Three children made a promise, an oath, bound by blood as kids before they were separated. A decade later, that promise kept them going, seeking their dream to be heroes together. Through everything they went through, they all came to UA hurting and alone, but finally reunited, they will try to find a way to heal from their pasts together.
Promises Made, Promises Kept
is a My Hero Academia fanfic by Etheriell, author of Overcharged and Forged By Friendship.
Promises Made, Promises Kept provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Himiko's parents are very hostile towards her quirk, to the point of mis-reporting it as a mild cat mutation and forcing her to suppress it for years. Naomasa also suspects that they were physically abusive, with the added wrinkle of Toga genuinely not realizing that what they did was physical abuse, while they very were aware.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
- Izuku has resorted to cutting himself to deal with the bullying he encounters for being quirkless.
- Ochako does odd jobs to help her parents put enough food on the table. Even so, she skips meals. When she injures herself during the entrance exam, Recovery Girl discovers that she's malnourished.
- Himiko, trying to be a "normal" girl to satisfy her parents, is forced to take blood from rats to keep her urges under control.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Himko and Ochako meet Izuku when all three are very young.
- Adaptational Gender Identity: Izuku identifies as non-binary where in canon, they presumably identified as a male.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Due to the promise and drinking each other's blood as children, One For All is now shared by Izuku, Ochako, and Himiko. Additionally, they also share each other's quirks.
- Big Damn Reunion: Happens in chapter 3 after the three of them all wake up in the nurse's office following the entrance exam.
- Blatant Lies:
- All three main characters are adept at hiding their true feelings, much to the concern of the adults around them.
- Himiko's parents lie about her Quirk, going so for as to mis-report it in official records as a minor cat mutation, which is highly illegal, especially in cases like Himiko's where the Quirk has requirements, namely her need for blood.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Stain is easily beaten by the trio in this AU, as Danger Sense combined with their other abilities allow them to easily restrain and disarm him before he can even land a hit.
- Darker and Edgier: All three of the main characters have significant issues, including dealing with depression, suicidal thoughts, and malnutrition.
- Death by Adaptation: In this AU, All for One definitely died during his and All Might's fight, Nezu having checked the body to confirm.
- Childhood Friends: Izuku, Ochako, and Himiko all met as young children and became best friends. The hope of seeing them again when she entered U.A. is what kept Himiko from snapping for all those years.
- Group Hug: Lots of these between the three main characters after they are reunited at U.A.
- Insane Troll Logic: Izuku, Ochako, and Himiko are caught on camera saving a bunch of people from a collapsing building and get some unexpected fame as a result, so Stain decides that they're "fake" heroes who are deliberately seeking fame and deserve to die. Ochako is baffled and angered that he's suggesting that they should have let those people die, and is calling them phonies for saving them.
- Parents as People: Both Izuku's mother and Ochako's parents love their kids dearly, but are out of their depth with trying to help them with their issues. Inko in particular wants to help Izuku, but is afraid to confront them about how bad things are because the last time she tried they just got better at hiding it from her.
- Sucky School: Aldera. Besides the staff doing nothing for the bullying Izuku underwent and even encouraging it because of their Quirklessness, with other students with "weak" Quirks also being bullied to a lesser extent, one teacher preferred to make Izuku stop talking by smacking the back of their head. And that's not even getting into how the school is suspected to have Meta Liberation Army ties...
- Vampires Are Sex Gods: When Momoko, one of Himiko's old classmates hears that Himiko is both bisexual like she said and has a bloodsucking Quirk, she laments that she never got the chance to make out with her, clearly thinking of this trope.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Izuku has extremely low self-esteem due to years of being both actively and passively abused at school. All Might notices this and is very worried about his mental state.
