Chapter Text
ARASHI
Watching her intestines get ripped from her body was exactly how Arashi was expecting her day to end.
In fact, it all went according to plan. Her signature breakfast bagel, catching the news of the escaped convict, Dialing Katsuki, who was not one that cared for her life updates, answered her call begrudgingly. She could hear him grumble through the phone, annoyed yet accepting. After all, at the end of the day they both knew she’d be dead. So he made an exception.
Arashi’s whole morning and afternoon were surprisingly calm. She had allowed herself to binge on her favorite dessert, Blueberry Lemon cakes, during lunch. It was the only bakery in the whole province that sold American based desserts. Ran by an older lady and her grandson who had moved there from Pennsylvania. The grandson reminded her of her own brother, smart and witty but an anxious kid. His girlfriend was having a baby in spring and he was nervous he wouldn’t be able to provide for them all. He also worked at the pier from time to time aside from the bakery to make some extra cash. On her way out she gave him a bigger tip than she usually did. She tried to act normal, but Arashi knew it was the last time she'd be seeing them for a long while so it was hard not giving them a proper goodbye.
After that, it was straight to the Hero Public Safety Commision (HPSC) HQ where she met up with Katsuki. She grinned as she saw the grumpy face that had been greeting her everyday for 2 years. She was a little sad that soon she’d have to be leaving Katsuki here by himself, but she knew he would be angry if she said that. He could handle himself, he would be fine, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be worried.
“Lemon cakes?” he grumbled as she walked up next to him. “That’s why you're late? Lemon cakes? ”
Arashi nodded, cheeks filled with the spongy cake. “With blueberries! You want one?” she waved one in front of his face.
Katsuki batted her away, scowling. “Gag me. I don't know how you can stuff down all the sweet stuff, how is your mouth not full of cavities?”
“Good genes,” she wiggled her eyebrows. “Plus, I brush like three times a day.”
“ Right…” he rolled his eyes and turned towards their normal route. They walked in silence as they got closer to the target spot, stepping onto the square, getting ready for their last fight together as they heard sirens start to blare around them.
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If Arashi was being honest, she wasn't even nervous, she was actually more excited than anything. So much so that as she laid on the street, blood dripping down her chin, she had to physically stop herself from smiling.
The man in front of her was at least six feet tall, his almost non-existent irises shone with a despicable malice as his crooked smile showed off his obvious lack of dental check ups over the past 30 years. He smelled like rotting, burning flesh, which was of course, because of his rotting burning flesh. His quirk made him disfigured, burning any hair that would have existed on his body. His skin was disturbing. Stretched thin and bright, as if someone pulled it around a hot orange glow stick
Arashi could feel the heat radiating off his body, her own skin beginning to feel crispy. She rolled onto her hands and knees, spitting out the blood that pooled into her mouth, then attempted to crack her neck. It wasn’t hard to look defeated. She wouldn’t consider herself a great actor, but she was convincing enough after being in front of cameras for years. Arashi could smile dazzlingly, wave elegantly, and talk sweetly for the crowds even when she felt like crawling under the covers and crying. But right now, she could take all that pent up exhaustion and irritation and let it all out.
“Hyperion, Hyperion,” he grinned, his mangled teeth gnashing together, “I think it’s time to give up don’t you think?” The man’s foot drove itself into her spleen as he cackled the last words.
She willed herself to roll away from him, but ended up slamming herself into the wall behind her. “Arashi!” she heard a faint voice over the sound of the roaring fires and sirens around her. She looked up to see Deku and Katsuki several hundred feet away running towards them, Deku’s tattered cape flapping behind him.
The man didn’t allow them time, he quickly reached down to grab Arashi by her throat. She tried to gasp as he cut off her air. She attempted to claw at his hands as he slammed her head against the wall. She heard his voice crackle again, and she realized he was trying to laugh, but his throat was so scratched up that it came out like nails on a chalkboard.
