Stranger from the Demon's Land
By M1sterSmithy
A cool breeze blew across the frozen waters that now connect Onigashima to the mainland of Wano itself, the coastlines of both islands an unrecognisable whitey silence, the creaking and groaning of ice could be heard as the ocean beneath its thick layer continued to churn and sway, as if still being pushed by the currents of the other oceans.
All that remains here now on the barren, desolate ice are the memories of a battle, splintered swords dot the landscape, unrecognisable in shape, the sky above the overall land a blanket of wintery clouds shrouding a moonlit sky.
It had been like this for an entire year, an undisturbed crypt of a battle so devastating, Wano itself was forever changed, forever a memorial in remembrance to those that stood defiant at a tyrant's might, but for the first time since that mournful day the world shuddered as the winds screamed in an anguish of love lost, a light began to pierce the sorrowful sky.
A trail of fire could be seen coming through the clouds, piercing the darkness and exposing a glint of starlight behind it, passing Onigashima and onto what once was a harbour, with a loud crash, the fireball hit the ground, cratering it with force, a force strong enough to make the ice over the ocean tremble.
It was a pod, spherical and layered with writing in a language not native to this world, movement and shifting could be heard from within.
"That was...rough." a woman's voice spoke giddily, with a slight laugh following.
"The guys back home said this planet should have a breathable atmosphere, lets see if this hasn't changed!" she says to herself, clenching her fists in determination and hope, the machine pings, confirming that there is still air on the planet.
clicking could be heard, with the sound of the vessel depressurising with a hiss as a door opened on its top, immediately the woman within feels the cold temperatures quickly.
"What the?! they didn't say this world was this c-cold!?" she complained in annoyance, her suit was built for travel through space, not for a wintery wasteland.
she peaks up the top, her face exposed to the wintery chill, but the air was not as rough as it could be, she chuckled a little in relief, lowering back down, despite the harsh clouds, she could see where she had arrived from, the starlight from above a beacon of light for her in this cold place.
"Alright, time to go where no hero has gone before!" she utters, taking her first step into this new world, she was unaware that two blue eyes we're watching her in the distance, two lonely grieving eyes, she marched unaware of this watchful beast to a strangely frosted mountain, unbeknownst to her, but known all too well to the wolf, is a place it guards with her life, her treasured memory.
Minutes passed as the astronaut marched on the ice, getting closer to the strange mountain.
"Hmm...the gravity feels just like home, yet just a little lighter." she affirms this with a quick jump, excited at being on a alien world.
"I should try out how this feels with my quirk." she mutters to herself, shaking her head to keep herself focused.
"Heh...here I go muttering again." she says quietly, a slight sadness in her voice.
"You rubbed off on me, Deku-kun." she says aloud, looking up into the sky, as if trying to see the star she came from in the small tear in the clouds she made.
She stopped walking, she was closer to the mountain now, at this distance she could see stuff that wasn't there before, an outline of what appeared to be a horn jutting out of the ice, parts of the mountain were still stone, resembling a skull.
"whooooa...is that, a giant alien frozen over?!" she exclaimed in excitement to no one in particular, in disbelief, she lowered her visor, her face became fully visible through the glass, her hair was brown, and her eyes a chocolatey chestnut, with a visible permanent blush on her cheeks. Her mouth remained agape at the site, before turning into a smile, as if reassured by the site.
she was about to speak, till a sudden gust of wind caught her off guard, it was coming from behind her, she raised up her visor and turned around to see something unexpected.
before her stood something familiar yet mythical in nature, a large white wolf was bearing its fangs at her, its growl mistakable for the winter wind, its blue eyes, cold and full of hate, on its back was hoisted a Kabou, it was dented, scraped, the astronaut could tell from a simple glance at it.
"Uh..e-easy big wolf!" she says in a panic, raising her arms as if to try and calm it, a little unsure on how to handle the situation.
The wolf simply stared at her, snarling, it began to pace forward to her, each paw drop causing the ice beneath it to shoot up.
"Leeeeeeeave.."
"Huh?!" she exclaimed aloud, shocked that she heard a voice at all in this desolate place.
"LEEEEEEEAVE MY HOME!" it howled, blue lightning spiralling around its body, the ice around its shooting up into pillars of spikes, heading straight for the astronaut.
In a moment of panic and survival instinct, the astronaut tore off her gloves, and pressed her hands against herself, a pink glow emitting from her hands and covering her body, she leaped into the air and sailed into the sky, moving up like an angel ascending. avoiding the attack, turning around to see it crash into the mountain she was approaching, changing its landscape again.
"uuuuugh.." she moans, feeling nausea well up in her stomach slightly, she turns back around looking at the wolf, its eyes still full of hate.
"R-Release!" the astronaut says, clasping her hands together, she began to drop like a deadweight, speeding down towards the wolf.
The wolf opened its maw in response, a white light was building within it, as if readying to blast a laser at the astronaut, only for it to suddenly, hesitate.
The astronaut saw this opportunity and grabbed the wolf as she landed on it, the glow that covered her now covering the wolf.
the wolf tried to shake her off, only to end up floating in the air slightly, it looked down on the ice below, then up, rage turned to confusion and panic as it moved its legs around, to try and gain some form of momentum, but to no avail.
