Hey everyone, been a while.
Sorry for not being super peppy like normal, but it's been a rough couple of weeks, I've been struggling to write anything, or really get anything done. Life has swallowed me up and spit me out. I'm trying really hard not to put this story on Hiatus, but big changes are occurring IRL that are making writing hard. I just wanted to get this chapter out, just to have it be done so if I have to take a break, I don't leave things kinda half-said.
Anyway, I'm really sorry for not communicating better, I'll try harder to be more open in the future, thank you all for understanding. My focus might turn to editing the first chapter or two to bring the quality up before I continue.
As always, every review is appreciated, I hope you all enjoy.
I'll let the chapter speak for itself.
"Lich? Lich! Lazarus!" The feminine voice spoke quietly, but with force. Lazarus groaned, hearing the distinctive sound of a clock chime fading away. Sitting up, he grabbed at his side, an imaginary wound still bleeding inside his mind. He sighed, calming down the panicked rhythm of his breath. Lazarus glanced around the dark room, taking in the smell of wet wood and musty blankets, the tiny treehouse that he had built with his brother becoming more familiar by the second.
"Ah, Newtonia." Lazarus mumbled, his own voice feeling distant and strained. Newtonia punched him in the shoulder.
"Dumbass, it's Gemini unless you're sure no one else is around!" She hissed, the punch barely registered to Lazarus.
"My dear stupid sister," Lazarus grinned, "You just called me Lazarus, so it's gotta be safe." Newtonia cringed, her round face scrunched in disbelief that the tables had so easily been turned on her.
The younger girl huffed and sat, Lazarus looked at her and grinned, "Respect your elders now." Lazarus laughed as Newtonia tried to resist the urge to punch him again.
"You're only four years older than me, hell, like, three and a half years, actually, so don't give me that crap. Four years is nothing." She scolded, raising her nose at him, Lazarus reached over to pincher her cheek. Newtonia hissed and crawled away.
"Okay, you little nine year old child, keep on throwing your adorable little tantrum." As Lazarus spoke, he dodged an empty instant noodle cup being thrown at his head.
"I'll be ten in like two weeks! Shut up!" Newtonia whined, stomping her foot.
Lazarus smiled, looking around the dark space, it was very spacious when they were all little, nowadays, it was tiny, but could fit the three of them comfortably, which reminded him of a question he needed to ask.
"Where's Isaac? You'd think he'd be around to wish me a happy 'back from the dead' after a mission well done." Lazarus laughed, Newtonia didn't join him.
"Isaac can't talk to you right now." Newtonia spoke plainly, causing Lazarus to hesitate.
"Why?" Lazarus ask, suddenly feeling very unsure of what was going on.
"Because you left us. Both of us." Newtonia spoke, still letting no emotion slip into her voice.
Lazarus sat quietly for a moment, drinking in the space around him. He suddenly realized that the last thing he remembered wasn't completing a successful mission.
Lazarus slowly crawled over to the window, the curtains closed, he slowly opened it up, peaking outside. Lazarus sucked in a breath, becoming aware of the void of darkness outside, endless, empty darkness that he was very well acquainted with.
Closing the blinds, Lazarus sat quietly, trying to halt the growing panic in his chest. He turned back to Newtonia, her blond hair tucked behind both ears as she had pressed her knees into her chest while sitting in the corner. Newtonia was staring up at the mess of unreadable newspaper clippings and red strings hung upon the back wall of the shelter. Lazarus scurried over and stood over her, his head just not quite touching the ceiling.
"This has never happened before." Lazarus spoke, quietly.
"Very astute!" Toshinori's voice echoed around the room, Lazarus jumped, yet the ceiling shifted as to not let him bang his head. Newtonia turned her head slightly.
"You've never been this close to dead before, you know, without instantly dying." Newtonia shrugged as in the blink of an eye she had moved across the treehouse, sitting by the window, holding the curtain open to look out upon the void of darkness.
"It's kind of sad, really. I thought you'd be more creative then, well, this!" She mocked as she gestured out into the darkness. Lazarus shook, but held his ground.
