Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima and My Hero Academia belongs to Kohei Horikoshi

Trigger Warning: This fanfiction story contains violence, death, rape, sexual abuse, and other material that may be sensitive to the reader.

This chapter contains: Sex trafficking, sexual assault, attempted rape, abused minors (implied), blood, and gore.

Chapter Word Count: 7000+

Up on the mountain, I see down below

It's easy to lose yourself, I know

Can't hear what you're shouting, I'm deaf to your show

It's easy to lose your self-control

Saturday, June 8, 2024

They're all standing at attention while the Boss goes over the plan one last time and gives everyone their orders. A couple of teams have been put together. There are six drivers (they're all the Boss's men), four to haul 24 victims, and the other two are for the foot soldiers. The four vans will haul 6 victims, along with someone to ride shotgun (they're the Boss's men as well) and two others in the back. In van one there's Hojo and Fukuzawa (the counselor who works at the shelter and leads the support groups). In van two there's Rappa and Yuki (a woman from the women's shelter that Fukuzawa trusts to handle and be quiet about the mission. Van three has Kurono and Sakurai (the woman Lucy saved back in April when she met Chisaki). The last van is Chisaki and Lucy's.

Lucy brought up the idea of including the women because the victims wouldn't respond well to a bunch of men busting in. It would scare the shit out of them. They also have Ms. Yamamoto waiting at her place, on standby, ready to give anyone medical help should they need it.

Chisaki looks at Lucy in the corner of his eye and is taken aback by the sight of her looking like the perfect soldier, though she's dressed differently than the others who are dressed in all black to hide any identifying marks. She reasoned that she needed the ability to maneuver her attacks without being restrained by tight material covering her from head to toe. She's wearing the attire she wore when she patrolled the streets as Celeste but instead of that raggedy white tank top, she's wearing a black one. she really is like night and day. Colorful, vibrant, happy, sweet, and caring during the day but at night her attire is dark, and her attitude is much the same. But you kind of have to put who you truly are to the side to accomplish these sorts of things they are set to do soon.

He can tell something is on Lucy's mind but doesn't ask. He wants to, but he needs to focus on the task at hand. He should have though, to get her out of her morbid thoughts. Fortunately, someone does approach her.

Lucy is thinking about all she could do if she went in there alone. She could summon Gemini to turn into her and head down to where the victims were being held while Lucy took care of the others. She could make it quick, using Cancer's speed and blades, cutting them all down. Or she could make it slow and painful by freezing them in place with Gray's Ice Demon Slayer magic and then poison them, something that will slowly kill them, leaving them to suffer and writhe in pain. So many ideas swirl around in her mind.

The meeting is adjourned and everyone is sent to double-check that everything is good to go. Lucy's broken out of her thoughts when someone puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Everything okay?" Fukuzawa asks.

"Hmm? Oh, not really. I'm ready for this to be over." She could have ended all of this sooner but they need all the bastards in one spot to take them down instead of going after each one individually.

She squeezes Lucy's shoulder, "It will be before you know it." She lets go and looks around at everyone getting ready to go. "Is it wrong that I'm excited to be part of this mission to save those victims?"

"It's not wrong. I understand why you feel that way." Lucy double-checks her keys are secured on her belt. Loke had proven during the Grand Magic Games that should her keys get taken away he can come out of his gate and find her however this place is different and there's no guarantee so she wants them difficult to remove from her person. Lucy wanted to keep Loke's key out and have Virgo hold onto the rest, but all of her spirits wanted to be available to help should the situation become extremely dire. She's surprised Chisaki hasn't asked what they are yet. It has to look weird, someone carrying keys like hers.

"I'm sure you do." Fukuzawa is concerned for Lucy. She knows the change in her demeanor is from having killed people. There's going to be bloodshed tonight, no doubt about it, she just hopes Lucy can carry out her task without having to resort to that. She doesn't want to lose her friend to the darkness. Recently more women have been coming to her support group meetings with anger coursing through them because Celeste wasn't there for them. She had to remain impartial and couldn't explain why Celeste hadn't been present. Celeste can't help anyone if she's not taking care of herself. Fukuzawa also threw out there that maybe the news was correct in saying she's dead because if she were arrested that would be all over the news.

