Chapter Twenty
The Parting of the Ways
Before their summer break began, the students of Class 1-A gathered for a final half day of class to receive more information about the upcoming Summer Training Camp.
It was quickly apparent who had failed the Final Term Exam, even if they weren't loudly complaining about it. Midoriya had approached the sullen group hesitantly before class began, intending to cheer them up.
"Everyone . . . I'm . . . looking forward to hearing . . . your stories . . . from training camp," Mina sobbed, the other three around her staring intensely in other directions, looking crestfallen.
"W-We don't know that for sure! What if something happens at the last minute?" Midoriya suggested.
"Midoriya, you'll probably just jinx it if you say it out loud like that," Sero pointed out. "Like . . . me and Mineta won, but I'm not sure I can pass since Mineta did all the work — so who really knows."
Mineta was listening nearby, kicking it back with his feet up on his desk, looking incredibly smug to hear something like that, and was nodding to himself.
"Yeah, I'm pretty great," he said, speaking to nobody. Everyone within earshot just rolled their eyes.
Kaminari, Sato, and Kirishima didn't look convinced, and Mina only cried louder. Sero rubbed her back in an effort to comfort her, looking to Midoriya, who could only shrug at him.
Soon after the bell had rung, the door to the class opened suddenly, and Aizawa entered.
"Everyone should be seated when the bell rings," he said sternly.
Within an instant, everyone was in their seats, staring straight ahead obediently. He stood at the podium at the front of the class and looked around.
"Unfortunately, it seems like some of you didn't pass your final exams," Aizawa spoke. The five students who knew their fates tensed up as he looked at them all. "As far as the training camp is concerned . . ."
Their teacher suddenly smiled widely, though for the scruffy, tired-looking man, it looked menacing to anyone who saw it.
"Everyone is going."
What? the failures all thought at the same time, all nearly brought to tears by the news.
"Some failed the practical, but nobody failed the written exam," Aizawa explained. "For the practicals, Kirishima, Sero, Ashido, Sato, and Kaminari failed. The teachers all left ways for you, the students, to win," he continued. "After all, if we had truly gone all out, there would've been no hope for you guys."
Ojiro, who sat near the front of the class, spoke up, his tail swaying: "So . . . when you said you were going to crush us . . . ?"
"The point of the training camp is to increase your strength. Of course, those who failed will need it even more — it was a rational falsehood." At this, their sensei smiled yet again, which wasn't exactly reassuring.
Everyone was taken aback by this. Those who failed were already celebrating at their seats, but Iida seemed shaken up, angrily looking down at a clenched fist.
"He tricked us again?" The class president suddenly shot up with his hand in the air. "Since you've lied to us twice, Mr. Aizawa, our faith in you will waiver, you know!"
"Those who failed will be required to do extra lessons during the training camp, however," Aizawa continued. The five failures instantly stopped their celebration. "In fact, it will be way tougher than if you had just stayed here to do extra lessons instead."
With that, the short school day came to a quick close.
Class 1-A and Class 1-B were gathered and awaiting for their buses to arrive. From nearby, a cocky chuckle made several of them look to see Monoma standing there, a smug expression in his face.
"And how many 1-A students failed, hm?"
The few that did scoffed and huffed, which only made the blonde laugh haughtily.
"Of course! Us superiors in 1-B only had one single failure," Monoma cackled. "And it was surely a fluke!"
Kendo, however, soon knocked Monoma out with a swift chop and dragged him away before he could make no more issues with 1-A.
"Why isn't everyone lined up properly," Iida complained. "Come on, in your seating order, everyone!"
Soon enough, each class boarded a seperate bus, sitting in the same order they did in the classroom, and were off toward the location of the camp.
"The buses are going to stop in an hour," Aizawa turned around and explained to the bustling students. "And when it does —"
Nobody really listened, unfortunately, as the infectious excitement continued in the bus. Aizawa sighed and turned forward again, thinking that this will be the last time they'll be allowed to be so careless.
Soon enough, after an hour had passed, the bus came to a stop.
"Alright, this is the first stop . . ."
Mineta was quick to bolt to the door, Kaminari following soon after. Eventually, everyone else piled out. They found themselves at the side of the road at a sort of lookout spot overlooking a large forest, and as everyone stretched and conversed, they started to realize something was wrong.
"Wait, where's Class 1-B's bus?" Mina asked.
