Chapter 35: Izuku and Melissa: origin

It began years ago, when a 7 year old boy met a 9 year old girl and the rest, as you know, is history...

'Izuku is sad again' Madara noted 'It's been happening more frequently and any attempt to push back, either by myself or my mother usually results in one us either being laughed out of the administration offices or a rise in actions against izuku'

The sense of helplessness was a bitter one, but not an unfamiliar one in this situation. It wasn't anything new either, and while he would have loved nothing more than to go to that school and tear out the throat of every flesh bag that dared push his brother down, Madara knew he couldn't.

Any action he would take would only be reflected on his little brother.

Now, though, looking down at his hands, a small spark of hope bloomed in Madara's chest

'Perhaps a vacation would do him good' thought

Madara as he looked down at the invitation to the yearly I-Island Expo that was set for later that year

The announcement of this small vacation had the desired effect, and lzuku was able to pull himself out of his funk, at least for a little bit. The trip itself was nothing special. Although I-Island was one of the most secure places in the world, regular flights to and from the island still happened with astounding regularity.

As the commercial airliner began it's final approach, Madara pulled himself out of his musings and began to tuck his laptop and papers away. While it was true that most things nowadays were done of computers, Madara was a sentimental little shit, something he would fully admit to himself, and the actual feeling of paper in his hands was something else.

He thanked whatever gods put him here that his mother was oblivious enough not to notice the obvious red flags that showed up when he began

'maturing' faster than any kid had the right to, even considering quirks.

After they disembarked, Madara went to meet with his contact in the academia while Izuku and Inko went to the hotel. Izuku managed to get away from his mother afterwards and went off to explore the surroundings, full of childlike glee and fascination. And, as he was gawking at the marvelous technology available, he unexpectedly bumped into someone. Little did he know that someone would later change his life for the better

As he was flying through the air, Izuku couldn't help but let a few tears drop down his face.

Katsuki was gone, another link to his past was torn away from him and his brother still hadn't woken up. Even through it pained him to admit it, right now, Izuku was a mess. He didn't even know what he supposed to do with what he had learned from Katsuki's house. He read the other letter, he saw how it was worded. Did that mean that Katsuki, the foul mouth short tempered asshole that he was, had finally given up on the dream that fueled him through his entire life so far?

Amidst all these questions, Izuku couldn't help but notice that he had ended up far from civilization, more specifically, he ended up in the mountains that his brother used to take him into for training every summer since he turned 10, the very same mountains that his brother used to construct his secret laboratory.

Finally letting off his chakra, Izuku fell like a rock, catching himself on the cliffside and sliding down to a small, secluded pond that used to be his favorite spot to relax. Sitting there, he couldn't help but wonder what his only other friend, and secret crush, Melissa was thinking about all this.

Their first meeting was awkward, but they bonded over their shared love for All Might and heroes in general.

'It's ironic' Madara thought 'the daughter of the greatest scientist of the modern era, so far, has so much in common with my little brother'

The fact that the little girl that his brother had run into was Shield's daughter was quite something.

Still, it warmed his hearth to see his brother finally open up to someone after so long. Three years was too long a time to go without smiling and even longer to go without hope.

"They're getting along, aren't they?" asked a new voice

Madara looked behind him and came face to face with David Shield himself

"I sure hope they are. It's good for both of them to have friends of the same age" said Madara

"Not you though?" inquired David

Madara looked at him quizzically, as if to decipher the hidden meaning of his words. David chuckled

"You don't need to put up a front with me, or my teaM. You aren't the first reincarnate that we had to deal with, but I have to say that you are the only one that retained all his memories from before"

This brought Madara up short as he struggled to process what he had heard. To hear that there have been others, it begged to question many things

"How..." Madara paused "How do you know this?"

"Not long ago there was a madman that had tried to find the secret of immortality. All he managed to do was pull reincarnates from what seemed like thin air. We never did discover how he managed it.

