SAVING STRANGERS

At the center of the East Sea is an unnamed island that is under the protection of the Japanese government. Rumors say that the Meta Abilities are nullified there, but no proof has been presented so far. Researchers and tourists alike are prohibited from entering the said island, so retrieving said proof is a challenge. However, our faithful group of researchers does not plan on giving up any time soon. After all, rumors are rarely baseless. - Excerpt from "A Study of the Meta Ability Phenomenon" by Various Authors, published 19XX

Above an eerily silent jungle, the full moon is shining brightly in the night sky. It looks so large, so close, as if one could touch its rough surface if one decides to reach their hand out. And someone does try.

A masked woman extends her slender arm out and stretches every finger in her attempt to touch the distant orb of the night. To nobody's surprise, including hers, it was to no avail, but she does not look the least bit disappointed. Through a dark-tinted visor, her dark red eyes are twinkling with delight and astonishment.

"Are you done being crazy over the moon?" a firm yet deadpan voice speaks from behind her. She turns and meets a pair of bright red eyes, so bright that it can almost be seen through the identical visors they are wearing.

"My dear sister, I'm sure you're tired as I am. Let's stop wasting time and go home to rest," she tries copying the woman's deadpan voice, then shifts over to her own sweeter tone, "That's what you mean, right?"

The brighter eyed woman pauses to think, then replies with the same flat tone, "Well, not really. We can not go home yet. Our investigation is not over. Actually, we have barely begun, Miu."

"I mean- Nevermind," the woman who was apparently called Miu cuts herself short and flicks her short brown hair out of her face after it was blown there by the wind. "It's like talking to a wall."

The other woman approaches Miu and simply says, "I do not think you should be talking to a wall under any circumstance. You would not be right in the head if that is the case." At this, there was a hint of mischief in her voice.

"Sora, you- Ah! Nevermind! You drive me crazy!"

"So, you are not right in the head."

Miu playfully glares at her sister, the one she called Sora. They bantered casually, as if in the comfort of their own home or as if strolling in a park. But, as a matter of fact, they weren't doing either of the two.

The two masked women are flying above the silent jungle, well above the coverage of the tallest trees with their black bat wings giving them this ability. It's not something you miss. Wings as wide as their arms and protruding from their backs, one look and you'll know these women are obviously special.

But not as special as they would have been two decades ago. Now, they are just two of tens and thousands of people born with special qualities. Just a drop in a river. At least for now. Soon, it would probably be a sea. An ocean, even. Because everyday, another one is being born different. The population of these special ones are steadily growing and no one will be surprised if you tell them that soon, everyone in the world would be born like this. Soon, the special ones will be the normal ones.

These unique attributes aren't solely external or physical factors only, too. Someone could be born with strength that could carry ten times his size or more. Someone could be born with the ability to emit gas that could make people fall asleep. Someone could even be born with the ability to travel through space and time.

Sora and Miu were born with the ability of bats. They didn't just have their wings, but they could also do almost everything the flying mammals could do, better than the originals even.

"Alright, but seriously, let us go back to camp for now," Sora says, whirling to face the south, her bangs catching a gust of wind in the process.

"Sora, wait!"

She turns at Miu's voice, but continues to fly backwards to the south and asks, "What? I am hungry-"

"Are we really giving up without finding anything again? We've been investigating for days, you know..." She flies in front of Sora, grabbing her sister's hands, effectively stopping her in her tracks.

"It is not like we are in a hurry, Miu. Can we please just rest for tonight? I am seriously hungry."

Miu pouts under the mask and crosses her arms. Sora, on the other hand, doesn't give in.

"You're ugly," Miu grumbles.

"Yeah, yeah. We have the same face so that means you are ugly, too."

"Yeah, but I'm prettier," Miu says as she reaches out to grab Sora's ponytail.

Even with her back to the attack, Sora dodges, then reaches out to grab Miu's short hair in response. However, Miu flaps her wings strongly and puts a few feet of distance between them. "Don't touch my hair!"

"Don't touch my hair!" Sora mocks. Miu reaches the end of her patience and poises to strike but is stopped when the sky suddenly opens up directly above them.

The two bring their guard up, ready to fight and/or run.

They watch and observe the hole closely. Inside, there's nothing to see. It's just black, complete darkness. Then, it trembles and spits out two bodies.

"What the-," Miu utters just as the bodies start plummeting down. As if in slow motion, Miu scanned through the body of the man that passed by her side. His green hair is matted with both dry and wet blood, his clothes have been ripped, exposing his badly injured torso and arms.

In a reflex, she flies down, chasing the falling bodies while Sora hesitates to follow. "Miu!"

"We need to save them- Badly injured- Unconscious-"

"I know that, but…" Sora looks up at the hole in the sky. It's still open, tempting her to look inside. She quickly thinks of what the best track of action would be. This could be a clue. I can not let it go. Miu can handle two bodies-

Then, the hole spits another person out and she meets a pair of black eyes.

The person holds on to the edge of the hole to not fall like the first two bodies and raises an arm in Sora's direction. She instinctively flies backward, but nothing comes out of the person's attack, so Sora lunges to take the person's gas mask and reveal his or her identity. Just when she grazes the tip of the mask, the person is sucked back into the hole and it closes, vanishing without a trace, like it's never even been there.

"Sora, help me!" Miu shouts from below while she holds both men in her arms, struggling to remain airborne with the extra weight. "Something fell from blondie, but I couldn't see. Should we go look for it?"

Sora flies down to help Miu and takes the injured blonde man from her. "I do not think we have the time for that."

"What the hell happened to them?" Miu adjusts her hold on the green-haired man to not jostle his body. "What do we do now?"

Sora carefully inspects the man in her arms, checking every puncture, cut, and bruise. She notices how his forehead is wrinkled even in sleep, as if he's in a battle inside his dreams… or nightmares.

"Let us just go back to the camp for now, but we might need to move. The gas mask might follow us and we can not even be sure that these men are not enemies-"

"But we still need to save them! What if they're victims?"

"I know, okay? That is why we are bringing them back with us. Jeez! Calm down, Miu," Sora says, flying as smooth as she can to the direction of their camp and gently holding the injured blonde man that was almost twice her size.

Miu follows. Her mouth can't be seen, but in that moment the crinkles around her dark red eyes clearly shows how huge her smile was. "I guess we really can't run- or, erm, fly away from saving people, huh? Even if they might kill us when they wake up."

"This will be on your head," Sora mumbles. "If we die, I will kill you."

Miu laughs and says, "I love you, too."

**~A/N [05/09/2021]~** Let's welcome my (currently mysterious) OCs, Sora and Miu! Can you guess which one is for Midoriya and which one is for Bakugo? Looking forward to telling you all about their story moving forward. XX