#After losing twice before shhh I totally did it on purpose so I could see his dialogue that's totally why

[sysig]

We are both exhausted

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 316: We've Had One, Yes, But What About Second Explosion

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all “[powers up like whoa because it’s time to end the fight]”, and he saved Overhaul from getting not-shot, and then smashed up Nagant’s arm with the power of his new rechargeable super knees. Nagant was all “yoooo this kid is crazy strong whaaaat, it’s like he’s some kind of protagonist or something.” Deku was all “I AM A PROTAGONIST, ACTUALLY, DO YOU WANT TO JOIN FORCES AND FIGHT BAD GUYS WITH ME?” Nagant was all “ah shit why the hell no -- ” and then AFO was all “SURPRISE” and everyone was all “?!?!?!” and AFO was all “TIME TO EXPLODE NOW” and made Nagant explode because he’s an absolute fucking dick. And then Hawks showed up, because Horikoshi just wanted to stuff as many plot points as humanly possible into a single chapter I guess.

Today on BnHA: Hawks is all “good job giving motivational shounen redemption speeches Deku but I’ll take it from here” and screams very earnestly right in Nagant’s face until she finally wakes up. Nagant is all “oh hey it’s my successor, you seem surprisingly unfucked-up from your own HPSC tenure, how did you manage that?” Hawks is all “fandom is going to love hearing this one, but basically it’s because I’m very upbeat and also I had the world’s best role model Endeavor to look up to,” and I swear this man stirs the pot on purpose, but damn it I still love him so damn much. Overhaul is all “HELLO AGAIN, JUST A REMINDER THAT, THE BOSS!!” and Deku is all “MAYBE TAKE TWO SECONDS TO REFLECT ON HOW YOU TORTURED A LITTLE GIRL,” which, thank you, lol. Nagant is all “btw AFO’s hiding in a house in the woods”, and so Deku and the gang go to the house in the woods. Video recording!AFO is all “hi I’m AFO welcome to Jackass” and blows up the house. Sometimes I wonder if this manga is just a weird dream.

I am once again reading the Bean version because I think it was actually the best out of all three translations last week. and that is surprisingly including Viz’s. “faux” is not nearly as entertaining as “knockoff”, and also I have literally no idea why Caleb thought Deku was saying the Third’s lines lol

oh hey, Endeavor’s here too! not that you’d ever be able to tell from this first panel lmao

glad you received All Might’s call, mysterious unidentified glowing smudge

oh snap he says he’s weaker in the rain. is that why AFO told Nagant to attack then?? except that as we discussed the other day, I believe that AFO fully intended for Nagant to lose the fight, so him giving her info that would give her an advantage doesn’t really fit in with that. maybe he wanted Deku to be separated from Endeavor and the rest for maximum angst, though

btw Deku’s eyes are unsurprisingly back to the new normal here

alas, the angst continues. I say, pretending like I’m not totally eating it up each and every week and writing essay after essay about it lol

anyway so apparently Hawks can’t actually fly lmao. he was just yeeting himself with style

for some reason this is the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever seen omfg. wave to Hawks, kids! say “bye, Hawks!”

j/k of course Deku is catching them. -- except???

wow so he was just running on fumes there at the end. well, good to know there is actually a limit to his shenanigans, particularly regarding this new “knockoff” 100% OFA. it will definitely not alleviate any of the discourse, but it’s good for my own peace of mind because it’s solid confirmation that he still needs his pals in order to win this thing

anyway, but on to the rest of this conversation, which is basically Deku deducing what we all deduced last week -- AFO implanted some sort of trap into Nagant when he gave her Air Walk. though I’d still like to get the actual details from AFO and/or Horikoshi, because this was particularly wild even by quirk standards lol

omgggggg

she still has a face after all!! so it’s confirmed, Horikoshi has no idea what “blowing up” actually means. we might have guessed, based on what happened to Toga in the MVA arc, and also based on everything Katsuki does ever, but shhh

so now Hawks is all “NAGANT PLEASE WAKE UP, IF I SHOUT MY NAME AT YOU WILL THAT DO THE TRICK”

this is actually kind of touching though because even though we all know (or most of us acknowledge at any rate) that Hawks is a pretty caring person, it’s rare to see him actually panic over someone’s welfare like this

oh shit Horikoshi is really doubling down on it

I wonder how much Hawks knew about what really happened between Nagant and the HPSC. regardless, he probably sees her as a kindred spirit of sorts, and I’m more than happy for Deku to pass the redemption torch onto him now that he’s on the scene. like no offense Deku but they actually know each other and stuff lol

