These Stones We Skip

by miraimisu

Uraraka, as a newcomer to the most powerful guild in this forsaken village, had not only one, two; but three responsibilities: grow stronger until she was able to pin the world down, untangle the mystery that her past was and survive under the eyes of a crowd that watched over her as night chased the sun, the charade going on and on until the thread... suddenly snaps. [MEDIEVAL!AU]

8. C h ă p t r 1 5

She's in love with him, right? She loves him. Like tide crashing against the seams, Uraraka had found herself falling from heaven into a pitch dark world of confusion, obsidian doubt and tremor rushing through her veins. To her, it was like blinking, except how she was painfully aware of every bat of her eyelashes, and above all, his.

Uraraka didn't known how long they stayed in that embrace, but once they eventually parted she knew something had changed. It had been a mistake, like a tree falling in the silence of the forest where there was no one to witness it.

It felt weird, loving him like this. Thinking of their hug and the reminiscence of the feeling of his arms around her made her heart flutter uncomfortably, yet it wasn't that much of an unpleasant feeling either. If anything, she felt warmth coiling in her belly at this emotional feeling that sent her heart soaring. Maybe, she had felt this way before. Deep inside, she knew she had felt this way for longer than forever.

Yet she knew these feelings were doomed from the start — him being a leader and her being in charge of an important mission: unwrencking the havoc that was coiling in this world. It was a good idea to tell the guild to go with her — yet she knew this was her mission. After so much contact with such a suspicious individual like Aizawa, it only felt right she ended up facing him in the end.

She had a gut feeling that pointed at the mysterious man that had created the monstrosity as the havoc upbringer, the one that almost killed her— the key to finding her strength, like turning around a corner in a packed street and being met with an empty avenue and there was no way back into the main road. All the could do was go with her life and first untie all loose ends regarding the Jirou clan. She couldn't start building a house from the roof.

And even when she had all reasons to go defeat Aizawa for creating RampAge — the monster who killed Bakugou's mother, and almost Uraraka herself — she knew she had to wait for the pieces to be in line, and also get stronger. In the ways Aizawa hadn't gotten to her and Shinsou said all was going according to plan, it was as if they were already waiting for her— maybe to realize, maybe to make a move, maybe to walk the path that was absolute and undeniable.

It was as if, indeed, everything was going according to plan, to what fate wanted. It made her feel like nothing but the fool, a marionette, a pawn in someone's performance and game. It was ridiculous. Like they knew she'd fall for it and they were waiting for her to take the wrong step. She was no fool, though.

Yet, regardless, Uraraka couldn't help but feel nothing was so black and white. It was a clash of ideologies: fatalism versus hope. She didn't know which was the right way, but maybe everyone (the whole world) was waiting for her. The planet seemed to somehow spin around her sometimes, and it made her feel ever so lonely. Perhaps Bakugou would have been able to fix that.

Alas, she couldn't give in to this when she knew she'd end up betraying him again and leaving. If he had been so upset over her leaving, she would never forgive herself for inflicting this same pain, this same blister again. Maybe she wouldn't live after the chaos to find peace in her heart, and let the sunflowers bloom again.

Uraraka wouldn't let this love grow. She couldn't allow herself to be loved and love back, if he corresponded her feelings — which of course he didn't, feelings seemed to be silly for him — a shallow thought, yet very likely. Therefore, she wouldn't need to worry about breaking his shattered heart asunder, for she never held the hammer to start with.

She'd forget about it all and leave when the time came. These feelings would fade away soon if she didn't pay attention to them. It was painful to know that this love was something she couldn't allow herself to act on.

But she'd get over it, leave, get stronger, and be gone forever.

"So, an assassin, huh?"

Her mind slowly landed back on Earth upon hearing Midoriya speak her name from under her. She had been standing before him as he sat on the comfy couch of the hall in the residence. His hands clutched the fabric of her dark cloak, staring at the small pin on her uniform, attached to one of the ends of her brown corset. It was a simply red and black blaring symbol, one resembling a moon as Shinsou had explained.

She gingerly touched the pin she could only name as a round thing with two creepy colors. In her defense, she hadn't really gotten to carry out any assassinations, in contrast to the many Shinsou had allegedly carried out while being the leader of Grinning Blade. It was a scary thought, one that had put a damper on their cooperation more than once but she had had to let the violin strings snap free, and just let her judgement flee from her mind and focus on her tasks.

Their master had insisted that those pins and accreditations would give them better and quicker access to whatever place they needed to go. Uraraka thought it was just badass. She had barely gotten to use it before Shinsou would gently brainwash the heck out of them. She rarely got to do the dirty work but when she did, she was probably impatient or angry. Which was a rarity of its own.

"It's not as menacing as it seems." spoke she gently. A ray of light shimmered on the sleek surface of the medal. "We have blood on our hands, but we aren't some kind of maniacs. Not the type some of you consider us to be."

Midoriya's face contorted into one of worry and startlement at her brash way of saying things but honestly, could he blame her? They hadn't been exactly kind to her in many ways. They had been welcoming, sure, but Yaoyorozu had warned her about how everyone still held that little grudge over her after her staged runaway, but she wouldn't complain. She hadn't exactly done much to gain any of what little she was getting.

"I assumed you had been getting some serious training. You have gotten tough, Uraraka." the green-haired leader shared a tender smile. "I'm glad to have you on board again."

He was cautious enough to not mention for how long he'd expect her to be there and that put her on edge. As an eloquent leader it wasn't in him to conceal his thoughts yet he seemed to be just cooperating for the sake of the mission. Some things would need lots of work to polish. "It's good to be back." and she left it at that, knowing that Midoriya knew her and could easily fish the words out of her.

She had already lost count of how many times she had said that same line, it felt overly repetitive and it was nagging on her more than it should. At times, seeing the emotional drain this supposed, she wondered if it was really worth staying around for. She would always remember afterwards that these were only the first days and that she had a mission and yes, she would always snap back to her rightful self… but the negative feelings she had felt back when she was rightfully there came back in tidal waves of disappointment and confusion.

Uraraka fumbled a bit with her small badge. It usually acted as a reminder of how far she had gone to get that small achievement. Aizawa had made them both go through the regular procedures to get the badge from the government. Considering the complicated but fruitful relationship between her master and Gunhead, the General had probably overlooked Uraraka's now "dark" side considering she was under Aizawa's wing.

A side that looked gloomier on Gunhead's end and made her think of what stuff her master had to do with a now corrupt general— but for her part of the story, she'd let it pass.

The thing is her side wasn't dark. it was different. She refused to let the dark side concept sink in because it was just wrong to her. She wasn't doing anything wrong by siding with the man Bakugou hated the most. It was for everyone's sake, despite whatever intentions they had for her. She could dodge that side of the contract if she was cautious. They acted like she was exactly doing what they wanted to a point she barely knew which side she was choosing— was there any side, even?

What were the limits of good and evil beyond appearances?

The sound of the door creaking open startled Uraraka and, again, made her snap out of it. She was focusing too much on those feelings lately. The sound of rain was somewhat getting closer to her.

Speaking of feelings, not only did Yaoyorozu, Todoroki and Mina walk in. That coarse captain of hers also strode in and Uraraka's back stiffened to the maximum degree. She was, as she said, becoming aware of her own existence now that he was there to hinder all of it. "Good morning guys!"

Yes, that sounded natural. The key was to not make evident there had been a change. She had to be natural, like apples. She had to be a ripe apple, fresh and clean from the tree and rolling around like she always had. Naturally. Simply. Being her collected yet upbeat self. That's right. Be an apple.

Uraraka rolled her shoulders to shrug the stress off. Mina came from behind and gave those shoulders of hers a little rub. "Tough night?"

The blonde leader with the burning eyes of wine didn't regard her much, just strode in to Midoriya's side to, this once, talk to him like he actually meant to be serious. He didn't look that well either, was he having sleeping problems? The world seemed to only revolve around them both and she both hated the addicting sight of him, and loved that delicious murderous feeling coiling at her belly.

The sorcerer slanted her palms on top of Mina's, and turned around with a small smile. "Yeah, tough indeed." Mina's hands were still on her shoulders, ignorant of the conversation going on behind them. While Uraraka was probably one of the main drivers of the operation, she felt so out of it at times like these. Uraraka curled her arms around Mina's shoulders and hugged her close. The familiar feeling of her comforting hugs was alluring and hypnotizing. "I didn't get to greet you properly the other day."

The archer hugged her close as well, smiling giddily. The door opened again behind them. "I'm so glad you're back, sis. Flowers didn't seem to bloom without you."

Uraraka giggled, warm air surrounding her as she spoke and took in the sheer love and fondness Mina seemed to transfix. "They do take a long time to bloom, don't they?" answered the brunette calmly, jovially, as of this conversation had happened somewhat before—

"Yeah, I hope you..."

Both of them froze, Mina's words trailing off as the sorcerer's eyes widened and her grip on the archer weakened a notch. Mina seemed to realize this oddity too and looked at her with wide eyes, too, mirroring their expressions. That phrase… they had said it before. Whatever rain she had felt from before was getting closer as a fuzz entered her ears and, suddenly, she didn't know where she was anymore.

The archer's brows crinkled in confusion. She had said that phrase, too. Where, though, and most importantly, when?

"Oi, Uraraka, come here for a second!"

For the upteenth time Uraraka snapped out of her reverie and gave her friend a nervous smile, leaping away to the leaders' side. People around her seemed to be getting ready and in the lapse of time she had been staring at the void of her memory and Mina's eyes, people had gathered around. The air was packed of voices and encouraging chatter. Everyone seemed excited, yet alarmed by the recent discoveries surrounding the very same government that loomed at every corner of the room.

Nobody knew what was happening yet was painfully aware of what could happen. The wood creaked with every step she took. "What is it?"

Bakugou merely nodded at her in acknowledgement, and she reciprocated the gesture while Midoriya explained. "You have been around this place for a bit longer than us. Do you know of any suspicious or off-limits places downtown?"

He was showing her a small map of the circular Capital, and she observed it with a finger curled around her chin. The sensation of everyone collectively holding their breaths was excruciatingly tense. "I wouldn't say so. The city has been pretty tame when it comes to security and stuff these days inside the town as we talked yesterday."

"We are looking for some kind of entrance around the town that can lead to the underground facility we talked about." explained Todoroki. His eyes were focused on the map, tracing some shapes on the paper. It only reminded Uraraka harder of the issue they had talked about the day before.

Yaoyorozu walked in right then and crossed her arms. She was intelligent enough to catch up with the topic at first glance and hearing. "I'm guessing they have their entrance in the actual building of the Council. It shouldn't be a blaring entrance."

Bakugou shook his head, focusing as well on the houses and buildings that were traced on the paper. His arms were crossed in vexation. "That ain't it. We're guessing there's some other kind of emergency door that wouldn't stand out much to other authorities. The actual town is their playground, so why not put a rat door around somewhere?"

Uraraka drew a conclusion quickly. "What about the sewers?"

"We already discarded that one. We have been looking around there too in case we found anything related to the Jirous, like a secret lair or something." Midoriya shook his head and sighed. "We left empty-handed."

"But maybe if you look around again you will find something else— wasn't there any door or anything like that?"

Todoroki shook his head. "Nothing really. But maybe it's worth checking out again. We need to cover as much field as possible." the knight crossed his arms in silent pondering. Everyone looked at the map like it was the naughtiest criminal on Earth. "Still, when we sent the last troop of people, nobody found anything other than a door for management purposes. The sewers were empty."

"It's still the nearest and most useful net to what could be the underground facility." spoke Midoriya slowly. Her bottom lip was trapped between her pearly teeth. Uraraka did the same without even looking. "It wouldn't surprise me if there was some kind of passage between the surface and the undergrounds. If there isn't, then this passage must lay somewhere aside from the sewers' infrastructure."

The girl frowned at the lack of a map of the sewers, which she guessed they either didn't have or hadn't bothered to do. "You guys got no map of the sewers, do you?"

Of course, Bakugou instantly thought she was doubting them, but could read between the lines and knew she didn't mean it that way. The tone of offense showed through his words regardless. "Oi, the sewers aren't that intricate. We haven't made a map because we don't need one— it's just a circular section with a fuckton of water and waste metal lying around the place."

"It's a perfect way to hide a lair that big though!" argued Uraraka. The leader growled at her fit of rebellion and gave her a nasty side-eye. But it didn't look like the same kind of regression they had been going through, always taking a step forward to take two back, the circle of hatred becoming endless. Instead, it was more of a 'why can't you follow my lead' side-eye. Not aggressive, just like a lament. "It's very hidden in plain sight, just like all those guards!"

"The Jirou clan seems to have a speck of class— you really think they'd put a passage so bluntly when they are a fuckton of people? How stupid can you be?"

Todoroki, sensing there was some kind of argument coming, slanted a hand on Bakugou's shoulder to appease him, yet Uraraka wasn't done. She knew he wasn't that stupid to harm an actual peer now that she was confirmed to be one, unlike before. Uraraka could still feel the scar his axe had left on her shoulder, and she gripped it promptly.

The scarlet tears had fallen from her wounds slowly as her sight faded away. The clear sky had always greeted her sight — when Bakugou almost killed her yet then healed her, when she had almost drowned at the river, twice, and when RampAge had ended her life.

A blue, cloudless sky had shined above her through the waters, through the blood, through the frost. She had dazedly stared at the heavens opening the gates for her with lidded eyes, mouth agape, before she was robbed of that release. Yet, just before blacking out, she would always hear the distant drizzle of the rain and cloudy skies— ripples on the water, clacking on the ice, wetness on her skin diluting the blood. It was like a split world full of lies.

But she knew that the blistering wine in his eyes was no lie. And she could always bark back at him. "I am giving an idea. We can always roam around the town and search or at least have a clue on where to search more intently."

"Did you think I didn't have that idea?"

Before the always cooperative but now forward Uraraka could respond, Midoriya stepped between them — none of them two had noticed they had, yet again, gotten closer to each other — with an urgent look. Midoriya also assumed they would end up brawling again in the middle of the hall. Nobody was aware of the small development from last night. She didn't know if she liked it that way, so secretly. Perhaps he wanted to keep the peace he had found between them a secret to not let people know he could let up and soften the slightest bit.

Man. Bakugou sure was stubborn. He did look like the kind to keep his appearances in face of the public— not meaning he was a total softie, but he wasn't that tough either.

Midoriya's words came to her ear while Bakugou and her had a stare showdown. Intensely. She was always willing to cooperate, but she also wanted to share her ideas. There is a difference. "We had thought about making a small tour around the Capital in small groups to not attract unnecessary attention. We don't want the guards to know we are sniffing around the wrong corners."

The sorcerer seemed convinced by this, and nodded quietly. Ever since Bakugou had spoken about his theory on RampAge, Uraraka was very aware of how sketchy and extreme Bakugou's measures were. She trusted his leadership, yet feared the consequences. She trusted him as a whole, had taken its time but she did trust him with her life after a long time of him threatening to crush her body under his fist. She had experienced it first hand. But she still chose to trust him instead of antagonizing him.

And it had been for the best. He calmed down after the stupid outburst and looked at her with an unreadable gaze. Was he as thoughtful about her as she was to him? Perhaps. Knowing him he'd never act on it, and just keep on building tension. His eyebrows crinkled down an inch and she gulped in response. It was all so mutual and so fucking intoxicating. Did he know what he did to her with his orders and clashing with her so intensely? Bakugou always did everything on a 100%, passionately.

Whatever he was thinking couldn't be good for her. And thus, another brick of tension was put.

The brunette got over the tension and rolled her shoulders again. Her hand remained on her shoulder. Nobody seemed to notice this oddity, she wasn't even in pain. For her, it was a mark of just how dangerous that barbarian was. "Yes, ok, the sewers. Got it. How are we going to organize the patrols?"

Yaoyorozu palmed her other shoulder, as if mentally telling Uraraka to stop fidgeting about. Was she so obvious about her distress and tension? "Jack, you and me will go together for now. I think Bakugou will go with Kirishima and Midoriya will go with Todoroki." Yaoyorozu read Uraraka's sudden urge in the way she opened her mouth to speak again and interrupted her. "Yes, we have a fixed route, and somebody will go to the sewers, don't worry. You are too urgent for your own good."

The girl noticeably deflated after her concerns had been seen to and honestly, she wasn't content yet and she probably wouldn't be content until it was all sorted out. She eyed Bakugou briefly before looking at the knight in front of her, who seemed to be waiting for her to ask anything else. Yaoyorozu saw through her like wet paper. With a smile, the sorcerer shook her head and wordlessly dismissed the girl to her affairs, which she did after a gentle nod.

It was good someone didn't need to ask her to know what she needed. Uraraka could very likely screw up with this tense air she was holding, it was sometimes a struggle to stay focused when so many things cluttered her mind. She needed to focus, be an apple, focus and roll around like she always had.

Uraraka tugged the collar of her uniform up and wiped some invisible dust off her long skirt. The tight ties around her torso made her remember how to breathe and she looked at the lonely map that they had abandoned in favor of preparing groups for the patrol. Yaoyorozu was informing Jack of it all too, and she found herself a bit lonely in that crowd of people. She assumed there wasn't much information needed to be explained, or maybe she would be told after the actual members of the guild were aware of the plan.

Uraraka sighed tiredly. She was still kind of out of the guild's business, she knew. She knew she was there to only be an extra asset, then she would be gone with the wind. It still struck a sad chord within her to see herself be put to a bit of a side, as if everyone was watching her. They had all the right to do so.

