Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When All for One first set sights on getting his true body back, he never expected it to be truly hard. It took several days of analyzing how the prison works to know exactly how to break out. But it wasn’t truly hard.

No, he thought with a chuckle, it was not hard to break the chains that held him down. Yet, something deep within him hissed in warning. The night of his breakout, there was something odd. Perhaps a quirk misfire, but those weren’t uncommon.

No, something else had happened that night. His first thought was to question if someone went rogue, but no, his quirks would not activate for that small of a reason. As he thought back to that night, he did recall that a distinct boom had happened elsewhere. It had only caught his attention due to a super hearing quirk. Normally he wouldn’t care. Normally, it was just some other villain committing a crime or two.

However this case was.. Special. For when the nomu he sent to investigate only days later came back, it told him that nothing that could make an explosion was nearby. Not a single trace of explosive chemicals. The buildings nearby did not show evidence of an explosion either. Atleast, not one big enough to catch One for All’s attention from Tartarus. Which was several miles away from the site of the explosion.

This, more than anything, was reason enough for him to slow down. Time did not matter to one such as he. So moving a few things around, to allow him to observe this curious matter, wouldn’t be hard. Society had already begun its collapse, he had time to wait. He need only to wait..

All will be his eventually.

--
SOMEWHERE IN A DIRTY ALLEY
--

Shelby groaned as she came to, the pain of a headache almost foreign after weeks of being a vampire. Wait.. Headache? She opened her eyes, now more alert only to see Scott and Owen, followed by an unconscious Pyro on the ground. Owen was still crouched over Pyro, while Scott had moved closer to her.

“Ah, good, you are awake.” Scott murmured. He looked at the dirty alleyway, his face scrunched up in noticeable disgust.

“What happened? Last I remember we were in a meeting.” She asked. Owen looked over to her before speaking, “We don’t know, that’s what we are trying to figure out. Last I remember was Martyn coming in swinging” He said as he shared a glance towards Scott who was inspecting his clothes for any dirt with a scowl on his face. He did not meet the lumberjack’s gaze. Merely flicking his eyes over for a moment before trying to clean off more dust and.. odd stains that could only ever come from a dirty unused alley.

“Oh.” She said softly as she looked around, only for her eyes to continue moving up. The buildings were massive, stretching tall into the sky. She had heard of tall buildings like this in some cities, but this was excessive. This was a proper city, nothing like her sleepy little hometown.

“Where are we?!” cried out from Pyro, who had evidently woken up. Owen had helped him up, and Scott, finally paying attention to things that weren’t his clothing, went over to explain.. Whatever had happened. She wasn’t sure what happened herself.

As Scott and Owen calmed Pyro down, she looked towards the entrance. It was relatively quiet and dark, so it must have been night. Yet she could not see the stars and the sky looked like it was murky grey-black. The moon, or what slivers of it she could see between the buildings, was a cold white. While she was wondering at the sight, Scott had started to snap his fingers to get her attention.

“Sh….

Shel…by..

SHELBY!” Scott snapped, his cold red eyes staring into her own. He was much closer than he was previously.

“Oh, uhm, sorry Scott.” She blinked. Scott simply backed away from her, and turned his attention to the rest of the coven. “As I was saying, we should try to find the others.” Scott continued to talk, looking each vampire in the eyes as he said “We will stick together, with any luck we can evade any pesky townsfolk.” He seemed peeved at the mention of the mention of the humans in Oakhurst. “Do not stray, I cannot guarantee that I will find you, got it?” Shelby nodded, Owen scoffed, and Pyro wilted slightly under Scott’s intense gaze.

“Good.” The elder vampire responded. Taking a swift step with bones creaking and bending, he turned into a bat. Swiftly catching the air under his wings and flying off. Shelby and the others scrambled to follow as a colony of four bats escaped into the night.

--
ELSEWHERE ON A STREET
--

Avid was walking. Where to, he couldn’t say. Drift had found him some time after the meeting, and still lost, he wouldn’t say no to company as he wandered the streets. After more walking, mostly in silence, Avid decided to speak up.

“What’s that?” and as he spoke, Drift looked to the street where he was pointing. It was a shiny metal box, with.. Wheels? Yes. Wheels on the side. Drift, in all honesty, was too busy trying to read the signs in this odd city to notice the lack of carriages. Or the excess of odd metal boxes.

“I-I’m not sure Avid.” She said, startled after the prolonged silence, eyes torn away from the interesting squiggles on the sign in front of her. Before she could try to stop Avid from touching it, he had bridged the gap between the box and himself and.. Poked it. “Avid-” she groaned, “What have we said about touching dangerous objects?!”

“I know! I know.. But it didn’t do anything so it’s fine!” he said. But not before his eyes wandered over to a.. handle? Again, before she could stop him, Avid touched the handle, and tried to open it. The metal screeched as his claws caught on the handle. Avid hissed and tried to get it off. Drift just sighed a heavy, weary sigh before pulling Avid closer to her and away from the box. Suddenly, the box began to shriek. A loud beeping noise that felt like pure pain to her ears. Swiftly, she covered them, and Avid did the same.

SLAM

The sight of a door opening, however, caught her attention as a man with purple hair screamed at them. They couldn’t make sense of what he was saying, between the beeping box and the screaming. He was even more enraged when he saw the condition of the box, with one of the handles partially shredded. He was gesturing wildly now, at the state of the box.

“Avid, we have to go!” She cried out, wanting to get away from this damned box that would not stop screaming. Avid was seemingly one step ahead of her. He started running, shape changing and bones crackling as he rushed through the bat transformation. Drift did much the same, rushing after Avid. Before long, the wind was whistling under her wings, and the two of them were off, chasing the shadows of the moon in a frantic frenzy.

Avid looked back for a single second, only to see the purple haired man screaming into a small metal box. He shook his tiny furred head, and pumped his wings faster to get away, Drift hot on his heels.

--
SOMEWHERE OVER THE CITY OF MUSUTAFU, JAPAN
--

Scott had noticed the extra bats following them. How could he not? It was hard to miss the sudden inclusion of two vampire bats. He flapped his wings once, twice, then settled into a silent glide into a small secluded area. The rest followed, and the identities of the two revealed themselves as Avid and Drift. It was odd how quickly they found the four of them, but maybe vampire bats weren’t native to this area..

As soon as the two of them landed, Shelby rushed over to hug them. Ignoring the three fledglings, he turned towards Owen, who was conversing with Pyro in quiet murmurs. Satisfied that he was not needed for a moment, he reflected on the strange events. It had been a coven meeting, although it quickly turned into a heated discussion with Apo and Cleo crashing the party. Cleo was complaining about how they left her in town. Honestly, he didn’t get the issue. The fledglings would all join him eventually, why rush the process? Still, the sudden attack by Martyn was both not expected and expected at the same time. The boy must have a death wish, to continuously enter a den of vampires despite many losses he mused.

Turning his gaze towards the moon, he saw it was half full and a milky white color. He had grown rather used to the red moons of Oakhurst. No matter, the moon was only halfway up, the night was plenty young to find shelter before morning. He wasn’t sure if the skies would be overcast enough for daytime travel. Oh, how he missed his castle, back when the livestock wouldn’t dream of fighting back. The perpetually gloomy weather was the reason why he chose to buy that land for his grand home.

The surrounding area was not much to look at, he noticed with a grimace. Nothing like the quiet elegance of his forests. A fountain burbled in the center, with trees and wilted greenery surrounding it. Smaller brick buildings lined the outside, as they were quite far from the tall buildings of that alleyway. Scott brushed the dust off his silk clothes. They had cost him quite the pretty penny, and to ruin them further would be devastating.

“..Yeah it was so odd, the box just shrieked at Avid,” Drift said, deep in conversation with the other two. “And there was a purple haired man yelling at us for it.” This caught Owen and Pyro’s attention, but not before Scott spoke up. “A shrieking box?” He questioned, mildly amused. Avid chimed in, “Yeah! It was yelling so loudly. I have never seen anything like it.”

“That certainly is interesting. The world has changed since I was last in it.” Drift shook her head at that, “No, Scott, this is something else, even I don’t know what it is.”

“Something else?” He questioned, now curious.

“Something else.” Drift stated.

“Well, now that we are here, let’s discuss our next steps. Does anyone know where we are?” A third voice chimed. It was Owen with Pyro drifting closer to the cluster of vampires. A series of “No’s” followed from everyone. Disheartening, but not surprising. Pyro, who had been silent for most of the night, spoke “Has anyone noticed how odd the buildings are?” and indeed, he had a good point.

