The silence went on too long.

Monama couldn't tell if Lethe thought Medea was crazy...or if he was starting to see that she wasn't the same person anymore...or rather, that she was herself, and not what he'd made her.

Finally, Lethe spoke in a low voice.

"When...I looked through Miss Likstar's memories...and Silk's...I found stuff about you...and it wasn't good.... You suffered a lot, didn't you?"

Medea didn't say anything. She'd just told him that, hadn't she?

"Yes," Monama answered for her.

Lethe didn't seem to mind that Monama was the one who said it now.

"I guess that was because of what I did," Lethe said slowly, "and I thought it never had to happen, if we never joined the LOV and the Originals never caught on to us, or if you just didn't leave...and I thought the whole time you were just having anger issues...and it would all go away once I...fixed it."

Medea frowned at him. "You made it worse.... What you did to me worked like a drug.... It changed my mind...but it made me an addict to your quirk. That anger? It was like withdrawal. I've been clean for months now, and I'm in much better control. Tell him, Monama."

"It's true, her temper is far better. She's actually the rational one sometimes," Monama said.

Medea nodded. "I got to be that. You didn't take me seriously."

Lethe rubbed his forehead. "Yeah...I never did think you were... This all seemed like your fault to me. I didn't even start to think it could be my fault, until I saw those memories, and I thought maybe you're just afraid of going through that again...if I did that...and something set it off... I still can't totally stop triggers..."

Medea tilted her head.

Lethe sank to the floor, like he just had no energy left. "It's been non stop memories.... I'm starting to hate my own quirk.... Honestly, taking yours again might push me over the edge.... How much can one person hold...? I thought I had it all, but it's not going away, and it's not stopping, and I can't even think without thinking about other people's stuff.... You think I like this? I wish I wasn't here...but they won't let me leave..."

Medea's face changed.... She bit her lip. "Yuma..."

"You can keep your memories," Lethe said dully, "Fine.... It doesn't look like I could force you, not now. Your control is too good.... You win."

Medea didn't like how he said that. "Are you saying I win, but you're not sorry?"

"I'm sorry I made you feel that way," Lethe said, "I'm sorry for this whole mess.... I don't know anymore if what I did to you was right then or not, but it's all changed so much. I can't re-do it and get the same result.... I mean...you're in control. There's no point.... Only so I could get back what I had..." He rubbed his eyes. "I didn't realize that...but it was always about that for me...wasn't it? It took you accusing me just now to get what Silk was saying to me before...and Likstar was too.... I screwed myself over here..."

He shook his head. "I don't know if I can ever be normal though, Aya.... Like you say, people like me don't normally change.... Maybe I'm just like Hantai--I have to control people.... I have do these things. It's my nature."

"If you're like that, you're as bigoted as he is about quirks," Monama sniffed, "That's like saying I can never be original because my quirk lets me copy things, and I happen to think I'm quite a unique character."

"Uniquely annoying," Medea said.

"Hey!"

"Sorry, babe, it was so easy..." She smiled slyly. "But, yeah, its true. Monama is not a carbon copy of anyone else just cause his quirk is, and I don't have to be out of control just because my quirk is fire.... Like, your quirk is weird, but it doesn't make you who you are."

"Then maybe I've just become this way," Lethe said, "and this is my karmic punishment...to work for the Originals until I lose my own sanity." He laughed kind of scarily. "I mean, wouldn't that be irony? I thought I was keeping other people sane, but in the end I couldn't take it myself."

"Isn't that the way it often turns out?" Monama said.

"You boyfriend's a smarta--," Lethe said.

"I have a type," Medea admitted, "But...Yuma...come on...if you can admit all that, can't you just...leave them? We'd help you."

"And what? Go back to being a family? Like we could ever forget this," Lethe said.

"I don't know. I guess it wouldn't be like before," Medea said.

She knelt down across from him. "But it could be better than this, Yu-chan. Even if I don't live with you, I'd like to think you'd do better than this. If you ever did anything to help me, it would be just...you know, going off and living your life, away from these creeps."

