The two individuals stared at each other for a long, long moment. Shimura had so many questions, each wanting to come out at once. They all died in her throat when she looked at the man in front of her. Where the Midoriya standing frozen beside her was too young, the one in front of her was too old. Worn combat boots and tactical gear that looked like it had seen too many years of use, scarred hands rested on his knees as he slouched down and watched her. He was maybe in his mid-twenties, and he just looked fatigued beyond what anyone should.
Shimura felt herself swallow as those dull eyes took her in, felt herself nearly suck in a breath when he opened his mouth to speak. "I won a medal for this."
"W-what?" Midoriya grimaced and sighed before sitting up. He gestured angrily behind her. Shimura turned and again took in the trail of dead and dying.
"A fucking medal. I had just lost my mind and left my position. I charged across no man's land and butchered my way through to their first line of artillery, a line that wouldn't have been nearly as close to the front if they'd had an even halfway decent command. And I got a fucking medal for this. Some of these men weren't any older than I was." Midoriya sank back down, putting his head in his hands. "A gods damned fucking medal for ending other people's lives."
"You cou-"
"You couldn't have done anything else? They were trying to kill me?" Midoriya scoffed before his voice dropped low, his words slow and deliberate. "Save it. I've already tried to convince myself of every excuse in the book for my actions. It doesn't stop it from making me sick. The Phurians conscripted their soldiers for this war. They told them to fight and die, simple as that. I enjoyed that medal when I got it. I don't enjoy the medal now."
"That's what war is." Shimura surprised Midoriya when she sat down gingerly beside him. "Right and wrong seem to go out the window so quickly." Midoriya couldn't help but snort derisively.
"You wouldn't know the start of it." Shimura shifted herself on the box so she was resting against the large stacked shells behind her.
"Where are we, Midoriya?"
"My personal hell."
"I'm being serious, Midoriya."
"So am I. I get to come back here every time I close my eyes. Sometimes it's here, sometimes it's another battle. Sometimes it's neither, and it's the charred remains of my hometown or the emaciated work slaves of the Phurian camps. Why have you been pulled in here with me now instead of when I sleep?" Midoriya gave a low shrug. "Probably has something to do with the hemorrhaging organs I had before going down."
"Are you saying we're in your memories?"
"No, we're at the grocery store down the road from U.A. I figured you could tell from the miles of dead people and mud."
"No need for the snark, Midoriya."
"Fuck off." The aggression went as quickly as it came as Midoriya sagged back down. Shimura just sighed and sagged with him.
"This isn't the Urbans. Those ended in 2276, four years before I died, and neither of us are old enough to have witnessed the Quirk Wars. They ended in 2094, and they sure as hell didn't use trenches. So where are we, Midoriya?" Midoriya waved his hand dismissively, glancing up at her through the fringe of his hair.
"I don't remember exactly. Battle of Brylst? Srytad? I'm not sure anymore. That wasn't ever the important part." Shimura shuffled uncomfortably, already suspecting the answer to her next question.
"And where was that, Midoriya? I don't remember either of those battles or the Phurians in any history book…" Shimura trailed off, even as Midoriya leveled her with his gaze.
"Not on Earth." Shimura deflated, leaning back.
"Is it my turn to say obviously? How, kid?"
Midoriya just shrugged. "Hell if I know. Bakugo had nearly put me in a coma, and then some villain came along and finished the job before the authorities could get there. Never found the villain, not for lack of trying on my part. Fuck, I'm not even sure if he's a villain. Could have just been a damn asshole that was having a bad day and decided to take it out on the quirkless kid after his bullies were done with him."
"The police and heroes didn't catch him?"
"Never bothered to look. I'm quirkless." The calm acceptance of that disturbing fact had Shimura frowning at the young man.
"How did you survive?" Midoriya looked up at that, opening his mouth to snark some more before realizing she hadn't been talking about the coma. Midoriya offered a forlorn stare.
"Turns out quirkless doesn't mean 'has nothing special' about them like everyone thinks. If nothing else, over two hundred years of quirks have seriously messed with human evolution, disregarding my opinions on quirks as an 'evolution'. We're apparently hardier than humans were before quirks came in." Shimura gave Midoriya a small smile.
"That's a good thing, isn't it?"
With sadness in his eyes, Midoryia shook his head. "Sometimes, I wonder if it is." He stared down at the ground for a moment. "For honor and bravery unbecoming of someone of my position."
"Hmm?" Shimura hummed, the sound becoming lost in the void. It was odd, having no real noise aside from the two of them to fill it. A ruffling of fabric here, the creak of the wood there when they shifted their body weight.
"That's what they said when they stitched me back up and gave me the medal. They hadn't expected that of me and offered me officer training as a result." Shimura took a long look at his face.
"And you took it? Got away from this… this?" Shimura couldn't quite find the words as she gestured to the battlefield in front of them.
"I almost didn't. I almost asked to be sent back to the front." The confession caught Shimura off guard. Why would anyone want to stay here?
