Chapter 6: The Dwarfin Mines

Chapter Summary: Since Shouta is all healed he is invited to visit the dwarf's mines. Unfortunately that means he'll have to enter the woods again.

It's been about a month now since Shouta found the dwarfs' cottage. He still had a small limp and a few cuts here and there—the one under his eye was definitely going to scar—but other than that he was practically healed. On top of that, he had finally managed to bring the house under control. Granted, it was a battle raging on the verge of a full-out war, but once Shouta explained a few things about cleanliness and why it was important, the kids started to help out. Though at times Shouta felt like they were helping the house rather than him;

While the dwarfs were earnest in their efforts they would usually end up breaking the dishes, the windows, and even the table at one point. In the end they were victorious and the house was livable.

However, now that the house was handled and Shouta was better he had to think about his next move. While he had gotten used to the place and the seven dwarf children had grown on him Shouta had to find Hizashi.

The trouble was he didn't know where he was; was Hizashi still in the kingdom, or was he in the woods looking for Shouta? Was he even still alive—

Shouta groaned and put a hand to his head before he finished the thought.

'I'm going to drive myself insane! When did I become such a worrywart?'

Since his evil stepfather decided to cut out his heart and his idiot boyfriend decided to stay behind to do who knows what, a voice said in the back of his mind.

"Mr. Aizawa?" Shouta looked at Tsuyu as she tugged at his pants. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he lied. "Just a bit restless, that's all." Tsuyu watched him for a moment, then nodded in understanding.

"Makes sense. There's not a lot to do here."

"Yeah..." That and Aizawa's nerves were wrecked to heck. No point in saying that aloud though.

"I can make you some toys!" Momo offered. Shouta waved away the offer.

"Thanks, but I don't play with toys."

"You can swim in the stream!" Tsuyu suggested. "It's safe if you stay within the area."

"Not much of a swimmer..."

Izuku looked thoughtful from his chair. He tapped the pencil he was using to draw an All Might picture against his lips.

"Then… how about you come with us tomorrow?" Izuku asked.

Shouta raised a brow.

"Come with you where?"

"To the mines! That's where we work."

That's right. The dwarfs worked in the mines every day. That's was why they left every morning. Funny, he never actually thought about it before. Between his recovery, his mind torn between worry for Hizashi, and trying to get the cottage in order Shouta never thought about the mines the dwarfs went to every day, or why. It just never really popped into his head. Now all sorts of questions and ideas were coming to mind. One thought, in particular, stood out;

He frowned, eyes squinting.

"Who are you working for?"

He hadn't thought about there being anyone else in the forest. If there was some greedy leprechaun or whatever forcing these kids to do slave labor then—wait, why was Shouta worrying all of the sudden? He didn't even think of it before, why was he now?

The children blinked at him with wide doe eyes, just as confused by his sudden reaction as he was.

"Uh, us?" Izuku said, not really understanding the question or the tone that came with it. "It's our mine, so we, uh, mine there."

"The mines are dwarfin mines. And since we're the only ones left we have to take care of them and harvest the jewels," Tenya explained. "That's why we have to be diligent and make sure to go every day."

"Yup. Every day," Denki mumbled as he fell back on a rug. His amber eyes stared hard into the ceiling. "Every. Single. Day." The way he stressed each word made it clear this wasn't something he enjoyed. Toru poked him.

"You're just pouty because you're clumsy," she said.

"Me?!" Denki sat up with a scowl and a slight growl. "You're the one who hit my foot with your ax!"

"You stood too close!"

"Did not! You're the clumsy one, clutz!"

"Am not, dopey!"

As Tenya went over to settle the argument, Shouta sat in thought. If the house was as bad as it was he could only imagine in horror what the work conditions were like-especially in a mine where a cave-in could happen any moment. And from the sounds of it, they were already hurting themselves. That alone was more than enough to cause concern.

"All right." he agreed. "I'll come."

The dwarfs stopped their fighting and turned to him. Their expressions became excited.

"Really? You'll come?" Momo asked with eyes that glittered.

"Yay! This is gonna be so fun!" Ochaco cheered.

"I doubt it," Denki said under his breath. Despite this, he did look brighter than before. Tenya was making erratic movements in his own excitement.

