Author's Note: I do not own BNHA or elements from other fandom, just Keiyu and the village of Tsurukosa

Chapter 22: Mother Dearest

As Nemuri puked her guts out on the floor, Shouta put the bandage back to its place over the little girl's eye.

"I told you not to move it," he reprimanded her,

"I wanted to check on it," she defended weakly, he palmed his forehead and turned to Hizashi who was also puking his own guts out, though for an entirely different reason.

"Are you going to clean that blood off at any point," Empress looked up as she stepped off the security guard that had appeared out of nowhere to shoot at them, only for her to bash his brains in with a tonfa that was stained with blood, the other one with the same stains.

"Pussies," she rolled her eyes from beneath the gas mask she was wearing and pressed a button, the blood sizzling off the tonfa as it self-cleaned itself.

That's it, Shouta was done.

"I'm so glad Jackalope kept a back-up in her safe," Empress clipped them around her waist as said person approached them, a mini-computer in her hand.

"There are no more kids in the school, I did a full scan and the only signs of life are our group, and the unconscious guards that the heroes tied up," Jackalope adjusted the machine gun she had jumped out of the helicopter with and positioned it on her back.

"The headmistress is dead," Kraken was still releasing the dark aura from before but it slowly lessened as he leaned down to pick up his sleeping daughter and motioning to Shouta who was holding the red haired boy (who he was pretty sure was a Todoroki from the red hair and fire, he was not looking forward to that conversation) in his arms.

"Since they shot down the helicopter that Empress left on auto-pilot," he shot a look to the blonde who gave him the middle finger, "Komodo went ahead to the hospital to arrange transport," an eyebrow twitched.

"Wouldn't it have made sense to leave the car here in order to get there faster?" Tensei asked, rubbing his left arm and shooting a look at Empress, looking like he wanted to get mad at her but kind of not wanting to which is rare. Tensei hated getting mad at people, so what did the woman do to make him so uneasy?

"Komodo has a special skill set that requires them to have been in a location before, they can also only do it once a day," before Shouta could say something, indigo mist covered his vision and he flinched back, Quirk activating on reflex, only to find their group in front of a hospital and Komodo waiting for them.

They looked at the sleeping girl and tilted their head,

"Green hair, who is your wife again?" the man flinched at the question as Empress and Jackalope finally took off their gas masks, the latter shooting a look at him.

"Please tell me you did not marry who I thought you did," she turned to Midnight who was still a bit green from earlier, "Considering what has happened, I presume that you won't try to knock us all unconscious?" Nemuri shot a look at the teenager and little girl being loaded onto gurneys and bowed her head.

"No, even if you did push Tensei and I out of the helicopter," that would explain the dislike that Tensei had.

"Completely harmless, and considering we all managed to get out of there, Bakugou Mitsuki, try not to use our other names while we're in there," Jackalope introduced herself as Midoriya Inko, while Komodo sighed and took down their own hood.

"Shinsou Hikaru," they offered, he stepped on Hizashi's foot before the man could ask the question he knew was brewing in the man's mind, now wasn't the time.

"What happens now?" the Voice Hero asked instead, pouting at him but he ignored it.

"Now, we talk," the unfamiliar voice made them whirl around to a man in a black suit, several others beside him. Greying dark hair swept back and silver eyes swept over all of them, the heroes watching him with weariness while the rest, Emp-Mitsuki launched herself at him with her tonfa drawn.

Inko threw her hands out and Mitsuki's launch was halted as she was thrown back towards the greenette who held her down.

"What right do you have you bastard, let go Inko, he messed with our minds, he tricked us," Inko held Mitsuki down as the man stood unmoved.

"You agreed to the memory modification," Mitsuki growled,

"But our personalities, our beliefs, if you had left the memory of my brother I wouldn't be making the same mistake my parents made in raising my own son. Inko wouldn't have been so oblivious to her son's suffering," she then added, "Mashiro," in a darker tone and the man finally reacted with a flinch.

"We did not realize that erasing the memories would result in such an event, and I'm afraid there were some members in our organization that were easily influenced to 'modify' aspects of each of you that were not planned," but that didn't appease Mitsuki at all.

"You have a lot to answer to, and pray that Mashiro's daughter survives from your broken promise to finish off the Church," one of the men behind him stepped forward, looking about to retort when he was stopped.