"All right, move out everyone. Remember, Chisaki takes point on this," Boss says. Lucy takes point as well, but it won't go over well with some of the men if he instructs them to listen to a woman. She's the reason why they were able to come up with their plan. Last time, their plan almost went flawlessly. The only reason why it didn't was because of unforeseen incidents that one could not predict.

Lucy is getting a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She's been feeling it all day. Not because their plan is going to go wrong, she's positive they'll stop this auction. She feels like maybe it wasn't such a good idea for her to take part in this. More specifically, the task she was given. The sight of the condition of the victims almost made her go on a murdering spree the last time she saw them. Once she sees them she just might do that again, she's going to have to keep herself in check. Even if the world would be better off without the sick individuals behind this fucked up situation, she doesn't know how she would be able to live with herself if she slaughtered all of them. That's someone else's job. She needs to focus on hers which is getting the victims out of their hell safely.

She grabs the bag of blankets for the victims and heads out with everyone else. They'll get a change of clothes at Ms. Yamamoto's. The ride there is silent. Once they arrive at their destination, they park in a secluded spot where they shouldn't be noticed. Lucy was able to map out the area very well, finding the best spot to sneak the 24 victims out with no one noticing. Not only by the individuals hosting and attending this fucked up event. A couple of the attendees are heroes! At first, when she learned this during her recognizance she thought they were undercover. It made her sick to her stomach when she heard otherwise.

Once everyone has gathered around, they go over their plan one more time. "Remember, we'll be sending out 6 at a time. Hojo, Fukuzawa, you'll be up first waiting over there." Chisaki points in the direction of the wall he will disassemble to get the victims out. "Once they get over here, they will get in the van and leave to go to the designated spot. Once they're gone, the next team will be sent. Rappa and Yuki. After them, it's Kurono and Sakurai and then lastly Lucy and I will leave the building with the last 6. Be as discreet as possible and do your best to remain calm." He directs that last statement at the women. "Should anyone realize what is happening and come after us, there are snipers that will take them down." Yeah, Boss said they won't be distributing guns anymore, doesn't mean they can't have any to use themselves. "Everyone ready?"

"Yes, sir," The men answer and the women say, "Yeah." "As ready as we'll ever be."

Lucy walks over to Chisaki, "Are you ready?"

He takes in a deep breath. Hugging is completely different than holding hands, but he needs to do what needs to be done so he slowly wraps his arms around her, her doing the same with him. He holds her closer and wishes he could have experienced this for the first time under better circumstances.

"Hold on," Lucy holds him tighter to her before sinking into the shadows. She's never traveled with anyone this way. She had wanted to practice beforehand but Chisaki wouldn't practice with her. He was too leery about it. In the end, it was Fukuzawa she practiced with. Rappa volunteered but Chisaki wasn't fond of the idea of another man getting so close to her. She travels through the entrance without anyone noticing and she doesn't stop until she gets to the shadowy corner she found, during her spying, which would hide them well.

Once his body is back to normal, he steps away from Lucy and checks himself out. "I'm clean."

"Huh?" Lucy has no clue what he could possibly mean by that statement.

Chisaki nervously chuckles, "Well, I thought we would get dirty from traveling that way."

Oh, that makes sense. Lucy gives him a gentle smile and makes sure to convert in her eyes that she's not passing any judgment before turning her attention to who's in the room. She's disgusted by how many people have shown up for this. There's more than she thought there would be and not all of them are from Japan. She spots Wakabayashi and a few members of the Steel Wolf clan. She also happens to spot Kumagai and has to stop herself from letting out a growl. What the fuck. She continues to scan around the room and takes notice of the other women in attendance. She decides to listen in on their souls, curious if they're here on their own accord. She has to focus intently on only their souls. She's heard some of the men's before and it was horrible. She wants to cry and go on a rampage when she hears they're here to take part in this as well. The situation is fucked up enough as it is, but women attending not bothered in the slightest by what's going on makes this even more fucked up. She stops listening in lest she do something and blow their cover.