But that was not the plan for today. "Hey, Uraraka!"

She knew that voice very well, it still warmed her heart with that sheer and innate fondness it dripped. She turned around to see Kirishima coming her way, with that contagious smile of his already twisting in her own face. "What's up?"

"Has Yaoyorozu told you about the plan yet?" the brunette thought about it for a second, then shook her head. The plan had to be more complicated than 'we have a plan and will patrol around', so she assumed Yaoyorozu hadn't filled her in yet. Kirishima looked towards Yaoyorozu's way. "Jack's been increasingly busy lately and she needs a bit more filling in than the rest of us."

That seemed to be true. Before Uraraka had left the guild, she had barely talked to Jack. She hadn't seen her much either lately, excepting the tournament and a bit the day before. That girl was increasingly busy and she made a quick reminder to herself to ask later. "Yeah. Haven't seen her around much." she wondered what could be taking up so much of her time, but didn't have enough mental space to think about that.

"She's back for now, so while Yaoyorozu explains all this to her I'll do the same with you. You must be hella confused, roundface." for effect, he tugged at her bulbous skin with a toothly grin. "Still as soft."

Everyone seemed to be validating her presence with that tug of her cheeks and she was going to end up making money out of the apparently cathartic gesture. She rubbed the skin there with a small pout. "You all are getting too used to tugging at my face."

Kirishima completely ignored the comment. She pouted a bit harder. "We're gonna go around the town as close to the walls as possible, Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu have figured that judging by their moves, whatever entrance they have must be near the barriers. Should be easy. We'll be covering each other's backs as we go around the town basically covering field other groups did. We will sweep the city easily."

"By the walls? Won't that be too suspicious?"

"The Council's too busy investigating the issue with the colossus. They have the corpse as you said, don't they?" they were probably looking for ways to reuse the golems, or just plain straight scheming something worse than what happened at the tournament— that warning, that scare sent to the people so no one would rebel. Uraraka was still figuring out all loose ties of that corporate mafia. "They will have focused their security at the center of the town, there will probably be lots of instability after a monster like that barged into a secure facility."

That was a possibility, but it still baffled her they were being so blunt about everything. "I see. There are some different environments at the outskirts, right?"

The hunter nodded. "The woods with a few spare houses, the richer hills and the river's port. It's a big area to cover, and the port is gonna be a bit tougher I think. Your group is going to that area with Tokoyami's crew if I remember correctly."

"I thought it would be everyone going around town?"

"Of course, but we will be concentrating more people at the port since it's more crowded. You'll be spread, but still concentrated. It's a bigger area than you think, we've been there and barely entered the big zone with the fleet of boats. Perhaps there could be a clue as to how they export illegal items to other parts of the region."

That was interesting. The only time she had entered the port had been to ask about Midoriya and she had only been to one of the small zones surrounding the river shore. She had seen boats and boxes laying around town, and recalled the sailor's concern with fishing. Bringing a finger to her chin, it occurred to her perhaps talking to him now would prove more useful now that they had a good excuse.

"The Jirou clan could be using the Capital not only as a puppet, but also as an economical support of exportation and goods collecting. It hadn't occurred to me." she let out a low hum of thought. "Glad we were assigned that area. Yaoyorozu told me you'd be going with Bakugou."

"We work pretty well together and we know the forest area best, it's where we've been hunting for food since we took this residence. A place where we aren't supposed to be." Uraraka was visibly shocked by this and before she could ask and express her surprise, Kirishima raised an eyebrow. "Did you think the Council would let the champions stay here after knowing one of his 'spies', that being you, contacted them, who are now suspicious and you're on the loose? It's not good for them that people like us get together after such big accident, since we know more stuff than average people."

For one, they were starting to read her thoughts easily— which was dangerous when she knew lots of dark stuff (above all about their enemy, Aizawa, her master, and fuck it made her feel stressed again). And two, he made it look like she had been the one to step into this collaboration, which was… inaccurate.

Still, Uraraka nodded. "Fair, I guess. Nobody knows we are here?"

"I guess people who see the almighty champions downtown think we are staying in some private inn at the rich neighborhood. Truth is, we only got a bunch of bags of gold and gems as a prize. I'm pretty sure the tournament was organized this year to see how the guilds' power is managing in a regional standard, but not to necessarily prize it."

"Like, to gauge us? Do you think they are surveilling us and reuniting us to have us tidier?"

The redhead nodded. "I'm pretty sure they did that to concentrate all potential dangers to the organization in one place and harm us with the colossus. Like reuniting all ants and crushing them with a shoe." the sorcerer nodded, but grimaced at how heartless it all sounded but what could she expect from such a cruel guild? "It backfired, since you are with us now. They must be tense now that they know we can fight back against those golems, but it's not the same fighting one than two, and above all not when they are aggressive golems and the Council has hordes of them."

She figured that the golems Shinsou and her had seen at the dry forest area outside the barriers were either harmless or artificially crafted as token baskets for that golden chip hunt. The golems they would have to fight from now on didn't fall in that category. "I don't wanna know to what extent this organization is willing to go. Perhaps they know something about the timeline issue as well."

"I doubt they do. They don't seem to be seeking such hard answers to a thing like that, but I think we could be a step closer to achieving power to solve it, or find who is behind that."

Aizawa had created RampAge, and following Bakugou's reasoning that seemed to reign the guild's philosophy, then Aizawa was the man they were looking for. Uraraka didn't really know where that man was now, as time had passed and he would surely know things were shifting and progressing again. He had probably moved to the shadows in either her or Shinsou's proximity. Their mortal enemy could be nearby and strike, but he didn't seem to want to harm anybody directly, either. He was enshrouded in the darkness of this mystery of a personality and aspirations.

For the sake of this curiosity and wanting to unpack those ideas Shinsou seemed to deem absolute and 'bound to happen', she couldn't reveal anything. She would leave eventually to continue her hunt and track, so there was no need to involve herself any further than their common goal to take down the Jirous. Even when she was fond of everyone currently in the room. Especially a certain brazen blonde at the back.

"Let's see what we can do, then." concluded Uraraka. "How will we know if somebody found the entrance?"

"We are supposed to meet at sharp midnight in here. If a group finds the entrance, then they are commanded to go ahead and investigate. This group won't come back to base, so when everyone comes back either at midnight or earlier empty-handed, then they know where to go: to that group's area."

That sounded slow, but the most sensical option to go with. "I should group up with Yaoyorozu and Jack then. I reckon you all have plans of your own." her arms crossed and a thoughtful glance crossing her features, she started walking away. "Thanks for the information, Kirishima!"

"Don't even mention it." responded he. The fond redhead looked at the girl marching between people with a proud smile, surprised at how easy she was getting back into the swing of things. Uraraka had come in as a surprise, forced her out of her tunnel-visioned mission and helped her get back on track, their track, the one that was correct. He didn't want to ask what she had been doing all this time to gain such a capacity of focus and strength, but it wasn't his place to poke doubts in, either.

His moment of peace was interrupted by a rough, calloused hand on his shoulder. "Hey there, Bakugou. All set?"

The blond ignored the question as he usually did. "What were you two talking about?"

"Eh?" following his piercing glare, Kirishima found his leader to be throwing daggers at the charming sorcerer. "Oh. What's up with you two now?"

The other spoke through gritted teeth and a bright glare of irritation. "None of your goddamn business. I wanna make sure she doesn't go around overusing that power she has now."

"Finally admitting she has that power, are we?" again, the leader shot him a murderous glare Kirishima easily shrugged off. Bakugou had less bite than he conveyed in everyday life. He knew he had already acknowledged the girl's abilities but seeing him openly talk about it was a great feat. It must have taken her a lot to hammer that notion into his thick skull, and shed blood as well. "I was just telling her about the plan, relax, dude."

"Don't dude me, Kirishima. It's an important mission and you know that damn well." Bakugou finally tore his eyes from her to look at his subordinate in a condescending frown. "Are all teams assembled? The earlier we go, the better. Don't wanna run into state guards cluttering the streets after the uproar at the tournament."

"I think everyone is. Tokoyami and Midoriya have already parted, and the rest of the teams should do so soon. Since those two teams have to travel the furthest it kinda makes sense for them to leave earlier. Jack's team will make a normal patrol and then join the others to part the river port."

"Got it." as in cue, the latter team started moving towards the big doors of the residence, chatting animatedly to probably forget about the pressure on their shoulders. Seeing her leave, Bakugou's feet moved on his own to her as Uraraka went for the door.

It was almost fucking automatic to go to her as she shifted and, with her, he shifted too. Her hair was shining into the sunshine and her skin was glimmering with health, pale and rosy on the edges. Her new attire hugged her body like that of a valkyrie but her eyes shone like those of a lost, but happy infant. Yet when he grabbed her arm and she turned around, her eyes switched to instant alarm upon seeing him. He didn't know why that was a thing.

"Bakugou?" his hand lingered on her forearm for a bit but after seeing her confusion he slanted it on her shoulder. He was making progress. "What's—?"

"Look after how much power you use, reckless witch. We don't want any guards being attracted by your firecrackers and all that shit." Kirishima whistled in the background at Bakugou's 'soft' attitude towards her. "You're blunt as fuck, y'know."

The girl's eyebrow twitched once, twice, before she tore her arm away from his grasp. Upon his harsh tone, she rose in defense. It was almost automatic after having to fight him for so long, after each of his venomous threats. "I don't need you telling me what to do, I can manage."

"You managing is what scares me, Uraraka." he frowned at her pointedly, his inherent hidden care for her not managing to show through. It was as if all that minimum softer side he should be showing her was stuck in the knot that was forming on his throat and all he could sputter was mean words. "Just be careful with what you do."

Defenses fading when seeing he meant no real trouble, that last sentence made her melt a bit into how his eyes dim a little, and how he looked to a side as if trying to not give this importance but he had said it and that was enough. She wouldn't tease him about it, it was a step in the right direction, and it made her heart threaten to flutter. "Be careful, you too. Your explosions can be pretty loud and you tend to scream during your fights. Good luck controlling that."

He almost bellowed at her when she dared say such stupidity, yet shut up to not prove her right. He scowled hard at the smile that formed in her face and watched her wave at him in farewell. He knew she would be fine, and knew she could defend herself from any mafia melee she encountered— he had a scary amount of faith in her after all they had gone through.

It was still good to wish her luck. When she finally left his side, Bakugou turned to his companion and beckoned at him. "Let's get going, too. We'll get to the woods faster if we exit from the back door." also translating as him not wanting to follow Uraraka's track. He looked back once more when Kirishima was parting to look at Kaminari and Asui, who lunged on a sofa. "Oi! Don't take too long to get out there. We gotta get this done real fast."

The alchemist nodded silently, but Kaminari saluted him in understanding. "Aye, aye, captain!"

"Tch. Fucking moron." mumbled the leader, finally making his way out of the residence with Kirishima by his side who wouldn't can it about his issues with Uraraka.

It was gonna be a pretty long patrol.

---

Seagulls flew in the distance a few meters above Uraraka, but one in particular brushed by so fast it knocked Uraraka's hoodie off her head. The brunette pushed it on again with a small pout of frustration, not very keen on being recognized by the crowds while having such infamous reputation. She was still a member of the Purge, after all.

"This place is crowded today." said Midoriya on her side, briefly. His eyes skimmed over the amount of fishermen bellowing in the background and the merry sound of waves rocking against the port's stone shore. The river gleamed under a blaring sun, giving away sparkles of clean waters and a veiled to blue sight of the village that lay at the other side of the bay. Harbored to the shore rocked a few big ships that looked almost piratic, casting shadows over the pavestone.

The river got incredibly wide at this spot, making it a profitable place to fish. However, the Jirou family had probably monopolized this industry and was making the Capital buy the fish instead of employing fishermen, all for the monetary gain. The thing with the rude fisherman that day and the issue with buying fish made sense knowing there was an upper hand controlling absolutely everything.

It wasn't her place to meddle, though. She spoke with a clear voice. "Kirishima told me this could be a place of suspicious export. Should we check inside the ships?"

Yaoyorozu looked around the shoreline before answering. Some guards were passing by, not fishermen but actual state guards. That spoke a lot about how important this part of the business was to the real leader of the state. "I think we'd get in trouble if we even tried to bat an eyelash near them. After the ruckus at the tournament they know something is up."

There was a significant decrease in the number of guards around town, as some were most likely dealing with the prior backlash at home. Naturally there were still bulky swordsmen walking around in circles and throwing glares at suspicious scruffy men— it wasn't comfortable at all. The place was still full of ambient voices and some friendly banter, so the tension wasn't by far as noticeable. The brunette threw some glances at the ships, too guarded to not be rich in information. If they were destined to the actual main headquarters, they would have directions and maps as to where to go.

And judging by how everyone was discreetly looking at them with desire, she wasn't the only one who knew this. Midoriya didn't voice his opinion, regardless. "We could ask the employees around here for some clues on what people they have seen. Midnight could have been here making questions and asking for certain kinds of items. If they are necessary and fundamental, maybe we can find out what she would need them for."

Right, except that Uraraka was sure Midnight wouldn't come personally to such an open space like this, being the criminal she was against all eyes other than the most powerful county, which was the actual Capital. It was painfully ironic how such danger to humankind had total leeway into the government's fleet and just politics. It was all bullshit. However, Midoriya was right thinking that, because maybe some other colleague of hers had come in her stead. Somebody should have seen something, at least one person.

"Let's go around, then." said Tokoyami at the back of the group. "We are already standing out being so close and so evident. If we split up, the guards will notice us less. Other than Uraraka and Midoriya I doubt they recognize any of us."

She would have been flattered to hear that in the past but looking back, the whole Council probably saw her as a criminal on the run, and just a rogue to the rest of the population. Thankfully most fishermen weren't very keen on combat and politcs so such rough but free environment could play in her favor. "I'll go ask in the fishing hut if they have any records for trades and such, King Enji's name can help us make things quick."

After that, everyone decided they'd spread randomly across the shore, so after a few seconds the guild had dissolved to talk to fisherman like talking about the weather, leaving Uraraka alone. Now, interrogatories and the like weren't that hard for her considering that the pressure of the danger and her mission usually overpowered her shyness— but now, in such loose and jovial environment? She didn't know what to ask, because she didn't have many ways to be subtle about such secret mission like looking for the Jirou lair.

If she was loud and evident like she usually was, she'd screw up. However, what she could do was actually get to the ships.

The sorcerer feigned normality by walking a few steps away, then rushing to hide behind a stack of boxes which reeked fish. Her eyes peeped from the stack, looking at the guards march. They were walking in circular motions around the shoreline, making sure to keep their eyes looking everywhere and heavy weapons charged on their hips. The frowned, squinting at the comboy that would most likely immobilize her the moment they saw her and frankly, she could defend herself but she didn't want to make ruckus. She had to be stealthy.

But how did being stealthy work? She could float onto the boats, but somebody would definitely freak out and the guards would see her. She could sneak in, but how?

The other option was that, since she couldn't use land or air, she would have to use water but then again she didn't know how to swim. Water was her only resort left and the only clumsy, sketchy plan she could come up with was floating above it. It would drain the shit out of her but in this situation she couldn't do better. No vines for a path, nothing that could leave an impression on the land or make noise.

Stealthy. Like an apple.

Uraraka started skipping away from the shore to a higher ground full of grass, near a ship. There wasn't much of a gap between the ship and the little cliff, yet it was too big to leap to. She had to dip under the ground's level to not be seen and climb to the back of the ship. Confident in her abilities, Uraraka let herself drop to the water, but activated her zero gravity on time.

Her feet hovered an inch above the tranquil waters, fingertips pressed together. "Don't touch the water, don't touch the water, don't touch the water…" she touched the cliff's wall for a better impulse and started hovering to the ship, where she hooked a hand on a wood plank to float up now. "Don't touch the ship, don't touch the ship, don't touch the ship…"

Repeating that mantra, Uraraka eventually got on the ship's back and landed on her knees, a hand on the ground to support herself, and called her release with a sigh. Used to big entrances met with chaos, this newfound silence upon her appearance was somewhat new and pleasing to her. The door to the inside was open, not expecting visitors so soon. The sorcerer got in rather easily and frankly, if she had been met with resistance she would have just blasted it open.

Bakugou's influence was unquestionable at this point.

Uraraka walked in, looking at her sides with a quirked eyebrow, then looked ahead before closing the door behind her. The cabin was completely devoid of rooms, it was more of an empty shell with some stairs to go up to the main deck. She jumped off the small platform to the floor, careful with the dim light that streamed inside the boat. It was all dark orange, excepting for the blaring light that entered some round windows.

Squinting, the sorcerer saw boxes ahead. Her pace increased as she approached the stack of sacks and hardwood boxes piled one on top of another. There were several labels written in foreign languages and diverse colors for what she supposed to be diverse classifications, and most frighteningly, some had skulls and crosses all over their surface. The mage spared a gulp at the view and wished she had Kirishima around to open it with his strength. She could blast this open as she could with the door but she had to be stealthy.

