Artwork by myself. 

Letting go is the hardest best choice you can make, but only you can make it.

WARNINGS: Violence, trauma, suicidal thoughts, gore, kidnapping, child-endangerment.

Beta: emplatinum

I'm sorry. I can't resist writing dramatically flirty characters. It's my guilty pleasure.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

I sat on top of Ochaco's desk, watching the bubbly girl try to doodle her costume for the Halloween special several months away. Our manager was going to hand make costumes for us to wear and wanted all the girls to turn in their final design by the end of the weekend. Ochaco had gotten sidetracked by the exams and was thusly furiously trying to get her idea down on paper.

Shōto, who was watching her frantically draw, pointed at a certain part. "Are those scales?"

"No," Ochaco denied. "Wait, you think they look like scales?"

"Don't listen to him, sugar. He's the furthest thing from an artist you'll ever meet," I reassured her.

"I take offense to that," Shōto deadpanned.

"I take offense to you not letting me steal your food," I retorted.

"It's my food."

"And as your best friend I have rights to that food," I argued. "I would give you my food."

"You absolutely would not," Shōto immediately rejected, calling out my lie.

I made an offended noise at that, looking back down at Ochaco's nearly hysterical drawing. "Sweetie, you're missing an arm."

Ochaco paused in her work, staring in disbelief before she let out a pitiful moan and slammed her head into her desk, letting it rest there. "I'm done. Finished. Defeated. This drawing has slain me."

"I can draw it for you, O-O—er—Uraraka-chan," Izuku shyly offered. "I drew Kiyo-chan's."

Ochaco lifted up her head and sniffled, hope returning to her eyes. "Really?"

"Sure, um, what are you wanting?"

"Make me her twin or something," Ochaco said dismissively. "I have no creativity."

"Make her my sexy twin. Put her in some stockings and—"

Ochaco's shriek of no was delightful, along with Izuku's strawberry red face. Izuku stammered out, "How a-about j-just different c-colors?"

"Party pooper," I cooed while Ochaco nodded furiously in agreement with Izuku.

The door to the homeroom slammed open and Aizawa blandly stated, "Once the bell rings, get to your seats."

I hurried over to my seat, sweeping back my hair over my shoulders.

Aizawa entered the room with a muttered morning and took a stand in front of the podium. "Unfortunately, there are those who did not pass the final exams. Accordingly, for the training camp in the woods: everyone's going."

Eijirō cried out, "We can go?!"

"Really?" Mina echoed, tears in her eyes.

"Yeah," Aizawa confirmed, his expression empty as a blank canvas. "Some failed, but no one failed the written exam. In the practical, Kaminari, Ashido, and Sero failed. For this time's exam we, on the villain side, made sure to leave a way for the students to win while watching to see how you all would take on the task at hand. If we hadn't, most of you would've gotten stuck before you started. In the first place, the training camp in the woods is one to increase strength. So those who failed need it the most. They have to get stronger. It was a rational falsehood."

Tenya stood up abruptly from his desk, passionately declaring, "However, since you lied to us twice, our faith in you will waver!"

"I still trust you, Cactus-sensei!" I immediately called out in mocking reassurance.

"You'd trust anyone who fed you a muffin, Kiyo-chan, so that doesn't say much," Aizawa retorted. "Iida-kun, I will keep what you said in mind. But, I wasn't lying about everything. Failure is failure. We have prepared a separate time for extra lessons for you all. Frankly, it'll be tougher than the extra lessons you'd get if you stayed at school."

There were clear looks of disappointment and resigned acceptance from the students that had failed. Aizawa's lips briefly twitched from that reaction, but the stoic teacher didn't smile in the end. Instead, he started up class, and the school day passed by like foam on waves.

At the end of classes, he passed out training camp guides and headed out. All the students started flipping through them before leaving, talking about how they didn't have a lot of the supplies listed.

I actually had a surprising amount of the requirements since I went camping semi-frequently.

There was a general consensus that everyone was going to have to buy something so Toru cheerfully suggested, "Oh, then since we're off tomorrow and we just finished our exams, why not Class A all go shopping together?"

Denki beamed at that. "Oh, that's a great idea. Wouldn't that be the first time we all hang out together?"

Eijirō shouted out to Katsuki who was already heading out the door. "Oi, Bakugō, you're coming."

"Like I'd do something so irritating," Katsuki scoffed under his breath, shutting the door behind him.

"Ocha-chan and I have to work until two tomorrow, so can we meet up after that?" I questioned, looking over at my fellow maid.

"That should be good," Mina said, giving a thumbs up.

Within ten minutes we hammered out the details and headed off our separate ways.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

The mall everyone decided to meet at was one of the more popular malls in the city. It was a massive stretch of shops that was partly outdoor and partly indoor, as a huge dome could be activated to cover the mall on bad weather days.

Since Ochaco and I had to work earlier that day we had changed into much comfier clothes than we might have normally worn to a gathering. We both put on denim shorts, and while she sported a shirt, I wore a blouse.

I had swept my hair up into a messy bun since it was a warm day and I didn't fancy having a sweaty neck.

The two of us arrived almost exactly on time with all of our classmates already present. I moved to stand beside Izuku and Ochaco followed behind me. After greeting everyone, we all came up with the plan to shop on our own for a while and meet back up in a couple hours.

Before I could even offer a suggested course on where to start, nearly the entire group had split off until it was only Izuku, Ochaco, and me.

The three of us stood around in surprise at how quickly our classmates had vanished.

"Uh," Izuku began, turning to Ochaco, "so what do you need first?"

Ochaco blinked once. "Bu—" Ochaco's face started to turn dark red. "Bug spray!" She turned on her heel and sprinted away from Izuku, her ears tinged pink.

The utter confusion and bewilderment on Izuku's face was delightfully adorable and I couldn't resist letting out a giggle.

"A-Am I a bug?" Izuku muttered partly to himself.

I reached over and grabbed my friend's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Most certainly not. I wouldn't worry about Ocha-chan, she's probably just... very excited."

Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "I guess? Where do you want to start?"

I turned my old worn down bubblegum pink backpack around and unzipped the front pocket. I pulled out a list Baba had made of things he asked me to get. Since I was already shopping I offered to go shopping for our groceries, or if anyone in town needed something from the city.

Izuku scooted closer to look over the list. "Oh, you're doing a big shop?"

"Yeah. I'd normally go tomorrow with Baba, but since we're already here today—"

"Well, I only really need some more clothes, since Mom keeps us pretty stocked up on the other outdoor supplies for our... adventures."

"Why do you say that word like you're sucking on a lemon?" I questioned innocently as Izuku's face remained screwed up.

He gave me a look.

Another giggle popped out of me. "Aw, are you still upset about being stranded at sea?"

"That, too. Mostly thinking about the bears."

"Who knew bears could run so fast?" I asked cheerfully. "I bet you never thought you could run so fast with a broken pelvic bone."

With his free hand, Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head ruefully at me. "Come on. Let's start with your list, I think we'll be able to find the diffusers up top in the herbal shop." Izuku tugged on my hand, and we began to slowly walk towards the staircase. We went through about five shops before we reached a lingerie store that I had to get some stockings and plus sized bras for some of my sisters and aunties. Izuku immediately let go of my hand when I took a step towards it, his face red. "I-I'll actually wait for you out here."

"You'll have to come into one of these eventually," I argued. "Might as well come in with a friend who will be kind enough to... show you around."

His face darkened further, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing in glee at it. He spluttered, "You're awful. I-I'm going to g-get some pretzels or something."

"Okay, okay," I said, grinning widely. "I'll be done in five. I'll meet you at the pretzel stand."

Izuku jerkily nodded, clutching a couple of the shopping bags he was carrying as if trying to use them as a shield between him and the silky panties in the window. The image made me snort, and I had to bite my bottom lip to keep from laughing again.

With a fond shake of my head, I turned away from him and started to peruse the store. We could make a lot of our own clothes and adjust hand-me-downs—almost all of my clothes were handmade or hand-me-downs (or both)—but there were some things that were almost always best to buy. Like good bras, or undies.

(There were also a few more mature items privately requested by a handful of my older sisters who slipped me cash to cover them.)

