Requiem of the Broken

Chapter 61: Rebirth

She looked up at All Might.

"I'll do it." was all she said.

All Might didn't speak but his smile said more than words ever could to her. He stood up and held out his hand palm up. All around her the fiery outlines of previous users faded, and then the first user also faded, the motes of light that remained flowed to All Might's palm. A kaleidoscope of colors, and then All Might himself faded into light and flowed into it. The chairs faded into darkness and the light that illuminated the scene narrowed until only her and the kaleidoscope of color that was a burning flame remained.

She reached out her hands and cupped the flame in them. She brought the flame to her breast and let it melt into her. She felt a wave of varying emotions, a wellspring of power, and then she felt hands on either shoulder.

She turned her head to the left and saw a ghostly Hikari standing next to her.

"It's an honor to be by your side once more. The final battle is upon you, do not hesitate and stay true to yourself." He said, before smiling at her. "And if you see my daughter, tell her I love her. And that I'm sorry." Then he faded back into OFA.

She turned to her right and saw Tobita, Gentle Criminal.

"Thank you, for believing in a wretched soul like me," he said softly, bowing his head before he too faded.

Then one final voice echoed from within her, already distant and almost completely gone but still strong.

"Remember young Uraraka! Let the people have no fear, for you are here! If you are afraid, then smile! You can surpass yourself!" said All Might.

She closed her eyes and let one last tear fall from her face. When she opened them, the scene around her had changed. She was standing outside again, but now she was facing a swingset her parents took her too often when she was young. Sitting on one of the swings was a figure.

She walked up to the figure until she stood in front of her. It was so dark it was almost impossible to see the figure clearly.

"Do you remember? Mom and Dad would take us here, we'd all play and have fun. We were young. We didn't know the struggles they had, all the money problems, Dad's business struggling to stay afloat. He built a house for us, friends helped him, and he took out loans. So many debts to repay..." OCHAKO said.

Ochako said nothing.

"I hate the world, I hate the world that could cause suffering to people as kind and hardworking as our parents. I hate the world that could birth demons like AFO, Shigaraki, Chisaki, Garaki, Gigantomachia, and Zeus. I hate the world that would destroy our lives, murder our friends and family, and shatter our nation." OCHAKO said.

Still, Ochako said nothing.

"I feel things. I feel a lust that has not once been satisfied, I feel a thirst for violence and bloody revenge, I feel fear so great I want to run and hide under my blankets, I feel hate so strong I could go blind from it, I feel anger so great it could turn the world to ash, I feel a sadness so heavy it's like I'm being crushed under its weight, and I feel isolation so intense that I might break from it." OCHAKO said.

Ochako said nothing.

"I... have done things... horrible things... things so terrible that no living soul will ever speak of it. Things that would make one want to rip out their own eyes, things that make one wish for death rather than live with the knowledge of what they have done." OCHAKO said.

Then OCHAKO looked up at Ochako, a mirror image, save for the fact that everything but her head was a hazy black. As if everything from the neck down had turned smokey and indistinct. She was incomplete, missing entire parts of herself, but her head still remained. The only part that had been her own from the start, not borrowed from the vestiges of OFA.

"Would you still have me back?" OCHAKO asked Ochako.

"Yes," Ochako said quietly.

OCHAKO stared at her for a moment before she broke into a sad smile.

"Even knowing what you would take on, you would still seek to save me... You really are a hero," she said wistfully.

"You're a hero too," Ochako said.

"No... I'm not. That was always you, always the beautiful, shining you. I won't go with you, but I hope you find happiness." OCHAKO said.

At that moment, the darkness that lurked beyond the edges of the house and the ground surrounding it began to close in. Ochako turned to look behind her, the darkness silently swept over the land, and as her parent's house and the mementos of her past were consumed she felt a sense of nostalgic sadness overtake her.

She turned back to OCHAKO and saw that she was gone, the darkness had crept over the swingset and before long it swept over her as well.

As the darkness took her into its silent arms, she heard OCHAKO's voice from the darkness like a whisper on the wind.

"Thank you... and goodbye..."

At that moment, Ochako knew that a part of her had died, and that everything that had been a part of it, was lost forever to the darkness.

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The people in the observation booth watched in mute amazement as Ochako's body, still suspended by the metal arms suddenly flashed. The intermittent flashes of pink lighting stopped and for a moment they wondered if it was all over. Then Ochako started to glow like a small sun, yet it didn't hurt their eyes. They saw a kaleidoscope of wondrous light, of many different colors until it faded to the dull glow of the QUEESS, a light pink that faded in and out like the breath of some large creature.

They hadn't noticed being so entranced by the light, but the arms holding Ochako had been warped and bent, pushed up and into the ceiling leaving Ochako floating in the center of the room. Power flicked back on in the booth but all the monitors had been reset and showed nothing.

Tsu ran to the door and it opened as she approached. She leaped down the stairs, landing at the bottom and turning toward Ochako who was sideways to her. She leaped forward and when she landed next to her, she opened her eyes at last.

Tsu opened her mouth to say something but when Ochako turned her head to look at her the words died in her throat.

Ochako was different, she couldn't say how exactly, but she could see it in her eyes, in her posture, and the way she looked at her. Then Ochako smiled at her, and Tsu felt something stir within her, a sense of Deja Vu overtook her and for a moment she thought she was looking at All Might. Then she turned her gaze upward to the ceiling and the soft, radiant smile turned to one of determination.

"Everything ends tonight, this war, Zeus, the legacies of the past, even the angels. I'm ending it all." She said.

Then an opening in the ceiling directly above Ochako opened to reveal a small tunnel. She gave her one last smile then she zipped into the darkness of the tunnel.