Back at the flying island of Ultra Academy, nobody knew what to expect anymore.
Shigaraki had stopped fighting, his decay had stopped, and the terrifying genetically modified man remained in Izuku's arms as the unprotected young man whispered sweet nothing to his ears, rubbing his back as his white upper clothes became stained with Shigaraki's tears and snot.
The only thing Rumi could think was, 'What the fuck?! What the hell?! I need an adult and an explanation.'
Of course, none of those were available, apparently.
"Mirko … How do you feel?" Best Jeanist asked as he once again checked up on her and the new stump.
"What do you think, Dickhead?" The rabbit hero spat. She was woozy from blood loss, and whatever crap they gave her back at the hospital was already out of her system.
She had lost yet another limb, and worst of all, she had been denied a heroic death.
Well, worst of all, not really.
"Jeanist, the fuck just happened here? I mean, I obviously knew Eraser's plan would crap out hard, but... this hard?" She waved her stump at the touching (?) scene happening in front of them, behind an invisible bubble the strength of the best and thickest bullet-proof glass in the world.
It was stupidly hilarious to see people other than her smacking into the protection bubble in full force. It was almost funny enough to make Mirko forget about the loss of her leg and her impending death. and Deku's…
Err…
Pacifist bullshit.
"From what I can see, it seems to have skipped a stitch in the tapestry."
"Shut the fuck up." Mirko grumbled, sick to hell, and back with Jeanist's fabric pun tic.
Seriously, he didn't have to do that. What the fuck was wrong with his head? "So…. You don't know shit. I don't know sh*t. Does Ninja-Go over there have any idea?" She jerked her head towards Edge-Shot, who, along with Eraserhead and Nedzu, was trying to hear anything and probably check on the pomeranian (poor kid).
Why the fuck did the Commission allow them to fight? Oh yeah, lack of resources, and whatever the fuck happened to the Korean-Japanese army.
Right, a certain lobbyist lobbied them out, since they had All Might.
That motherfucking move did lots of good.
Just as she accepted a water bottle from Best Jeanist, practicaly shoved in her mouth, recovering some of her lost fluids, a humongous shadow flew above them all. It was a dragon. a craft store-pocalypse dragon... like a hundred different types of glitter had been used to make the abomination. causing whatever dumb kids and dumber adults to rubberneck to all scream in fear and horror, but mostly confusion.
Would she still have both of her legs? Rumi would've jumped to her feet, and probably to whatever the fuck that was.
Deku, on the other hand, seemed delighted.
As the orange arts and crafts dragon landed in a puff of glitter and colourful feathers, Izuku jumped out of Shigaraki's grasp and ranned towards the glue-smelling beast, dragging the helpless quasi-Nomu behind him.
"KAKEYI!" he joyfully called. "Don't worry, Ten-chan. This is Kakeyi Devi Dasi's art dragon; she's a protector of humanity, the goddess, not the dragon.
This was what Rumi managed to catch with her mangled ears—a miracle in itself.
Oh, and Tenko's… Shigaraki's inarticulate response.
But to be honest, everyone had the same reaction once the dragon melted in front of their eyes, only to be stored in its rider's sketch book.
Because, of course, it did.
And said rider, this so-called protector looked a little too young to be called a protector of humanity. She barely looked over fifteen, wore sandals, and wore a dress that was...
Well, Rumi wasn't an art buff, but she guessed the deep blue somehow managed to fit with the searing yellow.
Kakeyi also wore a work apron with numerous pockets lined with carving tools, glitter pens, and whatever happened to be in art stores. or sparkly.
Rumi hated the fact that she couldn't get sparkly things anymore. Her public image didn't permit it.
She missed sequins. Hopefully, Hawks still remembers where she'd put her legal will, not the fake she gave the Commission.
Deku, still in his snot and tears (and blood, don't forget the blood.), covered Indian get-up and knob shoes, fell at Kakeyi's feet, dragging Shigaraki down with him.
Or... perhaps the monster of a (sadly hot) man fell at her feet willingly?
Nah, not likely.
The blue-haired tween opened her hand like a Buddha and blessed Deku wordlessly.
"Jeanist… Did Deku call her? a Goddess?"
"I... haven't heard, Miruko; I'm not the one with the sensitive ears."
"Ok, ok, do you know if that hoe has any relation to you or your family?"
"No, not that I can remember."
"OK! And her quirk—like, she made a glitter paint dragon and then stored the fabulous beast in a fucking sketch pad." Rumi tried to pull at her hair, but with how wobbly she felt, there was no way she would move this much. "And then there's this other hotty; I know she's here; I know she's a nurse; I know she's Ekarani, but... I really feel like I should know her, you know." Mirko huffed. "Fuck… I don't even have any clues if shit's getting better or worse!"
