Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey Hat Guy, did you finish that whole Fatui problem?”

Kusanali walked up to me, I had been looking into them because there were some shady deals going on in the desert involving missing ancient relics and a sudden increase in abyss monsters.

I nod, crossing my arms. “Yeah, they were pretty stingy about any information too, had to get a little more physical than I had intended to. They eventually gave the ringleader up though, it was some scholar who was struggling with finding something to study for his thesis so he decided to take artifacts from a bunch of temples and hired Fatui to help him. Apparently he had some bad blood with the Eremites because he didn’t hire them. The abyss activity increased because he opened up a bunch of temples and the monsters just walked out of them.”

I pause for a second then add on, “Long story short he was an idiot who poked his nose where it didn’t belong and made problems for everyone else.”

Kusanali nods along, giving me a small look at the last part before she smiles.

“Good, I’m glad it’s all handled then. I was actually here to ask you about another thing.”

I nod at her to go ahead.

“I have an important figure from another nation coming to Sumeru to discuss something with me. He’s from Japan.”

My eyes widen, but I stay quiet to let her finish.

“He’s apparently the principal of the most highly sought after school there, and he needs my assistance with something. I was hoping you would accompany me to the meeting.”

I nod along, “Sure, you know I don’t have any plans…But, from Japan? Lord Kusanali, hasn’t Teyvat had a lot of problems with…that side of the globe before? If I remember correctly they sealed us off and deemed us ‘lesser than them’ when they started developing their quirks…”

Kusanali nods. “That’s correct, but I was hoping that this meeting might open up the door for a mutual understanding between both sides. At least, I’d like to be optimistic about it.”

I nod, crossing my arms again. “Always one for optimism.”

She laughs and nods, “Right!” She puts her finger up to her face, “The meeting is supposed to be happening this upcoming Thursday at 8pm, which I think is 20:00 for us. We’ll meet in Pardis Dhyai. I’ve asked Tighnari to make sure all the scholars are away from there for the meeting.”

I nod, I haven’t talked to Tighnari too much but Kusanali seems to think that he’s reliable.

“Thank you Hat Guy! On a different note, I heard there’s a performance at the Grand Bazar tonight!”

Chapter Text

I ended up having to miss the performance because of more Fatui popping up and, as Kusanali would say, she knows the Matra could handle it, but she’d feel a lot less confident in their safety. So, to save her peace of mind, I typically handle them.

By the time Thursday rolled around, I had taken out about 7 Fatui camps, which in retrospect, is less than I had to get rid of when I first started taking the roll of Kusanali’s right hand.

We made our way to Pardis Dhyai early for the meeting, hoping to make sure everyone had made their way out of there. When we got there, it seemed like Tighnari had managed to keep everyone out, which is surprising because of how stubborn the Akademiya researchers could be. I guess he’s a lot more respected than I thought.

Either way, me and Kusanali made our way up to the small gazebo-like area and took our seats.

I cross my arms and look around for any sign of our guests. “Any idea what this guy is like?”

“Of course! He seems to be fairly reasonable for the most part when meeting with people, but he also tends to act a bit crazy when he sees room for improvement in people, especially his students.”

I nod, “I’m assuming he reached out to you?”

She nods, “I got an envelope with what looked like a disc in it and then a hologram popped out, it was fascinating.”

I hum, going to express my distaste for the idea of meeting with someone from Japan once again when I see a cart pull up.

I have to blink a couple times when someone gets out, because he’s dressed in what can only be accurately described as rags. The scarf hanging from his neck nothing short of string.

I thought that he would be the most bizarre thing coming out of the carriage until a rat-mouse creature pops out of the string on his neck. Seemingly talking to him.

“The small creature is Principal Nezu, seems he also thought to bring someone with him.” I nod, then notice a woman getting out. She looks a lot more strict, stuck up, almost. Much like Madame Faruzan, except, a lot more dull.

They all make their way up the path to the meeting area, Kusanali smiling the whole time, always the optimist.

The man in rags pauses in his steps, as does the woman, when they see Kusanali. The rat- Nezu, seems to whisper something to which the man sighs and continues forward, taking a seat on the opposite side of the table. The woman takes a second before also joining the table.

The rat stands on the table, seemingly wanting to stay at the same level as the other people attending.

“Lord Kusanali, it’s nice to finally meet you.” I keep my eyes on him, not trusting him entirely. “I hope you don’t mind that I brought some people with me.” He turns to address them, “This is Shouta Aizawa, he’s a teacher at my school. And this is Miss Kizu, she insisted she come along, she’s part of management at the Hero Commission in Japan.” Both of the people nod in a greeting as he addresses them. “I see you brought someone yourself.” He says, opening the door for Kusanali’s introduction.

She laughs lightly and nods, “I have! It’s nice to meet all of you!” She holds her hand out in my direction, “This is Wanderer, he’s somewhat of my right hand here in Sumeru.” I nod at them.

“Now, if those are all of the introductions, I think this meeting can officially start!” Kusanali’s voice is light and friendly, as it normally is.

“Of course, I came here to ask for your assistance with a growing problem on our side.”

I try to hide the distaste I have at the ask, we had been seen as less than them for years and years, and now they want our help?

“Now, I understand that our sides have been fairly hostile towards each other for many years, but I hope to end the hostility between both sides.”

Kusanali nods along. “I am open to the discussion.” She looks to me, likely wanting a second opinion, still not entirely confident in her own choices. I nod at her. I know it’s not the time to voice my grievances. She smiles and turns back to Nezu “I imagine this has something to do with the issue you told me about?”

Nezu nods, more serious now. “Yes. Recently there has been a growing threat in Japan known as the League of Villains. They’ve become quite a nuisance in the past few months of the school year, even attacking our hero classes during their training exercise at our facility USJ.” Nezu hands Kusanali a folder of pictures which seem to depict the attacks. Once she reads through them, she hands the folder to me so I can look at it as well.

The woman on the other side seems to have a problem with that. “Lord Kusanali, all due respect but this meeting is meant to be confidential, as are the things in that folder, are you sure we can trust him with the information?”

Kusanali seems to get more serious about this. “Miss Kizu, I understand your hesitance but Wanderer knows of all problems that enter Sumeru, as he tends to deal with some of the more serious ones himself, I could have also brought the General Mahamatra, as his position also deals with threats to Sumeru. However, out of respect for this meeting, I decided not to. I do hope you can understand that I have allowed this meeting the most confidentiality possible while also ensuring the safety of my nation.”

I blink in slight shock but smirk into the folder, that's the god of wisdom for you. The woman seems a bit stunned but quickly straightens herself back out. “Of course Lord Kusanali, my apologies.”

Kusanali’s face lights up again, “It’s okay, now, where were we?”

Nezu continues, “We were hoping to ask for your assistance in taking down the League. In hopes that not only would it protect our students, but also show the people of Japan that you are not hostile towards us.”

I let out a quiet noise of indignation, to which the table looks at me.

“Something wrong, Wanderer?” Kusanali asks.

“I’m just wondering why we’re the ones who need to prove ourselves to your side. All things considered, you closed us off because we were ‘too weak and unevolved’ for you, which begs the question of why you’re asking us for help. If your side is so strong, handle it yourselves.”

The woman looks like she wants to yell at me, I look over and raise an eyebrow at her, she goes to speak but is cut off by Kusanali.

“I think what Wanderer is trying to say is that, considering the strong prejudice against us, even if we do help you it’s likely to be seen as interference from people who aren’t even supposed to be there, rather than help from a friend. Who’s to say that the media won’t play off our involvement by saying something like ‘our heroes could have handled them’ or ‘the Sumerians were unnecessary’? I think that’s a valid concern from our side.”

Nezu looks to think for a moment, before turning back towards us. “Well, a lot of news agencies look to UA, my school, for their information, and if we feed them positive information, chances are that will be what overwhelms the media. If it doesn’t turn out that way, I will hold a press conference myself to clear the air.”

I turn towards Kusanali, who has her finger on her chin, considering the offer. “How much help would you need? Are you looking for an army or someone to protect your students?”

Nezu considers this. “I was hoping for this operation to remain under the radar for the time being. Not only to protect my students but to stop the League from turning their sights onto your nation.” Kusanali nods at this, Nezu continues. “I think I would prefer just one or two people, who are capable, to protect my students but be ready to fight if necessary.” Kusanali nods at this. “Preferably someone who can blend in with the hero class, so as not to set off any alarms.”

Kusanali smiles that mischievous smile, and turns to me. “Wanderer.” I blink at her. Then catch on to what she’s saying. “Hah! No.”
“Come on! You would fit the roll perfectly!” I scoff in indignation, “What’s that supposed to mean?” She smiles at me. “Stop looking at me like that!”

She shakes my arm. “Come on! Please…” I sigh, I hate when she says that because it makes me feel bad.

“What about things here? Someone has to take care of the…problems.” I don’t want to say the Fatui’s name, not knowing how much the guests know.

“Oh don’t worry about them! I can have Cyno take care of it!” She let go of my arm and smiled at me.

I deadpan at her, “This isn’t going to go well. I’m the last person you want representing Sumeru-” She cuts me off, slapping me on the back, “You’ll do great.” I sigh. People may think Kusanali is super sweet but there’s a menace underneath all that kindness.

Kusanali turns towards the guests again, “Will Wanderer work?”

Nezu smiles, which is kind of creepy. “He should fit in perfectly.”

The man in rags speaks again, “Are we sure that just him will work?”

Kusanali nods, “Wanderer will be able to take care of any trouble that comes your way, though your technology may take some getting used to.”

They keep talking while I contemplate how I manage to get myself into these situations. Then again, Kusanali likes putting me into these situations to ‘atone for my past’ and what not.

I sigh, turning around and seeing a small, thin box in front of me, I pick it up and click the button on the side, to which the box lights up.

“The hell is this?”

Kusanali and Nezu stop talking and turn to me, Kusanali smiling, “That’s something called a phone, apparently it will let you contact me while you’re in Japan. And if I need anything, I can contact you!”

I nod slowly, looking back at the device, pressing a button on something that looks like a small speech bubble, seeing a list of four names, Kusanali, Nezu, Aizawa and Kizu. I click on Kusanali and see a box with letters, to which I type in my name and click the arrow that pops up. My message goes up to the top and I hear a ding from Kusanalis ‘phone’.

“Hey look! You’re already getting the hang of it.” She smiles at me and I huff as I look through the device more, I see that there's a small crease on the side and pick it off with my nail, revealing the inner workings of the phone. I narrow my eyes at some of the pieces, I recognize some of the devices from the robots and mechanisms in Sumeru. Circuits and the like. The front is some kind of glass and the phone itself feels like aluminum or something similar.

I only notice the eyes on me when I seal the phone back up and turn it off. I glance between the eyes staring at me, “What?” Kusanali smiles, “I knew you were perfect for the Akademiya.”

Chapter Text

When it was time for me to head off to Japan, a bunch of people in suits came to the Akademiya, of course, they walked straight into the House of Daena like they owned the place. Are we surprised? Of course not, arrogant pricks.

Kusanali still treated them with kindness and we said our goodbyes, promising to message each other if anything super troublesome arose. Kusanali got a little teary but we had a silent agreement not to talk about it. I waved to her and walked with the suited people to a ship, taking a seat on the edge of the boat to sway my feet a little.

“Hey! Get away from the edge! Not sure why but you’re considered precious cargo, can't have you falling into the ocean now.” Some guy with red wings on his back came up to me.

“The fuck are you?” My voice is irritated. He laughed lightheartedly, sitting next to me on the edge of the boat. “Name’s Hawks, I’m the number 3 hero where I’m from. Meaning I’m third best!” He says confidently.

I huff out a laugh. “Number 3 huh? Interesting that they sent you all this way.” I trail off and stare at the water again.

He huffs a laugh too, staring out at the water, I presume. I blink up at the sky as a few birds fly by overhead, a bit too far away for me to make out what kind though, I hear bird man’s- Hawk’s throat clear from next to me.

“So, you were sent to try and help us out huh?”

I hum, looking back down at him. “Yeah, apparently. Though I imagine that might be a bit offensive to you huh? That they think you and the other heroes can’t handle it?” I tease him a bit.

He laughs. “Me? No. I get it, and I’m personally happy with any help we can get” He trails off, “The others though, you may be faced with a bit of resistance there.”

I hum, deciding I don’t want to talk about my mission anymore, and decide to instead try to get more information about the nation of Japan.

“Is there a way for me to trade in my Mora for Japan’s currency?”

He chuckles and nods, “Course! I can take you there when we get to Japan. Japanese currency is called ‘yen’ by the way, I’m guessing ‘Mora’ is what your money’s called?”

I nod, “Yen…” I test the word on my tongue. Simple enough.

“How are we going to get through the barrier between Teyvat and Japan?”

He hums. “I’m not sure if I’m allowed to tell you that.”

I huff and nod, “How long are we going to be on this ship?”
He looks at his phone, clicking around for a minute, “about 2 more days, we might hit a rough patch in tomorrow so make sure you’re careful.”

“Right…precious cargo…” I say, then slide back onto the deck of the boat. “I guess I’m going to my room then…”

Hawks nods, “Let me know if you need anything.”

I walk towards the room that I had been shown to when I got on the boat
earlier, walking in and taking a seat on the bed. The room is rather small but I imagine that’s because we’re on a boat in the middle of the ocean and not a hotel.

I decided to take the time to practice my vision. I’ve been working more on using my anemo further away from my body, and having it be more precise. Such as using it to hold a pencil and write my name. It takes a bit more work than I had previously anticipated, as I have to control the movement of the wind around it or hit it with small bursts of wind in different directions.

Kusanali had asked if I could possibly start creating tornadoes or the like, which intrigued me too. So much so that it became my first thesis for the Akademiya. Kusanali had smiled and approved of it immediately.

After researching the tornadoes that Anemo Samachurls make with their staff, I figured that I would need some way to make my anemo vision more precise, which I likely should have done anyways, considering the fact that I got the vision very recently.

Which leads me to now, my name shakily written countless times on a piece of paper, a pencil floating next to the book. I sigh and shut the notebook, looking out the window and noticing it’s dark outside, I climb out of bed and make my way to the deck again.

I look around and see that there’s not anyone taking watch, which is a little disappointing to say the least. I figured they were a little more cautious than this. Either way, it makes my life easier. I walk towards the edge of the ship again and sit down, I focus my anemo on the water, trying to make small little water spouts in the water.

I eventually get one to stay up longer than 1 minute and blow my hair out of my face, I look up and see the sun appearing on the horizon, then hear the door to the rooms open, looking down at the sound, I see Hawks walking out and stretching. His arms going up and his wings stretching out. He looks around and sees me, his eyes widening in surprise before he starts walking towards me.

“Sleep well?”

I hum. “As well as I could.” I look at the sunrise again.

He nods, apparently understanding. “Yeah, the first few days on the ship were terrible for me too. Got used to it around the third day though. I still hate that they wouldn’t let me fly…” He grumbled.

“Why didn’t they let you?”

“Something about keeping up appearances. I didn’t really listen all that much.”

I huff and nod, taking out my kamera, snapping a picture of the sunrise.

“Woah! Is that a polaroid? It’s so much bigger than ours!”

I tilt my head. “Polaroid? This is a Kamera.”

I try to hide my frustration at his stupidity for a second, knowing we’re from different places…

He laughs. “Yeah, where we’re from these kinds of cameras are called polaroids. Usually people use…” He trails off as he takes out his phone, pressing a couple buttons and then showing me the screen. “This.”

I hum, taking the device in my hands, clicking the large white button at the bottom and my eyes widening in surprise when a flash of light shines on the ocean.

He clicks a small square in the corner and a picture of the sea pops up.

I take out my own phone and click the same buttons, aiming it upwards towards the sky and pressing the big button again, clicking the small square and nodding when it goes to my phone.

“Interesting…”

After a couple of minutes, the rest of the boat starts waking up, all going to their stations and what not. I imagine Japan must have better ships, I had seen them in illegal books back when I was still a harbinger. They likely used this older ship as to not draw attention to themselves in Sumeru.

As the day goes on, the skys get greyer in warning of a storm, the seas get rougher and the ship sways.

Once we get further in, shouting overtakes the ship, all of the people on it scrambling to try and figure out how to avoid sinking. I huff in annoyance, have none of them worked a ship like this before? Precious cargo my ass, they sent all of these useless goons to get me. The only one here worth anything is that bird guy.

I shove one of the guys trying to tug at a sail out of the way, he shouts at me but I ignore him as I grip the rope in my hands and yank, I let go with one hand and pull the guy back up.

“You know how to tie knots?” He nods. “Great, do that.” I gesture to where he should tie the rope with annoyance in my tone, he looks angry but does it nonetheless. By the time I get to the other rope the people there just let me grab it and yank it into position again.

“Worthless as expected.” The goons look at me with indignation, but decide against yelling at me for making sure they don’t fall off of the ship. One of them, though, starts walking towards me and yelling in my face.

As he shouts about being better than Sumerian scum, a wave rocks the boat and throws him off the ship. Hawks shouts and goes to fly after him but his wings are wet and heavy.

I stand there for a few moments, contemplating just letting him drown as he had just insulted not only me but also every other Sumerian, which includes Kusanali.

But then I remember Kusanali giving me a lecture before I left about being nice to people and all that.

I sigh and hop off the ship after him, Kusanali better be happy about this.

I hear Hawks shouting behind me as I dive into the water and grab the man, my anemo carrying us out and back onto the ship.

“Pathetic vermin.” I scoff and walk towards the wheel of the ship, straightening the boat out and ignoring any scornful looks directed my way.

For the next hour or so, it continued on like this. I would go and tug the ropes down, having the goons tie it and then go and man the wheel. Thankfully nobody else had fallen into the water. But I’m not holding my breath.

Hawks walks up to me later on, once the storm had calmed down a bit.

“So, you can fly too huh? Though I guess its not with wings.”

I huff, “I just use anemo…or air, I guess it would be for you.”

“Right, I imagine you have one of those vision things.”

I look over at him, not expecting him to know about them.

“All of the top ranking heroes got a debrief on Teyvat before we even approached you with the deal. I guess it was so we could know what to expect.”

I nod in understanding and my eyes widen as I see a large pink barrier.

Hawks smirks. “Looks like we’re entering my side of the barrier now.”

Chapter Text

“All right people! Get ready to switch ships!” Hawks shouts, to which the people on the ship scurry around.

“Switch ships?”

Hawks nods, “Just like it’d be weird to see one of our ships is Sumeru, it’d be pretty strange to see a Sumerian ship in Japan.”

I hum in understanding and start walking to my quarters to grab my things. Nothing much, just my notebook and Kamera. I walk back out to the deck and watch as we approach the barrier, they head straight towards it so I imagine there must be something on the ship to let it pass through without crashing.

I watch as the barrier overtakes the front of the ship and gasp softly when it passes over me. It felt strange, in a bad way. Like it didn’t want me to pass through but was forced to let me.

I see a large ship with a lot of strange machines on it floating on this side. Despite it not being seeable from the Sumerian side of the barrier.

The Sumerian ship stops near the Japanese ship, and a ramp is let down to allow access between both sides.

Hawks steps up beside me. “Let’s go.”

I nod and walk over to the other ship, the blue silk hanging off my hat blowing out next to me with the strong winds.

I arrive on the other side and see Miss Kizu there, she’s looking just as snotty as she did when I first met her. “Wanderer.” She says, acting professional. “Miss Kizu.” I nod at her.

“I’m glad we were able to come to an agreement, but make no mistake. Your orders do not come from Principal Nezu, they come from the Heroes Commision.” She says, handing me a plastic card.

I hum, nodding and looking at the card. “This is your temporary Hero License. I hope you use it responsibly. I’d hate to have to end this deal before it’s even started.”

I huff a chuckle, putting the card in my pocket. “And I hope you acknowledge that I listen to Lord Kusanali first, you second. As long as we understand each other than I see no problems arising.” I level her with a glare, which she returns but quickly straightens out her glasses and nods. “Understandable. I’m glad we could reach an understanding.”

“Likewise.”

She has someone show me to my room while she talks to Hawks. Probably to tell him to keep any eye on me and my movements, not wanting me to cause any issues for them.

I nod at the person who brought me to my room and close the door behind me, setting my hat down on the bed and taking a seat. I grab my phone out and start messaging Kusanali. It’s a bit of a slow process because of how new I am to it, but eventually I’m able to type out a message.

I’ve gotten to the other side of the barrier.
Switched ships. Miss Kizu is here.

I stare at the phone for a moment and then a message that says, “failed to send” pops up.

“Huh?” I click on the message, seeing that it starts to send again, but then fails. I climb out of my bed and run into someone who scoffs at me in disgust and keeps walking. Not gonna ask him then.

I walk back out to the deck and find Hawks, tapping him on the shoulder. He turns and looks down at me. “Oh hey! What’s up?”

I turn my phone to him. “Why’s this not sending?” I don’t want to assume the worst but they may be cutting me off from Kusanali for ulterior motives.

“Whoa man, calm down! We have something called wi-fi and service which we need to make calls. We don’t get much of those in the middle of the ocean. You’ll get better wi-fi as we get closer to Japan.”

I scowl down at the phone but nod, wi-fi huh? Guess I’ll have to look into it when I get to Japan. Maybe they have something like the House of Dehna there.

After a little while, I feel a slightly hard shove on my shoulder and turn to scowl at the person. Hawks smirks at me and points to his right. I huff and turn, my eyes slightly widening at the tall buildings that appear on the horizon.

“Japan?” I ask nobody, turning my body to take a picture of the horizon with my phone, then going back onto the messages and tapping the unsent one again. It still doesn’t go through and I huff in annoyance, stuffing the device back into my pocket alongside the hero license.

I walk towards the front of the large ship, leaning over the edge and looking at the buildings closer, I instinctually go to tighten my hat, but realize I left it in my room. I’ll have to remember to grab that when we get to Japan.

I hear a throat clear from behind me, turning I see Miss Kizu. “Wanderer, in order to hide the fact that you’re from Sumeru for the time being, we’d like you to change into more…suitable, clothes for Japan.”

I hum. “So nobody will know that I’m from Sumeru until the League of Villains is defeated?” I raise my brow. “Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of me being here?”

Miss Kizu sighs. “It’s more for the general public than anything else. The class you will be in at UA can know, as well as the teachers. But we’d prefer that the public isn’t made aware as to avoid…unsavory people getting ahold of the information.”

I nod, “I understand. I was just concerned about keeping it from the people who I’m meant to be protecting. If you have some on board I’d like to get changed now.”

Miss Kizu sighs in relief, apparently expecting me to argue with her more, but I’m being nice on Kusanali’s request. She nods and gestures for me to follow her.

She leads me to a large room with a lot of different strange clothing on racks. “Please choose what looks most comfortable to you. I’ll give you some time. Feel free to take multiple outfits.” She gestures to a bag. “Any extra clothes you like you can put in here to take with you.” She leaves the room.

Huh, she’s a lot nicer when she’s not acting all professional.

I walk towards one of the racks of clothes, noticing a lot of them have tags with what they are written on them, considering I don’t really know what any of these things are, name or not, I decide to just decide by feel.

I run my hand along the clothes, pinching and rubbing a few pieces to see how they feel. One catches my eye as it feels smooth and light. I pick it up and read the tag, “Black compression shirt?”

I shrug and throw it over my arm, feeling around a bit more before feeling something else. “Purple hoodie.” I say each of the names out loud to test how they feel on my tongue. I turn the ‘hoodie’ over and notice a depiction of stars on the front. I hum and throw it over my arm.
I move onto the bottoms area, something called “cargo pants” catching my eye immediately. I grab them and throw them over my arm. Also grabbing a pair of shorts that feel relatively closer to mine.

I throw the hoodie and shorts into the bag, changing into the compression shirt and cargo pants. I hum as I look into the mirror, walking over to the racks again. Grabbing a white “sweater” type thing that covers my shoulders and ties at the bottom. I nod and grab a set of formal clothes as well just incase.

I walk out of the room with the bag over my shoulder, running into Miss Kizu. “I’m done.” She turns to me and nods appreciatively. “You clean up nice.” I huff.

“We’re about an hour out from Japan. Hawks has told me you wanted to get your currency converted to yen, so he will accompany you for that. A car will pick you up and bring you to your apartment afterwards. No need to worry about rent money or anything either. Nezu has agreed to pay for it.”

I nod along, grabbing my notebook and putting it into the bag as well, tying my hat to the bag and following Miss Kizu onto the deck.

“Now, remember you have my number, as well as Nezu and Aizawa’s. If you need something, phone one of us. We will try our best to help you get used to Japan.”

“Hey man! Looking good!” Hawks pops out of nowhere and does a once over then tilts his head in confusion, looking at Miss Kizu. “You sure those shoes are good?”

Miss Kizu follows his eyes to my sandals and sighs, yelling for one of the people on the boat. “Please get Wanderer some decent shoes, preferably one pair of sneakers and one pair of dress shoes.” She hums for a moment. “Size 7, his feet are small.”

I huff and look down at my feet. “You guys don’t wear these in Japan?”

Hawks smiles, “We do sometimes, but it’s not typical to wear them around town.”

I hum and nod, reaching to take them off and stuff them into the bag too, which is getting way too full.

The person comes back with socks and sneakers that have the word “puma” written on the side, they're a bit chunky on the bottom with black and white coloring.

I take my time to put the shoes on, having to lace them up and everything because they’re new.

“Do you transport a lot of people on this ship?” I ask Miss Kizu. She stammers for a moment but then fixes her glasses. “It’s not typical, but also not out of the ordinary. Sometimes we transport villains or heroes on this ship, and the clothes are mostly a precaution. Heroes sometimes need to disguise themselves.” She stops there, however I have the feeling that she’s not telling the full truth. Not only does her explanation sound the slightest bit ridiculous, but Hawks looked awfully nervous the whole time. As if he was hoping she was going to say the right thing. Interesting.

Chapter Text

By the time we reach Japan’s shore, I had already taken my phone out to finally send my message to Kusanali. The speech bubble finally saying ‘sent’. Almost immediately, Kusanali messages back.

I was getting a bit worried
about you.

Sorry, there’s something called
Wi-fi here that caused problems
while I was on the ship.
Interesting! How is Japan so far?

I’m not sure yet
Miss Kizu is suspicious.
She’s not telling me something.
I see. Please be careful.

Likewise.

Enjoy your time there Hat Guy!

“Hey Wanderer! You ready to go to the bank?” Hawks walks up to me, wearing a mask and a hat.

“You look ridiculous.” I say bluntly. He does.

He chuckles, “Yeah, well. Better to look ridiculous than blow our operation before it even starts.”

I shrug. “Fair point.”

We start walking down the sidewalk, I stare around at all of the buildings. They look so…weird. They’re so tall that there’s no way they use all of that space, and the paths are black with white lines marking them. There’s metal vehicles that travel fast down the paths and people in weird clothes everywhere.

“Japan is weird…” I mumble to myself, Hawks must have heard because he laughs and nods. “I guess it would be, yeah. In all fairness, Sumeru looked strange when I saw it too.”

I hum, turning my eyes back to the path in front of me. There’s a few people who look towards us and start whispering. I imagine they’re people who recognize Hawks even in disguise.

“How much further?” I ask, feeling exposed.

“We’re almost there, no sweat.”
I hum, glancing around. We walk quickly towards the bank, apparently this bank is somewhat of an exclusive bank for the Heros Commision. Hawks walks towards a back room, which I follow him to.

We take a seat and he takes his disguise off. He presses a button on the desk and types his name into a hologram like thing that pops up. A green light shines which quickly turns red, the name Risa popping up.

“Yes! She’s the best teller here. The rest of them are jerks.” Hawks celebrates, quickly yelling for the person to come in when she knocks on the door.

“Hawks, it’s nice to see you again. I see you brought a guest this time. Is this Hero Commission business?”

Hawks smiles, “You know it Risa. This guy wants to change his currency into yen. Though it’s a bit of a special case.” Hawks gestures to me, I grab a pouch out of my backpack and lay the Mora on the table.

Both Hawks and Risa look surprise. “Is that pure gold?” Risa asks.

I hum. “Probably. I’m not sure what Mora is made out of.”

Risa looks up in shock. “You’re from Teyvat?”

Hawks nods to answer for me. “He is. We brought him here to help with the arising villain problem.”

Risa grows serious at this. “Okay. Let me get a trusted appraiser in here and then we’ll work on getting this guy a card, how about that?”

Hawks thanks Risa as she leaves the room, then turns to the gold on the table, picking a piece up in his hand and looking at it.

“I never thought I’d see so much gold in one place before.”

“Is it valuable here?” I ask, confused since there’s a ton of Mora in Teyvat, which means, by Japan’s standards, Teyvat is super wealthy.

Hawks nods, still looking at the Mora, “Not as valuable as it used to be, but still extremely valuable. Especially if it’s real. We use it for a lot of things.” He puts the Mora back down as the door opens again, a tall and lanky man walks through the door.

Risa introduces him, “This is Mr. Wing, he’s our resident appraiser at the bank.” Mr.Wing bows in greeting and then moves to sit on the chair opposite me.

He reaches into the pouch and pulls out a piece of gold, holding it in his hand for a moment before his eyes widen slightly and he puts it back down. “It’s real gold.”

I glance between him and the gold for a moment. “That’s it? Don’t you have to look at it more?”

Risa smiles, “Mr.Wing’s quirk allows him to tell if money is real or not.”

Mr.Wing cuts her off, “Wasn’t very useful for hero work but,” He holds another piece of Mora in his hand, “Very useful for appraising.”

I hum and nod in understanding. Everything else goes off without a hitch and there are eventually piles of paper money, yen, on the table, as well as a few coins.

Risa takes out a device. “Now, let’s work on getting you a card.” She flips the device around to me. “Just input your name and we’ll get started on printing it for you.”

I nod and look down at the device, expecting to just put in Wanderer, but it’s asking for a last name too. I look up at Risa. “I don’t have a last name.” I say it bluntly. I don’t, not anymore.

She looks a bit shocked by this but quickly nods with a smile, “Of course. We can accommodate that easily. Just input your first name and we’ll go ahead with that.”

I nod, typing my name into the device, my movement slow as I’m not used to typing on these things yet. A new screen pops up that asks for my signature, that I can do.

I grab the pen looking thing connected to the side of the device and sign my name on the line, handing the device back to her after.

“Great! I’ll go ahead and get the card and put all of the yen onto it, sound good?” Risa asks with a smile. I imagine she has to stay cheery as a bank teller.

I nod and watch Risa leave the room with the rolls of money.

Hawks turns to me. “So, how’re you feeling? Excited?” I blink at him, “Uneasy.” Hawks’ smile sombers fairly quickly. “Oh, cause you’re in a new place? Feeling homesick?” His smile returns, teasing this time.

I scowl, “No. I just don’t like when people fake being nice.” I look at him pointedly when I say this. Calling him out too. “People in Japan don’t like Sumerians, or anyone from Teyvat for that matter. The only reason they’re treating me with any sort of decency is because I’m with a hero.”

“That’s not what they’re doing. They don’t care that you’re from Sumeru-”

“Don’t kid yourself. I may be from Teyvat but I’m not an idiot. You and the rest of the Japanese people I’ve met have looked at me with scorn. When you smile it doesn’t reach your eyes, and your voices are so fake Mr.Wing’s quirk would detect it. So cut the act. I don’t want your fake kindness. I’m here to do a mission, as are you. Let’s skip the pleasantries. It’s a bit pathetic to make a conversation just to occupy silence.”

Hawks’ face gets serious. “Fine. You’re right, the commission told me to be nice to you as to get you more willing to help us in the long run. We don’t tend to trust Sumerians by their word in Japan.”
I scoff. “I know my mission. But don’t expect me to be friendly with you people, after what you did to us, we have every right to be angry.”

Hawks looks confused for a moment but then Risa walks back in, sensing the tension in the air, she pauses for a moment but then continues on. “Mr. Wanderer, here’s your card. Please download this app on your phone to access it and make a password. Any questions?”

I shake my head. “Great! Please have a nice day!”

I nod, standing and grabbing my card, making my way out of the bank, leaving Hawks there with a slightly clenched jaw and confusion written on his face.

I walk out of the large doors and see a sleek black car waiting. I sigh and stuff the card into my pocket, walking over to the car and taking a seat in the back.

Chapter Text

By the time I get to my apartment, I had already set up the app that Risa told me to download. I unlock the door and walk in, quickly finding the bedroom area and laying the bag on it.

I take my sandals back out and put them on my feet, sighing when I peel off the sneakers, as they had been a bit tight on my feet, apparently I laced them too tight.

I walk to the living room and sit down on the couch, which is a lot more comfortable than the ones in Sumeru. I sink into the tan cushions and eye the large box in front of me. It’s like a bigger phone. Next to it is a smaller box with an orange light on it and a small controller.

I take my phone out and click around until I find a guide on how to use the device. I grab a rectangle remote and click a large button, which brightens the ‘TV’ as the phone calls it.

The smaller box is also simple, I press the large button in the middle of the controller and the ‘PS5’ light turns blue, which changes the TV screen to a menu of some kind.

I glare at the TV like it offended me, my eyes trying to adjust to the now very bright screen.

I grab the remote in my hands, pressing around a few buttons before finally getting to something that says “create profile” which the phone told me I should do. I go through that process slowly but surely, finally getting to an even bigger menu.

I scowl at the screen, are you kidding me? I sigh and sit back on the couch, the controller in my hands, I move until I see an icon that says “Youtube”. Clicking on it, I press the guest button and get shown an even bigger menu.

“You have to be kidding me.” I grumble and scroll through the selections before picking one that seems to be talking about some crime case. The video pops up and I sigh in relief. “Finally.”

The video quickly pulls my interest. It’s intriguing to learn about the justice system on this side of the barrier. Not to mention the sheer psychopathy of some of the people who committed the crimes.

Eventually, I stand from the couch and walk around the apartment a bit more, reaching a bookshelf. Most of them seem interesting but not informational. I huff and grab a book titled, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, which is apparently highly accredited if the sticker on it is truthful.

I sit on the couch and open the book, the crime video playing in the background. The book quickly enraptured me. And I give myself a mental note to try and bring this book over the border to let Kusanali read it.

Eventually, the book lay in a pile of other finished novels, the bookshelf now empty, as the books had all been read already. The stories separated into separate piles so they don’t fall down.

I sigh and rub at my eyes, looking out the window and seeing that it’s already the morning. Sometimes I’m glad I’m a puppet. Leaves so much more time for me to do other things.

Of course, I can still do things humans do. Eat, sleep, drink, but I don’t need to do it like humans do. I just…don’t have a heart. My hand instinctually raises to where the gnosis would fit. My stomach, now sewn up. The skin growing into a scar over it. Leaving a circle mark on my torso.

I’m grateful that the technology I was made with made me as human as possible. I assume a heart was possible, but not necessary at the time, considering I was meant to be getting the gnosis.

I scowl again. I would have had the gnosis had Raiden not decided I wasn’t worth the trouble and tossed me out.

Well… no use in getting angry over it now… She doesn’t even remember I exist anymore.

I stand and grab a pile of books, going to place them back on the bookshelf, I had just finished organizing it when there was a knock on my door.

I walk towards it and click the lock off, opening the door and seeing Aizawa standing there. He hands me clothes, “Your school uniform, get changed so we can make sure it fits. Nezu wants to talk with you to make sure everything is ready.”

I nod and walk to the bedroom, changing into the uniform and grabbing my phone and card. Stuffing it into my pocket. I turn the lights off and walk out of the apartment, locking it and clipping the keys to my pants.

Aizawa looks me up and down. “Looks like it fits fine. Where’s your bag?”

I look up at him, “Is it necessary? I don’t have anything to put in it.”

He sighs and nods, “We’ll get you a bag and stuff at UA, let’s go.”

On the ride there, I turn on my phone and open my messages, Kusanali had sent me a picture of the report from the first rangers. There’s still a lot of Fatui activity.

I knew you’d still want
to see this. Don’t worry about
them though, I’ll have the Matra
handle them. <3

There’s still a lot of activity.
Do you think they’re planning
something?

They shouldn’t be focused on
Sumeru. They have the
gnosis already.

Typing…..

Maybe the Doctor is trying to
replenish his clones. He might
need materials from Sumeru.

I hope that’s not the case.

Even if it is, if he starts focusing
on his personal mission more than
the gnosis, I’m sure the Tsaritsa
will stop him. Or number one.

From what you’ve told me, the
gnosises are their main focus.
They’re not going to let him spend
time on unnecessary things.

Keep me updated on that.

I’m about to enter UA to speak with
Nezu. I’ll likely be starting tomorrow.

Oh wonderful! I hope you
can make new friends!
Take lots of pictures! <3

I’ll try my best.

Typing…

<3

I press the button to turn the phone off just as we’re pulling into the parking lot of the school. We make our way through the long hallways, which I imagine will be a lot less dead once school starts.

When we reach a large door, it opens before Aizawa has a chance to knock. He sighs and pushes the door open, revealing Nezu sitting with tea in his hand.

“Wanderer, glad you seemed to make it okay. I assume the uniform is comfortable.” He talks while gesturing at the chair for me to sit down.

I take a seat on the plush chair and nod. “Yes, thank you.” I notice Aizawa sits in the other chair.

Nezu smiles, “Well, I was hoping to have you start tomorrow. Seeing as it’s better sooner than later when it comes to the students safety.” I nod in agreement. Their safety is my mission, afterall.

“I was hoping that you’d allow Aizawa to let the students in his class know that you will be joining them tomorrow. As to not cause a stupor when you actually get here. That would include him telling them that you’re Sumerian.”

I hum and nod, I think this had already been discussed between him and Kusanali, but I appreciate him asking me to make sure. “That’s fine. Kusanali had agreed earlier on as well.”

Nezu smiles, “Perfect! Before we get your school supplies, I would also like to let both of you know about a new curriculum I’m wanting to start.” His paw clap together.

“No offense, but why do I need to know about this?” I ask.

Nezu smiles again, “Because the curriculum I want to teach is about Teyvat! I figure if we’re going to work towards opening the barrier again, it may be wise to start to undo the built in prejudice that has grown on our side over the years.”

I nod, “Before the curriculum is implemented, I’d like you to send it to Lord Kusanali to be looked at. I appreciate the effort to undo prejudice against us, but I would feel more confident in the material if she were to okay it.” I suggest.

Nezu nods as well. “Of course! Aizawa, I wanted to ask-”

“No. I’m not teaching another class.” Aizawa interrupted.

Nezu laughs. “Of course! But I’d like you to help me choose who should!”

Aizawa sighs and thinks for a moment. “Midnight or Mic would probably be the better options. They’re both more tolerant and haven’t really grown a prejudice themselves.”

Nezu smiles creepily, “I knew you’d make a good choice.” Aizawa sighs, likely not wanting to be the object of Nezu’s attention for much longer.

Nezu turns back to me. “Well, now that that’s all sorted, how about we get your bag and school supplies put together?” He claps his paws together.

Chapter Text

Aizawa’s POV

By the time Wanderer got all of his stuff sorted and Nezu arranged a ride back to his apartment, it was time for me to get to my class.

“Shouta.” I pause in front of the door to the office. “Make sure that those kids treat Wanderer with respect. We can’t Lord Kusanali thinking that we’re going to open the barrier just to let them get assaulted again. This isn’t only a way to protect your students, it’s a way to unite our two sides. Please keep that in mind.”

I nod, “I’ll make sure it goes smoothly.” Nezu smiles, “I know you will. Now shoo! You’ll be late!”

I sigh as I walk into my classroom, it quiets down faster now but they’re still too slow. “Before we start today, I have an announcement.”

The class looks on in interest before Denki decides to say something, “You’re pregnant!” The class starts laughing while Iida tries and fails to quiet them down.

I let out an exasperated sigh and wait for them to calm down. Iida sits back down and gestures at me to continue. “Finally. Anyway, we’re getting a new student tomorrow.”

The class immediately gets loud again. My frustration growing, though they quickly quiet down as they see me getting angry, I guess all of those surprise training exercises have traumatized them.

“This student is a special case, and the details of his being here are confidential. I’ll tell all of you but I need you to be very careful with who you discuss this with. The Hero's Commision didn't prepare NDA’s so I assume they’re basing the safety of this mission on your ability to keep secrets.”

A few of the students are starting to look nervous, while others look intrigued or hesitant.

“What’s so special about this kid? Probably just another extra.” Bakugo very helpfully chimes in.

I take a breath, “He’s from Sumeru, a nation beyond the barrier.”

All hell breaks loose as I finish my sentence. Some of the students yelling about how they don’t want to be in the same room as a Sumerian, others being interested in the foreigner.

I activate my quirk and that quiets them all down fairly quickly. It’s easier to make out the groups of students based on reactions this way as well. Some of their faces are turned up in scowls, others in confusion. Others have curiosity in their eyes.

“Because of the recent rise in villain attacks, Japan has decided to outsource our manpower. Nezu suggested asking the Lord of Sumeru if she had anyone to spare who would fit the role. He hopes that this will help to break the prejudice against those beyond the barrier.”

I can see on their faces that they’re going to start yelling again, and quiet them with my quirk before they can start.

“His name is Wanderer. The lord of Sumeru, Kusanali, considers him somewhat of her second in command. She’s confident he’ll not only be able to remain inconspicuous, but also protect you if it comes to it.”

Bakugo lets out an angry huff of air, “I don’t need some extra to protect me, especially not some weak Sumerian one!” A couple of students mumble their agreements, which causes me to rub my nose and sigh. This is gonna be a long day.

“That’s the first thing we’re going to address. None of this prejudice will be tolerable. He’s here to help, and hopefully this will lead to unity between both sides of the barrier.”

I see Momo raise her hand. “Yes, Yaoyorozu?” I sigh.

“I’m a bit confused Mr.Aizawa. I’ve heard that the people beyond the border were dangerous and that’s why we closed them off.”

Bakugo laughs, “Dangerous? They’re a bunch of quirkless losers!”

“The people on the other side of the barrier are mostly quirkless. They use things called visions which supply them power. And those are also very few and far between. Their visions, though, are on average stronger than a quirk. So both of the information you guy have can be true.”

The class erupts in questions again. “Enough!” They quiet down. “Whatever questions you have, you can ask Wanderer when he gets here.”

They whisper about it for the rest of the class, which irritates me to no end. Hopefully things will go better tomorrow.

Wanderer’s POV

When I get to the school, it’s still fairly empty, having arrived with Aizawa. He tells me to wait until the third bell rings and then wait outside the door to Class-1A, to which I agreed.

In the meantime, I messaged Kusanali about how things were going, ever the optimist, she assured me I would make new friends, and that things were going well in Sumeru.

I sigh as the third bell rings and I walk to the door that Aizawa had shown me to earlier this morning. The class is really loud, which is unfortunate.
Aizawa manages to quiet them down by some miracle, and they start muttering under their breath instead.

I hear the door click as Aizawa opens it, I walk in with confidence. I had been the new kid before, nothing new there. Not to mention my time in the Fatui had gotten me used to the stares and whispered insults. I wasn’t exactly the most liked harbinger after all.

“This is Wanderer, he’s going to be here for the foreseeable future.” Aizawa introduces me then turns to me and says, “I told them they could ask you questions, sorry in advance.”

He quickly sips up into what looks like a caterpillar sleeping bag and leaves me to fend for myself. “Fucking prick.”

I turn back to the rest of the room, bowing slightly in greeting, having picked that up from being here for a few days.

“Oh my gosh. You’re. So. Pretty!” Some girl with pink said. I assume that’s related to her power. I get a bit flustered for a second, but quickly regain my composure. That is in no way the thing I thought I would hear first.

“Thank you, miss. I appreciate the compliment.” Ew, being nice is gross. Curse you Kusanali.

She bounces up to me, outstretching a hand. “I’m Mina Ashido! You can call me Mina!” I give her hand a small shake. “Nice to meet you.”

She doesn’t let my hand go and instead leads me to an open desk near hers. “So you’re from the other side of the barrier right? What’s it like over there?”

I think for a moment, not knowing where to start. “I’m not sure how to explain it....It’s a lot more quiet over there… a lot less things like this” I take my phone out.

Hold a conversation, Kusanali said. It’s easy! Says who?!

“These clothes are a lot different, and there aren’t as many monsters on this side.”

Mina’s eyes widen for a second. “Monsters? What do you mean by that?”

I think again, not knowing how to explain them to someone who won’t know what half the things I say mean.

I take out my notebook and show her the rough sketch of a samachurl that I had drawn a long time ago. “There are things like this scattered around. They attack you on sight usually.”

Mina looks genuinely intrigued and it’s only then that I realize the mixture of curious and hatred filled gazes looking in my direction. I remember then where I am and straighten back up.

“But that doesn’t matter right now.” I speak to the class as a whole, “I’m here to act as another layer of protection for you. I hope we can respect each other while I’m here.”

The smile on Mina’s face get a bit smaller, and I feel a pang of guilt that I quickly push away. Aizawa stands back up and addresses the class as a whole, then begins his lecture.

Chapter Text

Later, when lunch rolls around, the classroom empties out fairly quickly, Aizawa spares me a glance before leaving the room as well.

I expect to be left alone for the entirety of lunch when I see Mina walk in again. This time she looks more nervous than anything as she walks towards me.

“Hey, I just wanted to apologize if I made you uncomfortable with my question…or when I called you pretty or something. Mr.Aizawa told us to talk to you without any prejudice and I forgot that some of the questions could be offensive.”

I wave her off. “It wasn’t you. Don’t worry about it.”

She looks confused. Geez, I’m really not good at these types of things.

“It was because of your classmates, not you. Their glaring was getting on my nerves. I’m trying to be civil but it’s hard when there’s people who want you to know that they don’t like you.”

I nod to myself after I finish talking. That sounded okay.

Mina smiles, “I’m glad to hear you aren’t mad at me.” She sits at her desk. “I’m not really sure what happened, there are a lot more people who don’t like you today than there were yesterday. Which is the opposite of what Mr.Aizawa wanted.”

I huff out a laugh, “They had time to look into Sumerians, whatever bad stuff had been taught to them about us before likely got cemented by the things they read.”

She nods, heaving a sigh. She’s extremely animated, in her movements.

“I guess you're right.” Her eyes find mine again. “Can I finish asking my questions?”

I roll my eyes but there’s no heat behind it, “I guess.”

“Awesome! So, compared to the people in Sumeru, are the people who you’ve met so far in Japan better looking or worse looking?”

My eyes widen and she laughs, “What? It’s a genuine question! Like I said before, you’re like, gorgeous, so I was wondering.”

I huff and think, “Honestly, I think the people in Sumeru look better. But that could be because I’m more used to their features.”
Mina nods. “Okay, this might come off wrong, but I’ve heard mixed things. Are you guys like, really strong or super weak?”

I let out a laugh at her lack of tactfulness. “You’re blunt.” She looks to get nervous again, going to apologize maybe. “But I appreciate the bluntness.” She lets out a breath of relief.

I think for a moment. “I haven’t seen too much in terms of you guys’ strength, but I imagine the average quirkless person in Teyvat is stronger than the average quirkless person here. If only because there’s a lot more monsters in Teyvat. In terms of those with visions, it depends. A lot of vision holders would likely outclass the majority of quirks. Considering some of the quirks I’ve seen, they aren’t all very combat centered. While all visions have some sort of use in combat.”

She nods at this, going to ask another question before the bell rings. She pouts and perks up again after a moment. “You have a phone right? We should totally exchange numbers!”

I look at her with confusion for a moment. “Oh yeah, you’re new to them. Okay, hand your phone to me and I’ll show you how to trade numbers.” I grab my phone out of my pocket and watch her open it. She goes to my contacts and click a plus icon, imputing a number and then typing out a message, setting up a contact for herself while shes at it.

I hear a ding from her left and she smiles. “Perfect, now I have your number and you have mine! We should totally go out into the city sometime! I’ll give you a little tour of Japan, maybe introduce you to some of the local delicacies.”

I nod. “That would be nice, thank you.” It’s not too hard to be nice to her, all things considered, she’s nicer than a lot of people in the Akademiya.

“Of course!” She continues to make conversation as the rest of the students file in, all of them looking at us with mixed emotions of hatred and intrigue.

By the time Aizawa gets back in, Mina had already planned a day for us to go do our ‘tour’ and set up my contact in her phone. Taking a surprise picture of me and then grumbling about how it still turned out good, setting it as the contact photo.

Aizawa says something about hero training and we start making our way out to gym class. He has me stay back for a moment. “Since you don’t have a hero costume yet, you can go ahead and wear a normal gym outfit.” He hands the blue outfit to me. “If you want, you can design your hero clothes and drop the sketch off on my desk.”

I tilt my head, “Can’t I just wear my Sumeru clothes? They’re exotic enough that they should pass as a costume right?”

He seems to mull it over and then nods. “That’ll do” I nod, “I’ll bring it tomorrow then.”

I make my way into the changing rooms and take one of the private areas to myself, quickly changing and moving out to the field.

There’s still scornful looks being thrown my way, but Mina bounds up to me in her hero suit. “Hey Wanderer! How do you like my outfit? The first model was super showy but I got with the design course and they switched it up real fast!”

Her smile is bright as she points at her outfit, I look it up and down and nod. “It’s nice, does the lack of sleeves help with your quirk?”

She nods, giving me a thumbs up. “My quirk secretes acid from my skin, so my arms being exposed gives me an opening.”

I hum. “Not a bad idea then, at first I was going to comment on the lack of protection it provides.”

She laughs, giving me a slap on the back. I go to hit her back but then it processes that it was probably meant in a friendly way, so I don’t bother retaliating.

Aizawa addresses the class as a whole, “Alright, we’re working on hand to hand combat today, so partner up!” He looks at me. “Wanderer, you’re with me.”

I nod and make my way towards him, thanking the fact that the Fatui used to be super strict when picking their harbingers. The harbingers all had to be incredibly good at any form of combat. Whether that be with or without their visions available.

I hear some grumbled whispers as I walk past the students, I ignore them once again. Their opinions don’t matter any more to me than the dirt under my shoes.

I stop by Aizawa, who is watching while all of the students partner up and start their training. Some of them just talking. I hear him let out a tired sigh and chuckle slightly at his expense.

He turns back to me, holding out a ball. “I had all of my students do a baseline assessment on their first day. I figure I’d test you too since you’re meant to be protecting them.”

I nod, taking the ball. “I understand. You’re a bit more mama bear than I’d taken you for.” I tease him before turning towards the sky. I remember the time I had run into the Fatui right after I had removed myself from Irminsul. I sent one of them flying with a jab to the gut. Theoretically, that should work on the ball too.

I toss the ball up in the air and jab it as hard as I can with my fingers, sending it flying. Aizawa pulls up the device and nods. “770 meters.”

I smirk, so it did work. Makes me wonder about how far I could push a human. Of course I had done it before, but not with my full strength.

We do a couple more tests, side steps, long jumps, and running. I try to do all of it without my vision, because I’m not entirely sure if I’m allowed to use it.

He nods at me after we finish. “That’s all for the assessment. It’s time for your hand to hand combat now. Since you’re already here, I’ll go ahead and train with you.”
I nod and settle into my normal stance. It’s a bit of a more relaxed one, and I can see Aizawa get a bit annoyed at my lack of defense. But I’ve always enjoyed a more relaxed and flowy fighting style.

He nods at me in a gesture to make the first move. I figure that’s how he trains with the majority of his students.

I rush towards him and aim a hit towards his chest, he blocks my hand and goes for a kick to my head, which, rude, first of all.

I duck below it and grab his leg in my hand, punching him in the side of his thigh, which, in my experience, hurts like a bitch.

He yanks his leg back quickly, aiming a punch to my side. I block it and we both slightly separate for a moment. Circling each other. I lunge towards him, using my…short stature… to my advantage, I get on the inside of his range and aim a much weaker jab to his sternum. He jumps back right when it’s about to connect, so it hits him a lot lighter.

I jump back into his space and kick out his leg from beneath him, he falls to the ground and rolls back up before I can pin him.

We go at this pace for a few more minutes until the bell rings. He sighs and stands back up out of his stance, turning to the rest of the class, “You’re dismissed.”

I expect them to start moving immediately but, when I don’t hear the sounds of shoes moving I turn to face them as well. I find their eyes all focused on me and Aizawa, likely having been watching us for a little while now.

I scowl, going to snark at them when Mina bounces up to me. “Wanderer that was sick! Nobody’s lasted more than a minute against Mr. Aizawa before!”

I narrowed my eyes at her. She has to be joking right? A minute was hardly enough time for both of us to make a move.

She doesn’t seem to be joking though, she must be telling the truth. If that’s the case, then I feel like my job just got a whole lot harder. I had forgotten that these are kids who just now started training their quirks. There’s probably a few who did combat classes, but there’s an overwhelming amount that likely rely on their powers for anything.

That’s the problem with them being born with them rather than having to earn them. They don’t seem to have any clue what to do without them.

I nod at Mina, “Thank you, how did your training go?” I decided to divert the conversation away from me. Not knowing if that’s the right thing to do in this situation, since there wasn’t exactly a class on socializing at the Akademiya.

She smiles and starts telling me about her training, apparently she had partnered up with this girl named Jirou, who she apparently beat 4 to 2. I congratulate her and she grins like she won a prize.

The rest of the class had thinned out at this point, having lost interest in the conversation as they make their way back to the changing rooms to swap clothes.

“Alright problem children, go get changed and go home.” Aizawa had told us in his usual slouch.

I nod and bow in farewell, assuming that that’s courteous but not knowing for sure. Mina smiles and waves at him and me as she walks towards the girls changing room, kicking a small kid with purple balls on his head to the side when she sees that he’s trying to sneak up to the door.

I snicker and go to walk to the boys changing room, which I assume is pretty empty around now. I see the retreating forms of students towards the exit to the training grounds.

I open the door, expecting it to be mostly empty, and my eyes widen slightly when I see someone still in there. Some green haired kid with freckles who was already changed was sitting on the bench.

I expected the worst and mentally prepared my explanation to Nezu for when he asked why I got into a fight with his student.

I walk towards the area I had put my clothes and pause when I see that the uniform isn’t there anymore. I turn towards the green haired kid who is now looking at me nervously.

“I..uhm. Some of the other students wanted to uhm… prank you. So they took your uniform… they were going to take it and put some kind of powder in it but… I think Iida talked them out of being that harsh… so they just uhm..took it.”

Poor kid looked like he was about to have a heart attack when he was telling me that. Must have tried to talk them out of it, and got outnumbered. I snicker. “Idiots, what a lame prank.” I close the locker. “I still have clothes, not like I’m walking around naked or something.”

The green haired boy looks physically relieved at this, I remember what Kusanali said about thanking people for doing nice things.

“Hey uh… thanks, you didn’t have to stay behind.” I nod to myself, that sounded okay. Curse Kusanali, this would be so much easier if I could be an asshole.

He looks surprised and starts frantically waving his hands in front of him, shaking his head, “Oh it’s nothing, I wish I could’ve stopped them from doing it in the first place. Sorry about that.” He talks so fast that it’s hard to understand what he’s saying, it’s a bit funny really.

After a little while of his mumbling, I put a hand on his head, trying to stop him from shaking it. He freezes immediately and looks nervous again. I take my hand off of his head. “Sorry just…didn’t know how to stop you.”

He nods shakily, I curse myself internally, of course that wasn’t the right thing to do stupid.

He clears his throat and glances up at me, quickly looking back at his shoes. “C..can I ask you some questions?” He looks flustered after he asks that, standing quickly and waving his hands again. “I’m sorry that sounded like I was interrogating you! It’s okay if you don’t want to-”

“Calm down kid.” He stops immediately, looking nervous again. “You can ask your questions, let’s just get out of the locker room first. It smells like shit.”

He lets out a relieved laugh and nods. “Thank you.”

I half-smile at him and nod, we both walk out of the room and towards the school gate.

His first questions are very similar to Mina’s questions, excluding her question about which people were better looking of course.

“So, you have a vision right?” I turn to him and nod, I guess Aizawa had let them know that as well. “Can you explain them a bit more? We don’t really get a lot of information about them in Japan.”

He seems a lot more confident when he gets in the groove of asking his questions, not really stuttering as much.

“Visions are something people are gifted by the archons…which I guess are referred to as gods on your side. Mine is Anemo, or wind, in your case. I was gifted it by the god of freedom, Barbatos.”

The green haired kid, who had told me his name was Izuku Midoriya, nods excitedly, sparkles in his eyes. He would fit in well at the Akademiya, I figure he and Collei would be good friends.

“So, the archons, they each have an element.?” He tilts his head with his questions, yet another person who’s extremely animated.

I nod. “There are 7 archons. Barbatos, who is anemo. Morax controls geo, or earth. Beelzebul, who controls electro, which is self-explanatory. Focalors, who controls hydro, and Haborym who is pyro. Tsaritsa controls cryo, or ice. And Buer controls dendro, or plants.”

Izuku nods, writing all of this down in a notebook. I pity the person who has to read that, it’s probably very messy.

“So which vision type is the strongest?”

I chuckle a bit. “There’s not one that’s more powerful than the other. It’s more about how you use it. All of them are very versatile and can be used in different ways. Whether it be combative or defensive.”

He nods, writing that down as well. This feels similar to the Akademiya when people come to ask me something. A lot of people avoid me but, since the festival Kusanali made me take part in, more people have tried to get my attention.

He looks up for a second, looking like he wants to ask me something else. But looks around and sighs, putting his notebook away. “I have to get on at this bus stop to get home. Thank you for answering my questions Wanderer! See you tomorrow!” He waves behind him, climbing up onto the bus.

I sigh and start walking to my own apartment. Another person to tell Kusanali about I guess. She wanted me to make friends, but socializing with people who hate the fact that you’re there is hard.

I huff and kick a can that was laying on the sidewalk.

Chapter Text

While walking home, I heard a large crash from nearby. I sigh to myself and start walking towards it. Of course this has to happen when I’m trying to go home.

When I get to the place where the crash happened, I see a large fire had started to overtake an apartment building. My eyes widen and I curse to myself before rushing to a fire hydrant nearby. Anemo won’t do much to quell large fires, it might make it worse.

I propel myself into the air, the water from the hydrant getting sucked up into my wind. I speed over to the building and create a large whirlwind of water, the fire getting sucked up and extinguished by the water.

I hear police arrive at the scene behind me, ignoring them in favor of continuing to put out the fire.

“Help! Please!” I hear a scream from inside the building, I curse myself again, flying towards the voice and extinguishing fires along the way. I hear shouting from outside, I imagine a hero has arrived then.

When I get to the source of the voice, I take in the scene. There’s a door that’s very on fire, and this seems to be an apartment building so there’s likely no other way to get into the room but through the door or through a window.

I tsk and go out the window at the end of the hallway, seeing that the hero had started spraying water from their hands on the fire. But not on the fire near the screaming, the fire near the front. How moronic can someone be?

I roll my eyes and speed towards the back of the building, listening for the yelling and finding the window to the apartment. I check to make sure there’s nobody near the window and shatter it with a slash of wind.

I hear the screams turn into coughs, likely from smoke inhalation. I curse and rush towards the sound, seeing a woman holding a small kid in her arms.

“Do you have a strong hold on the kid?”

Her eyes are watery as she nods, they’re glowing a light pink. I nod back at her and grab her behind the back and under her knees, her eyes stop glowing and all of a sudden the roof above where she was sitting collapses.

I speed out of the window again, narrowly avoiding falling debris as I get out of the window. The hero had finally made his way to the middle of the building, still fairly far away from the back.

I turn and see firefighters just standing there. Looking like they want to help but not doing anything.

I drop the woman off at an ambulance nearby and rush towards the firefighters. “What the hell are you doing?!”

The one holding the front of the hose glances at me, “Spritz told us not to do anything.”

