Suri and Gemini battle it out. Suri's dark secret is put on center stage. Who will win, the heroes or the villains?
"Suri!"
"Oh my god! Suri!"
"Kuroyashi! What happened!"
"Oh my god, are you okay?"
"Kuroyashi!"
Voices. So many voices.
Suri could faintly hear them like they were distant, like you were trying to hear something through a wall. She could make out what they were saying but couldn't identify who they were. They were all yelling her name and showing concern for her so they were all acquaintances at least, the use of her first name meant closer relationships. But they were still all muddled.
She was still in darkness, her eyes refusing to open but slightly aware of her surroundings. She felt a stiff surface at her back, it was cold, nearly freezing from the mix of the floor's material and the fact that Suri's tank top was soaking wet. She remembered it was soaking wet from her own blood. She also remembered that that was why her stomach felt ice cold as well. She had bled profusely from the gashes she'd received but the fact that she was coming out of shock meant that she hadn't spilled her intestines.
That was a plus at least.
She felt completely exhausted and limp which had explained why her eyes fought like hell to open to no avail and why her breathing felt so shallow. She felt like she was asleep and awake at the same time. Hell, she half expected a sleep paralysis demon to be lurking nearby. Aside from the wet cold and limp feeling in her body she could feel the droning pain that her body did its best to try and mostly ignore. Her back and stomach being the main culprits from being cut open and beaten raw and as an added bonus, her right cheek, her neck, and her right arm all hurt like hell. Of course those last three had been from being fractured, being grabbed and dragged, and being dislocated, respectively.
Suri took notice of several feelings as her sense of touch slowly came back to her after the cold numbness she felt. Her head, while still against a firm surface, was laid on something softer than what she supposed was solid ground. It shifted and moved and felt shaky but also… familiar. It was an odd realization to say the least. Then came the newer cold and wet feeling, this time on her face. She knew she had been bleeding but the blood around her eyes, mouth, and forehead felt like a flaky crust.
That was dried blood.
Had she started bleeding elsewhere?
No… that didn't seem right either. The wet feeling wasn't originating from somewhere that had that droning sensation of pain. It felt… It felt more like rain. Which didn't seem right either because she would have smelled the rain coming an hour, no two…. Shit, how long had she been out? No. She didn't smell rain but there was something. Something close and something she recognized.
Cherries and citrus.
"Suri, baby, wake up. Please! Come back to us!"
At the sound of Mina's voice and the presence of that wonderful scent that she had always enjoyed and loved, her eyes opened. They opened slowly, having to force the muscles to work, and looked up into a pair of black and golden amber eyes. Eyes that were filled to the brim with tears that had been falling onto Suri's cheeks. Eyes that were filled with pain, sadness, and utter despair that took away from their beauty and made Suri sad. She was sad to see that look of pain in her girlfriend's eyes. Pain that she had caused.
With Suri's eyes open, Mina crouched in, sobbing as she pushed her forehead against Suri's, her hands cradling her head. The pinkette sobbed as she held the beast girl close and it was at that point that Suri realized Mina had her head laid in her lap. Suri forced herself to move, struggling to raise her left hand and find a loose grip on the back of Mina's neck. Then she forced herself to take a choking breath, trying to get more air than the shallow breathing had allowed her.
"H-Hey, b-babe," Suri said weakly.
"Oh goodie~ The fake queen is finally awake!"
Suri's eyes flung open wide and her stomach dropped as she heard that voice, the edge of laughter making her surge with fear. Forgetting about her injuries in that split second she jolted upwards, shivering with panic as she looked forward. For the first time since waking up she saw her surroundings outside of Mina's presence and found she was back inside the campus building where she had left the pinkette. Looking down the hallway she saw Vlad King slumped against the wall where it looked like he had been thrown through. He was being looked over by Pony and Tokage who were trying to wake him up and lift him to his feet.
At the end of the hallway, near the front door to the building stood the villainous woman grinning ear to ear. From here, in the light, Suri could finally see the woman completely with her pale white skin, her arms laced in intricate designed tattoos. The intricacy seemed off for her demeanor. The tattoos that actually fit her were the scribbled marks along the inside of her left forearm that looked like dozens of tally marks counting… something. Her thumbs were hooked along the hem of her dark khaki brown cut off pants which seemed like a mix between cargo shorts and harem pants in style. They were lined in black trim around the hemming and inseams but what struck Suri as interesting was the fact that, once again, she had a running theme of the playwright masks, each leg sporting a patch of one of them. It was like she was extremely coordinated and put together as far as image went but her personality was anything but that.
She pushed herself off of the door and ran her thumbs from the hem of her pants upwards along the black and white checkered suspenders that held them in place. The suspenders, like her hair, had random squares of pink and blue colored in instead of the prevailing white squares. Again, like she had gotten bored and decided to color on them. The motion of her hands drew attention to her exposed belly which was slim and tight and showed that she was incredibly lean and most likely not in a healthy way. Moreso it drew attention to the mass amount of scarring along her sides and abdomen that covered her sides in a series of spider web like markings. The markings themselves went upwards and disappeared into a cut off tank top that was tie dyed pink and blue some time ago but was now covered in old stains and a patch of blood that would surely create a new one.
She tilted her head as she took a step or two forward towards Suri, Mina, and the other students, watching the beast girl carefully like she had done something interesting. That look of interest fell and soon so did her smile as she stopped and looked completely bored, even disappointed in the sight she was seeing.
"C'mon kid, our fight ain't even done yet and you're gonna bitch out on me?" the woman asked, thumbing her suspenders until they snapped back into place against her. "Where's that fight I saw on TV and what I've heard so much about?"
"It's kinda rude to talk about people behind their backs," Suri groaned in pain as she watched the woman and struggled to get her feet beneath her. It didn't help that Mina was pushing down, trying to make Suri lay back down.
"Suri, no," Mina whined as she struggled against her girlfriend, her grip on Suri's shoulders tightening as she tried to apply more force.
Suri glared at the woman and then turned, giving the villain her back - which was a stupid move but she had to reassure the pinkette. She turned, kneeling to face Mina and leaned in, laying her forehead and against the acid user's, her hand, which had remained on the back of Mina's head gripping her curls tighter. They both closed their eyes at the forehead press and then opened them slowly to look at each other.
"I love you," Suri whispered gently before pulling away and stumbling as she finally stood up and faced the villain not far down the hall from her.
