I went to edit this chapter and hit the wrong one. I ended up confused about why Musashi was fighting Shinazugawa on the first line before I realized it was the Kimetsu fic.
Anyways! The second story is a go, yeah! This one will go up until the Hassaikai arc ends. As fun as the festival arc would be to do, I'm not sure how I would do it, but we'll have to see. I also don't plan on doing anything with the villain arc (duh) and hm. The arcs afterward. I'm not sure about either.
I will say right off the bat, I might not be writing the provisional license arc. My main goal, since bnha season 4 is over, is to get through the Nighteye and Shie Hassaikai arcs. I also feel like my grasp of writing BNHA is starting to slip, which saddens me.
In addition to that, Astolfo and Gray are servants. They're already leaps and bounds above many of the Pro Servants in certain aspects. Astolfo and Gray would have to be severely handicapped in order to make the fight remotely fair (for example, Gray and Astolfo could single-handedly take down Gang Orca, but he's there because he's stronger than most of the students if they rush in without thinking).
I'm worried that if I do the provisional license arc it'll be rushed and badly written, so that's mostly on the back burner for now, but I'll think about it.
As per usual, this goes outside of canon because its a crossover with not one, not two, but five servants (one will be arriving later)— two of which lowkey transcended servant status and two of which are abnormally strong under certain circumstances, and Musashi.
With that said, there's going to be major canon deviation and there will be a lot of Gray-Centric chapters.
Thank you all who staid through Sagittarius and are reading this one now.
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After the mess that was All for One, Midoriya Izuku hadn't thought that he would have ever gotten to see Astolfo, Gray, or Chiron again.
He, like the rest of the class and a good number of the U.A. Staff, knew that the three were anything but normal. He and his good friends Todoroki Shoto and Iida Tenya had learned about the world of Servants and Mages in a hospital room in Hosu. They weren't the only ones who knew, in fact, they were part of the last half of his class to learn about it.
Then Bakugou and Gray were both taken from the Training camp, Astolfo and Pixie-Bob hospitalized, and Ragdoll violently taken as well.
The same day, almost as soon as Astolfo had woken up, Midoriya had been told that the Rider had left the hospital with a number of Pro Heroes.
He heard that All Might and a number of others were getting together for a Raid Team. He knew that Chiron would be there— "Anything for my students," the man had told him once when he had promised him a Pankration lesson.
Then All for One happened.
He blasted a hole through Best Jeanist. He stole Ragdolls Quirk and greatly injured Gang Orca, Mt. Lady, and Tiger. He had injured Astolfo (again, though this time directly) but the Rider had stood on his own feet and challenged him.
All Might's true form was revealed...
And then... Chiron-sensei was labeled a killer.
Antares Snipe was something that Midoriya had witnessed once before. A direct headshot from the heavens that rendered a villain lifeless.
He hadn't expected the Saber from the I-Island Expo (he couldn't remember her name at all, though) to arrive when Chiron did.
He hadn't expected Endeavor and All Might to have been given Noble Phantasms to use.
He hadn't expected All Might, Endeavor, Gray, and the Saber to all use them at once.
When the dust and smoke cleared from Gray's use of Rhongomyniad, Midioriya had thought that it was over.
That they had won and that everything was going to be alright.
With Endeavor and All Might standing together strong and proud, with Gray and Add with them, with Chiron smiling and telling his students (no matter how stubborn) how proud he was of them.
No one had expected Chiron to call down a shot from the stars and kill All for One where he lay unconscious.
The sole camera that had been focusing on the Heroes of the day had been cut when Endeavor had made his way over to it— demanding that the Media stay back "Or else". No one wanted to find out what the "or else" was going to be, so they wisely backed off.
That said, Midoriya and Iida had shared a worried look after that.
What of Gray?
When All Might, no Mister Yagi, had shown up to talk to his mother about the U.A. dorms, he had told him that there were conferences and meetings going on. Japan's Hero Embassy was angry at Chiron for ruining the image of a good hero, the Mages Association had sent over representatives, and Greece, London, and France's representatives from their embassies had arrived.
"A large, overblown mess over a guy who didn't deserve it with a really calm teacher in the center. It was a political warzone, really."
That's what Mister Yagi had called it before he had left.
Midoriya was still unsure. Astolfo hadn't responded to any texts or calls and he didn't even want to know what happened to Gray yet. After the tenth text (and countless others from the rest of the class) went unanswered, the green-haired boy had stopped. Astolfo must have left the nation when he could. Mister Yagi didn't tell him if he was in the hospital or not after that "cosmos" attack he had done. There was no news on him and the former hero only scratched at his cheek when asked about Gray.
