MHA: Dark Matter

"Shut up already, you idiot!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Smack.

My head snapped to the side from the hit.

"Oh, God. How did it come to this that I have to call myself an idiot? Sure, he's me, and he screwed up. But since he's me, that means I screwed up too, so I'm also an idiot. Hey, say something, my stupid self!"

I stared at the flickering, smoky figure with my face. Red eyes with black sclera looked back at me. I opened my mouth.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAA..."

Smack.

"You're definitely the dumb part of me. Can't even string two words together. Not words, not even letters! Ooh la la, snap out of it!"

My body started shaking. I opened my mouth.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAA..."

Smack.

"Good thing this isn't your physical body. I can hit your head without risking making you even dumber. Though I can only do it in here. Too bad."

The figure with my face crouched down next to me.

"Hey, Me, you have to understand that none of this is real, none of it happened. That Tristesse, or Sorrow, or Whatever-His-Name-Is just messed with your head. You got played!"

I stared ahead into the darkness. The figure with my face became blurrier.

"Hey, hey, hey, we could actually die here. Well, I could die, because I'm you, and you're me. God, what nonsense am I even saying?"

The wildly gesticulating figure froze, lowering its arms.

"You can hear it, can't you... how she sings."

The sound of keys and a quiet female voice was still there. It was just there. Incomprehensible. I stared ahead.

"Before Dad left, she loved to sing. She'd sit down at the piano we had at home and play."

/ A boy sinks into a sweet and deep sleep,

In an instant, the flame will turn to ash within him.

Not alone, there are two of us there. /

"She used to mess up a lot, hit wrong notes, and get so adorably frustrated about it. But she kept going."

/ And in the dream, your features, so dear to me, will surface,

And in that moment, dreams will softly descend to the earth,

Dreams, dreams. /

"At times like that, she was so beautiful. She only ever got one song right, though. Heh."

/ At night, my eyes shine, the color of silver

Their gentle, warm light guides me through that darkness. /

"It felt so good to fall asleep to it."

I looked at him. He was crying. Or was I?

/ Now I will not give up

And through a hundred years, I will go forward, I will keep

The ray of faith bestowed upon me. /

"We wanted to hear it again for so long. Too bad she never made any recordings. No audio, no sheet music, not even the lyrics. That's why we're so grateful to Tristesse. He helped us remember her completely..."

/ You and I swore to keep going,

To protect the bonds so dear to us.

A kiss will forever seal the vow. /

( Wada Kaoru – tsunaida te ni kiss wo / song 14, D. Gray-man /)

"And because of her, we'll kill him..."

"And because of her, we'll kill him..."

The smoke from my dissolving second self drifted toward me.

"He dared to threaten the bonds that are so dear to us."

"He dared to threaten the bonds that are so dear to us."

Surrounded by darkness, I was now alone, but I no longer felt lonely. Time to wake up.

---

[Melissa Shield's POV ]

"Ken, wake up. Please… come back to yourself."

The girl shook the black-haired boy's shoulders, staring worriedly into his vacant eyes.

"How wonderful the song of your souls is. I am trembling with delight."

Melissa stared with rage at the man conducting with his hands.

"What did you do to him?!"

He looked at her with condescension. A surprisingly soft smile was on his lips.

"I merely let him hear what I hear. The sorrowful romance of his soul."

"What nonsense are you talking about?! Just bring my Ken back to his senses!"

She didn't notice the increasingly feverish gleam in the man's eyes.

"Oh, young lady, I cannot do that. The song that has been heard merely brings to the surface all the sorrows and nightmares that were in life. What was, what wasn't, what could have been, what couldn't have been. Fears become nightmares, nightmares become despair, despair becomes everything. It cannot be stopped."

Tears began to flow from Ken's indifferent eyes.

"Mmmm~ Soon he will reach his limit. Of course, it's a shame he didn't get to see you die, that could have added new notes to his melody of suffering. But I wouldn't mind…"

The villain moved quickly toward the girl. Melissa tried to hit him, but found herself on the ground, feeling the weight of the man on top of her. Sharp claws gently turned the girl's head toward Ken, who stood motionless.

"... listening to your song of tragic love. Unrequited love of girls always has such a wonderful sound. So, just watch as your beloved breaks, My Love. Later, I will let you hear your own song."

Her face flushed red at his words, the girl clenched her fists.

'Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why is this happening?'

Feeling pain throughout her body, the girl felt apathy creeping in. The determination and adrenaline that had carried her from the very beginning of this long tower gave way to exhaustion.

'Why does it have to end like this? On the very day I found new friends. On the day I realized I lov...'

"My Love, you're early. Couldn't you have waited a few more minutes?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Melissa saw a short white figure appear out of thin air. The indifferent voice of a little girl shocked the girl.

"We need to leave while Wolfram is fighting the heroes. The prototype is with Wolfram."

"How sad. How sad. This is truly sad, My Love, that I must interrupt this young man's suffering so early, which brought me so much inspiration."

"I am not your love."

"Heh heh heh. You always say that."

Crack.

A weight fell upon the shoulders of those present.

Crack.

Something made their insides clench. The stale air became hard to breathe.

Crack.

"Tristesse, what makes you think you have the right to hurt my friend?"

A calm voice echoed through the room.

Melissa stared with wide eyes at the crackling air around her once very close friend, who was now...

"For this, you will be punished."

The frozen villains stared at the black-haired boy whose skin was rapidly turning gray.

Crack.

He frowned and touched his forehead with his palm. Bloodshot eyes with black sclera stared at the black blood on his palm, while stigmata in the form of crosses opened on his forehead.

"Ken..."

Melissa whispered softly, before her consciousness faded.

[End POV Melissa Shield]

--

*

*

*

"Ken."

Melissa's voice snapped me out of examining my suddenly black blood. I'll deal with that later.

"What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO? Why can't I hear your song anymore? ANSWER ME!"

The parasite, who drew power from the suffering of others, began to scream, spraying saliva.

I walked toward him.

He lunged at me. A mental command, and a ribbon of Dark Matter emerging from my palm sliced off his clawed fingers in one swift stroke. My hand landed on the villain's chest. I pushed him away and down. Tristesse spat a fountain of blood as the metal floor dented under him.

A white figure appeared nearby, trying to touch me. I hate white. A wave of air from a lazy wave of my hand sent it flying to the side.

I shifted my gaze back to the parasite, whose half-mask had flown off, revealing a rather hideous scar on his head.

"You said you need more suffering? I'll provide it."

But the small figure in white distracted me again, moving toward Melissa. She wanted to use her against me. Annoying.

I raised my right hand, from which several ribbons of Dark Matter shot out. The white figure didn't even have time to react before she was wrapped in dark ribbons. I pulled her toward me. My hand closed around the white figure's neck. She grabbed my hand and tried to do something. Most likely use her Quirk. She didn't know that my Dark Matter, in such quantity and at such close contact, was suppressing her Quirk.

I could have killed her already. She was the parasite's ally. But…

"And what is a child like you doing next to this freak?"

I don't want to kill children, and holding her in my hand, I could tell she was just a little girl. Besides, her silhouette as seen by my "Gaze" seemed familiar to me. Frowning, I tore the annoyingly white fabric mask off her head.

Red eyes with black sclera stared back at me.

Just like my father's.

"Agnes?"

I let her go in surprise. The girl fell to the floor, quickly rolled to the side toward her partner, and vanished with him. I grabbed only empty air where they'd been.

My skin began returning to its normal color.

What the hell was my father's daughter doing here?

****A/N****

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