Chapter Forty-Eight
~Kai's POV~
The moment the car rolled up to the front gate Kai was tense. His instincts were screaming at him to be careful, to tread lightly. He looked and saw that Claude and Jean Von were the same way.
"Status?" Claude murmured. Jean Von's eyes were glimmering with a greenish-yellow light.
"Staffs all down. The guests are also down. Miss Shina's on the third floor, she's down. Yoshi is up, he's in the panic room in Miss Shina's bedroom."
"Any obstacles?" Kai asked, noting that Jean Von's Louisianan accent was gone. Guess even that was a cover.
"Two…no three. Two males and a female. Female's with Miss Shina. Males are downstairs, roaming around. Looks like they're looking for something."
"We can take them." Kai stated, ready to in. Jean Von frowned at him, shaking his head.
"No, they took down all of our staff." Claude spoke calmly, clearly. "Even the villains we are hosting were taken down. These people are not to be underestimated." Kai bit his tongue as he knew that this made sense. He glanced down at Kira who didn't so much as twitch before he begrudgingly nodded.
"Plan?"
"Call in Kana and Yuto. We should get our friends out first." Claude stated.
"Start from the bottom and work our way up." Jean Von spoke. "Get Yoshi out first and use his quirk to help make diversions to get them alone." Kai pulled out his phone and dialed Kana. The phone rang once before she answered.
'Hello?' Kana answered quickly.
"Hey, we need you and Yuto to assist." Kai spoke, not bothering with any pleasantries. There wasn't time in his opinion for that politeness crap right now.
'Oh okay. Now?'
"Yes now!" Kai snapped, offended that Kana would think this was something that could be held off. "We need you to meet us at the main gate."
'Okay, what about the furry?'
"We don't need the furry. Just you and Yuto." Kai spoke firmly.
'Okay. I understand.' Kana stated before Kai hung up the phone.
"She's coming." He reported. Jean Von and Claude nodded before they got out of the car. Kai glanced at Kira before he laid her on the back seat and got out of the car as well. "What if they get caught or seen before they finish?"
"They won't be able to get everyone." Jean Von stated as his eyes kept looking over the mansion. "They need to get the people on the stairs and in the way before we go in. Most likely they'll need to work around us."
"You sure you fossils can keep up?" Kai asked, glancing at the two older men. Claude was in his sixties he knew and Jean Von was late 40's. Claude spoke, not even looking at him.
"We realize you kids are younger. However, we have something you don't and that is experience. So do shut up and let us 'fossils' show you how it's done properly." Kai held up his hands, backing down.
They waited five minutes before Kana and Yuto arrived by Kana's portal. By this time, Kai had talked himself down from flying solo and taking care of the three people inside by himself three times
"Sorry, Yuto was with some friends." Kana apologized as she and Yuto came through.
"Wasn't easy leaving without James either." Yuto stated simply. "Furry wanted to come."
"Yeah you're gonna have to make it up to him later." Kana said to Kai. Kai just nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, lets just get this over and done with now. We got a woman and two males. Woman's upstairs on the third floor with Shina. Males are downstairs. Yoshi's in the panic room in Shina's room, need to get him out Kana."
"He's okay?" Yuto asked, perking up. Kai deadpanned and Kana nodded before she opened a portal. Shina's closet was seen before the portal seemingly glitched and then showed the panic room where Yoshi was sitting. Yoshi flinched when the portal got bigger. "Yoshi! Come on!"
"Yuto?"
"Yes now hurry up!" Kai snapped. Yoshi quickly got to his feet and stumbled through the portal. Yuto grabbed him and checked him out as Kana closed the portal.
"Excellent, now listen up children." Claude ordered as he took point. Kai straightened his spine and listened to Claude's next words. "Kana, Yuto, we are going to need you two to go in and pick up our friends and associates and take them to the front gardens. The sprinklers should have already gone off there and they'll be out of range of any retaliation. The woman is with Shina currently but Yoshi, I want you to make a diversion. They should be aware of you in the house, or at least someone and if you make some kind of technological diversion, the woman may go investigate, making it easy for Kana to get Shina and her burned friend." That was good, a plan was coming together in Kai's mind.
