Hey! It's been a while, I said before that it would take a little while longer for this chapter to come. My studies has started once again, and I don't have that much time to write. I'll update this story whenever I can, so please be patient with me!
Chapter 14: Fated encounter
Wandering through the long, fancy corridors, Midoriya and his companions moved ahead smoothly. They had decided to stay out of places that had large crowds, but they also avoided quiet places. The less they stood out, the better.
"It's frustrating to walk around, not knowing if the others are closer or not", Kirishima complained. "They could be around the next corner or somewhere far, far away."
"Maybe", Midoriya said, walking next to Iida. "But we can't really stay and wait for them. It would be too big risk because of all the villains. It's unfortunate but we don't have any other choice. Or anything that would work perfectly."
"I could leave signs for the others but it's not a good idea", Yaoyorozu shook her head. She looked the red carped, pondering, as they moved forward.
Iida corrected his glasses. "We haven't searched this floor yet", he smiled gently."I have a feeling that we'll find something. Sooner or later at least. We just have to be patient!" Though he said those words with determination, he didn't feel all that positive about it. None of them did, Iida was quite sure.
"I'd give you all some kind of spotter, so that if we would get separated, we could find each others easily, but every electronic device I try to make gets disturbed by something. How frustrating", Yaoyorozu muttered frowned. "I'm sorry, I'm useless."
"Don't say that", Midoriya said quickly. "We wouldn't have made it this far if you weren't with us. The most important thing is that we are together. No one here is useless!"
Kirishima grinned. "Midoriya's right! I'd probably still be in that jail if you wouldn't have been there."
Yaoyorozu smiled faintly. "I guess you're both right."
Tokoyami heard the noumu coming and ran faster, he couldn't go at his max speed when he carried Jiro. Just a little more, and they were at a place with more people. But he couldn't just storm into the midst of people, carrying wounded Jiro with him. So, when the next turn came, the slender noumu behind them leaped. Tokoyami did a sharp turn. The noumu missed them, and Dark Shadow shoved it further away.
Finally, Tokoyami thought in relief. A few guests were having conversation at the end of the corridor. They hadn't noticed Tokoyami yet, which was good. He saw a balcony on his left but decided that it wouldn't be a good hiding spot. After the balcony was a door that was slightly ajar. It didn't seem to have lights on, so Tokoyami rammed it open. He halted immediately. In front of him was a shelf full of cleaning stuff. Dishrags, detergents, disposable gloves and so on. Cardboard boxes were in one corner, and in the other corner were a mop and a broom.
Tokoyami carefully laid Jiro against a wall and turned on the light in the small room and quickly closed the door. Dark Shadow retuned to his body. Tokoyami sighed, hoping that the enemy wouldn't find them. He turned and kneeled beside Jiro. "Jiro", Tokoyami called and shook her gently. "Wake up." He was quite surprised that she hadn't woken up yet. "Jiro, wake up!"
Jiro groaned faintly and opened her eyes. She looked at her worried classmate. "Tokoyami..?" she whispered, sounding groggy. "What... Where..?"
"How are you feeling?" Tokoyami asked.
"I..." Jiro blinked. She slowly became more aware of her surroundings. "Where are we?" she frowned and put her hand on her head. "My head hurts."
"I may have something for you", Tokoyami said and started to go through his guard's bag. He took the small, metallic first-aid-kit, and opened it. There were bandages, painkillers, plasters, scissors, cleansing wipes and disposable gloves. Tokoyami took the painkillers and handed one of them to Jiro. "I apologize, but I don't have any water."
"It's okay. I can take it without water, thanks", Jiro took the pill and swallowed it. It didn't go as smoothly without water but she managed. "I hope it works."
Tokoyami watched her wounded arms. "Maybe we should clean your arms too." Jiro nodded and straightened her arms, so Tokoyami could clean her wounds. Jiro bit her lip because it smarted. But when Tokoyami had added a couple of plasters on her arms, she felt a little better.
"Thank you", Jiro said smiling. "Could you tell me what happened?"
"Of course", Tokoyami replied, sat down next to her and gave a quick summary about what had happened before Jiro came to.
