Zelda sitting on the bed, book in hand, was waiting for Izuku to return. She'd be lying to say that she wasn't worried for his safety at all, but she knew he could handle himself. She was more concerned about his emotional state. It'd taken a while to build up his direct anger at U.A. and took a while to temper it back down somewhat. Now he'd be confronting them head on, for the first time in a long time.
She looked up from the book she was reading. There was a soft warble emanating from the activated Travel Medallion on the floor. A moment later, Izuku was standing in the room.
"How'd it go?" she asked.
"Good," Izuku said, letting out a shaky breath. "It... It went good."
She looked her husband over, before raising an unconvinced eyebrow.
"It was good," he promised.
"Izuku... You're trembling," she said softly.
He was. He took a deep breath, in an attempt to calm himself down. He began recounting his 'meeting.'
"I.. I talked to Nezu."
Zelda nodded; she recognized the name. His principal; the one in charge of U.A. She closed the book, giving him her full attention.
"Aizawa was there, but he didn't really say anything. Nezu offered me a spot back in my old class."
"Will you take it?" she asked.
"...Probably," Izuku admitted, before continuing. "All Might was late. We fought for a bit. It, uh, hurt to hear him accuse me to my face. I'll calm down soon."
"That's alright," Zelda reassured him. "Take all the time you need."
There were a few seconds of silence, save for Izuku's deep breaths.
Then he started talking. He recounted how the meeting went, from beginning to end. Zelda sat quietly, listening.
"I... I haven't forgiven them," he finished. "I don't know if I will."
He let out a tense breath before continuing.
"I don't know if I want to," he admitted.
"What do you want?" Zelda asked, motioning for Izuku to sit next to her. He sank onto the bed beside her.
"I want things to go back to the way they were, and that's never gonna happen," he sighed. "Zelda, you want me to forgive them, right?"
"We've had this argument already, Izuku," Zelda sighed. "Why are you asking?"
"Just... humor me. Please?"
She huffed, but took a minute to put her words together.
"I've seen what that anger does to you, Izuku, and I don't like it. It worries me," she started. "When I ask you to forgive, it's for your sake. I'm not saying you should be buddy buddy with your old friends like nothing happened. You've been angry for quite some time, and that's fair. I just... I don't want you to be angry for the rest of your life, Izuku. You're going to have to let it go someday. Likely not any day soon, but someday."
Izuku listened silently, deep in thought.
"I don't know if I can," he whispered.
Zelda gave him an unimpressed look.
"I mean, it won't be easy, but yes, you can," she said, matter-of-factly. She almost laughed at Izuku's confused expression. "For crying out loud, you forgave Toga almost immediately."
"She was just following orders," he countered. And she was pretty sorry when it happened."
"And your classmates? Just listening to their teachers," she pointed out. "In their shoes, it made more sense to trust the people in charge."
