It took quite a while for Sanyu to catch up to Mirio, but when he did it seemed like the older teen had already found what they were looking for.
Sanyu and Mirio stared down Chisaki and Chronostasis, who was holding Eri in his arms.
"It seems like you're in a bit of a hurry," Mirio said, panting from the effort of catching up with them, "But can I ask you a few questions?".
"Still playing the hero, are we Mr. Student?" Chisaki said, sounding bored. "Learn to understand, this girl doesn't want you to save her. She doesn't need a hero.".
"That's why I'm here." Mirio proclaimed, his determination audible in his voice.
Chisaki rolled his eyes and turned away. "Then let's make this simple." He said. His guard was down, so Mirio tried to run for him, but ended up falling against the wall. Sanyu tried to reach for him, but lost his own balance.
"What..." Mirio breathed, shocked.
Someone laughed from the ceiling. "What? Are you feeling a bit drunk?". It was one of the Eight Bullets-no-two. One hanging from the ceiling and the other dropping down from it.
Mirio phased half through the ground before a wave of purple light stopped him in his tracks.
"What's your quirk?" The villain asked.
"Permeation. When activated I can slip through anything." He answered without hesitation. And without a choice. "Supernova, keep your mouth closed." The older teen instructed.
"What's the point of using a hero name now?" Chisaki said as he walked further away, "I've already seen his whole face, and yours now. Hiding anything is pointless.".
One of the villains shot twice at Mirio who easily dodged, then turned to Sanyu, who was bracing himself against the wall. It felt like fighting drugged. When, during training, they'd give him some sort of sedative and see how well he could break people's arms while under the influence. If he used his powers right away he'd kill everyone by collapsing the tunnel.
He felt disgusting on multiple levels.
"You're just using Eri to make yourself feel better, aren't you?" The villain asked.
"No." Sanyu said resolutely. "I'm not.". It was involuntary, but the truth.
The villain clicked his tongue at the answer and shot again, this time at Sanyu. One well enough focused beam of light disintegrated the bullet to the point it barely bounced off the wall.
Mirio lunged forwards, finally gaining his balance back. "Ultimate move-" He gritted out, punching the first villain, "phantom menace!".
He easily subdued the henchmen. Sanyu used it as an opportunity to fly past them, slamming right into Chronostasis and grabbing Eri out of his arms before she hit the ground.
"No!" The girl whispered, "He'll kill you.".
"It will be okay." Sanyu replied, holding the girl closer to him like he was scared she would disappear. Mirio launched for Chisaki himself, nailing the man right in the face.
"Don't worry Eri!" The blond shouted. "I'll become your hero.". He glared at Chisaki, who looked shocked.
"Come back Eri." The villain said. "You break people, you kill people. It's how you were born." He turned to face them again, seemingly recovered from the hit.
"Each and every action you take kills people.".
"How could you say that about your own child?" Miro shouted, outraged.
"Oh?" Chisaki said, looking at the hero students blankly. "I don't have any children.".
He placed his hand on the ground and Sanyu tightened his grip on Eri before flying up. Spikes exploded out of the ground, changing the layout of the tunnel completely.
"Lemillion!" Sanyu called out searching for him.
"I'm okay." The older said, before turning back to face their opponent.
"You don't understand." Chisaki said. "Her quirk...it's dangerous. She could tear you all apart, piece by piece or all at once. I'm the only one that can keep her together, that can heal her. That can control her.".
"She's too powerful to be left on her own. Imagine what that would look like?".
'We're the only ones who can control them. Who can keep society safe from them'.
Every word of that first briefing played over in Sanyu's mind. Chisaki's mindset was identical to the people who ran the Six program. They thought powers were dangerous and that people with them had to be put to work or they'd destroy the world.
"Take her." Sanyu said, flying over and dropping Eri into his waiting arms. He dropped to the ground, cracking it apart where he landed. In one motion he used his quirk to destroy the spikes around them.