It took me a solid fifteen minutes to track everything down and purchase them, and I walked out with five black bags, and a thought of: 'What would happen if I made Izu-chan carry these around for me?'

I bit down hard on my lip to keep from giggling deviously. Still, I couldn't stop the mischievous smirk from crawling its way on my face.

'Oooh. I wonder what kind of face he'd make if I put a thong on his pillow tonight? Ah, I can already imagine the squeaky noises he'd make!'

'Maybe I can ask Inko-chan to have a camera ready? Naw, she's too pure to help prank Izu-chan.'

As I walked down to the nearest pretzel shop I glanced around the bustling mall. Since it was a Saturday there were a lo-ot of people there. Nearly every five seconds I was able to either spot a lovey-dovey couple, or an adorable family. It was sweet to see parents holding their children's hands as the tiny human looked at everything like it just came out of a fairy tale. Giggles, squeals, and shouts were the background noise that played for the mall, and smells of baked goods filled the air.

The pastry shop was near the pretzel shop, and the smell of those macaroons, cookies, and cakes was a powerful temptation.

'Maybe I should buy some for Izuku since I teased him so much?' My less mischievous side thought. 'Or as a preemptive apology for pranking him later?'

I descended some tiled stairs, the pretzel shop in sight. I glanced around trying to catch sight of Izuku, but surprisingly I couldn't find him right away.

'Did he go inside of the shop?' I questioned, approaching the moderately busy shop. A quick peek inside confirmed he wasn't there, so I looked around in confusion. I saw almost all the benches and tables were occupied, so I reasoned Izuku might have moved further down to try and find a seat for us to relax and eat.

I passed by several shops before I finally spotted that familiar green-black hair and beamed—

(Uh-oh)

My entire body froze for a split second when I saw who was beside him with an arm slung around Izuku's shoulders and a hand over his neck.

In the next heartbeat, I was moving with a determined purpose, anger flaring inside the pit of my stomach with each step, along with genuine fear for my friend. Within the minute I stood before the two and I said in a low voice, "Remove yourself."

The man gave a disturbingly wide grin that showed cracked lips and a perturbed gaze in his red eyes. "Oh, so sorry. I didn't realize he had a friend."

He released his hold on Izuku and Izuku immediately clutched at his neck and started to cough, trying to catch his breath. The vile man stood up and started to walk around, and I—

Aizawa's previous words rung in my head: about how I prioritized capture over rescue.

Right now Izuku needed me.

That man would be taken care of one way or another.

So I turned my back on him and rushed over to Izuku, dropping my bags and rubbing his back. "Breathe with your belly, Izu-chan."

It took several seconds before he could catch his breath enough to stop coughing. "W-Wait. Shigaraki, Tomura—Was this—Was this for All for One?"

"Who knows," the tainted child mused. "But you should be careful. The next time we meet, I'll likely have decided to kill you."

As he whispered those final words he disappeared into the moving crowd, and I made no move to follow him. It would be incredibly risky to follow through without backup, and while Izuku was still recovering. For all I knew it was a ploy to get Izuku alone again.

So I stayed by his side, rubbing his back while he shakily pulled out his phone to call security, and then Cinnamon Roll.

Needless to say, we didn't finish shopping that day.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

The final week of the semester I had to talk with the girls in the class.

"Ah, girls would you all mind gathering?" I asked on the last day of the semester, getting up from my seat and heading over towards Momo's spot where most of the girls sat.

I sat on Momo's desk as the other girls started to converge around us, all smiles and bright eyes.

"Nezu wanted me to tell ya'll that we can't go on any long-term trips over the summer," I said. "As class rep, I have to tell you all. Tenya-kun will tell the boys."

"Huh? Really?" Ochaco inquired, sounding genuinely surprised as she approached.

"That's too bad," Momo said, her expression downcast. "I was supposed to go to Venice with my parents."

"Aw!" Mina moaned. "I bought a new swimsuit, too."

Kyōka patted Mina's back. "It can't be helped. We were attacked by the League of Villains before."

"Even so, I wanna play! I wanna go somewhere!" Mina bemoaned dramatically.

"Then, do you wanna meet up at the school pool over summer vacation?" Toru chirped.

Everyone's faces lit up at that. Tsuyu said, "That's right. If we're using the school pool then I'm sure the teachers will give us permission."

"Good idea! Then we won't have to spend any money, either," Ochaco cheered.

Mina nodded enthusiastically. "It's better than being cooped up at home."

"It does sound like fun," I agreed with a smile.

"Then I'll go get permission from the school," Momo declared, standing up from her desk.

"I'll go with you!" I added, hopping off her desk.

"Why don't we all go?" Ochaco offered.

And thusly that's how we obtained permission to use the pool over summer. All that we had to do afterward was schedule a time, which was done within minutes.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

The first week of summer vacation was spent doing a lo-ot of farm work around the town, and working at the cafe. I had to get as many hours in as I could since I wouldn't be able to work at all during the training camp.

The hours were long and more often than not I didn't get to crawl into bed until midnight before waking up at four and doing it all over again.

So when the second week rolled in and it was time for our scheduled relaxing time at the school pool, it was met with great relief. As soon as the clock hit one pm—the time we were all going to meet up in the locker rooms—I teleported directly there and greeted the girls who were already starting to get dressed in their school bathing suits.

Following suit, I slipped out of my clothes, folding them neatly in the process. I heard an astonished gasp from Ochaco beside me. "Kiyo-chan! You're—you're ripped!"

Her startled shout drew the attention of the other girls and they all turned to look at me. I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks under their scrutinized looks. "N-Not really."

Kyōka reached out and poked my bicep. "No, seriously. I never noticed because you're always covered up, but you've got muscles."

Shyly, I looked away and shuffled my feet. "E-Eheh. I work the farm a lot, and I train a lot with Sho-chan." My eyes flickered over to my biceps. It was true that I had strength, but I wasn't ripped like Izuku or Shōto.

Ochaco prodded my belly, still gaping. "You have abs."

"S-Stop poking me, I'm still ticklish," I whined, teleporting a couple feet away from her. The girls laughed at me. "And it's not that surprising. Nem—er—Midnight and a lot of the other women superheroes have this body."

"Do you follow a certain routine?" Momo inquired.

"K-Kind of." Ochaco poked my belly again and I jumped. "Stop that, Ocha-chan!"

Again the girls giggled.

Blushing, I hurriedly finished getting dressed, dodging Ochaco's attempts to tickle me. Once I was finished I waited for the other girls, and as a group, we headed out to the pool.

It was a warm summer day, like all the days before had been, coupled with an absolutely gorgeous blue sky. Big white fluffy clouds dotted that deep blue, and gentle breezes blew through the yard.

The pool we were using was decent sized. We were allowed to switch to the indoor pool if it had ended up raining, but since it was such a lovely day we kept to the outdoor one. I had planned on bringing everyone snacks and drinks that Baba was making later on. Momo was tempted to bring her own food, but since I could teleport to pick up fresh food and drinks it was simply better for me to take care of it.

Plus Ochaco absolutely hyped up Baba and Papa's cooking, exciting all the girls.

There were a couple other students from our class at the pool—it would seem that Izuku, Denki, and Mineta had scheduled time to work out at the pool at the same time—so we greeted them with smiles and waves.

I was honestly surprised to find Shōto amongst them, figuring he would have used this day to visit his mom.

"See," I said, pointing towards Shōto and his extremely well-toned body. "That's ripped."

"Stop drooling over your boyfriend Kiyo-chan!" Ochaco called out loudly, causing my cheeks to turn redder than a tomato and I started to sputter out a denial.

"Gosh, Kiyo-chan, so lewd!" Kyōka teased, equally loud. The other girls were giggling again since their words were most definitely heard by the other boys, and poor Shōto was steadily looking down at the concrete pretending not to listen.

I was squeaking, trying desperately to form coherent words to deny their accusations.

"Oh, my," Momo exclaimed, "I never knew someone could turn as red as a watermelon!"

"Huurrrrrk," I wheezed, burying my face in my hands. "Staa-aahp!"

This only caused the girls to burst into gleeful laughter and Mina grabbed onto my arm. "Such a cute little wifey!"

I whined pitifully.