"I accept full responsibility and will do all in my power to make sure you all return safely to your homes with no consequences; heroes, the Commission will not be informed and covers will be given for your absences," Shouta narrowed his eyes while Tensei burst out

"Just like that? We were kidnapped and forced to watch people get killed, and no one is getting punished?!" Bakugou clicked her teeth and turned to the Turbo hero who sweated under her glare.

"We told you why, should've known goody-two shoes heroes would act like this, as usual," she sneered before avoiding a slap from an annoyed Midoriya.

"Knock it off Mitsuki, we grew up with the real truth of the world, these kids apart from Ai-chan only know the world the Commission shows them," slapping his face, the dark haired man groaned.

"Please, stop calling me that, it's not even my first name you know," the plump woman gave him a soft smile.

"It's a cute nickname though, since you refused to tell us your first name at the time and the only evidence we had was a scuffed up name tag with your surname," his fellow heroes looked insulted at being called kids by adults less than a decade older.

"Real truth? Killing is wrong no matter the circumstances," Tensei stated, the official sighed.

"Let that be your opinion, but if it makes you feel better we will do a review hearing regarding everyone's actions. Considering what has happened, if you wish to know the truth of our organization feel free, but we will also require you to sign NDAs to prevent exposure. Unless, of course, you'd prefer the other option," Nemuri gulped.

"That option is?" she asked, not wanting to think about it.

"Isn't it obvious, they'll erase our memories if we don't agree to staying quiet," honestly, was he the only one actually listening.

"He's right, we are sorry that you were all forced through this, but right now there are two children in surgery right now, Mitsuki, go with them and please refrain from insulting any of them and the personnel in the hospital. Komodo and I will converse with these officials," Midoriya finally let go of the other woman's arms who stepped away and handed over the tonfa with reluctance.

"Come on baby heroes, let's go," the greenette gave her friend a look who ignored it as she threw arms around Tensei's and Nemuri's shoulders, dragging them in against their protests. Shouta grabbed Hizashi and followed after them, the blond having remained silent for quite some time, it was worrying.

They spotted Kraken, or Mashiro, as the man paced outside an emergency room, fists clenched at his side as others gave him a wide berth.

Probably because of the blood he had on his shirt, something he shared in common with the woman who threw the heroes in her grip on a seat and motioned to the two of them to take their own seat.

"I'll talk with this one here to make sure he doesn't burst into the room, feel free to talk amongst yourselves, this is a private hospital owned by the government," she grabbed the pacing man and took him to the end of the hallway, the heroes finally left alone with one another.

"Tensei, whatever you are thinking, don't," blue eyes snapped to him, the confusion and anger rolling off of the man.

"They killed those people without remorse Eraser! And we couldn't even stop them, what kind of heroes are we tha-" Shouta interrupted him, sick and tired and not wanting to deal with this argument that he's heard over and over.

"They're a military trained group, child soldiers thrown away by society tasked to deal with those that we heroes cannot," Tensei stood up from his seat,

"What is that supposed to mean, I became a hero to save people like my parents before me, there's nothing that can't be solved if we deal with it like heroes do. Why aren't you as upset about this? Do you agree with them?" he accused him, Hizashi stood up.

"Stop, just stop, I abhor the killing myself, but you didn't see the basement, it was filled with bodies of kids who," his face turned green and he swallowed, "The people who worked there knew what was going on, and we couldn't even rescue the other kids that could've been there, who knows where they are. What if Tenya had been one of the kids, what do you think they would've done to his legs," that caused Tensei to step back, the blood draining from his face.

"T-that's," Hizashi gave a grim, satisfied smile.

"Shouta said they're a military group, and do not forget that profession wise the military is much older than the hero profession. What do you think they did to secure the safety of our country?" Ingenium couldn't answer and bit his lip, staring at the floor with a frustrated look.

"Both of you sit down," Nemuri was trembling, "What right do we have to judge this group, when they were doing it to save a girl who had her own eye ripped out, her fingernails as well, and that boy, his neck, like he was wearing a shock collar, no, he probably was wearing one. All I could do was put the security guards to sleep, but the thought that they might end up waking up, subject more kids to that suffering," tears poured down her face, "We can't do anything about it anymore, because that stupid Non-Interfering Act is the reason for all of this in the first place. Please, just stop fighting," the young men shared a look before sitting down, Tensei putting an arm around the dark purple haired woman's shoulder to comfort her.