Uraraka tried to peep an eye through the boxes' several gaps, to no avail. She gave the heavy boxes a small push to see if it would make any noise. She then realized that if this was such a dangerous ship, the contents could also be dangerous and moving them around had been a bit risky. She had to start thinking about what she did before actually doing it, act as shrewd and strategic as she was. "Think, think! Anything, just—"

Her eyes came across an opened box by the main stack, the cover very languidly pushed to a side. There was a rusty crowbar inside, as she discovered, and while she could use it to open the other boxes she feared leaving chips of rust around. Still, other good looking things lay inside the wooden structure, papers, mostly. She took them gingerly and skimmed around the cleanest ones. They seemed to be lists of requests and item orders from, indeed, a subordinate of Midnight. She had read about this man in some spare reports and small investigations from Aizawa. She knew this man.

"Signed as Commander Nezu." read she in a whisper, frowning. She had heard of this individual around the darkest of places, and he was no pushover. He was apparently one of the most intelligent men in this country and had carried out countless bounty huntings and undercover operations in several ally bases. What a coincidence Gunhead never mentioned him when filling her in.

The list included shady orders like powder, iron, a hook of gems (no idea what that meant) and a few boxes of copper and platinum, which was what she figured the boxes contained. There was nothing like bombs or anything as bold listed, yet she figured the powder was made for either rituals that needed it or maybe for explosives. The latter was the most likely candidate. Nothing new or unexpected. She left the lists right where they belonged, but took the maps and some sort of structure layouts that had been scribbled on the paper.

The brunette heard the door swing open and felt her stomach fall through her entire body, whipping her body around, staff summoned and ready to shoot before she saw the drenched and very green shape of her fellow comrade. "Midoriya! You scared the hell out of me!"

"I told you to not come here, Uraraka!" he shook the water off his hair and fanned his clothes to get the wetness off his body. The sorcerer could make a quick work about that but she was focused on other things. "What if they found you?"

"What if they discovered you, the leader of Yuuei?" fired she back. Midoriya was almost flabbergasted at the attitude, yet figured she was focused enough to be a bit stressed. He removed his gloves because they were soaked, and followed her eyes. "Look at this. It seems to be a map, and has a small note attached to it."

She handed the file to him, and the leader didn't even need two seconds to know what that location was. His eyes widened considerably. "It's Orange Forest! It was some weird arrows and commands marked on it, though. As far as I know, that location should be empty, but Hagakure and Bakugou may know more about this."

Midoriya looked at the map some more, and Uraraka, in the meantime, looked at the other papers. They were full of text and seemed old enough to be interesting for her, seeing some drawings she had seen before and what seemed to be an actual letter. She only got to see a few words, but it was enough to kind of hide the letters when Midoriya turned around to look at her.

"Anything interesting?"

Shake of her head. "Not at all."

He squinted at her, but shook his head afterwards, and beckoned at her with a concerned glare at the map. Namedly, at the note. "Look at this."

Uraraka took her eyes to the note. "Take these layouts to the General… Gunhead." spoke she. It was no longer a theory that the government was vesseled, but it was a fact now. Still, a small detail stood out prominently. "How come that this guild refers to Gunhead as general, too?"

"Good question. It makes me believe this about the evil government scheme roots deeper than we thought. He shares titles with the regular civilians and his hidden allies… this is getting more and more complex." Midoriya tucked the papers in his vest, looking around. "Do you think there could be anything else in here?"

Uraraka frowned softly, and darted her chocolate eyes around the ship. It was pretty big from inside, but small compared to other exporting boats. It was clear this shady order was meant to not be very noticed. Still, the insides were mostly empty for now. "It's still early in the day, they must not be finished charging things in here, and I have seen the list."

"What list? You mean the list of orders?" she nodded. "Let me see that."

Uraraka crouched to the box and took the list out. It took her two seconds to realize the rusty crowbar was no longer there, making a chill run down her spine. Every time she saw these anomalies happen, a dreary feeling of despair would echo in her heart, like thorns enshrouding her body. It was so cruel of the world to do that. Still, she handed the papers to him without alluding to the distortion.

Meanwhile, she had the bright idea of looking out from a window, standing on her toes. A ship at the end of the line was starting to set sail, probably already full of items. They didn't have all day to waste in there. "Midoriya, they are starting to let some ships go. They will start loading into this one soon." she let herself flop to her ankles and turned. "We have to— what are you doing?"

He seemed to be making a quick copy of all items in a small leather notebook. "This is important intel! We can reverse-track this and find out where they are hiding!"

Urgency sketched her features as she walked to a window at the front of the cabin, where she could see the port and the guards. They were bringing boxes closer to the ship, making her sweat and grimace in fear. "Be quick!" whispered she, as if the pressure would make her start screaming. "Guards are gonna come soon!"

"I got it all written down!" he dropped the list on the box a bit carelessly, and tugged at her wrist so she'd stop vigilating. "Let's go now and continue helping the others find the entrance. Can you float me to the cliff again?"

Uraraka shook her head. "Being this pressured I doubt I'll hold you steady, and people could notice seeing a guy floating around. It'll be best if you swim again." as they walked out of the cabin, the leader groaned. Uraraka couldn't help but share a smile. "You did it once, won't hurt doing it twice."

"If I get a cold I'm commanding Asui to make you find all my medicines." reprimanded the leader. He opened the door outside and a beam of sunlight shone straight into his eyes. Both warriors grimaced and closed their eyes, squinting at the small cliff by their side. He handed her the leather notebook. "I'll meet you at the stairs to the port in five minutes. If I'm not there, sharks have taken my body and you're to be held responsible for absolutely everything."

After that, he jumped, maybe afraid of her biting back. Uraraka walked to the railing and saw him fidget about, then rise to the surface and start swimming away, behind the cliff's side. It dawned on her that she had fairly important documents with her and that if they got soaked and, in this pressure she mentioned, she could wet the papers and ruin everything if her anti-gravity trick didn't work. Her staff was still in her hand, she noted, and Hatsume's explanation about how the summoning worked was suddenly very curious.

She took one of the ties of her corset and rolled it around the documents, then pushed the documents and thin notebook around the staff so they were rolled around the wood of her weapon. The bow was very tight and she prayed it would remain that way, wherever they would go. She called her staff off and it disappeared along with the documents. Again, she'd have to use her hands to do all magic, lest the enemy saw the stolen documents and notebook. It'd be much more comfortable if the documents stayed away from her body if a battle occurred.

Uraraka proceeded and did the same as before, dropping to the waters before rising again as close to the cliff walls as possible in order to not be seen. She succeeded in her mission and climbed the last bit up to not draw unnecessary suspicion, slightly spent after that. She clearly needed to gain some more muscle if they were going to face that dark clan soon. "Damn… I'm getting rusty at this."

She got on her feet and started sprinting down the cliff to meet Midoriya, just as she started hearing a sudden uproar at the port, and loud waves coming from within the ocean. The sorcerer stopped her marching to watch the runaway of the crowd unfold, and screams echo throughout the area, orbs trembling at the big monster that was emerging from within the waves. "Not now!"

A extremely pitched roar rumbled throughout the port and the mage ran quickly down the small path to the pavestone. The monster was almost twice as tall as Uraraka, a massive stingray making its way out of the river with a hunched body, fins shaking with a screech and teeth sharpened enough to bite through an entire tree. When she made it there, the guards were already evacuating the zone with booming commanding voices— yet none of them were attacking the creature.

Still, she could see an ice gem shining on the creature's chest, hidden in grime and some skin. Of course they didn't want them to see or theorize the true nature of this monstrosity, keeping the crowds and civilians silent and blind to the truth was safer than any monster execution. Yaoyorozu and Jack were already facing the creature, which stared at the crowd like a starving man at a three-course meal.

"It's a golem... but it's not human." stated Jack, frowning, a hand pressed on the whip at her wide and another tugging at the purple fabric of her armor. "They are using the properties of the gem to turn that animal into an untamable monster. This is getting out of control."

Jack's words were incredibly sharp. No wonder she was so missed around. Tokoyami had drawn out his sword. His shadow couldn't emerge due to the excess of sunlight, but he could defend whoever he needed to for now. Despite his differences with Uraraka, her profession, and possibly her range by now, the knight turned to her. "Uraraka, how did you get rid of this thing at the tournament?"

Her eyebrow crinkled in confusion. "Hold up, you guys haven't fought none of these yet?" everybody shook their heads in unison. "Goddammit— the one I fought in the tournament, I only had time to inspect it before the royal guards took it from me. I'm guessing you could either remove the gem from it or drain its energy. The vessel is basically consumed by the magic now and is going berserk, and won't stop until the magic is consumed."

"So like, a bomb?" asked Jack.

"Something like that." responded the brunette. "It's just a dead object with life forced into it. Will never end well— above all with such powerful elements like ice."

Yes, some golems or colossus were by nature alive and peaceful, guarding secret and sacred lands, but those made artificially like this were not good news. If the attacks started occurring this frequently, things would start going wrong really fast. It only made her wonder if the government was sending these out to other villages and towns like her own. Uraraka gulped and got into a fighting stance.

"If we get to immobilize it at least, we will have done something right!" she hissed. "I can't use vines here, the pavestone is too strong here! We have to search another way to get rid of this guy!"

Uraraka's first move was to slam her foot on the pavement to make spikes of stone sprout out in the direction of the monster, making cracks surface where they stood with deaf noises of dust being woken. After that, she could only slash the air to push the monster back, but it barely took a step back, just stumbled. She wasn't close enough to manipulate water, nor was she knowledged enough in that matter to do it at short distance.

She gulped. This once, she felt utter blankness and chaos enshroud her brain upon realizing that despite her expertise, she was absolutely clueless about what to do. She glanced up at the monster looking down at her, as if it was only her there, blaming her for its suffering. The monster was convulsing, being attacked by its own aggressive source of life and all she could do was close her eyes, hands trembling, biting her lip and thinking hard.

"Uraraka, snap out of it!" bellowed Tokoyami from behind. "We have to distract it like you said, right?"

"Eh?" her eyes blinked open and she stared at Tokoyami, who seemed to be examining the moves of the beast. "Well, technically—"

"Then let's do that for now! Staying idle won't do anything good for the situation!" when Uraraka looked closer, his eyes were squinted in frustration because in hindsight, nobody could really do much for the situation— they were all close-range fighters and the monster didn't seem willing to get out of the deep waters. In his mind, Uraraka and Jack were the only ones who could do anything.

She could only try to articulate some encouragement, but her companion beat her to it. "You already did this at Pyrox, my faith is in your hands now!"

Jack and Uraraka shared a look and nodded, and ran to the side of the other fast. By looking at the beast in thought she gave Jack leeway to communicate with the others, almost drowned out by the growls of the stingray. "Evacuate everyone for now! We will try to hold it in while the authorities come in to help us out!"

Yaoyorozu nodded and gave Jack an encouraging smile that lifted the mood of the hunter up quickly. Hearing everyone rush away, Uraraka could only think of where the hell Deku was hiding and how they could quicken the waste of the forsaken gem. She came up with a quick solution, encouraged as well by Tokoyami's newfound faith. Uraraka thanked him silently.

She pointed at Jack's whip. "We need to blister the monster and make it spend more energy in curing its injuries. It's either kill it or tire it, there's no other way around it."

When Jack gave her the whip, Uraraka stared at it intently, and started covering it in flames, as many as possible so it wouldn't be affected by the water coating the monster's skin. Meanwhile, she had to think of ways to create a weapon out of basically nothing— she couldn't use plasma under all this sun and humidity, nor use her own body's elements when they were in such a crucial mission like this, because she'd need that later.

She was so deep in thought she failed to realize a spike of ice was coming right at her from the heavens. "Look out!"

Jack slapped the shard into pieces, the whip hissed at the ice melting into water that evaporated in the whip's flames. Uraraka blinked into focus, seeing Jack frown at her sternly. "I'm trying to think of what to use against this bastard without ruining the actual port!"

"My whip's taken a dip of poison this morning from Asui. If we manage to at least cut its skin, it will be a hundred times more effective." Uraraka was already taking off her glove and tucking it inside her cloak. "I think we can work with that."

The monster slapped the pavement to roar at them, making the water topple over the border and the ground shake so both girls stumbled. Still, Uraraka flashed her mate a smile. "Would the Council mind a bit of a wreck here?"

Those words made faith seep into the black-haired's heart. And seeing that mischievous glint emerge in Jack's eyes also made the brunette feel powerful. It was amazing what a sole gesture could do to the mind of a warrior. Reading her, Jack smirked. "Their exportations will suffer some. They can live without powder."

She cracked her knuckles and nodded at Jack, who started running forward in excitement for a combo team fight. "Let's go then!"

The girl slammed a hand on the pavement, making it crack under her palm and shards of stone emerge from the holes. She held them in mid-air with a grimace of pain, not used to holding so much in such a widespread area, but still managed to summon another quick move. "Jack, lower down!"

As the girl lowered her stance, the air right above her head started getting unmeasurably hot, wet and dense, as if the sun was dashing an inch away from her hair before a deaf hit echoed on the chest of the beast, which hissed at the blister embedded on its chest, and right before the stone shards could rain on it, Jack rolled her burning whip around the lower torso of the stingray with a wince.

"Fall down!" she gave it a hard tug and made the colossus stumble and fall back to the water, blistered by the hit of air and Jack's whip, which also touched on some cuts of the golem and made it cry out in pain. If they had been at the sea, the water would have been full of salt and the damage would have been higher, but this would have to do.

Uraraka watched the river beast start getting up, and screamed with a small pant. "Again!"

Another stream of hot, scorching air flew above the hunter before it punched the beast on the side, and Jack knowingly wrapped her whip around the most cut parts of its body, the remains of the fire sinking into the flesh, burning it, and poison slipping into its bloodstream and making it violently convulse in the hold of the whip, which eventually the hunter let loose so it could fall down to the water again.

However, before they could sing hooray and victory, the monster's wounds started closing as the gleam of the gem shone brighter for a second, then dimmed to a darker hue. Uraraka and Jack took steps back into the bay, breathing heavily as all their work disappeared from history and the only clue a fight had taken place was the disruption on the ground they stood on. It was such an ironic metaphor of the current situation.

Uraraka was running out of resources quicker than usual. How could Aizawa have chosen her for such big responsibilities when she couldn't even put herself together for a measly fight in civilian grounds? She was no hero of any sorts, she wasn't some kind of fair warrior, but this was supposed to be easier than this. Both the pressure of the mission at hand and the intimidation at this monstrosity were taking a toll here. Sure, she could use all her power at the tournament because she wasn't needed other than to fight— but this time now… both girls shuddered.

Nonetheless, they didn't have time to even be worried before a grand blue transparent spectre of water shrieked and surfaced in the shape of a dragon, roaring at the colossus and surrounding it with its body before it was enveloped in a bubble of sweet water, and then started screaming in muffled agony when the water started boiling inside the water cupule that ended up boiling the giant stingray to a steamy crisp.

When the girls watched the bubble get close to the ground, they took several steps back, only to watch the thing fade into thin air and drop the creature before them with a loud thud. Jack looked at Uraraka almost accusingly. "Did you—?"

"I didn't!" yelled Uraraka defensively, shooting her hands up. Then frowning in confusion to turn around and search for a criminal.

Jack turned too. "But then who…?"

A few feet away from them, Asui landed on her feet with the same expressionless set of eyes that characterised her, and upon seeing her friends she rushed in, bulbous tongue dangling out. Uraraka's eyes had never sparkled so brightly seeing a dear friend and mentor of hers. "Heard there was trouble at the water. I'm the master in the water."

Jack nodded with a proud smile and patted her head gently. "And out of it. You saved our asses there."

Uraraka also smiled down at her, hands folded at her front and bowing lightly in appreciation. "Really, you did. I hope you can teach me your ways soon, that was amazing! Thank you so much!"

As usual, Asui didn't make much light of the appreciation show, just nodded and padded to the unmoving monster. It had conveniently landed on its back— convenient for Asui to climb up its body and ferociously rip out the sparkling gem, the skin torn apart and making gushing disgusting noises at the loss. The gem itself reacted to the loss of a body with shakes and convulsions, but remained dead afterwards. Its light was still present.

"It's so cold, no matter how warm this monster was." she didn't even clean it, just ducked it inside her pocket. "Where are the authorities to clean the mess?"

Jack crossed her arms. "Not being guards like it's asked of them."

However, Uraraka picked up the sound of steps coming close in the silence of the aftermath, and turned to them with a frown. They had come the exact moment the monster had been defeated. Her frown only got deeper, seeing Gunhead at the front of it all with his arms folded back, calmly. As if all was going as expected. All caution she had put into not being noticed by the Council after her runaway had gone out the window.

Strangely enough Gunhead didn't seem to mind her presence and he definitely had seen her. Something told her he wasn't there for a tea party.

"Good morning, Yuuei warriors." the guards behind him stopped halfway and the leader walked on his own to them, looking at Uraraka more than at the rest. "Seems like you have stumbled with this… inconvenience, haven't you?"

Uraraka sighed. After having discovered the truth behind who Gunhead worked for — not a nation but a dark nation — she didn't know how to act. She was trying to push the hard truth away but it was so very difficult. "I'd call it more than an inconvenience, but we managed." spoke she very clearly, arms folded. "We figured the guards would take care of this, not us."

"The royal guard has been busy managing the aftermath of the tournament's accident." yeah right, sure. "What are you guys doing here, though? Did you... lose anything important around here?"

That made her shudder because his tone held no implications or accusation but the context and meaning behind it made her feel small and ever so dirty for acting remotely illegally under what was still an authority no matter what the reality was. She exhaled loudly, but Asui spoke before Uraraka could. "We were wandering around and looking for fish to buy before we went home, sir."

