Chapter 14_The Crystal Cavern

Chapter Summary: Shouta and his group reach the mountain and are forced to take shelter in a cave. But are they alone or did they find a new threat?

"What the hell?! He let him go!"

Shigaraki threw a goblet he had been drinking from at the mirror. It bounced off the diamond surface while red dripped down like beads of blood over the image of Snow White.

"It is…surprising, to say the least." The mirror mused. It sounded curious itself at the situation. Shigaraki marched back and forth, stomping his feet like a child with every step.

"Surprising? Surprising?! This is the second time that hunter has failed me!" he yelled. He flung his hand out, a force of magic creating a slash in the far wall. His fists then clenched tightly at his sides, veins popping from the pressure.

"What happened?!" he demanded. "That spell was supposed to make him completely subservient to me! He was supposed to capture Snow White and bring him to me! What. Happened?!"

The mirror paused, thinking of the reason.

"Well, it's a popular belief in fairy tales that 'true love' can overcome any spell," he said to tease the irritable king. "But I doubt that was the case. It's more likely that it was the Prince's Erasure that broke your control over the hunter's mind."

Shigaraki snarled. This was the second time that man had made a fool out of him. He should have just killed him. Now not only was the hunter no longer under his control but now there was nothing to lure Snow White to him!

"If it's any consolation, the curse still isn't broken, not completely. The hunter may not be under your control anymore, but he's still under your spell. Within time, The Prince's Erasure will wear off. When that happens he'll succumb to the demon in him once more. And when that time comes, he'll tear Snow White apart." The King threw his head back as he let loose a growl that echoed the chamber.

"A lot of good that does me!" he snapped. He stomped back to the mirror and looked at the image of Snow White. He snarled as he gripped the edges.

"It's too late now. Snow White will be on the mountain soon. And once he's there, he'll be in HER grip," he complained. "She'll tear out his heart and will drain it of every drop of blood!" The demon in the mirror gave the closest thing it could to a jolly laugh.

"Yes, the Queen was always very—vampiric," he said. Shigaraki glared up at him, lips twisted in a snarl.

"I won't let her take MY prize. After everything I've gone through, that heart will be MINE even if I have to rip it out myself!" he spat.

"And how will you do that?" Shigaraki took a breath to steady himself. The shrouded room darken till only the embers in the king's red eyes could be seen. When he spoke, it was in a hiss, resembling a snake about to attack.

"Since that hunter can't do his job, I'll just have to send my more—loyal followers to do my bidding." He slammed his palm against the diamond glass, appearing to crack it. When he pulled his hand away, the cracks started to crawl all over the surface of the mirror till they had drawn a crooked spider web. A substance dark as ink began to ooze out of the pattern and dribble like blood from a fresh wound. Soon the liquid started to pour out like water from a river. As soon as it dripped off the mirror's surface, however, the liquid dissolved into smoke.

It swirled around and around the room like a hurricane, then with a sharp thrust, the smoke dispersed through the bricks of the palace.

It crept through every crevice turning the stones dark and gray, searching for prey. It wasn't long before it found them.

The servants and guards were scared and confused as the area darkened. Their breaths could be seen as the temperature dropped several notches. Goosebumps appeared on their skin.

"What in the world?!"

"What's happening?!"

"AHH!"

The smoke leaked out like muck and water from the floors, walls, and ceiling. Cries echoed throughout the castle as the ooze grew spidery-like claws that yanked and pulled at the people. A guard tried to fight it off in desperation to no avail. The black substance continued to stain every part of his body until he was completely covered. His cries turned to agony as the simmering sound filled the massive halls, melting his body to his bones. It was not long before his screams faded altogether. Once the bone was all that remained, the black substance started to create its own monstrous form, cracking the skeleton when needed to make a new shape, and adding joints when it needed to. Soon a tall, disfigured demon stood where once there was a man.

Other guards and servants each fell to the same fate. They tried to flee, as many did, but none escaped. Noone never did.

One by one, they were caught and changed until not one human remained. All there was—were demons.

