First Day Back... Again

Alyx awoke to the sound of an alarm clock, he sluggishly planted his hand on the snooze button, sitting up and then staring down at the floor. His door slid open as Melissa walked inside.

"Morning, sunshine! Dad's making us breakfast, I figured I should wake you up early, just to walk around the island a bit."

"Sure, just give me a second."

Alyx got up from his bed and Melissa left the room. Leonidus got ready for the day, making sure to warm up his body for the day ahead of him, stretching as much as he could. He left his room and joined up with Melissa.

"You know, I never got to thank you for saving the world. It's been so long since we've actually talked. You've changed so much. I-I mean, you're the One Above All! How cool is that? Being able to compete with the Gods, that's astounding, just imagine being a God!"

"It's cool and all, yeah, but I don't want to be seen like I'm some kind of higher power. All I want to do is grow like everyone else, like a human. Relying on others isn't something I wanna do anymore. A God is something I don't want to be. I couldn't care about living forever, that means I wouldn't be able to see any of you after you die! Besides, growing old with Momo would be nice, I'd enjoy that."

Melissa smiled at him as they walked towards the lab, "That... Was rather sweet of you to say."

The two entered the lab where David had finished preparing breakfast.

[Three Hours Later...]

"Everything prepped and ready to go, Dad?" Melissa asked.

"Yep! We should have everything ready! Those last few tests went amazing!"

The ceiling of the Training Center opened up, revealing the bright blue sky, Leonidus looked behind him with confusion.

"What's this supposed to do? Airing things out or something?"

"Nope! Good ole' All Might did this test decades back, it's to see how far just one of your punches can make a solid cube of Osmium go! Before we start, do you think you can use your Quirks?" David wondered.

Alyx's Overdrive shot up around him, answering David's question, the 10-foot-tall cube of Osmium was then elevated up onto the ground floor. Leonidus recalled the metal that Yaoyorozu's staff was made out of, noting that it was not a dense as this one. He took a deep breath as he stood in front of the cube. Alyx reeled his right arm backwards as Overdrive sparked intensely around it. His fist slammed into the cube, finally using his own power, the Osmium cube went skyrocketing into the sky.

"100... 300... 500... 700... Holy moly! It keeps going! This thing is gone!" Melissa exclaimed.

"Anything else? I'm assuming you didn't want me to punch a cube out of the island, right?"

"That'll be it for now, there was something I wanted to ask you, Alyx." David agreed.

Alyx flew up towards them, following David and Melissa into the lab, David pressed a button which unveiled Darren Leonidus' very first suit. He stepped closer towards the glass, mesmerized by the sight of his father's hero suit.

"No way, I thought this was destroyed?" Alyx noted.

"Not completely, I managed to patch it up thanks to our state-of-the-art tech! It's ready for you if you'd like to try it on?"

"W-Wait, that's... This is what you've been working on? I... I really don't know what to say. Thank you, Uncle David."

The glass case opened up and Alyx put on the costume. Looking at himself in the mirror, a fulfilled smile came across his face, Alyx looked over at David and Melissa then nodded at them.

"It fits, it finally fits me."

[Several Hours Later...]

While the students slept soundly, Momo was awoken by her door sliding open, she sat up to see Alyx standing in her doorway.

"Darling? What are you-"

Alyx appeared in front of her, grabbing her face, preventing her from talking. Momo's eyes widened as she saw that this wasn't the Alyx she knew.

"Good evening, 'darling', you and I are going on a bit of an adventure. Don't you worry, I'm not going to hurt you, not yet anyway."

The two disappeared out of thin air right before Jiro walked into the room.

"Yaomomo? What was all the... Huh?"

Kyoka saw that her balcony door was wide open, Jiro pulled her phone out, calling the one person she knew that would be able to help her. Back on I-Island, Leonidus slept soundly in his bed, his phone started ringing.

"H-Hello?" Leonidus groggily answered.

"Someone's got Yaomomo, Alyx!"

Alyx hung up and zoomed out of the room towards the laboratory, David Shield was working on one of his various experiments as Leonidus rushed in.

"Woah, kiddo, everything alright?"

"Where's my watch at? My girlfriend's been kidnapped, and I may need to kill someone."

David handed it to him, "I... I'm not going to ask, are you sure you're going to be alright? I'll be your eyes and ears if you need anything."

Leonidus nodded at him as he put the watch on, leaving the lab through a large set of double doors that led outside. He soared into the sky back towards Japan. Alter Leonidus flew through the sky, carrying Momo by the back of her neck, he sensed something flying from behind him.

"I suppose Jiro figured it out, but who knew that Tokoyami would've followed? I guess you're all not as idiotic as I thought!"