"I can't." Yoshi spoke up.
"What?" Kai snapped as his planning faltered.
"I can't." Yoshi repeated. "They have something interfering with technology. They took out the cameras around the mansion and even inside. It's why I couldn't hack into anything."
"Well, that makes things more difficult." Jean Von sighed. "We can't use our earpiece to stay in communication then.
"Alright, then I suppose we do this old school." Claude stated, undeterred. "Kana, I need you to drop Yoshi on the third floor. Yoshi, you will have to be bait."
"WHAT?" Kai swatted his shoulder.
"Man up nerd. We have people to save." Yoshi rubbed his shoulder as Claude clicked his tongue.
"Quite. In any case, if you get caught know that we will find a way to get you back as soon as possible Yoshi." Claude spoke.
"I won't leave you there dude." Yuto promised.
"Thanks." Yoshi whimpered. His normally dark skin looked paler than usual but Kai honestly didn't care at the moment.
"So while Yoshi's distracting the woman I grab Shina and Dabi okay. Anyone else?" Kana asked.
"Your crusty employer is on the stairs between the second and third floor. Get him as well. We don't need anyone on those stairs if things get hairy, which, let's plan on that happening instead of avoiding it." Jean Von spoke. They nodded.
"Make sure you get everyone off the stairs. Kai, Jean Von and I shall enter the house from the underground garage and housing units. Kana and Yuto once you have moved everyone, I suggest you try and handle the woman. She shouldn't be too hard for you I believe." Claude spoke.
"Great so everyone understands what the plan is?" Kai asked, impatient and itching to get moving. The sooner they completed this, the sooner he could get Kira awake and tease her about dropping her guard. Everyone nodded and Kana and Yoshi left.
Kai moved in the shadows, silently avoiding any noises as he made his way towards the mansion. Claude and Jean Von were ahead of him, moving just as quickly. They entered the underground floor by the escape hatch near the apple trees. No one knew about this entrance except for them, not even the League knew about this one. The halls of the underground were quiet and echoed. Kai could hear the slight scrapes from his own boots on the concrete floor and the movement of Jean Von and Claude's bodies as they quickly jogged to the back stairwell.
The way up the stairs was just as quick and quiet as they entered the mansion. The stairs were empty and dark, no doubt the intruders didn't even think to cover this, or they were confident they would be able to take everyone in the house unaware, which they had. The stairs opened to the den quietly and here Kai could see what Kana had spoken about when she'd come in earlier that day. Spinner was facedown on the floor and Toga was sleeping on the couch. Kai checked their vitals and found they were alive, just unconscious. He signaled Claude and Jean Von who both nodded and moved on.
Kai went down the other hall while the two men went down the hall closer to the kitchen. His boots were silent as he moved slower here. He didn't want the two intruders on this floor to know he was here. He checked Shina's office but didn't find anyone there so he moved on. He was just about to get to the entry hall when he felt a cold chill down his back and he dropped to the floor just before he was hit in the back with a bat.
"Not today." Kai growled as he grabbed the back of the guys head and elbowed him twice before he grabbed the man's unconscious body and slowly lowered him to the ground. "You weren't much of a challenge." Kai frowned, not liking how easy that was. He glanced around before he looked at the man below, noting his facial features just in case. Kai pulled out zip ties and tied the man's arms and legs before he left him there.
Kai sniffed suddenly, there was a sweet smell in the air. It smelled… kind of like cotton candy. He frowned and looked around but didn't see anyone. The more he moved into he entry way though, the stronger the smell became and…he noticed too late that he was becoming relaxed. He tensed but he was too late as he was hit in the back of the head. Everything went dark as he fell unconscious.