Most of the buildings the coven had come across were impossibly tall, even for a city. They stretched tall, each taller than the last. For Scott, who had never seen buildings so square yet so tall, it was quite the marvel. But it seems this was new to the childer as well. “Well, metal boxes and tall buildings aside, I don’t think anyone here speaks english. I saw signs but I couldn’t read what they said.” Drift mentioned. “Yeah,” Avid chimed in, “I couldn’t understand the purple haired guy either. He was just screaming at us.”

Scott hummed while leaning on a sad looking tree, getting the coven’s attention quickly with the small action. “Well,” he spoke, calm and entirely unbothered by current circumstances, “Let’s focus on getting shelter and food. Now that the barrier seems to have broken, there should be plenty of livestock in a city like this.” Shelby frowned at this, knowing that finding enough animals for six vampires in a city like this would be challenging. Most food in a city came from elsewhere. She looked to Scott who was speaking to the others, “I don’t know about you, but this outfit is vintage! One of a kind, and I’d rather not have a burnt flesh smell sticking to it.”

Oh. Right. She had forgotten that they did not have shelter against the sun yet.

Owen raised an eyebrow at this, and before the conversation could be derailed more, he spoke. “I saw some smaller buildings over to the east. Perhaps we should wait out the day there?”

Scott paused, then nodded. “Let’s go see what you found.”

Before long, Scott and the others transformed into bats again, flying off towards the buildings closer to the ground. Completely missing the flashing red light that was following them. A small device fashioned onto the side of a tree, watching six white haired, red eyed people fly away.

--

After the events of the prison break, society was in an uproar. Citizens were turning against heroes. If the most secure prison in Japan could be broken into just like that, were they ever safe in the first place? The flimsy peace that All-Might brought was finally broken and petty crime alongside opportunistic villains were taking advantage of this fact.

Unfortunately for Suzuki Himari, she worked as a police officer, leaving her to deal with crimes both big and small since the public couldn’t trust the pro-heroes anymore. She shuffled around her desk as she went to refill her coffee mug. There had been many reports recently, most were insignificant, like the man who came in to complain about a group of two delinquents who ruined his car door. Others were much more serious, like reports of animal attacks, break in’s and general havoc due to the Tartarus incident.

Himari, having just gotten back to her desk and now nursing a hot mug of coffee, was startled by the doors to the police station slamming open. Unfortunately for her, she was treated to the tirade of a purple haired man, as her desk was the closest to the entrance of the station.

“There are VILLAINS ruining MY CAR!” He screamed, pointing just beyond the glass doors of the station to his car. The silver colored vehicle boasted some serious damage near the handle that she could see, given that it was half-hazardly parked very close to the station doors.

“I understand sir, but I need you to calm down and speak clearly.”

“What about this is unclear to you?!” he spat out. Himari was not having it, she just got her coffee for goodness sake!

“Listen, how about you tell me what happened and I can file a report for you?” she said, already regretting the fact that she chose to come in to work this morning.

“What happened was that I heard the car alarm going off and two villains had messed up the side of my car!” He said, in a louder tone than needed, but not quite yelling in case he got kicked out before he got someone to take his statement.

“And do you know what these two individuals looked like?” She asked, already putting the mug down to look for a pad of paper and a pen. When she found it, she gestured for him to continue.

“Yes, I saw them clearly, two white haired, red eyed individuals. One man, one woman. The man had scratched up my car, and the woman pulled him away before using their quirks to get away.” He paused and added, “They were also dressed rather strangely.” This got Himari’s attention. She paused for a brief moment, before asking for more details.

The thing you must understand about this society is that vigilantes are not uncommon. That is to say, those without hero licenses doing hero work. But she had never heard of something like this before. Typically vigilantes worked from the shadows and avoided well lit areas in case of cameras. They most certainly did not show their face. This was her first thought. Two vigilantes got caught off guard and fled into the night.

But the man kept going. “They turned into bats, but that doesn’t make any sense! The man also scratched up my car!” Her heart sank. Two quirks? Unheard of. She had never known someone who could have two quirks. The only things that could were Nomu, and most were dumb as rocks, only following orders. The two that the man described painted a picture of two humanoid shaped creatures. Nothing like the larger than a second story house creatures she had heard about. As she hurriedly wrote down the information, she tried to keep her cool. The last thing this city needed was more nomu to make things worse. Let alone ones that could blend in with the population so well.

--

Naomasa Tsukauchi was having a bad day. First there was a breakout at Tartarus, killing most of the guards and multiple civilians as a casualty, and now, there were reports coming to him about a great deal of things. There was the usual, of course. Stalking claims, people seeing odd individuals coming and going at odd hours of the night, but the most odd was this group of five oddly dressed people they had apprehended for running from the scene of a break in. Worse still, they only spoke english.

Tsukauchi was on his way to interrogate the first, a red haired young woman with white streaks in her hair. Luckily, they had spare translation devices available, and his quirk worked regardless if the language was different. She had seemed the most reasonable of the four, as the other two, the blonde boy and the older brown haired man were very aggressive upon being detained. The third, a younger man with a beard, was chattering so fast that the poor device couldn’t make out words fast enough for a proper conversation. There was another, but he was currently refusing to talk.

Taking a moment to ensure that the microphone was on, and that his two co-workers on the other side of the one-sided glass were ready, he opened the door and walked into the drab grey holding room. The woman seemed young, too young to have been involved in an armed robbery case, but nonetheless they had to be diligent. She looked up at the two of them as Tsukauchi walked in, carrying the translator device. As he placed it on the table she peered curiously at it.

“Hello my name is Naomasa Tsukauchi, I will be taking your interview today. As required by law, I must inform you that my quirk is a lie-detector and as such, I will know if you are lying.” As he spoke, the translator spoke after him, retelling the information to the woman. They seemed confused, but he ignored it and continued onwards.

“Now, May I ask for your name?” the translator spat out with a crackle.

“My name is Apo Kuna.” the woman murmured, eyes wide as she looked at the translator. The words rang as true to his quirk, so he continued on the investigation.

“Miss Apo, tell me what you were doing during the hours of three to four AM on the twenty third.”

“I um, I-I’m not sure. Last I remember, I was at home..” she paused as this, but continued in a weaker voice “eating dinner.. Yeah. Eating dinner.” The first part rang true, but the last part sounded hollow, evidently this was a half truth. Based on the look of guilt, he decided to press the earlier statement before following up on that.

“And home for you is where exactly?”

“I.. live in Oakhurst, England.” This sentence surprised him. Miss Apo was from Scotland? With everything happening here, he was surprised that a foreigner was still here. Regardless, he shuffled some, writing down the relevant information, but before he could ask much more, they spoke up.

“Where.. Is here exactly? There was a large boom from the castle and suddenly I was here.” Tsukauchi was shocked at this. Not only did the statement ring true, but this woman seemed to not know where she was. It could have been the work of a quirk, but one strong enough to transport someone, maybe five someones, halfway across the globe? That was unheard of.

She fidgeted, clearly uncomfortable with the now intense eye contact. Speaking quickly, before she could lose the nerve, she dropped the final bombshell of the evening.

“What, exactly, is a quirk?”

Tsukauchi stopped at this, unable to hide his shock. Now, he knew that not everywhere had the same density of quirks as Japan, but this? To never know what a quirk is.. It is simply unthinkable. Blinking rapidly, he dropped his pen in shock.

--

It had been a while, mused M, or rather, Sausage. You see, he had come to Oakhurst for inspiration. For a spark! His writing as of late had been.. dry, loathe as he was to admit it. Being in Oakhurst, seeing the people, oh how it had inspired him! Then, while he was writing down ideas for future books, everything went white and he was somewhere he had never seen before.

If he thought that being in the history rich, cursed grounds of Oakhurst was inspiring, it had nothing on this city. Whatever its name was. No, this was something else! An hour or two after being detained had seen some interesting results. For some reason, Apo and the others had been guided to a larger room by a person with wolf ears! Wolf ears!

Oh how he could feel the itch to write and write and write. According to Apo, and the kind officers, they had landed somewhere in Japan. More specifically, a city called Musutafu. Not only this, but there were powers! An entire society of mostly superpowered humans! He squealed from where he was sitting, furiously scribbling down new ideas. Before long, he had lost track of the time, and eventually a police officer came to offer food and water to the five of them. They even had small translation devices for them to carry!

