Where are you going, Hero Girl?

Chapter One: Reverse

This has lived rent free in my head for months, so over NaNo I finally pumped it out! The first five chapters are done and will go up weekly, but I've just been asked to write an article for the annual Journal my museum publishes (*screams*), so I can't guarantee when any other fics might be updated. Sorry fam!

The USJ was supposed to be safe, and instead Shouta is doing everything he can to take out the villains that are gunning for his newest class of kids. Before Shouta knows it, something snaps around his waist and yanks him back from Shigaraki and his decaying hands and sets him down somewhat gently behind a first-year girl, though she's not one of Shouta's. Her long hair is white with six streaks of colour in her fringe – blonde, black and purple on one side, and green, blonde and teal on the other. She was wearing a UA sports uniform, orange goggles that vaguely reminiscent of Present Mic's glasses, a red capture scarf that seems longer down her back but is otherwise identical to Shouta's, and a protective half-mask. She drops a duffle bag covered in hero patches at Shouta's feet, and says, "Please let me handle this, Eraserhead. It's my turn to keep you safe, I promise."

With that she launches herself into the crowd, capture scarf moving like an extension of her body, and movements almost exactly as Shouta would have acted, were he still in the fray and had a lower centre of gravity. As professionally as she moves, as easily as she is knocking out those lackeys, he can't stay back and let her do all of the work, no matter the current state of his elbow. Steady, careful of his arm but still fast enough to not suffer further damage from assailants, Shouta rejoins the fight.

There's a lull in the goons around the girl, who promptly turns towards Shigaraki and uses her capture tape to fly, sparks starting to fizz from the horn on the girl's forehead, and her fist leading.

"Stupid NPC!" Shigaraki laughs at her. "I'll just decay you the same way I did your precious teacher – guck!" The girl clocked him right in the throat, and then dragged him upright and flipped him over her shoulder.

"Stupid Shimura Tenko," she snaps back, horn no longer sparking. "You really believed that All For One cared for you? He's the one who gave you Decay, and caused the deaths of your family. He called your grandmother and All Might's master, Shimura Nana, his archnemesis and was responsible for her murder - why would he take on her grandchild?"

"What – why won't you decay?" Shigaraki – Shimura, apparently – screamed at her.

"I'm the Time-Turner Hero: Reverse," the girl snarls. "I can turn back time. And you, Shigaraki Tomura, Shimura Tenko, you killed my family and destroyed Japan! The cost of your sins is your false quirk."

Shigaraki reaches a hand out for her, and she lets him take her leg; nothing happens.

Nothing happens.

"This is better for you in the long run. To these people, you only have this one crime to your name, and you can have access to the therapy and the help that you need. You are right, on one count, though. Hero society is broken," Reverse says softly. "I know that better than most. But death is not the answer. The correct process of change is like an avalanche: a small rock trickles down, hitting more and more rocks as it goes, gathering force until there is nothing that can stop it." Whip-fast she cracks a punch across his head, knocking the older boy out, and puts him in thumb-cuffs. She staggered back a few steps, drew in a deep breath for the count of three, and then launched herself at the rest of the gathered villains.

Between them, they have almost knocked everyone out, with the exception of the giant brute with the exposed brain, who Reverse has deliberately avoided. By Shigaraki/Shimura there is a sudden burst of that purple mist, and even more suddenly Reverse is flying, zipping past Shouta and landing by the mastermind with her horn glowing again.

"Shigaraki Tomur – urk!" Reverse has both hands inside of the mist man, eyes and horn glowing brilliantly while white lightning crackles about her. The mist shrinks until it is only the head and hands that are still covered, everything else bare; the body is well dressed in waistcoat and slacks, the identity is still unidentifiable.

"Kurogiri," Reverse says softly enough that Shouta has to strain to hear her. "Sorry about this – I've never done this before. It might hurt."

"Who – are – you?" Kurogiri gasps out.

"The Time-Turner Hero: Reverse," She says softly. "But you can call me Eri."

There was a blinding flare of light, so bright that Shouta had to shut his eyes and turn his face into his shoulder (and even then bright lights still flared behind his closed lids), and it lasted several minutes. Finally the light faded, and there was a groan that almost sounded familiar, and Shouta decided to risk it. Turning his face, he saw a tall, masc-presenting individual slumping into Reverse – into Eri's arms, blue-white hair billowing like a cloud about their face in a way that caused Shouta's heart to squeeze painfully in his chest.

