Darkness. Not the kind that comes with closed eyes, but something deeper. Heavier. It wrapped around me, thick and suffocating, like I was sinking into a void.
I couldn't really tell how long it felt like I was falling. Minutes. Hours. Days. My hands kept trying to find something to hold onto.
Then light, it invaded my view all of a sudden. A faint, eerie glow pulsed ahead, illuminating a figure sitting at what happens to be an edge.
The sensation of falling had stopped and I felt like I was standing. My body tensed at the sight but still his presence felt oddly comforting.
Slowly, he got up from the edge and turned to me but I couldn't see his features. No matter how hard I tried, his face was nothing but a void of darkness.
"You are not yet there" He said, his tone somber.
'Where?' I tried to respond but no words came. Looking down, I realized I had no body. Just darkness. Only my eyes remained, untouched by the void.
He turned to his side and for a second, it looked like he had a sad expression. "Although I do admire the effort you have been putting in, you're too slow. At this point, you wouldn't be able to control the darkness and shadows."
'Darkness and shadows?' I tried to ask, trying to force the words out by any means but to no avail. He probably could understand me as he took a step closer to me, I felt a chill run down my spine as his hand stretched towards me. If I could describe his face, it would only be the word nothingness. It felt like I was slowly sucked into a black hole.
"You are still struggling with the voices, I'll help you with that so you wouldn't go mad" His fingertips brushed my forehead, though I felt nothing "Time is running fast and you are lagging behind, learn to control the darkness and the shadows would obey."
The space between us began to stretch as I was pulled away "I see that time is up " He said, his voice fading. "Be strong as fast as you can, there are things far greater than you realise"
***
Pain.
It was the first thing I registered. A dull, throbbing ache spread through my body, each breath sending a sharp sting through my side. My limbs felt heavy, like they had been weighed down with lead.
I forced my eyes open, only to be greeted by a sterile white ceiling. The faint hum of medical equipment filled the air, accompanied by the rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor. A hospital? No, probably the school infirmary.
Slowly, my senses sharpened. The scent of antiseptic. The stiff sheets draped over me. The lingering taste of something bitter on my tongue. My throat was dry, and when I tried to swallow, it felt like sandpaper scraping against my skin.
'Fucking hell.'
The last thing I remembered was—
USJ.
The shadows, clawing my mind. The weird guy with the disc blades that cut me down.
I inhaled sharply, only to regret it as pain flared across my torso. A groan slipped past my lips before I could stop it.
"Ah, you're awake."
I turned my head slightly, still feeling the pain at my side. Recovery Girl stood beside my bed, watching me with a knowing look. The wrinkles on her face deepened as she sighed.
"You gave everyone quite a scare, you know. It's a miracle you're even awake this soon." She reached for a clipboard, flipping through some papers. "Your body went through quite the ordeal. A deep cut which luckily wasn't fatal, fractured ribs and a spike in your brain activity. Frankly, you should be out for at least another day, but I suppose you're just stubborn."
I tried to speak, but my throat was too dry. She must have noticed because she grabbed a cup of water from the bedside table, holding it out to me. I took it gratefully, the cool liquid easing some of the discomfort.
Recovery Girl sighed, flipping through her clipboard. "Your injuries were severe, but nothing that should've caused you to lose consciousness the way you did." She tapped a note on the paper. "You didn't just pass out from pain, your brain activity spiked abnormally before you collapsed."
She adjusted her glasses. "It's similar to a stress-induced syncope or even a mild seizure, but the scans didn't show anything conclusive. It's as if your nervous system just… overloaded."
She gave me a pointed look as I was lost in all what she was saying. "Has this ever happened before? Any history of neurological conditions?"
I shaked my head slowly, making her slightly irritated. As I drank, my eyes flickered to the bed beside me.
Midoriya.
His legs was covered in bandages, his arms wrapped up like a mummy. He looked worse than me, though that wasn't a surprise.
'He had gone and broken his bones again.' I thought as I dropped the empty glass on the bedside.
Recovery Girl followed my gaze and sighed. "That boy overdid it, as usual. He should wake up soon, but between the two of you, I don't know which one was more reckless today."
My brows furrowed as I looked back at Midoriya, he wasn't supposed to have his arms damaged. According to the story, it was just his legs when he jumped in to save All Might and he isn't supposed to be unconscious.
Something wasn't adding up....
My eyebrow arched as the question popped in my head, the realisation forming. "Where is All Might?" The question slipped out of my lips before I stopped it.
"All Might?" The older lady echoed as she put the clipboard down "Well, his situation wasn't that serious unlike you guys so he left yesterday."
I nodded, muttering to myself "I see, that makes sense. Although his quirk slowly fading away, he wasn't injury prone like our main character here." My eyes flickered to Midoriya before returning to Recovery Girl, only to find her giving me a weird look.
She turned away, busying herself with equipment, while my thoughts continued. "But still… the fight was brutal in the original story. No way his injuries were minor enough that he could just walk away a day bef–"
Wait.
I blinked. My mind caught up with her words. 'Wait, what?'
I pushed myself up slightly, ignoring the dull ache in my side. "What do you mean All Might left yesterday?"
She sighed in frustration as her cane tapped on the floor. "Do kids these days don't listen or what?" She stabbed and slashed the air with the cane repeatedly, pointing the handle towards Midoriya and I "You boys have been unconscious since the attack, which was yesterday. The principal had to contact your parents and calm them down."
I stared at her. A full day?
Her tone softened, more maternal now. "Get some rest. Your body still needs time to recover." She turned and walked out, leaving me alone with the still-unconscious Midoriya. The room fell into an eerie silence, despite the steady hum of medical equipment.
My gaze lingered on Midoriya for a moment before I sank back into the pillow, its comfort a stark contrast to the dull ache that still pulsed through my body. But rest wasn't happening anytime soon.
That dream…
I exhaled sharply, eyes fixed on the ceiling. 'What was that all about?'
I asked inwardly but I couldn't get any answer. The place where I was, the man, everything about the dream felt suffocating but calm at the same time, the same weird sensation I had when I 'met' this quirk in my dreams. My hand drifted to my mouth as I recalled something, I couldn't speak. I was fully conscious, fully aware, yet the words wouldn't come.
Weird but quite similar to the time that Midoriya met the first user of OFA, Yoichi Shigaraki, he too couldn't speak and was covered in darkness. Weird enough, just like Yoichi, the figure also said I need to be stronger.
I couldn't help but let out a frustrated sigh as my brain was flooded with questions 'Who was that man? What did he mean by what he said? What are the greater things he was talking about?'
"Control the darkness and the shadows would obey"
That was one thing he said that was burned into the back of my mind but what the fuck does that even mean? Was that a cryptic message? I had no clue to what that meant at all but it also intrigued my curiosity, what is this quirk all about?
Then the door creaked open, pulling me out of my thoughts.
———
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