Sorry for the late update! I started school again and my professors have all decided to bombard me with hw :) But in return, I present you with an all-time high word count of 6700!
HUGE DISCLAIMER: THIS CHAPTER IS RATED M FOR TORTURE, GORE, SUICIDE, ETC.
Chapter 24: Little By Little I Fall
Less than 1 Hour into Capture
Sera stays quiet, letting his words slowly sink in.
The words of Recovery Girl matched all too well with the tale All For One spun around her, and despite all of her walls and steely will she couldn't help but falter.
"They'll use me," She finally says, looking up from her lap she stares at him, "But won't you also do that?"
All For One hums, not at all affected by her question, "Well, not to the extent that they will." He answers, before taking another sip of his tea, "In their eyes, you belong to them. They expect you to pour your heart and soul into hero work, no matter how much it breaks you. And if you don't?", He begins chuckling at this, his laughter dark and biting, "They'll turn on you, every single one of them."
"But they'll always need me." She replies, her shoulders relaxing just a fraction, as she finally grasped a dark spot in his carefully crafted words, "No matter what I do, no matter how the world might hate me, they'll never abandon me."
She slowly crosses one leg over the other, her posture relaxed, "The reason why healing quirks have become such a rarity was because most of the first generation healers died young without reproducing. It's quite similar to Darwin's natural selection theory. Only the adaptable quirks in the gene pool survived past the dark ages."
"Now though?" She asks, a small smirk forming on her lips, not directed at the man in front of her, but at the foolish people of which this world was built by, "Now, the world has finally realized just how important healing quirks are. Countless new diseases are popping up every few years, the world has come to a realization that all things will die. Health is now of the utmost priority. Which is why they will never abandon me. Not with my quirk, not with how powerful it is. The world will always need a quirk like mine, don't even deny it," She carefully taps her fingers on the armchair rhythmically, "After all, even you want my quirk."
All For One clearly did not expect her sudden change in demeanor, for he goes silent. It stays this way for a few more seconds until he finally bursts into laughter. This time not dark or biting but pure humorous laughter.
Sera watches his trembling shoulders in silence, waiting until they slowly fade. When he was finally done, All For One gives her another smile, this one wide and full of teeth, "You're right, I do want your quirk. But I can offer you a better deal than they can." He leans forward, and Sera shocked by his actions, leaned backward, her back pressing against the chair, "A normal life." He finally says, his wide grin taking on a sharper edge, "I can give you a peaceful, normal life."
She raises an eyebrow in confusion, "What do you mean by that?"
All For One slowly moves away from her, returning to his previous position, "It's quite simple really," He says, before pointing a finger at himself, "You let me take your quirk, and I'll let you leave this place without a scratch on you. You tell them I forcefully took your quirk and they will have to let you go. They won't bother you anymore and you will get to live the rest of your days in peace."
Even though Sera expected an offer along the lines of what All For One said, to hear it was a totally different matter. She couldn't help but falter, a part of her seriously considering his offer.
Life would be so much easier if she didn't have this quirk.
There would be no villains after her.
No need to live in constant fear.
She would be happy.
'But would you really?' A voice in the back of her mind asks, 'You're abandoning your friends, your family, your teachers. You're just planning on giving your quirk to him?'
Her mind suddenly pauses, the voice like cold water pouring onto her.
'What was she thinking?!' She mentally screams, and her eyes widen by a fraction. For a second there she had hesitated. The moment of hesitation brought a tidal wave of fear and paranoia in her heart. Suddenly, she wasn't too sure if she could even trust herself.
She needed to leave, now.
She whips her head up to look at All For One once again, "No." She says, her voice carrying endless finality. "I'm a hero now. I'll always be one. If I give you my quirk wouldn't that just be shooting myself in the foot? I'd be powerless."
"But you would be free, wouldn't you?" He asks, fingers tapping on the chair rhythmically, "The price for freedom is heavy my dear."
She sits up straighter staring at the mess of scar tissue that was once his eyes, "You claim to know me very well, and yet you don't understand my paranoia. My quirk is the only advantage I have in this world, and I—," She takes in a deep breath, "I would rather die than let you even touch it."
All For One finally shows displeasure at her words, his pale lips turning into a frown, "Are you sure about this?" He asks, slowly leaning towards her once again, this time though, he was like a predator, slowly it's prey, "I am an enemy you do not want to make."
