#She Lives in Kamino Ward

[aheckinmess]

Hide and Seek -> Pt. 1 [Hawks] (Fluff)

(One-shot 25/? in a collection of My Hero Academia one-shots posted regularly on Saturdays - and sometimes Sundays.)

Read on AO3.

Tags: Keigo Takami, Takami Keigo, Hawks, Original Female Character(s), Ichijiku Aoki, Tigress, Fluff, Angsty Fluff, There's a Little of Both Okay, It's Bittersweet, Pining Hawks, Childhood Friends to Lovers, It's Actually So Cute, Takami - Keigo's Father Mentioned, Tomie Takami Mentioned, Bookstore is Mentioned, OC Works at a Bookshop, She Lives in Kamino Ward, The Bad Part of Town, Hawks Gets Protective, Pinky Promise, I'm Bad at Tagging, But I Blame That on the Fact that You Kinda Need to Read the Prompt Itself to Understand, What Else Do You Want from Me?

Word Count: 3,137 words

Summary: Hawks' childhood was not unlike that of Ichijiku Aoki, and she would know because she was his best friend. Ten long years after leaving her to train and be a hero, Hawks suddenly pops up in Ichijiku's life again.

Author's Note: This one-shot is a little different. Normally when I write multiple parts of a one-shot, I just include it in a separate series. However, this one just happened to run a little longer, so I decided breaking it into chunks would be helpful. I may end up deciding to make it its own series anyway, who can say? For now, you get part 1/2 of this tasty delicious prompt!

Ichijiku (Tigress)

Mommy doesn’t like emotional brats. That’s why when she and Daddy fall asleep, I sneak out the back door and start running down the trail behind our house. I make it to the broken tree before I see a blurry house. 

I step closer, the house getting clearer until it’s obvious it’s more of a shack, wooden and decrepit. It looks like the perfect place to play House, or Superheroes, or even Tea Party! Looking over my shoulder, I crawl beneath a lonely window and peek in. 

A little boy with red feathers looks back at me and I crouch as my heartbeat makes it hard to hear. I look up after a moment to find him when his shadow hangs out of the window above me.

“What are you doing here? You have to go before you get in trouble!” He whispers, turning over his shoulder. “My dad will be really angry if he sees you.”

“My mommy can’t find me, or she’ll whoop me good.” I hiss back.

We stare at each other for a minute before his pretty red feathers swirl around me. My face slips into a smile as I reach for it.

“This your quirk? What are they for?”

“I can move them around and hear things with them, but…Mom and Dad say they’re pretty useless.”

“Can you fly?”

“I dunno. Never tried.” He shrugs. “They don’t let me leave our house.”

“You should see if you can–” A limb snaps and both of us freeze, eyes snapping towards the sound.

“KEIGO!” 

I wave at him before hopping into the closest hidey hole I see: a barrel. The loud voice inside reminds me of Mommy. I expect the yelling and the smack! that follows, as well as the sharp scolding about being respectful and listening to adults.

I’m not expecting the silence that follows to be tainted with soft sobs from the sassy little boy from the window.

It makes me sad.

I peek out of my barrel and climb out, before looking into the broken window. The boy - Keigo? - faces away from me with shaky wings. He sniffles every few seconds as I listen for footsteps, eyes latched onto the woman sleeping on a mat beside him.

When I climb through and pad over to him, I pat his shoulder and pull on his arm. He pulls back and shakes his head.

“You have to go–”

“Who are you?” A tired voice asks.

I whip my head around to find a lady and two extra eyes watching me. Those two eyes float and circle around me, coaxing me to move closer to Keigo. I swallow thickly and hide my trembling hands behind my back.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m Keigo’s friend.”

“I asked who you are, Keigo’s friend. What’s your name?”

“Ichijiku.” I answer, looking at the floating eyes. “What are those for?”

“None of your business, kid.” Dark circles line her eyes as she glares at me. “Why are you here? How do you know Keigo?”

“I just met him. I was playing Hide and Seek outside when I found this house.” I explain carefully, glancing away. 

“Well, you’re not welcome here, kid. Keigo doesn’t have any friends. And if you don’t move your ass, my husband will kick you out personally.”

“Can I come visit Keigo another time if I promise not to bring nobody?” I plead.

“Tch. You can certainly try, kid.”

“Okay!” I lock her pinky with mine. “I pinky promise I won’t bring no one next time. See you later, Keigo!” 

. . . . .

The next time I see Keigo, I make extra sure I don’t see any eyes as I sneak in. No one else is in the house as I tiptoe over the wooden floorboards. Keigo’s still curled up in the same spot he was before, red feathers fanned out behind his back.

“Hi, Keigo.” I whisper.

“Huh?” He turns over and his eyes widen as he jolts to a standing position. “Ichijiku?”

“Yep!”

“What are you doing here?!” He hisses, squeezing a plushie against his chest. “I told you, my dad will kill you if he sees you here!” 

“He won’t see me.” I assure him. “Besides, you’re my friend! Do you wanna go play Hide and Seek outside?”

“I’m not allowed to go outside, ever.” He frowns.

“Oh.” I rub the back of my neck as I look around. “Well, do you wanna play Superheroes in here, instead?”

“What if my parents come back and you’re still here?”

“We can listen to hear when they’re coming and then I’ll go hide!” I say quickly, before I gasp and point at his feathers. “You said you can hear stuff with your feathers, right? Maybe you can listen for them?”

Keigo looks around the house one time, before he turns back to me with a smile.

“Let’s do it!”

It becomes our ritual to see each other at least once a week playing as the world’s greatest superheroes: Tiger and Birdie! Since Keigo can’t go outside and find me, I make the trek every Thursday to go visit.

Until one day I find the dilapidated shack empty.

My shoulders slump. My little legs scour the surrounding area and all over the house with no luck. No floating eyeballs. No loud, red-haired man. No Keigo. 

I return to my house feeling more lonely and worried than ever. Did he leave because he got in trouble? Did I get him in trouble? Will he ever come back? A few weeks pass and answer my question. As the little shack remains vacant, it becomes clear he's not coming back.

Mommy and I are waiting for the train when I spot it.

A small, red feather.

“What the hell are you looking at? Hurry up!” Mommy jerks me forward. “Pay attention so we’re not late!”

I see Keigo huddled up against the wall with his mom and my face smiles so wide it hurts! I look up at Mommy, scrolling on her phone, and get an idea.

When the train doors open and we make it to the platform, I duck and squirm between the people behind us to wiggle back into the train station. I dart over to Keigo as soon as the train doors close.

“Keigo-kun!” I call, sliding to a stop on my knees in front of him. “I found you!”

“Ichan?” His head lifts and his eyes sparkle.

I yank him into my arms, hugging him so tight. I don’t want to let him go. I want to take him home with Mommy so that he can stay with us forever!

“Where did you go?” I whisper, pulling back and wiping my face. “Your house is empty!”

“Endeavor saved us from my dad, Ichan! Endeavor’s real! Like…really real!” Keigo exclaims, holding out his Endeavor doll. “He helped us get away from Dad!”

“Yeah, and now we’re homeless, Keigo.” His mother scoffs, turning her head away. “We have nothing. Nothing to eat, nowhere to stay. Why do you have those feathers if you’re not gonna use them?”

 Keigo and I look between each other and then his mom. We remain silent. I turn back to the train to make sure my mom hasn’t come back for me yet. 

She’s going to be so angry.

“Where’s your mom, Ichan?”

“I hid from her so I could say hi.” I admit, rocking back and forth on my feet. “Is this where you’re staying?”

“For now, yeah. We move around Fukuoka to find places to stay warm or get food.” He pauses to look behind me before he adds. “You’re not gonna get in trouble are you?”

“Probably. But it’s okay. Maybe…maybe if I talk to my mommy you could stay with us! And then you wouldn’t have to look for food or blankets!” I offer.

“No way, kid.” Keigo’s mom snaps. “I’m not staying somewhere with another brat to take care of and a stranger. Get lost.”

I open my mouth to disagree, but Keigo’s eyes widen and he shakes his head. He uses a feather to turn me around.

“Ichijiku Aoki!” My mom snatches me by the front of my shirt as I flinch back with scrunched eyes. “What on earth did you think you were doing? What if I hadn’t found you? Now those bastards are looking into the custody case on the grounds that I’m not a competent parent. Get your ass back on that train!”

The following pop on my butt burns, but not as much as it burns to wave goodbye to Keigo.

. . . . .

“Pardon me, ma’am. Is your daughter home?”

“My daughter? What is this about? I’ve been getting her packed to move in with her father, you bastards. Why are you here?”

I peek around the corner of the dining table as I see men in black suits talking with Mommy. My stuffed tiger stays squished against my chest as I watch them.

“Ma’am, I’m afraid you’re mistaken. We’re not here to take your daughter. We’re here because a friend of hers would like to say goodbye.”

“Who?”

When Keigo comes into view, I gasp and pop out of my hiding spot, running over to him. This time, he’s the one that pulls me against his chest.

“Did you come over to play, Keigo? I’ve got–”

“I’m sorry, young lady, but he’s not here to play. He’s here to tell you goodbye. He won’t be speaking to you anymore.” A man behind him says.

Keigo stands there with his feathers looking sad. They drag on the ground as he tilts his head down.

“He…” I look at Keigo. “I won’t get to see you again? Never ever?” 

“Not never ever!” He says confidently, lifting his head. “Just…not for a long time. It’s like Hide and Seek. But this time, I’ll be the one to find you.”

“You pinky promise?” I ask, holding out a small digit while my eyes burn. Sticky tears dry on my face before he ever leaves, before he ever links his finger with mine.

“Pinky promise.”

. . . . .

“That was years ago, Sacchan, I doubt he remembers who I am.” I whisper to her over a crowd of fawning girls.

Years following Keigo’s abrupt removal from my life, I’ve walked the streets every day hoping for a glimpse of red feathers. By the time Hawks made his debut, I’d all but given up hope in ever seeing him again.

But now? Seeing the familiar floating feathers and the swarm of fangirls on a morning stroll with Sayuri could only mean one thing.

“There’s no way he’d forget you, Ichan! It sounds like you were his only friend as a kid. You don’t just forget that.” She presses, urging me forward against the claustrophobic hoard of warm bodies. “At least say hi. Don’t pass up the opportunity to meet #3!” 

At her insistence, I worm my way through the crowd; people scream his name and reach for his feathers. I know I have no shot, but I still raise my hand to get his attention when he looks in my direction.

Immediately, our eyes lock.

“Ichan!” His eyes widen and he surges forward, rendering me frozen. “Hey! Ichijiku, yeah?”

“Y-Yes. You…remember me?”

“Definitely! I told you I’d find you again, didn’t I? I’d know your face anywhere.” He smirks, red feathers circling around me. “Remember these?” How do I tell him that my every waking moment has been filled with the hope of seeing them again? That every thought in my mind has been tainted with his promise, with his smile?

“I do.” I grin, giggling as they tickle my face. “Did you ever figure out if you could fly?” I taunt.

“Haha! Sure did! Turns out you had the right idea.” His laughter settles in my bones and heals every ache. When he leans in close to me, the smell of springtime and cologne invades my nostrils as he whispers in my ear. “Meet me on the roof of this building in two hours.”

“Okay.” I breathe, exhibiting maximum self-control to keep from reaching for him when he pulls back.

“We’ve gotta catch up sometime!” He beams.

“For sure.” I nod.

As I’m shoved back into Sayuri’s side by the thronging mob, she gives me a knowing smirk while I pinch myself to see if I’m stuck in a dream.

“Told you he’d remember.”

“Shut up.” I flush. “We need to finish shopping quickly; I’m busy in 2 hours.”

. . . . .

Between my attention span and restless limbs, I simply can’t wait. I’m reclining on the roof well before the time I’m supposed to show up. For one lonely hour, I bond with the sky, voicing my insecurities and long-lost desires to the clouds as I gaze over the streets of Japan. 

“Breathtaking.” Keigo’s voice ricochets through every muscle.

“Y-Yeah.” I squeak, hopping onto my feet and rubbing the back of my neck. “I don’t often get a view of the city from this high up.”

He chuckles, warm and inviting, as he steps within arm’s reach of me. “I wasn’t talking about the city, Ichan.”

I don’t have time for this. I can’t have time for this. The feeling of home that saturates every limb with this bittersweet reunion clashes with the reminder that a year ago I’d given up hope. I’d given up hope and decided to try and move past my age-old crush on a childhood friend that I’d never see again.

Now, here he is.

And the man waiting for me at home is not Keigo.

Yet, here I am. I am on top of a building looking out over Japan with Keigo. He thinks I’m breathtaking. And even though I know Akuma should be getting off work in a few minutes and heading to the apartment, my temperature skyrockets as I laugh off the giddy feelings building in my bones. 

“You grew into a charmer, I see.” I nudge him. “At any rate, it’s really good to see you again, Keigo.”

“Hawks, please. At least in public. My real name has been scrubbed from existence.” He stuffs his hands in his pockets. “I’ve been looking for you since I became a hero, you know? I promised I’d find you, and I never forgot about you.”

“I never forgot you either, Birdie.” With every inhale, I get minutely closer to him until our arms touch. “I’ve missed you. I was starting to worry I’d never see you again.”

He envelops me in his arms and holds me against his chest. The warmth of his aviator’s jacket mingles with the heat of longing I’ve smothered over the years. 

“How have you been?” I ask.

“Busy.” Keigo loses a bit of his smile as he pulls back. “Being #3 calls for a lot of work. It’s exhausting.”

“I can imagine.” I peer up at him and focus hard so I don’t get lost in him. His smile. His eyes. His broad wings surrounding the two of us in our own little bubble. “You do an amazing job, for what it’s worth. I’m grateful for all the hard work you put in for everyone.”

“Heart of gold, just like I remember.” He pauses. “What have you been up to, then, Tiger?”

“Ugh…I’d hoped you’d forget that nickname.”

“Aw, come on! I’d never forget our first hero names. Tiger and Birdie fight for justice, remember?”

“Yeah.” I reminisce. “But I’m working at a local bookshop now. I’ve always enjoyed books. Being surrounded by them all day brings me a sense of peace that I’ve only ever found with you.” I turn away from him, facing the bustling view of the city.

“Nice! Following your dreams, yeah? Which bookshop do you work at? Which part of town?”

I stiffen and his feathers vibrate. 

“Honshiro, it’s a second-hand bookstore in downtown Kamino Ward.” I try to evade. “I’m also–”

“Woah, wait. You live over there?!” His wings stretch wide, large and captivating. “But it’s so dangerous over there! Why are you staying there, of all places? Why not further east where the neighborhood is safer? Isn’t there a Honshiro there, too?”

“Well, yeah. But, I mean, ideally we would have stayed in Fukuoka, but Akuma had a better work deal downtown.”

“Akuma?” Keigo’s feathers twitch and his eyes glow. “Who’s he?”

I look down, feeling my world crashing around me. What if I’d just waited? What if I had held out hope that Keigo would come back for me? Would I be living better than I am now? Would I be happier?

Would Keigo be mine?

“Akuma is my boyfriend.”

“Oh…” I don’t miss the way his wings droop. “Right. But, well, you can’t stay there. That place is crawling with villains. Fukuoka is my agency’s base of operations. You’d be safest there. I mean, even Kumamoto would have you in Ms. Joke’s territory.”

“I know, Birdie, but I can’t.” I sigh. “Akuma’s on the brink of a really big promotion. We’ll only be in Kamino Ward for a couple months tops. I’ll ask him what his position will be and if we can go somewhere safer, okay?”

“A couple of months?” He frowns before it melts into a little smile. “Well, I guess that’s better than nothing. But do me a favor and talk with him about it sooner rather than later…please? See if he can afford to move somewhere else.” “Hawks…” I sigh. “I really want to, but Akuma has a really good proposition there.”

“Is it a good proposition for you, though?” “Why does it matter so much to you, Birdie?” The distance between us suffocates me.

Silence stretches between us as he extends a gloved hand out to me. His lips part to say something before he clenches his hand into a fist and drops it to his side.

I deserve the pit. I deserve the lowest circle of hell. Because at that moment, I would do anything to make him reach out again and tell me he loves me.

“We both lived through similar childhoods. I was given an opportunity to be freed of it. I just want the same for you.”

“I know. I appreciate that you still care about me after all this time.” I look up at him, begging him with my expression to be mine even though I shouldn’t. He’s busy looking over the city, the collar of his jacket hiding his expression. “Can we keep in touch, then? If you give me your number, I can at least promise to call you anytime I think I’m in trouble.”

“Deal.” He taps his phone against mine and our contact information is swapped. “Promise me you’ll call me the second you’re in trouble.”

I hold out my pinky for him as a grin twitches on my lips. “Pinky promise.”

And with a crooked grin, he links his pinky in mine.

Want More Hawks? Try: Elysium

[star-writes-after-dark]

𝑭𝑰𝑵𝑨𝑳 𝑮𝑰𝑹𝑳

CONTENT WARNING - PLEASE READ

This fictional piece contains murder, degradation, and non-con themes. Please proceed accordingly.

Word Count: 7.6k

Summary: Her voice shook in the quiet of the hallway, and as you looked around more closely you could see even more obvious signs of life. Not currently, it was all old food wrappers and what looked like either black spray paint or scorch marks across the walls, all left from however long ago. You didn’t know how you missed it all earlier, the signs were right there, pointing at how very clearly someone had been living in that abandoned old hospital for at least a year, if not two.

This is how people in horror movies die, you think to yourself as glass screeches against glass beneath your feet. Abandoned warehouses and old buildings were not your usual haunts, and going at night was even less your cup of tea. And yet, somehow, your so-called friends had managed to drag you out in the dead of night, in the middle of winter, to some left-to-rot depot in the more run down parts of Kamino Ward. 

“C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Your friends insisted, a group of three other girls who had gone through college with you. “It's not like anyone’s gonna be there to catch us anyway.” 

You exhaled softly through your nose and rubbed at your eyes. “There’s probably going to be animals,” you stress, “and who knows, there could be druggies or those guys who look for metal… you know, people who are most definitely not afraid to kill us?” 

The ringleader of your little group, a bright-eyed girl named Izumi, jostled your shoulder playfully. “You’re such a worrier! No one’s going to be there, and we can just fight them off anyway.” 

You didn’t even want to think about just how absolutely wrong she was, but you couldn’t help it. Four girls, up against god-knows-who, with devil-knows-how-many weapons and much more conviction to stay hidden than any of your friends were to go exploring. They wanted adventure, but only on their terms and every fiber in your body felt like this was the worst possible way to scratch that itch. 

But, at the same time, you would have felt even worse if you didn’t at the very least go with them. So there you were, the four of you bundled up in puffy jackets with flashlights on-hand. You carried extra batteries, just in case. And a Swiss army knife that your dad gifted you for your 19th birthday. And matches and a lighter. And some granola bars, along with a bottle of water. And duct tape.

Okay, so maybe you were a bit overprepared, but you’d rather be over prepped and ready for anything than not ready at all for any emergency situations that might arise. You also shoved a first aid kit packed away in your bag. 

“You going camping?” Izumi had snickered when you were filling up your water bottle. You leveled a glare at her, and tightened the cap before tipping it over to make sure no water could leak out. 

“No,” you sniffed, tucking the offending water bottle into your backpack as your friends pulled on their coats and gloves. “But if you’re thirsty, you can’t ask me for water.” 

Izumi pouted at you, tugging on your arm. “Oh, what? That’s not fair, I was just playing!” 

It was your turn to snicker at her now, and you shrugged her off in favor of slipping on your own warm gear. You chose not to answer her, and Izumi hung her head in resignation and what you hoped was shame. 

Which was how your little group ended up in front of what Izumi was telling you used to be a mental inpatient institute. You shivered, despite your warm jacket and gloves, and watched as your breath fogged up in the air before you. Dread pooled in your gut, an unshakable feeling that you felt the need to voice. “Guys, it’s not too late to turn back now.” 

One of the other girls, Atsuko, rolled her eyes at your scaredy-cat attitude. “You’re seriously so boring. Come on. We’ll all go ahead of you, don’t worry.”

You sighed but muttered a quiet ‘fine,’ and motioned for everyone to move forward in their exploration of the old, crumbling building. Metal and glass crunched and squeaked and made all sorts of horrible noises underfoot, and you gritted your teeth to prevent any unnecessary shrieking as you edged towards the busted-open doors. Your friends, braver or just more stupid than you, were already forging ahead, flashlights on and waving wildly around what the decaying map on one of the walls told you was the main entrance of the hospital. Rubble was everywhere, broken-down walls that had collapsed with time and overgrown plants took over most of the space. You looked down as you picked your way through the mess, and something just wasn’t quite right. There was a feeling in your gut that wouldn’t leave you alone, the hair on your arms pricking beneath your thick layers as you caught up with your friends. 

