!TRIGGER WARNING: SEXUAL ASSAULT!
Hi! I'm laaaate, I'm so sorry!
Guest: Yes, Momo has taken a life, which is going to be a very important plot point ;) It's going to mark both her and the ones she loves once they hear about it. Overall, Momo's decision to join her brother is gonna traumatise class 1-A even more lol.
Yes, Himiko especially would do anything for her friends. She's someone who loves unconditionally so I'd definitely see her sacrifice her life to protect others.
Thank you so much for reading!
Fencer29: Hey! This is Dabi's point of view of Shigaraki's ideals, he can be wrong! :D Also Dabi is - in my opinion - much more nihilist than Shigaraki but that's a question of opinion.
Yeah, Momo will have a "final" choice to make. Is she Momo the hero student, the girl who lost her brother to Tomura Shigaraki, or is she Hana, Tenko's sister who will stand by his side no matter what he does.
Chapter 13.
Himiko threw herself in the melee when they reached her level. Dancing among her enemies, she made quick work of the front lines. She took some blows and cuts appeared on her pale skin, but she refused to let that slow her down. She had to protect Dabi-kun. She had to save Tomura-kun. She wouldn't lose another friend; she wouldn't stare at their dismantled corpse like she had when Overhaul had killer Mag-nee.
As always, her heart clenched as she remembered Mag-nee. Her dear, lovely Mag-nee, butchered by that piece of shit. Yet, at this moment, thinking of her friend's death was almost a good thing. The thought of losing Dabi-kun in addition to Mag-nee enraged her, and Himiko stabbed a man in the eye, ripping the eyeball without any mercy.
She stopped and stood before her opponents, panting, gripping her knife tighter. Some of them seemed pretty afraid of her, but she knew they wouldn't fall back. Mister had told her cultists never gave up because they were obsessed with their goals. Himiko glanced at Dabi-kun. He was laying on the floor, panting and bleeding from his scars. His skin was fuming, and he was breathing black smoke. She internally cringed; it was bad. Really bad.
This moment of inattention was sadly all the cultists were waiting for. Himiko found herself grabbed by the neck and slammed to the ground. She gasped in pain as the air was knocked out of her lungs. A speed quirk. Probably not a powerful one since its user had waited for the right moment to use it. But it didn't matter. Himiko tried to stab the man above her but only succeeding in lightly slashing his cheek before someone else pinned her wrists above her head, forcing her to let go of her weapon.
"Got you, you little bitch!"
"Get off me!" Himiko spat.
"In your dreams" the man mocked. "You're a heretic trying to ruin the Holy Union!"
"You hurt my friends!"
She roared, trying to wiggle out his hold, to bite him, anything. She had to get out of there, escape him, kill him. She had to help Dabi-kun! A sudden sharp pain exploded in her noise and invaded her head. She distantly heard Dabi-kun screaming her name, but everything was… blurry. The sounds were strange, distorted while the colours and forms were mashing together. Her thoughts turned into jelly, and she felt herself drool something metallic. Blood.
Oh. She had been hit in the face and probably had a concussion. Himiko pushed the blood out of her mouth so to not choke on it, when she felt a hand grabbing her shirt. Before she could reflect on what was happening, the loud sound of fabric ripping turned her blood to ice.
No. Not that. Everything but that. She felt the urge of throwing up as several hands began to touch her. Himiko trashed as much as she could, trying to hit whoever was touching her – get your hands off me, don't touch me! –, screaming in her head. Or perhaps she was truly screaming, as her throat began to hurt. But her breasts hurt more, and she wanted to run away. She wanted to hide in her friends' arms, cry herself to sleep. She wanted to change her skin and never be herself again.
"Stop. Please stop."
Himiko could hear herself sob as a floating sensation took a hold of her. She felt as if she wasn't in her body anymore, as if the hands were touching someone else. Not her. Because it couldn't be happening to her. It had to be happening to someone else. The only person who would be allowed to touch her was Ochako-chan, no one else.
The hands suddenly went away. Himiko rolled on her stomach to look at what was going on, despite her vision still being blurry and her ears still ringing. A winged silhouette – an angel? – was fighting the men while another was rushing at her side. The silhouette's face became clearer; it was Tomura-kun's sister. She was pretty. The girl – Hana-chan, was it? – helped her sit and took Himiko's face in hers. Her mouth was moving.
"– you hear me? Toga-san, can you hear me?"
"Pretty" Himiko slurred.
"Oh goodness, you're conscious. I'm going to make you a shirt, okay?"
The girl's shone and a shirt came out of her skin. Himiko allowed herself to be dressed, anyway unable to resist. She looked around her with some difficulty and, after a few seconds of concentration, noticed that, instead of the cultists, stood piles of bloody dust on the ground. Tomura-kun was standing at the top of the stairs, neck tendons flaring, and body tensed like a bow string. Himiko smiled softly. He was okay. He was safe.
