The festival grounds looked like a war zone.
Mina stood frozen where Ryuu had been moments before, her hand still extended toward empty air. The darkness that had swallowed him was gone, dissipated like smoke, leaving nothing but scattered debris and the echo of her own scream.
"No. No no no no NO!"
She dropped to her knees, hands scrambling across the torn grass as if she could find some trace of him. Her fingers dug into dirt, nails breaking, acid leaking uncontrolled from her palms and eating small holes in the ground.
"He was right here. He was RIGHT HERE!"
Ochaco stumbled forward, her own Zero Gravity flickering wildly. Objects around them began floating and dropping at random as her concentration shattered. "Mina, we need to... we have to..."
She couldn't finish. The words wouldn't come.
Tsuyu caught Ochaco before she collapsed, supporting her weight. "Ribbit. He's gone. The villain took him."
"We have to go after them!" Mina lurched to her feet, acid dripping more heavily now. "We can track them, we can find where they went, we can—"
"STUDENTS, REPORT TO EVACUATION ZONES IMMEDIATELY!"
Aizawa's voice cut through the chaos, amplified by the campus speakers. His capture weapon was already restraining three villains near the main gate, but more were scattered across the grounds. The attack wasn't over.
"I don't care about evacuation!" Mina's voice cracked. "They took Ryuu! They TOOK him and we just stood here—"
A hand grabbed her shoulder. Momo's face was pale, streaked with dirt and what might have been tears, but her eyes were sharp. Focused.
"We evacuate. We regroup. Then we find him." Her voice shook slightly, betraying the emotion beneath her mask. "But running blindly after him accomplishes nothing except getting more people captured or killed."
"Momo—"
"I know." Momo's grip tightened. "I know. But we're no good to him dead."
The logic was sound. Mina hated how sound it was.
Around them, other students were gathering, some injured, all shaken. Kirishima limped over, his hardening still active, blood streaming from a cut above his eye. Sero supported him, his own face grim.
"Did they really take Kazama?" Kirishima asked.
"Yes." The word tasted like ash in Mina's mouth.
"Then we get him back." Kirishima's expression hardened further. "That's not even a question."
More students joined them. Jirou, her earphone jacks still sparking with residual electricity. Kaminari, looking more serious than Mina had ever seen him. Todoroki, ice still coating one arm, his heterochromatic eyes cold with fury.
And then Midoriya arrived, green lightning still crackling faintly around him.
"Where is he?" The intensity in his voice made several people step back. "Where did they take Kazama?"
"We don't know," Momo said. "They used some kind of teleportation or shadow travel. He vanished before we could track direction."
"Then we search everywhere." Midoriya's hands clenched. "We tear this city apart until—"
"MIDORIYA!"
All Might's booming voice stopped him mid-sentence. The Symbol of Peace strode across the damaged grounds, his usual smile completely absent. Behind him came more pro heroes, Endeavor among them, flames still burning.
"The villains are retreating," All Might said, his tone grim. "We've secured the perimeter, but several escaped. Including their leader."
"The metal guy," Mina said. "The Collector. He took Ryuu."
Something flickered across All Might's face. Recognition, maybe. Or dread.
"I know," he said quietly. "We'll discuss this inside. All students to the main building. Now."
"But—" Midoriya started.
"NOW, Young Midoriya."
The command in his voice brooked no argument. Reluctantly, the students began moving toward the building. Mina took one last look at the spot where Ryuu had disappeared, memorizing every detail, before Momo gently pulled her away.
They walked in silence, a tight cluster of injured and terrified teenagers trying to process what had just happened.
Mina's mind kept replaying the moment. The Collector's hand grabbing Ryuu. The darkness spreading. His face as he realized what was happening. The way he'd tried to reach back toward them even as the shadows swallowed him whole.
She'd been right there. Close enough to touch. And she'd done nothing.
Her hands started shaking. More acid leaked out, burning small holes in her sleeves.
"Stop," Momo said softly, taking Mina's hands in her own despite the acid. Her Creation quirk activated, producing absorbent material that soaked up the corrosive liquid before it could do more damage. "We'll get him back."
"You don't know that."
"Yes, I do." Momo's voice was iron. "Because the alternative is unacceptable."
They reached the main building to find it converted into a triage center. Recovery Girl moved between injured students, her healing quirk working overtime. Other medical staff handled the less critical cases. The common room had become a command center, with several pro heroes coordinating response efforts.
Principal Nezu stood at the center of it all, his small form somehow commanding the entire space.
"Class 3-A," he said as they entered. "Thank you for your swift response during the attack. Your coordination likely saved civilian lives."
"One of us got taken," Bakugo snarled from near the wall. He looked worse for wear, uniform torn and face bruised, but his eyes blazed with fury. "So maybe coordination wasn't enough."
"Bakugo—" Kirishima started.
