[A/N] Sorry it's so late. Please read the note at the end.
Yuuma was surrounded by nothing. He felt nothing, he saw nothing, he heard nothing. Everything around him was purely nothing, a complete and utter blank. But things slowly began to come back to him. His sense of self slowly but surely started to return.
The USJ. He was at the USJ before. He met one of his idol heroes, Thirteen, and they were about to begin rescue training when they were attacked by villains.
He'd been isolated away from everyone else, and met that scary and strong villain who felt inhumane named Grim.
He witnessed, but in truth only heard, the dying screams of what he thought were Grim's allies as he killed them. Grim then tried to do something to him, but failed and exited the battle from that point.
Yuuma remembered pain. From that point on his mind, body, and even his spirit felt pain. Now that he was thinking about it, if he'd been given even a few minutes to properly rest, his natural energy would have fixed the problem and forced whatever traces Grim had left out of him.
But he couldn't rest, and he had to continuously use his powers to save his friends, defend Aizawa, help All Might, block the Nomu, and heal injuries when he could.
If he'd of rested in that situation, Yuuma was sure that he would have lost someone precious to him again.
Chaos.
It was complete and utter chaos.
And everything led to him becoming unconscious, and this time... this time he remembered.
He remembered Mumei, the friend who lived within his mind that was both a part of him and separate from him at the same time. He remembered the door, he remembered how it felt, how it looked, and he remembered the monsters.
He remembered it all very vividly at the moment.
Pandora's Box.
He wasn't sure if it was because of whatever Grim had done that he could recall it now, or if it was the unprecedented amount of stress prior to his becoming unconscious that unlocked that part of his mind for him... but he remembered it.
He remembered being terrified. Terrified of the darkness that had been sealed inside of his mind for so long.
With his mind clearing up a bit, he was able to properly access, or at least try to comprehend, what he saw.
What had happened to Mumei.
When the final chain was reattached, the door was closed shut and pushed even further into the deepest corners of Pandora's Box. The white Mumei was stained with the red that had been coming from it, as if he absorbed all of it into himself. After that, he disappeared, most likely falling into a deep slumber similar to what Yuuma assumed he was in right now.
Was he healing? Was he okay? Yuuma didn't have a way to answer. But he felt that Mumei was still there. He hoped that Mumei was still there. In that place full of pain, fear, anger, hate, animosity, and other negative emotions that were just waiting to be unleashed upon the world, Mumei was like a beacon of light.
He was hope, safety, and peace.
It was the emotions he felt in abundance when his parents were with him. It was the emotions he'd buried because his parents were no longer with him.
With Airi, Ritsu, Aizawa, he also felt peace, safety, and hope, but it was different to what he used to feel. He could not help that. His parents had been the place his heart searched for whenever he was scared, whenever he was sad, and whenever he needed encouragement. Now that he remembered everything from his dreams, he felt that Mumei represented that feeling.
If his negative emotions took on the form of monsters, why couldn't his positive emotions take a form too? Until Yuuma could figure everything out, that is what he wanted to view Mumei as. He felt that he was at least half right.
The other half... he was not sure.
Mumei, although Yuuma thought of him as another manifestation of his quirk, felt much older than him. Much, much older. He felt that Mumei knew more than he let on, and felt that when those hollow eyes looked upon him, the were filled with an immense warmth that he could not identify.
Mumei felt more like 'family' than 'friend', and it confused Yuuma how much he trusted this new and strange presence. It was instinctive like breathing for him to trust Mumei. That was why when they were within Pandora's Box, Yuuma did not fear Mumei as he thought others might have if they saw him.
And Mumei... he knew that he'd seen him somewhere before. His voice, his eyes, he knew that these recent meetings were not the first time he'd met him before.
Mumei had always been there; Yuuma realized it the moment he heard that monster's voice from behind the door. The moment it had said those words.
'I'm Hungry.'
Six years ago, he heard that voice. He'd felt that presence. He'd experienced that fear. It was something that he wanted to bury and never remember. It was something painful and saddening. But now, Yuuma remembered where he'd heard it before. The exact day, that very moment. He remembered it all now.
The day his parents were killed, that damned monster, that was what it said to them.
He'd heard it. It would have been weird if he hadn't.
Because when his parents were killed, he was standing behind them.
-Flashback-
Five year old Yuuma had fallen asleep in the car on their way home from getting his beloved dessert. He was still in a booster seat to properly fit the seatbelt, and his little chubby hands still gripped his aced test which he had been showing his parents proudly since he'd gotten out of school. Everything was peaceful and quiet until a quake shook the earth around them.
