Chapter Text
“Well it’s about time we got here!” Brandon said, staring at his house.
The entire class had been combing through Avalon, checking every house, every shop, every nook and cranny. Their first order of business was to set up a barricade north of the town, that way they could use the buildings and resources to sustain the island.
Esil had already established a barrier along the north end of the city, entirely separating it from the rest of the island. Of course, if the Mosaics chose to, they could bring it down, as their attacks would directly affect Esil’s Soul. But at the same time, this would let them know where they were coming from, and the Mosaics were smart enough to know that they were now playing defense, attacking the shield would serve no purpose outside of gradually wearing down Esil, wearing down their numbers at the same time. It was a lose-lose for both sides.
“We should all get some rest while we have the chance,” Aizawa remarked. He was used to long nights, but even he was starting to get worn down. It was no better for the rest of the class, as they’d been awake and fighting for over 48 hours. Even Awakened Humans, especially young adults, under constant stress, pressure, and Mana exhaustion, were invariably going to get worn down. They could’ve stayed awake for a few more days, but just because they could didn’t mean they should. No one knew when their next chance to sleep would be.
Thankfully Esil, as a Chaos Inhabitant, and half-breed of Tenebris and Lux, didn’t really sleep in the same way humans did. It was more of a half-conscious state where she could continue to maintain the barrier.
“We’ll go over Avalon once more in the morning and then set out to clean the rest of the island,” Iida said. “Don’t want to risk breaking the quarantine until we’re sure it’s safe.”
Setsuna was currently with them, but the remainder of her copies were surrounding the Casino, meaning that the entire class was free to do as they wished. And, as far as they could tell, only one copy of Setsuna needed to sleep in order to regain energy.
“Sounds good to me!” Kaminari immediately strolled into the house they were staying at and ran, literally ran, up to bed, jumping onto the soft mattress, still wearing his blood-stained Hero uniform.
“I’ll put a copy in each house just so no one gets ambushed,” Setsuna said, splitting herself off a few more times. It was draining to expend that much Mana at once, but since she wasn’t a spellcaster, it was the only thing her Mana was really good for.
With a final wave, everyone went to rest. It was now approaching sunset after a long day combing the town and southern tip of the island. The destroyer and a few curious vessels were still stationed off the coast, but Thomas Andre gave up not long after trying to break the barrier, and essentially went home to rest. Izuku almost couldn’t blame him, he knew the barrier was impenetrable, but it still gave off the impression that he didn’t really care all that much.
As Izuku, Yui, Setsuna, and Brandon walked inside, the homeowner asked if they wanted anything to eat or drink.
“Ooooh! What alcohol you got?” Setsuna inquired, happy to have something to relax with.
“Don’t have any, at least not here.” He smiled. “I was more so asking if you wanted like… water, juice, soda… I’d offer milk but that probably went bad hours ago.”
“What are you, five?”
Brandon chuckled. “You could always check next door, the Adlers enjoy some ethanol every now and again. I doubt they’d mind you grabbing something.”
“I’m going to bed,” Yui said simply, nodding at the group and walking upstairs.
“Eh… I guess I’ll just get some sleep too,” Setsuna followed her friend upstairs, dejected by the lack of adult drinks.
“I’ll take some juice,” Izuku said, walking into the kitchen, feeling like a little kid asking his mother for juice before bed. It was nostalgic.
“No prob… but first, you wanna tell me what the Shadow Monarch is doing on my island?” Brandon stared down Izuku across from his kitchen’s countertop after the girls went upstairs.
“Huh?”
“You. What are you doing here? You didn’t start this mess, did you?” His arms were crossed.
“I’m not…” Izuku averted his eyes.
Brandon smirked. “You really need a better poker face, dude. As a child, my father always said my name the exact same way, whether he was calling me to scold me or call me down for dinner. So I always had a specific anxiety when he called my name, worried he’d find something else to scold me for, some secret I had been hiding from him. When I asked you about the ‘Shadow guy’ teleporting in, you looked as if I called your name, as if I discovered your secret. You were anxious.” He opened the fridge, pulling out the juice, it was room temperature at best. “I then decided to test the theory by mentioning the Shadow Monarch on the roof of the Casino, the whole ‘kicking Andre in the balls’ thing. You were just as awkward, and now…” He gestured at Izuku’s fidgeting.
