Akaguro advanced on Izuku, who back-peddled hopelessly. The Hunter latched his hand onto Izuku's wrist and yanked him into the overcrowded room: for once, all fifty children were inside one room.

All but two.

Akaguro hoisted Izuku into the air by his throat for everyone to see, the boy's kicks and struggles having no effect. At his feet, Shoto lay, backhanded with enough strength to knock him unconscious: Shinso was crumpled in a corner, most likely having been treated equally. Dabi stood, arms spread to his sides, blocking the path to the other children. Gazing longingly at Izuku, the burnt elemental tried to convey through looks alone how desperately he wished to save the mechanical boy, but he knew one step would result in the fine neck being crushing to scrap parts.

"I will make this very clear," Akaguro's loud voice boomed through the room. "I have three levels of patience: you've broken one; and unless you want to see the repercussions for breaking the second," his fist tightened around Izuku's throat, a gear popping, "I suggest you all start answering my question!"

Before anyone could even hope to muster the strength to tell the truth or a lie, a new voice spoke up. Toga was in the doorway, hugging the frame as she did, sending venomous looks to Izuku.

"Iida and Ostrich are running their way to Yuuei as we speak. I watched them leave myself." Her smile was wide and cat-like. From her head to her toes, a wave of magic rippled through her entire body, changing her to be momentarily invisible. "I am so good at hiding anymore Daddy."

Gasps rippled throughout the room, children realizing they'd been sleeping in the same room with the daughter of the enemy. It wasn't necessarily uncommon to hear Charmers becoming parents to a Shapeshifter; but the idea of Akaguro fathering a child was unnerving.

Akaguro finally lowered Izuku, though he still had the boy's throat in a death grip. He smiled right back at his Shapeshifter daughter, and it was clear who she got the wicked look from. "Good job Toga." His smile fell as soon as it had come. "Hunt them down. Kill them if you have to."

Tokoyami screamed in terror, but Toga was already dashing with incredible speed through the Camp: Dabi had to physically restrain Tokoyami from flinging himself after her.

"Back to my questions," fearful gazes flicked between Akaguro and Tokoyami, "who organized this foolish idea. Who thought that they could stand against me?!"

No one answered. Dabi was too preoccupied with Tokoyami to take the blame himself, though Akaguro would have immediately seen through the flimsy lie. Only he, Shinso, and Izuku knew that it was truly Shoto's idea; but Shoto had been knocked unconscious.

"Time is a-ticking!"

Suddenly Akaguro felt a furious tapping on his forearm. He looked down and unceremoniously dropped Izuku. The boy sprawled on the floor, hands flying to his neck as he reflexively gasped like a fish out of water. It took him a moment to compose himself.

His voice creaked out, "it was mine." He lied. "I proposed the idea to the others. I thought of sending our two fastest runners out. I wrote the letter they are to deliver to assure their message is genuine. All this had been my idea."

Akaguro squatted down closer to the weak boy. "Are you telling the truth, young lord?" His voice was layered with mesmerizing magic, compelling Izuku to answer ad his brain fuzzed over.

"... yes," he whispered. He had been telling the truth about the letter, at least.

There was silence for a moment.

The room waited for a response.

"Liar."

The back of Akaguro's hand was the last thing Izuku saw.


When Izuku woke up, all he saw was darkness. He had been forced from his Vessel, and for good reason; many parts, not just the neck, had been broken from... Izuku didn't want to think about it.

He was trapped in a tiny room with no door. Izuku couldn't escape. He tried to phase through the wall time after time, but it never worked; not without a door.

Izuku was alone.

For how long he remained in that darkness, he didn't know. He cried.

He heard monsters outside his walls. They sounded large and less than sentient. Izuku would curl up into a ball and cry harder as he heard them pass.