Right, interrupted because she spoke too bluntly. Gunhead responded quickly. "Very well. We apologize for our lack of counterattack against this foe. We'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

His honest and dutiful tone almost made them bend over for him. Almost. His next pithy and mechanical words completely threw everyone off the track and left them cold as if a bucket of polar water had fallen down their backs.

"Though, I'd like to have a word with Uraraka." he looked down at her and honestly, at that very moment with an army behind him and the silence that came after that order, it was like looking up at a pagoda while being the size of an ant. It was… terrifyingly intimidating, blood-chilling. "I believe it would be good to have a small testimony from a witness as powerful as her."

Uraraka's back tensed considerably at how she would be exposed, almost naked in front of a crowd of soldiers, but still resisted the pressure. She looked at her sides to seek confirmation from her peers, and nodded in response with a severe frown of compliance, yet peeved and visually suspicious at this decision. "Of course. Lead the way, please."

The general walked to her side and put a hand on her lower back to push her forward, and the sorcerer looked back once more to nod in reassurance. She'd find her way back to them, one way or another. The subject at question, though, was when, and most importantly, how.

---

"Dude, if you walk any faster you're gonna break a joint or something—"

"Can it for a minute, Kirishima!" Bakugou angrily cut a vine in twain and marched through the forest, mumbling to himself where to go as he walked through the sheer impatience to finally achieve something in this shitty investigation. It had been time since they had had a clue so blatant as this one. It was all a theory. But he was damn sure his peers — very much including Uraraka — were reliable and intelligent.

Kirishima was rudely slapped by one of the slashed vines and he hissed at the small thorns it had. "Chill out a little, will you? There are still wolves around here, and Gunhead may be searching for anything remotely suspicious. We said we were gonna lay low."

"There's a difference between keeping our heads down and digging it straight into the damn soil." barked the leader, digging his soles into the wet mud. "This place is wet as shit."

"And hot, too. Rather uncalled for considering how close to the mountains we are." his friend didn't respond, only let out a ragged sigh as he trudged through the forest. "You think it has to do with that thing?"

"I don't think so. We don't gotta relate anything weird to that shit going on underground, it's just a bit warm and humid." Bakugou's words cut through them, and there was some silence as he pondered the many things that could be going on at the same time without him being unaware of it.

He came to a step up a small hill with a few stones to walk on, and he heard the distant noise of seagulls screeching near the wide river, its waters shimmering under the sunlight. As a minty breeze swept through them, Bakugou turned his head to the endless blue. It looked almost like the sea, given the width it reached at this point in its course, the distant darker blue of buildings at the other end of the bay shadowed by the spring mist. It was almost enchanting, the view.

It seemed as if there was no trouble in the world, and only made it ever so more sickening that there was so much going on without anybody noticing. He'd almost expect things to be tense, the weather to be cloudy or independent scouts to be combing the place— but the world went on being as beautiful as it was, and the thought of somebody coming to wreck it was nauseating. How could somebody want to destroy this husk of a heaven?

People like Gunhead, people like fucking Shinsou. That bastard who had probably tried to drill his sick ideas into the mind of that sorcerer, but Bakugou was certain she wouldn't let herself be swayed that easy— he himself had tried to push her away and burn her soul to the ground with no avail. It was like no tornado could move the fertile, sparkling sapling she was, standing on a meadow like sunflowers in bloom.

She was probably out with his partner and Bakugou very much hoped they wouldn't bond more than what they had. Uraraka was a damn fine (great) warrior and she didn't need mumbling and stuttering business to make her waver. She was no wavering fuckstick. He deemed her to be better than that. Much better than many he knew— and also worse in other ways, than everyone else.

She was just different. Frowning, he mouthed her name in a prayer that she was doing alright, even when knowing she was just fine because it was Uraraka and she always was fucking fine, but—

"Dude, first you wanna burn the forest to a crisp and now you stop? The hell's gotten into you?"

Bakugou gritted his teeth in annoyance and looked back to his peer. "Shut it. I'm watching if there's any kind of disturbance around here."

He made it through that lie so well he was even surprised Kirishima didn't notice it. The boy just nodded and grinned. "Good idea! You never know if there will be a golem around here."

The way Kirishima had already adjusted to the idea of such terrifying creatures roaming around the Capital was disturbing. But he didn't seem to be frightened by the idea of one popping up and that was good. That in mind, Bakugou put a bit more into hearing and feeling around him rather than fighting his way around the forest. "I doubt there'll be anything here. Nobody really comes here and it seems like the golems just wanna scare people and make them scared."

"Don't you think they wanna harm civilians?"

"Nah." Bakugou could remember the day at the tournament clearly, how the golem had seemed more in need to be destroyed more than desiring to destroy. If anything, it attacked to defend itself. "I never saw it go straight to the civilians even though it could have just gone and had them for lunch. Even when Uraraka pulled the night illusion enchantment, that bastard could still see very clearly, and hear the civilians behind him."

There were two beats of silence with Kirishima nodding under his breath and thinking about it, looking around him more carefully. "They are still using human lives for those colossus, regardless. And may use them against us later on as well. I doubt they have that power just for vigilance on the civilians."

Kirishima was loud, usually, and a damn goof, but he wasn't a fool and Bakugou greatly appreciated being able to talk these theories out with somebody as perceptive as him. Only Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami and Uraraka held a candle to that intelect. "I know. That's why we can't let them out of our hands now that we have a lead on what they could be doing. This energy, the one Uraraka mentioned— it's been getting stronger. It fucking pounds into your head sometimes."

"It does, above all near the Council. It's so fucking weird. It doesn't even look like anything is going on right now."

"I know, it's batshit crazy. But we gotta make sure something is happening, other than the obvious damn monsters terrorizing civilians." he walked forward, a bit faster, eager to discover. "We gotta put a stop to whatever is happening. We're not sure if it's as worrisome as the rest theorized but the danger exists regardless."

"Right." Kirishima looked at his companion in silence, then smirked with the teasing already dripping from his following words. "And I guess Uraraka's words were very convincing, weren't they?"

Bakugou literally choked with thin air. "What the absolute fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Kirishima was already used to these outbursts of his and didn't really see the harm in teasing him about the sweet girl. "Everyone was kind of expecting you to spit on her after all that went down after RampAge, y'know. We never thought you'd actually learn something after grieving for her."

"Tch." he frowned. He didn't like where this conversation was headed and they had more important matters to discuss. But he was prideful, too. "I was definitely not grieving"

"Of course you weren't." the leader glared at his peer hard, but the redhead didn't notice, just kept on talking. He was more than accustomed to Bakubarks and there was no harm in taking some lead off the present matter. "I'm glad you two seem to be civil with the other. I didn't wanna have to step between a lovers' quarrel."

The blonde purposefully ignored that last bit, snarling profoundly. "I'm still watching her. I don't know what Shinsou may have drilled into her bland as shit brain, but I'm hoping it's none of what he actually parades to think."

"Uraraka is too smart to let herself be misled by shady people like him." and that was true. She had more wit and intelligence than to be influenced by questionable sources like him. Hell, that man had preached several times to want to wipe this world 'clean and sweep the impurities and mistakes away', all with his fist clenched and a history of chaos and violence behind him. What was there to trust? Surely, Uraraka knew this.

Regardless, "She still sided with him. He probably acted all pure to lure her to his side while they fought side by side, whatever they did during that time is shit we don't know. I can't say I fully trust her, but I'm putting my last bits of faith in her by now."

Kirishima stopped for a second, but Bakugou didn't realize until a few seconds later, when he was steps ahead of him. "Makes me sad thinking she will most probably leave again. After all… we kind of forced her to come. She stayed by her own will but she's not here out of sheer love for us. Her fondness for us— it can't be enough for her to push aside whatever stuff she has to sort out."

Bakugou blinked, confused. "You mean the timeline thing?"

"Yeah." the hunter looked at his hands for a second, then at Bakugou. "She's the only one with full knowledge of what this magic really entails. It ain't like us who only know the basics and facts, I'm sure she's the only one with full abilities and expertise to dig into it. I don't know how to even make a fire with my bare hands, don't get me started with that stuff Uraraka did against RampAge."

Yeah, that had been a badass thing to witness, which alas, ended so tragically. It still sent a chill down Bakugou's spine, to be aware of how powerful she could end up being with proper training and documentation. She was very probably the only one who could bend things in the right direction again— who else would? she could very well be the cause of the matter getting worse — had she messed with time travelling, that is — or be the solution they were looking for. She was a sorcerer, after all, one as stupid as his mother had once been.

And that stupidity could either save the world or end it once and for all. It now depended on what Uraraka decided to do with her power.

Bakugou frowned, shaking his head. The thought was overly complicated. "I doubt Uraraka has enough expertise to know what to do right now, that's why I fear those bastards she's been fighting with. They may have shoveled a fuckton of bullshit in that dreamy brain of hers."

"She seems pretty set on chasing the Jirou clan just as much as we are. So for now, she plays to our advantage." he was about to say something else before he stopped and looked ahead. Bakugou was still looking at him in deep thought, remembering why he didn't like talking about Uraraka with people: she was complicated and he didn't like thinking about the already rooted feelings he had for her. "Is that a manor?"

The other hunter finally looked ahead again and sighed gravelly. "A small and abandoned one, it seems. It must be the politician resort thingy Gunhead used to host kings and queens from other countries. Says a lot about how much the Capital has deteriorated if there's no one there anymore." the big, white and ran down house stood at the outskirts of the woods, lonely and seemingly looking down at the whole city. "There may be something there."

"A passage… in a politic resort?"

"We don't know if other kings knew of this… alliance, or whatever the fuck the Jirous actually have with the Council. It wouldn't surprise me other governments knew of this and approved, thus had a fucking passage in the middle of nowhere. Todoroki's old man doesn't seem to know much." Bakugou's haste was there again, and he stepped furiously through the mud and dust once more. "So many possibilities."

Kirishima was a bit more cautious again and looked around. "No vigilance, no animals even. Could this be a trap?"

"I think this is the only time we're effectively getting under their damn skin. Nobody we asked downtown knew of this house and this qualifies as suspicious. The Council doesn't know if people know of this place." he was almost forcing him to think that because they hadn't made it this far into a possible Jirou lair to have Kirishima getting cold feet and insecurities. "Get your shit together, and let's move forward. No whimpering, no crying."

"Dude, I ain't a crybaby. You seem more nervous than I am."

Bakugou gritted his teeth and, seeing they were getting close to the manor, he took out his battle axe from his back in case there was a surprise comiteé waiting for them. "We're getting close to something good, I already said this." had he? blood was pumping in and out of his head and it was getting hard to keep a straight train of thought. All he knew was that he had to keep Kirishima and the operation safe. "I'm excited, and impatient, and just fucking wanting to take a nap before we go catch them."

"Do you think they know what we are doing?" asked Kirishima, making the leader once again give him a solid glare at him thinking such coherent yet unnerving stuff. "I mean, we are being subtle but I always felt the Council has eyes everywhere."

Bakugou sighed and the redhead couldn't help but sigh as well, because it wasn't in his nature to be this pessimistic or cautious about things that should be clearly safe and bound to succeed— but they weren't playing chess this time, or in a measly fight, where he could be serious and determined to win. This time, he was putting trust into this plan and he couldn't help but be doubtful when so much was in danger, marching into the devil's lair like a stroll down a forest. It had to be more complicated than that.

And Kirishima preferred to be cautious than sorry.

This kind of plan was all too simple for a man who was used to Bakugou's meticulous calculations. He was probably being guided by a collaborative theory and strategy, but it was still all too simple and Kirishima knew something was coming. Nobody would leave an entrance to a laboratory or whatever unguarded. They weren't as stupid to do that.

Unless…

"Hasn't any of us from the guild been there other than to hunt?"

The blonde stopped right at the end of the woods to look ahead at the house, then back at his subordinate. The air was getting misty and clouds would close in soon judging by the grayed horizon and the direction of the wind, but the day was still undoubtedly sparkling and beautiful, and still threw a positive light into the situation, or at least a good outlook into what could happen. Bakugou liked that annoying sunlight that pierced through his eyes and made him have to squint to see the coast clear.

Kirishima, however, was making his mood get darker little by little, which didn't happen often— it usually went the other way around. "What is it now, shittyhairs?"

Oh, that nickname was supposed to be a buried axe by now. Kirishima frowned, looking at the suspiciously unguarded place. It was full of vines around the main doors, handles given up and busted, and the fence was completely rusty. Nobody had been there in a long time, it seemed. Regardless, it was too much of a special place to not be a trap or guarded, so Kirishima spoke his mind.

"Don't you just feel this place is too empty to be an actual passage? Or, rather, isn't it too special to not be guarded or a trap?"

Maybe some other days Bakugou would appreciate this observation and care, but being so close to catching those bastards he wasn't going to hold back. They had to push forward. He could taste the Jirou blood already and he was just a push and shove away. Nobody, not even his best friend, was going to push him back.

In retrospect, most things he had actually done right in his life had been thanks to him, one way or another. Accepting Midoriya's help to create the guild? Kirishima. Trying to make nice with Uraraka after meeting her? Didn't work at first, but eventually did after some talking, and had found out that not only Kirishima was worth asking advice to, but that the world too big to worry about a bunch of people supposedly trying to betray him. It was nice knowing you had a friend to fight the demons for you.

This time, though, he now knew where some of those demons lived and he was pretty damn ready to kill them off. He stepped forward, ignoring Kirishima's concerned eyes. "Tch. We would have already come across with a trap if that was the case, and we already came in knowing there would be nothing. This place is a damn haunted place."

"Bakugou—"

The leader walked a bit faster and straight bursted the rusty gates open with a swift kick to the locks, breaking them and giving view to the desolated gates of the manor. "Shut it for a minute and let's search around here."

As they trudged through the gates, Kirishima smiled with a shake of his head, but the smile was almost forced. He was Bakugou's best friend and his duty was to warn him when he did things wrong and this was clearly one of those instances— yet he had done as much as possible, and it was Bakugou being stubborn as shit and wanting to meet his goals as fast as possible what he was trying to tame.

Very much like him to be as impulsive as possible. If it went wrong though, Kirishima would fight like the strong defense horse he was. He had helped with so much stuff, after all, he would always be there to back him up just like Bakugou had offered him support and training like the admirable leader he was. Their companionship was mutual and subtle, but still beating strong in times like these.

The redhead could still remember how Bakugou had bursted into the guild after his row with Uraraka, right after she had come back to the guild. It had always been so obvious Bakugou was acting like a murderous child with such behavior, covering the sun with a thumb in a way so brazen and obvious, he knew Uraraka was too shiny for the leader to not see the sunlight and realize she had been gone with the blue skies— but she was back, now, after what had seemed like the eternal darkness of the night.

Life had cycles. Kirishima knew that better than anybody, seeing the pair bite each other's tail but never actually catch each other. Bakugou had tried to literally enshroud himself in darkness and gray colors with the power of a human thumb, as if trying to fight the undeniable truth.

The redheaded hunter had also tried to chase a certain pink girl's demons away, her fear for nightmares and visions of sunflowers wilting away under the touch of a crying girl who screamed to a rain that wasn't going home, yet.

Bakugou kicked vines away, grunting, and snapped some branches in half. The manor wasn't exquisite or grand, but it was still decorated like a posh man too high up his ass to know 'less was more' and that there were many elegant choices of decor other than weirdly shaped bushes with complex structures. "Fucking hell."

Kirishima chose to keep quiet and search around instead of leaving proof around. Bakugou's meticulous ways were overthrown by excessive impatience and want to finish this off quickly. The redhead walked around a little in search of anything out of place. In the middle of his hunt, the boy ended up walking up to the entrance of the manor. "Do you think this place is locked for real?"

Bakugou finally stopped his bush-beating and trudged to the big double doors, humming to himself as he inspectioned the old entrance. They were covered in thin, dusty vines, overgrown and fertile. The zone was vastly overgrown in general and it rained often, the bushes were weirdly shaped and the walls had plants like claws ripping at the bricks. It wa obvious it'd be hard to see anything anywhere, or trespass those big doors.

"We could blast them open, but it'd be too much of a blatant footprint behind us if the Council hosts people here ever again." Kirishima nodded, glad to see his friend finally recover some part of his common sense. "Yet there could be some big shit behind these. We can't skip this."

"The windows aren't busted and the door…" Kirishima gave it some pushes, to see how sturdy it was despite the passing time. "it's tough as a wall. It's not like the manor has been ransacked or anything, it's just gotten a bit dusty and…"

Bakugou deadpanned. "Old."

"Exactly. But we can't give it the final kick or they'll know we've been here."

And Kirishima was right, unfortunately. Bakugou could raise an eyebrow all he wanted but he ended up sighing and realizing yeah, they couldn't barge in illegally. It wasn't like they hadn't barged in that old residence at the outskirts of the city illegally either, but this time, if there was truly something behind and there was no real guarding as it seemed, the Council would surely come check and see their damage to the doors when trying to get through them. And they didn't have time to come and fix the damage either.

There had to be another way.

"If this is so undamaged and they have these entrances so scattered for strategic purposes, then maybe there's no entrance inside the house." concluded Kirishima with a sigh, giving the hardwood a small pap. "I mean, if they had used these, the doors or windows would be either taken care of or broken, not old and rusty like this."