"So, you didn't see Uraraka or Bakugo?" Jiro asked slightly worried. That means they probably got away, and it was good.
"No, I didn't", Tokoyami shook his head and crossed his arms. "They were with you?"
"Ye—", Jiro started, when suddenly the door handle turned. Tokoyami jumped up, and Dark Shadow emerged from his body. There was no escape, so they had to be ready to fight.
The door opened just a little, and Tokoyami's eyes widened in surprise. "Midoriya!?"
Midoriya smiled and opened the door. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you're okay!" Then he saw Jiro. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine", Jiro smiled and stood up. "Are you?"
Midoriya grinned even more brightly. "Yes. Come", he said as he looked away. Tokoyami didn't know who Midoriya talked to, but then Iida, along with Kirishima and Yaoyorozu, came to the doorway.
"Jiro! Tokoyami!" Kirishima rejoiced when he saw his classmates. "Glad to see you!"
"Indeed!" Iida stated behind him. Yaoyorozu gave a sweet smile.
Tokoyami was relieved to see his classmates again. Then he remembered. "Did you happen to see noumu?" he asked with serious tone, and his friend expressions changed in an instant.
"Noumu?" Midoriya muttered concerned. "No, we haven't."
Tokoyami sighed. "That's good... I think. A slender, four handed noumu was chasing us a while back. It seems that it isn't allowed to go near guests."
"That's terrible!" Yaoyorozu gasped. "I'm so happy, you managed to escape!"
"It was a close call, though", Tokoyami nodded grimly.
"I don't want to interrupt you guys but can we go somewhere else?" Jiro asked rubbing her head. "I'd like to get some fresh air."
"There's a balcony right next to this room", Tokoyami said. "Let's go there."
The others agreed, and so they went over to the balcony door that had twisting glass patterns on it. Tokoyami tried the handle and found it was open. He opened the door, and they went outside. The balcony wasn't big but it had enough room for all of them. The railing was made from stone and and formed a half circle.
"This is quite a view", Yaoyorozu stated entranced as she watched the scenery in front of her. The moon shone in the sky, small clouds hid a small part of it. The moonlight reflected on the surface of the dark sea. The castle were right at the cliff cope that led to the sea.
"You said it", Kirishima agreed. They all stared at the beautiful scenery for a moment.
When Midoriya had marveled the sky and the sea, he looked around. He examined the exterior of the castle with his eyes. There were a couple of similar balconies on their floor and the one below but they were further away. On the higher floor there was only smaller windows but they were more higher up than those on the lower floor. Midoriya hadn't seen any staircase leading up, though. "Strange..." he muttered to himself.
"What?" Jiro asked him.
"It's just that", Midoriya said. "We haven't seen any stairs leading up, yet there is another floor above. I guess we haven't searched this floor completely. Or there could be a secret way somewhere."
"You're right", Iida crossed his arms. "Those windows are way more further away compared to the windows below."
"Could we, like, get down on the ground?" Jiro looked down. "With your help, Yaoyorozu?"
"Well..." Yaoyorozu measured the distance between them and the rocky ground way down. "I think we could but the footing isn't stable down there. It would be dangerous."
Kirishima frowned. "I don't think it's a good idea", he stated, and the others looked at him. "Look, over there", he pointed down on their left. There was a muscular noumu sitting next to the castle's cold, hard wall, completely motionless.
"Of course", Jiro grinned upset.
"It's probably supposed to guard the coast", Iida guessed, looking at the big creature. "Maybe we shouldn't linger here for too long. Who knows if it spots us."
"Yeah, let's go back inside", Midoriya stated, and so they all returned back to the corridor, and Iida closed the door behind them.
Tokoyami turned to Jiro. "By the way, did you say you were with Uraraka and Bakugo? Before you got caught by the villain?"
"You were caught?!" Kirishima said aloud but then quickly quieted down.
Jiro nodded. "Yes, but Tokoyami apparently saved be", she told them about how she were with Asui, Ashido and Uraraka, and how they got separated, about the villains and Bakugo. "I'm not one hundred percent sure if Uraraka and Bakugo got away. I lost consciousness, you see?"
