Chapter Forty-Six
Remember
"For years and years,
I chased their cheers,
The crazy speed of always needing more:
But when I stop,
And see you here,
I remember who all this was for."
- From Now On (The Greatest Showman)
Although he was on the stage, Present Mic was bathed in shadow, unbreathing, while Shouta was circled by a ring of spotlights below.
At first, everything had been going according to plan: Nemuri's 'swap' had been flawless, and Eraser had been successfully distracted by the chaos and the smoke and the hologram above.
How do you fight someone with inhuman strength and reflexes?
If you can help it, you don't.
They'd caged him instead.
But then everything had gone awry. They'd given Nemuri the task of 'the swap', believing her Quirk wouldn't work on Eraserhead for the same reason Vlad's Quirk hadn't in Hosu, but even the strong non-Quirk-based anaesthesia they'd been pumping into the room hadn't affected him in the slightest.
What had All for One done to Shouta?
Hizashi'd hoped the screen images would've been enough to draw the real man out, but before they'd thought up another plan, Eraserhead had discovered Nezu and Sekijiro in the control centre. While Mic hadn't wanted to put his friends in a secondary cage, they had both volunteered for it. Nezu had overseen the screens, the lights and the smoke machines, and he'd needed a clear view of Shouta from all sides without the use of cameras to ensure that. The two-way flat screens had been expensive, but necessary.
They'd agreed together: if they had to break Shouta to save him from the brink, then they'd break him. Hizashi watched the blood run down his ex-lover's right eye, but although the lenses were shattered, he could see nothing clearly beneath. The rest of the mask remained. Hizashi had to see Shouta's face.
Was there even a trace of Sho left?
There was so much Mic needed to say, but with those eyes on him he couldn't even breathe. His lungs were full, at least, and he was ready to fight.
How do you physically fight someone with inhuman strength and reflexes?
With everything you have.
Present Mic's foot hit against a panel, hidden within the flooring of the stage. Dark smoke billowed around him, but Eraserhead wasn't ready to lose sight of his prey. The villain leapt from the floor below and raised his weapon high. He was close enough to touch. Mic lifted his guitar in time to catch the knife that'd been intended for his chest.
Last time he'd fought Eraserhead head-to-head like this, the knife had annoyingly gouged through the paint job. This time, it buried deep into the guitar. The abrupt force of the blow was enough to jar his legs, but he wasn't ready to surrender.
Present Mic was a pro-fucking-hero.
Shouta loomed over him. It took all the strength Hizashi had to stay standing. His body shook from the effort of holding back only one of Shouta's inhumanely powerful arms. With his elbow, Mic flipped a switch on his guitar. Lights blazed across it. Even though the knife was still imbedded and Eraserhead's free hand was reaching for him, Hizashi didn't hesitate. His fingers strummed the strings.
The roar was deafening.
The sheer force of the sound waves was enough to send them both flying in opposite directions. Hizashi was cushioned by the stage's cloth backdrop, while Eraserhead was flung into several screens. Electricity sparked as his body broke through and tumbled into the control room below. Thankfully Vlad and Nezu were no longer there.
Mic inhaled as deeply as he could. He wanted to scream his lungs raw, to bring the building down on Eraser if that would be enough to save him, but-
Someone grabbed Hizashi and hauled him to his feet. For a moment he thought it was Shouta, but the shape was too bulky. His unasked question about the whereabouts of his friends was answered as Vlad King helped steady him. Nezu was there too, righting Hizashi's leg and guiding him to centre stage.
"The gas didn't work," Vlad said, voice distorted by the mask he wore. His tone wasn't accusatory. "What's the backup plan?"
"We could always try electrocution," Nezu suggested. The electricity of the screens hadn't fazed Eraser, but that didn't automatically discredit Nezu's suggestion. Hizashi nodded and turned the power of his electrified gloves to their maximum output: the watts were surely enough to kill an ordinary man, but…
Eraserhead wasn't an ordinary man.
"Nezu," Hizashi said while he could, "time for the plan 'Rats in the Walls'. Keep the images coming. Vlad and I'll wear him down physically, so then we can snap him back, yo."
Nezu nodded at the plan and hurried into the backstage area, pulling the smashed screen behind him. It clicked into place, safely securing the principal in the hidey hole. Mic swallowed and turned down the volume of his guitar. Next time, the force from his Directional Speaker wouldn't be as devastating, but at least he'd stay standing.
