By the time they all regrouped at UA, some of the kids had shaken off the experience. They'd become much more used to seeing weird things while on their mission.

Mirko was okay once they got away from the spot and she could breathe.

But the DJs were not feeling great about what happened.

"There's just no way that could all have been unintentional," Shine said. "We can move freely anywhere, physically, as much as anyone else can. If we're being blocked out like that, that's...that shouldn't even be possible. Even magic doesn't affect us like that."

"I'm confused," Compress mumbled. "I thought you were immune to all kinds of things. How could someone use your own kind of attack against you?"

Shine and Wally stared at him.

"Oh no...it couldn't be that," Wally said.

"I'm afraid it could be," Shine said, "but I prefer to think there's some other, quirk-related explanation."

"Why...? What do you think it is?" Compress asked.

"I prefer not to say until we have more proof," Shine said. "I wouldn't like to scare the kids."

The kids were whispering amongst themselves about it.

"It was too much like when we fought those people in that maze," Shoto said. "It was the same kind of power."

"And we all know what that means," Bakugo said. "Someone is messing with dimensional crap again."

"That would make sense," Momo said. "AFO knows Shine and Wally are DJs, doesn't he? Perhaps he's tried to open dimensions... It sounds like something he and The Doctor would look into."

"Yeah, and if they did, they could find something worse than the Tailed Beasts," Bakugo said.

[For those who do not remember or don't watch Naruto, the backstory to the Tailed Beasts was someone tore a hole in a dimension wall and yanked them into the world. It was too perfect for me not to use after I found that out.]

"Mabui would know if it was the same sort of thing-- She could sense it," Momo said.

"I think we could sense it by now." Camie shivered. "And all my gut instinct is telling me it's almost the same thing. But those two kids we found, they don't seem totally like that's all they saw. That girl we rescued, she wasn't cray cray like that."

"But the other pieces would line up." Shoto practically had his cork board out, mentally. "The psychotic nature of the people behind this would line up with what we saw there. Moto herself seems like that."

"Spinner confirmed that she killed Stain, Edgeshot, and Hantai," Bakugo said.

"Oh, wow..." Camie said. "I never thought she was a killer."

"This makes me think she might have tried to kill you with that nomu on purpose," Momo reflected. "Very concerning. How long has she had us in her sights?"

"Wow..." Aizawa was listening to this. "Did you all become detectives on that mission?"

They looked up. 

"We got used to having to figure out why people were after us there," Shoto said, like it was normal. "Usually it was either they were threatened by our beliefs, they want revenge on one of our teammates, or they wanted to take our power from us. Stealing power was a huge thing in that world, sort of how AFO stole power here, only there, everyone could do it, it seemed like."

Aizawa stared at him.

"But we learned how to handle it," Bakugo said. "Nothing to be scared of. I just need to know who to blow the frick up."

"Likstar, you've turned my students into navy SEALS," Aizawa said.

"Ha! I was trying to keep them sane the whole time," Shine said. "That world will eat you up and spit you out if you don't have a strong team. Isn't that right, kids?"

"Yeah, no one should try to go there alone," Shoto agreed.

"Dabi should know what happened," Momo mused. "He's good at figuring this stuff out too."

"Well, looks like they've already guessed most of it," Wally remarked to Shine.

She sighed. "But us being blocked with a barrier? That's still new... I do not like it, Wally. I don't like it at all."

Compress winced.

"But as for what happened to you," Shine said, "I believe it's mostly a fear tactic. We can help you get rid of it if you like."

"Well, by all means," Compress said.

"But we can't keep it away without you having some power of your own," Shine warned. "I hate to push, but now would be a good time to learn to be protected like us."

"Even you don't seem totally safe," Compress said.

"No one is ever totally safe in a world like this," Shine said. "But we are safe in the center of God's Will, is what we like to say."

"Which sounds very nice and all, but I want actual results, not philosophy," Compress said.

