Last chapter. Really disappointed how this fic got no attention, so hopefully the one to replace this one will. It's not a MHA fandom crossover! Enjoy~
A week later, the first phase of their mission began. It only involved Luffy out of all the students going with them. They were all in hero work study courses. They were allowed on dangerous missions, as they were licensed heroes, even if they weren't pros. Still, nobody else knew. Zoro, Sanji and Midoriya didn't know.
All they knew was that Luffy was going to be busy, going on a huge mission with Law, Tokoyami and Shoji. They'd be told about it after the mission was done, however successful it would be. But, it - for once - annoyed Zoro. It was a dangerous mission, and with students that had gone through the pit with them, it was pretty easy to guess they were going on a mission having to do with that hell hole.
He was vehemently against it. But that didn't change a thing. "If you die down there, I'll never forgive you, Luffy."
"I won't die," Luffy said firmly. Zoro told him he better keep his fucking word. "I will. I never break promises." Zoro nodded. It had been after school. Sanji hadn't clicked and neither had Midoriya. They could probably not believe that the survivors would return. And Luffy was glad, so they didn't have to worry like Zoro was. Nobody else were worried because they didn't know.
So, now Luffy was with Bay and Marco. The six students coming along with the four UA students and Ace waited for two of the adults and Luffy to return. Law kissed him, saying good luck. He wasn't worried, had faith Luffy would be safe, and Marco would make that the number one priority.
When Bay teleported them, they were standing at the edge of the massive, black hole. Marco looked unnerved by it. Luffy stared at the entrance to the pit with a hard look. He would defeat this place and leave his past behind. He would move on completely.
From there, he could feel that this was the place. The sky was cloudy overhead. Luffy brought out his bunny light, and told it to search the entirety of the pit. They would wait for it. It zoomed into the black, the light disappearing quickly. They waited six hours out there, waiting patiently. They needed the recording light to do its task thoroughly.
After the clock marked 3:40, the pink light came out of the darkness. The bunny had returned, looking perfectly fine. Nothing followed it out of the black. It was like a blackhole. No light went in and none escaped from it. It was very scary for normal people, but to Luffy, this outside was nothing compared to the inside.
They teleported back into the office, where the other students were on their phones or napping. When they arrived back, they all sat up. "We have the recording," Luffy said, and the bunny light rested in the air above the table. "Please play any sounds you found." The bunny's mouth opened, and they listened.
The sound for a long time was that of wind, the sound echoing in a creepy way. They were all silent, a camera recording the sounds. The first sound they heard was a deep rumbling, the sound of something large, and the sound of rocks breaking. That sound faded, and then they heard the familiar sounds of the creatures that clung to the walls of the pit the second time around.
They heard various nosies the group had not encountered before, like a shrieking noise, as if something was screaming at the top of it's lungs, so loud it echoed throughout the pit. There was the sounds of shifting rock, the flaps of massive wings. There was some sudden roar, as if something had attacked the bunny light, but left it unscathed.
Marco, Bay and Ace were bothered by all of these sounds, but the students were unafraid. It didn't matter what was down there, they weren't backing off now. Not when they were so close, after all their plans had been worked out. There was no going back, no running away. They all had stoic faces on, watching the bunny light as it unleashed the unnerving sounds.
There was a sound of running water, and then silence. But then they all jerked up when they heard the sound of the mushroom monster that they ran from. Ace was holding Luffy's hand, and his tightened in it, the claws puncturing Ace, but only through bits of flame. "That's the mushroom monster," Tokoyami said. "It turned one of the students into a mushroom, and this was when the first blob was formed."
The room was silent, and the students gasped when they heard the horribly familiar sound, after seeing and hearing it for weeks, now. "Nglrrrghkks." They were alive. Luffy said, "That's one of the blob students. They're alive." But it was horrible news. It had been trapped in that one space for months. But they weren't dead.
Marco and Ace looked bothered by the sound. It sounded grotesque. Wet sounding, not the noises a normal human would make. The sound of the blob students faded, and more noises of creatures and the echoes of other sounds were made. Then they heard a sticky noise, and a buzzing one. Like a giant swarm of insects.
Rustling was heard, like bigger wings, or bushes moving. More sounds of water, and then another blob noise. "I would think that one was down below. Where we left one of them that couldn't climb," Tenzen said quietly. When there were two of the noises, tears fell down Tokoyami's cheeks, even if his expression was still hard.
