Chapter Text
Rei knew her health had been deteriorating, she'd known that for a very long time already. But not once had she realised just how far gone she was. It was close, too close.
She had almost hurt the children, her children. Innocent and young children who were just as much if not more of a victim than Rei was. The oldest was barely 15 and she almost hurt them. It was at this point that the mother decided to leave because everything was better than staying in their personal hell.
He was away on a mission in Europe when she told the children to pack any necessities. Having already taken, sold and deposited as much as Rei could without raising any alarms they could probably buy enough food for a month maybe two if they saved it properly
When they left the estate of that cursed family she felt relief. But she decided to push those feelings down for now. It was more important for Rei to find a place they could stay at. There was no way she could possibly leave them to the system that failed them in the first place.
One day she heard rumours of a person who had been a legend in the underground since before the age of quirks. She brushed it off as some kind of superstition but she kept hearing more and more about this alleged immortal.
They take in people who are in need with no expectancy of anything in return. They hold power over the commission itself. The older crime bosses' hold their distance from anything remotely related to the legend. The Ruler of Informants, a throne of information, a crown of knowledge long forgotten.
In the end it was desperation. Rei would love to say that it was some naive belief in the good nature of humans or even the rumours she had heard, but it wasn’t. When her youngest got sick she decided that she was willing to sell her soul if it meant the children would be safe.
If 'Uwasa' was willing to help her even if Rei had to commit some of the most heinous crimes in existence, she would. Nothing was more important than for the children to be safe from the commission, from him and whatever would happen if they stayed on the streets.
So here she was in front of a bar called The Eternal Garden. She could feel the intense stares directed at her. But she couldn't falter, not yet. Not as long as the chance for the children to live somewhat comfortably exists.
"Anything I can get you?" The bartender, a woman who looked to be in her 20s with longer, dark green, tied back hair, asked. Caught off guard by how the woman behind the counter seemed to almost glow in the dimmed light of the bar, she forgot to answer. The bartender looked almost ethereal, it fit her considering the name of the establishment.
Rei blinked a few times, remembering that the dark haired woman had asked her something. “I’m not sure, you don’t happen to have any older beverages, do you?” her voice was a bit shaky but it didn’t seem to faze the bartender. The lady raised an eyebrow and gave her a smirk before handing her a handkerchief.
It was embroidered with some darker red flower or plant. As she ran her finger over the embroidery she felt a card shaped object in between its folds. Confused, she looked back up to the bartender. “Take the door to the left of the counter, someone will blindfold you before taking you to the man you’re searching for.” She instructed softly.
After she stepped through the door everything was just like how the bartender explained. While slowly walking down what seemed like a very long hallway she thought about how easy it would be for people to attack her. Had the rumours been false? Was she about to be killed, maybe even trafficked?
Her thoughts continued to run wild until she wondered if she was alright with going out this way. If she was going to die it meant that the pain would stop. She would no longer be struggling to survive, maybe it would’ve been better if-...
They might be suffering but it was by far better than their personal hell and she was not ok going out like this. There was no way she was going to give up on her, their freedom. It would mean leaving the kids behind, leaving them waiting and wondering when she would come back.
“Don’t worry”, the person who had been guiding her reassured. Rei hadn’t noticed that they stopped walking, hopefully they hadn’t been standing still for too long. “We know why you are here.” They explained, she took a sharp breath but didn’t answer her guide.
A door was knocked on and it opened not long after. She was guided through the door and could hear it being shut. The blindfold was being taken off and while her eyes were adjusting to the light someone, who wasn’t the guide, spoke up.
“Welcome to my humble abode, Todoroki Rei”
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In the past few weeks Shouta had been running circles around every possible lead on the group of villains that attacked his class. It was infuriating seeing as he wasn't even alone on this. None of the other heroes or investigators had any lead or information.
But then a few days ago he started to hear rumours. It was extremely shady and suspicious seeing as none of the others heard any when patrolling in the same area as him. This meant that these are orchestrated rumours, which usually didn't mean anything good.
'Timeless' a word that was commonly used in the hushed sentences he heard. The rumours talked about someone old, again usually a bad sign when someone or something survives the underground for so long. Most of them were people talking in fear about a person who always returns with knowledge they shouldn't know.
It wasn't until he mentioned the rumours to Naomasa that he actually took interest in them. The detective visibly stopped in his steps when he heard about it.
"What do you mean you've been hearing orchestrated rumours about Timeless?" Shouta watched his friend grow continuously concerned for him. "Exactly that, while searching for leads on the league case I kept hearing those orchestrated rumours."
