Chapter 5: Tangled Threads of Compassion
"...Do whatever you'd like with me...
...You earned your victory."
Those words sound...suggestive, don't they? I chuckle a bit as I think that to myself, and I'm met with a confused stare from Toga.
"Eh? What are you laughing to yourself about?
Are you...making fun of your prey?"
Her tone sounds concerned, maybe she's worried about me killing her perhaps. However, the word 'prey' signals that finally, she's given up on the attack. Her eyes the entire fight screamed at the fact that she thought I was her prey, and now she realises she's mine. She starts to tremble a bit, and I realise the blood from her shoulder isn't leaking out as much as before. Well, at least she won't die. I don't think I could have that on my subconscious.
"So? Answer me! What's so funny?"
"Well...the way you said 'do whatever you like with me' sounded really suggestive, didn't it?"
I see her face flush a slight red, and she breaks eye contact and looks to the floor. Maybe what I said was a bit...uh, inappropriate for the situation? She probably didn't mean it that way...I mean she's a villain, there's no way she's thinking about that stuff...
"I meant what I said. Anything.
And the great Deku wouldn't do anything like...that...would he?"
She immediately turns back to me, with a smug smile plastered across her face. There's the Toga I know, but that blush before...maybe she has another side under all this?
"Yeah, definitely not.
I might be lonely, but I'm not THAT lonely."
She stares at me, confused still but then she breaks into laughter.
"Pfft...oh...the great Deku is lonely? Oh shut up...
You've got so many friends, and nice teachers...
and...a nice mother, and...a nice childhood..."
Her tone switches somehow from a playful manner to a somber one, one that I recognise since I've started all of this. A tone of need, wanting something so badly that your mind plays tricks on itself, trying to cover up this need, a need you'll never fulfil. In this case, I think it's her childhood, and friends. The league of villains isn't exactly friendship material, is it now?
As she lays against the wall, she lets out an exhausted sigh which turns into a pained cough of blood, as her bullet wound seems to reopen making more blood leak out. I completely forgot about it, but I definitely have to help her here. Otherwise she might actually die!
"Hey, you uh…probably need help with that, don't you?
You don't seem to be doing so well…"
"Yeah obviously, you idiot! I'm leaking like hell here!"
Her voice is strained, and full of slight anger but with a slight whimper in her voice signalling that she might actually be scared under this tough façade.
"Stay still, yeah?"
I crouch down next to her, as she flashes me another look of confusion when I put down my worn-out backpack and place it beside me. I take out a few bandages, and a bottle of what seems to be a liquid to help heal wounds.
"W-what…are you doing?"
Her voice whimpers and she stares at me as I sit next to her, now no longer smirking.
"Trying to keep you alive? Seems pretty obvious, right?"
Her tone then turns into one of mockery, as she snickers and replies to me, seemingly holding back her laughter.
"Huh? Keep me alive? What, you trying to actually help me?
Ha! What a joke! A hero trying to help a villain? Yeah right, as if that would ever happen…"
I sigh at this remark. Seems like she's in disbelief, which does make sense I guess. The person fighting her a few minutes ago is trying to save her life. A hero, saving a villain. But I'm not sure that I actually care about any of that. She saved me earlier from what would've been certain death. I can't not try to help. And anyways…
"I'm not letting anyone else die, not if I can help it."
I have a serious and stern look on my face as I stare at her, and my boldness seems to have pierced through her psychotic facade. Her eyes fall to the ground, and back to her wound which she's desperately trying to cover up with her arm, then back to me, her eyes no longer making contact with mine. With a slightly muffled voice, one the complete opposite of her usual loud, mocking tone, she manages to make out the words:
"Oh…you're serious about that, aren't you?
I completely forgot about your…specialty, that separates you from all the other heroes I so desperately want to kill, to destroy…"
I'm slightly confused again.
"Huh? Specialty?"
