The Nomu payed no mind to the now collapsed boy as it continued its advances toward Aizawa, who had already fallen unconscious. All Might managed to get passed Kurogiri when he finally managed to spot the weakness of his actual body. With the warp user out of commission, All Might took on Nomu while trying desperately to get to Aizawa and Yuuma. Many blows were exchanged, but All Might seemed to gain no ground as it tanked all of his One-For-All infused punches.
Katsuki and Izuku were at a loss at how to help him.
Their destructive battle was being fought between them and Yuuma, and going anywhere near it would put them in danger and All Might at a disadvantage. Aizawa was in the same position, only a few meters away from Yuuma. The child-sized villain hadn't moved an inch from his spot, Shigaraki was watching the fight not caring about anything else, and reinforcements hadn't yet arrived.
"Damn it!" Katsuki cursed beneath his breath. His expression had long since crumbled into a mix of helplessness and anger. He'd love nothing more than to blast over there and light those sons of bitches on fire, but that would only worsen the already 'at its worse' situation.
Izuku was even more hopeless. His reckless and rash decision to charge back into the fight when he saw All Might having trouble is what landed them in this situation in the first place. Yuuma would have never been near the Nomu if he hadn't tried to punch it away. He was only there because of him. They would have been up the stairs to safety with Aizawa and Yuuma if he had of thought out his actions.
Todoroki was about to use his Ice. It may not be able to do much with Nomu's regenerative abilities but it would buy All Might some time to get hits in or get the others out. Just as he was preparing to attack, Kirishima called out.
"Guys! Look! Yuuma's getting up again!" Their eyes widened as they noticed that Yuuma had indeed gotten up. But something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. The ground beneath him seemed to give way due to the strain his quirk was putting on it. His body's outline seemed to give off this black, electric discharge. If they were close enough they'd have noticed that his eyes had rolled to the back of his head, giving off an eerie white glow.
The Nomu seemed to get slower, All Might seemed to get weaker, the lingering villains seemed to lose balance and even the students within the vicinity felt faint all of a sudden. Unlike Yuuma, they weren't able to see energy. But Grim, as a demonic spirit, was. He quickly got to a safe distance, and calmly observed what was happening.
No one could see the vicious smile on his face.
"How interesting."
As All Might managed to blow Nomu back a bit to see what was going on to make him feel so drained, his eyes widened at the sight of Yuuma. He felt that what he was looking at was something that should not have been touched. Something that should have remained asleep wherever it was. The same as back then, on that tragic day almost 6 years ago. Only this time it seemed to be more... primal. Like a ravenous and angry beast eyeing prey.
And then he raised its hand towards the Nomu.
There was a smile on his face that felt unnatural. His face seemed distorted and vague, his hair standing on end. If you didn't know Yuuma's you wouldn't recognize him, but that was probably the point of it all.
Because the one that had woken up wasn't Yuuma.
-Yuuma-
He was in a dark place. His body felt like lead and he felt like he was sinking into an unfathomably deep sea. It felt like there was ice on his skin and he was so cold he felt numb. Fear, confusion, anger, pain, animosity, he could feel them all swirling at the bottom of the dark abyss he somehow ended up in. How did he get to this scary place? The memories were all fuzzy, his mind was too chaotic to properly understand what was happening.
It was like he was surrounded by monsters. All of these negative emotions felt like monsters, and they were all trying to eat what little rationality he had left. He felt too tired to move, too exhausted to defend. He didn't want this. He was scared. He wanted them to all go away. Please, please go away.
ᵢ'ₘ ₕₑᵣₑ.
Then the quiet voice broke through the deafening silence and sent all of the scary monsters away. Yuuma felt relief and confusion wash over him. If one was to picture what he was seeing, Yuuma took on a blue, clear form of himself. He was the color of peace, or calm.
The entity before him, the one that sent all of the black monsters away, was a pure unblemished white that contrasted heavily with the black space. He had no features except black, round, hollow eyes that seemed to cry black, electric tears. What Yuuma made out to be hair was waving in the air as if they were underwater, and he and Yuuma were approximately the same size in both height and stature.