The villain grinned wide as she saw Suri's glare turn toward her. Grinned because everyone who had turned that glare of death towards her, intending to hurt her, always ended up a beautiful bloody pile. It was a glorious mess and now she was going to get to do that to Suri. Or she hoped at least. It made her begin giggling and cackling with excitement. The sound reverberated through the hallway, making everyone looking at her shiver with fear.
"Yes. Yes. Yes! Hehe Hehehe, finally you're gonna take me seriously~ Gods save the queen," she fake saluted Suri, with a mock serious tone and look before she completely broke down laughing. "I love how easy you are. A couple threats and poof, you're ready to kill. It's almost like you want to kill again!"
She faked a surprised gasp and covered her mouth like she was shocked. Her hands moved away a couple seconds later revealing a face that was about to break down laughing once again.
"Oops. I said that out loud, didn't I?"
Suri turned to look back at everyone in the hall and out of the near dozen people that stood there, only two people knew that fact. One was sympathetic, albeit mad at the villain for what she had told everyone, the other had a look that couldn't tell the two women apart. He looked at them like they were both evil. Everyone else looked the question at Suri, wanting to be told that the villain was lying. Her growing silence was leading to despair and furthered confusion in their glances. More and more of their glances turned from despair to the one that Iida had, not being able to tell the good monster from the bad monster.
Fuck it. No more secrets.
"You know, the laughing made me think you're just crazy but it's more than that. You're hyena, right? So what if I do kill you? You're Oba is going to do it anyway," Suri turned back and glared at the crazed woman.
"Yeah~ About that. She can't really take care of me or the monster I've become," she shrugged and happily swayed through the hallway. "Cause… well ya see... I've already killed the bitch and took her title as Oba. Just like the good ol days! Oh-ho-ho-ho you shoulda have seen the look on her face. You know the one! The 'oh no they're killing me? I didn't think they had it in them' look. I think it was the same one Hyrum Black gave you, right?"
The mention of Hyrum made Suri freeze. It made her force herself not to look back and see the faces looking at her. She didn't need to see that doubt or horror, she could feel it, smell it, radiating through the hallway. Instead she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists tight enough her skin began turning pale white.
"If you know the name, then you know the story. I'm not going to explain myself to you because you don't deserve that from me. Stop pretending like you know me or anything about me. I know what you're doing, and yeah, it's going to work. Hell, it's already working. You happy that you're turning my friends against me?"
"Then see," the woman chimed excitedly. "You wouldn't mind if I gut them all, now would you?"
"Actually, I would mind," Suri growled and began marching herself towards the villain. "So you're your own Oba, huh? Fine, let's make this an official clan fight."
"Oh goodie!" she jumped up and down clapping happily before coming to a stop, rolling her eyes to look up at Suri while she crouched into a pouncing stance. Her smile turned pure evil as she glared upwards at the beast girl marching towards her, like she could already taste Suri's blood in her throat.
"Suri, what are you talking about," Mina said with a worried tone, hurrying to catch up and grab Suri's arm to make her look back at her.
"It means I'm gonna take that title of Queen from her, Pinkie Pie~"
Suri snapped.
Because at that moment, the villain did something to egg Suri on and she took the bait hook, line, and sinker. The blue and pink haired woman wiggled her eyebrows at the pinkette while dragging a hand up and making a V shape with her middle and index fingers. Then she curled her tapered tongue between them in a suggestive manner. It wasn't the gesture itself that made her snap because she and Mina joked with that gesture all the time. It was the fact that it was this woman making the gesture at her mate.
Anger boiled and her rage pushed away every feeling of pain in her as that power and energy rose to dance along her skin. The electric wind was scorching hot and it pushed everyone in the hallway back, including Mina. For her efforts, she did try to withstand the metaphysical wave but in the end it hurt just to stand near Suri at that moment. With everyone back safely, Suri rolled from human into her beastwoman form almost instantly and was met with more than a few gasps of surprise from the audience. She ignored them as best as she could and instead put all of her focus on the villain in front of her who had done her own change. Her ears had lengthened into a canine-like shape, much like Suri's had. Her fangs had also lengthened into sharp points as well as her fingers, turning into clawed hands. Her legs had reshaped and buckled into digitigrade form covered in white and grey fur with black stripes around them.
In fact, much like Suri's, the short coat of bristled fur was light, sort of matching her natural skin color. And much like Suri, the energy that poured out from the woman and radiated around her was hot with rage and bloodlust. The heat from this woman's bloodlust alone turned the dial up to the point the heat wave around her was scalding. It felt as if, just the two of them standing there threatened to burn the building down with their auras alone.
Suri bolted with a blast of speed towards the villainess, doing her best to ignore the pain or the fact she wasn't as fast as she had planned. Her diminished speed didn't leave its normal after image but instead she just became a dark blur rushing down the hallway like a malevolent shadow. She wound up for a hard right punch and followed through, intending to drive her fist into the woman's face. Instead she found air. Then she felt herself being thrown again but this time instead of the long flights through trees, it was short, sweet, and into a concrete wall. She had a second of shell shock before she managed to grab the woman's arm after its second strike into her ribs. With one arm trapped under hers, she brought her feet up to launch herself from the hole in the concrete her body had made. Her right hand caught the woman's throat and she vault chokeslammed her into the opposite wall, creating an impact crater just as big as the one she had come from.
With the woman dazed for a split second, Suri wrapped her hands in the woman's hair and pulled it in a downward motion towards her and brought her knee up. She drove her knee into the woman's face with a hard, meaty smack. There was no cracking sound, which meant she hadn't broken any bones. She tried again. This time she brought her left knee up and drove it into the villainess' face, rewarding her with another loud smack and a faint cracking sound. Even though she was satisfied with the result, she had to keep her advantage - the first in the fight if you could call it that. So she, with her hands still wrapped in the woman's hair, threw her into the crater that Suri's body had made seconds before.
Suri panted and stood over the woman, glaring down at her. In response the woman cackled after she spit a wad of blood and thicker things to the side and got onto her hands and knees.
"Heh, hehehe, that's so much better!"
She looked up at Suri with a wide, crazed grin, blood masking her nose and mouth. She then dipped her eyebrows, going from that look of excitement to one of sadistic intent. Then she turned that grin down the hall towards the other teens. Towards Mina.
