I Just Need a Bit More Blood~

   If Nejire were anyone else, that would have been a huge blow to her confidence. But luckily, she wasn’t, and in her mind popularity had never equalled skill. Standing up straight and rolling her shoulders back to assume a stance that displayed the bravery she felt internally, the U.A. student opened her mouth to introduce herself. “My name is Hado Nejire! I’m one of U.A.’s top three students.” 

   The heroine took a step forward deliberately when the blonde flashed her knife, as if to prove she was well aware of her abilities and did not harbor any fear for them. Even if they did intimidate her a little. 

   For a moment, Nejire paused. That fight had been what felt like ages ago now. “Remind me what it was he believed, and I’ll tell you.”

    The name certainly rung a bell for Toga but Toga’s attention wasn’t to her name, but to her it was the confidence that caught her attention. Okay, she’ll play for a bit, but this Nejire would have to keep her attention.

    Smirking at the little hero, “Well, since we’re introducing ourselves: I’m Himiko Toga, member of the League of Villains and a follower of Mr. Stain, and you’re a student at UA? That means you’re a classmate of Deku’s~” Toga’s grin went slightly feral.

     Hearing Nejire’s question caused Toga to pause for a moment, “...remind you...? Mr. Stain’s beliefs have been on TVs for months now back home...and all over the internet...” Toga’s voice grew more heated and filled with anger, “...if I have to remind you...then you’re not a follower of his at all,” and with that her eyes glinted like the knife in her hand as she rushed forward and jumped behind Nejire.

A smug, conceited smirk appeared on his face as the staples emitted as small noise. The thought of getting to toy with heroes was something Dabi enjoyed doing, especially when it was against someone skilled such as Eraserhead. Although he was disgusted by most heroes due to following Stain’s legacy, it didn’t hurt to engage in a fight here and there. Looking towards the obsessive, hyperactive blonde once more, his smile felt as if it dropped. It only diminished slightly, he wasn’t about to give her any satisfaction about showing weakness.

“There’s heroes here too, huh?” Removing his hand from the tree as formed a small inferno within his palm, there was a few things that he could do in Wonderland now.

“Things suddenly are more interesting. I wasn’t aware a few of those UA brats were crawling here.” Keeping a calm expression, he was beginning to formulate a plan in his head. It was easier to  do so now that he wasn’t needing to follow Shigaraki’s orders. He was own boss now.

“We’ll give them a warning shot to stay out of our way.”

    Seeing the calculating and plotting look in Dabi’s eyes along with that smirk was something that Toga marveled about the other villain; for someone so cold and distant he certainly had a fire about him when he was cooking up a plan.

    Getting closer to Dabi, “And kinda warning shot are you thinking about~ C’mon~ don’t leave me hanging Dabi!” A playful pout formed on Toga’s face as she looked at Dabi.

    A small part of Toga suddenly wanted to speak up; the part of her that wanted to live an easier life and that they could have that in Wonderland. That was the part of Toga that she wanted to keep locked away; she couldn’t be soft like this, not in front of any other members of the League of Villains...and especially not in front of Dabi.

“Wouldn’t we all like to know.” Todoroki side-eyed the blonde. Something about her face and her voice, and most especially her hair–they all seemed too familiar. He can’t recall where he thinks he’s seen her, but something about her grin gave him bad vibes. 

He shouldn’t let her stick with him, but he has a feeling it’ll be inevitable. Giving her any information or speculations he may have had would have only made matters worse. She would have assumed he was interested in speaking to her, which only would have made her stick with him. One other person to slow him down was the last thing he needed. Not to mention, a person whom he felt like he couldn’t trust just yet.

“You’re in my way.” He narrowed his eyes slightly, before giving her a small push to slide his way past her. He wasn’t quite sure where he was going at this point. Since his arrival, he had been endlessly wandering around this new world, unable to gather the proper answers he was looking for.

    Toga didn’t realize that someone was next to her until the man spoke. She felt every cell in her body react at realizing who was next to her: the son of the number two hero Shoto Todoroki. From his cold stare Toga could tell that he didn’t recognize her right now; this was perfect.

    She tried to walk with him a little bit more but a certain hot and cold hero decided to be rude and shove her out of the way. to walk ahead. For a second Toga had the large impulse to just take her knife out and just strike out at one of the many vital points that she had memorized...but that wasn’t nearly fun enough. Seeing someone stoic break is even more fun.

    “Owwww! That wasn’t nice Shoto Todoroki! What would your father say hmmm?” A pout formed on her face but not far beneath was a wicked and feral grin.

‘Well, we’re not in your world, are we?’ Minako prodded her cheek with a scowl that showed in her eyes. ‘Which means you’re not a villain, I’m not a hero, and I’m not about to fight you.’

