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miraimisu · 7 years

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These Stones We Skip | Chapter One

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[Read at FF.net]

[Read at AO3.]

Summary: Ochako, as a newcomer to the most powerful guild in this forsaken village, had not only one, two; but three responsibilities: grow stronger until she was able to pin the world down, untangle the mystery that her past was and survive under the eyes of a crowd that watched over her as night chased the sun's tail, the charade going on and on until the thread... suddenly snaps.

Rating: T because it’s Bakugou and BNHA. the MEDIEVAL AU no one asked for except you guys ajnsnhjzlm

Word count: you know it’s long me we’re talking about, just move on.

Author’s note: I'm dead, AND HELLO WHO EVER HEARD OF SILLY ADVENTUREPLOTS HAHAH SILLY RIGHT maybe would have worked better that's cute /eats myself alive, so this should be like a 4-5 chapter thingy? I'll see you around sorry it kinda sucked, it'll get better from now on /swings off, will probably edit later, ok bye /dies FORGIVE ME THIS IS TOO BAD AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

So like I have so many people to thank for this, so, so many. Just know that all guys who asked, commented on this to happen made it happen and my ask is free for you to send hate! ♥SEND IN ALL HATE because you guys have been so supportive and I don’t know why you guys are so amazing and nice, I am so thankful LIKE WORDS WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Warnings: it’s long, it’s messy, just how you guys like it, I think??? And it’ll be impossible to reblog/read sometimes on mobile, so be warned. Also, bits of blood? just bits tho.

I just hope Mic. Word hasn’t munched nothing of this fic or left words out.

Sounds of steps, spattering against the puddles marring the ground. The rain howled above the little girl who had found herself in the middle of a forest and was running for her dear life, fearing what thunderbolts and trees could do to her. Fire was a nasty thing to play with, above all in the darkness of such a rowdy night. Her brown, worn cloak was doing a poor attempt at protecting her from the foul water, only hindering her escape.

She had woken in the middle of the forest, mud caking her clothes and her staff almost forgotten meters beside her. Upon hearing the roar of rolling thunder, her feet had automatically started running towards the end of the forest, the lights of a village blaring against the bleak rainy weather. Grimacing, the sorcerer was on a race for her life, a sense of dread and danger hovering above her.

Maybe it was only the darkness making it seem like a hunter was after her– but she wouldn’t be the brave one to stay and check. In her state, getting away from the mouth of fog, mud and darkness was the most logical answer.

So she ran. Faint memories prior to her wake started fleeting away with the sense of urgency to reach a point she didn’t really know, but her instinct was carrying her straight towards the village barriers. The clinking of potions, scrolls and little other items in her bag sounded dim against the splash of her frantic steps, finding it hard to keep her ground against the slippery surface.

She ended up falling on the exit of the forest, the embers of the covered torches making her dirty skin shine. When all she had woken up to was a starry night full of water and mud, of course a source of light would come as a pleasant glimpse. Her hands met the creamy soil and propped her up, dainty feet carrying a dirty, wet, cloaked body all the way to the barrier.

In one way or another, she would make it to the barrier! She had to!

The only guard at the barrier immediately picked up the sound of her steps nearing the barrier, and deeming her to be suspicious enough to be interrogated; she was halted just before entering the village. “Hold on, woman! Show yourself– or else!”

His shiny, silver sword was drawn at her, but no fear crossed her roundy features. Rain clattered against the shiny blade, making it all drearier for her. Her shaking hand was replete of scars and cuts, feebly rising to reveal her face. She pulled the hem of the hood back a bit, enough for the lights to illuminate her pinky cheeks and chocolate irises. Despite her childish appearance, her expression was everything but naïve. A grim hint dropped of her shadowed eyes, splattered with pain.

Her breath hitched inside her throat, feeling weighed down by the heavy downpour. “I am a sorcerer, fellow soldier. I am seeking refuge for the storm – and please do trust me, I mean no harm to this village.”

Somehow, her shaky words lowered the spike aimed at her. This meant a pass for the village’s refuge, but before the guard could even mention her reddening lower side, she scurried past him with hurry. The girl was in a race for a place to stay, – no meaningless chattering would hinder her intentions. This very same guard saw her hurrying away from the entrance, and wondered at the same time what had struck her to be so impatient.

The village was stark naked of any stupid inhabitant waltzing in the rain. It was a strangely good coincidence, since her beauty and grace at that very same moment was anything but presentable. Her cloak had been stained with mud and dust, hands with ugly scars and her hair was for sure greasy and full of bugs– her urgent run was interrupted by a sharp pang in her lower side, and she clutched it, fearful of digging her dark nails on a protruding injury.

Teeth gritted, she continued forward. The stone pavement felt slippery underneath her boots, and a dim fog coveted the ground in a silent warning. Despite the bleak environment, the nightfall and stars having disappeared in the midst of the storm, her heart never stopped beating towards the end of the streets. Crossed were what appeared to be the main square, a tavern street, and some kind of blacksmith department.

She was met with the ending of the street a few minutes later. She supported her weight on a nearby wall, panting. The heaviness of her staff felt a dozen times bigger than usual, her lungs were gasping for some sweet oxygen while her legs faltered. Yes, whatever thing had happened before waking up in the middle of the forest had drained all her stamina.

A big, darkened building stood in the bleak distance, thunder clapping over a clock tower and making her just rush, rush and crawl to that blessed place.

"Excuse me!" her dainty hand banged against the hard wood of the gigantic door that loomed above her. Thunder rolled too close to her, sparking all sorts of fears in her heart. She hadn't expected anybody to come by considering the preposterously loud noise above her and the village, but she continued pounding at the entrance like a maniac, only getting wetter and weaker every moment spent in solitude. When her pounding came a bit weaker than intended and her hand remained grasping the surface, a shadow swung the enormous door open, cloak on as well. The mysterious figure saw this: a cloaked figure, dampened by the rain, hunched by exhaustion and hoarse words coming out in mutters due to the cold. Before he could slam the door close again, she stopped his doing and tried to show a bit of her face. It was turned into an effortful scowl of desperation and frustration at her own weakness. Her hand quivered on the hem of the door. The boy let the hoodie fall completely back, revealing a mane of red hair. At least now he'd see her better! "My apologies mistress, but we're not buying anything—" Hadn't she lacked breath and her ass would be on the floor, shaking with laughter. This was no time for humor though. "I am in search for refuge; I have no goods to sell whatsoever." "Refuge?" he titled his head. As he seemed harmless and... pretty cute if you asked her, the sorcerer's scowl softened, giving away a docile spark. "Why didn't you just say so, lil' lady? Follow me!" The redhead grabbed the hem of her hood and peeked under it, eyes softer once he found adorable cheeks and startled eyes. She hadn't noticed that his skin was undeniably tough until she saw it deflate back into regular skin. Then, he yanked at the hem and pulled it down on her. "We don't want you catching a cold, roundface!" "Roundface?" The door was closed now, and the storm seemed far away and distanced from the area. Rain still fell hard on them. The little sorcerer glanced at her savior with gleaming eyes, filled with hope. Before she could even present herself and thank him, he spoke. "The name's Kirishima, by the way! This is the Yuuei base of operations." "Yuuei base?" the words came out slowly, tasting the syllables and trying to relocate them in her short-term memory. The other nodded, and she realized he had pulled on his hoodie again. "Where exactly are we?" "Ohh, I should've noticed you were a foreigner!" exclaimed the feisty teen, marching in front of her towards the main building entrance. "You're at our guild doors." Upon hearing such words, she visibly recoiled from the path, stopping in her tracks almost instinctively. "Hold on, a guild!?" noticing her surprise and apparent horror, his nod was curt. "I can't come intruding in such a holy place like this!" He turned to her, hands shot up. "Holy place? There's no need to be so exaggerated about it!" her trembling died down. "Besides, what were you expecting to find in such a big place?" Her mind went wide with the variety of outcomes and scenarios that could have played out in the end. "Well, I thought this could be a monastery of some sorts, or some kind of defensive fortress! I wasn't expecting to find such a big guild here!" "We have pretty huge flags outside, too." Kirishima pointed at one of them, conveniently flailing in the crazy wind. "They are our pride and joy." The sorcerer looked behind her to find that not only were most flags gone into the storm, but that the scarce remaining ones were dirty and wet. She glared at her savior. "It's not like they are completely visible in this weather–" Well, of course not. The night was dark and the wind stumbled among known territory. It only made her wonder what was that man– Kirishima doing up outside in the middle of the storm. Suddenly, a whip of pain shot up from her abdomen– so she bent awkwardly, making the man near her gasp and turn around. "Hey lil' lady! What's up with that ugly thing?" She was trying to cast a healing spell on the thing, but the torn skin didn't soothe despite the sparks of green. "Healing isn't working. Whoever did this had a cursed weapon with them so I wouldn't be able to heal it." "Cursed weapon?" Kirishima scratched his chin, leading the girl further into the base. "Our leader has one of those. He's always going on about how it disables aid and that– hey look out, miss!" Her fall was caught by the redhead, and the sorcerer started mumbling apologies to the boy. "Terribly sorry. Cursed weapons are a hassle to work against." "Again, where the heck did you come from?" his hand led her onwards by patting her lower back, hands getting muddy in the process. "You look a bit scruffy – did the village guard attack you? He can be a real douche sometimes." She shook her head, fighting against exhaustion and trying to clear the way into her memories. However, it was all blurry and untidy in her head. "No... I woke up in the forest a few minutes ago and..." she supported herself on her staff for a moment. "I don't remember much before that." "What a weird little girl we have here." one of his arms came sneaking around her back, feeling the potions clanking again – most of them unused, he assumed, because cursed wounds didn't allow healing. "Well, whatever the case, we'll take care of you inside the guild. I'll summon the guild masters and a doctor to the main room. Cursed wounds are nasty." "I thank you deeply for your help, friend." grunted she, limping towards the building doors. "I hope I'm not a disturbance in your guild." "It's no biggie, lil' lady! And please, drop the mannerisms, you are no trouble at all. We are always welcoming people in." then, as he touched the doorknob, the image of one of the leaders, the fearsome one, came to mind. Kirishima smiled weakly. "At least most of us are." She peeked at him, interest evident in her fading irises. "Tell me; is everyone in here as nice as you are?" A faint blush blossomed on his cheeks under the rain and darkness of the storm. He cleaned some of it with a sigh of exasperation towards his varied spread of guild mates that probably waited inside, and how they could scare her away with a word or wrong touch. And if this little lady had been able to walk to the guild with such wound open, she was a keeper. His evident answer was immediate, yet tired. "...no." The door opened in front of them, a gloomy dark hallway welcoming them. Uraraka tried to limp onward while Kirishima closed the door behind her – her vision and hearing were growing fuzzy, she noted, probably due to blood loss – and hurried over her. "No walking for you today, miss!" and his arm was around her again. "We need to get you a doctor, pronto." As his muscular arms tightened around her petite back, something about the warmth of his skin and the way his skin had literally tightened at the sight of a newcomer– it all struck a chord in her. The notion was so warm and friendly that she was confused for a second: why did this man feel... so close? Ah, he must have this teddy-bear aura around him that makes people feel so safe. The thought was then pushed aside, since emotionally bonding with someone you'd never see again after a few days was useless and draining. She didn't really have an option here: all she would do was have her wound checked, then leave with no regrets. Suddenly, the door at the end of the corridor swung open, revealing a tall man with an iron armor sprinting towards them. In this state, all the sorcerer could make out was his shining glasses and black hair. "Kirishima! What are you doing with this scruffy wizard this late in the night?" asked the... soldier? clearly annoyed by the fact that there was an unwanted visitor. Still, he also helped her by helping her forward. "And why is she still bleeding? Isn't she a–" "Cursed weaponry." responded Kirishima curtly. The other man nodded and murmured something about a leader and barbarians, but the sorcerer couldn't hear all of it. Droplets of red dripped on the dark red carpet of the hallway. Her step was clumsy, but still amazingly decent. She was panting, chest heaving, wet and dirty, but still standing. Seeing her difficulties, the glasses man tried to straighten her posture and charge more of her weight. "My name is Iida, unknown visitor! I hope you have a pleasant stay here, in our headquarters!" spoke the man passionately, as his eyes shone like this was the first opportunity he had had to help someone out like this– in retrospect, it most likely was. The sorcerer shook her head as to clear some fog off her mind, but it was useless. The more blood that dripped down her little body, the less her train of thought would trail. Her knees were at least supporting her weight and she hadn't crashed down yet, but the feeling of exhaustion was undeniable. Suddenly, she got this urge to close her eyes and sleep in her saviors' arms. Alarmed by her waver in the saunter, Kirishima carefully handed her to his mate. "Iida-kun, please take her to the main room. I reckon everyone should be assembled there considering how much of a wuss most are towards storms. This girl isn't gonna last long." "Be careful with Bakugou!" warned the armored man as Kirishima ran all the way through the corridor. "He is awfully grumpy when awaken so suddenly – more than usual!" Ah, that must be their guild mascot, or something. The sorcerer couldn't care much about that Kabugou or– whatever his name was. She didn't have the energy to think about other things that aren't her bleeding injury or the fact that this man was mumbling something about safety during rainstorms. "There are tons of wolves in the forest!" he spoke diligently. "Did a beast tamer attack you, maybe?" She tried to muster all her strength into her tiny vocal chords. "I'm... not sure." there were no images prior to her waking up, and somehow, the instinct of taking refuge had overpowered the will to remember who had put her in such alarming state. "I just woke up in the forest and ran for covering." Unlike Kirishima, Iida didn't seem to brush it off. "Whoever this disgraceful enemy who has attacked you was, they knew what they were doing. That cursed weaponry may have secondary, psychological effects." Albeit the option was possible, the sorcerer couldn't see it being much of a likely option. As far as she was concerned, weapons with such unique brainwash properties were not only extremely rare, but also forbidden among legal sorcerers. Monster timing was illegal too anyway, so both conflicts could be related. But somehow, all these theories about brainwashing and wolves biting her ribs off sounded too dramatic and coincidental. All she had to worry about was her injuries and resting after what must have been a beating before waking up in the forest. Iida managed to open the door to her and stepped into the room with her. The lobby was a round room with tons of torches around it, all bright and flaring, illuminating the room in a dim orange light. The sorcerer looked up from the floor to see a blonde guy blinking at her, a black haired punk–

The newcomer blinked and diverted her eyes to the black-haired girl, who just stared with a slightly worried face. Her eyes were warm, tingling, and it gave her this terribly familiar inkling that she had seen that girl before, that her seemingly porcelain skin was more than a newfound discovery– and those hands, why did they seem so clean all of a sudden?

When Jack gasped at her, the sorcerer noticed that wet, fat tears were falling down her cheeks– but somehow, she didn’t feel saddened… she felt overjoyed upon seeing her. It was confusing, overwhelming, and maybe it was just the blood loss making her oversensitive and emotionally gross, but her heart was soaring upon seeing that woman who she didn’t even know– and this was driving her crazy.

Not everyone saw her display excepting Jack, who hurried to her and rubbed her shoulders, thinking that it was the new girl being tired and overly stressed over the run and the wound. Irony would get her later, as it was everything but that.

In her peripheral vision she also saw bird guy leaning against the stone wall, and a cute, freckled boy running towards her, maybe having seen her wiping her tears away as secretly as possible, feigning sore eyes. Behind him, two horned thrones sat above some stairs, a red carpet trailing down the steps. The boy had this urgent spark in his eyes that woke something in her heart, but she wasn't sure what it was. All the sorcerer could say was that he was trustworthy just by looking at him. "Goodness, you are leaking!" she blinked and looked at where his hands were palming, searching for the wound through her cloak. "You are soaking wet too. Kaminari, bring her something else to wear, will you?" Blonde guy sprinted away. Iida spoke up again. "Can we do something for her? Kirishima found her searching for refuge some minutes ago. He has gone to see Bakugou, too." The green-eyed boy was startled by the news. "Are you serious!? This late in the night?" what was so wrong about waking a pet up? "You guys have screwed up very badly... Jack, please, bring Shuzenji here so she can heal her." "No." grunted the girl, flinching as his hands found the injury. "I can't heal it myself, a cursed weapon must have caused this." The boy shook his head in reassurance as the black haired girl left quietly. "Shuzenji has a special all-range cura. She's devoted all her life to expand her healing expertise and has worked with cursed wounds like this." The sorcerer nodded and she suddenly felt extremely light-headed. She made a frail attempt to cure the wound again, but the effect faded away quickly and made her knees finally give in. Iida instantly knelt down by her as the other boy looked at her, expectantly. The bird boy only stared at her from far away. "Please, hold on for a minute as my companion and Shuzenji come by." pleaded the boy as he removed the cloak from her. Her humble clothes were dirty and disarrayed, making her look poor and weak when she was none of that. "My name is Midoriya, by the way. I am one of the co-leaders of Yuuei with Bakugou, the other leader. Please, bear with his foul humor for a bit. He's easily irritable." So, he was one of the leaders? At least her assumptions about him being a dog weren't far from reality given all descriptions given about him, but it made her feel a bit intimidated all the same. She gulped quietly, and the feeling of being no more than a intruder came crashing in tenfold. A door swung open loudly, and a tiny old woman ran to the sorcerer's side along with... was it Kaminari? and started pouring all her healing on her. This woman wore a scrunched frown and a long, white spotless cloak. "You little lady, some of you are so reckless that you end up like this!" she sounded chiding, like a mother. "I hope a little scar makes you realize the danger of cursed weaponry wielders, they are no lousy enemy!" In less than a minute, the light-headedness was gone and nothing hurt anymore. Her muscles felt replenished and she felt like walking again. Iida helped her up easily and the sorcerer could, indeed, stand again. She expressed her deep gratitude by vowing to the lady with a grim, ashamed expression. Kaminari removed the brown cloak from her and wrapped her in a red, smooth cloak, head hidden again. Jack also went to her side and eased her into a blanket with a neutral face, but still slightly withdrawn due to her little fit minutes before.