"How do you feel?" Eri asked, panting hard.

"Where am I?" Kurogiri rasped in a voice that Shouta knew as well as he knew his husband's or Nemuri's or Tensei's or Emi's. "Where's – there was a kid, are they ok? Where's ... Sho, where's Eraserhead?"

"Your last memory is of when?" Eri demands, still struggling for breath.

"We were on work experience with His Highness," Shirakumo Oboro finally gets out. "We – where am I, where's Shouta and the kid?!"

Shouta clears his throat, and finally rasps out, "Oboro?"

"... What the fuck?!" Oboro blurts, jerking up and out of Eri's arms. "What – hey, who the fuck are you, what's happening here?!"

"My name is Aiyashimitosa Eri," the girl says softly, staggering back a few steps. "My Quirk is capable of reversing time on organic matter. I brought you back, and took away Shigaraki's Quirk Factor."

"Where did you come from," Shouta demanded, inching steadily closer with one hand in his capture scarf.

Eri looks devastated at the sign of distrust, tears welling in the corner of her red eyes, but she powers on. "Eight years into the future. The Paranormal Liberation Front and the League of Villains united to incite chaos and war across the country. It's as I said, they killed my family and almost everyone I knew, so I… They wanted my Quirk, and I wanted my family. I sent myself back in time." She rubs at one eye and sniffs. "I wasn't sure it was going to work, but I didn't want to see what they'd do with me. Also, Shirakumo-san, sorry – I didn't know if I'd be able to turn you back far enough either. I was flying blind." The last bit she said in slightly accented English.

"You're a UA student too?" Oboro demands.

Eri nods. "Class 1B, with Vlad King. My big brother and dads were so offended, since they were all in Class A."

"We're not done here," Shouta makes himself say.

Eri nods. "Mm, you both need to go to Recovery Girl. De – um, Midoriya, he will need to go too I bet, and – Bakugo and Kaminari too. Maybe… Yaoyorozu, and, um, and…"

"Are you trying not to say their Hero names?" Shouta demands, trying not to smile.

She blushes pink and scuffs a foot. "It's not fair, me calling them by the names that I know. What if they don't pick those names again? What if it was only the circumstances of that previous timeline that gave birth to the heroes that I knew? Or what if my using those other names makes them feel pressured, that they have to use those names, and then they don't fit anymore? That would be terrible!"

"You're an over-thinker, huh?" Oboro asks her, lowering himself carefully to the ground.

Eri laughs, shrugs, and says, "Nii-chan loved the time travel trope. He thought it was cool, so I watched a lot of it growing up; they always say you should be careful what events you changed when you travel through time."

She turns to the behemoth, and glares. "You two should go. I'm going to deal with this."

"You should have backup," Shouta and Oboro speak at the same time, like they haven't in over a decade. Eri laughs delightedly.

"Well, we can wait for the back up, I guess, and then you two can go." She swallows, stretches, and cracks her back. "Why don't you both sit, and the others can come and get you?"

"You're not taking that on on your own!" Oboro snapped.

Eri smiled at them beautifically. "I am a Hero, and my job is to save people with a smile. It is to risk my life and turn my promises into a reality!" She sobers, and looks back at the creature, hand reaching up beneath her capture scarf to take hold of a necklace chain. "Besides. If my friends were here, they would scold me. If I stopped now, I couldn't reach our dream."

"Not your family?" Shouta asks, curious. If her fathers and older brother were all in UA's Hero course as well…

"Even if they were both in the hospital, Kota-kun and Katsuma-kun were still alive when I came back," Eri snaps, hand convulsing around the chain. "Tou-chan, Papa and Nii-chan are all dead, so what does it matter?"

She readies her capture scarf, breathes in deeply, and moves forward with her horn glowing and a bright light limning her body.

"This is a Nomu," Eri tells them. "A biologically engineered human, made from the quirks of multiple humans. It has been designed with All Might in mind, as a counter attack to his strength and his Quirk. It has no thoughts left to itself, and relies only on the commands of its designated masters. In theory, I should be able to use my Quirk to pull it apart again - I, uh, may faint. If I do, I rescued my little self from this time and she's waiting at the front door. Please look after her."

