"The assumption that quirks will eventually become uncontrollable in the future is quite frankly, preposterous. The research was based on first and second generation quirk users, whose bodies were just beginning to adapt to quirk biology. As we've seen in later generations, human bodies have adapted to better handle the quirks they were born with.

The main argument to the Quirk Singularity Theory hinged on human bodies not evolving to compliment their new abilities, which has been proven false over time. The data behind this study is woefully outdated."

-Dr. Zandik Buht, former research assistant to Dr. Kyudai Garaki, circa 2180

[U.A. Multipurpose Emergency Center: April 28, 2242]

Two days had passed since they arrived in this world. The white rodent had returned yesterday with a stack of books and a guide that translated the Orokin letters into whatever this native language was.

But that wasn't the Lotus's concern right now. Yesterday, she and Ordan had spent the day comforting Haylee. The news that she was the last surviving Tenno was heartbreaking to her. She'd been torn away from them by Ballas, abandoning them for two whole years and leaving her network of Cephalons to take care of them.

And then she'd helped facilitate the invasion of the entire system. At first, she was fully willing. After all, the Orokin had reprogrammed her to serve the Tenno and betray the Sentients, right? But then she started to notice the inconsistencies. The way Ballas seemed a little too invested in working with Erra for a supposed slave. Erra's guilty expression whenever they spoke.

When she started to question her memories, her brother tried to deflect. By the time she began to break free from the manipulation it was too late. They used her to power her mother's corpse, relighting the lost fire of her core. Every passing week she became weaker and weaker. She was dying.

By the time Teshin and Haylee had reached her, she was barely clinging on to life. Nearly a mindless Eidolon. Her allies' determination had been rewarded with a swift execution for the Dax, her brother snapping the warrior's neck when the Veil failed to take hold.

But it had been even worse for Haylee. Tenno were notoriously difficult to kill. Ballas's solution was to open a portal back into the poisonous hellscape and throw the girl inside, but not before impaling the girl with her own sword.

From what Haylee had told them, the version of her that didn't get rescued from the Void had replaced her. Powerless, but sharing the same bravery as the Tenno. It was the Drifter who nursed her back from her near-death state. She had unfortunately repaid that kindness by attempting to kill the alternate Haylee in a feral state. Luckily, the younger Haylee had somehow managed to return and break her out of that state.

When she regained lucidity, she was furious. She rushed to Cetus, hijacking one of Narmer's Murex ships and slaughtered her way through the fleet. And yet her mostly restored power wasn't enough, and Ballas's tampering still remained.

And her child came to save her yet again. Haylee saved her, bought her enough time to fight back and slay the mad god-king.

But they were too late. Whatever Ballas had done was irreversible at that point. The entire sun was destabilized, and what was worse, the Void was cascading into reality. Void storms were nothing new, but this was different. Both realities were folding in on each other.

She had used her newly reclaimed power to try and seal the breach, with Haylee's assistance.

But then the girl had disappeared, replaced by the Drifter yet again.

She stood in front of the rupture in space-time, which grew ever larger by the second. Other breaches had begun to form all over the Praghasa, horrible alien screeches overwhelming the roar of the sun.

Her purple aura flared, and she channeled her power to seal the rupture to no avail. A beam of Void energy struck the breach, and she looked to her right to see Haylee blasting it…

Only for the girl to blink out of existence and be replaced by the Drifter.

"Where is she!" She screamed, voice barely overcoming the sound of the Void.

"I made a deal, now she needs to make one too or we're all fucked!" The older Haylee yelled back. Cracks were already starting to form on her skin as she fired a void blast into the rupture.

They struggled for only a moment before everything faded in a burst of white.

When she first woke up on that beach, she was in a daze. All her memories returned, every personality compounded into one being. The first two days had been a whirlwind of information that she hadn't had time to cope with. The fact that she and her father were human now, that all but one of her adopted children were dead… and they had no way to ever return home.

"Lotus?" Haylee asked. "Do you want to… talk about it?"

She looked at the girl sitting next to her on the bed. Right, her crisis of identity. With all the memories swarming around in her head, and the three voices of Natah, Margulis, and the Lotus fighting for control, she had turned to Ordan for advice. He told her to pick a voice to guide the others. She didn't want to be Margulis. It was too tied to Ballas and his manipulations, and she wasn't the long dead Archemedian. It was all stolen memories.

To the Tenno, she was still the Lotus.

But to her family, she was Natah.

"I… yes, Tenno. I do." She decided. "My mind is split. I don't know who I want to be now that all of this is over. Am I Natah, or the Lotus?"

Haylee pondered for a moment. "Is this because of Hunhow and Erra being free? Or your experiences with Ballas?"

