The Chase
The sea was still, the sun inching closer to the horizon as the golden rays reflected upon the water. From above, the sight was wonderful; birds glided in the skies as the small ship became a distant memory. But under the surface, the waters were in chaos. A group of merfolk swam desperately, youthful faces with eyes filled with terror, long tails pushing them forward as fast as possible. They wailed, pitiful and painful, as delicate scales fell and sunk slowly towards the sea floor.
‘How could this happen? The day was beautiful, everything was perfect!’ Shouto thought, body in pain as he continued to push himself further from home. Time was forgotten amongst the group, the stress causing more scales to fall but none of them stopped. Shouto felt bitterness replace his worry as he realized he was leading the group, being far from the fastest among the 4 friends.
Ochako was only slightly behind him, the small brunette trying to create currents to push herself faster. Shouto couldn’t be mad at her, her magic was strong but hard to control in tense situations. Tsuyu was further behind on the left, she was a healer and her body was small, so Shouto expected her to be behind everyone else. He didn’t need to look back to know that both girls were doing everything they could, the desperation in their wails made is heart sink and body push faster. He couldn’t be mad at them, but the anger that was building inside him was becoming more intense.
Iida swam close to Tsu, his wails quiet. Iida was the biggest, his magic made him the fastest. If he had pushed himself like the others, they would be caught up with the ship by now! If Iida wasn’t holding back, they could have brought Midoriya home by now! Shouto grit his teeth, red and white scales falling faster as he kept swimming, Ochako’s brown hair disappearing from his peripheral vision. His vision was blurring, and his tail was probably bleeding, but he didn’t care. He could fight a shark or any predator that followed them. All he cared about was saving his friend.
Shouto heard Iida yell something, a demand to stop that couldn’t register in his mind. He continued forward until he felt a rush behind him, followed by a large hand pulling him to a stop. He immediately turned to glare at the blue-haired boy, the water around him becoming hot as he lost control of his magic. He could see the girls in the distance, holding hands and moving to catch up. He tried to pull away, to continue the chase, but Iida pulled him back towards the girls as if it were nothing. Shouto screamed, rage lashing out at his friend as if his words were a weapon.
“What the fuck are you doing?! Those bastards are going to get away! Or do you not fucking care about what happens to Midoriya?!” His body was on fire as he fought to break away, struggled to land a solid hit on his friend. He could see blood mixing with the water, wishing for it to be Iida’s.
“Shouto, stop. Everyone is hurt, we need to stop.” The authority in his voice made Shouto sick.
“What about you?! You could have caught them by now! If you had actually cared, he would be here by now! Instead you trailed behind like a useless fucking cucumber!” Iida’s expression didn’t change, it never really did. Shouto wasn’t very expressive either, his outburst clearly frightening the girls. He could normally tell what Iida was feeling, the subtle changes in his face easy to read after being friends for so long, but this time Shouto had no idea what he was thinking.
“Shou please, you’re bleeding.” He felt Tsu’s small hand on his wrist, her eyes desperate. She was terrified, and clearly hurt, yet she continued to put her friends first. Tsuyu was always so kind and considerate, and as angry as he was Shouto didn’t want to hurt her. He begrudgingly followed the trail of blood, eyes landing near the end of his own tail. The wound showed where his scales had fallen from the most, a small area almost completely stripped away from the stress on his mind and body.
Now that the group was still, Shouto became aware of the pain. He felt dazed, his breathing was difficult and sent pain all through his back. The girls weren’t much better, their bodies weren’t strong enough for this kind of treatment; even Iida was missing more scales than what was considered healthy. Shouto stayed silent but didn’t try to take off again, his heart felt like it was sinking as he knew his friend was getting further and further away.
Tsuyu’s hands gently held his tail, Iida’s arms wrapped around him so he wouldn’t drop towards the ocean floor. He could barely feel the healing power as he shut his eyes, his body feeling less real and more like a distant memory. It had been a long time since Shouto had felt like this, so powerless and hurt. Occasionally his body reminded him of his past through nightmares, flashbacks that felt so real and left him screaming until he woke up. Sometimes his brother would be holding him, but mostly he wasn’t home. Dabi wasn’t really his older brother, but he was enough like one that Shouto felt comfortable introducing him to his friends.
