***top pic credit: localcactushugger****

Ari POV:

Minutes. Precious minutes wasted by an eternity of struggle.

"AGH!!! Come on!!!" I growled out to myself in exertion, yanking my wrists harder against Keigo's feather restraints.

It had been minutes since Keigo left me pinned to the wall, but quite frankly, it felt like hours.

I don't know the exact amount of time that I've been here, so it very well could have been hours, I guess. His plan of trying to keep me out of this war is going very well for him, so far, as the sun has risen high into the morning sky, by now.

This means, that Endeavor and my raid team have already left for the hospital, getting very close to executing our plan of attempting to apprehend Shigaraki.

And of course, that specific plan can't take place without me.

My entire body feels consumed with guilty grief, as I imagine the faces of my comrades when they don't see me there. I bet they think I ditched them, chickened out like the pathetic little girl I am, and left them high to dry.

And I didn't. That's the most frustrating part. I was prepared to fight with them today, and give my life. These past four months of psychological torture I've inflicted on myself are proof of that.

A dipshit bird just had to go and get in my fucking way, though. As usual.

But, even though Keigo's feathers have me completely pinned down, in terms of my arms, legs, and forehead...

....it doesn't mean I'm just gonna sit by and let that happen.

That's right. I've been working on a plan of my own, ever since Keigo ditched me in here. He's crazy if he thinks I'd let him get away with trying to tie me down.

And, apparently, he's just crazy in general now.

No. Of course, I'm only joking about that last part. Dark humor, if you will. That's what Gen Z kids do, I guess.

Truth be told-and as hard as it is to believe, after everything that just went down between us....I don't believe that Keigo has gone legitimately insane. I don't believe that I have, either. I think we both just finally cracked under the pressure that's been building up for the past year, and we're finally in the process of a full on mental breakdown-during the middle of a war, where we both expect ourselves to die...

I mean, what else do you expect? Flowers and a tea party? A breakdown is only natural, at this point in the game...

But, then again.....maybe, we are crazy, and I'm just trying to keep myself together, for as long as possible. Who knows.

Either way....regardless of how I feel right now, I need to try and gain my composure and keep a level head. For now, anyways.

After all, I'm starting to realize a few flaws to Keigo's "Restrain Ari" plan-flaws that he was clearly too rushed and desperate to think out properly.

For starters, he knows very well that his feathers have a distance limit-the further away he is from them, the less effective they become. And while I still feel very much restrained by them, I can already sense that their hold is weaker on me than it was a few minutes ago.

The second loose end that Keigo forgot to tie up, is failing to remove any resources in my room that could help me escape from his feather hold.

And getting one of these resources is exactly what I've been working on for the last few minutes.

I'm starting to realize that Keigo knew he wouldn't be able to keep me held up in here forever. He just wanted to make sure I missed my strict, scheduled chance to join Endeavor and the others on the raid. He wanted to make sure that by the time I escaped his feathers, everything would be over...or, it would have at least come to a point, where I was no longer needed.

But, he underestimated my abilities. Sure, I may be dense, sometimes, but I'm not the number eight hero for nothing, you know. Not to mention, I've been training harder aspects of my quirk for the past four months straight.

So, I grit my teeth in exertion as I continued flexing my restrained hand, focusing all my energy into lifting the pack of matches that sat next to the sweet smelling candle on my desk.

I'm sure you can sense where this is going now...

I felt ridiculous at the amount of sweat that had perspired on my body as I finally got the strength to start slowly hovering the pack of matches over to my pinned down body.

I've finally gotten to a point with my quirk where I'm able to move objects a little better. But, it's still an activity that takes an incredible amount of power out of me. It's not something I can just do on a whim, yet.

I bit down on my lip in silent struggle as I pushed my quirk limits, not wanting to make too much noise in case Keigo's feathers, somehow, sensed I was trying to escape.

However, I couldn't stay quiet for long, feeling an angry annoyance for the bird man burning in my heart-and my fatigued arms.

"Bastard.....bird.....asshole-I hope you can hear me...through those feathers, fucker-shit head.....little bitch.....ostrich looking ass-" I continued spewing at Keigo's nonexistent presence through grit teeth, squeezing my eyes shut tightly in pain as my arms continued to sear from quirk overuse.

But, I can't stop now.

Come on. Almost there.

A few agonizing seconds later, I opened my eyes to see the tiny box of matches hovering in the air, close enough to graze my fingertips.

Another fault in Keigo's "Restrain Ari" plan. He's got me restrained by my wrists. My hands are still free, fingers still able to move around. Not to mention, they're forced down at my sides, instead of behind my back.

He knows better. If it were any other situation. Any other person, I guarantee you...he wouldn't have made these mistakes.

He's just finally broken. He's not all there, right now. I get it. I'm not, either.

But, now's not the time to dwell on the fucked up mental states of Keigo and I. We can figure it all out later.

For now.....the main thing to focus on is survival.

I grabbed the box of matches between my fingertips, skillfully maneuvering the item between my fingers to pull out two matches.

Thank you to the hero commission training for perfecting single-hand motor skills. After all, what agent isn't ambidextrous?

I'm gonna burn Keigo's feathers. Believe me, it's not something I want to do. I already feel horrible and guilty for doing it. It's going to hurt to see those beautiful, vermillion jewels go up in flames.

But, I need to get out of here, and at least try to help in the thick of this disaster, somehow.

