Authors note:
Speaking: "…"
Thinking: '…'
__________
Shoto pov
Standing there in shock, Shoto looked at the yellow glowing spear beside him, then toward the door in disbelief, before making a break for it. Running through the hallways and eventually reaching the front door, he frantically opened it. What greeted him was a blue barrier that blocked him at the doorstep. Looking outside, he saw Bakugo standing on a stone in their garden, throwing a small pebble up and down. But something was off, the stone wasn't moving. It was frozen mid-air, just like Bakugo.
Punching against the barrier proved ineffective. He infused his aura into his fists and punched at it with all his strength, desperately... nothing. Not even the slightest scratch appeared. As he pulled back his hand, he felt his aura instantly recharge to full. That's when it hit him.
"I'm... stuck," he whispered, standing there with wide eyes. Nervous sweat began to form on his body as his breathing grew heavier.
Sweating profusely, he dropped to one knee, clutching at his shirt. "Breathe... breathe. Don't lose your nerve. Think about what he said. The spear! That's it, I just need to use the spear!" he mumbled to himself before standing up and rushing back to the training room where Bakugo had planted the weapon.
Arriving there, Shoto glared at the spear with a determined look. He glanced at his hand before clenching it into a fist and approaching the weapon. Grabbing it with both hands, he infused his arms and legs with as much aura as possible and pulled on the Nordic relic with all his strength... but it didn't budge.
Stepping back, panting, he felt his aura recharge once again. "Just a little setback. I'll get it this time," he muttered.
Over the next five hours, he tried various methods to move the spear. He pulled, attempted leverage, tied a rope and yanked, rammed into it, froze the ground beneath it and cracked it open (only to watch it repair itself immediately), and even kicked it, resulting in nothing but a stubbed toe that healed itself moments later.
"Argh! The thing didn't even budge! How in Odin's name am I supposed to move this thing?" Shoto complained, glaring at the pulsing golden weapon.
Frustrated, he decided to head to the kitchen for food, but things didn't go as planned. The electronics didn't work, his attempts to cut food resulted in it reassembling itself, and even when he tried heating something with his own fire, it reverted to its uncooked state. He tried other activities, like brushing his teeth (the toothbrush wouldn't get wet, and the toothpaste wouldn't come out of the tube) or sleeping (he lay in bed for ten hours without feeling even a hint of tiredness).
Even training his ice proved futile, his attacks vanished a second after forming.
Now, losing all hope, Shoto collapsed onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. He felt empty. Nothing was happening. He was stuck in this moment, in this house, with no way out except for the immovable spear. He lay there for what felt like an eternity, his sense of time slipping away as the stillness consumed him.
Unconsciously, he summoned his manifestation, a humanoid figure made of dark blue energy. It stood beside his bed, gazing at him with a neutral expression. As time passed, the aura construct began moving. It wandered around the room, inspecting pictures, books, and other items. Eventually, it opened the door and left.
Shoto, startled by what he had just witnessed, sat up. "What in Asgard's name just happened? Manifestations shouldn't be able to move on their own," he muttered. With nothing better to do, he decided to follow it.
The construct paused briefly at his mother's old bedroom before continuing, eventually stopping at the family shrine. There, it knelt before a small altar holding the ashes of his eldest brother's jawbone and a photograph of a young boy with short, spiky white hair and turquoise eyes.
"Touya," Shoto whispered, his voice trembling as he stared at the manifestation, which now sat before the shrine in silent prayer. Tears welled in his eyes as realization struck him.
"Big... brother," he murmured, his voice breaking. He ran at the construct and hugged it with all his might, tears streaming down his cheeks. To his surprise, the manifestation returned the embrace.
‚It might not be the real one... but it's my family nonetheless,' Shoto thought, holding onto it as time seemed to stand still.
After what felt like hours, Shoto finally pulled away. His tears dried as he stood alongside the construct. "Thanks. I needed that," he said softly. Turning toward the shrine, he offered his own prayer for his brother.
When he looked back at the dark blue figure, it met his gaze with a gentle smile.
"But what now?" Shoto asked, not expecting a response.
To his surprise, the manifestation moved, motioning for him to follow with a slight smile on its face.
Eventually, they reached the old ping pong table in the cellar. Grabbing a racket and a ball, it stood there with a smile, waiting for him to grab one as well. And so he did. They started playing, sometimes winning, sometimes losing, but always laughing together. They continued for a long time: hours, days, weeks, who knows? Shoto just knew he'd never been this happy before.