Shigaraki emerged from the shadows, his face gaunt as madness and obsession swirled in his eyes like an inferno.

"I want the heart of Snow White," he called, whipping his arm out. "Go to the mountain and bring him to me!"

777

Shouta couldn't believe it. He lost the map and the compass! Now they were lost. At first, they tried searching for the lost items but found nothing. Shouta knew they had to go over the mountain, which was easy enough to find because, well, it was a MOUNTAIN. Shouta had no idea what they were going to do after they went around it, though. Whatever they were going to do, Shouta knew they weren't going to make it to the mountain that day, so he at least had a little time to think about their next step.

They had a small form of luck when they found an empty, one-room hut. It appeared to be abandoned for a while, but then again, Shouta had made that same assumption with the dwarfs' cottage, so he was wary for a good while. There was a bed, but the wood had rotted away, so Momo made them pillows and blankets to sleep on. She was going to make beds, but Shouta put his foot down on that. It was irrational and wasteful.

"It's hard!" Toru complained. She tutted as she slapped at the floor like that would make it softer. Shouta, who was not in a good mood, grumbled.

"Deal with it," he told her. "We're not making furniture in the middle of the wild."

As they sat in a circle, they all munched on apples for supper. Shouta realized that they would have to tighten their belts until they found more food.

"Mr. Aizawa?"

"Hm?" Shouta looked over at Tsuyu. While her face was blank, the way she wrung at her blanket showed her nervousness.

"About that monster earlier…"

"The bird?"

"No, the other one." Shouta assumed that she must have been worried about it coming back. He didn't blame her. He would be as well if he hadn't seen the bird beast kill it.

"I don't think we'll see it again," he assured her. Though they might see different kinds of monsters if his suspicions were right, and Shigaraki sent it.

"Good. I'm glad about that, but that's not my question," she said. She played with the bow at the end of her hair. "There were eight of us, right? So why did it grab you?"

"Probably because he's the biggest," Izuku suggested from across the small fire Shouta had made (eventually). "The rest of us are a lot shorter, and Toru's invisible. So there's a chance it didn't see us or thought we weren't worth the effort." They were all quick to buy the explanation.

"That makes sense." Tenya agreed.

Denki let out a long, content sigh. "Who would have thought being small would have advantages?" he said, sprawled on his blanket. He was no worse for the wear after overusing his quirk earlier.

Shouta shifted and looked away. He could have left it at that and not said another word, however… A part of him wondered if he should tell them the truth. If the king was sending monsters after them, then they were in danger and had a right to know. There was no logical reason to keep it a secret.

Still, he was afraid that if he told them the truth they would feel betrayed that he lied to them for so long. He took a breath.

No. Shouta was letting his emotions control him enough as it was. Since they discovered him in their cottage, the dwarfs have done nothing but help him. He owed them the truth at the very, very least.

"Actually, there's a chance it was after me in the first place..." he said. They all looked at him with curious expressions.

"Why do you think that?" Momo asked. Shouta sighed.

"I haven't been completely honest with you. The thing is that I..." He ran his hand over the top of his head, pushing his hair back. Where did he even begin with all of this? "My real name is Snow White."

Ochaco tilted her head.

"Your real name? Wait, you mean you're not Mr. Aizawa?" Shouta shook his head.

"No, I am… That's just not my real name," he said. "I gave you a false one because I was hiding from somebody and didn't want them to find me. It was the same reason I was in the woods in the first place."

Izuku frowned. "Why were you hiding in the forest? And from who?"

Shouta inhaled a deep breath. 'No turning back now.' "I was hiding from the Nixterra King, Shigaraki." The blank looks on their faces told him they had no idea who that was, which didn't surprise him at all. "Shigaraki is a powerful Warlock who took over the kingdom after the queen died. ...He's also my stepfather."

Shock covered each of their faces as they jumped up from their blankets.

"What?!"

"No way!"

"Cool!"

"Not cool! He just said that he was running away from him." Tsuyu pointed out. She turned to look at the human. "But why?"