"No need to thank me so hard, little girl! Don't lean in so much or your back will pay the price!" she immediately pushed herself into a normal position and touched the flesh around the scar from under the clothing, and sighed in contentment. "You sure took a little beating, teenie. You must rest for the night, I hope you don't have much business to do tonight." The sorcerer pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling instantly heavy again. Again, no memories came to her about any further tasks to do that night. "I don't really know... it all feels a bit blurry now." "I guess it's because of the blood loss. If you can't tell what happened before waking up, there's no way to do any further guesses." Midoriya rubbed her forearms with a gentle smile. The girl had the urge to smile back. "C'mon, we have to get you a room." "Wait, hold on!" Kaminari approached them. Checking her face, he nodded approvingly, but he still warned them by her side. "What about–" –BAM! "Who the fuck dares to wake me up so late in the damn night!?" came screaming a sand haired boy, a red cape extravagantly trailing behing him, fur nestled on his shoulders and bare chest heaving with anger. "I can't believe you fuckers sent me that red–" His eyes fell on the small group of five: the punk, the lighting jackass, four-eyes, the bastard he had as a companion, and... who the fuck was that? "And who the fuck might you be?" asked Bakugou impatiently, fingers brushing the handle of his shining sword. His boots stepped near her, and his language and glaring eyes– they were terrifyingly red, all of that was making her feel a bit smaller than usual. His figure towered over hers; eyes squinted at the little pebble that had barged into his guild. "Answer me already, brat." She snapped out of her trance with a visible shake, but the man paid no attention to that. "Can someone in here tell me who this girl is? Are you guys so dumb that you didn't even ask for her damn name!" Iida was quick to answer. "We deemed her health to be more important than who she was, master!" The girl assumed that Iida called that guy mister out of politeness, because he seemed to be around their age or even a bit younger than him. "When is it more important to heal a probable intruder than to actually know if she is a traitor to the village, or someone suspicious?" Bakugou glared at the girl, hands in fists and shoulders shaking because he couldn't believe that his right hand, Kirishima, had actually let a complete stranger into their headquarters. "I am, by no means, any intruder of any sorts–" His sword was drawn in the flash of an eye, blade pointed at her neck. The tip of the steel weapon shone under the flames and brushed her chin, raising her head to meet his eyes. "Don't fucking dare to speak while I am in the middle of a damn argument." She nodded quietly and glanced at the other leader, who apparently hadn't seen his companion so shaken up in a while. All the other guild mates were looking to another side as well, even though they heatedly disapproved of their leader's behavior. Her hands slowly rose in her defense, staff still in her hands. Bakugou, upon seeing her weapon, gritted his teeth and looked at Kirishima. The read-head shrugged and padded to the girl, eyebrow high in surprise. "I don't know why you're being so aggressive towards this girl here. She seems harmless and... doesn't seem to bite much." Kirishima pinched her cheek from under her hoodie and she squeaked, hands flailing in alert. "Stop playing with her zygomatic bone, Kirishima!" He surrendered under Iida's demand only to look at Bakugou again, sword still high in a threat. "Man, just calm down a bit. She woke up in the middle of the woods and is confused. Cut her some slack." His sword momentarily pointed to her hand with a shake only for the tip of the blade to go back to her throat. "She is a motherfucking sorcerer." Somehow, this man made the beautiful word sound like a burning, acid insult. His brows were pulled into a frown and he seemed to be seriously debating between murdering her or just beheading her. Kirishima quickly put a hand on her shoulder, eyeing his leader warily. Kaminari leaned to her, startling a tense sorcerer. "Don't take him so seriously, he's a big fluffy bear in the in–" Iida royally elbowed his ribs before Bakugou had the chance to chop them with his sword. His eyes flickered to the girl in front of him, her eyes still shadowed by the cloak. He growled as his sword prickled the smooth skin. Bakugou forgot for a second that she's a sorcerer, a wicked witch, and the blade drew higher until the sharp metal is grazing her forehead. Then, with a swift movement of his sharp sword, the hoodie was pulled up and it fell back on her shoulders, revealing wide, doe chocolate eyes– it’s all he could see all of a sudden, and muddy skin.

If Bakugou was taken aback by her appearance, he didn't mention it with words– but the way his teeth clenched tighter clearly gave away that he had expected an uglier, scruffier woman underneath the cloak. Kirishima smiled knowingly. The weapon fell back on its place as he still stood above her. He wasn’t much taller than her, she knows, but his figure still loomed above her like a fortress in a desert. His eyes bored deep into hers as she took a faith leap into his bones, flesh, and bubbling anger. Somehow, his skin and vibes, the baritone of his voice, it all echoed deep into her– it made him seem less aggressive and menacing than what nature would later reveal to her, but the intimidation was still there. The echoes of his persona still coated her heart and clenched it in a deliciously poisonous grip.

She had faced worse. She could face those glaring eyes with her chin high, even if she lost her mind in the process. Bakugou turned around and went up the steps to his throne. She was 100% sure that the throne is completely unnecessary and it was just that damn bomb being an extra douche. Because of course this had a psychological effect on her. Making an important, fierce member of a community stand above a minor one increased the chance of having cowards run away. Unfortunately for his picky ass, she was no coward, and she had some backbone despite her pinchable, nonbiting cheeks. "Yo, angelface," there was a sharp intake of air from all the integrants of the guild present in the room. "tell me your goddamn name already." The brunette paid no heed to the people by her side and took some strands out of the cloak and looked up to that man. His snarl was unsightly, muscles tense in anticipation and his untamed hair threw a shadow over his angular features. His elbows rested on his knees, hands laced under his nose, and eyes piercing through her– it seemed like he could see right through her despite her not being able to remember much about herself. Now she noticed some wild necklaces on his chest, numerous tattoos and the variety of battle gear he probably used casually despite it being a bit heavy and uncomfortable– elbow defenses, knee protectors, those damn heavy boots. His boots were dirty with something she prayed to be non-human, burnt and slightly worn off. Yes, if this man wanted to impose fear, he was sure making himself look like a king. But this roaring king wasn’t going to talk her down that night. She didn't know how much time passed until she was able to speak her name. "My name is Uraraka." "Uraraka." he tasted her name around his tongue, and his deep voice brought various feelings to her. "Dumb name for a dumb-looking girl." People beside her flinched at his retort, but she didn't show any visible reaction to his short temper. Her lungs did a double take before answering. "I think you should try to know the person you are talking to before trying to mess with them, mister." her staff pounded the ground. A slight hush of wind ran through the room, making her hair sway. Midoriya was slightly fanboying over her little display. Bakugou, though, seemed unimpressed. "You are a sorcerer, huh?" She swung her staff a bit. "Do I look like a swordsman to you?" Kaminari and Kirishima took a step back, afraid of what was to come after such snatty retort. Midoriya made his way to Bakugou's side, who outwardly recoiled at his proximity, and Uraraka could only wonder why. The very same co-leader glanced at her in consideration, and made a shicking discovery: her hands were shaking in the slowest of paces, almost twitching–but she still faced him proud and tall. "I wouldn't be so feisty if I were you." he sat straight again, legs crossed and hand supporting his smackable smirking face. "You are in my guild and it's not wise to mess with leaders." Suddenly, a loud blow of wind almost knocked her off her feet if Iida hadn't been there to support her. Uraraka turned around and a big ass red dragon peacefully lay in a corner of the now enormous room. The girl's breath got stuck halfway and stepped back a bit. A beautiful red, almost rose dragon looked at her with a neutral look, and then glanced at Bakugou to only cuddle down again. It had such big claws, ferocious wings and hard scales that Uraraka felt stupid for not noticing it before. She took a tentative step forward, hand outstretched. She heard Bakugou chuckle while Midoriya attempted to calm him down. "Let me introduce you to Amelie. She's a damn beast with newcomers. Specially sorcerers." as in cue, the dragon roared a bit. "She loves sorcerers." However, Uraraka suddenly started moving closer to the animal, startling everyone around the room, Bakugou included. The beast didn't seem to mind the proximity. "This is a rare species. Did it take long for you to tame her?" Bakugou abruptly got up from his seat. "Oi, stop dicking with me!" Uraraka turned around and stepped to the center again. She mused over how soft and polished the scales had looked, so Bakugou sure was taking good care of Amelie. Bakugou was back at barking at her as soon as his eyes landed on her chocolate pools, those infuriatingly naïve eyes that could only belong to a weak, frail traitor. Midoriya regarded her with a worried look. "You are a sorcerer. And as far as Kirishima has told me, you are a foreigner, too." Uraraka nodded, not sure if being honest was the best option. "Sorcerers are rare as fuck here– mostly because they are chased after due to their power. This makes them unique and mostly powerful, as their rarity makes them differenced– but you…” he tsked at her with a frown, disinterested. “The village is full of swordsmen, archers, maybe some illegal hunters and tamers in the woods." "Bakugou, I already told you she isn't dang–" "Shut your mouth, Kirishima." and he did. Bakugou only leaned forward to analyze her. "The fact that you might be a valuable asset to the village is what has healed you, but it is also what will most possibly have you meet my sword someday." Yeah, talk about personal grudges over a profession. At least he could ignore them for a while and look after the village's wellbeing. Uraraka sighed. "And I'm thankful for your kindness." Bakugou looked aside, feeling uneasy with the warmth of her voice despite having been told several times, subtly – or so he thought – that her presence wasn't exactly welcome. His peers didn't seem to mind her though, and it drove him insane. No way he would have another sorcerer around. No way, with the risk they meant for the village. Still, he needed to know more about her despite getting this gut feeling of having seen her before.

Judging by everyone’s forwardness to help her, he was sure they got the same notion before, too. It wasn’t good news. "And what special ability do you have, angelface?" when her face showed no sign of following the conversation, he growled. "I guess you have something special only you can do, if not you're fucking useless like greenielocks here and I'm sick of people like that." Midoriya visibly jumped from such venomous words, but before he could berate him for such hurtful demeanor, Uraraka seemed to grasp the meanings. "Sorry, I'm a bit off." Bakugou arched an eyebrow at her and started bad mouthing people with unique grace. "Redhead there can harden like a stone, four-glasses has that weird-ass super speed thing in his legs, sparkles can use electric bolts, and Jack... do your thing, Jack." flesh cords shot out of her ears, attaching to the ground. A low rumble could be heard underneath the ground, and a little crack appeared near Uraraka. "I can create damn explosions with my hands. Midoriya is... rather tough I guess." This time the aforementioned was quick to stand his ground. "Stop undermining my abilities, Bakugou!" The fierce boy pushed Midoriya to his throne, eyes not leaving hers for a moment. "He can do tough punches and kicks. It's better than it sounds. You happy, bastard?" he nodded, smiling like a kid. The sorcerer was still puzzled at their weird relationship. "So, what stuff can you do?" Uraraka jumped a bit and felt self-conscious all of a sudden. All their special traits were quirky and awesome, but hers? Hers wasn't very useful in battle excepting very unique times, and despite special abilities not being used often (she noted that there were lots of people with non magical weaponry), a good ability was always welcome. She still decided to make it shine. "I can pull objects, regardless their weight, out of gravity." A blanket of silence fell hard on the room. Midoriya was staring at her like he had just seen a ghost, everyone had pretty much taken a step away from her and Bakugou was notably shocked. Uraraka couldn't understand what the fuss was about. "I'm not sure why you all are so surprised. It's not that much of a good ability." Bakugou looked at her, even more startled than before. "You gotta be fucking kidding me." She grasped her staff with a bashful expression, lip bitten. "I never found the appeal in the battlefield and–" Kaminari went nearer and shook her like a sack of potatoes. "Are you joking? It's very powerful!" "Well, it sounds like it is!" she crossed her arms, disbelief written all over her features. "But it's all but practical. I have no direct attack skills to aid my sorcerer skills." Midoriya blinked at her, then looked at her in deep thought. "You can still do some good stuff if you plan it carefully though." Then he proceeded to mumble to himself under his breath, much to Bakugou's discontentment as he started smashing his head– Midoriya's head, against the armrest of the seat. The other was unfazed and still went on planning how he'd use her in the battlefield. Jack approached her and whispered. "Midoriya is the strategy part of the guild, and the prehistoric brute is the fighting, brute part of all battles. They're both damn good at their job. They could switch roles anytime anyway, but each has a preferred branch of battling." Uraraka followed Jack's eyes to see the pair still doing their thing. The brunette nodded and looked up to see the boys finally finishing their row and looking at her, expectantly. Her spark of emotion dimmed greatly as Bakugou leaned back on his seat and grunted. "If you can't see your potential, you sure aren't worth the investment. I don't even know why we made such a fuss outta' this when you're not more than a weak good for nothing fucking sorcerer." Uraraka's jaw clenched, and Jack tried to soothe her with a back pat. "I don't know what's so wrong about being a sorcerer, but I bet I could give you a good fight anytime!" Everyone's spines tensed up as tension spiked into the room. Bakugou's eyes, though– oh, a fuse was lit the moment she made the bluff; accidentally of course, but... His back perched and he showed her a first, sadistic, toothy grin. Bakugou snap stood up and jumped down to her, cape waving as soon as he landed before her. Again, his form towered over hers with a confident smile, hand resting easily on his sword again. He never, ever, left a challenge undone. "I can show you what a hunter like me is made of, angelface." She could see it in his eyes as if she was seeing rain fall: he was plotting a thousand ways to kill her: skinning, beheading, arson, tearing her limbs off... all ways to make that angelical blushing face of hers contort into unkind pain. He frowned at her, and she reflexively frowned back in twice the intensity. "How surprising of you to be after unholy monsters when you could be considered as one." Bakugou straight started loudly growling at her, trying to keep his cool and also wondering why he was not destroying her like he well knew how. His teeth ground and his hands dug in his deep pockets. His frown was still evident. "Not making wise choices today, angelface." She only took a step further, staff grinding against the ground. "I don't know what's your deal with sorcerers, but I swear–" Kirishima was quick to pull her away from the menacing leader, who had crossed his arms in disdain at her. "It's no use, lil' lady. He's as grumpy as a dog and he actually bites as one." Surprisingly, Bakugou only smirked at the insulting statement and apparently took it as a praise. "Leaders need to be fierce and scary to make a name of themselves." Kaminari stumbled over to Uraraka, soft scowl in his worried face while Bakugou rambled on and on. "He is more like a beast barbarian and not a real lea–" The sandy blonde didn't finish drawing his blade, as Midoriya stopped it by stepping in between the leader and the poor unsuspecting – yet very suspecting – crowd. "We are not here to pick up fights." And the sword was right in again, neatly tucked in his belt. "Fucking right." and then he glared at the sorcerer. "Now listen up, angelface. As soon as you are completely finished with your business here, I wanna see you walking the hell out of here. Sorcerers like you aren't needed here." Kirishima approached the boy and he almost got blown up in the process. The redhead halted a few steps away from him while the rippling fires died down. Uraraka watched the display in pure wonder while holding her big staff close to her chest. "Dude, but Uraraka seems like–" "Don't dude me, Kirishima." his burning red glare burnt deep into the other. Again, Uraraka only watched his embers flicker around his eyes in pure fascination. "You know my rules against witches in this guild. If you don't get her out, I'll do it myself." "Bro, what..." "And you," he drew his sword again, and moved it dangerously close to her face. He chuckled and smirked, advancing towards her. His breath fanned against her forehead, and she could only wonder what his face would look like when not constricted into violence. Was it pretty, was it tough, maybe softer? She blinked up at him, and his hard-hitting lashes blew tornadoes at her– his biting fangs came to shine at her, dread settling in. "I'm not letting this slip. We're having that fight sooner or later." Guild mates stared among each other, mouths agape, aware of the fact that Bakugou was basically sending the little girl into a tombstone. Amelie snored behind them, and made these guys remember that their leader truly was fearful material. Yet, seeing how Uraraka stared at him, unwavering determination– all a little faked, as her heart was beating out of control in nagging fear, and those eyes, those irises Bakugou was starting to swim into to search for a little crack in her little armor– the sorcerer wasn't catching all the hints. His eyes flew away from hers in a snap moment and he grasped his cape to take his leave. "Take that bitch to fucking sleep so I can pound her hard tomorrow. You are all dismissed." Bakugou's red cape flew behind him as his boots crunched against the carpet and wooden floor, the door closing with a bam as his guild mates sighed and their shoulders relaxed– it seems like they had been saved from a pretty bad beating. Uraraka sighed and hunched over a bit. "Am I in trouble?" The crew nodded with a grim, tight smile, as if to reassure her that she was just fine, but clearly she was going to fall to the ground like a brick shatters after the fall, but she clearly wasn't a brick and Uraraka would show him what good material she was. And his nitpicking weird passion against sorcerers would be over!

"Let's take you to bed, Uraraka." Jack took her arm with a smile, tired as well from Bakugou's shenanigans. It was now when Uraraka realized that the girl... she looked familiar, somehow. The softness of her skin and– a smile, that smile. It was so warm and familiar... "Bakugou can be so loud sometimes, it's draining." The sorcerer nodded absent-mindedly, and got Midoriya and Kaminari to tag along, somehow. "I hope he didn't scare you away. It's been so long since." Why did that sentence sound so... double-edged? Why was this bunch of people so warm and familiar to someone who could clearly be a spy from another guild, or even be an enemy? There was no way to get an answer for that question. And even when she curled underneath the fluffy blankets of the comforter, that question rattled in her head.

"Sir, but I can't understand what's this enthusiasm about." rain fell hard around the two cloaked men, standing near a house. The gray of their clothes only made the scene bleaker, darker, as they spoke in hushed whispers. "I mean, he's no more than a kid. I don't see the point on having faith on him." The short haired kid played inside the house, his parents watching as he made wooden figures crash and stones crack. The family laughed heartedly and the man outside frowned deeper. The child had pink cheeks and brown, short hair. There was no way to tell his gender– not like it mattered, anyway. "That kid is a threat to us." spat he, eyes lingering on the child's hands, too young to see his true power. One day, he would know. "The day he realizes the power he holds, he will, without a doubt, come to destroy us." "He's 8 years old." spat the other, rolling his eyes at the preposterous idea of killing a child so young, so naïve. "Saying he's a threat is a bit of a stretch, isn't it?" "Potential threat." corrected the man, shuffling deeper into his cloak. The kid looked out the window once, but the rain and nightfall hid the strangers in the downpour. "This kid has been predicted to be a great powerhouse. Our blood can't be overpowered by a wobbling flesh." One of the men made his way out of the window. "Then what are you suggesting, sir?" "We don't need to kill the threat." condemned the figure, striding away. "We just have to destroy what is dearest to him– what else to destroy humankind, my friend?"

After that, her eyes snapped open, her hands tightly grasping the sheets as the grim notion of being observed still throbbed inside of her. Her skin felt undeniably tight, as if someone had been grasping it tightly in a deathlock hold, then let it go and let her wither. She sat up on the comfy mattress, palming the soft sheets and bringing them close to her heart. What a weird dream – though she, frowning and bringing a hand to her forehead – when such bleak scenario was completely foreign to her. Still, he woke up nice and able, her magic expertise completely replenished. She still felt a bit odd after waking up in a room that not only was completely unknown to her, but also very warm, cozy, and unsettlingly comfortable and familiar. Again, that place had a ting of familiarity that permeated even its members and it was driving her a bit off the edge. The fact that she had a pretty off-throwing dream was also making her feel a bit uneasy.

She was in a constant state of looking way ahead from a cliff, left dangling from its edge. She could even feel the waves of danger from a far-off memory, a far-away shore that prevented her from grasping the whole truth, something just in reach that didn’t allow her to fall into the hole that was the truth. Uraraka was definitely thrown off the damn cliff when a pink girl came barging in her door. "Is this the room?" asked that woman to someone behind her, and Uraraka had this urge to dig herself a hole and never come back seeing how badly her hair looked, and the wrinkles on her clothes. Hiding herself behind the blankets would do. "Oh my gosh, there you are!" The pinkish girl, a black-haired woman, Midoriya and Kirishima came swarming to the sides of her king-sized bed. Sunlight was washing over the bedroom as birds happily chirped outside. The weather was sunlit clean, no clouds rolling in the sky– and it only brought back the notion of rain falling somewhere, ashes from the rain was a reminiscent of such weird images. It was raining– or had rained somewhere else.

