Chapter Text
There existed nothing before them in all directions. And yet it couldn’t be called nothing. For nothing implied there could ever be something. But nothing and everything could never fill this infinite and finite expanse. There existed no light of any kind nor the opposing darkness. There was no color or warmth nor the biting cold. It was not a pure white void nor an endless abyss.
This place was what the world was before there was matter or energy. A true emptiness with no way to fill it.
They floated through this landscape for eons. They stood on the ground for merely a few seconds.
They searched for anything and found nothing. They found something.
They weren’t supposed to be here at all, mortals were never supposed to be here. It was their destiny to end up here.
It seemed as if only a minute had passed and yet eternity went by them.
They had no body to traverse this realm and yet they were one being. They could feel everything, they could feel nothing. Currents passed over their body as they floated. They stood still as it passed right through them.
They could smell all of creation, they couldn’t find a hint of reality. They could hear the orchestra and melody that made up all. They heard nothing.
They reached out to try to find something and found nothing. They reached out and found nothing. Again they reached out, nothing.
And so they stood, they floated, they didn’t even move. They waited for time to move forward. It moved backwards.
They waited until they could no-
“One new message.”
Then they truly heard something. A voice, artificial in nature yet so human, one they grew accustomed to in their long journey across that exoplanet.
They turned. They were already looking.
And before them they saw the interface they had known for years. They saw as a window opened up to unveil a message for them. They saw as the lines formed boxes, formed the audio visual aid that was always there.
“Hello Raven.”
And then a voice spoke.
It was masculine, it seemed so familiar to them, like an old friend or boss they once knew.
“Of course that isn’t your real name now is it?”
And the voice was feminine, a rough ally and enemy. Her voice held experience of thousands of deals well made.
“It wasn’t your real name on Rubicon or the numerous lives before that.”
Again it changed, this time it was of a close ally. Someone they could call a buddy. And yet they betrayed that ally. The ally betrayed them. They never betrayed each other.
Alongside the change in voice was an image. An image of crimson skies over a frozen landscape giving way to an ocean.
“Nor was it Augmented Human C4-62”
Like before, the voice changed. This one like a drill instructor or some noncommissioned officer. Someone they loathed from the beginning. Someone they always respected.
“Or Dark Raven”
A new voice, one clearly augmented and distorted by technology. It was a voice they hadn’t heard in a while. It was one that only ever existed in war. One that knew it was a weapon and embraced it. One that forsake its humanity for conflict.
And with the change in voice came a new image. One of sand dunes swallowing great machines as they rusted away. They sky a calm blue color, not tainted by anything.
“It isn’t Strayed or The Collared One”
A feminine voice now. One they held dear to their mentor. The one who had taught them how to truly become one with their machine. They loved their mentor dearly. Their mentor’s blood was spilled by their hands. They saved her from death. They saved everyone
And again the image changed. This time it showed a city among the clouds. A vast metal construct flying through the blue skies. Yet it did not migrate alone, for like a flock of birds, numerous cities, Cradles, flew on and on.
“Your name isn’t Lap Dog either.”
A deep masculine voice. Smooth in its delivery, yet tainted by insanity. So assured of their ideals or accepting of their bloodlust. But who were they to judge who was sane or not? They had left that long ago. They had always fought for it. They had joined in his insanity. They killed everyone.
“It wasn’t White Glint or Anatolia’s Raven.”
Another close friend and companion. Her sweet voice was always there to raise them out of the darkness. They had failed that voice. They succeed in their shared dreams.
Once more the image changes with the voice. Now a city among the ocean waves. Half in ruin and squalor, half barely hanging onto life. And through it all a massive structure connecting this dream, this ideal together. A single line between the end and the future.
“Nor is it 0824-FK3203 or any of the dozens of other names you have taken or been given.”
This voice they hadn’t heard in a very long time. For numerous voices make up one. All of them artificial yet all real. It had inspired dread into them all that time ago. But now it was just a memory.
And once more the image changes. Before them a vast underground metropolis. Towers reach up to the kilometers high ceiling as spires reach down. A cave so vast you can barely even see the ends. It’s denizens never seeing the true sun. Its citizens are born, raised, and die in artificial light.
“Your true name, the one given to you at birth, one you haven’t used in lifetimes. Abandoned when you opened your eyes again and gained a second new name.”
The image on the screen faded into nothing.
Now a chorus of voices joined in sweet unity, all speaking as one. It should have been chaos, it was a perfect melody by an unseen orchestra.
And the images all faded away.
“Your true name is Izumi Midoriya or Midoriya Izuku. A name given to the child of Inko and Hisashi Midoriya.”
He knew this well. For despite all the time that had passed. Despite the dozens of lives he had lived. He had never forgotten his very first life. He never forgot the young, energetic, optimistic, and naive boy he had been. He never forgot the dream he had, that grew from seeing heroes save people. Of simply wanting to help people, and thinking that he could somehow solve every problem. But time had tempered many things.
“You who were born as a regular human being in a world where powers and abilities meant so much to so many. And because you were normal, born with no grand power or even any power at all, you were an outcast. You had no quirk to call your own and so therefore, according to others, you were inferior. You were barely even human in their eyes.”
Izuku knew this, he knew that all men were not created equal. That some were born with more wealth, some with greater luck, or some born into destitution.
“And yet despite it all, despite all the pain and suffering. Despite all the mocking and beating. You kept moving. In face of these hardships you continued to move forward. A single child defying the world to achieve his dreams.”