As for why she’d want to help…because it was just…the right thing to do. Minako didn’t know how much time she’d have; if it wasn’t the hanahaki outbreak, then it’d be some act of fate that took her out. Accidents happened all the time. Minako wanted to leave the world with more good in it than bad, and…you know what, did she really need a reason, in the end?

She wanted to help, so that’s what she’d do.

‘Well, what do these petals know, anyway? They’re killing you, right? Personally, I wouldn’t wanna take advice from them.’

But…maybe that was the problem. If they were green, Toga could have an idea of what to do, who to tell. If they were blue, then…Toga was just as lost as Minako was. She took a ragged breath in, then coughed slightly as it agitated her sore throat. 

‘Alright. How about this. We…figure out why your petals are blue, y’know? Narrow down the suspects. Try to cure it. Give you a redo, if you really want the hanahaki again.’

    Something about this girl actually calmed Toga’s mind down; was it because she was so stubborn that she wasn’t going to let Toga go instinctual? Why would Minako even bother helping her? And of course she knew that they weren’t in her world but identities cross worldly boundaries.

    A small smile did form on her face when Minako made the comment about the petals, “I guess you’re technically right about that but it’s going to take a lot more than just some annoying,” cue another stab, “petals to do me in. Deku’s punches are stronger than this.”

    She didn’t really expect Minako to start planning on how to help her. Surprise was evident on her face, her control over her facial muscles was shit at the moment, and she just stared at the other. She could count on one hand when someone genuinely helped her...and this was the first one that was direct.

Meanwhile…

Dabi was hovering over his sink, the more these petals came out of his mouth, the slower his irritation was growing. What the hell was even going on? Why was he even having this happen to him? Another petal was spat out as he stared down at them, seeing his sink filled with them. That only gave him anger, his hand igniting and setting them to flames, watching them shrivel and turn to dust.

He felt like hell; his head was pounding, throat burning from the amount of coughing he’s done, unfamiliar feelings of despair circulating his veins. Running his fingers through his messy, dark hair as he tried to collect his thoughts, they were quickly interrupted by a knock on his apartment door. Heaving a sigh, the apathetic villain tried to keep his cool. Who could it be? He wondered, why would anyone come to his door at this hour?

A surprised look came to his face as he opened the door, the last person he expected to see was at his door. He wasn’t really going to just push her away either.

“Cra- Toga…” He mumbled, “What are you doing here?”

    Seeing Dabi’s face caused a crack to appear in her facade and she felt a couple tears to fall from her eyes, “I-I...I’m not okay Dabi...”

    As soon as she trailed her sentence off she felt the familiar sensation right in her throat as she ran to the railing of the building and retched. Letting a couple more tears fall she watched the blue-ish purple petals fall. Seeing those petals again made Toga’s heart clench and a familiar flare of anger and dread spread throughout her body.

Minako had both hands up in surrender the minute she saw the knife. Concerned as she was, she wasn’t exactly in the mood to get stabbed to death. Even if it was a cute g–

She wrenched her head the other way, dragging of the mask to silently cough a fresh batch of petals herself. Ugh, Minako thought, watching the bright pink blooms fall to the ground, splattered with blood. Gross.

She wiped her mouth and replaced the surgical mask just as the young woman began to stab wildly at the petals, until she seemed to run out of energy. Kneeling next to her, Minako put a pale hand against Toga’s back and gave it a soft pat. 

Waiting until she had the girl’s attention, Minako continued; ‘I don’t mean any offense, but I’m gonna make it my business. You can’t expect me to just leave you like this! C’mon, even if it’s just to vent, I wanna help you. Are your flowers…not exactly what you…wanted?’

    The contact this time around didn’t make Toga reach for her knife but she did freeze up when- what was her name? ...Minako? when Minako touched her back. The touch was light and felt comforting and Toga wasn’t used to those kind of touches; she’s used to violence and just that.

     Looking at Minako and studying her motions she couldn’t help roll her eyes and let out a hollow giggle, “And why do you want to help me? Where I’m from I’m a villain, and aren’t heroes supposed to fight people like me?”

     Toga registered the last part of what Minako signed but she tried to not think about it; she didn’t want to think about how her love was being spilled out to her and telling her that she was wrong. All of it pissed her off: first that she was being told who she loved, which she still didn’t even know who the petals were referring to, and that this girl was telling her that she was going to help her...today was just shitty.

The uniform fit…weird. 

Minako didn’t know what to do with it, really. She’d exchanged her casual, fun, colorful outfits for one that wouldn’t show the blood as easily–this, she’d learned from lots of practice, ugh.–but the drawback was that it was an outfit from…back then. It was shorter on her, but not too much. She didn’t look like someone trying to squeeze into doll’s clothes, not yet, but there was still a little adjustment happening. 