"You won't regret it, Mr. Aizawa! I can't wait to show you how well we conduct ourselves! We're very efficient at our mines, you see!" he blabbed. "Like a well-oiled system, we manage to…"

His words started to blend together after that and Shouta tuned out, saying the odd word occasionally.

'Jeeze, they're getting worked up over nothing.' Shouta thought.

Still, at least it was a distraction from his worry and boredom. And who knows? It might be interesting to see what they get up to every day.

777

The next day came a little too soon for Shouta's tastes.

"Mr. Aizawa? It's time to wake up for our trip!" Shouta blinked at the room around him as Tenya's voice rang in his ears. It took a minute or two for his brain to catch up.

At Tenya's suggestion, they tucked in early the night before. Even so, Shouta wasn't prepared for the "morning" rise. It was impossible to tell as there was no light in the forest aside from the lamps and the glow of the grass, but Shouta was willing to bet that it was the crack of dawn. Not that he really minded. Back at the palace, he had an erratic sleep schedule which was basically just a nap when he wasn't working. Shouta didn't get a lot of sleep with this granted but he did what he had to do.

He crawled out of the three beds that were pushed together for him with a tired grumble.

Once Shouta was well enough and had cleaned the sheets of his blood he had given Momo back her bed. She told him he didn't have to but he insisted. He was taking advantage as it was without stealing beds from little girls. Besides, the dwarfs told him no one was using these beds anyway so it was only practical to put them to use.

He glanced at the others. Tenya, Izuku, and Ochaco move with energy that shouldn't be possible at this time a day while Toru was on his level. Tsuyu and Momo were in the middle and Denki was refusing to release his pillow.

"Come on, Denki! It's time to go to work." Momo cooed.

"No…! No more dig, dig, dig..."

Shouta closed his eyes with a sigh as he went downstairs with Ochaco and Izuku, moving slightly slower than usual.

"This is gonna be fun!" Ochaco said to Shouta. She grabbed out the lunches he had made for them the night before. They were mostly just snack packs but Shouta didn't like the idea of them going without food all day so he started making them bags to take with them.

"Our mines are really pretty and shiny!" The dwarfelle continued. "And there's all sorts of colors of gems!"

"I'm looking forward to it," the human said, using all his willpower not to snap at her. She wasn't doing anything wrong, but he wasn't fully awake yet and there was no coffee to help.

He glanced over at Izuku who was digging in the closet for something. When he found it, he pulled out with a satisfied huff. With the item in hand, he came over to them and held it out to Shouta.

"Here you go!" It was a lantern just like the ones that hung outside. "Oh! Hold on!"

He ran off with the lantern before Shouta could take it and went to a large chest sitting in the corner. He opened it and light filled the room. Shouta had to blink a couple of times and shade his eyes a bit but saw that the light came from a couple of jewel stones. Izuku grabbed one and placed it in the lamp. Once that was done the dwarf boy shut the chest and returned to Shouta.

"Okay, here!" This time Shouta was allowed to take it. Curious, he opened the lantern and squinted at the gem, wondering what gave it its glow. It was hard to see but Shouta was able to spot a carving in the jewels. He recognized it as a rune symbol.

Runes were commonly used by wizards and witches to hold spells. Snow White occasionally saw them during winter to keep the castle warm. However, there was something odd about these runes even if he couldn't tell what exactly. He mentally compared it to the ones he had seen around the palace. The design looked a little like the ones that provided light, but it seemed as if another pattern was drawn on top of it, one he didn't recognize.

"Where did you get these?" he asked as he put it back in the lamp. The kids had magic, or "quirks" as they called them, but as far as he knew only wizards could create runes. Then again Shouta never bothered to learn much about magic, so he could be wrong. Maybe dwarfs could use runes just like wizards.

Izuku shrugged.

"We… didn't? They were just always here," he explained. "We just figured that since they kept the house safe, they might do the same for us and it worked. That's why we take them into the woods. I think it's because they're magic? All Might used runes all the time in his fight against evil. One time when he was fighting an undersea serpent he used a rune to-"

"Yes, I get it," Shouta interjected. It was too early for an All Might story. So it wasn't their nature that protected them from the woods, it was the runes. If the need ever came up he could borrow one and be safe. Hopefully.