Chisaki looked like he was about to raise more of them but decided against it. "Shoot the arm holding Eri. I'll take care of the young one." He instructed. Chronostasis, who somehow got up after Sanyu knocked him down, nodded.
The fall to the ground must have done something to him though because the man's aim was way off.
"They're quirk destroying bullets, courtesy of the monster you're trying to save." Chisaki informed him. "One hit and you're done for.".
"She's not a monster." Sanyu said before shooting some uncontrolled, pure energy at Chisaki. It exploded around him, knocking the man into the wall. He scratched at his skin after the impact.
Two more shots rang out. Sanyu checked over his shoulder before sending an energy explosion at Chisaki again.
"He obscured his body with his cape!" Chronostasis cursed out.
"Chrono!" Chisaki said in warning, before boosting the man up with a piece of the floor. He shot again, but Mirio phased certain parts of his body through the bullets so they didn't hit anything.
He ripped his cape off and wrapped Eri in it, phasing through the remaining spikes to reach Chisaki.
Mirio fought hard while Sanyu launched a beam right at Chronostasis, who was sent flying back into the wall.
"You may think you're strong-" The older teen gritted out, "But I'm stronger!".
Chisaki was nearly powerless against the onslaught. The only thing he did manage to do was kick his own gun to Chrono.
Sanyu followed the movement with his eyes, lunging to intercept it, but he was a bit too slow.
He seemed to be wavering between shooting Mirio and shooting Eri, until he decided on the child. Sanyu's eyes widened with horror as he watched Mirio throw himself in front of the girl.
The shot rang out. Sanyu put way too much energy into his movement as he struggled to reach the pair in time. The wall behind him cracked dangerously and his entire body was glowing.
"Oyama!" Mirio cried out, horrified. Sanyu hit the ground hard, rolling several times before stopping when he hit a spike painfully. "No!" Mirio said, the horror obvious in his eyes.
The villains watched on with delight as Sanyu's veins glowed red from the bullet's impact. The light from his power faded.
"It's a shame." Chisaki said simply. "You're so young, and you worked so hard to save Eri. But all that effort is wasted and now you're shiny, powerful quirk is gone forever.".
"No..." Eri whispered, her eyes filling with tears.
Mirio didn't know how to process it. He couldn't see Sanyu's face from the way he was positioned and he wasn't sure he wanted to. His hair was splayed out across the ground, stark black against his paper white skin.
It was supposed to be him, the third year with experience and time under his belt, to take that bullet. To lose his quirk. Instead it had been Oyama.
He remembered their first conversation so vividly at that moment.
"You should have more confidence." He had told the younger teen after hearing his criticism of his fighting abilities, "I didn't really lose to all of 1-A, you know. I lost to you.".
That's right. Mirio hadn't lost to the class, to anyone other than Sanyu. The kid who had given his all in every way and used what was literally a handicap to his advantage.
He was the type to storm in here and get Eri himself if they couldn't find her fast enough and Mirio was pretty sure he would have succeeded too.
And Sanyu had just lost his quirk forever and all because he was protecting Mirio.
"How does it feel now, hero? To have lost your quirk? What made you special?" Chisaki taunted.
Surprisingly, Sanyu moved. He grabbed his left side with his right hand and slowly stood up, bracing himself against the spike.
When he looked up, the atmosphere in the room completely shifted.
White. His eyes were completely white and glowing. He moved his hand off the bullet wound and raised them both at the villains. Wisps of pure white energy gathered around them.
"How many times is this going to happen?" Sanyu wondered aloud, his tone strong but obviously pained, "Do people try to take away every nice power they see here?".
"Impossible..." Chisaki breathed out. "You-who are you? What are you?!".
Sanyu seemed to consider the question for a second. He looked over at Eri whose face was covered in tears.
"A person. I'm a person." He decided, repeating Keigo's words, "And so is she.".
'You know what?' Sanyu thought, 'fuck structural integrity'.
