{~Deku one-shots with angst~}

Island of Solitude (Amidst the Sea of Regret)

A/N: My Hero Academia has truly been everything to me for almost 5 years and I'm absolutely distraught to see it finish, but regardless, thank you so much Horikoshi, for giving me such a community that I have loved and flourished in as I grow up. Thank you so much, and thank you to all of you. 

HOWEVER, the ending of MHA literally left me in tears. Not to be dramatic, but I cried 5 times when it all finally finished. 

HERE is a bit more on Izuku's feelings that I think should've been explored more! Needless to say, spoilers for Chapter 430, the final chapter of MHA. Onwards!

AU: Deku is the greatest hero the world has seen. For 8 years after, only Izuku remains. 

-----------

The last embers of One for All faded away, in the aftermath of a blazing battlefield against a minor group of villains. The number and strength of villains had decreased rapidly following the war, and any form of attempted organised crime was rare and few in between; Izuku watched the blinding lightning from his shoot style light up the air, electrifying the molecules themselves with the sheer power behind it. 

Then, when the last villain fell down without much struggle, Deku felt the last dredges of the power that he was bestowed, fade away. A cavity seemed to have been opened up in the depths of his chest, a blackhole, alien in the way it felt so empty and devoid. 

"Nice!" Kaminari whooped, giving a high five to Jirou, who chuckled good naturedly.

"I'm glad to report that our whole class got by with no more than scrapes!" Tenya raised a thumb, smiling softly; his edges had been rounded even more, making him a completely different person from the Iida Tenya of first year. Scanning the area, his eyes zoned in on the grenette, immediately spotting the slight tremours in his figure, "Izuku?"  

His call, tinged with concern, immediately made all the members of the famous 3-A turn to their beloved member. Iida stepped towards Izuku, placing a comforting shoulder onto the still-shorter boy. 

"I'm okay." Izuku smiled, trembling slightly as those famous tears slowly trickled down his cheeks. Though his anguish was clear, his voice was steel, strong and enduring, a natural courage strumming through his very veins. "Really,  I am. Everything's okay."

"It's gone, isn't it?" Katsuki asked, standing on the boy's other side, while Tenya's grip on Izuku's shoulder tightened minutely. "One for All's embers." 

Tense silence. A nod. Ochako immediately launched herself at Izuku, clinging onto his frame tightly. Other members of the class similarly clung onto the boy, embracing him in a cacaphony of warmth, familiarity, and support. 

"It's okay." he whispers, as streams of tears continued to dampen his features, "We knew it was coming for almost two years now." 

"It's okay to be sad, still." Shoto whispered back, his hand tightly grasped in Izuku's own. He willed a bit of heat into their point of contact, hoping to transmit the warmth of his own gratitude and pride for the grenette. "You worked really hard for One for All, Izuku. It's okay to be sad; you taught me that, remember?" 

"Damn Izuku." Katsuki muttered, ruffling the boy's hair gruffly, in the kind of affection only Midoriya could receive. "Let those darn feelings out. You're not done chasing after me just yet, are you?" 

As the sun started setting, and a new, reformed society continued thriving, Izuku let his dreams break and shatter once more; despite the best three years of his life, a part of Izuku felt the curse of quirklessness had never truly left him. 

"Did I do it justice?" Izuku cried, surrounded by the people he had come to love as family, "Was One for All wasted on me?" 

"Never." Yaoyorozu affirmed, the timbre of her voice soothing him almost as much as the grasps of his friends.