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Darkest Before Dawn - 61
🕑 Added 2024-05-23 17:53:39 +0000 UTCChapter 61
As they walked towards the outside, Kazuki was very grateful for Uwabami’s costume session from before. For one, she basically was almost always in uniform, since she could go everywhere while “in costume” and not look weird. After all, her costume was a dress and some accessories. Not only that, but since he was considering changing his own costume, he’d taken to doing much as she did and wearing his costume all the time. Formal wear wasn’t quite his thing, but he’d done it mostly so that he could get a feel of it and decide if he wanted to make that change or if he changed his mind again.
‘Definitely has its uses to have something that can be worn practically everywhere,’ he thought, adjusting his sleeves a little. Kendo wasn’t quite as lucky, since she did need to change. They’d probably have to wait for her while she did that.
Speaking of…
“We have a bit, right?” he asked as Uwabami and him walked out the doors of the agency.
“We do. Why?” the hero asked, eyes sharp and a slight frown on her face. He could feel her worries and some frustration bleeding into her senses. He pushed all that aside though, because he had something he wanted to do.
“I think I can get us there faster, but I’d have to try something new,” he said, closing his eyes and drawing inside. “I can try to make the Nevermore faster,” he added. “I just don’t know how long I’ll have to be at it, since… Well, I haven’t tried this before.”
“We have a bit before Kendo catches up. Go for it. If you aren’t done by the time she’s here, then we go the normal way,” Uwabami said after barely a moment of thought. That was impressive, really, to be able to reach a decision that quickly and decisively. Then again, he guessed that made sense. In a rescue situation, every second counted.
‘Gotta remember that,’ he told himself.
For the moment though, he had to make every second count himself.
So, immediately, he drew into himself, reaching for the nodes of emotion inside him. He let his shadow expand forward but didn’t start making anything. No, it was time to use the nodes once more, this time for something new again.
He was more or less acquainted with his nodes by then, which meant that it didn’t take long for him to pull on the string of the one he looked for. Instantly, he felt the overwhelming emotion flood him, almost like it was trying to shut down his mind. Were they going to make it to Hosu in time? Would they be able to save someone? Would they be able to do anything?
They were going to get there in his Grimm. What if it was all for nothing? He’d be right there, and everyone would hate him. They would hate Uwabami. It’d be the worst possible way to reveal his internship to the world, he was sure. They’d fail, wouldn’t they? They wouldn’t get there in time…
But he had to try anyway. He had to push through and try, because there was nothing else.
Everything could go to hell if he messed up.
There was only…
Anxiety.
And that emotion flowed through him mercilessly and relentlessly as he funneled it towards the rapidly formed bird Grimm. The Nevermore was sharper than ever, slicker and the wisps of darkness paired with the shine of his red eyes made it seem all the more menacing. He looked at it as it was formed and Kazuki could only be happy that it was working, even if it was all for nothing. Even if it was all… usele-
‘Enough of that,’ he thought, slumping and breathing harshly once the Grimm was finished and he could let go of the string. None of his emotion nodes were fun, but Anxiety was… It was too close to how he was already feeling, but infinitely worse. The imposing presence of everything that could go wrong and what it’d mean…
‘Fucking hell,’ he cursed internally, sighing and running his fingers through his hair. Then he twitched, wondering if he’d ruined his hair. A few touches later told him that… just a little bit. It was easily fixed though. ‘Gotta remember that,’ he reminded himself, still weary.
“You alright, Kazuki?” Uwabami asked, looking between him and the massive Nevermore he’d summoned. It was a lot bigger than the normal ones, apparently, but that was fine. It was probably for the better.
“Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine,” he breathed out, taking a deep breath in before delving back into the energies. He needed three Nevermore. That one might be big, but it would be a nightmare for three people to ride it, especially if it went faster than normal as he expected and wanted. No, he needed one for each of them. “Two to go,” he said with a grimace of a smile.
Then he went on to make more.
It was… a process he didn’t want to repeat, but it was also one he suspected he’d need to anyway. He didn’t think he could ever be a fan of his node Grimm. They were just… He felt bad on good days, but consistently pulling on the nodes was shittier than his shittiest days. The only things above those were the Rampage and the Sports Festival at that very moment. At least pulling on nodes was a relatively quick process.