"You have to be careful not to lose it though!" Tsuyu informed him as she and Momo shuffled a half-asleep Denki downstairs. "If you do then the forest can attack you, so make sure to hold tight to it, okay?" Behind them, Tenya ushered Toru down the steps.

Shouta fidgeted on his red boots. He was NOT looking forward to going back into the forest after last time when he was almost torn apart. He tried to assure himself that he should be fine if he followed the dwarfs' instructions. After all, they went into the woods every day and were fine. Why should it be different for him?

"Learned from experience?" he asked. Tsuyu gave a slow nod.

"Yeah." She didn't say anymore. Shouta decided not to either as he remembered that there were ten beds upstairs and only seven dwarfs.

"Everyone ready?" Tenya called out. Everyone affirmed they were. "Right! Line up then and stay together! Single file! Remember to stay close to your partner and-"

"Give it a rest, we know how to do this." Tsuyu stated.

"Yeah, we do it every morning, Tenya," Ochaco added.

"Eve-even so it's different today. Mr. Aizawa is coming with us. We need to show him we're in form..."

'I know very well you're not in form.' Shouta thought. But he didn't say that aloud. He knew that for whatever reason Tenya was trying very hard to impress him.

777

They all left the house and marched toward the edge of the woods, Toru cheerfully singing her song. Before he stepped over the barrier Shouta hesitated. The memory of the last time he was in there was still fresh in his mind.

The rip of his flesh, the eyes in the dark, the teeth of wood-

"Mr. Aizawa?" Izuku watched him with concerned eyes. He had been paired with the human to make sure he didn't get separated or lost. Shouta shook his head.

"I'm fine." And he hoped that he would remain that way as he stepped over the threshold.

He tensed for a moment and waited. After a couple of beats, he released a breath. He pulled it back sharply when the leaves started to rustle. Eyes—or at least something that resembled eyes—watched them from the dark brambles of bushes and trees. It may have been his imagination, but the thorn branches seemed to be slithering like snakes in the brush.

Shouta swallowed as his throat went dry. His grip tightened on the lantern as his eyes stared up into the trees, trying to reveal an invisible enemy. He wanted to run, turn back and return to the safety of the cottage before it was too late.

It seemed he was the only one though as the others lined up together.

"This way!" Tenya called from the front.

"I don't think-"

"It's okay!" Izuku reached up and took Shouta's hand. "As long as we have our lamps, we'll be fine."

Shouta wasn't sure about that, but despite the gazes from the shadows, nothing was attacking them. In fact, they seemed to shy away from the light. He allowed Izuku to tug him along after the others before they could disappear from sight, trying to keep his senses about him.

When he was in the woods before, Shouta didn't have time to actually look at it. Seeing it now, however, he found himself grateful for that;

The trees appeared to be something made from a twisted nightmare. Eyeballs rolled in the bark to follow their every movement, only vanishing when the light touched them. But the eyes weren't even close to being the most grotesque thing about the oaks and evergreens. No, Shouta would have to give that honor to the rib cages that protruded from the trunks with organs that appeared to still be operating as it would in a body.

Ba-bump.

Human hearts were trapped within the cages of bone.

Ba-bump.

They made soft beats that filled the dark area but the heartbeats weren't the only sound in the woods. Shouta winced as his ears felt like needles were drilling into his ears. He searched for the source of the sound but quickly wished he didn't.

The slow, low hiss vibrated from mouths of varying sizes that were plastered at odd angles among the trees and branches. They had jagged teeth, pointed like spears surrounded by lips shaped in sneers and growls.

Shouta looked away and clenched his eyes shut, swallowing hard as he did so. It was as if the forest was just waiting for them to make a slip up so it could kill them all. Back at the palace, he would have scoffed at the irrationality of such a thought. After nearly having his legs ripped off by the place, however, Shouta had every reason to believe that. He hoped Hizashi would have an easier time when he came to find him-

"….fault…."

Shouta's head shot up. What-

"Your fault…."

Shit. Could the trees talk? They had mouths, so in a weird way he supposed it made sense but-

"…...your fault… he's never coming…."

Shouta frowned, glancing about. The dwarfs didn't seem to hear anything as they kept walking, happy as ever. Was he imagining things? Was his paranoia getting to the point where he was going mad and hearing voices?