He stopped to face them, right before he spoke, Momo vanished from his grasp.

"I'm giving you a chance to leave, Alter." Alyx spoke up.

Alter Leonidus turned around to see Alyx holding Momo in the moonlight, his face bore no anger, it only held concern.

"Funny, do you really think you have what it takes to stop me? After all, I'm the one who gave you the strength to stand up to every foe in your path."

"I do, that's why I'm giving you a chance to go home, I don't want to fight you."

"You truly think you know me? Humorous."

Alyx floated down to his level, "I know you're an incredible warrior on your Earth, equally so with your leadership skills, although you've slaughtered thousands that stood in your way. Whether they were innocent or not, it did not matter to you."

"Why exactly are you telling me this?"

"Because not only do I have more than enough reason to kill you, but I was also in the same mindset you were for a short while. You can move on, it takes time, but it's achievable. Go home, please."

"And if I don't?"

"It won't end well, that much I can assure you. I've got more than enough power to put you down before you can even think. I'm tired and I can tell you're tired as well."

The two looked at each other in silence, Momo mentally prepared to get flung into the air at any second, Alter Leonidus then opened up a portal behind him. They continued to stare at each other as Alter Leonidus floated backwards into the portal. Once it closed, Momo finally brought up the courage to speak.

"Is... Is he going to come back?"

"No, at least not for a while he's not."

Yaoyorozu noticed that Alyx's demeanor was completely different. If he were in that situation before, he most definitely would have fought Alter Leonidus, but he was much more relaxed and calmer.

"Were you bluffing about putting him down earlier, too?"

"I was not. Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Just... Just trying to process everything."

The students returned home without having to worry about patching each other up. Once they returned, Alyx stood out on Momo's balcony as she laid in bed, wondering what he was doing. He returned to her bedroom, Momo finally got a good look at him, his scar had changed completely. It developed into more of a flame-like pattern. His hair was much longer, able to be put into a long ponytail.

"You grew your hair out? It feels so soft."

"I kind of like it like this. It's not as much as a hassle as I thought it'd be."

"What about the... The 'woosh'? When your hair gets spiky when you use your Quirk?"

Alyx started laughing at Momo's comment, "T-The woosh? I can control that; I just do it because it's fun!"

He climbed into bed next to her, Momo snuggled up against his back, before she dozed off something had caused her to wake up. She tapped Alyx's shoulder and he turned to face her.

"Hmm?" Alyx lethargically mumbled.

"I forgot to mention, we start our Work Studies tomorrow, Mr. Aizawa wanted me to tell you that when you got back. Well, whenever you should have come back, I should say."

"I can just work with the Pillars of Hope then, they'll understand."

"About that... I sort of already vouched for you."

Alyx slightly smiled at her, "You just wanna spend more time with me, don't you?"

"Of course! When's the last time we actually spent a day together?"

"Uh... Oh man... I guess you're right! Who'd you decide to do your Work Studies with?"

Momo simply grinned at him, not saying a word, Alyx raised an eyebrow at her expression.

[The Next Day...]

The bus that Yaoyorozu and Leonidus took drove away from them. Momo looked over to see that Alyx was vibrating with uncontainable excitement.

"We're here?! We're really, really, really, really here?!?!?!?" Alyx exulted.

"Yes, darling we are," Momo looked away for a second, "I believe that they're- Alyx? Where did you...?"

Momo saw Alyx knocking on the door of the agency frantically. The door opened, Ragdoll greeted a rapidly breathing Alyx, he took her hand and shook it.

"I can't believe I'm actually getting to work with you guys I mean like it's a dream of mine because I think you all are super cool do you think I could have my own name like I dunno maybe something cat related oh maybe-" Alyx rambled off.

Momo picked him up off the ground as he continued talking, still acting as if he was shaking Ragdoll's hand.

"Sorry, Ragdoll, he's just rather excited to be here!"

After Alyx finally settled down, Ragdoll handed them a pair of earpiece communicators, she then showed them a map of the surrounding areas.

"We're gonna jump right in! Mandalay and the others have been investigating strange scorch mark patterns all across the forest for the past week. Creati, I'd like you and Vanguard to take to the skies to see if you can't get a better view of things."

"Yes, ma'am!" Alyx nodded.

Leonidus and Yaoyorozu left the headquarters to get to work, they flew up into the sky, immediately noticing the scorch marks in some areas of the forest.

"Who do you think could've done this? Touya perhaps?" Momo wondered.

"I'm not sure, isn't Shoto's brother in Tartarus right now? If this pattern is visible, we might be able to deduce the suspect, unless it's just some pyromaniac that loves burning down forests."