I assume that’s the hero in the building right now. I roll my eyes. Yanking the hose out of his hands. “Give me that.”

I turn and start firing the hose at the back of the house. I lift myself up into the air again, flying around and getting the fire on the roof and on the higher floors as well. It seems like my intervention caused the other firefighters to get their asses in gear as their hoses started firing at the fire on the bottom of the building.

I bring the hose back to the guy I took it from and he jumps into gear too.

Ducking back into the building, not having to shield my eyes from the brightness of the fire anymore, I start trying to find other people. The first few rooms aren’t fruitful, but I find a man unconscious on the floor of the fourth room I check.

I pick him up carefully and rush him out to the ambulance as well, noticing the hero had started talking to the media already. I curse and rush back into the building, having firefighters starting to rush in behind me, all of us scouring for more people.

After a couple of minutes, there were 5 people removed. None of them dead, yet, but all of them unconscious and with slow pulses. “I got another!” I hear a yell from nearby, nodding to myself. At least someone is doing something.

The building starts creaking, and I hear one of the firefighters yell, “Get out quick!” With loud footfalls rushing shortly after. “Wait! This girl is still alive! Help!” I hear a young woman’s voice yell, I rush towards it and see her trying to move a body by herself. A large piece of debris falls from the roof and she screams as she knows she won’t be able to move out of the way in time. I send a large wind gust up near her, holding the debris up. I rush towards the girl and take in the scene, seeing that the body has a large piece of wood laying over her, which is stopping the firefighter from moving the body.

I reach down and lift the debris, to which the firefighter nods at me in thanks and throws the unconscious woman over her shoulder. She rushes out of the crumbling house and I drop the debris in the air and in my hand.

I do another quick scan of the building, not finding anything, I rush out of the apartment complex, the creaking increasing in volume.

A few seconds after I make it out, the building collapses, shrouding the area in dust. I clear the smoke with my anemo and look around. There’s about 23 people sitting on the ground near the ambulances, some of the ambulances here earlier are gone so I imagine they took the more severe cases to the hospital already.

I hear yelling and move my eyes over to the firefighters, where the hero, Spritz, seems to be berating them.

“I told you not to intervene! I wanted to do it by myself!”

I walk over to them, crossing my arms. “If you had done it by yourself then half of the people who we got out would have been dead by now. Maybe more considering saving them didn’t exactly seem to be a priority for you.”

He turns around, “Listen kid, let the adults talk.”

My eye twitches and I take out the license from my pocket, showing it to him. “Listen, kid, you need to get your head out of your ass and acknowledge that your slowness and lack of care today, could've gotten dozens of people killed!”

He scoffs and turns to me, “I was handling it!”

“No, you were talking to the press! As far as I know that doesn’t put out fires or save people!”

He goes to yell at me again but one of the people who were in the complex walks on shaky legs and grabs my arm tight.

“Please, find my baby.” Her voice is hoarse, she sounds like she’s trying to be louder but is having trouble. Likely smoke inhalation.

“What floor were you on?”

She goes to talk but her voice doesn’t come out, she shakily holds up a 3. Okay, so there’s a chance. Hopefully the kid didn’t get crushed or burned.

I nod and start rushing towards the building. “Wait! I’m not done with you yet!” The hero starts running after me and I huff, floating into the air. I didn’t get a chance to ask the woman what side she lived on, but if I remember, the firefighters only ended up getting one person on the third floor before the building got too unstable to climb the steps.

I remember the firefighter’s voice coming from the back somewhere to the left. I fly over that area first and clear as much debris as I can with a quick gust of wind, not seeing anyone right off the bat.

I curse and start digging through the debris, scratching my hands on wood and glass, uncaring. I hear footsteps coming up behind me and see the man who I had pulled the hose from earlier start to dig along with me, he nods at me and hands me a pair of thick gloves.

I thank him quietly and tug the gloves on, starting on the debris again. It takes about 10 minutes until me and the firefighter lift one heavy piece of wood and see a small hand sticking out from under more debris. We share a look and start lifting the debris out of the way, picking through it until we find a small kid, a toddler, who looks almost dead. Almost.

I tear the glove off my hand and press my fingers to his neck, feeling a small pulse, I lift the baby up and rush him to the ambulance, yelling for help. A woman comes and takes the baby from me, quickly starting to help him breathe.

The lady who had asked for us to go rushed towards the ambulance, crying. She looked at me and said, “Please tell me my baby is okay!” I hesitate for a moment. “He has a pulse.” Her body shakes with sobs and she hides her face in my chest. Okay. This has gotten uncomfortable for me but, like, I’m not gonna be an asshole and push her off.

The firefighter makes his way up to me. “Is he gonna be okay?”

I nod, “I think so, they’re getting the smoke out of his lungs right now.” As I say that, the woman starts crying more heavily, shoving her face further into my chest. Jesus, all over my gym clothes.

I’m kind of grateful that those assholes took my uniform earlier cause I don’t know how easy ash is to get out of my clothes.

The firefighter looked awkwardly at the woman but then back at me, “I just wanted to thank you.”

I look at him in confusion.

“A lot of the time, we firefighters get shut down by the heroes who get here, like today. And we get fined for interfering when that happens so we just have to watch them slowly save people when we know we could’ve done more if we intervened. You took Spritz’s attention off of us and gave us a kick in the ass so we could save these people, so thanks.”

I look at him awkwardly for a moment, I’m not sure how to handle genuine gratitude. I nod at him, “No problem, glad I could help.”

He smiles and turns to start walking back towards his men, who had started sifting through the debris again, likely looking for any other bodies. The hero comes up to me again and starts trying to yell at me. The woman in my chest turns and slaps him, and the hero’s mouth goes slack.
I raise my eyebrows as the woman starts yelling at the man, her voice hoarse but seemingly reinvigorated by the hero’s audacity. “Don’t you dare yell at him! He did more good in the time he was here than you’ve done in your entire career!” Her finger points in his face. “You just left to talk to the news reporters as if there weren’t people dying in the building next to you!”

I glance around awkwardly. Should I leave or… is this a situation where I should stay…?

Chapter Text

When I finally make it home, having left the lady yelling at the hero, serves him right, worthless pest, I strip out of my soot covered clothes and climb into the shower, yet another new technology.
The steaming water pours over my shoulders and rinses the dark char off my body, my hair feeling heavy with the water. I sigh and tilt my head back, scrubbing my hands through my hair.
Eventually, the water stops rinsing black water and suds stop turning grey from dirt, I turn the water off and climb out of the shower, grabbing a towel and drying myself off quickly. I walk to my room and grab a new set of clothes, the ‘hoodie’ I had gotten from the ship.
I sit down on the couch and take my phone out, calling Kusanali.

“Hey Hat Guy! How was your first day of school?” Kusanali’s chipper voice comes through the phone.

“It was fine. Aizawa’s tolerable. I talked to two people, Mina and Midoriya. How’s Sumeru?”
She laughs, “Don’t try and change the subject so fast Hat Guy! Tell me about your day!”
I huff, “Fine… The majority of the class avoided me and sent me mean glares. Mina was nice though, she asked a bunch of questions, which was a bit of an annoyance, but since the Akademiya i’m a bit more used to it. I did hand to hand with Aizawa at gym, he’s better than I expected anyone on this side to be. I went to change but apparently the other kids thought it would be funny to take my uniform. Apparently they were gonna do worse but Midoriya convinced them not to, he was pretty nervous but he started asking questions too… Of course the two most talkative people end up talking to me.”

Kusanali laughs again, “Of course they would! You're an interesting person Hat Guy!” I imagine she was trying to focus more on the positive things. She’s that kind of person.

I hum, “Oh yeah, the heroes over here, are very hit or miss.”

She makes a noise of interest. “Oh? Why do you say that?”

I give her the run down of what had happened a couple hours before, the fire, the lack of help from the hero, the attitude of the hero, and the press. Shes quiet throughout the story, then a sigh comes through the other end.

“I guess even if we do manage to get the barrier broken, there’s still a lot of work to do huh?”

I hum, nodding despite her not being able to see me. “Seems that way…How’s Sumeru?”

She laughs, “Not the same without you Hat Guy! The Matra have managed to get rid a lot of the Fatui camps but I still wish we could get them gone faster. I’m thinking of posting commissions in the Adventurer’s Guild.”

I hum, “I wish I could punch a Fatui member right now, I have to let out my anger on something.”

“I’ll be sure to save you some Hat Guy! Though, you’ll probably be there for quite a while…” Her voice get a bit more somber.

I sigh, “Yeah, I probably will. I hope it goes quickly though.”

—-------

We talk for a while longer and I turn my phone off, grabbing the remote and clicking the TV on. I find a channel to watch and my eyebrows crease as I see my face pop up on the screen.

You have to be fucking kidding me.

I run a hand down my face as the reporter talks about the, “mysterious young man who helped Spritz put out the fire”. I scoff at this, if anything, I put out the fire, that fucker didn’t do shit.”

I hear my phone ring again, seeing Miss Kizu’s name pop up. I sigh and grab the phone, holding it up to my ear.

“Yeah?”

“Are you crazy!? What part of being under the radar do you not understand?!”

I scoff, “Listen lady! There were kids in that building and that worthless excuse for a ‘hero’ didn’t do anything to help them. I’ve seen scholars in the Akademiya save people faster than he did.”

She scoffs, “He would have gotten to it!”

“Would he have?! He started talking to the press without even checking the inside to make sure the fire was all the way out!”

She stays quiet for a few moments, “Just… I need you to be careful, okay? It was hard to convince the commission to let you here in the first place, and I can’t have the plan getting ruined because your cover got blown okay? I’m trying to help you here.”

I sigh, “I’m not going to ignore a burning building because of a loose structure of a plan.”

She sighs as well, “I know, just, try to avoid being seen by the press okay?”

“Fine. I wasn’t trying too anyway.”

“Thank you. Just…get some rest, Wanderer, be careful.”

The call ends and I lean back on the couch, rubbing my face. What a mess of a day.

I stand from the couch, walking into my room and laying in the bed. I don’t technically need sleep but I’ll do it now, I need a break.

—-

The next day, I walk into class early, looking around, I realize I’m the only one who’s there at this point. I sigh and sit down, opening my bag and grabbing out what we needed yesterday, having to push past my ‘hero outfit’. I had decided to forgo the hat because there’s absolutely no way it’s fitting in this backpack.

I sit in silence for a couple of minutes before hearing the sound of the door opening. The boy with red and white hair, I think I heard him be called Todoroki yesterday, walks in. He glances at me before going and taking his own seat.

I close my eyes, my cheek resting in my hand as I wait for the day to start.

“Good morning.” I’m brought out of my silence by Todoroki’s monotone voice. I glance towards him, “Good morning.”

“Did you get your uniform back?” I hum, looking towards him again.

I sigh, “No. But I have others, so it’s fine.”

He makes a noise of acknowledgement. I can’t quite tell if he was in on it or not, but he doesn’t seem like the type at all.

I figure that’s the end of the conversation, until I hear him talk again. “Why are you here?”

I raise my brow towards him, almost aggravated. The hell does he mean by that? “To protect you?” It sounds like a question when it comes out, I thought Aizawa told them about this.

He sighs, sounding almost annoyed, “I mean, why do it?”

I huff, crossing my arms, “Because Lord Kusanali asked me too.”

His face turns up in a bit of a confused face before he schools it back into neutrality. “Why would she want to do that?”

I sigh, he seems genuinely curious, “She wants to make a difference. Wants to move towards taking down the barrier.”

His eyes widen minutely, then he nods. “I understand.”

I blink at him for a little bit, but he doesn’t say anything else. That’s it? Conversation over? Okay.

I turn back towards the front of the room.

“But why would she do that?”

Damnit.

Chapter Text

After a grueling time trying to explain things to Todoroki, who seemed genuinely confused, the rest of the class eventually arrived, Midoriya’s eyes light up when they see me and he rushes towards my desk, causing the rest of the class to look on in confusion.

“Wanderer! I saw you on the news yesterday! That was awesome!” Fuck. Shit. Other expletives.

I nod, “Thanks. I didn’t really do anything though.” I raise my brows at him in hopes he gets the hint to downplay it. He didn’t, he was busy getting his notebook out.

Mina turns towards us, “Oooh? Wanderer was on the news?” Midoriya turns around and nods, “He helped Spritz put out a burning building!”

I scoff quietly, sure, I’m the one who helped him.

Mina leans to look at me, then the onslaught of questions come back. I swear this is worse than the Akademiya.

Thankfully Aizawa interrupts them, telling everyone to get to their seats and be quiet. I sigh in relief as everyone turns towards the front of the class again.

He pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket and opens it, raising his eyebrow at it after he reads it. He sighs and pockets the paper again.

“Well, Nezu wanted me to tell you guys that he knows what you did, and he hopes to see no more of that behavior from here on out. He didn’t specify what he was talking about, but I can make some informed guesses. I thought we talked about this.”

He narrows his eyes at a select few people. Then turns to me, “What happened.”

I sigh, “Nothing too serious.” I don’t really feel like making a big deal out of it, if I’m honest. Big ordeals mean talking to more people in my experience.

He raises his brow at me, all of a sudden, Nezu falls from the fucking ceiling, which surprised everyone but Aizawa, so I suppose this is a normal occurrence.

He stands and dusts himself off, smiling at the class. “Hello! Am I a mouse? A bear? I am Principal Nezu, and we have to talk.”

Aizawa sighs and sits in his desk chair, leaning back as if he’s about to take a nap.

“So, I wanted to keep up with Wanderer, to make sure everything went smoothly. But while I was watching the footage, I noticed a group of people acting very suspiciously. It seems to me that a group of students here decided stealing Wanderer’s uniform would be a funny thing to do.”

He narrows his eyes pointedly. “I know who you are, so I’d like you to explain yourself now.”

It’s quiet for a moment before Nezu seems to lose his cool and shouts “Now!”. Aizawa seems surprised by this too, as he sat up in his chair and stared at Nezu.

“Principal Nezu, sir, we just don’t understand the logic behind bringing a Sumerian here to protect us. They’re fundamentally weaker and less intelligent than us.” Iida takes the lead in explaining, which is surprising because I didn’t think of him as someone who would have participated yesterday.

There’s sounds of agreement throughout the classroom, Mina looks at me with worry in her eyes, like she’s afraid my feelings will get hurt. I wave her off, signaling that I’m fine, she nods and smiles slightly at me, which I return.

Nezu sighs loudly, once again quieting the room, then he looks up and smiles. “Let’s have a discussion then!” Everyone looks confused as he moves to sit on the edge of the desk, his paws folded in his lap.

“We need to get to the root of the prejudice you have, so give me a reason that we don’t need Wanderer and I will try to refute it to the best of my ability, if I cannot, then I will allow Wanderer to take over if he wishes to.”

The class seems a bit hesitant to go against the smartest being in the world but I guess prejudice beat out caution this time around.

Iida starts the conversation off. “Sir, they’re far less evolved than we are. Over 90% of their population are quirkless. Therefore, bringing him here is only going to put him in danger in the long run.”

His arms piss me the hell off. Anyway, I guess that’s why he participated, I guess the rest of the boys convinced him that it was some strange way to protect me.

Nezu smiles, “Thank you for starting the conversation Iida.” He turns to the class as a whole. “It’s true that the people in Teyvat tend to not develop quirks, however, because of that they’re a lot more capable in terms of quirkless combat. Not only that, but some are gifted with the things called visions, which you should have heard about.”

The class nods, and Nezu continues, “Visions are treated more as a gift than as a birthright in Teyvat, which makes the people who earn them that much more inclined to train them to their best ability.”

“Rather than training a power with the intent to make it hit the hardest that they can, they tend to train their visions to be versatile. They aren’t chained to their power, they harness it.” Nezu looks at me, “Would you agree, Wanderer?”

I think for a moment about the people who’s powers I know. Childe makes a fucking whale come out of the floor, Kusanali boosts people on her side, Tighnari has that distracting thing that he uses.

I nod at him in agreement.

Nezu smiles, “It’s because of this that I think there’s a big benefit in bringing Wanderer here, not only can he serve to protect you, but also to inspire you to think out of the box with your quirks.”

That’s a bit embarrassing, I don’t want to serve as anyone’s inspiration.

There are people in the class who look annoyed at that, almost as if they can’t believe Nezu would suggest something like that.

“This shit is ridiculous! I don’t need some Sumerian extra to protect me!” Bakugo, as loud as always.

Nezu sighs. “You may think this now, however, the villains that attacked you at the USJ are an ongoing threat, and I believe that the people in Teyvat can help us to contain that threat.”

Momo raises her hand, “Sir, alternatively, I’ve heard that the people in Teyvat are dangerous and uncivilized.”

Nezu lets out a laugh, “Dangerous, perhaps. But not uncivilized. Lord Kusanali, who suggested Wanderer for this mission, was very polite and respectable when I met with her. Wouldn't you agree Aizawa?”

Aizawa makes a noise of agreement. “You went there Aizawa-sensei?!” I hear that yellow haired kid with a black streak in his hair shout. Geez is everyone’s volume in this room turned up to max?

Nezu smiles, “I brought Aizawa with me as your class was the one that the Sumerian would be sent to. I thought it was crucial to make sure Aizawa met the student beforehand.”

Mina huffs, “No fair, I wanna see Sumeru.” She turns to me, grabbing my arm, “Hey you should let me come with you when you go back! Just to visit!”

“Uh…” Does she not remember the barrier?

Nezu clears his throat, “The other reason we wanted to have the people from Teyvat help is so we can work on bringing down the barrier.”

The class is alight with shock again, yelling and gasps. I guess the whole ‘unifying the two sides’ thing didn’t fully set in.

“Please calm down. Let me explain. The reason that the barrier went up all of those years ago was not only entirely unfounded, but also very harmful to the people on both sides. I believe that the unification of both sides can open doors that we’ve never even considered before.”
“Wanderer, if I may ask a few questions.”

I nod, it’s not like I’ve been doing much else than answering questions the past few days. I mean, there was the fire but whatever.

“What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Teyvat in comparison to Japan?”

I sigh and lean back, thinking. It’s one of those open ended questions, damnit. I don’t want to say visions or anything like that, that’s been discussed already.

As something comes to mind, I huff, “The people in Teyvat don’t throw away morals in favor of popularity.”

There’s a bit of outrage at that but Nezu silences them, “You’re talking about the fire last night, correct?”

I nod. “That fucker didn’t do anything to get the people out of the building. He started talking to the reporters.”

Nezu nods, “I’ve noticed an increase in things like that recently, unfortunately.”

Midoriya turns to me, “That’s actually what I wanted to ask you about, I saw a woman yelling at Spritz on the news, I figured you knew why because you were next to them.” He seems a bit sheepish now, probably because of the tension in the room.

I sigh, “That woman was yelling cause Spritz didn’t do anything to help the people in the building, her kid was still in there and he was in there when the building went down too, thankfully he was still alive under the rubble but still…”

Midoriya’s eyes turn sad at the news of the kid, likely not wanting any child to go through something like that, much less the mother.

The bell rings to signal lunch and Nezu sighs, “I hope that we don’t have to continue this conversation any further, but trust that I will until this prejudice stops.”

Aizawa lifts him up to let him jump back into the vent, which is honestly a sight to see.

Mina leans over to me, “So, are we good to go to lunch or…?”

Chapter Text

When we get to lunch, Midoriya comes up to me and Mina where we’re waiting in line. “Uhm, H..hi Wanderer, Mina.”

Mina smiles, “Hey Midoriya! What’s up?”

We all get our trays and walk a bit to get out of the way of the rest of the people in line.

“I was just uh, wondering if I could sit with you guys?” He looks nervous, it’s kind of sad.

Mina smiles, “Sure! But, what about the others?”

Ah yes, the ‘Dekusquad’ as they’ve so elegantly called themselves.

“O.oh, I’m not too worried, It’s really just for one lunch period, I wanted to see if I could ask Wanderer more things.”

They both glance at me and I shrug, Midoriya smiles and Mina bounces over to our normal lunch table, kind of separated from everyone else. I see the people from Midoriya’s usual table staring in our general direction but don’t pay any mind to it.

Midoriya takes his notebook out again and turns to me with sparkles in his eyes. “So, what is Sumeru like? Hot, cold? Rainy, sunny? What kind of monsters are in Sumeru?”

I smirk and flick him in the middle of his head. “One at a time.” I lean back in my seat and cross my arms, thinking. “Sumeru is super warm and humid, at least in the forest part of it. It’s also got a dessert, which is just hot. It gets rainy in the forest but not the desert, obviously.”

I glance over to Midoriya and he’s scribbling in his notebook, Mina also seems to be pretty interested.

“Monsters are hard to explain. In the rainforest area, there’s fungi that each have their own different kind of power, there’s flying robots that shoot missiles from their eye and a huge flower that’s electrified. In the dessert there are more flying robots but these ones can turn invisible, giant scorpions and this huge snake that tries to stab you through the ground.”

It’s at this point that I realize Mina looking at me like I grew a second head. “Are you serious?” I nod, to which her face gets even more confused, she stays like that for a second before her face lights up. “Is it weird that I kind of want to see the fungi?”

I huff out a laugh, “No, they’re kind of cute sometimes but like, they can be annoying too. Especially the ones that shoot water.” Midoriya quickly scribbles down the last bit of what I said and turns to me, about to ask another question when Momo walks up with Jirou.

“Uh…Hi Wanderer! Can we sit here?” Momo asks, very clearly nervous, likely just trying to be nice because of what Nezu said. I eye them up and down and nod. They sit down with their trays and it gets painfully awkward for a few minutes before Mina finds a way to break the silence.

“Oh! So, you guys, I’m gonna show Wanderer around Japan tomorrow and I wanted to know if there’s any spots I absolutely have to bring him to.”

Momo and Jirou stay quiet for a while, to which Midoriya decides to interject, “Uhm, I think that you should bring him to that one street vendor on the corner near the convenience store, do you know which one I’m talking about?”

Momo jumps in, “The one with the Takoyaki?” When Midoriya nods she smiles, “I love that one! I go there after school all the time.” Mina takes her phone out, opening a note that already had some places typed into it, she adds the street vendor to the notes. “Okay! Any other suggestions?

Momo thinks, “There’s that one really popular market downtown.” She turns to me, hesitating for a moment before asking, “Do you have a lot of food at your house?”

I shake my head, “No. Unfortunately that seemed to be an oversight on the commission's part.”

Momo nods, then turns to Mina, “I think that you should take him to the market last then, because he might end up buying food for his house.”

Maybe, I mean, it’s kind of a waste of money since I don’t have to eat but I can’t deny that I like the taste of the food, not to mention, making some healing food might be a good idea. I wonder if food has the same properties here, or if it’s just in Teyvat. Or maybe it’s all in the recipe.

Mina nods and makes some sort of squeal noise that sounds like excitement. I think? She leans forward, “okay, any more ideas?” Over the next few minutes, there are some ideas shot back and forth, Jirou ends up suggesting a store called Hot Topic and at one point, saying I look like I would shop there. Not sure if that was meant as a compliment or not.

Mina turns to me, “What about you Wanderer? Are there any kinds of places you want to see? Stuff in Sumeru that may have a Japanese equivalent?” Her eyes sparkle and I lean back, crossing my arms to think.

“We have something called the House of Dahena in Sumeru, its just a big collection of books and stuff.” Mina smiles and nods, “The library it is! Theres a couple book stores around as well that we may have time to stop by, anything else?”

I hum, “Not that I can think of right now.” Mina smiles and nods, “That’s okay, we have enough to fill up a whole day already!” We talk about some more unimportant stuff until the bell rings. Momo, Jirou, and Midoriya adding their own thoughts sometimes. Though, Momo and Jirou seem a bit more hesitant.

We walk back to the classroom, waiting until Mr.Aizawa tells us to head down to the gym area for next class period. Hero Training, yay…

I get dressed in my Sumerian attire, hat and all, then walk back out to wait for the class to start. A guy with yellow hair and a huge build was standing there. I think his name was All Might, or something along those lines. Aizawa is standing next to him, looking like he hates life a bit more than he did a few minutes ago.

Their eyes trail me as I get closer to them, I stop in front of them, staring back. All Might clears his throat. “Uh, Young Wanderer! I see you have chosen a hero outfit! It is very unique!”

I blink slowly, “Thanks.”

Aizawa sighs, rubbing at his nose. “We’re doing quirked fighting today, which means you’ll likely have to use your vision, will that be an issue?”

I shake my head. “Shouldn’t be a problem.” Aizawa nods, “Good,” and that was that. All Might was just standing there kind of awkwardly the whole time. Thankfully for him, the other students start coming out of the dressing rooms.

Mina bounds up to me, “Hey Wanderer! I like your outfit! Are these Sumerian clothes?” I nod and her eyes sparkle, I figure she’s one of the only people here so far who isn't being nice because she was told to be. She just seems genuinely curious, much like Midoriya.

I hear mumbles insults behind me, but pay them no mind. Listening to Mina ramble on as the last few students get finished changing.
All Might speaks in his loud obnoxious voice and tells us that we’re doing team based capture the flag using our quirks. I’m a bit surprised at the game, considering it’s present in Sumeru as well, I guess not everything was lost.

They tell us to pair up into 4 teams of 5, with one team having and extra person, they offer me the chance to sit the exercise out, but, per Mina’s request, I stay in and team up with her and Midoriya. We stand around before Todoroki also comes up to us. Mina and Midoriya look surprised, but I figure he’s just trying to get a better read on me.

Team 1
Wanderer
Midoriya
Mina
Todoroki
Hagakure

Team 2
Bakugo
Kirishima
Denki
Sero
Mineta

Team 3
Momo
Iida
Jirou
Uraraka
Asui

Team 4
Tokoyami
Shoji
Sato
Koda
Aoyama
Ojiro

All Might smiles and is about to give the go ahead on the teams when Aizawa stops him and sighs. “This isn’t just about who your best friend is, this is about winning and beating the other team. Some of these teams just aren’t going to cut it.”

There’s annoyed grumbles from a few people but they stop when they see Aizawa look at them. He sighs, “I’ll let you keep these teams this time, as a learning experience.”

There are cheers, but I’m not too sure why. They were just told they were idiots who didn’t know how to choose teams. Now theyre cheering. How stupid can one group of people be?

All Might’s voice cuts across the noise again. “Our battles will be Wanderer’s team vs Momo’s Team. Then Bakugo’s team vs Tokoyami’s team. Then the winner of both of those matches will face each other, and, depending on the time and the injuries, the losing teams may also face each other.”

There’s sounds of agreement as the teams get ready. We’re going first.

Chapter Text

We take our places on opposite sides of the area, it’s designed like a city, lots of places to hide a flag. I scan the area, the flag isn’t big and can fit pretty much anywhere, there is a flagpole though, which needs to be taken into account.

It’s a deep red color which isnt going to be very camouflaged in a lot of places. We walk around, into buildings and stuff during the small grace period we have to hide the flags.

I stop and pause for a moment. “Wanderer? What’s up?”
“Does the flag have to be left somewhere? Or can we keep it on us?”

Mina looks a bit hesitant, “We can keep it on us, but are you sure thats a good idea? It’s going to make fighting a lot harder. We can’t go to their side with our flag or we’ll just give them a point.”

“The other team is likely splitting in half. One half will try to find our flag while the other protects their flag. If that’s the case, then it may be a viable option to try and overpower their defense team, as they’ll likely be unprepared for an attack where they’re outnumbered, and bring their flag back while someone here prevents their offense team from getting our flag at all.”

Midoriya interjects, “But who’s going to stay? We need someone fast enough that they’ll be able to avoid Iida and Tsu, they’re both quick and if you have to face both of them, it could get dangerous.”

I nod, “I understand, which is why I will be the one to stay behind.”

There’s disagreements at first, even from Hakagure which I didn’t really expect, but I hold up a hand to quiet them down.

“Think of it this way. Their team has 5 people. Just like ours. Their defense is likely to be their main focus. If they focus on speed, Tsuyu and Iida will both be on offense. Momo will probably be a defense, to create a barrier around their flag if need be. Jirou is a wildcard, but she’s more likely to be offense, just because of her enhanced hearing. Which leaves Ururaka to defense.

Both Momo and Ururaka on defense makes their flag very protected, which is why I suggest sending all of you there. Midoriya and Todoroki can distract them while Mina uses her acid to burn a hole through whatever defense they have, and Hagakure can grab it and get away without anyone realizing. All I have to do is be quiet and fast.”

Mina looks at me and blinks fast a couple of times before she puts a hand to her chin. “That might work! Don’t think you’re off the hook though! I expect to see you in action today!” She smiles at me, I huff a laugh and nod, I don’t expect this strategy to work twice.
We wait out the rest of the time by getting to a high rooftop and trying to get a glimpse of where the other team is hiding their flag. We watch them walk from the left side of the arena, figuring that’s where their flag is, we’ll start there.

In honesty, I’ve never played capture the flag. But that game all of the darshans played that one time seems like it can be simulated here. If I have the flag, all I have to do is stop them from getting it. I don’t imagine the other team is prepared for a full chase. They likely assume the flag will be left out with our heavy hitters surrounding it. They send the faster people in so the fighting is kept to a minimum, because they won’t be able to win in a one on one battle.

Once the timer starts, the rest of my team starts their way to the other side of the arena. Here we go.

Aizawa POV

Their strategy was an interesting one. It was something that relied on their trust in Wanderer’s ability to avoid the other team, I wonder if Wanderer himself realized that when he was making the plan. If he did it as a test or if he was just that confident in his ability to convince others.

I hear a cocky laugh from behind me, I listen into the conversation. “What a shitty plan, that extra wouldn’t be able to take on one, let alone 3 people.”

I sigh, Bakugo.

I hear agreements, his “squad”. Denki and Sero. Thankfully, Kirishima doesn’t seem all that interested in the conversation, instead, watching the screen for the battle.

I turn back to the screen, deciding that I would let the battle speak for itself.

There’s immediately movement from Momo’s team, Tsuyu carrying Jirou so they could quickly get to the other side. Another strategy that could work. The problem with this strategy is that all of their focus is on being fast, but not on being meticulous.
Had Wanderer’s team left the flag near the front, it would likely be overlooked, as the other team seems to be focusing on the back of their side. Which, in hindsight, is a fair assumption. But their searching shouldnt be based entirety on assumption. Jirou could at least listen in to the building to see if anyone is in there.

Wanderer happens to be a bit further away from them, and doesn’t have to worry about avoiding them too much right now. He finds himself on another rooftop, likely wanting the advantage that comes with high-ground.

The rest of his team are making their way carefully to the other side. Because of that small hint they got at the beginning, it seems they started their search based off that. There’s not much talking going on, which is a good thing until Hagakure peaks her head into one of the buildings and sets off a loud alarm.

The rest of the team jumps and Mina looked around annoyed. I sigh, I’m going to have to teach them how to react to wrenches in plans. Not everything will go their way all the time.

Hagakure starts apologizing but Todoroki quiets her down with a glare and a SHH. He points to a nearby fire escape and they quickly climb up, climbing into a building through an open window and closing it behind them.

A good idea, he’s likely wanting to ambush the opposing team when they go searching for them at the alarm.

“Okay.” Midoriya starts, “So that didn’t go according to plan, but that’s okay! We have a good ambushing spot now, good thinking Todoroki!” He puts a hand to his chin. “If there’s an alarm here, that must mean the flag is nearby. I don’t imagine they’d want to leave their flag unattended, so this is probably their warning that we’re near the flag.”

Mina nods, Hagakure had composed herself and started peering out of the window.

The opposing team peaks out of a window on the bottom floor, they had probably went to search for those who triggered the alarm but found nothing.
Another thing to teach them, then. Not to jump the gun when things are going a bit slow.

Looking back to the screen Wanderer was on, I see him sigh, and walk around the roof, probably trying to get eyes on the enemy. He pauses for a moment, walking a bit to the left and tilting his head.

I narrow my eyes, what is he staring at? I look at the other screen and see Iida, Jirou, and Tsuyu getting in a small argument. No yelling, thankfully, just a disagreement. Iida seems to want to do a quick scan of the area by himself, and then tell them the most suspicious areas. Tsuyu wants to get high ground, and Jirou wants to go block by block so she and try to hear into each building.

They seem to assume they can only do one of those things. When it’s quite the opposite. Iida can do his scan while Tsuyu and Jirou do both of theirs at the same time. If Tsuyu takes Jirou to where she needs to go, she can scale one of the buildings while she waits for Jirou to be done.

It’s like they think only one can be right, and the other two ideas have to be wrong. Interesting. Bakugo shouts about how bored he is, and then the screen for the other side of the battlefield lights up, suddenly encased in ice, the building Uraraka and Momo are in starts reflecting the sun.

The rest of Wanderer’s team quickly makes their way into the building, slipping around a little bit, but Mina melts the ice under her feet to make a path for the rest of them. It seems they had closed off the rooms in order to get to the flag, which they assumed was in the middle of the building.

Once again, showing me just how much more I have to teach these problem children.

Wanderer’s POV

This is getting ridiculous. I'm ready to just start waving at these people, honestly. They’re just sitting around and yelling at each other, I look over to the other side of the arena and see a large glacier of ice. So, it seems they’ve at least made contact. Can’t say the same for me.
I sigh, seeing that their defense team started looking back at their own side. Stay focused idiots, don’t you trust your team?

I float to another building, closer to them. How close until they notice me I wonder? I inch closer to them, and at one point, I find myself on the building right next to them. Of course, being quite as possible.

I sit on the edge, waiting for them to see me, leaning my chin on my hand. I wonder if Iida could make tornadoes with his own quirk. It seems when he runs that he kicks up a lot of dust and wind. It might work the same as anemo. Though I imagine his might last less time, if only because the wind isn't as strong.

I wonder if he’s tried that already, probably, right? Maybe it didn’t work out.

After sitting there for a few more minutes, I see the hint of a flag peeking out from behind a building on the other side. They got it then, that must be Hagakure.

I sigh and stand from my spot. Jumping down from the roof of the building, using anemo to cushion my fall a bit.

Immediately, Tsuyu notices me, spotting the flag and making a grab at it with her tongue. I dodge out of the way and mock them for a moment before turning and running.

I only stay running for a moment, waiting for Iida to catch up to me before I take to the air. A gush of wind coming out as I propel myself. “Too slow”

I push myself forward, ducking in and out of buildings through their open windows, hearing Tsuyu following my path to the best of her ability. If only they’d sent someone to actually fight. Then again, their team wasn’t exactly built for fighting, more for speed and defense.

I find myself speeding towards a fountain in the middle of the fake town, I speed up towards it and right before I hit it, I angle myself up and watch Iida crash. It seems I was right, when there’s an enemy, he doesn’t seem very aware of anything else but that enemy.
I look at the camera, hoping Aizawa saw that and knows to work on it.

I start moving again when the loud intercom booms, “Wanderer’s team has won! Congrats on your victory! Please return to the viewing room to analyze both teams strategies and execution of those strategies!”

I sigh, lowering myself to the ground, looking at the fountain to see that Iida was just getting out, dripping with water. I use my anemo to push the water off of him, “Faster than I thought you’d be. Just work on your awareness.”

He looks kind of shocked, but I don’t stick around too much longer, walking to the viewing room and seeing my team there. Mina rushes up to me again, “Wanderer the plan worked perfectly. Well not perfectly. I mean, we hit an alarm and all and then we kind of froze the room that had the flag in it but we still got it!”

She beams a smile at me. I stare at her a bit dumbfounded for a moment, “You’re serious?” She nods. “Interesting.”

She goes to say something else but is interrupted by the sound of All Might’s booming voice cutting through the noise.

“Congrats Team 1! Let us determine the MVP for this round!”

You’re joking. He’s not even going to go over what was wrong with either team’s strategy or actions. This is ridiculous. MVP, whatever. In a good strategy with balance, there shouldn't be an MVP.

Aizawa sighs. Shaking his head. Apparently thinking the same thing, I hope he goes over this with the others when we’re back in the classroom and not in front of this oaf.

Eventually people decide on Todoroki for his, “Quick thinking” and “Securing of the building”. Honestly, the building didn’t look very secure, it looked dangerous, if the flag was a civilian, they’d die of hypothermia before anyone even got there.

Either way, All Might agreed and told the other teams to suit up and get ready to battle.

Good grief.

Chapter Text

The fight between the next two teams was nothing short of a slaughter. Bakugo had rushed off without any warning, Kirishima following close behind, yelling something about keeping an eye on Bakugo.

Sero and Mineta had stood around the flag, Denki was pacing, starting to wonder if he should go on the offense too when he was suddenly jumping back to avoid a surprise blast from Aoyama, who clutched his stomach afterwards.

That was ridiculously pathetic, considering thats the basis of his power, I expected it to be more under his control and less painful for him. Then again, I guess it is a laser from his stomach, so I can’t expect it to not hurt.

Ojiro jumps in, getting covered by Tokoyami as he rushes towards the flag. From then, the screen was an amalgamation of purple balls and tape and shadows. Then, just a bright, blinding light.

Everything stopped as Denki fried his brain, Ojiro had gotten caught up in the spark, his body had some lightning shaped burns on it. It was honestly sad, how little these kids knew about how to control their own abilities.

I look at Aizawa, where he’s standing staring at the screen, he runs a hand down his face with a sigh and looks at me. I raise my brow at him, glancing at the screen and then back at him, he nods minutely and we both look back at the screen.

By the time we had looked back, Bakugo’s team had already won and the injured students were making their way out of the arena. Kirishima trying to calm Bakugo down, apparently still excited from the fight before.

I sigh, rubbing my arm for a second. Why did Nahida send me here? This is going to be a lot more trouble than I originally thought.

We go through the same process as before, Bakugo being named the MVP. I don’t really have much to say considering the majority of the battle was fought and won within 10 minutes. It makes me think that the other team had little to no strategy at all.

Then again, there wasn’t really anything suited to Koda’s power, which I think was something to do with talking to animals. If there were birds or something, he could’ve asked them to carry the flag while the rest of them went to the other side. That would’ve been interesting.

Then again, All Might doesn’t seem like one for well thought out plans. There wasn’t any praise for anyone who strategized this time around, only for those who acted without thinking. Like Todoroki in the first round, and Bakugo in the second. It’s disappointing that this is the best this side of the barrier has to offer.

The next battle was between us and Bakugos team. The losing teams likely wouldn't be able to battle, considering the damage Ojiro and apparently Sato had gotten against Bakugo. Not to mention Mineta overusing his power by a big margin.

By the time we get to the arena again, Midoriya is kind of nervous, mumbling to himself again. I look at him a bit confused and Mina leans over to me, “He and Bakugo have some bad history.”

I sigh, rubbing my nose, walking up to Midoriya and flicking him in the middle of the forehead. He stops and looks at me, confusion in his face, still overshadowed by worry.

“Are you gonna be a problem?” I see Todoroki narrow his eyes at me and hear Hagakure gasp in anger. “Don’t just ask him that!”

I ignore her and raise my brow at Midoriya, “I don’t care how much bad blood you and Bakugo have, in this arena, you aren’t Bakugo and Midoriya, you’re Team 3 and Team 1.”

Midoriya gulps and nods. “I- I understand.”

I nod. “Good. Glad we got that sorted out. Just know, if he comes at you with all he’s got, he’s no different from any villain you’re going to face in the future. Think of him as that, rather than whatever he is to you now to get you nervous like this.”

Midoriya nods and takes a deep breath, standing up straight. Very main character esc. Though I figure it’s not the time to point it out.

Mina glances between all of us, sensing the leftover tension, “Oookay. Well, I think it’s time to make a plan now, right?”

I sigh and nod, putting a hand to my chin. “The same strategy won’t work twice, though, I think I should stay on the defense team.” I hesitate for a second. “Our flag is blue this time right?” There’s nods and I look at my clothes. “What if we create a diversion flag to distract from the real flag?”

I take the back piece of my outfit off and look around for something to use as a pole. I see a stop sign and blast a slice of wind at it, slicing the top off plus a few inches and tear it out of the ground, wrapping the fabric around the pole.

“Now we just have to hope they find the fake flag before the real one.”

I turn to them and Mina has sparkles in her eyes again, and Midoriya, which is concerning.

“That was cool! Was that a wind knife or something?!” Mina almost yells at me.

I sigh and nod, “Something like that.” They start trying to ask me more questions before Todoroki interrupts them, once again trying to remind them to focus on the task at hand, though he glances at me from time to time. With caution or curiosity, I’m not too sure.

We start trying to figure out what we’re going to do with the fake flag and the real one, nobody on the opposing team is too bright. Except for Bakugo but he’ll likely be blinded by his hatred for Midoriya.

“Let’s hide both flags in the same building.” There’s disagreement at that but I hold up my hand so i can continue without interruptions.

“Of course the real flag wont be in plain sight, but putting it somewhere else entirely is a stupid idea. If they find that one first nobody will be around to protect it. Unless we send it with Hagakure but even then she’s outnumbered. I suggest finding a way to either put it in an attic or in a wall, which will make them think theyre taking back the real flag while Midoriya and Todoroki get the other flag.”

Mina stops, “Wait, what about me? I can see why Hagakure would be useful on this team but why am I staying here?”

“We’ll need your quirk to get into the wall, first of all, we want something that wont be too noticeable, so I figured you could cut a hole with your acid and I’ll just place it back after. Not to mention, we need to give chase. They aren’t going to think it’s the real flag if we don’t follow them to their side.”

Mina nods, a bit hesitant. “I cant be very specific with my acid though, it kinda goes everywhere, it’s big bursts.”

I sigh, looking at the time we have left. 15 minutes. “Time for an impromptu training session then, lets go to a building near the center of the city so theres enough room for a fight if one breaks out.”

Mina follows a bit confused, when we get to the building, I stick the fake flag in the ground and gesture at Mina. “Show me your power.”

She has acid secrete from her hands, I hum. “Slowly start reducing where you’re secreting it from.”
She pouts, “I don’t know how to.”

I smirk, “Yeah you do, you just did. Now just do it again but less.”

She looks at me in confusion, “What do you mean?”

I sigh, “You obviously have some sort of control of where the acid comes out because you specified the secretion to your hand only. Now, whatever you do to get it to only come out of your hands, do it again but focus it into the tip of your finger instead.”

She hesitates for a moment but holds her hand out again, this time pointing her finger. She sighs through her nose and acid comes out of her finger.

“Good, now slowly push it all to the tip of your finger.”

She creases her brow and the acid starts teetering off near the base of her finger, it trails up until it’s only coming out of her finger tip.

Her smile is bright as she smiles at me, I return it to the best of my ability and gesture at the wall. She draws a hole in the wall and I suction it out with anemo before sticking the real flag in there, replacing the wall once I’m done.

“I did it!” She throws her hands up and then around my shoulders to pull me into a hug, it surprises me so I stand still for the brief moment that shes hugging me.

I stand still for a moment longer while she runs up to Hagakure and starts chatting excitedly with her. I clear my throat and look at Midoriya, he smiles at me and walks up. “Not used to hugs?”

I shake my head, straightening out my clothes and taking a deep breath. That threw me for a loop for a second, the only other times I’ve been hugged recently is by Kusanali and some random scholar who asked for my help on a thesis. Both of which were responded to in the same way as this one.

Whatever, don’t have time to spiral right now. The rounds about to start.

Chapter Text

When the round starts, Midoriya, Todoroki and I set off to the other side. It took a lot of back and forth, but we figured it may be better for me to go with Midoriya and Todoroki, if only to try and offset Bakugo’s anger.

We hadn’t had a chance to get a small glimpse of where they placed their flag this time. So we had to base our starting location off of an educated guess considering their placement from last round.

We make our way to the far left side of the arena, following along the wall. The best thing for us to do is to wait and see which way Bakugo comes from. Because he’ll be dead set on trying to get Midoriya, and he’s likely to start on his warpath right from their flag location.

It didn’t take long for the loud cackling to sound from the other side of the block. We duck behind a group of bushes and watch as Bakugo stomps by, small explosions sparking from his hands, Kirishima following closely behind him, yelling at him to slow down and think about what he’s doing.

It’s sad, really, how little self control these kids have. Then again, I imagine kids on this side of the barrier have a much different understanding of control than those in Teyvat.

We waited for a second to make sure they were both out of hearing range before making our way to the small gap between buildings and peeking around the corner. Lo and behold, straight back, in the most stupid, in no way thought out place for the flag I could have imagined, it stands right in front of a fake tree. Denki, Sero, and Mineta are all sitting around it.

Denki was sitting on the ground, sort of leaning on the flag pole. Mineta was in the tree, pretending to be useful by holding his hand up to his eyes and “looking” for us, all while turning back and talking to Sero, who was the only one actually standing, his arms crossed while he looked up at Mineta while making conversation.

You have to be joking me. This is seriously what I have to protect? These kids wouldn’t know how to defeat a villain if they gave them a weapon and stood still.

I sigh and turn to Todoroki and Midoriya before jumping slightly at how close they were to me. Seriously, do these weirdos not know what personal space means?

“We should surprise them. None of them are prepared for any surprise ambush. They seem to expect us to get caught up with Bakugo and Kirishima.”

They both nod at this, immediately going to attack, ice starting on Todoroki’s hand and red sparks lighting around Midoriya.

I sigh and flick them both in the forehead, which stopped both of them, but seemed to reset Todoroki, who blinked a few times before focusing back on me.

“Slow down, no need to rush. Let’s go over how this should work out. Mineta won't be much of an issue. If he sticks the floor, just freeze over it, the balls not the whole floor. Try to let Sero focus on me, he’ll have a hard time hitting me if I’m flying. Midoriya, that leaves you and Denki. He should still be recharging from last round, on the off chance that he isn’t, Todoroki, I need you to freeze him. I’ll grab the flag and fly it back. Questions? No? Good. Get ready.”

After a few seconds, I fly up and speed towards the group near the flag, there’s immediate yelling and a scramble to get in fighting positions but it’s too late. Sero’s tape is thrown at me half-hazardly, not even close to hitting it’s mark. Todoroki had frozen Mineta’s hands to his body almost immediately, making him practically useless. And, seeing the rest of his team out of commission, Denki got nervous for a moment which gave Midoriya more than enough time to run up to him and immobilize him.

I lower myself and look around, shrugging and grabbing the flag. “Well, I guess we can all bring the flag back. That went better than expected.”

Right as I said that, a giant explosion took up the other side of the map, causing me to crease my brows and start flying at full speed towards the explosion. I didn't pay attention to the announcement that our team had won as we crossed the threshold to our side of the arena. Making my way to our flags location.

On the way, I saw loads of debris from exploded buildings. Apparently Bakugo had figured that the fastest way to check them was to make a bunch of holes in them. Idiot.

I find the building the flag was in and tilt my head in confusion as the building is perfectly intact. Looking behind the building, it’s easy to see the source of the explosion. Kirishima was covered in soot and his arms were crossed over his face, Bakugo was huffing and the wreckage of a building was sitting around them.

So Kirishima said something to get him mad huh? Not a difficult thing to do, really. A bit surprised at the extent of this particular temper tantrum though.

Because of the previous announcement being ignored, the speaker repeats itself and Bakugo starts fuming, turning narrowed eyes towards Todoroki, Midoriya and I.

He starts on his warpath straight towards Midoriya, a loud, “Die!” ripping from his throat as he throws his hand forward with full intent to hit Midoriya.

I sigh and wave my hand, a large gust of wind diverting the explosion, closing around the blast and making it super ineffective. “Are you done?”

He seethes at me, another explosion sparking in his hand before it quickly fizzles out, he looks at it in confusion before turning his eyes to an approaching Aizawa. His eyes were red and even more tired than they were a few minutes ago.

I want to listen to his conversation with Bakugo but I get pulled aside by Mina who praises the offense team for their quick work. By the time Aizawa was finished lecturing Bakugo, who just huffed and stomped off with the strangest walk I’ve ever seen, the defense of Bakugo’s team had made their way back to the front, all of them looking on at the scene with curiosity, Kirishima sighs and makes his way over to them, all of them following out of the arena and back to the viewing room.

The rest of my team celebrates their victory but I can’t find it in me to celebrate. After all, I just got shown how much harder my job is going to be than I previously anticipated.

I sigh and rub my nose, looking around, I spot Aizawa who just nods in understanding of my inner turmoil and then turns and walks away, back into the viewing room.

I sigh and start to follow him, being joined by the rest of my team, Mina and Midoriya still excitedly chatting, I feel a tap on my arm and look up at Todoroki, who just nods at me. I nod back, though a bit confused.

We make our way back to the room and have the same tired conversation about MVP. It ends up being Todoroki who looks a bit confused, glancing at me. I can see All Might glance at me as well, narrowing his eyes slightly before going back to his explanation.

Ah, another asshole then. Didn’t know he could get any more flaws than he already had but he keeps surpassing my expectations.

We all make our way to the changing room, I immediately grab my phone and check my messages from Nahida, no updates so far. I sent her a text asking for the report for today, stuffing the phone back in my pocket. I sigh as I realize I left the rest of my outfit in the arena, getting ready to go and get it before I turn and see Midoriya holding it out towards me.

“Hagakure realized it was still in the building, so she ran up to get it and asked if I could give it to you.”

I nod in understanding, taking the coat. “Thanks.”

He smiles at me and we finish getting changed in silence, not noticing the few concerned glances getting thrown our way at the seemingly friendly conversation. I guess they assumed I had bullied him into being nice to me or something. I don't know.

I check my phone again before we leave, more Fatui activity, but it seems they’re reducing the amount of squads they send, which is good. Seems like they’re realizing it's more trouble than it’s worth.

I walk out of the changing room, being followed by eyes all the way out, and start walking towards the front gate.

“Wanderer.” I hear a tired voice behind me, turning around, I see Aizawa who gestures for me to follow him with his head. I sigh and stuff my phone back in my pocket, walking with him in silence all the way back to the viewing room.

He walks over to the computer connecting to the screen, pulling up the video of the first battle. “I wanted to make a list of things that needed to be improved. You mind?”

I bite my lip in thought. I don’t really want to stay, on the other hand it is my job.

“Sure, why not.”

Chapter Text

By the time we got out of the viewing room, the moon was high in the sky and we both had around 5 pages of things that needed to be fixed. Aizawa thanked me quietly and we said our goodbyes, him taking my notes, likely to compare. It makes me wonder when the man sleeps, other than class of course.

When I finally walk through my front door, I sigh in relief at the lack of life-threatening events taking place on my walk home. Hanging my bag and taking my shoes off before walking to the shower.

The warm water washes the dirt from my skin and I hear a ringing from the other room, I sigh and turn the water off, getting changed as quickly as possible before walking back to the bedroom. I pick up my phone and see 3 missed calls from Mina.

I narrow my eyes and press the button that says, “call back.”

“He–”

“Wanderer!”

I hear panic in her voice, and I stand up from where I had rested on my bed, making my way back out of my house.

“Where are you?”

She sputters for a moment, likely prepared to tell me what was going on, rather than have me be on my way already.

“N..near the school, I’ll send it to you.”

Her side of the line goes quiet for a moment, her shuddering breath the only thing I can hear. I hear a blip sound and check the message, clicking on the message and seeing a blue line pop up to lead me there.

I start on the way, deciding to use my anemo to fly there.

“What’s going on?”

I hear her gulp from the other side. Suddenly her voice is toned down, whispering. “I was walking home, and this group of people started making fun of my skin tone, which wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard before you know? But when I tried to walk away they started following me and theres like eight of them and I don’t know what to do.”

I can hear her crying on the other side of the phone, I suck in a breath and take the time to forward the message to Aizawa, which I learned to do after Mina sent me a picture of a food she ate and I wanted to send it to Nahida cause it reminded me of a food in Teyvat.

Pressing the phone back to my ear, I hear her breaths dying down and the sound of loud knocking, I narrow my eyes as I hear slurs tossed around and scoff when the main guy threatens breaking the door down. What a loser.

By the time I get to Mina’s location, the door had been broken down, I rush into the building and glance around, seeing a few holes in the floor, I nod, a bit proud, as I realize that’s a sign of Mina fighting back.

I hear swooshing behind me and turn around to throw a blade of wind before seeing Aizawa, I hold a finger to my mouth and he nods. I start following the acid, Aizawa following beside me. I appreciate that he didnt question me beforehand.

As we get further into the building we hear arguing, a bit of cursing and slurs thrown in there. Me and Aizawa look at each other before I rush forward, looking through the door and seeing three of the people clutching various limbs, the smell of burning flesh in the air. I smirk as I realize Mina had gotten them with her acid.

She makes eye contact with me and glances towards Aizawa aswell, her eyes glistening with tears, evidence of earlier crying staining her face.

The group seems to realize that she’s looking at something else as a few of them turn around. Those who did jumped into fighting stances. “The bitch called backup!”

I scowl and gather air in a vortex. “Unsightly insects.” I launch the vortex at a group of four, two of them being injured already from Mina’s acid. There’s yelling as their bodies get put under the pressure of the anemo. I hear a struggle behind me and turn to see Aizawa almost stuffing this one guys fist into another guys mouth as he diverts his punch and turn with a shrug. He’s probably got that.

I look at the pile of people I had caught and am sort of disappointed to see that they’re all knocked out. Even eremites need more than that.

I turn towards Mina and she’s leaned back against the wall, probably having slid down it once she figured it was safe, and buried her head in her knees. Her crying starting up again. I sigh, I’ve never been good at the whole comforting thing.

I take my hoodie off and hand it to her, she looks up at me with glossy eyes and it kind of hurts to see someone who’s usually so cheerful like this. She sniffles and takes the hoodie, pulling it over her head before standing up shakily and launching herself at me.

“Th–thank you” Her words are shaky and she inhales sharply between them. She cries into my shoulder and I pause for a moment before laying my hand on her back, rubbing circles into it.

I look over at Aizawa, who was tying up the group of people in a pile, which didn’t look comfortable at all. He finishes and gets his phone out, typing in a number and glancing at us before nodding at me and holding the phone up to his ear.

Mina’s crying calms down and she looks at the pile of people Aizawa has very eloquently laid flat out on the ground. She has to squeeze her eyes shut for a second before she leans back slowly, having to wipe her hair out of her face, the strands slightly sticking to her skin. Her lip is still wobbling but she seems more calmed down now.

She walks up to Aizawa too, who turns to her and gets an armful as she hugs him quickly too with a hushed “Thank you.”

I have to hold in a laugh as he looks lost for a second before nodding and patting her back, hanging up the phone.

“The police are going to ask you to give a statement, are you okay with that?”

She sniffles and nods, backing away from the hug, “Yeah, that’s fine.” She rubs her arms through the hoodie and bites her lip as she looks at the pile of people and then down at the ground. Her eyes find their way back to Aizawa and she asks in a hushed voice, “I’m not going to get in trouble for using my quirk am I?”

I feel a strong fury surge through me as I send a questioning look to Aizawa. He sees it but doesn’t answer me right away as he sighs and looks at Mina. “Since you were directly defending yourself, I don’t see why you would. If I need to I’ll just say I gave you permission.”

Mina’s lip quivers again and she rubs her arms as she nods. “I’m sorry.”

I huff, moving to flick her in the forehead. “Dont be sorry, those assholes are the ones that started it.”

She looks shocked for a second before shakily smiling and nodding. “I..I had to use that, that trick you showed me to get in this room. It was locked so I melted the lock off.”

She wipes at her eyes and hugs herself tighter. “They–they didn’t realize that I came in here at first, I thought they’d just leave when they couldn’t find me but…” She starts shaking her head and a few more tears streak down her face. She takes shuddering breaths and sniffles.

“I don’t know why they wanted to hurt me so bad. I didn’t do anything.”

Aizawa sighs and pulls her into a hug, my eyes widen a bit but I guess he does seem like he’s a lot nicer than he lets on.

He rubs her back as she starts crying a bit harder again. “There’s nothing you could have done any different Mina.”

They stand like that for a few moments before there’s sirens sounding outside. Mina backs out of the hug and Aizawa sighs as the cops make their way noisily into the building.

Mina looks worried about giving the statement and looks over at me. “Can you come with me when I give my statement?”

I nod, “Sure.” I rub her back a bit. “I’ll walk you home afterwards too okay? Unless your parents are picking you up?”

She smiles shakily again. “They don’t know yet, you were the first person I thought to call.”

I huff with a slight smile, “You called me before you called the police? I’m honored.”

She lets out a weak laugh, nudging me with her shoulder before we make our way over to the police officers.

Chapter Text

By the time we had finished with the police, Mina's parents were called and they rushed to their daughter, hugging her tight.

Mina spoke to them in a hushed voice, and suddenly I had both of Mina’s parents crushing me between them in a hug. I couldn’t move my arms if I wanted to, and I didn’t want to.

I hear sniffled thank you’s and other mumbled words, I guess this affection stuff runs in the family.

Mina and her family leave, they invited me to dinner tomorrow and I argued internally with myself. On one hand, I don’t really want to go over to her very affectionate family’s house to eat dinner. On the other hand, Kusanali will have my head if I dont.
I ended up agreeing, waving defeat as they walked to their car, sandwiching their daughter between the two of them in a protective shield. I hear Aizawa’s footsteps creeping up beside me.

“You going to explain what happened now?”

He hadn’t been able to listen to Mina’s statement, too busy with trying to get the group of assholes to the police cars.

I nod, “Mina called me in a panic, said she was being followed by a bunch of assholes who were throwing slurs at her. She said she was hiding and needed help. I messaged you before I left, figured it wouldn’t hurt.”

He nods and sighs. Looking scornfully at the cop cars that were now driving away. He rubs at his eyes for a moment and looks at me. “You’re good to get back to your house I’m guessing?”

I nod, “Yeah. Thanks.”

I start my walk towards my house, hearing a small “No problem kid,” from behind me. I take my phone out and notice the energy bar at the top is getting low.

I guess that phone call lasted longer than I thought. I guess I wasn’t super aware of the time when I was rushing. Maybe I’m getting too attached at this point. It’s getting dangerous.

Sending a message to Kusanali about the situation didn’t take too long, I figured she should know why I wasn’t answering her normal daily messages. She sends me something back, a concerned “emoji”. I huff, she’s really taking to this cell phone stuff like a fish to water.

I make my way home and sigh as I probably need to take a shower again, touching those pieces of shit may have given me diseases or something.

The water has had the time to heat back up, thankfully, and I quickly finish washing myself off before realizing I had forgotten my hoodie with Mina. Whatever, I’ll just wear something else.

____

The next day, me and Mina meet up bright and early to go to her favorite breakfast spot, which is just a hole in the wall diner who’s staff all greeted Mina as soon as she walks in.

“Oh, Wanderer, I almost forgot, I’m going to wash your hoodie so I should be able to get it back to you by Monday.”

I raise my brow, Monday? It takes her two days to wash a hoodie?

She seems to realize my confusion and explains, “My laundry day isn’t until tomorrow, so I won’t be able to wash it until tomorrow.”

I hum, I forgot some people had families that they had to work around.

We end up chatting for a bit, Mina once again thanking me for last night and me waving it off, it seems largely like she just wants to forget about it to the best of her ability.

She asks me more questions about Sumeru and I answer them the best I can, without giving too much away of course.

When we get our food, I eye it wearily for a second before taking a spoonful into my mouth. It was super sweet and definitely satisfied my sweet tooth for the day.

When we finish eating, Mina insists she pays but I have more yen than I know what to do with so I end up paying for it without Mina realizing. When she was told later on that the bill had been paid already, she shoved at my shoulder and whined about how this was her treat cause she was showing me around.

We end up going to the library afterwards, and I immediately get a card. This place is just the House of Daehna except it’s not just for scholars.

I end up grabbing a few books, Mina pretending to be interested at the same time. She would probably feel bad if she started rushing me out. I grab a few history books about Japan, as well as a law book that is apparently meant to hold all of the laws in Japan. Though, I imagine there’s a few left out because of any recent laws going into effect.

