Chapter 19

"Memento Mori"

Black had an interesting look on her, given her quirk. Making her seem less like a woman in mourning and more like a darkly dressed queen. There were few things she could do, it seemed, that didn't make her seem regal with that gold skin.

She hated it sometimes.

Sunshine had made it back to UA, her phone had been exploding with messages. From UA, from the staff at UA, from Aizawa, and a handful from Alarice herself. The matters she had to attend to had been too serious and grievous for her to answer any of them. She stood in the meeting room with the small furry rat, and a dark shadow who hadn't bothered to say anything to her in the corner.

Probably waiting like the jackal for its prey to die so he could pull it apart for answers.

"I apologize, I had to deal with another emergency at the same time." Sunshine said quietly to Nezu, trying to read the furry mammal's response to that. That something else besides her job and goddaughter was more important. "I.. found my missing sidekick. That had..that took priority sir. I was looking for him, and I found him yesterday evening, just after Stone's incident."

"Ah" Nezu responded. "I understand." He nodded his head, and Sunshine wondered if he really did. Nezu wasn't one to fool around with, the rat's High Specs were no joke, and she was sure he knew what was up already. "I assume that situation is largely resolved then, and you'll be able to talk to your goddaughter?"

Sunshine could only nod, as he continued.

"UA changed to a boarding school for the sake of safety of its students. I would rather not restrict the kids any more than absolutely necessary so I have decided to go ahead with having their IDs being tracked. However its best if they don't all know about this temporary measure." Nezu paused for a second to drink a little bit of tea. "That said, boarding school we are, but you are her family. I can't tell family how to behave, but Stone has had her own string of tough times as of recent, and it would be advisable for you talk to her. As her godmother."

It was certainly odd having your boss tell you to go talk to your 'kid'. Sunshine nodded and took a step to leave.

"Also, Miss Sunshine, Please trust us and communicate more with us on these things. Part of our agreement is that you work here for UA and she gets to take classes here. Please remember that before you disappear again."

Sunshine swallowed hard, and headed out of the room with a polite bow and apology again. Heading to the dorms at a brisk pace, before Aizawa made some appearance and questioned her. She'd had enough of questions today. Not to mention with her sour mood, the last person she wanted to talk to was Aizawa. He was clearly suspicious of her, and the last thing she wanted to deal with after finding Prometheus, was more questions, specifically from Aizawa.

She was far too busy now, being Alarice's godmother. She greeted the kids in the common area casually, waiting for Alarice to come down and meet her, so they could speak privately in her room. Alarice was quick to fill her in on the details, once they were upstairs, rubbing her arm between statements and generally looking flustered about what had happened with Parasus. The younger of the two Stones had never been very good at talking about her older sister's antics.

"Surprising that she came to see you, after that fight you two had." Sunshine offered as she finished, her tone somber and not at all surprised. It was bound ot happen, they were siblings after all.

"I know." Alarice added quietly, not knowing what else to add. "I should have known when she invited me to lunch, away from the school, that she was up to something."

"Yes..." A long pause spread out from there, Sunshine, remaining where she was, and looking around the room in silence. An awkward sort of silence settled between goddaughter and godmother. "You didn't want to go with her?"

"N-no, I didn't, I just... didn't think it was right, and we put so much effort into getting me here that I didn't want to turn my back on that." Alarice shifted nervously, unsure of what Sunshine was getting at. "and I.. I still want to be a Hero."

Sunshine looked at her goddaughter, and the way she fiddled with her hair before looking up with the worlds creepiest puppy dog eyes. Guilt hitting her some where in her chest for feeling that. Everyone assumed that the dark sclera and white eyes came from her father, but no, these eyes, they were from her mother. Every time Sunshine saw them, all she could think about, was Miranda, and of course... death. Seeing them be 'puppy eyes' was disturbing in a way she couldn't describe.

It would actually be cute if they had been Jonthan's crystal blue eyes.

The sound of the wind outside hit the windows hard, as the two girls said nothing. Finally, Sunshine asked; "What if... it was safer to be with her?"

"what?"

"Hypothetically, what if it was safer, to be with Parasus, than here?" Sunshine asked, fixing her gaze to the wall upon answering.

"She smashed my face into a pole! I had a minor concussion! My nose was broken!" Alarice nearly barked back at her, face turning red from her outburst. She calmed down again. "e-even if she was right, she...Shes... "

She stopped, hearing Sunshine cry for the first time in a while, and was shocked to see tears rolling down the older woman's face. "Alarice." She started, having a hard time with the heavy words. "Prometheus is dead."

"w-what?" Alarice's voice was quiet. "but...he can't be..."

"He is." Sunshine added curtly, shocking the wide eyed teen. Her voice came out bitter, as she continued to speak. "I didn't answer yours, or your teacher's texts, because I was busy cleaning his blood off of my clothes."

She knew Alarice was staring at her, trying to find words, probably wanting to know what else there was to know. "He was found, in one of the nearby forests, chewed in half. As if he'd been eaten by wild animals. Its the same method the people who have been hunting, and killing hell-hounds have left some of their victims. Tooth marks on the spine were consistent with some of the bite marks on previous victims."

