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Fuyumi drops her tray of muffins.
“ What? ” she shrieks.
“It’s okay!” Shouto hastens to reassure her, but it’s not much help considering the glowing red amulet that’s still swinging from his hand. “Probably.”
“ Probably? ”
“It’s not cursed anymore!” Midoriya says.
“Right. The Dragonsoul Amulet, which was thrown into a lava crevasse in the deepest dungeons of Moria in a hugely powerful ritual to destroy it for once and all— a ritual that apparently hasn’t worked— is somehow not cursed anymore? ”
“We uncursed it! Promise!” Uraraka says.
“I apologize for the shock, Miss Fuyumi, but we would have never brought the amulet to your home if we weren’t sure every last drop of evil had been purged.” Iida says, and Fuyumi relaxes slightly, because Iida wasn’t the type to do things halfway.
It was an experience, being the home point for one of the most famous hero teams on this side of the continent, but Shouto had found friends and his true calling, and not in a million years would Fuyumi take that away from him. Their father had tried that enough— tried, by usage of unholy summoning rituals and bindings, to make a Cambrion Nephilim— four tries, and on the fourth he’d made it. Made Shouto— half devil, half angel, all unimaginable power. Fuyumi and Natsuo had both taken the difference, and been created human; their departed brother Touya had been something so indescribable that his own magic had destroyed him. That left Shouto, locked in torment until the archdevil Endeavor decided he was powerful and broken enough to be the Abyss’s King. Fuyumi and Natsuo had grown up on earth, in the care of their mother, a fallen solar; Shouto had only been freed from his eternal chains thanks to the grace of Midoriya Izuku. He, Iida and Uraraka had traveled into the Abyss to find the source of the impossibly newly dawning Ice Age, and found Shouto, freezing himself so that he wouldn’t burn, freezing nearly a full third of the fiery plane that Endeavor held dominion over, wouldn’t succumb either in mind or in body to the fate that awaited him. But Midoriya had convinced him to make fire of his own, and he’d burned himself free. Even now, the Abyss was a roiling pit of chaos (at least, more so than usual) after the archdevil Endeavor’s death. Shouto had left a wake of waste in his passing, his flight to freedom, and he’d torn up the legions of evil in a way that would mean they’d need centuries to rebuild.
It was a lot for Fuyumi to take in, especially when Shouto and friends had appeared on her doorstep; but she’d taken in the brother she’d never known, and was always grateful she could. Even if he brought home an artifact that had almost caused the apocalypse.
“I wanted to give it to you.” Shouto says. “It’s worth more than anything else we’ve ever found, probably, but there isn’t anywhere we could sell it. Besides, it’s beautiful.” He holds the Dragonsoul Amulet out to her; it’s a teardrop diamond, scarlet red and faceted magnificently, held on a loop of black leather.
“Thank you, Shouto.” Fuyumi says, and takes the doomsday device. It is beautiful, if she’s honest. “How did you manage to purify it?” Shouto’s angel side, probably.
“Uraraka put it in hummus.” Shouto says. Fuyumi stares at him.
“He’s joking!” Midoriya says.
“He’s not, unfortunately.” Iida says.
“You put the Dragonsoul Amulet in hummus. ” Fuyumi says, flatly.
“And it got purified!” Uraraka announces.
“ Why? ” Fuyumi asks.
“Are you asking why it got purified, or why Uraraka put it in hummus?” Shouto asks.
“I told you why it got purified.” Uraraka says. “Hummus is thick, so it shielded the magic.”
“That’s not how that works! ” Fuyumi says.
“It is now.” Iida sighs.
“Why is it glowing?” Fuyumi asks, for the amulet is glimmering brilliantly, and that seems like cause for concern.
“Oh, it must have retained its power!” Midoriya says.
“Its power?” Fuyumi asks, worried.
“Unlimited use of the Wish spell. No caveats, no cost, and as of a few days ago, no longer cursed— it used to be guaranteed to make your wish come through in the worst way possible.”
“What.” Fuyumi says, and it begins to dawn on her that she’s probably holding the most powerful artifact on the planet. “Why don’t you— use it to save the world, or something? You’re always off saving the world.” Why would you give it to me?
“We thought of that.” Shouto says. “But if we kept it with us, and used it, someone would steal it, or kill us to get it. We’d be tracked down and defeated eventually— this kind of power, if used often, will cause ripples in the Weave. Attract dangers never before seen by mortal man. The Tarrasque itself might awaken.”
“Right.” Fuyumi says, because that kind of thing did tend to happen. It was narrative inevitability.
“But if you keep it, and never use it— no one’s coming here, to this town in the middle of nowhere. It’s safe in a place like this, and it will keep you safe in return.” Shouto explains.
“That’s… very well thought out, honestly.” Fuyumi says, laughing slightly. An apocalyptic artifact, purified through hummus, given to her. Who would have thought?
It’s a few hours later, after they’ve all eaten lunch and Shouto’s group has headed off to find some ancient magic called One for All, that Natsuo comes home.
“Oh, you just missed Shouto! How was today?” Fuyumi asks, eyes catching on the slight singing on the gold-trimmed edges of Natsuo’s black coat.
“Nana melted the Doors of Time.” Natsuo says.
“Isn’t Nana a ghost? ”
“She’s a vampire, actually.” Natsuo explains. He was apprenticed to the local alchemist, a woman who had died five hundred years ago during some great heroic battle or other; her long-unused hero name had been Skywalker. While she pursued lofty goals such as immortality, time travel, and turning things into mithril, Natsuo was content to study various forms of healing and abjuration. All he wanted was to make the world a safer place.
“Aren’t the Doors of Time made out of solid gold?”
“Solid gold isn’t much against an acid death river— apparently that’s what’s on the other side of the Door. A Shadowfell Panther showed up, too, if melting gold wasn’t enough trouble.”
“I thought you weren’t going to be messing around with the Shadowfell anymore—“
“I’m not at fault, this time! The Shadowfell decided to mess with us! ” Natsuo protests, and Fuyumi seems to be always just beside various sorts of vortexes, doesn’t she? Always just avoiding the newest magical insanity.
“Nice necklace.” Natsuo says.
“Oh— Shouto gave it to me.” Fuyumi says, touching the Dragonsoul Amulet. It looks rather unassuming, for what it is.