The sounds of sickness were all around. Most of Wonderland had cottoned onto what was happening and kept it to themselves; most everyone had on facemasks, either in an attempt to prevent the flowers from spreading, or to keep anyone from knowing that their mouths were filled with red. 

It reminded Minako far too much of the Apathy sickness…

She stopped in her tracks as she heard the sound of open retching, followed by distress. The flowers in her own chest warned her not to play Miss Hero; what good was she gonna do? But Minako wasn’t the sort to let it go without at least a token attempt, so she hustled in the direction and found–hey, that was…Toga, she think she recalled. 

She didn’t dare pull down the dark face mask to whistle, so instead she boldly jogged up to the other girl, gently tapping on her arm. ‘Hey, hey, I heard some–shouting, are you okay?’

    Toga’s mind was too preoccupied with coping with the flower petals to notice the new presence behind her. What were the petals trying to tell her? Was she really not in love Deku?

    No.

    She was sure in her heart of hearts that Deku was the one that captured her heart finally; Deku was the one that would make her a better person and show her what a true hero was dammit!

    Feeling the tap on her shoulder, Toga whipped her head around and reached for her knife; her entire body was poised to defend herself if needed, “Who in the hell-”

    Toga’s body relaxed somewhat when she recognized the motions the other girl started to make; she also recognized the girl slightly, but she couldn’t remember the other’s name.

     But all she knew right now is that she wasn’t a threat so she could relax, “Was...was I really that loud?” Embarrassment filled Toga’s features, “...and it doesn’t concern you. These stupid petals are toying with me and I don’t,” Toga stabbed one of the petals, “appreciate,” another stab and a tear rolls down her face, “it!” With one final stab Toga felt a majority of her energy go out with the final stab.

midAnnnnd there were the nerves again, he was trying this method as a test and as he guessed, it wasn’t going to work. Or at least not the way he had hoped. He wasn’t sure to answer the question or not, so he remained quiet and that was when he really began to panic.

He swallowed back the fears that were beginning to bubble up in his head. Although this wasn’t the ideal situation, Izuku was trying to think: what would Kacchan do?

“No, Wonderland didn’t change me.” Izuku answered before lowering his head, one hand beginning to feel like it was on fire. “I’m still the same Izuku Midoriya! The one that’s going to be the world’s greatest hero!” And that’s when he shouted Kacchan’s signature phrase.

“Now die!” 

His voice was still shaky as he swiftly turned around, holding one arm out as focused all his energy into this one hit. Just enough to get the villain away at a distance, “Take this!!” He yelled, ‘Delaware…SMASH!!!”

And with that, he released his middle finger to send a huge blast with his quirk.

    There was a moment that Toga’s face softened at seeing the pensive and unsure Deku again. Yes, this was her Deku; the Deku that was chosen by Mr. Stain as a true hero. It calmed her anger that Deku really didn’t change; she’d hate to kill him- she then realized that she was flying through the air and that her body screamed in pain.

     Crashing into a nearby building, it took Toga a few seconds to register what happened. When everything clicked her heartbeat skyrocketed, her face grew ever more flushed, and her face was split in a huge grin.

     “Oh Deku!~ I knew that Wonderland didn’t change you!! You’re still the same selfless hero that Mr. Stain chose! The hero that I’m going to slice with my love!”

His eyes darted down to the hands he had clenched into fists, she had a point. Using his quirk would only alarm those around her and who knows what would become of him if he caused a ruckus. The way she worded her sentences- why was she like this? He couldn’t pinpoint it in his mind but then his thoughts were broken by her speaking again.

Seeing her lean close to him, he was once again nervous. The nostalgia of hearing those familiar words before made him shudder, he had to find a way to get out of this.

Izuku lifted a single hand up, placing it over Toga’s, it was still shaking but he had an idea. If he could use her infatuation with him to his advantage, he could get away from her. A nervous look was still placed on his face however, he was terrified.

“T-Toga, you know I don’t want to hurt you.” His voice was shaky but he managed the sentence.

    Feeling the other’s shaking hand cover hers, Toga’s heart rate picked up even more and her face grew red. Deku was actually holding her hand!? Dreams were coming true for her, but one dream was still to come true, but she wanted to wait and savor this moment for right now.

     “D-Deku!~ You’re trembling~ Do I really have this kinda affect on you?”

     Toga’s blissful face twisted in confusion at his next choice of words. He didn’t want to hurt her? That didn’t make sense in any way; Deku was a hero, a hero chosen by Mr. Stain, and she was technically a villain by society’s standards, so he should be okay with hurting her.

   Nejire tried not to make it a habit to go looking for trouble. But, being a U.A. student and a top one at that, finding trouble just seemed to be in her blood. Which was how she justified following the unmistakable blonde buns into the dangers of the wooded forest, full-well knowing this was a very bad idea. Going in with no back up? It was as if she was ignoring all her passed years of training. Who was she now? Deku?

