The sun was sifting through the clouds in the late morning, the warmth giving little comfort to the pair of heroes in the agency's temporary housing main lounge. Eijiro was pacing back and forth while Shoto sat on the sofa facing the T.V., his eyes trained on the other's tense shoulders and worried brows.
Neither had any words to provide to soothe the other, it was the first time they'd been so abruptly affected by Katsuki's pheromones, the first time they felt so useless to help their friend.
The creak of the door caught their attention with Eijiro freezing his stride and Shoto's eyes finding green curls and a dismal frown amongst freckles.
"How is he?" Eijiro asked, rushing to Midoriya who uncurled his clenched fists hearing the concern in his voice.
"Out like a light." He looked down at his hands.
The same hands that held Katsuki as he broke down, that wiped his tears despite his hung head hiding his face behind his hair, that held his shoulders when he started whispering his fears, his despair.
A quiet extended between them, the overhead air conditioning buzzing with white noise filling the unsaid words of concern they were all thinking. That was until Shoto spoke up with a grated voice, his gaze flitting from Midoriya's hands and Eijiro's shoulders.
"I can't imagine what he is going through." He said.
"I can't imagine what Hina's going through." Eijiro added, "To make Bakugo pass out from pain. It's just..." He sighed shakily, closing his eyes as his eyes watered. Katsuki's words echoed, and the thought of Mina in Hina's place- he felt overwhelmed with empathy for his best bro.
"I don't think it's just the pain." Midoriya whispered, his chest tight as his voice tumbled from his tongue. "He's being mentally and emotionally drained. Not only was he already worried for her, but now-" He swallowed, trying to remove the pebble in his throat. "Now he feels the pain she's going through. And he can't do anything to take it away."
"All except save her." Eijiro said.
"We don't have any leads." Shoto clenched his fist, standing up abruptly and joining the two with his visible conviction.
"Then we'll find some leads." Eijiro completed Shoto's thought, the three nodding their head in concession. "We owe it to him." Because if it was the other way around, he would've done everything to help them; they all knew this.
Midoriya turned around, walking out the door and the other two following behind him as they went to the main conference hall with the NVA's facts written out for all to see.
An agreement echoed between them, a single thought they shared when they reached the room and started to search everything and anything they could.
We have no time to waste.
-----
Hina could barely comprehend her surroundings. She felt the floor cold and jagged as she was dragged by her arm, felt pain still vibrating through her body as it thrummed slowly, pinched every few seconds as the aftershocks of the initial injection went through.
She heard a grumble from the person near her, and then an explosion shook the ground, pebbles on the floor scattering as the vibrations came closer. Her senses heightened and her eyes widened as she heard another explosion shake through the walls, heard a shrill scream of unadulterated rage.
"Katsuki," She whispered, weakly pulling away from the person dragging her.
The door was thrown off its hinges from a powerful explosion and smoke filled the entrance. When the smoke cleared, a man eclipsed the light from the halls. A man with spiky hair, broad shoulders, and red eyes.
Red eyes with violet in the centers.
An explosion aimed at the person holding was let off, and she vaguely heard the thump of them falling to the ground, felt the slack in her arms as she was finally let go.
He rushed to her side, falling to his knees and cradled her face in his gloved hands that were still warm from his attacks, even sweeter more than ever from his explosive sweat.
"You're here." She breathed, her tears blurring his face filled with worry, his brows untwined with relief.
"Of course I'm here, Short stuff." He whispered, his thumbs wiping her tears, his hands shaking from seeing her in a torn hospital gown, from the cuts and bruises littering her skin.
But she didn't pay attention to how his scent bittered from the anger at her treatment, all she could do was let loose a watery chuckle; she hadn't heard that nickname in a long time.
"Katsuki, I-" Her voice shook, rattling from her chest as the words from her heart just flowed out of her lips.
"I love you." She said, feeling his shaking steady, feeling his warmth bloom all around her.
She had to say it. Before it was too late. She just had to. She couldn't wait. Not when he was right here, holding her, feeling her, saving her.
"I love you so much. I'm sorry for being so weak, I'm- "
"Oi, none of that." He interrupted with a brash yet soft tone, his eyes both reprimanding yet understanding. "You're safe now, that's all that matters."
