" So you're the child of Adam they spoke of."
Yuu backed off from the large dragon that had manifested out of the boulder.
Or was it a statue?
Legend said it was worshipped before.
There was a worn-out rope around it after all.
" You really can see us. The other spirits told me of you and how fun it is to play around with you."
" Play?" The kid blinked.
He was merely 10 back then.
" Don't they visit you at night? Don't they hide your things? Don't they cause all kinds of pranks around you?"
" You mean harass me..." the boy retorted, and the dragon laughed.
" Apologies. I sometimes forget how humans and we have different views on what's fun." He settled down and inspected him with a curious look. " So... what brought you to my shrine, child of miracles?"
Yuu fidgeted with his fingers for a moment before looking up at the golden, sharp eyes. " I came to make a wish!"
" Go on," the dragon breathed.
" You're like a king of the spirits. Can't you make them stop harassing me!"
The dragon laughed. It wasn't a soft chuckle. It was a full roar of laughter. " My boy, we spirits don't work like that. I might be strong, but that doesn't mean that all spirits follow me. We're rebellious by nature."
The boy looked down, eyes clouding with tears.
" Raise your head, child of miracles." He did, and Yuu got the dragon's huff in the face, which unsettled his heart. " I hereby form a contract with you. To always have my presence around you when needed, and to answer to your call when you are strong enough to make me manifest."
A small blue flame manifested in the boy's hands. " As long as you call upon my presence, most troublesome spirits will stay away from you. They would not harm you."
Yuu blinked and looked back at Seiryuu. " Why would you grant me this?"
The dragon's mouth pulled back into a broad smile. " Why, indeed. Perhaps I think you're interesting, and I want to see the path you're going to take, child of miracles."...
From afar, overwatching the memory, were older Yuu and Seiryuu.
" I never realized why you called me a child of miracles back then."
" And now you do?" The dragon looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
" It's the same reason you were interested in me," he said, looking back at him. " Because I can make miracles happen."
The dragon smirked, and he circled the boy, making the memory vanish into whiteness as he spiralled around him, as if to teleport him somewhere.
" For years, we have been banned from the human world. We had too much strength, to the point that people began worshiping us and killing each other in our names. Many wars broke out, and a war between spirits could ruin a land to the point where it takes centuries to recover."
Then he stopped, his face in front of Yuu, his golden eyes peering down at him. " But you're a loophole. Your Quirk can open the path for us to manifest in your world. To bring forth the miracles of what people once worshiped as gods."
He looked to the side, and Yuu's eyes widened slightly.
He was back in his house's attic.
And at the furthest corner, there he was, hunched over, hugging his knees, and crying his little heart out.
" You remember this day?"
He nodded slowly. " It was at kindergarten... I was refusing to go to the toilet... When I said there was a ghost in there, most of them didn't believe me. They laughed at it, called me a coward, and locked me there as a dare until the teacher came to my rescue... And..."
It was one of his most bitter and shameful memories.
Was it because of the ghost?
He hardly doubted that.
The ghost, back then, was disturbed upon having a crying child invading his space and tried to cheer him up.
What did he hate about the memory?
" I've always wondered, why couldn't you share your energy with humans. Now that we were bound by a half Take Over, I understand it." The dragon's look softened. " Sometimes... you're the one who sets your own limits unconsciously..."
He knew.
He learned it from Midoriya as he was struggling to master his other Quirks.
What did he hate...
What did he fear that day...
The face of his peers as they sneered and laughed at him as he looked over the teacher's shoulder...
The way they had set him up...
To him, then, their faces were more horrifying than the ghost he had faced.
It was stupid.
The one who called the teacher to his rescue was another of his classmates.
Some of them even were afraid when Yuu talked of the ghost; they believed him.
But those who tormented him.
They were the only ones he could remember.
The only ones who remained.
The ones whom he feared.
In his mind, his fear prevented him from connecting with people.
From sharing his feelings.
From sharing his energy, his life force...
" But I never feared Sora... She was the one who reached for me, the one who saved me. Then why couldn't I share my energy with her?" He looked down at his hand, as if blaming it for failing his friend for so long.
" Who was the first person you shared your energy with?"
" Bakugo-san..." his eyes widened slightly at that.
Bakugo...
The one person Yuu feared the most in his class...
The one person who Yuu expected to be judged by...
Was the first person Yuu managed to share his energy with...
It wasn't about not fearing someone.
It was about overcoming that fear.
He himself needed to reach out to others. Otherwise, how could he share his strength with them?
It took him too long to realize that.
But he did, at last.
Thanks to Bakugo.
" You're going to do it. I'm practically you by this point, and I know what you're thinking of." The dragon's large eyes remained on the small human, reflecting his determination. " Do you know why Whisper was ardent against full Take Over with any strong spirit other than him?" He didn't await an answer. " There was another name for it in ancient times, sacrifice."
Yuu's gaze never wavered. " If you go with this plan, you might lose yourself."
Yuu clenched his fist in determination. " I've been helped by all kinds of people..."
" Let's be friends!" Sora's extended hand.
"Your Quirk is built on teamwork." Midoriya's encouraging words.
" Don't be scared to make it loud and noisy!" Bakugo pushed him forward.
And all the support he got from his friends all over the year.
The memory of their hotpot party flashed before him.
Those peaceful moments where he felt he belonged...
It was something he didn't think he would ever be allowed to experience...
He took one last look at the boy crying at the corner...
That Yuu was from the past...