Shouta and Oboro both exclaim over that, but there is a brilliant white lightning crackling over Eri's whole body, glowing brighter and brighter as she walked closer and closer to the Nomu. There was a shout in the distance, a series of explosions, and then a very familiar YEEEEEAAAHHHH!

"Cavelry's here, huh?" Oboro whispered, dragging himself to his feet and staggering to Shouta's side. "Are you and Zashi a team at least?"

"Well, something like that," he says softly. "How - I thought you were dead. We both did."

"... Sorry, Sho. Are – are you two ok?"

"I guess. Yeah. He's going to cry when he sees you, though."

The glow slowly fades, and Eri staggers backwards and collapses. Shouta leaps for her and just catches her, slipping on his knees for her to collapse against his chest, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket to hold under her bleeding nose. Where the giant creature had been was a large masc individual, and a series of slowing fading wisps of … something.

"Eraser!" Mic screams, zooming over with Tensei's little brother and Nemuri.

"How are the children?" He demands, Eri clutched to his chest and just taking a moment to rest and breathe.

"The others have - what the fuck!" Hizashi demands in English, skidding to a stop and staring at Oboro, eyes raking over his face.

"Holy shit you're old!" Oboro shouts, pointing.

"We're thirty," Shouta snaps, insulted. "Iida, there should be a little girl called Eri outside, can you go and look after her, please? Mic, the rest of the kids?" Tenya snaps a quick salute and yes, sensei! and zooms away.

Mic is still staring at Oboro, but gets out, "They're all ok, just minor bumps and bruises. Recovery Girl came with us."

"Good, Thirteen and Reverse here will need to be seen to. And Shirakumo too."

"I'm fine!" Oboro denies immediately. "And if you're thirty, what's with Tensei then?"

"That's his brother, Tenya," Shou grits out, before snapping immediately, "And not even half an hour ago we thought you were dead, the least you can do is go to Recovery Girl."

"Well if I'm going, you're going!" Oboro snapped back. "What happened to your elbow?"

Hizashi makes a strangled noise, moving forward to take Shouta's arm gently above and below the decayed sections of his arm. In his arms, Eri stirs with a soft moan that sounds suspiciously like Papa.

"Who's this little listener?" He asks in the gentle voice he reserves for small children and trauma victims.

"She called herself Eri and Reverse," Oboro offers immediately. "She fixed me."

"Her Quirk rewinds organic matter," Shouta adds. "She apparently sent herself eight years into the past. She reversed Oboro, somehow, and took the Quirk of that individual over there. Apparently, this whole thing was planned to take All Might out; I don't know how successful it was in the future, but in eight years there wasn't a point in Reverse staying anymore, so she came back to fix it all."

"Poor thing," Nemuri finally murmurs, eyes flicking from Oboro to Eri and back again. "She had nothing left?"

"Her fathers and brother had all died," Oboro offers. "Her best friends were in the hospital, and whoever that person over there is, he wanted her Quirk. She wasn't even sure she'd manage to go back far enough. And, actually, she wasn't sure she'd be able to fix me alright, either."

"Sensei!" Asui, Midoriya, and Mineta all pulled themselves out of the water and raced over. "Are you alright?!"

"Are you?" He demands immediately, eyes flicking over the three teenagers - children - before him. Midoriya is cradling one of his hands, a couple fingers darkened and clearly broken. Mineta looks terrified. They chorus back their yeses and oks, and he nods in return and says, "Good, I'm glad. Asui, Mineta, help steady Shirakumo, please. Midoriya, you can help Mic."

Zashi makes a strangled noise at his side, and Shouta glares. "Take Reverse, I'll be fine on my own."

Reverse whimpers in her sleep and clings to his jumpsuit. Zashi snorts, but helps him to his feet and carefully takes the girl. "How about, Midoriya stays close to you in case you need help?" Zashi asks, amused.

"Let's get everyone to Recovery Girl," Nemuri says lowly. "I'll grab some of the others and we can start to round up and process all of these thugs, from there."

Constructive criticism is welcome.

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