Shine bit her lip. "Oh, ye of little faith...when are you going to realize that's the same thing?" She held up her sword. "Let's see if I can cut the ties... It felt like a hand, you say?" She focused. "Whatever power they have...I think they can track people with it."

"But...is that like how we can?" Wally said nervously. "We can see people, sort of."

"Nothing so specific as knowing where they are," Shine said, "but then, I'm not sure this is that specific either. They can just find the person, probably." She moved her sword.

Compress could have sworn he felt something snap.

"There," she said, "I think that did it." She moved over to Silk.

Shigaraki was just sitting alone... He still didn't remember what happened.

But it was making his head pound just trying to. He was sure he'd come to the theater for a reason, and AFO had been there...but after that it was a blur. Lethe seemed familiar, like he'd seen him, but he didn't know where.

Some more of the larger team arrived at UA, Ibara had alerted them.

The other students told them what happened. They were freaked out too.

Momo finally tried to talk to Lethe, who was still shivering in the room he was in.

The only encouraging thing about Lethe right now was he did at least seem to know where he was. Recovery Girl said part of his jumpiness was probably lack of nutrients and sleep, so she'd give him a sedative once he was more hydrated. But for now he was still too weak.

Momo sat down next to him. "I might be able to help you," she said gently. "I practice this lot... I know you're scared."

Lethe looked up dully. "I should have died...not her."

"Medea isn't dead. She'll be okay," Momo said. "Yin hurt her, but we healed her part of the way."

"But we're dead," Lethe said.

Momo pursed her lips. "You're safe now, you know. We're going to make sure of it."

Lethe shook his head.

Momo opened up her Bible she'd been gifted by the DJs. "Maybe there's something in here that would be comforting... A lot of psalms are very soothing... Ah, here, we used to recite this one the road when we thought danger was incoming.

"'The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 

'He restores my soul. He leads me down the path of righteousness for His namesake.

'Yea, even though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me...'" [Psalms 23:1-3.]

Lethe didn't respond much to her reading, but he was more still. Momo let out a sigh.

From the lobby, Shine started singing:

"Hallelujah, you have saved me, so much better your way!

Hallelujah, Great Defender, so much better this way!"

"You hold my every moment. You calm my raging sea. You walk with me through fire, and heal all my disease.

I trust in you...

Nothing is impossible for you, nothing is impossible! Nothing is impossible for you. You hold my world in your hands."

* * *

A few hours went by of sorting the whole mess out as best as they could.

Silk and Compress, once they felt less afraid, were able to elaborate more.

Kali was just as the others had thought she was.

But Compress said that if they told Shigaraki that AFO was okay with all this, he'd never believe them anyway.

"Depend upon it, he'll explain it away," he said. "It's no use. We tried to talk him out of going along with all this before, and he's adamant. It's some crazed loyalty thing."

"I guess you wouldn't know anything about that," Shine remarked dryly, "since you're hardly loyal to anyone, usually."

"Is that really fair? I tried to help," Compress said.

"I suppose that's true," Shine said. "But in the future, you should know that Evil cannot force you to do anything without your consent. There is always a way out. Kali herself is a creepy kid, from what I remember, but her power is all in getting you to play her game. If you don't, she can't do anything to you."

"I don't think you'd say that if her quirk worked on you," Compress said.

"Quirks don't matter that much," Shine said.

"I find your perspective a bit naive, Miss Likstar." Compress shook his head.

Shine let it drop. "I better talk to Shigaraki and try to figure out where he is with this. Rumi wouldn't tell me how she snapped him out of it. She just said she tried something that she didn't think would work, but it did."

Silk tilted her head. "She did, huh? Hmm...you don't think...?"

"I'm sure she would never." Compress waved a hand dramatically. "Can you imagine that woman doing that?"

Shine gave them a confused look. "Doing what?"

"That," Silk said vaguely.

Shine got up. "Whatever. She'll tell me eventually, I'm sure. You two can ship on your own time."

 She walked away.

"Are we that transparent?" Compress wondered.

"As glass..." Silk said ruefully.

* * *

Shine joined Shigaraki, who was still in the hall, alone.