He didn’t know when but suddenly there was finally something around him. Behind the holographic interface was an ocean stretching from horizon to horizon. Underneath his feet, he could feel the wet sand as he stood. He could feel the water as it rushed over his toes only to be pulled back again. He could hear the gentle waves moving up onto the sand only to rush into the ocean.
He could smell the salt, the sand, he could smell all of the pleasure of the ocean. And the sky was dotted by uncountable stars. Each one shining so brightly so as to dim out the others. He felt a calmness embrace him. It was a sense of serenity he rarely often felt, but it was one he treasured with all his heart.
“And yet all of that is a single drop of water compared to the ocean you have now faced.”
The voice drew them back to the screen floating right in front of him.
“And we are here to tell you that all of that is now at its end. Your journey has come to its end. The cycle of life, death, and rebirth is over. The last and final moment is yours. All of the pain, all of that agony is your triumph.”
And so his ease grew, he grew content. His heart, so heavily burdened, was finally at peace.
“But our greatest regret about this whole thing was that it was never supposed to happen.”
He stopped at that single sentence. Izuku was shocked for the first time in a while. All of this, all of this pain, this suffering, the heartbreak, the loss, the struggle, was never supposed to be?
“Your soul was never meant to be reborn in this loop, you should have never been forced to undergo such adversity. Your soul should have been wiped clean and born anew in your world. But it wasn’t, instead it hurtled into complete and utter oblivion. It would have been erased in its entirety had it not been put into that loop.”
He didn’t know how to react to that, after countless lives fighting, killing, and living, he had become numb. But this revelation shocked him to the core of his soul.
“At first we believed it to be some cosmic accident, something that had a non-zero chance of ever occurring. But then we learned of the truth behind this action. For it was no accident or random chance event. Instead it was a deliberate action by one who sought to use you as a form of entertainment, to see you be born anew again and again, to make you suffer for their own benefit. And in this you have our apologies for we failed in our duties. But rest assured they can control your being no longer.”
“As for who we are? You can think of us as administrative overseers for all reality. We are not arrogant enough to consider ourselves something divine or holy, but simple custodians of what exists. But despite our immense power and sight we are not omnipotent or omnipresent. And so we failed you. It should not have taken this long to help you, but we did not notice until the damage was done and so we seek to rectify everything.”
Izuku looked away from the interface. His sight drifted to where the stars kissed the sea. His face was blank, it was full of emotion. He couldn’t care after so long, tears fell down his cheek.
“We are truly sorry that such events transpired and endeavor to fix things. We shall return you to your first life and set things right. However this is not all, we wish to compensate you for all that you have weathered and had to cope with.”
This drew his eyes back to the screen. What could they mean?
“You will find a list of your total compensation in an attached document. But we would like to point you to the most significant aspects of what compensation entails. The first is your augmentations. Each life had their own unique version and traits. You shall receive each and every one with all of their benefits and none of the drawbacks.”
This interested him extremely, for if what they said was true, then they would be beyond superhuman.
“Next is something you are somewhat familiar with. In some of your lives you had access to abilities that could not be easily explained with science. We are of course referring to the differing psychic abilities you had. Each of these had you interact with the world in a different manner. But these psychics abilities we bestow upon, this bio-resonance, will be instinctual and much more powerful than anything you have ever known. You shall know how to use them proficiently, it shall be up to you how to decide to use them.”
Izuku was once again shocked by this. The psychic abilities had always varied in capabilities and strength, with some lives never having them. But to give him such power on top of the augmentation and whatever else they gave him. He would be near unstoppable.
“Lastly we would like to give you a companion, an ally you can always rely on. So we shall give you an artificial intelligence companion to assist you in whatever goal you might desire. But they shall not be a purely digital construct. They shall have capabilities similar to those of Coral. We shall leave their name to you.”
He looked up and closed his eyes. In the silence between everything he simply listened to the waves roll upon the beach, upon themselves, and upon him. He simply let his mind release his thoughts, he let his mind go blank. But the memories of his close companion, of her, came rushing forward like the waves around him.
“Ayre”
A single name escaped his lips.
“We know that you have had to go through more than anyone can ask of any single person. We know this was never fair. And we know that this will never truly heal the scars that dot your soul, but know that what you did, what you accomplished mattered. And so at the end we would like to ask you but a single question. What lesson have you learned through all of this?”
The interface faded away and he was alone, underneath the canopy of stars.
He stared once again at where the sky and the ocean met. Izuku then sat down with his arms resting on his knees.
“I learned above all, that we can always change things for the better, no matter how dark it may all seem. We just have to keep moving forward.”
He spoke out into the night. And so he sat there and stared out into eternity as waves rushed up and down the beach. As they crashed against him yet clinged to his being.
Then music began to play. It’s calm, yet melancholy melody capturing what he was at the end of it all.
He looked to the right and saw a small holographic window. A single song playing for him alone.
“Someone is Always Moving on the Surface”
And so he turned back to the horizon and stared for eternity. Eventually he closed his eyes and laid down. The waves consumed his head, drenching his verdant green hair.
And then he heard it. A feminine voice.
“Remember your promise.”
It was a voice he knew yet couldn’t place. He knew he cared for them immensely yet he wasn’t sure who exactly it was. Ayre? Fiona? May?
“Wake up”
And so he woke up.