Chapter Text
Whispers echoed through the darkened cavern, small lights and glows the only indication of what was out there. The darkness receded quickly at each whisper, lighting up the room in prismatic, colourful light, which faded just as quickly. The walls that surrounded the path down the narrow passageway were coarse, with small, embedded grooves throughout, giving it a rather harsh texture that any other may have trouble with, their larger stature making it so they were scraped and cut. The whispers and lights warmly greeted him from these embedded grooves, revealing their crystalline graves.
His shoulders tensed as he saw ahead of him, his path becoming, once more, even smaller, an obstruction of his path that he found daunting and exhilarating. Taking a breath, he readjusted his tattered trousers, and knelt down, the darkness not gifting him any favours of sight, the glimpses of lights surrounding him becoming much more disorientating than he had expected.
As his eyes adjusted, he saw that the tunnel reached far beyond where he expected, and a fresh, new apprehension took hold, as he knew he could not see any end. Frowning, he fell back, and sat down, reaching his scarred hand into his pack as he retrieved his memento from his late mentor.
Yagi had been a kind man, if a little overzealous in his conviction. In his life, he had defeated many a monster, and saved many a city, and that had come with a cost, one he had embraced greatly, assuming the kingdom had been safe.
In his death, though, he entrusted to Midoriya a Legacy.
Sighing, Midoriya pawed at the well read pages of his mentors last gift, a book with all of what Yagi had discovered in his life, weaved from the silk of the prophetic dream-spiders, and imbued with properties not even Yagi himself had known. Grasping the page, Midoriya searched the pages of the book, and found himself tense once more, realising there wasn’t a page to guide him.
“No, no no please,” he frantically turned the pages back and forth, hoping he had somehow missed a page, or that the page would magically manifest when he wasn’t looking. It was to no fruition, however, as he soon found himself coming to a simple realisation.
I’m on my own.
Midoriya had been adventuring for a short time, and he had found himself in peril more often than not, which is why he was so thankful for the gifts Yagi had bestowed upon him. Of all his gifts, the one he had the strongest grasp on was his late mentor’s wisdom, as he found his other blessings evaded his own control, to much frustration.
This encylopedia though, had always proved the most reliable, and to find that he was for once, flying blind, turned the tepid flow of anxiety erode away his nerves and become full on rapids of apprehension.
Eyeing the path before him where he sat, he realised all at once he could not bring his pack with him if he wished to follow this particular path, yet not for a second did he consider not crawling through. Something was calling to him, something innate and powerful. The pull wasn’t a strong one either, moreso a gentle yet insistent tug in his heart. The pull became stronger the closer he had moved into the cave, and once again it grew more and more, as he traveled in the darkened crawl space.
He continued to mutter to himself, a nervous tick that granted him no comfort in this tight space. His shoulder buffered a particularly bad outcrop, and he groaned in pain, pausing for a moment to let the ache fade.
He realised, in this moment of silence, that it was well and truly silent.
The whispers had halted, leaving behind a tense silence that chilled him to no end, feeling a foreboding, almost sickening feeling. The lack of whispers was a new, incredibly disorientating feeling he hadn’t known he would hate until it was upon him. The dull glows remained from the walls, the crystals remaining a tepid guiding light through his newfound grave, yet the accompanying voices, the curious spirits and trapped souls, were no longer the almost comforting presence, and his head ached a new, heavy, invading feeling at their muted voices.
Despite the clawing ache in his head, that made his breathing stutter, and the small amount of space he had afforded himself, he was still able to shakily grasp his hand around his right shoulder, feeling his way underneath the cloth he placed over the uppermost of his arm, and all at once feeling the relief he had since lost.
New whispers were born from the silence, this time much more familiar, yet just as indistinguishable as the reverberated ones from the cave walls. Amongst the 8 voices he heard, one in particular jumped out to him, reminding him of the soft, gentle way his mentor had cupped his face as the light in his eyes gave way to a cold acceptance.