“Does it have some kind of charm on it?” Natsuo asks, noticing the glowing.
“You have no idea. ” Fuyumi says nervously, taking the necklace from around her neck and holding it out for Natsuo to examine. He holds it up in the air, and then takes a silver rod from his pocket; tapping it, the end shines with blue light, which washes over the Amulet, illuminating something.
“Wraithglow— it replicates the effects of truesight.” Natsuo says. He and Fuyumi peer at the miniature dragon curled up deep within the gem, because of course there was a dragon sequestered in the Dragonsoul Amulet. “I wish we could find out who that dragon is.”
Oh, frick.
“That’s odd, it started glowing even more— hey, what’s it doing!?” Natsuo yelps, leaping backwards as the light engulfs the entire room. A moment passes, and the light— and the amulet— vanishes, revealing a woman standing in front of them. She’s wearing a red and green dress, and a stylised dragon’s claw made out of silver covers half her face. Her eyes are closed.
“Er.” Natsuo says. The woman falls over, asleep, and Fuyumi catches her; absurdly, she has the thought that the amulet has somehow become a thousand times more beautiful.
“Congratulations.” she says. “You freed the dragon soul from the Dragonsoul Amulet.”
“The fricking WHAT!? ”
***
Ryuko Tatsuma wakes up. This is entirely unexpected, especially because the last thing she remembers is being sacrificed to create a weapon powerful enough to kill a god. More unexpected than that, probably, is that she’s neither in her bunk on the Falcon , nor in her room at Bahamut’s palace, nor in the prison cell of Tiamat’s dungeon. She’s on a sofa, in a wooden house built in a style she doesn’t recognize; the sofa is comfortable but not luxurious, and is a pale shade of green. As she returns to awareness of the world around her, Ryuko notices that the room is mostly full of books; filling up bookcases, spilling in stacks all over the floor. Standing in the hallway outside the room are two people with white hair, arguing in soft tones. They both smell purely human, and although the male has faint traces of magic around him, it’s accompanied by the chemical scent that follows alchemists around— he is no mage. Neither of them are any threat. With this determined, Ryuko sits up, and both the humans cut off immediately to stare at her. A few long moments of silence occur.
“If you’re going to start rending the world apart, or open a portal to the Dungeon Dimensions, or something, I’d appreciate it if you got on that right away, because I can’t take the suspense.” the man says.
“Natsuo!” the woman admonishes.
“I have no intentions to do anything of the sort. Sorry if you’re disappointed.” Ryuko says. “Although— where am I? Who are you?”
“I’m Natsuo, this is my sister Fuyumi, and you’re in Musutafu.” the man says. “You appeared out of the Dragonsoul Amulet, is the thing— you know, that apocalyptic cursed weapon?”
“The…” Ryuko starts, confused, but then she realizes. “All for One succeeded, then. In creating his weapon, and using me as the power source. The Dragonsoul Amulet? How long has that been around?”
“A few thousand years, I think? The Dragonsoul Amulet was made by the wizard All for One, but after his defeat at the hands of the hero known only as Second, it was cast into the lava below Moria in an effort to destroy it. Obviously, that didn’t work, and then Natsuo here wished to find out who was inside the amulet, and then here you are.” Fuyumi says.
“I’m Ryuko. It’s nice to meet the both of you.” A few thousand years? That’s how long she’s been kept away from the world? It hardly bore thinking about. What was one even supposed to do in this sort of situation?
“Do you want lunch? There’s a bunch left.” Natsuo says, and that was as good an idea as any.
“Please.” Ryuko says. One step at a time.
Over sandwiches, Ryuko explains to the two how she came to be in the amulet; it’s a sad story, of prophecies and monsters and gods, and the longtime battle between All for One and One for All.
“That’s all a bit silly.” Fuyumi says, partway through. “Everything is, really; all these fights for superiority, or power, or treasure, or whatever. I suppose it’s because I haven’t been directly involved in any, but it’s always the same things over and over again… can’t people just stop?”
“Evil is boring and uncreative, I’m afraid. It’s the source of all the repetition… it’s doing good that requires real imagination.” Ryuko says.
“Yeah!” Natsuo agrees. “I was working on an aberration barrier today— gotta keep those things out of our dimension— and I’ve got to be so tricky with the runes if I want the thing to stay up after one or two hits. Although maybe the runes are the problem, and I should be thinking about the mixture more… probably it was a bad idea to quit the apothecary when I did, I learned so much there…”
“Natsuo, the apothecary building exploded.” Fuyumi says.
“What was Silas thinking, keeping Archangel’s Fire in his basement… anyway, did you know that a mixture to keep aberrations out won’t do anything against Shadowfell Panthers? Now my rune circle is full of pawprints.” Natsuo says.
“Sounds like you have a lot going on.” Ryuko says.
“It’s just him, really. I stay out of the chaos.” Fuyumi says.
“I’d like some time away from chaos.” Ryuko says, not really thinking about it; but her entire life’s been one thing after another.
“You can stay here!” Fuyumi offers.
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly—“
“It’s a huge house, don’t worry about it.”
“Just stay away from the cellar door.” Natsuo says. “It’s sealed shut and looks extremely ominous— I’m pretty sure there’s a portal to the Abyss down there. I’ve been trying to open the door since I got the house from Dad, but no luck.”
“Why do you call him Dad— “
“Life hack: if you submit the correct paperwork to the Prince of the Underworld, you can inherit everything your bastard of an archdevil Dad left behind.”
“You sent paperwork to Asmodeus? ” Fuyumi yelps.
“I told you that you didn’t want to know how I got the house.” Natsuo laughs. “I wish the door would open— then we could get Shouto and his group to clear the cellar out, it’s definitely stuffed full of magic and treasure. Maybe even some captive demons.”
From a few rooms away there comes the sounds of sliding bolts and vanishing wards; the commotion finishes with the sound of a creaking hinge.
“Was that— ?” Natsuo asks.
“Probably.” Fuyumi sighs, because that was just their luck.
***
“I’m beginning to think you aren’t as normal as you seem.” Ryuko says. She and Fuyumi are sitting on a swinging bench in the backyard; there’s a nice little garden, with a fish pond.