And fire is one of the only weaknesses that Keigo's feathers have. I've got no choice.

I need to work quickly. Hopefully, now that he's further away, his senses aren't as sharp, and he won't be able to react to the fire in time.

I'll also need to work quickly, because if I don't get out of these feather restraints once the flames go up, then I'll unintentionally set myself on fire, too...

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised at this point, if that happened. What else can go wrong today? Being set on fire is legitimately the least of my worries.

Taking a deep breath, I held the two matches tightly between my fingers, before harshly dragging them across the matchbox to get some flames.

I silently cheered at the sparks of fire that lit up the match sticks, keeping one lit stick between my fingers, while using my quirk to hover the other lit stick over to my opposite wrist.

The plan is to simultaneously start burning the feathers that are holding down my wrists. Doing that will allow me to work quicker, and strike more matches to burn the feathers on my forehead, my ankles, and my midsection.

Welp, here we go then.

My brows furrowed in slight nerves as I telekinetically hovered the lit match onto Keigo's feather, maneuvering the second match between my fingers to quickly light up Keigo's other feather on fire, as well.

"I-I'm sorry, Keigs. You didn't give me a choice." I whispered softly as I watched amber flames slowly dance around tufts of fragile ruby red-quickly consuming the entirety of the innocent vermillion feather, before small pieces of it began to crumple to black ash on the floor.

I began to sweat a bit as I watched the flaming remains of Keigo's feather still on my wrist, rather close to burning my skin.

However, now their strength has been destroyed, allowing me to easily pull my wrists free from the wall, while quickly brushing off the remaining flaming feathers to ensure I didn't get burned.

With my arms completely free, I wasted no time practically setting myself on fire-burning the feathers around my ankles first, then the ones around my midsection, and finally, the ones gently keeping my forehead pinned down.

It didn't take me long to get free from Keigo's restraints with the help of some fire. And the fact that Keigo's lively feathers didn't even twitch upon feeling the flames, means Keigo is probably too far out of my reach to realize what I've done. He's got a lot to do today, so more than likely, he chose to focus all of his telekinetic efforts on keeping me restrained, instead of using his senses to keep tabs on how well his plan is working.

Quickly shaking the last burning feather off my body, I let out a loud sigh of relief as my feet hit the floor again.

But, I didn't take long to recoup, before I quickly grabbed my phone off my desk, nearly having a heart attack when I saw the time.

The hospital raid. The mansion. It's all already taking place now. I'm too late.

"Shit. No. No. No." I groaned out anxiously, sprinting over to my closet to change into my hero suit.

The word "useless" can't even begin to describe how I'm feeling right now. The entire UA campus is probably empty. Everyone is gone, doing their jobs-at the hospital, evacuating citizens. Giving their limbs and lives to find and fight Shigaraki. About to start the take down of the mansion.

Every single hero in Japan-who isn't a traitor, is participating in this war today. Every student-children are participating in this war today.

And then, there's me. The Number Eight Hero of Japan, still chilling in her dorm room, while the rest of the world is in utter chaos; the girl who seemingly abandoned her duties and her comrades, when the entirety of their plan depended on her.

Yeah. I might as well be dead, with the way I'm feeling right now.

But, it's not over. I'm not giving up. I have a job to do; people depending on me. And I'll be damned if I don't, at least try, to get to that hospital as fast as I can, to take down Shigaraki. Once that's done, I'll head straight to the mansion to help Keigo.

Yeah. That plan seems believable. Right...?

Knowing he probably wouldn't answer, because he's too busy, I still decided to quickly call up Endeavor, putting the call on speaker, as I frantically threw pieces of my hero suit onto my bed.

I'll be going with my original, more reliable, suit today, instead of the newly, polished upgrade I was given for my number eight hero status.

"You have reached the voicemail box of....ENDEAVOR.....hello? I said ENDEAV-at the tone, please record your message. When you are finished recording, you may hang up, or press one for more options." The automated voicemail box rehearsed after a few rings, causing me to curse loudly, as I instinctively reached for my phone to hang up.

What? It's not as if I'm actually gonna leave a message-

Actually....

My fingers froze over the hang up button of the phone, letting the beeping start of Enji's voicemail box ring freely as I kept the call going.

Well....why not leave a message, I guess? Who knows how this day will end.

"Fuck-Ummm.....so...hey....Endeavor....how's it hanging..." I started off awkwardly, quickly clearing my throat as I continued to get dressed.

"I know that by the time you probably hear this, or...hopefully, anyways....things will be better than they were when we started this mess, four months ago. I'm sure you're probably furious with me for not showing up on time; the others are, too, I'm sure. Understandably so. I have no doubt, that I've lost everyone's trust..." I sighed out tiredly, attaching my weapons to my suit with ease.

"I just wanted to say....that I'm sorry for letting you down, today. It was never my intention. I never wanted to. I did my best to get there, but....life...got in the way, and prevented me from reaching you on time. I'm on my way now, though. If that counts for anything. Probably not..." I continued, sliding my combat boots up my feet, before quickly lacing them up.

"But, if for some reason, I'm unable to tell you, afterwards....I'll tell you now. So....thank you. For everything. Thank you for trusting me enough to keep this war a secret between us for so long. Thank you for believing in me, and helping me through these past four months. You never left me alone in this chaos. You always asked how I was doing..." I smiled softly, sliding my gloves on, before grabbing a few extra knives from my weapons box.