Right now...
" The hand that was reached out to me, the blessings that I received, I want to return them all back to everyone a hundredfold!"...
________________
" Yggdrasil!"
Yuu had called, and the spirits answered, zooming like threads of colorful light, phasing through him, and branching out into the sky, before stretching down like twigs towards the heroes fighting down there, filling them with their energy, as though flowers blooming.
It stuck to them, connecting them to the tree, making them glow as the energy coursed through their veins.
The ones who were barely tired recovered.
The ones who were injured found their wounds promptly closed over and partially healed.
In short, it was a boost for the heroes
What could have taken a dozen of them to deal with could only take a couple.
Besides, it brought along a backup.
The battlefield was soon invaded by the ghostly forms of Yokais and Spirits, hundreds of them, in all shapes and forms, with all kinds of abilities, who fought side by side with the humans to hold the monstrous form of All For One back.
Everyone looked back in awe at the great tree that enacted such a miracle, its branches stretching high into the sky before reaching down for them, as though a hand on their backs pushing them forward, giving them strength to continue struggling.
But within that storm of energy and spirits, Yuu could hear someone screaming.
It was his own screams.
By making himself into a medium to share the spirits' strength with the humans, he had practically agreed to a thousand, if not hundreds of thousands, of Take Over.
His memories blurred.
His head ached as if someone were trying to pry his skull open.
His self-awareness crumbled under the brunt of thousands of spirits sharing in his existence.
Who was he?
What was he doing?
Why was he in pain?
He was on the verge of breaking down, of letting go...
When a face flashed before him...
He almost recognized it...
Red eyes...
White hair...
A bright smile that made him forget his pain...
He wanted to reach out to it...
If it were for the owner of that face, he thought, he could bear the pain a hundred times over...
" Go... Beyond..."
" Plus Ultra!" Was a cry that united everyone.
Of course, the heroes were oblivious to the turmoil in the middle of the tree's trunk.
Thankfully, they made the most of the gift bestowed upon them, helping Midoriya race up towards All For One, protecting him, shielding him, pushing him, pulling him forward, defending him.
They had to open a path to him.
" Heave-ho!" Ai, Kirishima, Ashido, and Fatgum held back the tentacles.
" Midoriya-kun!" The boy looked up just as Tobio wrapped around him, forming a soft ball that doubled as a shield.
Jiro and Mic give him a blast, and the boy shot forward at full speed, bouncing around until he could no longer and let go of Midoriya, who rolled on the ground.
Iida grabbed him at that moment, pulling him forward.
The tentacles surged forward, manifesting all types of Quirks one could name.
Then they stopped.
The reason was a single woman flying atop a meat finger, her face streaked with bloody tears, but her green eyes were set aglow. The light of the tree surrounding her, expanding like petals stretching outward, gave her more strength.
" I couldn't chain your mind... because there were several people inside of you... I somehow can tell it now... perhaps because of this light... that's why..." She focused her thoughts not on the man, but the consciousness he had inherited from the Quirks he stole. Then, she tuned her mind onto one order.
Not chain.
Not freeze.
Rebel!
And so they did.
And his tentacles jittered as he lost control.
Midorya cut his way through them and made for the chest, hitting him hard.
But they weren't given a moment to imagine they had triumphed.
All For One held his body together, his sheer will manifesting in a great energy burst.
Yet Midoriya wouldn't be deterred. He rolled on the ground, stood up, and jumped towards him again, the tendrils of light at his back, ready to give him a boost to reach the last boss again.
However, Kurogiri got in the way, forming an insurmountable wall of darkness.
All For One laughed, the few tentacles he could still control surrounding Midoriya, ready to rip him apart.
When...
" Don't get started without us!" Sora cried out, nothing but a blur as she tore across the sky.
The tree reached out its help, and the bird burned, tearing through the thick amalgamation of metal and flesh that constructed the tentacles as she forged a path.
" You take the honor!" She flung with talons, and Bakugo propelled forward with his explosions and the branches of light, biting into Kurogiri. The black, thick smoke dissipated as the boy let out a bright explosion from his mouth.
Midoriya made it through.
" Go for it! Midoriya-san!"
And then there it was. The bursting light that poured into each and every one of them.
And Midoriya's ears picked up the familiar voices cheering for him.
Yuu couldn't see exactly what happened after.
He wasn't sure he was the one seeing.
Thousands of images and sounds flowed through his mind, but they weren't always his. They belonged to the spirits.
But one thing he was certain of.
The clouds dissipated, with one punch that was capable of changing the weather, and everything went quiet and still.
Peacefully so.
Before he knew it, his time was up.
The roots of the tree, the thousands of spirits who agreed to help, retreated into the spirit world, their light fading away. And with it, the miraculous tree itself.
A strong gush of air blew against Yuu's back and wailed in his ears as it headed skyward...
Or perhaps...
It was he who was plummeting earthward...
He couldn't tell by that point.
The fluttering of wings...
The glimmer of silver feathers drifting down gently with the breeze...
And he was in someone's arms.
He opened his eyes.
And he saw an angel.
An angel with the same face he kept seeing when he was on the verge of losing his mind.
She smiled at him happily, tears at the corners of her eyes. " We did it," she told him.
The boy offered a small smile.
Why?
Why was he happy?
Why was he relieved?
He didn't know.
But he knew he loved that smile.
He knew he wanted to keep seeing it.
And he was glad that it was the last thing he got to see.
Before everything went dark...