"It's just… I'm so sorry Izuku… but you're not exactly from around here".
=== === === === ===
Izuku frowned, wondering why on Earth his mother looked so worried when she was speaking about things he already knew, as he took in the way she was wringing her hands together nervously, her back hunched over, as she looked up at him from where she was sat on the sofa, "I know?"
He chuckled, setting the papers in his hands down, as he took his seat back, sitting beside her, as she continued to look worried, "You do?"
"Yeah? I mean, you told me the story years ago", he replied, smiling at the memory of it, "you were driving down to Endo after a shift at one of the old hospitals that you used to work at. You weren't expecting it so soon, so I ended up being born at Grandma's house during the night", his smile turned sad as he remembered the details of the story, "Sherubi was there too".
"Well, that's not exactly what happened", Inko said, moving on from wringing her hands to picking at one of her nailbeds, and seeing her nerves, he felt a twinge of worry set in, even as he took her hands in his, prying her fingers away before they had the chance to leave the rest of her fingers torn and bloody, "the truth is, Izuku, you might have been kind of…", she swallowed, "adopted".
He stood up immediately, dropping her hands, "That's not funny".
Inko winced, "I know, and I'm sorry, Sweetie, but… if you're going to do this, you need to know-"
"-know what? That I'm adopted? Look at me", she turned her gaze to find his, and he barely registered the fact that she was crying, as he gestured towards his own face, "my hair, my eyes, I mean, apart from our height, I look just like you".
"Our eyes aren't the same", she told him softly, "we just both happen to have green, and-", her voice hitched, "and your hair's supposed to be black. We had it altered slightly, when you were a baby. We added green highlights-"
"What?! How?!"
She moved to shrug, but stopped before finishing the motion, hanging her head, "There was a retired plastic surgeon that-"
"And who's we?!"
"Me and Grandma".
"Grandma and I", he corrected without thinking.
"Right", she nodded, afraid of upsetting him any more than she had to, "she was with me at the time. She was with me after I, err, I mean when you-"
"What? When you picked me up?"
"More like… when I found you".
"You found me?"
She nodded again, looking back up at him, "In a field".
"And what, I was just left there? Sitting out in the open? Where were my parents?"
Inko sighed, "I think they're dead", she told him, as she rose to her feet and crossed their apartment on shaking legs, until she reached the shelf besides the kitchen, upon which she kept her old cookbooks, and picked out the bright red one that Izuku never touched; that they'd never even used.
The very same one that she had once told him, she'd picked up from the hospital giftshop after he was born.
He guessed that that little story was a lie too.
Placing the book flat on the counter, she flipped it open, and Izuku could see the big chunk that had been carved out of the book, leaving a hole where the recipes should lie. His mother didn't hesitate before pulling out a small slab, which shined silver under their apartment's lights. She held it gently, away from her, and carried it back over to him with something almost akin to reverence, as she held it out to him.
Matching her gentle grip as best he could, he laid it flat on the palm of his hand.
Seemingly made of solid silver, there were small black symbols engraved onto the surface of it. It was no larger than a big bar of chocolate, but the jagged tips made it look as though it had been designed to plug into some sort of machine, but he couldn't imagine what type though. Izuku knew he wasn't an expert of every piece of technology in the world, but it didn't look like any piece of hardware he'd ever seen before.
"I think that your parents - your real parents - I think they left this with you", she told him, her voice little more than a whisper.
"Wha-", he cleared his throat, "what does it say?"
"I don't know", she told him, staring at the slab as though its mere presence offended her, "but those markings don't match anything I've been able to find. Japanese. Chinese. Korean. Russian. Latin. Greek. Egyptian. Norse. Hindi. Sumerian. I even spent time checking it against ancient drawing styles like aboriginal and Native American pictographs. I couldn't find a single match", she swallowed, "as far as I can tell, those symbols don't match any written language that's ever been used throughout Earth's history".
"Great, so what? I was abandoned with a metal sheet of drawings, but the drawings are meaningless".
"No, Sweetie, I don't think the problem is that they can't be found throughout history, I just don't think they can be found throughout Earth's history".
For a moment, the two of them sat there, simply staring at each other, before Izuku burst out laughing, "You think I'm an alien", he chuckled again, "well, in that case, where's my spaceship? Did you leave it in that field?"
Inko tried to smile, but she could feel how brittle it was, "Actually, I buried it at Grandma's House".
=== === === === ===
After her talk with Izuku, after the 'big reveal', as she had already taken to calling it inside of her own mind, Inko hadn't been able to find sleep. She'd tried - she'd washed, changed and gone to bed - and insisted that Izuku do the same, but she'd spent the entire night awake and alert, tossing and turning, and based on his appearance, so too had Izuku. He hadn't bothered with dressing yet, still wearing his pyjamas, and when she told him that she was going to call Aldera and have them declare him sick for the day, he hadn't even bothered with shrugging.