Sera does not back down, instead, she stares him down, her eyes like steel, "I'm sure," She says, "Even if it's over my dead body, you'll never get your hands on my quirk for as long as you live."
All For One must have seen the clear determination in her eyes for he did not argue with her. Instead, he let out a tired sigh, "A pity," He says, placing the delicate teacup in his hands back on the table, "I won't enjoy taking away your quirk the hard way."
Sera doesn't have time to let his words sink in, as the world around her suddenly blurs. She widens her eyes, realizing what was happening. She tries to struggle to no avail and could only watch as the blurriness around her turns pitch black.
.
.
2 Hours After Capture
When Sera opened her eyes once again she was restrained to a table, with metal cuffs around both of her hands and legs. The room was dimly lit but she could see that she was surrounded by 2 villains, one of them who she was very familiar with.
Seeing her awake Shigaraki stood up from his seat and walked over to her, "Well would you look at this...the little cockroach has awoken."
He pushes back the hair in front of her forehead and puts his hand on the top of her head, making sure that one finger was lifted up.
"I'm a bit disappointed that you rejected sensei's offer Sera-chan." Shigaraki said, dragging out the word as he said her name.
She freezes when he mentions All For One but quickly calmed herself down, "Offer? You want to take away my quirk?" She stared right into his eyes, lips forming into a sneer, "Do you think I'm stupid? My quirk is priceless."
Shigaraki squeezes her head harder and she holds back a wince. Grabbing a fistful of her hair, he yanks her head up to meet his.
"Your right, your quirk is priceless. Vitakinesis." He whispers softly, "The strongest healing quirk the world has ever seen." His face moves closer to her, and the hand in her hair slowly combs through it, "You have a very special quirk Sera-chan. To think UA had been telling everyone that your quirk was just a minor healing quirk mixed with an augmentation quirk. It truly doesn't do it justice, does it."
His lips lift into a crazy smile, "Sensei had some very very special plans for your quirk Sera. A pity you didn't accept his offer."
She looks around and realizes that the bed she was tied to was a medical table, and inside the room, she was in were multiple surgical tools. She feels her face lose all of its colors when she realizes what they were going to do, 'They were gonna dissect her.'
He lets go of her hair and she slumps down, "Your regeneration quirk is very interesting. It's just as powerful as the ones the specialized Nomus have, maybe even stronger."
She feels the pent up emotions inside of her erupt as her worst nightmares come alive in front of her in the form of the man before her, "You see, while you were asleep, Toga tried some of your blood. You know what happened..?" She lifts her head up and glares at him, "She got poisoned by your blood. Her quirk was rejecting it and trying to expel it from her body. If it were anyone else, your blood would have killed them."
He heads over to where the bar was and grabbed a knife off the table, "When we did some tests we found some very interesting things, Sera." He grabs her hair once again and tilts her head to the side, exposing her neck.
He holds the knife close to her neck, and she can feel it brush her skin slightly, "Your blood was full of healing energy. It's so potent that one drop of it is enough to kill a person by duplicating their cells so fast that they died in seconds."
She tries to activate her quirk discreetly, forming her blades in order to cut through her restraints. But she found herself completely drained of any energy.
"You'll find yourself unable to use your quirk." Shigaraki says with a smirk, "We had to collect some blood samples, you see. After all, it would be a total waste of such potential. But even if you could you probably shouldn't, Bakugou is still out there. You won't be able to reach him before we have someone slit his throat."
'There's no way to escape…'
Shigaraki as if sensing her internal panic laughs, "Sensei said not to hurt you too much.." He pauses before letting out a laugh, "But you have a regeneration factor so I might as well have some fun."
"Bakugou is still unconscious, but he was awake earlier. Pity he won't hear you." Shigaraki says as he pulls out a knife. "We're gonna do some experiments right now, alright Sera-chan?"
'Nononononono...fuck..where are the heroes?!'
"Let's see how strong your regeneration factor is"
.
5 Hours After Capture
.
Sera is shocked awake when she feels the burning pain of boiling water run through her bloody wounds right before they slowly close up.
She lets out a scream as the hot water scalds her skin, her fists clenching so hard it leaves bloody crescents in her palms. As her eyes slowly got used to the bright lighting of the surgical light above her, she felt a rush of blood rise up her throat, spitting it onto the ground.
