Chapter 4, Part 1
Kingu is attacked right away. Well, not really attacked. Sort of attacked. The man, someone that would normally be mistaken for a beggar or such, moved. Like, moved. It was surprising how much energy could be found inside the tired looking figure. The gray, worn down cloth, almost if it had a mind of its own wrapped around him, binding him in place.
Naturally, the first instinct is to attack. Energy arches but…. nothing happens. Yet. It was not possible to truly express how much Kingu hated this situation and his expression clearly displayed that.
At first, those two months ago, he did not attack the heroes because it would mean wasting energy and, as a result, prolonging his recovery. Partially, It was also because he had no reason to, there was no grand plan to follow, with some mysterious end in sight. While still not at maximum output, he could take down the human with ease. It would be a matter of a split second it would take to bind them in place.
The issue however now lies in a small boy, stomping around just a few hundred meters away from where he was, Kota stomping around in his own house.
Kingu was not an idiot, he knew that the moment he would become violent, the heroes would cease being nice, it would be an action leading to a full on attack on his person. Over and over again.
And he was certain that he would likely never get to see the boy, most certainly not under the same conditions as now.
Kingu had always felt a connection with children. They were young and innocent and so full of wonder. Freeing them from the Demonic Forth was the only thing he had ever allowed himself to do, something that was not a part of his mother´s plans. Only later did it occur to him how just plain stupid his actions were.
There was no need for that half naked Rider to remind him of that. Still, even now the woman's words burn inside him, hotter than Quetzealcoatl's flames.
When he freed those children, It was the first time he honestly did something that he wanted to do. But in the end, that action meant nothing at all, if anything, he only gave those children false hope that things might be alright. So he put his head down and continued working. Kingu really wants to know what had happened to the children, whether the fate he had imagined happened to all of them.
Knowing the beasts, their thirst for flesh and blood, chances of anyone surviving were almost zero. Passing the distance would be a difficult thing to do even for skilled human warriors of Uruk.
But now…
It was easy to connect with this human child when in that dark alley, Kota looked just as lost as himself. Combined with the fact that Kingu had nowhere else to go, he just attached himself to the boy's side.
The thought of having free will still terrifies him in the same way, just like the images of those children being torn apart long before they could even spot Uruk in distance, their cooling bodies waiting to be devoured.
When going against Tiamat, he held not only onto Enkidu´s instincts to protect humanity, but also onto the tiny hope that at least one of them made it to safety.
Maybe by looking after the human child, he wanted to undo what he did wrong, maybe he sought a replacement for Gil - somebody to share his impressions of the world with. Or maybe he wanted to go back to being a tool. Or maybe a combination of all.
There really was no way to fully express how much Kingu hated his predicament. How much he just wanted to hit something to grind it into basic building blocks of the universe. Instead, the white fabric around Kingu tightened and the human in black went down on his knee to look him in the face.
One thing at this moment that he knew for certain was that Kingu did not want to be separated from the boy.
"I kind of expected him to be a bit… louder." Said the hero in a cat costume. "You did not hurt him in any way, did you?"
The cloth around Kingu loosened up before being disintegrated in a number of gold sparks.
"Oh." The woman concluded. "Wait, wait, wait. This was not in the quirk description! Aizawa, weren't you supposed to, like, erase his quirk too?"
The shoddy looking man, Aizawa, gained a big smile, and not the pleasant kind. Kingu was already up in the air, looking down. Then he was gone.
It was supposed to be an easy job. Catch one brat.
Cases like him (or her) were not that unusual, as much as today´s near perfect society would like to disagree. Children whose parents were more invested in other things, mainly drugs or alcohol, children whose quirks were deemed problematic, children whose quirks were deemed, children born without quirks, children whose parents were villains. Not always it happens that these children are sent into proper facilities or even discovered in time before something happens.
If the little information gathered inside the way too tiny file proved, plus the information provided by Mandalay' s kid,the green haired brat likely falls into one of the worse cases of these children - the complete lack of education and social skills stood out like a sore thumb.
As if it was not enough that the kid seemingly did not exist up until a few months ago.
"He is a mutant type." Aizawa concluded.
Ragdoll´s response was immediate: "Mutat? Are you sure about that? He flew!" She chose not to reply to his ´I have noticed´ response. Though that still did not stop her from flailing her arms in the direction that the kid escaped.
There was no better explanation. Combined with the odd visage and the fact that the kid seemingly doesn't sleep or eat, it was not that hard to believe that he has one of those quirks. "Ragdoll?"
"Y-yes?" She finally paused for a momen.
"Can you still sense the kid?" The cat hero pointed towards the less populated areas of the city. For a moment, he has been worried about the woman.
"Kota is upstairs." Mandalay sighed. At that moment, she looked a decade older. Nobody could blame her, Kota was not the only one hit by the loss of his parents. That combined with the feeling that she failed to provide for her cousin must have taken a toll on her. It has been suggested that she takes her time off work again. At least, that was suggested to her before this had happened. "The kid?"
Mandalay made a quick gesture that quickly summarized the entire experience. She sighed again. "So he ran away."
"In the brat´s defense, it looked as if he held back from attacking us."
"He did?" The brown haired woman replied with a strong hint of surprise in her tone.