"Was he trying to force you to marry someone you didn't like?" Toru asked. Shouta shook his head, not sure if that would have been better or worse than the actual reason.

"No. He-" Well, no need to go into graphic details. "-wants to kill me." The children became still as their eyes widen in horror, jaws dropping.

"WHAT?!" They couldn't believe it. Why would anyone want to hurt Mr. Aizawa when he was the nicest man in the whole world?

"But why? If he's your father..." Tenya started. Shouta interrupted him with a look.

"Only by marriage," he said coldly, his voice revealing his feelings on the matter. "To answer your question, it's not uncommon for kings to try and off the children of the previous marriage in royalty." Not that it didn't come as a hell of a surprise to him.

"So… you found out he wanted to kill you, so you hid in our woods?" Denki asked. "No offense, but even I know that's a dumb plan." After the brutal memory of almost dying after not even ten minutes of entering the place, it was hard for Shouta to argue.

"That was Hizashi's plan. He found out about Shigaraki's plan to kill me-" Most likely because that sadist wanted Shouta's lover to kill him just for the sake of being sadistic. "-so he sent me ahead to hide in the woods. Magic can't penetrate it, which meant I could hide from his spells and be safe. Hizashi was supposed to come to find me, but he got captured."

"By Shigaraki?" The human nodded, his expression becoming overcast with emotion.

"And that's why we're on this quest? To storm the castle and rescue Hizashi?" Shouta shook his head at Tenya's question.

It then occurred to him that with his mind all over the place, Shouta never actually got around to telling the dwarfs where they were going or why.

"No. There's only eight of us. We don't stand a chance against the army he had," he explained. Now that he thought about it though, there weren't actually that many guards at the palace. At least, not that he ever saw. So maybe they could have-no. "Shigaraki is a powerful warlock. He could literally turn us all to ash with a look. Plus, it's said he has a demon at his command. We wouldn't stand a chance alone."

"So where are we going then?" Momo asked.

"To the Golden Valley of the Elfs." All the children gasped loudly, none more than Izuku.

"The elfs?!" he gasped. "The ones that helped All Might in his war against the Demon King and his army of monsters?!"

"...Maybe?" Shouta wasn't sure they were the same, but if they were immortal there might be a fair chance.

"Wow! So we're going to get the elfs to help us?" Izuku's eyes were twinkling brightly, like the jewels in their buried mine. Shouta confirmed this with a nod.

"I can't save Hizashi alone. I don't have any power or skills…" His face and voice became bitter at his own helplessness. "Chiyo said that among the elfs is a warrior that can help me defeat Shigaraki and save Hizashi." He wasn't going to say that this warrior was All Might. No need to get Izuku all of them excited. Especially since he didn't know for sure if the warrior was really existed or not.

They were all quiet as they processed the information.

"Okay, but what about that thing that attacked you?" Tenya asked. "Do you really think Shigaraki sent it? It could have just been a random monster attack. I mean, they're everywhere, right?" he added, thinking back to the All Might stories. Shouta frowned slightly. He wasn't sure about that due to never going beyond the castle walls too much.

"Maybe?" he admitted. "But it's common knowledge that Shigaraki knows dark magic. Creating a monster and sending it out to hunt isn't beyond his skills." Though to be honest, Shouta wasn't entirely sure WHAT Shigaraki was capable of.

He had seen Shigaraki dissolve a person with a single touch when he was a child, which prompted the prince to spent as much time as he could away from the king. Out of sight, out of mind, they say. He regrets that now. Maybe if he had grown a backbone and spied on Shigaraki, stole a tome or two, he would have been better prepared than he was now. Shouta might even have figured out a way to stop him without this quest. Or better yet, he might not be in this mess, to begin with.

"Wait a minute. If Shigaraki is your father—stepfather—and he's a king, then you must be a prince!" Momo said in awe. Shouta flinched. He REALLY hoped that they wouldn't be able to put that together.