Her hands rested on her lap, still rolling the thread in a gloomy mixture of consideration and concentration, to only shot up in alarm when one of the girls almost headbutted her in excitement. "You must be the little girl Kirishima was all crazy about, a sorcerer!" exclaimed the pink haired, pink tanned, but black dressed girl. Her hair was disheveled– or maybe this was her actual hairdo? and her eyes were pitch black, but still as warm as everyone else’s. Excepting Bakugou, of course… "I'm so glad to see you! I get real sister vibes from you!" Somehow, that sentence sounded more ominous than necessary, resonating deep within her, but she didn't pay attention to that. Instead, she meekly waved at her and nodded to Kirishima and Midoriya, who were fully equipped to battle– actually, everyone in there was fully dressed. They sported battle gear, such as gloves and shoulder defenses. The black haired, tall lady wore her sword on her waist, while Midoriya and Kirishima had it on their back and… wow, they were quite big swords. Kirishima had tons of knives with him, too. The over-excited pink girl had a bow on her back, wiggling with every little jump of hers. Kirishima sighed contently and smiled at the little sorcerer."We came here to see how you were doing, lil' lady!" he ruffled her hair affectionally, making her wonder if that man was her lost brother, because she was already rooting for him with such shining smile. His hands were soft despite his tough body, and he had fangs as fierce as Bakugou’s– yet his were equally as red, but gentler. "We are off to an expedition to Magma Volcano! It's gonna be a blast!" The black haired girl looked at him pointedly. Her voice was severe and deep, authoritary already in Uraraka’s head. "I don't think it's meant to be a walk down a forest, you know." spoke she diligently before looking at their poor newcomer. "My name is Yaoyorozu. She is Mina." Mina grinned toothily at Uraraka, and the notion somehow made her stomach do strange summersaults. That grin of hers was warm, welcoming, and it brought Uraraka a sense of familiarity that the whole guild carried with them– well, excepting Bakugou who was a royal douche to her, but he had also awakened weird troubling feelings in her, none of them seemingly good. Mina though… she felt so close to her, similar to Jack, but in a new, weirder way. Uraraka responded with another true grin, the feeling settling right in her chest.

“Please bear with Mina, she’s easily excited with new comers.” spoke Yaoyorozu, her hands messing with Mina’s bowl of messy pink locks to appease her. “She’s one of our best archers. I myself am in charge of the guild library up the main tower–“

Kirishima leant close to Uraraka. “She’s a real bookworm! And the brains of our guild… well, Todoroki is a real smart guy too.”

“Please, don’t use terminology when referring to us.” Yaoyorozu sighed, and Uraraka felt like this issue had its long story. Not like it seemed like a big deal though. The black haired girl smiled kindly at her. “I will be partaking on an expedition to the volcano that Kirishima mentioned, but I will be around the library tonight if there’s anything you need.”

“You shouldn’t spend so much time up there, Yaoyorozu.” retorted Midoriya with a lazy smile. They then embarked on a mindless ramble about guild traditions– Uraraka heard noise to her right, and she turned to look at the window once again.

Her face shone in various degrees of glee, and the blanket was out of her body in a second, feet scrambling to the window. Mina ended up being covered by the piece of fabric, and it made everyone look at the little girl. Uraraka opened the window wide.

“Edgar!” a medium-sized, brown and frowning eagle made its way to Uraraka’s shoulder like it used to, and she nuzzled his neck. He had always done it no matter how much time passed. “I completely forgot about you!”

The guild members backed away from the girl, who had been a little lady until now– she had a freaking eagle with her, for fuck’s sake, and now seen as an eagle tamer which was nothing easy to accomplish. Eagles were not docile creatures, nor kind hearted or easy to even spot. If anything, this was an animal version of Bakugou and it was kind of scary to see such a sweet girl like her wooing the little beast.

Kirishima was the first one to talk. “Christ, you have an eagle!?”

She titled her head to the redhead, who was shielding Mina from the little animal. The sorcerer’s chocolate eyes shifted from her guardian to the guild members who crowded in amazement and fear. Still, as she had never seen true value in her feats, confusion broke free in her words. “What is so wrong with Edgar?”

Yaoyorozu wasn’t backing away from the animal, only observing it with curiosity. She was by far the most collected individual among the people in the room. “It’s an eagle.” she tempted her luck by caressing the eagle’s back, and it didn’t show signs of anger towards the gesture. If anything, it actually leaned into her touch. “They are rare species. But I guess that rare people like you should go with rare pets.”

The brunette continued petting the animal under Midoriya’s unbelieving glance. He had spent all night thinking that he should have told all guild mates to stay near her in case any illegal hunter came searching for her– after all, Uraraka was a sorcerer and they were exceptional professions to pick, so her position was both powerful, useful and undeniably risky. What he hadn’t expected was the girl to have an eagle as a pet, which indicated her hidden strength and made him wonder how much power that little woman had in her.

“Where did you tame it?” asked the boy while mumbling, eyeing Edgar with newborn passion. “After all, it’s a rare species as Yaoyorozu mentioned, and they are not easy to get to your side, I can remember clearly how Bakugou struggled with Amelie, he had had such a tough fight to tame her, and those ropes he had to use, and they ended up making nice by roaring to each other and…”

Kirishima shook his leader’s shoulders. “Man, snap out of it already!”

Uraraka blinked at the pair– the leader still hadn’t woken from the haze, and looked at the other girls. “Is this normal?”

“He does this too often, if you ask me.” Mina giggled, and it sounded awfully beautiful in Uraraka’s ears. She was already used to the sound, somehow, as if it hit close home– maybe not hers, but somewhere far away from now. “But he’s right, where did you get this lil’ buddy?”

Mina also reached out to touch the little animal, and the eagle responded even quicker to her touch. He must like this guild too – Uraraka thought, a gentle smile taking over her tired features – but she didn’t really know why. She had at least interacted with some integrants of the guild, but Edgar knew shit about them. “I guess it was in my hometown.”

Even if the answer was sharp and sure, something struck wrong in her. She didn’t have any memory of having even caught Edgar in the first place, but he was still a part of her life somehow, and a part of her thought that this answer was an actual truth. Now that she thought about it… where exactly was her hometown?

“Hometown?” asked Yaoyorozu and Uraraka nodded, still deep in thought. She had no remembrance of such place, but the thought still bode well with her. “And where exactly is your hometown?”

Yeah, that was a good question. Uraraka racked her head for answers, but again came again empty handed. “I don’t really remember.” her voice was lost in an empty sea of blankness, devoid of memories that shaped her as a person. In fact, I don’t remember much before I woke up in the forest yesterday.”

Uraraka kept petting the eagle as if doing so would make answers suddenly pop up in her head– all to no avail. Out of nowhere, she saw that her previously empty counter had now a glass of water. After a hum of approval, her hand reached out for it, not even thinking about why it had spawned out of nowhere in her midst. Her throat was plenty thankful for the liquid’s soothing effect on her strained chords. After all, a nap in the rain couldn’t be healthy for one’s body.

Midoriya eyed her with care, trying to pry answers out of her with a sole, intense glare. “How weird, a sorcerer with amnesia?”

True, how weird could she get? Not only was she an out of normal sorcerer with an eagle and a rare ability as gravity, but she also had amnesia. The word echoed inside of her and fell like a ton of bricks on her shoulders, aware of the fact that everyone would be extra careful with her now when she wanted just the opposite. Uraraka had no desire to be a hassle to this lovely guild, and if anything wanted to help them as a payback for their protection.

Kirishima frowned at her, a gesture that looked out of nature for him. “You may still be a bit dizzy from the blood loss or… something. Or you may have hit your head and lost consciousness in your run through the forest. Anything?”

Uraraka started to mess with her hair. Mina wanted to yell at her to stop ruining the little decency that her hair had that day. The sorcerer ended up giving up with a sigh. “I’m afraid not– and I’m so sorry to be such a hassle to you. As soon as I am fully healthy I will leave and–“

“Nonsense!” broke in Mina and Midoriya. They looked at each other and laughed– and they didn’t say, but it was painfully coincidental–, then eyeing the overwhelmed little magician. Mina spoke up, her black eyes blinking at her. “You can stay as much as you want. In fact, Bakugou may even deem you suitable to join the guild!”

Everyone tensed up at this. Uraraka looked at them in wonder, and remembered a bit later that riff-off she had had with him the day before– oh, and he had also promised her a fight to prove herself. Her head hit the pillows again, suddenly sinking with many heavy thoughts and dread wrenching her heart. She was in for a good beating, seeing how fierce and merciless he was. The fire color of her eyes had burnt a deep impression on her, and it was cracking her bones with anxiety upon the upcoming fight.

Kirishima snapped out of his grimace and smiled at her. “Well, you can stay around as much as you wish! Yaoyorozu can help you with anything you need, and we have Hatsume as a blacksmith in the basement! She’s always complaining about work overload, but trust me– she loves it!”

“Yeah!” responded Midoriya, grinning at her. “You can still be with us for a while, and come back whenever you need!” he courageously took her hand in his, and Uraraka blushed madly. “We are always welcoming people here.”

Realizing how wrong it was for him to start PDA with somebody he had met just a night ago, he let go of her hands with a shaky grin. Kirishima patted him on the shoulders. “C’mon, master. We better get going. I think we have done enough here.”

There was a mysterious glint in the redhead’s eyes– oh, Uraraka saw it as clear as day that something else rather than simply leaving was crossing his mind. Midoriya stared for a bit, then nodded with decision. It seems like the girls were also in the business, because they got up at the same time once Kirishima touched his shoulders. Uraraka frowned softly at them.

The door swung open, revealing Jack in her commoner clothes. “Is she awake? Oh, she is.”

“Good morning, Jack!” greeted Mina with glee, waving at her as they made their way to the door. “We’ll get going, we’ll be back late in the afternoon. Take care of her for me, please?”

They looked at Uraraka for one exact second before Jack smiled kindly. “Sure thing, Mina.”

The other clapped excitedly and went first out the room. “Great! Take care of my little sister for me!”

The sorcerer had the urge to retort back that she was by no means her sister, but her heart had warmed so much by the notion that she remained silent, watching them all leave as they waved at her. Her head was telling her to check herself, because they could have easily put a spell on her that attached her so much to them. However, there was no way that existed and they didn’t seem threatening to her– well, Kirishima could look tough under the wrong light, but he was a real softie.

Jack neared her bed with plans to tell Uraraka. Meanwhile, Kirishima closed the door behind him and looked at Midoriya, then started marching down the corridor.

“Should we tell Bakugou about this?”

Now dead serious, no longer the meek blushing boy from before, Midoriya held his gaze. “Bakugou told us to feed him as much information as possible. And I’m afraid that bit about her amnesia is awfully interesting.”

“Uaah! It feels like it’s been forever since I last went to a market plaza!”

Jack grimaced a bit and looked sideways to see Uraraka stuffing her face with all kinds of breads she had been able to find around. It was such a wonder how a small girl like her could swallow such quantity of food at once. She could give Kaminari and Kirishima a run for their money, seriously.

The black haired girl sighed, shifting the weight of the groceries from an arm to another. “You know, you should tone it down a little bit, or you won’t have enough stomach for lunch later.”

Uraraka giggled and tugged on her hat. Hatsume had given her a proper commoner set of clothing while they had her battle gear done, along with a new better staff. Her weapon had been discarded for the day as to not draw ill-intended eyes to her, since she was in no state to fight. Her clothes were now pink with tones of brown, and her face shone brighter than it had hours before.

She looked at Jack and up from her mountain of bread. “I have a bit of a sweet tooth with bread, I’m so sorry.”

While they were advancing through the crowds with Jack mumbling something about a shrine and too many tasks to do, Uraraka let her eyes travel around the plaza. Many blankets were displayed on various windows, leaping with the subtle morning breeze. Sun leaked through the stone barrier and splashed shadow on many little stands, where some people rested lest they had a severe heat stroke. Uraraka saw a little group of kids dancing around in glee, and she giggled at the joyful picture.

As her eyes wandered around the place, they landed on a paper sheet hanging from a stand’s support pole. She stopped her stride behind Jack to read the flyer, roaming eyes scanning the picture in it. When Jack sensed that Uraraka wasn’t behind her anymore, her walk halted and she made her way to her. “What are you looking at– huh?”

It seems like the guards had their eyes set on an illegal hunter called Midnight. The painting of her had the tamer sitting on top of a dark lion, her smile dark, evil, naughty, as if daring the reader to come and catch her. She wore this black coat– or at least the ink of the flyer made it appear like that, with a pointy hoodie and sharp boots. The brunette had the idea to look at Jack, who was gulping at the picture. She may be scared – thought Uraraka, then proceeded to read the words on the paper out loud.

Before words could actually get out of her, Jack spoke first. “The Jirou family.” the words dangled in the air for a second, as if Jack was gauging the range of danger of that family to then explain it to her. However, her words came across as stale and somewhat… sad. “They aren’t good news.”

And the black haired girl continued onward, and as Uraraka looked at her moving back, she could only wonder why her eyes had looked so shrunk back there, and why her arms were slightly shaking in agitation, and frown. When her friend stopped to talk with someone, Uraraka faced her front to see an elderly woman offering her some edible goodies– and oh, Uraraka would always die for traditional cookies.

“Free for a little girl like you, hon!” cooed the lady, pinching Uraraka’s cheeks with affection– goddammit why did everyone have this fixation with her cheeks? “Such rosy healthy skin! You need something good to eat in days like these.”

Uraraka scratched her reddish cheek and took a bite of the biscuit. “Thank you so much!” with a bow, as she always did. “I am deeply thankful for this freebie!”

The lady waved her off with a gentle smile, touched by the girl’s politeness. “It’s no big deal. I still remember that time my son had…”

The brunette had all intentions to listen to the story, but in a spare moment, her eyes drifted to look over the woman’s shoulder, back to the shade of a tree where kids were playing. They were having these silly dances and laughter rung in the air, reaching her sensitive ears and making her inside twinkle in delight–

A cloaked figure stepped out of the tree shade, only part of her face visible– but the sight gave Uraraka the worst of chills, as if someone had slapped her with a damp cloth and left her there to rot, frozen in place as all blood drained from her skin. Her breath was stuck in the weirdest of places within her body, suddenly disappeared, and she was left in the middle of a crowded street with the worst of feelings, her being no more than a broken, empty carcass of dread. Was that…

An illegal tamer, maybe? Her head shook in pure sudden dread, her mind blown away by the sight and struggling to breathe, as if all organs had been ripped out of her.

Her irises trembling and hands shaking in agitation, she only snapped out of it when she realized that not only the cloaked figure had flickered out of existence, but that the old woman was calling her. “Hey! Are you feeling alright? All your stuff has fallen down and your face is–“

And the woman was right: all bread she was holding had fallen to the ground and probably gotten infected with ants and the like– yet a pitched noise of alert escaped her mouth, and she got on her knees to gather the food. “I deeply apologize, I think– I think I should be leaving!”

And no further questions asked, Uraraka made a run for it, looking back for a second at the shadowed spot– just to afterwards crash with something hard but also soft, and warm. Her mouth was ready to shot out an apology to whoever she had crashed with, but it all went dry when her eyes met a pair of deadly ones, looking at her as if he had just stepped on a slug and he had no regrets.

The man let out a hum of annoyance and continued his way– however, his eyes lingered on her a little bit–, and Jack was quick to offer her some explanations. “That’s Shinsou.”

Uraraka blinked again at the head of purple curls fading into the crowd, the dead end that were his unbreakable eyes craved into her soul like fire. “Shinsou? Anybody I should know of?”

“He is the leader of out rival guild, Grinning Blade.” spoke Jack with her usual deep voice, but it held more respect than usual. “Tough guys. And that guy… he’s mysterious, and Bakugou hates his guts– with a burning passion. He just came to me for something about our next guild battle.”

Uraraka stared at her in silence, taking in her words, then looked back to see that Shinsou’s purple locks were still visible, and they reflected the sunlight like tiny mirrors as the sun stared down on him.

“Shinsou, huh.”

“He’s a pretty powerful guy. I have never seen someone take out as many people from our battlefield as he has.” she beckoned Uraraka to come with her, and they started making their way through the crowds in a tranquil pace. “We still have the upper hand on them by far. Bakugou is a beast when it comes to taking people out of our path, and a damn well strategist. Midoriya is just as good as he is in strategy, but he’s just in for politics and stuff. He’s a real fluffy ball.”

The brunette nodded, her eyes swinging in between amusement and concern. That part had been explained to her the previous day, but while she wasn’t a part of their guild, she needed to ask. “They still seem to be in pretty bad terms.”

Jack took a loaf of bread from Uraraka’s hands, not aware of the fact that they had been lying on the ground for a few minutes after her little haze. Her mind straight jumped back to the occurrences minutes prior to this and she couldn’t help but wonder what part of it all was real and if that girl… why did she look so much like herself? Her hands trembled by just remembering how dark those eyes had looked, yet so similar to hers, and the bandages covering most of her visible skin. Another face, another time, another mirror– another possibility.

Jack didn’t notice her turmoil though, and was content by eating her bread. “Well, Bakugou and Midoriya founded the guild together,” Uraraka snapped out of it. “since they lacked gold to build its installations. Bakugou was completely against the idea of teaming up with him, but it turns out that nobody was willing to cooperate with such a foul-mouthed guy like him.” both imagined how Bakugou would have had behaved back then, screaming at Midoriya non-stop and just being even worse than he was now. A chill fell down their spines. “We are at the top now, all thanks to them.”

“Bakugou sure looks strong. I never got that powerful vibe from Midoriya, though.” and this was sadly true, because both had shown extremes that she had never expected to find: a barbarian hunter and a guy that looked like he would be hugging you all day no matter how much of a dick you were to him. She wasn’t completely sure of what side she liked best. “You all gave me a kind vibe, but I’m sure I haven’t met all of you and I bet you’re all deadly as hell.”

Just upon realizing where they were, Uraraka stumbled for a few steps, remembering that these were the streets she had had to cross the day before, wounded and seeking refuge while bleeding and soaking the stones in unholy red. Somehow, the notion seemed strangely far from her despite it having taken place just hours ago, during night.

“We are a bunch of crazy people, that’s for sure– a big one. Most of us are kind, and some of us are bloodthirsty during battles, too.” the fact that she added that last word so meticulously made Uraraka gulp and think that Jack must be a corpse eater in the battlefield. “Some of us are pretty powerful. Our hunters are the best there are in the village, and Mina is a badass archer. We have lots of people in support for strategy, and knights that can royally kick some ass.”

“Hunters and… knights? I never really saw the difference.”