Any normal person would be afraid of such a sight. And if it was anyone else, Yuuma was sure that they would be scared of this being. But now that he'd had a bit of time to breathe, his mind was less chaotic than it had been moments prior and he realized where he was. He was inside of his mind. Deep inside of his mind, his subconscious. It was a place he didn't think was possible to go to like this, but here he was. He must of succumbed to his injuries and fatigue, fell unconscious, and that was how he ended up here, but this black place... those monsters.
He knew immediately where in his subconscious he was. It was a place he never, ever wanted to go, wanted to touch, or wanted to acknowledge.
He was within Pandora's Box. The place he'd locked away all of his volatile negative emotions after he awakened his quirk.
'Does that mean that this entity was locked in here too? But how? Why?' Yuuma thought. Was it not just a figment of his imagination that brought him comfort, but something real? He wasn't just going crazy from stress?
Fₒₗₗₒw ₘₑ.
It beckoned him forward, and not knowing what else to do he followed. Yuuma wanted to find a way out of this place, but he knew that it wouldn't work like that. He wasn't asleep, he was unconscious. All Might must be fighting with the Nomu right now and he had become a liability on the battlefield. What about Uncle Zawa? What about his friends? Everyone? He had no way to know what was happening outside of... whatever was happening to him right now.
He could only follow the lead of this entity he decided to call "Mumei" which roughly meant 'Anonymous' or 'Nameless'.
Mumei led him deeper into Pandora's Box, he suddenly felt like he was stepping in something. It felt sticky and warm and he instinctively wanted to look to see what it was when he was stopped immediately by Mumei. He warned him as he grabbed his face forcing him to look into his own. His black, hollow sockets seemed to portray urgency as words echoed in the black space.
Dₒ ₙₒₜ ₗₒₒₖ dₒwₙ.
Mumei's 'hands' then grabbed on to Yuuma's, holding them firmly as if to not let him slip away.
Wₑ ₘᵤₛₜ cₗₒₛₑ ᵢₜ.
"Close what? What's wrong? What's happening?" Ever since he got to this place he only had questions. Mumei did not say anymore, and only led him further into the black. It was then that he felt it. The bloodlust that was so potent and thick it felt like gravity had concentrated on him. Mumei's hold was even firmer and he did not let him fall to the 'ground'.
Before him was a door. A gray, worn looking and large door. There was no knob on it, no hinges, and nothing that it could connect to like a normal door. It was just there in the deepest part of this dark place as if it never wanted to be found. It was covered in thick, sturdy chains. One of them seemed to have broken, and it was then that Yuuma realized that this was what Grim had messed with. Grim had broken the one of the chains that was on this door when he'd invaded his body spiritually.
And now, the door was ajar. And whatever had been locked in was trying to get out.
Yuuma could hear it beating and scratching at the door. From the other side he felt like he could faintly hear thousands of painful screams and wails. Unhindered and ravenous roars and growls escaped the door and the worn door seemed to bulge and creak at the strain that was being placed on it.
BAM!
BAM!
BAM! BAM!
H̷̳̖̦͔̥͕͑̎̿͊͊͠͝ͅu̷̡̖͚̞̠͇͕̲̎̾͂̈́̍́̓ͅn̶͙̙̘̯̏̃͒̽̏͗͛̑̈́̈́ġ̵̹̾͊͑͝r̴̛̲̦͈̈́̔̊̔̓͆̇ý̴̩̰͆͑̓͝͝.̸̳͙͓̙́ ̷̣̮̹̝̹̻͑̂̋I̴̥̯̰̭͍͈͙͐̈́͊'̶͖͇̟͉̯͉̳̦̮̰̄̇̃ṃ̴̨̨̪͕͙̘̞̲͈̋̈́͊̀̕ ̸͕̞̝̌̄̓̎̌͌͘̚̕H̷̨͙̪̭̘̬̬̰̉̍͗̈̈̌̐̈́ͅû̶̦̬̺̝̩͇̟̽͜n̴̢̙̬͙͌́̾͘̚̚g̷͉̬̻̜̯̉̈́̿̈́̎͛̌r̷̛̛͔̜̩̝̞͓͍̗͂̿̈́͐͘y̷̢̤̳͈̙̟͊̎͛̃͘͜.̸͍̩͗̾̔̾ͅ
"Ack!" Yuuma felt the throbbing headache from before resurface. It was this... this thing that was causing it. The gray door began to crack, and from them a thick, red substance began to ooze and drip to the ground. A metallic and pungent smell leaked from it.