"….he's going to kill him."

Shouta felt his body go cold.

"Hizashi's not coming!" The voices sounded like a giddy laugh. Shouta tensed at the words as they continued. "He's going to die! And it's all your fault! You're safe. But he's not. He never will be again. And it's because of you-!"

"Mr. Aizawa!" Izuku helped to steady Shouta as the man almost tripped over a rock. The others looked back in concern. "Are you okay?" Shouta took a breath and closed his eyes. The voices were gone now—if they were ever there in the first place.

"I'm fine," he said, though the breathlessness of his words hinted otherwise. He swallowed to moisten his dry throat. "Let's—Let's keep going."

They continued onward and Shouta did his best no to dwell on the frightening thoughts that were placed in his head. He told himself that he was just hallucinating and paranoid about being in the woods again. Those words meant nothing. They were just tricks his mind made up. That's all.

To keep from thinking too much Shouta decided to focus solely on where they walked. This worked surprisingly well as he had to climb over rocks, stones, and roots.

"Isn't there a path?" he asked. His eyes darted about, keeping an eye out for danger.

"There was, but it moved," Izuku answered as he ducked through a gap under a tree root.

Shouta glanced at him and creased his brow.

"It… moved?" Izuku nodded.

"Yeah, the forest moved it," he said as if paths moving were perfectly natural. "It does that to try and confuse us. It did the first few times, but we always know how to get to our mine. I think it's because of our stone sense."

"'Stone sense?'"

"That's what Tensei used called it—Ah! Tensei was Tenya's older brother-It means we always know how to find our stones. Like how a fish will always find water! Or bees will always find flowers! Dwarfs will always find their mines!"

"Okay… But what do you mean the 'path moved?' How do you move a road?" The boy shrugged.

"Dunno. It just wasn't here one day. But we knew this was the way, so we kept walking and found our mine, so we knew we were right."

'That makes no sense.' Not that Shouta was going to argue. It was too early to get too deep into things.

Izuku babbled some more and Shouta let him. It reminded the man of Hizashi, who couldn't stand a moment of silence to save his life. It also made the forest feel less suffocating. It must have been the same for the other dwarfs as they were all chatting about something. Denki and Tenya were discussing Denki's sleep habits in the front, Toru and Ochaco were singing "Heigh-Ho" while holding hands, and Tsuyu and Momo were talking about the food they had for supper last night. Shouta wasn't sure this was all a good idea as their chatter let predators know where they were. Then again, Hizashi did tell him that most animals avoided people so maybe making noise was actually a good thing-

They all jumped as wood creaked above them. A branch seemed to have been reaching towards them like a hand but couldn't get past the barrier of light. This allowed Shouta to catch a glimpse of what was hidden above;

High in the trees bones of animals and humanoid beings hung like decorative ornaments. Shouta wasn't an expert, but if he had to guess he'd say that the bones were old and had been there a long time. Shouta knew now why there weren't many tales about the woods or many travelers brave enough to come here anymore. The skeletons dangled in unnatural poses above, and Shouta couldn't help but wonder if they died that way. One of the skeletons fell loose and dropped towards them. Shouta didn't know if it was intentional or not. Everyone jumped back as it hit the ground, the skull shattering like glass.

"I hate it when the trees lose their branches like that!" Momo whimpered as the dwarfs huddled closer together. Shouta licked his dry lips.

"That's not a branch it's-" He cut off his own sentence by biting his tongue. If they really didn't know then perhaps it was best he not correct them.

They continued onward, Shouta trying and failing not to think of the bones. He especially tried not to think of the fact that those could have been his bones up there if he hadn't found the cottage. Or how Hizashi might have tried to find Shouta and ended up there himself-

A gasp escaped him as he scratched a leg against some bramble thorns. This drew his attention to a tangled wall of thorns before them. Shouta though this meant they would have to find another way, but the dwarfs seemed undeterred.

"Denki! Do your stuff, please!" Tenya called. Denki sighed.