~Shina's POV~
The boys words echoed in her head as Shina tried to decide if the child was serious or not. In the end she decided to use caution and ask,
"You said your name is…Tenko?" He nodded, sniffling. "What- um… you touched your parents and they died?" He nodded again, going silent as she asked the clarifying questions. "I see… you didn't mean to kill them did you?"
"No." He whispered. Shina nodded and reached forward again to brush his hair out of his face. He looked at her with terrified, teary red eyes.
"It's okay Tenko. It's not your fault. Things happen and it may feel like our fault, because we were there and we lived it, but it's not you or anyone's fault."
"But no one came!" He cried out. She caught the flicker of anger in his red eyes and nodded.
"I know. No one came to help or saw you. No one wanted to see you. Humans are complex individuals that constantly lie to themselves to avoid the truth." She smiled at him. "But I see you. And I'll help you."
"…do you promise?" His voice was starting to change. Shina nodded before she stood up.
"Yes Shigaraki." Adult Shigaraki stood up fully in front of her. He looked around, a frown on his face. He spotted Dabi behind her and glared at her. Shina sweat-dropped unsure about why he was glaring at her as if this was her fault.
"Where are we?"
"Near as we can tell it's a walk down memory lane." Shina stated somewhat calmly as she looking around. "It's…honestly a bit debilitating considering we haven't been able to choose the memories that we walk down."
"How do we get out?" Shigaraki asked.
"We haven't figured that out." Dabi stated in an irritated tone as he came up beside her.
"I'm sure we'll figure one out." Shina stated calmly. "We just have to keep our eyes out for any…glitches." Shigaraki frowned.
"That's your plan? Be on the lookout for glitches?"
"Hey, I'm winging it okay? Winging it is kinda what I'm good at." The memory changed to a different perspective and suddenly they were in a car with a younger Sunfire who was driving a car down a busy street. The speed of the car was much faster than it should've been for this part of the city.
"What the-" Bullets hit the car making Sunfire quickly spin the car to the left in a hard drift before she righted the car.
"Why must they always be shooting?" The younger Sunfire growled before a smirk left her as she kept driving, pressing the gas pedal to the floor.
"Where are we?" Shigaraki yelled from the backseat as he and Dabi tried to right themselves from where they'd been tossed from the force of the drift.
"If I had to guess…" Sunfire twisted the wheel to the right, pointing her finger out the passenger window and letting out a few scattershots before she took off down the new road. "We're in Rio de Janeiro."
"Catch me if you can!" The younger Sunfire cackled as she sped up again.
"Ugh, you can't drive normally can you?" Dabi groaned. Shina chuckled, looking behind to see the cops and heroes still coming after them.
"No, I can't. Be ready to turn." She grinned as her younger self created a road of golden light and literally drifted right up the incline onto the freeway above before she sped up again. A hero landed on the rooftop above making younger Sunfire curse in Portuguese. She jerked the wheel as the rooftop melted off. The hero above kept a hold of the car despite Sunfire trying to shake him off. She cursed again as a large man with golden eyes and black hair glared down at her. Sunfire smirked at him and greeted him before her body exploded into a flash grenade making the hero cry out in rage as he was blinded. Sunfire then stomped on the brakes and the hero went flying forward, landing on the road and bouncing before rolling to a stop.
"Holy sh*t!" Dabi breathed as they watched the hero land.
"He's fine." Shina stated as Sunfire revved the engine. The hero slowly start to get up. "I kinda miss how wild I was when I was younger." Shina stated, smiling as the younger Sunfire expertly reversed the car, flowing into a drift to turn the other way before she started zooming into oncoming traffic.
"You're crazy!" Shigaraki grunted. Shina laughed as Sunfire expertly dodged the cars coming towards her. She managed to get top speed on the car before she literally jumped lanes to the other side and kept going.
"What is the point of this?" Dabi yelled.
"Hey, I had the entire Rio police force after me as well as a good handful of their heroes. Case in point," She pointed backwards to where cops were gaining. Ahead there were more cops and heroes. A line of metal was on the road. It would have torn the car's tires and brought this to a… more peaceful end than Shina had been waiting at the time.