"No, I'm not. I didn't lie about that. I really am a scullery slave," he explained. "After my mother passed on, Shigaraki stripped me of all my royal titles and powers."

"A king can do that?"

"A king with power can do whatever he wants if no one can stop him." 'Or doesn't even bother to try.' He added silently, bitterness filling him. But at who he wondered. Shigaraki? The guards, the servants? Or maybe himself.

"He's that scary?"

"More than scary." There was a thoughtful silence until Shouta took in a long breath.

"I never meant to drag anyone into my family drama. And I'm sorry-"

"AHHH!" Everyone jumped as Tenya let out a sudden scream.

"What? What?!" Denki asked. They watched as Tenya became frantic, his arms waving about so fast he created a blast of wind.

"I can't believe we let a prince clean our house!" he squeaked. Shouta's eyes fell flat. That's what he was making a fuss about?

"I told you, I'm not-"

"And we made you cook for us too! Ah! And we've been so rude too! We even called you a vampire when we first met!"

"It's fine-"

"It most certainly is not! You're royalty! And we haven't been acting properly at all! Oh my, our ancestors would be ashamed! Momo! Make a red carpet or something!"

"Don't you dare! Look," Shouta let out a long, long exasperated breath. "You're all overthinking this and freaking out over nothing. I'm not a prince. I'm still Shouta Aizawa. I'm still me. It's just—I also have another name and messed up family."

"So what do we call you then?" Tsuyu asked. "Can we still call you Mr. Aizawa?" Shouta shrugged.

"Call me whatever you like."

"We should be calling him Prince Snow White," Toru said.

"No."

"His royal highness, Aizawa."

"I told you I'm not-!"

"Shouldn't it be majesty?"

"Majesty Snow White?"

"Not at all."

"Which is the proper title?"

"Neither, because as I've said repeatedly, I'm NOT a prince!" Clearly, they were teasing him now.

Still, this had gone better than he hoped. He had been so worried that they would hate him for lying to them and dragging them into danger. Then again, it might be possible they didn't understand the gravity of the situation. They were just kids, after all, or dwarflings as Cementoss called them.

As relieved as he was that things went so well, Shouta quickly ordered them to go to sleep, promising harsh discipline to the next person to call him "prince."

777

The next day Shouta completely regretted telling the seven dwarfs that he was a prince. All day it was question after question. Questions about royalty, what it was like living in a palace, if Shouta wore a crown, etc. He decided that he'd let himself be eaten by the next monster that attacked them. After a while, he snapped at them to quiet down. He felt sorry for his outburst, but Shouta was trying to make a plan about what to do after they got around the mountain. Not to mention he had to keep an eye out for any monsters or assassins the king sent after them.
His hand went to his hip.
He had Momo make him a blade, but he wasn't sure how good it was, to be honest. Momo had only seen the illustrated swords in Izuku's All Might book. As such, the sword wasn't made with silver or iron, but the same material she used for the pickaxes. After looking at the sword, Shouta understood why the axes kept breaking. Apparently, to make something Momo needed the full knowledge of the materials. While she knew what wood was and how to make it, iron was a bit more difficult for her. Shouta just hoped that the weapon would hold out against any threat that came at them.

Shouta had only used a blade a few times as Hizashi showed him some tricks. However, it was always with a dagger as Hizashi tended to favor range weapons such as bows while blades were a last resort or finishing kill. He hoped that swinging a sword wasn't too different from swinging a dagger. Shouta realized he was more equipped to use crossbows. As Hizashi would point out, it was the easiest weapon for a novice. Alas, Momo had never seen a crossbow before and therefore couldn't make one.

"Look! It's the bird again." Tsuyu pointed up.
Ever since the beast saved Shouta, it seemed to be following them. At first, this made Shouta nervous because who wouldn't be tense that a bird monster was following them? However, it made no moves to attack them nor did it act aggressively. It was just—watching them.
"Just ignore him." he had told the dwarfs. Shouta had wondered if it was sent by Shigaraki, but if it was then it would have killed him by now, wouldn't it? But then why was it following them?
Whatever the reason, the dwarfs were always happy to see and would wave when they spotted it.