I remained crouched in front of the box for a moment, closing my eyes and taking this last bit of time to center myself once more.

"I am....truly sorry, Enji. Not just about...fucking up the mission today. But, about the way I've been acting, lately. I've spent the last four months so focused on my own demise, that I've shut everyone out. I never got to enjoy these last few moments, because I was too consumed with my own darkness. I regret that very much. But, if I make it through this...if we make it through this..."

I slowly stood up from my crouched position, placing the ear piece that Endeavor gave to the raid team in my ear. It won't work until I reach a place that has channel signal full of heroes. But, I'm preparing now.

"If we make it through this, then I promise to cherish my life more. I promise to live well, and be a better person. For you. For him. For my family and friends. For me. It's funny how you made me see that, you grumpy old fart, but, thank you for being a good mentor to me. And I know you said you still have a lot to atone for in your life, but hey, this is one thing you did right. It's a good start. I'll see you soon, okay? Bye." I finished, hanging up before taking one more look at myself in the mirror to ensure that all my items were in place.

And, they were.

Taking one last deep breath, I wasted no more time as I quickly turned on my heel, sprinting out of my room at lightning speed.

I need to get to Jaku hospital first.

I felt my heartbeat pick up in more anxiety as I ran down the abandoned halls of UA high school, passing by each and every dorm room and hearing absolute, eery silence.

They're all empty.

Wanting to take a quicker route to get outside faster, I quickly cut through the 1-A dorm halls, passing by all the familiar, empty rooms of the students who live there.

Oh yeah. That reminds me...

Wanting to say a final goodbye to my little brother, I quickly stopped in front of Midoriya's door, knowing he'd be in there. Those two have been roommates for this past month, after all.

"Hey, Sammy. Open up, kid." I huffed out in a breathless pant from my run, impatiently knocking on the door.

I waited a few seconds for a reply, before hearing nothing.

Lazy, little shit. He's still sleeping, I bet.

After all, he's got no idea what's going on today. He thinks 1-A just went on a class field trip.

I groaned loudly in utter irritation now, feeling the heart felt moment of wanting to say goodbye to my little shit brother completely ruined.

"Sampson Peter Parker, I don't have time for this. Open the damn door now, before I break it down. I'm trying to have a nice moment with you..." I called out through the door, impatiently pulling on the door knob just to make my point.

However, my attitude quickly trailed off when the door easily opened from my light pull, making me realize that it wasn't locked.

My brows furrowed in confusion for a moment as I watched the door slowly creak open from my touch, practically begging me to come inside.

I gave the half open door one more knock, anyways, before I carefully pushed it open all the way.

"Hello? Sammy?" I asked cautiously, walking into the dimly lit room....which I now realized was empty.

Sammy's not here.

Maybe he went to get breakfast? Or, perhaps, he's in the UA gym? I don't have time to check right now.

I stood in the middle of the empty room with an irritated slouch, tapping my foot impatiently as I pulled out my phone once more to call Sammy.

"Can't even have a sweet, heartfelt goodbye without wanting to murder someone, I see..." I grumbled to myself, throwing my head up to the ceiling in frustration as I dialed Sammy's number-

RING! RING!

I jumped in slight surprise at the loud ring, coming from the spare bed in Midoriya's room....seeing Sammy's phone lighting up with my caller I.D.

Incoming call from: Sister🤡

My jaw dropped in slight offense at the appearance of my name in his phone. What's with the clown emoji!?

But, of course, Sammy's typical little brother antics for his sis weren't my biggest concerns right now.

Not when he's the type of person who carries his phone with him everywhere he goes.

The phone continued ringing eerily in the silent room as I walked over to it, curiously inspecting it in my hands.

Upon declining my own call, I noticed that Sammy's screen was also lit up with unopened notifications from his friends and social media pages that were over an hour old.

Like I said, he's got his phone on him all the time. Normally, he would have checked those by now.

Normally....

Wordlessly, I set Sammy's phone back down on his bed....ignoring the strange feeling of anxiety that slowly began brewing in my gut.

"Sammy." I called out again quietly, knowing that there wouldn't be any way for him to hear me unless he was in this room.

As I expected, no response.

Relax, Ari. He's probably fine. Went to get some food, or go out for the day, and just forgot his phone. Right?

Right?

And, anyways, it's not unusual for Sammy to be gone. He's not one to ever spend more than an hour cooped up in his room. He loves getting out. My priority has to be the mission. I can't waste anymore time, when the kid is probably fine.

But, what if he's not?

Standing frozen in Midoriya's room for a moment, I felt the anxiety feeling in my gut becoming more pronounced at my own thoughts.

You know what? I just need to make sure he's okay. For my own peace of mind.

Putting my mission of getting to Jaku hospital on a temporary hold, I quickly turned on my heel to exit Midoriya's room. I was going to check the UA gym first.

However, I didn't get more than two steps, before I saw something sitting on Midoriya's desk, from my peripheral vision.

A single piece of paper.

Swallowing thickly, I briskly walked over to the desk and took the paper between my fingers, noticing there was handwriting on it...

Dear Mom and Dad,

I have made the decision to fight in the war today. I know you won't be happy about it, but I felt it was necessary that the heroes at the mansion have as much help as possible. I believe I can be a good asset to the team there. Being here at UA has inspired me. I always wanted to be a hero, and I finally get to do it now. I'm sorry if this is upsetting, but I love you. All I ever wanted was to make you proud.