At that, everyone caught on, looking around, before all turning to Aizawa.
"There's no reason to stop without a purpose," he spoke. Nearby, the doors opened to another car that was parked a few feet away, turning everyone's attention to the two girls and young boy that emerged from inside it.
"Long time no see, Eraser!" one of them exclaimed.
"Long time no see," Aizawa returned, bowing politely to the women.
Before anyone could say anything, the two women began to enact a sort of rehearsed introductions. One had reddish-brown hair, and the other had blonde hair, but both wore similar outfits with skirts and large, oversized cat paw gloves, along with having cat ears and tails.
"Lock on with these sparkling gazes!"
"Stingingly cute and cat-like!"
The two women struck a joint pose, and proclaimed, "We're the Wild Wild Pussycats!"
The students of 1-A stared blankly at the two women, except for Midoriya, who was very shocked to see two heroes he was familiar with.
"These Pro Heroes will be assisting with the summer camp," Aizawa explained.
Before he could go further, Midoriya exclaimed, "T-They're a four-person joint team who started up their own agency, and specialize in mountain rescuing!" He felt growing excitement as he continued, "This is their twelfth year —"
Suddenly, the blonde member of the Pussycats, who Midoriya knew as Pixie Bob, grabbed ahold of his head with her large paw, making him stop.
"I'm eighteen at heart," the woman growled. Midoriya gulped, and everyone watched with increased confusion.
The other woman, Mandalay, smiled and directed their attention to herself. "We own all of this land," she spoke, motioning over the cliff out at the trees. "That mountain base is where you'll be staying."
She pointed ahead, and the class was shocked to see how far away it was. Were they going have to walk there?
"Um . . . why did we stop here then?" Uraraka asked, looking at the others, who only shrugged.
"No way," Kaminari said, looking nervous. "Please don't tell me . . ."
"It's nine-thirty right now," Mandalay spoke, with a slight smirk on her face. "So if you really hurry up . . ."
"Guys, I think we should get back to the bus," said Sero, thumbing back towards the vehicle.
"Yeah," Mina agreed. "That might be good."
"Maybe noon? Yeah, I'm sure you guys could make it there in three hours — otherwise, you'll miss lunch!"
"Get back to the bus"
At Kaminari's startled call, the students all turned and began to rush to the bus.
"Sorry, but the training camp's already begun," Aizawa spoke from nearby.
Suddenly, everyone turned as a crack filled the air, noticing that Austerus and Aoyama were now gone from the location.
At least of two of them were aware, Aizawa thought as he observed his other students.
Pixie Bob suddenly jumped in front of them, blocking their path to the bus. With a wicked smile, she put her paws down to the ground. They began to glow with a soft blue hue, before the ground erupted and began to quake. Suddenly, the cliffside turned into a rockslide, sending the 1-A students tumbling down into the forest below.
As the students recovered, some rubbing the back of their heads, they looked around, some a bit shaken.
"Since it's private property, use your Quirks as you wish," they heard Mandalay called down to the others. "You'll need them for the forest's beasts!"
"Austerus, what are you —"
"Aoyama, listen to me," Austerus said as they moved a few meters away from where the rest of the class had landed.
"What are you talking about?" Aoyama asked, looking around. "Why did you bring us here?"
"Because you need to listen closely," said Austerus, grabbing Aoyama's shoulders and looking at him seriously, which unnerved the blond a bit. "Be careful these next two days. And, no matter what happens, do not stop learning on how to use those spells."
"But why, Austerus?" said Aoyama, looking at him with amethyst eyes. "You're . . . you're not leaving, are you?"
Austerus not responding was all that he needed as an answer.
"Do you have to go?" he asked, nervousness and sadness in his voice.
"It will only be for a day or two, Aoyama," Austerus replied calmly, but he inwardly smiled to think that Aoyama would miss him so much even if he was only going on a short — if not dangerous — trip.
"Ok," Aoyama said, looking down.
"Please don't worry, Aoyama," Austerus said, touching the other's arm affectionately. "You of all people should know how important it is that I do this. You have a bit of magic, don't you?" He gave the blond a thin-lipped smile, hoping that by reminding Aoyama that they were both had the same kind of power, he would ease some of the blond's nerves. This only seemed to do the opposite.
