The corridors of the ruined facility groaned under the weight of their own decay, a hollow chorus of dripping pipes and creaking steel. Overhead, fluorescent lights flickered erratically, their buzzing hum casting jagged, writhing shadows across the cold, gunmetal-gray walls.
The air was thick with the acrid stench of molten metal and blood, a grim reminder of the inferno that had torn through this place mere hours ago.
Kael led the way, his heavy boots grinding shards of glass and rusted bolts into the scorched tile, each step a deliberate defiance of the grief that gnawed at him. His tattered coat, stained with ash and blood, hung heavy on his shoulders, but his grip on DarkBind, his primary Quirk in battle, remained unyielding, its inky tendrils coiled beneath his skin, ready to strike.
Beside him, Mira moved with a softer tread, her steps cautious, almost feline, as if the cracked tiles might betray her. Her sharp eyes darted to every shadow, every corner, her fingers twitching near her side, poised to summon her healing Quirk—a power Kael had ripped from her in their brutal clash earlier that day, now woven into the storm of stolen abilities within him. Her hair swayed as she glanced over her shoulder, her face etched with exhaustion tempered by restless vigilance. Hours ago, she had been his enemy, her precise attacks leaving scars on his mind, if not his body.
Now, she was his shadow, bound to him by shared pain and a fragile truce forged in the ashes of Voidflare's loss. The facility, once a hub for All for One's twisted experiments, was now a graveyard of shattered machinery and scorched tile, its testing wing reduced to skeletal remnants looming like ghosts in the dim light.
Mira led them through the desolate halls, her breath visible in the chill air, her voice low as she scanned an empty intersection ahead. "If there were any strong enimies left," she muttered, her tone taut as a bowstring, "we'd have run into them by now. This place is too quiet."
Kael's storm-gray eyes narrowed, his jaw tightening beneath a faint layer of stubble. "You're sure about that?" His voice was rough, worn by grief and rage, but it carried a challenge, daring the silence to prove him wrong.
Voidflare's absence was a wound that didn't bleed, a hollow ache gnawing at his chest, threatening to collapse his resolve. The man who had trained him, believed in him, seen something beyond the storm of Quirks he carried like a curse—gone, snuffed out in a blaze that had lit the facility like a supernova. Kael's hands trembled, not with fear but with a fury so raw it felt like it could burn the world to ash.
Mira's gaze flicked to him, her lips pressing into a thin line. "If they're not here…" She paused, her eyes scanning the darkness ahead, "then they're either long gone—or waiting somewhere in hiding."
Kael didn't respond immediately. His mind, sharper than ever despite the weight of his grief, churned with possibilities. He'd seen too many traps, too many ambushes, to take silence at face value.
DarkBind hummed beneath his skin, a coiled shadow ready to strike, while Balancekeeper, pulsed like a second heartbeat, a reminder of the lives he'd taken to survive.
His sister, Hana, was safe—at least for now. The thought of her, of failing her as he'd failed Voidflare, fueled the storm inside him.
Then he saw it.
A faint glow, pulsing softly from around the next corner, like a heartbeat in the dark.
He raised a hand, signaling silence. Mira froze, her body tensing as she followed his gaze. The air grew heavier, the silence more oppressive, as they strained to listen.
Footsteps.
Soft, frantic, uneven—not the confident stride of a trained fighter, nor the deliberate pace of a predator. They were light, almost desperate, like those of—
A child?
Kael's heart lurched, a flicker of something raw piercing the steel wall he'd built around himself. He moved before he could think, his boots pounding against the cracked tile as he rounded the corner. Mira was close behind, her breath sharp and urgent.
A blur of motion darted across the corridor—a small figure, no taller than Hana, scrambling toward a rusted gate. Kael's eyes locked onto the boy, and recognition hit him like a fist to the chest.
It was him. The kid from earlier that day, the one Kael had found cowering behind a shattered crate during the morning's raid on the facility's outer perimeter.
