#So Tenya Iida is now in my head as 'Baby Wraith'

[phantoms-lair]

Uncommon Ancestry 6b

Part 6a

Iida took a step back as he recalculated things quickly. He had seen the least of Midoriya's ghostly grandparents in 1A, having been running to get help from the faculty when the villains invaded, but he'd heard stories of what they'd done. There was no question they were powerful as was this one, who'd kidnapped him without Iida even noticing. And without his hatred of Stain to guide him, Iida felt a sensation he hadn't felt since the sports festival creep up on him. 

Fear. 

"What is it you're proposing?" He asked, trying to to keep his voice strong. 

The purple specter composed himself. He looked Iida in the eye and the class president of 1A felt himself lock in place. "Revenge is something I know better than most. Especially how it blinds you to certain things. Those things are what we're going to be discussing. I am going to make you understand the price of your revenge, and if you still deem it worth the cost, I will help you." 

"Of course it's worth the cost!" Iida snapped, the burning hatred driving him once more now that Stain had come back up. 

"What cost?" The ghost asked. 

That left Iida unsteady. "You just said-" 

"That there was a cost. Tell me, how are you willing to pay it if you don't even know what it is?" 

"It doesn't matter! No cost is too great!" Iida yelled back.

"That is the single stupidest, most shortsighted thing I've ever heard.” The ghost huffed. “Tell me, would you sacrifice your brother for your revenge?" 

Iida had bristled under being called stupid (not something he was used to hearing) only to be shocked by what the ghost suggested. "Of course not. I'm doing this for him!" 

"Liar." There was no accusation in the ghost's voice, merely a statement of fact. "Your brother would never want this, so it's not for him. It is to try to act out your own hatred. Say you succeed, what happens next?"

 "What do you mean next? It's done!" Iida snapped.

"What happens to your family after you go to jail for vigiliante murder?" The ghost pressed. "What will happen when your brother wakes in the hospital one day to find his precious little brother has thrown away his life, his future, dragged his family name through the mud. And all for his sake. Do you think he will be happy?" 

Why did the ghost have to put it that way? There was no way IIda could answer yes to that. 

"And then there's your parents. Your family has been in the Hero business since the beginning. This would see that generations long business crumble as the public would lose all faith in it. After all, how could someone be true heroes when they raised a murderer? And your friends will blame themselves as well, for not knowing how to stop you, for not trying hard enough to reach you, for not being enough to help. Tell me Iida Tenya, how many of them are you willing to sacrifice?" 

"None I...it's not about them!" Iida said with some desperation.

 "It's not." The ghosts agreed. "But it will destroy them just the same." 

"Then what do I do?!" Iida wailed, falling to his knees. "What do I do with all this hatred burning through my veins?" He'd been told so often to let it go, but he couldn't. It was like telling him to let go of his own blood. He didn’t want this hatred, but it had somehow become an inexorable part of him.

"You freeze it." The ghost answered, surprising Iida. "An out of control forest fire burns all indiscriminately. A cold rage can be aimed much more precisely." 

Iida felt something in his chest loosen. "What do you mean?" 

The ghost looked at him as though studying him. "Do you think Stain's life means very much to him? After all, he targets heroes with no backup. He had to know he could die during any of these attacks." 

"No," Iida was forced to concede. Self preservation wasn't on this particular villains priority list. 

"Then what does?" The ghost prodded. "What is more important to Stain than his life?"

Iida focused. He's studied Stain after all, learned everything he could about his target. "His philosophy. The idea that so-called false-heroes must be culled violently." 

"Then that's what you need to destroy." 

Iida's head shot up "What?" 

The ghost crossed his arms. "Tell me, was Ingenium a 'False Hero'?" 

"Of course not!" Iida snapped. "My brother may not have had the sheer power of All Might, but he was a pinnacle of heroes nonetheless. He always looked out for those training under him and never let them face a villain they couldn't handle. Conversely he'd put himself at great risk to protect everyone around him." 

"Then that makes Stain a giant hypocrite, doesn't it. Right now Stain has a message that can resonate with people. There are false heroes. I know of one personally myself." The ghost scowled angrily. "But Stain is a man who has literally cut off his nose to spite his face. He's not doing anything constructive, he's just throwing a massive temper tantrum and calling it 'just'." 

