Tenko was surrounded in darkness once more. His neck felt like it was on fire and it took him a few moments to realise he was no longer choking on his own blood. He swallowed thickly, the metallic taste still heavy on his tongue. But he could breathe.
Was he dead?
He lay there for a moment, on the black plain of oblivion, just staring up into inky blackness. At least he thought it was up. Everything looked the same. Tenko had no idea. Was this death? Was this what the afterlife looked like? If it was, it was terribly boring. But maybe that was his punishment for the crimes he had committed in life.
His heart ached as he could hear the echoing cries of his lover. He never wanted to leave Touya behind. They had promised each other they would make a fresh start. They had agreed to one day check into the Ground Zero Initiative and get the help they needed. They were going to work hard and get better, get out and start a real life. They'd get married, Tenko would work hard and become some kind of pro gamer, or game tester, Touya would get a job in that little cat café he loved so much. They'd get a dog, a little corgi. They'd settle down.
But that had all been taken from him now, a knife to the throat. There was no coming back from that. He felt his body become lighter, feeling floaty as his eyes fluttered shut. Touya's sobbing grew more and more distant as Tenko's grip on reality slipped further away.
"Tenko. Get up." The voice sparked fear through Tenko as he was suddenly yanked backwards. He's limbs grew heavier and he opened his eyes wide. The fear only grew when he sat up and saw who was stood in front of him. Shimura Kotarou.
"Father?"
"Get up. I always thought you were weak. Don't you see? This is what people get when they play heroes. They get hurt, killed." Kotarou snapped at his son. "That boy you love, you've abandoned him, just because you wanted to be a hero."
"It wasn't—"
"Do you see it now? Why heroes are bad? You can't have a family and be a hero. Heroism takes away everything you care about." Kotarou snarled down at his son, taking a step forward. Tenko pushed himself backwards, away from the man.
"Father, please, I didn't—"
"You've always been a coward, Tenko, are you really going to let that bastard defeat you? Are you really going to give up again? Get up, you weakling, get up and fight."
Anger bubbled under Tenko's skin as the ghost of his father got closer and closer to him. His blood-stained fists clenched by this sides as his childhood tormenter stood over him.
"Fight goddamn you Tenko. Stand up for yourself. Don't give in like you always do. Prove me wrong. Get up and fight."
With a wordless cry of rage Tenko leapt towards his father. He slammed his hands against his chest, hard.
And suddenly he was surrounded by darkness once more. He gasped, leaning forward, startling Touya who was leaning on his chest, blood running down his cheeks in lieu of tears. His throat was incredibly painful, to swallow or even breathe it felt like nails were skewering into him. Tenko brought a hand up to his neck.
It was soaked with blood, feeling tacky and wet. But when he pressed harder, he could find no incision. Instead there was just a raised red line where the blade had stuck him.
"There you go." His father's voice echoed in his ears.
"Tenko?" Touya asked hesitantly, creating a small blue fireball with his hand, illuminating Tenko in a haunting bluish glow. The blood covering him shined black in the low light, Tenko knew he must look terrifying, but he couldn't help but smile.
"Touya."
"How?" Touya asked, clearly confused as his eyes darted around. Tenko was loosely aware of Giran leaning against the far wall, Aizawa getting to his feet, Hakamata trying to claw his way free of his sidekick's grasp.
"I don't know." Tenko said, his voice gravelly, it hurt to talk.
"You're alive?"
"I think so."
The flame disappeared and suddenly lips were pressed against his own. Touya's kisses were desperate and full of adoration and relief. He pushed his tongue inside Tenko's mouth with little warning and cupped his jaw, careful of his neck.
"Shigaraki, you're alive?" Eraserhead asked, his voice unsure in the darkness.
"Apparently." Tenko replied, pushing Touya back a little.
"Are you injured?"
"No." Tenko said. Dabi pulled back, lighting his hands on fire again, this time with bigger flames so that the room lit up a little more.
"Let me go Flash. Katsuki is in there. I need to… I have to—" Hakamata's voice was fading, clearly the adrenaline of the situation fading from his veins, making him feel pain again.