No one was talking quietly as they passed through the rooms, and it irked you. Beams of light swayed this way and that as you explored deeper into the building. Names of people long dead were rattled off by Izumi every time you entered a new section, doctors and patients alike, and it wasn’t long until you found yourselves in what seemed to be an even older part of the hospital. Rust was dripping down from the ceiling, coating every metal surface in sight, and old beds and gurneys were cluttered in corners while there was clear water damage in others. And there was dust everywhere, a thick layer of it to be exact. It spiraled up and into the air with every step anyone made, and you quickly pulled the collar of your coat up to protect your nose and mouth, eyes squeezed shut. Your footprints were easily spotted in the hallways, and you kept looking behind you as that not-quite-right feeling from earlier doubled in the space between your heart and your stomach. 

“Guys,” you mumbled through the fabric of your collar. “I really think we should get out of here.” 

Your friends groaned at your insistence. “Why did you even come if you were going to be such a spoilsport?” Izumi asked. 

“Haha, cum,” Haru, the last tagalong of your group, mumbled to herself. 

“Because I would have felt like shit if you guys died and I wasn’t there,” you responded snarkily, ignoring her. “Seriously, something feels off about this place.” 

You caught Atsuko rolling her eyes at Izumi and Haru. “You’re just paranoid,” she said, “quit bitching.”

“I’m not bitching,” you muttered, your voice sounding more petulant and whiny than you intended, but you ducked your head and trotted through the dust to keep up with your friends. “I just don’t wanna fuckin’ be here…”

It had been several hours, and you were still plagued by the instinct that something was just wrong about the hospital. You couldn’t tell if it was just the vague sense that you were being watched, or if you were being paranoid like your friends suggested, or if there was really something truly wrong with the space. But your nerves still felt frayed either way, and you had a stress headache building behind your eyes. 

And to make things worse, Izumi suggested splitting up. You and Haru were the only ones who protested this idea, which made Izumi immediately pair the two of you up as her and Atsuko went off to explore on their own. 

“God, this is the worst,” you mumbled, kicking the top part of a cinder block off of its other half. “I don’t want to be here.” 

“Yeah, well I didn’t want to come either,” Haru snipped back at you. 

You stopped in your tracks and turned to look at her, a quiet rage simmering just below the surface of your skin. “Why didn’t you say anything then?” 

Haru shrugged in a too-casual manner that clued you off to the fact that she actually felt guilty. “Didn’t want to be seen as a wuss.”

“Oh so it’s fine for you guys to see me as a wimp, but the rest of you guys get to be the brave ones? Seriously?” 

Haru snapped her head up, glaring at you. “It’s not like that! I just meant I-” 

“Save it,” you snapped, waving a hand at her. You shivered again, the cold had been thoroughly and consistently been seeping through your clothes all these hours, and now that you were standing still it was even more bone-chilling. You shifted your weight from foot to foot to try and keep your circulation going. 

To her credit, Haru looked like she genuinely felt bad for what she said, and you sighed. Neither of you said anything for a few minutes, unmoving in the dark hallway as the tension in the air settled. And then it hit you like fucking a truck, it being exactly why you were so weirded out by the atmosphere. 

“Haru,” you whispered, stepping back through the debris towards your friend. “We have to get out of here. Now.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you keep saying that. Stop being such a baby.” 

“No,” you repeated, more firmly this time. Haru finally caught on to your tone, and looked at you with a flicker of concern in her eyes as you continued. “We need to leave. There’s someone else here with us.” 

“What do you mean?” She whispered. Her voice shook in the quiet of the hallway, and as you looked around more closely you could see even more obvious signs of life. Not currently, it was all old food wrappers and what looked like either black spray paint or scorch marks across the walls, all left from however long ago. You didn’t know how you missed it all earlier, the signs were right there, pointing at how very clearly someone had been living in that abandoned old hospital for at least a year, if not two. 

You grabbed Haru’s hand and started dragging her back towards the convergence of hospital wings, where you last saw Izumi and Atsuko. “I mean, there was no dust. No needles either, which means someone cleaned them up.” 

She stumbled along behind you, struggling to keep up with you as you darted around and through broken walls and over shattered glass tubes. “Wait- what does that mean?”

You ignored her and pursed your lips, tugging on her wrist harder, as you pulled out your phone to call Izumi. “Pick up, pick up…” 

“Bitch, tell me what’s going on!” Haru cried from behind you as she almost tripped over her own feet. You continued to ignore her as Izumi answered your call. 

“What? ” 

“Don’t ‘what’ me, we need to get out of here,” you snapped, fed up with her attitude. 

Izumi sighed heavily over the phone. You were getting increasingly more annoyed with your little group’s general animosity towards you, you who were trying to keep everyone safe and alive. “Look, we get it, you’re scared. You can go home if you want, but Atsuko and I are staying.” 

“No, ” you growled into the speaker, still gripping Haru’s wrist tightly. “We all need to leave. There’s someone else here with us, and I don’t think they’re going to be very happy if they see a group of girls snooping around their home.”

“And how do you know this? ” 

“Because there was no dust in the front part of this stupid place, and have you guys seen any needles? Because Haru and I haven’t, which is weird for a hospital, which means someone else is in here - living here - and I’m willing to bet it’s some guy hopped up on heroin or something who’s definitely not against killing four defenseless women!” 

Your voice rose with every word, until you were nearly shouting in the echo-y space of the lobby. You reluctantly let go of Haru’s wrist, and she brought it to her chest to rub where your grip had bruised her skin. “Sorry,” you mouthed at her, noticing her wince. You turned away from her, staring at the floor as you continued to argue your point to Izumi. “Look, just meet us back where we split up? Please?” 

“I’d like to point out we’re not defenseless, we have Quirks, but oh my god, fine. Atsuko, we’re going back. ” 

“What? ” You could hear Atsuko whine over the phone. “Why? ”

“Because we have a crybaby of a friend, that’s why. We’ll see you soon, I guess. ” 

You sighed in relief and felt your shoulders slump as Izumi hung up on you. You turned back to Haru, who was still cradling her wrist to her chest and pouting. “Did you have to yank me so hard? You almost ripped my hand clean off.” 

You rolled your eyes. “I said sorry, okay? I really just want to get out of here.” 

You shivered, still cold and rubbed your hands together, blowing on them to try and thaw out your fingertips. The night wasn’t getting any warmer. You heard Haru make a noise next to you, and saw her sweeping motions with the flashlight stop very suddenly. You turn, about to ask her what she just said when you notice the look on her face. 

“Oh, fuck, ” Haru whimpered quietly, her shaky hand focusing the flashlight on the most terrifying man you had ever seen. If you had seen him on the street, you would have thought he was hot. Sharp, angular facial features, studded with piercings and staples that appeared to keep his own burned flesh together with smooth, unmarred skin. Haru’s flashlight made his dark hair look blue, and the shadows that draped around his shoulders only made him look scarier. And his clothes were entirely inappropriate for the mid-November night, a simple pair of pants and a short sleeved jacket were his only protection against the cold. 

“Language, language,” the man rasped, stepping closer to the both of you with practiced ease. His feet fell through the thick layer of dust that was coating everything like he knew where each stone, each fallen piece of wall sat, and like he was used to stepping around it all. “You girls look like you’ve seen a ghost. I’m not gonna hurt you, don’t worry.” 

“Y-you’re not?” Haru asked quietly, the both of you stepping back slowly. You were nowhere near anything that counted as an exit. Haru, who apparently couldn’t read a room to save her life, started rambling. “That’s- that’s great! Could you point us in the direction of the front doors? We were just leaving and got lost.” 

“Got lost, huh?” The man asked. His eyes never strayed from you and Haru, and as he cornered the two of you, they sparkled with malice and joy - joy at your fear. He reveled in the emotions he provoked. “That sucks. Yeah, I’ll show you the way out.” 

Something in your gut told you to duck, to leap away, to fucking move as the man crept closer, because the tone in his voice was not that of someone who was used to being helpful, or in the business of being nice. He was a threat that would follow through, and he knew it. 

You’d be damned if you didn’t listen to your gut feelings. Because in the moment you decided to twist your body and leap to the side, the man steadied his stance, held up a hand, and he completely incinerated Haru with blazing blue flames. She didn’t even scream, the only noise she made was a low moan of pain before her life was ended and reduced to a pile of ash. You landed hard on your forearms and looked up as Haru, who just minutes ago you were debating on whether or not to keep her as a friend, was no more. Gone in a matter of seconds, her life torn away by the strange man who had no problem killing her. And by the look on his face, he saw no issues with killing you, either. 

“What the fuck is going on?” 

Your saving grace. Atsuko and Izumi, who had arrived just in time, were standing in the doorway, and it was clear that they had also watched Haru get burnt to a crisp. 

The man turned around. “Oh, look at that, you brought more idiot friends.” 

“Run!” You shouted at the two girls, who glanced at your form on the ground, confused, before they caught sight of the blue flames reappearing in the man’s outstretched hand. He cackled, eyes electrified with glee as he watched the terror pool in your friend’s faces, and he unleashed another burning hot whoosh of flames in their direction. 

You took his momentary distraction to scramble to your feet and took off yourself, adrenaline coursing through your veins like a raging river. Panic surged in your chest as you heard Izumi and Atsuko scream, and then the sound stopped abruptly. 

You couldn’t remember the way out of the building. Dark hallways twisted and turned, and you were too busy making a fuss earlier to map anything out in your head. The man’s laughter echoed behind you, reminding you that you were truly, utterly fucked.  

“Where do you think you’re going, pretty girl?” He called out, his tone mocking. You could feel another rush of flames from behind you, warming your back until you were too hot, sweating beneath your jacket. It had missed you by a hair, the smell of burned fabric filling your nose before it was gone in the cold. “Come back, I promise I won’t hurt ya… Too bad.” 

You could barely see as you ran, having dropped your flashlight somewhere behind you and in no hurry to turn around any time soon. The lack of light left you trampling over medical equipment, through messy rooms full of rusted wheelchairs and- 

You yelped loudly as your leg caught on a piece of corroded metal, a table or chair leg. It didn’t matter to you as pain ripped through your shin, and you floundered, barely quick enough to catch yourself. Heart racing, you forced your legs to move faster, searching for any sign of a way out, a flicker of moonlight or a breeze of cold air. Anything. You could hear the man drawing even closer as you panted, the sound of his footsteps deliberate and unhurried despite how eager he was to keep up with you.  

“Come on, don’t run from me,” he taunted, the pale light of his Quirk - because it had to be his Quirk - illuminating the hallway around you. “You won’t get very far.”

Desperation clawed at your throat, raw and ragged in time with your heavy breathing. You had to find somewhere to hide, or at least a way to put some distance between you and him. He wasn’t even trying to keep up with you, you could tell by the sound of heavy footfalls not too far behind you. There were several times when he had a clear shot at incinerating you, but he didn’t. You couldn’t tell if it was because he just enjoyed the chase so much, or if… Well, actually you didn’t know why else he wouldn’t take every opportunity to kill you. And you weren’t in the position to stop and think. 

You were running as fast as you possibly could, kicking up dust and all sorts of hospital debris as you went, up until you came to a T shaped convergence of the halls. You could hear the man coming up behind you, and at the most inappropriate of times, a piece of advice from your driving lesson days popped into your head. Don’t go left to go right. Or in this specific case, do the exact opposite and feign going left, then at the last second veer right, and hope he gets a little thrown off your trail. You only had one chance - one try to get this right. You took it, because you’d die damned if you didn’t.  

Chest heaving with effort, you darted to the left, and then jerked back at the last second to turn down the other hallway, sprinting for your life. You heard a thud from behind you, followed by a snarl. “You little bitch! ” 

Had you turned around, you  would have seen the scarred man smack almost face-first into the wall, using his hands to stop his skidding slide before he actually made contact. But you didn’t, because that would be stupid, and, again, you’d die damned if you were actually that stupid. Some final girl bullshit that you couldn’t really remember. 

You could see a door ahead of you, a rusted metal thing with a blessed window in it, your only source of light. Well. 

The pyromaniac behind you was also a source of light, but he was nowhere near blessed and you wouldn’t want to stay with him if he was your savior. This was an entirely unnecessary and distracting train of thought, you realized as you neared the door, dust flying up around you. The moonlight pooled in through the door’s window, and was eaten up by your shadow quickly as you nearly slammed into the door, jiggling the handle and-

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! It was rusted and sticking, and it took several harsh jerks before it squealed loudly, sending you tumbling into the open air with the murderer hot on your heels. 

“Come on, don’t run from me,” he spat his words at you from earlier, terrifyingly close. “Name’s Dabi - there now we know each other. Don’t you wanna get to know me better, sweetheart?”

“No!” You shrieked over your shoulder, edging away from him and closer towards the edge of the woods. He had stopped just outside the hospital, hands in his pockets, and you turned to look at him now that he wasn’t actively chasing you. The fucker didn’t even look winded, compared to your heavy breathing and shaky legs. Were you that out of shape? And what kind of a bitch ass name was Dabi? You weren’t eager to find out. “Just- just get away from me, please! I won’t tell anyone you’re here, I swear!” 

“You won’t?” Dabi crooned with a sickeningly sweet falseness rooted deep in his voice. He put a hand over his heart, pretending to swoon. “How kind.” 

You gulped for air, shivering now that you weren’t hauling ass and were exposed to the wind. 

“You cold baby? I can warm you right up.”

You shook your head and took another step back. “Please- just let me go. Please.” 

Dabi hummed thoughtfully and rocked his weight from side to side, rubbing at his chin like he was actually considering letting you go. You felt hope creep up your esophagus, curling around your heart and tugging it up your throat eagerly. 

Until it all went plummeting to your stomach, your knees going weak when he casually said, “you’re too cute to let go.” 

A sob wrangled itself into the back of your mouth, and you suddenly felt too hot, too uncomfortable in your own skin as tears pricked the backs of your eyes. You shook your head helplessly and turned to start running again, but your energy was sapped. Sweat was drying along the curve of your spine, breathing was difficult with how shaky your lungs were, and really all you could manage was staggering along through the trees. A loud sigh came from behind you, from Dabi, and he didn’t even have to raise his voice for you to hear him ask, almost bored, “this again?” 

Fucker. 

You didn’t make it very far. Actually, all circumstances considered, you did get pretty far away from the hospital, repeating the mantra of ‘one foot in front of the other’ over and over again until you had picked up a considerable pace and your breath was coming in short but even bursts. Your legs still burned, specifically your calves and your shin where the piece of corroded metal had torn your flesh open earlier. 

You had only made it to the clearing because Dabi let you. He made that very clear. You could see and hear the tell-tale flickering of blue flames crackling on his palm behind you, almost like it was a ball he was tossing up and down. Casually. 

And when he reached you, because he did, his hand was hot through the layers of your clothes as he pushed you from behind. You fell to your knees easily, and a wave of desperation washed through you, resigned to your fate. You felt hopeless as you stayed there, on your hands and knees in the middle of some bumfuck nowhere forest with a murderer who was probably, most definitely going to rape you. Tears dripped down your face, leaving cold tracks on your cheeks as another biting breeze swung through the clearing. Dabi laughed from behind you, dark and threatening and hungry.  

“You look good on your knees,” he cooed, stepping closer to you. Heat radiated off of him, and it took every ounce of willpower to not shiver as your legs grew warmer. “You gave me a real good chase, I can appreciate that.” 

You heaved a sob, and the ground thumped beneath your frozen fingers as Dabi also dropped to his knees, and draped himself over your body. God he was warm. And apparently turned on, going by how his dick seemed to strain against the zipper of his jeans. 

Had you been in any other situation, maybe one where you met in a cute coffee shop and he gave you his number and didn’t murder your friends, you two could be cuddled up together in your bed, his large hands splayed across your stomach and maybe your thighs. 

But you weren’t in another situation. You weren’t in another universe where things went well for you, you were right here, right now, with your friend’s killer curled around you and rutting his hard on against your ass. 

“S-stop… please,” you begged, trying to shove him off of you. You didn’t have the strength, because despite being so tall and lanky, Dabi actually had a good amount of muscle on him - he had to, with the way he was holding an arm around your midsection like he was made of steel. 

“Nah,” he rasped against your ear. Dabi chuckled at your weak struggling, and bit at the shell of your ear in retribution. In what you assumed was an apology, he licked a long, wet stripe up the same spot to soothe it. “You’re mine, gorgeous.” 

He leaned back, barely, to yank at the waistband of your pants and he pulled them down swiftly to your knees. “Oho, what’s this?” 

Dabi had revealed your underwear, a pretty pink pair covered in a strawberry print, with green ribbon sewn through the band. They were your favorite, but after this, you were going to burn them. Dabi’s blue flames flashed in your head, and you thought maybe burning them would be too close to home. Straight in the trash then. Dabi was still talking from above you, the hand that wasn’t holding you up by your torso trailing along the edge of the fabric. His fingers were hot, just like the rest of him, and they sent tingles down your spine as he snapped the edge of your panties. To your dismay, you felt your body betray you as those tingles turned to zings of pleasure that ran straight to your core. 

“These are fuckin’ cute, you little slut,” he remarked, snapping the crotch against your pussy. “Were you expecting someone to see them?” 

You sniffled and shook your head pathetically, fear and humiliation and the cold preventing you from putting up any more of a fight. Dabi noticed, because of course he did, and you couldn’t catch a break. 

“Hey, where’s all that spunk from earlier?” He asked, rocking  his hips forward, making you yelp and jerk before he yanked you back against him. “Don’t tell me you’re givin’ up.” 

You could only whimper, your brain conflicted by so many things. It was cold, so, so, freezingly cold, and Dabi was radiating warmth like it was his job, but he had caused so much damage in one night and was about to cause more. “Please… just- just let me go.” 

Dabi heaved a sigh, sounding very much like you were becoming a nuisance to him, and moved away from you. “Fine, maybe this will help.” 

And then he set fire to your underwear, scorching you and leaving you exposed to the elements all at once. You squealed. “Hey!” 

“Shut up, you whiny bitch,” he mumbled, shoving you flat on your face before he hiked your exposed rear end up into the air and went to fucking town on you. Sloppy and wet and messy and all sorts of fucked up, Dabi’s tongue was licking through your labia like he wanted to taste every inch of you. 

Dabi grunted as he shoved his tongue inside your dripping cunt, lapping up your wetness greedily as he buried his face between your thighs. The tangy scent of your arousal filled his nostrils, making his cock throb even harder in his pants, and he could feel your body trembling beneath him. You couldn’t help any of the soft moans that spewed out of the corners of your mouth. You really, really couldn’t help it, his tongue felt so good and he was acting like your pussy was the feast to his appetite. 

“Mmmph, fuck, y’taste good,” he growled, the words muffled by your slick folds. His scars and staples scraped deliciously against your inner thighs, and you felt your legs twitch involuntarily. 

Being eaten out by a murderer shouldn’t feel this good. 

But his fingers were digging into the soft flesh of your butt, hungry and needy and he lifted his head to suck down some air before he was buried right back against your gummy insides. He licked and sucked at your puffy clit with the tip of his tongue, relishing in each desperate whimper that escaped your lips as your juices gushed down his chin.

Dabi's mind raced with all of the depraved thoughts he could physically have as he ravaged you. Images of branding your perfect tits as he groped them, your thighs, your ass, fuck even your pretty little pussy, marking your skin with his flames, filled his head and made him dizzy with need. He wanted to ruin you, claim you, make you his in every fucking way possible.

You were a whining, writhing mess against the forest floor, hands scrabbling at moss and stones and tree roots as pleasure sparked and built up inside you. You could feel your walls fluttering around his tongue, trying desperately to listen to everything in your head screaming at you that this was wrong, that you could not cum right now. Fuck. 

“Dabi, Dabi-” you whined, fingertips scrabbling at the dirt. “Please- I’m-” 

“Gonna cum already?” Dabi mused, lifting his head to take a break from tonguing at your sensitive bud. “You really are just a pathetic slut, aren't you?” 

