Witches, Demons, and Heroes (The Owl House x MHA)

"Homework, notebook, magic phone, new glyph," Izuku was checking his things as he walked out the Castle. "I wonder if I can sneak into the Plant Track classes to-"

"Hurry it up, will you?" Hunter was waiting for him, tapping the staff a few times for emphasis.

"I know I know," Izuku zipped his backpack closed and slung it over his shoulder. "I would ask Lilith if I can borrow her palisman but..." he looked back at ominous windows, imagining Lilith might be pacing around up there somewhere. "Let's go. I need to help Amity with something."

"At your command, potions prodigy," Hunter exaggerated a bow as he put on his mask, prepping the staff for take-off.

"Please don't call me that," Izuku hopped onto the staff, shoving a loose paper of the new glyph into his pocket.

"Not until you tell em your secret."

"Oh-! Uh-haha," Izuku chuckled nervously. "Just experimenting! It's like, uh, cooking! Or baking? Wait, cooking is more like art since all you need is fundamental techniques like how to cutting and the only thing that changes is the ingredients, but baking is more like science since you need careful ratios-"

Hunter made a sound, and they were off.

It was weird how quickly Izuku had gotten used to teleporting. Or was it more like a burst of speed? Was it similar to Ingenium, only with magic? Either way, they were Hexside in almost no time at all.

"You know, the library at the Castle has every level of reading, you don't have to come to here."

"But Hexside is the only place where I can see Luz," Izuku hopped off. "We have a Potions class together."

"Fine." Hunter stayed afloat. "Did you think about the plan?"

"Plan?" Izuku echoed.

"The plan to safely harness wild magic?"

"O-oh! Right! That plan! Uhhh-" Izuku did not know the plan. "Can you run it by me again?"

"Sure!" Hunter sounded cheery enough. "We start by studying the humors within bile sacs and find correlations between the different phlegm to innate magical ability, sorted by the coven system of course-"

The magic phone started dinging, all but physically blowing up with a number of messages from Amity. "Ah! Uh, sorry Hunter, gotta go! Thanksfortheridewe'lltalklater!"

Hopefully Hunter was still in a good mood then, but Izuku's feet had already taken him inside the school.

"I'm here!" Izuku almost tripped getting to her. "What happened?"

"I can't do it!" Amity held up a pink paper in her hand. "What if she says no? What if I've been reading this all wrong? What if she laughs at me?" In her panic, the pink paper flew out her hand.

"If she does it's only because she's nervous," Izuku caught the paper and handed it back to her. "It's going to be fine, Amity. Luz is kind, caring, and one of the fiercest people I know. It's honestly kind of scary when she puts her mind to something." He chuckled a bit. "The point is, I wouldn't be helping you ask her out if I wasn't one hundred percent sure she'd say yes."

Amity smiled. "You really think that?"

"Of course. Luz isn't someone you need to impress. Just be yourself!"

"What if..." Amity looked at her note, "she doesn't like me being myself?"

Izuku cringed a bit, trying to think of an answer. "Uhhh, well you know, my mom said girls like confidence." He tried to smile.

Amity smiled. "Then I guess I should listen to the wise Dread Queen." She smirked and nudged him.

He laughed a bit, seeing Amity was definitely feeling better. "Come on! I kinda still need to run this by Luz-"

"What!?" Amity groaned. "You promised!"

"I know! I know!" He began walking around a corner. "You said Grom was tonight, so if I talk to her during lunch then-!" and bumped into someone. "Ah! Sorry!"

"Oh, hey Midori!" It was Luz!

"H-hey! Luz! What's uh, what'sss...up?" Okay, Izuku can salvage this! She did not suspect anything just yet!

"Well since I don't have my phone, I've been borrowing Eda's Penstagram to-waaaiiit," Luz narrowed her eyes. She did suspect something! "You have your Excited Face." She gasped and beamed. "Is it something cool and amazing? Come on," Luz nudged his arm. "You can tell me! Or is it a secret?" She whispered.

"Uhhh, yes!" Izuku's hand went for the glyph in his pocket. "I-I mean! It's not me, but uhhhh-haaaave you noticed how Amity is really really, uh, smart?" Think of something else! "And-" he looked at Amity, seeing her looking just as anxious as he felt, "confident...?"