"Okay".
"I still have to go in for my shift though".
He nodded in acknowledgement as she looked over at him, still sat on their sofa, slowly turning over the slab in his hands, as he stared down at it, intensely, "Are you going to be okay by yourself?"
"I'm fine".
"Call me though, if you need anything, okay?"
"Okay".
When she came home that evening, exhausted from working a ten-hour shift, she found that Izuku was still sat there, still clad in his pyjamas, just sitting on the sofa, silver slab in hand, staring down at it, as he slowly turned it over and over, examining every inch.
If not for that, she was certain that he hadn't moved a muscle.
=== === === === ===
Izuku wanted to say something, he did, but the problem was… he didn't know what.
He had a million questions he wanted answers to, but he had no idea where to start.
Who was he? Where did he come from? What was he? Why was he here?
And more importantly… why had she never told him before now?
Every time he tried to speak with his mother, (or was that supposed to be someone else now? Was he supposed to call her Inko now?), he found the words drying up in his throat before they managed to leave his mouth. He'd tried to write them down, but found that he couldn't keep his hands from shaking, leaving his text jagged and unreadable.
He felt stuck in place.
He'd just nodded when she spoke.
It was all he felt capable of doing.
=== === === === ===
Apparently, without him realising, the week had given way to Saturday, when she told him that she had a few days off, and they were going to Grandma's house.
Still feeling lost for words, he didn't have it in him to argue with her. He just nodded and went to put on his favourite jacket and sneakers, before following to the car, settling into place in the passenger seat beside her.
As they drove, she fiddled with the radio controls constantly, flicking between local music channels, national news and a few Pro Hero podcasts, but he could tell that she wasn't listening, nodding at random intervals, trying to give the illusion that she was paying attention, as she traversed through the countryside roads. She tried to speak to him once or twice, but he was paying as much attention as she was, and her words went over his head, not registering in his mind, until she had already given up and returned to letting the mindless drone of the radio wash over them.
He shook his head, as her words played out in his mind, in an endless loop.
"-your real parents-"
But that wasn't the truth, was it?
He wasn't her son.
"-your real parents-"
Apparently, he was just some kid she'd picked up in a field. She'd found him one morning, and decided, 'fuck it, I'll keep him', and then basically kidnapped him. For all she knew, he had family out there looking for him, and she'd never bothered to report him as missing. She thought he was an alien, but Quirks were weird and wide, and the markings on the slab could just be random scribbles. They didn't need to have any meaning.
That made far more sense than her ridiculous alien theory.
His moth- Inko, was a lovely woman. She was kind and caring; the sort of woman who spent her life looking after other people and not bothering to take care of herself. He been inspired by her for his entire life, but not once, in all that time, had he ever thought of her as a liar.
"-your real parents-"
Parents didn't tell their children everything. Some things were just too big for the minds of children to comprehend and were best left until later in life. Izuku knew that, just like every other child on the planet, (the planet - and what a joke that word was, if what she'd told him was at all true), he'd had been given those same stories to be raised on, but despite that, Izuku was firm in his belief that his mother - Inko - had never lied to him.
And now he knew better.
"-your real parents-"
He barely registered the fact that they had arrived at Gran- Ima's home, only noticing when Inko moved to unbuckle her seatbelt; something she never did while the vehicle was in motion. He did his best to blink his mind clear, as he took in the sight of the Midoriya home, finding that Ima was stood on the porch, leaning against her walking cane, already waiting for them.
Every time they came to visit, he couldn't help but think that she looked older. It wasn't some gradual change as late, rather, it felt as though she was unwinding before his eyes. She was thinner, bonier; her hair of green and grey had now given way to almost a complete head of vibrant white, yet her gaze remained as sharp as ever, and her mind was just as fierce.
Still, he remembered to do the polite thing, and moved to greet her, even as she stepped off the porch, leaving her cane behind for a moment, as she tilted his head up from where he was pointedly staring at the ground, forcing their eyes to meet,
"Hey kiddo", she called out softly, as they all drew closer together, "she finally decided to tell you then? Everything?"
He swallowed down the lump in his throat, his mouth was dry again, "Yeah".
"It was time", Inko added from where she was stood behind him.
"Alright then, come on", snatching her cane up from where she'd left it behind, she moved to walk around the house, leading them to the vast expanse of land that she called her back garden, "we all know what you came here to see. Go grab a spade", she flicked her hand out in the direction of the garden shed, "you'll need it".
"What?" He tilted his head in confusion, "Why?"
"For digging", Ima told him, using that familiar tone that told him that she felt whoever he was speaking to was - at the very least - acting like an idiot, "what else would you use a spade for?"
"Erm…"
"What?"
"Nothing", he murmured.
"You thought I was going to dig that thing up? I'm an old woman", she snapped, and Izuku found himself straightening up on instinct, "you think because you've been told the truth that you deserve special treatment?"
