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agentark88 · 1 year

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Think: An Explosive Ending

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Disclaimer: The following is a work of fan fiction using characters and settings from My Hero Academia/Boku no Hero Academia created by Kohei Horikoshi. I do not claim any ownership of characters present in this piece that are owned and created by Kohei Horikoshi. I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku no Hero Academia.

Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Warnings: This work contains mild language, blood, and violence.

(Ending 1 of 8)

An Explosive Ending

You couldn’t move. You stared back at a Shigaraki possessed by All for One. In this form, he was beyond your worst nightmares. With a flick of his finger, he could disintegrate you. All your fears came rushing back. You quivered in fear.

“Out of the way,” All for One said. He lifted Shigaraki’s hand, and your chest tightened.

No. Please no. It was all you could do not to collapse to the ground, holding yourself. Please stop. Stop hurting people.

Shigaraki’s outstretched hand wavered. Your hands moved to your head, clutching your mind with your fingertips. You’d used your quirk without your control again. The words in your mind were being streamlined out.

“This can easily be remedied if you just stand aside. You’re wasting my time with such ridiculous pleas,” All for One said. He lifted Shigaraki’s hand again.

You shut your eyes, unable to move out of fear and your malfunctioning quirk. You trembled, resigning yourself to your fate.

An explosion rattled Gigantomachia. A ringing penetrated your ears, and heat washed through you. Wind rushed past you.

“I won’t let you touch her!” Bakugo bellowed. It was a miracle he was still standing. He’d gone unconscious several times since he’d been stabbed in the chest, yet here he was still protecting you. His arm came around you, and he ushered you back, barely standing on his own. “Go, Big Brain. This isn’t your fight. It’s that Damn Nerds’ and my responsibility.”

Bakugo suddenly coughed out blood, and you gasped.

“What are you talking about?! Neither you nor Deku can even stand up straight. How do you expect to stop him like this?” you asked.

“I expect to keep you safe, like I promised,” Katsuki said through clenched teeth. “Now, get out of here. You’re the last person I ever want to get injured,” he murmured.

“I haven’t even…” you trailed off. You hadn’t even gotten to fight Shigaraki. You were too scared to fight him. Just the sight of him dredged up the past. All for One’s presence in his body only made it worse. With Bakugo in front of you now, you realized an even more horrifying reality ahead of you.

“Go,” Bakugo snapped, staggering.

The nightmare. All those weeks, no months, ago you saw him disintegrate in your arms. You watched him turn to ash, felt Katsuki dissipate into the wind.

“Why won’t you just die?” Shigaraki asked. That was his voice, not All for One’s. Had he fought through? He raised his hand again. The air stilled. Spikes of red and black energy raced from his fingertips.

Bakugo shoved you behind him, raising his own palm. Your quirk fired, rushing around you and Katsuki as you realized his explosion wasn’t even going to go off. Was he out of sweat? Did he intend on sacrificing himself for you? The strands of energy pierced through your mind shield but only by a crack, unable to completely break through. You gritted your teeth, fighting through the mind-splitting migraine twisting through your temple.

Bakugo doubled over, another burst of blood coming from his lips. “No, dammit. I need to protect her. Stupid body.” He clutched at his chest. His eyes were shutting on their own.

Your eyes widened as you were struck from behind. You yelped out in pain. Shigaraki had missed everything important, but he had hit your shoulder. Your mind whipped out, taking the quirk energy between two different strands and snapping it. You tried not to look at the damage to your shoulder, but your glittering hero costume was already turning crimson.

You turned your gaze back on Katsuki, and rage lit up his expression. Explosions burst to life in his palms, as he observed the wound that had been inflicted on you while beside him.

“That Bastard will die for that,” he seethed.

“Katsuki, you can’t—”

Bakugo was gone before the next word came out of your mouth. You clutched at your dripping wound, watching in awe as Katsuki unloaded an onslaught of explosions the equivalent to the impact of fifty missiles. The Nomus headed up the hill were even struck by the impressive display, delaying their objective to retrieve their master.

A fog of harsh black and gray smoke clouded the area. Katsuki landed beside you, taking a knee to keep conscious and wheezing ferally beside you. Shigaraki emerged from the smoke, unharmed. His posture had changed again. All for One had taken back control.

“I’ve had just about enough of your interferences, Katsuki Bakugo.” All for One cracked his neck. “I will finish what my successor started.”

Bakugo continued to push you back as All for One got closer. Katsuki was practically falling into you. At this point, Katsuki didn’t even have the power to speak. All for One would kill him if he got his hands on him. All for One reached Shigaraki’s hand out to place it on Bakugo, and your quirk snapped.

Your quirk launched at the villain, hitting his hand with such force that it broke Shigaraki’s wrist. You screamed as you felt the strand of your mind decay from being touched. But, your self-survivalist quirk had already detached the strand so it wouldn’t destroy your mind along with it. Another part of your mind snapped over the shattered area in your brain. Pain resurfaced again. Bakugo grabbed for you. You shivered in his arms.

The Nomus finally made it up the hill, streaming past both of you with one task in mind. They grabbed Shigaraki, retreating. Katsuki moved from you to pursue him, but he didn’t make it far. He collapsed beside you. You weakly put out your hand to touch him, ensure that he was still alive. Then, you passed out.

…

When you woke up, Heart of Hearts informed you that days had passed. Still, you had been considered one of the luckier ones. Deku and Bakugo hadn’t woken up yet, both recovering from severe injuries.

You stayed by Katsuki’s side as long as they would let you. His entire chest was bandaged. There were hundreds of tiny wires and machines hooked up to him. You’d oftentimes bring him spicy food: chips, noodle cups, and chocolate. The pile was getting extensive beside his bed. You had even bought a small orange bear for him. You were holding the small stuffed animal in your lap now, watching Bakugo continue to sleep and wondering if his eyes would ever open.

“I’m sorry,” you said, clutching the bear closer to your chest. “If I wasn’t so scared to fight, maybe you’d already be awake.” You leaned forward, frowning. “You know that you don’t have to always protect me, right? I know I’m a mess, and I’m clumsy, but…” You teared up, waiting for his grouchy response, but he remained unconscious. “I don’t know what to do without you, Katsuki.” You sniffled, wiping your nose with the back of your hand.

You wondered what he’d say to you now, probably something about using a tissue, or he’d tell you to throw out all that junk food you’d bought him. You turned the orange bear around, holding it out and looking down at its unmoving content expression. Would he even like this?

You set the bear to the side, almost knocking over the other small gifts when you set him atop them. You placed your face in your hands, letting out the tears that seemed to stream endlessly these days. Inconsolable had been the best word to describe your demeanor. Without Katsuki, you felt so alone.

“Anna?”

You froze, fingers coming away from your face as if you’d heard a ghost. “Katsuki?”

Bakugo blinked at you, already shifting restlessly in his hospital bed. He winced, putting a hand to his chest when he tried to get up.

“D-Don’t move,” you stuttered out. “You’ve been in a coma. You were unconscious for weeks.”

Bakugo’s eyes widened. “Weeks?” he asked. He gritted his teeth.

You nodded your head, already blubbering again. You relentlessly wiped away the tears. “I was so scared you weren’t going to wake up,” you murmured. You leapt up from your chair, throwing your arms around him.

Katsuki grunted from the impact but managed to hold you all the same. “Don’t cry,” he grumbled, placing his hand softly on the back of your head. “I told you that I’ll always be there to protect you. I can’t really do that if I’m freaking dead, now can I?”

You shook your head no, trying to avoid pressing on any of his injuries. He stroked your hair, clicking his tongue. He pressed a kiss to your forehead, and you blushed. You didn’t dare pull away, in fear that you might lose him again.

Katsuki patiently waited until you stopped crying, then his hand paused atop your head. You felt him turn.

“What the hell is all that crap?” he asked.

You chuckled, nuzzling into him. “I might have gone a little overboard bringing you gifts.”

“A little is an understatement…” he trailed off, and you turned your gaze up to him.

“What?” you asked.

“The bear. What’s his name?”

You looked at him in confusion.

“You bought me a bear. Don’t tell me that you didn’t even give it a name.” He rolled his eyes, reaching his hand out toward it.

You took the hint and grabbed it, bringing it over to him. He took it, setting it beside him.

“Y-you like him?” you asked in surprise.

“Of course, I like him. You got him for me. Besides, at least he’s not crappy for my health. And, he’s my favorite color,” Bakugo said.

You wiggled your eyebrows mischievously, while thinking about giving the bear a name. You bounced up and down in place out of excitement. “What about Bakubear?”

“Hell no,” Katsuki snapped. “He needs a badass name.”

You put your finger to your chin. “What about Sidekick Explosion Murder Bear?”

“Now, that’s a name for a bear.” Bakugo squeezed the bear with one hand a little too hard. Its tiny body could hardly stand on its own.

You and Bakugo suddenly looked up at each other. His gaze softened.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said gently.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” you said back.

There was a long pause. Katsuki shifted again. His ears grew crimson in color. “I hope you know that I love you.”

Your eyes widened. You blushed just as hard, clearing your throat and finding it difficult to look back up at him. “I-I love you too.”

…Eight Years Later…

“Do we really have to stay the whole time?” Katsuki grumbled, loosening his bowtie for the fifth time that night. “I don’t want to sit here and lose to that Damn Nerd again.”

Your husband, Katsuki Bakugo, had been working so hard to achieve his dream of becoming the number one hero, but with Pro Heroes like Deku, it’s been sort of difficult for him to gain traction in his popularity. Overall, Katsuki had grown so much since the two of you graduated from U.A.. With a little PR training, he had started to treat his fans with a little less hostility, but you always felt like it was a part of his charm.

“I’ve got a good feeling about this one,” you said, leaning forward in your chair. You were being honest. Recently, Katsuki’s ratings had skyrocketed. The two of you had been out on patrol more often together, and you were able to keep him pretty calm around his fans. Meanwhile, he had also made some major breakthroughs with villain arrests. His entire sector had been crime free for weeks now.

Katsuki’s eyes scanned you over. You were wearing a long orange sparkly dress in support of him for the hero rankings today. His mother had graciously allowed you to wear one of her designs. Unfortunately, it was a little too suggestive for your liking. There was a rather large slit up the side and the back was exposed. You were trying to be very careful with how you sat, but your leg kept slipping out of the fold. You fixed the fabric again, and Katsuki’s hand fell onto yours.

“Anna, you look stunning. You don’t need to be so self-conscious,” he murmured under his breath.

You gulped, trying to hide your flushed cheeks from him. “Thank you. It’s a little too revealing in my opinion, but I’m thankful that I could wear something so fancy for the occasion. It was nice of your mom to let me borrow it.”

Katsuki sighed. “Can’t believe you went to her for an outfit. Makes me think you don’t like when I surprise you.” He crossed his arms, staring up at the stage. They were droning on and on about what the Pro Heroes had been able to accomplish, and some speeches were going on far longer than they should have been. Katsuki had checked out by the sixth person called.

“It’s an honor to be invited at least,” you said, shrugging and staring at his bored expression. “At least you know you made it in the top ten.” You were trying your best to stay positive. He deserved to be at the top. He shouldn’t always be so hard on himself.

Katsuki shrugged, gazing back at you. “I’d much rather spend this time off of patrol with you… alone… at the house…” He smirked at you, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

You rolled your eyes at him, blushing. “Sure, I’d rather be cuddling up and watching a movie than here too, but you have to be a little excited to find out the results.”

“What does it matter?” He put his head down on the table over his arm. He reached out and held your hand with his free one. “I’m always second anyway. Come on. We can slip out unnoticed if we go now.”

“You’re not going to go to the stage? Won’t that mess up the ceremony?”

Katsuki clicked his tongue. “Like I care if I mess up some stuffy ceremony.”

Your gaze shifted, and you caught sight of Deku making his way up to the stage. Wait, what number had they called?

“Come on. Let’s play hooky together,” Katsuki said.

“Wait…” you said, attention shifting up to the front.

“…and the number one Pro Hero this year is Katsuki Bakugo!” the announcer bellowed.

Your eyes widened, and you jumped up in excitement. Katsuki stared at you in confusion. He mustn’t have even heard the announcement. You gripped his arm, and his eyebrows furrowed.

“You did it, Katsuki.” You pulled him up from his chair, pressing a kiss to his cheek and encouraging him to go to the stage.

He was still confused even as the rest of the room was cheering him on.

“The hell?” he asked.

“You’re number one, Katsuki,” you said, grinning.

“Congratulations, Bakubro. Better get to the stage before someone else swoops in and takes your spot,” Red Riot said, clapping his old pal on the back.

“I did it?” Katsuki asked incredulously. He started to put together what had actually happened. Then, he put on a smirk. “Of course, I did it. Those damn Extras don’t have anything on me.”

Your smile wavered as your husband made his way to the stage. You hoped for his ranking’s sake that he would keep to the PR script, but you really wanted him to just be himself and enjoy the moment. Regardless, his speech would most likely have his explosive flare to it. He’d worked so hard, and you were so proud. You were sure his PR team members were already wringing their hands in worry backstage.

Katsuki took the mic with a sardonic grin. The room grew quiet as he was about to speak. “It’s about time,” he started. He cleared his throat, looking at you in the crowd. “I’d like to start out by thanking you for the support you’ve given me and my agency. I wouldn’t be standing here today without you…”

Well, at least he remembered his script, but it didn’t really feel authentically him.

“…Anna. My beautiful, thoughtful, and intelligent wife is the reason I’m standing here in front of all of you, today. Without her getting me through these boring ass functions, I would never have been standing here.” He gestured out to you in the crowd, and you swore your glasses were fogging up from heated embarrassment. Now, it was definitely more on brand for him, unpredictable and outspoken. Katsuki chuckled. “Can’t say that I didn’t know it would happen eventually. I knew I’d be number one.”

Katsuki tossed the mic behind him, and the host looked shocked and confused. Katsuki then proceeded to give Deku the middle finger, sticking his tongue out at him. Deku simply gave him an awkward smile, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Katsuki made a beeline for where you were standing, wading through the astonished crowd. When Katsuki reached you, he gave you a long breathtaking kiss. You blinked up at him in a daze.

“That was certainly a speech,” you said. “I’m not sure PR would approve.”

“There’s only one person I’ve got to worry about for approval, and it sure as hell aren’t those nerds. I didn’t get to be number one by doing what the PR team wanted me to do.” He stroked your cheek with his thumb. His gaze softened. “Now, let’s go home. I’ve got a whole year to celebrate my victory, and I don’t intend to spend it in this monkey suit around these Extras.”

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agentark88 · 1 year

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Think: A Mind-Bending Ending

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language, blood, and violence.

(Ending 2 of 8)

A Mind-Bending Ending

You reacted to All for One’s words as if it had lit a fire in you. You were going to be a hero. No matter what you faced, you wanted to become a hero. Everything you had sacrificed would not end here.

You spread out your fingers, wielding your quirk with gentle control. A twinge of pain hit your temple, but you held firm on a mind shield to protect yourself. You whipped out a strand of your mind, and All for One formed reflective bubble of his own, knocking the attack away from him.

“Foolish child. You can’t defeat me,” All for One said. He lifted Shigaraki’s hand like a puppet on strings. He blasted you, and the yellow energy cracked against your mind shield.

You didn’t even flinch. You took a step forward, and another blast hit your shield, then another, then another. You sent a metal projectile in his direction, and he deflected it, nearly smacking Spinner with the ricocheting support item. You caught it back with your mind, whipping it toward All for One’s back. He blocked it again. He unleashed dark energy spikes from his fingertips, and they clipped through your mind shield like the head of an arrow. You gasped, seeing how close it had come to your chest.

“It’s unwise to tempt fate. I see you’ve chosen the wrong decision,” All for One said. “Prepare to lose your life. At least you will have the luxury of knowing when you’ll perish.”

Another blast of energy cracked against your shield. Another spike lodged into your mental shield, and a small visible blue crack started forming in the shell. You clenched your teeth, raising both your hands and lifting every color projectile in your arsenal. If Shigaraki’s body had been weakened, All for One shouldn’t be able to deflect them all at once; however, an attack like this might leave you vulnerable to taking physical damage. You weren’t certain you could keep your mind shield up, but you’d trained for this. You would try.

Two wrecking balls, filled with their weighted gunk, became solid after you triggered their internal mechanism. The strain of holding them weakened your shield. You grabbed the smaller spherical bullets with your mind, whisking them around you to pick up speed. You watched All for One’s stance change. His attention shifted to the multiple moving elements. You knew he was calculating, knew he had far more experience than you did.

Gigantomachia’s body rumbled. Multiple heavy footfalls sounded behind you. The Nomus were coming, heading to their master’s call. You didn’t have time to hesitate, to debate if this would be too much strain on your defense. It was your only chance to stop him. You struck, sending a mind blast rippling behind your multiple missile attack. With adept precision, he deflected each object in its turn, despite your best attempts to try to make each one of the projectiles hit him at all angles. As he deflected them, they seemed to completely detach from your mind’s control, disconnecting from being attached to your quirk as he sent them flying beyond your range.

The mind blast hit All for One the hardest, sending him skidding back even with the yellow shield in front of him, but that too was reflected, crashing into your mind shield like a snowplow. He held one hand out in front and one in the back to keep himself steady. You gritted your teeth, keeping your mind shield focused at the front to take on the blast you’d overzealously shot out at him. You winced as the blue fracture widened in your shield. You tried to hold it.

All for One sent a rippling radio wave at you next, and it hit your mind quirk like a sledgehammer. You held back the agonizing scream in your throat, worried that this would make you lose all focus. You needed to keep your attention on the frontal shield, or he’d knock you straight off your feet.

You screamed. A sharp stabbing pain pierced your back. You’d been so focused on protecting yourself from the front that you’d left a gap. Another red and black dagger of energy broke through your mind shield in the front, and you looked down at it in your chest, gasping. You turned your gaze down to the puncture wound, putting your hand to your chest, as he dislodged the energy. Bright red blood spurted out the wound. You fell to your knees in shock. Tears formed in your eyes.

“Why? Why would you do this?” your voice asked, but you never asked the question.

“There are consequences—” All for One’s distorted voice stopped.

Hitoshi Shinso’s voice rang out clear next. “Stop! Stop moving! You are not to leave from where you are!” he yelled in rage. “You will not let anything take you from where you stand!”

Shinso had used your voice. He used your voice to trick All for One.

Your entire body shivered. You held a hand to your frontal wound, feeling cold as you collapsed. Shinso’s hands were around you, cradling you.

“No. No. Please, stay with me. Stay with me, Kitten. You’re okay. I’m here. You’re going to be okay,” he said frantically. His violet eyes scanned you over, trying to find the best way to heal you, to keep you from bleeding out.

“H-Hitoshi,” you hiccupped out, feeling blood drip from your mouth. “It hurts…”

“Shh… It’s going to be okay. You don’t have to speak. I know… I know it hurts. Just hang on for me, okay? I’m going to get you help. You were so brave, so brave and strong, and I just need you to be stronger for a little while longer, okay?” he said. He was crying. Tears were coming down his cheeks and falling into yours. He grabbed your hand, pressing kisses to your fingertips and squeezing with all his might. He only released it to put pressure on the wound in your chest.

The Nomus came charging for Shigaraki, running blindly past the two of you. All for One evaded them in Shigaraki’s body, following Shinso’s direct instruction.

Shinso tried to shift you to pick you up, but you yelped out an agonizing cry. Your whole body shivered. “I know it hurts,” Hitoshi said, and his voice cracked. “I have to get you help. Please. I need to get you help.”

You gasped in a few hard breaths. Your chest strained. It was hard to get air. The pain was unbearable, and a whimper left you. Shinso looked as if the noise had physically hurt him, wrought him such pain that what was left of his stolidity crumbled. The tears came down harder now.

“Please, hold on, Anna. I love you. I love you so much, and I can’t live without you. Please, Kitten. Please. Stay with me. I know it hurts. Just…” He gritted his teeth, looking down at his fingers now coated in your blood.

Your eyelids felt heavy. You could barely move, but you managed to place your hand on his. His violet eyes widened, and he glanced between your hand and your face. You were so grateful to see him there, have him with you. You were terrified, terrified of the cold creeping through you. It brought you so much comfort to have him beside you. Had he always brought you so much peace?

All you could think about now was how much you cared about him, how much you wanted to tell him that you cared about him. You wanted to go see Button’s at the cat café with him. You wanted to go back to the time in each other’s minds. You wanted to see the stars, feel the grass between your fingertips. You wanted to spend hours talking about becoming Pro Heroes together. You wanted to go out on patrol with him, go out on another date with him, a real date. You needed to tell him.

“I…” you gulped. The air became even harder to breathe. “I love you too.”

…

“No, I’m fine,” Hitoshi said.

“It’s been weeks, Mindjack. You need to go back to class. You need to sleep,” Heart of Hearts said. “I know… I know it’s hard to get back to normal when she’s…”

“I can train, do my homework, and spend nights here. It’s the least that I can do,” he said.

“The least you can do? You single-handedly brought Shigaraki into custody, and you still think you have to do more?” Heart of Hearts sighed. “As soon as she opens her eyes, the hospital will contact you. You can’t waste away like this. Do you think this is what she would have wanted?”

“I said that I was fine,” Shinso snapped.

Your eyes fluttered open, and you saw Shinso and Hearts facing each other. The bright lights of the hospital burned harshly into your retinas. You stirred slightly, but the pain in your chest made you wince.

“Hitoshi,” you murmured, but your voice barely came out as a whisper.

Shinso’s eyes widened as he turned back. Relief washed through him. He could barely contain his happiness, smiling widely at you. Hearts looked genuinely surprised. She covered her mouth, and her pink eyes watered with tears. She turned away before she started crying.

“I…” Your mouth was so dry. Your whole body was sore. It hurt just to speak, but you had to say it. You had to let him know.

Shinso knelt down beside your hospital bed. He grabbed for your hand, smoothing over your knuckles with his thumb. “Take it easy, Kitten. You’ve been in a coma for over a month. Your body probably needs some time to…”

Your eyebrows knitted together as you tried to find your voice. Shinso had trailed off after seeing how determined you looked. He gave your hand a squeeze and waited.

“I love you too,” you said. You wanted to explain that you weren’t sure if he heard you, that you weren’t sure that he’d actually confessed to you like that. You weren’t even sure if you’d faced off with Shigaraki. Things felt so surreal. The only certainty that you did have, was that you loved him. You loved him more than anything. And, as you were dying in his arms, all you wanted to do was tell him how much more time you wanted to spend with him, how much time you’d wasted not spending time with him.

Shinso cracked a sly smile. “I know. You told me.” He chuckled, but you saw a tear slip down his face. “I love you.” He squeezed your hand harder this time. “I love you, so don’t you ever do that to me again.” He pressed his forehead to the back of your hand, sighing. “You really know how to keep a guy on the edge of his seat.”

…Five Years Later…

“I said no peeking,” Hitoshi said, chuckling.

The two of you were freshly married, yet he never ceased to amaze you. His slender fingers were covering your eyes, but you kept trying to peer through them, too excited for a surprise to wait.

“Well, show me already,” you huffed.

“Not yet,” he said. He continued to guide you. “We need to be at the right angle.”

“For what?!” you shouted out.

“So impatient,” Hitoshi chided playfully. Then, he stopped. “Okay. Now, it’s not completely finished, so—”

“Show me!” You bounced up and down in place, frustrated that he still wouldn’t remove his hands from your face.

Before you had to ask again, Hitoshi lifted his hands away from your eyes, gently placing your glasses back on. You blinked as your vision adjusted. You were both standing across the street from a huge building. It was still modest, despite its size. It looked like it was in the midst of renovation. Your gaze trailed up to the large sparkling blue and purple sign at the top, reading “MindThink" in large letters.

Hitoshi rubbed the back of his neck, shifting uncomfortably next to you. “I spoke to Hearts, and since her agency has been doing so well, she said a little healthy agency competition would be good for her. Of course, she said she’d miss us as sidekicks, but she’s excited to see what we can do on our own.”

Your smile dropped as you read the large sign above you over and over again. He’d put your hero name and his own together. He’d actually created a hero agency for the two of you. It was beautiful and spectacular and beyond anything you could have imagined the surprise to be.

“You hate it,” he said dejectedly. “I knew I should have put your name first. Is it the purple? I can have them change it. Don’t tell me that you’re worried we can’t handle this on our own? We’ve been shooting up the hero ranks. It’s only a matter of time before we’re in the top twenty.”

You turned toward him, and he closed his mouth. You couldn’t contain your smile any longer as you grinned from ear to ear. You ran toward him, jumping into his arms.

“It’s perfect! I love it!” you shrieked, giggling. “It’s so sparkly!”

Hitoshi sighed in relief, squeezing you back. “I’m glad you like it. Thought I was going to have to scrap the whole project based on your expression.” He chuckled.

“Are you kidding? You did this all by yourself, and I had no idea? I can’t believe you surprised me like this. It’s great,” you said.

“It’s pretty hard to surprise a mind reader, so I’ll take that as a well-deserved compliment,” he said. He twirled you around, setting you down and placing his hands on your shoulders, pointing you back toward the building. “I can’t wait to start.”

“It’s not finished yet,” you reminded him.

“That’s exactly why I brought you here. There’s still plenty of paperwork to sign and a code of conduct to construct.”

You pouted. “Paperwork?” You wrinkled your nose.

“Hey, you used to love paperwork back in U.A.,” he said.

“Yeah, that was back before I knew better.”

“I might let you lean on your partner for the more boring stuff if we get some coffee.”

“Only if I can get a hot chocolate.”

“Oh darn, and here I was hoping you’d give me your coffee after you tell me how bitter it tastes.” Hitoshi grabbed your hand. “Ready for our next adventure as crimefighters, Kitten?” he asked.

You laughed because of how corny he sounded, but you loved when he was able to relax enough to get a little silly. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

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agentark88 · 1 year

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Think: The Beginning of the End

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language and violence.

The Beginning of the End

Shigaraki’s eye opened, staring out between those grotesquely dead fingers. A wave of energy, crackling yellow and purple, burst forth from his body. Your mind shield was faster than the attack, but fear struck you as you watched Mirio be knocked off of Gigantomachia. You stood in front of Shigaraki and a kneeling Spinner.

Shigaraki was no longer himself. A new face twisted on the man in front of you. A face with no eyes, All for One. Although you were standing ahead of him, you felt frozen. He paid you little mind.

“Crucially, I have used my radio-wave quirk to call upon the Nomus at this pivotal time in battle. Tomura is only at the beginning stages of his transformation, so he’s unable to frequently use this quirk. Fortunately, I can.”

Spinner regarded you with narrowed eyes, but as you couldn’t breathe, let alone make your body move, he spoke up to the man before you. “What are we going to do now, Shigaraki?”

“We’re retreating,” All for One replied in Shigaraki’s body.

No. You had to do something. You couldn’t let him leave. Shigaraki’s body modifications had not been completed; all of his quirks were not at full power yet. This was the best chance that any of you had to stop him. You had to do it now.

“We can’t leave!” Spinner pleaded. “Our comrades are hurt. Toga’s on her way. We can’t abandon our team!”

“Be silent, Iguchi. Shigaraki’s body has need of rest. He awoke before he was fully developed. I came to lend the poor boy the help he requires. His regeneration ability has not reached its full potential. Tomura has lost this fight to Endeavor and One for All. He is currently no match for the heroes here today. It’s time to go. Tomura has failed.” All for One tilted Shigaraki’s head to the side, taking a look at you. Shigaraki’s body crackled, as if it were healing the severe wounds stretching across his toned body. “Tomura must understand there are consequences to his failures.” You could have sworn he was smiling at you. “Isn’t that right, Anna Kokoro? For every evil decision and action, there should be a rightful consequence? Is that not what you believe as a hero fighting for what you call justice?”

You wanted to move, to speak. You almost thought All for One had used some kind of paralyzing quirk on you because your own body wouldn’t respond to you.

All for One lifted Shigaraki’s hand, stretching it past you. “A permeation quirk.” His fingers sprouted that red and black dark energy that had pierced through Bakugo’s chest, but it went around you. “I have no time for you.” Out of the corner of your eye you watched Mirio fall, stabbed from behind by that terrifying quirk.

Shoto and Iida came for Shigaraki next, but just as easily as he’d taken out Mirio, All for One repelled them with a yellow shield. You quaked where you stood. All of this training, and you were too scared to fight? No, you couldn’t let it end like this. It wouldn’t end like this.

“You have a very important decision to make, child,” All for One said to you.

You flinched, the first movement you could manage in his presence. Your small hand clenched into a fist. Spinner’s eyes moved down to it, surprise and worry crossing his features. Behind you, a stampede of Nomus headed in your direction. Their footfalls alone caused Gigantomachia to shake.

"Will you interfere with my withdrawal from this fight and suffer the consequences of your foolish actions, or will you choose to live and be what you call a hero for another day?” he asked.

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agentark88 · 1 year

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Think: Chapter Ninety-Four: Decaying Knowledge

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language, blood, and violence.

Please be aware this piece is in second person perspective, following my original character, Think, Anna Kokoro, who is a transfer student from America.

Chapter Ninety-Four: Decaying Knowledge

You couldn’t keep up. Deku and Bakugo had far more experience and speed than you did. Over your ragged breaths, you could barely hear Deku explaining the situation to Endeavor on an assumed private channel. From the few words you could pick up on, Deku was going to see if he could lead Shigaraki in a different direction just by moving himself.

Your mind blasts were getting weaker. You felt your consciousness slip for just a second, before catching yourself off of some more debris. Your head was swimming. Thankfully, the thoughts weren’t crowding you anymore, but you’d taken some strain from getting forced out of Shigaraki’s mind.

Suddenly, you were grabbed. You yelped. Bakugo clicked his tongue in your ear, annoyed.

��Dammit, Big Brain! What were you thinking following us?” he snapped at you. He hooked you onto his chest. “Hold on.”

You wrapped your arms around his neck, worried he might decide to drop you and leave you behind.

“Ah, Think?” Deku asked in surprise. “You followed us?”

“Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you to be here?” Bakugo scolded you.

You pressed your face into his chest in order to avoid his angry glare.

“Don’t hide now! Where the hell are you going to go? I’m holding you.” Bakugo clicked his tongue again.

“W-why would you follow us? I t-told you I’d be right back,” Deku said.

“One for All. Shigaraki is after One for All, isn’t he?” you muttered into the fabric of Bakugo’s hero costume.

Bakugo’s muscles tensed. Deku let out a small gasp, seemingly left speechless by your words.

“W-What’s One for All?” Deku asked, but you could hear the shaking in his voice and the lie as blatant as the sun in the sky.

“Dammit, Deku! She figured it out. Don’t be an idiot and try to lie to her now.” Bakugo gritted his teeth. “I should have pushed you out of that room when I had the chance. All Might said too much that day.” One of his arms came around your waist, and he gave you a squeeze. “This is too dangerous. You shouldn’t have come.”

“I can hold my own,” you said. You peered up at him, and he glanced away, blushing.

“I’m not questioning your abilities, Big Brain. I’m just…” he trailed off sighing. “You better not get yourself hurt!”

“Shigaraki changed direction!” Deku called back. “It’s just like we thought. He’s after me. We can buy the Pro Heroes more time to evacuate the civilians”

Bakugo grinned viciously. “I can’t wait to kick that villain’s crusty ass. I owe him a beat down, and I intend to deliver, especially for what happened to All Might because of me being kidnapped. I’ll prove that I’m a hero.”

Bakugo sped up, and you had to clutch him tighter to hold on. Bakugo’s hand came down to check that you weren’t slipping every once in a while; however, he had no issues keeping up with Deku even with you hanging on to him. You took the chance to glance at him. His jaw was set. He still held on to what happened to All Might after he’d been kidnapped. He still continued to blame himself for it. He hadn’t been the only one there that night. It wasn’t his fault, nor was it yours.

You winced as a blast of energy shot over your skin. Your earpiece tingled and a sharp buzz sounded, before it went dead entirely.

“The comms! They’re out again!” Deku warned, fidgeting with his headpiece.

Bakugo tested his own without any luck either. You readjusted your arms again around Katsuki’s neck, and he tensed, reaching for you to ensure you were still holding firm. A flash of the moment he wasn’t able to catch you escaped his mind and floated into your own. Your eyes widened when you saw it. Did that memory still haunt him?

“Do you feel that?” Bakugo asked.

Your whole body quaked, and danger set a migraine in your temple. It felt painful to breathe. Death. It felt like death was swirling around you.

Bakugo abruptly pulled back in the air. His hands came out ready to blast what had inevitably stopped them. You dared a peek behind you. Red eyes. You saw red, horrid, bloodshot eyes. Shigaraki stared at the three of you, smirking. His fingers lifted. Your throat closed. Death. Impending death loomed at the edge of that hand. He’d be able to decay the three of you into dust. You had to do something. You couldn’t just sit there and watch it unfold like this. Fear had an icelike grip on your body.

“Give me One for All, Izuku Midoriya,” Shigaraki’s voice rasped out.

Suddenly, Bakugo, you, and Midoriya were snatched from the air, changing your direction rapidly. The area you’d left decayed into nothing. Gran Torino had somehow managed to grab the three of you, using his quirk to air blast you into another direction, just before Shigaraki unleashed his quirk on you. His small form could barely hold on to all of you.

You heard your heartbeat in your ears, clutching Bakugo even tighter out of fear. Gran Torino was explaining something to Midoriya, something in regard to One for All and the Pro Heroes. You had never intended on fighting Shigaraki. You had only followed to help Midoriya. Your eyes widened when you realized Deku and Bakugo’s endgame was to battle him. You breathed, feeling as if you could finally catch your breath while away from that monstrosity of a villain.

“You have to let the Pro Heroes handle him,” Gran Torino said. “If any of that debris touches you, you would be turned to dust. You’ll need to trust the Pros.”

Gran Torino suddenly stopped, dropping you all into a hidden area of upturned wreckage. You fell to your knees, taking hold of your shoulders. You’d been so close to death, so close to that hand shredding every fiber of your being to nothing, to ash.

“Wait here,” Gran Torino stated flatly. “You should be safe.”

“Eraserhead just took his power, didn’t he? Why is he still so strong?” Deku asked.

“He’s only weakened,” Gran Torino explained.

“Why would we stop here? Why are we still so close to him?” Bakugo asked.

“If he’s only weakened, and he’s still that powerful, how will you be able to stop him from taking One for All from Midoriya?” you gasped.

Bakugo looked at you in surprise. His fists clenched at his sides.

“Toshinori told me that Bakugo knew your secret, but I wasn’t told about your other classmate,” Gran Torino said, eyeing you. “We can’t go farther. Communications are down. Shigaraki is moving far faster than expected. I stopped here because few will be able to follow him, and if you’re chased too far out, none of the Pro Heroes would be able to catch up. By getting him in Eraserhead’s field of vision and hiding out of sight, you three are in the best tactical position you could be.” Gran Torino’s expression hardened.

“How do you expect us to just sit here and hide?” Midoriya asked.

“Present Mic told me that All for One’s powers were transferred into Shigaraki,” Gran Torino explained. “That’s why.”

You blinked in confusion. All for One, that horrifying villain you encountered before you’d been rescued. That same man that forced All Might into retirement. His powers had transferred into Shigaraki?

“So, that means he could…” Deku trailed off.

“He could what?” you asked in exasperation.

“It means he’d be able to steal anyone’s quirk for himself, including One for All,” Bakugo cut in.

“I couldn’t imagine a worse scenario than him getting his hands on One for All. If the Pro Heroes can’t stop one person, what’s the point in having so many heroes at all?” Gran Torino set his stance, getting ready to move. “I’m going in to help. We’ll need every Pro Hero we can get. If Shigaraki gets his hands on One for All, nothing will be able to stop him,” Gran Torino said solemnly.