You shook your head no, unable to form a coherent sentence let alone thoughts. He growled then, the vibration sending more electric-hot jolts of arousal through your veins. Dabi pulled his body away from you, and you heard him lick his lips. Slurping was probably the more accurate word, if you thought about it hard enough. You were not thinking about it hard enough, or at all really. The only thing you were doing was whining at the loss of his tongue, of his body heat.  

“Yeah, you are,” Dabi argued right back, spreading you with two long fingers before shoving them inside your cunt with a wet, schlick sound. “So fuckin’ desperate for me.”

You moaned and squirmed, at the sudden intrusion. The feeling of his digits, hot and so deep inside of you was overwhelming. You opened your mouth to beg again, beg for mercy or reprieve, but Dabi’s thumb pressed against your clit harshly and suddenly the only noise you could make was a loud squeal. 

“That's it, scream for me,” Dabi purred, his rock-salt rasp of a voice sending shivers down your spine. He spread his fingers inside you, curling them deliciously against your spongy walls. It was torture, all too good and too much and not enough at once.”You're just another toy for me to play with.”

All too quickly, your orgasm washed through you without a warning. You had felt it building earlier, and you had managed to shove it away for the sake of your pride but now? Now you were breathless as Dabi pumped his fingers in and out of you, watching your pussy flutter and spasm around the digits with glee. 

“I’m that good, huh?” He cooed, but it was patronizing and made your wobbly insides feel even weaker. He gave your clit another swipe with his thumb before taking his hand away entirely. You were left on the ground, ass-up-face-down, panting heavily as your vision came back to you slowly. You let your eyes flutter shut, the exhaustion of the night weighing heavily on you. That was, until Dabi’s hand came down on your outer thigh in the least gentle way conceivable. 

“You didn’t think I was done, did you, pretty girl?” 

You groaned, ready to give up and let yourself go numb to the experience, but Dabi wouldn’t let you. You heard him fumbling with his belt and the zipper of his pants, huffing quietly in the, at this point, early morning air. He was still rock hard, despite having gone neglected this entire time, aching and leaking into his boxers. Dabi let out his own quiet groan as he palmed himself through the thin fabric, and the sight of you screaming as he split you open was almost too much to bear. He watched your gaping hole clench around the cold air again, like your body was begging for his cock. 

He had to have you, and he had to have you at that very moment. Without another moment’s hesitation, Dabi flipped you over easily, settling himself between your legs like it was his home. You yelped and tried to wriggle free, but another firm smack on your backside stopped you just as soon as you had started. It was a quick, rushed action to pull his boxers down to his knees, his cock springing free and hitting his stomach before he lined the tip up with your entrance. 

You sputtered at the sight of his dick. Because who on God’s Green Earth decided that any man should have a dick that was good looking, but also that intimidating, and why was it attached to a murderer, and why was it pierced of all things? It twitched under your gaze, flushed red and angry that it had gone so long without attention until Dabi wrapped his hand around the base. 

“Like what you see, huh?” 

Opening your mouth to form a retort, you found that it was impossible due to Dabi sticking his fingers, the ones that had been curling so deliciously inside you a few minutes ago, into your mouth. At the same time, he pressed his hips forward, bullying his length inside you without any complaints from your pussy. 

“Oh fuck- ” he nearly whined, throwing his head back at the feeling of your tight heat, slick and easy to rut into, around him. “You feel s’good ‘round my cock. You like this don’t you, baby? Can feel your pussy tryna suck me in, like a bitch in heat.”

He was rambling, dirty words spilling from his mouth as you very half-heartedly tried to push him away. After all this time, you still couldn’t mentally get around the fact that he was raping you. The term felt wrong, because truth be told you were enjoying the experience, probably a little too much for a supposed ‘victim’, but it was true. You were being split open on Dabi’s enticing cock, and despite what your body was saying, that it felt good, to just let it happen and maybe he’d let you go, your head knew better. 

Dabi only laughed at the way you struggled, tightening his grip on your waist to leave bruises almost immediately. “Stop fighting me,” he growled, his hips snapping forward to bury himself deeper inside you. “You know you want this, your pussy can’t lie to me.” 

He punctuated his words with a particularly hard thrust, relishing the way your inner walls clenched around him. Your protests were getting weaker, and falling on deaf ears as your movements became less frantic. 

“That's it, just relax - take it,” he muttered, hands sliding up and down your sides in a way that you could have called comforting, in another universe. “Good girl.” 

You whimpered at the praise, because fuck it was starting to feel good. He was starting to feel good, rocking his dick into your tight, wet heat almost robotically slow. The burning pain had faded away, leaving only a faint pleasure in your veins that was steadily growing stronger. You felt his hands glide down over your hips, to the backs of your knees where he hiked your legs up close to your chest. It created a whole new angle for him to grind into you from, and you keened in response. 

“Look at you, so eager for me,” Dabi purred, his voice low and filthy. “I barely have to move and you're already clenching down on my cock like you need it to survive.”

He leaned down, nipping at your neck hard enough to leave marks. His tongue laved over the stinging skin, soothing the hurt even as his hips started moving faster. “I wonder,” he mused, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of your thighs, “will you still be this desperate for me when I’m done with you? When I’ve fucked you raw and left you dripping with my cum?”

You whined and shook your head, blinking back tears that sprang up out of nowhere, and pressed the heels of your hands into your eyes. You couldn’t speak, not with the way Dabi seemed like he was on a personal mission to fuck the air out of your lungs. It was succeeding. 

Dabi grinned wickedly as he watched you struggle to hold back tears, your face contorted in a mix of pain and pleasure. “Aww, don't cry, baby,” he cooed mockingly, continuing his relentless pace. “We're just getting started.”

He could feel your walls fluttering around him, squeezing his cock like a vice as he slammed into you over and over. The wet sounds of your coupling filled the air, obscene and filthy, making you cringe internally at how loud it all was. 

“Fuck, you're so tight,” he groaned, his hips jerking forward with renewed vigor. “I bet you've never been fucked like this before, have you? Never had someone pound this pretty little cunt until you can’t even think straight.”

Dabi reached down, grabbing a fistful of your hair and yanking your head back. He crashed his lips against yours in a brutal kiss, all teeth and tongue as he consumed you.

“I’m gonna ruin you for anyone else,” he growled against your mouth, panting. “By the time I'm done, the only name you’ll remember is mine. The only thing you’ll crave is my cock splitting you open.” 

He punctuated his words with a particularly hard thrust, grinding his pelvis against your clit. The movement sent sparks of white hot pleasure shooting up your spine, too much and not enough all at once.

Dabi groaned, his voice rough with desire as the tip of his cock bruised your cervix. “Your pussy was just made for my cock.”

He could feel you clenching around him, fluttering and squeezing as he pounded into you, and he knew he wasn't going to last much longer, pleasure building at the base of his spine.

“I’m going to fill you up,” he growled, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of your hips with a searing heat. “Paint your insides with my cum until you're dripping with it.”

His thrusts became erratic, his rhythm faltering as he chased his release. He could feel you tensing beneath him, your moans growing higher and more desperate.

“Come for me,” he commanded, his voice a low, authoritative rumble. “Show me how much you love being fucked by me.”

With a final, brutal push, Dabi buried himself to the hilt inside of you. His cock twitched and throbbed as he emptied himself into you, wave after wave of hot cum flooding your cunt. And you responded in kind, keening as you writhe on the moss and dirt of the forest floor. 

As the aftershocks of your shared climax subsided, Dabi pulled out of you with a wet pop. He watched with a smug grin as his cum leaked out of your abused hole, trickling down your thighs and pooling on the ground beneath them.

"Look at the mess you made," he purred, reaching down to scoop some of the pearly liquid onto his fingers. "So sloppy and dirty, just like a good little cumslut should be."

You winced at his words, feeling something like rage flicker inside your chest.

He brought his fingers to your lips, smearing the sticky fluid across them. "Clean them," he commanded, his voice low and authoritative. "Taste what I gave you, what you earned."

“No,” you grumbled, pushing his hand away. You looked up to see Dabi sneering down at you, eyebrows furrowed darkly at your defiance. “I’m not your fucking toy to play with.” 

Dabi laughed. “Did you hit your head? I could kill you right now.” 

“But you haven’t,” you snap, sitting up with another wince. Cold was seeping back into your bones, now that you weren’t sweating, and you yanked your pants back up over your ass. Despite everything that had happened, you were pumped full of adrenaline now, a violent fury building in your veins. “So fuck you. ” 

Dabi smirked at you condescendingly, but he wasn’t stopping you. He was most likely also tired, you thought, and probably wasn’t expecting you to put up any more of a fight. “I already did, sweetheart. And now you’re never getting away.” 

Whatever had been snowballing inside you snapped. With a jagged scream, you threw yourself at Dabi, the murderer, the rapist, the pyromaniac who had killed your friends and had chased you into the surrounding forest to get his dick wet, sending him sprawled on his back with a thud and an unexpected rush of air leaving his lungs. It had been so unexpected that Dabi didn’t even get the chance to fire up his quirk, and he still didn’t have a chance when you started choking him. 

“F-Fuck,” he sputtered, but that was all he could get out. 

“You - fucking - bastard -” you snarled, shaking him with each furious word that left your lips. “Think you’re going to get away with this?” 

Dabi’s eyes were rolling back into his head, and his face was turning a pre-dawn shade of lilac. His hands came up and clawed at your wrists, sparking blue with his flames, but you weren’t getting burnt. You didn’t even feel the warmth of the fire, watching in morbid delight as Dabi was struggling more and more to breathe beneath you. 

“P-please,” he croaked. 

It gave you pause, his pleading, and you relinquished your tight grip on his airway. Not all the way, mind you, there was no way in hell you were letting this fucker go, but you sat back enough that he was able to suck in a short breath of air. 

“You’re begging?” You asked incredulously. “You’re begging me? That’s rich, asshole.” 

“I’m sorry,” Dabi rasped. His voice was much more hoarse than it had been a few seconds ago. Regret flashed in his sparkling blue eyes, and your shoulders fell. You couldn’t kill him. Was that even what you had been trying to do? Kill him? In cold blood, just like he had done to your friends? You couldn’t do that. You couldn’t- 

Dabi laughed in your face. Malicious, dark, and 100% not apologetic in the slightest. 

Yes you could.  

You screamed and went back to choking the man beneath you, enjoying the struggle he put up. Now his flames really were burning you, but you didn’t care even as smoke seeped up from his neck and into your face. You’d live with his burns for the rest of your life if it meant you could cause maybe as much damage to him as he did to you. Dabi grunted, and with one strong shove, managed to push you away from him as he coughed and gulped down as much oxygen as possible. 

Your shoulders heaved as you stumbled up and away from Dabi. He was laughing now, even as his eyes watered and he wheezed in the crisp morning air. You were still angry. Still violently, unashamedly angry. Your insides felt sticky and gross, and you could feel bile rising in your throat as the true reality of everything was starting to crash down on you. No, your mind screamed, push it away. You’re not done yet.  

You shook yourself off, and grabbed Dabi by the back of the throat. He yelped in surprise, wriggling to try and get free from your grasp but your fingernails dug tightly into his flesh and clothes, making every effort useless. 

You slammed his face into the bark of the closest tree with every ounce of pain and anguish roiling beneath your skin. Blood gushed from his nose, and you swallowed back another wave of bile. Dabi opened his mouth to say something again. His teeth were stained red, his gums also bleeding. 

“You still alive, fucker?” You asked, leaning in close to his ear. You noticed now that he had his ears pierced. 

Dabi nodded, like he was satisfied with himself, and gave a low chuckle. “Yeah I’m still kicking, bitch.” 

“Good.” You paused, dragging out the moment before you continued, “because I want the last thing you’ll ever hear is me telling you that tomorrow, when the news rolls out, it’s not going to be your name in the headlines. It’s going to be mine.”

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[isabeauwolf]

Alright.

Since it's been days since we've gotten to see our beloved birdman Kai Chisaki one more time in the manga, we've all let our feelings out about his ending, either you hated it or not. Felts depressed and sad.

I gotta ask all of my fellow Overhaul, Kai Chisaki stans and fans: What made you pick Overhaul as your favorite character/ Villain in MHA?

What made him draw you in?

Fascinate you?

Fall for him so hard, he drew you away from your previous anime/manga husband or wifu?

Where you a manga or anime only before his handsome villainous yakuza birdman came into your life?

Was it is character design? Mannerisms? His powerful quirk? His plan to erase quirks, his serum and determination to restore the Shie Hassaikai into power? His godly voice by both Kenjiro Tsuda and Kellen Goff?

(Pst, honestly, I love it all ;) His man's got my heart is a death grip; even if, he's competing with Trafalgar Law for my attention and affection, and now Dabi.)

Instead of throwing around all the hate surrounding this man. Let's send him off with a bang! Love, support, the whole she-bang, even if, you still high disagree with his actions towards Pops and Eri.

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

(If every seems out of order or all over the place, I'm sorry! Please be, patient with me, and thank you!)

I've give my personal thoughts on Kai Chisaki, Overhaul. My yakuza birdman husband here! (huge breakdown/ summary, rant about this man; spoilers ahead!) Not like, I haven't been doing that the whole time, I've been on here XD I've talked with other Overhaul/Kai stans and fans on here, giving my two cents, which I love and appreciate to everyone who's talked and fangirled/boyed with me!

Be warned that I might to ramble, and this whole thing might now make sense, or is all over the place, again, I'm sorry! But if you don't mind, I thank you!

I started off as an anime only, and watched on my own time. Even if I heard AFO's introduction, and All For One's and All Might's battle at Kamino Ward and All Might saying goodbye One For All in subbed first; my husband was watching it the living room while I was on my laptop watching a different series. The music drew me in and I couldn't look away, watching the whole battle with baited breath until it was over.

Then I watched the series by myself since I couldn't sleep months after. Cheering for Deku, smiling and crying with hm.

I watch in dubbed first, since it's hard to focus on subbed while having a toddler running around. XD Then rewatch it in subbed form.

Anyways, at the end of season 3 we get a tease of Overhaul's introduction. His voice, golden eyes drew me in, hook line and sinker.

I've always been a sucker for bad boys and I love a man that wears a suit. lol So it gave Overhaul some brownie points. I know it isn't just me! Don't lie, haha.

The fact that Overhaul straight up challenged Shigaraki for the spot as the next King of the Underworld, pointing out his mistakes and lack of motivation once more; the same as Stain had in the previous hard, showing that Overhaul himself had been in the game a bit longer than Shiggy.

Overhaul while insulting the younger villain was indeed asking the right questions. Shiggy had misused and lost his powerful NPC's during the Training Camp attack with the Vanguard Action Squad, Muscular and Moonfish.

He had every right to question his motives.

Overhaul is blunt and spoke the truth about Shiggy's leadership skills, even if it ending with Magne's death. As sad as it was she did attack him first when if she was defending her belief's and the league, she didn't have to die. Compress didn't have to lose an arm.

The confrontation and damage done on both side makes you see that Overhaul is a dangerous man, with an equally dangerous quirk on top of being able to bring someone back to life if he wanted to, showcasing the quirk erasing bullets. We hadn't really seen an onscreen death before then, or at least, not that I remember.

Overhaul is cold blooded and driven, but calm and calculated; he's a man who's not afraid to get his hands dirty when he needs to, despite his quirks drawback and hate of the aftermath.

When we meet him again with Shigaraki at the Shie Hassaikai underground meeting room, and the bits given by Sir Nighteye, it's clear that Overhaul has the means to til the scales of Villain and Hero society, if he was given more time and wasn't fighting against the clock. He still needed more funding and man power to mass product both sets of bullets.

Had he succeeded and gotten away with his arms still intact, despite losing Eri to the Heroes, we might have seen him and the right bullets again down the line, but it wasn't in the cards.

(We finally get to see Kai, our birdman unmasked and his poor man get's done soooo dirty! First it's his stoic and impressive, criminally handsome face, then Shiggy took his hard work, him and Mr Compress tag-teamed taking his hands away, leaving him quirkless, helpless, in despair and he's terrified! Not for himself, but because without his quirk he can't reverse the damage he's done to pop's, he can't wake him up or talk to him again.)

Underestimating the Heroes, The League, and being overly cocky and arrogant played a major part of his own fall. His isolation from others and seeing his subordinates and closest friend as pawns to be used and thrown away didn't help, yet the men closest to his inner circle were indeed the most loyal of his followers.

It wasn't outright said, but shown that Overhaul himself was forgiving and understanding when Chrono or Nemoto made mistakes, he didn't scold them or yell at them.

( If I missed anything in this summary, let me know. XD )

He's a well written character and villain. A man possessed and obsessed with fulfilling his goals, repaying Pops, the man who took him in and gave him a home, a place to be himself.

The way Pops found Chisaki as a boy, alone, covered in filth and I imagine he was hungry, always made me feel as if we were missing something from his past. He wanted more than anything to replay the man who saved him and rebuilding the Shie Hassaikai's former glory and reputation along with returning people quirkless.

Might have saved so many lives who were eventually lost, but at the end of the day, he still choose the darkest route and solution.

If the Quirk Doomsday theory we've heard about and snippets we've seen so far. Different combinations of quirks are getting stronger and stronger, people like Touya who's bodies destroys itself while using his fire. There may come a time where not even support items could save a person from their overly strong and destructive quirk.

Could you imagine what he could have done with his quirk, if he was a doctor?! He could have replaced recovery girl's position as UA's school nurse or even a Doctor since healing quirks are so rare.

Of course, I'm not saying what he did was justified by any means.

Kai Chisaki, Overhaul is practically The Fullmetal Alchemist in MHA without the use of Equivalent Exchange! Yes, he threw away his human name, becoming, "a demon with no heart" as Pops says.

As we see him fuse with Nemoto and Rikiya Katsukame, each fusion he becomes more monstrous, a much more darker version of himself; fulling giving into "Overhaul," his villain persona, not carrying who he has to hurt to get his way.

I will admit that I'm down bad for Kai/Overhaul and his Monsterhaul form, Nemoto version, but the giant monster form, lol

Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty.

Knowing about him being in Dr Garaki's/AFO's orphanage and that Shigaraki has a copy of his quirk. They more they parallel each other so much more after that reveal.

It explains so much about his character!

Kai Chisaki won't flat out say it or address it, neither has Horikoshi but its clear that he was heavily traumatized and abused as a kid before Pops found him.

Oh yes, the trauma bucket! Like our beloved characters in the series doesn't have enough trauma as it is. Let's see how far that habit hole goes for Kai? -_-

The lack of remorse for his victims, justifies his action, manipulative, lack of physical response to violence, deception, and hostel, his acts are usually well planned in advance, irritability and aggressive behavior when provoked, reckless disregard for safety of others - antisocial and sociopathic tendencies.

Lack of empathy, believes he's special and the only one who can cure the world, need for admiration from Pops, his abandonment and self-worth issues go hand-in-hand with his fear of his father figure throwing him out of the Shie Hassaikai with his final ultimatum of dropping his plan.

Out of everything, we only get sprinkles here and there that Kai had done before snapping.

You can see it, the way he tenses and his hands ball into a fists, no doubt, surprised, shocked, hurt even before redirected into anger and violence.

Putting his father figure into a coma, and taking matters into his own hands. Become the villain, we all know and love, adore, praise, however you see him as.

Before becoming "Overhaul," Kai used to get into brawls with anyone who dared disrespect the Shie Hassaikai, and wants to help the boss; protecting the honor of the yakuza and protecting them from being called, "Villains." (Classic delinquent behavior, I imagine he did it in high school since we've seen him do it as an adult.)

We see him wear normal clothes: black dress pants, blazer and purple dress shirt, no gloves and a black duster mask over his face. (I'd honestly, love to see Kai in more civilian, classy outfits! More unbuttoned shirts and all, please!)

Even if Pops scolding him and explaining that they must protect civilians instead of hurting them, the old man still affectionately pets the top of his head and praises him for protecting their honor. Which in itself is a kind gesture, but something I think he took a little too much into his heart.

The scolding for doing something dishonorable, but praised for his intentions has overtime been taken form into the most cold and logical extreme actions.

Nobody can deny that Overhaul's got drip! XD

Overhaul's more professional outfits: the red and gold plague doctor's mask, and white gloves. Borrowing inspiration from All For One, he uses his quirks name as his alias, his Villain name and quirk ability, the idea for his quirk erasing and serum, as "Overhaul", he can kill and wants to change the world.

To preserve the past, he must engage with the present and became a villain out of necessity.

What's the difference?

The differences between a young Kai standing up for his father's honor and the snarling demon he has become. All of it against a world that had clearly outgrown him and the old ways of the Yakuza, but he refused to accept it and to protect his only family and most precious person, Pops.