"What?" Izuku shook his head, too afraid to be surprised at finding his voice, "No! Of course not!"
"Good", she shook he head at him, "young man thinks that the old woman will do the manual labour for him, utterly shameless", Izuku held back the urge to fidget as she glared at him, before her gaze turned back to the field in front of them, "now go on, right over there", she used her cane to point, "halfway between those two fallen trees. You can stop digging when you find yourself hitting something big and metallic. Come and get us when you're done".
=== === === === ===
Digging in the spot he been told to dig wasn't a difficult form of exercise, and it was made even easier by the superstrength that was granted to him by his (Quirk? Alien biology? Magic?) abilities, but it was repetitive.
And dull.
And slow.
A lot of people he knew - especially those at his school - didn't realise that superspeed wasn't always helpful. The last time he'd tried using it on something like this, he'd just ended up flinging muck everywhere at high velocity, making a mess of it all and just leaving him with a lot of cleaning to do.
As dull as it was, sometimes slower was indeed safer.
Thankfully, he didn't get tired, which meant he didn't need to bother trying to pace himself. After stripping off his jacket, leaving him in one of his All Might branded t-shirts, he knew that he could just move on repeat until he was finished.
Shovel in. Push down. Pull out. Toss aside. Repeat.
Honestly, the worst part of it was the boredom.
Moving at a normal speed meant that he was digging a hole, of an unknown depth, by moving a single shovel's worth of dirt at a time.
Shovel in. Push down. Pull out. Toss aside. Repeat.
If he'd realised what he was going to be doing before he'd left the apartment, he would've planned ahead and brought along his headphones.
Shovel in. Push down. Pull out. Toss aside. Repeat.
For all he knew, he was already nearly two metres down and getting to the bottom of where he was could him take the rest of the weekend-
CLANG!
He winced from the noise, as the tip of the shovel met its underground opponent, clanging against each other, before making an awful noise as their metallic components slid against each other, aided by his own strength and offending his ears. He yanked the shovel back in an instant, the noise dying out, before, cautiously, he tapped down with the shovel several times, getting a sharp metallic clanging sound in response each time, and then he nodded to himself, satisfied that he'd managed to reach whatever they wanted him to find.
He should probably let them know.
=== === === === ===
He gave out a generic yell, raising his shovel in the air, and after a moment, he saw the two of them begin to make their way over to him, moving slowly so that his Grandm- so that Ima, was able to remain comfortable. For the most part, he felt as though age had been kind to her, but on their last few visits, he'd started noticed that in addition to her weight loss, she was also moving slower than he was used to seeing.
He didn't expect for a woman in her late seventies, even with the power of modern medicine, to be swift and spry, but now it appeared as though she was struggling with even some of her most basic acts.
While they crossed the expanse of the field, Izuku busied himself with flinging away the topmost layer of dirt that was still covering the ship, and though the movements remained as regular as they had all morning, each new pass of the shovel felt heavier and heavier, as slowly but surely, he revealed more of the buried mass of silver-grey metal that he was now standing above.
It looked like an egg. It was larger and silver than any he'd ever seen, but it was definitely egg-shaped, or at least, the part he could see was.
Or maybe it was pod shaped.
Was he a pod person? Had he stolen some innocent child's body while he was out there? Was there a real couple now missing their son, because he'd killed him and stolen-
"Well, what are you waiting for?"
"Huh?"
"Stop wasting time", Ima barked at him, as he blinked away his blurred vision, and fought to take a few deep breaths, "use that ridiculous strength of yours and pick it up. You can put it in your Grandpa's old workshop", she swivelled around, pointing at it with her cane, "I already told your mom to move his old truck out. It should fit in there", she shrugged, "well, unless it's grown or some other weird shit-"
"Mother".
"Your boy's a teenager, girl. If he's never heard someone say the word 'shit' before, I'll eat one of my old fucking hats, now", she turned her gaze on him, ignoring her daughter's sigh of disappointment at her use of profanity, "get a move on, and do it quickly. You never know when some nosy busybody's going to show up and try taking a peek at what you're doing".
=== === === === ===
He couldn't stop his arms from shaking.
The ship wasn't heavy.
But it was real.
Well, if he took a moment to think about it, Izuku would say that the ship probably was heavy, but he also had superstrength, so as far as he was concerned, it was all relative. He doubted that any baseline human would've been capable of moving it. Inko had already told him on the drive over that she and Ima had both needed to push their Quirks to their limits, and that was barely enough for them to be able to lift it far enough to get it onto the back of the truck.
Inko opened the workshop door for him, letting the large block of wood swing out as wide as it would go, before hastening to shut it behind them, as he did his best not to drop the ship in his eagerness to be rid of it from his grip.
He didn't want it anywhere near him.