He rubbed circles along his scarred shoulder with his thumb, making sure he didn’t entirely leave the embedded gemstone he often kept hidden from sight out of fear that his arms' unsightly appearance would disturb the people he came across.
He focused on his mentor's soft, unknown whispers, still grasping his arm as he edged his way through the tunnel further and further into the darkness.
The crystals along the wall became less common, and so did his own glimpses into the darkness. Still, he remained steadfast as he continued through, determined to find the end of the tunnel, and whatever it was that allured him here.
The crystal's light had dulled to the point of no existence, and he continued forward, using the feel of the wall to find purchase, and guide him.
Another half hour or so had him feeling a new texture, soft and squishy, covered in a slight dampness that he found intriguing and all together a welcome reprieve from the previously stony passage. These small patches grew further along, and soon were clearly covering all of the surfaces, no doubt making his already tattered tunic and trousers damp and stained by the mosses green.
He cried out in relief as he began to hear whispers from around him once more, regaining use of both arms and pulling himself further and further out. The passageway widened and to his relief, he was able to crouch in the space, and even then he could stand.
Brushing himself off, the dim light of the few crystals he could see illuminated a small pond before him, and at the bottom of the pool were more crystalline growths, glowing with such regularity that it seemed as though they had a heartbeat.
He spied another cave within the pool, this one lined with the same crystals once more, though they grew much more fervently than any others, jutting out in a much more pronounced way. The tunnel itself was much wider, and Midoriya felt good about his ability to navigate it, sure in his belief that there was another side to the pool, and that If he wished to reach whatever was calling to him, he would have to take the risk.
He stripped down, not wanting his clothes to get as wet as he, keeping his undergarments for his own modesty and peace of mind, and dived into the pool. Immediately, his right arm tensed and pulsated, a sharp pain ripping through him for a moment before dissipating suddenly, leaving the dull remnants of pain, and the soft glow of the gem.
Centring himself, Midoriya took a deep breath and ventured down through the underwater cave, careful not to touch any of the colourful crystals that lined the walls, and soon found himself emerging through a near identical pool it was connected to. He grasped the edge and pulled himself out, before a gasp escaped him at what he saw.
A large, cavernous room, covered in moss and plant life encroaching on almost every inch. Natural sunlight edged its way through a canopy above, covered in sparse roots and the gentle, tricking water. Roots held chunks of stone in place, dangling from the roof of the cavern, and some even reached the ground of the room, nearing the littered pools of water.
In the centre though, was what really caught Midoriya’s eye.
The closest thing he could compare it to was a tree, but that didn’t do it justice. It was moreso like a crystalline facsimile of a tree, born from many Individual little crystals, each warped or stretched as though they made up a system, forming the impressive structure by will alone. It stretched up almost as high as the roof of the cavern, and had a spattering of colours, each as vibrant and new as the last.
The whispers gave way to a chorus of harmony, a perfect, in unison confluence of voice and memory , emanating from the crystal tree, beckoning him to draw closer and closer, intrigued and all the more curious as to what he had stumbled upon.
The pull all together stopped, yet the harmony continued, and Midoriya found himself edging closer and closer to the tree without the familiar pull he had felt as he had initially drawn near the cave all those hours ago.
The harmonious singing split, and soon the whispers turned song, became songs , each individual crystal singing its own song, becoming and enticing, and a new feeling grew within, one of longing, and completeness that he had never felt, not even under his mentor Yagi.
With Yagi, he felt he had a purpose, and he more than ever used that drive to prove himself to his mentor, but Midoriya had never quite felt this. A contradictory feeling of being wholly complete, yet feeling so much longing, broiling from underneath his very skin.
One particular song caught his ear, and he spied the crystal it resonated from. Amongst the purples and whites, grew one particular crystal, a mixture of light and darker pinks, decorating it like it were constellations. He carefully reached out to cup the crystal, unsure as to why this one in particular felt important, and suddenly pink filled his vision.
