STRANGE SHIRTLESS STRANGERS

A great conflict was about to come off between the birds and the beasts. When the two armies were formed, the bat hesitated about which group to join. The bat assumed that the birds were too weak and hence became scared and changed the camp to the beasts. In the end, the beasts lost the war and they arranged a truce. But the birds noticed the unsportsmanlike behavior of the bat and punished it: because it betrayed its comrades, it henceforth had to fly alone in the night and could not participate any longer in the community of birds. - Summary of "The Birds and the Beasts", a fable by Aesop

Sora Busujima

The green-haired one, who is apparently called Deku, watches carefully while the one who nursed him, my sister Miu 'paced' in the air. Her bat wings are frantically flapping as she flies in circles above our heads.

Well, that is what I saw the last time I checked anyway. Currently my eyes are glued to the bread I am munching on. I can not really look up while the two men are sitting half-naked in front of me now, can I? Maybe they are cold. Maybe I could ask them to dress.

I was thinking of offering something to cover themselves with when the blondie called Dynamight shouted, some bread bits flying off his mouth. "Tell your bat twin to stop! It's making me dizzy!"

I can not understand why he thinks it is necessary to raise his voice at everything. Before I could restrain myself, I looked up and met his eyes in hopes of-

What was I hoping for? I completely forgot because for the first time, I noticed that his eyes are red like my sister's and I. I have never met anyone with eyes like us. Sure, different eye- and even hair- colors are popping up in every newborn that were not considered 'natural' before, or so I heard- I was not born yet. But the color red… As far as I know, only Miu and I had that eye color.

Then I remember, he is from the future- 100 or so years from today. Maybe having red eyes is not as rare as it is now. I wonder if Meta Abilities- or Quirks- are as 'natural' in their time as having 'unnatural' eye colors.

"Oy! What are you staring at, vamp?!" he shouted again, getting closer to me as if closing the distance would intimidate me into answering.

In answer, I gave him a glare, but I kept my voice controlled, not letting the irritation show. I can never let anything show. "Shut up, short fuse." I decided to refer to him with something else other than what he said his name- or alias- was. Simply because that is what he is doing to us as well. "She is trying to process everything. Give her time."

Veins start to show on Dynamight's forehead as he tries to contain his anger. Deku, on the other hand, is oblivious to his ticking time bomb of a friend, muttering in an astonishing pace to himself while writing invisible words on his palm.

"Basically, you're from the past or, more appropriately, we're from the future. 100ish years in the future. I didn't know of any quirk that can do that. Closest comparison would be Kurogiri's Warp Gate, but even that can't do time travel."

"-Excuse me-"

"100ish years ago. Hmmm… What was happening at that time? Well, aside from All For One just gathering his power. Oh no no no. Will I meet him in the now? Should I kill him before he could do any more harm? Would that change the course of things?"

"-Deku-"

"Well, I could forget any illusions of defeating him anyway. I'm far from my best self. Aside from that we actually landed on an island that cancels out quirks. Amazing! But unfortunate. I need to take note of this island and find it when we get back in our own time-"

"-Hey!", I raised my voice a little. I had no choice. He was so engrossed in whatever he was doing that I could not get his attention any other way.

Thankfully, it worked. Deku raised his head and looked at me. He realizes what he was doing and blushes in embarrassment. "Oh, sorry! I just do that sometimes when I think. W- Were you saying something, Sora?"

"Actually, not yet. But I do want to ask something since you are from the future. Do you mind?"

"No, no. Please, go ahead." Deku shakes his head, encouraging me to continue, so I did "Can you tell us-" I glanced at my sister still fluttering in the air, "Well, me- Can you tell me what is known about this island in the future? It is unnamed right now, but it is in the middle of the East sea. And it cancels out Meta Abilities- that is Quirks to you. You must have heard of it, right? I doubt even in the future that such a place is considered 'normal'"

Deku slumps and shakes his head, disappointed this time. "Sorry, but no. I don't know of any island that does that. If such an island exists in our time, I'm sure I would know. Speaking of cancelling out quirks, if what you're saying about this island is true, how can you still fly? Why aren't your quirks disabled?"

At the same time, they all look up at Miu still flying in circles above them, but calmer than earlier. Right now, she only looks like she is concentrating. She must be listening for movements in our vicinity, keeping an eye out, or more accurately an ear.

"Our meta abilities are cancelled. We may be able to fly, but that is only because our wings are parts of our body, just like our ears, throats, and eyes. They are not meta abilities, just mutations."

Disgusting mutations… Disfigured humans… Ugly creatures… Poor unfortunate girls…

Voices started pouring into my brain. I do not know whose voices these are. Just random people who whispered behind our backs and outright told us in front. I tried pushing the thoughts away, but nothing succeeded until…

"Oy, vamp. So, what you're saying is you have a quirk- meta ability- other than your wings?" Dynamight asks, his eyes glinting with curiosity and… Envy? Admiration? A mixture of both?

Is this for real?

I was too stunned by his reaction to answer. No one has ever looked at me like this while talking about my 'uniqueness.' Disgust, yes. Pity, yes. But that?