Bakugou gritted his teeth. He forgot Kirishima was a damn smartass and he was so pushy he was forgetting to also look around him and think straight. Yes, this house couldn't be a possible holder for the passage if it was untouched. There had to be some other place camouflaged as such somewhere in the gardens, or back doors, something. Kirishima and him had gone around the house a few times if he recalled, or passed by it, and if they had seen some clear door slapped on the walls of the manor without vines, he would recall such suspicious thing.

But he didn't.

Therefore, the house wasn't the solution. "There has to be another entrance, then. I refuse to believe there's nothing in a place where politicians used to come so often. This place being empty is bullshit and I'm gonna show everyone that."

He walked away from the entrance to let his subordinate inspection the doors, and the blonde cursed logic biting his ass so badly. If the house wa empty, where would they place a passage to a place so important? Was this supposed to be a fucking joke? It had to be somewhere subtle enough to hide from unsuspecting politicians but also glaring enough to be seen.

It had to be there.

Bakugou walked a bit around the labyrinth of bushes that decorated the sinuous garden, finding nothing of interest at the front of the manor. The place itself sure must have used to be brilliant and splendorous, the greenery giving away a lot of the broken development and mistreatment this garden had suffered. If Uraraka and Asui were there, they'd sure make a good job and make it bright and summery again.

He had to stop thinking about that bubblehead anytime his mind found an excuse to do so. It was getting almost irritating at this point.

In his stupor to rid himself of the haunted image of that damn sorcerer, he eventually lost track of his steps and padded a bit further from the manor than he had expected, to the point he reached a hidden corner at the end of the small, torn down maze. There was a very small, ran down tool shed made of wood with its door hanging open, the hinges of it too consumed by the humidity of the woods to support the structure much longer.

He wondered if there ever was a gardener looking after this garden, and what became of them. Perhaps their ghost haunted the place because of the corruption its owners had bestowed upon this city, and made this haven a misty field for fiends and monsters to live during night. Bakugou was sure the sunlight made everything in this planet look better than what cloudy skies could tell.

Now curious, he opened the door with uncanny care. The small shed was quaint and almost devoid of actual tools, but there were a few spare blankets and weapons lying around. Some of them had suspiciously fresh red stains, a very visible dry trail leading under a blanket Bakugou had considered to be brown until he saw the pastel colors that pigmented the fabric underneath the sheer dry blood.

It was something akin to walking into a crime scene, what he felt, except that he was ages late and he could only wonder, with a shudder, what the hell had happened in there. The hunter walked slowly to the dry blanket with the intention of unfolding it and inspecting it, so he did that. However, upon holding it up and seeing how concentrated and abundant the stains were, he came across another interesting discovery.

The trail of dry blood imprinted on the soil that formed the ground of the shed didn't lead to the blanket itself, but to a trapdoor that lay behind the blanket. He held his breath as if smelling the scent of victory coming from underneath that rotten wooden trapdoor, and opened it with a finger to see a ladder leading to the depths of what seemed to be the very searched for underground facility. The bottom of the ladder was enshrouded in shadows. There was no way to tell where it ended.

The blonde heard steps coming from behind him, and didn't hesitate to not turn around, knowing the crunch of those soles perfectly well. He kept on crouching until Kirishima was behind him, who had followed him when he saw Bakugou was nowhere to be found. "Damn. That's a steep passage."

"And a pretty damn well hidden one." not too far from the manor, and a passage secret enough for politicians with permission and indications to find, but for strangers to never find without said indications through what once used to be a maze. The perfect hiding place. "We gotta jump in and break our skulls or back off and find something else."

There was a beat of silence. "So we're jumping in."

Bakugou gingerly shook the ladder that was strapped neatly to the walls of the downwards passage. The threads were once useful, now a bit weaker to support the warriors' weight, probably. "The ladder's sturdy enough. But if we break our asses, it's fine. Nobody fucking said we had to land in one piece."

"It's a bit too deep, though." murmured Kirishima, peering from behind his leader to glance into the creeping darkness. He could faintly hear wind coming from below. "We can always throw a stone and—"

Bakugou had been quicker this time, and grabbed a chunk of heavy wood from a broken weapon that lay around them to toss it into the hole. Both warriors watched the chunk fall into the darkness, one with a frown and another nervous and itching to hear the collision noise. It took too many seconds for it to crash with the ground, and when it did, it made a distinctive thud.

It was good to know there was at least a ground to land on, or that it was close enough to be heard. "I don't know how deep that is but it has a ground and a ladder."

Before the redhead could stop his leader, the blond was already hopping to the ladder and climbing down. "Hold on a sec! That place is deep as hell and we are in a hill right now! The walls of that ladder could fall down on you!"

Bakugou dismissed that information, yet looked down once more. That energy he head heard Uraraka or somebody talk about— he could feel it. He was only a feet into the passage and the corrupted energy creeped through his veins into his brain, making him feel slightly lightheaded but also fucking nervous about what horror of nature lay underground. He didn't let that anxious tickle show through and shook his head in an attempt to remove some lead from the situation.

"I'll go first just in case we're too big for this shit to hold us both. I'll let out a light from the bottom when I'm there. If I don't, I'm dead and you're to be held accountable for this."

As Bakugou started descending carefully, Kirishima shrieked in horror. "Why is it my fault now that you're so reckless!?" however, when he wanted to berate the hunter for giving him such a thing to think about, the mane of blonde hairs was gone and deep into the passage. That made Kirishima rush to the mouth of the passage and speak to his friend, hoping the walls would amplify his voice. "Don't die on me!"

The gruffy unmistakable voice of the other came from deep below, faint yet hearable. "You fucking wish!"

The ladder was, as Bakugou had guessed, sturdy and hard enough for him to hold onto without fearing he'd crash and die with a pathetic fall like that, yet some steps made a chilling creak noise that he hoped wouldn't fail on Kirishima or whoever from his guild who came searching for them. Honestly, he hoped these passages weren't as complicated and hidden for everybody, or else not many would make it into the hidden lair as he had expected. At least though, the secretive location of these passages showed there was, indeed, something dark hidden under the sparkling, heavenly Capital.

The more secretive, the darker. His descent through the passage turned colder and more unkempt as he went down and on with his thoughts, to the point that when he reached the bottom, he didn't know if he was excited for this to finish and conclude anymore. The serious secretive location and how blood seemed to follow whatever measure the Council took to hide something made it all look like a damn nightmare. Not even the blinding sunlight could cover the blood and echo of the screams that rung inside that rool shed.

As he promised, Bakugou let out a hesitant explosion and saw a shape shift and disappear at the tiny hole that was the mouth of the hole. He didn't know if he wanted anyone to see whatever that waited at the end of this lair, the air was getting thicker and darker, like ice and vines grazing his skin and pulling him in with the promise of corruption and suffering at the end of this.

He looked ahead and saw there was more light ahead, like a big naked room. He couldn't see shit with the raising temperatures and his thoughts wrapping around his heart so tightly, almost disabling him to breathe. Yet, there was no noise other than the approaching steps of Kirishima climbing down the ladder. He guessed there was no confrontation waiting for them at the end of that rocky, dark alleyway.

The redhead jumped to Bakugou's side, and the latter started walking immediately. A mixture of curiosity and slight fear brewed in his crimson, storming eyes, coated in the gleam of the light that waited ahead. Kirishima, seeing the bubbling feelings in his companion's eyes, felt a bit uneasy, more than before if possible. He had felt confident of their success and paranoid, like these feelings that everyone had mentioned were just rumours and utter ultrasensitivity.

But if Bakugou felt it, the man who had his feet rooted to reality and lived being aware of what had come, came and was to come, the danger ahead felt more like a reality and not just a fear anymore.

However, the biggest surprise came when he heard the distinctive mumbling and low chatter coming from the room ahead, where light streamed down from fire that was perched on the walls. Bakugou also heard that mumble clearly and his step grew more hurried. He had never felt so relieved to hear Midoriya in his proximity.

When they reached the round room, they realized that, indeed, the room was big and had several entrances that came from different points in the city, some bigger and others smaller. There was a big one ahead that was enshrouded in darkness, one Bakugou supposed lead to where the madness lay. Water ran around the walls in small streams, cobblestone made the floor of this meeting point. The ceiling had the shape of a cupule, but didn't have a lamp or anything extra elegant. The room was fancier than what nature could create, so somebody had put thought into this and adapted it to be a passageway.

The duo walked to the group of people there, but were noticed before long by them. Midoriya rushed to them with unusual urgency. "Has any of you crossed paths with anybody?"

Kirishima shook his head. "Not at all. But the place we came through clearly showed signs that the passage had been used for not so pure and innocent purposes." he crossed his arms, Midoriya did too, but the hunter squinted a bit and scanned his guildmates that chatted behind Midoriya. "Where's Mina?"

"I sent her and Tokoyami off to look for Uraraka." Bakugou instantly tensed after this, many questions filling his head that were instantly answered by the ever so attentive Midoriya. "It's why I asked if you had been followed or confronted. The port was attacked by a colossus and after Asui, Uraraka and Jack got rid of it, Gunhead took her away. We aren't sure why, but Jack told us it was all too casual and coincidential to not be planned."

Bakugou didn't let himself rest, though. "Jack!" the girl had been already listening in silently, and only turned around to look at him with a knowing gaze. "Where did they take her and what the fuck did you do?"

He meant you as in them but Jack almost felt attacked. "It's as Midoriya explained. This giant stingray came from the river and while our team evacuated the port, Uraraka and I took care of it— well, Asui finished the job, so she's to be commanded for that." Midoriya nodded and let her carry on. "However, they instantly popped up after Asui grabbed the gem and insisted that they needed to talk to Uraraka. I don't know if it's because of whatever deal they have with her as a member of the Purge, but they came in just in time to see the battle finish and take her away."

Midoriya shared a look with Bakugou. "Do you think they staged it to distract us? Or to scare the townspeople?"

"As Jack said, it was all too fucking coincidental to not be staged by them. If they had had interest in stopping the attack, they would have. They wanted to either scare citizens off to make some nasty exchanges with the Jirou clan but stumbled with us, maybe just wanted to give the citizens another warning like at the tournament, or just wanted to dick with us and distract us. I got no fucking idea." Bakugou was almost mumbling to himself at this point, but everyone trusted his theories and listened in, turning to look at him. "Regardless, we should wait for Uraraka to pop up."

Kirishima arched an eyebrow. "How so? We got people who are capable enough."

"She's surely gotten information from the Council if she's been taken there. Shinsou may be a bastard, but he must have taught her the arts of being an assassin and being sneaky, and she ain't stupid. I bet she's probably gathered intel from there and cleaned up the place by now."

A blanket of silence was wrapped around the gang as a question lingered in the air. The only one who didn't fear breaking the mystery was Jack. "For you to have beaten her ass several times, you sure seem to have an awful amount of trust on her now."

Everyone nodded at the same time with a small frown that expressed both surprise and a certain amount of pride no one would have expected at the change that was occurring within Bakugou, who tensed up again (something he did an awful lot when Uraraka was brought up).

However, strangely enough, his first instinct wasn't to start screaming. His mind had somehow made peace with his instincts after so long and his first thought wasn't to kill whoever made those comments. He knew they were right now. His heart was somehow sterilized against the charms and dazzling smile of the enchanting sorcerer.

He had made nice with himself. The fear of somehow not being enough for the situation, for her, for the criminal presence that loomed above them, and although he couldn't make peace with many of his own personal battles, he knew that Uraraka was different.

She was just weird overall. She was this ever-lasting presence that he was now sure that if she dared defy the stars and the gods above, she'd definitely win— just because it was her and she knew that being scathed and beaten over didn't mean she lost. Bakugou saw her as a tsunami peering over the world, a cloud, a storm, her courage overbearing and the only person in that room who could stand up to him and induce a spark of terror in his heart.

Bakugou knew she was different from anyone else he had encountered, and for all he had seen and had yet to discover about her, he wanted to see all of her. He wanted to discover the small parts that formed her heart, the pieces that had been broken and those he could still protect, the patches of scars he had so wrongly inflicted, but ones she wore with pride, and what was hidden beneath the batting of her eyelashes, or what made her smile shine and her voice tingle so good inside his brain. He wanted all of it.

Was it selfish? Yeah.

But he wouldn't scream over somebody pointing out the bond and trust they shared. Albeit silent, it was very present. It was fragile, he knew it was bound to be broken, but he'd treasure it now that he could.

"She hasn't gone through me being a jackass as she puts it for me to now dismiss her and think she'll be dead by now. I bet she's fine."

Kirishima blinked once, then twice, and smiled with a blatant realization that Bakugou was probably rude and unmannered, but he was pretty unspoken about giving merits to others in such a vast public. It was his own roundabout way of expressing his respect for her. But this wasn't flashing news, something had changed in the way he said it. It wasn't rough and hesitant, but decided and maybe dare he say proud.

He was still the same Bakugou. But probably a minimally wiser one.

Todoroki, after a small conversation with a geared up Yaoyorozu, equipped his sword as well and pointed at the big tunnel ahead of them. His knight companion had also gripped her sword hard, feeling the leather under her worn out gauntlet. "We should hurry. The corruption runs deep into that tunnel."

Midoriya was the first one to take a step forward, but everyone saw him falter when he came to stand at the front. His hands were somewhat shaky, and when you saw one of your leaders tremble so much, you could start believing something heavy was coming. "It reeks. It's like some sort of presence is looming at the end of that passage."

Bakugou subtly stepped to his side and took out his battle axe in a swift movement, making the weapon's edge clank against the cobblestone as one of its points hit the ground. The small noise reverberated against the walls in a silent warning nobody took lightly. "Only one damn way to find out. Move your asses before they make us move to run away." his words were clumsy and somewhat disorganized, he was clearly somewhat nervous too.

And that was preoccupating. Kirishima got even more nervous now, seeing that both leaders were facing the same fears as those common members. It was unnerving, terrifying, upsetting, chilling, all kinds of nerve-wrecking feelings brought up in the slow walk that the leaders began. With them, their subordinates naturally followed until the mouth of the tunnel, where Midoriya made a sharp stop.

"Watch your backs. There seems to be no light in there." Todoroki started walking forward and throwing his arm to light up the dark passage before Yaoyorozu silently interrupted him with a pat on the shoulder. The green haired knight explained. "We can't alert anyone of our presence yet. There must be something back there."

Yet all that could be seen was pitch obsidian black, like a starless night or the fear in a child's eyes— black, just black. Absence of light and noise characterized that empty hallway that led to who knows where— but they had to take the chance and take a leap of faith. It was intimidating, deep and stark naked of presences, it felt like the entrance to hell or the doorway to a scarring nightmare.

Everyone took a collective deep breath and began stepping forward, careful to stick together and not separate too much from one another. The tension could be evenly cut with a burning razor, tasted at the back of each warrior's mouths and felt in the weight of their trembling hands. They still kept on walking tall— but they weren't experienced enough to face a clan so strong and go against a powerful town, or even a whole nation. They were just humans, after all.

However, the tension was shattered asunder when the faint but distinctive pat of shoes making their way to them startled their attentive ears. Nervousness started to rise fast, feeling that a powerful villain was getting close, who could it even be? Bakugou was the first one to stop the guild and frown at whoever was trudging ahead. When he swung his weapon forward, everyone took the hint and drew theirs out.

That was, until a familiar flame peeked from within the shadows and threw light to a very known partner. "Geez guys, get those down. Did I make that much noise?"

It took two moments for everyone to breathe, relieved, and keep their weapons down. The leader scowled at her deeply, to which the girl tilted her head. "Fucking shit, what are you doing coming from there? Do you wanna get us fucking caught or something?"

Yeah, whatever softness he had somewhat shown had just been thrown out the window. Uraraka puffed her cheeks and put her hands on her hips, almost pouting. "Sorry I was arrested and didn't really stop to think about that!"

While the two barked and growled at the other, Yaoyorozu calmly broke in. "Uraraka, where did you come from?"

That was a good question that made Bakugou back off and wait for an answer, expectant. The sorcerer gave a coherent, curt response. "I found a small passage hidden at a corridor at the Council, near Gunhead's office. It wasn't much more than a small crevice with a hole and a ladder, but it took me here."

Kirishima stepped past Uraraka and peered into the darkness. He could make out a small faint light at the end of the tunnel. "Is there anything else ahead?"

The sorcerer had been thinking about this during her walk there and had a quick answer to that, or at least a theory. "Considering the Council is right above us, there's a big chance the big stuff is back there. I think I saw some other small corridors where I landed, but I'm not sure if they were spare doors to other rooms or what."

Yaoyorozu inspected the girl quickly with the small light that Uraraka had carried with her. "Any injuries? And what did they even arrest you for?"

Uraraka made a grimace that wasn't usual from her. Everyone seemed to be getting nervous in the darkness of that tunnel, only dimly illuminated by the small fire that Uraraka had with her. "They just asked some stuff to get me tense. Asked things they didn't need to know or already knew just to make sure I behaved."

Which wouldn't happen, of course. Had Shinsou been with her and she wouldn't be as uptight as she was now, but bringing him up to her peers wouldn't make the situation any better. They were aware of the suspicious link she had with him and there was no time to get into that any further. Regardless, she should contact him for this new development about the underground facility.

It would be harder now that he was far away, but if what he said about meeting again was as true as he made it seem to be, then they'd be fine. He had probably made his own developments on his own. Their master had taught them to believe in the other, and Uraraka wasn't one to disobey such a powerful man. Or at least, that's the vibe he gave off when he spoke.