Chisaki can feel her deadly aura and he feels the same but it's time to get out of there. It will be starting soon, they can't afford to waste any more time. They need to get the victims out before it starts, and by then everyone will be in attendance. His men will be able to take everyone out then. He nudges her and whispers, "C'mon, we got to get going."

Lucy nods her head, "Right." She hugs him again before turning into a shadow and travels on the route she found would be the quickest to get to the victims.

Lucy and Chisaki appear from the shadows in a hallway that will lead them to the room. They could travel underneath the crack of the door, but Lucy is worried that will spook them too much. They walk quietly down the hall keeping their eyes and ears out for anyone that may be loitering around.

Quietly, Chisaki says, "Your quirk is good for recognizance missions. Not that I doubted it, but hearing about it and experiencing are two different things."

"Yeah," Lucy whispers back, "It's what made it easier to do my job as Celeste. The bastards didn't know I was there until it was too late." Lucy would like to use soul-hearing but it would be too suspicious if Lucy wasn't surprised by someone walking around the corner in the hall they're in. They're almost to the door and what do you know, two men appear from the hallway to the left. Chisaki and Lucy take them down easily enough. She's never seen him fight, understandably so because he doesn't like to get his hands dirty or bloody. She's come to learn that it's dirt and blood bothers him the most.

Chisaki disassembles the man he fought and then turns to Lucy. She has the man pinned to the ground with her foot on his neck but hesitates in killing her opponent. He takes care of the man before he can get the upper hand on Lucy.

Lucy turns away from the sight and hears Chisaki begin to freak out about the amount of blood on him and in the area now. She ignores the gruesome sight and focuses her attention on calming him down. He plays a big part in their plan and they can't afford for him to break down, not yet.

She holds his hands and tries to soothe him, but it doesn't work so she slowly pulls him into a hug and rests his forehead on her shoulder, rubbing his back. "The sooner we get this job done, the sooner we can get out of this godforsaken place and get cleaned up okay."

Chisaki takes in a deep breath through his mask and nods his head. She's right, he needs to get his shit together. The boss would be disappointed if he fucked up. The last thing he wants to do is disappoint Boss, or Lucy for that matter. Once he's calmed down he breaks free of Lucy's hold. "I'm good now."

Lucy nods her head, "Good. Let's go."

As they try to avoid stepping in the pools of blood Chisaki asks. "What happened back there?"

Lucy answers, "I froze. Honestly, I can't handle killing people, no matter who they are. I always made sure the criminals were taken away."

Chisaki grabs a hold of her hand and squeezes it, "Then how about you tell me who needs to be killed and I'll do it for you?"

Lucy doesn't get a chance to reply to that because a scream of "Please, no! Don't! Stop!" is heard in the room they arrived at. There goes the plan of not entering the room as a shadow. She wastes no time grabbing Chisaki to get into that room as quickly as possible.

The sight they're both greeted with makes their blood boil. A woman is lying naked on the floor, being pinned down by two men. One is holding her wrists together with one hand above her head, the other groping one of her breasts harshly while the other man is kneeling in between her legs, hands on both knees spreading her out. His member is hanging out of the pants and briefs he pulled down to his thighs.

The woman has her eyes closed tight not wanting to see what they're doing. She tried thrashing around which ended with their grip holding her down tighter. She is screaming for them to stop, she can feel his hand creep down her thigh. Whimpers come out of her mouth and tears stream down her face. Just when the man is close to violating her even more, something warm and wet splatters on her body and she hears the man that's in between her legs yell out, "What the fuck?" The weight has been lifted off of her and someone pulls her up and wraps her in a hug. She tries to get out of the person's hold until she realizes it's a woman and she's attempting to comfort her saying, "It's okay, we're getting you out of here."

Lucy turns her head away from the sight of Chisaki disassembling the man piece by piece, starting with the man's dick. Her body is shaking from the horrific sight of the woman being pinned down and she cries for the woman. It was too close of a call, they were almost too late. They should have acted quicker than they did. 'Calm down Lucy, this isn't about you right now.' Once she has the woman calmed down, for the most part, she lets go so she can grab a blanket to wrap the woman in.