"Tsunagu stop. You're injured and it's dark. You'll be no good. If you stop struggling, I can go after him. I can fight in the dark."
"As can I." Aizawa said. "Sleuth, Dabi, help Jeanist, Giran and Shigaraki get out of here. Flashback come with me. We'll find Ground Zero."
"But—" Jeanist tried to protest but as he spoke his legs gave out.
"You need an ambulance." Aizawa replied. "Let's go."
Seiichi gripped the hero who was carrying him tight. His Mama always said he was too big to be carried now, but this hero didn't seem to be having any trouble. Seiichi missed being carried and having cuddles. Even before Sir had found him, it had been years since he'd felt a touch in kindness. It was something he longed for. But Mama called him a baby if he asked, and Papa never wanted cuddles.
"Are you okay, kid?" The purple haired hero asked. Seiichi nodded. "Are you hurt anywhere?"
"My feets hurt." Seiichi said. "I stepped on glass."
"Let's get them looked at then." The hero replied.
Being outside without Sir was strange, but nice. It was cold, really cold for no shoes and the tattered remains of his school uniform, but it was still good. There were so many ambulances and paramedic cars parked outside, more that Seiichi knew how to count. The purple hero carried him towards them.
"I'm Conscience, by the way, what's your name?"
"Ueno Seiichi." He replied. "Is my hero okay?"
"Your hero?" Conscience asked, looking at the boy.
"Mhm. My hero. The one wo gave me my button?" Seiichi held out his blood-stained button. "Sir made him go to sleep but… I don't know if he waked up?"
"Do you mean Present Mic? At the radio show?"
"Uhhuh." Seiichi nodded.
"He's good. He woke up. He got a bump on the head that made him dizzy. But he's feeling better now." Conscience said.
"Can I see him?"
"I'll give him a call and see if he can come, okay?"
"Okay." Seiichi said as the hero handed him to a paramedic.
"Hi there little one." The paramedic was nice and friendly. She carefully cleaned his feet, pulling out shards of glass with a pair of tweezers before bandaging them up. He was given a bottle of water and told to sip it until it was all gone.
"A bath, some dinner and a good nap, and he should physically be fine." The paramedic said, checking him over for cuts and bruises, spraying antiseptic into his open wounds. She lifted up his jumper and frowned. "What happened here, Sweetie?"
Seiichi looked down at his tummy, poking at the large scar across his hip.
"Papa did that with his belt. It got stuck." He said poking it again. "It doesn't hurt anymore."
"Does Papa hurt you a lot?" The paramedic asked.
"Only when he's angry." Seiichi shrugged. "But if I stay quiet, like a mouse, and hide, he can't find me."
"Okay." The paramedic said, turning to Conscience. "Have the parents for the children been contacted yet?"
"No. Edgeshot just arrived, he's going through the list of children and trying to find out who's here before he contacts families." Conscience replied.
"Can you get him to come here please, as soon as he has a moment? I'm not comfortable sending this one back home."
"Of course." Conscience said with a nod, heading off to find the other hero. Seiichi watched him go, swinging his legs he sipped his water.
"Hey, my number changed." Ebiko suddenly shouted, looking down at her wrist. "It's just three zeros." Seiichi frowned, looking down at his own wrist. Ebiko was right, instead of the usual 001 there was 000.
"Mine too." He said, as he scratched his wrist. Many other children cried out in shock too as their own tattoos changed.
Conscience paused as he walked, stopping next to Inkling, who was still under his control, sat quietly with the other villains as the police dealt with them.
"What's with the changing tattoos?"
"They mark each kid as a number, so Pulse can count them and shit. They're not his anymore, they don't have a number." Inkling shrugged. "It'll probably stay like that now. Might fade over time. I don't know."
Conscience nodded, continuing on his way to Edgeshot. Seiichi watched him go.
"What will happen to me if I don't go home?" he asked the paramedic, who was putting a plaster on his scraped knee.
"You'll go to a safe home, with a nice family who'll look after you."