"Will you tell me, when this is all over, what happened to you?" Hizashi asked in a low voice, Shouta glanced at his exhausted face and sighed.

"I will, no doubt they still have the files somewhere to show you," then he saw the interest in the other man's eyes and scowled, "No you can't call me Ai-kun," ignoring his pleading look, he squeezed some eye drops into his eyes before folding his arms across his chest and closed his eyes in preparation for a long wait.


Mashiro could feel the anxiety start to overwhelm him as time went on. Two hours had passed and only the boy was brought out in that time from another operating theatre, bandages around his neck and face, Ai-kun had volunteered to wait in his room in case the boy woke up with his Quirk activated. Present Mic had gone in with him, leaving only the other two junior heroes who had remained silent since the earlier argument among them.

Then the light over the emergency room turned off and Mashiro waited anxiously as the head surgeon came out.

"Well?" the twenty-eight year old father asked, eyes darting to the room behind the doctor, his entire being screaming to check on his daughter.

The doctor removed their mask, eyeing him with some weariness due to the state of his attire but answered anyways,

"The girl's wounds were disinfected and her body accepted the blood transfusion that was prepared. The cracks in her skull have been looked at and we placed a neck brace to help with the healing process. The vitamin deficiency is currently being remedied and we have a special Quirk doctor arriving in the morning who can restore her eye," the relief made him stumble a bit but Mitsuki steadied him.

"Vitamin deficiency?" she inquired, the surgeon sighed.

"Yes, from what we gathered during the surgery, and what knowledge you had on her Quirk," he raised an eyebrow which Mashiro felt difficult to ignore, he knew that it was bad he didn't even know his own daughter's Quirk; he had a lot to make up for in that department.

"Her Quirk feeds on a number of nutrients, and the poor diet that she received these past few weeks did not help matters. The vitamin transfusion will take up to ten hours, afterwards she should be able to recover, starting with a liquid diet and moving up to solids," Mitsuki patted Mashiro on the back, leading him to a bench as the man buried his face in his hands. The doctor's face softened a bit at seeing this, and he rubbed the back of his head,

"You'll be able to visit her once the nurses set her up in one of the rooms, she should be waking up soon," Empress thanked the man and took out her phone to update the others.

"Come on, let's get you some food, you haven't eaten since this thing started after all," it took some coaxing, but she managed to convince him to go to the cafeteria to get some food, waving the heroes off when they stood up to follow, "I'll get some kimbap and sandwiches for you two, watch the doors and listen for any status reports," she dragged him down the hallway, ignoring his protests.


Tensei and Nemuri sat, one staring at the door while one stared at the floor, brows furrowed in thought.

Footsteps caught their attention but upon spotting the uniform of the hospital they dismissed the person who went into the surgical room, though Nemuri tilted her head.

"Eh? Was Midoriya-san in a nurse's outfit? Strange," Tensei didn't pay any attention, still trying to sort out his own thoughts.


When she woke up, her body refused to move and her remaining eye focused on manic green ones that looked down at her with malice, and she realized with terror that she wasn't wearing her glasses anymore.

"You just had to activate your Quirk, you just had to refuse to give it up to live the perfect family life with us. Why couldn't you have just succumbed to your illness when you were little, but don't worry, I'll do what's best for you, for our little family," Keiyu tried to speak but even her mouth refused to move. A man was behind her mother, in a familiar outfit with tools in hand.

"Hurry up Keiko, we haven't got all day, the ritual must be completed," it was the priest, and he gave her a grimly pleased look, "Careful, wouldn't want to meet the same fate as my sister," she swallowed, recalling her actions that resulted in the woman's death, how did he find out?

"Now, what do you think about these pretty little doll eyes I prepared especially for you? I'll see if this one fits before getting your other one ready," the insane woman held up two glass eye balls, the same color as her own eyes, but that wasn't exactly comforting when she knew exactly what the woman planned on doing with them.

'Someone, anyone, help!'