"Don't." Bakugo's voice was sharp. "Don't give me the 'we did our best' speech. Our best got Resonance kidnapped by that metal freak."
Silence fell across the room.
Principal Nezu adjusted his stance, expression serious. "You're correct that one of your classmates was taken. Kazama Ryuu was targeted specifically by the villain known as The Collector. This was not a random attack."
"We know," Momo said. "He's been after Ryuu since the research facility incident. The question is what we're doing about it."
"Everything possible." A new voice entered the conversation. A woman with white hair and rabbit ears stepped forward, her athletic build covered in bandages from recent combat. "I'm Mirko. Rabbit Hero, ranked number five. I've been assigned to coordinate the rescue operation."
Mina's head snapped up. "Rescue operation? You know where he is?"
"Not yet. But we will." Mirko's expression was fierce. "Hawks is doing aerial reconnaissance as we speak. We've got every hero agency in Tokyo on alert. The Hero Commission is treating this as a priority one situation."
"Why?" Tsuyu asked quietly. "Not that Ryuu doesn't deserve rescue, ribbit. But why priority one?"
Mirko and Principal Nezu exchanged a look.
"Because of what he can do," Nezu said carefully. "Kazama's quirk makes him extraordinarily valuable. To heroes, yes. But also to villains."
"His Resonance," Todoroki said, understanding dawning. "If The Collector can force him to amplify villains..."
"We'd be looking at an army of enhanced criminals," Endeavor finished, his flames dimming slightly. "Each one operating at several times their normal capacity. It would be catastrophic."
Mina felt sick. They weren't just worried about Ryuu as a person. They were worried about him as a weapon.
"He won't cooperate," she said. "Ryuu would never willingly help villains."
"The Collector is dying." All Might's voice was heavy. "His quirk is killing him. A desperate, dying man will do desperate things to survive."
"You mean torture." Jirou's voice was flat. "You mean he'll torture Ryuu until he agrees."
No one contradicted her.
Mina's acid generation spiked, eating through Momo's absorbent material. "Then we find him NOW. We don't wait for reconnaissance or coordination or any of that. We go NOW."
"With what information?" Mirko's tone wasn't unkind, but it was firm. "You want to search randomly through Tokyo? Through all of Japan? That's not a rescue operation, that's suicide."
"She's right, ribbit," Tsuyu said quietly. "We need to be smart about this."
"I don't want to be smart!" Mina's voice broke. "I want him BACK!"
Momo pulled her into a hug. Mina collapsed against her, finally letting the tears come. Around them, other students were processing their own shock and fear in their own ways.
Ochaco stood with her arms wrapped around herself, face blank. Jirou kept touching her earphone jacks as if confirming they still worked. Kaminari and Sero sat together on a couch, neither speaking. Even Bakugo had gone quiet, his usual explosive personality dimmed by fury and frustration.
Midoriya stood apart from everyone, staring at his hands. Green electricity flickered around his fingers, unstable and dangerous.
All Might approached him carefully. "Young Midoriya—"
"I should have been faster." Midoriya's voice was barely audible. "I was right there. I had Full Cowl active at seventy percent. I should have reached him before the darkness spread."
"There was nothing you could have done."
"There's always something!" The words exploded out of him. "I have One For All! I'm supposed to be able to save people! And I just... I just watched him get taken."
"We all did," Todoroki said, moving to stand beside him. "We all failed. But standing here drowning in guilt helps no one."
Midoriya looked at him, surprised.
"I know what you're thinking," Todoroki continued. "You're running through every possible scenario where you moved faster, hit harder, coordinated better. I do the same thing. But the reality is we were outplayed by someone with more experience and preparation."
"So what do we do?"
"We learn. We adapt. And when we find him, we don't fail twice."
The simple conviction in Todoroki's voice seemed to steady something in Midoriya. He took a deep breath, then nodded.
Across the room, Recovery Girl finished with a particularly bad injury and made her way to Principal Nezu. They spoke in low tones, but Mina caught fragments.
"...multiple students with quirk exhaustion..."
"...Kazama's amplification helped prevent worse casualties..."
"...psychological impact may be severe..."
Mina pulled away from Momo, wiping her eyes. "What's the actual plan? Not platitudes. What are we doing right now to find him?"
Mirko stepped forward. "Hawks is tracking energy signatures. The Collector's quirk gives off specific readings when he copies abilities. We're cross-referencing every known hideout, abandoned building, and suspicious location in a hundred kilometer radius."
"That could take hours," Momo said. "Days, even."
"Which is why we're also working other angles." Mirko pulled out a tablet, displaying various data streams. "Villain communication networks are being monitored. Informants are being contacted. We're tracking financial movements that might indicate supply purchases for a holding facility."
"You're looking for a prison," Jirou realized. "Somewhere they could keep him locked up."