“Down, Down, Down. Would the fall ever come to an end?” he laughed, squeezing her harder. Arashi felt dizzy as the last of the oxygen in her lungs turned sour, her chest burning and thoughts becoming faint. The man leaned forward and whispered into her ear, “See you on the other side.” Her vision darkened as she felt an agonizing pain rip through her stomach, she was so sure she heard someone screaming in sync with her body thudding to the ground. Arashi felt a warm, sticky feeling pool around her back as she looked up to see Deku’s face.
“Stay with me! Ash, look at me!” she knew he was yelling at her, she could see his mouth move. She even thought she could make out explosions and Katsuki screaming behind them, but they both sounded so far from her. She looked down to see why she was in pain. There was no issue finding the source of her pain, planted in the middle of her stomach, a fist sized hole her adrenaline couldn’t mask.
“It looks so real,” she murmured, soft red and pink clumps like slime sprouting from the wound as her head fell back and she closed her eyes, hearing muffled Katsuki and Deku scream her name. Damn they were good at this whole acting thing.
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“God she needs to stop drinking this crap.” Katsuki mashed his fingers angrily against the vending machine buttons and watched as the sweet pineapple drink rolled down the coil and fell into the box below. He reached down and snatched it up, shoving under his arm where a bag of shrimp chips were already stuffed and started walking down the hallway, Deku on his right.
“At least she’s eating and drinking something,” Deku sighed, “which is surprising, cuz I can’t even swallow water right now, the smell in this hospital is headache inducing.”
Katsuki huffed in agreement, he hated the smell of hospitals as well. There was something about the sickly smell mixed with disinfectant that made him feel woozy. Arashi’s hospital room was no better, the nurses spared no expense covering every surface with chlorine.
“It makes sense she’s not bothered by it, she practically drinks the same stuff they probably wash the floors with.”
Deku nudged his shoulder, “Hey leave her alone, she’s been doing better the past couple of weeks.”
“That’s not gonna make up for the last 4 years, she’s lucky we’re in a hospital in case her liver decides to shut down,” he glared at the drink under his arm, knowing the sugary substance was no better than the alcohol she was constantly chugging down.
“Are you worried about her?” Deku asked softly, twisting his hands together, a habit he maintained since middle school.
“The elf got herself into another fuckin’ commitment she can’t handle. This contract isn’t a few weeks, or months. It's god damn YEARS,” Katuski shook his head again, “Once she realizes she’s making a mistake she’ll think more thoroughly in the future about signing up for bullshit like this.”
“I mean you aren’t worried about not seeing her for a while?” Deku let his hands fall to his side as they stepped in unison. Katsuki intentionally skipped a step to unalign their stride, annoyed that they did that often. He glanced over at Deku, taking a moment to really look at him. After high school their growth spurts were insane, of course the physical training did wonders for them both. Deku’s hair was longer and more shaggy than when they were younger. Katsuki’s own hair hadn't changed much but people still came up to him asking if he’d grown his hair out. It was getting tiresome.
Even though it was less annoying to have Deku around, he couldn't help but straighten his spine when they stood next to each. One more inch and the damn nerd would almost be taller than him. He looked away suddenly irritated.
“I’ll be glad to not be late to everything because of her,” he snorted, while he tried to ignore the little painful tug he felt at his heart. “This whole act is outrageous, especially with her involving Camie’s illusions to blow this shit out of proportion. For someone who wanted to sneak away, she sure made a huge ordeal about her injury.”
“You know she didn’t want that. WHA orchestrated the whole thing to make it believable that she’d be gone for a year or longer. If she just came out and said she was taking a break, there would be too many people causing trouble for her. She needed this facade with her injury, so there would be less poking into her story because the proof was there y’know?”
“Yeah I get that, I still think that it's fuckin’ ridiculous.”
“Well for what it's worth, you're a pretty good actor,” Deku smiled at him.
“Obviously.”
They continued down the hallway ignoring the stares of a couple nurses. Katsuki used to yell at the people who would ogle, now he found it was easier to ignore them than waste his energy. Deku of course usually waved at his fans and onlookers, but right now he was concentrating on getting back to Ash; he didn’t have time to care about the civilians around him.