Mina looks at me like I’m crazy when I grab out those books, I ignore the look and check them out, putting them in my bag before we leave, the quiet sound of the sliding doors clicking shut behind us and suddenly Mina is groaning and stretching her arms above her head.

“I can’t stand how quiet the library is! It makes me feel so sleepy.”

I smile slightly and she leads me to this thing called a “mall” which is apparently a collection of a bunch of different stores. In this place she’s in her element, she knows all of the stores that are having sales right now, and which places she thinks I would actually buy stuff from.

After getting way too many bags filled with clothes, plus two cups of pretzel bites that tasted so good I had to get a couple more for the walk back to my house, we finally exit the mall.

We agree to drop them off at my house, which normally I wouldn’t want to do, considering that means she would know where I lived, it was a pretty easy decision when I remembered that I’d be going to her house later. Plus I’m not sure she would give my address out to anybody. Even if she did, the people here aren’t really any threat to me.

When we drop the clothes off, she ogles my house for a bit before we visit the bookstore, I end up getting a few more history books plus some bestsellers that seemed interesting. Mina seemed relieved that I didn’t only read, as she so elegantly put it, “nerd books.”

We visit the food stand Momo had mentioned before making our way to the street vendors. We decide that we’ll probably have to make one more trip to my house before heading over to Mina’s, as I end up getting a lot of groceries. I try to get foods that may help me make more healing food like we have in Teyvat. Planning to do a couple of experiments with it when I have the time.

Once we drop the rest of the bags off, putting the groceries away, we make our way to Mina’s house, where I’m once again ambushed by hugs from her parents.

Mina’s mom made “Katsudon” which was honestly one of the best things I’ve eaten here so far. They pull me into a conversation, asking about school primarily, likely not wanting to push any boundary.

At the end of the night, I thank them and Mina for the day and make my way back to my house, where I sort through the books and place them on the shelves. I hold the law book in my lap as I start reading through it. Scoffing at a few that I find kind of ridiculous.

One law in particular makes my blood boil. “Quirk use may be fined up to 700,000 yen, or 2 years jail time” That explains why Mina was nervous yesterday. I guess if you get permission from a pro hero, that means you can use it. So stupid, that gives way too much power to the heroes as opposed to the civilians.

I sigh and leave a bookmark in the book, rubbing my eyes. I don’t have the patience for any more stupidity tonight.

I change into new clothes that I had bought earlier, and climb into bed, falling into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

The next day, I go to the kitchen to start experimenting. I decide to try to make Barbeque beef heart skewers, which, if it works, is meant to make me feel refreshed. I had gotten the recipe from a book in Sumeru, if I remember correctly it’s from Natlan.

I throw all of the ingredients together and take a bite of it at the end. There’s a small rush through me as I eat it, but nothing compared to the effects in Teyvat.

It makes me wonder if the effect has something to do with Ley Lines. In retrospect, the ley lines are a lot stronger in Teyvat then in Japan, most likely, the barrier cut off most of the access to the Ley Lines when it was constructed. It makes me wonder if quirks would be stronger if they had more access to all of that magic beneath the surface.

I decided to shelve that thought and finish off the beef skewers. Walking back to the living room, I turn on some “true crime” video and message Nahida about yesterday, the law, and the newfound discovery about the food.

She messages me back almost immediately, sharing my frustration at the law about using quirks and telling me she’ll look into the ley line idea when she has the time.

She goes on about how the Fatui are getting dealt with, and the last of the Doctor’s goons finally made their way out of Sumeru.

The news takes a weight off of my shoulders, hopefully I can focus better on my mission here now. Afterall, I’ve only been with this class for a short while and I can already tell they aren’t ready for a battlefield.

___

When Monday rolls around, I get to class early again, bringing the law book along with me as well as my notebook, in which I have made notes of laws that I find ridiculous, and laws that I think could come in handy later on.

Todoroki seems to eye me for a moment before walking quietly to his own seat, not saying anything.

The classroom starts filling after that, Midoriya walks in with a bright smile on his face, way too happy on a Monday, and sets his bag down before b-lining towards me.

“Hey Wanderer! How did the tour with Mina go?”

I nod at him in greeting before answering, “It went fine, I got a lot of clothes.” I’m not too sure what else to say, not really expecting anyone to ask about it.

Thankfully Midoriya doesn’t seem deterred and powers on through a very one-sided conversation. He starts mumbling again and I try my best to listen to what hes saying. Something about quirks and visions and Aizawa. At least that’s what I could pick up on.

He seems to say something he thinks is offensive because he starts shaking his head again. I put my hand on his hair and he stops and blinks at me.

“Easy Midoriya.”

He blushes in embarrassment and says a quick apology. “Don’t worry about it. What I could understand was interesting enough.”

He gets sparkles in his eyes for a second, I doubt anyone has tried to understand his mumbling before. Or very few people, at least. They probably think he’s only saying gibberish but there’s actually well thought out ideas mixed in there.

We talk for a bit longer, the class is mostly filled when Mina walks in with my hoodie in her and and smiles at me, walking over.

“Hey Wanderer! I cleaned your hoodie finally! Thanks for letting me use it.”

She holds it out in her hand and the conversations that previously took up the classroom all got quiet. I ignore them and nod, grabbing it back. “No problem.” I stuff it in my bag, and Mina smiles at me, walking back to her seat, followed closely by Midoriya who gives me a small wave.

The class stays quiet all the way up to when Aizawa walks in, and he seems concerned when he finds his usually really loud class quiet.

He looks at me for an explanation and I pull the hoodie out of my bag. He nods in understanding, which is kind of impressive because there wasn’t a lot to go off of. Maybe it’s teacher 's instinct or something.

“I know the USJ wasn’t that long ago, but it’s time for another battle.”

Aizawa immediately has the attention of the class, some of them looking worried at what he could mean, others seem to already know what he’s talking about.

“UA has an annual sports festival, and as hero course students, your participation is mandatory. Wanderer, your participation is still being discussed.”

I nod at this, understandable. I’m meant to stay under the radar after all.

“This is a good opportunity for you to catch the eyes of pro heroes to scout you for internships. Make sure you give it your all.”

Immediately after he finishes talking, and excited chatter takes up the room, all of them talking about the festival and what they think the games will be, and about previous games from past years.

Mina turns towards me, “So, are you hoping to get the go ahead to play? We haven't really had the chance to see you in action yet!”

I shrug. “It doesn’t matter much to me. It makes more sense for me not to participate. I’m meant to be under the radar.”

“Shouldn’t you participate then? To blend in and stuff?”

I hum, “It’s certainly a viable option, but I don’t think I’m even in the class's roster right now, I’m only meant to be your bodyguard after all. Maybe they’ll let me participate but have me get eliminated in an early round. Which I don’t mind all too much.”

Mina pouts, “But I wanted to see you fight someone! And I mean seriously fight.”

“I probably shouldn’t do that either, you guys are just kids.”

Mina narrows her eyes at me, “Aren’t you just a kid too?”

I raise my brow at her, which seems to clue her in that I’m very much not a kid.

She gasps, “No way! You look so young, how old even are you?”

I smirk at her, “There’s no way to tell you that without you freaking out so let's just go with 23.”

She narrows her eyes at me, “One day I’ll get your real age out of you, mark my words.” She sighs, “Anyways, even if you don’t participate, you’ll still cheer me on right?” She asks jokingly, though it feels as though theres a bit of seriousness to the question.

I huff. “Sure, I’ll cheer you on.”

Chapter Text

When lunch finally rolled around, Aizawa stopped me and told me Nezu wanted to talk to me. I sigh and nod, walking in the opposite direction of the other students with Aizawa behind me. I guess he’s needed for this meeting too.

When we get to the office, Aizawa goes to knock but the door opens before he can make contact and a deep sigh comes out of his nose.

We make our way in and Nezu is sitting there with Ms.Kizu and, to my surprise, Kusanali.

I make eye contact with her and she gives me a bright smile, waving at me. I make a questioning face at her and her smile dims down.

Nezu clears his throat. “Thank you all for being here on short notice, I’m going to be cut and dry with this. We need to send Wanderer back to Sumeru for a few days.”

Ms.Kizu stands from her seat. “Excuse me? Do you know how hard it was to just get him into Japan in the first place?”

Nezu makes a placating motion, “Please calm down Ms.Kizu. I understand the severity of this situation, but there’s been some…developments in Sumeru that need Wanderer’s attention.”

Ms.Kizu looks at Kusanali, “Are you not the archon of that nation? What do you need him for if you should be able to do it yourself?”

I scowl at her, going to defend Kusanali before I’m stopped by the archon in question.

“You’re right, I should be able to protect my own country. But I haven’t had the chance to fully explore my powers yet, as I was dormant for many years before being released just recently. Wanderer has been the main protector of Sumeru while I regain full knowledge over my abilities. I have just been sending the Mahamatra, but there’s a large increase in certain enemies that Wanderer has a lot of knowledge on.”

Ms.Kizu considers this for a moment, clearing her throat afterwards. “Very well, but to ensure that Wanderer is actually going back for business purposes and not just dilly dallying, I’d like to send a hero with him, Hawks. Wanderer and him have met before.”

I narrow my eyes at her, “Why risk the safety of your country by sending the Number 3 pro hero?”

She narrows her eyes right back at me, “That’s none of your concern.”

Aizawa clears his throat and the eyes in the room go to him. “How long should this mission take? The Sports Festival is coming up and we have no clues as to where the League is hiding or what they’re planning. It’s a good idea to have him back in time for the festival.”

Nezu nods, looking to Kusanali. “How long do you think this will take?”

Kusanali hums, thinking for a moment, gesturing me over. She whispers in my ear, “34 new Fatui camps all stationed in the Great Red Sand.” I imagine she doesn’t want to try and communicate with her powers while there’s people here.

I make a hissing noise and think for a moment. If I push it I could probably take out all of them in a day, I’d have to go super early in the morning though which is no trouble but it’s still annoying to fight at night. Not to mention I probably have to avoid Hawks in the process.

“Are they all close together?” I ask aloud. They don’t know what I’m talking about anyways.

Kusanali nods, “Extremely, it’s like they’re building a wall of camps to stop anyone from getting by. We’ve been focusing on the activity near the city, we didn’t realize they were moving to the desert until just recently, and the Mahamatra has said that he would need to rebuild his force and give them a rest before he could attack the camps.”

I nod, “Okay… give me three days.”

Kusanali smiles and holds her hands together. “I knew I could count on you Ha— Wanderer!”

She almost said Hat Guy didn’t she?

We both look at Ms.Kizu. She sighs, rubbing her nose, “Fine, when you get there, you have three days to finish whatever business you have and get back on the ship to Japan. Seems reasonable?”

Everyone agrees to the conditions, to which I ask, “When do we leave?”

Kizu sighs, “After class today. I’d like it to be sooner but I need time to get the boats ready and notify Hawks and the rest of the Commission. I expect both you and Lord Kusanali to be there on time.”

I nod and look at Kusanali, “What are you going to do in the meantime?”

She smiles, “Well it’s not everyday I get to play with my chess buddy in person!” I huff a laugh and nod. “I’ll see you later then.”

She smiles and nods, and on my way out yells, “It’s good to see you Wanderer!” I smile softly, “Good to see you too.” I know she can hear me.

The rest of the day goes by in a blur, and soon, I’m in a black car on the way to the boat with Kusanali, who is looking around at the buildings with wonder in her eyes.

The driver is staring at her with narrowed eyes and I scowl at him, prompting him to focus his attention back on the road.

When we get to the docks, Hawks is standing there with Ms.Kizu right next to him, he glances at Kusanali before giving me a fake smile, “Wanderer! Good to see you again.”

I pay him no mind and keep my attention on Kizu. Kusanali looks between me and Hawks with a questioning face before also turning her attention to Ms.Kizu.

“Okay, the ride there should take less time this go around because we’re just going to use a modern ship from this side to get to Sumeru on both sides, no switching ships. We managed to design a ship that looks extremely close to a Sumerian ship while holding all of the technology of a Japanese ship. Hopefully this also means nobody falling into the sea.”

We all nod and, after getting the run down, make our way onto the ship. It’s smaller than the one we took before, seems it’s a smaller crew this time. Which makes sense if it’s like the modern ship from last time. No need for anyone to tie the sails or raise anchor, it’s automated with buttons and shit.

We put our stuff down in our rooms, and me and Kusanali meet in the dining part of the ship. It’s small but big enough for the limited crew and us to fit.

Once we sit down, Kusanali immediately launches into questions about Japan which reminds me so much of Mina and Midoriya I have to laugh. She asks me what I’m laughing at and I tell her about the two people I’ve met. Aizawa makes the way into the discussion, as he seems to be one of the only pro heroes who’s actually respectable over there.

She asks me to show her my progression with my anemo and I pull out my notebook to show her my breakdown of the samachurls tornado. I make a small one in my hand and she claps excitedly.

“I can’t really make them too big yet, but I think I have the idea.”

She nods, “That’s expected, it requires a lot more anemo than I originally thought, I think you’ll be able to grow it in no time though.”

I nod and notice Hawks walking in, he notices me and Kusanali and smirks at me before walking over and taking a seat. “So you’re Kusanali huh? Nice to finally meet you.”

Asshole.

Chapter Text

Kusanali and Hawks talk for a bit, though I imagine she’s caught onto his bullshittery already. During their conversation he kept giving me sly looks, probably to make sure I know he’s just talking to Kusanali to try and get under my skin.

Eventually there’s a rock in the boat and I immediately look out the window, seeing the barrier getting further behind us.

“It was a lot faster this time.” I mumbled to myself, unfortunately, Hawks picked up on it and started trying to engage me in a conversation too.

“Is silence not possible for you?”

“Ouch! That was mean, don’t you think Kusanali?”

Kusanali just blinks for a moment but then looks to me. “Wanderer, did you want to go over the plan for when you get there?”

I nod and we both start to get up, “Woah, woah, woah, have you both forgotten that I’m supposed to be part of this conversation as well?”

I give him a blank stare and he sighs, “Look, we don’t like each other. That much is obvious. But I have a job to do just like you do.”

I hum, looking to Kusanali for guidance, after all, if he’s clued in, then the Fatui become known by Japan.

“Fine.” Kusanali sits back down, as do I. Hawks lets out a sigh of relief and sits back in his seat as well. “Thank you.”

I grab out my notebook and flip open to a page about previous Fatui encampments. “If you’re going to understand this, then you need to be made aware of and organization called the Fatui.”

___

By the time everything was explained, Hawks seemed like a different person. Not because the information changed his life or something, but the way he was acting was different. He was less teasing now, more serious. Like he was actually a pro hero. It was kind of impressive, how fast he switched up. But I’d never tell him that.

“So these Fatui, they’ve caused problems in Sumeru before, and they stopped focusing on the rainforest section of Sumeru, and redirected towards the desert part of Sumeru.”

Kusanali nods.

“What are they after in the desert then? You said there were a lot of them, so there’s probably something they want there, correct?”

I hold my hand to my chin. “They’re likely target point is the Land of Upper Setekh, there’s a lot of ruins there that may interest them. Especially since those ruins hold a lot of ancient Teyvat technology.”

Kusanali nods. “Since there’s likely some scholars involved, especially with the introduction of the ancient ruins, this will be a big ordeal.”

Hawks leans back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why would the scholars be involved with the Fatui? They’re known to be a criminal organization right?”

I nod, “There’s a lot of scholars who would throw away morals for a thesis. We’ve had to deal with quite a few of them in the past.”

Hawks makes a sound of acknowledgement, “So it’s just going to be the two of us? Is that not dangerous?”

Kusanali smiles, “Don’t worry about that. This may be the most Wanderer’s taken out at one time, but he’s never come home injured after dealing with a Fatui camp.”

Hawks nods, “Looks like you’re stuck with me for a few days huh?” He wiggles his eyebrows at me, what a weirdo.

I make a disgusted face at him and he laughs, we hear a shout over the intercom, “10 minutes to landfall!’

Holy shit that was fast, I wonder if they used a quirk to enhance the speed of the boat. That seems very plausible.

We didn’t even have to use our rooms we got here so fast. It’s ridiculous that they even sent a boat with a cafeteria and rooms for this short of a trip.

Hawks stretches obnoxiously and slaps my back, “Guess it’s time for us to get along right?”

I glare at him and turn to follow Kusanali off the boat. “Tough crowd huh?” I hear him mutter behind me.

Once we get towards Sumeru City, Kusanali breaks off from us, saying something about Hawks not going into the city because he would stand out to much. And, well, she’s right. Bright red wings aren’t really inconspicuous.

We start walking towards Aaru Village. We won’t stay there, but it’s a good landmark to start with.

Hawks starts whistling while we walk which makes me want to punch him in the face even more than I already want to. I just sigh and walk a little faster, I can hear him speeding up to match with me though, which makes it even more annoying.

I raise myself in the air and speed away from him with anemo, but he catches up to me with his wings, laughing.
“Why were we even walking in the first place? This will be so much faster!”

He wasn’t paying attention and almost flew into a tree, so I, with all the goodness in my body, pulled him out of the way so he wouldn’t get tangled up in the vines.

He laughs, “Thanks man!”

How he’s still so loud with the sound of wind in my ears I’ll never know, either way, we approach the boarder between the desert and the rainforest and I slow down, Hawks does the same.

“There’s vultures that like flying around here, focus.”

He smiles, “You mean those tiny birds? They can’t keep up with us.”

I sigh, “Imagine those small birds 5 times bigger with fire powers.”

He gets a bit more serious and we start our flight towards the Upper Setekh. We thankfully don’t run into any of them, and get a view of the fatui camps on the ground.

Hawks whistles beside me, “Thats a lot of fatui.”

I nod, pulling him to follow me to the top of a hill nearby.

“We’ll set up camp here and attack tomorrow. It’s better to do it all at one time so we don’t give them time to prepare.”

Hawks nods and sits down on the ground, having to silence a gasp when a giant scorpion pops out of the sand.

I slash it with anemo and deadpan at him.

“How was I supposed to know a giant scorpion would pop out of the ground?!”

I sigh and lay my bag on the ground, making sure there’s no enemies nearby before sitting back on it. It’s going to be a long three days.

Chapter Text

Thank you all for being so concerned about me ;-;.

I agree that I’ve written a lot in the past few days but honestly it's so fun ^-^. I had to step away from writing for a while because I didn’t like how chapters were turning out, not to mention I got a new job that’s like 9 hours every day. But when I get my days off I feel like I have to be creative, since I don’t have that outlet at work. It gets my mind pumping!

Thank you for being so concerned for my well-being, and I will make sure to keep myself in check. When I don’t really feel like writing, I won’t write! I don’t want myself to get burnout either. <3

Thank you all for your continued interest and concern <3 <3 <3

Chapter Text

Neither of us get much sleep that night, not trusting the other at all. When morning comes around, we scout out the extent of the camps and I turn towards him.

“Be careful of the ones with guns, some of them have fire powers that I doubt would mix very well with your wings.” He nods, seeming to actually take my advice.

I take a deep breath, “Okay, here we go.”

Immediately the Fatui shout out their overused catchphrases, “Freeze!”, “Put your back into it!” etcetera etcetera.

I see red feathers flying everywhere and have to hold back a laugh when he gets one right in the eye. Focusing back on the few that I’m locked in a fight with right now, I grab the hydro and cryo guns from their hands and aim them back towards them, freezing them on the spot. I do the same to a few others, sending slashes of anemo towards them to finish them off once they're incapacitated.

We manage to fight our way through 6 camps with relative ease, that is, until a pyro gunner catches one of Hawks’ wings. Thankfully theres a hydro gunner nearby who was easy enough to redirect towards Hawks. If he took a bit of damage from getting shot, it was in no way my fault.

He shakes the water out of his hair and gets back to fighting fairly quickly. So I guess he understood that the water bullet was the better alternative to his wings getting burned off. Common sense is a good quality I guess.

Eventually it feels like we’ve been fighting for hours, which we probably have been. Then suddenly the waves of fatui that kept coming over and over again just ceased.

We finish off the few that we were fighting and glance at each other. I wipe my hair out of my face and readjust my hat. He recalls all of his feathers which come from various places around the fatui camp.

“Is that all of ‘em?” I hear him ask.

I glide up and look around for any traces of fatui left over and don’t see anything.

Floating back down to the floor, I nod, “At least out here. We have to go in the ruins now. There’s probably a few in there, plus some scholars. We’ll have to be more careful.” I start walking towards the now open ruin entrance, peeking around the corner and seeing a stairway that leads further down into the ground.

I hear Hawks following behind me and we both fly up a bit instead of stepping on the stairs, not knowing if there’s any traps set.

We land on the floor at the bottom and creep forward slowly, as soon as we turn the corner, I hear Hawks hide a curse word as there’s an entire operation with scholars scattered about a massive ruin guard.

We circle back around the corner and Hawks looks at me, “What the hell was that?” He asks in a hushed whisper.

I glance at him, “A ruin guard, a really big one. Basically robots that shoot missles. It’s inactive right now, it’s also the ancient technology we were talking about.”

He blinks at me a couple of times but when he realizes that I’m not going to give out more information he just sucks his teeth and straightens his back. “Fine, let’s get this over with.”

We manage to make it through the rest of the Fatui without any scholar casualties. A few times, an agent tried to use a scholar as a shield, thankfully there were two of us so the other would just sneak up behind the fatui and take them out.

A few of the scholars tried to escape but Hawks just stuck them to the ground or the walls with his feathers, which was surprisingly effective.

Once there’s none left I pick my hat back up from where it fell off fighting and look around, grabbing some rope lying on the ground, seemingly for the pulley system they had set up to transport people from the bottom of the guard to the top.

I gesture at the scholars he had stuck and he pulls his feathers back one by one while I tie them up with the rope.

“According to Kusanali, the Mantra should be on their way to pick up any suspects we take in while we’re here. Which means all of these scholars are going to be their problem.”

Hawks nods, wiping sweat from his brow. “That’s good to know, I thought we’d actually have to walk back.”
I let out a breathy chuckle and his eyes snap to me, “Did I just make you laugh Wanderer?”

I roll my eyes and walk forward with the group of tied up scholars. He rushes to my side, “Okay, not going to talk about it, that’s cool.”

I glance at him and he’s got a cocky smirk on his face that makes me want to hit him.

The stairs were a bit difficult to get up because the scholars all walked like they had two left feet but maybe that’s because of how many there were.

Thankfully, we were eventually able to make it out of the ruins. We had to wait an hour or two but the Matra finally arrived with Cyno at the head.

He nods at me in greeting, the rest of the Matra rushing to take the scholars into custody. “Wanderer.” He looks at Hawks, “I imagine this is why I’ve had a lot more work in these past few weeks.”

I smirk at him, “You’d be right, unfortunately it will be that way for a little while.”

Cyno nods, “Kusanali has briefed me on the situation, take your time. We have things mostly handled here.”

I nod, “Thank you.”

Cyno turns back towards the rest of the Matra and they start walking back towards Aaru Village, which I imagine is going to be the pickup location for the suspects.

There’s a couple of Matra left behind to guard the ruins and I make sure everything is in place before I start flying again, not checking to make sure Hawks is following, because I know he unfortunately is.

“So that was an interesting experience. Don't you think– Holy shit!”

A consecrated vulture cuts off our path and, for lack of a better word, roars at us.

I sigh, “Never a dull moment is it?” I get closer to Hawks. “This is the thing I told you to worry about. It’s got fire, and we don't have any water nearby. Be careful.”

I push him away and dodge an attack from the creature, sending a slash its way that causes its attention to get stuck on me. I go back and forth with it for a bit before a feather comes out of nowhere and strikes it in the eye, causing a screech to resound through the area.

It left it’s neck open and exposed, so I send a series of slashes towards it and it finally went down. I descend after it and Hawks follows me.

“What are you doing now?”

I land next to the bird and use anemo to cut around it’s claws and beak, also taking some of it’s feathers.

“These are important materials in Teyvat, it’d be a waste to just leave them here.”

He makes a noise of acknowledgement though it seems distracted. I turn to him and then follow his eyes to the Mausoleum of King Deshret. I suppose it would be something otherworldly for someone who isn’t from here.

“That’s the Mausoleum of King Deshret. He was the ruler of the desert for a while and ruled with Kusanali.”

He nods, “It’s beautiful.”

I smirk and nod, looking at the pyramid. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool.”

He blinks and looks towards me. “If this whole barrier thing works out, I’ll have to pay it a visit.”

My eyes widen for a moment before I nod. “Yeah, I guess you could.”

Chapter Text

By the time we got back to the city, me and Hawks had decided to walk the last bit of the way to avoid attention being drawn to us.

“Wait, those ruin guard things still exist?” He looks towards me as he sees one just wandering about.

I nod, “Yeah. They just exist in smaller forms now. There’s some around here that are a bit bigger and stronger than that one right there. And some that fly and stuff.”

He looks at the ruin guard walking around below us, near a cliff. “Huh. Do people get injured by those a lot?”

I shrug. “Most people take guards when they leave the city, and those who don’t are usually helped by the forest rangers or the Matra.”

He smirks and looks at me, “But never you huh?”

I raise my brow at him. “I don’t have time to help people who get themselves into bad situations.”

He chuckles, “Sure~ That’s why Lord Kusanali sent you to protect a class full of highschool students.”

I huff, “Whatever. Be quiet.”

He looks intrigued at my response, “Y’know what, let’s hash this out right here.” He stops in front of me.

I look up at him, “What are you even talking about?”

He leans in towards me and walks forward until my back hits a cliffside. “Why do you hate me so much?”

I scoff and push him away from me. “First of all, I don’t have to explain myself to you, second of all, the feeling is mutual.” I continue down the path covered in tall grass.

He walks next to me, “Sure, sure. But I want to know why you hate us so much. I know why we hate you guys, but why is it so strong on your side?”

I scoff, “You’re joking right?”

He looks confused, “Not at all.”

I rub my nose, “What do you think, Hawks?”

He looks like he’s getting annoyed. “I think you guys started causing more problems than your worth and got mad when we put a stop to it! You tried to go to war with us for no reason except for wanting to get rid of quirks.”

I scoff, “Are you fucking serious? We’ve never tried to go to war with you, not in the time I’ve been alive and not any time before it! We asked you for help with an ongoing war and you refused us and then sealed us away to fend for ourselves!”

He looks angry at the accusation. “You told us that we’d be next in line if we didn’t assist in the takedown of literal gods and you get mad at us for refusing?!”

“The problem wasn’t the refusal! It was you sealing off and entire side of the fucking planet! And then convincing your people that we’re less than them and we can’t be trusted!”

I push him into a tree, pointing a finger into his chest. “Do you know how many families got broken up because of you? The people who died without seeing their parents again because they were from Teyvat but their parents were Japanese?”
I sigh and look him in his now widened eyes, “There was a kid… He told me that he wouldn’t leave me, that he had to see his parents again before he died.”

I glare at him, “He broke his promise to me. And he didn’t even have the chance to see his parents again before he did. Because they were sealed on the other side of the fucking world!”

I back away from Hawks and shake my head, “So sorry if I don’t exactly think of you guys as the gods you parade around as.”

I turn around and start walking away from him.

“This kid, what was his name?” I hear his voice from behind me, it seems softer than before. Though if it’s out of fear or sympathy I don't know.

I smile a bit, a tear slipping down my face. My brows crease and I wipe the water from my cheek. That’s weird, I haven’t done that in ages, almost forgot that I could. I shrug, “I’m not sure, he said that he was my friend and that’s all that mattered…”

I bite my lip and look at the ground. “He was sick… A sickness that came from the other side of the border.” I look at Hawks and his expression is pinched.

I shake my head, trying to get a hold of myself “It doesn’t matter now. It’s too late to do anything but be angry for him…”

I keep walking and he starts following behind me, not rushing to catch up this time.

By the time we get outside of Sumeru city, Kusanali reappears and is smiling before she senses the tension.

“Is everything okay?”

I nod, “The fatui are taken care of. The scholars are being transported by the Matra right now.”
She smiles, “You know that’s not what I meant.”

I sigh, “Everything’s fine.”

Hawks finally talks for the first time in hours. “Don’t worry too much Lord Kusanali.” His voice is back to that cocky, teasing sound. “Just a small disagreement, nothing major.”

“Oh…okay.” She still looks worried but decides to let it go and looks at me. “You have to leave again right?” I nod, “Won’t even notice I’m gone.”

She smiles, “You know that’s not true!”

I smile back at her and we just stare at each other for a moment before I clear my throat. “Well, boat’s waiting.”

She smiles solemnly. “Right, remember to text me as soon as you get there!”

I nod, schooling my face back to neutrality “Of course Kusanali.”

She smiles knowingly at me one more time, “Have a safe trip, it was nice seeing you again.”

I nod, “Likewise.”

___

By the time we get back on the boat, me and Hawks still haven’t said another word to each other. I climb into my bedroom and mentally slap myself, this is why they had the bedrooms, duh.

I sit on the bed and set my hat down beside me, opening my notebook and using anemo to make random doodles on a blank page. I lose myself in the drawing and eventually, when I snap back into focus, am surprised to find a small doll drawn on the page. A very familiar doll.

I sigh and close the book rubbing at my face for a second before putting the book back into my bag and closing it.

There was a tiny tin heart left behind.

Chapter Text

I had been sitting on the bed for a while, it seems time is going a lot slower on the way back… Maybe it’s just because Kusanali isn’t here to fill the silence anymore…

I sigh and stand from the bed, deciding to forgo my hat as I walk down the long hallway to the deck. Finding a secluded spot to stare out at the sea, stars shining over it.

I lean my head on my arms as I stand by the side of the ship. It’s quiet out there, if not a bit cold. Thankfully I can’t get sick, but the cold still isn’t great to be out in, even as a puppet.

After a few minutes, I hear the soft thumping of footsteps coming up beside me, with a glance, I can already see red feathers and his tan coat.

He stays quiet, standing a fair distance away from me and staring out at the water himself.

A little while passes, and the ocean's waves get calmer and calmer. He clears his throat, “I’m not sure how much of what I know is true, but, for whatever it’s worth, I’m sorry…”

I glance at him and shake my head… “There’s no knowing whats true over there… the history books I read are so obviously skewed.”

I clear my own throat, prepping myself to do something out of my comfort zone, “I didn’t mean to get emotional like that…I’m… sorry, if it made you uncomfortable…”

He looks confused, “You mean for getting angry?”

I nod, “And for crying. I know it’s unsightly…”

He shakes his head, “Don’t say sorry for that, it was my fault.”

I go to disagree with him, but he cuts me off, “It was my fault..”

Sighing, I stare back out at the water, “I don’t usually get so angry over things that happened to other people like that… You just make me angrier than normal.”

Hawks lets out an airy chuckle, “I can see that.” He glances at me for a moment before looking back out at the water, “Don't worry about getting angry for other people… everyone does that. It’s a normal human reaction.”

Human

I let out a dry laugh, leaning a bit more over the edge of the boat to stare at my distorted reflection.

He moves to look at me in my peripherals. “Was that funny?”

I hum and tilt my head a bit. “To me.”

He sighs, “You’re a strange person, Wanderer.”

Person

“Im not.” I turn to him, “A person, I mean…”

He looks confused for a moment, “Wanderer if you think caring about people makes you less of a person, it’s actually the oppo–”

“No! I mean I’m not a person.” He narrows his eyes at me. “I’m not following.”

I sigh, wondering how to explain this. It’s probably not a good idea to tell people this. Especially not someone as shady and two faced as Hawks but being called a person is starting to sit wrong with me…

“I’m a puppet.”

He looks at me for a second before laughing nervously. “Good joke Wanderer… Really funny…” He stares into my eyes for a second, trying to decide if I’m crazy or just using metaphors.

“You’re being serious?” I nod.

He leans on the side of the ship again, still turned towards me. “So how are you… y’know?”

“A bit of magic and a lot of technology.” I look over at him, “I’ve been alive so long, I wonder if the magic is ever going to give up on me…” I look down at the water. “I don’t have a heart, and I shouldn’t have emotions…but I’m faulty.”

There’s silence for a while, neither of us saying anything. Yes, it was probably a mistake to tell him. But it felt good, in a way, to tell someone. Even though it may lead to problems for me in the future.

I feel the breeze wash over me again, a small chill running through me, and I mentally slap myself for not bringing my coat out with me before I feel something fluffy on my back.

I look over and see Hawks wrapping one of his wings around me, keeping the breeze away. He smirks, “No puppets I’ve ever seen have been able to get cold like that.”

I huff and try to shrug his wing away but it wraps tighter and pulls me into him, I feel his arms circle me and I freeze up for a second. “I’ve also never seen a puppet get so shocked before.” I feel his chin hit my head.

“I’ve never seen a puppet get annoyed, or get angry, or protective, or curious. Then again, I can’t say I’ve met many puppets in my life.” He chuckles.

“You’re probably a lot more human than you realize Wanderer, even if you aren’t in the traditional sense.”

“Because, no matter how hard they try, none of the puppets I’ve seen, in plays or ventriloquism, have been able to act as human as you seem to act without any effort at all.”

I sigh into his chest, “When did you get all sappy like this? Did being in Sumeru mess with your head?”

He chuckles, “Maybe~” Backing up a bit, he looks me in my eyes, “Or maybe it’s just you.”

My eyes widen for a moment before I clear my throat, backing away from him, his wing unwraps from me and his face is stuck with a stupid smile.

“Well, that’s enough life story for today, I’m going to go to sleep before we get to Japan.”

Hawks chuckles, not saying anything. Which is weird, but I don’t say anything about it because I don’t want to be roped into another conversation and start walking back to my room.

Hawks POV

He doesn’t even need sleep, does he?

I watch his retreating figure and sigh, I have my work cut out for me with this commission stuff huh?

After all, how am I supposed to stay professional and unattached after that?

Chapter Text

The next morning, when I woke up, because I totally actually fell asleep and didn’t think of all of the potential problems I caused by revealing my origin to who is essentially a commission plant.

Then again… he seemed genuine with what he said, but maybe that’s just how good he is at acting.

I get stuck in my thoughts for a bit before I hear a knock on the door, Hawks pops his head in.

“Hey, we’re about to dock in Japan, make sure you get everything.”

I nod and he leaves the room. Rubbing my eyes, I look around for anything that I could have forgotten to pack last night, and find nothing but my hat and notebook. I put my notebook in my bag, putting my hat on and taking a deep breath. I had changed back into clothes that are suitable to Japan last night, so the only stand out item is the hat, and I don’t think that’s going to draw too much attention.

I walk out of the room, clicking the door shut and walking down the long hallway again, covering my eyes when the sun shines in them.

“Hey stranger! We should totally race to the port.”

I glance at him, a bit embarrassed at how stupid I was last night, telling him about what I was. “What do you mean?”

He laughs, “Come on~ You can fly, I can fly. But who can fly faster?”

I sigh, “Does it matter?”

He gasps dramatically, “Of course it matters! Now, let’s start in 3! 2! 1!”

He zooms off in the air but stops in his tracks and turns slowly when he doesn’t hear me follow him, and slinks back over.
“Wanderer. Hey Wanderer. Wanderer hey. Wanderer let’s go.”

I sigh and rub my nose, “Will you leave me alone after?”

He pouts, “But we just got around to being friends~”

I crease my brows at him and he laughs, “I’m kidding! Geez! Sure, I’ll leave you alone after.”

I sigh and float into the air, sliding next to him. He smiles at me and I roll my eyes, to which he just turns towards the dock and starts counting.

“3! 2! 1!”

Immediately we’re both off because, as much as I didn’t want to do it, there’s no way in hell I’m going to lose to this guy.

Apparently he thought the same, because as he looked at me and saw that we were neck and neck, his wings flapped harder and he pulled ahead a little bit, which caused me to push my anemo faster and push ahead of him by a small amount.

We both skid to a halt at the dock and turn to each other. “Well, I think we both know who won.” I dust my shirt off, another victory in the ba–

“Yeah, I did.”

My eyes widen, “No way in hell you did!”

He nods, “Yeah I did! You were way behind me!”

I go to argue with him again when he just starts laughing, he stops after a few seconds, a smirk on his face he leans in close to me and whispers in my ear, “I’ve never seen such a competitive puppet before.”

I blink a few times to regain my mental footing and just stare at him when he backs away which makes him chuckle again.

“We should meet up one time when you aren’t doing mission stuff! I think it could be fun.” He turns towards a black van pulling up, waving over his shoulder, “Dont worry about contacting me, I’ll get your number from the commission.”

He turns and smirks towards me, that cocky fucking smile. “See you strings!”

It takes me a second to process what the fuck he just called me, but by the time I realize, the car is already speeding off.

“What the fuck?”

Hawk’s POV

When I get back to the commission building, I’m ushered into the president's office, where Ms.Kizu is also sitting.

“Hawks, please, take a seat. We have much to discuss.”

I approach the chair and sit down, “President.”

She smiles, “So, tell me about this….Sumeru. Is it what we expected?”

I pause for a moment, thinking. On one hand, telling her it’s what we expected… gross, infested, trashed… it could hurt Wanderer’s goal in the long run but… telling her it’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen may cause them to do something to make it fit the narrative they’ve built for it.

I clear my throat, “Yes president. A bit disappointing, I was expecting a surprise.”

The president smiles in that unnerving way she always does when she thinks things are going her way.

“Perfect. Now, this Wanderer boy, he was in over his head, no? Surely that vision of his isn’t as powerful as that…Kusanali makes it out to be.” She flutters her lashes at me which, gross, but I digress.
“In way over his head Madame President. In fact, I had to do most of the heavy lifting while we were there! The monsters weren’t even anything impressive, for all of their talk.”

She smiles toothily and claps her hands, standing from her chair. “Excellent work as usual Hawks, why don’t you do a bit more patrolling for tonight, we’ll talk some more later. Right now people need to know you’re okay, you’ve been gone for quite a few days after all.”

She puts her hands on my shoulders and I have to fight back the tense that runs through my body.

“Yes madam president.”

“Good~” She trailed her hand up my neck and ran her fingers through my hair for a moment. “Make me proud.”

I fight back chills, “Yes Madam president.”

Chapter Text

“I missed you so much!” Mina basically screams in my ear while suffocating me in a hug which I couldn’t even return if I wanted to.

She pulls back and puts her hands on my shoulders, “You have to tell me everything! They told us you had to go back to Sumeru for a few days but they didn’t tell us why or–”

“Mina” She stops and stares at me, maybe I sounded a bit more mean than I intended or something.

“All that happened was taking out some monsters who decided to group up so much that the people who were taking care of the problems in my absence couldn't feasibly take care of them. That’s all.”

She whines, “You’re telling me I missed a super awesome Wanderer fighting sequence!~”

I give her a sly smile and she sticks her tongue out at me. We talk for a bit longer about what we’ve been up to in the past few days, sans mission stuff. So I just told her about trying to train my anemo and seeing Kusanali.

Midoriya seemed to overhear something about training and turned his wide, star-filled eyes towards us. “Did you make any progress with it?” I smile a bit and nod.

He gets closer, “Can you show us?”

I sigh, “I can’t do the full thing yet but it’s getting stronger so keep that in mind.”

I hold my palm out and a small vortex forms, slightly larger than the few times I had done it before, which means my practice paid off.

“Is that a tornado?!” I glared at Mina when she yelled out loud enough for the whole class to hear, and, considering the lack of tornado warnings in the weather forecast, they were all a bit confused. Mina, to her credit, looks embarrassed. “Sorry.”

Momo speaks up first, “What do you mean Mina?”

I sigh when Mina looks flustered at the question, not knowing whether or not to try and cover it up or just to outright say it.

Turning to Momo, I show her the small tornado in my hand and she gets closer to it. “Oh wow.” Her hand is like a magnet to it and I have to move it out of her reach before she can fully touch it. “You’ll get hurt.”

She seems to snap out of whatever trance she was in and holds a hand to her mouth. “Oh of course, sorry.”

I nod, “It’s fin–”

“Be quiet and sit down.”

Aizawa stalks into the class, giving me a small nod in greeting before continuing on with his lesson.

By lunch, there was so much talk about the sports festival it made my ears bleed. It’s mostly overconfident losers saying something about beating all of the hero course students. Which, if the hero course students are the best this school has, is unlikely.

There was some blonde guy who went over to the 1A table and started running his mouth about how he was going to “kick 1A’s ass” or something like that. I turned him out after a while because I’m not supposed to hurt the students here.

Another girl came and did it for me, thankfully, and dragged him back to what I’m assuming is his class table. I thought that was the end of the excitement for today until I lifted my bowl from my tray and saw a note under it to “Meet at Nezu’s office.”

I sigh and rub my nose, finishing my food and talking to Mina and Midoriya like normal. Momo and Jirou also joined our table today, it was still a little tense but nowhere near the same tension as the first time.

When lunch ends, I tell Mina that I have to go to the office and she nods, making a zipping motion on her mouth before turning and walking back to the classroom, looking around very suspiciously.

I laugh quietly at her being so obvious, and turn towards the office. Once I get there, the door opens by itself and Aizawa is sitting there with Midnight, Present Mic, and Nezu.

“Oh no you left them with All Might?” I look at Aizawa.

He sighs, “Hopefully they’ll be fine. There’s nothing crazy planned anyway.”

Nezu smiles at me, “We were discussing the new curriculum. I sent it over to Kusanali and she okayed it, but asked if I would let you look over it as well.”

I crease my brows, why would she do that?. Shrugging, I take a seat and read over the pages. Ah, so that’s why. The Inazuma page doesn’t have much detail about Raiden’s puppets, which makes sense, people on this side wouldn’t know that. She probably wanted me to add something about them if I was comfortable with them knowing.

There doesn’t seem to be much detail on the Fatui, which is a good idea for now, considering the enemy organization on this side is already too much for them to deal with.

The stuff about Kusanali herself is fairly short, which makes me laugh before continuing on to the other sections.

I close the packet back up, handing it back to Nezu. “It seems fine to me, there’s a lot more information in there than I thought there’d be.”

Nezu smiles, “I’m glad, me and Kusanali worked on this together over our chess matches.” He straightens the packet and lays it on his desk. “Now, the question of who will teach this course.”

“Will it be optional or mandatory?”

Nezu looks at me, “I’m thinking it will be optional for now, to avoid suspicion from outside, but once we open the barrier it should be mandatory for at least a little while.”

I nod, “Seems reasonable.”

We talk about the teacher for the course for a while, both of the candidates saying they were more than willing, which surprised me. I didn’t think there’d be many people on this side that wanted the barrier down. Especially not people in higher positions like this.

Eventually, it’s agreed that Midnight would teach it, because she has less essays and other assignments to grade. Present Mic seems a bit sad about it for a moment, but he understands the reasoning.

I feel an unfamiliar warmth in my chest, something foreign to me, as I realize that maybe not everyone on this side is completely blinded by the history they’ve been taught.

Both of them leave, leaving just Aizawa and Nezu, who lean forward on his desk. “We’ve decided you won’t be participating in the sports festival, in fact, we’d like your help with something.”

I raise my brow, “Does it pertain to my mission?”

Nezu smiles, “Indirectly.” I nod and make a “go on” gesture.

“Recently, there’s been a new threat to heroes and anyone who dares call themselves one. His name is Stain, and he’s been causing a lot of deaths and injuries recently. We’d like you to help put a stop to him.”

I tilt my head, “Why not send one of your top heroes?”

Aizawa sighs, “Unfortunately, Stain attacks randomly. He doesn’t seem to have any time in particular that he goes out.”

I hum, that does make things harder.

Nezu looks at me, “Our thought process is that, if you wear your Sumerian clothes, it looks like a hero outfit. Which might work out and make Stain attack you. If it doesn’t, he’ll likely attack a hero in the vicinity. We’re going to be monitoring the heroes in that area very closely, so when he finally decides to attack, you can back them up.”

I crease my brows, “Why couldn’t you send a higher up hero then? If your plan is to bait him anyways.”

Nezu and Aizawa glance at each other for a moment, before Aizawa sighs. “Because this is a mission that hasn’t been run by the commission. That’s why I’m here, we need to come up with a cover that keeps you away from the sports festival and in Hosu.”

I hum, sitting back in the chair and hold a hand up to my face. “I thought you had the final say over whether I participated or not.” I look at Nezu.

He shakes his head, “Unfortunately, everything about you is run by the commission first.”

I sigh, thinking for a moment. “Why not just tell them I’m injured?”

“It would cover you for being out of the sports festival, but not you being in Hosu. The commission doesn’t want you alone and out of their watch for any longer than you have to be.”

“Will they check my house?”

“It’s unlikely, they may just have someone watch the door for a while.”

I tilt my head back and forth thinking, “What if I leave the night before to Hosu, and disguise myself as a normal person. It would take away the chance of Stain attacking me, but if there’s other heroes in Hosu that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Nezu thinks, looking at Aizawa who nods, “That should work perfectly. Now, we just need to make a note for your injury, which we might be able to play off as a result of your mission in Sumeru recently.” Nezu writes at the speed of someone who doesn’t have to worry about spelling or anything. Which, I guess he doesn’t.

“Aizawa, if you would?” The teacher in question sighs and signs his name at the bottom, reading over the letter and nodding.
“Perfect, thank you for your help both of you! Now, I think you’ve missed enough.”

Chapter Text

That night, I left my house and made my way to Hosu, trying to remain inconspicuous during the ride there, and avoiding the roads that pro heroes may patrol.

Once I made it to the hotel room that was organized by Nezu beforehand, I open my phone and see a list of names that Nezu sent me during the trip here. A list of heroes who were on our side in this operation. Best Jeanist, Ingenium, and Ectoplasm. Which didn’t give me a lot to go off of but it’s better than nothing.

I hear my phone beep with another message from Nezu, inside is another list, this time of pros in the area who aren’t on our side. Lo and behold, Hawks is sitting right at the top of the list, followed by Mountain Lady, Mirko, and Kamui Woods.

Of course the hero commission would have their drones out searching for Stain as well. Unfortunately, that much can’t be helped.

Nezu’s name pops up on the top of the screen again, this time, a document is attached, which I open and find a list of Stain sightings, and those who have been killed by him so far.

It’s interesting that his rhetoric seems to center around getting rid of fake heroes, but he doesn’t seem to target any of the obviously fake heroes. Instead, focusing his attention of the fake heroes who seem to have done some small things. Like one that yelled at a fan or bought drugs from a dealer. Which, yeah aren’t great things to do, but theyre not worth killing over.

What about the heroes who blatantly ignore a problem in favor of publicity, like Spritz. Or those that cause major property damage whenever they fight like Endeavor or, in some cases, All Might.

I sigh, it’s hard to deal with people who have strong ideals in the first place, but it’s even harder when those ideals are severely misguided. I can only imagine it’s not going to be possible to convince him against targeting pro heroes. That’s not really my style anyway. This will probably end in a fight.

His quirk is unknown at this moment, as everyone who’s gotten close enough to see it has been killed.

Great, so no more information than that on him then? That’s disappointing, even the low rank fatui spies could’ve gotten more on him than this.

Whatever, right now, the only thing I can do is lay low.

_______

The next morning, I click my phone open to messages from Mina asking where I am and why I’m not there to cheer her on. Shit, I completely forgot to tell her about it.

On a mission right now. Will be
Watching from here. Don’t suck.

I see the small “read” pop up and she starts typing only for the thing to disappear. I sigh, assuming she’s angry, before she texts back a couple minutes later.

Sorry, had to put my phone up for
A sec. Also, COOL, a top secret
Spy mission?! O.O

Just make sure to only cheer for
Me! I know you and Midoriya are
Friends now to, but I was here first!

GTG <3

I can’t hide a chuckle at her speedy messages, not even giving me time to respond to her when she’s typing at the speed of light.

I sigh, putting my phone down and clicking on the TV, switching to a livestream of the Sports Festival and almost falling out of my chair laughing when I see Aizawa looking like he’d rather be anywhere else than there. Poor sucker.

_______

Unfortunately, Mina didn’t end up winning. She kicked ass though, so did Midoriya. Also unfortunate, Bakugo took first place. I didn’t know they let pomeranians compete but consider me surprised.

My phone beeps, and, picking it up, I see a “are you ready” message from Nezu. Sending back and affirmative and standing up, flipping a hood over my head and pulling up a small mask, I make my way out of the hotel. From the balcony, of course, couldn’t have anyone in the lobby suspecting me or anything.

I make my way towards the center of Hosu, checking my phone for the locations and vitals of the pros who agreed to wear the trackers. And some who didn’t agree to wear trackers, because Nezu is a psychotic rat with too much power.

None of them look to be in any danger yet and I make my way towards Spritz, who was apparently really easy to sneak a tracker onto. They just had a “fan” go in to hug him and, when he pushed them away, they snuck it under the sleeve of his hero outfit, out of sight, out of mind.

I figure, if Stain is true to his ideals, Spritz may be one of the first he goes after. I mean, this asshole almost got a kid killed for publicity.

I tail him for a while and am disappointed in his ignorance to me following him, I’m not surprised. He couldn’t find a light in a dark room.
After a few more minutes, I’m about to find a different person to tail when I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket, pulling it out, I see a flashing red light over Ingenium’s icon, cursing silently, I pocket the phone and speed to his location.

I find him underneath Stain’s sword, two seconds away from being impaled and probably permanently damaged. I shoot a blade of wind at the Vigilante and he backs off of Ingenium, who I pull towards the opening of the alley.

“Another fake hero coming to save you, Ingenium? Pathetic.”

I roll my eyes and get into a defensive stance, “How twisted is your worldview that you targeted him of all heroes out tonight? Get your brain checked, you unsightly insect.”

He makes some kind of hissing sound at me and throws his sword straight for my face. Damn, I guess he doesn’t like his ideals being questioned like that.

“His quirk has something to do with your blood! Don’t let him cut you!” I hear Ingenium yell from behind me. Which was honestly kind of helpful. But also, that means I can go all out, because assumably, his quirk won’t work on artificial blood.

I smirk, “Thanks for the heads up.” Rushing towards Stain, I see him pull another sword from its sheath, dodging out of the way, I press my feet on his shoulders and shove him to the floor.

He rolls back up almost immediately, lunging towards me and pushing back against my arms, crossed in front of me in a block.

We separate again, circling each other before we lunge again. There’s a flurry of punches, knives, and anemo. The anemo deflecting off of the swords and vice versa.

Eventually, we part again to try and find an opening on the other. His face and body are slashed with various cuts and gashes from the anemo attacks, as well as a very prominent cuts from the upper left of his face down the side of his neck. I pat myself on the back for keeping my nails sharp enough to do that kind of damage.

He smirks at me and lifts his sword, revealing a small strip of red that I honestly don’t even know where it came from. I raise my arms to check and find a tiny cut on my forearm that he must have made during the chaos.

He runs his tongue across it, which makes me wonder if he has to deal with diseases you can get from other people’s blood.

He looks at me as if he’s expecting me to go crashing to the ground and, in his confusion, I lunge at him again and ram hard into his solar plexus. I hear the air get knocked out of him and don’t give him time to catch his breath before I launch him into the side of a building.

Thankfully, unlike some heroes I have restraint and don’t break the building.

I stand over him and send a vortex of anemo straight through him, which seems to rattle his brain enough to knock him unconscious for a little bit. Or maybe it was being tossed into a brick wall. Either or.

I sigh and look over at Ingenium, who seems to be able to stand a bit now. “Do you have anything to secure him with?”

He nods and reaches to his belt, revealing a pair of quirk suppressing handcuffs. I raise my brow, “Why do you carry these around? I don’t see any other hero holding these.”

He smiles weakly, “Since my quirk is speed, sometimes it’s easier to just apprehend a villain with those than fighting them.”

I hum and take them from his shaky hand, walking back over to Stain and cuffing his wrists, removing his swords and knives from their sheaths, and, holy hell did the guy have a lot of weapons.

I look towards Ingenium again. “I think you should phone it in, say you got help from a vigilante or just take the credit yourself. I’ll stay nearby just in case he wakes up again.”

Ingenium nods and stops me before I fly away with a hand on my wrist, “Thank you.”

I give a small nod, “Part of the mission.”

He smiles and nods, letting my wrist go and leaning against the alley wall, pulling out his phone.

I fly away and wait there, watching as police and a couple of pros in the area come into the alley, pushing to apprehend Stain. As they grab him, he looks directly in my direction and, once again, impresses me, as very few on this side of the barrier so far have been able to do so.

I smirk and stick my tongue out at him to which he scoffs and shakes his head, walking with the police and getting into the car without much struggle, which confuses everyone nearby.

I turn and sigh, taking my phone out, seeing a text from Nezu.

Excellent work! See you back in class tomorrow!

I huff out a laugh, what, I dont get any break? Stuffing my phone back in my pocket, I sigh, of course not.

Chapter Text

The next day, the news of Stain’s capture spread like wildfire. Iida came in, his face neutral as he walked up to me and lowered his head in a deep bow, a small “thank you” coming out of his mouth before he turned to his seat.

I see Ururaka looking at him, a question in her eyes as he sits down and adjusts his glasses. He just shakes his head gesturing to her in a motion that seems to read “later”.

Mina walks in, smiling when she sees me. “Did you watch the festival? Or were you super busy with your super secret important mission.” I see a few eyes look in our direction and I smirk and raise a brow at Mina.

She covers her mouth for a second before leaning forward. “So?”

I shake my head, “I had time to watch the festival, you did good.”

She raises her hands in a cheer and goes to keep talking when Bakugo storms in and slams his hand on my desk, I look up at him with a neutral face, whereas his is red with anger.

“You think you're better than us or something? Scared to compete against us, think you’ll lose?” His voice is mocking and angry. He kind of resembles a tomato with how red he is.

I go to defend myself when I hear the door open again and Nezu, Aizawa, and Ingenium walk through the door. Ingenium having a couple of bandages wrapped around his arms, which I imagine cover his torso as well, and a crutch under his left arm.

“Sit down Bakugo” Aizawa’s tired voice cuts through the tense silence. Bakugo scoffs and pushes roughly off of the desk, and drops down into his own.

Nezu clears his throat. “So, starting with the elephant in the room, as I’m sure you all know by now, Stain has been captured and taken into police custody. One of the people who came in contact with him last night, when he was captured, happened to be Ingenium here, who as you can see, sustained a few injuries.”

Mina seems to start catching on to whats happening, as she turns slightly in her seat and starts giving me a knowing side glance, I raise my brow at her and I see a small grin on her face before she turns back to the front.
Midoriya raises his hand, “So, sir, if you don’t mind me asking who actually captured him? It’s no where on the news and I’ve heard that Ingenium is refusing to take any credit at all.”

I widen my eyes in Ingenium’s direction and he smiles a bit at me before looking to Nezu, who answers, “Good question Mr.Midoriya. Ingenium is refusing credit because he, in fact, did not capture Stain. It was actually…” Nezu holds his paw up in my direction, “Our very own Wanderer.”

There’s silence, so quiet you could hear a pin drop, before Bakugo’s voice cuts through it, “Hah?!”

Nezu claps his paws together, either to get attention back to him or just because he’s genuinely entertained, I’m not sure. “During the sports festival, we sent Wanderer here on a mission to Hosu in hopes that he would be able to apprehend the Hero Killer. We had a few heroes in the area who agreed to wearing vital trackers in order to try and catch Stain before he took another life. When Ingenium’s vitals went haywire, Wanderer was given the location and apprehended Stain before leaving the scene.”

There’s silence again, “Any questions?”

Mina turns sideways in her chair again, “Why didn’t you stick around to take credit?”

“It would draw unnecessary attention to me, the League still isn’t supposed to know I’m here as a guard and not a student.”

Nezu nods in agreement, and Mina in understanding. “So who’s going to end up with the credit?”

I sigh, “Does it matter? Let people come up with their own theories about it, anythings better than people knowing someone from Teyvat is walking among them.”

Mina purses her lips and nods. “Is everything alright Ms. Mina?” Nezu asks.

“I just don’t get what the problem is! It’s obvious that there’s a lot of stuff we’ve been taught about Teyvat that’s wrong, right? So how are we supposed to fix that? I mean, it’s everywhere! And it’s not like there’s a lot of heroes who care! It’s going to be even harder when the higher up heroes seem just as prejudiced as regular people.”

Nezu’s face saddens a bit, “Unfortunately that’s just how it’s going to be for a while Ms. Mina. Prejudice is hard to break, especially when it’s the only thing provided to them as material. It’s going to take quite a bit of work on both sides, which is exactly why I’m starting a class based solely on Teyvat history, it will be mandatory for this class and optional for other classes.”

I hear people get angry at that, though it may just be because it’s another class that they have to work in.

“It will happen 2 times a week and take the place of Tuesday and Thursday’s hero training. It’s going to be taught by Ms.Midnight. We’ve already run the curriculum by both Lord Kusanali and Wanderer here. We’re hoping to start next week. Any questions?”

He looks around and, not seeing any hands raised, he claps his paws together, “Excellent, I’ll be going then, Aizawa?” The teacher in question sighs and raises Nezu to the vent, which he then climbs into.

It’s quiet for a moment before Ingenium walks up to me, holding his hand out, which I stare at before shaking. “Thank you again, the doctor said if things went any farther, I could’ve ended up paralyzed from the waist down, and forced into retirement.”

I smirk, “Hey, you’re the one who found him, I just did the other half of the work.”

He chuckles at me, and shrugs, stepping back towards the front, “I guess I can take that much credit.”

He smiles over at Iida and waves, his brother smiles back and Ingenium says a short goodbye to Aizawa before leaving the room.

I raise my brow at Aizawa, “I thought it was meant to be top secret.”

He shrugs, “Yeah well, you know Nezu.”

I hum, leaning back in my seat with my arms crossed over my chest.

Chapter Text

Iida ended up sitting with us at lunch that day, bringing Ururaka and Tsuyu with him. They didn’t say much, but they didn’t send me any weird looks either. Mina and Midoriya ended up asking me more about the fight and I gave them as much information as I could without revealing too much.

Once hero training rolled around, I had divulged all I could. They seemed to understand and moved the topic onto something else during the walk to the changing rooms. It was another sparring day and Iida ended up walking up to me to partner up. I nod and we start circling each other.

“You said something about working on my awareness during the team battles, what do you suggest?” He throws a punch which I block easily.

“You tend to get into your head a lot, focusing only on the target. It’s not going to end well for you, because you’re quirk is something that depends on you’re ability to think fast and keep an eye on your surroundings.”

He nods, throwing another punch, I grab it and pull him forward, he stumbles a bit. “You need better balance too, your’s isn’t as bad as a lot of people in this class, but you need more because of your quirk.”

He nods, “How do I fix those?” I’m a bit shocked he’s asking for my help, but I guess that’s what saving someone’s brother does to a man.

“The balance is easy, single-leg stands, planking, stuff like that. Awareness is a bit more difficult, you have to be more in tune with your senses, I would start by meditating, then working on hand eye coordination, then try to start reading movements before they happen. If you get the hang of stuff like that, then you’ll have to spend less of your attention on your target and can work to focus on your surroundings as well. As it stands, I think you're unconfident in your abilities, once you trust yourself to be able to capture a target, you won’t be so in your head during a fight.”

He nods, “I..think I understand.” I nod, “Practicing the basics can go a long way. Balance, technique, mobility, stuff like that is important and I think people tend to forget about them once they advance.”

He nods, and we go on like that for a little while, I end up winning but there’s definitely a bit of improvement in his stance and the like by the end of it.

He turns to me and looks around, “I just want to apologize about my misconceptions of you.”

I smirk and nod, we make our way back to the changing room and everyone lines up after changing in front of Aizawa. “I wanted to announce a training camp happening very soon, class 1-B will also be there, we want to prepare you all more for your final exams.”