"For now, it's the calm before the American Black Friday sale."
"Yeah, well, let's hope it stays that way."
"Alright!" The blue-haired goddess-like thingy said as she clapped her hands, catching Rumi's attention. "So, you were telling me one Bakugou Katsuki needed a new heart, right?" she asked the white-haired nurse.
"And perhaps a new pair of lungs; there's some worrying reading."
"Hmm, it's rare to hear you be so unsure, Eka-chan." Izuku chimed in. Shigaraki was still behind him, looking like he wanted to hide behind the shorter and younger male.
"Ironically, an unsure reading is practically a red flag for cancer, but in this young man, it may as well be a pair of severely burned lungs." Ekarani said as she turned to the still-levitating blonde. "Your son did a number, but Bakugo-kun died by his own actions; the carbon produced by his explosions and the fumes from whatever he had burned have finally caught up to him."
"Aldera had those super cheap gakuen. We're talking petroleum-based fabric. I'm not surprised then."
"So… I didn't kill him." Shigaraki asked with the unmistakable din of disappointment.
"Perhaps not." Ekarani shook her head. "If Damodara cared less about this..."
"Demon." Kakeyi quiped as she rummaged in her art bag.
"This unfortunate demon, then I could perform a thorough autopsy and tell you if you had rightfully slain him or not, unfortunately... or fortunately, for him, Damodara's buttery soft heart never stopped melting for him."
"What can I say? I have a thing for explosive people." Deku, or apparently Damodara, admitted. "Kacchan and I go way back. Sure, he was an ass, but... I don't know. It feels wrong to let him go to hell, especially since we're in the middle of the golden age. I would rather him have a second chance to get Gauranga's mercy than go through his punishment. Besides, if he throws his second chance away, then that's on him," he shrugged.
"But… why?" Shigaraki asked, as confused as everyone else seeing the crazy display.
"Love." Damodara answered helplessly. "I love him... No, not like that. Like a brother."
"Ah yes, sibling love." Kakeyi said as she took out a wickedly curved blade, inspecting the cutting edge critically. "They can make your life hell, steal from you, call you names, and you give and take as good as them; but when it comes down to it, you could give an organ to them without blinking an eye." She ended her point by plunging her chopper right into KEM's unmoving chest, dragging the blade up, and ripping his chest open.
Of course, no one saves Rumi, and the weirdos screamed their throats out at the sight, paining her sensitive ears and making her migraine even worse.
Great.
Comically, Shigaraki's red eyes grew five times their initial size. Obviously, he didn't see that coming.
"Oh dear." Kakeyi uttered as she stared inside the now clearly dead would-be intern. She then clipped what could only be KEM's trachea and pulled out...
Best Jeanist turned away as he retched, but Rumi didn't. She had seen worse.
Or so she liked to tell herself.
"How the fuck did he manage to live for so long?" She asked in a horrifying whisper. Those lungs looked like those paraded on cigarette packs, all gross and black.
"Oh, Kacchan." Deku uttered as his eyes filled with tears. He covered his mouth, trying to stifle his sobs.
Now, that was some grit right there. It was making Rumi really curious about what could've made the kid so gritty.
Nevertheless, it was clear Shigaraki had done KEM a favour by killing him so quickly. There was no way Katsuki would've lived to see seventeen, let alone spring.
"It seemed Bakugou-san's lungs were both covered in soot and cancerous... I hate when I'm right like that." Ekarani said as she sadly shook her head, her regrets clear but not overwhelming her.
"Yeah, well. Thank Krishna, I brought a whole new cardiovascular system."
"Cardiopulmonary system."
"Yeah, that." Kakeyi said as she plopped the organ in a box and gave it to Deku, whose whole face lit up.
'What the fuck?'
"Oh, thank you! My wife will love this."
'Dude! What in the everloving hell!?"
And it seemed that even Shigaraki was thinking the same thing, staring at Rumi and pleading with his eyes for her to somehow stop this insanity.
Which, of course, made the injured moon-rabbit hero burst into hysterical laughter.
Seriously, if it took all that for Mr. Demon to start questioning his whole life choice, then Rumi was all here for it!
But she could not enjoy it as long as she would've loved to, since the UA island began to fall. The reactors and other thingamajigs had stopped working five seconds ago.
"Ah, well, shit."
—-
Danjuro Tobita was complicated.
He wasn't a hero by a long shot, having grown too disabused by the broken system a long time ago to be considered one. Nor had he ever thought to be a vigilante, for his life of crime had been too fun to let go.
But he wasn't a villain—far from it.
If he could save a life, just a day, or even a simple date, Tobita would extend himself; he was no monster.
No, he was a criminal—a gentle one.