Shouta shot out of his seat at the sound of tires squealing outside and peered out the hospital window to see what was going on when the Todoroki boy woke up with a gasp.
"Something's wrong! Where's Keiyu," flames licked around his body only to snuff out under the effects of Shouta's Quirk as Mic ran to get a nurse.

"Just lie down, everything's fine, you're in the hospital," but the teenager looked restless.

"You need to check on her, something's wrong," he said this with certainty, grabbing the tubes attached to him and before he could stop them, he ripped them out.

"Shit, what are you doing, Mic hurry up," he turned away for one second only to whirl around when the room was lit up by blue flames, only for it to be too late as he saw a mass of blue fire go out the window.

"What the hell," he ran into the hallway, almost crashing into a nurse, "He used his Quirk to fly out the window, someone check on the girl, where is she?" at this moment Mashiro and Mitsuki appeared along with Midoriya, catching Nemuri's attention from where she was sitting.

"Midoriya-san? But I saw you go in a few minutes ago, did you change out of that nurse's outfit you were wearing?" confusion spread across Midoriya's face.

"But I wasn't wearing-" horror appeared on her face, "Mashiro," but the man was already sprinting towards the surgery room, throwing open the door and disappearing, only to come back with wild eyes.

"She's gone, she's not in there," he turned to Midnight who was looking alarmed, "The woman you saw, did she come back out?" the woman shook her head, standing up.

"No, I just saw her go in," Mashiro ran to the nurse and urgently asked her if there was another way to get out of the surgical theater.

"Yes, there's an elevator that goes to the morgue, but it can only be accessed with an ID card from one of the surgeons," the surgeon from before arrived, looking annoyed and muttering about kids running in the halls with no regard for anyone.

"Doctor, we need to get to the morgue, my daughter's been taken," the man blinked, taken aback,

"By who?" Mashiro grimaced.

"My wife," Shouta stared at him, wife? Why did the man look so disgusted saying those words.

"That fucking bitch," those who apparently knew the woman looked disgusted and Mitsuki proceeded to rip the ID card from the man, "Your coming with us," the man could barely protest, hurrying up to match the taller woman's strides, the other adults following suit.

"Is it that bad that her mother has her?" he asked Komodo who had appeared, not looking at all happy.

"The woman is a member of the Church of Clover, the girl's grandparents are the ones that turned in their granddaughter to have her Quirk removed, what do you think?" he quickened his pace at that.

If the woman grabbed her daughter, it could be to finish the job, he prayed that they weren't too late before the girl's other eye was removed.


As Keiko got ready to remove the other tainted eye and replace it with the second doll's eye, she could see the accusing stare in that blue eye, so much like his. The anger that rose up in her made her hands tense, how dare this brat accuse her when she's the one responsible-

"Hey stalker, old man!" that name had her hackles raising and she turned to the speaker,
"Do not call-" her body froze and her mind went blank, the priest beside her in a similar state.

"Put the tools down and back away from the bed," obeying the order, they both did so as the violet haired boy came into the room, "Izuku," a green haired boy ran in beside him, freezing at the sight of Keiko who in her mind, recognized the boy a different way.

"Mom?" the boy whispered in shock before shaking his head and kicking the tools away, going to Keiyu whose body had started convulsing.

"What did you do to her," he asked Keiko accusingly, but then the violet haired boy flinched as the priest broke out of his hold.

"Well, what an interesting taint," he said, leering down at them, "Too bad but I've gained a resistance to mind control over the years," he produced a gun from his hand and shot a look at Keiko, "I wonder if you would be so kind as to release this girl's mother from your control so that we could resume the ritual, it's rather important you see," the boy glared at him.

"How about no," he opened his mouth before closing it, spotting the dismay on the boy's face, so is that how it worked?

He chuckled and pointed his gun at them, about to intimidate them into doing what he said when blue fire surrounded him, melting the gun in his hand that soon followed.

"I suggest you back away," a red haired boy appeared from the fire, his body reforming as he stood protectively over the girl.

So this was the Todoroki run away she'd heard so much about.

"You little freak! Father, are you alright," she turned to the priest who was clutching his new stump, breathing heavily as he glared at the teenager.

"A credit to your father I see," those words caused the fire to grow bigger as the Todoroki run away became angry.

