Round 9: The Afterglow.

"Ibara, what're you doing?" I asked, waking up feeling like jelly. She was typing something on her phone and I slumped against her, "C'mon…"

"Good morning, Tenko!" she exclaimed, happily kissing me on the cheeks and lips, "I called Miruko, I said that you were tired, she seemed disappointed but she understood," I leaned against her chest.

"Seepy…" I sighed.

"Aww. Sweetie," Ibara cooed, hugging me close against her chest, "You're so adorable when you're sleepy," She felt so warm and soft, and she looked like she didn't want to go in today. She pushed closer, smiling.

"Ibby stay home…" I whimpered, "Where it's safe,"

"I am, darling. Shh…" she sighed, "You always lay on my chest," I kissed it gently and she gasped, I smiled.

"I love you, and I'll keep saying that until I die." I said.

"Of course, dear," she said, sitting down on the couch and wrapping me in vines. She hummed softly, wrapping her shawl around me, too. She was so gentle, it was odd that she wanted to be a hero.

She was so nurturing and caring, worrying more about our classmates and I more than herself. It worried me that her nature would get her killed. I don't want her to die. She's too good to be a hero, or a mom, or anything. She's just here. I clung to her, blackwhip tendrils wrapping around her, shaking a little as she held me. I was terrified, scared of not making that dream of hers come true. That I'd die before that. It's very likely that I would.

I felt her squish me to her chest, petting my hair and letting me rest. I sighed and closed my eyes, falling asleep. I didn't really care about being a hero anymore. It wasn't a life I was interested in anymore. I mean, I'm given the power of seven other quirks and every single one of the previous users was a hero? Come on, it's not hard to think of not becoming one. I just wanted a life that was normal.

I just wanted One For All to spend more time with All Might. I just wanted to be whatever I wanted to be. I just putzed around with my gaming console, wrapped in blankets, playing Final Fantasy. I needed the break after a messed-up week. The kill switch had weakened me and my body after they removed it. I felt sick and weak. The screen blurred and I sneezed. That sneeze woke Ibara up. She immediately got her phone and called Mr. Kan.

"Tenko's not feeling well, it cut his internship off by some sort of kill switch that the villains had triggered, he's sneezing and he looks awfully pale, mm-hm. Yes. Okay. Thank you." she said, kissing me on the forehead. She backed off and held me tight. I sniffled and sneezed into the crook of my arm.

She moved a blanket over me, settling me down against her. She made another call, but I was too sleepy to hear it, it was probably Kendo to let her know we weren't coming in. Makes sense, right? She still held me and I just slept in her arms, finally at rest after all the crap.

When I woke up, I barely smelled something and scooched down into the blanket. I didn't feel good at all. I just wanted to sleep again. I heard Ibara come in and I curled into a little ball. I didn't feel like eating at all. She tried to throw the blanket aside. But I held onto it, looking at her like a wounded animal. She sighed and sat down, she looked like she wanted to cuddle me. She held me and I wiggled out of the covers. Ibara kissed me on the cheek.

"Shh, darling, just rest," she said, "I'll feed you something good," she took the bowl and stirred it a little, feeding it steadily to me, it was chicken noodle but I didn't exactly care. Ibara was so patient and it was adorable.

She let me finish it off and I tried to get out of bed to wash it. She gently touched me and I fell back onto the bed. She left to take it to the kitchen but I tried to get out of bed, but I felt more and more weak, the vestiges were silent and I had no contact with them. It felt odd, like One for All was sick too. I shut my eyes and Ibara came back, but I didn't want her here. What if she got sick, too? I don't wanna see her vines grow all brown and gross. I mean, of course I shouldn't want that.

She's my best friend, my angel, I don't wanna get her sick. She laced a cool towel on my forehead, smiling and kissing my cheek. I looked at her and wanted to burrow myself into the covers. Ibara left, but I didn't want her to. I ended up sleeping and it was peaceful. A beach, beautiful white hot sand and everything bathed in the day's twilight. Next to me was Ibara, holding me and just keeping me close.