Gods, just remembering the ubiquity and darkness he issued during their encounter at the cathedral gave her chills again.

She sighed and tried to reel her mind back into reality. Dwelling in what had to be done later wouldn't help her present matters. "I'd swear the passage had a pretty strong metallic smell. Whatever has been happening here isn't normal or good."

Kirishima perked up at this. "Smell? Bakugou and I saw this too." the blonde nodded. His eyes were zeroed on the small light at the end of the corridor. "And blankets and all kinds of weird stuff."

Midoriya got in the conversation as well. "The port had a… distinctive smell too." his arms were crossed, as if deep in thought. Then, he looked at Uraraka. "Do you still have my notebook?"

The brunette looked back at him, but she articulated no answer, for she was hesitant. She dedicated him a narrowed look before she nodded and rummaged inside her cloak to get the notebook that she had left in one of her inner pockets, all in one second. "There. How did you guys get in?"

Asui answered for the leader. "Midoriya found a cave between some cliffs while swimming back to the bay. There were a few smaller boats when we got there, so people are either going in or coming out from here."

Bakugou didn't know this. They were probably too nervous and impatient to see what was at the end of that corridor, fear paralyzing them like a wasp to its prey. But Bakugou wouldn't let himself be hindered by that feeling. "Let's get going. If people are coming or leaving we could get caught."

Everyone agreed to do this and followed their lead as they travelled through the tunnel. Having Uraraka's light with them made it a bit easier to walk in the silence, but not knowing what lay on the walls around them, or behind them or before them with every step they took was extremely dangerous and unnerving. They walked with the reassurement that if any monster attacked them, they'd be victorious— however, if they were to make too much noise, the clan's henchmen would come, ambush them, and it would be game over for them.

So clearly walking in the dark without knowing where they were going wasn't idea— but it could be much worse. For once, the guild walked in silence towards this threat. It was the first time these people ever made their way into danger without a crease of animosity or cheerfulness. It was a suicide promenade into death.

However, Todoroki realized after a few seconds that the light ahead of them was shinier than they had thought, and gave view to a bigger passage that was thankfully devoid of people. Still, he was feeling tense because no one knew what was behind them, or what was around them, or what waited behind all doors. It was an endless rush of thoughts, what-ifs and pressure that was making blood drain from their faces to their feet, ready to flee or fight if needed.

Aware of the situation, his hands started feeling overly cold, biting, a familiar sensation he had tried to control in the past just to not bring fear to his comrades, one that Yaoyorozu seemed to feel right by his side and stopped with a hand on his forearm. He heard her gulp in the thick silence that enveloped them, and took it as a warning to please not lose control now.

It was her, so he obeyed. He was too careful and meticulous to let his feelings get the best of him and potentially scare and harm his partners. But he knew he wouldn't fear using it no matter the scar he left if anybody he cared for was in danger. And he knew everybody in that room would go to any extent to protect their comrades.

Although, there was one certain person who he knew could go beyond that.

They were suddenly met with the light of a chandelier full of cobwebs that hung from the ceiling, and a bigger room that was again made of cobblestone, yet a darker purplish color. There were three corridors that branched out of there, but one ended with a metallic door and another in a dead end five steps into that branch. The only possibility was the door at the center.

Bakugou was the first one to step towards the door, his eyes set on the hardwood and a hand on the surface. He was looking at it as if threatening to actually blast it open, but this time, he knew better than to break it open. They had Midoriya to break things. "Are you all ready? I'm opening this. Be ready for whatever may be behind this, and step back if you ain't wanna risk your life. If you step in, you're going all in."

His words had a certain edge and sharp end to them, but despite the harshness in them, nobody backed down. Instead, they drew their weapons out and didn't move an inch, just waited like the strong soldiers Bakugou knew them to be. With a small smirk, as if telling the fucker behind the doors to get ready, he pushed the heavy doors open with a loud, chilling creak that cut the tension in half.

The truth was finally coming out.

But nobody in that room was ever ready for what they were about to witness.

The smell was what hit first, a marabunta of senses wafting in the room but the smell was the most prominent of them all. It could be best described as putric, chemical, just unnatural and basically not right. The touch of the wet ground was what made them finally halt their steps, eyes somewhat warned that something horrible was going on in that room where so many bad signs were clashing and pounding blood to everyone's feet and head. The glittering lights at their sides were what made their eyes rise to meet the view—

and god, they wished they hadn't ever put a foot in that place.

Uraraka was almost forced to her knees at the view. Rows and rows of large tubes of glass were hanging from the ceiling by threads and chains, bubbling and burning substances boiling the corpses inside to disfigured shapes and monsters. The liquids had a veil of blood and blue chemicals to them, the bubbles endless, and the corpses floated in the unnatural womb with a torn expression of horror, skin torn apart and curled as their energy was drained away and wasted into the lethal substance.

Midoriya was frozen to the ground, rooted by fear and desperate to give a reaction to this massacre. His nose picked up the distinctive smell of something rotten and, above all, burnt but wet. He knew where the smell was coming from, and it was not the tubes and the bodies that were being assassinated inside them. They had… spares. Spare bodies for the gems that they were getting from human life.

And the room excruciatingly cold.

Yaoyorozu's hands trembled, shocked by this discovery and with only a thought in mind that was most likely running through her peers' minds too: get the hell out of there. They knew this was what was most likely happening, they knew what they were getting into— then why was it so hard to see this and accept that a being of the same species as her was doing such atrocity, getting power in exchange of so many human lives? What was the point of all of this?

They had known what they were getting into, yet knowing and being ready for were completely different terms. Fear and trepidation ran up and down their arms like ants chewing at their pale skin, hearts shrunk to a dry husk without a life, as if becoming the same lifeless carcass of a being like those creatures were. The difference between being alive and dead was that the warriors had their skin mostly fine and their eyes were open, but those in the tubes weren't any worse soldiers than the ones still standing.

It was fucking miracle Bakugou was still standing himself because seeing this was incredibly disgusting. His heart fell right through his stomach and twisted it in the most painful way. He had felt this feeling before, having a cold companion of his in his arms that was, right now, at the verge of collapsing mentally as well, he could tell. This was more than what they bargained for. In the worst way possible and the worst scenario possible.

He had never been more overcome with the need to run away, yet they needed to stay and unfold the secret of this place.

Uraraka felt the same thing, except that she had never been struck with this kind of undoubtable and overpowering fear in her life. Intimidation? Yeah, sort of. Fear? Somewhat, sometimes, like any human being. Except that this scene was not human, it was atrocious, horrifying, and just the thought of what had happened before they came in (too late) brought an unfamiliar feeling to her mind, one she didn't know how to cope with.

Unmistakable and drenching, unshakable fear to the unknown.

Todoroki was immediately behind her. "Snap out of it. Now is not the time to get cold feet." he was right. He was absolutely right. She slapped her cheeks a little, attempting to slap the fear away and it usually worked. However, it didn't this time. "Get moving."

The feeling wasn't even wavering inside of her and Uraraka's legs were finding it hard to move. She stole a glance at Kirishima and Asui. They weren't having the best of times, either. Uraraka had always dashed across her problems with a confident face and never really stopped to feel and soak in the environment she was in, so she didn't get that involved or deep into them to feel this afraid of such a foe. It was like nature had made her stop at a dead end to see and listen what being a hero, a warrior was actually about.

She was drenched in a dress of panic and crowned by images of horror and despair clouding her sight and making her almost double over and throw her breakfast out.

Bakugou was too focused on the path ahead to pay attention to the silent commotion coiling in his partners' eyes. The rows of victims went on in a clear pathway towards what seemed to be a vacant desk and shelves. Jirou, behind him, found the voice to articulate a thought. "What… the hell is this?"

It was then when Bakugou remembered a very important fact about the Jirous: that there was one of them in his guild leaking information to them and most likely, they knew they were there. It'd be weird that no one knew of this if he had been attacked with Uraraka at the dungeon so much time ago. He was sure Midoriya knew this too. Still, if the place was empty, they had probably lost track of them in favor of dealing with the mercancies being exported at the port.

That made sense, didn't it?

"Asui." called the knight leader. "Do you know what any of those… liquids are?"

She knew she'd be asked. She was the one at the guild handling the potions and chemistry at the back of battles, she was the great alchemist of the village after all, and a skilled herbalist. However, Asui felt slightly ashamed to admit the truth. "I can't without having a tester of them. It could very well be poison or a serum to make the bodies last fresh in those containers."

Uraraka shakily pointed something out. "There seems to be… vials and stuff on that desk over there."

The mutant nodded and squinted a bit, nodding again afterwards. "Ribbit. I'll go there and check it out. There seems to be no one here."

"It's too quiet." stated Kirishima plainly, looking around. "You sure there's no one here?"

Bakugou turned around to look at two of his counterparts. "Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, go watch the door. We need time to comb this place from head to toe, we ain't going home empty-handed."

The girls nodded and started going out, but before Uraraka could follow, a hand grabbed her wrist tight with a hand's touch that she knew from before, calloused and forceful. She turned her head to him, already questioning whatever he had to say. While the others parted for clues and Asui rushed to the depths of the lab, his voice turned down a notch. "Stop trembling. You aren't one to tremble and this is not the time to do that."

Looking down, she realized he was right. Her left wrist was making his hand shake in a not so subtle fashion that made her feel… strange. She had felt this feeling before, but never to this scale, and it made her somewhat raise her shield. "I'm nervous. This isn't any sort of walk down the forest." she focused a bit and breathed in, and once he saw she was visibly calmer, he let her go. Uraraka instantly rubbed her wrist, either annoyed by his forceful grip or treasuring it. "You just… don't leave proof we've been here. You get uncareful when nervous."

"I ain't nervous, what the hell are you—?"

She shut him up waving a hand to dismiss whatever bullshit he had to say that, as usual, was a meaningless cover. "You know what I mean."

There was a beat of silence, then a nod, and he was turning around to let her go. She looked at the flow of his cape, getting lost in how red it was, like the red of his eyes— so damn beautiful and hypnotizing, making her stomach lurch in a pleasant way when she noticed how she was feeling a bit calmer, but still aware of the impact this place was leaving on her. He always gave her the courage to move forward, either by pushes or punches.

His next words cut through her. "Don't mess this up. I'm counting on you for this." he looked back at her one last time with a sneer. "And don't let them beat your ass. Only I can beat your ass."

And he was probably a jerk most of the time, but those were the words she needed to hear— their bond was unspoken, their mutual respect palpable and existing, but him putting them into words and tell her what she had to hear suddenly made bravery seep into her once more. "No need to tell me." but a smile showed through— a sweet, trustful smile. "But thank you, Bakugou. Thank you."

Uraraka didn't look back after that to see if he had turned around with a reaction to offer— she left it at that. Subtlety was a more fashionable look for Bakugou rather than showing straight shock, and she was fine with their bond being unspoken. It existed and he wasn't fighting it anymore. It was peace and quiet.

After closing the door, she found Yaoyorozu already taking her side of the door. She gave her sword a swing and thrusted it into the cobblestone with a frown of decision. "I hope they don't take too long. This place…" her frown grew deep, staring into the dark depths of the laboratory's main corridor. "it reeks corruption and I feel like throwing up just thinking what has happened in this place before we came."

She was right. It didn't sit well in anyone's stomach that such horrific assassination methods were being carried out under a city so amicable and gentle, and that people were blinded to the truth. Confronting it though… Uraraka didn't wish this to absolutely anyone. "It's horrifying. It clashes so much with the image that the Council has been offering to us all along, and to think Gunhead is behind all of this…" when he had helped her so much in some instances… fate was so cruel. "it's all too hard to believe."

The knight nodded, but raised an eyebrow. "Do you think the Council wants to do this? Or could it be the clan's power pressuring them?"

By the tone she carried, this question had probably been asked before. The answer was still the same for Uraraka despite all her thoughts. "They haven't asked for help, so I can't say they are completely innocent. I don't think they came up with all this by themselves though."

"Yes. The city is rich but… not this rich. And I don't think Gunhead is inherently interested in this kind of alchemy torture methods, or the gems for that matter." Uraraka nodded in agreement. "They must be getting a monetary gain, otherwise I don't really see the point. I get that they use the colossus to scare civilians into peace and to not question authority, but to this point?"

It was all so weird, but true after all. It was a thick, bitter and big pill to swallow. Uraraka had had to digest too many bad things that happened in this world for the last months. She hadn't necessarily gotten better at it and, to be honest, the more she fell for these charades and lies and later confronted them, the more it hurt and the more she wished there was a way to eliminate everything all at one.

The world needed to be freed from this kind of people.

Uraraka sighed and let the subject drop. She guessed they'd talk it out once they had finished combing the zone, so she let her mind wander a little. While doing so her eyes absent-mindedly turned to the doors of the storage room, and Yaoyorozu seemingly turned hers there too. "Do you think there is anything else in there?" asked Uraraka.

"Probably, but it seems to need a key we don't have." too bad. There could be really juicy stuff in there. "I could make one, but I don't know how the gears work in that lock."

Deeming that room to have absolutely nothing, Uraraka turned to the plain dead-end corridor. She squinted a little at how short it was and wondered why they had bothered to build that path if it had no door or no seemingly interesting content there. Regardless, Uraraka arched an eyebrow and took a step in that direction. "Can you hold up the fort for a little?" she asked, barely whispering.

Even if Yaoyorozu had said no, she would have gone regardless, as there was something about that boring, darkish dead end that made her curious. Probably it was because she had always been fixated and interested on the most impossible and tasteless of facts and things in life. Maybe she was stupid, maybe she was smart.

She felt a breeze coming from nearby. Before she knew it, her fingers were touching the wall of the dead end, and suddenly, her arm was yanked and tugged forward, and she was flying through the wall. Literally. The sorcerer rolled and fell clumsily through the hidden door portal and landed in a room hidden to everyone's eyes, but somehow she managed to get in there, as if it had been meant for her to discover— her and only her.

The room was dimly lit as well, a theme of purples, blues and neon greens covering the walls and lights. Her hands felt velvety fabric under her fingertips, and a distinctive smell of ash and lavender. She had been in this place before— or at least, she had known the owner of this room before. She had been in a place like this, been afraid but encouraged in a place like this… she had felt gravel and terror here, there. In a small village with fire in the background and happiness at her reach as she fainted.

The card of the Hanged Man was still in her pocket, and when she realized where she was, she was quick to clutch it between her lithe fingers. "What the…"

The woman at the back of the room turned to her. The mist in the room was wrapped around her body like a second skin, almost clinging to hide her face from Uraraka's curiosity. She could still remember the honey drip that was her voice and the smoothness of those hands as they handed her that dreaded dagger with which she struck a deadly deal. A deal she hadn't forgotten about.

However, judging by the calm aura that those hooded eyes of hers oozed, she didn't seem to care that Uraraka could be seeking vengeance. Incense was sprayed around the room, squeezing the sorcerer's heart into a tight, venomous embrace. It was almost nauseating, how that nasty oracle seemed unfazed and hid in that fog of hazy memories and confused thoughts. Her identity was still hidden beneath that veil of hers, a trait she used to find mysterious. However, as time had passed and her heart had hardened, toughened and turned into steel, she could only see it as a coward's act.

Considering where this woman was and what had happened last time they saw each other, it was obvious now why that had happened. Uraraka could only ask one thing. "What are you doing here?"

She would have never thought she'd see that oracle again, up those steps, one that had almost plunged her into endless slumber and a nightshade of nightmares. But if she ever did, she never thought she'd meet her there, in those conditions. Discovering that she was hiding in one of the Jirou's lairs, many things started making sense. But… why? Was the clan actually watching Uraraka closer than she thought?

Of course Midnight knew of her existence, their fight sure couldn't have faded from her mind. But for them to keep such close eye on her to send an oracle to poison and kill her? That said a lot about what was actually going on.

She had to work for them. It was the only thing that seemed plausible at that point. The oracle was silent, as if waiting for Uraraka to finish figuring out who she was, or just who she worked for and what was and had been her purpose that day. "Who are you!? What are you doing here?"

It was now asked to make sure she was right. The oracle jumped from the top of the small steps to the actual ground, facing Uraraka with her hands clasped on her front. "You're actually here. Never thought they'd be right about all this." she seemed to be mumbling to herself, but the brunette heard all of it. She didn't give it much thought. "It's good to see you again. I never thought you and your friends would make it here, Ochako."

Her mind registered those words little by little, her frown deepening as she caught incense was sinking into her skin and somewhat making her feel hazy and molten and stupidly sleepy suddenly. Her training with her master ensured she stood her ground and fought the dizziness away.

Her eyes were wide in realization that as her peers had theorized, the Jirous actually knew what was going on, they knew that Yuuei was there— but why? Why were they letting them see this? Why were they giving them free leeway to step into their mad circus of despair and spilled blood? What was the damn point? Her eyebrows sunk deeper. If they were allowing her and her friends in, that meant something even bigger was coming— or that they were actually letting her come to them, just like everyone was expecting of her lately.

For her to make the pieces fall in place so everything happened exactly as planned.

However, one small detail stood out more than the rest. She threw away all those facts that were far more important to act confused, shocked, but overall fractionally fearful. "My name is not Ochako."

But she knew that name. It resided deep within her dreams and nightmares, that girl trapped between a sword and a hard place. But she decided to not let her cards show and just glared at the oracle for answers.