"In that case, maybe I'll save her~ I see why you think she's hot. Oh! And maybe I'll keep your ghosty girl around. Hehe I've always wondered what it'd be like to fuck one. And let's not forget! Maybe! Just maybe! I'll save Green Bean~ Mmm. I'm sure he'd love fucking a real woman."
Suri was seething.
She'd made another pass at Mina like it meant absolutely nothing. Then she had made a pass at Tooru. Two strikes. Then the fact that she had used Suri's nickname for Izuku was the final strike and the last straw. She went down on the woman, wrapping her right arm around the back of her neck and pulled her so that she was kneeling. With her forced onto her knees, Suri knelt behind her, pulling her with an arm around her neck towards her. She locked her into a hard sleeper hold, pressuring the villain's neck so that little by little, blood and air lost connection in the woman in front of her. She began squeezing harder when she saw from the corner of her eye that the woman grinned even wide.
She wasn't sure what she was grinning about until her eyes went forward down the hall.
Everyone.
Everyone's face looking at the two of them was a mask of horror and terror and the hallway was filled with the scent of fear. Fear that was aimed at both of them. Suri's rage almost completely subsided at their faces and the sense of horror she was getting from them but it was Mina that did her in. She lost her will when she saw Mina shaking, tears flowing down her cheeks with an outstretched hand like she was trying to stop the entire thing. Had she? Had she been calling out to Suri and had been blocked out?
Yeah. Probably.
Suri had been so focused on putting this villain down that she had ignored everything else around her. That included her girlfriend.
The black and amber eyes, filled with terror and shock, met her black and chartreuse ones and all of the anger and rage was sucked out of them. Now she was looking at the pinkette with eyes full of regret and sadness.
"Hehehe, see! Even one of the people you're so madly in love with is scared of you/ You see how silly your little dream is! There's no atoning for us, Suri, none. So just say fuck it! Let's go have fun and kill and fuck anyone we want! Hehehe isn't that what being a monster queen is all about? Hehe, seeing them all like this. Making them see what you really are? It was so much fun hehehe."
Suri's grip began to slip.
"Aww, look at the sad little puppy wuppy~"
The grinning woman turned her focus back towards the teens in the hallway, her expression turning from the wild grin to something more of a satisfied smile. The smile stretched into a smirk as she watched Mina more closely. Smirking because, like the beast girl that was supposed to be subduing her, there was so much conflict in her. It was a delight to watch.
It made her grin once again, when she found herself able to stand up without the slightest bit of resistance. Suri had lost her will and she was staring off into the distance, past Mina, past the other students, into nothing.
The scent of fear in the hallway spiked and it was enough to jolt Atiena awake. She looked around in a daze as she awoke in the shared mind forest and then looked up towards where that fear was coming from. From inside she could see what Suri saw but didn't want to see. She saw all of the teens standing there with looks of terror and horror, some of it pointed towards Suri. She saw Mina's face and her heart tightened into an aching throb. Mina was one she never expected to see that look of horror on and the fact that she did made her hurt. Then she watched the villain, the one that had caused her to pass out not long ago, stalking slowly towards her classmates. Atiena's own fear swelled as she felt Suri's body still and unable to move, not from energy, but because she couldn't do it. She felt the cold wind of depression and loneliness flow through their forest clearing and Atiena began swiping, doing what she could to fight it off.
"Suri," she called out. "Suri, get up!"
No answer. No movement.
"Suri! She's going to hurt Mina if we don't move!"
Suri's eyes slowly blinked and all of her energy washed away, leaving a completely human girl kneeling there in its wake. She felt numb, distant. And the only thing she could hear in her head was a nagging voice that scolded her with a series of I told you so's, berated her for how stupid she was and tried to convince her that she should have stayed in Salt Lake so she could have been executed for her crimes.
The voice was right.
"H-Hey. Hyena lady," Suri muttered pitifully.
It made the villain stop and turn backwards, standing halfway between Suri and Mina. The woman tilted her head curiously and watched the now human girl with a piqued interest.
"If you want someone to kill," Suri looked up to her with bleak eyes, tears beginning to form in the corners. "Just do me."
"But why," the villain smirked, dipping her head in an awkward motion to look at the girl.
"Because you've already done what you set out to do. Right?"
"Oh-ho-ho no~ Not even close, sweet little girl. You see," she squatted down in front of Suri with a grin. "This! This was just part of the fun! This is just amusement for muah," she snickered, pointing towards herself. "And you, girl, have been one of the best playthings I've found in a long time."
"She's not a plaything!"
Both Suri and the villain turned to look at who the voice came from and were surprised to see Mina standing there, fists balled and looking angry.
"Ah ah ah~ Are you sure about that?" The villain woman grinned and turned on her heels to full face Mina, finishing those three steps it took to get right in front of her. "You, sweetheart, are interesting. I think I am gonna keep you around after I kill everyone else."
"No."
"I think we'd have so much fun, don't you?"
"Don't touch her."
"But why not, Suri? Why shouldn't I?
"Because I said so."
"Nah~ That's not a good enough reason, right Pinky Pie?"
"I said don't touch her."
"Hehehe. Gimme a good reason why, Suri."
Suri watched the glimmer of claws in the light and without thinking, she moved, moved as fast as her body would take her and she pushed Mina backwards. In that blink of an eye it was Suri standing in Mina's place and seeing the utter joy in the villain's face as she swiped her left claws across Suri's body. The woman began howling in laughter as she began looking between her claws, and Suri. The claws were covered in a fresh coat of blood flesh, with bits of bloody skin and muscle hanging from them. Meanwhile Suri's body went cold and she began to sweat, like she had been dunked into an ice bath. Even more so because just like being dunked into a cold bath, breathing became harder, with shallow breaths that were hard to even take. She felt the first signs of choking as thick liquid began to pool in her throat, puddling in her windpipes.
Her head began to swim once again and she lost feeling in her legs which made her buckle and fall hard onto the floor. Her eyes sat wide open as she continued to watch the scene in a state of shock and she could faintly see blood beginning to pool around her.
"Gods, you've made this so much fun! But I'm afraid, I'm gonna have to wrap this up," the villainess laughed and then let out a happy sigh. "Don't worry though," her voice began trickling with a growl and dropped an octave. "I'll make eating you kiddies quick."