“Trust me.” Fuyumi sighs. “I’m the only normal one in the family. It feels a little ridiculous sometimes— especially since I’ve apparently been living above an Abyss portal for five years and no one thought to tell me— but it seems like I’m always just on the outside of everything. Just existing, while everything happens around me.”
“I used to feel that way, sometimes. When I was young.” Ryuko says. “But then everything happened at once— castle overwhelmed with dark magic, wizard apprentice disappeared during a flight over the ocean, princess kidnapped, ancient cauldron of fire activating, evil necromancer returning from the dead, a mysterious plague and even more mysterious disappearances… we never did find out what happened to Eijirou.”
Fuyumi blinks. “All of that at once?”
“Unfortunately.” Ryuko sighs. “It’s nice to be away from it all, but this is thousands of years in the future. I know that I failed— couldn’t save Eijirou, couldn’t save myself— but there were others, so many others. What happened to them all?”
“All for One’s still around, which sucks. Shouto’s group has had run-ins with them more than a few times.” Fuyumi says.
“You’ve mentioned this Shouto a few times. Who is he?”
“My little brother. Always off to save the world— he and his friends constantly get themselves into situations. There’s not much I can do when it comes to big heroic battles, so I always support them in-between. Even the most powerful warriors need a home to come back to.”
“I don’t.” Ryuko says, suddenly realizing. “Have a home to come back to, not anymore.” It was so unimaginable she could barely fathom it, that despite all she’s been through, she was the only one left. Alone.
“Let’s go to the library.” Fuyumi decides. “We’ll look up what happened, and find everyone’s fates.”
At the library, there’s a commotion.
“It’s Bakugou.” Fuyumi says.
“Who’s that?” Ryuko asks, watching a young blond man stomp around yelling.
“Shouto’s rival— his team is always trying to one-up Shouto’s, which is stupid, since saving the world isn’t a contest.” Fuyumi says. “Bakugou! Stop disturbing people, the library is a quiet place! ”
“WHO DARES— oh.”
“Yeah.” Fuyumi says, stalking up to Bakugou, “ I dare.”
“You don’t scare me.” Bakugou huffs, but it’s said doubtfully.
“I’ll make you visit the first graders again.” Fuyumi says.
“They weren’t so bad.” Bakugou says, quietly.
“I won’t share any more recipes.” Fuyumi threatens.
“I just heard there was information about One for All in this town, okay? But it doesn’t seem to be in the library, annoyingly.”
“Stop taking your annoyance out on everyone else.”
“Fine! Just— tell me if you hear anything about One for All.” Bakugou says, and then walks off, grumbling under his breath. “I hope Stupid Hair and Raccoon Eyes found something…”
“Recipes and first graders?” Ryuko asks, feeling amused by the confrontation.
“Bakugou failed an exam at Yuuei— that’s the Adventurer’s Guild— so they sent him to learn how to deal with kids, and had to play nice with the class I was teaching. I teach at the local school; it seems that every generation, magic gets stronger. Must be years worth of bloodlines, or something. Oh— Shouto failed his exam, too, so he came with, and after the day with the kids I invited Bakugou to stay over, since he’s kind of friends with Shouto and had nowhere else to go. He liked my cooking, and we mail each other recipes occasionally. It’s kind of funny that he’s so competitive with Shouto, and still talks with me.”
“You’re good with children.” Ryuko says, and feels a wave of sadness. Eijirou, her nephew… she had always loved spending time with him. He’d been training to be a hero, but he’d always had such struggles with confidence. He didn’t lack for power, his scales so hard as to be unbreakable— it was on the inside that he needed help, and Ryuko had done all she could. But he’d vanished, undead hands dragging him to the bottom of Slipway River, and they’d never found a body, leaning Ryuko with a cruel hope. She’d failed him, and been sacrificed for it— what a terrible thing, the price of living again!
“I try.” Fuyumi says. “Teaching… it’s making up for the years of Shouto’s that I missed, I think. I’m helping others where I couldn’t help him.”
“A noble goal.” Ryuko reassures her, watching the sunlight flow through Fuyumi’s hair as they walk up the library steps. White was such a pretty color, really. Why hadn’t she noticed so before?
The library didn’t have answers for Bakugou, but it has answers for them. Ryuko learns about how her kingdom fell, and how it rose again; about how her family found new lives without her, except that no one ever found Eijirou. There’s been innumerable advances in magic and science during the time that she’s been gone, more than she could ever wrap her head around. Apocalyptic events by the hundreds— world-ending threats were a constant, in a universe like this. All for One was still a menace, and his counter, the sword One for All, had vanished two hundred years ago with its wielder, the indomitable hero All Might, who had broken thousands of records before his disappearance. His name would be proudly displayed in Yuuei’s archives forever, as the hero who had done the impossible not just once, but daily, again and again and again. Climbed Mount Celestia, destroyed the Book of Vile Darkness permanently, punched a demon lord so hard they were banished back to the Abyss and died there from the impact; and most impressively (at least to Ryuko) he’d gone to Tiamat’s prison on the devilish plane of Avernus, challenged her in her lair, and won. The power that All for One had committed so many horrific acts for was gone— Ryuko’s sacrifice had, indeed, almost allowed AFO to possess the dragon devil— despite her failure, despite all her fighting and efforts against being pressed into an artifact, all of it had been worth no more than holding Tiamat back until All Might, a mere mortal, could slay her.
“A lot’s changed.” Ryuko says, a few hours later.
“This must be really disorienting for you. I can’t even imagine it.” Fuyumi says.
“It doesn’t seem real, honestly. But it is. And I don’t know what to do about it.”
***
A day later, Fuyumi is hitting a rattling bookshelf full of ominously chanting grimores with a broom.
“Are you quite sure you should be doing that?” Ryuko asks, amused. Blood drips from some of the books, smoke pours out of others, and all the shelves are chained down with adamantinum. Heavily tuned adamantinum.
“Any advice for disposing of demonic tomes, Natsuo?” Fuyumi asks, looking across the room; Shouto and his friends had returned, and now they were all together working on clearing out the cellar.
“Uh, you could toss them back into the Abyss?” Natsuo asks, gesturing to the howling portal of doom in front of him. He’s drawing something out in chalk on the floor before it.