Midoriya dropped the subject.
That said, it was safe to say that he had been startled when Gray and Astolfo arrived at Height's Alliance to move in with the rest of them.
"Astolfo! Gray! You two are- well! Gray you're alive and Astolfo, you're still here?" he asked the two and Gray smiled slightly while Astolfo gave him a grin.
"Of course we are! I still have to get my license and Gray's got nothing to lose by being here!" He told him and Midoriya felt a weight lift from his chest that he didn't know was there. Ashido squealed happily, grabbing onto Hagakure as she and the others relaxed. It seemed all of the students felt the same— it just wouldn't be the same with the two Servants gone.
"Then does that mean Chiron-sensei is here still?" Uraraka asked, tilting her head as the girls crowded around the two, effectively blocking them from the boys. Astolfo's smile dropped, making Midoriya's blood freeze.
"Well, yes and no," Astolfo said with a sigh. "He's here, but he hasn't been released yet. He should be back in time for classes, that's what Detective Tsukauchi said, at least. If that's true or not, we don't know."
He gave Midoriya a thumbs up. "It'll be done though! Clocktower's great at getting out of messes. Sometimes. Well, not really, but Japan can't keep an international hero under lock for too long before it gets out of the nation. Japan is just one nation and not every nation has the "no-kill" law in place. Besides, Greece is already mad for taking him into custody without sending word. The Japanese government is just being really stubborn about it right now— the U.N. might have to get involved before it's resolved." He shrugged as he finished.
"What happened to that blonde woman, the one who had the two swords?" Sero asked. Gray blinked.
"Oh, Miss Musashi," she said, "Well, she's... around."
"Edgeshot and her have similar aesthetics, so the two might end up working together," Astolfo supplied. "She's doing licensing work right now. Because technically she was acting as a vigilante since not even the Mages Association knew she was still around."
Gray sighed, shaking her head. "She said she had been arrested before so she wasn't too concerned, though considering how that was ages ago, she might find that the police aren't as lenient."
There were a couple of laughs before Aizawa cleared his throat, gazing at them with an unamused look.
"While I'm glad we could all make it here again, what I'm about to say is important, so listen up," he told them, making the students quiet down and turn their attention to him.
"Iida, Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, Todoroki, Midoriya," he started and the five that had been called tensed a bit. "The five of you were present on "that evening" at "that place". You took it upon yourselves to proceed towards the site of Gray and Bakugou's rescue." His gaze flickered from the five over to the rest of the class.
"Judging by the looks on some of your faces, you all knew as well," he drawled, "I'll just cut to the point— if it weren't for All Might's retirement from the hero scene, with the exception of Jiro, Hagakure, Bakugou, and Gray, I would have expelled all of you. Astolfo, you're on thin ice too, just be glad you're a servant and that Jeanist is a hero with a lot of standing— French license or no."
Midoriya saw Astolfo's eyes narrow as Aizawa continued. "For those five and the rest of you who did nothing to stop them, the same punishment stands. The five who took action and the other twelve who didn't stop them all betrayed our trust, regardless of the reason. In order to restore our trust in you, you're going to all have to act like model students, do I make myself clear?"
There was silence before the Erasure Hero turned, heading for the dorm building. "Good, now lets all head in with smiles and good energy."
Midoriya looked at the ground as Astolfo sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"How gloomy," he said and the green-haired boy had to agree with him.
He blinked as Bakugou turned, grabbing Kaminari and walking towards the bushes behind them. The rest of the class turned, curious before a blast of lightning made a few startle.
Kaminari was shoved out from behind the bushes, his usual brain-fried look on his face as he gave them all a thumbs up.
"Wheey!"
Jiro broke the shocked silence first, barely covering her laugh as she bent over, shoulders shaking. It hardly mattered as both Sero and Astolfo burst out laughing. Bakugou walked back over, handing Kirishima a wad of cash.
The two exchanged a few words before Bakugou headed for the dorm building. Gray smiled a bit before she pat Kirishima's shoulder, following the blonde with Add cackling from inside her cloak.
Both she and Bakugou stepped into the building after Aizawa did, the Assassin gasping softly at the large open space.
"The first floor is the common area," Aizawa said as the rest of the class filed into the building the spread out around the floor.
"The dining area, bathes, and laundry facilities can be found here too," the Hero added. "It's spacious, the staff and construction took you into account, Astolfo."
He glanced back, not even batting an eye as Hippogriff appeared and Astolfo grinned. Gray laughed softly as the Rider and his mount walked around, the beast curiously nudging and inspecting everything. Sero ended up on its back as the black-haired boy peered out into the courtyard.