"Tokoyami, there's two. The one you knocked down, they're alive," Luffy said softly. Tokoyami nodded, wiping his cheeks. The tears stopped, and Luffy was happy for him. He wasn't a killer. It was silent for a bit, probably as the bunny light made it up the ledge. Up and up. Slithering noises were made, but silence otherwise. That was where the blob had been spiked, and it's acidic blood burnt the guy that eventually cut his own wrists.
It wasn't alive. That was good. Well, not that it was dead, but that it wasn't suffering in a painful state all this time. The students held their breaths as they could imagine, remember the next few minutes. Where they passed the beam, and then to the door that lead them to the room where they were forced to choose who would live and who would stay behind.
But it had been teleported into Blackbeard's room. It might not be part of the pit. But there it was. The sounds of voices. It was sudden, and there were shouts of surprise. Luffy fell to his knees, and cried. They were alive. They hadn't starved or died.
"Hey! It's that light! That one that guy had! Hey, help us! Come get us!"
"We're waiting! Please, come for us!"
The whole group of survivors were so glad. At least somebody was alive. Many had perished, but there were some to pick up. Then their voices faded, and the long way up was cut off. The bunny light closed its mouth, and the recording stopped. The students cheered loudly, and Law picked up and swung Luffy around under the armpits.
"We're going! We'll save them, and bring those that are dead back!" Luffy exclaimed. The other students cheered in agreement, all filled with a drive to succeed, filled with determination and resolve. Even though those noises were horrifying and scary, they would not give up now.
Marco and Ace were smiling. "Those were creepy noises," Ace said.
Shoji said, "Those were the sounds of the second pit. Not the first one we went through." Luffy agreed, and Law brought up the fact they hadn't heard the water monster. The one that had gotten Ashido during the much less terrifying trip into the pit. Or wherever that place had been. Maybe there were two places like that.
"Okay, we're going now," Marco said, standing up and quieting the room. "Luffy, you will guide Bay to the spot to enter. Do you remember it clearly?" The smallest in the room nodded. "We will all stay close and together. Put these on," Marco commended, and they all put helmets with flashlights and go pros on them. "We're setting up a camp at the edge of the pit. Bay will teleport the remains and the deformed students there as we continue on. Until we make it to the survivors.
"If anyone starts to panic, we will remove you immediately," he finished.
Tatami, the only girl and the one who lucked out to get out, said, "We're prepared for this. We have been for months." The others nodded. They had trained with their new quirks well enough to be completely ready. Luffy merged with Dazzy, and they had the other lights that would lead them.
Shoji changed his body completely, with Tokoyami coating himself in the black lights, Dark Shadow at the ready as well. Tatami used her hands to cover herself, Law and Tenzen in the light. There was a limit of how many people she could do that to. "Like this, none of us will be affected by the surroundings. Marco, Ace, Bay, prepare yourselves. You'll feel nauseous, but I won't take them out and risk anything," Luffy said firmly. He had his remaining enter the three heroes. "Don't get hurt. Stick close to us."
Ace smiled proudly. Sabo didn't know of their mission. He wasn't coming along. They all touched Bay, and were at the edge of the pit. Ace looked at it in worry. "Ready?" Marco asked them all. They could only tell one another apart with the colors and size. Their features were gone but for the eyes, which were just a bright white.
They could still use their senses, but the features were gone, their bodies simplified. "Now," Luffy said, and Bay teleported them to where Luffy imagined. The nine of them were in the pitch black space, their flashlights not helping much, but their glowing bodies illuminating everything. Nobody would bend down.
They followed their memory, sticking together, nobody bending down at all, or going higher. They weer searching this plane for the blob and other student that were turned into mushrooms. Their bodies would be taken back. There was also one that had been locked inside, through the door.
They searched for her, and Luffy could smell blood. "This way, there's blood that way," he said, pointing to the left. They walked in a group, all glowing. The three adults looked a bit ill, but nobody was letting them out of this light form.
The group found the body of the girl who had been trapped here. She had half of her body gone, ctearly bitten off. Half of her face was a bloody, disfigured mess. A claw had dragged down her face. "Oh, god," Ace said. The students stayed silent, and Luffy asked if Bay could get her out of here.
She nodded, and when her foot touched the body, she was brought to the camp at the edge, up on the surface. They all heard the rumbling growls that they'd heard over the recording. It was the spore monster. They didn't try to run, all confident their lights would save them. The creature ran at them, but went right through their wispy and intangible bodies.
Hero came out and fought it and scared it off by burning one of it's mushroomy legs off. He then took the lead, smelling for the bodies. Law's light power was the only one that didn't allow him to fuse into a light. But it didn't matter right now, anyways. Their colorful lights illuminated the figures covered in mushrooms, and solidified into statues, crusty and hardened.
