In the Shadow of Revenge

Chapter 6

Mei couldn't believe what she had seen, the horrors Tenya had experienced now laid bare. That she had watched his torment, the sick entertainment his captors had created made her violently ill, but Mei choked the last of the bile down. Her trash can was full already. More tears had escaped her eyes without her realizing and she reached up to wipe them numbly.

 Tenya had been through so much, more than she would have thought possible. He was strong, so incredibly strong, the strongest person she had ever met. The boy who devoted himself to putting others before himself, who never hesitated to lend a hand to anyone, hero or villain, civilian or classmate. Who stayed awake long into the night, just to make sure his classmates passed their exams, or had someone to talk to. The boy who still smiled at her even after she had tricked him, who trusted everyone, even her. Who always greeted her or anyone else with a smile in the halls, who never rushed her on his costume repairs despite the urgency. Who ran at full speed down the hallways of UA and across the forest for her lost inventions, without so much of a complaint That boy could not be gone, no matter how broken Spinner had made him. Mei didn't want to live in a world without his smile, without his light. She wouldn't and she wouldn't let anyone else either.

Mei had to see Tenya, now. It didn't matter what time it was or what horrors she had just seen. She had to be there, even if it was just to stop his screams from echoing in her head. He was safe now, Mei had to remind herself, but was he really? He wasn't safe from the darkness in his own mind, and Spinner, Spinner was still out there, him and Toga both, waiting to attack once more. She wouldn't be able to do anything, but hope and pray for the proheroes to catch them in time. If there was one thing Mei hated above all else it was feeling useless, like a pile of scrap metal left out in the rain. That was what she felt like useless, and rusted, and angry, so undeniably angry. A fire burned behind Mei's eyes at the thought of Spinner, of how he was still out there, hiding, laughing, maybe even torturing someone else and nothing was being done. Suddenly, Tenya's attack on Stain didn't seem so wrong or foolish anymore, not when the heroes were too corrupted and fixated on their rank or image to actually help anyone anymore. Shivering, Mei unclenched her fist, disturbed by the sheer force of her thoughts. All she could think of now was seeing Tenya, of being there for him after all she'd seen.

—

Tenya was asleep again, Recovery Girl had probably drugged him before she left. All the tubes were reconnected into his arms, and his legs were rebandaged, the blanket secure over his pale form. Above all, what Mei noticed was the room itself. How white the walls and ceiling were, it was a strange thing to focus on, but something about the room eerily reminded her of the blood-stained cell Tenya had suffered in for the past two months. The anger returned to Mei's heart, her blood pumping fiery-hot in her veins. Tenya was back home, back at UA, but in a sick way it was as if he had never left. Here he was still beaten and pale in a bed, still hooked up to countless tubes and wires, with needles tucked into his abused forearms, still stuck in a white room without access to the outside. How many times had Tenya woken up in the place that was meant to protect him, only to believe that he had never left his torment? That he was still there in that room, as Toga taunted him with visions of his past. Mei's gaze hardened, her jaw set, she had an idea.

—

It hadn't been hard to break into the supply closet of the art room, one jab of lock-picking baby #148 had done the trick, nice and simple! Then she had to lug the tubs of paint and brushes up the steps to the third floor, huffing and puffing, thanking her lucky stars that the rest of 1-A was in class right now. Once she got up the final set of stairs, she cursed. She didn't have a ladder. So, she'd used good old baby #148 on the downstairs janitor closet, and marched the heavy steel ladder up the stairs, sweat dripping down her neck as her arms strained. All in all, Mei was left gasping, slumped up against Tenya's door, heart pumping with determination, as she tied back her dreadlocks, cranked open the ladder, and got to work.

Mei dipped her paintbrush in the bucket and started to swipe, madly, covering as much of the ceiling as possible. She wasn't much of an artist, and for once she didn't care about perfection. Her only goal was to get rid of that white, that sickening, insipid reminder of what had once been. Every inch of it on the ceiling seemed to taunt her, as though the walls had grown teeth that hissed over and over. You can't save him, foolish girl, not while I'm still here. In her mind the walls had Spinner's yell and Toga's laugh, the boy in the bed still held captive by their torment. They had tortured him, split open his skin, and fractured his mind. Mei's anger was indescribable.

 Yet as much as she wanted to, she couldn't fight Spinner, or Toga. But she could damn well fight this ceiling,this infuriating, insufferable, blindingly white ceiling. Swipe after swipe after swipe, Mei covered the ceiling in haphazard streaks of deep blue, the color of Tenya's hair. It was messy, hectic and patchy in spots but it was effective, even though Mei's face and arms had become splattered with blue, her dreadlocks dripping paint onto the floor, the walls, the medical equipment, and even on Tenya's bedsheets. In hindsight, she probably should have been more careful, but she was only halfway done, she'd deal with the mess later.

Mei climbed off the ladder and dipped a sponge into the tub of cream colored paint, just dark enough to not be white. With intense speed, and almost no precision, Mei started sponging fluffy, cream-colored clouds onto the now dark blue ceiling, with absolutely no rhyme or reason to where she placed each one. 

How long had it been?, she wondered, since Tenya had seen the sun, the clouds, the sky? She would have to bring the outside to him, she resolved, so his mind wouldn't be imprisoned any more. After she sponged the last cloud, Mei stepped off the ladder and inspected her handiwork, and laughed, breathless. While she certainly wasn't going to be invited to any galleries anytime soon, it would be enough, the white was gone, and with it, her anger had faded for the time being.

"H-Hatsume?" a soft and uncertain voice rang out behind her.

Startled, Mei turned and there was Tenya, his wide crimson eyes fixed on the mess that was the ceiling.