One who loved to see heroes be brought down from their high horses and into the mud. One who loved to see them flounder and fume.
It made for good content, and it made his fiancé happy.
Of course, attacking UA had been what had sent him to Tartarus. What a wretched place, with no hope and no light. Only nothingness and death.
Needless to say, when Tartarus had fallen, the gentleman had wasted no time to escape the dreaded hall of white madness and had hopped his way away from the nightmare and into a new lease on life, where perhaps he could finally reconvene with his beloved Aiba.
No matter how long it would take.
Some may call it codependency, but Tobita knew that he truly wouldn't be able to live without her.
He loved her with all of his heart, despite her spotty health due to dwarfism and everything that entails.
And love, he knew, was the strongest power out there.
And it was out of love that he was currently running towards the plummeting sky island, where numerous innocents (and his Aiba) were currently plummeting to their doom.
'Honestly. For being a hero, Nedzu had no idea how to treat civilians.' Tobita thought as he bounced on waves after waves, praying to whatever had the ultimate loving power that controlled the universe, that he could reach the bottom of the artificial flying island. And somehow, make the raging ocean rubbery enough that the whole island won't sink in the sea, yet soft enough not to have the whole thing collapse on him.
'Yes, I could definitely appreciate the showmanship of the principal, but... did he really have to keep civilians and non-combatants here? What was the reward for all this risk?'
Tobita may love to poke the heroic hornets nest for views, but... wasn't this a bit much?
He was just about to go under UA's ever-shrinking shadow when...
Something pushed him away, making him trip.
He fell on the ocean face first, and when he raised his head, Tobita barely managed to catch a glimpse of a person dressed in black on a motorcycle. Her dual-coloured hair was whipping in the wind before she slipped under the flying piece of continent just as it sank in its watery grave.
Tobita's ears could practically hear the death screams of the innocent Hero children as they plummeted to their certain deaths. Those children he had tried to destroy socially. Not his finest moment; he was a gentleman with a taste for schadenfreude, not a cyberbully. Perhaps it had been his new blend of tea from New Mexico...
And there he was—his quirk, useless.
Thousands would die in front of his eyes. and the love of his life: his tiny, beloved Aiba.
She knew how to swim, but he certainly doubted that she was outside.
Her body would remain entombed in her watery grave. Most likely, all the heroes would receive a monument with their names and the names of those who were close to them. whike she would receive but a rose... if even that, fromt he only person who remembered her.
The floating island sank, and the sound of the water drowned out their scream.
The tsunami born from the landmass now engulfed by his mother destabilised Tobita's quirk and brought him down too.
So cold, how he longs for one final embrace from his Ai and not the cruel arm of the watery mistress.
As the abyss embraced him, a miracle happened.
The UA landmass lit up in a plethora of rainbow ribbons, with written words so ancient and so foreign that they were practically impossible to read. protective bubbles of air enclosed wherever refugees would be.
And then…
UA floated up at great speed, the mysterious woman right under its lowest point, holding it up by the strength of her arms, a rainbow halo reminiscent of the magical ribbons spun behind her bi-coloured head of hair.
Was she an angel?
All of a sudden, he felt a pair of frigid arms grab at his waist,and he was pulled upward towards the sky.
"Well then, matey, you almost got swallowed by the missus." A voice drawled above him.
Tobita would've loved to face his rescuer. If not for the fact that the whole UA floating island was back at being a floating island, instead of dubious contraptions easily hacked by a two-bit machiavellian character (and thus nearly killing his wife-to-be), it was held aloft by...
A ribbon? A secret sutra scroll? Whatever it was, it shone in seven colours and radiated what could only be magic.
Whatever it was, it was saving everyone on the top of the accrued island. (He was sure the animalistic principal was madly cackling as he willingly spilled his ten thousand yen for a box of tea, that savage beast.) and he was eternally grateful for it.
"Aright, mate, 'here you go." His personal saviour said as he was unceremoniously plopped on what appeared to be a ship deck.
"A flying ship," he whispered in wonder as he touched the teak flooring before raising his head to the waving flag at the top and the square sails. The wind had filled the sturdy fabric, as if to show off the lotus and the pair of feet painted on its surface. Hallowing the cryptic sign were the words 'Nitai Pada-kamala, Koti-chandra susitala."
"Ah yes, my pride and joy." The woman drawled, her pride oozing from her voice. "'The lotus feet of Lord Nityananda are a shelter where one will get the soothing moonlight not only of one but of millions of moons." The captain replied with a grin. "It's the first line of a Bengali poem by Narotama Das Thakur about the benefit of taking shelter from the most merciful Lord Nitiianada. So yeah, that's the bottom of God's lotus feet on me sail, and so far, we've only gotten good weather."
Well, wasn't that a whole lot to unpack?
