AN: I'd like to begin by prefacing this:

I am so sorry! This was taking up too many words I can't even. The intended scenarios were far longer than I had anticipated, I had to cut the chapter off (again). Between the usual 3k word count or 7k version... its a literal nightmare. Brother, if you are reading this, I AM SO SORRY FOR PESTERING YOU FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH FOR THIS.

Okay, now that this is out of the way, here you go. enjoy.


Izuku Midoriya was alone.

Alone within this dark, musty corridor made of stone, dimly lit by a row of ancient lanterns that hung on every pillar against the wall. Gone were the forested areas of UA where the daylight hung above his head; all replaced by the long halls of stone.

"B-But how?" he gaped at the change of scenery, panic rising out of his system.

Wait, calm down, Izuku Midoriya. There's gotta be a trick to this. Think.

UA had a reputable security system, often perceived as an impenetrable fortress. Why else would the dorm system be implemented this year after the camp incident and the Kamino disaster. But that wasn't what bothered him. What bothered him the most was how something like this could exist inside of UA.

Either this could be something related to a quirk or a warp gate-

"…Warp gate…" He then remembered the conversation he had earlier.

'I say he got spirited away in the dorms.'

"No way-" he turned around to face the wall behind him, swallowing down the creeping anxiety that was rising to his throat. Stretching out his hand, he dared to touch the solid wall-

-Only to have his fingers pass through it and disappear.

No way. Then. Does that mean-

He braved one step forward and walked through the wall, his view shifting once again into the world of the familiar UA campus. The trees were there; the 1-C building was there; everything he knew was there on this side.

"There really was a warp gate!" he said in panic. "Why is there a warp gate in UA?!" His thoughts began to reel, muttering to himself- "But if that's the case, then is it possibly related to someone's quirk? If it is, then that doesn't make sense since teleportation quirks are super rare and all. Unless this is a UA secret I'm not supposed to know. But then again, if it is related to someone's quirk, then could one of the UA students have it? No, that doesn't make sense either, unless this might've been a remnant to a graduated senior's quirk or-"

In that moment, he remembered the he still had the rabbit doll on his person as he brandished the item.

"Oh yeah, then there's this," he glanced at the grey object and immediately frowned.

When he picked it up earlier, only then did he find himself in that other world. His brows furrowed before he set the doll into his pocket, swallowing hard at the prospect it might've been somehow connected.

"…I have to tell the teachers," He decided.

Just as he said it aloud, a hand slipped from the other side of the invisible barrier and grabbed him by the back of the collar.

"Wha-AAAH!"

The hand yanked him hard, pulling him backwards till he lost his balance, causing him to loosen his grip on his hero costume case, in-advertedly leaving it behind on the UA grounds. The world around him returned to the dark corridors from the other side of the portal, this time he was not alone.

"-Like a fly to a Spider's web, my parlour isn't without its tricks."

Izuku fell backwards onto the floor, the impact of landing on the ground hit hard enough for his senses to blur. Disoriented, he barely missed the fact there were two individuals towering over him.

"And now we've got ourselves another strapping lad," said another voice. "…another Northern blood to the boot."

"No matter, there's a small pool of radiance in him," his grappler answered. "Better than nothing."

What… who…? His thoughts slurred.

"No matter? You let the other blood bag escape!"

"Yes, and there's no short supply of them nowadays, isn't there? So long as radiance flows within their veins, it's nothing too troublesome to deal with."

Izuku vaguely felt a callous hand grab his wrist, dragging him on the floor as the two started to move. Their conversations muffled in his ears due to his consciousness going in and out of a haze.

"-endowed's blood is more than sufficient… fragmented ones…"

"Why'd you suddenly decide aiming for the scraps?"

"Which would you prefer? Gather a hundred small fish or one slipper water giant?"

"That's not a good metaphor-"

"-Alright, which one's the easier catch? The hundred small fish or the water giant?"

By the time he came to his senses, he felt the painful pull of his arm muscles as the two strangers continued to drag him on the floor.

I'm being dragged away. Away by people from this side-!

"-And what of our shining resident in one of the cellars?" the strange continued, seemingly unaware of Izuku's recovery.

"The starcatcher? Hah. Keep them in the dark too long and they'll eventually be reduced into a wisp," the other snorted. "You know how they are. Stab them with a blade, they'll take you down with them in all their glaring glory. Deprive them of light, they'll be reduced into a whiff of glowing smoke. The only way to kill them without them exploding is to deprive them of sun and stars."

"She's a half-breed, however. From the likes of what I could sense, she might also be endowed on top of being a Starcatcher."

