Heya! The side chapter N°1 for Chapter 15 is here! Focus on Ochako today, I also won't be able to upload those short chapter for the next 2 days, but y'all can expect Chapter 15-2 in three or four days!
The reviews:
Colossus Bridger: Karma always hurt, it's a common reality, it always does, but I hope the idea I have in my mind currently will actually work well and leave my satisfied when we arrive there. It was also a lot of fun actually doing 'Big Sis Momo' for some reason XD.
Oh you don't know the dark paths I'll take for the Clone vs Commandos, I got some... Pretty fun ideas... But I can't tell. I really can't, it'll be a surprise when it happens.
She'll go angry not only because you disrespect the dead, she'll get angry because you disrespected the dead. With more confrontationnal...Well... Yeah, it'll happen, but I don't know if I will do it like verbally, physically by making her playing Rugby and Boxing on the peoples that DARE do that, or simply both. Beat them up and then roast them.
As I said, other separatist droids maybe won't appear, I got some ideas on how they can appear, if they do, but I keep tucked them under my arm without further projects. But who knows? About Mei getting an assistant... About that... Huh... You kind of foreshadowed something? I'll keep the curtain closed for now, but you're on something.
Chapter 15-1: Shellshock
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The blood...
The screams of pain and agony...
The clatter of armor hitting the ground...
The smell of ozone in the air...
The acrid taste of smoke...
Bones breaking with sinister cracks...
The shrill, deafening screams of the thing...
The sound of shots...
The detonations...
It all replayed in her head with an extraordinary clarity, as if she were still there...
The melody of death replayed in her mind as if played by an orchestra.
The horrors she had seen in the USJ would follow her forever, like a sinister shadow lurking in the depths of her being, taking perverse pleasure in tormenting her...
Ochako saw, Ochako felt, Ochako heard, but at the same time, she didn't. She was there, but not there at the same time. A scream to her right, and when she turned her head, as if looking through water, a lifeless body fell...
The clone that had just collapsed had a massive splinter lodged in his chest. Another scream. She looked behind her, and the monstrous creature, in all its terrifying grandeur, towered over her. It crushed a clone in its hand with terrifying ease, the sound of bones breaking resonating in her ears and sending shivers down her spine...
And then...
-Snap Snap!-
A pair of fingers snapped, pulling her away from the torment she had to witness...
The brunette took time to focus on reality... But what she had seen was reality... Yes... It was reality... It couldn't have been a nightmare... No, it was all too real... Too many smells filled her nose, too many sounds she could still hear, too many things hammered her mind like thousands of hammers, seeking to break her, to change her...
-Snap Snap!-
She slowly turned her head, her eyes void of anything but torment meeting those filled with concern from Iida...
"Ochako-san? Are you alright?"
They both knew the answer...
"Iida-san...? When... Did you arrive...?" Ochako articulated with difficulty.
"With the teachers... But answer my question...", replied the blue haired boy.
"I'm fine..." Ochako responded, "I'm fine... I'm fine...", the brunette started to repeat, each time more faintly than before... As if trying to convince herself of what was not true...
"Ochako-san.", the voice of the bespectacled bluenette cut through her words, her thoughts, like a knife, bringing her back to reality, "You are not fine... It's obvious..."
"I'm fine...", the brunette repeated like a broken record. However... Soon... Tears started to well up at the corners of her eyes...
"... I'm not fine...", the brunette finally said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Iida tried to be reassuring with his presence, to comfort her, to help her overcome her troubles, to push away the horrific visions that her mind held onto. But it was only an empty presence that didn't help at all...
Ochako had seen death up close, too close, too violently, too suddenly, for someone like her, who had a heart of gold, so kind, so gentle with everyone. She may have come from a family with few possessions, where every crumb of bread was hard-earned, in a family where her toys were made by kind employees of her parents with nails, pieces of wood, and cloth, but whose kindness and gentleness she had forged, and which she hoped to share with so many people who needed it like her parents... What were hope, gentleness, and kindness against the whirlwind of despair, sorrow, and emptiness that struck people like her? Did she get a taste of what the people she was supposed to save experienced?