Lethe looked up at her. For one moment Monoma thought he'd agree...

But then his face fell. "It's not a matter of what I want.... I'm sorry, Aya, I can't.... They'll still kill you if I do that."

"We can beat them!" Medea said.

"I really don't think we can," Lethe said, "if even Likstar and West couldn't."

"But we don't know that yet," Medea said.

Lethe shook his head. "I'm afraid it's probably too late. I feel like they would have escaped by now if I had no effect."

"So release it, now." Medea grabbed his hand, somehow not afraid to do this. "Give them back!"

"I can't, " Lethe said, "I'd be dead.... It's too late..."

"You coward!" Monama said, "It's the right thing to do."

"And I'm not good at doing that, am I?" Lethe said, "And I'm not sure I disagree about quirks.... Even if you're controlling yours now, too many people can't."

"The Originals only feed you stuff to make that seem true," Medea urged, "If you left them, you'd see quirks are just like anything else--good, bad, neutral.... We have to make of them what we can or decide no to use them on our own, but we can't take that from others. They're horrible, Yuma."

"They may be horrible, but I'm stuck anyway," Lethe said sadly.

Monama had had enough.

"Well, you're an idiot, then," he said, "Medea is wasting her time on you. All that talk about knowing better, and if you end up being wrong, you turn into a sniveling coward."

Lethe glared at him sullenly. "You couldn't possibly understand."

"I think I could, actually," Monama said, "I know something about being frustrated about my powers being less than I could wish. You are just giving up because you know you're not the hotshot you thought you were once, and you're losing your grip thanks to all the memories you took, is that it? Well, a smart person would just admit it, let go of those d--- memories, and move on with their life. But you want to wallow in it. I guess I know what it's like to do that, and people thought I was a prick, but you think it makes you edgy or cool, don't you?"

"Did I say that?" Lethe said sourly.

"But I think he's right," Medea said, "You always did like to make your problems sound bigger than everyone else's. It was so annoying. And now you're doing it with this. You think you're stuck here, but you're not any more stuck than I was. And I left, so why don't you just leave? What's holding you back?"

"If you think they'll spare Medea because of you," Monama said, "then think again. Even if she did get taken back to you, they'll never be able to tame her. You couldn't tame her by taking her memory. You think they'll succeed? If they did, she'd be nothing like the sister you know. Is that really what you want? And if she's unbreakable, then they'll kill her. That is what they do. You can't really be stupid enough to think it's safer to join this group than to fight them. If you don't really buy into their propaganda, then it's ludicrous to work for them."

"Amen," Medea said, then, "Wow...I guess Likstar has influenced me. Where did that come from? Anyway...Yuma...please, just say yes."

Lethe shook his head. "If I do that, I won't make it out of this base, and I'd be hunted, always. I can't stand that, again."

"And you prefer to just drive yourself insane," Monama said.

Lethe looked at him. Then he frowned. "You have a point.... I'm d----d either way, huh?"

"Don't say that," Medea said, "Look, I'm sorry I said we're not family.... We are.... That doesn't change. I don't want to lose my only family. No one else can help me remember Mom and Dad...the natural way...except you."

Lethe smiled faintly. "Don't try to be so nice.... You hate me, don't you?"

"I...don't know," Medea said, "I think...maybe something normal could eventually come out of our messed up past...if you'd work with me...and I wouldn't hate you, then. But if you end it like this, I'll never get that kind of closure.... I don't want that."

Lethe reached into his pocket and pulled out...a wallet.

"There's something here I think you should have..."Hhe opened it.

Inside were a string of photos.

Monama peered at them too.

[Images by Onerose, original templates by original creators.]

"Mom took these. First day of elementary, and first day of middle school," Lethe said, "I had them in my notebook when we left the house, so it survived the fire..." He shook his head. "But I always thought it might trigger you..."

Medea bit her lip.