As we've been in the latest chapter of MHA, without his quirk, without his arms and plague mask, and the last time we saw him. Kai Chisaki, inside is still a boy who wants to make his father figure proud and wants attention and praise.

As Pop's said before he took things too far again, shoving the older man's wisdom and wishes aside, taking action into his own hands, not only crossing the line between the gray that Pop's held against the Villains' and Heroes, Black and White, Kai instead, erased the line and jumped over it, making his own line and walked into a dangerous and dishonorable path.

======= What I missed last minute, sorry guy's.... I'm almost done, I swear! =======

It's clear, that he's smart and well educated, he could have studied as a medical student, read medical journals during his free time or just because he was a huge science and medical geek, we will never know.

My bet's on the ladder, practicing how to control his quirk and for the fun of it. He's the type of person to obssess with something and run away with it, a concerting amount.

You can't tell me that Pop's didn't walk in to Kai's room or living room, seeing Kai asleep on the couch or floor with a book either on his face or on his chest! Or Kai geeking out over a first edition or rare medical journal he found or Pop's and Hari had given him as a birthday present!

The birdman is such a workaholic that he's no doubt forgotten about his birthday, if Pop's or Hari didn't plan something for him!

If Kai is such a health nut and germ, wash your hands after every speck of dusk lands on your hands, then I need to know his skincare routine!

Do you think his hands is soft?

We know he works out from how jacked he is from his back and abs, fuck, I'd gladly claim him like a tree X////////////x

I'm not the only one who wanted him to have those traditional tatts, right? Of course, it's optional and traditional, but come on! I excepted to see the Shie Hassaikai's embalm, sakura or at least, a raven something! Anything! Hell, all three! Well, in my fanfic he does.

Also, Lady Nagant, you lucky woman, getting to touch and dress Kai!

Wish, I could trade places to pamper and comfort this man.

Screw you, AFO, Kai comes first.

I don't care if Kai comes off as stuck-up, spoiled rich brat, a bubble bath princess, narcissist and a asshole. If given the change to rock this man's world and fuck his brains out, you bet your ass I would!

If he could put up with my ditzy, clumsy, sassy, way too honest and smart-ass mouth, then fine. Baby needs to laugh more! I wanna see him smile!

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

Well, it's almost 2am and I'm going to be. XD If you've had to through my rant/rambling of Kai. Share your thoughts with me... again, sorry for it being too long and wayyyyy all over the place.

Of course, I always forget something...... XD

[varpusvaras]

Fox hated being cold.

Kamino was always cold. The temperatures inside were set to be comfortable for standard humans, but it didn't actually make the cold go away. The cold was white, sterile, indifferent and uncaring. The only thing that ever really managed to ward it off was sticking close to his brothers, especially during the night, when they had the chance to pretend that featurless halls and rooms outside were not there, waiting to shape them even further into beings that were just as featurless as them.

It was all for the purpose of making them into what they were created for. For making them live up to that purpose and only for it.

It was what he was made to be. Fox didn't complain. His brothers did, sometimes, while sticking their feet and fingers into Fox's skin, like they were trying to melt into him. Fox didn't complain.

---

Coruscant was just as cold as Kamino.

Fox had anticipated it. There was no place in the Galaxy for them to be warm, with their world's being contained inside their armors.

Coruscant was different from Kamino, but not in the ways that truly mattered to Fox. It was a place of colors and lights and billions of heartbeats. It was a place that wanted nothing to do with them but wanted everything from them.

Fox didn't complain. His brothers stopped as well.

For some reason it felt like they had stopped because they were not cold anymore.

---

The tall, nice Senator smiled at Fox. It was a small smile, polite more than anything, but it was still warm.

---

Senator Organa smiled a lot. It shouldn't have meant anything when he smiled at Fox.

Senator Organa's wife smiled a lot as well. It should've meant even less when she smiled at him. Fox was pretty sure that it was in the requirements of a Queen to smile.

---

It didn't meant anything.

Thorn called him a terrible liar. Fox didn't admit anything.

---

Thorn was right. Fox was a terrible liar.

---

Fox leaned closer to Bail. He thought that maybe Bail hadn't noticed him doing it, as Fox was trying his best to be subtle about it, but Bail turned to look at him anyway.

"Are you cold?" He asked. He put his arm around Fox and pulled him closer before Fox could even say anything, and Fox went, basking in the warmth that was given to him, even when he deserved none of it.

---

Fox couldn't sleep. He tried to stay still, to not disturb Bail or Breha, but then Breha's eyes were open and she was looking at him.

"Is everything okay?" She asked him, quiet. She reached out and rubbed Fox's arm gently, her hand almost scorching against Fox's skin, the warmth from it seeping through his skin all the way to his bones. "Are you cold?"

"No", Fox answered, and he meant it. "Everything's okay."

---

Fox laid still, listening to Even's soft breathing. He had fallen asleep ages ago, not fussing at all, and Fox had work to do that he had promised himself he would do during Even's afternoon nap, but Fox just couldn't make himself to move. He laid there, Even's little head pressed against his cheek, his tiny fingers grasping Fox's hair lightly even when asleep, and listened.

Even was the opposite of what Fox had been. He was warm and smelled like the pinetrees in the forest where they had taken him that morning, and Fox had to lay there and listen to him simply breathe to make sure that it was all real.

Bail came in at some point, his steps soft and his smile warm as he looked at them. He didn't say anything, only pulled up the blanket from the foot of the bed over Fox, pressed a kiss to his temple, brushed his hand gently over Even's hair, and picked up the datapad that had all of Fox's work in it on his way out.

Fox closed his eyes and listened to Even's soft breathing, and he let himself sink into the warmth all around him.

[aworldoflovely]

I think it would be funny if during all of the post-reveal dramatics it turns out that Fuyumi has been a pretty big player in the criminal underground since like, 15.

Like, she knows Giran and has a professional working relationship with Mr. Compress. There's a really strong party drug named after her, and she has an off shore bank account with millions in it. She's run drugs, robbed banks, and has made a few people disappear.

She and Dabi had actually crossed paths a few times before. I personally like to think both their mental illnesses meshed well enough that they compartmentalized those meetings and had relaxing time catching up over drinks.

This all comes out when maybe Shouto is confiding in her about how he is hurt and confused and she's like

"Oh Shou, I don't think he actually hates us. When I was talking to him the other day-"

"You talked to him before all this?"

"Oh I didn't mention it? Yeah it was last Thursday when I was supervising a delivery at the docks-"

"What? What delivery? Why were you at the docks?"

"I'm at the docks at least once or twice a month Shouto, remember? When you were living at home those were the nights I'd leave dinner in the fridge for you and Dad."

"No, I don't remember this! Are you telling me that you spend your nights-"

"I'd leave notes on the fridge and would update the family calender. I know you get alerts on it because you always come home early on soba nights"

Shouto then takes out his phone, goes to what he considers his Soba Alert app, sees it's actually a calender and sees months and possibly years of-

Tuesday, March 18th. Making deliveries at drop points A, D and H. Will be back late.

Thursday, May 23rd. Overseeing production of new product in Kamino ward. Will bring home take-out.

And Saturday, July 9th. Henchman and Goon Appreciation day at the park. Will bring home leftovers from the barbecue.

[ficitig]

I don’t specialize in one fandom, but I do read a lot! Here are my top MHA fics of this year. I did finally read a bunch of fandom classics this time, and so if you’re wondering if any of them are still worth your while these are the ones that caught my eye!

For Their Sakes is probably my favorite though if you just want to skip to that one. So many good contenders, but that fic changed the way I look at Hawks completely. From an “eh” character to, Love Of My Life

Aim For the Heart — 5K | Gen: In which One For All died at his brother's hands, but inexplicably, is reborn as Aizawa Shouta

All That Matters in the End — 269K | Gen: Midoriya Izuku and Aizawa Shouta are brothers. It changes... everything

Anyone — 244K | Gen: Imagine a world where your quirk determines your path and your worth. A world that has no place for a quirkless boy. Despite that, Izuku is determined to become a hero. Until he realizes no one will let him. So he accidentally creates a helpful (criminal) organization. And he (not so) accidentally steals One for All.

Beware Stained Glass Shards — 3K | EraserMic: The world is shattering around him, his life burning out from under his feet - but at this point, with the nerve of Oboro's death still raw between his ribs, with Shouta's absence an event horizon in his chest since the day he walked out, all Hizashi can do is feed the flames

Cardiac Arrest — 190K | Gen: All of the dead at Kamino Ward had been accounted for, sans one. One body had been pulled from the rubble, lifeless and limp, and taken away

Cheat Code: Support Strategist — 197K | Hatsume/Midoriya: After All Might gives Izuku a much needed reality check, he has to find a new dream. When he learns that the support course at UA offers an emphasis in Intelligence and Analytics, it sounds like the perfect new passion for him to throw himself into

Deku? I Think He’s Some Pro… — 191K | Gen: Izuku Midoriya goes home and decides that, even if he can't be hero himself, he can still help them with his analysis. Cue Izuku catching the attention of multiple heroes who are a little more open-minded and willing to see the potential in a quirkless kid

For Their Sakes — 312K | Gen: Ten years in the future, Hero Society has fallen and Villains have taken over the world. The seven survivors of Class 1-A (and Shinso) scramble to save what little they have left but after one last, fatal attack, they know they’ve lost. Their enemy is too powerful. There is no one left to save. Their only chance for victory is in the past, so to the past they travel. Unfortunately, there are some unforeseen side-effects…

It’s a Dangerous World Out There For a Kid Like You — 59K | Gen: Izuku had read a statistic in a magazine once. As few as 1 in 10 Quirkless children survived their first year out in the streets. Izuku was 15 years old

Little Liar — 149K | Gen: Deku was raised as a villain until, one fateful day, he manages to escape. All Might is there, ready to adopt and protect him, but there's a lot of ground work to make up

Lost and Found — 23K | Gen: When Izuku is eight, he makes his first real friend, the new transfer student Shinsou Hitoshi. As school and home life goes from bad to worse, Izuku and Hitoshi have only each other to rely on. That is, until they meet a tired man in an alleyway

Mild Mannered School Teacher/Adrenaline Junkie Vigilante — 136K | Fuyumi/Rumi: Fuyumi Todoroki was stressed. She was always the peacekeeper, the ice-quirk user who calms the hot-headed members of her family. What was she supposed to do when she was frustrated, and couldn't calm herself down? Go onto the streets and become a vigilante, of course

Negation — 19K | Gen: Passive Quirks are a bitch. Izuku is reasonably done with the situation

Paper Agency — 47K | Shinsou/Midoriya: Brand new U.A. graduate, Shinsou Hitoshi, has a lot on his plate between finding a job, looking for a place to live, figuring out what his relationship with his mentors is going to look like now that they're not teacher and student anymore, and why his civilian boyfriend, Izuku, is acting so damn weird

Something Still Remains — 3K | Gen: Aizawa Shouta is two years out of UA, and three years grieving the death of one of his best friends, when a stranger knocks on his door in the middle of the night

Summoning Problems — 4K | Gen: Izuku develops an inconvenient quirk. Hisashi Midoriya is not prepared

Throw Me a Goddamn Rope - Just Enough to Hang Myself With — 111K | Gen: All he did was walk Izuku Midoriya home. It wasn’t meant to turn into whatever mess this is

Tickets to the Todoroki Trauma Drama are Buy 1 Get 1 Free — 24K | Gen: When Fuyumi gets hit by a quirk that body-swaps twins, she wakes up somewhere else—despite the fact that her twin died a decade ago. That’s confusing enough on its own, but why is she surrounded by villains?

Viridian: The Green Guide — 272K | Kaminari/Midoriya: After his dream is finally crushed, Izuku isn’t quite sure there’s anything left for him to live for, but...he can’t exactly kill himself either, not without hurting the people he cares the most about. So, when he realizes that the quirkless can’t technically be vigilantes, it seems like the best of both worlds

[heroes-of-the-new-world]

Illustration by sakura_rose12

Izuku's stomach churned. There was enough sake in that gourd to get twenty people drunk. Yet he downed it like it was water.

"Nnnngh… We're being watched, Maria." he growled, setting the gourd down.

Izuku's heart stopped. 'Black Maria…'

"Watched, my lord?" Black Maria made a show of looking around. "There's only us here. No one would dare intrude."

"It's something…small, weak," Kaido mused. "I can't quite place it."

Izuku was frozen stiff as he moved out of sight in the vent, floating so as to not make a sound; as he remembered what Yamato had told him. The Observation Haki, that let him sense all around him.

But why could Kaido sense him! He meant Kaido no harm! He had no intent to fight! And Kaido had drunk enough sake to get the JMSDF plastered! How could he still sense him!?

"Rats perhaps, my lord?" suggested Black Maria. Fortunately, she did not sound particularly concerned. "We could have Who's Who provide some cats."

"There are others here… in their lounges," rumbled Kaido. "I know them. But this one…no, not one… but many.."

"Many presences, my lord?" For all her courtesan manner, Black Maria still managed to sound dubious. "Perhaps men tending to the pipes? Or filling in the crawlspaces?"

"A single rat, but not alone," Kaido went on, as if she had not spoken. "Nine of them…"

Izuku almost cried out. Nine of them? Did that mean he could sense the Vestiges? Could Haki sense even the dead? He can't hear the vestiges… but he can sense the fear.

They knew as well. They were as silent as he. Even they who went up against and spoke back to All for One… were paralyzed in fear.

He felt his sense beginning to boil. His heart rate being the only thing he can hear outside of Kaido's lair.

It was deafening.

"A possum, perhaps," commented Black Maria. "They carry their young on their backs, or so I hear."

"Maybe…" the large man slurred, acknowledging her suggestions for the first time.

Izuku was terrified. Only once, long ago, had he been quite so afraid as this. That time in Kamino Ward, with All for One.

But there was no All Might this time, no fellow heroes and friends like Todoroki and Yaoyozoru to stand with him, to help him fight. Even then, his objective was to save Kacchan, not fight the Symbol of Evil.

He was utterly alone. Only the wall, and the pipe, separated him from Kaido; the Demon King of this living hell.

Izuku's mind ran wild, as his old nightmares returned; his horrified imaginings, and the memories the Vestiges had shown him in their combined mutual state of mind numbing terror.

Their memories of the world before, the world of chaos and darkness, as humanity lashed out in blind terror at the strange new power growing in its midst. Countless lives had been lost or ruined, cruelty piled upon injustice a thousand times a thousand times. Cities had burned, nations torn themselves apart, never to recover. Human civilization had fallen to the very edge of utter ruin.

Yes, Kaido was like those times. As if that era of destruction, chaos, barbarism and madness had been fused into a living form.

Kaido would have fitted right in. He would have made that world his own. No petty dictator, no Villain, and no Hero could have stopped him. Even One for All could not have stopped him. He would have made Japan his Onigashima..

No. Not Japan. A shadow king like All for One might have settled for Japan, but not Kaido.

The world would have been his sandbox. To create, change, and destroy as the mood took him.

He felt so cold. His soul shrank, his body faltered. His hands going to his hair as he tried to breathe. Reality seemed to fade around him, sinking into a morass of cold, black despair.

There was no power that could oppose that thing. Even One for All would not be enough! He was no match!

"It's annoying."

The sense began to flare.

The quakes. The quakes of his footsteps. The shuffling of metal that was Hassaikai being taken up from the floor, the surprised gasps and groans from the other courtesans.

He could sense it. It was only a shape in the low light, a shadow darkening the vent several meters ahead of Izuku, but he could feel that great and terrible presence, moving slowly towards him. It was… choking him. His head was beginning to burn.

Those horrible slitted yellow eyes bearing at his spot.

"The vermin…" the monster continued, "They're still here."

"Maybe it's paralyzed in fear, my lord."

"Maybe so…but it's irritating."

This was it. He was doomed. If he tried to flee, then Kaido would sense him, and rouse the entire island against him. If he didn't, then he would have to face Kaido himself.

He flees, he is almost certainly dead and the plan ruined.

He fights, he is certainly dead.

The vestiges were silent. No doubt paralyzed with the same fear as he.

With the same realization too.

"Come back to bed my lord. It's only a possum."

"Bwuh… *hic*, it'll give the newcomers something to do. And I… fancy having a window here."

Izuku heard the gust as Kaido drew back his club. He wanted to howl, to flee, to run and cower somewhere small and dark. His Danger Sense was blazing so hard he thought his head would split into two; his brain pounding with his heart inside his small, fragile body.

He was so scared. He couldn't move, or scream, or breathe.

He couldn't breathe!

Izuku clutched at himself, tears streaming down his face. He couldn't do it. He wasn't strong enough. He was nowhere near strong enough. He was going to die! He was going to die alone in this place, alone and unremembered! He was going to…

Someone…

ANYONE!

[Chapter 14, Heroes of the New World by Zaru]

[sarahjtv]

My Hero Academia Chapter 403: The End of an Era and The Beginning

It's been a while since I did this mainly due to being busy with Grad School (which I'm almost done with thank god). But, I don't think a chapter has gotten me this hyped since Shoto Todoroki: Rising and Ochako's chapter where she saves Toga. Since the chapter is officially released, I can scream, cry, and kick my feet with you all in these bullet points. God, I love My Hero Academia, y'all.

• First off, HOLY SHIT KATSUKI BAKUGO IS ALIVE!!!!!! Apparently, it has been over 400 days since he was initially killed and brought every Bakugo lover to their knees in tears including myself. I still remember leaks night when that happened and pretty much everyone was in mourning. Then leaks night happens for his revival and everyone is celebrating like it's the second coming of Christ or something and I'm with them!

• We all knew that Bakugo would come back to life once Edgeshot started surgery on his heart, but it was the way his resurrection would be executed that I was wondering about. I can see why the whole "Edgeshot suddenly sacrifices himself to save Bakugo" would lessen the impact of his "death", but I really don't care much anymore because the way Kohei Horikoshi brought Bakugo back was SO good!

• Think about it: All Might is on the brink of death in the hands of All For One. All the red flags are there including the flashback of baby Toshinori (SO CUTE BTW LOOK AT THAT BIG LAUGH🥺) and his mother (whom he absolutely inherited his hairstyle from) in this very chapter. Gentle wants to help save him, but he's focused on keeping UA in the air. Every pro hero, UA student, and the Big 3 are either severely injured, passed out, or too preoccupied with something else to take on AFO. And even Izuku Midoriya, his protege, is busy dealing with Tomura Shigaraki in order to prevent him from turning Japan into dust. The only other person who can possibly save All Might now is Bakugo despite probably still being seriously injured himself.

• And this is great for Bakugo because this is his chance to save All Might. Not only is All Might his idol and his hero, but he is also the man Bakugo truly believes he destroyed after being kidnapped in Kamino Ward. I still believe Bakugo hasn't truly forgiven himself for that yet and this would be his way of redeeming himself. This reason alone is why I don't think All Might will die in this final arc. And if he does, I will be devastated because I really want to see him survive until the end.

• I am going to conclude this by commenting on how incredible Horikoshi is not just as a writer but as an artist because holy shit he needed that 2 week break. We got an incredible WSJ-colored Cover Page, a chapter-colored cover page, and then 15 pages of peak fiction. Those final pages once it's revealed that Bakugo is alive will live in my head rent-free for the rest of my days. ESPECIALLY THOSE LAST TWO PAGES HOLY SHIT! THE FACES, THE TEARS, THE WAY TIME SUDDENLY STOPPED WHEN THEY LOOKED AT EACH OTHER 💚🧡 The way Horikoshi draws All Might, Bakugo, and Deku is astounding and makes me cry. Those are his adopted sons. Those boys are soulmates in some capacity whether you like it or not. It may be the end of All Might's era, but it's the beginning of a new era; a new generation of heroes with Deku and Bakugo taking the lead. I can't wait for next week!

[cure-icy-writes]

The All Might bashing really gets to me as well, because it just? Straight up ignores the complexities of his character arc? Don’t get me wrong, the man’s not perfect, but he’s far from evil. He’s a self sacrificial man who put himself on a pedestal to make others feel safe, despite what the pedestal did to his physical and mental health, plus his social life-- look at him. He has like two friends and hasn’t contacted his mentor in years.

Another thing? Yes, he’s disabled, yes, he’s somewhat ableist, yes those can coexist. But that’s because the ableism is internalized-- he believed he could do nothing without his quirk, and he relied on OFA so heavily because he put all of his self worth into what he could do for other people. After the kamino ward arc, his first instinct is to go to Inko and say “well, shit. I’m kind of quirkless now, but at least I could give my life meaning by martyring myself for your son?”