Suri felt a rush of wind fill the hallway, one that was full of hot skin prickling power. She watched the woman hold her arms out in that wind and saw her fingers dancing through the magic that mixed in with that flow of energy. That magic made Suri attempt to take a deep breath and try to breathe it in. She didn't know why but it had felt like the right thing to do. That breath of magic pulled her into the forest clearing inside her. She was still lying on the ground but instead of seeing the villain, she saw Atiena laying in front of her. Atiena was… crying.
"W-Where… w-where are we?"
It was Mina's voice. Suri hadn't even felt that the pinkette had been kneeling with and touching her when she breathed in the magic. She hadn't realized that that might drag her girlfriend into her inner sanctum. Was that even really possible?
"You're in my domain, Mina," Atiena said simply, trying to hide her emotions. "I think… I think I wanted to see you one last time."
"L-Last… y-you're…"
"She was going to kill you, babe. We couldn't let her do that," Suri said softly, finding it hard to talk or lift herself off the ground.
"N-No! You can't. You can't die!"
"I don't know what else to do, Mina," Atiena sighed. "I'm going to release you both. I need you to run. Take our friends and classmates and run as fast as you can before she finishes shifting. Please tell me you'll run and be safe."
"I-I can't. I'm not just gonna leave you!" Mina shouted, tears welling in her eyes.
"You have to," Atiena looked square into Mina's eyes and gave her the best smile a giant animal could have. "I love you, Mina. It was a pleasure knowing you."
"Atiena," Mina sniffled and then the forest clearing disappeared.
The forest gave way back to the hallway and she watched as the villain licked her lips and crumpled in on herself, feeling that first burst of lycanthropic energy pulse outward from her.
"No... Nonononono," she began frantically mumbling. She then looked down at Suri in her arms, seeing her eyes begin to glaze over and fade away. "Suri! No! No-"
Mina's mind raced as she thought about what Suri's beast had said, what she had just experienced, and flashed back through her entire relationship with the girl in her arms. She thought about all of the time they had spent together, the way they knew each other so well in and out, the way they had loved each other and made love. She remembered all of the good times she had had with Suri, the magic and awe she felt seeing Atiena for the first time the night before and how she didn't want to give that up. Then she remembered something else.
If Suri could shift right now? She'd be healed right? She'd be okay! But how? How could Suri shift into Atiena and take her beast form if she was like this? How could she have the power to do that? She needed to change. She needed to do it right now! Atiena needed to be…
Mina jerked around to look behind her and her eyes instantly met Koda's. He watched the villain with fearful eyes and was doing his best to help ease the other classmates around him backwards, inching towards the back exit. The pinkette thought of last night in the clearing above the camp and everything that Suri had tried to teach Koda, about his voice and how it affected her. About the how he had almost called Atiena back at school.
"Koda," Mina called out to the tall, shy teen. He looked at her with fearful eyes and then his expression dropped to grief as he saw Suri lying on the ground in a pool of blood. "Call her!"
Koda looked at Mina with confusion and fear as he tried to make sense of what she was trying to say. He then looked at the villain who was silently screaming with her back bowed harshly and began to panic.
"Koda," Mina called him again. "Remember the thing Suri taught you last night that you're not supposed to do?"
His focus went back to Mina when she mentioned the night before and he nodded in rapid vigor.
"Do the thing!"
Koda looked at Mina for a second, realized what she was asking, and then put up his hands defensively as he quickly and vigorously shook his head. He took a step back and it made Mina quickly get to her feet and storm towards him. She was panicking and nervous just as much as he was. There was a part of her that was screaming at her that she needed to do what Atiena had said and start running but there was another part that said no. That other part said that a hero wouldn't run, a hero wouldn't back down, a hero would try and save Suri's life.
"Koda, please!" She begged the tall boy and grabbed his arm to drag him towards Suri's body, both of them nearly freezing once they got to her and saw all of the blood. Mina quickly dropped to her knees and grabbed Suri's wrist, trying to calm herself as much as possible. She felt a pulse, one that was incredibly faint, but still there. It was fading fast though. "S-She's dying! K-Koda, she… s-she has to shift! I-If she shifts, she'll be fine right? I… I t-think that's what she said. Dammit! I dunno what to do! Suri… S-Suri… A-Atiena, baby, what do I do?"
Mina began sobbing, curling herself over Suri's body and going into a full breakdown, lost at everything. She couldn't bring herself to leave Suri's side even though they had told her to run and save herself. Mina wasn't strong enough to do that for them and she cursed herself for being weak. She buried her face into the crook of Suri's neck and sobbed, shaking from fear and despair because god she did not want to lose Suri. Not like this.
She felt tapping on her shoulder. One that was scared and panicky as the hand began tapping faster and faster. When Mina looked up, she caught sight of a giant furred beast in front of her at the end of the hall. She saw it and immediately thought of old monster movies with werewolves where they weren't giant animal forms, but somewhere between.
It stood on its hind legs, easily as tall as All Might with thin hips but massive, powerful thighs that led down into digitigrade legs and massive hind paws. The torso was a mass of muscle, again reminding her of All Might or the Nomu she'd seen at the USJ because of the size and width of it. For its effort, the woman's breasts had become tighter to her now wide, muscular chest and a thick scruff of fur hid anything from view. From there it was like looking at the head of a giant white and grey hyena with thick black fur around the end of its muzzle and around its eyes. The darkness around the woman's eyes became almost cavernous, like peering into a dark snow covered cave and seeing haunting bright pink and blue eyes staring out at you. The oddity of it all struck when looking at the beast's face still sporting the silver jewelry the woman had been covered in. Even the hyena's earlobes were stretched and still held the thick plugs pierced through where her earlobes had been. The oddity continued further as the thick mane that ran from the top of the beast's head and down her back was the same silver blue with bright pink splotches and streaks through it.
"K-Koda… C-Call her. Call her now!" Mina began shaking, tears beginning again as complete and utter fear hit her to the bone and she froze in place, unable to make a move. "A-Atiena. Come on, we need you. We need your help. A-Atiena. Atiena!"
Mina went from frantic to screaming. Tears were flowing in rivers down her cheeks and pouring onto Suri's body as she called out for the beast that she had come to know and love. She called out for the creature that she had anticipated would always be there to help. Now that she wasn't answering, Mina let fear overtake her and began crying out for help as the monstrous humanoid hyena began cackling and strolling slowly towards them.
