Gracie Abrams is eking out a solitary existence, fighting day-in, day-out against the drain of working customer service and nursing two newborn kittens in her off time. Out on her own ever since her sister moved in with her boyfriend, the burden of...
A/N: This story does take place during 2022, so at that time, My Hero Academia was still publishing in manga format.
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I felt like my heart vaulted up my throat. After following this stranger to a random place in the city on the back of a motorcycle, I couldn't tell you what I'd expected.
In the back of my mind, I knew that another seemingly-fictional character had come to life—that's why I was here, after all. Talia was the person who had experienced "the first," as Bella had put it.
I'd been lulled into the discovery of witches and the Sinnissippa Coven—their ties to Native American naturalism, their persecution of people of color as well as those who didn't conform to their rigid ideals. I'd even learned a little bit about how they looked at magic—and how Talia's approach differed.
This was all incredibly fascinating. It was always fascinating to hear what people's stories were. I was so invested in the way this person told me who they were that...I'd forgotten why I was here.
I was here to send Kakashi and Kirishima home. Back to their worlds, back to their friends.
Talia's story was the key to understanding how we could cooperate with or, if need be, manipulate the High Priestess. Understanding the coven's stakes in the interdimensional spell was the only way I could think to help.
I couldn't say I fully understood why this had all come to be. After one failed spell, one would think Patty would try to figure out a way to fix it. Instead, she'd been swayed under the greedy interest of...hiring mercenaries. But rather than paying them, she wanted to use them. Like dolls.
With the power of all these characters, I had no doubt she could get whatever she wanted. If Patty's goal was to take over Mayhop, she'd found an infinite army at her disposal.
And who, exactly, had been this mysterious first summon? The one who had opened a cunning witch's eyes to the endless possibilities?
Tomura Shigaraki.
I stared at Talia as she watched me back. Their eyes were hooded, puddled in shadow. Waiting for a reaction, but it looked more like bracing for a hit.
"...do you know what part of the timeline he was from?"
Talia swallowed. "Right before the final battle. He'd come—straight from the vat."
My eyes widened at the implication. "But Kirishima was taken from before the attack on the UA in season one..."
Talia's face was grim. "When they pull, they don't know what they're getting. The summoning parameters are quite vague. I saw their notes—they're incomplete. That's why..."
That's why the summons are all at different times in the chronologies. They weren't all taken from the beginning, nor the end. There was no pattern. Kakashi was taken from prequel time; Kirishima was taken from the beginning of the present timeline; Pride, the middle. Who knew when Rengoku and Itachi had been pulled?