Bile rose in your throat as your stomach turned at the thought. You shivered, thinking of the consequences of Shigaraki getting a hold of Midoriya’s power, All Might’s power. A loud screech had you on alert again. Your breath caught. You looked up and saw a multitude of Nomus headed in the direction of battle.

“They should have been destroyed under the hospital! How are there still Nomus alive after Shigaraki’s decay wave?” Gran Torino shouted in surprise.

Horrible, grotesque monsters clawed their way through the city, making a beeline for the Pro Heroes attempting to put Shigaraki’s horrid destruction to an end. You stood up on your unsteady legs, quaking in fear at the sight of them.

“Those aren’t regular Nomus,” you murmured. “They look more powerful than even the one we fought.”

Gran Torino flew up into the air. “Stay hidden! They’re heading for Eraserhead. I need to stop them!”

Your hair rose with your quirk buzzing in the back of your skull. As afraid as you were, you couldn’t just wait around for Shigaraki to use his decay again. If they were heading for your teacher, Mr. Aizawa, you wouldn’t let them get the chance to hurt him.

Deku moved without a word. You followed, already prepped with your own mind blast. When the battle came into view, you saw him, Shigaraki, grinning from ear to ear as he reached for Mr. Aizawa. Shigaraki stood like a fallen king before him, a red torn cape flowing behind him, and his bare chest to the world as if nothing could hurt him. You choked down the fear that had paralyzed you. No matter the cost, you would not let him touch your teacher.

Your quirk enveloped Mr. Aizawa, putting an invisible wall of protection between him and Shigaraki. Whether or not Shigaraki touching a strand of your mind would decay it, didn’t matter. Mr. Aizawa needed you, as much as you needed him to stay alive. Eraserhead’s quirk should be able to nullify the decay regardless. As long as you could keep Shigaraki away from hurting your teacher. Mr. Aizawa was there for you when you needed him most. You would be there for him.

“Why?! Don’t!” Gran Torino shouted toward you, as you moved toward your teacher.

Shigaraki’s fingertips pressed into your forcefield, and you shivered, feeling your quirk slip at the strength puncturing through your mind. Swiftly, Shigaraki’s red eyes were on you, his fingers digging into the mind field with harsh contempt, nearly making you crumble from the searing pain that sliced through you from it. Midoriya collided with Shigaraki, holding him back with sheer brute force.

“Let us help! If Shigaraki can’t use his quirk, then let us fight!” Deku yelled, straining against Shigaraki’s power.

“We won’t let him hurt our teacher! I’m sorry, but we won’t stand by when we can help!” you shouted along with him. You stood out in front of Mr. Aizawa being supported by two other Pro Heroes. Tears formed in your eyes. “You’ve done everything you could to protect us, protect me! It’s our turn to protect you!”

“We wouldn’t have made it this far without you. Let us save you this time!” Midoriya chimed in.

“Midoriya…” Aizawa trailed off.

“Think of how lousy a hero I would be if I couldn’t protect my own damn teacher,” Bakugo called out, flying over Midoriya with his own blast toward Shigaraki.

You turned your head ever so slightly, looking back at your teacher. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you, Mr. Aizawa. I wouldn’t be a hero. Let me thank you for everything you’ve done for me,” you said. “Let us help.”

Mr. Aizawa’s eyes widened. “Kokoro…”

“I’m sorry for always causing you trouble.” You smiled, tears streaming down your face. “Thank you.”

“Kokoro!” Mr. Aizawa shouted after you as you blasted into the fight.

Thanks to the training you’ve done together, Bakugo, Midoriya, and you could switch off while keeping Shigaraki at bay, but his strength soon became realized. Bakugo used his AP Shot hero move, and Shigaraki barely flinched, he smirked even. Midoriya grabbed Shigaraki with Blackwhip but was thrown off. You didn’t know what chance you had. Midoriya’s strength was incomparable. However, Shigaraki was now advancing toward Katsuki Bakugo, prepared to kill him like in your nightmares.

Strands of your mind flew from your head. You seized Shigaraki like Midoriya had, only you used other strands of your mind to tether you to the ground below, digging in to anchor you.

“Anna Kokoro,” Shigaraki hissed out, straining against the invisible rope. “I should have killed you at our first meeting. Now, you’re as annoying as a buzzing fly to me.” He reached back, hooking his arm around the strands of your mind.

To your surprise, instead of trying to tug, he whipped his whole arm down. You weren’t protected from that, weren’t stabilized to stand upright just for a pull. You hit the ground hard, the crack echoed. Disoriented and bleeding, you could barely hear Bakugo shouting for you. A heat wave sailed overhead. You managed to lift yourself far enough from the ground to see Endeavor standing where Shigaraki once was.

You clenched your fist, lifting yourself from the ground in embarrassment. Deku helped you up. Endeavor turned to look at you only momentarily.

“We can’t change the fact that the three of you are here, but we need to support Eraserhead. The two of you, cover Deku!” Endeavor ordered, before he rushed in.

“One for All. You’re mine. Come to your brother and give me what is rightfully mine,” Shigaraki said, but it wasn’t him. It didn’t sound like him.

Gran Torino sailed in next. You wiped the blood from your face with the back of your hand, scared and uncertain of what to do. But, Bakugo didn’t hesitate, he changed his location, finding a strategic position of attack while Shigaraki’s attention was still on Deku. Your knees buckled. Were you truly ready for this? What were you thinking? You weren’t Deku or Bakugo. You didn’t stand a chance.

You turned around, but froze as soon as you caught sight of Mr. Aizawa. You had to do this for him. He couldn’t fight. He had his own role. He needed to keep Shigaraki from disintegrating everything in his path. He always believed in you, always believed that you could be a hero. You clenched your fists at your sides, and you turned back to face the battle. The least you could do was cover your teacher.

The battle raged on between Shigaraki and the Pro Heroes. Even without his powers, Shigaraki stood his ground, perhaps even surpassed the heroes in his strength, a monster in a man’s body. Fear rumbled through you. They were losing. You could see that they were losing just by the determination in Shigaraki’s eyes, the bitter rage to keep going without fail. Endeavor was the number one hero, and he was barely making a dent. Still, you could tell Shigaraki was becoming slower, being worn down by the multitude of attacks.

Deku slid back into the fight, using Blackwhip in an attempt to restrain Shigaraki, who only had gotten more and more impatient as he was losing ground. You forced your own quirk back to your senses, feeling it strain from the damage it had taken. Ryuku, in her dragon form more greatly engaged the enraged villain. You only planned to give the heroes an edge, help them subdue the deranged power-hungry psychopath that Shigaraki had become. You didn’t know what using your quirk on him again could have had such terrible consequences to your head.

You can’t have control of my body. It’s mine, Shigaraki hissed.

Allow me to help you, Tomura. Stop fighting. This voice. You barely recognized this voice. A shiver, a memory had you quaking. All for One. All for One was inside of Shigaraki. He was not only giving him this power, but he was a part of him now.

You felt the internal struggle, the back-and-forth. Shigaraki was fighting on the outside, but he was also fighting with his Master from the inside. Flashes of memories appeared, horrible memories to you. Decay, itching and destruction and pure decay. You just wanted it to stop itching. You wanted to destroy everything. Then, you did. Your fingers pressed into flesh and away came gray ash. Joy filled your veins. Sadness, but then relief.

Vomit roiled in the back of your throat, as you couldn’t pull back out of Shigaraki’s mind. You watched as his family members turned to dust one by one. The dog, his mother, accidents. Some were accidents. Some happy and some sad. It itched. It always itched, and it still haunted you. He was thinking of them, even now, he was thinking of them as he struggled to be enough, struggled to be strong enough to end the torment.

You focused, wrestling your control back from the mind of a madman. At this point, you weren’t sure if you were in his head or if he was in yours.

Stop! You don’t have to do this! You don’t have to destroy everything because of your past! you shouted toward a deaf mind.

Shigaraki’s thoughts didn’t even flinch. The chaos continued with him tuning out All for One and thinking of how joyous the final destruction of his family had been. The hands, the blue hands of the dead, trophies of his triumph. Then, you saw it. His mind twisted. Anger ripped at his tangled thoughts as he considered a new alternative to this endless fight. His quirk was being nullified, and he had had enough. You saw the red bullet, saw the gun flash between thoughts. You took hold of the strands of your mind, but they remained entangled.

There you are. Too bad. I thought you would have been a promising candidate, especially since you made it this deep into my successor’s mind, All for One stated.

Your blood went cold. You turned around to see a disfigured face. All for One stood as he had stood in front of you to offer you a chance to be villain. His dark suit blended in with the dismal vacuum of space that was this side of Shigaraki’s mind. You were so close you could touch him. He had a hold of what you could only assume to be the strands of your mind. He dug his fingers into the invisible waves, and you cried out in pain. You fell to your knees, holding your head.

Interesting, he purred. Perhaps this quirk would be of use to us. Stolen of course. Too bad I am not the one in control of Tomura at the moment, but soon… I will consider your quirk as well.

All for One clenched harder about your mind strands. It felt as if he was squeezing your windpipe closed. You gasped for air as your head felt like it was being compressed as easily as a soda can. Breathe. You had to breathe. Had to get away from this man who had enough residual power within Shigaraki to affect you in this way.

The quirk deleter gun flashed in Shigaraki’s mind again, and All for One suddenly released you. You flew from Shigaraki’s mind, collapsing to the ground in your physical body. You reached for your neck, gasping for air. You didn’t know how long you were just standing there, but you didn’t have time to flounder. You had to stop Shigaraki from—

The gun went off. Your attention flashed forward. The gun had been forced through Ryuku’s skin, her dragon scales. Shigaraki had a hold of Deku between his teeth. No one had been able to stop him from firing. You whipped your head back and watched in horror as Mr. Aizawa took a knife clean through his leg, severing the lower half of his leg with the quirk deleting bullet in it from his body. You heard Deku screaming, or was it you screaming?

You hadn’t had time to stop it. Your weakened body could barely move. A migraine rattled all of your senses. You hissed under your breath as just a mere turn of your head had your mind spinning.

The knife fell from Mr. Aizawa’s hands, yet somehow, he kept his eyes open. Shigaraki launched a desperate attack on your wounded teacher, grinning in triumph. His fingers dug into Mr. Aizawa’s forehead, scraping through the skin, all the way down to his eyes. You reached out your hand to grapple him with your quirk, but your quirk lashed back at you with searing pain in its wake.

Deku lassoed Shigaraki with Blackwhip, pulling him away from Mr. Aizawa, but the damage had been done. Aizawa collapsed, and the pain in your head wasn’t nearly as palpable as the pain in your heart at witnessing the condition that your teacher endured now.

You got on your hands and knees, forcing your beaten body and mind to move. But no matter how loud you were yelling at yourself to do so, you felt utterly powerless. Your quirk hid from your control, in fear that you might put it in serious danger again.

“Anna. My Sweet Anna. It’s okay. I’m here.”

Your eyes widened. It couldn’t have been him. He was in jail. He shouldn’t be here. “Doku?” you asked.

Doku Kobura’s hands were on you as he shushed you. You blinked up at him in a daze as he helped you to your feet. His piercings were gone. He was wearing rather pedestrian clothes compared to the designer garb you were used to seeing him in, but it was definitely him.

“How are you…? You shouldn’t be here—” You fell into him, clutching your head as another wave of pain hit you.

Doku supported your body with his, leading you away from the ensuing battle. You shook your head, pushing at him gently.

“We can’t leave. Mr. Aizawa needs me,” you said.

“He’s out. The Pro Heroes have got him,” Doku explained. “You’re in no condition to keep fighting either. Shigaraki is about to disintegrate everything in his way, and I will not let you be collateral damage.”

“My friends…” your voice was hoarse. As you argued, Doku continued to help you back.

You barely caught sight of Shoto flying toward Endeavor. He threw up a mountain of ice that melted away in a cloud of condensed air as the Pro Hero cooled off. This was bad. This was going to be bad.

Doku followed your line of sight as it shifted back toward Shigaraki. His hand lifted, and you clenched your teeth, bracing for what was about to come. Doku tightened his grip on you protectively, almost as if he were going to shield you from the decay that would most certainly ripple out of the overpowered villain. But, the destruction never came.

The front of Shigaraki’s torso split. Blood spilled from his chest as if someone had walked up and sliced him with a sword. Shigaraki visibly staggered, confusion filling his expression.

“He’s not regenerating. He should be regenerating,” Doku said under his breath. He blinked. “H-How long has it been? How long have I been in Tartarus?” Kobura suddenly asked you.

“I… I don’t know…” you managed, faltering in his grip. Your vision was growing blurry.

“Hey. Stay with me, Anna. I’ve got you. Don’t pass out.” Kobura’s attention shifted back to you only momentarily. He hesitated to move. His gaze flickered back up to Shigaraki. “He must not have been completed. There wasn’t enough time for the quirks to fully develop within him. The quirk transplant must not have finished, which means there’s a chance to get you out of here safely.”

“You knew? You knew he was going to become this, and you didn’t warn us?” you asked through ragged breaths. You looked up to see that Midoriya had grabbed everyone nearby him with Blackwhip, lifting Shigaraki along with it so he wasn’t able to touch anything or anyone to decay it. He then put them all back down safely.

Your questions didn’t even make Kobura flinch. Doku shook his head. “I knew everything about The League of Villains, Anna. Everything. All for One’s plans were laid out on the crazy doctor’s computers. Of course, I knew. There was time before this. Time and it should have never affected you. I would have always kept you safe. I always keep you safe. If it wasn’t an immediate threat to you, then it didn’t matter.” Kobura sighed. “What would you have done if I told you, Anna? I’m a villain, remember? I’m not a trustworthy source. If anything, the information would have gotten you in trouble, simply because you would have been caught associating with me.”

The fight raged on behind you. Blow after blow thundered and cracked, echoing for miles on past your eardrums. Deku was fighting Shigaraki by himself. You worried how long he would be able to maintain so many attacks. You hoped that he wouldn’t damage himself too badly. There was a chance that he’d break his arms beyond repair.

“We need to get out of here while there’s still time,” Doku said. Kobura made a move to lift you, but you used your remaining strength to push him away.

“I’m not leaving them,” you said. You lurched forward, sucking in a gasping breath as another wave of agonizing pain struck your temples.

“Your ‘friends’ have got it under control,” Kobura stated dryly.

You knocked him in his ribs with your elbow, no matter how weak it was, for putting such sarcastic interest on the word “friends.”

Kobura continued guiding you away. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Not while I still draw breath. Not when I can do something about it.”

You reached your hand up weakly to his shirt, stretching the fabric as you tugged. He looked down at you, and you could finally see his face up close, examine it. Your eyes widened. Bruises and stretch marks lined his jaw. His eyes looked bigger, while his face appeared gaunt. His tanned skin was paler than normal, but his normally translucent golden scales appeared more opaque, noticeable, in patches around his face. Your gaze trailed down to see much harsher purple bruises and lacerations on his arms.

“You’re hurt,” you said in concern. You reached up to his face. “What happened? Who did this to you?”

Kobura flinched away from your touch. His jaw tightened, and he winced. “Not now. There isn’t time to explain now.” He turned his face away from you, hiding it. “All that matters is that I’m here. I can protect you.”

“You—”

Kobura hissed. One of his hands left you as he struggled to keep hold of you. Shinso had hooked his capture weapon around his wrist, trying to rip him off of you. Hitoshi gave a sharp tug on Doku’s arm, and you yelped.

“Let her go!” Shinso shouted.

“Let me go, idiot! You’ll hurt her! She can barely stand!”

Shinso scoffed. “If you think for one second I’m going to trust a villain like you—”

“Hitoshi, he’s not hurting me. Please stop!” You squeezed your eyes shut, trying to hold yourself together.

“Frisk me if you want to. I don’t have any weapons on me,” Kobura said. “I’m just trying to get her out of here safely.” There was a beat or two of silence. “I don’t have time for this. Release me.”

You opened your eyes and watched Hitoshi’s conflicted expression soften as he met your gaze. He slowly released the capture weapon from Kobura.

“Prominence Burn!” Endeavor bellowed. A sweltering blast of heat had the three of you looking back and shielding your eyes. The Pro Hero had tackled Shigaraki in the air, engulfing him with fire.

Shigaraki’s skin was little more than burnt leather at this point, sizzling with grotesque ferocity. Hot air rippled out. Endeavor fell away from the living corpse. How could he still have been alive? You all stared on in terror, as Shigaraki’s lip spoke someone else’s words.

“Little brother!”

Kobura’s grip loosened on you from the shock. Dark tendrils of sharp red and black energy darted out in the air toward Deku. A gorgeous display of sparkling explosions moved toward him. Katsuki shoved Midoriya out of the way from the attack. The quirk had pierced him through the chest.

You screamed. “No!” you shrieked. “Katsuki!”

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agentark88 · 1 year

Text

Think: Chapter Eighty-One: Parental Control

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild violence.

Please be aware this piece is in second person perspective, following my original character, Think, Anna Kokoro, who is a transfer student from America.

Chapter Eighty-One: Parental Control

You remained quiet as Aizawa guided you to Recovery Girl. He didn’t ask you further questions, but his expression was drawn and worried. Recovery Girl checked you over with a disapproving scowl.

“Are you certain you want me to use my quirk on her? It appears these wounds were well taken care of. She needs to rest. Physical trauma and blood loss could have caused the fainting spell. I can’t do much about the scarring now. She must have sustained these injuries hours ago.” Recovery Girl frowned as she looked over your wrists again.

“Do what you can without putting her out of commission. If you could cover the rope burns with some bandages and cooling ointment, I think it would at least comfort her,” Mr. Aizawa said. His disheveled form was leaning against the wall beside the door. His arms were crossed over his chest, eyes glancing out into the hallway like he was a guard on watch.

Recovery Girl kissed you on the back of the hand, and her quirk flew through you. Exhaustion forced you to yawn. She scanned over your leg one last time, shaking her head in disbelief.

“These stitches were done with medical precision. I find it hard to believe that you did them yourself, Think. Were these performed by a doctor?”

You shook your head no, running through plausible excuses to come up with. If you told her a villain had helped you, you weren’t sure what would happen. Would that be means for expulsion? Thankfully, you didn’t need to explain anything. Mr. Aizawa cleared his throat to draw the attention back on him, and your muscles relaxed.

“I’m just glad my student is here in one piece. I’m not exactly concerned about how the injuries were healed, rather, I am more concerned about how she received them. She will endure more than enough interrogation from her parents and Principal Nezu anyway. We don’t need to question her here.”

You gulped, chest tightening at the thought of facing your parents and Principal Nezu. You’d be sure to crumple under their authority. Your shoulders dropped. Was this it then? Your dream was over? Your father had warned you he would remove you from U.A. should something like this happen again.

“Well, that’s the best that I can do,” Recovery Girl stated dryly, meandering over to her computer. “I recommend resting as soon as possible. You need time to heal.”

Mr. Aizawa peeled himself away from the wall. He walked over to you, rubbing his temple as if he had a migraine. “Thank you,” he said toward Recovery Girl.

She waved him away in disinterest. “Your quota for injured students has been met this week, Mr. Aizawa. I hope you know I will give you a firm talking to the next time Miss Kokoro or Midoriya walk into my office.”

Aizawa hunched his shoulders, wincing as if she’d struck him with her cane. “Understood,” he said. Mr. Aizawa helped you down from the cot, checking that you stood stably before motioning for the two of you to leave together.

You hesitated before moving forward. You could only assume the worst was about to happen, especially with your parents here. Your father was going to be livid, and your mother was going to side with him no matter how she felt. Not that she reacted positively to anything that had to do with your quirk either, but you oftentimes hoped she would say something, anything in your defense, rather than look on in pity as you were scolded. At times, you thought maybe your mother was a little more understanding, but then she’d try to hide you behind dark baggy clothes or snap at you when she saw even a sliver of your quirk show.

Your hands found purchase on the bottom of your shirt, and you fidgeted with the fabric restlessly. Mr. Aizawa glanced your way every once in a while on the way, but he’d significantly slowed his pace so you had no trouble keeping up. He kept quiet again, probably deterred by the mass of people filtering by you both.

You caught sight of Principal Nezu’s door, and you stopped. Anxiety sped up your heartrate. The last time you’d spoken to your parents it hadn’t been pleasant. It was in a hospital, and you’d scared them with your power. You wanted to think of this positively. You hoped that all your parents wanted to do was make up for missing the trip to the park, but you were not naïve enough to believe that, not anymore.

“Kokoro, we have to meet with them,” Mr. Aizawa said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

You remained frozen; stare locked on the door. You gulped, fingers tensely clutching the bottom of your skirt. You didn’t know what to say to Mr. Aizawa to keep this from happening. You knew as soon as you entered that room, you’d be nothing more than a husk of your former self. If they found out about what had happened, you wouldn’t be able to argue with them.

“It’s understandable why you’d be nervous, but they are your parents. I will be by your side the entire time. Should you feel overwhelmed, you can look to me, okay? I will assist you in any way that I can so that this goes smoothly.” Aizawa sighed, glancing between you and the door. “I wish that I could let you take your time, but I’m not sure how much longer Principal Nezu can distract them.” Mr. Aizawa approached you, setting a reassuring hand on your back. “I promise that I’ll do what I can to mediate the conversation so you are heard.”

You looked up at him with tears in your eyes. “Please don’t make me do this,” you said. “They’re…”

Mr. Aizawa’s eyes widened, as if your words had startled him. He glanced away, shutting his eyes. You felt his fingers tense on your back.

“We have to speak with them. Kokoro, they’re your parents. This isn’t something I get to decide doesn’t happen,” he said solemnly.

You turned toward the door again. The moment you stepped in that room was going to be the moment that they would say your dream to become a hero was over. You knew it. The way Mr. Aizawa was acting didn’t reassure you that this was going to be good either.

You nodded like a marionette on strings, half-believing that you were actually going to do this. Unintentionally, you reached out toward Mr. Aizawa, grabbing hold of the side of his shirt for comfort. His gaze shifted to your tiny hand, but he didn’t make a move to remove it. You walked forward like you were wading through heavy snow.

Mr. Aizawa opened the door, and the breath left your lungs. You made a pained noise at seeing your father red-faced and angry. He was pointing his finger at Principal Nezu accusingly. He was so enraptured by what he was saying that he hadn’t even noticed the two of you enter. Principal Nezu’s expression was blank, polite. Even though he was so small, he definitely felt like the bigger person in the situation transpiring. Mr. Aizawa was quick to shut the door behind him.

“And, you bare no responsibility for this? A second time my daughter has been kidnapped, and you don’t think that it was this school’s fault?! That villain called this sham of a place out perfectly! You can’t protect my daughter, and it was even more foolish of me to assume that honing her quirk was better than hiding it! You’ve filled her head with false dreams! What do you have to say for yourself?!” your father shouted.

You winced, backing away. Villain? What villain? Who had they talked to?

“We can handle this without raising our voices,” Principal Nezu said calmly. “I take your daughter’s safety very seriously, and I do believe that we should take responsibility for anything that happens to her while on this campus and under our supervision; however, in this case, Anna Kokoro was not on the premises and could not be properly protected—”

“Oh, so you are going to put the blame on a child, now? How far are you willing to go to save face? I bet this is not even an accredited establishment! Are you even a qualified principal?!”

“As far as I am aware, Kokoro had left the grounds due to her sleepwalking. It was not her fault either,” Mr. Aizawa spoke up suddenly.

“If you were ‘aware’ that she had left the school in that manner, why had you not retrieved her as soon as she stepped outside the gates?” Your father turned his anger toward your teacher.

“I was not aware she had left the school at all,” Mr. Aizawa explained. “I was at the hospital at the time. Normally, our security system would notify us of any students leaving the dorm buildings past curfew. The system did not detect any such occurrences. My assumption is that Kokoro, who is prone to routinely sleepwalk during times of stress, managed to make it out the front gate without alerting the system. How that happened, I do not know. I do know Kokoro has never intentionally done anything to cause me worry on purpose, nor is she a known rule breaker. You may attest to this Kokoro, if this is the case,” Mr. Aizawa finished.

Everyone stared at you for your response.

“I-I did—”

“I don’t even know why I’m bothering to figure out what happened! It does not change my stance on what is going to happen. My daughter will be removed from this school immediately. It’s clear that you and your staff are incapable of keeping her safe, and your school is the very reason my daughter is being targeted in the first place.”

“Please act within reason, Mr. Kokoro. Miss Kokoro will be targeted whether she’s under our protection or not. She has a rare quirk. You’re quirkless. If a villain comes to your doorstep, what will you do? You have to understand that we’ve done all that we can to—”

“If I may interject, all that you’ve done is put a spotlight on our child,” your mother cut off the principal. “You’re the reason she continues to be attacked. As soon as she is transferred out of U.A., she will go back to her very normal, very safe life. Do you have any idea how much attention the Kokoro name has gotten since her enrollment? I can’t step outside without being recognized. It’s absolutely absurd.”

Your voice felt trapped in your lungs, suffocating you the longer that your parents spoke. No, you didn’t want to go back to how it was before. You didn’t want to hide your gift. Your quirk couldn’t be suppressed any longer than it had been. If you didn’t continue to learn how to control it, it would become unmanageable.

“The video that this villain, Emoticon, sent to us, only reaffirms my assumption of how broken hero society is. Quirks are not meant to be celebrated. They are mistakes, mutations in human DNA that should have never existed. For every hero, there is a villain. It was clear by the villain’s threats that as long as my daughter is a hero, she is in peril. I’m going to remove my child from that life to protect her. There is nothing that you could say to change my mind,” your father said.

Emoticon sent your parents a video? She must have had a plan to ruin you, your reputation, from the beginning. There was a possibility that she thought by destroying your path as a hero, Kobura would have lost interest. But, why? Why would she go through all of that trouble? It couldn’t have been because of the slim chance it would bring Kobura and her closer together, could it?

A set of keys and a box were shoved into your arms as you were lost in thought.

“Collect your things, Anna. We’re leaving immediately,” your father said sternly.

“B-but, I can’t leave. This is where I’m supposed to be, and—”

“I didn’t ask what you thought, Anna! Go retrieve your things! We are leaving!”

“Mr. Kokoro…” Principal Nezu trailed off as your father turned toward him with bloodshot eyes.

“I will hear no more excuses,” he snapped.

“I don’t want to leave!” You found your voice, but it just as quickly died in your throat as your father spun on you.

Your father raised his hand over his head. Fear froze your body in place. Your father swung his open palm toward your face, and your breath caught in your throat with newly formed tears prickling your lower lids. You closed your eyes, wincing. The strike never made contact. The room went quiet.

You trembled in place, slowly peeking an eye open. You gasped. Mr. Aizawa had grabbed your father’s wrist, keeping him from hitting you.

“I will not allow you to strike my student,” Mr. Aizawa growled out.

Your father struggled to free his wrist from Mr. Aizawa’s strong grip, but when he did, his anger tripled. “I will discipline my child how I see fit! Who are you to intervene?”

“I am her teacher,” Mr. Aizawa said bluntly. “And, as such, I will do what is necessary to protect every one of my students.”

You didn’t know when Principal Nezu had gotten out of his office chair, but he was now beside you. Quickly, he guided you from the room by placing a small paw on your back, ushering you out. Before you knew what was going on, the door had shut behind you, and the air was suddenly breathable again.

You stood outside the principal’s office in a daze. Your hands firmly held the empty box you were given, practically crushing it between trembling hands. You still didn’t understand what had just happened. Emoticon set you up? She must have ensured the video would be sent at a designated time, even in her death, because if your parents had gotten it sooner, they would have been at the school before you. What video had your parents seen that even Kobura couldn’t catch? Did they really expect you to leave, collect your things and go?

The door suddenly flew open. You jolted back, nearly dropping the empty box. Mr. Aizawa left the room. His black silken hair was more disheveled than usual. He shut the door behind him, letting out a deep sigh. He couldn’t look at you for a moment, his eyes setting on a distant point.

“I’m sorry,” he started.

You choked on a sob because you knew what he was about to say next. “They can’t force me to leave U.A.. I don’t want to go.”

Mr. Aizawa knelt down, putting a steadying hand on your shoulder. “It’s not my decision. If it were up to me, you would stay. Your parents will not budge on the matter.”

“You promised,” you cried out. “You said that you would do everything you could to make sure…” you trailed off. It wasn’t Mr. Aizawa’s fault. He’d done all that he could to change the outcome.

Mr. Aizawa’s gaze met yours. “Listen, Kokoro.” Mr. Aizawa sighed, giving your shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “I know that things haven’t been easy for you. And, I know this situation isn’t ideal, but I know you’re going bust through any obstacle in your way. You’ve made so much progress with your quirk, and it’s something to admire.” Mr. Aizawa placed a hand on the door, just as someone was about to come out. “I want you to know how proud I am of how far you’ve come.”

“You’re proud?” you asked, tears trailing down your cheeks. You tried fruitlessly to wipe them away. “Did I do well?”

Mr. Aizawa nodded, wincing at your question. “You did very well,” he said, nodding. Mr. Aizawa barely strained to hold the door shut. He stood, keeping it closed long enough to pull you out of the way. He side-stepped.

The door once again flew open. Your father charged toward you. Mr. Aizawa cut off his path. The two of them glared at each other for a moment.

“Go pack your things. You will meet us at the gate in fifteen minutes, or I will drag you out,” your father spat, not taking his eyes off of Mr. Aizawa but speaking to you. “You are only permitted to go to your dorm room and come straight to the gate. You will leave the key in the lock for the school to collect when we are off the premises. Do not test my patience, understood?”

“C-can I say goodbye to—”

“To the dorm then the gate. Understood?” he repeated.

You looked at your mother, but her face was an indifferent mask. Your father wouldn’t be reasoned with. You bowed your head.

“Yes, I understand,” you said in a small voice.

Your father brazenly bumped Mr. Aizawa’s shoulder on the way by. Mr. Aizawa barely flinched and watched him leave, holding his hand back toward you in protection. Your mother followed your father with a dramatic huff. Mr. Aizawa only relaxed when they were out of eyesight.

“Come on. I’ll walk you to your room,” Mr. Aizawa said.

“You don’t have to, Mr. Aizawa. I’m no longer your student anymore. I understand there are other things that need to be done. It’s The School Festival after all,” you said.

“You’ll always be my student,” he said. “I’d feel more comfortable escorting you with your father around.” Mr. Aizawa clenched his teeth. “Come on.”

“I don’t mind as long as it’s really okay for you to come with me,” you said.

The walk was a lot less anxiety-ridden with your teacher beside you. You were going to miss how safe, how accepted, you felt beside him. Your hands shook, trying to unlock your door. You dropped the key and stared down at it dejectedly. What were your classmates going to think? Would they just tell them you transferred schools and that was it? You’d never see them again?

Mr. Aizawa bent down, picking up the key. He helped unlock and open your door. You stood frozen in place, fingers digging into the cardboard of your moving box. Mr. Aizawa was patient. He held the door, waiting. You let out a heavy breath. You walked into your room as if you weren’t in your own body. You hoped this was some weird nightmare, but you couldn’t help but notice how everything you touched felt real, how weighted your limbs felt.

First to go in your box were your hero action figures in hopes your parents wouldn’t find them and throw them away, then what little clothes you had, and finally all of the things you’d gotten from your friends—the diamond earrings from Bakugo, the necklace from Todoroki, the goggles from Ochaco, and the stuffed shark from Kirishima. One by one, you placed the items in the box, feeling as if you were packing up your dreams and your memories along with them.

It didn’t take very long for you to get done. Your quirk sputtered in your head, but you were barely reacting to it resurfacing. You felt numb.

“Ready?” Mr. Aizawa asked.

“No,” you mouthed the word. It barely came out as a squeak. You found yourself nodding, a puppet on strings.

You followed Mr. Aizawa from the room. His presence alone made other people move out of the way. Nothing was keeping you from leaving, nothing was holding you up.

“Kitten?” Hitoshi called out softly. “Wait. What’s happening? Anna!”

You didn’t turn toward him, not with your parents glowering at you behind the gate. Tears were already in your eyes as you slowed your pace. The least you could do was say goodbye, but you could not bring yourself to say it to Shinso, not after all you’ve been through together.

Shinso grabbed your arm, stopping you in place. Your eyes widened as your father’s scowl deepened.

“I’m sorry, Hitoshi. I have to go. I’m sorry.” You tried to force your arm out of his grip, but he held firm.

“What are you talking about? You’re leaving? For how long?” There was a beat of silence, as if Shinso was putting all of the pieces together in his mind. “You didn’t even warn me—” His voice broke. Normally, his words were so smooth, calm and collected. “You can’t.”

“Shinso, you have to let go,” you said, but your voice was barely above a whisper.

“You’re kidding, right? If this is a bad joke, you have to tell me because it’s not funny. How could you leave without even saying goodbye? Of course it’s a joke.”

“There wasn’t time,” you murmured under your breath. “I don’t want to say goodbye, but…” You bit hard into your bottom lip.

“Shinso, this is a delicate situation. You need to release Kokoro. You’re making a scene, especially dressed like that,” Mr. Aizawa said in a low voice.

You finally had the courage to glance back at Shinso, whose hold had not wavered on your arm. He was wearing his zombie costume for the haunted house, but he’d cleaned his face of all the makeup. Perhaps, he was on break when he spotted you.

It was a mistake to look back. His gaze locked with yours, and your breath caught in your throat. It wasn’t like him to disobey Mr. Aizawa. You weren’t sure anyone had the courage to do something so brazenly stupid.

“It’s not your place to get involved. We can talk about this later, Shinso. Right now, I need you to let go of Miss Kokoro,” Mr. Aizawa’s voice became sterner, sending a shiver up your spine.

Shinso winced. His hand slid down your arm, until it brushed your fingers. The soft touch was so surprising that you dropped your box of belongings. Just as quickly as the container fell from your hands, Shinso’s fingers laced with your own, giving your hand a long, drawn-out squeeze. His gaze lingered on yours, and his eyes appeared wet.

Aizawa made a move to separate the two of you, but Shinso let go. Mr. Aizawa paused; his eyes downcast. He glanced back toward your parents who were growing inpatient. Shinso bent down. He grabbed your box of things, helping pick up anything that might have spilled out. You held out your hands for him to return it to you. In the next breath, he had laced his fingers in your hair, swiftly drawing you close. He planted the faintest kiss on your forehead, so quickly that you almost thought it was an accident, until his violet eyes landed on you again.

“Please don’t let this be our final goodbye, Kitten,” he said softly. “I don’t know what I would do if I never saw you again.” He pushed your cardboard box of belongings into your outstretched arms, forcing his hands into his pants’ pockets.

“Hitoshi, I—”

“Anna!” your father yelled in warning.

You winced. You wiped at your nose, worried you’d burst into tears. “This isn’t goodbye.” That’s the last thing that you said, before Mr. Aizawa gently eased you away.

A numbness overtook you once you crossed the U.A. threshold. Mr. Aizawa’s hand left your back. Your father went to grab you, but his attention lingered somewhere behind you. Mr. Aizawa must have given him a look because he refrained from making physical contact with you. It was painful, but you didn’t look back. No matter how much you wanted to, you didn’t look back. You knew that if you turned around, you would have made this harder than it had to be.

Your parents barely spoke to you in the car. Their decision was final, and they had no interest in what you’d accomplished in the time that you were at U.A.. You no longer had a phone, so no one would be able to contact you, not even Kobura. You wondered if he already knew what had happened. He could easily access the school, or so he would have you believe. You wondered how quickly those kinds of documents would be finalized.

“Your new school will prepare you for the business world. They’re ecstatic to have you with your exceptional grades. The principal has assured us that their facility proudly focuses on your mind rather than any quirks you might have, so it’s the perfect peaceful environment for you to succeed,” your mother explained while in the passenger’s seat.

Your fingers dug into your knees. You’d lived as if you were quirkless before. It was easier back then. Your quirk had been steadily growing since, and it was harder to hide it. You weren’t sure how you were going to focus when your quirk overbuilds from not using it again. Your parents would surely want you to conceal your powers, as you had done before.

