"Stay together and don't move! Thirteen! Protect the students!"
My heart swelled in my throat, legs gelatin.
'I'll find you- I'll hurt you-'
"Chiyo!"
Shota Aizawa's voice shattered through the barrier, louder than a roar. I surfaced back into reality, gasping for air. A pair of goggles- the ones he kept tucked in his scarf and never let me touch- were in his hand, halfway to his face, hair electrified and face more serious than I'd ever seen. I blinked like a frightened deer and his face hardened, the severe force of his attention centered on me.
"Protect our students."
"Wait," I breathed, reaching out as he flew down the stairs into the crossfire. "I can't- Don't- Don't leave me," What can I do? I was nothing; a casualty waiting to happen. I shouldn't even be here.
The nightmare was covered in deadened hands, but I could feel him; that crisp, pale skin, the red, murderous eyes. He stood, unaware of his effect, and I in turn remained cemented to the ground. Who is he?
The hallucinations that sprang from my quirk and darkened every corner of my mind- all this time, it had been his face, his hands sinking my body. But why? I'd never seen him in my life, not in my waking hours. What is he?
"Ms. Tsutomi! Stay behind us!"
The voice snapped me back, body thrown into motion.
Katsuki Bakugo had grabbed me, pulled me behind him.
Other students- Kirishima, Midoriya, Tsuyu- had moved, creating a wall between myself and the chaos below.
Protect our students.
But they were surrounding me. My students, these children, springing to action when all I could do was tremble.
"Thirteen, why aren't the alarms going off?" Yaoyorozu moved closer to my right side, surveying the premises.
"I'm not sure."
"If the alarm systems aren't going off, then one of the villains must have a quirk that's masking their presence here," Todoroki thought aloud. Grape baubles jumped with Mineta's sudden idea.
"Ms. Tsutomi! Could you use your quirk to find them?"
Cotton had filled my mouth. Before I could try to work through the sudden dryness, Midoriya cut in; "Ms. Tsutomi doesn't use her quirk; even if she did, after so long without use, she wouldn't be able to discern the user from the others. I don't think her quirk even works like that,"
His voice was a muttered bubble, the hand covering his mouth smothering every other word. "What are we going to do? Mr. Aizawa can't fight them all on his own; he can't nullify all their quirks. His fighting style isn't suited for this, his power works best with stealth and one-on-one fights; that's not going to help him here-"
A numbing pain was freezing its way through my nervous system, taking all the power I had with it, until Midoriya's words finally resonated like a stone into a motionless pool- He can't defeat them all on his own.
"You can't be a pro hero if you only have one trick," Thirteen interjected. A thunderous clap drew our attention below. As elegant as a dancer Aizawa flew through the air, ensnaring two villains with his wraps before cratering them to earth.
"We- we have to get help," My voice was barely a whisper. I turned to Thirteen. "We have to get the students out of here- the pros at UA-"
"You're right!" The space suit startled, pointing towards the entrance. Pushing through the dead weight of my body I moved, grabbing the shirtsleeves of the closest students and leading them away. We have to get out of here, now. I couldn't even glance back; the fear of what I might see nearly burst the veins out of my skin.
We have to get him help.
"Wow, he's really holding his own. I guess I shouldn't have underestimated him," Midoriya paused to observe the successful take-downs below, face drawn into that thoughtful daydreaming only Izuku Midoriya could elicit in the middle of such pandemonium. I caught the back of his collar and pulled, hard.
He'd promised there would be no real danger; to myself or the students. My legs gave a jolt and I hurried my pace.
"We have to get out of here. We'll only be in Aizawa's away. The best course of action is-"
"It's a pleasure to meet you. We are the League of Villains,"
A shiver cut me to the bone.
The miasma of before appeared now, before us, bizarrely formal in language. It's a person- a villain. I reached out and my brain screamed back, blocking my ability to find him. Now is not the time. Fight it, Chiyo. Fight back.
The deep timbre of his voice bounced off the walls, but I couldn't locate where he was in the mess of mist and fog. He has to have blood, a body. But where?
"-And besides, isn't this a fitting place for All Might, the symbol of peace, to take his last breath?"
They're after...All Might?
"I believe he was supposed to be here today. There must have been some sort of change in plans. In the end, I suppose it doesn't matter-"
An explosion disrupted the monologue, sending sparks and thick smoke through the area. I tried to shout only to find my voice ripped from my body by the nerves and pain arching its way through my skull. Pull it together. Focus. You can't break down now, here. I caught Midoriya's arm, just as he tried to bolt forward.
"Did you think we were just going to stand around and let you tear this place to shreds?"
Kirishima, Bakugo, you idiots.
"You two, get out of the way right now!" Thirteen shouted. Was he even human? The mist spread itself thin, permeating the area, growing in size. Still I could find no flesh or bone, nothing to submerse into.
"You should be careful, children. Otherwise, someone might get hurt."
It was coming.
Every vertebrae screamed in defiance, weak in the snare of Aizawa's last words to me.
Protect our students.
The darkness poured from the villain as I lunged, taking hold of Uraraka and flinging her with all my might. In seconds she disappeared; the thick mist had enveloped my whole.