Suddenly, a darkened form landed on the deck, accompanied by a cacophony of cheers and cries.
When Tobita turned around to see the sea of humanity, no.
Those were Yōkai. Like from the legend of old. Older than the idea of superheroes.
They were in all shapes and sizes, and all seemed to be wearing a tuning fork on their forehead. Their palms folded as they sang the glories of Bahula, the saintly witch, Putana, reborn as a sevaki.
Bahula remained unperturbed; she simply opened her hands forward like a Buddha statue and, with a slight blush, blessed them all. "Krishner matir Astu." She uttered words so foreign that it made Tobita wonder if she was speaking Esperanto.
"Oh, Mother Bahula." One of them began. "I'm sorry we doubted you."
"You saved them all. You're... You're quirkless, and you've made this huge chunk of rock float out of the water. I believe this must be God giving you powers."
But Bahula didn't react to that praise; instead, she approached the...
Oh dear.
Apparently, the captain of this ship looked rather dead and drowned.
She was young, perhaps in her twenties. Her eternally dripping hair was nori-green, her eyes were bloodshot and dull blue, and the captain's outfit looked old and crab-eaten.
And yet... Tobita had a feeling that this was just for show, for the dead woman glowed brighter than any living person the gentle thief had met in his two and a half decades.
And what to say of the saint beside her, floating in the air as the gentle breeze played with her dual-coloured locks? She had a beatific smile and an air of bliss about her.
"Indeed, my child." She spoke, her voice sounding young yet holding the weight of age. "Krishna is the source of all strength. What you have seen me display is but an insignificant drop of His unlimited power." She humbly said it with a bowed head. "It is only by His causeless mercy that all of those refugees are alive. I am but an instrument, after all."
"Wow." Somebody said, somebody looked remarkably like Tobita's cell neighbour.
Actually, many of the Palanquin's riders looked as if they'd just gotten out of Tartarus, with their prisoner outfits still dripping on them.
What had this saint done?
But before Tobita could even ask, a grey blur passed by them all, stopping just for long enough to convey to Mother Bahula an important message.
"Krishna-dasi… She found it!" The mouse-like girl said she was on the verge of tears.
"Oh, Bhagavan." Bahula uttered as tears filled her eyes, but only for a moment. "Spring is close; where is she right now?"
"She's with the new-age retro Jiyang-shi. The foggy one."
"Oh Krishna."
"And they just gapped... fogged over to the floating island. You saved them all just in time, mother superior."
Bahula sighed as she folded her hands in front of her heart. "Thank the Lord, Time Himself. Navaratri, do not go there just yet; let Ekarani and Kusamaki-san deal with it, along with Harini and Ananda-mayi."
The rat-like flying girl's (this made no sense, right?) ears droop unhappily. "Yes, Mother Superior."
"Now come, we need you to navigate to Gunga Mountain; your treasure is the Prasadam feast Renuka prepared for us all." The saintly-looking Bahula said, "I need to bring the island with us; I don't want her to overexert herself."
"Right." Nararatri said, looking downright sad now.
The gradient-haired woman then clapped her hands together, calling attention to the assembly of Tartarus escapees and the horde of Yōkai.
"Alright everyone, we will all head to Gunga Mountain and wait for springtime here. For those who are not loyal to All For One or willing to defect, we will give you all protection. For those still loyal to him, you may join him; just know that there will be heavy consequences. And unless you surrender to Nityananda, no one will help you. Remember, you just need to say His name in any way you can. All together now!" She ordered, and her cult answered.
"Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare!"
"Perfect, never forget God's holy name, and your life shall eternally be sublime!" And with that, the cult leader jumped over the starboard (or was it the port?) and flew under the once-again floating island of UA.
And then... the flying island began to move without the roaring of engines as Bahula physically pulled it towards the Gunga mountain range at a speed only magic could reach.
For his part, Tobita was helplessly being led into the bowels of the temple ship, where he was offered a bath, new clothes (high-quality cotton also, good taste), delicious food (Prasadam), and a nice, stable futon to sleep on.
His sleep deprivation (thanks, Tartarus), quirk exhaustion, and having his belly filled to capacity with heavy yet wholesome food did him in, and Tobita only woke up after the red and white butterfly accepted a new title. by his fiance, of course.
But… that's a bit too far ahead, isn't it?
—-
Back at Gunga Mountain...
"Man, that guy was boooooooooring." Cintamani groaned as she flopped down after honouring Renuka's glorious Chapan-bhoga. "Like his wind attack was just plain cheating, and not even the god tyoe of cheating, no, it's just strong wind that's a bit hard to dodge. Even Kamini Mataji's wind attacks are seeable. But not this cheater's. Oh no, it's just a mouth full of wind. Bitch, eye'm the strongest fairy for a reason." She practically shouted.