"I thought that I had erased his quirk at first, then he destroyed this."
Mandalay looked over the remains of what used to be Aizawa´s go to weapon. Just two ends with nothing in between. Even though it was a very unimpressive thing by hero standards (nothing that could be compared to some other things that some heroes tend to wear), but still a very high quality cloth.
"I thought that him using those chains and flying was already a kind of a stretch, now he does what? Disintegrate?" Yes, he is salty about the scarf. It is hero equipment that costs money and time to replace.
"So what is the new plan?"
Now it was time for Aizawa to sigh. The kid obviously won´t go with them willingly, capturing him would prove to be a difficult task without engaging the kid in a fight. No hero worth their title ever wants to fight a kid and hurt it of all things, regardless of the situation. And those few unique cases that would be willing are better kept far away.
"Persuade him?" Ragdoll finally piped up.
Before anyone could answer, the last member of their group re-emerged from the door. "Tsukauchi san. Have you discovered anything?"
"No. Not anything certain, just guesses unfortunately. No matches in the database. While we have found a few people from whom he could have inherited his quirk, most of them were already ruled out and only one of them has a villain background. Even with that man, it is still a very long stretch."
"And this Tiamat?"
He shook his head. "Probably a villain name. Someone obsessed with mesopotamian mythology."
"Mythology?"
"One of my men is a fan of various mythologies. In this mythology, Kingu is Tiamat´s both son and a husband."
No. Absolutely not. "Let's not jump into conclusions." Mostly because nobody wants to see a child in that position either.
Aizawa should have stayed in bed that morning. Cases like this are always a mess. This entire case is a mess. Plus he can already feel a headache emerging, one that is going to hit him like a truck when the right time comes.
"Wake up." Kota´s eyes snap open and above him is a person leaning forward to get a better look. "Why do you sleep if you always have.." He feels cold, sweaty and exhausted, but that still does not stop Kota from throwing a random pillow into Kingu's face.
A part of his mind wonders whether he ever even feels the impact because he does not end up moving a single inch. Again. No matter how many pillows they exchange. It is one of those useless things he allows himself to be occupied by when nothing better comes to mind. Or when the alternatives are not that great.
"I thought that you ran off." Kota spoke up, completely ignoring the previous question. All that he can hear is a loud huff in response. Kingu moves and sits up on the bed next to him as he still lies there.
"I am sorry." That… is something he honestly was not expecting. So much so that Kota quickly turned around to make sure that it is his friend that is sitting there and not a weird replacement of some sort.
The only source of light in the room was the faint moonlight coming in from the outside. It was barely enough to see him at all. "Are you alright?"
Kingu looked away from his bare feet, bewildered. "You just had an another nightmare and you are asking me if I am alright?"
Kota shrugged. "It is nice to see you understanding some social cues."
Silence falls, Kingu looks away again. The clock on the nightstand keeps ticking but no numbers are visible. A question hangs in the air, similar to a bad omen, waiting to be spoken out loud. The silence is unpleasant, suffocating and almost unbearable, questions demand to be spoken out loud or else.
"Kingu?"
The issue with some questions is that there are never good answers. Only bad versus worse.
"Yes?"
"What did you really do? I mean, you are not a villain. Are you?"
Needing living bodies, Kingu rarely ever killed directly, and if ever happened, it was an accident. Not that there was any real difference between dragging hundreds of people to their deaths, to use their flesh as a building block for monsters or tearing their bodies apart as if they were nothing but twigs. In the end, they are still dead.
"I am sure that some would call me that." He said, eventually. "I am sorry."
Kota bites his lips with enough strength to drain blood, he barely mentions the metallic taste in his mouth.
"I am sorry." If he did not know Kingu better, he would say that he sounds honestly regretful. But what does he really know about him? How many people did he hurt, he… "Tell me to disappear and you'll never see me again."
Maybe that would be for the better. Maybe Kingu is really just not built for interaction for humans. "I… just need the time to think."
While he did not reject him, it certainly did not sound promising. Maybe he is just a faulty product after all.
"Alright."
Just like that, Kingu is gone.
The shortest chapter ever. Yay. I once again want to make it longer, but it would be better to cut it off here. Honestly, i should have ended the previous chapter here. Yay me. To my defense, I rewrote this once cause I was not happy with what I made. I have a difficult part ahead of me.
As much as I hate school, it does take priority. Also, I started watching Jojo when I was too tired to write in spare time and now it is spawning plot bunnies I have no time for.
By the way, really do leave a review if you want new chapters faster. It gives me the energy to keep writing even when I am too tired.
One more thing. I have many, many plot bunnies that include servants appearing in BHA universe, but they are just not good enough for full stories. I will not lie and say that one of them is heavily inspired by Parknot's Burn!. One Nobunaga is one of the coolest fate characters ever, has potential for both funny, sad and serious. Though in the plot bunny i have in mind, the OC goes vigilante. I, unfortunately, am not a manga reader. I don't want to spoil myself and that is exactly what would have happened If I started making research for that. Just an example why some plot bunnies remain plot bunnies.
Assuming that some people are going to be interested, I can write these plot bunnies down as one shots if there is going to be enough interest and I am not going to be tired... and also at the same time when not having good ideas for this fic. Maybe also hoping that someone might adopt them.
Good night