They made it to an altitude where the pattern was fully visible. Momo snapped a quick picture of it to show to Ragdoll. Leonidus surveyed the area, outlining the pattern in his mind, finally putting it together.

"It... It can't be... That's..."

"Alyx? What's wrong?"

"The pattern's the exact spell that my grandma from this reality used to kill Laura. I don't understand how someone would know about this."

"Your grandmother isn't back to her ways, is she?"

Alyx shook his head, "No, she was never like that to begin with. What's confusing me most is why this is here."

"We were wondering that too! Sorry for butting in, your communicator was on, but would it be possible to speak to her? Surely, she'd understand why this hex marking is here." Mandalay chimed in.

"Right, I can go talk to her and get any information that I can. I'm leaving Creati here with you guys until I get back." Leonidus replied.

Alyx floated back down towards the headquarters; she went inside to show Ragdoll the photos she took. Leonidus flew towards his grandmother's Heat Energy, still questioning who could've known about the hex. He landed down in front of his grandparent's new home in the Aichi prefecture. He rang the doorbell and waited for them to answer. His grandfather opened the door, looking at his grandson in a suit he hadn't seen in decades.

"Well, I'll be! Never thought I see that old thing again. It's nice to see you're doing well, Alyx."

"It's nice to see you too, Grandpa. Is Grandma here?"

"Of course, she's in the living room, is something wrong?"

Alyx walked into the house, "So far, there isn't anything wrong yet."

Leonidus made his way into the living room. His grandmother was reading one of her spell books before seeing Alyx enter the room.

"Ah, what a pleasant surprise! How's my favorite grandson doing? ~"

"So far so good! Gotta question for you, there's a hex mark burned into parts of the Beast Forest, it looked like the one this realities counterpart of you used to kill Laura."

Alyx showed her a picture of the hex, she flipped through a spell book on destruction magic, she found one that matched the marking.

"This is the Retribution spell... It's considered a High-Class Spell. There are very, very few people I know of that have the power to utilize it. The issue is none of them exist in this reality. Arlen Vibraine would not be able to use it either, considering his magic is more illusion than destruction, he's dead so he's ruled out."

"Huh, that's strange then, are any of your siblings here? Actually, that's kind of a dumb question since most of them are well... You know."

Daniela closed the spell book, "You may have to do a bit more research. I'd suggest checking out the scorched areas themselves."

Leonidus' phone began to ring, he said his goodbyes to his grandparents before leaving the house to answer it.

"Hey, Momz, what'd you find?"

"We've got some sort of hair follicle that's still extremely hot to the touch. We've tried picking it up, but it just melts through everything we use!"

"Interesting... I'll be on my way!"

Alyx hung up and took off towards the Beast's Forest. His mind ran rampant with the possibilities of who's hair it could be. He arrived at the forest after a few minutes of flying, Yaoyorozu waved him over to where the hair was located. Alyx landed down to see a single blonde hair resting on the charred ground. It slightly sizzled as he got closer to it. A scent hit his nose, he felt the ground begin to rumble under him, he pushed Momo and Pixie-Bob backwards with a wave of Overdrive as flames erupted out of the ground.

"Holy shit!" Pixie-Bob yelled.

"What's going on, are you guys alright down there?" Mandalay telepathically asked.

"Creati and I are fine, but Vanguard's caught in the middle of the flames! I don't think we can get through! This is so bizarre, these flames aren't raining anything down, they're like walls or something."

Inside, Alyx let go of the forcefield surrounding him, there was a pathway that headed straight towards the middle of the forest. He saw someone slowly making their way towards him. Leonidus ran towards them, ready to fight, he stopped once he got a good distance in front of them.

"Hey! What gives? Are you wanting this place burnt to the ground?"

"You never came for me."

"What? Who are... You..."

The individual took off their cloak, despite the intense heat surrounding him, Alyx's body went cold. He saw a face he didn't think he'd see ever again.

"Laura?"

"Where were you? You gave up on me just like that, didn't you?"

"I... I thought you were dead! I never gave up on you, you know I would've looked for you if I knew you were alive, Laura!"

"Then why didn't you? Black-Heart and the others were right, you only care about things that'll effect you and only you."

Alyx stepped forward a bit, "That's not true at all! Just listen to me, I can't sense Heat Energy if you're imbued with magic, or something that masks your Heat Energy. If I could've, I would've dropped everything in a heartbeat to save you, even if it meant my death. All this time... Does that mean that you were never dead to begin with?"

"Whatever you've been thinking was wrong. Whoever you've been talking to must've been a part of your imagination. I don't think I can ever forgive you."

"Let's just talk about this, please? I won't hurt you, I don't want to fight you, seriously."