"How did you get out of this?" Shigaraki asked.
"Like this." Shina stated, pointing to Sunfire who twisted the wheel and the car suddenly careened out of control before flipping. Younger Sunfire jumped free from the car, disappearing into the air like a glitchy image. Shina, Shigaraki and Dabi stayed with the younger Sunfire, phasing through the car as it was literally used as a bomb that crashed into the police cars and started multiple explosions. The younger Sunfire started running to the edge of the freeway and jumped off, landing on the rooftops below and ducking into an alley. Shina, Dabi and Shigaraki landed in the alley in various upright positions.
"You're crazy." Dabi stated bluntly, giving Shina a glare. She didn't take it seriously, not with the smirk he was giving her. She laughed.
"Thank you. I know I am."
"And no one followed you?" Shigaraki asked, irritated as they watched younger Sunfire press her finger to the earpiece in her ear.
"No. Not like anyone would have been able to anyway." Shina looked up above as another large explosion happened. "God I was a menace to society."
"What happened to this crazy idiot?" Dabi asked in a sarcastic voice.
"Same thing that happens to everyone. Life." Shina said. "My engagement from hell really calmed me down." Sunfire took a picture of the alleyway and sent it in a text as sirens continued from above.
"You were engaged?" Shigaraki asked in disbelief. "Who would do that to themselves?"
"Your hilarious." Shina drawled.
"The man you almost shot." Dabi realized as he gave her an incomprehensive look. Shina nodded.
"Sadly I didn't finish the job. But c'est la vie." A colorful neon portal opened in front of Sunfire. Kana, James and Yuto were on the other end of the portal looking excited as they greeted her back. "In hindsight, I really shouldn't have been in charge of kids as impressionable as my team."
"Why were you? You don't seem very responsible."
"Hey, I did the best with what I had okay?" Shina said in a bland voice. Shigaraki looked around the alleyway and poked the wall before it changed again. They were suddenly in a large Japanese-style mansion. Younger Dabi was there and so was a younger Endeavor. "Hey look it's Chibi Dabi!"
"What did you just call me?" Dabi snapped, glaring at me. Shina yelped and stepped behind Shigaraki, using him as a shield.
"I'm not taking your punishment." Shigaraki stepped out of the way. The younger Dabi yelling out in excitement caught our attention.
"I did it dad!" Younger Dabi was so different to the Dabi Shina knew. He was… bright. Red hair and white patches in it, large wide eyes and a wide smile on his face as he grinned at Endeavor while red and yellow flames burned on his arms. Endeavor smiled widely, pride in his eyes.
"That's it! If you keep pushing yourself you'll be able to surpass me one day." Shina frowned, tilting her head. This was…different than she expected. Endeavor wasn't as much of a jerk. Time had obviously changed him, and not for the better. Unless of course he was always this way.
"Your father is Endeavor?" Shigaraki asked Dabi.
"Shh…" Shina shushed Shigaraki as she watched the interaction. Endeavor continued to praise the younger Dabi and build him up. Shina's eyes observed the interaction closely, wanting to understand why Dabi was…well the way he was if he had this in the past. Maybe it had something to do with the wake up he'd gotten from the Doctor? The puzzle pieces seemed to fit but…she was wondering how one went from this, to waking up and burning down a facility and then being homeless. What went wrong?
As if to answer Shina's unspoken question the scene seemed to speed up and they suddenly saw a compilation of Dabi's training. They started out with Endeavor before they changed to solo and then the memory of Dabi training in the mountains. Unlike the first time she watched this however, no one came to save him.
"We don't need to watch this." Dabi snarled.
"Well, we can't exactly skip past these." Shina spoke softly. "We don't have a remote."
"Your father is Endeavor?" Shigaraki muttered again.