And Inko, understandably, is horrified! She has to tell him “no, dipshit, your life has more value if you continue to live! Quirk or no quirk, abled or not, you deserve to live!” (Not in those exact words, but you get my point.)

And All Might has to just...live with that. He realizes he’s been kind of a bad teacher and ignorant to the needs of his students, despite his best intentions, and he makes an effort to fix that. He starts from the beginning, with a teaching for dummies handbook.

It was...really cathartic for me. To see a disabled man whose health had gotten much worse, to the point where he couldn’t help others like he used to, who then realizes that his life is worth living. Even if he’s unskilled without his physical health/quirk to compensate. Even if he has to start learning new skills from scratch. The narrative didn’t discard him once he had lost his worth; the narrative explicitly said he deserves to live and grow.

TL:DR All Might is a deeply flawed man with good intentions, internalized ableism, and a martyr complex which he is forced to confront and move past in his character arc. And I think he deserves to heal and understand the consequences of his actions, rather than being reduced to a two dimensional caricature of his worst moments.

A quick vent but this really bothered me

Why do people like All Might bashing so much? Like, what's the point? Especially since most of it is so out of character that it's just painful to read. Like, he's not flawless (that's kinda the point of his character - breaking the illusion of perfection.) But writing him as abusive/mean is just ridiculous, taking into consideration that his big *thing* is wanting good for others.

Today I saw a fic where the whole plot was basically "Aizawa is a good dad to Izuku who's diagnosed with autism, while All Might is horrible and ableist." Excuse me, but WHAT?? Ah yes, that man who's famously DISABLED, would totally be ableist and think that accommodation for a disabled student is "too much" and "unnecessary." That man who needs constant medical assist, who had to change his whole life to accommodate to his disability. Yeaaaaah, right.

Also, why are so many of AM bashing fics at the same time putting other teachers on pedestal. Aizawa was pretty awful to Izuku at the beginning, because he's a very judgemental person who needed to learn that he's sometimes wrong about others and that Izuku had a lot to offer. He certainly wasn't a perfect teacher, none of the UA teachers were. Aizawa got a great character development and later on was a good, dedicated teacher who sacrificed a lot for his kids. But treating him like he's a total angel who would never do anything wrong is just incorrect, especially considering that he's rough on students that are different from the rest in the way he considers "bad".

It really rubs me the wrong way when people literally ignore canon personalities of characters, break and reshape them into something those characters never were. You want a bad mentor for Izuku? Write an AU where his mentor is AFO. Write a villain AU where All Might is the bad guy and he's using Izuku as a tool. Or literally make an OC at this point. Just work with a different character that actually matches what you want to portray. Make Endeavour Izuku's mentor. Literally anything works better than trying to make All Might into a bad, cruel and abusive person. That's exactly the thing he'd never do.

I'm all for interpretations that focus more on the negative side of various characters - it can be very interesting. But some of y'all really just decided that you don't like AM for some reason and decided to rewrite the whole character, turning him inside out, to fit your personal issues with him. Issues that simply aren't there

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, Vigilantes 82, Replies Part 2

   (Vigilantes ch 70) 1) “There`s something going on, something I don`t like. He probably already knows where Koichi lives, he has no reason to not go there and kill him in person. While I thought he was another Nomu there was at least the benefit of the doubt of him not being strong enough for a direct confrontation, or at least not truly wanting to kill koichi, but no, McBee has no such excuse, which means that he was really aiming at Pop, and the fact he had no reason to lie to the fantasy boys that he wanted her to like her… This… This is not looking good. He really wanted her to like him, that`s why he infiltrated her workplace.

but why would he want that? What does he gain for liking him?”- He started using her as an ‘in’, but now he’s gotten to know her, he wants to make her a Star… an exploding star that burns out magnificently and fades away quickly.

   (Vigilantes ch 81) 2) “Ah- Now I get the cover page, that`s interesting.

But see, I just don`t feel beelievable Pop saying that out of her will. If it was the parasite saying that he would ruin everything for them out of spite, or that it was really another personality that is not Pop it would be impactful.

But Pop herself? I find it a bit absurd that those could ever be her darkest thoughts.”- But if it’s Nomura putting those thoughts in her head through the parasite somehow, so she can fit into the ‘tragic villain’ of his self-imagined ‘heroic narrative’ then it makes more since. Exploiting Pop’s insecurities to force her into a role she doesn’t actually fit just to tear Knuckle’s protégée down whilst propping himself up as the ‘superior’ version does fit with his focus on ‘directing’ events like they were a big production, as well as soothing his damaged ego after Knuckle shut him down cold in favour of Koichi.    (Vigilantes ch 81) 3) “huh- Wait- now I realized it

the bee is going to blow herself up?

The parasite is just going to fucking kill itself? HUH?

WHAT?

Why? Fucking why? I thought it would do anything to survive, they even said that the bees would just mess her up and flee if a Hero got her, when did that translated to “all the bees are just going to commit auto-kill”?”- Presumably Nomura overwrite whatever survival instincts it had to ensure it’ll follow the script he had in mind for it and Pop together, turning them both into a massive blast that’ll launch his hero career sky-high 4) “Honestly, from what we saw so far, nobody, because a hero that can`t save people isn`t that good in the first place. Even if you actually proved yourself later, if you decided to use this as the focal point of your story everybody would be like “yeah, O`clock two is kinda cool, but he`s not that good as a hero, his first deployment ended up a failure.””-  Koichi never really thought through his vigilante career himself, or considered how unfeasible it was to do it long-term despite the joy it brought him. Likewise, Nomura has put a lot of planning into starting his hero career, but his arrogant over-estimation of his own capabilities means that he thinks he’ll take to the role like a duck to water, so he also hasn’t thought through all the problems with would come with being a hero, and in fact comes off as more immature and unprepared than Koichi because of it, despite being more ‘serious’ about it. 5) “Yeah yeah, you`re fast, but can you keep up with the Crawler? I know you only work in short bursts, I doubt you`ll manage to catch him.”- He has the advantage in a short exchange, But Koichi can outlast him with his trained-up stamina and Quirk handling. In a way, it’s almost like an Inversion of where Midoiria and Shigaraki were after Kamino Ward, Izuku having the advantage of being able to instantly pulverise enemies with a massive attack and having to learn how to dial that back down, Tomura actually being weakened and held back by his repressed memories and lack of motivation until he lost his master and realised his own convictions. And whilst Izuku’s trained himself into being a bona-fide powerful hero without the massive attack as a fullback now, Tomura trained himself way harder, and is definitely the stronger one in a prolonged fight between them now.

6) “I bet Koichi is going to move away from him. I seem to recall something about this quirk being short bursts and sort of a “point and shoot” ability, you can`t change courses when you`re on the move, you need to stop and point again before shooting the other way, but Koichi doesn`t have this problem, he can travel all directions, including the 4th one, as Endeavor found out the hard way.”- Well, you sorta can, but you need a point of traction to move in a different direction from. Leaping mid-air at Koichi like that gives Nomura no options to push himself off of again to launch another attack, which is why Koichi can gain some distance once he dodges.

7) “Also, it seems like it wasn`t only Endeavor, but you also forgot that heroes don`t kill Villains, like, ever, even though sometimes it would be safer to do that. That ain`t gonna look good on your record if you managed to take down the mastermind by killing him.”-The killing of a villain is frowned upon unless in extreme circumstances where not taking such action leads to the death of innocents, and is generally seen as a judgement call left up to the hero themselves to make on the spot. Though dire, the situation is not so extreme as to warrant that kind of lethal violence, and Nomura would be bringing himself under a lot of scrutiny  if he actually siceeded in it- something that would be bad for him with his ties to the Villain Factory. 8) “oh that`s even better! He didn`t even side-stepped, he`s just naturally faster! McBee put his all into getting him, and Koichi just looked back and said “nope” before continuing his way”- Nomura’s faster than a car, but he’s still running to keep up, whereas Koichi isn’t even using his own muscles to go this fast, just the raw force of his own Quirk finely compressed and controlled to suit his needs, which again ties into him being able to outlast Nomura’s pursuit over a lengthy period of time, should he dodge long enough. “Oh ho ho… Hell yeah my boy is gonna show him the real meaning of speed. Time to see the lightning in action”-Nomura brings the lightning, but Koichi’s got the thunder, and he’s ready to rumble! 9) “HOLY SHIT KOICHI YES!

THAT`S WHAT I WANTED TO SEE

SHOW THAT FUCKER WHO`S THE REAL SPEEDSTER OF NARUHATA “- Running on a prior-generation’s Quirk is all good, but it also means that Overclock has limits to it that a newer-model Quirk will have evolved beyond. Nomura indicates his body has been modified to better handle the speed and length the quirk can be active for, but Koichi’s own power far outstrips Knuckle’s in terms of the sheer potential he possesses. 10) “And yeah, it was just like I remembered, his quirk is a “point and shoot” deal, while Koichi is not bound by that, he has a lot more freedom. This is not even going to be a fair fight, Koichi`s gonna obliterate him.”- In terms of a chase sequence, Koichi’s got him utterly trounced. In terms of combat, Nomura has the advantage, especially with Koichi’s reluctance to actually attack others. It all comes down to if Nomura’s able to pull Koichi out of his favoured battlefield and start fighting him on terms he better controls. 11) “Fuck off McBee, you pulled a gun on them, you are the one cheating in this shit”- He brought a gun, whilst Koichi’s packing an entire arsenal. He just isn’t willing to actually use it right now. 12) “Koichi is faster and he`s aware that you are going after him, do you really think that going a bit lower will do something to improve you odds? Even if he`s not seeing you, he already knows what he`s dealing with”- Going lower also reduces his wind-resistance, making him faster and less noticeable on approach when on a sprint. In a high-speed chase sequence like this, he only needs to tag Koichi once and his impaired performance would make finishing him off a breeze. 13) “BAHAHAHAHAHA-

HE FINALLY IS ON HIS WAY

OH MY GOD, THIS WHOLE PLAN IS GOING SO WRONG, McBEE IS SO FUCKED RIGHT NOW”- And since Endeavour had everybody clear out of the blast radius, the only people before him now must be villainous vigilantes, and therefore acceptable targets. By going off on his own, Nomura’s unwittingly appeared on the public stage as a villain instead of the troubled hero archetype he was aiming for. 14) “The last person I expected to see in this particular vertices of the hyperplane that we call this neighborhood, but I ain`t complaining this time, because that`s gonna be hilarious to see.

Murderdevor vs Koichi vs McBee, we finally are getting the three-way free-for-all that I thought we would get, oh now this is where the fun begins for sure”- Koichi and Nomura’s high-speed chase sequence just evolved into a race around a fire-themed Mario cart course, with Endeavour as the level hazard.

15) “Now, before anything else, don`t think that me criticizing McBee is me criticizing the story. I actually think that his plan is fine as a way to show case one particular facet of his character: He`s an absolute moron.”- He’s Koichi’s foil in many ways. Koichi is exactly as dumb as he looks, whereas Nomura tries to be smarter and more intelligent in how he goes about things, but keeps overlooking inconvenient facts that conflict with his envisioned narrative and failing to prepare adequately for them, resulting in him making similarly poor decisions and choices when confronted by an unexpected setback. @thelreads

[candlecoo]

on our hands and knees begging for fic recs because I think we have read every “ Izuku gets adopted by X character “ fic .

Yeah I can give some recs for some adopted Izuku fics:

Aizawa

Hero's Shadow by feelingstabby: vigilante Izuku, living on the streets, running from his past that's out to get him and just trying to help all the people he can, Izuku finds himself unwilling to reach out when he's in trouble. But he really needs all the help he can get.

A lil angsty but so good. 10/10

Kopio by Epsiloni: the last thing Aizawa expected to find in a villain hideout was a baby, but that's exactly what he finds.

Just such a sweet story!!! 20/10 for fluff alone!

Sunrise: A Dark Reality by Demonic_fox6548: Inko had discovered her husbands dark secrets and ran away with her unborn child. Years later her husband finds them and tragedy strikes. Now it's up to the hero who found them to try to protect her son.

Angst and fluff in such a good package. 10/10

Hide and Seek by Renoki: Inko tells her son that they were going to play a game of hide and seek. He listens and hides and continues hiding even when she doesn't come to find him.

I adore this fic it's so good every update makes me so happy I cannot recommend this one enough!!! 100/10

All Might

Just Like You by SilveRanger: All Might expected to get revenge the day he broke into All For One's secret base, instead he meets his biggest fan.

This is a really fun read! 15/10

I was Reincarnated as the Villain's Precious Son by SilveRanger: Mikumo wakes up to find out he was reincarnated into the last book he read, as a tragic side character named Izuku Midoriya! But he won't let this tale have the same sad ending!

This one hits all the boxes for me!!! If I had to pick a fanfic that feels like it's just for me this is it, I love it so much!!! 100/10

Kamino's Ward by tunafishprincess: in the age where quirks first came into existence Izuku Midoriya worked hard and became known as the symbol of hope. But now he wakes up the future dazed and confused.

Basically a Captain America au and I love it! 20/10

[arctrooper69]

The Last Mission

A/N: My first attempt at writing anything for my Star Wars OCs so please bear with me 😂

Warnings: Death. Sadness. The usual.

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

Every clone trooper shipping out from Kamino for the first time eagerly awaited the glory of the battlefield. He awaited the story that would finally bring him into his own and the action that would replace his number with a name that had meaning.

Sitting in the mud at the bottom of a ditch, CT-7489 was hit with the reality that war wasn't all it cracked up to be. It was just supposed to be a simple snatch-and-grab; nothing too complicated, but the threat of Separatist occupation made the locals too damn paranoid and the battalion had lost several men to booby traps in the jungle.

"General!?" he called out to the unconscious Jedi crumpled in a heap at his feet. She didn't move. She didn't even groan. Not a good sign. Biting his lip to ward off the pain screaming from his side, CT-7489 crawled to her side. "Sir? Can you hear me?" He shakily brought his hand to rest on her shoulder to shake her awake. This was his first mission and he'd be damned if he lost a general on his very first day. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his racing mind.

No! He thought fiercely. I'm a clone. We don't panic. We don't feel fear. Clones followed the regulations. They lived and died by orders of the Republic.

If you don't feel fear, then why can't you breathe? His inner voice mocked him. It felt like there was a bantha sitting on his chest. Orders. Yes, orders. What were his general's last orders?

They had been almost home; just a few more miles to base through the thick jungle terrain. General Danika Gerrick - or Danger, as some of the men called her, was trudging ahead, carving a path with her lightsaber through the brush. The clones who'd worked with her the longest called her "Danger" off of the battlefield in reference to the first three letters of her first and last names. The moniker had become her callsign and his brothers loved it. The number of clankers she'd destroyed by saber and by hand had cemented the name in stone.

The explosion had caught them all off guard and CT-7489 had been tossed backwards into a pit. General Gerrick tried to reach for him but was caught in a second blast. He didn't understand what had happened. Why didn't she use the force to stop her fall!?

A soft moan escaped her lips, ripping the clone from his thoughts.

"General!" he gently turned her over drawing a pained exhale from her lungs. Her eyelids fluttered but still didn't open.

Okay, he thought, mentally going through the check list he'd memorized. They weren't actively in combat, so ABC would apply here. Airway. Breathing. Circulation.

"Air goes in and out, blood goes round and round. Anything that interrupts that is bad and you gotta fix it," his instructor had joked. She didn't seem to have an obstructed airway. Her breaths were fast and shallow - not great but for now that was fine. Okay, now check for bleeding. Feel, look, and observe. He began to feel along the back of her head when she brushed her hand against his wrist nearly giving him a heart attack.

"Oh! General, you're awake!" He gasped and sat up a bit straighter. His heart was beating rapidly and he felt slightly dizzy. I'm fine. Gotta focus on the general. "You had me worried there for a second, Sir."

She blinked at him slowly, eyes glassy and out of focus. "I..." she tried to speak. It came out in a whimper. Her voice was soft and hoarse. She tried to sit. The clone pushed her back gently, "Try not to move, Ma'am. You fell pretty far." He looked up at the slowly darkening sky. It was forty, maybe fifty feet up to the surface.

"I...I can't feel my legs," she rasped softly in a whisper. He looked down at her as a single tear made it's way down her cheek and fear hit him in the chest. She was crying. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't remember what to do next. All the manuals he'd studied on Kamino seemed to disappear from his mind.

"Hey, it... it's gonna be alright, General. We'll get you outta here and back on your feet in no time!" She chuckled weakly.

"What...what's your name, s-soldier?" Her voice was barely audible now.

"CT-7489, Ma'am"

"No, your n-name."

He shifted awkwardly. "I don't have one yet," he admitted. She smiled weakly looking up past him. "Sky," she whispered.

"What?"

"Sky...cuz I - I - we can see the sky from here and it's b-beautiful and y-you saved me so you n-need a beautiful name." It was true; the twilight sky showcased it's blues and purples twirling around orange clouds with just a tinge of pink to hide in the golden glow of a single setting sun. The clone smiled down warmly, "I like that," he said softly, "Thank you."

She went silent closing her eyes tightly as a wave of pain rolled over her, taking her breath away. "Hey, hey stay with me, General. Just breathe. Keep breathing for me, okay?" She didn't respond with words but her eyes fluttered open and she took a shallow breath. She was shaking. Sky reached over and brushed a tear from her cheek and his heart caught in his throat - her skin was clammy and cold. She quietly slipped her hand into his. Sky froze for a fraction of a second, then seemingly gave up his professional demeanor and clasped both of his warm hands around hers.

"P-please don't leave me," she croaked. More tears slid down her face and he gently brushed them away.

"I'm not going anywhere, General." He gave her a reassuring smile.

"Dani..."

"What's that?"

"Dani...it's m-my real name."

"Alright G- Dani." It felt weird calling his general by her first name, but he went with his instincts; she needed this. The informality brought her comfort. Right now she didn't want to be a Jedi. She didn't want to be a general, she just wanted to be a person.

"Are you in pain?" Sky asked gently.

A whimper softly escaped her lips, providing him with the answer. He squeezed her hand.

"I'm so sorry." He didn't know what else to say. What else could he say?

A small smile played at her lips. "Why? It's not your fault."

"I..."

It was her turn to squeeze his hand. Her grip was weak. She opened her eyes with a shuddering breath, as though doing so took an immense effort.

"It's gonna be okay, Sky."

He forced himself to smile comfortingly down at her; anything to hide the dread creeping into his bones.

Her eyes fell closed in a tight grimace again as her fingers flexed around his, then went still.

"Ma'am!?"

She didn't respond.

No no no! Wrenching one of his hands from hers, he flew towards her neck searching for a pulse. A sigh of relief escaped the young clone. It was still there. Weak, but still there.

Sky gently pulled her up so that she lay against his chest.

"I'm sorry, General. I'm just trying to keep us warm."

"Master...." She called out softly.

"No, ma'am. It's just me CT-7489. It's Sky."

"Did I... Did I do good?"

"You did ma'am. You saved my life."

She smiled, her eyes still closed. "I'm...I'm so tired."

"I know, General. I know." Tears spilled down his cheeks. He made no move to wipe them away - there was no one here to care. There were no brothers to poke fun at him, no commanders to scold him, but CT-7489 would do what he was made to do. It was the only thing he could do. He held his General in his arms. "It's ok General." He paused, taking a shuddering breath of his own. "It's alright Ma'am. I'll watch over you; it's what I was made to do. It's going to be ok. You can rest now."

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@zoeykallus @ttzamara @nahoney22 @merkitty49 @viva-la-whump @agenteliix @dumpsters-little-matchbook @nekotaetae @ladykatakuri @loverofclones @heyitsaloy @padawancat97 @jambolska-grozdova @flyingkangaroo @melymigo @rain-on-kamino @jiabeewrites

If you want to be on my taglist, feel free to send me a message! Also, asks are open! Reblogging is very much encouraged and it makes me do a happy dance every time any of my writing gets reblogged 😂❤️

[dumbbitchenergy17]

Mimic Chapter 21

With the battle over, U.A. recovers but it doesn't take long for memories thought to be so hidden open and fester with danger.