A chill went down his spine.
'Don't look down. Don't look down.'
Mumei pointed to the broken chain that lay just a ways away from the door. Like the other chains it was a deep black like the place they were in. But it had a clear, almost white glow to it that somehow felt... familiar to him. He did not understand why, or how, like everything going on around him. On the door there were three heavy chains, one of them had been severed which is what was causing the door to be ajar. The chains were what was keeping the door steady and strong, and was why despite how hard whatever was behind it fought, it could not get out.
But the red, blood-like liquid was seeping into his inner world. It was what was making his emotions into monsters and his mind into a hectic mess. It was corrupting him from the inside out, enforcing its malicious will over his own.
ₜₕₑy cₐₙ'ₜ ₖₑₑₚ ᵢₜ ᵢₙ ₐₗₒₙₑ.
Mumei looked at Yuuma.
Yₒᵤ ₐᵣₑ ᵢₙ dₐₙgₑᵣ.
And he looked towards the door once more.
ᵢ'ₗₗ ₕₑₗₚ yₒᵤ.
Once more, he looked towards Yuuma. Yuuma could tell that there was a complicated look on his featureless face. He 'walked' over to the young boy. He leaned his forehead in and gave him a last warning.
ₙₒ ₘₐₜₜₑᵣ wₕₐₜ yₒᵤ ₕₑₐᵣ.
Dₒ ₙₒₜ ₗₒₒₖ ᵤₚ.
Dₒ ₙₒₜ ₗₒₒₖ bₑₕᵢₙd.
Cₗₒₛₑ ᵢₜ. ᵢ wᵢₗₗ dₒ ₜₕₑ ᵣₑₛₜ.
He looked into Yuuma's eyes. There was a solemn promise within his black orbs.
ᵢ wᵢₗₗ ₖₑₑₚ yₒᵤ ₛₐfₑ ₜₕᵢₛ ₜᵢₘₑ.
Mumei then transformed without another word. He became the second layer of the door, much larger than it. It revealed the space that was hidden within the darkness.
The door was attached to something. A large, black cage. The end of it could not be seen, nor could the top because of the darkness. It separated him from whatever was on the other side of it. Mumei was fortifying this already strong cage even further, and Yuuma knew almost instinctively what he had to do.
He grabbed the broken chain and ran for the door. He ignored the wails and screams of pain. He ignored his emotion monsters that lurked behind him. He did not seek the sky to look for the light in this hell he'd made. He had to focus, he could only look forward and concentrate. He didn't understand why or how, but he knew that Mumei was risking himself for Yuuma right now by doing whatever it was he was doing to hold the door and keep whatever was inside from getting out.
Mumei was in pain. He could tell by the red that was seeping through his white body. There were cracks appearing. The third chain kept the delicate balance on this prison, and without it everything was being thrown into chaos.
He had to protect Mumei, who he knew deep down, in the very depths of his soul, was his friend.
Yuuma had to reconnect the chain. And he had to do it now.
This place was his mental space, a place he'd locked away and kept away from him. All of this, no matter how much he didn't want it, belonged to him. He was the owner of this place, he controlled this place, and no monster was about to take it from him no matter how much he hated it.
"CONNECT! CLOSE! AND BEGONE!" He screamed into the darkness. The chain's white glow pulsated through the black, the pieces of chain slowly, but surely mended together and the glow became brighter and brighter. The negative emotions that were like demons in the dark shied away from the light of the chains. Whatever was behind the door bellowed in agony before it ceased to push against the door, and as soon as it did the door completely shut and quiet returned to the space.