"Do you think I could live with my hero? He'd keep me safe."
"I don't know kid." The paramedic sighed softly. "I don't know."
Katsuki didn't let the darkness phase him. He silently thanked Flashback for his training as he ran through the halls after Pulse. He was forced to move slower than he would if he had his sight, but he was still able to move quickly. He used his hands to feel around and he allowed small explosions to crackle across his palms, lighting the way a little.
He could hear Pulse panting ahead of him, laughing and running as fast as he could. Katsuki cursed as he moved, clearly losing ground. He could hear Tsunagu and Aizawa calling after him, but he didn't stop the chase.
Anger burnt inside him, hot and explosive like a star. He was solely focused on the hunt, the chase. And he wouldn't stop until he had Pulse in his grasp. Too many people had suffered by this man's hand. How many lives had he taken? How many people had been lost? Parents had gone to bed, not knowing whether they should mourn their children or hope for their safe return. Children had been snatched from their families, not knowing whether any one was looking for them.
Teruo's children had been robbed of their father, his wife of her husband. Shigaraki had been robbed of his redemption. Dabi too, Katsuki guessed, he doubted the man would simply accept his partner's death and move on with his life.
Then he thought of all Pulse had done to him.
For months he had lived in fear, looking over his shoulder. He had panic attack after panic attack, just trying to get through the days with the threat of Pulse hanging over his head. Pulse had attacked the school, hurt Denki, just because of his twisted psyche attaching itself to Katsuki.
He'd gone after Katsuki's parents, forcing them to flee the country when he needed them the most. Katsuki had been forced to pine after his parents for months, just because that fucker saw them as in his way.
Pulse had gone after Aizawa, Yamada, Tsunagu, Raiden and Teruo all because of Katsuki, just because they were "in the way". Guilt pooled in Katsuki's stomach, if the psychologists were right, if Pulse's attachment to him formed at Kamino, then this was all Katsuki's fault.
If he had simply behaved at the Sports Festival, Kamino never would have happened. Pulse wouldn't have had whatever psychotic break he was going through, and people would still be alive. All of it was Katsuki's fault.
He snarled to himself. He'd make this right, he'd make Pulse regret the day he first saw him. Pulse wanted a world in which the powerful ruled over the weak, well Katsuki would put him in his place, and show him what true power was.
The winding warren-like corridors lead to a large open room. A secret storage base of sorts. There were shelves piled high with tins and boxes stacked against the walls. There were several hundred water bottles and piles of blankets and pillows. None of which seemed to have every been used. A series of guns were propped up against one wall.
But Katsuki couldn't see all of that, his small sparks weren't enough to illuminate the room and he didn't dare to create bigger ones, not knowing what might be explosive in the room.
"You're quick." Came Pulse's voice, far too close for Katsuki's liking. He took a step back, letting the explosions die down, the limiting light hindering more than helping. He couldn't hear Pulse's movements with the crackling.
"Stop this now and hand yourself in." Katsuki said, blind eyes instinctually looking for his opponent.
"You know that's not going to happen." Pulse laughed.
"Yeah well, I had to give you the chance." Katsuki retorted.
"Well, if we're giving each other chances… Join me Katsuki. Lead my little army. Prove to the world we don't need Licences. Make it so the ones who are strong are on top. I'll make you my heir when I'm king of this world."
"You really are delusional." Katsuki said. "You'll never be the king of the world, that's not how it fucking works dumbass. And I don't want to be your heir, I have enough parental figures thanks, I don't need another one."
"Oh but it will." Pulse said. Katsuki heard him take a step and he instinctually took one back. "You see, with you and my army, no one will oppose us. I've been collecting the most powerful children, we can train them, they'll be loyal to us, 100 percent." Pulse paused and laughed. "I've already got them under my control."
"Your little army is gone." Katsuki said. "As we speak they're being removed from this building and being reunited with their families. You. Lose."
"No matter. I got them before, I'll get them again. Together the two of us can do it. Show those heroes who's got the real power. That a little piece of plastic makes them better than us."