"I believe that is part of it. I know that they were your enemies, but they are still my family, despite all the horrific things they have done." She sighed. "Erra was supposed to be dead, and Hunhow was buried, dying alone. All they ever wanted was to be reunited with me…" 'And to finish what they started.' She thought to herself.

The blue haired Tenno set down the book she was studying. "After all they put us through, they still loved you, even if they were caught up in revenge against the Orokin." She started to say something, but reconsidered. "And they did choose to do the right thing, in the end. Even if it was also within their own self-interest." To be honest, Haylee didn't entirely blame the Sentients for their hatred of the Orokin. After all, she was part of the reason the long armed scum were wiped out.

Maybe in another life, the Tenno and Sentient could've joined together to topple the Golden Lords. If they weren't forced to be weapons for the Orokin, and if the Sentient's hatred hadn't extended to all human life, the system would've been a much better place. Now only three remained of their kind, all human like her.

As much as she despised Hunhow and Erra, she couldn't help but pity them. The sentient elder was trapped beneath the surface of Uranus for centuries, slumbering as his body rotted away. Vile as he could be, it must have been utter hell. He sacrificed everything on a gamble that his daughter would destroy the Orokin per his agreement with Ballas, and when he awoke, he no longer recognized his daughter.

Erra she wasn't as familiar with, but Haylee hated him far more than Hunhow. He snapped Teshin's neck right in front of her, all because she had been too slow.

"One for the reject pile, then."

She shuddered at the memory. Had she been faster, he would've still been alive. Her feelings about the Dax's killer were conflicted, especially seeing how Ballas ended up treating him. There was also the fact that Erra bared his body against the might of the sun to allow Haylee to reach his sister. She wouldn't have made it through the Sentient mothership without his aid. He had her gratitude, but she would never forgive him.

"I'm not the same person as the one who left you before. My restoration made me… more. Everything that was taken from me has returned. I chose to protect the Tenno; to go against my father's plan."

"Then you should choose for yourself who you want to be. Make your own choices. You don't have anyone controlling you anymore." She hugged the sentient queen. "No matter who you decide to be, it won't change the way I feel."

She took a deep breath.

"Dream... not of what you are... but of what you want to be."

"I… am Natah. Daughter of Hunhow, protector of the Tenno. No longer will I let others choose who I am."

She felt a sense of calm wash over her, the voices in her head falling into line, her thoughts clear.

She was free.

[Musutafu General Hospital: April 28, 2242]

Inosuke found out where he was through the History channel, of all things. The hospital staff had seen he was growing restless, and activated some weird thing on the wall that showed moving pictures and sounds. After telling him that "No, there are not little people inside the television." and "Please don't try to crawl inside it, how did you get out of the handcuffs?" he had settled down to watch. Not being able to leave the room was boring, despite the delicious food he was eating.

"Coming up next, we continue our journey through the history of Japan. The start of the First World War, over three centuries ago, began almost two years after the beginning of the Taishō period-"

Crash!Inosuke dropped his plate onto the floor in shock. The rest of what the voice on the screen was saying was drowned out by his own thoughts.

"-over three centuries-"

"-over three centuries-""-over three centuries-"That was three hundred years. That meant that his friends were gone. Their children were gone, if they had any. Their grandchildren-

He punched himself in the face to snap himself out of the spiral. Getting stuck thinking about all that wouldn't help him at all. What would Tanjiro do in this situation? He was always one who could come up with something. Inosuke knew he wasn't the smartest, and if it was anything besides battle he was at a loss. His friends were helping him learn more about the world, but they'd taught him a little in the year since they beat Muzan.

"-capture of several German island colonies-"

Why him? Why was he in the future? Were the others here too? He furthest back he could remember was hunting on the mountin-

THROB!

"Agh!" He clutched his head as the shooting pain returned, and a drop of blood leaked out of his nose. The doctors told him he had something called 'PTSD' or something, and that he shouldn't try to strain himself remembering, as it might cause another seizure. Damn it. Why did this have to happen to him!

He really wanted to hit something. Anything to distract him from having to think about this. He could break out of the cuffs again. Dislocating his wrist was trivially easy. The only issue would be that the staff would immediately know he left the room. After he broke out the first time when they first turned on the television they attached something to his ankle to track him somehow. Even if he got out and somehow removed the ankle tracker, he still didn't know where he would go. The police confiscated his swords, and the only things he had left were his mask and pants, only because he put up such a fight when they tried to take them away.

Plus there could be other people like Worm Scarf, Bamboo Guy, and Rabbit Lady out there, ready to bring him back and get him into more trouble than he was already in.

"Now, we can't charge you with any villainous activity without a quirk, but we can press criminal charges for assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a deadly weapon, destruction of public property. The only reason you are here and not in a cell is because you don't seem to know what's going on."