Ping pong wasn't the only thing they did. After a while, they started reading together, playing board games, and discovering quirks of the loop, like how biting into an apple would reset it, leaving the piece in their mouths intact, creating an infinite apple. "Brother,"or „ Touya" as Shoto began calling the manifestation, showed him many things, like how to ride a bike (something his father had never bothered to teach him) and how to play chess. Essentially, he became the older sibling Shoto had always wished for.
Eventually, they came to the training room, where the spear still pulsed as always.
"What do you want to do here, Brother?" Shoto asked.
Touya's hand lit up with flames, and he shot a fiery blast at one of the dummies before looking at Shoto expectantly.
"You're not serious, are you?" Shoto's tone grew colder as ice started spreading over the right side of his body.
Letting out an exaggerated silent sigh, the man approached the heterochromatic boy, kneeling before him. Placing a hand on Shoto's chest, he lit a small, gentle flame on it, offering a reassuring smile.
The warmth melted the ice forming on Shoto's chest. Slowly, tears welled up in his eyes.
"How can I use his flames?" Shoto whispered, his voice trembling. "I-it's because of his fire that you're not here anymore. I-I just can't forgive the bastard for what he did to Mom, you, and everyone else."
Tears hit the ground as Touya stood up, gently wiping them from Shoto's face. He took Shoto's hand, holding it palm-up, and created a small flame in his own hand. Carefully, he passed the flame onto Shoto's palm, placing his other hand on Shoto's shoulder. He motioned for him to try firing it at the target.
Shoto stared at the flickering blue light in his hand, then turned to Touya. "Alright... I'll try." He wiped a tear from his cheek as a small smile crept onto his face. Moments later, he shot the flame at the target.
When he turned around, he found the dark-blue figure clapping silently before giving him a thumbs-up and smiling warmly.
From that moment, they spent most of their time in the training room. Toya showed Shoto how to control his fire, cracking silent jokes that made Shoto laugh more than he ever had before.
After a long time of training, Shoto accidentally knocked over the spear. Looking at it, he thought, ‚I don't remember why I'm even here. It's all so much fun; I don't think I want to leave.'
Shoto and his brother continued playing chess in his room. As he glanced around, his eyes landed on a photograph of a woman with long white hair and gray eyes, holding a baby with bi-colored hair and a radiant smile.
"Mom," Shoto murmured as he approached the picture. Suddenly, long-forgotten memories began to surface.
He remembered sitting on the couch with his mother, watching a series about All Might.
"Honey, you still want to become a hero, don't you?" she asked lovingly.
"Yeah, but... I don't want to be like him. I don't want to be someone who hurts you," Shoto replied, clinging to her, small tears forming.
"Then don't be like him, okay? Be the kind of hero you want to be," she reassured him, embracing him tightly.
The memory ended.
Another surfaced: lying in bed with his mother as she read from a book on Norse mythology.
"Mom, who's your favorite person in this book?" little Shoto asked curiously.
"What an odd question, honey," she replied with a chuckle. "But if I had to pick, I'd say Odin."
"Why him? Isn't he grumpy and old?" Shoto protested.
"Maybe, but I like the eyepatch and his crows," she said with a smile. The memory faded away.
"Why am I remembering this now?" Shoto muttered, setting the picture down.
A familiar voice echoed in his head. "You won't be able to get out unless you use that spear over there."though right now he couldn't decipher where he knew it from.
Time passed, and Shoto found himself back in the training room, staring at the spear. He picked it up, his heart racing as he clutched his head in confusion. Glancing at the weapon, the runes on it shifted, forming the word: Gungnir.
A distant voice resounded in his head. "When you become a hero, how do you think civilians will react if their relatives die because you didn't use your flames? As a hero, the lives of civilians are your responsibility."
"It's... Bakugo," Shoto whispered.
Fragments of memories collided in his mind: Odin, hero, eyepatch, crows. Stumbling, Shoto hit the wall before Toya caught him.
Looking up, Shoto's heterochromatic eyes lit with determination. "I want to help people," he whispered. His dark-blue aura burst forth, gaining a golden-yellow hue as his right eye turned gold.
Standing up after his aura calmed, Shoto turned to the manifestation that had guided him. "Thanks, Touya, for everything. But I think it's time for us to go," he said with a genuine smile as his brother faded back into him.
Grasping the spear, Shoto made his way to the front door and opened it, finding Bakugo sitting where he had been all that time ago.
This time, the pebble was already touching Bakugo's hand.
Placing a hand on the wall, Shoto channeled his golden aura into his right eye, turning it completely gold. He spotted a glowing golden weak point on the barrier. Knowing what to do, he aimed Gungnir at the spot and struck. The barrier shattered.
Shoto stepped out, his spear in hand and his golden eye glowing.
Bakugo smirked. "So, you finally managed to get past it. Welcome back... Odin."