky one, Boss," Snipe drawled, hand gripping his revolver, "odds are nine to one they're a first timer about to eat crow."

"And the last chance is that they're a hero killer."

"Yeah, well, I doubt it. There's no Killing Inte-"

The next dagger came then, clipping the corner of his head from behind faster than he had time to respond. Snipe whipped around, drawing his gun from his holster and letting his hackles, "I'm gonna have to call ya back once they're dealt with."

His hackles raised to maximum when he realized that Nezu wasn't responding, and he flicked off the safety, resting his hand on the outside of the trigger guard, he raised his voice, "Imma give you a chance, partner. Either get, or come out with your hands up. That way ain't nobody needs to get hurt, got that?"

Silence stretched, and Snipe started to think the person attacking him had actually run away, when-

There. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the man wearing a black cloak pull back his hand, another strange awl-like dagger in hand. Sliding his finger onto the trigger, Snipe locked onto the dagger.

That was the thing about his Quirk, he couldn't decide where he hit on something, but if you were holding something, you and that object still counted as two separate things, so he could nail it right out of your han-

Snipe's senses screamed at him, and he threw himself out of the way of another dagger. Christ alive, there was more than one.

Slowly, standing, he watched the group rise from each rooftop in a circle around him, men and women, massive and child sized and everything in between. Snipe reached for the emergency button every UA teacher held, only for a dagger to nail it out of his hand. Breathing in, Snipe resolved himself and snapped up the gun, holding the trigger and fanning the hammer.

He hit three, just three, before another person materialized from the shadows next to him and he was forced to whip out his combat knife. They caught it with their own dagger, and didn't flinch as Snipe leveled the gun at their head with his finger on the trigger.

"Last chance," the Number 25th hero in Japan snarled, dropping his signature drawl, "Back. Down. Or your friend gets it."

"Kill me," the one he was fighting, and Snipe was quietly worrying about how well she was stalemating him, said, "and the rest will deal with you."

Fanatics. Great.

"Sounds like you got roped up in a cult," Snipe said, "don't-"

"No," a giant of a man materialized, grabbing Snipe by the neck and ripping him away from the woman. Mask met mask before he was hoisted high above the man's head, letting him see the rest of the cult had vanished, "We're just one."

And then Snipe slammed into the rooftop like a freight train through a wall, gun and knife flying from his hand, and he mercifully blacked out.

---

"Excuse me, Mister?" Death Arms turned to the little girl he had sworn wasn't behind him a minute ago. Her white hair was done up in two heavy twin tails, and she was wearing an obviously expensive black dress. Parents confused him, sometimes.

"Give me a second, please," Death Arms smiled at her, he dropped his cigarette into the ash bin he had been standing next to, turning his head away from her and exhaling. He wasn't normally one to worry about second hand smoke, but he had got a reprimand from the HPSC last month for smoking in a no smoking zone and really didn't need another for doing it to a child. Crouching down, he said, "What's wrong?"

"I need you to come with me," the girl said, blinking up at him, "My friend needs your help."

"Well then," Death Arms stood up, stretching, "let's go, huh?"

The girl nodded quietly, turning and half running, half skipping towards an alley. Death Arms bit back a sigh, following her. He swore, if this was a prank or something for a. Autograph or something, he was gonna be tick-

Holy crap.

Leaning against the wall and a dumpster once they'd made two sharp turns was a young woman missing an arm and a leg, her head slumped down and her chest not moving.

"Outta the way," Death Arms said to the girl gently, rushing past her and towards the woman as the emergency care course of Shiketsu immediately sprang to the forefront of his mind. He leaned down, feeling for a pulse on the… hard skin of the…

"Unknown whereabouts," the girl suddenly started singing as Death Arms moved the Heteromorphic woman onto the ground. No heartbeat. He had to administer CPR, damn, he hoped this worked, "Fire-spouting dragons and cloud-breathing giants.

Illusions are silhouetted apparitions.

Adult conversations are, perhaps, full of lies."

"Can you stop!" Death Arms barked, louder then he meant to, only for the girl to continue.

"The truth lies within Professor Dodgson's head.

Aykroyd in celluloid.

Acrostic sadistic.

Everyone here is ordinary!

Birds are Birds and People are People!"

"I said-!" Death Arms barked as he gave a compression, only for a hand to latch onto his arm. Looking down, he watched the woman stretch and…

"Your name is now mine! (A Tale Just For Someone) Nursery Rhyme!"

The alleyway rippled, becoming a checkerboard hallway as the woman contorted, sliding out from under Death Arms hands and flipping towards the once dumpster, which had become a tea table. She grabbed a leg hidden under it with her one hand, snapping it into place and landing with a roll, grabbing the other arm and returning it to its place.

"Well done, Nursery," the woman said, pulling back her arm as several… somethings popped out of it, "focus on maintaining the Reality Marble, I'll deal with him."

"Oh, you will, will ya-" a kunai flashed by his cheek, leaving a hairline cut.

"Yes," she said, "I will."

---

Izuku was in the middle of denying another request for new weapons systems (seriously, if he agreed to them all, they could use the Border to hold a small country hostage) when the drain of magical energy suddenly kicked into high gear. His Magic Circuits felt like they had ripped open, the mana dense atmosphere of the Border being drained as fast as it could to accommodate the drain of his body.

Izuku fumbled with his communicator, a red formalcraft circle appearing in it and he slapped it. The flow of energy was shifted towards the mana reactors of the Border, the Mage King's Grails and the Heart of each Tree of Emptiness, and off of him. Izuku took a shuttering gasp and leaned back in his chair, the fractals lines of his Magic Circuits slowly fading.

"Are you alright?" Izuku's eyes jumped open, and he met Circe's eyes. The Queen of Witches was standing with a wrapped up package over one shoulder, and Izuku offered her a smile.

"Just a surprise," Izuku said in greek, rubbing his chest. Note to self, get a familiar so he could check into what caused things like this, "Saw you wanted to add a couple of bombardment type spells to the Border.

"And I saw you denied it," Circe huffed, walking forwards on her high heeled sandals. Izuku rolled his eyes good naturedly.

"We don't need a spell to glass half an island," Izuku said, before nodding to the package, "What's that?"

"Izuku," Circe stared at him, eyes flat and face deadpanned, "We've got into so many problems that we literally could have used that in. A gift from the Casters, it took a while to make."

Izuku hesitated as she thunked down the package, before reaching out and undoing the binds. Pulling it open, Izuku stared at the lacquered staff within.

It had been carved from a golden wood, and was as long as Izuku was tall. Incantations were carved into it in over a dozen different languages, with Izuku recognizing greek, french, russian and japanese. At the top of it was a head of golden metal, made in the shape of a spider. Slowly, Izuku lifted it, noticing immediately that it was incredibly bottom heavy. Not physically, it was nearly completely even that way… but conceptually, spiritually, magically. Reaching down, Izuku found a seam and carefully tugged on the wood below it, the blade separating from the wood with a loud hiss and leaving a long cane in its place.