There’s excited chatter and Aizawa hands out permission slips to everyone, I take it and raise my brow, “Just sign it yourself.” I nod and sign it quickly, handing it to him, I don’t want to try and remember it next week.

“Okay, dismissed.”

Everyone turns and starts walking out of the building, when we reach the front gates, we’re all surprised to see red wings and a masked face.

“Hawks?” I hear a few murmured whispers around. He looks surprised to see the whole class there, making his way towards me. “You never got back to me about flying together~ It’s been a few days already and I’m bored.”

I huff, “I’ve been busy.”

He get really close to my face, giving me fake puppy dog eyes, “Too busy for me~?”

He leans back and wraps his arm around my shoulder, “Whatever, we’re going now, there’s this jet stream that’s super fun to fly in at this time of day.”

I sigh, waving to Mina and Midoriya as me and Hawks fly into the air, “Why didn’t you message me? I feel like that would have been easier than whatever this is.”

He smirks, “But that’s not as fun, is it?”

_____

After a while of flying he sighs and looks at me, “The commission, they’re trying to get rid of you.”

My eyes widen, I mean, I knew, but I didn’t think he’d come right out and say it. For someone who’s considered the commission’s dog he doesn’t seem to be too worried about selling them out.

“I know.” He smiles at me, “Of course you do. But I figured I’d let you know just in case… They might be trying to invade Teyvat…”

That I didn’t know, “What do you mean?”

He shakes his head, “They want me to get a read on how strong you guys are, in order to stage an invasion, I suppose.”

I sigh, thinking for a moment. “Why are you telling me this?”

He smiles sadly, “I figure you didn’t need another betrayal in your life…”

I bite my lip and look down at the cloud we were floating above, nodding, he grabs my hand and looks me in the eyes. “I was taken in by the commission when I was really, really young. For a while, it was everything I wanted but the other day, when we were in Sumeru and just flying around it was so… freeing. I don’t know how to explain it, but I’ve never, ever, been free.” I crease my brows at him, where’s he going with this?

“My parents kept me locked inside my whole childhood and then I was the commission’s dog, in Sumeru I was able to be free, for just a second. I don’t want them to destroy that place.”

He grabs my face and makes me look at him, my eyes widening. “I want you to know I’m on your side, okay? There are going to be moments where you don’t think that in the future, but I need you to trust me.”

I bite my lip again, I haven’t trusted anyone in literal years, the closest I think I can get is Kusanali, “I’ll try.”

He smiles, closing his eyes, “I guess that’s all I can ask for right now.”

Chapter Text

After a while, when it starts to get dark, Hawks flies in front of me. “Why don’t we go out to eat? There’s this restaurant nearby that’s kind of hole in the wall, which means nobody will find us there. Interested?”

I smirk at him, “You paying?”

He raises his brow at me, “Did you forget that I was with you when your Mora got converted to yen?”

I huff a laugh and gesture to him, “Let’s go then.”

His eyes widen, apparently not expecting me to agree, “Okay, follow me then.”

__________
Hawks POV

I didn’t expect him to actually agree, I wonder if this is seen as a date in Sumeru too. Or maybe just a dinner between friends. Either way, I have to make sure I make the most of it.

Honestly, I hadn’t expected to trauma dump on him earlier, but I feel better after doing it. Afterall, for any part of this plan to work, I need to gain his trust. But I also need him to be himself. I don’t want the commission to win, not after what they’ve made me do.

It’s easier said than done, of course, but Wanderer is a crucial element in this plan, not to mention he’s just fun to tease. And he’s probably the prettiest person I’ve met in my life, especially with the red mascara and eyeliner around his eyes.

As I watch him fly, I can’t help but wonder how different his life in Sumeru is. Does he get to fly with anyone? Is he always fighting those Fatui guys or does he have friends on that side.

If the barrier was down, would anything change? For him or for me?

I shake myself out of my thoughts, best not to think about this now, I have a Sumerian to woo.

______

When we get there, it’s relatively slow and we’re greeted at the door and taken to a table in a secluded corner. The walls are decorated with old Japanese artwork and items, which Wanderer seems to take an interest in.

“I forgot you wouldn’t know what some of this stuff is.” He turns his eyes to me and grins, “I’ve read enough of your history books at this point to know what it is.”

I smile at him, raising my brows, “Oh yeah? Makes me want to read about your history then, get an even playing field.”
He smirks and the waiter comes, a notepad in his hand as he asks for our drinks, Wanderer seems to scan the menu as quick as possible and asks for lemonade, I decide to get blue raspberry lemonade to somewhat match him.

He turns to me when the waiter leaves, “That’s not too sweet right? I think Mina covered my sweet tooth the other day for the rest of the time I’m here.”

I smile at him, “Not a big fan of sweets huh?”

He shakes his head, “Not really, never been for me.”

He scans the menu and seems to sigh when he can’t find something, then closes the menu. “Find something?”

I nod, “I’ll try their Tempura and Miso soup.” I nod at him, “I love their tempura here, it’s always well made… You seemed to be looking for something though.”

He looks up and shakes his head, “Forgot that it probably isn’t here.”

I smile at him, “Maybe it is but it’s in a different name. Explain it to me.” He sighs, “It’s like tea and rice, with different toppings, it’s called Shimi Chazuke in Teyvat.”

I nod, laughing softly, “That’s a super popular dish here, its called ochazuke.” I open his menu and point at it, he scans over it and gives me a small smile. “Thank you.”

I nod and smile as he reads over the stuff he can get put into it, his mouth is slightly open and his blue eyes scan over the page. He’s so beautiful it’s insane.

Once the waiter comes and takes our orders and menus, Wanderer looks back at the wall, taking a sip of his lemonade and his eyes widen slightly as he takes a slightly longer sip.

I can’t help but smile at the sight, wondering if he’s feeling less guarded because of his curiosity in the stuff on the wall, or if he’s still guarded but not showing it on his face.

When we get our food, he breathes in the smell and a small, vulnerable smile settles on his face for a split second and I get a small glimpse into who he was before all of the shit that happened to him. And it was mesmerizing.

The smile gets covered up as he starts eating and I take the time to eat my own food.

He gets a bit of the broth on his face and I chuckle at him, he looks up at me, “What?”

I shake my head, “Nothing, just didn’t expect you to be such a messy eater.”

He blushes slightly and raises a napkin to his face to wipe the mess, when he brings the napkin back down, the blush is already gone. I’m not sure he even knows how adorable he can be, but I’m glad I could get him vulnerable enough to show this side to me, even if he doesn’t realize he’s doing it.

He looks up at me once he finishes that part of his food and moves on to the other dishes on the table. “What?”

I smile and shake my head, “Nothing.”

____

Once we finished our food, I did end up paying, by the way, we start walking randomly down the street, towards where I’m guessing Wanderer’s house is.

“Thanks for coming out tonight, I know it was a bit out of the blue.”

He shakes his head, “Haven’t been able to just fly around without a mission for a while, we don’t have jet streams like that either, we have wind gusts but nothing like that.”

I smile and sigh loudly to try and get the giddy smile off my face, when did I become such a sucker for this guy? It’s getting ridiculous. Not to mention, I saw that knowing smile Mina gave me before we left from the school earlier, that girl knows.

The only issue is, does Wanderer know. More importantly, does he care? He definitely seems like the kind of guy who’s the campus crush back in Sumeru, what’s stopping me from just becoming another one of his admirers and not really going anywhere with it?

Not to mention, he’s just as damaged as I am, who’s to say he even wants a relationship like that in the first place? Maybe I’m in way over my head.

Whatever, right now isn’t the time to think about stuff like this, I have a mission right now, to help Wanderer and Nezu bring down the barrier, and, hopefully in the process, the commission.

Anything else can wait.

Chapter Text

We walk down random roads for a little while, which reminds me of walking around the trails in Sumeru, though less woodsy obviously. There’s a strong wind right now that I’ve grown used to in this part of Japan, Hawks gives me a side eye and I once again feel his wing wrap around my side and pull me closer to him.

I raise my brow at him and he doesn’t make eye contact with me, a shit-eating grin on his face as he focuses on anything and everything else.

I sigh and resign myself to my fate, walking along with him, we find a small alley that seems to lead to the next road and we decide to take it. We manage to make our way out of the other side before we hear a small sound from behind us.

Turning around, I come face first with Hawk’s wing and he snickers, moving it away. I glare at him for a moment but his eyes are looking at the small thing that made the noise.

A small, ragged cat seems to stumble out of the alleyway, gashes on his body.

I kneel towards him, in a way, it kind of reminds me of Durin in a weird way. Crying out for help but not expecting any…

I gently look for a tag but can’t seem to find one, I cradle the animal in my arms and turn towards Hawks. “These wounds aren’t made by other animals, a person did this to him.”

I can see a tense in Hawk’s jaw and he gets his phone out of his pocket, looking for something while I try to calm the now very emotional cat.

I feel a hand on my shoulder, “There’s a vet nearby.”

I nod and stand from the position I was in, holding the cat in my arms as gently as possible.

I hate things like this. It makes me feel weak but… at the same time it makes me angry. A rage that makes my neck tingle and my eyes burn. Hawk’s wraps his wing around me again, not just for me this time, but also for the cat, to make sure the thing doesn’t get any colder than it already is.

Once we finally get to the clinic, we’re rushed in to the back, probably because Hawk’s is who he is, or maybe because of the severity of the cat’s wounds.

The vet takes the cat into his arms and seems to glance between me and Hawks before his eyes settle on me, they seem to widen for a moment before the vet smiles and starts explaining the procedure to me.

I nod along, it seems a lot more in depth than the procedures in Sumeru for sure, then again, Tighnari’s medicines are usually very strong, and they don’t typically leave room for any super intense surgery.

He smiles again at me once he finishes and asks if there’s any questions. I go to shake my head but Hawk’s cuts me off, pulling the eyes of the vet. “Is there a way to find out what made the cuts.”

The vet gives Hawks the fakest smile I’ve ever seen. “Of course sir, I have an assistant who’s quirk works with those kinds of things.” The vet turns back to me, “It allows her to see the cause of an injury, which should lead her to who did it.”

I see the vet glance towards Hawks and a smirk rises on his face before he turns back to me. “If you guys want to wait here, we’ll be back with the cat and he’ll be good as new, okay?” He puts his hand on my shoulder and I have to fight to not shove it off. I don’t like when people I don’t know touch me. Who gave him the right?

I nod tersely and Hawks wraps his arm around my shoulder, which pushes the vets hand off. I feel Hawks hand pull me closer to him. “Thank you.” I hear Hawks say, his voice was short. The vet made eye contact with him again before he moves away, cradling the cat in his arms again as he leaves the room and moves to a different one.

“Why was that guy so strange?”

I hear a cut off laugh from Hawks and he sighs, “I don’t know Strings. Maybe he just doesn’t like heroes.”

I hum, “Uh, you can let go now, thanks for moving his hand.”

Hawks smirks, pulling me closer to him again. “I don’t wanna.Comfortable.”
I sigh, “You’re being weird too.”

I miss the smirk he throws my way as we sit and wait in the room for what feels like hours until the vet walks back in. His assistant with him.

“So, it seems like it was a group of kids, seemingly in primary school, that inflicted the injuries. They used their quirks and one happened to give the user claws.

I feel my eyes heat up again and I want to punch something. It reminds me somewhat of what I was like when I was a fatui, though, the anger isn’t quite as harsh as then.

I feel the hand on my shoulder squeeze and I take the now sewn up animal into my arms.

I overhear Hawks and the vets talking nearby but focus on the cat in my arms. He’s got a black coat with light brown splotches all over, he’s small too, very small. Like he’s only a few months old. But, maybe he’s this way because he was so hurt.

I look up and zone back into the conversation. The vet smiles at me, “If you want, you could give me your number and we could schedule a follow up.”

Hawks, who had stood from his chair since last time I saw him, cuts in. “We’ll do that with the receptionist, thanks.”

The doctor’s eyes narrow at him for a moment before he turns towards me again, “If we do it that way, I would have to put down that the cat is a stray, and they may take it away and back to it’s owners if that’s the case.”

I crease my brows for a moment, not wanting that to happen since they obviously didn’t care enough the first time.

“If there was a chip or anything in the cat, and the owners cared, they would be here right now.” Hawks interjects again, “We’ll schedule with reception.”

We make our way out of the back room, scheduling a follow up with the receptionist and leaving the clinic. “That was strange…you were strange too.”

He glances at me, “I just don’t like that vet.”

I hum, “It felt like he was talking to me like I was a kid.”

I hear Hawk’s laugh and crease my brows, turning to him. “What?”

He smiles at me, “Strings he was hitting on you, he was trying to get your number.”

I stare at him in disbelief for a second, “I feel like asking for my number in that position is a little wrong.”

Hawks smiles, “It was wrong, which is why I was so adamant about you not doing it.”

I hum, mumbling, “You were acting strange the whole time though.”

He looks at me, wondering what I said, before I cut him off. “Well, here we are.” I gesture to my house, which we finally made it too after literal hours.

Hawks nods, a bit of sadness on his face. “Well, I’ll see you later, thanks for coming to hang out.”

I nod, cradling the cat to my chest and getting my keys out of my pocket. Unlocking the door and turning towards Hawks, who is still standing there.

He smiles at me and I nod at him, he flaps his wings and soars off. I walk into my house and kick my shoes off, careful not to jostle the still sleeping cat.

Chapter Text

After a while of doing nothing, lazing around and reading up on the history of Japan again, as well as a few books I could find on Teyvat, in which most of the information was extremely misguided and wrong.

The cat, who I still hadn’t named, had woken up and sat in the corner, scared for a while. Now he’s curiously sniffing around the house, his claws making small scratching sounds on my floor that fill the otherwise quiet house.

Breaking the serenity, my phone rings, I see Kusanali’s name and press the green button, putting it on speaker so I can continue reading the book.

“Hello?”

“Hey Hat Guy. I think I need your help again.Or, actually… you may need mine.”

I crease my brows and put the page down, moving the book away and grabbing the phone, standing from my chair and starting to walk around the house aimlessly.

“What’s going on? Is everything in Sumeru still okay?”

“Yeah, well. I think so.” She stays quiet for a moment. “Wanderer, that Hawks guy, have you seen him around recently?”

My brows crease again, why is Hawks important in whatever’s going on? “Yeah, I was with him earlier, why?”

“Hat guy, what did you tell him?”

I stay quiet for a moment, starting to catch on, i curse quietly. “Everything…”

Kusanali hums, her I hear the sound of paper moving on the other side. “There have been reports of, and I quote, ‘strange, foreigners showing up and meeting with fatui agents’. One of the captains in Mondstat visited Sumeru recently and met with me to discuss the fatui, because his informants overheard something about a new operation taking place.”

I curse again, holding my nose. “If there’s an operation that big taking place there’s definitely at least one harbinger at the head of it. I wouldn’t doubt Dottore is still interested in it, considering the fatui activity around there as is.”

“I agree. Which is why I need to know exactly what you told him. Does he know about the Harbingers?”

“Fuck. No, he knows the agents and their types. I told him about me being a puppet, he doesn’t know about the archons or anything. I just, fuck, why was I being so reckless?”

Kusanali stays quiet for a moment, “You want my honest opinion?”

I stay quiet, keying her in to keep going.

“You underestimated them, Wanderer. Not necessarily their strength, but their determination. They want us out of the way, so they used you and your perception of them to get as much information as they can.”

I sigh, slamming my hand down on the table. “How deep do you think this goes? Is Nezu in on it?”

Kusanali immediately says, “No. I can assure you he is genuine in his hope to tear down the border. However, and I’m sure he’s aware of this as well, the Hero Commission wants the border to come down for a much different reason.”

“They want to take control of Teyvat.” I guess, Hawks had mentioned something about that, I didn’t expect it to be so soon, and the silence on the other line tells me I am correct.

“So Hawks was in on it, right?”

She stays quiet for a second, “It’s very likely.”

I sigh, “Should've figured.”
“You said you were hanging out with him earlier, was there another mission?”

I shake my head even though she can’t see me, “No, he wanted to go flying and then he took me to this restaurant or something.”

Kusanali makes a sound of acknowledgement. “Did he say anything to you that would be connected.”

“Yeah, he told me that I would have to trust him, because he’s on my side, but there might be times it seems like he isn’t.”

Kusanali hums, “It’s difficult to know for sure if he’s tricking you or if he’s telling you the truth. To be safe, proceed with caution for now. But I’m sure you know that.”

I nod to myself again, “Of course, does the captain in Mondstat have his informants following the fatui?”

“Yes, and the Matra have begun spying as well, so we can keep an eye out in both nations.”

“It may be worth it to get in contact with those in Liyue as well, I know they have a large fatui problem, and because of their lack of archon, they may be another prime target in the raid.”

“I agree, I have a message being delivered to the Tianquan, I’ve heard she’s a reasonable woman, so I’m hopeful.”

“Good. The fatui are conniving pests, but they’re smart. We need to be careful from here on out… I’ll keep an eye out for anything that looks like it could be the work of the fatui here. If they’re working together, there’s likely something to show for it.”

“Good, keep me updated. Stay safe, okay Wanderer?”

I take a deep breath. “...You too.”

The end call sound dings in the house and suddenly, the same serenity is back. Except it’s not serene now, it’s tense. Suffocating even. My anger had begun to rise again. My neck is itchy and my eyes are burning. Mad at myself for my ignorance. Mad at the commission for their lies. Mad at the fatui for being fatui…

Rubbing my eyes again, I feel something rub against my leg and look down to see the small animal. I lift it and put it in my lap, “Kiyoshi, your name will be…Kiyoshi.”

I pet down it’s back and it rubs it’s head against my hand. Staring down at it, I feel an emotion i can’t place wash over me, it reminds me of when I met Durin for the first time.

Whatever, I can’t get to attached to things on this side anyways. After all, betrayal seems to follow me no matter where I go or what I do. I suppose it was wishful thinking that I would be able to continue a life separate from my old one.

I guess I’ll always be Kunikuzushi.

Chapter Text

I didn’t get much sleep that night, not that I needed it, but it would have been nice to not have to think about my stupid mistake all night.

The cat had curled up on the couch, napping and I’m happy for a chance to just think for a while, without being reminded that I was hanging out with someone who had been a key player in the operation against teyvat.

I hold my face in my hands for a moment before stretching and standing from the chair, I make sure there’s food and water left out for the cat before pulling on my shoes and leaving the house.

It’s Saturday, so I have today and tomorrow to start looking into the commission and their plans with the fatui before I have to go away for the training camp.

I sigh, it’s not a long time, but it will have to do for now.

I trudge through the streets, trying to avoid places where heroes would be patrolling, not wanting anyone to catch on to the fact that I know while I’m looking into their plan. It could cause a lot of things to be hidden before I can get there and I can’t afford that this time.

It’s viable to ask Nezu what he knows, but I won’t be back at UA for a few days and there’s no reason to lay in wait when I’m perfectly capable of going out and searching myself.

One thing that I want to do is figure out more about the league. Because my first thought was that if I had to worry about anyone working with the fatui, it would have been them.

The league are apparently extremely elusive, but with a bit of digging, I imagine it won’t be too hard to figure out where they are.

And it starts with someone who I’ve encountered before.

Unfortunately, guests aren’t allowed for high profile criminals, luckily, I don’t give much of a shit.

When I make my way to Tartarus, it’s heavily guarded, but so were a lot of places I infiltrated in the fatui.

Putting a mask on my face and pulling my hood up, I scan the area before floating into the air, speeding towards one of the guard towers and avoiding the eyes of the other guards.

The officer in the tower starts yelling but is quickly silenced and layed on the floor.

I take his badge and sit him in the corner, pulling his radio with me, that way when he wakes up, he won’t be able to immediately call for help, he’ll have to find someone.

I stand from my spot and look at the ground area, no easy access point, unfortunately, but once again, that was expected.

I sigh and float into the air again, avoiding the large spotlights and making my way closer to the building, trying to stay low, as I don’t know if they have safety measures in place for people with flying quirks.

I spot a car passing over the bridge, passing inspection and driving to the dark building.

I speed forward, using the large bridge as cover, when the car is close enough to me, I float back towards the topside of the bridge and attach myself to the bottom, it’s hot as shit but it’s what I got.

The car stops again and I hang my head back to see the shoes of the guards making their way to the driver side window, one of them opens the back of the truck as well to look at the contents. Seemingly happy with it, the guard closes the door and bangs on the metal, signalling the truck to go.

Once the truck stops in what I assume is the storage area, or whatever the equivalent of that is for prisons, I watch the driver move towards the back of the truck and start unloading the contents.

Handcuffs, which I assume are the special quick suppressing cuffs that are very present on this side of the border. Chains, which, okay I guess. Weird if you have the cuffs already but maybe they’re paranoid.

It’s when the next item comes out that my heart stops, I recognize the bracer gun from the pyro fatui agents, and the cryo weapons following behind them.

Meaning the plan is further along than I expected. They must have been talking before I even got here, which means they knew about the fatui before Hawks went to Teyvat.

That probably means he was being tested, whether or not they could still trust him. It makes me wonder whether or not he actually said something to them at all. Honestly, he likely did, but I wonder if he told them everything, or just half-truths.

No time to think about that though, as the driver gets back into the truck and starts reversing, right before he exits the room, I drop from the bottom of the car, moving behind a large group of boxes, I look into the crate with the weapons, lo and behold, the fatui insignia is found on the butt of the weapons.

I curse and take my phone out, snapping photos of the two crates and deciding it’s worth it to look around. This must be one of the spots they meet, likely wanting it to be a secure location, I suppose this is the most secure they could get.

I pause for a moment, it makes me wonder, those clothes that were on the ship when I first came to Japan, they said the clothes were there because of heroes and their missions, but it makes me wonder if they were disguising fatui agents to avoid suspicion.

I wonder if there’s agents just wandering around Japan.

I sigh and take photos of other crates with fatui insignias, I pause and pull in a harsh breath when I find them. Delusions.

There’s some for all of the elements, the familiar feeling of being near them washes over me and I have to cover the crate back up and back away quickly, not before taking a photo of course.

I shove my phone back in my pocket and look at the badge, he probably doesn’t have very high clearance, but hopefully it’s enough to get around the prison.

I duck behind a crate when a group of guards walk in, all of them walking to a crate and inspecting them, sneaking behind them, I pull the one closest to the back into a chokehold, pulling him behind a crate and taking his badge as well.

I check to make sure the door is shut before pulling the rest into a vortex, knocking all of them out simultaneously before they have the chance to say anything.

Hopefully one of these badges has high clearance on it, I walk towards the door to the hall and peer around before moving.

After a while, I make my way to the holding cells, apparently the prisoners here are awaiting the death sentence. I’m just hoping they don’t make a racket when I walk through.

Thankfully, I didn’t have anything to worry about as the cells were all closed off, one-sided windows, which I recognize from the true crime shows I had watched, cover all of them.

I notice a few guards who seem to be doing anything but guarding, one on his phone, one sleeping, another taking a bite of a sandwich. I sigh in disappointment, making my way towards the sleeping one and making sure he’s “sleeping” for just a little while longer.

Next is the one who’s eating, I cover his mouth and knock him out, quickly speeding towards the one on their phone, who had just reached for his radio when I knocked him out with a solid blow to the side of his head.

I sigh and straighted out my jacket before making my way down the hall, scanning the rooms as I pass until I find him.

I take the badge of one of the guards on the floor and scan the pad next to the door, it unlocks and I walk in, Stain looking up at me and moving to his feet when he realizes I’m not a guard.

“Stain.”

Chapter Text

He scowls at me, apparently not wanting to call the guards though, probably knows that there’s nobody there to help him.

“I don’t have enough time to explain to you what’s happening, so I just need you to tell me what contact you’ve had with the League of Villains.”

He glares at me, “Why should I do that?”

“Because I beat you, and only true heroes can beat you, right? That is what you’ve said isn’t it? Are you changing your ideals now, Stain?”

He scowls, “You are no hero.”

“No, no I’m not. But I’ll pretend as much as I need to.”

He glares at me a moment longer before apparently deciding that it’s not worth the trouble to protect the league.

“They approached me with an offer to join them. I refused because that’s not how I do things.”

“Where did you meet?”

“A bar, in the side of town with a bunch of abandoned condemned buildings.”

“What was their goal?”

“To get rid of All Might.”

“Ah, so that’s why you weren’t keen on joining them, isn’t it? All Might is your only ‘true hero’. Is that right?”

He doesn’t respond and instead just glares at me. The alarm starts blaring and I sigh, rubbing my nose.

“Unfortunately, this conversation was shorter than I was hoping. I’ve got more than I had before though.”

I turn to exit the room but stop short of the door. “You were helpful, shame that your ideals are misguided, you could’ve been a glimmer of hope in this otherwise hopeless nation.”

___________________

The guards are hopeless, they seem to look everywhere but the places I’m in. You would think they’d put fail-safes in for when badges got stolen but I suppose they didn’t think anyone would get that far.

I watch the guards storm the various rooms in the prison, I sneak behind them and through the doors that slam slam shut behind me. Idiots.

I basically just walk out of the prison, all of the guards too busy looking to pay attention to someone who’s walking right next to them, likely assuming I’m just another guard or some kind of personnel.

I pause in the storage room, looking over at the crates again and sighing before making my way towards one of the weapon crates. Now, visions, or delusions in this case, are nearly impossible to destroy, easier than regular visions, which are actually impossible to destroy, but not worth trying to damage in the long run.

The fatui weapons, however, have a basic build and model, and, if you know it, they’re very easy to take apart. And with a combination of the things in the crate, it may be possible to cause a reaction and trigger some kind of explosion. Which would put a wrench in whatever plan they have here.

I grab one of the pyro weapons, cutting a sliver in the side with anemo and using the wind to detach a wire inside, pulling it out of the sliver, I connect it to another one of the weapons.

I do this with a few of the guns before shrugging and turning around, walking back towards the door. Now, once someone goes to grab that weapon, the wire will spark against the others, causing an electrical fire that, if I put it together correctly, should cause some kind of explosion. It might not be big, but it will destroy the weapons in that crate and the nearby crates.

I manage to slink out of the door and crouch, looking around, it really seems like nobody stayed outside, which makes me wonder how confident they are with their ability to keep me inside.

I have to duck behind a few pillars and crouch down a few times but nothing like I would have expected it to be like. Most secure prison my ass.

When I make my way back over the bridge, flying below it to be safe, I crouch in the bushes for a moment and watch the prison. The lights blaring now, I assume that’s because of the alarm blaring, but honestly maybe they’re just having a party, with their lack of awareness, I wouldn’t be all too surprised.

I creep far enough away that I can only see the lights on the horizon, the prison out of view, and start speeding back to the main city, it’s a fairly long flight but nothing too spectacular. I manage to get to a small alleyway and go to send Nahida the pictures I took but pause. The commission gave me this phone… Who’s to say they aren’t monitoring it?

I curse and look around, seeing a nearby electronics store, I meander in there and move to print the photos off of my phone, they come out very clear, thankfully, and I pull my wallet out, picking a random phone and buying it.

I have to set up an account and a plan and everything, but it’s honestly worth it. I get a strange stare at the name Wanderer but they move on and finish the job within two hours.

I open the phone and input the few numbers I had in my old one, deciding to keep Ms.Kizu and Hawk’s number as well, I shove the pictures in my wallet and make my way back to my house.

Closing the door, I sit at the table and splay the pictures out, taking photos of them on the new phone and sending them to Nahida with a small “This is Wanderer” attached to it.

I tell her that I’m going to look for more information and clutch the old phone in my hand before deciding to just leave it on the table. If they try to track it, they’ll find it at my house.

I sigh and look at the cat, still sleeping, thankfully.

Walking back out of the house, I start making my way towards the area Stain described. In a bar, he said.

_______

By the time I get there, I knock on the door and am greeted with a very large gun in my face.

I raise my brow at the person holding it and I hear someone yell from inside to just bring me in.

The person goes to pull me in but I deflect their hand and shove past them into the bar.

Glancing around, I see a strange array of people. There’s a lizard, a raisin, a high school girl, a personified ChapStick ad, etcetera etcetera.

I get interrogated for a second but I stay quiet, and when the one in desperate need of ChapStick gets up and disintegrates the cup he was holding, going to grab my neck, I block his blow as well and take a seat at the bar.

“Let’s skip the pleasantries. I was sent to get rid of you. What’s you do next is going to be the deciding factor to whether that happens or not.”

The man with shaggy blue hair starts some tirade about how he doesn’t have to listen to a spoiled highschooler and he’s stopped by mist man, who stands perpetually cleaning the same glass.

The boy gets angry for a while but eventually sits down and looks at me.

I pull off my hood, letting it hang back, I see a flash of recognition in his eyes. “You were on the list of students in 1-A”

“That I was, but that’s not why I’m here today. Tell me Shigaraki, what do you know about Teyvat?”

Chapter Text

Turns out, he didn’t know much. But, he did know about the fatui. Apparently, the League were the fatui’s first focus when looking for someone on this side of the border to ‘work with’. Though I doubt they’re going to carry out their end of the bargain.

The League were in talks with the fatui when they suddenly went dark recently, which makes me think that the Fatui was planning on double crossing both the hero commission and the league, but ended up thinking the league was unnecessary in their plan.

The hero commission must have what they need. Which is probably access to everything in Japan and favor in the public eye. If the commission tells the public that the Fatui are good, they’ll believe them.

That makes my job harder, but when is it not.

“Intriguing, well, I suppose that’s all.” I start to stand from my seat and get stopped by the lizard man and some dude with a black and white mask on standing in front of me.

“Hold on.”

I raise my brow at the two before turning back to Shigaraki, who had spoken in the first place.

“Information for information.”

I hum, tilting my head this way and that before taking the seat again, figuring it’s not worth the hassle of fighting them, they could come in handy later, after all.

“Depends on what you’re looking for.”

He nods and turns towards me, apparently more tuned in to this conversation than the last one.

“Firstly, you said you were sent to take us out, I’m guessing that’s not your main goal right now.”

I nod, letting him continue.

“Am I also right to assume you’re from Teyvat?”

I nod, he smiles like a weirdo.

“The fatui, then, are your target.”

“More or less.”

“The hero commission are part of that now.”

“Very likely.”

“What if we team up?”

Smirking, “I’m listening.”

“You want to take out the commission, we want to take down the commission, it seems like our goals align very well right now.”

“Yes, but our means of getting there are going to be very different.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t work together, we can just share information, I’m not proposing we go out of the way to save the other if they get in trouble. Just… sharing weaknesses and different critical points.”

I hum. “There will obviously be a limit, I won’t share information that has the potential to harm my side of the border, should you decide to expand your reach.”

He laughs, a raspy, airy thing, “Of course not, we are only concerned with information on the hero commission. In return, we will tell you what we know about the commission.”

Thinking for a moment, I can’t help but feel it’s worth it. Of course, this may affect the outcome of my mission to make people from Teyvat look good in the eyes of people on this side of the border, that’s no longer my main mission. I need to make sure Teyvat is safe before I think about Japan.

“Very well. I’ll go first.” I toss the polaroids I had onto the bar counter, Shigaraki immediately grabs one and the rest seem to circle around them.

“These are weapons, the outcome of the commission working with the fatui. They shoot different elements. Fire, water, ice. At first, I didn’t have a clue what people with quirks could need with these weapons, then I figured, they could be trying to arm those who’s quirks are suppressed.”

The raisin looks at me, “You think they’re arming prisoners?”

I nod, “These photos are from Tartarus.”

I see a few glances in my direction, probably wanting to know how I managed to get into Tartarus and back out but they seem to decide that’s not important. Good, already more brains than 60% of the people I’ve met here so far.

Shigaraki clears his throat, looking at me. “Okay. The commission has complete control over the barrier, which I’m sure you know. And ways to get in and out of it. But the barrier isn’t special, or made of anything specific. It’s a quirk that was artificially made, not attached to anyone.”

He tosses a document on the bar, “I got this recently. I was looking for information on the fatui as well, because they went dark, and ended up infiltrating one of their many, many bases. This happened to be inside one of the more guarded ones.”

Picking up the file, it affirms everything he’s saying. I read further and have to pause when it mentions “rivers of magic”. It must be referring to ley lines, that’s all I can figure. Which means, there might be more information about it in Irminsul.

I read on for a bit longer before putting the file down. “Well, I suppose this is the beginning of a beneficial partnership.”

Shigaraki grins at me, “I couldn’t agree more.”

____________

Once I get back home, I shut the door and pull out the copy of the file I got, we decided to just make copies of both the file and photos, which meant I got to take another visit to the electronics shop.

I pull a few books out of the bookshelf and place the file and photos behind them. I’ll find a better spot later, but that’s the best I got for now.

I walk back over to my phone to find multiple missed messages.

Hawks:
Hey Strings, wanna go flying? 3:24

Strings? Didn’t see the last message huh?
Sucks to be you, missed your chance, I went
flying already 😛 4:57

How is the cat? 5:24

I sigh, looking at the time, 7:42. I hover over the keys, before typing out a short message.

Was out, left my phone home.
The cat is fine. I got it food and water.
Named it Kiyoshi.

I sit and stare at the phone for a few moments before clicking it off and sitting on the couch next to Kiyoshi, who immediately crawls onto my lap and curls up, falling asleep.

I take the second phone out and start messaging Kusanali all of the information I managed to get, going into detail about the League and their failed attempt at a partnership with the fatui.

I’m not sure what time it is in Sumeru right now, so I figure she’ll answer me whenever she’s not busy and click the phone off again. I lean my head back and stare up at the ceiling.

Thinking over the information I’ve gathered so far, my mind lands on a small, rat like creature who may know more about what’s happening than he previously let on.

Chapter Text

Since it’s still the weekend, it’s hard to determine whether Nezu will still be at the school or not, thankfully, texting is easy, and Nezu seems to respond extremely quickly.

It was a simple request for a talk, which Nezu said was no problem, either not busy or considers this more important. He’s still at the school, thankfully, so the trip there didn’t take much time.

The hallways feel strange when they’re empty like this. And it makes the walk to Nezu’s office all the more tense.

I get there and the door is already open, Nezu is sitting at his desk, typing on his computer before looking at me.

“Wanderer! Please take a seat.”

I sit in the chair on the right, staring at him for a moment. He rearranges papers on his desk before turning to look at me.

“Now, what did you want to talk about?”

I stay quiet for a moment before bluntly asking, “Did you know about the hero commission trying to invade Teyvat.”

He stays quiet for a moment, folding his hands…..paws, over each other. “I was aware, yes.”

I feel my eyes burn again, but manage to calm myself down, “Did you not think it was important to tell me or Lord Kusanali? Or are you working with them?”

He shakes his head, “I was trying to be rid of the problem before it became any more of an issue, but, considering recent developments, which I’m sure are the reason you’re here today, I suppose the situation has quickly spiraled out of control.”

I scoff, “You thought you could handle it yourself huh? Even if you could, hypothetically, handle it yourself, that’s no reason to hide a security threat to Sumeru from me. Not to mention Lord Kusanali.”

Nezu nods, “I know, it was a lapse in judgment on my part.”

I sigh, rubbing my nose between my index finger and thumb before dropping my hand back to cross my arms over my chest.

“What do you know?”

Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to know much else than I already knew, except for the fact that there are supposed villains in Tartarus that aren’t actually all that villainous, and just crossed the commission in the wrong way. Which makes you wonder what they’re threatening for them to be potentially arming those same people that they screwed over.

Soon after that, I get up to leave, stopping and thinking for a moment before continuing out. Once I make it back to the house, I take the other phone and leave a short message to Kusanali.

Make sure to keep records of all of the
meetings . I have a feeling the commission
might try to turn this on us if they get caught.

I check the wired phone again and see a message from Mina, inviting me to go to the mall with her and the rest of the class. It seems like the time for that already passed though, and apparently there was a bit of a scare from the league of Villains and Midoriya.

I crease my brows. There’s a good chance the league attacks the quirk training camp, I wonder how our deal will affect that. If it’s anything like Sumeru, it won’t affect it at all, but this isnt Sumeru, and I’ve underestimated people here before and it’s caused me a lot of strife.

I send back a short apology for not answering before taking out a notebook, starting to write everything I know about the commission and their Sumeru invasion.

Kiyoshi rubs against my hand and blinks at the page, suddenly, a picture, extremely detailed forms on the empty page. I gawk at the photo for a moment before turning to the cat, who seems to be staring directly at me.

I huff and look at the picture, shaking my head. I’ll deal with that at a later time.

The picture is dark, likely in the alleyway we found him in, I turn the page back and forth, before turning to the cat. “What am I supposed to be looking at?”

I cat stretches and paws at the page, I flip it over, showing two blank pages which are quickly covered in new photos, one of which is brighter than the last, it looks to be one of the ships they take over to Sumeru through the barrier, the next is of Sumeru, it looks like the boat docked in a strange place though, as there’s nothing but dessert around, must be in the Great Red Sand, which means they were organizing meetings before me and Hawks went over there.

If thats the case, there must’ve been some forewarning on the commissions part, unless they consider themselves the more important party of the two, in which case, they may have sent Hawks for information and told the Fatui afterwards about what was happening.

Either way, if Hawks is in on it, then he knew who the Fatui were and he managed to play me, or maybe he’s just as clueless as everyone else, and he’s just a pawn.

No matter, it’s not important who’s side Hawks is on right now. I look at the next picture and the cat is already on the way back over to Japan. A pretty useless picture by itself, but then again, it was probably difficult for the cat to move around without getting caught.

I flip the page and the next picture is the cat crouched in what looks like a bush, watching a large swath of people enter the hero commission through different doors, likely to avoid suspicion from the public, not that the public would ever suspect them in the first place, of course.

The cat seems to return to the alleyway afterwards, as the next picture is of the same, dark place, but there’s shoes in the picture, and I assume that’s the person who ended up hurting the cat. They were children’s shoes, so I suppose the educated guess earlier on was correct.

I look at Kiyoshi, “Why did you follow them in the first place? Doesn’t seem like a spur of the moment thing.”

The cat meows, pawing the page, I flip it and an image of a human takes form, then an image of a hospital room, Ms. Kizu standing off to the left, though she looked a bit younger than she was, she had a clipboard in her hand and there was someone who looked like a doctor standing to the left.

The next images include a syringe filled with some bright blue liquid and then darkness.

I turn towards Kiyoshi. The cat meows. I turn the page back to the human, pointing at it and then Kiyoshi. The cat makes another noise and rubs his head on my hand.

“That’s you.”

The cat makes some semblance of a nod and I huff and lean back, staring at him.

“Is there a way to switch you back?”

The cat blinks, not knowing how to respond.

I turn the page, writing yes, no and i dont know.

Kiyoshi’s paw immediately finds the “I dont know.” and I nod.

“You’re from Japan right? Are there records of you?”

The cat paws at no.

“Theres no records?”

The cat paws at yes and no.

I crease my brows. “There are records?”

The cat paws yes.

“Then why’d you say no?”

The cat blinks.

I think for a moment, my eyes widening minutely. “You’re from Japan, right?” I repeat the question to avoid more confusion.

The cat’s paw lands on no.

“Are you from this side of the barrier?”

The cats paw doesn’t move. I bite my lip and reach my hand to my face, thinking.

“Has the commission been going to Teyvat for a long time?”

Yes.

“Were you taken forcibly?”

Kiyoshi hesitates, I dont know.

My brows crease again. Things just got a lot more complicated.

Chapter Text

Once the first day of training starts, there’s really nobody around the house, which means I can both train, and try and piece things together, without worrying about anyone catching on.

I check my phone and, thankfully, Kusanali had finally gotten back to me, saying that she was trying to organize relations with the other nations. We already have the Mondstadt captain and the Tianquan, now there’s also the General of the Tenryou commission in Inazuma and there’s talks with the Iudex in Fontaine. I imagine Natlan is still recovering from their recent fight with the abyss, so there’s likely piles of requests in their offices, it might take a while to get to ours.

She confirms the information on her side, she checked around, Eremites and Matra and scholars who happened to see something. The stories obviously didn’t align at some points, but they all said they saw a boat dock in the Great Red Sands at some point, the Matra and Eremites having gone back to keep an eye on it, and the boat docked there multiple times later on.

So there’s a meeting place established, at least. And then, of course, the people meeting are the Fatui and the commission. The commissions goal is to invade Teyvat. But, honestly, that doesn’t sound like something the Fatui would facilitate. They may be pricks, but their involvement in this may give them more trouble than it’s worth. So we need to establish what the fatui’s end goal is in all of this.

We know the commission is arming prisoners, or, at least, we can make an extremely educated guess. We also know that the commission has been experimenting on people from Teyvat for a while, but we arent sure exactly how long. Or why.

There’s a lot of why questions right now, which is probably the hardest to figure out without exposing that I know to someone.

I sigh and lean back against the wall, rubbing my nose. Why did this have to get so much more complicated than just watching a bunch of highschool kids and making sure they don’t get hurt. Now there’s a whole web of shit that I have to deal with while also being careful to not expose my being from Teyvat to the general public.

Considering what I know about the commission so far, they wouldn't hesitate to make me out to be the bad guy in all of this.

I open my notebook, deciding not to stress over it anymore right now. I’m not going to magically think of more information just by sitting here, so I might as well train.
______________
The tornadoes are getting easier and easier, I don’t want to risk making them too big right now, I’m not sure how far from camp the training is taking place after all.

After a while, I’m able to sustain the tornadoes at the same time as using my anemo to write. It kind of hurts my head but it becomes more and more bearable as time goes on.

Once the first students start making their way back, I shut the book and dispel the tornadoes, quickly walking back into the building and packing the notebook away in my bag.

During dinner, Mina tries to strike up conversation about my training, but I try my best to turn the conversation back to her, not wanting to reveal too much. Still a bit cautious.

She seems to notice but doesn’t speak on the subject anymore, which I’m grateful for. Midoriya’s stuck in a conversation with Ururaka, IIda and Tsuyu right now. Which makes me realize just how little I have talked to him recently. It’s fine, of course, all things considered, he needs to make friends that are going to stick around and not with someone who’s going to be halfway across the world and behind a barrier sooner than later.

____________

The rest of the camp goes off without a hitch. Well. Almost. Right near the end, so close to a successful camp, blue fire engulfs the forest.

There’s immediately yelling, some about how there’s students in the woods, I hear something about the little kid, and then, of course, people identifying the group as the league of villains.

I see Midoriya run off to look for Kota, I weigh the option of going after him but decide against it, just running into the woods instead.

I come across someone producing a smoke, which was easy enough to contain in anemo and take down the villain. I hear yelling again and rush to the sound, of course, never a dull moment.
___________

Watching the masked man, Compress, I think I heard, turn people into literal marbles was a bit concerning. Where does he fit the person? Are they shrunk or are they crushed? Apparently, he had Bakugo, who just so happened to be the one they were after in the first place.

Midoriya showed up again, all kinds of fucked up, but hopefully that means he was able to protect Kota in the end. He runs towards the portal, Bakugo getting pulled back slowly into it, almost like the league is trying to add insult to injury.

They probably are, assholes.

I sigh and speed towards the portal from my place on the side. Far enough out of sight that only people with very good peripheral vision may be able to see me.

My foot connects with the arm holding Bakugo by the neck, shoving it away. I grab Bakugo by the arm, pulling him up and away with me while the rest of the villain stare at me with ire in their eyes.

Shigaraki sees me and he pauses for a moment, likely trying to weigh his options. Potentially get a new member, or potentially ruin his deal with me.

He seems to order the other villains, ones who I hadn’t met before, back into the portal. They try to argue with him but he levels them with a glare that could rival Cyno’s and they quickly make their way into the portal.

He glances at me one more time and I nod minutely at him as he turns into the portal and it blinks closed behind him. It’s only then that Bakugo starts trying to fight his way out of my grip. I guess it would be a little uncomfortable, I am dangling him by his arm.

Chapter Text

The cops arrive, taking custody of all of the unconscious villain and the statements of the students. Most of them focus on Bakugo because of the apparent goal the league had to kidnap him.

Once the police finish with the statements, both class 1-B and 1-A climb their way onto buses, the teachers doing a headcount while we’re in line. Aizawa grabs my attention and pulls me to a small circle with him and Vlad King.

I raise my brow at them, Vlad King was briefed on me too, considering he’s the teacher of the other hero course, and, while 1-A was the leagues main target, 1-B may fall under fire too. Like what happened tonight.

“What’s going on?” I ask when they just stare at me.

They look at each other for a second before Aizawa breaks the stare and turns towards me. “Do you want to explain what happened back there?”

I raise my brow, silently telling him to elaborate.

Vlad crosses his arms over his chest, “Why did Shigaraki call for a retreat when he saw you? Is your cover blown?”

I sigh, I should’ve figured how suspicious that would look. Not that I really had a choice over it, Shigaraki made the decision to retreat.

I take the time to think my answer over, I don’t want to put myself and Sumeru in potential danger by trusting the wrong people. But, so far of all the people on this side of the barrier, Aizawa has been one of the heroes that I trust the most. Well, maybe respect is a better word.

I was in that same kind of place with Nezu before, but I don’t know if I can still do that. Vlad King is a wild card, I haven’t talked with the man that much and I’m not sure where he stands with the commission.

“Wanderer?”

I glance up at Aizawa, who is raising his brow at me.

“You have Nezu’s number right?” Aizawa creases his brows and nods. “Tell him that we need to talk again, say it’s from me.” I glance at Vlad King. “Tell him both of you will be there.”

I turn away from them and make my way onto the bus, opening my bag and holding it down, Kiyoshi jumping in from his spot under the bus and curling into the bottom.

I take a seat in the same leather chair I was in before, taking out the untapped phone and opening my conversation with Kusanali.

Is Nezu trustworthy?

Typing….

Typing…

I think so. He doesn’t seem to like the
commission much more than we do.
Apparently, he’s been feuding with them
for years.

I heard about your meeting with him.
Good call. He would probably be one of
the safest sources of information.
It’s a good idea to set up a network on that
side of the barrier as well.

The hero course teachers
are suspicious. The league
attacked the training camp, and
retreated when they saw me.

I imagine the League wants to
maintain their deal with you.
That’s good. You just have to hope
they don’t find anything more important.

I imagine the teachers want to know why?

Yes. I told them to arrange
a meeting with Nezu.

Good. I think you should trust them.
Aizawa is trustworthy.
I’m not sure about the other one.
Your call.

I curse quietly and put the phone down, staring out the window. Usually I wouldnt have any problem making a call like this, but I made a mistake already when I underestimated the commission.

Thinking over everything that I know, it’s more likely that he’s influenced by Nezu rather than by the commission. He isn’t ranked high, and it seems those above a certain rank are the focus of the commissions ideals.

Aizawa is very tolerable as compared to a lot of the people on this side. As are most of the other teachers like Midnight and Present Mic. While I haven’t talked to them much, they seem to have more empathy than other heroes like Spritz.

While All Might isn’t, there’s also the chance that the commission pushed for All Might’s inclusion in the class curriculum, as opposed to Nezu, who doesn’t honestly seem to care for the Number 1 hero that much.

With that in mind, there’s a bigger chance that Vlad King is trustworthy than not trustworthy, but do I want to take that risk?

_________

Mina doesnt seem to be in a talking mood. Nobody really is. Apparently the situation was traumatizing enough to quiet the usually very loud class.

I half expected Mina to be the one sitting next to me, not having paid much attention when I was texting with Kusanali, but, turning to my left, I realize I don’t see pink hair, but blonde. Which means Bakugo is sitting next to me.

I raise my brow but he doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to me. Honestly, I guess he would be one of the most shaken, he did almost get kidnapped.

I breathe through my nose and look out of the window, watching the trees race past. I feel the tapped phone vibrate and press the notification, it was just Aizawa saying Nezu agreed to meet when we got back, which means I get to go straight back to his office… hooray.

I send back an okay and shut the phone off, I don’t feel like dealing with texting anymore today.

I close my eyes and lean my head against the window, falling into a sleep that feels incredibly short.

________

When we get back to the school, parents are lined up to take their kids home, some of them teary and others stoic. I guess some just figured this comes with the class. But I highly doubt this has happened before.

I move over to the side and watch the rest of the kids move to their parents, turning towards the school, I walk towards Nezu’s office. Figuring it may be a good idea to get there before the other two to make sure they’re trustworthy.

I walk into the open room again and Nezu smiles at me. “Wanderer, please take a seat. It’s unfortunate that we have to meet again so soon. But I guess time doesn’t wait for anyone.”

I smile tightly at him, crossing my arms over my chest and sitting in the far seat. “I guess not… Now, before this meeting starts, I need to know that both of these teachers are trust worthy.”

Nezu’s eyes widen a bit, “It’s interesting that you would ask me that, considering I thought I had lost most of your trust during our last meeting.”

Narrowing my eyes at him, I respond, “I don’t really have a choice in this matter. Sometimes risks need to be taken, I highly advise you not to screw it up.”

“Duly noted. But yes, I think these teachers can be trusted with whatever information you are looking to divulge. If I’m being honest, I think it may be wise to bring them up to speed on the whole situation.”

I crease my brows, “Why do you say that?”

“Because the commission’s corruption may end up causing harm to their students, and trust me, they care more for their students than for the commission.”

Chapter Text

When Aizawa and Vlad King arrive, they shut and lock the door to the office. They each take a seat, Aizawa sitting in the middle one and Vlad in the one closest to the door.

Their eyes immediately find me and I have to take a breath. This is it, no taking back what is divulged here. So the question remains, what should remain a secret?

“As all of you know, I was brought here from Teyvat to act as a guard against the League of Villains for class 1-A. The hero commission and UA facilitated this, and made sure I was set up for a comfortable stay.”

Taking a brief pause for a moment, I try and figure out how to say the next bit without saying too much.

“At least, that’s what I was under the impression of when I first got here. Unfortunately that wasn’t true. The commission has been meeting up with a criminal organization on my side of the barrier, and have been participating in a weapons trade with them.”

I pause and look around, trying to read the expressions on their faces. Nezu still has that stupid ass smile on his face, Aizawa has a crease between his brows, and Vlad is running a hand down his face, his other arm still crossed over his chest.

“Due to research done on my part, I have reason to believe they are trying to arm prisoners with weapons made by the villain group in Teyvat.”

Vlad makes some kind of noise, Aizawa’s eyes get narrower. I pull out my phone, showing the photos I took of the weapons in Tartarus to the group. Both the teachers scan the photos and I see the reality of the situation dawn on them.

Nezu takes a look at the photos as well, “Wanderer, I suppose you found these in Tartarus?”

I nod at the question, there’s not much reason to hide that fact.

“You broke into Tartarus?” Vlad King asks.

“I had to get information from a certain vigilante held there.”

Nezu looks at me, “Stain.”

I nod once again.

“What information would Stain have for you?” Vlad asks again.

I hum, “He told me how to find the League of Villains.”

Both teachers look a bit taken aback by this information, though they’re surprisingly good at hiding it on their faces.

Nezu crosses his paws over each other. “And what did you do with that information?”

“I asked them what they knew about the deal the commission made with the criminal organization.”

Aizawa narrows his eyes, “I doubt they gave you anything without something in return.”

“Of course not, they want the hero commission to fall. I told them they were arming prisoners, they told me what they knew about the barrier.”

Nezu leans forward, “And what did they know about the barrier?”

I smirk at him, “Why is it important for you?”

He smiles, “Well, if I am to help take the barrier down, then I think it’s pertinent information.”

I tilt my head back and forth, “I think I’ll keep that to myself for now.”

Nezu concedes, likely not wanting to push his already strained trust.

“Anyway, we ended up agreeing that we should share information for information. Which I imagine may be the reason they didn’t push their attack at the camp. They didn’t want to jeopardize our deal.”

“You made a deal with the people you're supposed to be fighting against?” Vlad seems taken aback, if not a little angry.

“At this point in time, protecting my nation is my primary goal. I will continue to protect the students, as promised. I showed that at the camp. However, there is no line that I’m unwilling to cross to protect my nation.”

There’s silence for a moment before Nezu clears his throat. “I think that’s reasonable. Was there anything else we needed to discuss while here?”

“What do we do about the commission arming prisoners?” Aizawa asks.

“I’ve already sabotaged the weapons I found in the prison. When they go to move them they’ll short circuit and explode.”

There’s blinking and then Nezu interjects, “Okay, that’s a good start. But we need to think about how to sabotage their trade as well.”

“I can guarantee that the commission thinks they have power over the criminal organization on my side. I can also guarantee that that isn’t true at all. The criminal organization is likely looking for a chance to turn on the invaders, at least, that’s the best guess I have. They aren’t the type to want their nation to be invaded, so I imagine their goal may be to invade Japan in the end.”

Or maybe there’s a more reasonable harbinger behind it, and they’re trying to find out about the experiments the commission is doing on people from Teyvat, but that’s not something they need to know right now.

The meeting ends with a promise to meet up in a week again, this time, they’re going to see if they can find more information too. Apparently, the idea of the commission invading Teyvat is important to them too. Or maybe they want my focus to be back on the League again. Either or, hopefully with a few more hands on deck, there’s more information that pops up.

Walking home, I text Kusanali an update about the newly dubbed “Japanese Information Web.” She gets back to me immediately with a “Good job!” And starts going into detail about the information the, “Teyvat Information Web,” managed to find.

Apparently, that captain from Mondstadt is a very viable source of information. His spies having figured out that, from their perspective, a good portion of the harbingers don’t know about the deals. Of course, that causes me to wonder if the harbinger is high up enough that anyone who has figured out is taken care of, or if the harbinger is getting permission from the Tsaritsa, or maybe the harbinger has managed to go behind everyone else's' back to try and do stuff in Japan.

I think it’s important to figure out, for sure, what the fatui’s goal is here. Now more than ever. Because it may lead to an answer as to who the harbinger facilitating all of this is.

Chapter Text

Classes are cancelled for a few days, letting all of the students have time to spend with their families.

Also, apparently, to let teachers go to students houses and tell them about the newly implemented dorms, which I got to hear about from Aizawa, who walked straight into my house with no prompting and stopped short when he saw Kiyoshi.

Aizawa immediately crouched towards the cat and started petting at his head. I raise my brow at him, of course, he can’t see it because his attention is all on Kiyoshi, who is absolutely revelling in the attention.

Aizawa stands back up and clears his throat, turing towards me with the same stoic look he always has on his face. “UA is getting dorms, and the commission expects you to stay in them.”

I crease my brow. “Why?”

“They think it would be easier to keep an eye on you with a bunch of hero students in the mix, I guess they think they’ll tell on you if they get the chance.”

I hum, nodding. “It’s not a terrible idea on their part.”

Aizawa nods, “Nezu agreed to the terms already, he figured you’d agree.”

I shrug, “I guess there’s not much choice then.” Tilting my head, I put my hand on my chin, “I wonder if it will make it easier or harder to go out for info though.”

“Probably easier, the commission will be watching you less if they’re assuming you’re being watched by the students and us.”

I hum, nodding. “Hopefully, though, I’m not sure where else to get information from. I’m kind of exhausting my resources already, considering I already talked to Stain, the League, and Nezu himself. There’s not many more…places to turn…”

My words fade off for a moment, I turn to look at Kiyoshi, who just blinks at me and lets out a small meow.

I turn back to Aizawa, who now has a brow raised and his arms crossed over his chest. “There something you forgot to mention during our last meeting?”

I weigh my options, “Maybe, but I don’t find it important for you to know as of right now… Well, maybe…” I trail off again, my brows creasing. I wonder if letting them know that people are getting experimented on will speed the process of taking them down.

“Kiyoshi.” The cat stretches and meows, climbing onto the table in the living room, pawing at the book there.

I gesture for Aizawa to follow me, leading him over to the book, flipping the pages so he can see the same pictures I saw before, the one of Kiyoshi in the hospital like place, and then being an animal.

Aizawa creases his brows at the cat. “Did the commission experiment on you?”

The cat makes some kind of nodding motion, flicking it’s tail.

Aizawa leans back away from the book, his arms crossed over his chest, one of his hands pressed against his face as he thinks.
He looks towards me, “Have you told Nezu yet?”

I shake my head, “This was a rather recent development in the grand scheme of things. Not to mention there was a…wrench thrown into our trust. Let’s just say I wasn’t exactly jumping at the chance to tell him.”

He nods. Dropping his hand so that both of his arms are fully crossed. He stays quiet for a moment, his face blank.

“I think you should. He has… a certain hatred for experiments like this.”

I hum, deciding not to push the issue. Honestly, if Nezu has experience with stuff like this, it may work out in our favor. Especially if it happens to be part of the same operation as Kiyoshi’s

Hesitating for a moment, I get my phone out and take pictures of the pages in the book, messaging Nezu the pictures. I guess it couldn’t hurt, and I do want this process to be as fast as possible.

He almost immediately reads the message, and the text bubble pops up for a moment before disappearing again.

I sigh through my nose and drop my phone back down to my lap, looking back towards Aizawa. “Are the dorms the only thing you were here for?”

He nods, going to get up, looking at Kiyoshi one more time before making eye contact with me. “Will you let us know if there’s any…developments regarding the experiments?”

I tilt my head back and forth, “Probably, it depends on how it will affect other things…” Aizawa sighs and stares at me for a moment longer before taking his leave.

Once he leaves, I sit back on the couch, Kiyoshi pads over to me and lays against the side of my legs. I look down at him for a second and then look at the book in front of me.

I wonder why they’re experimenting on Teyvatians and not Japanese. And why animals? It doesn’t make much sense.

I pull my personal phone out and message Kusanali to see if she can ask any of our connections whether they’ve noticed people going missing around the times that the Commission has ships there.

Kusanali messages me back almost immediately.

The Mondstadt captain said his spies
have noticed a group of the commissions
men leaving each ship every time they
have a meeting. I was going to mention
it tomorrow when we chatted.

He thinks that there’s a chance the commission
is doing an operation separate from the one with the
Fatui. And he’s almost sure the other operation has
been going on for longer.

I text her for a bit longer, discussing the ramifications of that, before I click the phone off and run a hand down my face. It’s really not anything surprising.

After all, the world is just an elaborate tapestry of lies.

Chapter Text

When I walk into school, finally allowed back, I’m not surprised to see the large buildings nearby. Those must be the dorms then.

I walk into the classroom and find nobody there, as usual. I take a seat and lean back, looking at the ceiling.

The commission hasn’t made any big moves recently, and the weapons either havent been used yet, or the trap was seen before they moved them.

I lean my head back and forth. While it’s quiet, I may as well try and work out everything in my mind again.

It’s important to know why the Fatui decided to team up with the commission. The only thing they would really need them for is opening the barrier, but I feel like they would have just figured out a way to replicate their technology by now. Especially with the Doctor.

So that begs the question, what else are they using them for. The most obvious answer is that they want to take over Japan, but that doesn’t really align with the Fatui’s MO. In which case, the next likely option has something to do with the experiments being done on Teyvatians.

That being said, is the intention to save the Teyvatians, or continue the experiments on them?

If it’s the Doctor, he’d likely want to continue the experiments on the people, uncaring whether they’re from his side of the barrier or not. If it’s anyone else though, especially the Tsaritsa herself, I feel like they’d have a bit more of an anger for the experiments.

After all, the majority of the Fatui, excluding the Doctor, have some kind of moral compass. Whether it be the Knave and her children or the Captain and the people of Natlan, there’s some kind of compassion for someone. Maybe that’s why the doctor liked using me for experiments so much. No connections to anyone…no heart…

If I think back, a lot of the Fatui had ties to the nation of Khaenri'ah, who’s fate was decided by the war the people on the other side of the barrier refused to take part of. I wonder if there’s a resentment because of that.

Or maybe the resentment is more towards the rest of the nations because of their part in the downfall of khaenri'ah, in which case, they could be working to bring down Teyvat and the heavenly principles.