Sekijiro scanned Hizashi up and down. "You okay?"
"No," he said as he rolled his shoulders and held his guitar at the ready. "He interrupted my song."
The two stood tall, side by side, as the figure below pulled themselves from the sparking control panel. All the screens shifted to static and the smoke curled around the monstrous man.
A single red eye stared up at them from the darkness. Present Mic's breath caught in his throat, but he allowed nothing to show, even beneath his mask.
"Maybe if we're lucky," Vlad King murmured, his voice muffled beneath his breathing apparatus, "the knock-out gas will kick in." Vlad waited, as if expecting the voiceless Hizashi to reply, before he added, "Suppose this is better. Still haven't forgiven him for stabbing me in Hosu."
Mic nodded and wrenched the knife from the front of his guitar. It was heavy in his fingers, especially when he slipped it under his shirt and sliced along each of his biceps. Hizashi didn't flinch at the pain: his pain threshold wasn't what it'd once been, but it was still there.
Hot blood quickly stained his shirt, and he stored the dripping knife into his belt. They were ready.
The heroes didn't need to jump down to meet their enemy, for Eraser was quick to haul himself back onto the stage. The static screens flashed and resumed their images of helicopter fights and warehouse collapses and Sports Festivals, but Hizashi's lungs remained stiff and unresponsive. Although Vlad was with him, Present Mic was the target.
Lines of barbed scarf lifted from Shouta's shoulders, and flew directly for Hizashi, but a powerful strum from his guitar was enough to deflect them in the air. His feet skidded slightly on the stage, but the power was a far cry from the earlier backlash.
Although Eraser's current capture weapon was different in many ways to the original, it was based on Hizashi's design. It was strong, but light, even with the spikes. If anything, the barbed additions only messed with the surface area. Rookie mistake.
With the weapon failing him, Eraser dashed forward to attack.
In his mind, Hizashi heard the words he'd said to a young boy in a stadium an entire lifetime ago: Just look at me, Sho. Pretend no one else is around.
Eraserhead did just that as he lunged for Present Mic.
The two heroes moved in perfect sync.
Hizashi strummed his guitar. While it wasn't enough to send the villain flying this time, the twin spires of red that shot from his bleeding biceps were another story. Not only that, but a thick lance of crystallized blood lunged for Eraserhead's unguarded side.
In the split second the attack was launched, Shouta's reaction was logical: his attention turned towards the Blood hero. While it might've been a good idea in a solo fight, Eraserhead was fighting two opponents.
"[ALL ABOARD~!]" Present Mic yelled with his quirk. The soundwaves slammed into Eraserhead, clearly catching him off-guard. He must've accidentally lost sight of Vlad too, for the three lances of blood didn't fade away as they all lunged for the villain.
Red sprayed through the air. Hizashi thought the attacks had landed, but instead it was their blood that'd dropped. Eraserhead must've managed to land his Quirk on Vlad at the last moment, but that didn't stop the strong hero from grabbing the villain and hurling him from the stage while he was off-guard.
Shouta hit more screens, but in the blur, they'd missed a crucial detail. Hizashi's leg gave out in front of him. He hit the boards backwards, the oxygen flying from his lungs as he was winded. The capture weapon around his ankle dragged him towards the edge of the stage.
Although the spikes didn't pierce the leather of his thick boots, the pressure bit uncomfortably into his ankle. Vlad King leapt off the stage, targeting Eraserhead with his fist. Now in a solo fight, the villain easily grabbed Vlad's wrist before the punch landed. Alone, the Blood Hero stood no chance…
But he wasn't alone. Although he was out of breath, Present Mic was far from finished.
He used his free foot to roll himself up, just as he welcomed weightlessness. He fell from the stage, face forward, directly above Eraserhead. Hizashi painfully inhaled while Shouta's Quirk was focused on Vlad King and he flipped up his guitar.
"[VIBE CHECK~!]" Shouta recoiled at the voice, meaning he had no chance to dodge the swing of Hizashi's guitar. His attack hit, which really made Eraser literally recoil. However, a swing that should've been enough to knock a normal human unconscious only gave them a few seconds to recover.
Thanks to the hit, Vlad was able to wrench his fist free, but Eraserhead was already moving. There was a glint of titanium in the overhead lights. The blade of the knife struck Kan square in the torso, but…
The blade didn't puncture his suit. It skidded off, undoubtedly bruising the hero, but that was better than the alternative.