"It's a freaking mansion!" Uraraka cried, eyes wide as she gazed around. Gray unhooked Add from her mantle, letting him look around as Aizawa threatened Mineta with bodily harm.
Well, not so bluntly, the Erasure Hero had told him to behave but the threatening aura around him threatened expulsion at the very least. Add cackled at that as they headed up to the next floor via the elevator. The elevator was even spacious, Hippogriff fitting happily inside as it cooed and preened Aizawa's hair, much to the man's chagrin.
"Your rooms are on floors two and above," the man said as the doors opened and they walked out, "On each floor, there are two groups of four rooms, half for girls, half for boys. This is up to the fifth floor and you each get your own, private room."
The man opened the door to the first room. "You should be comfortable. You've got your own AC, bathroom, fridges, and closets— stop that, Hippogriff," he grumbled as the Phantasmal Beast continued messing with his hair. Gray giggled softly as she watched. All the others seemed to be in high spirits as they looked around the room Aizawa had let them in. Uraraka had almost fainted when Yaoyorozu had commented that the room was the same size as her closet.
Aizawa held up a piece of paper with a layout of the building. "These are your dorm assignments," he said, "The belongings you sent ahead have already been placed in your new rooms, so spend the day unpacking and getting settled. I'll tell you more about the next few lessons tomorrow. For now, get to work."
"Yes, Sensei!"
(x)
It felt like it was only a few minutes of work before Astolfo found himself lounging on Hippogriff's back in the common space. He had actually finished up in a few hours and had been riding the beast around helping out the others with Uraraka and Shouji— the later apparently had next to nothing in his room.
The Rider was glad that the school had taken into account Hippogriff being around. Next to Chiron and now Gray, the beast was probably his best friend that was still around and would be around for a while. Jeanne had left Leticia to find Sieg, Sieg had gone to the Reverse Side of the world, and of course, the masters and Leticia were all gone now.
He liked having Hippogriff around more.
"Getting to live together is pretty exciting, you know," Kaminari said as Hippogriff and Astolfo trotted over to them, the Phantasmal Beast lightly butting its head against Iida's back. The blue-haired boy nodded as he pat the Beast.
"Common living arrangements, this too, is a form of training to raise our cooperative spirit and polish our discipline to become heroes—" Iida said and Astolfo lightly smacked him on the back of the head.
"Dude, you should calm down, unwind a bit!" the Rider laughed at the other boy's baffled face. Hippogriff chirped in agreement.
"Hey boys~" Ashido's voice called out as the girls joined them. Gray was wearing an oversized All Might sweatshirt instead of her usual cape, though her hood was up as usual and Add was hooked onto her waist. The sweatshirt was curtesy of the said retired Hero as a gift for... something or another. She had briefly explained the new Master-Servant situation to him and Astolfo didn't know if Yagi was now treating Gray like a daughter or something. Chiron would have words about that.
"Are your rooms all set up?" the pink-skinned girl asked as Kaminari waved to her.
"Yup," he said, "Now we're just relaxing."
The girl grinned as she neared. "So you know, the girls were all talking and we've got a suggestion," she said and Astolfo perked.
"Let's go and see who has the coolest room! How about it?!"
Astolfo could see the color draining from a number of the boys' faces at the mention of people going in and seeing their rooms.
So Astolfo spoke for them. "Sounds great!" he said, making most of them startle, a small scream escaping Midoriya as a few of the girls cheered.
Ashido clapped her hands. "Okay, then floor two first!"
"Midoriya, Tokoyami, Ayoma, and Mineta, right? Let's go!" Astolfo laughed as the boys bolted up, Midoriya and Tokoyami sprinting ahead to their rooms to stop the girls (and the Rider) as they and the rest of the boys made their ways up to the second floor.
Midoriya's attempt to stop them was all in vain though as the girls burst into the room.
"There's so much All Might merch, wow..." Astolfo said, poking a bobblehead of the former Number One Hero. Uraraka laughed.
"Totally a fanboy, aren't you, Deku!" she asked as the boy flushed, hiding his face by standing at his desk. Gray gazed up at one of the posters before following the others as they filed out. Kirishima and Sero both looked nervous as they approached Tokoyami's room.
"I think it's neat," she said told Midoriya as they walked and Kirishima blinked, glancing over his shoulder at them.
"Oh yeah, you're wearing one of those Sweatshirts," he said, "Didn't know you were a fan, too." She rubbed the back of her head.
"Um, I've only been alive for a couple of weeks, Kirishima. I wouldn't say I'm a fan, but I do appreciate him— things kinda change when you're in a life or death situation and fighting next to him."
The redhead rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry." She only smiled, shaking her head.