But that doesnt make sense because of their actions in the nations thus far. In Liyue, the gnosis was taken without much of a fight from the archon. Childe, of course, released the wife of osial, but that was more of a test for the people of Liyue.

The electro gnosis was taken relatively easily as well. The anemo gnosis too.

If you think about it, the gnoses are being given up without much fight at all, which begs the question of how loyal the archons are to Celestia, and of course, the Tsaritsa would know about this loyalty because of her own archon status.

So are the fatui trying to lure out the heavenly principles? No, because Dottore didn’t want them to wake up when dealing with Kusanali. So, logically, the best bet is that they want revenge on the people on this side of the barrier, right?

_________

While I’m thinking, the class fills, Mina was sitting in front of me and staring on, apparently letting me think before trying to talk to me.

I start talking with her, about nothing really, random topics to distract me from everything else. The dorms, the training camp, things like that.

When, all of a sudden, Nezu drops from the ceiling and Aizawa stops his lesson, turning towards the principal.

“Wanderer, you need to come see this.” He turns towards Aizawa, “You too Shouta, this is important.”

Aizawa nods, moving to pick the principal back up when Bakugou starts protesting. Nezu quickly cuts him off and tells him we don’t have time for this as we rush to his office, apparently Vlad King had been summoned as well because he was standing outside his rooms door and joined us when we were walking.

As we turn into the meeting room, I quickly recognize the faces of the League of Villains sitting near a window, Shigaraki in the center, Toga on his right, and Dabi on his left. The smoke guy, Kurogiri, I think, is standing slightly behind Shigaraki’s chair.

I stay quiet, pulling a chair over and sitting in front of the group, not saying anything yet. Vlad King pulls over the other two chairs in the room, sitting them on either side of me. He sits in one of the chairs himself, Aizawa puts Nezu down in the other and stays standing himself.

It’s funny, it’s almost as if we’re mirroring each other, I cross my arms over my chest.

“Is there a reason you decided to…pay a visit, to the most protected school in the country instead of waiting for our meeting date?”

Shigaraki gives one of his grins before holding his hand up and having a file placed in it by Kurogiri.

He stretches the file forward and lays it on the desk. “I thought this would be pretty important information for you.”

I narrow my eyes and lean forward, picking up the file and taking out it’s contents. The weapons had been detonated in Tartarus, the commission is considering it an attack by the Fatui. My eyes widen slightly, I wonder how the Fatui will take that.

I think the commission is greatly overestimating their power in this deal. The Fatui are 100% using them for some purpose, even if that purpose is yet to be confirmed.

I hand the file to Nezu and rub my chin, this is information for information, so what do I have that won’t jeapardize anything else. And is it better to give them something that will make them more angry or something that will make them more loyal?

“The commission has been experimenting on people. I don’t know their objective with the experiments but…” I take out my phone and hand it to Shigaraki, who goes through the images. “They’ve been doing it for a while, longer than they’ve had the deal with the criminal organization in Teyvat, at least.”

The villains look it over before handing the phone back to me, I pocket the device and cross my arms over my chest again. “But I imagine you guys don’t have much problem with the experimentation part, so consider it someone…stepping on your turf.”

Dabi’s eyes narrow at me, oh, they don’t know then. Must be someone above Shigaraki even giving orders. But, I mean, it’s hard to deny the strangeness of the Nomu that attacked Class 1-A at the USJ, so I did a little bit of digging.

Of course, the most obvious thing was the very exposed human brain on the Nomu. Then, of course, Kurogiri. It took a bit of thinking, but of course Kurogiri’s a Nomu. Except, he looks a little cooler, not as fish like. My thoughts is that he’s probably one of, if not the, first successful Nomu.

He was a bit harder to figure out, since he doesn’t have really any exposed parts of his body, but there is a body. He’s not just a large cloud of smoke. It makes sense, really. Especially if there is someone above Shigaraki calling all of the major shots. Kurogiri likely was put in place to protect Shigaraki as best as he could. Which is likely his prime objective, any of Shigaraki’s orders come second.

Which is why, when Shigaraki, at USJ, told Kurogiri that he needs to stop the kids from getting away, Kurogiri didn’t pursue Iida, and instead returned to Shigaraki’s side, to protect him from the heroes.

The room is tense now, the League are likely trying to decide whether they should ask about what I just said, or make it seem like they know what I’m talking about, to not make themselves seem incompetent.

They seem to decide on the former, which is surprising to say the least. I would have thought that Shigaraki was a bit more trusting of his superior, but maybe he sees it as a test of himself.

I relay them my information and the whole time you can see the thinking going on in their brains. When I mention Kurogiri, Toga and Dabi flick their eyes in his direction, apparently having a bit of sympathy for the…man, mist.

Shigaraki seems deep in thought, though he’s not letting his emotions show on his face, I imagine he’s frustrated, maybe with his master or maybe with the experiments, who knows.

I turn to Nezu, who had finished reading the file and passed it to Aizawa who passed it to Vlad. Basically, everyone had gotten to read the file.

“If that’s all-”

“Wait…. You said the commission is experimenting on people too, right? Do you think that other organization, the file called them the Fatui, do you think they’re in on it?” Dabi asks, either trying to give Shigaraki more time to think or maybe he’s just genuinely curious.

I tilt my head back and forth. “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s unlikely, because if they were working with the Fatui, the experiments wouldn’t have failed as much as they did.”

“They have a scientist on their side too?” Aizawa asks from behind me. To which I nod.

“Yeah… and if the Fatui are involved in the experiments, he’d be at the head. But… I think it’s more likely that the Fatui are trying to stop the experiments, as weird as that sounds. Other members of the Fatui, especially their leader, they aren’t as keen on human experiments as the scientist is… especially not experiments by the people on this side of the barrier on the people of Teyvat.”

“Do you know what they’re motive is?” Vlad King asks.
I bite my lip and think again for a moment, “Honestly, they might be trying to get revenge on the comission for their lack of action during the war 500 years ago.”

The league looks confused, as do most of the teachers, aside from Nezu of course. “I thought that the people in Teyvat didn’t want our help.” Vlad says.

I look up at him in surprise, “Both sides in the war requested your help. Then you sealed us off.”

Toga interjects, “Sorry, I’m a bit lost, what war?”

I look up at her in surprise too, then turn to Nezu, who sighs. “A lot of the coverage on the war was corrupted or deleted off the internet. So many people don’t know about it, and those that do were given wildly biased retellings of the story.”

“I managed to unencrypt a lot of files which led me to find the truth, but I feared releasing it may have caused more harm than good at the time.”

I sit back in my chair, sighing, tilting my head back and forth, “Long story short, the war was between one nation and all of the others. In the end, the one nation lost, and a lot of the Fatui have origins or ties to that nation. So the lack of help from this side of the barrier may have infuriated them, and led them to want revenge.”

“Why now though? I mean, if the war happened so long ago, why look for revenge now and not earlier?” Vlad King asks.

“Because they had other things to focus on, such as the people in Teyvat who caused the destruction. I imagine the commissions activities in Teyvat just gave them an opening that they didn’t think they could pass up.”

There’s more silence in the room, Nezu checks his watch and claps his paws together. “Okay, well, I’m glad we could all have this discussion, but there is a school that needs to be run so we’ll have to end it here for now.”

Nezu turns to the league. “Please know that the only reason I’m not going to try and arrest you today is because of our common enemy.”

Shigaraki grins at him, itching his neck, “I think I can say the same about trying to kill you… the enemy of my enemy, and all that.”

Nezu smiles with his teeth, which is fucking frightening to say the least. Most unnatraul shit I’ve seen and he’s an animal.

Shigaraki turns towards me again, nodding before his slips into the portal Kurogiri makes, Dabi and Toga following behind and leaving nobody on that side of the room.

Chapter Text

When me and Aizawa get back into 1-A, Iida was standing at the front, trying to make everyone calm down. The moment the door opens, there’s questions thrown at us. I walk back to my seat and Aizawa relieves Iida of his spot at the front, flashing his eyes red to get everyone to shut up.

“It was just something to do with the League, don’t worry too much about it.”

There’s still questions, people wanting to know about any developments or if we caught them yet. Aizawa ignores the questions and instead tells everyone to pack up their stuff because lunch is starting soon.

Mina leans over to me and I shake my head, she nods. I’m grateful that she understands when there are things that I can’t or shouldn’t talk about.

When we start walking out to lunch, Aizawa stops me. “Drop your stuff off at the dorm, Nezu wants you to relay everything to Kusanali. He said you’re dismissed for the day.”

He narrows his eyes into something that tells me, Nezu wants me to do a little intel gathering. Which, yknow, I was going to do anyway, its nice to have a bit more time though.

I climb the stairs to the dorms, taking my room at the far end of the hall. It’s pretty basic but I don’t really mind all that much, don’t really need to sleep anyways.

I drop all of my stuff off in the dorm and take out my phone, seeing a message from Mina, I text her back a simple, “something came up.” Before switching to the other phone and starting to relay all of the information to Kusanali.

I put my phone away and leave the tapped one in the dorm again. It will look a little odd but at least it will look like Im still on campus.

I’m not entirely sure where to start. Getting into the hero commission building during broad daylight isn’t a good idea, so my mind supplies me with one of the next best things. The ship I was brought in on. Or maybe the ship they were able to make, “super fast” before I went back to Sumeru for the first time.

I pull on a hoodie and mask, the hoodie has small cat ears on it, something Mina forced me to buy on our tour of the city. I never was going to wear it, but it may make me look less suspicious so I’m going to deal with it for now.

_________

I fly my way over to the ships and have to duck down behind a storage container as I see Ms.Kizu. She’s talking hushed to another man, who seems to be getting aggravated.

I make my way to the other side of the container, trying to inch closer to hear the conversation.

“...weapons….Fatui….Tartarus…

“You….sabotage…..enemy….”

I huff quietly, not able to make out the majority of the discussion. They’re definitely talking about the explosion though, and, judging by the few words I could make out from the other man, they’re trying to decide whether or not to continue on with the Fatui. Or, rather, they may be trying to figure out a way to sabotage the Fatui’s plans. Which, if I know tha Fatui, they shouldn’t know their plans. Or maybe they were fed fake ones.

Either way, I don’t see this going well for the commission. But then again, I had underestimated them before. Though I doubt it this time. Even if they are more cunning than expected, it’s unlikely they’re more cunning than the Fatui.

I duck back behind the container to avoid their eyes, hearing more footsteps, I move to another container and slash the lock to get in. I turn to the containers and have to take a deep breath as I feel the tell-tale energy of delusions.

I let out a shuddering breath, opening the box and snapping a picture with my second phone, sending it through to Nezu and Kusanali with a location as well as the serial number on the container.

I turn towards the door as I hear nearby creaking, making a split second decision, I duck behind a large pile of boxes, having to hold back against the pressure of the delusions. I hear someone curse at the sign of the lock being broken, they walk into the box, looking around.

I hear the sound of Ms.Kizu’s heels clicking against the metal of the container, a sound of awe leaving her mouth as I hear the sound of the wood lid of the crate being moved.

“Is anything missing?” Her voice sounded dazed, almost as if she was in a trance.

“No ma’am, everything is accounted for.”

Ms.Kizu doesn’t respond for a while, apparently still staring at the delusions, though I can’t see her.

She clears her throat. “Good…that’s…that’s good.”

I hear the lid slide back into place and the heels clicking again. The doors squeal shut and I step out from behind the crate at they move onto other shipment containers.

I stay in the crate with the delusions for a few more minutes before moving out and slicing the lock on another. I search through them for a while, finding more delusions and weapons. Just when I’m about to leave with the information I had found, I hear scratching on the side of one of the crates.

Turning towards the noise, I sneak towards the crate and slice the lock again. I have to stop for a moment at what I see and smell. Teyvatians, that much is for sure. Some of them are sitting in their own excretion and I have to cover my nose with the mask.

I send a picture to Nezu and ask him how to proceed. It’s not like I can just remove their crate of humans and have them go unnoticed. They likely…collected… these people themselves. Checking their eyes, all of them are knocked unconscious.

I look at my phone and see that Nezu has told me to rescue them and that we’ll deal with the consequences later. Which, honestly, seemed very out of character for the usually very logical and methodical creature. Not to mention, that’s definitely easier said than done. There’s 5 people in here and I only have four limbs.

I tilt my head and consider how to get all of them out, I open the crate and see a small sand bank nearby.

If I’m gonna save all of them, I have to be fast and discreet. I don’t know where Kizu is right now and I don’t want to risk being seen with the Teyvatians.

I curse to myself and walk towards one of the unconscious people, picking her up under one arm and a boy under the other arm. I push cautiously out of the container and speed towards the sand bay, going a little further to put them in a bit of tall grass to cover them.

I rush back to the container and grab two more, putting them in the same spot and turning back around. Cursing when I see some of the containers being unloaded onto a truck.

I notice someone getting close to the now almost empty container and speed up, covering his mouth and knocking him out, I drag him into the container, which gives me an idea.

I grab the last Teyvatian and bring them down to the sandbank before returning to the container. I take anything that could identify the man off of him and stuff it in my pockets, throwing his radio over into the water. Another three sets of footsteps appear outside and I catch them in a gust of wind and knock them out, doing the same to them, throwing those radios into the water as well.

Still missing one more though, and, as I’m about to count my losses and leave them one person down, when someone opens the crate, they raise their weapon at me but I knock him out before he can fire it. Letting out a breath of relief, I leave him in the same state as the others and fly back down to the sand bay.

Now comes an even harder part. What the hell do I do with a bunch of Teyvatians in Japan?

I walk a bit further into the woodsy area and message Nezu. He said Aizawa was on his way but I honestly don’t know how much help that will be. Where are we going to put all of them before we can get them back to Sumeru?
____________

Once me and Aizawa load them into a car, parked a bit further away to avoid suspicion. I huff as I sit in the passenger seat of the car, looking back at the very crowded back seat. “Where are we taking them now?”

He keeps his eyes on the road, “Nezu set up a separate room for them at the school. A bit dangerous but we don’t have any other options.” He glances at me for a moment, “Do you know any of them?”

I glance back at the people, now able to see them a bit better in the light.

“Two of them are scholars at the akademiya and the other three are Eremites, I don’t know their names but their clothes are hard to miss.”

Aizawa nods, “And, Eremites are?” I glance at him, “Think of them as mercenaries for hire, they hang out in the desert a lot.”

Aizawa doesn’t ask anymore questions, the rest of the ride to the school is quiet and, when we get there, the parking lot is empty and Aizawa pulls into the back, where there’s a small garage, because of course UA has a garage.

He stops the car and Nezu is standing there with Present Mic and Midnight, I raise my brow at him and he smiles, “I hope you trust my judgement here. These two can be trusted in this matter.”

I hesitate for a moment, but it’s not like I can really do anything about it now so I just shrug and tug the hood down, pulling off the mask as well.

We put them on gurneys and wheel them into UA’s medbay, where Recovery Girl is waiting. I sigh, this operation is becoming a lot more less secret than I’d like it to be. Recovery Girl unlocks a door off to the side, opening it, there’s another room with medical beds and counters.

I look towards Nezu again and he smiles at me, “I had been planning on expanding the med bay for a little bit now, especially with the League’s activities, it was a storage closet for a while because we couldn’t find the time to finish renovations. It should have everything you need in it though.”

I nod, moving to put the Teyvatians on the beds. They get hooked up to some machines that I remember from the documentaries as things that monitor pulses.

All of them are alive, thankfully, though I wonder what they used to knock them out for this long.

Recovery Girl seems to know, as she walks towards one of the scholars and injects something into her which causes her eyes to flutter open. She looks around for a moment and jumps up, I move forward to block her view and she locks her eyes on me. “Y…you’re the Vahumana Darshan…”

I nod, she starts letting tears run down her face, “I dont… I don’t know what happened. I was studying something with my partner in the dessert and then all of a sudden people dressed really strangely attacked us with things that looked like Fatui weapons… You know, like the pyro gun an— They got passed the Eremites we hired and everything.”

I sigh, turning to look at the teachers, she apparently sees over my shoulder. “H..hey, where are we?”

Chapter Text

“Japan?” The scholar’s eyes widen and she looks scared again, gaze flicking back and forth between the teachers.

I step back in front of her, “Hey, they’re trying to help you.”

She looks surprised at me, I sigh and look her in the eyes. “Everything will be explained later, I need you to trust me for now, and help me calm down your friends when they wake up.”

She gulps and nods, looking over at the others, still knocked out cold. She stands on wobbly feet and walks over to her partner. Recovery girl injects his arm and we start the explanation process again.
_____________

About 30 minutes later, after everyone had been woken up and calmed down, we’re all sitting down and Nezu had taken the liberty of explaining all of the information to them.

They sit in silence for a few minutes, processing the information. Especially the fact that they want to bring the barrier down. That tidbit of information came as a shock to all of them.

“That Fatui are working with the people on this side? Are they…the ones who captured us.”

I shake my head, “No, but the weapons the people who captured you used are Fatui weapons that they were given as part of their deal… I have a feeling the deal may not last much longer though. The commission is mad at the Fatui because of a little sabotage on our side.”

Nezu clears his throat, “We’re going to try to return you to your side of the barrier as quickly as possible, though I fear it may be a bit easier said than done, as the Commission holds control of the barrier.”

They nod, the scholar speaks up, clearing her throat before hand. “We understand, th…thank you for your hospitality.”

Nezu smiles, “Of course.”

Midnight and Mic return from where they ran off to, clothes in their hands. Mic smiles, “Here, your clothes are a bit messy so I think we should get you guys showers and let you guys change. We’ll change the bedsheets while we’re at it.”

Aizawa sighs, “I’m glad the car wasn’t mine.”

Nezu turns towards him, Aizawa narrows his eyes “I’m not cleaning the car.”

Nezu laughs, not saying anything else on the matter. Midnight and Mic lead the group out and into the showers that were installed with the dorms. Thankfully, it’s late enough that nobody would be taking a shower right now.
Recovery Girl takes care of the sheets and replaces them while Aizawa, Nezu and I try to think of a way to get them back to Sumeru.

“I wonder if we can sneak them back on their next visit.”

“You think they’ll go back after breaking ties with the Fatui?”

I nod, “They started going over there before their deal, why not after?”

Nezu thinks, “It could work, but it would be extremely risky, and it would put you at risk as well Wanderer. You do know you’ll likely have to go with them to make sure everything goes smoothly?”

Nodding again, I cross my arms over my chest. “I know, I honestly wouldn’t mind a chance to speak with Kusanali again. And, depending on the circumstances, I may take the time to speak with the Fatui as well.”

Aizawa raises his eyebrow, “You sure that’s a good idea?”

I shrug, “If the Fatui breaks ties with the commission, then their ability to get to this side of the barrier is gone. With it, their information is limited and any plans for revenge will hit a wall. If I show them that I can travel back and forth, I may have grounds to stand on, and may be able to gather more information from it.”

Then again, I risk the chance of running into him.

But I guess it’s a chance that I’ll have to take. After all, I may be a selfish prick, but I don’t want Teyvat invaded either. I think most of the Fatui think the same way.

“The Fatui don’t want Teyvat invaded, that would go against their current goals. And they don’t want Japan either, that has the potential of slowing their current progress. Consider it another ‘enemy of my enemy’ thing.”

Nezu nods, “If you think it’s a good idea, I have no choice but to trust your judgement.”
__________

With that, the group returns to the room, their old clothes nowhere to be seen, instead, wearing clothes from this side of the barrier, much like myself when I came here the first time.

Nezu explains the plan to everyone and the scholar, Arysha, her name was, turned toward me with wide eyes. “Are you crazy? I know you’re close with Lord Kusanali but there’s no way she’d approve of working with the Fatui.”

I sigh, “Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made—.”

“Couldn’t you just deal with the commission on this side of the barrier? Why bring Sumeru into it?”

“Because they’ve already been to Sumeru before, you aren’t the first group they’ve brought here, you’re just the first lucky enough to be saved. Not to mention the fact that not only is it a problem with corruption on this side, but it’s an issue of national security in Sumeru. Both sides need to be prepared for the absolute worse case scenario.”

She goes to talk again but seems to decide against it, instead taking a sip of water.

Nezu turns towards me, “I’ve been tracking their patterns for a few weeks, and they typically leave on Tuesdays. So they’re likely to go back to Sumeru again in 4 days, that’s your best bet.”

I nod at him, I guess I’m going back to Sumeru in 4 days then.

Chapter Text

The next few days pass at a snails pace. However, it’s also spent trying to figure out how to hide my leaving, and on how to get onto the ship and stay unnoticed for the whole ride there. Along with all of the Sumerians, this could get tricky.

After talking with Nezu, we decided that it would be difficult for them to keep eyes on the entire ship. Especially since the commission likely wants to keep their corruption on the down low. Their crew isn’t going to be very big. So hiding in places like one of the bathrooms or the storage room might be the way to go.

In which case, we’d either have to get on the boat before the rest of the crew, which means we need to avoid any guards they have in place, or we have to risk sneaking on at the same time.

Sneaking on before the rest of the crew was an easy choice.

The next part was deciding what I had time to do when in Sumeru. While missing the boat back wasnt the end of the world, it would make explaining everything much harder. Like why I was missing for a whole week. The commission wouldn’t like that very much.

All things considered, it’s going to be difficult, but not impossible. And it may allow me time to talk to Kusanali in person about what’s going on. It might be, as much as I hate it, wise to open conversation with the fatui as well, of course, that’s only a last resort for information. The fatui aren’t going to take too kindly to the commission accusing them of sabotaging their supply.

I had “discussed” with Kiyoshi, who had been brought to the dorms with me. He just made a nodding gesture and laid back down, so I guess he doesn’t want to go back just yet. Maybe he wants the experiment to be reversed first.

By the time Tuesday came around, the rest of the Sumerians had healed and the commission didn’t seem to realize their captured Teyvatians had been replaced with their own guards. So, poor them I guess. I wish them well in their animal future.

The boat was, unsurprisingly, modeled after Sumerian ships. Once we get inside, which was surprisingly easy, I guess they’re low on guards in the know now that 5 of them are being experimented on by their own doctors, we move towards the back.

As we walk down the stairs, we try not to make noise, which is proving to be harder than it seemed because of the scholars lack of experience in doing anything sneaky at all.

I shake my head minutely before turning the corner and walking down a long hallway of rooms. This is almost 100% the same boat they took me there on. I guess it makes sense they would only have one or two of the Sumerian designed boats.

We open the door that has a big sign on it that says “storage” and, surprise surprise, it’s a storage room.

We creep into the room and make our way towards the back with a bunch of boxes piled up in front of it. Pushing them a little further forward was relatively easy, if not a bit nerve wracking because of how high the stacks of boxes were.

We sit behind the boxes, a bit cramped but nothing too unbearable. The other will probably get knots in their necks though.

After a while, some of the Sumerians have managed to fall asleep in their positions, I guess if you’re tired enough you can sleep anywhere.

I feel the ship start to move, some creaking making it’s way through the ship as it pulls away from the harbour.

Footsteps fall outside the door, and I keep my eyes on the shadows passing beneath it. Hopefully, if someone is about to come in, I’ll know before they open the door.
____________________

After a while, when the footsteps had long since stopped and the rest of the Sumerians had fallen asleep as well, I feel myself jostle a bit more than I had been, and figured that means we’re docked in Sumeru.

I wait a second, listening for anymore footsteps to make their way towards the top of the ship, and shake the Sumerians awake. I get out from behind the boxes first, creeping towards the door and peeking out, not seeing anyone nearby, and leading the rest of the Sumerians up towards the front as well.

I curse when I realize they left some people on the ship to guard it, and count around 6 people. I bite my lip and tell the Sumerians to stay below deck for a second.

When I return, I ask for them to help me move the now unconscious bodies to the different rooms on the ship. Hopefully this way it will just look like the crew was lazy and went to get sleep instead of got knocked out by stowaways on their super secret mission.

We manage to sneak the rest of the way off the boat easily, which goes to show how much they underestimate anything on the Sumerian side.

When we make our way back to Sumeru, I immediately lead the Sumerians into the Sanctuary, they seem taken aback when the see Kusanali at first, but hide their surprise relatively quickly.

She seems to jump right into being the ruler of Sumeru, taking their hands into hers and asking them what happened.

After they relay all of their information to her and she reassured them that there are actions being taken, they get dismissed to go see their families who had apparently been looking everywhere for them. Aside from one of the eremites, who apparently hadn’t been looked for at all. Which is a bit sad but he didn’t seem incredibly put off by it.

I turn to Kusanali who gives me a tired smile, “Hi Hat Guy.”

I give her a small smile back, “Kusanali.”

She sighs, stretching her arms above her head, “I guess there’s not much time right now to go over how you’ve been doing, but once this is all over, I expect a full report.”
“I didn’t expect anything else.”

She smiles brightly at me and moves towards a large board. “Okay, so the earliest record I could find in Irminsul of the commission coming over to Teyvat was from around 50 years ago. But that doesn’t make sense.”

I look at her with narrowed eyes. “Why?”

She sighs, thinking for a moment, “I’m not sure how to explain this… The first record was from 50 years ago, right? But the commission did make some trips to Teyvat 500 years ago, right before the war with khaenri'ah. They came over to converse with both sides before inevitably deciding not to play a roll in the war at all.”

I crease my brows, holding my hand to my mouth, thinking. It doesn’t make sense for them to be able to erase themselves or change Irminsul’s records, so thats out. But Irminsul also holds records of khaenri'ah, so it’s not like Irminsul just, doesn’t have records of that time at all.

“Did you look for the commission or for anyone from beyond the barrier?”

“For both, they showed similar results.”

Tilting my head back and forth, I think it over in my head, “Is it possible that they would have been considered something else beforehand? Like, maybe the Irminsul separated them by generation.”

Kusanali creases her brows, “You mean like, the Irminsul considers the people who lived before the barrier and people who lived after the barrier as separate entities? It’s possible, but why?”

“The Irminsul holds knowledge of everything in Teyvat right? But we can’t find any information on Japan after the barrier there. Which means the barrier cuts of the Irminsul’s influence. So Irminsul reasonably has no way of knowing whether the people who existed before the barrier went up and the ones who came over after the barrier went up are the same people.

In the same way, it may only have record of the commission and people beyond the barrier from 50 years ago because that’s when the commission became confident in their ability to invade Sumeru.”

Kusanali thinks this over and nods grimly, “That seems likely.”

Turning to a board with different pictures and notes hanging from it, she makes another note and posts it to the board. She turns to me with a smile, “It’s nice to have you here again Hat Guy.”

I cross my arms over my chest, smirking “You’ve apparently been replacing me with that Mondstadt captain though.”

Kusanali laughs, “Never! He’s definitely got a lot of information though.” Her eyes light up, “Oh! How much time do you have here?”

I consider it for a moment, “About 2 and a half days. They do these expeditions quite a bit, I guess they’re really trying to figure something out with these experiments.”

She sombers for a moment, nodding, before remembering what she was going to say. “Oh yeah, the Teyvatian Web is meeting here soon, they’re going to be getting here today and tomorrow so you have just enough time if you want to participate as well!”

“Sure. I might not like these gatherings but it may be useful.”

I remember a certain topic I wanted to bring up with her. “Oh, I have something I wanted to discuss with you.”

She hums, “The fatui, right?”

I nod, not being surprised that she knows what I was going to say.

“I was going to tell you, they contacted me. Actually, the Tsaritsa contacted me herself. It was a tense couple of days but, she seems to be done with the Commission, and ordered the harbingers to pull back any support they gave them.”

I crease my brows, “So what is the meeting right now for?”

“This should be their last meeting, they’re sending a letter with them to the Commission’s president.”

I nod, “Which harbinger was the one in talks with them?”

“The Knave and The Jester.”

I raise my brow, those are some high rankers.

“Apparently, they wanted to figure out a way to get back at them for their lack of help in the war. But it’s gotten out of hand. They know about the experiments and, while their motivations vary, they don’t like them.”

I hum, nodding. “So, what do you think?”

She sighs, “It might be wise to team up with them here, though, if it’s going to make you uncomfortable-”

“It’s fine, I think if this goes down at the scale it seems heading to, we may end up needing them.”

Kusanali nods, “You’re talking about the Heavenly Principles right?”

I nod. “Who knows what the barrier is to them? Or how a large scale fight between us and the people beyond the barrier will do. It’s important to keep that in mind.”

She nods, “I agree. We should bring that up at the meeting, I think they’ll have some unique input.”

I nod, I guess the Teyvatian Web’s first meeting will be an important one.

Chapter Text

The next few days were tiring to say the least. Meeting all of the people participating in the meeting one by one. Some of them were far louder than others, but thankfully not too many of them were like that.

There were a few who stayed in my mind, those who seemed to know more than others. Kaeya, for starters, the Mondstadt captain who seemed to be the source of a lot of our information, seemed extremely guarded, however, he seemed like an open book at the same time. Almost like he was giving a lot of unimportant information to hide the more classified stuff.

Then, of course, the Iudex of Fontaine, who had taken a single day out of his incredibly busy schedule to come to Sumeru for this meeting, if what the small creature who followed him was true. A Melusine, I think he called them. Either way, he has some kind of…aura surrounding him that just screams power. His stature, too, is nothing to scoff at. His height already adding to his intimidation factor, not to mention his eyes which seem to hold so much knowledge.

Finally, the Fatui harbingers, who a few of the Matra guards flinched away from. The Knave is just as I remembered. Her eyes piercing and calculating as they scanned over the people gathered in the meeting hall. The Jester, though, had his eyes trained on one person in particular for a fairly long time before they finally broke away and continued trapezing over the other guests.

Following where his gaze was, I find the cavalry captain with his signature smirk on his face, appearing to be in conversation with Kujo Sara and Nigguang, the representatives from Inazuma and Liyue.

Kusanali finds her way into the room and takes a seat at the head of the table, eyes snap to her, and I find my place behind her chair a bit towards the left, Cyno also being present and standing a bit further away to the right.

Kusanali clears her throat, “Thank you, everyone, for coming to this very impromptu meeting. To avoid any unnecessary wasting of time, let’s begin. There has been a lot of activity involving the Japanese in Teyvat recently. As I’m sure all of you know, this is a clear violation of the barrier laws they themselves put in place during it’s creation.

Because of sources in this room and some beyond this room, it’s been established that they are preparing for a full-scale invasion of Teyvat.”

A few people in the room tense, but other than that, there’s no interruptions.

“Now, the Hero Commission, an agency in Japan, is considered the head of this operation. They have been in talks with the Fatui recently, and have thought themselves as having the upper hand up until now. They have been collaborating with the fatui to get weapons and delusions. Knave, Jester, is that correct so far?”

The Knave speaks up, her arms crossed. “You’re correct, The Fatui has been collaborating with the commission in hopes to get more information on the barrier, and enact revenge on them for their lack of action during the war.”

Kusanali nods, “I figured as much.” She turns back to the rest of the table, “In hopes of transparency among all of us at this table today, I would also like to reveal something… I have had a spy in Japan for the past few months.”

There’s a couple confused sounds that manage to escape people, but mostly the confusion comes in the form of narrowed eyes and creased brows.

Kusanali gestures towards me, “Wanderer here has been in Japan for a while, and has managed to gather more information on the Commission’s plans of attack and strength.”

Kujou Sara interjects, “How did you manage to get him across the barrier?”

Kusanali smiles, “With the help of my friend, Nezu, who runs the most acclaimed school on that side of the barrier. He wishes to bring down the barrier as well, but unlike the Fatui’s hopes for revenge, he wishes to establish peace and understanding among both sides. He accepted Wanderer into his school, officially, as a means to help protect his students against a prominent threat on their side. However, unofficially, he’s hoping to positively influence the public’s opinion on Teyvatian’s.”

There’s a couple noises of surprise throughout, but nothing major, honestly, I’m surprised by how respectful this room is. I expected a fight or two, especially between the fatui and the others but I suppose The Knave and Jester had never been ones for pointless arguments.

“Wanderer has discovered Fatui weapons in a maximum security prison. Implying the Commission’s hopes to arm their prisoners. Which would increase the size of their army should they invade. Not to mention, their heroes will likely be serving as military commanders.

Along with this revelation, Wanderer has managed to find Teyvatians stowed away on the ships they bring to collect supplies from the Fatui. These Teyvatians, however, were not there of their own free will, and were instead being brought to Japan as test subjects for the Commission, we don’t know what for yet, however.”

“But they’re doing these experiments on Teyvatians?” Ninguang asks.

I nod, “There’s two different ideas in my mind as to why. One is that they could be targeting us in particular in hopes that the fallout will be less drastic should they ever be found out by the general public. And two, is that there’s something we have that they want.

I think the latter is more likely, as the commission are wildly confident in their own abilities. The only thing I haven’t figured out yet is what they could want from us. My initial thoughts are the visions, but their quirks seem a lot more viable, at least to them. They don’t have archons over there like we do, so normal visions would be borderline useless for them.”

“Maybe they’re looking for a way to better withstand the delusions?” The Knave asks.

I shake my head, “It’s possible, but unlikely. The commission began taking Teyvatians long before they had any contact with the Fatui. Not to mention, a lot of the people who they took didn’t have visions in the first place.”

I tap my chin as a thought comes to mind. Just because they didn’t have visions, doesn’t mean they weren’t capable of acquiring them. All Teyvatians have a born ability to withstand visions.

“You seem to have thought of something, Wanderer.” That voice can only belong to the Mondstadian captain, his voice seems encouraging, almost like he knows too, but wants me to say it. Which is…strange.

Eyes snap to me again, Kusanali’s wide ones turn up to me, curious.

“All Teyvatians have the ability to withstand the power that comes with visions, or even delusions for that matter. As it stands, the quirks on their side die with it’s user. Something that may set them back in terms of creating a power in Japan that doesn’t waver. For example, All Might, who is considered one of if not the strongest in Japan, is nearing his retirement. This means that their power, on a global scale, will lessen in comparison to other nations.”

I look at Kaeya, who has that damn smirk on his face, his eyebrow raised as if to tell me, “Go on.”

I sigh, “Visions aren’t necessarily stronger or weaker than one another, it’s based on the user’s intent. For example, someone who uses a bow can channel their elemental energy into each arrow, while someone who uses a sword may shoot their element out with every strike.”

I bite my lip, creasing my brows, but then why the invasion of Teyvat as well? I turn towards Kusanali who seems deep in thought as well, as if trying to connect all of the pieces. Everyone at the table, actually, seems to have that expression, except for one person, of course…. Kaeya. How he seems to know so much, I don’t know, but it ticks me off.

I cross my arms and stare at him, he raises a brow at me again, I return the gesture and he lets out a silent laugh before pulling his finger towards his chin and tapping it, shrugging as he seems to finally give in to the idea of actually helping instead of being a prick.

“I think,” He starts and the eyes go to him, “Everyone is forgetting a very crucial part in this entire scenario.”

Ninguang crosses her arms, “Which is?”

Kaeya smiles, “The barrier.” He says, like it would give everyone some kind of huge revela—- Oh.

“The barrier cuts off the ley lines.” Kusanali interjects.

Kaeya smirks and tilts his head, looking at Kusanali. “Which would mean…”

“That visions have less power in Japan then they do in Teyvat, if any power at all.” The Knave finishes and Kaeya smiles.

Kusanali, “Sir Kaeya, do you wish to expand on your idea?”

He sighs, “Must I?” His voice is a bit teasing, but he readjusts the way he’s sitting and prepares to explain.

“Think about it like this. The commission wants power over visions. They capture Teyvatians thinking that they may be able to unlock the connections with the elements through them. However, the barrier cuts off any ties with Teyvat that these captures may have. Aside from, of course, their innate abilities. Such as their longer lifespans, stronger muscular builds, and stronger immune systems.

The commission sees these things, and want more. They want to capture the very essence of their powers, quirks, I think they’re called, and imbue them into these devices, just as visions hold celestial power and elemental energy. I suspect they acquired visions from their captures in the beginning, but didn’t get anywhere with them. So they figured they might as well avoid the hassle of capturing someone with a vision, and just go for those without them.

After the many failed experiments they surely had, they might have figured out the connection to the land people seem to have. After all, if visions were possible in Japan, why did they almost immediately stop being given to people on that side once the barrier went up? If the research I did is correct, quirks started appearing not long before the war started. In which case, they may have cut us off thinking we were the lesser of the human race.

However, as they realized their strong quirks would die off with their users, they wished to harness the idea of visions. In which they could contain strong quirks, and give them to others…”

Kaeya trails off, looking around to make sure everyone is still paying attention to him, likely only wanting to give his spiel once.

“Along with this, they may be looking to harness our longevity in an attempt to make stronger soldiers for their armies. I imagine they want to harness our connection with divinity, the archons, and use it for themselves. In a sense, they may hope to create their own archons to put in place to hand out the strong quirks to those they see fit. Or maybe, they want to create commanders with longer life spans who can get given multiple strong quirks at once…”

He trails off again, this time, not looking like he’s going to keep going. That last bit was fairly rushed, but I understand what he means in general.

“Wait, if visions can’t work in Japan, how does mine…” I trail off, turning my eyes to Kaeya. How?

He smirks, “You know why.”

Chapter Text

My heart drops. There’s no way this asshole knows. He can’t know…

Kusanali’s hand finds my arm, “He doesn’t know everything, Wanderer.” She narrows her eyes at Kaeya, “He just has some ideas.”

I look at that bastards smirk and have to hold myself back from doing something rash. I hear a throat clear and look up to see the The Knave. “If I may, could we be clued into this, ‘why?”

Kusanali looks up at me and I nod, it may look bad to hide something from them now.

“Wanderer here, is the product of an archon, a puppet without strings, he holds divinity within him, and therefore doesn’t need it to power his vision.”

There’s shock again, though better masked this time. The Knave’s eyes turn into somewhat of a glare, as if trying to think through all of the information at once. I ignore that and turn towards Kaeya.

“How did you know?”

He smiles but doesn’t say anything. I look to Kusanali who seems to be staring intent at Kaeya as well. “I’m also a bit perplexed, Sir Kaeya. Your spy network doesn’t explain your understanding of quirks and Japan.”

He raises his brow, the Knave jumps in. “You’re Khaenri’ahn, are you not?”

He smiles and nods, “That I am.” The Knave narrows her eyes and turns towards the Jester, who is glaring at Kaeya, not with anger, but something like familiarity.

The Knave continues, “You’re an Alberich. Like The Jester.”

He smirks again, his eyes glinting with some kind of twisted entertainment.

“The Alberichs…” The Jester begins, having said very little this whole time, his speaking surprises a lot of the table, “had ties to Japan.”

Narrowed eyes focus on Pierro, encouraging him to continue. “They were a clan, based entirely off of the Japanese who wished to escape the fate of being given a useless quirk and looked down upon, or even worse, a quirk so strong the person underneath didn’t even exist anymore.”

He continues, “Some Japanese managed to fit into Khaenri’ahn lifestyle, they are who encouraged the lack of faith in gods…. They are also the ones who were cursed with becoming the monsters we fight today.”

He narrows his eyes at Kaeya, suspicion seeping into his glare, “Which doesn’t make sense, because you can’t be over 25, yet you say you’re half Khaenri’ahn and half Japanese…”

Kaeya sighs, apparently explaining is too much trouble for him, “My father, a Khaenri’ahn survivor, cursed with immortality, met my mother, who, while Japanese, was entirely Khaenri’ahn in the eyes of Celestia. Japan no longer seen as being a nation in Teyvat. She too was cursed with immortality… as time went on, they had me. And, while I have never seen Japan myself, my mother was all too happy to share her thoughts on the state of it when she left… Heroes and quirks dying with time, the rise and fall of hero and villain organizations, their opinions on Teyvatians before the barrier was sealed.”

I huff silently, he’s so smug. What a piece of work.

Kaeya smiles, his eyes landing on Pierro’s, something like a challenge in them. “Which is why, dear Jester, you have it twisted. The Japanese who came to Khaenri’ah were not the ones afflicted by the monster curse, but the ones from other nations, Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, Sumeru, Fontaine, Natlan, Snezhnaya, they are the ones we kill today.”

Pierro seems to steel his glare for a moment before it softens, a rare concession, or perhaps, calculating. I sigh and turn back to Kaeya, “That fails to explain how your spy network managed to figure out what I was. The people who know about me are either long gone or have forgotten.”

Kaeya smiles, “Consider this, have you ever once discussed your heritage where a monster could hear? Perhaps a hillichurl just happened to be in listening distance when you and Lord Kusanali were discussing your heritage on your way to your meeting with Nezu and…what’s their names again? Aizawa and Kizu, I think.”

Kusanali creases her brows, “A hilichurl?”

Kaeya’s smirk widens, “I possess certain…linguistic talents.”

I scoff, “You’re saying a hillichurl ratted me out?”

He smiles again, his eyes still having that glint in them, “Not on purpose of course. They just happen to be a little nosy, and if nothing else, I’m a good listener.”

More chatter starts up before a loud boom overwhelms the room. It almost feels like it shakes my core. The chatter stops, and eyes fly around to find the source of the noise.

The Iudex, who hadn’t made even a peep since he arrived, holds his cane in one hand, off to the side, likely the object that made the noise, then. He clears his throat, “As much as Sir Kaeya’s source of information is intriguing, it may be in our best interest to focus back onto the task at hand. We have discussed the Teyvatian captures, but only briefly, and we all but ignored the fact that the Commission is hoping to reproduce archons as military forces.”

Kusanali takes a deep breath, “You’re right. My apologies Iudex Neuvillette, I understand you have a busy schedule and don’t have time for pointless discussions.”

The Iudex nods at Kusanali, seemingly appeased for now, however, the room still holds the remnants of his displeasure. Eyes pointedly look away from him.

Because it doesn’t seem like anyone is looking to take the reigns on the conversation, Kaeya —of course, the asshole— takes control again. “For starters, it’s important to remember that the commission has been trying this for a while, but to no avail. Which leads them into their replication of the archons. However, I do have to wonder what ideas they have now that they’ve seen Wanderer’s vision continue to work beyond the barrier.”

Pierro’s eyes narrow again on Kaeya, but he doesn’t seem to be in the mood to talk again, perhaps just analyzing the man.

“They don’t want their plan to be found out, but they also want to know what the source of Wanderer’s power is…” The Knave continues.

“Unless, of course, they know Wanderer is a puppet already.” Kaeya interjects again, his eyes dancing over to Kusanali.

Kusanali shakes her head, “Nezu knows, nobody else on that side does though.”

Kaeya’s smile gets even more infuriating, “In that case, the commission’s next target is Wanderer himself… perhaps they’ll try to test him without actually experimenting on him though…”

“How would they do that though?” Kujou Sara asks.

Kaeya’s smirk fades a bit, “That much, I don’t know yet. Perhaps they’ll inject him with something. Maybe they’ll have something scanning him at all times, maybe they’ll have him use his vision in places they can study it over and over again…. Maybe… they’ll put him in a place where training your powers is the curriculum.”

Kusanali’s voice cuts through the tension again, “Nezu’s school. That’s why they seemed to get more open to his presence there. They even let him move into the dorms…

But Nezu would know that, which begs the question, what angle is Nezu going for?”

She taps her chin, the Iudex’s voice fills the room, though it seems he’s only speaking at his normal volume. “It’s possible he doesn’t know all of the facts either, after all, Japan is cut off from Teyvat just as Teyvat is cut off from it. He may assume keeping Wanderer in the commissions good graces is the way to avoid unnecessary conflict while actively investigating them.”

The Iudex hums, “Or perhaps he’s using him as bait.”

Kaeya’s voice cuts through again, ““Kaeya cuts in. ‘Baiting them, sure. If the Commission got nothing from UA, they’d snatch him—or worse. Nezu’s cracking the window just enough to keep them hooked. Problem is…

“Nezu might be underestimating their abilities.” I cut in, then scoff, “and if he does, make a misstep… then the bait gets eaten..” Kaeya grins again. I glare at him.

The room is awash with tension, both because of the previous argument and the gloomy future. Kusanali smiles tiredly, clapping her hands together. “I think this meeting is adjourned. It may be wise to give everyone time to mull over all of the new information that we’ve gathered. Perhaps we should meet again in a few weeks time?”

After a chorus of agreements, the room slowly filters out. The Iudex leaves first, meeting with the melusine right outside the door and then walking down the hall. As he leaves, it’s like a weight lifts off the room. Everyone lets out a deep breath.

Kujo Sara leaves with Ninguang, the fatui follow, and then Kaeya, with that fucking smirk, saunters out of the room and makes his way down the hall.

Kusanali turns to Cyno, who had remained quiet in his further away spot the whole meeting, expected from the General Mahamatra, “I need eyes on the spot the Japanese lands at all times, there’s no telling what they’ll do before our next meeting.”

He nods, leaving as well just as quiet as he was the whole meeting.

Kusanali turns to me, “Well, I would say that meeting was pretty productive, what do you think?”

“I hate that smug captain bastard.”

She smiles and laughs tiredly, “I’m sure you do.”

Chapter Text

The ride home wasn’t anything special, in fact, I would argue it was even less eventful than the ride there, which was basically just sleeping, so.

When we got back to Japan, I had to stop myself from trying to get any of the new captures free. Unfortunately, too much interference may raise suspicion, and I need the boat to continue going to Sumeru in order to get to the meetings.

When I got back to my dorm, it was with a new uneasiness. The commission was watching me, and Nezu didn’t even tell me.

Waking up the next day, I walked straight to Nezu’s office, and he stared at me from his desk, with his paws crossed over each other. “Wanderer, I thought our next scheduled meeting wasn’t until later this week.”

I huff and walk up to him, pointing an accusing finger at him, “Would you care to tell me why I had to find out from some asshole on the other side of the barrier that the commission is using the dorms to spy on me?”

Nezu looks a bit surprised for a second, “And how would this person know that?”

I sigh, “Because its the most valid option. Anyone could have figured it out.” It just happened to be that prick.

He looks serious now, “Wanderer, I know I haven’t done much to gain your trust, but I promise you that this is still the safest place for you. The commission’s interest in you wont fade no matter where you are, so the best thing to do is feed them just enough information about you that they don’t suspect a collaboration between us and Teyvat.”

“But you couldn’t have relayed this information to me prior to this?”

Nezu sighs, “Yet again an oversight on my part, I have to apologize for my lack of tact in this situation. I’ve rarely had to collaborate on such a large scale before, especially with people who are from a place I have no knowledge on. The lack of information is extremely grating on me, so I’m trying to retain control of the situation.”

I’m surprised from the rare vulnerability from the principal, but that doesn’t mean he’s off the hook.

“You’re already on thin ice from before Nezu, if you think this is going to help your case at all, you’re extremely misguided. The only reason I’m still working with you is because Kusanali keeps arguing for your innocence.”

Nezu nods, “I understand, and I thank you for your continued collaboration.”

I sigh and turn to walk out the door, “Don’t let these missteps keep happening Nezu, you won’t like where you end up.”

____________

There seems to be more avoidance now than before in Class 1-A, almost like they sense the increased weight on my shoulders and have decided to let me brood in silence.

All except one that is.

“Hey you Sumerian loser, you can’t just walk back into class after days with no explanation!” Bakugo’s voice booms over the class, he walks over to my desk and slams a hand down on it.

It elicits a glare from me but nothing too out of the ordinary. “Maybe you should mind your own business.”

He scoffs, “The second your weirdo ass was put into this class everything that goes on became our business. Don’t forget you’re here as a shield for us. Why don’t you focus on doing your job instead of whatever weird errands you’re running!”

“I thought you didn’t need my protection.”

He scoffs, “Of course I don’t. But the rest of these extras would still be looking for where the League brought me to if you didn’t stop them from kidnapping me before.”

He crosses his arms, “What I wanna know is what’s got you so distracted that your giving up so soon. Too hard for you? Maybe you really are out of your depth.”

At this point, the whole class is looking at me, even Aizawa who had eventually made his way to the front of the room. I raise my brow in his direction but he looks like he wants to know what went on as well.

I think it over in my head, the UA dorms are watching my every move. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re on the commission's side. Like that asshole said, I’m bait in a bigger plan. But do these kids need to know about that bigger plan yet? They say ignorance is bliss, and knowing all of the corruption in their society may just make their heads explode. On the other hand however, it may be important for them to know and be prepared.

I hum, maybe just the partial truth then.

I glare at him, my eyes filled with ire, “Fine– the dorms you love so much, the ones you dressed up with your personalities and the like, they’re cages. And someone’s watching. It’s not me, or Nezu, or the League. It’s someone you wouldn’t expect. Prepare for that and leave me the hell alone.”

I lean back in my chair and sigh, there’s a tense silence permeating the room. Good, I’m not their damn babysitter.

I hear Kaminari, “Cages? Watching us? That’s creepy as hell dude.” His voice is shaky, likely trying to lighten the ruined mood.

Aizawa turns to me, “What did you learn on that mission that has you so serious?”

I glare at him, revealing the mission in front of the class was a bold decision.

Momo looks around, “What mission, sir?”

Aizawa narrows his eyes, I’d forgotten the other people who know of this mission, and their stakes in the whole thing. In Aizawa’s case, he’s risking his classes trust.

“The mission, Aizawa, taught me your bosses can’t be trusted. Though, I guess we already knew that didn’t we? Just know it goes much deeper than we originally anticipated and chew on that for a little while.”

Aizawa’s scowl deepens, but he otherwise stays quiet.

Bakugo, however, slams his hand back down on the desk and a small spark emanates. “Bullshit! If this involves us we should know!”

I glare at him, seething. “Back the fuck off and drop it.”

Bakugo falters for a second, it’s enough for me to stand up and throw my bag back over my shoulder.

“I told you what I could. Consider this both a blessing and a warning. Just be prepared and don’t trust who you don’t personally know.”

I stalk out of the classroom, glaring at Aizawa when I pass, so much for secrecy, then.
Bakugo’s POV

I feel the chair give under my foot, skirting across the floor. “Damnit! That bastard is hiding something!.”

I hear glasses, “Sir, what mission? Cages? Are the dorms still safe for us to stay in?”

Aizawa sighs, “I can’t say too much more than was already said. The dorms are still safe as it stands, though, I won’t stop you from doing a thorough search. As of right now, class is dismissed for the day. I have to go talk to Nezu about next steps. Return to your dorms.”

I feel my anger build and small pops begin to fly out of my hand. I turn towards Pinky, “Do you know what that bastard has been up to?”

She looks scared, I thought it was because of the dorms being cages but she turns towards me and there’s tears in her eyes, “N..no. I knew something was wrong before he left but…I’ve never seen him like that before.”

I sigh, turning back towards the front and grabbing my bag on the way.

“Bakugo! What are you doing?” Glasses shouts from behind me. I turn back towards the class, my hand on the doorknob. “I’m gonna find out what the hell’s up with these dorms.”

Chapter Text

Wanderer’s POV

I make my way back to the dorms, intent on finding these damn scanners at least. As soon as I open the door, though, I hear yelling behind me. “Slow down you Sumerian bastard!”

I sigh and walk into the dorms, of course he couldn’t stay put. He grips my shoulder and I have to stop myself from lashing out.

“You want to explain what the hell’s going on?”

The rest of the class filters in behind him, I glance around at the ceiling. There’s basically no hiding it from the commission now, but I may be able to prolong the class finding out I know if I just, yknow, leave.

I try this, turning around and in the process shoving Bakugo’s hand off of my shoulder, but he grips it again, and Mina stops in front of me. “Please Wanderer, let us help you.”

I scoff and shove past them, Bakugo’s rage grows uncontrollable, and he lets out an explosion aimed towards me. I shove Mina out of the way and the explosion flies into the wall.

“Calm the hell down!”

He doesn’t seem to hear me and sends another explosion, this time scorching the floor. I sigh and dodge again, another explosion lined up right afterwards. This one, though, leaves a hole in the wall, and a device falls to the floor.

I narrow my eyes at it and have to avoid another explosion before Bakugo manages to rein it in for a second when he sees the now destroyed object.

I pick it up in my hands and turn it this way and that, “Scanners huh.” I mumble under my breath.

Bakugo gets closer, anger still on his face as he looks down at the device. “Scanners?! Is this the cage bullshit?” He looks around the room, “Earphones, listen for those little shits and tell me where to blast!”

I sigh and rub the bridge of my nose, moving to sit at the table and message Kusanali.

Captain Asshole was right,
scanners in dorm.

Hoping the class doesnt
clue the commission in
on their revelation, could
speed up commission plans.

May need to get in contact
with the web sooner than
later.

Not sure where their archon
operation stands as of now.

Mina walks over to me, “Wanderer, please, tell us what’s going on.”

I look at the chaos that is the dorm living room and sigh. “Not here…”

“Then where?” Her voice is stern, a new tone from her. She seems serious.

I bite my lip, creasing my brows. “There are things I can’t fucking TELL you Mina! I don’t know who I can trust and who I can’t!”

She flinches back but stays stern, “I understand that Wanderer, and I can’t promise much but I can promise this, the rest of this class may not exactly like that you’re from Sumeru, but we are heroes in training, and we’ll be damned if there are innocent lives at stake here and you aren’t telling us how to save them!”

I stop and look at her, wide eyes. Gritting my teeth, “You don’t understand!” I stand from my chair and go to move.

“Then help us understand Wanderer!”

“You can’t! You’ve been spoon fed lies all of your life and you're asking me to tell you the truth! I can’t do that to you Mina, your world will be flipped on it’s fucking head and I can’t deal with that with everything else!”

The rest of the noise in the room had stopped, apparently all of the scanners were found, or maybe it’s just secondary now to the argument.

“I don’t care how much my world is tilting on it’s axis Wanderer! I want to help you! I want to help everyone involved! Let us help you please! Tell us the truth!”

I open my mouth to refute her again when Aizawa walks into the room, Nezu on his shoulder and a gang of teachers beside him. (Vlad King, Midnight, and Present Mic.)

Aizawa looks around at the scorched walls and sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. Nezu just chuckles and looks at me. “Wanderer, I think it’s time to have our meeting now. I’ve already contacted the other party and they’ve agreed. It may be in our best interest to inform Class 1-A of the potential threat.”

I scowl at him, stalking over to where he’s perched on Aizawa’s shoulder. “Our best interest? Or your best interest? These kids may be prepared to have their world completely flipped on it’s head but that doesn’t mean they’re ready for the fallout. Hell, I don’t know if I am ready for the fallout. I think you’re just trying to salvage any trust the commission has in you in some final hoo-rah. Or maybe you’re willing to sacrifice me for your ultimate goal. What am I, Nezu? Bait? An Ally? Or maybe I’m just another pawn in your scheme.”

Nezu gains a constipated look on his face, “Wanderer, I assure you this isn’t with any malicious intent for you in mind… I understand that the people on this side haven’t done much to retain your trust, myself included, but I promise you, just as I promised Kusanali before you came over here, I will not let you be hurt.”

I scoff, shaking my head. “What good will telling a bunch of students do?”

“It will help persuade the people against the commission.”

“You think they’re going to believe a bunch of highschoolers over pro heroes?”

“They will if pro heroes also back up their claims.”

I sigh, “It won’t be enough, Nezu. You haven’t seen the way people react in situations like these. The way they scramble. When people in Sumeru weren’t able to access the archons knowledge they scrambled for ways to fill in the gaps in their knowledge. When the borders of Inazuma finally opened after decades and decades of being closed they scrambled to find out how to adapt to their new freedom.”

“But they did, didn’t they? They adapted, and they overcame their confusion. Why will you not give these kids the same chance? Let them try and see the world through a different lens.”

I scowl, looking at the ground. What would Kusanali do in this situation? What would she say if I let a bunch of children run around like chickens with their heads cut off, not knowing who to trust and who their enemies are.

“Wanderer.”

My head shoots up, I swear that was…

My eyes find her, then, behind the wall of teachers before. “Kusanali.”

She smiles, that blindingly bright smile that tends to come out in the most stressful situations. The room seems to lighten with her presence. I hear hushed murmurs behind me, likely the class trying to figure out who she is, and how she got here.

“Do you remember when we first met? After the battle, I mean. You didn’t have any idea what had happened, did you?”

I shake my head, creasing my brows. Where’s she going with this?

“You wanted to know, right? Even after you figured out you had done something wrong, you wanted to know what you did.”

I nod, opening my mouth to speak, but I get cut off by her calm voice again.

“It may have changed your perspective at the time, but aren’t you happy you have all of the facts now? Without living a lie…”

I shake my head, going to refute her claim, stopping when I see her smile.

“Give these kids the same chance. A fighting…chance, to do whats right. Please. If nothing else, let them know the truth, of both sides. So they can actually choose who they’re fighting for.”

I open and close my mouth a few times before scowling and stalking towards Kusanali, placing a heavy hand on her head. “You like butting into my business don’t you?”

She laughs, “It’s my job as your archon.” She smiles again, grabbing my hand in her small ones, “More importantly. It’s my job as your friend.”

I huff and shake my head, “Sappy as shit.”

Clearing my throat, I look at Nezu, “You said everyone is here for the meeting already?”

He nods, and I sigh, turning back towards 1-A. “You’re welcome to come, don’t freak out when you see who this meeting is with.”

They glance wearily at each other and walk forward. I guess the Japanese Web is due for a meeting too. Though, it makes me worry how much more time we have until the commission notices.

Or maybe they already have…

Chapter Text

“No FUCKING way!”

Bakugo immediately makes his distaste known when he walks into the meeting room, seeing the League just, sitting there. I hear quirks start up and then Aizawa shuts them down.

“What did we say?”

Bakugo scoffs, “I didn’t think you meant the LEAGUE OF VILLAINS! There’s no way these bastards are out for anyone but themselves.”

There’s more arguments among the class, but they die down as Mina walks over to the small group of villains, each of them raising an eyebrow at her. Her shoulders are stiff, and her hands are a bit shaky as she gulps.

“If you’re here, that must mean the threat is pretty serious, huh?” She looks towards me and then back at the villains, Shigaraki leaning towards her. She takes a shaky inhale and then squares her shoulders. “Just so you know, this truce is over once the threat is gone.”

Shigaraki smiles that creepy ass grin of his and tilts his head, “Agreed, hero.”

Mina shakily exhales and walks away, turning towards me, “Well, I guess we’re deep in this now, huh?”

I sigh, a small smile making it’s way to my face, leave it to Mina to calm the room down enough to get shit done, but still keep everyone on edge. I feel like her and that Fontainian guy might get along. Then again, Mina could probably get along with a snail.

Making my way to a seat near Kusanali, I find myself seated in front of Shigaraki, and Mina taking up the seat beside me. Once everyone calms down, albeit extremely reluctantly, especially Bakugo, Nezu claps his paws together to gather attention.

“Okay, an introduction is in order.” He gestures at Kusanali. “This is Lord Kusanali, the god of wisdom and archon in Sumeru.”

Dabi smirks, his arms crossed over his chest, “God huh? Didn’t know we were in the presence of royalty, I would have dressed nicer.”

Kusanali laughs and waves her hand. “It’s nice to meet all of you, unfortunate it wasn’t under different circumstances.”

Kaminari chimes in from where he’s sat along the wall, where a lot of Class 1-A ended up sitting since the table may be long, but not that long, “The god of Wisdom…is a kid?”

I scowl at him and Kusanali puts a placating hand on my arm, smiling at Denki. “I appreciate the compliment! Considering I am actually around 500 years old.”

There’s shock around the room, I smirk slightly, but school my face again when I remember why we’re here.

Nezu regains attention, “Now, we’re here today to discuss what was found out in Wanderer’s recent visit to Sumeru, in which, if Kusanali has told me right, their allies joined to discuss their information.”

Kusanali nods, a smile on her face, “Exactly! We had people from most of the different nations, and I think we found out a lot of useful information for this upcoming fight.”

Izuku raises his hand and Kusanali smiles at him, he looks nervous but says, “We still don’t really know who this fight is against.”

Shigaraki scoffs, “Who else if not your precious commission?”