"I'm nothing like that man, you are the ones that are like him," the adults appeared at that moment, the fire going out under red eyes as a blonde tackled the priest to the floor and Keiko, knowing it was all over, grabbed a knife from her pocket and lunged for the still convulsing girl who was gasping for air.

The knife ripped itself from her hands and she met identical green eyes boring into hers.

"Hello Imouto," she jerked back, limbs trembling as her older sister looked at her with distaste.

"You," then purple eyes in a familiar face with violet hair caused her to gasp, "No, why is your hair like that," it couldn't be, no, it was impossible.

That damned Mitsuki woman grabbed and twisted her arms behind her as her husband ran to that damn girl's side.

"Keiyu, sweetie," if it weren't for the neckbrace the girl would probably be throwing her head from side to side.

"Too much, too much, the information, the eye, take it out, I can't," then she stopped and her remaining eye closed while the doll one was still open.

"Cover it," red eyes faded, she recognized him, from so long ago. The one hope they had of eradicating Quirks, taken from their society by this group who unfairly judged them for their goals.

"You, you were the boy that," her head was forcibly twisted away from him and she struggled under that hand that smelled of Glycerin.

"Would say it's nice to see you again, but we both know that I'd rather see you in a straightjacket, more preferably a metal slab," she so hated this woman.

"Get her out," the voice made her stop and she stared at her husband who was staring at her with familiar eyes, eyes that she hadn't wanted to see ever again. Ones that viewed her with no emotion, as if she was nothing to him, no! She'd tried so hard hadn't she? To get him to realize his feelings for her that she knew he had deep down, or else why would he have rescued her so long ago?

"Darling please, I was only trying to make us the perfect family, please you still love me right, that's why you married me," she pleaded with him as the surgeon with the group had several nurses grab the girl from the metal slab she had been on.

"Quick, get her to a room and hook her up with an IV drop, keep that eye covered as well," they took her out first before Keiko had cuffs put on her arms, the priest having his one remaining arm pinned behind his back, face twisted with pain as he glared at the red haired boy who was standing near the other boys.

"The ritual must be complete, we have to complete the ritual," Komodo gagged him to stop the muttering.

As she was dragged past her husband, she tried to plead with him again, but he looked away.

"I only married you out of obligation, Keiyu is the only one reason I stayed with you," the cruel words had her knees buckling, but the dreadful blonde woman snorted and forced her to continue walking forward.

"Serves you right, you have a lot of crimes to answer for, not the least of which is how you snared Mashiro," her mouth was gagged before she could defend herself and she could only watch her husband turn his back as he followed in the direction that the doctor and nurses had gone in.

Why, why is he choosing that girl over her, didn't she prove her love to him? She'd hidden his identity from her own parents so that they didn't kill him, and she'd given him a child, something she knew that he had wanted.

She loved him, isn't that enough?


Mitsuki came back after handing the bitch off to the officials, arriving in the room where Keiyu was being kept and Inko's boy and his friend sat next to one another. Mashiro was sitting next to his daughter, the teenage Todoroki in the bed next to them and the hero quartet all standing by the window. Inko and Komodo of course were standing in front of the youngest in the room, frowns on their faces.

"How did both of you get here, we're not angry, just concerned," Hikaru scoffed at their fellow parent.

"Speak for yourself, what money did you use to get here," the question had a groan rise up from those who knew them.

"Seriously?" but Hikaru's son shrugged while Izuku was staring at the floor, his eyes every so often flicking up at the red haired boy who was being treated and scolded by a doctor for leaving his room.

From what she heard, his Quirk really worked differently from Endeavor's, not only a different color, but the ability to transform into fire? Which according to him he only just found out he could do so earlier in the day? Just what the hell has that flaming trashcan been doing?!

"We didn't use any money, we snuck onto a plane that was on its way here with that woman on board and," he paused and all the color drained from his face, "I don't want to talk about it," having caught a glimpse of a particular car outside, Mitsuki snorted.

"You let little green bean here behind a wheel did you? Drove like a stuntman with a death wish did he? Like mother like son, they both flip personalities behind a wheel," having been a bit pale from witnessing someone's hand get burned off and his friend's near death, Izuku came to attention at those words and pouted.

"It wasn't that bad, I was careful," Inko also looked offended.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded, glaring at Mitsuki who raised an eyebrow in return.

