Flames of Hope

Chapter 66

Hello there! I hope y'all enjoy this chapter! Also, thank you! I know this is getting a tad repetitive, but I really do appreciate each and every one of you!! So, here's a hug to you from me! And, the song above is Birds by Caleb Hyles! Plus, here's a link to my Discord Server if ya wanna join: https://discord.gg/hDWxEd2 !

"My Hope...?"

Izuku glared at his hands, feeling so useless, like the Quirkless, worthless Deku he was when he was four years old.

Softly, Izuku landed on the destroyed land, emerald eyes filled with pain, and anger and sadness. It was an all too familiar feeling, the same feelings came about when his birth parents abandoned him; The pain of the burns left by his father, the anger and resentment he carried for both his mother and father for years and sadness, because he lost everything he loved in that moment.

It was the same now, and yet oh so different; the pain of his limbs, broken and stitching themselves back together, anger at All for One, his minions for destroying and toying with lives, and sadness, for not being able to help people, for not being able to stop Shigaraki with his plan.

Unlike before, Izuku had power, he was able to help, he could have; but, in the moment, he couldn't, he was weak, he couldn't stop it.

Closing his eyes, Izuku's mindscape shifted and he came face to face with a younger version of himself; there were tears flooding down the younger one's face, red marks raw, glaringly bloodshot, and hollow emerald eyes. A hauntingly young voice, the exact same from way back when spoke up;

"How could you forget? Our Hope? Our Ideals? You've thrown them all away..." Izuku gasps raspily.

"No... I want... to save people... from the pain I've experienced..." The younger child circled the older Izuku like a hawk;

"So, why haven't you? Why don't you go and save people? Can you do that?" The older Izuku nods, telling his younger self ever so quietly.

And isn't that something? Why couldn't Izuku help people? Because there was an obstacle in front of him? No, that's not it. He'd...

"I can." The younger one stops dead.

"Will you though?" Izuku whispers firmly.

"Yes. I will." Finally, younger Izuku looks the older Izuku right in the eyes.

"Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for others? To save them, even at the cost of your own body? Your life?" Izuku's eyes burn bright with determination.

"Yes, whatever it takes, to save everyone." Younger Izuku then grabs Older Izuku's suit, whispering;

"Don't forget your Hope, your Determination, Your Core." Older Izuku could hear a waver in his younger self;

"Don't forget me..."

He had forgotten his own vows, his own goals; He'd never forget that again. His burning conviction. To make right a world so dark, so lost; to bring Hope where despair lurks and to make a future bright for the next generation.