Chapter 39| Conquer Your Demons
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(A/N: Signal for music is ♪♪♪)
"Where are these guys coming from?! Get out of the way! I'll actually kill you!" Shigaraki splatted as the three villains teamed up on their own to chase after Bakugou.
"You wouldn't, I'm too precious," You narrowed your eyes. "Your little magician man won't make it far with Mt. Lady in the way, just to let you know."
As of on cue, the pro hero, Mt. Lady used her quirk to grow in length, blocking Compress' path. As the villains scurried together for another blow, Gran Torino knocked them all out with a nasty kick on the back of their heads.
"Kid! Get out of here!"
"No way! I have my own weapon against them!" You shook her head as you looked for Shigaraki and Toga, who had magically disappeared after the three villains got knocked out.
Gran Torino quickly ranted about how Midoriya was becoming more and more reckless as he passed All Might. The man flew along with you, him taking on Shigaraki and you with Toga.
"I'm telling you to get out of here kid!"
"And I'm telling you 'no'! You have no authority over me, you're not the U.A. Staff nor the U.S. government!" You shouted back as Toga and you flung knifes and fire at each other. Maybe it was because you were using a lot of adrenaline or because you were tired from all the sudden physical fighting, but you felt your speed slowly reducing.
Gran Torino seemed to be having a hard time figuring out a way to stop Shigaraki and his deadly quirk. You could sneak up on him, you thought, and you tried to. Keyword: tried.
You suddenly felt a force around you as Toga, who was in front of you has her eyes widen. By her head, the capital letter 'N' was visible, looking above yourself, you had one as well. Before you knew what was going on, you were flung and dragged by the invisible force into a piece of concrete a few hundred meters away.
Everything went by so fast.
As your back hit the hard barrier, your vision blurred as spots of color splattered everywhere in your eyes. You shook your head in attempt to clear your head, it did help. Although when you tried to stand up, a overwhelming amount of pain washed through your body as your system tried to cope.you even started to tear up.
The pain was unbearable.
"Oh for fuck's sake!" You groaned in pain as you held your hand that had the warm, red liquid smeared after touching the left side of your stomach. Something must've had pierced through your flesh a moment ago when you hit the concrete.
You couldn't stand up.
You couldn't see very well.
You might as well be dead.
The darkness greeted you at a unexpected speed, consuming everything including your vision.
When you opened your eyes, you were in a completely different space. Or even dimension because you couldn't hear anything like shouting of scared civilians, the fighting, or the wind from every attack.
"Are you really going to give up now?" A child's voice echoed.
You turned around to see only darkness around you, there wasn't a glimpse of light anywhere. So you decide to answer it.
"Yeah," You chuckled dryly. "Everybody's safe. And my real body's lying on the ground bleeding out, this isn't my real body cause I know I got a wound. There isn't much more I can do."
You took a step forwards, ruffling your own hair that has been cut a bit lopsided and uneven. Looking at your feet, the ground was like a puddle, reflecting yourself and small waves moved with each step you made.
It reminded you as a kid before everything went wrong, you always went outside after a storm or just the plain rain the jump in the puddles and looked at your own reflection.
"So you don't want to be a hero?" The childish voice asked again, this time it sounded disappointed and sad.
"I do," You looked around once again. "But a villain stays a villain until their time ends, I think my time ends here. I'll just be a hero in my next life."
"What if I told you this isn't the end, Akari?"
Snapping your head back, you finally found the source of the little girl's voice.
The little girl's build herself seemed fragile and small, but the horns on the top of her heads said otherwise. They were rather pointy and a dull black color.
When she looked up, the right side of her neck was covered in a black pattern that ran up to her eye, with parts of her cheek included as well. The little girl raised her hand to brush her (H/C) locks out of her face, watching her, you noticed the pattern was covered there too.
"What do you mean?"
"It doesn't have to end now."
"Accept me," Her eyes met yours. Both of them being the same shade. "Break the seal, break what the woman casted on you."
"I can't," you shook your head. "I can't control it anymore. They'll throw me back into the asylum, they'll think I'm crazy because of my quirk."
"So? When did you care about what other people said?"