Chisaki walks over to them, anger overwhelming him, and he is trying with all his might to not freak the fuck out about being covered in blood. He was not expecting this job to get this messy. He looks down at the woman and unintentionally scares her.

Lucy hears the woman's whimper and looks up at Chisaki, "Calm down, you're scaring her." Her attention turns to the woman, "Don't worry he's one of the good guys."

The woman nods her head. She figured as much, but the sight of him covered in blood from head to toe was a little off-putting. "Are-are you here to get us out?"

"Yes, we are." Lucy uses soul-hearing and counts the number of souls in the room to make sure everyone is accounted for. When she is satisfied, she guides the woman down the aisle of cells. "He's going to disassemble the walls, creating a path out of here. Will you be able to help get everyone out of here?"

The woman nods her head and heads to the first cell the guy who saved her destroys. He disassembles the metal bars with ease and the woman goes to the cowering victims, assures them everything will be okay, and guides them in the direction she was shown to go. There's already a hole for them to go through so they head right into the next room.

Lucy is helping the apprehensive victims, she would be too witnessing what Chisaki is capable of and the aftermath of his actions making him look like someone out of a horror movie, when she spots two little boys, battered and bruised, hugging each other. They can't be any older than 8 years old. There are also a couple of girls who look to be a couple of years older than them. It's hard to tell because it looks as if they've been starved. She knew it was bad. She saw it when she snuck in to get the layout. Oh, how she wished to help them out then but she knew they needed to get the monsters all in one place to ensure they couldn't do this again.

They look so much worse than what she remembered. Then there was the sight of everyone in the main room, laughing and having a good time knowing these human beings were going through hell. Then what they witnessed not too long ago. The blood coursing through her veins is boiling even hotter. "Chisaki," Lucy calls out.

He walks over to her, seeing her shaking in anger, "What is it?"

"Do you remember the directions to lead us out of here?"

"Yeah, why?" He doesn't recall ever seeing her so pissed off.

"I got to go take care of something." Before he can ask what she says loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Everyone! I need you to remain calm and trust this man with me. I have to go take care of something. Don't worry, he won't let any harm come to you." The fire burning in her is so hot now she's surprised she hasn't spontaneously combusted.

"Lucy, the plan is for me to reassemble the walls to make it difficult for anyone to follow." He can't leave her behind, "Please, I can't do this without you."

"Yes, you can." She goes to cup his face but stops herself, "Don't worry about me."

Yeah, that won't be possible but they don't have time to argue, "Fine-" Before he can tell her to be careful, the two little boys run up to him. He looks down into their frightened eyes.

"C-can w-we please go n-now?"

Chisaki nods and directs his attention to Lucy only to discover she already left. He sighs and then says, "Let's go."

Lucy leaves while he's distracted. Is it foolish of her to do this? Yes. But something is burning up inside of her. When she gets to the room where the auction is going to take place, the burning sensation that she's been feeling gets so bad that before she knows it she's covered in flames. They're not hurting her though because they're Natsu's flames. How in the hell did she accomplish this without using Gemini's Stardress? 'You subconsciously called upon his power princess', Gemini answers.

If Lucy remembers, she'll ask for a further explanation but she needs to turn into Natsu before anyone manages to catch a glimpse of her through the flames. The fact that the difference in magic power doesn't mean shit in this world is very helpful.

"Natsu" charges into the fray yelling at his allies to get out of there, that he's got this.

Jiji's men are confused as all hell as to where this pink-haired man came from and why he's helping. Their eyes go wide when the stranger yells, "Fire Dragon's Roar!" Burning everyone in the path of the attack to a crisp. The heat is excruciating and they decide to listen to the man and get out of there. Like hell, they want to be caught up in that, not to mention this man is going to attract a lot of attention so they need to get the hell out of there now! They shoot people down to stop them from escaping. A wall of fire separates them and they take that opportunity to turn around and run.