Abolish, stone faced as always, took the meager supplies and split them up between the four. Martyn, Himself, Renhardt, and Abolish shared a meal of turkey sandwiches. Apo just stared longingly at the extra sandwich, to which Abolish stepped closer to speak with her. Truly, today could not get any better!

--

Today could not get any worse. Now, Tsukauchi had been a detective for many years. He thought he had seen it all, but oh how he was wrong. After Apo Kuna’s disastrous interrogation, it became clear that the group had no involvement with the armed robbery. But they had opened a new can of worms. Rather, these people had somehow gotten to Japan. From across the atlantic ocean. And yes, that in of itself was nothing special, planes can take one from England to Japan. But they hadn’t come by plane, or any other legal method.

No, these five people had been involved in a quirk accident. And had been living in an area so isolated, so cut off from the rest of the world, that they did not know about quirks. Or so he assumes from watching the group interact, behind the one way mirror.

He sighed, metal chair screeching as he shuffled it closer to the microphone that was providing him the audio to their conversations. He noticed two of them, Apo and someone introduced as Abolish, as they walked off for some privacy to speak in the northern corner of the room. He turned up the volume on the hidden microphone in that corner, while dimming the rest.

“Apo, you need to eat.” The man mentioned, and Tsukauchi had noticed how they refused a sandwich and water bottle.

“Absolutely not. I refuse.” She hissed back, an almost animalistic sound.

“Apo..” The finely dressed man spoke, “You know we can’t afford for you to lose control in a place like this. I know you haven’t been eating.” Losing control? What does that mean? Did she have different dietary needs than the others? Why not ask for something else, if they could not eat what was provided.

As Tsukauchi pondered on this, he almost didn't notice how the man had taken off one of his fine white gloves and folded back the fabric of his coat and long sleeved shirt. The skin revealed had some distinct puncture scarring that seemed unusual.

Upon seeing the pale scarred wrist, Apo shook her head, face going several shades paler.
“No way Abolish, I will not. You cannot make me.” They whisper shouted in a frantic manner, looking from the main group to Abolish again.

Abolish, what an odd name Tsukauchi thought, simply shared a pointed look before lowering his voice further.

“You…need … feral… dangerous… I can handle it… done this before.. I know… don’t worry..” he murmured and as he spoke he started waving his wrist around, almost to make a point, thought Tsukauchi. Apo looked around nervously one final time, a deep hunger clear in her eyes. Before she could do much else, they asked one final time.

“I.. I can’t do it.. Are you really sure it’s safe?” She whispered, all nerves and no confidence.

“I’m sure. I will stop you before you go too far. It’s not like you have a better option.” he murmured, offering his wrist to them. Suddenly, and before Tsukauchi could get someone to stop it, she fully opened her mouth, two razor sharp canines longer than any he’d seen before extended down. A brief pause, a knowing glance that spoke of desperate measures taken. She still paused. Abolish sighed deeply, a weary sigh that spoke of stubborn children refusing to eat, and grabbed a small silver knife, and made an incision along his wrist. Bright red beading up, which was all the cue Apo needed. They lunged, almost, towards Abolish. Those long fangs sinking into the man’s wrist.

She.. sipped, deeply, like drinking from the finest cup of wine. Tsukauchi was so horrified that he forgot all composure, and rushed in to stop whatever this was. Abandoning his chair as it fell over with a loud crash, he ran for the door to the holding room. Rattling his key to the electronically locked door, he cursed as it slowly, slowly opened.

The people closest to the door, Martyn, Renhardt, and M, had scuttled back at the frantic sound. Watching with wide eyes as he rushed over to Abolish and Apo. The scent of metallic iron grew, and Renhardt looked faintly sick as he seemed to get an idea of what Apo and Abolish were up to. As he rushed over, Abolish noticed and before he could get a word in, shushed him.

“Shhh.. it won’t be long alright? She just needs to eat.” He spoke softly, the words light, but heavy like a stone. Apo looked up, their eyes impossibly wide and dilated, a tiny hiss escaping, but with Abolish’s gentle encouragement she looked away.

“Absolutely not. We will not be having whatever this is. You two will be separated and she will be in a solitary cell.” Tsukauchi hissed, face speaking volumes of how horrified he was. Abolish, the mysterious man he was, said only “You can try, but I doubt you will be able to get her off of me without knowing the proper techniques.”

Suddenly, Apo’s eyes sharpened, a fierce look which quickly turned into panic as they gained more awareness of what she just did. Tearing herself away from Abolish’s arm like it was poison when a moment ago it was divine nectar, they started crying softly.

“No no nono no no” They rasped, mouth bloodied, hands curled protectively over her head as she curled into fetal position. Weeping softly into the cold ground, she wouldn’t stop shaking. “So sticky and.. r-red..” they cried, clearly in a state of panic. It was then that Renhardt spoke up.

“Don’tcha know lad, they can’t handle the blood.” He said, a clear grimace on his face at having to even talk about.. Whatever this was.

Abolish quirked an eyebrow at this, “She hasn’t eaten in days, Renhardt, don’tcha know?” he drawled, and this caused him to pale significantly. M seemed more concerned for Apo, whilst Martyn was crossing his arms and looking away in disgust.

“Regardless, this ends now, got it?” He huffed, hands fumbling for the hand cuffs so he could limit Apo’s movement. She had no resistance to offer, still curled on the ground, and as he called for backup to move the others to different rooms, he couldn’t help but think.

What the hell had he gotten himself into.

--

Chapter Text

--
U.A HIGH, THE PRINCIPLES OFFICE, THREE DAYS AFTER THE TARTARUS INCIDENT
--

Keys clacking, the silent hum of an air conditioner unit whirred away in the corner. Tea freshly brewed sat to the left of Nedzu’s computer. The small white furred mammal was surprised for once. Nedzu had never been deeply involved with one Naomasa Tsukauchi, so why send him a professional request for aid?

As the email goes on, the clicking of keys slows to a halt. These people had no identification, nothing to tie them to the real world, not even proof of citizenship anywhere outside of Japan. No birth certificates, no driver licenses. For all intents and purposes, they were ghosts to the government. So why would Tsukauchi request for them to be sent here?

…

As Nedzu took a moment to think, furry tail swishing behind him in a lazy manner, it became clear to him, they were about to receive some rather special guests soon.

--
U.A HIGH, CLASS 1-A, NEXT MORNING
--

Izuku Midoriya was walking to class with Todoroki today. All in all, today was.. Normal, aside from the cryptic dreams. He got up, dressed himself in the U.A uniform, tie haphazardly done as always. Breakfast was a simple matter as well. Sitting next to Ochako and talking in quiet murmurs between bites of food.

Slowly the class of 1-A migrated from their dorm rooms to the classroom for homeroom with Eraserhead. Izuku waved at a scowling Kacchan, and went to find his seat. What did strike him as strange however, was that Eraserhead was already up. Typically, they all had at least a minute or two until Aizawa decided to get up from his yellow sleeping bag. This time was used to exchange greetings and quietly look over any homework. But to see him up was-

“Quiet down Deku, the muttering is creepy.” Ah. Izuku smiled nervously, one hand reaching up to rub the back of his head. He was muttering again, “Sorry Kacchan” he replied, but Kacchan was too busy looking forward, a faint crackle-pop showing that the spikey haired blonde was also nervous.

“Quiet down class, Quiet down.” came the droning call from the front. Immediately everyone stopped talking and faced forwards. Even Kacchcan had straightened up.
“Before we return to hero basics, Nedzu would like for all students to be aware of five individuals that will be living in the dorms. They are not a threat, and we are aware of them being on U.A grounds.”

The class erupted into chatter at this, and Aizawa simply held up a hand to silence them again. “Now that we have that announcement out of the way, let’s continue where we left off..” And as Aizawa talked, Izuku tried to pay attention. Much like his classmates however, the news of five mysterious people was enough to derail any attempts at learning.

--
U.A TWO HOURS EARLIER
--

Apo, all things considered, was doing.. Alright, one could say. If one would assume drinking blood from a human to be ‘alright’.. Actually scratch that, Apo was not doing well. It had been a terrible series of days, she had no idea what the hell happened or where they were.

After experiencing a ‘car’ for the first time, and wasn’t that a dozy, things that can go faster than horses and need less upkeep. Regardless, the ‘car’ experience was horrible. The thing rumbled, for some god forsaken reason.