DAMMIT NAGANT CAN’T YOU SEE HOW LOUD HE IS YELLING

apparently being freed from his HPSC shackles has finally given Hawks the space to embrace his own inner shounen protagonist. is there anything more shounen than trying to motivationally scream someone awake when they’re lying in your arms inches from death?? 100% guaranteed to work

!!! IS THIS NAGANT’S POV OMG

SO SHE IS ALIVE. THANK GOD. Horikoshi doesn’t want to meet with my emotional distress lawyer today after all

love how she’s all “just gonna stir up the weekly Hawks Discourse pot here by implying that he probably committed a lot of Atrocities just like I did, so now people can get all hopped up about that, even though there’s no evidence he’s ever killed anyone aside from that one horrible ‘damned-if-you-do...’ situation with Twice.” no one asked for your provocative speculation young lady!! trust me Nagant, our rabbles don’t need the rousing lol

but nice save there with the “so how are your eyes so untainted” well you see it’s because even when he was following the HPSC’s orders he always went to great lengths never to go against his own moral compass. which just to be clear was incredibly difficult, and led to a ton of pain and suffering on his part, because the life of a spy is basically just one impossible situation after another. but in spite of that he never stopped trying to do his best to help people. I don’t really know where this tangent came from or is leading to, lol, but anyway p.s.a. I love Hawks a lot and he’s a good kid dammit

oh shit??!?

how is the League always able to swing all these fancy forest mansions. where do they find them. how many do they have

so Deku’s dropping them -- very roughly, not sure if he was reacting to finally getting AFO’s location, or if his energy really is giving out -- and now Nagant’s saying that AFO hired other villains as well. well of course he did. gotta keep chipping away at OFA’s ninth successor little by little

now Nagant is asking Hawks how he’s able to keep making “that” face. I assume she’s again talking about the fact that he somehow didn’t let the HPSC wear down his spirit

oh my god???

thanks for stuffing this chapter to the brim with good nutritional Hawks Feels, Horikoshi. what a good. he just keeps on trudging forward undeterred no matter what bullshit comes his way. what a steadfast little guy. I WILL PROTECT YOU FROM DISCOURSE MY SWEET SUNSHINE

lmaoooo

“SPOTTED THIS DUDE JUST CHILLING OUT THERE ON THE ROOF WITH NO ARMS, SEEMED PRETTY SUS” good job Endeavor

anyway so you don’t really need me to tell you that Overhaul is immediately starting in with the “BUT THE BOSS WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE ME TO THE BOSS YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD TAKE ME TO THE BOSS” stuff again. but I will go ahead and tell you anyway. so yeah. he’s doing that

OMG YOU GUYS LOOK AT DEKU’S “of all the fucking assholes to just randomly drop in on my life once again why did it have to be you” FACE THOUGH, OMG

fun fact, if you go back to chapters 124 through 160, there was an entire story arc where Overhaul imprisoned and tortured a little girl. yeah, I know!! suuuuuuuuper evil. anyways just an interesting little anecdote for you all that’s somewhat relevant to the current situation

OMG, YES. FUCK YES, DEKU

THEN WHAT ABOUT SPARING ONE FOR HER!!! YES!!! EXACTLY!!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, SOMEONE GETS IT

HERE’S THE PANEL OF DEKU SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING I’M SAYING LOL

(ETA: so apparently there’s some discourse about this because some people are interpreting this as Deku saying “you should apologize to Eri”, which would obviously be a terrible idea even if Overhaul actually wanted to do that, because Eri shouldn’t ever have to see him again. however I just want to point out that there is a HUGE difference between saying “it would be nice if you could direct that feeling of regret/being sorry towards Eri as well”, vs saying “you should also apologize to her.” all Deku is doing is rightfully pointing out that Overhaul has hurt way more people than just his boss, and if he really is remorseful, then he should extend those feelings of remorse to Eri and the rest as well. it’s not a directive to take any specific action, and I’m 1000% sure no one at U.A. would let Overhaul within 100 miles of Eri ever again.

tl;dr “try feeling remorse sometime” =/= “do you want me to fly you over to U.A. right now to surprise the little girl you traumatized”, lol.)

