Mina stared in disbelief at the woman who had created the Underground itself, completely lost for words. Faultline herself, a legend who'd vanished eighty years before, was just…grinning at her.
"What's wrong?" Faultline asked. "Cat got your tongue?"
Mina responded more by instinct than thought. "Oh, I'm sorry," she replied. "I'm a bit too busy staring at a ghost to speak coherently."
Faultline chuckled. The sound was like sand flowing down a dune, a raspy whisper that sent shivers down Mina's spine.
Her brain still struggled to make sense of it all. How was this possible? Faultline had died eighty years ago! She had to be fake, some mad hallucination created by Mina's brain to cope with the emotional agony she was in.
Except…she wasn't. Mina could feel the sand whipping around the room, rubbing her skin; she could see Faultline grin as she turned away, refocusing her attention on the wall of the perfectly smooth room. She reached out with one three-fingered arm, which blurred and swirled into a miniature dust devil as it touched the stone. In seconds, the stone itself began changing to sand, joining the spinning whirlwind and carving a tunnel as perfectly round as the room itself.
"I'm going crazy," Mina whispered. "I have to be."
Faultline raised an eyebrow-or rather, the ridge of sand that mimicked one on her beastlike face. "Probably," she agreed. "But I'm no ghost. Now, are you gonna stand there, or are you coming?"
Mina blinked as the dead god gestured for her to enter the tunnel she was carving. Somehow, she was real. She barely looked different from every description Mina had ever seen or heard of her, despite the decades-but then, many mutants didn't age the same way regular people did. Faultline didn't have a human body, and only had a facsimile of a human face made of whirling sand; was it any wonder that she didn't look her hundred-something years?
This was madness. It was impossible.
But so was looking down at an army of mutants and seeing the first man she ever trusted at their head. So was watching Fumi, returned from the dead, wreathed in shadow and smoke as he fought Izuku to the death.
Mina took a deep breath, and followed Faultline into the tunnel. The legendary villain didn't even spare her a glance.
"How am I alive, anyway?" Mina wondered aloud. "I fell into the Chasm, for fuck's sake!"
Faultline grunted. "I caught you," she replied. "You're lucky I was in the area."
Mina blinked. "Why were you there?" she asked.
"To watch the show, of course," Faultline replied casually. "It's not every day you get the chance to watch a legend die."
Seeing Fumi's face. FallingThat made Mina's heart shatter all over again. She fought back against the agony desperately, trying to distract herself from the pain that still coursed through her. It came in flashes, fragmentary memories that nearly brought her to knees each time.
from the roof of the cavern. The battle between the two men she trusted most in the world, so fierce it shook the ground and tore apart the sky.
Izuku losing. Izuku falling. The look on Fumi's face when he sent her to follow him.
Mina almost opened her mouth to rage at Faultline, to lash out at her. Her survival instincts overrode her heart at the last second. Faultline hated heroes. She'd killed dozens of them in her fights at the dawn of the Underground. She'd killed Craton, it seemed. Who knew what she would do to Mina if she learned Mina loved a hero?
Instead, she said, "Thank you…for saving me."
Faultline grunted again. "Don't mention it," she replied. When Mina opened her mouth to say something else, Faultline turned to glare at her. "Seriously, don't mention it. I don't want to hear your yammering."
Mina closed her mouth sharply. A moment later, though, spurred on by the images still haunting her, she asked, "How did you survive so long down here, anyway?"
Faultline rolled her eyes. "Why do you care so much?" she snapped.
"Oh, you know," Mina snarked. "I come across hundred-year-old vanished legends every day. I just want to see how you stack up."
That got a dry snort out of Faultline. "Are you always this annoying?" she asked.
"Just when I'm trying not to freak out after almost dying," Mina shot back.
"And when I'm trying to avoid thinking about whether Izuku is still alive or not," she thought hollowly. If he was really gone…Mina wasn't sure if she could keep going.
Wasn't that funny? So many years refusing to get close to anyone because she might lose them like she lost Fumi…and then the first time she let herself love again, she lost them to Fumi.
God, her life was such a fucking sick joke.
Faultline looked at her with something that might have been understanding, on a kinder face. She said, "Someone else fell with you, didn't they?"
Mina's head shot up. She nodded wordlessly, desperate for something. Faultline nodded to herself.
"I sensed them fall right before you did," she explained, though Mina hadn't asked for her to. "I was heading that way when I saw you fall. I couldn't get to the other one in time, but they're probably not dead."
Mina blinked, not sure whether to be hopeful or crushed by Faultline's words. "How do you know?" she asked.
"Never mind how I know," Faultline said brusquely. "But you're in luck. If they're alive, they'll have ended up at the same place we're going."
Mina took a deep breath. Stay calm. Don't get your hopes up. Don't believe anything hopeful-that way you'll never be disappointed.
"And where are we going?" she asked.
Faultline didn't answer. Mina thought about asking again, but decided against it; she knew better than to push someone too far.
For a while, Mina kept quiet, following Faultline through the tunnel she carved at an easy walking pace. She got the feeling Faultline could've gone much faster, but was pacing herself so Mina could keep up.