"I don't understand. This is the darkness between life and death, this is how it's supposed to be, all this? This all isn't supposed to be here!" As Lazarus spoke, the entire treehouse shook, as if offended by his words, Newtonia shook her head and groaned.
"Now you've done it." She muttered, obviously irritated. Before Lazarus could reply, the treehouse collapsed into nothingness, falling away underneath his feet. Lazarus screamed as he felt himself plummet down into the endless dark abyss, the wind whipping by his head as he descended down farther and farther.
Newtonia was also falling, though she had rolled over onto her back and was frowning, "Hey, idiot," Lazarus glanced, his panic shifting his attention over to her, "You do know you can't 'fall' here, right?"
Instantly Lazarus was laying on his back, the wind gone, his body and the ground returned before he could even process it. Newtonia stood beside his prone form, still unimpressed.
"Seriously, so uncreative! You've been here, what? Hundreds of times? Not once did you do anything else besides counting slowly and wait to come back to life, for all your claimed 'curiosity' you've never once tried to figure out anything about this place." Newtonia sat down cross legged, placing a hand on her chin.
Lazarus looked around, "What is there to find out? This is death. Plain and simple."
Newtonia tisked at him, shaking her head, "Aren't you the one who said that calling what you do 'dying' is disingenuous? Comeon Lazarus, why would you be able to think if this was death?" Newtonia waited for a response, but Lazarus had none, "God you are slow, you edgy bastard, you've associated darkness with death, therefore, when you 'die' you've turned your mindscape into a land of desolation and emptiness. You've done this so many times that it became normal, you never thought to explore what you're capable of, because you've made darkness 'normal' to you, does that make sense?"
Lazarus said nothing.
Newtonia screamed, before shaking her head, "Oh god, why did I have to be you? It's like talking to a brick wall, I am so ashamed to be… whatever the hell I am."
For his part, Lazarus could only stare blankly back, "What are you?"
Newtonia grinned, cocking her head to the side, "Finally, a real question," She smiled and shrugged, "I have no goddamn clue though, I guess I'm you? That would make sense in a weird way. So, if you would stop putting me into the body of a nine-year-old girl I'd really appreciate it."
Lazars blanked, having no idea how he was suppose to make Newtonia change bodies, or if he even wanted her to. Newtonia sighed.
"What? Do you have some identity issues here? You can't see your subconsciousness as anything other than a little girl? You know that's pretty screwed up-" Newtonia paused, looking around.
"Huh," Newtonia froze, her sudden unsureness caught Lazarus off guard, "Guess our time's up then."
Suddenly, the world began to fragment, cracks formed in the darkness, letting harsh light into the world, Lazarus recoiled, until a stray thought passed through him.
"I don't have eyes." Lazarus asserted, instantly turning the blinding light into a mild inconvenience.
Newtonia snickered, "You learn quick, er, I learn quick? Whatever, good call." Newtonia walked over to a crack, looking through it, Lazarus followed her, his gaze drawn to the sight on the other side, what appeared to be a normal, if totally destroyed, street corner.
"So, hopefully, we'll get a chance to meet again, Lazarus, but if you're half as stupid as you've spent the last fourteen years telling yourself you are, I highly doubt you'll be able to ever achieve this state of consciousness again. So, I guess these are our parting words." Newtonia suddenly flinched, the cracks growing along the floor, hitting her legs and traveling up her body as the world of darkness began to fall away.
"After all, the only reason we're able to talk is because you're hallucinating while near death; consequently, you introduced another person into your mind I could inhabit, but you'll probably never do this again. So, brush your teeth! Make friends! Stop being such a goddamn wreck! Actually address some of your deep seated trauma so I can stop repressing it! Oh, and stop killing yourself so much, it might not be traumatic for you anymore but it sure as hell is to me!" With that, Newtonia shattered, as colour replaced the darkness behind her, slowly rebuilding the world around Lazarus.
Lazarus opened his eyes in the real world as blood dripped down his forehead. He groaned, slowly trying to move his body, before finding he couldn't. He rolled his head to the side, diverting the tiny flow of blood from down his nose to off onto the broken concrete beside him. The world around him was chaos, the examinees had mulled around into groups and were chatting idly, as if the exam had not just ended, then again, Lazarus reminded himself that he had no idea how long he was out for.