Mercifully the girls refrained from teasing me further, but they did giggle every time I happened by sheer coincidence to glance over in Shōto's direction.

We went ahead and started our stretches before we swam, and during such the last of the boys arrived, with the exception of Katsuki and Eijirō.

Then the fun really began and we started with a game of Marco-Polo before switching to don't-let-the-ball-touch-the-water.

After tossing around a blown up ball in the water for half an hour or so we all pulled ourselves out of the pool and grouped together in a corner. We kept our legs in the water, chatting companionably with one another. We mostly talked about what our initial plans had been for the summer. Momo was especially disheartened that her parents had to go to Venice without her—as her father already had to attend a business meeting and her mother had decided to go with him.

We talked about what we hoped the training camp would entail, things of that nature. It was honestly such a relaxing time.

Our conversations died, however, when Tenya shouted above it all to ask, "Everyone, do you want to see which of the boys can swim fifty meters faster?"

"Hell yeah!" Denki agreed.

"Sounds like fun," Sero voiced.

As the rest of the boys let out approvals for that idea, we girls exchanged interested looks and got up from our sunbathing spot to approach them.

"Iida-kun, we'll help," Momo offered.

"What about Quirks? Can we use them?"

"We're at school so there shouldn't be a problem," Tenya said. "However, you cannot cause damage to any person or building."

The boys split up into groups to race—since there was only so much room in the pool—and Momo created a stopwatch to time them.

The first group consisted of Katsuki, Minoru, Tokoyami, and Denki.

"Then on your marks," Momo began, and the boys dropped down into starting positions at the edge of the pool. "Go!"

While the rest of the boys dove into the water, Katuski used his explosive Quirk to literally launch himself through the air across the pool. Immediately upon landing he turned back to taunt his fellow classmates, "How was that, you extras?!"

"You didn't even swim!" Eijirō scolded.

"It's freestyle," Katsuki retorted hotly, and no one could really argue against that.

The next group set up was Sero, Aoyama, Koda, and Shōto. Shōto, like Katsuki, used his Quirk to slide above the water and win. Denki and Mineta both scolded him upon winning shouting, "You're supposed to be swimming!"

The last group was Tenya, Izuku, Ojirou, and Shoji. It was the closest to an actual race with Tenya and Izuku neck-and-neck the whole way through but Izuku was the ultimate winner.

"Yosh!" Tenya exclaimed. "The winners of each—Bakugou, Todoroki, and Midoriya—will race for first place. Line up!"

The three finalists took their places, and Tenya continued, "Then, the 50-meter freestyle final will begin now."

The class as a whole started cheering, everyone calling out for who they wanted to win. Since they were all my friends I only cheered for them to have fun.

"On my mark—Ready... set... Go!"

The three launched themselves into the air but all of them fell completely flat into the water as their Quirks were canceled.

"It's five," Aizawa said, approaching the group, "your pool use time has now ended. Get home. Now."

'Ah. That's a shame.'

◟(◕◡◕❀)

The next time the whole class met up again was a few days later when it was time to start our training camp. We all gathered at the front of the school, our bags packed, bright-eyed and filled with smiles. Once everyone had arrived, Aizawa began talking to the class.

"U.A. has finished its first semester and summer break has already started," Aizawa addressed the class of 1A. "However, for those of you trying to be heroes, you will not receive days of rest. At this summer training camp, we'll have you aiming for even greater heights for Plus Ultra."

"Yes, sir!" we echoed, and Aizawa gave a brief nod before he guided us towards the bus we would be taking.

We all had our bags put away quickly, although only three could do so at a time and the rest meandered around while they waited. By the time everything was done, however, 1B had shown up and started boarding their own bus.

There was a brief exchange between the classes, but it didn't last more than a minute since we had to start boarding ourselves.

The bus was nice—like all of U.A.'s things—and had comfortable seats. I took my spot beside Shōto; he sat at the window and I sat at the aisle so I could chat with Ochaco in the seats beside us. Izuku sat beside Ochaco at the windows, his face as red as cherry.

"I really can't wait," Ochaco told me as the bus started moving. "I've been looking forward to this all summer."

"Mn! It should be a lot of fun," I agreed wholeheartedly.

"We should do a test of courage!" Mina declared from behind us, and Toru practically shrieked in agreement.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Ah, I keep forgetting you were homeschooled," Ochaco said, her eyes wide. "It's when you have part of the class—or other classes entirely—hide inside a forest, or old school building. Then you go through in pairs of two and get scared! If you run out you're a coward, but if you make it all the way through then you pass."

"Oh? That sounds kind of fun."

"I hope there's a bonfire," Toru commented. "Wouldn't it be nice to have s'mores?"

Ochaco, Mina, and I oo'd in agreement, nodding enthusiastically.

"I hope there's a trail or lake nearby. I'd like to be able to go swimming at night," I said.

"A romantic trail walk at night, huh," Mina said, wiggling her eyebrows.

I stuck my tongue out in response.

We continued to chat amiably for a couple more hours until it was time for the bus to pull over.

The bus came to a stop in a dirt lot that overlooked a massive beautiful forest. Everyone got off the bus to stretch and walk, all of us under the belief we would simply be taking a break.

"Ah," I said, stretching my arms high above my head. "Maybe I shouldn't have worn my leggings today. It's pretty hot."

"But the bus is actually cold and we'll be spending most of our time on the bus until we get to camp," Ochaco pointed out as she stretched beside me.

"True," I agreed.

"There's no point in stopping without a reason," Aizawa said flatly, drawing the entire class's attention towards him.

The black car parked opposite of the bus opened up and out stepped some damn gorgeous women.

"Yo, Eraser," one said.

Aizawa bowed politely in greeting, "Hello again."

The first woman, a pretty young lady with short auburn hair, warm chocolate brown eyes, and dressed like a pink cat twirled and said, "Lock on with these sparkling gazes."

The other young woman, a long-haired blonde with gorgeous blue eyes danced around and added, "Stunningly cute and catlike!"

Together they formed a pose and said, "Wild, Wild Pussycats!"

As they did their greeting I noticed a sour-looking boy standing a little ways behind them. He looked extremely done.

Aizawa introduced the women to us. "These are pro heroes who will be working with us during the camp, the Pussycats."

"Th-They're a four-person hero team who set up a joint agency!" Izuku cried out, his fanboy side popping out like a water balloon as he gushed. "They're a veteran team that specializes in mountain rescues. This year will—"

"Veteran?" I repeated, incredulous. "They look barely out of high school."

"Well aren't you a charmer," the blonde woman cooed.

"Everyone, greet them," Aizawa ordered.

"Nice to meet you!" we shouted.

The pink-clad pussycat gestured towards the first. "We own this whole stretch of land here. You all will be staying at the foot of that mountain."

"Huh? Then why did we stop here?" Ochaco asked.

"Could it be—"

Izuku and I exchanged excited glances and I squealed, "Do we get to go hiking?!"

"W-Why don't we get back to the bus, huh?" Sero suggested nervously. "Fast."

"Y-Yeah," Denki stammered out. "Let's go."

Most of the class nodded in agreement at this, turning back around towards the bus—

"It's 9:30 a.m. right now. If you're fast... maybe around noon?" The brunette cooed.

This got most of the class to literally sprint towards the bus, but the blonde cutie leapt in front of them with a sly grin. She slapped her hands on the ground below, the paw gloves she wore glowing pale blue.

The entire ground gave away underneath us, and I reflexively used my teleport to avoid falling.

Thankfully it wasn't that far of a drop, and my classmates were fine from falling if a bit disheveled and dirty.

"Oi!" the brunette pussycat hollered out once the rubble cleared around us. "Since it's private land you can all use your Quirks. You have to make it on your own two feet to the training camp, but you're going to have to go through The Beasts' Forest."

"U.A.'s too crazy," Kyōka muttered, standing up and brushing the dirt off her clothes.

"No use complaining," Eijirō said. "Let's head on out."

Mineta dashed into the forest, the purple-haired boy clutching pitifully at his bladder with tears in his eyes. The moment he got past the tree line, however, a massive beast made of rock and dirt emerged and roared.

Izuku had to act quickly to save Mineta, as Shoda's Quirk (which was to subdue animals) didn't work on it.