She felt empty, powerless in the face of what was happening to her. Her mind was screaming at her to fight, not to give up, but she couldn't find the strength to face what was overwhelming her. This sea of torment that was slowly swallowing her...
"Ochako-san! Iida-san!"
A shout disrupted the relative silence, excluding the clones moving around tending to the injured, or the paramedics checking their well-being and the police officers talking quietly nearby. Ochako looked up at the person running towards them... Midoriya-san...
The boy in armor crouched down in front of her, and the brunette saw deep concern in his eyes... He raised a hand and gently placed it on her shoulder, the touch of his gloved hand a lifeline she clung to desperately, the ray of light piercing the abyss of violence.
"It's alright. Calm down... We're here, you're safe, it's all over...", said the green-haired boy in a very calm, very gentle voice, almost a whisper...
The tears that had been flowing for a while did not stop; the brunette simply couldn't bring herself to do so.
However, Izuku remained calm and did nothing abrupt. He avoided pushing her too hard. He proceeded step by step. In the still lucid corner of her mind, she wondered if he had ever experienced this to handle it in such a way.
"Inhale… Exhale… Slowly…"
Ochako followed his instructions, taking a deep breath, still sobbing, before exhaling. It allowed her to regain a little control.
Izuku seemed to notice because he offered her a smile that looked like a sun to her eyes.
"Perfect, breathe… Slowly…"
Ochako inhaled again, but the darkness of the trauma she had suffered did not recede so easily. It returned with a memory, and the metaphorical rope Ochako was climbing slipped, causing her to lose her grip and fall to the bottom. The brunette broke down again, and the despair returned.
Iida reacted by trying to console her, but Izuku raised his hand, looking at the bespectacled boy, and said softly,
"Stop, it only worsens her reaction. You have to take it step by step, slowly and surely… Avoid startling the trauma victim; no sudden bright lights, no loud noises, no abrupt movements. It can evoke the most traumatic moments for them. The type of trauma we have here is shellshock, commonly encountered in armies and civilian populations during heavy combat, which is what happened here. Be patient and follow my actions."
Izuku turned his gaze back to Ochako…
"Breathe… Calm down… Everything is fine… You are safe… It's all over…" said the green-haired boy in a gentle tone. Iida followed, his voice a bit hesitant at the start.
"It's… All… Over…?", asked the brunette hesitantly. There she was, plunged back into the illusion her brain had cruelly concocted for her. Behind Izuku, she saw only eternal carnage, clones flying and screaming, broken and shattered, the bodies falling heavily beside them.
Focus on my touch and my voice…" indicated the green-haired boy with a smile that pierced through the darkness into which her mind was mercilessly sinking, where she fought against herself, against her own thoughts, will, and body.
His grip tightened just a little, enough for her to cling to the sensation again, to pull herself back towards reality…
"Inhale… Exhale… Slowly… Gently… Don't rush…" her two friends said in unison. Again, the tiny lucid part of her brain noticed that Iida was beginning to understand.
She inhaled and exhaled as instructed, calming down slowly... Okay… She was managing…
"Good… Keep going…", indicated Izuku.
She was getting there… She was getting there… the brunette thought with some relief.
"Shh… Shh… Calm down…" said the two boys in unison, calmly, "There… Little by little…"
Little by little, slowly, Ochako managed to regain some control over herself. She stopped crying, and Izuku gently wiped her tears with his glove…
"There… Good…", whispered the greenette…
The brunette remained silent for a long time… Deciding to rest her head between her knees, which she brought up and wrapped her arms around, gently rocking herself…
Then, she asked in a hoarse voice,
"Midoriya-san… Have you ever experienced something like this?"
