Eight: Season 1

Episode 3: Jade and Shoto

  Jade-
  We spent 1 Kueria year with the Costal People and learned all that we could from them. I was practicing the languages with Kana. "You're a fast learner, it's incredible." Kana said.
  "Growing up...I had to be a fast learner. It was either learn it or...or torture until you did. In an environment like that, you learn pretty quickly." I said.
  "Your family was abusive?" Kana asked.
  "My mom Lilith and my older siblings Zeke and Lapis tortured me and my other older siblings Elarza and Seth while dad fought against the Todoroki Empire to keep our camp of refugees safe." I said.
"Oh Jade...I'm horribly sorry." Kana said.
"When dad would come home, we were almost like a normal family. Mom and dad loved each other and my siblings and I all played together." I said.
"Where did you learn how to do all the things I've seen you do?" Kana asked.
"Oh, that. I tinkered all the time as a kid. One time I made a...a Tesla Ball out of a fork, toaster wires, and a plastic spherical-shaped cup. I would always show my dad my creations and he would place them on his shelves like trophies." I said.
Kana smiled. "You and your dad were close?" Kana asked.
"Yeah...we were. He was the one that taught me how to survive in the wilderness if it ever happened." I said.
"Well, you are one incredible young woman." Kana said, and I smiled at her.
"Thank you." I said, and I headed back to the tent.
  "Ok, you guys ready?" Shoto asked.
  "Yeah." We all said.
  He nodded, and we walked out of the tent. "Than'ga'ar yuta, Kana. Fisar emunt (Thank you, Kana. For everything)." I said, smiling "Ta'uk Ha!" I exclaimed, making the lower case t shape to salute her.
"Ta'uk Ha, Jade. Ta'uk Ha." Kana said, saluting me and the seven of us headed out.
"Ok the best place to make a settlement is here." Hanta said, pointing to an abandoned mountain near a forest and an ocean.
"Looks good to me, it doesn't cross any of the other territories?" I asked.
"Nope, all clear." Hanta said, so that's where we went.
We built a hut for food storage, a wheel for water, and some small huts to start. We also set up a shack for tinkering and weapons as well as a doctor's hut that was bigger than the rest. We put a fence around the settlement and sat around as we ate lunch and drank water. "So, what now?" Bakugo asked, flipping his switch blade I made for him.
"We should go back up to The Ark and find out how many more are left inside." Midoriya said.
"That's risky, but...you're right." Shoto said.
"How do we get back up to The Ark? It's hovering in the sky." Tetsu said.
"I can probably rig some electromagnetic platform to take us up and down out of a satellite dish and some wires." I said.
"What!?" They all shouted.
"I saw a satellite dish not far from here. It looks old." Hanta said.
"That'll work." I said, and Hanta and I headed to the satellite dish.
"So, you create all this neat stuff with so little and you are really smart." Hanta said.
I chuckled. "I tinkered as a girl, it kept my mind off of my mom." I said.
"I can understand that. I got into computer stuff to avoid my dad." Hanta said.
I looked at him and smiled. "You and I aren't so different." I said.
He smiled back. "No, I don't think so." Hanta said.
We started talking and told each other about our lives before The Ark, both of which sucked. He told me about his dad brainwashing him and making him an assassin in his dad's cult, he also told me about the torture his dad put him through. Hanta told me about the promise he, Shinso, and Yo made to a 3 year old girl named Eri. I told him about my dad's heroics and then about my mom my oldest brother Zeke, my oldest sister Lapis, and their abuse and torture of me. I told him how I got into tinkering, and I told him about Seth, Elarza, and I's promise we made to each other. He and I became really close friends. I considered him my best friend.
We got to the satellite and lifted it together. "You sure you can rig this into an electromag-suspension platform?" Hanta asked.
  "Yeah." I said.
  He smiled. "Ok." He said, and I chuckled.
  We got back to the settlement. "We were mapping the path to The Ark, best way is gonna be to cut through the forest and head straight." Kiri said.
  "Sounds good." I said.
  We went into the shack where I started working on the dish. The wire shocked me and I retracted my thumb, shaking my hand, and sucking on my thumb in pain as I wrapped a bandage around it and continued working to music I had put on the speaker I jerry rigged.
  There was a knock on the shack. "Yeah." I said.
  "You are busy." Shoto said.
  I chuckled, turning down the dial and smiling at him. "Yeah, if we are gonna go up to The Ark and see who is left, I want to do that as soon as possible. I mean the seven of us are fine, I just...don't what Dr. Mort to be using them...like he used us." I said.
  "I brought you dinner and water, figured you may be hungry." Shoto said, and my stomach growled.
  I blushed in embarrassment. "Yeah, I guess I am...thank you." I said, smiling at him.
  He sat beside me. "So, how did you get into creating amazing things out of virtually nothing. I mean, I think it's really cool." Shoto said, holding the walkie I rigged for him and the rest of us to talk.
  "I uh...I started tinkering when I was a kid. It kept my mind off of my mom." I said.
  "Better than me, I would run off and hide from my family. I guess I could have done something productive instead of being a coward, maybe then I'd be more help down here. I mean I'm practically worthless, unlike you and Sero." Shoto said.