"Don't worry," she assured him as they stopped walking. The Harden Quirk boy didn't look too sure but was distracted as his attention was drawn towards Tokoyami's very dark room.
"So scary!" Ashido and Hagakure cried. Gray peered in over the pink-haired girl's shoulder, blinking.
"Looks like something Mister Sisigou would like..." she said as Kirishima examined a keychain and Midoriya was distracted by a sword. Astolfo blinked.
"You knew him?" he asked and Gray nodded, ignoring Tokoyami's growls for them to get out.
"Mm. He fought alongside of Sir and I once. I'm surprised that you never came to bother him, now that I know you were a Servant in the war he fought in," she told him, stepping back for the others to leave. The Rider looked thoughtful as they walked down the hall to Ayoma's room.
Hippogriff screeched at the sight of the blonde's room and Gray didn't blame him, tugging her hood down as far as it could go to shield her eyes from the bright sparkling. Add also screeched, but was ignored for the most part as Uraraka bounced out.
"This is really fun!" she said, "the last person on this floor is...." she trailed off as they glanced behind them.
Mineta's room...
"Let's keep going..." Astolfo said, trotting ahead on Hippogriff's back. Gray hummed in agreement as they headed to the third floor.
Ojiro's room was fairly normal in terms of decoration— actually, it was quite bare. Some of the other girls voiced as such as Asolfo only laughed.
Poor Ojiro.
Iida's room, on the other hand, was very similar to Gray's room, she realized as Uraraka opened the door. Books lined one wall and Gray found herself looking at a few of them as Uraraka teased the blue-haired boy about his excessive amount of glasses.
"I know you're like, loaded, but seriously...?" Astolfo asked between laughs as Hippogriff balanced a set on its beak.
"I expect them all to be broken during training!" Iida defended and Add rattled in his cage.
"Just get some contacts! Moron! Moron!"
"Be quiet Add," Gray said flatly as Iida sputtered. She reached down, unhooking him from her waist before shaking the cage violently.
"AGYAGYAGYA!" He screamed as he was jostled and tossed around in the golden cage. "THAT'S ENOUGH GRAY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY, OKAY!?"
"Apologize," she said as she shook him, walking out of the room with the others, many of which were laughing.
"GYAYA! SORRY! SORRY!"
"I don't know how you can live with that guy like that...." Hagakure said and Gray just hummed, standing back as Ashido opened the door to Kaminari's room.
"I got used to him, plus shaking him makes him pretty docile— oh dear...." she sighed, seeing the Electric boy's room. Everything seemed to clash between the leopard print bed covering and the neon nicknacks on the walls.
"This is the store in the mall that I'd avoid," Jiro said and Astolfo nodded.
"Sorry, Denki, but it looks like you just got your hands on anything you could at an old Forever 21 sore or Hot Topic or something," the Rider said.
"Didn't that store go out like, ages ago?" Uraraka asked and the Rider shrugged.
"Maybe? Both are American, so I'm not sure," he said simply as the group moved on.
Kouda's room caused quite the commotion among the girls and Gray found herself crouched down by Uraraka and Ashido petting the quiet boy's pet bunny.
"Hey no fair, none of the others have pets!" Kaminari huffed and Astolfo laughed, giving Kouda a thumbs up.
"I love the plushies," he told him, making the boy smile. Hippogriff swished its tail, letting out a soft coo in agreement.
"Man this sucks..." Kaminari sighed as they stepped back out into the hall. "I feel so judged right now..."
"Wow, what a coincidence," Ojiro said flatly and Tokoyami grunted.
"I must agree," he said.
"And I, as well," Ayoma agreed.
"That's because the only ones who are getting picked on are the boys," Mineta said as he walked down the hall and Astolfo raised a brow. Gray tugged her hood free from Hippogriff, who was trying to take it off to mess with her hair, as the purple-haired boy continued.
"This was supposed to be a competition, right? So why are we the only one's getting judged!?" he asked before pointing his finger at her, the other girls, and Astolfo. "Then what about them? We have to see the girls' rooms to tell which one's best! Their interior design skills should be held at the same standard as ours!"
And it was as if a strike of lightning had gone off in all of the boy's heads as they turned to the more feminine crowd.
"I don't see why not!" Ashido said, making both Gray and Jiro startle.
"Eh?" "Wh-what?"
Hippogriff tugged Gray's hood down with a triumphant screech.
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I think I said this before, but in this AU, Sisigou— somehow— survived. It's not super important to the story, but I wanted that little mention of Sisigou in the fic and also the Apoc and Casefiles world connecting because of Caules in Casefiles. Eh, Fate's timeline is wonky. Anyways, I hope you liked the first chapter.