She had no idea how much time had passed but it felt like an eternity.
"Ah, you're finally awake," Shigaraki says as he looks at her, "Do you like my method of waking you up? I had Dabi boil some water just for you."
Sera pants heavily, her throat feeling as dry as sandpaper. A part of her regretted not drinking the tea that All For One offered earlier. Maybe if she did she wouldn't be suffering so much.
He touches her cheek with a finger, "Not even a single scar, your regeneration factor is quite strong even when you're in a weak state."
He hums a bit, running a hand down her arm, frowning when he saw no scars where the cuts he placed on her used to be, "It's very strong, but I can see that it's growing slower. Do you think if I continue cutting you then it will begin to scar?"
Sera looks up at his eyes bloodshot yet full of resentment. She opens her mouth to speak but no words come out. Her throat was completely scratched raw from all the screaming she did and all the times Shigaraki had fun slitting her neck.
Shigaraki stared at her in amusement, "Save your breath Sera-chan," He says, his lips curved into a self-satisfied smile, "You'll be screaming a lot more later."
"I've always wanted to see what would happen if you remove someone's fingernails completely." Shigaraki says as he holds a pair of tweezers in front of her, "I told myself it would only be a while but you're so fun to play with Sera-chan."
"We've done almost every kind of torture in the book, cutting off your fingers and toes. Stabbing, breaking your bones, I've been trying to find more interesting things to do." He holds up a thin knife, "I saw something about how the Chinese use to peel the skin off their victims. I kinda wanna try it.." He gives her a dark look, and between her messy hair she lets out a shaky breath.
She had barely any energy left...she had screamed her throat dry...she felt completely numb inside.
'Just stop this nightmare…'
.
10 Hours After Kidnapping
.
"Move her to the backroom," She hears Shigaraki say, "We'll lock her in there for a few days."
Sera tries to move her fingers but she had no strength left in her. She could feel herself dropping in and out of consciousness and the delirium due to lack of blood slowly took over.
As she lays on the metal bed, blood slowly dripping out of her wounds, soaking her already crimson clothes, she feels arms casually lift her up. She limply lays in his arms as the black-haired villain carries her over to a room in the far back of her torture chamber.
He kicks the door open before dropping her onto the wood slab that was her bed. She bounces once before laying haphazardly on the thin sheet, a nice change compared to the cold metal table she was on before.
The dark-haired villain doesn't speak as he begins to tie her arms and legs to the bed, this time also using a small rope to hold her neck in place. Sera lays limply on the bed, not even trying to struggle. Even if she did, she barely had the strength to move let alone struggle against his hold.
Without her even realizing the villain pulls out a small syringe from his pocket. Pulling out the cover on the top, he carefully finds the vein right behind her elbow. The slight prick of pain when the needle enters doesn't even register in her mind as she continues to stare blankly at the white ceiling above her.
When he was done, the villain slowly stood up, he gave her another once over to see if he had missed anything. When he finds nothing amiss, he turns away nonchalantly and leaves the room, the door slamming shut behind him.
His existence was barely processed into her mind as she stared blankly at where the door was, or where she was pretty sure it was. After the villain had closed the door, the room turned pitch black, no source of light could be seen from anywhere, not even the door crack.
Sera could only stare at the darkness in silence, she felt like a stringless puppet, unable to move. A part of her could feel that something was wrong. As short as it might've been, those hours of torture did something to her. What it was, she had no idea. Any train of thought she tried to have disappeared like mist just when she could come up with anything coherent.
Just as she was about to fall asleep due to pure exhaustion though, the real torture began.
It started slowly at first, a soft slow and steady trickling on her left cheek. Sera who had lost feeling in most of her face only realized that it existed after a few drops dripped down her face and entered her ear. The sudden wetness made her realize what was happening.
The uncomfortable feeling of water dripping into her ear was something she was unaccustomed to, yet the feeling bothered her to no end. Except when she tried to move or get it out, the ropes restraining her limbs and neck stopped her.
A few minutes passed, and she slowly came to a realization of the game Shigaraki was playing. As much as he had fun physically torturing her, it got old quickly. Watching her go insane due to mental torture would be much more fun.
In the span of the few minutes that she had entered the room, other than the water, a mentally straining scratching sound began to play. The sound was reminiscent of metal scratching on metal, something that made her grit her teeth.