Everyone screams in fear and runs for the exits but before they can reach the doors, "Natsu" shoots out fireballs from her hands, separating the assholes from the door by walls of fire. The heat is so excruciating that they get burns, even from a few feet away. Unfortunately, a few people did manage to escape before she lit the doors on fire. The quirkless all gather in the middle of the room searching for an escape while yelling for the person to stop and let them go.

They along with the ones with quirks, useless ones at that, get frozen on the spot. Ice forms on the ground and travels up to their waists holding them in place. They look around for the one responsible and where a pink-haired man stood, there is now a dark-haired man clad in only boxers. He smirks before a bright light shines and now there is a man with maroon hair, a scar going over his missing right eye. The look on his face turns sinister when he releases a purple mist from his mouth.

When they breathe it in they writhe in pain, clutching their throats. Some fight through it and use their guns, knives, and anything they have on their person to break the ice to free themselves.

Lucy calms her breathing and slowly returns to normal. She doesn't know what kind of effect Cobra's poison ability will have on her. If she had a copy of Chelia's magic before she lost it, she wouldn't be too worried. Lucy smacks her forehead, "Lucy you idiot." She pulls out Gemini's key and summons them.

When they appear they automatically turn into Wendy and remain by Lucy's side in case they're needed. "Princess, you need to get out of here soon."

"I know Gemini." Lucy covers her mouth and coughs. She pulls her hand away and sees blood on it. "I have to make sure they're not going to get away."

Gemini gets right to healing Lucy, "Look around princess, I don't think they are."

Lucy does so and her eyes go wide at the destruction. She knew the night was going to end with a lot of people dying, but not like this or by her hand. She takes in the scene and cries, "Gemini, what did I do."

"What you had to. They will never hurt anyone again. You're all healed up." Before Gemini leaves they say one last thing, "Lucy, we could never judge you for this when we've killed innocent people."

"Gemini..."

"We love you, Lucy, now go before it's too late."

Lucy nods her head, "Love you too Gemini." After Gemini leaves Lucy takes in a deep breath. Before she sinks into the shadows she hears someone shoot off a gun and the bullet hits her left arm. Because of the adrenaline pumping through her system, she doesn't even realize she's been shot. she really does need to get the hell out of there.

She's lucky there's a hole for her to travel through as a shadow. She moves as fast as she can. Hopefully, they didn't leave without her. If they did, she wouldn't be upset. It would be completely understandable.

When she gets to the room with the holding cells, she appears back to normal and runs to the wall that was supposed to lead her out of there. "Fuck!" She looks over every inch of the wall. There's no way he would leave her trapped. What feels like forever she finds a hole for her to slither into as a shadow. She quickly does just that and takes the path leading her to her destination. The holes left in the walls are in the same spot making it easier to get out of there.

She finally reached the spot where the vehicles were parked. The second her body is back she's yanked into a van and the door slams shut.

"Get out of here! Now!" Chisaki orders the driver. He was so pissed off when she went back. Seriously, what the fuck was she thinking going off alone. It was hard for him to not follow and back her up. He had a mission to complete though. Boss's orders come before her.

It was difficult to get the victims out of there himself. Thankfully the woman he saved, whom he came to learn her name is Mika, managed to pull it together enough to help him. Her mother happened to be a germaphobe, but much worse and noticed the signs of a freak out coming due to all of the blood and dirt. He had to give it to her, after everything she had gone through, she was able to pull strength out to help. He noticed a few of them had quirk-cancelling cuffs on and disassembled them. Should anything happen he would need the backup since Lucy decided to take off.

He ordered the drivers to leave the second everyone was in their assigned van and head to their designated spot to enter the underground tunnels. There was a route to Ms. Yamamoto's basement that Kurono, Rappa, and Hojo led the way to. The driver and passenger of that van were to drive aimlessly around and if no one was following to go back to the compound.

One of the soldiers contacted him and explained they were backing out due to a pink-haired man entering the fray. When they explained everything. Chisaki was angry but understood and sent them away too.

