The mist swirled around her, a dense haze of grey that obscured both her sight and her mind. A familiar sight, she had had these hazy dreams many times before. It was all she had known while she had been asleep in the dark. Drifting on the currents, as strange shapes, sounds, and sensations drifted by her. Yet there had always been one great constant in her dreams; it had always been there. Dozens of times she had seen it, the tremendous focal point upon which all things orbited.
The living shadow, that which lived in the dark. Unseen, its influence was everywhere, even as other people and other things took center stage. It always lurked on the edges of her dreams. She didn't fear it despite its nature, she knew it to be benign. Rather, it had always radiated a sense of sadness.
This time though, the shadow was at the center of her dream. She could see it, a dark shade in the center of the haze. As she watched, the haze twisted and curled, it stretched and ripped apart. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the haze formed vague outlines. Eventually, the scene stopped shifting, solidifying. Then the dark shadow was of a vaguely human shape, back bent, shoulders slumped and head bowed.
As she watched, the dull light that permeated the dream dimmed until only the shade remained. From below the shade, black, pure black hands emerged and started clawing at its legs. From its back chains of mist formed, binding it and stretching upward into the void, preventing the hands from dragging the shade into the depths. Then the haze twisted once more and coalesced into another human shape. In front of the shade, a figure of white smoke formed, a faint halo of light above its head. The shade looked up at the figure and tried to reach its hands forward. It tried to move forward but it fell to its knees, the black hands having a firm hold on its legs. It was forced to crawl slowly forward until its hands grasped at the figure's legs and pulled itself upward until it clung to its waist, desperate to keep it in place. As it clung to the figure though, the inky of its form seemed to spill into the smoke, coalescing into a churning ball of grey within the smoke figure's lower center.
Then the smoke figure started to dissipate, fading into the darkness, leaving the slowly churning ball of grey behind. The shade fell to its hands and knees and the smoke figure drifted into nothing above it. The shade's hands wrapped around its head, and its body curled inward.
As if waiting for this moment, the black hands from the depths started to creep up the shade, slowly engulfing it, and dragging it down into the darkness inch by inch. The chains groaned, straining under the pull until they started to snap, causing the shade to sink deeper, the black hands engulfing more of it. As it looked like the shade might disappear entirely, it raised its head to the dark sky above it and saw the grey ball the figure of smoke had left behind. Its arms, not yet bound by the black hands, reached out and took the ball into its hands. It held it above it, for a time, then brought it to its chest, holding it tight.
White smoke billowed out from the grey ball, and the black hands ceased their inexorable consumption of the shade and instead retreated. Then the chains reappeared, stronger than ever before, and pulled the shade out of the darkness until it stood alone, clutching the grey ball. The black hands, now only able to find purchase around its feet and ankles.
Throughout all of this, she felt waves of despair, anger, terror, grief, and hopelessness come from the shade. Yet as the scene started to completely dissolve back into dreamless slumber, as everything once more gave way to the grey haze, she felt one last wave of emotions emanate from the dream and a whisper that echoed across the grey landscape.
"Sasae..." and with it came a wave of love, hope, and determination.
She awoke with a start, her heart hammering in her chest and tears streaming down her face. She lay there for a time, letting herself calm down and the tears dry up. She had found that particularly vivid dreams like that one usually affected her physically and often woke her in the middle of the night.
She slowly sat upright and looked around, patting the mattress around her. When her fingers brushed against what she sought, she seized it and brought it to her chest. The soft body of the plush rabbit was comforting and she buried her face in its fur. After another couple of minutes, she got up from her bed and walked out of her room. She stopped in the hallway, trying to remember where Izuku was in the house. She hadn't yet memorized the layout of the old house and at night it was particularly confusing. After a minute of uncertain walking, however, she eventually found Izuku's room and opened the door.
As she stepped into the room, she saw Izuku already sitting up, legs thrown over the side of the bed. One hand was inside the drawer of the bedside table, but upon seeing her, he relaxed and closed the drawer. She walked up to him and hopped up onto the bed beside him, keeping the rabbit close to her chest.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Izuku asked, leaning down to peer at her face in the darkness.
She shook her head, "No... just a bad dream..." she mumbled.
Izuku sighed and shuffled backward, pulling his legs back onto the bed.