"I wish I had pictures of Mom and Dad," Lethe said, "but other than public records, I think it was all lost. You should take these." He handed them to Medea. "Maybe it would be better if we just...remember those days...before it all ended up in smoke, literally."

"I'm not sure you've gotten the point," Monama said, "The good, the bad, you have to have all of it."

"Or it's true that I'm just not able to deal with it," Lethe said, "I...don't know anymore, what's my pain, and what's everyone else's.... I thought my pain was gone...but it could be it's still there...somehow.... I filled myself up with other people's, thinking it would help them, and it could have, but I guess I just can't take it."

"Yuma." Medea finally grabbed his face and made him look at her. "Listen to me. I'm your older sister. Just listen to me for once and let me act like it: You've screwed up big time, you little punk."

Not what Monama thought she'd say. He choked on a laugh.

Lethe looked surprised too.

"And I'd beat the crap out of you for it, if mom would let me, but I know she wouldn't go for that," Medea said, "so...yeah, you just need to knock it the frick off... You see...all that is stuff I want to say to you and it not be really weird. And guess what? You're so full of yourself and other people's bad stuff, that you just don't know anymore what you can and can't do. So if you just cut the bulls--- and listen to your family for once, you'd know that the thing to do is to get away from these bad influences and be your own person. And Dad wouldn't like you hanging around these bullies, and you know it. So stop pretending this is okay."

Lethe sniffed suddenly, and then...he started shaking and crying.

Maybe it had been too long since he'd heard anything remotely normal.... It was just too much for him.

Monama was watching his hands to make sure he didn't go for Medea's memories, but he began to think he was truly not willing to try.

"I'm sorry..." Lethe started mumbling, "I've been so...stupid...but...it's...it's gotta be too late, now."

"No, it's not." Medea shook him. "They wouldn't want you to take it. Come on, you can do it! Just...say no. Say no to doing this anymore. Say no."

Lethe dried his eyes. "I wish it was that easy...but...I know it's not."

"You're willing to let this slip through your fingers again?" Monama was growing inpatient. "Because that's what's going to happen, and it's all on you if you do. Your delusions of grandeur are so annoying. Just be a normal teenager and freaking stop trying to be a cult guy."

"I'll never be normal," Lethe said.

"But...better that this." Medea got up and held out her hand. "For Mom and Dad, for me...or just for you, come on, Yuma...just...say you'll try."

Lethe looked up at her.

Then he stood up.

"I'll...make you a deal, Aya," he said, "If those DJs and you actually pull this off and go, I'll acknowledge your superiority as fighters, and I prefer not to cross the winning side...but if you fail, then I have to do what it takes to survive."

"That's selfish," Monama said.

"I am...not the most unselfish person," Lethe said, "I've always known that. I just look out for my sister and myself...and if she refuses to let me look out for her, it's just myself. You want me to try it your way, Aya, your way has to actually work. And I'm just not convinced. If they escape, I've been beaten at my own game, not just by you, but by others who don't have family bonds...and I'd have to rethink that. That's the best I got. I'm just not willing to risk it otherwise."

"So you're saying if we win, you'll leave the Originals," Medea said. 

"I'm not offering to join you again," Lethe said, "You think they'd let me? Please. I'm not interested either. But I could use the opportunity to get away, fade into obscurity, maybe. And that's all I want at this point...and I will release the memories I took for the Originals also, if that happens--if I see a reason to think that they really aren't going to win out."

"This is not much of a compromise," Monama said, "You're playing it as safe as you can."

"I know," Lethe said.

"But I'll take it," Medea said. She looked at Monama. "It's better than no chance at all. All we have to do is win. That's what we were gonna do anyway...but, Lethe...you have to come have a front row seat."

"I can't fight with you." Lethe shook his head. "And I can't be seen with you either. Not freely."

Monama shrugged. "Then you can be our prisoner. You have no combat type quirk. We could easily have overpowered you...and we're not stupid enough to let you go off. I don't care who's brother you are."