“Seriously?” Izuku asked.
Brandon nodded. “I got lucky, bringing up the Shadow Monarch around you. Doubt I would’ve figured it out otherwise. You oughta be more careful about that from now on.”
Izuku sighed. “I’m not behind any of this. I came to do search and rescue work, to get some hands-on experience.”
Brandon nodded. “I believe you, because if you’re inexperienced at hiding your identity, then there’s no way you can lie very well.” He poured two glasses of peach juice. “I suppose I should consider myself lucky that you ended up here.” He slid the glass across the counter and Izuku scooped it up with Gravity Magic, causing Brandon to smile. “That’s the coolest thing… I always wanted some sort of telekinesis.”
“So… when we’re done here, should I worry about my identity being leaked? I have family and friends to protect, after all.” He let out a considerable amount of his Aura, causing Brandon to grit his teeth in response, practically biting his glass in half.
When he let up, Brandon took a deep breath. “You didn’t need the threat.” He rolled his eyes. “My curiosity was the only thing I wanted to satisfy. I gain nothing by spilling the beans. I was proven right, therefore, I am happy with what I received. Everyone has agendas, but mine is just wanting to know the truth, because then you know how to deal with people. The more you know about the universe and the way it works, the better you can shield yourself.”
“You believe me, but why should I believe you?”
Brandon shrugged. “Because you could make me disappear with a thought. I’m little more than an ant under your foot. If you decide to crush me, I’ve got no choice in the matter. And I’m sure you’ve got other ways to silence me if you don’t want to dirty your hands.”
Izuku pursed his lips as Brandon continued to nonchalantly drink from the glass that he’d chipped with his teeth.
“Come on… you’ve gotta have some way to verify the truth?” Brandon almost looked disappointed. “If you’re really a National-Rank, you’re gonna have to get better at this game.”
“I hate this game,” Izuku responded, looking through the System at the same time, upon which he spotted his Sin Magic.
[Sin Magic - Pride: Can manipulate the Pride of the target.]
“Hmm… on your pride, swear to me that you’re telling the truth.”
“Huh?” Brandon cocked his head to the side. “Pride? In what?”
“Uhh…” Izuku continued to invoke the Magic, but it was similar to what Momo described in trying to look into the Eternal Slumber, like a mass of wires that couldn’t be untangled. He had to look for the one wire that undid it all, or else get lost.
“On your pride as a Hero.”
Brandon scoffed. “Not a Hero…” He said it like he was growing tired of hearing the word.
Izuku recalled his conversation with Bakugo, all the things he told him in order to get the boy to open up. “On the pride of your friend’s memory.”
Brandon’s face fell, becoming a blank slate. “I only care about being right, I don’t give a shit about your secret or telling it to anyone else.” He blinked a few times, then came back to reality. “Wow… that’s kinda messed up,” Despite that, he was smiling ear-to-ear, which made Izuku feel even worse about it.
“Well… at least we know we’re being honest with each other,” Izuku took a heavy seat at the kitchen table. “Sorry about that, I had to be sure.”
“As a National-Rank? You really fear for your secret identity that much?”
Izuku shook his head. “No. Not that much. I just don’t care for the personal recognition, and I think it’s easier to operate without that recognition.”
“Hmm, I guess that makes sense.” Brandon set his glass in the sink. There was no running water so there was no cleaning it. “So spill it, how much do you actually know about this whole thing?”
Izuku decided to start at the beginning, telling him pretty much everything. He left out parts about Momo just to keep her anonymous. Working his way through Jeju, he finally arrived at Catalina.
“Lots of trouble on islands, huh?” He looked out the window towards the shining sea, glimmering in the moonlight. “You trust this… Architect?”
Izuku paused. The System had changed his life, and the lives of many others. Without it, what would’ve happened on Jeju? What would’ve happened to Momo and Izuku? Izuku still would have been trapped in a cycle of debt and near-death. If Raia was truly behind the System, then Izuku owed him a great deal of gratitude, but at the same time, “No one hands out power like this for no reason,” Izuku responded, looking down at his hands.