Something had exploded and the shockwaves were sent through the roads. Many cars skidded across the streets, their speed causing them to swerve when the ground shook violently. Many accidents happened, and the chaos of it all startled the boy from his slumber. Luckily, his mom hadn't been driving as fast as the other cars so she was able to control her vehicle and come to a stop.
Everything had went downhill from there. You know what happened next.
His mother used the lesser used portion of her quirk in an attempt to float him away from the danger, while his father used the lesser used portion of his quirk to put him to sleep. It was so Yuuma wouldn't see what they knew would be their last fight, he wanted them to only remember their smiles, and that they loved him. If they could run, they would have, but the monster was heading for them.
In the whited out world Yuuma found himself in, that space he went to before it all went dark... that was where he met Mumei for the very first time.
Maybe it was because his quirk had only just manifested, but at that time, Mumei did not have a solid form as he did now. He was hazy and unfocused, almost as if he had been asleep and was abruptly woken up by Yuuma's chaotic emotions.
Yuuma was scared at that time. He was worried, he was sad, he felt fear and even anger towards the monster that he was sure was attacking his parents at that moment. He felt anger at himself for being unable to do anything to convince them not to go. He could still hear people screaming around him, he could feel the pure, crazed animosity coming from the beast that he could barely see on the edge of this vision.
'I can't go to sleep like this! Mommy and Daddy are in danger! They're gonna get hurt!' These were his thoughts despite what was happening around him.
The hazy figure seemed to react to his thoughts and emotions, and moved to try and act out his will. It forced away the influence of his father and mother's quirks, and he woke just a few meters away from the shelter. His short feet were moving on their own, propelling him forward despite how terrified he was.
Everywhere he looked he saw someone either injured, running away, or not moving at all. His five year old mind told him they had fainted.
He realized now, after maturing quite a bit, that they hadn't fainted.
And then he made it to where his mom and dad supposedly were. His terrified mind wasn't thinking clearly, he had no training, no experience. What was he doing running toward a scary monster like this? Everyone was running the other way, people were screaming! He was scared and alone and he wanted to get to safety too...
But he didn't want to go if his parent's weren't with him. He didn't want to get to safety all alone.
So he went to get them. Tell them to run away with him. He wanted to save his mom and dad.
That's when he heard it. That sickeningly deep, demonic, out of place voice.
Į̷̭̺̳̻̫̗̎̓̋͋̊̾̒́̚'̸̡̺͈̫̮͚̄̐͌̈́͒̓̕m̸̧̛̜͖͚̲͙̟̈́͒̾͋̓ͅ ̸̗͕͉͉͙͈̟̭̫̲͒̍͐̂̋͒́̓͘̚Ĥ̶͎̣̱ụ̴̓̽̓̃̕̕͝ṇ̴̞͍̯͗̄g̵̨͖̟͒͂͜͠r̷̻͓̝̈́̍̀͜y̴̮͚̯͕͕͎̒̿͘ [I'm Hungry]
That voice was followed by screams. Lots and lots of screams.
"Aimi!" One of them was his dad's sorrowful cries. Yuuma took off running, following the heart wrenching sound. When he got there, he was in for a horrible sight.
Aimi had been hit with one of the Monster's many attacks, and they were trapped with nowhere left to run in a closed off park. Everywhere else was full of fallen trees and debris, even the occasional body of those who couldn't get out in time.
Young Yuuma didn't see them, but looking back on it, the now older Yuuma noticed them. Yuuma was glad that he did not know how to see energy back then.
All he would've saw would be lifeless victims.
Yuuma could still hear the screams. Painful wails that seemed to echo in the air, a quiet yet loud symphony of desperate pleas for help that no one but him seemed to hear, and it was all coming from the direction of the monster before him. In front of the monster were his parents.
His mom and dad were running away, using every offensive facet of their quirks to slow it down. They were injured all over, exhausted, and the fear was clear in their eyes. Nothing they were doing was working on the monster.
But then it turned, as if noticing something more enticing behind it.
It was at that moment that they finally noticed that little Yuuma had made his way to them and the color collectively drained from their faces.
The monster was staring down at him, and Yuuma could see it extremely clearly as it bulldozed its way toward him.
It was an abomination of human-like parts from hands, to feet, to heads. It's body was oily and black, yet it was like mist with an intangible form. He thought he could see screaming faces beneath the layers of its slimy looking skin, and a foul smell like death oozed from it in every direction.
They had protected him from it. He remembered them falling in front on him, lying still on the grass of the park. The world seemed to stop, and everything around him faded into gray. There was no sounds other than the stillness that now lay in front of him.
"M-mommy...? Daddy...? Y-you can't sleep here... It's not safe."
He didn't notice the ground cracking.
"Please get up! You have to get up...!"