“You name them even when they are just a version of the old ones, don’t you?” Uwabami asked when he was done with the second. “What’s this one called?” she added, a fair bit of concern in her feelings, as if he needed more of that shit. In fairness to her though, he hadn’t really explained and, even then, he must have been quite the sight.
“Giant Nevermore,” he answered, mostly because he couldn’t be bothered to think more thoroughly. He was just so done already and he needed to get another one done before Kendo caught up.
“Imaginative,” she replied and he gave the weakest of smiles in response to her own amused one.
“I know,” he mumbled, taking another deep breath in. “Last one…”
[}-o-{]
The Giant Nevermore might have a shit name, but it did what it was supposed to.
He couldn’t be sure, but Kazuki would say they were flying twice as fast as the normal Nevermore. ‘I might need to get gloves and glasses of some kind,’ he thought, squinting against the force of the wind and feeling his hands growing cold. If he was going to have to fly long distances at some other point in his career – which he imagined was likely to be the case – then he’d better have the equipment to facilitate that. ‘Something to discuss with Hatsume,’ he made a mental note.
As it was, it was all he could do to keep his creatures flying where they were supposed to and it was only the fact that he had basically three sets of eyes to keep track of the course that they hadn’t deviated from their path. Even then, Uwabami had to keep her own eyes on a device that told her where to go to make sure. He’d likely have to train his orientation while flying, he supposed.
Lots of things were being added to his list of things to work on.
That was kind of the point of internships though, Kazuki guessed. They were there to see how the pros worked and what they might need come the time. It was better than imagining hypothetical scenarios or fake settings.
‘Thank God Hosu is close,’ he thought, letting go of the spike that protruded from the top of the Nevermore’s mask, which he was using as a handle to hold on to. As he did, he flexed his fingers, which were growing numb from holding so hard. ‘Just a bit more, come on,’ he urged himself. On top of wanting to be there to help faster, Kazuki also wanted to get there so that he could stop flying. Nevermore might be fast, but they were creatures without proper saddles or anything, which meant they were far from comfortable to use for extended periods of time.
Maybe there was something he could do about that?
He didn’t know just what, but it was worth considering.
“A little to the left, Beacon,” Uwabami called over the comms device he wore on his ear, like an earbud. It was weird, to hear her like that after exclusively talking with the woman face to face during his internship so far. It was made even more so by the fact that she called him by his hero name instead of his name.
They were “on the field” now, however. They were out doing actual hero work, so that meant they had to be professional. No more informal calling and no more silliness. She’d explained all that while they were getting ready to depart and started getting on the Grimm mounts he’d provided and even after they had started flying. Occasionally, she’d drop some other nuggets of wisdom that she remembered.
To quote her, Uwabami did a lot of stuff without really thinking anymore, so she couldn’t really tell them everything while they were getting there, but she’d try. Kazuki imagined it was kind of like school books. They tried their best, but there was only so much one could point out off the top of their head and even with plenty of time. She’d teach them anything she might have missed when they go to that metaphorical bridge.
“They are telling me there are Nomus in Hosu,” Uwabami said over the comms then and Kazuki twitched, feeling a phantom itch on his chest. “Similar to the creature that attacked the USJ and your class, Beacon. Anything we should know?”
“Strong, fast, durable. I threw an army of Grimm at that one and did nothing,” he answered with pursed lips. “Pretty sure that thing was supposed to take on All Might.”
“... Let’s hope these ones aren’t on that level,” Uwabami said after a pause. To her credit though, she didn’t seem scared or nervous. He couldn’t even pick up on those emotions through his sense, really. “That’s Endeavor’s problem though. They called me here for rescue, not combat. You’ll help me with that and nothing else. You won’t get involved in combat unless it’s absolutely necessary, alright? I’m sure you are good, but there are pro heroes there and we don’t need an incident with interns getting in the way, is that clear?”
“Yes.”
“Yes,” Kendo replied, almost at the same time as him. He noticed some frustration coming from her though, together with envy and despondency. However, it was small, which he was pretty sure meant she had that under control.