They had spent nearly the entire trip holding clawed hands to their ears. Why couldn’t they have stuck to horses?! Horses were kind, and gentle. If you treat them right, they will love you and not make such horribly loud sounds.

Eventually, the ‘car’ stopped and it gave Apo some relief, knowing that the hazardous journey was over. The door of the ‘car’ opened, and Apo stumbled out. Looking around, they saw Abolish, Martyn and M conversing. Renhardt was muttering under his breath. Apo hissed a little, finally registering the soft light of a rising sun as their skin sizzled. Well, at least it was still early morning..

Turning around she stared in shock at the large multi-story building before them. It was huge, four glass and metal towers that were connected somehow to each other. The bridges connecting the buildings were above the ground! Apo had never, ever seen anything like it.

Suddenly and without any warning, there was a tug on the long chain that cuffed her hands together. A rather mean looking man with what they assumed to be a police uniform tugged on it harshly. He spat something at her in another language and tugged again.

Sighing, Apo followed the harsh man into the odd buildings. It seems like she had zoned out as the rest of the militia, Abolish included, had gotten a head start on entering. They felt rather self-conscious about the cuffs on their hands, the way it rattled as they walked.

Being escorted into the building wasn’t so bad. But it felt odd. She expected something more akin to another jail cell than whatever this building was for. The style seemed rather abstract. Greys and whites with a splash of occasional color didn’t seem like the usual for a prison.

They had to be tugged along a further five times until they reached what appeared to be an office, of some kind. It was there that Apo noticed a man with black hair and a grey scarf, dressed in all black. Another man beside the first was talking animatedly at the scarf man.

Unlike the scarfed, vaguely homeless looking man, the other had bright blonde hair and a rather odd get up. He too, was dressed in all black, but he seemed more expressive than the scarf man. The officer that pulled them along nodded at the two and gave the cuffs to the scarf man.

He seemed disgusted, and it wasn’t long after the officer left that he unlocked the cuffs. Apo hesitantly smiled to try and convey her thankfulness, but the man simply shook his head at the direction where the officer had retreated to.

The yellow haired one seemed to take charge and guide them to the large door in front but promptly gasped as if he had forgotten something. He turned towards Apo and then-

“My apologies little listener, I forgot that you only speak english!” The words were a shock to Apo, as she had not had any verbal communications with anyone since the officer man who had questioned them.

Blinking in shock, she could only reply a small “Oh, uh, hello?” Their voice was terribly high pitched, crackling a little as it had been a few hours since they last spoke out loud.

“You can call me Present Mic! My buddy over there is Eraserhead, and I will be teaching you and your friends Japanese!” He beamed, he was rather loud. In both expressions and voice.

“Oh, is that the native language?” She tried, aiming for a grateful tone but falling short. It had been a long day. The yellow haired man nodded before speaking up, “Your name is Apo Kuna right? I’m sure you are very exhausted but Nedzu just wants to talk before allowing you and your friends to settle.”

Processing this, Apo gave a tired smile, “Thank you for telling me.” They murmured, and with that the three of them walked into the office. It was a decently decorated room, and the others were already there, waiting for them.

Martyn seemed to fidget, and Renhardt was looking out a massive window that covered nearly the entire wall. Abolish looked up at the two men’s entrance, looked at Apo’s hands and nodded at the two. M was doing the same as Renhardt, looking out the massive window.

Suddenly, the chair that had been facing away from them swiveled towards the group. Sitting in the chair was a.. Mouse? Or was that a ferret? Apo honestly couldn’t tell. It seems the being had shocked Abolish and Renhardt, but before words could be spoken, it spoke first.

With a certain kind of glee it announced, “Welcome to U.A High! My name is Nedzu and I am the principal of this lovely school. Now, I heard that there were some issues with a quirk incident regarding your travel to Japan?” Apo was blinking rapidly, trying to confirm that the small white rodent had talked.

Abolish, seeming to process the rodent faster than Renhardt or Martyn swiftly spoke up before either of them could speak first. “That is correct, we aren’t quite sure how we got here and I would rather like to go back to Oakhurst.”

The mammal’s ears twitched, its, hm. His? Yeah, his tail curled at the question. “Ah, I suspected this was the case. Unfortunately, we aren’t sure how you arrived here either. Because you have committed no crimes, we can’t reasonably hold you in a police station forever either.” Nedzu seemed rather chipper at this.

Abolish nodded as if understanding something, “So we are here instead?” he asked.

Nedzu nodded, clapping his hands in delight. “Indeed my good friends, in exchange for staying at U.A, we will teach you Japanese and help you adjust. As far we are aware, you don’t legally exist!”

Martyn interrupted at this, “But we do exist! We are standing right here!” was his protest. Nedzu nodded but explained it to Martyn. “You do exist, however, as far as the government is concerned, you don’t. So you can imagine why we need to keep an eye on you.”

Martyn still looked confused so Abolish broke it down further, “The government doesn’t have any files on us, and as such cannot charge us for any crimes committed. They need people to legally exist to enact punishments for crimes.” Nedzu’s eyes crinkled at this, in a manner one could call happy.

“Yes, and that is exactly why you are here. So that we may rest easily knowing that you are safe, and not doing unsavoury things.” Martyn nodded, eyes widening as he considered the implications of what was said.

This was when Renhardt spoke up, “Aye, but we haven’t done such things, don’tcha know?”

“Regardless,” replied the mammal, “We must be diligent, and I do not think you will find U.A to be so bad. But we do have to know some things, such as full names, ages, and quirks.” This got Apo, and evidently M’s attention. That word, quirks, nobody had explained what it meant since it was clearly used differently here.

“Fascinating,” murmured M, who was now staring intently at Nedzu, “And what exactly are quirks? Is it why you can talk?” Nedzu blinked his beady eyes before nodding.

“Indeed, quirks are a word used to describe superhuman abilities. They first started appearing two hundred years ago.” The shock was palpable. Vampires weren’t as hard to comprehend as this, but humans just- naturally having abilities?! Sure maybe those ancient tomes counted but-

Sometime during the panic, Abolish had moved closer to Apo, placing a hand on her shoulder to bring her back into reality. Blinking as the room came back into focus they shook their head as if to rid themselves of the spiraling thoughts. Distantly they were aware of the conversation happening around them.

But she couldn’t focus. Soon enough it had been a few minutes, and Apo was the only one left in the room, aside from Nedzu. Someone placed a cup of something warm, and the feeling of ceramic between their claws brought them back to the conversation.

“Hm, I see, I see. What about you Kuna?” Apo blinked at this, not really expecting the question, but Nedzu gave her the time they needed to gather her thoughts.

“I guess you could say I can transform into a bat,” then quieter, “among other things..” Nedzu nodded, a clacking noise followed as he rapidly pressed buttons on a thin metal rectangle in front of him. The metal rectangle that was standing upright didn’t change however.

“I have been notified that you drank Abolish’s blood? Is this a dietary requirement?” He asked in a kind manner. His beady eyes never strayed from their pale red ones.

“Uh, yes. I, um, can’t eat or drink anything since..” she trailed off, trying to remember how many days it had been since they were human. Since they were mortal. Before they could reminisce more about that night at the castle, Nedzu interrupted.

“You have nothing to fear, we here at U.A pride ourselves in providing for people with unusual needs. You won’t go hungry here.” At this, in some dark corner of her mind, she felt relief. But the larger, louder part of their mind screamed in protest at the thought of drinking blood.

“Animal,” they gasped out, face pale at the thought of blood. Nedzu tilted his head at this. “I prefer animal.. Please.” More clacking noises. A faint hum reverberated in the building as the silence grew. Nedzu’s tail only twitched.

“Very well then! I shall have to tell Lunch Rush about this. I do hope you enjoy your time here at U.A, Apo.” Was the reply. It was said so, so calmly. As if she wasn’t a monster. As if this wasn’t a curse they had been forced to take lest the vampires take another civilian.

Numbly, she said their goodbyes to the white mammal. In the hallway, the four others waited for her. Distantly they registered someone trying to talk, but it was all she could do to simply walk until they could collapse into a bed somewhere. Even if sleep never came. Distantly, they thought of Cherri.

Sweet, kind Cherri. How was she going to explain this? Explain the blood, the fangs, the claws.. How could they ever face Cherri again, being what she is now. The touch of someone guiding her to a bed. Hands gentle as they were wrapped in a blanket.

Darkness.

Soft murmurs, and hushed voices.

Silence. Blissful silence from the raging storm of their thoughts.

