Rejected Stones

Rectitude

Beta'd by kylekatarn77 and Poliamida

41. Rectitude

"You are remembered for the rules you break."

― Douglas MacArthur

"I'm going to go ahead and tell you that originally, this wasn't going to be a logical deception," Mr. Aizawa informed them at the start of class the next day. "But things have changed."

"I should have known you saying we weren't going to get in trouble last night was another deception," Kaminari groaned. "What are you going to do to us?"

"Probably make us do English," Mei muttered darkly.

"Actually, quite the opposite," Mr. Aizawa said with a shake of his head. "Normal classes are again canceled for the foreseeable future. I wouldn't celebrate just yet, because I haven't told you why."

"Is it because we had too much ice cream and pizza?" Ashido groaned. "I took one lactaid but I think it wasn't enough, my stomach feels like it's made out of liquid."

"No. You're going to have to have another press conference. Normally I'd be opposed to such a thing, but your performance during the license exam is going to force our hand. This one will be longer and far more grueling, it's scheduled for Friday to air during prime time television."

"Well today is Wednesday so that gives us a couple days," Iida said. "Why are you so worried?"

Aizawa sighed heavily. "Because I haven't been entirely honest with you. We've been withholding information from all of you."

"Gee, that's a shock, you, lying to us," Sato said, rolling his eyes. "Next you'll tell us that we could get hurt in this line of work."

Aizawa shook his head. "It's my attempts to keep you from getting hurt that have led to those deceptions. But I'm afraid now nothing but the truth will do. Iida, turn off the lights. You need to watch this."

After the lights went off, Aizawa turned on the projector and clicked a video on his computer.

"You all know who this is, right?" Aizawa asked as a silent video started to play. A man was standing on a stage giving an impassioned speech. He was tall, with long blond hair in a ponytail, and a domino mask on his face that Izuku couldn't quite tell was part of a quirk or a wardrobe choice.

"That's Destro, the leader of the old Meta Liberation Army," Yaoyorozu said, sitting up in her seat. "He's one of the villains that toppled the old Japanese Government. He was one of the warlords that the current government put down to restore order to Japan."

"That's what the history books say," Aizawa agreed. "But that's not what happened." He paused the video. "I'm bringing in an expert to fill you in, I wasn't around then."

"In all fairness, neither was I," the voice of All Might said. Izuku looked around, but didn't see the retired hero. Instead, Aizawa clicked another window on his computer, and the worn and wasted face of All Might appeared. "Hello, Class 1A. I must say, your performance on your License Exam was most unconventional. But you did good, kids. I'm sorry I can't be with you today, but..."

Izuku gasped, noticing the IV in All Might's arm, the oxygen tubes up his nose, and his hospital gown. "All Might, are you alright? Did you get hurt again?"

All Might grimaced and shook his head. "No, I didn't, that was Midoriya, right? Sorry, the sound on this isn't the best. But no, I've not been hurt again. I just won't ever recover fully from my injuries."

"Are you...dying?" Shinso asked, his voice cracking.

Grimacing, All Might nodded. "Yeah. It's not public knowledge, but with my old wounds and that last fight with All For One...I am dying. Slowly, but I am. The doctors give me no more than a year or two to live. I'll try to defy that, to stick with all of you as long as I can. But it's coming."