  "Just because you hid from your family, doesn't mean you're a coward. Besides, you're lying to yourself by saying you're worthless down here. Shoto, you're our best fighter and our leader! You have single handedly kept us from dying! That's not nothing, silly. I may make things and Hanta may make plans...but neither of us could do what you do." I said, touching his cheek and then gasping.
  I retracted my hand. "Wow! I am so sorry, that was..." I began, but he took my hand.
  "Thank you, Jade." He said, kissing my palm.
  I smiled. "You want to stay in here with me? Maybe learn a little." I said, and Shoto chuckled.
  "I dunno that I'll learn much, but I'll stay with you." Shoto said, and I smiled.
  He was asking questions about the elevator I was trying to make and I'd answer them...and then I'd ask him questions and he'd answer. Eventually, the two of us just got so comfortable with each other that we started talking about our pasts. I told him the same stuff I told Hanta, and he told me his past.
  I was shocked to find out that he was actually a Todoroki, but he was so different. He told me about how he was a failure and a disappointment to his family because he cared too much. He told me about a monster that attacked his home, and showed me the scar he got on his right upper forehead. Shoto told me the story of his burn scar, how his dad burnt him for speaking out against the dynasty when he was 3 years old. Shoto told me about the kindness of a woman named Rose and her son Inasa and how she cared for Shoto like he was her son. He trained under her for 4 years, and then she was killed by the monster after she sealed it away. He told me that his siblings found him at 7 years old and took him home where they tortured and abused him non-stop until he was 12, but Keigo and Ryuko saved his life and took him in. Keigo and Ryuko were his adoptive parents and took good care of him. Then the world ended and he was placed on The Ark.
  We took a break from the grimness and went outside together. We laid in the grass looking up at the stars. "So, does that necklace have any particular meaning?" I asked, looking at him.
  Shoto smiled, and sat up, I sat up with him. He held the necklace. "Keigo...put it around my neck when he froze me in the cryochamber. I remember the stories he would tell me...about how his necklace stood for peace and knighthood, and that he wanted me to have it because one day I'd be the leader the world needed. It gives me comfort, and then Ryuko had the jeweler make three more. One to give back to Keigo, and two she put in my pocket with this note attached." Shoto said, handing me the note and two necklaces.
"To my little Vulpix..." I began, and then I smiled. "That's a really cute nickname." I said, and then I continued to read.
"This may not make sense now, but I want you to give one of the necklaces to your best friend and partner in crime. The other necklace, I want you to give to someone who accepts you no matter what, who loves you and all of your flaws no matter what, I want you to give it to the one you will be with for the rest of your life. Someone who will be there in your darkest moments and support you through everything, no matter how bad. Huh...kinda like Keigo and I with each other. Anyways, I love you Vulpix. Love, Ryuko❤️." I read, folding the letter back up with the necklaces in it, and handing them to Shoto.
"I don't really understand the letter." Shoto said.
"She's talking about the person you consider your boyfriend or girlfriend, or rather...your soul mate. Someone you love. It's cryptic but she's talking about your lover when you find them." I said.
"You think so?" Shoto asked.
"Yeah, I know so." I said.
Shoto smiled. "Thank you Jade." Shoto said.
I smiled at him. "Sure!" I exclaimed, closing my eyes and then lying back down to look at the stars and Shoto laid beside me.
"Do they have constellations here?" Shoto asked.
"Yeah, just like Earth. I read a whole book on it. That's their dragon constellation named Zenthion after the Ancient Protector of the Kuerians. The myth said that Zenthion came down from the Heavens to unite the people against a common threat. In the myth, it was the Angel named Sonata and her army they had to defeat." I explained, and then I looked at him and blushed embarrassed. "Not that you care about the history that was...dumb." I said.
"No...I like hearing you talk about nerdy and dorky stuff. It makes me smile." Shoto said.
"Really?" I asked.
He smiled. "Really, so...what's that constellation?" Shoto asked.
"That constellation is the Demon Seraphina, the Queen of Hell is what they call her. She protected life and love among the Kuerians. She was also commonly called the constellation of Yin and Yang because she represented true balance and harmony. The myth said that once every million years, Seraphina walks Kueria with her Seven Protectors: Leviathan, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Satan, Mammon, Belphegor, and Mars. She's what the people here believe in because she stands for freedom and peace." I said.
"Wow, that's incredible." Shoto said.
I smiled as we laid out there and I pointed out the constellations, explaining them to him before he fell asleep.
I gently lifted him and took him to his hut, covering him up and smiled. I exhaled and walked back to the shack where I continued to work on the dish until I was asleep on the desk.

Shoto-
I woke after a few hours to check on Jade, and I walked in, seeing her asleep with her cheek on her hands, her shoulders slowly rising and falling.
I smiled and draped my jacket over her shoulders. "Sleep tight Jade." I whispered, kissing the top of her head and going back to my hut to sleep.