"Toga-san, I'm going to carry you on my back. Is that okay?"
Himiko nodded at the girl and allowed herself to be manoeuvred around and hoisted on Hana-chan's back. The wings wrapped themselves around Himiko, who softly giggled at the feeling. It was warm and comfy.
"Alright. Here we go" the black-haired girl said. "Tenko, we need to get them somewhere safer. We can't fight properly like that, they're wounded. I fear some of Dabi-san's organs might be failing him."
Tenko…? Ah. Yes. Tomura-kun's birth name.
"I fucking know!" the white-haired male roared. "But my quirk's back, I can't exactly carry him."
"Put him on your back. The wings can spread enough."
Tomura had some trouble hoisting a half-unconscious Dabi on his back, but in the end, it worked. He complained a bit about the other man's weight, but he was honestly glad to have him back. Dabi had been his second-in-command ever since the attack on the summer camp, and he had begrudgingly learnt to enjoy the black-haired's sass and wit. Thus, seeing him wounded and dry-heaving had made him sick. Dabi wasn't supposed to be that weak. He was strong, sadistic, efficient.
Fuck this cult. If his quirk were back at full strength, Tomura could annihilate this entire place. Instead, he was forced to retreat with Hana and his two wounded allies. Himiko wasn't heavily wounded, but she was still in shock. He couldn't blame her; he had no idea how that kind of assault felt, but he could begin to imagine how horrible it was. Especially after Hana had told her about their father. Her eyes had been reflecting the horror she had felt all these years ago, and he couldn't help but recall what she had told him.
'Men don't need to hit girls to hurt them.'
Tomura glanced at his sister. She was panting but not faltering despite Himiko weighing probably as much as herself. Hero training had to be useful somehow. Kicking a door open, Tomura bolted inside. They needed to barricade themselves and stabilize Dabi before getting back into the fight. Moreover, Tomura could feel his quirk getting stronger. In about fifteen minutes – if not less – he would be back at full strength. And that cult would be nothing but a bad memory.
Grabbing the side of a nearby shelf, Tomura used his and Dabi's weight to throw it on the ground and use it to block the door. It was far from a good barricade, but it would have to hold for now. Hana couldn't go and waste her quirk on locking that door. They needed her to create medical supplies for Dabi, or the pyrokinetic would consume himself from the inside out.
He glanced around them, and his eyes fell on the wall. A grin spread on his face. His quirk might not be back at full power, but he could still decay a wall in a matter of seconds. He quickly walked to the wall where windows showed the outside world and pressed his hand on it. It fell to dust quickly, revealing the outside world after days of being locked and experimented on. He turned around to see his sister's amazed look. She still had Himiko on her back, probably fearing she might not be able to lift her up again if she were to put her down.
"Let's go. We're on the second floor, but hey, the wings probably aren't just for show."
"It's a terrible idea. I'm in" Hana replied with a tired smile.
Tomura took a few steps back and ran to the hole before jumping. He spread the wings he wasn't used to yet, hoping some reflex would kick in. If not, all this would have been for nothing, for Dabi would never survive a fall from that height. And he was not losing his second-in-command. He needed him. The mere thought of Dabi dying was making Tomura sick, more so than the memory of decaying his family. He wanted to claw at his neck, dig in the skin and draw his own blood.
Dabi had suffered too much at the hands of the world, just like Hana and him. The world had devoured whoever Dabi used to be, probably a hopeful kid with stars in his eyes, only to spit out the sadistic pyrokinetic. Then, society had forgotten about his existence, like it did with whoever was undesirable. The thought of a young Dabi being devoured by the flames who had scarred him forever and being forced to literally staple himself back together made Tomura furious.
Furious at the world, furious at whoever his family used to be. How could someone allow their child to burn themselves like that? He wanted to shield his Dabi from any more pain, keep him away from the world so he may heal and watch him burn it to the ground with his vengeful flames. Some part of Tomura knew that his feelings for the pyrokinetic had been amplified in the last few days and become more than just platonic friendship, but he had no intention to think about those right now.
It could wait. It would wait. Safety was primordial.
Thankfully, the wings slowed down the fall although Tomura never actually flew, and he landed without tripping like an idiot. The feelings of the air under his wings, slowing down the fall, had been quite strange and bizarre. He hadn't focused on it, though, far too absorbed in his thoughts. Once on the ground, the young man put Dabi on the floor to examine him.
The black-haired was panting and pale, the contrast between the scars and his healthy skin even more striking than usual. Tomura knelt before him, taking his temperature and pulse. Dabi's heartbeat wasn't as strong as it should be, but it was regular. That was good. Probably. He wasn't the healer of his team.