On Koda's part he began backing away as the beast started coming towards them. Their classmates had already begun pushing back, heading for the rear exit as quickly as they could until there was only a handful of them left.
"W-What the hell is that thing?" Kirishima stuttered as he ran towards Mina and Koda. His eyes were full of fear and he couldn't decide which scared him more; the beast in front of them or the fact that Suri, one of his best friends was on the ground bleeding out. "I-Is she.."
"Koda! Call her! Call her now!" Mina screamed.
Koda squealed and balled his fists. He wanted to keep backing away, knew it was what he should do but he couldn't leave Mina behind. He didn't want to leave her behind but she wouldn't leave Suri's side. He groaned out his frustration and then let the fear he had been trying to push back fill him. Suri had said that fear was the trigger, fear was what was making her beast react to him. He had seen that beast in person and the fear had never been in him when they were face to face. She, Atiena, was a kind thing, a beast that he could call his friend.
A friend he could call.
"A-A…"
"Koda, please!"
"Atiena!"
The scream that Koda called out was filled with his Quirk at its fullest capacity. What he hadn't anticipated was the magic in the air, his Quirk combined with that wind and it all drew towards Suri's body.
The entire hallway went silent for a split second before a loud thump sounded like a war drum, two deafening hits that rumbled the entire structure. The thudding sent shockwaves of power that hit the villain wereanimal like a couple of hard tidalwaves, forcing her to stumble backwards. She snarled and filled the hallway with her own rage filled power that washed over everyone like a wind of fire. That fiery wind was met with a wall of warm electricity that broke through and pushed the werehyena back again. Everyone was startled when they saw Suri standing in the middle of the hallway, her eyes glowing with golden green fire as she glared with ferocity at the villain at the other end. What startled them even more was that, on second glance, it wasn't truly Suri who was standing there; she was older, and taller with a more muscular frame. Her braids now went to the small of her back and were braided in thicker, almost rope like strands that went from her natural raven color to a bright yellow green that matched her eyes.
She balled her fists, stepped forward and then stomped her right foot down which hit with the same thunderous war drum sound from a few seconds earlier. It created a wall of energy and power that danced along the skin of herself, Mina, Koda, and Kirishima like a summer breeze, but hit the werehyena like a brick wall. It made the beast in front of them stumble again and bark with a loud snarling snap to her voice.
"You should be dead!" She screamed with frustration.
"Yes. I should be. But I can be just as stubborn as someone who didn't listen to me when I said to run." Atiena, in full human form, turned her head and looked at Mina who was trying her best to recover from her crying and sobbing. She smiled softly at the pinkette who was rubbing her eyes and nose with her forearms. "Apparently, she's a bad influence on us."
Atiena then turned back towards the werehyena and snarled at her.
"Your biggest mistake was taking her as a fool and thinking her only value was as a mate. You also made a crucial mistake of not ending me when you had the chance. Sorry to ruin your fun, hyena, but you fucked with the wrong group of students."
"Don't worry, I can still kill you and the pink slut," the werehyena snapped. "I'll enjoy tearing you limb from limb!"
Atiena let a rumbling growl rise through her throat as she listened to the villain.
"Her name is Mina Ashido, soon to be pro hero Queen, and our Alien Queen. You will respect her name, goddamn you. And me," Atiena's voice became doubled, even tripled as Suri's voice came back to the mix while Atiena's sunk lower into a throaty monstrous growl. "We are Suri Kuroyashi. Soon to be pro hero Wild Eyes. Daughter of Alpha, Ulfric of the Aspen Throne Clan, granddaughter of Lady Whiplash, Hyo-Ra of the Black Pool Clan. We are Lupra of this clan, Class 1-A. Our pack! And you, villain, have fucked with the wrong wolpard!"
She called into her power then. With a massive boom that ripped through the hallway like a mix between a wolven howl and a leopard scream. That scream gave way to a flow of fur that poured from Atiena's body, coating her in that rich black, brown, tan, and grey fur that she had in her animal form. Her body, as she stepped forward, expanded, muscle and bone reforming as she doubled in size, growing to nearly eight feet in height. Her torso bulked into a mass reminiscent of All Might as well with the muscles in her chest, back, and arms becoming massive. She too took on the classic werewolf appearance that the villain had, only she was slightly larger and had all of the mixed features she did in full animal form.
Her hips, in this form, were slender before leading into powerful thighs, wolven legs, and then finally massive paws the size of a person's chest. The dark fur on the sides of her hips sported a large patch of dark grey leopard spots being the most visible they'd been in any of her forms. Her front carried the tone of her usual underbelly fur, which was a cream color, that went from the underside of her chin, along her chest and abdomen and then down her inner thighs where it finally stopped at her knees. In this form, like the villain, only thick tufts of fur covered her most intimate parts and saved her dignity. And similar to the villain, her hair remained almost true to her human self where the thick mane from the top of her head down the back of her neck kept the thick braids of her hair, creating a series of braided ropes that faded from black to chartreuse down her back. The braids went to the small of her back where then the attention was drawn to the long slender tail protruding from just below that spot. Much like in her human form it was long, slender, and powerful like that of a cat but covered in a thick, shaggy fur reminiscent of a wolf
Atiena, in beast form, snarled and glared down at her opponent. She slapped the ground in front of her and crouched down into a pouncing position, readying to attack whenever someone made the first move.
"S-Suri?"
The beast turned its head to look over its shoulder to see Kirishima standing there in awe, he had watched the whole thing and looking back further, it appeared he wasn't the only one. She sighed from the amount of people that now knew a truth about her that she hadn't been ready to completely share yet. Knowing there was no going back now, she simply nodded and turned her attention back towards the villainous beast at the other end of the hall.
"Kiri," she said, her voice full of a raspy growl. "Take Mina and everyone else out the back and try to hide the best you can."
"Are you sure? Mandalay said we could fight back, can't we help you?" Kirishima asked and from the look in Mina's eyes, she was wondering the same thing.
"No," she replied, shaking her head. "This is on me. I have to be the one to fight her."
"But Suri we-"
Mina had tried to fight Suri's wishes but stopped mid sentence when she met the beast's eyes. They gave the girl a look of worry but also held firm to the answer she'd already given.
"I need you to be safe. Find our Tooru and make sure she's safe. This fight is going to be meaningless if you two, Izuku, and all of our friends don't make it out alive."