He didn't notice the wind picking up around him.
"Please don't leave me all alone..."
He didn't notice his tears as they rose in the air along with his hair.
"No... Please no..."
In that moment, he didn't want to see it. He didn't want any of it to be real. This wasn't real. It was just a nightmare. An evil dream. He couldn't accept it as real. It wasn't. It wasn't. IT WASN'T IT WASN'T ITWASN'TITWASN'T.
It can't be.
Overwhelmed, Yuuma's young body and mind could not handle what he was witnessing. Everything fell into darkness. He didn't notice the darker figure that was his size approaching and embracing him. It's eyes had electric like trails going down it's cheeks like tears. It's hallow eyes were sad and regretful. Inside of his mind, he was pure white, but when he began to manifest, he was a darker black.
It was Mumei.
ᵢ wₐₛ ₜₒₒ ₗₐₜₑ. ᵢ'ₘ ₛₒᵣᵣy. [I was too late. I'm sorry.]
Mumei held him close, putting his chaotic mind to sleep. He faced the threat before him that Yuuma refused to be real, the sadness that he didn't want to be real, the love and the hope that made all of this even more unbearable, Mumei took it all. He switched places with Yuuma in that moment, letting him rest within the deep confines of his mind. All of the pain and sadness, the denial and rage, Mumei took them all.
At that time, Yuuma couldn't handle them. He couldn't do it, so Mumei took on the burden for him.
ᵢ'ₗₗ dₒ ᵢₜ fₒᵣ yₒᵤ. [I'll do it for you.]
-End of Flashback-
The scene became nothingness once again, but Yuuma thought he could faintly hear a broken, sad voice at the back of his mind. Now that Yuuma could think straight, he knew that it was crying. But it wasn't some other being that was crying in his mind, it was the five year old him from that day.
That was the moment Pandora's box was made. It was made to lock that away, and soon Yuuma began to add all of his negative, hard to deal with emotions into it.
But then there was the door.
The door was the very first thing created in this space. Yuuma did not know how or why the monster was behind the door, but he understood why the memory was also behind the door. Mumei had put them there. He guarded them and protected Yuuma from ever knowing they were there.
Mumei was the first chain on the door. He was the thickest of the three chains that kept it closed. If Mumei was that chain. then what made the other two?
Yuuma did not want to delve into it anymore. He felt that the moment he learned the truth it would be too much to bare. He had a feeling he knew what they were, who they were.
ₜₕₑy cₐₙ'ₜ ₖₑₑₚ ᵢₜ ᵢₙ ₐₗₒₙₑ. [They can't keep it in alone.]
Mumei had said that.
"? 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." Yuuma heard that voice. A woman's voice, full of love and certainty. There would never be a day he'd forget that voice.
His mother's voice.
'We're going to protect you, Yuuma. You, and your bright future.' That was what she'd said before sending him towards the shelter that day.
What was going on? So many new questions without proper answers, or answers that he didn't want to hear. Too much was happening, too much at once. He needed to take a breath, and process them slowly. One by one, and with his remaining family's guidance.
Aunt Airi, Ritsu, Aizawa, his friends. Were they okay? He certainly was not. He wanted to see them. He needed to see them. He wanted a hug.
For now though, he just wanted to not think. Thinking about this was not helping him at all. He was exhausted, both mentally and physically. All he wanted to do was rest and regain his slowing returning energy. He let his mind drift back to blissful nothingness.
-Meanwhile, With Class 1-A-
The police rounded up the remaining villains and escorted the students out of the facility. Izuku, All Might, Aizawa, Thirteen, and Yuuma were taken into different ambulances for their various injuries. Yuuma and Aizawa's were by far the most severe of them.
Aizawa's arms were shattered, their were fractures in his skull and eye sockets which would surely affect his quirk. It was a miracle he didn't have any brain damage. He had a few broken and bruised ribs, the skin of his elbow completely gone revealing the muscle beneath, and some internal bleeding caused by the broken bones. It was another miracle that they had Recovery Girl with them, or this probably would have been the end of his hero carrier, or worse, his life.
When the students asked about his condition, the police officer on the scene did not include that tidbit. He gave them a run down of his injures but told them that he would be fine and was already getting his treatment, easing their worries about their Sensei.
Izuku had a few broken bones, but aside from that he was fine. All Might's condition included a few bruised bones as well as his already severe injury, but aside from that he was fine too. Thirteen's back had severe lacerations but they'd be okay as well.
The only one who they were truly worried for was their youngest classmate, Yuuma Kageyama.
Katsuki was raising all types of hell when the police officer was reluctant to tell him the condition of Yuuma. Afraid of getting blown to bits by TNT personified, he reluctantly gave them the information they wanted.