Both Hizashi and Kan leapt away from Eraserhead, although that was easier said than done for the former: his ankle was still ensnared. The villain wasn't at all perturbed by the strong material Hizashi had woven into Vlad's armour. In one fluid motion, Eraser wrapped his empty hand around the barbed scarf and wrenched Present Mic towards him, the red glow of his remaining eye unmoving.
Once more, he was the prime target.
Hizashi tried to stay standing, but Shouta was strong. However, before he fell, the screens flickered to a familiar scene: a warehouse collapsing.
The force around his ankle paused and for a single moment he could breathe as Shouta's attention turned to the screens.
"Fight it!" Hizashi managed, but didn't put his Quirk into it. Vlad would be in the line of sound. "Let us save you!"
Eraserhead took a step back, but whatever had come over him vanished as quickly as it'd appeared… Or maybe not, for his next attack wasn't aimed at Hizashi. Perhaps their guard was lowered by the shift, because neither could react in time.
Eraser targeted Vlad King with his knife, but he didn't aim for his chest again: he aimed for his mask.
Sekijiro leapt away, but wasn't quick enough to completely dodge. The knife sliced through his mask.
Panicked, Hizashi swung at Eraserhead, using his guitar like a bat, but the villain slipped beneath the blow. Eraserhead lunged with the knife, aiming for Hizashi's chest.
Mic lifted a hand, an automatic response to the attack, and he managed to keep it from burying in his chest, but…
The blade skewered completely through his palm. Sparks coursed harmlessly from the broken taser glove. His fingers automatically locked around Shouta's fist.
Better a hand than his heart.
Thankfully Vlad King wasn't done just yet. Blood leapt from Hizashi's wound and latched onto the villain's face, where it instantly crystallised: a perfect shrapnel grenade. Oxygen flooded Hizashi's lungs as Eraser's eye was covered, and the hero went to scream-
His breath caught in his throat, but not because of the Erasure Quirk. The screens around him flashed with soft pink images of fifteen years ago, of the photo that had been his phone screen for all this time. Hizashi hesitated.
He'd promised not to hold back, but...
"Shouta," he said, his voice taut as he strangled his own scream. "I love you."
Eraser's body stiffened. Had the words reached him?
Beyond the villain, Vlad was pulling himself to his feet, but he was sluggish. "Mic," managed the Blood Hero, "my mask…"
The breathing apparatus was broken. There was nothing protecting Vlad from the knockout gas they'd been pumping inside the building. Hizashi choked out a gasp as the knife was unceremoniously wrenched from his hand. Agony buzzed through him.
Eraserhead spun around. His boot connected directly with Vlad's mask. A cruel crack filled the air, and the Blood Hero fell back as his last line of defence was destroyed.
Hizashi noticed crimson running down Eraserhead's face as the blood crystal lost form. Vlad King was unconscious. Shouta turned back to his prey.
That was when Hizashi finally saw it: Shouta's left eye.
...He'd been right… Oh god, Sho...
His lungs stopped. His aching hand was forgotten. No, no, no! He'd planned so much for this! They'd fought as a team! How could he have lost?
Shouta approached. Hizashi tried to back away, but his ankle was restrained by the capture weapon. He swung his guitar at his attacker, despite the pain in his left hand.
Eraserhead stopped the attack with his knife. The electronics tore. The strings snapped. The instrument was skewered on the bloody blade, as his hand had been less than a minute before. It slipped from Hizashi's shaking grip and Eraserhead threw the guitar away - knife and all.
No! Present Mic wasn't finished!
He pulled the stolen knife from his belt, his senses screaming for him to do anything to survive… But Eraserhead caught him by the wrist. The knife froze mid-strike.
But… He didn't really stop it. Shouta moved the shaking blade. Instead of Eraserhead's shoulder, it was now aimed at Eraserhead's throat. Hizashi's chest violently wrenched. The world around them was pastel pink with pictures of two naive boys.
From the perfect start…
Shouta was giving him the opportunity to end everything now - the chance to end Eraserhead's suffering once and for all.
To the finish line…
This was the last shred of Shouta, pleading for freedom.
The blade pressed against his unguarded throat. The villain's sense of self-preservation kept him from ending himself - only Hizashi could do the deed now. It'd be so easy to press down and end this, but…
Hizashi wasn't that strong.