"Mumei! Mumei, are you okay?! Where are you?!" Yuuma called out to Mumei who had disappeared as soon as the door closed. It was as if he was never there. The black space had faded away into a clear and pure white. Yuuma was worried. He was scared of the changes the same way he was scared of this place before. Nothing made a lick of sense and he was tired of not know what was going on in his own head.
But what answered him was not Mumei's small but sure voice. He was pulled to the now white sky the same way he'd been pulled down to the ground. The sweet, warm, and loving voice he knew even though he hadn't heard it in 6 long years permeated through his mind. One that felt all too familiar. Bright light shone through and he felt like he was once again losing touch with everything around him.
"? ﾝﾘﾰ? ? ﾝﾘﾢ? ﾝﾘﾦ ? ﾝﾘﾰ ? ﾝﾘﾢ? ﾝﾘﾦ ? ﾝﾘﾱ ? ﾝﾘﾰ?, ? ﾝﾘﾶ?-? ﾝﾘﾩ? ﾝﾘﾯ."
And that was the last thing he heard before nothing.
"Y...ma..."
"Uu...a"
"Yuuma!"
Yuuma was slowly tuning back in to reality. His hand was raised and he was standing. He was sure that he'd blacked out, so how was he standing? The ground, trees, debris, everything was in chaos right now. He was sure that it was bad, but he knew it wasn't as bad as this before he blacked out.
Nomu was just a ways away from him, but unlike earlier, it showed no sign of resistance or intent. It was like a broken doll. The other villains, Shigaraki, Kurogiri, and Grim were long gone. All of the other villains were knocked out on the ground. Between him and the Nomu, however, Izuku, Katsuki, and All Might were standing there. All Might seemed to be giving off a sort of steam.
They looked worse for wear. What happened to them?
"Wake the hell up, damn it! Stop!" Katsuki screamed. He had this look on his face that abandoned all of his pride. Pleading almost. It was strange to see someone like Katsuki with that sort of look on his face. Why was he looking at Yuuma like that?
'Stop?' Stop what?
"The heroes are here... We're safe, Nomu can't hurt anyone anymore." Izuku was reasoning with him. Talking him down as if he'd done something. But why? Yuuma had been unconscious, he was registering that now. His body had reached a strain he'd never thought possible and his chest hurt on a level he wasn't even sure he could scale.
...Why was he even standing right now?
The Nomu, that seemed to be curled and bent unnaturally with new scars that were different from the one's he remembered him having... had he done that? His friends had wounds on them that weren't there before he'd fallen. Could he have done that too? He couldn't even register that Kirishima and Todoroki were also there but were out of the way of Yuuma's line of sight.
"Young Kageyama, can you here me?" All Might carefully called out to him when he noticed that the boy stopped advancing.
"All... Might...?" Yuuma was way too lost to register what was happening around him. Had he done something? What could he of possibly been doing in his state? How was he up? He was missing something? Too many things were happening right now.
'What happened while I was out?'
The sun felt too bright.
The wounds hurt too much.
He was way too tired to try to comprehend logic and 'what if's.
His face felt wet. Was it blood or was it tears? He was so far gone he couldn't tell. That little bit of cognitive responsiveness he'd had didn't last very long. His weary knees caved in and his eyes rolled back. All Might was too exhausted to move another step so he had to quickly inform the kids.
"Catch him he's gonna—!"
Yuuma fell unconscious once again having no idea of the amount of chaos he'd caused.
[A/N] Sorry this little chapter is so late, I got caught up in drawing my first ever comic. It's a big project that I had been planning for a while that, when finished up to a certain point, I was going to start uploading to Webtoons. It was coming together so well and was something I was doing with family that I got a little too caught up in it and forgot to write up these last two chapters of season 1 which I had planned beforehand.
I am so sorry that I suck.
The next chapter will be the end of SEASON 1 and will be the official start of HIATUS for this story until I've gotten to a certain point in SEASON 2. That is where the plot will REALLY start to deviate from the canon story even more than it already has and I will be introducing even more characters to the fray.
Until the last chapter of SEASON 1!
-Your very sorry and hopeful author, Jenna.