"They killed him.. and ate him?" Alarice's legs were shaking ever so slightly but Sunshine turned her head away from her.

"He was still alive, when they ate him." Sunshine was aware vaguely that she was staring into the middle ground, no where in particular. Seeing the sight she had seen the previous evening.

"How do you know…? I mean... maybe." Tears were sliding down Alarice's face, too.

"Exsanguination was his cause of death." Sunshine was looking at Alarice now. "That means he bled to death."

Alarice didn't know what to say, or how to say it even if she knew what, she just stood there, hands gripping her shirt tightly. Tears running freely down her cheeks.

Sunshine wiped at her face, with a tissue. She turned to leave, unconsciously avoiding the unspoken request from her goddaughter as she shifted away. "Thank you Alarice, for letting me talk, and I...am sorry." She headed for the door slowly, contemplating what else to say before she left. "I'm sorry that Hell-hounds are like this." And she left.

Alarice's legs finally gave out once Sunshine was gone, collapsing onto the floor, left to her own misery and pain. Curling up on the floor, before finding her bed to rest her head on, and muffle herself. Crying over the loss, and hurt feelings. The death of one close friend brought back memories of the loss of mother, and she cried for her too again.

After an hours worth of crying Alarice found herself hiccuping a little, and sniffling, laying half on her bed and half off. One of her knees had begun aching during this period but she hadn't moved to alleviate it. Thumping from downstairs finally inspired her to go downstairs and see her dormmates. With a stop at the bathroom first, to clean off the snot and dried tears. She looked at herself in the mirror, now she just looked more like their homeroom teacher.

"Heya 'Rice!" chimed Denki from his spot on the couch, waving at her to get her attention. She sort of stumbled over before settling behind the couch and leaning over the back. "Hey, is something eatin' you?"

"No. I'm fine." She answered, her voice must have come out colder than intended because not only did he look like he didn't believe her, he looked a little wounded. She let out a sigh resting her chin on the edge of the top of the couch. "It's nothing. Really."

"All right. If you say so." He offered with a casual shrug. "Joining me on watching the weather report?"

"Sure." Though she didn't move from her spot behind the couch. There was something calming in watching the weather channel with him, occasionally Kaminari would make some comment or another but she just made non-committal noises in relation. She wondered if Jiro was around, she could use an impromptu jam session, even if what came out of her was likely to be more dark electric than anything cheerful.

"Hey Stone, I'm about to try out some candied bacon, you want a try too?" Sato announced, pulling the raw pig meat from the fridge. She took way too long to answer, she could tell, even though he didn't stop his prep work to wait for her answer. Instead she surprised all of them by getting up.

"No, sorry, I'm not hungry." She mumbled out, heading back to the stairs, over correcting in steering clear of Bakugo's person. Despite doing it to avoid his own eccentric behavior, not being up for dealing with it. She didn't stay to see what they thought of her near shoulder slam into the wall.

She did not return downstairs for the rest of the day, and answered her phone in single word answers. A brief up-beat to her day was the E-mail she received from her dad, telling her that his phone had been stolen, and he was getting a new one soon. That was about all she could be bothered to do, before she fell asleep on her bed.

Monday was an uneventful class-time though she didn't feel like eating all day, and she would barely remember it later. She managed to slip under the radar of reminders since she largely stayed on-task all day.

Though her dreams were not kind to her, Monday night.

Her dreams were rough, but this was not news. It was a running joke in her family almost. They were 'werewolves', so their dreams were sometimes the stereotypical werewolf dream. Running wild in the woods, or grasslands, hunting. Taking in the smell of freshly torn up earth, wood, grass, some flower in the distance, and the coppery twinge of blood. The metallic and sweet taste of meat and blood, raw and fresh. Sometimes, if the dreams were particularly strong, there really was a lingering smell, not just the idea of them smelling.

Thusly it was not new to be running, full pelt, clearing leaps with ease this night in her dreams. The smells were strong this time, and she was thrilled to be on the hunt again. Elation in her heart with each leap, and intake of breath as she bounded around the trees. She was gaining on her prey, and she could see it now!

It was an old woman she was hunting.

That was new.

She woke slowly with a dizzy, nauseated feeling upon emerging from her dream. Not to mention she felt wet, her shoulders her legs, she felt wet all over, and cold. Covered in cold sweat for sure, but when she tried to inhale through her nose she knew that was a mistake. She felt blood run down the back of her throat. She must have hit her nose in her sleep, not unusual, but the nosebleed's extensive amount was.

It was all down her front and, looking back, it was streaked all over her pillow, too. Much of it was dried, and as she touched her face, she realized that a considerable amount was dried there, and in her hair, also. The shock of it had her nearly falling onto the floor, and when Alarice stood up, she was hit with immense vertigo. Tottering she barely acknowledged the blaring alarm, stumbling past it. Heading for the bathroom, only to puke into the toilet as soon as she got to it.

It was red and brown.