Despite her chapped lips and the pain singing in every twitch of her muscles, she reached out to hug him, to kiss him.
However, he froze, his breath not leaving his lungs, his hand gripping his suit over the left of his chest, right above his heart, before he fell on his side and then on his back.
"Katsuki!" She exclaimed, her scream grated and painfully raw in anguish.
He seized on the floor, his eyes rolling up into his skull and white froth leaving his mouth as he gagged and spasmed for seconds that felt like minutes.
And then, nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
He was completely still.
Deadly still.
Her breath ceased for only two heartbeats before she started feeling sparse breaths invade her lungs like sharp needles and pins.
"No, no, no please don- don't leave." Her hands, battered and raw till the wrists from the pulling the restraints, cupped his slack jaw; her finger tracing his threadlike scar on the right temple.
It brought her back to the mall with her parents' bodies on the floor, bullet holes in their chests and blood pooling from their lips. Brought her back to seeing her sister's light leave her eyes from the same experiments she was subjugated to, seeing her breathe her last breath.
"Not you too." She said, her tears dripping from her chin onto his cheek and into his eye that were blank and unseeing. She hyperventilated through another sob, her fingers trembling as she begged, "Please."
If she wasn't in such a delirium, she would've realized that his scars were on the wrong side of his body. She would've recognized that familiar numbness she felt when Katsuki slept.
Footsteps came closer to her, the sound of a single person's claps echoed in the room she held prisoner.
"Well, would you look at this show?" Xerox said, his hood still obscuring his true identity. "A real tearjerker. Isn't it folks?"
"Wha-" She looked up, her expression twisted in grief yet confusion furrowing her brows. "What are you talking about?"
"I was just talking to the invisible audience." He gestured to the ceiling and to the walls, as though it were obvious, his white gloves glinting the sunlight from above. He walked to Katsuki's body, bending over, and placing his hand over Katsuki's chest. A red glow emanated from Katsuki and soon he withered into a corpse, his skin and bones dusting into nothing.
Hina gawked in shock, in terror.
He just-
"Don't worry," He interrupted her thought, slapping his hands against each other to dust off the residuals. "This wasn't the real Katsuki. It was a clone I made with my quirk."
A clone.
Not Katsuki.
Her breath eased into her lungs, like water flowing in a creek.
Katsuki's alive. He's okay.
Hina's eyes widened, her thoughts suddenly coming together all at once. The more she thought about it the more she realized that the Katsuki she just witnessed die was not real. He couldn't be.
No wonder the scar on his temple was on the right and not the left. No wonder he called her Short stuff and not Firework or Hina. No wonder he didn't kiss her the moment he saw her, didn't say "I love you" back the moment she did.
"You really thought he came to save you. I'm sure he couldn't care less about your pain. I mean maybe he is annoyed by feeling every single pinch, every single excruciating sensation." Xerox held Hina by the jaw gently, his eyes blood-red and teeth glinting from the light as he spoke with a smile. "Maybe he even wishes you'd die so he'd have less burden."
"Katsuki would never think that." But even as she said it with unwavering conviction, doubt creeped in her chest from his amused scoff.
"Like he would never use his alpha voice on you? Like he wouldn't overwork you so he could just use and abuse his power in the name of your protection? You've only known the man for what? Not even two months. And he's shown you every single side of him? All the good and all the bad?"
His questions echoed in the room and in her head.
Has Katsuki shown every side of himself? Even Hina didn't know.
Xerox squished her cheeks together, speaking faster, nearly deranged as he tilted his head in his hood and exposed the curve of his cheek to the light. "And you seriously think he can't hide his true feelings from you? He's a hero. They learn how to suppress and hide their emotions. Alphas, especially true ones, are trained so they don't disrupt the balance of society like they did in the past." He let go of her face, standing up, and turning to the empty doorway. "Of course you wouldn't know that. You aren't even from this universe."
Hina stared at his back in shock, her head pounding with her aching heart.
"Enjoy your stay, the doctor will be back in the evening for more samples."
Despair cloyed in her lungs, went up her throat and thickened right behind her tongue.