--
U.A LUNCHROOM, FIVE HOURS LATER
--

It was Iida who spotted the guests first as they walked to their usual table in the cafeteria. Izuku had been talking with Todoroki and Iida as they shared ideas about who the guests could be when Iida let out a sharp gasp.

Following his line of sight, he noticed a small table set away from the rest with five people sitting near to each other. They were dressed rather oddly, in an old european style of dress. The man in the suit was the first to notice Izuku and his friends rapidly approaching. He gestured towards them, and the other three looked up.

“Hello?” tried the man in the suit. Izuku gasped. He had completely forgotten that they only spoke english.

“I completely forgot! Uh, Hello! My name is Izuku Midoriya.” After some awkward moments as the man attempted to get the pronunciation correct, he lifted an eyebrow as he asked,

“Why did you come over here?”

“Oh! Right, my friends and I wanted to..” Izuku paused, searching for the right word. Iida, luckily, came in clutch. “We wanted to meet you! We don’t have guests here often” Izuku chuckled in an awkward manner. Todoroki was starting to drift over to the man with a long brown coat.

The man seemed satisfied with this answer. Shared a silent look with the other three, before turning back to them.

“My name is Abolish Veylocke, may I know your friends names as well?” Izuku gestured for his friends to introduce themselves. Iida, as always, was quick to jump into action.

“My name is Tenya Iida! I am the class president of class 1-A!” From further away, Izuku noticed Todoroki looking up as he, too, began to introduce himself to the guests.

“My name is Shoto Todoroki.”

Veylocke nodded at this. Pointing at the blonde who was busy talking to a man with a white shirt and suspenders, he said “Martyn Woodhurst,” then gesturing at the suspender wearing man, “Renhardt Dogmourne,” Finally, he landed his gaze on the man Todoroki was talking to. “Mr. M, or Sausage.. For some reason.”

Iida unfortunately beat him to the most pressing question. “Why are you here? U.A Doesn’t allow anyone who isn’t staff or a student on U.A grounds” Dogmourne turned towards the group at this to interject.

“We got lost, don’tcha know? We oughta be at Oakhurst, but we found ourselves here! T’was a most disturbing experience.” Woodhurst seemed to shrink into his seat, a flash of guilt in his eyes. Izuku struggled to pick at what the man meant, due to the thick accent.

Luckily Veylocke noticed and took pity to explain further. “What Renhardt is trying to say is that we didn’t mean to come to Japan at all. We simply got into an accident and now we are here. The principal, Nedzu, agreed to house us until we can get home.” Izuku blinked. This sounded fine, but, couldn’t they just buy a plane ticket back?

Frowning slightly, Izuku was about to press for more before he realized he forgot to ask about their quirks. An excited gleam shone in his eye, he was not shy to ask the burning question on his mind. “What is your quirk?” Veylocke seemed to grimace a little but replied nonetheless.

“I suppose you could say my quirk, as you call them, allows me to place down an item that can act as a boost. It provides you with a boost in health, energy, stamina, but only in a twenty foot radius.” He said, although it was in between bites of rice that this was shared.

“Wow, that's so cool! You can do so much with that! What are the limits? How long can you keep it up? Can you target the effect on specific people?” Rapid fire questions pouring from his mouth, Izuku didn’t notice that Veylocke couldn’t keep up with the barrage. So fascinated was he that he hadn’t even noticed that he slipped back into Japanese.

“Slow down, I can’t understand half of what you are saying.”

“Midoriya! Show some respect! Veylocke can’t keep up when you mutter, especially when he doesn’t know much Japanese!” Iida was hand chopping at this in a furious manner. The sudden action startled both Izuku and Veylocke.

“Sorry Veylocke! I just get passionate about quirks! They are so fascinating!” Veylocke looked curious when Izuku mentioned his name.

“Veylocke? You are calling me by my last name, is this a custom here?” Iida stopped, mouth open in shock. Izuku himself was also shocked.

“We use the family name first unless you are close. Then you use the given name.” Looking over at the source of the third voice, Izuku saw that it was Todoroki who had spoken. The contemplative silence that descended upon the group was heavy.

Even to Woodhurst and Dog- no, Martyn and Renhardt. Who were evidently eavesdropping. Standing for a moment, nobody really said anything. The rest of the lunch room continued around them, of course. But it was rather awkward.

Todoroki, seemingly not noticing the silence, spoke up next. “Aren’t there supposed to be five of you? Where is the fifth?” The group had mixed reactions to Todoroki’s question. Veyl Abolish simply sighed, but the others either winced or looked regretful.

“Apo Kuna, she is resting. They are currently asleep in the dorms. It’s been a bit rough for her.” Abolish was vague, and Izuku had the feeling that it was more than just a bit rough, but he didn’t want to push since it seemed to be a heavy topic.

RINGRINGRING

Drats. It was the lunch bell. Izuku groaned. The three of them had gotten so wrapped up in the mystery of the guests, they didn’t notice how fast the time was passing. Saying goodbye to Abolish came quickly after that.

Rapidly rushing out of the quickly depleting lunch room, Izuku couldn’t help but wonder just who these people were.

--
ABANDONED HOTEL, MUSUTAFU JAPAN, THREE DAYS AFTER THE TARTARUS INCIDENT
--

Jack von Pyroscythe was not a violent man. In spite of his many flaws, in spite of this insatiable thirst, he was not a violent man. But he was a desperate one. So late one evening, some days after they had gotten to this alien city, it was he who suggested it to Scott.

“Sire, if we.” No, try again. “Perhaps it would be best if-” Not that either. Get it together damnit. “Maybe if we change tracks..?”

Frustrated and pacing in front of a cracked mirror, Pyro tried to think of the right words to say that would voice his concerns and get the elder vampire to acknowledge the dwindling blood supplies. The nearest forest was hours away, even by vampire travel standards. It’s not like they can just waltz into a butcher’s shop and ask for all the spare blood without at least knowing the native language and-

A perfect pale hand clamped down on his shoulder, a high pitched squeak of alarm, though Pyro would never admit to it. Turning his head to the side he saw Scott, gracefully standing next to him. A smile you could call kind, if you were blind, covered his face.

“Sire! I, eh, goodtoseeyou?” He pushed out, Black and red eyes turning away. Of all the times for the elder vampire to interrupt his pacing, it had to be now.

“Pyro,” Scott purred, voice smooth as he pulled the younger to face the elder, “You have something to share?” Pyro could only nod, nerves back in full force as his words were caught in his throat.

“Eh, yes, Sire. I was wondering.. about the blood supply.. we have.. not many options?” Pyro tried, voice uncertain and shaky. Scott only tsk’d at the words, his unnaturally perfect face betraying nothing but amusement. “Little bat, we are surrounded by food, you needn’t worry about such things.” His face paled, surely not. Eventually sure but not now! He wasn’t ready, none of the fledglings were.

“Oh what’s that look for?” Scott frowned, a flood of dramaticfledglingcalmdown itched across Pyro’s skull like a persistent drum. “N-nothing, it's just that. I, eh, Shelby won’t like that” Pyro gasped out, Scott simply tilted his head, “True enough, but I don’t see any better options here. We can scarcely navigate these streets, let alone find somewhere with animals. Not with all the noise the livestock are making.”

And as Pyro stared death in the face, whispers of itsjustbloodcalmdownsillychilde running parallel to his own thoughts, he could only wish that he had never gone to Oakhurst for that thesis paper.

Sleepsleepsleep was the last thing he heard before blacking out.

--

When Pyro finally fell asleep, he was relieved. Was using his status as Sire to lure Pyro to sleep and force the man to not worry about it a cheap tactic? Yes. But Scott was never one above cheap tactics. If it works, it works.

Slipping away from the dusty bed, he sent another wave of calmsleeprestmyfledgling towards Pyro. Satisfied that the childe would not wake until well rested, he clicked the door to Pyro’s room shut.

Striding with purpose towards the lobby, old but tasteful wallpaper lined the walls. Crumbling in some places, revealing the wall beneath to be wood. Moth bitten carpets and signs of general neglect showed in every inch. Looking closer, however, revealed carefully done repairs. Perhaps keeping Owen around was a good idea after all. He certainly knew how to craft things from logs, if the beautifully done repairs had anything to say about it.

Soon enough he reached the lowest floor. Taking a left once he reached the yellow door, he waltzed into the lobby. Sitting at the makeshift table was Drift and Owen. Drift was furiously scribbling notes onto paper, while Owen was sipping out of a wine glass full of blood.