It was about the length of a wakizashi, but straight like the tanto he had practiced with when Shiki had been with them. The metal seemed to paradoxically drink in light and glow at the same time and it was both perfectly balanced and incredibly heavy to Izuku's frame.

"Do I want to know what this sword is made from?" Izuku asked softly, swinging it once away from his terminal and listening to it sing. Norse runes glowed along the blade, the air heating and shimmering along the path of the blade.

"Probably not," Circe chirped, smiling at him like the cat that caught the canary, "You'll probably have a panic attack about wasting resources. But we used the broken blades of the Spiritfuge. Don't want that to go down to the idiot Gut."

"Thanks," Izuku said, whirling the blade into a reverse grip and returning it to the staff.

"It acts as a focus and enhancer for your fire," Circle, "and before you ask if I mean the staff or the blade, yes."

Izuku nodded, glancing at the request to watch an anime with Jeanne Alter (and confirming it) Izuku then glanced at the door before using the staff to stand, making his way towards the Queen of Witches… and pulling her into a hug. She tensed for a second in surprise, before Izuku spoke, "You all are the best family a guy could ask for, you know that right? And now, with Mom here… it's complete."

"...I want you to promise me something, Piglet."

"If I can do it," Izuku said, "...and if it isn't that I'll authorize those spells."

Circe laughed for a second, before continuing, "Don't… don't do anything that will leave you like that again. You're… important, to Chaldea, to me. We… you're… we just got out of that stupid blank texture and we can do anything, go anywhere. I don't want to miss that with you."

"If that's what you want," Izuku said, "I'll try-"

"No," Circe said, her wings tightening around Izuku, "Not "You'll try" say "I won't, no matter what… mistress.""

"I won't, no matter what, mistress," Izuku parroted back diligently. And Circe locked up, burying her face in his chest.

"I didn't expect you to actually say the last part," she admitted softly.

"It's what you wanted me to say," Izuku said.

"So you'd say anything if I asked you to?"

"Unless it was really mea-"

"Tell me you care about me."

"Of course I care about you," Izuku said without missing a beat.

"Good," Circe said, tightening the hug and-

"Master," leaping back as Asclepius growled, stalking into the room with a pair of Nemo Marines behind him, one holding a plate of mashed potatoes and some water, while the other was pushing a wheelchair, "I do believe I told you that after you saw your mother, you were staying in a chair until you recovered."

Izuku's pulse quickened, and he swallowed. There was gonna be no reasoning with Asclepius on this one, he could tell.

"Circe?"

"I need to go talk to Anastasia about… ah, things," Circe said as Asclepius prepared a strap, "This was a good talk, we should go out onto the beach at some point, bye!"

"Circe!" Izuku called as she flew from the room, literally. Leaving him to the not so tender mercy of Asclepius.

"In the chair," he ordered.

"I-"

"Now, Izuku!"

---

Danzo rushed towards Death Arms, kicking off the wall of the Reality Marble and using it to gain height on him. As he lashed out with his right arm, she span in air, grabbing him by the wrist and yanking it behind him, driving her knee into his spine and slammed them both into the ground, "Nursery Rhyme! Do it."

"Using a kid, huh?" Death Arms growled, slamming his other hand against the ground and starting to push himself up, "That's low, even for a villain."

"It's not personal," she said, before pausing, "well, I suppose that depends on the definition. We're doing this for a friend. Stop struggling, you'll be unharmed."

"Oh, sure," Death Arms pushed himself up further, and Danzo launched her other arm at him on a chain, dragging both arms behind his back and slamming him into the ground again, "No harm whatsoev-"

Nursery Rhyme planted her hands on either side of his head, singing quietly to herself… and then stopping as he stopped moving and collapsed.

"What?"

"I don't know what James made the story like," Nursery Rhyme said, "We'll have to drop the spell and ask him."

Danzo nodded, and Nursery Rhyme did exactly that, "James?"

"I figured you would call us," James said, "I didn't get a chance to lay out the details before everyone left. Listen carefully, we don't want any inconsistency that can't be blamed on adrenaline."

"You don't need to worry about your own Pro Hero?"

"From what I've seen," James said, "Eraserhead doesn't leave until late at night. We'll likely be the last to deal with our target."

"I don't know about that," Kotarou said, "Mt. Lady has only been in places full of people. I'm probably going to have to ambush her at her house."

---

Kintoki walked into the office of the Border, his normal grin gone as he did. Izuku was sitting at the desk, tapping his fingers and looking trapped, "Hey, Master."

"If this is about what happened earlier," Izuku said, "I was just about to call you about it myself. I wasn't around. Want a light?"

"Sure," Kintoki held out the cigarette, and Izuku lit it quickly, letting him sit down, "thanks. So?"

"...I'm not happy with Mother," Izuku said, "I know it's not her fault, but…"

"She still attacked your mom, I know," Kintoki said, "that ain't golden."

"Yeah," Izuku said.

"Then you'll understand I wanna deck Gawain next time I see him, right?" Kintoki continued without changing his tone.

"Yeah," Izuku repeated without missing a beat, "I get that."

"...So, what are we doing?"

"I'm still thinking about it," Izuku said, running a hand through his hair and pulling out a bubblegum cigarette to chew on, unwrapping the thing and stopping, "keep this under the record? Asclepius will probably go ballistic if he finds out I was chewing on one of these."

"Yeah, sure," Kintoki nodded, "so, you're thinking about it? What's going through your head, Master? I know ya, that's the most golden thing you've got."

"...I'm gonna resummon her once I get out of this dang chair," Izuku said, popping the white stick into his mouth and beginning to chew, "I want you there."

"You sure?"

"You know Raikou better than anyone," Izuku said, and Kintoki winced at the use of her real name. Izuku was angrier than he was admitting, "If anyone can help me talk her through this, it's you."

"And if we can't get through to her?" Kintoki asked.

"That's what I'm still trying to think of," Izuku said, "I… I don't know. There's no easy answer. We could try class changing her, I guess, but that's still not an easy answer. We'd need to find a class close enough to how she acts as a Berserker where I don't feel like I'm just killing her and replacing her with a different Servant, while also being sane enough to-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Kintoki said, growing unusually serious, "If we gotta choose between the two… take the first one."

"But-"

"Boss… hates being the way she is," Kintoki said, "we both know that. She's… she was ready to give up if it weren't for you and me. And she wouldn't have ever wanted to hurt someone like your mom when she was alive. If we can save her, even if it technically is killin' this version of her or whatever… then let's save her. You and me, bro."

Izuku stared at Kintoki for a long second, before holding out his hand, fingers up, and grinning, "That sounds golden."

"Atta boy," Kintoki said, grabbing Izuku's hand and gripping it tightly.

Well, as tightly as he could without destroying it. Izuku already had to deal with his leg like that, he didn't need his arm like it too

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

Nishiya "Kamui Woods" Shinji felt the attack before he saw it, which was bad when he came up from the roll to see a woman, or older teen he legitimately couldn't tell when she was five feet at maximum, walking along the branch bridge he had formed a second ago, carrying an odachi as long as she was behind her. Sheathed at her back was a tachi and a tanto, and around her feet burned a fire that was an abnormal, bloody red which caused his bridge to wither and crumble instead of burn as her feet touched it.