“And let a bunch of devils get their hands on these? No way.” Fuyumi says, because Endeavor hoarded power, and no doubt any single one of his collected magics would let any Abyssal resident get a significant boost.
“With all due respect— “ Iida snaps, and Fuyumi looks over; Iida is contacting his warlock patron, and as usual, they’re arguing with each other. From what Fuyumi knows of the situation, there’d been an incident of some kind, and Iida and the God of Engines had been bound to each other, a happening entirely unintentional on both their parts— and the bond was unseverable. A warlock who didn’t ask for his power, and a god who didn’t ask for a warlock; they tolerated each other’s presences and tried to make use of one another, but the relationship was far more confrontational than amicable. The God of Engines gave Iida (and therefore Shouto’s team) increasingly dangerous missions in order to get him killed off, but they always completed the missions successfully, requiring the god to give Iida even more power as a reward, which meant he had to find even more deadly creatures to send the team after. This resulted in them quashing world-ending threats more often than not, meaning Bakugou’s team really had no chance of catching their record.
“We went to Moria to find some device for Iida’s patron.” Shouto explains, watching Iida converse with a spectral horned apparition. “Found the amulet while we were there— a Balor had it, can you imagine? I didn’t think there were any of those left… it’s probably been hiding out there since the Balance was upset.”
“The Balance what? ” Ryuko asks. “You don’t mean the Great Balance, do you? The never-ending war between demons and devils that keeps them from overrunning the material planes?”
“Oh, right! That kind of ended.” Fuyumi says.
“ Kind of? ”
“The Abyss fused with the Nine, and since its planes aren’t exactly numerable anymore, it’s just the Abyss now. There are mostly only devils left— demons would be extinct if it wasn’t for the fact that they keep manifesting from the Abyss’s raw energy, but anything as powerful as a Balor is long gone.”
“ How? ”
“I think—“ Fuyumi starts, then freezes. “Oh, no. You said that All for One turned you into the amulet as part of a ritual to become Tiamat, right?”
“Yes?” Ryuko asks. She remembers All for One capturing Eijirou to lure her from safety; it had worked, and he’d imprisoned her, and made her watch as she’d thrown him into Slipway River, full of gray acid and hungry undead, splitting off through dimensions from the Nine planes of the Underworld. After that, there’d only been prison, pain, and despair, before the long silence.
“He used a wish spell, presumably from the amulet, but because the amulet had been created in such an evil fashion, all wishes cast from it were incredibly cursed— so when he wished to have enough power to take over Tiamat and become her, the wish spell made the Nine and the Abyss collide in order to produce the required amount of power for him to become the new dragon devil. That created enough disaster that Tiamat’s prison became buried in the Abyss, never mind everything else, so he wasn’t able to achieve his goal— although he still caused all that devastation. The resulting chaos nearly created an apocalypse, and even now the devils are trying their best to make order of the new world, which is why they haven’t overrun the material planes yet; and All for One was still trying to find Tiamat, but then All Might killed her.”
Behind them, Shouto communicates with the Infernal tomes in their own language, before unceremoniously shoving them all into a bag; Ryuko’s barely paying attention, though, and is staring at Fuyumi with undisguised shock.
“It’s my fault.” she says. “I couldn’t save Eijirou, couldn’t save myself, and let All for One rip the world apart.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. The only person who ever stood a chance against All for One was All Might, and need I remind you, All Might killed Tiamat. Can you kill Tiamat? If the answer’s no, don’t blame yourself.” Fuyumi says. Ryuko looks at the ground, eyes following old cracks in black stone.
“You make it sound so easy.” she says. Eijirou and she were not related by blood; he was a black dragon, and yet somehow he’d avoided the evil that coursed through most chromatic dragons’ blood. Ryuko had taken him in when she’d seen him trying his best to be courageous, to do good; he kept his scales and horns under magical paint, coloring himself bronze, because despite the darkness, he was nothing less than a hero. His origin, however, meant he could both breathe acid and be unaffected by it— meaning that when he’d been thrown in Slipway River, he hadn’t died from the biting waters, and instead struggled and screamed fighting against the innumerable hands of the grasping souls within. They’d dragged him down until his life presence had vanished from Ryuko’s senses— no body to retrieve, but the same was true for anyone who succumbed to the Slipway River. There was no way to describe it; the feeling that had overwhelmed Ryuko then, to see the boy that she loved, that she had raised, that she had helped realize he could be more than his blood— to see him die, to know that he was eternally gone.
“I had a third brother, once.” Fuyumi says. She’s carrying two mops and a bucket of soapy water that smells faintly of lemons. “His name was Touya.”
“What happened to him?” Ryuko asks, wordlessly helping Fuyumi mop the old cellar’s floor. The action was repetitive, cleansing, calming, grounding. The lemon scent helped.
“He was an aberration, technically— but born of these planes. Still, though, his body couldn’t support itself, and when he was thirteen, he spontaneously combusted.” Fuyumi says, shaking her head. “It sounds silly, when I say it like that, but it wasn’t silly at all— too much radiance, too much fire, he didn’t fit inside himself, and one day he just sort of… exploded. Mom says that his body was split across dimensions. Sometimes, I wonder, if I could see things like she can, maybe I could have seen what was left of him.”
There are lots of things Ryuko could ask, but the answers are clear if she thinks about them. Shouto radiates that he is simultaneously celestial and fiend, an incredible impossibility, somehow fitting together to create a brand new being— but what if his parts didn’t fit? Those two kinds of opposing energies, overwhelming in their power… Shouto cannot be anything but a one-in-a-million result.
“Oh, Fuyumi! You’ll never guess who came by the alchemist tower today!” Natsuo suddenly says, sitting up from putting the final touches on his chalk circle.
“Who?” Fuyumi asks.
“Bakugou! He was asking Nana so many questions, about some evil wizard called Shigaraki— he brought that friend of his with him too, the one with red hair who’s always talking about being manly. Nana got really worried about something and shooed me out, which is why I’m home early… I wonder what it’s all about.”
“It’s something I don’t want to deal with, probably.” Fuyumi says. Natsuo upends some kind of potion over his chalk drawing, and the Abyss portal vanishes with a pop.