~ Sammy ~

My mouth gaped open in complete and utter shock, as I continued holding the letter in my hands.

I'm sorry............come again?

I felt totally numb. Blank, upon reading it. Not at all processing the foreign words on the paper.

He's joking, right? Surely, he's joking.

Or, maybe I'm delirious-Or hallucinating. Yeah. After all, I haven't slept in four months. I feel insane, so perhaps I've finally lost it?

With my mouth still open enough to catch flies, I pressed my fingertips against the words on the paper, feeling their indentations to let me know that this letter was, indeed, real.

Again. And again. And again. I read it countless times over, trying to find the butt of the joke I was missing in Sammy's words. I was waiting for him to pop out from under the bed or something, with that big, innocent smile plastered on his face, as he said "gotcha!"

But, that didn't happen.

And that's when the panic slowly began to set in.

"Oh god...n-no. No. No. No. No. No." I repeated to myself blankly, keeping my eyes on the letter as spikes of anxious adrenaline began to shoot into my veins like a drug.

Sammy. Sammy went to the war? He went to fight at the mansion? That's what he's saying.

No. It's impossible! How did he even know about the war? Midoriya?-no, he couldn't have known about it from him, or any of the UA kids, because the UA kids, themselves, didn't know about the war. They thought they were going on a school trip. Only a handful of professional, seasoned heroes actually knew what was going on.

Not to mention, I know Aizawa told him to stay here for the day, because it would be too much for him. Sammy would never tag along somewhere that he knows he isn't wanted. He'd never wanna be a burden to anyone. If Aizawa told him to stay put, he would listen respectfully. Gladly.

And, my last conversation with him....what he said, only affirms this...

"Oh, yeah, it's totally fine! As much as I'd like to attend the school trip, I understand that I can't. I mean, I am still quirkless. The last thing I'd ever wanna do, is hold anyone back."

Those words from him contrast heavily against the context of this letter...

"I believe I can be a good asset to the team there. I always wanted to be a hero, and I finally get to do it now."

I felt my heartbeat starting to increase as the realization of this horrible situation suddenly began to set in.

And, here I was, thinking that this day was bad before.

"Shit. Sammy, no. What the hell are you thinking." I breathed out in a panic, letting the letter fall from my hands and onto the floor as I began pacing Midoriya's room.

A million thoughts began running through my head, at a pace that was fast enough to make me physically dizzy.

Failure.
Hospital.
Shigaraki.
Raid team.
Death.
Keigo.
Villains.
Heroes.
Orders.
Win.
Sammy.
Mansion.

Mansion....

I had a plan. Yesterday, before I went to sleep, I had a solid plan for everything that would happen today.

I imagined everything possible about this day-waking up, arriving to the hospital to see Endeavor and the others, fighting with my team, and even dying.

But, now...my entire world has been flipped upside down, in a matter of minutes, thanks to Keigo and Sam.

Because, now, my quirkless, little brother is currently in the middle of a civil war-in the Paranormal Liberation Front mansion-which is currently infested with out of control villains and heroes, both of whom are out for blood.

And that's the nice way of putting things.

Oh man. If something else doesn't kill me today, mom and dad definitely will.

I began cursing to myself lowly, as I sprinted out of Midoriya's room, knowing exactly where I needed to go. Plans have changed, once again, but at least I know what direction I'm finally headed.

I'm sorry, Endeavor. Miruko. Eraserhead. Present Mic. And the others.

I've let you down, not once, but twice now.

I'm sorry that I'm officially abandoning my mission. My duties to you, heroes.

The words of the hero commission began echoing into my head on instinct.

"Always remember to never let your personal feelings get in the way, Ari. Always prioritize the mission. No matter what. The day you stop prioritizing the mission, is the day you fail the commission for good. It's the day you fail yourself."

Yeah? Well, so be it then. I'm a failure. I failed. So what?

I failed the only thing I've ever been trained to do. I failed the people who made me what I am. I wasted everyone's precious time and money. I've officially failed at being a hero of the commission. I've spent so long being afraid of failure; so long forcing myself to do things I never wanted to do; being things I never wanted to be, simply because I didn't want to fail.

But, now, I'm done trying to please everyone else. I'm done being the doormat to the commission. The commission that betrayed the man I love, and worked him broken; the commission that is doing the same thing to me. The commission that made Hourglass and Hawks.

No, today is the day to rise up from the ashes of all the shitty things in my life-all the things that have tried to hold me down for nine years; all the things that keep trying to weigh Keigo down.

He may feel broken. But, I'll rise up to the challenge for both of us. I'll save him, too. I'll never give up on him.

So, you know what? I will let my feelings get in the way today. The way I always do, actually. I won't prioritize the mission, the way I should have. The way the hero commission drilled into me, every day of my life. Instead, I'm letting my emotions fully dictate my next actions-My new mission, given to me, by myself.

And here it is-instead of going to Jaku hospital to apprehend Shigaraki, and save the world, I'm going to the Paranormal Liberation Front Mansion to rescue my little brother and my broken boyfriend.

************************************************

I guess it was a blessing in disguise that Dabi dragged me to this shit hole mansion, prior to today. It's only because of him that I know where it is.