Kamui did the natural thing. He moved to bind her, the wood sticking to his skin spreading out and towards her with as much warning as she gave him. The next thing he knew, each branch was decaying just as quickly, the sword suddenly unsheathed and looking like it had just finished a swing, the same red fire burning along the sword now. Before Kamui could blink, she vanished from his sight.

And the next thing he threw, something smashed through the wood around the nape of his neck and caused him to collapse like a puppet with cut strings, darkness overtaking him.

---

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO OUR HOME!?" Inko jerked at the bellow as the door of the elevator opened. Gray sighing as Reines began to cackle like a witch.

"Izuku's in fine form," the blond girl said, Gray and Mash rushing ahead of them. Inko scrambled after them, quietly lamenting enhanced biology Quirks from other worlds.

"You didn't mention this!" Izuku continued, "Move me closer, Marine! I'm gonna hit something with my sword… How long is it gonna take to fix the damage!? … I don't ca- you what?"

Inko rushed into the room after them, watching Izuku stuck in a wheelchair, looking like he wanted to be standing even as several straps held him in place. Behind him, one of the blond and blue haired… boys? Girls? People that they passed too many times for there to be only one stood, holding Izuku back.

"We caused this damage working on several projects for you, Master," a man with a golden face mask explained, standing outside one of the dozens of cubbies the size of a decent sized living room in the vaulted hall filled with scorch marks, holes and other damage. Izuku sagged in his chair, looking lost.

"Oh…" Izuku said.

"And there goes the anger," Reines said, "when it comes to Izuku, it blazes bright, but quickly. But that's what makes it fun to watch him."

"You never answered the question, how long is this gonna take you to fix?" Izuku continued, coughing into his hand. The person next to him handed him a water bottle, which he took a quick swing from, handed it back and rubbed his throat, "Thanks, Marine."

"Anytime, sir!" "Marine" chirped, saluting and storing the water bottle behind Izuku, "Do you still want me to move you closer?"

"No," Izuku said, "I'm calm."

"A couple of months, likely."

Izuku gave an explosive sigh.

"Move you closer?"

"No, no," Izuku shook his head, before swiveling his eyes back to the assembled people. A layer of disappointment seemed to crash across the room even as Marine sagged and gave a quiet 'awwwww…' "I expected better from you all while I was out."

Quite a few of the men and women in the room shifted, looking uncomfortable as the disappointment grew, "I-"

"We have floors designed for fights like this," Izuku continued, "couldn't you have at least done it there? The Nemo Series is going to have to work extra har- is that why you want me to hit something, Marine?"

"They hurt the Nautilus," Marine said, smile twitching slightly, and hands shaking, drawing attention to the sword they were holding out for Izuku to take, "It's gonna take months to fix, and we're gonna have to work on it and all our other jobs, and Nemo Engine is gonna yell and throw things at us if we don't get the work done quick enough-"

Izuku pulled Marine into a one armed hug, sighing, "I'll talk to Engine once the Mastership transfers. Make sure they know it's not your fault."

"Sion is transferring Masterhood to you?" Marine said.

"She's got her heart set on trying that idea of hers," Izuku continued, and Marine nodded.

"I don't blame her," Marine said, sliding the word into a staff stored next to the water bottle, "I'd want to try it too."

"Anyways," Izuku swiveled in his chair, and the aura of disappointment returned. Was that some sort of magic or something? "Apologize to Nemo Marine."

To their credit, quite a few of the men and women had the decency to mumble out apologies like scolded children. Izuku nodded, before his eyes landed on Inko and the air of disappointment faded.

"Mom," Izuku said, suddenly looking embarrassed, "Sorry I was wrapping up some last minute details before I could show you around. Marine, do you mind pushing me-"

"I can do that," Inko said, gently but firmly, to Marine. The blue and gold haired Servant, apparently, nodded and gave another salute.

"Make sure he doesn't get out of that chair for anything, ma'am!" Marine said, "Doctor's orders, and Nemo Nurse and Dr. Asclepius can be super scary when those are ignored!"

Izuku grumbled under his breath, practically pouting in the chair.

---

Kotarou watched the door swing shut, Mt. Lady sighing and sliding off the mask around her face and throwing it on the floor. She walked towards the worn couch and flopped onto it, scooping up a remote and turning on the TV.

If he was honest, Kotarou was more than a bit put off by the Pro Hero he had been watching for the last few hours. She had certainly lived up to the descriptions Izuku had given of them, stopping crimes, giving autographs. But Izuku had always implied a form of glamour to them. Perhaps it was because she wasn't the same tier as All Might or Endeavor, but Kotarou just didn't see it with Mt. Lady.

He supposed it wasn't that strange. Heroic Spirits came from all walks of life and in all Alignments, but something about the name Professional Hero had always given the Evil Wind the impression that they were… well, professional. Not media hounds.

He'd have to do more research. Didn't Izuku mention a ninja hero?

Stepping forwards and deastralizing, Kotarou dealt a heavy blow to the side of Mt. Lady's neck, watching her eyes widen and mouth fall open for a second before she dropped. Kotarou caught her and lowered her to the couch, "I took out Mt. Lady. Nursery or Hans, can you get here?"

"On our way," Danzo said.

"We'll be attacking Eraserhead shortly," James reported.

"Be careful," Hundred Heads said, "Snipe had some form of panic button shaped by the UA emblem. We stopped him before he could touch it but-"

That means we don't know what it does," James said, "Thank you for the warning, we'll set up the ambush now. Sion, I think it best if we engage him up close. May I borrow True Apocrypha one last time?"

---

Last time. It would be the last time someone other than the rightful owner of Gamaliel, the Reward of God, held it if everything went according to plan. And she had run the simulations in her head half a dozen times since the concept had dawned on her, she had consulted Izuku and he had agreed there was a fair chance of it working.

Sion smiled wider than she normally ever did, exposing sharp teeth before she reached for the case holding the instrument on her back. Unzipping it, she let James catch the large shield shaped like a string instrument, him holding it like a child. A heavy pile bunker extended from bottom, locking into place below the fist of the Heroic Spirit as he slid his wrist into the brace and gripped the pistol grip and controlled the bunker.

James couldn't use the bunker like she could. Neither could Sion. Neither of them were a man or woman of God and the Church, and it took her a hour each day to synchronize with True Apocrypha. Still, it was a large slab of steel being swung by a Servant. Even without it, it would be a dangerous weapon in the fight ahead.

"Come, my dear," James Moriarty said, eyes locked on a black shape rushing across the rooftops. The Mystic Code of her family, Etherlite, a false nervous system a micron thick rose from the golden bracelet Sion wore around her wrist. As one, Alchemist and Heroic Spirit took off after the Pro Hero Eraserhead, watching him swing from building to building as quickly as possible.