Twice had tried to talk to him but not gotten much of a response, so he gave up.

"Any luck remembering?" Shine asked.

"No." Shigaraki rubbed his head. "It's still a blur." He sounded very frustrated with himself. "What can I do?"

"When Lethe recovers a bit, he might be able to release it," Shine said, "so I wouldn't stress too much. Or it could return tomorrow, maybe."

"Did I do all that damage?" Shigaraki asked.

Shine paused. "Yes," she said finally. "In a way, yes."

"Why didn't you all run? Are you all crazy?" Shigaraki said shortly.

"We came to help you," Shine said. "We didn't come to run. But I confess, when they kept us out, I was not sure what was going to happen. I think it was a miracle, whatever happened."

Silence.

"You can't keep blaming yourself," Shine said. "Everyone else knows you didn't know what you were doing."

"Or did I?" Shigaraki said dully. "I don't remember why I was doing it... If I could--" He scratched nervously. "--I might know what the reason was... Of course, it's probably the same as always. My destiny."

Shine frowned. "I swear, Tomura, if I ever get the chance..." She stopped. "Well, revenge is not Christian, but...a little bit of punishment might be acceptable."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nevermind. You know...destiny is a funny thing. A couple dear friends of mine--in other worlds-- think that Destiny is what you choose."

"That's stupid," Shigaraki said.

"I don't know, Tomura. One kind of reminds me of you," Shine said. "She was born with dark, destructive magic. Any time she used it, stuff went wrong. She hated it."

Shigaraki glanced up. "Are you making that up?"

"No," Shine said, dead serious.

[The reference is to Ever After High, a web series I absolutely loved--until they went out of business. Thanks, Disney.]

"So what did this person do?" Shigaraki asked, because he couldn't help but be curious after that description.

"Well, her teacher told her to embrace it," Shine said, "but she felt like that wasn't right. So she sought out some better answers--In the end, she wasn't 100% sure, but it came time to make her choice, and she decided to risk everything and say no. When she did, she didn't die...instead, it made her stronger. And she started a revolution, kind of by accident...and I was along for the ride. That's what I do." She held up her hands. "I direct people who are looking for change but don't know where to start. Not every world has ready ideas accessible to anyone looking to change there viewpoints. A lot of worlds are much...stricter than that. Or people just have no access to anything, even if it exists. Not too different from here, really. And so we go to bring them what they can't find on their own...but they have to start it. Somewhere along the line, they take that step and open a door. And so we enter...and if they shut that door, we have to leave. Our position is tenuous, in many ways. But that's the beauty of it. Unlimited power to help as long as help is wanted."

Shigaraki wouldn't know any better than her.

"I doubt the two situations are that similar," he said.

"Only in your mind are they not," Shine said. "My other friend thought that your destiny wouldn't happen unless you pursued it for yourself... In the end it's the same. I think they're right, in a sense. God is always calling people. Jesus said, 'Many are called, but few are chosen.' People are given opportunities, but most of us don't take them, so eventually, the calling passes to someone else. There's a story of a man who was told to fight a battle, but he didn't do it the way he was supposed to, so the glory of the battle went to a woman. I don't think we can escape our destiny entirely, no matter what we do, but we change how it plays out and how well it ends for us. Moses didn't get to enter the Promised Land because of his pride. Or there's even our First Father and Mother, who were destined to fill the earth, and so they did, but they filled it with sin, because of their choices." She tugged her hair. "So you see, destiny is a tricky thing. And yours, it's not set in stone either. No one has to be what they are. It's just that the key to changing is one a lot of people refuse to consider."

She leaned back. "As long as you won't consider it, you'll repeat the destiny you think is assigned to you: To Destroy. But any time you change your mind about that, the answer is there. It's waiting. It's not far from us, really, ever. We just have to want it, really want it. There's no curse we're under that can't be broken. Trust me. I've seen it happen."

Shigaraki stared straight ahead.