Amity grabbed his arm and pulled him in. "What are you doing!?"

"Panicking!" He whispered back. All of his knowledge of romance came from Luz's fanfics!

"Uh," Luz blinked but smiled. "Yeah!" She looked to a girl Izuku sort of recognized. "We had a whole adventure about that," and when she looked back, she was blushing.

"Oh, cool!" Izuku pushed away the idea he missed something. "And did you also know that Amity has something to ask you?"

Luz's blush intensified. "She does?"

"I do?" Amity's face went bright red again. "Right now!?"

Izuku nodded without trying to look frantic.

"Uh," thankfully Amity understood. "I mean, I do! Definitely! Very important!"

"And she would love to tell you right around this corner here!" Izuku stepped aside and gestured.

"Oh boy! Corners!" The shorter boy next to Luz exclaimed. "Careful, it might be sharp!" He elbowed Luz, and she took it as the cue to thankfully begin walking.

Izuku gave another thumbs up to Amity, her face glaring at him the same way she looked at her siblings before it was replaced by that softer pinkish red, eyes sparkling when looking at Luz. He stepped back and around the corner. "And now we sit back and watch the sparkles fly."

"I can do that!"/"-!"

Izuku clamped his mouth shut and turning to the other two. "Oh! Uh, Gus, right? Sorry, we haven't officially met yet. Different classes, strict curfew-"

"No problem! Luz tells us all about you!" Gus waved it off. "Hey, is it true you have a bunch of notes on those Quirky powers you humans have?"

"They're called Quirks," Izuku corrected, "and yes. Been keeping them since I was in kindergarten. And you must be-" Oh no, Izuku made eye contact! With a cute girl! He can feel his cheeks burning up! Do not say something dumb!

"Willow!" She grabbed his hand and gave a vigorous shake. "Nice to officially meet you, Midori!" Thankfully she let go of his hand. "Any friend of Luz is a friend of ours!"

"Yep," Izuku still felt pain in his fingers from her grip strength. "So, uhm," he looked around, rubbing the back of his neck hoping to find anything to talk about with them. Their classes? Judging by their uniforms, he knew their tracks, but this was the extent of his knowledge. Human stuff? Gus apparently was interested by that. Hey, yeah! They could do- "What's Grom?" He finally noticed all the decorations being put up and the question was blurted out before he knew it.

"It's only the social event of the season!" Willow clapped. "Dressing up, dancing, taking pictures, and having fun with friends! I don't recommend the salad though. It's pretty sad."

"Sad salad aside, I," Gus struck a confident pose, "get to be the MC this year."

"Okay, glad I read that right." Izuku let out a breath. "I think? Amity said she wanted to ask Luz to Grom, and I don't want to be the Overprotective Friend but I know Luz had some issues in the past so I was supposed to run that by her first but then I got busy studying and now I feel like a really bad friend even though this is supposed to be for Luz-"

"Wait wait wait," Willow held up her hand. "Amity wants to ask Luz to Grom?" She and Gus looked at each other in confusion.

"Uh, yeah? Does that mean something else here?" Izuku was barely familiar with American customs, let alone any unspoken social rules of the Demon Realm.

skrrrrskrrrskkrr

Harsh feedback at the speaker interrupted every conversation happening. Students began whispering, some more fearful than others.

"Attention Hexside students, this is your principal speaking," Principal Bump sounded a bit awkward. "This year, the privilege of Grom's highest honor will be going to Aaaa-ooour newest Potions prodigy, Izuku Midoriya!"

"What." Oh no. Attention. He could actively feel his blood pressure rising as everyone started to look and whisper. Some were smiling, so maybe Grom King actually was a good thing to be? Minus being actively perceived and put in the spotlight. But why would some people be looking at him with pity? What responsibilities did being Grom King have? Did he have to plan the actual party? Or does he just wear a fancy crown and take pictures? Someone-oh god Boscha. Boscha looked like she was trying to slowly murder him with all three of her eyes. Not helped by her actually setting her grudgby ball on fire.

"Woo!" Luz rounded the corner with too big a smile. "Yay Izuku! Grom King! Woo-woo-woo!" And stopped, also noticing the awkward atmosphere. "Uhhh. Is Grom King a bad thing...?"