Eventually, though, the pain of living in her own head became too much again. In a quiet, worried voice, Mina asked, "If you lived…what happened to Craton?"
Instantly, Faultline's head whipped around-just her head. It swiveled a hundred and eighty degrees on her neck, facing backwards with such a violent movement it made Mina's stomach lurch.
Right. Of course. Body made of sand-no tendons or bones to restrict movement to a normal human range.
Faultline snarled, baring those sharp-looking stone fangs. "Do not say that name," she hissed, low and deadly.
Mina raised her hands, taking a nervous step back. She nodded.
Faultline sighed, turning her head back to the front and extending her arm towards the wall once again.
"Come on," she said. "We're nearly there."
Faultline ended up being correct. It took them less than ten minutes before the wall of stone and sand ahead of them suddenly fell away, revealing a surprisingly large cavern.
Mina barely noticed it, though. She ignored the bright, warm lights and surprising coziness of the place, for one reason.
Across the cavern, lying in a bed behind a privacy curtain, she saw a flash of familiar green hair.
She barely even realized she was running at top speed; she forgot everything, from the legend standing behind her to the thoughts of Fumi running through her head.
Mina blitzed through the curtain; her brain barely registered the old man who had just finished wrapping bandages around Izuku's torso. Izuku's eyes widened in recognition just as a sobbing Mina landed on top of him, throwing her arms around him. His own arms slowly, tentatively closed around her, tightening as he, too, got swept up with relief that they were both alive.
"I watched you fall," Mina whispered when she finally regained the ability to speak. "I thought-"
"It's okay," Izuku whispered back, pressing his lips to her temple, kissing any part of her face he could reach. "I know. I saw him grab you, and-"
He couldn't finish the sentence. How could he? What could he possibly say to explain what had gone through his head at that moment, the sheer, heart-stopping terror and the rage and the grief and all the rest of it?
He had failed her, and she had followed him into the abyss rather than letting him go and saving herself. There was nothing that could be said to that sort of trust, that sort of love.
"That was Fumi, Izuku," Mina said. Izuku nodded, but said nothing more; he simply held her tight, letting her shake in his arms as she nearly wept in relief.
They kissed gently, as though afraid they would be torn apart again. That kiss led to another, and another; they were wrapped up in each other, trembling at how close they'd come to losing each other forever.
Eventually, they finally broke apart, and Mina finally noticed the old man with eyes the color of slate. His mouth was quirked upwards in an expression somewhere between shock, amusement, and sorrow so deep it ached in the bones.
"Well," the man said, "Of all the things I've discovered today, this was certainly not one I was expecting."
Mina blinked in confusion, and a little bit of worry. The man clearly wasn't a mutant-and he'd apparently saved Izuku's life. How would he respond to, well, them?
"Izuku," she asked, "Who is this?"
Wincing, Izuku shifted beneath her, and Mina got off of him, worried she might have re-injured his ribs.
"Mina," he said, "This is…look, I swear I'm not making this up, okay?"
Mina nodded. "I trust you," she said softly.
Izuku let out a deep breath. "This is Craton," he said simply.
Mina's head whipped around. "Oh shit," she breathed. The old man-Craton himself-smirked at her, clearly amused by her shock and fear.
But her fear wasn't because of him. It was because of the other legend who had led her here.
A moment later, the curtain rustled again, and Izuku and Mina both tensed up as two long, talon-like fingers made of pure sand pulled the fabric aside. Mina braced for an explosion as Faultline stepped into the space and laid eyes on her most hated rival, her expression growing deadly. She bared her fangs.
Craton, for some reason, seemed barely perturbed by the sudden appearance of a nearly seven-foot-tall woman made entirely of whirling, deadly sand. He did turn to face her, though, staring her in the eyes with an intensity that made it easy to believe he'd once been the greatest hero in Japan.
Mina clenched Izuku's hand tightly, recognizing the look of sheer shock and terror on his face.
They were caught in between two of the most powerful underground combatants ever, with absolutely no hope of getting out of the way if they decided to continue their decades-long feud right then and there.
Faultline looked past Craton, and her eyes landed on Izuku. They narrowed dangerously. Looking back at Craton, she asked, "You rescued a hero?"
Craton shrugged. "Call it an old habit," he replied. "I never was good at walking away from things-especially dangerous ones."
Faultline scoffed. "You're the same idiot you always were," she hissed.
Craton chuckled. "Guilty as charged," he agreed.
The tension built and built, like static electricity that got stronger and stronger until the very air was crackling.
Faultline's snarl sharpened…then gained an odd edge that was more amused than anything. "One of these days, I'll figure out why I married you," she sighed.
Craton grinned. "Because of my charm and good looks, obviously," he said.
"Absolutely not," Faultline responded.
Izuku and Mina could only stare in complete, total shock. It was just…too much. Too many revelations, too many different ways their worlds had crumbled to dust in a single day.
Too many legends dying.
"I'm sorry, but what the fuck?" Mina blurted out. "I thought you two killed each other!"
Craton snorted. "Since when are stories the truth?" he countered.