[slings an arm around Deku’s shoulders] you’re a good kid. I like you. I don’t know if I tell you that enough, but it’s true

meanwhile here is Overhaul’s “spare... a thought... for Eri...???????” face sigh

the struggle is real y’all

(ETA: and that’s... the last we ever saw of Overhaul, I guess? well all right then. I assume Deku will make good on his promise, so we know he’ll get that little bit of closure before going back to jail or whatever, and I confess I’m more than fine with leaving the rest of it open-ended, especially given his character’s history. I think this was pretty generous all things considered.)

lmao holy shit

All Might what did you do to those tiki torch guys?? did you thrash them. did you give ‘em those hands. did you deliver their own asses to them complete with a sticker reminding them Amazon Prime Day is on June 21. we missed out goddammit

so Endeavor, who wasn’t the one he was asking, is telling him that they captured (well let’s be real, Deku captured, give the credit where it’s due) Nagant and Overhaul. and so I guess they’re going to take Nagant to the ER now

fire is no one’s weakness

-- oh my GOD I scrolled down and audibly gasped

[is politely but firmly approached and asked to remove my arm from Deku’s shoulder by the physical manifestation of all this Dekuangst] “we’re sorry, he’s not allowed to have visitors right now” oh shit, my bad. [goes to stand behind a police barricade]

lmao what. did you run out of room on the previous page

what an exaggerated fade to black lmao

-- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I actually can’t see what he’s reacting to so maybe I’m just seriously jumping the gun here lol, but THE HELL WITH IT. the next panel appears to be a cut to Haibori Forest, so I’m just gonna go ahead and declare that Deku ran off on his own all wounded to go have more Dekuangst, just like I manifested. now go call Katsuki goddammit

[scrolls three more inches down] oh

yeah so like I said, Deku is walking very slowly a few feet in front of Endeavor, who’s telling him to wait up. yep. we’ve all gotta be so careful to not just jump to conclusions. I know we’re excited but still

anyway, so! welcome back to Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods (ARE YOU GUYS DATING) and Edgeshot! have fun walking into this obvious trap lol

dammit Deku why are you so determined to tempt fate

[monkey puppet meme faces]

OH MY GOD THIS IS PURE GRADE-A CHEESY COMIC BOOK VILLAIN 101 SHIT AND I’M HERE FOR IT

that’s such a weird way of clapping who claps like that

unlike certain other people who shan’t be named, AFO doesn’t feel the need to inexplicably take his shirt off when recording sinister villain monologues. I think we’re all pretty grateful for that

high fives to everyone who called it!! yep yep

anyway so this whole scene has major booby-trap vibes, which I’m enjoying immensely even though I don’t think anything is really going to come of it lol. probably just another long-winded AFO Speech. but wouldn’t it be funny if like the ceiling started lowering down to try and squish Deku afterwards lol

(ETA: well the explosion was still pretty funny too ngl.)

ffff

[“Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies]

anyway so yeah. he’s just hitting up all of his usual villain talking points. we get it, you’re so smart and you see right through the thin veneers of society and people who don’t conform are left to fend for themselves and labeled as villains and history is written by the victors, and blah blah blah dude are you just jumping randomly from one soundbyte to another lol. literally what are you talking about. what does this have to do with you blowing up Nagant

-- holy shit??

[”Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies MORE?????]

LOL WHAT

BRO. WHAT IS WITH YOU. DON’T YOU KNOW HOW TO LAY ANY OTHER KIND OF FUCKING TRAP GOOD LORD

“YOU’RE NEXT” THE CALLBACK?? THE PARALLELS?? THOUGH WHEN ALL MIGHT POINTED HE MADE IT LOOK WAY COOLER. AFO’S POINTING JUST LOOKS LIKE SMOKEY THE BEAR

HAS ANYONE CHECKED IN ON KAMUI WOODS I HEAR HE IS WEAK TO FIRE?? THE ONLY ONE WHO IS, APPARENTLY

r.i.p. to this particular forest mansion. don’t worry they have a ton of backups

remember last week when I said maybe AFO thinks explosions are gauche. well never mind. he fucking loves explosions

anyway so that’s the end of BnHA, everyone. hope you enjoyed. it was a good ride while it lasted. see you all, good luck in your travels

[fruitcoops]

I absolutely love your fics!!! Thank you for sharing your talent with the world. If you're interested, do you think you could write a fic where Finn gets injured in a game against Tampa? O'Hara brothers ftw ♥️♥️♥️

Ohohohoho yes. It's 'missing your big brother so you write siblings' hours, and all of you are trapped in here with me. Combined with prompts for cubs hurt comfort/ poly love (@hi-im-phoenix) and distraction hurt/ comfort for AJ. Sorry about your manager <3 SW credit goes to @lumosinlove!

TW for bone inJuries

The crowd was roaring. Finn couldn’t catch his breath. His arm was on fire.

Something like a sob broke free in his chest, but he could do little more than hiccup in pain and fear from his place laying flat on his back atop the unforgiving ice. He couldn’t move his fingers. His elbow throbbed. Everything in between just hurt.