Then his anger turned into worry when he saw the building in flames emitting a massive heat wave and heard all of the screams. Was one of those screams hers? Was that pink-haired man attacking her? While everyone sat in the van, tensions running high, waiting for Lucy, Chisaki paced back and forth at the side. If she didn't come out soon he would have to make the necessary choice of leaving her behind.

His heart dropped when the building was engulfed in flames. There was no way was going to be able to get out of that. Sirens could be heard and unfortunately, he had to make the decision he hoped he wouldn't have to make. He got in the van and as he was about to slam the door shut Lucy appeared in front of him. He wasted no time grabbing her and throwing her into the van. He turns his head in her direction ready to question her only to remain silent at the sight of her passed out.

Mika takes notice of Chisaki's anxiety rising, "Focus on Lucy," she tells him before turning her attention to the other survivors, doing her best to get them to remain calm. She's on the verge of breaking down herself, but it's going to have to wait she has terrified children to tend to. It breaks her heart to listen to them call out for a loved one.

Chisaki listens to Mika and puts all of his focus on Lucy. He makes his way over to Lucy and lifts her to hold her against him. He notices her wince and hears a moan as well as something wet on her arm. He checks her over and discovers a bullet hole in her left arm. He'll fix that once they're at Ms. Yamamoto's. Until then, she's going to have to deal with it. He gets her seated on his lap, one arm wrapped around her abdomen, the other gently holding her head against his shoulder. He rests his chin on top of her head and focuses on her breathing.

It's a long ride to their destination. The driver makes a bunch of different turns and the man riding shotgun keeps an eye out for anyone following them. When they finally arrive they have to act quickly since they're so far behind. The passenger gets out of the van, moves the grate, and climbs down the ladder to the tunnel. The plan was for Lucy to be the one down there first and Chisaki to be the last, but since she's incapacitated their plans had to change.

While the women and children make their way down, the driver helps Chisaki get her on his back. He should be careful going down the ladder with her but they don't have the time. The second he's down there the passenger scurries back up, covers the hole, and gets the hell out of there.

Since Lucy keeps sliding off of his back, Mika helps Chisaki maneuver Lucy in his arms so he can carry her bridal style. It's a quiet walk through the tunnels. Chisaki doesn't know what to say to them and doesn't know how to comfort them. That's Lucy's area of expertise, unfortunately, she's still passed out in his arms with no signs of waking.

What the hell happened to her in there? Did it have anything to do with the pink-haired man? He guesses that she overexerted herself fighting while also inhaling the smoke from the fire. Her throat isn't going to be in good condition he knows that much.

After what feels like an eternity they finally arrive at the entrance to Ms. Yamamoto's basement. Due to Lucy's accurate information on how many beds Ms. Yamamoto would need for the survivors she was able to have her place readily prepared. Thankfully, Fukuzawa is there to welcome them, she can lead the survivors with him to where they need to go.

"Oh my god! What the hell happened to Lucy?" Fukuzawa frets over her friend's condition.

"I'll worry about that. I need you to take them," Chisaki directs his words to the survivors, "to where they need to go while I fix her arm."

"What happened to her arm?"

Chisaki turns and walks down the tunnel a few feet from the entrance, "She was shot." He gently lies her down on the floor and settles himself next to her on the left side of her. He takes off his gloves, picks up her arm, and closes his eyes. For once, he can't watch what he's about to do.

"Chi... sa... ki...?"

He opens his eyes and looks into her heavy-lidded ones. "What were you thinking?"

She coughs "I..." and coughs again. "wasn't."

"Shhh... don't talk. This is going to hurt." He closes his eyes and disassembles her arm, blood splattering everywhere. His heart hurts at her hoarse screaming. He reassembles it, making it as good as new, and places it in his lap. He grabs the material from her glove, reassembles that as well, and then puts it back on her. It doesn't surprise him that she passed out from the pain.

He gingerly picks her up and takes her to Ms. Yamamoto's so the old woman can finish taking care of Lucy. As much as he would like to remain by her side, he really, really needs a shower and a new change of clothes. He calls up one of the yakuza's men to take care of the mess he made in the tunnel.

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

It's been three weeks since they saved the women and children from an even more horrific fate. It wasn't too long after Chisaki and Lucy's group fled that the heroes arrived at the scene. They got out of there just in the nick of time.