"It's a big responsibility. But don't worry!" Willow sort of explained but then wrapped an arm around Izuku's shoulder. "Gus and I will help him toughen up for Grom so you and Amity can enjoy the dance."

"Awww, thanks Willow!" Luz beamed.

"Toughen up for what?" Izuku asked.

"And we-!" Edric and Emira appeared seemingly out of nowhere, "will make sure Mittens has fun on her daaate." Ed made a small illusion of sparkly bubbles.

"Ed!" Amity's face was red again.

"Why do I need to toughen up?" Izuku was still not sure what Grom even was.

"He's got a point, unfortunately." Em put a hand on her sister's shoulder, the other going to Luz. "We really do want to make sure you two have fun."

"Which means training in proper Blight etiquette." Ed clapped.

Luz's smile fell at that word. "Oh no."

"Sounds like a plan, people I also don't know!" Gus was just as excited.

"What am I getting toughened up for?" Izuku asked once more but alas, no one was answering.

"Then let's get to work!" Willow said as the bell rang. "After we get through our classes!"

They were getting dragged away in opposite directions. Izuku looked at Luz for help. Luz was looking at Izuku the same way.

There was no easy way to describe how Izuku focused on the lessons. He knew he was listening to the teacher, writing down what they were saying, copying diagrams when he could. He can follow the recipe written on the board and everything will be okay, right? Right. He just had to not think about Principal Bump calling him a 'prodigy'. it was nothing special, really! Izuku was just using what Eda taught him and being mindful of ingredients. Anyone could do that! Izuku still had no clue what Grom was about or why it mattered he was made King either so why-?

"Hey!" slam!/"AH!"

Izuku hid his face, trying to scoot away while saving his notebook. "H-Hi Boscha."

"Don't act friendly with me, human." She narrowed her eyes at him. "It's one thing to try and learn magic when you're not a witch, but it's another to take the title of 'prodigy' just because you use weird and lame ingredients."

"I'm just doing my best," Izuku felt this was a familiar routine.

"Riiight," Boscha rolled her eyes. "Well, enjoy the title of best Potions student while you still can." She smiled, but her tone was dark. "Grom is going to eat you alive, and when you're gone, I'll be back on top."

"Uhm," Izuku held up his notebook, partly to shield himself. "If it's just a grade issue, we can study together, if you want?"

Boscha blinked, her face going pink like her hair. "Ugh!" She slapped the notebook out his hand. "We're not friends!" And she stomped back to her desk, angrily throwing ingredients into her cauldron.

Sighing, Izuku properly sat in his seat and tried to focus on the-

'Wait did she say Grom was going to eat me?'

After school, Izuku found himself being dragged, quite literally by his hand, to the grudgby field by Willow.

"Okay Midori," Willow spoke while Gus was going over some notecards. "Let's start from the bottom up. What do you know about Grom?"

"Assume it's absolutely nothing." Izuku shook out the tightness in his wrist once Willow let go.

"Grom!" Gus interrupted, holding his hands out like menacing claws. "Short for Grometheus the Fear-Bringer!" He casted a spell to create a number of small illusions. "Long ago, the brave witches of Hexside past saw Grometheus terrorizing the town and trapped it underneath the school! But every year, it attempts to escape." He clapped his hands, ending the detailed illusions. "As Grom King, it is your solemn duty to defeat Grom and give a good show while you're at it!" He said while doing jazz-hands.

"Okay," Izuku nodded, following along. Maybe. All he gathered was Grom's ability to change its shape. How does it change? Is there any rhyme or reason to it? Most shapeshifters in fiction were tricksters, using the ability to cause confusion, quick witted but often times physically weak so Izuku might have some advantage when it came to fighting but if it was constantly changing its size and shape, adapting would cause Izuku to tire out-

"Midori!" Gus was snapping his fingers.

"Huh?" Izuku blinked. "Oh, sorry! You were saying?"

"To answer your many questions you were muttering about, Grometheus takes the shape of your worst fear." Willow added. "Poor Celine is still getting teased about her peanut allergy."

Izuku squeaked but gulped it down. "Defeat Grom. Save everyone."

"That's the plan. So, new friend," she smiled at him determinedly, "what are you afraid of?"