The knife clattered to the floor as Mic let go, unable to end his life. Tears burned his eyes.
The fight was over and Eraserhead was standing and the shred of Shouta was gone.
Eraserhead's other hand reached up. It slid beneath the Directional Speaker and wrapped around Hizashi's supple neck. His feet dangled off the ground.
Shouta was strangling him.
Shouta was strangling him, just as All for One had done so long ago, in this exact same bar.
This time, however, Hizashi didn't fight it. This was the end...
He'd lost…
Except, he hadn't - he wouldn't. He'd save Shouta, even if it cost him everything. Hizashi grabbed Shouta's wrist with his undamaged hand.
His taser glove was on and set to its highest possible setting. If he shocked the villain, the hero'd be hurt too - no, he'd be killed - but Shouta would live. Shouta would be incapacitated and Nezu would save him and all of this would mean something.
Hizashi would lose, but he'd win all the same.
Hizashi Yamada was dying anyway, so this was the best he could do against his Villain.
The screens flickered 'til all showed the same view, although Mic didn't recognise the footage. Buildings had been reduced to smoking rubble. At the epicentre of the destruction stood two other warriors, both similarly fighting with everything they had:
All-Might and All for One.
Eraserhead stilled, and Hizashi heard a single word emerge from his attacker. "Father."
Moments later, Present Mic was on the floor, coughing and inhaling as much oxygen as he could. He noticed something above him, and when he glanced up he saw Eraserhead leaping up the screens, towards the ceiling. Shouta was trying to escape.
Nezu was a genius and Hizashi was devastated.
Mic pulled himself to his feet, his body swaying. His neck would be bruised tomorrow, but Shouta hadn't crushed his windpipe. If he'd been alone, he might've screamed. The place would collapse, but at least it would take he and Shouta out together. However, Vlad and Nezu were too important to risk.
Was this it then? He'd live, but he'd fail.
There was a tearing sound as Eraserhead slammed into the ceiling and broke through it with an inhuman desperation. Then he was gone, and all that was left was a tent of starless sky.
You should've been stronger.
Hizashi's eyes burned and his chest constricted. His throat felt small, yet a sound escaped. At first he didn't even realise it'd emerged from his own throat, for the sound was so incoherent and animalistic.
Hizashi's wail of complete and utter defeat wasn't enough to bring the roof down, or enough to stop the escaping man, although it was enough to shatter the walls of screens as the sound travelled upwards. Glass shards rained down.
Defeat...
He'd lost. He'd lost and-
A second tearing sound subsumed Hizashi's wail.
Another hole appeared in the ceiling above, and from it emerged a dark silhouette. They fell fast, with no ability to grab hold of anything - not even with the scarf that trailed behind them. Eraserhead's body cut completely through the floor and smashed into the subterranean basement below, sending chunks of cement down with him. Dust and smoke forced Mic's long hair back, and unshed tears pricked at the corners of his eyes.
What?
From nowhere emerged a black vortex that devoured the ceiling, revealing several silhouettes standing above. For a moment he thought it was Kurogiri's Warp Gate, but…
No, Hizashi recognised that Quirk, and it wasn't Warp Gate. He didn't let himself hope until he recognised the shape of the hero, Thirteen, among the group.
"I've wanted to do that for a long time!" called a voice Hizashi was all too familiar with, and he recognised one of the other silhouettes above - a silhouette bulked by heavy mechanical armour. Power Loader!
It finally dawned on him who the people were: Power Loader, Thirteen, Snipe, Cementoss and Ectoplasm.
The other U.A. teachers? Why were they-
Nezu was a fucking genius.
The ground in front of Hizashi quaked as Eraserhead pulled himself from the basement. Dust covered his black costume, and his mask now lay around his neck. Mic might've used his Quirk on him, had Vlad King not been unconscious in his voice's line of fire.
He was ignored by the villain. His Erasure was focused above and Hizashi could see his ex-lover's teeth gritted in aggravation. His right eye was closed, damaged by the earlier blood-crystal shrapnel, while his left eye… The red glow from his left eye was wrong. Hizashi caught sight of a horrific scar...
Then Shouta was moving. His feet crunched against the broken screens, spraying more glass shards as he climbed towards his living obstacles. Present Mic had gone from being his prime target to being forgotten.