"You can sleep with me if you want, but ONLY for tonight. I won't be here after tomorrow, so if you have another bad dream you're going to have to be strong all right?" He said.
She nodded and as Izuku lay back down, she let herself fall sideways on the bed and swung her legs on top of it, laying close to the bed's edge. Izuku threw the sheet over her and she tried to sleep. Izuku fell back asleep easily, but she lay awake for a while after, it wasn't the memory of the dream that bothered her though. It was something else, a lurking feeling that something was amiss, but she couldn't place it. So it was that she drifted to sleep, the lurking feeling still nestled within her.
A feeling that wouldn't fade until the day after Izuku had returned to Mufustafu...
"It shouldn't be too much longer, another half hour I think," Izuku said.
"Then I better get going. How was Eri?" Ochako asked, slipping her shoes on.
"She did pretty well. She's infatuated with nature and everything in it, the couple looking after her are great as well. They know exactly how to talk and deal with her. Even Eri seemed to be warming up to them by the time I left." Izuku said.
"Well that's good, I was worried she might break down or something when you left." She said, grabbing her hat.
"Well... she kind of did. She didn't want to leave, but she managed to pull herself together in the end. The nightmare she had the day prior definitely didn't help either. She walked over to my room and slept with me when it woke her up." Izuku sighed.
"After something like that... you don't want to be alone. Even if you know you'll be fine, having someone to be with... well... it helps." Ochako said quietly, hand resting on the doorknob.
She recalled the many nightmares that had plagued her, back before Izuku had appeared. Waking up alone in the middle of the night had at best been depressing at best and terrifying at worst. She shook herself free of her reminiscence and left her apartment.
"She told me it wasn't a nightmare, just a bad dream. Not sure if I believe that though, I could tell she was pretty disturbed. On the same topic, the couple suggested she write down her dreams. Told me it's a common technique employed with people who suffer from frequent nightmares. Helps the individual process and understand the nightmares, which can in turn help reduce their frequency." Izuku said.
"Hmmm... maybe I should start one then. They've not been too bad or frequent as of late, but it couldn't hurt. We can buy a small journal or something on the way home." She mused.
"Sounds like fun. See you soon." Izuku said.
"Bye," Ochako said, hanging up.
She shoved her phone in her pocket and picked up her pace. It had sucked not having Izuku around for an entire week, but she'd managed to entertain herself well enough. Now that he was on his way back though, she was excited.
Tsu was busy teaching today, so that left her to take a bus to the station. The buses were running quite full and despite the number of people around her, no one paid her any attention. It was amazing what a hat and sunglasses could do to disguise oneself. Course, most people weren't expecting a national hero to be riding a public bus in mid-morning.
When the bus finally came to a stop just outside of the station entrance, she was starting to feel a bit cramped. She quickly disembarked and after giving her legs a quick stretch made her way into the station. The station by comparison was quite empty, only a handful of people were present at this time, but Ochako knew that in another couple hours, it would be full of people. Izuku's timing was impeccable as usual.
She sat down on a bench pulled out her phone, and whittled away the time planning out her work timetable for the coming month. She didn't need to of course; she could retire and be well off for the rest of her life. Following the end of the War on Villany, the Angels had been lauded as national heroes, and the government had assured all of them that they could retire at whatever age they wished and be well taken care of. Ochako suspected, however, that they didn't expect any of the Angels to live long. Two had died in the final battle with Shigaraki, Yo Shindo had been admitted into an institution shortly after the war's end, with Inasa and Takako developing serious issues of their own before their suicides. With only Ochako left, and sane by comparison, it wasn't much of a concern for them at this point.
Still, the prospect of sitting around and doing nothing galled her, not when her friends were still out there and doing their best to become the heroes they had always wished they had had the chance to become. She felt she could do no less, so she continued to work as a hero, even as her doubts continued to plague her.
As she was working out the final timetable for her schedule next month, the notice for the train sounded and she put her phone away. She stood up and made her way over to the station embarkation zone and waited. A couple of minutes later, the train rolled up and the door opened. She scanned up and down the station, and saw Izuku disembarking near the front. Izuku saw her making her way toward him and had a quick embrace before Ochako grabbed one of Izuku's bags while he carried the other two.
As they made their way out of the station, Ochako turned to Izuku.