Those bright red eyes, wide with terror, had stared up at Kael as he'd grabbed the boy's shoulders and hissed, "Run. Get out of here now." He'd ran towards a gap in the rubble, hoping the kid would vanish into the chaos. But here he was, still in this hellhole, still running.
Kael's Quirk surged instinctively. With a flick of his wrist, a tendril of DarkBind—a writhing, inky-black coil—snapped forward, wrapping around the boy's ankle and yanking him off his feet. The child hit the floor with a sharp yelp, his small frame wriggling like a trapped animal, his red eyes flashing with panic.
"Stop squirming," Kael said, his voice low and commanding as he stepped over the boy, his shadow looming large in the flickering light. The tendril tightened just enough to hold him still, not enough to hurt. Kael's face was a mask of controlled intensity, but beneath it, his heart raced. "Why didn't you run? I gave you a chance."
Mira skidded to a stop beside him, her hand half-raised, ready to summon her Quirk. Her eyes flicked between Kael and the boy, confusion knitting her brow. "Kael, what's this? You know him?"
"From earlier," Kael said, his voice steady but laced with frustration. "I told him to get out. He didn't listen." He knelt beside the boy, his movements fluid despite the weight of his grief.
The child's face was smeared with dirt, his oversized jacket patched and torn, his pants frayed at the knees. Those red eyes, so bright they seemed to glow, stared up at Kael with a mix of fear and defiance.
"Mira," Kael said, his tone clipped, "what's his Quirk?"
Mira hesitated, caught off guard. "I… don't know. I've seen him around, scurrying on the edges of the fighting. Never in combat. Probably a delivery rat—messages, supplies, that's it."
The boy's voice broke through, trembling but fierce. "Please… don't hurt me! I'm not one of them—I swear!"
Kael's gaze didn't soften, but a flicker of memory—Hana's laughter, her small hand tugging at his sleeve—stirred in his chest. He pushed it down, focusing on the boy. "Then what are you doing here, kid? I told you to run, didn't I? I gave you a way out. Why are you still in this place?"
The boy sniffled, his small chest heaving as he fought back tears. "I-I tried. I did. But some higher ranked Villains found me. They said if I didn't come back, if I didn't deliver something to their comrades, my friends—my family—they'd suffer. They said they'd make sure All for One disappears them."
Kael's frown deepened, a storm brewing behind his eyes. "Deliver what?"
The boy shook his head, his voice barely a whisper. "I don't know. A package. It was sealed. I didn't look inside—I swear I didn't."
"Where are you from?" Kael pressed, his tone unrelenting.
"America," the boy said softly, his accent faint but unmistakable. "A small town… doesn't really matter now though.."
Kael froze, the word America hitting him like a cold wave. All for One's influence stretched far beyond Japan, a web of control Kael hadn't fully grasped. His mind raced, piecing together fragments of intel he'd gathered while tracking the villain's operations. If the boy was telling the truth, this was bigger than just Japan. It was Global.
The boy's voice wavered, pulling Kael back to the moment. "I… I heard about the burning man. I'm sorry."
Kael's breath caught, his body going rigid. The mention of Voidflare—his mentor, his anchor, the man whose quiet strength had kept Kael from breaking under the weight of his Quirks—cut deeper than any blade.
Voidflare's final stand, his flames lighting up the facility like a supernova, had been Kaels last sight before the world went dark with grief. For a moment, Kael's gaze dropped to the floor, his fists clenching at his sides. The ache in his chest was a void, vast and unyielding, threatening to swallow him whole.
"How do you know about him?" Kael's voice was low, dangerous, each word a warning.
The boy flinched but didn't look away. "Everyone heard. The way he fought… the way he went down. People talk, even the ones who work directly under All for One. They said his fire burned brighter than anything they'd ever seen."
Kael's jaw tightened, his eyes burning with something raw and unnameable. "He wasn't just a burning man," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "He was… everything." The word felt inadequate, a fragile shell for the man who had been mentor, father, hope.
Mira shifted uncomfortably, her hand resting on Kael's shoulder, a silent anchor. "Kael," she said softly, her voice carrying the weight of her own loss, "we need to focus. This kid—what's his deal?"
