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A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you for waiting! & I hope I provided another roller coaster of a chapter like last time! I've laid out my puzzle pieces here and there throughout the book but this chapter will finally link some of them! Enjoy!! ｡◕‿◕｡)/
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NARRATOR POV
"No way, you guys have got to be joking right!?" Kaminari shrieked, scared of what he had just heard.
His shriek echoed across the room, making it sound like its that one pin that hit the ground too loud. The other UA students looked at the I-Island students with bewilderment, hopefully thinking this is just a really bad joke. But the first words that came out of Suzu- made everyone else realize that the I-Island students are not joking.
"It has been..." Suzu started, "It has been almost two years since the incident."
Kai looked over to Suzu, knowing full well he is about to have his own episode of mental breakdown. He looked around the room, observing everyone's eyes.
"Two damn years that I've had to lie to (L/n) about Axel," Suzu's hand trembled. "Two damn years that I don't know anything about what happened to my friends!" He growled in frustration.
Principal Nezu's ears twitched, "you two know nothing about what happened in the villain incident?" he double-checked.
"Yes," Kai answered for Suzu. "We know almost nothing about the villain incident, we only have vague knowledge about what happened to our friends."
"Stop this half-ass bullshit," Bakugou's teeth clenched. "Why the hell would you go as far as tell everyone here that your damn classmate is dead when he's been here in UA with you guys ever since the beginning!"
Suzu's face scrunched in anger, triggered by Bakugou's lack of patience and bold statement. "You think we'd go as far as to joke about this shit!?" He stood up, but Kirishima tugged him back down, using Kageyasu's quirk to his advantage.
"I'm not such a pile of shit to let others in danger because of my cocky attitude. Don't think I've forgotten how you might have easily prevented (L/n)'s assault on the roof!" Suzu screamed, sounding like he tore his larynx.
Suzu breathed heavily, staring straight into Bakugou's eyes with an abundance of anger. However, Kai cleared his throat and used his deathly stare to make Suzu shut his mouth. "Do you really think that's the time for that now?! And are you that desperate to wake up (L/n)?" Kai declared.
Suzu gulped then shook his head. "Good. I know you've been bottling all this up, but don't take it out on them. We need to be cooperative in order to fully protect (L/n) from the villain we barely know anything about. Do you understand?" Kai growled.
In an instant, Suzu calmed down and nodded to Kai. Kai clicked his tongue and looked at the others, embracing himself to finally let another person know what they've been doing for the last two years.
"Take your time," Aizawa reassured.
"Right. It was shocking really—" Kai's face scrunched in disgust as he recalled the past, "we were all enjoying the festival, then suddenly something bright flashes the night. Next thing you know everything is in chaos and the festival is full of red and blue sirens, the Island's security system blaring alarms, and explosions in the background."
Suzu looked over to Kai, gaping at him as he also recalled the night of the festival two years ago. Flashes of memory of seeing his friends all together for the last time before some of them went to the backstage to prepare for their play. His eyes teared up as one of his last memory with Axel popped in his head again.
FLASHBACK
Suzu yawned as he clutched a half-bitten cotton candy in his right hand, but then someone patted his back with harshness, abruptly interrupting his yawn and dropping his food on the floor.
"Ow ow ow!— What the hell man!" Suzu sneered to Axel who laughed obnoxiously loud behind him.
Axel proceeded to nudge Suzu on his right arm with his elbow then put his arm around him. He smiled, "Don't tell me you're getting sleepy? You haven't watched our awesomely anticipating best drama play of the year!"
Suzu sweat-dropped and used his left arm to shield his eyes, "Can you smile any bigger? I'd love to be blinded by your annoyingly white-pearly teeth."
Axel used his hands to stretch his mouth, showing Suzu what he sarcastically asked for. "Alright! Alright! I got it! I'm awake! I'm awake!"
Axel laughed at Suzu, "You better be! (L/n)-chan and I are practically the main characters in this play!"
Suzu rolled his eyes, "right... too bad you didn't get any romantic part with (L/n)."
Axel pouted immediately, and playfully punched Suzu, "Pffsh— We all know I don't stand a chance against flower boy over there."
Suzu stretched his arms up to the air then practically shoved Axel towards their other friends who were walking in front of them.
"You idiots! What the hell was that for! You better pay for my fucking raspberry lemonade!" Kai screeched as his drink spilt all over him due to Axel's sudden appearance.
Suzu puffed out his cheeks, containing in his laughter as he watched Kai and Axel have a banter with each other.