He proceeded to blast Overhaul through several dozen walls of the labyrinth.
As if on cue Midoriya's group burst through the wall. They took in the scene around them, the crumbling cavern, Eri and Mirio huddled together and Sanyu standing there.
"Is everyone alright?" Eraserhead asked as more heroes flooded into the scene, hurrying to detain Chisaki in some quirk suppressing cuffs.
"One of the Eight Bullets was going to shoot Eri," Mirio said, trying to keep his breathing and his voice even. "I ran for her-he took the bullet for me. It was quirk erasing but he just-got up and blasted them into the wall.".
The man nodded and his eyes seemed to hold a sort of understanding that Mirio didn't have.
Midoriya rushed over to them and without hesitation Mirio handed Eri to him. He pushed himself off the ground and rushed over to Sanyu, who was somehow still standing up.
"Are you-" The black haired teen croaked out with a gasp, "okay? Is Eri-everyone-okay?".
"They're perfect." Mirio said, "They're just fine.". Sanyu nodded, staring off into space and promptly collapsed completely. Mirio was quick to catch him though. He lowered the younger onto the ground carefully.
Then he looked down and realized that Sanyu was bleeding so much that in the brief moment they had been pressed against each other it had seeped into his hero outfit.
"You're freaking out." Sanyu observed. Mirio looked up at him, startled. "It's okay." He assured the older teen, "I've been shot before. Don't worry.".
"You've been what?" Mirio asked breathlessly.
"So many times...." Sanyu mumbled thoughtlessly. "My worst one was right-oh no. I don't have that leg anymore. Never mind.".
Nighteye approached the pair and was rightfully horrified. "Mirio, your legs, Oyama..." His words died on his tongue.
"Eri's unharmed." Mirio rasped out. Nighteye just dropped down on the ground next to them. He pulled both his interns into a hug, which shocked Sanyu, but he wasn't mad about it. He kind of liked hugs, that was something new he had learned.
"It's okay now." The hero murmured, "You were amazing, Mirio.". He turned to Sanyu, who was being fully supported by Mirio in this new upright position. "You too, Oyama.". Well, at least Nighteye didn't hate him anymore for their argument. A smile ghosted Sanyu's face.
Suddenly he looked over at Mirio and realized he was tearing up. "I'm sorry." He said, "I don't know if Oyama can still use his quirk...he had one last surge but so did Tamaki-his quirk could be destroyed forever!". His tears dropped to the ground, mixing with the bit of Sanyu's blood.
Nighteye stared at Sanyu with a shocked expression. The whole group seemed to tense up at that, the few pro heroes nearby covering their mouths in shock.
"Mirio..." Sanyu murmured softly. Only Nighteye and Mirio actually heard him. They looked over at him and were shocked to see his eyes glowing white, pupils and irises completely absorbed in the light. "I've always been quirkless.".
And with that, he slumped his head on Mirio's chest and passed out from blood loss.
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Okay, first off I rewatched the episode of the anime this happens in so I could get the details of the fight and the dialogue and I saw that in the anime even though its supposed to be a quirk erasing bullet it just pricks Mirio's skin and nothing more despite having the force of a gun behind it. Obviously I couldn't have that, because we're realistic with our violence in this fic, thank you very much 💅. Unfortunately that did mean Sanyu too a straight bullet to the abdomen. He'll be just fine though!
I feel like I'm uploading so much at once but I ended up having very few responsibilities today so I had more time than normal 😅
Please tell me to slow down if you feel pressured to keep up or its too much at once! 😊
I haven't decided on a ship yet 😗. I was a bit worried I was taking things a bit too fast, but then I realized that even my most long running fics in the past only went till like chapter 45. We're at 40 and there's still so much to see!
But regardless chapter 40 is a big milestone! Thank you all for reading this far!
(Tao and Keigo are going to scold the shit out of Sanyu btw)
Stay Tuned!