Of the two, only Owen acknowledged him as he walked past the table towards the cabinet of wine glasses that they had scavenged for. Pulling out a wax sealed bottle of crimson, he carefully poured it into the cup. When the bottle was empty, he carefully set it on a pile of similar bottles.

When he sat down and began to drink, swirling the glass every now and then to ensure it didn't coagulate, Owen spoke.

“What’s got you so happy?” He murmured, an eyebrow raised in disbelief. Honestly, Scott was a simple man, should he not be happy that his fledglings will be reaching another milestone in their growth?

“Nothing much Owen,” Scott said, a fanged smile wide on his lips. “Just another milestone for the childer, you know how it is.” he mused.

“Another..? Ah. I see” Owen replied knowingly, glancing towards the steadily emptying cabinet of animal blood. Drift, seemingly noting the sinister tone of the words finally looked up. “Milestone? What do vampires consider to be milestones?” She asked. Scott was all too happy to share.

“Well my dear, vampires tend to develop rather slowly, so when one does something like turning into a bat for the first time or reaching a certain stage of development, it is considered a point of pride for the Sire or Dam” He murmured.

“Interesting, but why bring that up now? You didn’t seem concerned about our health back in Oakhurst.” Drift replied.

“Well, yes, but now we have more time. That is the truth of it, really. I suspect those beacons in Oakhurst sped up the development time for fledglings.” Scott replied, The glass now empty, though it didn’t stop him from lounging in the chair like one might with a throne.

“ ‘Sped up the development’? What is that supposed to mean?” Drift asked, the papers now completely abandoned in favor of whatever Scott had decided to share.

“It means my dear, that most vampires take somewhere between.. Hm, seventy years at the most, to stay awake outside of the nest for long periods of time. Let alone accessing any kind of vampiric ability. It can be a very slow process, so many vampires chose territories with high concentrations of dark magicks to help fledglings, well, fledge faster.” Scott yawned theatrically after this. Honestly, it wasn’t like this was new information, didn’t Owen tell them anything?

“S-seventy YEARS?!” Drift cried out, Owen hummed at this.

“Yes, give or take thirty odd some years.” then lower, as if Owen didn’t want to be heard, “Or so Louis claimed.” Scott nodded after Owen’s words.

“You would have subjected us to seventy years of.. Of helplessness?!” Scott scoffed at this response.

“Of course not, who do you take me for? Oakhurst is rather rich in what simple folks call dark magicks from all the blood spilt over the years, and even so, it worked out fine didn't it?” Drift just stared, wide eyed, and mouth agape.

And then, just because he could, he added “I have invested quite a lot of my time to ensure Oakhurst is cursed enough for fast fledgling growth, I’ll have you know.”

“I-I literally cannot believe you.” After she said this, she swiftly gathered up her papers and disappeared into the dark hallways of the hotel. Faintly, he could hear her slam the door to her own room as if to make a point. Owen scoffed, while he just tsk’d. Were all fledglings this dramatic? Goodness, it was already a handful to deal with the two strays.

Let alone caring for fledglings that dare to disrespect their elders. What a strange coven he has cultivated. Taking a moment to appreciate the companionable silence with Owen, who had also just polished off his own glass, he grabbed a loose sheet of paper and an ink pot from his pockets.

Dipping a claw into the mixture, he grimaced. Calling it ink was rather generous given how poor the quality of it was. Regardless, he began scratching down all he could recall of transitioning fledglings from animal to human blood. Too soon, they can go feral, too late, they won’t be able to drink anything but animal blood. Scott has found that over the centuries of life, a certain ratio works best.

Owen had, at this point, largely forgotten about trying to ignore the elder. His large eyes blinking as he tried to comprehend the squiggles and swirls of Scott’s hand writing.

“What are you writing?” Scott had stopped the fast paced writing.

“Ah, you wouldn’t know would you? Hm.. Well as the eldest vampire besides myself, and a fully fledged one too.. I suppose it can’t hurt to share this.” Scott murmured and gestured for Owen to take the seat across from him.

As Owen sat, he flipped over the piece of paper to draw a demonstration of what was needed.

“As you may know, fledglings are fickle things. Too much human blood too soon can cause one to go feral, of which it takes quite the number of years to come back down from.” Owen seemed to have something click for him, Scott was curious, of course, but decided to ignore it for now.

“Too little human blood can cause the fangs to be underdeveloped and cause problems for hunting and gaining territory later on in a vampire’s life.” This seemed to make Owen ponder, when suddenly his mouth opened in an ‘O’ shape.

“Ah, so you have to wean them off the animal blood. Much like one would do for young farm animals.” Scott nodded at this explanation. Fangs on full display as he smirked.

“Yes, you see, the exact ratios of animal to human blood is difficult to..”

--
SOMEWHERE ON THE STREETS OF MUSUTAFU JAPAN, FOUR DAYS AFTER TARTARUS INCIDENT
--

By this point, the trio had obtained a strange form of routine. Still, it didn’t prevent one from being bored, Cleo thought. The only comfort being that they knew where Pearl and Legundo were, even if they were all collectively homeless.

It was night, and as such, Cleo was able to go out and find food in relative safety, granted they didn't draw the wrong kind of attention to herself. It had been a learning experience, discovering how odd the native people were. But they caused no harm.. Most of the time.

No, it was the costumed ones that were causing them difficulties. Bright garish colors and masks, they were the ones most likely to harass Cleo while she was out getting food for Pearl and Legundo.

Carefully walking out of the alley that served as entrance to their living space, Cleo turned left once she got out. Slipping into invisibility was second nature as they wandered the unnaturally bright streets.

Thankfully not many were out and about at night, and the crowd of unusual hair colors was at most a trickle instead of a typical flood. Leaving them plenty of space to dodge and weave, she listened for the crackle-pop and busy sounds of food stands. After turning another corner, they found what they were looking for.

A large courtyard, filled to the brim with food stalls and small restaurants that stayed open, even late at night. Creeping closer to a stall that seemed to be offering skewers of grilled chicken, she waited for the moment the stall owner was preoccupied with another person.

Silently, an invisible hand reached out to grab three skewers, and once they got a firm hold on all three, she darted away. Running as fast as they could, weaving between buildings, they swiftly returned to the hideout.

After locating a sheet of metal laid on the side of the alleyway, she knocked thrice on it. Two knocks answered from further back, and they waited a moment or two. After making sure nobody had followed her, they walked forwards into the dark alleyway. Their form became clearer as they switch from invisible to visible.

There, huddling together in the dark next to Legundo for warmth was Pearl.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Cleo sighed, relieved that nothing had happened to the two while they were gone. “I managed to get some food, it’s chicken this time.” Pearl smiled at this and patted the ground next to her, gesturing for Cleo to join them.

Cleo had made sure to keep hold on the skewer that was still raw, and handed over one of the two cooked ones to Pearl. The two shared a fragile silence as they ate. When they were done, Pearl curled back onto the makeshift pile of blankets they called a bed.

Cleo, on account of being dead, did not join them as they had no body warmth to contribute. Standing up, they shuffled over to the corner that held clean bags and dug through the pile until she found what she was looking for.

Taking care to wrap the third skewer for Legundo in butcher paper the trio had stolen a day ago, she placed the skewer in the food bag. Once they were done, she shuffled the two bags the group owned to be covered by a tarp.

Walking back to the front end of the dead end alleyway, they stood guard over the sleeping forms of Pearl and Legundo. Eyes flicking over to the roof every now and then in case someone came in from above.

--

When Legundo woke up, it was not a peaceful matter. Yet the doctor never wanted to speak of the night terrors that chased him, so Cleo and Pearl never bothered him about it. Luckily, it wasn’t with a scream this time.

Silently handing over the wrapped up skewer of chicken to the man, Cleo sighed. Blood was getting harder to find, now that most butcher shops in the area were growing wise and keeping close eyes on their products. Even if most thought of blood as waste, none were willing to share.

Cleo rubbed a clawed hand over her arm where a particularly nasty butcher had thrown a knife at them. It was healed, and left no trace on their pale skin. But it was an unpleasant encounter.

The doctor spoke, tone quiet and careful, “Thanks, but are you sure you have enough?” Pearl groaned at this alongside Cleo. “Yes, Doc, I have enough blood. And don’t even think about offering your own. We don’t need you to be suffering from blood loss.” she replied bluntly.