“They also have a deep brown and tan school uniform that you will adore.” Your mother continued to prattle on, her excitement bubbling up in the front seat. It was as if this seemed normal to her, that she hadn’t just ripped your dream right from your hands only moments before.

How long had they been planning you to move to this other school? How could they have already transferred you before even knowing about Emoticon kidnapping you? If you were never kidnapped, would they have retrieved you anyway?

“Our new home is small, but you’ll only need enough room for a bed and desk. We were lucky to get what we got while part of the police protection program. Luckily, your old school was not notified of our new location. Thankfully, that means no one from your life at U.A. will know where you are or how to reach you,” your father spoke up. Anger still rippled off of him in waves. His hands clutched the steering wheel, making it creak.

Your parents’ house was so far from U.A. that even if you snuck away in the early hours of night, you’d never reach U.A. on foot in time to make it back home without being noticed. The house was clustered together with other homes, brown and bland. Your father guided you to your room as soon as you had removed your shoes. He shoved you inside the windowless space, and you tumbled to the ground. Your box of belongings clattered to the floor next to you, the contents scattering. You spun back toward your father in surprise. He’d been physically forceful before, but you didn’t understand what this had been for exactly.

“You’re grounded for talking back at U.A., in front of that insufferable staff. I hope you think about what you’ve done. You won’t be leaving the house other than going to your new superior school. Behave for over a month, and we can discuss chaperoned outings.” Your father slammed the door shut in your face.

You clambered to your feet, holding your arms to your chest. You attempted to slow your trembling by focusing on what you did have. You had yourself. You still had your quirk, and it had finally come back at full force. You had your things, as scattered as they may have been. You began picking up the memories that had gotten tossed to the ground.

You found your diamond earrings from Bakugo first. You removed them from their box, putting them in and hiding them behind your hair. You placed your hands over your ears, remembering the warmth you had felt the day he’d given them to you. He had made sure you weren’t disappointed. He took you to the park just because you wanted to go. As soon as he found out that you’d left without saying goodbye, you were almost certain he would implode. Kirishima would probably have to calm him down too.

You picked the stuffed red shark off of the ground next, giving it a soft squeeze. Kirishima might have been the only person who could have won it for you at the carnival. You hoped that he wouldn’t be too sad to hear that you were gone. You knew he took a lot on himself, but you hoped that he knew this had nothing to do with him. He was always so sweet to you. You gently set the stuffed animal on your bed.

The necklace from Shoto glimmered in its place on the wooden floor. You carefully picked it up next, hooking it around your neck and hiding it beneath your clothes. You put a hand over the small piece of jewelry just above your heart. You’d miss his short glances your way, his attentive gaze. You hoped that people would pay more attention to his subtleties, then they would better understand him as a person. You wondered if he would have felt like you’d abandoned him without saying goodbye. Would Shinso actually tell him what had happened? They were never that close.

You brushed your fingertips against your forehead, remembering the short kiss that Shinso pressed there. Tears welled in your eyes again. You would miss his snarky remarks and walking to class with him. You’d miss fighting crime by his side. He deserved to be a hero. He worked so hard.

You crumpled to the ground, sobbing quietly into your hands. You were going to miss all of them, everything. You felt so helpless. You had a chance to escape your prison, and you were thrown back into it. It wasn’t fair. It didn’t even feel like your fault.

…

You’d woken up some time in the middle of the night. You must have fallen asleep on the floor because you hadn’t moved from where you’d knelt down. You forced yourself up and into your new bed. You tucked yourself under the gray sheets, clutching your stuffed shark to your chest. You had hoped waking up would have brought you out of this nightmare, but you were still locked away, expected to continue your life quietly.

You shuddered at the thought of being trapped in this room for eternity. What if your father never intended on giving you freedom? What if you were grounded into adulthood? You wouldn’t be able to survive, not like this. It was so quiet here, so devoid of life.

You fell asleep again, hoping when you awoke, this was all just some sick nightmare within a nightmare.

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agentark88 · 1 year

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Think: Chapter Ninety-Two: Evacuation and Evolution

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language, blood, and violence.

Please be aware this piece is in second person perspective, following my original character, Think, Anna Kokoro, who is a transfer student from America.

Chapter Ninety-Two: Evacuation and Evolution

Mr. Aizawa and you never got a chance to talk about Oboro because what seemed like only days shortly after the hotpot celebration, your class was deployed to support an undercover operation that had been going on for months. Team Endeavor was at Jaku Hospital and Team Edgeshot was at the supposed Paranormal Liberation Building at the Gunga Mountain Villa. The remainder of hero course students were positioned strategically around those areas as logistical support. Both teams were to assist with evacuation and rescue.

There was a short debate about you in particular, regarding your involvement with the team of hero course students that became part of the frontal charge toward the Paranormal Liberation Building. According to Hearts, your name had been brought up during the tactics meeting, but they found your quirk to better support rescue efforts. Even if you could take out an expanse of villains in one strike, your ability to locate people using your mind, would allow evacuation efforts to go more smoothly, or at least, that’s what you’d been told. You were lucky that Heart of Hearts hadn’t asked your feelings on the matter because you might have spilled your worries all out at once.

Your quirk had been a hot mess. The few times you’d read minds by accident became more than just an occasional occurrence. It had gotten to the point you were ready to tell Recovery Girl or even Mr. Aizawa. You were embarrassed. It took some focus, but usually minimal control to keep from reading a mind by accident. That was, of course, excluding emotional or distressing situations. But, these bouts of mindreading kept happening so randomly that you almost believed it was a curse instead of a quirk malfunction. You worried if you said anything that it might be more serious than you thought it was. You regretted keeping it a secret now, as the hundred plus heroes around you were chatting away, internally and externally.

You discreetly covered your ears, trying to keep your quirk from reaching out to the multitude of thoughts jumping around. The group of you stood at the edge of a cliff, overlooking Japan. The height scared you less than the onslaught of thoughts hovering about you. This group consisted of a high volume of young heroes from your class, including Deku, Bakugo, Shoto, Shinso, and Ochaco. Heart of Hearts and Burnin’ were two of the Pro Hero sidekicks from Endeavor Agency taking point of this overtly large group of superpowered individuals.

Why do they need so many Pro Heroes for this?

Wow, that Pro Hero has such a cool costume!

I should have brought extra snacks if this was going to take so long.

I wonder if I can get his autograph.

The thoughts streamed in without you acknowledging them much. Your fingers tensed around your ears. The amount of incoming thoughts was abnormal even to your quirk’s most recent malfunctions. It might have just been worse because there were so many people around, and you were a little nervous about the mission.

Shinso nudged you with his elbow.

“Too loud?” he asked softly.

You nodded, worried he might figure out what you were going through with a single look. Surprisingly, he didn’t ask you another question, instead he cupped his own hands around yours, helping keep out the “sound.”

The relief his warmth brought, nearly made you melt into him. The thoughts stopped. You didn’t know if it was because of Shinso’s close proximity or just the fact he made an effort to support you. You sighed, basking in the silence. A chuckle vibrated through Shinso, and you peered up at him. He shook his head, smiling at you. You pouted.

“What?” you asked.

“If you wanted me to do this, you should have just asked,” he replied, but his words were muffled.

You shrugged, looking straight ahead again. Your eyes set out onto the horizon, before you shut them to relax a bit.

Your earpiece came to life, making you jolt back into Shinso. “Logistical Support Units, clear all designated areas immediately! Evacuate all residents block by block! We repeat, clear all designated areas of civilians immediately!” The voice buzzed out of existence as Hearts and Burnin took over communications, instructing the group to split up to cover more ground.

You all made it down the cliffside, separating toward your varying districts. Although there were other heroes around, Class 1-A stuck together for the most part. Several of your classmates looked to you, when they mentioned nearby apartment buildings. You nodded without hesitation. The Pro Heroes wanted you to be part of the evacuation team specifically because of your quirk. You weren’t going to let them down over some misplaced thoughts.

Shinso, Deku, and Bakugo followed you toward the apartment complex. Bakugo had no qualms screaming out for everyone to evacuate their buildings immediately. Deku was a bit more timid about it. Shinso glanced at you, gripping the capture weapon around his neck and waiting for your go ahead. You shifted uncomfortably, settling into a more stable stance.

“Don’t push yourself too hard, Kitten,” he said. “Remember, you’re not the only one helping with rescue and evacuation efforts. You don’t have to put it all on yourself.” He cracked a smile. “I’m sure Bakugo and I can handle knocking on doors,” he quipped.

Speaking of Bakugo, you watched as he shouted in a civilian’s face because they weren’t moving fast enough. Deku tried fruitlessly to calm him down, which only refocused Bakugo’s wrath onto the Broccoli Boy. After that spat was over, you cringed as Bakugo kicked another apartment door open, dragging a few stragglers outside.

“Is there a reason he’s being so forceful?” you asked rhetorically.

Shinso shrugged, watching Bakugo rip the hinges off of another door. “Efficiency?” he offered.

“K-Kacchan, don’t forget we need to evacuate civilians with m-minimal collateral damage,” Deku squeaked out.

“Shut up, you Damn Nerd. That door was going to break whether I forced it open or not,” Bakugo snapped back at him. “These citizens are too damn slow anyway. I’m doing them a favor by clearing their path.”

You winced, shutting your eyes after he yelled at someone else. Your mind buzzed with energy, readily activating, but immediately over activating. You shivered at the strain. All you had intended to do was reach several minds within the area to do a mass communication. Instead, your mind took in their thoughts, compiling them over each other in an indecipherable cacophony of sound. You tried to hide it, the pain. Your fingers dug into your scalp as you forced your mind to shut the thoughts out.

Finally, your mind settled. The voices were trapped outside. You composed a telepathic message to send out, one that would inform all citizens in the nearby radius to evacuate their homes for their own safety. You sent the message out, feeling the energy drain from you. When you opened your eyes, the entire apartment complex began filtering out of their houses. Astonished, the three boys turned their gazes back on you. You gave the three of them a weak smile, your stance wavering. Shinso gripped you by the elbow, before you could collapse.

“I told you to take it easy,” Hitoshi murmured, pulling you toward him to help you stay upright.

“Once everyone is safe, I will,” you said.

Shinso’s violet eyes widened. He sighed from his nose. He helped you stay upright, before you could hold your own again. Deku and Bakugo ushered civilians in the right direction. The four of you continued like this block by block. Your quirk grew more unruly with each wave of warning. The voices started coming in again, garbled and amassed with hysteria.

“What in the hell were you thinking, Big Brain?”

You turned your gaze up, not even realizing you’d sunk to the ground. Katsuki stood over you with a scowl. He grabbed you by the shoulder of your hero costume, hoisting you up.

“Did you think you had to evacuate the whole damn city yourself? You’re a mess. Bet you didn’t even notice you’re leaking blood from your nose either.” Bakugo clicked his tongue, his fingers tightening over the fabric of your costume.

“K-Kacchan, d-don’t hurt her,” Deku pleaded, reaching out for you.

Katsuki jostled you away from him, keeping you upright. “She’s hurting herself,” Bakugo snapped back at him. His crimson eyes scanned you over again. She’s barely even keeping her eyes open. What was she thinking using that much power at once? She needs to rest, but I know damn well I won’t be able to convince her to. Bakugo gritted his teeth, his thoughts solely thinking about you.

You winced, trying to pull your quirk back in. That was when you noticed Hitoshi staring at you from afar. Normally, he would have already thrown Bakugo off of you, but his stare suggested he was catching on to what you were trying to keep hidden. You put a hand on Bakugo’s gauntlet.

“I’m fine,” you said, practically pleaded. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

Bakugo’s eyes widened. His muscles coiled. Bullshit!

You cringed at his internal shout, surprised he didn’t scold you outright. Shinso shifted. You watched him stalk toward the two of you out of the corner of your eye. Hitoshi reached for your utility belt, removing some of the tissues that you had to help with your nosebleeds. He pressed a wad of them into your nose, supporting your body with his free arm. Still, Bakugo hadn’t let go.

“I’ve got this,” Hitoshi said. “You and Deku continue with the evacuation. I’ll sit with her for a few minutes.” Soft, his voice was so soft that only Bakugo and you could hear him speak. “We’ll catch up as soon as she’s recovered enough to keep standing.”

To your surprise, Bakugo actually let go, allowing Shinso to hold you. He stormed off, grumbling something about hurrying up.

I’ll kill him if he makes her worse, Bakugo thought, before he pushed Deku away.

You involuntarily winced again, and Shinso flicked your forehead. You pouted, looking up at him.

“How long?” he asked.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you replied, relaxing into him with your weary body.

“Really?” Shinso snorted out in disbelief. “You’re going to try to lie to me?”

You shifted uncomfortably as he led you over to a nearby bench. His arm left you, so he could be more attentive toward your bloody nose.

“Let’s try this again. How long has your mindreading been acting up?”

You bowed your head like a child being caught doing something bad. “Not long.”

Shinso’s violet eyes widened as he leaned back. “Don’t tell me…” His mind suddenly went back to the warehouse, the Counting Sheep mission. You’d come out of that place barely stable. Your quirk had closed off your mind, just as it had before. He thought back to when he had to help you when your quirk exploded in that alley. The similarities lined up in his mind. He knew your quirk was malfunctioning.

You flinched away from him, trying to disappear from his thoughts and questions.

“Please don’t tell me it’s been happening since the Counting Sheep mission.”

“I…” You couldn’t argue with him, not when he was right about everything that he was saying.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous this could be for you? You should be resting, recuperating. The last thing you need to do is push your quirk to its limits. Have you told Mr. Aizawa? Recovery Girl?”

You didn’t look at him. You didn’t want to be held back anymore. You wanted to be a hero, and if it meant a little quirk malfunction or a migraine, you were willing to make that sacrifice.

"Kitten," Hitoshi said in exasperation. “You shouldn’t be out here. Not like this.” He grabbed for your hand, squeezing it. “I don’t know what I would do if I saw you in a coma again. You might not be as lucky as the last time. What if you didn’t wake up?”

“We don’t know what’s really wrong, so we can’t really speculate that I would fall into a coma again, right?” you said in small voice.

Shinso scowled, running a hand through his hair. “Why would you do this? Kitten, I know how badly you want to be here, but you can’t—”

“I don’t want to be left behind,” you snapped. “If I told Mr. Aizawa or Recovery Girl what was going on, they would have never allowed me to help with the hero efforts. I can really help, Hitoshi. You know that I can. You saw that I can.” You pointed out toward the array of empty buildings around you. You shut your eyes, shaking. “If I told them, they would have just left me behind, and, not only that, if my quirk continued like this, I would probably have been left back in the hero course too, maybe even transferred out of the hero course altogether. I’m already so far behind everyone else. I couldn’t risk saying anything.” You bit into your bottom lip, suddenly latching onto Shinso’s arm. “Please. Please, don’t tell them.”

Shinso looked down at your hand clutching his arm. He reached out toward your fingers, pulling them slowly off of him. Your heart broke, thinking this was it. All he had to do was tell Mr. Aizawa or even Heart of Hearts what was going on, and you’d be forced to evacuate with the civilians and wait, doing nothing, until after the entire mission was complete.

Hitoshi risked lacing his fingers with yours. The two of you could be spotted, even if most of the civilians had been evacuated. He shut his eyes pressing his forehead into yours and exhaling.

“I know how much becoming a hero means to you. I know what you think might happen if you say something, but we can’t know that’s what they would do…” he trailed off. That’s a lie. I’m lying to her. She’s right. They would have left her at U.A..

You winced again, and Shinso sighed.

“Promise me. When we get back, you’ll at least tell Mr. Aizawa what’s going on.”

Hope bubbled up in your chest. You could help. You’d be able to help with this mission. Shinso wasn’t going to tell on you. Still, you weren’t too keen on telling Mr. Aizawa. He held your future in the hero course in his hands after all.

“Okay,” you said, not even really convincing yourself that you had agreed to the promise.

“Kitten,” Shinso warned, eyeing you suspiciously.

“I’ll tell Mr. Aizawa I’m having issues with my quirk after the mission,” you said. No going back on it now.

“Thank you,” he said.

You huffed, half-expecting another flick to the forehead from Shinso. Instead, to your surprise, he pressed a kiss to your temple. Your face flushed. Hitoshi rose from the bench, holding his hand out toward you.

“Your nose stopped bleeding. Are you sure you’re okay to keep going?” he asked.

You put your hand in his, nodding firmly. “I’m okay.”

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at you, helping you up to your feet again. “If you faint—”

“I get it. I get it. I’m on high intensity supervisory watch by the great Mindjack. If he so much as sees me wobble too far to the right, he’s going to swing me off of the battlefield,” you said, chuckling to yourself.

“At least you find the situation amusing because I don’t,” Shinso grumbled. “I’m going to get gray hairs because of you.” He rubbed his face with his hand. “Or, worse, Aizawa’s going to lecture me until I die of boredom.”

You and Shinso caught up with Deku and Bakugo shortly after, leaving the bench. It wasn’t hard to find them. Bakugo’s distinct yelling guided you in their direction. Bakugo spotted you first, relief loosening his shoulder muscles. Deku waved at you in greeting.

It seemed the pressure of keeping your quirk malfunction a secret had been part of the reason it was happening so frequently. As soon as Shinso knew, the side effects of your damaged quirk had subsided. The next couple of buildings were a breeze to evacuate, and you had barely heard a single unintentional thought since talking with Shinso.

Bakugo and Deku were quick to help civilians down fire escapes and off of high buildings. Shinso kept close to you, directing anyone who passed you in the correct direction. Your group alone cleared out dozens of apartment buildings. As you ushered civilians to where they needed to go, the four of you eventually crossed paths with the rest of the group.

Shoto spotted you within the crowd, and he slowly tried to make his way through to you. Abruptly, Ochaco bounced out in front of you.

“Wow, you guys sure found a lot of them,” she said. She continued directing the group with her free arm as she nudged you. “I’m sure it had a lot to do with your quirk. Right, Think?” She grinned at you.

You shook your head absently, still reeling from the amount of power you used. “Yeah,” you breathed out, feeling the weight of it all hit you. You’d managed this far without too bad of a mishap, but you could tell that your control was slipping again. Your focus wandered, as you tried to settle your thoughts.

You turned back, spotting Midoriya standing in the middle of the road. His face was pale, and his eyes were distant. Surprise and terror laced within his expression.

He’s coming.

You winced. Pain stabbed at your temple as the echoing thoughts bounced within your mind. That voice. It was coming from Midoriya, but it wasn’t him.

Stop him. It will begin soon.

You gritted your teeth as a wave of nausea hit you. You clamped your fingers around your head. What would begin? Who needed to be stopped?

A transcendent one approaches. Stop him.

“Anna, are you okay?” You were jolted out of the mind link by Shoto gently shaking your shoulder. You staggered, only for him to catch you. “Are you okay?” he asked again, but he was now standing between you and Deku. There was something important happening, something bad.

You gently pushed away from Shoto, peering around him. Deku had turned. His gaze transfixed on Jaku Hospital, where a different team was infiltrating. A horrifying number of black birds rose up from the building. A tremor rippled under your feet. The hospital suddenly crumbled under your watch, a dust cloud the only thing left in its path, and a shockwave rolled out from the impact.

“Run! Everybody move!” someone shouted from the crowd.

Panic began to ensue. Despite feeling like you were stuck in place, your legs began to move on their own, peering behind you in fear. Gray. The destruction was gray, flaky, and dying. You’d seen this before, seen it as Shigaraki turned the small stuffed animal you’d won at the carnival to dust. But, he was never able to do this. He had never been able to decay half the city like this.

Deku ran toward the destruction, kicking toward it with a St. Louis Smash Air Force attack, but it did nothing to impact the oncoming decay. Shoto threw up a shield of ice to give Deku time to retreat. To everyone’s shock and horror, the ice began to crack almost instantaneously. Run. Everyone had to run.

The heroes retreated. You did what you could to grab straggling civilians, feeling your lungs burn and your mind sting from the effort of running. If any of you stopped, you were almost certain you would cease to exist.

Your communicator sizzled and crackled. Burnin and Heart of Hearts were desperately trying to get a response for your team from any of the Pro Heroes stationed at the other locations, but only seemed to get a one-sided communication with themselves. No one was answering. The signals must have been jammed.

Hearts turned to you. You nodded, pushing the civilians as far forward with the strands of your mind as you could, so they had a much better chance of retreat. Other Pro Heroes took them up with them. There was a brief concerned glance from Shinso. The three of you running together, away from the destruction. Shinso lifted you into his arms without a second more of hesitation. You settled your thoughts, hoping there might be a way you could get through, link the Pro Heroes to get a better idea of what was going on.

You reached out toward the hospital, trying to get in contact with the Jaku Hospital Pro Hero Team. The distance was vast, and you knew you should try your best to avoid the decay blasting toward you. Strands of your mind reached and went taught, straining past your limits as you shot out your quirk in an exaggerated arc. It was too much. Too far. There was nothing. Nothing even close to living in the vast expanse behind you. Then, you felt something, a tug. A powerful mind drew you toward it.

One for All, the words echoed clearly in your mind. A hiss. A calling. A need. One for All. Targeted. A shadow lingered at the edge of your mind, one familiar to you but having yet to take shape.

You attempted to reach in further, search for an explanation or clarity. You let out a terrified shriek as you were forced from the mind with a violent shove. The connection broke and grayed, decaying like the destruction that had been barreling toward all of you. Your hands went to your head, feeling as if someone had just plunged a knife directly into the back of your skull. Shinso tightened his grip on you, but he could do little more than continue to cradle you in his arms.

At some point, Shinso had stopped running. He dropped to his knees with you still in his arms. You sobbed. A pain-ridden throb continued to bombard your fragile mind. You all must have reached the end of the spreading decay because you could feel thoughts begin trickling in, surrounding you like a crowd had formed. Hitoshi’s hands cupped your head. His fingers gingerly roamed your skull for injury. Internal. It was all internal. You felt your quirk leaking from the hole that had been torn in your mind, bleeding out as if you’d actually been stabbed with an invisible force.

“What can I do? Tell me what I can do to help you,” Hitoshi said, barely audible above the torrent of thoughts running through your head.

Then, it stopped. You gasped, feeling the wound be clasped shut by a strand of your own mind. Your quirk protected itself again. You shot up from Shinso’s lap. He narrowly avoided your heads bashing against one another as he shifted back. You flailed for a bit, before realizing where you were. You got up to your feet, and Hitoshi followed, putting a steadying hand on your back.

“Take it easy, Kitten,” Shinso said.

“How long was I out?”

Shinso’s eyes widened. “Maybe a minute, seconds,” he answered.

“I was…” you shivered, remembering the drawing power of what you could only assume was Shigaraki’s mind. “I was in his head.”

“Whose head?” he asked.

“Something was telling him, calling him to find someone.” The image was foggy, and you strained to memorize the outline. “They want One for All.”

“What are you talking about? Who are they? Who is he?” Hitoshi asked. “You should sit down. You were screaming in so much pain, and now you’re walking around. What if you passed out?”

You feebly pushed his hand away. “You don’t understand. Shigaraki is coming. His power is…” You shivered at the force that had shoved you out. It was malicious in nature, controlling. It had singlehandedly severed a piece of your quirk off. “…inside him.” You blinked. You’d been shoved out of minds before, but it was a rarity. This felt familiar. This felt like something lingered deep within Shigaraki’s mind that could force you out on its own. It wasn’t him. It was something else entirely. “Midoriya,” you muttered under your breath. His mind had pushed you out just like that. It felt like he hadn’t been alone.

“Midoriya?” Shinso asked.

“I’m so glad you’re conscious. Are you okay?” Hearts said in concern. Her finger was glued to her earpiece. “There’s currently radio silence. Were you able to reach any of the other Pro Heroes?”

“No,” you said distantly. “I couldn’t.”

“It was worth a shot. We’ll keep trying the comms.” She stared at you for a moment, hesitating to move on, but her duties forced her too. “Mindjack, keep an eye on her. Make sure she’s recovered from that kind of strain.” Hearts forged ahead, shouting into her communicator and trying to gain a signal.

That shadow. You realized that shadowed figure in Shigaraki’s mind. You knew that person. Izuku Midoriya. One for All, the very thing that plagued Shigaraki to retrieve was inside Midoriya.

“I don’t like that look on your face,” Hitoshi said softly. “Hey, focus, Kitten. It’s going to be alright. I’ll get you to the medical team, and we can get things checked out.” His hands were on your shoulders again. You hadn’t even realized he’d moved in front of you.

You pressed your lips together. The secret. You remembered All Might wanting to tell you something, something about the vestiges, about seeing something that you shouldn’t have. Was that One for All? Was that what he wanted to explain? That Midoriya had some deep power within him? If he had some kind of word-altering power, no wonder it needed to be kept a secret. The complications that it could make for a power like that getting into the wrong hands… it was terrifying.

“This is Endeavor. I’m fighting Shigaraki near the hospital. Does anyone copy?” Endeavor’s voice boomed suddenly in the communicators. “If there is anyone who can move without touching the ground, form a perimeter!”

Heart of Hearts and Burnin quickly answered him and began to instruct orders to all available heroes in their current area.

“We need to continue to fall back and evacuate! Clear the area around the city!” Hearts ordered.

Your comms picked up the struggle. Endeavor seemed to be confused by something. “One for All?” he asked.

You choked on a noise, cupping your hands over your ears to try and decipher more, but nothing more came.

Heart of Hearts glanced back at Burnin who was already headed toward Endeavor’s callout to assist. Hearts surveyed the area, determined that all had been organized efficiently, then she too headed closer toward the destruction, most likely searching for stragglers on the outer banks.

You found your eyes drawn to a single person, Izuku Midoriya. While everyone had deployed into action, Deku and Bakugo stood amidst the chaos, wide-eyed and uncertain of where to head next. Then, they sprang into action, both of them racing toward the destruction.

You watched, realizing what Midoriya already had himself. Shigaraki was after him. He was racing into that decay to draw him out, to give the Pro Heroes a fighting chance.

Your legs moved on their own. Hitoshi was yelling something at you, but your mind was set on Midoriya. Bakugo, All Might, and you knew. You couldn’t tell anyone else. They would be more focused on Midoriya if they knew too, rather than the attack.

“I forgot something! I’ll be right back!” Midoriya called out to the group, before he and Bakugo nearly flew out of sight.

With a blast of your mind quirk, you pursued at a much slower pace, hoping that this was the right call, hoping that Midoriya would make it out of this ordeal alive and unscathed.

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agentark88 · 1 year

Text

Think: Chapter Eighty-Eight: Quirkphobia

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language and violence.

Please be aware this piece is in second person perspective, following my original character, Think, Anna Kokoro, who is a transfer student from America.

Chapter Eighty-Eight: Quirkphobia

Bakugo was outside your door the next morning as promised. He was no longer covered in the previous night’s grime. Surprisingly, Shinso actually waved to you on his way by both of you. It was the most positive thing that he’d done since you’d come back. Bakugo flipped him off as he passed, and Shinso returned the favor after lowering his hand from the wave.

Bakugo must have told Kirishima he couldn’t come this morning because he wasn’t anywhere in sight. Bakugo had ripped your backpack off of your back, and he was carrying it along with his own.

“What the hell you got in here? It’s heavy as shit,” he grumbled.

“You can give it back,” you said. “I don’t mind carrying my own stuff. It’s just books.”

Bakugo clicked his tongue. “Just books my ass.” He tightened his jaw. “It’s heavy, not too heavy for me. I’ll carry it.”

You pressed your lips together, trying not to say something else that might upset him.

“I wouldn’t mind us working next to each other during my work-study,” he mumbled out.

“What?” you asked in surprise.

“Don’t read too much into it, Big Brain. I just mean it would be better if I could keep an eye on your clumsy ass while you’re out in the field.” His face flushed. He shifted your bookbag over his shoulder.

“Oh,” you said dejectedly.

“Not that you fall much anymore anyway,” he huffed out.

You faintly smiled at that. You rubbed the back of your neck. “I’ve got a bit of catching up to do since my leave of absence. Can’t really argue about my clumsiness. I’ll do my best so you won’t have to keep an eye on me as much,” you said.

Bakugo shrugged. “I don’t mind keeping an eye on you.” Bakugo tugged absently at his loose school-uniform tie. “But, don’t get used to it, Big Brain.”

“Okay…” you responded, watching his tense expression. “Thank you, Katsuki.”

Bakugo’s eyes widened, but he refused to look back at you. His face turned as red as his eyes. He muttered something about you being an idiot before trekking far ahead. You covered a giggle, picking up the pace to keep up with him.

Bakugo remained with you for the entirety of the day. Jett Gibson and Neito Monoma did not appear once. As Bakugo held the door open for your dorm room at the end of the day, you caught Shinso walking by. He paused in the hallway this time, raising his hand lazily in greeting to you. You raised your hand in return, grinning. Maybe, he was ready to start talking to you again.

Bakugo’s glare flashed over to the teenage boy. “Keep walking, Brain Drain,” he snapped.

“It’s a public space,” Shinso said, content expression falling. “I can do what I want.”

“Feel free to do nothing, like you did when they forced her to leave here,” Bakugo shot back.

Rage filtered through Shinso’s expression. He clenched his jaw. “Don’t act like you know everything I’ve done for her, sacrificed for her.”

“Hitoshi,” you said softly, heart breaking. You never asked him to take on any burdens, especially on your behalf. He was hurting far more than you thought he had been.

Shinso balled his fists at his sides. His glare bore into Bakugo. “You have no right—”

“Bullshit, that I have no right!” Bakugo cut him off. His fingers dug into your dorm door, and the wood cracked. “You knew what happened! I thought you were just suffering like the rest of us, in the dark, not knowing where they’d taken her. I gave you the benefit of the doubt, even stuck my neck out for your shitty attitude, but you knew what had happened the entire time. You didn’t stay awake wondering. You didn’t tear your room apart, hoping to find something to remember her by. You didn’t spend hours trying to find a way to bring her back. You didn’t have to worry. You knew. And, you watched me fear that the worst had happened.” Bakugo released the door from his grip, crossing the hallway toward Shinso.

You grabbed the door before it could slam shut again. Bakugo’s words slowly sunk into your mind. He had worried, worried more than you thought that he had. Aizawa should have been able to give him enough information so that he knew you were okay. Bakugo didn’t have to torture himself like that for you.

Bakugo shoved his finger into Shinso’s face, pointing him out as if he was the culprit for all the pain he’d been feeling. “You didn’t—”

“I did,” Shinso snapped. “I did worry. Is that what you wanted to hear? I spent every night, wondering if I had said or done something different that day that she would have still been in school with us. She gave us a second chance to stay here, or did you forget? We would have been expelled if she hadn’t stuck her neck out for us. So, of course, I was trying to do everything in my power to get her back. I pleaded with Mr. Aizawa to tell me more, tell me where she actually ended up. I didn’t have the pleasure of getting that information. All I knew was that they took her away from here, from me.” Shinso clenched at his chest. “Don’t tell me that I didn’t do anything, when I did everything that I physically could to get her back, but it wasn’t enough.”

Your heart tightened in your chest. Your bottom lip quivered as you realized, even though you were no longer with them, that you were causing them such anguish, such heartache. You shut your dorm door, reaching your hand out toward them meekly.

Bakugo lowered his accusatory finger. “If you think keeping quiet about the last time you saw her was the right thing to do, then you’re a bigger dumbass than I thought you were, Eyebags.” Bakugo clicked his tongue.

“What could you have done even if I told you?” Shinso bit back. “You’re not exactly level-headed about situations, and you eventually found out as much as I did. A lot of help that was. Neither of us found her on our own accord. It took a villain threatening her again to get us to her.”

“I’m standing right here,” you choked out. Tears blurred your vision. “You don’t have to talk about me like I’m not right here.” You clasped your hands together, sniffling pitifully. You tried wiping away at the tears with the palm of your hand to no avail. You knew you looked a mess. You were a mess. “I’m sorry.”

Bakugo and Shinso turned to you in a simultaneous reaction of concern, nearly colliding with each other in the process. They stopped short, scowling at one another.

“Don’t fight because of me. It was my fault. I messed up one too many times. I’m trying to do better,” you said, attempting fruitlessly to quiet your sobs.

“Stop it,” Bakugo snapped at you, which only made you freeze momentarily before you burst into more aggressive tears.

“Really?” Shinso asked Bakugo.

Bakugo glared at him, but he refused to respond further. Shinso slowly approached you, keeping his hands firmly in his pockets.

“Kitten, it’s not your fault,” Shinso said softly. “No one thinks it’s your fault you left. Not even Mr. Aizawa.”

“But, it is my fault.” You clenched your fingers over the bottom hem of your skirt, fidgeting with the pleats restlessly. “It’s because of my quirk that I kept getting attacked. Sure, it wasn’t fair for my parents to blame U.A. for what had happened, and I can’t help sleepwalking, but I should have laid low. It’s my own fault that I keep getting so much attention. It’s me. If I could just… I should have just…” You bit hard into your bottom lip.

Bakugo’s and Shinso’s eyes widened at your confession.

“You and your quirk aren’t the problem, Anna. Your parents filling your head with those anti-quirk ideas are the problem,” Bakugo said.

“They were attacked because of me too,” you choked out.

“No, they weren’t,” Shinso said. “You’re not to blame for what villains do.”

“I am. This time I am,” you confessed because you truly an honestly knew that it was your fault. Kobura attacking your parents was your fault. All you wanted to do was get back into U.A., and Kobura knew how to do it. He hurt your parents for you.

“What are you on about?” Bakugo asked.

“It’s my fault.” You tugged absently at your braid, feeling like you wanted to curl up in a corner.

“Kitten, calm down,” Shinso gently said.

“My quirk is—”

“Anna! Will you stop it? Your quirk has nothing to do with you being forced out of this school. This school was built for quirk users. Nothing you did or have done has ever been out of hatred. Nothing that has happened to you is your fault. It’s the damn Extras around you that’s the problem. So, stop your blubbering.” Bakugo scowled, jerking his head in the direction of Shinso. “Eyebags and I aren’t fighting anymore, so you can stop beating yourself up over it, alright? We just want you to be okay.”

Your gaze darted between the two of them, small sobs still escaping your gasping mouth. “You’re not upset with me?” you asked.

“Of course not,” Bakugo snapped back. “It’s not your fault.”

Erratic breathing replaced the crying. Shinso adjusted his posture, leaning toward you. His hand was out, but he didn’t try to touch you.

“Breathe, Kitten. You’re okay. Everything is okay,” Shinso said. He offered out his hand, and you latched onto it. He drew small circles over your knuckles with his thumb.

Slowly but surely, your breathing regulated. The tears dried and embarrassment set in. Shinso let you release his hand in your own time, but as soon as you had detached from each other, Bakugo swept in. It frightened you how quickly his hands were on your face. His thumbs brushed away your tears, and he helped fix your posture, your hair, and your clothing.

“Was that at all necessary?” Shinso asked, rolling his eyes.

“It’s like it never happened,” Bakugo said softly to you. “And, we’ve talked about this before. You need to be kinder to yourself, Anna.”

This earned a disconcerted noise from Shinso, but Bakugo ignored him. As if to avoid upsetting you further, Bakugo helped you back over to your dorm room. He helped you open the door, holding it like he had done before. He cringed as his fingers settled into the damage that he’d done to the door.

“You need to rest,” he said, gently ushering you inside your room.

You glanced back at Shinso. Bakugo noticed but held back a snide remark. Shinso gave you a reassuring smile, lopsided as it usually was, charming.

“Go ahead, Kitten. We’re all good here. You don’t need to worry about us. We can behave when we want to,” Shinso said.

Bakugo clenched his jaw but shrugged when your attention shifted toward him again. You finally entered your room, and Bakugo gently shut the door behind you. He tested the door before he left to make sure he hadn’t broken it. You barely heard Bakugo and Shinso exchange muffled words, before it went quiet again.