"Being perceived...?" Izuku shrugged. Gus casted another spell, creating giant eyeballs. "AH-!" And Izuku almost tripped as he ran from them. "This is just horrifying!"

"Then it's working!" Gus called out. "Your form needs work though!" He added another set to chase Izuku the opposite way.

"What else?" Willow called out as Izuku continued running. "Grom can read minds, it's going to use whatever it can find against you!"

"Ahh!" Izuku slid under one of the eyeballs, making them bump into each other and poof out of existence. "Uhhhh-ummm-aaaaa-Failure! Public speaking? I don't like going to doctors either!"

Gus smirked and casted a big spell, rotating his whole arm to draw the circle.

In a puff of smoke, Izuku was now in the middle of a crowd composed of featureless masks in shades of whites and blues, all staring at him.

"Congratulations!" One mask took the form of a tall broad woman whose smile was full of sharp teeth. "You failed! Make your farewell speech!"

Izuku heard the masks beginning to laugh, growing until they towered over him, his vision overtaken by a dark blue almost black void with their masks looking down on him, their laughs getting louder and louder. No matter how many times he tried to tell himself it was just an illusion, his body was not responding to logic or reason, his heart pounding so loud it was almost all he could hear amidst the laughter.

crinckle

"Huh-?" Izuku saw some paper had fallen out of his pocket. Not just any paper, but the new glyph! "Uh, take this-!"

He swung with a right hook with such a wide arc he threw himself forward, completely forgetting he was up against an illusion and ended up slamming the glyph onto the ground, causing a bush to spring up and hit him in the face.

boof!

"Ow."

"Whoa!" Willow helped him up. "How'd you do that?"

"Uh-" Izuku now felt heat pooling in his cheeks, seeing he was casually holding hands with a cute girl. "I-It's a glyph," and Izuku quickly all but snatched his hand away. "I-I wanted to figure it out before showing it to Luz."

Willow held up his arm, frowning when she saw a scratch tearing part of his sleeve. "Hm. You're gonna need some gloves if you're going to do that again."

"And that's what this training is for." Gus patting Izuku's arm. "Just some quick notes, I think you can really step up the wow factor if you throw in some witty one-liners instead of screaming."

Izuku sighed, still feeling the blood pumping, and the wind picked up a bit. He found himself looking to the sky and saw a shape lingering high above the field. "Huh...?"

"Round Two!" Gus called out, slapping Izuku's back. "Taking it from the top!"

"Let me try," Willow smiled sweetly as she casted a spell, putting it towards the ground.

From the ground out popped a giant flower with eyes on its petals and teeth.

"AH!"

...

...

At Blight Manor, which already looked fancy, Luz sat stiffly and awkwardly, holding a teacup and the little plate for it. She was even had her pinky out!

"Hmmm," Ed walked around Luz. "Proper posture, no elbows on the table-"

"Do we really have to do this?" Amity was doing the same, but she made it look so natural!

"You know how Mom is going to be," Ed replied. "You already brought one human who made a mess. She's not going to like this one if the same thing happens."

"It's fine! I watched some historical dramas and Academy Hostess Club is basically my comfort show." Luz waved the teacup around. "I can perfectly emulate a sophisticated lady." She put on a posh accent while putting the teacup down-

tink!

And cringed when she put a bit too much force into it.

"Our mom's in the Oracle coven," Emira sounded serious. "She can practically smellfear and insecurity. You can't show any weakness in front of her."

"Right!" Luz nodded. "I can talk fancy for what? An hour?"

"Great! Because you also need to know the difference between the doilies!" Ed ran off. "I'll go get 'em!"

"And I'll," Emira added, following, "make sure he doesn't get distracted. Sit tight, Mittens."

The twins walked away, leaving Luz alone. With Amity. Smart, cool, and classy mint chocolate-chip goddess Amity. Madre de díos, please give Luz the strength to not put her foot in her mouth!

"I'm sorry for this," Amity sighed. "And after I made that big speech in Willow's mind."

Luz fiddled with her teacup. "It's fine, really. I..." Luz looked down into the teacup, remembered it was empty, and looked literally anywhere else. "It's just, uh, I never got asked out to fancy dances like this. I mean, it was usually school dances, but still. I'll do my best to impress your mom, if she's gonna be there."