The boy pushed himself up to a kneeling position, his hands trembling but his voice steadying. "I'm not with them. My friends… we hate All for One. We're just people who got hurt, forgotten. Some of us were heroes once. Others… we just got tired of being stepped on. We're hiding, but we're fighting back one day at a timel."
Kael's eyes narrowed, his mind racing. "Heroes?" he echoed, the word heavy with skepticism, echoing Mira's own story of betrayal by a Hero. "You're saying there's a group. An organized resistance."
The boy nodded quickly, his red eyes wide with earnestness. "Yes! They're scattered, but they're out there. In the ruins, the old cities. They're waiting for someone to lead them."
Mira's grip on Kael's shoulder tightened, her voice low and urgent. "This could be a trap. All for One's played these games before. Sending kids to lure us in—it's exactly his style."
Kael didn't respond immediately. He knelt again, his face inches from the boy's, his storm-gray eyes locking onto those bright red ones. Slowly, deliberately, he activated his second Quirk, Truthseeker—an ability he'd taken from a Villain years ago. His pupils constricted, morphing into sharp, X-shaped crosses that glowed a faint, eerie white. The boy froze, his breath hitching as the air thickened with an unspoken pressure.
"What are you—" the boy started, but Kael's voice cut through like a blade.
"Are you lying to me?"
The boy's eyes widened, but he didn't look away. "No," he said, his voice trembling but firm. "I swear. I'm telling the truth."
Kael held his gaze, the white glow of his pupils intensifying as Truthseeker probed for deception. The Quirk was draining, a heavy pull on his stamina, but it revealed lies with merciless clarity. The boy's fear was palpable, but there was no flicker of deceit, no telltale shift in his expression.
The glow in Kael's eyes faded, his pupils returning to normal. "…He's telling the truth," he murmured, standing smoothly, his body unhindered by injury. The tendril of DarkBind slithered back into his coat, dissolving into shadow.
He turned to Mira, his expression unreadable but resolute. "We go with him."
Mira's eyes widened, her voice sharp with disbelief. "Kael, are you serious? After everything—Voidflare, this place—you're willing to trust a kid?"
"I trusted you, didn't I?" Her eyes widened for a second before nodding.
"Carefully," his tone firm but not unkind. He cast a final glance at the boy, who was still kneeling, his small frame trembling but his eyes bright with hope. "If he's right… this might be what Voidflare would've wanted. For all of us. For the betterment of the world."
Mira hesitated, her jaw tight, but she nodded reluctantly. "Fine. But if this goes south, I'm not pulling your ass out of the fire."
Kael's lips twitched, the ghost of a smile. "Wouldn't expect you to."
The boy scrambled to his feet, his movements jerky but determined. He extended a small, trembling hand to Kael, his red eyes searching for trust. "I'll take you to them. Just… please don't let him find us again."
Kael stared at the hand, his mind flashing back to that moment earlier that day, when he'd told the boy to run. He'd thought it was the last time he'd see him, another life he could've save. But here he was, still fighting, still hoping. Like Mira. Like Voidflare had been, waiting for him to keep his promise.
Kael clasped the boy's hand, his grip firm but not crushing. "Lead the way, kid."
The boy nodded, a spark of determination igniting in his eyes. He turned, his small frame moving with surprising speed as he led them down the corridor, past the flickering lights and the skeletal remains of the facility. Kael and Mira followed, their steps echoing in the oppressive silence, their senses alert for any sign of danger.
As they moved deeper into the facility, Kael's mind churned. The boy's words—resistance, heroes, forgotten—stirred something in him, a flicker of purpose he hadn't felt since Voidflare's death. All for One's shadow loomed, his machinations stretching across continents, his cruelty binding the weak and the desperate.
But Kael had direction now, a path forward, however uncertain. With Mira at his side and the boy leading the way, he wasn't alone anymore. For Hana, for Voidflare, for himself, he would fight—not just for vengeance, but for something more.
And for the first time since Voidflare's fire had faded, Kael felt the faint stirrings of hope.
…