"Mani-ji… Have you finished chanting your rounds today?" Renuka, ever the perfect host, asked in hope that it wasn't something worse than a few missed rounds.
Cintamani groaned again and dramatically fell on her back, causing the air around her to grow cold and humid. "Anh, I was just... excited, you know?" Cintamani said it sadly. "I can't believe it. I've been chanting 64 rounds every day since I got Narad's mercy. No days off, no distraction, just me and Hari-Nama Prabhu... and it just takes the possibility of Reimu coming back, and I'm out of Sri-Vrindavan-Dham and back in this stinky, horrible world, out for blood. eye'm such an idiot."
"Mani-chan." Purnamasi spoke up from her massive grimoire. "We all love and miss her."
"But she wasn't even a devotee when she..."
"It doesn't matter; George Harrison wrote in his introduction to the Krishna book that everyone is a servant of Krsna; they simply forgot about it."
Cintamani Devi Dasi pouted as she crossed her arms over her tiny chest, crystallised tears pearling in the corners of her eyes.
Meanwhile, the two herolings, Ochako and Tsuyu, were sitting beside the oddly mellow villain and source of many nightmares, Toga Himiko.
Toga was sitting there, placidly sipping from a crystal wine glass filled with blood. And while she seemed calm (read, vapid.), there was a certain air of anticipation around her.
And yet, she didn't try to stab either of her crushes, nor did she keep on monologuing about the unfairness of hero society and how she could never show the love she had for her crush.
No, she was just sitting there in a puffy ball gown, sipping blood from a wine glass like a proper lady.
And Ochako had no idea how to broach the subject. She had been raised by a construction worker and a waitress in an American-style restaurant, not the best of diplomates.
Thankfully, Froppy, despite her frilly dress and the delicate bone China in her hand (no pinky up, though), was still as blunt as ever.
Thank God for this small bit of normality in these crazy-ass times.
"Toga-san, did they drug you?" The frog-like girl asked like a truck.
"No, they didn't. Hare Krishnas do not do drugs." Himiko answered as she delicately placed her wine glass on the provided doily. "So, you noticed I changed."
"You act like a proper lady. You told us in your vilain rant that you hated this so much that it made you crazy." Bless Froppy and her zero fucks to give.
Himiko cringes. "Yes, it's my cruel and unusual punishment for all I did. They brought in someone; I can't remember who, but I know they were in the same room as me." She shook her head. "I don't want to act like this. I still want to rebel, but I can't; I physically can't. Well, I can sometimes, especially when I'm super upset, but...
"But how can they!' Ochako exclaimed. "That's like... so unethical!"
"I hate to say it, Ocha-chan, but Tartarus is even worse." The punished villain said it with a gravity that chilled all the heroes to their very core. "Everything is white, the food is bland, you have no human interaction, no stimulation, nothing but a white room, with one bright light that just dims a little when they feel like it; since, you know, you're a villain, and your life and well-being's not their problem anymore." Himiko let out a lady-like sob as she dabbed her eyes. "Your brain... inmates' brains get turned into mush, you start to hallucinate, you lose your identity since nobody talks to you, reality... You're not in touch with it anymore, and you start forgetting everything because your brain's literally shrinking, and even the whole concept of dying seems like wishful thinking." She shivered.
"But you never-"
"My quirk… I don't just look like the cute people I love; I get their memories; I get to experience who they are." Toga shuddered as her eyes grew distant and glassy.
"You lived through Tartarus." Ochako said, and Toga nodded as her eyes strayed from the smackdown All For One received at the hand of the SDM doorkeeper, who had yet to awaken from her nap.
Seriously, who were these people?
"I hate this, you know. I hate having to be perfect to be the presentable lady my mother wanted. but it's still better than Tartarus, and if I'm a good girl, then Renu-cha-... Mistress Renuka will teach me how to be a proper vampire. And she's the coolest."
"But... I have another reason to play it cool and proper."
"Oh? Another reason?" Tsuyu asked.
"Four of them." Toga said. "Three are in the back having Sankirtan." She pointed to the abnormally tall greenette in a tartan saree and sunflowers decorating her hair, a little blond with rainbow-diamond wings and cute little fangs, and what seemed to be a comatose woman swaddled in purple, her grey hair and lines on her face proclaiming her age loud and clear. "The fourth one's shadowing Damodara... Izu-chan. You'll understand when it'll be their turn to have a go at All For One."
"Eh?"
Suddenly, All For One was thrown down onto the belvedere, his face bruised and puffy, his clothes torn and in disarray.
All the heroes got to their feet, ready to attack the King of Demons, when no one could move.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Endeavour demanded, his flaming beard threatening to light the roof on fire. "I knew it! YOU ARE ALL IN CAHOOTS WITH HIM."