And it's only because of him that I was able to take a shortcut through the forest and make it here in half the time.

I had a car service take me to the very outer edges of the forest, where the mansion was far out of sight.

Ubering to a literal war definitely cost me some good cash, I'll tell you that.

Then, strictly from visual remembrance of my time with Dabi, I followed the trail he took me on, a few months back, sprinting my lungs out and moving my feet as fast as they would take me.

It didn't take long after that, before I saw the mansion coming into view.

But, before I saw it, I knew I was close when I heard the chaotic shrieks, screams, and loud quirk clashes coming from the far distance.

The attack must have begun.

I sprinted even faster through the forest at the realization, ignoring the burning bile that began to sear the back of my throat from my overexertion-

"H-Hey!! I said FREEZE!!" I suddenly heard someone shout at me from the side, quickly whipping my head around to see what was happening.

Seeing a piece of extremely long tape shooting straight towards me, I quickly propelled my body into a sideflip, easily dodging the attack.

Preparing for my first fight and giving a nasty glare to the attacker-my lethal demeanor quickly fell once I saw the sight in front of me.

UA kids.

"Wait, Sero, stop!-Hourglass?!? The number eight hero!!? What are you doing all the way back here?! Shouldn't you be up there with the others?!-and why are you so sweaty?" A spiky red haired boy asked in innocent curiosity, sounding just a bit stressed to see me so far away from the other heroes.

Feeling my overexertion catching up with me, I took a millisecond breather to ease my searing lungs, hunching over and placing my hands on my wobbly knees like an old lady.

"It's.....a long....stor...y..." I wheezed out practically incoherent, forcing myself to straighten up a few seconds later.

I don't wanna look wimpy.....

"I'm sorry, but I've got absolutely no time for small talk. How long ago...did the mansion attack start?" I asked a few moments later, voice still huffy and raspy as I tried to recover my breath.

"Only a few minutes ago. But, from what I can hear over here.....it's already pretty serious." One of the girls said quietly. Her eyes remained closed in focus, with headphone jacks coming out of her ears that stuck deep into the earth.

Hey, that's a cool quirk.

"Okay." I nodded with a breathless "thanks," turning on my heel to continue my sprint, before a vibrant, pink girl stopped me.

"Ahhh, wait, Hourglass!! What are your orders? Do we follow you?? Where do you want us placed??" She asked quickly, before the other students around her also looked at me in expecting question.

I stared at the group, dumbfounded, for a moment....

That's right. I forgot, I'm technically their superior now, huh? Lucky them.......

My mouth gaped open speechlessly, as the group continued looking at me.

Hearing explosions and crashes going off in the distance, I slowly began shuffling away from the group, deciding to say something insignificant. I really needed to go.

"Just...uhhhh...you know......do whatever someone else told you to do. Like-keep doing what you're doing. Yeah? Okay. Bye, then, good luck!" I called over my shoulder, quickly breaking out into a sprint again to get to the mansion.

Nailed it!

"Wow!! She's so graceful with her words!!" I heard the blue balls grape kid swoon from behind, causing me to roll my eyes and continue forward.

Once I was out of sight of the UA kids, it wasn't long before I saw the battlefield coming up hot, straight ahead.

The closer I got, the booming explosions became louder. The yells and screeches of the dying became more prominent in my ears. The putrid smells of blood and open flesh stunk up my nostrils.

And the sight of the battlefield was finally laid out in front of me.

Finally having a clear view of the mansion from the last few trees of the surrounding forest, I quickly took in the sight directly ahead of me, to decide my next plan of action.

Although, there wasn't much room for a solid plan, quite honestly. The entire scene in front of me was pure and utter chaos.

The war had officially begun.

Thousands of people were fighting in front of the mansion, meaning I'd have to force my way through countless bodies, quirks, and villains to even get close to the entrance.

Not to mention that the mansion, itself, was completely split in half. It's foundation could be seen shaking from here, meaning the building was completely unstable. It would definitely collapse at some point, during this fight. The only question is when?

Rather than rush in recklessly and hope for the best, I decided to see if I'd be able to strategize an entry point.

I pressed my ear piece to life with a touch of my fingers, hearing a slight crackling as I got my reception in line with all the heroes who were here.

"Hourglass. This is Hourglass. Does anyone copy?" I stated firmly, impatiently awaiting a response from anyone.

And it definitely didn't take long to get one, as several people began responding at once, causing me to cringe and hold my ear at the sudden loud noise.

"What? Ari is here?!? Hi!!!" Midnight exclaimed in surprise, with the sound of several shrieking villains coming in behind her.

"Ari?" Tamaki uttered quietly, yet his voice was still a little more rougher and more confident than usual from the fight.

"Hourglass? I thought she was supposed to be at the hospital. Not that I'm complaining. We're not doing so hot over here." Edgeshot chimed in, before a loud booming went off behind him.

"Ahhh, thank god she's here!! We need someone to freeze and hold up the building for us. It's gonna collapse soon, and there's thousands of people inside-Students included!!" Fat Gum exclaimed, before he began shouting orders to whoever he was with.

I grit my teeth at the news of students in the building. Along with Sammy, there are other kids in there, too.

Not moving from my hidden position yet, I let out a small, anxious sigh as I tried to make a plan.