Mina stared up at the beast and nodded before quickly jumping forward and laying her cheek into the thick fur of Suri and Atiena's back. It was a quick embrace but she did as she was asked and began backing away with Kirishima and Koda before joining the others. Before they left the building they'd see Atiena rush forward, galloping on all fours, in a whir of speed and hit the werehyena with a massive right hook. The impact, and the subsequent flying werehyena, tore the front of the campus away completely.
The villain had cackled as she watched Atiena rush her and did nothing to stop the oncoming blow. Instead she took it and was sent airborne through the front door of the campus with enough power that it tore the frame and the concrete around it away from the building. She rolled backwards after hitting the ground of the clearing in front of the building and laughed as she got back to her feet.
"Well, well, ain't this a surprise," she chuckled in a thick, throaty growl before jumping forward and coming to grapple with Atiena. "Here I thought you could only go beastwoman or full animal. Guess I need to kill my intel person, hehehe."
"You're not killing anyone else," Atiena roared and, with her hands being tied up with the villain's, leapt upward, pulling her knees to her chest before kicking them outward.
The motion planted two massive foot paws into the villain's chest and sent her careening again, this time skidding and bouncing along the ground from the powerful kick. The werehyena rolled out of the crashing motion she had been sent on and bolted forward in the same movement Atiena had done a moment prior. What was going to be a massive right hook was parried by Atiena but the forward momentum meant that the other beast kept coming, The hyena tucked her shoulder and drove it home into Atiena's chin, rocking her with a hard tackle that sent her to the ground backwards. Atiena then had to quickly roll out of the way several times as the hyena came down with a series of hard axe hammers, pummeling the ground with each hit with enough power that they created craters.
Atiena rolled to avoid at least five of those thunderous hits but stayed for the last one and caught both of the hyena's hands and pulled them to her chest where she held them there tight. With the other beast jerked forward, Atiena rolled her hips and brought her legs up, wrapping her thighs around either side of the hyena's neck and then flexed. She put the other woman into an armbar submission hold, leaving her overextended and put the hyena's air and blood flow in Suri's hands. She locked her legs behind the woman's neck and tightened her grip, trying to cut off her breathing. The hyena growled and snapped at Atiena, trying to get in close enough to sink teeth into the wolpard but Atiena had the hold strong enough that she couldn't reach.
The hyena, seeing that her bites were doing no good, growled again and moved to square her legs and plant her feet to the ground. Her core rippled as she put all of her strength into them, lifting the massive wereanimal that had her held in place. She lifted the other giant creature upwards until she sat on her shoulders and then dropped her, slamming Atiena's back into the ground. Atiena snarled and kept her grip, hissing from the impact. Seeing that the wolpard wouldn't let go, the hyena woman repeated the motion, lifting Atiena above her and then made her slam into the ground a second time. This time Atiena's grip shifted but she held on tight, squeezing her thighs to try and choke the hyena woman into submission faster.
With Atiena up on her shoulders, the wolpard let go of her grip and this time grabbed the hyena woman's mane. She pulled her hair forcefully as she drove hard right fists into the other woman's skull with enough force that it snapped her head to the side with each blow. She also rocked her body forward, trying to take the woman off balance to ride her to the ground. She had almost succeeded until the hyena screamed in anger, grabbed Atiena's hips, and powerbombed the wolpard into the ground for the third time. Atiena cried out as her back smacked into the ground, creating a crater that was almost as deep as she was tall.
Atiena tried catching her breath only to find a massive hand around her throat, forcing her back into the ground as a series of hard right punches now drove into her. Each hard right fist from the hyena woman made her head spin and her ears ring, barely able to make out the woman on top of her. With her pinned down, Atiena went to the one ability she had left and let her power and energy swell, prickling and dancing through her fur before she released it in a loud concussive wave. It sent the other woman tumbling backwards off of her and panting as she tried getting to her feet almost immediately.
Both of them struggled.
Atiena pulled herself from the makeshift grave the woman was trying to bury her in and watched as the hyena woman stumbled back onto her feet. She laid her head back and took in a massive breath of the night air before looking back down at Atiena. Both women dragged their forearms across their mouths to wipe away the blood they'd drawn from each other. The hyena let a wide, fang filled grin curl on her lips, only being more sinister than ever in this form and then began to chuckle and cackle.
"Finally! A worthy opponent," she sighed with delight. "Though, I gotta say it took way too much effort to get you to take me seriously."
Atiena said nothing as she got to her feet and clenched her firsts, readying to strike the hyena woman again. She dug into her power, drawing out her speed and began running as fast as she could, the heavy padding and speed creating a soft rumble throughout the entire clearing. Atiena ran fast enough in the star-like pattern her grandmother had taught her to the point that the after images surrounded the hyena woman. She had surrounded the villain with what looked like ten Atienas, each glaring death into the villain's eyes.
It was the same move she and Yukari had done on the Nomu in Hosu City.
"Ooo~ I like this trick of yours," the hyena woman laughed and watched all of the after images that shimmered in the moonlight. "Now~ Which one of you i- Ow!"
The hyena woman stumbled forward, blood blossoming along her left shoulder and chest. She snarled and snapped her teeth at the multiple Atienas as her anger flared and made the cool night air hot with rage. She hissed as was about to snap at one of the images when she got rocked backwards, this time a similar blow hitting her right side and covering that arm and side of her chest in crimson. She flung herself around to try and snap again only to be struck in the back, the left side of her back blooming with blood from the quick slices of Atiena's claws. Once she was hit with another strike to the back, the hyena woman screamed her frustration and began striking wildly into the air with her claws.
Atiena rushed, trying to strike the villain several more times until she was caught off guard and ran headlong into a strike of claws. She was hit hard enough that it took her off her feet because the motion had hit her like a clothesline, knocking her onto her back and she hissed as blood blossomed over her chest. Atiena had little chance to recover as she saw the hyena woman rushing down at her, going for the throat again. Her hands gripped at the hyena woman's jaw, one hand holding onto the upper half, the other holding the lower trying to keep her mouth forced open. She growled with a deep bellowing rumble as she watched the villain woman trying to snap and bite at her wildly from above. Atiena pushed, trying to get the other beast off of her but soon found resistance as both of the woman's hands came down on Atiena, wrapping tight around her throat.