"I still don't blame you," Shine said, "but if you feel responsible, then it's up to you to do something about that. No one else can do that for you. So you decide." She got up. "And we'll be here when you need us. I'm glad you're okay though." She walked away.

She passed Mirko in the doorway and nodded. "I think from here on, it's not up to us," she said.

Mirko pursed her lips silently.

Shine left.

Shigaraki glanced at Mirko.

She smiled, then looked away self-consciously.

Don't make it weird, she told herself.

"I guess...I should thank you," Shigaraki said awkwardly. He wasn't usually saved often enough to worry about it... Would you call it saving this time? He supposed if he didn't want to finish that rampage it was.

"Oh...uh...no need," Mirko said. Please don't bring it up. Please don't bring it up.

"How did you know that would work?"

Oh, s---.

Mirko closed her eyes. Come on, she thought, it's not like he'd probably assume... I mean, does he even know...? Play it cool.

"Uh, something Silk said." She didn't make eye contact. "Just tried a random, crazy idea, you know...like I do."

Thankfully, Shigaraki refrained from further questions about it.

"But how did Silk know...?" he muttered. "From Compress...?"

Another minute and he was going to put it together. Time to exit.

"You know, I better check on Medea." Mirko escaped as fast as she could.

Of course it was stupid. Why be embarrassed...? It had worked...

If only she could convince herself that was the reason she tried it at all...

But no...she couldn't kid herself forever here.

Actually, she'd known as soon as she found him, really...

She stopped and leaned on the wall, drawing a deep breath.

Yeah, she'd really known then. Because despite it being her job to save people, and having the others to think of, none of that had really mattered at the time.

What she was really afraid of, if she'd stopped long enough to ask herself...was just that Shigaraki was going to be gone...forever this time...

What would she do then?

It was ridiculous. Her whole position was ridiculous!

She shook her head.

"How did I get used to that?" she asked herself furiously. "I'm an idiot!"

Not that he was helping anything!

If she needed more incentive, that moment of hesitation was it.

Because it occurred to her right then, that maybe she had a chance of actually getting through, and she was pretty much going to give up before then. That moment ruined Mirko completely.

She never lost focus...but despite how horrific everything thing about it was, that whole memory was making her giddy... It was idiotic! But she couldn't stop!

[I relate.... I mean, who doesn't, right?]

The one thing she never thought would happen, even in her wildest dreams, was...the response...

Her pulse pounded just thinking about it... It couldn't be, could it?

She really was a moron...

She sighed and walked into the lounge area next to the medical office.

Shine was sitting in there, looking lost in thought.

She looked up. "Oh, hi... Followed me?"

"Not on purpose," Mirko said. She nervously picked up a paperweight off the table in the room.

"You seem jumpy," Shine said. "No pun intended."

Mirko sighed. "I'm totally screwed."

Shine sat up. "Please tell me that means something good, in an ironic way. I could use some good news."

"You're going to make fun of me," Mirko said.

"Only if you deserve it," Shine said.

Mirko shot her a look.

"Okay, I won't." Shine held up her hands. "What did you do, Rumi? I swear, when you came out of there actually almost holding hands, I thought I'd die of shock. Shigaraki never lets anyone, even me, get that close, usually."

Mirko eyed the far wall. "Uh huh, well..."

"Get out." Shine leaned forward like a high schooler. "Don't tell me... You know, I just remembered that Compress and Silk were saying something earlier about physical contact breaking Lethe's quirk...and happy memories...which is quite fascinating, actually. Scientifically--"

"Shine if you start with the science right now, I'll kill you," Mirko said.

Shine stopped.

[But for you nerds:

While there's not hardcore evidence that kissing itself causes memory to surface, touch of any kind is scientifically proven to generate memory--as you probably could guess, because just the way your mom, or dad, or sibling, touches you probably invokes pleasant or unpleasant memories.

It can be linked to trauma also if the memories are not good. But also it is linked to comfort.

As for kissing itself, it releases serotonin and dopamine. Dopamine does affect memory and helps form long lasting memory of the good kind. And the longer you kiss, the more this happens.