"Let's find a place suitable to meet the new neighbor, shall we?"

---

Izuku activated the Magic Circuits in his chest and arms, pulling the left one back. Air shifted and twisted as his eyes snapped open, and he launched a punch out, sparks generating along his arms and red flames exploding into existence in the shape of a burning fist, "Flashfire! SMASH!"

The blast crashed into the charging hoplite created by the holodeck of the Border and washed away with nothing but simulated light burns to show for it, "Flashfire Smash, three count!"

Three bursts of flame smashed into the hoplite, and they came out only looking slightly worse than before. Izuku drew the sword with a bit back sigh, whirling one of the remaining daggers of the Spiritfuge in his other hand. Well, that technique still wasn't any closer to being useful than it had been before he blacked out. Didn't hurt to try.

Time seemed to slow as Izuku prepared the swing. Mentally, a thin thread formed at the middle of his sword and touched where he would strike on the hoplite. Behind him, Inko gasped in horror as the xiphos approached. Izuku raised the short sword, preparing to use it to block-

When a burst of black and blue flames flew safely around Izuku and swallowed the hoplite whole. The popping and cracking of regular fire was replaced with a monotone hiss.

"Count," Izuku greeted, trying his best to turn in his chair as the Cavern King approached.

"Welcome back to the world of the living," the Count said, kneeling before Izuku, "are you alright?"

"Well enough," Izuku said, returning his weapons to their place, "How are you?"

"Well enough," the Count said, before standing and nodding to Inko, "Mrs. Midoriya."

"Count Dant-"

"Don't!" Izuku yelped, cutting the word off as quickly as possible, "Just call him Count, Mom. Please."

"Yes," the Count agreed, "please to that, Inko."

"Count," Inko said.

"I came to take over watching Izuku," the Count said, "it's getting late and I supposed you would want to go home and rest."

"...He isn't coming with me, is he?" Inko said, eyes downcast. Izuku wanted to leap from the chair, to insist he was, get into the car and go home for the night…

But he was home. Chaldea was his home just as much as the apartment was. And he had duties to perform here. He had shows to watch with Jeanne, and people to see so they knew that just because she was strapped down didn't mean he was out.

"I'm not," Izuku agreed quietly, "I'm sorry, but… I have stuff I need to do here. I can't just drop it so quickly. Once everything is done, we'll find a day for me to get home. You can come back tomorrow?"

"She can come back any day," the Count said, "Inko, I think I speak for everyone on the Border when I say you're welcome back any time as Izuku's mother."

Well, Izuku didn't think Raikou-

Right.

Damn it…

Izuku's grip on the chair wheels grew painful, plastic biting into his hands. Mother…

"Yeah," Izuku said, swallowing, "I'm sorry, mom. I've got work to do. It never ends-"

"You've become a lot like your father, you know that?" Inko said, and Izuku's words died, "I suppose that's not surprising, you had to take after one of us but... I'm so proud it was him. Can I at least make you a bowl of katsudon before you go? It's been so long-"

Izuku's eyes lit up, and he sat straight up, "Yes!"

"Izuku would never turn down some Katsudon from you," the Count laughed, "He's very particular. Only himself, you or our residential chef, Beni-Enma can cook it to the standards he expects."

---

The first sign something was wrong to Shouta Aizawa was when a golden top clipped his side and flew off, twisting in place and launching straight for him again. Shouta dodged it, and the next three tries. On the fourth, he caught it with his capture scarf and noticed the wire holding it. Without missing a beat, the Capture Hero took off, following the strand across several buildings and down into an alleyway-

When his senses screamed at him and he barely got out of the way of the strike coming from above him. Flipping, he dodged the bash from a middle aged man holding a massive shield shaped like a string instrument.

"Pardon us," the man said, stretching his arm, "but you wouldn't happen to be the Erasure Hero, Eraserhead, would you?"

Shouta growled, lashing out with his capture tape. The man ducked low, sprinting towards him while Shouta gave a practiced snap of the tape that caused it to coil back towards him and the man, forcing him to abort the attack and weave away from it easily.

"A strange scarf, yellow goggles," the man said, "You are! Which means-"

In the time it took Shouta to blink, the man was in his guard. It was only years of practice that Shouta was able to kick away, the strike clipping him and sending him spinning away instead of hitting him full on in the gut. The man bared his shield, sliding his glasses off with the other hand and storing them within a pocket.

"-We must take you out."

And then he was in Shouta's guard again, forcing the Erasure Hero to throw his scarf around a drainage pipe and grip for the panic button as he pulled himself away from the attack, just enough to plant his feet on the string instrument and kick off from the man and up the wall.

"Well played," Shouta glared at him, "unfortunately for you, while you might have won the first hand, you haven't won the pot yet."

"Shut up," Shouta growled.

"Very well," the man said, and the next second he was up the wall and after Shouta, "but don't blame anyone but yourself for this."

---

"Arrrg!" Inko looked up from where she was standing with the short girl wearing a hat shaped like a brown sparrow, showing her, a bit reluctantly, how she made Katsudon. Izuku was gripping his hair, "Da Vinci-Chan Lily?"

"Hmm?" A voice said from the speakers, "What's wrong, Papà?"

Inko locked up and looked at Beni-Enma, "Please tell me-"

"I have a father I'm happy with, chirp," Beni-Enma's voice said, despite the girl's mouth not opening, "I'm happy with my relationship with Izuku not being parental."

Oh, well that was good at least.

"I was so busy yelling at the Casters I forgot to tell them I wanted help getting a familiar," Izuku said, burying his hands in his face, "Can you tell them?"

"You realize this is gonna lead to a repeat of the last war, right?"

"Yes," Izuku said, "Tell them to keep it to the war floors or I'm slashing their budget or something."

"...That threat doesn't work when we have a literally unlimited budget so long as we have quantum crystals, Papà."

"Then tell them I won't stop Nemo's revenge or something," Izuku groaned, leaning his head back and rubbing his temples. Anastasia, who had sat next to Izuku with a pale green haired young woman with horns who was wearing a black kimono, had the decency to look sheepish. The other girl reached out and began to rub Izuku's temples herself, standing as Izuku locked up before leaning into the touch, "Thanks, Kiyohime. It feels like I'm getting a migraine."

"Should I send for Asclepius, dear?" Kiyohime asked, completely unaware that Inko had locked up behind the counter, the pork cutlet forgotten for a second.

"Don't bring it up," Beni-Enma's voice whispered in her ear.

"Kiyohime," Inko hissed, "as in Anchin and Kiyohime?"

"Yes. She's also deeply obsessed with your son. And is a terrible cook."

"Everyone is a terrible cook to you," the white haired man also within the kitchen said.

"No," Izuku said, "Asclepius will probably use it as an excuse to force me back into bed. Thank you for your concern, but I wouldn't want to be separated from any of you any longer… dear."

Anastasia snorted, while Beni-Enma gave a garbled noise that Inko suspected was a laugh.