Completely unphased by the accusation, Renuka raised an amused brow.
"Really? Me? Us?" She gestured to the assembled Yōkai, all of them with the tuning fork stamped in their forehead and looking quite amused to downright offended by the allegation.
"Puh-lease. This child is nothing but a tantrum-y brat trying to act like an adult. He has no grace, no subtleties, no truly grand plan other than to take over the world and rule for a bit before throwing it away worse than before, out of boredom." Renuka spat as she brushed off invisible lint from her expensive-looking dress. "I will admit that even I had my phase. Not the whole world destroying chaos, but a bit of selfish fun. Once upon a time, I covered the noon sky with a cloud of blood to let me have a stroll without burning. if our dearest Raimu and Marisa hadn't come to stop me, the whole cloud of rotting blood would have fallen back to earth, feeding the fields, forests, and valleys with nutrient-rich water. It would have been a sight to see, I will admit, and I, Miss Remilia Scarlet, would have had her fun as she enjoyed a midday stroll without fear."
"And because you had a crush on Reimu the size of Mount Meru and were too shy to ask her out." Purnamasi spoke from behind her book, undisturbed by the dozen or so knives bouncing on a magical shield. Smirking at the sight of a rather flustered Renuka, who knew a true-born vampire could blush.
"Yes, well. My external plan was foiled, and I was trounced. And yet, no one can say it hasn't been fun!" She exclaimed. "My point is, where would his long-term gain be other than being untouchable?" She asked as she neglectfully gestured at the prone figure on the ground; the rest of the heroes forgoten in the odd dialogue.
"The living will always be in anxiety, for all-taking death looms ever closer with each breath taken, and this poor, terrifying soul is no exception." A pink-haired woman dressed in white and blue kimono decorated with ribbons and frills, a mob cao adorned with a tenken sat on her head, and hitodamas danced around her.
Hopefully, those Hitodama were just a manifestation of her quirk, and the pink-haired noble (?) was in the same quirk gategory as Tokoyami.
"Indeed, as fearsome as he is, he wasted his human life, causing others to suffer for his amusement. and unlike others I know, I doubt he'd be even a tad repentant when the Yamadutas finally deign to cut his sinful life short." Renuka said as she gestured to Ekadasi to return the Boogey man to the designated battlefield. Which she did, along with rewinding all of his wounds.
Seeing this, All For One grinned maniacally, once again starting a villain spiel about how their hubris would be their downfall. only to stop as shadows loomed over him.
"Holy hell." Hawks whispered as the floating island floated beside the suspiciously free space beside the crimson belvedere.
And then more flying structures appeared.
One was the Utsuro-bume of legend; another was a tiny boat rapidly plying the black water of a still river surrounded by a spontaneous grove of spider lilies; then a tiny motorbike ripped through the sky, leaving behind a trail of rainbow flames, a flying tigue bearing a body clad in white flyinf beside it; then the moon became hallowed by another rainbow, with stars shooting across from it.
From the ground, a geyser erupted, spewing out both water and the Onis and other hated beings from hell, headed by a masive blonde in a Japanese girl school gym uniform. You know the one.
Then a castle keep appeared in the night sky, lazily spinning on its axis as if gravity had not already been broken.
Then the night sky lit up, and a thousand lunarians and moon bunnies landed on the ground, already jumping away to join the dwindling heroes, turning the tide of the war by their mere presence.
Suddenly, behind Remilia's chair, a door opened through the ether. and out came Izuku, holding a rather shy-looking Shigaraki and a blue-haired artist carting Bakugo Katsuki's cooling remains, his hallowed-out chest cavity for all to see.
But before any of Katsuki's friends could react and, well, ruin everything with their overreacting, the human-protecting deity, after dumping Bakugou on a chair, installed Katsuki's new lungs and heart with Ohuhu glue, tie wraps, and a liberal application of whires, twines washi tape. Closing everything up before one of the musicians, the one with the flying electric drum kit, the red hair, and the smell of ozone floating around her, re-actionated Katsuki's heart by keeping the rhythm with a cow bell.
Suddenly, the sound barrier screamed in agony, and hundreds upon hundreds of Tengu fell from the sky, headed by two reporters and a repentant astrologist.
This was the opportunity Izuku had been looking for.
—-
"Hmmm…"
"...Kridhna, Krishna Krishna..."
Where was he? What was he? Why?
Pain. His chest hurt, and his stomach...
'"Ugrh."
"Gro-OH, HELL NO!"
There was a screech of anger, then a pathetic screech of pain. and then someone was wiping his mouth with a soft cloth soaked in cool water.
Oh…
That felt good.
