Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 135:

Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap

At some point I will get out of here. Elephants, fairies, forty-four, leprechauns, tap Arcasia, doorways and pathways! Tap tap tap

How far? Zach stared straight ahead through the white Void around him. If I ran forever would there be an exit? Tap tap I've tried before, sixty, twelve, eighty-three.

Zach's right hand was down at his side, his index and middle fingers tapping on his thigh every second. His right foot tapped too when he wasn't walking, and when he sat down and crossed his legs with his eyes closed, his fingers kept tapping on his leg. Tap tap tap tap Three hundred. Venezuela. Italy. Posso parlare? Tap Where am I? Tap How far, tap how long, tap Darling. Master of the doors, tap Even with my eyes red, tap eighteen, time still moves, tap nineteen, same speed since it's my mind- tap

…Ancient texts and rituals. tap tap tap…

Eziano, the pathway. tap Queen, Death, How long? Drac, Zombieman, witches tap sixty, sixty, twenty-four, tap Quirks were there from the-

A hole ripped open in the empty white in front of Zach's face. He was staring straight ahead while sitting on his butt, and his fingers stopped tapping on his thigh. His eyes were huge and he scrambled out of that sitting position and forward like a beast. Wait! NO RUN! Eyes! Ready to fight! "RAAA!" Zach dove through the rip in the Void with black flames flaring around his entire body and his eyes glowing dark red. He came out of the Void rolling and snapped up with a pair of black blades in his hands and his head snapping back and forth.

"Hey, hey," Gentle held up a hand towards the dark figure crouched and sounding ready to kill with that roar. Zach snapped his head towards the man whose face was covered by a dark purple visor, and he kept panting out heavy black breaths while staring at his comrade a few meters away from him. Gentle stood next to that hole in the air leading into a white nothingness, and his hand that he did not raise towards Death in a calming open-palmed way gripped tighter on the shoulder of the young girl next to him. "You're alright," Gentle said, staying cautious as he watched that dark figure who was baring his teeth through the translucent black veil that kept his skull face showing.

The flaring black flames flickered, flared, and then settled down in a weird way with certain body parts losing the darkness quicker than others. As this happened, Gentle looked at the girl next to him and then at the hole she had left open. "Where did you send him?" Gentle questioned, his voice dark and menacing as he stared into the white abyss on the other side with nothing in it. After asking the teenage girl with the Quirk- Void though, he turned his attention back as he felt the girl in his grip trying to pull away from the dark figure facing her and losing his Nightmare aura. Gentle looked back to Death when the aura had fully vanished, revealing the seventeen year old's face with no helmet over it.

The girl in Gentle's right hand pulled back but his grip stayed tight on her shoulder. She stared in fear at that boy though, whose face had been covered when she sent him in but no longer had the helmet that he removed while inside the Void. He was still wearing his black costume, but now his long black hair fell behind the neck portion of it and over his back. Death stared with his scar-covered face at the younger girl who was a foot and a half shorter than him, and who barely looked out of her preteens. "Gentle, stop," Zach started. He looked at the older man and added, "She's just a kid."

The young girl kept staring in fear at the boy speaking English, which she did not speak very well at all. "Mark, translate for her," Zach said. When he had come out of the portal his eyes darted around and he saw another two dozen dark soldiers around him in the room he had emerged inside of. It was not the same place he went in on, though many of the people who he remembered being there were unconscious or pinned to the floor by Zach's other soldiers. "Amaterasu took her when she was just a child, she's tricked most of her people into believing she was something more because of her mental powers. This girl isn't at fault, and we're not here to hurt a child." Zach stared towards her while saying it, but he glanced up at Gentle too and nodded at the man who frowned at the look he saw in the boy's eyes. He did not nod right away, instead looking back at the girl who turned her head slowly and glanced up at him next.

Mark translated what Zach had said, and Zach picked out which of the soldiers in black was Mark where he heard the voice coming from. So Mark's still alive. That's good. Mark and Gentle, Exodus is over there. That looks like La Brava, and Wraith. Octo-Rock, did anyone die since… How long?

The girl who Gentle loosened his grip on a little turned her head and looked back in shock at the figure in front of her. The teenage girl stared nervously at him, and she questioned something that Zach did not understand. He turned back towards where Mark was standing, and his soldier shifted his helmet from the short dark girl who asked back to his leader. "What'd she say?" Zach asked.