She had no idea where the sound came from, she had been too delirious before to notice many details about the room. In the pitch black of the room, the sound seemed to come from everywhere. she realized that the temperature was slowly lowering.
Sera's eyebrows furrow as the sound echoes in her right ear. The sound makes her squirm and clench her jaw. Her hands clenched tightly as she tried to close her eyes, but no matter what she did she stayed painfully awake.
'I wanna die...'
.
30 Hours After Kidnapping
.
Sera shivers as another cold breeze blows down from above her. The water was currently slowly streaming down, instead of the slow trickle that it was before.
The rate at which the water flowed changed every few minutes. Sometimes it was a slow trickle, others it was a raging waterfall that completely soaked her. It didn't help much that the water made the already cold room even colder for her.
Sera could feel her body slowly shutting down, yet whatever drug that the dark-haired villain put inside her kept her awake. The bare remnants of her quirk were being used in order to heal her wounds and make sure she didn't die of hypothermia. She didn't have enough energy to deal with the drug.
The mental torture that she was being subjected to was far worse then she thought. She had no idea how much time had passed, yet she had already screamed her throat raw once again.
The world around her was pitch black, so dark that she couldn't even see her hands. The only thing accompanying her was the water flowing down above her and the mind grating scratching noise that echoed throughout the room.
She knew she wasn't alone.
She knew it had only been a few hours, days at max.
She knew the heroes were coming.
Yet she couldn't but feel like all hope was lost, in this empty, cold, cold room.
.
55 Hours After Kidnapping
.
"How is she?" Shigaraki asks, staring at the black and white screen in front of him.
Next to him, Kurogiri clicks on the screen showing a closeup of the girl laying on the bed.
"She's slowly losing her grip," Kurogiri replies, "At around 2 she began struggling a bit, by hour 15 she began to scream and try to stop the water, by hour 30 she was exhausted and began to mentally deteriorate." He lets out a sigh, feeling a little pity for the frail girl laying on the bed, "She began muttering a few hours ago at random times. I think her mental state is slowly deteriorating."
Shigaraki hums a little, his lips curving into a smile, "How much longer until her quirk stops working completely?"
"I'd say another 20 hours, her quirk may not be healing her injuries but it's still doing a good job at keeping her alive." He answers, watching as the girl strapped to the wooden make-shift bed begins to struggle. Screaming incoherent words as tears dripped down her face.
"Let her out after another 15 hours," Shigaraki says after a moment of silence, "Prepare a small IV bag, I want to get in some more physical torture before she dies."
Kurogiri doesn't answer for a few moments, his eyes glued onto the screen. It was only when he could feel Shigaraki's growing ire at his silence did he finally speak, "I understand."
.
70 Hours After Kidnapping
.
Shigaraki opens the thick metal door leading into his specialized chamber. He had asked sensei to build it in the weeks leading up to his grand kidnapping plan. In the end, he had to give himself a pat on the back for his great thinking,
A rush of cold air greets him as he enters the room, he takes in a deep breath the faint smell of blood in the air makes him grin. The light behind him enters the room, illuminating parts of it. Especially the girl laying on the wooden board near the middle of the room.
He stares at the pool of blood on the floor next to her and sighs.
What a waste of blood.
The girl was awake, which was expected since the drug was supposed to last for at least a week. She wouldn't be getting a wink of sleep unless she gained enough energy to fully heal herself.
'It was fun playing with her,' He thinks, staring at her lifeless form, 'After this sensei can take her quirk and I can finally kill her.'
Slowly he walks up to her, quickly decaying the ropes that restrained her limbs. When his hand reached her neck his fingers just barely touched it, making sure to not decay her skin.
He knew he shouldn't play around right now, if she died because of his quirk, his sensei would probably be very mad at the loss of such a powerful quirk. After all, despite what he told her, it had taken much convincing on his end to let her keep her quirk so he could torture her to his heart's content.
When the ropes were fully disintegrated, he carefully lifted her cold, soaked body off the wooden board, before carrying her back into the surgical table from before.
In the hours that she had spent locked inside the confinement room, all traces of her previous torture was wiped clean. Even the bloodstains on the floor were gone, leaving no evidence of what had happened just hours before.