He placed it down gently, letting it go in the middle of his grandpa's old shed, which seemed ridiculously large for one man, had he not been known to spend most of his time outside, tinkering with electronics, ranging from his own truck and work van, to include that time he'd managed to 'fix' his wife's hairdryer, so that it began blowing hot air out of its back, instead if its front.
He'd also been banned from working on any more of their household appliances after that.
Well, that and the exploding microwave incident.
Izuku never had gotten the details of just exactly what had happened that day out of either woman; all knew for certain was that it had led to a lifetime ban on his grandfather being allowed to do home repair works, and only being allowed to use his workshop to work on his stories.
Still, he couldn't find it in him to complain. Now that there was no truck being stored inside, there was plenty of room for them to place his ship, where it couldn't be seen with outside eyes.
"So… what now?"
The two women shared a glance with each other, before Inko tentatively spoke, unsure of her own words, "I think we were hoping that you would know what to do".
"So… I just found out that I'm apparently an alien, which I had no idea about, but you think that operating a spaceship is genetic?"
"They're obviously an advanced society", Ima pointed out, clearly amused, "for all we know, they have a way of making it so that the information is hardwired in there somewhere".
"Right", he rolled his eyes, "and I also speak all of their planet's languages and ours, and I also happen to enjoy making some of their signature dishes. They do this particularly nice sauce, it's somewhere between an American-style barbecue and a sweet and smoky chilli sauce. I just never thought to mention it to you before now".
"Don't you sass me, Boy".
He didn't flinch at Ima's tone, but it was a near thing, "Yes, ma'am".
"-Tt-", she clicked her teeth in response, and Izuku took that as his permission to continue.
"But seriously, what do we do now?"
"Well…", Inko mused, "when you were a baby, it opened and closed on its own. We couldn't find any buttons, so we assumed that it was automatically responding to you".
"I guess that makes sense, but I just carried it across your field. If it was going to react to me, it would've done so by now, wouldn't it".
"I… suppose so".
The three of them stood there for a few moments, forming an awkward triangle filled with an even more awkward silence. Izuku didn't know what to do, and neither of the adults knew what to say.
"I think I'm going to get some air", Izuku settled on, moving towards the door and refusing to look back at the mass of metal that was behind him, "clear my head", he shrugged, even as he walked away, "maybe I'll come up with something. Who knows?"
Inko perked up, "We could all-"
"I'd rather be alone", Izuku said, cutting her off, "I'll be back later".
=== === === === ===
They watched Izuku leave, not bothering to take his jacket with him, which Inko knew had his mobile in one of its breast pockets. She didn't doubt that he would be safe, his 'Quirk' after all, seemed to render him immune to what she would consider 'normal' damage.
Izuku's skin seemed to be largely impervious to damage of all forms, which they were all grateful for. For Izuku, it seemed to mean that he didn't have to worry about contracting acne or developing zits, (and no matter the teenager, Inko had seen enough patients to know skincare was something they all worried about), while for Inko and Ima, it meant that their boy would be safe, no matter where he was.
It also meant that Inko no longer had to fake his medical records, not only because his body seemed to be able to live on Earth without issue, but because no needle could even pierce his skin.
Now that he was older, she didn't need to fake more vaccination shots, when he simply couldn't have them to begin with.
That didn't mean she didn't worry. She'd been worrying his entire life, and ever since the day of his ninth birthday, when that thing had appeared, she'd realised that she was never going to be able to stop worrying, but more importantly, it was her job to keep him safe, and as far away from danger for as long as possible.
Realising that she was starting to cry, she reached up, drawing a handkerchief from her pocket to dab at them, "You should go after him".
"There's no point. He's not talking to me".
"No point? He's your son, what more of a point do you need? If he doesn't want to talk with you, then don't ask him to. Talk to him. Talk at him, if you have to, but remind him that you're here, and encourage him to come back".
Her eyes flew open, "You think he's leaving!"
"I meant to the ship", her mother rolled her eyes at her, "I think he needs to open it and see inside. So, get him to come back and open it. He's probably the only one who can".
"But he-"
"Didn't want it to open", Ima cut across her, "think about it, girl. The baby wanted to be found, so the ship opened. You were safe, so the baby wanted to stay with you, and so the ship closed. You couldn't put him back him. Right now, it knows that Izuku doesn't actually want to see what's inside, so…?"
"It won't open", Inko concluded.
"Good, you understand that much then, now go and talk to him".
"Right", Inko said, as she nodded to herself, preparing himself to go after him, "I'll go and do that".
"And while you're there", she said softly, knowing that her daughter wouldn't hear her, as she walked away, "try and remember that he's still your son".
=== === === === ===
"Hi Grandpa".
Kneeling down, Izuku brushed a handful of stray leaves and dust from the Midoriya Family's resting plot, his gaze lingering on the small plaque that held his grandfather's name below the haka.
KOSEI MIDORIYA
17th October 2149 - 10th July 2209
Beneath the ground, Izuku knew that he would find the small urn that held the cremated remains of Inko's father, and one day, it'd do the same for Ima, Inko and even himself.