Jack chuckled with good heart. It was common for a newcomer like Uraraka to feel so overwhelmed with information, and even basic stuff could easily escape her bland mind. However, she would never dismiss her as weak or stupid– Jack got a weird powerful vibe that she was the total opposite of that. “Hunters carry their weapon on their back, whereas knights have it on their waist.”

That explained a lot of things. Being a hunter sounded way more brutal than being a knight, which looked like a more delicate profession. Yet, remembering last day’s events as she was doing while they crossed those streets, something came to her mind. “Bakugou mentioned that he was a hunter, right?” Jack nodded. “But his sword was on his waist.”

“Ah, that wasn’t his battle weapon.” this prompted a disgruntled noise from the sorcerer, as that non-battle sword had looked very harming to her and its tip was sure still glaring at her from somewhere. “He does use it in battle sometimes, but he has tons of heavy weaponry back in his room. I’ve seen him swing around with axes as if he was handling sticks.”

What the– an axe!?

“An axe!?”

Jack nodded as if this was nothing, when it was probably the most alarming piece of information she had received until now. The image of Bakugou chopping heads off was bearable, but giving him an axe was an atrocity– she didn’t want to imagine Bakugou venting his frustrations on a rotting body. Gross.

“He is even more powerful than what you saw last night. In fact, he might be the most powerful guy among all guilds. Dedicated to power much, I tell you.”

And then the fateful promise of a fight echoed inside her again, making Uraraka internally scream at the incoming disaster and the cacking sound of bones breaking to the rhythm of his axe tearing her apart. He was going to make her choke on her angelical halo really good– remember the lust for pain she saw in him, the desire to make all kinds of atrocities to her petite body, and the image of dirt and blood flaring in front of her as he looked at her, emotionless–

The image was too vivid to be real. Something had to be wrong with her that day.

“Uraraka, are you ill or something?” Jack’s hand had come to touch her forehead with knit eyebrows, and the sorcerer could only look into her deep dark eyes. “You are a bit pale all of a sudden– actually, you were a bit white back there. Are you feeling bad or something?”

She then jumped out of her caress and blushed over being treated like a child. She may look frail, weak and tiny, but she sure wasn’t none of that! And she’d sure be showing Bakugou later. “All’s fine, Jack. Just a bit shaken up.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I may have scared you a little bit by talking about Bakugou so much. I’m not a fan of his, trust me. Midoriya may be a bit weaker, but he sure is kind and lovable. I bet you’ll get along with him nicely.”

Jack gave all purchases to Uraraka and started to push the door, making it creak with effort. Now, looking at the gigantic rampart that surrounded the guild buildings, they were incredibly big and thick, it was no wonder the sorcerer thought this could be a monastery or some kind of defensive fortress. Bakugou and Midoriya had sure invested in security, and the idea of her trying to forcefully open the gigantic doors sounded stupid. She recalled the events of the prior night and, again, felt weak.

“These doors are tough to open.” grunted Jack, finally making it halfway inside. The gate was opened just a creak, enough for somebody to slide in. “Come in before this fat dude gives up.”

Uraraka nodded hastily and ran her way in, pushing the gate close afterwards. The black headed girl was already making her way to the center of the guild plaza– but Uraraka could only stare at her surroundings. The rain from yesterday had hindered the views around her, and it all suddenly felt so much bigger with clear sunlight beaming on each stone.

There were several buildings around her, some bigger than others, but one stood out clearly, with a big tower on top and what seemed to be like a pretty balcony grazing the clouds– she couldn’t really tell, as the sun made it difficult to see and it was just too high, she had to squint to make out the railing at the top. She also guessed that Yaoyorozu must have been referring to that tower when she mentioned the library, and Uraraka would sure be going there later.

Jack was way ahead of her now, in a spot to the right of the main entrance to the guild building, kneeling in front of an oak tree with all the products aside. Uraraka stopped sightseeing to rush to her companion, who was strangely still. The sorcerer realized that buried between the roots of the gigantic oak, there was a little makeshift shrine, with a white crystal she knew very well.

“An ice crystal?” Jack nodded, hands still intertwined in what seemed to be like a small prayer. Of course Uraraka knew about power crystals, her staff had tons of them incrusted and she always had spare ones in her bag. No sorcerer could go along in life without some basic knowledge on magic science. “Wouldn’t they be more useful incrusted in your weapons? It looks like a defense gem.”

“But we all have one.” Jack rummaged under her gray jacket for her weapon– ah, there it was. She showed her whip to Uraraka, and the sorcerer could make out a white shine on its handle. “It’s a guild blessing against ice magic. That’s why this one is on this shrine, and underneath the oak’s shade.”

“So it’s a defensive crystal indeed, but you are using it to protect the whole guild facilities.” and it was a smart move, since ice magic was tricky and having everyone build up defense against it was a smart move. “But only the scarce sorcerers living here know ice magic, why bother?”

Jack chuckled and stopped the prayer, looking at her curious friend. She has squatted down next to her, and stared at the crystal with burning interest. The girl’s voice came out as stale and raspy, asif touching a sensitive matter. “Ice magic is considered as an accursed magic, Uraraka.”

“Cursed magic?”

Again, Jack nodded, her mouth drawn into a thin line. “It has the power to shatter human bodies, freeze countries– it represents coldness. But most importantly,” this time, her voice was even lower, in a terrified whisper. “it represents time stopping, freezing, disappearing. It means zero progression, things stilling in place.”

“…Time.” condoned Uraraka, a shadow passing over her face. “I can see you guys give it lots of importance here, don’t you?”

“Time is…” her words trailed off, and Uraraka stared at Jack’s skin fading into a pale color, her hands starting to shake. Her breathing was quickening, getting denser and harder to swallow. Suddenly, small dots blinded Jack’s vision, and she hunched over a little, making Uraraka finally get near to her and rub her up and down. “It’s a touchy subject, and it brings me great pain to talk about it without freaking out. I’m sorry for this.”

This visibly alarmed Uraraka, who recoiled a bit from her. Jack was by far the most passive and unemotional person she had gotten to know this far, and seeing her so torn with this subject– it brought Uraraka the worst of fears imaginable, her hands heavier with confusion, anxiety, and the heaviness of Jack’s voice still writhing inside of her. The girl luckily noticed how affected Uraraka had been by her words, and smiled apologetically.

“Please, don’t get so worked up!” exclaimed Jack with alarm, care and urgency. Her eyes bounced on Uraraka’s thundering ones. “I promise it’s not that bad! I can be a worry wort sometimes.”

The other’s eyes narrowed, trying to count in how many universes Jack would be showing such crippling emotions in front of her without a reason. “I don’t know why that sounds like a big damned lie.”

Jack sighed, because of course she would see right through her. Again, that woman was not stupid. “Look, all this stuff is better explained by someone like Yaoyorozu, Midoriya, or Tokoyami, even. You should go to the library soon for some details on that.”

Uraraka blinked recalling Yaoyorozu’s words, then nodded with a content smile. Jack’s words had been put aside for now, but not forgotten at all. “Ah, Yaoyorozu did tell me about it. I will check it out tonight when your mates come back from their mission.”

“Tonight?” her tone was so disbelievingly amazed and surprised that Uraraka didn’t know what to do but nod. She wasn’t accustomed to their ways in life, their traditions or their schedules, so she had no idea about how to react sometimes. People there were different, their expressions so unique among them and their bonds seemed strong, cautelous and tough to shatter. Uraraka felt too out of place in their midst. “Why so late?”

There was a faint, crashing sound in a far away corner of her their hearing range, but it made the sorcerer tremble all the same.

“What do you mean by–“

“URARAKAAAAAAA!”

And the brunette got the surprise of her life when she saw the feisty leader of the guild stomping his way to her, teeth shining in all their glory and looking a pinch more menacing than the other night– and that was hard to accomplish. So when she saw them all marching into the guild, sporting tired looks except Bakugou who was glowering at her, all she could do was jump and scurry backwards.

“WAH! What the hell are you guys doing back so soon!?”

Bakugou stood in front of her, acknowledging Jack with a nod. His arms were crossed, muscles clenched in tension upon seeing the scruffy sorcerer still in his territory, and his fangs were showed to her menacingly, in a way that only and animal like him would– and somehow, this didn’t come as a shock to her. Yet, his sandish locks shone under the glaring noon sun, his eyes shadowed by spare tresses, and his skin looked like the one of a god, silky yet full of injuries.

This man still looked like a king to her, but she didn’t even flinch. Before Bakugou could spat any insults at her for not facing him right up – something he didn’t even think about, too distracted by Jack’s pale skin and how Uraraka was also trembling – Kirishima spoke up, the leader staring at Uraraka with disdain. Her hands tightened into fists while pushing those embers of his down.

“We had it rough back there, and Mr. Grumpy Pants is too pissed to even care about Asui almost limping her way back. Thank goodness we have Tokoyami around.” she had heard that name twice now, and it made her want to know that person even more than before. And who on earth was Asui? “Either way lil’ lady, he just came running here thundering about a fight and crushing you– idea I’m clearly against,” Bakugou turned and glared at him with all intentions to break his neck. “but I can’t interfere here, I think.”

“Don’t even think about it.” spoke Iida from behind. “Master clearly desires to make Uraraka bite the dust. Why so badly? No one knows.”

The blonde ended up turning around and raising his fists. Uraraka looked at him swing between anger, ire, recollection and insanity in the span of a single minute. She was shocked. “WHO EVEN ASKED FOR YOUR OPINION, FOUR-EYES!?”

Midoriya rested a hand on Bakugou’s shoulder, who once again like the prior night, almost screamed at his touch. Before he could rightfully complain about such privacy outrage, Midoriya was already trying to calm him down. “Please, calm down already. We need some rest, then you can–“

“I’m not some darn loser with muscular problems, thank you very fucking much, greenlocks!” exclaimed Bakugou, murder spree long forgotten until he looked at Uraraka again and–oh boy, that glint was back again, burning into her molten chocolate orbs with painful intentions. “I don’t need these guys’ pity, got it? I can fucking manage to turn you into a mess of bones and flesh before next bird chirps!”

Jack stood up, brushing off some dust from her black pants. “Bakugou, you guys need serious rest.” he was going to scream at her in indignation before her palms rose in defense. “But whatever sails your boat. I’m gonna take Asui to Shuzenji before you burn the whole place down.”

The fact that everyone was taking her future death so lightly put Uraraka on edge– so much that her spine was tense in apprehension, and her whole body was in alert in case Bakugou decided to start the battle right there. She had expected the fight to be soon, but not this soon. And she couldn’t tell if this arrangement was better than waiting patiently for her death penalty.

Before she could decide what emotional approach to take about the ordeal, Bakugou’s sword came to strike her next to her head, his hiss near her face as he bent in front of her– yet, she was seemingly unfazed, and this drove him up a fucking wall. He was inches apart from her and he was being so brash, swift and uncareful with his actions that she couldn’t ponder if they were rude or strangely arousing. Whatever this guy’s deal was, it sparked a dangerous fuse deep within her.

“You better be ready, angelface.” murmured Bakugou, digging the sword a little bit deeper into the stone. “I give you ten minutes to get your gear ready, or I’ll come hunting you down– and I don’t think you want me to go witch hunting.”

His blade was out a second later, and he was away a glare and a swish of his cape later. It was a wonder how he could properly battle with that red cape flowing in his way, and it only made her ask herself if he’d wear it during battle. When the area was stark naked of people, she got up with a sharp breath and hurried to the blacksmith, squealing all the way.

There was this eerie hint in the square when she stepped out of the main building. There was no fog, no clouds in the sky, and despite the weather making it uncalled for, the place was stark of the chatter that made this guild so known. The moment she walked out, she had seen Bakugou sitting on a rock leisurely, a huge, long axe at his back with battle gloves. When he heard her steps, he had immediately stood up, swinging the weapon back and forth.

She noticed that Kirishima, Mina and Jack were there, as probably the others were resting from their journey. Still, the fact that even 4 people were there to either cheer her on or boo at her both surprised her and made her feel nervous. But this wasn’t the point now. He pointed the axe at her, and Uraraka gripped her new staff tighter, feeling it issue its natural soothing essence.

“Okay midget, rules.” spat Bakugou. “No cura shit, no shields, no nothing. We are one on one here. No hugs and kisses will cut it – I know you are full of cheesy shit, so don’t try to talk me out of this, I already fucking warned you beforehand.” his axe touched the ground, making an awfully loud noise and she realized that it must weight tons if it clunked so hard against the stone. “I’m not gonna hold back on you, so just be aware that this is going to hurt you pretty badly.”

Uraraka sighed. “Are you trying to warn me?” the confidence was clear in her voice and it made agood work of masking the nervousness behind. It made Bakugou smirk, hope rising high: a confident warrior made a fight entertaining. “You are the one at disadvantage here.”

“I don’t give a fuck. You don’t know what shit I can do with this beauty I have here.” oh, so he was the extra type of guy who flirted with his weapons. What a turn on. “So I don’t want you to be crying your ass off on me. I expect you to put up a mildly decent fight.”

She breathed in, deep. Her faked tranquility made the three spectators be at ease, but they knew that the trouble beneath her eyes was impossible to hide from the sky, and Bakugou had noticed that nervous spark too. It only added wood to his flames, already set on fire and dying to bathe in her blood. “I don’t care what you do to my body as long as you don’t care about what I shall make with yours. So stop trying to scare me off,”

Her hand shot up, beckoning him to strike a hit on her with a fake– oh, it was so fake, but Bakugou drank from it anyway. “and bring it on, master.”

“You’re gonna regret this so badly,” and there he went, axe swung back to cut her body in half. “you damn witch!”

But when his axe made contact with the air of her space, she vanished. He was met with the whoosh of dust at her wake, Uraraka standing now behind him after a great jump. “Don’t dismiss me, you barbarian!”

With a swing of her staff, a whirl of strong winds came to knock him over, obedient to her call, but Bakugou was quick to use the momentum of his previous attack to throw his axe at Uraraka. The wind crashed on the weapon instead, and Bakugou wanted to laugh. “Oi, that’s all you got?”

He wanted to laugh again as he was met with silence. However, when her voice chirped up again, he got a mild chill running down his back. Her staff pounded the ground, and there was a deep beneath rumble.

“I’m afraid not, mister!”

Her foot stepped forward, and a column of spikes escalated from the depths of Earth and struck him from beneath, sending him a few meters away from his pray. Before he could even recover from the strike, her staff was swinging again. Before her hellfire of flames could burn his skin, his axe swiftly chased them away with a quick sweep, a shadow cast on his eyes– and Uraraka flinched with the realization, a little shaken.

A power axe, the only kind of weaponry that could deflect magic so easily. Of course he would be careful despite his towering stance: he was a monster, but not a stupid one. His glare bore into her shaking eyes, dangerous blood of a cut on his cheek. He wiped it away and licked the red liquid. “You bitch.”

And wordlessly, he swung his axe again, making her stagger a bit in her place. As a far attacker, Uraraka’s best choice was to stay in a place to control her magic, so all she needed to do was keep him at bay. However, he was recovering terrifyingly fast from her attacks, making her shrink a little bit in her place. She took a step back and raised her staff to the heavens. “I’m not losing now, Bakugou!”

An endless charade of wilder winds knocked him to the side, but he easily rolled, mild scrapes not even making him hiss in pain, and continued on his way to her. She swung her staff to him, but suddenly, time stopped. A miscalculation in her attack, Bakugou leaping at her in the wrong moment.

His axe came to slice her in half, the red in his eyes never faltering as he thought he had her in his claws– pictures of her protruding skin, her delightful wails of fear, all fueling his muscles with anew desire for disgrace. However, she was quick enough to dodge and his axe didn’t cut any of her skin– her staff. His axe cut straight through it, the axe trajectory barely missing her head.

Uraraka felt Bakugou close to her and she leaped out of his reach before his axe got her waist, and made it to the other end of the plaza.

“So you’re playing tag game now, huh?” he took the remains of her wooden staff and blew them away with his ability, smirk never wearing off from his face. “Lousy attacks, bad focus, and you still dare call yourself a sorcerer. Pitiful.”

Damn him – Uraraka cleaned some sweat off her forehead, already a little worn off from escaping his attacks and firing spells at him. She had no scratches on her face, no blood like he had, but she still was at disadvantage there. He wasn’t aiming to wear her off little by little, but kill her straight away. Hand-wielder magic was even more draining than staff-based techniques, so now she had very few ways to go.

The sorcerer remembered the feeling of fire abrassing her palms, an unharming barricade of embers thriving on her hands, the feeling of metal solid ground, and that sense of chaos, havoc, utter disarray. She could feel ashen winds slapping her heart with hammering emotion, all swirling inside of her and creating a low-rumble euphoria of power. Stamina was bubbling deep inside of her, but so much moving had drained her considerably. Regardless, she couldn’t afford giving up now.

A swish of his axe came at her slower form, cutting part of the skin of her cheeks and arm deep within, and felt the sting– oh, so much more than a sting, as if a blade had cut right through her and he was shifting with the metal, trying to find her softest spots. She wanted to scream at the huge cut he had managed to land on her, but didn’t have the guts to give him the pleasure of hearing her scream. Instead, all she let out was a deep wince, caressing her cheek with gentleness.

And, suddenly, he was coming at her again– but she wasn’t having none of that, so she pushed forward and ran to him, hands glowing with a light that Bakugou didn’t know, but all he could feel was that the fight was getting real now, that his smirk was getting wider as she got more tired, as her blood leaked faster, and he was fucking dying to chop her wizard ass into pieces.

His axe aimed for her leg because he needed to have her nice and still, but she jumped up and touched his shoulders, propelling herself up with the impulse and called out her ability. She gave him a push in mid-air, then, he was weightless. But this didn’t surprise him, as it would have been weird for her not to use her ability at some point, and he swung at her again– the tip of his axe tore at the muscle of her shoulder and actually tugged up, tearing apart one of the muscles there, there, where he knew it’d hurt.

The pain went unnoticed at first, just a little pang of feeling branching throughout her shrieking body. But as soon as air blew into the blood, she let out a loud grunt– her palm was coated in blood, feeling the blobs of think, red liquid starting to penetrate into the clothing. The pain was searing, Uraraka couldn’t feel anything else than hurt, electric pain running through her. In order to remain shut, she bit her inner cheek, draining some blood from there too– and Bakugou only frowned harder, still floating by her side, his glower intensifying the more she weakened, yet didn’t speak out her feelings.

Oh, what a beautiful, sadistic monster, making her drink her own blood for his own pleasure. She clutched the bleeding wound harder and gave him a good kick out of her space, then weakly released him from the gravitational pull. There was a hard hush of dust lying on the ground as he flew away from her, the wave of the break thudding hard against the ground, blowing away some rubble with a deaf sound of movement.

But she wasn’t wasting anymore time. Uraraka gathered all her strength and focused on the man meters away from her, her magic strengthening and pouring all her prowess on her final blow. Shoulder still bleeding, enemy sitting with his axe equipped and her energies still leaving her, crashing at the seams, she screamed and slammed her hand to the ground.