END OF FLASHBACK
"After that night we were called into the hospital... being told that our friend died, and one of them was close to death's door," Kai continued snapping Suzu out from his flashback.
The UA teachers and students looked at each other, perking up at the last part. "Wait- one of them?..."Kirishima spoke up noting that little detail.
"And by that you mean?" Midoriya's curiosity also voiced out.
"I think it would be better if you know a bit more details to truly understand the situation we're in," Suzu interrupted not wanting to add more confusion. "You must be wondering why we're saying Axel is dead despite him sitting with us and have been participating in the Hero-Teamwork Project," he steered the conversation.
Everyone practically nodded and maybe even scooted closer to Suzu. "To simplify Axel's status, the Axel you see right now is a robot with a part of his memories. The knowledge the academy has provided us is that they were able to extract memories from parts of his brain that were necessary to make this robot act like Axel before his body gave out and died."
"In other words," Kai butted in, "Axel did survive the villain incident, but for only a few short hours. And because of his strong persistence to live and what his body can endure at that time, this Axel has parts of the memory from the original Axel and we're basing him off of that. But, other 'motor memory' such as how to walk, blink, and all that nonsense is discarded and the scientists created a program to make this robot as realistic as possible to make sure more of Axel's memory is implemented."
Todoroki, who has not said a word since feeding (L/n) finally spoke up, "Are you saying this robot will only act from what the scientists have extracted, and programmed and never progress?"
Suzu and Kai nodded. "This Axel is indeed a robot who possess a little bit of Axel's memory, but his time in the present is no more. Technically he is here with us, but it is simply just a robot who has the ability to remember and summon Axel's memory to life."
The room turned deathly silent afterwards. Kaminari and Kirishima both felt chills run down their spine as they both looked at Axel. The robot blinked to them, then turned its head to the teachers.
"I don't understand, why would you go to this extent just to help out (L/n)? Wouldn't it be better if you helped her cope with Axel's death instead of lying to her?" Midnight spoke up.
"She's right, I don't understand why your academy decided to do this," Principal Nezu commented. Midoriya and Todoroki both nodded, agreeing with the teachers.
"That's true, but we cannot provide you all the answers, although, one of the main reason why Axel was turned to an android is to help (L/n) cope and provide mental support; something that no one on the island could provide to (L/n) due to the severity of her trauma," Suzu answered.
Kai then looked over to Bakugou, who surprisingly turned eerily quiet despite his overwhelming statements just a few minutes ago. He clasped his hands together then looked at his feet, "In the hospital, when Suzu said he couldn't handle another..." Bakugou suddenly spoke. "Did he mean Axel or are Lucas and Axel the same person?"
Suzu's eyes widened, surprised Bakugou brought up an event that felt like ages ago. Kai looked at Suzu, now also remembering the day they saw Bakugou and Present Mic visiting (Y/n). Bakugou then looked up with his brows scrunched together and with an evidently confused look on his face. "Or is Lucas the reason why? Is he even involved in this? I don't understand why Axel had to be turned into an android when he could've been put to rest."
Before Kai and Suzu could reply to Bakugou, out of nowhere Axel reacted to Bakugou's interest towards Lucas. Axel's eyes began to well up in tears, shocking everyone in the room. "It is my fault," Axel muttered under his breath. "It was me who caused so much pain to the three of you. I have failed to look after (L/n)-san even after you reminded me that night." Kai and Suzu looked at Axel, still wearing stunned faces.
"Hoy Axel, don't tell me you remember what happened that night!" Suzu scratched his head out of frustration. "And how the hell did you even know about Lucas!?" He snapped at Bakugou.
"It doesn't matter where he heard Lucas from! All that matters is providing the necessary facts for (L/n) to acquire proper recovery procedures from them as well," Kai reminds to Suzu. "Don't let your frustrations cloud your judgement on who the real enemy is."
Suzu bit his lips, then sighed deeply. With his free hand he combs back his now-dishevelled hair then looks to Kirishima then to Midoriya.
"To answer your questions from earlier," Suzu continued. "When Kai mentioned 'our friend died, and one of them was close to death's door.' He didn't mean (L/n) is the one close to death's door. And he didn't mean Axel is our friend who died."
Bakugou practically stopped breathing when Suzu looked at him, carrying the same pain his eyes wore during his visit to the hospital. "What are you saying?" Bakugou asked him directly.
"You wanted to know who Lucas is right?" Suzu choked up. "Lucas was our friend...Lucas was the one who didn't have the chance like Axel. Lucas died from the clutches of that villain and Axel was the one who was close to death's door at that time."
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