"Here's the thing, asshole, I've got one of those little pieces of plastic." Katsuki said.
"What?"
"I got my License, bitch. I'm not like you, I'm not joining your secret boyband."
"You're lying. You failed your exam. I saw." Pulse said.
"Well yesterday, when you were busy killing my friends and kidnapping my mentor, I was taking another exam."
"You fucking traitor." Pulse snarled, lunging forward, knife outstretched. But Katsuki was ready. He knew exactly where Pulse was.
As Pulse leapt for him Katsuki took a step to the side, grabbing a hold of Pulse's wrist. He was heavier than Katsuki expected, but he was still able to move the villain. Katsuki yanked Pulse forwards, making the villain stumble before he kicked at his legs. Pulse dropped the knife as it fell.
Katsuki heard the clinking of the knife on the concrete ground, kicking it away. The metal rang as it skidded across the floor, thudding as it hit a cardboard box. Pulse scrambled to his feet, lunging towards Katsuki again but this time Ground Zero set of an explosion in the man's face.
He flew backwards, crashing into the shelves, tins and guns falling down on top of him. Katsuki jumped back a little, as Pulse screamed in anger. Katsuki used his explosions to propel himself back a few metres to try and judge the new distance between them.
"I'll kill you for this Katsuki. You were mine, we could have ruled the world together. Instead you trail after weaklings like a lost little duckling. Well Katsuki, if you want to follow a weakling like Best Jeanist, you'll die like one."
"For the last time, I'm not the weak one here." Katsuki snapped.
Pulse ran at him. He could see through his goggles that Katsuki was stood, crouched in a fighting stance, waiting for him to make a move. Katsuki scanned the room repeatedly, listening out for any kind of noise. Pulse smirked, slowing down and crouching, slipping off his shoes.
He padded closer to Katsuki, taking it a step at a time, watching and smiling at how the boy seemed to get more agitated with each passing second. He crept closer and closer, holding his breath.
"We're are you, you fucking coward?" Katsuki snarled.
"Behind you." Pulse jumped at Katsuki again, grabbing a hold of his arm. Katsuki made a noise of surprise, but he quickly turned and blasted the villain again. Pulse went skidding across the ground, burns no doubt littering his body.
"You know, I was saving this for a special occasion. Cost me a pretty fucking penny. But you're not playing nice." Pulse said through gritted teeth. Katsuki spun around, trying to face him, but he quickly became disorientated when Pulse fell silent again.
That was until he felt something struck his arm. He stumbled backwards, his hard automatically pressing against where he was struck. A loud bang filled the air, distinctively a gunshot as Katsuki felt the power of Explosion dim to nothingness.
He felt a bone-deep cold, something he'd never experienced before. He attempted the ignite the sweat on his palms but found himself incapable. He gasped in alarm. Explosion was gone.
"Now you can't explode my face." Pulse laughed maniacally. "If you're not going to join my new world, you don't deserve a Quirk. What good is that License now?" Katsuki whined, trying again to ignite his sweat but nothing happened.
Pulse jumped at Katsuki again, knocking the distracted teen to the ground. Katsuki yelped, rolling them, trying to gain control of the movement. Pulse dug his fingers into the bullet wound, making Katsuki yell in pain. He punched out at Pulse, his fist connecting with the villain's face with a satisfying crunch.
Pulse spluttered on his own blood, squeezing down harder on Katsuki's bullet wound. Katsuki tried to punch Pulse again, put the villain moved and Katsuki ended up punching solid concrete. He cried out as the bones in his hand shattered.
But he was a hero, Quirk or not. He grabbed a hold of Pulse's shirt, slamming him into the ground, knocking off his goggles. Using his good hand he punched Pulse again, and again.
"Fucking give in." Katsuki said.
"Never." Pulse spat blood into Katsuki's face and tried to headbutt him, but Katsuki moved back at the last second as he felt the rush of air coming towards him.
"Katsuki!" he heard Flashback shout his name. The teen turned to face his Senpai instinctually, relaxing his grip as help finally came. But Pulse saw his opportunity. He rolled, forcing Katsuki onto his back as the villain straddled his hips.