"Oh boy," I said, beaming. "This going to be fun, isn't it?"

Izuku shot me a wary look. "If you say what I think you're going to say next I'm not helping you weed the gardens this summer."

"It's an adventure!" I cried out cheerfully.

The groan of agony from Izuku made me giggle as the poor boy remembered all the dangerous expeditions I made him go on with me as we were growing up.

"We might even get to run away from more bears with broken bones," I continued, my grin stretching wider while Izuku looked like he was having a war flashback.

"This is why I don't go on adventures with you," Shōto informed me.

"I, uh, I think I'll have to raincheck our scheduled adventure for the end of summer, too," Ochaco added nervously.

"Aw."

◟(◕◡◕❀)

The trip through the forest took everyone almost the entire day. It was a great exercise, since it really tested everyone's limit and allowed us to gain wonderful practical experience working as a team.

Plus it was actually a lot of fun trying out new combos with my friends. It was rare that we all got to try out taking out foes together.

And we got to spend time outside, which was a major bonus.

It was hard not to keep grinning the whole way through, which warranted more than a few irritated looks (along with Izuku's unnecessarily worried expression that I would come up with more ideas for our adventures). But really, who could blame me? I spent my entire life doing hard physical labor and being outside. If I didn't enjoy either of those things I'd be in for a hellish life.

An extremely exhausted, battered, and ravenously hungry class of 1A stumbled out of the forest as the sun set behind us.

Most of us had ruined our clothes along the way—rest in peace, leggings—and were covered in scratches, and bruises. An outsider looking over at us might have thought we had returned from a grueling battle.

The training camp main building was decently sized, and the Pussycats—whose names Izuku told me were Ryuko (the blonde), Shino (the brunette), Tomoko (a green haired woman we hadn't met yet), and Yawara (the only man in the group)—along with our teacher awaited for us.

"Three hours my ass!" Sero hollered out as soon as he saw them.

"So-orry," Shino cooed, "that's how long it would have taken us."

Most of the students collapsed, Eijirō clutching at his stomach. "I'm friggin' hungry!"

Ryuko giggled adorably. "But honestly, I thought it would have taken even longer. You guys didn't have as hard a time beating my earth beasts as I thought you would. You guys are great, especially you five!" Ryuko pointed towards Tenya, Izuku, myself, Shōto, and Katsuki. "Were you able to act without hesitation because of your experience? I'm looking forward to where you'll be in three years." Ryuko dashed towards us. "I call dibs!"

"But in three years you'll probably already have your own harem started up from your sheer beauty," I flirted out of reflex.

Working at a maid cafe with mostly older women and men as customers forced me to get some particularly odd reflexes. One of them being to shamelessly flirt with said older women and men. It was always understood, at the cafe, that there was no real heat behind it, simply part of the whole experience.

Unfortunately, this habit has lead me to some extremely embarrassing experiences.

Such as accidentally frequently flirting with Shōto's older sister and the poor girl sputtering and running away every time.

Or, God, flirting with Inko too many times to count.

I would never live down the sugar momma incident, and Izuku would forever have blackmail on me.

Ryuko took me by the arm and spun me around. "You really are just the little charmer."

"Inspiration comes easily when I see such breathtaking beauty like yourself," I said with a wink.

Ochaco was giving me such a pitiful look. She knew exactly what I was doing because the poor girl was starting to pick up that habit herself.

"100 times dibs," Ryuko declared, thoroughly entertained by me.

"U-Um, whose kid is that?" Izuku asked, pointing over towards the kiddo who was glowering beside Shino.

"This is my cousin's kid," Shino explained as Ryuko continued to spin me around. "Kota, say hi. You'll be with them for the next week."

Izuku approached the kid since he was a big ol' cinnamon roll himself and adored kids. With a big smile on his face he said to Kota, "Oh, um, I'm Midoriya from U.A. High School's hero course. Nice to meet you."

Kota promptly punched Izuku directly in the balls, and my sunshine was down for the count.

"Midoriya-kun!" Tenya cried out, dashing to catch Izuku as he fell forward. Kota walked off, shoving his hands in his pocket and continuing to look like a sour patch. "You brute of a nephew! Why would you do that to Midoriya-kun's scrotum!?"

Kota paused briefly to snap back, "I don't intend to hang out with guys who want to become heroes."

With surprising amusement, Katsuki chortled. "Precocious brat."

"Isn't he like you?" Shōto asked Katsuki.

"WHAT? Not at all!" Katsuki snarled. "Anyway, shut up, you GG bastard."

"Sorry," Shōto said flatly.

"Enough with this charade," Aizawa cut in. "Get your stuff off the bus. Once you've put your bags in your rooms, we'll have dinner in the cafeteria. After that, you'll bathe and go to sleep. We'll start for real tomorrow. Now move quickly."

Only the prospect of food and a warm bath got the students moving again—although I stumbled since Ryuko had spun me around quite a bit—and with tired limbs, we did as told.

Dinner was eaten with gusto and enthusiasm and then off to the delightful baths we went.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

I sat down on the warm rocks, my legs in the water. Mina sat beside me, a big grin on her face, while Ochaco sat in front of me, her back turned towards me. I ran my fingers through her hair, and she sighed contently. "Playing with hair is the best."

"Mm-hmm!" I agreed with a grin. "There's one hot spring in my town and when the girls come back from boarding school we all go together. Hot springs are the best."

"With you there," Mina exclaimed, rocking back and forth. "Perfect way to unwind after such a day."

"I wonder what else they have in store for us," Tsuyu pondered, moving to sit beside Ochaco and in front of Mina.

Momo's eyes gleamed. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be very informative."

I was about to respond to her when we all heard Mineta's scream of, "WALLS ARE MEANT TO BE CLIMBED OVER!"

Everyone froze, looking over at the wall between the boys' and girls' baths in unhidden horror.

There was a sudden wall of ice on the other side and we heard Mineta's cry of anguish. "AHHH T-T-T-T-TOO C-C-C-COLD!"

This was immediately followed by the ice melting as fire erupted and Mineta cried out once more.

Silence.

"T-Todoroki-kun stopped Mineta-kun, then?" Ochaco guessed hesitantly.

"Jeeze. Wonder why," Kyōka commented, giving me a look.

I blushed, feigning ignorance. "He's a gentleman."

The girls smugly exchanged glances.

'Oh, God the teasing is going to start back up again, isn't it?'

Yes.

Yes, it did.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

Before the sun had finished rising, the class of 1A was already dressed and gathered outside in a large open area. Aizawa waited for everyone to arrive before he said, "Good morning. Today we will begin training camp to increase your strength in earnest for everyone to obtain their provisional licenses. It is to prepare you all to face hostilities that are becoming more real by the minute. Proceed carefully. So Bakugō, try throwing that."

Aizawa tossed Katsuki the same ball we had tested with at the start of the school year.

"Your previous record, from right after you started school, was 705.2 meters. Let's see how much you've improved."

"Oh, we're checking our progress?" Mina exclaimed excitedly, her eyes bright.

Katsuki smirked before he pulled back his arm, his face contorting into a scowl and he threw the ball with all his might. "Go to hell!"

The ball soared well out of sight.

"709.6 meters," came Aizawa's clipped voice.

This was met with surprise from the class, and frustration from Katsuki.

"It's been about three months since you started high school," Aizawa said. "Through various experiences, you all have definitely improved. But that improvement has mainly been at the mental and technical levels, with some increase in stamina. As you can see, your Quirks themselves have not improved that much. That's why we will work on improving your Quirks starting today." Aizawa smiled cruelly. "It'll be so hard you'll feel like dying, but try not to actually die."

Aizawa started to go through what each student would be doing to improve.

Katsuki - Throwing his hands in boiling water to expand his sweat glands, then using his Quirk to make even bigger explosions.

Shōto - Alternating between ice and fire to make the temperature of the bathwater uniform. This is to help his body get used to freezing and have him try controlling the temperature of his flames. He might even be able to use both Quirks at once eventually.

Sero - By having him produce tape continuously his training will increase his capacity and improve tape strength and shooting speed.