A week passed, but they finally made it to the base of the mountain. The paths went in all directions. Shouta was unsure which one they should take as he had no idea which led around.
"Mr. Aizawa?" Denki mumbled. "I'm hungry."
He wasn't the only one. They all were, but sadly their food was gone, and there was nothing to hunt. (Not that Shouta knew anything about that.)
"We don't have anything to eat," he told the boy. He then scolded himself for not keeping better track of their supplies. "Just try to bear it for now." Denki moaned. His eyes drifted towards Momo, who was dozing off in Shouta's arms.
"Can't you make something, Momoyao?"
"No. Leave her alone," Shouta said firmly. "She's done enough today."
Shouta didn't realize this but using her quirk took a lot of energy out of Momo, so every item she made drained her a little. Shouta was terrified when she nearly passed out and felt awful when he realized how over-dependent they all were on her skills on this trip. He promised to try not to take advantage in the future.
Denki let out a loud groan but didn't say anymore. Shouta was contemplating if they should camp when one of the kids spoke up.
"Hey! Those clouds are a different color." Shouta looked up and noticed the sky darkening. Great, just what they needed; a storm.
"Storm clouds. We'll have to find shelter or get caught in the rain."
"Rain?"
"Don't tell me you've never seen rain before?" They shook their heads. Shouta bit back a sigh. He didn't want to discourage their questions as they were learning about the world outside of their woods. And to be fair if the woods were dense enough to block out sunlight and snow, it was logical that they would block out the rain too.
"It's just water falling from the sky. But we could get sick if we're caught in it." The dwarfs weren't pleased to hear this at all.
"It makes you sick?" None of the dwarfs wanted to get sick. "Is it cursed?"
"What? No, it doesn't make you sick like that. Ugh. I'll explain later. For now, we need to find shelter."
Sadly they didn't find it in time. With a loud BOOM of thunder, the rain started to fall. The dwarfs let out startled shrieks, and in less than a second Shouta found himself wearing them like a suit of armor. Tsuyu and Momo clung to his chest while Toru and Denki were on his hips. Izuku and Ochaco held on to his right leg. Even Tenya had scared enough to latch on to his left.
"It's another monster!" Toru cried.
"No, that's just thunder…" Shouta tried to calm them, but another clash of noise made it hard. The lightning made it worse.
"W-water's starting to fall... Oh, man! Is the sky falling?" Izuku squeaked.
"No, it's impossible for the sky to fall. I already told you it's rain."
"But you said that the rain would make us sick!" Tenya argued.
"Yes, but…"
"I don't wanna get sick!"
"We don't even have a bed out here."
"What are we gonna do? What're we gonna do?"
Shouta finally snapped.
"ENOUGH." He regretted his outburst when the children stiffened, but he needed to regain control. "Everything's going to be fine. A few drops aren't going to kill us. It's like swimming; the danger comes from being wet in the cold, which is why we need to find shelter as soon as possible, alright?" The children gave nervous nods and slowly released him, though they stuck close enough to almost trip him several times.

After some deliberation, they chose a path and followed it in hopes of finding shelter. Tenya ran ahead to find a cave or something they could enter and was proud to reveal that he had done just that before leading them to a small entrance. While Shouta was worried about whatever might be inside, he knew that it would be dangerous to stay out in the open, especially with the lightning. He quickly ushered the children inside. They all ran into the cave, shivering.
"Momoyao; can you make towels for everyone?" He hated to ask this of her after he swore not to, but what else could he do? They were wet and if they didn't dry off Shouta would have seven sick dwarfs to worry about on top of everything else. Momo sneezed but nodded. From her arms, she created several towels.
Shouta helped her dry first since it would be especially bad if she got sick. She was basically their walking emergency kit, as terrible as that was to say. Tenya handed the rest of the towels to the others. After they dried themselves, they needed a source of light that the rune jewels provided.
"Whoa! Look at this!" Izuku held his stone up high.