Hana landed gracefully next to them, and Himiko climbed off her back. She had recovered her wits, but Tomura still promised himself he would never allow something like that to happen ever again. Especially after what Hana had told him of their father.
"How long until your quirk is back to its full power?" Hana asked.
"Soon. Ten minutes, give or take." He flexed his hands. "It's just slow right now."
"Don't worry, Mister and the others will be here soon" Himiko intervened. Then, she folded her arms on her chest. "I followed the police officer here. He was part of the cult. I called Mister when I arrived, took the guy's appearance, and infiltrated the place. At first, I was just supposed to find where you guys were and all. But Dabi-kun had already escaped and everything, so I joined him."
"The inspector was part of the cult?" Hana screeched. "Even him? Oh no, oh no, no, no, no…"
Her eyes had gone wide, and she brought her hands to her neck to scratch herself. Tomura took a step towards her, grabbing her wrists. She couldn't break any more. Not here, not now. When they would be far away from this shitty place, he would make sure she had a room to cry and scream as much as she needed. But for now, she needed to stay calm. They would probably need her quirk.
"Calm down. It's okay. We're together now, so it's okay."
Tomura could only hope it would calm her down. She seemed so attached and devoted to him it probably would, and he had talked without really thinking. He wasn't sure how he felt about her yet, his feelings for his family a disaster he wasn't ready to address, but he disliked seeing her distraught like that. She had always been a bright little girl, hiding away her own pain to comfort him to the point he hadn't even known she had been abused as well. That thought didn't sit right by him, and he strangely felt guilty about it. 'Not now' he told himself. He couldn't afford it.
"Yes… Yes, we're together, it's going to be fine. We… We need to evacuate. We have a heavily wounded teammate, and we must evacuate him to safety so we can assess his wounds and treat him accordingly" she replied in an almost robotic voice.
Dabi was woken up by a powerful explosion and Shigaraki yelling 'fuck this shit!'. Forcing his stone heavy eyelids open, the pyrokinetic looked at the scene around him. It was… chaos. Utter and complete chaos. His three allies – was the little heroine their ally? Enemy turned temporary ally? – were watching in awe the building they had been trapped in take life.
What the fuck?
Dabi blinked and forced himself up, feeling as high as a kite. 'I want weed', he thought as the building rose from the ground, turning into some sort of living monstrous mansion. What kind of quirk did that? He squinted his eyes, his sight slightly blurry, and they landed on the third Archangel, perched upon the rooftop of the building. He couldn't tell their gender, but he didn't really care. He was in no shape to fight anyway.
He was so done with this and couldn't wait for the rest of their bloody army to show up to take care of this whole shitshow. He wanted to get some beer, maybe some coke. Anything to forget this train wreck of a job.
Half-conscious and numb, Dabi looked Shigaraki slam his hands on the ground, the decay spreading. It seemed slower than it usually was, but the pyrokinetic wasn't sure. Perhaps he was just too out of it and things looked in slow-motion. Anyways, the decay quickly spread to the building, and the Archangel was in the sky in a souple movement of their wings. Shigaraki got back up, cursing. He was probably not an expert at flying yet, although he had handled the jump from the second floor pretty well.
"Is any of you know competent with a firearm?" the little heroine suddenly asked.
Dabi painfully turned his head towards and almost burst out laughing. A fucking sniper rifle was coming out of her exposed stomach, her skin shining. That bloody quirk was completely insane.
"Not really" Shigaraki confessed and showed his hand. "Not really easy to use one with my quirk."
"Me neither" Toga said. "I use knives."
"Alright then. I'm going to give it a try I guess. We need to get her out of the sky."
But, before the heroine could use the gun she had just created – Dabi was still wrapping his head around that quirk –, an enormous pillar of ice shot from the ground, crashing at full strength and speed in the Archangel. Dabi felt a smirk appear on his bloodied face. The cavalry was here. He never thought he would be glad to see that ice fucker, but hey, never say never.
The Paranormal Liberation Front troops invaded the crumbling mansion, probably attacking whatever was left of the cult. Dabi had no doubt it would a one-sided fight. The cult had no chance before Geten or some other members of the Purple Regiment.
Speaking of Geten, the young men in the parka rushed to them with an ice platform, landing before, eyes blown wide by worry when he saw them all, covered in blood and wounds.
"Grand Commander! Are you alright? The medics are on their way!"
"Good. Good" Shigaraki repeated before gesturing at the little heroine whom Geten was studying. "My sister. She's with us. Questions later. Get a medic for Dabi. ASAP."
A medic. He wouldn't say no to a medic. And then, the world turned to black.