Without giving Katsuki a second to even process what was going on, Pulse wrapped his hands around Katsuki's throat and began to squeeze. Katsuki tried to claw as Pulse's arms, to kick and try and roll, but Pulse was strong and tensed his muscles, preventing his movements.
Katsuki gasped, trying to pull at Pulse's hands. The villain leant down, so he was nose to nose with Katsuki.
"This is what your precious Tsunagu wanted to do to me. Squeeze my life out. Do you like how it feels, Katsuki?" He pressed down harder. "I didn't. But I like this. I can feel your heart beating, your pulse." He laughed at the word. "It's going so fast. Are you scared? You should be. Not for you though."
Katsuki dragged his sleeve across the floor as Pulse spoke, without his Quirk, he'd have to think outside the box.
"I think I'm going to go after little Eijirou next. After all, he won't want to live without you. Will he? Maybe I won't even need to take a knife to him, maybe he'll do it himself if I taunt him enough." Katsuki choked out a whine.
"You don't like that? But you and your little Eiji will be together forever then?" Pulse laughed. "I'll go after all of U.A. After all, they are the ones who turned you against me. Maybe I'll save Eijirou till last, make him watch as I kill everyone else, huh? Izuku, Shouto, Hitoshi, Kyouka, Denki, they're your best friends right? You hang out with them the most." He laughed again.
"I'll go after them one by one."
"Katsuki" Flashback called again, closer this time. Katsuki was running out of time, his strength was fading fast. He was struggling to focus and his lungs ached with the lack of oxygen.
"I'll kill everyone you ever cared about, and I'll make sure they know it was because of y—"
Pulse cut off when Katsuki plunged his throwing knife up into his stomach. He gasped in a mixture of pain and shock, immediately letting go of Katsuki's throat. Blood spilt from Pulse's mouth, splattering over Katsuki's face as the teen gulped in lungful after lungful of oxygen, panting heavily. Pulse fell back slightly, still on Katsuki's hips,
"That's for Teruo." Katsuki panted. "And for all of those kids, and everyone else you've fucking hurt. That was for me." He said as the lights flickered back on.
Aizawa and Flashback were stood by the door, blinking harshly at the sudden light. As soon as they saw Katsuki, they ran over to him. Pulse fell backwards completely, falling off of Katsuki with a cry of pain. Katsuki didn't move, he was covered in blood, both his own and Pulse's.
The hero and sidekick reached them at the same time. Flashback put a pair of Quirk suppressant cuffs on Pulse and pulled the knife from his abdomen, removing any weapon the villain had access to. Aizawa went to Katsuki's side, falling to his knees and helping Katsuki sit up. Flashback radioed to the other heroes, calling for medics.
"You're okay, kid." Aizawa cooed softly, going to wrap his arms around Katsuki when he noticed the bullet wound. "Did he have a gun?" he asked, scanning the room he saw a gun lying on the floor across the room. "Katsuki?"
"My Quirk…" Katsuki started, staring at his gloved hands, trying for a third time to active his explosions. "It's gone."
"What? No. Not again." Aizawa said. "How? I—" he broke off as Katsuki started to cry. He wrapped him in a hug. "It'll be okay, Katsuki. Everything will be okay."
It took a few moments for four paramedics to emerge from the door, hurrying over to the injured villain first, as he was in a worse condition. Three stayed with Pulse as one came to Katsuki.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
"I broke my hand." Katsuki said, holding up his hand, the glove felt tight around it and Katsuki didn't even want to know how swollen it was. "I got shot. Choked."
"Can you stand?" the paramedic asked. "It'll be easier to treat those kind of injuries at the hospital. The bullet wound doesn't look too deep."
"I can walk." Katsuki replied numbly. Aizawa helped him to his feet.
"Flash are you okay staying here?"
"Yeah, you go ahead." Flashback waved a hand dismissively, standing over Pulse.
