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If you had told fifteen-year old Hatsume Mei that her most complicated ever creation would be built from scrapped and stolen parts, she wouldn't have necessarily been surprised. She'd done a lot of foraging for parts in her (relatively brief) life, definitely more than average.
But, still. At fifteen, Mei had expected to always have access to nice resources. She'd very quickly gotten used to what being a UA student provided to her. Mei knew she was good enough to afford similar resources after graduation.
… Unfortunately, those resources didn't really exist anymore. For anyone.
At least, not anyone good.
There wasn't much room for innovation for heroics in a world where villains were in control.
Well, one villain. Every other villain around bended to All for One's will.
But it hadn't always been that way. They just needed to get back to a time before All for One had seized full control.
And Mei had figured out a way for them to do so. She'd been working on the machine for months, but it seemed to finally be done. Done enough, at least. The ride might be bumpy and she couldn't be too precise about the date or go too far back but, by her calculations, they should arrive in the past within a month of Mei's sixteenth birthday, which had been about two years prior. That should be plenty of time.
Izuku had learned a lot about Shigaraki before Shigaraki had died. He could use that knowledge to get him to change sides, probably. Hopefully.
Mei thought Ochako would have better luck with Toga. Toga had turned against the villains when she had saved Ochako's life at the cost of her own.
Obviously Mei wanted them to succeed and save the world and all that. But what Mei really wanted was to see Momo again. To see Momo smiling again.
Mei hoped—
A hand landed carefully on her shoulder. "Are we good to go?" Shinsou asked, voice hoarse like it always was now from the strain of his quirk.
"Yeah," Mei said. "We should go sooner rather than later… Everyone ready?"
The smiles she got from Izuku and Ochako was clearly somewhat forced, but they were there.
Mei flipped the lever.
Ochako awoke on the ground with a hand on her arm shaking her.
She jolted upright and shoved the person away, landing a solid hit with her fist on what felt like a stomach.
Then, her eyes opened and her brain processed her surroundings.
Oh. Oh no.
"I'm so sorry," she said.
"Don't worry about it," Tsu said through dritted teeth. "Are you alright? You just… sort of collapsed."
"I'm fine," Ochako said, rising to her feet. She took a moment to savor her friend's face. It had been a long time since she had seen her… Or any of her classmates besides Izuku. But, she was in the forest right now. For summer camp. There was not time for reunions. She didn't know why she had come back to this time—It was several months off of Mei's calculations—but there was also not time for worrying about that or about the uncomfortability of her body. It felt like she had been squished into a jacket that used to fit, but no longer did.
She breathed out slowly before focusing. "I'll explain everything later. Go find everyone and get them out of the forest. There's villains. Be careful. If you see mist, don't breath it in."
She wrapped her best friend in a hug before running off. While running, she pulled out her phone to check the time.
Alright. She knew approximately where in the forest Himiko would be.
She ran through the forest, encountering a few classmates as she went. She sent them off, claiming to have seen villains, before continuing on.
She saw Izuku in a nearby clearing and shouted out to him. They exchanged a few words before parting, Izuku to rescue Koda and Ochako to find Himiko.
Himiko… Himiko… Where…
She heard a faint sound from behind and turned around a smile on her face.
"Hi," she said.
Himiko stood behind her with wide eyes and a knife in hand.
"Hi," Himiko said slowly. She was silent for a moment before: "You don't seem scared."
"I'm not afraid of you," Ochako said. "Don't get me wrong—you're very strong and scary—but I know you too well to be afraid."
Himiko stared at her. "We've never met," she said.
"Not in this time," she said. She stepped forward a few steps and gently slipped Himiko's knife from her hand, dropping it to the ground. "Are you familiar with time travel?"
Written by a human in Ellipsus.