Unfortunately, they all went mad and died shortly.

You are the only one I know of that is an actual functioning member of society" said David as he began to walk away

Madara followed

"How many people know of this?"

"So far? None other than me and you. I admit if I hadn't been looking over the files from that case, I wouldn't even have suspected that you were a reincarnate" said David

Madara was quiet for a moment

"Mr. Shield"

"told you to call me David"

Madara chucked as he allowed his hair to cast a shadow over his eyes. He stopped and David stopped as well, looking down on Madara worried

"I'm sorry for this" whispered Madara

With a flash, his Sharingan activated and bore into David Shield's eyes. The two tomoe spun as lances of chakra were sent into the inventor's brain, activating the genjutsu and sealing away the memories of reincarnation quite crudely.

"But nobody can know that I am a reincarnate" continued Madara coldly

His task was clear. Find the evidence that led Shield to this decision and dispose of it.

Meanwhile, the inventor would return to his quarters while the chakra worked its magic.

All the while lzuku and Melissa played with one another, happy that they finally had the company of one of their own

Japan was more or less in shambles, that was the first thing that Melissa shield observed when she exited the airport. Even though it was not immediately evident to the casual observer, one could tell that the people were scared.

When she had heard the news about her dear Uncle Might dying, it crushed her. Her father though, was far worse off than she could ever be.

Never in her life did she think that she would see the David Shield cry. Not that she didn't cry as well, but there was someone more important to her that was surely hurting even more than her.

When Izuku Midoriya came into her life, she had almost entirely given up on the idea of ever being a hero. Even among the population of I-Island, there were very few people even close to her age at that time that were quirkless. The last one was a guy six years older than her that killed himself after he failed the admittedly harsh entrance exam for the Academy. It was harsh, but even in places like I-Island, the supposed bastion of human innovation and progressiveness, bigotry and racism against the quirkless still existed, or more accurately it was never truly stamped out. Oh, sure, there were anti-discrimination laws, but those were meaningless if not strictly enforced.

They were, after all, just a veneer to cover up the ugliness beneath. She was protected from the wort of it by her father's reputation, others were not so lucky.

It was not wrong to say that Izuku Midoriya relit the spark of hope in her and with the aid of his extremely smart and talented older brother, she managed to regain the flame for heroism. It was a rocky process, but one couldn't say that it hadn't succeeded.

Her father hadn't been happy with her when he heard what she was planning, but seeing as Izuku was in the same boat as her, it couldn't be helped.

Or so she thought.

They had kept in contact over the years. They even met one another several times a year, though these meetings stopped once Madara took to the stage as a hero, which was shocking to say the least. Seeing the golden boy of the support world suddenly enter heroics was quite something. It was even more shocking when he demonstrated skills far in excess of what one would expect of him. It took Melissa a month to get a hold of Izuku, though she did understand the reason for the long absence.

Ever since that time, he seemed more reluctant when talking to her, like he had something to hide.

Melissa had long decided not to push it. While she certainly cared for Izuku, their relationship was not such that she could demand his deepest secrets.

And considering that it was nearing the time when Izuku would had to have been working the hardest for the UA heroics exam, Melissa decided to drop it completely.

When news reached her that Izuku managed to enter the hero course, she, of course, celebrated.

While her own training was probably not quite as brutal as Izuku's had been, considering that she had had two extra years to train, she was still no pushover. Madara had introduced her top his own trainer that helped him during his childhood and it certainly showed. She was, after all, a world renowned Keniutsu mistress and even Madara himself had struggled against her in pure Kenjutsu, though that is neither here nor there.

At the sport festival, she expected Izuku to make a show of his skills. What she didn't expect was for him to suddenly have a quirk

The private jet touched down on the runway and made its way to the private hangars where Melissa and her father were waiting. For the first time, the new head of Might Tower Agency, Madara was coming to the island in that official capacity, and he was accompanied by none other than Izuku and All Might.