Behind him, Faultline-his wife-nodded in agreement. She added, "Eighty years is a long time to build up a lie, child. Especially when you can use it to justify your hate."
Mina knew that. But she still couldn't reconcile it-couldn't comprehend the fact that she was not alone. She wasn't the first mutant to love a hero-nor the first to succeed. Faultline herself, as close to an icon as the Depths really had, had married her greatest enemy-or the man the world had thought was her greatest enemy, at least.
Beside her, Izuku was clearly going through his own crisis. For a man who loved heroes so much, coming across one of the greatest of them, still alive after such sacrifice, was…earth-shattering. Mina could see it in his eyes.
Evidently, Craton could, too. The man sighed, "Look, kids. It's been a hectic couple of hours for you, I bet."
Mina and Izuku nodded wordlessly.
"Tell you what," Craton continued. "You two take some time for yourselves, to…decompress. After that, come find us-we'll be waiting for you. I think we should have a talk."
Izuku blinked. "You'd do that for us?" he asked quietly.
Craton nodded. "I figure you deserve some sort of explanation," he said lightly.
Faultline snorted. "Don't go easy on them," she snapped. Turning to Izuku and Mina, she added, "This isn't gonna be some happy talk, and we ain't giving out friendly advice. You two need a fucking reality check, and we might be the only two people in the world able to give it."
Mina frowned. "What are you talking about?" she asked.
Faultline's eyes were like tempests as she answered, "We know what it's like to be in your positions-or am I misreading the fact that you haven't let go of each other's hands since I showed up?"
Mina and Izuku glanced down to find that, in fact, Faultline was right. Their fingers were interlaced so tightly nothing could have ever pried them apart, their hands trembling a little.
Faultine bared her teeth in what could charitably be called a grin, though her eyes weren't unkind. "Like I said," she repeated. "We know a thing or two about what you're going through. But more than that…Atlas, you especially need someone to beat a few lessons into your head."
Izuku flinched. He began, "How do you know my-"
Craton and Faultline exchanged an unamused glance. "Of course we know who you are," Craton said. "The whole Depths knows you're dead, now. They're celebrating like I've never seen before."
Izuku flinched again, drawing into himself a bit at that. Mina gave his hand a squeeze, which he returned gratefully. He took a deep breath, then said, "Thank you. We'll come find you in a bit."
Craton and Faultline nodded, and left. The tiny room seemed to finally contain breathable air the moment the two legends slipped out of the curtain. The stone all around them rumbled as they used their quirks, shaking as they rewrote the Underground as easily as they had all those years ago. Then the shuddering faded away, and they were gone.
Once he was sure they were alone, Izuku turned to Mina, who was hanging her head in exhaustion, staring at the ground with sightless eyes.
He could tell how badly she was hurting. Flashes of her humor had shone through in the conversation, and she was good at faking to handle an endless stream of earth-shattering revelations about the people who had literally created her home…but it was a facade. Everything that had happened that day was tearing at her, wearing her down.
Grunting with exertion, Izuku hauled himself into an upright position, legs hanging off the side of the crude but sturdy bed Craton had put him in to bandage his wounds. Nervously, terrified of the consequences if he screwed up, he asked, "Mina…are you okay?"
Mina looked up at him slowly, as though fighting through a haze just to be able to see him. She was silent for a long moment, so long Izuku began to worry that she wouldn't respond.
Then, at last, she said, "I…no. No, I'm not."
Izuku was quiet, subdued, as though he was scared that she might shatter if he moved wrong. Softly, he said, "I…tell me if there's a way I can help, Mina. I don't know what to do to make you feel better."
It was the look in his eyes that finally let Mina escape her shattered, empty-eyed stupor, just a little. She turned to him, relishing the slight warmth of his hand on her thigh, and murmured sadly, "I don't think you can help me, Izuku. I wish you could. I wish you could sweep me up in your arms and fix me. I'm just…I feel so hollow, love. I…I should be mad, and angry, I should be yelling, I should be feeling something. But I can't. It's just…missing."
Mina trembled as she spoke, barely able to meet Izuku's gaze. Her eyes were glassy, dull, drained. She was looking past him, as if there was a ghost over his shoulder only she could see.
He yearned to wrap her up in his arms, but hesitated, remembering her hesitancy just in time to stop himself. Nervously, he asked, "Can I hug you?"
Mina couldn't help the smile that broke through into her face. God, she loved this man. She was crumbling before his eyes, withering like a dying flower under the weight of her own grief, and still he remembered her boundaries, holding himself to a standard unimaginable to others. She held her arms out, marveling at how she didn't even need to brace anymore, and quietly murmured, "Please. Hold me."
When Izuku's arms encircled her, it was like the softest, warmest blanket Mina could imagine, made for her and her alone. She refused to let herself draw inwards, refused to hide or flinch. She grabbed at him, drew him closer, working herself into his lap until his arms were around her waist and her chin was resting on his shoulder. Only once she was there did she feel safe enough to let the tears fall.