They couldn't see the faces, but saw he was holding the blob, that just looked like a lump of fungus. They were long dead. Bay touched them, and they were gone. They followed the path they all remembered running. It had so many foot prints from their fleeing. It felt like a life time ago, but also like it all happened the day before.
But they'd all grown in this time. Nobody was panicking. Nobody had a flashback, nobody shed any tears. They just continued on stoically. When they came to the wall, it was where a path had been. "It's a deadend."
"Not for us, now," Tokoyami said. They just heard the sounds of other creatures advancing on them when they walked through the wall that had cruelly cut off one who was about to make it. Her hand was laying on the stone floor.
"Beware, you're going to see the first blob student," Law said, speaking to the three who hadn't seen them before. The light people advanced, and they heard the weird noises that came with the blobs. "Ngghlack," it sounded. Ace put his hand to where his mouth should be. Marco and Bay gasped.
Ace asked, "Th-this was a student?"
"Yeah," Luffy said. He then addressed the blob, that was making more, insistent noises. Maybe it could tell it was going to be rescued. "We're here for you. We're sorry we took so long." It made more wet, sticking sounds.
Bay was understandably hesitant to touch it before she tapped it with her foot, sending it to the surface. "Bay, we're going to teleport again," Luffy said, and they all joined hands. She brought them to where Luffy visualized. They were on top of the ledge, and bats and slithery creatures advanced on them. But they didn't harm the intangible beings, still covered in the lights. The bats flew through their heads, and the slithering creatures went right through their feet.
They came across two blobs. A pink one and a purple one. The previous had been green. They truly didn't look like they'd ever been humans before. They made the slick noises, and it could maybe be seen they were excited. Luffy said, "We've come," and again apologized for taking so long.
They couldn't move on their own, only bounce like jello would. They were made of fatty, wet bubbles. Truly, disgusting blobs. Ace was disgusted still. Bay touched them, and they were gone. Luffy said they would be coming upon an illusion soon. They did, walking through the familiar room until they came across the corpse of one of the blobs.
They could see the puncture wounds from the spikes. If only they hadn't killed her. He remembered this one had been a girl who wanted to stay behind and be rescued. That her friends were dead, and she could still hear their screams. The floor beneath her was damaged from the acidic blood. Bay tapped the lumpy corpse, eyes wide open and hazy. They had no eye lids it seemed.
"That should be the last of the blobs, I think," Shoji commented, the other students affirming this from their own memories. They walked forward, now hurrying faster. All that was left were the normal looking students. The two live ones and three dead ones. The one that slit his wrists, and the two who had played rock paper scissors to get out.
One of them had his neck broken and the one that had done it had killed himself via axe. They found the wall, and hurried inside, through it like ghosts. The room was like a normal human place. The two living teens who had said they didn't want to live anymore shouted in relief, so happy they were being rescued.
The heroes and students made themselves normal again, and the three adults all vomited all over the floor. Nobody cared and they hurried to the living pair. The three dead students had been covered with sheets. Tokoyami apologized to them for taking so long. "You're here now. That's all that matters." It was the sticky hand girl, eyes wide and full of tears.
Marco looked at the three bodies covered in sheets sadly. Two had blood all over them, and the other didn't. Bay frowned at them sadly, and teleported them to the rendezvous place. "Let's get the hell out of here," Ace said, and the two living students, the only living one remaining that weren't inhuman blobs now grabbed onto them, and all of them went to the surface.
-x-
They all let out relieved sighs when they were outside again. The two living ones cheered loudly about being out. But Luffy hurried to where the blobs were. All three of them… they were dead. He crouched down, and started to cry, hands shaking. They only saved two, instead of five. The five living ones.
"It looks like they could only live in the pit," Marco said sadly. "Well, what kind of quality of life would they have had?" he asked. Ace hugged Luffy from behind, saying it was okay, and that they were in a better place now. They weren't trapped in the pitch dark inside imobile bodies. Though they didn't know who they were. All they were was fatty skin, not even any clothes or anything to identify them on anymore.
"Please, let's get out of here," the sticky hand girl begged, her meek partner nodding quickly. He hadn't said anything the whole time. They all formed a group, and teleported back to the Whitebeard office they came from. They had everyone there.
The expedition had been a success, as nobody died, they were all safe. But they'd failed three of the living ones. Though Luffy had to agree with Ace. What kind of life would they have in those bodies? The room was full of crying kids, in relief. They'd retrieved those that they could. Nine corpses, one half eaten, three of them blobs, two of them mushroom statues, and three dead, full body students. Then there were the two living ones.