"Is it, though? With every passing day… you look more like her, and less like you." what was she talking about? Uraraka grimaced in confusion, staring at the oracle in question. "You don't like this place, either. It's as if you were headbutting a wall for answers and were getting increasingly tired of fighting."

That was somewhat true, and it made her feel taken aback. This oracle was… creepily accurate, other than for her name. Seeing the many wrongs in this world sometimes made her wonder why Shinsou's stand was considered so preposterous— it was a world full of corruption and evil-willed people, lands ruled by monsters were virtue was becoming scarce, a timeline fool of dents and growing corruption that she knew would one day consume this whole planet, this whole realm. It made sense that somebody was trying to destroy it, to her. And after living with Shinsou for some time and having heard all of this from such a wise man, she couldn't help but wonder why it was such a rooted philosophy that he was wrong and a crazed man.

She understood him, but that didn't mean she wanted to follow his ways. She didn't want this world to be destroyed, either. For all it had of terror, it had of beauty. It was a rich world, many places to visit and many wonderful unique people to meet in the future, apart from a group of people who could in the future warm up to her again. She saw a future beyond the timeline issue, and thought she could one day grow to fix it like Bakugou's mother had once attempted to with her reckless sacrifice.

But it was getting tiring, keeping her head up and her stride clean and steady. She was human after all and her step faltered sometimes. No matter how often somebody tried to come pick her up, some days it was hard to not get angry and pissed at what she was seeing more and more often. The existence of the lab was the perfect example to illustrate it. If this world was capable of such evil, she sometimes wondered if it was worth keeping around. Her mind was still somewhat programmed to never thinking that— as if it was wrong, sinful, antinatural and completely insane.

But seeing what she was seeing, she couldn't help but feel less and less adamant to be critical of the world around her. She loved this world and didn't want to destroy it, but she sometimes wondered what was the point when encountered with the terror and corruption that crept in the darkness, sleeping like a fierce, powerful demon threatening to swallow the entire realm.

Uraraka stared at the oracle in thought. She was willing to fight that statement if necessary. So she did. "I love this world and all it has to offer. As much as it holds evil within it, it also holds great virtue in it."

"You aren't saying no to what I said, either."

Uraraka ignored that, but frowned at one detail the oracle had mentioned that made her eyes widen even more in shock and silent trepidation. "What does Ochako have to do with this?" the sorcerer's hands tensed as the oracle crossed her hands, and the smaller one could feel magic rush to her fingertips to attack her now that she was defenseless. Yet, right now, getting answers from her mattered more than some petty revenge.

"She has to do with everything. She is everything you are. She also got tired of fighting and… this happened. Everything you see."

This was getting more and more confusing with each passing second. Uraraka was ready to let her real, impatient nature shine and pound the living lights out of that vague talking woman. Instead, her fingers curled into fists and she took a step forward. "What do you mean with that?"

Her voice was quiet. She hadn't meant for it to be so low and whisperish, she looked almost scared of what those words could be hiding underneath the surface of all she knew. But seeing how vague and deep those woman's words were, so sure and confident, surely she had to dive deeper and she couldn't lie: the fear she held right now knowing there was something else beneath her sole reality, something important latched to that girl in her dreams— it was… shocking, terrifying to a whole new level.

"Don't worry. You aren't meant do discover that yet. You aren't ready to go there yet." stated the oracle, starting to walk to Uraraka. The sorcerer found herself unable to move, the woman's words spiralling around her and swirling in front of her eyes like a hypnotizing lasso. What was going on? Uraraka, the Moon Fairy— why couldn't she move? Blood had drained from her feet to her hands, pulsating there to make a decision— fight or die.

Her body had seemingly made a decision for her and rooted itself to the ground as the oracle spoke. Her mind was screaming to fight, to get out of there or just push that woman away— but her body backfired, and the woman inched closer and closer to her before she was whispering in her ear.

It was voice of death itself.

"Let me show you, instead, what all of this is about." her voice was thin like the strings of a cobweb. "The Hive Queen is already waiting for you."

Uraraka's last memory was of herself falling to the cobblestone and meeting the hard ground with a loud sound, and something thick coating her fingers, and a light drizzle meeting her body and soaking her clothes. However, as the oracle looked down at Uraraka, her clothes were dry.

Somehow, if she focused enough, she could feel the rain was coming, as well. It was closer than ever before, and it made her feel dread creep up her veins. The girl… she was nothing but damn trouble, wasn't she?

The oracle left seconds after. But the distant pitter-patter never did, nor the troubling image of a girl with her face down to the earth in the heavy rain of a gray world, blood dripping down her head as she died, but a smile of accomplishment plastered on her face. In that place, the soil was never dry, for it always rained. It wouldn't take much longer for that rain to come to this world, even if the oracle's boss tried to stop it. But the woman had done enough.

It was Uraraka's turn to meet her destiny, now.

---

It was raining. Heavily. Ochako wasn't exactly sure what day it was, or how long they had been in that exhaustive hunt for a girl nobody seemed to know, and few cared enough about to go out of their way and find her. In this hunt, the four of them were alone. In that world, a cruel gray world, Ochako could barely remember what the sun was like after being away from home for this long.

She was tired. A little part of her didn't care about the girl anymore, she was barely curious at this point. She wanted to go home. She wanted to hug her parents, cuddle with her sister, forget these political problems existed and that her family was probably looking for her. Ochako knew she was a powerful weapon for her family, for her people, and that when the fight eventually erupted, she would have to step out and fight for those people, people she would defend because they had taken care of her day by day, nourished her and made her bloom like a sunflower in a battlefield.

Ochako wanted everything in this world. She wanted peace, she wanted that girl to find her way home without being subdued by those humans. Only Katsuki was safe for her and he was nowhere near perfect. He was unique, brash and a damn headache, but hell, it made the travelling more bearable.

So when he asked her to get some seeds out of the cave where they were taking shelter, she didn't really think about it much, she just went. Mina was down with a mild fever and Bakugou and Kirishima were looking after her. Since Ochako was the only one who knew what stuff to use to cure her, it made most sense for her to go out in the rain and look for the ingredients.

Except that it was very, very dark and she had no idea where to go to get those herbs. The rain made it hard to walk and she had already tripped a few times, landing on gross, wet mud. Her cheeks were caked in that slimy dirt and she was so tired from walking. The rest had probably been too worried about Mina to notice her almost dozing off just after reaching the cave.

Now, she wanted to fall asleep in the rain. Ochako's feet slipped once more, and with that the few berries she had snatched from bushes also sunk to the puddle. Her hands made a frail attempt to stand up, yet slipped and her body met the mud once more. Her vision was becoming more blurry with exhaustion, rain dotting her eyes. She wiped the mud away from her cheeks, and blinked the rain off her lashes as she looked forward.

A man stood right in front of her, offering her an unwavering hand to stand up. She didn't even think twice and grasped it, receiving a push to stand up again. Her stance wobbled somewhat, but she managed to stand tall despite the tiredness, and upon closer inspection the man looked awfully suspicious, unruly jet black hair and a thick scarf wrapped around his neck. He was clad in leather, but held no weaponry.

That being said, the way he stared at her in silence made Ochako feel she had something to say. So she tried. "Thank you. I've been travelling for a lot of time."

The man merely nodded in acknowledgement, and didn't make any effort to strike a conversation, at least not yet. He was looking at her as if she owed that man some sort of explanation and it was weirding her out. Her heart hammered against her ribcage. She should get away from there. But Ochako wasn't afraid, only nervous, and she could handle herself if that man got aggressive.

She blinked once, twice, and the man finally spoke. "Are you looking for that little girl?"

Ochako's eyes widened like saucers after this statement, to which she nodded eagerly. "Yes! She ran away from our…" Ochako stopped talking to take in the man's appearance. He looked… human. And somebody opposite to her town was bad news. He was looking for the same factionless, confused and overpowered girl that could turn the fates of war, or stop the war itself. And… he didn't look trustworthy.

Looks were deceiving, but it was better to take a step back now that she could.

Noticing how silent she went, he offered an explanation. "I know that girl. I've known her since she was born. A very interesting and talented girl. I was friends with her parents… it was a tragedy, what happened that day." Ochako's mouth fell agape, hands trembling and frown crinkled in worry. He knew that girl? Why was he there, then? Why wasn't he with her?

Her eyes were big in wonder and suspicion. "Why aren't you with her, then? Where is she?" the man only stared at her with an unreadable expression, as if letting her figure out answers to questions that were too complicated for her. "Answer me! We need to take her home to her people! There is going to be a war in my region and she's the only one who can—"

"She doesn't belong there. Not in the land that stole everything from her." deadpanned the unkempt man. The rain kept on falling around them. Heavy, metallic downpour, but not heavy enough for war to begin. "Nobody there ever cared about her. They stole everything from her. She has absolutely no one to fight for but herself."

Ochako was starting to get upset and it was hard to upset her. What was he even talking about? Sure, the rumours about her people kidnapping the girl were around and the humans were claiming that like a fact and attempting to start a war for that. Ochako didn't buy it, and she knew that territorial pretensions were even realer than any kidnapping gimmick they had going around. And she didn't believe her people would do that.

"What are you talking about!?" almost bellowed her, in the middle of the rain. The droplets were clinging to her shirt like a second skin. "Those are only rumours! My people would never kidnap her, and humans are just—"

"I saw it happen."

Ochako's feet froze, her heart stopped beating and her blood stopped running through her veins— but judging by the thread that invaded her soul, it almost felt like blood was pooling inside of her stomach and making it lurch uncomfortably. Her voice was quiet. "What are you saying?"

The man was becoming blended with the environment as the day got darker, wetter and colder. Was it her feeling the weight of the world pushing her down? Was it how his eyes were cold and solid like hell itself? He spoke slowly, as if letting her understand. Why was he telling her this? What did Ochako have to do with all of this?

"The people you think to be yours is not the only culprit. Things went wrong. Wrong deals were made and they messed with the wrong family. When you have clumsy people making deals, mistakes are made. And having two teams going after a same target can make these wars happen." explained the man. "Let's say both did the dirty work, but only one took the prize for it."

The girl's hands turned into fists she anchored to her sides, trying to not get violent. "Are you implying my people killed those girl's parents!?"

The man stayed silent. A thin layer of rain separated them, but it felt like that sole step was a world and a lifetime of distance. He was letting her unravel by herself. Ochako would find answers soon enough.

"There is not only one criminal." he conceded, remaining complicated and not completely incriminating. "They wanted the weapon for themselves. But when it came to claiming it…"

"... my people took her." the man, again, didn't speak. But this once, Ochako took it as a sign of affirmation, which made her irises turn small in alarm. "You're saying… that everyone wanted her parents gone?"

"For them, taking everything away from her was worth it. Lives were spilled in favor of greed and power. Destruction of a family in the name of war." spoke the man, softly, elaborating on the information Ochako was knitting. "Do you think she wants to go back to a place that took everything away? A place where they are making false claims and all there is is destruction? Would she really want to live in a world like that?"

Ochako… understood that feeling, somehow. She wouldn't be able to serve a nation that destroyed her family for the sake of power, either. But that girl was the key to stop the war and, again, Ochako didn't need to know all of this. She didn't want to know any of this— why was he even telling her this story? What could she do with this information? It wouldn't help the situation, and she didn't need insight into politics and personal vendettas.

Her voice turned harder, determined. "We need to find that girl. I don't care who did what, it doesn't matter to me, or to probably anyone." and she felt gross saying this, because it did feel horrible to be serving a nation capable of such crimes— but what else could she do? she had nowhere else to go and they hadn't done anything to her personally, all she could do was help sustain that… questionable home. And move on. "I'm sorry for her. But—"

"Weird it doesn't matter."

His words somewhat cut through her and tied a knot to her throat, unabling her to speak. He had a grave, baritone voice that could probably move mountains if he so desired. And it made Ochako, a powerful girl, feel small and shrink under the weight of that man's words and the meaning they seemed to be dragging behind.

Strangely enough, he continued. This time, though, he started to move. He was walking towards her, and Ochako was so tense and frozen she screwed her eyes shut. It was like a tsunami was coming over her, ready to punish her for having apparently wrong views on things. "It will matter soon enough. Enjoy the days you have left."

Lips pursed, she got ready for some kind of hit or anything that would mark that man's presence in her mind, as if he was to make her remember in a more violent way. However, his footsteps brushed past her, splashing on the mud.

Ochako opened her eyes. The man had walked away into the darkness of the storm.

---

Uraraka's body shot out of the bed with a start, panting, and this wasn't new. Everytime those damn visions occurred, she's wake up bathing in a pool of sweat and cold temperatures, stars dotting her sight and the sky above her head, above the ceiling that loomed over her and caged her like a bird between golden bars. She was always alone, trying to squish the feelings out and just remember the details.

Her lips were moving without her consent, repeating one thing like a mantra. "Master, master, it was…"

However, unlike other times, a hand was slanted on her back. She was expecting to wake up alone, like every night, wrapped in silence and no one to talk to her unless Bakugou was restless enough. It was ironic how now that things were getting increasingly complicated, they seemed to be acting kinder towards her— they being Bakugou, Midoriya, Yaoyorozu and Mina who were watching over her form a side of her bed, with Mina sitting closest to her. Her hand was placed on her heaving torso.

"Easy, sis." soothed the archer with a smile. "Bad dream?"

Uraraka's mind finally landed on reality and she let out a long sigh. Her hands were shot out forward, as if trying to reach for something that was getting further and further away from her, and they limped on the duvet after a moment. It was a familiar bed. The bed at her room in the residence. The residence out of the Capital. Away from that torture laboratory. Memories flooded back to her as the blood that had gone to her legs returned to her head.

She couldn't find the will to nod at Mina's question, for she was too confused and dumbfounded to really say what that had all been about. It felt like the puzzle was close to completion, yet still needed crucial pieces to fall in line, queueing for Uraraka to step on and discover the truth. The right choice.

Midoriya deemed her confusion and mild silence to be because she didn't know what had happened. He couldn't be more wrong. "You and Yaoyorozu were guarding and you, uh, fainted." Uraraka's heart stopped, her erratic breathing calming as she tried to process what Midoriya was saying. "We're not exactly sure why, but we found you almost dead, face down—"

Yaoyorozu frowned at the sorcerer. "You gave me a big scare back there. What even happened, Uraraka?"

The brunette placed her hand on her forehead, trying to recall having fainted at all. She hadn't, she was sure of it. Her encounter with that oracle had to be real. In fact, she was sure some incense in that room had sticked to her clothing. Had they found her at the chamber with the oracle? Or had that encounter been a mere mirage?

"Where did you guys find me?"

The female knight explained and by the guilty expression in her face, something was off. "Bakugou called me inside for a second and I thought you had just discovered something and would be back shortly. Mina found you."

Uraraka looked at the archer in question. "Yeah, totally passed out on the ground. Ain't like you to black out so suddenly."

They were starting to bombard her with information that she didn't recall at all and it was lowkey scaring her. Midoriya continued with the interrogatory. "Did you have anything at the Council when you killed them all?"

"I did—" again, her heart squeezed inside her chest painfully, tremorous, and looked up to Midoriya with a kind of hesitant, fearful glance she had seen, done before. "When I what?"

Midoriya frowned. "When you were taken there. You remember, right?"

She hadn't heard incorrectly. She had heard that. She had heard Midoriya say it— his voice had been somewhat drowned out and her eyes had gone blurry but— was she alright? What was even happening now? Maybe she had heard incorrectly, she was a bit too gone to listen carefully. Still… that slight distortion around her, that wrinkle, was something she already was familiar with. And it meant something was going on. And she knew who was behind that.

She decided to stick to the topic at hand, cupping her face and rubbing at it tiredly. They had no time for timeline shenanigans and disruptions. "Yeah, right, yes, I do. Gunhead." she tried to harden her grip around reality, and nodded vigorously. "He just gave me a talk on some stuff, I don't remember that much so it mustn't have been that important. I didn't have anything suspicious, though."

"Then it must be exhaustion. You gotta rest tonight." adviced Yaoyorozu, moving to the window. That let Uraraka see Bakugou slouched on a seat, almost as passed out as she reportedly had been. Sleeplessness must be taking its toll on him. "We're parting tomorrow."

Uraraka blinked some of that sleep away. "Parting? Where to?"

Midoriya sat on the bed with Uraraka after taking out a small note of paper. "Asui found this at the laboratory. Hagakure was waiting for us in here when we came back. They've found their lair. It matches the directions listed in this note." Uraraka took the letter and read it attentively. "Apparently they were going to take a batch of those gems to the lair for some regular inspections, and it was signed by Midnight herself."

Yeah, that's what the note said. It was instructing the lab assistant, who had been now reasonably gone back then, to take the batch to a pretty secluded place in Orange Forest. As she continued reading through the details, Mina pointed at a small sketch doodled at the bottom right corner of the page. "There's a seal similar to this imprinted on a slate at the Orange Forest, near the outskirts but still well hidden. Ojiro found it after a storm had cleared the dirt away."

When she finished reading it, Uraraka nodded and handed it to Midoriya. She was glad things were starting to finally kick off and they would dismount that damned organization. Oh, her master would be pleased to know this. With that in mind, Uraraka almost asked if anyone had seen Shinsou— but she didn't want to stir potential suspicion or bring about someone as shady as him. She was her partner in the shadows, but not liked regardless.

