14

Chapter 14: The Longest Distance Between Two Places

Chapter Text

Izuku stays in bed for a few days as he waits for his fever to break. His mother takes off work even when he insists he can care for himself, but she doesn't budge. Her seeing his empty bed must have shaken her more than he thought.

Once his fever passes, Izuku still takes things slowly. His ribs are healing, but they also hurt the most. After assessing them again, he's come to the conclusion that they probably are just bruised. However, he isn't a medical professional anymore than Aizawa-sensei is. He doesn't actually know. That still doesn't mean he wants to go to the hospital. Aizawa-sensei is likely trying to track him down. Even though Izuku will see him again eventually in UA, he's not about to make things easier for him by visiting a hospital.

His mother stays home for a few days after his sickness too, worriedly hovering around him. Izuku is almost concerned that he's reset all the progress he made with her, but then she snaps herself out of it. Instead of being worried, she becomes angry, and Izuku gets grounded.

There are very few times in his life he's seen his mother truly angry and Izuku knows better than to try the patience of a saint. For the following week he's grounded, Izuku obeys and stays home. He doesn't even go out to work on his vigilante endeavors.

It's for the best though. Izuku is still healing from his last exploit and his mother is persistent in checking that he's adhering to his grounding. She checks on him whenever she is home, but especially in the morning and at night. Izuku has even woken up to his squeaky door opening in the middle of the night. During those times, he pretends to be asleep, glad that he temporarily stopped his night activities so she won't catch him in his lies.

While at times overbearing, Izuku can admit that he deserves this one, so he doesn't fight it. It's only for a week anyway, and Izuku is good at finding ways to use his down time.

He works on school work. He scours the web for news of the Eight Precepts. He hacks cameras in remote parts of the city and sends in anonymous tips from his burner phone when he sees something go down. At night, he actually sleeps and the dark circles under his eyes get considerably lighter. He still wakes from nightmares sometimes, his fight or flight instincts on full blast, but overall the week is good for him.

Even once his grounding is over, Izuku stalls a little more. His mother's attention is still ever-present and he doesn't want to risk her finding out about what he's been doing. He's not ready to tell her yet. It would create too many problems. Ask too many questions. Cause too much heartbreak.

However, there is something that Izuku needs to do. He stares at the pile of manilla folders that he has written up on the Eight Precepts. He wants to hand them out as soon as possible, but he'll need to go out at night to do so. It wouldn't hurt to observe their trashed hideout either, just to see how things look. Is the building still a pile of rubble? Did the Eight Precepts move? And if so, where to? Could Izuku track them down again to help the heroes?

As much as Izuku desires the answers to those questions, he waits.

"Izuku," His mother calls, standing in his doorway. Izuku startles and drops the pencil he was chewing on intensely. His mother chuckles.

"What do you want to do for Christmas this year?"

His brain shuts down and then restarts. "Christmas?" He repeats dumbly. Izuku runs through the days in his head. Right. He's on winter break right now for school. The break is a good thing usually, but Izuku can't appreciate it fully since he wasn't in school to begin with for him to care if he gets a break. He totally forgot about Christmas, and New Years, and the fact that he'll start middle school again in a week.

"Ummm, I don't know." Izuku replies, adding 'getting his mother a present' on the mental list of things he has to do. "We can just do what we normally do, right?"

What they normally do is eat a nice dinner on Christmas Eve and watch movies. The next day they open presents and bake cookies and enjoy being in the presence of the other.

His mother smiles warmly at him. "Sounds perfect." She turns around and walks out of view.

Izuku picks up his chewed pencil and taps it against his lip. What would his mom want for Christmas? What did he get her this year in the past? Wasn't it that new blender she wanted? She liked it in the past, would she still like it?

Izuku sighs. It feels bad. It feels like cheating.

He looks down at the notebook page he was writing on and frowns. He doesn't think he can work on it anymore. Sighing, he stands and closes the notebook.

Donning a heavier coat, Izuku leaves the house and heads down to Dagobah Beach. There is very little trash left. He could finish clearing it in only a day or two. He's already seen people start to jog on the sand in the mornings. It's too cold for people to swim right now, but maybe in the summer it will get visitors again. Izuku feels proud. He's glad the beach is being used again.