Melissa tapped her foot on the ground, her expression schooled into one of careful neutrality.

Her father looked at her for a moment and decided that it was best to keep silent. After all, discretion is sometime the better part of valor.

Ever since the sport festival aired, Melissa had retreated into her shell. She was quiet, withdrawn, and besides a single video call with Izuku she had had no other contact with other people anymore than her position as a student required. Even her training for her international hero license was done without her usual passion. All that remained was a clinical precision that reminded David of his late wife. It was never a good thing for it to happen.

The door to the plane opened, and out stepped Madara in his resplendent armor. Next came All Might and finally Izuku.

All Might and David embraced each other as long-lost friends and let the others to their own devices as they caught up with each other. Madara gave Izuku and Melissa a look.

"I have something to attend to. We'll catch up later"

Neither responded as Madara departed, leaving them alone in the plane hangar, Melissa glaring at Izuku and Izuku keeping his head down. The silence between them was heavy.

"So, how have you been? We haven't seen each other in a year" began lzuku as he tried to break the ice

"Yeah, a year. A lot has happened in this year" said

Melissa coldly

Izuku flinched

"Look, Melissa, I-"

She held up a hand

"I want to know one thing first. Did you lie to me when you told me you were..." she couldn't bring herself to say the word. It hurt too much to even think about the possibility that her beloved friend would have lied to her about such a thing.

"No"

The word came resolute from Izuku's mouth.

Mellissa breath out a sigh of relief she hadn't known she was holding in. For all of Izuku's skills, lying was not one of them. He was too earnest for that, always carrying his heart on his sleeve.

" Then how-" Melissa choked up

'How did you get this powerful? How did you manage what so many failed to do?' Questions like these swirled in Melissa's head.

Izuku let out a shuddering breath and looked around

"I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything, but not here"

Mellissa nodded. 'Not here, huh? So this is that kind of secret then' She was no stranger to secrets, but she had the feeling that this will be her biggest one yet.

Her lab, adjacent as it was with her father's was one of the most secure places on I-Island. There were no cameras, no recording devices, nothing that could be used to spy on her and her inventions. After all, her work was considered dangerous, extremely so. So it was here that she lead lzuku, to the one place she was sure of that their discussion would not be overheard.

The entire building was more or less deserted.

After all, there were not many people that wanted to work late into the night, and those few that did were usually escorted out by security to prevent them burning out.

"So, you wanted to talk, then talk" said Melissa as soon as the doors closed

luku was silent. He opened his mouth a few times, but nothing came out of it.

"I'm sorry" he finally said " didn't want to keep this from you, but..." he crossed his arms defensively

Mellissa was unperturbed. She was still waiting for Izuku to work up the courage to say what he had been hiding.

Suddenly, Izuku took a deep breath and looked Melissa straight in the eye

"I have a quirk now"

Melissa felt like the wind was knocked out of her chest, so much so that she had to brace herself against the table behind her. She knew of only one person that could give other people quirks. All For One.

"My quirk is called One For All. It was passed onto me by All Might"

Confusion was evident on Melissa's face. This was really throwing her for a loop

"What?" she asked in a breath

Then Izuku began to explain. And it began to make sense. He talked about how he met All Might, how he was offered the chance to become his successor, how Madara abandoned his plans to lay low. He talked and talked, about One For All and it's nine generation mission to defeat All For One, about the intricacies of the quirk.

There he paused for a bit.

"There is something else I need to tell you"

Melissa nodded. It was not like she could do anything more. What he told her, blew away almost everything that they had known about quirks themselves already. Furthermore, to learn that there was a companion quirk to All For One itself was too much. Little did she know about the bombshell that was about to be shoved straight in her face.

"I also have chakra"

Melissa was confused

"Chakra?"

lzuku nodded. His eyes no longer had the playfulness that Melissa secretly adored. Right now, he looked eerily similar to his elder brother, all brooding and serious, without an ounce of energy wasted for something as frivolous as emotion.

