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The room was alight with vibrant purple tubes and dark machinery. He was awake, whatever awake was? Was it alive? Did his heart still beat? Did his blood still pump? Was his brain still firing the right signals?
He thought and thought and…
No, something was wrong. A deep seeded emptiness in his chest that swirled with a miasma of confusion. Longing. Sorrow. Deep anger at the unknown ingrained in his brain.
"Ah. Awake I see," said an older man in a crisp lab coat. The doctor, his brain provided. At least it provided that. "The brat hasn't given me a break. Asking for his precious Kurogiri back. Every fucking day." The man scoffed and approached the chair.
Kurogiri? Was that who he was? He could have sworn his name had been different. He could have sworn…
"How do you feel? Nevermind I can see your neural activity." The doctor groaned. “Sloppy. If I had more time…” he sighed and grabbed a few tools. He put the tools down in favor of a pad and paper. "He isn't ready, little brat! He still needs to be fixed!”
In a mocking tone the doctor went on, “Doctor fix the thing so this kid SHUTS UP!”
Kurogiri grunted.
“Well, Master All For One darling dearest of mine, you try fixing the stubborn brain of a teenager, you try breaking this little spirit down without it cropping back up and…” the doctor sighed heavily. “Well, you, you thing, you creature, you monster," purred the doctor. "What is your job? You will answer me."
Electric pulses danced through his cracked open head as he answered, "to… protect…" to protect who? "to protect my--" it was there the answer was there, but it hurt. It hurt so much to delve into that little pocket of memory. Of what he was now. Compared to who he used to be. Who he used to protect. Who he used to love and cherish.
He wasn't allowed that anymore. He would never be allowed access to that anymore.
Kurogiri threw his head back, a deep purple fog erupted from his mouth with a guttural demonic scream, and pain bloomed in his hippocampus. The doctor didn't even do anything, just made a few checks on a piece of paper and closed Kurogiri's skull up.
"Good enough for the brat," hissed the doctor. "I'll fix you when I actually have time for now just make that brat shut up."
Kurogiri stood up once released from the chair and furrowed his brow. Why was he being released if he couldn't even answer such a simple question? Why did his brain feel like someone had punched holes in it? He needed to get out of there before the Doctor changed his mind.
He moved on his own accord, opened a warp gate, and stepped through into-- a disgusting mess. Flour, melted chocolate, burned chocolate, and a child sitting in the middle of it all. Covered in the same substances around him.
Kurogiri's bar was a mess. Was this child left alone? How long had it been since the young master was taken care of while Kurogiri was locked away in a stasis tank?
The ten year old hopped up to their feet and stared at Kurogiri with a tilted head. "You're back! Did--"
"Master Tomura, what have you been doing?" Kurogiri asked with a soft tilt to his head. There was a soft hum on the radio. Obviously the young master had been listening to it.
"He… he said he would fix you…" Tomura stepped back tears welled up in his eyes. "You're not fixed. He said… he said he would fix you! He said… asshole!"
Kurogiri's heart ached. He didn't know what this child was talking about. What previous program had been erased and redone. Tenko , whispered some far off piece of his former self. No, this child was not named Tenko. Maybe in some far off life he couldn't recall. "Master Tomura, you do not talk about Master or the Doctor like that," he said in a flat tone. “They will put you back in the room.”
Tomura's eyes only dropped more tears as he sobbed and stomped his feet. "HE LIED! LIAR LIAR LIAR!" The kid fell to the flour covered floor and cried LOUDER. "I want Kuroboro back!" He cried. "I want him back and I want him back NOW!"
It was grinding on Kurogiri's nerves and eardrums. "Master Tomura, please." He tried as he kneeled next to the crying child. "You--"
"YO YO YO LISTENERS! Present Mic here to celebrate a special day!" The radio blared and kicked something into place in Kurogiri's head.
A slight fire of neurons that spiked his levels of joy. Oh! Put your hands up! Radio was back! shouted the excited part of Kurogiri's defective brain.
"Today is November the eighth and I know you little listeners know what that means. It's time toooo," there was a little drum roll, "Come celebrate with me!"
Tomura scrubbed his eyes, bolted to his feet, and ran into the kitchen. "Forgot!" yelled the still upset Tomura as he came back with a very burnt chocolate cake that made Kurogiri's heart pound.
Oh. Right. He did this with Tomura twice a year. Once for Present Mic and once for… for… Our grumpy little Kitten! shouted the long dormant part of his brain. Whoever Kitten was. Images of dyed black hair and needle injections into pale milky flesh danced around in Kurogiri's brain.
The radio host made a few pew pew noises. "That's right it's my special little Kitten's birthday!!!! He totally hates when I do this, but it's been a tradition since forever ya dig?"
Tomura clapped his little hands and bounced in place.
"He has been a little extra sad lately and that is not good!" rattled on Present Mic.
"I'm going to kick your teeth in," grumbled a different voice.
Present Mic huffed. "Kitten is in the room. Say hi kitten."
Kurogiri crossed his knees and poked at the burnt mess with a fork. The chocolate turned into vanilla with burnt caramel and was significantly less edible than Tomura's cake.
I made you… a cake, said a far off voice in the corner of Kurogiri's mind. Eat it.