---

Shouta hated enhancement Quirks. And he especially hated them when they weren't Emitters. It was taking everything he had to keep the man off him as they fought through the alleys and across the rooftops, though luckily it seemed the man had no intention of letting them reach the city streets.

Wrapping the Capture Weapon around a trash can, Shouta tossed it at the man, who batted it aside with the shield with enough force that it crumbled like a soda bottle. Shouta repeated it with two more, and they died just as quickly as the first.

"If I can give you some advice, Mister Aizawa," the man said conversationally, and next thing Shouta knew he was dodging another punch by the skin of his teeth and entirely on instinct, "Just give up already and make this easier for both of us."

Shouta didn't respond, just slammed a foot into the man's sternum, and grunted as it felt like he had kicked a brick wall. What was even the point of that shield?

Above them, the top was whipping around so fast it was more a flash of light than an actual thing Shouta could see. So going up there wasn't possible, but fighting this guy felt like a death sentence. And the patrol he had done at lunch wasn't helping the feeling of exhaustion in his muscles and bones.

Reaching a dumpster, Shouta poured every ounce of energy into whipping it at the man. He just leapt over it, appearing in the air before landing and continuing his assault at Shouta.

Wait for it. Wait for it… there!

Shouta whipped his capture weapon out as fast as he could, wrapping it around the man's arms as he rushed in with a shoulder check that sent them both tumbling. The man landed on his knee and foot, using the capture weapon to drag Shouta in.

"Now, my dear," the drill tilted down and drove into Shouta's shoulder, "for what it's worth, you put up more of a struggle than we expected, but you were never going to win, Mister Aizawa. My companion is two Kilometers out from here. Even if you had managed to defeat me, you would have tired yourself out before you found her. Sion, let's wrap this up so you can do that summoning, shall we?"

That was the last thing Shouta remembered before sinking into a mire.

And when he woke up, he didn't remember it at all.

---

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Izuku asked Sion, "I know how it feels to try to summon someone you care about only for it to fail…"

"Then pray for me that it won't fail," Sion said, eyes full of more conviction than Izuku had ever seen in her, "I appreciate your concern, Vice-Director, but I have to try."

Pulling out Izuku's rank. Sion was serious.

"Can you not call me that," Izuku sighed, "I hate it."

Izuku's positioning as one of the three acting Vice-Director had mostly come from the fact that nobody wanted the supid job, and that if he and Goredolf switched jobs there would be a massive issue about deploying the Director of Chaldea onto the field. And no, the fact that he was still treated as head of Chaldea by the Servants didn't count.

This is why they created the quadrumvirate, dang it.

"Sorry," Sion apologized, "I just… I have to try Izuku. You said it could work."

"Could doesn't mean will," Izuku reproached without any heat, nodding towards EMIYA, "Can you help her?"

"I still have some issues with this," the Counter Guardian said, "but yes, I'll try."

"Thank you," Izuku said, turning his head towards his Nemo Marine, "Take me to Jeanne Alter's room."

"We hope this works for you," the Nemo Marine said to Sion, offering a smile that she returned. Sion nodded, smiling back.

"Thank you all for being so understanding about me being selfish," she said.

"We lost something we'd do anything to get back to," the Marine said.

"We all did, at some point," Izuku said, "I hope this works for you, don't get me wrong, Sion. I just wanted you to be ready-"

"I know, Izuku," Sion said, "I know. There's always the chance this could fail, but my calculations give a good chance of it succeeding, you think there's a good chance of it succeeding. I can't just leave it when the ability to bring her back is close enough for me to grasp."

Izuku nodded, "Call me if you need help. This "Berserk" can wait."

"This isn't my first time summoning," Sion pointed out.

---

Sion placed True Apocrypha next to the shield EMIYA had traced for her, breathing it. This was it, this would work.

"Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation," Sion started, "Let my great master Zepia be the ancestor. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate. Shut and Fill! Shut and Fill! Shut and Fill! Shut and Fill! Repeat every five times and simply shatter once filled! I announce, your body will Serve under me, and my fate and doom will be in your shield!"

Again.

"Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. If you will submit to this will and this reason…… then answer!"

Please, Please answer…

"An oath shall be sworn here! I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven; I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell! From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of Deterrence, protector of the holy balance!

Wind and smoke began to whip around the Summoner and Servant as Sion recited the words. The shield below True Apocrypha glowed as the Spear Key turned in place. Finally, Gamaliel vanished within the smoke entirely and Sion was left holding her breath. Please…

It had to work…

Please…

The sound of something shattering came from the smoke, and a voice that made Sion's heart leap into her throat spoke as Emiya quietly began to make his way out of the room.

"That's an insulting copy, honestly."

The smoke was waved aside with one swing of Gamaliel and from the smoke stepped a woman with grey hair, the True Apocrypha on her arm. Her mouth fell open for a second as her eyes landed on Sion. Then she swallowed, kneeling like the knight she was and spoke.

"Ajax the Greater, summoned as Psudo-Servant Shielder. Sion, are you my Master?" Riesbyfe Stridberg asked.

"You're back," Sion said, instead of answering the question, "it worked…"

---

Yeah. I went there.

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

Peperoncino stepped into the clearing, meeting the eyes of Izuku .

"He's up ahead," the pink haired Crypter spat, a look of pure hatred so uncharacteristic on his face, "are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be…" Izuku said, before breathing in, "are you?"

"...I'm good at hiding it, Izu," Pepe said, leaning against a tree, "but I'm very good at wanting revenge. I know you only ever knew him as an enemy, but Kirschy… he was my best friend. He was all of our best friends."

"I know," Izuku said quietly, "my sense for who's good or bad is pretty good, and… I never got the feeling Kirschtaria was a bad person. Misguided, but not bad…"

"In a different world," Pepe said, tears pricking at his eyes, "you would have been friends. I know, it's cliche, but for you two, it's true. You're… you were so similar. Strong in your beliefs, good leaders… I'm sorry, I need a moment."

"I have his body in a coffin on the Border," Izuku offered quitely, "I have all their bodies, and Kadoc under Asclepius's care. If you want to come see them after we're done…"

"Why do you-?"

"I figured," Izuku said, "they deserved better than just… just fading when their world… when I… I want to find a graveyard to bury them when Proper Human History is restored. I might just be projecting and completely wrong, but if I were them, I'd rather be buried with my friends. If you want me to do something else, just say-"

"No," Pepe said, "That's perfect-"

"How sweet," a familiar voice sneered, causing Humanity's Last Master and the Crypter to whip around. Sitting on a branch, a scottish dirk flipping in one hand as he did, was Beryl Gut, "can I come too?'

A rictus of hate spread across Izuku's face, his cane shaking, "Gut."

"The Cripple's come to fight me without his doll?" Beryl snarked with a grin, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth, "I'm so scared."

"Jetburn," Izuku said, lifting his lighter before Pepe could say a thing, "Ten count."

The ten gouts of white flame covered the space between them and Beryl. Time slowed for Pepe as he activated his Magecraft, and it was a good thing it did.