She was older, and much more mature looking. So maybe this was another look at my future. I was right when I noticed a little boy with wavy green hair and red eyes laying in the surf and swaying his arms. The water was churning and Ibara looked a little worried. I saw some others nearby; it was my brother and… some big guy with a radio. The kid looked up at them and smiled. So maybe this was a future where I saved lives and reform my brother back to-

"Uncle Tomura, Today would've been my Mommy's birthday, right?" the kid asked, looking up at him with a confused expression, "You said she'd come back,"

"Well. I don't know about that, she and your father were bad guys that wanted to hurt me and hurt Uncle Rikiya, so I had to do what was good for the society," he said, "Don't talk about them anymore, okay? Remember what we said, right?"

The kid nodded, "Gigantomachia? Was my Daddy strong?"

"He went berserk, young master, he was insane. A dangerous terrorist with no reason to do as he had done, but he was strong for one of them…" The giant rumbled. Ibara sighed and I noticed there was a heavy gash on her chest, blood leaking out. I was missing my arm and my leg, there was a gash on her throat too.

We were dead, watching over our son. I felt myself just weep for him. But when he stood up, I saw me and Ibara over there, standing over him and looking at Tomura and the monster. He was glaring at them, eyes turning purple. One for All was his. Tiny and barely making his hair billow.

I saw him crying, "You killed my mommy and my daddy…" he sniffled, "I… I just…"

At that moment, I realized that this was a future where the villains won, and somehow One for All was with him, vines mixed with Blackwhip tore through the air as the kid was running away, off towards the city and the giant chased him.

"Tensuru! There's nothing there for you!" Tomura screamed, "Damn brat!" Tensuru ran towards a convoy, getting in and the car drove off with a blast of flames warping the road behind them. Our son was brokenly sobbing being comforted by a big girl with fiery orange hair and steel hands, she looked at the kid with black hair in the back trying to hold back the giant.

"Shit! Shit! Mom's gonna murder me!" The kid screamed, closing the back and hyperventilating, his gray eyes wide.

"Rei! Take it easy, bud…" a boy with mandibles and dark green hair sighed. Rei grabbed the boy, ice and fire coating him.

"Shut it, Kiru! You still have your family! Look at me and Tensuru and Tomo! Tensuru's parents died at the start of this, my Mom's so broken she can't even look at me, and Tomo's dad died last week! Not to mention Toshinori's missing and Tensuru just got One for All a year ago!" Rei ranted, sinking back and crying.

"Tomei is… she's…"

At that moment, I woke up back in the vestige space, a man with scars all over his body stood over me, mechanical eye looking down at me with a scowl, "What you saw was my quirk," he stated, "The reason for your sickness is that your body is corrupted. If you dare to not improve, your future will have your son battling impossible odds! You will call me, Sasaki!"

"Sasaki?" I repeated, "was that a likely future?" he nodded and looked at me, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"We have given you an incredible gift, and because of the clamor and noise of the others I haven't given you a proper introduction," he looked old, but strong, eyes calm, despite one being mechanical.

I sighed and woke up, seeing Ibara staring at me, leaning on her hand and I felt a little better, she wrapped her arms around me. She was staring at me, smiling. I didn't know why, but I wanted to sleep. She sighed and pulled me to her chest, resting my head against her heart, she breathed out and I nuzzled her chest. Ibara just held me for a while, silent. She was thinking, I could tell when she'd think. She leaned against me with a smile. "Dear~ are you feeling better?" she asked. I nodded with a slight smile and she grinned.

"Good, that's wonderful news!" She kissed me on the forehead, "Your fever is gone," I sighed and buried my face back into her chest just one more before I recovered. Come on, next time it'll be different. Just fall asleep and fade out. Ibara held me and we stayed like that. I had a lot to think about. Sasaki showed me that future for a reason, it was a bad one. I don't want my kid growing up in a hell world of the old one.

So here we go…

Onward.