"Let's end this show," drawled Snipe as he spun his guns and fired several shots. Blood rained down as each hit landed, all aimed at Eraserhead's limbs, but even full of lead he didn't go down.
From the gap in the roof emerged six of Ectoplasm's clones. Four rushed for Shouta and grabbed hold of him, while the other two slipped by. One grabbed Vlad's unconscious body, while the other went to Hizashi.
"You okay?" questioned the clone.
Hizashi's throat ached, and his hand was numb from blood loss. Even so, he couldn't keep himself from grinning beneath his bird-mask. Thankfully the dispersing knockout gas had no effect on the clone.
"And they say teaching only has intrinsic rewards," Hizashi said, his croaky voice caught between a laugh and a sob.
They looked to Eraserhead above. He struggled against the clones, but his movements had noticeably slowed.
Power Loader leapt through the destroyed ceiling, the claw of his power armour dwarfing Eraserhead as he held it high. With the clones on the villain, there was no way he could dodge the attack. "STAY DOWN!"
As his mechanical claw met the villain, a pillar of solid cement rose from below, the work of Cementoss. Shouta's body hurled down to meet the spire, pulverising the cement as he crashed through it. The Ectoplasm clone grabbed Hizashi and lifted him into the air, just as the ground was destroyed by the devastating attack.
Clouds of dust covered the air, blocking out more than the smoke ever had. Was it over? Had Eraserhead been defeated? Was he down, or was he…?
They waited in dead silence as the clouds dispersed.
Eraserhead lay in the rubble, his body badly beaten. Blood dirtied the rocks around him, but he was still moving. He tried to pull his broken body up, but to no avail.
Hizashi felt sickened by the sight of victory.
The blond broke free from Ectoplasm and ran towards the struggling man. "Shouta…" he croaked softly as he collapsed to his knees in front of him. The teachers watched vigilantly, ready to move at a moment's notice.
Shouta reached for him, hair smothering his face, but the act was more desperate than hostile. It was as if he was trying to grab something, but his hand met empty air. With zero success, his arm collapsed uselessly to the floor. His struggle to stand was finally surrendered.
Hizashi placed his uninjured hand on top of Shouta's, careful to avoid activating the taser. At the simple touch, the villain's head flew up.
That wrong red eye was on him, framed by dirty black hair, and Hizashi's breath disappeared. However, he didn't recoil. The fight was over.
Hizashi's injured hand shakily rose as he pulled off his own mask and tossed it to the side. The knock-out gas had cleared out at last, although he wouldn't've been able to breathe it in anyway.
Even though he couldn't say anything to his lover, with the mask gone he was able to do one thing.
Despite the pain, Hizashi shakily signed at Shouta with his bloody left hand:
I love you.
There was a flicker of static all around. Despite the deep cracks in the television screens and the missing shards of glass, a broken image appeared: All for One was taken away by officers and was placed into a high-security container.
All-Might stood at the forefront, his body shrunken in his unpowered form for the world to see. Blood stained his face, and his clothes were ragged from a hard-won fight.
"Meanwhile," said the voice of a reporter across the speakers, "All-Might and the other heroes are on high alert."
Then All-Might shakily pointed at the camera, his arm bruised and beaten. It was enough to silence the woman as the world prepared for his words of wisdom.
"Now…" he said, voice shaky but determined. "Now it's your turn."
Hizashi's eyes widened. A gasp escaped his lips, and he quickly turned back to Shouta. The villain was conscious, but he'd turned his gaze towards the screens. He'd failed his 'father'. There was no fight left in him.
Hizashi swallowed as emotion welled in his chest, and he removed his hand, but only so he could remove the taser glove. With it gone, he re-took Shouta's shaky hand and held onto it as tightly as he could.
"Shouta," Hizashi croaked as tears spilled from the corners of his eyes. The villain didn't look at him. Eraserhead pressed his face to the dirt as his consciousness wavered. Maybe he was simply imagining it, but for a moment he thought Shouta's hand gently squeezed back.
Now it's your turn.
Hizashi knew the message wasn't directed at him, but it was meaningful all the same.
Shouta was once again in his grasp, thanks to his friends. Eight years ago, Shouta had saved Hizashi from All for One. Although they'd physically rescued Eraserhead from the Villain's clutches, there was no telling how victorious they'd be in saving his mind.
Eraserhead was saved, but only Hizashi Yamada had any chance in truly saving Shouta Aizawa.
Now, it was Hizashi's turn.