They haven't noticed I'm awake yet, he thought. But there's no telling what they'll do if I make a move-

As if right on que, the man dragging him scoffed, "I know you're awake boy. Your pulse is giving it away."

Izuku gasped, raising his head up to the towering stranger.

The other sighed as they continued to walk, all the while dragging him along, "Northerners. How naïve they are. To think the short-lived were suddenly granted a fragment of an endowment of all things. And here they are, still reliant on their wits while failing to grasp the scales. Too weak to even believe they couldn't handle everything for themselves. Unworthy of even born with such talents."

"What're you… ngh!" Izuku winced as the pain on his arm had begun to take a toll after all the dragging. Within the awkward angle of his view, he saw the man's limbs etched with patterned wounds that resembled tattoos. The pattern itself was made with shapes of swirls, circles and rectangles, all marked along the length of his arms.

"No matter. Now, just as a precaution-" the man ceased his steps and yanked Izuku's arm higher, making the boy stifle a yelp at the pain. What followed was a harrowing pain of a blade biting at his skin. Izuku screamed.

"Hush lad-" th stranger coldly said. "It's only a rune, nothing too-"

Black whip!

Activating his quirk, vines of his black whip latched onto his attacker's arm, then onto the other stranger next to him.

"Let me go," Izuku grunted.

"What is this?" the man gritted as he tried to move his arms.

One for All. Full cowling, 15%!

Green statics sparked on his limbs and propelled himself as far away from the two strangers. Upon gain enough distance, he latched is black whips at them once more; this time trapping their arms and upper torso up with it.

"Northerner, you have some explaining to do," said the villain.

"I should be the one asking," Izuku retorted, adrenalin now rising in his system. "Where is this place? And what are you doing, creating a portal to UA?"

"Yuu Ayy? Is that the name of your village boy?" the other scoffed, despite his immobilised state.

The other snorted, "Have you seen his attire? Northerner city folk wear those sorts of clothes."

Having gained enough distance from them, in spite of the dim halls, he was able to see them clearly. Both villains had exposed arms, both etched their arms with those tattoo patterns. Their faces clearly bore the features of a foreigner, both in stature and face. What stood out was their medieval-looking clothes, similar to that of those western fantasy movies.

How were they able to speak Japanese? And how were they able to understand a word I said?

Could try and deduce the endless possibilities, but he was in no position to allow himself to speculate.

"I'm asking you again," he demanded. "Where in the world is this place?"

"Ha! Smart question, but all the while still lacking in wit," one of them mocked him. "This is Arville island, ignorant Northerner. Couldn't you tell? You're standing on one of the oldest of the Hin temple ruins. All in its splendid ruined glory!"

In that moment, the tattoos on their arms began to glow red. Izuku's eyes widened upon realising his mistake.

Those tattoos are part of their quirks!

Before he could do a thing, the air surrounding him began to thin as strong gusts of wind pushed him from behind, stealing his breath as it blew passed him. He felt the wind choking him, causing him to lose his concentration as the black whips dissipated from his captors.

I can't… breathe!

"What's wrong? Out of breath?" one of them sneered.

Izuku tried to gasp for air but to no avail.

"Your single-mindedness limits your capacity to realise your enemies' abilities." The villain continued. "Bask in your ignorance over the greater dangers of the world, and you fail to consider that many could use their gifts to their own killing advantage."

"What are you doing to him?!" a familiar voice shouted across the dark halls.

That voice-

In his oxygen-deprived mind, he dared to look up and saw a figure dressed in the UA winter PE uniform.

"Who asked-!" the villain who answered froze. And with it, the glowing tattoos on his body ceased its earie light. At this, Izuku regained his breath, coughing and wheezing at the sudden intake of air.

The other villain turned around, his tattoos glowing brighter as flames began to manifest from his bare hands. "Who dares disturb-"

"Let him go!"

"Stop interrupting m-!" as soon a the words fell from his mouth, the other villain effectively ceased his movement.

Izuku gaped and realised; "Shinso!"

"Midoriya?" The purple-haired student ran over to his side. "So, you're here too, huh."

"Boy, am I glad to see you," Izuku bore a wide grin of relief at the sight of a familiar face, only for it to fall at the thought. "But if you're here, then that means-"

Shinso nodded, eyeing their surroundings. "There's more of those tattoo guys here. There's no telling how long they'll stay like that in-"

"Uh, no, that's not what I was gonna say-"

Echoes of feet trampling the ground could be heard from afar. Followed by moving shadows that moved along the chipped walls. Izuku swallowed hard, then darted a look at Shinso, pointing his thumb towards the opposite direction in gesture to run. Picking himself up, both students ran down the long path, leaving behind the two frozen villains in place.