After Chisaki fixed up Lucy, he passed her off to Fukuzawa before going back to the compound to get cleaned up. He stood in the shower, one hand propped on the wall, head bowed as the water cascaded down his body rinsing the filth away. He watched as the blood went down the drain, some of which was Lucy's. He got so pissed at the fact he disassembled the tiled wall and created a huge watery mess. He reassembled what he had broken, finished cleaning himself off, and when he got out, wrapping a towel around his waist, he called someone to clean it up. Unfortunately, that mess went into his bedroom, and now that too had to be cleaned.

He sighed, all he wanted to do was get some rest. He didn't want to use any of the extra bedrooms, so he changed into a suit and went back to Ms. Yamamoto's. Not that he would have a place to sleep there but if he was going to be up all night, might as well be by Lucy's side.

Chrono accompanied him, who was silent along the way. The man had so many questions of his own but he knew his longtime friend was not in the mood to answer any of them. Chisaki probably didn't have the answer to some of them anyway. The one who held the answers was in a bed at Ms. Yamamoto's home.

Not too long after Chisaki arrived, he heard Lucy scream. He ran to the room she stayed when she lived there, knowing that she would have been put there, beating whoever it was on their way to her room too. He barged in, ran straight to the bed, and enveloped her in a big hug, rubbing her back and telling her that it was okay, and everything was all right. Not that it was but that's what she always said to him when he had his little freakouts.

It got her to calm down thankfully. He took notice of how cold and clammy her skin was, how she was rapidly breathing and was on her way to hyperventilating. He called for the old lady and while he waited for her he got Lucy to stick her head in between her knees and take deep breaths. He stayed by her side rubbing her back.

Ms. Yamamoto made her way in and told the young man that this wasn't the first time she woke up in fright so she brought in an anesthetic to put Lucy under so she could get some more sleep and heal. Her physical body not only suffered from burns, but her throat had some damage to it from smoke inhalation. It will take a while for that to heal, depending on the severity. Her mental health is another matter.

It was only a matter of time before she broke and killing those people was the tipping point. Ms. Yamamoto and Jiji already discussed they'll have to do their best to help her through it. They may or may not have experience in that area.

An extra bed was brought into Lucy's room so Chisaki could stay in there with her when it became evident he didn't plan on going away anytime soon. The Boss had brought an extra change of clothes for him and Ms. Yamamoto went to Lucy's home to pack a bag for her. The times Lucy wakes up, she eats silently, not that she can talk at the moment and Ms. Yamamoto helps her bathe.

Lucy can't believe she used her friend's abilities to straight up murder human beings. Yes, they were scum, however, it doesn't make it right. She also can't believe she was capable of such a thing. Yeah, she imagined it, almost exactly like how it played out, but she never once thought she could actually go through with it.

The images of what she did replay over and over when she goes to sleep. She's thankful Ms. Yamamoto gave her sleeping pills that knocked her out into a dreamless slumber. Talking about it with either her or Jiji would make her feel somewhat better, but she can't at the moment. Chisaki only leaves her side if he has to.

There are times she silently breaks down and every time Chisaki is right there to hold and comfort her. The first time it took her by surprise and tried to pull away, but he held on tighter, not letting her go. She couldn't help but think about how right it felt being in his arms even though it wasn't the right time to be thinking about such things.

Speaking of arms, she vaguely remembers what Chisaki did to heal hers. She doesn't know why he did that, Ms. Yamamoto could have easily removed the bullet and stitched her up. Her left arm is now scar-free. It's weird not having any evidence from the battles she fought in.

There was an investigation into what happened. There wasn't a suspect at first until a survivor spoke up. Not a survivor they saved, no. It was one of the bastards that escaped. A hero no less. He told the police, that he saw Celeste fleeing the scene, but he couldn't catch her fast enough and went on to describe the pink-haired man who attacked. Black onyx eyes, 5'7, and a white scaly scarf. It wasn't much but that's all he was able to catch. His fire was hotter than any fire he'd come across, he dared to say even Endeavors.