"Yes." Dabi confirmed. The memory changed, seeming to splash with watercolors and taking her attention away from the memory. Shina looked at Shigaraki and Dabi. They were both staring at each other, seeming to size each other up again. She frowned, wondering what she could do to ease the tension. It wasn't going to be fun to have to deal with either of them if they were both suspicious of each other. Or worse, calculating how to use each other. The memory changed and suddenly they were in a large area. Tenko was there and so was All For One.
"You need to concentrate on how to control your quirk. If you can control your quirk you will not have accidents anymore." All For One spoke. Tenko nodded as he tried to practice with wooden blocks. His quirk destroyed them all.
"I…I can't master."
"You will get there in time. But if you want to be able to prove yourself, you must master your quirk and your emotions first." Shina watched the training curiously. Shigaraki continued to try and master his quirk before the training was done but he failed.
"I'm sorry master." Shigaraki spoke as he and All For One left the training area.
"Do not worry Tomura, I believe you will get to where you will be able to harness your power soon enough. Now, head over to Kurogiri to begin your studies." The memory suddenly changed to a sped-up compilation and they saw Shigaraki as he progressed. All For One wasn't always in the training, sometimes it was Kurogiri, but someone was always there with him. However, the longer the compilation played the more…darker, Shigaraki seemed to get. His innocence and light faded until he became what he was today. The memory seemed to just blur together until they were in a watercolor limbo.
"Guess we're going down the training road huh?" Shina commented lightly. "Ya know, I never understood the world's way of teaching their kids. We didn't have that where I'm from."
"And how was that?" Shigaraki asked. Shina didn't even have to answer as the memory suddenly changed to show a younger Shina sitting with five women in the sand underneath trees. Her hair was long and black as night while her wide eyes were a darker shade of brown. A small pond was a few meters away while sheep and cattle were on the other side of the pond. The oldest woman, her grandmother, was speaking.
"Remember little one, no matter how powerful our gifts are, we are still human. Do not let your power go to your head. If you forget who you are, you will be consumed and you will not be able to remember who you are. Power must be tempered with humility to use it effectively. Do not forget that if you are ever in need, your family will help you." Younger Shina nodded.
"We may not be well-versed with your gift baby," Shina's mother, looking younger and more full of life than her hospital appearance, said calmly. Her brown eyes were full of love and laughter as an easy smile sat on her face. "But we will help you as much as we can."
"And if we can't, your uncles can step in." A young woman with long white hair spoke.
"Now, stand up." Her grandmother commanded and Shina did so. "Close your eyes and feel that power inside you. Feel it's warmth, it's nature. Feel what it makes you different, what makes you unique." Young Shina nodded and closed her eyes. She kept her eyes closed before suddenly her body started to light up with golden light.
"Ooh she's bright." One woman commented, shielding her eyes.
"Bright as the sun." Shina's mother laughed. Shina opened her eyes. The dark brown had changed to the bright gold she had today. She looked at herself, smiling as she did so.
"I did it!"
Memories flew past, there wasn't a designated training time for Shina with her quirk. She used her quirk to make light whenever and wherever. At home, at school, during errands and even in solitude. The level of quirk usage changed depending on what she was doing as she experimented with her quirk and learned her limits and what she could and couldn't do. Her memories extended into her cousins quirks as well. They weren't restricted on using their quirk, they used them freely in private and in the open.
"Wait, you…you used your quirk in public?" Shigaraki asked, looking as the memories kept flowing. Shina was looking at them as well, intrigued by just how much she remembered.
"Yes. We were not restricted to 'training time' as you were. Our quirks were seen as apart of us, not something separate. As such, we used them everywhere." Shina's memories flashed to when she was in public and she saw others of her home community using their quirks. From young to old, they all used their quirks in broad daylight. "We don't have to hide like the rest of the world does. Kind of a shock when we came to Japan and found out it was different."
The memories flickered as they suddenly started to run and blur together until they turned dark. The three soon found themselves in a concrete hallway that was dark. Shina's quirk activated, light illuminating the area around them. Shina frowned.