She was struggling, not only to keep the woman from quite literally biting her face off but struggling to breathe as well. Her heartbeat thudded in her ear like a drum as the grip around her neck grew tighter and tighter. She growled out and rolled her hips upwards underneath the woman above her, pushing her massive wolven hindpaws into her stomach and kicked harshly. The motion not only drove into her but forced claws into her flesh as well, ripping at the hyena woman's abdomen as she was kicked head over heels.
Atiena rolled from her back onto her hands and knees and gave rage filled eyes to the werehyena who gave her cold, sadistic eyes and then began cackling in that low throaty tone. She crawled on her hands and knees in a sideways motion as she began circling around Atiena, stalking her like a predator and its prey. Atiena let a rumbling growl fill her, bellowing from her chest before it came out in a thundering roar. She slapped the ground in front of her with her big clawed hands and then rushed forward, charging the hyena.
They met each other with a loud crash as they hit each other at the same time, wind whipping violently as they began pummeling each other with matched strikes. Atiena would hit the hyena with a hard right and the villain would do the same, matching blow for blow, and power for power. They were beating each other bloody before Atiena caught the woman, grabbing both of the hyena woman's fists, rolling her neck back and then coming down hard, smashing her skull against the villainess' own. It made the hyena woman relent as she stumbled backwards, clutching the end of her snout where Atiena had headbutted with all of her might. Atiena was about to axehammer slam her fists into the hyena woman's head when she felt another massive paw grab her arm. She looked over in surprise and found another werehyena standing there.
There were two of them?!
The second hyena growled and their grip tightened before they threw Atiena, sending her airborne back towards the campus building which she met with a hard, thundering crash.
Trees were more forgiving than concrete and steel.
Atiena groaned and hissed as she slowly pulled herself out of the wreckage. She had gone through the outside wall, a mechanical room, and then through a second concrete wall into the classroom that had been next door to the remedial class. With the walls came the ceiling and roof so Atiena was pulling herself out of a pile of rubble the size of two separate rooms. When she looked up she found that the werehyena that had thrown her was carrying a body over its shoulder and Atiena's eyes went wide when she realized who it was.
"Gemini," the new werehyena said in a deep, throaty growl of a voice. "The mission is complete. We're leaving."
The woman, Gemini, snapped towards Atiena's direction and then turned and began growling, the rumbling from it filling the entire area around them. The growl turned to a snarl as she glared viciously at the other werehyena.
"Domino," she snapped. "What in the fucking hell did you do to Ragdoll?"
"She fought ba-"
"The boss said to bring them in alive you fucking dipshit!" she screamed and grabbed at his throat with all of her rage boiling up and turning the clearing into a sweltering hotbed.
"She is!"
"Barely," Gemini growled and pushed him back from her by his throat. "Fine, I'll finish up here and then we can leave."
"Sister," the male hyena growled low in a warning tone. It was a tone that siblings give when they've put up with their younger sister and her antics for as long as they possibly could stomach. It was the tone that said if you don't knock it off, I'm telling mom and dad. Like they were at their wits end with you. Suri knew the tone well.
"We need t-"
Whatever he was going to say next never came. The sweltering rage popped like a bubble and Gemini snapped, turning her attention to the other werehyena and punched him. Her claws ripped through him and the punch tore into his chest. Blood began sputtering and pouring from the wound as he looked down and saw her arm going through him completely. He looked back up, blood beginning to pour from his mouth as he began coughing and sputtering and his eyes were filled with a mix of anger and utter betrayal.
He dropped to his knees and went limp, his hyena form beginning to recede rapidly as he fell to the ground and could no longer hold Ragdoll's body. She fell to the ground beside him and it became clear that during her fight with him, she'd sacrificed her left arm. It was gone from the elbow, a bloody stump that had been tied off with a shirt that was now soaked in blood. What was once a massive, black and grey furred hyena was now a man lying naked and bleeding out face down in the dirt. It could have been guessed that his name had been Domino because of his hair, which was split like Todoroki's only black instead of red. He lay there wheezing and gasping, his breathing filling with a gurgling sound as he choked out his last breath. He went completely silent in the spreading pool of blood and innards shifted, spilling into the hole that Gemini had left in him. She had punched into his ribcage, through his heart and one of his lungs, and then out the other side, leaving his flesh and muscle ripped and tattered.
Gemini just laughed at it all.
She laughed and brought up her arm before that massive, powerful tongue of hers extended outwards and licked up the blood and bits of flesh and gore. She was happy about what she'd just done.
Atiena roared as rushed forward to meet Gemini. The werehyena snapped and the two collided with a loud thunderous crash as they went end over end. Atiena ended up on top of Gemini after rolling several yards on the ground and Atiena quickly took the upper hand by grabbing the other woman's mane with her left hand and began bashing her across her face with her right. The werehyena began bleeding from wounds across her face as Atiena's large fist busted her lips, nose, and gashed her cheek open. The woman laughed even more hysterically as she was being wailed into and beaten to a pulp.
"How?" Atiena roared. "How could you do that so easily?! To your own brother?"
Atiena panted and heaved, her breaths coming out with a growling tone that seemed to reverberate from inside her chest. She glared down at the villainous woman below her with eyes that were alight with a golden green glow of hellfire. Anyone else, it would strike fear into them, but her… she found it amusing. Gemini simply snickered and laughed, humming in between each breath as she looked up at the hero beating her bloody. It was hilarious.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho you are something special, you know that? Like, do you know how ironic that is coming from you?" Her voice was so delighted and held a song in it that gave the impression that at any moment she could burst out with a hearty laugh. "Murderer~"
"I'm nothing like you!" Atiena snarled.
"Oh please~ Hehe hehehe," Gemini snickered and then gave the beast woman above her a sinister grin that was all the more menacing on her hyena face. "Just because you've only got one body on your list compared to me? Just wait, baby doll, one of these days it'll come so easy to you and you'll love it!"
"I won't!" Atiena growled again.
"Never say never~"
Atiena gritted her teeth, pursing her cat like lips as her anger boiled, her power prickling off of every hair on her body. She knew Gemini was egging her own, toying with her, and it made her mad that she was even falling for the bait. She should have been able to fight off the teasing, even a tiny bit but something about this woman made it next to impossible. She clenched her eyes shut and shook her head, trying to shake off the anger and clear her head. The action was stupid because she fell into the trap head first. Gemini arched her back, pushing Atiena upwards so that her hips, where she straddled the villain's stomach, slid downwards toward Gemini's hips. It gave the hyena woman the most opportunity and leverage for movement as Atiena tried to regain her position of power and missed the motion of her arms.