Words- 7950

Reader x MHA (Platonic)

Warnings: Injury, angst, violence, (TW: Child Abuse)

Following Kamino Ward, All Might had to meet with Mr. Aizawa to talk to the class about implicating a new dorm system, and the building of the dorms and moving in was quite fast. While your classmates moved in you on the other hand were on campus with Recovery Girl and Principal Nezu. In her office sitting on one of the beds, you had multiple wires attached to you from your arms to some coming from your head connected to a monitor that was showing your brain waves.

“Her brain waves are looking normal Nezu, there seemed to be no connection with her to All For One.” Recovery Girl says before turning off the machine and beginning to remove the wires and patches off you.

“That is good news indeed, we were quite concerned when we heard the news that you had joined the League, Ms. Shimura. We still will need to be cautious in case there seem to be any changes in you that don’t seem normal.” Nezu says, hopping off his chair.

“Thank you, Recovery Girl…Principal Nezu.” You say once you’re all done fixing your clothes, not in your school uniform. There is a knock at the door and Toshinori enters looking at the three of you,

“Everything all good, you’re all done, Shimura?” He asks and you nod standing up and heading over to him.

“Everything’s alright with her should she show any changes that don’t seem normal with her quirk or her behavior she should come by and get it checked. Until we can find a way to create a block between her and All For One we’ll need to keep a watchful eye on her.” Recovery Girl says to All Might how nods and the two of you leave.

The cool night air chills your body but it’s also refreshing as the two of you walk to the new dorms you would be staying at. While you always had a place with All Might to come to this was where you would be permanently living and it didn’t seem that bad that you were with your classmates. 

“Are you excited to be living with your classmates?” Toshinori breaks the silence that you two shared.

You shrug looking up at the clear sky, “I think it will be interesting living with all of them, I guess I’m still so used to being by myself for so long so it will be a different change of pace.” You say your hands in the pockets of your pants as the dorms to Height Alliances get closer.

“I’m sure everything will be alright Y/n,” Toshinori says and the two of you arrive right before the dorm building, making your way up the stairs you turn to look back at Toshinori.

“Goodnight Toshinori.” You say and he nods a breeze causing the strands of his hair to move in the wind.

“Goodnight Y/n…” Toshinori bids goodbye as you enter the dorms.

All back to normal with your life at U.A. your friends were happy to see your safe return following Kamino with knowing looks from a certain group who knew what happened that night. Now back in class Mr. Aizawa stands in the front hunched over the podium,

“As I mentioned yesterday…our primary goal now is to get you your provisional licenses. Hero licenses are inextricably tied to the saving of lives, so one must be properly qualified for such heavy responsibility. Naturally, the test is incredibly difficult. Even for provisional licenses, on average we only see a 50 percent success rate.” Aizawa explains to you all.

“Even the provisional one’s that hard to get?” Mineta says. If just getting into U.A. was difficult the license exam was going to be impossible.

“That’s why starting today, each of you needs to come up with at least two…” Aizawa starts before the door swings open and Midnight, Cementoss, and Ectoplasm appear,

“Ultimate moves!!”

“Ultimate moves! These are your finishers. Your most unique techniques!” Ectoplasm says as you all speak excitedly to each other.

“Internalize these moves. Make them your own until thy become unparalleled. Combat is all about finding and making use of your particular strengths!” Cementoss says pointing at you all.

Midnight brings her hands up, “Your moves symbolize who you are! Nowadays, Pro Heroes without ultimate moves are a dying breed!” She says.

“Let’s move forward with a more detailed explanation and a practical demonstration. Change into your costumes and meet us at Gym Gamma.” Aizawa says and you all rush to quickly change.

Arriving at the gym gamma Cementoss leads you inside while showing you the large building that you’ve seen before but never been inside. “This is the Training Kitchen Lab or TKL for short! This facility was my idea. Here, I cook up the perfect terrain and objects to fit each student’s needs. Hence kitchen.”

Iida’s hand shoots up in the air, “May I please ask a question? Why must we create ultimate moves in order to acquire our provisional licenses? Please explain the intention behind such a requirement!” Iida practically demands confused beyond while Mr. Aizawa just shrugs,

“All in good time. Heroes deal with accidents, catastrophes, and disasters both natural and man-made..it’s our job to save people from just about any situation imaginable. In the licensing test, your ability to adapt to those situations will be observed, naturally. The contents vary from year to year, but applicants have always tested on a  variety of criteria.” Aizawa explains.

“Among the criteria, you can be sure that combat prowess will be heavily prioritized for potential heroes. Be prepared and you’ve got nothing t fear! These moves could have a big impact on whether or not you pass.” Midnight says and Cementoss smiles,

“If you can keep a cool head and act with decisive, stable moves, that means you have a high level of combat prowess.”

“There’s nothing that says your ultimate moves must be an attack, take Iida’s Reciprobrust,” Ectoplasm points out surprising the class president, “That sort of extreme speed boost on its own is intimidating enough to be called an ultimate move.” Iida is hit with the biggest pride knowing that his move is suitable for an ultimate move.

“Your summer camp was cut short, but the quirk training we began there…was part of the process of creating ultimate moves.” Aizawa says as Cementoss and Ectoplasm use their quirks to build large platforms with clones on each one, “In other words, until the second semester starts…you’ll be using the ten remaining days of summer vacation to enhance your quirks and put together your ultimate moves through some extra-intense training!”

You all are separated to face a clone of Ectoplasm your mind was running with a thousand thoughts, creating your ultimate move? What would your move be? What would you call it? A kick to your arm brings you back to reality, “Focus L/n! Now show me the ultimate moves you’ve come up with.” Ectoplasm says and you rub your hands together, you hadn’t really thought of anything ultimate move-wise. Before you even knew you had a quirk you never really thought of these things like hero names or ultimate moves.

Ectoplasm sees the hesitance on your face, “With the variety that is your quirk focus on each one you know and think of ways of making them into ultimate moves.” He says and you nod. You could do that, it would give you more time to think about how you want your ultimate moves to work and give your training for all the quirks you knew.

You had a feeling going against a clone of Ectoplasm wouldn’t be too hard or too easy either but damn he was a Pro Hero for a reason. Dodging a well-aimed kick to the face your right arm grows cold as you create a barrier or ice blocking the two of you before twisting your right foot creating a platform of ice to shoot you over the wall to get the jump of Ectoplasm. Sending an explosion that grazes him he jumps back sending a barrage of kicks that you dodge from him. You feel your center of gravity shift suddenly as you teeter on the edge of the platform quickly twisting your body around just for a harsh kick to the face. Your head snaps to the side as you feel your teeth scrape against your mouth, blood filling your mouth.

Leaning over you spit a glob of blood onto the ground, wiping your mouth stained red and looking over at Ectoplasm. “Be sure to pay attention to your surroundings or this will occur more often.” He says ready to continue fighting when you’re in front of him in a flash, surprising him.

Aizawa and the other teachers watch the students as they all work to form ultimate moves, Aizawa keeping an eye on both Midoriya and yourself but the arrival of All Might has him turning away.

“How are all the students doing Aizawa?” All Might greets his coworkers as he walks toward them,

“They're all working on creating ultimate moves…shouldn’t you still be recovering All Might?” Aizawa says almost annoyed at the still injured hero trying to be active. All Might waves him off transforming into his hero form,

“Miss the day they creative ultimate moves! I could never miss it and that is why I am here!” His loud voice and physique quickly disappear in a cloud of smoke returning to his weaker form and turning to look at the students, his eyes naturally drawing to Young Midoriya who seemed to be in conversation with Ectoplasm.

“As long as you don’t die during my class I don’t care what you do All Might.” Aizawa frowns and a loud explosion has them looking to see Bakugo grinning almost sadistically before yelling at Ectoplasm.

“Oi! I killed you, send me another one that I can blow up!”

“He sure is something.” All Might chuckles and Aizawa nods, “Yup. He’s sure to get even stronger.” The two heroes share a moment of silence before another loud explosion appears, thinking it’s Bakugo quickly defeating another clone but when they look to see, their blood runs cold seeing red sparks disappearing in the air.

“Y/n…”

Wiping the blood from your mouth you could see that Ectoplasm was speaking but his voice sounded muffled and you felt your hands twitch. You could close the distance with Iida’s quirk and finish him off with a mixture of Bakugo’s and Todoroki’s…maybe use One For All to do it. Your body acts on instinct and you quickly close the distance shocking Ectoplasm who barely dodges an explosion that swipes at him burning the coat he wears. Ectoplasm goes to jump back but you twist your right foot and ice travels quickly across the ground trapping him in place.

The clone of your teacher looks up from his frozen feet to see your hand reared back red sparks quickly appearing that make him fearful, this being one thing that they had been warned about with your return. This apparent power made you lose control and join the League of Villains. Your fist collides with Ectoplasm and he quickly vaporizes and the force cracks the ground that you stand on and the surrounding pillars of stone shaking your classmates.

The dust that gets picked up has you waving your hand to keep it away from your face. As the dust settles you hear voices getting clearer and you realize it’s your teachers, your arms quickly grab your spinning you around to face them and you see it’s Mr. Aizawa staring down at you, his hands clutching your arms forcing you to look at him.

“L/n it’s you right?!” He yells at you, shaking you as you look at him confused, glancing past him you see some of your classmates looking at you guys but they're stopped by the other teachers, you spot All Might and he’s giving you the most fearful expression.

“L/n! You’re in control right!” He says and you slowly nod and they all seem to sigh in relief as Aizawa drops his hands off your arms.

“We saw you use that quirk again and thought the worst, are you sure you’re alright?” Aizawa says and you nod before your gaze seems to drift past him seeing someone standing in the far back but they keep fading in and out of your vision almost as if there was a block. Your blood runs cold seeing the familiar mask figure seemingly staring at you before they disappear.

“l/n..L/n.” Aizawa brings you back to his gaze as he looks at your face and you bring your hand to touch your face when you feel something wet and warm on your face. Pulling back your fingers are stained red, your classmates still trying to look and your teachers watch as blood drips out of your nose.

“Mr. Aizawa!” Yaoyorozu calls out quickly, creating a handkerchief which is quickly passed to your teacher who gives it to you as you press it against your nose, the white cloth quickly staining red.

“Go see Recovery Girl L/n,” Aizawa says and you slowly nod and you are brought out of Gym Gamma by Midnight as your classmates and teachers watch you leave. All Might gaze is glued onto your retreating figure a million thoughts running through him. All For One is locked up and he can't take control of Shimura, she’s safe. She is safe, right?

It’s awkwardly silent in Recovery Girl’s office, covered in wires showing your brain waves that look relatively calm as the healer takes notes. The nosebleed had stopped just as fast as it appeared

“And you’re sure nothing happened when you used that power right, Shimura?” Recovery Girl asks and you nod moving the wires attached to your head.

“Yes, Recovery Girl. I didn’t even plan for it…it just happened.” You say and the nurse looks at you before writing more in what looks like a file.

“You’re using his power.” Nana’s voice fills the quiet room and you turn to see her sitting on one of the rolling chairs.

“Your connection with All For One has allowed you to use his quirk.” She says and you look down at your hands, but his quirk was stealing other quirks. You wouldn’t be able to use the quirks he has stolen that you’ve never seen before. How was he able to have a connection to you through One For All? If you could just go in your own head and figure out this connection. Wait…you could. There has to be a hero in Japan that has some sort of mental manipulation you could.

“Whatever you’re thinking of doing I suggest not.” Toshinori’s voice pulls you from your thoughts and he sits where Nana once sat. You give him a look and he frowns,

“I can see it in your face you're planning something.” He says and your jaw drops..how the hell.

“I was not planning anything!” You say shocked he would accuse you of something you were definitely planning but he didn’t need to know. He gives you a look.

“You’re not planning anything Y/n.”

“I’m not planning anything Toshinori.”

The door to Mina’s room slams open, scaring the girl as you frantically look at her. Arriving back from Recovery Girl’s office to the dorms you had quickly researched any hero with any mind manipulation or anything involving the brain. You had found exactly what you were looking for a hero by the name of Mind Breaker. Their quirk allows them to infiltrate a person’s mind having control of the person or alter memories or thoughts. With a quick video online seeing their quirk in action you rushed to the floor above you leading you to Mina’s room.

“So you want me to watch you use someone’s quirk so you control your mind to figure out a memory…” The pink-haired girl says slowly trying to understand and you nod. It definitely sounded weird but she was the only person you could trust to watch over you while you were in your mind.

“I know this sounds weird but it could really help me understand my quirk and the reason I’m losing control sometimes.” You say begging for her to say yes. You could see the hesitance in her face before she slowly nods.

“Thank you Mina only favor I ask I swear!” You say pulling her to her feet,

“Only Y/n!” She says pausing the two of you in your steps, “If I can bring someone with me…” Who the hell was she going to bring?

Turns out grab Kirishima from across the floor had caused a huge train reaction, agreeing just wanting to satisfy your friend as you head down to the common area you bumped into Iida who was confused about where the three of you were going at such a late time, and once adding him to the group you ran into Todoroki and Midoriya who quickly joined in once Kirishima had spilled what you were going to do.

“This does not sound like a good idea L/n. We should inform Mr. Aizawa or any of the teachers of what you’re planning to do.” Iida says trying to get you all to turn back as you reach the courtyard in the middle of the dorms.

“Y/n knows what she’s doing Iida she wouldn’t be asking our help if she needed us,” Kirishima says as the five students follow after you. You didn’t need all five of them Mina was more than enough for what you needed to do.

“I agree with Iida, if you’re going to use a hero’s quirk that you have no prior training on yourself we have no idea what the effects might be,” Midoriya says and you stop in the middle of the grass turning to face the five of them.

“I doing this whether you guys approve of it or not. If you’re going to keep bickering you can leave otherwise you can help me.” You say your voice steady as you look at the five of them. They’re all quiet before Todoroki steps forward,

“What do you need us to do?” You’re thankful for the dual-haired boy before bringing yourself to sit on the grass and they quickly follow around you.

“The quirk is called Mind Break the hero can control minds and view and alter memories or thoughts. What happened during summer camp and Kamino Ward was the cause of whatever quirk I gained that I have no control over. I’m thinking I can figure out where this quirk came from and what to do about it.” You say looking at the group and your eyes lock onto Midoriya. He was really the only true person who knew the underlying of what you were talking about. You were trying to figure out why All For One had a connection with you. One For All was created by him but there was another factor that caused you to use his quirk and have him take control of your body.

“Are you sure you’re going to be safe? You’re taking control of your mind what if something starts happening to you?” Kirishima says, he had faith you would be alright but there was still the possibility.

“Mind Breaker’s quirk can only be broken if the person under control is able to overcome it or if the user is distracted and the quirk cancels out. So if something starts to go wrong, do anything you can do to wake me up even if that means you have to hurt me.” You say looking at them and they slowly nod.

Taking a deep breath your right-hand twitches as a deep purple mist surrounds it and you prepare yourself bringing your hand up, “What if we’re not able to wake you up L/n. Did you think about that?” Iida says trying to get one last plead to get you to stop. You pause your hand still having the purple mist before you touch your forehead.

“If you can’t wake me up…then you can get the teachers.” You say and Iida sighs in defeat failing at getting you to stop. Looking at the rest of them you bring your hand up to your forehead glancing at your hand and then back at them.

“Thanks, guys.” Your hand presses against your forehead and the purple mist seep into your head purple veins surround your eyes stretching outwards as your eyes roll into the back of your head and you tilt back. The last thing you hear before you collapse is your friends calling out to you before everything goes dark.

You open your eyes finding yourself in the same living room in your dreams, pushing yourself up from the couch you hear muffled voices coming from down the hall. Heading toward the noise you see the almost never-ending hallway lined with doors on each side with voices and sounds coming from each door. Walking towards one of the doors opening it peering inside you see yourself and the others in the courtyard speaking to each other before you used Mind Breaker’s quirk. Looking down the hallway at the vast amount of doors each holding a different moment or memory of yours.

Heading further down the hallway peering inside some doors seeing moments of your time at U.A. from an outside perspective from just a regular day in class or spending the day with your friends. Opening another door you feel a chill come from the room it was empty no memory to look at but you could see yourself chained to a floor unable to fight back and the voices outside sounding muffled. This was from Kamino the feeling of emptiness and lack of freedom as you could only watch and listen as All For One had a hold of your body. Quickly closing the door catching your breath from the horrible feeling that disappears behind the door.

Footsteps coming from down the hall as you hear voices heading further down,

“Come on Y/n, Papa is going to be looking for us.” A boy’s voice echos down the hallway before you hear a much younger you respond,

“Slow down! Wait for me!” You hear two children run further down the hallway and you quickly follow after them you get a glimpse of yourself and the other child before they enter a room the door closing behind them. Getting to the door it looked old almost rotting the door was probably not in use for years, the doorknob being a rusty gold knob placing your hand on the handle you slowly open the door as it creaks opens entering the room. Finding yourself back in the backyard that you’ve seen in your dreams before, playing in the grass was two children a boy with black hair grabs a ball, tossing it out into the yard and a corgi follows after it while the girl sits beside giggling watching the dog.

“Can you believe it Y/n grandma was a hero! When we get older we can become heroes, we’ll be a brother-sister duo and save people.” The boy says and the younger version of you smiles nodding your black hair moving in the breeze. A pain enters your chest looking at the boy, you had a brother… Your memory of your childhood was so blurred that you couldn’t picture your parents' faces or the fact that you even had siblings.

“Y’know what, I feel like I could take on the world right now.” Your brother says a grin on his face as he tosses the ball, “OUCH!” He winces looking down at his hand. Stepping forward to look at him closer almost a sense of deja vu when the sliding door slams open starling the three of you outside.

“TENKO! DID YOU SNEAK INTO MY STUDY!!” Your blood runs cold hearing that name come from the man’s lips. That couldn’t be true…there was no way. The face on the man was clear and you could tell this was your father, he glares down at Tenko shaking with anger, “Did you see it…?!”

Looking past your father you see them, your mother with Hana, your older sister. How could you forget her, remembering the times she would play with your hair and dress you up in her clothes as her own personal doll though you didn’t care. Hana is crying in your mother's arms with your grandparents in the back, “Tenko, he…he said he wanted to go in there!!” She sobs and you see movement from the corner of your eye. Your father raises his hand and you rush to stop him, putting your hands in front of Tenko to protect him, your father’s hand goes right through your body striking your brother.

“KOTARO NO!!” “STOP IT!” You and your mother scream out as the younger version of you watches in shock as Tenko hits the ground.

“That wasn’t your grandmother in the picture,” Your father hisses at Tenko, “That was a monster who abandoned her child! Do you really want to know what heroes are?!” He raises his hand to strike him as you try pushing him back but your hands go straight through his body.

“Stop it! Please Papa stop!” You cry out as Tenko recoils in fear,

“They’re people who hurt their own families only to help complete strangers.” Your father says as you fall through him frozen in shock next to your younger self as you watch him beat Shigaraki…Tenko…your brother. Tears pour from your eyes as Tenko cries out to your mother for anyone to help him. You watch your younger self get up rushing to Tenko shielding him before the next blow stops your father in his tracks.

“Don’t hurt him papa please!” The younger you cry out tears spilling down your face as Tenko looks at you in shock his hands hovering over your body. Your father gazes down at you,

“Y/n get off your brother now.” He orders you but your shake your head burying your head into your brother's chest not moving. He frowns reaching down grabbing your as you start trashing and screaming out to let you go, “Nao take her now!” Your father yells as your mother rushes to grab you as you cry in her grasp as well.

“NO MAMA STOP PAPA! TENKO HELP ME!” Your younger self cries out and you feel yourself getting pulled away by some force as your father turns to Tenko.

“NO STOP PLEASE! STOP IT, PAPA! TENKO!” You scream as Tenko's cries fill your ears as your father continues what he started. This was your family, it was never this perfect image your thought it was. Thrown back into the hallway you hit the ground your tears falling to the ground as the door shuts behind you. Wiping your face and rubbing the tears from your face you push yourself to stand propping yourself against the wall to ready yourself.

“I know how you’re family died!” Shigaraki’s voice fills the hall and you feel drained by what you witnessed, the truth of your past coming together with things your mind had blocked you from remembering. A door a few feet away from yours creaks open coming from it you could hear cries coming from it that sounded like Tenko’s. Heading to the door you slowly enter it closing behind you and you find yourself back in the yard, it was dark only the light from the house, and one of the streetlights gave some light to Tenko sitting along the fence crying your dog in his grasp. But it didn’t make sense how were you viewing a memory of your family’s death if you weren’t even there? That was one thing you did know, you were at a friend’s house when your family died but it didn’t make sense.