The only thing he had to keep him centered was the visits of others outside his box. Dabi told him, his voice muffled through the wood, that Tokoyami had recovered from his wounds, but that Shoto and Shinso had been taken to their own "punishment boxes." What must have been a few days later hailed the news that Shinso and Shoto had been freed, dehydrated and malnourished.

Izuku wasn't freed. He had no need for water, sunlight, or air, and he had made the mistake of sticking his neck out for others. Akaguro was making sure he learned his lesson. Izuku was a lesson for the other captives as well.

Other good news was that Toga never returned. Izuku prayed to every deity he'd ever heard of and the Nine Stars themselves that she had made the horrible mistake of sleeping and was now lost, or that some beast had taken her.

Dabi eventually discussed the monsters Izuku heard.

"They're called Nomu; twisted creatures from the hell pits of All for One's factories. Akaguro got them to ensure that no one ever leaves again, and for future protection in case the boys do reach Yuuei... Oh Stars I pray they do." Dabi had gone silent for several minutes. Izuku wondered if he'd left. "There are three Nomu in total," he eventually resumed. "One has... no... it won't do you any good to hear about them. It'll rattle you more. It'll be best if you see them when you can hide away in daylight."

Izuku had to agree.

Shoto came, many times with Dabi or Shinso. He'd apologized until he cried that he couldn't have been there to protect Izuku. After that he was mostly quiet. Izuku and he played a tapping game to occupy the time and just know the other was there: one tapped, the other copied and Izuku often won, knowing how to keep his taps in time with musical rhythm.

Shinso came too. He never spoke. Izuku only knew it was him because of the harp play: Shinso had heard Izuku's updated song, memorized it on the spot, and played it for Izuku during his few visits alone. If he played with two hands, he added a harmony.

Shinso had no idea how often he made Izuku cry more to hear his song. It wasn't crying out of sadness: Izuku wasn't sure why he cried anymore.

For a whole month, Izuku knew only darknes, taps, harp strings, and a few kind words. For a whole month he had to hear those Nomu shuffling about outside his box. He'd been trapped in the Camp for four months total now.

Eventually, whether by deciding that Izuku had been captive long enough or by giving into the pleas of the other captives, Akaguro broke open the crate Izuku was kept in. The boy had yelled in pain as midday sunlight suddenly filled his vision, blinding him. The Hunter turned the box upside down, dumping out Izuku and his still broken Vessel.

Dabi lurched out, catching Izuku in his grasp: normally Izuku would have fallen through anyone's arms in his Ghost state, but he knew Dabi's arms and clung to the elemental man for all he was worth. His eyes were screwed tightly shut but tears still poured out as light seared his irises. Dabi cradled the ghost child. He carefully carried the still crying Izuku to the darkness of their rooms.

It took another month for him to fully recover. For the first week he could barely tolerate anything: sound was too loud, light was too bright, smells were sickening. But he grew stronger. Shinso helped him repair his Vessel so he could heal faster inside its walls.

Then... nothing happened.

Two more months passed. Izuku turned sixteen: one more year and he'd be a grown man.

Akaguro was increasing his effects and attacks on the children, forcefully making them listen to him.

One kid, only ten, collapsed from the stress and did not rise.

He backed off a bit after that.

There was a tiny funeral, uninterrupted by Akaguro or his pet Nomu. All 46 children gathered. They swarmed the small grave stone, each patting the earth three times to give the soul comfort. Holding hands, they sang, remembering the boy's childhood before he had been taken, and lamenting that he would never see the sands of his home again. After a while they just stood there, in their rings around a tiny grave, not speaking a word.

Eventually, they had to return inside.

Still, after eight total months, there was no sign of either Toga or an army of Yuuei's finest. Shoto and many more had been now held captive for over a year; a few over two years; only Shinso and Akaguro himself knew how long the young charmer had been captive.

Talking was the only emotional outlet they had. Shoto had explained in depth the rich history of each of the Eight, and gladly told the worn down children that the Ninth successor had been chosen. They all had rushed outside in the middle of the night. 46 tired voices whopped and cheered and prayed to the Stars to come until Akaguro burst outside and yelled at them.