Mark hesitated, then he replied slowly, "She said, 'How are you sane?'"

"Death," Gentle began. Zach turned back to him and had that look in his eyes still that Gentle noticed from the second the boy's aura vanished. "Are you alright?"

"Well it took you long enough!" Zach yelled back at the man giving him a look he did not appreciate, especially after hearing that question which made it seem like Gentle did not think it was so.

Gentle frowned more inside his helmet though. He glanced behind Death and across the room at some of the others who were looking at each other with hesitant looks. Gentle's eyes lowered back to the boy in front of him, "We came as quickly as we could. Amaterasu fled the location you were at and there was no way to track you… but, it's only been two days since we lost-" Gentle stopped speaking at the twitch of Death's face in front of him. The glint in his eyes and the way he darted his glare to the teenage girl next to Gentle unnerved the older man.

Zach snapped his right arm up and fired a thin black line at the girl. Gentle pulled away, then he spun more and looked down at the girl who dropped a small blade while falling forward. How'd she get that? Gentle thought, while at the same time trying to relax himself as he had almost panicked at Death's movement. "She might be indoctrinated, might just be afraid," Zach started while watching the girl he just dropped to the floor. "We'll figure that out-"

"I got her!" A voice shouted behind Zach that made his face scrunch up and his eyes flash with guilt. He turned around with his expression going back to normal though, right before the person who just shouted yelled, "Death!" Darling started running across the room and she exclaimed, "I knew you were okay!"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Zach replied. He started walking forward while finding it hard to make eye contact even with the visor of the girl who stopped in front of him. "Where is she?" Zach asked, his voice getting darker and his eyes glaring forward in fury.

"Death, do you need a helmet?" Blackstar started on Zach's left as he was walking.

Zach stayed silent and just marched forward with a menacing look over his face. His eyes were ominous and his soldiers watched as their young leader stepped to the edge of the room and then walked out into the next one with Darling going with him. "…She was trying to escape again, but I made sure Raylei locked everything to keep her from getting out. I cornered her and took her down at the back, and I tied her up and gagged her too! Definitely needed the gag, she thinks she can just say whatever-"

"Darling," Zach whispered. He glanced to his right at her and opened his mouth, then he froze, turned back forward and just said under his breath, "Good work." His eyes narrowed even more and his fists clenched at his sides. Fuck! Two days? It's been two days? I knew, time was likely fucked. I believed they were coming and would win for sure, though there were doubts, times I doubted for a long time that maybe they had all been killed and I was all alone. I knew though! I always knew, so when it took too long I knew the time in there was going faster, even though it wasn't moving at all. It was all just in my mind. I thought it would be longer, I thought it would be farther in at least and give more time for everyone to forget. I'm back, I'm really back. I'm out. I'm here. I'm present.

Zach stepped into another room after walking across nearly half the building with Darling. Gentle had watched him go and then shouted at the others around him to keep tying up the others. He got on comms with Rebel to get him to prepare a tip with the information they had, but he told La Brava to keep everyone going while heading off after Death and Darling. Gentle stared at Zach's back and still felt unsettled. His mind was stuck on the look he saw when he told the kid how long it had been. That girl's question too… Was this why she was so afraid of bringing him back? She was afraid of what we'd see, afraid of how we'd react to finding him a mess… but he's not. Is he? She thinks he should be mad. The others she's sent in there before must have- even if she's a kid, fucking with people's minds is Amaterasu's game and she was playing it. Death, it was only two days. Not even.

The leader of the Army of Death stepped inside a room with a woman tied to a chair in the middle of it. There were some soldiers in black around the chair, most of them with weapons raised and aimed at the woman with long black hair that fell messily around her body. Her eyes were bright yellow and bored straight into Zach's as he entered the room. Her mouth was gagged, but she stopped muffling into it and her yellow eyes grew wide as she locked them with the boy. Murder. Rage. Death. I'll slaughter you. DIE! DIE DIE DIE! Zach glared into Amaterasu's eyes while she used her Quirk- Mind Reader. You were my strongest opponent yet, Amaterasu.

As soon as Zach came in, the others around the room noticed the way their prisoner and their leader were looking at each other. "Hey! Stay out of his head!" Florian shouted, pulling his rifle up higher and aiming the barrel straight at the side of Amaterasu's head. "AND MINE!" He yelled in rage at the villain.