“—fuck is wrong with you?” an angry voice shouted, followed by a flash of blue and white shoving at the man whose late hit had left him suspended in shock. Finn didn’t know if it had been on purpose, but he didn’t really care anymore as a tear tracked down to his ear. He couldn’t pull his eyes away from the bright lights overhead.

A hand cradled one side of his jaw, warm and clammy on his cold skin. “Talk to me, mon amour, what’s wrong?”

“Lo,” he croaked, swallowing hard. “I’m okay. ‘m okay, promise. I’m okay.”

“Out of my way!” The blue and white blob pushed closer before kneeling next to him. A helmet hit the ice, followed by a glove; heavy hands settled on his shoulders, and the one on his face disappeared. “Finn? Finn, look at me.”

Finn’s chest hitched once, twice, hard. His head was pounding, and everything hurt. He may have been able to reassure Logan, but he had never been able to hide from his brother. “Alex.”

“Hey, buddy,” he soothed as Finn finally regained enough breath to gasp around his tears. “No, no, shhh. You’re gonna be just fine, yeah? Can you tell me what happened?”

“Hurts,” he choked out, squeezing his eyes shut. The pain had reached his shoulder and every movement was agony. “It hurts, it hurts—Alex, it hurts.”

“What hurts?”

He could hear people calling for medics. His friends, his family. But Alex stayed right there next to him, holding his good hand and brushing his tears away. “My arm,” Finn said, feeling as pathetic as he ever had. “Alex, it hurts so bad.”

“Can you wiggle your fingers for me?” Finn sobbed again as he shook his head and saw the encouraging smile slide of Alex’s face. “That’s alright, buddy, just take some deep breaths.”

“I don’t wanna be out,” Finn blubbered. “I gotta play.”

Alex gave his hand a light squeeze. “It’s not that bad, Fish. Deep breaths.”

He managed a handful—and admittedly felt a little better—but the alarms in his head were still blaring when Remus arrived with the medic, all but carrying him across the ice to get to Finn. He had a smudge of a bruise beneath his eye, but the worry creasing his brow overtook anything else. “I’m good, Loops,” Finn panted as the medic sat next to him. “Totally cool.”

“28, I’m going to need you to make some room,” the medic ordered. Fear spiked in Finn’s heart when he met Alex’s gaze, but he found only determination looking back.

“I’m not leaving,” Alex said simply.

The medic glanced down. “Can you stand?”

“I think so?” Finn said hesitantly, trying to get cool air back into his lungs. “It’s—I think I broke my arm. Everything else is okay.”

“What’s your pain level?”

“Eight. And a half,” he added. Alex frowned.

“Let’s get you off this ice, yeah?” The medic patted him gently on the shoulder. “O’Hara, can you get him up?”

“Keep that one close,” Alex murmured, sliding his arm under Finn’s shoulders. He clenched his teeth around a cry of pain as his bad arm was jostled, but Alex was strong and steady, and within a few seconds he was on his feet. “Easy does it, bud. I’ve got you.”

“Fucking shit,” Finn wheezed as he tried to close his hand. The fear and adrenaline had faded, but involuntary tears sprang to his eyes anyway. Alex held him upright without faltering despite his wobbly legs; they made it to the bench in a blur of movement that made Finn dizzy.

“We can take him from here,” the medic said to Alex.

“I’ll be fine,” Finn said, cutting him off just as he opened his mouth. “Go play. Your boys need you.”

Alex pressed his lips together in obvious frustration, but tapped their helmets together and skated back to his own bench. Finn let out a shaky breath and closed his eyes for a moment. “O’Hara?”

“I’m good,” he assured the medic.

“If you feel like you need to throw up, let me know.”

“No. No, I’m good. Just hurts.”

He caught a glimpse of the clock as they headed down the tunnel—ten minutes left in the period. Finn steeled himself for a long stretch of being alone in a medical room and tried to focus on something over than the unbearable heat and throbbing in his arm.

--------------

Leo traced the edge of the splint with a deep-set frown, but said nothing. His other thumb ran in gentle lines up and down Finn’s waist, kept there by Logan’s side pressing close. “You’re sure you’re alright?” Logan asked softly as he placed a kiss on the corner of Finn’s mouth.

“I promise.” They had barely traded ten words—both had shown up the second the game ended, stripping off their pads and skates in the entrance to the medical room before sandwiching Finn between them. Leo had been unusually quiet. They had won the game; from what Finn saw on the television in the corner of the room, Alex had reamed out the guy that hit Finn with a vengeance. Tampa had been disjointed, and the Lions swept in as a cohesive pack, out for blood.