For a timeless eternity, Mina lay there, clinging to the last bit of stability she had left, drawing strength out of Izuku's body like heat, and she let herself cry. She could break here. She could shatter and rebuild in those arms. She could be the abandoned child of the Depths, lost and scared and losing everyone she'd ever trusted, and not feel vulnerable because she had Izuku, putting himself between her and the outside world.
When there were no more tears left to give, Mina made another decision. Raising her head, she met Izuku's eyes, stealing his breath with the shining look she gave him. It was broken and hurt and angry, but when she looked at him, there was only love.
"There is something you can do," she told him, quietly, ever so quietly. "It…I don't know if it'll help…but I'd take anything right now."
Izuku nodded, somber with the weight of the moment. "Anything," he agreed, meaning that one single word more than he'd ever meant anything in his life.
Mina sighed, shifting in his lap so that her hands cupped the sides of his head and her pink skin was rubbing against Izuku's. "Tell me you love me," she whispered, fingers stroking the curls of his hair.
Izuku swallowed heavily, nodding as he did. "You're the greatest thing that's ever happened to me," he told her, voice heavy and warm and glowing with a thousand undercurrents he'd never be able to put into words. "You and your scars, your gorgeous eyes and your strength and your beautiful heart…all of it. You are amazing, Mina, and I love you more than anything."
Mina smiled, as if to herself. It was a weak thing, barely changing the empty look in her eyes at all, but it was a smile, wet as it was with leftover tears.
"Now, kiss me," she ordered, clinging to him like he was the mast of a sinking ship.
Izuku did just that, pulling her in and pouring everything he had into her lips. Mina shuddered with joy, and just for a moment, let herself forget about the dead…and the living.
It was half an hour before Izuku and Mina finally emerged to talk to the living legends. They found themselves in the same cavern from before…only different.
It had the same lights, the same walls, the same low, smooth roof, but now that they got a better look at it, Mina and Izuku found themselves staring.
It felt homier than any place in the Depths either of them had ever seen-but then, it had apparently been occupied for many years, so perhaps that wasn't surprising. It had sturdy tables and cozy armchairs, crudely made but clearly workable. The walls seemed to be fluid, easily raised anywhere Craton wanted, and Mina was certain that there was far more to the cavern than they were seeing; there were no exits, after all, and both occupants of the cavern were completely unhindered by the stone around them. They molded their environment however they wanted, totally free to reshape everything on a whim.
Craton and Faultline were sitting in armchairs in the center of the room-or at least, Craton was sitting, a long hand-carved pipe in his mouth; Faultline resembled a pile of sand poured onto the seat more than anything, albeit one that never stopped moving and had a face.
Noticing them, Craton waved them over. Mina and Izuku wordlessly sat down on a loveseat that had been pulled up across from the two creators of the Underground.
Craton gave them a smile, his eyes twinkling like any friendly old man's…except there was an edge to them, a sort of reserved light in their centers that sparkled like sunlight reflected off steel. It made it easy for Mina and Izuku to remember who this was; Craton could crush this entire cavern with a single thought, could stamp his foot and drown them both in stone without breaking a sweat. Those eyes suggested he wouldn't even feel that bothered about it. Faultline had her own version of the look, like a wild storm that nothing could contain, but Craton's was scarier; it had the patience of tectonic plates, the endless grinding power of stone, the calm, easy assurance that, in time, everything would be ground down and wiped away.
"So, then," Craton said once Izuku and Mina had sat down. "Where should we start?"
Mina and Izuku exchanged a look, and came to a silent agreement. "How about with an explanation of how you're still alive?" Mina asked dryly. "And also married?"
Craton chuckled. Looking over at his wife-who had returned to a mostly human form, or as human as a seven-foot-tall sandstorm with foot-long claws could ever be-he agreed, "Aye, that makes sense. You want to tell the story, or should I?"
"You do it," Faultline grunted. "I'll correct you when you fuck it up."
Craton snorted. "Fair enough," he decided. He turned back towards Izuku and Mina, visibly gathering his thoughts. Finally, he began, "I figure you two both know the official version of what happened to us. "Arch-nemeses," "fated enemies," all that nonsense?"
They both nodded.
Craton took his pipe from his mouth, letting out a long breath. Whatever he was smoking had a strong smell to it-Mina thought it smelled similar to the cigars Mezou had once smoked, before Tsu made him quit.
"Well," he continued, "that version's full of shit."
"I hadn't noticed," Mina snorted.
Craton nodded, lips twitching upwards into a smile. "Aye," he agreed. "Anyway, it didn't start so wrong, at least. We met on…was it a bank robbery?"
Craton's last sentence was directed at Faultline, who looked up from examining her talons and shook her head. "Home invasion," she corrected, her voice curt and clipped.
Craton nodded. "Ah, you're right," he said. "I happened to respond to a break-in, and it was none other than, well, her."
"And then I kicked your ass," Faultline added, a faint grin playing across her inhuman face.
Craton raised an eyebrow. "I don't recall that part," he said acidly.
"Well, you didn't remember the other part, either," Faultline shot back, "So I can say whatever I want, and you'll have to accept that it's right."
Izuku and Mina both snorted at that; Craton looked mildly scandalized before sighing.