To apply it to Lethe's quirk: His works like a drug to suppress memory. Chemically it works on mostly negative memories. Which chemically are usually not linked to dopamine, but adrenaline.

Kissing can also cause adrenaline, by the way, usually only romantic kissing, though.

It is plausible that the chemicals kissing releases could work to counter the ones Lethe uses. There's other things at work too, obviously, not just chemicals, but since pleasant memories are easier to recall for us, willingly, than unpleasant ones, the chemicals that stimulate pleasant memory would probably open the door a crack for the rest to come through.

So, yeah.]

"A little over aggressive, wasn't it?" Shine finally said. "I get that you're tense, but really? Rude."

"Sorry, whatever," Mirko said. "Just stop analyzing me."

"Fine...that's how I enjoy things, but I'll restrain myself, then. Am I right?"

Silence...totally guilty silence.

"Oh, wow..." Shine's eyes got huge.

"Don't say it!" Mirko said.

"Don't say what?"

"It."

"Hey, you won't hear me judging." Shine held up her hands. "If it works, it works. People do pretty weird things in the Bible all the time. I've learned not to be too quick to say it's a bad idea. Wally once used the power of the sun to incinerate aliens... So yeah, orthodox methods are hardly a must for us... Can I ask though, how?"

Mirko stared at the ceiling.

"If you're not saying it..." Shine said.

"Oh, grow up," Mirko said, which was rich, because she was definitely the more immature person out of the two of them. "It's not that bad...just...you know...making out." She finally said it.

Wow...it felt weird to use those words.

Shine's mouth dropped open.

"Oh, come on, you're married," Mirko snapped.

"That's...uh, not the reason I'm surprised," Shine said. "I mean...he let you?"

Mirko...actually felt better at that. So she wasn't the only one who thought that was weird.

Of course, she told herself, Shine wouldn't act like a normal human being about this and think it was awkward, she'd just want to know the reasons for it... Yeah, no way was she going to give her crap for it.

She began to calm down.

"Yeah, actually," she said, more normally.

"Wow." Shine was impressed. "Ah...I'm so happy for him--Oh, okay, that sounded weird. I mean, I'm happy he's...how can I put this...? Not flipping out."

"You--are the weirdest person in the world," Mirko said.

"Says the girl who made out with the head of the LOV." Shine got her back so bad.

Mirko flinched. "You said you wouldn't make fun."

"I wasn't."

"Well, it's not like I planned it!" Mirko retorted.

"I'd question your sanity if you planned it," Shine said, "but for something on the spur of the moment...I'm just impressed. Not sure I would have thought to try that...even if it was Wally..."

"Well, you have a magic sword that disrupts quirks..." Mirko said flatly.

"Yeah...well, are you embarrassed?" Shine said.

"Of course not," Mirko lied. "I just...know what the League would say."

"I won't tell them, but I'm not the one you should be worried about," Shine said.

"Clearly...you act like this is somehow normal." Leave it to Mirko to call someone out for doing what she wanted them to do.

"Well, since, again, I am married, I kind of do think it's a normal thing to do..." Shine said oddly. "Should I think it's not?"

"Uh...well...um..." Mirko put her ears down. "Confession time... I've never...actually..."

"Kissed?" Shine said. "It's not a bad word... Wait, really? You?"

"Shhh!" Mirko hissed. "Does everyone have to know that?"

"And you just were trying to... Geez, how long were you in there?" Shine said. 

"Stop it!"

"Sounds like you're a natural." Shine was relentless.

"Shut up!" Mirko said. "I'll seriously kick the crap out of you."

"I don't think you could do that," Shine said flatly. "Look, I'm just saying it so you'll get over your nerves. That way when someone else says it, you'll be ready. Look at it as a favor."

"You're messed up."

"Well, sorry to be stereotypical," Shine said, "but someone who looks like you is usually, you know, assumed to have dated once or twice in her life."

"Nah." Mirko wasn't really embarrassed about that. "Waste of time."

