The way should have been smooth and straight.
But with Hound Dog driving, it seemed as though they were in some kind of a race.
" So..." Sora began, opting for a distraction from the twisted ride. " Heading to Tartarus too?"
Todoroki nodded his head.
For anyone, he might seem unfazed by the uncomfortable drive. But Sora could see him clenching his bag and seatbelt so tightly his knuckles had gone white.
" They say Da... Toya-nii won't have long to live. They're finally allowing visits, and we wanted to speak with him. As a family should."
" I'm sorry..."
Sora didn't know how to respond to that.
He must have been through a lot.
He was about to lose his brother, for the second time.
Not everyone could live such an experience.
But fate had it...
That one was sitting just next to him...
" Todoroki... I..." her fists clenched on her knees. " I don't know if I have the right to say this. But... try to know him the best you could while you have the chance..."
The boy glanced in her direction.
" I hardly remember much about my father... I was young when... it all happened... I wish I had more time with him... I wish I could have talked more with him before I had to end it..."
" Shirogane..." He took a moment to consider her words, then turned to ask her. " Why are you going there?"
The girl ruffled her hair slightly. " You know about the spies who had sneaked into the evacuation units? My mother was one of them..."
She exhaled, as if getting those words out took a great effort.
Perhaps they did.
The boy's eyes widened slightly.
It wasn't made public.
No one knew about the relationship between Reika and Sora.
And those who did kept quiet about it.
" She would have... caused hundreds if not thousands of people to die that day... Your family included..."
The girl clutched at her blazer tightly as she dipped her head. " I'm sorry..."
Todoroki hesitated for a moment before placing a hand on her shoulder. " You have nothing to apologize for. It's not like you knew."
Sora looked up, and a sad look appeared on her face. " She called me a monster... On the day she left me..."
" At least, he didn't abandon you..."
Todoroki was finally able to understand her words from when they joined his father's agency for the internship.
" I want to know why..."
He wanted to know why, too...
Why did Toya have to end up like that...
Why did he have to pay with his life...
" We have a lot more in common than we think, you and I," he said, his hand tracing the burn scar on his face.
Sora looked at him... and then at the way ahead of them. " Yeah... we do..."...
________________
Upon reaching the newly built Tartarus, they found their families waiting outside.
Todoroki's whole family, and Yui, whose wheelchair was being pushed by Satoru, as she was yet unable to walk on her own.
Sora thanked their neighbor, who assured her he would be waiting for them outside, and greeted her friend's family and former mentor properly before two guards ushered them inside.
After crossing the entrance, they each headed their way, but Sora stopped in her tracks.
"One moment!" She turned back, running to the other side to catch up with her classmate. " Todoroki!"
The boy looked over his shoulder, only for her to ambush him with a hug. " Let's do our best."
He said nothing.
He didn't even push her away.
He needed that hug as much as she did.
" Let's do our best." He returned it rather stiffly and awkwardly, making her chuckle.
" You're not used to hugs?"
His eyes drifted to his sister and grumbled. " Only bear hugs."
That drew another chuckle from her. And then they split.
Sora to find her mother.
Todoroki to find his brother...
________________
" I can't believe you humored me with a visit, dear mother." The woman slumped in her chair, her hair tied into a tight bun, while she was bound in a straitjacket.
She didn't spare the briefest glance towards Sora.
" I will be visiting more often. There is more... much more you want to tell me after all, and I'll make sure to hear every word of it."
The woman frowned, apparently not liking the idea.
" But the one who wanted to see you today was not me." Sora stepped from behind her grandmother's wheelchair and closer to the younger woman. " It was Sora."
The woman looked her up and down before letting out a snort. " The little monster."
Sora's hand clenched, but she kept her calm. " Hello, mother."
The woman turned on her, eyes sharp like a knife. " I have no children. Don't ever call me that again. You're nothing but a monster."
Sora clenched her jaw while Yui glared. She wanted to speak. But Sora made her promise to stay quiet.
This was her talk.
" Why..."
" Why what?"
" Why did you leave?"
" Didn't she tell you why?" She beckoned towards Yui. " Didn't she tell you what she had done to me?"
" Yes."
" Then you have your answer!"