All he could hear was the singing of the pink crystal, none others, and Midoriya thought it was the most beautiful song he had ever heard. He knew it was a girl's voice, and he felt, as his ears zeroed in on the song, emotions he couldn’t quite quantify or identify, foreign in a way that was bewildering to him. Sadness, longing, love and joy, all flowing and mixing with his own like a punch to the gut.
“What the hell…” he muttered to himself quietly.
The crystal’s song crescendoed, and with a flurry of light the crystal shattered from his grasp, and fell to the floor. In quick succession, the shards began to subtly shift and glow much more intensely. Midoriya shied away, covering his eyes with his hand.
He stumbled and fell back into the closest lagoon, and once more the crystal on his arm burned, a righteous pain that felt worse than any pain he had ever felt. Wide eyed and trying to yell, water filling his lungs, he instinctively grasped onto the gem and the whispers became screams, disorientating and numerous, and in an instant, the darkness took him.
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“H-hello? Can anyone hear me?” a voice faded into existence as Midoriya woke, soft and hesitant as it called out ahead of him, “I-I don’t know what’s going on, I can’t see, please, is anyone there?”
Midoriya groaned as he wiped away at his face, just as damp as he’d expected after falling into a pool of water. He pulled himself up by his elbows, still laying back and getting his bearings as his eyes re-focused.
The first sensation that came to him other than the woman’s voice, was the soft, tickling of grass, a contrast to the moss that had encompassed the cavern walls and floor. His arms tickled slightly, and he felt that underneath his left arm was a thin root that laid underneath the dirt, but not deep enough to stop the feel of it on his arm.
His head felt clearer than it had in hours, and he sighed in relief. Slowly sitting up, he checked around for the woman who had been calling out.
“Uh, hello?” Midoriya spoke a bit too quietly, before thinking better of it and calling out louder, “HELLO? I'M OVER HERE!”
“I hear you! Hello! Do you know where I am?” the voice resounded, from ahead of him. Midoriya blinked, looking at the forest ahead of him. He couldn’t see anyone in between the woods, so his hesitancy grew and grew.
“I uh, I’m in a clearing in the forest,” Midoriya responded guardedly, “a-are you hurt?”
“I don’t know? One moment I was traveling with my parents and the next, I’m here,” she responded, sighing a little in what Midoriya assumed was relief, “I don’t know why, but it’s really dark here, and I can’t see, have you got a light?”
That gave him pause, and Midoriya looked up to the sky, seeing for one, the canopy of trees that are typical for this particular forest,but even further than that, the midday sun beating down on him. The forest was certainly shaded , though unless she too had found herself lost in a cave, there wasn’t possibly any blindingly dark crevasse’s.
Then again, he had just found a tree made of singing crystals.
Midoriya stood up to his full height, and began moving towards the direction of her voice.
“Stay where you are, alright?” he said into the darkness, “I’ll try to come towards you, we don’t want you to trip or something.”
“O-ok,” her voice sounded out, from behind him this time.
“Did you just move?”
“N-no, I haven’t moved,” her voice audibly hitched, “hey so, w-what’s your name?”
Midoriya was becoming more and more wary of the situation as he got low into a fighting position his mentor had taught him. He scanned the forest and his surroundings, becoming tenser as he came up with nothing. Why had her voice come from behind him, when he was sure she had been ahead? He zeroed in on his senses, knowing they could be the only thing he could rely on for this moment, and waited.
“Hello? Are you still there?” there! Midoriya eyed in the direction her voice had been last, but was surprised to find just how low her voice had been. His gaze drifted down, and down, until he found, right next to where he had been passed out moments ago, the lonesome, singular pink-constellation like crystal, laid there, glowing and completely whole.
“Hello? Please please don’t leave me,” she begged after his silence reigned for longer than he expected.
“...my name is Izuku Midoriya,” he supplied, tension draining from him as he stared at the crystal as it pulsated with a faint, pink light.
“Oh, thank god you didn’t leave me here,” she said, relieved, “my name is Ochako Uraraka.”