“Everyone has an agenda,” Brandon agreed. “Right now it sounds like his is to clean up this whole mess… but then why wouldn’t he just nuke the island? Surely he’s powerful enough…” Brandon held his chin in thought for a moment. “That’s what I would do at least…”
Izuku winced. He left out the bit about Raia wanting him to flatten the place. But apparently the two thought along the same lines when it came to solving problems.
“He made it sound like the Mosaics were just one problem though… and that we were on our own to handle the rest.” Izuku knew it had to do with all the words Raia was throwing around. Primordials, Monarchs, Rulers, Lords… it all meant something.
“Well, we’ll just have to handle that when the time comes,” Brandon leaned back in his chair. “You should get some sleep, we’ll need you and Setsuna to handle all this.”
“What about you?” Izuku asked.
“Insomnia. I doubt I’ll sleep until this whole mess is over with.” He stood and walked over to a nearby bookshelf, pulling a novel from it. “Nothing a good book can’t replace.”
“Era…gon?” Izuku tried sounding out the title, his English somewhat rusty.
“It’s a good one. Fantasy.” Brandon chuckled. “Although these days I suppose fantasy is closer to reality than fiction.”
“But fiction will always be more logical than real life,” Izuku responded, to which Brandon beamed.
“Glad someone else gets it for once. Fiction is a set path, reality is uncertain. Chaos that can scarcely be predicted.” He paused for a moment, then opened his mouth in realization. “Wait, I just thought about this. Is Setsuna the Shadow Empress?”
“Huh? No.”
“Okay so then you’ve got two women chasing after you?”
Izuku cocked his head to the side. Technically that was the truth with Kaina, but he hadn’t told him about her. “You mean… Setsuna?”
“Oh dear god, man. How old are you again?”
“I turn 19 in a month.”
Brandon looked up at the ceiling dejectedly. “God does have his favorites doesn’t he?”
“Wait what are you talking about? How do you know? Teach me your ways!” Izuku already had a lot on his plate, if Setsuna was really gonna chase after him like Kaina, he needed to know how to handle it all.
Brandon laughed. “Not unless you put in a good word about me to Yui!”
“Did… Did you take a knife for Yui so you could get brownie points with her?”
“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. But the point is you’ll never know, and you’re too much of a boyscout to use that Magic on me for such a trivial thing.”
Izuku gritted his teeth in annoyance. He really had only used Sin Magic to ensure that Brandon was telling the truth about his identity. It was for safety purposes only.
“And that is why you’ll never be a Thomas Andre…” Brandon said softly, smiling at the boy. “Your naivety is obnoxious, but also refreshing. I haven’t met someone like you in years. So pure that you don’t belong in the harshness of society.”
“Maybe it’s just that you guys have twisted what society should really be.” Izuku countered.
“Maybe… but it is you who is the exception, not the rule.”
“And maybe that’s why I get the girls,” Izuku said back.
“Damn… you got me there,” Brandon smirked. “Now off to bed. You’ve got a long day ahead of you, Shadow Monarch.”
“Yeah… and thanks… for Bakugo. I’ve… always wanted to just be friends again. But I could never get through to him.”
“Different types of hurt require different approaches. And I’ve gotten pretty good at manipulating people…” He averted his gaze in shame. “Everything I told him was the truth, but that’s how society works. You tell people what they need or want to hear. That’s why you’re different, you refuse to play the game. And that makes you dangerous to the other National-Ranks. Keep that in mind.”
Izuku nodded solemnly. The look in Brandon’s eyes reminded him of Kaina, someone who, despite their age, had several lifetimes of experience. And so he asked, “Do you ever have dreams of… a past life?”
“I always dream of a better life,” Brandon answered cryptically, “And that’s why I never sleep.”
*******
“I figured this would be a better way to contact you than physically going to that fool’s house,” Raia said, sitting on a metal throne, surrounded by red energy.