If he was lucky, his children too.
Actually, could he even have kids?
Was he… human-compatible?
He sighed, after all, there was really only one way of knowing, and he didn't even want to consider that right now.
He had enough to deal with as it was.
"I'm sorry it's been so long since my last visit", he continued, talking to a man who could never respond, "I don't always remember to come down here, whenever we're here to visit. Sorry again… it's just… I don't know what to do", he confessed, "I mean, it's all ridiculous! Aliens! It's just, I don't even, argh", he grit his teeth, "it's not fair!"
He shook his head, "It's never been fair! I get a strong Quirk, but I can't turn it off. I can't be injured, but I'm not allowed to fight back", he could feel his anger starting to build up steam now, "I just completely smashed the hardest entrance exam for the best heroics school in the world, and I know that she won't even let me join!"
He sighed, his shoulders sagging, as the fight that he'd built out drained out of him, "It's not fair, I… I just want to help people".
It wasn't fair.
But he was also smart enough to know that it wasn't all her fault either.
She was afraid.
But honestly, so was he.
What was he supposed to do now? 'Aliens are real' was a mind-boggling idea all on its own, but the fact that he was one of them was just…
He didn't know what to do.
And he told Grandpa as much.
He wasn't exactly expecting a response, so when someone whispered, "I know you do", he felt he shouldn't feel too ashamed of the jerky way, in which he leapt away from the grave.
And despite what she would tease him with later, he did not scream.
It was a… manly yelp… of manliness.
Like a war cry for use against ghosts.
"M-", he cleared his throat, as Inko moved closer to him, until she was stood beside him, looking down at her family plot, where her father now rested, "how long where you there?"
He winced at the pitch of his voice, but if his mother noticed, she didn't comment on it, instead, she laid the single flower she'd brought with her - a purple primrose, if his memory was correct, which he also recalled being told were his grandpa's favourites - at the front of the memorial stone.
"Not very long", she told him, still not looking back at him, "just enough to hear what you said at the end-"
"I-"
"-and you're right".
He blinked, confused, "I… I am?"
She smiled bitterly, "Of course you are. It's not fair. It's never been fair to you. The nightmares I used to have of what would happen if anyone ever discovered who you are and where you came from, and then, despite all that", she turned to face him, smiling brightly, and Izuku could feel his heart sit heavy in his throat, "I got to watch you grow up, and grow into a man who wants to do everything he can to help the people around him, no matter what it is they need", she sniffed, her eyes going back to the grave, "your grandfather was like that too. Always going out of his way to help people. He bought that old truck to help out your grandmother. He drove her when she needed to make home visits, you know? He helped her go to the people who couldn't go to the hospital, or even just to her", she shrugged, "there weren't that many people who couldn't make the trip, and those that couldn't had family or friends that could've helped out, but he didn't want them to be too inconvenienced, so he bought a truck. Your grandma said he was mad, but he just smiled whenever she did and promised that we'd use it for a family trip one day".
"So that's why she never got rid of it".
"No, it was his promise to her. The only one he never managed to fulfil, but it was done just because he wanted to help people".
"That's all I want", he told her, his frustration bubbling back up for a moment, "I can help people - a lot of people", he looked down at his hands, capable of lifting loads heavier than most men could dream of, even in a world of Quirks, "what else am I supposed to do with these powers? What else are they for?"
"I really don't know", Inko told him, her tone soft and bordering on the edge of tears, "I don't, and I wish I did, but I don't, but Izuku, baby", her tone turned cautious, warning him, "if people ever learned what you were, I don't know what they'd do to you".
"I wouldn't tell them!"
"But they might find out anyway", she countered, "if you do this, they'll look into you, Izuku. They always do. They'll look into your life, your background, everything. One day, the world may find out what you are, and on that day, everything changes".
"You don't know that!"
"What have I always told you: the truth will-"
"-always come into light", he finished dutifully, "it's only ever a matter of how and when".
Inko reached over, and with a single finger, she tilted his head up to meet her gaze, "And Izuku, the truth is, you're the answer, to the question of are we alone in the universe. Izuku", she leaned up, and he bent down, lowering himself so that she could press a kiss into his hair, the way she had used to when he was a child, "your being here changes the answer to what it means to be human".
=== === === === ===
Ima had given up her few, rather rare instances of smoking when she'd first fallen pregnant with Inko. As a nurse, she felt it was a disgusting habit for a pregnant woman to indulge in, (admittedly, it wasn't much better for those who were neither pregnant, nor women), and it often proved itself to be an expensive habit too, so she'd decided to break it. She hadn't missed it once; not since giving it up all those years ago, but right now?
Now, she could use a nice cigar and a stiff drink.
Izuku knew.
It was about time for that to be true, and she'd always known that one day, this day would come, but still…
Izuku knew.