“I was worried about you,” Leo said at last, resting his temple on Finn’s shoulder. He sighed, then shifted impossibly closer. “Couldn’t get through the crowd.”

“I thought Talker and Loops were gonna kill that guy after he hit you,” Logan said with a shake of his head. “Looks like Alex did it for him.”

“What, you didn’t get into your shining armor for me?” Finn teased, nuzzling his nose against Logan’s cheek to draw even a slight smile from him.

“Maybe next time.”

“No,” Leo mumbled, linking his fingers with Finn’s purple ones and lifting them to his lips for a brief kiss. It was a clean break, but would still take weeks to heal. Big blue eyes landed on him, melting his heart like they always did. “No ‘next times’, okay?”

“Aw, Knutty,” Finn said, barely above a whisper. He wrapped one arm around each of them and held them tight, soaking in the feeling of having both crushed against him. “I’m sorry I worried you.”

Logan tucked his face into Finn’s neck. “Nothing to be sorry for, mon rouge. We’re just glad you’re alright.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” a voice said from the door. Alex shifted his weight back and forth, twisting his baseball cap in his hands like he always did when he was nervous. Finn didn’t hesitate before extracting himself from the cuddle pile and crossing the room; Alex met him halfway and engulfed him in a hug. A shudder ran through him under Finn’s palms. “Jesus, Finn, you scared the hell out of me.”

“Sorry,” Finn mumbled into his hoodie, letting himself be cocooned by distilled safety. Even out of his skates, Alex had a good two inches on him, and he had always been the broader of the two—Finn suddenly felt about six years old, as if he had just skinned his knee on the sidewalk.

“What’s the diagnosis?”

“Closed break, clean fracture. I’ll be out for a month or two.” He stepped back and swiped a hand under his nose, then tilted his head toward Leo and Logan with a wry smile. “But I’ve got these two to look after me.”

Alex scanned his face for a moment; his mouth dipped on one side. “I called mom and dad, told ‘em you’re okay. You should tell them yourself, though. They were freaking out.”

“I will,” Finn promised.

The worry creasing his brow didn’t diminish as he wrapped Finn in his arms again, holding him tight. “Keep me updated, yeah? If I don’t hear from you, I’ll get the captain on your ass, and he won’t be as nice about it as I will.”

“Deal.”

“Knutty, Lo, drive safe. If he tries to pull some stupid shit, I’m counting on your survival skills to stop it.”

“Survival skills?” Leo half-laughed.

Alex pulled away and raised his eyebrows. “They don’t call me Hurricane O’Hara for nothing.”

His eyes flickered back to Finn, who was horrified to see slight redness around the rims despite the teasing in his voice. “Alex,” he said softly. “I’m okay, I swear.”

“I know.” His voice was gruff, but it poorly hid a sniffle as he bumped their foreheads together. “But I’m your brother. It’s my job to worry about you. I hate that one of my guys was at fault here.”

Finn tried for a smile, socking him on the arm. “Six weeks, and I’ll be good as new.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” With a final survey of his face and a kiss to the top of his head, Alex headed back out into the hall with his shoulders up near his ears. Finn sighed; he hated it when Alex was upset, and even more when there was nothing he could do to fix it except wait. He didn’t know what he’d do if one of his teammates broke his brother.

“Fish?” Leo was smiling when he turned around. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“What kind?”

“The kind where I pull out all the sob story pity points on Cap’s soft heart and get us babysitting privileges for his incredibly fluffy dog after three months of constant begging.”

Finn’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding.”

“Make sure you look extra sad when we leave,” Logan advised. “We can’t lose this opportunity because you were too perky about a broken arm.”

“Quick, someone make me cry.”

Leo’s grin turned to horror. “What?”

“No!” Logan said at the same time.

“You guys are killing me here,” Finn groaned. “Just, like, hit me in the arm or something.”

“No!” they shouted in unison.

“You said I need to look sad!”

“I meant pout and sigh!” Logan pulled him over by the hem of his shirt in clear distress. “You’ve already cried too much tonight. No more.”

“Alright,” Finn agreed, already wracking his brain for any smidgen of drama skills he might have acquired over the years. Younger siblings were always the best actors, of course—he had given some Oscar-worthy performances to his mom when Alex got on his nerves as a kid—but Sirius was tough to fool. Maybe if he stayed quiet and didn’t risk opening his mouth they would get away with it.