…

You were startled awake by an explosion rattling your wall. You shot out of bed, and you reached the door in an instant. Your fingers brushed the cold metal handle, and hesitation coiled its tendrils around you. Before you could contemplate why you’d reacted in such a way, another blast shook your wall. You ripped the door open, turning in the direction of the noise.

Jett Gibson grinned smugly up at Katsuki Bakugo. The two of them were no more than three feet away from your door. Bakugo’s palm was smoldering, planted just above Gibson’s head, on the wall, as if he’d been threatening him only moments before. Jett’s orange eyes shifted. His gaze met yours, and a shiver ran through his body.

“Don’t even look at her,” Bakugo snapped, slamming his hand into Jett’s chest. He bared his teeth like a beast at him. He’d gotten riled up before, sure, but it didn’t seem like Bakugo to get physical like that with another student, especially when he’d tried so hard not to in the classroom earlier.

“W-what’s going on?” you managed.

“This Extra was just passing by, weren’t you?” Bakugo growled out into Jett’s face.

Jett didn’t even flinch. His attention was wholly on you, your movements. It didn’t make sense. He was acting like Bakugo wasn’t the threat at all. He was acting like you were the most powerful thing in the hallway.

“I came to apologize,” Jett said with a shaky voice.

“Bullshit!” Bakugo snapped, pressing his forearm into Jett’s neck. “Don’t listen to a word this prick says.”

“I’m not sure why you’re being so violent when I have yet to attack you,” Jett said calmly back to Bakugo.

“You know exactly what set me off. Don’t play dumb,” Bakugo snarled at him. You had no idea how long the two of them were talking before you’d appeared, but it was enough to make Bakugo practically seethe.

“Katsuki, give him a chance to talk,” you said.

Bakugo’s eyes widened. A muscle feathered in his clenched jaw. “He’s done enough talking. And, if you try that persuasion bullshit on me again, Extra, that wall’s not the only thing that will be smoldering, got it? I’ve dealt with far more suggestion quirks than yours, asshole.” Bakugo glanced in your direction, before he was back on Jett. “You try anything else with her, and you’re dead.” Bakugo paused, scanning the boy in front of him. He took a step back, releasing Jett, but ready to jump back in if need be.

Jett swept back his disheveled hair. His hands shook between the strands. “As I was saying, I came to apologize.” Jett couldn’t seem to meet your eyes.

You crossed your arms over your chest, willing to hear him out but not really sure how to respond.

“I know I have been cruel to you in the past, but there was a reason for my behavior,” Jett said. From his back pocket, Jett procured a white rose. “I shouldn’t have acted so deplorably before, but you have to understand, I hadn’t realized how powerful you’d become.” He twisted the rose between his fingers, a thorn pricking his thumb. “If I’d known what your quirk actually was back then, things might have been different. Everyone thought you were weird, that you used their thoughts against them, and I thought the same. When you confessed to me, I just thought you were using me, so I got scared—”

Bakugo clicked his tongue. Impatience practically steaming out of his ears. He kept his words to himself, as you’d yet to speak.

“I liked you too,” Jett admitted.

You blinked at him, remembering the cruelty in his actions, in his words all those years ago. You carried that scar from your past for so long. It was hard for you to believe that he actually liked you. Those feelings that you had had for him had long since been dead and gone. After being rejected, you were heartbroken. You knew the kind of person Jett was, and it was anything but what you had known of him when he was your friend.

“You’re lying,” you said, feeling your past child-self quiver with anxiety. It had taken you so long to trust people again, and you wouldn’t be so easily swayed by honeyed words.

“But, I did really like you. If I had confessed my own feelings in front of everyone, our classmates would have just tormented us both.” Jett put his hands together, the rose hanging lifelessly in his grasp. “Don’t be selfish, Shortcake. You have to see things from my perspective. You would have done the same thing in my position.”

“She would have never—” Bakugo’s enraged retort was cut off by a pleading look from you. He shifted his offensive stance, fingers quaking and ready to fight. He held his tongue, only because it was you.

You eased forward, keeping your face as emotionless as you could. Jett smiled in eagerness. He held out the rose toward you, anticipating you to reciprocate his “feelings.” The way he held it toward you was like someone holding out a snack for a rabid predator. He seemed exhilarated yet terrified by your approach, and you began to put the pieces together in your mind. He was scared of you, of what you had become.

You reached out for the ghostly flower. Bakugo looked ready to spring on you both. His eyes tracked your hand the entire way to the bloom. Bakugo shook his head, scowling.

You picked the rose from Jett’s hand, feeling past emotions rush through you like a summer wind. He was the only one who had shown you any form of kindness back then. He broke your heart, that much was undeniable, but it couldn’t have all just been to rip you apart. At least, that’s what you wanted to think.

“I’d given you a red rose, hoping you would have accepted my feelings for you. You’d shown me such kindness…” Your finger prodded at one of the white petals. Strands of memory surfaced in your mind. Your hair floated on an invisible breeze. You hesitated for a moment, glancing up at Jett.

Jett was frozen in place. His smile had tensed. There wasn’t affection behind those eyes. He sought to make amends because he knew what you’d become, but if he had actually cared about you the way that you thought he did, he would have known that you yourself hadn’t changed. Or, maybe, in some ways, you had. Your quirk and power were the only visible changes that had happened, but on the inside, you had changed. You were no longer the scared little girl who would do anything to hide her quirk.

You glanced at Bakugo. His expression was almost the exact opposite of Jett’s. Emotion creased the corners of his eyes. A vague sense of worry put tension in his jaw as his attention shifted between you and the flower. He kept his fidgeting hands at bay, although his instincts to protect you were obvious by the way sweat glistened off of his skin.

You gave Bakugo a weak smile. No, you hadn’t changed much. You were just able to express yourself better now. You let your mind stream toward Jett’s, letting him see what you saw of him, before that day: the hours of mindless conversations, the care in which he took to make sure you were smiling, and the evening walks you’d shared together. You played games when you were younger, heroes and villains. Though you both always wanted to be the hero, and you cried when you ever had to pretend to be mean to him. He’d always share half of his cookie with you when your parents weren’t looking. He’d always make sure to slow down his pace when you couldn’t keep up. You didn’t show him how things had changed, drawing your mind back before the rumors began to spread about your quirk. You didn’t show him the bullies that would wait for him to leave. You didn’t want to show him slowly slipping away from the good times, though you knew it was happening.

Things were different now. You’d almost forgotten the good times because they’d been overshadowed by the bad, by that day. You wished you never handed him that rose. You might have been able to become friends again. Things might have been different.

Jett stumbled a bit back after you stopped sharing the past. You saw the confusion. He didn’t remember those times like you did, did he? You cupped your hand around the head of the flower. Jett’s eyes widened. You gently lifted the rose with your quirk, sending it back to him.

“You had been kind to me in the past. I’m afraid my feelings have changed since then. I can’t accept this. I’m sorry,” you said.

“But…” Jett was at a loss for words. He stared at the floating flower in utter horror, afraid to grasp it out of the air. “You liked me. You couldn’t possibly think that you’re better off without me—”

Bakugo let out a low growl. His patience was wearing thinner by the minute. You stood firm in your resolve, knowing now that you had moved on. Things were better for you. With friends like Bakugo, Shinso, Kirishima, and Shoto, you weren’t alone anymore.

“Things aren’t the same anymore.” You smiled bitterly, turning your gaze downward. “You started treating me poorly, but I forgive you for that. We were much younger then after all. I want to move on from the pain.” You shrugged. “I hope we can become friends again, like we were in the past. But, I don’t think we could ever be exactly like we were when things were the best, and that’s okay.”

Jett’s eyebrows furrowed. “You forgive me?”

Bakugo visibly tensed at the coarseness of the question. Your resolve wavered.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. How can you forgive me?” Anger rippled away from Jett like a wave of heat. The hesitation within him flickered. He aggressively snatched the flower from the air, and you felt the forcefulness against the ebbing strand of your mind. He crushed the flower like he’d done so many times before. “You should be begging me for forgiveness! I-I don’t care what your quirk has become. You’re the one that’s wrong here.”

You winced, taking a step back.

“That didn’t take long, asshole,” Bakugo snapped, taking your sudden change in posture and demeanor as a form of permission, as he drew back a sparking palm to make contact with Jett.

“You won’t touch me, dog!” Jett yelled at him. His modulation quirk grated on your senses with harsh vigor, as you felt the persuasive vibrations in his throat being released.

Bakugo’s hand stopped inches from Jett, as if hitting an invisible wall. You cupped your hands over your ears to keep out the strange sound of Jett’s voice. A door down the hallway creaked open. A dimly lit figure plodded out into the hallway. Shinso’s disheveled indigo locks shifted into the light as he leaned back.

“What is all the damn noise for? Some of us are trying to get to sleep. Don’t you think you should find somewhere else to be idiots?” he called out groggily. His bare chest and loose-fitting blue pants reflected his exhaustion. He spotted you first and then Jett and Bakugo in a frozen battle.

“Mind your—” Jett’s voice caught in his throat. He had answered a direct question from Shinso, and he was now under his quirk’s power.

Shinso grinned like Aizawa as he approached Jett from behind. “How about you mind your manners and go to bed?” Shinso’s slender fingers clamped around the boy’s shoulder. He leaned down to whisper into Jett’s ear. “While you’re at it, I’m going to give you a little suggestion of your own. Leave Anna Kokoro alone. If you see her, you’ll turn away and won’t say a word, got it? Now, go.”

Jett obeyed. His zombie-like form marched in the direction of where you could only assume was his dorm room. Shinso watched Jett’s retreating form with exhausted amusement. Bakugo finally shook off Jett’s previous suggestion, freeing himself just as Jett had entered the stairwell. He spat out a string of swear words, glaring at Shinso.

“Took you long enough,” Bakugo snapped.

Shinso shrugged off the comment. “You didn’t invite me to your little face-off. I’m just glad there will be some peace and quiet in this hallway. You were causing a damn racket out here.” Shinso’s violet eyes slid back toward you. “Kitten, you good?”

You straightened, nervously fidgeting with a loose strand of hair. “Yeah,” you said softly. But, you weren’t sure if you were or not. Things had happened so fast. You were glad that you stuck up for yourself, but it didn’t turn out the way that you had hoped for.

Shinso’s gaze lingered on you for a moment longer, before sleep drew a long yawn from his lips. “If you need me, you know where to find me,” he said drearily.

Shinso stood still for a breath or two, maybe, to give you time to request him to stay, but you didn’t. Shinso slowly made his way back into his room; the click of the door being shut sent a wave of dread through you. You gulped, hands shaking. You crossed your arms awkwardly over your chest to keep the quivering from showing.

It was only you and Bakugo now. His vermillion gaze watched you tentatively, seeing right through you, like it did everyone else. He crossed the hallway, his calloused hand already on your elbow, guiding you toward your door.

“Let’s get you back to bed,” he said.

Bakugo waited for you to unlock your dorm room door, before, surprisingly, he guided you inside. The door shut behind both of you, and you gasped in a breath as Bakugo’s arms circled you in protection. He put his face on your shoulder, making it difficult for you to turn back to him.

“I’m sorry that I wasn’t more careful. I was trying to take care of it myself.” Bakugo let out a breath of air that sent heat from your neck all the way up to your reddening cheeks.

You furrowed your brows in confusion. “Did you stay out there all night because you were worried Jett would come to my dorm?”

Bakugo clicked his tongue, but it was half-hearted. “I wasn’t worried.” He shifted, wrapping his arms tightly around your waist, a surprising amount of affection coming from him. “I just wanted to make sure…” he trailed off. “I knew that prick would try to mess with you again. He’d be an idiot to try something with me around you, so I thought he might confront you when you were alone.” Bakugo buried his face closer to your neck, when you tried to get a peek at his expression. “I’m glad that I did stay because he did try something, but I had to lie to Mr. Aizawa to do it. I think Aizawa knew what I was up to because he looked ready to drag my ass to bed when I told him that I was going to the common area kitchen.”

You stiffened in Bakugo’s hold. “What if you would have gotten in trouble?” you asked, but you suddenly felt relieved that he had been out there the whole time. Had you had to confront Jett yourself, things would have gone very differently.

“It wouldn’t have been anything new,” Bakugo grumbled out. “Besides, it was worth it to make sure you were okay.” He tightened his grip on you as if you’d suddenly disappear. He breathed in shakily. “That Extra doesn’t deserve you in his life. He doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you.”

“What?” you asked.

“I wanted to rip him apart for accusing you of being the reason for his cruelty. I know damn well that he was the one that chose to mistreat you.” Bakugo pulled his head back, turning his face away from you. “Still, I admire your ability to see the best in people. You were willing to give him another chance, and he didn’t deserve it, but you still offered to let him start over.” Bakugo sighed. “You can forgive what happened in the past?” His last statement came out like a nervous question, as if he was asking it to reassure himself of something.

You tilted your head, trying to get a better look at Katsuki’s face. Still, he kept it out of your line of sight. When you tried to wriggle your way out of his arms, he only snuggled closer to you. If he squeezed you any tighter, it would be difficult for you to breathe.

“I think I am more willing to forgive people because I would want them to forgive me too,” you said. “I’m not always going to make the right decision based on the circumstance, and, maybe, people act certain ways because they think it’s what they should do. I can’t fault them for trying to do what they believe is best.”

Bakugo scoffed. “You don’t need to apologize to anyone for anything you’ve done. You’re by far the kindest person that I’ve ever met. Any decision you make will always be the right one.”

“I’m not perfect, Katsuki,” you said.

“I’m not perfect either, Anna,” he replied. “It may seem like I’ve got all my shit together, but I’m not perfect, and I’m starting to hate that everyone else thinks that I have to be. I know I run my mouth, always saying that I’m going to be number one, but it’s just what I believe in.”

You pressed your lips together, falling quiet. Bakugo let you go, but you stayed still, feeling his emotion ripple over you like a somber wave.

“I can be the number one hero without changing who I am, can’t I?” Bakugo asked. “I don’t want what happened in my past to hold me back.”

“Why would your past hold you back?” you asked. You turned to him, and his calmness crumbled under your gaze.

He crossed his arms over his chest. A muscle tightened in his jaw. “I was a little shit back then, and I’m starting to realize it now.” His shoulders tensed as if speaking constricted his body with anxiety. “Gibson, that was that asshat’s name, right? He started out nice, or at least that’s what it seemed like, and then he was an asshole, and then he continued to be an asshole.” Bakugo tapped his foot impatiently, struggling to explain himself. “I didn’t start out nice. All I cared about was my power, and I dictated my behavior on that. I trampled over those that were weaker than me because I could. I’m afra—” Bakugo’s gaze met yours, cutting himself short. “Seeing that Damn Nerd Deku here and meeting you, it just slowly started hitting me that I wasn’t a good person. I hadn’t acted like a good person. I’m still not a good person. I don’t feel like I can be forgiven for something like that.”

“You are a good person,” you said.

Bakugo smiled bitterly. “You say that because you are a good person. You can see the best parts of me, but you don’t know who I used to be.” Bakugo shrugged. “I’m not even sure why you give me that much understanding. I’m pretty rotten to you too.”

“You’re a better person than you think that you are,” you corrected. “You’re right. I don’t know who you were in the past.”

Bakugo clicked his tongue. “Yeah, you didn’t,” he said in disappointment.

“But, I know that you’ve changed since then, not in the way that you think everyone is forcing you to, but for yourself. I know you’ve grown up because I did too, at least a little from when I was little. We were just kids, Katsuki. We are still kids, but we’re much older now. We know a lot more about who we want to become.” You shrugged, giving him a warm smile. “I would have never been able to forgive Jett back then. I would have been too scared. But, with what I’ve learned, with you by my side, I had the strength to be the better person.”

Bakugo’s face reddened. “I had nothing to do with it.”

“You can deny it all you want,” you teased. “I’m stronger because of you. And, I hope that you’re stronger because of me too. I think you’re a better person than you realize, and I’m not just saying that because I’m kind. Everyone sees it. It’s why our classmates turn to you in complicated situations. It’s why you have ‘The Bakusquad.’” You giggled when he frowned at the name of his friend group. “I think it’s also why Midoriya still tries so hard to keep up a relationship with you. I don’t know what the two of you used to be, friends, neighbors, or just classmates, but I can tell he sees something kind in you too.”

“I don’t care what that Damn Nerd thinks about me,” Bakugo snapped.

Your smile faded. Bakugo’s gaze flickered on you again, and he let out a heavy sigh, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I only care about what you think of me,” he admitted. “And, if you think that I’m a ‘good’ person, then I guess that’s all that matters.”

You froze, feeling heat rush to your face in embarrassment. “I-I…” You weren’t sure what to say.

Bakugo crossed the room, standing only a couple of inches away from you. You blinked up at him in surprise, your gaze trailing the crimson brushing his own cheeks. He pressed a kiss to your cheek, releasing butterflies into your stomach.

“Get some more rest before morning, Anna. I didn’t mean to keep you up so late.” He pulled away, leaving warmth where his lips had been. Bakugo left your room, leaving you to wonder if your late-night conversation all had just been some weird dream. But, the ghostly feeling of his lips on your cheek still remained.

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agentark88 · 1 year

Text

Think: Chapter Eighty-Seven: A Copied Quirk

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language, violence, and blood.

Please be aware this piece is in second person perspective, following my original character, Think, Anna Kokoro, who is a transfer student from America.

Chapter Eighty-Seven: A Copied Quirk

“Too much. It’s too much,” Monoma cried. His fingers dug into his scalp. His blond hair started to float.

It’s too much. There are too many voices!

You winced as Monoma’s voice echoed in your mind. You knelt down in front of him, putting your hands on his shoulders. “Monoma, focus. You need to focus on something else. You need to actively shut it off.” The air began to shift, and the quirk buzzed in the back of your mind. You shoved out your quirk, just as a blast came from Monoma. The two quirks collided, sending a booming crackle through the space. You and Monoma skidded back from each other. Kirishima ran to you, while Jett went to help up Monoma.

Monoma’s eyes were still shut, trembling. Jett couldn’t even take another step closer, as he bounced off of a mental shield that Monoma hadn’t even known he’d created. You knew very little about his quirk, but he should have been able to shut off your power just as easily as he started using it. There was a time limit for his quirk too, no? You vaguely remembered hearing Bakugo and Kirishima arguing about his quirk having surprised them at The Sports Festival some time at the beginning of your days at U.A..

“He copied your quirk, but he should be able to stop it. He’s not supposed to be able to copy quirks that are energy based, but why is there so much power? How do we stop it? This is your doing, isn’t it? This is all your fault!” Jett pointed an accusatory finger at you, his voice growing angrier with each word.

As Kirishima helped you back to your feet, you didn’t know how to respond. Your quirk was alive with its own power from the day it manifested. It didn’t build. It was always just there. The only thing you could ever be certain of was a need to suppress it for the sake of seeming normal, but, even then, it came out when it wanted to. Controlling it with practice, allowed you to harness its general flow. You gained more facets of it. It was dampened when overused due to exhaustion, but it had always been there. Perhaps there was some bank of energy being filled, but it never started from nothing. This power, streaming from Monoma now, you could only assume was the energy from his mind filtering into the quirk to sustain it.

The energy of Monoma’s mind shield crackled and vibrated, tickling the air with only a portion of your normal power due to it coming from a mind not equipped for it. You realized, in utter horror, that there may not be enough time to wait for Monoma’s copy of your quirk to run out.

You gently moved Kirishima behind you. His eyebrows knitted together in concern. “We could get Mr. Aizawa. He’s probably already on the way,” Kirishima said quickly.

The wind in the hallway began to cyclone. The energy from Monoma’s mind was swirling around him. You met it with your own quirk, and a gust of wind whooshed through the hall from the impact of the two powers colliding.

“We can’t risk Monoma hurting himself. If we wait, it could be too late. If Mr. Aizawa shows up in time, then at least we can minimize the damage before then,” you said in determination. Keeping your copied quirk at bay, was like child’s play. The strength difference between Monoma’s mind quirk and yours was tangible. If only restraining him would keep it from getting out of control. You knew if you tried to contain the entirety of the power, it could lash out, or worse, explode. “Keep everybody back, Kirishima. I don’t know how much I can do.”

As you stepped closer, you felt the pull of the copied mind quirk to your own. It felt the same as interacting with Shinso’s quirk, but it was more forceful. You reached out a strand of your mind, tentatively brushing Monoma’s panicked thoughts. It was like a whirlpool in his brain, pulling you toward the center. You hesitated to let it take you in, but you knew, while in the mind, you could dampen what was happening outside.

Slowly, you knelt down a few feet away from Monoma, knowing that entering his mind might leave you unconscious. You relaxed, pressing your hands over your thighs, breathing in a steadying inhale and trying your best to tune out your surroundings. You reached out a strand of your mind again. This time the pull was much more eager, and you entered Monoma’s mind.

The dark space was loud. Voices bombarded you from the moment you stepped onto the wobbling floor of nothing. First, the voices came out as muddled and indiscernible, much like when you were first handling your quirk. Pieces of these sounds, if deciphered at all, came out as nonsensical average thoughts: a consideration for lunch, a mention of clothing, or a simple task forgotten and thought to remember. The feeling of the space exuded a single emotion, terrified; similar to how you felt as a child hearing things in your mind not your own. Those voices, however, dimmed and new ones slowly began to chime in, as if entering into this psychic realm and taking in the space had shifted what was being fed into it.

The next moment that you blinked a classroom floor had formed beneath your boots. Mouths and eyes appeared and disappeared from the edges of the darkness. A single desk flickered in the middle of the floating floor. Monoma was seated at it. His hands smothered his ears, and his head was bowed, blond disheveled hair covering his eyes.

The new voices felt familiar now, ominously direct. They were distant but felt more like they were fixated on you rather than idle overwhelming thoughts of other students that had chattered before. You forced yourself to listen rather than cover your ears. You winced as you slowly began to pick out the words of the new voices booming around you.

Copycat.

Ha! Do you really think that you can become a hero with that quirk?

You’re so weird. Why are you always hanging around me? Trying to steal my quirk for yourself?

What’s your hero name going to be, Monoma? Dependent Man?

Don’t you think your quirk is kind of useless unless you’re working with someone else? You’re better off pretending like you don’t have one.

Neito, you can be better than a hero. You don’t need to use your quirk. It’s too dangerous when you have to rely on others to use it.

Mimic.

Impersonator.

Copycat.

Useless as a hero.

You shivered. The space echoed the taunts of hundreds of people. You tried desperately to ignore them, feeling the familiar pull of your memories beginning to strangle you. You shut the thoughts out, worrying that your quirk could be brought into Monoma’s currently fragile mind. You took a small step forward, reaching your hand out as if it would bring you closer to the desk that appeared to you as too far away.

Monoma, you said.

Your voice forced a crack into the floor that was holding the two of your psychic forms in the air. The voices abruptly muffled. Monoma’s head shot up from the desk, but he did not look back at you. His hands were still cupping his ears, trying to keep out the abrasive words that were no more than shadows of sound to you now. If the two of you were currently in Monoma’s mind, then he was no longer hearing all of the students’ thoughts around him. That must have been the shift in them before. But, that also meant the voices that were being so cruel to him came from him, his memories, his thoughts.

Monoma, you said again. You took another step forward, and it was as if an earthquake trembled through the ground. The split became larger.

Monoma withdrew his hands from his ears. The voices drew breath again, becoming a cacophony of horrific sound. Words twisted into the dimly lit mentally-constructed room. You shuddered, feeling the words slowly crack through your own insecurities too.

Give up.

You’re so much smarter than a hero, Monoma. Don’t you want to be more than just a pretty face?

Keep your hands to yourself, you pathetic freak.

Go steal someone else’s power. See how far you make it in life.

Go away, Monoma murmured through the noise. He was loud enough for you to barely hear him, and you couldn’t determine if he was talking to you or the voices.

I want to help, you said, trying desperately not to cry. This was why he was always so mean to you, to your classmates. He was bullied in the past. Being mean was his way of coping with it.

I was born this way. You can’t change that. I won’t let you try to change that, he said, clutching his head again. I like the quirk I have.

The berating speeches began to quiet again. You were having a hard time trying to figure out the correlation between their loudness and Monoma’s state of mind. But, you weren’t very worried about them as you were about him. You remembered all those times that you felt overwhelmed, what it dredged up for you. Hearing everyone’s thoughts brought up your past, like it did his. He needed to focus, not feel overwhelmed anymore, and then he could manage his newly manifested mindreading. The past and the thoughts would quiet as long as he could ground himself or distract himself from them.

He… What he was going through couldn’t be healthy. Lashing out at others did not heal old wounds. He was only pushing away the very people that could understand him. You knew how it felt to feel isolated in a world full of quirks, even if you had one. You’d been hiding for so many years that it was hard to believe you could finally call U.A. somewhere safe for you. Sure, there were still people in school that were scared of you, but the more control you gained, the more respect you’d gotten.

I don’t hate your quirk, you said, standing still now. You realized approaching him in this fragile state was not the answer. He was breaking. He couldn’t hide behind the insults while in his own mind, and his past was eating at him, gnawing at him with callous words and phrases.

You’re either really stupid or a liar, he said.

Well, I’m a terrible liar, you admitted.

So, you admit that you’re stupid then? he asked. You swore you heard him chuckle.

A lot of people hate my quirk, you said.

This time Monoma slowly withdrew his hands from his ears. The voices were no more than piercing whispers at this point. He glanced back at you a bit confused.

Of course, they do. You’re one of those idiots from class 1-A, he said.

It was before coming here. They were afraid of what it could do. Afraid of not knowing what I could do, you said.

Simpletons, Monoma muttered under his breath. They have no idea what they actually need to be afraid of. He tilted his head to the side. Why don’t you hate my quirk? Don’t you hate that I copied yours?

Judging by the state you’re in, I’m not sure I’m the one that needs to be complaining, you said, gesturing to the room around you.

Is it always this painful? he asked, wincing.

You shook your head. No. I’ve gotten used to it for the most part. The memories come up when I start to lose control or feel overwhelmed by my abilities. I can usually do other things to distract me from them, but it’s hard doing it alone.

They’ve gotten quieter, but I can still hear them, Monoma said. His haunted gaze looked off distantly. His hands pressed into the top of the desk in front of him, slowly clenching into trembling fists.

You waited, considering. Something tells me that this is not the first time that you’re remembering them.

Monoma snorts out his nose, beginning to laugh. And, what makes you say that?

You pressed your lips into a firm line, trying your best not to feel hurt by his mocking tone. Experience.

The single word wiped the smile right off of his face. He glared back at you. His face relaxed back into its normal sardonic expression shortly after. His eyes hooded, and his grin widened bitterly. That seems to be the running theme for class 1-A. They get more ‘experience’ than the rest of us, and the other hero courses are made out to look inferior.

We never asked for those experiences, the ones that made us jump at the slightest sound at night, or the ones that caused us to cry over wounds that can never be healed. We never asked for the trauma that I’m sure that we’ll be unpacking for years beyond high school, you said calmly. Just like you never asked for those opinions about your quirk, that unsolicited advice that only made you want to crawl into a hole and never see the light again. You didn’t deserve the hatred crammed down your throat just because you were born with something that you didn’t ask for. At least you didn’t let any of it stop you from using your quirk anyway, and you used it to be a hero no less. That’s got to be worth something. At least you tried regardless. That’s more than anyone can say for those of us who just gave up, crumpled under the pressure of others just because they said our quirk was worthless.

Monoma narrowed his eyes at you. Do you really think I would be so weak as to just give in after a little bullying?

No. Your shoulders relaxed. I don’t think that at all.

As the two of you were talking, the voices were completely drowned out. The silence brought a sense of calm to the room, and neither of you spoke for a few minutes to follow.

You were blabbering on purpose, Monoma finally said. You were trying to make the noise stop. Must be dumb luck that it did. I’d never admit someone from your class could help me.

You shrugged, giving him a gentle smile. It helps to talk it out sometimes, you offered.

Monoma clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes at you. This doesn’t make us friends, he hissed.

You shrugged again. Okay.

Monoma peered around at the darkness, floating endlessly past the small slab of classroom floor.

You just need to push me out when you’re ready. It’s your mind. I’ll go willingly, you said. The connection is sort of mutual, but you didn’t really have control before. You watched him carefully, waiting. I don’t want to leave you if you’re not ready.

Idiot, why would I need you here? he asked, but the sharpness had dulled to his voice. Despite how dark it was, you could see his cheeks turn rosy in color.

I don’t hate your quirk. The same sentence you uttered moments before melodically bounced off the walls of Monoma’s mind.

Before you could say a word about it, Monoma had gently pushed you out of his mind. You complied with the feeling in order not to trigger a volatile response from your copied quirk again.

When you came back into your consciousness, you were slumped forward in Kirishima’s arms. His heartbeat pounded in your ears. His hands were clammy from worry. His crimson gaze softened immediately when his gaze met yours. You pulled away, dizziness clawing at your fuzzy vision. Kirishima’s relief dissolved into concern. His hands found your shoulders, keeping you from falling forward. He searched frantically around you, and you weren’t sure for what, until you felt the fresh blood dripping from your nose.

“Ah, hold on,” Kirishima reassured you. He reached toward his back pocket, trying to find something. “I always bring it, but I… It’s not here. I must have forgotten my bandana from you this morning.” He slammed a palm to his forehead. “I got distracted because I was going to meet up with you.” He checked for any more materials on himself, but he came up empty handed.

To your surprise, Monoma had stepped forward, wincing a little, probably from the remnants of damage done by your copied quirk. He must have finally managed to turn it off with his quirk because he didn’t seem distracted anymore, and his hair, though disheveled, had stopped floating.

Monoma offered out his personal handkerchief, powder blue with polka dots. “We’ll be on our way. This experience has been enlightening, and not in a good way. Frankly, I’m bored with teasing you any further.”

You pressed the silken fabric to your nose. It strangely smelled of fresh pastries. You tilted your head forward in hopes that the nose bleed would surely stop. You hadn’t expected an apology from Monoma at all. You actually preferred that the two of you forget the situation entirely without mentioning what had happened at all. It was better for both of you, and it ensured you wouldn’t be sent directly to the principal’s office.

Monoma passed Jett, who seemed utterly dumbfounded by his classmate’s response to you.

Jett’s jaw nearly dropped to the ground, when he realized that Monoma was being serious. “What the hell? Don’t tell me that we’re just going to walk away! Her quirk nearly killed you. She needs to pay for what she did.” Jett was trembling. He pointed a finger at you, but you could see the fear in his eyes.

Kirishima’s muscles coiled, as he protectively leaned in front of you again.

“We’re leaving, Gibson. It’s so uninteresting confronting someone who’s just not on your level,” Monoma said. He shrugged in disinterest. His blue eyes lingered on you momentarily, before he let out an annoyed sigh. He turned his attention on Jett, before knocking past him. “Honestly, you’re beginning to bore me too, Gibson.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jett growled out. His bloodshot glare fell back on you, as if blaming you for Monoma’s change in behavior, but it quickly faltered. For some reason, he couldn’t make direct eye-contact with you. Something was different with the way that he looked at you. Jett had changed his mind about something within the short expanse of time that you were in Monoma’s brain. Jett opened his mouth to speak again, but his voice was quickly drowned out by the final bell.

Kirishima didn’t even flinch. Jett was still in your way to the homeroom. Normally, the two of you would be clambering over each other to get to class before Mr. Aizawa could chew you out, but, based on the circumstances, you almost hoped your grumpy teacher would come and clear the hallway himself.

Intense silence followed the summoning bell. Even two against one, Jett didn’t seem like he wanted to move out of the way.

“Shit, we’re going to be in so much trouble. I told you we didn’t have time for breakfast,” Kaminari whined.

You and Kirishima straightened, realizing some of your other classmates had also had the misfortune of being late today.

“So, what? That’s what you’re worried about now? You should be worried about how much you owe me for losing out on the bet. I told you that you couldn’t fit that many onigiri in your mouth,” Sero shot back.

Jett’s gaze slipped behind you, weighing his options. Still, he seemed to struggle to make eye contact with you, even when he attempted to keep all four of you in his sights. A slight tremor continued to fluctuate through him. You may not have noticed it had you never trained with Heart of Hearts, but, based on your extensive training of emotional tells, it was almost as if he was afraid. You didn’t have time to speculate further because Jett turned away. He grumbled a few curse words under his breath before heading to his own classroom. You were more than relieved to say the least.

“What are you guys doing sitting around for? Are you trying to get detention from Mr. Aizawa?” Kaminari asked, finally spotting the two of you.

Kaminari and Sero helped the two of you up, rushing in the direction of classroom. You could feel Mr. Aizawa’s stare before you’d even crossed the classroom threshold. Your heart sank. If Kirishima didn’t have a hand on your back, guiding you in, you didn’t think that you would have had the guts to enter late at all.

“You’re late,” Mr. Aizawa said gruffly, unzipping his yellow sleeping bag and letting it drop to the floor. “You know I find tardiness unacceptable.” He gave the group of you that terrifying grin, and your knees buckled.

You couldn’t even look up from the ground. Your fingers trembled over the small napkin, keeping the blood in your face. As Kaminari and Sero were sputtering to find an excuse, Kirishima squeezed your shoulder in comfort.

“Had a medical issue arise. Sorry, sensei,” Kirishima said, subtly gesturing in your direction.

“And, Kokoro needed all three of you there for assistance?” Mr. Aizawa asked skeptically.

The three boys fell silent. There wasn’t really an excuse for Kaminari and Sero to be late. It was just happy circumstance that they found the two of you in the hallway. You certainly weren’t ready to divulge the altercation that transpired. You’d just gotten back into U.A., and the last thing you wanted was to be kicked out again.

After an excruciating eternity of silence, Mr. Aizawa finally began to speak again. “Take Kokoro to the nurse, Kirishima,” he said, sighing in aggravation as he held the bridge of his nose. “You two, sit down.” He motioned toward Kaminari and Sero. “I’m already missing most of my class today, and you decide it’s a good day to be late?” He shook his head in disappointment.

There was a different kind of intensity in the crease above Mr. Aizawa’s brow. You weren’t sure what, but something seemed off about him. You might have noticed it a bit more, had you not been quaking in your boots at what he’d do with your tardiness. He looked almost sad, like his eyes were a bit puffier than usual. Of course, his eyes were normally bloodshot because of his quirk, but something seemed different. He noticed you were staring, his intense glare coming back on you in an instant, and you had to cover a yelp.

“Go on,” Aizawa said to you and Kirishima, shooing you away with a wave of his hand. “Get back quickly. We may be missing some of your classmates today, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us get to slack off.”

Mr. Aizawa didn’t have to tell you again because the two of you were already headed in the direction of the nurse’s office. You had clearly gotten off easy, and a scolding from Recovery Girl was a far better option than a lecture from Mr. Aizawa.

Kirishima had been relatively quiet while the two of you walked, but you couldn’t help but notice him fidgeting with his red spiky hair. He also kept glancing at you and opening and closing his mouth as if he was ready to speak, but he couldn’t find the words. You were about to tell him to just tell you what was on his mind, when he completely stopped in the hallway.

“So, Bakubro told me to walk you to class today because of that new guy in class 1-B, didn’t he?” he asked.

You shrugged.

Kirishima crossed his arms over his chest, which actually surprised you, considering he wouldn’t normally take such a confrontational stance. “Bakugo should have just told me someone was bothering you like that. I wouldn’t have hesitated to help. Not that I hesitated at all when he asked me to walk with you this morning, but at least I wouldn’t be in the dark about what was going on,” Kirishima said. He gulped down another breath, rubbing the back of his neck. “Should we tell the principal?”

“No,” you said quick enough that Kirishima jolted back. You patted your now dried bloody nose. “I mean. It’s not going to help. Not really. Jett hasn’t done anything physically to me. Monoma would have been in far more trouble with the principal if they took just words seriously, so I’m not even sure Jett would get a slap on the wrist. Besides, I’m trying to keep a low profile. I just got back into U.A., and I’m not looking to get kicked out again.” You gritted your teeth in discomfort, chewing on the inside of your cheek. “I don’t want to make things worse.”