"Fine," he decided. "Not like it matters, because that was far from the last time we ran into each other on the job."
Mina blinked as a question came to her. Looking at Faultline, she asked, "Hang on, you were just a petty thief? I always assumed you were, like, a revolutionary or something."
Faultline snorted. "It's funny," she said. "History only remembers who you were after the fact-they never start at the beginning. I was a thief, yeah. Not much more. But the symbol they turned me into-that could be whatever they wanted. It doesn't help that I was a revolutionary by the end-just not by choice."
Mina frowned, but said nothing. She listened as Craton continued, "Eventually, I started wondering why I kept running into her again and again. So, instead of stopping her theft one day…I decided to tail her and see where she went."
Faultline snorted again. "You followed me home, you mean," she retorted. Craton shrugged in acknowledgement; the exchange made Mina smile and elbow Izuku in the side, reminding him of his own actions in that regard. He blushed red, and nearly missed the next part of the story.
"She confronted me," Craton said. "And we…talked."
"I kicked his ass," Faultline corrected. "Again."
Craton scowled. "You did not," he shot back.
"Did too," Faultline replied. "I beat you so badly I showed up at your house the next day to make sure you were okay."
Craton rolled his eyes. "You wanted a rematch after you lost!" he protested. "And can you stop interrupting the story?"
Faultline sighed. "Fine," she said. "I totally won, though."
Craton just sighed. Mina was trying not to laugh.
"Anyway," Craton said, "After that, things…changed. We weren't really trying to beat each other anymore. For a couple years, it was just…how things were. She did something, I showed up, and we "fought." Once I knew who she was, and knew that she was stealing to survive…it destroyed my desire to actually catch her. Over time, the fights became…something else. To the world, though, we still seemed like enemies, especially as we both grew in notoriety."
Izuku nodded to himself. Mina, for her part, asked, "So your battle, your whole rivalry, it was fake, then?"
Craton hesitated "I…wouldn't say that," he replied.
"Of course it wasn't," Faultline scoffed. "I nearly killed him multiple times while he was flirting with me."
"You were flirting back!" Craton protested.
Faultline crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, by trying to kill you," she said. If it was a joke, it was impossible to tell from her expression.
Mina blinked, before deciding that she had enough issues without dealing with whatever this was. "Okay," she decided. "So you two had a…complicated relationship, then. Got it."
Craton chuckled, but his smile quickly faded. "Love is always complicated," he replied. "Especially when you come from such different places, and just existing together exposes you to danger. I…get the feeling you've learned those lessons, too."
Izuku and Mina exchanged a glance. They didn't need to speak to agree.
"Yeah," Mina confirmed. "We have. We…we manage. I think."
Craton took another puff of his pipe, then met Mina's eyes. "Kid," he said sadly, "This isn't the kind of thing you manage. Either you face it head-on, or it destroys you."
Mina fell silent. Izuku, noticing the brief glance Faultline and Craton exchanged, asked nervously, "Is…that what happened to you?"
Faultline nodded. "Eventually, we both realized it was untenable," she said, seemingly more willing to speak now. "We were…together at that point, and every day we tried to keep the arrangement going, the other heroes got closer to the truth. And the truth would have put both of us in immense danger."
"What do you mean?" Mina asked.
Craton sighed. "For the same reasons that you and Atlas haven't gone public, I would assume," he answered, making both Izuku and Mina wince. "Only…instead of worrying about bad press, we were worried about lynch mobs."
Silence reigned after that. At last, Izuku managed to regain his thoughts, and asked, "So…what did you do?"
Craton met his eyes. "We planned our grand finale," he said. "The final battle of Craton and Faultline, in all their glory. We pushed ourselves as far as we could, to make it seem like we tore each other apart-and created the Underground, largely by accident."
"A lucky accident," Faultline added. "When they realized what we'd made, the greedy bastards up top were too busy squabbling over how to exploit it to look for us."
Craton snorted in what could have been agreement. "So, there you have it," he said sarcastically, spreading his arms wide. "Your precious heroes were frauds all along, faking their own deaths in a desperate, foolish attempt to try and find a place where they could live in peace."
Izuku and Mina were quiet for a long time, holding hands and trying to reconcile their childhood beliefs with the truths they'd learned. They succeeded-mostly.
"What have you been doing down here, all these years?" Mina asked. "And how has nobody found out about it?"
"Living the quiet life, mostly," Craton replied. "Neither of us ever wanted to be legends. I only became a hero because I wanted to keep my neighborhood safe. When things spiraled beyond that…I knew it was time to leave."
Faultline nodded. "And as for how we've stayed secret," she continued, "It's the isolation, mostly. Almost nobody ever comes down here, and the few who do encounter us, we swear to secrecy. On that note…if either of you ever tell someone about us…"
She didn't need to make any motion, or speak any threat. The tone of her voice and the look on her face were more than enough of a promise. Mina and Izuku both nodded.
"How often do you run into people?" Izuku asked.
Craton tapped his chin thoughtfully. "It's rare," he admitted. "Before a few days ago, the last time was…six years ago?"