Leo let out a slow exhale against his chest and snuggled closer before standing. “Come on, darlin,” he said with a kiss to Finn’s forehead. “Let’s get you settled. We’ll take a shower, have some dinner, and then we can put a movie on.”

“Mighty Ducks?” Finn asked hopefully.

Logan rolled his eyes. “Of course.”

[septic-heart-and-mind]

“Road To Recovery” | “Imprisoned” (JSE Ego Fic) Pt. 8

A new chapter is here! Sorry it’s been a while since the last one, but I hope it’s worth the wait! You should totally read @thesepticactress‘s ego fic too as that was my inspiration for this ^-^

Chase’s POV

Mum made it through the worst, and we were told that she was stable and was likely to stay that way - but it wasn’t all good news. As she had feared, her baby - my little sibling - was well and truly dead, its life over before it even started. Not only that, but it was unlikely that she would ever have children again - just what Dad had aimed for. I wanted her to wake up, yet I dreaded it, because I would have to tell her all of this - and I knew that she would be absolutely destroyed. I stayed by her beside for every second, her hand in mine, just waiting for her to open her eyes. I desperately needed to see her awake to really feel convinced that she would be okay, while at the same time I felt sick at the thought of telling her the bad news; the doctors offered to do it for me, but I really wanted it to come from me because I thought maybe it would hurt her a little less. Eventually, slowly but surely, her eyes did open. I smiled gently at her, so relieved to see her awake again, but she seemed a little disorientated still; I decided that maybe she would need to rest a bit more before I broke any news to her. She wasn’t awake for long as she was exhausted, and I watched her fall asleep; I still didn’t leave her side, as I needed to be there when she woke up again. Marvin understood my need to do this - well, they all got it, but not quite like he did. He’d been where I was not so long ago, and more than once, so he knew that feeling very well. At least it seemed unlikely that I would have to go through what he then did, as Mum seemed to be on her road to recovery now. As I waited for her to wake up again, I talked to Marvin about his mum and comforted him when he got upset about her. He cried on me for a while, and I did my best to comfort him as a friend should; it didn’t seem to make all that much difference at the time, but I had to do what I could for him as he had done for me when I worried about Mum. Marvin then told me about how things were going with his dad, telling me that they had actually started bonding a little; I was then left alone with Mum for a bit because his dad arrived and took him home. Henrik and JJ came to see how Mum and I were doing, then Anti and Robbie, and lastly Seán and Jackie - before it was just Mum and I alone again. Soon after my friends left, she began to stir and open her eyes again; she seemed a little more alert that before, although still somewhat drowsy because of the painkillers she’d been given. She asked me if she was going to be alright; of course, I told her that she would because she was through the worst, but she could see in my eyes that something was wrong.

“What is it, darling?” she asked softly, holding my hand a little tighter.

“Oh, Mum,” I cried.

“Sweetie…” she responded lovingly, caressing my hand as a tear rolled down my face.

“I-It’s the baby…” I told her tearfully. I didn’t need to say anything else, she knew exactly where I was heading. She sobbed heavily, utterly heartbroken with grief. I cuddled her and she continued to heavily weep for her child, destroyed as I had predicted she would be. I hadn’t even told her everything yet, I still had to break the second piece of terrible news to her - but how could I tell her now? How could I tell her when she was already in pieces? She looked at her stomach and she realised by the mark there that they had removed the baby from her body, and she bawled even louder. “Shhh, I’m here, Mum, I’m here,” I tried to soothe her, although I felt like anything I said wouldn’t make the slightest difference to her agony.

“My baby!” she howled with heartache.

“You’ve still got me, Mum,” I comforted her, “I’m here.”

“My baby…” she wept. I kissed her forehead lovingly, before looking at her with sorrowed eyes as my heart hurt for her. I then knew that I had to tell her what else I knew, despite the dread I felt inside - which she could somehow see in my eyes. “What, what is it?” she asked tearfully. I hesitated to reply, not wanting to break her heart any more. “What is it?” she repeated desperately.

“He succeeded, Mum,” I told her through my own tears. “The second shot… When he - he said…” I didn’t finish my sentence, but I could see that she was recalling that terrifying ordeal and the evil words he uttered before firing that gun.

“No… no, no, you’re wrong…” she trembled as her heart shattered again.

