_________ POV Beru_________
Nemuri, fortunately, didn't scold me for long, she would've been actually mad at me if anyone had gotten hurt(besides the villains).
I did well to teleport all civilians away at the beginning of that fight, otherwise, I'd be sleeping on the couch for at least a week.
In the end, the public had nothing negative to say about the situation or me specifically. They are all a bit too preoccupied singing praises to all the young heroes that took part in the event.
Old-timers like me get pushed to the side in situations like these. No one even cared to mention that I stopped Wolfram, although I guess he hardly mattered to anyone other than me.
And he barely mattered to me(only for revenge), so his existence is rather sad now that I think about it.
Not that I mattered all that much in the past. The only people that cared about me back then were criminals and scum...
At least there's plenty of people that care about me in this life. For better or for worse, I'm quite fortunate to be living the way I am.
Currently, my fun times are over... In front of me stands the result of my struggles.
"Yori~ If this doesn't wor-"
"I'd like not to entertain that idea right now Beru... This is our best bet currently." Yori didn't even let me finish my sentence.
Right now, we're in the process of testing out the new quirk combination that might help mentally recover the Nomus.
It wasn't all that difficult for Don to find Giran's whereabouts, Giran is running the type of business where he needs to be well-known within the underworld.
Don has almost the entire world within his hands right now, so finding a broker isn't all that difficult for him.
No one would dare to question why Don looked for a random broker either, so he doesn't need to hide at all.
Don even went and personally got Giran's quirk, Muddied, well, a few pieces of hair from him. I proceeded to copy the quirk using my original power, and Yori made an artificial copy of it.
Currently, we're starting tests with a supercharged version of 'Muddied' on an already humanified Nomu.
Enhancing Muddied with numerous Enhancing quirks and hoping for the best.
One for All is also somewhere in there, but it's not exactly stockpiled a lot of energy right now, so it's nowhere near as effective as the original.
We're currently hoping the quirk combination won't clash with the Rewind Serum that was consumed to bring him to a more human form.
Well, it honestly shouldn't clash at all. We're effectively using a quirk on him, not trying to force another quirk on him.
The subject is just your regular young man, the exact same age as Izuku and the rest...
Seems that All for One, or maybe Kyudai, had some type of fixation on young targets... I guess it was easier to brainwash them?
Yori signalled me to proceed with the test as he prepared to monitor the vitals of this unfortunate victim.
"Brain activity is currently near 0, let us commence with the test..." Yori said as I walked forwards and placed my palm on the head of the victim.
"..." A dull light came out of my palm as it came in contact with the man's head. It seemed to connect us for some odd reason.
"Brain activity is spiking, keep going!" I could barely hear Yori's voice over my excitement, as I noticed that the child in front of me gained a glint in his eyes for a split second.
This... Might actually bear some positive results for once.
_________ POV Narration _________
Yori looked on with delight as the brain of the Nomu was finally showing signs of functioning properly.
Both he and Beru had expected nothing special to happen at first, Giran's quirk didn't instantly take effect, and the one it was used on usually went unconscious for a few minutes too.
But this time the effect seemed to be instant, as the young man in front of Beru seemed to gain a rush of energy.
His body started trembling on the chair as Beru quickly retracted his arm and jumped back.
Beru didn't want to scare the young man with his appearance, it wasn't exactly the type of thing that one should see when waking up from a coma.
The former Nomu opened his eyes, Beru and Yori could clearly see the fear in them as Beru took action and changed his form to a more human one.
"W-where am I?" The former Nomu asked with a strange tone, Yori remarked that it seemed almost childish...
Beru didn't stand by and observe the situation though, through his elation and excitement, he walked forwards and put his hand on the young man's shoulder.
"You're safe now~" He said with a large smile as he unstrapped the young man from the various apparatus that monitored his vitals among other things.
"I-I remember being in a warehouse... I rembe-" The young man seemed clearly scared, and clearly immature mentally.
