𝐋𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐫 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ☆ ᴀ 𝙼𝙷𝙰 𝙾𝙲 sᴛᴏʀʏ

18 | ᴀʟʟ ɢʀᴇʏ ᴇᴄʟɪᴘsᴇ

Warnings: Mentions of blood/death, swearing, a breakdown

Word Count: 1167

☆-----...•ᴀʟʟ ɢʀᴇʏ ᴇᴄʟɪᴘsᴇ•...-----☆

Everyone's favourite porcupine is Aizawa-sensei's temporary test dummy as he demonstrates that though the class may have grown, our Quirks and physical strength have not.

Interestingly enough, this is probably applicable to me for once. I've continued my rigorous daily training, but avoided using my Quirk the whole year. Perhaps I should put a little effort in that area.

I'll have a boring trip if I don't.

We're instructed to use our Quirks in unfavorable conditions as the Pussycats supervise. I end up in a mini pool, holding my breath underwater.

Holding the pool in the air.

Orbiting it around the other pools.

Reflecting sunlight.

It's nice to have a holiday every now and then.

I start to meditate, slipping into the aether of my mind as I fall back into the routine of tugging at the threads, trying to unravel the memories.

They're loosening.

The water spins me around slowly, my hair twisting across my face.

Who am I, who are you, what did we (I) do? Tell me, tell me... the same questions on an endless loop, a train track that always ends in blood and disaster and death.

Ding, ding, ding.

☆-----...•...-----☆

Night is peeking over the horizon as we huddle in a group outside the forest. Half of 1B have been put with us to be scared, the other half scattered amongst 1C, who will be doing the scaring for the next 15 minutes. Komori has her arm looped through mine as we wait behind Jiro and Toru for our turn to enter the forest.

Mandalay directs the pair in front of us to enter and turns back to her conversation with the other Heroes.

I sigh, look up at the sky, and tug at Komori's arm. "Let's go in." We're meant to wait five minutes, but I'm done standing around.

She nods and we walk into the forest. The pair in front are already out of sight, hidden somewhere in the greenery. Trees extend leafy hands to one another above our heads. It's pretty, and the very grass seems to be alive, the skitters and chirps of small animals clear in the still air. Komori smiles down at a mushroom.

A heavy thud ahead us disrupts the forest noise, and all is silent for a moment before starting up again.

There's a weird smell in the air.

There's a weird weight in the air. Not a weight, not a heaviness, but it's out of place, and--

Shit! Don't think, MOVE!

I clap a hand over Kinoko's mouth and my own, my cheeks glowing at the bottom of my vision as I try to feel out the threat.

"Careful," I say. The word comes out muffled through my fingers. "There's something in the air, don't breathe it in." Komori nods.

It feels like Bloom. It's not, it's different, but it's probably another chemical weapon... I look down and am rewarded with a wave of purple gas washing over my feet. I point it out for my partner and she nods quickly, lifting her own hand up to where mine is. I nod back and remove my hand from Komori's mouth so she can cover it with her own.

We make our way deeper into the forest, searching for the pair in front of us. I direct oxygen into our lungs as we walk and walk, darkness seeping in through the canopy as purple gas winds around our footprints. It's difficult to tell how much time has passed when I turn and see Jiro's body loom out of the dark. I rush forward, blocking the gas and slipping oxygen into her lungs. She sits up, mouth opening as she tries to inhale deeply, but I slap my hand over it before she can. "Stick together and get somewhere safe. Go to the Heroes," I tell them. "I'm going to find Hagakure."

Minutes pass and there's no trace of colour or weight in the air. I can't find Toru and I'm completely lost. I keep walking, searching for sound or life, for a high place I can jump above the tree tops and figure out where I am.

A blue shadow detaches itself from a tree trunk and I jump, eyes flaring purple as I take a defensive stance. I don't attack. There's no way to know if it's another student-- if it's Toru-- yet.

The gas is thin enough here that I can remove my hand from my mouth.

"Hello, little doll," says a bloody blue voice. Its owner steps into the light of the clearing we've found ourselves in, bows with a grin. Ah, a villain. Is the hand-man the reason they're all calling me little doll?

"Hello, Dabiyaki*," I return.

//*Yaki means burnt, pretty much. Teriyaki, yakitori...//

He considers me for a moment and I roll my eyes at his obvious curiousity. I default to my usual beginning, jumping up and landing on his chest, pressing the villain into the floor.

Dabi chuckles. "Didn't even need to attack and that's strength done. Now, for your weakness..." He sits up, and I let him, hopping back. The villain digs through his pockets, mutters in frustration, pulls out a photo.

I freeze.

My mind shivers and shies away from the dark recesses in which some part of me recognises the girl in the photo.

Shivers go down my spine, because I don't want to remember.

But
         I

do.

I can feel the blood dripping down my neck, the sobs cowering in my throat, see the dark and familiar figure towering over me.

And I SCREAM.

Backing up, I trip and fall, scramble on hands and knees, stomach heaving as I

(oh Stars, oh Stars, the blood)

back away back away from the threat in front of me, the man and the photo

(HELP ME)

My head hits a tree, the screams ripping themselves from my lungs, high-pitched and terrified, just a small, scared girl pretending to be okay.

Dabi nods in satisfaction as I tremble, tucks the photo away and runs at the sound of a noise. I bury my head in my hands and tremble, tremble, frozen in fear.

"Hoshi!" Footsteps pound towards me through the rising purple gas. I register the voice, can't identify who it belongs to. I'm so tired... the bloodstained sky is too heavy for me to hold up anymore. Can I rest? Can I sleep, and leave the world to the sun, for just a night?

A night... a night burned into my memory, dark crimson in the tides of the past as the blood was on my neck.

"Hoshi," says the voice, soft and sympathetic and safe. I'm folded into warm arms and a second voice confers with the first for a moment before they seem to reach an agreement. "Hey, what's wrong?"

What's wrong?

I am wrong.

Everything is wrong.

I reach out an unsteady finger, scratch out two words in the dirt.

My past.

Purple coils around my ankles, and darkness takes me.

Hmm, there are some oddities in the names Uki's using... I wonder why ;)

Next time on Lunar Night: A nightmare, hospital travel and a sticker...