Eight: Season 4

Episode 88: Calm

  Shoto-
"Strengthened Limitless: Blue." I said, snapping and creating a blue planet-sized orb above my right index finger. "Revered Limitless: Red." I said, snapping and creating a red planet-sized orb above my left index finger. "Colliding Limitless." I said, clasping my hands together, interlocking my fingers, and a purple sun-sized orb appeared from the red and blue.
I extended my left arm out, using my right arm to grip my left elbow crease with my left index finger, left middle finger, and left thumb fully extended as well. "Destructive Limitless: Purple." I said, making a pinching motion with my left hand.
"Oh shit." Dad said.
The purple mass launched forward and struck mom and dad directly, leaving a trail of utter devastation in the path where they both used to stand.
They were completely dead, the whites of their eyes showing, and their bodies mangled beyond almost all recognition. I landed and looked at Barbra and them. "Retreat!" Barbra shouted, and they vanished.
  I put the bandages back over my eyes. "Are they...like dead, dead?" Gray asked.
  "Very dead." I said, and I snapped, burning my mom and dad's corpses into ashes.
  Jade gripped my shoulder as the ashes blew away. "Shoto..." she began.
  "Let's get back to camp." I said, and I walked back to the camp.
  Hanta, Kiri, Yo, Bakugo, Tetsu, and Midoriya were taken to the doctor's tent. I walked to the grotto that Jade showed the original eight a while ago and I sat down, staring into the pond blankly.
  "Am I a monster?" I asked.
  "No." Jade said, and she sat beside me grunting in pain.
  "You're just saying that." I said.
  Jade took my hand. "I'm not." Jade said.
  I sighed, letting go of her hand. "I killed my own parents." I said.
  "To save everyone." Jade said.
  I gripped my head and punched a rock. Jade sighed and walked to me. "I know how to cheer you up." Jade said.
  "Do you now?" I asked, irritably.
  Jade pressed a button.

~"Ashes of Eden" by Breaking Benjamin plays~

  "These trials...make us who are. These scars, in our hearts and bodies...forge us into survivors." Jade said, grabbing my hands and pulling me onto the red oak zen bridge and she started swaying us to the song playing.
  "The decisions you've made...have been to protect everyone in Arcadia." Jade said.
  I chuckled, smiling a bit as I pulled her closer to me. "You are kind, sometimes too kind in my opinion. You're a little naïve and that's ok, that's what makes you such a great leader. You lead with your heart, and that's not easy." Jade said, softly, as I took the lead from her and we slow danced to the song.
  "What...other things can you...say about me?" I asked, blushing a bit under the bandages.
  "Oh Mr. Big Shot needs little ol' me to compliment him?" Jade asked.
  I laughed, and placed my chin onto her shoulder, kissing her cheek. "I'm lost if you don't." I whispered.
  Jade chuckled and leaned against my chest. She was so short compared to me. "You're a big dork, but you don't show it to anyone else but me. You have a great sense of humor, and you can always see the brighter side of things. You're not afraid to be vulnerable with me, and you care so deeply about everyone in Arcadia. You love your people Shoto, and they love you. No one is better suited to be a leader...than you." Jade said.
  I smiled and pulled her into me. "I love you." I said.
  "I love you too, Shoto." Jade said.
  I didn't want to let her go. "Close your eyes." I said.
  Jade sighed and closed her eyes. I kept swaying us and then pulled out the necklace from my pocket. "You have always been by my side, supporting me through everything no matter what." I whispered, and I slowly put my hands over her neck as we continued to sway, and I fastened the necklace Ryuko gave me around her neck. "And in a 100 different lifetimes...I know the result would be the same. I will always choose you, Jade. You're a peasant or serf and I'm a prince, I choose you. You're a mage and I'm a knight, I choose you. You're a demon and I'm an angel, I choose you. You're normal and I'm famous, I choose you. You're a prisoner and I'm a guard, I choose you. You're a patient and I'm a doctor, I choose you. No matter who you are or what you do, I...choose...you." I said, and I lifted her chin up.
  Jade opened her eyes and smiled at me. "And I will burn the world for you, if you and I could stay like this forever." I said.
  Jade smiled. "You don't need to burn the world for me, to show me you care about me. I know that, because in all of those scenarios? I choose you too, and I never want to let you go." Jade said, and she wrapped her pinky around mine as we pressed out foreheads into each other.
  "GET A ROOM!" Hanta yelled, and Jade and I exhaled.
  "Hanta...I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU ASSHOLE!!!" I yelled, chasing after him as he ran off laughing.

  Jade-
  I closed my eyes and let out an exasperated chuckle, my hand on my hip, looking down, my other hand touching the necklace around my neck, smiling softly. Kirishima placed his arm on my shoulder and leaned on me. "He was gonna kiss you." Kirishima teased.
  "No he wasn't." I said.
  Kirishima looked at me, and I looked at him. My face fell. "Wait...are you serious!?" I asked.
  Kirishima smiled and I playfully smacked his chest. He laughed and then I laid my head against his shoulder. "How do all of you feel?" I asked.
  Kirishima sighed. "I think we've all gotten a little too used to people torturing us. It was...brutal, but I think we all know we had each other and that helped us through it." Kirishima said, and I took his hand.
  "Yeah...I know the feeling." I said.
  Kirishima lifted me onto his back and carried me back to the doctor's tent. He sat with me and I just rubbed his hand, my head leaned into his chest
  "Thank you, Kirishima." I said.
  "Yeah, you get some rest ok. I know you're tired." He said, and I smiled at him.
  I curled into Kirishima's chest and I was out like a light.