“Good news!” Uraraka says, patting the wall. “Despite all the infernal stuff, the construction of the room is solid and uncorrupted— it can work fine as a normal cellar once it’s cleared out. I’m also certain all this treasure and magic will be worth a wonderful premium.” Uraraka’s family owned a construction company, although due to being dwarves, they mostly took jobs deep underground; when Uraraka had found her calling in the magics of air and flight, they hadn’t quite known what to do with her, and she’d ended up going to wizard school to become an adventurer, as it was a career that promised lucrative prospects should you live through it. Her dwarvish common sense had mixed with all the magic she’d learned, resulting in the odd effect that Uraraka regularly did the impossible by simple virtue of deciding that she could do it; her purification of the Dragonsoul Amulet through hummus was only one of many similar happenings.
Uraraka regularly sent home money and letters to her family, and was a good influence on Shouto, Fuyumi thought, who had lived ten years with hardly any real family to speak of. Rei had visited Shouto’s arctic of a prison domain when she could, but the inability to release him had worn on her already tormented soul, and one day she’d mistaken his presence for that of the archdevil who had chained them both, and seared a scar into his face with a burst of holy light. This action, taken in madness and mistake, had shattered Rei’s halo for good; no longer a solar, but not a fiend either, Rei became a broken and once-divine soul. Touya’s death, a month or so later, had truly broken her connection to her remaining family, and now wandered the planes, lost to all including herself. It was Fuyumi’s dream to one day find her and restore her— Shouto searched when he could, but he had so many responsibilities, carrying the weight of the world when no one had asked him to.
Midoriya yelps, a massive sword glowing bright green having attached itself to his hand; it’s saying something in a deep and commanding voice, but Fuyumi does not hear it, having only eyes for the great iron urn the sword had been leaning up against.
“Is that…” she starts, unbelieving, but its presence, now that it’s within her sight, is calling to her soul. Shouto and Natsuo are staring too.
“What’s going on?” Ryuko asks. Almost as if in a dream, Shouto takes the cover off the urn, and a shining blue light swirls forth; it becomes something jagged, broken, shifting, immaterial, impossible, glowing, flaming, scarred, all-seeing, metal, reaching, winged, horned, haloed, living, dead, spectral, divine, infernal, neither, both, in-between, immortal, human, manifesting, disappearing, spinning, unmoving, silent, dimensional, earthly, nothing, everything, Touya.
***
“Never thought I was going to see the outside of that thing.” Touya says. He’s sitting in the grass in the backyard, taking in the feeling of the sun. “Turns out it’s hard for something like me to stay dead… that bastard grabbed my soul before I could reform, kept siphoning my power for messed-up experiments… you have no idea how glad I am to be out.”
“I have some idea, probably.” Shouto says.
“True, true! We were companions in imprisonment; and now that I’m out, the next thing we need to do is obvious.”
“It is?” Shouto asks. Touya leans forwards over an approximation of knees, grinning; multiple smiles light up all across his formless body, slashes of white in a deep blue-black-purple-white-green fractal of kaledescopicing energy.
“We’re going to kill Endeavor, of course.”
“Already done.” Shouto says. Innumerable eyes that feature more colors than mortals can perceive blink in shock.
“What, you think he just gave us the house?” Natsuo laughs, amused by Touya’s stunned confusion. A pair of wings flaps before falling apart into turquoise smoke.
“You know,” Touya says, “the only reason I’m still sane after so long in there was because I was holding onto the hope of one day getting out and killing him. That I wouldn’t become the passive battery or violent experimental subject that he wanted to make of me; that I’d be fully myself, and everything being myself entails, when I finally removed him from existence.”
“He died in the Abyss. He’s dead for good.” Shouto says.
“Huh.” Touya says. He sounds a bit disappointed, but also accepting.
“You’ve been in there for years .” Fuyumi says. “And all this time, Natsuo and I were living upstairs— all this time, the door’s been locked, and it only just randomly opened yesterday.”
“I’m happy it did.” Touya says. He looks up at the sound of shouting; Midoriya is still wrestling with the sentient magical sword that had decided to attune itself to him.
“I missed you, Touya. So much. ” Fuyumi says. Touya reaches up, and grabs her hand; he takes Natsuo’s hand too, arm extending more than any human arm could. His grip is cool and warm at the same time, and he doesn’t really have skin, but his prismatic state of matter is simultaneously smooth and covered in millions of spikes. He’s not supposed to exist— but Fuyumi couldn’t care less what the world has to say, doesn’t care a jot for the fact that just because Touya hasn’t slid into perfect halves like Shouto he shouldn’t be alive.
“There’s a lot I need to catch you up on.” Natsuo says.
“Like how I’ve got a whole new brother?” Touya asks.
“That’s got to be a shock.” Fuyumi laughs. Touya produces a third arm, and uses the hand on the end of it to ruffle Shouto’s hair.
“It’s a good shock. I’m not alone anymore— I’ve got you two, of course, but— I’m not the only one of myself. The only— what did you call it— Cambrion Nephilim? Shouto just fits inside himself a little better, but at the end of the day, we’re the same kind of thing.”
“Sometimes, the world gives back what it takes.” Ryuko says.
“I never imagined I’d ever be able to see Touya again.” Fuyumi says. It was an impossible miracle, to watch him laying in the grass next to Shouto, sharing tales of conflicting magics, of fighting back, of the solitude of incarceration; they had both inherited powers that were never meant to be combined, and as such had a connection that neither Fuyumi nor Natsuo could ever hope to touch, despite the fact that Shouto and Touya hadn’t met before today. Touya had grown up alongside his human siblings in a world that wasn’t meant to hold him, and even now his body flickered at the edges, jagged puzzle pieces ill-fitted to each other, held together with bands of light like stitches striping his fleeting existence. Almost all of Fuyumi’s family was here; her brothers and Shouto’s friends, who were certainly family by now. The only missing one was Rei— and, Fuyumi thinks with a glance at Ryuko, Eijirou. It didn’t seem fair, that she should regain her missing family and her new friend hadn’t.
