Flames of Hope

Chapter 86

Heyo heyo! How are y'all doing? I hope ya doing alright and that you enjoy this chapter! It took a while, burnout and just generally being unhappy with each interation I wrote, but I think this one is a great one! Anyways, enjoy! The song above is Diggy Diggy Hole, a cover my Colm R. McGuinness!

Despair.

What is it?

'Tis the absence of hope, its natural opposite.

It is that soul crushing feeling you have when you've done all of what you can, but you still fail. That single moment when your life, everything you've ever built collapses right before your eyes. To know without a shadow of doubt that everything you've built, everything you've worked and toiled for had broken beyond repair, that everything you tried failed. That you failed.

That is despair.

A bitter cold grip on the heart of those who have felt life at its very worst; a biting chill freezing the very soul, consuming any shred of joy or happiness, destroying anything in its path down into absolute despair.

For what good is hope, when everything falls apart before your eyes?

"Because Hope is what keeps a man moving, fighting, even when everything seems lost."

Izuku twisted his head, locking eyes with the speaker, blinking at the man before he looked outside; rage still burning in his veins.

"Your anger is justified, Izuku. It is fair. But it is something dangerous to court. Dancing with Anger leaves only burns and agony." Scoffing, Izuku ground out.

"Yet Hope does nothing for me either. Rage is the only thing that keeps me focused. Keeps me moving." The man, Merlin, leaned against the wall.

"Does it not? Then do you not hope for your family, not hope that they survive, do you not carry Hope for a better world?" Merlin ran a hand down to his sword.

"Do you not move forward for your family? Do you not move forward for the hope that the people have in you?" Izuku grunted and put a hand to the window, feeling the cool surface beneath his palm.

"Of course I do. But All for One must be stopped. Permanently." Merlin nodded before asking.

"He must be stopped, but will the price be for you? Your mind, your soul or your humanity? Each is a cost too high to pay." Izuku sighed.

"Maybe. Maybe. But I am willing to sacrifice everything for this. All for One is to be stopped, the world can survive without me. It will heal in time. I have to stop him." Merlin's head drooped.

"I cannot persuade you, can I? You intend to return."

It was a statement, Izuku knew. He had long decided to return to Japan. With or without the support he had seeked before, he was going to return, and he was going to wage a bloody war against the monster that had stolen Japan and brought ruin to the world.