After a moment of silence, her eyes meet mine again. No more cold stare, no more predatory eyes, but I meet the eyes of a girl, not a psycho. She gives me a warm smile; one I've never seen over her crazed one. I can't sense any ulterior motive, no threat, nothing. Is she…actually smiling…genuinely?
"You're a hero. A real one."
Cryptic, but I think I know what she means. Modern heroes, hero associations, they've all been plagued with shallow people, all in it for solely the money and not for saving people, what heroes should be about. Those heroes disgust me. Maybe I'm starting to sound like Stain here, but I'm glad this whole thing happened for society. Sure, the city is in ruins, but that's nothing we can't fix with time. But all the garbage in the hero associations have all quit, when faced with an actual threat, they can't stand around and get showered with money anymore.
"I try my best to be…"
After my reply, I smile back at her, trying to be as genuine as she is with me. And for the first time in these dark times, I feel…slightly…happy? Even though my mind doesn't want to believe it, deep down I know I like this. Smiling and helping others, and I've been doing it for so long without any praise or recognition. But I don't care, at the end of day…as long as everyone's safe, I'm happy…or that's what I used to think. That's never been the case, I've suffered so much, and I realise now that…I'm not the hero she thinks I am. I have my own selfish desires, just like everybody else. And right now, I'm the happiest I've been so far. Staring into her eyes, smiling together with her, I realise now that…I want this. I want to continue this. I want more of this feeling. I need more.
Lost in her eyes, my eye contact gets broken as she looks back down at her wound, and groans a bit. However, her smile stays on her face and that blush from earlier reappears, and faintly covers her cheeks, tinting them with a slight red.
"Sorry to ruin the mood, or whatever that was…but…
I'd like that help you were offering earlier?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot for a moment…"
I get closer to her, and grab my liquid bottle. It has a pipette type of cap, letting its user squeeze out a couple drops.
"This is going to sting, but I promise it'll help."
"You don't need to baby me, I know what anti-bacteria stuff is."
I grab the bottle in my hand, and she moves her hand away from the wound. Before I do anything, I grab some tissues and wipe off a lot of the blood that went over the wound. I then hold the bottle above her wound and stare back at her, waiting for maybe some approval.
"You waiting for approval from little old me?
What do you want me to say? No, don't help save my life?
Just do it already…"
She turns her eyes away, perhaps bracing for the stinging pain that's about to come. I nod back at her and I squeeze out a few drops of the anti-bacteria. Immediately, she winces in pain, holding back any pained noises from coming out.
"Ugh…shit, that really does sting…"
I get an idea, one my mom used to do to help ease the pain of the sting back when I used to injure myself on the playground. I was so innocent back then. I hold up my other hand and place it near hers.
"Here, squeeze my hand, it'll help ease the pain a bit."
She seems a bit hesitant, even flashing me another confused look before giving in and holding my hand. She holds it tightly, trying to transfer her pain to mine. It slightly hurts, but her hand is so soft, so gentle that its gentleness overpowers the pain she's inflicting onto it.
It feels nice.
While one hand feels pleasure, the other still has a job to do. Using my free hand, I grab the bandages and wrap it around her wound, and secure it from bleeding any further. The tissues from earlier come in handy again, as I wipe off most of the blood from her body that leaked onto her shirt.
Slowly and slowly, her grip on my hand loosens, but she doesn't pull it away. She lets out a sigh, not one of pain and exhaustion like before, but a sigh of relief. And for good reason too, her life force was no longer spilling.
"Heh, that hurt like hell…you know?"
She chuckles, but her eyes meet mine again, with that same smile from earlier.
"You did squeeze my hand like there was no tomorrow, you think I don't know that?"
She closes her eyes and laughs, not a crazy laugh, but a playful one.
"Well, there actually wouldn't have been a tomorrow…if it wasn't for you."
Her words come out in a slightly somber tone, and she opens her eyes again.
"Thanks a lot Deku, I knew I was right in choosing you."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone