Golden Ashes

Chapter 16

I look at the tv in the corner of the room, just as everyone else does. Except for Shigaraki, he hasn't moved. His head is still tilted, as if he was smacked, his hair falling into his eyes.

"We will absolutely get our student back." A bear looking person says, staring straight into the camera.

Bakugou smiles. "Ha. Ua and the teachers, you heard what they said. That's how it is, you shithead alliance!" He stands up a little, yelling at Shigaraki.

I take a step forward. Someone ought to put him in his place.

Bakugou speaks again before I do anything. "I'm just telling you now. My combat authorizations have not been revoked, got it?"

I hear Magne's voice from somewhere behind me. "He understands exactly what position he's in... What a clever boy!"

Toga. "Let's stab him!"

I scoff and turn towards Toga, still holding Shigaraki's face-hand thighty. "No... He's probably just an idiot."

Mr. Compress grabs my attention. "If that were the case, he could have pretended to be won over..."

Bakugou looks at his hand, that demented smile still on his face. "I'm not the type to lie about things I don't want to do. I also have no desire to stick around in this shit hole."

Shigaraki twitches.

Kurogiri rushes towards me. "Shigaraki no! Calm Down..."

I look at the hand and then at Kurogiri. "Oh..."

Shigaraki sticks his hand out, annoyed. "Stay out of this, ok, you guys? This one is..." He grabs the hand from me, smiling a slight thanks and gently places it on his face. "An important piece. If possible, I would have liked for you to hear me out. I thought that maybe you could understand-"

Bakugou cuts him off. "No chance."

"Then I've got no choice." He continues. "The heroes say they're carrying out an investigation... We don't have the time to leisurely persuade you." He looks at the tv. "Master, lend me your strength." He says it quietly.

Bakugou laughs. "'Master'? You mean, you're not the boss?! What a joke."

"Kurogiri, Compress, put him back to sleep."

Bakugou yells again. "If you want me to listen to you, you can go shove it and die!"

"HELLO! PIZZA DELIVERY!!" A voice comes from the door.

Everyone looks and freezes. Before anyone can say anything, the wall blows inward, Almight flying through. Spinner and Compress fall backwards.

"What the hell?" I yell it by accident.

"Kurogiri, gate!" Shigaraki yells, stepping closer to me, his hand outstretched.

I look at him just as another hero comes in, branches flying, and containing us.

"Wood?" I mutter, confused.

Dabi tries to burn them. "You'd think wood will..." He gets kicked in the head by another hero.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." The hero says, landing softly on the ground. "Behave yourself and comply. It's for your own good."

I black out, getting pulled into my memories.

"Amaya, stop struggling. You'll just hurt yourself." The voice mutters in my ear. He talks in a mumbling deep voice.

I struggle more, trying to get my arms free of the straps. "No..." I breathe it more than say it.

"Fine."

A shock courses through my veins. It makes me arch my back off the table, screaming. It burns but not like fire, like something else. I imagine that this is what being hit by lightning feels like. It goes away just as fast as it came.

I fall back against the table, crying. "S-stop..."

The voice laughs. "No. I'm authorized to experiment however I'd like." The guy grabs my face. "And I will experiment however I choose."

A sharp pain shoots through my side. I roll my head to look. A knife hangs from my hip, blood quickly pooling. It twists, ripping more flesh open, digging into my bone.

I scream again, breathless.

"Good girl, keep screaming." The guy shoves the knife deeper into my bone. He grabs a twisty tool.

I can't tell what it is, my vision is blurred.

He presses it into the dent in my bone, twisting it. It hurts worse than the electrical shock. Eventually, he makes a hole in my bone, just big enough to stick a thin needle into.

"Why...?" I cry.

"It's for your own good, Amaya."

I come back to the present as All Might says something. "It ends here, Shigaraki Tomura!"

Spinner cries out. "All Might! This is the hero that stain was after!"

"It ends here you say...? Don't joke with me. We've only just gotten started." Shigaraki says, straining against the wood binding him.