I don't want to live anymore if it means being trapped here.

It hurt hearing Naoko say that, hearing myself say that. I want to help her, help myself, out of this situation. But what can I do against All For One and Shigaraki?

"Naoko, I want food," Shigaraki grumbles, hunched over a game in his hands. "We got guests coming over too, so we need to get everything ready."

I wish I could poison your food.

By noon the people Giran had thrown together start to file into the bar. There's a mix that makes no sense and they're all small time criminals that I remember Reina going after a lot. They're all loud and trying to fight each other over where to sit like it matters.

"Naoko, make them shut up."

"Yes, Tomura."

I walk around the bar, tugging at the edges of my gloves to make sure they're properly in place. My feet head towards the rowdiest of the groups, two of the bigger time low level villains who are locked in a wrestling match on the floor. I hear the tables and chairs scraping the floor as they roll around on the wood. A few of the others part so that they wouldn't be in my way as I slide a knife out of the little belt around my thigh.

"You are guests in our abode," I remark, my voice empty and loud to get their attention. "If you do not behave yourselves as civilized people, I shall be forced to put you down like the animals you are instead."

The wrestling stops, both of them looking up at me with wide eyes. Their gazes switch between the knife held loosely in my hand and the way I'm staring at them so passively. Slowly they break up their scuffle and get to their feet, a bruise ringing one's eye and the other with a bleeding lip. The one with the black eye glares at me, obviously thinking of different ways to incapacitate me. I can feel his murderous intent and anger from here, swirling and grungy just like he is.

"Like we'll listen to some kid bitch who doesn't know her place," he grunts at me, his words almost scathing. He spits at my feet and I stare down at the blob of saliva next to the toes of my platform boots. "We're here to kill All Might, not to be lectured by some little cunt-"

His next words are strangled whimpers as I dash forward, grabbing his wrist and twisting his arm. He howls as I force him to the ground, driving my knife into his shoulder joint until I feel the metal grind against bone. Tears and snot are running down his face as blood starts to blossom across his dirty wife beater. I lean forward, putting my weight on the knife so that it digs even further into the bone.

"You will watch your tone when you are speaking in front of Master Tomura," I whisper in his ear, my voice unsettlingly calm. "You are disrespecting him and the Master when you use foul language. You will be taught manners."

"N-no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say-"

He howls in pain as I pull the knife out, blood squirting in a small arc and splashing on the floor to create a small puddle. I grab a handful of his greasy hair, yanking his head back as I press my knee on his injured arm to keep him from twisting. I study his face for a moment before looking at one of the onlookers in front of me. I point at them with my knife, ready to beckon them forward.

"Naoko, that's enough," the static voice remarks, humor in his words. "Return to your station."

"Yes Master."

I stand up off the rude villain, walking around to the bar again and using a clean damp cloth to wipe my knife before replacing it in the holster. I take my now stained gloves off, placing them on the edge of the bar as Shigaraki starts to address them. Traces of blood seeped into the lines on my palms, drying and starting to crust already.

And yet I feel nothing.

I was so close to mutilating a man, all for insulting me. Not even anyone else. What am I in this timeline, besides a pawn? A puppet with her strings wound so tight that breathing is barely allowed?

Naoko is innocent in this. She's a baby, a child who has had her childhood taken from her and locked away. All for a man who doesn't give two shits about anything but his own gains, about destroying this world that could've given her a chance.

I'll save her. I have to. She has done nothing to deserve any of this.

The meeting goes by so quickly. I can't process it. They make a plan to meet in a few days then find a way into UA. Just like the night before, Shigaraki goes to bed. The lights dim. The TV for All For One goes off, and it's silent. Painfully silent. I don't like this silence. It's not peaceful.

My body doesn't respond to me. My brain is groggy, but I have some level of consciousness. That much is obvious. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to have my thoughts or be able to communicate with Naoko, if she wants to anyway. I can at the bare minimum start thinking of ways to escape, to give Naoko the life she deserves.

If this is the events I'm thinking of, then this is right before the attack on the USJ where Mr. Aizawa got beaten so horribly. I'm going with them, so that means there's a chance for me to break through and ask them for help, for me to get Aizawa's attention and get him to use his quirk on me.

If this is a quirk that's hypnotized Naoko, then he would be able to nullify it. I just need one moment of clarity to break free, then I could get away from everything. I could save Naoko. They can save Naoko. I just have to hold on until then, until we get to UA and can get the help we need.

My eyes close and when they open again, I'm in the room with Naoko. She's drawing again, this time humming quietly. I walk over to her and sit next to her, placing my hand on her shoulder.

"Are you going to help me?" she asks, her voice monotone. She looks up at me, her eyes dim.

"I just need you to hold on a little longer, okay?" I tell her gently. "There's people at UA that can help us, help you. Once we get there, then we can get their help and escape."

"But Master won't let us," she protests.

"Master won't have a choice in the matter, Naoko," I reply, shaking my head as I turn her towards me and grip both of her shoulders. "This is our choice, our freedom at stake. You deserve to be free, to make your own decisions. You haven't done anything wrong."

"They made us hurt people."

"That's not your fault, Naoko. Whatever he did to you, to us, that's what caused it. Not you. You're innocent. You're…you deserve to have your life back."

"What if the life outside is worse than this now? What if they don't think the way we do? What if they lock us away for the things All For One made us do? I don't want that, I don't want to trade one prison for another. Please, Mariko, please. I'm scared. I don't want to leave, I'm scared. I'm scared-"

I hug her tightly, her words devolving into wailing sobs. She grips the back of my shirt, her hands so small and her fear so large. It's suffocating, painful. My heart is breaking, screaming for some kind of justice to be served. She doesn't deserve to be in this much pain, harbor this much fear.

I'll make sure she never has to again.