Eijirō and Mashirao - By having Ojiro use his tail to hit Eijirō with his Hardening activated they can increase the strength of each other's Quirks.

Denki - By running his electric current through a large capacity battery he's training his body to be able to handle large amounts of electricity.

Koji - In order to increase the strength and range of his Anivoice he's doing vocal exercises to build up his vocal chords.

Yuga - Training to get his body used to Navel Laser so that he can keep using it even if his stomach hurts.

Fumikage - Training to keep Dark Shadow under control if it's going wild in the dark.

Ochaco - By turning continuously in zero gravity she's training the semicircular canals in her inner ear to decrease nausea and increasing the maximum weight she can use her Quirk on.

Tenya - Doing long training runs to increase leg strength and stamina.

Tsuyu - Training to work out all the muscles in her body and her long tongue.

Kyōka - Increasing the quality of sound from her Quirk by strengthening her earphone jack.

Mina - Intermittently creating acid to increase her skin's durability.

Mineta - Training to increase the strength of his scalp so that he won't bleed even if he keeps popping off balls.

Toru and Mezo - Increasing the strength of both their Quirks by having Mezo look for Toru.

Izuku - "Tiger's Bootcamp."

Momo and Kiyomi - Continuous sparring with and without their quirks.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

I saluted at that last instruction, turning back to Momo and holding out my hand. "C'mon, Momo-chan. Let's get some experience in, okay?"

Momo's eyes shined. "Mn!"

My own Quirk couldn't be overtrained like others, anyway, and Aizawa knew that. He had to have already been planning for me to receive a physically heavy work out, which I would get with Momo, but after the exams, he probably saw an opportunity to knock two birds out with one stone.

Momo wasn't a slouch, or lacked the skill, but she had an awful habit of thinking in the middle of battle. That was easily rectified by repeatedly fighting and learning to rely on her instincts.

Otherwise known as experience.

Something I had plenty of. Working out with Momo would fulfill my training requirements, and by having her spar with me—and if I were to guess Aizawa's intentions correctly, mentor her a little bit—it'd really help her out.

When we found an ideal spot to start I told her, "Your goal is to be able to block all of my attacks for at least a minute."

"Is that all?" Momo asked hesitantly.

I grinned roguishly at her. "Oh, honey. That's the warm up."

Something about my expression made her nervous, and she positioned herself defensively.

"Ready?"

"Yes!"

I didn't give her another second; I began my assault.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

We trained until the sun began to set behind us, and then forty extremely tired students stumbled over to where we were supposed to eat. Unfortunately, we would be making our own food, too.

As people reluctantly got to work with the prepared ingredients, I looked out at the forest, a sense of nostalgia washing over me. My hand ghosted over towards my right hip where —

(where the pouches should be—)

(where the sword should be—)

(where the gun should be—)

(where the book should be—)

(where the scroll should be—)

(don'tgo)

—nothing was there. I placed my hand over my hip, briefly wondering why I had done so. A sense of loss and mourning stirred inside of me; followed by a longing so fierce it made me stumble and tears prick at my eyes. My heart skipped a beat and my stomach clenched tightly. My breathing hitched for the briefest of moments and then everything faded away.

Normalcy returned to me, but I retained a deep sense of melancholy.

I turned toward one of the Pussycats, smiling at her. "May we use the forest to gather?"

The beautiful blonde looked up at me and gave me a thumbs-up. "Have at it, if you can!"

"Gather?" Izuku asked tiredly, a spark in his eyes. "Aha. That takes me back to the camping trips."

"Nothing's better than fresh stuff," I said.

"Aren't you exhausted?" Ochaco wheezed.

(Always)

"I'm okay," I answered her honestly. "I won't take long. I think I remember finding some stuff on the trip in."

(Deadman's Land means dOn'TstOPoRyOuDIE)

"Do you want help?" Shōto asked me, but I shook my head. "Okay. Stay safe."

"Of course. I'll see ya'll in a bit."

'I guess I could also just teleport right back to the farm and grab stuff but I think I'd get in trouble for that. I'll talk to Cactus about it later.'

Within ten minutes I had an impressive bundle of mushrooms and herbs to contribute. Another fifteen minutes and food was ready and my friends and I took a seat at one of the tables to enjoy curry.

"How'd you know how to find all this stuff?" Ochaco asked me as she took a seat beside me.

"It's just stuff you pick up growing up—"

(—alone)

(—as a kunoichi)

(—as a soldier)

(—as a hunter)

(—as a nomad)

"—on a farm," I answered. "Although Izu-chan knows his fair bit, too. I took him camping a lot on our adventures."

"You always seem like you know a lot," Ochaco declared. "You're like an old soul or something!"

(Ah-ha)

There was a twinge, and I sucked in a sharp breath as my grip tightened around my chopsticks. A sense of panic and danger hit me strongly and for a split second, I wasn't enjoying dinner with my friends, I was—

Strapped down to the table, bound as the men leaned over. They had drained me, and it took everything I had to remain conscious.

The bonds creaked under my straining, and a blinding light filled my vision as they pulled the light over my head.

"What else do you know?" he asked me.

The stench of my blood filled my nostrils.

"Not again," I whispered to myself as I realized what had happened.

"Again?"

"Oh well. Better luck next life."

"What—? What are you doing?!"

I bit my tongue off.

The grotesque scene replayed before my eyes, causing shivers to go down my spine. But then Shōto was pressing his forehead against mine, and it felt so terribly warm and nice.

A convulsion hit my body and I dropped my chopsticks. Heavy breaths escaped me, as goosebumps crawled on my skin. Cold, clammy, sick, fear hit me and vision began to double.

In the corner of my eye I saw the fAcEs staring at me, and my fear shot up into horror.

"Kiyo—?" I distantly heard Ochaco's worried voice.

Shōto slapped his hands on both of my cheeks, jolting me out of my stupor.

In a flash, everything was gone.

Dazed, I glanced around, realizing that Ochaco and Shōto were both staring at me intently. Ochaco's face conveyed nothing but genuine worry. Shōto's was a bit harder to read, but his gaze was intense and entirely focused on me.

Swallowing roughly I croaked out, "S-Sorry, what?"

"Are you okay? You looked like you got scared for a second. I'm sorry if I said anything to upset you," Ochaco fretted.

"I-I'm fine now, thank you. S-Sorry for the trouble."

Dinner went on without much comment, and as soon as I got the chance to excuse myself I took it.

Of course Shōto wouldn't let me get away too easily.

Shōto grabbed my hand, tugging me away from the rest of the group. He dragged me outside of the building and out onto the patio. The crisp night air felt cool against my skin, and the familiar sound of crickets singing reminded me of home.

He tugged me over towards the steps then motioned for me to sit. I sat down beside him, curious as to what he wanted.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Shōto said, "but I'm here if you do."

Ah.

I leaned into him, and he wrapped an arm around me, pulling me closer. I tucked my head into the crook of his neck, finding strength there.

"I honestly don't know what to say," I admitted to him.

"You'll find the words when you're ready," he assured me. "But until then, I'm here."

I closed my eyes. "Always?"

"Always and always."

◟(◕◡◕❀)

I stared down at her broken, mangled body. Her arms and legs were bent at odd angles, and her face was stuck in a permanent expression of horror.

"Sister."

My heart wept for her.

The scene melted away and I held my son as he gave one last staggering breath and the machines flatlined.

"Damien."

Again it shifted.

Another death in my arms.

Another life slipping away.

Most were loved ones.

Some were my own.

The faces watched with tired, tired eyes.

So tired.

Too tired.

Death took everyone in the end.

He welcomed them into a peaceful sleep, and cherished them.

Everyone but me.

He said—

He said—

Life makes gifts for Death, and Death keeps them all.

So why not me?

Why did I have to watch my husband, my wife, my son, my daughter, my sister, my brother, my friends, my parents, my everything move on without me?

The faces wept over this betrayal, this cruel form of immortality. So many of them were stuck in their traumas, forced to relieve painful memories over and over because letting go and moving on seemed terribly worse.

If we moved on, who would remember?

What would happen if we stopped thinking about them?

Would their memories fade away from us, slipping through our fingers like smoke?

Would we lose them all in a much more permanent and irreparable way?