"This isn't my memory."
"Not mine." Dabi grunted, looking down the halls.
"I don't recognize this place." Shigaraki grumbled. The air started to freeze and they saw their breath form in the air as soon, a door formed at one end of the tunnel.
"Anyone getting nightmare fuel from this?" Shina muttered as she hesitated for a second before she headed for the door.
"Should you really be heading for that door?" Shigaraki asked.
"Better her than us." Dabi stated. Shina rolled her eyes, noting that both men followed her as she headed for the door. A familiar sharp scream came and Shina started running towards the door.
"Sunfire! Wait!"
"You idiot!"
~Kira's POV~
The nightmares continued to play through her mind. Kira couldn't escape them as they started to delve deeper into her mind. She saw memories she'd forgotten, memories better left in the dark. Currently she was lying strapped to a metal table with IV drips hooked up to her. She was 8 years old again and undergoing physical experimentation.
These experiments were the result of her ability to handle three quirks at once. And it was all because of the scientist currently in the room.
"With this…yes it just might be the solution." He muttered as he looked at the lines and then at his computer. "With this, I should have some success in getting the quirks blended exactly as I want them to. Your healing factor has already been eliminated so, I do hope this works. It would be a shame if this kills you." The scientist spoke as he started typing into his computer. "Now, three quirks," He inserted vials and tubes into each other before connecting them to Kira's arms. "It's a bit tricky to get them in a liquid form but, I figure, if people are able to do the same to power and liquid, why shouldn't quirks be the same?"
Kira whimpered as the injections started. The fluid started to burn her veins and she whined louder wanting to get away but unable to move.
"Your body should be able to handle this. If not, well your brother should make a good substitute. He has most of your healing quirk now so his body should absorb more. But then, I do have another trial in mind for him. It would be a waste to have him undergo this quirk blending."
The burning was starting to get worse. It felt like that one-time Kira had accidentally spilled hot water on her front while making ramen. Her mother had been angry with her for being so clumsy. The burning started to get worse.
"Please, it hurts." Kira cried. Tears started to fall from her eyes. "Please stop!"
"No, no, no, mustn't stop. Mustn't stop now dear child. I am on the verge of a scientific breakthrough. Yes…a bit more should do." Kira saw the scientist add another fluid to her IV line and the burning got so much worse. It felt like fire was licking at her veins. Kira let out a terrible shriek as her body started to jerk and thrash, trying to get away from the burning feeling.
"PLEASE! STOP!" Kira screamed out. Her tears made her vision blurry as she felt fear build up in her as well as the urge to throw up. She didn't want this. She wanted this to end.
The door to the lab burst open and the scientist suddenly cried out before he was hit in the face. He fell against the wall, disappearing into nothing. Kira kept screaming as she felt the table under her disappear. Her hands slapped at her arms in hysterics as she tried to get the needles out of her body.
"Kira, Kira!" Kira felt hands on her body and she screamed out,
"No! Don't touch me! Please! I don't want it! I don't want it!" She was sobbing hysterically. Bright light filled her eyes and she flinched away as the light chased the darkness away.
"Kira… your safe. Your safe. You don't have to go back. I promise." Kira shook, unable to believe these words. She kept her eyes closed. She just wanted to be left alone. Being in the dark was safe if she was alone. The light hurt her eyes. It illuminated all her fears. "Look at me." Kira was jerked upward, and her eyes opened wide to see Shina's face. "You're okay baby. You're okay."
It took Kira a moment to realize and come to her senses before Kira started sobbing as she clutched onto Shina. Her sobs were loud and ugly, but Shina didn't pull away, she held her tightly against her, not allowing Kira to pull away as she rocked them slowly. Shina didn't say anything beyond rubbing Kira's back and gently shushing her. Kira was glad for that. She hated the weakness she was showing as it went against all her training.
The landscape changed and Kira was suddenly in the training room she'd practically grown-up in. Her instructor was there.
