Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night or My Hero Academia
...
"Umm...Eraser, quick question," said Pixie-Bob as she sat in the passenger seat of the bus which had held the children of 1-A only a handful of minutes earlier. Since the students were now taking the long road back, it only seemed fair that she, along with Mandalay and Kouta, hitched a ride with the teacher.
"If you're going to ask me something stupid, save your breath," said Aizawa as he focused on the winding road ahead of him.
"No, it's nothing stupid," said Pixie-Bob, fidgeting nervously as she wondered just how to ask the question that was on her mind. Behind her, Mandalay could see the movements made by her fellow member of the Wild, Wild Pussycats and automatically assumed she was going to ask Eraser to marry her.
She was at marrying age after all.
"Spit it out then," said Aizawa.
Mandalay held her breath in anticipation, knowing full well how Eraser was as a person and ready to be there for her friend if need be. She had a supply of sappy romance movies and ice cream stockpiled in the freezer just for such an emergency.
"What are you doing to those kids?" asked Pixie-Bob, probably far louder than she had to.
Mandalay meanwhile sat there in shock, wondering just what it was that Pixie-Bob was talking about. Kouta meanwhile stared out the window, clearly disinterested with the topic of conversation.
"My, whatever are you talking about?" asked Aizawa.
"Don't play dumb with me!" shouted Pixie-Bob as she slammed her hands down on her knees, trying to be as intimidating as possible given the small confines. "When Mandalay told the kids to get to the base in two hours, she did so because it should be an impossible task. Two hours is how long it takes us to make it and that's without my golems slowing us down."
"What's going on down there?" asked Mandalay, wondering just what it was that was going down in the forest they had sent the children careening towards.
"Is it just one brat messing up your golems?" asked Aizawa, having a good indication of what was happening.
"No, there's one not doing anything but that's not the point," said Pixie-Bob.
"Good, he's letting the others do the work," said Aizawa, still focused on the road ahead.
"Can someone please clue me in to what's going on?" asked Mandalay, hating being left out of whatever conversation the two other adults were having.
Leaning around the seat, Pixie-Bob looked at her close friend with sharpened eyes. "They aren't slowing down," she said. "You know the golems I make. They're capable of taking down villains without so much as a scratch. They can tear their way through debris like paper."
"Get to the point!" said Mandalay getting sick of her friend not being able to properly say what it is she wanted to say.
"Those kids are tearing through my golems like paper!" said Pixie-Bob, almost seething at this point.
"Well isn't that a good thing?" said Mandalay in confusion.
"These kids are merciless," said Pixie-Bob, turning away from Mandalay. "My golems are barely lasting three seconds against teenagers, teenagers! Not only that but it's where they are targeting! Every strike, if it's not initially lethal it's practically crippled them!"
"Wow..." said Mandalay, unable to get her thoughts together. Tiger often requested Pixie-Bob to assist with his training by summoning her golems for him to combat. He could destroy them easy enough but with a single strike? If he put everything he had into it sure but still. "Well, if they burn themselves out in the first few minutes then they're going to be exhausted shortly."
"Don't count on it," said Aizawa, knowing full well the training that they went through in their post school activities.
Both Mandalay and Pixie-Bob went silent at Aizawa's words, who unfortunately didn't sound like he was joking in the slightest.
"Aren't we driving really slow?" asked Kouta, his gaze having not left the window the entire time.
Mandalay and Pixie-Bob looked at the young boy, his comment seemingly having come out of nowhere. His words however rang true, the two of them just realising that they were travelling well below the speed limit.
"What gives Eraser?" asked Mandalay.
"At this speed, your students will beat us there," stated Pixie-Bob, looking out her window towards the base of the mountain they had told the teenagers to head towards.
"You know these winding mountain roads, you can never be too safe," said Aizawa, taking mild delight in the torment the two members of the Wild, Wild Pussycats were in.
...
It was fair to say that seeing the body of Curious float three feet off the ground was simply normal for Stain now. She wasn't dead, unlike the two companions she had brought with her, but considering the 'fun' that Rin had had she probably wished for the swift embrace of death to have claimed her by now.