"I'm afraid we haven't been acquainted," A deep voice caressed the shell of my ear. "We'll see what Tomura Shigaraki knows of you."
It felt like my skin was fading. Every atom separated and spliced back together. His self-created wind whipped my hair and obscured my view. I reached out only to find feelingless mist in every flailing direction. Where is he?
As quickly as the sensation began it ended. Gravity embraced my limbs with sudden urgency, pulling me towards the edge of the central fountain. I had enough time to pivot, crash into the water rather than staining the concrete.
The world suddenly went quiet.
The screaming, the pain ripping through my skull.
Submersed in the water, my senses awakened, every drop of blood suddenly alive, soothing my heart rate with a slow hand.
But the memory of my students, of Shota fighting a horde, dropped like a match into a lake of gasoline. I sprung from the water, coughing and frantic, rolling over the lip of stone. Hard ground kissed my face and I let out a cry, bracing myself with the palms of my hands.
He's a teleporter. Not just himself, but others, too. He's their entryway into this place.
I sat up. The whispered screams began again with force.
Run, run, run.
Was it my voice or the years of Mom's warnings, all merging into one uniform barrage?
Sneakers, red as a fire engine, appeared before me.
The strings were a dingy white and double-knotted, as if tied by a worried parent afraid of him tripping.
"Well, well. Who do we have here?"
She was a quaking, dripping mess, hair shimmering in the sunlight pooling through the glass dome. When she fell from the sky into the fountain, whatever make-up adorning her face had bled, streaming like tears from the corners of her large, frightened eyes. The multi-handed villain knelt before her frozen figure like a reaper seeking easy prey.
A fist raced towards Eraserhead's face. He dodged, just in the knick of time, and sent a binding cloth towards her. With a yank she disappeared from the villain's sight. Aizawa braced himself for impact.
"Tsutomi."
She was in shock; it was written all over her face.
But there was no time for hesitation.
"Stay behind me," He commanded, heart leaping to his throat. This is bad. This is really, really bad.
Of all the times for All Might to overexert himself like some overzealous show-off, why now? Why today, of all fucking days?
"Aizawa, I can't- I-"
Her entire body was a sapling caught in a hurricane. He could hear the quick, frantic breaths escaping her; a tell of a quickly-arising panic attack. An assailant approached; he twisted to the left, eyes flashing, and rammed a fist into the man's jugular. Wild laughter caught his attention as Aizawa landed on the chest of another thug, throwing a glance in the direction it was cast from.
"What is this? Giving a tour to a quirkless fan?" The white-haired leader snickered. Chiyo's spine jerked as she took a defensive step back at the sudden attention. A group of attackers raced towards her and without hesitation Aizawa shot forth, narrowly catching a blade before it split her skull clean open.
Chiyo watched the violence unfold like an ember building into an uncontrollable inferno around her, helpless within the flames.
"You've miscalculated, Eraserhead,"
His breath was haggard; three down, one to go.
"If she was supposed to be your back-up, I'm afraid it's game over."
Red shoes were racing in her direction, faster than she would ever be able to react to.
"Final boss," Aizawa muttered to himself, using his capturing weapon to divert the skinny villain's path. She's safe, this is over.
A pale hand caught the binding, racing toward him still. Aizawa didn't slow his pace; the connection could be used to his advantage. The instant he pulled the binding the leader's arm flew up, giving access to his abdomen. A gasp was just audible behind them when he crumpled, breath stolen from Aizawa's hit. It's over.
"It was hard to see when you were jumping around, but I found your tell: it's your hair,"
A pain unlike any he'd experienced melted into his elbow, fracturing the tendons of muscle underneath. What hell is this?
"When it drops, it means you've stopped using your quirk."
The skin was decaying, rotting to dust and breaking off his body.
"Don't push yourself too hard now, you might just fall apart. Wouldn't that be a shame?" The boy's voice was like curdling milk, rising around the hand pressed to his face. Shigaraki tightened his grip and red muscle began to turn to ash, just as a flash of dark hair entered their periphery.
"Let go of him!"
Crimson splattered the air, licked his lips as it burst from the veins of his assailant.
Chiyo Tsutomi stood, eyes wild and limbs shaking, over the bleeding body of the villain ringleader.
A laugh coughed out of the boy's mouth; he wasn't dead. What did she do?
"Eraser," Her voice fell out softly, as if she'd just run a marathon, face turning ashen at the figures slowly surrounding them. "The others- I can't-"
"On it."
He turned towards the remaining criminals, clenching the wraps around his neck.
Chiyo Tsutomi wasn't a professional hero- he had already asked too much of her as it was.
The least he could do was eliminate the rest of this trash and get her to safety.
His body was fluid. Diverting attacks, landing hits with precision- countless hours of training had honed him for this.
"You really are so cool!"
The leader had risen. Chiyo took a step back but faced him, back to the others. Before Aizawa could react a scaled villain leapt past him, targeting her slender frame.
In slow motion she moved, unable to dodge the violent fist aimed at her chest. Her body flew back, head ricocheting against the stairs like a basketball before falling motionless.