He looked to Faultline for confirmation, and she nodded. "The boy," she said in her sandpaper voice. "The one with the shadow monster."
Izuku's eyes went wide. Mina's blood turned to ice.
"The what?" she heard herself ask.
Faultline turned to her. "Ah," she said, reading their expressions easily. "That's right. Fumikage was the one who tried to kill you two, wasn't he?"
Mina had forgotten how to speak. Izuku looked torn, somewhere between horror and anger and shock.
"Y-you know him?" Mina whispered. "He met you?"
Faultline and Craton shared a silent exchange, in the way that only people who have loved each other for decades could. When it ended, Faultline looked back at them and replied, "Yes. We brought him down here after his quirk went berserk, attacking anything in its path. We stopped him before he could hurt anybody, and brought him here."
"Believe it or not, we're not entirely isolated down here," Craton said. "We've come up into the Depths before, if we've felt it was needed. We tend to work in the shadows, trying to help a few people who really need it. The ones we find down here, we help too, however we can. Tokoyami, though…he was different. Once he woke up, he asked for our help again-but not to fight for him or let him stay. He asked for us to teach him how to unite the Depths-how to be the sort of man who could tear down the world that kept him and his people down."
Mina could barely breathe. "What did you do?" she asked.
"We helped him," Craton said. "As best we could. All we had was our own experience and the wisdom of eighty years of watching this city be the same shithole, with only the faces and names changing-but never the people. Tokoyami, though-he wanted to try something new. And from the sound of it, he's succeeded."
Izuku's fists clenched. The smell of ozone filled the room.
"He tried to kill us," he snapped.
Craton shrugged. All the earlier humor and laughter had vanished from the room-and from his eyes. The man sitting before them was every bit as steely and dangerous as his wife was. "That's between you and him," he said. "We don't take sides, kid. We stopped doing that a long time ago. All we do is help the people who come to us."
Izuku stared at Craton, something between shock and sorrow coloring his features.
"I…I don't get it," he said, fighting for control of his voice.
Craton raised an eyebrow. "Don't get what?" he asked in his rough, heavy voice.
Izuku stood, his bulk filling the cave even on shaky legs. Mina shot him a worried glance, while Faultline barely seemed to care.
"How could you?" Izuku said in a low, raw tone. "You were a hero. And when he came to you, when he said he wanted to tear down everything you fought for, you helped him. Why?"
Izuku's words echoed off the stone. Craton didn't flinch.
"So that's it," he snorted, bemused. "You think I betrayed you."
Izuku shook his head. "Not me," he replied. "The people you swore to protect."
Craton's face was as gray and ominous as a storm cloud. "And why should I only protect the people aboveground?" he demanded. "Why should being a hero mean I have more allegiance to the people up there than the people down here?"
Izuku clenched his fists as he nearly shouted, "It's not about allegiance, it's-"
Craton stamped his foot, and the world shook. The whole cavern shuddered and quaked, two seconds from collapsing in on itself. Izuku fell silent instantly.
"Like hell it isn't," Craton snapped. "You're fighting a war up there, kid. It's the same war I fought, that my wife fought, that every single one of us has been fighting since we were born. And I'm done taking sides in it. This, here-this is why I left. Why I refused to keep fighting to preserve the lie."
Izuku's eyes narrowed. "You ran away from it!" he said. "You were a hero, and you ran away."
"No. I didn't," Craton said. "I realized that being a hero didn't mean protecting people-it meant killing one group to protect another. And when I met her, I couldn't lie to myself about what I was doing anymore."
He pointed at Faultline. Izuku hesitated. Hadn't he done the same with Mina? Hadn't he started down this same road?
Still, something in his mind rebelled. He snapped, "What happens if Tokoyami causes chaos aboveground, or in the Underground? Isn't that on you?"
Faultline and Craton snorted. "The boy won't do that," Craton replied. "Chaos isn't his goal."
"I've fought men like Tokoyami before," Izuku snapped. "I know exactly what his goal is."
There was a hissing noise, like a waterfall and sandpaper rolled into one. A blur of yellow-brown earth whipped towards Izuku, and he found himself standing face-to-face with Faultline herself, her fangs bared and a killing gleam in her eyes.
In that moment, it was clear that she'd not lost a single step. She was still the woman half the Underground still feared, despite believing her dead for eighty years.
"This is your warning, you arrogant, stupid hero," Faultline hissed. "Sit the fuck down before I make what Tokoyami did to you look like playground roughhousing."
Izuku knew better than to pick that fight. Reluctantly, he sat down, eyes still blazing.
Faultline remained where she was, her body a whirling maelstrom of sand. "First things first," she snarled. "You do not know what Tokoyami is. And that's why he kicked you around like a ragdoll."
Lightning flickered off Izuku's body. Mina tried desperately to keep him down with a hand on his shoulder, but Faultline barely seemed to notice. She continued, "I saw the fight, Atlas. I know what you saw. You saw a man standing in front of an army, and decided you could predict exactly what he was, because all you've ever seen are madmen in front of armies. But Tokoyami isn't Re-Destro or All For One. You've never faced a man like him. You've never faced someone with that sort of rage before. Real, righteous, determined rage."