Even if Inko hadn't called ahead to tell her, she would've known the second she'd laid eyes on him. Her beautiful grandson, who had a smile like sunshine had all-but fallen out of her daughter's car, looking as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his broad shoulders.
Or two worlds, she supposed.
They still didn't know where he came from.
She thought that she would be ready for this, knowing that one day it would come, but even know, she felt a sense of unease about it all. They were opening a can of worms here, only they had no idea what they were actually going to find inside.
And a nice, long drag or slow, savoured sip would've taken the edge off of it all so nicely.
It was a shame she'd gotten rid of it all.
There might've still been a case or two of Kosei's favourite cheap and nasty beer tucked safely away in his workshop - the really bad crap that he saved for when he was stuck on an article with no idea of where to go next - but while she was thirsty, she wasn't feeling desperate.
She had some standards after all.
At least, she did for the moment.
Depending on how this visit with Izuku went, she might find herself lowering them.
Right now, all she wanted was a strong pot of coffee.
Laced with an even stronger liquor.
But for the moment, the coffee would do.
It would be great for warming her bones. The date meant that they were already in the spring, but even with the bright and burgeoning sunlight, the temperature still made her decidedly feel like it was the middle of winter.
The smart thing to do was wait inside, where it was warm, preferably with her central heating on and a nice blanket to cover her legs, instead of standing out on her front porch with just her cardigan for cover.
She missed having Sherubi to wind his way around her legs and cover them, like one long warm and fluffy legwarmer, before he would inevitably abandon her to go and play with the much more energetic teenager. She could remember very clearly not wanting a dog when Kosei had brought him home, a rescue pet that he'd found on the streets and taken a liking to, but she'd fallen in love with the furry little bugger and now that he was gone, she found herself missing him every day.
She really was going soft in her old age.
"Ima! It's good to see you!"
She held back her sigh. She'd apparently gone too soft, if people walking down her street were starting to think she was friendly enough to be considered approachable.
She made a note to fix that perception of her.
"Good afternoon, Hayashi".
"I've been telling you to call me Hikaru for years, Ms Midoriya, alas, I'm sure that one of these days, you'll finally give in to my wish".
"Don't hold your breath", she muttered under her own, as she looked up to find her nearest neighbour, Hikaru Hayashi, laughing to himself, as he carried on walking down the long road that connected their neighbourhood, even as distant as the homes were, they were still a community, and they'd grown up around each other's families.
Hayashi was now a former member of the Japan Ground Force. She didn't know if he'd retired, been kicked out, our just finished up his time in service, and quite frankly, she really didn't care. The Hayashi Family had been in Endo for at least as long as the Midoriya Family had, if not even longer, but while she could say that she still had a daughter and a grandson to pass on her family name to, the Hayashi Family was now down to its last living member. The family had a long and storied history of proud military service, going back to long before the Dawn of Quirks, but it seemed that after his younger brother had died in service, Hikaru had lost all desire to remain with their military, and with his parents then passing away just a few months later, Hikaru had quickly become the last of the Hayashi.
As far as Ima knew, he'd never married or had children of his own, and given that he was older than Inko and, if she remembered correctly, almost nearing fifty years old, it was starting to seem unlikely that he ever would.
She could remember a time when he'd been flirty with Inko, and the gossip of their neighbourhood had been all for two of the oldest families in the area finally coming together, but that had been not long after Izuku was 'born', and she didn't know if it was the fact that there was a baby involved, or he had figured out that Inko and he wouldn't be a good fit, but Hikaru had stepped back before Ima had found herself forced to sit him down and tell him to stay the hell away from her daughter.
She didn't know what it was, but something just off about that man. He set her old teeth on edge.
When his time in service had ended, he'd taken a private security consultant position, which should have led him to being seen in and around Endo more often, but instead, he'd show up for a few days at a time, and then have to take another work trip to another country, before returning home to start the process all over again.
If he were a married man, she would've assumed that he was having an affair, but he wasn't, so she saw no need for secrecy, and instead, she was left wondering why a man needed to vanish so often for so long when he had a job that seemed designed to allow him to work remotely.
It all added up to Ima getting this feeling that something was wrong with him.
On the days he was home, he'd show up in the dead of night, and the next day, she'd find him making his way past her house during one of his ridiculous daylong walks, and no matter what else was going on, he always made the time to stop and politely say hello.
That should've been the mark of a good neighbour, but she always felt as though he was looking for more information from her than she was giving him, and it certainly didn't stop her from still feeling that something was wrong with him.
She could clearly remember the day though, fifteen years ago, when he'd stopped to let her know that he'd discovered signs that there had been a strange accident out in the deep forest, near the highway. He had no way of knowing that there had been a spaceship there, just a day before, and yet, it had still felt more like an interrogation than a courtesy call. She'd nodded and promised to keep an eye out, all while doing her best to not quiver at the secret that was tucked away in her spare bedroom, safely ensconced in his mother's old crib.