“I don’t know if it’s wrong, or selfish to be wishing for more things the moment I’ve just received the greatest thing possible, but I wish Mom could find her way back, both to herself and home. I wish she could see that Touya’s alive— and I wish that Eijirou could be returned to you as well.” Fuyumi is only human, in the world of magic and monsters; if she could traverse the planes, if she was either divine or infernal— what an irony, to hold the blood of each and and the power of neither— she might spend her time reuniting families, because she knows the pain of a broken one. Because although Touya is now before her, she remembers when he wasn’t, and she remembers when he was and Shouto was sequestered. She remembers the day that Rei fell apart, leaving them all as she lost herself.
A loud knocking suddenly sounds on the gate.
“Who’s there?” Iida asks.
“Open this right now, or I’ll blow it open!” a familiar voice snarls.
“Kacchan!” Midoriya yelps, running over to open the gate, the green sword now flying circles around him. Bakugou glowers at him, arms crossed, as he stalks into the backyard; he’s followed by a pink-skinned tiefling, a yellow-haired boy carrying a giant gun, a red-haired boy without a shirt, and a tall boy wearing glaringly orange armour. Fuyumi vaguely recognizes the members of Bakugou’s hero team; Ashido, Kaminari, Kirishima and Sero.
“ You, ” Bakugou snarls, “ found the One for All sword. ”
“Uhh… no?” Midoriya says, his protest extremely unconvincing even if it wasn’t for the obviously magical sword hovering around him.
“While you’ve been fricking around in Moria, we found out who Shigaraki is— he’s All for One’s apprentice , and not only that, but he’s the grandson of the local alchemist lady. So we went to get her help, and she found out that Stupid Hair is a time traveler— no thanks for not telling us your backstory before now, you useless dragon— “
“I didn’t know I was a dragon!” Kirishima yelps.
“I think that’s where the useless part comes in.” Kaminari laughs.
“—and now that the alchemist lady rearranged his brain and he got his memories back, he was able to search for the One for All sword— dragons can find the location of any magical treasure, and I just knew it was in this town— and surprise surprise, he tells us the freaking thing is in Icyhot’s backyard . And where Icyhot is, the rest of you bastards always are, meaning that you, DEKU, would be the one that One for All attached to. Because it’s always you!” Bakugou roars.
“EIJIROU!!” Ryuko screams, running across the grass at incredible speed; she collides with Kirishima, picking him up into a hug.
“ Ryukuyu? ” Kirishima gasps, breathless. “How are you— how are you here? ”
“You’re alive!” Ryuko exclaims, visibly crying.
“I kind of got dragged through a time portal… but didn’t All for One capture you?”
“I’ve been trapped in a jewel for centuries.” Ryuko says. “But I think that all this time, I’ve just been waiting for you.”
“This is all super touching.” Bakugou huffs. “All for One can detect when someone attunes to One for All, though, so he’s going to attack any minute now.”
“What?” Fuyumi asks, faintly.
“Let’s kill him.” Shouto says.
“I’m so proud of you.” Touya tells him.
“What are you?” Sero asks, looking at Touya curiously.
“You could have waited for me . ” an annoyed voice says, and a woman wearing an extremely wide-brimmed floppy hat walks into the yard.
“Hi, Nana!” Natsuo says.
“It turns out that my grandson is not only alive, but that absolute jerk All for One kidnapped him, I’m guessing to use as his next sacrifice to try and become Tiamat. He’s definitely got Tenko locked up somewhere, so I’m thinking you heroes all should prepare for a battle— find some sealed area to prevent collateral damage, preferably with weak dimensional fabric to allow him to portal in but not out— and I’ll summon a celestial and get them to help me find and heal Tenko. He’s been with All for One for years, I can’t imagine what’s been being done to him.”
“The cellar’s a sealed area with weak dimensional fabric.” Natsuo points out.
“Perfect. Also, I see you’ve found my old sword— hello, One for All!” Nana says.
Hello, Sensei, the sword says. Midoriya shrieks. I’ve found my newest holder, One for All continues; he has a heroic spirit, and great force of will. Young Midoriya, you will make a wonderful paladin, and an even better hero.
“Uh.” Midoriya says. “Thank you?”
Would you like to become the next wielder of my power? It contains the combined powers of all those who have wielded it before you, multiplied a hundredfold, One for All says.
“Yes! That’s very scary, but yes, absolutely!”
“One for All is probably strong enough to defeat All for One by now— but never say never, so it’s a good thing you’ve got all your friends here to help. As for what I’m doing, if he’s got Tenko set up as his sacrifice— which I’m absolutely sure is the case— he’s going to be basically using my grandchild as a phylactery, meaning I’ll need to cut the connection between the two of them, both to save Tenko and to allow the rest of you to defeat All for One.” Nana explains.
“I had no idea you were involved in all this.” Natsuo says, looking admiringly at the elfin vampire.
“I am, unfortunately.” Nana sighs.
“Wait, does that mean both our teams will be working together?” Ashido asks.
“To defeat All for One, yes. We will need as much help as possible. On that note— everyone, to the cellar! Let’s go set up the battleground to our specifications— when All for One appears, he must appear in a trap.” Iida says.
Both teams of heroes, plus Touya (who’s excited to get into a battle alongside his brand new brother) and minus Kirishima (who has stayed holding onto Ryuko, and no one can blame him) head to the house’s basement, leaning Fuyumi, Natsuo and Nana all standing around.
“Natsuo, help me make a summoning circle— we’re calling up a celestial who can help my child.” Nana orders.
“How are you going to get wherever Tenko is?” Natsuo asks.
“I can fly you.” Ryuko offers. “I understand the pain of losing a child, and will do all I can to help you regain yours.”
“I’ll come, too!” Kirishima says. “Oh— Auntie Ryukuyu— we’re going to fly together again! ”
“That’s a nice nickname.” Fuyumi says, feeling her heart glow at Ryuko’s and Kirishima’s shared joy. Families reuniting was the most wonderful thing in the world. “Can I come, too, to help save Tenko?”
“Oh, definitely!” Nana says.
“It’ll be great to have you along on an adventure for once.” Natsuo says, smiling as he pours a potion into a runic circle. Their drawing made of alchemical mixtures is complete in a few moments, and Nana cautions everyone to stand back before raising her arms and looking up at the beautifully blue sky. She speaks the words of an incantation, and a shining light appears in the center of the circle, so bright it’s almost blinding— and it intensifies.
“What kind of celestial are you summoning?” Ryuko asks.