As Izuku lifts the heavier pieces of trash he saved for last (most he has to break into smaller and more holdable pieces), he thinks about the next event giving him the most anxiety.

Going back to middle school.

He's excited(?) to finally go back to school, even if his middle school years weren't the most fun times. It beats staying at home. But...

He was bullied during this time, how could he forget? Just for being quirkless and generally useless. Although that has changed and Izuku has moved past it as a person, he isn't too keen to return to that kind of treatment. Is it too much to hope he can just skip all the hardships and proceed to befriending all his friends again, including Kacchan?

And there's the issue. Kacchan...oh boy. Kacchan hates him here still, and Izuku gets bullied by him and they don't fix that until UA. During this specific time, Izuku knows it was toned down because Kacchan was training for the entrance ceremony, so maybe it won't be as bad as the first time around?

The other problem though, is that when school starts, most of the time will be taken out of his day. He won't have as much time to freely research or plan. Of course, he'll still do it, perhaps discreetly so the teachers won't notice, but his freedom will still be restricted.

He'll also have less time to train. The entrance exam is only two months away and everything will snowball from there. Luckily, Izuku will finish cleaning the beach faster than he did before, so at least he won't have to devote his time to that.

Izuku drops half a car into the large dumpster. The sun is setting. His phone buzzes in his pocket. Izuku pulls it out as a breeze gives him chills. It's from his mom, wanting to know if he's fine, when will he be home? Izuku rolls his eyes fondly and types out a response that he'll finish here, dump the trash and then head home.

He looks out over the expanse of sand, sparkling in the sunset's glow. It seems he'll finish sooner than expected.

Only a few moments later and Izuku has lugged the last of the debris into his dumpster. It's piled high and when Izuku stands on its top, the sun's dying rays throwing fire behind his eyes, he feels triumphant. There's something else though, something he pushes down in the wake of his victory. (Something that feels a lot like longing, and a little like loneliness.)

Memories flash before his eyes and Izuku calls upon the warm buzz of One For All just so he can reassure himself it isn't all a dream. As his quirk sparkles and arches over his limbs, he feels a little less alone.

The next day, Izuku leaves early in the morning. It's still dark out, his mother fast asleep, and Izuku makes sure to write a note for her where she can easily find it. He sticks it on the fridge.

There are things he needs to do today. Getting his mother a gift firstly, as well as getting himself back to school supplies. While his backpack houses other Izuku's school things, Izuku is reluctant to use them. Despite the fact that they should also feel like his, they don't. And Izuku just wants to get new ones for himself.

But, it's too early for the stores to be open. And Izuku already has a place in mind to kill some time. He leaves the house, closes the door behind him, and sprints into the morning cold.

His feet carry him to the same spread of sand and sea he stood upon last night. It's nice to visit in the mornings and watch the sun come up. Nicer now that he was able to clear the view completely. Izuku sits upon the sand and revels in the salty sea air that greets his nostrils. He can't fight the serene smile that spreads over his face. He watches the dark waves lap at the shore and relishes in the chilled wind whipping through his hair. He stays that way until the sun breaks the horizon line and the sky brightens from a dark purple to a pastel blue.

The sunrise is always beautiful, every time Izuku has seen it. He still can't get enough of it. It reminds him too much of the first time he cleaned the beach, of the hole All Might blasted through the junk, and the sun breaking over a mountain of forgotten rubbish. While it hurts, he likes the reminder of his old life, even if this one isn't too different. He takes a deep breath.

Once the sun is up and the air is just a touch warmer, Izuku stands and stretches. He waves to a jogger that passes him by. It's time to start his own run.

He doesn't have any destination in mind, so he just runs around blindly. He thinks about starting school again, of what he remembers life being like during that time. He can't recall much, the most of what he remembers is training with All Might, school simply faded into the background in comparison.