After running for what felt like miles, Shinso immediately led them into the first door he spotted. They shut the door behind them, gasping for breath right before they both collapsed on the ground.

"This place seems safe," Shinso huffed, then looked to Izuku. "I had a feeling someone else was gonna end up here, but I didn't expect it to be you, Midoriya."

"About that," Izuku drew in a long breath. "It's a long story."

He then summarised what went on; starting with the rumour he heard from the general studies student during lunchtime. And how he followed the story's trail up to this point.

"If I had known there was a way back, I should've run out as soon as I came in," Shinso shook his head.

"How did you end up here, Shinso?"

"Well," he frowned, then fumbled around his pockets right before he paused and eyed him. "Don't freak out, okay. This kinda thing led one thing to another."

Izuku swallowed, nodding anxiously.

The purple-head dug into his pocket and brandished the sackcloth creature in his hand, intact with its footprint-marked glory. Izuku dropped his jaw; "What is it doing in here?!"

"Shh!" Shinso hissed, "They'll hear us!"

"Ah, sorry."

"So you know about this?"

Izuku shook his head, taking out the rabbit doll it usually carries. "It just showed up in front of me one day, then I handed it over to Mr Aizawa for safekeeping. I wasn't sure what it was capable of, let alone what it was so-"

"That makes a whole lot of sense. While I was training with Mr Aizawa, he had to leave for a moment, leaving this thing in the bag." Shinso dangled the creature in his hand. "The thing then offered me that doll, so I took it without thinking. Next thing I knew, it ran off into the bushes, so I tried to catch it right before it could escape. Then, well, here we are."

"So in the end, it's just caused us this much trouble," Izuku facepalmed with a dejected sigh, utterly floored that this creature was more of a troublemaker than he had expected. He eyed the creature and saw how it now seemed more docile than its usual vigour, its blank stare pointed down on the floor.

He then brought the grey doll up to the creature's view, to which the sackcloth perked its head up at him. To his surprise, the creature blinked, then shook its head at him.

"Don't you want it back?" Izuku prodded.

The creature shook its head again.

"It understands us?" Shinso raised a brow.

"Apparently so," Izuku shrugged. "And whatever it is, it certainly likes going at its own pace."

The creature turned its head at Shinso, then at the doll in his hand. With another blink, it switched glances between either of the two. With its lone hand it began to push itself out of Shinso's hand.

"What are you doing?" Shinso asked the creature.

Upon freeing itself from his hold, it walked towards Izuku, snatched the doll from his hand and unceremoniously threw it right at Shinso's lap. As soon as it did, it sat on the floor like a folded cushion, its blank expression making it hard for either of them to figure out what it was thinking.

"…I'm confused," Shinso picked up the doll from his lap. "Is this supposed to mean something or-?"

"Yeah, I don't know either," Izuku couldn't help but chuckle helplessly.

"Well, back on the subject. How do you suppose we could get out of here?"

Izuku held his chin, ruminating over the question. "For starters, I can confirm it is possible to go back to UA. The question is which hallway wall was it that has the warp gate."

"In other words, we're left with some guess work."

"Pretty much."

Shinso then stood up, offering a hand to Izuku to help him up. "Just as a heads up: right before I bumped into you, there's a lot of those guys swarming the place. I wasn't able to gain as much ground to get a sense of where everything is. However-" he glanced at the door and grimaced.

"However?"

"…From what I overheard; those tattoo guys were talking about preferring blood from people they called 'endowed'."

Izuku then recalled the odd exchange he heard from those two villains.

'-And what of our shining resident in our cellars?'

'Deprive them of light, they'll be reduced into a whiff of glowing smoke. The only way to kill them without them exploding is to deprive them of sun and stars.'

'She's a half-breed, however. From the likes of what I could sense, she might also be endowed on top of being a Starcatcher.'

"…Its all possible there's more people being held captive here," Izuku said.

"What?" Shinso widened his eyes.

"What you said earlier," Izuku explained. "Reminded me of something they said while I was being dragged half-conscious. Something about someone being held captive. If you and I had fallen into this place by chance, then its all possible someone else might've been caught by those guys too."

"Midoriya, I've been running around this place for hours," Shinso protested. "This place is an endless maze! How are you even sure there are hostages here to begin with?"

"I don't know, but if there truly were people held captive in here, then I think it's worth a shot looking for them. We were only lucky we bumped into each other by coincidence. I'd shudder to think if that other person weren't so lucky."