"Wh-"
"I wasn't the only one that charged over that line, Shimura. It was a miracle that I made it over here alive. Dozens of others were involved in taking this trench, and dozens more died before they ever got here. Besides, after what they did to my home, I wanted blood, Shimura. And out here? Out here, I was paying it back one at a time." Shimura felt sick but steeled herself, gritting her teeth silently.
"What changed your mind?" Midoriya gazed off pensively before a small smile crept onto his face.
"I was given an offer I couldn't refuse."
…
Uraraka's fist slammed into the punching bag and she gagged. Objects of varying weights floated around her as she trained in one of the school's many training grounds. Two days since the USJ incident. Two days since she had been too weak to do anything. Her fist made contact with the bag and she gagged again.
Breathing deeply, she stumbled away from her place in front of the bag, focused solely on the air entering then leaving her lungs. If she had been stronger, she could have done something more. If she'd had better control of her quirk, she could have incapacitated the villains and helped somehow, in some way, if she had just been better.
Uraraka stood back up with steel in her eyes. With a slight stumble, she took a deep breath while touching the metal weights once again stationary on the ground. The familiar tug of her quirk pulled on her as the objects began to float, and she thought back to the theories that Midoriya had shared with her regarding her quirk.
Reaching out for the subtle flow of her quirk, she tugged on the energy and tried coaxing it to move, resulting in the objects in the air twitching before slowly beginning to rotate. Uraraka fought down the bile that rose in her throat and pulled the energy into her fist before striking the bag again. The bag rocked back from the strike, and Uraraka stumbled, gasping and closing her eyes.
It felt like she was back to when she'd first started using her quirk. Barely any effort and her muscles tightened, her mouth filled with saliva as her body prepared itself to lose their last meal. Of course, that would require her to have eaten anything of substance. She couldn't keep it down, even if she tried.
The image of Setsuna jumping on people as a rather large, for its kind, green feathered raptor wouldn't leave her. Neither would the screams of the villains as they were torn into by tooth and talon, or the sounds they made as they were dropped from a height onto the stairs The terror of the men skewered at the pointed tips of Tsunotori's horns is something that would likely always stay with her, she thought almost absently.
Extracting herself from the trash can, Uraraka stumbled to her feet, taking a deep breath before she swiped her wrist across her mouth. Silently, she reengaged her quirk and once again began to play with the connections to the weights she set to lifting, and the energy that those connections contained.
…
Setusna spit toothpaste into the sink for the… well, actually, she had lost count of how many times she had scrubbed at her mouth, trying to get rid of the taste. Logically, she knew that whatever had been there was long gone now. She knew that she had removed the bits of flesh and meat that had stuck between her teeth, without question. Except, there was, wasn't there? Logic didn't, couldn't, help her come to terms with what she had done.
She had lost control again. The villains had come up those stairs, despite the bombardment of rubble and horns from her two classmates. They had come up with blades and quirks and had intended to kill them all while that damned smoke cloud just watched impassively from the sideline.
They had managed to best him for the briefest of moments, managing to get Iida through the door to run for the faculty. He had just shrugged and laughed easily, and Oh well, I did as I was ordered and scattered you golden eggs. If Tomura wanted more then he should have given better orders. The words he spoke echoed in her ears.
When the remaining students turned to fend off the villains charging up the stairs towards them, he had simply waved a gloved hand, watching with amusement as they fought for their lives. When Setsuna had transformed, he seemed almost intrigued by the process, of her pouncing on the first villain she came across and shredding ribbons from him with her talons. He followed her eagerly as she'd turned on the next, tearing his throat from his body without remorse.The man had tasted so good at the time.
Setsuna gagged, a wave that nearly had her rushing back to the toilet behind her. The bastard had laughed. Laughed at the sight of a hero student so readily killing, so readily enjoying the thrill of the kill. Setsuna felt the tears rolling down her cheeks, even as she shoved the toothbrush back into her mouth. Setsuna ignored the blood that was mixing with the toothpaste and continued scrubbing.
"Was wondering where you were." Setsuna jerked but didn't stop brushing. Tsunotori wrapped a strong hand around Setsuna's arm. "Enough. That's enough." Gently, Tsunotori pulled the brush from Setsuna's mouth before discarding it. "Rinsh." The word was as broken as the girl she commanded with it, but Setsuna listened. She rinsed her mouth out and felt the chill of the water against her throbbing gums.
"Good. Now we go." Tsunotori took Setsuna by her shoulder as well as her arm now and tried to lead her from the bathroom.
"But-" Pony shook her head and cut Setsuna off.
"No. Now we go." It was a short, curt command, Setsuna thought, but not an unkind one. Not an unkind one at all.
…
Midoriya's eyes snapped open, and he took a deep breath, one that he instantly regretted as it sent fire burning through his chest. He grunted and closed his eyes again to take stock of his body.