"Yeah, yeah." The blond boy walked forward and aimed a finger. With a sharp bolt of lightning, he managed to create a hole large enough for them to walk through, though Shouta had to crouch. As soon as the bramble wall was out of the rune's light it weaved itself together. The sounds of the twigs knotting themselves together reminded Shouta of cracking knuckles which brought back the reminder of what was above. A chill ran down his spine, pushing him to hurry onward.

They walked for a very, very long time, sometimes making sharp movements, climbing over boulders and trees, jumping off of small hills, and passing a waterfall. After they crossed a fallen tree that was used as a bridge Shouta was starting to wonder if they got lost. Then Tenya called out,
"We're here!"
Shouta's interest piqued as he stared at the entrance to a cave. The cave stones were silver and glowed like the moon against the darkness around it. After so long in the dark forest, it was odd to see something so bright.
Momo moved forward and unlocked the huge green door. With Izuku's help, they pulled it open. Shouta was instantly hit with an array of colored lights.
"C'mon! Let's go in!" Toru grabbed Shouta's hand and pulled him through the door.

His breath caught in his throat and his jaw dropped.
The mine was beautiful. Every diamond was like a star in different colors, each glittering brightly. Light and sparkles danced everywhere, decorating every part of the mine. The sight was a little too intense though as every twinkle seemed to become trapped behind his eyes, no matter how many times he blinked. Shouta closed his eyes in fear of going blind.
"Mr. Aizawa? Are you alright?" Tenya asked.
"Bright..."
"Oh! I see… I guess it kind is, now that I think about it..." he thought for a moment. "I think I saw… Wait here."
Tenya hurried to the equipment closet where he unlocked the door. He dug around for a minute before emerging, looking rather proud of himself.
"Here you go! Hopefully these will help." Shouta opened his eyes and saw that Tenya was holding out a pair of golden goggles with dark, tinted glass. They had a strange cage pattern that Shouta had never seen before and dark leather straps. He had to adjust them a little but once the goggles were fitted he was able to look around easier.
Now that he was no longer blinded he was able to take in the details of the mine. The jewels were gorgeous; Rubies flared their glitter like red stars in the sky, while the shine of the sapphires rippled like water in a stream on a sunny day. Lights from the emeralds would bloom like flowers while the diamonds twinkled like fresh snow in moonlight. Amethyst stones glimmered from their perch while the amber crystals glowed like soft suns.

The bright stones that held the gems were just as amazing. No blade, chain, or jewelry could ever hope to match the silver that these stones were. There were cart railings for the mining cart made of copper. He almost didn't notice the rotting and broken wood of the carts themselves until he spotted the gems glimmering through some poorly patched holes. A single imperfection among so much beauty that it seemed aesthetic.
"So?" Toru leaned forward to catch Shouta's attention, arms swinging at her side. "What do you think?"
"It's beautiful." And it was, more so than anything Shouta had ever seen. He was so awestruck that he wasn't able to move or stop staring.
The children beamed. It had been a really, really, long time since anyone praised them for anything.

While they would have loved to dilly-dally and show off a little more, the dwarfs soon got to work.
Tsuyu, Izuku, Momo, and Toru each grabbed a pickax that was just their size and got to work digging out the gems. Tenya sat at a table where he observed every jewel with a close eye and scope before tapping on them.

What really surprised Shouta was seeing Ochaco push a mining cart that was four times her height and full of gems alone. He made to go help her, but then she puffed out her cheeks and push the cart rather easily all by herself. He stared.

"How... are you doing that?" he asked. No way was she that strong… was she? She unpuffed her cheeks and grinned.

"It's my quirk!" she said brightly. Shouta tilted his head slightly.

"I thought your 'quirk' allowed you to float?"

"It can! But I can make things lighter too! I can even make them fly, see?" Ochaco touched a large rock and it floated five feet into the air. Before Shouta could say anything Ochaco paled. The rock dropped with a heavy THUMP! The man jumped as it almost hit her.

"Ochaco?!" Ochaco leaped to a nearby barrel where she started vomiting. Shouta dashed to her side.

"What's wrong?"

"She used too much of her quirk," Izuku explained. He had hurried over to see if she was alright. "When she overdoes it she gets sick. That's why we have buckets everywhere."

'So obviously showing off was a bad idea.' Shouta understood they wanted to impress him, but making themselves sick wouldn't do any good. Not to mention she almost crushed herself.