It was the only thing that let him weave around Izuku, taking the thrust of the dirk in his hand instead of the thrust for the neck Beryl had been going for.

"Now you care?" Beryl said, "I told you all that all I did here was kill people, and now it's unforgivable, Pepe?"

"No," Pepe said, accelerating his body and punching Beryl so hard he was forced to let go of the dirk. Pepe ripped it from the skin, tossing it aside, "now it's personal. And I'm not gonna claim that makes me a good person, but I'm better than you, you piece of shit."

"And don't you forget it," Beryl said, black fur sprouting across his body, "Cripple, I hope you're ready. Mash isn't here to protect you this time."

"I know," Izuku said, drawing a gun and bracing it against his other hand, standing straight, "this time I'm protecting her from you."


---

Izuku pushed magical energy through his body, reinforcing it as he slid the lighter into a specially made wrist mounted holder. Then he drew the weaker of the two guns he had, a USP, and leveled it at Gut without hesitating. The first bullet cracked against his cheek, falling flat as the werewolf threw Pepe back. Then he turned towards Izuku and rushed forwards, claws bared. Izuku slammed his cane into Beryl's sternum, watching his eyes grow wide, "I can't walk without a cane, nobody said I couldn't stand."

"So, that just means you're stuck in one pla-" Gut turned suddenly, barely dodging the palm strike from Pepe. Izuku grabbed him by the upper jaw, forcing it open and shoving the gun down his throat. Claws tore at the rune enhanced shirt of his Mystic Code, and Izuku ripped the gun out, holstering it and backhanding him with a Ehwaz enhanced glove.

"How the fuck-" Gut vomited out the flattened, smoking bullets mixed with some blood. Izuku grabbed his lighter from the air, the rune Swolio glowing as he used Flash Air to displace the oxygen with chlorine trifluoride and ignited it. The space between them exploded into fire so hard it pushed Izuku back and forced him to use his cane as an anchor, "is a weak brat like YOU-"

"Hurting you? Izuku finished, "because I have friends more powerful than both of us. And that's all I need."

"You're weak!" Gut was on Izuku in the time it took for him to blink, claws raking at the shirt of his Mystic Code as he went, "Where's your Servants to cower behind, Midoriya? That's all you're good for! Being coddled by ghosts because your not strong enough to do your own work-!"

"I'm strong because of them!" Izuku jerked up, headbutting Gut, "They're not just my Servants. They're my friends, my teachers and my loved ones! And you hurt Mash! I can never, ever forgive you for that-!"

"And yet here you are," Gut sneared, tearing through Izuku's shirt and into his side with razor sharp claws, "Fighting alone!"

"He's not alone, he's fighting with a friend," Gut turned in time to take a strike from Pepe, sending him flying off Izuku as he marched forwards, "take a moment to recover, Izuku. I have a conversation I need to have with Beryl."

---

Pepe's Reinforcement Magecraft was at maximum as he weaved around each strike from Beryl, his eyes burning with so many emotions, "Why'd you do it, Beryl? We were your friends, and you betrayed us."

"And you killed your entire fucking family, so drop the self righteous bullshit already," Beryl growled, having shifted fully into a wolfman.

"And how do you know that?" Pepe demanded, the false whimsy in his voice dying entirely as he drove a fist into Beryl's still healing neck, listening to him choke and gag, "actually… I don't think I want you talking anymore. I'm just going to end you. Goodbye, Ber-

Pepe dodged the next attack as quickly as he could, feeling the claws rake against his side. Beryl had accelerated, forcing Pepe to do the same with Iddhi-vidha. Out of the corner of his eye, Pepe watched Izuku pull out a heavy revolver. Then he grabbed Beryl by the right arm, twisting so they were behind each other and snapped it out of the socket. Beryl howled, whipping towards him and lunging for his throat at speeds so fast Pepe wasn't able to keep up beyond pushing himself back.

They both fell over, Pepe lying on the ground and staring up at Beryl as he slowly began to lose what little human features he had. Clawed toes dug into the pink haired Crypter's chest.

And Pepe lashed up, holding Beryl in place with his enhanced strength as the jaw bit into him. It hurt.

But probably not as much as the six heavy bullets that blew through the three hundred pound wolf and knocked it off of Pepe. Pepe pushed himself up against the nearest tree as Izuku rushed over to him, blood pouring down his neck.

"Hey," Izuku said, trying to staunch the bleeding and holding his communicator to his mouth. Pepe had always hated it. So uninspired, "Da Vinci-Chan, Captain, we need a med-evac!"

"Your vitals are fine," a voice started.

"Not for me," Izuku started, and Pepe grabbed the foolish boy and threw him aside as the wolf barreled straight through where he had been. And into Pepe with several loud, harsh cracks, jaws clapping around his throat.

"NO!" Izuku fumbled with the revolver and a speed loader, aiming it at Beryl.

---

Twelve bullets. Made from Mystic Gunpowder from the Land of Beasts. Enchanted by Skadi. Crafted from shards of metal from the Land of Unified Knowledge. Fired with a gun enhanced by Ares Klironomia. Hollow points stuffed with monkshood from Camelot. Six Lostbelts, over a year of his life, had led up to this point

And in the end, Izuku was standing still as a giant wolf barreled straight for him again. Like he hadn't learned a thing in all that time. Maybe he hadn't. He just…

He wanted to be the hero. To save someone for once. Like he hadn't been able to for Roman, for Patxi, for Gerda, for Asha.

...That was a lie, right now. He wasn't here to be a hero. He was here because Gut had tried to hurt Mash, the girl who protected him through thick and thin, the girl he loved. His best friend and his partner through thick and thin.

Two of the daggers of the Spiritfuge slammed into Gut's eyes, gouging them out and stopping him for a second. Izuku leveled the gun-

And then the daggers, never meant to stop more than a human wraith and already worn from stopping Demonic Beasts in Babylonia, exploded. Which, on the upside, meant Gut probably wasn't ever going to recover from those injuries… assuming werewolves didn't have regeneration.

On the downside, it meant the frozen form of Gut resumed moving, barreling straight for Izuku. Pulling the trigger as fast as he could, Izuku watched holes tear into Gut's frame. The wolf shrank, finally returning to the black haired human form of the Crypter as they crashed into each other. Beryl's hand reached up, tearing one of the broken Spiritfuge daggers from his face and swinging for Izuku.

Izuku slammed his cane into the side of Gut's head, sending him flying off the Last Master and forcing them to both scramble up.

"Just give up!" Izuku ordered, "You're dead. There's poison from Wolf's Bane and Gandr curses going through your veins! Just give it up, Gut!"

"So what if I'm dead!" Gut laughed, spinning Izuku's knife and sniffing the air, "That just means I'm gonna drag you to hell with me! Come on, Izuku!"

And then he was rushing towards Izuku, swinging the broken Spiritfuge at his chest, Izuku slammed his cane into Gut's head, dodging several swings the best he could.