A fire seal surrounded Bakugou, and the day got cloudier– darker, only darker, and he dared look up. A meteor was falling down on him, rushing its way to the ground and making Bakugou gulp in impression, all while Uraraka just made it fall quicker, the impact be as painful as possible, and she screamed in pain as her shoulder and cheeks screamed in pain, all in unison to crush him underneath a planet of rubble, dirt–

He swung his axe up with a loud growl of effort, and the meteor exploded into a fuckton of burning rocks aiming at them. There was a deaf sound when the humongous rock shattered, and a wild stream of pressure came along, making the ground beneath their feet tremble in alteration. The impact sent Uraraka meters behind, but she was able to land on her feet, a hand supporting her weight on the ground.

Bakugou, meanwhile, stood tall and proud, a wicked smirk on his face. Burns and wounds marred his chest, and his arm was shaking after having to swing his axe so high and strong with so little time. He cleaned some dirt from the corner of his lips with the back of his hand. His stomach lurched in thrill, making him wonder where this sick weirdo had been all along to come so proud albeit tiny and attempt to crush him so unceremoniously.

Oh, Uraraka had almost gotten him, and the earthquake had sure– hold on. He looked around him to see that not only the buildings around him surrounded by a thick, greenish layer of light, but that also the territory behind Uraraka – where his shitless scared guild mates stood – was tainted with this light. That was when he understood, and he had never been more torn between amazement and pure anger.

“You…” Uraraka tried to recover her breath, managing to stand tall and proud despite that attack almost taking her out completely. Somehow, having him as a rival was fueling her with a dangerous gasoline of fire and blood. “don’t know anything about my power.”

Her clothes were torn due to his axe’s power swings, there was blood all around her right side, and her hands were swollen. Her knees were wobbling, hands supporting her whole weight on them. She was bleeding, he was too. And yet, despite being in this condition…

“You fucking protected the guild.” upon his call, the walls faded for her to her to her strength back, and this only confirmed his theory. “You did this. Even if I told you to just give your all, you still–“

“I don’t desire to hurt anybody beside you.” spoke she gently, already standing proud again for another beating. “I don’t think your fellow guild mates deserve to suffer from a strike like that.”

Bakugou stood again as composed as ever, yet his eyes had turned somewhat kinder, but still held bubbling violence. She might be a rookie sorcerer, a witch, a damn magician– but she was giving him an entertaining fight and he’d honor her by giving her the most glorious death she’d ever suffer. “Stop it with the love confession, Uraraka.” growled Bakugou, took his axe again with both hands to start hitting her with power threads. “YOU AIN’T PAST THE CUT, DIE ALREADY!”

He swung and swung, but she sent wind barricades to nullify his advances. Yet, her magic was running out of potency, and her attempts became frailer and frailer until she couldn’t keep up with him. There came a moment in which he was fed up of her existence, and decided to end it all with his red irises scalding her alive, cooking her in a stove until she screamed for mercy, imagining a lot of scenarios where this could have gone better for him, for her too– but he’d never admit it out loud – yet, he found that this was a pleasurable outcome too.

“DIE!” he finally threw his axe to her, and it came swindling and rounding and spinning, as if deciding with which edge to kill her–

“STOP ALREADY!”

Her hands made a cross and sliced the air around her, a deaf trembling impact, void sound rippling around the dust and blowing it away– she gasped, air knocked out of her bleeding lungs.

The axe that was just a pair of inches away from reaching her was knocked out of orbit and thrown backwards in a cold, chilling and deep wave of wind that rushed around the whole battle area, pressing Uraraka away from her previous spot, boots hissing against the stone, and forcing Bakugou to cover his eyes at the sudden gust of dead cold wind. From the corner of his vision, he saw his deadly weapon shyly fly away from him, landing meters behind his taken aback self.

And when he looked at it closely– his breath hitched. When he blinked though, only feeble water drops dripped from its sharp edges, the ice nowhere to be found, and it made him wonder if he had just seen some kind of mirage in the midst of the glaring sun. Bakugou looked back at her again, dumbstruck with the sight she was offering him. Shoulders heaving up and down, her hair shadowed her eyes in a dangerous glare as she panted. A damn sly, misconceived little girl. With such move, there was no way he’d mistake her anymore.

“What the shit.” breathed he. Then a humorless smirk made its way through his face. His voice was loud and bright, as if mocking yet undeniably surprised and livid. “I should have known you were a damn evil minx.”

As soon as he had the axe in hand, he dangerously neared her, darkness cast on his eyes. She didn’t even react to his dreary proximity, but chose to let her knees buckle and he effortlessly had her lying on the ground, straddling her. Blood was pooling around her right side, and he swore this should be more pleasing than this living hell of both wanting more blood from her but also needing her to stay alive so he’d get a decent piercing scream from her. He didn’t want this violent lust he was feeling– he needed satisfaction from her pain. Yet, she had been acting like nothing hurt when she was a weakling , had put a decent fight, wasn’t flinching, and had endured the pain of cut muscles with the slightest of reactions – so even when he had her under him, he wasn’t over with this.

His axe came grazing her red stained throat, the pool only getting bigger– and he could only wonder how much she had left until she died. If the world were to decide, he was damn sure she’d be dead. “What game are you playing, Uraraka?”

She had impressed him.

She had surpassed his boundaries by not only putting up a good fight, but also protecting his guild. That was worth admiring and Bakugou was all but ready to admit that– he was a good winner, but felt like a sore loser. He couldn’t have her dying without him feeling pleased about it. “Oi, don’t ignore me!” spat he, fisting the neck of her pink uniform. Her hat had been torn, legs bloody and clothes tainted in beautifully sinful scarlet. “Answer me, Uraraka!”

Her eyes blinked up at him blankly. She clearly couldn’t handle blood loss– stars dotted her vision and made Bakugou hide behind a bush of pain; her hearing was running dry and deaf while she lost the notion of touch. A moment later, she couldn’t even know where the ground was, or how she was lying when the sky looked as if it was crashing on her, or maybe she was sinking into its blue paradise.

The blood only pooled even wider, tainting her locks in deep passion. It was unwelcome, unwanted, yet she wouldn’t have had this fight any other way. All she could feel was Bakugou’s hand on her back, steps nearing her, and a numbing ice cold spike at the tips of her fingers, fighting to break free.

“Oi, answer me! Oi, Oi, Uraraka!” her eyes were fluttering close, heavy and tired. “Oi, don’t fucking… ie on… e you piece of…!”

When she fell beneath a blanket of damp confort, she could still remember the pangs of his axe, and noticed that, in the end, he hadn’t worn his cape or fur.

Ah – mused she, non thoughtfully – so he took her seriously, after all.

All she could recall during her time being a fallen star in her scattered mind was feeling something on her fingers, something blander this time, liquid, and having it taken away from her in a second. Yet, it seemed like an unreachable memory, and all she could do was just wonder aimlessly, again.

When Uraraka woke up, the first thought that came to her mind was that the whole day had been too bizarre to be real. Nightime had long rolled into the sky for the time she opened her eyes again, and the sight had been blurry, painful, confusing– her first thought was that it had been a nightmare, her shoulder too bandaged and heavy to even be material. Yet, she taunted the fabric under her fingertips, and found out that it was there.

Yeah, that bastard was going to scar pretty badly.

Uraraka propped her legs out of the bed sheets and carefully set her toes on the cold floor. She started to rub her face with her bruised hands, and a sharp pang of pain shot straight afterwards. She hissed silently and peeked to see the extent of Bakugou’s doing. The fabric was a bit stained, but perfectly strapped and cured. Shuzenji must have left the skin to cure itself so it wouldn’t get used to quick healing.

What a day – thought Uraraka tiredly, but sleepless. Despite having been lying on a bed for what seemed to be like hours on end, her body clearly felt like she hadn’t had a brink of sleep. Yet, her eyes weren’t sore with exhaustion and her thoughts were collected, no signs of psychological trauma around. She now repaired on the fact that she was wearing the very same uniform she sported back at the fight, yet it had been either sown or straight replaced.

Uraraka got up from the bed with little moan of pain. That shoulder was going to be a handful to deal with. The wooden floor creaked under her weight, the night silent and devoid of any guild mate trying to make this easier for her. The wind whistled outside her room around the previously wrecked plaza, and as she peeked now from the window, it seemed like thanks to her shield back there, no building had received any damage after the meteor shower.

She could still feel the ripple of gravity underneath her and the thick scarlet blood running rivers around her head, the same color that had tainted Bakugou’s furious glare. It was all too vivid to her, she could still feel the edges of his unstoppable axe cutting deep into her. He hadn’t brought any kind of toy sword just to spite on her, so that’s a good thing she got from the experience.

Uraraka had her mind set on wandering a bit aimlessly around the guild building, but decided against it when she remembered that it was probably close to midnight and she had some sort of date at the top of the clock tower. She grabbed a blanket from a seat on a corner– more like tugged it out of its covering function, and draped it around herself. Then, she grabbed a candle and lit it up with ease, getting burnt the following second.

Yes, yes, she should have remembered. Using magic when being so weak or injured was a great risk, and elements tended to be bitchy to play with when the body couldn’t control it properly. Sorcerers needed to be careful with the element they were playing with, watch after its power and grow the body to encase the potency of powerful spells. Tiny bodies couldn’t use great magic without being hurt by its nature. Elements could backfire when one didn’t control the amount of power they were using.

Therefore, her own little flame had burned her fingertip, making her hiss and reprimand herself for being such a weakling. She wasn’t being mindful enough, too physically drained to even watch after a silly light. At least the candle was lit, and when she closed the door silently behind her, it only flickered without wavering too much. She could have called out a light orb, but her body could handle so much now until it collapsed again.

That rejecting tactic against Bakugou had been the nail on the coffin. She had been like a cup of water, full to the brim with water and managing to hold it all in place– but that knock barricade had been the droplet to make it overflow. And by the look of his eyes a second later, how they had changed from bravery to just anger and insanity, he had noticed as well.

Her feet instinctively carried her along the corridors, as her mind was too damp in dread for tomorrow to even focus on where she was going. Regardless of the mild darkness, Uraraka could easily find the way to the clock tower. Her corridor had three other rooms before it ended in a wide open door, a thick and slightly decrepit one. She swung it open completely and sneaked a glance outside before deeming it safe to step out. Her steps were like ghosts, the red soft rug warm against her soles. The only things illuminating the place were the candles around her.

Behind the door was a carpeted staircase that led upwards, and the thought of going on a nighttime exploring trip made her both get excited and a little bit scared. This place was completely unknown for her, so the thought of crashing heads with somebody didn’t appeal her in the slightest. In fact, if somebody were to sneak up on her this late in the night, she’d be running away from the village at light speed.

Luckily for her, no one came to her that night. She was able to walk a little around the first and probably only floor of the clock tower before finding the library. The staircase went on and started spiraling a bit ahead, but she guessed that was the path for the balcony. The clock tower was a little bit smaller than expected: maybe six meters of diameter for an almost round tower. Not small, not claustrophobic, yet a bit cold and bleak.

Fortunately she saw a door open just a creak, throwing a thread of light onto the floor nearby. Uraraka breathed in deep and knocked twice before meekly making her way in. As she had expected, Yaoyorozu was reading a book on the… only desk of the room. It was a rather, again, small room, surrounded by shelves of thick books and lots of scrolls on a bureau at the back. In the middle, the black haired knight sat, surprised after seeing Uraraka awake so soon.

“Uraraka! I thought you’d be out of commission for the whole day.”

She titled her head. “Well, I have, the whole day – so now I am here, during night.” stated she dryly.

“Ah, so much wit beats within you, Uraraka. It’s good to see that spark around here.” the knight chuckled with humor. All the brunette could think about was how freaking small the place was and ask herself how this woman was still awake after being out in a hard-looking voyage to a freaking volcano. “Anyway… what brings you here?”

Uraraka saw the girl picking up a book from the table and put it on the shelves. The table was devoid of materials, so Yaoyorozu must have been in her way out before she knocked on the door. “Ah, I have been talking to Jack and…”

She trailed off to try and see if she could find out a good way to put things in a delicate way to not unsettle Yaoyorozu’s peaceful aura. She tugged at the high collar of her uniform as the other spoke. “Now that you are here, I’ll tell you that you did a good job with Bakugou out there.”

The brunette felt like she had been slapped. Twice. It was as if Yaoyorozu had ignored her inner turmoil and snapped with a now irrelevant topic that still made Uraraka blink in surprise, since that was the last compliment she had expected to receive from somebody who looked so powerful and beautiful, such a mighty knight – she, however, was a mess of hairs and scratches. “Ah, thank you very much!” exclaimed the brunette. “Although… he got me really good. I felt like I wouldn’t be able to tell the tale after such encounter. He sure enjoys bloodshed, huh.”

“We were all watching from the infirmary wing, and it’s not like you didn’t hurt him either. I must admit to you though, that he was harsher than usual.” she giggled when Uraraka was 100% sure that the situation hadn’t had any fun at all, but she went along with it.

The whole meaning of the sentence only got to her a second later. “Wait, you guys were watching us!?”

And there she was smiling again. “Only a few of us would have betted all our gold on you. Kirishima did, for a fact, and I bet that if Asui had been awake, she would have. I didn’t.”

Uraraka didn’t know if she should be elated, after all she had been beaten until she couldn’t breathe. Maybe she should apologize to Kirishima for having such faith on her when he had been watching her from afar and had been probably disappointed. She was such a weakling. It was no wonder why nobody had faith in her skills, just look at her chubby cheeks and gentle eyes and try to find some backbone in her. Of course she couldn’t feel offended at Yaoyorozu not believing in her.

When she started biting on her knuckles, Yaoyorozu grew alarmed. “Please, don’t panic. You did a fine job at almost taking him out with that meteor shower. It was spectacular to watch.”

A grin curled against her face, undeniable warmth writhing in her stomach after such heartfelt sentiment stemming out of that earnest girl. “I’m glad I at least gave you guys some entertainment.”

But then she thought about the other part that Yaoyorozu had said, about their leader’s edge towards sorcerers, and her nerves weren’t at ease. Actually, she had been all over the place ever since Bakugou had almost sliced her throat in twain with his little toy sword. Menacing words about her being an unwanted sorcerer had rolled off so easily from his venomous tongue, had stunned her for a while and pinned her between a decision and a hard place to stay in.

Uraraka sighed, hands grasping the edges of her shawl after leaving the candle on the table before her. She felt like she was no more than a foreigner poking unwanted holes into this guild’s business when she wasn’t the most wanted newcomer, yet she couldn’t help but ask.

“Yaoyorozu,” the aforementioned hummed. “why does Bakugou hate sorcerers so much?”

Clearly the black haired warrior hadn’t expected this question, as it seemed like Uraraka had broken her. Yaoyorozu stared at the sorcerer, unblinking, and her legs had grown tense under the big millionaire question. Uraraka felt immediately sorry for being overly curious, and leaned in to vow the sincerest apology she could muster. “I’m so–“

“It’s a long story.”

The gentleness in her voice made Uraraka’s hopes and head rise in anticipation, and the sorcerer was lighting fast to pull a chair out and sit on it, hands on her lap. “I have plenty of time! I don’t think I will be going to bed anytime soon with my shoulder like this.”

Yaoyorozu sighed with a small smile, finding her curiosity endearing. Although there was spark in her eyes–a fire, something burning her inside that little sorcerer that called her attention, a soul set aflame by circumstances and something behind the curtains she couldn’t name, but she pushed it aside. “I don’t know how to put this softly without you being offended.”

Uraraka raised an eyebrow at the knight, crossing her legs and arms to show how much patience she had in her. It was true that her being offended would be a given as long as Bakugou was around, so it wasn’t like she wasn’t going to need to get used to offense. Yaoyorozu sat on the table, her thick clothes crumpling at the shift in positions.

“You sorcerers are… a bit of a menace, right now. It’s a complex matter and–“

“Please, stop thinking I’m stupid…” spoke Uraraka without thinking. Her voice could sound stale and dead, but it held a worry that Yaoyorozu could see easily in her eyes. Sometimes, faces didn’t wholly reach the eyes.

“You sorcerers are dangerous, in a sense.” started Yaoyorozu, her brows sinking a little bit. “People like you hold a terrifyingly enormous amount of power inside of you. You can drown nations, summon thunderstorms, burn forests down– your powers are so intangible and insane that not even three of my crew would stand a minute against a prepared sorcerer. It’s impossible. But you…” Yaoyorozu drew closer to her, and her gloved index poked Uraraka’s reddened nose. “you guys can also warp. With enough potential, you can cross humankind boundaries, step on stars, walk on the sea.”

This chunk startled Uraraka. She had known that her powers had the potential to become great with enough training– hell, she had been able to summon a meteor from the sky just a few hours ago and make it almost smash a beast against stone grounds. Of course she had the power, but hearing it be so magnified made her thrilled. However, Yaoyorozu’s tone was all but excited: her head was down, looking at her hands, like a woman who had been defeated before the war had even began.

“Have you ever travelled in time, Uraraka?” her tone was suddenly higher, as if accusatory, and it filled the whole room. “Time travelling is one kind of magic technique, but it’s above basic learning. It takes months to master, and even with that much training one can still struggle with the power it holds. It’s been greatly documented, yet scarcely tested…”

Uraraka was getting a sense of dread from all this tension building. She could feel a great boulder hanging an inch above her head, ready to crush her as soon as the frail thread snapped. She could feel it giving in, making her dizzy in anxiety– her hands grasped the fabric of her dress tighter than she noticed.

“Our times are... starting to get strained.”

The weight still didn’t come crashing on her, but it drew a bit closer. Still, the sinking feeling that invaded her still drew her closer to the edge, her mind trying to grasp the whole meaning of it all– but was Yaoyorozu trying to imply now? Her mouth hung agape for a moment, as if tasting the metallic, bloody flavor of the truth. Her trembling stilled as she shook her head.

“All you need to know is that… time travelers are dangerous. They are tearing space apart by altering our timeline, they are skipping ages and ages, twisting the time threads as if they were butter. They are making things tangle.” she was silently praying for Uraraka to be able to cope with this, because what she was going to say now wasn’t easy to swallow. “You are dangerous. As a sorcerer, you are a threat to humankind, to this village. Ultimately, you are a threat to Bakugou.”

There. The wave washed her over in trepidation, goosebumps coating her skin as her knees trembled, and the ground beneath her shattered, abandoning her in a dizzy mess of parts. Suddenly, she had the urge to vomit out of pure anxiety. She almost did.

“If we had stuck to what Bakugou ordered, I can assure you,” she jumped from the table and leaned over, her hair brushing with Uraraka’s cheek as she whispered a theat. “you’d be dead where you stand.”

Uraraka tried to calm herself down by tearing apart some of her robe’s fabric, as Yaoyorozu stood dangerously near her seconds after her words and there was no way the sorcerer would pull her away. A dangerous shadow lurked behind her eyes, a spark so intense that no tsunami would be able to drown it down. Her arms were closed, muscles tense and jaw tense. The sorcerer shrunk a little, then relaxed visibly when the knight retreated.