Ochaco refused to look up, very clearly embarrassed. Seeing her face, Shouta lost the will to scold her and rubbed her back sympathetically.

"It was impressive," he said.

The dwarfelle perked a little at that.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Here." Ochaco turned and saw Tsuyu holding a mug of water. She must have grabbed it right away when she saw that Ochaco was sick. Ochaco smiled as she took it.

"Thanks, Tsuyu!"

She nodded before hopping off to return to mining with Izuku. Suddenly, the sound of wood cracking filled the mines.

"Aw, man!" A voice cried out.

Shouta turned and saw Toru holding a broken pickax. She jumped down from the rock she was on and hurried to Momo.

"Momoyao? I broke my ax…" she said sheepishly. "Sorry, but could you make me another?"

The other girl nodded.

"Sure thing, Toru!" She held out her arm where a pickax started to form. When the ax was fully formed she held it out to the invisible girl. Even though this wasn't his first time seeing it, it was still an odd sight for Shouta.

"Here you go!" Toru took it with a nod no one could see.

"Thanks, Momoyao!"

With a surprising amount of energy, she dashed away to get back to mining. She pulled herself back onto the stones and raised her ax. To keep in rhythm with her work she started to sing as she swung at the bright silver stones.

"...We dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig from early morn till night," she sang out. "We dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig up everything in sight."

"We dig up diamonds by the score. A thousand rubies, sometimes more!" Momo joined in shyly. Toru smiled at her in encouragement.

"But we don't know what we dig 'em for, we dig dig dig a-dig dig!" Denki chimed in, his tone oozing with boredom. He took over pushing the cart for Ochaco, who was being cared for by Shouta. He had a harder time than she did, but he didn't have to go far.

"Here you go." He moved the cart to the table where Tenya was.

"Thank you." Tenya then grabbed a diamond from the cart and tapped it with a small hammer three times. Three soft dings rang in return so he tossed it in another cart. He did this multiple times at a great speed, only thrown off when one of the gems he knocked on sounded a hollow wood sound rather than a bell. He flinched at the sound before tossing it over his shoulder.

Behind him, Denki was starting to sweep up the gems and some loose shards. He picked up two diamonds and grinned playfully.

"Hey, Tenya!" Tenya looked to his left and saw Denki, his golden eyes gazing at him from behind two clear diamonds, making him look alien. Tenya bit back a laugh.

"Be serious!" he scolded, lightly clapping the other boy on the back. Denki chuckled as the diamonds fell out of his head and back onto the table.

The dwarfs showed Shouta all around the mine. He noted that there were some caved in parts here and there, but he was assured that they had been that way for a long time. This didn't reassure him at all but he let it slide. This was the first time that he noticed that the cave was confined to a single area. If he looked at the cave-ins it looked as if they could go deeper, but when asked the children had no interest in moving all the rocks. Ever. Shouta shrugged this off as them not wanting more work (which was fair). When he thought back on it, he would remember the dwarfs having a strange look when he asked, though.

He was offered a place to relax, but he wasn't in the habit of standing around just doing nothing. So he had Momo make a pickax his size so he could help with the jewels. It took more swings than he was willing to admit to get a handle on it as apparently there was more to swinging a pickax than just, well, swinging it, but he managed. Eventually. It was still a while before he was able to get his first jewel out. He didn't know if it was because of the quality of the ax, if the stones were too hard, or if he was just really bad at this.

He then helped Tenya dispose of the "junk gems" as he called them, which was basically just tossing them over a cliff. Shouta was shocked at the mountain of crystals in the cavern, some covered by moss, vines, and other plants to show age. All those jewels would have made his kingdom the richest kingdom on the continent. Tenya was surprised to hear this.

"Why? They're worthless." he inquired.

"Maybe. But even so, in the human kingdom jewels are a valuable resource."

"Really? How so?" Shouta shrugged. He didn't know exactly how to explain currency to the boy. (Especially since he never had a dime to his name after he was stripped of his title. Hizashi paid for everything when they went out.)

"They think they're pretty?" he guessed. Tenya thought about this.

"…Well, the girls seem to think so too, but how does being pretty make them valuable?"