Carefully placing her on the metal table, he clasps the metal cuffs back on her wrists and ankles. When she was once again restrained, he carefully inserted the needle attached to a small IV bag into the vein on her wrist, making sure the IV was just enough so that she wouldn't die.
When he was finally done, he pauses for a second before opening the door to the bar poking his head out through the gap, "Dabi release Bakugou's muzzle."
On the table, Sera hears some shuffling and a loud click before Bakugou's booming voice sounded out, "YOU MOTHERFUCKERS YOU BETTER LET US GO NOW! I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!"
He closes the door behind him and looks back at Sera, "You see Sera-chan, Bakugou is finally awake and he needs some convincing."
Sera just stares blankly, as if she had no idea where she was. She seemed to have completely lost her sense of reality. Her eyes were glazed over like the eyes of a porcelain doll, blank and empty.
Shigaraki didn't care though, he raised his hand and hit her face, her head whipping to the side at the impact. The burning pain of his palm makes a cut and a drop of blood slide down her cheek. Blood comes up her throat before dribbling down her chin.
Despite the pain, she had become completely numb to it. She didn't show any reaction and continued to stare into space.
"You're finally weak enough that we could inject a nerve stimulator into you without it getting destroyed by your quirk. Things are gonna be a lot more painful from now on." He reaches out for a knife on the table and picks it up. He yanks her hair forcing her to look into his eyes. She stares at him blankly, not showing the slightest bit of emotion at his taunt.
But her lack of response only angered Shigaraki more, glaring at her pale bloodless form her raises the knife, "This is my revenge for what happened at the USJ."
With those final words, he plunged the knife into her stomach. Finally, when the blade enters her Sera's eyes open wide in shock, a reaction finally appearing on her blank face. She chokes back a scream she feels the most intense mind-numbing pain she has ever felt. Clenching her fists tightly she refuses to make a sound.
With a schlick, Shigaraki removed the knife from her back before immediately plunging it in again. The previous stab wound healed, though it was slow because of the IV drip it was much better than her healing rate before.
"How does it feel...being unable to resist." Shigaraki comments as he continues to viciously stab her.
Twisting the knife deeper Sera finally lets out an ear-piercing scream, "AHHHHHHHHH." Seeing her finally scream in pain after so long, Shigaraki raises his hands and stabs her again with renewed vigor. Tears slowly fell down her cheeks as she was unable to hold back her pained cries.
"You shouldn't have refused our offer Hideyoshi Sera... if you didn't we would have been much nicer." Shigaraki comments as he basked in her screams.
Seeing the blood that had pooled around her dripping down the table he let out a sigh, "A pity this blood will go to waste."
He hands the knife over to the other villain in the room, "Toga, you deal with here I'm gonna go have a chat with Bakugou."
"Okie Dokie, Tomura!" The blonde-haired villain, Toga said.
Tomura opens the door and leaves, closing it behind him, leaving Sera all alone with the female villain.
"You know Sera-chan, your blood was really disgusting." Toga says, giving her a disappointed look, "It was quite a shame since I was so excited to try out your blood." She spins the knife that Shigaraki gave her in her hands, "You should suffer a bit Sera-chan, after all, you should be ashamed at how disgusting your blood is."
Without another word Toga stabs her again, twisting the knife. "Oh! This is so much fun Sera-chan! Let's play for a long long time."
Outside Bakugou struggled against his restraints hearing the dreadful screams of his classmate and unable to do anything. They had restrained him after he had tried escaping before when they had released his chains. Now, he was completely tied to the chair, with cuffs around his hands in order to stop him from using his quirk.
He breathed heavily as he listened to the guttural screams that were coming from the door. After she had entered that portal he didn't know when she came back until he heard her dreadful screams hours later. The villains had put a drug in his system after he refused to join them the first time, making him stay awake as he watched her be tortured through a small monitor.
He watched as he brutalized her until rivers of her blood splattered on the ground. He watched as they drained her blood before throwing her inside another torture chamber. He watched as she screamed and cried desperately against her restraints, as he did the same. Struggling against the metal chains that stopped him from saving her.
The drug in his system kept him awake and forced him to continue watching her deteriorate inside that chamber. The night vision cameras did little to show what was truly going on inside the room, but the blurry images he saw were enough to mentally scar him.