They quickly slipped into Ash’s room, being met with a woman possibly in her 50’s holding open a blue binder stuffed to the brim. Her hair was a dark purple and was slicked into a very tight bun on top of her head. She wore a pinstriped suit with sleek six-inch heels. She was slightly unsettling to look at as she had small holes lining around her neck with half bubbles that fluctuated in size as she breathed. The TV in the top corner of the room was turned to the news channel and the volume turned almost all the way down.
“Miss Namari please understand that if you choose to accept this job, your contract can last for as long as OCTA requires it to and can keep resigning you for about five years before you can request leaving. Even with a request to leave, it might take another year for the paperwork to circulate in before they can accept.” her voice seemed to wheeze as more air came out of her nose but caught in her neck, as if she was congested.
Arashi stood at the window, she had changed out of her hero outfit and was in a pair of gray sweatpants and a black turtleneck. Her hair, once down to her waist, was now cropped around her ears, uneven strands of silver and blue sticking out of her head like small horns.
Her hair was almost a signature for her, there were even forums online devoted to how much her hair had grown over time. He smirked thinking about the uproar it would cause if they saw her like this. But he had been hearing her complain about how much she hated her long hair for years. But her PR team forced her to keep it ridiculously long to keep up the hype.
He had been the one to help her cut it. Before the lawyer came, she handed him a pair of scissors, “take off as much as you can,” she had said. He gladly obliged. It wasn't even his hair but just seeing the length made his head painfully itchy. It was satisfying to watch the gray tuffs drift to the ground like feathers. When he was done she admired herself in the mirror for 20 minutes gushing at the length and running her hands through it obsessively.
If she had heard them come in she showed no sign of it. She was looking down at the crowd below where the fans who had heard of her injury had gathered. She curled her nose as she noticed the amount of men in the crowd and watched as the police pushed them back.
“I understand,” Ash nodded, not giving her full attention to the lawyer.
“And you understand that the country of Japan cannot protect you if you commit any crimes not sanctioned by OCTA.”
Deku stepped forward, slamming his drink onto the other table. “Not sanctioned by OCTA? You mean that Arashi could be committing crimes in Otheon if they ask her to?” The lawyer looked up, finally noticing that they had stepped into the room.
“There are matters, like going undercover, in which Miss Namari might have to commit certain acts if it means maintaining the identity assigned to her. I am required to ask all of these questions. If she disagrees with even one of the conditions she could be denied working for OCTA. The World Heroes Association takes this very seriously. Anything that is asked of Miss Namari can be very crucial to any of her missions.”
“Ash you can’t be serious,” Deku snapped his head to look up at her with Katsuki nodding in agreement. Arashi had too much of a guilt complex to commit crimes for a good reason. She was the kind of person who would cry if she stepped on a dandelion.
“I have to agree with the nerd. You're a hero, you're not made for the other side.”
The lawyer stood up to interject, “This is all speculation. No one is saying she will be committing any unlawful acts. There just might be small instances she has to break the law. It’s not uncommon for underground associates of OCTA to take these risks.” The boys waited for her input as she stood with her arms crossed, still occupied with the commotion outside.
“Arashi?”
“Mhm?”
Katsuki rolled his eyes, of course she wasn’t paying attention, “Elf, we’re talking about your reputation here, do you really not care?” Ash mumbled something under her breath in what might have been a reply.
“ Arashi. ” Deku's voice turned uncharacteristically frigid.
Ash finally turned back to them and sighed exasperatedly. “What?”
“‘ What ?’ Ash, are you even listening to what she just said?”
She waved her hand dismissively, “yeah, yeah, committing crimes or whatever.”
“Jesus Christ Elf, it’s like you have no concern for your own well-being anymore. She just told you that they could be making you commit crimes, CRIMES, across the world. Do you understand what that means if you end up getting caught and or convicted? In a lot of places that can mean a signed death warrant!” Katsuki gripped the edges of the table, smoke curling from his palms.