"And I was tailing a couple of villains, when I saw Jiro. I managed to escape with her. That's why the noumu was chasing us", Tokoyami explained, as the others kept listening closely with serious faces.
"That's..." Yaoyorozu muttered shaken. "I can't express how relieved I am to see you two are okay."
"That means, that it's six more to go", Iida stated firmly. "Maybe we should try to find them on the lower floor. We've been roaming around this floor for a while now."
"Guess you're ri—", Kirishima froze. "Oh man."
Others turned to look the way he was pointing. At the end of the corridor they saw Dabi walking leisurely towards them with a faint smirk on his face. Some guests stepped away from him, some looked a bit terrified seeing the villain's face. Dabi didn't care about them at all.
"It must be fate to encounter him once again", Tokoyami stated calmly.
"That's one face I didn't hope to see here", Midoriya frowned, smiling daringly.
"We have to leave!" Jiro hurried and backed away.
Tokoyami stopped her. "The noumu is back there. It's not safe!"
"What do we do?" Kirishima asked quickly.
Midoriya pondered feverishly. "We can't fight here. There are too many bystanders. They could get in the way", he explained.
Dabi walked closer. "Don't try anything stupid. I can set this whole corridor on fire if I want. And you wouldn't want that, right, heroes?" he smirked.
"He's right", Yaoyorozu stated frowning. She looked behind. "Maybe we should take our chance with the noumu. I know it's crazy, but this place isn't any better. We are in his line of fire."
"I agree", Midoriya said, and the others nodded. They all turned around and sprinted to the end of the corridor.
"Oh, no, you don't", Dabi muttered and held out his hand. A large burst of blue flames was shot at the group. Nearby guests shrieked and got away just in time, falling on the floor. The flames licked the walls, ceiling and floor, setting the red carpet, paintings and decorative flowers on fire. For Dabi's disappointment, the students managed to get behind the corner, so the flames didn't hit them. He let out a sigh and went after them.
"Keep running!" Yaoyorozu ordered as the blue flames hit the wall next to them. The flames had almost touched Jiro's back but luckily she didn't get hurt.
They ran as fast as they could, through long, empty corridors. There weren't guests in this part, or at least they didn't encounter anybody. Yaoyorozu concentrated so hard on just running that she was completely taken by surprise. The wall on her left broke, sending rocks at the students. A drill cut Yaoyorozu's left arm, and she shrieked and fell on the floor.
"Yaoyorozu!" Kirishima shouted and immediately run to his classmate. He pulled Yaoyorozu up and saw the bleeding wound. "Are you okay?" he asked worried.
Before Yaoyorozu could answer, a tall man with brown hair, dressed in a tank top and dark green trousers, stepped out of the hole in the wall. The student backed away , ready to fight. Kirishima stepped protectively between the man and Yaoyorozu.
"Bingo!" the man said triumphantly and grinned. "I didn't think I would hit the target but here we are!" he laughed and glanced at the students. His eyes stopped on Tokoyami. "Hey, I know you. You and the other brat had some luck back there, when you got away from us."
"You couldn't catch us back there, and you can't catch us now", Tokoyami stated with determined voice. "This must be fate."
The man laughed loudly. "We'll see about that."
"It's six against one", Kirishima noted firmly. "Like you can beat us!"
"Are you sure?" Dabi asked at the end of the corridor, where they had come from. His sudden appearance startled the students, he had been faster than they had thought. Dabi looked at the man. "Mole, you can call backup anytime you want."
"Like I'd need backup", the man called Mole snarled and crossed his arms. "Or do you need some?"
"No", Dabi replied. "But these brats could become a pain in the ass, so be ready to call it if things get troublesome. I don't want to hear any more complaining about us letting the students escape."
Mole shrugged. "Fine. But not just yet, okay?" He leaned forward, and his arms turned into drills. He smiled. "First I want to know, what you're capable of! Show me, kids!"
Chapter 14: END
This chapter was a little shorter, I just wanted to give you something to read, so you'd know that I'm still here! I don't know when the next chapter will come but I'll upload it as soon as possible! No worries! :D