   Nevertheless, the blue-haired heroine persisted. She tried her best to stay in the shadows, using her wave motion to hover above the ground before she noticed them dulling. In her panic (she hadn’t yet determined how long it took her to recharge), she dropped herself, and naturally landed on a few twigs that snapped beneath her boots. 

   Slowly, she emerged from behind the tree she’d previously been using to shield herself. “Himiko Toga,” Nejire nodded, greeting the other in a way. “What are you doing so far away from home?”

    Seeing someone actually emerge from the forest, Toga turned towards the newcomer, and she could contain her surprise that another girl stepped out. There was also the fact that she already knew her name which meant that they were from the same place...interesting

    “Well, you certainly know me~ But I don’t really know who you are~ But I’m assuming that between the fact that you know my name and said my last name first that you must be from Japan. And there’s also the fact that if you know my name then you know what I can do,” Toga showed her knife, “which means that either you’re stupid...or you think you’re a hero,” there was an edge to Toga’s voice when she mentioned the word, “...are you a follower of Mr. Stain’s belief?”

Of course Cheshire couldn’t handle being trapped in his stuff room, confined to a closed space like a can of tuna. It took a few daunting, calloused words to send the guards in a different direction–the perk of being a cat was that he could feign the “my heightened sense of hearing heard something over in the garden”.

And it worked like a charm every time.

While the castle grounds were no place that Cheshire wanted to find himself in, it worked right now to ease his mind. He knew that there was a sense of protection, the urgency of the defensive protocols would ensure his safety. But it was stifling all the same.

At least, that’s what he thought. But it seemed as if… some unorthodox guard found their way here. Peculiar. Absolutely peculiar.

“Pray tell me, what sort of horrendous guard are you?” he scoffed. “Tell me, how do you manage to get yourself up in the morning when you can’t even wear your crest the correct way?”

    Seeing the purple-haired man with the car ears start to berate her disguise tipped her off that this must’ve been the Cheshire Cat that she was looking for.

    “Wow, you really are an ass.” The comment left Toga’s lips before she could catch it. She was so used to not being caught in her disguises that someone berating said disguise just threw her off her game.

His nerves were beginning to take over, sparks emitting from his body as he prepared himself to use his quirk. Of all the villains, why her, why did it have to be Himiko Toga, the one that wanted to stab him.

“Himiko Toga?!” Izuku’s first instinct was getting ready to dash off, but the issue was him not knowing where to go, he was lost. Not a single clue as to where to go, but anywhere was better than being stuck in the same range as the blonde. Rightfully so, even if his quirk was hindered and made him tired more often if used too much, that was the one thing thing that he needed right now. ‘One For All…Full Cowl, Shoot Sty- !’ 

Before he could even move, her arm was wrapped around his neck, making his body freeze in its spot as she was close, dangerously close to him. Izuku couldn’t find the words to say for a moment, now he wasn’t sure how he was going to get himself out of this situation. 

“I-I’d watch it if I were you!” Izuku managed to choke out, placing his thumb into his mouth, eyes narrowing, the cost of using One For All fresh in his mind, but he feels as if he has to get her away somehow. 

    The fear and the calculating look in his eyes made Toga’s heart beat faster than ever; this was the perfect image of a hero, and the person that she wanted to be.

    “Oh Deku, do you really wanna use your wonderful Quirk right now? Wouldn’t that hurt people and bring attention to us?”

    Toga wouldn’t mind the attention of course. She could kill every person that would try and stop her and it wouldn’t damper her mood right now; she was holding her Deku.

Letting the flames return to nothing, his gaze wandered up to look towards the familiar blonde, he wasn’t sure whether he was glad to see her or afraid.

The girl wasn’t exactly — sane.

Placing his hands into pockets as he thought for a brief moment, he wondered if the other League members were here.

“Yeah, it’s me crazy, I was expecting to end up in the villain hideout because of those portals Kurogiri set up for us.”

“And I ended up in this place, what about you?”

    Toga examined the tree that Dabi was scorching, but she couldn’t find any marks which was strange. Maybe this place messed with Dabi’s quirk like it messed with hers? But at least her quirked worked normal-ish...maybe that’s what he was tense about?

    Turning to look at Dabi again, “Looks like we ended up at this place the same way~ I’ve been here for a couple of days already, and it’s been seriously lonely here without any other villains; there are plenty of heroes for us to play with,” Toga’s giggle started to come out, “especially Deku and that exploding kid that we were supposed to capture~”

My muse and your muse have been chosen to be locked in a closet for 7 minutes in heaven. Send “SEVEN MINUTES” for my muse to generate a number 1-25 of what happens between our muses