Izuku snorted. "I killed Tomura Shigaraki," he snapped. "I know what rage looks like."
Faultline spat. "Shigaraki was a spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum," she scoffed. "Tokoyami is a man who has watched his people be abused and oppressed by greedy, pathetic vultures all his life. He's more than a man, in fact-he's a legend, now. You made him one. He beat you publicly, in front of the last great leader of the Depths who hadn't yet bowed to him. You all but put the crown on his head, boy. If you're really the greatest hero in Japan, you should at least be able to admit when you've fucked up. And you have."
Izuku snarled, "If he wanted change so bad, there's ways to fight for it without using violence!"
Faultline raised an eyebrow. When Izuku continued to hold her gaze, she laughed in his face. "You don't deserve nonviolence, you arrogant bastard," she spat. "You think you get to kick people again and again, and cry foul when they pick themselves up and clench their fists to teach you a lesson? What have you done to earn the belief that your mind will be changed peacefully? You think you can stand in front of a thousand calls for justice, say "no, you're doing it wrong," and keep pretending you're a good man? Tell me, Atlas: can you do that?"
Finally, something cracked in Izuku's eyes. He flinched, and Faultline's gaze sharpened. She bared her teeth again-this time in a smile.
"So," she said. "There's hope for you after all."
Izuku met her eyes. "Why do you care?" he asked. "If you think he's so much better than me, don't you want him to win?"
Faultline chuckled. "Don't get me wrong, I certainly wouldn't mind it if he kicked the shit out of you a second time," she replied. "But believe it or not, I don't actually think you're stupid, and I don't want this to end in more bloodshed when there's no fucking reason it needs to. I'm trying to teach you that the most heroic thing you can do is get out of the damn way and let Tokoyami do what he needs to do."
Izuku snapped, "I can't do that."
Faultline shrugged. "Then you're just like every other hero," she said.
That was too much for Mina. "He isn't like them," she snapped. "He's better!"
Faultline turned to look at her, thoroughly unimpressed. "Other than you," she asked, "What has he done that's different from any other hero? How has he changed anything about his actions towards the people he knows are being discriminated against?"
Mina opened her mouth…but hesitated. She hated herself for it, but she couldn't think of anything. Beside her, Izuku flinched, his eyes downcast.
Faultline waited for Mina to look her in the eye again. Her expression was ever-so-slightly softer as she said, "Don't act like you haven't had these same thoughts, girl. I know you're not stupid-you'd be dead and rotting if you were. You can love him and know that he has failed at the same time."
Izuku looked at Mina as she took a deep breath and admitted, "I…have. I've tried to divide Izuku from Atlas, tried to reconcile his kindness with the cruelties he does…and I can't do it."
Faultline nodded. "I tried the same thing, you know," she said quietly, far more softly than she had spoken to Izuku. "I couldn't do it. Every time I think of the name "Craton," I think of the fact that the man I love ruined the lives of so many people just like me."
Mina nodded softly, and didn't say a word.
Izuku, more quietly now, said, "How else am I supposed to do this? Even if Tokoyami is right…he still wants to hurt people. And innocents will get caught in the crossfire. And I don't know how to stop that from happening…without being exactly what you say I am."
Faultline studied him for a long, silent moment.
"You're being torn apart, boy," she finally said. "All these things-they'll tear you into pieces if you let them. What's eating at you so bad?"
Izuku looked up. Then, to Mina's shock, he burst into laughter.
"What's eating at me?" Izuku scoffed. "What's eating at me is that all of you are acting like I don't know what that rage feels like!"
Faultline rolled her eyes. "You're a hero, boy," she said. "You can't understand-"
"I was quirkless for the first fifteen years of my fucking life!" Izuku interrupted. "I know exactly what being powerless feels like!"
Mina's eyes went wide, and even Faultline fell silent.
In that gap, words spilled out of Izuku's mouth faster than he could think. "Remember when I told you I thought I was quirkless until I was fifteen?" he asked Mina. She nodded, and he continued, "I…wasn't entirely truthful. I was quirkless. When I was fifteen…someone gave me their quirk. A hero."
Mina just…stared. She didn't know much about quirks, but that sounded…fantastical. Impossible. And yet she knew Izuku was telling the truth.
A sound made Izuku and Mina look back towards Craton, who had risen from his own chair.
"Ah," he said, sounding like a man who had just solved a particularly vexing puzzle. "You've got En's quirk."
Izuku blinked. That was the name of the sixth holder. "How do you know who he-" he began, only for Craton to cut him off with a gesture.
"I knew him, boy," Craton said in a low, blunt voice. "Not well, but well enough to know about One For All. I should've guessed it-you've got the same look in your eyes he always did."
"One For All?" Mina asked. "Is that the name of your quirk?"
Izuku nodded. "Yeah," he confirmed. "I'll tell you all about it, when I get the chance. I should've told you earlier. I'm…sorry."
Mina patted his arm in a forgiving gesture, while Craton nodded in agreement. "Probably for the best to save that for another day," he said.
