𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧' |𝐭.𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐤𝐢

33- a american tragedy

The ground split open beneath the weight of chaos.

Concrete cracked, air pulsed with energy, and dust rose like a curtain between life and death.

Cathleen Bates, a.k.a Star and Stripe darted through it—sleek, fast, all sharp lines and precise motion. Her quirk, New Order, redirected the concrete that was flying everywhere. While also touching everything in sight and giving it a new direction. She moved like she had rehearsed this a thousand times.

All For One inside of Shigaraki's body grinned across the battlefield, fingers twitching with hunger. "You heroes love to talk about order," he spat. "But you can't stop what's already decaying."

Behind Cathleen, you stood eyes locked on him, hands glowing with the unstable orange light of your Atomic Quirk—a power that let you destabilize matter at a molecular level. Dangerous. Unrefined. And suddenly,

He lunged.

Star and Stripe intercepted him mid-charge, their collision like a bomb going off. She trapped his arm in a spiral of force, flipping him midair, but Shigaraki rolled with it—touching the ground and sending decay spiraling toward you like a shockwave.

"Y/N—MOVE!"

You didn't. You released.

A pulse of energy exploded from your palm—atomic particles ripping through the decay wave and halting it mid-path. The backlash threw you to the ground, breath stolen from your lungs, but it bought enough time.

Enough time for the League to arrive.

Portals opened behind you— a mist swirling. Dabi's flames lit the edges of the battlefield.

"Y/N. Let's go," Toga said, grabbing your wrist with urgency. "Before you burn yourself out."

You hesitated—your heart pulled in two directions—but the exhaustion made the decision for you.

⸻

Later, in the dim haze of the League's new hideout, you leaned against a wall, pulse still thudding in your ears. That fight had pushed you too far. Your quirk buzzed under your skin, unstable, sickening.

"Here," said Spinner, tossing you a vial. "Labcoat cooked this up."

You stared at it for a second too long.

"Just take it. It's that nausea medication she made for you."

You swallowed the drug—and the world tilted sideways.

Colors smeared, voices melted. The last thing you heard was Toga whispering something about "buying time."

Then nothing.

⸻

You woke up in an alley.

Smoke clung to the walls of the like a second skin, glowing faintly orange in the aftermath of the explosion. The air trembled with tension—sirens in the distance, the low hum of a hero's comms, and the crunch of boots on broken concrete.

You coughed, your wrists still raw from the bindings. Shigaraki was gone—vanished into the chaos like a ghost. But the scorch marks left behind from his Decay quirk were a reminder of how close she'd come to dying.

Rain.

Sirens.

Voices.

Hawk's voice.

"Found her!"

Someone knelt beside you, checking your pulse. Another light scanned your eyes.

"She's alive—barely. We need a med team."