Unfortunately, at the third swing, the hollow metal crutch, never meant for a reinforced human (in hindsight, he really should have reinforced it too) smashing it into a werewolf, bent with a shrieking of metal. Izuku stared at it in horror, before tossing it aside and tackling Gut to the ground. Ehwaz hardened leather gloves smashed into his face as Izuku lay into him.

"No more," Izuku muttered with each punch, voice rising in tempo with each swing. For Mash. For Kirschtaria. For Pepe. For every person in this Lostbelt and any other he had hurt people in, "No more! No More! NO MORE! NOMORENO-"

"IZUKU!" The Master blinked as Nightingale grabbed his hands. What, what was she doing here… "He's dead. Izuku. He's hea- dead."

The slip of the tongue caused Izuku's eyes to roll back towards Gut. And his stomach promptly rolled. Had he… had he done that…?

Gut's head was practically pulverized. No, not practically, it was pulverized. Grey and red and white mixed with torn skin and… and…

Izuku wretched in Nightingale's arms.

"Asclepius," she said, voice so soft Izuku almost thought she was Mercèdés again, "I'm going to take Izuku back to the Border… he… he needs rest, for the moment."

"Have Beni-Enma make some katsudon and Nemo Bakery some hot chocolate," the man said, kneeling over Pepe's… Pepe's body, "I'm going to stay here and try and revive Peperoncino… I'll bring theit bodies."

"Leave… leave Gut's," Izuku managed to croak as he was lifted into a bridal carry by Nightingale.

"Right, then I'll retrieve the Spiritfuge and return to the Border," Asclepius, "Just… rest and relax Izuku. You're not severely hurt, but that's what you need. Rest and relaxation."

"I… ok," Izuku said, "Ok…"

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

So, if this feels like it comes out of nowhere, that's only because it was. I was literally sitting there trying to decide if I'm gonna paint my new Space Bois as Black Templars or Space Wolves when this fucker just erupted out of nowhere. New writing style, new everything... so yeah, feel free to go "What the fuck, Psycho?"

---

They say eyes are the window to the soul. A bit cliche, I will admit.

But it's important because until I met you, I didn't believe it. Solomon's eyes had been kind, even though I was certain he was a tyrant.

The first time you and I met. Truly met, your eyes were filled with kindness, but determination. You met mine without fear or hesitation, standing admisted the destruction I wrought. Legends and Heroes, cut down like chaff before the scythe. And you weren't afraid of me. I took you for a fool, someone too delusional to realize how far out of his depth he was.

The second time we met, your eyes were tired. A stick of chocolate hung from one hand as you sat in Ars Paulina and watched it collapse. And you stood up, turning towards me. You broke the chocolate bar in half, and offered it to me. There was compassion in your eyes as we stood at the foiling of my plan together, watching it all crumble.

"You should go," I said. I knew what was to come now that my plan had failed. I took a bite out of the chocolate, more to be polite than anything. I didn't need to eat.

I never told you, but it was delicious. Even if it was a simple drug store chocolate.

You swallowed the chocolate, eyes full of tired compassion raking over me. Something burned in them for a second, and you threw the first punch. Blood roared in borrowed veins. And I punched back.

Somehow, as you manifested the echo of a shield I had come to hate and respect in equal measure, I knew you had done it because you knew I needed it. I was about to die, and I wanted to rage against it. And so we fought, and I should have died.

The third time we met, your eyes were filled with hope. And I, through no action of my own, snuffed it out. Your fists groaned, your teeth clenched as the hope became hate. I expected you to throw a punch. I was all the more surprised when you didn't.

"Goetia," you said, mechanically.

"Izuku Midoriya," I returned. And with that, we went our separate ways.

Izuku, my friend. My enemy. I can't wait to see what is in your eyes the next time we meet. For better or for worse.

And thank you, by the way, for the free voyage. I think I'll go out and see the world that could create such an ordinary hero.

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

Jeanne Alter had expected a lot of things during her session of watching Izuku- er… watching anime with Izuku.

Rubbing his back as a pork cutlet, rice, eggs and other assorted ingredients coated the inside of his toilet bowl was not one of them, nor was it one she could classify as a "pleasant surprise".

She glanced at the door to the bathroom as Izuku retched again, several loud splatterings coming across loud and clear. Nemo Nurse came into the room in a rush, bottles and syringes on a tray, "Oh, dear, that doesn't sound good…"

Izuku agreed violently, his body convulsing with the retching. Jeanne awkwardly patted him on the back in quiet support.

"What happened?" Nemo Nurse asked, walking over and holding out a pill in her small hands. Once Izuku had finished another round of retching, she put it in his own, "dissolve that under your tongue. I can't promise it will stop everything, Master, but it will cut the worst of it, at the very least."

"I ate katsudon," Izuku said, before following her instructions. Nemo Nurse paused before sighing.

"Why would you do something like that?" She asked, "You've had nothing to eat in a month and that's… quite heavy on the stomach, to say the least."

"Mom offered to make it," Izuku mumbled, taking Nemo and Jeanne's hands and standing up. Nurse walked him towards the bed with a quiet 'ah.'

"And your heart moved faster than your mind," Nurse said, sliding him into bed and handing him a bucket, "at least it was in the right place."

Jeanne wasn't sure about that, honestly. But then, she didn't have a mother, and the closest thing she had to a father had been killed by his alternate self. So who knew, maybe that was in the right place. But it seemed weird to have made yourself sick over their food to be 'in the right place.'

"Do we need to do anything special?" Izuku asked.

"Not particularly," Nemo said, fluffing his pillow and running a hand through his air in a way that could be considered motherly, "just get some rest. You and Jeanne can watch whatever show you were going to, but I'm going to put a Nemo Marine outside to make sure you don't go do whatever else was on your itinerary. Your health can't wait, whatever you have to do can. Ok?"

"Ok," Izuku said, sounding slightly petulant. She swore he was allergic to staying still.

"I'll make sure too," Jeanne said, sitting on the comfy chair next to the bed and pulling the lever to deploy the footrest, kicking back, "even if I've gotta sit here all night."

"Thank you, Jeanne," Nemo Nurse said with a smile, "I'll leave you to it, but remember, I'm always just a call away."

Jeanne watched her leave, before biting her cheek and, after making sure nobody was coming in (by getting up and locking the door), climbed into the bed next to Izuku.

"J-Jeanne-"

"Shut up," she muttered, worming into his side, "I missed you, you know that right, you idiot?"

"Yes?"

"Then let me stay like this for now," she said gruffly, grabbing the remote and hitting play, "and chew on some gum, your breath stinks now."

"Ok," Izuku said, sliding a piece into his mouth and beginning to chew as he wrapped an arm around Jeanne's shoulders.

---

Anastasia was in the middle of crashing a crystalline glass over Caster Cu's head when Viy started trying to grab her attention. In a move not quite suited for the Grand Duchess of Russia, she kicked the druid flat in the chest and sent him flying towards Edison. The lion Heroic Spirit caught him by the neck and swung him straight for Tesla. A rune flashed on either side of him, and both inventors were sent flying away from each other and Cu with explosive force.