"Get up 18, we do not show weakness! We are better than that."
"Ah shut it Bianca." Shina snapped. Kira froze as she saw her instructor disappear into smoke. Kira sniffled and looked around. Kai was nowhere to be seen. It was just Kira and Shina. And Dabi and Shigaraki behind Shina. Kira gulped and wiped her face quickly.
"I'm fine Shina." Kira whispered. Shina looked down at her before she nodded and let Kira go. Kira stood up; Shina followed.
"How long have you been going through the memories?" Shina asked. Kira sniffed once more, wiping her face, and hoping her skin wasn't red and blotchy.
"I don't know. Hard to tell time here." Kira frowned at Shina. "Wait, how…how do you know these are memories?" Shina gave a wry smile, but she wasn't the one who answered.
"It's obvious isn't it?" Shigaraki grumbled as he and Dabi looked around the memory. "If it was a time loop we wouldn't be dealing with the past. It would be the present." Kira wasn't sure how to feel about them viewing her memories, but she put that aside for the moment as Shina spoke,
"I've been walking down Memory Lane with Dabi and Shigaraki since the Ugly House was attacked." Kira straightened up, giving Shina a disbelieving look. How had the Ugly House been attacked? What about the defenses? What had she missed?
"What?" Shina saw Kira's face before she winced as if she just remembered something.
"Right, okay so to recap: Kai found you in that apartment unconscious. He reported in and Claude and Jean Von went to get you. They were bringing you back, but you hadn't awakened. I'm guessing you've been trapped in here this whole time which would mean you've been remembering everything for…About a day and a half? Give for take a few hours." Kira nodded, slightly stunned at the knowledge. "I don't remember ending up here but, well we kind of got clued in after we saw our younger selves."
"It doesn't feel like that long." Shina nodded as she watched Kira. Kira's mind was spiraling as she thought about everything she'd had to undergo. She snapped out of it when she saw the walls starting to melt slightly. "I wasn't even aware of it until the 5th or 6th body slam. I see Kai at the edges of my vision but it's not all the time. The repetition was too boring after a while, I caught on, so I left here." Kira indicated the training room. "I started moving through the memories but…they kept getting more and more dark and depressing. I started reliving memories I forgot."
"I noticed that. The remembering things you forgot." Shina stated. Kira snapped her head at Shina suddenly.
"Wait, what do you mean you guys have been seeing your 'younger selves'?"
"Uh, I saw my younger self from when I was 17 and doing a job in Rio. I wasn't driving but my younger self was. Dabi and Shigaraki were in the back seat while I was in the passenger." They weren't…They didn't have to relive everything like she had been doing?
"Crazy ass driver." Dabi muttered to Shina who rolled her eyes.
"Hard to believe she was 17 while doing that crap." Shigaraki agreed. Shina clicked her tongue at them.
"Calm down you big babies."
"So, you guys don't combine with your past selves?" Kira interrupted, bringing the conversation back on point.
"No." Shina shook her head. "I mean Dabi and Shigaraki did in the beginning, but they stopped when I interfered. I didn't go into my memory except when I shot Dimitri in the leg on the rooftop." Kira nodded, wondering what that meant. It certainly made it easier to disassociate if they were able to just view the memories instead of reliving them. A lot less trauma.
"Who the f*ck is Dimitri?" Shigaraki asked suddenly. Kira blinked and hid her smirk as she thought of Shina's ex-fiancée. Guess Shina hadn't really filled them in on everything. Kira supposed that was a good thing. Honestly she hadn't expected Shina to do that. She thought Shina would've told them everything about herself by now.
"He's a long story." Shina sighed, but the landscape around them changed as Kira saw a familiar memory pop up. A younger Shina with long black wavy hair stood beside a taller man with messy brown hair and green eyes. A cocky smile on his face as he gazed at Shina who stared back with a soft smile on her face. Even from across the room, Kira could see Shina's gold eyes were dull with submission from Angelique's quirk.