"Hell if I know." Shouta agreed with Tenya. There was no practical use to jewels except as bobbles to show off status. Still, he couldn't help but remember the ruby his mother would wear all the time as a memento of his birth father. She was cremated with it, but he still remembered being fascinated by it.

A thought came to mind;
"Can all your gems repel the woods?" Tenya shook his head.
"Sadly no. Only certain gems can do that," he explained. "Izuku thinks it's the runes carved onto the gems that do it. We've tried to copy the pattern onto other gems, but it didn't work. Thankfully we have an entire chest full of gems with runes. Even so, we need to be careful not to lose them." Shouta, who had faced the forest without the gems, agreed wholeheartedly.

The work was called to an end when an old, old clock activated as the hands hit the evening hour. From two sides two wooden dwarfs came out and started banging on a bell with wooden hammers. Tenya looked up as the clock rang throughout the cave.
"HEIGH-HO!" he called.
"Heigh-ho!" The others called back. Izuku and Momo gathered the equipment and placed them into storage. Ochaco and Toru pushed the cart with the mined diamonds into a storage room while Tenya gathered his gear on the table.
"We did good work!" He praised as he placed it in the drawers.
"Yeah, I'm exhausted!" Momo yawned, stretching her body to ease familiar aches.
"Right? I'm so sore. And hungry!" Toru complained as she locked up the jewels. She handed the key to Momo who placed it in a pouch attached to her belt.
"I'm really hungry myself," Ochaco said. They all looked to Shouta. He was sure they made their stomachs growl on cue. With a sigh, he pushed his hair back.
"I can make baked potatoes and whatever vegetables we have, but that's it." He wasn't a hunter, and to be honest he didn't think he would want to eat any creature that could live in this place. The kids seemed pleased with the meal choice though and were excited to get home so he could cook.

"So? Did you enjoy yourself?" Izuku asked the human.
"Why would he? We just worked all day." Denki mumbled. Shouta thought about his answer.
"It was interesting to see where you go every day," he said. "Your mine is amazing. Still… I can't believe you brave the forest every day just to come here." Izuku shifted next to him.
"W-well, someone has to. I-I mean, our parents took care of the mines every day, and since they're not..." he trailed off. "A-anyway! We're okay! As long as we have our rune stones nothing bad happens! Er, n-not often at least…" Shouta didn't like the sound of that at all.
"Wasn't always like that…" Toru mumbled to herself, just low enough for everyone to hear. From her tone, she was trying very hard to remember something. "It was… different? Nice. There were even other things here I think..." Beside her, Momo frowned in deep thought.
"You're right it was..." she said. Shouta spoke before he could stop himself.
"What happened?"
Izuku spoke before he could access what he was saying.
"The earthquake… There was an earthquake and a fire a-and..."
His eyes became wide and dilated as they filled with tears. The rest of the dwarfs tried very hard not to look at each other and instead hide their own faces. Seeing this Shouta quickly interjected before everyone started to cry.
"Come on; We should get going before-" It gets dark? Too late for that. "We get too hungry."
Everyone readily agreed and the eight of them started their trek. Despite the chatter and a little singing, there was a heavy gloom that hung over them all the way back to the cottage.

{To be Continued…}

Meta Notes:

*Something I'm trying to show with Aizawa is that he takes more interest in the dwarfs' lives and safety as he comes to care for them more. When he first met them, he couldn't care less that the dwarfs worked at a mine all day. They were strangers, not to mention he had been working since he was ten years old. It wasn't (and kinda isn't) a big deal to him. However, as he grew closer to them, he became interested in their lives and well-being. I don't mean to say that Shouta didn't care about their health before, but years at the palace kept him from caring too much about anyone other than Hizashi.

Mage Notes:

*Witches and Wizards are different, but they are not separated by gender as they can both be all genders (non-binary, male, female, fluid, etc.). The difference between them is the type of magic they channel and use.

**Wizards use energy and store them in rune to amplify the magic and to prevent damage to their bodies.

**Witches meanwhile connect to nature and spirits to cast their magic. They commonly do this with a wand or staff made from the earth, but even a stick would work.

Dwarfin Facts:

*Dwarfs can use rune stones very well. They are used for lights and the hearth (and bombs). Smiths used them for stoves and to keep from being boiled or burned as they worked around lava.