There’s a reverberating shock that seems to cause the tension to increase ten-fold, “The Commission?” I hear Iida ask, surprise in his voice.

Aizawa clears his throat, gaining the attention of the class again, I huff quietly, I guess no matter what bombshells get dropped on them, Aizawa is still their teacher at the end of the day.

“It’s come to our attention that the commission has been conducting…unethical experiments for a while now. Not only that, but they are planning on harming the people of Teyvat in the process.”

Momo’s brows crease, one of the few students at the table, “Experiments? Like science experiments?”

Kusanali nods grimly, “Except, they’re being performed on Teyvatians.”

Murmurs make their way around the outer edge of the room, but those at the table seem focused on the task at hand.

“Have we figured out what for yet?” Present Mic asks.

Me and Kusanali glance at each other, a silent conversation in our eyes. Discussing whether or not the heroes should be made known of the “gods” that the commission is trying to make.

Kusanali wins out and she turns to the room with a somber look on her face. “The commission is currently in the process of trying to create artificial gods.”

Vlad Kings eyebrows crease, “Artificial…gods?”

Kusanali nods, “Let me explain. Most of you know of our archons, correct? For those of you who don’t, archons are Teyvats gods. They choose who gets a vision, and rule the different countries. We believe the commission is trying to create artificial gods, as well as ways to capture quirks in vision like objects, as to prolong their use.”

“Is that even possible?” I hear Midoriya’s voice from further down the table. “Making gods from people who…arent?”

Kusanali eyes me for a moment before answering, “It’s borderline impossible for someone with no divinity at all to become gods, per say. However, those with divinity can. It has been done before in Teyvat. Not to mention, places like Natlan, another nation in Teyvat, have an archon that changes. So it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility.”

Kusanali takes the time to delve into ley lines and elemental energy, but I tune a large part of the conversation out. I don’t need to hear this again, after all.

I tune back in just in time to hear Toga ask Kusanali how she got passed the barrier, and turn towards the god in question.

“Oh! I’ve been working with an informant on my side on how to get through the barrier. We’ve established with the help of our sources that the barrier is made by a quirk, correct? In that case, like many of your quirks, there’s certain limitations to it. For example, the ships the commission has built. Thankfully, during the commission’s schemes, they had partnered with someone from our side for a little while, who has recently turned against them. Because the commission was using them for supplies, they let me know when their boat docked again, after you were there, Wanderer, and then I just…snuck on.”

I huff a laugh, leave it to Kusanali to sneak over a barrier during high tensions.

Nezu looks at Kusanali, “This informant, is it the captain from Mondstadt you were telling me about?”

I couldn’t hide my annoyance, that asshole pops up everywhere doesnt he?

Kusananli laughs, “Yep! The barrier happens to cut the sea above Mondstadt and Fontaine, and my connection in Fontaine is extremely busy all of the time so I went to Captain Kaeya and he offered his assistance.”

Oh, were saying names now. I guess they’re probably going to find them out anyway, so whatever.

“Wait, he’s a captain right? Shouldn’t he be really busy too?” Dabi asks, reasonable, I guess.

Kusanali smiles, “He does get busy, but he works with an entire organization whereas the man from Fontaine is mostly a one-man show.”

Dabi nods and Kusanali continues. “The problem with the Commissions god goal, is that they have decided that it would be more efficient to just invade Teyvat instead of try to recreate the things that give archons their divinity. I suspect they’re going to lower the barrier first, and try their luck at creating divinity once they have access to Teyvat’s magic, and if that doesn’t work, a complete invasion will take place…” She pauses, holding a finger to her chin, “honestly, they might invade no matter what, but they’ll be better equipped if they can achieve divinity beforehand. Not to mention, there’s been a minor… setback, in their experiments.”

Nezu leans forward, “Do tell.”

Kusanali sighs, looking at me for a moment before turning back to Nezu, “Wanderer has access to his vision on this side of the barrier. Others who were experimented on had no access to their elemental power.”

Nezu looks confused at the revelation, and stares at me for a moment before his eyes widen a fraction and he looks back at Kusanali, who nods her head.

Kusanali decides to explain, to avoid any confusion. I guess she figured I would be fine with it… I’m kind of not but I guess I can’t do anything about it now, she already said the words “god” and “Wanderer”, so even if she doesn’t finish her explanation, there’s gonna be people who catch on.

The shock in the room grows exponentially, Mina won’t stop staring at me and Midoriya started scribbling rapidly in a notebook. I sigh, holding the bridge of my nose and looking at Kusanali. To her credit, she looks very sorry.

I roll my eyes and lay a hand on her head for a second, I guess it probably would’ve had to be discussed if we wanted to get anywhere in terms of creating a battle plan. They needed to know that visions dont work here, and naturally that would cause the question of why mine does.

I can feel the eyes on me, and theres a thick tension. Thankfully, this is exactly how it was when I first went to the Akademiya, and of course, when I would talk during Fatui meetings.

Nezu clears his throat, “Okay… well, lets make sure to take that into account when we discuss how to solve this problem.” He looks at Kusanali, “I want to meet with your informants as well, I know it’s going to be extremely difficult, given the current situation, but sometime before the fight actually begins.”

Kusanali nods, “I agree, I’ll work on discussing it with them. I’m warning you that some of them might have a bit of a… dislike, for you guys, but I don’t doubt that they can hold off on arguing until the major battle is over…” She pauses and looks around, “Also, we may need a bigger room if everyone’s coming.”

Chapter Text

It took a while, and a lot of hushed conversations away from commission ears, but the meeting was planned, and soon, nonetheless. The bad thing is… the meeting is probably going to be the last straw for the commission. They’ll know for sure what’s going on. At least with the scanners, they can either assume I found them on a whim, or maybe a fight broke out and they got destroyed.

But with this, we’ll have to hijack a commission ship in order to get across the barrier. Thankfully, some of their ships are over there for days, maybe weeks at a time. So it gives us a bit of time before they notice. Unfortunately, it’s going to put us on a time crunch.

From what Kusanali has told me, once she snuck back into Sumeru, she immediately sent off messages to our allies in Teyvat. A lot of them were put off by the idea of going into Japan, where they’d have no access to their powers. Which was fair, honestly. This information was relayed to Nezu, who, with much hesitance, suggested that all of the Japanese go to Sumeru. However, that was met with even more hostility.

Eventually, it was decided that the Teyvatians would come to Japan, but messages would be released to all of their closest allies if they didn’t return quickly, and the comrades would be informed of the ships and how to get over the barrier. After which, Japan would fall to the military of all 7 nations. As well as the archons, once the barrier was lowered.

So then came the waiting game. Class 1-A got progressively more nervous. Especially around me. The whispers of “god” wouldn’t stop probing my ears whenever I passed by a small group.

Mina and Midoriya stopped talking to me. But, from what I’ve seen, it’s less because of them and more because of their peers, who had turned them away or distracted them whenever I came near.

Either way, I had taken, once again, to spying on the commission. One thing I had managed to do, which was a surprise to myself, was break into the commission building. The main one.

It had taken some time and a lot of reconnaissance, but eventually, there was a break in the commission’s patrols. When on group would leave and the other would take their place. There was a certain guard who wouldn’t wait until the next came. If the guard taking his place was even a minute late, he wouldn’t wait for him. He’d leave his post unattended. Just long enough for someone to slip through.

Once I had managed to sneak into the building, all of my fatui training had to be used to avoid eyes and alarms. I swear there was a guard around every corner. And as I got closer to the more restricted areas, the amount of guards would grow.

Which helped me figure out just which rooms I wanted to go into, of course.

One room I snuck into, I decided to take a page out of Nezu’s book and use the vents, which weren’t really big enough for me to use my arms and legs to crawl through, but I managed to use anemo to push myself instead.

Once I dropped into the room, I snapped pictures of a few important files, but nothing really caught my attention. I made my way back out of that room, and down the stairs towards another heavily guarded area.

After a few hours, nothing really jumped out at me, and i was about to count my losses and find my way out of the building, when I saw another staircase. Now, I’m not an architect by any means, but the place these stairs were located seemed very secretive.

The place being in the wall beneath another staircase, blocked by plants and vending machines and a big sign of a bunch of heroes signatures, my guess is that they signed it when they officially got their license. It’s a bit eerie at night, when there’s nobody in the hallways and hardly any light. Apart from the few in the hallways for nighttime, and, strangely enough, a light from behind one of the vending machines, on the side of the wall.

I sigh and slide anemo beneath the machine, lifting it just enough that it doesn’t scrape along the floor when I pull it from it’s spot.

I find another wall, which makes me internally curse myself before I see the difference between this wall and the one to the left. I tilt my head slightly and press my fingers to the smooth material of the wall. Almost like paper, really. I crease my brows when I realize the rest of the walls were harder, like concrete.

Pressing down on the wall, there’s little to no give. I sigh and glance around, I don’t like being so in the open like this.

Turning back towards the wall, I slash at the wallpaper and find a door, no doorhandle, which explains it not jutting out from the wall.

I push the door open and use anemo to put the vending machine back in place behind me. It wont fully cover the hole in the wall, but hopefully enough that people just walking by won’t think anything of it.

As I make my way down the, frankly rickety staircase, I hear the sound of voices coming from deeper in the building. I crouch down and peek around the corner. There, the commission president is talking to someone dressed in doctor scrubs, holding a clipboard.

“......don’t think he’s the best candidate.”

I can see the president’s face turn into a scowl, “He’s the perfect candidate! The people trust him, and he trusts us!”

“But using him would cost his humanity! That’s something that pulls people to him!”

“Oh please, he has no humanity. He’s an empty shell of a boy.”

The one in scrubs opens her mouth to refute the president but she gets cut off by the president, “It’s not like he’s in serious danger anyway! We have had successful trials! And he could be the leader of these trials! He would, in truth, be getting the better end of the bargain.”

The doctor sighs and nods her head, “Yes commissioner.”

“Good, now get back to subject 6, I have a feeling that one will awaken soon.”

I hear both pairs of footsteps walk off and I creep into the room. Immediately, my eyes catch the cameras in different rooms. Most being rooms with patients in them, each of them hooked up to some kind of pink liquid. I sigh and take another picture, before I spot something in my peripherals. Theres a wall of different pro heroes faces, as well as a few of the students in 1-A. Endeavor, Hawks, Best Jeanist, All Might, Mountain Lady, Miriko, Bakugo, Midoriya, Todoroki.

But only one had a checkmark down at the bottom, Hawks. I guess thats who they were talking about, then. They’re trying to turn Hawks into a god… and from what they said, it sounds like they’ve been somewhat successful so far with their other subjects.

I snap a picture, and pull the file laying down beneath the board into my hands, flipping through it, it seems like a bunch of nobodies, but the “subject 1”, “subject 2”, “subject 3” and so on clue me in to their role in all of this. These are the ones that they experimented on already. What I don’t understand is, why take the Sumerians still? There’s no Sumerians listed in the files…

I sigh and shake my head, for another time, for right now, I need to take the pictures of these names and get out.

______________

Once I make my way back into the dorm, I find the entirety of Class 1-A in the common room, bags under their eyes, Midoriya seems to be the first to see me and he moves towards me, putting a hand on my shoulder, then one on my face, moving it this way and that.

“Where were you? You aren’t hurt right?”

I blink in confusion at him, “What?”

Mina hits me in the head, “We thought the commission had took you stupid!”

I blink at her in confusion too, going to say something before Jirou speaks up too, “If you’re going on some sort of reconnaissance mission you need to tell someone, especially now.”

I shake my head in shock, trying to find something to say. Part of me wants to tell them I don’t owe them anything, since they’ve left me pretty much alone since they found out about the god thing. Another part of me doesn’t care. And the last part wants me just to agree to avoid anything unnecessary before the meeting.

I huff and pinch the bridge of my nose, “I haven’t told anyone thus far and I don’t intend on changing that.”

Mina looks angry, “You aren’t alone anymore Wanderer! And the commission is going to have an out for you now!”

I scoff, “Aren’t I, though? Don’t start pretending to care after weeks of whispering about me in passing. I don’t need your worry now, and I didn’t need it before. Go to sleep and stop bothering me.”

Midoriya looks surprised. “Wanderer we werent talking bad about you! We just… didn’t think you’d want to talk to us after what we did.”

I look at them confused for a second, before rolling my eyes and sighing. “I don’t have time to worry about this right now. The meeting is in two days, make sure you’re ready to meet a lot of interesting people.”

I turn to them with a glare in my eyes for a moment, “Some of them will appreciate the whispers even less than I do.”

Chapter Text

By the time the meeting came around, I wansn’t all too sure who was coming. After all, not only are they all hesitant to go to a place where their visions don’t work, they’re probably all having to take time away from their lives for this… The most worrisome is Neuvillette, who either isnt going to come, or will have left his country unprotected… Unless of course, he trusts the people there can protect themselves well enough in his absence.

The room ended up being one of UA’s training grounds, fitted with multiple tables with microphones at each chair, adjusted so that they wouldn’t be too loud, but loud enough for everyone to hear each other. All in all, Nezu went all out for this “little” meeting.

Once Class 1-A filtered in, taking up two tables themselves, each of them talking hushed to each other, the teachers decided to take their seats too. Separating into two groups to sit on either side of the students. Aizawa and Mic on one side, Vlad King and Midnight on the other. Nezu sat next to Aizawa, which put him somewhat at the head of one side of the room. The other head, was taken up by Kusanali, who I sat next to as we waited for the rest of the group to get here.

“I have to ask, Principal Nezu, how are the rest of the Teyvatians getting here? They would stand out a bit in Japan, right?” Momo speaks up.

Nezu smiles, “I’ve had a mode of transport placed near their landing spot.”

“You’re trusting more people with this secret?” I ask, shock in my voice. His lack of confidentiality is baffling to me.

Nezu smiles. “I entrusted their arrival to the League of Villains. I have no doubt they will be here momentarily.”

I hum, nodding. I guess that’s probably the safest way to do it, then.

No more than 5 minutes passed by when the familiar mist filled the room. Through it first were the League of Villains, Toga bounding in happily and taking a seat. Dabi sauntering in and sitting beside her, and of course, Shigaraki with that normal hard-on the back stance.

Then Ningguang and Kujou Sara walk in, and the room goes quiet as they make their way to their seats. The Knave and the Jester walk in next, and it feels like the room chilled as their found their seats, the furthest they could get from anyone else.

Then, of course, the familiar clacking of those damn shoes, I sigh and turn towards the ceiling as Captain Kaeya saunters through the portal. I feel his eyes land on me almost immediately and have to hold myself back from doing something rash when he decides to sit next to me. I figure that’s everyone, and expect the portal to close when a resounding clack echoes through the room. It lands a few more times before Neuvillette walks into the room and the room gets heavy.

Breaths get held and eyes forget to blink as he walks to his chair. Deciding to sit next to Kujou Sara and Ningguang, who ended up sitting near Nezu.

Mina is the first to break the silence, “Is everyone from Teyvat a supermodel or something?”

Her question lightens the tension a little bit, Ningguang and Kaeya let out small laughs.

Nezu claps his paws together and calls the attention to himself, “Thank you all for coming to this meeting, I understand getting away from your lives for such a long time is a difficult feat to accomplish. I am principal Nezu of UA.” As he says that, a plate pops up in front of him with his name on it.

“To my left is Shouta Aizawa and Yamada Hizashi, both teachers here at UA.” The plates with their names pop up as well. “Followed by Class 1-A, the class Wanderer has been a part of for the past few months.” The plates with all of their names pop up in their respective spots.

“Midnight and Vlad King are also both teachers at this school.” Their names pop up.

Kusanali claps her hands together. “I am the God of Wisdom and leader of Sumeru, Kusanali. Or Nahida, if you prefer.”

I sigh, “Wanderer, I am Lord Kusanali’s second in command.”

Kusanali smiles at me and both of our name plates pop up.

Kaeya gives a sly grin and waves his hand, “My name is Kaeya Alberich, Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius.” His name plate pops up, “Captain Kaeya”. Arrogant Prick.

The League introduces themselves quickly, as do the Knave and the Jester, Ninggang and Kujou Sara follow the same speed.

Once Neuvillette speaks, the tension returns to the room. His plate pops up, “Iudex Neuvillette.”

Nezu get the attention back. “Now that introductions are complete, lets begin the meeting, shall we?”

As we go through the information we discussed at the last meeting in Sumeru, those from Japan seem to get more and more worried, not to mention confused. Having to explain the concept of ley lines and archons took a while, but once they got it, they ran with it. Making their own theories that sometimes would tie into things we had discussed.

Kaeya hadn’t said much throughout, which was extremely concerning, but I wasn’t going to complain.

“Now that the recap is over, how about we move into things we’ve learned since then?”

I spoke to soon. Kaeya had to go and start talking. Kujou Sara looks at Kaeya with her arms crossed, “Did you have more to share, Captain? You were our main source of information last meeting, I half expected you to be… hitting a wall, by now.”

Kaeya smiles, apparently liking all of the attention being back on him.

“Well I’m not going to deny that for a while I figured I had done my part and was going to leave the rest up to all of you, I eventually was won out by…boredom.”

Oh my god can he please shut up?

“Would you care to enlighten us, Kaeya?” Ninggang asks.

“Oh, dropping the formalities already? You sure move fast.” He smirks and shrugs, “Fine. I decided to focus my efforts on the barrier. It’s a..quirk, yes? And we assumed before that the weakness of that quirk was the boats. That anyone on the boat could cross the barrier. However, that would either mean that the quirk’s weakness is the material of the boat, or something that masks the life forms on the boat. So I ran a few experiments. Regular Teyvatian boats don’t get to cross the barrier. However, the boat modeled after a Teyvatian boat that Kusanali kindly revealed Wanderer travelled on for the first half of his journey here was able to cross the barrier.” Kaeya pauses and blinks for a second.

“Speaking of which, that wasn’t suspicious to anyone at all? That they managed to create a replica of our boats, supposedly without crossing the barrier?”

He stares at everyone for a second before shaking his head, “Anyway, the Teyvatian ship was also able to cross the barrier. Which made me think of the quirk having a set time to open, but if it did, then we wouldnt have been able to get here today. So that leaves us with a material that can mask life forms, or some kind of liquid they applied to both ships.”

Kaeya doesn’t say anything else and everyone stares at him, waiting for him to reveal what the big secret is. He just glances at everyone and sighs, apparently finding all of this explaining exhausting.

“Lets consider this. What is something that the barrier blocks, something that doesn’t work here but does in Teyvat. Perhaps something that only activates or deactivates at the barrier.”

Kujou Sara questions, “Something like our visions? They didn’t deactivate until we were completely across the barrier.”

Kaeya smirks, “Something like that.”

Kusanali interjects. “Ley lines?”

Kaeya doesn’t say anything, but his smile grows. Kusanali sighs, “But that doesn’t make sense. How would they get access to the Ley Lines? Unless…”
The Knave interjects, “Unless they have a mole in Teyvat. That’s supplying them with the Ley Line essence”

I shudder a bit, “And the only people who know how to do that are scientists….I have one in mind.” I glance towards the Harbingers.

The Knave looks put off at that, but she doesn’t move to deny it or defend the Doctor.

“I thought the Tsaritsa ordered the Fatui to stop collaborating with the commission.” Ninggang adds.

The Knave sighs, “It’s possible The Doctor assumed this would be a better route to success. Perhaps he knows….” She glances at Kaeya, who raises his brows and smirks at her, before finishing her sentence for her.

“Perhaps, he knows Celestia will not be too pleased with the fake gods.”

Chapter Text

“Wait a minute. If he knows Celestia is going to attack, why help make fake gods?” Kaminari interjects. Very brilliantly, might I add. Almost like we haven’t already established—

“Because most Teyvatians have a vendetta against you.” The Knave responds. “Especially those from the nation of Khaenri'ah.”

Kaminari seems to fold under the powerful voice of the Knave. I wouldn’t really expect him to be able to withstand it anyways. She was always one of the Harbingers who could intimidate anyone.

“So what’s the plan, then?” Aizawa speaks up. “We have to battle fake gods and at the same time fight the ruler of the gods?”

Kusanali sighs, “Best case scenario, we won’t have to do either. But chances are the doctor has already made enough progress that the fake gods are in orbit.”

“They are… They have 6 subjects so far… They’re working on a 7th.” I interject.

Dabi crosses his arms, “Another file you found or something?”

I sigh, “Something like that…” I take a file out of my bag and pass a stack of photos to Kusanali, tossing identical stacks to Nezu, who unclips them and starts scanning through them.

“Where is this at?” Nezu asks, before passing the stack towards Aizawa, who starts looking through them as well.

“In the basement of the commission office.”

Aizawa raises an eyebrow from behind the pictures. “And how did you manage that?”

I shrug, “Some guy was late to his patrol.”

Aizawa doesnt look pleased with the explanation but decided to let it go and pass the pictures along.

Kusanali speaks up, having passed her stack as well. “They’re trying to mimic the seven.”

I nod, “And they said subject 6 was going to wake up anytime soon. Which leaves…”

The Knave jumps in again, “Subject 7. Any ideas who it could be?”

I nod, “One or two… There was a bulletin board with a bunch of different names but… Hawks was circled…”

There’s gasps from those who live in Japan, Mina especially. I look at her with a curious glance, she looks at me with pity.

“Wanderer, I’m so sorry.”

I crease my brows, “Why?”

Mina looks confused for a moment, “Weren’t you guys together?”

Kaeya spits his water out in a very dramatic showing and I sputter in Mina’s direction. “What?!”

“Well I just thought…with the date and everything—”

“What date?!”

“The one where he picked you up from the school…”

I think back in my mind, blinking rapidly before my eyes widen. “When we went flying?”

Mina winces…”Maybe..”

I sigh, rubbing my nose before I feel a weight hit me from my left. Kaeya….

“So, not even here for a whole year and already making moves? I didn’t peg you for the type.”

I roll my eyes and shove his hand off my shoulder. “It was not a date, and I don’t have any more of an attachment to Hawks than any of you do. Can we get back to the matter at hand now?”

Mina nods, “Sorry…”

I sigh, turning back towards the room as a whole, “Hawks is their prime candidate for subject 7. He’s meant to be the strongest one of the 7. I don’t know when they’re planning on getting him to start experimenting. But it’s safe to assume it will be soon. However, with us stealing their ship, it’s hard to determine whether they’re going to put off his experiment until they finish their invasion of Teyvat.”

Kusanali hums, “Fair point, they may want him in working order rather than in whatever induced sleep their other subjects were in.”

Kaeya tilts his head, “Hawks…that was the one with you when you came back to Sumeru the first time, right?”

I look at him for a moment, how the hell?

“Yes. He mustve been sent to gather information.”

Kaeya hums, “It stands to reason that he would be able to fudge that information.”

I deadpan at him, “Do you really think he would turn on an agency he’s been with since he was a kid to help people who he’s been taught are enemies his whole life?”

Kaeya tilts his head back and forth. “It’s unlikely, yes. But, perhaps he has a certain… liking, for someone.”

I blink at him, “You can’t still be on this.”

Kaeya gapes for a moment, waving his hand before leaning his head on it with a smirk on his face, “I just think it may be important to decide who’s side Mr.Hawks is on..”

I groan, holding the bridge of my nose, “We already established he’s more loyal to the commission than me.”

Kaeya holds his hands up in mock surrender and looks off in some random direction with that smirk still on his face.

Nezu clears his throat. “Well, in that case, the commission may be looking for more information on Wanderer. In which case, they may send Hawks. Perhaps we can keep an eye on him while he keeps an eye on us, yes?”

I roll my eyes, so I’m the bait again?

The Knave nods, crossing her arms, “It could work, some sort of double agent who doesn’t know theyre a double agent.”

I sigh, and of course, I’m at the forefront of it. What a pain.

Kusanali clears her throat, “Well, if that much is settled. I think it’s time to discuss the possibility of a battle.”

The Knave nods, “I agree, it’s likely that Celestia won’t be pleased, and if Celestia, or even just the Heavenly Principles attacks, there’s a chance that a large portion of Japan could be levelled.”

“The fake gods are probably not going to be used to their power yet. They’ll be the easier ones to take down. But, knowing that, the longer we take to attack, the stronger they’ll be.”

Kaeya interjects, “Well, if we stop them from turning this Hawks guy into a false god, then that’s already a step in the right direction. Not to mention the fact that they’ll be on our tail soon, considering we stole their boat…”

He tilts his head to the side, then looks over at Kusanali, “I wonder…”

I scowl, “Just spit it out asshole.”

He smirks at me and then lays his face in his palm. “I wonder, if the divine power was never torn from you, and it still lies within you, is it possible to give you a bit of an upgrade?”

Kusanali creases her brows. “It’s hypothetically possible, but there’s no way I’d allow for Wanderer to be put through that process again.”

Kaeya raises his brow, “Why not? It’s more power for our side and, if we consider the fact that the other archons might be in attendance, and extra divine strength on our side could definitely help..”

Kusanali sighs, “The process involves regaining the gnosis, which is no easy feat considering the Fatui hold most of them at this point in time.”

The Jester leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m sure we can make an exception if it would assist in taking down Celestia. That is part of our goal, as you know.”

I scowl at them, “And then what? Just gonna take it back afterwards?”

The Jester narrows his eyes at me, “That would likely be part of the plan, yes.”

I scoff, shaking my head, Kusanali puts a hand on my shoulder and then looks back towards The Jester and Kaeya. “Not only is this plan purely hypothetical, it’s also cruel. You’re suggesting giving him his heart back and then taking it back again.”

Kaeya raises his hands in mock surrender before he tilts his head again, making a humming noise.

The Jester looks at Kaeya, “Another idea, Captain Kaeya?.” Oh I don’t like that. It feels like there’s some underlying respect between the two of them that makes their conversations all the more unnerving.

Kaeya turns to me, staring me straight in the eyes, “Is it at all possible to access your divinity without the gnosis?”

I scoff, “You think I wouldn’t have tried that?”

He smirks, “I think there’s something in your way… or perhaps… there was something in your way. And now… well I just don’t think you’ve tried all that hard.”

I sigh, rubbing my nose, I don’t feel like arguing with him anymore. Kusanali intervenes, “The electro archon, the archon he was created by, sealed his power within him. The seal is tied to his body. It can likely only be lifted by the electro archon herself.”

Kaeya hums, “Well, putting aside the fact that the electro archon may be participating in this war herself, let’s assume she won’t release the seal on him. Have you tried to lift it, Lord Kusanali?”

Kusanali looks confused, “Why would I be able to lift it?”

Kaeya smirks, leaning back. “Look at it this way…seals, can be broken. There are seals in Sumeru, Inazuma, Liyue, Natlan… All of them can be broken. Of course, some are trickier than others. Some seals need items to lift them. For example….the electrograna in Inazuma, letting the wielder pass through barriers.”

The Knave clears her throat, “Please get to the point, Kaeya.”

He purses his lips in a grin, looking somewhat annoyed at being interrupted. “My point is, all seals can be broken. And that’s what this is, correct? A seal and not a curse?”

The Knave creases her brows, “We have established that it can likely be broken by the electro archon. What point are you trying to make?”

Kaeya sighs, putting his finger to his chin. “There are different kinds of seals throughout Teyvat. The ones that need things like electrograna, the ones that need you to match symbols, ones that need you to collect different sigils and place them on a site. My point is, there is a way for anyone to get passed these seals if they have either the intelligence or strength to do so. Whether they need sheer power or elemental control. Which begs the question, why did it take so long for someone to unseal Wanderer’s power?”

“Perhaps… to access the seal, the person looking needs an innate elemental energy… like that of an archon.”

I roll my eyes, “Then I would have been able to access it moron.” I reach behind my head, touching the back of my neck. “Plus, this damned thing didn’t even come off when I had become a god.”

Mina speaks up, the only student who had dared to utter a word in a while, since the tension in the room had risen so much.

“What are you talking about? There’s nothing on the back of your neck…”

I look at her with confusion, then back at Kusanali, who’s eyes got a bit wider as she holds a finger to her chin.

Kaeya smirks… “That…thing, on the back of your neck. Is it the seal?”

I glare at him, Kusanali answers for me.

“It is shaped like the electro sigil…” She looks at Mina, “You can’t see it?”

Mina shakes her head and Kusanali looks at the sigil with renewed curiosity. She goes to touch it and it’s like her hand passed through some invisible wall, the air shuddering with her movement as she placed her fingers over the sigil.

Nothing happens for a moment before I feel electricity course through me, shocking me and causing a pained noise to escape through clenched teeth.

Kusanali rips her hand away and looks shocked at me.

Kaeya hums, “I wonder if, because his power has been sealed, his body isn’t capable of handling it… And it’s not happening anymore, which makes me wonder what exactly it was that you just did… Because the seal obviously isnt broken yet, but there was a surge of electrical energy…”

Kaeya stands from his chair and moves behind me, I tense up and he huffs a silent laugh that only I can hear. Asshole.

He lifts his hand and tried to touch the seal, following the direction Kusanali’s hand took earlier.

It hits my bare neck and doesn’t send any electricity out.

“Interesting…Perhaps we need the gnosis itself after all. Maybe the fact that it’s connected to Celestia will outclass the power the electro archon holds…”

I sigh, “Can we move on please? We can work on this at a different time, there’s no time for experimenting right now.”

Kaeya moves back to his seat and leans back, “Fine, let’s discuss battle strategies or something. After all, the barrier is going to make things a little tricky.”

Chapter Text

By the time the meeting was over, I wanted to bash my head into the desk. Not only would Kaeya not shut up, but the rest of Class 1-A got more and more curious. Meaning, explaining things about Teyvat that was common knowledge for those of us from there.

The only thing that we managed to establish is a next meeting date, which would be in a month if nothing interfered with the plan before then.

In that time, those in Teyvat would work to set things up on their end. Trying to convince the archons to work with us, trying to get the Electro gnosis back so I could use it, which I was still a bit put off by, and collecting forces to protect the area along the barrier for if or when the commission invades.

On this side, Class 1-A has to behave as normal, which is easier for some of them, not so much for others. Throughout the meeting, they had grown fond of Kusanali, which, I can’t really blame them, not to mention, they’re trying to grapple with the fact that they’re going to be working with the League for the foreseeable future.

I, on the other hand, get to hang out with Hawks. Hooray.

____

“Hey strings! It’s been a while! I’m surprised you contacted me this time.” He smiles as he waves and walks up to me. I told him to meet me at the restaurant he took me to last time, and they ended up seating me in the same spot and everything.

Hawks sits in front of me and leans forwards, “So, hows it been? How’s the cat?”

I hum, smiling slightly, “He’s good, I named him Kiyoshi.”

“You named him huh? If I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t expect you to keep it for that long. You don’t seem like the type to get attached to pets like that.”

I shrug, “Reminded me of something from Teyvat.”

Hawks smiles solemnly, “Homesick huh?” He sighs and leans back, “I can’t even imagine being away from Japan for more than a few weeks, let alone almost half a year.” He looks back at me and leans his cheek on his hand. “Anything else interesting? Why the sudden meeting?”

I hum, “Not sure. Lord Kusanali told me I should try and socialize more so…” Not technically a lie, but honestly, the amount of socializing I’ve done up to this point is more than enough for me.

Hawks chuckles and looks off to the side. We talk for a while longer before leaving and going separate ways. If this is all that I need to do, then honestly, I probably have one of the easier jobs among the whole web.

_____________

When I get back into the dorms, the entirety of 1-A is once again sitting in the living room, I raise my brow at them and walk forwards. “Something going on?”

Mina looks up at me with scared eyes, pointing at the TV. I crease my brows and turn towards the TV, walking towards the group a little to get a better angle. On it is the Commission’s president, a few heroes scattered around them. All Might, Endeavor, Hawks, etc.

The Hero Public Safety Commission is proud to introduce our newest project. Project Genesis Protocol. This has been in the works for a little while, and we’ve finally made headway on our goal.

She smiles, a creepy, fake gesture.

The purpose of this operation is to ensure the legacy of our favorite heroes never dies. We have tested this on a select few subjects, all of which have consented to the experiments. Which were a huge success!

The Commission has successfully learned how to harness quirks, and enhance them.

Cameras start flashing, and the silence of the crowd is transformed into a chaotic, jumbled yell as they try to shout loud enough for the president to hear them.

The president waves a hand and the crowd gets a bit quieter, but there’s still a slight murmur.

There will be no questions at this time. Just know, there’s a new era coming, and Japan will be the most powerful it’s ever been.

The broadcast cuts off, and the living room is kept quiet. I bite my lip in thought and take out my phone, relaying the information quickly to Kusanali.

He knew, Hawks knew, when we were out, what was going to happen. And he didn’t say anything. I knew that jerk was acting strange.

I sigh, “It seems like things are progressing a lot faster than we previously anticipated… It’s probably wise to start looking for the location of the barrier’s control room now.”

Midoriya looks worried. “I thought the whole point of waiting was so you didn’t get caught. You can only sneak into so many places before you slip up Wanderer.”

I hum, “I know, but there’s no time to waste now. If the commission is announcing it, that means their plans are going well. It’s likely they’re going to try and experiment on Hawks soon, and if that’s the case, we better hope the archons join the battle or else we’re severely outnumbered.”

Jirou creases her brows, “Have we gotten any update on the whole divinity thing for you? I imagine if Lord Kusanali was talking to the electro archon, she might have an idea of how to take the seal back off, right?”

I tilt my head back and forth. “She probably forgot all about it, honestly. It was 500 years ago.” Of course, that’s not the actual reason she’s probably forgotten, but they don’t need to know that.

Jirou nods, apparently accepting that reasoning, and my phone goes off.

The rest of the archons are in
Especially the anemo archon.
He was very enthusiastic about
“working with his best buds.”

I huff a laugh and start sending back an answer before she writes again.
The Tsaritsa is in. The gnosis is
yours during the battle.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

I sigh, if it comes down to it, I guess I could handle it again. After all, third times the charm.

Chapter Text

That night, I had talked tirelessly with Kusanali on different avenues when it came to reawakening my divinity. After all, when I got a bit of my power back, my body couldn’t handle it. Or rather, it rejected it.

She mentioned something about the robotic body I had made for when I became a god the first time, and, while it’s viable, it would be incredibly difficult to rebuild the broken robot.

She sent a small smiley face after I said that, and I felt a sense of fear wash over me. Because what exactly does she have in mind?

As the night went by, I kept checking my phone for an update from her, but by the time it was 3 in the morning, I realized I probably wasn’t going to get one.

Sighing, I reach my hand up to touch the back of my neck again, running my fingers along the seal. What a pain in my ass, this thing. It ruined my life once and now it just might do it again.

Dropping my hand back down to my lap, I wipe my face and get my notebook back out. It’s been a while since I’ve practiced, it seems like I might need it now more than ever.
_____________

Walking into class the next day was a tense experience. All of the students whispering amongst themselves. Separated into their little groups that seemed to have naturally been made throughout the year.

I sit in my seat and get my notebook out, I don’t have to hold back from practicing in front of people anymore, thankfully. Because not only do they all know, but they’re gearing up for the same battle.

I go back to my sketch of the Samachurl and crease my brows for a second. Samachurls’ tornadoes are the most easy to replicate, but the tornadoes I’m attempting to create are more similar to the Anemo hypostasis in Mondstadt.

I sigh, biting my lip. It’s times like these that I wish I could go and fight with the hypostasis, just once, so I could get a better grasp on it’s abilities.

If the reports are correct, the hypostasis can sustain multiple tornadoes at once. And big ones. Some of it’s other abilities are a bit similar to mine as well. For example, the one that seemably pulls the aggressor towards itself. It reminds me a bit of the vortexes I create.

Hypothetically, I should be able to sustain tornadoes like that. Especially if our abilities are similar…

I flip to an empty page and draw multiple exes across the open book. Putting my pen down, I focus and create a small tornado on one of the exes, hoping to keep it in place while I create another one.

The first three are easy. All of them landing perfect in their places, and staying solid.

The fourth is where it gets a bit tricky. My second tornado waivers with the exertion, and the first slightly shifts on it’s place.

I focus on the tornadoes, and try to create a fifth one, but once I do that, the tornadoes dissipate.

So working on focus is important, then.

I sigh and rub my nose, there’s many ways to improve focus. A lot of times, it’s cleaning your workspace. Blocking out noise. But those things don’t work in a fight, not well anyways.

So the next best thing is to listen to your surroundings. Keep track of everything. If you can’t block the noise, adapt to it. A battlefield is anything but quiet. If you can only focus in silence, your abilities will never be anything outside of practice.

Visualize it in your mind… I’ve never seen the tornadoes of the anemo hypostasis. So my tornadoes are based on those of the Samachurl, with the strategy the hypostasis is said to use.

Each x isnt a spot on a piece of paper. It’s an enemy, a group of them that needs to be brought down. Or else Sumeru will fall. And the rest of Teyvat.

They say to imagine targets as people you hate. The problem is, my mind supplies me too many to fit on a page. Not to mention, I don’t want their help, even if they’d only be targets for my rage. I don’t want to feel like I owe them anything.

So I take a deep breath, tune into the rest of the class. The whispers, the sound of chairs creaking with their movement, the slight writing of pencils, if not writing, tapping. Then, the more hidden sounds. Hair swishing, fingers sliding against desks, pens clicking out. You get the idea.

Each of those sounds is assigned a number in my head, and suddenly, the sounds become louder, and louder, until my brain can’t take it, and it needs a way to take the pressure off of itself.

And the only way it can think to do that is through physical representation… In this case, I molded them into tornadoes, each of them in their respective place on my page. Some sitting outside the book, on the desk. I guess I focused on too many sounds, then.

I’m able to sustain them for a while, before the sound of the door sliding open causes my eyes to fly towards the entrance, Aizawa standing there.

“Get up, we’re going to train early today.”

The class murmurs for a moment. Bakugo is the first to stand, with a huffed out noise as he makes his way out of the door. His group of friends following, and then Midoriya, who the rest of the class seems to follow out.

I sigh, while this is heart warming and all, let’s be honest, this class is going to get wiped out fast if they don’t get their shit together fast.

Which I imagine is why we’re here now. In the training room, Aizawa standing in front of everyone with, guess who? Captain fucking Kaeya.

I scowl in his direction, he smirks at me and turns towards Aizawa, who starts introducing the lesson plan.

“Considering the fact that we are fast approaching a potential battle, and you all are adamant on participating in it, I figured we’d get someone in here to help teach the ins and outs of Teyvat’s battle tactics.”

Momo raises her hand, “No offence Aizawa-sensei, but I thought Wanderer would suffice? Why bring in Captain Kaeya when he could be helping in Teyvat right now?”

Kaeya smiles, “Because Wanderer here may understand battle tactics, but he isn’t keen on teaching people weaknesses that could apply to him.”

I huff, “And you are?”

Kaeya smirks, “Of course not, but it’s what we have to do, no? Besides, if I know my weaknesses, why wouldn’t I have ways to protect against those weaknesses already? Hm?”

I scowl again, egotistical asshole.

Chapter Text

I see Mina glance at me, worry in her eyes. Considering all of them were at the meeting, they have to know how much I hate this loser.

Kaeya keeps his eyes on me, the smirk never leaving his face. I roll my eyes and turn away from him, looking at Aizawa instead, who seems to be briefing the rest of the class on how this training exercise is going to go.

While he does that, Kaeya walks over to me, a more serious expression on his face.

I scowl at him again, “What do you want?”

He tilts his head at me, his face fighting a grin. “I was going to give you some information, but if you’re going to be so pissy about it then I won’t bother.”

I roll my eyes, “It’s likely Kusanali already told me.”

Kaeya’s eyes widen, “Oh? Has she?”

I narrow my eyes at him, I don’t appreciate his tone. It’s almost teasing, like he already knew Kusanali had shared some information with me. Which means… “You know something else, don’t you?”

Kaeya smiles, sighing and glancing around the room for a second. There’s been another sighting of the commission in Teyvat, their boat is near an island off the coast of Mondstadt, which, based on their original landing, means-”

“They know we’re looking for them.”

Kaeya nods, crossing his arms over his chest, “Not only that, it’s likely they’re gathering information now. Whereas before, information was useful, but not their main goal. It seems the invasion is getting closer and closer.”

“Why Mondstadt as a starting point though? Why not Sumeru?”

He hums, “It likely that they thought they could avoid detection for a while, nobody every really travels out to that island. And nobody every gets close enough to the coast to see it either. Or perhaps, they plan to push everyone into the nation closest to Japan and then launch an invasion on all sides.” His voice trails off.

It makes sense. If they pushed everyone in Mondstadt into Liyue, and then into Sumeru, maybe even into Natlan, it would give them the advantage of surrounding the enemy. And Inazuma is isolated, it’s still recovering from the battle with the Raiden Shogun as well… so they may be in danger if the Commission targets them separately.

I rub the bridge of my nose, “So how exactly do we stop them? We can’t draw too much attention to ourselves.”

Kaeya smiles, “Well, we know they’re looking for information, right? Let’s just… give them what they want.”

“Hah?”

Kaeya tilts his head, “If you can control information, you can control people. So lets just… give them the information. Just, sprinkle in a little bit of misleading stories. For example, we all know about the dangerous desert in Sumeru. I heard, there’s a god lying dormant there, who attacks any outsiders who intend to harm it’s people.”

I crease my brows at him, “King Deshret?”

Kaeya shrugs, “Maybe, that’s the magic of fudging the truth. If you do it just right, it sounds real because of all of the history surrounding the place. Who knows if he’s just lying dormant? History says he’s dead but, well, who’s to say?”

I sigh, “You’re infuriating.”

“Thank you.”

I roll my eyes, then refocus on him. “So, what about Mondstadt? Any local legends there?”

“Many. The Anemo Archon statue watches over Mondstadt, and when it detects a threat to the freedom it presides over, it invokes a storm to keep out any unwanted guests.”

I raise my brow, it does sound like it could be true, especially with Mondstadt’s history. When Barbatos reshaped Mondstadt with his winds. And it could dissuade them from attacking, after all, why engage in a senseless battle if there’s something they don’t completely understand protecting them.

“But their goal is to take over Teyvat, this shouldn’t dissuade them too much, especially since they think they’re stronger than us in every way, right?”

“True, but, even so. If they prepare to face something like that in Mondstadt, then that weakens their offense elsewhere. After all, they have a lot of troops, but Teyvat is vast. And them underestimating us can help too. Consider the fact that Morax is supposedly dead, they’re going to focus less of their forces there, but the people of Liyue are strong. They defeated Osial’s wife, after all. And they continue to thrive without the help of their archon.”

I nod, it makes enough sense, and even though I don’t like the guy, one thing I can admit is that he knows how to spin a story.

“So what are you doing here and not spreading lies to a bunch of invaders?”

Kaeya smirks, “I have other people to do that. I did the most I could without garnering suspicion, after all, one person can’t give them all of their information. That would be a little too out of the ordinary.”

I hum, true…

I don’t like agreeing with him.

“Captain Kaeya.” I hear Aizawa’s voice break through the quiet of the room.

The man in question looks up at Aizawa and smirks. “I suppose that’s my cue.”

He walks to the training mat in the center of the room and crosses his arms. “As I’m sure you know, or maybe you don’t, there are seven different elements in Teyvat. Anemo, Geo, Electro, Dendro, Hydro, Pyro, and Cryo. Or, in layman's terms; Air, Earth, Electricity, Plants, Water, Fire, and Ice. As an example, I am a cryo vision wielder, whereas Wanderer is an Anemo vision wielder. Elemental power can be molded into attacks of your choosing. To demonstrate…”

He flicks his hand and a ring of sharp icicles circle him.

“There are some attacks that can act as a sort of shield between you and the enemy, or,”

He shoots a blast of ice from his hand, “You can use it against them.”

He smiles, “But I’m sure you already know that, from working with your quirks, right?”

He sighs, the icicles crumbling. Walking towards the side of the room, he grabs a sheath, pulling a sword from it.

“The difference is, our visions don’t tend to be our only weapon. Unless, of course, you’re talking to someone who uses a catalyst. The main weapons you will see used by Teyvatians are swords, claymores, polearms, catalysts, and bows. I personally use a sword.”

“For now, I won’t fight with a sword, but as we progress, I’ll use a fake sword to show you how different a fight can go when one person has another weapon.”

He moves to put his sword back and then stands at the center. “Okay, who’s first?”

Chapter Text

A few minutes passed, most of the class had apparently silently agreed to try and beat him without their quirks at first, but, once they realized that wasn’t working, they gradually started using them.

Most of them still couldn’t do much because of Kaeya’s ice, though. The circling icicles getting close to cutting those who went in for a hit, and sharp spines of ice shooting from the ground. It was almost like if Todoroki still only used his ice side.

As expected, those two clashed hard.

The sound of their ice hitting each other was terrible. Scraping and crashing all at once, causing a lot of the other students to lose their focus. Especially Jirou, who had to cover her ears more than once.

After a little while, Todoroki’s quirk started running up his arms, and small puffs of breath could be seen leaving his mouth. Kaeya stands straight up and nods.

“Better than I expected, but all of you need to remember the limitations of your powers.”

The rest of the class stood off to the side, some scratches and cuts visible, but most of them were just exhausted.

“One thing all of you have to train is endurance, not only with your quirk, but your normal fighting as well. I’m not an expert on quirks by any means, but it seems that you seem to use them more as you get more tired. I assume it’s a way for you to make up strength you start to lack as you get more sluggish.”

He sighs, crossing his arms. “How should I put this…? You can’t rely on a sudden surge of power in every fight. You won’t always have reserve strength to give. It seems to me like you think your willpower alone will be enough to overpower enemies, but that isnt true at all. You need to refine your basics. Endurance, technique, balance, focus, strength, speed. All of these need to be refined before you have a chance at beating any of the fake gods the commission are making.”

Some of the class looks a bit angry at the implication, but the majority seem keen on listening.

“I’m here for a few more days, we’ll train with the fake sword tomorrow. For right now, I need to get a better understanding about what level each of you are on in terms of basic technique.”

He seems to be doing a lot better than I personally expected. I assumed his ‘teaching’ would just be him making everyone mad enough to beat him, but I guess if that was the case, he wouldn’t be so high up in the Knights of Favonius.

Another one of those moments where, despite my hatred for the guy, I have to admit that he knows what he’s talking about.

_______________________

When our class is finally dismissed, Kaeya follows me towards the dorms, of course that asshole is staying here, I should have figured.

“So, what have you figured out so far?”

I sigh, “The commission is moving fast. They already released their plans to the public. They didn’t go into detail, of course, but Hawks was there and not turned yet. I’m not sure when they plan on preforming the experiments on him.”

He nods, pursing his lips. “They have 6 ready, right? They may send them out beforehand for a trial run.”

I raise my brow, “You think so? The experiments seem to send the subjects into a coma of some sort. They might not want him out of commission when the fight starts.”

Kaeya nods, “True. But if the fight doesn’t really start then who’s to say?”

I narrow my eyes, “What do you mean?”

He turns a bit towards me, “They may release one of them, frame them as an enemy, and then test the hero’s strength against them. After all, if the heroes can beat it, then there’s no hope of them being seen as gods, right?”

It, unfortunately, makes sense. But in that case, anything we do could be bad for us. If we attack the fake god and win, the commission will work on making the gods stronger. If we lose, then there’s a god running rampant and the commission may start working on Hawks right away. If we do nothing, then, well, the commission will, and the public’s trust will shift.

“It’s a lose lose situation.”

Kaeya hums, “Seems that way. But, alternatively, this could be a chance for us as well. We can test ourselves against these false gods. Perhaps there’s a secret to how they’re gaining their power. Or maybe Celestia will be upset enough that she unleashes the heavenly principles on the commission before they can even try to invade Teyvat.”

“That still wouldn’t make us completely in the clear.”

“No, but if the fake gods are wiped out, that leaves Celestia. And who knows, maybe we aren’t too big of threats to her balance. I suspect once you unlock your divinity again, that will be a major red flag on her radar. Unfortunately, if everything goes the way it seems like it will, you divinity will be necessary.”

I cross my arms, walking through the door to the dorms once we get there. “I’m still not sure how to access it though, we’re going to need the gnosis.”

Kaeya shrugs, “Maybe we will, maybe we won’t. Either way, we’ll figure it out eventually. The Tsaritsa has already agreed to let you use it if worse comes to worse… But I have a feeling you won’t need it.”

I narrow my eyes, “What are you not telling me?”

Kaeya looks at me, “Nothing. It’s just a genuine hunch this time. You think so little of me Wanderer? I’m hurt.”

I scoff, rolling my eyes, “Whatever.”

While I walk up to my room, I hear Kaeya’s teasing voice, “Sleep tight~”

Chapter Text

Im stirred out of my daze at the sound of yelling. The smell of smoke.

I make my way down the stairs quickly, seeing other students do the same, the very obvious intruder causing alarms to go off in the building. Flashing red as the intercom tries to be heard over the yelling, telling everyone to evacuate.

I curse through my teeth, seeing a person, their eyes dazed, as if in a trance, in the room. Their hands alight, the mockery of a pyro vision ingrained in their forehead. Almost like a brand.

He blasts a stream of fire in the direction of a few of the students, them ducking out of the way. A wall of ice stops the fire from continuing, and I nod towards Todoroki where he stands with his hand out.

I sigh and gather anemo in my hands, flying towards the mockery of a god. Im shocked by the quick reflexes it seems to have as he shoots his hand out towards me. I send a quick blast of air to shove it away.

I hear the door slam open, some familiar voices commanding the room. Aizawa, Kaeya, Present Mic, all of them trying to get the students out of the danger zone. Especially ones who are sensitive to the situation. Ojiro, Jirou, Tokoyami. As soon as the students are safe, the heroes turn towards the enemy, I back up and join the group to figure out the best course of action.

Kaeya speaks up, “A bit sooner than anticipated. Seems its modeled after the pyro archon.”

I sigh, “Astute observation.”

Kaeya lets out a humorless laugh, “It has a sigil in its forehead. Wonder if it matters.”

Him and his weirdly open ended comments, I sigh. “I guess thats the first target then.”

Present Mic wastes no time in letting out a loud yell, stunning the enemy. Unfortunately, it seems to only partially work, as more fire protrudes from his body.

Aizawa curses and throws his scarf around Mic, pulling him back away as Kaeya shoots ice along the floor, stopping the spread somewhat.

I shoot blades of anemo at the false god, they fly around, avoiding the flames as to not grow them any more. I feel the fire bite at the back of my neck, I have to grit my teeth against the burning sensation, firing more blades.

One of them manages to hit the god in the stomach, throwing them back long enough for Kaeya to shoot an icicle at his forehead, piercing the skin, but surprisingly not any further.

The god falters for a moment, the haze slightly fading from his eyes before it renews itself and we see a glow from the hole in the skin. Showing that the brand goes even deeper.

Mic curses, “What the hell?”

The god seems to hesitate for a moment before retreating through the giant hole it made in the wall of the dormitory. We stay alert for a moment, deciding whether or not to chase the false god.

Aizawa, Mic, and I begin to pursue it, when Kaeya calls out, “Stop!”

We turn around, Mic angry at he interruption. “We need to make sure he doesnt hurt anyone else.”

Kaeya shakes his head, “They got what they wanted already. This was a test.”

Aizawa turns to Kaeya, “Who’s to say they won’t test this on civilians?”

Kaeya hums, crossing his arms. “It’s possible they will, but unlikely. This trial run was likely to determine the false god’s power level compared to others. Which is why they attacked the hero dorm.”

I sigh, walking over to the large hole in the wall and looking in the direction that the false god went. “It was strong, but definitely not comparable to an archon.”

Kaeya nods, “I agree. I doubt they even hold a candle to the Fatui Harbingers. And if that’s the case, The Doctor would know that. Which further confirms the theory that he’s sabotaging the commission from the inside.”

I take my phone out, snapping a picture of the large hole in the wall and sending it back to Kusanali with a small summary of what happened.

“That thing in it’s forehead…. I guess that was their vision.”

Kaeya nods, “I imagine it works more like a quirk than a vision, but it’s transferable… It’s likely in their brains, or perhaps its in their blood… Either way, we know that their bodies are going to be heavily reinforced once we fight them once and for all.”

I hear Mic sigh, “I need to message Nezu. He knows already, probably, but we need to get this wall fixed and the walls reinforced.”

Aizawa nods, “Ask if he’ll set up a session or two with hound dog for each of them as well. Getting attacked in the place they sleep could lead to problems.”

Mic agrees and sends off a message that, judging by the amount of clicks, was nothing short of a paragraph.

Kaeya claps his hands together. “Well, this has been eventful, but I believe it’s time for us to return to bed.”

I raise my brow at him, pointing at the large hole in the wall, “What do you intend to do about this?”

He shrugs, “Have Miss Yaoyorozu create a tarp, or something like that. We’ll just cover it up for the night. I anticipate they wont want to sleep alone either way. The common room will likely be full for a few nights.”

Aizawa nods, walking with Mic to get the students and tell them the details of what happened. Kaeya turns towards me, a smirk on his face. I crease my brows and look at him with narrowed eyes.

He chuckles and shakes his head. “Did you notice anything weird while you were fighting?”

I cross my arms, “Besides the fact we were fighting an artificial god? No, nothing.”

He hums, “Your neck was glowing, the back of it. Thats where the seal is right?”

Confused, I raise a hand to my neck, wincing as it’s hot to the touch, I pull my hand back and see that my fingers are red from the heat.

“What the hell?”

Kaeya tilts his head, “It seems to me your seal is getting more and more unstable, I wonder why…”

I huff, raising my hand to the now cooling spot on the back of my neck again, tracing the electro sigil there. Why is it acting so weird all of a sudden?

Chapter Text

I can tell he’s trying to avoid talking about it. But he never avoided uncomfortable conversations with anyone else. So it makes me wonder what exactly he’s hiding, if he’s so worried about bringing it up.

I find myself cornering him after the chaos had settled, I find him walking into his room. I tug him back slightly with a hand on his shoulder.

I see him turn, his blue hair swaying and the signature smirk on his face. “Yes?”

I cross my arms over my chest, raising my brow. “How did you do that?”

Kaeya looks confused, but I’m sure he knows exactly what I’m talking about.

“You know what I’m talking about asshole. How did you use cryo?”

Kaeya chuckles, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

I huff, “Yeah, actually. I would like to know. Because if you’re holding back something that could be important to this mission believe me—”

“It’s because I’m from Khaenri'ah .”

I look confused at him, “That doesn’t make any sense, if that was the case, then The Jester and The Knave would have been able to use theirs as well. There’s something else to it, isn't there?”

Kaeya sighs, gesturing for me to come into his room. The room itself is plain, probably because he’ll only be here for a few days. The only things I can see are a couple books, some notes, and a phone laying on his desk. I guess he got one too, then.

He turns to me, crossing his arms over his chest. “So, the ley lines are cut off.”

I wait for him to continue, when he doesn’t, I just nod, hoping for him to go on.

“Only those with divinity can access their abilities.”

He pauses, glancing at me, a smirk on his face.

I crease my brows, “There’s no way you’re related to any sort of divinity. Especially since you weren’t even born in Khaenri'ah when it was still standing, you were born to people from Khaenri'ah. In which case, you’re even less likely to hold any sort of ability. You didn’t even get the immortality factor.”

“Except, if my parents held some sort of divinity, that point would be moot. Because the divinity they held will have been passed down to me in some form, whether it be at the same strength or not.”

I scoff, “And what divinity did your parents hold, exactly? If I remember correctly, Khaenri'ah was a nation without gods.”

He smirks again, “Well, there is a higher divinity than the archons in this world, ones who happened to weaken with the emergence of said archons. Ones that couldn’t fight back with their full power when we were taken over.”

I narrow my eyes, “Are you trying to tell me you’re related to a dragon sovereign? In that case, why do you have a vision? Which sovereign?”

Kaeya chuckles, as if what I said was ridiculous. I have to stop myself from punching him.

“Sovereigns don’t work like that. Just because I am his son, it doesn’t mean that I am a sovereign myself. In fact, I wasn’t gifted my vision until I was about 18 years old. However, I did always find myself more… in tune, to things involving elemental energy. Especially the statues of the seven. They tend to make my head hurt when I walk past them.”

I sigh, “So you’re related to a sovereign, but you’re not a sovereign. You just have the elemental energy that got passed down to you because you’re related?”

Kaeya smiles, “Bingo.”

“That’s fucking stupid.”

He laughs, his hands on his stomach. “Yes, I suppose it is.”

“So….was Khaenri'ah a nation that worshipped the dragons?”

Kaeya tilts his head back and forth. “Worshipped, is not the right word. More like… respected. We didn’t bother them, and they didn’t bother us. We just lived harmoniously. They were glad to be somewhere that didn’t worship those who stole their power.”

I hum, staring at him for a second before sighing. “That really is dumb.”

Kaeya shrugs, “It’s the truth.”

I groan, “I know it is, that makes it worse.”

“Though, sometimes I do wonder if my lineage makes me part dragon. Though, considering the lack of perks that’s given me so far, I haven’t made finding out my top priority.”

Kaeya hums, “I wonder… does that make my divinity better than your divinity?”

I scoff, “As if. I was made to be a god. Your divinity is the leftovers from your dad.”

Kaeya chuckles again. “I suppose.”

He sighs, “Anyways, I am actually going to go to sleep now, some of us have working bodies that need sleep to function.”

I roll my eyes, going to walk out of the door. “Bye asshole.”

“Goodnight~”
___

The next morning, we end up in the gym room again, Kaeya in the center. Nezu was there as well, sitting on Aizawa’s shoulder. As we walk in, the kids seem more nervous than they were last time, which is saying something considering they were still very weary of Kaeya before.

Nezu speaks first, calling attention to himself. “As you all know, the dormitory was attacked by the commission’s experiment last night. We have discussed it, and we’ve come to the agreement that last night was a test.”

Momo questions this, “A test? Are they testing us?”

Nezu nods, “In a way. They’re testing both you and their creation. Their goal is to figure out how the strength of their creation matches up to those who will oppose them in the final fight. Now, after discussing it with Sir Kaeya, we’ve determined that their “visions” are contained in their bodies. Which are extremely reinforced. That being said, we need to work on everyone’s endurance. Because beating these creatures will take time. And you may have to fight more than one.”

Kaeya nods, the attention going back to him. “That being said, I’ve heard that most of you have worked on your endurance at the training camp you attended. Which is good, we have a baseline. However, we need to increase it even more. Not only does your quirk need endurance, your body needs endurance.

It’s time to get serious.”

Chapter Text

By the time the training had ended for the day, the majority of the class, save a few, looked well on their way to passing out. A select few actually had. Mineta, Aoyama, and Koda had all gotten escorted to Recovery Girl’s office after not being able to take any more exercise.

There were, of course, the few that were still going. Todoroki, who, if the whispers from the students who had dropped out are correct, was trained ruthlessly by his father.

Mina, who’s dance background likely attributed a lot to her stamina and endurance. Right now, the training is mostly who can run the longest. Everyone was put on the same speed. Kaeya had said something about the first endurance training being more for him to test everyone’s limit rather than making them race or fight.

Eventually, Mina also dropped out, leaving Todoroki as the winner. Once Kaeya told him he could stop, he stepped calmly off the treadmill, wiping his chin from the sweat there and looking towards Kaeya, who had a smirk on his face.

“So there’s hope after all.” He turns to address the rest of the class. “The majority of you have average baselines in regards to actual stamina. You may have trained your quirks, but what use is a quirk when it’s being used by someone huffing and puffing from running a few miles?”

“Congrats to the few of you who made it past 30 minutes, you’ve officially beaten the average. For the next class, you will be training your endurance in regards to attacking something. I’ll likely have punching bags in here, and you’ll be throwing punches until there’s only one of you left.”