"Oh god!" Shina blurted out as she held a hand over her mouth and turned away with an annoyed expression on her face. "Kira!" Kira flinched at the loud exclamation.
"What? I can't control the memories okay?" Kira cried out as she saw Shina and Dimitri cuddling in front of a fire as snow drifted down around them. This was one of the memories in the middle of their engagement that Kira remembered clearly. It was something she'd found cringe at the time but after thinking it over a few times since, she'd realized she'd missed all the signs the first time of Shina being a prisoner.
"That's Dimitri?" Dabi asked, studying Dimitri and Shina as they talked softly in Russian.
"Again, who the hell is Dimitri?" Shigaraki asked in exasperation as he looked at Shina. Kira saw Shina rubbing her temples and was going to give an answer but, Dabi beat her to it.
"Ex-fiancée." Dabi snickered. Shina gave Dabi a slight glare.
"I hate you. Very much." Shina turned to Kira. "And how do you even remember this?"
"I was there. I kept tabs on you two because Nikolai asked me to. It was how I got alerted to the fact that you weren't even under your own control." Shina gave a long-suffering sigh at Kira's explanation. Kira for her part gave a sad smile. "Sorry I didn't tell Nikolai sooner though. Coulda saved you a lot of therapy."
"It's fine. I had Eros help me." Shina eventually stated as she shrugged and turned to view the memory Kira was somehow playing.
"Who's Eros?" Dabi asked.
"There's a lot of people in my life that you don't know of Dabi." Shina said mysteriously. Kira raised an eyebrow at her. Why didn't Shina just tell them who Eros was? It wasn't like he was a past lover or something. If anything he was more like an annoyance. At least that was the impression that she got from Kana when she was filled in about it.
"I feel like we're getting off topic." Shigaraki stated, glaring at them.
"We're in a dream or walk down Memory Lane. We can't really control the memories…maybe it's just, whatever strong feeling we're having?" Kira theorized as she looked at Shina. "Does that make any sense?"
"Yes it does." Shina nodded at her.
"If that was true we wouldn't have seen half the crap we've seen." Shigaraki stated. Kira had to give it to him, he was right. Not that she'd ever say that aloud. She waited for Shina to comment.
"We did seem to have some control earlier when we were talking about a few things but…they were all random." Shina stated.
"What if we all think of a memory?" Kira asked wondering if they could figure out what memory they thought of was strongest in either emotion or mental strength. Maybe it was like that? Or maybe, it was just random. But there wasn't really a way to figure it out.
"How are we going to find each other again?" Dabi asked. "If thinking of different memories takes us all to different memories."
"Well…" Kira dropped off as Dabi had a point there. "I have nothing." The memory changed and they were suddenly in a house.
"This…isn't mine." Shina spoke. Kira shook her head to indicate that this wasn't her memory. She grabbed onto Shina's hand to stay with her just in case they did get separated. She didn't want to have to go down her own memories again.
"Tenko!" A man shouted suddenly. They all turned to see a man with an enraged face staring at Shigaraki. Shigaraki was frowning at the man.
"What did you just call me?" The house started to crack slightly as the man came closer and started yelling about a picture. Kira didn't need special training to see how Shigaraki's body language changed as the man kept yelling. She tugged on Shina's arm.
"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT YOU COMING INTO MY OFFICE?" The cracks in the house seemed to get larger. "ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?"
"Shina." Kira noted Shigaraki's face turning colder as a menacing aura filled the room. Dabi was watching on the other side of Shigaraki with narrowed eyes.
"Hey! Shut up!" Shina suddenly yelled as she pulled away from Kira and stood in front of Shigaraki. The man froze and seemed to turn to smoke making Kira frown in confusion.
"What the…" Kira looked around for the man but there was no one there. She did notice Shigaraki though and he looked…odd. He was glaring at Shina who turned and met his glare easily.
"What did you do?" Shigaraki snapped.
GM NASAI: Happy Friday the 13th and enjoy the eclipse if you're in it's pathways.