That police guy with the burgundy colored ponytail came back yesterday to tell him that.
"You seem like a good kid, a bit on the wild side like a certain someone… nevermind. I probably shouldn't be saying this until the paperwork is finalized, but there is a rehabilitation program that you would qualify for, and someone has already applied to take you in. All you would need to do is sign this, and you would be in their care."

Inosuke had signed it, albeit with extremely messy and near illegible handwriting.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THIS IS REALLY PISSING ME OFF!" He shouted angrily. He grabbed the remote that let him change what the tv was showing. The channel changed repeatedly as he rapidly pressed the button.

"New from Feel Good-"

"- bodies found in an alley-"

"-lassic films block right now!"

Until he finally stopped when one caught his eye.

"Live on the scene as the Lion Hero: Shishido has engaged with a group of unknown villains!"

The man on the screen wore an outfit of fluffy furs with spikes. It reminded Inosuke of his own outfit in a way. Facing off against the Lion Hero was a woman with short ratty blonde hair wearing rugged black armor, who was screeching something in another language. She had whips extending from her arms and was flailing them around, trying to keep the large beast-like man away.

There was a large crowd visible near the camera, watching the fight like it was some sort of event. He remembered a few passerbys watching as he had fought Rabbit Lady and Bamboo guy. "Idiots, standing around like that would get you killed in the mountains." He scoffed.

On screen, Shishido grabbed one of the woman's whips as it barely missed his head in one of his clawed hands, yanking the woman over and landing a solid punch to the jaw, knocking her out instantly.

"Woah… that guy's strong." He was impressed. He also wanted to fight the guy himself. His distress momentarily forgotten, he muttered to himself. "Heroes… huh…"

[U.A. Multipurpose Emergency Center: April 28, 2242]

Ordan flipped to the next page of the book he was reading. For the past one and half days, he had been reading and learning nonstop. It definitely helped that his mind retained the same processing speed from when he was a Cephalon.

The process he was following was a bit convoluted. He had a sheet with the Orokin language on it, along with another in the language he now knew as Japanese. Apparently they had three different writing systems, hiragana, katakana and kanji. The first two seemed to be the vocal component of the language, with the latter being used in symbols to convey a word or idea.

'Looks like these people practice calligraphy as well. That's nice.' Adapting to that would be simple. He looked over at Haylee and the now named Natah. They were struggling with this a bit more than he was. He figured that he could be at a semi-fluent speaking level in a week. Natah could probably get it down in about a month, Haylee maybe two months. This wasn't the first time that they would have to learn a new language. There were a lot of people in the Origin system after all. Once he figured it out he could help speed along the process as well.

There was one thing bugging him though. All the books were dictionaries, grammar guides, and translation aids. Nothing about the history of the world they were in. And it was all on paper, nothing digital like the tablet the white furred creature had used.

'Why would they be teaching us the language, but nothing of the history or culture? Do they not want us to know for some reason? Or… wait!' His eyes widened in realization. 'They don't know we aren't from this universe! They aren't giving us the information on the world's history because they think we already know it!'

That begged the question, why were they being held here then? Sure, they weren't being treated like prisoners, but they also couldn't leave. 'They don't seem like law enforcement, or even the government. Not with the way they dress. Well, it could be a cultural thing…' He flipped to the next page. 'Did we see something we shouldn't have? Or is it something else.' Looking up, he eyed the sliding door. The sooner he could communicate with them, the sooner he could get answers.

[Naruhata Ward: April 29, 2242]

It was a warm Tuesday afternoon, and Rumi would rather be patrolling than doing what she was about to do. Stupid bullshit rules, making her have a place of residence for her hero agency if she wanted to Section 8 the kid. Sure, Ryuko would've let her stay at her agency, but that might start rumors that she was finally working with another hero.

So instead she was back in Naruhata to talk to an old man.

Knock Knock Knock!

"Oi! Oguro! Open up the damn door!" She swore, if he were out playing vigilante again she'd kick his ass. He still went out from time to time to beat up lowlife punks that most heroes ignored, even though he had a busted right leg and left eye. Old O'Clock still had the fight in him, despite his quirklessness and injuries.

A lot had changed from when they first met. He saved her from her admittedly dumbass decision to break into an underground fighting ring. There was also some guy who hit really hard, she kinda remembered his name… The Rapper or something stupid like that. 'Wonder how that guy's doing. Never did get to fight him.'

If Oguro hadn't saved her that day, she wouldn't be where she was now, a rising heroine in the rankings. Honestly after the whole thing she didn't think about him for a while, until one day a few years ago she ran into the moron again, heavily wounded and surrounded by unconscious thugs.

He really was a battle junkie like her.