"Sorry, but Tsu can't pick us up. So we'll have to take the bus home," she said apologeticly.
"You don't have to apologize," Izuku said with a laugh.
"Well, we have a small walk ahead of us. The bus stop closest to the station already had its bus come and go, so we'll just have to walk to a further one that should be arriving in about fifteen minutes." She said checking the time.
"Not a problem, I've gotten plenty of practice in long walks the past week," Izuku said with another laugh.
"With how much Eri was entranced by nature, I took her on quite a few walks along some local trails. Exhausting for her given she's still out of shape, but hopefully, she'll keep at it. It'll be a great way for her to build up her strength, especially in the future when she can start taking trails along the local mountains." Izuku continued.
"That's wonderful to hear," Ochako said brightly. "Everyone was worried how'd she take it in the end."
"I'm proud of her, she's trying her best and so long as she keeps that up, she'll get through everything okay," Izuku said.
Their conversation devolved into more mundane topics, with Izuku going into more detail about some of the events that occurred during his trip, with Ochako only able to add some meaningless gossip she'd overheard the past week.
A lull came in the conversation when they got to a crosswalk. Just past the crosswalk was the bus stop and from there it wouldn't be too much longer to home. Ochako stared up into the sky ahead of them, she could see faintly in the distance what could be grey clouds. She yawned and scanned the crowd on the other side of the street out of boredom.
Beside her, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Izuku suddenly straighten and his head flick upwards. She turned toward him when something glimmered out of the corner of her eye, like a mirror reflecting the sun. She barely had time to register it when that same light slammed into her.
The only thing that saved her was years of experience of ambushes and assassination attempts. She unconsciously manifested her gravity armor a second before the impact but it wasn't at full power. The impact was strong enough to crater her into the ground, cracking multiple bones across her body and giving her a minor concussion.
Izuku had been blown back by the shockwave, but he rolled on his back and sprang into a crouch, a small knife in his hand. She reinforced her gravity armor around her and launched herself forward into the object or person that had attacked her, she wasn't sure which from her POV. At the same time, screams erupted all around and she heard a vehicle crash into something.
As she righted herself in the air, she looked down and saw something in the street behind them shimmering into existence. Her eyes widened in shock, someone who looked like Aria Lin was getting to her feet, but that shouldn't be possible. She'd died and her body was cremated and buried. Her shock was broken when Izuku launched himself at Aria. Aria exploded into motion, turning into a scarlet blur. Ochako tried to intercept, but her shock and concussion had slowed her reaction speed and Ochako watched as Aria backhanded him with a clawed hand the same size as Izuku.
She watched in horror as Izuku went flying backward, slamming into the top edge of a car, and was deflected off of it upwards through the second-story wall of an office building. Aria stopped next to the same car, seized it in a giant clawed hand, and then threw it at Ochako.
Ochako caught the car, applied her quirk to it, and then moved it to the ground safely, where the driver was able to evacuate. That had cost her time, however, and Aria had grown a huge pair of wings and had flown up to her with a giant clawed hand raised to either slash or smash her. Whichever it was, it didn't matter as she was forced on the defensive. When the blow landed, it was as if a mountain had hit her, she was slammed into the ground with enough force to put a crater into the street a second time.
Aria sped toward her, massive clawed fist extended. Ochako slid sideways up along the side of the crater and Aria slammed into the ground, punching through it straight into the sewer below. Ochako floated back up into the air and looked down to see Aria punch through the hole she had just made, widening it. Ochako prepared to meet her head on, when Aria's lower back exploded into a shower of blood, a long silvery tail with a wickedly long stinger emerging and stabbing toward her.
She dodged it by a hairsbreadth, then grabbed the tail and spun. Aria was pulled by her tail, spinning in a circle around Ochako. Ochako rotated herself in the air, preparing to throw the woman into the ground below her when suddenly all the weight she was spinning suddenly vanished and she almost spun out of control as her momentum sent her in a random direction. She righted herself just in time as Aria, now tailless tried to grab her. Ochako ratcheted up her gravity armor as high as she could take it and grappled the woman instead. In the air, they wrestled, both trying to get a grip on the other.
The two of them, locked in combat, suddenly felt something land atop both of them. Ochako glanced past Aria and saw Izuku, blood pouring down his face, and contorted into fury. Izuku grabbed Aria's long hair as a handhold and brought his other hand forward, knife clutched tight. He tried to stab Aria in her face, but she lunged forward, mouth widening unnaturally like a snake, and bit his hand.