“Anyone that will listen. I called out to whoever might be nearby, who is interested in reuniting families, in healing, in those lost being able to get home. I’m not too experienced at summoning, though— likely, we’ll get a couatl or a pegasus, and if we’re lucky, a deva or a ki-rin.” Nana says. The group all watches as the light continues to expand. “I’m thinking we’re lucky— wait, this is— what is this?” Nana asks, as the inside of the glowing orb is suddenly awash with a darkness blacker than the spaces between the stars. “A fallen celestial, oh man , and it’s something powerful— I did not want to deal with a dark empyrean— wait, WAIT—“
The light explodes in a burst of glimmering motes, and floating above the circle is a giant woman in angelic robes, approximately fifty feet tall; long white hair flows around her like an ocean, six wings arrayed behind her shoulders, a golden halo glowing like the sun above her head, but her eyes, made of an all-consuming shadow, resemble black holes.
“A fallen solar. ” Nana says, her awed voice shaking with fear.
“Mom?” Fuyumi asks.
“Oh my God, Mom! ” Natsuo yells, immediately kicking dust over the carefully drawn circle; Rei’s form shrinks to human-sized, the celestial paraphernalia vanishing, but her eyes remain pits of doom— at least, until Natsuo and Fuyumi throw themselves onto her in a simultaneous group hug.
“Natsuo? Fuyumi?” Rei asks; and she sounds unbelieving. How long has she been wandering in limbo? How long has she been alone, without them?
“Mom, Touya’s alive. ” Fuyumi says, and Rei can see into unimaginable dimensions and can just as easily see when someone is speaking the truth; she looks downwards, and finds Touya’s unique power signature, unsealed, standing beside Shouto. Both her sons are free.
“Shouto. Touya.” Rei says; and there’s an instant that lasts forever, and the darkness vanishes from her eyes, revealing a soft gray. After all these years, it takes something that is very little and yet impossibly huge to return Rei to herself; returning home.
It is a day of miracles, today; of families reuniting, of endless joy, but even so, a battle waited on the horizon, and there was one more child left to save.
“Nana Shimura.” Rei says, turning to the alchemist, to the vampire who had both lived and died a hero.
“Yes?” Nana asks.
“You have been watching over my son, in my absence. Mentoring him, helping him pursue his dreams.”
“I never got a chance to have an apprentice when I was a hero, but I wouldn’t let something as simple as dying stop me from passing on what I know. It’s the duty of heroes to teach the next generation.” Nana says, clapping Natsuo on the shoulder. “I’d wished to mentor my family, but that didn’t work out; at this point, though, Natsuo’s as much family as any of them. He’s done well. You should be proud of him.” She smiles. “Although, Natsuo, you could have mentioned your mother was a solar at some point in time.”
“It didn’t seem important.” Natsuo says, smiling nervously.
“You brought me to my children. I will bring you to yours.” Rei says, and a line of light suddenly appears at Rei’s feet, stretching off like a quest pointer into the distance; six feathery wings manifest from her shoulders. “Take to the skies, dragons; today, we save Tenko Shimura.”
Kirishima’s bronze scales glow almost red in the sunlight, and his curving horns and red eyes hint at the subtype he was born; Ryuko is a glorious silver-gray, twice Kirishima’s size, and as she stretches into her true form, Fuyumi still recognizes her face. She is incredible— the inhuman have always been Fuyumi’s family, so there is no fear as she climbs between Ryuko’s wings, Natsuo behind her. Nana gets on Eijirou, and then, following Rei’s directions, the group takes flight.
Fuyumi has flown before; not under her own power, for she has none, but by Rei’s grace, Shouto’s magic, or Touya’s shifting. All of those are glorious in their own way— but riding a dragon is something else entirely, for dragons are superior beings who rarely deign to let those of other races aboard. Now, though, there is a time limit before All for One arrives, because he used Tenko to keep himself alive— and with urgency comes practicality, and Ryuko would never not do the utmost to save a child. The same is true of Fuyumi, and so she holds on, hands gripping silvered scales and spines with Natsuo at her back; and the sun illuminates them all, and it keeps on shining, never hiding, even as the sky begins to rain. The devil is crying, some say, when the sun is visible and the sky is clear during a downpour; the heat of the rays keep the group warm even as the raindrops fall like ice from clouds continuing a never-ending cycle.
The flight lasts an hour, maybe, but it passes like a dream; there is a castle on a hill at the endpoint of their route, and the tallest tower shines a brilliant blue, beating out concentric rings of energy from a single window. The battle has begun, Fuyumi realizes; Tenko’s connection fights as All for One does, as he miraculously survives all that is thrown against him, because his soul rests in a different vessel. Ryuko flies near the window, and visible within it is a man sitting on a bed in a meditational pose, grimacing; he has white hair, and there is a scar across his lip. The circles of energy are exploding from him.
“Tenko!” Nana yells, and the man looks up.
“How did you know that name? Heroes. ” he hisses; behind him, mist coalesces into a humanoid form, dark purple with yellow eyes.
“I am Nana Shimura. I’m here to rescue you.”
The top of the tower explodes, stone blocks flying everywhere; it’s all Nana can do to hold her hat on her head, to prevent the sun from charring her undead body to ashes.
“Get them, Kurogiri!” Tenko roars, and the misty aberration suddenly grows in size as everyone is reeling; it seems as though he’s about to engulf them all until Natsuo hurls a bottle of some mixture into the overwhelming mass. His homemade aberration repellent, Fuyumi realizes, but he hadn’t gotten it to work! What Fuyumi does not realize, though, is that while Natsuo’s mixture is subpar for warding against aberrations, it is perfect for restoring people who have been transformed into aberrations through mind-melting magics. (It’s worth noting that Natsuo does not realize this, either.) The mist condenses, to everyone’s shock, into a blue-haired human; he starts to fall, but then catches himself by creating a cloud.
“DIE!” Tenko screams, and bolts of green light leap from his hands, necrotic spells poised to turn anything they touch into dust; but each bolt is matched by a golden arrow, flying from a spectral bow that Rei commands, volleys of radiance flying at her word. Eijirou rears his head back, and breathes acid; Ryuko follows his action, and breathes ice. The elements, incredible, clash in a tornado of blue and black; Tenko defends with a shield of energy, but it’s enough of a distraction for Rei to reach into his soul and begin to sever the tether that ties him to All for One.