"Okay then, we'll talk. In my own way."

Laura blasted a phoenix right into Alyx's stomach, sending him high into the air, the flaming phoenix held Alyx in its mouth.

"F-Fine... You wanna... Play like that... I'll do the same!" Alyx shouted.

He burst free from the phoenix, he moved his hands to create symbols, putting both of his palms together.

"Water Breathing, Esoteric Art, Hydra Form!"

A mighty, eight-headed water beast rose from behind Alyx, the Wild, Wild Pussycats and Yaoyorozu saw the creature snake its heads all across the forest. A huge phoenix rose from the ground to counter Alyx's attack.

"I didn't want to have to do this, Laura!"

"I didn't either!"

Two of the Hydra heads clamped down onto the wings of Laura's Phoenix. She pulled a flaming Wing Blade out of her palm, which slightly made Leonidus cringe, Laura darted towards him. Alyx quickly unsheathed his Nichirin Blade as he launched himself towards her. Leonidus cut through her Wing Blade with ease, striking her with the end of his sword, then slapping her down to Earth with a huge wave of Overdrive. Alyx stood on Laura's back while holding her arm back behind her.

"I told you I don't want to do this! Just listen to me for-"

A huge Phoenix crashed into him, pinning Leonidus against a tree, he struggled to keep its beak from snapping down on his neck. Momo saw this and ran into the forest as fast as she could.

"That girl you're with, she must be your new thing, right? Funny how you're so quick to move on from me. I never should've saved you that day."

Anger sunk its teeth into Alyx's soul, he tore the bird's face in half as he screamed out with hellish rage, two Rage arms shot out of his back. He pulled himself towards Laura using his tendrils, charging right into her with his shoulder. Momo came flying by him as he rebounded, smacking Laura across the face with a bow staff as she got up. Leonidus grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the ground, getting on top of her to brutally bash her skull with his fists. Instead of blood, oil began to coat his fists and face as he continued to relentlessly maul her.

"Fuck you, fuck you! Fuck. You!"

"Hey, hey! It's over, she's done!"

She grabbed his shoulder and knelt down next to him, putting her hand on his chest. Leonidus stopped his onslaught of fists, taking deep breaths, he stood up and blankly stared as Laura's face sparked.

"I... I'm sorry you had to see that. I-I didn't mean to..."

Alyx hastily got away from Momo, "W-We should go and let the others know we're okay."

"They're on their way already. Are... Are you okay?"

"I lost control like that only once before, I told myself I'd never act like that again, I just..."

Yaoyorozu could tell he was shaken up by what just happened. The Wild, Wild Pussycats had shown up to see a visibly distraught Leonidus sitting on a log next to Momo. Mandalay dismissed them early, telling them that they'd be fine cleaning up on their own.

[One Hour Later...]

Alyx held onto the sides of his bathroom sink, looking down at the drain, his bathroom door eventually creaked opened. Momo peered in with a worried look on her face.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

Leonidus glanced at her, "My mother was never a hero. I've had to come to terms with that since I was a child. She was rejected by the world because of her Quirk, so she took it out on the world, until her anger overcame her. When she met my father... She killed so many people, but yet, he still sensed good in her. It was because of her Quirk that she slowly lost control."

"But you haven't used your Rage Quirk until today, you should be okay, right?"

"Do you remember when we fought Ernesh and Gorgophone? When I lost control for the first time? Even when I don't use it, it'll build up more and more, I don't know if I'll be able to come back from it this time. It creeps in every now and then, it freaks me out just knowing that at any moment I could just snap."

"If that happens, I'll be right there with you, all of us will be."

Alyx left the bathroom and stood in front of Yaoyorozu, what he did not realize was how much taller she had gotten, as she was now 6 feet tall. He had to look up at her just to see her face.

"This is bullshit, you know? Everyone else in my family is like tall as hell but I'm 5'5". I still don't get why genetics screwed me over."

"That's why you, in Mina terms, are my 'Short King'. At least that's what I think she told me to call you?"

"Understandable."

Alyx sat down on his bed, "I've been meaning to ask you something, how long have you all been tracking Black-Heart's group?"

"A couple weeks now, we've noticed they've decided to make moves since the League's absence. They're up to no good, I've got a feeling what happened today relates to them, there's not a single doubt in my mind."

"I have to apologize to all of you, I didn't think they'd follow my family overseas. Fate hasn't been-"

"You shouldn't place it all on fate, neither should you rely on it, anyone can change their fate. You've proven that to me time and time again."

Alyx thought about what she told him, perhaps he could change his own fate, but it felt very unlikely. He could still feel his rage growing ever so slowly inside of him.