"Well...I didn't date till I was 21..." Shine said reflectivity. "Wally did, though... He says it wasn't that exciting compared to being with me."

"Normally I'd say that's BS that men say to win over stupid women," Mirko said, "but given the kind  of s--- I've seen you do, he's probably not lying."

"I thought so too." Shine didn't even bat an eyelash. "Honestly, finding a guy who could keep up with me was always the hard part, so of course, the fastest man alive was the only one who would work out... Kind of perfect... But you know, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Why are you acting like it is?"

"I'm sorry, you can't be that clueless," Mirko said.

"I'm not, but you are," Shine said.

Mirko glared at her.

"Sorry, sorry, no mocking, right," Shine said. "Though I was half serious. Naturally, I see why you're worried about what will come of all this, but, pardon me, I kind of already saw it coming...so I'm finding it funny that you're only freaking out now."

Mirko sighed. "Thanks a lot."

"I suppose  it's too soon to ask this, but...are you going to tell him?" Shine asked.

"No!" Mirko said. "I'm not stupid."

"Why is that stupid?"

"Can you imagine how that would go?" Mirko gestured wildly. "I just can't believe I was dumb enough to let this happen."

"Let it, huh? It wasn't like a choice?" Shine said.

"Whatever..."

"Well...Rumi, I don't know," Shine mused. "I can't say there's not some things I'd worry about if I were you...but there are with anyone. If this is what you want...well...why let it stop you?"

Mirko frowned. "I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to say that."

"Rumi," Shine stood and walked around a bit, "I'm always saying things I'm not supposed to say."

True...

"Believe me, you won't get too much encouragement, so take it from me while you can," Shine said. "I stopped judging the logistics of relationships after I ended up with someone from another world... Talk about a deal breaker... I now know another couple with the same obstacle... Well, they're not really a couple yet, but it's getting there...so the point is, you won't find me saying anything is impossible." She smiled. "But I'm just the cheerleader here. These matters are private."

Mirko sighed. "You're confusing me more... I kind of thought you'd talk me out of it."

"No, I can't lie to you," Shine said. "I think it's a gift... At least, I think in this case it saved our lives." She tilted her head. "I put a lot of value on love, remember... When did you realize it, though?"

Mirko hesitated...

But Shine was probably the only person she could admit it to who wouldn't make fun of her for it...and who didn't care about the Hero-Villain thing, so who better?

"I... It was kind of the whole thing," she said, "But maybe the moment it was a clear, though, was right when it looked like it was all over, and he...stopped...and I thought, I could actually stop this... Then I realized why it was so important to me."

She turned red.

But Shine wasn't laughing.

"That's...really sweet," she said.

Mirko would have preferred laughing.

"Don't say that! EW!" she said.

"You are a 16 year-old in the body of a 26 year-old, you know that?!" Shine said.

"You sound like Ren," Rumi snapped. "He's always saying that."

"Maybe he's right!"

"Shut up!"

"Well, I guess it works out anyway," Shine said. "I'm flattered...that you told me." She smiled. "You didn't have to... I take that as a compliment."

Mirko finally relaxed a little.

"Yeah, well...we're friends...so..."

Shine smiled. 

Then she said, "Well, you know, knowing you, you'll not be able to keep it to yourself anyway."

"What?"

"You're too much like me. I could never keep things like that a secret for longer than a few hours," Shine said. "But I'll keep quiet about it, of course. It's up to you." She put a finger to her lips. "Still..."

"Shut up," Mirko said yet again.

The conversation ended there, because Wally came looking for Shine, and Mirko thought she should probably leave before anything else could happen.

[The tea is hot...

While girl talk is not the most exciting thing ever--at least if you're not a girl--I do like a nice break from the horror.

It'll be back soon though. Just need a little time to simmer down first.

By the way, Dustbunny hasn't really sailed here. Clearly both of them are going to need more time to sort this out, but I do like the flags. They're mostly green.

See you in the next arc. Which is the last one, by the way, but it's very long. So hold on to your popcorn.]