"Death, can we kill her?" Envoy questioned. Zach turned from Florian over to another man whose voice he had not heard in what felt like so long now. "With her powers, and her power, there's no way-"

"No," Zach said. He started forward across the room, and he spoke aloud in a dark voice, "Amaterasu's been abducting children with strong Quirks. Using them as her own private army in these Amazon bases she created for her headquarters. She protected herself with people who were loyal not just because she read their minds, but her real power is the leeway she has with dozens of governments." Zach stepped right up in front of her chair and he lowered his head down in front of her face with his eyes boring straight into her yellow ones. What else? Why did I come after you? Do you remember? I'm remembering. It's all coming back to me. The first few hours I was still ready for the portal to open back up at any second, and then I slowly shifted off of thinking about you. About what I was going to do when I came out of there. Do you remember what I had thought at that last base about killing you? I can't remember if I was for it or against it. You almost beat me. You, more than anyone else actually- you really might have. You did it.

Zach's lips curled down at the corners and his face covered in frustration. She beat me. She beat Death. Fuck. Zach pulled his head back and he glared in so much anger down at the woman's confused and worried face. "It was obvious why heroes didn't try hard to stop you, despite how powerful you are and how bad the things you do are. The fact that you can read minds, means that any hero with a dark past, or hero officials who have affairs or anything they don't want released can be used because of that. Even non-corrupt officials can be made corrupt because of it, as they could feel forced to do smaller things for the pasts they do have, and then have that corruption held over their heads and forced to do so much worse. In this world where I've pushed out corruption everywhere I turn, I couldn't stop you from making more and more. Amaterasu, there's no way to stop you… but I was stupid and didn't take you seriously. Because I was on a winning streak, so I let you catch me off guard with my own secrets, let your child soldier trap me in that… Void."

Darling looked in at Zach as he said that, and her eyes started shaking inside her helmet at the look that just flashed over his face. "So long," Zach whispered. "No urge to eat or sleep… but I've had solitude before that was worse," he said that darker, his eyes narrowing and glaring deep into Amaterasu's eyes. She started muffle-yelling into the cloth tied tightly around her face to gag her mouth. "Torturous solitude thinking only about Jenny and not killing anyone, while getting tortured, doing everything I could to keep myself sane. I was prepared for it. It was, relaxing." Zach cracked a smirk for a second before wiping it from his face and grinding his teeth at the way he was acting. He pulled back again as he had started leaning forward to taunt this. "We'll reveal some of those she corrupted, the worst ones. Get the others all to know that their secrets are safe and they don't have to listen anymore, tell them to resign or just not run for re-election. We'll send her in with some cooperative heroes at the same time-"

"Death," Envoy started. Zach turned his way, and his soldier hesitated and glanced at the woman whose expression looked so smug. He turned back to Death and shook his head before continuing, "It's your decision, I know. But how do we know… we can't be sure that the police, the judges, jury, the officials dealing with her case won't get blackmailed by her in whatever country we send her to."

Zach nodded in agreement. "We just have to make it impossible for her to speak anymore then." He started turning his head, and the villain who was feeling cocky about her chances of getting out of jail was staring at him shocked. "I'll cut out her tongue," Death said. "Then shred her vocal cords, and then I'll cut her fingers off too for good measure, don't want her writing out any threats after all." Zach leaned towards her after saying all that, and his voice got even darker than it just was as he said, "And if she does still somehow make it out, then, she'll have her punishment."

"MMMmmm! Mmm! MMmmnn!" Amaterasu screamed into her gag with her eyes starting to water up, sheer panic covering her face.

"This is my mercy," Zach growled, lifting a knife and leaning towards the woman who screamed even more…

A couple of minutes later, Zach leaned back and slid the red knife he was holding down into a sheath at his side. The woman who Zach had knocked unconscious with his Quirk a couple minutes back had her head bowed with blood dripping off her face out from her open mouth. Her neck was red and the inside of her mouth and throat were bloody. Her hands were bloodied fingerless messes limp on the sides of the chair she was tied to. All the major corruption we've found in the past two months has been with Amaterasu behind it. We tracked her down, and took her down, and I'm sure there's more stuff to do with this. She probably has files, or some hard evidence somewhere around here. The others are probably already looking for it, because they'd expect me to order them to. Or maybe they already have orders to. I don't know. The plan. I, I made a plan in there. Can I really go through with this?