At first she hadn't recognized him out of costume until he spoke. She remembered that voice from all those years ago. Rumi didn't like to feel like she owed someone, so she dragged him back to his home and patched him up. He'd remembered her after all those years as well, and said the ears were a big giveaway.

"Alright! Alright! I'm coming!" She heard him limping toward the door.

Every few months she would show up to make sure he wasn't dead. The only other people who seemed to care about the guy were his daughter and some former thug named Soga. Whenever she came to check up on him, they would catch up over fights they had partaken in, have a few drinks, et cetera. It was nice to have someone who was like her to talk to. Someone who understood the thrill of battle and heroics.

She heard the rustling of the lock being undone. "You're here early. Didn't you already come to visit a few weeks ago?" He grunted. "The hell you want, Rumi?"

She rolled back the hoodie she was wearing, letting her ears pop up. "I was in town, and I needed a place to stay for a while. You're a low profile place to stay away from all the press. Plus I wanted you to watch the kid I'm gonna be training while I'm out on patrol."

"A kid? What, you finally went soft and picked up an intern from a hero school? I thought you said you'd never take a sidekick." His expression turned more serious. "And I'm not a damn babysitter, or a hero. Not anymore at least."

She tossed him one of the duffle bags she was carrying. "What's this?" He opened the bag to reveal it was full of bundles of yen.

"Payment for rent, and training the brat." She responded, pushing past him into the house.

"Hold on Rumi, I didn't say I'd do it." He reached to grab her shoulder.

"The kid's quirkless."

He stopped. "What?"

"The kid I'm training. He's quirkless according to the doctors." She replied, swatting his hand away and setting her stuff on the ground.

"And you want me to help train him to be a hero?"

She walked over to the fridge and grabbed a beer, cracking open the top and taking a long swig.

"Rumi!"

She held up a finger and continued to chug the beer, before crushing the empty can. "Ah! That hit the spot. As I was saying, he's quirkless, and despite that he's got some of the best fighting instincts I've ever seen. Strong too, for a brat his age."

Now he was intrigued. Even after he had lost his quirk to the mythical "Quirk Thief" all those years ago, he'd still managed to go toe to toe with villains. "Must be strong if you of all people want to train him."

Rumi was already pulling out her phone, pulling up a shoddily made video that a bystander had recorded. She tossed the device over to Iwao.

Rabbit vs Boar: Mirko fights crazy teen with swords (rip Takeshita)

He played the video, it was pretty shaky and from across the street, but it showed some kid wearing a boar mask fighting a hero in green, swinging his swords and trying to hit the hero. Eventually a small forest of bamboo sprung up, and the kid leapt into the air, using the shoots as a springboard to head but the unlucky man through a storefront window.

'I can see why she likes the kid. He jumps around like her.'

Immediately after, Mirko's foot barely missed the boy, and after a brief exchange they both started fighting.

'He's getting in close so she can't kick him. Smart kid. She's doing fine but she's having fun with him.'

Iwao watched as Rumi bent backward to dodge a swipe of the sword, and while she backflipped away the boy threw one of his swords into the air.

'Why did he… wait…'

The sword spun in the air as the boy charged her, the rabbit hero noticing it at the last second. She deflected the blade with a spin kick to the flat side of the sword, and the boy swung his remaining sword at her rising arms.

Luckily at that moment, another hero intervened and wrapped the boy up in grey cloth bindings. The video ended there.

"Well hot damn. He's something, isn't he." He thought back to when he first met Rumi, a snot nosed kid still in hero school. 'Kid reminds her of herself when she was around his age. Right down to the animal themed mask.' Of course, Rumi didn't go around picking fights with heroes at that age, just underground fight clubs and random thugs.

"I'm guessing you are putting him through the Villain Reform Program? That's what you being here is all about?" She gave him a quick nod in response, now chewing on a carrot she raided from his fridge.

"Little shit said he thought he was dreaming, never even heard of a quirk before."

He raised an eyebrow. "Amnesia?"

She shrugged. "Not sure. Seemed to know everything else, said he grew up in the mountains. The detective that's watching him said he didn't seem to know of anything modern. Docs say he has some sort of PTSD that's blocking some memories too, either that or he won't tell them."

He sighed. Against his better judgment, he was starting to warm up to the idea. From the little he'd seen, the kid was an amazing fighter. Rumi was no pushover, even when holding back. Despite the kid's quirklessness, he'd nearly cut her arms off. He was clever in a fight, strong, and fast.

He was probably the most qualified person to teach the kid, after spending so many years fighting quirkless. He wasn't even sure the kid would need training to be honest, but he'd have to test that in person.

His frown turned into a smirk. "Alright Rumi, you've got yourself a deal."