“Fortunately, not all sorcerers are a threat. In fact, a minimum part of them do actually travel in time. Sorcerers that time travel are often overlooked by society– but here in Yuuei, we never do. You still are a valuable asset for us, and because we don’t believe you are a threat, we don’t intend to harm you.” Yaoyorozu smiled gently when Uraraka breathed out, finally, free of any grudge she clearly had nothing to do with. “Bakugou still seethes over your profession as a sorcerer, but I believe that once he sees you are not a threat, he’ll be fine with you. It’s not like times will be destroyed anytime soon or something like that… but having them twisted is already a mess, and a potential threat.”

“But… if times are being tangled as you say…” spoke Uraraka, still riding on the dread horse– to only start yelling like a maniac. “Then why the hell aren’t those bastards being chased down!? Why are we still standing here like–“

“It’s not like there is an organized group of people doing this.”

Uraraka looked up to see Yaoyorozu sighing.

“It is rumored that there is just a single man leading this madness. No one knows the reason, or even how many people are actually operating this.” answered the knight, grim to the eye. “But since it’s been documented that sorcerers are the only ones able to do this, people went crazy once the data was released. People did the math quickly. There was no way people wouldn’t be afraid of sorcerers doing this trick despite very few scarce examples of this being true existing.”

“So, you think there’s only a sole time traveler?” after a minute of thought, Yaoyorozu nodded. “Why?”

“To be honest, the theory of many time travelers existing in this very same village sounds convoluted and exaggerated. Timelines are fragile, a single travel among them can cause a crack on their stability.” explained the knight, taking a few books out. “This science is mostly conspiratory, and not at all proven. Yet, the strain of our time is evident.”

“How so?”

“Remember the glass of water from this morning?” Uraraka could clearly remember the soothing water down her throat and suddenly thought how nice it’d feel right now. “No one ever brought it to you. In fact, when we got to your room, there was no glass of water.”

That fact caught her completely off guard. “Is this a joke?”

“Do I appear to be joking?” the answer was a flat no from the sorcerer. “Objects are popping out without us noticing. Little items are swaying between dimensions, timelines, floating. The weaker the timeline is, the easier it is for things to get mixed up. Our memories, the littlest of things, get mixed with others’, be it antecessors’ or them just getting temporarily scrambled. A part of me fears that you may be suffering of this setback… but it doesn’t seem like it.”

Uraraka scratched her cheek, trying to tidy up her head to see if she had grasped the whole ordeal they were facing. “So you’re basically telling me that timelines are getting… mixed, worn off, because somebody is freely travelling among them?”

“It’s my first theory, but I’m still wary of some sorcerers among the village. I doubt the culprit lives here, but it’s just a force of nature.” she still smiled again despite her mean words, and Uraraka found herself to be undeniably relaxed now– well, not completely because, you know, it turns out like her little visit at the guild was getting a little bit crazy. “But I think we can trust you. If Bakugou didn’t tear your insides apart while he had the opportunity and even carried you to Shuzenji, I’d say he sees some value in keeping you alive.”

“Not all of us do, though.”

Uraraka jumped in her seat at the sound of a voice behind her. The very same bird boy that hadn’t approached her during her entrance into the building– more like limping, and had been invisible during her exchange with the members, stood by the door, eyes frowning. He wore a mysterious dark cloak and his hand was grasping the hem at the neck. “What the–!”

“I don’t give a damn if you are all good looks and red puff cheeks.” snarled he, voice not angry, but obviously threatening. “I won’t oppose to your stay at our guild since I do believe you have power. But just because you have power, I’ll be watching your steps.”

“Tokoyami, there is no need to be so overly rude to her.” Yaoyorozu motherly rubbed Uraraka’s shoulders, and the girl grimaced at the painful gesture.

The boy didn’t flinch or change his opinion on the matter. “This girl is dangerous, even Bakugou said so after their fight.” and clearly he shouldn’t have said that, as they were speaking as if she was a child and she actually wasn’t there. “I don’t think that humoring her is a wise decision, but I am not unbiased, either.” he approached her and jabbed her forehead. What was with all these people attacking her face with fingers? “I just hope you can behave here. The others may be trying to trust you, but winning me over is no easy task.”

“Tokoyami…”

The boy looked at her one last time and turned around to leave. “The others may trust you and believe you are not going to meddle further into this subject, but I can tell you I don’t trust you not to be one of them. Just know I’ll be watching you, Bakugou as well. We’re not letting you off the hook that easily.” he had one foot out the door when his head turned to the side. “Bakugou is at the top of the clock tower. If you desire to talk to him, do so before he blows the guild up.”

The boy quickly made his way out of the room before Uraraka stood up abruptly to shout at him some kind of defense, but her words wouldn’t have received any profit nor been completely earnest. After all, it was true that, from their point of view, she was a universal hazard. If Uraraka were to learn time travelling to get stronger, she’d be endangering their timeline and bringing it closer to collapse. It was evident that not everyone would trust her enough to not do that– actually, if she were in their shoes, there is no way she’d trust a menace like her.

It dawned on her, again, that this guild was too good and trusting. It seems like they had gotten the same trusting and warm vibe that she had received from them the very first moment she came into the guild. It just looked like now, they had reasons to be careful with her given the power she had displayed at the battle, but they’d be willing to give her a chance. Well, Bakugou probably wouldn’t – but that’s why Tokoyami had probably told her about Bakugou being in her reach, to show him that she deserved a chance.

Deep inside, he was giving her a chance to prove herself, too. As she smiled to the door, Yaoyorozu gave her a push. “Go talk to Bakugou, he was fuming by the time we got you into recuperation. I think you can try to talk some sense into him, after all.”

Somehow, a part of her was excited to see him and win her self-set challenge, but she also knew there was something else she had to do. Another part of her, in another space and time, had felt something different for that man.

It was raining somewhere else.

The way to the staircase had been walked like a grasshopper skips rocks in a river: a careful stride to reach the other end of a far away shore, reaching out with stretched hands, dainty fingertips struggling to touch the desired grass. In the end, one may complete the path and be victorious, but you never know what to expect at the other side of the river.

Uraraka didn’t hold many expectations – and she realized this with her heart clutched tightly to her chest. She was a brave woman, and sometimes felt like she was being utterly stupid for putting up a fight against a damn straight psychopath. Her mind was diffused between places, sometimes thinking she was doing the right thing by holding her ground against him– but after Yaoyorozu’s explanation, she wasn’t that sure anymore that he’d let the violent act towards her drop.

So that was what she was chasing after while going up the clock tower. The moon shone in all its glory and glared at the guild and funneled through some of the narrow windows that escalated the brick walls, but the sinking feeling of being in the dark still cornered Uraraka’s heart. A part of her mind was telling her that being so indifferent towards Bakugou would do nothing to fix the situation– but would being a coward so any good? Most people she had met so far weren’t afraid of their leader.

But they weren’t sorcerers. And she was one of the most wanted yet hated professional out there, people seeking her head to be impaled in a burning stick. She had a few things to say to Bakugou that night, but how to approach him? She felt intimidated, a bit small, but after their violent confrontation she somehow felt at least acknowledged as a fighter.

So… that was good. Now all she had to do was open the door and meet him.

Uraraka clutched the shawl closer to her neck and knocked– she suddenly felt incredibly silly for knocking on a door to a public area. She grasped the knock, the metal ever so cold against her warm fingers, twisted and pushed her way into the clock tower balcony. When she wanted to do a retake on the matter and step back, it was too late, as the door creaked insanely loud and Bakugou had sure heard it opening.

Because there he was, calm and unsettlingly quiet, fists deep in his cargo grey pants and his cape s swaying in the midnight air. The moonlight danced around him, pooling around his form and making him look logical and collected for a second, starts twinkling so brightly that she could point them all and bathe in a sea of galactic madness, getting lost in the vast number of planets that looked down on them, the cold and the warm faces of a same planet.

But then his head turned around slowly, and the corner of his red irises was dangerously fueled with disturbance. His muscles turned harder, teeth pressed together, and Bakugou was back to basics again. “What the hell’re you doing here, Uraraka?”

His voice was low, hushed in a hoarse whisper that sounded menacing, as if he was aiming to break her ground as soon as she spoke a single vowel. She closed the door and stepped a bit further, only few meters separating them. It felt like a mountain regardless.

“I… Tokoyami told me you would be here.” Bakugou murmured something about him, probably an insult she didn’t want to hear. “So I came to see you.”

Bakugou snarled at her, then suddenly snickered with such venom that she flinched, yet listened to him patiently. “I can only recall that you were the damn one who swept the floor earlier, and it was all me.” Uraraka sighed, and remembered the blood cascading down her bare, little hands. “I don’t see the point on coming to see me. Fuck off already.”

In all honestly, she didn’t really know why, either. Bakugou had been all but humanly kind to her, had even threatened many times with meeting his blade – she should have made her way out of there already, but she somehow didn’t find the heart to – and had actually ended up almost killing her. Despite all that, she felt like she needed to come up, speak to him, and tell him… but tell him what?

A part of her knew what was in her mind. So she spoke. “I wanted to– to thank you for taking me to the healer after the fight!”

Well, that wasn’t what she had really meant to say, but it was what her heart had dictated, and the way he shifted and his eyes widened the littlest bit before her was entertaining to witness. Despite him not facing her directly, she could tell he was glaring at the sky when he turned to watch the moon. “You deserved it. I can give credit to those who deserve it.”

That caught her off guard, because he hadn’t displayed this attitude when she had fainted. In fact, it had been just the opposite. So her words obviously came out sputtered, messy and unbelieving. “Are you saying I put up a good fight?”

“I’m not gonna say it again.”

Uraraka found the heart to laugh at his soft words, but his frown was back a second later. His cape swirled around following his twirl, and he stomped his way to her while clenching his teeth. “But this ain’t mean you’re worthy enough for me. A sorcerer will always be a piece of scum for me, and the fact that you are kinda powerful has me more awake now.”

“Actually, I–“

His fist clenched around his sword – which she hadn’t seen till’ then – with a hiss. “What the fuck did I tell you about interruptions?” and her mouth closed. “I don’t give a fuck about you being injured, or the fuck that you’re all cute and shit.” his hands clenched around the big high collar of her uniform through the shawl. “And I don’t know what’s your deal with my people, but you better not mess around with me. You sorcerers are fucking dangerous and I–“

“That’s what I was going to tell you about before you interrupted me!” and his fingers were starting to instinctively burn the shawl, yet he didn’t berate her this time, only stared harder at her. She had to be quick or he’d bite her skin off. “I wanted to say worry for… how brash I acted before.”

This prompted a harder glare, brushing disbelief and anger. “And why the fuck would you apologize?”

“Well, I had thought that your fear towards sorcerers–“

His grip tightened, and fingers grazed her peachy neck. “It aint a damn fear!”

“–I had thought it was just petty and unfounded! But I talked to Yaoyorozu today…” his grip then lessened unnoticeably, his eyes squinting harder and his muscles tight in anticipation. “… and she told me what was going on with sorcerers around here. I had thought that by giving you a good beating you’d see me as a worthy opponent and your fears would go away… I disregarded you highly.”

Bakugou, still clutching her neck, looked at her intensely for, like, five seconds, his breathing silent and untouched by her apology. He let go of her like she was the pest afterwards, looking at his side just to not wander too much into those annoyingly overly sweet eyes of hers. He hated them. And Uraraka looked at him and felt the warmth of her clothing after he had burnt some fibers, but couldn’t bring herself to care as she looked at that fearsome monster.

What he said next shattered her resolve completely. “I don’t give a damn about your half-assed apologies.”

He what? “Excuse me?”

“No, you listen to me, Uraraka. I don’t care what apologies you come up with to gain my respect or– or whatever you want from me. Wanna win me over? Ain’t happening soon.” spat he scornfully while walking away from her, purposefully making her surroundings devoid of any warmth and she felt it like needles stinging her skin. “You damn sorcerers are powerhouses full of shit and sparkles, nothing good is bound to happen from powerhouses aiming to become more powerful than they already are–“

“But–“

“You fucking listen to me!” his sword was drawn now, the blade now gleaming underneath the white, pearly moonlight, but it made her feel all but cozy inside, only anguish filling up her empty illusions. “You sorcerers are just gonna fight for your power no matter who you have to kill or how many people you have to mentally destroy– and I ain’t stupid, I know your drill. You’re just gonna get what you wanna, defeat who you need, and disappear like you never fucking existed.”

“Bakug–“

“And that’s exactly what I despise, people destroying people in the name of progress. I don’t want your fucking stupid power in my guild.” his head was nearing hers, seething, eyes burning craters into her bland mental foundations, and it scared the hell out of her. “Be all powerful and witty all you wanna, but you ain’t gonna fucking cut it for me. Powerful people are only fucking bound to live as monsters, and I’m not gonna feed a powerhouse who isn’t gonna help others. Not happenin’.” he hissed and looked at the ground, eyes narrowed in mental agony. “And not even if you protected the guild for a minute, above all after that unholy trick you pulled at me before.”

And that’s when she realized that his eyes weren’t fire red, or autumn shaded, or sunset inked– her breath hitched. They were pure blood bubbling, thriving and burning muscles, bones, hissing in violence and disturbance at all incoherencies he found and had luck enough to touch– his hands had shot out to her neck, and they were trembling so much, his teeth grinding harder, and his eyes seemed to shine brighter than ever, a wolf chasing its prey and tasting the future blood on his tongue.

“You’re not gonna stomp on my fucking guild with that angel face of yours. What you did today is remarkable, yet a fucking danger sign flaring all over the damn place.” and he threw her to the ground, yet she was able to land on her feet. “Not gonna let a time traveler mess with these lives. I will never trust anybody who would surely put my peers in danger, therefore you ain’t joining us anytime soon.”

Her frown deepened in tenfold upon hearing such horrid accusations. “You don’t know me enough to know if I’d even join this place to start with! All I came with was an apology and you– you…”

She bit the words back, because a very powerful part of herself was screaming at her to stop. That part of her still felt those odd feelings coming from him, seeing something tangled with those blood eyes of his, yet she couldn’t figure out what it was. They stared at each other hard, because he was also biting his words back to not kill her in the very same place. Irony would get him for that later.

“I don’t want your apologies, your hugs, nothing. You’re a good opponent, I’ll give you only that.” he growled as he brushed past her, clenching his hands in a hard fist as she did the same, shoulders shaking in what could be described as crippling ire from both parties. “But you’re a fucker who will come and screw up with my people. And I can’t condone such bullshit.”

Before his feet were out the door, her backbone and heart screamed something in unison. “Why don’t you try to see what I can do for your guild, like everyone seems to be doing, instead of seeing what I could do against them? Get the stick out of your ass!”

A breeze pushed in between their unfacing forms, with Uraraka biting back tons of unwanted curses and him staring at her from the corner of his sight, seeming to be pondering, munching and swallowing a something, something, something. He spit it out with a grunted goodbye– or a curse, Uraraka didn’t even bother to check, and she stroked the burnt edges of her shawl.

“Well,” she let out a humorless chuckle. “this was eventful.”

But something bigger than a petty universal fear was nagging him, she was sure. And if she wanted to show him otherwise, she’d have to clip her nails off and burn down all those withering, decaying bridges of his.

“Mama, papa!” squealed a little girl inside the cozy home, her hands clutching a messy canvas in her little chubby hands. Rain splattered outside in the bleak, gray environment surrounding the orange, cozy home. The little child, no more than 8 years old, ran around her little home, but didn’t find her parents. “Papa, mama! I have something to show you!”

While running through the hallway, she noticed that maybe her parents had gone outside the house to gather all the harvesting left uncollected, which made her squeal excitedly as she loved the rain. Still in a little, thin white robe, the little kid swung the front door open and padded outside, the white of her robe contrasting with the reddish, gray bleak field around her.

“Mama, papa?” called she out, starting to get soaked. Her locks were being pinned down, milky skin dripping with heaven’s tears. “Mama! Papa! Where are you? I have this to show you!”

She looked ahead, and found nothing. There was nothing around her house besides torn trees and muddy soil soaking her little feet. She looked down her feet and, hey, there were her parents! “Mama, wake up! You are going to get a big cold if you…”

There was a pool of red liquid around her sleeping mother. The child’s canvas fell down with a clap of thunder as the downpour puller her hair even flatter. She stared at her mom’s unmoving figure, unblinking, as her hands trembled in slow, cold realization that broke her fragile mind in twain and her heart– oh, her pure heart, it plummeted to the ground.

Her eyes didn’t take long to catch a glimpse of her father’s hand, also marred in blood. Her irises trembled at the ground. “Mama… papa…?”

She didn’t know how long she stayed in that position, head hung low as tears rolled down her round cheeks with ease, not letting out a single sob once. She had cried countless times when younger, but now… she couldn’t find her voice.

Steps came pitter-pattering behind her. “Don’t cry, my child.”

A big, clawed hand ruffled her hair affectionately. The little girl didn’t speak a word.

“You have a family, now.” and the rain fell on.

Uraraka’s sleep didn’t come easy for her, and when it did, it only came to torment her. Dreams and nightmares had tangled themselves together, making her dive into a colorless world of black hues, white lines and the soothing sound of a river nearby, leaves rustling and the eerie feeling of being in constant danger. Then, sometimes, she’s hear a far-off voice, screaming. The vocal chords would feel familiar, yet unknown and also chappesd, as if strained and forced out of nature.

The sorcerer wasn’t sure about anything, where the ground was or where the sun shone that morning, awaken like a mess with all blankets tangled between her legs. After her last encounter with Bakugou, sleep hadn’t come easy for her. And when she had finally managed to swim in the peaceful waters of resting, a thunderstorm had howled high above her.

The day had shone undeniably bright despite her foul wake. Her hairs were a mess, hands fisted on the blankets as Edgar slept on the window. Uraraka blinked at the clear sky from behind the window, and she yawned tiredly. Turns out she had slept in that morning, as she hadn’t been there to even say goodbye to the guild members, who judging Jack’s words the day before, had gone again to that volcano expedition.

The sorcerer was pretty sure the same committee that had come to her the day before had come this day as well, but giving it too much thought would only dishearten her. So she slapped her chubby cheeks to ginger up, then remember the untreated burn on her finger and all sore muscles at her back and shoulder and moaned in pain. Shuzenji sure was going to let them heal on their own.

Uraraka padded to the window and opened it to let a fresh whoosh of air in, the breeze rustling the blankets and brushing away some strands of her hair with gentleness, and she sighed. Edgar stirred a bit in his place, and its owner caressed the back of his neck with care, making the little beast growl lowly. The brunette giggled and looked ahead. The guild was surrounded with other buildings, greenery and rivers, mountains, and general natural fullness. The very same forest where she had woken looked as tranquil as ever, sun up high in the sky as birds chirped to life.

Ah, that was life. Edgar finally got his ass off the windowsill and nuzzled his owner awake, who had started to doze off under the sun. He was careful to not brush the bandaged wound on her cheek. “Oh, such a meanie, Edgar.”