"Sorry big fella, i...uurgh..didnt want to fight an alien, I come in peace!" spoke the astronaut, bobbing her head up and down nervously.
She let go and landed onto the ice, now more bumpy and spikes thanks to the wolf's actions.
The wolf looked down at her, as if to sneer at it, but the hesitancy remained, its eyes were now looking at the astronauts hands, pink bubble-like pads were on her finger tips, glowing, still in use, something about this felt familiar to the wolf, till a name came out of its mouth.
"Ocha...ko...?" It spoke aloud, more calmly than before, yet still as if it were one with the wind.
"EH?!" Ochako yelled, very confused as to why it said her name, and weirded out as to why this alien wolf was looking at her as if it had seen a ghost.
"D-did you mind read me!? I ha-ha'e no evil intentions, none a' all!" she spoke in such shock that her country accent slipped out.
"No...no nothing like that, its...complicated." it was now speaking to her as if it were human, it was so shocking to Ochako that she hadn't even realised they were speaking in the same language.
"This is so weird, I wasn't expecting first contact to go like this.." she admits alloud in a mutter.
"Let me down...he told me your quirk can make you ill from overuse." the wolf spoke, looking at her almost solemnly.
Ochako looked at the wolf as if it had grown a second head.
"St-stop talking...youre making me think im in a planet of the apes situation, and who's he?!"
"Let me down, and I won't break your ship, and I'll try to make sense of it to you!" it says, sparks of blue appearing around it as if to emphasise its point, sweat dropping as it does so.
Ochako sighs, lamenting and clasping her hands together. "Don't do anything a villain would do, Release!"
The wolf drops down, landing with a slight crash, on the ice, breaking some of the spikes it had made with little effort.
Ochako's hands were slightly raised in a stance, unsure on what this beast would do next.
"O-ok...big wolf, who are you an' who's he?" she says as calmly as possible, like a good cop trying to interrogate a prisoner.
"I am Yamato, the ruler of Wano...but him...He's my friend...and...he's very happy to see you...but sorry that you cannot see him smiling." the wolf got up as it spoke, looking at Ochako head on, but not with malice in its eyes, but instead, happiness, and sorrow.
Ochako raises her visor, her face exposed to the wolf, confusion on her face, yet a feeling began to pang in her heart, a small feeling, but one she felt a long time ago.
"B-but..I never knew any alien...un...no..it.."
"He's sorry he couldn't come back." the wolf spoke again, tears began welling in its blue eyes as it stepped forward to Ochako.
Ochako stepped back, that feeling in her heart growing as a thought grew in her mind, she was there when it happened, when she saw her classmate Bakugou fade away, she saw as a void erupted from Shigaraki's body, she saw her light, her inspiration, he friend get snatched away, her eyes were also beginning to well with tears, she took her helmet off, looking at the wolf still.
"De..." she couldn't finish his hero name, it died on her lips, disbelief and shock coiling around her like a snake.
"He's the reason im here...im the reason he's..." the wolf looked to the side, as if it was being scolded for blaming itself.
Ochako noticed, and she rushed forward to it, her eyes threatening to spill a flood as her heart thumped aggressively, a truth becoming obvious to her, a cruel truth she had long been in defiance of back home, but now faces the reality of.
"De...Dek..." she gasps as all those bottled up emotions of her grief and love were erupting in her heart, the wolf could see it, she knew that feeling all to well, especially when it came to him.
The wolf lowered itself, as if laying down, seeing Ochako's hands move forward, as if to hug it, while her feet wobble, threatening to collapse underneath her own weight, overwhelmed from emotion.
She cannot speak anymore, all that comes out of her mouth is a scream of grief.
"DeeeeeeEEEAEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!"
Yamato stretches forward as Ochako fell onto its nose, she clutches on, afraid of letting go, her cries of happinesss and sorrow that Izuku had survived, but was too late to say hello again.
The wolf began to change its shape, forming into a more humanoid form, its body was still covered in the fur of the wolf, yet in the shape of a big woman, in a swift motion, her arms embraced the grieving stranger, a stranger to herself, but the light that saved Izukuin his own world.
"Its ok, Ochako...he's here...he lives on through me...through his power..."
Yamato speaks, her own tears dripping onto Ochako. the two grieved together for him, even though he was still there with them both, within the power of OFA, he too is weeping, weeping that he wasn't alive to give the two lights in his life the same love they gave him.
"Even so...even so...I wish he was alive to be with you too! I wish he was alive to be with you again...he deserved it! he deserved to be happy with friends that loved him and i...I failed him...I was too late..." Yamato weeps, as if seeking forgivness from his friend from elsewhere.
"Do- sniff don't...say that..." Ochako says, tears still in her eyes as she continued to weep in Yamato's arms. "De-Deku-kun wouldn't...wan you blaming yourself...but...thank you...than you than you than you...thank you for being there for him when we couldn't!" Ochako says, her voice weepy, looking up to Yamato, as if to reassure her too.
"Th-thank you...for being his friend, for looking after him." Ochako says, a smile forms, despite the tears in her eyes.
"Thank you...for saving him when we lost him."