Their memories—

Laura was laughing as she looked at me, her pretty green eyes sparkling as she leaned into me for support.

Jason gave me that grin that he always did when was about to do something stupid.

Dad rolled his eyes and gave such a pitiful moan to protest having to get up to change the channel.

Demmie danced and danced and danced like there wasn't a care in the world.

Maddie smiled only at me that way.

All those memories were precious, treasured, even—

I sucked in a deep breath as I entered the room, my eyes going up to her dangling body. Barely eleven and already the weight of the world was too much for her.

Good, bad, great, awful—

They were all I, we, I, we, I had left of them.

They were gone from me for all eternity, and I knew I would never see them again.

These memories were the only things that kept them alive to me.

But good memories are harder to remember. It's easier to remember the awful ones—

I screamed with fury as I held his broken body in my arms. Rage fueled my next actions as I leaped at his killer, the one who dared to take him from me. It didn't matter if I died next, all I cared about was ending this monster's life.

—because they stuck out and clung to us.

Even so, even with the cruel memories we, I, we, I would hold onto them.

Letting go was so much worse.

"And that's why He will never keep us," Blessed whispered.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

For the third time that night I awoke. The nightmare had vanished upon waking, but the sense of trepidation persisted.

Something was going to happen.

Covered in cold sweat, I shakily climbed out of my sleeping bag. I stumbled across the room trying not to wake anyone, and I slipped into the hallway. It was difficult to see in such darkness, but necessity forced my hand.

I padded down the wooden hallway before finally making it to the teacher's room. I opened the door and quietly approached Aizawa. I gently gave his form a shake and his eyes snapped open, his Quirk activating.

He stared at me a moment, assessing my trembling form, then nodded toward the door.

Taking the hint, I went back into the hallway.

Aizawa followed behind me a minute later and motioned for me to follow him. I did so, and only when we had both arrived in the kitchen did he break the silence. "What happened?"

"Something's going to happen," I told him with absolute certainty. "I had—I had more bad dreams. I, I can't remember any of them, but I know something is going to happen."

Aizawa gave a tight sigh, rubbing his face. "Okay. Get yourself some tea to calm down, I'm going to go make a phone call."

I nodded, and Aizawa stepped out of the kitchen. I watched him leave before giving myself a couple pinches in the cheek to help calm me down. Sometimes a good dose of pain helped cut through the heavy weight of anxiety, allowing me to think more clearly.

By the time Aizawa returned I already made two cups of tea, and he accepted his without a word.

He let me finish drinking my tea before he said, "You up for teleporting now?"

I nodded firmly.

"Good. Bring every teacher you can here. Do not tell anyone else what you are doing. We will be keeping them hidden, but nearby."

"Okay," I said, closing my eyes.

My wand hadn't bonded with a lot of teachers. While, yes, I had spent almost five years at U.A. and was on good terms with almost all of the teachers, my wand was fickle in how fast it bonded. There were some people who sparked an almost instant connection like Nemuri and Ochaco, but others were slow. All Might, for example, was a slow bond. I wasn't sure if I would ever be bonded to him before the year end, to be frank.

The teachers I could teleport were Nemuri, Thirteen, Present Mic, Aizawa, Ryo, Nezu, and Snipe.

"Do they know I'm coming?"

"Give it another ten minutes then go."

I accepted this and waited. On exactly the ten minute mark I began.

Nemuri was groggy-eyed, but greeted me with a kiss on the cheek and making me promise to bring her Baba's sugar cookies later.

Thirteen was already in costume, diligent as always and gave me a comforting pat on the back.

Present Mic was borderline still asleep and looked like he was in desperate need of twenty cups of coffee.

Ryo told me he would not be attending, but he would be on standby.

Nezu was still dressed in his pajamas but was packed and ready to go.

Snipe, like Thirteen, was already dressed in his hero costume.

Once everyone had gathered in the kitchen Nezu kindly patted me on the hand and asked me to go back to bed.

"If you have any more bad dreams, let us know though, okay?" Nezu asked me.

Tiredly, I nodded. "I will. I promise."

"Sweet dreams, sweetie," Nemuri told me, giving me a wink.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

After the hard night I decided to carry around a fanny pack filled with emergency first aid the next day.

That day mirrored the previous, with each of us training with all of our might. Nearly exhausted, we made dinner, then cleaned up the dishes. I was prepared to take a bath then go to bed, but then—

Ryuko of the Wild Wild Pussycats gave a big cheer and declared, "Now we've filled our bellies and washed the dishes! Next is—"

"THE COURAGE TEST!" Mina cried out with glee, hopping up into the air. Others followed suit, equally cheerful.

"Before that, it pains me to say this," Aizawa cut in flatly, "but the extra lessons group will be having class with me now."

"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" Mina screamed, tears in her eyes.

"Sorry," Aizawa said and I knew he absolutely was not sorry, "but your training during the day wasn't good enough, so I have to use this time."

As the five unlucky students cried out Aizawa forcefully dragged them away with his bandages, looking entirely unrepentant.

Ryuko then explained the test of courage. Class B would be the first scarers. Class A will leave in pairs every three minutes. There are tags with our names written on them in the middle of the route, so we have to make it there and bring those tags back to pass. Those being the scarers aren't allowed to make direct contact. The class that makes the most people "piss their pants with creativity and imagination" wins.

Next we drew our tags, and I was soon partnered up with Ochaco.

"Ah. Looks like you're my partner, Ocha-chan!" I said with a smile.

Ochaco beamed at me. "Yeah-huh! Aha, this'll be fun."

We took each other's hands, swinging them back and forth. I said, "I promise I won't try to scare you like I would with Izu-chan."

"I appreciate that," she said completely sincerely.

We both giggled, and I was about to say something else when Katsuki's shout stopped me.

"OI! BUBBLEGUM. Switch with me, I don't want to be partnered with your bastard of a boyfriend," Katsuki demanded, stomping over towards me and Ochaco.

"He's not my boyfriend," I corrected him, "and only if you say pretty please and it's okay with Ocha-chan."

The very idea of Katsuki saying pretty please turned his face ten shades of red. Finally he bit out, "Fine. I'll fucking partner with your stupid boyfriend."

"What a champ," I chirped, offering my arm out to Ochaco. "C'mon Ocha-chan, allow me to be your gentlemanly escort."

"Ooo," Ochaco cooed, hooking her arm through mine. "How dashing!"

"Indeed, my lady! Come, let us partake on a delightful midnight stroll, mm, yes," I said in a stauchy fake British accent.

"Quite indeed, my good lady!" Ochaco said, her voice raising up higher as she mimicked my accent. "Truly, what a devilishly splendid night this shall me."

"Oh-ho-ho-ho!"

"Oh-ho-ho-ho!"

"Oh-ho-ho-ho!"

"Oh—"

"Please stop," Izuku sighed, but he smiled at us nonetheless.

"I think he doesn't like our evil princess laugh," I whispered to Ochaco. "How rude."

"Completely," she agreed. She stuck her nose in the air. "Come, my lady! Let us leave these unappreciative heathens."

I tossed my hair back. "Indeed!"

"Oh-ho-ho-ho."

"Oh-ho-ho-ho!"

◟(◕◡◕❀)

The lovely competition began and we could hear plenty of screams from either the teams ahead of us, or Class B trying to psyche us out. By the time it had rolled around to our turn Ochaco was grabbing on harshly to my arm, no longer using her fake princess laugh.

Her terror was seriously cute, though, and I couldn't resist giving her cheeks a pinch and giggling.

"Stop laughing at me," she whined.

Ryuko let out a girlish laugh. "Alright, team five, you're up!"

"C'mon, sweetheart," I said, tugging on her. "Just stay close to me, okay?"

"Okay," Ochaco said, doing exactly that. "Urk. I've never been good at these kinds of things, you know."

"That's okay," I soothed her as we began our trek. "Izu-chan's awful with scary stuff, too."

"Really?"

"Yeah! One time we went camping in the woods behind the farm and I hadda go pee in the middle of the night; so I get out of the tent and head back to the farm. I mean, I like the woods but who would want to go pee over a bush when there's a perfectly good bathroom ten minutes away?"

"Makes sense," Ochaco said, nodding.