Izuku was in a strange space with him, a sensation similar to when he first earned the System, sitting upon a throne not too dissimilar to Raia’s. “What is this? Didn’t I just go to sleep?”
“This is my Soul Pathway. I called you here to speak, whilst your body sleeps.”
“You call him a fool, but he shared your sentiment of just destroying the island.” Izuku responded, getting his bearings within the new landscape.
“Really? How interesting…” Raia held a hand to his chin. “Hmm, no matter, he’s still a biological lifeform, just as stupid as the rest of you.”
“So you’re just racist towards anything that’s not a machine? A cold and calculating-”
“MY PEOPLE WERE KIND!” Raia cut off Izuku with a scream that echoed throughout the Soul Pathway. “We were logical, which meant we never hurt anyone without good reason! You humans!” He spat at Izuku. “You assume that because machines are logical that they do not hold emotions within their hearts! We were more peaceful than any biological entity in the universe, because we knew when to hold back, when to use our emotions and when not to! The rest of you lash out indiscriminately because you lack logic!” His body shook with rage, even in the metaphysical space.
“And you’re not lashing out now?” Izuku asked calmly.
Raia smiled cruelly at the young man. “I have lost my entire family, my entire species. Logic disappeared when you natural lifeforms decided we were unnatural.”
Izuku still didn’t know much about the Synthetic Lord, the Architect. But his little outburst had given him a glimpse into his life. A peaceful king, turned into a bitter man by the murder of his people.
“And yet you’re still helping us natural lifeforms.”
Raia scoffed. “We all have our agendas.”
Izuku smiled. “I don’t think you and Brandon are all that different.”
“You are free to think what you wish. My Synthetic Soldiers have scoured Avalon while you all sleep. They have found no traces of the Mosaics. In the morning, you should destroy their corpses, just to be safe.” As he instructed Izuku, figures began to dance around his throne, children playing tag, advisors talking amongst themselves. They were all made of metal, just like Raia.
“Who are they?” Izuku asked, wondering if other Souls had made their way into the space.
Raia waved his hand through the air and they dissipated instantly. “Mere memories.”
“What about your soldiers? Aren’t they your people?”
“They are no different than hollow facsimiles. Your Shadows have Souls, my soldiers have nothing. I too can bring back my slain enemies as Synthetic copies, but they are nothing next to the Shadows. A poor imitation of true power.” He sounded jealous, staring at Izuku enviously.
“Regardless, because your… foolish desire to save everyone, the Mosaics have adapted to a great deal of Magic. You no longer have the power to annihilate this island.” Raia leaned his head against his fist, propped up by the throne. “Does anyone on the island have Energy Magic?”
Izuku shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Good, then once I regain my power, should it be necessary, I can fulfill the duty that you should have in the first place.”
“Are we still on this?! I’m not going to kill innocent people if there’s another way! Would you have killed your people?”
“If it saved my kind as a whole, yes.” His voice was quiet, but firm. “That is the duty of a king, to bear the responsibilities that the people cannot take upon themselves. To shoulder the sins so that those left may live in peace and happiness. You are no king, Izuku Midoriya. You are not a Monarch. You are a child playing God, thinking that they can make everything right. This world, this universe, is cruel, and we must make difficult choices in order to preserve what little we have.” He sighed. “Do not forget what I have said when you wake.” He waved his free hand once more. “I have managed to create a genetic tag within the Mosaics and spread it through them like a plague. It will identify how many are left. It should assist you.”
[Quest: Cleanse Catalina Island]
- Mosaics Remaining: 1,243
“So you really do control the System…” Izuku glared at Raia. “You created that Gate in Joren Falls! You put people in danger for no reason!”
“Yes, in order to test you. To see what you would choose between. The mission, or the hostages. Unfortunately, that snake, Rasaka, had more empathy for his captives than I anticipated, and the test was null and void.” He put his hand flat, chopping through the air. The Soul Pathway began to blur for Izuku. “I grow tired of this back and forth.”
Izuku scowled as Raia faded away. “Don’t think I’ll just let you get away with what you’ve done, the people you’ve put in danger.”
“At the very least, I can respect that resolve.”