He turns to Aizawa, having an eyebrow raised, likely making sure there’s nothing wrong with the lesson plan. Aizawa, who had been standing off to the side for the majority of the lesson, aside from when the students fainted and needed to be escorted out, just nodded.

He seemed to be somewhat disappointed in the stamina of his students, as he had an expression on his face that seemed to wither the spirits of some of the kids.

Mina walks slowly over to me, I had refused outright to do the training exercise. Mostly to mess with Kaeya. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to care all that much, which made me more pissed off. So I guess that plan was a total bust.

She’s panting from running, holding her knees. “I’m beat.”

I huff, “You should go rest, it’s gonna be worse tomorrow.”

She groans and nods, standing up and looking at me, “What about you?”

I shrug, “I’m probably going to stay here for a bit longer, discuss everything again.”

Mina sighs, “Adult stuff huh?” She puts a hand on my shoulder, half in a comforting gesture, and half to hold herself up. “Remember if it gets too much, you can talk to me, kay?”

I huff and nod. “Worry about getting back to the dorm without falling over first.”

She chuckles and sighs, taking her hand off my shoulder and starting to walk away towards the exit. “I’ll do that.”

After the students get to the door, I’m surprised by a quiet call of my name, almost like the person is trying to be secretive about it. Turning, I’m shocked to see Bakugo, who I honestly didn’t think was capable of being anything else than obnoxiously loud.

“Yes?”

He huffs, stuffing his hands in his pockets and getting closer to me, glancing towards the door and making sure it’s fully closed. From what I can tell, Aizawa and Kaeya had left to go to Nezu’s office as well, out through the other side of the gym.

“What else needs to be improved?”

I raise my brow, “You mean, for you?”

He scoffs, “Yeah right, like I need any improvement. I’m just trying to get ahead for the next training exercise, can’t have that half and half bastard beating me again.”

I deadpan at him, he stares angrily at me, making excuses for what feels like 30 minutes before he finally throws his hands up, “Fine! Yeah, for me.”

I hum, crossing my arms. “You’re cocky.”

He stands quietly for a few seconds before getting an angry expression on his face, “Hah?!”

I sigh, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “If you go into a fight thinking you’re going to win, then you don’t pay as much attention to outliers. Things like weapons, or the gear the enemy is wearing. You may be somewhat ahead of your peers, but you still have a long way to go before you graduate.”

He seems angry still, but at least he isn’t yelling. I figure, I usually wouldn’t do something like this. Help someone get stronger, I mean. Not if I thought I could eventually be fighting them. But honestly, I think the risk is much lower than the reward here. If he wants to be able to fight the false gods, who am I to deny him that?

“You have good focus, but you’re easily agitated. You’re punches and kicks serve no other purpose than to harm who you’re aiming at. In reality, you should be trying to set up openings, pull their guard away from the spot you’re aiming for. You seem to have been trained to break through blocks, but why not save that energy and move the block instead?”

“You aren’t exactly stupid either, Bakugo. Use that to your advantage. If you can find weaknesses fast in a fight, then you can conserve energy for the next one.”

He makes a huffing noise, “Finding weaknesses has always been that shitty Deku’s thing. I—”

“Why can’t it be your thing?”

He blinks confused at me, then it turns angry again, “Because I don’t need that loser’s tactics.”

I sigh, “But they aren’t his tactics. Everyone does it, all I’m saying is that you should hone that ability. You already know how to target weaknesses but it’s a good idea to study how to find them. For example, water quirks are typically powerful against fire, but not against things like ice. Your explosions aren’t as strong against defense quirks. Denki’s electrocution doesn’t do good on plants and things without conductive capabilities.

Try to find easily recognizable features of certain quirks. And the best weaknesses for those things. If you go against someone who can reinforce their body, it may be a good idea to find a weapon that can pierce them, or maybe try restraining them instead.”

He looks angry still, but nods. “Would you… help me with that?”

I look surprised at him, which makes him angrier. He goes to yell, probably rescinding his question, but I cut him off.

“I can try, I’m not exactly a great teacher but maybe I can see what I can do… I have to ask why you didn’t go to Kaeya though, he is your teacher.”

Bakugo scoffs, “I don’t trust that bastard.”

I raise my brow, not commenting on the implications of what he said.

“There should be a break in training between tomorrow and the next exercise. We can meet between then.”

Bakugo nods, staying uncharacteristically quiet as he moves towards the door with his hands still stuffed in his pockets. What a strange turn of events.

Chapter Text

I recently started working on a spotify playlist for this series!

This playlist isn't finished yet (As of May 7th 2025), and isn't currently in order, but it may give you some ideas as to where the story will go!

I tend to imagine scenes while listening to music, so i actually thought of one of the main battle scenes in this story (Which hasnt been written yet) before I thought of the rest of it.

Here's the link if you're interested!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7cBOjOdSkTLlReQ8HKhZub?si=z2H0YwiFRkyLPQ71jRF-KA

Chapter Text

The next day, the training went just as well as the last one, in that, students collapsed, more than last time. Todoroki was still the last one standing, but Bakugo made a valiant effort to stay in the running too. In the end, though, he still had to stop or he would have passed out.

Kaeya slow clapped and brought everyone’s attention back to him, dismissing them much like before. This time, I didn’t get stopped by any students, though I did notice Momo walk up to Kaeya, who seemed pleasantly surprised. He nodded at whatever she asked, crossed his arms over his chest, and went into some explanation. She created a notebook and pen, scribbling down what he was saying. It’s likely the same thing I did with Bakugo yesterday.

I see him glance at me and he smirks before turning back to Momo. I had managed to avoid joining the training again, I train on my own time and without the instruction of assholes, thank you.

I sigh and walk out of the gym, deciding to take a stroll through the city before tomorrow, where I’ll have to deal with Bakugo’s attitude for however long I can stomach it before I just tell him to get lost.

______

After about an hour and a half, I had made it pretty far into the city, I started turning to go back to the school when I see flashes coming from the next block over. I curse and start speeding over there, almost being burnt to a crisp as the fire of the enemy and the fire of Endeavor meet in the middle.

I have to shield my eyes to see, but I spot the same false god from before on the opposing side of the flames. Sighing, I throw wind blades through the fire, targeting the god. The wind seems to help fuel Endeavors fire, making him grunt under it’s force. The god sneers at me and drops it’s fire stream, jumping out of the way of Endeavor, who takes a second to process the turn of events.

I step up and stare at the being again, it’s void like, blank eyes are nothing short of unnerving as it tilts its head, calculating it’s next move.
Endeavor turns to me, “What the hell are you doing here Sumerian scum?”

I roll my eyes, so the pros do know of my origins, not surprising given the commission's position on my being here.

“Helping, fire against fire is not a very good matchup for you, especially considering the opponent isn’t too concerned with pain, and definitely has a more reinforced body than you.”

Endeavor scoffs, “I dont need your—”

“My help? Yeah, you do. So take the assist and shut the hell up you unsightly insect.”

He seems to lose his nerve for a second, but I dont have time to worry about that, as the god has started their assault again.

Small orange rings form around their head, almost like when they show up for my flying, except they shoot fucking fire.

I dodge out of the way just in time to see Endeavor get sent hurdling backwards and into the side of a building. Serves him right, self-righteous prick.

I turn back to the enemy, flying towards them and capturing them in a vortex. It sends them up into the air, and for a moment, their eyes roll back in their head before they blink and sneer at me again. Almost like they rebooted.

It lunges at me, fire shooting out of the circles as it tries to grapple me. I block all of their attempts, grunting at the force it takes to push its body away from me.

Endeavor shoots out from the building and tackles the being, or tries too before he’s shoved off, sent flying back again. He manages to stick his landing this time as the being dusts itself off.

“What the hell is this thing made of?”

I huff, “No idea, but its super reinforced.”

I narrowed my eyes, last time, going straight through it’s head didn’t work, so this may need to get bloody. Unfortunately, I’m right next to the recently promoted number one hero.

“It’s not human. It’s an experiment. It’s power is in it’s head, but that’s going to be difficult to access. It’s extremely reinforced.”

Endeavor grunts as he matches the fire stream of the god again. “What do you suggest then?”

I hum, tilting my head. “Theoretically, we could remove it if we knew what material they were reinforced with. It’s still a human on the inside, I think… but we may not have the privilege of treating it as such.”

The hero looks at me with a question in his eyes, god I hate this loser, but I guess the enemy of my enemy and all that shit.

“I mean we may need to kill it.”

He rolls his eyes, “Whatever, do what you have to do, I was planning on it anyways.”

Wow, very hero like. So impressive.

I crack my neck and speed towards the creature again, who is still distracted by Endeavor’s fire. I manage to get behind it, before it takes one of it’s hands and aims it at me. I curse and push myself down, narrowly avoiding it’s fire.

It’s split focus gives Endeavor enough of an advantage to push the being back with his own fire. He’s relentless, I’ll give him that.

The creature jumps back again, and I whistle as Endeavors fire once again barely misses me.

I start a relentless assault on the creature, wind slashes flying from left and right, vortexes grabbing it and holding it in place as the blades slash at its body. The cuts quickly heal, but it’s enough to keep being subdued as I get closer to it.

I shiver as I am reminded of the time I almost tore Kusanali’s gnosis from her chest, this will be reminiscent of that day.

My hand forms into somewhat of a claw shape and I sent it towards the neck of the creature, there’s resistance, for sure. However, it’s nowhere near as much as the resistance in the creature’s forehead. I imagine this one is subject 1, as it seems extremely experimental in it’s actions and body type.

The reinforcement isn’t in the skin, but the bones, the muscles can be slashed, but they’ll heal. However, if it’s Dottore, I imagine they would be a lot stronger than they are currently.

Whatever, I was trained to kill real gods.

My hand tears through the skin and muscles, having to force it through the reinforced bone of the creature’s jaw as I send my nails into it’s brain, grasping the hard core I find inside. I tear it from the same path I had used to grab it, the monster falling limply onto the ground after a dramatic pause.

I turn towards Endeavor, who’s expression is made of steel. He takes a deep breath, “Explain.”

Chapter Text

If Nezu was shocked by me bursting into his office with Endeavor in tow, he didnt show it. Aizawa and Kaeya were already there, both of them looking like they had just gotten pulled out of bed.

“Ah, Wanderer, I see you’ve decided to let someone else in on our little secret.”

I roll my eyes, sitting down in an empty chair. “I didn’t have much of a choice, he was fighting the fake god when I got there.”

Endeavor, still standing, crosses his arms, “Fake god?”

Nezu looks over to him, “It seems we have a lot to catch you up on. Hope you’re listening, because I’m only going to go through this once.”

________

By the end of the explanation, Endeavor’s face was blank, but you could tell he was thinking. He looked at Kaeya.

“So you’re another one of those Sumerian scum?”

Kaeya chuckles, “How ignorant. Sumeru isn’t the only nation on our side of the boarder. I’m Mondstadian, but if you were looking for an all encapsulating word, you could call us Teyvatian scum.”

I raise my brow at Kaeya, who shrugs his shoulders and turns his attention to me. “So, how did the rematch go? Your arms a bit red” He gestured down to my blood stained forearm and I sigh.

“I killed it.”

Kaeya looks pleasantly surprised, “Oh, and how did you do that?”

I glance at the heroes in the room, wondering how graphic I should be before deciding to just say fuck it, they’ll have to get used to it anyways.

“I shoved my hand into it’s brain through it’s throat.”

Kaeya hums, “Must’ve been one of the first models, if it was possible to push through with just your hand.”

I shrug, “I used anemo a bit, but since there’s not a lot of bone there, at least in the front, I imagine they may have engineered a way to reinforce the muscle as well by now.”

Kaeya hums, “I’m not too sure. The Doctor, if we’re meant to believe that he’s trying to ruin the commission from the inside, is likely leaving ways to kill the beings. However, it may get harder and harder to find. If all goes according to plan, he may want to keep the beings as his own soldiers, that is, if he doesn’t have to kill them in the process of his revenge.”

I nod, getting pulled from the conversation by Nezu. “Did you get the core?”

I rummage in my bag for a second before pulling out a glowing ball with the pyro symbol on it. It seemed to be dimmer than before, though. Probably because it isn’t currently active.

Nezu examines the orb where it sits in my hand before gently taking it and looking at it closer. “In theory, it’s removable from the brain, as it’s a physical object. Though I imagine capturing and sedating the gods may be harder than just eliminating them.”

Kaeya nods, “It’s hypothetically possible. Gods have been sealed before in Teyvat. Whether that be of their own volition or not.”

Endeavor spoke from his spot in the room, “So, if the commission is the perpetrator, why send the fake god after me? You said the test was already complete.”

Kaeya chuckles again, and, against a man like Endeavor, I can’t help but find myself smiling at the sound.

“I doubt the fight with you was part of a test. I think it was an attempt at the next step in their plan. Which means it’s moving a bit faster than anticipated. I imagine they were planning to kill you, and cause public outcry. In which case, they would have stepped in and offered up another one of the false gods to take down the once they released. Which would win them public opinion. And then, of course, since Endeavor is closely connected with them, they’d have an alibi against the opponent being an escaped creation of theirs. Because why would one of their creations target their own?”

Endeavor looks a bit put off by this. Serves him right, asshole.

Aizawa crosses his arms over his chest. “So what’s the plan, then? If the plan is accelerated, then they might already be experimenting on Hawks.”

I crease my brows at this, I suppose I could break back into the facility if need be, but that’s extremely dangerous if the entirety of the commission’s team is there. Or, even worse, Dottore himself.

I curse quietly to myself, we have to deal with Celestia too. To think I almost forgot, she’s probably the main threat. And then, of course, the fallout afterwards. Not only in Japan, but in Teyvat too. How are both places going to reestablish what used to be their most relied on company and their supreme ruler respectively in such a short amount of time?

Perhaps the dragons can come back, I wonder how that would go, though, considering most of them are probably more than pissed off at their subjugation. If only there was an elemental dragon we knew that doesn’t have it out for humans…

“I could break back into the lab, maybe take him out before it’s too late..”

Kaeya hums, clearly dissatisfied with the plan. “I feel like that’s going to end poorly. If Hawks is in there, then the rest of their team likely is as well. This could possibly include the rest of the false gods who are fresh to their new powers. We don’t want to draw that much attention to the problem if we can help it. At least, not before the final battle.”

I nod, going to suggest something else, when my phone dings. I pull it from my pocket and make a small noise of surprise, “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about the experiment right now.”

Kaeya raises his brow, and I glance up. “Hawks just asked me if we could meet up tomorrow.”

Aizawa hums, “The commission probably caught wind of you taking down one of their experiments. This might be a trap.”

Kaeya puts a finger to his chin. “It probably is, but it might work out for us, especially if we know it’s a trap.”

Aizawa raises his brow. “How so? If they capture Wanderer, then the plan falls apart unless we can get him back before the final battle.”

Kaeya smirks, “But it also puts him in a position to gather intel. Or maybe destroy the operation from the inside. However, there’s also the threat of them killing him, which wouldn’t be great.”

I huff, “Gee thanks.”

I hover over the keys for a second before typing out an okay and sending it through, it gets read and he sends back a smiley face, followed by a location. It looks like a trap even more as I recognize it as being near the same location I found the kidnapped Sumerians before.

I sigh, leaning back in the chair and looking at the ceiling.

What a pain.

Chapter Text

The next day was nothing but hell. I went straight from training the Bakugo kid, which was nothing but him insisting he already knew all of the stuff I was trying to teach him, to the meeting with Hawks.

I scanned his features when I got there, his eyes were the same, no new dullness, so the experiment hadn’t started yet. His smile didn’t reach his eyes, it seemed strained. Almost like he didn’t want to be there.

“Hi, Wanderer.”

I nod in greeting, looking at him strangely, “Everything okay?”

“Why did you kill the fake god, Wanderer?”

I look at him surprised, I didn’t expect him to come out and just ask. A bit direct for what I thought would be a trap.

“Because it was threatening the life of students and a hero.”

He sighs, “We know that you know too much Wanderer. If you just…tell us who else knows, no unnecessary civilians need to get hurt.”

I raise my brow. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. Did you hit your head? Maybe that experimentation made you a bit confused.”

He looks surprised for a second before his eyes roll back, turning that dull, grey, lifeless color that the fake god had. I get shocked for a second before he lunges towards me, throwing me to the floor and raising his fist to hit me.

I grunt under the weight, throwing him off of me with a bit more effort than I would have liked before moving away from him, staring at him as he tilts his head, much like the other fake god did before.

I prepare for a fight before his eyes suddenly turn up into his skull, his body falling limp. I get closer to him, cautiously, as I’m not sure if he’s going to stay down. I get surprised by sudden flashes, turning towards the source, I find nothing but cameras as they photograph the scene.

Hands wrap around my wrists, slapping cuffs on me in my confusion. “Sir, you’re under arrest for unlawful quirk usage, assaulting a hero, attempted murder, destruction of property, murder, and trespassing.”

I make a sound in the back of my throat, but get cut off by the roar of questions from the paparazzi, how long have they been tracking me, a more detailed explanation on the charges, if this was a trap etc etc.

Through the yells, I hear him mention Sumeru, to which the reporters get louder, and the flashing get more persistent.

Whatever, it won’t do me any good to break out right now, I need to gather information. As much as I can.

___________

When I get in the car, I can immediately tell that it’s not a normal police car. Given the agent in the front seat and the small commission emblem on the steering wheel, it doesn’t seem like they’re really trying to hide it.

I take in the surroundings as we drive through the city, recognizing the facility immediately as we drive into the commission building’s garage. I get yanked out of the car immediately, a bag shoved over my head as I get led through the hallways. I hear the scraping of the vending machine, chuckling to myself. They’re trying so hard to hide the location of the lab to me, it’s kind of sad that I already know where we’re going.

I feel myself get shoved into a hard, steel chair and then strapped down. The bag is yanked off of my head, and I recognize Ms.Kizu standing in the corner. There’s a few doctors in the room as well, one of them obviously higher up than the rest.

“Wanderer….we’ve been trying to get our hands on you for a long…long time. Tell me, how are you able to use your abilities on this side of the barrier?”

I huff, staying quiet. Why the hell would he think I’m just going to tell him that?

He smirks, “Not going to talk? That’s okay, we can rectify that soon. But for now, I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen. You are going to be transformed into the perfect villain for our gods to fight. And once you’re finally defeated, not only will we be the strongest entity in the world, but we’ll also get rid of any chance of the barrier being taken down… The public aren’t going to want to risk getting more of you, after all.”

He puts his hand under my chin, forcing my head to look up at him. “Now, which element should we give you? I think it stands to reason that we could fit all of them in you somewhere. Brain, heart, stomach, kidney. All of them could house one of our orbs.”

I have to hide a scoff, try your worst asshole, I dont need half the things you listed anyways.

He smiles, looking deranged. His grip tightens. “Perhaps, while we’re doing the surgery, you’ll get loose lipped enough to let us know how your vision still works.”

I feel a chill run down my spine at that, surgery while I’m awake huh? Gruesome, but unoriginal. I wonder if Dottore fed them these methods…

_______________________

I was brought to an operating room, sedated. Unfortunately for them, that stuff doesnt work on me. My blood doesn’t actually move… well, it does, but I dont like… need it. I like using my more human like processes, but I don’t need to. So I simply… stopped pumping blood.

Glancing around the room, I could see an array of medical equipmet. Scalpels, forceps, bonesaws. You know, fun stuff.

I use anemo to blast the restraint off of my wrists, standing and moving around the room to look for any means of escape. There’s nothing that stands out, but it stands to reason that there’s a vent somewhere in this room. Even if it’s hidden.

I press my hand against the walls, feeling for any panel that feels a bit strange. Eventually, I feel one that’s a bit lifted. I move my fingers around the edges and find a small space where air can travel through. Barely, though. I imagine not too many people are allowed in here at one time.

I grip the edges of the plate, pulling on it and hearing it creek. I feel the screws pop out and place the plate on the floor before starting the same process on the vent itself.

I use my anemo to propel myself through them again, finding myself in what seems similar to a hospital room. A bed with a patient on it. Upon closer inspection, I notice that the supposed patient is Hawks, his wings bound behind his back.

I spot the camera in the corner, aiming directly at Hawks. It gives me a bit of room to work with, as the vent is on the opposite side of the room, near the camera itself.

I creep out of the vent, putting it back in place afterwards and sticking my back to the wall. I glance at Hawks for a moment, cursing myself. I was too late. The experiment is already done.

Chapter Text

I sigh, moving towards the door. I can’t try and help him or I’ll get spotted on the camera. And I only have a limited time before the doctors find my room empty.

I pause before leaving the room. It makes me wonder…did they keep Hawks awake when they were doing his surgery? Is the pain a part of the process? It was for my ascension… I wonder if Dottore followed the same principle.

I wonder where they put his. His heart? His brain? Probably not his stomach or kidney. Not dangerous enough.

I sigh, closing my eyes for a moment before peeking back out of the door. Nobody in the hallway. Cameras, but they’re staggered enough that they won’t see me if I’m careful.

I take a deep breath and move out of the door, shutting it softly behind me. The camera’s blind spots are small, and I have to move slowly in order to avoid them.

I find my back pressed against a wall when the sound of sirens fill the air. Red starts blaring, and I have to hold back a wince as the one above my head lets out the loud screeches.

I start running down the hallway, they’re going to find me soon anyway, if they know the places their vent leads. I pause halfway down the hallway, cursing before running back towards Hawk’s room.

I run towards him and throw him over my shoulder, grunting at the weight. Bad idea? Absolutely.

But honestly, I don’t care anymore. We need to find out if we can surgically remove the orb, anyways.

The only danger here is whether they’ll notice Hawks is missing and activate the orb again. It seems to have a different kind of effect on him than the other subject, so maybe he can retain enough of his control that we can remove the device.

I ran down the hallway, having to lean my head a bit to see around Hawk’s wings. I have to duck around a corner as guards start filling the hallway, I speed down another corridor and try to find another exit.

Logically, there would be one. Especially if the commission building is busy one day. I use anemo to propel myself, cursing when Hawks starts stirring. I stop in front of a ladder, pushing both of us up and shoving the cover out of the way. I grunt when I feel hands grip tight on my shoulders, feeling myself get lifted up without my own power.

I gasp when I see Hawk’s eyes again, still haunting. I shove at him until he lets me go, catching myself with anemo. I speed away, towards the school grounds. I send a short SOS message to Nezu, hoping he knows what I’m trying to say.

I have to duck to the side as Hawks speeds ahead of me, I drop down a bit, letting him try and chase me before speeding off again, causing him to have to correct himself.

I sigh and head towards the USJ facility on campus, crashing through the glass roof. Hawks hits the ground with a heavy force, cracks splinter from his feet, leading straight to the very awake and present Class 1-A, and the teachers in the know, of course. I back up to try and join their ranks, Hawks tilts his head and then goes to try and escape the facility.

Before he can, though, he’s cut off by a stream of pyr– fire. Endeavor standing off to the side. Of course he’s here too, Nezu didn’t pull any punches.

“What’s the plan puppet?” Kaeya steps beside me with a cocky smirk on his face.

I sneer at him and look back towards Hawks, who seems to be calculating the best way to get out of this.

I grunt, “I wish we had a water quirk in this class, we could freeze him.”

Kaeya looks back towards Hawks too. “Todoroki could freeze him.”

I tilt my head back and forth, “Hypothetically, but his ice isn’t as durable as the ice that’s supported by water. It probably wouldn’t hold.”

Kaeya puts a finger to his chin. Hawks lunges towards us but is pulled back by Aizawa’s scarf around his shin, he’s thrown towards a nearby tree, but catches himself and starts flying around, circling 1-A.

I hardly even noticed he bursted the restraints on his wings, wonder what they were bound for then, if he could just break out.
He lunges towards me again, this time getting blocked by a wall of acid. “Hey, you guys! If you’re going to plan please move while you do it! It’s after Wanderer!”

Kaeya nods at Mina, who turns quickly back towards Hawks, blasting acid towards him again. He easily ducks around it, still zeroed in on me.

Kaeya starts talking again, both of us running in somewhat of a circle around the battle so we have time to plan.

“How much do you want to bet that his skin is reinforced now too?”

I don’t respond, Kaeya makes a sound again. “It might be possible to knock him out, didn’t the commission do it?”

I nod, looking at him for a second. “It’s probably in the commission HQ though, we won’t have time to get there.”

Kaeya smirks, “Lucky for us, we have someone on our side with a teleporting quirk.”

I raise my brow as he raises his phone out of his pocket, typing what looks like coordinates into the bar and sending it off to an unsaved number who doesn’t have any prior messages. A simple “find the kill switch” attached afterwards.

Imagine if we didn’t have phones in this scenario, the commission kind of fucked up with that one, huh?

He sighs, pocketing the device. “Now, we just need to hope we can hold out until they find it, or we may need to kill your boyfriend.”

I glare at him, “He’s not my—”

I’m cut off by a feather narrowly missing my face, it sticks in the ground near Kaeya’s feet and I huff, how unfair.

I fly up, his feathers start flying off of his wings and straight at me. Those that miss turn around and either make their way back to him so he can stay in the air, or try their hand at slicing me again.

I manage to avoid them for a while before one cuts clean across my hip, another hitting me on my shoulder. I hear my name get called, fire and ice flying towards Hawks, but all of them get dodged by the hero, almost like they’re insignificant to him.

I grit my teeth and create a vortex around myself, the feathers getting suctioned into it as they try to break through the wind.

I hold the vortex until I hear my name get yelled by what sounded like Kaeya’s voice, the wind drops and there’s red feathers scattered about the ground, Hawks passed out on the floor once again.

Some of the feathers look singed, probably from Endeavor’s fire or something.

“They found it?”

Kaeya nods, his face tense. “It probably won’t work much longer. The Doctor will find a way to disconnect that switch and implant a new one.”

I sigh, walking towards the limp body. I remember the feeling of the core I tore from the other creatures throat, it was pulsing with energy. I wonder if I could find it through all of the layers of flesh and bone.

I reach my hand to lay on his forehead, no pulse. My hand glides to his heart… no pulse. I crease my brows, where else could it be? I check his kidney, his stomach. Nothing.

Maybe I’m just not able to feel it through all of the bones, though.

Wait.

I flip Hawks onto his back, my hand touching the back of his neck.

There it is.

“Wanderer, what did you find?”

I sigh, “They put the orb in his brainstem. It’s too dangerous to remove right now. We need a specialized doctor for this kind of thing.”

I curse and run my fingers through my hair. Who the hell would be able to get this out of his neck without killing him?

I hear the sound of Kurogiri’s portal, hearing footsteps. There’s a sound of chatter but I don’t care enough to make out what they’re saying. I hear footsteps behind me, seeing Kaeya’s familiar shoes in my peripheral vision.

“The league said they know someone who may be able to help. Apparently he’s an asshole, but he works with the League on their Nomu things.”

I glare at him, “And we’re supposed to trust this guy?”

Kaeya crosses his arms over his chest. “Of course not, but he seems to be the only choice we have unless we can get The Doctor to take it out himself and why do I feel like he wouldn’t be very inclined to do that?”

I huff, looking back down at Hawks, pressing on the back of his neck again. “They managed to make it controllable, which probably means at least one of the other experiments are the same way… that could be dangerous.”

Kaeya nods, “I agree, they wouldn’t put their most valued subject into this state unless they were 100% sure it would work the exact way they wanted it too. I imagine there were a few casualties with the insertion of the orb before, as well. Perhaps there’s another experiment with one in the same spot as well.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Okay, we have the pyro one eliminated. If they’re following the same baseline, that leaves 6 more. I’m not sure which one Hawks is but I wouldn’t be surprised at an anemo orb. That means we’d have dendro, geo, electro, cryo, and hydro left. As of right now, there’s no reports of any overpowered villains with any of those quirks, so I’m assuming sending Hawks out was nothing more than an attempt to make Teyvatians look guilty again…”

Kaeya nods again, “Which means we cant have you in public for a while, all things considered, there’s probably a manhunt out for you right now. Good thing is you have Endeavor on our side, which, kind of shocking considering, but we’ll take any win we can get. And we have the number 2 hero subdued right here. I imagine they hold a lot of weight with their words, so, in a few more weeks, maybe even days, I propose we declare war on the commission. Let the public know what’s going on.”

I bite my lip, looking back down at Hawks and nodding. “We’d need his testimony… I guess we should get in contact with this doctor, then…”

Kaeya nods, everyone starts getting ready to leave the scene, when Jirou walks over to me, I raise my brow, not having talked to her too much outside of the small group we formed at the start of my time here.

“Yes?”

Jirou glances around, “You… were a puppet, for the electro archon, right?”

I get a bit guarded, but nod. “Correct… Why is this important now.”

She bites her lip and looks around again, almost like she’s trying to stop people from overhearing her.

“I heard it…like, the sound of electricity, when you were inside the vortex. I think…I think you singed Hawk’s feathers with it.”

I crease my brows, “That’s–”

“Impossible, I know. But I also know that I heard electricity. Strong electricity. Like the type you hear when lightning strikes. I just… know you were trying to find a way to unlock it again. So I thought you’d like to know.”

I stare at her for a moment longer, before nodding. “Thank you for telling me.”

She nods awkwardly, and walks away, still glancing around. I can see her walk back to Momo, who seemed to be looking for her before.

I look at one of the feathers left on the ground, picking it up and running my finger along the singed edge. Electro huh? I guess it’s not too out of the realm of possibility…

Chapter Text

The League offers to take Hawks to the doctor, in exchange, they’d keep the orb that they eventually pull from his head. It takes a bit of convincing, but Nezu eventually agrees.

I attempt to go with them, but they stop me, insisting that the doctor wouldn’t like any outsiders coming with them. And, not to mention, if they’re alone, they may be able to convince the doctor that it’s apart of some evil scheme as opposed to telling him that there’s fake gods trying to take over Japan.

I’m a bit reluctant, but eventually agree with them. After all, I don’t think I’d like Kusanali bringing some stranger to me and telling me to help them….oh wait.

I start talking with Principle Nezu, I shouldn’t return to the school, because Im technically a wanted criminal at the moment. But I also shouldn’t go back to the house the commission gave me because that would probably be the next place they'd look.

We briefly entertained the idea of me joining the League for the time being, but I quickly shot that down. I’ve had enough of being apart of criminal organizations, thanks.

When we arrive back at square one, and I’m out of ideas, I hear Nezu make a sound of realization.

“I know this is going to cause problems in the long run, but maybe UA can…express their distaste, for the Commission’s current actions. If we can get the orb out of Hawks, then perhaps we can sway public opinion.”

I sigh, “But it’s not going to be a fast process. We need a now solution.”

Nezu nods, “I believe this can be a present solution as well. UA may lose students and funding, but, I’m nothing if not resourceful. I believe if we make our stance known now, it may be easier to garner public opinion later. After all, if we keep quiet, it may seem like we were trying to keep it a secret from them when the truth is revealed. In which case, it may make us look bad as well.”

I cross my arms over my chest, considering it. “So you want to publicly take Teyvat’s side?”

Nezu nods, “I believe that would be in the best interest of both of us. Consider it payment for any past problems I may have caused during our collusion.”

I huff and smirk, shaking my head, “You’re a bit of a cunning asshole, you know?”

Nezu laughs, but doesn’t say anything else as we all make it back towards UA. When we arrive, Nezu leads us into his office, the rest of 1-A going back to the dorms to rest.

Aizawa, me, and Kaeya stand in front of Nezu’s desk, where he taps away on his computer. After about 3 minutes, he turns towards us. “I have written out Ua’s official statement. This includes what I know of the past between us and Teyvat that has been altered for years. As well as your roll in the commission’s future collapse.”

Kaeya lets out one of his half-hearted chuckles. “This whole plan is going a bit faster than I was anticipating.”

Aizawa crosses his arms, “Tell me about it.”

Nezu smiles, “The official statement is meant to go out in a short while, which should give us enough time for the broadcast.”

I raise my brow, “Broadcast?”

Nezu smiles, nodding. “Present Mic runs one of the most popular radio shows in Japan, and he’s agreed to play a small segment where I make UA’s official stance on the situation clear.”

Keaya hums, “I imagine taking our side could be detrimental to all of your hero careers.”

Aizawa shrugs, “It’s preformative heroism against actual heroism. Over the next few days, we’re going to see exactly what heroes fall where.”

Nezu lets out a maniacal laugh. “So exciting! I’m happy to give the commission a headache anyday.”

A timer goes off, Nezu turns back to his computer, turning it towards us, where a live video of Present Mic in a studio plays.

Alright listeners! Now we have an important segment that I want all of you to listen to! This comes straight from UA’s principal Nezu! So keep your ears open!

It was something straight out of the few fantasy novels you could find in Sumeru merchant stands. Nezu was focused, more so than normal. Pictures and models would show up whenever they were available, most of them being pictures that I had took, some of them even had my name under them, as well as a small description. Like, “Taken by Wanderer (Sumerian) in the basement of the commission's headquarters.”
It was a bit….liberating. In a strange way, it felt like it cemented the fact that this was actually happening. I decided to take my phone out and message Kusanali, a small “Stay tuned” message, which she read immediately.

The segment itself lasted somewhere around 30 to 45 minutes. I watched the viewer count in the corner rise dramatically, comments flooding up the side. Different reactions making themselves known.

Comments about how UA has become deranged. Some about how they’d known the Commission was corrupt from the start. Then came the arguments. Heated debates flying through the comments section, its surprising the site didnt end up failing from all of the activity.

I could hear Nezu’s phone begin to ding, different numbers popping up over and over. All of the messages being fully capitalized, though I couldn’t fully make out what they said, and at some point, he just turned the phone down.

My phone dinged too, I peeked at it and saw that Mina had messaged me. A spew of “?”’s and “!”s with a link to the stream. I click my phone off as well as all of us keep our eyes trained on the screen. I find my eyes peeking over to Kaeya, who has a glint in his eyes, the rest of his face being neutral. I can see his eyes move as they read quickly over any message they can process.

Once the segment ends, the conversation in the comments doesn’t stop. And Mic doesnt come back on. The screen displaying a “See you tomorrow!”

I hear Aizawa’s phone ding, and am able to glance at the screen to see it’s Mic saying that he’s on his way back to UA.

I take a deep breath, clicking the link Mina had sent and downloading the radio show to my phone, sending it to Kusanali with a timestamp.

Things are progressing fast. Be ready.

Chapter Text

The riots started quick. Not only at UA, but at the Commission. Those who sided with the commission took to screaming at teachers and pulling their children out of school.

Those who sided with UA started calling for the immediate removal of the president, burned down the agencies of the heroes closely tied to them, and those who were even more passionate broke into the headquarters itself.

Over the next few days, heroes made it clear whos side they were on. All Might, against all of his griping, sided with UA. He made it clear that, in any other circumstance, he’d side with the commission against Teyvatians, so, we’ll see what happens with that once the actual truth comes out.

Present Mic and Midnight were even faster to side with UA, Mic having done so on his show and Midnight through an interview with the press.

Then came the unexpected ones, for me, at least. Endeavor, Sir Nighteye, Best Jeanist, Ms.Joke, and Mountain Lady all ended up siding with UA. Which was honestly a lot more than I was expecting.

The press seems to be looking to Miriko for her opinion, but she’s made it clear that she wants no part in it until she can get the story from Hawks, who was revealed by Nezu to be a key figure in all of this.

I got restless. So did Kaeya. So did Nezu. So did the rest of 1-A.

Honestly, it felt like the entirety of Japan was holding their breath until Hawks woke up. In their eyes, it would be the tipping point. The factor to decide what side they were on.

I wonder what’s going to happen when they notice that the League has been far too quiet.

Kusanali had been keeping me updated too. They had been looking into the barrier more and more on their side, and it was evident that we’d likely have to wait until the barrier was let down by itself.

Unless of course there was someone on the inside who opened the barrier before the Commission had a chance to stop them.

But that’s probably wishful thinking.

She had also told me she was working on the whole “unlocking my divinity” thing. Very cryptic but I have a feeling it has something to do with the robot that I was connected to before.

It’s unfortunate, considering they wont be able to get through the barrier.

Either way, it felt like I was getting more and more anxious. A lot more fidgety. People had called it out over and over again. The most recent being Aizawa himself who, after I had rubbed my eyes for what felt like the 100th time, finally told me to go get eyedrops from recovery girl.

Once she dropped them in, though, she made a noise of surprise.

I blinked up at her, confused. When I saw her glancing back and forth between my eyes and the bottle of eye drops, I asked her what happened.

She goes to say something, but shakes her head. “Nothing, tilt your head back.”

I obviously didn’t believe her, but I don’t feel like picking small fights right now. Not when the big fight is right around the corner.

Either way, I found out what she was surprised about when I tried to put more eyedrops in later on in the dorms. Mina had said something about how my eyes werent red at all when I got back from Recovery Girls office. “Eyedrops make my eyes all watery and they feel really weird.”

I looked at her confused, “I didn’t even really feel anything. Smelt a little strange though.”

She creases her brows, “It…smelt, strange?”

I nod, rubbing my eyes again and grabbing the bottle out of my pocket.

I tilted my head back, turning the bottle over above my eye and squeezing a drop out.

I hear Mina make a sound, I crease my brows at her and she reaches up, squeezing the bottle harder.

A lot of it just went on my nose, causing me to let out an annoyed noise, reaching up to stop her.

Mina holds the half empty bottle in her hand.

“You arent feeling anything in your eye because the water isn’t hitting your eye.”

I huff, looking up at her with water dripping down my face. “Well water is obviously coming out.”

Mina nods, a knowing smile on her face. “You’re electrocuting it. So much so that it’s burning up.”

I deadpan at her, she huffs and takes her phone out, “Tilt your head back.”

I raise my brow, “So you can spray me with water again?”

She sighs and pushes my head back with her hand. She’s lucky I don’t feel like arguing or I would have bitten her damn hand off.

She holds her phone, bringing the bottle back above my head and squeezing a few drops out.

She presses a few buttons on her phone and shows a video to me. Small, almost unnoticeable, sparks of electricity met the water, steam barely visible in the video, but visible nonetheless.

I raise my brow at the sight, grabbing the phone from her hands and rewinding it a few times. “That doesn’t make sense…” My mind goes back to the USJ incident, the feathers that were stuck in the ground afterwards.

“I shouldn’t have my electro back yet… i don’t even have the gnosis.”

Mina smiles softly at me, “Wanderer, you don’t need the gnosis. You just need to break the seal.”

“And to do that I need the gnosis…”

Mina chuckles, “Who told you that? Maybe all you needed was a push in the right direction.”

I sigh, “You don’t understand… I went through hell to unseal my electro before and now it just… shows up? Out of nowhere? That doesn’t make any damn sense.”

Mina seems to get a bit more somber at that, I forgot they hadn’t exactly been told about all the shit Dottore put me through in hopes of fueling my ascension.

I sigh, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “This doesn’t make any sense, and I don’t have time to worry about trying figure it out. So all we can do now is hope the electro isn’t a fluke. And that, when it actually counts, it won’t crap out on me.”

Mina smiles, a bit sadder now, “Yeah….”

I raise my brow at her, “Something the matter?”

Mina shakes her head, then seems to hesitate for a second.

“It’s just… this is actually happening, isn’t it? A war? With gods and fake gods and against the commission who we’ve been told are the good guys for our entire lives… It seems like something out of a crazy fantasy book…”

She pauses for a moment, and I go to respond to her when she says something else.

“I’m scared…”

Chapter Text

I pause. I had expected this to happen at some point. The weight of the situation finally getting to the students. It’s not everyday you find out your life is a lie. And that you have to fight the very people you were working so hard to impress.

Unfortunately, I’m also extremely bad at the whole comfort thing.

I press my hand to her back, meant to just be something to ground her. She, apparently, took it as an invitation for a hug because the next second I had her wrapped around me like a Koala, crying into my shoulder.

“I just… I never wanted my high school years to be like this… So dangerous, and just… not fun at all….

Even when we were fighting the League, it was different. It was expected. But now… everything seems so unreal. My friends might get hurt. I might get hurt. Hell, the entirety of Japan might get hurt and all I can do is sit in the dorms and wait for destruction.”

I sigh, rubbing her back.

“Can I tell you something?”

Mina looks up at me with teary eyes, I move a strand of hair out of her face before glancing around to make sure nobody is there.

“I… always thought, that life was nothing more than betrayal, after pain, after betrayal. There was… a moment, when I felt unstoppable. Like all of that had finally meant something.”

Mina interrupts, “When you became a god?”

I hesitate before nodding. “But then… when it got taken from me… I didn’t know what to do. Suddenly, all that pain was for nothing but more pain. I had nothing to look forward to. I had failed.”

“Eventually…. I got tired of it, and I got rid of the memory altogether.”

Mina looked confused, I tilt my head a bit, trying to figure out how to explain it.

“There’s… a way, to erase yourself in Teyvat. It’s extremely difficult, and involves accessing the world tree which is already hard enough but… I did it and I was suddenly unaware of anything. I didn’t know what I had gone through, or what I had done. I was blissfully ignorant.”

I stare down at her again, “But Kusanali… she told me what I had done… that I had forgotten my memories. And she asked if I wanted them back.”

I smile slightly, shaking my head, “I didnt expect it to hurt as much as it did… it was like I was reliving every betrayal, every lie. My world was getting remade infront of me and I didnt know what to do.”

I look at her, a glint in my eye. “But im glad I did it. I’d do it again if I had the chance.”

Mina, still teary eyed, shakes her head, confused. “Why? Why put yourself through that pain again? Why not just stay happy?”

I chuckle, looking down, “Spite, maybe. Or maybe just… wanting a purpose. I dont know. I think I’ve been betrayed so much that… I’m just still here to prove everyone wrong. Prove myself wrong, too… When I was originally defeated, that was it… there was nothing left for me. But, obviously, I’m still here, and of course I found myself in another shitty situation but… maybe that’s just what I’m supposed to be doing…”

Mina laughs softly, wiping her eyes. “You’re supposed to be in shitty situations?”

I shrug, “Maybe. Whats that saying you guys have over here? ‘God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers’. Maybe I’m predestined for it.”

Mina laughs again, hesitating. “I don’t… know if I can be as strong as you. I’m still scared.”

I smile. “So am I.”

I sigh slightly, “But that’s a good thing. I’d be more worried if you weren’t scared. Things like that tend to happen when your worldview gets shifted. Some people just deal with it in different ways.”

Mina sits back on her knees, tilting her head, “How should I deal with it then?”

I cross my arms over my chest, “Well, you could train, make yourself strong enough that you’ll be able to protect yourself. Or you can plan for every possible outcome. Or…”

Mina looks hesitant, “Or?”

I smile softly, “Or you can leave that to me and Nezu, and Aizawa, and Kusanali, and you can treat it just like you would a League of Villains attack. Don’t worry about everything that’s going to change, thats not your job, Mina. You and the rest of 1-A got thrown into shitty situation after shitty situation and you still find the time to smile and be friends with each other and go out and have fun because any aftermath is dealth with by the adults in your life. This isnt any different. You just have to trust us.”

I pause for a second, looking at her, “You have to trust me.”

Mina looks like shes about to start sobbing again, her lip wobbles and her eyes get glossy before she nods, taking a deep breath and looking up with a determined smile.

“Okay.”

I smile back at her, “Okay?”

“Okay.”

Chapter Text

After the talk with Mina, things returned to normal. Well, as normal as they could be. There were riots outside of UA almost every day for the following two weeks, attendance dropped dramatically. Class 1-A and 1-B basically became one, being taught by both teachers and heroes alike. Trying to prepare them for the upcoming battle.

The commissions crimes against humanity had become widespread knowledge, both in the school and outside of it. The problem was those who refused to believe it. Of course, we had Nezu to thank for those who did believe it.

Extremists on both sides started their own internet blogs, death threats and insults being tossed around like it didn’t mean anything.

All in all, it had become a war, and the fighting had hardly even started yet. Nothing but propaganda saturated the internet, it was hard to scroll youtube or any social media site without someone making it known what side they were on.

Nezu was busy most of the time talking to Kusanali and the League, making sure to keep the conversations as hidden as possible from any third parties, I had the chance to sit in on some of these conversations, and it became clear very fast that everyone’s nerves were getting worse and worse as time went on with no movement from the commission asides from some half-assed publicity stunts.

Something needed to give, and fast, or Japan was going to go up in flames without the commission even having to release the fake gods at all.
____________________________

This fucking guy.

Kaeya has not stopped pestering me all morning about wanting to meet my “boyfriend” when he wakes up and how he’s interested in the development of my electro element.

I don’t think he’s stopped talking for 2 seconds for the past 3 hours. Not even just to breathe.

He had been one of the few who didn’t seem affected by the heightened tensions between the commission and UA. Almost like he knew something. Then again, of course he did. As much as I hate to admit, it seems like he’s always one step ahead.

Maybe its just a facade, though.

He had just started up his theorizing rant again, which I expected to go on for hours, or at least until we made it to the training area, where the classes have been meeting more and more often recently.

So when I suddenly heard him pause, I had to look up at him in slight confusion (And relief). He seemed to be slightly surprised, his mouth quirked up in a slight smirk.

“Speak of the devil.” He mumbles out, I turn my eyes to follow his gaze, and my own eyes widen when I see the League standing there, red wings standing out among the black outfits.

I start fast walking towards the crowd, Kaeya following behind, at a more laid back pace, of course.

I see Hawk’s eyes turn to me and they widen, an easy smile making it’s way to his face.

“Strings!”

I roll my eyes, grabbing his arms and turning him around to look at the back of his neck, which now has an extremely red, raised scar over it .

I hear Hawks chuckle, “Trust me, it looks worse than it feels. I’m just glad the surgery actually went according to plan. I didn’t even think I’d ever be able to get it out. Guess the dramatic spiel I gave you a while ago was a bit much then, huh?”

I sigh, turning him back around again, “I beat you again.”

Hawks raises his brow, “Oh?”

I cross my arms over my chest, “When we were escaping the Commission building, you couldn’t catch me. Guess you’ll have to keep practicing.”

He laughs again, “I guess so, huh?” His eyes move over to Kaeya.

“And this is…?”

Kaeya moves forward, holding out his hand to shake, “Kaeya Alberich, got brought in from Teyvat as an… instructor, of sorts.”

Hawks takes his hand and it’s easy to sense the tension between the two of them, why, I have no idea.

Hawks hums, “Really? Did they forget about Strings here? I’m sure he was more than capable of instructing himself.”

Kaeya smirks, shrugging, “I guess they wanted someone whos trained students before, or maybe they just wanted to keep a closer eye on me, who knows?”

Their hands drop, Kaeya’s smirk still on his face, a tight smile on Hawks’ while they stare each other down for a while. The tension is interrupted by an excited Mina, “Wanderer!”

I turn towards her, watching her smile and wave, running up to us. Her smile brightens when she sees Hawks. “Hawks! You’re awake!”

He smiles, confident all of a sudden, “Of course I am, would take more than a silly orb to kill me.”

She laughs, easily becoming part of the conversation. Eventually, we move into the training area where all of the students are already waiting, Class A and B alike. Some of them look at us while we walk in, others stay stretching, but the reaction to Hawks’ presence sends somewhat of a shockwave through the gym.

Immediately, there’s sounds of surprise, some people moving towards Hawks only to be stopped by a hand from Vlad King or a stern glare from Aizawa. At some point, Aizawa, Vlad, Kaeya, and Hawks find themselves in the center of the gym, me and Mina drifting off towards where the majority of 1-A is at.

Aizawa clears his throat. “As you can see, Hawks has finally decided to come out of hiding. He’s going to be joining us from now on as another instructor. We’ll be separating into four groups, each of them spending a class period with a different teacher. We hope this will help to better hone your abilities.”

I raise my brow, Nezu for sure gave him a script to use, we’re about to break into the groups when the door opens, “I AM HERE!”

As if I needed another annoyance.

Chapter Text

I see Aizawa sigh from the corner of my eye and have to hide a chuckle, turning to look towards the obnoxious sight of All Might, along with the rest of the class.

He struts towards Hawks, “Young Hawks! I see you’ve recovered!”

Hawks, ever calm in the face of obnoxious yelling, just smiles, “Seems that way. Decided I was tired of bed rest.”

All Might laughs and nods, “Something I’m sure a lot of us heroes are familiar with!” He turns towards Kaeya (uh oh) and looks a bit confused, “I’m not sure we’ve officially met young man!”

Kaeya smiles, that smile he does when he’s making fun of someone in his head, but holding back from saying anything in order to be nice.

“Kaeya Alberich, it’s nice to finally meet you, All Might.”

All Might laughs, apparently not realizing Kaeya isn’t from around here yet, “Likewise Young Alberich, I have to say, I haven’t heard of you before, are you perhaps an underground hero?”

Kaeya gets a mischievous glint in his eye, “Something along those lines.”

All Might nods, a prideful smile on his face, “Then I suppose my presence is not needed here! I heard something about a Teyvatian teacher, and I wanted to make sure there was nothing strange being taught, but I see these students are in many capable hands!”

Kaeya smirks, “Well, I appreciate the concern. Wouldn’t want the kids learning anything… damaging, would we?”

All Might laughs, patting Kaeya’s shoulder, “I’m glad we’re on the same page young Alberich! If there’s no harm being done, then I suppose I’m off!”

He stays a bit longer to say goodbye to the students, marching out of the doors a couple minutes later.

After a couple of quiet seconds, Kaeya chuckles and shakes his head. “How disappointingly ignorant.”

He turns back to the class, clapping his hands, “Now, time to break into groups.”

_________________

The subsequent teaching was harsh. So harsh, in fact, that Recovery Girl decided to sit in the gym after a while because of how many students she was being sent.

Aizawa taught hand to hand combat, and kids were being laid flat on their back within seconds.

Vlad King taught speed, attacking mercilessly without stopping.

Kaeya taught weapons, teaching everyone how to hold a sword, or utilize their quirks in out of the box ways. Teaching them that there’s no reason to only use their quirk in one way.

Hawks taught a bit differently, giving the students scenarios, drawn on a whiteboard. (Recovery girl was a bit happier with this method)

He would give them situations, things like “Endeavor is currently locked in a battle with the fake god of water… you’re across town assisting in the rescue of civilians from a recently defeated fake god of dendro, what would you do?”

It made the kids put themselves in the perspective of someone already in the war, but of course, there’s a big difference between saying you’ll do something and actually doing it.

I got placed in Vlad’s group for the first day, fine by me, honestly. He put up a pretty good fight too, faster than a lot of people I’ve encountered on this side of the border.

Part of me wishes the League stuck around for the training, part of me is relieved they didn’t. All things considered, they’re probably doing their own version of training. A more destructive one, no doubt.

Once we’re finally dismissed for the day, nobody moves to get out of the room, a strong buzz still floating over the gym. I see Bakugo stand up from where he’d been thrown down by Aizawa. “One more time.”

Mina nods, panting, looking towards Kaeya, “I still, don’t think my quirks being used fully.”

Monoma stands from the floor near my feet, looking back towards Vlad King, “Im not… fast enough yet.”

I hear Ochako hit her fist on the desk where she sits in front of Hawk’s white board, “There has to be a way to save everyone.”

Aizawa sighs, “I know you all want to improve, but there will be time for you to do that later, now, you all need to rest to get ready to come back tomorrow.”

There’s groans of indignance and annoyance all throughout the gym but eventually the teachers manage to usher the students out of the room.

When we get back to the dorms, there’s an uneasy feeling in the air, almost like adrenaline or something of the sort.

It stays through the time everyone is getting ready for bed, and even through the time they go into their rooms to rest.

Lucky for me, I don’t have the same need for sleep that mortals do.

I made my way back to the gym quietly, making sure not to alert anyone to my leaving. I click the door shut and glide towards the training area, flicking the lights on and walking to the center of the field.
///////////////

Tornadoes are possible, I’ve proved that much to myself. But are other anemo related things possible?

For example, the small wind currents that are scattered around the world, that could be useful for support. Not to mention, the sheer amount of potential that’s going to come from being around so many different element types at once. Are whirlpools possible? It’s going to be chaos once the fight actually starts.

Fire getting sucked into anemo and causing bigger fires, water and ice, earth and fire, electricity and water. The possibilities are endless. But of course, in order to do that, I need to practice. No matter how in tune I am with anemo, there’s always ways to get better.

__________________

After about an hour and a half, I had barely scratched the surface of my training when I heard the door creak open, I turn my head and see Bakugo walking in.

“What are you doing here?”

He smirks at me, “It’s our training day, did you forget?”

He pauses for a second, “Hope you don’t mind that I brought some more extras with me. Nothing you can’t handle, I imagine.”

The gym door opens, and I have to hold back a sound of surprise as the entire class trickles in.

I cross my arms over my chest, “You guys are supposed to be sleeping.”

Bakugo scoffs, “Since when were you one to listen when you don’t want to?”

I go to disagree again when Mina walks up to me, “Wanderer, we know the teachers want us to train over weeks and weeks. That’s what their setting us up for, at least. But you know as well as we do that we might not have weeks to spare. Whatever we have to learn, we need to learn now.”

Denki smiles, “So whaddya say? Put us to work, coach!”

Chapter Text

I sigh, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “No, you need to not telegraph your movements to your opponent so much. Or, if you are going to, give them a fake signal.”

Ochako sighs, “I feel like I am though, I don’t know what the problem is.”

I grab her by the shoulders, “The problem is you aren’t trusting your judgement, you need to hone your instincts. The less you have to think about what move you’re going to make next, the less signals you’re going to send.”
///////////////////////

Tossing Iida to the ground again, I shake my head, “Use your speed more to your advantage, you can quite literally run circles around people, be discombobulating, be annoying. If there’s sand or dirt, kick it up. Make it as hard for them to get you as possible.”
//////////////////////////

I block another punch from Tetsutetsu, “You rely on your quirk way too much, you need to train your combat abilities more. What if you’re battling against a fire quirk and you overheat?”
//////////////////////

I slash through Todoroki’s ice, waving away his fire, “You’re too stuck in what you know. Melted ice makes water, cover someone in it and heat it up, you have a whole new attack, effective and hard to defend against. Practice melting ice as you fire it, it’ll be like you have another element to control.”
//////////////////////

The rest of the class got similar tips, at one point, I got tired of talking to people and just started sparring with them. Thankfully, the majority of them were fine with the change, and those who weren’t were too busy fixing the errors I had pointed out before.

By the third hour, it seemed like any tiredness they had returned full force. I stopped and stared out at them.

“Rest for a couple of hours. That’s enough.”

They look like they want to object again, but are too tired to do so.

We all collectively make our way back to the dorms, all of them collectively deciding to shower in the morning before breakfast and making their way to their rooms.

I sigh, closing my door again and sending a quick text to Kusanali to update her. I figure Nezu has already told her about Hawks being awake, but I tell her just in case, as well as the training.

All things considered, the students are making really good progress. Something that I personally didnt really expect from them. Not because they’re dumb or anything, but because I didn’t think they’d be too excited to fight against the commission.

However, it seems like they’ve all accepted the truth, or at least, they’ve accepted that there is a threat. Perhaps that’s all it is, just them training for a threat.

I wonder how many of them are just thinking of it as another fight in their head, and how many of them are thinking of it with the full gravity of the situation.

I dont know how many more uplifting conversations I can have, granted, I’ve only really had one, but it was enough for me to feel overly exposed, vulnerable.

With the upcoming fight, I don’t want to get attached. More importantly, I don’t want to inspire false hope.

I don’t want to be the reason someone else feels betrayed, after all.

—------------------------------

Once I sit down for breakfast in the cafeteria, I’m surprised when basically the entire class tries to sit near each other. We’d managed to fill up five tables that were reasonably close to each other, which felt weird given the emptiness of the cafeteria so early in the morning.

UA’s cafeteria opened up pretty early for breakfast, allowing students who wanted to get an early start on the day the chance to eat, very rarely are there more than a few students in here, so imagine the surprise on the lunch worker’s faces when the entire hero class showed up.

I hear small talk at some of the tables about Hawk’s subject, the wits aspect, or the logic aspect. The students who were in his group yesterday had open notebooks in front of them lined with notes, students who hadn’t been in the group listening to them talk intensely.

Ochako mentions one of the scenarios, the one that made her angry yesterday. “I just cant figure out the way to save everyone. He said that going to help the other heroes would result in the death of one of the heroes you’re working with and some of the civilians, but staying with the evacuation team would result in the death of the hero.”

I chuckle, causing her to look up at me, “The issue is you’re considering yourself the only moveable player.”

She tilts her head, “What do you mean?”

I shrug, thinking of a way to explain it. “For example, if the evacuation team consisted of you, Momo, Todoroki, and Midoriya. Who’s quirk is the most suited to fight the water god?”

She creases her brow, “Midoriya?”

I smile, shaking my head, “Good guess, but consider water’s structure, it would be hard to block a liquid attack, so their best bet is to dodge it, or get rid of it.”

She nods, “Then… Todoroki, right?”

I nod, “Todoroki could either boil the water into a gas, or freeze it. I recommend freezing it personally, evaporating it might take more effort.”

She nods, “So I would stay with the evacuation team, but send Todoroki to help fight against the false god.”

I nod, “Exactly.”

She sighs, rubbing her head, “Why didn’t I think of that before?”

I sigh, “You’re assuming you’re the only one able to do something, remember the players on the field, keep yourself informed of everyone’s location. That way, you can determine where you’re needed, and where others are needed.”

Ochako nods, a confident smile on her face, “Got it!”

Kirishima leans towards me, “Hey Wanderer! What would you do in this scenario?”

Oh god, what have I gotten myself into.

Chapter Text

When the class makes their way back into the gym, I notice that the students are a lot more energized and confident about it today. Their paces a lot quicker than yesterday.

When we stop infront of the teachers, all of us separated into our groups already, the teachers seem surprised. Aizawa clears his throat, telling the students who the next teacher they’d be working with is.

“Group A, you will be working with Kaeya, B you’re moving to Hawks. Group C you’ll be training with Vlad King, which leaves Group D with me.” He looks towards me, “Nezu wanted to discuss something with you, meet him in his office.”

I nod, used to the random meetings the principal wanted to have, ever since the tensions between the commission and UA heightened, those who stayed in UA had enrolled in the Teyvat class at a crazy rate, which caused Nezu to make more lesson plans and papers and worksheets, which he wanted me to approve when Kusanali wasn’t available.

I make my way out of the gym and towards Nezu’s office, looking out of the school gates and seeing the mass protest happening, their signs are getting more and more violent, one of them even has a picture of me with a bunch of darts in it. Creative.

I go to knock on the door and walk in when it opens before I get the chance, taking a seat in my normal chair.

“Wanderer, thank you for coming on such short notice.”

“Is it really ever anything other than a short notice?”

Nezu laughs, “No I suppose not.” He gets a bit more serious, “I wanted to discuss the next stages of this war. As you know, the commission has been awfully quiet. According to the League, they’re still very actively working on the false gods, likely trying to create another anemo and pyro god before they start the main battle.”

I nod, crossing my arms, “I figured they wouldn’t start until their strength was regained, the only problem is that we don’t know how efficient they’ve been able to make the process.”

Nezu nods, “I agree. Which is why I think it might be time to try and force their hand, Hawks has recorded a statement, which will set some gears in motion. More pros, especially those of lower levels, will move to our side, and the public may change their opinion as well.”

I nod, “But it would speed up the process, they’re going to want to respond.”

Nezu nods, “Which is exactly why I wanted you in here. Do you think, personally, that, if faced with one of the false gods, the students would be okay?”

I crease my brows, “Why are you asking me and not the teachers?”

“Because I don’t think you’ll be as biased. Yes, you care for their safety, but you also care about results. I will still ask them, but I wanted your opinion first.”

I hum, tilting my head in thought, “On one hand, they’re definitely stronger than they were before the training, and thats after only one day. However, they’re still not confident enough in their abilities, but I imagine that might change after a few more sessions.”