"Right? Anyway, I get back and I find the camp in shambles and Izu-chan had crawled up a tree. Apparently he thought a monster had eaten me and he climbed up the tree to try and find me but then he couldn't get back down so he started crying—"

"Aww."

"Yeah. But he could never handle being alone in the dark very well," I finished. "He's of course better now, but I don't think he'd willingly go into the woods without me at night, haha."

Ochaco let out a small laugh at that, relaxing a bit from my story.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

But then, oh, oh, oh, she appeared.

This villain who looked no older than sixteen, with a smile like a shark.

She walked out calmly from behind the trees, and said in a sugary sweet voice, "Hi, cuties! Want to be friends?"

We stood together, our postures defensive as a thousand thoughts raced through our heads.

Was it another attack of villains? For a villain to have gotten this far would mean she had either slipped past all the defenses and was alone, or...

Or she wasn't alone.

Before we did anything we heard a voice belonging to one of the Pussycat members in our head.

"Everyone in Class A and B listen up! In the name of pro hero Eraserhead you are granted permission to engage in combat! We have discovered one of the villains' targets. It is one of the students: Kacchan! Kacchan should try to avoid combat and acting independently. Understood, Kacchan?"

'Bocchan?!' I thought, eyes widening as my stomach knotted. 'One of my friends?!'

(You dare?!)

(YOU DARE?!)

He laid before me, still, and cold.

She let out her last breath.

His lips turned purple, and blue

Purple... and blue...

OH, so much rEd—

Anger that did not belong to me surged from me and I snarled viciously. The desire to ripriprip her f-u-c-k-i-n-g heart out was mounting, and fear oh the fear was indescribable.

How did one begin to describe the heart-stopping gut-wrenching panic of being helpless and forced to watch someone you loved die?

Forced to see them decay into nothing, or worse writhe in pain as they die slowly and you could do nothing?

Burning hot rage boiled inside of me, so fierce I trembled with it. Inside of that anger was paralysing horror, and a small child whimpering to herself: Not again, not again, not again—

I moved.

My bubbles turned into blades, jagged on every end to rip up the flesh of this plague who dared to try and make us go through that hell again.

She seemed delighted, but what a c-h-i-l-d she was.

I could not teleport, but that did not matter because we would not let her win.

She focused on me because I had two blades in my hands but I did not need the two.

A third bubble sharpened into blade and as I neared her, I jabbed with my right blade, swung up with my left, and the one from behind dove straight down at her.

Her eyes widened as she realized there was no escape for her. One of them would hit her, and the only choice she could make was which one.

She chose the blade from behind, jumping back away from me and straight into the sword that dug itself through her abdomen. I was c-a-r-e-f-u-l not to hit anything vital, but as I ripped it out blood gushed forward like a gentle waterfall.

She doubled over, clutching at the hole in her abdomen.

Unused to pain, this one was.

But still, she giggled with insane glee, looking up at me with eyes that shone with twisted affection. "Ah! My first~"

I did not care for a drawn out monologue, though, and I slammed one of my conjurations into the back of her neck and rendered her unconscious.

Ochaco approached me hesitantly, her eyes so wide and innocent. "K-Kiyo-chan...?"

The anger that was not mine to begin with left me. Coldness took its place, along with a sick feeling that clung onto me like a slimy blanket. The chill over my heart kept my head level, but the feeling of wrongness and guilt hung over my head.

I said in a quiet, shaky voice, "She'll live, as long as she gets treatment. I didn't hit anything vital."

Ochaco looked immeasurably relieved, and then I noticed her legs were shaking. Concerned, I asked her, "Are you okay?"

"You—You got a little scary," Ochaco admitted softly. "I felt like—I felt like you wanted to kill her."

Uncomfortable, I could only shuffle my feet awkwardly and look away. "I, I don't know what came over. I'm sorry for scaring you, Ocha-chan."

She shook her head. "No, it's okay. I was just caught off guard. Don't worry about it. Um—should we take her back?"

"No. I don't know how long she'll stay unconscious. I'd rather let her escape as is, than risk bringing her back towards other students who might be as injured, or worse."

"But she might bleed out—"

I bit my lip. 'What am I thinking? Of course she'd bleed out and die if I left her like that. Why isn't this bothering me?' Goosebumps crawled up my arm. 'This isn't normal. I should be upset—why—why am I acting like this?'

"You're right," I admitted to her, my brow furrowed. I tried to scrounge up anything, but all I could feel was ice inside of my chest. Even the tips of my fingers felt frostbitten, and I had to consciously work on clenching and relaxing them. I reached around for my fanny pack that I kept around my waist since having those awful nightmares last night.

Inside was needle and thread for emergency sutures, and plenty of disinfectant.

Ochaco's face turned green, but I ignored her for the moment and approached the unconscious bi—young woman.

I gave myself a good shake, trying to stir something other than irritation and frost inside of me.

'Am I in shock?'

(No. We're still here.)

(We're still with you—)

I had learned how to suture from my aunties and uncles. Everyone in town knew how to give emergency first aid to humans and animals. It was one of those things you had to know how to do on a farm. Doctors and ambulances couldn't reach us any time soon, after all.

I lifted her shirt up, poured disinfect over her and the needle, then I pinched her skin together and got to work.

First her front, then her back.

I wasn't the neatest sewer, so there was a good chance I would leave behind a scar. Not that I cared.

I wished I did, though.

'Is this how Mother felt?'

The sheer awfulness of that thought sent a thrill of fear—fear of myself—that shattered the ice around my heart. Tears pricked at my eyes, and at long last I could feel disgust for my actions and my anger.

It was such a relief I almost cried out.

But we didn't have time for that.

"What a hassle," drawled a deep voice, as blue flames shot out to completely surround us.

(D-a-n-g-e-r)

Immediately, I transformed one of my bubbles into a blade, and had the other one hover near Ochaco as a shield. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I knew the man before us was a cut above slasher girl.

Instinctually I knew this man was not someone I could take lightly. Gone was my anger and fear, and in its place was resolution and a desire to protect.

(Liar)

(Anger will always be there.)

"Ochaco," I said in a low voice, "I'm going to throw you over the fire with my bubble and you need to run and get help."

Ochaco shook her head, "No, I—"

I didn't give her a chance to finish. My bubble transformed and wrapped around her arm before I threw her hard over the fire and in the direction of the camp. The man watched this with an amused expression on his face.

"How noble," he mocked.

I used one bubble to flatten out and hover near me to shield against his fire attacks. My eyes narrowed into slits. "I don't suppose we can talk this out?"

"Cute," he said.

"I try."

'Should I try to escape? Use my shield as a hoverboard? No. He could probably use those flames like Shōto and Katsuki and chase after me in the sky. In that case he might end up setting the whole forest on fire. I should try to keep it contained here and hold out until help comes.'

With that decision made, I adjusted my stance to offense and began my—

(Won't you dance with me?)

—onslaught.

I leapt at him, twisting and turning my body to dodge his attacks. Fire shot out of his palms, and I had to dodge widely and use my bubbles as a shield to avoid the worst of it. Unfortunately with his attacks he ignited the grass behind me and it became vividly clear that I would soon have no room to dodge.

I did what I could, weaving and (dancing) moving to the best of my abilities with the constraints given. I wasn't able to get any good hits in for a while, merely grazing him repeatedly with my tanto.

On the bright side he looked increasingly irritated that I kept drawing blood.

On the down side it was getting extremely hot and I was running out of room fast. Soon I'd have to dedicate two bubbles to fight on top of, leaving me only with one to shield and attack. I didn't want to have to fight this guy bare-handed because something told me doing that would be bad.

I had to turn the tides in my favor quickly.

I dove underneath his arm, my desire to maim fueling my movements. With practiced ease I whipped around in the air, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards me. In the same motion I continued to flip into the air, completely twisting and dislocating his wrist, elbow, and likely shoulder.

The reflection of sheer pain on his face sent a thrill of pleasure inside of me and upon landing I transformed one of my bubbles into something sharp and jagged. With his other hand he erupted blue flames on my other side that near instantaneously breaking my shield, but not before I dug my knife into the back of his non-dislocated shoulder.