She wondered what Izuku would've looked like, had he been discovered by that man instead of Inko.
Well, for one, he'd probably be dressed as badly.
He still dressed as though he was in the military, only now, he'd traded camouflage for a single shade of the colour black: black combat boots, black combat trousers, black turtleneck sweater and a black coat, which he topped with a black beanie hat.
The man had the same skin tone and hair colour as that bunny hero woman that Izuku had posters of, (the same posters that he didn't know both she and Inko knew about), but unlike her, he'd washed all of his vibrancy out and covered up his pretty hair.
She couldn't remember exactly what his Quirk was, only that it had something to do with his sight, (or his aim?), but it was the reason that instead of a normal pair of eyeballs, his were a bright shade of solid red, with only black pinpricks for pupils, without a single shade of white to be seen.
Izuku would probably remember, if she cared enough to ask him about it. He'd always been fascinated by Quirks and various ways that they'd interact with the human body. So much so that she'd often wondered if he would abandon his childish love for heroics and instead choose to pursue a career in medicine. He was kind, caring and endlessly fascinated by them, and she knew that he would make for an excellent diagnostician, or perhaps, even a surgeon.
Calm and steady were key requirements for the job, and she often felt Izuku exemplified them perfectly, yet his passion for his childhood desires remained.
It was a waste of talent, if you asked her.
Not that she'd ever tell him that.
She was his grandmother. First and foremost, her job was to support him in what he was doing, and in what he wanted to be doing. It was Inko's job to set him straight, if she felt otherwise.
She felt her body shiver; the afternoon sun doing nothing to help her ward off the air's chill, but just as the moment came when she finally decided to head inside and warm up, she saw the two of them, as they slowly made their way back towards the house.
Hopefully, it was time.
=== === === === ===
"I just-", Izuku dabbed at his lips with his tongue, finding them to be incredibly dry, as his mother's words hung in the air, "I just want to know why you want me to hide? People can be good".
Inko shook her head, "One person can be good, Izuku, that's easy - it's even common - but people? People can easily be led about, and they can be controlled even more easily than that. People are easy to fool, and manipulate, and people fear what they don't understand", she pulled him into a hug, and he let her, tucking her head under his chin, as he realised for the first time, how much taller than her, he now was, "do you remember when you used your, ah Quirk, for the first time? How those other children were around you? Izuku, they were terrified of what you were, of what you could do, and their parents, the adults? They weren't any better".
Her voice was muffled against his chest, but he could hear her clearly; the anguish and fear in her voice, and Izuku couldn't help but wonder why in the name of everything, Inko had ever thought that looking after the alien baby would lead to anything different.
Why would she do that to herself? Willingly!
And like that, the answer hit him with the speed of a bullet and the power of a locomotive.
Because she was his mother.
And she loved him.
He finally reached up, fastening his grip around her, as they stood beside the resting place of the Midoriya Family, and for a moment, it was as if all of his mother's ancestors - his ancestors - were smiling down upon them.
Yet, as they stood there, he couldn't stop the doubt that lingered in his head, "What if they were right to be afraid of me?"
"They weren't".
"We don't know where I came from, or why I was sent here. I could be some sort of advanced agent, lying in wait to launch an attack".
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Inko smiled, recalling a time when she'd had a very similar conversation with her own mother, "You're not".
"But I could-"
"Izuku", she warned him, using that tone that had never failed to stop him from talking over her, even when he was lost in his own head, "conquering armies don't send babies as advanced guards, and even if they did, they wouldn't wait fifteen years to do something about it, so, let me ask you this: do you want to hurt people?"
"Do I want to hurt-? No!"
"Then don't".
"Don't?"
"Don't".
"Just like that?"
She smiled broader, and he could feel it against his chest, right above where his heart rested, "Just like that".
He wasn't sure how long they stood there for, but the doubt, which had been steadily building in his chest since he'd first touched the tip of his shovel to the contraption hidden in the barn, refused to leave him be, and it gnawed at him, until he felt the words leave his lips, each syllable barely a whisper hidden in the wind.
"I'm afraid".
Saying it aloud felt like failure.
Ever since he could remember, he'd been untouchable; unbreakable. All throughout elementary school and junior high, he'd heard his teachers call him, "The Boy with Steel for Skin", so confident they were in his ability to remain uninjured, that they'd assumed nothing would ever bother him, even it wasn't physical, and came in the form of school hazing or Bakugo's relentless attempts at bullying.
And somewhere, along the way, he'd started to believe it too.
He was too strong for them to injure, too fast for them to touch, and quite frankly, he was too smart for them to outwit.
A wiser man would've taken his experiences and prepared himself for life beyond the confines of Aldera Junior High School, but Izuku had instead taken it all as a sign that he was without fear, only to now find out that that wasn't true at all.
Because he was terrified.