Deku snaps me out of my thoughts when he starts mumbling again, still watching Miu do her thing in the air. "So, it's not like Eraserhead's quirk? This island is not attacking the quirk factor itself. If it is, then they won't be able to fly. It's just attacking the… Just the… Just the what? What is it attacking? Wait, can a place have a quirk? Sora, I'm sorry, but can you tell us what you've learned about this island so far?"

"Forgive us, but we have been here for days and we have not discovered anything yet," Sora answers shyly.

Dynamight clicks his tongue and says, "You guys sure like the word Yet a lot. Is there anything you have actually accomplished?"

I kept silent, not responding to his taunt. I think it caught him off-guard because I can feel his eyes boring into me. He must have expected me to fight back, but what can I say? He is telling the truth whether I like it or not.

Deku must have felt awkward because he tried to comfort me. "Uhm, S- Sora, it's okay if you-"

Cutting off Deku's attempt at comforting, Miu suddenly swoops down and starts packing up the camp. Understanding what it means, I follow suit in less than a second, without a word.

"What's happening?" Deku scrambles to stand. "You must have noticed something! If only I had my Danger Sense, I would have noticed it, too-"

"Quit mumbling, you fool! And you! Vamps, tell us what's up now!" I can hear Dynamight yelling, but I do not have the time for his temper right now. We have to go, as quickly as we can.

I gave both Deku and Dynamight a blanket. Since I will be carrying one of them, they need to be covered. Then, I wore my visor and mask.

By the time Miu packed most of our stuff, which was not a lot considering we always travel light, I had killed the fire. Miu, already wearing her visor and mask too, passes me one of the two backpacks. Everything went smooth, practiced with precision up to the last step.

Suddenly, Dynamight decides to disrupt it by grabbing my arm, still not covering himself with the blanket. In my periphery, I can see that Deku did not understand my intentions of handing them the piece of cloth as well.

"Hey, answer us! What's happening?" Dynamight demanded, a little too close to my face for comfort.

I pushed him back, ignoring the electricity that zapped my fingertips when I touched his chest for a second. Looking him in the eye, I tried my best to convey the gravity of the situation. "Someone is coming. Fast. We have to go."

"Please trust us," Miu adds. Then, she brings out a knife and makes a hole in the blanket for Deku. I am glad she read my mind. Bringing out a knife as well, I reached for Dynamight's blanket and did the same.

"Wear that. Through the head. It's cold up in the air… Please?" Miu insists and, thankfully, Deku follows, putting on the makeshift shirt-blanket-poncho.

I turned around to watch our surroundings, not checking if Dynamight followed Deku's example.

While packing our stuff, I have already looked for what triggered Miu's actions. That is why I am in a hurry. That is why I am watching this direction specifically. He is coming from the North.

"Miu…" I whispered to her, "Are you ready?"

Miu flaps her wings as if she is warming up. "Last check. Let's see if he has company." Her eyes are closed, concentrating.

Deku watched her and when her eyes opened, there was a glint of something that was not there before. I know her like I know the back of my hand. She wants a fight. Looking at Deku, he seems to recognize that glint in her eyes, too.

"How do you know someone's coming?" he asks, ever curious, I noticed.

"What? Oh, uh. Echolocation. We emit short high-frequency pulses of sound and listen to the echoes returning from objects in the vicinity. It's well above the range of average human hearing, so you can't hear it. Just bat things," Miu answers, not really focusing on Deku but on what's coming. Smiling behind the mask, she says, "It's huge. The one who's coming is huge. I can't wait to fight."

I knew it. Sadly, I would have to deny her that. "Miu, we are running, you hear me? We can not fight."

She sulks like a little baby. I am used to it though. I can clearly hear the disappointment in my dear sister's voice when she says, "I know. I just thought 'Finally, I've been itching for a fight!'"

"Have you? That's great then!" a woman's sultry voice says.

The four of us snap to the direction of the amused voice.

A few feet from us, the ground has opened up and the upper half of a hooded figure can be seen poking out.

I squinted my eyes to look at the person's face. Instantly, I recognized the thing covering the face of what is apparently a 'her.'

"Gas mask! It is that person!" I shout immediately. "Keep your distan-"

However, Dynamight charges forward, ready to fight and shouting, "Die!"

This man will seriously be the death of me, I thought, then froze, realizing that I did not mean it in a bad way.

"I love this energy." The gas masked woman smiles with her eyes then brings her arms out in front of her.

She is doing that attack again!

But, we are on the island. Her meta ability can not-

Proving me wrong before I even finish my thoughts, pink fog emits from her fingertips.

The first solid clue for our investigation on the island comes at the most unfortunate time: Someone can use their meta ability, even on the island.

The fog creeps through the ground and spreads through the air steadily. I think it is safe to assume that under no circumstance should we touch nor breathe in this fog.

Voice full with glee, she says, "Sleep!"

**~A/N [05/12/2021]~** So, how's the first POV chapter from one of the OCs? Writing in Sora's voice was definitely challenging but it was fun. I hope you enjoyed it too. I'm still deciding on which event or happening is the best to see from Miu's POV, so please bear with me. As soon as everything is reveled about the OCs, I might add their character profiles on the A/Ns. Keyword: might. But for now, please keep wondering. XX