"I'll hold up the building for as long as I can. I promise. But, the problem is, I'm not in it, yet. I'm still outside. It will take me awhile to fight my way through this mess." I explained, before hearing the ear piece crackle to show that someone was responding.

A someone I definitely wasn't expecting.

"I can get you inside, Hourglass. I'll clear a path and cover you as best I can. What are your coordinates?" Kamui Woods asked with legitimate professionalism. Wood splitting sounds could be heard in his background.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the Tree Man, quickly getting with the program of his teamwork. Now is definitely not the time to dig up bad blood. He obviously knows that, and so do I.

Quickly giving Kamui my coordinate location, I felt adrenaline rushing through my body as I got ready to run.

"How will I know you're here?" I asked Kamui, before I suddenly saw countless vines propelling their owner into the sky.

"Does that help? Start running now. I'll hold off as many as I can, but I won't be able to stop them all. It's just a small clearing to help you get in the building faster. Go now!" He yelled, before his vines began grabbing the villains in my path.

Well, here we go. It's time.

Four months-no, an entire year has led to this moment. The war.

I'll find you, Sammy.

You, too, Keigo. I know you're here.

I won't leave this mansion until I know those two are safe. That's my promise.

I didn't hesitate in sprinting out of the woods and into the chaos, running full speed into the crowd of villains and heroes-trusting my life in the hands of Kamui Woods.

Ugh, that's how you know I'm desperate.

I felt my heart pounding so hard out of my chest, I legitimately thought I'd have a heart attack, as I watched all the villains charging at me, get propelled into the sky by Kamui's vines-

"Shit! Guy on your left got through, Hourglass!" Kamui exclaimed, yet his heads up wasn't necessary, as I already dodged whatever strange gravel quirk that just came at me.

The man behind the quirk came sprinting at me a second later, with a knife in his hands that was aimed at my heart.

I stealthily maneuvered a twirl behind the man in a second, jabbing my elbow into his temple with ease.

Luckily, a lot of the villains outside seem like pretty low grade fillers for the PLF army. Just some bodies to help them fight and take up the space, really.

Continuing my run, I saw two more villains coming at me that Kamui was unable to stop. I wasn't lying when I said they are everywhere.

Not wanting to waste my combat skills too much, I simply immobilized both villains, using their bodies as a ramp to jump on, before flipping over them completely.

My eyes widened as I saw an array of random daggers coming at me straight on, upon landing to the grass, causing me to quickly slide across the muddy, bloody ground to dodge.

"Shit, that was too close!" I breathed out as I barely missed the daggers, needing to immediately roll out of the way of someone's else's claws.

I looked up to see a werewolf man, who looked to be twice my size-watching four of his claws suddenly shoot out from his fingertips and towards me.

He came charging at me, simultaneously, meaning that I wouldn't be able to immobilize him with my quirk. It's too many things at once.

I quickly immobilized three of his claws, midair, dodging the last one with ease, before forming a barrier with my hands to block his incoming punch.

I winced slightly as I felt a small crack in my hand from the force of his hit. The guy's huge, and he definitely overpowers me in strength.

So, rather than fight him with power, I'll need to outsmart him with wits.

Forming my feet into an appropriate fight stance, I decided to stay on the defensive side, as I skillfully began dodging the fluffy werewolf guy's punches and kicks, waiting for my opening patiently.

Heh, he kinda looks like a teddy bear. Not a very nice one though-

Focus, Ari. Keep calm. Right. Left. Left. Left. Right. Duck. Dodge.

Terrible Teddybear quickly tired himself out as his punches subtly slowed, allowing me shuffle to the inside of his outstretched arm and jab my fingers into a specific, weak nerve point near his elbow.

His outstretched arm easily flew to the side with ease now, giving me the opening I needed.

I chopped the side of my hand against Terrible Teddybear's throat harshly, causing him to choke and gasp as he fell to the floor.

Resisting the urge to hunch over and rest, I quickly continued forward, noticing I was almost inside the mansion.

"Agh, that was a lot of effort." I huffed to myself embarrassingly, a little irritated that I was already so winded-I'm not even inside, yet!

I took a glance at Kamui in the sky, seeing he was still completely focused on clearing a path for me.

So focused that he didn't see some guy with a spider quirk leaping into the air to tackle him.

"Ah-Kamui! Behind you, on the right!" I exclaimed, using my quirk to stop the spider villain so Kamui could get his bearings.

He quickly turned around and vine smacked the spider villain away, immediately turning back towards me to continue clearing my path.

Seconds felt like days, before I was finally close enough to see inside the PLF mansion now-realizing that the chaos inside was even worse than it was outside.

"Oh, boy..." I breathed out as Kamui rapidly cleared the last of my path, before suddenly wrapping his vines around my midsection to lift me into the air.

I know why. It's because there's a barrier of debris....and....and bodies...blocking high above the main entrance way. I wouldn't have been able to get in by myself.

He quickly lifted me over the barrier, before my earpiece was heard crackling again.

"Okay! I'm gonna drop you down into ground zero, over here! Are you able to stick your landings?!" He yelled over the shrieks and explosions that now filled both of our ears.

Am I able to stick my landings? Well, it's something that Keigo and I have been working on for an entire year, and I've never been able to land on my feet once-

"Totally! Drop me down!" I exclaimed confidently, cringing softly to myself at the lie I just made.

Of all the times to be a good liar, it just had to be now.