"Kageyama's condition is the most severe and bizarre. His total exhaustion makes it impossible for Recovery Girl to use her quirk to heal him, and he has broken and fractured bones throughout his torso where he was hit by the Nomu. An eleven year old's body was not meant to go through that kind of stress. The injury on his head is like a creeping poison, but his body is steadily getting rid of it on its own. But..."
"But what?! SPIT IT OUT DAMNIT!"
"His quirk exhaustion is the most dangerous thing right now. He's in a coma and there are no updates on when he may wake up."
"What...?" The class's already tense and worried aura increased ten fold. But since they wanted this honest answer, the officer decided to give it to them. He felt that they should know, that they deserved to know.
His fear of the trigger happy ash blond grenade was also a reason.
"His injuries themselves are being taken care of by the best doctors around, and should heal up within the week with the help of Recovery Girl and her specialized treatment. But his quirk exhaustion put his stamina levels dangerously low."
"What does that mean, kero...?" Asui asked the question they were dreading hearing.
"If he used his quirk anymore before we arrived, its possible he would have died."
Katsuki's eyes widened in disbelief. None of the others saw the 'form' he took on after he fell unconscious. No one other than him, Izuku, Kirishima, Todoroki, and All Might saw it. No one else knew that it wasn't All Might that sent the Nomu flying through the ceiling.
Those that knew what happened couldn't believe what they were hearing. They didn't want to believe what they were hearing.
If they hadn't of snapped Yuuma out of it.
If they didn't manage to wake him up and stop him.
It was possible that he would've... he could've...
Katsuki decided to stop thinking at that point. He tightened his fist until his knuckles were white beneath his gloves. If he had been stronger, Yuuma wouldn't of had to protect him. He wouldn't of had to keep using his quirk in that horrible state if he'd just been stronger.
He needed to get stronger. Strong enough so that what happened today never happens again.
Never again.
-A week later, an abandoned bar-
Shigaraki was upset, but not as upset as he thought he'd be. Yeah, he lost his Nomu but his Sensei encouraged him to try again. He didn't kill All Might like he wanted to, but he injured him and confirmed that he was weaker, that's a win. But that wasn't his greatest win nor the reason he was content right now.
Grim.
The enigma. A being that can't normally be touched and isn't supposed to be able to touch those in the living plane of existence, but has and does defy that rule. A demon spirit. Shigaraki had no idea how to deal with him, but he was a valuable player on his team and over the past for months, they had actually reached a sort of understanding with each other.
He was still annoying though. Very annoying. Shigaraki would on occasion try to kill him but obviously that only served to amuse him. But even with his sass and constant dangerous vibes, Grim stuck to his word. It was the one trait that Shigaraki found annoying and fascinating about Grim. If he said he was going to do something, he did it to the letter. No more and no less.
Grim never breaks his word.
Shigaraki had came to the conclusion that he could trust what the annoying not-brat told him. Despite his size and attitude, Grim had been alive for a very long time similar to his Sensei. He was wise and in a way had become another Sensei to Shigaraki. It was annoying, he didn't like it. But he didn't shy away from it either.
But he was still Grim, the most dangerous being he'd ever encountered.
He was a being that did not reveal any weakness and was strong enough to make his Sensei yield to his terms.
The greatest win he'd received from USJ was not an injured All Might, but a lead into Grim's weakness.
He took out two photocards he'd gotten from the league's informant. One of them was a boy with freckles and messy green hair and emerald eyes. The boy who seemed to have a close relationship with All Might. And then the other one, the boy that Grim went after. A smaller child similar in size to Grim with black hair in a bowl-cut, round eyes and a seemingly emotionless face.
"Izuku Midoriya and Yuuma Kageyama, huh...?" Normally, he would be having a tantrum about his failure and be angry at his injuries. He still was, very, very upset. He wanted to kill them all, disintegrate them into dust. But he'd gotten some interesting information out of this failure.
Izuku Midoriya, with his possibly close relationship with that heroic trash, All Might.
And Yuuma Kageyama, the boy with the power to hurt Grim.
A sinister smile creeps onto his face.
It was time to start planning his next quest.
[A/N] AND THAT IS THE END OF SEASON ONE OF "THE LITTLE ESPER HERO"! To get Season 2 ready to go so that I can keep an actual schedule again, I'm going to be going on hiatus with this story so I can write up lots of chapters. DO NOT WORRY! I PROMISE IT WILL NOT BE TOO LONG.
Thank you for sticking with this story up to this point. Thank you for the love and comments. I really, really appreciate them. You guys are the best, EVER.
So, until the next season of esper hero!
-Jenna