"Well," Amity gripped her cup, "it shouldn't matter if my mom likes you or not because I-" she paused, looking at Luz with the softest smile and pink on her cheeks, "I like you. And that's what important here, right?"

"Uhhh-" Luz felt her own cheeks heating up. "Right as rain, my fair lady!" Oh god why did she still have the accent!? And why did it turn Australian!? Or was it Cockney? "Why did I say it like that?" She whispered to herself.

Amity's blush deepened, and she laughed! Oh no! Did Luz just blow it!?

"You know," Amity's fingers sort of rubbed the handle of the teacup. "I never actually asked but," she smiled and que hermosa. "Luz Noceda, would you like to go out with me?"

"¡Claro, que sí!" Luz blurted out as she held Amity's hands. "I-I mean, yes! Of course!"

It sounded too good to be true, but maybe this time, things could work out!

So long as Luz did not trip over her own feet and make a fool out of herself!

...

...

Izuku ran around the grudgby field, dodging the thorny vines of Willow's plant monster.

'How do I fight this-!?' Izuku wondered for a split second if he should go aim an attack at Willow-'Wait! Mom said to not hit girls!' But looking at her direction made him realize there was an opening! 'There!'

He ran forward, diving in between the roots and the vines, getting behind the monster plant. It turned towards him, ready to strike.

This time, Izuku was quicker to use a glyph, the light one specifically to flashbang the monster.

'I need to thank Luz later,' He had a split-second victory before something grabbed his foot. "Huh?" He saw they were vines, and they pulled. "AH!"

Quickly digging into his pocket, Izuku found an ice glyph, creating something to hold onto as the plant monster continued pulling. Struggling against it, he kicked at it with his free foot.

"Come on! Use that Quirk of yours!" Gus shouted, creating illusions of himself with banners and flags.

"I would if I had one!" Izuku almost slipped, but when he felt the slick of the melting ice, he had an idea that just might be crazy enough to work. He adjusted his grip so he was holding onto the icicle with his left hand, using his right he found a conveniently sized piece of rock next to him. The wet dried almost immediately, but there was just enough to hastily draw a messy fire glyph.

He threw it at the plant, and it exploded into flames within the monster's mouth.

thud!

It loosened its grip on Izuku, and he watched as the plant monster writhed around.

"Okay, okay-!" Willow casted a spell, and the plant monster retreated into the ground. "I think that's good enough for this round."

Izuku sighed in relief, feeling exhausted. "Are we almost done?"

"Almost." Gus assured. "But one more go, just to be sure."

"Yaaay," he felt mud at his feet. "Huh?" He looked down, seeing abomination muck swirling up and around before pulling him down into the pool of goop. "AH-!" The feeling of being dragged down ended when he landed on a soft couch. "Ah-! Uh-wha-?" He looked around, seeing a finely decorated room, hearing someone humming. Taking a second to collect himself, Izuku saw who had just pulled him from school. "Darius?"

"Of course." Darius was tending to a rack of colorful suits, each slightly different in color and style. "Who else is going to make sure you're the best dressed at Grom?" He picked one out of the many and held it up for Izuku to see.

"Oh, uh, okay...?" At least trying on clothes would not be as awful, right?

The first outfit was green with yellow, which Darius said made him look like a vegetable. The next was more yellow and brown. Apparently, this one was just 'too much', whatever that was supposed to mean, though Izuku noticed Darius had made a stony expression as if he was remembering something before continuing with the now ridiculously long process of picking an outfit. The third set of clothes were red and black.

"Now you look like fruit," Darius sighed, grabbing another outfit from the colorful rack of clothes, organized of course. "Hmmm. How do you feel about hair dye?"

"Am I going to be able to fight in any of these?" Izuku found a pin when it poked his side. "They're kinda..." he found he could not finish his sentence without sounding rude.

"Hm? Oh, don't worry about fighting." Darius held up a couple of blue suits, one darker, one brighter. "You won't be doing any of that unless you're-" he paused, looking at Izuku. "You got picked for Grom King?"

Izuku tried to smile, but it probably looked more like a grimace as he nodded his head sheepishly.

"Then I got just the look for you." Darius tossed the blue suits aside.

After getting poked by more pins and fearing his scalp would get torn off with how forceful Darius was combing his hair, Izuku was placed in front of the mirror again.