"Cake for your return and Kitten's birthday," Tomura sat down in front of him. "Present Mic planned something special too. I just know it."
"Hi, can I go now?" hissed Kitten. "I do actually have places to be right now."
"Kitten, just stay for a little bit?" There was a rapping on the radio host's table as he rolled up to the special.
There was some extra grumbling and groaning as Kitten said, "Fine."
Present Mic squealed. "So without further adieu. I'm going to make him cry more! By playing an oldie but a goodie. Present Mic presents happy birthday playlist number two! In other words here are a bunch of song covers by our dearly departed and myself back in high school that never made it on the first rendition! Enjoy!"
"Okay now I'm really going to fu--" Kitten's mic was cut off before he could swear on air or beat the shit out of Present Mic. Who knew what was happening at that radio station.
Kurogiri felt wetness against his cheek when the first few chords played from their shitty little radio behind the bar.
Remember me
Though I have to say goodbye
Remember me
Don't let it make you cry
For even if I'm far away I hold you in my heart
I sing a secret song to you each night we are apart
Kurogiri rubbed at his face, maybe it was just a drop of water from their leaky ceiling, nope, the liquid kept pouring. "Why…" Why wouldn't it stop?
"I like this song," said Tomura as he rubbed at his own puffy eyes and had 'calm down' time. "Present Mic sounds good even in high school…"
Kurogiri chewed on the burnt bits of cake. He found them warming his heart as he hummed along--
" Que nuestra canción no deje de latir
Solo con tu amor yo puedo existir
Recuérdame ," sang Kurogiri without much thought as he matched perfectly with Present Mic's radio and the voice of Loud Cloud.
He blinked slowly. "What…" something snapped free in his brain as he looked down at Tomura who was staring at the radio chewing at the underdone parts of the cake. "I…" He gripped at his head and grunted.
"Kuro…boro?" The words swam in his head echoing like the song and flashed images of leaning into a blonde while strumming the guitar and kissing when the recording was all said and done. How a dark purple haired boy listened to a tape on his sixteenth birthday and thanked them with a kiss.
He remembered. He remembered. He just had to grasp at it and--
and it all crumbled away in one giant electrical shock. He held onto it as long as he could and…
Oh that hurt. He rubbed at his head and hissed. That hurt a lot. It was getting harder. Coming back to himself from a state of shards and smoke. Where was he? What was he doing? It had been so long.
"Do… you remember?" Tomura asked with hope in his eyes and chocolate on his face.
Kurogiri blinked slowly and stared at his hands. Thick with smoke and nearly necrotic, except they weren't. It's not like his cells were dead anymore. They weren't the Doctor told him that much. How he was surprised that his monster had kept growing older after reanimation. "How… how long was it this time?" He asked Tomura with a frown.
Tomura frowned back at him and poked the goopy middle of the cake. "Monthsssssss," whined the child. "We were listening to the radio and poof! No more Kuroboro… Kuroboro got angy and went Whoops! Bye Bye… and Master and the Doctor were upset!"
Kuroboro pulled the kid into a hug and sighed heavily. Right… Present Mic wasn't on the radio that day and they had to do a formal announcement that he would be taking a small break because of an incident with his precious lil Kitten. It had snapped the thread keeping Oboro in the dark and… whoosh. Bye bye. Stasis tank time. All over a green carnation and… well he had also landed the Hero Miss Joke in the hospital. Suited her fucking right for hurting his loved one in the way she had. "I'm sorry… th.. thank you for celebrating his birthday… you know it always brings me back to you, huh?"
"It fixes you," mumbled Tomura against Kuroboro's chest. "Makes you come back… Miss you."
Kuroboro sighed and held the child close. "I miss you too." He missed tucking Tomura into bed, playing video games, and showing the child how to protect himself if he ever wanted to.
He missed comforting Tomura on days the Doctor and Master run their experiments.
"Do you miss them?" Tomura asked.
Them… Shouta and Hizashi. Little Hitoshi who was probably not the same two year old he saw before the accident. "Yes… deeply," said Kuroboro. He would give anything to just have a normal life. The one they almost had if All for One hadn't threatened Shouta and a five year old Tenko. "He did lie to you, didn't he."
The one they could have had if All for One hadn't sent… if Oboro had just…
He pulled Tomura closer and sighed.
Tomura pouted and pushed his little fists down. "He promised and he lied! So I fix it, I've maxed out my wizard levels and bring you back with sick beats on our favorite radio station."
"That is a bard," Kuroboro mumbled and gave the smallest laugh. "But nobody said Wizards can't use sick beats either." Hizashi had played a human bard with Shouta as a tiefling rogue and Oboro the most basic of human barbarians… he sighed again. He would never play those games with them again. He would never see Shouta’s burnt cakes and abominations he called food.
He would never sing with Hizashi, play guitar, and goof off like they were kids.
The doctor would 'fix' Kurogiri eventually. For good. For now he would enjoy this moment eating burnt cake for Shouta's birthday and listening to Hizashi's special birthday playlist part two electric bear-galoo.
For now he would live in the moment. He would remember some semblance of who he had been and what he was now. Wonder later about who he will be in the future.
For now he would just be.