Terrified of what came next. Terrified of his mother being in danger; of his grandmother being in danger. Terrified of what it all meant.
He was terrified, not just of what he was, but of what he might be.
"Good", Inko said, and Izuku felt the skin on his face flush bright red in embarrassment, as he realised that he mumbled every word aloud, his lips right above her ears having allowed her to hear every word.
"Mo-"
"You'd be a fool not to at least be concerned about some of it", she told him, not bothering to let him get another word in edgewise, "and like I said, the choice in all this is yours, but…"
"But?"
"But if you really want some answers, Sweetie. There's only once place I know of that you're going to find them".
=== === === === ===
The ship was still in the workshop when they returned.
That shouldn't have been surprising, after all, Izuku was still able to see the giant hole he'd dug in his grandmother's back garden to reach it, but a part of him had hoped that by the time he returned, it would've vanished, and he'd never have to worry about it again.
Yet, there it still was.
Sleek and smooth, it looked like a silver egg, which was presumably the pod that had carried him to Earth, encased within a pentagonal structure, which Izuku assumed was to help with propulsion and flight.
He didn't know anything about spaceship design, but that just made sense in his mind.
The entire thing was smooth in appearance, with no visible seams or openings, but deep down, a part of him knew that what his mother had told him was right.
The answers he needed were tucked away somewhere inside.
He just needed to get to them.
He didn't know what he was doing. He didn't know how any of this worked. He didn't even know if he actually wanted to be doing it.
He just knew that he needed to.
"You don't need to do this, Sweetie", his mom said softly from behind him, before squeezing his shoulder, "I know what we said, but it's waited this long. It can wait a little longer".
Turning his head, he did his best to smile, even though it felt more like a grimace, and based on their reactions, his mother and grandmother thought so too, "It's okay Mom. I think… I think that I need to see this".
She squeezed his shoulder tightly once more, before letting her hand fall away, as, slowly, he reached out, resting his hand on the side of the pod, focusing his mind on his need to see what was held within.
The cold metal warmed, pulsing against the palm of his hand, until a single seam appeared at the top of the pod. It was barely an opening big enough to be seen, but already, it blanketed the inside of his grandpa's old workshop in a warm, bright light, before the sides began to retract, sliding away to reveal the ship's interior.
For the first time since he'd arrived on planet Earth, almost fifteen years ago, Izuku's ship was open.
=== === === === ===
Author'sNotes:
Just so you all know, I've now set-up a Discord server. Please feel free to join me where we discuss all things relating to the Deku-Verse! The details for the link can be found below.
I know that some of you were upset that we never got the reveal of Izuku's alien heritage in the last chapter, so you've gotten the first bit of it here. I didn't just want to shoehorn it in, I wanted to see it laid out properly, but I do realise that it was a bit odd to skip from alien reveal to a few weeks later, where Izuku's had time to process it and make decisions, without any of the work in between. I suppose it was easier for me to know what was happening, already knowing how everything's going to play out, then it would be for you guys.
I've had quite a bit of feedback relating to the way I was positioning paragraphs, not only in relation to time, but also to each other, and that the back and forth was quite jarring, so I rewrote large swaths of this chapter to correct that issue, and I intend to continue with a more straightforward style moving forward. Please let me know what you think of the change.
The Kryptonian rocket that carried Izuku to Earth, known to him and this chapter as 'The Ship', is physically based on the design used for the TV series, 'Smallville'.
The haka is a typical Japanese grave, usually a family grave, consisting of a stone monument, with a small place for flowers, incense, and water to be placed in front of the monument, with a chamber or crypt underneath for the ashes.
I realised that Grandpa Midoriya (deceased) hadn't actually been given a name yet. I had the idea to use Hisashi, simply moving it up a generation, but I'd already given that name to the childhood friend of Inko's, who simply existing as a note in Izuku's file as his father's first name. I suppose that I could've used it twice, but where's the fun in that?
Keeping in line with Izuku (Old Story) and Ima (Now), we now see the final resting place of Kosei Midoriya. Ko (古) means "Ancient", and Sei (静) means "quiet" or "calm", and they both lends to the idea of Kosei having a calm and serene demeanour. His Quirk was Equilibrium, which gave him a perfect sense of balance. Kosei Midoriya was never seen to so much as stumble throughout his entire life.
Also, the dates on his resting plaque, 17th October and 10th July are the birthdays of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster respectively, the co-creators of Superman.
Ima's neighbour is Hikaru Hayashi (光 林), a now retired member of the Japan Ground Force, which itself is this AU's version of the real Japan Ground Self-Defence Force, which is often mistakenly referred to as the Japanese Army. Hikaru (光) means "light" or "shine" and his family name, Hayashi (林), can mean "woods", "forest" or "grove", which is a reference to the Endo area that the Hayashi and Midoriya families have lived in, which is itself a reference to the Forest Moon of Endor from Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983).