“I’m so sorry, Mum,” I cried. I watched the pain in her eyes increase as the reality tore through her heart, as she knew that what I was saying was true - and she cried so hard it was like she was in physical pain from the news I’d given her. I would never forgive my father for this, for doing this to my poor mum. I realised that I had been wrong for years, when I hoped that maybe he was just horrible because he was drunk all the time; in reality, he was just a sick and twisted man who enjoyed causing suffering to people. My father was a monster. Because of his evil threats, I would have to go back to school and act like none of this ever happened while continuing to live with this psychotic man who I wanted to refuse to call my father. How could I be related to him, to someone who was such pure evil? He was nothing like me, and I never, ever wanted to be alike to him. I vowed to myself that I would never turn into him, and I would never drink just in case it affected me in a way that made me horrible to people like him. I never wanted anyone to suffer the way Mum and I did at the hands of him - because no-one should have to feel like we did.

I forced myself to go back to school days later, while she still recovered in hospital. I hadn’t told them what happened, so they believed I was just skiving off (particularly with my history from my last school), and so I ended up in the headteacher’s office. When I got there, though, I realised I wasn’t the only one in trouble. All of my friends were there, too, because it turns out that they had missed just as much school as I had because they were so shaken up by recent events. Out of fear, they hadn’t told anyone either - so it was believed that we were all just missing school on purpose because we didn’t care.

“So why haven’t you all been at school?” Mr. Green asked sternly. “Has Chase been leading you all astray? Trying to get you all expelled like he did?”

“No, sir,” Seán defended me.

“We’ve had a lot going on, sir,” Jackie chimed in.

“Marvin lost his mum to cancer,” Seán explained.

“I know,” the head replied with sympathy towards him, “You’re not in any trouble. You don’t even need to be here, you can go.”

“I’m not going anywhere, sir,” he contested, “Not until my friends can go, too.”

“You had a genuine reason for missing school, Marvin,” he replied, “But they didn’t.”

“They did, sir,” Marvin corrected him politely, “Chase’s mum was in hospital and they were all there when it happened, they’re traumatised.”

“Just a coincidence that his mum was there as well?” Mr. Green questioned, seeming to not believe him.

“My mum nearly died, and the baby she carried did!” I cried out, tears filling my eyes. “And now she’ll probably never have kids again!” I buried my face in my hands as I started weeping for her. Jackie put his arm around me gently.

“We are not fabricating this story, sir,” Henrik supported me, “Surely you must see how distressed he is.”

“Okay, that explains why he’s not been here,” Mr. Green conceded. “But what about you lot?”

“We were there, we told you that,” Anti snapped, “We thought we were gonna get killed and we saw her get shot. T-Twice…” He slightly shuddered as he seemed to be recalling the sound of the gun going off.

“How could we concentrate at school like that?” Robbie quizzed frustratedly, and JJ nodded a little.

“Alright, okay, it seems you all had good reason,” he submitted, “Just try not to miss too much more or you’ll all fall behind. You’re smart kids, I wouldn’t want that.” He paused, and I continued to cry as I missed my mother and wanted to be with her. “Go on, off you go,” he sighed, and we all got up and left his office. Jackie kept his arm around me as we exited the room, and he reassured me as we went to our first class. Some of the other kids were staring at me and muttering, wondering what I was crying about. Before we got to class, some kid was laughing at me with their friends when they saw me.

“Look, Brody is crying!” they teased.

“You would be if your mum was in hospital,” Jackie answered back bravely. Their smile disappeared from their face as they heard my situation.

“Which is where you’ll be if you bully my friend again,” Anti stood up for me through gritted teeth.

“He’s not worth it,” Jackie muttered, dragging him away. I did feel good though that Anti had called me his friend. When we first met, I wasn’t entirely sure that he even liked me at all - but now he had just confessed that he did, so now I would know that no matter how much he tried to cover it up. Maybe after what happened he wouldn’t try to anymore. We all realised now just how short life is after what happened with Marvin, and with how close to death we all came - especially with Mum almost dying and losing her baby. I felt sick at the thought of going back home to my father, especially as Mum wasn’t even there to protect or comfort me anymore; I decided that I would go straight to the hospital from school, to try and avoid him as much as I could. My plan nearly didn’t work, though, as he arrived at school at the end of the day to bring me home. As I tried to walk past the car, ignoring that he was there, he got out and grabbed my arm.

“Get in the car,” he ordered.

“No, I’m going to see Mum,” I replied bravely, despite my voice shaking.

“You’re not, you’ll get in that car right now,” he threatened.

“Or what?” I asked, “You’ll hit me in front of everyone? Show them who you really are?” He sighed angrily, realising that he couldn’t do anything to me here while there were so many people around who might see.

“Fine,” he grumbled in rage, “You’ll get it later.” He stormed back into the car and aggressively drove off. My lips wobbled as I felt my eyes fill with tears again, and I fought not to cry as I saw other kids getting into their parents’ cars happily. I felt so jealous of them, wishing I had a father who loved me and a mother who was well enough to pick me up.

