𝔹𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔹𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 | Keigo Takami x Male Reader

Chapter 25

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Nemuri was still angry as she watched her former team speed toward Toga. Angry at Keigo and (M/N) for not trusting her, at Kyoka and Denki for putting the other Guardians through so much to get to this point, but that anger paled in comparison to the wild, foolish hope she now held. Hope that warred with the painful memories she could no longer keep buried as her as the four of them unleashed themselves upon Toga.

Nemuri knew that Toga had broken her, with her words, with her magic, but a small voice that sounded a lot like Izuku asked if maybe part of her needed to break so she could remember.

Kyoka and Denki bickering over boba, (M/N) nearly choking on his own after laughing too hard, Keigo and Nemuri laughing as well. Shopping trips and summer festivals. Battles won and lost, hopes and dreams shared, all of it together.

Nemuri glanced at Kota and Eri, huddled against one another, their faces illuminated by Toga's horrid glow, but also by the light of the Guardians fighting above them. Nemuri didn't know how to tell Eri how right she had been - that everyone fighting up there against Toga... they were her friends.

It was for her friends that Nemuri's heart sank. Toga's tantrum had faltered under the onslaught of everyone's attacks, but now the aura around Toga was growing again, and (M/N)- where was (M/N)?! He'd been right there with the others, but now-

"Look!" Eri pointed, right as Toga lunged for a lone gold spark twinkling by her hip.

"(M/N)!" Nemuri knew (M/N) couldn't hear her. Not as Toga's hand plucked him from the air before hurling him into the ground.

Nemuri stood up, forgetting her own pain, as another speck of light followed (M/N)'s descent. Keigo. He could soften (M/N)'s fall. Nemuri watched them crash a mere twenty feet from the jungle gym. Keigo was soon back on his feet, but (M/N) remained where he'd fallen.

"Something's wrong," Kota murmured.

"What's happening to him?" Eri asked.

Nemuri watched (M/N) try to stand, but he was pulled down, hands of chaos distorting the air around him. It made phantom tendrils in Nemuri's blood shudder.

"Corruption," she whispered.

(M/N) was doubled over. Keigo reached for him, but he held out a trembling hand, and Keigo faltered. Nemuri stepped toward them.

"What are you doing?" Kota demanded.

"He's hurt."

"So are you," Eri reasoned, but Nemuri took another agonising step forward, and then another. She made it five feet before her legs gave out.

Nemuri couldn't walk. Couldn't fight. Couldn't fly. Then she would crawl. She moved, inch by painful inch, toward (M/N) and Keigo.

"Nemuri!" Kota shouted, but Eri shushed her.

Good girl, Nemuri thought, knowing Eri, at least, could keep Kota under control. Toga, too busy batting away the other Guardians, hadn't heard Kota shout.

At some point Kyoka and Denki flew down to where (M/N) now laid. Kyoka looked at him with a conflicted expression. Like she had wanted this for so long, but after the group's recent talks, she didn't know if she still wanted this, and the mix of emotions angered her. Though it seemed to die out, and for the first time since she and Denki had returned, there was no more hatred in her eyes. Only grief and... resignation?

Katsuki and Eijiro crashed a dozen feet from Nemuri, but they didn't look at her before they flew back into battle. Their light, however, highlighted (M/N) momentarily, and that's when Nemuri saw it. Something beyond chaos had etched its way into him. Black and purple colours slithered up his arm, spreading across his body. Pure corruption. However long (M/N) had been fighting since she last saw him on that lonely planet, he must have also been fighting off a growing evil that had rooted itself deep within him, and now it was finally breaking out.