"He's right, little bro," Medea said, "We're not letting you go, like it or not."

Lethe looked wary. "This feels like I'm not getting a choice."

"Well, now you know how Medea felt." Monama was savage.

He grabbed Lethe's arms and pinned them before Lethe could stop him. Lethe had none of the combat skills of a Pro Hero student.

"Medea, get something to tie him with," Monama said.

"I have something, actually." Medea reached into her fanny pack she'd slipped under her clothes--it also had turned into fire. "Ren gave us a bunch of toys, remember? He gave me these cuffs." She took out something that looked like paperclips, but then it unfolded into hand cuffs.  "Apparently they're made out of really strong but thin material. Cool, right? He thought I might have to tie someone up."

"Ren is truly the man with a plan for everything," Monama said.

Medea put the cuffs on Lethe. "You can't use you quirk this way, either, little bro. Not that I don't want to trust you, but you've been with crazy ninjas for too long, and they always have something up their sleeve."

"You know, that's smart," he admitted, "You can't trust me. I don't know when my orders might change. This way, I have an excuse, but you must never let me out of your sight if you want this to work."

"Then you're with us," Monama said, "but we can't go through walls this way."

"I can still scout though, so can you," Medea said, "We'll just have to be careful."

But before they really got farther than that, the light in the room went out.

In the darkness, Lethe said, "What's going on? Is this you or us?"

"I was just going to ask you that," Monama said.

Medea lit up, brightening the room with purple light. "We can still see. Everyone else will just be blinder than us now. Let's go."

"You show up like a lightbulb," Lethe said.

"Well, they can't hit us, so you're the one who should be worried," Medea shrugged.

[Hm...

Yeah, I don't Lethe is going to fully commit this fast. I also doubt he's fully realized his mistakes either.

At most, this is a start. But let's hope it's the start of his redemption arc, not his further corruption.]

* * *

The lights were out everywhere the group was at, even in the hallway that Miss Joke and Mr. Aizawa had been sneaking along.

They hadn't found anyone else in ages. They'd seen some clones, but it had quieted down, and Aizawa thought that most of them must have been destroyed by now.

"I'm afraid we're not being the best back up right now," Miss Joke said.

"Shh." Aizawa grabbed her suddenly and pulled her against the wall.

Miss Joke found that kind of awkward. Her heart started pounding.

Then she heard it too--people coming.

They seemed to be hurrying and whispering.

"The last I heard they had a whole bunch of them cornered farther into the data collecting and debriefing section of the base."

"But not all of them? Who turned out the lights, then? Them?"

"Probably. I'm not going looking for trouble. I think we should just camp out in some closet until this over. One of those freaks might have night vision or something, and then we'd be screwed. Even with flashlights, we can't possibly fight like this."

"We could," the other voice said, "but I don't want to. Frick Commander Hantai. He's a creep anyway. He'll never be able to punish all of us, and you can bet most of the squads won't be fighting like this either."

"Yeah, you right," the other snickered.

They moved on.

Miss Joke and Aizawa relaxed.

"I guess that tells us their strategy for now," Aizawa said, "except maybe for a few more committed fools."

"But Eraser...they're ninja... Those two didn't sound very well trained, but there will be others, and we can't see any better than they can," Miss Joke said.

"I'm used to working in darker places," Aizawa said.

[Major Batman vibes.]

"Pitch black?" Miss Joke was skeptical.

"We just have to play it smart," Aizawa said, "and luckily, some of our people can glow. We have a much better chance of finding them."

"You're being...weirdly optimistic..." Miss Joke said.

"I just heard that most of these miscreants are cowards. That's something to be optimistic about," Aizawa said.

Miss Joke laughed. "And you never make jokes, huh?"

"That was a wry comment at best."

"Whatever, close enough."

They felt their way along.

"Of course, finding anything will be hard..." Miss Joke said at length.

They stumbled into an intersection.

Some kind of backup lighting should have come on, Aizawa thought. Unless that was fried too.