Nothing felt right, really. Everything hurt, from his head all the way down to his damn toenails. A single one of his right knuckles didn't hurt for some reason, but that oddity was the least of his concerns. Metal and leather bands around his wrists. Needle in his arm. Phoenix?
You're awake, Father. I'll contact Mother. Midoriya flinched minutely at the statement and tone. Mei couldn't possibly be happy with him.
How long have I been out?
This is the second day since the USJ invasion. You have been unconscious since the main villains retreated. Shadow has determined the current location of the 'League of Villains,' as Kurogiri called them. Shall I relay the information to our contacts in the police force?
Not yet. I need to have a little chat with them first.
Midoriya opened his eyes and looked down at the cuffs around both of his wrists, leading to the hospital bed's frame. He sighed. Midoriya gave an experimental tug on his wrist and, while it fucking hurt, he would live.
The door clicked open almost in response to the jingling of metal on metal. When Tsukauchi stepped into the room, he blinked owlishly in surprise.
"I, uh- didn't expect you to wake up so soon." Midoriya just raised an eyebrow before jingling the handcuffs again, tilting his head. "We, uh, wanted to make sure you didn't try to run off as soon as you were awake."
"Riiight." Midoriya drawled the word through a scratchy throat. "You wanna get these off me, or?" Tsukauchi blinked again before dipping back out of the room. Midoriya gave a huff and
looked down at the handcuffs. Should I just?
Tsukauchi stepped back into the room, just in time to witness Midoriya getting ready to break his way out of the aforementioned restraints. Midoriya, this time, was the one to blink as he took in the detective standing in the doorway. Blinking again, slowly this time, he realized that his initial thought had been correct. Nedzu was there, as well, and was riding the detective. Shuzenji stepped in behind them, appearing both disturbed and annoyed.
"I swear, Midoriya, if you break my hospital bed, I will beat you back into your coma." Midoriya snorted.
"Doctors aren't supposed to speak to their patients that way." Shuzenji very nearly did beat him upside the head for that comment. Instead, she grumbled as she proceeded to check his vitals.
"You shouldn't have been awake for at least another day."
"I heal quickly." Shuzenji reached over and unlashed one of the bands around Midoriya's wrist, leaving him to do the other.
"Yes, well, extensive human experimentation will do that for a person." Midoriya froze before purposely relaxing his muscles and plastering a smile on his face.
"Ah, Hatsume told you." Shuzenji scowled.
"Good thing, too, your insides are a mess. I might have done more harm than good if it weren't for your medical AI." Midoriya felt an eye twitch and flick to the police detective standing in the room. Shuzenji pointed a finger at him. "When precisely were you going to tell me what you'd done?" Midoriya shrugged, both hands now free.
"If you didn't ask? Probably wasn't."
"True." Shuzenji smacked Tsukauchi in the calf with her cane, while giving him a look that promised more.
"Obviously. You're free to go after Hatsume comes and collects you. If I see you again before the sports festival, I really will beat you." Midoriya jerked. His jaw dropped.
"We're still having the sports festival after we were just attacked?!"
"Take it up with the damn rat." Shuzenji exited the room while still grumbling about rash, unethical, and amoral doctors. A long silence followed Shuzenji's exit as Midoriya raised an eyebrow. He stared at the two men while he rubbed his wrists.
"Was there something you needed to speak with me about?" A rhetorical question. He knew both why and what they wanted to talk about, but if they weren't going to start the conversation, then he certainly wasn't going to speak first. Tsukauchi sighed before pulling a recorder out of his pocket. He set it aside, pointedly noting that it was off.
"Midoriya, this entire thing has gotten ugly. If it were just a few villains that lost their lives, then it likely wouldn't have been a big issue. It happens occasionally, especially in a situation like this. Deaths would be expected." Tsukauchi paused briefly, grimacing. "But this time, the death toll from the villains reached not only double digits, but a vast number of the students were involved in the deaths."
"Yes, and?" Tsukauchi worked his jaw for a second at the completely blase reaction before continuing.
"And, Midoriya, you were the center of at least twenty-something of those deaths. The media is already placing blame on this year's hero course, and public opinion is split on whether your class is full of hero students or dangerous villains that need to be barred from the course." The smile dropped from Midoriya's face. It was one thing for the media to come after him. It was another for them to go after untrained students.
"Actually, the number's more than likely going to be in the thirties." Midoriya took a look over at the president. "How likely is it that we can blame the deaths all on me?"
"Unless you have a way to explain how you were in almost every zone simultaneously and killed the villains using a dozen different methods while doing so, not at all likely."
"Well, shit."
"I have questions for you, as well, after Tsukauchi asks you his own."
"Well, shit." This time Midoriya said it for a very different reason. Nedzu's questions were far harder to answer without lying.
Notes:
It should be noted that my editor and I are rather split on one part of this chapter. Answer this, Is a werewolf committing cannibalism while transformed? Is Setsuna while transformed committing cannibalism?
If anyone would like to support my writing, remember you can find out how Here! I'm infinitely grateful for anyone who can and does!