A metal panel slid into place to replace the door that was distorted by the wall, and the sun's bright rays burned her skin as she sat in the center of the room.
With every heartbeat, with every heavy pulse in her skull, she spiraled.
Xerox's questions, as manipulative and questionable as they were, started to poison her thoughts, painting her world black just like his cloak.
Her chest caved and her eyes clouded.
Maybe there is some truth in his words.
Maybe.
-----
"I'm ready."
Aoi stood on the sand, the sea breeze curling his hair into waves that mimic the ocean's at his feet. The sun was at it's highest peak for the day, it's light unforgiving yet an embrace for Aoi who was finally returning home.
He's facing Torii's back who was comparatively tenser than usual.
Torii was facing a large boulder, his hand plastered on the rough texture as he waited for Aoi to say those two words. Now that they were said all he had left to do was open a golden door to the universe.
He curled his hand in front of the boulder, twisting his wrist and golden light bloomed brighter from his palm and into a golden door. He pulled it open, and on the other side they were at the top of a mountain looking over to Aoi's home village.
Aoi's eyes welled with tears.
Home. It was just two feet away from him. He could finally go back.
"Thank you," He whispered to Torii, his hand clasping on the older man's shoulder.
Torii didn't meet his eyes, his own golden ones glowing brighter with every step Aoi took forward.
"Please don't thank me." He said bitterly, his shoulders sagging.
"It's not your fault you don't remember me old man. To be fair, I don't remember you either. I'm just glad I can finally get back to Konoha. I can reunite with my family."
The breeze from Aoi's universe whiffed into this one, the scent of sweet apples filling his nose.
Without another thought, he walked forward, stopping one step before crossing the threshold. "I wish you well, universe." He said without looking back and took the step into his home.
But then, golden chains held him within the doorway between the two universes.
"Caper?!" He exclaimed, struggling in the chains, straining his neck so he could meet one eye with Torii's. "What's happening?!"
Torii didn't look up, his eyes glowing like two suns and his palm absorbing golden light from the door itself.
"I told you," His voice was forlorn, his salt and pepper hair hiding his scar and his brows bent upwards in anguish and guilt. "Please don't thank me."
Aoi's eyes widened, and he continued to struggle in the gate's hold.
But then Torii clenched his fists, and the golden light shone like a star.
Aoi screamed, his last sight of his home he never got to step foot in again. He screamed until his body started to shrivel and he couldn't breathe anymore, couldn't see anymore, couldn't feel anymore.
The light receded, the doorway still standing and open wide to the other universe. In the center of the arch was a skeleton hung by the chains webbing from the corners of the gate.
Aoi was no more.
The chains dissolved, and the skeleton fell forward into the other universe like a puppet cut off its strings.
The door closed, and the power Torii had been lacking for the past five years was returned to him with such force he inhaled a sharp breath. A golden hue glowed around him until it drifted away with the sun's light.
He heard laughter from behind the boulder, saw the white gloves reflect sunlight off of them too.
Xerox stepped out, his smile menacing and his expression too normally amused. After all, the man was too underwhelming without his cloak draped on his shoulders and hood veiling his face. Brown hair like straw was organized in disarrayed waves and his red eyes that had a dimmed yet menacing glint met with Torii's golden eyes that no longer shined like the sun.
"You did well, Torii." He smiled. "Nee-sama will be pleased."
Torii wiped the stray tear he felt spilling from the corner of his eye. He couldn't show weakness to this man who could easily replace- copy him with just a drop of his blood. With a swallow he looked up, his expression passive as he responded with a monotonous inflection in his tone.
"Thank you, Kagami."
Kagami's smile broadened, inhaling a deep breath of the ocean's breath. "Can you smell it? The future is nearer than ever."
"Yes," Torii looked out to sea, the sun's harsh rays reflecting off the waves. He too took a deep inhale, an equally deep exhale too.
"It's close."
-----
My oh my, Xerox- Kagami was right under their noses heh. And poor Hina. ಥ_ಥ
While it would be tragic for me to leave you guys at this cliffhanger for two consecutive weeks, I have many midterms coming up and need to focus on that. Will come back with weekly chapter updates in November.
Thank you sm for all the support and see you guys all real soon! <3