Shouta was surprised to see that they weren't in a cave at all; instead, they were in a cavern. And not just any cavern, but one filled with crystals. Unlike the gems in the dwarfin mines, these were tall, taller than Shouta with all seven dwarfs on his shoulders. They also had a glass-like quality to them, despite being as thick as the blue stones they grew out of. They had a soft glow to them, though not enough to light anything. Shouta was vaguely reminded of the grass from the forest.
"It's like our mines, but bigger!" Ochaco commented.
"That and the stones are blue," Momo added as she touched one of the stones. When she pulled her hand away she had blue dust on it.
"It's so pretty!" Toru said in awe.

Denki disagreed "Give me the creeps!" he said with a shiver as he held himself. He shifted closer to Shouta, who was observing for signs of bats or spiders. He was just as curious but wanted to make sure there wasn't any danger before exploring.
Izuku crept closer to a towering gem. "It's so huge! I wonder how they got so big? Come to think about it, I've always wondered how the gems were formed..." he said, mostly to himself.
"It's a lot like our mine back home." Tsuyu asked. "But where're the carts and stuff?"
"I don't think anyone was mining in here," Shouta said.
"Really? Is that why the gems are so big? Wait, is that how jewels work? They get bigger the longer they're unmined?"
"How should I know?"

Denki's face scrunched up in annoyance. "Oh, no! we didn't leave one mine to start working in another!" he complained. Toru loudly agreed.
"I don't think we could even if we wanted to," Ochaco said. "Look at 'em! They're huge!"

"We could probably manage if we try-" Tsuyu started, but Denki cut her off. "But we WON'T!"

As they spoke, Tenya stepped behind one of the crystals, then the others started to laugh as the crystals distorted his size and shape.

"Hee, hee! You look silly, Tenya!" Ochaco giggled. Tenya looked up to see what they meant. In a rare moment of playfulness for the boy, Tenya started to make faces, making the others laugh louder. Ochaco and Tsuyu joined him on the other side and began to make faces as well.

As the kids played around, Shouta took a few steps forward towards a crystal, observing his reflection. He was no worse for the wear at least. He noted his face was starting to grow some stubble and couldn't help but remember the last conversation he had with Hizashi before everything went wrong. His mind tried to drift to his lover as it so often did, but he forced it away. If he thought about Hizashi being locked up and tortured then…

He looked away from his reflection. As his fingers traced a crystal, he noticed there were some strange symbols carved into it. Despite being a different design, they reminded Shouta of the rune stones they carried.

Before he could think too hard about it, a strange sound caught his attention. Shouta's gaze shot up.

Above them, a boulder was rocking precariously near the edge. After wavering back and forth, it dipped forward and fell. It rebounded on the ledge below before rolling towards four of the dwarfs.

"GET DOWN!" The kids managed to duck under the rock as it bounced over them. It went tumbling until it hit one of the crystals. The crystal flashed for just a second before the whole cavern suddenly started to shake, raining loose rocks.

"Quick!" Shouta called. "Over here!" All the kids ran towards the wall of the cavern, where it was pushed in just enough to provide cover. Shouta did his best to shield all the dwarfs, grunting as heavy objects hit his back. He only looked back when the shaking stopped.

The good news was that the boulder landed nowhere near them. The bad news was that it had unfortunately blocked the exit.

"What the…?"

"Hey! There's someone in the shadows!" Tsuyu cried, holding her rune as high as she could. Shouta looked to where she was pointing and saw that there was a shadowy figure who turned and ran before he could get a good look.

'Is it someone sent by Shigaraki?' Or something? Shouta gritted his teeth. He didn't know if he was prepared to fight whatever assassin the king might have sent, but there wasn't anywhere for them to run either.

"Who is he?"

"Did he push that rock?"

"Quick! Get him!"

Shouta yanked his thoughts sharply as he spotted Ochaco, Toru, and even Tenya charging forward.

"Wait!" he cried, but they didn't hear them. Cursing to himself, he and the others ran after them.