"I take it we're leaving tomorrow early then. Did anything happen during the mission that I missed?" she was still tormented thinking that her meeting with the oracle had been no more than a dream, but she knew it had happened no matter what her peers were saying. What was the truth, then? She was so confused.

Until she realized, a beat later, that both could be true. At that time, Uraraka had been too overwhelmed to watch after her powers, and while she could recall being yanked into the secret chamber, she could have accidentally, just maybe—

"There's been… another problem, too."

Uraraka's train of thought haltered right before she could throw herself over a pit of guilt and overthinking. Yaoyorozu crossed her arms with a dark, worried expression Uraraka had never seen on her. It instantly made her worry, too, and gulp at the disappointment and sadness that lurked behind her eyes.

"Jack… she has disappeared." Uraraka's eyes were blown wide. "She's gone. She disappeared while we investigated the laboratory."

Oh no. Even if Bakugou was asleep, she could read what his thoughts about this were. It made a horrific amount of sense, now, that maybe Jack… it couldn't be, could it? Uraraka refused to believe it. Judging by how they were looking at her so sympathetically, they were also hesitant to believe it despite how logical her betrayal could be.

"It can't be."

"It… sadly makes too much sense. But we won't jump into conclusions." his voice was somewhat soothing, but still held a pang of sadness to it. "For now, if what we think is true, she must be at the lair as well. We'll find her there and confront her about this."

Uraraka frowned sadly, and looked behind her friends to see Bakugou was still sleeping. But he was there. Why did he even bother to come? Sure, they were… making progress, but they still had room to grow. She had to talk to him about this. Jack couldn't- she just could not be! It was Jack, the girl who had walked her through town, encouraged her and welcomed her with open arms. A person like her, somebody Uraraka cared so much for... it couldn't be. That stab dangling above her back had to be just a mirage. It made her feel so sad and... disappointed. Like the world was rolling off a cliff and burning to the ground.

For now, all she could do was sigh and hope for the best. "Right."

After a few minutes of talk, some minor planning and warming up to the idea of seeing the mission finally end, the guild parted to their rooms with the exception of Bakugou, who was still dozed off on her armchair as if it was actually comfortable. Knowing that man and how difficult it was for him to get some sleep, he probably found that to be good enough.

Still, his chest was a bare as ever, sword left by the chair — he had probably realized he'd be there for a long time and decided to put his weaponry to a side. Uraraka could feel the cold temperatures threatening to seep through the glass of the big windows, and now that she was conscious and sleepless enough, she could do something about that. Her cloak was lying on the blankets, neatly folded at her feet.

She could either let it rest there or do something with it. And Uraraka wasn't known for being exactly idle.

The sorcerer carefully slid out of her bed. The only noise that could be heard was the slight wind in that cloudy, dark sunset and the crumbling of the sheets as she got out and stepped to the cloak, then to the sleeping barbarian. Upon seeing him so peaceful and quiet, she let herself a secret, full smile, molten for the vulnerability he was showing. It wasn't really vulnerability, but Bakugou was known for having walls thicker than an ocean, and seeing him so… calm, almost tender, yet arms crossed and almost showing toughness through the softness of it all was funny but also… it warmed her heart.

She put the cloak spread around him. It was so wide that even when it was supposed to fit according to her petite frame, it wrapped him almost perfectly. After that, her warm hand pressed to his somewhat cold forehead, and she let herself push his bangs behind a little to press a little kiss to his forehead, wishing him to sleep well— and when she caught herself in that act she blushed, she wasn't used to being this soft and malleable in a world of titans and evil— but she smiled after that, privately proud she got to do that.

She just… wanted to do it. To show him a kind of affection nobody would show to that seemingly monstrous man. She was tender to beasts and even if he would never know this happened, it was enough with her knowing for both of them.

With that thought, Uraraka threw herself to the bed again, finding confort between the cozy blankets and thick duvet, the pillows cushioning a head full of heavy thoughts. Her lids fell close and she found sleep soon— yet it was short lived. While she felt herself drift off, the tides changed.

As if the ceiling had split open, she felt raindrops hit her face, her hands, her body, everywhere. She wasn't on a mattress anymore, but on something that was pooling and shifting under her, cold and slimy. She could smell the storm and petrichor wafting under her nose, like a tease.

Uraraka's eyes flashed open to meet with a clap of thunder, and lighting struck feet behind her. Groaning and confused, she sat up on the mud, cold and abandoned in the middle of this destroyed meadow. Wind blew around her like small tornadoes, making fallen leaves dance and the darkness around her become familiar, almost chaotic. The only light that could be seen was the one that filtered through the heavy clouds kilometres away from her— but in that vast, barren land with nothing but mud and dead trees, the howling wind and the storm prevailed. She didn't prevail.

Where was she?

Through the aggressive breezes, she made out the splatter of blunt steps coming towards her from a side. Looking up, she wasn't surprised to see it was none other than her master, one that was making his presence known both now and in her dreams— but this was no dream. The soil between her slender fingers was too real, and the wind was too fierce.

"What… what am I doing here?" she asked, tremorous. Being in that foreign, destroyed land where no one lived with such a powerful, presenceful man, she felt hesitant to stand up. "Did you come here to take me back? We aren't done with our mission."

Aizawa's voice was rough and hoarse, like always, but held a certain omnipotent ringtone to it. "No. You will end up coming back to me one way or another. I won't force you back. You can't come back yet."

Uraraka should have been glad to hear that. Instead, she felt terrified of what she was there for, then. Assuming he had taken her away from the Capital all the way to wherever they were, what was the reason behind being so forceful right before she finished such important mission? Was there anything more important than that? His presence had always loomed over her when she was alone. She feared he'd come out from any dark corner to snatch her away.

Perhaps, he'd even be as evil and foul to take her away right before Bakugou's eyes. He'd torture him and taunt his past traumas, ones she wanted to help him overcome. Of course, she couldn't fix him— but he'd always have her by his side. Until she had to inevitably go away. Despite how much she loved him— his courage, the way he empowered her, and his bravery. She wanted him. She loved him.

But seeing how her master wanted her for himself, things wouldn't go as she planned. Or not at the ideal pace she wanted. He offered her a hand. "Get up. There's something you have to see."

Uraraka looked at the hand. That unmoving, calloused hand with drops dripping down his fingers. She slanted her hands on the soil and propped herself up without slipping. The man took the hint and started walking forward as she fixed her clothes. Without her cloak, she felt almost naked, her identity exposed— but there was no one to expose herself to in that naked hell, stark of people. And she knew this.

"Where am I?"

The master stopped walking after she asked this. Uraraka did, too. The rain above them was relentless, the pitter patter wasn't letting up anytime soon. It made the land drown in those tears from heaven. Why was the sky crying?

"This is the land you left behind." stated he, plainly. He didn't turn to her, yet Uraraka's suddenly wide eyes were crowned with a confusion she wished she could wash away just looking into her master's eyes. "You did this. You chose this."

Chose? How could this destroyed land be conceived as any kind of choice? It was completely devastated with storms and dead wilderness. The idea of sunshine seemed to have faded from this world ages ago. And she did this? If destruction was a choice how could she have done this? Nothing made any sense. "This… I can't have done this. I don't recall ever destroying something like this— or anything for that matter."

"You never remember, yet you do the same all over again." his tone was almost chiding. "You always play with things this way— and search for the wrong answers. But you always end up leaving your mistakes behind. It's the same story all over again."

Complete radio silence. What was this supposed to mean?

"Master, I—"

"Come with me." he interjected, walking again. Uraraka was too dumbfounded to really ground herself and elaborate what he was saying, all too ambigue, so she followed suit. She was letting herself be carried as his words soaked in. "There's something you should see."

Well, whatever it was she wouldn't understand much likely, so she just let herself be led without any objection. They walked for just a bit longer before they reached some sort of torn down gates. It seemed to be the ruins of a cemetery, gates wide open. It was like hell was opening the cage of souls to devour the land at her back. She had felt like she was in a cage before, yet those open doors didn't feel like release— if anything, they felt like an invitation to be imprisoned in her own mind.

They walked through the gates, too. The path they were walking through was somewhat sturdy and not as destroyed as the rest. It was as if someone had been taking care of it while she was gone. "The pieces will fall in line soon enough. Maybe then, you'll understand."

Still not a clue, but her surroundings were making his words have some sort of weird, ominous emphasis that didn't bode well with her. "I'm… confused, master. What are we doing here?"

Finally, they had seemingly reached their destination. Whatever it was he had to show her, it wasn't that special. They weren't at a especially hidden spot in that graveyard — or what was left of it —, nor did anything seem out of place. Were they visiting the resting place of a loved one of his?

It was still raining.

"There's many people buried here." stated the master. "In this land you left behind, everything was cleansed. All the evil was wiped out of existence with the move of a hand, and all that was left was this land. This is the ending for those people. This is the end of the road."

The… end of the road? What did he mean? Was this it? Was this the end of the world or something? It sounded ridiculous. This had to be just a zone destroyed by storms or something. It had to be. She couldn't have done this if this was what he was suggesting. Uraraka wasn't that strong. Again, ridiculous.

Silence hung in the distance and the cemetery as he finally looked at her, more like a stare Uraraka was somehow unable to meet. Why was that glare so difficult to understand? Uraraka didn't have problems reading people's eyes, she had done it with Bakugou countless times. Why did she shrink whenever this man said such things that made her feel almost bad? What did he know she didn't know?

Then, he took out a small flower. A sunflower. He put it on the dirty soil. Unlike all the other graves, this one was significantly simple and quaint. Through the rain, she could barely make out the names and the date, the latter being full of cracks and vines. Yet the name was covered in dirt, which he wiped away slowly to reveal a familiar name.

Uraraka's eyes zeroed on that, and lightning flashed in the distance, in the rain, behind Uraraka as the world crumbled around her, only leaving the remains of that cemetery behind. Water dripped from her hair as she stared, eyes dead and vacant, having Aizawa watch realization unfold.

"Everyone has someone to care about. Everyone has somebody to look after them. You never had no one." he didn't seem to be saying it out of pity, or even addressing her feelings for Bakugou. It was like a fact for her. "After all this time, nobody seems to care about you either."

Her guild… they did care, right? She did want to see them as just a stepping stone but she knew better. They mattered. They were… her family. But after all this time did they still care? Did she still matter? Was she something more than a sorcerer for them, a powerhouse?

A hand landed on her trembling shoulder. "Someday you'll end up coming to the same land, the same emptiness, all by yourself. It's only a matter of time it happens again."

With that, the master started walking away as Uraraka's head was hunched over, staring with wide, dry eyes at the tomb before her. Death was a weird thing to think about, above all when you're then one with the sythe inches away from your throat. Time was catching up on her. She was running out of time. This had to be a distortion… it couldn't be true.

Her loneliness, it had to be a manipulation. She wasn't alone. Her guildmates had her back, they protected her, this was just a bad day in paradise and tomorrow, everything would be okay. She was more than a sorcerer. She was more than a pawn with feelings to them. She cared for them. She had to matter for them, too. She was no marionette.

But all she could do was fall to her knees and stare at the name engraved on the gravestone, in the land she left behind after a lifetime of mistakes. This was… the end of the road. The result of destruction, a wrong choice, cleansing and mistakes. A dead end. Where the story was finally and absolutely over.

A name, like the fingers of the gods pointing at her in shame and blame.

Uraraka.

And rain just kept on falling.

---

The day had come.

The four kids found themselves in that fateful meadow. Rain splattered outside in the bleak, gray environment surrounding the orange, cozy home. The little child, no more than 8 years old, no longer existed. Nor did the parents, or the life that made the now empty, dusty house so brilliant. Katsuki had concluded the girl had to be there, so they assumed this was the end of their adventure, and they would be able to go home to stop a war.

"We should investigate around here, we might find something buried in the dirt." advised Mina, looking at the house. "That place looks spooky— and too shiny. It's so dark inside, it seems."

Ochako remembered that man's words from the day before and dipped her head forward in decision. "I'll go in, then. It looks pretty small, shouldn't have any—"

Katsuki grabbed her shoulder before she could take a step forward. "Be careful, you're clumsy as shit and it seems to rain often, here. The house could come down on you with a wrong step."

Kirishima stepped to her side. "Want me to go with?"

"I'll be fine." it was a… personal matter. It felt that way. It probably was not that way but that's how it felt. "I'll be fine. Let me be, I just wanna check she's there."

"Ochako can talk her out of anything, she's the sweetest bean ever." smiled Mina, encouraging her. Everyone seemed to be convinced excepting Katsuki, who just didn't trust what the lost kid could do to a stranger after so much time of loneliness. "Let's get to it. She could also be in that toolshed, or she could have seen us and ran away into the woods."

That was unlikely but it was better to not discard choices. With that, they parted ways, with Katsuki worrying over nothing and Ochako readying herself to see the tension that man had put in her unravel. There had to be something else in there other than a scared girl if the man had put so much emphasis on Ochako needing to know so much information. So she sucked it up and walked forward.

The door was already parted open before she got there, and the knob was rusty. For how long had it been raining? She didn't know. It looked, smelled and felt like forever. That place felt off without a family to warm it up. Something felt familiar about the change between rain to nothing as she stepped inside. The place should be warmer. It was cold, lifeless, like the heart of a child without a home and and a planet without a sun.

She closed the door behind her so the wind wouldn't get in the stark household. Ochako found a small candle holder and she lighted it up with some difficulty, the air too humid. The place instantly got a little warmer and she could see mostly everything. Some blueish light was filtering through the windows and washing over the floor, adding to the bleak atmosphere.

But most importantly, there was nobody there.

Ochako almost cursed. She should have known there was nobody in there. She should have known their search would be fruitless and, without more time and knowledge, it was clear they'd have to go home to a land at the verge of war, a land ruled by people capable of killing a child's parents — this child's parents for control. She almost got angry at the prospect of going home, but she had nowhere else to go, and nothing else to fight for.

Now that they had nothing else to do there, Ochako tried to call for that kid a few times, all to no avail. She was only met with silence. She searched a bit around the living room, behind furniture and up in the kid's bedroom, which was completely empty. The offenders had most likely taken everything from her room. Made Ochako feel pity for the kid, a lonely, traumatized kid.

She would have ran away with a chance and a reason, too.

Just when Ochako was about to leave, had foot bumped with a small table and it fell forward, shattering a vase and a small frame's glass with it. The girl put the table back up and shoved the vase's pieces to a side. Instead, she took the frame gently and looked at it: the parents looked happy, smiling to the painting, holding a child to their lap as she—

The frame fell back to the floor and it only took one second for the pieces to fall back at the same time, in unison, in harmony— but in a harmony so utterly terrifying and dire it made a cold shiver run down her spine, slowly, as reality and truth started sinking into her heart, tainting it in disappointment, horror, and shock.

No child had ever ran away. No child had ever disappeared. Because Ochako was the child. The little girl they were looking for, the weapon they had been fighting for all this time.

"I'm— it can't be." but it made so much sense now, why that man had given her so much information about what lay beneath the surface, the lies she had been fed to forget of an assassination she saw so clearly at a young age. Her parents… her real parents. Killed by her protectors. Killed by her home.

It was too twisted to be real. The world felt too cold to be real. Her stomach lurched, her brain squeezed hard to get rid of those facts but it was true, wasn't it? Ochako was the lost child. She had been… kidnapped as a weapon. She had never been family for them to start with, she wasn't their family. She was just a weapon. A weapon worth killing for, a weapon worth battling for. She was her. They had found the key to peace… but at what cost?

Her own clan had killed her real parents, kidnapped her as a prize — everything made so much sense now — and the humans were claiming her to be their species… which she was, she was one of them, but they had killed her family home. The world had killed her real family. They had murdered her family in the name of progress.

Ochako's world had flipped upside down in a matter of minutes, and she no longer could have a home. She was devastated. How could she go back and fight for either party when both had killed her family? Humans attempting to not only kill her now plastic family, but also behind said murder. Ochako no longer had a home.

Ochako no longer had anyone to fight for.

"Guys, don't you think she's taking a bit too long?" asked Mina, staring at the house that was becoming increasingly darker as the rain fell stronger on them. They should get in there and take her out, yet if she was striking a deal with the girl, it could be dangerous to interrupt them.

Kirishima nodded and started walking forward. "Yeah. Let's get in. I don't care what they could be doing, we don't have time to waste."

Katsuki frowned as they walked forward, his fingers curled into fists in worry. If Ochako was fine, he knew she'd have been efficient and quick to get all done. Something was terribly wrong if she was taking so long and honest to god he was getting anxious of what could be going on in there. His step got a bit more hurried, and everyone took the hint to match his pace and find out what was happening.

Yet before they could get close to the house, Ochako emerged from it, silent, and closed the door behind her. At this, the group sighed in relief and attempted to run to her— but Mina stopped them with an uncertain frown. "Something's off."

And she was right. Ochako held her hands in fists to her sides now, feeling like she was small again, with a painting on her hands and running to find a crime scene, crimson staining her shoes once more. A destroyed family burnt to the ground by greed. An empty heart. It was over, wasn't it?

Silence enveloped the field, the rain as the orchestra before she spoke again. The tables had turned, and in the middle of the rain, Ochako's plans, feelings and heart had changed.

When she spoke up, it was saddest, weakest murmur she could muster, consumed by the flames of reality.

"You guys…" a tremble, and then, thunder. A sob threatened to emerge as she continued, stale, empty. "killed my parents, didn't you?"