“But, you’re not the one doing anything wrong,” Kirishima argued. “That guy is just a total… a total… Pardon my language, but he’s a real asshole. He can’t treat you like that. And, what happened with Monoma? Why did he just disengage after the near disaster he caused?” Kirishima’s eyebrows knitted together in concern. “I should have stopped him before he got a chance to reach you.”

“Don’t beat yourself up for it. And, please don’t make this a bigger deal than it needs to be, Kirishima,” you pleaded. “I dealt with far worse while I wasn’t here. I can handle an old—” You stopped yourself. Jett was a bully. The exact thing that you’d tried to run away from your entire life. Your safe haven at U.A. had now become a source of anxiety because of him. And, as for Monoma, you’d seen what he had endured, and he still treated others so poorly. It made your stomach twist into knots even thinking about becoming what you feared. Your eyes began to water, lip quivering.

A small gasp left Kirishima, and his angered stance crumbled at the sight of you near tears. “I-It’s going to be okay. Bakubro and I won’t let him do that to you anymore, okay? Come here. You’re alright. I promise it’s going to be alright.”

You fell into Kirishima’s chest, pressing your face into him. You wished that you didn’t cry, but the tears were already soaking into his uniform. He stroked your back, whispering comforting words to you that you barely understood over your hiccupping sobs.

“You should have just told me,” he said. “No one’s allowed to bully you like that, especially when I’m around. He’s a terrible person for doing that to you.” Kirishima gave you another comforting pat. He sighed. “I won’t tell the principal, but at least let me stay by your side, so I can make sure that never happens to you again, okay?” He gave you a weak reassuring smile. “I’ll walk with you every day of the week if that’s what it takes to help you feel safe.”

“Thank you.”

Kirishima helped you to Recovery Girl’s office, and she stared at you for a long while upon you entering. She shook her head in disappointment.

“Not nearly enough time has passed since your return to U.A. for you to be back in my office with an injury, young lady,” she scolded, pressing angry kisses over you, so her quirk could take effect.

“I know,” you replied, feeling rather embarrassed. Dizziness overtook you as her healing powers flowed through you. Still, a headache remained, dull and hardly noticeable, but you could feel it.

“It’s just a bloody nose,” Kirishima chimed in, nudging you gently with his elbow. You knew he was just trying to help, but much like Mr. Aizawa, Recovery Girl didn’t mess around with serious situations.

Recovery Girl’s intense gaze shifted over to your red-headed classmate as if he’d said something quite foolish. Kirishima’s smile tensed, and he shrank back.

“A nose bleed for Miss Kokoro is nearly equivalent to a broken bone for you. It means that she has pushed her quirk to its limit. I hardly think it’s anything to take lightly. Mind quirks are fickle things. It’s hard to tell how serious an injury is to the human body when it’s all in the head.” Recovery Girl taps her cane on her aged bun for emphasis.

Kirishima looked at you. His crimson eyes watery with worry. “Is it really that bad?” he asked.

You gave him a reassuring smile. “No, I don’t think so,” you said, but Recovery Girl gave you a serious look. “Ah, well, I don’t feel like it hurts that bad. I’m aware that it’s important to take injuries seriously though.”

Recovery Girl scoffed at your last sentence, making you wince. “If you would take your injuries more seriously, I would see you less.”

Kirishima pouted out his bottom lip, and it quivered a little. His concerned gaze moved back and forth between the two of you. He balled his fists in determination. “R-rest! Rest then!” he said too loudly. He turned to Recovery Girl. “I’ll make sure she can get lots of rest, so her brain can heal and isn’t broken anymore.”

“At least someone is making sure she rests,” Recovery Girl said under her breath. She shook her head. “I’ve heard this promise before from some of your other classmates too.” Recovery Girl narrowed her eyes at you. “You, young lady, are the only one that can truly help yourself stay out of my office.” She sighed. She raised her arms, shooing you both out of her domain. “Rest or not, I’ve done all that I can do for you. Return to class, and then take it easy. Those are nurse’s orders, Kokoro. I don’t want to hear that you disobeyed them.” She shook her cane at you.

“Y-yes, ma’am,” you stuttered out.

Kirishima and you got back to class. He walked with you for the remainder of the day, looking for the slightest hint of further injury. You tripped over your own feet once, and he picked you up, worried it was due to your brain not having fully recovered. It took you five whole minutes to convince him to put you back down. No one bothered either of you, even when classes had ended, and Kirishima had taken you back to your dorm room. Thankfully, class 1-B, Monoma, and Jett had been nowhere in sight.

Bakugo came back to the dorms late. You knew he did because he slammed on your door like a mad man. You opened up your dorm room, worrying it was an emergency. Dark ash and grime from his explosions had mussed his blond hair and stained his face.

“Shitty Hair told me that Creepy Extra bothered you today, and that damn Copycat attacked you too.” It was more of a statement than a question.

The name “copycat” made you frown.

“I’ll kill them both,” Bakugo growled out.

“Don’t.” You gulped, feeling the rage ripple off of your classmate. “Please don’t,” you politely corrected yourself. “I think it will be okay from now on, at least with Monoma.”

Bakugo studied your expression. The anger creasing his forehead relaxed. “What happened?” he groaned out the question in irritation, rolling his eyes.

You faintly laughed. “Just… I don’t think Monoma is that different from me anymore. I think he realized that too. He might handle things in another way, but we can relate to each other. I don’t think he’ll be picking on me much anymore.” You tried to be as cryptic as Bakugo would probably allow for Monoma’s sake. You were in his head after all, and he didn’t deserve his inner thoughts blabbed about.

“You could find something in common with a houseplant,” Bakugo said starkly in response.

“That’s mean.” You pouted.

“It’s the truth.” Bakugo leaned back, looking up and down the hallway for anyone that might be lingering or eavesdropping. “I’m not going to put my guard down around him.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to.” You held back the urge to reach out toward his face to wipe free a thick smudge. He smelled heavily of burnt caramel.

Bakugo’s intense gaze was on you again in an instant, and you shifted your stare away from him. “If you’ve got something to say, spit it out. Don’t just stare at me with your mouth hanging open, Big Brain,” he snapped.

“Was the work-study hard today?” you asked curiously.

Bakugo clicked his tongue. “That’s a stupid question.” He sneered. “Nothing’s hard for me.”

You shifted from foot to foot. “Ah, I guess it was. I just… I think we might be working together, if they let me back into the program. Or, we might just see each other outside of school. I thought that was kind of cool.” Your gaze flickered back to the dirt covering his face, a sense of uneasiness washed through you. If Bakugo looked like that, maybe your espionage missions would become more hands-on.

“Idiot, of course they’re going to take you back into the work-study program. Do you really think they could pass up on a quirk like yours?” Bakugo rolled his shoulders back, flexing his chest. “You’re worried about nothing.” He looked away from you, his face flush. “You’ve always got my back, don’t you? I’ll have yours too.” He exhaled sharply. “I’m walking you to class tomorrow. See you in the morning.” He left without allowing you time to respond.

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agentark88 · 1 year

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Think: Chapter Eighty-Six: The Newish Oldish Kid

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language and violence.

Please be aware this piece is in second person perspective, following my original character, Think, Anna Kokoro, who is a transfer student from America.

Chapter Eighty-Six: The Newish Oldish Kid

You laid in the grass outside, just breathing in the fresh air on U.A. campus. You ran your fingers through the natural foliage, humming to yourself. Ochaco was lying next to you, content with having you beside her. Once you’d explained what had happened, she was grateful that you had returned. She was more concerned than anything, having not had heard from you in so long. She tried her best to catch you up, but a lot had happened.

“Yeah, we were pitted against class 1-B,” she continued to explain. “It wasn’t the same without you though.” She frowned. “Honestly, it was pretty hard to focus. Everyone seemed a bit out of it. Not to mention, a new student was introduced from class 1-B. After you and Shinso had joined class 1-A, I guess the teachers thought it wouldn’t be fair. He did have to prove himself in the competition between the two classes. He was pretty good.” She sighed. “He was kind of arrogant though.” She rolled over, twisting a blade of glass between her fingers. “He seemed familiar too.”

“Familiar?” you asked. “Did he transfer from another school from here in Japan?”

“He’s from the United States like you were.”

“Really? A lot of prospective heroes transfer overseas, don’t they?”

“U.A. is a pretty good hero school after all. One of the best.” Ochaco grinned. She narrowed her eyes mischievously. “So, how have the boys been since you’ve gotten back?”

You frowned, crossing your arms over your chest and looking up into the sky. “You’re just asking for the bet.”

“No,” she said, giggling. “Maybe.”

“Real nice.” You smiled despite yourself. “The boys…” You mulled over each of them in your mind. “They have been distant. I think they’re trying to give me some space, after… Well, you know…”

Ochaco fell silent. “I’m not really sure that I do know what happened. You didn’t actually talk about it.” She stood up, leaning over you with her hands on her knees. Her brown hair fell forward. “You told me about your parents and what school they forced you into, but I feel like you’re not telling me everything.”

You turned your face away, and the grass tickled your cheek. “There wasn’t much to tell. I was locked in my room for most of the time.”

“Shinso mentioned something about BioVirus being there. W-was he trying to kidnap you again?”

You winced, thinking about what Kobura had sacrificed to get you back into U.A.. Your jaw tightened. “I’m surprised Shinso said anything at all, considering he didn’t tell anyone what had happened. He was the only one there when I left.” Your voice was more venomous than you intended it to be, and you instantly regretted your words. “Kobur—” You shut your mouth. “BioVirus didn’t get a chance to take me. They took him to prison right after he threatened to hurt my parents.”

Ochaco blinked her big brown eyes at you. Her eyebrows knitted together in concern. “Still, it must have been pretty scary to be targeted like that again.” Ochaco tilted her head in thought. “To be fair, Mr. Aizawa sort of explained what happened. Shinso was pretty distraught after you left. He cut himself off from everyone. Kaminari couldn’t even get him to quip a retort when he told a less than appropriate joke.” Ochaco leaned back, stretching her arms overhead.

You let out a heavy breath. “I…” You bit hard into your bottom lip. “I don’t really want to talk about it anymore. Can we just focus on moving forward? I’ve got some hero studies to catch up on since I’ve been gone.”

“I’m not going to say no to some positivity. I hate talking about the depressing stuff anyway.”

Ochaco held out a hand to you, and you took it. She helped you stand up. The two of you spent the rest of the day together, eating candy and chatting. It turned out Ochaco had been a bit bolder toward Midoriya, but it was sailing right over his head. She had asked if he wanted to have a picnic out on the courtyard lawn, and he asked if Todoroki could join them. Needless to say, that was an awkward lunch period with the three of them.

The way to describe the two days after returning to U.A. were peaceful. The anxiety had left your chest. You managed to rest easier in your dorm. You also managed to make it to class without any problems, despite the boys providing you with a little more space. You would have to ask them to walk with you again. You missed Shinso and Shoto’s early morning company.

This particular morning, you were juggling way too many books in your hands. You woke up a little later than normal, and you didn’t find enough time to shove them in your backpack. You were regretting not taking the extra minute or two to do so now. You shifted the load into one of your arms to free up your hand for the door to the stairs.

“I thought that was you, Shortcake,” a male voice drawled out.

The hair on the back of your neck stood on end. Nausea climbed up your throat. The books you were holding fell with a heavy thud as your heart raced in your chest. It couldn’t have been him. You hadn’t heard that voice in so long. You hadn’t heard that voice since you were still living in the United States.

“You know it’s rude not to look someone in the eyes when they’re talking to you,” the boy continued.

You were paralyzed in fear, trembling. Memories. Painful, embarrassing, and haunting memories collapsed in on your brain. It couldn’t have been Jett, the same boy that had broken your heart in middle school. He ruined your confidence with his false niceties. He broke your heart and your trust all in one fell swoop. You could still see that rose being crushed between his fingers.

“Don’t tell me that you don’t remember me, Shortcake. We used to be such good friends. It’s your old pal, Jett Gibson. Don’t tell me it’s not you,” he said. His footsteps got closer, and you steeled yourself. He leaned ahead of you. His long black hair swept past you like a curtain, now dyed at the tips in bright yellow colors. His orange eyes examined you with curiosity. He grinned. “See. I knew it was you.” He whistled. “You sure do look different. This hero school must have done wonders for you, Shortcake.” He reached out, casually brushing his fingers through your hair. “I’m surprised your parents let you put blue highlights in your hair.”

“They’re natural,” you managed, gulping. The color only recently had started coming back in after your mother had dyed it.

“Wish mine were,” Jett replied, motioning to his yellow tips. “Heard rumors of a mind freak roaming these halls, but then I also heard you’d transferred out. It was nice to bump into you.” He kicked over the books you dropped, so he could open the door to the stairs. “See you around, Shortcake,” he crooned. His voice made you dizzy.

The door shut behind him, and your knees went weak. Ochaco had heard about Jett, but it wasn’t as if she had ever seen him. That’s why he seemed familiar to her. You took in a ragged breath.

He’s not in your class, you thought. He can’t hurt you here.

You’d just gained some semblance of normalcy back, and now a ghost from your past had appeared. Jett had always had a good quirk, but you never imagined that he would have gone to a hero school in Japan. It was natural for you as your father grew up here. Neither of his parents had a connection to Japan, as far as you understood. Even when the two of you were “friends,” his Japanese was hardly passable, and he used to make fun of his own pronunciations. It was almost as if he’d gone to U.A. to spite you, knowing how much he had affected your life at such a young age.

You collected your books, shakily putting them into your bag. You were going to be late to class, but there was no helping it. You ran, hoping you’d make it at a reasonable time and that Aizawa was rolling in late as usual. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

You stumbled into the classroom, and Aizawa shot you a dark glare.

“You’re late,” he muttered, and the room tensed.

“Sorry,” you said. “I-I don’t have an excuse,” you admitted, bowing apologetically.

Bakugo clicked his tongue, swinging his legs onto his desk like a delinquent. Aizawa’s gaze shifted over to him, his fury relocating.

“Legs off your desk, Bakugo. This is a classroom,” Mr. Aizawa warned.

You scuttled toward your seat, thankful that the attention had left you. Bakugo casually removed his feet from his desk, frowning. He sat forward with his hands in his pockets, shrugging.

“Whatever,” he scoffed.

You knew Bakugo well enough that he’d done that whole performance for your sake. You’d have to thank him later for the distraction. Mr. Aizawa was probably ready to lecture you.

Class droned on, but you were as attentive as you could be. You took pages and pages of notes in hopes it would distract you from the terrible truth you’d learned today. Your old bully was now in your dream school, training to be a hero no less. You chewed on the back of your pen anxiously.

The bell rang for dismissal, and you jolted upright in your seat. You buried your head in your hands in embarrassment from getting so easily frightened. You slid from your chair, collecting your things, but you couldn’t help feeling like you were being stared at.

“It’s not like you to be late,” Shoto said calmly. “I apologize if it had been my fault. Did you have trouble finding the classroom? I can start walking with you again if you would like. I was trying to…” Shoto cleared his throat. “…allow you some time to reacclimate again. I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable with my presence.” His shoulders dropped with his admission.

You turned your gaze up to him. “You don’t make me uncomfortable, Shoto, and I would really appreciate the company.” You strained a smile. “I-I didn’t get lost this morning.”

He raised an eyebrow at you. “You didn’t? Then, what happened?”

You pressed your lips together, contemplating saying anything about your encounter with your old classmate. You didn’t really want to worry him. Besides, Jett was in class 1-B, and you probably wouldn’t have that many interactions with him.

Shinso shouldered his way past Shoto, but it was gentle. He glanced at you, hesitating to continue out the classroom door. Things had been awkward with him since your return. You weren’t sure if he felt guilty for keeping his knowledge about you a secret, or if he felt partially to blame that he couldn’t stop you from leaving, but he was definitely avoiding you. He paused only for a second, before he continued on his way. You’d have to talk to Shinso, just to air everything out. He wasn’t to blame for what had happened, and you felt bad for even being frustrated with him for not talking about it.

“We can discuss it another time, if what happened isn’t something you are comfortable sharing,” Shoto offered.

You blinked at him. “That would help,” you said.

Shoto nodded in understanding, but he wasn’t the one who ever needed an explanation. Bakugo’s thunderous footfalls left you with no misunderstandings of who was approaching you from behind, and he wasn’t going to be as easy to appease.

“You owe me for that, Big Brain,” Bakugo said, referring to the distraction he had given you earlier in class. “What happened? You’ve been making it fine to class on your own for days now.”

“Sorry. I…” you gulped, feeling clammy sweat prick up on your skin. Thinking about the situation you had to deal with this morning made you squirm. You looked around for an excuse, but almost all of your classmates had already filtered out of the room.

Bakugo’s vermillion eyes scanned you over suspiciously. “If you just tell us what’s going on, we can do something about it,” he barked.

You quivered in response to his booming voice. Shoto placed a hand on your shoulder for reassurance.

“You don’t have to growl at her like an animal,” Shoto said to Bakugo, glaring at him.

Bakugo’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t snap back at Todoroki. His expression relaxed. “Something is clearly bothering you,” Bakugo said softer this time. He clicked his tongue, when you averted your gaze from his.

A sharp whistle ripped Bakugo’s attention away. It came from the classroom entrance.

“So, this is the famous 1-A classroom,” Jett said in false awe. “Thought it would be in shambles, considering how destructive this class of rejects are.”

Bakugo brought back his hands, small explosions popping off in his palms. “Who the hell is this Extra?” he asked.

You’d frozen in place, fear forcing your eyes downward. You curled your hands into fists on your lap, and you were visibly shaken by his sudden appearance. You didn’t expect him to show up to your homeroom. You thought he wouldn’t go out of his way to see you. You hoped this morning had just been a coincidence since you both attended the same school.

“That’s the new transfer student from class 1-B with that vocal modulation quirk, remember?” Shoto simply stated. “Our class fought his in our joint combat training.”

Bakugo’s defensive stance uncoiled a bit. “Never heard of him.”

Jett gave a lopsided sardonic smile. He put his hands out in a show of flashy presentation. “Maybe I should introduce myself again, then.” He took a step into the room.

Your whole body reacted, quaking at his intrusion. You shot up from your chair, backing into the desk next to you. Bakugo’s attention snapped in your direction. Realization came over him almost instantaneously as his expression hardened.

“Jett Gibson,” he introduced. “I’d say it was a pleasure if it actually was.” He grinned, tilting his head to the side, his predatory gaze slipping to you. “What’s the matter, Shortcake? You look uncomfortable.”

Shoto frowned from the pet name that Jett had so readily called you. “What gives you the right to be so informal with our friend?” he asked. Todoroki took a step protectively ahead of you.

“She was mine first,” Jett said casually.

His words made you sick. You were never his. He made a show of making sure everyone in your middle school knew how weird you were. He tore your confidence apart, piece by piece.

Bakugo bristled beside you, practically seething. “No one owns her,” Bakugo said. “Watch your mouth, Extra.”

Jett’s orange eyes slid over, his casual stare watching Bakugo’s movements. The temperature in the room shifted, as Shoto took in your growing discomfort.

“I’m surprised you found friends to take you in, Shortcake. I wonder if they know how weird you actually are. Even if this is a hero school, there can’t be that many freaks like you around. Maybe they pity you. I mean I know that I did. Everyone always saw you as a freak, and who could blame them? You can read anyone’s mind with your quirk at any time. You could even be reading mine right now. Gives me the creeps just thinking about it.” He grabbed his arms, shaking dramatically. “Such a manipulative and sneaky quirk for a hero, don’t you think? They must have made a mistake letting you in here. I wouldn’t put it past you to cheat your way in.”

“She would never cheat,” Bakugo snarled, taking a step forward. Explosions blasted off in his palms as a warning for Jett to back off.

“Anna is one of the kindest and most respectful individuals that I have ever met. I think you’re mistaken. If you keep saying such terrible things, I won’t hesitate to defend her in a physical manner.” Frost crept up Shoto’s right arm. A puff of condensed air left his lips.

Move, you begged yourself. Don’t just stand there frozen. Move.

Bakugo glanced between you and Jett. “You were the reason she was late to class,” he said.

Jett shrugged. “We had a chat.” He adjusted his school uniform tie. “Do you blame me for wanting to catch up with an old classmate?”

“Actually, I could find a means to blame you for ‘wanting’ to catch up. Considering the shit you’re spewing out of your mouth, I’m going to guess you were a real asshole about your reunion too,” Bakugo snapped.

“So scary. Monoma was right about you guys after all.”

“Stop,” you mumbled under your breath.

Jett raised an eyebrow, grinning. “She speaks? Thought you were going to let your dogs handle this.”

“Don’t talk about them like that,” you said with a little more force in your voice.

Jett leaned forward, putting his hands on his knees mockingly. “Or what, shortcake? You never fought back when we were in middle school together. Why would things change now?”

Your fists clenched tighter at your sides. You bit into your lip.

“What? You don’t like me anymore, Shortcake? Can’t even respond correctly?” he cooed condescendingly. “Are you going to act like you never had a thing for me? That would certainly disappointing. After seeing you this morning, I even made sure that I remembered to pick up something extra special just for you.” He reached back toward his bag.

Shoto and Bakugo tensed beside you. He procured a single red rose from his backpack, twisting it between his fingers with a knowing smile.

“I-I…” Fear rippled through your tiny form, remembering how viciously he had ripped your heart from your chest when you had confessed to him. Your attention fixated on the flower in his hands. You had spent your entire allowance on that single rose, only for him to crush you at your most vulnerable state.

“U-um, I was wondering. Would you be my boyfriend?” your voice came from Jett’s mouth. His quirk mimicked you so perfectly that the memory rattled through you as if you were experiencing it again. “It still gives me the creeps that you would ask me such a disgusting question.” He crumpled the petals of the flower between his fist. “Freak.”

Bakugo shot forward, and actual fear flashed across Jett’s face. A large explosion popped off, forcing you to shield your eyes. When the smoke cleared, Jett was on the ground, shaking. Todoroki had discreetly created a sheet of ice beneath Jett. It had been timed perfectly with Bakugo’s attack, making it nearly unavoidable. The way Jett was sprawled out, he must have slipped on the ice. Bakugo didn’t actually hit him, there were no marks on Jett’s uniform, but the blast was close enough to make Jett react and fall.

“I told you to watch your mouth, Extra. The next explosion will knock your teeth out,” Bakugo growled down at him. “If I catch you talking about Anna like that again, I’ll kill you, got it?”

“For once, I agree with Bakugo. Your words are unfounded. You are the one in the wrong. Should you actively seek to make my classmate uncomfortable again, I will use force as well to put it to an end.”

Jett fumbled to get a foothold, and he barely managed to stand up again. “You’re crazy!” he shouted. He shivered from head to toe. “What kind of hero apprentice tries to kill another student?”

“Want to find out?” Bakugo snapped back, grinning. His red eyes flared open in excitement. His palm splayed open, and a wild display of explosions fizzled and popped within his fingertips.

Jett’s incredulous stare flickered between Bakugo and Todoroki. His hair was a messy tangle of yellow and black. It wasn’t until his gaze fell back onto you that he gained back some of his composure. He ran a hand through his hair, heaving in a heavy breath. He pointed a finger in your direction, and Bakugo faked a jolt forward. Jett flinched, faltering in his next declaration.

“We’ll finish this, another time and another place, but we’ll finish this,” he said, voice trembling. “Your dogs won’t always be around to fight your battles.” He gave a wary look toward your two male classmates, before rushing from the classroom.

“Yeah, you better run, Extra!” Bakugo bellowed after him. He clicked his tongue, relaxing his stance. His muscles barely unclenched though, suggesting he hadn’t fully put his guard down. Bakugo’s crimson gaze flashed back to you. “Are you okay, Anna?”

You shivered, mind tumbling back to the here and now. “I think so,” you said, feeling ashamed of yourself for not reacting.

“You know that boy from your previous school? The one in the United States?” Shoto asked.

You hesitantly nodded.

“Strange, I thought that they vetted transfer students heavily. The other ones I’ve met are more than amicable. This Jett Gibson seems to be carelessly hostile, not in a Bakugo-kind-of-way either,” Shoto said.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean, Half N’ Half?” Bakugo asked.

“You’re hostile in a more tolerable and meticulous kind of way,” Shoto said simply.

“Are you trying to get me to blast you?”

“Not intentionally.”

“Let’s not fight,” you interjected, already struggling to slow down your pounding heart. You pulled yourself and your school stuff together. You winced when you caught the crumpled flower out of your peripherals.

“I’ll walk you back to our next class,” Bakugo said, unflinching. He gripped you by the elbow, guiding you over the destroyed rose.

“I’m coming too,” Shoto declared, following close behind.

Bakugo’s gaze stayed forward, but you felt the small comforting squeeze he gave your arm. “A heads up that your x-psychopath was attending U.A. would have been nice,” he muttered under his breath.

“I would have told you—”

Bakugo gave you a sharp look. His crimson glare was warning enough not to lie to him.

“I… I didn’t know he was here until I ran into him this morning. I really didn’t have time to tell you. I know I need to do better to tell you. Sorry.”

Bakugo clicked his tongue. “I don’t want an apology. I want you to tell me when you’re facing something that I can clearly take care of for you.”

“Something you can take care of? Katsuki, I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me.” Another fight on his record would not bode well for his standing with Mr. Aizawa, let alone his reputation. He could get expelled if he got too violent.

“Let me worry about my own damn decisions. That Extra will get what he deserves one way or another. If I’m the guy who needs to teach him a lesson, then I’d be proud to blast that smug grin off his face.” Bakugo pounded his fist into his open palm, and a small explosion popped off.

“No one is allowed to treat you so horridly, Anna. I will step in as well, should the need arise.” Shoto ran a hand through his silken hair, peering around him.

“The coward probably won’t even approach you after what he went through today. Bet he was just trying to look tough by threatening you when he left.” Bakugo scowled. “I’m not taking any chances.” He reached a hand out, ruffling your hair. “You seem to get into trouble even without losers announcing their dastardly future plans to you.”

“I don’t do it on purpose,” you sputtered, swatting his hand back.

“It does seem like danger is drawn to you,” Shoto admitted. “It’s better to be cautious than regretful, especially after everything you’ve been through.”

“See? Even Icy Hot agrees with me.” Bakugo claps you on your bag.

“That observation doesn’t really help me much though, does it? We’re upcoming heroes. Danger is a part of our daily lives. I can’t expect the two of you to be there for everything. I have to be able to handle these things on my own.”

“Why the hell wouldn’t I be there when you’re in danger, Big Brain?” Bakugo blew angry air from his nostrils.

“I don’t know. You’ll be busy with your own hero work.” You threw your hands up in frustration. Your gaze shifted downward. “I’m sick of feeling powerless, helpless. It doesn’t make sense with this much power at my fingertips.” Your shoulders sank.

Bakugo narrowed his eyes at you. “Power is not the only thing that defines a hero, Anna. You and I both know that.”

“Heroes need help all the time. Why do you need to take on your problems by yourself? Even my father has sidekicks. Do you think he could get that espionage work done without Heart of Hearts? He sticks out like a flame in a pitch-black room.” Shoto rolled his eyes, as if mentioning his father irritated him.

“I guess,” you managed.

Quirk training in the school gym went quickly. Shoto and Bakugo stayed close by just in case you needed them, but Jett didn’t confront you for the rest of the day. The boys walked you back to your room after classes had ended. Bakugo nearly convinced you to let him stay and hang out for a little bit at your dorm, but you insisted that you needed to rest. He begrudgingly left you alone.

You woke up some time early the next morning. Streaks of sunlight poured in from the common room that you were standing in. Your bare feet tingled from the cold. You returned to your room, readying yourself for the day thanks to the key attached to your wrist. You were surprised to hear a knock coming from your dorm room door.

Kirishima grinned brightly at you when you opened the door. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Good morning, Princess,” he said cheerfully.

“Good morning,” you said through a yawn. “Were we supposed to meet this morning?”

“Um… No. Yes? Bakubro asked me to walk you to class. He said that he had some stuff to do with Todoroki? Something about clarifying something with the Endeavor Agency. He, Midoriya, and Todoroki are all in the same work-study agency now. Weird, huh? Well, I guess not too weird. Endeavor is the number one hero now. And, I guess you kind of already knew that. I’ll stop talking.” Kirishima shrugged, tugging at a red-spike atop his head. “Ah, anyway. Bakubro asked, so I came. But, I am more than happy to walk you to class any time. I’m sorry I’m pretty early, but you look like you’re ready to go.” Kirishima offered his hand to you.

You blushed, but you took it. His hand was so large, so rough in yours. You always forgot how tough he was because he was such a sweet guy. His calloused fingers were just an extension of his hard work. He swung your arm with his, a little too excitedly, but it was cute. When you reached the courtyard, Kirishima let go, but he stayed close.

The two of you were pretty early, which you expected from Kirishima. You were surprised he didn’t ask you about an early morning workout too, but he probably thought Bakugo wouldn’t be too happy about the favor he asked being altered. As soon as the two of you walked into the main building, a chill swept up your spine.

It was early for most students to be roaming around the halls. Your eyes trained onto Jett Gibson, chatting it up with Neito Monoma in the middle of the hallway. Your next step faltered, and Kirishima straightened, alert to your sudden change in demeanor. He looked down the hallway at the two boys and then back at you. Kirishima put a hand on your shoulder, and you shrank away from his touch.

“What’s the matter, Princess?” he asked.

You were already backpedaling. Jett’s orange eyes narrowed. His grin widened upon seeing you.

“Shortcake,” Jett called, his hands sliding into his school uniform pockets. “Funny seeing you here without your two mad dogs around.”

Kirishima’s shoulders crowded his ears. He frowned toward the approaching peers. You froze. Something deep within you was captured by Jett’s voice. His vocal tone had shifted to one that thrummed against your skull, low and sultry, making your muscles weak. He must have been using his quirk, or at least a piece of it to keep you from running.

“What’s the matter? You’re not going to run away from me?” Jett teased.

This set off Kirishima. He immediately took a step between you and Jett. “Does she have a reason to run from you?” he asked, part of his body hardened defensively. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but you’re not being very nice to my friend.”

“Class 1-A, always leading with their brawn instead of their brains,” Monoma said, with a flourish of his hand. “Gibson was only talking to his old friend. There’s no need to be so hostile.” Monoma ran a hand through his straight blond hair, chuckling.

Kirishima glanced back at you. “Do you know this guy?”

“Know me? We used to be best classmate pals back in middle school. Go ahead and tell him who I am,” Jett said. His voice, melodically sinister, made your mouth dry.

Kirishima paid him no mind, waiting for your response. A grumble of annoyance tumbled out of Jett’s throat, making you almost want to cover your ears. While Kirishima’s attention focused on you, Jett got closer. You made a small frightened noise, taking a step back. This drove Kirishima to put a larger wedge between you and Jett.

“You’re making her uncomfortable. Step back,” Kirishima warned. His arm was up, holding Jett back, while his other hand was held out toward you to make sure there was enough space.

Kirishima’s chivalrous move left an opening for Monoma to slip by. He reached out to you, and you smacked his hand away with enough force to startle him. Monoma pouted, pulling his hand back toward himself as if he were falsely hurt.

“My, my, you and your class are violent,” Monoma said. “And, here I thought Jett was being a little too harsh when he described the kind of person you were.”

“I just want to be friends again, Shortcake,” Jett said, grinning. He moved forward, and Kirishima scowled back at him.

“Back off,” Kirishima said. The force in his voice astonished you. The full front of his body had hardened, keeping Jett at bay. This defensive move had Jett reeling back, but Kirishima still hadn’t used much force.

Monoma reached out to Kirishima, possibly to copy his quirk, but Kirishima was faster, shifting back and placing a hand on you. Kirishima started guiding you back to leave, but Monoma reached his hand out toward you. In a moment of realization, you stopped, feeling the familiar tug of your quirk brush your senses, but it wasn’t you using it. Instead of retreating, you ran toward Monoma in worry. His smirk faltered, and his hands covered his head. An agonizing roar filled the air as Monoma fell to the ground.

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agentark88 · 1 year

Text

Think: Chapter Eighty-Five: Kobura’s Sacrifice

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language, violence, and blood.

Please be aware this piece is in second person perspective, following my original character, Think, Anna Kokoro, who is a transfer student from America.

Chapter Eighty-Five: Kobura’s Sacrifice

You had a weird lunch with Kobura that evening on the school roof. Your heart thundered in your chest after the intimate interaction. All he had done was nuzzle his face against yours, and it had your heart doing somersaults. He had apologized to you, rightfully so, but it didn’t make you feel any better. Even if he had a hand in you being forced to go to this school, it was ultimately you, or really your parents, that had gotten you sent here, not him.

You wondered if Kobura had something he needed to do with The League of Villains. Should you have stopped him from leaving then? Was it your responsibility to stop him anymore? Technically, you still had a provisional hero license. It was never taken from you. You should act in a critical time of danger. Were you really in danger when Kobura was with you? The immediate answer that came to mind was “no.”

Something felt wrong. You couldn’t place your finger on it. You were restless the remainder of the day. Kobura having left shouldn’t have provoked such a gutturally uneasy response. He’d be back like he always was, cocky grin in place tomorrow. Still, it didn’t sit well that he wouldn’t be taking you home.

It was quiet on the walk home, foreboding. The sky had gone gray. The wind aggressively tore through your clothing. A chill ran through you. Flecks of rain splattered across your ruddy cheeks, suggesting a more volatile storm was on the horizon.

By the time you reached your house, the rain had picked up. You didn’t own an umbrella, so you weren’t able to shield yourself from the onslaught that fell from the sky. The best you could manage was hooking your jacket over your head, but it did little to keep your clothes from getting soaked.

As you made it up the stairs to your house, you froze on the final step. The door had been left ajar. You and your parents never forgot to lock it. Your heartrate increased. Emoticon was dead. Kobura kept The League of Villains from coming after you. Could this be a new threat? Did someone else have a reason to attack you?

Your quirk vibrated in your skull. You reached out with your mind, finding your parents’ thoughts first. They shouldn’t have been home.

What do they want with us? your mother’s frantic thoughts flittered into your mind first.

Fear erupted in your chest, and you slowly edged the door open.

How could they have found us? your father’s panicked question came next.

You stepped across the threshold as quietly as you could. Your attention landed on your parents’ shoes. They had come home early. This break-in must have happened after they’d gotten into the house safely. You reached your quirk out again to gain some more details before coming into contact with the threat.

This is for Sweet Anna. It’s not for you. It’s always been for her. You need to do this for her, Kobura’s thoughts hit you like a fist to the face.

You never thought Doku would go this far. You thought he would have stopped The League of Villains if it came to this, came to them threatening you or your family again. Instead, he was working with them to kidnap you. He had to be if he was standing in your house now. He was the only one that knew you were living here.

You rushed forward, realizing your mistake far too late. Your ankle caught on a tripwire, invisible to the naked eye and unexpected in your new house. A mechanism triggered. Several shots fired from all directions. You hadn’t been ready for it, but you managed to catch some of the projectiles out of the air with your quirk. Pain burst in your thigh and your upper arm. Kobura’s burs, ones laced with his venom had pierced your skin. Your face blanched. You pulled them out with your quirk, but already felt the venom working its way through your system, numbing your quirk.

You spotted Toga and Twice first. Actually, two Togas. One Toga had your mother by the throat, pressing her against the kitchen counter. Twice frantically looked between you and her.

“It’s not what it looks like! It’s definitely what it looks like,” Twice said.

Anger and betrayal lingered in your reddening vision. Your focus panned over. Your father had a knife to his throat, and Kobura was the one holding it there.

“What are you doing?! Get away from my parents!” you screamed at him.

“Finally, you’re home,” Kobura hissed out. “Tie her up. These two don’t have quirks. It’s actually laughable how little security this place has. We must have caught a lucky break. If our target had been at that other school, we would have had Pro Heroes to deal with.”