This suit was almost white but had the lightest tint of a pinkish color with light purple edges and small gold buttons. And it fit perfectly thanks to the Headwitch's expertise. Izuku had never seen his hair this done up before. He could usually manage to get some tangles out, but seeing it laying mostly flat without so much as a stray hair trying to spring up? It might indeed be the work of magic. He almost gasped when Darius patted his shoulder.

'Huh, is this what-oh god, don't think about that!' Izuku was almost happy for a second before his face started to heat up again at the mere thought of such an embarrassing comparison. It would be like accidentally calling a teacher mom! Wow, he was really thinking a lot about his mom today.

"Ahhh, this takes me back." Darius continued with a wistful smile. "I remember when I got chosen to be Grom King. I, admittedly, was not as confident back then. But Alador-" he paused, an emotion flashing in his face before he looked at Izuku and quickly looked away while clearing his throat. "Anyways, time to get going, human."

"Right." Izuku nodded. "I won't let you down. But, um," he stammered, hoping he was not getting sweat on the suit already. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"How did you beat your worst fears?"

Darius had that same cold expression as he looked down, eyes closed. "From one Grom King to another, it's best if you get it over with quickly before it can find the real things you're scared of."

'Quickly, then.' Izuku gulped.

"Have fun!" Darius quickly casted a spell and threw in a cheery smile.

Izuku was more prepared this time for the feeling of teleportation, sucking in a breath and staying upright until he felt solid ground under his feet again.

"Izuku!"

He flinched, hearing his given name so casually, but he recognized the hug almost immediately, seeing it was Luz in a half tux half dress sort of outfit.

"Whoa, sweet threads!" Luz looked him over. "We almost match!" She posed.

"Thanks." Izuku wanted to run his hand through his hair, but he knew it would undo all of Darius' hard work. Noticing another bit of pink and yellow in his eyesight, he saw Amity and her sibling, all dressed up for the occasion as well. "Whoa! I guess those etiquette lessons went well."

"Not exactly, but that's fine." Amity explained, holding Luz's hand while blushing.

Luz was also blushing.

Izuku looked at them holding hands. Then to their blushes faces. Their smiles. He gasped. "You two are-?"

"Heeeyyy," Ed suddenly stepped forward. "That outfit looks kinda familiar," Ed narrowed his eyes as he looked Izuku over.

Emira rolled her eyes but smiled at Izuku. "Ready to kick Grom's butt?"

Izuku took a deep breath. "Ready as I'll ever be!"

"Good," Emira lightly pushed him towards the double doors leading to the gym. "Because you're up!"

The ambient noise of chatting and music died down as a spotlight found its way to Izuku.

"And here comes the man of the hour, folks!" Gus sounded confident in his delivery. "One of two new students from the Human Realm, you can spot him a mile away by his hair or his scream, give a round of applause for our Grom King!"

Applause erupted, startling Izuku for a second. There was at least one person booing, and it sounded like Boscha. It most likely was Boscha.

Taking another deep breath, Izuku marched forward, only pausing when the floor began to tremble and split open, revealing a chamber beneath the gym floor. Two short walls appeared on either side of him, with weapons mounted and ready. He picked up the sword and shield, hoping with something to hold his hands would stop shaking. He was surprised at the shield's weight and the shine of the metal. 'Is this brass?'

Once down into the pit, he could hear something slithering.

swish!

And before the dark mass could touch him, he swung the sword, and the mass leapt back, much to another round of cheers.

"Ooh! First strike goes to Midori! Grom's going have to be sneakier than that if it wants a piece of this human!"

'End it quickly!' Izuku kept swinging, chasing the mass away from the incline, seeing it trying to take form. It got as far as a humanoid shape before Izuku cut it down, sending the monster running away again. 'I don't think this is going to be enough to put it down. I need more firepower!' He tried to pat his pockets, remembering he was not even wearing his usual clothes. Grom came forward, but Izuku dodged, taking another swing with his sword.

"Those human survival instincts are sharp! Let's see what our guest MC has to say about this fight. King, you live with a human, anything to add?"

"Hello Hexside! Haha-uh-h-humans, am I right?" Who gave the child a microphone!?

ba-dump

A heartbeat brought him back to the task at hand, dodging and shielding himself from Grom's strikes.