"I know," Aoyama heaved another sigh, his shoulders slumping. It was then that Austerus began to realize that Aoyama's unhappiness might be more than he let on.
"Aoyama?" he asked, and even though he only said his name, the tone with which he said it conveyed more than words ever could. Aoyama knew at once that Austerus was silently asking him to admit what was truly bothering him. It was just that type of bond the two shared. Words weren't always necessary for them to understand one another; it was sometimes a nice change.
With this thought in her head, Aoyama managed to finally force himself to confess.
"I just don't want you to leave," he admitted painfully. "I know you have to, and I agree that you should, but every time I think about you leaving, even if something like this would happen before, I get really . . . nervous. I can't explain it, but even though I've known that you were going to do this, even if it is sudden, it always made me uneasy and anxious to think about. I've been dreading something like this. I know it sounds silly to say 'dreading,' but I can think of no other word to better describe it."
Then Aoyama went on to explain some of his symptoms. Aside from the general nervousness and anxiety, Aoyama would sometimes find it hard to focus on his training at hand because his mind would be so full of worry. He'd be in the middle of using his Quirk and find his mind drifting off to all of his worries about Austerus, and how unpleasant it was going to be to have the wizard so far away from him again. He felt withdrawn. He suddenly no longer took pleasure in the company of others; it might have been overreactive, and Aoyama felt ashamed of that.
And all of these mental worries began to cause physical issues too, like headaches, nausea, and having trouble with breathing. Even if Aoyama knew his fears were mostly likely unfounded (Austerus was going to do 'other important things,' as he simply put it, not heading off to war), he couldn't stop fretting and wishing that Austerus could be with him. Austerus hadn't even left yet and Aoyama was already dying for him to come to the training camp again.
As Aoyama admitted this to Austerus, he began to wring his hands and he sounded like he was seconds away from crying. Austerus fought hard to keep a neutral expression. He didn't want to give anything away or let anything show, just in case it diverted Aoyama from his own train of thoughts. But it was hard for him to see the person he cared so much about getting so worked up. It went against his every instinct to just let Aoyama flounder, but until he managed to saying everything on his mind, Austerus remained as still as a statue.
As soon as it was all out, though, his face softened, the harsh lines looking less tense, and he swiftly wrapped his arms around Aoyama, which made him felt instantly soothed. He was still shaking and panting slightly, but just the familiar pressure of being embraced by Austerus, combined with the protective feeling Aoyama got from him whenever his black eyes to flash dangerously, he managed to calm down a little. The pressure behind his eyes decreased until it was bearable again and the two remained motionless in an embrace until they each finally felt ready to readdress the current situation.
"As I have said before, do not worry.," Austerus promised Aoyama, speaking to him in a tone that he used for no one else. Not even the other members of the Death Court ever saw Austerus this kind, gentle, caring and soothing. Only Aoyama ever did, and he melted into each and every word. The words were not enough to complete assuage his fears, but they were an excellent source of comfort nonetheless.
"I'm right here," Austerus whispered into Aoyama's ear, stroking his back slowly. "There is nothing to fear. Everything will be alright . . ." And he continued to whisper reassuring words he'd heard others use before until the last of Aoyama's shaking finally stopped.
It was funny, Austerus thought to himself. He used to never understand the point of such trivial and obviously impossible promises, and he used to scorn himself for trying to seek empty comforts. But now, as he stood there, hugging Aoyama, he finally began to understand its appeal . . . and its unexpected effectiveness. Even if words couldn't fix a problem, the power they had to help someone who was frightened should never be underestimated.
Once Aoyama felt ready enough, he managed to reiterate some of what he had said before.
"I still don't understand it," he confessed, frustration and shame clear in his voice.
"Separation anxiety," replied Austerus.
"What?" Aoyama blinked. Those were words he had heard before, but he didn't think he'd ever experience it. And he hadn't expected Austerus to answer him. Austerus only gave him that same smile before answering.
"It is a condition that many people have been aware of for years," he said. "It is when the idea of someone you love going away becomes unbearable, which includes all the degrees you described. Many have felt this condition, which are especially powerful during times of danger, because of how many could get hurt."
"But you aren't going to war or nothing like that!" Aoyama exclaimed. "I shouldn't have any reason to be afraid."
"Perhaps not," Austerus admitted. "But the mind does not always obey the body or logic and you do not need a certain reason to feel the way you feel. There may be no real danger, but that does not make separation anxiety any less genuine. I know that some of the people I have met still deal with it."