Atiena screamed in pain as claws jammed into her sides, piercing the heavily furred flesh with short spurts of blood as they pressed past muscle tissue and into her ribs. The wolpard's back arched and the motion was the only thing that saved her from one of the razor sharp claws piercing a lung or worse. Her big hands moved from the woman's hair to grabbing her wrists, trying to push her back so she didn't penetrate further. With her focus solely on trying to stop the other woman from ripping into her ribcage, she was taken off balance and crashed onto her back into the dirt.
Hard.
It was Gemini's turn to be in control as she quickly straddled Atiena and pinned her down. Atiena managed to push hard enough that Gemini's claws retreated out of her sides but was overpowered in the next breath as she put all weight in pinning the younger woman to the ground. One hand dug into Atiena's hair, grabbing a handful of her braids and jerking them painfully upwards while the other clawed hand grabbed at her collar bone where it met the shoulder. Her grip made Atiena snarl and hiss in pain and all but ignore what the motion had done to her; it exposed her neck.
With a cackling snarl, Gemini leaned forward, mouth wide with all of her sharp fangs and teeth exposed. They were perfect for ripping things apart and eviscerating prey. They were also perfect for taking a chunk out of someone, including another wereanimal. She dove into Atiena, wrapping her jaw over her neck, pushing her teeth into the thick muscular tissue that offered a last line of defense. It wasn't enough and Atiena gasped in pain as blood began to flow, pouring into Gemini's waiting mouth.
"Get off of her, now!"
That shrieking voice made Gemini pause and her eyes rolled up to see where it had come from. Atiena's eyes shot open wide because she knew that voice and she did not want that person to be anywhere near here. She began writhing and snarling underneath Gemini who just forced down harder, trapping Atiena even more.
"Tooru! Run!"
Atiena screamed as loud as she could with a bellowing roar that pushed Gemini off of her a fraction. She tried to capitalize on it and then screamed again. This time she screamed in pain again because Gemini forced her down and this time came with a cracking sound from her right shoulder and a straining sound from her skull. The werehyena had cracked her shoulder and was practically scalping her before the villain dug in again and bit into Atiena's neck, growling happily as the wolpard's blood was drunk down even more.
"Stop!"
Tooru screamed again and Atiena heard the footsteps coming. The invisible girl was running towards them and she knew that the werehyena's attention was turned on the girl again. Atiena struggled but was losing strength by the second because the werehyena was bleeding her again, she was draining her. She then heard the sound of feet skidding and Tooru letting out her own growl of scream.
"Say cheese!"
Then came a popping sound. Like the sound of a flash bulb from a vintage film camera.
Gemini rose up screaming, she was thrashing wildly above Atiena. The wolpard looked up through strained eyes and saw the woman with one arm over her eyes and the other swiping her claws in every direction.
What happened? What had made her blind?
Gemini snarled as she blinked rapidly, trying to flush her eyes so that they could refocus. She stood off of Atiena and began stalking forward towards where Atiena had heard Tooru. She was rumbling with the growl, her face covered in Atiena's blood as she glared down at Tooru and stalked towards her. Then, just as she was about to attack, Gemini screamed in pain again. She howled in agony and reached for her back, patting and swiping at her mane and the fur of her back. The sound of sizzling was prominent under the screams and cries and then Atiena smelled it; the scent of burning flesh and fur. It was a rancid smell that made her wince and nearly vomit but she swallowed as much as she could and rolled to her side to see what was happening around her. It didn't take long to figure it out because soon both Mina and Tooru were at her side.
"I," Atiena grunted as she crawled onto her hands and knees and struggled to get back onto her feet. "I told you to run. You were supposed to find Tooru and then you both were supposed to get the fuck out of here."
"W-We couldn't leave you," Tooru said, and it was a voice that was full of so many different emotions that she couldn't tell what the invisible girl was feeling.
"I never got to say I love you," Mina said softly, fists balled at her side as she stared forward. She was intently watching the hyena woman she had just bathed in some of the most corrosive acid she could conjure.
"You!"
The hyena woman snarled and turned rage filled eyes towards the three women. She was seething, chest heaving heavily as she stewed in her building rage that dared to set the entire forest on fire with the amount of heat it carried,
"I'm gonna fucking kill yo-ah!"
She had begun to charge forward when a black mass spread wide behind her in a swirling vortex of mist and fog. The three girls stopped in their tracks and stared wide eyed as the villain Kurogiri made his presence known. His amber eyes, which were already narrow slits, narrowed even more at the sight in front of him. The darkness extended and engulfed Gemini, pulling the hyena woman into the abyss kicking and screaming. Kurogiri pulled her mouth into the darkness so that she couldn't scream and yell in a tirade of fury any longer and then just like that he began to shrink back into himself.
The three girls stared in shock as Kurogiri appeared, stole Gemini away, and then disappeared into the night. Gone as quick as they had come.
"Ragdoll!" Atiena coughed out and rushed to where she should have been but all that was left was a small puddle of blood. The body that had been next to her, Domino, had been left. The words left for dead seemed far too ironic because he had died minutes ago and was already getting cold. "She's…"
Atiena's vision clouded and she began stumbling and swaying in her movements. She heard her girlfriends call out to her but they sounded distant, tinny, and not all there. Then she felt the ground underneath her, hard and unforgiving, and cold. That bitter cold swept over her body and sucked her into her own darkness that was rapidly swallowing her whole. She couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't do anything. On top of that her eyes became heavy, like they were weighted down with bricks which made it all the more impossible to fight off. She brought her hands up because they felt weightless and vibrated with the feel of millions of pins and needles on her skin.
Skin.
She watched the fur and muscle receding from her, leaving the dark copper tone of Suri's skin behind. The darkness was taking Atiena, leaving Suri's human form behind. There was no way of knowing if that darkness would let Atiena remain in Suri but she had little choice and no energy to fight it off any longer.
She fell into that darkness.
She fell because sleep sounded like such a great idea.
And just like that, unconsciousness took her once again.
The last thing she saw was Mina and Tooru in front of her screaming and crying from inches away. Why were they sad? She hadn't scared them had she? Probably.
No, there was something else that she hadn't done. She forgot to tell them that she loved them. Anyone would be sad about that right? No matter, she'd tell them when she woke up.
If she woke up.