"Izuku has lasted surprisingly long, but can Grom find a form that will shake him?" Principal Bump now had the mic-focus!

"IIIII SEEEEEE YOOOUUU." Grom was becoming a mass of eyeballs, using multiple voices to speak and some were familiar.

Izuku sucked in a breath, lowering his shield to slash again-

splat!

A tendril had managed to shoot out, landing right on his forehead. A chill rippled through his body for what felt like forever, but it only lasted a second. He was let go, but felt sludge all around him, burning his nostrils, going down his throat, squeezing around his neck, no matter how hard he coughed it was hard to breathe-

"You can't be a hero."

His blood might as well have become ice. In his daze, Izuku failed to stop Grom from taking a new form. Gone were the shapeless mass of eyeballs and voices. The form standing in front of him was All Might. But not the strong image he projected to the world. It was the shell on the rooftop. The broken hero on a time limit who did not care for any more pleasantries. A man on death's door who looked him in the eye and told him his dreams were impossible. His heart was still pumping though, so loud in his ears, about to jump out of his chest.

"You're just a nobody. No one will miss you." The voice was morphing again, looking more like his old classmates at Aldera as it stepped forward, making Izuku stumble back away from it. "So take a swan dive off the roof!"

At Grom's imitation of Kacchan's voice, Izuku felt himself snap back just long enough to grip the sword and charge forward.

slap!

Only for Grom to grab it, throwing him across the pit as it twisted its form, this time looking like Izuku as it threw the sword to-

"LUZ!" Izuku called out.

schlorp!

"Not my girlfriend, you monster!"

From here, Izuku could not see much, but he would have to guess Amity caught the sword with abomination muck.

"Uh, was that too soon?"

Another mistake. Izuku had taken his eyes off Grom, only hearing a hissing sound as it took the form of Kacchan, about to strike him with an explosion before a mass of flowery vines pushed him-it-back into one of the walls with a splattering mess. The monster shrieked, the pit shook, and Izuku was still trying to grip a sword he no longer had in his hand. Actually, when had he had fallen down again?

"Hey," Willow was in the pit with him and held her hand out, smiling, "you okay?"

Izuku was still breathing heavily, but when he looked at Willow, he can just feel a change in the air. He accepted the gesture, getting to his feet with one sure pull, feeling something poke his side.

Grom was reforming, this time into two bodies. Izuku still had the shield but not much else on him.

"You take one, I take the other?" Willow suggested, creating vines in the form of brass knuckles. The two of them were now back-to-back, facing one half of Grom.

"And get them in one spot." Izuku held up his shield.

"Right!"

Shield in front of him, Izuku rushed forward. The half of Grom he was fighting took Kacchan's form again, aiming for another explosion. Izuku blocked it, the shield holding up, following it up with a swing to deflect Grom's limb and punch Kacchan in the face.

"Haha-!" Izuku realized he laughed. "Never knew how much I wanted to do that." Grom twisted itself around, changing into All Might. "And now I'm scared again." Still, Izuku pressed forward, swinging both with shield and hand, even adding a kick, pushing Grom back further and further. He could see Willow doing the same on the other side of the pit, flower petals fluttering through the air with each strike she dealt while whipping Grom into position.

"Two times the Grom, two times the danger!" Gus had gotten the microphone back. "Can Midori and Willow keep Grom at bay, or are we about to live our worst nightmares forever?"

'Not if I can stop it!' Izuku used another block, wincing at another sharp poke to his side, only to find a small pin. Grom shot out another tendril, but it only hit the shield with a clang! The tendril quickly retracted, Grom hopping back. Izuku, bracing for the sound of metal scraping against metal, quickly scratched the light glyph onto the shield and activated it, hoping it was indeed brass or a similar material. A bright flash erupted, forcing Grom back with a shriek. "Willow! Now!"

Willow, with the same determination from their impromptu training, shot the vines from her hands to her half of Grom, pushing it onto the other half, vines, roots, and branches chaining them down in one spot.

Both halves were in one place. This was it! Izuku scratched the fire glyph right next to the light one, accidentally going over the first glyph's circle. He was too focused to really care, seeing red and yellow flashing when he threw the shield, Grom try to take Kacchan's face again, but the other half was plump, with green hair, teary eyes-

FW-FW-FWOOOOOOO-BOOM!