"Death," Darling whispered, her voice quiet as she came right up next to Zach's side. "What's going on?" She asked. Darling looked at his face that appeared so strange to her. His expressions, his mannerisms, it was all so off. "What happened?" She asked, her tone pained and full of worry.

Zach's teeth clenched behind his lips and his eyes shifted to the side at the shorter girl next to him. He stared into her visor and his expression covered in guilt for a moment before he turned away and shook his head. "It's nothing," he responded. Zach looked towards Gentle and he froze. He stared at the man who wore a purple visor and was staring back at him through it. "Hey Gentle, I need an earpiece."

"What happened to yours?" Gentle asked.

"I lost it," Zach whispered. Long ago.

Gentle stared at the teen for a few seconds and then he let out a sigh and nodded. "Alright, give me a minute." Gentle put a hand up to the side of his helmet and turned, calling in for an extra earpiece for their commander.

Zach watched as Gentle turned to get that for him. He glanced over his shoulder and back at Darling who he could tell even through her helmet that she still had a questioning and worried look on her face. Zach watched as a couple of soldiers who had stood by and not said a word as he worked over Amaterasu were untying her and then picked her up to bring her to the others in her organization who they had captured. He looked the other way and saw a group of his soldiers jogging around, one of them calling back that he found a control room of some kind full of computers.

The Empire's ace is down. Amater- Shogun Raxlaski and his forces have been swept up. The galactic senate shouldn't fall prey to their- Zach brought a hand up to his forehead and curled his fingers into his skin. Fuck. The day is early. The exhaustion hasn't set in, because it's exactly how I felt when I entered the void. No exhaustion, no hunger, no thirst. Things I've missed but still can't feel! Will I ever be able- I can! I know I will. They got me out of there. I knew they would save me. They came so fast too. They won where I had failed on my own. I, didn't do this. I didn't beat her. She beat me. Destroyed, what I was. There was too much time. Too big a break. Too much, thinking… no, no in all that time, I only got stronger. Weaker? Scared-er? My priorities changed. My plan! THE PLAN! Why can't I just, get to it already? I- I know I have to. I knew I needed to while I was… Zach's eyes shifted to the side again and he thought about the girl just behind him who he could not look back at now. I'm sorry. I knew this would be hard, but I have to do it.

I need to go.

"You really think that will work?" Gentle questioned. Danjuro Tobita stood in front of Zach Sazaki with a skeptical look on his face. "It's ludicrous. Do you really expect people to believe-"

"It doesn't matter if they do or not, and I don't have to tell anyone." Zach replied in a confident tone. He frowned at the look still on Gentle's face, and he asked, "What?"

"Don't treat me like the rest of them," Gentle started. He stepped closer to the boy who glared back into his eyes at that look his older comrade was giving him. "I can see you've changed, and I know you realize it." Zach tssked and clenched his teeth at the man who continued in a lower voice at the flash of pain that covered Zach's face in that moment. "I didn't say anything in front of the troops, but I could tell the Void girl was not wrong."

"I didn't lose my mind," Zach said, glaring at the man harder at that accusation. "But, I admit, it was difficult to stay sane in there."

"And you're sure you have?" Gentle questioned. "Perhaps you should-"

"I've settled down," Zach said, shaking his head at the man who frowned more at the interruption. "Right after coming out my thoughts were still, jumbled. I wasn't ready to come back. But, I've gathered my head together." Zach looked into Gentle's eyes and said in a serious but also sad tone, "I know what I'm doing." The sad tone of Zach's voice came through to Gentle more, making him grit his teeth this time and look away at the sound of it. "I mean this, Gentle. I really am in my right mind with this decision. I know you want to stop me and blame the Void, hold me down for a little until I change my mind."

Gentle humphed and lifted a corner of his lips while glancing back at Zach. The look on his face said that he did not think that was so bad of an idea, but Zach just cracked a small grin back at him at the sight of it which made Gentle's eyes darken again. "But I won't be changing it," Zach said, shaking his head at his comrade who lowered his gaze down to the floor.

If only we had done more recon. We couldn't let her slip away again though, and you were the fastest… I never thought though, that we were going into our final mission together. An accepting look finally covered Gentle's face, though it saddened for a moment before steadying with his eyes rising back up. "How long were you in there?"

Zach stared into Gentle's serious gaze and he opened his mouth to change the subject. Then he turned his head and just said in a lower voice, "It doesn't matter-"

"But I want to know. I need to, in order to accept-"

"Two months," Zach said. He turned his gaze back to Gentle and grimaced, then he muttered lower, "Maybe three."