The boy gave a sad smile.
"Don't you remember?"
There was a click in her head… Ah… Yes… He had experienced this before, and she had been there, helping him as… Midnight…? Was helping him…
"However, PTSD and shellshock, while the same, are also different. Shellshock leads to PTSD, but shellshock usually happens in the midst of combat, while PTSD is experienced over the long term… What I had last time was a PTSD episode… Real shellshock… You should rather ask real soldiers… Who have experienced conflicts… But since there haven't been any… You should rather ask…"
"Us."
The voice sounded, a dark, grave tone, next to them. Ochako looked up. Focus stood there, fists clenched. Warden was still talking to another clone.
Focus sat down, and Ochako couldn't help but notice how tightly his fists were clenched and how his voice trembled…
"No one knows our story. The reason for our existence. Nor how we were…", Focus seemed to stumble over the next word, "Manifested… When Lock was young, he loved the military, one of the few people ready to choose a profession other than being a hero, despite having a quirk like his, when he grew up… However… Everything went wrong one day. It's the day we were born. A massive villain fight devastated the neighborhood where we lived… And it was in the midst of the debris, ruins, flames, explosions, and carnage… That we appeared, my clone siblings and I."
Focus paused for a moment…
"Lock's passion for the military meant that he studied tactics, weapons, and equipment, and it was his imagination that created what my clone siblings and I are equipped with. We emerged from the flames, shooting everywhere as the sound of our weapons filled the air and orders flew right and left… However…"
His fists tightened even more, the fabric of his gloves creaking.
"… Reality isn't like the movies where reinforcements arrive and save the day without any losses. No, we paid in blood and guts for every step, every shot, every hostile neutralized… Combat psychosis and shellshock took their toll that day."
He vaguely gestured toward the clones present.
"We started with 144, now there are only 63 of us left, even fewer now, 56 with the losses we suffered today… On that day, amid the smoke, flames, and shadow of death… I found myself the last survivor of my squad… They sacrificed themselves without hesitation in a desperate rearguard action…"
The clone fell silent… Ochako felt bad… Not a good thing in her state, but the story couldn't leave her indifferent…
"I am… sorry for you…"
"My condolences…" said Iida, lowering his head…
Izuku remained silent, horribly silent.
"We were created for this anyway…", murmured Focus.
Izuku gave him a flick on the forehead.
"Don't say that! You're going to make everyone depressed here…"
Everyone let out a few small laughs, even Izuku, who wanted to stay serious, couldn't help but chuckle seeing them all laugh…
"What's going on here?", asked Warden, approaching slowly and sitting down on the ground with them.
"Nothing, just Focus saying depressive crap…", replied Izuku, elbowing Focus in the ribs, who flinched slightly.
"Sithspit! I've told you not to elbow me in the ribs!", grumbled Focus.
"Oh yeah? What kind of depressive crap?", asked Warden.
"Like saying they were created to die on the battlefield…", replied the green-haired boy.
"Oh, come on!", Warden complained, "Don't say that, you know how much vod hates hearing us say that!" said the clone, also giving Focus a nudge in the ribs.
"Sithspit! Stop it, kriffing hell!" exclaimed Focus.
Ochako had a small smile… It almost felt like those scenes in movies where the characters gather around a campfire, and the three boys behaved in the same way… It helped ease the atmosphere a bit among the five of them… Then they all fell into a more relaxed silence… The images still haunted Ochako, but she thought about them a little less for now…
"Thank you…", murmured the brunette softly…
"Sorry? Did you say something?", asked Warden, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees.
The brunette nodded slightly…
"I said thank you…"
Izuku smiled at her gently, with almost a certain affection.
"It's only natural… You're my friend; it's natural…"
"And besides… that's what squadmates do, right?" asked Warden, giving Focus a small elbow in the arm, who nodded slowly.
Yeah… that's what a group of friends did…
Hope you enjoyed!