Kazuki himself felt a little bad about that. He wouldn’t have minded trying to repay the Nomus for what the other one had done to him and his class, for what it had done to Aizawa. However, what he wanted to do, above everything else, was rescue. That was the kind of hero he wanted to be. The one that was there, right where and when people needed a hero the most. He imagined that was more of a rescue thing than a combat thing, or maybe both?
It didn’t matter, he’d do his job as a rescue intern and he’d do so happily.
“Look alive, Battle Fist, Beacon, we are almost there,” Uwabami told them and, sure enough, Hosu appeared in the distance getting closer and closer. “I hope you are ready, because this will be your debut performance. Remember-”
“Calm yourselves,” Kendo said and Kazuki could almost hear her smile as she interrupted and accurately took over. Uwabami had told them those words entirely too much while they were practicing speeches.
“And be your best self,” he finished with a grin on his face.
“Well, aren’t you two cute?” Uwabami told them with a short giggle. “Time to get this show on the road,” she said then, as they started flying over the city. Kazuki directed his Nevermore a little to the side, towards where a cloud of smoke – Or maybe dust. Both? – floated up towards the sky. “Follow my lead.”
[}-o-{]
[Izuku Midoriya]
‘Guess it’s fortunate that Iida didn’t come here in the end,’ he thought, watching the wreckage that the three Nomu were leaving behind them. There were plenty of heroes around, but they were still having problems with them. Izuku himself had barely managed to avoid getting hit once already and that’d have been bad. One of the heroes that had come to fight them off had gotten smacked into a wall and was now struggling to even stay up.
He’d have hated to see his friend in that state, awful as it was to be grateful that someone else was hit instead.
‘What do I do? Do I fight? Do I help the civilians?’ he wondered and he couldn’t decide. There was so much chaos all over the place, Izuko felt like he wanted to do twenty things at the same time and ended up doing none of them.
“The civilians, boy!” Gran Torino shouted at him and his body moved instantly, as if he were suddenly woken up. Before his brain could even fully process the order, he was already moving to help guide and cover a group of people that was trying to get away. The flying Nomu had kind of thrown a car in their path and they were panicking, not unlike Izuku himself had been a moment before.
“This way!” Izuku exclaimed, signaling for the new path they should take and keeping an eye on the fight in case some other object was thrown at them. Even if there were no people around, what were they going to do though? It had taken All Might to defeat the Nomu at the USJ. Could the heroes at Hosu really deal with three of them?
Ultimately, it didn’t matter, they had a job to do and there were people that needed help.
The rest was secondary.
And his job was exactly what Izuku did. He might not be a hero yet, but that was what he had set out to do. He’d wanted to help those that needed help and everyone needed help at that very moment. He helped people stand, pointed them away from the fight and covered their escape. They were in the middle of a city, so there were a lot of people, but it didn’t matter. He could do that all day if need be.
“Why won’t they go down?!” he heard one of the heroes cry out and he chanced a glance towards the chaos once more. Indeed, the Nomu were being attacked relentlessly and still getting up. Just like the one at USJ, from what Izuku had heard.
“Regeneration Quirk?”
“And strength?”
“That one can return attacks too!”
The heroes were… kind of panicking, not that Izuku blamed them all that much. Nomus had multiple Quirks, and that was certainly something that was rare. At most, you’d find people that had Quirks with several sides, like Todoroki or Endo. Nomus had completely weird combos, like the pale one with its attack return and his weird tentacle-web-tongue on top of regeneration and strength.
“Help!” a civilian cried out and Izuku’s eyes instantly darted towards the woman, who was being carried up in the air by the flying Nomu. Instantly, his mind started piecing together a path to jump to save her. It was what he wanted to do. It was what he’d trained so hard for. However, before he could go for it, someone beat him to it.
Unsurprisingly, it was Gran Torino, who reached the path much faster than him. Unsurprisingly because the man basically had years and years of experience more than Izuku did. He followed the path of his mentor, committing it to memory. He needed to learn as much as possib-
The civilian slipped when the Nomu was hit and Gran Torino didn’t reach them. The screech reached Izuku’s ears at the same time as he started preparing to jump, slightly altering the pathing his mentor had taken. However, before he could, again, someone beat him to it. This time, however, it was definitely someone surprising.