Seconds later, she had lost track of them in the vicious war zone that made up floor thirteen, the first of four floors dedicated to letting the Servants vent their frustrations at each other in a... percussive way.

In short, it was where they went to beat the shit out of each other. Sure you could spar on other levels, but anything escalating from a brawl to just outright attempts to kill each other (rare though they were lest you brought Izuku's hard to draw ire upon you) happened here.

And many Casters were currently doing their level best to burn through the Bounded Fields that kept it safe as they argued over what type of Familiar was best for Izuku. Like the answer wasn't obviously an Elemental.

Preferably an ice one. Maybe with big Mystic Eyes…

Ok, so she might be a bit biased.

Contractor.

Anastasia turned her mind to the link between her and Viy. She froze for a second as she peered into Izuku's room, before snapping back to reality and freezing Caster Cu solid as he went to slam the flaming butt of his staff into her stomach.

The world around her dropped in temperature as she swept out of the room. Come on, Jalter. They had already let her out to see Izuku's home, now she was cuddling with him?

...God, she felt needy at times, keeping Viy on watch in Izuku's room. She… she didn't want to be like that, honestly. But…

Father collapsed with three bullet wounds in his chest, eyes wide as he raised a shaking hand to them. Alexandra was shot in the head before she had time to stand from her chair. Maria ran for the door only to be shot and bayoneted. Anastasia's black hair grew light as she touched something dark and cold within her as bullets hit home in her chest. Jimmy, loyal Jimmy, attacked them despite his small size the second he heard his owner cry out in pain, only for the dog to be skewered on a bayonet as she fell.

Anastasia shivered, Viy rising up in a mockery of a hug that only left her feeling colder. Despite that, she smiled up at the Elemental.

"We got them back," she muttered vindictively.

Vengeance…

Anastasia didn't particularly care if Izuku grew close to other girls, he would have to include Kiyohime in some way to keep the peace, and she could easily use that as a jumping off point…

But she kinda expected it to be Mash who broke through whatever barrier Izuku had placed around his heart.

Then she lifted her communicator to her mouth, "Nobu? How do you feel about a prank?"

---

Jeanne Alter felt like something had crawled across her nonexistent grave briefly. Izuku looked over at her, pulling the blanket around them slightly tighter. She swore, he knew what he was doing, if only at a subconscious level, "are you alright?"

"It's nothing," Jeanne said, leaning back on the throne of pillows they were lying against.

"If you say so," Izuku said, before turning his eyes briefly back to the screen… and wincing, "Why did you want to watch this again?"

"The manga is super good," Jeanne said, looking over at the kitchenette, "pause it real quick?"

Izuku did so, letting Jeanne stand up and walk over to the kitchen and began a bag of microwave popcorn. Izuku gave a quiet, "Oh… We're settling in for the long haul?"

"You've been unconscious for a month," Jeanne said, "That means we have a month of anime to catch up on."

"Alright," Izuku said, nodding.

Plus, if she was honest, she didn't want to risk being caught coming out of Izuku's room at some weird hour. She could trust Nemo Bakery to keep her mouth shut when the time came for a better meal. But everyone…

There was a sharp knock on the metal door, "Senpai? Are you awake?"

"Yes, Mash."

"Alright," Mash said, "I'm going to bed. If you need me for anything…"

"I'll be fine," Izuku said, using James's cane to stand and walk over to the door and open it while Jeanne ducked.

Stupid… frustrating… GAH, why did she have to trust this oblivious… GAH!

"You shouldn't be standing," Mash said.

"It's just for a minute," Izuku smiled, "just keep it a secret from Asclepius. Hug?"

Mash wrapped her arms around Izuku, and he hooked his free hand around her.

"Maybe tomorrow some of us can go out and see Mustafu together," Izuku said, letting go of Mash, "I can show you all where I used to live, and UA, and some of the other stuff."

"I'd like that," Mash said, "Goodnight, Senpai. Jeanne."

Crap on a cracker.

"Night, Mash." Jeanne said, gruffly.

"Goodnight," Izuku smiled, before letting the door slide shut and looking over at Jeanne, "Sorry, this is supposed to be your night, and…"

"Mash was worried sick about you," Jeanne said, pulling out the popcorn, "I won't be surprised if she pops up throughout the night. Now back in bed, I wanna see how this goes."

"Didn't you say you already read the manga?"

Yeah, but she was talking about his reactions.

---

Izuku quietly stewed in indignation as he was pushed through the halls of the Border by the newly dubbed Nemo Adjunct. Or, in layman's terms, a Nemo Marine wearing a fancy pin of a bird in flight. He hated this.

Hated it. He hated being forced to rely on a wheelchair to get around. They were working to fix his leg, this felt like they were backsliding.

Finally, they stopped at a door deep within the Border, and Izuku glanced at Nemo Adjunct, "Do you mind giving us some privacy? She's probably… not gonna be happy. I won't stand up, I promise."

"Yes, Master," Nemo said, saluting and walking away to talk to another Nemo Marine crouching in front of an open panel with a toolbox. Izuku reached out, knocking on the door, "Kama? Can I come in?"

Nothing. Yeah, that was fair.

"Alright," Izuku said, leaning back and twiddling his thumbs, "I'll just talk to you through the door then… I'm sorry about this. I know you don't wanna be here, I really do… but I can't let you out into the world."

Still nothing. Izuku shimmied the chair until it was resting against the wall, leaning his head back so his crown rested against it.

"I'm… I'm just gonna talk at you," Izuku said, "you don't have to say anything, ok?" … "Ok. I'm sorry I haven't really had time to talk to you before now. I wanted to, but… well, life has been hectic with the Lostbelts, and Beast VII, and everything. I hope you've been getting food, right?" … "right. Sorry, remember, even if you don't want to talk to us, Nemo Bakery can always get food made and run down to you."

Izuku listened closely, hearing a shuffle on the other side of a wall, and finally, a quiet, petulant voice half-muttered and half-spat, "I've been getting food, Master."

"That's good," Izuku said softly, "how is it?"

"...It's good," she said, "She always makes what I want, no matter what I want… she is a she, right?"

"That's complicated," Izuku hedged.

"So you don't know."

"Yeah," Izuku chuckled, "you got me."

"...Why are you doing this," Kama asked, "there are hundreds of people for you to talk to. A dozen that love-"

"Don't…" Izuku snapped, breathing in and closing his eyes.

"Oh…"

"What?" Izuku asked softly.

"Nothing," Kama said, a laugh in her voice, "why are you here."

"I want to be your friend," Izuku said.

"And what do we have in common for us to be friends?"

"I don't think we need stuff in common, or we would find it eventually if we talked but… uh… we both really don't like Kiara? I saw that prank you did to her last week. It was pretty funny."

"She deserved it," Kama said.

"I'm sure she did something to do so," Izuku shrugged, "don't worry about it, like I said, it was pretty funny."

---

"You think he'll like them?"

"They worked with him over… over me, back in Scandinavia. And if he doesn't like, we can reshape them."

"Fair enough."

---