She knew that it was not true, that Madara was just a private person, but to see the same expression on Izuku's face, the Izuku that was always bright and smiling and bringing joy to whomever crossed his path, was startling.

"Chakra is an energy that exists within every one of us. It is the fuel source for quirks themselves.

Ni-san liked to say that chakra is like electricity.

For those with quirks, that electricity is funneled into a single machine. For those without quirks, it's just there, waiting to be used"

Melissa felt lightheaded

"So what you're saying is, everyone can use chakra?"

Izuku made a so and so gesture

"Only the quirkless. That is what me and Nil-san have discovered so far"

'Wait, him and Madara? Did that mean that Madara was quirkless?' thought Melissa

Apparently, the widening of her eyes was clue enough for lzuku to deduce what she was thinking.

He nodded.

Melissa felt lightheaded, so much so, that she had to sit down. From the look that lzuku was sending her, he understood the shock it must be for her.

To think that Madara, the 15 year old youngest pro hero in Japan and somewhat of a controversial figure, the heir of All Might himself and the only one bar All For One to give All Might a challenge and then defeat the symbol of peace was quirkless all along.

Se let out a giddy laugh. After she toiled for years to hone her skill, here was someone that could be called a true genius. Equal in strength of mind and strength of body.

"Tell me more" begged Melissa

Izuku could do nothing but oblige.

Finding the hospital where Madara was staying did not prove to be too difficult. After all, all one needed to do was seek out the largest mass of reporters outside Might Tower to find him.

Thankfully, her name was recognized by the guards there and she was let in.

In the strangely quiet lobby she met with Gran Torino. Izuku had told her about him, the trainer of All Might.

"So you're the brat's girlfriend, eh?" brashly asked the old man

This threw Melissa for a loop as she blushed

"W-What? No, no we're just friends that's all" she said

The old man seemed unconvinced, but he nonetheless motioned for her to follow him. She fell into line behind him as he took her through the maze of corridors of the hospital.

"Where is Izuku?" asked Melissa

"The brat? Heck if I know. He left several hours ago, something about an old friend in need"

Melissa frowned. She knew Izuku, and despite him hiding his powers from her, she knew that he usually told her everything. It was a method of venting for both of them. to just talk and share their burdens with one another, in a way to make them lesser on themselves. It was a task they both gladly undertook, for they both knew the dangers of keeping emotions in a bottle until it exploded.

The friend in question was most likely Katsuki, though she would really hesitate to call him Izuku's friend after how cold he had been for the majority of Izuku's life.

"Here we are. Go do your magic girl" said the old

man

Melissa snorted as she entered Madara's hospital room and stopped dead in her tracks as she saw him.

It had not been even three days since Kamino, and yet Madara had not awoken. Worse still, he looked truly weakened.

Melissa approached him warily and placed her hands on him. While she had nowhere near the amount of power and control the other two had, she still was capable of at least marginally using chakra to sense his condition.

Madara was looking at the both of them with an incredulous expression. Izuku had his eyes firmly affixed to the floor apparently finding the tile design quite interesting and Melissa was half glaring, half looking quizzically at Madara.

Finally, the silence was broken as Madara sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Izuku perked up at this.

"So, let me get this straight. You" he said pointing to Melissa "found out that lzuku had a quirk and confronted him and then, after he told you about One For All and all it's accompanying secrets, he" Madara was now glaring at Izuku who had once again found the floor interesting "proceeded to also tell you about chakra. Which was supposed to be a secret."

lzuku and Melissa nodded. Madara sighed again and then motioned for them to sit down. While it was not the most comfortable seating, Melissa's lab was the most secure area they had to talk about chakra freely.

"Ok, ok. Let's get some things out of the way first.