Naomasa took a deep breath before closing the door of his office. "This can either be a godsend or the end of all our careers" It almost baffled the hero how serious the detective had become. He wasn't one to exaggerate things, one of the many things Shouta valued about Naomasa.
"Orchestrated rumours that keep mentioning the word Timeless are a very specific calling card to a very old informant with arguably the best information network in existence." Naomasa explained as he looked through his drawers for something.
His movements were rather hectic and the detective kept cursing under his breath.
"This informant likes to expose the commission or crimes heroes committed and many of their victims mentioned experiencing the same as you." A very old file was thrown on the desk, landing right in front of him.
Shouta mostly skimmed through the file, it was old but it looked like people still added things to it in hopes of identifying this informant. "These are known associates of the informant. They usually don't use violence so when, and you definitely will, you come in contact with them, avoid combat under any circumstances, Aizawa."
Naomasa's words rang through his head. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly the detective's experience with the mastermind shadowing him was.
It was in the middle of his patrol that he noticed that some buildings had ice residues on them. When investigating it he realised that the ice was somehow simultaneously freezing cold and burning hot.
He had cut a bit of his hair and held it against it only to see it burn and freeze up at the same time. At the end only tiny ice pieces and ashes remained. Technically speaking impossible, meaning that it came from a quirk.
Really, anything that you learned in school about the laws of physics, and whatnot, can be thrown out the window the moment quirks get involved.
"Good evening, Eraserhead." Someone greeted him, their voice was calm but cold. Shouta immediately turned to the speaker whilst clutching his capture weapon and erasing their quirk.
The speaker was a young woman with snow white hair, the tips of which were coloured in a shade of red. Her eyes were a dull grey and seemed to stare into his soul.
She was wearing what looked like a white and ice blue kimono that was modified to be better suited for combat. Her hands were covered by white gloves and in her hand, covering her face, was a fan made of ice, probably the same one covering the walls of the alleyway.
Shouta remembered the list of known associates of the infamous informant. The woman standing in front of him matched the description of one of them. Down to the small red details on her clothing.
"Yuki-onna, I assume?" He decided to drop his quirk for now. It was no use to cause his eyes more strain than necessary. If what Naomasa told him was true then she wouldn't resort to violence as her first choice.
"I see that the detective has informed you of The General's" Shouta could only assume that the known associates of the informant were called The General's. Does that mean that he was called the commander?
The white haired woman folded her fan by slapping it against her hand. "Uwasa wishes to strike a deal with you, Eraserhead." She explained with a soft smile.
Shouta hesitated, there was no reason for him to trust her words. He didn't know if he was walking into a trap that might endanger his whole family.
"Why?" He asked hoping that nothing would go wrong. The files didn't include anything about how 'The General's' worked. Direct confrontations happened almost never and the heroes confronted rarely survived to tell the tale. Shouts knew nothing and it was hard to say how reliant Yuki-onna would be on her quirk.
Her poker face seemed to slip as she allowed herself to give Shouta a smile that was filled with a surprising amount of genuine gratitude and appreciation. "My younger brother was involved in an attack recently." Yuki started to explain.
The woman clutched onto her fan and Shouta could see a few cracks forming.
"You threw yourself onto the front lines and received damage that could've ended your career as a hero." Normally he'd question how she knows this but Shouta could only assume that Yuki's younger brother told her.
"I asked Uwasa to help you since my family owes you for protecting one of our own."
Should he ask Nedzu for a more intensive background check on the kids' families? Could one of the kids be-
He decided to throw that thought in the 'for later' list. No need to stress about something like that in a place like this.
"Who-"
"He has nothing to do with what the elders of the family did to protect us."
She was quick to defend her brother. Shouta was honestly surprised that Yuki-onna anticipated such a question even if his had been slightly different from what she thought.
"Uwasa." Shouta started first. Yuki-onna was probably expecting him to be more concerned about a possible mole or something. If none of his students are explicitly involved with any crimes then he wouldn't go out of his way to make the classroom environment even more awkward than it already was by arresting their family.
She visibly relaxed and he took that as a sign to continue.
"Who exactly are they?" This question had bothered him for a long time already. Naomasa was scared shitless of that person and any heroes that used to chase that informant around either died, went missing or out right refuse to add anything to it.
Yuki-onna seemed to be surprised at his question, yet answered it nonetheless. "Uwasa is someone who can give you the answers you've been looking for in the past weeks."
"That I can indeed do."
Both Shouta and Yuki turned around to see a door that hadn't been there before open. The hero's confusion withered quickly as he recognised the face that stepped out of it.