“Come here.” Ash beckoned the duo to the window.
“No, Ash, will you talk to us?” Deku was visibly getting irritated.
“I’m trying to show you something, please come over here,” the boys both grumbled and walked over to the window. “Do you see them down there?” she gestured to the crowd below, where the people were gathered 20 feet from the hospital’s entrance, “who do you see?”
“People here to support you?” Deku answered.
Arashi laughed, “Of course that's all you would see, look again.”
“It’s a bunch of nasty men,” Katsuki replied after a few seconds.
Ash nodded, “your fans are of all varieties. Mine consist of men who have my image printed on a pillow or have photoshopped me into pictures with them at family functions. They’re not here because they're worried about me, they’re here because they wonder if another scar has ruined one of the few flawless parts of my body. You guys have fans who care about your well being, I have ‘fans’ who care about how much weight I gain for a photoshoot.”
Deku couldn’t help but cringe at his thoughtlessness. He knew Ash’s fans were more disrespectful than most. She just seemed to handle it with more grace, he didn’t think it bothered her as much as it did. Now he could see how much it really hurt her. He never really talked to Arashi about this and now he was regretting it. He never meant to be such a bad friend, and he didn’t have much time to make it up to her.
“I want to mean something more than being some limited edition body pillow to some sweaty man… no offense to sweaty men,” she quickly nodded to Katsuki, his eyebrows scrunched together, visibly offended.
“I understand the consequences. I know what can happen to me if something goes wrong, but this is more than my reputation. It's my dignity. How can I call myself a hero and do absolutely nothing to help people? How can I call myself a hero if all I do is shampoo commercials, autograph signings, modeling gigs, and guest starring on J-Dramas. I might as well just be an actor or a musician because my title means nothing,” she paused looking at the lawyer who was sitting there awkwardly, “out there in countries that don't have Dekus or Dynamight’s, I can do something, anything, and actually help people.”
He opened his mouth to protest again, but Arashi just held her hand, “I’m not changing my mind Izuku. Not you, or Katsuki, can say anything to stop me. This isn’t about your feelings, it’s about mine. I’m doing this. So complain all you want.”
Deku closed his mouth, his shoulders sagging. Katsuki snorted again. She turned to her best friend and frowned.
“What now?”
“Nothin’. I still think this is a bad idea. It’s going to blow up in your face and when that happens all I'm gonna say is I told you so.”
Ash shrugged and let a small smile flash across her face, “maybe, but at least I’ll feel like I've done something regardless.”
Suddenly the lawyer cleared her throat, a couple of bubbles popping around her neck, the trio looked at the women. Deku’s face looked a little green as his eyes traveled down to her neck.
“Miss Namari. If you're to fly out in the next couple of days, we need to finish this contract and do a quick background screening so you can be briefed on your team. Then you’ll have an online conference with OCTA’s Council to finalize everything. They really do want you there as soon as possible,” her voice wheezed louder and Katsuki had to stop himself from visibly gagging.
“Right.” Arashi pivoted back to Katsuki and Deku, “will you stay? I wanna spend as much time with you before I have to go.”
Deku grinned and nodded while Katuski just rolled his eyes, “Fine but you’re paying for dinner. I’m not eating in this sterile psych ward.”
“Deal.” Suddenly their conversion was interrupted as the TV caught their attention.
“I once again implore you to avert your eyes as we replay this next clip of Hyperion’s injury, caught on camera by our reporter Yuji Hashada.” a red warning flashed across the screen before a shaking video of the destruction earlier started to play. Arashi watched as she saw herself being grabbed by the throat, the glowing convict leaning into her ear and whispering. She watched as his arm pulled back and jabbed into her stomach, her blood and intestines, which was pixelated, exploding everywhere as a hole was torn through her. The screen went black as the last frame was Katsuki slamming into the convict.
“We can only hope and pray that she survives what seems to be a very fatal injury. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you Hyperion.”
Katsuki looked to Ash, “Well now there is no going back. Let’s hope this doesn’t end in the disaster I think it will.”