"It's alright, Kacchan. I got rid of the evil spirits. You're free now."
Kacchan…
He was…
No, he wasn't Kacchan. Too cutesy.
No, he was Katsuki. The only one who could call him that was Izuku.
Izuku, who had been warped by an out-of-field quirk and was not there to help Katsuki take down the handful of fuckers,The same handsy fuck was sitting on a chair closest to Izuku, peeking under his bangs like the most confused, most pathetic mongrel left at shelter. You know the eyes.
Those ones that broke your heart when you were forced to walk away because you couldn't afford a dog.
And Izuku…
Holy fuck, the guy was glowing like a sacred icon. He wore a white dhoti upper wrapper (yes, that was the technical term for the chadder), wooden padukads, and markings on his body.
If Katsuki's memory served him well, those were called Tilaka, or urdapunda tilaka, worn by the Gaudia-madhav Vaishnava sect.
It was something he'd seen in one of his epic web binges when his mom decided that drinking karaoke at home was a valid thing to do at two in the fucking morning.
Anyway…
"Zu, you got into a sect? Dude… Like, the fuck happened; I dropped the plot." Katsuki slurred tiredly as he leaned back in his bed.
Huh, it was a medical bed too.
He hated those.
Izuku smiled. Not one of his fake smiles, but a genuine one, filled with love and perfectly filling his face.
"And why's Shigaraki here? Like, buddy, Baddy looks so fucking lost."
At his mention, the white-haired nightmare curled further in an oversized cow hoodie with 'I love moo' on it.
It was the perfect amount of cringe to go with the crispy fucker.
"Ah." Izuku began, and Katsuki took a good long look at his Well, he wished Izuku was still his friend. The explosive blond was painfully aware that, after this one summer fright night, after playing in an old crematorium from the Quirk War era, he'd started acting like a MoFo to his only true friend and brother. He looked… Older and more mature. But not like an old hero, since his eyes were fucking bright.
This wasn't the same Izuku that got warped like... an hour ago.
And yet…
"I'm a Gaudia-Vaishnava, a servant of the servant of God. It's a cult centred around reawakening our dormant love for the superpersonal source of all, Bhagavan Sri Krishna
"O…kay?"
"Shimura-san is here in our victim protection programme and rehab, and so far, so good for him. I have hope my wife won't have to end his body, not that soon anyway."
"Uh…" Katsuki grunted, his brain felt less burdened, and his anger calmed and backed into its hole. Still… God? wife?!
"Izu… dude… "Okay, first of all, why am I so calm, and what the hell screeched like that after I puked?" right, properties, got to screw his head on the right way, as his mom would say...
Fuck, he had been such an ass to him; she hadn't deserved any of the disrespect; hell, she gave up like a hundred contracts with so many magazines and designers just to have him.
"Oh, that was a few angry ghosts that affected your mood, making you the angry pomeranian most people inexplicably loved." Izuku explained, gamely ignoring Shigaraki's barely hidden laughter. "I exorsized them, so your all good now."
"Ok, alright, sure! Ghosts fukingexist; you worship God and are married, what else? The easter bunny's legit, and the tooth fairy really is just a hummingbird antro?" Katsuki snarked, not feeling the same sweal of heated anger that used to animate him.
Weird, but not unwanted.
Izuku pursed his lips, frowning. "Can you prove that God doesn't exist?" Izuku asked with his arms crossed loosely over his chest and his back straight. "We know Santa and the tooth fairy are fake because we both found the source of our presents—our parents. But who made everything? Not only that, but who started time at the beginning of the existance, when the big bang, another concept without proof but some astropihisist's rumination based on unknown and dubious data, didn't start? Meanwhile, in the most ancient sanskrit scriptures, the Purana's, the whole of the Vedas, and the ripen fruit of all the Vedic knowledge, the Srimad-Bhagavatm, and the very first hymns of all existence, it tells us that there is a supreme reality outside the known universe, where time is conspicuous by its absence, where there is no birth, no death, no old age, and no diseas. It's a world made of anti-mater and filled with an unending amount of variety. In this world, there is an all-powerful being that controls everything, the source of all sources, the cause of all causes, the eternal, unborn supreme personality of Godhead; Krishna." Izuku closed his eyes in pure bliss as he uttered the name. "And Krishna, with a part of a part of his part, agitated the Mahat-tattava, the primordial sluice that he previously generated, with his glance, injecting the then inactive dark mater with us, the conditioned souls, time, and actions/reactions." Izuku said with a manic, No, not manic. The glint in his eyes was pure pasion, like... like then and then he ever had for Katsuki.
Izuku sat back, crossing his arms and legs with a triumphant grin. "Face it, Kacchan, you can't say that the Vaisnava version of creation's worst is this whole 'there was a random explosion and crap happened.'"
