---
It was what Nemuri had been waiting for - less thinking, more action. Past the clouds of dust, she could just make out Izuku, Eijiro, and Katsuki sprinting toward whatever had crashed through the roof. Ochaco and Mina watched with surprise. Nemuri couldn't see them, but she could hear Tsu and Shoto ushering panicked shoppers away from the epicentre.
"See anything?" Nemuri shouted at Izuku.
"Not a thing!" He used his powers to create wind-force and blow away the dust, revealing two figures. The taller one gave a gracious bow in Nemuri's direction, but the other only glared, hatred clouding her eyes. Familiar eyes. But they were the wrong colour. They were wrong. Bad memories clawed their way through Nemuri's psyche.
No! They couldn't be here. They couldn't be...
"Kyoka? Denki?" Nemuri whispered.
"Looks like she remembers us after all," Denki mused, glancing at his partner, but Kyoka only had eyes for Nemuri. Hatred etched into her features, and Nemuri's instincts took over.
She wondered if things might have gone differently had Keigo been there. He, at least, would have cautioned against transforming in front of hundreds of hundreds of panicked people. He would diffuse the situation in that calm, level-headed way of his. But Nemuri wasn't Keigo.
"Star Guardians!" Nemuri and Kyoka shouted, Nemuri's words a command, Kyoka's a curse, as colour exploded from them all.
Nemuri couldn't say she fully believed in the First Light. She wasn't keen on some unknowable, cosmic force manipulating her life. But she believed in the mission, in protecting those who couldn't protect themselves, no matter the cost. That molten core of belief fueled her transformation, her world becoming one of colour, light, and white-hot power. She channelled it, allowing starlight to replace doubt, replace fear. She could see the gem now glowing on her chest, her uniform twinkling like a galaxy. The old Nemuri had melted away, leaving only a Star Guardian.
The light of eight transformations momentarily blinded Koyka and Denki, and Nemuri seized her chance.
Nemuri looked at her friends. No. Not anymore. They weren't the same.
"It isn't them," Nemuri said to herself, unsure if she believed the words.
"Making a habit of lying to yourself?" Kyoka asked before hurling dark corrupted blades towards Nemuri. Nemuri formed a wall of corrosive mist in front of the attacks, taking them out, but Kyoka had already thrown a second volley.
"Not today, lady." Eijiro teleported in front of Nemuri, using his light to create a shield on his arms, crossing them in front of himself to block the blades, only to be caught off guard by Denki. He fired off a slice of dark light, clipping Eijiro's gem, missing his heart by inches.
"There can only be one leading man, you know," Denki offered.
"Yeah," Eijiro agreed, powering up an attack. "I'm pretty sure it's me!"
"I'm pretty sure it's ME!" Katsuki shouted as he let off a series of explosions.
The battle became a blur of light and colour, Kyoka and Denki matching the guardians' combined attacks. Denki charged headfirst at Ochaco. Kyoka zipped towards them, but Mina fired off an attack that almost looked like goo at her face. While Kyoka was wiping it off, Shoto encased her and Denki's lower bodies in ice.
"Why are you attacking us?!" Izuku demanded. "Stop this!"
"'Stop this!' Ugh. You guardian losers never change." Kyoka looked disgusted.
YOU ARE READING
Burning Bright | Keigo Takami x Male Reader
Fanfic"Star Guardians are destined to protect the universe, but who protects us?" Chosen by the First Star, Star Guardians are people turned cosmic warriors who dedicate their lives to stopping the cosmic forces of evil with extraordinary powers. But they...