Celeste was no longer considered a vigilante but now a wanted dangerous villain and it's more important than before to capture her.

The news broadcasted all of that information along with the fact there may be other suspects. Not all of the bodies were burned beyond recognition which left the investigators to catch what looked to be dried blood coming from the tear ducts of the victims, as well as the nose ears, and mouth. There were autopsies and they revealed a poison in their system which was the most likely cause. They also discovered what looked to be frostbite on the bodies from the waist down.

The only names released about those murdered were those already labeled criminals and villains. Anyone of any importance was not mentioned, which meant a higher-up had to have known what was going on in that building and decided to sweep it under the rug. This would explain why the hero that was there, was not questioned more thoroughly about WHY he was there. That wasn't his patrol area.

Some heroes found the whole thing fishy, even All Might, but they were ordered to drop it. All Might would have stepped on some toes to figure it out, but he had a job to do and a kid to train.

Mika tried to come forward on behalf of Celeste and told the authorities she wasn't a villain. She saved many lives. She knew this because she was there, and she was there because of the hero that spoke up. She told them what Lucy had told her. That "hero" was there as a potential buyer for a human being who was captured only to be sold off. They refused to believe her and locked her up for accusing the hero of such things. She wasn't going to be there long, just long enough to frighten her from saying anymore and get the whereabouts of Celeste and her accomplices.

The following day, the cop on duty who was assigned to feed the criminals found her cell empty. This too was covered up. What would people think if they found out a quirkless woman was able to escape jail? The authorities kept it quiet and discussed it had to have been Celeste and the others with her.

They couldn't be more wrong.

After the news declared Celeste a villain, Chisaki gave Chrono Lucy's cloak to be burned. She really was going to have to cast that part of her life aside. When the news showed the hero being a victim of what happened, he had to hold himself back from hunting the asshole down and blowing his head off.

But when he found out that Mika was arrested for speaking out, Chisaki couldn't let that one fly. After everything she went through, she was able to help him, help the others get out of that hell hole calmly. After everything she went through, she managed to find the bravery to speak up and tell the truth only to be arrested. Fuck that.

Chisaki went down there in the dead of night and with the help of Chrono found out which cell she was in. He disassembled the wall, got her out of there, fixed the wall, and took her to Fukuzawa who would be able to help her.

Normally The Boss would be upset with Chisaki for acting on his own like that, but with this situation he let it go. He was proud he didn't have to order Chisaki to help someone, he did it of his own accord.

He's sitting by Lucy's bed, holding her hand, while Chisaki showers. It's going to be hard to help and watch her come to terms with what she did. Only he and Ms. Yamamoto know what that woman is capable of and it's so hard to keep it a secret from Chisaki. How would he explain to the young man, a man who feels quirks are a plague to society, that the woman he is falling in love with is the one who burned, frozen, and poisoned all of those people? Technically though she doesn't have quirks, she has abilities that were considered magic where she was from. What would Chisaki think of that story?

He managed to get the Tanaka's to give her a leave of absence from work for an undetermined amount of time. His excuse was that she suffered a great loss. They knew better than that but didn't question it and told him she could take all the time she needed. Her job and apartment aren't going anywhere.

Lucy's eyes flutter open and going by the scent she knows who is there. "Jiji."

He squeezes her hand and pats it with his other one, "Lucy dear, how are you feeling?"

"Like shit," Lucy says as she sits up. Her voice is still hoarse but her throat has healed nicely. "Where Chisaki?"

"He's in the shower. Would you like some water?"

"Please." When she's handed the cup of ice-cold water, she takes a drink and sighs. It feels so good against her throat. "I think it's about time I get out of Ms. Yamamoto's hair and go home. I didn't even need to be here this long."

Jiji chuckles, "She likes having you here."

Everybody gets high, everybody gets low

Life can be such an overdose

Up on the mountain, I see down below

It's easy to lose yourself, I know, in the in between

Beartooth – In Between

I'm not sure how I feel about ending the chapter here. Ah, well.

NEXT CHAPTER: FAIRY TAIL'S REACTION