"Be grateful there were no cops, it gets worse when they hear sirens," the boy turned white and an air of misery appeared around him, making her burst out laughing, "Oh that did happen?" Izuku hunched in on himself as the traumatized boy next to him muttered about driving over a train track seconds before a train arrived.

"We needed to catch up," he protested, "We lost sight of her at the airport and it was difficult tracking her because the computer kept glitching," Hikaru's son rolled his eyes.

"Well if you hadn't stopped to let that psychopathic friend of yours catch up, he wouldn't have blown up the original computer and left us using an older one," Mitsuki twitched at 'blown up' and sighed.

"How much was that laptop?" Izuku flinched and stared up at her, as if realizing she was there as well before averting his gaze in shame.

"Sorry Aunt Mitsuki," Inko stepped in.
"Don't be Izuku, Mitsuki will be having a long talk with Katsuki when she gets back, before he joins his uncle on the nightly news in a few years, or even sooner," she slumped her shoulders.

"You're not going to drop the comparison to his uncle, are you?" Inko stared at her with cold eyes.

"No, I am not."


The whirl of the helicopter blades nearly drowned out Mitsuki's protest of wanting to pilot, nearly.

"Come on! I can get us there in half the time, it'll be fun!" Mashiro's hands fell down on her shoulders.

"I wish for my daughter, who is still in a coma, to have a peaceful trip without any issues, so sit down," the blonde buckled under the pressure of those hands and nervously laughed.

"Right, just joking," she quickly sat down next to Inko, pulling her phone out, "Might as well call Masaru, make sure our son didn't get into any more trouble, apart from when Hikaru's kid got him pulled into a police station," that was going to be fun to deal with when she got home.

Izuku and Hitoshi were talking to Touya who was hunched in on himself, unsure of how to deal with kids who apparently didn't care that he had just burned someone's hand off. Mitsuki was pretty sure that was due to who their parents were, and the fact Izuku was so enamored with Quirks he ignored the dangerous aspects of them.

So much like Inko, adrenaline junkies with death wishes, she thought with an inward sigh.

"Mitsuki," she stiffened, leaning away from Inko only to yelp when the woman grabbed her ear and twisted.

"How can you always tell?!" Hikaru was the telepathic one after all!

"I'm not telepathic, I can just read your expression," dammit she hated the fact that they could read her so easily!


In another part of the helicopter, Shouta was explaining his past tp his fellow hero.

"I was only eight when the Church of Clover decided to track me down, my ability to erase other Quirks had gotten their attention and they wished to figure out how it worked. I ended up getting kidnapped during a field trip and held in a facility for a week before the group found and got me out of there. It was long enough for me to figure out the Church's goal and the hideous part of the underground. An underground hero had assisted this group in finding out where I was, risking their license with the Commission because of the Non-Interference pact." Hizashi listened to his friend's story with concern.

"The teachers said you got sick," his insomniac friend sighed.

"A cover story to avoid getting into trouble, they're the ones who lost me after all by not paying attention," that caused anger to appear.

"Why didn't you tell on them?" he knew that his friend had it hard growing up, being seen as a villain in training by others, but for the teachers to ignore his disappearance?

"It's fine Hizashi, it was a long time ago," the Voice Hero settled down, not at all pleased but knowing that getting mad about something in his friend's past was useless now.

Nemuri was conked out while Tensei was looking at his phone, no doubt looking at pictures of his brother like he always did when he was deep in thought.

This was going to be a long trip, he thought as Shouta finally fell asleep against his shoulder, no doubt the man wished for his sleeping bag.

Deciding there was nothing else for him to do, he closed his own eyes, feeling exhausted.

As Mashiro fell asleep due to Hikaru's manipulations, and everyone else was busy, none of them noticed the twitching of fingers and the eyelid of the person they'd gone to South Korea for start to move.

Mumichi Keiyu woke up the moment they touched down in Japan.

Author's Note: Might post epilogue or wait till the second installment of Catalyst Series. If anyone is interested I might post some fillers of Izuku and Hitoshi's trip to Korea and snippets from Kraken's past. Will take awhile to post chapters for second installment since I'm still figuring out what to start with.

Hope you enjoyed the first book in the Catalyst series!