The worst part was when she kept yelling for help, for the heroes to come, for someone to save her. Hearing her screams and cries he couldn't help but let some resentment build up. It had been 3 days since he and Hideyoshi were kidnapped and yet the heroes were nowhere to be seen.
What the hell were they doing?!
He had never felt so utterly useless before, tied to this damned chair, listening as someone who needed help was right in front of him. But, he knew he had to play it smart, Short Stack wasn't a weakling by any means, and she hated feeling helpless. The last time something similar had happened she had snapped and beaten up Handsy and stopped the Nomu all by herself.
She had a regeneration quirk, so they probably weren't going to kill her either, they were just torturing her for ruining their plans. Though he hated it, he had to let her handle herself in there, while he handled the guys out here.
'I gotta get outta these cuffs, so I can go get Short Stack and get outta here.'
.
82 Hours After Kidnapping
.
Her screams had stopped long ago, having no more energy left to scream she breathed heavily feeling pain all over. The wounds that were on her were healing at a snail pace, all of the energy having been used up. The IV drip had emptied an hour ago, and she knew that the time was almost coming.
The blood pooled under her and she barely had enough energy to breathe. The white-hot pain that she felt had completely numbed her mind. Toga had stopped torturing her for a few minutes, heading outside in order to intimidate Bakugou for one final convincing.
Outside she can hear Bakugou fighting with villains, it seemed they had released his restraints again. She feels herself slip in and out of consciousness, her mind too tired to think of anything else.
She had waited long enough, Toga was getting tired of torturing her, she had tried every technique in the book on her, they had removed her organs, every bone in her body had been broken. Soon they would take her quirk away from her. If the villains get their hands on her quirk, she couldn't even imagine what would happen.
'I can stop this,' She thinks, trying to grasp onto her final moments of sanity, 'I still have enough energy left for one final move.'
Her energy might not be enough to do an attack but she had just enough energy to end it right then and now. This was the perfect opportunity, Toga had left the room in order to join the other villains in intimidating Bakugou into joining. Which meant there was no one to stop her.
'I can't allow them to get my quirk, I can't allow that to happen.' She thinks, 'Mom and Dad and all of 1-A they deserve to live happily.'
The her of 3 months ago wouldn't give flying shit if anyone died, she would have been happy enough just to be alive. She would have enjoyed staying at home, living a peaceful life with no villains or heroes disturbing it. Now here she was willing to end it all for the greater good.
'God the irony here is ridiculous.' She thinks a small smirk forming on her lips.
If the villains got her quirk, then it was over she couldn't let that happen. Not when All Might was already falling. Not when Midoriya had yet to grow powerful enough to go against All For One.
'Sorry Mom, Dad. I'm sorry for not staying safe, I'm sorry for worrying you.' With one last mental goodbye to her parents, she shoves them to the far back of mind, in fear that the thought of them would make her hesitate.
'One burst of energy should be enough to completely stop it.' This time she wasn't going to attack the villains, instead, she was going to attack her heart.
'So this is what it feels like to sacrifice oneself for the greater good.' She thinks, gathering her energy one last time.
But, just as she was about to stop her heart the sound of a doorbell makes her pause. "Hello. Kamino Pizza delivery."
She pauses and lets her mind process the words that she just heard, wondering if she was hallucinating again, 'No..it can't be.'
"SMASH!" A loud BOOM resounds as she hears a wall being destroyed. The building shakes as cracks appear on the walls of the room where she is being held. Outside she can hear the wind pressure smashing the rubble against the walls.
"Kurogiri! Gate!" She hears Shigaraki yell, his voice full of panic.
But before the misty gates could be formed another voice quickly calls out his super move, "Pre-emptive Binding Lacquered Chain Prison!" The villains shout as they are quickly bound by thick trunks of wood, "It'll be in your best interest to stay put."
"THERE IS NO ESCAPE FOR YOU VILLAINS," A familiar voice says finishing with a catchphrase that she was all too familiar with, "BECAUSE WE ARE HERE!"
"Right after the press conference?!" She hears a voice say, she can only guess that it was a villain, "Don't tell me this was pre-arranged?"
"When one is on the offensive is when one neglects the defense the most." A new voice says, and Sera hears the sound of a door opening, "We're not the only ones here from the Kamino Pizza store. Outside you're surrounded by skillful heroes, like Endeavor, and the police."