Toga looked at you. Regret tightened her expression. “I’m really sorry about this,” she whispered. “We’re doing this for your own good.”

“Don’t do this,” you warned her. You lowered your stance. Kobura’s venom had trickled through your bloodstream, clouding your senses. A fever burned your forehead.

Toga came at you with a knife, a telegraphed attack. You didn’t understand what they were doing, but you were not going to let them threaten your parents like this, kidnap you in front of them. You didn’t want to go with them. Kobura knew that all you wanted was to be a hero, not a vigilante or a villain. Taking you wouldn’t solve your problems.

You easily evaded Toga’s first slash.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Toga murmured after another attack.

“Stop this!” Your vision blurred. You should have been prepared for Kobura’s trap. You would be able to fight if you had.

“Did you really think we would just stop pursuing her if you took her out of U.A.? Our goal wasn’t the school; it was the individual. You only made it easier for us to get to her,” Kobura snapped at your father.

Your father’s knees buckled. His whole body was shaking. Kobura put pressure into the blade at his throat. “T-take her! You’re right. We can’t fight you! Please, we don’t want this to get any more violent,” your father begged.

The air left your lungs. Your father couldn’t be serious. The whole point of changing schools was for your protection… But, you had never believed that yourself. You knew removing you from U.A. was for them, your parents. It didn’t make it hurt any less that your father would give you up like that right in front of you.

Toga stabbed at you again, and you hooked her arm, slapping the knife out of her fingertips. She huffed, face reddening.

“I’m not even trying, Anna,” she whispered in frustration. She pulled free another knife hidden on her person.

You staggered back from her in a venom-soaked daze. You gritted your teeth. What were they thinking? This wasn’t going to make things better. You held your stance up as best as you could. The next slash through the air clipped your arm. You stumbled back, tripping over your own feet. You hit the ground, catching yourself with your hands. Toga leapt on top of you. She pulled your hands back, and she had your hands bound within seconds.

Kobura sadistically chuckled. Toga forced you up to your knees to face your father, and the back of Kobura. There was no sign of the fake student you’d gotten to know, the sweet Kobura that had spent days with you. His school uniform had been replaced by his villain costume. Cold black leather was draped around his tense form. He’d left his hood partially on, but he’d dragged down his mask, so he could bare his fangs at your trembling father.

The burning of tears met your eyes. You had trusted him. How could Kobura do this to you? You stifled a strangled sob by clenching your jaw shut. Kobura glanced back at you. You saw the pain in his eyes, despite his villainous grin.

“Why are you doing this?” you pleaded.

Kobura winced, but he made it look like he was adjusting his grip on your father. “By taking her out of U.A., all you did was piss us off. Did you really think we didn’t know where she was? You spat into our faces by trying to hide. We won’t just take her. We need to teach you a lesson,” Kobura said. “No matter where you run, we will find you. As long as she is with you, there is nowhere you can hide.”

“Please, let us live. We thought you were after the school and that’s why you had pursued our daughter. It was an honest mistake!” Your father’s face was a bright crimson. His brown eyes were wet with tears.

“That school was the only thing keeping her out of our reach!” Kobura jostled your father.

“We’re sorry! Please! Tell us what you need! We can get it for you!”

“What we need is a little respect. We’re not to be taken lightly. To think, this whole thing could have been avoided had you just kept her in U.A.. It’s just so sad, isn’t it? We had no need to come for either of you, as you’re just her parents, but I’m so damn angry about your arrogance, I think I want to cut out your heart.” Kobura moved the blade of his knife down to your father’s chest.

Your father’s eyes widened. “We didn’t know! Please! Please! Just take her, and we promise to disappear!” your father pleaded again.

Your mother was a puddle of tears in the other Toga’s grip. “Let us go. We didn’t know,” your mother mimicked your father in her pleas.

Your head throbbed in pain. It was hard to breathe. Your quirk sparked, but it never went ablaze.

“Stop,” you begged. “Please.” You didn’t know what exactly you wanted to stop. You didn’t want to hear your parents serve you up on a platter to the villains. You didn’t want to endure whatever this was any longer. It was painful. It hurt you in more ways than one.

“Just take her!” both of your parents shrieked simultaneously.

“Stop!” your scream echoed through the small house. Your quirk shot out from your body, sending a ripple of energy shaking through the house and knocking Toga off of you. You staggered to your feet, rushing for Kobura and your father.

Kobura’s hand shot out, grabbing you by your brown school uniform. His toxic green eyes examined you, drinking you in like it was the last time he’d see you. He sighed, shaking his head. “Stand down. You know your quirk is nullified by mine. It entered your blood as soon as those projectiles punctured your skin. You can’t do anything for them. They’ve done this to themselves,” Kobura said coldly.

“Why?” you asked. Your bottom lip quivered. Why was he doing this? He was the only one that was helping you keep it together here, and he was betraying you. “I thought…”

Kobura turned away from you. He shoved you back into the waiting arms of Twice, who dragged you back over to where you’d been laying. The sudden burst of your quirk was once again trapped by Kobura’s. You weakly struggled against your binds.

The front door exploded. Everyone’s attention snapped in the direction of the entryway. Instinctively, Twice released you, letting out a small girlish shriek of his own. Around the corner appeared three familiar faces: Katsuki Bakugo, Hitoshi Shinso, and Shoto Todoroki.

“The police are already on their way. Surrender peacefully,” Shoto said.

Twice’s hands shot up in surrender. Toga swatted them back down.

Out of the corner of your eyes you spotted movement. You twisted back, and you watched in horror as Kobura shifted his weight, slamming your father to the ground. You watched the air leave your father. He gasped, sputtering to gain traction again, only for Kobura to trap him beneath his knee.

“What are a couple of U.A. students going to do if I don’t surrender?” Kobura asked.

Your face blanched. Kobura couldn’t possibly think he’d take on all three of your former classmates, some of the most powerful ones no less. There was no reason for him to taunt them like that, unless… The realization hit you like a semi-truck. Kobura kept repeating U.A. deliberately while he was threatening your parents. He kept pushing the idea that what they’d done was a mistake. Your U.A. classmates showing up at this exact moment to rescue you was probably no coincidence either. He’d planned this. Doku Kobura wasn’t trying to betray you. He was trying to get you back into U.A. the only way that he thought you’d be able to accept it.

Your eyes widened as Kobura glanced at you, meeting your stare. A small smile appeared on his face. The sound of sirens echoed in the distance. You forced yourself up on wobbling legs. Shoto reached you. He froze the ropes binding you, shattering them to get you free with just a small tug.

“Easy,” Shoto warned. “You’re being affected by a quirk. Take it easy.” He supported your weak body.

Your gaze didn’t move from Kobura, barely seeing the action around you. Shinso launched his capture weapon at the Toga holding your mother hostage. The binds sliced through the clone as soon as he tugged back, leaving behind a gray goopy mess. Your mother dropped to the ground, covering her head.

Toga and Twice exchanged a look, drawing their weapons, but not attacking. They watched Kobura expectantly. Bakugo was assessing the room. His eyes darted between the villains. His hands popped off small explosions. There were two hostages. You knew him well enough that he was trying to find a way to blast himself straight to Kobura before he could do more damage to your father.

“Go,” Kobura said, breaking the moment of silence. The word fell from his lips subtly, as if he could have been addressing just about anyone in the room or just whispering it to himself. His smile had all but disappeared.

Toga and Twice tensed. They heard him, but it was clear by their expressions that this was not part of the plan.

“BioVirus, we’re not just going to leave. We can—” Toga started.

“Go!” Kobura shouted with more force.

Bakugo took their hesitation as his chance to spring forward. In a single blast, he’d reached Kobura. His palm swung around, but Doku ducked beneath it. He pulled something free from his costume, launching it at the window. In the next breath, the side of the house has exploded, blasting glass and dust over everyone.

Shoto shielded you with his own body, and you were forced to take cover too. By the time you were able to get out from Shoto’s protective grip, Toga and Twice had already sprung out of the hole in the side of the house. Toga skipped a step or two outside, before she looked back toward Kobura.

“I’ll be fine! Go!” Doku yelled out to her.

“The hell you will, villain!” Bakugo snapped. Bakugo grabbed Kobura by the neck, shoving him into the wall which cracked under the force.

Kobura brought a knife up, skillfully slicing at Bakugo’s arm to make him release. Kobura dropped from the wall when Bakugo clutched his arm to his chest in pain. Unexpectedly, Kobura moved away from your father and farther into the room, rather than toward his only exit.

Toga had bolted. Her hesitation had been extinguished by Kobura’s words. Shoto and Shinso made a move to pursue the retreating villains, having secured both you and your mother’s safety, only for Kobura to send two knives careening out in front of them both in warning. Shinso retreated back to your mother, creating a barrier between her and Kobura. Shoto took another step in the direction of the window, and Kobura sent a knife straight at him this time. The blade barely missed Todoroki due to his quick reflexes. The three boys’ attention had set on Kobura.

Red lights began to flash outside, filling the room with an eerie pulsing glow. You forced yourself to your feet. Your quirk started to blossom within your mind again. Kobura locked eyes with you. Your hair started to lift as your quirk rumbled through your skull.

“Why?!” you croaked out toward Kobura again.

Kobura only gave you a sad smile. For you, his thoughts flooded your senses. For your dream. You hadn’t even known you’d been reaching out with your mind, but his thoughts came to you as clearly as if he were speaking.

Bakugo crashed into Kobura, blasting him into the ground and holding him there. “Stay down, you bastard.”

Kobura didn’t fight back this time. He’d done what he wanted to do. He’d convinced your parents what he needed to, and his friends had gotten away. He sacrificed his freedom for yours, and he had settled himself to that fate.

The police flooded into the room. Todoroki pulled you behind him as they began to ask questions. To your surprise, Endeavor, Heart of Hearts, and Midoriya came in shortly after. Endeavor looked furious, scanning over the remnants of damage. His attention focused on the gaping hole in the wall, and his flaming facial hair flared in anger. Your parents were taken outside to the ambulance. Kobura was cuffed. A mask containment unit was latched around his face to keep his quirk from infecting the officers, and the metal dug into his cheeks. He didn’t fight back. He didn’t argue. He just let them take him.

You wiped away tears, pushing past Todoroki and forgetting he had been a barrier between you and the police. Kobura didn’t need to do this for you. He shouldn’t have needed to make that sacrifice for you. You froze as the police looked down at you, unmoving.

“E-excuse me,” you said. “I have to—”

Your eyes trailed toward the door. A hand fell onto your shoulder, and you shivered. You glanced back. Shinso tightened his fingers to hold you where you were. He shook his head.

“Please, allow me to escort her to the ambulance. She needs medical attention before anything else,” Shinso said to the police.

You balled your fists at your sides. Shinso guided you out. By the time this all transpired, Kobura was already being driven away in the back of the law enforcement vehicle. It was too late for you to do anything for him now. Your parents had been attended to, and they were now speaking with a few officers some distance away. The paramedics checked you over, assisting with new and old scars.

“Where did you get these?” one of the paramedics asked as he pointed out a few old cuts.

“I’m not sure,” you said honestly. It could have been from weeks ago while at U.A., or it could have been from the bullies. There was no way for you to discern each bruise, scar, and cut from the other.

“She was a student at U.A. not too long ago,” Shinso explained, practically reading your mind. His presence loomed near yours. His jaw was tight, and his muscles were tensed. His attention had focused in the direction of where the police car with Kobura had left, but it slowly drifted back toward you.

The paramedic nodded in understanding, either accepting your explanation as the truth or understanding you weren’t willing to discuss the injuries further.

Bakugo and Shoto charged out of the house, practically fighting over each other to get to you.

“You’ve been out here in this part of Japan this whole time?” Bakugo snapped. “Mr. Aizawa said you’d transferred to another school, but this shithole of a place?”

“It’s not like it was my choice,” you mumbled.

“Yeah? Did your parents finally get what they wanted? I know for a fact Aizawa and you wouldn’t have let that happen, not without a fight anyway,” Bakugo continued. His voice was angry, but his expression was worried.

Your eyes suddenly widened. Your attention moved back to Shinso. “You didn’t tell them?” you asked.

Shinso glanced away. “I didn’t feel like an explanation to everyone mattered. I only had pieces of the story myself. Mr. Aizawa said that you transferred. That should have been enough of an explanation."

Bakugo grabbed Shinso by the shoulder of his costume. “You saw what had happened and didn’t think to tell me, Brain Drain?”

“Why should I have told you? You had enough information to figure it out yourself. And, last time I checked, we weren’t friends.” Shinso rolled his eyes, abruptly giving Bakugo a knowing grin. “Might as well admit to her now how worried you were, storming around like a child and tearing apart U.A. because of how upset you were to find out she was gone. Or, are you too embarrassed to share that information? Just because you’re emotionally stunted doesn’t mean you get to grab me whenever you damn please.” Shinso peeled Bakugo’s hand off of him.

Bakugo lifted his lip into a snarl, settling into a clenched jaw. He didn’t argue with Shinso after he’d asked the questions, probably aware he’d control his mind.

“You could have reached out,” Shoto offered as a gentler suggestion to you, barely breaking the tension.

You gulped, thinking about the weeks you’d been trapped in your dark room with nothing more than your homework and own thoughts to entertain you. “No, I couldn’t have.” You looked down in shame. You had wanted desperately to reach out to all of your classmates, but you couldn’t. You weren’t given a phone, and your new school had locked all social media sites on the computers. When you tried to use your quirk, you weren’t able to reach anyone either.

Shoto’s brow furrowed, but he didn’t have time to ask anything else because the Pro Heroes had started closing in around the ambulance.

“Shoto,” Endeavor’s voice growled out in warning. “I’ve told you that it is unacceptable to abandon your team while on patrol. This was not an exception of this rule.”

“I did not abandon the patrol. My classmate was in danger,” Shoto responded, barely giving his father a second glance.

Endeavor’s facial hair burst into a roaring fire. “Are you not listening to me, Shoto?! You deliberately disobeyed protocol a second time!”

“I left the lame ass patrol too,” Bakugo said gruffly. His crimson gaze set on Endeavor. “We were looking to do some real hero work, and we found it. Not sure why you’re so pissed about that.”

“To be fair, I also didn’t follow the rules,” Midoriya worriedly muttered behind the Pro Hero.

Endeavor peered around him in displeasure. His piercing blue eyes stabbed at whatever weakness he could spot. Rage boiled under his skin, and the temperature around him climbed to dangerous heights. Then, he was glaring at you.

Shoto blocked his father’s path in a single stride. A cool breeze rushed over your skin, as Shoto used his quirk to keep the temperature around you comfortable. Shoto’s height alone kept Endeavor’s wrathful gaze from meeting your much more timid one.

Shinso cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably behind you. “I also failed to stick to the mission.”

Heart of Hearts swooped in, gliding ahead of her Pro Hero boss without flinching. Her dark skin glistened with sweat, but her easy smile could have quelled the angriest of souls. “The work-study students received a threatening communication from the villains,” Hearts explained. “Shinso managed to effectively and quickly express this to me, before he sprung heroically into action. As the threatening message was endangering a former classmate of his, I would have never expected Shinso to standby after receiving such a devastating communication. I only assume that your three work-study students had received the same. I believe they acted as Pro Heroes should have in this type of situation.” Hearts promptly straightened. “Should you wish to pass judgement or punishment, I believe that I am the one who should receive such scrutiny on Shinso’s behalf, as I immediately encouraged his pursuit,” she added.

Endeavor’s cold glare bore into Heart of Hearts. His fires dimmed and flickered with less aggression. “What message?” Endeavor asked through gritted teeth.

Midoriya handed over his phone with little hesitation. “We all received the text message in a new group chat labeled…” Midoriya cleared his throat. “I’m not sure that it matters much, but it was labeled: Wannabe Heroes. BioVirus sent over Anna Kokoro’s name, and her current location, then he proceeded to text over the threats, indicating that it didn’t matter where she was, he planned to find her, attack her, and kidnap her. He also went as far as to say that her removal from U.A. had pissed him off, as he thought they were insulting his talents by thinking they could just hide her in a normal school.” Midoriya continued to ramble on about the details of the messages.

Your face paled the more that Midoriya spoke. The communication had only been sent to the students in your class associated with Endeavor’s agency. You could only assume from that information that Kobura wanted the Pro Heroes to show up too, which meant he intended to be caught regardless if the police had shown up in time.

Endeavor scrolled through Midoriya’s phone, his expression hardening. “Don’t you think it would have been wiser to inform me of these threats, before you recklessly abandoned our current patrol?” Endeavor asked his three work-study students.

“Would you have allowed us to rescue her if we did?” Bakugo snapped back.

“That wasn’t the question,” Endeavor sternly replied.

Endeavor shoved the phone back into Midoriya’s hands. Midoriya stumbled back from the force.

“Bakugo is right. If we would have told you about what was going on, you wouldn’t have allowed us to go,” Shoto said.

“Of course I wouldn’t have, this could have easily been an elaborate trap. There are protocols for this kind of thing for a reason. Who knows what would have happened had you provisional-licensed heroes been the only ones that had shown up?” Endeavor clenched his jaw.

“It wouldn’t have mattered who showed up. He would have turned himself in regardless,” you mumbled absentmindedly.

“What?” Endeavor growled out.

Your muscles coiled as everyone’s eyes were suddenly on you. You shook your head. “BioVirus seemed to understand he wasn’t going to get out of this one unscathed, so he didn’t fight his capture. I don’t think he intended to try to run once any kind of hero showed up.” It wasn’t a lie, but it might as well had been.

You had finally put it all together. Kobura had asked Toga and Twice to come with him, so they became an active threat once he was arrested. Based on Toga’s expression when she left, and her and Twice’s general hesitation after Kobura told them to run, they had no idea what he’d been planning. Kobura’s showboat performance in front of your parents was only to push them toward putting you back into U.A.. But, figuring out why he did what he did, did not make you feel any better about it. He risked his reputation among the villains and, more importantly, his freedom by getting Toga and Twice involved. You’d met Shigaraki. If he ever figured out Kobura had used The League of Villains for his own gain, he would disintegrate Kobura without a second thought.

“Anna,” Bakugo murmured. He nudged you with his grenade gauntlet. “You still on earth, Big Brain?” he asked.

You shook yourself out of your own thoughts. Endeavor turned away from the group, taking his anger with him. He must have heard enough. Heart of Hearts followed after him, schmoozing her way into his good graces to hopefully calm him down.

“I…” Your mouth went dry, and you became unsteady on your legs.

Bakugo clumsily grabbed you, on account of his clunky gear, before you collapsed. “Shit!” he shouted. “What the hell, Big Brain?”

Shoto and Shinso rushed to your side, helping you sit on the curb.

“Is it residual toxins from BioVirus?” Shoto asked.

“Is your quirk draining your energy?” Shinso asked right after.

“N-no,” you stuttered out. You frowned, but then you gave a weak smile after figuring it out that this was probably nothing more than the adrenaline finally leaving your body. “I think this might just be a normal reaction to stress. It all hit me at once, you know?”

The hair on the back of your neck stood on end as you heard the familiar footfalls of your father coming in your direction. You lifted your head, shivering. You watched your father cross the road over to you. Your mother was not far behind him. Both of them looked disheveled and wary. When they came a few feet from Shoto and Shinso, they stopped.

Your father adjusted his work uniform, then he combed back his black hair with his trembling fingers. He cleared his throat.

“You managed to rescue my daughter yet again,” your father slowly said. He appeared to be addressing Bakugo, Shinso, and Shoto based on his flittering stare. “I suppose I should thank you.”

Bakugo scoffed. “That would be a start.”

A vein pulsed in your father’s forehead, and you winced. You shifted uncomfortably in your place, and you waited. You waited for your father to tell you to get up and go back into that horrid dark room. You waited for him to scream at you for not being home sooner. You waited for the worst. Your father balled a fist at his side. His jaw tightened.

“I think quirks are a poison to our society, and my opinion of them has not changed,” your father said bluntly. “But, I suppose I have no choice but to relinquish my daughter’s protection to the very thing I despise.” Your father bowed, but it was barely a bend worth mentioning. “I hope that you will continue to look after my daughter, as I am but a normal human citizen. Your hard work is recognized even if I do not support what you heroes do. At this point, the police cannot provide the protection they have promised.” Your father straightened. “Anna,” he said sternly.

You stood, despite having just almost passed out. “Yes.”

Your father glanced back at your mother just before addressing you again. “We will be re-enrolling you into U.A.. We will be disappearing for the time being. The police have found us a much more suitable option for our situation. That is all I can say for now. We will be in touch when necessary.” Your father walked forward.

Shinso and Shoto didn’t move, not allowing your father a moment alone with you. But, all your father did was place a hand on your shoulder.

“We were not cursed with your abilities, and we don’t have the means to protect you. U.A. is the safest place for you. They should have done a better job explaining that to me, before I removed you, but there’s no reason to dwell on that now. Stay safe, Anna. We will return when our safety is ensured to see you again.” Your father turned away, and it took all the strength in your little body not to just buckle in relief.

Your mother gave you a kiss on your forehead and said her farewell. Then, they left. No more discussions. No more arguments. Kobura’s plan to get you back into U.A. worked. His sacrifice meant you could pursue your dream again.

The police interrogation was overwhelming, but you managed to get through it without saying much. Since Kobura never said anything to you, it was all speculation, and you refrained from mentioning it to the police. Kobura had been stalking you for most of your time in Japan, so it wasn’t suspicious to the police that he had targeted you. You were back in your old dorm within the week, but things had changed. You had changed.

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agentark88 · 11 months

Text

Think: A Quirkless Ending

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language and violence.

(Ending 7 of 8)

A Quirkless Ending

“You’re shaking so badly, child. Allow me to take your worries away. It’s this quirk of yours, isn’t it? Is it too much pressure for you?” All for One said, his voice growling out from Shigaraki’s chapped lips.

“N-no,” you stuttered out, getting into a defensive stance. “You won’t take my quirk from me. Not before I stop you.”

“You can barely keep standing. What makes you think you can fight me, Anna Kokoro?” All for One pushed. “You were too afraid to do anything when I swatted your friends away like flies. What’s changed?”

He was right. You were terrified, almost too petrified to move. You went to move and a stream of energy came forth from his fingertips. Your breath caught in your throat as you had barely caught the barbs in suspended air with your quirk. Two in front and three behind. All for One chuckled out of Shigaraki’s body.

“Ah, you might be more of a challenge than I anticipated. Let’s see how long your quirk can last against me, shall we?” he asked.

All for One retracted the spears of energy, sending out a radio shockwave that rattled your mind. You hissed out in pain, staggering back. All for One took the opportunity to send a blast of yellow energy at you, and you stopped it just short of sending you clear off of Gigantomachia's back.

“Interesting.” All for One got closer and closer, as you fought off attack after attack.

You gasped as your found yourself inches from Shigaraki, his hand reaching out toward your face. Exhausted and overexerted from shielding from an onslaught of attacks, there was nothing left of your quirk to use, nothing that you could bring forth to force him away.

“Don’t be frightened. Your quirk will be used for something greater,” All for One stated. He grabbed your face, and you clawed at his fingers.

Red energy pulsed, ripped, and sucked at your mind. Your quirk was being pulled from you, taken. Seconds. It took seconds. You shivered as it was finally disconnected from you. Your eyes rolled back up into your head.

…

You jolted upright, grabbing for anything to stabilize you. The cleanly smell of antiseptic hit your nose first. The white walls made your stomach churn. Hospital. You were in the hospital.

It was quiet. It was so quiet, eerily quiet. Your fingers trembled as they reached for your head. You didn’t feel it. You didn’t feel your quirk there anymore. The distant buzz was gone, the constant need to ensure that you weren’t reading someone’s mind was gone.

You resisted the urge to rip out your IV. Instead, you stood up from your hospital cot, pulling the equipment attached to you weakly with you. You peered out into the hallway, hearing murmuring voices come from the next room over.

Your eyes widened when you saw a purple silhouette exit one of the neighboring rooms. Shinso’s violet gaze met yours. He blinked at you once or twice, disbelief clear in his expression, then he rushed to you. His arms were around you before you could speak.

“I thought he had killed you,” he choked out. “I thought I had lost you forever.”

You hugged him back, as clunky as it was to do so attached to so much equipment. You were shaking. Tears pooled in your eyes.

“What happened?” you asked, but you already knew.

Shinso’s embrace tightened. “I think you’ll need to sit down first.”

“Tell me,” you gasped out, lip quivering.

Hitoshi hesitated to answer you, but he wouldn’t outright deny your request. “Shigaraki escaped. He stole your quirk.”

��Ten Years Later…

“Pay attention students. These questions will be on Friday’s test,” you announced, etching out the equation in chalk on the board. If they understood how important this was, you were certain they wouldn’t be so distracted.

“What does it matter? It’s not like we’re going to use math like this in the real world. You’re just having us learn it because the quirkless normies have to do it in their schools. Heroes don’t need to know all this crap,” Nakaya spat. He kicked his feet up on his desk, reminding you of Bakugo as a youth. He had spiky blue hair that looked like your old classmate’s too.

You paused with the chalk still in your hand. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten the importance of planning, or how much you like using your support items in the field. What if you needed to crack a code to stop a villain’s bomb before it detonated? All of these things would not be possible to solve without equations, numbers. Not everything is thwarted with strength or dumb luck.” You let your hand fall down to your side, seeing Nakaya’s reflection in the corner of your glasses. He was off balance, putting all of his weight on the back of his chair. A little force would certainly have him reeling back. “Angles are also important,” you continued, calculating at which exact angle you would need to hit his chair to have it slip out from under him.

You started to etch the trajectory on the board, showing the class your plan before enacting it. A few of the brighter well-behaved students began to murmur as they started to put it together, weight distribution, an object, velocity, impact. It was all coming together. You circled back to your desk, grasping one of your weighted hero projectiles from a drawer. You held it in your hand as if it were an ordinary stress ball, then with little effort you whipped the support item at the back end of Nakaya’s chair. He yelped as it was just enough to tip him over, and he crashed dramatically to the floor.

You pointed back up at the board. “As you can see, planning your next move using strategy and simple mathematics can allow you to have the upper hand over any adversary that you might encounter.” You continued writing out the rest of the prep questions for the end of the week’s test. “It is also important to remember that being quirkless does not mean being incapable of doing great things. Quirkless individuals can be a hero too. Math and science are huge factors in allowing those of us without natural-born gifts to surpass those of us who refuse to pay attention in class." You continued to scroll out the rest of the formulas. “Take me for example. I lost my quirk in the early stages of being a student at this school, and I was still able to become a Pro Hero thanks to my inventive mind and support items.”

Nakaya clicked his tongue, scoffing as he collected himself off the ground. He sat properly back up in his seat, and you considered how proud Aizawa would have been to see such a feat accomplished.

The door suddenly burst open, and you turned, hand already reaching toward the drawer with your utility belt. You relaxed when you saw Midoriya standing at the door, freckled face flushed and worried.

“S-sorry, I thought I heard a loud bang, and I thought maybe you were in trouble, Miss Kokoro.”

A few of the students snickered and laughed.

“Mr. Midoriya to the rescue,” one of the girl students cooed.

Midoriya’s face got redder, and he started stuttering again. “I-I was only trying to assist if needed.” He adjusted his green tie that complimented his brown plaid suit. He had to start wearing support gloves so he wasn’t in pain constantly from the damage he had caused his arms and hands in the past. They poked out from under his sleeves, an intricate mess of silver mechanics and red wires.

“I’m fine, Midoriya. Thank you for checking in,” you responded to him warmly. “I was just teaching one of my students the importance of strategic planning.”

Midoriya glanced at the board, muttering to himself about the calculations. He turned to Nakaya, having deduced where you’d thrown the projectile. “Oh, I see.” Midoriya cleared his throat. “I suppose I should be leaving—”

The U.A. security alarm began to blare, and red lights flashed throughout the room and hallway.

“Is this a drill?” Midoriya asked.

“It’s not in the schedule,” you said firmly. “Students, orderly exit the classroom to the designated safety areas! Mr. Midoriya please help guide other students calmy through the hallways.” You scrambled through your drawers, picking out support items and hooking your hero utility belt around your evening teacher’s dress.

When you looked up again, the students were uncertain of whether or not to leave you. These were only first years after all. They hadn’t been in your classes for very long either. “This is not a drill. You need to move.” You flicked out your retractable staff.

Nakaya rolled his eyes. “Bet it’s just a damn drill.”

Some of the students started filtering out of the classroom to your relief. You counted them on the way out to make sure no one had left for the restroom or to the nurse’s office. As you counted the tenth student, an explosion rattled the building. Nakaya jolted away from the noise. You slid out in front of your retreating students as another explosion made the classroom tremble. You spun your staff out in front of you, preparing for combat. The wall burst open with the next explosion. A wave of fire hurled toward you.

You jumped back, bumping into Nakaya as you went for your belt. With split-second reflexes you found your subzero projectile and tossed it out. The ice and fire combined together in a cloud of steam. You grabbed Nakaya by the arm, urging him for the door. Out of the corner of your eye, you watched a man casually walk through the open wall. The villain was dressed in a pristine white suit, not a mark on him. His blond hair was slicked back, and his beard was well-trimmed. His blue eyes observed you with interest as he raised an eyebrow.

“Hailey, it appears you may have miscalculated that last explosion,” he said, adjusting his tie. “I don’t believe this was the correct room. This one is quirkless.” His eyes shined with purple energy. “Ah, wait. Something there is dormant. No, definitely quirkless.” He tutted sharply. “Heavens, I tell you every time to watch where you use your quirk. It defeats the element of surprise.

From the smoke, came a lightning quick villainess, propelled by explosive fire. Without you even being able to lift your staff, her hand was around your neck. Smoke came from her nostrils, and her fingers burned like hot iron. You stifled a cry.

“This is the one,” she hissed. “Two to go.”

She held all of her weight forward as if she never stopped moving. Even now, she was pushing you back toward the door. She had silver eyes and slicked back black hair. You used her momentum, twisting your body and her weight forward. She growled when you hooked a cuff to one of her wrists on the way down. She moved too fast for you to get the other on her. Her hands were on you again as she maneuvered out of the throw, catching herself and pivoting.

Before she could lay her hands back on your skin again, a flash of green crossed your vision. Then, the woman was gone. You watched in awe as the fire quirk villain had been launched back at the formally dressed man. Suddenly, you were being held securely in place by a muscular freckled arm. Midoriya’s entire suit had been ripped up the sleeve, suggesting he had just used One for All to launch the villain, Hailey, into oblivion. His support glove whirred and adjusted. Midoriya winced.

“Sorry. I circled back when I heard the explosion. Are you okay?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah,” you said, looking over incredulously at the two villains that had single-handedly just been knocked unconscious. “Thanks for the save.”

“Of course. I would never just leave you in danger.” Midoriya’s green eyes moved down to your neck, and he gasped. “Are you really okay? She burned you. Let me take you to the nurse’s office.” He lifted you up into his arms to carry you out, and you immediately started to squirm out.

“No, no, I’m fine.” Between the struggle to get out of Midoriya’s gentle grasp, you noticed U.A. security picking up the unconscious villains. The alarms almost simultaneously stopped squawking. “Really, Midoriya. This is not necessary.”

Midoriya had barely taken a step outside the classroom, and the giggles started up immediately. Several of the returning students were staring at the two of you. Your face blossomed into a blush. Midoriya froze with you still very much in his arms. Having been unable to escape, you resorted to covering your face with your hand.

“Please put me down,” you murmured.

Midoriya finally obliged, and you dusted the front of your dress off. Midoriya cleared his throat in embarrassment. The students continued to watch the two of you and gossip, some of them even pulling out their phones to take pictures.

“Return to your classes. That’s enough gawking,” you scolded the lingering students. You rubbed your temples.

“Sorry,” Midoriya apologized.

“You were only trying to help,” you replied.

Your class came sauntering back into the classroom, looking between the two of you with cheeky smiles.

One of the female students boldly started chanting, “Miss Kokoro and Mr. Midoriya sitting in a tree K—”

“Enough.” You didn’t let the student finish, already thoroughly embarrassed over the situation in itself.

“Sorry,” Midoriya apologized to you again, only making matters worse, as the students started conversing about the absurd idea of the two of you having a secret relationship once more.

You gave him a look and his muscular shoulders crowded his ears. He said a “sorry” under his breath, and you waved a hand at him in frustration. You dismissed your students, as the classroom was in ruin, letting them know there would still be a test at the end of the week. Midoriya stood by sheepishly, glancing at you and most likely waiting for all of your students to leave before trying to get you medical attention again.

To your surprise, Nakaya paused in front of you. He scuffed his nose with his knuckle, then shoved both his hands into his pockets. “That was pretty cool, Miss Kokoro,” he admitted under his breath.

You blinked at him in surprise. “What?” you asked, thinking that you must have heard him wrong.

“It was kind of alright the way you threw that villain over you like that. You used her own weight, right? That had to do with that calculating stuff you were rambling on in class about, yeah?” He turned his head away, checking that no one was listening to him compliment you.

“Yes,” you said carefully, waiting for him to flip this on you somehow.

“Think you could explain that next class?” He clicked his tongue. “I mean, I don’t know, maybe I might pay extra attention if you show me how to kick ass like that.”

You attempted but failed to hide your smile. You were proud that he actually was reaching out to you. “First of all, language. Second of all, I will be sure to center next lesson around full-body takedowns. It will highlight the angle advantages too. I appreciate the feedback, Nakaya.”

Nakaya’s eyes seemed to light up, but his face fell when he noticed Midoriya still standing there. “Yeah, whatever, Teach.” He absently kicked his shoe over the ground. “Glad you’re okay. I’m sure a substitute would have been as—”

You gave Nakaya a warning look.

“Assumingly annoying,” he said. He gave you a final wave goodbye, before disappearing with the rest of the class.

You sighed. “You know you don’t have to walk me to the nurse’s office, right?” you asked, tilting your head back toward Midoriya.

“Would you have actually gone if I didn’t wait?” he asked.

“Probably not.”

“Then, it’s a good thing I stuck around.”

You shook your head, nudging him with your elbow. “You sticking around is what keeps starting up rumors about us.”

“I know,” he said guiltily, then he walked you all the way to the nurse’s office.

#mha fanfic #MHA x OC #mha x you #bnha x you #bnha x oc #Quirkless Ending #bnha deku #izuku midoriya #bnha midoriya #mha midoriya #Anna kokoro #annakokoro #mha anna #bnha anna #mha anna kokoro

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agentark88 · 11 months

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Think: A Villainous Ending

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language, blood, death, and violence. If you are easily triggered by violent scenarios, please do not read this chapter. This chapter could be triggering to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

(Ending 6 of 8)

A Villainous Ending

You took All for One’s words as an opportunity. You weren’t ready for this. You were just a child. What did the Pro Heroes expect you to do? He could kill you without even lifting a finger. You backed up, stumbling over yourself to get away. You wanted to be a hero, but you didn’t want to lose your life before even getting a chance to become one.

You tumbled off the back of Gigantomachia, running in the direction of Doku who had still not made the decision to leave or stay. He held a hand out toward you, ready to catch you when you were in arm’s reach.

“He’s got a knife! Watch yourselves! That’s the villain BioVirus!” Deku warned.

Kobura’s focus went to him, but Deku was still unable to stand due to his injuries. Just as you were about to meet Kobura’s hand, a strand of cables lashed out crushing him where he stood. Shinso came out of nowhere, grabbing you and pulling you away. The knife fell from Kobura’s fingertips.

“Wait! Don’t! He’s only trying to help!” you shouted toward Best Jeanist. “Let him go!”

You struggled in Shinso’s grasp, but he’d lifted you from the ground. The binds tightened around Kobura. His eyes widened in panic. You saw venom gurgle up into his mouth. Bubbles of air barely making it out his throat. He struggled, and the cables only grew tighter around him. His face twisted in pain, growing red and then purple in color.

