Second Chance -Shinkami book 2-

11. Mind Games

(WARNING: mention of abuse, mention of abandonment, and mention of death)

Shinso held Kaminari tight as they both looked around for any sign of the common room they were just in. What happened? They were all sitting watching a movie with their friends then Takahashi touched them and they were sent falling into blackness.

"Toshi?" Kaminari's quiet voice asked.

"Ya?" Shinso asked trying to stay calm.

"Where...?" He started only to have his words drift off as if the blackness had swallowed them whole.

"I don't know," Shinso answer.

Laughter rang through the darkness making them look around frantically, trying to find the source. "Fun isn't it?" The voice said. It was undoubtedly Takahashi. "I have this playpen all to myself! And I can bring whoever I want here!" She laughed more.

"W-what are you doing to us?" Kaminari shouted, his voice shaky as he tried to stay calm. He was gripping Shinso's hand scared that if he let go Shinso would disappear like everything else had.

More laughter. "You can't tell?" Takahashi asked. "You don't recognize any of this?" Slowly the black faded and they were left in a strange reddish-purple meadow of sorts. Neither had the words to describe what they were seeing. "It doesn't feel familiar?" She asked. "Not even a little?"

Shinso looked around. Strangely enough, it did feel familiar. "That doesn't answer our question, what are you doing to us?" Shinso yelled in no particular direction since he didn't know where she was at the moment. "Where are we?"

"I'm just setting up our little game, it can take quite a bit of energy sometimes," Takahashi's voice continued to ring through the meadow if you could even call it that. "It always depends on the participants." Slowly it began to change again. Mirrors sprouted from the ground, soon making one of those mazes you find in fun houses.

"Why are you doing this?" Shinso asked. Maybe if he could use his quirk then he could get them out of this.

There was more laughter. "Oh don't even try to use your little mind tricks on me Shinso, they won't work, not while you're here at least. You're not technically in your world anymore."

Shinso's and Kaminari's minds raced as they tried to figure out what and who was doing this. As far as they knew Takahashi and them were the only ones there. "Hydros not your quirk is it?" Shinso asked as more mirrors formed around them, one almost separated Shinso and Kaminari but they dodged it.

"Fast thinker aren't you Shinso, very clever, I like that. You were one of the first to figure that out. But no, Hydro is my quirk, at least one of them." Her voice echoed around them some more and there was no way in telling where it came from. "It's rare but it happens, as for my other quirk, you'll just have to find out, it's a small part of my game."

Suddenly all lights went out and they were left in the dark again. Shinso tried stepping closer to Kaminari to make sure they didn't get separated in this hellish maze but found that he was nowhere beside him. Shinso looked around frantically but found nothing but darkness, his eyes slowly growing accustomed to the lack of light.

"This game wouldn't be fun if you were together, now would it?"

"Why are you doing this?" He yelled into the darkness. Shinso found a path and decided to take his chances, he needed to find Kaminari. Hopefully, he had done the same.

"Why?" She repeated with a laugh sounding almost hysterical. "Why? Because it's fun, playing with your minds, learning your secrets, nothing compares to the joy I feel when I play this game." Shinso hit a dead end as the mirrors began to glow and light the maze. "I've spent my time here gathering your secrets, looking at your memories, trying to find the juiciest of details. Your class has been the most interesting I've had in a long time."

The mirrors moved, cutting Shinso off again and making him take another direction.

"I've never had so many secrets or trauma I could exploit in one class." She laughed some more. So she had done this before. "One diagnosed quirkless but somehow obtained a quirk seemingly out of nowhere before attending UA. I know he got it from All Might, taking his power from him. Another abused by the parents he should have been able to trust, turned into a weapon for his father's selfish purposes. There's a reason for his trust and abandonment issues, not letting people get too close, that is until he meet a cute green-haired omega."

Shinso ran more, nearly smashing into a mirror as he turned the corner.

"Not as juicy," she continued. "But a third only becoming a hero to make money, selfish, and yet honourable because it's for her family. And yet another is at UA to become the number one hero only to have his dreams crushed as his childhood friend rises past him. He doesn't have the best family life either, his mom always yelling at him." Her voice stopped for a moment soon being followed by a content sigh. "And then there's you two."

The mirrors turned to show scenes from Shinso's youth, then Kaminari's. Flicking through them playing at parks with their parents, then with friends, then... crying?

"You were both so happy, and yet something happened along the way. You both became quite depressed at at least one point in your lives." The tone in her voice made it sound like she was smirking. "Killing someone would do that to you wouldn't it Kaminari," her voice went dark.

Shinso stopped in his tracks. Killing someone? What was she talking about? The mirrors changed again to show a young Denki crying and scared as his mom begged him to turn his quirk off.

Shinso's eyes were glued to the screen as he watched it unfold.

"Denki please stop!" The woman Shinso assumed was his mom, yelled.

"Mommy, I'm scared," Denki, probably 4 or 5, cried as electricity covered his body and was spreading across the room.

Tearing his eyes away from the screen Shinso continued to look for his boyfriend.

"STOP," Kaminari's voice now echoed through the maze. "STOP DOING THIS. I-I DIDN'T MEAN TO." Shinso picked the direction it was coming from and ran as fast as he could. "I-I-PLEASE JUST STOP!"

"Your father turned abusive after that didn't he?" Takahashi asked as the scenes changed around Shinso. He tried not to watch as he ran. He needed to find Kaminari, they needed to get out of here. "Blaming you for your mother's death, and he was right to. You were the one to kill her after all."

"PLEASE JUST STOP! I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO IT!" Kaminari continued to yell. He was closer now, and it didn't sound like he was moving, making it easier for Shinso to track. "I DIDN'T MEAN TO KILL HER!"

"And Shinso." The mirrors changed scenes again, a few cutting Shinso off as he tried running down one of the corridors. "Abandon at such a young age, you were five when they left you weren't you?" He knew exactly what she was talking about, but he couldn't focus on that right now, he needed to find Kaminari.

Shinso tried to tune her out as he followed the whimpers he could now hear.

"Shut up Takahashi! You don't know what you're talking about!" He yelled.

"But I do, I've been in your mind, I've seen your thought's your dreams, your hopes and your deepest fears. I know exactly what I'm talking about," she said. "Your parents left you in that dark alley when they found out you had a villain's quirk. They couldn't bear to have you in the family, tainting their good name. You cried and cried not knowing where they were. They abandoned you." She laughed a little. "And you think your new family loves you, Mic and Aizawa showed you pity, not love."

"I said SHUT UP!" Shinso yelled running his body into one of the mirrors shattering it. Tears pricked his eyes as he picked himself up and continued to run, but he couldn't let his emotions get to him, that's what she was doing, that was her game.