Legundo actually looked rather guilty at this. Sacrificial idiot that he was, he probably didn’t remember that he was solely needed. “What’s next, are you going to prescribe leeches to innocent passerbys for Cleo?” Pearl teased, gesturing to the people who were crossing the street.

“I- “ and before the doctor could get a word in, Cleo decided to join in.

“Oh, I see how it is. The doctor wants leeches? I’m sure we can find some great quality ones somewhere!”

“Excuse you! We do not use something so barbaric as leeches anymore.” Legundo huffed, although the twinkle in his eye showed he was grateful for the banter.

“Ah that’s right, not anymore he says, we won’t cut off legs for sprained ankles, he says.” Pearl crowed as the three of them packed up and left the dead end alleyway. But at the mention of what Martyn had come screaming into town about, so many weeks ago, had soured what little morale they had going.

It was a long and awkward silence as Pearl fell quiet, and Legundo held a worried look on his face. Cleo sighed. It wasn’t that they missed Oakhurst. No, Cleo had enough of Oakhurst, but they could tell that the other two were worried for the missing town members.

Pushing further onward, it was Pearl who broke the silence first.

“I’m sorry, I was just trying to..” she trailed off, but Legundo only nodded sadly,

“I know. I’m sure they are here somewhere. We just, can’t afford to look for them with all of this.” He said, gesturing vaguely at the air. Cleo and Pearl knew he meant their circumstances. The trio could not afford to look for the missing townsfolk. They didn’t have enough resources to expend that effort.

“Well, there is one problem,” Spoke Cleo, “We won’t have an infinite supply of butchers to harass, and we’ve already covered a substantial amount of ground..” They mentioned. Legundo looked pale at this, and Pearl groaned at the reminder of the vampiric needs that must also be met.

“Maybe we could try looking elsewhere?” Legundo tried, but Cleo shook their head. The city was only so big, and even if they found a local forest. Well, if even Oakhurst, known for abundant forests, had struggled to maintain a population of eight vampires..

With Scott and Owen doing.. Whatever they were doing, it wouldn’t come at a surprise if the city slowly but surely locked down each ethical blood source. Wasn’t that a cold comfort, that at least the other vampires were alive.

“No, I don’t think the others have been sitting idly by either. The Coven also has to feed.” Cleo murmured, eyes flicking around as they kept their guard up.

“Right, there are seven missing vampires loose in a large city.” Pearl grimaced. Face scrunched up as she was reminded of the rather hostile group led by Scott.

“Mhm. So, maybe it’s time we consider taking a little bit from people all over? Spread out the costs so no one person is heavily affected?” Legundo seemed to consider this option. Cleo knew that would probably be what satisfied the doctor’s need to do no harm.

Sure enough, Legundo agreed, although he was clearly unhappy about the idea. That was fine, thought Cleo. He didn’t need to like it, but this thirst was a dangerous thing if left unmanaged.

What failed to gain Cleo’s notice, however, was the swerving boxes on the sides of the buildings. Blinking red lights that followed the trio as they walked.

--
POLICE STATION, MUSUTAFU JAPAN, FIVE DAYS AFTER THE TARTARUS INCIDENT
--

Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi was initially rather relieved to see the strange five people go. U.A would be safe enough to both contain or aid the five, and the police force could not spare the resources to help anyone who wasn’t involved in a direct emergency. Not after the jail break, at least.

Still, this new case was. Hm, peculiar to say the least. Several white haired, red eyed individuals had been spotted stealing from butchers, food stalls and stores. And, for some reason, they also stole ink. Normally this isn’t uncommon, just send in a pro-hero. They will apprehend the criminal, the police get to close a case, win-win.

But with the lowering faith in the heroes from the general public, things had gotten rocky. It had been several decades since the police force of Japan, and maybe the rest of the world, had to do serious detective work instead of taking the occasional case and shuffling the rest onto the heroes to complete.

Sure, detectives were still a respected profession, but rare was it to find one in any given police station. Indeed, heroes had taken that niche and filled it well. It was the heroes getting involved in the nitty gritty of it all. The action, the investigations. All of that was relegated to hero work.

So you could imagine the kind of stress Tsukauchi was under to solve this without aid from the heroes. Groaning as he reached for another folder bursting with papers and photos taken from security cameras, he flipped through the file. Another page filled with complaints of white haired, red eyed thieves and strange bite marks.

KnockKnockKnock

Looking at the door to his office, he called out a “Come in” and was treated to the sight of a scowling Eraserhead. Tsukauchi only gestured for the man to speak.

“They got away, again” Eraserhead growled, in lieu of a greeting. His black eyes showed his annoyance clearly.

“They do seem to be a rather tricky bunch. Which one got away from you this time?” Tsukauchi asked, quickly grabbing a note pad and pen. Eraserhead huffed, before admitting; “It was that bushy haired one, the woman in the green dress with the purple coat.”

Scribbling this down, Tsukauchi couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow at the answer. There seemed to be two groups or maybe more, of white haired red eyed thieves haunting the streets of Musutafu. The exact numbers were hard to verify, as they all looked rather alike, but the green dress one seemed to be less keen on harassing the public.

“Where exactly was she doing when you came across her?”

“That’s the odd part, it seems as if she was attempting to make bottles. What for I’m not sure, but I did notice several glass bottles laying around when I came back to investigate the scene.” Eraserhead murmured.

Tsukauchi nodded, “And have you sent a sample to the lab?” He asked, and Eraserhead huffed in reply.

“Yeah, the technicians think it’s human blood.” This got Tsukauchi to raise an eyebrow.

“Do you think we have another Toga situation? There has to be a reason as to why they are gathering so much.” Tsukauchi frowned as he spoke. Eraserhead gave a shrug in reply.

“It could be, but with those bite marks.. I think there is something more than taking blood to power some kind of quirk.” came Eraserhead’s reply. Tsukauchi hummed, deep in thought.

“Maybe if we try to make a trap of some kind.. We know they like blood so perhaps we can make some bait?”

“Maybe..” came the contemplative voice of Eraserhead. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.”

--
ABANDONED HOTEL, MUSUTAFU JAPAN, FIVE DAYS AFTER THE TARTARUS INCIDENT
--

Avid was not an idiot. Despite his crazed ramblings of vampires, he was smart. So when Scott and Owen began to spend large amounts of time ‘hunting’ during the last two days, he knew something was up. Scott, for all of his skill in deceit, was not hiding the excess blood that was being carried back.

As this suspicion grew stronger every time Scott and Owen came back with double the blood, Avid decided to act. So one night, when the rest of the coven was busy listening to Shelby’s excited rambling of what new cryptids could be found, he confronted Scott. Shoving his way into the elder’s space, he asked,

“Scott, why are you and Owen spending so much time out ‘hunting’?” His tone was blunt. Scott merely grinned.

“Awh, are we getting jealous pet? I must say, it’s a good look on you~” Came Scott’s smug reply as he lifted Avid’s chin up. If he had been living, he would have been blushing furiously.

“I- NO- I am not jealous of Owen, alright?! But I know that beautiful smug look, you are hiding something from this coven!” Came Avid’s high pitched reply. Swiftly tearing his gaze away from Scott as he tried to demand answers with dignity.

Scott tsk’d at Avid pulling away. He gave Avid a thoughtful look before seemingly deciding on something.

“Well it’s not like I can hide it forever. Tell me Avid, have you noticed any wild animals here?” The question left Avid dumbfounded, but he replied “Of course not, it’s a city. There aren’t.. Any..”

“And have you noticed how we are not struggling for blood?”

“I, I mean yeah-” Scott shushed him before he could speak more. No blood issues.. But no wild animals either.. Then, that means- Avid’s face pales as he thinks of the cabinet of blood that was fuller after every ‘hunt’ Owen and Scott went on.

“Y-you can’t be serious! Tell me you haven’t been secretly making us drink,” He looked around at the other vampires who were mere feet away, “..that kind of blood?!” he hissed. Scott, to his credit, looked rather wounded at this.

“Of course not! I would never force anything. Besides, it's much too dangerous for fledglings to drink it without diluting it with some animal blood.”

“But you do plan to get us to drink human blood?!” came his squeaky yet harsh reply. Scott hummed, moving his hands in a so-so motion.

“Not.. exactly, but I don’t see any way we could keep everyone fed otherwise. Besides, it was ethically obtained! They didn’t mind me taking their blood”

“Didn’t mind or couldn’t say no because we don’t speak the native language?!” As Avid spoke he regretted his words. Now Shelby had fallen silent and the others were staring at the two. Owen looked knowing, Pyro seemed.. Guilty, somehow. Shelby and Drift were just staring.