“I hate it…I can’t take it...I hate everyone..” Tenko cries out petting Mon while scratching himself with his other hand. You feel a spark run through you to him as cracks appear on Mon as the two of you watch in horror as your dog decays blood and guts pooling next to Tenko as blood starts to stain him.

“Tenko!” Hana’s voice fills the backyard and you turn seeing your sister walk out fiddling with her hands embarrassed, “Sooo…umm. I’m sorry about that. I shouldn’t have done that. I was the one who said it had to be a secret…” She apologize oblivious of the dead dog and your brother panicking unable to warn her of what he had done.

“Tenko what’s wrong-” She seems to notice the distressed look on his face before looking at the mutilated dog lying next to him. Her screams fill the backyard as she tries to run away, Tenko cries out for her to help him his hands latching onto her dress, and you're forced to watch your sister decay in front of you. Tears well up in your eyes as Tenko grabs his face in horror vomiting from the shock, parts of his hair changing from black to the light blue you’re used to.

“Tenko..” Your mother’s voice echoes and you see her and your grandparent’s horrified faces having witnessed the death of their daughter/grandchild. Tenko reaches out his hand touching the grass and it instantly decays racing over to them. Tenko cries out as your mother tries rushing to him as they both reach out to each other but she disappears into dust as well as your grandparents.

This is how it happened, he gained his quirk and killed your family. Could you have changed this, if you were stronger you could’ve saved him.

“F…f..father...I’m sorry!” Tenko cries out his hair completely changed as your father looks in horror at his son seeing the remnants of his family. The ground beneath you shatters as you’re thrown up into the air, you see your father reach for some hedge clippers as Tenko tries to reach him and strike him across the face creating a scar on his lip. Your father reaches out his hand almost reaching him,

“TENKO! STOP!” In a flip of a switch, blood lust fills your brother as he reaches out his hand slamming against your father’s face as he decays,

“YOU DIE!!” He screams and the decay reaches the home you grew up in and crumbles to rumble as Tenko stands in the middle of the destruction. This was the moment you lost your family and your brother. Standing by side your brother he seems to leave this haze of hatred as he looks down at his hands before tears pour from his face as he cries out into the night.

“Mama...Papa...Hana...I’m so sorry!” He cries out falling to his knees when a snap of a twig has his head snapping up shock on his face as cough and soft cries get closer and there you were. You were in your pajamas clutching a blanket, you were covered in dust and rubble your black hair looking gray.

“Tenko…where’s mama and papa?” You say tears in your eyes as you try wiping away the rubble. You were there, the night your family died. You and Tenko were the only survivors but your mind had told you that you weren’t there and your entire family was killed in a freak accident, but it was Tenko’s quirk. Tenko and your younger self’s voices fade into the background as there is one door in the middle of the yard amongst the rubble that seemed locked up, but beckoning you to enter. Stepping closer, you cringe hearing your feet step into the blood and guts of your family as you bring your hand to the rest of the door. The door decays with the touch of your hand and you enter finding yourself on a rooftop rain pelting down on you as two figures stand towards the edge, their backs towards you an umbrella over them.

“Strange. I thought he’d lost his memories…” The shorter man says looking down to the street as you start to walk closer.

“Not lost-just shut away,” You freeze hearing All For One voice echo on the rooftop, “But they remain within him. His family’s hands will restrain him…keep him in check…with his memories locked away, it’s only his unstable emotions that float to the surface. And that unease…look. He’s keeping his own quirk in check subconsciously.” All For One says as you reach the edge a distance away from them looking over feeling bile rise up your throat seeing Shigaraki standing amongst a pool of blood, covered in the hands that he has now as the rain drenches him cleaning away the blood on him but not the sins that cling onto his body.

“I will cultivate him. Encourage him! He will be the Symbol of Fear who lusts for destruction! And we’ve just witnessed his first major step down that path!” All For One grins as the two look down at him.

The other man nods before bringing his hands to his suspenders and pulling on them, “What of the girl? You saw she lacks anything of use for us. We should just get rid of her.” All For One is silent looking out at the city of Japan as the rain comes down hard.

“She is Nana Shimura’s grandchild. Quirks nowadays had a possibility to transcend the fact we know now. She has One For All in her…she will be the perfect weapon to destroy heroes.” He says and the other man laughs,

“But it’s not the real one! Just some genetic mutation from it and you’ve seen her. Meek, practically a mute. We’re lucky she’ll even try to train instead of running off with Tenko.” The man says and All For One is still staring out at the city before bringing his gaze to his hand that he raises the hole in the middle of his palm from All For One.

“That girl will be the key to destroying the heroes. She alongside Tenko will find the true One For All and return it to me. Her connection with One For All no matter how weak it is now will bring her to the next user.” All For One says…One For All was like a beacon as well. Before you realized you had One For All you had already gotten close to Midoriya instantly being drawn to him.

“And how will we be certain when she finds them they won’t try to change her. You know how One For All is.” The other man says and All For One laughs.

“One For All is persistent it will see the good no matter what the situation is,” All For One says and the two stand in silence as the rain pours around them,

“Give her All For One.” He says and you feel your heart drop this is how...

“Quirks are known to mutate and the possibility of combining these two quirks to become something more powerful is a chance I’m willing to take. If she does try to resist I will have a link to her to keep in line. When Tenko is ready as well he will receive a copy of All For One.” The other man tries to protest saying that it’s too dangerous giving such a powerful quirk to a child but All For One ignores him.

“Tenko Shimura and Y/n Shimura will be the two that will destroy hero society and the world under my guidance. One For All will be no match for them.” All For One says and you look at him in horror. This was his plan. You had One For All and All For One inside you combing and growing stronger and Shigaraki was to receive it as well or did he already have it. You had to go warn Midoriya and All Might. You needed to tell everyone.

“Now where are you going Shimura.” His voice cuts through the air making you freeze in your step as you see All For One turn staring directly at you the other man next to you oblivious of your appearance. This was impossible this was a memory, probably not your own but he shouldn’t be able to see you.

“Infiltrating my mind…I’m surprised how much you’ve grown.” He says and you quickly raise your hand the purple mist reappearing, you were done you had to get out of her. He quickly raises his hand and your arm freezes in place and the mist disappears, “No running away now.”

Out of your mind, it had almost been 30 minutes with Iida pacing the courtyard, Todoroki sitting beside Midoriya and Mina, while Kirishima sat beside picking it the grass when movement catches the redhead’s eye. You twitched slightly the purple veins surrounding your eyes dimming before getting brighter, “Uh guys…” Kirishima calls out and they all look over at you seeing you twitch again before your body seizes and they all jump into action. Mina grasps your face slapping it slightly trying to get you to wake up as the others yell shaking your body.

“She’s not waking up!” Mina cries out and Todoroki raises his left-hand flames appearing on his hand, he hesitated slightly before pressing his hand against your arm cringing as the flames burn your arm but no reaction to waking you up.

“It’s not working!” Kirishima calls out and Iida stands up, “I’m getting Mr. Aizawa!” He yells before rushing out as the others try waking you up.

You cringe feeling your arm grow warm and a burn appears on your arm, that should work on waking you up but frozen by All For One stops you from leaving your mind and his as well.

“Now I’m surprised in you Shimura…you’re getting stronger. One For All and All For One has given you power beyond your imagination.” He says.

“I rather die than be forced with a quirk like yours.” You spit out at him and he grins the younger version of himself with the scars it was eerie seeing the similarities to yourself both of you having the same hair color and now knowing you shared the same quirk. The burning sensation on your arm grows more as start to hear voices almost surrounding you all.

“She said it would work! Why isn’t it working?!” “I don’t know how long I can keep burning her like this!” “Come on Y/n wake up!” “Where’s Iida with Mr. Aizawa!”

The sound of your friends’ voices is muffled but you feel your body twitch from the hold All For One has you in, “You should be thanking me for the power you have to reshape the world as we know it. All Might or One For All couldn’t give you the power I can give you.” He says stepping forward holding his hand out trying to lure you to accept him.

You spit at him it landing on his face your glare fierce as you both glare at each other, “You’ll have to kill me then.” You say as he wipes the spit from his face before looking back at you.

“Very well than Shimura…” He says raising his hand as rivets shoot from his fingers they dig into your chest and stomach, and fiery pain rushes through you as the invisible hold on you is released as you hit the ground. Ripping the rivets from your body blood quickly pools out from your wounds as you gasp for air feeling the puncture wound in your lung. Looking up at him you glare at him,

“Burn in hell.” You spit out raising your left hand the largest amount of flames released towards him. The heat from it burns straight up your arm as your other hand holds your stomach trying to stop the bleeding. The flames probably wouldn’t do anything to stop him as you push yourself to stand limping to the door on the rooftop that leads you back into the hallway. Pressing your hand against the wall leaving a smear of blood as you try to catch your breath as blood quickly fills your lung.

“YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE ME SHIMURA!!” All For One’s voice echos through the hallway shaking the doors as the ground beneath you begins to crack, the distant sound of your friends from the other end of the hall has you pushing forward. Your movements are sluggish and disoriented as you keep one hand pressed against your chest blood slipping through your digits staining your clothes red as it seeps down to the floor a trail of blood following behind you.

A sharp pain has you hitting the wall catching yourself almost slipping from your red-covered hand, wheezing trying to get air to fill your lungs coughing blood flies from your mouth the metallic bitter taste stinging your mouth.

“SHIMURA!”

Looking back dark shadows stretch from down the halls as the walls crack almost decaying towards your direction.

“Come on Y/n wake up!” The sound of your friends has you looking back toward the light at the end of the hall, calling out to you. Pushing yourself forward stumbling almost running to it about to reach it your hand almost grasping it when a hand grabs yours pulling you to turn around.

“Tenko…” Your voice echoes in the hallway as you look at him, he is older now the age you are used to as he looks at you taking in your disheveled and bloody appearance. He still wore the hand covering his face, your father’s hand.

“Y/n…” He whispers back almost in shock seeing you here before him, you could see behind him the decay getting closer and the chill of All For One’s presence getting closer. Reaching your hand to his face cradling his face still covered.

“I will save you, brother. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you before.” You say and between the fingers, you can see his eyes widen in surprise and almost what looked like joy. The bellowing from All For One and the cries from your friends each grow louder as you hold your brother in your arms as he holds your wrist in his hands. Moving your hand from holding his face to the hand covering his face, starting to pull it away.

“I’m sorry I forgot about you...Tenko.” You say right as you could start to make out his eyes a force grabs him yanking him into the shadows your hand reaching out to his as he tries to grab you.

“TENKO!” “SAVE ME Y/N!” You both cry out and it all goes black.

Gasping for the air you shoot upward bringing your hands to your chest and stomach trying to feel for the wounds that are not there. You quickly make out Mina and Kirishima who are on each side of you holding you as you try to catch your breath. Todoroki is shaking holding his left arm as Midoriya tries comforting him. Finally taking account of Iida with Mr. Aizawa, both looking out of breath from running here as Aizawa releases his quirk his hair falling to his shoulders.

Mina and Kirishima as speaking frantically trying to make sure you’re alright while your gaze is locked onto your hands, red doesn’t stain your hands anymore but the truth of your past and future was thicker than the blood once on your skin.

You sat in Mr. Aizawa’s makeshift office your arm was wrapped in a bandage from the burn Todoroki had given you but not healed at all. On the other side of the table are Aizawa and All Might the two of them staring at you, silence filled the room before Aizawa spoke up.

“Do you have any idea what you did was dangerous and incredibly irresponsible of you? You copied a hero’s quirk that you have no experience in and decided to use it on yourself to what? Figure out a quirk you couldn’t understand.” Aizawa says furious beyond belief as you just stare at the table while All Might glances between the two of you not sure when to step in.

“You could have endangered your classmates who you forced into helping you. I should expel you for what you’ve done tonight for your complete lack of responsibility or safety over your classmates!” Aizawa says and you shift in your seat your gaze still locked onto the table.

“Are you even listening to me L/n?!” Aizawa says putting his hands on the table and your gaze shifts from the table to him for the first time.

“Shimura.”

“I’m sorry what?” Mr. Aizawa says confused by the sudden drop of a random last name.

“My last name is Shimura…isn’t that right All Might?” You say your voice dripping with malice as your gaze shifts from your teacher to the retired hero. All Might seems to shrink in his seat from his gaze.

“And I wasn’t being reckless Mr. Aizawa. We all know I lack control over my quirk, especially what happened during the summer camp,” You say and Aizawa tries speaking but you continue, “I thought if I could figure out the source of my quirk I could gain better control of it.” You say glancing back at All Might and you know he understands the double meaning to it.

“That doesn’t excuse your behavior. Your lucky you didn’t hurt any of your classmates or yourself either.” Aizawa says pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, “You’ll spend the last of your summer until school picks up under a semi-house arrest. You will do your training and after that be in the dorms, with no interactions with your classmates in any way.” Aizawa states his terms and you silently accept your terms and he sends you back to the dorms with All Might to escort you.

The tension between the two of you is so thick it could be cut with a knife. “Y/n..” All Might calls out to you but you keep your gaze glued to the road in front of you. You didn’t want to deal with whatever bullshit lectures he was going to give you. Did he know? Was he keeping it hidden from you? No, there is no way he didn’t know when he figure out the truth about you.

He calls out to you again and you pause from the entrance of the dorms turning to look down at him, “Are you okay? You just have seemed out of it of sorts.” He says and you glance at the older man. He seemed almost anxious about the whole situation.

“I’m fine All Might,” You say and you could see him wince slightly hearing his hero name instead of his actual one, “I wouldn’t keep secrets from you…You’re someone I trust.” Your voice was calm and you could see how he stiffens and how his eyes widen slightly with what you said.

“As would I, Young Shimura.” He says he clenches his hands to keep them from shaking with nerves. He knows… The quiet night fills the silence between you two as you turn to enter the dorm leaving the former Number One alone, no goodbye or goodnight the weight of his betrayal strains your heart. Was there anyone you could trust anymore? Only one thing became a promise to yourself and to the boy you failed to save. You were going to find your brother.

[cl-01-kestis]

Caught in a Landslide - Crosshair x Female Nurse!Reader | Part 1

Summary: As an ex Jedi, you plaster up your past with a medical degree and work for the Kaminoan’s as a nurse/medic. However, your facade no longer goes unnoticed after a specific sharp shooter gets ahold of your trail.

Warnings: EPISODE 1 SPOILERS! angst, injury description, blood

Part 2 >

To say the least, this wasn’t a good week. It didn’t go in any way how you expected, and you ended up trapping yourself on Kamino instead of running away with Omega, who was your medic partner for over a week. You were supposed to escape with her, with the bad batch, escape Kamino and live a life as a Jedi once more that was free from Imperial jurisdiction.

But it had to be you who took the bait. The one who got left behind because she was too late to arrive. The one who would continue to live a life that wasn’t their own. You were now stuck here and you weren’t sure for how long. It might be years, even decades.

Although, the wait for a saviour wasn’t what you were worried about. Instead, your attention was fully directed to the clone who you found out was called Crosshair. He was trouble, you even witnessed it on the blurry CCTV; how he tried to shoot his own sergeant as well as Omega and the rest of his team. You knew of the inhibitor chip, you were a nurse after all, but you didn’t think it would be this bad. Everyone, basically just the clones, practically treated you like you were a bug beneath their foot, something to squish and move past as if you were a minor inconvenience.

You were thankful you didn’t bump into Crosshair, you hoped you didn’t. As a nurse, there are certain troopers you don’t want to tend to due to gossip, and within the few days that Omega has been away, you’ve heard a lot about Crosshair. He’s cold, keeps to himself and never speaks to anyone unless absolutely necessary, and he also causes a lot of unintentional trouble within the mess halls with normal clones.

In a way, you feel sorry for him. You were just a nurse so you weren’t allowed to have an opinion. But you viewed him as just a clone, like the rest of them; under control by something they were never made aware of and unable to break free from the mental prison they’re all trapped in. Even so, you still keep a close guard on whoever enters your medic ward, clone or not. But you can’t help but feel dread whenever one of your patients mentions his name and even expects you to reply. You try to ignore it, try and push it aside by talking about the severity of their injury instead. Anything to get your mind off the intimidating trooper that tried to kill Omega, the girl you viewed as a literal sister at this point. It didn’t sit right with you, personally.

Today was no different. The average trooper came in, either with a lost limb or just a small cough, but Crosshair’s name never failed to push its way into the conversation. You tended to wounds as quickly as possible, hands trembling as you mumbled thoughts out loud, but you were quiet enough so the troopers never heard you. After a few hours into your shift, you finally sat down on one of the empty medical beds and let out an exhausted sigh.

Shifts were never easy, especially on Kamino. Back when you were a Jedi, barely over a week ago, you were very experienced with medical practices and spent your whole life studying medicine as well as the force and lightsaber duelling. Medicine and tending to injuries was a main interest of yours, even before you became a Jedi - you were a late bloomer after joining the Jedi temple at 8 years old. So of course the first thing you thought of becoming, after the purge, was a nurse. You had to be swift about it though. The timing was suspicious at first but thankfully the Kaminoan’s were willing to take you on after looking at your history of medicine and working as a nurse and medic. You never let on that you were a Jedi though, that was already a given. But it was harder than you expected, there was an overwhelming amount of eyes on you, watching your every move. You couldn’t even use the force to turn off a light when no one was looking, or even so much as meditate. Eyes are on you, always. But you were alright with that, however your fears as a Jedi undercover never went away. Every trooper you tended to was suspicious, and always seemed to pry into your past as a ‘nurse’.

You looked down at your badge which read your false name, instead of your real name to save yourself from being exposed. Your card read Amia Luveno, born on Naboo with 15+ years of experience as a nurse and paramedic. Your portrait was awkward, as was every other one, but it was required in order to get your way around the Kaminoan facilities.

A few troopers lay down on other beds in the medical ward, asleep, regaining energy, and recovering from their injury. You done nothing but bathe in the soothing silence, mind awry with jumbled thoughts which seemed to diminish with the lack of noise. Your hands, which were trembling, balled into fists as you tried to forget about the longing of escape. You only worked in Kamino for over a week but you needed to get out, you needed to find your Jedi brethren who managed to survive and build a new order. Even if it was impossible, you would still try.

A few beeps from the doors to the ward signalled the entrance of a new trooper, perhaps an injured one. You put on a smile and looked up from your hands, hiding them under your legs as you spotted the person who entered.

However, your smile lasted barely a second as your eyes landed on a black armoured trooper with his helmet still on, his figure lean and very tall. A sniper rifle about a meter and a half long was gripped in his right hand, finger away from the trigger and safety guard thankfully turned on. You studied him for a few solid seconds before clearing your throat and sitting up from the bed.

“Afternoon trooper, how can I be of service?” You asked, trying your best to put on a fake smile as you walked up to the tall trooper who stared down at you through his tinted green visor.

“Busted lip,” Was all the trooper said, his voice strangely different from the others. His tone was higher, but also raspy and somewhat guttural. You tried not to make a face of dissatisfaction at his short answer, but still smiled.

“Alright then, sit down for me and I can inspect it” You instructed, gesturing to the bed you were awkwardly sitting on a minute ago. You walked up to the back of the ward to fetch alcohol in order to sterilise his lip as well as a couple of sterile-strips. Your hands were still shaking, you mumbled a ‘kriff’ and tried to contain your nerves whilst picking up cotton wool and a cloth.

You turned around and inhaled deeply, making sure to do it silently so the trooper wasn’t suspicious. He still had his helmet on when you returned and pulled up a chair beside the bed. He was sitting up and letting his legs dangle off the side of the bed, so you didn’t need to sit down immediately.

“I’m gonna need you to remove your helmet, trooper” You implied, smiling slightly as the trooper nodded his head and raised his gloved hands up to the edges of his uniquely designed headgear. With a swift movement, he lifted the helmet off his head and placed it beside him on the bed. Bright amber eyes looked at you sharply, pupils rapidly shrinking with the sudden exposure of LED light. Tufts of buzzed grey hair contrasted well against the light orange hues of his eyes and for a second you forgot what he was here for.

Clearing your throat, you shifted your gaze to his lips. You cringed inwardly at the nasty looking split on the side of his lip, nearby the corner. A lot of blood surrounded it, ranging from his chin to the side of his cheek; it was clearly smudged underneath the helmet. Another thing you noticed was that he had a nose bleed, clearly he had been in a brawl of some sort.

