Hellbound | Blue Exorcist/My Hero Academia Crossover

Chapter Forty-Two: Whatever it Takes

a/n

so who's enjoying the little custom manga frames i'm making for these last few chapters? honestly they're super fun haha

enjoy the chapter!!

~

DEKU'S P.O.V

The room is silent. Nobody knows how to react- we just sit here, trying to process Todoroki's words. Mr. Okumura- Rin- he's gone. Trapped, with no escape. Suddenly, the walls of the Cram School classroom feel smaller, condensing the tension. None of us are sure what to do, and not a single eye even dares to glance Kaminari's way. The last thing he needs is all of us staring at him to gauge his reaction to all of this.

Even though they tried to hide it, we all knew what was going on between them. And it was sweet, seeing Kaminari finally opening up to someone. Sharing his insecurities about his quirk, and actively trying to do something about it. Once upon a time, he was at peace with the fact that he would short circuit at full power. Now, it's like he's a totally different person.

And it's all come crashing back down on him.

Still, it won't do any of us any good just sitting around. The longer we wallow in grief, the longer Rin has to spend in Gehenna. We need to start thinking of a way out of this, and we have to do it now. But it's just trying to find a place to start. Yukio has already began his research into the formation of a Gehenna Gate from this side of the veil, and we don't have anywhere near enough knowledge to pull us along.

"Maybe-"

"-I can't take this shit," Kacchan finally snorts, standing and gruffly tossing his hands behind his head. "Look, we screwed up. Think that's fair to say. But we can't all just sit and mope like a bunch of damn losers! You guys can cry over this shit, but I'm gonna find a way to get our idiot teacher back!" He snaps, shooting a glare at Kaminari before practically thundering out of the room, leaving us all pretty much stunned.

Of course, Kirishima quickly gets up and follows after him, embarrassed by the sudden outburst. It seems, no matter how hard he tries, he can't keep Kacchan under control at all times. But, right now, his fiery passion is something we could all do with a dose of.

"I don't quite understand the situation, but I might be able to help," Shinso mumbles, perched next to Kaminari with a hand on his shoulder, trying his best to comfort him. Even though Kacchan was definitely against it, there was no way I wasn't going to bring Shinso with us- After Todo gave him a temptaint, it only made sense to let him help us along.

"What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know if all demons are capable of verbal communication, but I might be able to get them to write down what they know about this- Sorry, what was is called?"

"A Gehenna Gate."

"Right. I can't use my quirk to make people talk, but I can make them move around. It might not work, but I may be able to influence them to provide us with notes on how to access Gehenna from our world." As he explains, I find myself getting drawn further in. The impulse to jot down notes in my book is overwhelming, but I nudge it away for now. It's not much, but it's better than anything else I can think of. As soon as he realises he's impressed me, he sends a smirk my way that gets me all sorts of flustered. Suddenly, I don't feel close to being the smartest person in the room anymore.

"That might work. It's worth a shot," Iida agrees, standing and placing his hands on his hips. "So it's decided! Shinso and I will scout out demons and try to get information out of them. Everyone else- help Bakugou and Yukio with research. With all of us looking, we're bound to find something!" Finally, it feels like enthusiasm is beginning to seep back into the group. Enough to get us up on our feet again, at least.

Let's just hope it holds up.

~

I won't lie and say we found the answers we needed right away. It felt like we were looking for months. In reality, after a week, we had almost all the information we needed. Whilst Shinso's plan was definitely flawed, and made him practically quirkless by the weekend, it got us just enough intel from demons all over the city to decode. And, though I don't know the specifics on just how to make a Gehenna Gate, we're lucky enough to have the one main component: Yukio's Blood.

You see, through every scrap of text and every small tidbit, Satan's name kept coming up again and again. It didn't take long for us to piece together the obvious- Satan's blood was crucial to opening the gate. Yukio may not have the same powers that Rin does, but Satan's blood still runs through his veins. With any luck, that'll be enough.

So here we are, in an abandoned warehouse a few miles from town, keeping watch as Yukio prepares everything. The Exwires stand around him, whilst the rest of my class keep watch for any threats that may choose to descend in our vulnerable moment.

"He's been in there a whole week," Kaminari mutters beside me, fiddling with a chopstick he hasn't put down since we turned in the night Rin was taken. Part of me wonders if it's a chopstick from their first date in Kyoto, and just the thought makes my chest tighten. I can't even begin to image how awful this has been for him.

It'd be just like if Todoroki- "A whole week. What if they've been hurting him in there? Hurting him for a week," he whispers, fingers frantically twisting around the wood. One wrong move, and it'll snap under his thumb. "We have to save him!"

"We will. Stop your damn whining- we're gonna get your stupid boyfriend back," Kacchan hisses, nudging Denki with his elbow. Honestly, that's the most affection he'll ever let any of us see. The rest he saves for Kirishima behind closed doors, no doubt. But it works anyway; as quickly as Kaminari started panicking, he calms down, steeling his nerves and curling his hands into tight fists by his sides. I still don't miss the sparks that flicker out though.

"Okay. Once I drop my blood into this circle, the Gehenna Gate will open. When that happens, I can't say what'll come next," Yukio explains, straightening himself out and brushing down his coat, looking at the patterns he's etched into the ground with chalk. No doubt his heart is stuttering as much as mine, if not more. This is it. The final fight. No matter what, we have to come back with Rin. It's just a question of whether we're all going to make it back out once we head in.

However, before Yukio can even press the knife to his skin, a blue glow suddenly bursts from the cracks between the lines. With a sharp breath, he barely manages to stumble back before a huge hole opens up, the concrete yawning underneath us. The creaking metal crates all around let out droning moans, and it's all I can do to not cover my ears.

He didn't open the gate, right? So why is one forming before us? Practically rising from the earth, a huge archway starts to appear. Bit by bit, it begins oozing putrid colours that race over one another to form the disturbing structure, leaving an open space in its gaping mouth. But, before we can even inch close, the gap is swallowed up. If I could describe what fills it, I would compare it to an oil spill. A grotesque rainbow ripples like a mirage before us, pumping like a ribcage holding back a frantic heart. "Everyone back!" Yukio snaps.

We instantly obey, stumbling away from the swelling gate and readying our defences for whatever might come next. It just keeps growing bigger and bigger- like a bubble ready to pop. And, when it finally does, I realise how truly unprepared we are. Demons spew from it at an alarming rate. Led by swarms of Coal Tars, more Hobgoblins tumble out than I can even hope to keep track of. The Exwires are immediately on it, and some of my classmates react way quicker than I do, but it just distracts them from the main event. The real reason the gate opened before we could get to it first.

Kaminari goes white in the face. The sparks dribbling from his fingers snuff themselves out, and he crookedly staggers forwards through the walls of demons forcing themselves through the gate.

"Rin!" He cries, practically tripping over his own feet to reach the silhouette eclipsing the pulsing portal. But something isn't right. There are flames creeping around Rin's ankles. His hand is gripped around a sword. Luckily, Yukio manages to swipe at Kaminari's wrist and pull him out of the way before Rin brings said sword crashing down in front of him, sapphire fire blasting out from the point of impact.

"I don't think that's Rin." I hope that's not Rin.