The flames burned cruelly into my side completely breaking my concentration on all of my bubbles—they all shattered away—and throwing me down to the ground. For reasons unknown he had directed the flames over my body and not my face—which might have successfully killed me if he had melted my face.

The result was my left side was near useless, with my arm dangling and my leg burning something fierce.

The pain itself was not enough to render me unconscious, however, and while I struggled to stand, I was not prepared to give up.

The assailant was also in a pickle. I had definitely dislocated both of his shoulders, likely tearing his tendons, too. He was unable to lift his arms, and the sheer hatred on his face made me grin cheekily in return.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, fighting hard to keep my voice even through the pain. It still cracked. "Can't fight anymore?"

A sneer (although it wobbled from the amount of pain he was in) stretched across his face. "I underestimated you. I won't make that same mistake again."

"It's the pink hair, isn't it?"

That got a ghost of a smirk.

Leaning heavily on one leg, I raised my good arm and reformed one of my bubbles. "I'd hate to have to b-bust your kneecaps, but if you're g-gonna insist on f-fighting that's what I-I'm going to do."

He wheezed. "It'd be so much easier to kill you."

I gave a lopsided grin. "The p-power of pink hair gives m-me plot armor protection. A-All the main protagonists have pink hair."

I got another wheezing chuckle for that one. The two of us continued to stand off. I was hoping to bide time for when Ochaco would return with help. The pain was going to make it difficult to fight, and—

(let us out)

And—and—

But I didn't get a chance to finish that thought.

One moment I was staring down the blue-flame villain and the next I was in curled up in soothing darkness.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

Later on I would learn that I had been placed inside a marble by Atsuhiro Sako, who was able to compress anything in the world into a marble without damaging it. He could only do this if his target didn't notice him.

At that moment he compressed me, all of my attention was on Dabi, while he was flying above escaping with Katsuki in a marble.

And that was how the League of Villains successfully kidnapped Katsuki and myself.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

Ochaco

As soon as Ochaco was over the blue flames she stumbled and had to catch herself on a tree. She turned back around, a cry in her throat but she couldn't see her friend behind the ominous fire. Fear and worry clawed at her, but the young woman shoved them all aside and forced her numb legs to start moving.

She broke out into a dead sprint, every inch of her instincts screaming that one of her best friends was in a very dangerous fight.

'It's like the exams,' Ochaco helplessly thought. They were up against an enemy that could overwhelm the two of them. He was an unknown powerhouse and the fact that he made it so far into the forest could only mean one thing.

Another villain invasion.

Ochaco had to get to the teachers as soon as she could. There was a chance they may not even be aware of what was happening.

'Deku wasn't with us—'

A thrill of horror made her heart pound painfully inside of her chest. Ochaco viciously shook her head to clear away those thoughts because if two of her best friends were in mortal peril she didn't know what she would do.

She ran as fast and as hard as her legs could carry her. She may not have exercised as consistently as Izuku or Kiyo, but she was still in good shape. She sidestepped branches, roots, and rocks, hurtling herself into the darkness.

But suddenly a massive black thing threw itself in front of her with a deafening roar, saliva pouring out of its mouth. Ochaco barely suppressed her scream of surprise, falling back in an attempt to avoid its landing.

'That looks like the—the thing from USJ!' Ochaco thought in disbelief, her eyes widening in disbelief. 'What—what is it doing here?! Oh no, everyone—'

Several gunshots could be heard and the creature reared back in anger, hissing in the direction of the bullets came from. From the darkness emerged one of the teachers and Ochaco felt relief turn her legs into jelly.

Sniper, one of the teachers at U.A., stepped out of the darkness and helped Ochaco back onto her feet. "You okay, little lady?"

"I-I'm fine," Ochaco blurted out, "but—Kiyo-chan—there was a villain with blue fire. She's fighting him, you have to help her."

Sniper glanced in the direction Ochaco ran from. "Alright. I'll take care of this vermin, you head back to the start and stay with the rest of the teachers."

"But—"

"Go," Sniper ordered.

Ochaco swallowed her protests, turned on her heel and continued her journey.

Her run lasted another five minutes before she broke out into a clearing filled with absolute chaos. There were more monsters and more teachers—although three monsters looked nearly dead and were lying still in a pool of blood. Ochaco was momentarily surprised to find so many teachers there such as Present Mic-sensei, the principal, Thirteen, the Pussycats, and Aizawa-sensei.

For that one split second upon arrival Ochaco was stunned. All of them worked fluidly with one another to bring down the monsters and the villains—for Ochaco now noticed there was one remaining villain who was barely standing, and many more collapsed on the ground.

Then that second of wonder and awe was over and Ochaco sprinted to the group of students including Tenya, completely out of breath.

"Uraraka-san!" Tenya greeted her, lookin immensely relieved. "You're okay?"

"I-I'm fine," Ochaco managed, still trying to catch her breath. "But, Kiyo-chan was still in the forest—"

"Did you tell a teacher?" Tenya immediately asked.

"I-I told Sniper-sensei," Ochaco admitted, and Tenya let out a soft sigh. "He said he would get her."

"Good, then we need to head to the building. Midnight-sensei and Sniper-sensei already went into the forest to assist. Thirteen-sensei and Aizawa-sensei will join them after this last Nomu is taken care of," Tenya explained.

"Nomu?" Ochaco repeatedly worriedly, looking over at the massive monster that was battling against over half a dozen of professional heroes and still standing. It was massive with dozens of eyes around its head and long arms that ended in nasty looking claws.

It was the stuff of nightmares, Ochaco believed.

But even nightmares could be conquered, apparently, with one last blast from Present Mic followed up with a brutal punch from the strongest member of the Pussycats. Once it went down Thirteen and Aizawa shot into the forest without another word, both intent on rescuing the others.

"Uraraka-san, come on!" Tenya ordered, and Ochaco obeyed.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

Ochaco looked around as more and more students came into the makeshift infirmary inside the main building. Teachers were stationed around the room, and Ochaco felt her heart clench when she couldn't find some familiar faces.

Shōto, Izuku, Fumikage, Yuga, and Mezo came in followed by Sniper and Aizawa. Ochaco shot towards them, her gaze firm on Sniper. "Sensei?!"

Sniper looked over at her, and the other students looked at her, too. Maybe if Ochaco hadn't been as worried she would have noticed the defeated looks on their faces. She might have wondered what happened with Katsuki, another student she noticed was missing. She might have stopped herself from asking Sniper in front of such an obvious wrung out audience.

But worry clouded her mind and she couldn't hold back any longer. She blurted out, tears in her eyes, "Kiyo-chan? Where's Kiyo-chan? You said you would get her."

Eyes widened in disbelief, and horror dawned on Aizawa's face before he whirled around the room, normally tired eyes sharp as ice. Sniper cocked his head. "I never found Kiyo-chan, she's not here?"

"She never came back!" Ochaco exclaimed, her hands flying up to her mouth as a feeling of cold guilt and nausea hit her.

'Oh my God. I left her. I left her. I left my best friend!'

"What happened to Kiyo?" Aizawa demanded sharply, pulling Ochaco out of her growing frantic thoughts. "Uraraka-san, tell us what happened."

"W-We were attacked," Ochaco sniffled, doing her absolute best not to cry as the gut-retching guilt clawed cruelly inside of her stomach. "Th-There was a lady w-with a knife but Kiyo-chan stopped her. Then a-a man showed up. He h-had blue flames and surrounded us with fire. Kiyo-chan threw me o-over the fire and t-told me to get help." Tears tumbled out of her eyes. "I-I r-ran until I f-found Sniper-sensei."

"The fire was gone by the time I stopped the Nomu," Sniper said slowly, "there was no trace of Kiyo-chan, or her attacker. I thought she might've used her teleportation to get away."

"Wh-What if she teleported home by accident?" Izuku whispered, and Ochaco's guilt doubled when she saw the pain in his eyes and how utterly destroyed he looked. "I-If she used too much power she might ha-have passed out."

"All of you get some rest. We'll take care of this," Aizawa ordered, already moving away.

Ochaco watched him leave for a brief moment before she buried her face in her hands and gave a silent cry.

'Please be okay, Kiyo.'

◟(◕◡◕❀)

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Double update my dears!