“Stop!” Tenko cries, as the lashing threads of corruption unbind. “ Please! ” And Fuyumi realizes; he’s been under All for One’s control for so long, that to free him from the darkness could destroy him.
“Hold on, Tenko, please!” the man with blue hair says, and Nana steps from Eijirou, walking on air; his wings cast a shadow, allowing her full range of vampiric abilities, and she walks up to Tenko and takes his hands. Cracks begin to spider through her body, dust falling from her skin, but she has no blood to bleed, no life force to lose. Necrotic damage is useless against something as undead as she.
“Come home.” she says; Rei’s light bears down on him, unraveling the barbed wire that cruelly pierces his thoughts, the infernal chains that wind through his heart. Natsuo draws runes in the air, listening to the words of the man standing on the cloud; Ryuko and Eijirou fly with a terrible silence for creatures as large as they are, whispering spells that Fuyumi cannot even fathom. She stands, though, feeling Ryuko’s muscles flex underneath her feet; and she realizes that the only way they will be able to free Tenko, for the teams back home to be able to defeat All for One, is if Tenko accepts the freedom they are offering.
Fuyumi was not born to save the world, to fight monsters, to know magic, to change her form. But even though she is human, only human, the blood that courses within her is both angel and devil; and words have power.
“The rest of us just live here,” Fuyumi says, and it’s a fact and it’s a plea, the immutable truth that everyone wants peace, that families are being reunited to a new life but they are still missing a piece, “you can too.” There’s a world outside of quests, outside of destined fates, outside of the great game and the stories the world revolves around. There are people, so many people, who aren’t directly involved with any of it; you’ve been with the antagonist too long. Take a break. We’re all waiting.
“What?” Tenko asks. “No? I can’t .” As he speaks, a disc appears in the air before him; the surface shimmering like a pond, it breaks apart into an image, a vision, a scrying, of something happening not that far away. Bakugou’s team, Shouto’s team, all standing around a man without a face; they’re in the devil cellar, locked away to fight an impossible fight, to face a terrible fate— because they can’t win.
“I can’t escape.” Tenko says. “Sensei will become Tiamat; I’m just his way to do that. And if our bond breaks, with the amount of power he’s invested in me— who knows what will happen, if that’s all released. There’s nothing that can replace me; I’m a cornerstone, and I know I’m soon to go. Thanks for trying, I guess, but I’m going to die, and it’s all I can do to try and bring this horrible world down with me. You’re the first heroes who’ve wanted to save me. But it’s far too late.”
“Could the Dragonsoul Amulet replace you?” Ryuko asks.
“Don’t!” Fuyumi says, understanding. “You’ve just found Kirishima, you’ve just started to live again.”
“Tenko has never gotten to live at all. And tell me; if you were in my place, would you not do the same?”
“What’s going on?” Nana asks. Natsuo, eyes fixed on the floating scene, lets out a strangled cry; Shouto’s guard has slipped, and he’s bleeding, one of All for One’s myriad blades piercing his chest. Touya is a rolling thunderstorm, an army, an infernal war machine, a god, an ocean, a beholder, a thousand rings of fire; he is everything, and it is nowhere near enough.
“Before it is too late.” Ryuko says.
The rest of us just live here. Fuyumi needs everyone to keep on living; her heart beats with the selfish, the selfless, desire for a family.
“No.” Fuyumi says, and she makes a connection, connects the dots; a door opening, a door being knocked on, a summoning circle. Words have power, but it is magic that is what acts upon them. Fuyumi has never needed magic of her own, though; all her magic comes from those she loves.
“I wish for the price to be paid.” she says; and Ryuko was, is , the Dragonsoul Amulet, but she does not have to be. The power is within her— at Fuyumi’s wish, though, it leaves. Black vines encircle, entangle, entomb a red diamond; Rei gazes upon the vanishing gem with truesight, and sees no dragon inside.
“I’m free?” Tenko asks.
“If you want to be.” Nana says.
“Please.” the blue-haired man says. Tenko hesitates.
“Sure.” he says, finally. “I’ll give it a try.”
The devil cellar suddenly glows with light; All for One’s armour falls from him like scales, diaphanous, clattering and sliding into immateriality. Shouto rises from near-death, because it’s nearly impossible to kill such a being as he; Midoriya lunges forwards, sword shining viridian through the shadows; Iida calls upon a god he does not worship, and his sword lights up with curse-fire; and Uraraka, unnaturally practical Uraraka, picks up a bucket of soapy lemon water that Fuyumi had left in the devil cellar and upends it over All for One’s head.
He melts.
“ What. ” Tenko says, stunned.
“How did you do that?” Touya asks.
“Soapy water melts evil wizards, doesn’t it?” Uraraka asks, shrugging.
“It’s witches. ” Shouto corrects. “And the Wizard of Oz isn’t factual. ”
“It is now.” Iida sighs.
And so, the trouble ends as unconventionally as it had begun.
***
Fuyumi’s family is far bigger than it was before. If we’re talking size, there are two dragons and a solar; if we’re talking quantity, there’s a whole other team of heroes, because one must be extremely hard-pressed to fight a threat such as All for One with others and not be friends after. Even Bakugou’s grudge had been mollified by Kirishima, as how could Kirishima not be family when Fuyumi and Ryuko were dating. That had become a thing; because two must be extremely hard-pressed to save each other and to save each other’s families in a moment of brilliant weakness and see what the other values most in this world. So they decided to value it together.
There’s something about sacrificing oneself for others; there’s something about not letting others be sacrificed. There's something about finding your own family and immediately helping to find that of others. There’s something about a wish to save a life even when one’s brother is dying, and there’s something about a vampire standing beside an incarnation of the sun to save a boy who’s hasn’t known kindness from more than an enslaved aberration made out of a weather-wizard’s soul. Shirakumo was family too, now, of course; and on bad days, Tenko still had to be convinced not to solve all his problems with murder, but this was only the smallest wrong thing in a world full of rights.
There are still monsters, of course, and apocalyptic threats, but they’re far less than they were before, and the group is well-equipped to deal with them, for they all present a united force. At the end of the day, though, they all just exist, together, with each other, in this world, here. And that’s enough.
THE END