He'd bet Kaminari was behind this somehow. It seemed sloppily done if it was the Originals.

No one they passed tried to fight them. In the dark, no one even knew who was their enemy and who wasn't.

Of course, Miss Joke looked like a hero, and when the person had light, Aizawa pushed her behind him and just gave them his best dead eyed, not interested took.

They walked right along.

"You blend right in," Miss Joke was laughing at him.

"It's good, isn't it?" Aizawa said.

"I wasn't saying it wasn't. It's just funny. Everyone says your costume doesn't even look like a hero costume. It's just pajamas, really, but here it fits with them to not look like a Pro."

Aizawa had to smirk at the irony too.

"You know, I wonder if we're lost, though..." Miss Joke changed the subject.

It did seem likely.

Aizawa used his phone to check the hallways... Nothing looked familiar anymore. They could be lost down here forever... They could be going in circles, for all he knew.

Miss Joke went around the corner, and suddenly she yelped and tripped over something in the hallways.

The thing gave a low moan.

Aizawa directed his light at it... Wait...that... It couldn't be...

"Shine?" Miss Joke was sitting up.

Shine lifted her head. She had blood smudged across her lip and a bruise too, but it was unmistakably her.

At least, it looked like her.

"Are you a clone or the real thing?" Aizawa said warningly, unfurrowing his scarf and tossing it around her.

Shine just stared at him.

"Am I a clone?" she said...

* * *

Shine had been stumbling along, and then, feeling tired, she'd resorted to crawling bit by bit, with rests... The darkness seemed to suck what energy she had left out of her anyway. She didn't seem to make any progress at all.

Finally she'd just stopped and lain against the wall, thinking that God really could have let her draw her sword if he was going to make her do this, so she could at least see a gosh-danged thing...

And then someone had to come and trip on her.

The other one shown a light in her face. The woman who'd tripped was dressed in...pirate clothes? That didn't seem like a ninja...

But the other guy she couldn't even see clearly because the dark blended in with his clothes and the light blotted him out...so she wasn't sure.

And then he asked her if she was a clone... Didn't the others say something about clones fighting...?

She was sure she heard someone say it... So he wasn't a hero or...whatever Shigaraki and Compress had been.

She didn't have much energy left, but she struggled to get free of the binding. "Let me go, you snake!"

"Shine!" The pirate lady sounded shocked.

"I'm confused. Are you running from him, or is this a trick?" Shine asked, "You seem to know me."

"Of course I know you. We're best friends," Miss Joke said, "Do you think I'm a clone? Can they do that?"

"What?" Shine said, "We're best friends?"

"Yes...it's me, Emi." Miss Joke stepped more into the light. "Can't you tell?"

Shine looked at her, then she started sobbing. "I'm...so tired of this..."

"Eraser, let her go. This is the real her," Miss Joke said, "and something is wrong."

Aizawa let her go, warily. 

"I assume you're heroes..." Shine said, "I really cannot tell."

"Shine, what did they do to you? Why are you here, alone? I thought they were going to find you," Miss Joke said.

"They did, but that freak Hantai caught the rabbit woman, and I had to go with him so he didn't kill someone, but he shot the nurse anyway." Shine was more upset now. "And then he tried to beat me, and I thought it was going to get...well...really bad, but then I begged, and Kurogiri helped me, and then I was tired, but God was like 'no, keep going' so I did, but I just can't go another step in the dark, and now you're here, and I don't even know who you are, and you tied me up!"

"I untied you..." Aizawa wasn't helping.

"Shut up, Eraser," Miss Joke said, "Listen to her. Those scoundrels took her memories after all... Oh, Shine, I'm so sorry."

Shine wiped her eyes. "You...you are?"

"Of course I am. This is so awful for you," Miss Joke said. She patted Shine's shoulder. "But don't you worry. It's not important, and you have tons of people to help you remember. It'll just take a few days maximum for you, and until then, we're going to make sure you get out of here. Right, Eraser?"