Nezu nods, “So, you would like me to wait on releasing the video for a few more days?”

“Give them 3 more days. That will let them get to all of the instructors and work on anything they were less confident with.”

“3 days it is, I’ll let Kusanali know about the next steps. You are free to go back to the gym if you’d like.”

I nod, standing from my chair and making my way out of the room.

“Oh, and Wanderer.”

I raise a brow, turning back towards him.

“I just want to let you know, Kusanali definitely made the right choice in sending you.”

I raise my brows in surprise, not expecting the sudden praise, Nezu smiles, “Have a good rest of your day.”

I nod, “You too, Nezu.”

_____________________________________

When I got back to the gym, I was surprised to see Momo locked in a fight with Aizawa, definitely fairing better than she was with Vlad King yesterday. I walk over to my group, who was in Hawk’s group.

I take an open seat and look at the board, it’s covered in small stick figures and depictions of fire and blocks which I assume represent buildings. “Now, here’s your decision. Who do you save first? The electro god is moving rapidly towards your location, there’s evacuating civilians in the street, who are moving towards the nearest safe place, which in this scenario, would be Present Mic’s hero agency. There’s also civilians stuck in the top of the building, which is fully intact aside from a few broken windows. Denki?”

Denki thinks for a second, and I swear I can see smoke coming out of his ears. “I would… go for the people in the top floor, my quirk isn’t suited for fighting electricity, and when the fight starts, chances are that building is going down.”

Iida nods, “Yes, I think it’s a good idea to send Wanderer after the false god, I will also go. It might be in our best interest to lead the false god away from civilians into a more evacuated area.”

Hawks looks a bit surprised, “You guys are on fire today! But don’t forget about the civilians in the street, mass panic could lead to trampling, how do you prevent that?”

Jirou looks deep in thought, “Something similar happened early in the year, Iida was able to control them from just yelling, but I think we might need a bit more in this situation.”

Kirishima nods, “I think we’d have to convince them that the false god is being distracted for the time being.”

Kendo nods, “You’d have to make sure you don’t make them too comfortable though.”

Denki hums, “Is it possible for us to use the big TV’s around town? If we could, then we could have a map of all the safe zones up.”

Jirou nods, “Maybe we can display the location of the false gods too, we’d have to stick them with trackers though.”

Kendo crosses her arms, “We could do it based on an update system, like last sightings and things like that.”

Hawks claps, “Okay, so what I’m hearing is giving the civilians a clear picture of where they’re going, as well as a clear idea of where the threat is. Nezu should be able to get us access to the TV’s, so I think that could work. Next scenario!-”

I sigh, hiding a small smile, they really do pick up things quickly.

Chapter Text

When the training ends, all of the students make their way out, but I’m stopped by Kaeya waving me over where all of the teachers are standing at.

“Do you need something?”

Kaeya crosses his arms over his chest. “Just wanted to know why the student’s abilities increased so dramatically overnight. I'm sure they weren’t that good when we dismissed them yesterday.”

I raise my brow, “Why do you think that I had something to do with it?”

Hawks smiles, “Oh you know, the whispers of ‘remember what Wanderer said’ and things along those lines.”

I sigh, rubbing the bridge of my nose, guess they havent gotten better at staying quiet.

Aizawa clears his throat, “As much improvement as they’ve had. It’s important to remember that they still have to rest.”

I nod, “Believe me, I wasn’t planning on a training session, I came in here to train, and they followed me like a bunch of lost puppies and then asked me to train them.”

Hawk’s smile turns into a smirk, “And you didn’t disagree? Wow Strings, you are going soft.”

“I’m going to feed you to a Consecrated red vulture you pigeon knock off.”

“Wow, so mean.” He puts an exaggerated pout on his face.

Vlad King clears his throat, “What did you end up teaching them anyways?”

I shrug, “Just whatever I could find wrong with their fighting. A lot of them went for at least 3 more hours.”

Vlad sighs out of his nose, “They need to sleep to be prepared for this fight.”

I raise my brow, “You think I don’t know that? They would have practiced whether I was at the gym or not. The only difference is that there was someone there to help them rather than all of them just sparring.”

“You couldn’t have just tried to tell them no again?”

“Did you not hear what I just said? They wanted to be there, and they were going to be there no matter what I told them to do.”

Aizawa sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “He’s right, Vlad. Those kids are stubborn, they wouldn’t have let up.”

I huff, “If we’re done here, I have other stuff to do.”

I turn away and have to hide a groan when Hawks saddles up beside me, “You down for a race?”

I raise a brow, “In the current state of Japan? Not the best idea.”

He sighs, “Yeah, I figured.”

I expected him to walk away at the rejection, but he kept walking beside me all the way into the school’s library. It had started staying open 24/7 now that there’s dorms on campus in order to ‘encourage extra learning’.

“Are you following me because you need something or are you just creepy?”

Hawks chuckles, taking a seat across from me, I grab another record of Japan’s laws and a history of Teyvat book, which has collected dust from lack of reading.

“What? I can’t hang out with my friend?”

“You think we’re friends?”

Hawks crosses his arms over his chest, “Well, lets see. We went out to eat together, you saved me from psychos, and we rescued a cat together. How is he, by the way?”

I hum, “He hangs out in my dorm now. Sometimes he’ll disappear and come back with a bunch of information. He’s on one of those excursions now.”

Hawks nods, sighing and looking at the books in front of me, grabbing the Teyvat one, opening to the first page.

After a few minutes, he whistles, “Is it true that you guys managed to bust a crack in the barrier a couple years ago?”

I crease my brows, “Not that I’m aware of, I feel like that would be a bit more widespread knowledge if it was true.”

He hums and nods, looking back down at the book, a few seconds later…

“Is it true that there’s huge cubes that shoot fire?”

I have to hide a chuckle at that, what a weird way to describe them.

“They’re called hypostases, and they can shoot fire, but there’s one for every element.”

“Have you fought one before?”

I nod, “I fought all of them for training.”

Hawks looks confused, “Even the anemo one?”

I nod, “It took a long time, but I was able to kill it eventually, I wanted to see if there were any attacks that I could mimic.”

Hawks nods again, looking back at the book.

“What about this? ‘Inazuma is a militant nation, ruled by a tyrant who kills anyone who doesn’t bend to her will.’”

I tilt my head back and forth. “Kind of true, but she’s different now. She locked herself away in an eternal plane and then when she left it everything returned to normal.”

Hawks creases his brows, “I feel like there’s more to that story.”

I shrug, “There is, but I don’t really like talking about her.”

He nods, “Right, sorry.”

He glances at his book but stops himself, “What are the archons like? Have you met all of them?”

I sigh, “I’ve met the majority, not all in the same timeframe but of the ones I’ve met, Kusanali is definitely the friendliest.”

Hawks tilts his head, “Are the others not nice?”

I wave my hand back and forth in a ‘kinda’ motion. “I don’t like the electro archon. The anemo archon is annoying, and the geo archon is nice but usually busy doing random stuff. The pyro archon is nice enough, but I haven’t met with her since her ascension.” I look at him, “All in all, very few of them are worth wasting my time talking to.”

Hawks chuckles, “I’m not sure if I should trust your reasoning, you think everyones annoying and not worth talking to.”

I shrug, “Worked for me so far.”

He smiles, looking at me for a moment longer, before he looks back at his book and we keep reading for about an hour before his phone pings. He stands with a smile, “Teacher meeting, got to go.”

I give him a short wave, not taking my eyes off the book. I hear him sigh and he ruffles my hair when he walks by.

“See you later, Strings.”

Chapter Text

2 days later, Hawk’s response video went up. It was broadcasted everywhere, if you looked into the streets, there were crowds at every available TV, squeezing in to get closer to the screen.

Those of us in UA, though, were in the main room of the dorm, the teachers joining us too. The room was full, most people standing aside from the few lucky ones who managed to get to the couch first.

I found myself standing next to Kaeya and Hawks, of fucking course, my two annoyances. Thankfully, both of them seemed uncharacteristically serious. I suppose this is a turning point for the upcoming war, so it is a serious moment.

Everyone holds their breath, and once the video starts, the tension in the room intensifies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello Japan. This is Hawks. I’m sure you are aware by now, but I’ve been out of commission for a while now. While there’s been speculation on the nature of my injuries, I’m here to set the record straight.

I was assigned a project by the commission almost a year ago now. To keep an eye on an incoming foreigner from across the border. This Teyvatian was supposed to act as an extra line of defense against the League Of Villains in the coming months.

At least, that’s what the reason was on paper.

In reality, the commission hoped to gain information from this Teyvatian, otherwise known as Wanderer. They planned to use him as a means of learning the weaknesses of one of Teyvats nations, Sumeru.

It became very clear to them that Wanderer was not going to give them information that could harm his nation. When they realized this, they began planning to eliminate him.

While these plans never came to fruition due to interference from both UA and Wanderer himself, they allowed for the Commission to test their new project, which I’m sure you are all aware of by now.

I was intended to be a test subject in said project, assigned the power of anemo, or wind; as we know it.

They inserted their control into my brain stem, intending me to fight for them or die trying to gain back control. Wanderer, during his capture, rescued me and brought me to a secure location, where I was incapacitated.

There’s a scar on the back of my neck from the surgery to remove the control piece, if you needed more proof.

Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with Wanderer, and, as Nezu has no doubt told you, a lot of our assumptions about Teyvatians we skewed to protect the image of the commission.

I’ve even had the chance to meet another Teyvatian, and, while he is nothing short of annoying, he’s also nothing like the stereotypes we managed to place on them without ever knowing them.

With that being said, those of you who have an open mind, who were waiting for my response, or just something to tip the scales in one direction or the other, use this video as your sign.

And be prepared for an all out war.

Signing off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hear a collective breath get released around the room, Mina’s eyes find mine, a sheen of tears over them. She squeezes them shut and reopens them with a renewed intensity, she nods at me before turning towards those who are more nervous and comforting them too.

I turn to my phone, opening the messages to Kusanali and sending her a confirmation that the video is up. The ‘read’ icon pops up, but she doesn’t respond after that, likely starting the ending preparations on her side.

I take a deep breath of my own, I guess this is it, the final stretch. We’ll have to get in touch with the League again, maybe we can get some reinforcements through from Teyvat early on, if the commission makes another scouting trip.

There’s so much to do and so little time, and everything after this is going to happen so quickly. I swear I’m going to get whiplash or something.

I’m snapped out of my thoughts by a feather tickling me on the nose, I look up angrily in Hawk’s direction, but get confused when he doesn’t have a feather in his hand, instead, he’s rubbing one of his wings and looking to my other side.

I follow his gaze and see Kaeya with a smirk on his face and a red feather in his hand. “Don’t get all nervous now. Remember you’re our ace in the hole, cant have you getting cold feet.”

I get pushed slightly as Hawks snatches his feather back. “Asshole.”

Kaeya chuckles, “I try.”

I roll my eyes and shake my head. “I swear I’ve never met anyone more annoying than you two.”

Hawks pouts, “Awe Strings, you don’t mean that! I defended you on national TV and everything!”
Kaeya makes a noise, and smirks at Hawks, “Come to think of it, you defended me too!”

Hawks glares at him, “And I continue to regret that choice.”

Kaeya laughs and shakes his head, “Again, I aspire to make people regret being nice to me everyday. Glad I’m succeeding so well in that aspiration.”

Oh my god can they please shut up? Please.

Chapter Text

Miriko finally made it clear that she’d side with UA, as she’d finally gotten the full story from Hawks. Her supporters began loudly agreeing, the majority having stayed silent while Miriko was still deciding who to side with.

Kusanali messaged me back quickly, too.

I’ve had the chance to meet with
the remaining archons, as well as
the rest of the web.

Most of the archons would prefer
staying in Teyvat until the threat is
stuck in Japan.

The only way this is going to happen,
is if they have to recall all of their offensive
Forces.

….

That’s where you come in.

I’ve had little success with the
electro outside of accidental
uses.

I still don’t think the success of
this plan should lie on the shoulders
of a power that I got locked away years ago.

None of that.

I know you have the ability
to use it, Wanderer.

You know just as well as I do.

I think the problem is that you’re scared.

Read

I sigh, putting my phone back in my pocket, Kiyoshi has come back to the dorms. He immediately pawed at the notebook we’d been using for his memories, and he displayed them on the pages.

On one of them, he showed the research lab again, their screen was lit up with the subjects again, green shining from their photos.

Another was a picture of a record, kept open on a desk, likely recently updated.

Pyro God: Success
Cryo God: Success
Dendro God: Success
Hydro God: Success
Anemo God: Success
Geo God: Success

_______________________________________________

There have been unforeseen interferences in our experiments. Results require updating.
____________________________________________________________

Pyro God: Deceased
Cryo God: Alive
Dendro God: Alive
Hydro God: Inoperative
Anemo God: Defect
Geo God: Alive

____________________________________________________________

Pyro God: Alive
Cryo God: Alive
Dendro God: Alive
Hydro God: Alive
Anemo God: Alive
Geo God: Alive
__________________________________________________________

Mission can resume as planned. All test subjects operational.

I crease my brows, circling a few things in a red pen, before turning the page to let Kiyoshi continue.

The last series of pictures, is a sight of kennels and cages, each of them with multiple animals stuffed inside, I huff a sound of disbelief and lean back in the chair.

“They’re all…Teyvatians?”

Kiyoshi meows.

I shake my head, taking a second before bringing my phone out and messaging Nezu about needing to meet. A few minutes later, he sends back a confirmation, and I’m walking to his office.

When I get there, the teachers are already there too, causing me to raise a brow. “Am I interrupting something?”

Nezu smiles in that creepy way, “Not at all, we were just discussing how school days were going to go going forward, we are in a national state of emergency now, after all.”

I nod, walking towards the desk, raising my brow, “Is this place debugged?”

Nezu nods again, “Has been for a little while now, I managed to find that last device a couple of weeks ago, thankfully.”

I hum, nodding and opening the book, laying it on the desk in front of him. Nezu flips through the pages, when he gets to the last page, he pauses, looking up at me.

“I assume these are similar cases to Kiyoshi?”

He doesn’t wait for an answer, flipping back to the page before.

“I notice there’s a couple of things circled here, care to elaborate?”

He passes the book to Aizawa, who begins to look through them as well.

“First of all, and the most obvious thing, is that they’ve already managed the recreation of their deceased gods. The anemo and pyro gods are already back in commission. The thing I’m not entirely sure about is the Hydro god. There’s no record of the god having been killed, not from any of our allies at least, so I’m confused in how it was inoperable. Not to mention, the ones who died have the word “Deceased” next to them, and those who switch sides, “Defect.”

Nezu nods, “So we need to find out what inoperable means in the grand scheme of things.”

Present Mic suggests, “Maybe they tried enhancing the orb or something? Messing with it may have led to the experiment being set back.”

Nezu considers it, but I shake my head.

“Before, when they weren’t completely operational yet, Kiyoshi got another picture of the record. It used to be online, so I imagine they switched to paper to avoid leaks. But it used to say, “In Progress”, the word inoperable has never popped up.”

Kaeya hums, “Maybe it’s something like an elemental effect?”

I crease my brows, “You mean like overloading something?”

Kaeya glances up at me from the book and nods, “Considering they’re still actively kidnapping Teyvatians, and we can assume they’re using them to feed into the fake elemental energy, they have to do something with what’s left over.”

Hawks crosses his arms over his chest, “Im not sure I’m following here.”

Kaeya slides the notebook back onto the table, “I’m saying, that hypothetically, it wouldn’t be too out of the realm of possibility that they’re using the weakened Teyvatians as test dummies for the gods.”

I feel my eyes burn, being a test dummy is never fun. I have a lot of experience in the subject.

Aizawa chimes in from the other side of the room, “Would that work, though? These elemental reactions I assume have to have some type of vision to work, or at least something with elemental energy.”

Kaeya nods, “Typically, yes. But what if, and again, this is purely hypothetical, they achieved the ability to harness quirks, and instead of immediately injecting their false gods with overpowered quirks, they gave them to the now powerless Teyvatians as a way of making sure they were operational. And then, they put them in a ring with the fake gods.

In that case, there’s either a chance that the quirk had some kind of reaction with their element, or, they exhausted the elemental energy they had. Either way, it would make the subject inoperable.”

Vlad King nods, “It could explain it, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea to work off of theories.”

Kaeya nods, “I agree, but, I also think that we test said theory.”

Nezu chimes in, “How do you suggest we do that?”

Keaya shrugs, “You have the pyro orb still right? Chances are it still retains a bit of elemental energy, lets see if Wanderer here can trigger an overload.”

I sigh in annoyance, “I don’t have access to my electro.”

Kaeya raises his brow, “You don’t need to, we can just hold it up to your neck. Should have the same effect.”

I roll my eyes but nod.

Nezu moves to grab the orb out of a locked drawer, putting it up on the desk, Hawks goes to grab it but I stop his hand, “I don’t know if it will hit you too, best to just let me do it.”

He nods, sitting back down. I grab the orb and huff before quickly bringing it to my neck, having to hide a grunt as it electrocutes me and burns the skin of my hand. I put the orb back on the desk as it sparks.

Kaeya hums, “Well, that answers that question.”

Chapter Text

Once we leave the office, I rush down the hallway. I needed to get somewhere quiet and away from people soon or I was going to combust. What the hells happening to me?

The halls seem to twist in unnatural ways. Any sounds made being amplified to the point of being unbearable. The lights shine terribly in my eyes, blinding me and causing the burn to intensify that much more. I feel my body hit metal, a locker, probably, and the sound resonates through my body, echoing through my skull as I jolt back and start walking again.

I eventually end up back in the training room, sighing in relief when nobody is in there. I lean against the wall and rub my eyes. They hadn’t stopped burning since earlier, but it had gotten easy to ignore until the whole situation with the orb.

My neck still burns, it almost smells like burning skin. The smell is familiar, and causes my eyes to burn more, it almost feels as if they’re going to explode. My vision gets unsteady, and the light seems to intensify in a way that reminds me of the lights that would hang above me in the room Dottore would use to house all of his favorite experiments.

I feel my knees go weak, clutching the side of my head. It’s reminiscent of the pain I felt regaining my memories. My head is pounding, I feel like I can’t hear anything but my own thoughts, and even those are far in the background to the loud pounding in my skull.

And my chest is on fire. Burning so much I thought I was going to melt. It felt like getting the gnosis ripped out of my chest, and still, its even worse than that. Like it’s scraping against my chest cavity on the way out. Like it’s constantly being plunged back in just to be yanked back out. Like it’s trying to punch out an exit hole in my back and failing.

I fall to the floor, my knees meeting the exercise mats in a motion that sends a sharp pain all the way up through my head and then back down to my toes.

I hear the gym doors burst open, the distant but loud sound of yelling filling my mind. The words get jumbled with the pain, I feel a hand on my shoulder but all it does is send another wave of pain through my body.

I open my mouth, trying to say something but not hearing anything come out. And then my vision cut out, and the darkness flooded my mind.

_______________________

Hawk’s POV

As soon as Wanderer burst up from his chair, I could tell something was wrong. And, apparently, it wasn’t too hard to recognize, considering Nezu already had the cameras up before anyone could even mention the weird way in which he left the room.

I turn to Kaeya, that smug, overconfident jerk. “What the hell did that orb do to him?”

Kaeya’s face is blank, a hand on his chin, as if he’s thinking. “I’m not sure… it shouldn’t have done anything to him, aside from the small shock.”

I scoff, feeling my anger rising, “Yeah well, obviously it did.”

“Gentlemen.” I hear Nezu’s voice, turning towards it, I see the camera. Wanderer had made his way to the gym, he looked like he was in debilitating pain, clutching his head and falling to the floor.

I decided not to wait for his situation to get worse, jumping to my feet and rushing out the door and down the hall. I hear more footsteps behind me, not caring enough to turn around and find out who it was.

As soon as I get to the gym, I can hear what I can only describe as the sound of lightning during a storm. I walk into the gym and see him crouched down on the ground, screaming drowned out by the loud crashes.

The room is filled with a purple hue. Something that seems straight out of a horror movie. I ignore the urge to turn tail and run at the sight of the electricity shooting out of his body left and right, rushing towards him and pulling on his shoulder.

His screams sound so much louder here, past what felt like a barrier of lightning. They’re haunting. Even more so when they start being mixed in with barely audible words.

“The price… for my sins.”

The screaming gets louder, I feel a burst of electricity push my hand from his shoulder.

“Falling… into the abyss.”

The screaming crescendoes, the lighting gets closer, almost like it’s turning on him. Trying to hit him.

And then suddenly everything freezes. The lightning stops in the air, I flinch when I realize there was one headed straight for me.

The lights flicker, and the purple hue seems to get a bit lighter. Replaced instead by a light green one.

The once violent air goes calm, and the smell of flowers fills my senses. I turn towards the door, not seeing anyone out of the ordinary. Kaeya, Midnight, Mic, Aizawa, Vlad, Nezu. Everyone is here.
For a second, I considered Midnight’s quirk, but it’s not the right color, and I would be out cold too. So what the hell happened?

Nezu pads over, putting a paw on Wanderer’s face. “I’ll call Lord Kusanali, and see if she knows anything about this. The smell and the color seem reminiscent of a dendro ability.”

I turn on Kaeya, who had gotten a bit closer, gripping the collar of his shirt. “What the hell did you do?”

He looks angry, but not losing his cool. “Calm down feathers, I don’t know what happened.”

I huff, pushing him back. “You’re the one who suggested that stupid orb shit and now look what happened to him!”

Kaeya smooths his shirt out. “I’m fully aware that something happened to Wanderer, but I don’t know why you’re acting like I would’ve had any idea that this would happen.”

I throw my hands up, “Because you seem to know everything! Why is this any different!?”

Aizawa sighs, cutting through the argument. “There’s no time for this, we need to get him to recovery girl to see if there’s anything internal wrong with him. Nezu is going to call Kusanali in the meantime.

I feel the anger subside a bit, replaced by worry. I walk back over to Wanderer and gather him in my arms, shoving past Kaeya on the way out. I start walking to Recovery Girl’s office.

Chapter Text

Hawks POV
The room is tense, almost suffocatingly so. Even more when Nezu finally connects to Kusanali, who is clearly distressed. “Is Wanderer okay? I felt a disturbance with his seal.”

Nezu smiles, “I’m glad you're aware, saves a bit of explanation. Wanderer had a… very aggressive reaction to a small experiment we did.”

There’s a small hum from the other side of the phone. “What kind of experiment?”

Kaeya clears his throat. “We were testing the elemental energy left behind in the orbs from the false god. I figured we could trigger an overload effect.”

Theres a sigh, “I assume that triggered the seal I put in place. When Wanderer first became my second, I placed a secondary seal on him to avoid any malicious forces from trying to use his power again. I assume that, while the orb wasnt connected to the false god anymore, it still retained the intent. Especially since it was made for something malicious.”

Vlad King crosses his arms, “So there was a malicious force that tried to use his power before?”

Kusanali sighs, “The Fatui, who you’ve been made aware of, took an interest in him a long time ago because of his power.”

I shake my head, “This is getting us nowhere. There’s no reason we need to know why you put the seal on him, all we need to know is if he’s going to be okay.”

The room gets filled with a tense air again, Kaeya looking at me from where he’s standing near the phone, his eyes have an unrecognizable emotion in them.

The line goes quiet for a moment, before her voice rings through again.”He should be fine after resting. How severe was it?”

“He was screaming on the floor by the time we got there, and it went on for at least 10 minutes.” Nezu responds.

“It may take upwards of 4 days for him to recuperate. There’s a chance he’ll wake up before hand, but he won’t be at his full strength.”

I curse from where I’m sitting next to the bed Wanderer is laid on. “There’s nothing you can do to speed the process up?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t. I’m working on the preparations for this side. I had to… outsource some assistance from other nations to make up for a lack of time, so we’re all stretched thin at the moment.”

I sigh and look over at Wanderer, how does he keep getting put into these situations.

_____________

The next day is tense. The entire class went a little mad when we told them what had happened. All wanting to see Wanderer, but getting turned down. Thus far, only teachers and the like have been allowed in the room.

We continued the training sessions, but it was obvious that everyone was a bit distracted. More so than they were during the past sessions.

At one point, Vlad seemed done for the day, not wanting to put effort into training people who weren’t paying attention. That’s when our resident pirate did something unexpected and called all the students over for a pep-talk.

Though it was a bit unconventional.

“At this current moment, we’re going to lose.” He raises his hand when someone goes to interrupt him. “If they were to attack us right now, we’d lose. Wanderer is out, and he’s our focal point. Are you guys really going to let the health of one person decide the fate of this war? That;s a lot of pressure to put on someone, wouldn’t you agree?”

Iida tries to stand up for the class as a whole, “Sir Kaeya, we are trying our best, and—”

Kaeya cuts him off again, “Are you? Because from what I see, you’re all running around like chickens with your heads cut off without Wanderer here. It’s almost like you forgot everything he’s given you guys to work with already. Has it all been for nothing?”

Mina seems a bit put off by what he’s saying, but I can see the gears turning in her head. From what I’ve heard, she’s the one who’s the closest to Wanderer among the class, so hopefully she’s well-versed in abrasive conversations that mean well.

She claps her hands together. “What I think Sir Kaeya is trying to say, is that Wanderer has given us more than enough guidance, and we need to put our best foot forward so that when he wakes up, he doesn’t feel bad for getting hurt!”

That’s one way to put it I guess.

She seemed to be able to reel the tension in a bit, and the class seemed…rejuvanated in a way.

Suddenly their movements were sharper, and they seemed to actually be putting their best foot forward. At one point, I had to tilt my head to the pirate. Give him a bit of props. He gave a smug shrug and turned back to his lesson.

I scoff and turn back to the board, finishing my scenario.

Asshole.

Chapter Text

Hawks POV

We were asked to meet again to discuss Wanderer’s state. Kusanali would be joining us over the phone. On the way there, I noticed a tension that filled the halls, more so than they have in the past month or so. I take it that news of Wanderer’s condition had spread, not good.

If the commission catches wind, they may do something drastic.

When I step into the room, Kaeya, Aizawa, Vlad, and Nezu are already there. Nezu’s computer set up so that Kusanali is audible from the other end.

I take a seat, my wings folding behind my back as I take a deep breath and prepare myself for what is sure to be a tense meeting.

Nezu clears his throat, “Kusanali has told me that she has more information on Wanderer’s condition. And that she wants all of us to know, in case of an emergency.”

I crease my brows, “He’s okay right?”

Kusanali’s voice sounds from the other side, “Yes! He is okay for the moment! Actually, this is less about what transpired recently, and more about what could happen later.”

She pauses and you can hear a deep breath on the other side.

“When Wanderer’s power was used before, it influenced his mind. Not to an overwhelming extent, but enough that he could’ve been described as erratic. Before, he had a doctor, or something close to it, feeding his mind with things to make him hate the world, so I’m not sure if it will effect him in the same way. However, I want all of you to be prepared for him to go rouge. Not to say that he will go out of his way to hurt any of you, but he may disregard your safety during one of his fights. And I want to warn you, his electro abilities are extremely violent, and cover a pretty large area, especially if he’s equipped in the same way he was before.”

Vlad crosses his arms, “So is he volatile now? Or will it come about when we’re in the heat of battle?”

I see Kaeya give a bit of a mean glance in Vlad’s direction, but decide to disregard it for now.

Kusanali sighs, “It’s hard to say. If his electro abilities are regaining strength, he may become more angry over the following weeks.I suspect that if he can learn to accept the electro in the same way he accepted his Anemo, he will be able to combat it.”

I lean my arm on the table, “And what can we do to help him accept it?”

Kusanali laughs, “That’s up to him! I imagine he’s fighting himself internally right now.”

Aizawa makes a sound, “Fighting himself?”

“Yes. He’s likely still fighting it in the same way you saw before he passed out, except, it’s not visible. Don’t worry though, he’s proven to be more intelligent than I gave him credit for before I got to know him. I have no doubt that he’ll be fine.”

I huff, it still sucks that there’s nothing anyone can do to help him, and if the fight internally is as violent as the shit we actually got to see, then no wonder it makes him angry.

Kusanali sighs on the other side, “Last time this happened, the ending wasn’t exactly…pleasant. At least, once he was snapped out of his stupor. So, please, keep me updated.”

Vlad crosses his arms, “What exactly happened last time?”

There’s silence on the other side of the line.

“I don’t feel comfortable sharing that information at the moment. However, I can tell you that he likely won’t do the same thing, it was far too extreme, and there’s less external factors this time.”

Nezu nods grimly, “We’ll keep you updated on Wanderer’s condition, thank you Kusanali.”

When the call ends, the other teachers start moving immediately, but I feel stuck in my seat.

What the hell could be going on in Wanderer’s head right now?

_____________________________

Wanderer’s POV

It’s so loud, but so quiet all at the same time. I feel like everytime I move the sounds intensify, a roar in my ears for a split second before it flickers into silence again.

There’s an ache in my chest, like it’s trying to remind me of what I’m missing. All of the empty space feels even more imposing as I trudge forward along what I can only assume is a pathway.

My eyes burn. Like they’re so dry that they can hardly function anymore. It hurts to blink, a shock runs through my face whenever I manage.

It’s so dark, but familiar, in a way. Like I’ve been here before.

But its so dark, so there’s nothing that should feel familiar, nothing to recognize in the back of my mind.

My feet move one in front of the other, and each stretch of my leg feels like it takes 3 minutes. Like trying to walk through mud or water.

But there’s nothing on my legs, just open space. Nothing impedes my movement besides the pain. But that kind of thing has never really affected me like this before.

It feels like hours, maybe even days, before something glimmers in the dark. I immediately set my sights on it, setting aside caution for the moment in hopes of seeing something other than darkness.

As I approach it, a long and tiring process, the purple hue gets brighter and brighter. The intricate lines of the object getting more and more intricate, as getting closer only seems to reveal more lines. It’s thrumming with a deep power. A reverberating sound filling the silence as I get close enough to touch it.

My hand is shaky when I raise it. Not used to movement anymore since the only thing I’ve had to use thus far was my legs.

My hand touches it, and it’s hot. Burning, almost. A sharp pain shoots up my arm and I grunt as my hand drops back to my side.

This is it, then.

The seal.

Chapter Text

I stood in front of it for a while, trying to discern what to do. I could keep trying to power my way through, but I have a feeling that wouldn’t end well at all.

Or, I could try to understand it’s intricacies, which is where I’m at now. At first, it seemed as though the lines were nothing but that, just lines. But looking closer, I can make out words.

Or at least, what used to be words.

The letters are so jumbled that there’s no chance of reading it as it stands. Like they’re layered on top of each other hundreds of times over, it makes me wonder just how badly they wanted to contain the power.

It looks a bit…paniced. Not to say that it’s messy, just… the feeling from it. It’s almost like the feelings that those casting the seal were feeling have been imbued into it.

In retrospect, and considering what we’re dealing with now. Perhaps the idea of having another being with god-like power was threatening the balance of Teyvat, and they wanted to put a stop to it before Celestia decided to do it herself.

Why didn’t they just kill me?

Sighing, I regain focus. That doesn’t matter right now, what matters is that we have an idea of what the seals overall purpose could be, which helps to discern the words a bit.

Not only to hold the power back, but to hide that power, and to hide the truth of my identity.

It only makes sense that those who are especially intune to elemental energy would’ve been able to sense that there was something wrong with me, so the fact that they didn’t speaks volumes.

Which makes it seem like this seal is more of a collection of seals placed in the same spot, likely to make them harder to see, and to break, of course.

One of the seals, then, is to conceal power and one, is to conceal my elemental energy.

Or is it to regulate the elemental energy in a way that seems natural?

Either way, the power concealment seal is known. So hopefully that can help to discern the rest of the words.

But there’s too many variables right now. Seals like this aren’t all the same. The words they used for the seals can vary from known words and something they made specifically for this. Which, in that case, it’s likely the latter. Especially for something of this nature.

Just as I get ready to just count my losses and try to power my way through it again, I hear the familiar sound of roaring fire.

I turn my head, and the sight sends shivers down my spine.

Its closer than I thought it would be, close enough to feel the heat on my face. I have to steel my nerves as I stare at the house that I used to live in. The sound of the wood crashing inside snaps me out of my stupor.

Why the hell is this here?

It shouldnt have anything to do with the seal, logically, so what could it pertain to?

Perhaps… the seal acts as some sort of mental blockage, rather than a physical blockage. Up till now, I figured that the only thing I’d have to do is remove the seal, and then the power would surge out. But maybe, the seal is something that grows in strength over time.

In that case, the phrase would be something about time going by, and experiences being gained. Though, that raises the question of whether or not it’s limited to a certain type of experiences. Positive or negative.

I take a deep breath, there’s only one way to find out.

____________

Walking into the burning house hurt less than I thought it would. Like the fire wasn’t actually touching me, just a memory of what it looked like.

I made my way to the main room, where I…we, used to sleep. A chill ran over my body as I walked in, the fire still roaring, but it had almost cleared out of this room, apart from one place.

I made my way nearer to it, and a glint caught my attention. Flashing in my eyes temporarily as I got closer and closer.

I kneel down next to the small bit of fire remaining in the room.

At first, I’m confused, because it doesn’t look like something I remember being here. And then I remember the story he told me. The tin man, who didnt have a heart. Who’s real heart was left behind, after he was burned in a fire.

A tiny tin heart.

My hand shakes as it reaches into the fire. It bends around my hand to avoid it as I grab the tin heart. As soon as I feel the strange coolness of it in my palm, I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

It’s about the size of two of my fingers pressed together, but it’s heavy. Almost as heavy as the history books in Sumeru’s library.

I close my hand tight around it and make my way back out of the burning house, the fire immediately filling my senses again once I leave the room.

My feet touch the ground outside the house, and the sound of fire, and the light it emitted, disappeared immediately. Both a blessing and a curse, considering I dont have to listen to it anymore, but the light that made it a bit easier to see was also gone.

I reapproach the seal, the tin heart getting heavier and heavier in my hand. I raise it to the seal, and part of it seems to move. Not disappear. But move.

Almost like it’s magnetized to the heart.

I pull the heart to the side, and watch as part of the seal separates from the other layers.

“Bury the past, or it consumes you.”

Chapter Text

Hawks POV

It was weird. Over the past few days, because Wanderer hasn’t been around, it removed a barrier that seemed to be between me and Kaeya’s interactions. Wanderer was kind of like a safety net, and now that he’s not here, Kaeya has taken to pissing me off instead.

That’s not to say he’s not good at what he does, obviously. It tends to be easy for me to separate a personality from skill, and Kaeya seems to have a lot of…hidden, skills.

Particularly in information gathering.

Because, even if he’s not in Teyvat, he somehow seems to know things he shouldn’t.

Proven when he walked up to me and called me Keigo. I’m only glad he chose to do it when there wasn’t anyone else around.

I interrogated him for a while, but didn’t really gain any new information, besides the fact that he’s also seemingly really good at getting himself out of bad situations by distracting the person who’s angry with him.

Yes, I did in fact get distracted by talks of other secrets he happened to learn during his information gathering.

Like the fact that the commission is preparing an assault, and they’re striking soon.

Which of course was relayed to Nezu and all the teachers…which caused a bit of panic…

Which meant Kaeya and his ability to gain personal information was the last thing on my mind. Cunning asshole.

Throughout this time, though, I had been visiting Wanderer’s room. Making sure no sudden storm surges appeared like last time.

For the most part, its been fine. Nothing but silence and the occasional noise from Kiyoshi whenever he decided to come back from his small adventures.

That was, until Wanderer’s neck started glowing a bright, almost pastel purple.

My first reaction was to run and get someone, but I realized that this could be what Kusanali was talking about. How he’s internally fighting himself. If that’s the case, then chaos out here might make it worse.

I decided to stay put. Just watching to make sure nothing crazy happens, just like I have been.

That’s when Kaeya walked through the door, he looks at me, and that sly smile reaches his face again.

“I thought I’d find you here.”

I scoff, not taking my eyes off Wanderer, “Of course you did.”

He walks a bit further in the room, leaning against the wall and looking at Wanderer as well, at the glow under his neck.

Eventually, the silence bores me enough that I feel the need to talk to the only other person in the room available to talk.

“Why do you make it your mission to be such an asshole?”

Okay, not exactly the best conversation starter. But I couldn’t exactly say the weather was nice or ask how his day has been.

It was storming outside and today has been nothing but chaos.

Honestly, maybe he likes it that way.

Kaeya chuckles, “Maybe all of you are just easy to make angry.”

I huff, shaking my head, “I’m notorious for being pretty easygoing actually.”

Kaeya shrugs, “People dont like their secrets being exposed, even those who are… ‘easygoing’. And I know a lot of secrets.”

I hum, leaning back in my chair. “How though? I get all your shit in Teyvat. But how do you have an information web here in Japan?”

Kaeya smiles. “People like telling me things, for some reason. Usually in a bar, or when they’re just slighting intoxicated.”

I sigh, “People like a pretty face, unfortunately. And an exotic one at that. You people from Teyvat look super different from us, but in a subtle way, ….does that make sense?”

Kaeya chuckles, nodding, “It does. I imagine that’s the same reason you fancy Wanderer….”

He trails off, and I nod before realizing what he said, turning sharply towards him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Kaeya’s face is mock surprise. “Oh, didn’t you hear? You have a fat crush on Wanderer and it’s super obvious.”

I groan, leaning back in my chair again, thinking for a moment. “You really think it’s just because he’s…’exotic’?”

Kaeya shrugs, “It’s as good a guess as any, no?”

I huff, shaking my head and looking back at Wanderer. “I don’t care what it is. Not to mention, I don’t have time to worry about that right now. Neither does he. So lets just… keep it on the back burner.”

Kaeya shrugs, “Whatever you say.” He looks at Wanderer again and his eyebrows crease, he starts to approach the bed.

“Hey, are you sure you should be getting close to him like that? It could mess something up with what he’s doing.”

Kaeya shakes his head, “Im not going to physically touch him, I just… feel like there was a wave of elemental energy in the room. It felt… different though. Untamed. Almost like it wasn’t attached to a vision of any kind, which would mean, of course, that he has just released a seal… But… it doesn’t feel completely released yet. Like it’s being pulled back to him still…”

I step up next to him, eyeing Wanderer. “Does that mean there’s more than one?”

Kaeya nods, “It’s likely… which is unfortunate but important information nonetheless.” He sighs, “Maybe we should call Kusanali and get her to contact the Chief Alchemist from Mondstadt, he may have a better understanding of what exactly is happening.”

I crease my brows, “Chief alchemist?”

He nods, “He tends to view things involving elemental energy under a different scope than normal people, perhaps he’ll have a different perspective and shed some light on the situation. Until then, though, I think it’s time you got some rest. Cant have you at anything short of your best when all hell breaks loose.”

I sigh, giving Wanderer one last look before turning towards the door, “You should rest too, can’t have our resident Teyvat expert passing out on us.”

He chuckles and follows me out, shutting the door behind him.

“Do you really think he’ll be okay?”

Kaeya smirks at me, patting my shoulder. “Time will tell, but I’m sure whatever’s going on in his head is no match for him.”
I chuckle and nod, “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Chapter Text

Is this how it’s going to be, then? Moments from my past? That doesn’t make sense… Why would a seal from 500 years ago be affected by things that happened after it?

I was in a deep thought when I heard the start of the next…scenario.

“Set him free?”

Damnit. Last time I heard this… I had just gotten the gnosis torn from me again.

I tune out the words in the background, not needing to hear it again. Things would've been easier if she’d just ended me here… why allow me to go through life without my heart… never fulfilling my intended purpose….

“I do not wish to exert control over it.”

It, huh? As if she didn’t create me. As if she isn’t my mother… If she knows that I have feelings… why does she act like I’m nothing but another “it”?

“I’ve never seen a puppet get so shocked before~”

You have to be kidding me.

What exactly is this trying to show me? Trying to remind me that I’m not a real person? Ha…

The vision seems to turn into lines, almost like a tapestry. I reach my hand out to grab it and all I get are strings. Like those you’d find on a puppet…

What a cruel joke…
Suddenly, I’m back infront of the seals… the strings glide out of my hand, twisting around the seal. It looks almost as if its replacing the lines with itself.

The seal, once a deep purple, turns a bright white, pulling away from what must be the last seal. I follow the now white seal with my eyes, the characters once again becoming legible.

“You grieve, you burn, you feel.”

I stare confused at the text. The hell is that supposed to mean? The last one was atleast a bit of advice, this one is ambiguous. I can only figure that the last bit of the phrase lies in the last seal.

Unfortunately, that means that all I can do now is wait.

Hawks POV

Once Kaeya brought up what happened last night to Nezu, he was quick to get on the phone to Kusanali and request her to get in touch with the alchemist.

“Well… about that.”

“Was I mentioned?”

Kaeya looks a bit confused. “Albedo?”

A calm, soothing voice comes from the other side. “Sir Kaeya, it has surely been a while.”

Kaeya chuckles, “That it has. What are you doing with Lord Kusanali?”

Albedo is quiet for a moment, “We are preparing something for Wanderer once the war begins, he will be needing all the help he can get when it comes to harnessing his elemental energy.”

Kaeya hums, “We were actually wanting to discuss that with you… Last night, there was a lot of unrestrained elemental energy coming from Wanderer, but it also felt unspecified. As if it wasn’t tied to an element.”

Albedo hums, “It’s likely that, when building the puppet that became Wanderer, they channeled a lot of energy from different people into it, which may explain the diversity of the energy. It’s very possible that, once he releases the power, it will be nothing but energy.”

Nezu crosses his paws, “Meaning what, exactly?”

Albedo continues, “Meaning that the only thing restraining what he can do with that power will be how he chooses to wield it.”

Kusanali makes a noise, “That would explain some things, actually. When I was fighting with Wanderer, he seemed able to create attacks based on the other elements. But, when viewing the vessel he was using, it didn’t seem to have any connections to the elements. And of course, the one he showed the most prowess with was electro. Originally, I thought that the one who helped him may have had a hand in the process, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.”

I fold my arms over my chest, “So, what power is he most likely to use, if you had to take a guess?”

Kusanali responds, “It’s most likely going to be electro once again, but he may show more prowess with anemo than he did before. I also imagine there might be a better understanding of his dendro abilities because of his time spent in Sumeru.”

Albedo talks to Kusanali on the other side of the phone, “Would that not mean that he would have a good understanding of cryo? Since he stayed in Snezhnaya for a long time?”

Kusanali responds, “That would be the case, however, his time in Snezhnaya was primarily spent indoors, and those who he was with weren't exactly showing off their powers at any given moment.”

Nezu joins in, “So is there anything we need to do in preparation for Wanderer waking up?”

Kusanali stays quiet, then says, “Be prepared for him to be different. Not necessarily volatile, though he may get that way, but more angry. He may not act on it immediately, but it will be there.”

Nezu nods, “Understood, thank you for your time, Lord Kusanali.”

“Of course! Let me know if there’s any more ways for me to help!”

Nezu hangs up the phone and crosses his paws again. “I think it’s important to be prepared to restrain Wanderer, in the event that he loses control.”

I dont like the thought, but I understand that it may be necessary. “Yes sir.”

Me and Kaeya leave the office, walking down the hallway. “Kaeya seems deep in thought, before turning to me.

“It’s time to start getting into the war mindset. We need to check in with the League’s preparations, make sure there’s still nothing nefarious happening on that end. We need to start figuring out where everyone is going to be. We’ll likely bring some more people from Teyvat over to fight, though I dont know many who would be willing to defend Japan over their nation. We need to teach the students that they may have to kill one of these things, when it comes to that, we cant have them freezing.”

I nod solemnly. I know they want to help, but I can’t get over the idea that they shouldn’t be included in this fight.

Kaeya pats my shoulder before walking off. “Go get some sleep, busy day tomorrow.”

I crease my brows, “Where are you going?”

Kaeya waves over his shoulder. “To do what I do best.”

Chapter Text

Kaeya’s POV

Adapting to the info gathering culture in Japan wasn’t exactly difficult. After all, nobody can resist a pretty face. Even more so when that face is exotic. Buy them a few drinks, flash them a smile or two, and suddenly the word “classified” doesn’t mean anything to them.

Of course, there are those who are a bit more… cautious. Which is why you have to convince the people who influence them that you’re definitely able to be trusted.

Thankfully, Nezu has all but erased my name and face from every corner of the internet. Not to say that it was exactly common knowledge in the first place. But if you wanted to find it, you could. Now though, It’s like I never stepped foot in Japan at all.

So, obviously, convincing a young pro hero to meet me in secret wasn’t difficult. Pro hero Spritz wasn’t exactly the brightest of the bunch after all. And if anyone has a vendetta against Wanderer, its him.

We met at a hole in the wall restaurant. Him not wanting to risk being seen with someone, he emphasized the fact that I was a man, and that he shouldnt even be doing this in the first place, but he would make an exception because I’m pretty.

Shallow asshole.

He wasn’t exactly good at conversations either. Always talking about how strong he was, and how many villains he’s beaten. Of course, I didn’t need to know about all of this, as I had read up on him enough to know basically every encounter he’s ever had with a villain.

He ordered for me, just getting me the same thing he was having, which was fine, because I’ve never been particularly picky. As long as there’s flavour. But I would’ve liked to order for myself.

He asked for wine, which was appreciated. Celestia knows I’m not getting through this date completely sober.

As we’re waiting for our food, he keeps talking about himself. And its all stuff I’ve already been told before!

“...as I’m defeating this villain, I start seeing smoke from the corner of my eyes. And, who else to combat a fire than Spritz, you know?” He takes a big gulp of his wine and aggressively wipes his chin after it drips a bit.

This seems to be leading into Wanderer’s encounter with him, which is definitely leading in the right direction.

“And I was handling it perfectly fine until that Sumerian scum came and decided to take over. He told the firefighters that they should’ve been helping me. Me! I dont need help from those worthless losers, you know? I’m a pro hero!.”

I smile at him, it doesn’t reach my eyes but he doesn’t seem smart enough to notice that.

“That kid that UA is protecting? You had a run in with him? He seemed…violent, from what I’ve seen. With him killing that villain and all.”

He nods, sticking his chin up a bit. “Yeah, he was pretty aggressive at the fire too, but I was able to scare him off thankfully, and I even saved a kid from the fire in the process.”

Now, anyone who’s seen the news about that fire would know that’s not true. But since I asked about him having a run in with Wanderer earlier, he automatically assumed I haven't seen the videos of him being useless. And decided to try and take control of the situation by lying. Typical.

I look at him with mock surprise.

“Really? That must’ve been so stressful.”

He shrugs, “Nothing I can’t handle. I just wish I would’ve been able to capture him there. And now look at all that’s happened. If I took him down there, I could’ve gotten all the credit for capturing a Sumerian.”

I hold my hand out, placing mine on top of his and rubbing circles into it.

“I’m sure you’ll be the one to capture him. After all, at this point, you probably know the most about his abilities since you’ve been so close to him.”

His eyes seem unfocused, stuck on where my hand is on his.

“Y..yeah.”

He seems to snap out of it a bit, “Yeah! You’re right! We dont need an elaborate plan to take him down! We’re heroes! We shouldn’t have any trouble with that Sumerian.”

I smile, “Of course not. All it takes is one person to make a change. Maybe you can be that person. What can a Sumerian do against a pro hero?”

At this point, he seems to have forgotten that Wanderer has the backing of Ua and other pros. Caught up in his fantasy of being the one to bring him down.

He nods, staring at the table. “Yeah…yeah it’s possible. I could take him down no problem… The issue is the commission.”

I hum, rubbing circles in his hand still. “How so?”

He looks hesitant at first, but brings his other hand up to place on mine. I have to stop myself from pulling my hand back. “If I tell you this, you can’t tell a soul.”

I crease my brows, giving my best “worried” face that I can muster.

He sighs, “The commission is doing some shady shit. They had me help them test these things… I… I think they’re going to attack UA soon…like, within the week.” He grips my hand a bit hard, “So I need to be the first. I have to beat them to it.”

I put my other hand on his, “I think you can do it.”
______________

Later, as I’m walking away from the restaurant. Having went to the bathroom to scrub my hands clean before we left, I realized just how easy that was in comparison to the lengths I’ve had to go to in Teyvat. Maybe he’s just stupid. Or maybe I’m just really his type.

There’s been times I’ve had to go through someone’s entire family tree, gathering blackmail on all of them, before the target finally cracked.

Or the time I had to work for that fatui officer for a while so I could catch him stealing from the fatui, and then blackmail him into giving me information on the fatui which I then used to steal from the fatui…Which he then got in trouble for, but that wasn’t intentional.

I sigh, this was honestly a little disappointing, I was excited about having to play mind games for information but he just told me everything.

I didn’t even have to unbutton my shirt at all.

Chapter Text

“Sir Kaeya, to what do we owe the….pleasure?”

“Hello League and friends, I think it’s high time we start discussing amongst ourselves again. This seat taken?” I take a seat next to Shigaraki at the bar, watching as Dabi moves to sit back down on the couch. (Or what once was a couch)

Shigaraki turns his head towards me, peering out from behind the hand on his face.

I smile, “Now that I have your attention, I have to ask, there’s nothing going on between you and the commission now, is there?”

He huffs, responding in a voice that sounds much older than he is. “After all we’ve done for you heroes you still dont trust us? Typical.”

I hum, leaning my face on my hand. “Now now Tomura, none of that. You know as well as I do that trust is not given that easily.”

He gets visibly angry when I call him Tomura, but I dont have time for that right now.

I turn to address the whole room, leaving the mist guy, Kurogiri to my back, and Shigaraki to my left.

“As I’m sure you’re all aware, we are fast approaching war day. And unfortunately, we haven’t exactly been able to coordinate with all that’s happening near the UA building right now.”

“I also have information that leads me to believe the attack will be later this week.”

The room visibly tenses at that. Not so much in their postures but more in their eyes.

“I believe its time for us to figure out what exactly your role in all of this is going to be.” I turn to face Shigaraki again.

He huffs, scratching his neck, making a terrible sound. “As it stands, we will neither help you or hurt you.”

I hum, tilting my head in his direction. “I would hope it continues that way. (Tenko).

I just mouthed it, but he stopped scratching his neck, and his fingers twitched aggressively. Like he wanted to grab me, but was fighting the urge.
I smile, standing from my seat and walking towards the door. “Thanks for having me, maybe next time we can talk longer.” The door clicks shut behind me. And almost immediately I hear something crash against the wall.

So easy.

Hawks POV

There’s very few things that can surprise me at the moment. What, with fake gods and people from beyond the barrier becoming dinner discussions and all. But Kaeya walking in like he just came off the cover of a magazine is not anything I would’ve expected at the moment.

Maybe after everything calmed down, and if he decided to get a job in Japan, I could’ve seen it. But he doesn’t seem like the type to say he’s going to do something like gather information and then not do it.

I whistle at him as he walks past me, “Who was the lucky guy you played for information?”

He turns around, “Depends, the clothes were for a certain hero and I also paid a visit to a certain group of friends.”

I smirk, “I imagine that wasn’t everything you did for the whole day you’ve been gone.”

Kaeya smirks back, “Of course not, but everyone has their secrets, right?”

I sigh as he walks away, he’s such a cunning asshole, but at least he’s on our side. I don’t think I’d like having someone who pried into every aspect of my life to find something to hurt me with.

Then again, he found out my real name, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he knows more.

As soon as I gather my thoughts, Nezu calls all of the teachers into the conference room.
As we gather, I see Kaeya, now in his regular clothes, sitting in a chair in the middle. Before I have time to wonder how he changed so fast, he winks at me and motions for me to move to the side.

Endeavor walks in right after.

I crease my brows, “I thought you called in teachers.”

Nezu crosses his paws, “The teachers got a message, and the other pros involved in our cause also got a message.”

I nod, taking a seat in front of where Kaeya was sitting, Endeavor to my right.

The rest of the heroes filter in, taking their seats. Nezu clears his throat, “The commission has begun their infiltration of Teyvat.”

My eyes immediately find Kaeya, but he seems calm. Like he expected this.

“As it stands, they’re invading from the area in Sumeru where they previously docked. They’re also attempting to send a fleet towards Inazuma to ensure its capture.”

Aizawa turns towards Kaeya. “Any thoughts.”

Kaeya hums, “We aren’t immediately under any duress, unless, of course, they’ve sent one of their false gods. In which case, there may be a bit of trouble. But I imagine this is a distraction.”

Midnight looks a bit put off by this, “Are you sure Teyvat will be able to hold up against their fleets?”

Kaeya sighs, “As I’ve said. This is a distraction. The Matra in Sumeru will make quick work of them. And Inazuma was a nation that was warring for years up until recently. Basically everyone there is military trained. They’ll be fine.”

“I’m more worried as to what we’re going to do about the threat on the school. Because as it stands, we’re sitting ducks for a full scale invasion. And the League isn’t planning to help us more than being our personal transportation for getting the rest of the Teyvatians here. Then they’re neutral.”

I crease my brows, “I thought they were going to help us.”

Kaeya looks at me, “Oh I’m sure they will, but only after they themselves get hurt. And they will get hurt. But up until then, we have to rely on ourselves for making sure every battle can be won.”

He turns back to Nezu, “We need to know which Teyvatians are going to be able to come to Japan, and which ones are staying to defend their nations.”

Nezu nods, “I’ve discussed this with Kusanali recently. She’s positive that at least 100 of each nation's guards will be here, as well as herself, but thats all. Everyone else is still hesitant to help Japan and not their own nations.”

Endeavor crosses his arms, “Why should we need anymore people? The false god was beaten by one person last time.”

Kaeya shakes his head, “It’s not the false gods I’m worried about at this point. Im confident in our ability to take them down.”

“I’m worried about Celestia.”

Chapter Text

Hawk’s Pov

The room felt even more tense at that. It seems like most of them forgot about the bigger threat, focusing on the fake gods.

Vlad King crosses his arms, “You never really explained why Celestia is such a threat. If we were to defeat the fake gods, that would rebalance everything right? She would have no reason to intervene.”

Kaeya shakes his head, “Celestia is… not as benevolent as you all seem to think. She wasn’t put in power by her believers, she took power and made people believe. Made people follow the archons she personally put into place.”

Midnight butts in, “Surely there were those who rebelled, though. People who didn’t follow the system. It’s not in human nature to follow blindly.”

Kaeya sighs, “There were. However, Celestia made sure to make an example of them. She enlisted the help of the archons and they destroyed the rebels, nation and all. And then she cast a curse over those who remained.”

I cross my arms, “So why exactly are we asking the archons for help in this situation, if they’re under Celestia’s thumb?”

“Well, thankfully, they’re no longer really… under Celestia's direct control. She gave them power through their gnosis, which you all should have a general idea of. But since their gnosis have been getting taken… They’re also, from what I’ve gathered, not the biggest fans of Celestia. So they’re more likely to help us out if we need them too.”

Aizawa interjects, “Is there anyone from Teyvat that we can rely on that will stand a chance against Celestia?”

Kaeya sighs, “Well, it depends on timing more than anything. If we can manage to push back the invasion before Celestia descends then there are going to be a lot more people willing to help. For example, Monsieur Neuvillette isn't the biggest fan of Celestia from what I’ve gathered. The Fatui are always willing to go against the natural order of the world, so The Knave and The Jester might show their face too.”

“But how much help are they going to be without their visions? Through all of this, the barrier is probably going to stay intact for the most part, right?” I ask.

“Well I imagine at least Celestia will be able to take it down, but if we rely on that, then we have a bit of a time crunch when it comes to gathering people. We’ve already established it’s a quirk right? And we know where it’s base is?”

Nezu crosses his paws, “The League has an idea of it’s location, yes.”

Kaeya hums, “Well, I happen to know that an attack on UA will take place this week, against the commissions wishes. So they’re going to be focusing on that, and, assuming they don’t know that we’re aware of this attack, they’re going to think we’re scrambling just like them. That’s when we should take the time to go find the barrier quirk. We don’t need to shut it down now, but we should figure out how to at least.”

“Who’s going to attack UA?” Aizawa asks.

“Pro hero Spritz. I’ve managed to convince him that he definitely doesn’t need the commission in order to take Wanderer down. It was sad how easy it was honestly….”

“You convinced him to attack us?”

Kaeya hums, leaning his face on his hand. “Yes.”

There’s a small amount of tension in the air, but I think everyone has become used to Kaeya’s strange ways of controlling situations.

Nezu claps his paws, “Let’s start discussing the plan for Spritz’s attack, then.”

________________________________

Wanderer’s POV

What is taking so long? I feel like it’s been an eternity since there’s been anything new in this room. Im starting to see things that arent there… hear things that arent there.

Or maybe they are, and I just can’t see them.

It’s circling through my head. “Set him free?”

It hurts. A dull, constant ache in the back of my mind that isn’t going away.

Why create me if you were just going to throw me away? Why connect with me, make me feel like your child, just to push me aside when I got too much for you?

My emotions are real. I don’t know how I have them, but they exist. And they ruined my life… Im a puppet, but just barely human enough that I can’t serve my intended purpose. But still puppet enough to not be considered human.

I’m stuck on the line between being real and being artificial. And I can’t seem to tip into either side…

Why can I feel without my heart?

It would be easier if it were to just… stop.

Maybe that’s what I’m meant to do here… Become the best version of myself and just… stop feeling. Become a full puppet.

…

…

…

Set him free?
…

…
Set him free?
…

Set him free?

I squeeze my eyes shut, willing the words out of my mind. Trying to stop their neverending mocking. I wasn’t set free… I was never free.

I was never able to fully feel. Never able to make lasting friendships. Because no matter what, the truth of what I was ruined it. Because I was the creation of an archon, anyone who I was close to died to get to me.

Dottore…
Gave me a false sense of hope. Told me I could have my heart. Keep…my heart.

But that was a lie too.

He was going to take it back, I know it.

He told me.

When he was testing my… resistance, to electricity. He leaned into his mic and mocked me.

Told me that I would serve my purpose, and then he would take my place.

I wouldn’t be an archon…a god.

I would just be… a puppet.

A placeholder.

A fake.

The room gets lighter again. But not with the sun or fire.

With the bright, blinding light of electricity.

Dottore isn’t here. Neither is the bed I was strapped to as he completed his “tests”.

Just the electricity.

Like Dottore wasn’t the thing I was the most angry at.

Though, I still despise him.

I was angry at what he reminded me of.

I had made a name for myself. Became a Fatui Harbinger. Led hundreds of subordinates to complete the Tsaritsa’s will.

But even then, I was still a puppet.

If not for Raiden, then for Dottore. If not for Dottore, then for the Tsaritsa.

I’ve never been free. Always bending to the will of those who gave me a purpose. No matter how righteous or glorious that purpose was. No matter how hideous or harmful that purpose was.

I don’t… want to be that way.

They shouldn’t have that control over me… Unlike them, I’ve seen all sides. And I hate all of them. The only one whos ever been nice to me is Kusanali…

And Kusanali has given me a purpose. Like all the others.

But this purpose… is warm, and malleable.

Something that I have a say in. I chose to become her second. I chose to stay in Sumeru. I had a choice in something.

And now she needs me to revisit all of my past… purposes. I need to unlock this seal or this will have all been for nothing.

And it feels like I’ve been here for months… The words on the seal stare at me like they’re mocking me too.

“Bury the past, or it consumes you.”
“You grieve, you burn, you feel.”

Because it sounds like they’re trying to tell me to forget my past grief but… then I unlock the seal. And why would they want me to unlock it when they’re the ones who put it there in the first place?

It doesnt make any sense. At all.

The electricity is starting to sting at my skin. Marks appear for seconds before disappearing again and leaving my skin unmarked.

I sigh, turning towards the electricity and seeing, through it all, a door.