I'm guessing that since you are telling me this, that you want my help to awaken Melissa's chakra, am I correct?" asked Madara

Izuky and Melissa nodded with excitement, but that quickly died down when Madara fixed them with a glare.

"Then let me ask you this one simple question.

Why?"

"What?" asked Melissa startled as the full weight of

Madara's gaze fell upon her

"Why do you want chakra?"

"To become powerful" she answered quickly

Madara raised an eyebrow at her and she gulped.

This was a test, that much was evident.

"want to be powerful so that I can be useful. I don't want to be a damsel in distress, I want people to look at me and not have looks of pity once they hear I am quirkless, and most of all I want to help people" said Melissa with conviction as she looked into Madara's eyes.

Madara closed his eyes and leaned back a bit.

Then he nodded. Melissa and Izuku let out a sigh of relief, but it was quickly choked back as an oppressive aura of death overtook them both.

Izuku had felt this before. His brother's bloodlust, his desire for battle and death made manifest in his aura and held back, not unlike a mad dog, by his brother's iron will. This was the first time since he had been hit with the full force of said aura, and although every instinct he had was screaming at kim to get up and fight, he found himself paralyzed. Eventually he found enough strength to turn his head and look at Melissa.

She was pale as she stared straight into Madara's glowing blood red Sharingan. In fact Madara's whole being seemed to be oozing chakra.

"One final question"

Madara's voice reverberated slightly as he spoke, seemingly shaking the very air around them with the power it held.

"What will you do to gain that sort of power?"

Melissa tried to respond but she was paralyzed with fear and her gaze was fixated on those glowing red orbs.

Suddenly the pressure vanished.

Madara leaned back and closed his eyes again, this time crossing his arms over his chest. Izuku and Melissa were sprawled on the ground in a quite undignified manner as they tried to regain their composure.

After a while, Madara spoke

"I will teach you"

Two sets of eyes were now locked onto him

"I see that you have a pure heart and that you will not abuse this power, but be warned. You must never let anyone know that you have something other than a quirk, and especially not something as powerful as chakra. Not if we want the world to not collapse into a second age of darkness like at the beginning of quirks themselves"

It did not take long for Melissa to assure herself that Madara was fine, mostly. He had severe chakra exhaustion and was likely to remain in a coma for quite some time. Neither her, nor the two brothers had put much effort into medical chakra research. For her, it was excusable. She was still learning the ropes and messing with the body of another was neither ethical nor was it legal, and doing it on oneself was highly unadvisable. Melissa had long since known that she would never stand on the front lines of the heroes, and even now, after she had been given the literal power of gods in the form of chakra, she knew that she would have to play support for Izuku and Madara. It was not something that bothered her anymore. It was a simple fact of life that those two were better suited to be warriors than her.

"Melissa Shield" came a voice from the doorway

As she turned, she came face to face with nighteye

"How is he?" asked Nighteye softly

"Stable. That is all I can say. There is nothing we can do now. All we can hope for is that his rest is brief" said Melissa

Nighteye nodded stiffly

"The people are restless. They are beginning to wonder. It's been three days without a single peep from Rikudou and may are beginning to think that he might not be returning at all" said Nighteye

"Are you saying that they think he's dead" asked

Melissa incredulously

Nighteye shrugged.

"Where is Izuku?" asked Melissa

"Somewhere in the mountains. Apparently Katsuki Bakugou committed suicide, or so we are telling the public. The truth is that he ran away, to where we do not know. What we do know is that One For All has last been spotted heading for a remote mountainous region" said Nighteye

"Take me there" demanded Melissa

Nighteye sighed but nonetheless acquiesced.

The mountains were beautiful, that Melissa had to admit. If there was one thing that always made Madara seem oddly at peace with himself it was nature. Izuku was much the same, though he would often express this freedom by giving in to his more childish side.