“Looks nasty, but I should be able to patch it up just fine,” You commented, inspecting the wound delicately and asking permission to tilt the troopers head to which he responded with a hesitant nod. The tips of your index and middle finger pressed against his chin whereas your other hand cupped the side of his head. After a few tense seconds of doing that, you quickly let go and picked up the alcohol bottle as well as the cloth.

“I’m gonna clean the wound up, so this’ll sting a bit” You informed him.

“Nothing new” He commented gruffly, voice clearer than before due to the lack of voice module from his helmet, yet it still came out as a faint whisper. You looked at him for a short moment before returning your attention to the bottle and tilting it gently over the cloth.

The man tensed when you dabbed the cloth on his lip, his eye twitching once before he gained his composure and let out a brief sigh. You mumbled a small apology as you continued cleaning his fresh wound and prepared the sterile-strips to place over the open split. After you cleaned all the blood up, you took a brief second to admire how the soldier looked normally. He was clearly a defective clone, definitely not one of the normal ones, but you didn’t pry. Another thing was that he was extremely attractive, he had a narrow face but a sharp jaw with light stubble. His eyes, mentioned before, were a beautiful amber-brown, and his hair a light grey. He was handsome, exceedingly so, but with a quick shake of your head, you picked up a sterile strip and took the protective layer off the sticky surface.

“Your hands are shaking” He observed calmly, eyes narrow but not entirely unkind. You pursed your lips and used the force very briefly to sense his force signature, making sure to approach his response in a suitable manner which also suited his tone of voice. You sensed he was on edge, but at the same time he wasn’t nervous. He wasn’t on edge about this, clearly something had happened that you weren’t aware of.

“Just... long day at work” You muttered, sending him a reassuring smile which was barely noticeable, but he saw it, he was very observing of you, much more than the other clones you tended to in the past.

“Hmm” Was his reply, eyes flickering away from yours as he watched you fiddle with the strips clumsily. You hated being watched at work, it made your stomach churn and a voice was screaming in your head not to let your real identity slip up. Even things you did that didn’t relate to being a Jedi scared you, everything made you anxious.

“Stay still for me, please” You ordered softly, tilting the handsome soldiers head back - with his permission - before expertly sticking on the sterile strip which brought the two sides of the split together. The soldier hissed for a second and you felt your heart tighten, you didn’t mean to hurt him.

“How does that feel?” You asked nervously, throat drying up as the soldier scratched the back of his neck and looked up at you through his dark eyelashes. Your breath caught in your throat but thankfully it made no sound, you just kept a neutral expression as you awaited his response.

“I’ve been through worse” He responded in a voice you could only describe as irritation. Taking another peek into his head through the force, you felt his correct emotion - pure hatred and frustration, but not to others. To himself.

You looked stunned as the soldier stood up from the bed, walking past your frozen frame as he picked up his helmet and held it underneath his arm.

“Uh wait,” You called out as he walked towards the door. The soldier stopped and turned around, light amber eyes glaring right into yours. You felt like he was staring into your soul.

“Keep in mind, you’ll need to keep the wound clean in order for it to heal,” You crossed your arms over your chest which earned a raised brow from the trooper standing a few meters away from you. He was thinking a lot about your attitude and body language towards him, you were clearly exhausted and past the point of clean and preppy mannerisms. Most of the other nurses were droids, so he was surprised at first to find a human.

“Yeah yeah, got it” He waved you off, rolling his eyes slightly which caused your brow to twitch. Were you being annoying?

“How’d you get that burst lip anyway?” You asked, knowing fine well you shouldn’t be prying into any soldiers business, but a part of you was curious to know.

“Regs don’t know how to keep their hands to themselves,” He scowled, eyes narrowing and going unfocused which looked as though he was reliving the memory of how he obtained the burst lip.

It took you longer than expected to work out what he meant. You should’ve known at first that the soldier standing in front of you was a defective clone, one of five... but the other 4 weren’t here...

With a quiet gasp, you figured out exactly who you were standing in front of and all of a sudden you felt like you were going to cave in and shrink into nothing.

Kriffing Maker, that’s Crosshair.

“They’re not fond of defective clones such as yourself?” You masked up your shock after a suspicious amount of silence after he spoke. Crosshair raised his brow once more, frowning and chewing on a toothpick you hadn’t spotted before.

“Not quite...” He sounded suspicious. Almost too suspicious. His words were slow and held a tone of reluctance which caused your heart to hammer against your rib cage.

“Very well, you’re free to go, trooper” You nod, bowing to him very slightly before turning around and walking to the back of the ward to return the alcohol and unused pieces of cotton wool back in the cupboards. Your senses were at peek sensitivity, you immediately noticed that there was no beeping to signify Crosshair had left. For a moment you had tears in your eyes.

Swallowing the lump in your throat and wiping your eyes in a subtle manner, you turned around and saw Crosshair look at you strangely. He looked as though he was seeing two heads, his eyes a bit too focused as his lips were pulled tightly together.

“Anything you need, Crosshair?” You asked, your stomach dropping when you said his name instead of addressing him professionally. You just stuck yourself in it, great move (Y/N).

“How do you know my name?” Crosshair’s frown deepened, which you didn’t think was possible.

“Word gets around fast, you’d be surprised to find how many troopers talk about you” You covered up your slip up rapidly, turning around and holding onto the edge of the counter tightly. Crosshair didn’t seem too convinced but flickered his glance from you to the ground.

“It’s only fair if I know your name then” He took a step forward. Even though he was at the other side of the room, you flinched at his movement and gripped the edge of the counter a bit more intensely.

“Amia” You bit the tip of your tongue after your false name slipped past your lips, internally hoping he would buy your contained facade and leave your work space.

“Good day, Amia” Crosshair flicked his toothpick expertly into a bin in the corner of the ward, turning around at last and placing on his helmet before walking out the doors to the medic ward.

After what felt like minutes, you let out a breath held deep in your chest. You gripped onto your uniform top nervously, eyes wide and stuck on the door where the man clad in dark grey armour walked through.

You had a feeling that wasn’t going to be the last time you saw him.

[salty-rey]

Head Scratcher | The Bad Batch

Pairing: Crosshair x OC (formerly Reader)

Words:  2.7k

Warning: None. Just a mention of a bloodied nose and bruises. 

Series: Come Back | Saving Lives

A/N: I decided to change the Reader to be a female OC. I tried to keep it gender-neutral but I couldn’t help myself. I also apologize if this reading is roughed, I’ve been battling with it for the past two week. And I wanted to get it done before tomorrow’s episode. This also takes place before Echo joins the group. Anyways, I do hope you guys enjoy this chapter! 

“I told you I’m fine---ouch!” The combat medic yelped in pain before glaring at the medical droid. “A warning would have been nice.”

“You were reckless, Freckles. You’re lucky that you didn’t get anything more serious than this,” Hunter scolded her, arms crossed in front of his chest. 

 “Hey, at least it wasn’t as bad as that one time. Crosshair and I had a couple broken bones and ribs, remember?” She tried joking with a light laugh, only to get a deeper glare from the Sergeant. The combat frowned, eyes looking down to her lap. “Sorry, I’ll try to do better.”

It has been over a year since Freckles joined Clone Force 99. It has also been half a year since the last serious incident, which was her and Crosshair sustaining broken bones and a concussion. After that mission, the crew made sure to be more careful, even though neither one would have guessed that the vehicle was planted (Tech may argue that though). 

Hunter nodded his head before lightly patting her shoulder. “We’re homebound until further notice. Until then, get your rest and I don’t want to find you doing anything stupid.” 

“Yes sir,” you grumbled before relaxing against the pillows. 

Hunter turned away, letting the droid do their work to patch Freckles up. Standing outside the medical ward was the rest of the Bad Batch, waiting anxiously for an answer. 

“She’s fine. Just bad burns but it won’t leave any scars,” the Sergeant informed them.

Wrecker sighed in relief, and Tech’s shoulders relaxed, a small smile on his face. Crosshair, however, still appeared tense. Hunter frowned, his eyebrows knitting together. 

“Let’s fill out our reports and get some food. Maybe she’ll join us by then,” Hunter said to the group, although his eyes were staring right at Crosshair.

Wrecker and Tech nodded their heads in agreement, the sniper remaining still before following his brothers away. 

.

.

.

Being allowed to leave her room and walk around the facility was rewarding, and Freckles had full intention to enjoy this freedom. But before she could do such a thing, her stomach grumbled something fierce. 

It’s lunch time. I hope they’re still serving food at the mess hall, she thought to herself before smiling. I bet the boys are there too! Freckles wasted no time in putting on a robe over her blacks, mimicking the style of a Jedi for fun before heading out.

It didn’t take long to reach the mess hall, having already memorized the entire facility on Kamino. She waved at passing clones and Kaminoans, greeting them, a light limp in her step. Many of them recognized her, being a medic stationed on Kamino before graduating into being a combat medic.

Once reaching the mess hall, Freckles didn’t hesitate to grab a tray and get in line with the other troopers. She could feel eyes on her, soft whispers behind her back but she paid no attention to it. Troops flirting and whistling at her wasn’t something new. Although, it has been some time since she has been traveling with the boys for over a year now. So, Freckles had to admit that it made her feel uncomfortable.

Retrieving her meal, Freckles scanned the area for a brief second before spotting a couple of familiar heads. 

“Hey boys!” Freckles greeted, and all of their heads snapped up.

“Freckles!” Wrecker exclaimed with joy, leaping onto his feet. “You’re okay!” He then hugged her, lifting her off the ground. 

Before the medic could respond, Crosshair snapped at his larger brother, catching both of their attention. “Wrecker! Put her down,” the sniper growled in warning. 

Wrecker was surprised at his brother’s reaction before carefully putting Freckles down. “S-sorry...”

“It’s okay. I’m feeling a lot better. Just a small limp,” she responded before setting her tray down and sitting next to Hunter. “How were the reports? I filled mine in the med-bay.”

Before the boys could answer, a group of shinies walked past their table. They had disgusted expressions towards the Bad Batch, until one of them noticed Freckles. 

A wolf-whistled cut through the dining area, causing heads to turn. “Lookie here, boys.” One of the regs said, gesturing with a smirk. 

“What’s a mesh’la civvie like you doing a place like this?” Another clone asked, looming over Freckles. 

“I’m a combat medic for Clone Force 99,” Freckles answered casually, briefly looking up from her tray. 

The clones glanced at the Bad Batch, their smirks turning into frowns and glares. This didn’t go unnoticed by Freckles, and she began to dread the worse.

“A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be hanging out with these freaks,” the trooper insulted. “Why don’t you hang out with us instead?” He said, placing a firm hand on Freckles’ shoulder.

The medic glared at the hand before shifting it to the trooper. “I’m good with my boys. Thanks,” she responded as she shoved the hand off. 

“Don’t be like that--” 

“Your ears must be defective. She said she’s fine,” Crosshair stood up from his seat. 

The rest of the Bad Batch stood up, squaring off with the quad of regs. 

“We weren’t talking to you.” The reg snarled, his hands gripping tightly on his tray. 

“Indeed. However, you were speaking about us. So we are intervening,” Tech retorted. 

“And you were bothering one of our own,” Hunter

“So back off!” Wrecker cracked his knuckles, grinning. “Or you wanna fight!”

The regs glared back at the Batch until one of them smirked. “You know what I always say; a good defect is a dead one. Just like 99---”

The next thing Freckles knew, the shiny was laying on the ground, flat on his butt with a bloodied nose. The surrounding clones gazed in stunned silence before chaos erupted. 

Bits of food was flying through the air. Fists colliding with armor. Shouts, grunts and groaning filled the air. Freckles managed to keep away from the fighting, watching her boys fighting off the regs. 

Tech and Hunter were teamed up, taking out four to five clones. Wrecker fighting on his own, acting like a bulldozer, knocking down more troopers. Crosshair was fighting by himself, using trays as projectiles but he was running out of ammunition. 

A clone broke through and threw a punch at Crosshair, connecting with his cheek. 

“Stop it!” Freckles shouted, pushing through the crowd of clones that gathered around the fight. Another punch hit the sniper’s face again, this time on his lip. Blood appeared, alarming the medic. “I said STOP IT!!!” 

Freckles managed to throw herself onto the assaulting clone, protecting Crosshair from any further attack. Before Freckles could either attack or further defend, an alarm went off, and Kaminoan clone troopers rushed in. 

Within a matter of seconds, the fight had ceased, the troopers separated the regs from the Bad Batch. “You five, come with me.” The trooper ordered, pointing at Freckles and the boys. 

The combat medic didn’t attempt to argue because this wasn’t the first time that the Bad Batch received the full punishment, even though there were others involved. It wasn’t fair nor right, thus enforcing the distaste between the regs and the mutated clones. 

.

.

.

Freckles entered the medical ward, looking around the large room until spotting the silver haired clone.

Crosshair was sitting upright on the bed, a droid scanning his face. Freckles spotted the busted up lower lip, and bruises on his cheek and chin. The fight in the mess hall got him good but nothing serious. 

The sniper was sent to the medical ward promptly after being lectured by Jedi Master Shaak Ti, keeping the rest behind to hear the whole story of the fight. She promised that anyone else involved will receive full punishment alongside them. Until then, Freckles had decided to check on grouchy clone.

The droid made an attempt to apply bacta spray on his lip, but Crosshair pulled away snarling. 

“It’s okay. I can take it from here, AZ.” Freckles spoke up, attracting both the clone and droid’s attention. 

“Very well, combat medic Freckles.” AZ nodded his head before hovering away. 

Once the droid was gone, Freckles began to dig for the needed items to patch up Crosshair. “You look worse for wear,” she teased as she found the bacta spray. 

She heard him huff before muttering, “You should see the regs.” Freckles stood back up and approached him, bacta spray in hand. She saw him glared at the spray in her hand, shoulders tensed.

“I know it’s going to sting, but it’s gonna help close that cut up quick.” She told him before grinning. “Pucker up, cheek-bones.” 

“Don’t call me that,” Crosshair glared at the medic, but Freckles continued to smile patiently. This caused the sniper to huff in annoyance. “You’re no fun anymore.”

“I can be fun!” Freckles pouted, lightly glaring at the clone. Before Crosshair could say any witty remarks of her lack of humor, the medic quickly sprayed on his cut up lip. 

“AH!” Crosshair gasped before snarling in anger. The spray was bubbling on the cut, the medicine doing its magic. 

“That’s what you get,” Freckles smirked before quickly sticking her tongue at him.

Crosshair glared with a small pout of his own, while Freckles pulled out some small patches. He continued to watch her work on him, feeling the cool patch on his bruises. The way she tended to him was much different than when she first joined the crew. Even though she has seen the cruelty of war, she kept a positive attitude around the troops. She brought that light when joining Clone Force 99, even if his brothers were rather cold to her at first. After a few months though, one by one, his brothers welcomed her. All but him. 

Whenever she had to tend to any wounds on him, or just a monthly check up, she was hesitant. Borderline scared even. After receiving harsh remarks, insults and glares, Freckles became monotone around him. There was no joy or anger whenever they happened to interact. Her joyful energy was slowly dying. 

Because it was all his fault. 

Don’t act as if you care about us clones! We’re exposable for you perfect nat-borns!

Freckles paused after putting the last bacta patch on the sniper’s face. She noticed how tense he was. His eyes were downcast, avoiding looking at her, and his eyebrows pinching together. It is a look that Freckles recognized. Especially working with other clones. Crosshair was deep in thought, and she had a feeling that it was something serious.

Pulling her hands back, Freckles gazed at the clone for a few seconds. “Do you trust me?” Freckles suddenly asked, a soft smile on her lips. 

Crosshair’s gaze snapped back at her, surprised how the silent was broken. He silently stared at her with a single raised eyebrow before lightly scowling. “What a dumb question to ask,” he huffed while he briefly looked away.

Freckles grinned before gesturing with her hands. “Lean down a bit. You’re too tall.”

The sniper sighed with a small eye roll, but she knew that he was being dramatic. Crosshair leaned down, a curious look in his eyes, watching Freckles closely. The combat medic reached up slowly, making sure not to startle the clone. Although, she doubts anything can catch Crosshair off guard.

Freckles’ fingertips lightly touched the silver locks of Crosshair’s hair, surprised to feel how soft it felt. She also noticed the clone tensing up, causing her to pause for a few seconds before slowly running her fingers through his hair.

“What exactly are you planning?” He questioned, his eyes never leaving hers. 

“Shhh, just relax,” She answered almost in a whisper.

Her fingertips began to lightly massage his scalp, avoiding her nails from accidentally scratching the skin. Freckles continued to massage his head, moving from the top to the sides, watching his facial expression slowly relax. She couldn’t help but smile as Crosshair closed his eyes, feeling him slowly lean into her touches. 

Crosshair was practically pudding in her hands. She has never seen the sniper so calm. So relax. Crosshair was an early bird, awake before the others, especially before Freckles. Seeing him like this, is practically watching him sleep. Crosshair never let anyone see him like this. So vulnerable. And to be like this, in front of her, letting her touch him. It made her heart race and cheeks feel warm. 

What a dumb question to ask. 

Crosshair trusts her with his life. This realization caused her to smile with utter bliss.

Her fingertips moved from rubbing to lightly scratching with her nails. The noise that escaped the sniper shocked them both.

A light moan slipped out from the clone’s lips. Freckles froze and Crosshair’s eyes snapped open, the pair staring at each other in startled silence. 

Well. Apparently you can startle the sniper.

The pair was lost for words, their eyes locked onto each other. Freckles slowly broke into a nervous smile, her hands still lightly cupping the side of his head. 

“Not. A. Word.” Crosshair growled a warning, and Freckles quickly nodded her head. 

A moment, the combat medic thought that Crosshair would pull away and that would be it. Again, Freckles was surprised.

Crosshair leaned forward and pressed his forehead on shoulder, hiding his face from her. Freckles had to suppress a soft laugh. Not only has she finally seen Crosshair relax and heard him moan. Now she has witnessed him being embarrassed. 

What a day this turned out to be, she smiled to herself. Freckles then heard a muffled grunt then a light nudge on her shoulder. Taking the hint, she resumed scratching and massaging his scalp, slowly running her fingers through his short locks. 

There was the occasional content moaning and sighs, muffled thanks to her shoulder. After several minutes, Freckles paused for a moment, recalling everything that happened today. 

Freckles moved her hands from his head, loosely wrapping her arms around his neck, hands laying on his back. She felt Crosshair shift a bit, his head titling a little in order to see her from the corner of his eye. 

“Thank you. For everything,” she smiled lightly. 

Crosshair stared before hiding his face again. Freckles continued to smile, hugging the sniper. 

“You’re welcome,” his breath brushed against her ear. A shiver ran down her back at the sensation, Freckles’ cheeks burning and heart pounding. Then, the sniper said something so quietly, she almost didn’t hear it. “I’m sorry...”

“For what?” Freckles asked, pulling back a little to look at him. “That fight in the food court wasn’t your fault.”

“That’s...not why I’m apologizing for.” The sniper responded, avoiding eye contact. 

The medic was quiet for a few seconds before realizing what Crosshair was referring to. “Oh!” A stupid grin spread across her face. He never apologizes for anything. Not with his harsh comments towards her, or upsetting his brothers. This was a miracle. “Apology accepted, Crossy!”

“I take that back. I’m not sorry.” Crosshair glared, causing Freckles to laugh heartily.

“Seems like you guys are doing well,” Hunter’s voice startled the two of them. 

They both realized how close they were; her arms still resting loosely over his shoulders. And when did he put his hands on her hips?! 

I must have been so focused on massaging his scalp, I didn’t even notice! She thought, as the two separated hastily and clumsily, Crosshair jumping to his feet, and Freckles pushing herself away from the clone. “Y-yes...ah...how things go with Master Shaak Ti?” 

“You were there with us before excusing yourself to check on Crosshair. How could you have forgotten?” Tech recounted with a confused look on his face. “Did you sustain a head injury during the fight that you are keeping quiet about?”

The medic’s cheeks darkened, her heart racing as she realized her mistake. Her attempt to draw their attention away from her and Crosshair, she completely forgot about their talk with the Jedi Master. 

“Freckle’s blushing! Were you two going to make out?” Wrecker laughed before teasing the two of them. A blur of white flew through the air and Wrecker gasped in surprise as a pillow collided with his face. 

“Nutennir laam, di’kut.” Crosshair scowled before pushing past his brothers. 

Hunter smiled, watching his brother walk away with an accelerated heartbeat before looking back at Freckles. She noticed his knowing smile, sighing heavily as she fell backwards onto the bed.

She will never hear the end of this.