"Alright, you're in. This is where we part then. Good luck...Ari." Kamui Woods stated somewhat nicely, voice obviously holding a subtle tone of apology for the rocky past between us.

Yep. Being on the brink of death together will do that to a person. Makes you realize the important things.

And that goes for me, too.

"Thanks, Kamui. You, too. Stay safe out there." I said, giving him a thumbs up in the air as a signal to drop me.

Without another second, Kamui's vines loosened around my body, dropping me directly into the battlefield mansion scene below.

"Wooo!! Yeah, Hourglass is in the house!!" Fat Gum exclaimed through my earpiece, clearly trying to lighten everyone's mood.

"Welcome to the party!" Ms. Joke chimed in, causing me to laugh a bit.

"P-Parties can feel this way, sometimes." Tamaki added, voice somehow still a bit quiet as he was clearly kicking someone's ass in the background.

I simply smiled at Tamaki's comment, too focused on my body that was currently falling, midair, to respond.

I need to focus all my efforts on preparing for a proper landing-after all, I already notice two nasty looking villains sprinting towards my direction.

What a warm welcome.

Those goons will get here by the time I hit the ground, and if I can't land properly....I'll have a very difficult time getting to my feet and simultaneously holding them off.

Ah....a little healthy pressure never hurts anyone, I guess. Well...except, now, of course.

"Come on. Come on. Come on-shit. Fuck this. I hate it here." I babbled to myself nervously, feeling my survival instincts kick in as I neared the ground while the villains got too close.

My feet hit the ground before I could react, and it wasn't until I had landed a clean roundhouse kick to both villains' faces that I realized I'd managed to land....on my feet, for the very first time!

A year later and all that landing training finally paid off, when it mattered, Keigs. Thanks.

But, of course, there wasn't much room for celebration as the magnitude of the situation hit me like a wave.

It was so loud in here, I couldn't even hear myself think properly; with chaos coming in from all angles.

The place was so jam packed with people, we were all fighting body to blood body, with debris from the doomed-to-eventually-collapse building occasionally squashing down onto some unlucky souls-heroes and villains, alike.

If anyone's gonna make it out of here alive, this building's gotta get secured.

After I get Sammy to safety.

My eyes began scanning the crowd, trying to find a fourteen year old, quirkless boy who looked like he was about to shit himself out of fear. Or, a guy with red wings, who currently looked like a feral version of Big Bird.

But, it was too difficult to spot anything from my position on the ground floor. Due to the close vicinity everyone was fighting in, I couldn't see more than two feet in front of me. Not to mention, the smoke clouds from the residue of various quirks lingered thick in the poor air visibility.

The bottom line is, I need to get to higher ground. The very top floor of the mansion, to be precise. Then I'll get an aerial view of the place, and have a better chance of spotting Sammy.

I began cursing myself for not utilizing Kamui's vines to land me closer to the staircase, when I had the chance, realizing I'd have to fight my way over there, instead.

I began counting my blessings that I've been to the PLF mansion, before. Already knowing exactly where I'd need to go.

Puffing out my cheeks softly, I began visually drawing out my path to the staircase, knowing that the quickest way to get there would be to go straight through this chaos of violence and death.

But, that's alright. After all, this is what I spent my entire life training for.

Yes. This is exactly the moment I've been training for. This is what it means to be a hero. Not to manipulate people. Not to become the very best hero of Japan. Not to smile and show off flashy hero suits....

But, to save people. That's my dream. That's always been my dream. It's the reason why my ten year old self agreed to do the job, all those years ago. And now, at this very moment....I finally get to do it. Putting aside everything that happened with Keigo, and my failures to Endeavor and the commission....

This is the time to be the hero I've always wanted to be. I will put everything prior to this moment aside for now, and do everything I can to protect the people in this mansion. I promise.

Sighing quietly to calm myself, I nodded softly for self reassurance as I prepared to fight for my life. And for the lives of others.

"For Sammy. For Keigo. For everyone. I got you. I am here." I whispered to myself, picking up my feet into a run without hesitation.

Pulling out two daggers from my belt for safety measures, I began dodging the quirks and attacks that immediately tried to shower me, doing my best not to slow down.

I activated my quirk on two incoming villains, using the hilt of my dagger to knock them out-

"HELP!!! I can't hold her off! She's too strong!" Someone screamed a few feet away, causing me to quickly direct my attention to the chaos.

My eyes widened at the sight of some unfamiliar hero about to get eaten alive by a blonde girl with gross looking, green monster teeth.

I quickly ran over, immobilizing a random villain along the way so I could use him as a lift, before tackling the monster-toothed girl off the hero.

Countless Cavities began growling at me ferally as I landed on top of her, trying to shoot up from under my hold and snap her nasty looking chompers at me from the floor.

And when I got a look at her, that's when I realized....

"Ah, wait-Groupie Girl! Is that you?! You're Countless Cavities?!" I blurted out in genuinely shocked question, slamming my boot down on her shoulder to keep her pinned to the floor.

Groupie Girl/Countless Cavities clearly recognized me, but didnt respond-starting to thrash around harder from under my hold as she obviously now realized that I'm a traitor to the PLF.

"Oof, I guess it makes sense. I never asked you about your quirk-not that I really cared. But, oh man, I can't believe I was so jealous that you were hanging around my boyfriend! Not when your breath smells like that." I pointed out casually, pursing my lips in pleasant realization, as she continued to aggressively snap her fangs and growl from under me.