On his run, Izuku passes the forest by the river he woke up from and promptly skids to a halt. He hasn't come back here, not even once since he's come to this dimension. There's yellow caution tape strung around the trees, blocking entry, and Izuku steps close enough to run his fingers along it. It doesn't seem likely, but maybe the forest holds some clues? He's never really taken a look before. He's thought about it, why he woke up in the forest of all places, and that it could mean something that he just doesn't know. His feet carry him to the treeline and he ducks under the tape before he can think better of it. He starts the hike inwards.

There is no path through the tangle of roots and branches, but it's fairly easy to make his way. In some areas it even looks like an animal or someone else came through. He walks for a while and, embarrassingly enough, he gets a little lost. He can still find his way out, of course, but Izuku is looking for the exact spot he woke up at, with no luck. Predictably, it's hard to tell the difference between a tree or a patch of grass versus the next, and Izuku feels just a bit stupid for even thinking this idea had any merit. He's about to give up when something colorful catches his attention.

It's a gathering of flowers. Izuku wouldn't call it a bouquet, since there can't be more than ten and they look more like wildflowers or weeds than the extravagant flowers he's seen for sale in bouquets. A couple are pink, a couple are purple and a couple are yellow. Izuku has seen these types of flowers before, but he doesn't know what they're called or why they're here. It's obvious someone picked them, and intentionally laid them here, but why? The police tape would prevent most people from crossing and flowers don't seem a good enough reason to break the law. Not that Izuku has much room to lecture about law breaking.

He picks up one of the flowers and admires it in his hand. It's pretty, he supposes. The other flowers rest against a tree trunk that sits at the edge of the river. Now that he thinks about it, these flowers look kind of fresh, don't they? The thought is enough to send shivers down Izuku's spine and he quickly scans his surroundings. But, the forest is as silent as it was when he entered it, the trees still shadowed and dark in the early light. Reasonably, Izuku doesn't want to stay here anymore.

It could be stupid. He hasn't found any correlation between this forest and his disappearance, besides that he woke up here, but he still feels uneasy. What are the odds that he'd find freshly laid flowers in the woods, so close to where he woke up? That'd be one hell of a creepy coincidence.

He spares a glance at the river, deep enough to drown in, glittering innocently in the sunlight, and clenches the flower in his hand. He wonders if it's a memorial. There's no stone though, so that must not be it. Or he hopes it's not it.

There's no reason to worry over it any longer though, especially when he's leaving. He turns around and picks his way through roots and logs to go back. Izuku tries to tell himself that it's just a normal forest, along a normal riverbank. It should be beautiful, and perhaps before all this, it would have been. Maybe Izuku's just paranoid.

He runs his fingers over the flower he pocketed. But...maybe he's not.

He makes it out of the forest and breaks into a run as soon as he crosses the tape once more. His path this time takes him into town.

Many times over the past few months, when Izuku felt too burnt out, whether with training or researching, he'd run around town. He's never been much of a people person, but he'd find himself drawn to the crowds, looking for something that isn't a hero fight. (A dual haired teen, rosy pink cheeks under a brown bob, engines sticking out of a pair of legs, spiky red hair, a frog-like girl, a girl who's pink from head to toe, an abnormally sparkly boy, a boy with tape dispensers, etc, etc, etc)

(He never finds them)

He didn't want to say he's lonely. He has his mom after all, and he's about to go back to school. UA isn't that far away either. But there's definitely something there. Something bitter, and frustrated. Izuku is the only one with the knowledge from the future, and that overwhelms him sometimes. He doesn't get much sleep from his nightly routine, that he's toned down, but even during the hours he can sleep, he doesn't rest. It's a little ironic, how the closer he comes to meeting the fruits of his labor, the more anxious he becomes. The what ifs and worst case scenarios are enough to leave him spiraling in his thoughts til morning.

But, the runs helped, at least a little. They felt freeing, if a bit selfish. He'd known he should've been working on other things, things that would help the future, but as much as he felt guilty, he needed the break. It's entirely too much sometimes, and Izuku would rather go for a run than have a breakdown. Running doesn't solve anything, he knows that, but it allows him to forget about his troubles, if only for a while. And sometimes that's all he needs to keep going.

In the town this early, there are barely any people out and about. (Izuku's eyes still search every person he sees, looking for a familiar face, recognition, home. )

There's a bargain sale at the local supermarket and Izuku is able to spend as little as possible to buy his new school supplies. His mother would be proud.