It was an awkward silence. Scott sighed, and took his seat at the head of the table.

“It seems like we have things we should discuss.” He said at long last.

“It seems so!” He hissed as he took his own seat.

“Well, as you all have surely noticed, there are no wild animals in this city big enough or plentiful enough to feed six vampires.” Scott announced to the room. Shelby frowned, and Owen nodded. Drift just looked sick.

“As such, we will need to transition from animal to human blood.”

“But you said I didn’t have to!” was Shelby’s complaint. Drift nodded in agreement at Shelby’s words.

“I know what I said previously. But when I said that, we were in Oakhurst. A forest which, mind you, has been uninhabited by humans and over populated by wild life for centuries.” Scott pressed on before anyone could speak their complaints.

“Now, we are here. In a city we do not know. With people who are chasing us down any time we step foot outside the hotel’s doors.” At this, everyone shuddered. They had all seen how those costumed men and women had shown them no mercy while they were chased. Avid himself was still healing after one had shot him with a bullet that must have had silver in it.

“He’s right,” was Owen’s reply. “We can’t afford to have anyone not at full strength, not with these people hunting us down like cattle.”

“But you promised!” Was Shelby’s distraught reply, her eyes starting to glisten with tears.

“I did. I intend to keep it still. You do not have to drink human blood immediately. We can portion it out so it's mostly animal with some human.”

‘I-I..” Shelby looked properly distraught now. Bloody tears trailed down their face as she clutched the hem of their dress. Scott tsk’d, and walked over to Shelby. He tugged her close for a hug.

“I know dear, I know. This isn’t what I want either. I just don’t think I can stand by watching my coven starve when we can’t find animal blood.” Scott’s words were soft as he comforted Shelby. Looking at Scott, all Avid wanted to do was believe him.

After some careful wrangling of a sobbing Shelby, Scott addressed the others. “I know this isn’t ideal. Owen and I have been working to make sure we still have animal blood. But this isn’t sustainable.”

As the three younger fledglings shared a look, disgust and fear mixed in equal parts, Avid couldn’t help but feel anxious about the future now that Scott had revealed how precarious the blood situation truly was.

--

The coven meeting had fallen apart rather quickly after that. Owen wasn’t surprised, but Scott seemed to be rather displeased with the coven’s reactions. When it was just the two of them left in the lobby, Owen spoke.

“That didn’t seem to go well.” He noted, Scott hummed in agreement.

“No it most certainly did not.” Was Scott’s reply, though Owen expected him to be more sad about this. Clearly the elder vampire didn’t care about the fledglings who were angsting over the morality of drinking human blood.

“Do you have a plan?” Scott shifted at this. Not a yes, but not a no either.

“Not exactly, but fledglings are notorious for bad self control. Messy things that they are. The situation will resolve itself eventually. Especially in a city like this with livestock crawling all over the place.”

How.. reassuring. Scott Goldsmith, Elder Vampire of Oakhurst, and his plan boiled down to letting the fledglings go a little feral so they would willingly drink the human blood. Owen couldn’t see how this would work.

He voiced as much to Scott, “And you can control four feral fledglings in a city full of humans?”

If Scott was bothered by Owen’s lack of faith in his ability to control the young vampires, he didn’t show it. Instead, he demonstrated why. With a speed so great, Scott crossed from one side of the wall to the next before Owen could even blink.

“Ah,” was Owen’s faint reply. It seems like Scott was holding back on them, though that wasn’t unusual. If there was one thing Owen had learned about Scott, it was that the Elder rather enjoyed playing games.

“I see..”

“Exactlyyy, the fledglings will be fine, they just need to really roughen up someone to get the instincts rolling. Once that happens, they won’t have any qualms about it.” Scott was now holding out his claws and examining them for specks of dried blood.

“And in the aftermath?”

Scott simply flashed a fanged smile.

“That’s what we are for, silly! Some comforting touches, warm words, and the instincts will do the rest of the heavy lifting.” Owen nodded at this, but internally he grimaced. There is nothing so terrible as the attention and ‘care’ of an Elder Vampire.

Louis was right, he mused, the Goldsmith Coven was not something he should have gotten involved with.

--
THREE HOURS AFTER THE COVEN MEETING, ABANDONED HOTEL
--

Shelby was not doing well. They were frustrated that they hadn’t noticed it sooner. Of course the hunts where Owen and Scott came back with nearly five bottles of blood had been suspicious. She thought they had found a farm or something and decided not to tell the coven.

Curled up in the plush bed of the room she had claimed, Shelby cried softly. It wasn’t fair. They weren’t ready, and perhaps they never would be. Then there was a soft knock on the door.

“W-Who is it?” She sniffled. It was Scott’s voice that answered.

“It’s Scott.” Shelby rubbed a hand across their face, trying to get rid of the stream of tears but only succeeding in spreading the thin watery blood everywhere.

“You a-aren’t invited in.” Scott must have had some reaction at that, but Shelby couldn’t hear if he did.

“Shelby.. You know I never planned to make you drink human blood.” She only blinked, more red trailing down her face. “May I come in so we can talk?” Shelby didn’t reply. It took a few more minutes of Scott softly talking at her from the closed door before she spoke again.

“Fine, but I’m still mad at you!” She hissed, though it didn’t carry the way it should, half formed in her throat. Scott.. cared, he would never hurt them. But flashes of a fishing trip, of fangs sinking deep into her arms, of fear, of running. The steady thump-thump-thump of a beating heart falling silent in her chest.

She pointedly did not look at Scott as he opened the door and walked in. He sat on the edge of the bed, sighing as he spoke. “I didn’t want to have this conversation with you yet, but it’s clear that it needs to happen.”

Shelby shifted at this, the blankets that obscured them from Scott moving with the action. He took this as permission to continue.

“For young vampires, especially ones as young as yourself, animal blood is akin to eating nothing but a salad.” Shelby sniffled, the only sign that they were listening.

“It can stunt the growth of the fledgling. I do not fault you for not knowing this, I hadn’t the time to teach you the ways and culture of our kind when we were trapped. But in vampire culture, especially when trying to display dominance, Fang length is important.”

Shelby blinked at this. There had been stories and fanfictions about what a vampiric culture would look like, but learning about it first hand is.. Interesting.

“Just like salads, animal blood is technically healthy. You can benefit from having a meal or two of it. But eating salads for years and years on end does not give your body what it needs. Your fangs will be blunt, you will be physically weak, and very vulnerable to silver. No matter what stage.”

Shelby hummed at this, blankets shifting as they showed their face from underneath the blanket to peer up at Scott. She had noticed that Scott and Owen had the longest fangs out of everyone. And while being stage three, their fangs were not very long at all.

Slightly extended canines, sure, but nothing like the inches of fang that the older vampires possessed.

They had started opening their mouth to say something before thinking better of it and keeping quiet. Scott sighed.

“You don’t have to drink any more than a drop. Just one. I will not force you, but I would feel better knowing that you are not at risk of dying or going feral from the thirst. I care about you Shelby.” Those were the words that had done it.

Shelby crawled out of the blanket cocoon, and sat next to Scott. Looking down at her claws, sharp, wicked things they were. But compared to Scott who could slice through metal with ease, hers were painfully blunt.

“H-how can I be sure that I won’t.. Lose control?” They whispered. Scott hummed at this.

“Owen and myself will be there every time you drink some. We are older, so we can handle it and make sure you don’t kill anyone.”

“I-I don’t know Scott, I just. I don’t think I can.” Scott nodded sadly at this, as if he feared that would be the answer.

“I understand Shelby. I just thought that you should be informed.” Scott gave her a sad look, and left their room. Left in the silence of what Scott had told them, Shelby had much to think about.

--

Phew, at least that talk hadn’t been violent. Shelby had real potential, but they just needed to realize it. Walking on silent feet, Scott was deep in thought.

Walking down the hall as he approached Avid’s door, he was already fitting together the words that would convince him to drink human blood. One down, four to go. He thought. It was going to be a very, very long night.

But Scott was a very patient man and he always got his way. This little situation, while greatly inconvenient for his long term plans after Oakhurst, had sped up the timeline for the childer in his care. Perhaps he ought to thank his lucky stars.

Convincing the others to drink human blood would’ve taken so much more time otherwise.

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