Lazarus painfully moved his head back, looking up and down the street, seeing fifty, no, closer to a hundred feet in front of him, the towering form of the zero point robot. Lazarus swore to himself, he didn't need to be told how much of a miracle it was that he was still alive, though seeing how uncomfortable being alive was right now, he would have prefered he died on impact and had peacefully regenerated. Lazarus could tell that both of his arms and legs were screwed, that was an easy call, but the tightness in his chest told him he had broken a rib or two, or three. He also felt his jaw quiver as he tried to open it, telling him he had either shattered it or severely dislocated it. Overall, his condition was a little dire, he'd say it was, a solid seven out of ten, with ten being instantly dead on his scale.
"There he is! The one who was really beat up!" A restrained, yet worried voice spoke, Lazarus flicked his eyes to the side, ignoring the sudden swell of pain behind his eyes that blurred his vision. Tetsutetsu and some little old lady in a lab coat were standing not to far off to the side of his position. Lazarus wanted to chuckle, but his chest burned as it spasmed with quickly ended joy.
"Oh dear, you really picked a fight." The old lady chided as she hobbled over to him, Lazarus felt his jaw shake uncontrollably as he tried to move it, but he couldn't resist it.
"You...should...see...the...other...guy." Lazarus snarked, feeling his face catch fire at the forced movement, but his mind give him the thumbs up as a worthwhile use of energy.
"That's good that you're in good spirits." The old lady nodded, before leaning over to him. Before Lazarus could remind her of his personal space, she puckered her lips and placed a big, wet, granny kiss on his cheek. Lazarus, on a new internal scale of blissfully all alone to Midnight's face, was far beyond any feelings of uncomfortable he had ever experienced before.
However, the energy that hit him afterwards took what little breath was left in his lungs. Lazarus felt his entire world vibrate, it felt like he had just downed a big gulp filled with eight hour energy topped off with a side of half a bottle of caffeine pills. (Which he had done exactly once, and yes, it had actually killed him)
A student from somewhere in the crowd proclaimed loudly, "That's the youthful heroine! Recovery Girl! Wow! In person! UA's official nurse!"
Another voice piped up, "The kiss is a little gross, but you feel so much better after! She accelerates the healing process, months of recovery in moments!"
Lazarus took the information in, Recovery Girl was accelerating his body's natural healing capacity. Lazarus guessed that's why his heart felt so overhyped, still, he couldn't shake the feeling something was, he couldn't quite place it, off.
Lazarus looked down at his limbs, still useless and broken. Recovery Girl seemed taken aback, as if she had no idea what was happening, Lazarus didn't either.
Suddenly, Lazarus felt a coldness spread through his limbs as his heart only pounded faster, and Lazarus put his finger on exactly what he was so unsure of. His body had never 'recovered' before, he in fact had only ever recovered from injuries one way before.
Without warning, his heart shot from his back pocket into the center of his chest, taking a shortcut through his spinal cord, leaving a massive gaping wound on his back. Recovery Girl took a step back, and several examinees gasped loudly.
Lazarus felt his entire body convulsed, his heart pounding in a steady, constant rhythm. Instantly, his body began to regenerate, while his former form was still intact.
"Turn away! This isn't going to be pretty!" Lazarus managed to scream as he ignored the pain in his jaw as his chest pulsed with alternating heat and cold. He could feel himself becoming bloated, his muscles doubling up underneath the surface pushing out the old to make room for the new. Lazarus screeched as his skin cracked like porcelain, new pink flesh increasingly visible underneath. His body shattered in a single moment, his outer shell turned into a plume of white dust as his body exploded.
Lazarus huffed, his breath short, but he felt good, fantastic even. He felt like he was on a fresh life with only a few of all the uncomfortable parts of dying.
Recovery Girl seemed to have recovered from the worst of her shock and was now inspecting his completed body, "Interesting...I've never seen that before...you alright there?" Lazarus smiled at her genuine curiosity.