"To destroy him you have to destroy his message. Be the pinnacle of a hero and expose those who use the title to do evil, all the while showing how pointless Stain's own methods are. Show his for the two-bit villain he is, make any one who would hear his words sneer in disgust. Cut him down in a way that will tarnish his very memory, and cement you and your brother in people's minds as a true force of good." 

Iida laughed. It wasn’t his normal laugh. Not a nice one by any definition. It was an insane sound he wouldn't have thought himself capable of exploding from his lungs. The ghost’s plan was diabolical, a revenge far more thorough than the quick death he had planned. It would destroy not only Stain’s body, but his twisted little soul. And at the same time it broke no laws and brought no shame on his name or his loved ones. 

It was strange. Since he's gotten the news about the attack on Tensei he'd felt as though there was a tremendous weight crushing him. Now he felt almost giddy with anticipation.

"A dish best served cold, indeed." He never understood that phrase until this moment. He stood and bowed. "I thank you for your council." 

"You're quite welcome." the ghost chuckled. "By the by, if you know someone who collects pre-quirk era movies, see if you can find one called Big Hero 6. It might be worth it to view. An old series called Leverage might also be to your taste more now than it was before." 

Interesting advice. Midoriya had talked a bit about his pre-quirk era collection, mostly focusing on a quirkless hero called Batman (for obvious reasons). He may have one or both titles in said collection. 

Iida bowed again only to find himself on the streets of Hosu once more. The mansion had gone, with nothing to speak of it having ever been, save for a few fading purple-pink sparks. 

A chill went down his spine at how powerful the being who'd taken him was, and how easily that could have gone badly. Still, he had plans to make and adjust. He needed to focus on his new revenge plan and that meant excelling in this internship. He’d text Midoriya about the movies on the train ride home. It would probably bring his friend some comfort. Midoriya had been worried for him. Uraraka too. 

Iida's stomach twisted a bit uncomfortably. Now that his head was clearer he realized just how much he had been hurting those around him before he'd even done anything. He'd already be late as it was. He might as well stop by a shrine to offer a prayer of thanks to the spirit who had guided him tonight.

~

Lewis all but collapsed in relief. He wasn't sure if this was going to work. But if there was one thing a wraith could recognize it was another wraith, and that's exactly what Izuku's friend had become, wrapped in flesh though he still was. And wraiths couldn't let go of their hatred - telling them to do so would achieve nothing but fanning the flames even hotter. 

It hadn't been easy to shift himself into becoming something more akin to a protective spirit. And even then he still knew he was a wraith at his core. He could only hope it was easier on Tenya, who had been still new to his hatred. At least Tenya would never have to live with the guilt and regret that haunted Lewis every single day. And always would.

[phantoms-lair]

Mystery March 10: Mistake/ Uncommon Ancestry 13b

“Before you ask, Izuku doesn’t know about our prior conversion, and I’d prefer he didn’t find out.”

Iida felt a knot in his stomach untie. The thought that Midoriya had known everything and had been pretending otherwise since Hosu left a bad taste in his mouth; he was glad it wasn’t the case. “May I ask why?”

Lewis nodded. “Vivi and Arthur are Guardian Spirits. I act as one, but that’s not my true nature. I’m a wraith.”

Iida’s eyes narrowed in thought. “At the camp that’s what Mori-san called me. A ‘Baby Wraith’.”

“Shiro loves stirring the pot, but she’s not entirely wrong. I don’t know how you were before Stain, but when I first saw you you certainly had the feel of a wraith to you. And that hasn’t changed.”

“What does that mean?” Iida asked.

“To be honest, I don’t know. I always thought of wraiths as just another kind of ghost, so this is a learning experience.” Lewis led him into a gallery of paintings.

“These are our memories. Preserved so if our minds twist them, we’ll have a true reference.” He gestured to a dark frame decorated with twisted vines. “This one is mine.”

Iida looked at it and found himself within the memory itself. Of driving to a cave, of exploring it before suddenly being pushed to his death while his best friend, Arthur-san?!?!, smiled at his falling form.

Iida experienced awaking in rage. Of trying to make things right, first by attempting to burn the traitor in the very mansion they were standing in, then causing his van to crash, and finally throwing him off the very same cliff he’d killed Lewis on.

The vision ended, leaving Iida back at the mansion.

“Tell me, Iiida-kun, were my actions just?” Lewis asked in a somber tone.

“Of course they were!” Iida snapped. “The man is unforgivable. How could you allow him to be near your family? My classmates?”