Or, more specifically, something.
‘Endo?’ he thought, eyes widening as he saw one of his classmate’s Nevermore catching the falling woman, before another joined to stabilize the flying. A second later, three much bigger Nevermore flew down, all three of them carrying people on top of them. There was Endo, there was Kendo and then Uwabami herself.
“Beacon! Battle Fist! There’s someone under the rubble there!” the latter called immediately and the two of them moved towards the pile of destruction. The Nevermore with the civilian had already landed somewhere to the side and vanished into thin air as Izuku’s classmate started making Imps to dig through the rubble.
‘He’s not fighting either, huh?’ he noted to himself. Then again, it made sense. Uwabami was a rescue hero, after all. If they were interning under her, then it’d make sense that they wouldn’t really dive in. Besides, they might get treated like Izuku himself, he supposed, focusing back on his duties. They were first years, which meant that they probably wouldn’t be allowed to jump right in unless there was no other way.
It was frustrating, but seeing the people that he was helping get away from the mess was its own kind of reward, Izuku mused. He was saving people. He was being a hero, even if he wasn’t in the middle of things. He wasn’t useless. That was enough to put a smile on his face as he jumped over an upside down car to get to a woman that had tripped and was struggling to get up.
[}-o-{]
[Kazuki Endo]
“Fluffy!” the kid in his arms cried out and Kazuki had to do his best not to let the crying and wailing and the emotions get to him. He couldn’t let the boy go towards where he was pointing. That was, after all, where the Nomus and the heroes were fighting.
“The monsters are there, kid,” he said instead, grimacing as the feelings got worse. ‘Get a hold of yourself,’ he told himself. Uwabami had taught him better, damnit. He needed to look his best. How could he expect people to trust him and what he was doing if he was falling apart?
“But Fluffy scares the monsters!” the kid cried, tears streaming down his face as he desperately fought to get off of his arms.
“I’m plenty scary, right? I scare away monsters too,” Kazuki said, keeping his voice even, calm and confident. The kid looked at him and, for once, he was grateful for the twinge of fear that he felt through his sense.
“But Fluffy is my friend,” the boy sobbed. ‘He’s not screaming his lungs out, at least,’ Kazuki mused, pondering how to approach this from then on. The kid wasn’t fighting him anymore, but he was still feeling awful… And what kind of hero would he be if he left him like that?
“I’ll look for Fluffy, alright? What does he look like?” he asked, making a mental note to have his grimm look through the wreckage. It shouldn’t be too difficult… Although, he guessed chances were that Fluffy, whatever he, she or it was, wasn’t doing too well by then.
“Fluffy is my friend. He looks like a dog and he’s fluffy,” the kid answered, looking entirely too hopeful. It tugged at Kazuki’s heartstrings like few things did.
“Like a dog?” he asked, a little confused by that part.
“Fluffy is my stuffed dog,” the kid answered and Kazuki blinked. Well, at least he didn’t have to worry about finding a dead pet or something. “But he’s my friend,” the boy added, and there was sadness, desperation, annoyance and anger there.
Kazuki smiled.
“I’ll do my best, ok? For now… How about I give you another friend?” he commented once they reached a safe point where he could drop the kid off. There, he made his shadow extent and started creating a Beowolf Puppy.
“He’s fluffier than Fluffy!” the boy praised and Kazuki smiled.
“High praise, I bet. Keep an eye on each other for me, yeah? Wolfy will keep the monsters away and you’ll keep Wolfy from being lonely. Can you do that?” he asked and the boy nodded determinedly. “Great,” he added, glancing to the side, where someone moved to take the kid, who was now hugging the Grimm. “It’s safe. They are harmless and I’ll know if something happens,” he explained to the person, who was suddenly feeling very unsure, even if the woman didn’t show it.
“Of course.”
“Good luck, Mr. Hero!” the boy called behind him when Kazuki turned to move again and he paused. ‘Mr. Hero, huh?’ he thought, his lips pulling up into a smile.