"How long?" Gentle repeated, and Zach grit his teeth harder at that intense gaze calling him out on his intentionally vague answer.

The younger man looked into Gentle's eyes and replied, "Two months, twenty nine days, sixteen hours… give or take a couple." Gentle's eyes widened at the answer much more specific than he thought he was about to get. Zach kept staring into Gentle's eyes to convince him for a few seconds, then he looked away at that look on his comrade's face. He looked away and muttered, "After a couple of hours, I started tapping the seconds. That way, I'd know exactly how long it had been once I got out. I could… base our next attacks around… how long I had been…" Zach trailed off more every time, starting up quieter like what he was saying did not matter. "There was no hunger, or thirst, and I never felt tired. I tried running at one point, leaving my helmet behind since it didn't matter anymore. I ran, and I kept running until I decided that the place was endless and stopped myself. But, as for tapping, there was nothing telling me to stop. Once I had started, I never got tired of tapping. I just kept counting the seconds, and keeping the time in the background of my mind allowed me to focus on something other than just thoughts, constantly thinking about multiple…" Zach trailed off after ranting again, as he stared into Gentle's eyes and saw his comrade gritting his teeth in so much anger. "It's not your fault. Even if you had found me faster, it was a while ago that I started making these plans. I didn't decide it just before getting out. I've known, for a long time."

Gentle grimaced and he dropped his gaze from Zach's again. He released his fists and let out a long sigh, and Zach's expression saddened at the sound of that accepting sigh coming from the man in front of him. "Then this is it," Gentle said. He rose his head and stared into Zach's hazel eyes. "I wish you luck."

"Thanks," Zach replied. He shifted his gaze to the side for a second, then he looked back regretfully at the man before him, "Look after her, will you?"

"Have you told her yet?" Gentle asked.

"I tried," Zach began. "We wound up having a big argument… but just, don't let her do anything crazy, okay?"

Gentle saw the worried look on the boy's face and he nodded his head. His expression was serious and Zach was grateful to see it. Then the teenage boy let out a long sigh of his own and turned his head. The two of them stood alone in the bridge of The Cloak, and Zach stared out the tinted glass windows at the bright blue sky around them. This is it. After everything… Zach's expression darkened and he took in a deep breath. It's time for the next stage. "Gentle," Zach said, standing up straight and stepping forward so he was right in front of the man the same height as him. He looked into Gentle's eyes and the white haired man in front of him stared back with just as serious a look. "I hand the Army over to you. You, are now Death."

Gentle nodded his head once back at the teen before him. "Understood, Commander." Gentle grinned after saying it, as it was something he rarely ever said and would never have to say again after that moment. He almost just said 'Understood, Zach' but he changed his mind at the last moment. Gentle let out a sigh and he reached up to his shoulders, and he released clasps there which Zach stared at in surprise. Gentle pulled the purple cape off his back and he stared at the material for a few seconds, before tossing it to the side with a shrug. "Leave your costume and equipment behind," Gentle said with a nod down at Zach's black armor.

"Understood, Death," Zach replied back to the man who tilted his head back and grinned at the sound of that.

Gentle started chuckling after lifting his head back like that though. Zach had started to turn to walk out of the room, but Gentle shook his head and questioned, "Zach, do you remember our promise?" Zach froze and he lowered his gaze down to the floor. He shifted it towards the purple cape on the floor, then around the bridge, then he slowly turned his look back to Gentle. He nodded his head slowly and in a serious way. Gentle grinned at that reaction and then asked, "Really?"

Zach hesitated. He paused and he lowered his eyes down. Then he shook his head side to side. Gentle chuckled at the admittance, and then he put a hand up to the back of his head and scratched it while looking away. "Well," he chuckled. "I forgot too," he admitted, and Zach turned back to him with his eyes wider upon hearing that. Gentle lowered his hand from his head and he stared out the windows to the sky around them, "It doesn't really matter now, does it? Everything's changed."

Zach stared at Gentle in surprise for a few more seconds. Then, he bit down behind his lips hard and sniffled in once. "You know," Zach started. The corners of his lips pulled up and Zach said while staring gratefully into Gentle's eyes, "I'm really glad I chased you and La Brava that day."

The chance encounter they had filled both of their minds. A day that had forever changed both of their lives. And Gentle replied to the boy before him, "I'm really glad you did too."