He remembered the first time he awoke in Dabi’s home, and the horrors that had put him there. The brother’s both had secrets and knew very little about each other’s past. Shouto knew his brother was a criminal, but he didn’t want or need to know what happened when he left the home. He had never hurt Shouto or his friend’s, and that safety was enough for him. Neither asked questions about each other’s secrets.
Shouto lurched forward and hissed in pain, it only lasted a second but his breathing became worse. He felt memories pushing to the front of his mind and through his body, eyes squeezed tightly as he tried to fight them back. Tsuyu’s hands rubbed gentle circles along his scales and against his skin, he could hear her gentle song as she tried to repair his body. His breathing was ragged as he tried to focus on her, clenching his fists as he focused on the magic healing his skin. It was slow, but he could feel the pain settling as his muscles became less tense.
Ochako’s voice joined the song, the melody gentle and filled with sorrow. He felt himself calming and slowly regaining control of his mind. Iida’s chest was pressed against his back and Shouto tried to match his breathing. He felt himself shaking, unsure of when it started or how long they had been in the same spot. He slowly opened his eyes; the blood was gone from his tail and Tsuyu had finished healing him yet continued with her gentle touches. He looked around the open water, adjusting to his surroundings as he was released by Iida. He nodded to Tsuyu in appreciation as she moved to repeat the process with Ochako.
Shouto swam slow circles around his friends as they were healed, longingly looking in the direction they were going before. He wanted to continue, he needed to see Midoriya alive and well. His eyes filled with relief as his friends finished healing, he was ready to go and didn’t care if he led the group again; they just couldn’t waste any more time.
“Alright… Let’s head home everyone.” Iida spoke, his voice carried authority but sounded pained, as if the words killed him to say. And if the words didn’t kill him, then Shouto just might.
“What?! We can’t go home now, Midoriya is getting further away!” Shouto glared at Iida, grabbing Ochako by the wrist and moving her behind him. She was shocked but didn’t fight him, both were desperate to continue the search. Iida glared back at Shouto; Tsuyu hidden slightly behind his large figure.
“We can’t chase him forever. It’s too dangerous for us to be this far from home.” Iida’s voice was stern, daring his friends to fight. Shouto felt his blood boiling, all the rage from earlier returning in an instant. Fights were rare in their friend group, Iida was usually the voice of reason to settle arguments before they started; he was like an older brother to them all. He was always guiding and protecting the friend group, warning them of how dangerous humans were. He usually worried too much and the friends would laugh him off, Shouto especially. But now, now it didn’t seem like he was worried enough.
“So we’re supposed to just give up and let him die?! If you don’t care then leave, be sure to tell Ms Inko how you just gave up on her son!”
“We can’t tell her anything if we all end up dead!” Iida shouted, glaring at him. Shouto felt his heart sink at the thought of losing all his friends, staying quiet for a moment before turning away from the group. His friends couldn’t handle humans, their magic was strong but limited to the ocean. Iida was right, when mer-folk got removed from the ocean they almost certainly never made it back.
“I’m going to find Midoriya, you guys should head back.”
“What?! You can’t fight a human on your own, there’s no way we’ll let you!” Ochako grabbed his arm, as he looked back he could see the determination in her eyes.
“I can’t go home and do nothing, and you have families you need to take care of.” He tried to sound calm and stern, he didn’t want to explain everything to them until Midoriya was safe. He felt Tsuyu’s hand on his shoulder.
“You’re our family too Shou, so if you’re going then we’ll come too. Besides, Midoriya might be hurt.” Ochako hummed in agreement. Shouto felt relief and anxiety washing through him, he didn’t want to go alone but he didn’t want to be the reason the others got hurt.
“Guys, really. I promise I- Ow!” He was cut off by a slap on his shoulder, followed by annoyed grumbling.
“This is the most irresponsible decision we’ve ever made, but I am not going to abandon you here. If I can’t take you all home then I’ll have to keep you out of trouble.” Iida huffed. Shouto could only nod, he was hoping that Iida would convince the girls to go home but he couldn’t afford to waste any more time.
“Then let’s go.”