“Beacon,” he heard Uwabami through his comm device. It seemed that she was done shouting her orders out loud for show. According to her, that had been more to show people that heroes were working than to give them commands. After all, the civilians needed to know that things were happening, that the heroes, to quote All Might, were there. “We need to set up a perimeter. Endeavor is here and we really don’t want anyone getting close to that fight. Can you manage that with your Grimm?”
“Sure thing, Uwabami,” he answered, narrowing his eyes as he focused on his creatures. They’d mostly been clearing rubble and looking for people that might have been under there so far. It’d been a bit since they’d found anyone though. So far, between Uwabami and him, they’d been able to sense anyone that might be hidden/covered somehow. His mentor hadn’t pointed out any people in a bit though and everyone he could feel was either a hero, a Nomu or a civilian already away from the chaos. He supposed that was a sign of all clear? “Do I put all Grimm on that or do I keep looking?”
“Limit was six with good control, right?” Uwabami asked, but she continued before he could answer. “Keep one looking around but everyone else on the perimeter. Just look at the other heroes, practically everyone other than Endeavor is forming it.”
Sure enough, as he shifted a bunch of his Grimm to Imps in order to help form a “safe” area away from the whole mess while also moving to the perimeter himself. Those Grimm were the most versatile and least likely to hurt someone if they needed to do something other than stand there to keep people away. At first, he imagined it wouldn’t be necessary. After all, what idiot would get close to a place that was being blocked by heroes and had known villains around?
Apparently, a few, because his Grimm caught sight of a few people being stopped when they tried to “sneak” in with their phones or even actual cameras.
“Hey there,” he greeted, having deliberately moved towards Midoriya. He’d seen him through one of his Grimm once and then he’d more or less kept an eye on him as best he could. Todoroki was likely to be around somewhere, considering Endeavor was around, but Kazuki didn’t know where. He’d probably look for him later.
“Hey, En- Er, Beacon?” the boy greeted, stumbling midway through his words and making Kazuki smile. Well, Midoriya was the same as usual, it seemed.
“That’s me… Deku, was it?” he asked, not knowing how to feel about that name. Then again, the guy didn’t seem to feel bad about it, so he guessed it was fine? He wasn’t one to talk, he supposed, considering the name he’d picked. “How’s the internship going?”
“Great! Gran Torino has a lot to teach me,” the boy answered and both of them turned to look at a woman that was approaching their line and trying to peek into the zone. Neither moved, especially because there was a hero that approached her soon enough. Kazuki really hoped they wouldn’t get flooded and have to hold the line like with those mobs that swarmed celebrities and such. “How’s Uwabami?”
“As good as I could have expected. Now I just have to see if she’s good enough when I’m done with the internship… or maybe today,” he added then, considering the possibility that press would get involved after the whole shitshow.
He wasn’t looking forward to th-
Their chat and Kazuki’s thoughts were interrupted by the heat washing over their backs and the flash of light that came from the area they were looking out of.
“Heroes are great, aren’t they?” Midoriya breathed out from beside him and Kazuki smiled.
“They sure are.”
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How’s it going?
I’m not happy with this chapter, not at all. Especially the second half of it. I don’t think I managed to write those scenes as well as I should have, but I’ve left this sitting there, checked and re-checked and… I just can’t improve it, so I guess I just sucked more than usual with this one.
Other than that, I guess not everything is shit. I just… feel like I should have written this much better than I did, the incident, the work the characters are putting in. I think I failed to convey that very well. Then again, I guess it can also be because of the underwhelming nature of what they are doing.
There’s no epic fight going on here, they are just doing what amounts to janitor work for heroes. I guess that’s what could be giving me the impression that the scene isn’t as good as it could be. However, I refuse to change that. Not everything is a fight against a BBEG, after all.
Anyway, I hope I’m worrying too much and you did manage to enjoy the chapter.
Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ
Random Question: At what time did you wake up today?
See you.
Comments
Coyote
The chapter is pretty nice for a start of hosu. Are you gonna have stain show up. I dont know if stain would try to recruit or kill kasuki. Geuss I'll see during the next chapter. Looking forward to it. I always enjoy your writing