The three dwarfs in the lead didn't know what they were thinking, but they had come too far to quit now. Each one was so focused on catching the stranger that they didn't notice they had wandered onto three different paths until the dwarflings noticed they were alone.
"Guys?" Ochaco squeaked. She curled into herself nervously. Unsure of what else to do, she walked forward. "Izuku? Tenya? Tsuyu? Momo? Denki? Toru? Mr. Aizawa? Anybody?" She shivered as the air took a sudden chill. Her footsteps echoed as she stepped onto a thin, stone bridge. "Guys? Hey! Where—AHH!" Ochaco screamed as the walkway crumbled beneath her. The air roared as she fell, her descent picking up speed with every second. Quickly she curled into a ball and puffed out her cheeks, activating her quirk. She started to bob along in the air, saving her from what could have been a deadly fall. She tried to float up, but suddenly her shirt snagged on something.
"Ah!" she lost her concentration and control of her quirk. Now she hung on a rock like a coat on a hook. Ochaco wiggled to try to get herself loose but stopped when she realized that might not be a good idea.
"Aw, fuck."

Elsewhere, Toru poked her head around one of the crystal spires.

"Hello? Guuuys! Hello?" No answer. She puffed to herself as she folded her arms. "Where is everybody?" It was quite rude of the others not to be here. Especially in a new place with a lot of odd things. Okay, she ran ahead with the others, but that was no excuse! She poked her head into a hole.

"Guys? You down there? Heeey—YAAHH!" Toru screamed as she yanked her head out of the hole. Bats flew out of the hole in a swarm. The terrified girl ran from them, weaving around the spires. Suddenly her balance was thrown off by pebbles that scattered across the ground. She wailed and flailed her arms about as she fought to keep balance but ended up falling and sliding on them until she reached a strange crystal walkway. Then she started to slide even more, like she was at a playground. In other circumstances, she would be enjoying herself. As it was, she found herself screaming with every twist, turn, and curl.

"Yahhh!"

Meanwhile, Tenya, who was on a different path that had routed into a tunnel, jumped. He heard Ochaco's cry, but at the time he did not recognize the sound, for the cry had echoed through tunnels of many sizes, which disoriented the sound. So, by the time the scream had reached Tenya, it sounded ghost-like.
"W-who…" he gulped. He tugged his hat nervously off his head and wrung it in his hands.
"C-calm yourself! I-I'm sure it's nothing! J-just your imagination going wild…" In retrospect, he really shouldn't have run ahead. Why had he done so? That wasn't like him! He was the responsible one.
He started to walk backward when his foot slipped and he found himself falling back into a hole with a cry. Tenya tossed and tumbled in the tunnel, bouncing every which way like a rubber ball. With each impact, he would let out a little sqwack. Finally, he rolled out and came to the edge of a walkway. He let out a breath of relief that he didn't tumble off the edge.
"Phew! Thank-"
"Yaahhh!"
Toru crashed into him and both went over the edge. Luckily the fall wasn't very far, so they landed safely on the ground and rolled until they hit a stone wall. This jostled Ochaco above them. She slipped off the rock holding her and fell on the top of them with a 'plop!'
"Ow…" They all moaned after a few minutes.

"There you are!" Aizawa and the other four dwarfs ran towards them.
"Are you all right-"
"What were you thinking?!" Shouta snapped at them, worry turning to anger now that he was sure they were alive and well. "I told you to stay by me! You could have hurt yourselves, or worse!" The dwarfs flinched but knew they deserved it.
As Shouta continued to scold them. Denki wandered to the side, kicking at the ground.
"So hungry..." he mumbled. Suddenly he saw a face in the crystal and quickly realized it wasn't his.

{To be Continued...}

A/N:

*Thank you for keeping the secret for "Gary's" sake, though you didn't have to wait long. I figured everyone saw the "twist" with Hizashi coming, so why put it off?

Meta Notes:

*Fun fact; The flood scene from chapter 8 where the dwarfs almost drowned was supposed to be in this one, but of course things changed.