In one fell swoop he brought the animorph down. Aizawa watched, noted the light movement of her ribs. Still breathing.
Fury swirled in his chest, ignited his senses.
The red-shoed man raised his arms in a passive shrug.
"Oh, by the way, hero? I am not the final boss."
The earth was trembling.
It was distant, but I could feel it; the tremors running through the ground, stirring my mind.
Protect our students.
The screaming deafened my hearing. Inflamed neurons firied, adamant that I remain immobile.
Protect our students.
Every drop of blood turned to lead. Every sense shut down, forced by a will outside my own to be still, remain frozen, stay alive.
But I couldn't let him die.
The ground wavered again. I forced my eyes to open, blinking in the harsh light. A black figure, mountainous in stature, sat perched atop a crumpled mass of broken limbs and blood.
"Get...away...from her."
No.
"He really is something else, isn't he?"
The voice was like nails on a chalkboard, scratching grooves into my soft tissue. I struggled to my knees, lungs feeling like they'd been decorated with ground glass.
"But I already know who he is," A figure eclipsed the bright sunlight, hair translucent in its rays. He scoured my face, gaze dark as death between lifeless fingers.
I know this face.
"So who are you?"
My mouth proved incapable of sound. He studied me, eyes narrowing.
A lone finger, slow but purposeful, rose towards my face. Its fingernail scratched the leveled surface of the mole to the right of my mouth.
"Who are you?"
I should run, beg for my life, something.
But all I could think of was that pool of red liquid behind him, black sleeves soaked and skin frayed.
"Tomura Shigaraki," A voice broke the spell. The eyes of the decayer left mine, drawn by the warping quirk-user from before. Air ripped through my glass lungs as quickly as my thoughts.
We have to get out of here- I have to get to Shota- The others-
"Kurogiri. Did you manage to kill Thirteen?"
My heart sank; a stone for every student. No.
"The rescue hero is out of commission, but there were students I wasn't able to disperse. One got out of the facility."
Tomura Shigaraki burst into a fit of scratching, distressed at this news.
It was then I saw them.
Three pairs of eyes, wide in horror, from the lip of the artificial lake.
Protect our students.
He can't, won't notice them.
White pain blurred my vision; from the attack or hallucinations, I couldn't tell.
I can't move.
'You shouldn't move. You're not a hero. You're weak, and frail. You belong at home.'
"Oh, before we leave, let's make sure the symbol of peace is broken. Let's wreck his pride."
The red shoes moved with breakneck speed, hand encasing Tsu's face.
'Leave the heroism to those foolish enough to risk their own lives for glory.'
Protect our students
"You really are so cool," Tomura Shigaraki cooed.
Aizawa's red-eyed face, etched in pain and blood, had risen, nullifying Shigaraki's body.
In an instant the creature slammed his face into the ground with a sickening crunch. I felt the impact in every single rib, reverberated throughout every bone's marrow.
Midoriya rose and the air shifted, blown by his might.
But the creature had also moved, protecting its master.
"You're pretty powerful. That smash of yours- are you one of All Mights disciples? Doesn't matter- I'm done with you now."
'Don't look back, don't try to save anyone but yourself. Run, Chiyo. Run.'
Protect our students.
The screaming, the white-hot pain.
Shota's body, motionless and floating in a pool of liquid red.
It all melted away.
One colossal fist paused, suspended just inches from Midoriya's skin. Tomura Shigaraki stood just as immobile, trembling fingers centimeters from Tsu's emerald hair.
"Move."
My voice cut through the vibrating air with quiet force. Three familiar sets of eyes looked at me, wide and disbelieving. Tsuyu jumped to life first, a pink tongue wrapping around Midoriya's waist and pulling him to safety seconds before the creature's hand slammed into the ground.
Every breath struggled through the narrowing passages. Darkness bordered my line of vision. The creature gave a wild jerk, testing my hold, and a scoff played out of Shigaraki's cracked lips.
"Were you supposed to be the secret weapon?" He laughed. I raised a weary hand and his body went rigid, despite my weakening state.
Protect our students.
The black creature was crawling towards me, movements sluggish in my hold.
His blood- how does it move? What's it made of? My reach is so limited.
"Nomu was built to take out the strongest hero in the world. Do you think you are anywhere near his level?"
If I moved from position, tried to run, my control would be cut as easy as ribbon. A low, inhuman groan hissed out of the creature's mouth, fingers struggling to grab my leg.
"Miss...Tsutomi-"
Why was he here? Why couldn't this kid just follow directions for once in his life?
Protect our students.
I used every last ounce of strength to find Midoriya's face. "Run. Run-"
My ankle snapped like balsa wood, body giving easily from the immense strength of the beaked creature dragging me down. It raised a fist and I submersed myself into its fingers, softening the blow that still splintered my bones like dandelion fluff. Darkness crept further into my eyesight.
I'm going to die.
The world was losing its soundtrack.
The colors began to ebb away, like a canvas doused by rainfall.
They say your life flashes before your eyes, but all I could see was a broken fragment of metal- Shota's goggles. He never let me try them on.
The earth gave a tremor again. A silhouette appeared on the horizon.
And then there was darkness.