“He can’t breathe!” you shouted. “Let him go! He’s not our enemy! He was helping!”

“Best Jeanist knows what he’s doing. Stop fighting me, Kitten. He’s a villain. He should have never showed up here,” Shinso assured you.

Doku didn’t even have enough air to respond. Watching him struggle like that was too horrifying. You elbowed Shinso in the jaw, scrambling out of his grasp to make it to Doku. They weren’t listening to you. No matter how easy or constricting Best Jeanist was being, something was wrong with Doku’s quirk. He was drowning in his own viral venom. He couldn’t even fight for his case to be released. You took hold of the cables, attempting to pull them away with assistance from your mind quirk. You pulled off some of the rope, but lost grip on others.

“You’re killing him!” you shouted. “Let him go!”

Doku’s eyes rolled up in the back of his head. Your chest constricted. In a last-ditch effort to get him free, you cut your hands on the special fabric. You snapped three binds. It took four for Doku to be dropped. You put up a mind shield so he wouldn’t be grabbed again. You reached for his face, patting his cheek in an attempt to get him to react. You put him on his side and venom emptied out of his parted lips, followed by streams of blood. There were indentations of where the cables had him, they’d gone deep into his skin, leaving behind red welts. How could a Pro Hero have done this? You begged for him to be released and yet Best Jeanist didn’t even weaken his hold on him.

“Breathe! Wake up, Doku. You’re free,” you begged.

Tears burst from your eyes. You continued to shake Kobura, hoping that he would respond to you. His skin was cold under your touch. You pressed your ear to his chest, but you couldn’t hear a heartbeat. You rolled him onto his back, beginning CPR. As you pressed the heel of your palm into his chest, wracking sobs escaped you. You pressed your lips to his, trying to breathe life back into him. You weren’t sure how long you continued on like this. It could have been minutes or hours that you were doing compressions, but he never woke up.

You fell over Doku, crying into his chest and pleading for the life to come back to him. You were screaming for someone to get help, but no one came. Your mind shield eventually dissipated from exhaustion. Shinso dragged you off of Doku’s lifeless body, clutching you to him as you cried.

“Please, someone help him,” you begged again.

Evidently, Shigaraki had escaped with the help of his Nomus. Everything appeared to be at a standstill. Silence and decayed landscape lay in the wake of the destruction. You refused to leave with the paramedics, until they finally covered Kobura’s body and took him away.

You shivered, unable to forget the lifelessness that beheld his vivid green eyes. Shinso somehow managed to get you into an ambulance. They checked you over, uttering nonsensical words at you. Nothing mattered. The heroes killed Kobura. They murdered him.

You numbly sat in your dorm room for days. Classes were on hold while everyone recovered from the aftermath. You packed a bag before you knew what you were doing. With Mr. Aizawa in the hospital, no one stopped you from leaving U.A. grounds. You’d made up your mind. You wouldn’t become a killer. You couldn’t become a Pro Hero after what you’d just witnessed. Best Jeanist had been in the top ten Pro Heroes. Hawks was number two, and he had murdered Twice. You wouldn’t go back to your parents. You wouldn’t be locked away again.

You wandered the streets of Japan, backpack weighing heavily on your shoulders. You blended too well into the crowds in your normal clothes. Day became night, night became day, and again the cycle continued. You didn’t sleep. You didn’t eat. You just walked, until you were standing in an alleyway, swaying on your numb legs. Hunger clawed at your empty stomach. Night had fallen over you.

“Anna?”

You turned, feeling the hairs stand up on your forearm. Toga tilted her head to the side in confusion. She looked you up and down, crossing her arms over her chest.

“What’s a hero student doing in this part of town at night?” she asked.

“I’m no longer a hero student,” you murmured. Your fingers dug into the straps at your shoulders. A single tear fell down your face. “They killed him. The Pro Heroes killed him, and I couldn’t save him.” You collapsed where you stood, exhaustion taking you in one fell swoop.

Toga rushed to you, keeping your head from hitting the ground. Her eyes widened at your words. She sunk down beside you. “They killed both of them,” she corrected. “I lost them both.”

You sobbed. Toga’s arms came around you in an embrace. You hugged her back.

“It hurts so bad. I can’t stop seeing it. I can’t stop having nightmares about it,” you confessed.

“I know.” She rubbed your back in an attempt to console you.

“I hate them for it. I did everything I could to stop them. I begged them to let him go.” You cried harder, shaking.

“He loved you,” she said. “He really loved you, and he wouldn’t want you to blame yourself for it. It’s not your fault. It’s the hero’s fault.”

You nodded into her shirt in agreement.

“There’s one thing you can do to make the pain go away,” Toga explained.

You wiped at your eyes, trying to look at her. “I’ll do anything. What can I do?”

“Avenge their deaths.”

…Ten Years Later…

You adjusted your hood again, watching a few Pro Heroes make an illegal deal with villains for some quirk-erasing bullets. They weren’t cops. They fully intended to use those bullets for their own gain. You saw it in their minds. Their perverse understanding of how to get ahead in this powered world was to erase the quirks of those that were standing in their way. You almost wished you had waited for Toga to come out with you. She would have enjoyed cutting them to pieces.

You tapped one of Kobura’s knives with the tip of your finger. A slit to their throats would be more than they deserved. They’d been making these kinds of deals all over the city. They’d been doing it for years. Your hand trailed up your false-leather suit, pressing into your temple once you reached your head. Kobura’s taste in clothing impressed you. He only had the finest fabrics, all of which had a tactical advantage. Toga insisted you inherited all of his assets. She said he would have wanted it that way. If he only could see you now, he’d probably be grinning from ear to ear.

Your eyes followed the Pro Heroes as they left. Perhaps, you’d let them suffer before you scrambled their minds, make them imagine their worst fears. Of course, making them braindead was a far worse punishment, alive but incoherent. They’d be remembered as the braindead puppets of a villain, rather than their former selves as dishonest Pro Heroes.

You dropped down from your perch, smirking as the three men turned around. You gripped one by the mind, taking everything he was and twisting it into nothing. He dropped, a mindless vessel.

“Please, don’t hurt us, MindVirus,” one of the more experienced Pro Heroes begged. He recognized you immediately. “We were buying those bullets to get them off the streets. You have to believe us. We didn’t know it would be a bad thing.”

But, he did know. He was lying to your face. He knew you could read his mind and yet he rambled on about having no knowledge of what he was doing. “Know that your final words were a lie,” you spat. You lifted your hand, snapping his mind in half like a twig too.

The last man trembled in fear as you approached him. You lifted your hand to wipe his mind too.

“Anna Kokoro!”

You halted, lifting your lip into a snarl. You hadn’t heard that name in a long time. It had been erased from existence long ago. You were now MindVirus in honor of Doku Kobura’s wrongful death. You glanced back, narrowing your eyes.

“You’ve got the wrong person,” you snapped.

“The hell I do.” Katsuki Bakugo charged out into the dimly lit alleyway.

You smiled, a crooked and wicked grin. “Dynamight, how nice of a Pro Hero like you to grace me with your presence this evening. Unfortunately, I cannot play with you right now. I’m rather busy.” You turned back, and the man escaped around the corner. You rolled your eyes. At least he was not the one carrying the contraband. Still…

You shot a strand of your mind out, catching the Pro Hero even without seeing him. You heard the smack of his face hitting the sidewalk pavement. Yes, that would suffice as a punishment for now. He would think twice about doing something villainous again.

“I’m talking to you, Big Brain,” Bakugo snapped.

You yawned in boredom. “Stop acting like we’re back in school, Dynamight. That nickname has very little effect on me anymore.” You looked at your nails in disinterest.

“Why are you killing Pro Heroes?” he growled out, holding up his hand, ready to blast you at a moment’s notice.

“I haven’t been killing that many,” you said. “I’ve mostly emptying their minds.” You glanced at him again. “I assure you that they deserved it, but I know you wouldn’t believe me.”

“This isn’t you, Anna. You don’t kill people,” Bakugo said. “Come with me willingly, and this won’t get ugly.”

You raised an eyebrow at him. He was far more chiseled than you remembered. Age matured him nicely. He bulked up significantly from when the two of you were teenagers. You scanned him over. It may be to your benefit to string him along. It wouldn’t hurt to have him chasing after you. Actually, it would be a welcome distraction from your monotonous day to day as a villain. Things were too easy for you. Your mind quirk thrived when you weren’t holding back.

“I’m not Anna anymore.” You shrugged. “And, don’t waste your breath, hero. I’m not coming with you. The only reason that I haven’t fried your brain yet, is because I find you rather amusing, physically and/or mentally. I haven’t really decided yet. Besides, you’re one of the ‘good’ ones, if I can call any Pro Heroes good ones. At least you’re honest.” Yes, you knew him well. He’d blasted his way up the hero ranks. His overall personality hadn’t changed. He never strayed from the hero’s path. Although many believed that he walked a fine line, you knew that he never did anything evil in the slightest.

You reached out and gripped his mind, a grape between your quirk’s grasp. Bakugo shivered. You scowled when you watched the memories of your old self flitter through his thoughts. You let go of his head, sending him back with a mind blast. He caught himself, but much farther away from you.

“Arrest me if you can, Dynamight.” You lifted your hand as a farewell. “I await your ultimate triumph. Perhaps, you may be the one to end my reign of terror, but I highly doubt that.” You placed him in a mind barrier so he couldn’t follow you. You’d release him as soon as you knew you were out of his sight. “I’d give up on what you knew about my former self if I were you. She died a long time ago, Katsuki.”

You left him with that one last sliver of hope, chuckling to yourself as you disappeared into the night. Being a villain had its perks, including having a grown-up Pro Hero Dynamight constantly seeking you out. You relished the idea of him trying to chase you down, being just out of reach. You hoped that he could stop you one day. Maybe, it would finally bring you some kind of peace.

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agentark88 · 1 year

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Think: A Venomous Ending

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language, blood, and violence.

(Ending 5 of 8)

A Venomous Ending

A knife sailed past your ear, aimed directly at Shigaraki’s chest. All for One deflected the projectile with ease, and you caught the blade with your mind.

“Traitor,” All for One hissed out.

“I won’t let you harm Sweet Anna,” Kobura snapped back. “Shigaraki is the one I work for, not you. He doesn’t deserve to be dragged around like a puppet.”

“Tomura should have known the cost of obtaining such power. I am just allowing him to rest. You would be wise to stand aside,” All for One said.

You gave Doku back the knife. You saw the feral instincts set in his expression. Venom dripped from his bruised lips. Although his quirk had recently evolved, you weren’t sure if he was in any condition to fight All for One.

“Is that why Shigaraki’s fighting you like that?” Doku asked. “To rest?”

All for One’s posture changed. He leaned forward defensively, his hand rising. “You have no imagination, Doku Kobura. Tomura is in a weakened state. He needs me to survive. If you truly cared about Tomura, you wouldn’t waste your time trying to distract me from the girl. I am the only one my successor can truly trust.”

How did Doku see that Shigaraki was internally fighting All for One? He couldn’t read minds as far as you knew. Perhaps he could sense it, smell it on the man. Doku had said his last questions with such certainty that he had to have known.

Doku continued to adjust where he stood, ensuring that he was directly in between you and All for One. Doku wanted you out of harm’s way. He needed you to be safe. He motioned with his hand behind his back for you to run.

You glanced between Doku and All for One. If you didn’t make a choice soon, the Nomus would be upon both of you. If you left Doku, All for One might actually kill him. You hesitated, fists clenching at your sides. No, you wouldn’t leave him. You took a few steps forward in determination, but Doku had already put his hand out to stop you.

“Please. I can’t live without you. Please run,” Doku said. “I love you.” His body trembled. His knuckles went white from clenching the knife so hard in his hands.

“I can’t—” You gasped, turning your gaze down to your chest. Red and black energy had punctured through you. All for One managed to slip his quirk behind you.

“You’ve revealed your weakness, Doku Kobura. Though I must admit it had been obvious,” All for One said.

Doku’s electric-green eyes widened. The quirk energy was pulled from your chest, blood spurting out. Doku gripped your body as you fell. Rage clouded his vision. His eyes went dead as his trembling stopped. He set you down and in the next instant he was on top of All for One. The knife in his hands plunged into his chest. Doku was blasted off of Shigaraki’s body. Kobura’s hand clutched the knife as he was forced away. He skidded beside you, breathing animalistically, like a thousand snakes hissing at once.

The Nomus came careening up Gigantomachia’s back. You shot out strands of your mind, creating a barrier between them and Shigaraki. You coughed up blood as the Nomus hit the mind shield. You played Shigaraki’s voice in your mind, over and over. The nightmares created his vocal tone vividly.

Stop! Do not interfere! Freeze! you shouted into the Nomus’ minds with your memory of Shigaraki’s rasping voice. Like a zombified army, they stopped moving.

You fell back, clutching your hand to your chest. Blood dripped through your fingers. You unsteadily stood to your feet, using your mind to give you some support. You wrapped a strand around your torso to hold the wound closed as best you could.

All for One looked toward the Nomus, losing focus. Kobura took his chance to strike. He slit Shigaraki’s throat, nearly a fatal wound. Once All for One drove Doku back again, his neck healed, but not fully. All for One went to speak and found the words stuck in his throat. Kobura must have severed vocal cords, where he had expertly plunged his knife. He knew what you’d been able to do. He was ensuring that Shigaraki would be trapped here, unless he himself escaped without outside help.

All for One lifted Shigaraki’s hand again. A multitude of energy spiked tendrils took form, reaching out for Doku. Kobura easily avoided the stabs. His speed was unmatched, and it appeared he’d grown even faster with the new development from his quirk. He sliced through All for One’s arm. Doku was repelled once again by yellow energy.

Kobura skidded to a stop beside you. “Your first mistake was attacking Sweet Anna. Your second mistake will be your last. You let me live. The Pro Heroes have been going easy on you, All for One.” Doku grinned, eyes flashing menacingly. “A villain doesn’t have the same obligations as a hero. I will kill you.”

The black tendrils escaped Shigaraki’s spine, holding him afloat. All for One backed away to escape. Without the Nomus to control by his voice, he would need to escape on his own. All for One was well-aware that time was running out for a clean retreat. The heroes had been incapacitated for the most part, but more Pro Heroes would arrive. He would be outnumbered, outpowered, and too weak to escape.

You grabbed All for One with strands of your quirk, and his eyes were back on you. Tendrils of dark energy shot for you again. Doku reached you faster, grabbing you and leaping from the side of Gigantomachia. The two of you landed, and he sprinted for the buildings with you in his arms. You held fast on Shigaraki with your mind quirk, keeping him from his escape. He managed to jump down toward the crumbling street level even with you holding him.

You shrieked as All for One grabbed one of your mind strands with Shigaraki’s bare hand. It disintegrated in his touch. You clutched your head. Doku put you down, rushing for All for One again, knife clipping into his thigh. Doku easily dodged tendril attacks. Any hands going toward Doku were evaded too. Another slice was made in Shigaraki’s shoulder. All for One sent Kobura reeling this time. The energy blast sent him careening into the bottom of a building, through the glass and several rooms.

All for One bent down. His hand pressed into the ground, and the decay rippled for the building.

“No!” you shouted. You lifted a piece of debris beside you, whipping it at full force toward All for One. In his weakened state, it actually hit him.

As the decay tore through the remaining structure, Doku was already up and moving toward you again. You managed to get to your knees, clutching your wounded chest, but you could barely move other than that. Kobura took you up in his arms. Your cape tore free from your back, being snagged on a piece of metal bar. The building collapsed, pieces falling around you. Even with Kobura’s speed, it was clear that you’d both be crushed before he could manage to outrun the falling debris. You pushed through the searing pain in your mind, giving the two of you one extra burst of mind blast energy to send you flying forward. Kobura clutched you to his chest as you both sprawled out onto the ground. The skyscraper had finally fallen. Dust and rubble rumbled over the two of you, creating a cloud of cover and making it hard to breathe.

You passed out, just as Doku lifted you up in his arms again.

…

You jolted awake. Pain immediately burned in your chest. Your breathing was labored as you took in the unfamiliar surroundings.

“Easy, Sweet Anna. You’re safe,” Doku said.

You were in a room, a regular seemingly underground room with the same modern aesthetic as Doku’s apartment room that you’d been in ages ago. Monitors beeped beside you, connected together with an assortment of wires as if they’d been built from scrap.

“Where am I?” you asked. A migraine throbbed in your temple, and your fingers moved to massage your head.

“My newest hideout,” he said. He bowed his head in front of you, his white hair falling in front of his face. “I’m so glad you’re conscious. It’s been months.” Tears dripped down his face, difficult to see from his posture.

“Months?” you croaked out. “I’ve been here for months?”

He nodded, hesitating to grip your hand in his. “I was so scared. I… I wanted to bring you to the hospital, but there was a manhunt out for me. I wouldn’t have even made it close enough to ensure they’d take care of you appropriately. I… I just hoped that my medical knowledge had been enough to help you. Once I got you stabilized, I didn’t think a doctor would be able to help. It might have been selfish… It was… but…” He covered his face. “I couldn’t lose you. I couldn’t bear to lose you again, and your mind actually allowed me close enough to examine you… I read the other hospital reports, and it had never allowed that before. I thought my help was your best chance for survival in your condition. I was so unsure, and…” He was rambling, trembling and rambling uncontrollably. “I’m so sorry. I just couldn’t let you go.”

Your hand found his, and he froze. “I’m okay, Doku. I survived.” You gulped, tentatively touching the wound at your chest. It was sore, but it clearly had healed. Months? You’d been out for months? “N-no one came looking for me?” you asked, voice wavering.

Doku’s hand tensed around yours. “Your cape was found beneath the rubble of that building. They thought All for One used Shigaraki’s power and had disintegrated you.” Doku looked down guiltily. “Even if that weren’t the case, there was footage of you being stabbed. They assumed you would have bled out and died if the decay had not been the cause of your demise. It was all over the news. Because they found nothing of mine, they thought I was still at large.”

“They think that I’m dead?” you asked.

“Yes,” Doku said solemnly. “I couldn’t tell them otherwise. I would have been arrested or killed on sight. I couldn’t leave you.” Doku wiped his face with his free hand, trying to hide the new tears pouring free. “Your classmates held a funeral for you. They swore that they would capture me for your sake. It was broadcasted on the news too.” He took in a feeble breath. “I know it’s a lot to take in. I will answer anything you need me to. I… I’m just so happy you’re awake and alive.”

“I’m dead…” you trailed off in disbelief. “They just believed that I died and didn’t look for me.” You gulped. You had stood beside Kobura in that fight against All for One, Shigaraki. You stood beside a villain. Even if you went back, would they want you back? You fought against All for One, sure, but there was no explaining working in tandem with Doku. You did it willingly. You chose to trust him. There was no going back to your old world like this.

Your gaze shifted back up to Doku. “You saved me,” you said less like a question and more like realization.

“Of course I did,” he choked out. “I would have given my life for you.” He pressed his forehead to the back of your hand. “I-I can take you back. Once you’re up on your feet, I can bring you back to them. If that’s what you want, I’ll bring you back. I love you so much. I would do anything for you. I promised that if you woke up that I would do anything you asked of me. All I cared about was seeing your eyes open again. I’ll carry you to that damned school today if you so wish it.”

“No,” you said.

“No?” Doku raised his head, surprise washing through his expression.

Tears filled your eyes. You’d been fighting him with every confession. You’d been trying to ignore your feelings because it conflicted with your dreams. You hadn’t realized how much you cared about him, until you were willing to fight alongside him. “I love you too, Doku. I don’t want to go back to that school, to ignoring my feelings for you.”

Doku blinked. “Are you sure? You don’t have to decide now. I don’t want you to feel like you have to say that. You know that I wouldn’t do anything to intentionally hurt you. It’s whatever you want. I promise, Anna.”

“I love you,” you repeated. “This is what I want. You are what I want.”

A smile slowly formed on Doku’s face. He pressed his forehead to yours, nuzzling your nose with his. “I love you so much. You make me so happy. I can’t believe… I just love you.”

…Three Years Later…

The night air nipped at your nose. Up on this rooftop, under the night sky, this was freedom.

“Your chicken will get cold,” Doku said, pouting.

“It’s been cold, Doku.” You chuckled. “You ran all the way in town to get it up here.”

“No one else would have been able to deliver it faster,” Doku retorted, shoving some food into his own mouth. “If it’s cold, it was cold when I picked it up.” He eyed you suspiciously. “I’m not giving you mine again, Anna. You should have ordered it if you like it so much.”

“But, I wanted their specialty chicken, not the lemon steak. Just give me a taste,” you pleaded.

Doku rolled his eyes. He held out a piece of his steak toward your mouth. You took it, chewing happily as you kicked your legs. Your gaze shifted toward the street. Everyone looked like ants from how high up the two of you were sitting.

“I’m getting you both next time, and you better not complain it’s too much food.”

“Or, what?” you teased.

Doku scrunched his nose at your question. “Or, I’m cutting the Wi-Fi in the house. No more video games.”

“You wouldn’t,” you gasped out.

“It’s better than watching my girlfriend starve herself because she won’t eat her own food,” Kobura said.

You stuck your tongue out at him, stealing another piece of steak from his takeout container and popping it in your mouth. Despite his empty threats, he nudged the container of his food toward you. He leaned back on his hands, looking up at the sky.

“I’m just kidding, Anna. I’d order you every dish if that’s what you wanted,” he said. “I’m smitten. You’ve got me wrapped around your finger.”

“That sounds like a villainous thing to do to someone else. Perhaps, you’ve had an effect on me,” you said playfully.

Doku snorted out a laugh. “I gave up being a villain the day you moved in. You can’t use me as an excuse for your dastardly deeds anymore, Sweet Anna.”

“You’re right,” you said. “The past is behind us. We’re in a better place now.”

You leaned into him, glad to snuggle up against him to keep out of the night’s wind. He wrapped an arm around you, pulling you closer. He nuzzled his head against yours, sighing contently.

“I’ll always love you, Sweet Anna,” he murmured.

“And, I’ll always love you, Doku,” you replied.

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agentark88 · 1 year

Text

Think: An Unbreakable Ending

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language and violence.

(Ending 4 of 8)

An Unbreakable Ending

Your chest tightened in fear. You couldn’t do this. You weren’t strong enough to fight All for One. Shigaraki alone scared you, shook you to your very core.

“Well, what will it be, child?” All for One questioned you, tilting Shigaraki’s head to the side.

Your eyes focused on his hands, the same hands that disintegrated miles of city and innocent lives. You gulped.

Move, you begged yourself, but your feet were stuck in place. You had to move before it was too late. The Nomus were already storming up the side of Gigantomachia. Soon, it would be too late to do anything.

Then you saw it, saw the small piece of fabric peeking out between Gigantomachia’s rough textured skin. It was the bandana that you’d given Eijiro Kirishima at the carnival, the one that he wore constantly. He must have been involved in knocking the giant unconscious. Kirishima got you to where you were standing now.

Your body shifted on its own, aiming toward the small beacon of hope, the courage that you were missing in this battle. Kirishima would need that bandana back. You needed to give it back to him, and the only way you’d be able to do that would be to survive this encounter, no matter how afraid it made you to fight someone so powerful.

You charged forward, mind shield up as you rushed to the right of Shigaraki. All for One scoffed, blasting you off balance with yellow energy. You tumbled sideways, hand slipping out of your mental shield and grasping the bandana between your fingers just as you rolled. You grinned in triumph, but you barely had enough sense to reach your other hand out to grab the side of the beast you were just about to get launched off of. Your fingers dug into the side of Gigantomachia, dangling at the edge of the fallen creature.

You struggled to pull yourself up, but found strength in the gift that you held. Just as you came over the edge, you spotted All for One raising Shigaraki’s hand. Your shield came up to protect your face. The air left you when you felt the dark red and black energy stake you in the back, then two more. Your vision blurred. You watched a Nomu lift up Shigaraki for an escape. Another Nomu broke free from the pack, reacting to something that All for One instructed it to do. Your body quivered in fear as you saw the creature’s long gangly arms reach overhead, before they came down on you. Your mind shield was no match for the creature’s strength, and you felt your ribs crack. Its fists came down again, and you felt consciousness slipping from you. You clutched tightly to the bandana, silently apologizing to Eijiro for failing, for not being strong enough to finish what he’d started.

…

“You have to let me see her, please!”

“She’s in critical condition. She’s being carted to surgery as we speak. Even if we let you see her, she would most likely be unconscious.”

“Eijiro,” you said weakly, eyes barely peeking open. You could barely see him at the end of the hallway, trying to get past a doctor. He was bruised and scraped up pretty badly. “Kiri,” you called out a little louder, but your voice was barely a rasp.

Somehow, he saw you, saw you struggling to speak as you lifted your arm, showing him the bandana between your fingers. His eyes widened, and, to your surprise, he pushed past the doctor, barreling down the hallway toward you.

“Princess!” he called out. “I’m right here! It’s going to be okay! Just, fight through this, alright? Don’t let these injuries beat you. We’ve got to train together and become heroes together, okay? Stay strong, Princess. I’ll be right here waiting for you.”

You struggled to breathe. Your fingers tightened around the meaningful fabric with more force. “Eijiro…” you managed. “You gave me strength.” The last sentence was broken, barely audible.

Eijiro stopped in his tracks, already being held back by an army of hospital staff. Surprise etched into his expression. He watched you disappear into the operating room. The world went black again.

You floated on a sea of nothing, wading through your own mind and feeling space and time trickle past you. No matter how hard you tried you couldn’t get out of this pond of water. You couldn’t open your physical eyes. You restlessly waited, letting the water float you along and staring at nothing.

Every once in a while, you’d hear the occasional voice, the echo of a hospital monitor, but it was faint, almost like a distant memory or thought drifting through your mind. You wanted to hear more, wanted to take on more thoughts. No one was talking to you, no one was saying anything, until…

Will she ever wake up? Kirishima asked.

It’s undetermined if she will ever recover from such physical and mental trauma to her body. Her quirk will not allow us to run further tests on her brain. Her physical body is heavily damaged. Her spinal cord was our biggest concern, and it appears to have suffered severe injury from the Nomu’s attack. Should she wake up, there’s a good chance she may not be able to walk again, the doctor explained.

We understand. Thank you for the update. Please keep us posted and notify us immediately should she show signs of waking up, Mr. Aizawa said solemnly.

You were hearing their conversation as if they were thoughts in your own mind. You flailed in the pool of water you were floating in in frustration. You wanted to shout that you were right there, that you were awake, but words would not form on your lips. You waited. All you could do was wait as your quirk mended your mind, kept you in a form of stasis for your own recovery.

Kirishima visited you every day, or it’s what you could only assume. His voice came booming through your head like clockwork. He must have gone from U.A. classes straight to the hospital. He was constantly talking to you, and your subconscious continued to relay the messages, keeping you sane, while you waded through calm water.

I brought you some more chocolate and a new shark plushy. I saw it in the hospital gift shop, and I couldn’t pass it up. You would love it, Princess. It’s blue and even has sparkly gills. I’ll put it right next to you for when you wake up, Eijiro said.

Man, today sure was rough. Bakubro totally yelled at me for being distracted during training, and I failed one of Mr. Aizawa’s tests. I wish you could have tutored me. I know that I would have aced it if I had someone as studious as you being my study partner.

You will never believe what happened. Sero and Mina started dating! I’m so happy for the two of them. I really hope it works out. After everything we’ve been through, Sero didn’t want to hold his feelings back. Life’s too short, you know?

I miss talking to you, Princess. It’s been kind of hard lately. I’m trying to stay motivated and all, but…

I brought a book! I thought that I could read it aloud to you. I don’t know if my voice is all that good for storytelling, but I think you’d really like it. It’s about a sharkman meeting a human woman, and they fall in love. I hope it’s got a happy ending, but you never know with these romance stories.

I really miss you, Princess. I’d give anything to see you smile again.

I fought a really cool villain today. He was super strong, and he challenged me to a duel! Of course, I had to agree to help protect citizens, but it was really kind of weird. I never thought a villain would call me out like that. He said that I looked really strong and no one had ever defeated him before. It was a tough fight, but I came out on top. Got a new scar though.

Princess, if you can hear me, you mean the world to me. I love you so much. I hope you get better soon.

The days strung together as Eijiro continued to visit. His words never faltered in their sincerity. He tried his best to keep upbeat, but the longer that you stayed in a comatose state, the sadder it seemed that Eijiro became. If you could cry in this weird subconscious part of your mind, then you would have.

You weren’t sure when it happened, but there was a bright light that shone at the top of the wading pool. You squinted your eyes as it was painful to look at. Soon, however, you found yourself reaching for the light, wishing that you could finally see Eijiro Kirishima again. You clawed, swam, and reached upward. There was nothing to lose. You didn’t want to spend another moment stuck in your own mind.

Your eyes crept open as nausea washed over you. You were tired, so tired and fatigued that it hurt.

“So, I told Fat Gum I was coming today, and he understood. He’s starting to get worried about me, but I’m fine. You’re the one…” Kirishima looked ready to cry. He was staring down at his hands. “You’re the one everyone should be worried about. I’m doing just fine, Princess. I promise. I’ve got to keep working hard for when you finally wake up.”

“Eij—” You could barely make a sound. Your voice strained due to its disuse for so long.

Kirishima turned his gaze up. He blinked at you with those beautiful ruby-red eyes, and you smiled at him.

“Y-you’re… You’re awake!” He sprang up from his chair, reaching toward you. He hesitated to move forward, looking back toward the door. He shook his head and grabbed your hand. “I was starting to think that I’d never see those beautiful eyes open ever again,” he said, voice cracking.

“Kiri…” you croaked out.

“It’s okay, Princess. You don’t need to force it. It’s been months. Your voice may need some time to get back to where it was.” He looked worriedly back toward the door. “I should tell someone you’re awake.” He shifted, and your hand weakly tightened over his.

“Missed you,” you whispered. “Heard you.”

“Heard me?” Kirishima asked, blushing. “You heard me come here and talk to you?”

You nodded happily, giving his hand another feeble squeeze. Exhaustion hit you, but you forced yourself to stay awake, to keep holding onto him.

“Love you too,” you managed.

“Ah, you heard…” Kirishima trailed off. He rubbed the back of his neck, gaze lingering on your face. “Yes, I love you. I… I should have said it before the mission, before all of this happened. I’m so happy that I got to tell you.”

Eijiro stopped trying to leave you. Instead, he knelt beside your bed, resting his head beside your hand. His pointy hair brushed your fingertips, and you giggled. He grinned at you, gently squeezing your hand.

“There are so many things I want to tell you,” he said. “I’m so glad that I can see you smile again.”

…Ten Years Later…

“I told you that I’m fine, Eijiro. I haven’t needed help going up the stairs since you got me through that whole year of physical therapy,” you said, swatting away at your husband’s hand.

“You’re pregnant, Princess. At least let me carry your bag,” he said.

“There’s barely anything in my bag,” you said.

“All the more reason that I should just carry you.”

You sighed out, smiling toward him. He’d become a handful as soon as he heard he was becoming a father. You trusted him with your life, but sometimes you wanted him to pay attention to himself, rather than doting on you all of the time.

Eijiro tied back his lengthy red hair as he paced the stairs behind you. His hands continued to spring out with each step as if suddenly you would fall. When you reached the door, he shouted after you in a panic.

“I’ve got it,” he said. He opened the door for you, holding it open so you could go inside.

You put your hand on your hip and shook your head, but you gave him a kiss on the cheek on the way into your house. It was quiet, a little too quiet. You reached out your quirk and caught several minds all at once. Before you could warn Eijiro, your old U.A. classmates sprung up from behind your couch.

“Surprise!” they shouted together.

You were genuinely amazed to see them all together, as most of them were Pro Heroes and rarely got a day off. Eijiro was bouncing in place behind you.

“Please tell me that you like it,” he said.

You didn’t have the heart to tell him you knew about the “surprise” baby shower for weeks. It was very obvious from the decorations he had haphazardly hidden all over the house. You didn’t need to be a mind reader to know what he’d been planning. You were, however, surprised by how many of your old friends that he managed to convince to visit.

You nodded, tears filling your eyes. “It’s perfect,” you said. You glanced at Ochaco and the two of you were hugging each other, so happy to see one another after such a long time.

Eijiro’s shark-toothed grin widened as he clapped his old group of friends on their backs. Katsuki Bakugo roughly gave him a side hug, before coming back over to Ochaco. It was a wonder that Katsuki and Ochaco hadn’t been closer in high school. The two of them wound up connecting shortly after graduation and were now happily married. It turned out that they had more in common with each other than they thought they did, and the two of them were able to balance each other out very well.

You clasped Ochaco’s hands, and the two of you bounced in place giggling.

“Have you thought about names?” she asked.

“Millions,” you said. “I really like Ryu and Daichi, but Gou is such a strong manly name, you know?”

“Ooh, those are good ones to pick from.”

You pouted out your bottom lip. “I wish you were having a baby too. They could have had play dates together.”

“Don’t rush it,” Katsuki interjected. “We’ll have our own damn brats when we’re ready.”

Ochaco frowned at him, and he scowled right back at her.

“I’ll just need to spoil the baby when he comes, since I don’t have one of my own yet. Just call me Auntie Ochaco.” She stuck her tongue out at Katsuki, and he clicked his tongue.

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll get the brat whatever he wants,” Katsuki said, waving the two of you on.

“I thought you would have at least helped him be a bit less grouchy,” you said under your breath.

“It’s a work in progress,” Ochaco said, winking at you.

Eijiro suddenly came up behind you, wrapping his arms around your shoulders and holding you close. He pressed a kiss to your temple, surveying the large crowd of baby-shower goers.

“What’s wrong, Eijiro? Don’t you want to catch up with everyone?” you asked.

“Ah, I talk to them all the time. You only get to have one first baby shower.” He gave your shoulders a reassuring squeeze. “I just want to be in the moment with you.”

You reached up, intertwining your fingers with his. You felt so happy, so loved that you could hardly hold in your tears.

“Eijiro?”

“Hm?” he asked, nuzzling his face into your neck.

“I love you,” you murmured.

“I love you too,” he replied. “I love you so much, and I’m so happy that I got to tell you. And, I’m going to tell our baby boy how much he’s loved too, every day until he gets sick of me for saying it so much.”

You giggled. “Don’t get too carried away.”

“Alright, maybe just a few hundred times in his first year.”

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agentark88 · 1 year

Text

Think: An Icy Ending

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language, alcohol, blood, and violence.

(Ending 3 of 8)

An Icy Ending

“I won’t let you hurt her!” Shoto yelled. A shell of protective ice encased you as Shoto came gliding in. He held you close to his chest, as he urged you away from Shigaraki, All for One. Ice spread out from Shoto’s palm. His whole body shook as he continued to build the shell to protect you. His chest heaved from exertion. The heat from his left side could barely even be considered warm.

“Shoto, we’re safe. I’m safe. Stop,” you said.

Shoto didn’t seem to hear you as he used the remainder of his strength to finish the ice chrysalis. His body suddenly slumped into yours, and your eyes widened. Burns, horrid burns from Dabi’s blue fire speckled his skin in patches. His fire quirk and his ice may have just barely been able to save his skin because they appeared like they could heal with time. Shoto was blue, shivering. His lips had turned purple from the cold. Ice had crept up the right side of his skin, lingering there after he’d lost consciousness.

You quivered, teeth chattering. The loud oncoming footsteps of the Nomus dissipated. Shigaraki and All for One, who’d taken control of his body, had most likely escaped. You tightened your grasp around Shoto’s chest, trying to provide him with warmth, using your body heat to no avail. You set him down in the small dome-like cave he’d made out of solid ice. Your breathing echoed off of the protective walls that now held you both captive.

You dug through your utility belt pockets, removing a small metallic blanket that would normally help civilians should they need to keep in their body heat. Unfortunately, Shoto was already covered in ice, so you weren’t sure how effective it would be for him. You wrapped him in it all the same, realizing your time was ticking. Lack of oxygen or hypothermia would likely be your undoing if you weren’t able to get out of this shell of ice.