Perhaps it was because Izuku had been trained by Stain, but what should have bitten his entire hand off only resulted in a huge chunk being taken out of his wrist. While not as bad as having his whole hand removed, it was a serious, potentially fatal wound due to blood loss. Ochako's anger surged into her, but before she could do anything, Aria's entire back exploded, and dozens of spines erupted outward.
Izuku had his feet planted on Aria's back and with a grip on her hair, he stood on her back as if he was riding a surfboard. When the spines erupted out of her back, his feet were well and truly impaled along with most of his legs. His vital organs were saved from the worst, but his grip went slack as the spines dug deep into multiple other locations. He fell backward off of her back and hit the ground with a sickening thud as blood spurted out of his multiple wounds.
Ochako stared in shock as the spray of both Aria's and Izuku's blood spattered across her face and chest. The horrific shock it sent through her left her open and in an instant, a vast clawed hand gripped her tightly. Ochako tried to break free, and while she was able to create some wiggle room with her gravity, between Aria's grip and the intense pain she was in, it was ultimately useless. Then like a hammer to a nail, Aria slammed a fist into her head right as she loosened her grip, spiking her into the ground once more.
Izuku couldn't stand, his legs wouldn't work. He watched as Ochako was spiked into the ground not too far away from him. So using his arms, he dragged himself toward her.
As he slowly dragged himself toward her, the scarlet-haired woman landed next to Ochako. She reached down and picked up Ochako by her hair. Blood oozing from her face and he could see Ochako was likely suffering from a severe concussion. Seeing Ochako was still conscious the woman dropped Ochako to the ground and slammed a fist into her. When she next lifted Ochako into the air, she was unconscious.
Izuku dragged himself ever closer, desperate to save Ochako, but his strength was fading fast. The woman examined Ochako, staring at her for a strangely long period. The giant clawed hand that wasn't holding Ochako up by her hair exploded into blood, leaving only a regular arm behind. Izuku saw her lift her human hand toward her neck to scratch and massage it as if something very uncomfortable was present.
Then the strange fit stopped and she brought the hand to Ochako's chest. Blood started washing over Ochako, wrapping around her and then slowly solidifying into flesh, encasing her in some kind of fleshy cocoon. The woman's tail suddenly regrew and wrapped itself around the cocoon, keeping it in a tight grip. At that point, Izuku had finally dragged himself close enough to grab one of the woman's legs. Izuku panted and wheezed with the exertion, he felt so weak and he could barely speak.
The woman stared down at him, watching him. Then she casually kicked him with her foot, flipping him over. He was so weak he couldn't move anymore, could only stare at her as she stared at him. He hadn't gotten a good look at her until now, but even in his partly delirious state from blood loss and general weakness, he could see how unnatural her eyes looked.
It was like staring into the eyes of a corpse, or perhaps the eyes of one whose mind entirely left them. He could see only emptiness, no life, no intelligence, just dull bronze-colored eyes. Even the eyes of a doll looked more life-like than hers.
"Please... don't take her..." He whispered, pleading his only option left.
The effect the words had on her was shocking, as if she suddenly lost strength in her legs she staggered and almost fell. She put a hand to her head while the other started scratching her neck until it became raw and red, blood even leaked from her nose.
She drew her hand away from her head and reformed the giant claw, raising it high above her head, ready to rend Izuku asunder. The seconds ticked by, but she made no move to go through with the attack. She started to hyperventilate, as blood started leaking from her eyes like tears, and started having muscle spasms in her face.
Then the moment was broken as twelve Ectoplasms landed on the ground surrounding them. The woman looked around her, assessing the situation then she exploded, and a tidal wave of blood erupted from her. The Ectoplasms were swept up, along with Izuku, washing them away. Strangely, despite being submerged, the blood didn't invade his lungs, and a few seconds later he smacked into the side of a building and as the blood split along the building's sides, was deposited on the sidewalk.
Izuku looked to where the woman had been, but she was gone, instead, she was soaring high into the air. Her form shimmered and then vanished, turning into what could only be described as a heat haze, and then he lost track of it. Then what strength he had managed to retain left him and he slipped into unconsciousness.