Burnt to Ashes - Kenichi Todoroki

A New Dawn

Maxwell's POV:

I sat in the cold, dimly lit cell that we were trapped in.

It was weird that I didn't see Keiji, but I was more glad then anything. Out of all the Shirokages, he was the most unbearable; all he did was smoke and brag about his quirk (which to be fair, was exceptional, but not anything too riveting).

Akihito wasn't with us. In fact, we were all in one cell except for him. He could've been dead for all we knew.

But one fact remained, and that was, we were utterly, and unfortunately, defeated.

Not one of my classmates dared to say a word, not one of them had a sliver of shine in their eyes. It was as if the war had taken everything from them, and to be fair, it very well could've. Their parents... my grandparents... they could very well be dead.

But the vision came to me again the night before. Kenichi, fist in the air, as a symbol of peace. That gave me hope that he wasn't out there doing nothing.

I heard a door creak open, and my eyes immediately fell to the floor, assuming it was Keiji.

But this time, it wasn't.

"What the hell?"

And then shortly after, quite louder;

"Oh my god, what the hell?"

Ryker, who was once beside me, sprung up and grabbed onto the bars. "Kenichi?"

I narrowed my eyes; Kenichi?

If it was Kenichi's voice saying these things, he wasn't coming out. But with a quick, discreet use of my quirk, as not to alert the detectors in the cell, I realized that it was him. I had possibly been right.

I heard the searing of metal and a grunt, as well as some muttering from him. Then, he showed himself, after nearly three entire weeks of being locked away.

And he was holding Akihito.

Akihito looked paler than usual, his eyes closed and his mouth parted slightly. I again used my quirk to determine his state this time, and he was alive, but clearly was in a trance, maybe even poisoned. I turned my attention to Kenichi.

Kenichi had what seemed to be a deep wound, from the bottom of his jaw to nearly the side of his eye. Though I couldn't see it in its raw state, the bandages plastered loosely on it were drenched with blood, and then I knew the true extent of his injury.

Astaroth leapt up from where he sat and hissed, "Where the hell were you? Because of you, we almost died! Do you know how many we lost? Shion, Kingo, Anxo, Draven..."

Kenichi narrowed his eyes, seemingly counting in his head the amount in the cell. When he was done, he place Akihito against the wall, and turned his attention to me.

"You have one minute, Maxwell. One minute to explain to all of us why you're still affiliated with Zay," Kenichi muttered, "or I will kill you."

I took this comment by surprise; while it wasn't exactly a secret, I didn't expect him to...

"You're still affiliated with Zay?" Sasha echoed, turning to me. "What is wrong with you?"

"I'm not affiliated with him, I'm affiliated with the Shirokages," I started, nervous, trying to get Naga's attention, any drop of help, but she refused.

"Like that's any better," Sasha snapped.

"What do you mean 'affiliated with the Shirokages'?" Ryker questioned, "Maxwell... did you know about this war beforehand...?"