Izuku closed his eyes, feeling something pull him away just before the space in front of him exploded into a pillar of flames, the gooey body going here, there, and everywhere. It reached out with human hands. It screamed with human voices. But the flames burned hotter, and Grom's wails became more like animalistic roars, quieting into groans as it appeared to be burning away.

Whatever pulled him away held him up in the air for a moment, just long enough to see the surprised looks on everyone's faces when the vine let go. "Ah-!"

"Gotcha-!" Willow caught him and set him down without so much as a speck of dirt on her dress.

He felt a weight on his head and a glow around Willow's. On her head appeared a tiara with pink crystals, while something metallic rested on his.

"Wow..." His hand went to the metal absentmindedly.

"Someone get some jelly because Grom is toast!" King announced, snapping Izuku out of his thoughts. "A happy ending to this year's Grom all thanks to our fearless heroes! All hail your King and Queen!"

The crowd cheered again, clapping. Someone used magic to lift them out of the pit, where the crowd then swarmed them.

"Woo!"/"Humans rock!"/"Go Willow!"

"Izuku!" Luz managed to get to him with a tackle of a hug. "You did it!"

"With some help," Izuku looked at Willow, seeing her blush. She was so strong and brave! If she became a Pro Hero- "Oh! That reminds me! I've been looking into a new glyph!" He dug into his pocket, remembered what he was wearing, and then tried to gesture. "I haven't figured it out yet but-"

"Step aside!" Someone was yelling. "Coming through! Out! Of! My! Way!"

The crowd that had formed was now split, letting a certain grugdby captain step through.

"What do you want, Boscha?" Luz stood in front of him.

"Just a selfie with my new boyfriend for Penstagram of course," Boscha held up her magic phone and had a smug look on her face.

"Wait what?" Izuku and Luz said at the same time before Izuku was dragged into a loose headlock-sort-of-hug by Boscha.

"I mean it," she said lowly to him. "It's just for Penstagram. I don't like you."

"U-uh, okay...?" Izuku.exe had stopped working. Girl? Liking him? But not really? Does not compute?

"Good, now smile!"

...

...

ding

"Hm?" Darius looked at his Penstragram, seeing the little green human, hair already a mess complete with a Grom crown, had been tagged in a number of photos. "Well well well, guess I didn't need to worry after all." He scrolled through, seeing Hexside had not changed much since his days of attending. Same gym floor, same tacky decorations, same tasteless bowl of juice The Owl Lady most definitely wants to add her own secret ingredients to- "What?"

He saw a photo of the kid with a three-eyed girl. He knew her family in passing thanks to a number of forced pleasantries with Odalia.

Darius did not have to search too long for a certain physical photo. It was tucked away for a reason, but when he compared the smile the three-eyed girl had to Odalia's, they might as well have been cut form the same conniving cloth.

"Hey, Darius."

Composing himself, Darius set his things down and turned to the crow phone sitting in his window. "Little Prince." He feigned a smile hoping it would make him sound a little less absolutely livid. "How did you get this number?"

"Oh come on, you can drop the formalities." The Golden Guard spoke a bit too comfortably on the matter. "After all, I've been carting around your human quite a bit. You can almost say we're friends!"

"Almost." Darius repeated, the grimacing smile dropping. "Is it truly the Titan's will that you interrupt my very important work?"

The Golden Guard paused. "N-no. It was mine. I just-"

"Want to have all the privileges and respect of your predecessor without any of the work." Darius interrupted, grabbing the crow phone. "You may have the title, and some talent, but you have no idea what holding this position means."

The Golden Guard stayed silent.

"Learn that, and maybe," Darius tried not to think of the few similarities between his mentor and this spoiled upstart, "you can match your predecessor in ability and influence. There's more to the Isles than the Castle. Maybe instead of trying to boss around others, you can learn to work with them."

"I...I think I understand."

"While it's good to try new things, don't hurt yourself thinking too much. Now leave me alone." And hung up the call, letting the crow phone fly off.

He could feel a headache beginning to pound behind his eyes, and pinching would only make it worse. But Darius would need to put his feelings aside, as the Day of Unity was soon approaching, and he needed to prepare.