Shoto had also detailed every nook and cranny of Yuuei's political system: he explained how he was heir to the kingdom despite not being the king's son, but his nephew, and how his father Enji held no claim to the throne. The king had never married, therefore had never fathered an heir. However, he would not stand to see his violent younger brother become legitimate heir, so he initially picked Shoto's oldest brother to be prince and heir; but then the eldest died, and Shoto was chosen instead. Shoto was taken from his father's cruel clutches for many years, raised and molded to become a kind and just ruler. It was in these years apart that he met Momo and learned to move past Enji's abuse.

Shoto explained the tiers and importance of each High Lord, then the Dukes, then the Low Lords, all the way down to the merchants, tradesmen, work men, and servants.

One day the two friends, Izuku and Shoto, had gotten into a heated debate over a certain creature.

"You're telling me there is a creature that massive, with gigantic ivory blades for tusks, and it's an herbivore?"

"IVE SEEN THEM WITH MY OWN EYES IZUKU!"

"How can it be that big, and live off of grass?!"

"You're telling me that you'll readily accept and believe that DRAGONS are real, despite never having seen one, but ELEPHANTS cannot exist because they eat grass????" Shoto threw his hands to the sky. "What's next? Chickens are lizards?"

By the ninth month, Izuku nearly lost hope that the boys had managed to reach Yuuei. Many already had given up, condemning themselves to live under Akaguro's thumb for the rest of their lives, and as such they succumbed more easily to his spells, growing ever sicker. Izuku would stand outside at night each night, staring up at the Nine Stars.

"Please," he whispered as the sun set, marking the beginning of his tenth month in the Camp. "Please, come for us. We can't hold out much longer. The younger ones are close to dying, no matter how much medicine Akaguro brings or how much broth they drink. Everyone here has so much to live for... please... come..."

Was it his imagination, a hopeful mind playing tricks, or did the Seventh Star, the predecessor of the Eight, just wink at him?

Izuku stared harder. The seventh successor, Nana Shimura. A lady known for kindness, hard work, and honesty, the only trickery she had been known for was getting into a program for men and becoming the next leader of the Knights. If she winked at him, then maybe...

Turning inside, Izuku muttered, "I'm holding you to that."

Izuku had to belive, for everyone else's sake, that he had been heard. The boys had reached Yuuei. The knights were coming for them. Soon, this would all be over for them.

If no one else could, Izuku would hold on to this last string of hope.


A/N

So a lot of time covered here. This is a shorter chapter, but it is hard to put in a lot of detail for limbo chapters. Still, I did my best. Once again, I hit home on the absalute evil of Akaguro. Jerkwad.

(Also the elephant discussion was a little call back to the first chapter I couldn't resist)

I feel I need to clarify. I put a lot of superstition and near worship of the stars and other such things in here. I personally do not believe in astrology or horoscopes or other gods. However, this is set in a time period where those kinds of things were dominant, so I am writing those details in simply to be accurate.

It won't be long now until the big climax! And as I'm sure you all know, there is going to be a massive fight scene! Lotsa problems! Maybe one chapter more, maybe two, I'm not sure. I'd love to hear how you guys think the battle is going to go: I already know how BP thinks it's going down. So comment! I am begging as I got no comments on last chapter that I was so happy about. Also, since it will inevitably involve fighting (the bane of my writing existence) the next two chapters will probably take a while, so hold your hoses; I'm really going to take my time with them as I would like to match my writing in this story so far.

(And if you couldn't guess, the three Nomu here are the three Nomu from the Hosu Arc)

Anywho! That's all for now! So long Lovies!

Shapeshifter

Race

Character: Toga

Defining qualities: guess, often children of charmers or elves, can repeat any voice or words said perfectly, can turn invisible