Crossing Fates : Book 3 - Detain (BakuDeku)

31 - Bomb Going Off

The embers of a fire pulsed brightly in the fireplace in the common room.

Aki sat on the floor, slumped against the hallway door. Yui sat in an awkward heap in front of the window.

They couldn't be dead. They couldn't be.

Izuku leaped to Aki and shook him. He came upright with a growl and pressed the tip of his sword against Izuku's throat before he could jerk back.

The sharp tip nicked his skin. They stared at each other, wild-eyed.

Then Aki jerked his sword away and said, "Fuck, don't ever do that again. I could have sliced your throat wide open."

He hissed, "You were asleep."

Affront flashed across his handsome features. "I never fall asleep on watch."

"Keep telling that to yourself as you go wake Yui up!"

The sharp clashes of metal in the distance- those were swords.

Aki leaped toward Yui's slumped figure as Izuku raced for the nearest bedroom.

Ochako would never sleep through this kind of commotion, not unless she'd been drugged.

Ochako and Keiki lay in a large bed. Keiki turned to his side and had the bedcovers pulled up to his chin while on the other side of the bed, Ochako lay stretched on top, wrapped in a blanket.

Having learned his lesson the hard way with Aki, Izuku slapped Ochako's ankle hard and jumped back out of the way as the woman lunged to her feet with a growl.

"You know that bomb you mentioned earlier?" Izuku said. "It went off."

He didn't bother to stay and chat about things. Ochako would figure it out.

Instead, he ran back to his bedroom to get dressed, yanking his clothes and boots on with unsteady hands. He unwrapped his light crossbow- the only weapon he was comfortable enough carrying- and slung a belt of bolts around his neck.

If only he could get his head to stop ringing.

That sense of a high, thin scream just on the edge of his hearing felt like someone was shoving a needle into his brain.

Ochako strode into the bedroom as Izuku shouldered his pack. By the growing light in the window, he could see that the woman was dressed and armed. Red tinged Ochako's bold features and sparked in her furious eyes.

"Every last fucking one of us was damn fucking asleep," Ochako said. "Every last one. I'm gonna kill us."

Izuku told her tersely, "It wasn't your fault. Something wanted us asleep."

Even as he said it, he knew that wasn't quite right.

He remembered the shadowed figure of a man, and the oily black sludge trying to take him over before the Bean bit him and shocked him awake.

"Not something. It was someone, and I think he wanted more than just our sleep."

Ochako's gaze narrowed. "Got a description of this guy?"

"Call me crazy," he said, scowling, "But I'm pretty sure he's got grey eyes. I keep... " his voice trailed off as something slipped into place. "I just remembered. I'm pretty sure I dreamed about him the first night we were here."

"Did you, now?" Ochako moved to the window to look out, hands on her hips. "Dreams, spells and fire. That ain't good, princess. But whoever this fucker is, he ain't our problem. I sent Daigo and Keiki to scout out our best exit strategy."

Izuku didn't argue. Ochako was right. There was a time for sticking things out, and this wasn't it.

When they got safely back to Kuju, or better yet, Musutafu, he could send a sympathy card to Nemuri and Sekijiro for whatever this disaster turned out to be.

He went to stand beside Ochako.

There wasn't much to see outside, other than the smoke or the fog, except for a patch of dark water below that glittered with a tint of red.

Man, his head ached like a son of a bitch.

He said, "I wish we could see what was burning."

"The walls, floor and ceiling are cool and our air quality is good," Ochako said. "Same out in the hall. If this building's on fire, it hasn't gotten close yet. We're going to have to rappel out the window if the exits are blocked."

Izuku took a breath.

Their windows looked over the river at the top of the falls, and the water rushed underneath the building to plunge over a deadly number of rocks before hitting the bottom.

"I assume you have a plan to avoid going over the falls?"

Ochako said, "One of the building's main support pillars is underneath the common room window. We can use the pillar as an anchor and cast left with ropes. River's edge is three pillars to the left. It's awkward, and we'll get wet and cold, but we can do it."

Of course Ochako would have thought of that. She had probably scoped that out as an emergency exit option when they had first arrived.

Izuku rubbed the back of his aching neck. If only he could think past this needle in his brain.

Ochako said in an ultracasual tone of voice, "Guess this is when I point out how much help Tetsutetsu would be if he were still here."

Izuku just looked at her. They had made the only decision they could, given the information they had at the time, and the woman knew it.

"So why'd you let him go so easily, captain?"

The woman laughed softly. "Touché."

Light, running footsteps sounded just outside in the hall, and someone pounded on their door.

Ochako and Izuku strode quickly into the common room as Aki checked outside. He stood back almost immediately.

Keiki and Daigo had returned, and they brought Mei with them. The Elf's face was tear-streaked, her eyes stricken.

Izuku asked, "What's happening?"

"People are fighting each other," Keiki said.

"We knew that," Ochako snapped. "Be specific."

"You don't understand. People aren't just fighting each other," Mei said. Her voice sounded hoarse and scraped raw. "Friends are fighting each other. It doesn't make any sense. I just saw- I- I just saw Severan cut down his best- his best f-friend- "

Daigo put an arm around her as she stuttered into choked silence.

Ochako's face had turned grimmer than ever. She asked, "What's burning?"

Keiki's expression held an echo of the same horror that Mei's did. He answered, "The Wood. The blaze is all around us. Someone set the whole damn place on fire."

Izuku's stomach gave a sickening lurch as he realized what was causing the needle in his brain.

The strange, beautiful Wood was screaming as it died.

If he thought Katsuki was mad at him before, this was going to send the dragon ballistic.

He muttered, "I'm never going to hear the end of this."