"Never better miss, I feel like I've just jumped out of my grave and run a marathon." Lazarus stumbled to his feet, feeling his mind readjust to having a working body again. He groaned as he felt the blood rush to his head and heart. Lazarus reached under his repaired shirt, feeling for the familiar edges of his cube. Lazarus felt his heart protest as he pulled it from its comfortable position and slipped it into his back pocket.
Several of the examinees wore worried faces, Lazarus saw some point and him and mumble, collectively changing from worry to terrified expressions. Other people whispered about Recovery Girl, clearly unsure if all of her healing was that violent looking.
Lazarus smiled as he gave Recovery Girl the thumbs up, walking away as if nothing had happened. The crowd ahead of him politely parted to let him through, and the hint of unsure fear in their rushed avoidance of him was not lost on Lazarus.
"Are you sure you're good to leave?" Recovery Girl called out, taking a step towards him. Lazarus turned over his shoulder.
"Am I being kept here?" Lazarus spoke slowly, his need to get away to process what had happened burned inside of him.
Recovery Girl hesitated, then shook her head. Lazarus shrugged and kept moving forward, his eyes locked on the horizon.
"...I can't believe it's been a week already, huh?" Hanta sighed as Lazarus packed his bags.
"Time flies." Lazarus spoke, his voice drained of emotion, his failure to keep up with the other examinees how weighing heavily on his heart.
"I'm not sure how I did on the exam, I mean, I'm not saying I did bad, but I don't know…" Hanta bit his lip as he stood up from the kitchen table and began to pace, Lazarus opened his mouth and then closed it. He hadn't told Hanta that Lazarus knew he had flunked the practical. Also most likely the written as well, but he knew that was most likely going to happen.
"We all tried our hardest, the results are what they are." Lazarus remained calm as he stood, his voice doing little to sooth Hanta's anxious energy, "As soon as our results get here, I'll be out of your hair."
Hanta laughed, smiling brightly, "Well, don't be in too much of a rush, for all we know the results wont-" Hanta was cut off by a shrill shout from Ms. Sero.
"Hanta! Lazarus! It's from UA!" As Ms. Sero finished, Hanta was out of the room and down the stairs. Lazarus followed slowly behind Hanta, seeing no reason to rush the inevitable.
The bottom of the stairs quickly approached, Hanta had already grabbed his package as well as Lazarus's. Lazarus slowly took it from Hanta, who vibrated with excitement. He looked around, as if deciding what to do.
"Okay, so we should open them together, wait, no. We should open them alone, yeah! Open them alone, and then we can tell the other person the news, good or bad, hopefully good, but I don't want to jinx it." Hanta stopped short, taking a page out of Lazarus's book and knocking on the wooden coffee table to negate his bad luck.
Lazarus chuckled and nodded, "Alright, see you back here soon I suppose." Lazarus spoke, caught off guard by Hanta putting a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Whatever happens, these last few months have been a blast Lazarus. No matter what, I don't regret a thing." Hanta finished, a firm line of thankfulness written across his face. Lazarus tried to figure out how he could respond, how he could let Hanta know that the letter wasn't going to surprise him, but could only smile and nod. Lazarus stepped away, holding the package in a tight grip as he climbed the stairs, dreading having to reach the top.
As soon as Lazarus got to his room, it took all his energy to close the door behind him as he arrived. He turned the lights off and sunk into his chair, knowing fully well what message would reside in the tape he held.
"I am here! As a projection!" All Might spoke, his massive larger-than-life face taking up Lazarus's entire view, the tiny tape projecting up in front of him.
Lazarus laid his head down on his desk, bracing himself for the waterworks he knew would arrive the moment after All Might laid the news on him. He had prepared himself for this, all he needed to do was hear the news.
"And- wait what's that?" Lazarus looked up, raising an eyebrow at All Might's sudden break from character, "We're out of time? I pushed it back too many times? Preposterous!" All Might spoke to someone just out of frame, projecting the last word in the same way Toshinori did, a habit Lazarus assumed the sickly man had picked up from All Might after working with him.
All Might began sweating in a very uncharacteristic manner, "How much time do I have to do this? Thirty seconds?!" All Might coughed, before snapping back to the camera, still smiling, but with lines of stress on his brow, "Young Lazarus! You passed! Congratulation!" All Might shouted into the camera, giving it a big thumbs up as he fumbled with a remote control with his other hand.