Katsuki tried to argue, but...
Izuku had a point there.
"Beside, we have proof of Bhagavan's presence on earth."
"So wait, you mean the Supreme Controller has proof of his existence?" Shigaraki asked, his innocence so painful that it broke something in Katsuki's new heart... after stoping it just by reminding katsuki of his murderer's presenced in the room.
It must be new; his old one had never been as strong or consistent. Hell, he didn't feel like his fingers would fall off.
"Krishna and a few other avatars left their footprints and other markings on rocks and stones. As you know, if you want to keep something recorded indefinitely, it needs to be written in hard stone. Like the Shilas, in Sri-Vrindavan dham, all around Goverdana Hill It has Krishna's footprint, a calf's hoof print, and the impression of Krihsna's cow herding stick. Oh, and then there's the Jarikhanda forest."
"OMG lore!" Tomura cheered. "Sensei was so fucking wrong. This place is amazing; I don't want to destroy it anymore. I just want that sweet, sweet pause screen lore!"
Izuku laughed as he embraced Tomura to his chest. "And I will teach you everything there is to know about Vaishnava Lore, Ten-ten. Your tormentor will never lay a finger on you ever again. Of this, I swear."
What.
The.
Fuck?!
"Oh, Damodara Prabhu! I thought you and your charge went back up."A woman doctor dressed in a blue and red star-covered dress walked into the room. She had this fucking long braid that reached the floor and a clipboard in her hand.
"I know, but then I realised Kacchan here was controlled by a few wrathful spirits. I had to exorcise him before I could do anything else, and I wanted to catch up with him.
The doctor crossed her arms. "And let me guess, you got distracted?"
Izuku (Damodara?) gave this super sheepish laughter, and it struck Katsuki harder than Kirishima's punch.
Izuku looked older and more mature.
But like… not really that old, but... As if he'd lived longer than he should but didn't have the existential angst tied to it.
and he looked, and felt like... so bright! so stupidly happy, this state of being wasn't meant for this world.
"Yeah, I did." He fearlessly took Tomura's hand. "Ten-ten here's interested in Vaishnava lore."
"Oh, Krishna, this is wonderful! Oh fortunate one, I'm sure Paurnamasi brought her Vedic library with her." The nurse, doctor, and fucking tall, glowing lady with no shaddow said as if Shigaraki had begged to become a monk.
"I saw her with Renuka; you'll have your lore, Ten-ten; right now, you are under my and my wife's protection, and this is as long as you will need it." Izu… Damodara spoke to the symbol of fear with so much compassion that it was painful.
'Yeah… Because he's a legit hero, fuck UA, fuck Hobo-sensei, and Izuku always was a hero, those douches never taught 'im shit… couldn't do it.' Katsuki thought as he felt his new heart squeeze at the sight.
It was like watching a saint give mercy to a sinner.
Izuku turned to Katsuki, his sheepish grin still stamped in his face. Once again, looking oddly mature in his baby face.
"Ok… So, in my relative timeline, decades ago, I found Eri in one of the HPSC's 'educational facilities." Izuku began, and Katsuki could clearly hear the pure hatred Izuku had for this place.
Meanwhile, the nurse (Ekarani Devi Dasi, cool name.) was taking his pulse, checking his flawless chest, and
Holly fuck, he had both eyes again!
Anyway, Izuku was talking, and...
The heart-rending image of little Eri being taken in a black car, All Might watching stone-faced as it lef emerged from Katsuki's memories.
Hatred once again grew in Katsuki's heart—a rightful type of wrath that had nothing to do with how he used to feel about everyone and everything before the exorcism.
He had no idea why he had been s chill back then, probably because the ass was All Might and thus could do no wrong.
Fuck... what a brain dead blond douch he'd been.
"It was touch and go, and unfortunately, I could only save one kid; the others... were 'humanely' disposed of since I had infected them."
"'Humans' of this era have developed the art of understating horrific acts by giving them clinical names, like abortion and animal-based protein." Ekarani sneered, her unblinking eyes filled with an untold amount of disgust, only for pure shock to replace it. "The heart is... I can't believe Kakeyi made a working heart out of red clay, tumerous tissue, white glue, and glitter."Ekarani mumbled to herself as she surveyed a magical display showing Katsuki's heart. "What a show off."
No, it wasn't a quirk. Otherwise, Izuku would gush the fuck out about it.
"I managed to get out with Eri in tow and hide in the forest. I had to get a tracker out of her, but, in the end, the dogs almost got us."
Oh boy...
Also, Vrindavan is Amazing, if you visit india, Vrindavan and Mayapure are the two places you have to visit. Mayapur first tough, since Sri-Vrindavan dham is super intence.
and monkeys.