Yet she would not remember a single moment that she had gone through. An entirely new set of memories were currently being implanted into her brain over the fact that she had spilled every little detail about the Meta Liberation Front. Again, if this wasn't Rin currently doing it, he would have doubted such a thing was possible or at least not heavily monitored by the government. Such a quirk could reshape the world around them if used either correctly or incorrectly. Thankfully, it wasn't a quirk. It was whatever Rin was capable of.
One among the many other bullshit abilities at her disposal.
"What are your thoughts on this organization?" asked Rin, still keeping her mind on the job in front of her.
"The fact they have as many numbers as they do is surprising, though many are likely children whose parents had believed in the cause," said Stain, knowing not to mince words when conversing with Rin. "With the number of people they have, it is easy to believe how they can live under the ideals of this Destro character without conflict. Trying to impose those ideals on others however will inevitably lead to chaos."
"So no chance of self destruction from the inside then," declared Rin. "Is it dangerous to leave them alone?"
This somewhat caught Stain by surprise. The thought that Rin seemingly cared for the wellbeing of others was somewhat refreshing, given the experiments she conducted on those she picked out of barely lit alleyways. "The fact that they reached out to you means that they are planning something, or at least contemplating doing something. They may have wanted your strength on their side for a battle that isn't too far off in the future."
It kind of made him question whether or not he would have been tracked down for similar reasons were his whereabouts known. Given the fact that they had been able to track Rin down meant that their resources were quite vast. He would have slaughtered them after their spiel of course for having wasted his time but chances were they would have been able to find him. That alone made them a danger.
"Well, I have no desire to involve myself in any unnecessary combat but they may not take my rejection too kindly, given what I've done to their 'pet' here," said Rin. "I feel as if it is best for us to inform them personally that under no circumstances are they to try to engage with us again, for their own safety."
Stain meanwhile couldn't help but allow the slightest of smiles to spread across his face. He personally hoped quite a number of people got enraged with whatever it was that Rin was planning. After what seemed like an eternity, there was hope that his blades would taste blood once more.
...
Sweat poured from the brows of the students, adrenaline still pumping through their veins from the run to the base of the mountain. A number of them had collapsed to their hands and knees and Mineta had even had to rush behind a tree to expel the contents of his stomach, unable to keep it down.
Of course there was one person who was unaffected.
"Drink up," ordered Shirou, placing a number of water jugs and glasses he had found inside on a nearby table. He didn't need to repeat himself as the others crawled and shambled their way forward, desperate to quench their thirst. "Don't drink it too fast or you'll choke."
His warning went relatively unheeded as everyone attempted to rehydrate their bodies as fast as possible, disregarding manners for the most part. It was at this time that the bus that they had ridden on earlier drove into site, parking close to the building.
"How did you get lost on the road! Why did you turn off the road? There clearly weren't any side streets in the woods that were, as you put it, 'Shortcuts!'" shouted Mandalay, clearly infuriated with the driver of the vehicle.
"I told you I'm sorry," said Aizawa, lacking any emotion in his voice.
"If you don't mean it then your empty apology means nothing," proclaimed Mandalay before taking in several deep breaths, trying to compose herself before turning to address the students who seemed unfazed by their arrival. Brushing off her costume and making sure that she looked semi presentable, she walked forward and prepared to address the students.
"Koda, Shoji, you guys able to get some more water," said Shiro, clearly not asking a question. Both the students in question merely nodded before taking the empty pitchers and heading inside. "I'm going to head inside and prepare some lunch for everyone, who's able to give me a hand?"
"I will," said Ashido, raising her hand as if she was in class.
"I can assist," said Yaoyorozu, happy to lend a hand.
"I bake in my spare time, so I should be able to help if you need it," said Sato.
"Alright, you three with me," instructed Shirou. "The rest of you, when you're done rehydrating I want you to engage each other in one on one bouts, alternating opponents every minute until..."
Mandalay, understandably, had had enough and tried to use her quirk to telepathically tell the students that nobody was to do anything and she was in charge! Yet when she attempted to establish her telepathic connection however, she experienced pain like she never had before. She could only gasp in agony, clutching at the sides of her head as she collapsed to her knees, visibly shaking.