She giggled a bit and scratched under his beak, a little place she knew he’d enjoy, then patted him on the head. Her eyes still remained in the forest, a place full of mysteries and beasts tha could make one’s bravery darken underneath the brightest of sunlights. The feeling was bitter, a bit odd and dangerously vibrating. Uraraka slapped her cheeks awake again and took Edgar inside.

“Guess what, Edgar?” the eagle titled its head, as if questioning. “We’re going dungeon hunting today!”

Turns out that finding dungeons in such a vast forest was no easy task. The moment Uraraka had stepped in, no map in hand and the most adorable poker face on, sun had glared harder on her overwhelmed form. The forest had looked terrifying underneath the crooked moonlight and pouring rain, peaceful and kind when coveted in sun and birds– but holy hot butterflies the place looked enormous, unkind, devouring, and just too deep. Somehow, proportions hadn’t occurred to her when she decided to embark in such unnecessary time killer.

This was not a time killer. It was sorcerer eater.

Uraraka still marched as precariously as possible along the wilderness, trying to find a clearing from which to emerge and see how far in she was. Greenery escalated to the heights around her, ground fertile and alive with little worms, butterflies and bees– lots of them. Uraraka had no lotion for her skin to apply and avoid stinging insects, but she’d manage. She carefully stepped over trunks that would sure make good traps for escaping plans, skipped little rivers, smashed some little harmless disgusting animals with her staff.

All be said, she was managing. No high level monsters had come to crash her party and the sun wasn’t too hard on her. The tree’s shadows were casted on her petite form, her face shadowed by her pink hat and mahogany locks. Uraraka passed by wasted campfire logs, her eyes briefly regarding them. “Hunters?” she kicked the burnt bonfire a bit to get rid of the ashes, staining her boots. “What a handful.”

And searching for dungeons was even worse than what she had expected, again. Dungeons were usually located in caves, mossy undergrounds or abandoned big shrines. She hadn’t seen any opening in her path that could lead towards a deep cavern, or even stone ruins of a forgotten temple. This forest was full of wilderness, but it lacked dungeons to plunge – or it seemed that way, at least. People may have already exploited the guts of these woods if it was as ancient as it seemed – concluded Uraraka, her ears picking no sound other than leaves rustling and birds chirping.

The girl came across several discarded items around the forest as she walked by. There was a bag full of potions, which Uraraka took despite not being a robber and feeling immediately guilty afterwards, since they would help her as she travelled around the woods. There was also a whip laying around, a double edged little knife – which she stole, again, with no intention of being sneaky. Uraraka also found some archer armors, which didn’t suit her as she was too tiny to even fill half of the plate. Seeing so many items lost in her path set off her alarms, illegal hunters could be strolling in the forest without her noticing.

Edgar, who had been sitting on her shoulder all along, was prompted to stand on her index. “Go find some bad guys for mom, little boy.” and she pushed him up, watching Edgar part towards the sky. Edgar was a little bit of a mystery to her; while she couldn’t remember a single thing about her past, that eagle was almost like a prosthetic part of her, as if he was just a part of her heart that had been there all along– much like her name, magic expertise, and now her taming skills.

She sighed while grasping her staff tight to her. Her memories were gone, but she at least preserved her sanity. Well, Bakugou was sure doing a good job to make sure not even that part of her was alive, but she’d thrive under his iron fist and show him who she really was, and make him realize she was worth joining his guild! Despite not really wanting to join!

But then she looked at the sky, half searching for any trace of Edgar and also contemplating the thought. “Join… the guild?”

The thought hadn’t even crossed her mind lately when she should have given it some thought– just a second after truth smacked her in the face, as Bakugou would never accept her request to join if she so desired after the prior night, so she sighed again and continued walking. “What a troublesome king.”

Flashbacks came tumbling on her sensitive mind, vividly remembering how his knit eyebrows had glared down on her, like she was disgrace, or the incandescent red of his irises and how small they had gotten as their bickering got more heated, less unilateral, and the fire in her stomach burnt ten times higher when she remembered that she was supposed to hate that bastard, but her heart wouldn’t comprehend that hoping psychos to go sane was a bit of a high illusion. A little breeze of air alerted her–

She heard a noise, a rustle, a shift in the air around her. Her train of thought stopped as movement came from her right, and she rushed to the very same source with her staff ready. A pair of wolves were sniffing and growling around the entrance to– that was a dungeon. The fact that they were sniffling around there for food made many alarms go off inside her head, making her wonder how many human or animal corpses could have been thrown there to call their attention– oh, then they turned around, eyes pitch black as the darkest of abysses.

That was a real red sign.

Uraraka was a sorcerer– a brave one, at that, but wolves were an unreadable, fierce. She was suddenly washed with an image of a bloodied Bakugou, glaring at her, and the wolves started growling at her. She didn’t really desire to hurt any forest inhabitant, but she’d have to take their insides out if they dared to touch a single hair of her body. Uraraka was a big girl. She could handle herself.

And when they came at her, paws running all the way to her with jaws leaking spit, eyes gleaming and fur feeling rougher and dirtier the nearer they got– Uraraka just snapped, and prepared her staff with a powerful shockwave, enough to knock them away–

A barrier of fire between the sorcerer and the beasts made them stop their chase and retreat in hear of the scorching flames, and Uraraka looked at the one behind such save. There was this young, tall man with ice white hair– he turned, then half of it was red, eyes also varied in color. He wore a deep blue vest and a sword by his side, blinking at her in silent admiration.

Uraraka was quick to react, not even thinking twice about her words. “First, who are you? And I could have handled myself very well, thank you very much!”

The boy coughed, and she could already tell that his voice would be rich, oniric, like hazelnut cream and the best of mints, vibrant like a rose’s color. “I’m Todoroki, member of Yuuei. I feared for your shoulder injuries,” he pointed at her shoulder, which she eyed now with wonder. “and preferred to intervene before you acted recklessly.”

Then, Uraraka blinked at him while stretching her injured arm. “A Yuuei member.” she mused over his royal figure and how he was ever so pale, no scars marring his skins like many people from the very same guild. “And may I ask why you are here?”

Todoroki approached her, and his polished, silver sword shone to the light of the sun. It almost blinded her, as if the world was trying to prove her that this man was no commoner and should be feared despite his fragile skin and his hands– they were so thin and elegant, she noticed, and his eyes were peaceful, yet undeniably cold. “Bakugou and Midoriya assigned me to stay with you in case there was anything you needed. Bakugou also told me to express his opposition to the idea with this.”

The knight punched her stomach hard, yet he clearly had held in some strength as he was no douche like Bakugou fucking was. Still, Uraraka clutched her abdomen in annoyance and pain, looking at Todoroki with squinted eyes. “That guy…” it didn’t take long for her to recompose herself. “He’s still not over it, huh.”

“It’s Bakugou we’re talking about.” there was some kind of exhaustion in his voice, yet it was so subtle it could very well be feigned. “I would have rather not punched you, but I don’t back down on promises or orders from a leader. I don’t have much against you, though. Yaoyorozu has told me lots about you.”

Uraraka started messing with the back of her hair, making him raise an eyebrow in surprise and slight concern. She chuckled nervously, eyes looking aside. “I’ve only been here for a day, there’s not much to know about me that I don’t know myself…” then, her eyes lit up and her smile was genuine this time, shining with glee and realization. “Thanks for the save back there, too. My shoulder would have suffered a bit after that spell.”

Todoroki nodded in acknowledgement and turned to make his way forward, expecting Uraraka to follow in tow– which she did. “It’s fine. Just refrain from risking your injuries too much. Midoriya made me swear on your safety.”

Ah, that boy. Uraraka blushed a bit and her heart warmed at the boy’s concern, then decided she’d have a talk about her safety with him when they came back from their mission. Her eyes travelled from his back to his sword, tingling with his steps against his belt. “Oh! I forgot to ask. How did you do that fire barrier?”

The boy enveloped his hands in embers, and for the sake of imitation and curiosity, she did the same. “It’s a part of my ability. However, I do know some basic sorcery – but my knowledge sure isn’t as large as yours.” and he walked on, leaving her behind. In a state of wonder, she held the flame on for too long, and it ended up blistering her hand with an angry hiss. She growled and shook her hand around, blowing some air onto the skin without making Todoroki notice. “Let’s get going. We must get back before noon.”

Then, they were out of the forest, in the very same point where she began– and it had only taken them a pair of minutes. This provoked Uraraka to scream indignatedly, cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “What the hell!? Didn’t I make it further into the woods than this?”

All she could think about was that she had spent two hours walking in probable circles, encountering rookie elements that probably belonged to campers settled down there for the night, considering that the outskirts were beast-free areas and relatively peaceful, as much as she had seen that far. Todoroki quipped in. “You were pretty easy to follow, since you didn’t move too much. Should have been more careful about that.”

She felt shame wash all over her. It was true that an illegal hunter could have come to attack her while she was handling the wolves, or had herself sold hard with such little intuition and guard. The woods were not the most dangerous of places, but they weren’t war-free, either.

Before she could apologize, a tall, blonde man with bright blonde beard came running towards Todoroki, emergency clear in his eyes. Uraraka could see it the second he came into view– and judging by Todoroki’s startled run, he realized this too. “Yamada, what’s wrong?”

The man didn’t even spare a second, frown plastered on his face. “Boy, Speedy came running super fast to the Council and told us to fetch some help– but he advised us to look for you and… this cutie right here, which I assume must be Uraraka?”

Both nodded, even though Uraraka was slightly startled by the compliment. Still, urgency throbbed in Todoroki’s voice. “You meen Iida? What happened!? Are my guild mates alright?”

Guild mates. Despite his cold glances and his curt responses, it was clear that Todoroki cared about his peers as much as Jack, Kaminari and Kirishima would. The warmth in his voice, the tremble of the vowels, how his hands were shaking in anticipation and the crack in his words. It was all so palpable, how he was handling the news and how warm and just plain endearing his care was. It reminded her of how the others had treated her, made her feel giddy inside– and Uraraka wondered, was that what it felt like to have a place to belong to?

Her surroundings faded away, Bakugou’s words sunk in further and deeper to the core of her being, revibrated, and made her feel out of place, more so than before. Was she even allowed, as a foreigner and a potential universal hazard, to want to feel that warmth every day? The feeling ran electric in her head, rattling non-stop until she heard Todoroki speak again.

“They have been ambushed!?” his words cut straight through Uraraka, who raised her head to meet his twitching shoulders. “What even–“

“Calm down, prince. They are mostly fine.” rushed in Yamada, and it made both teens relax a little. The blonde man had to break it again though. “But they have been basically cornered in front of Magma Volcano, with a pretty big monster blocking their way to Frost Way. Iida was able to escape and rush here, but he was terrifyingly wounded as well. I fear of Mina and Hagakure, but I don’t think they are in such great risk.”

Uraraka was quick to retort, her staff clutched tighter in preoccupation. “It still matters!” Todoroki let the words die in his throat to look at her. “Great risk or not, they are in danger, right? We must help them!”

Todoroki nodded and put a hand on her trembling shoulders. Images of Jack, Mina, Kirishima, Kaminari– all of them being wounded in battle, scattered across a field of undug graves, all bleeding, dying– her hands were trembling, the feeling of unshed blood streaming down her hands all but invisible to her. Still, Uraraka breathed in deep and straightened her back, a decided glint in her eyes, but it was wavering against the tides of possibility– no matter the change in the outside, her turmoil remained unchanged. Sensing her worry, Todoroki hummed in thought and looked at Yamada after letting out a whistle.

There was clopping in the distance. “Thanks for warning us, Yamada. We’ll rush over immediately.”

The man crossed his arms and nodded, looking at them as gravely as Todoroki was doing to him, a grim expression curling his lips upside down. “Be careful, kids. Pull a leg, out there.”

A white horse ran to their side in two seconds, one that Uraraka had no patience to pet or woo because her protectors were in danger, and they couldn’t stand there without doing anything. Todoroki eased her onto the horse and he grasped the bridles while Uraraka wrapped her arms around him. “Please, take care of Iida in our absence and give him our sincerest thanks!” exclaimed Todoroki while his horse turned, and Uraraka nodded in repetition. “We will be back as soon as possible. If we don’t make it back before midnight, please send the council over!”

Todoroki whipped the bridles and the white, pure and strong horse started its race against the wind, with Uraraka embracing the knight for dear life. They passed trees, houses, a farm, and when the village was out of sight, the rider was quick to reassure her of her fears.

“They will be alright.” he said, tense. Her worry didn’t falter in any degree, nor did his. “I joined Yuuei for a reason. Trust me, they are too strong to give in to petty zone bosses.”

She nodded, but decided to speak out her thoughts– it wasn’t wise to ignore them anymore. “You guys have been protecting me, giving me your trust and refuge.” her arms tightened, and Todoroki felt this. “I need to help them as much as I can.”

The boy chuckled before her, and the sound bounced on his ribcage and under her ears. It made her feel a bit better, even if it was the slightest bit. “With such words,” he took his time to continue, rolling the words around his mouth. “you’re making me regret the punch from before.”

Uraraka giggled a little bit, the gesture not reaching her eyes– they were still as dull and swarming with worry as before, but the feeling was being pinned down in favor of rectitude and bravery. She needed to be sane, collected, and strong, because they needed her help and damn straight, she’d head right into hell as a payback for their help. She frowned and clutched Todoroki’s vest a bit tighter, and the boy increased the pace of the ride with an impatience that didn’t seem to suit him.

A stretch was hear in the distance above her, and Edgar came diving into the air to fly beside them. Uraraka’s eyes twinkled in momentary glee. “Edgar, there you are!”

The pet let out another growl in response, and Todoroki looked at him for a second in surprise before focusing on the road ahead. That girl sure was full of surprises– mused he, silent. The girl beckoned the pet to her proximity. “Edgar, fly a bit ahead and warn us of any enemies in our way!”

She gestured him with her head to go ahead, and the little beast raised to the sun to then fade away in the distance, quick to her command. Todoroki seemed unaffected by the display. “You sure know your business with eagles. Good for you.”

Uraraka checked to see if there were any enemies behind them, and was glad to find the path empty. She nodded her response and looked ahead with the knight, both with their hearts hanging an inch above the lava and hoping for a good, lucky rope to come and take them out of that hellish feeling that was worry, trepidation, and unsettling expectations.

When Uraraka and Todoroki reached the mountainous barrier, they were met with a heat wave that swayed its way to their hearts, spitting on the bravery of their faces and cornering all determination left in their strained souls to a little place that was at the verge of non-existence. Clous hovered in the ashen sky, the volcano was starting to dangerously let out gas – or that’s what Todoroki could tell this far.

In a corner of the entrance to the field were the volcano was, Uraraka spotted scrambled, red clothing bunched and dirty. She bent over while Todoroki left his horse in a safe place, and touched it. Bakugou’s cape must it be, since such red could only match the blood hell of his livid eyes. She fisted the fabric tightly and silently, albeit almost regretfully, prayed for him to be ok.

Todorki had taken his vest off, and stood only in his shirt. “This is a protected path to the Frost Way, a volcano stands in its midst– well, it’s not a volcano, more like a crater, reason why it’s protected with barriers. Once we cross this threshold, there’s no way back.” he eyed her warily. Her eyes were set on the door as if she’d burn it with her sole eyes, grim expression of anxiety that he sure wore with more subtlety. “Are you sure you want to go in with the injuries you–“

“Of course!” spat she, turning to him, and stepping forward. Her staff was scraping the ground it touched, making Todoroki shiver with doubt and sudden worry for that stubborn sorcerer. Somehow… despite having only met her, after such good praise from his peers, he could only go with the flow. “Do open this door, they need our help!”

The knight looked at her for the last time and gulped. Afterwads, he drew his thin sword– and despite its small width, Uraraka felt its strength a meter away from its sharp edges. “Right.”

Todoroki kicked the doors open and rushed into the dark hallway that went underneath the walls of the field, and heard her steps struggling to keep pace behind him. She was injured and tired, but she was a tough cookie, he could tell. Todoroki still feared for her safety– he had seen her wounds when Bakugou had carried her to the healing wing, and they weren’t exactly childish scrapes. Still, she was being weak, but a fighter nonetheless. He’d be on her side for that fact.

A minute later, they were met with another big door, and loud ruckus was heard from inside. Under the gleam of fire torches– all too familiar to Uraraka, yet so precarious and uncomfortable for her. Not seeing what was behind the doors, no matter the severity of the warzone outside, and not being able to help their friends – they nodded at each other and collectively kicked the doors open.

They were met with a too vivid picture, yet the sounds arrived too late for their catching up minds. The volcano was letting out the ashes Todoroki had predicted with the passion Uraraka had seen coming, but what they hadn’t expected was to see that unnamable monster roaring at its top, Bakugou dangling from the edge of the crater and as Uraraka squinted, she was alarmed to see him limping there, probably unconscious. She noticed his sword thrown near–

She almost screamed, and rushed to her peers. Her face was constricted in a painful grimace of fear. The rocks scratched the soles of her boots, heat molding against her skin and ashes making her eyes feel sore, tired and stingy– yet her run didn’t falter, all she was able to see being Kirishima laying on a rock with Tokoyami by his side. She quickly knelt by their side, and Todoroki reacted quickly. They tried not to be noticed by the enemy as other guild mates distracted the monster.

“What the–“ the sorcerer started to rummage through her bag and found the greenish item. “Uraraka, what are… you…?”

The girl lifted his chin and the boy took the hint and opened his mouth, lips parted as she eased the potion into his mouth. “Iida arrived in time to warn us about… whatever that is on top of the volcano. We hurried here immediately.”

Tokoyami coughed, clutching his ribs in pain. From the corner of his injected eyes, he saw Uraraka give Todoroki a pair of potions and instruct him to heal the bird boy with them. His heart softened a bit for her, but his words didn’t. “There’s nothing you guys can do.” spoke he, and Todoroki rushed to give him the same green healing treatment. “That monster… it’s unvulnerable to physical attacks.”

Uraraka got up and tried to see the enemy from that far. From her view, he looked like a sphere-based monster. He was surrounded by balls of fire, making all kinds of terrifyingly loud noises that could easily deafen his foes. The enemy let out in that very second a deafening scream of menace, and made everyone cover their ears, flinching until their frown touched the ground and teeth bit deep into their lips. Some sand blew around them as a tremble echoed deep beneath the surface. It came from deep within the volcano.

“Can you see him?”

A strong wheeze of wind came towards him, and Uraraka deflected it with a swing of her staff. “Yeah, and heard that too.”

After sighing rapidly to make a plan, she was on her knees again, curing Tokoyami as fast as possible. “Todoroki, head to the offense line, we need time.”

“I already said it’s impossible.” spat the one being healed, staring at her through narrowed eyes. “The volcano will erupt in minutes. Everyone should get out of here.”

Uraraka went on healing him despite his words, but reacted to the inwardly. Her eyes grew concerned the more minutes that passed. “But that monster…”

“It won’t die.” coughed Kirishima. “But it will be deep in rubble for the… time we have our asses out.” Todoroki offered another cura, but he rejected it by showing his closing wound. “We still have time to go up there, fetch Bakugou’s sorry ass and get the hell out of here.”