My words made me realize something else, and I almost didn't say it since it wasn't really the time.

But, then again.....I'm too petty to stay quiet.

"Hey, so while we're here, I kindaaa wanna let you know that I won that contest. You know, the one where all the girls in the mansion were betting on who could sleep with Hawks first? Well, I did it-or, rather, I guess I did him!" I chuckled in amusement, pressing my boot harder against her shoulder when she suddenly tried to lunge up and rip my face open.

Okay, now she's mad. Anddd she's getting stronger....

"Kay-well, so long, Groupie Girl. It's been an awful pleasure." I shrugged, quickly twirling my dagger in my hand once more, before slamming the dull hilt of it into Countless Cavities' temple.

Her eyes quickly rolled back in her head, before her body slumped to the floor.

Quickly getting up, I continued my run towards the staircase-needing to shield my eyes now as I saw something glowing bright a few feet ahead of me.

The light was yellow, strobing and making a buzzing sound. What is that? Lightning? Some sort of electricity quirk?

Upon getting closer to the scene, I noticed there were two giant waves of electricity on opposite sides of eachother.

Must be two electricity quirks. And the fact that no one else in the area is being electrocuted right now, means these two are absorbing each other's electric energy.

Squinting my eyes to get a better look, I recognized the quirk owner to be the first UA student I've seen inside the mansion so far-class 1-A's, Denki Kaminari.

Wow, he's holding off this villain's electricity quirk all by himself? Strong kid. Seems to be pretty mature for his age-

"Someone take him out already! I'm getting sick of this!!" Kaminari's electric opponent yelled, groaning in exertion as he tried to emit more energy waves at the 1-A boy.

My eyes widened at the villain's order, immediately looking around the premise to see if someone was planning to aid in a counterattack against Kaminari.

And, it seems someone would as I saw a pair of twins-both completely made of rubber, emerge from the crowd of chaos, quickly sprinting at Kaminari full force.

Rubber's a natural insulator that stops electricity from flowing properly. If those guys reach the scene, they could cause the electric current to shoot back at Kaminari and kill him.

I began running towards Kaminari quickly, outstretching my arm to activate my quirk on the rubber twins-

But, before I got the chance, two debris pieces from the ceiling quickly broke off-both of them plummeting directly towards Kaminari's head.

Jeez, this kid has some bad luck...

Kaminari's eyes widened in pure fear at the amount of obstacles that were coming at him, yet he didn't give up on holding his electric current.

"Uhhhh, guys!!!? Someone help me!!!" He suddenly shouted in full panic, squeezing his eyes shut tightly as he waited for the ceiling debris to crush him.

I quickly immobilized both pieces of debris, mid air, using my third opportunity to stop one of the rubber twins.

That's three things. Looks like I'll have to beat the other rubber twin in a 100 yard dash....

Kaminari's eyes flew open when he realized he hadn't been crushed, looking up at the immobilized debris, before looking around the premise wildly.

His jaw dropped in a mixture of shock and relief when he spotted me, looking as if he was about to cry.

"Hourglass!!! You saved me!!" He cried out, noticing me running for the rubber man who was trying to kill him.

"Ah, I don't know if I saved you, yet, actually. So, hold onto that for a sec." I grunted in exertion, sliding underneath a random quirk attack to continue my race towards the rubber villain.

"What-THAT'S SO NOT REASSURING!!" Kaminari whined, continuing to hold his electric current in hopes that I would reach him in time.

Seeing another villain trying to come up on my left, I chucked one of the daggers I was holding directly into the man's thigh to stop him.

I cursed under my breath as I realized the rubber man would probably reach Kaminari before me in a race against time, causing me to go with a different strategy.

I deactivated my quirk on the other rubber twin, noticing he would be too far away to catch Kaminari now, before quickly transferring my quirk effects to the rubber twin who was closest to bolts boy.

"Hah! Yes!! That's some big brain stuff!-Hey, I'm actually gonna save you now!" I called out to Kaminari happily, watching him smile at me frantically.

"W-Well, that's really good to know." He huffed out shakily, watching me kick the rubber man flying back into his twin, before Edgeshot came out of nowhere and took over the task.

He must have been trying to reach Kaminari, too.

Letting out a small huff of content at the situation, I casually turned to Kaminari, ensuring that I stayed a safe distance away from his electricity.

"Alright. You're all good then?" I smiled, flipping my hair off my shoulder with ease.

Kaminari stared at me dumbfounded for a moment, before he quickly cleared his throat to act natural.

"Huh-oh, yeah. Right on-swaggy-I mean....that was nothing. I wasnt scared, or anything." He babbled out nonchalantly, as I directed my attention to the staircase I was so desperately searching for.

I'm finally here.

"Yeah, yeah. Great! Listen, take three steps forward cause those debris pieces above your cute, little head are gonna go flying any second. And keep up the great work!" I grinned at him dismissively, quickly leaving him to finish his work so I could reach the stairwell-

"Wait!! You think my head is cute!!?" Kaminari called out excitedly, causing me to chuckle and shake my head as I finally reached the staircase.

Alright. I've gotta climb these stairs to the top floor, so I can get an aerial view from the balcony.

I can only hope that reaching the top floor will finally give me the answer to all of my questions.

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Next Chapter Title: Those Who Help Their Friends...