The group continued in the same direction as before, hoping for any sign of the ship. They only stopped for a few minutes at a time, hardly sleeping for days and eating whatever kelp and seaweed they found along the way. Iida insisted on letting them sleep, alternating between carrying Tsu and Ochako; Shouto refused since he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. By the time they stopped for another meal, it was clear Iida was exhausted. The nearby kelp was extremely tough and difficult to eat, but Tsuyu found another purpose for it. The 3 tied Iida securely, each holding a piece of kelp to pull him along as he rested. When Shouto was becoming visibly exhausted his friends forced him to swap places.
They didn’t know how long it was but they eventually heard the sounds of humans, entering a harbour. At first the group was excited, until they realised how many ships there were. Iida quickly pulled them all deeper, ensuring they were well hidden as they rested on the sandy floor. The friends were all looking to Shouto, even Iida was for once unsure of what to do next. There were no other mer-folk in these waters, which meant the humans wouldn’t know to look for them at least. But it also meant that they had no understanding of where they were and could easily be caught if they weren’t careful.
“We need to find the boat that took Midoriya, if it went in this direction, it should be here still. Humans can’t survive on boats forever, so even if this is just a stop they should still be collecting food or something.” They all nodded, trying to remember as many details of the ship as they could.
“It wasn’t as big as some of the other ones.” Tsuyu spoke, with Ochako adding on almost immediately after.
“Yeah, and the anchor was really broken. The left side of it was almost completely missing.”
“There was a carving at the base, human words, I think. It looked like this.” Iida drew some symbols in the sand, Shouto could confirm that Iida was right. He had told his friends his brother taught him to read human, so they didn’t think it was weird. He forced down the anxiety, knowing he would have to tell them the truth soon.
“I think it says Kacchan and Deku, but I’m not sure what it means. It’s probably just names, but that’s good. Let’s rest until sunset, then we can start looking.”
“And what do we do if we find it? We can’t just climb aboard.” Shouto felt a lump in his throat as Iida spoke.
“I’m… I’m still thinking it over. Let’s just focus on finding it first.”
No one argued about it, taking the time to eat and rest. Shouto tried to sleep, but his memories kept flashing in his mind. He was half human, he’d tried not to think about it for years but now that truth was going to come out, it was the only way they could save Midoriya. He placed a hand on his scar, remembering his life before his brother found him. He remembered the pain of shifting between forms, the struggle to breathe and the rage his father would take out on him. He was only a child, barely 6 years old and couldn’t do anything to fight back. Now he was 20 and still too weak to tell his friends the truth, he hated himself for it.
When the sun was finally setting, the group looked for the boat. They had no luck as they searched, none of the boats were what they were looking for and the humans were becoming more active. Shouto could hear the yelling and recognised the drunken slurs of men, he knew alcohol made men violent and hurried his friends away. They were all tense, any hope of finding Midoriya was disappearing quickly. They swam around the harbour with no luck, Shouto didn’t fight as Iida took the lead and guided them to a quiet spot on the side of the island. The girls began to wail again, a solemn understanding washed through the group; Midoriya wasn’t here.
Shouto swam away from the group without a word, not leaving their sight as he had some time alone. He was used to feeling insufficient, but the pain of failure hurt more than anything he had ever felt. As he wallowed in self-pity, he heard yelling in the distance. At first he ignored it, assuming the humans just got louder. But he heard it again, it wasn’t coming from the harbour. As he swam to investigate his heart stopped. In the distance there was another island, significantly smaller than the other one but he could see the small lights on a ship. He didn’t waste a second, not even explaining to his friends as he swam towards it, ignoring their shouting.
When he reached the boat he immediately began searching, his friends catching up as he reached the wooden sides. He froze when he found it, there was hardly any light yet Shouto could see it clearly. He faced his friends and nodded, barely able to speak as they started crying in relief. ‘Kacchan and Deku’, Shouto didn’t know what it meant but in that moment he loved the words more than anything, they finally found what took Midoriya.As the friends started to calm down, they heard the faint voices of humans, and amongst them, a timid response from Midoriya. That was all Shouto needed to put his plan into action, the push he needed to reveal his darkest secrets and save his friend