But everyone knew the real problem with this sorting out, but nobody dared to speak out excepting Todoroki.

“That’s bread for today and hunger for tomorrow.” grunted he, aiming with his sword. “Take care of them, Uraraka.”

And the boy went off with his sword enveloped in flames, ready to take him out. The sorcerer was completely aware of the fact that his strikes wouldn’t work, no matter their nature. Abilities didn’t seem to be used often as far as she was seeing, which meant that everyone lacked enough control to effectively use it against the enemy. Everyone… excepting her.

“Don’t fucking dare.”

She looked up from her patient’s arm to look at Kirishima, who was glaring her in a dangerous way. “What do you–“

“I’ve seen that look, somewhere before.” stated he, plainly. His fingers curled around the gravel. “No way you’re going off there, round-face. Bakugou did too much of a number on you, no way.”

There was a silent blanket of clothing rustling, the obvious sounds of people being hurt and the quickening quakes of the ground coming in and out of their ears as they focused on Uraraka, who stared intently at Tokoyami’s cure while patting some ointment on Kirishima.

“…but you got a plan, don’t you?”

Again, silence. The brunette knew better than to answer straight away by how defensive they had gotten over losing a life over reckless actions– above all if it was a good asset that had been hurt by their leader and was going to hurt herself unreasonably. However, it now seemed like she was too focused on nothing, her eyes blank while many red thoughts rattled behind her irises. And Tokoyami saw it too well.

She coughed, guilty. “I do.” she faced them decisively, this time. “It may not work… but you know I have to.”

Uraraka left some containers full of various liquids in front of them, and addressed their functions briefly before throwing her hat away along with her bag. She grabbed tighter onto her staff, and her hands suddenly weighed tons, feeling upcoming rain above her daring to break down the moment she stepped on the wrong stone. Kirishima regarded her, eyebrows knit in confusion.

“Why are you even doing this?” she didn’t answer, instead focused on her path to the volcano. “We aren’t your family, you have no reason to trust us not to kill you after this! And risking your life so stupidly…”

Uraraka shook, because those words had startled her more than they should have and yes, it was true that she had no reason to trust them after whatever that happened next– except that she kinda did have an answer to that. “You guys took me in and gave me a bed, food, and warmth that I had never felt before– it’s as if I had never lived before this. Because you gave me a present to live,” she looked at them, confidence quivering yet her smile stood there, unstoppable in front of the flames. “I’ll be risking my future. Wait for me to come back, though. I ain’t a weakling.”

And Uraraka rushed forward, rocks of fire flying down and threatening to smash her to pieces the moment the flames licked her skin too hard. Her eyes came into contact with the beast atop of the volcano, where Bakugou lay as well. She ignored the blood running down his arms and thought. The beast was surrounded by flames, so it was obvious that trying to throw physical objects at him was useless for either the attacker or the item used in it. The only way to make the monster be harmless to touch was by reducing his flames to something harmless– but obviously no one here could do that, since there were no sorcerers around other than her.

Which made her think, that again, she needed somewhere to reach the monster. Her eyes escalated the way towards the volcano in haste– Uraraka swung a meteorite to pieces with a power strike, lightning and wind smashing the hassle down. How dare he, try to kiss her with force when all she needed now was to get as close to the volcano as possible. Her boots cracked the ground behind her, and she had to skip some fallen goodies so they wouldn’t halter her run.

At the battle front, things looked rough, but after a quick sweep, she decided against standing around any longer.

“EVERYONE!” yelled she, at the top of her lungs in the midst of a rock shower and her chords choking in the ashen air. She coughed out, and people looked at her while aiming at the monster with desperate moves. People were bleeding; some had broken limbs that had been healed improperly. None of their tactics mattered anymore if they weren’t effective. Her staff pounded the ground, creating a big horizontal divide from which a barrier of spikes emerged– they all retreated to look at her.

“Get away from here, and go help the wounded!”

“But Uraraka–“

“I have a plan, Midoriya!” Uraraka removed her gloves and knelt on the ground once again, touching the ground with gentleness and focus. “Please, trust me this once! You guys are too injured to do this, no way you guys are straining your limbs!”

Jack ran– more like crawled to her side, observing her weird display with caring eyes. Her arms were full of cuts, an eye was swollen and Uraraka swore that if she had the time and stamina, she’d cure her and then knock her out of life for being so reckless in battle. “But your shoulder–“

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT MY SHOULDER!” a circle of light surrounded Uraraka, making people retreat a bit further. The fierceness of her eyes gave out a clear message: she got their backs. “I’ll be fine, please do leave this to me!”

Jack eyes her once again, clutching her neck for some clearness on her friend’s plan. Still, Uraraka didn’t even flinch, her eyes glaring at the volcano and her teeth clenched in a fashion that was familiar to her, maybe because it was dangerously similar to Bakugou. She sighed and turned to her dumbstruck allies, who were struggling to dodge the falling rocks. “Midoriya, let’s evacuate everyone out of here.”

“Jack, we can’t leave her do this!”

“I trust her, Kaminari!” screamed she, hoisting Asui on her back and indicating the boy to do the same with Mina. Todoroki had long run away with Yaoyorozu in his arms, trusting Uraraka but being afraid of her plan not working. Everyone feared putting their trust on her. “Guys, trust her, and let her be!”

There was a second, then two. The roar of the monster clapped above the crew, but Uraraka was too focused on magic to even notice. There was another deep rumble beneath their feet, but it sounded even nearer than ever before. This Uraraka felt, as her posture tightened. Everyone nodded at her, muttered an apology and a word of thanks, scrambling to find a secure place.

Uraraka had felt the quake and grown worried. The eruption would occur soon, and the beast would be buried beneath rubble– but they would be buried too. There was no way she’d let that happen, she couldn’t fail!

Her power flowed on her hands, making her limbs, abdomen and head feel weaker than she should. Her shoulder healing was draining stamina away from her, which meant that the damage from this trick would be enormous. Still, there was no way she’d let this opportunity slip. Her fingers tangled together, focusing her final breaths into this attack. Blood rushed to her fingertips, crackling with energy and power, the numbness closing in as a heavy burden of weakness fell on her like an avalanche.

Still…– she couldn’t hear screams of pain, anymore – she’d do it.

Even if she died in the process.

Her hands took the staff gingerly to only smash it on the ground, the power tha had been briefly held in scattering deep beneath the ground underneath her feet, under the volcano, deep beneath were demons lived– and she felt it. The ground under the territory shook violently, creating a massive earthquake that made the monster wiggle, then scream above what could be tolerable– but Uraraka felt nothing but the scorching feeling of her magic being drained out of her, and all her energy starting to make the world shake in her grasp.

Bakugou luckily woke at this violent rumble, and before he could start screaming at her to stop making things go mambo, she was quick to shut him up. “Bakugou, GET OUT OF THERE, NOW!”

There was another quake that had everyone screaming. The walls of the crater started to be torn down, crumbling to pieces both outside and inside the volcano. The monster angrily threw fireballs at her, but they only arrived as pebbles as air grew humidor, denser, and the grounds beneath her started to rise up against. The angry leader could only stare in wonder. “What the fuck are you–!”

A deaf noise interrupted him, and Uraraka screamed at the top of her lungs as blood dripped from her closed wounds and nose. There was a crash, thunder meeting thunder, and another weak rumble that had everyone holding their breaths. This was it, and the sorcerer licked her lips in anticipation. This was either a big loss or a monumental success, heat against–

And a second later, the volcano erupted– but instead of lava like everyone was fearing, water sprouted from the creaks of the volcano. Bakugou tumbled and held onto a creak as the makeshift tsunami devastated everything around them, streaming from the crater as it successfully reduced the monster to clay, cleansed the ashen air around them and flooded the whole territory surrounded by barriers. The water tornado knocked Uraraka out of reach as she willingly let herself be flown out of scene, blood tainting its little ripples as the fire eruption had been replaced with underground rivers.

The water waves were scorching hot, and they came in high waves that approached the resting warriors like a soft blanket of rolling bubbles and silence– all was enveloped in white noise as the rocks crashed, cracked, and everything was reduced to dust. The waters made everyone hit the barriers surrounding the volcano with muted hisses of pain, but they were overjoyed to see that the trick had worked.

But.

When the water leaked through the gates, all of them made a meek attempt to stand up, wounds steaming from the hot water, but horrified to see that the monster wasn’t moving and menacing, but it was still very alive. Uraraka, once the way was clear, made an attempt to walk forward– she had protected the guild, helped defeat a menace. She hadn’t expected her makeshift barriers to break under the unexpectedly strong push of water, but it was a success no matter the standpoint.

People gawked at her as she stood on her staff, hat crooked. They reached the same conclusion: sorcerers were damn dangerous. And Uraraka was cute as hell, but also as deceiving as Bakugou had deemed her to be.

This very same leader crawled his way to the top of the crater and, with a powerful explosion of his hand as a last resort of his energy, made the beast – which had been gripping the rocks – tumble his way into the abyss, never to be seen again. A shadow crosses his face as gripped his twitching hand, and he slid his way to the feet of the volcano with the very same grimace he sported no matter how tired, beaten or bloody he was.

Ashes blew at his feet. His body was marred with scratches, deep bleeding gashes– this blood was caked on his muscles, turning brown and crusting on his biceps, chest, or maybe it was just dirt? She could smell the metallic taste of humanity off him, something husky and sweaty she couldn’t bring herself to hate. The same way he couldn’t bring himself to kill her off now that she was at her weakest.

She limped on her staff. He limped on his knees. “Why…”

Uraraka chucked, soaked to the bone and cut with the rocks that had been thrown at her before the spell. “Because you gave me a place to belong.”

He didn’t have any strength to reply to that– his heart screamed to kill her, lungs wishing to breathe the ringtone of her cries, and hands desiring to kill more people other than those silly henchmen he encountered before this mess. His insults and curses dies in his throat, and all he could do was respond as bluntly as possible.

His eyes rolled and all his weight fell down on her, but Uraraka was quick to react by kneeling and catching his whole weight– which was a lot. People behind them watched the scene unfold, mouths agape, bones tense in agitation.

“Fucking Uraraka…” mumbled Bakugou, thoughtless, gripping the skin of her legs with the intention of hurting her. “I loathe you… midget…”

It didn’t take much longer for her to collapse into dreamless unconsciousness, too the evening breeze carrying away the dust and ashes. Suddenly, there was no threatening of incoming rain– just a clear sun, watching people rescue a newfound friend.

When Bakugou woke, he hadn’t expected to feel what he felt. Light flashed before his closed lids, breeze coming from a creak on the windows of his bedroom, and a soft blanket was wrapped around his scathed body– he also felt something being tangled on his fingers, and a soft voice coming from a side. It was comforting, like the voice of his mother had once been in his youth. It had always put him into deep black slumber, stars twinkling down his innocent, passionate eyes, red like fresh roses.

The caress of this hand was smooth too, but it felt and smelt like pink roses– it was the color of a sunny sunset with no clouds, no disturbance, just a hand entwined with his as fingers grazed his calloused skin, but hers wasn’t scathed, it was caring and harmless, trustworthy, and it felt familiar, warm, cozy… it felt like home.

His eyes fluttered open, and the stars and blowing curtains greeted his wake. “Ah, Bakugou. Good to see you awake!”

His head turned abruptly to find Uraraka fucking fixing his twisted fingers, only to have them snatched away from her comforting touch as soon as he recognized that voice. “What the hell are you–“

Her hand flew to his hand, and he had this inhuman urge to bite it off. “Shut it! People is resting now. Try to not make a fuss over it for now, please?”

He grunted a dismissive curse and let his hand linger over the edge of the mattress, allowing her to grab it again and tend his wounds. It was all sorts of humiliating to let a witch like her see him at his weakest and have her tending his wounds when she had been the one to ultimately save the day– still, he’d humor her this once. Just so she wouldn’t force herself too much and people wouldn’t come complaining at him because they hurt their savior.

Bakugou sat on the mattress, scratching the back of his head for recollection. He was shirtless, and thank god he wasn’t pantless or he’d be kicking that bitch out of the room. “How long have I been here?”

Her answer was sharp, as if prepared beforehand. “Just a few hours. We came back this evening and had quick healing from Shuzenji. My shoulder though–“ she swung it a little to show him. “–it’s not so good. Turns out I overdid it again.”

He watched her shrug it off again– it was driving him insane. How could she be– was she actually fucking whistling over the fact that she almost killed herself for the sake of a people who not only didn’t fully approve of her, but also didn’t have anything to do with her? Why do such a reckless move when it wasn’t worth the shot? Her palms were wrapped in bandages, just like his, and were a bit shaky but gentle all the same– despite having torn her shoulder apart, despite having barked at her to leave and despite dismissing her all the time, she always came back to bite his ass.

He was growing tired of chasing her away. Something had to be wrong with her. “Why the fuck are you so hellbent on making my life miserable, Uraraka?”

Oddly enough, she giggled at him. “I already told you why.”

Silence coated, permeated and suck the room into tranquility, something he wasn’t used to as he was obliteration, destruction, madness, noise, rumble and ubiquity. But there he had her: messy, yet pretty, peaceful yet feisty, porcelain skin that had demonstrated to be able to make volcanoes go wild and meteorites destroy the Earth. He should be afraid, angry, tearing her limbs off because she was a fucking universal menace, and she had just shown how dangerous she could be when her desire was invested on it.

But all he did was stare. Aggressively.

“I told you to go away.”

“I know.” she resented.

“I almost killed you.”

“I’m aware.” pat on her shoulder. “A pain.”

“You should be dead.” he attacked. Yet this time, she hummed a response while wrapping bandages around his wrist, her touch never burning his skin. “Like, I could fucking behead you with my hammer.”

Her touch halted then, and he was damn glad because it was doing all but useful. Look at that mess. It looked like criss-cross fabric. “Would you?”

“Do I seem to be in condition to swing around my things now?” she shook her head, clearly not hesitant to block his attempts to make a conversation so her shenanigans would be less blush-worthy. Instead of trying to distract himself with chatter, he glanced at her as subtly as possible, again.

Her cheeks were dusted with little burns here and there, but that healthy blush of hers was intact. Her eyes were bathed in red stings, lashes low and tired, but her smile was blinding nonetheless. Hands, bandaged hands worked on his skin, and he couldn’t believe that those gentle, petite hands of hers held the power to eventually move in time, but for now they could make mountains break. He’d regard it as cool if it weren’t for the fact that it wasn’t cool, it was fucking amazing.

Misconceived little midget. His teeth clenched, but his eyes bore on her fingers. Bakugou clearly couldn’t fight fire with fire, so there was no way he could attack her with force anymore knowing that she could pull that shit off when thrilled enough. And now, those hands were tending his stupid hands. Those silly, reckless hands of hers, and that was the only part of her he actually respected.

He wanted to see those hands every day – he realized, breath not labored, him being the same as always and starting to realize that maybe, he had a reason to keep her around and make every damn ass of his guild happy for once.

“Join the guild.”

Her threading work stopped, and he heard her gasp so lowly that he swore he had imagined it, but when he glanced at her eyes, there was no mistake. Still, her face remained unchanged despite the startled tint in her irises. There was a silent question in them, and once her eyes retreated to his hands again, he rushed to explain. “I’d rather have you where we can keep an eye on you. Having you in another fucking guild won’t do.”

“And why is that?” her voice was barely above a whisper.

“I respect your strength, but as a sorcerer, I should have expected you to be this strong.” and she already knew this, but he liked to state it so she wouldn’t get ideas he didn’t want her to get. “All sorcerers are overly powerful, but you are also a threat. There should be no sorcerers, and I’ll make sure you behave while you are here.”

“I didn’t even say yes.”

His eyes glared hard at her. “Come on. You were dying to join us – don’t fucking deny it, I can see it in your eyes.” she snorted at his attempt to be emotional, to which he responded by being aggressive. “And you’ll train with me.”

Her hands stopped once again – he sure was being a real softie like Kaminari had once suggested, and her eyebrows disappeared behind her fringe. “Train with you? With King Blasty the Psychopath?”

The fact that he smirked at her remark only made it weirder to her that he took that insult as a compliment. The smirk didn’t last long. “We gotta make you learn how to increase you capacity. Having you lose yourself over single opponents in the battlefield won’t do anymore. And… I’m gonna make sure you don’t even approach any books regarding psychics.”

“So you’re trusting me.”

“Fucking far from it.”

She cut the bandage short with her teeth and tucked it under another patch, the moved on to his other hand, all in silence with a pondering smile. ��You said you didn’t trust me, therefore I’d never join you guys.”

His eyes were casted down as he slapped her gentleness away. He rubbed his face up and down with his palms, immediately feeling the pain of open wounds being widened. She rushed to grasp them and, again, he let her be while glancing at his fixed hand. “You told me you could do good, right?” Uraraka looked up, blinking in shock – he had listened to her, this time? “You protected my people, twice. Showed me you were more dangerous than I thought, twice as well. Reason enough to keep you fucking close as swatting you away isn’t working, so don’t make misleading assumptions.”

There was a minute of silence, then two– and Bakugou swore than this was what happened when he opened his shitty mouth, when his force met her gentleness and the fire from his eyes burnt too deep into a person he had decided to trust, and it seemed like his plan had backfired spectacularly as she wasn’t speaking, the chatterbox broken–

“I will.”

He felt slapped, but when he looked at her smiling – like, purely genuine and big and it got him excited, somehow – it seemed like his plan had worked. It made him smirk in pride because he finally had won over her stubbornness and despite not having taken lives out of it, the moral satisfaction was as intense as a battlefield blood bath. “Is that so?”

“But let’s make things clear: only as long as I’m not trashed around for being a sorcerer and I’m respected as a warrior.”

He eyed her, lingering in her eyes for way too long, and his brows sunk further in exhasperation. Of course she’d ask for the only think he couldn’t give her.

“I just told you I respected your strength.” and he was giving in that way. “But there is no way I’m going to let you off the damn hook. Remember all about responsibility and power?”

Uraraka sighed, “Fine…” torn between feeling let down and content with the arrangement. His eyes glared as hard on her as always, and her touch was undeniably soft and caring. He was made to attack, while she was made to resist his tides.

All he could do is wonder how long she’d last until her walls finally gave in. And her hand knitting went on all night, her touch never leaving even after he fell asleep.

[a/n]:I am in fact very dead and I’d appreciate an exorcism, that’s all see you next part

so credits for making this happen go to @kacchanswife, who is the ultimate bestie, @liltoothbrush who is a cutie, @thatweirdlookingdude for being the counselor to encourage me as well, @zuran for being an adorable being, @lunaofthesky, @just-love-n-sunshine, and @neonbubble! you guys commented on the shoutouts about the fic and pushed me forward to write! I will always be thankful for making this happen ♥

#kacchako fanfiction #fanfiction #kacchako #bnha fanfiction #IT'S DONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE #haha sorry I feel bad now

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