He couldn't help but think back on the what that villain had done before Shinso had interfered. Pushing up his sleeve where his attacker had tried to mark him, he inspected his arm and found a large gash on his forearm.

That man got mere for a moment, but-

'Hush lad, it's only a rune-'

He shuddered at the memory, narrowing his eyes. Grabbing his handkerchief from his pocket, he tore it into a long strip and began wrapping his wound with it.

"…Looks like I've got a long way to go," Shinso rubbed the back of his neck.

"Huh?"

"Here I was, thinking of finding a way out, while you're here thinking about the possible hostages to save," the general student sighed. "I guess I really ought to my money where my mouth is."

"What are you talking about, Shinso? You've already done plenty, helping me out back there," Izuku fretted. "Remember the class battle? Not every victory means being able to defeat and capture enemies. Sometimes the smartest option is to retreat while saving as much of your allies as possible."

"No, stop. Don't say anymore. You're making me feel worse," he waved his hand in protest.

"Wha- no, I didn't mean-"

At this, the sackcloth creature then stood up abruptly and started wandering around the darker parts of the room.

"What's wrong?" Izuku asked the creature. It turned its head at him, its lone hand pointing directly at the wall veiled in shadow. Now curious, Izuku decided to walk over to where the creature stood and crouch next to it. "What is it? Are you trying to show me something?"

The creature blinked, then turned its gaze over to the darkened wall. Shinso wordlessly took out his phone and switch on its light. Upon raising the phone torch over the wall, Izuku was stricken with shock at what the light had unveiled.

"This place looks like… some kind of auditorium," Shinso said as he gaped at the entire space. "Or a temple hall."

"Temple…" Izuku then remembered. "Those villains. They mentioned this place to be some kind of temple ruins. On an Island called 'Arville'."

"Huh? Why didn't you say so earlier?" Shinso raised a brow.

"I couldn't believe it at first, but… I'm starting to think there's more to this situation than I thought."

Then there's also the sudden appearance of that creature over there. He glanced at the thing in question. Could it be-?

With pursed lips, he gingerly took a step forward into the dimly lit spaces, taking out his phone to flash a light to get a better look.

"What are you doing?" Shinso asked, then widened his eyes.

"If we're able to leave this place, there's no telling if we'll be able to come back here," Izuku answered as he opening up his camera app. "If that happens, the least we can do is gather as much information of this place as much as possible. Maybe we'd have some clues as to what sort of place this is and why was it able to create a portal that connected to UA without setting off the security system."

He took a few steps forward, then set his phone down, turning towards Shinso.

"Some of the things they said bothered me," he continued. "They referred to us as 'Northerners' for one. Then there's the tattoos on their bodies. One of them tried to mark a 'rune' on my arm-" he raised the bandaged arm at him- "And by the looks of things, those tattoos are a trigger to their quirks."

Shinso pressed his lips into a thin line, apparently disagreeing with this statement.

"I hate to admit this," Shinso said. "But those tattoos don't seem like quirks to me. How do I put it? It's like one of those western fantasies you see from movies. Rather than quirks, they seem more like-"

"-Magic," both of them said in unison.

The two looked at each other and grimaced.

"There's no way, right?" Izuku quickly added, forcing a chuckle.

"I don't know about that," Shinso retorted.

"Sure we live in a quirk society, but you can't really say that something like magic can truly exist- right?"

"Are you really saying that after what we just witnessed?"

"Ah, right…"

As Shinso walked around the room, raising his phone light at an angle, the light refracted onto a reflective surface; causing a chain of lights to bounce off across the entire hall. Izuku's green eyes widened.

Some of its walls appeared to be chiselled off; but for most of the entirety of the wide room revealed an ancient mural, depicting crude, caveman paintings marked on its crumbling surfaces. Paintings of four towers; depictions of people climbing a mountain and last of all, an entirely new world map that bore no similar landmarks to that of the world they knew.

"Holy crap," Shinso muttered, daunted at the sight.

"Shinso," Izuku said, gaping at the world map. "I don't think we're on planet earth anymore."


AN:

If you'd like, leave a comment down below. Feel free to roast this fic, tear it to pieces or share your piece of criticism. I can handle any opinion because I've been a bit rusty over my writing these days and I'd like to get better in writing. Thank you for stopping by :D see you next chapter (which is hopefully soon)

I wish I could leave images here on this site, but alas, its not gonna work out so if anyone's curious for any visual aid, its on my Ao3 version of this fic.