"And you think I have it?" Aoyama asked.
"From what you have described, yes," Austerus said.
"Is there any way to cure it?" Aoyama said, beginning to look desperate.
"'There is no perfect answer to that," Austerus replied. "However, talking about it will do wonders. You will be amazed at the powers of communication."
Aoyama paused and then felt himself relax a bit. Though talking alone wouldn't help, it could still be a huge benefit. Like Austerus had said, there was no perfect answer. Instead, it was a mixture of many things instead.
Aoyama gave another defeated sigh, looking exhausted by the idea of needing to fight numerous monsters for who knew how long. He knew the training they were going to endure was going to be brutal.
"It won't be as if you will need to be in trouble while I am away," Austerus promised. "I merely mean that it will not be easy. But it is tolerable."
"I suppose that is good," Aoyama echoed, looking as if he was trying to believe what Austerus was saying.
"Talking to me was a good first step," Austerus encouraged him. "Everything else will become steadily easier as you practice it. Do not forget that, Aoyama."
And for a few more minutes, Austerus continued to console and explain to Aoyama until the blond finally managed a genuine smile. It was clear that he still was frightened by the idea of Austerus leaving him, but the advice had given him hope and relief, hope that he wouldn't be away for long, and relief that it wasn't some abnormality or failure on his part. To hear Austerus explain what he had, and of it's true nature, was a huge source of comfort to him, and he felt more better. It was easier to fight again once he remembered what he was fighting for. And it was even better to know he wouldn't be fighting alone.
"It is like an old saying," Austerus said as held Aoyama's hands. "Always together, never apart. Maybe in distance, but never in heart." And then, as Austerus placed a delicate, sincere kiss on the blond's cheek, they heard the distant sounds of the forest beasts. "Do not be afraid, mon amour," he whispered, cupping Aoyama's cheek. "Si jamais tu as besoin de mon aide, je viendrai."
Those words were a promise.
"Thank you, Austerus," Aoyama said, looking content. "And I have no doubt they are doing an excellent job," he said to himself with a chuckle, looking towards where they heard the sound. "Now let's see if I can match it!" Giving Austerus one last radiant smile, he ran to join Class 1-A, all of them, it seemed, already using their Quirks.
They might've been many miles apart, but they were still very much on the exact same page, and because of that, it was like Austerus hadn't left at all.
Maybe in the distance, but never in their hearts.
He truly is something, Austerus thought with a sigh as he turned away from the forest, watching the blond run to join the others. Be careful, Aoyama.
Without a second thought, he set off down a different path.
"So that's your lover, huh?" said Tsukuru as Austerus made his way towards them.
He, Shiruetto, Satsujin, and Shizukana were all sitting on their own horses, one white, two brown, one grey, and one black, which was the one that Austerus would be riding. They were each pawing their hooves at the ground, confused, but were instantly soothed by their riders.
"He seemed interesting," Shiruetto said, trying to hold his cane and the reins at the same time. "But, not trying to complain, but why do we need to go on horseback again?"
"If we use Apparation and Disapparation," explained Austerus, "the Ministry of Magic will instantly be alerted. We can not take any risks. It may take more longer to make it to the Sepulcra Mountains."
"That's a good point," Satsujin said, running his fingers through the horse's mane. "Since the four of us can now Disapparate and Apparate, it makes sense that it'll draw suspicion, especially since we're not even wizards ourselves."
"Right, well," said Tsukuru, looking around the forest, "let's hope this doesn't end in a horrible disaster. We're already grave robbing, we don't need more things messing up."
"Agreed," said the others.
Austerus quickly hoisted himself onto the saddle and held the reins, fixing his robes and trying to adjust to this new way of riding. Despite this, he knew this was a better way — he also didn't feel like getting Splinched, something that the rest of the Death Court agreed on as well.
For a moment, the stallions did nothing. Then, with fast, sweeping movements that nearly unseated them, the horses reared their legs and then rocketed forward so fast and so steeply at the same time, each of them had to clench their hands tightly on their reins, along with sitting correctly on the saddles, to avoid sliding off their bony backs.
They all prepared themselves as they burst through the branches of the trees and out of the forest, all five of them riding towards a mysterious, and deadly, location.
What was going to happen once they got there, they had no idea.