Shoto could be your only hope in getting out, but he’d likely already pushed himself far past his own limitations. Endeavor would be another safe bet for escape, but his last attack against Gigantomachia had left him unconscious too. Bakugo may be able to blast through the dome of ice, but you were pretty sure he’d already passed out. Deku couldn’t use his arms or legs anymore because he’d broken all of his bones just to fight Shigaraki, so a Detroit Smash wasn’t likely getting you out either.

You turned your gaze down to your belt. You had explosives, but, at this range, they could kill you both. You had fire projectiles, but, again, it was a fatal and an unlikely solution. You glanced at Shoto again, rubbing your arms to bring friction and heat to your body. White condensed air was already coming out from your shivering lips. You knelt down beside Shoto, checking his pulse. It was faint, fainter than you would have liked it to be.

“S-Shoto,” you chattered out his name, hoping you could somehow get him to wake up. “P-Please, you need to wake up.” You shook his shoulder, wincing at how forceful you were being. He needed to rest. What he went through today was beyond horrible. You couldn’t imagine the emotional and physical trauma he suffered from battling his “dead” brother.

Shoto didn’t move, even as you continued to try to shake him awake. He was barely breathing. His throat must have been raw from smoke inhalation or burns because you could hear his breath rasp with every exhale. You brushed some hair out of his eyes, and the icy strands melted with your touch. As your fingers accidently skimmed his face, warmth began to spread across some of his frosted skin. You brought your palm to his cheek and again felt heat rise from his body. You grabbed his hands, holding them between your own. His left side reacted to your touch, even without him being conscious. You breathed a sigh of relief when it seemed the ice had almost completely melted from his upper body. It didn’t solve the immediate problem, but you were glad he wouldn’t succumb to frostbite.

“Shoto, I need you. I know… you’ve done more than enough today… but I really need you,” you murmured. You came closer to him, wanting desperately to huddle against him for warmth, but no action in this situation was death. The Pro Heroes available would not be able to get you out.

You blew into your hands, fingers trembling. Your attention froze. You could get out. There was a way to get out, but it was going to hurt. Deku might not be able to Detroit Smash his way in, but you could punch your way out. Heart of Hearts had trained you to punch through things, break through things, using your quirk to your advantage.

You settled into a fighting stance, carefully adjusting as to not pivot into unconscious Shoto. Your quirk swirled in your mind, reacting to your instincts. You balled up your fist, feeling wind begin to turbulently fill the space. Strands of your quirk coiled around your muscles, placing a thin layer around your knuckles. The first swing came easy, but as you hit the cement-like ice, you heard bones crack. You cried out, clutching your hand to your chest. Sweat pooled over your face, nearly freezing on sight. You let out a pitiful whimper. You didn’t dare look at the damage, afraid a finger may be out of place.

You turned your gaze up. A small fissure had begun to form in the ice. Not enough. The crack wasn’t enough to get the two of you out. You readied your stance again, switching from your dominant hand.

“Punch through it,” you said to yourself, gritting your teeth. You couldn’t afford to break both hands, but you also couldn’t hold back. You lined up your punch with the crevice. Your quirk spiraled up your muscles again. You struck, biting back another yelp. Tears came to your eyes. The ice made a hollow twang, and the crack continued to grow.

“One more,” you said. “One more, and you save us,” you assured. “You save Shoto.”

Your attention floated down to him. He was in critical condition. He needed help, your help. Shoto needed you, and… you needed him. You needed him to make it out of this alive.

You adjusted your stance again, letting out a puff of misty air from your dry lips. You pulled back. Wind roared. Your quirk connected with your body, wielded it like its own weapon. It pulsed and streamed through muscles you hadn’t realized you had.

“One more!” you shouted, driving the final punch home.

A rush of air and mental quirk energy vibrated through the gap. Ice splintered and crackled like dropped glass. The punch rippled like an explosion, shooting through the solid ice. A hole had finally been exposed. Fresh air came rushing into the small nook that Shoto and you had been trapped in. Your whole body shivered as you dropped to your knees, your arms falling lamely to your sides. The remaining ice cooled them. They were both broken, shattered. But, at least, you were free. You managed to get Shoto free.

A few Pro Heroes managed to get the two of you out. They had to have taken the injured to the hospital already. You rode with Shoto to the hospital, allowing the paramedics to attend to him, before you even said anything about your arms.

Once you’d made it to the hospital, you mentioned that you may or may not have severe injuries. A nurse rolled up your sleeve and gasped. Fretfully, she guided you into your own room. You didn’t remember much after being helped into a bed. Consciousness slipped in and out. In your delirium, you could only think about Shoto’s condition.

“Is he okay?” you murmured. “Is he going to be okay?” you asked.

You awoke to two casts on your arms, blindly swinging at nothing and wincing when you felt what punching solid ice had done to your bones. Shinso jumped back from your cot as if he’d just fallen asleep sitting up.

“It’s me! Hey, it’s okay. You’re in the hospital,” Shinso said.

“Shoto, is he okay?” you blurted out. “We… we were trapped,” you tried to explain. “He was injured.” You blinked at Shinso, and he sighed.

“He’s okay,” Shinso assured. “You got him here just when he needed to be. He can’t speak, but he’s okay, stable.”

You bit into your bottom lip, already hoisting yourself out of the hospital bed. Shinso put a hand on you for support. “I have to see him.” You paused, turning back to Shinso with tears in your eyes. “C-can you tell me where he is?” you asked.

Shinso’s eyes widened in surprised. He tried to hide his disappointment. “Room 356. It’s just down the hallway.” His hand left you as soon as you started moving again.

“Thank you,” you said, before leaving into the hallway.

You reached room 356 in no time, turning the corner in blind concern. You had to see him. You had to know for sure that he was alright. You bumped into a hard back upon entering, nearly being knocked down from the impact. You awkwardly stumbled back, unable to catch yourself with the casts on. A strong hand reached out, grabbing you before you fell.

“Oh, sorry. Are you okay?”

You looked up toward a familiar stranger. He actually looked a lot like Endeavor; his build did at least. He had white hair and gray eyes, and he appeared a bit older than you, probably out of high school.

“I-I’m sorry,” you stuttered out. “I didn’t mean to come in unannounced. I wanted to check on my classmate.” You gulped, feeling like there wasn’t a great reason to run into anybody, but you had to know that Shoto was okay. “I was told he was here, and I just… I need to know he’s okay. I’m sorry I was rushing.” Tears filled your eyes. You weren’t sure why exactly.

The young man in front of you blinked in surprise. “Uh…” He seemed uncomfortable, like he wasn’t sure what to do in this situation. He rubbed the back of his neck, glancing away but finding it difficult to not try to do something. He patted your shoulder awkwardly. “No hard feelings. I didn’t even flinch when you ran into me. You don’t need to cry or anything.”

A young woman peered her head around the taller man, immediately going into a nurturing mode upon seeing you. She rushed to your side, helping wipe your face with a tissue without smudging your glasses. “N-Natsuo! You made the poor girl upset,” she scolded him.

“She bumped into me,” Natsuo grumbled. “I don’t think I’m the reason she’s crying, Fuyumi.”

The young woman adjusted her glasses, hooking a strand of her white hair with flecks of crimson behind her ear. She fretted over you for a moment or two, stepping back in worry. “Oh, I apologize. I don’t even know your name. My name is Fuyumi.” She gestured to herself. “That’s Natsuo.” She pointed to the other man. “You said that you were here to see your classmate?” she asked.

“I…” you trailed off. Fuyumi? You knew that name. That was Shoto’s sister. “I’m sorry for the intrusion.” You attempted a deep bow but your casts wouldn’t let you get that far. “Shoto is very important to me, and—” You cut yourself short, realizing what you’d just said aloud to his sister. A deep scarlet blush brushed your cheeks. “I’m sorry. I just want to know that he’s okay. He saved me, and…” you trailed off again. You were beyond nervous to slip up and say the wrong thing. Shoto’s sister was very important to him, and he talked about her often.

“You’re Anna Kokoro then,” a soft voice spoke up from the other side of the room. “Please come in. I’m sure he’d really like to see you. I’m afraid he cannot speak right now, but he’s spoken very highly about you when he came to visit me in the past.”

“Y-yes. It’s very nice to meet you.” It had to have been Shoto’s mother speaking to you. He looked a lot like her too. You forced yourself to move into the room, despite being very nervous to meet his family. There was no turning back now. You cared too much for Shoto to just leave, even if it was so nerve wracking.

Shoto gave you a soft smile when he spotted you. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it shortly after, glancing away as if it pained him. He motioned for you to come closer, and you rushed toward him. You wanted desperately to hug him, but the casts were in the way. Natsuo quickly brought you a chair to sit down, and you didn’t hesitate to do so, just to be close to Shoto. The best that you could do was lean next to him. He patted your back gently in response.

You started crying again, despite yourself, and he wiped the tears from your cheeks, shaking his head. He pressed his palm to your face, as if to say that he was okay and that he was there, and you leaned into his touch.

…Ten Years Later…

“Are you sure they’ll be okay without us?” you asked your husband.

“Fuyumi has it handled. I trust her with my life. She can watch the twins for a night. It will be okay, Anna,” Shoto said, kissing you on the cheek.

“I feel selfish for sneaking out like this,” you said.

“You and I both know that we need to take time off now and again. The twins will be alright. I promise. We’ve been working really hard as Pro Heroes and as parents. Let’s just enjoy our free time together for one night, okay?”

You were still hesitant to leave, but when Shoto’s hand touched yours, you turned back to him. His dual-colored eyes were soft with understanding. If you asked to stay, he wouldn’t push you to go out again. He would let you stay for a family night in. But, you knew how much the two of you needed this. You were both working extremely hard to balance work and life.

“Okay,” you said. “You’re right. Fuyumi will take very good care of them. One night won’t hurt.” You gave his hand a squeeze, and he led you toward the city for an evening stroll.

Shoto made sure he was giving off enough heat to keep the cold at bay. You snuggled up close to him as you walked, glad you could spend some quality time together.

“You look beautiful,” Shoto said.

“Thank you,” you replied, blushing. You’d worn one of your favorite blue dresses on your date tonight. He bought it for you on your last birthday, but you couldn’t find an occasion to actually wear it. You were happy to know that he liked it on you. “So, where are we going?” you asked curiously.

Shoto paused. “Don’t you think that it would be better as a surprise?” he asked.

“Maybe,” you grumbled, pursing out your lips. You always liked surprises, but you were too excited to really wait to find out the surprise part.

Shoto chuckled. “Don’t make that face, Anna. We’ll be there soon enough. I don’t think that you’ll be disappointed either.”

Shoto stopped in an unfamiliar location to you. He held open the door, and you were surprised at how quiet that it seemed. You meekly entered the building. Shoto strode ahead of you, pulling you gently by the hand to an elevator. Once you both got in, he hit the top floor.

“What is this place?” you asked, not remembering seeing a sign outside.

“A secret,” Shoto said softly.

The elevator doors opened up to an empty restaurant. One table was lit up with candles, glowing in the dim room.

“I rented the whole place out just for the two of us. No other distractions. No thoughts to plague your intelligent mind. I thought it would allow you some time to relax,” he said.

“Shoto, it’s too much,” you said. Your eyes moved down toward the ground to see blue petals lining the path toward the table.

“It’s never enough for my lovely wife,” he said. He led you toward the table, helping with your chair. He poured you out a small glass of wine.

“You know I’m not keen on alcohol, Shoto. It’s normally so dry,” you said. You wrinkled your nose, looking over the glass suspiciously.

As he slid the glass toward you, he slowly nodded his head. “It’s chocolate wine. Imported from America,” he said. “I thought you would find it more palatable.” He chuckled, pouring himself a glass of something else. “As for me, I will take the ‘dry’ vintage wine.”

You tentatively took a sip of your glass and were surprised to find it actually quite nice to start out the evening. There was a delicious aroma filling the room, coming from what you would only assume was the kitchen. You looked toward your husband again. He caught your inquisitive gaze.

“I hired the chef for the night as well. You know I’m not exactly a culinary expert. I hope that’s okay. Should you want a rather cold bowl of instant ramen, I would be happy to oblige when we return home. I don’t think they would have the pre-packaged ingredients in the back.”

You set your glass down, looking out toward city from the window. The lights sparkled like stars while the two of you were so far up in the tower. You reached out your hand, grabbing for Shoto’s. His fingers easily slipped between yours, intertwining comfortably. You were surprised to find his hand was clammy. For the first time all night, you realized he might not be so calm and composed.

Shoto cleared his throat, gazing at your touching hands. “Do you like it?” he asked. “The surprise?”

Your attention shifted back to him. It was so sweet of him to ask. You wish that he wouldn’t worry so much. The two of you were married after all, even had two children together. You loved him tremendously.

“It’s very thoughtful,” you said. You exhaled, finally feeling as if you could breathe. It was nice to feel so secure with him around, and it was even better that you didn’t have to worry about your quirk acting up. “I think I love it.” You hesitated to admit it. It must have cost a fortune to clear out an entire restaurant. It was rare that you’d actually let him spoil you. Guilt seeped a little into your expression. You wished the twins could be there with you. They would get a kick out of seeing Japan like this.

Shoto brought your hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to your knuckles. “I’m glad,” he said. “Our alone time is precious to me, and I wish I could do something like this for you more often.” He scanned over your expression. “Perhaps, next time, we could even bring the boys, if that would allow you to relax even more.”

You smiled at him. “I’d like that,” you said. “But, I’m also glad that we took this time to spend with each other, just you and me. You bring out the calm in me. That’s why I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Anna.”

#shoto todoroki #bnha shoto #todoroki shouto #mha shoto #Anna kokoro #mha anna #annakokoro #bnha anna #mha anna kokoro #fuyumi todoroki #natsuo todoroki #rei todoroki #Think Endings #Shoto Todoroki Think Ending #MHA x OC #mha x you #bnha x you #bnha x oc

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agentark88 · 1 year

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Think: Chapter Ninety-Five: The Dead Speak

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Warnings: This work contains mild language, blood, mentions of death, and violence.

Please be aware this piece is in second person perspective, following my original character, Think, Anna Kokoro, who is a transfer student from America.

Chapter Ninety-Five: The Dead Speak

You charged forward, fear numbing your damaged quirk. You shot out your mind to grab Katsuki as he fell from the air, but Shoto grabbed him first with Endeavor in his other hand.

Deku launched another attack toward Shigaraki, breaking through the ensuing dark energy quirk to get to him. Shigaraki grabbed Midoriya by the face. Deep red energy pulsed and entangled over Deku’s head. You fell to your knees, watching in horror as it appeared that Shigaraki was actually going to do it. He was going to take Deku’s quirk. And, all you could do was look on.

Seconds, seconds went by as you struggled to hold on to your senses, battled to keep your head together along with your emotions. All you could do was watch, watch as Deku fought alone against an unstoppable force. Your quirk. If only you could use your quirk, and it was stable enough for you to do something, anything.

A bright light burst out from Deku and Shigaraki, blinding you. You shielded your face with your arm. The radiance faded. Your quirk clicked into place again suddenly, as if your desperate calls had been heard.

“I’ve got him!” you called out.

Deku fell back from Shigaraki. You grabbed him with your mind, helping him safely to the ground. Shoto landed with Bakugo and Endeavor only feet from you.

You choked on a noise, wanting desperately to run to Katsuki. Blood dripped from his parted mouth. His chest heaved with exertion just to breathe. At the same time, you fretted over Deku. A broken mess beside you.

“Kacchan… Is he…?” Deku managed, having trouble breathing himself.

“He’s alive,” you said, biting back a sob.

“We’ll patch you up. Don’t move,” Shoto said toward Midoriya.

The earth shook. Shoto and you snapped your heads back to see Shigaraki supporting his limp body with those large black tendrils that he’d used to stab Katsuki with. Yellow energy crashed into Shigaraki as Nejire arrived on the scene, and, once again, Shigaraki was knocked down. Iida slid in between you and the fallen villain.

“A giant is crashing through the city as we speak. He’s on his way here,” Iida warned.

“Please, get the injured to safety,” Shoto said.

“Shigaraki wants my quirk. I can’t be taken away. He would just follow me,” Deku murmured. “Get Kacchan and Endeavor out of here, Iida. Please,” Midoriya begged, clutching his abdomen.

Your gaze trailed back to Shigaraki, getting back up again while supported by even more black tendrils flowing out of his spine. Gigantomachia crashed through the remaining buildings beside you, heading straight for Shigaraki. Shoto and Nejire attacked Shigaraki while they still had the chance, while it seemed as if Shigaraki wasn’t healing as fast. Through a torrent of fire and yellow energy waves, it appeared as if the two heroes may actually make some progress. Gigantomachia didn’t hesitate to break through the two of them to get to his, “Master!” which he continued to repeat, even when Shigaraki was in his open hand.

Shoto was sent flying with a single swipe of the giant’s hand. Your chest tightened, and tears burned at your eyes as you watched him bounce across the ground. Iida had a hold of Bakugo, trying to carry him out. You were still knelt down in front of Midoriya, trying your best to patch him up with the little medical supplies that you carried in your belt. Relief washed through you as you watched Shoto get back up. Gigantomachia had frozen in place now that he had Shigaraki in hand.

Your hands shook as you tended to a severely wounded Izuku Midoriya. You could barely press bandages to his skin. Then, a gloved hand met yours.

“Let me help. Anna, let me patch him up,” Kobura’s voice came out shakily. “Give me what you can.”

Shinso dropped down next to you, clenching his fist in worry. “What is going on here? Why haven’t they called in more heroes for support?” He took out his own supplies, handing it over to Kobura and pushing more space between the two of you.

“The comms are shot,” you explained, your voice wavering. You glanced between Doku and Hitoshi. “You’re trusting him?”

“No, I’m allowing him to help,” Shinso said harshly. “There’s a difference. Besides, he won’t be able to stab me in the back as long as I’m behind him.”

Kobura exhaled sharply, rolling his eyes. Kobura examined Midoriya, making quick work with what little the two of you had to close up some of his injuries and support others.

“Mr. Aizawa. I saw him,” Shinso said under his breath. He winced. “I should have been here to protect my teacher. Someone should have been here to protect him.”

Your stomach turned. He’d cut off his leg without hesitation. “They tried,” you said back. “We tried,” you corrected.

“The kid is beat to shit. That’s the best I can do without better supplies. I’d use my quirk on him to close his wounds, but my guess is he doesn’t have the same resistances you do.” Kobura tilted his head to the side. His stare moved back to Gigantomachia, and his eyes widened. Kobura reached back for you instinctually. His gaze jumped from Gigantomachia back to Shoto and Endeavor. “That burnt asshole is going to do it now?”

“What’s the matter?” you asked. Your gaze followed his, and you spotted Dabi walking to the edge of Gigantomachia’s back with his grin widening.

“We have to go now,” Kobura said. “Shit is about to hit the fan.”

You pulled your arm free from Kobura’s grasp. “I’m not leaving my friends behind. That hasn’t changed.”

Kobura gave you an exasperated look, his green eyes pleading for you to come with him. “Listen. Remember when I told you that I know everything about The League of Villains?” Kobura pointed toward Dabi, who was now holding some kind of bottle above his head. “Spoiler alert. That asshole is Enji Todoroki’s dead son, a.k.a. Endeavor’s dead son, a.k.a. a really bad thing is about to happen, and he’s about to burn everything and everyone down with him for his own selfish sadistic vengeance-motivated reasons.”

“My name is Toya Todoroki!” Dabi announced, laughing and smiling. He poured the bottle out onto his hair, revealing white hair instead of black. His body swayed, and he clapped. “I mean, you should call me by my real name since you and mom gave it to me.”

“Shoto’s dead brother?” you asked breathlessly. “How can that be…” You watched on in horror, as “Dabi” continued to explain his story, rambling on and on about his ultimate plan to ruin his father, Endeavor, for what he’d done to him and his family. You knew what Shoto had gone through as a child. You’d experienced the abuse as he relived it in that hallway ages ago. You knew how cruel Endeavor could be, but you didn’t know about this. You didn’t know about Dabi. You didn’t know the years and years that it went on for.

Kobura tugged on your arm. “He’s going to turn this place into his own burn barrel. Please. We need to go.”

Shinso shook himself out of shock, finally forcing Kobura’s hand off of you. “She said she’s not leaving.”

Kobura narrowed his eyes at Shinso, but he didn’t move to grab you again. “You have no idea what this psychopath his capable of. Trust me. I’ve slept in the room next to this serial killer, and he has no qualms going totally nuclear. He’s been building this secret since the day he was presumed dead. He’s not going to hold back. Plus, he’s not a huge fan of me or Anna. If he spots us, he will kill us.”

Dabi became louder and more theatric as he continued on with his speech. “When is it enough for you heroes? I can’t wait for the world to see who you really are, who all the Pro Heroes really are. It’s being broadcast on national television as we speak, the paternity test and the murders. Everyone will know about you, and everyone will know about what Hawks did too.” Dabi tsked, shaking his finger. “Hawks killed Best Jeanist, then he went and killed Twice. Where do you heroes draw the line? The public might not believe me, but they’ll believe video evidence of it for sure. At the very least, they’ll start questioning their dear Pro Heroes now won’t they?”

“Twice… is… dead…” Kobura staggered. “He can’t be…” Tears. You saw tears in his eyes. Doku clutched at his chest, looking off distantly. “He was killed? I-I wasn’t there to protect him…” Kobura shivered. Tears dripped down his swollen cheeks, and he clenched his teeth. “There’s a recording of his death, and that burnt bastard decided to broadcast it on TV?” Kobura shook with anger. “Was he there when it happened? Could he have saved him?”

Shock had you in an icelike grip. A Pro Hero killed a villain? Killed Twice no less? Out of the entire League he always seemed the gentlest. Why would Hawks kill him? There must have been a reason, or… You remembered how Heart of Hearts reacted whenever Hawks was around, how she never trusted him. She had said he would do anything for The Commission. He was their Pro Hero puppet.

“That bastard, Dabi, probably watched him die,” Doku said under his breath. “Jin was our friend. Twice was everyone’s friend!” Kobura shouted in outrage. “You just watched him die, didn’t you?!”

You grabbed Kobura by the back of his shirt. You didn’t want Dabi to attack him. Doku had been right; if Dabi saw the two of you, you’d be in the direct line of fire.

“Wait. You said—” you started.

“Dance with your son in hell, Endeavor!” Dabi launched himself off of Gigantomachia’s back, a blue comet of rage and fire headed straight for Endeavor and Shoto.

Endeavor was just kneeling there, doing nothing. Shoto shouted at him to help, and Endeavor was still doing nothing. Your fingers left the fabric of Kobura’s shirt. Your heart broke for Shoto. You ran toward him, gaining the fading control of your quirk back again. You’d shield him as best as you could. He didn’t have to take on this burden alone. This wasn’t Shoto’s fault. His father should be doing something.

Cables descended from the sky, ripping Dabi from the air as it entwined around his burning body. Dabi’s flames momentarily extinguished in surprise. Best Jeanist appeared out of nowhere, wrapping and restraining The League of Villains in these strange fabric cables, along with Gigantomachia. Best Jeanist was alive.

“I saw your body! You were dead!” Dabi shouted. When Best Jeanist gave him nothing in response, he only laughed, grinning again. “No matter. It doesn’t change my past nor my plans!” Dabi reignited himself. His blue flames engulfed the cables around him.

You kept moving towards Todoroki. If you were close enough, no matter how much of your quirk you could use, you’d be able to protect him. Dabi’s gaze shifted as he spotted you. His smile grew so wide a few staples snapped free.

“You,” he seethed through his teeth. He burned so hot that the cables melted away from him.

Dabi wasted no time taking out Nejire with a single blast of his quirk. He hadn’t even looked at her in the air when he did it. She shrieked, falling from the sky.

“Another bright future burned to a crisp because of your mistakes, Endeavor,” Dabi said. His eyes flashed. “Should I destroy another?”

You’d already formed the mental shield around you, standing firm. A blast of Dabi’s fire crashed into the protective wall, and the heat melted everything around you. Your stance weakened as you began to overheat. The air grew suffocating. Your quirk shuddered and rumbled, ripping thoughts from the air around you. Fear and panic blasted through your emotions. You hit Dabi’s mind, and you rattled his thoughts with Mind Break. The fire barely wavered its hold.

You kept in his head, shouting what you could to get him to stop, but it was splitting your thoughts in half. Aching, pulsing, burns covered your skin as you picked up on his thoughts. Hurt, it hurt to use your quirk. It hurt to watch your father begin to ignore you. Other thoughts, anger and rage. Hours of planning his vengeance. Hawks. You saw Hawks appear over and over again, Best Jeanist’s corpse, and you nearly burned Twice. You didn’t care that you almost killed him. You just wanted to see the traitor Hawks die by your hand too, Endeavor’s pet spy. Then, you watched Twice be cut down in front of you. You watched him be stabbed. You were smiling. You felt your lips tugging upward. You knew there were cameras. You had the evidence you needed to bury the Pro Heroes.

There was yelling outside the blue roaring fire, as your mind smacked back into your own head, but there was little you could hear beneath the attack. A wave of ice curved around the front of your mental shield, giving you a moment of reprieve as your mental shield flickered and died out.

"Why won’t you just die?!” Dabi hissed. Shoto launched at him with a blast of his own fire, and Dabi’s attention shifted yet again. “So impatient, Little Brother! I guess I’ll just have to kill you first!”

You collapsed, gasping for air. You were on a pedestal of damaged earth, the curved edges smoldering. The ice ahead of you melted fast, faster than you’d expected, shrouding you in a protective cloud of steam. You pressed your fingers into your temples. Having been inside two sadistic minds in one day was doing a number on your mental fortitude. Kobura was right. Dabi had watched what had happened. Dabi may have even helped the process along, intentionally or not.

As the smoke cleared, you got back to your feet to move again. Shoto and Dabi were locked in a battle of fire. If that wasn’t bad enough, Gigantomachia began to move, snapping the cables free around him. Best Jeanist continued to restrain him over and over again, but it was barely holding. On the horizon, Nomus appeared.

You stumbled back, falling from your perch and catching yourself into a run. Kobura was already rushing toward you. Best Jeanist must have mistaken him for an ally and hadn’t restrained him. Doku looked different in average clothes and without his piercings. It probably helped Shinso and you had been in close proximity to him at the point of Best Jeanist’s arrival too.

As you ran, you spotted the bloodied knife Aizawa used to sever the lower half of his leg. You changed direction, skidding to a stop and lifting the weapon into your trembling hands. Kobura met you there, shaking his head and checking you over fretfully.

“Anna, what were you thinking? He could have killed you. Please stop running head first into danger like that,” he begged you. He hadn’t even focused on what was in your hands. His eyes were too busy scanning you over for injury.

“I…” you clenched the handle of the knife. Was this the right thing to do? If the heroes saw Kobura with a weapon, he could be targeted. You gulped, your dry throat burning. “I’m not going to backdown from this fight. I can help.” You turned the knife’s blade away from him, shoving the hilt into his hand. “But, I need you too.”

“What?” he asked, nearly dropping the weapon. “I can’t…”

“This is my compromise. I’m not leaving. If you want to help, you can. I know you hate that I won’t leave, so I’m giving you the option to help.” You shut your eyes, releasing the knife into his hold. “Don’t make me regret this.”

“That’s my team, my comrades,” Kobura said pointedly. “The League is my family. I can’t fight them. Besides, the heroes will turn on me the moment they realize who I am.”

You pointed toward Dabi. “He watched Twice die. I saw it while I was in his twisted mind. I barely affected him, shouting in his head. He’s running on hatred and vengeance for his path,” you rasped out, putting a hand to your throat.

“I knew it. That damn bastard,” Kobura growled through his teeth. He looked down at the knife in his hand. “He has no right to call Twice his friend when he did nothing to protect him.”

A horrid monstrous cry rippled out of the throat of an approaching Nomu. Deku screamed for Best Jeanist to look out, but he was trapped in a physical struggle with the giant he was holding at bay.

“It’s your choice,” you said.

You rallied your buzzing mind, air rushing through your tender sun-burnt skin, as you pushed yourself into the air with a single mind blast. You zipped out past Best Jeanist to meet the Nomus, before they could strike. Your bravery wavered as they grew closer. You emptied your utility pockets. The assorted projectiles began to float as you grabbed hold of each one and whipped them around you. You gulped, your throat burning again. There were so many, too many to fight on your own.

Just before they came into range, another hero met a Nomu’s path. He hit the Nomu out of the air.

You gasped in surprise. “Le Million!” you called out.

“Sorry, I’m late to the party!” Mirio smiled at you, giving a wink. “It took me a bit to get here with my permeation quirk. Thanks to Eri’s training, she was able to get my quirk working again, and I’m back in action!” He turned back around with a grin still on his face. “Still, I might need some help here!” he called out nervously.

You shook off your original surprise, turning one of your projectiles into a wrecking ball while throwing the rubber bullet balls at oncoming Nomus.

“Watch it, Big Brain!” Bakugo shouted, springing over you to get a blast at a Nomu that was far too close.

“Katsuki?”

Bakugo bit down into a smile, blood still dripping from his mouth. “Don’t be too surprised to see me.”

Iida kicked past Bakugo, chopping his hands in his direction. “I told him to take it easy. Of course, he wouldn’t listen.”

Bakugo clicked his tongue, blasting another Nomu in the face. “I told you I’m fine.” He clutched at his stomach as he moved wrong. Red stained his glove as he pulled it away.

Your focus wavered, as you bit back your worried words. Katsuki shouldn’t be fighting. His organs had to have been punctured. It would only be a matter of time before he passed out. A wave of insufferable heat washed over you, and you attempted to shield yourself with your arm. A fury of blue and orange flames collided overhead. You looked back at Endeavor who still wasn’t doing anything.

You winced when you saw Midoriya using the last bits of his strength to use Blackwhip on Dabi to hold him back from Shoto. Both of Deku’s arms were broken, so he had to use Blackwhip from his mouth. What was he doing? At this rate, he wouldn’t be able to recover.

The earth rumbled. Gigantomachia roared. The cables snapped beside you, and you had to leap out of the way to avoid being hit by one. You readied your quirk, but it sputtered. You clambered back, trying to get out of way of the monster breaking free. Endeavor finally moved, leaping from the ground and giving Gigantomachia a face full of fire. Then, they both collapsed.

“What? How come the giant just fell over?” you asked.

“The sedative actually worked,” Le Million said, indicating something that no one else knew about. “The drug must have needed time to take effect.”

With one threat down, you shifted your focus back toward Shoto. Deku was falling. You helped him land with a strand of your mind. Hopefully, he wouldn’t push himself anymore. Your boots pounded against the ground as you trailed the two fighting above. You could do something to give Shoto the upper hand.

You skidded to a halt beneath them. You raised your hand, and two of your blue projectiles moved upward. You engaged the button upon impact, hitting Dabi with an extinguishing ball, normally equipped for fighting fires in rescue zones, but should be just as effective against him. Shoto gave himself some space, creating ice to cool himself down thanks to the distraction you’d made.

Dabi’s cerulean eyes shifted, his intense glare falling on you again. “Little pest,” he seethed. He used his flames to keep airborne, setting his whole arm on fire to launch back at you. “It will bring me so much joy to hear you screaming while you burn alive.” He reached back his arm to throw the flames at you.

You formed another barrier above you, knowing full well that you wouldn’t be able to run out of range in time. As his arm was on the down swing, a knife plunged into Dabi’s shoulder, saving you from withstanding a torrent of fire.

“That’s for Twice, burnt bastard,” Kobura growled out. “He deserved better than you using him for your petty family revenge.”

“Thought you were in Tartarus, you snake.” Dabi grabbed hold of the knife plunged into his shoulder. “You’re going to wish you were still locked up once I’m done with you.” He yanked the blade free, taking in a sharp breath. He dropped the blade to the ground. An error on his part because Kobura would easily be able to throw it with precise accuracy again.

Kobura weakly grinned, watching Dabi wince. The enflamed villain couldn’t lift his right arm anymore. Kobura must have cut a vital muscle or ligament in his shoulder. Shoto put pressure on Dabi again from the air, before Dabi could spout out another threat. The two collided with a nuclear fusion of flames. Somehow Dabi seemed to be burning even hotter than before.

The blue flames grew more and more intense, until eventually they overpowered Shoto’s. You cried out as Shoto was hit. His body fell backwards toward the ground. His eyes were closed. He must have been unconscious. You caught him once with your quirk, but he slipped from your grasp as your quirk wavered again. You ran toward where he was falling, putting all your focus in trying to slow his descent. You put out your arms to catch him, and he crashed into you.

You had little time to worry about what might be broken from the impact as you prepared for a second attack from Dabi. You shifted Shoto off of you carefully but quickly. As you looked to the sky again, however, Mr. Compress had already placed Dabi into a marble for what you could only assume was a grand escape. The villainous magician was covered in blood, half-naked. He must have used his quirk to cut himself free from the cable binds, even if it meant taking pieces of his own body into his marbles.

Kobura ran up beside you, helping you to your feet. Shoto remained out cold, his breathing hoarse and uneven.

“Looks like Mr. Compress has come up with an escape plan,” Kobura said.

“We can’t let them leave. If Shigaraki has time to fully develop All for One’s power, we’re all dead.”

“I know,” Doku said.

“You’re not going with them?” you asked.

“I don’t deserve to. I betrayed them. Compress might sneak me into one of his marbles to be fair, but I’m not going to call out to him.” Kobura shrugged. “Dabi already hated my guts, but Shigaraki wouldn’t stand for it if he actually found out that I attacked one of The League.” He looked down thoughtfully. “I’ll miss Toga the most.” Doku grinned bitterly. “Looks like I’m an outcast again.”

You winced. Your hand went to his shoulder, and his gaze shifted back on you. A small smile spread over his lips, and you finally noticed the newly sharp fangs that had formed in his mouth. You were surprised, worried about what pain he was in.

“They’ll take you back,” you said, biting into your bottom lip. “But, if they don’t…” you trailed off. You wanted to tell him that he would never be an outcast again. You understood him, at least in some small way. He hadn’t made the best choices in life, but you’d seen him change. “You’re not the same scared little boy anymore. You no longer have to look at yourself as an outcast. You found people that I believe finally understand you.”

“Yeah, and one of them is dead,” he stated flatly, angrily.

You clenched your jaw. Twice’s death was a hard pill to swallow, and it was even worse that Hawks had committed the crime. “Two of those people are still alive.”

Doku’s eyes widened as he realized what you were saying. You had said two. One of those people being you. Your hand left his shoulder, as you ran back toward the back of Gigantomachia. The battle wasn’t over yet, and you couldn’t stand there with Doku and watch the world burn.

Before you were out of earshot, you heard him. Kobura said his final words to you, as an unknown future lay ahead of you, knowing full-well that you wouldn’t turn back.

“I will always love you, Sweet Anna,” he said.

You didn’t know what Kobura and your future would be, but you did know this was where your paths split for now. He would most likely go underground. He wouldn’t be accepted as a villain or a hero, so hiding was probably his best option. There was a part of you that wanted to turn back. That part of you knew that this may be the last time you would ever see him again.

You shot a mind blast behind you to spring you up to Mr. Compress, who was doing one final monologue before his great escape. You’d never actually seen his face before under the mask that he usually wore, and you were surprised to see brown hair and hazel eyes. You reached him a little too late because Mirio permeated out of nowhere, hitting him right in the jaw. The punch was powerful enough to knock him unconscious. You and Mirio stood over Mr. Compress, ready to spring for Shigaraki and Spinner.

Spinner placed a grayed dismembered hand onto Shigaraki’s face. An image flashed into your mind, the same image of Shigaraki’s family. It was the same memory that he ended up enjoying. The memory of finally crushing them between his fingers, turning them to dust.

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