Aizawa and led Katsuki back through the winding warren, the paramedic staying behind to help with Pulse. Both were silent until they got back to the main chamber of the basement. Katsuki swallowed thickly, looking down at the different blood pools, Tsunagu's, Giran's, Shiagraki's.
"Are you going to expel me now I haven't got a Quirk?"
"No. We'll figure something out." Aizawa said.
"I don't want to be like Toogata." Katsuki replied.
"We don't know what you've been hit with yet, Katsuki. There are two versions of the drug, permanent and semi-permanent, let's see what's going on before we make any drastic decisions. Okay?"
"Okay." Katsuki replied, leaning on Aizawa a little more. "What if I killed him?" Katsuki asked after a moment of silence, as they moved towards the stairs.
"Then we'll deal with that too. Heroes kill villains all of the time. It's not really talked about or reported but…" Aizawa trailed off. "I've killed people before, as has Hizashi, I'm sure Hakamata has had to too."
"Really?"
"Mhm. I'm going to be honest with you kid, the higher up in the Top Ten you are, the more likely you are to have killed someone. Sometimes it's necessary. Sometimes a villain won't give in, sometimes they'd rather die than go to prison. It doesn't make you a bad person."
"I feel like a bad person."
"You shouldn't." Aizawa said, rubbing Katsuki's good shoulder. "You did well, kid, I'm proud of you."
"I fucked up."
"You took on a major villain and won. We can analysis everything later, for now focus on that. You won, Katsuki. You won."
Katsuki nodded as they reached the ground floor and made their way outside. There were children everywhere, talking to police officers and paramedics. Edgeshot had arrived with Mount Lady and Kamui Woods in tow, registering each of the children as found. Hawks had multiple children surrounding him and Dabi and Shigaraki were sat together, cuddling not far off.
"Shigaraki's alive?" Katsuki asked.
"I don't know what's going on with him." Aizawa said. "He should have died but… the wound on his neck is completely healed. He seems tired, dazed, but physically he's fine."
"I'm too tired for this." Katsuki said. Aizawa chuckled.
"My life entirely, kid."
"Sensei, Katsuki." Shouto called, approaching them, his arm in a temporary sling.
"What happened to you?" Katsuki asked.
"One of the kids used their Quirk to break my arm." Shouto shrugged. "You look like shit."
"I got shot." Katsuki said. "Lost my Quirk."
"I'd give you half of mine if I could." Shouto said, knowing it was best not to push Katsuki for an emotional response. He knew his best friend better than that. That's not how he and Katsuki worked.
"I don't want your stupid fire, then I wouldn't be able to call you IcyHot." Katsuki grumbled.
"Where's Hitoshi?" Aizawa asked, looking around.
"Hospital." Shouto replied. "Best Jeanist collapsed on the way up. He needed an emergency blood transfusion on the way to the hospital or there would be no chance at saving him. Both he and Hitoshi are AB."
"Is Tsunagu okay?" Katsuki asked.
"I don't know." Shouto replied. "The paramedics got him out of here so fast. But the hospital is the best place for him."
"What about everyone else?"
"Giran's gone to hospital, on his own, he didn't want anyone with him. Dabi says he'll probably get out of there as soon as he can and go to another hospital so he won't be arrested. Tou-Dabi tried to get Shigaraki to go to the hospital but he refused. All of the kids have received first aid and all of the villains are secured and on their way to various prisons."
"Thank you, Todoroki." Aizawa said with a nod.
"Oh, and Hawks was bitten by a child."
"A child?" Aizawa asked.
"Mhm, she reminds me of you, Katsuki." Shouto teased.
"Fuck you Icyot."
"Alright, let's get you looked at." Aizawa said, patting Katsuki on the back, heading towards the nearest ambulance.
"I want to go home."
"I know kiddo." Aizawa said softly.
"Can I call Eiji?"
"After you've been looked at." Aizawa said. "And then you'll probably have to go to the hospital."
"And then home?"
"And then home."
Is anyone still reading this because I haven't got a comment since the whole glitch with new chapters not showing? Are you there? I don't think I'm going to keep using this site. It's depressing.