“Hey,” a female voice got my attention, and I turned to see Stacy beside me. “What’s wrong?” she asked as she saw my watery eyes.

“Er, I-I just… want my mum,” I admitted, although that wasn’t the only thing I was upset about. But it wasn’t a lie, as I really did want her.

“I’ll walk with you to the hospital if you like,” she offered. I hugged her rather suddenly, but soon her arms were tightly around me. I felt soothed for those few moments, before we started the walk. It took us quite a while to get there, but it was worth it to see Mum and to avoid my dad. I visited Mum while Stacy got us a cup of tea. When she returned, I introduced Mum to her as a good friend of mine. She smiled as she was happy to meet her, and the three of us talked for a while before letting her rest once again. I was too scared to go back home, so Stacy said that I could go back to hers; Stacy called her mother to pick her up and asked if I could come with them, and they gladly agreed. I felt safe from what was going on for a while as I sat in the car beside her, and I found myself looking at her rather a lot; she would often look back, and her eyes would light up as she smiled at me. I realised that I liked her now even more than when we first met, and I was resisting the urge to hold her hand all the way to her house. When we got there, she suggested that we play some video games as a distraction from all that was going on - which I agreed to, as it was just what I needed. We did play for quite a while, before we stopped to talk. I opened up about how I was feeling about everything, and I felt that now was the time to tell her about my childhood, my horrible past. My friends all knew what my dad could do, but they didn’t know just how long it had been this way.

“He’s been an alcoholic for years now,” I explained sadly to her. “He’s never been nice, really, but that poison makes him so much worse. That’s what started making him really violent.”

“Did he hit you when you were little?” Stacy asked.

“Yeah,” I sighed, “Although always more when he was drunk. Until I got older, then he didn’t seem to care about hurting me drunk or sober. Not that he was ever sober, really. He just drinks all the time.”

“What about when you were a baby?” she wondered.

“Mum’s told me about how he was with me then,” I replied, “He was cruel to me even at that age. He shouted when I cried, and he left Mum to take care of me all the time. He never really changed me or fed me, he certainly never got up in the night to see to me. He even shook me a few times, I’m kinda lucky to be alive.”

“He really is a monster!” Stacy gasped, horrified.

“He’s always been so abusive, to me and my mum,” I continued to tell her. “Verbally, emotionally, and physically… It’s been hell for us for years…”

“Oh, Chase,” she sighed with sympathy, “That’s so awful.”

“But that’s not to say I’ve never been happy,” I assured her with a little smile, looking in her eyes. “Not everything in life is bad. I know you for a start.” She giggled modestly, looking away for a moment, before her gaze met with mine again.

“You make me happy, too, Chase,” she echoed caringly.

“I-I, um…. I need to tell you something,” I announced nervously. “I… Well… With everything that’s happened… I know how short life is,” I began. “I-I can’t wait to tell you this… I just… have to…”

“What is it?” she asked. I paused, the words catching in my throat. “You can tell me, Chase, it’s okay,” she reassured me. I swallowed.

“I… I, um… I like you, Stacy. You - You know, like you as in… Well, you know… ” I confessed hesitantly. I wanted to put the words back into my mouth as soon as I said it, afraid that she would laugh at me or not feel the same way.

“Y-You do?” she stammered in surprise. I nodded, my eyes still gently locked with hers. “I like you, too,” she told me, a little excitement in her voice. We then hugged again, although it felt much different to how it did earlier that day. It felt like somewhat more than a friendly hug. As we slowly let each other go, our eyes were still focused on each other’s. I knew what I wanted to do next, but I had never done it before - and I feared I would mess it up. She wanted the same thing, as she slowly started to move closer to me. We both gradually leaned towards each other, getting closer and closer, before our lips lightly touched for a moment. Our first kiss. We slightly parted, still gazing at one another; we both smiled, our eyes aglow, and then we gently kissed a second time. It was magical, and I couldn’t quite believe what had just happened. In a daze, I decided that we could watch a movie together. We sat close together as we looked at the screen, and as we did so I felt my hand slowly inch towards hers. Hers must have been doing the same, because after a while our skin contacted. I very lightly began to place my hand on top of hers, and she seemed very content with it - if she hadn’t been, I would have let go, of course. We then took a slight hold of each other’s hand, both of us still nervous about doing it, until after a while we settled into it. I was holding hands with a girl, one that I really cared about - and I thought that I might be falling in love with her. Despite all that was going on, I somehow felt peaceful and happy with her - and that’s how I knew she was special.