Lazarus felt his jaw drop as he leaned in, he had prepared himself for the worst, he had only entertained one idea in his head, he was going to fail...what the hell was he supposed to do now? How the hell did he pass?
"How did you pass? I'll tell you! Super-quick!" All Might answered, momentarily causing Lazarus to forget this was a very one-sided conversation, "You failed to get enough villain points to pass, but your willingness to walk head-first into danger and fight against overwhelming odds might be terrifying to our insurance agents, yet is exactly what we look for here at UA! You received forty rescue points for your heroics, quick thinking, and willingness to go beyond- five seconds?! Plus Ultra young Lazaris! UA is! Your! Hero! Acad-" Suddenly, the projection froze, before shutting down, enveloping the room in darkness.
From within the darkness, Lazarus began to laugh. Slowly at first, before it raised in volume and pitch to a shrill cry of victory, throwing his arms up and kicking his feet out, flailing about in the empty room like a sugar-hyped child.
This wasn't the end of his journey, this was only the beginning, this was the day UA became his Hero Academia.
Lazarus closed the door to his room and entered the blackness for the second time today, only this time with much higher spirits. He had spend the entire day out celebrating with Hanta, the two of them partying like there was no tomorrow, which had only ended when Lazarus promised to spend one last night at the Sero residence before leaving.
The darkness gave Lazarus pause, quickly stripping down and putting on his nightwear, before pulling out his phone, letting the screen illuminate his face. He bit his lip, coming up with a million reasons not to make the call he suddenly wanted to make. None of them were convincing enough to stop him.
The phone rang only twice before a reply came, "Good Morning, Law residence, Isaac speaking, who is this?" The stiff yet warm voice of his brother flooded into his ear, Lazarus put on a sad smile.
"Still sounding like a walking answering machine, eh Isaac?" Lazarus felt his brother recoil on the other end of the line, Lazarus wanted to hang up, but couldn't bring himself to.
"What do you want." Isaac deadpanned, the stiffness remaining in his voice. Lazarus tried to keep his energy in his voice.
"Just trying to keep you all up to date, haven't heard from you all since I landed in Japan." Lazarus sat down, gripping tightly on the armrest.
"...Newtonia's still upset, I'm still upset, what do you expect? We're going to forget everything that happened just because you fled halfway around the world? Everything would become peachy keen as soon as you gave us a ring?" Isaac's voice slowly began to harden, becoming more irate with each question.
Lazarus grinded his teeth, trying to regain control of the conversation, "I got in, I made it to UA. I didn't actually just come over here for nothing." Isaac paused on the other line, Lazarus assumed he was surprised.
"...Well, I hope you're happy everything was worth it, huh." Isaac's voice was cold, sending a shiver down Lazarus spine.
"Can I talk to Mom? Dad?" Lazarus didn't actually care who Isaac handed the phone to, as long as it was someone else.
Isaac wasn't giving any mercy, however, "So you can lie to them again?"
Lazarus stood, anger causing his voice to shake, "You know what? Screw you man. Screw. You. I'm trying, okay? I'm trying to extend an olive branch, or some crap like that. I did what I had to do, you did what you had to do, I'm trying to move past that. I never said I would stay forever, and the only lie I told was the same one you did, so don't give me that crap. Forget it. Goodbye Isaac."
Before Lazarus could hang up, he head Isaac shout from the other end, "Lazarus wait!" Lazarus paused, before putting the phone back to his ear, "Just...please...I- damn it. Congratulations, I mean it, okay. UA, that's...big, big for you, or for anyone. You made it man, I'm sorry that everything played out the way it did and that I can't forgive you right now… but I want you to know I'm happy for you. Go, become a hero if that's what you need to do. I'll, I'll take care of things here, I always have." Isaac's voice slowly quieted as he spoke, eventually ending in a wisper.
"Goodbye bro, take care. I'll talk to you later, or, whenever." Lazarus didn't wait for a reply before hanging up, throwing his phone onto his bed before sitting again, taking a moment to steady himself. Trying to relax any way he could.
Tomorrow was a new day.