A Farewell to All Futures

Evacuation

Warning: burns, mentioned brainwashing, death, guns

***

Sora opened her eyes, squinting against the bright white light of Hope's Peak Academy's infirmary. For reasons unknown to her, some parts of her body stung at a low throb. To soothe her body and her confusion, she sank into the blankets and pillow that had been freshly prepared for any patients. With a hum, she tried to recall where she was last...

Suddenly, her memory returned to her as she became more aware. She was locked in an aerial battle with the brainwashed shell of what was her second in-command, and they were using magic to try and knock the other out of the fight. Unfortunately, despite her learning how to wield magic, she was no match for the Ultimate Wizard, and his fire enveloped her. The last thing she remembered was falling to the ground before her world went dark.

Now that she realized that she had those injuries, they began to throb a bit more, making her groan in agony. This caught the attention of one of the five other people in the room with her. "Hey, Albino's awake." Syobai alerted, holding an ice pack to the back of his head.

The four Children of Utsuro turned towards her and walked over to the bed. All of them looked grim except for Iroha, who was in tears as she held her handbook close to her. "How are you doing?" Emma gently inquired, her ankle in a makeshift brace out of bandages.

"Everything stings like a bitch, but I'm alive." Sora bluntly remarked. "What happened after I passed out?"

"We only barely won against Mikado." Nikei explained. "As for the group that left to find Junko, well..."

"They got brainwashed. We don't know the full details how, but Kanade sent a message to Iroha confirming that fact." Hajime sighed. This only sent Iroha into another fit of hysterics as she cried into Emma's jacket.

Sora sighed and leaned herself back against her pillows, staring up at the ceiling. "Fuck."

"Yeah, things are pretty bad right now. We had to sneak you and Syobai past everybody to get you medical help." Nikei recounted. "Thankfully, Hajime knew a lot about hospital things, no guesses how, and he hooked you up to some pretty fucking strong morphine."

"Speaking of which, Syobai." She addressed the broker. "What happened before you got knocked out?" 

"I was a fucking idiot that let my guard down, that's what." Syobai groaned. "I was expecting Mikado to try and break OUT, not Mukuro fucking Ikusaba to break IN."

Hajime put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, don't beat yourself up too much over it. Literally nobody could have predicted that she'd pull something like that."

Syobai pushed the boxer's hand off his shoulder. "If you start telling me 'there's always next time' or some shit like that, I'm gonna smack the shit out of you." He threatened. The boxer stayed quiet on this matter.

With a bit of effort, Sora sat up in her bed and stretched her body out, ignoring the sting from her burns. "Aah, that's much better." She stopped and turned to the group. "So, we don't have a plan, I take it?"

"Well, I have one." Nikei spoke, tilting his hat downwards. "It's not preferable, but it's the only choice we have."

"Which is?" Sora prompted further. 

"We have to run away from Hope's Peak Academy."

Sora fell into a grim silence as soon as he uttered those words. If someone told her that she would have to even look at that option, she would have called them delusional. But now that she had lost everything, she had no choice but to consider it.