"Exactly. The Collector needs Kazama alive and relatively unharmed to use his quirk. That limits options. He'll need a secure location with quirk suppression technology, medical facilities, and defensible positions."
"How many places fit that description?" Ochaco asked, speaking for the first time since entering the building.
"In Tokyo? About forty. In the surrounding prefectures? Two hundred and seventeen."
The number hit like a physical blow.
"But we have advantages," Mirko continued. "The Collector is injured from the fight. Several of his subordinates were captured and are being interrogated. And we have something he doesn't expect."
"What's that?" Mina asked.
Mirko's smile was sharp. "All of you. Students who know Kazama personally, who've worked with his quirk, who understand how he thinks and fights. When we find him, you're going to help get him back."
"The school will never approve that," Endeavor said. "Sending students on a rescue mission—"
"The school doesn't have a choice." Principal Nezu's voice was calm but absolute. "These students have proven themselves capable. More importantly, Kazama will likely be in severe psychological distress. Familiar faces may be the difference between successful extraction and a hostage situation."
All Might looked uncomfortable but nodded. "We'll need to be strategic about which students participate—"
"All of us." Midoriya's voice cut through the discussion. "Everyone in Class 3-A who can fight. That's not negotiable."
"Young Midoriya—"
"He's one of us." Midoriya's eyes blazed with determination. "We don't leave people behind. That's what you taught me. That's what being a hero means."
One by one, other students voiced agreement. Bakugo's explosive affirmation. Todoroki's cold certainty. Kirishima's unwavering support. Even students who'd barely interacted with Ryuu stepped forward.
Because he was their classmate. Their friend. Their teammate.
And heroes saved people.
Mina felt something settle in her chest. The panic and despair crystallized into cold determination. They would find him. They would bring him home. And anyone who tried to stop them would regret it.
"Fine." Principal Nezu surveyed the room. "But you operate under pro hero supervision. You follow orders. And you accept that this will be dangerous."
"We know," Momo said quietly. "We accept the risk."
"Then here's what happens next." Mirko pulled up a tactical map on the large screen. "We have teams searching sectors across Tokyo. Once we narrow down the location, we move fast. Stealth isn't an option, The Collector knows we're coming. So we go in hard and extract Kazama before they can relocate him."
"What if they hurt him before we arrive?" Ochaco's voice was small.
"Then we deal with that when it happens." Mirko's expression softened slightly. "But the kid's tough. He'll hold on."
The meeting continued, details and contingencies discussed in clinical terms. But Mina barely heard them. Her mind had already moved forward to the moment they'd find Ryuu.
She pictured him scared, alone, possibly injured. Wondering if anyone was coming for him. Blaming himself for getting captured.
The thought made her acid generation spike again.
"Easy." Momo's hand found hers, squeezing gently. "Save it for when we find them."
"When we find them, I'm melting that metal bastard into scrap."
"You'll have to get in line," Bakugo growled from nearby. "I'm turning him into slag first."
"We'll take turns," Todoroki suggested mildly.
Despite everything, Mina felt a small smile tug at her lips. They were all thinking the same thing. The Collector had made a mistake taking Ryuu. He'd united every student in Class 3-A against him.
And they were going to make him regret it.
The meeting broke up an hour later with assignments distributed and communication protocols established. Students were dismissed to their dorms with instructions to rest and prepare. The actual rescue operation wouldn't begin until they had a solid lead.
Mina didn't want to rest. She wanted to run out into Tokyo and start searching immediately. But Momo steered her toward the elevators with gentle insistence.
"You need to eat. Sleep. Process." Momo's voice was soft. "We're no good to him if we collapse from exhaustion."
"I can't just sit here doing nothing."
"We're not doing nothing. We're preparing. When the call comes, we need to be ready."
They reached Momo's floor. The elegant girl hesitated at her door, then looked at Mina with unusual vulnerability.
"Stay with me tonight? I don't... I don't want to be alone."
Mina nodded. She didn't either.
Inside Momo's immaculate room, they sat on the bed in silence. The fairy lights Ryuu had complimented during his first visit still hung along the walls. The tea set they'd used together sat clean and ready on the shelf.
Everything reminded them of his absence.
"I was supposed to protect him," Mina said finally. "After everything he's done for us, amplifying our quirks, coordinating our training, just being there when we needed him. I was supposed to keep him safe."
"We both were." Momo's voice was thick. "We promised each other we'd watch out for him. And we failed."
"So we fix it."
"Yes." Momo's hand found Mina's again. "We fix it."
They sat together as night fell over UA, two girls who loved the same boy, united in their determination to bring him home.
Somewhere in the darkness of Tokyo, Ryuu was alone and afraid.
But not for long.
They were coming for him.
All of them.
And nothing would stop them from bringing him back.
----
A/N : come on...drop the power-stones...pretty plssss