Faultline made a strange growling noise in the back of her throat. "Maybe there is hope for you, Atlas," she said, almost begrudgingly.
Craton put a hand on his wife's shoulder. "Maybe," he agreed.
Faultline sighed. "I'll go find the other one," she said. "See if he's willing to help these two head back to the surface once you're done in here."
Craton nodded, and a tilt of his head created a new tunnel, heading down elsewhere in the cavern. Faultline slipped out of it in a rush of sand.
"On that note," Craton said, "I think we've got one last thing to talk about."
Craton stepped closer to Izuku and Mina, and Faultline returned to her seat. Craton summoned a new chair from the stone floor with practiced ease, and regarded the two of them with a steady, easy gaze. It didn't have the twinkling humor of his earlier expression, but it also lacked angry thunderclouds.
"So," he began. "Atlas, you're stuck between a rock and a hard place. Your duty as a hero demands that you stop Tokoyami, but you're increasingly realizing that doing so isn't heroic at all."
Izuku nodded. "What do I do?" he asked.
Craton sighed. "I wish I knew," he admitted. "I tried to reconcile those very same problems when I was a hero, but I could never do it. I…don't know if it's possible. I ended up having to make a choice-but if there's a chance to find some middle ground, you have to take it. You don't have a lot of options."
"How many do I have right now?" Izuku asked.
Craton held up three fingers. He listed off, "You let him run wild, you pull a better solution out of your ass…or you kill him. Because Tokoyami isn't gonna stop just because you ask him nicely."
Izuku and Mina flinched.
"That's impossible!" Izuku protested.
Craton met his gaze evenly. "You're a hero," he said. "Your job is to do the impossible-to do it every day, without fail, because the alternative is too terrible to imagine."
That made Izuku fall silent.
Briskly, Craton continued, "But this isn't just about Tokoyami. You've got other choices to make, too-about your relationship."
He gestured at the two of them, and Mina and Izuku both tensed.
"What does that mean?" Mina asked.
Craton's face was deadly serious as he explained, "You can't keep sitting on the fence forever-and you certainly can't hide forever. You gotta choose."
Izuku frowned. "Didn't you just talk about not choosing sides?" he asked.
Craton shook his head. "This isn't about sides in a war," he told Izuku. "This…this is about you. What are you willing to give up for Mina?"
Without hesitating, Izuku said, "Anything. Everything."
Mina's eyes went wide. She'd caught the look in Craton's eyes, and the expression on Izuku's face. She knew what Craton was really asking. "Izuku, no," she said, grabbing him by the arm. She glared at Craton and said, "I would never make him choose."
Craton's eyes were sorrowful and old as he replied, "You're not the one who'd force him to. When the world learns about you two-and they will-you will be hated. Hated more than you can imagine, more than anyone should ever be hated. And, Atlas, you'll have to choose: being a hero, or your relationship."
Izuku hesitated for a long, tense moment. Then, he looked up with burning eyes, and said with a ferocity that blew Mina away, "I don't think that will happen. It won't happen."
Craton shook his head. "I thought the same thing," he sighed. "But...well. You want to know why I left? Why I let the world think Faultline and Craton killed each other down here?"
Izuku nodded. "Yes," he admitted.
Craton looked Izuku in the eye, seeming to bore deep into his soul as he said, "It was because I realized what a rotten system I was protecting, and faced with a choice between the woman I loved and the society that hated her, I chose her. It was a bitter, desperate choice, but I've never regretted it. Wished it wasn't necessary, hated that I had to choose, yes. But I chose. I chose to put the burden down. You'll have to make the choice, too."
Once more, Izuku hesitated, teetering on the edge. Once more, the fierce determination that had been the reason Mina first fell in love with him won out. "I won't do it," Izuku decided. "I won't choose."
Craton raised an eyebrow. "Don't be childish," he said.
Izuku looked him in the eye. "What's childish about it?" he asked. "I'm going to find a better way. I'm going to change things."
Craton held his gaze, and in that moment, Mina and Izuku saw past the power and the legend and the history, and saw the tired old man behind all of it.
"If you managed that, kid, you'd be a better hero-and a better man-than I ever was," Craton told him, the faintest ghost of a smile on his lips. "I hope like hell you find a way. If anyone can do it, it's the one with En's old power. That fucker was more stubborn than a bull moose."
With that, he rose to his feet again, and strode towards the wall of the room.
"Take a few hours and get some rest," he suggested. "It's been a long day, and the city will survive a few hours without you. The tunnels down this deep are too tangled and mazelike to navigate alone-you'll need a guide for that. Luckily, I know someone who can help."
"Who?" Mina asked.
In response, there was a knock on the same part of the wall Faultline had vanished through earlier. Craton smiled and snapped his fingers.
The man who stepped through made Mina and Izuku's eyes widen with recognition. He was enormous, with a rounded body, his skin a sleek black-and-white pattern. His teeth were sharp, his eyes were red, and he had a scarred dorsal fin on his back.
"Well, well, well," Kugo said, a mix of surprise and idle amusement on his face. "How did you two end up in this shithole?"