Beru and Yori immediately put together the fact that the Nomu had been reversed to a point where he still had memories...
Meaning he now had the mind and memories of a child and the body of a young man.
"Don't worry child... Some bad man took you back then, but we rescued you!" Yori was also not a heartless machine. Beru could see the veins on the scientist's head bulge.
Yori was currently considering artificially reviving Kyudai and All for One, just to brutally kill them all over again.
The former Nomu then started crying, Beru and Yori looked at each other. No words needed to be said, they had done it...
But they knew that further testing was certainly needed, they knew that the effects of Muddied could maybe disappear. They needed to be prepared for any situation.
Beru patted the former Nomu on the back. "It's alright... No one can harm you now..." Beru himself was a lot angrier than he had expected himself to be.
He knew that All for One was despicable but seeing just how majorly the villain had affected so many children...
Yori and Beru then proceeded to get to work, contacting proper authorities and making sure to cure the rest of the Nomus as well.
All of the cured nomus end up having white hair, Yori assumed that it was due to stress and psychological trauma.
The cured Nomus were to be held under surveillance, but not in a musky laboratory. They were to be given proper housing by the government and proper care.
Beru eventually got to the one he cared about the most...
_________ POV Beru_________
Even now, my time spent with that child at the orphanage is nothing more than a memory. A short few years of happiness in an otherwise shitty time of my life.
He was, and still is, the very first friend that I have made in this world. One of the first to accept me regardless of appearance.
Souma was nothing more than an innocent child when all of this started, he didn't deserve the hand that fate has dealt him.
I regret what happened that day.
If I was more accustomed to my own powers maybe I would've been able to steal All for One's quirks and killed him. But I barely could make heads or tails of the situation at that point...
It's a stupid thought, even if I did manage to steal his powers back then, he likely would've just killed me.
He was a lot stronger back then, and I would've had no idea how to use his quirks anyway. If I could even steal them anyway... I would've just gotten an empty copy of his original quirk.
I spent a lot of time blaming myself for the fate of these children when I was being experimented on.
Rather foolish of me to blame myself for this, I know, but I couldn't help it. Children have been and will always be a soft spot of mine.
Only now do I get to have some closure to this whole mess.
Like any revenge story, killing All for One felt empty. Like I was just going through the motions, taking out a man that was long past his expiration date, clinging on to his life by a thread.
By curing and helping the Nomus, I'll finally be able to put this matter to sleep. Leave it all behind me and fully focus on my current life.
Souma, that little brat... I wonder how he'll look all grown up?
No reason to postpone the inevitable, things are finally looking up.
"You ready?" Yori asked as he observed and documented the state of Souma's body before the use of Muddied.
Souma was dressed in a regular hospital gown, the empty look in his eyes didn't help him look healthier. He was skinny, his sunken cheeks, white hair and pale skin made him look like an Albinism patient.
"As I'll ever be~" I said while slowly extending my palm towards Souma's head.
The same dull glow appeared in my palm as I made contact with his head. A bit of time passed by as Yori informed me of Souma's brain activity.
The same thing happened, with Souma's body starting to tremble as his eyes seemed to become alive.
I pulled my hand back, but I didn't bother hiding or turning human as I did with the others.
Souma first looked around in confusion and fear, then he set his eyes on me. I could see the child-like joy in them as he showed me a toothy smile.
"BERU!" His shout shocked me a bit. He basically jumped from the chair and straight into my torso.
"Heh...~ It's good to see you kid~" That was basically all I could say.
After such a long time... I finally feel a bit, at peace? I guess that's the word...
I can also see Yori smiling from the corner of my eye.
"What happened? How come you're so big!" Souma finally asked as he pulled back from me. Oh boy... There's a lot of explaining to be done...
But at least he seems healthy. That's what matters most...
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Hope you liked the chapter!
Sorry for the massive delay. I'm still adjusting to my new job, and finding the motivation to write is also becoming harder and harder(I guess I never did recover from burnout huh?)
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