The place she was searching for was a secluded grove deep in the crests of the mountains, but not far from the hidden base that Madara had constructed. After her induction into the world of the chakra wielders, Melissa had been informed of several secret locations to be used should she ever need it.

The journey was treacherous, with steep cliffsides and slippery ground. It was not hard to see why this mountain was devoid of even tourists. Without chakra or a highly advanced mobility quirk, once would have to be mad to attempt to scale this mountain. Eventually, though she reached the small clearing at the top of a plateau.

It was a gorgeous sight. A small waterfall, giving way to a heated pool of crystal clear water, surrounded by thick, lush trees. It was a picture perfect paradise, but that did not matter to her. All she had eyes for was the small form huddled on the moss covered rock at the edge of the heated pond.

She said nothing as she walked onto the water's surface to reach him. Izuku looked up, eyes puffy and red, and irises flickering constantly between a deep Sharingan crimson and bright viridian green.

Without as much as a single word, she hugged him tight. He hugged her back just as tight and starred sobbing once again.

"They're gone, they're gone and it's all my fault!" wailed Izuku

Melissa held him tighter as she rubbed his back to try and calm him down.

"I know, I know, but it wasn't your fault, Izuku. It couldn't have been" she whispered in his ear

"Of course it was! If I was stronger, if I was faster, if I had more control over this blasted power, I could have helped Nii-san! I could have saved All Might!" yelled out Izuku, sobbing and smashing his fists uselessly in Melissa's back

There was no strength behind his strikes. Melissa bore it and kept a tight grip on Izuku, despite his trashing

"It wasn't your fault. There is nothing more you could have done that you haven't already done" she said softly as she felt Izuku's strength leave him and him lean more on her "And don't blame yourself for what Katsuki did. You had no more control over his decision than you had over All Might"

Izuku began sobbing again

"He was my friend! We were getting better with each other! We could have fixed it! Now, he, he-"

Melissa held him tighter

"I know, I know. But whatever comes next, we'll face it. Together"

Melissa's words came with such conviction, that for a moment Izuku stopped breathing. He then let out one last ragged breath as he laid his head down on Melissa's shoulder, uncaring of the position he currently found himself in. After all, this was just two friends being there for one another

"Together, to the end"

"To the end"

The words were laced with such emotion and conviction that it seemed, if only for a moment, that they could look into one another's hearths. To see each other's truest self. This was not a place for romance of half hearted platitudes, this was a place where the strongest of bonds are formed.

As he closed his eyes, no one noticed as Izuku's irises shifted through all the forms of the Sharingan and the three tomoe spun themselves into the intricate pattern of the Mangekyou. It stayed that way for a bit before slowly fading, blood red eyes of hatred giving way to green of the purest jade. The Mangekyou sealing itself as it's wielder rejected it's purpose, for there was no purpose to give one who walked in the light the ability to see the darkness.

In a far away hospital, Madara took a sharp intake of breath as he opened his eyes, revealing to the world two pits of red burning rage and hatred as his Mangekyou took root in them for good. He pulled himself up and donned a cloak around his bare shoulders. No one tried to stop him as he headed for the hospital exit and there, on the steps of the hospital, clad in only a black cloak and his tattered and blooded under armor compression suit, he gave his speech.

"From today, I, Rikudou declare war on all villains!"

At the end the crowd cheered as Rikudou watched on with crimson eyes.

Far away, in a long forgotten bunker since before the age of quirks, an old doctor walked the ancient halls and came to a stop before a mass of wires and plumbing surrounding a tank. The whole room was cast in an unnerving shade of purple as the covering over the cylindrical tank was lifted to reveal a grotesque mass of a half formed head, with only shadows as it's body.

"Well, I suppose that's what happens when you get overconfident. But, as the saying goes, when at first you don't succeed" the doctor inserted a cylinder with what appeared to be a card covered with cells and twisted it " try, try again" said the doctor with a grin and a maniacal laugh as sparks of black and red electricity covered the twisted husk in the pod.