Hearing his words settled the dark feelings in her heart a bit. So they were planning on saving her. A relieved smile forms on her face and she can feel herself relax.
Everything was going to be okay.
She was going to be saved.
She was okay now.
The feeling of unbearable relief fills her as she fights to stay conscious.
She almost sobs as the door to her torture chamber flings open. The light of the outside blinded her for a few moments.
She hears a resounding silence as the heroes take in the room where she was kept in. A moment of silence passes before she hears the sound of someone vomiting.
The other heroes weren't doing much better, as the heavy scent of blood assaulted their noses. They open the door wider to see pools of blood with what looks to be real human limbs and body parts scattered throughout the floor. In the middle of it all the pale form of a young girl, her clothes completely in shreds, dyed red not by any clothing dye but by her own blood.
The scene in the room would give all the heroes present nightmares for days to come. In all of their years of work, they had never seen such a level of physical torture before. It made all of them suddenly look at the villains in a new light, realizing that they held no level of humanity in them if they could torture a 15-year-old girl to such an extent. Even Bakugou who was unaffected by most things had to hold in his choked horror.
"Wh-at did you do?" All Might whispers as all the heroes stare in shock at the horrors that laid inside the room.
He pushes his way through the villains and heroes and enters the room, ignoring the smell of the room he breaks the metal cuffs that restraint her to the table with ease. Taking out the needle that they had inserted into her, he carefully lifts her up, bringing her out of the room.
Though she is too weak to move, she could see Bakugou's look of horror as he looked at her.
"Yah...Hideyoshi.." He says, his eyes not leaving hers.
She can only stare at him blankly, before a small smile forms on her lips, "We're saved...Bakugou…" She whispers, her voice raspy.
Bakugou's fists clenched tightly until his knuckles turned white, his shoulders tremble and she could see the barest sheen of tears in his eyes. "Hideyoshi...you…" He doesn't finish, not able to find any words to say to her.
Sera could make a guess at what happened to him outside her room, Shigaraki didn't try very hard to hide it. "It's okay." She says, trying her best to comfort him.
Her unspoken words were clear.
It's okay that you didn't save me.
You tried your best.
You're still a hero.
Bakugou continues to stare at her like he wants to argue, but couldn't find the words to do so. His jaw was clenched tightly and his fingernails had long pierced the skin of his palms.
"There's nowhere left to run Shigaraki," A short hero says, interrupting Bakugou's mental train of thought, "Now lemme ask...where's your boss?"
Shigaraki Tomura looks at the heroes surrounding him in terror as if he couldn't believe this was happening. Sera feels a sick sense of joy seeing his plans foiled right in front of him.
"Why are you coming to me, you last boss?" He asks, his voice shaky, "Kurogiri! Bring as many as you can over here!" He yells, looking at his second in command.
But Kurogiri did not have the answer that he wanted, instead, the misty villain shook his head, "I'm sorry, Tomura Shigaraki. The nomus that were supposed to be in a fixed location...are not there..!"
Shigaraki paused, not believing just how badly his plans were foiled, "Huh?" He asks, trying to compute what was happening.
"You're still green Shigaraki." All Might says, walking up to him, Sera still in his arms, "You underestimated everything too much. The souls of this young man and woman, the diligent investigations of the police, and our anger! The nomus you have are in our complete control. That's enough with your childish pranks. " He stands up straighter, and suddenly the Symbol of Peace shone like the brightest star in the sky, "This is the end, Tomura Shigaraki!"
"This is the end you say? Not even close. I've only just begun." He trembles, his head bowed down towards his lap, "Justice...Peace..I'll destroy this garbage heap that you put a lid on with such vague ideas! It was for that purpose that I set All Might apart and started gathering people to my cause..." He trembles against the wooden restraints, struggling to stand up, "Don't be ridiculous. This is just the beginning. Kurogiri!"
But before Kurogiri could do anything, Edgeshot turns into a thin string and enters his body, the misty villain going limp soon after.
"Oh my god!" Magne yells, shaking against his restraints, "Did you kill him? I didn't see anything?!"
The thin form of Edgeshot looks at Magne, "I played around with his insides and made him unconscious. He's not dead." The string-like form of Edgeshot unravels revealing the number 5 hero in full form, "Ninpo: Thousand Sheet Pierce! This man was always a nuisance. I'll have him sleep."