He stops by a few of the shops on the main street and even the mall. Most places are decorated for the holidays. Izuku buys a gift for his mom, and pauses. If this were the future, he'd be buying gifts for a lot more people. His family had extended past just him and his mother.

Against his better judgement, but unable to stop himself, Izuku buys a couple more gifts. His bags, which should be light, are heavy in his hands.

When he comes home later, his mother greets him enthusiastically at the door.

"Izuku! Find everything you need?" She's bustling about the kitchen, making something that smells absolutely heavenly. Izuku's stomach growls in anticipation. He never actually ate breakfast.

"Uh-huh!" He chirps back, a bright smile on his face. He not-so-discreetly runs the gifts to his room and hides them in his closet before joining his mother in the kitchen. Izuku sets his school things down on the table and promptly shows them off one by one to his mother. It's a little childish, but it's what he's always done. And seeing his mother laugh at what is likely the hundredth All Might themed notebook he has is definitely worth it.

He chats with her a bit more and then remembers the flower he has in his pocket. He pulls it out slowly, his mood dimming significantly from earlier. It's crumpled and wilted, with petals missing and it looks a bit pitiful as it lies on the countertop in a broken heap. It doesn't seem nearly as intimidating as it did when Izuku picked it up.

Is it just a coincidence that someone laid flowers there? A completely separate event from Izuku's disappearance and he's just overreacting? It could've been a memorial, just as he thought...or it could've been a warning. Izuku shakes his head. That's a ridiculous idea. He picks the flower up, entering the kitchen so he can throw it away. His mom catches sight of it before he can.

"A flower?" She asks, her head tilted in confusion. Her eyes find his.

"Yeah," Izuku says, "I found it today and kept it, but it got ruined in my pocket." He chuckles, a little nervous. He'd rather just get rid of it as soon as possible.

His mother smiles and plucks the ruined flower out of his hands. She holds it by it's broken stem and sniffs the flower even as it's missing half its petals.

"Haaaaaaaah" She exhales deeply. "It smells wonderful."

Izuku watches uncertainly. It seems like a normal flower. He ought to forget the way in which he found it and simply move on. He lets out the breath he's been holding and chances a smile.

His mom looks down at the flower again, saved from the trash for the moment. "This is a Zinnia." She comments. "They can grow basically anywhere around here, they're a type of wildflower, but they have a lovely meaning. Guests get them in the hospital sometimes in bouquets."

Ah, that's right. Izuku's mom is knowledgeable about flowers and their meanings because of her job as a nurse. She isn't fluent in flower language, but she knows enough just by being interested and looking it up. Izuku thinks it's kind of cool.

His mom continues. "They mean 'thinking of an absent friend'. When I've seen them before, it's usually someone's friend wishing them a speedy recovery." She smiles again. "Isn't that sweet?"

Izuku hums in agreement. His eyes on the mangled bloom in between his mother's fingers. It is sweet. Not sinister in the slightest. Maybe the spot on the river really was a memorial.

Breakfast finishes cooking and Izuku sets the table for two. It's a nice time. He and his mom joke around during the meal and even when they tackle the dishes afterwards. Izuku may have ended up with bubbles in his curls, but he also has a smile that can rival All Might's. (As they clean, the flower does make it into the trash.)

He spends the rest of his day pointedly avoiding anything that will involve thinking. His mom joins him in his lazy day and they watch movies and HeroTube videos and chat for hours on end. He hasn't seen his mother smile this much since he's been in this dimension, and, he realises, it's likely the same for him. It's wonderful.

When Izuku goes to bed that night, it's the most peaceful he's been since he woke up in that forest. He's still nervous, of course he is, when is he not? But it's less so, abated by the rush of endorphins the day has brought him. He'll have to face Kacchan soon, but maybe he can change things between them like he did with his mom? Either way, bully or no, Izuku can't deny he's excited to see his friend again. It's one more step forward. One more step to UA. One more step to catching up to his own future.

And as he closes his eyes and sleep claims him, he can almost pretend he's not living someone else's life.