“Another perspective,”

Iida found himself guided to a cherrywood frame shaped like nine woven threads. “I don’t care what he had to-”

“Not his, Mystery’s.” was all Lewis said, and suddenly Iida found himself in the cave again.

It was different this time. Through the memory of a kitsune Iida was able to experience things no normal human could. He could see the malevolence in the cave. He saw it grab Arthur through his arm, saw Arthur’s very soul fight and lose and the demon (what else could it be?) murder Lewis-san. And as Mystery, he knew there was only one way to save him.

Iida perceived himself growing and charging forward, when he was blessedly removed from the memory.

Arthur-ojiisan wouldn’t react well to Shinsou-kun’s quirk He vaguely remembered Midoriy saying, at the Sports Festival that felt like a lifetime ago. And maybe it was, as it was before he’d become a wraith.

“This is Arthur’s,” was the only warning Iida got before the beechwood frame carved into intricate gears dissolved into a hospital.

One of Arthur-san’s arms had always been different, and now Iida knew why. He watched him wake up short a limb, but still focusing to almost the exclusion of all else on his missing friend, whom he didn’t remember was dead.

He watched him forgo his recovery time to begin a search and watched Vivi-san be the only thing to keep him from doing even more damage to himself.

He saw him find the mansion and escape, though not without the force of the explosion slamming him into the van, never realizing he had achieved his goal.

He watched him flee from the haunted truck and go through the windshield when it crashed. He wanted to scream as he watched Lewis-san let him fall a second time.

And he nearly cried with relief when he saw Arthur-san land safely.

He saw the wounds between the three heal, saw them reassure the fourth who had all but forgotten how to be himself and the reconciliation with his daughter. He saw the three make an eternal vow to each other, watching Arthur hold his own daughter in his arms for the first time. It felt good. It felt right.

Then he noticed as the memories went further, Arthur seemed to get weaker, ending with him collapsing.

Untreated organ damage the doctor said and Iida saw flashbacks to the explosion that threw him into the van, the car crash that sent him through a window, and the fall off the cliff that stopped suddenly. We’ll do everything we can, but it might be a good idea to get your affairs in order.

In the end Arthur didn’t even look like Arthur, but rather like a blond skeleton, strapped to a hospital bed with the constant *beep* *beep* of the heart monitor.

Lewis-san and Mystery were the same. Vivi-san was older, as was their daughter, who’s hair was a different shade of green, but had the round face he recognized in Midoriya-kun and his mother.

There was something wrong with the memory. The field of vision was darkening and color seemed to be slowly draining from it.

Daddy? He heard the little girl ask as the vision turned dark and all he could hear was the heart monitor’s final *beeeeeeeeeeeeep*

A heavy hand on his shoulder broke the spell. Iida clasped his hands to his mouth to keep from screaming and felt tears he hadn’t realized he was shedding run down his face.

“I ask you again Iida-kun. Were my actions just?”

It was a long while before Iida could answer. “How do you live with it?” he finally asked.

“I don’t.” Lewis said simply. “And unlike my husband, that’s not a comment on my status of being. I remained in this world because that’s what the two I hurt the most wanted. I don’t deserve their love, but they still give it freely, and I’m not cruel enough to reject it for the sake of my own self punishment. The guilt and the shame? It’s been there every day since Arthur got his diagnosis. He tried to keep it from me, he didn’t want me to blame myself.” Lewis shook his head. “It will never go away. I will feel it for the rest of my existence.”

“You’re a wraith, Iida Tenya. Would that I could change it, but I can’t. But at least I could do the one thing in my power. Stop you from making the same mistake I did.”

Iida’s mouth opened and closed a few times. There was so much he wanted to say, so much of it condemning the man, the killer, in front of him. But the words that finally edged out were ‘Thank you.’

Lewis nodded his acknowledgment. “We should get to the kitchen. I did promise snacks for your friends, and you don’t lie to Vivi about snacks.”

His tone was light, but Iida could feel the lodestone that weighed on the ghost’s soul. “Uraraka-kun as well.” He agreed.

He was a wraith (somehow), but he was a cold wraith. He would never burn an innocent. And it was only because of this man he didn’t go down the path of inferno that would only have led to the instruction of him and his loved ones

If one had asked him, even earlier this very evening, if a killer could be forgiven, Iida would have said no. But Arthur-san had forgiven Lewis-san and Iida himself could bear him no ill will.

He would learn from Lewis-san and never make that mistake, nor be tempted by it again.