"Mandalay!" shouted Pixie-Bob, rushing to her side. "Are you alright? What's wrong?"
While Mandalay struggled to get words to form, there was the definitive sound of footsteps marching ever closer. From her position, Mandalay could see the shoes of one of the students who was standing far too close for comfort.
"Be happy that you only graced the surface of my mind," said Shirou sternly, looking down on the professional hero. "I recommend that you don't try something like that again anytime soon."
"What did you do to her?" asked Pixie-Bob, rage building within her.
"I always have a defence around my mind to protect me from mental attacks," explained Shirou as if such a thing was common practice. "You should always be prepared for any and every kind of attack, no matter how rare it may be."
Mandalay struggled to move but forced herself to look up at Shirou and deep into his eyes, only to find something she hadn't expected from someone who had been able to repel her so forcefully. Sorrow. A sadness in his eyes as if to say that his defence hadn't been intentional. His words however didn't quite match the look in his eyes but she began to realize that the words weren't meant for her.
They were meant for the rest of the students.
"Who...are you?" asked Mandalay, barely able to find the breath necessary to ask the question.
"Someone who has experienced far more than you could ever realize," answered Shirou softly before stepping away, moving towards the rest of the students to resume his instructions.
While his words weren't straight forward in the slightest, Mandalay and Pixie-Bob were both able to read into what he had said. His mental defence wasn't just something he thought of, somehow, creating one day. It was something born from necessity. The leadership he was displaying didn't appear overnight. It was something that had been forged through harsh situation after harsh situation.
While Mandalay couldn't help but question just how much more difficult this camp was going to be, Pixie-Bob was curious as to what kind of person he would be in a few years' time.
She was of marrying age after all.
Kouta meanwhile had been standing nearby the entire time, with one clear thought on his mind. That person wasn't a hero, but then what was he?
...
"I'm sorry if I'm staring, but they're just so manly," declared Kirishima, openly looking at the scars littered across Shirou's body.
Shirou didn't really want to tell him that if he didn't have the power of Avalon coursing through his veins during his time as a teenager there would be a far greater number scattered over his body. After the grail war however, Avalon's magic had faded with Saber having vanished. Everything on his body, outside of the scar over his heart, was proof of the conflicts he had been in afterwards.
And he had seen a lot of conflicts.
"Can you remember how you got each one?" asked Kirishima.
"Kirishima, don't be so rude," admonished Iida. "Each of those must have come through traumatic experiences that Shirou would try his best not to recollect."
"Each and every one of them," said Shirou calmly.
"So cool!" declared Kirishmia, clenching his fists.
While Iida reprimanded Kirishima for lack of sense regarding proper conversation, Shirou took the time to look around the open air bath that he and the rest of the male students had located themselves after dinner. A number of them were in deep discussion with one another, Aizawa having made the announcement earlier that the next morning they would all be working on improving their quirks. This was of course the main supply of conversation, many wondering how they would go about trying to increase the strength of their individual power.
Mineta meanwhile was looking at the barricade that separated him and the women who were bathing on the other side. He seemed unable to convince himself that the journey would warrant the punishment that would likely come with it. He looked nervously over his shoulder towards Shirou who gave him a polite wave, as if reminding him of the threat of castration that had occured back during their first training session.
Shirou could see him mutter something under his breath before storming away from the wall and into the water. It seemed as if he had come to the realization that he wouldn't likely be able to outrun the weapons Shirou could produce and living was better than a swift one way trip to the afterlife.
Directing his gaze upwards, Shirou took the time to admire the stars glistening overhead, something which was almost impossible to see back in the city. It was little things like this that reminded him of his youth back in Fuyuki city and how much simpler things had been back when the only magic he could perform was reinforcement.
Now though, it was likely that he was expected to try and improve upon his skills like the rest of the class, even if his magecraft was vastly different to quirks. It did raise one very valid question however, something he had not had to contemplate in a long, long time.
Could he become stronger?
Or, and perhaps more importantly, did he need to become stronger?
...
Hope you enjoyed.