"I don't know..."
"All Might's out there in his skeleton form, All for One is out there ready to give a final blow that'll end his career," The little girl solemnly told you. "You're the only one with around with a quirk that could block it successfully."
Your eyes widen.
"This is your moment, Akari," The little girl took a few steps towards you and gently placed a hand on your arm. "Conquer your demons. It's time."
Biting down on your bottom lip, you let out a sigh. You remembered what the woman who sealed off your inherited quirk had said about removing the seal. It was a big risk as it may affect your other quirk as your body tried to adjust itself. Or in the worst case scenario, you'll die.
"I guess it's time," You licked your chapped lips. "I'll break the seal."
"I knew you could do it."
(♪♪♪)
Taking in a deep breathe, you pulled up your right sleeve where the patterned tattoo rested as a reminder and closed your eyes.
"Release the one I have once put behind,
Turn back on what once existed in time,
For the removal of the seal;
may I conquer my demons without hesitation
And battle those who push against the Pillar."
As you opened your eyes, you were met with the burning pain once again—it wasn't just coming from the open wound. It felt like your entire body was burning up and being crushed underneath something that caused you to be short of breath.
"Is this what hell feels like?"
Using the makeshift wall behind you as support, you staggered up, gasping for air suddenly as you felt like your throat was closing in.
"Are these the side effects?"
With a reasonable amount of air in your system, you looked around in the distance to see what the little girl in that place described. All Might in his weak, skeleton form and All for One looking almost untouched other than his mask with his hand held up.
And you did what you never thought you would ever do again.
You exposed your arm. Holding your right arm out with your wrist up, you clenched your fist, and stared at the ground—your own shadow to be exact.
"You weren't the best but you weren't the worst Yuki, I'll give you that," You thought. "But it's about time to slay my inner demons."
Your shadow opened it's blood red eyes before you ran your other hand over the tattoo. Yuki, the shadow slowly took form of the little girl from earlier before being sucked up by the tattoo.
The patterns started to spread and spread until they took over almost half of your body. On top of your hair, the horns sprouted as you felt everything...differently.
You could hear, see, and even smell everything clearer. Like everything has been enhanced.
But the pain from everything got worst.
Without much thought, you subconsciously grasped your own shadow in your hand and manipulate them into wings with your fingers. As of it was on cue, feathery, black wings grew as they flapped themselves like a bird coming out of it's cage.
"Goodbye, All Might."
It was All For One's voice.
You flapped your wings and immediately started sprinting, ignoring every urge your body told you to stop. As you reached a incredible top speed with your legs and adrenaline, you jumped, letting your wings do all the work.
"Go, Akari! Go faster, goddamnit! You can't let All Might down!"
All For One's hand was starting to glow down at All Might.
200 meters.
The orbs started to glow brighter and bigger and bigger.
100 meters.
It gotten so big so quick, it was probably twice the height of an average human already.
50 meters.
All Might was visibly gritting his teeth.
20 meters.
The orb started to deform, looking like it could explode any second.
10 meters.
The orb had left All For One's palm.
0 meters.
And you were right in front of it.
"Tell Katsu it's going to be alright, because he's probably going cuss his head off!" You shouted, only giving the number one hero a glance as his shocked expression.
You pulled your arms up in front of you, manipulating every shadow you could pull from the area, including your own and forcing it to form a massive black hole.
"Thank you for giving me a chance a U.A.. Ithad always been a dream of mind. I always wondered what being a hero felt like and saying a line that you know people will recognize," You spoke right before impact of the blow. "But I think I will get that feeling today, because I think..."
The impact sent debris flying everywhere with loud bangs and other bone shaking noises. A bright light that seemed to blind everybody's vision also appeared. The explosion made your ears ring as everything seemed to stop in place for just a moment.
And in that tiny frame, it seemed peaceful and the pain was eating you up, piece by piece, limb by limb.
"'I'll conquer your demons."
Your legs gave out under you as everything went silent and dark. The bone-chilling pain had disappeared as well.
"I wish I had the chance to see you one last time, Katsu. You really were one of a kind. I love you, even though you may not feel the same way."
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