"Didn't I tell you earlier that it'd be in your best interest to stay put?" The short villain says, Sera vaguely remembers him from somewhere but she couldn't seem to remember where, "Kikiishi Kenji, Sako Atsuhiro, Iguchi Shuichi, Toga Himiko, and Bubaigawara Jin. With little information and time, the police officers worked through the nights to determine your identities. Don't you understand? There's nowhere left for you to run."
Shigaraki shakes as he realizes that it was all over, "You gotta be kidding...this can't..this can't..defeated just like that? No freakin way, get outta here, and GO TO HELL! I HATE YOU!" As he finishes suddenly a disgusting liquid portal appears Nomus quickly going through them.
"Edgeshot?! Did Kurogiri?!" The short hero asks desperately as they are surrounded by the black gunk.
"No! He's out cold!"
Sera suddenly chokes as the black liquid enters her mouth spreading out and through her body. She panics, trying to grasp at All Might, her hands clutching at his hero costume. But she is unable to do anything as the liquid completely encases her.
"YOUNG HIDEYOSHI!" She hears All Might call out before she is completely encased, disappearing from his arms.
Once again she was in danger, and once again he failed to save her.
AN: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Sorry for not answering last time :)
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News: Chapter 25 shall be posted between Monday-Wednesday next week. Depends on how much work I have and how quickly I can type. I'll try to finish part 1 of the novel by the end of the month tho :)
Reviews:
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ZabuzasGirl (ch.22): So I updated at Midnight :) and I used the anime for this chapter so that added like 700 words lol
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Yelloitsme (ch.22): Thank you! I try my best not to copy and paste from the show, since what's the point if you copy from the show? I hope you enjoy Sera's story and how she develops as a character.
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Books-n-Harley (ch.22): Thank you for enjoying my story! Glad you liked it :)
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TheBeauty (ch.22): Well...not good...
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StandUpKeepMovingForward (ch.22): me: laughs in chapter 23
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Guest (ch.22): [I hate how long the author's notes are; they affect the word count]
I get it, I really do, cause I don't like long author notes either. But, I really want to reply and answer any questions that my reviewers or readers have. I wish FFN had some sort of comment replying section where people could see the replies and I didn't have to manually add them on a chapter. If you don't like them just scroll through them :) But sometimes I put some important info there so try to read the beginning parts of my AN. One day I'll post cross-post on Ao3 so you won't have to worry abt long author notes there :)
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AkoSiMarie (ch.22): Thanks! I'm glad you like this story! Well...for the Bakugou/Sera shippers out there you're welcome for the upcoming chapters :)
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acosta perez jose ramiro (ch.22): Thanks! Maybe it's just the pre-med inside me that's rubbing off on Sera lol.
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TheVulcanNara (ch.22): Gosh I love Aoyama too! I have big plans for him the future :) Mostly an Aoyoma and Sera grand friendship!
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M (ch.22): They will be okay...sorta...maybe...not really..? :) thanks for the review and please continue to support
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ZabuzasGirl (ch.23): Yeah...that idea came outta nowhere but I'm glad you liked it :) Sera currently has too much trust in the society built around her. In part 2 of the novel she'll come to realize that AFO wasn't entirely wrong.
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StandUpKeepMovingForward (ch.23): Oh damn indeed o.O
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ILikeFoxes828 (ch.23): Deep talk indeed o.o...and yes help is coming...but will they be on time..? The answer is not really ...
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Animie02Fruit (ch.23): I'll give myself a pat on the shoulder for making you speechless :) Glad you liked it
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foreverellen (ch.23): Thank you! It was unexpected for me too. I had the convo planned but didn't think it would take such a direction.
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M (ch.23): Sera and Bakugou are...okay..ish..maybe mentally traumatized...
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Shinigami132 (ch.23): Thank you! Glad you liked it :)
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Logargon (ch.23): Happy you liked it! Thanks!
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acosta perez jose ramiro (ch.23): He does try to manipulate her, to pull at her weakest spots. But she'll come to realize that he wasn't entirely wrong...
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Guest (ch.23): [What happened to Sera augmenting other people's quirks? Feels like she hasn't done that in a while.]
Funny you ask that now :) next chapter my dear reader...next chapter
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Shisui34 (ch.23): Glad you liked it! I wanted this novel to be as realistic as possible. I'm glad it a new perspective on things :)