"Uh...yes, we're here looking for you," Aizawa said, "I mean...Eri would miss you, so..."

"Eri?" Shine said, "I thought it was Emi."

"No, I'm Emi. Eri is the little girl you co-parent with Aizawa and your fiancé," Miss Joke said, "Uh...you remember him, right?"

"Wally? I do, though not that we're engaged... Compress told me that though," Shine said, "How sick is it not to know you're engaged? I mean...that's a precious memory."

"I'm sure when you see him it'll all come back," Miss Joke said soothingly.

Shine sniffled. "I...I can't believe you're so calm... The others were freaking out."

"It would be selfish of us to get upset right now," Aizawa said, "We anticipated this might have happened and already made up our minds how to act if it did. Besides, the students told me how you handled their memory loss when it happened to them, and they said you just stayed calm and talked them through it, and you always seem to get results."

Shine blinked at them. "Oh, wow... You do know me, huh?"

"Yes," Miss Joke said, "and you're very fun, but this isn't fun for you. So nothing to joke about... I'm Miss Joke, by the way. You call me Emi. That's my name. Easy to remember. It mean smiling." She smiled, putting her finger to her chin.

"I think I can remember that," Shine said.

"I'm Eraserhead," Aizawa said.

"You...can't be serious," Shine said.

And why did he look like a hobo? she thought.

Aizawa frowned. "This is how you really feel about it, huh? I guess you have no filter when you're not trying to impress anyone."

"I don't normally try to impress people, unless I've changed a lot here..." Shine said oddly, "do I?"

"No, but we like that about you," Miss Joke said, "You're wonderful. Don't let Eraser give you the wrong idea. He's just like that with everyone. Grumpy."

"I can see that..." Shine was blunt as ever.

"You call me Aizawa," Aizawa sighed, "but don't get the wrong idea--we're not all chummy. We just work together and talk about my students."

"Your... am I...a teacher?" Shine said, "I mean, it would make sense."

"You supervise," Miss Joke said. 

"Better not to go into useless details," Aizawa said, "She'll remember it soon enough on her own anyway. Likstar, can you walk? Are you okay?"

"I feel better now." Shine dried her face.

"You look a sight, though." Miss Joke took out a handkerchief and started wiping her face off. "Someone hurt you..."

"Hantai..."

"Whoever that is, he sounds horrid." 

"He is..." Shine said, "I've seen worse...I think. He's up there though."

"Can I hug you?" Miss Joke asked, "I mean...I know you don't remember, but we've been so worried..."

"Hey, go ahead. I'm not shy," Shine said.

Miss Joke hugged her.

Shine sighed...

Then she blinked...

"Emi...Fukakado..." she said slowly, "Wally once asked me if your students missing class is called missing the joke...or something like that."

"What?" Miss Joke looked up at her. "You remembered something...that I wasn't here for, I don't think."

"You weren't... We were...." Shine rubbed her forehead, "at school..."

"UA," Aizawa guessed, "or Ketsubutsu."

"Ketsubutsu... Oh, yeah, I remember that place," Shine said, "Guess it wasn't important enough to suppress that... Didn't till you said it though."

"So...did they not suppress me, then?" Miss Joke said.

"She didn't recognize you," Aizawa said.

Shine shook her head. "It just came back...not a lot... I still don't remember how I even know you...but I do remember you a little. I like you...and you..." She looked at Aizawa. "Are you dating? I feel like you're dating"

Aizawa reddened, though it was hard to see in the dim light.

"I wish," Miss Joke laughed, "You do ship us."

"Oh...cool... I do that a lot," Shine said.

"Excuse me?" Aizawa frowned.

"Eraser, if you keep that up, the first thing she remembers about you is going to be you lecturing her," Miss Joke said lightly, "Just take what you can get... That didn't hurt your head at all?"

"No," Shine said, "For some maybe, but I've had a headache for hours... It's actually getting better now that I had the IV, but still."

"You've been through hell." Miss Joke patted her arm. "But don't worry, now you have us."