They fell asleep immediately, like they hadn't slept at all all this time. Ace and Marco laid both of them down on couches and then looked at the assortment of bodies. Luffy didn't want to know what would happen to them later, he wanted to move on. And though they couldn't recover many of the bodies that had perished into nothing when they climbed the spider webs, they got out who they could. It was all they could do. They'd done what they could to atone for their heartless actions, leaving them behind instead of fighting the monster to keep those as mushrooms alive.
Luffy and Law hugged, Law rubbing circles into Luffy's back in comfort. "We did it," Law sighed. "We can move on from this, and not have it haunt us anymore. We've done all we possibly could, we have no responsibility anymore." Luffy nodded against his boyfriend's chest, wiping his tears and snot on Law's hero costume. He didn't care.
Ace hugged Luffy next. "I'm proud and impressed with all of you. You were so confident and calm."
Tenzen said, "We would never fall victim to that hell again. We defeated it, and we would do it as proudly as we can." They nodded in agreement, how all of them had felt. Luffy was no longer crying, and took off the helmet, unclipping the go-pro and watching the footage. It really captured everything they'd come across. Now the world had some idea about what was in the pit, and that nobody ever wanted to go to that place.
Everyone went home, exhausted, but the others students vowed to stay in touch with the four from UA. Sabo drove Luffy and Law home, Luffy finally explaining the mission in detail, wile Law was sleeping in his seat. Sabo was enranged that he wasn't part of the mission, but was just so happy his brothers were safe, and Luffy could finally move on from the event.
They dropped Law off, Luffy waking him up. "Get some sleep, okay? I'll call you later. I love you," Luffy said quietly. Law smiled and kissed him sweetly, returning the sentiment with loving eyes.
"We did it, Luffy. We're not tied to there anymore." He turned around and both of them saw the students that were dead from the pit, standing in Law's driveway. They were all whole, and smiled before fading away. Luffy had no idea how that was possible. Their bodies were out of the pit, but he could only assume it was the universe's way of telling them they could move on from the hell.
Sabo brought Luffy home, and he fell asleep in the car. He was carried inside and tucked into his bed. Sabo briefly explained what had happened, not going into detail about where they went, but that their mission was over and all of the dead bodies had been recovered. Makino said she didn't want to know, but just was happy that the mission was over and in the past.
When Luffy woke up, he ran out of the room, to his mom, who said, "It wasn't a dream. You have brought back what was left of those you had to leave behind." Luffy hugged her, sobbing like the child he looked like he was, gripping Makino's dress while he fell apart. She sat with him on the couch, and rubbed his ears while he cried.
The teen vowed that this was the last time he'd ever cry about the pit and what it had done.
-x-
Everyone in class were so shocked and happy about the fours' mission to recover and rescue the bodies. They had access to the footage taken, and showed them what they had had the fortune to not see. To not be stolen away and taken to that hell hole. The girls were shocked and horrified of the place.
Even the guys were freaked out by all of the monsters there, and they saw the blob students. "That's why you never wanted to talk about it," Sero said softly. "That was literal hell."
"Yeah. But it's all behind us now!" Luffy said happily. Zoro and Sanji were grinning, and Midorya looked uneasy, not understanding how on earth they could have gone back to that place when it looked like that. Much of the class was in awe of the four. But now their next big, unanswered question was how they all had light powers.
That, they would never, ever share. The contents of the mission were classified, so nobody outside this class, the few foreign students and the Whitebeard agency knew of their methods of survival. How they all had light powers. Nobody would know the origins of those abilities. It was to protect themselves, not something they'd done, not something they didn't want to remember.
Besides, it wasn't like they had any answers if anyone were to ask. Nobody knew of the drugs they were given, nor how many were in the same boat. That would be an unanswered mystery, even to those at the center of it.
The nightmare was over and done with, and Luffy could move on and forward into a successful future, because he would make sure he was a successful hero, alongside his friends and family. And Law, of course. He wanted to be with his for as long as he'd have him.
"I'll always have you," Law murmured into Luffy's shoulder when he brought it up at his house, Law finally meeting Makino, with the mother already adoring the bigger faupta.
"Aww, so cute," Shanks said from the hallway. Law scowled and shut the bedroom door, both hearing laughing from the other side. Luffy smiled, liking Shanks even though he could be annoying sometimes. But Makino loved him like Luffy loved Law, so that was all that mattered.
Law returned to the bed, laying back down on his stomach next to Luffy to watch the movie they'd started. "I love you."
"Love you more," the deeper voice said sincerely.
The End