" What I meant is, why did you leave me behind? You could have taken me as well."
" Take a monster? Why would I?"
Sora's eyes softened very slightly at that. " Why am I a monster to you?"
Reika got so close that her nose pressed against the glass separating them. " Because you're the same as them!"
Her eyes widened.
" You have the same blood in you as that woman. You have the same Quirk. You're a monster. Just like her. Just like everyone else."
Sora blinked at that.
" Everyone else..."
" Your mother, you know, was Quirkless, Sora," Yui finally spoke.
The woman had left when Sora was too young to understand such a thing, and they didn't talk much about her at home.
She looked back at the woman heaving on the other side of the glass, burning with rage.
" Right. And that's why you hated me. You never welcomed me into your family!"
Sora looked from one to the other as Yui lowered her head in shame.
" We were the last family holding on to Angel... And I could already see it fading away in his eyes..." She looked at Reika. " I wanted him to choose someone who could restore our Quirk. But he chose you..."
" The Quirkless orphan who came from nowhere..." Reika continued with a mocking smirk. " I heard enough of that. I still hear it sometimes, you know. All the ' You have nowhere to go back to', and ' You should be grateful for our family for taking in a worthless orphan like you'."
Yui lowered her head while Sora's face burned with anger. " Don't talk about her like that!"
" But she did say all of that! This was the grandmother oh you so care for!" Reika laughed. " Wait! Did you forget? She didn't care about you, either, little monster! She was the first one to call you a monster! Just because you were born with my red eyes! Can you believe it? Just because you had red eyes, you weren't just an angel! You were a monster to her!"
And she continued to laugh, as if enjoying what she was doing.
" And so what if she did?"
" What... is she..."
" Huh?"
" Sora..."
" I remember. And I chose to put it past me, long ago. But again, what about it? Why should I care about it at all? Despite everything, she didn't let go of me! Even when you left!"
She wanted to follow her mother.
But a hand held her in place, preventing her from going after the woman who turned her back on her.
It was Yui's hand.
" She did it simply for her son! Don't you understand?! She only cared for her son!" It was the first time Sora could see tears in the woman's eyes. " She never cared for you or for me! Even now, you're nothing but a substitute for the son she lost!"
Sora closed her eyes for a moment, then looked back at her grandmother, filled with shame and regret.
" Is that true?"
Yui looked up, her eyes glazed over as she slowly shook her head. " Ever since that day... You're Sora to me. My sole granddaughter..."
Sora smiled softly as she walked over to her grandmother and knelt before her, hands gently placed on her knees as she looked into her sky-blue eyes.
She knew.
She already knew.
But it wasn't she who needed to hear that.
It was her mother.
" And you're my only grandmother..."
" Huh..." the woman voiced, taken aback by Sora's reaction.
" I came here to understand one thing. Why did you leave me behind? And now I get it." Sora looked back at her mother. " I can't really blame you. What you had been through must have been hard. I can't even begin to imagine it."
Reika blinked, trying to fathom what was happening.
" I've long since decided to forget about the past. She called me a monster, too, that's right. But she never abandoned me. She looked after me. She took care of me. She read me stories when you weren't there to do so!"
" Sora..." Yui's tears were flowing openly at that.
" I don't care at all what she thought of me back then. All I know is, now, she is the best Grandma in the whole world!"
Yui buried her face in her hands, crying and weeping openly as Sora defended her.
" As for you. I pity you. It's not like I don't feel sorry for you and what you've been through. But I will never..." She walked up to her grandmother, hugging her tightly. " Forgive you turning to All For One's side and endangering her life and everyone else in that block."
Sora's red eyes pierced through those of her mother, and the woman staggered back till she fell on her chair again. " She might have hated me, but she stayed by my side and supported me my whole life. While you... Even if you loved me at some point, you chose to stand in my way and harm those close to me. And for that, I shall never forgive you."
Sora heaved a deep breath and finally turned to wipe her grandmother's eyes with a smile. " Let's go home, Grandma."
Yui smiled weakly as she nodded her head, and both of them took their leave. Leaving Reika behind them.
A part of a past they had overcome...
________________
She managed to set her heart and feelings at last, saying everything she wanted to say.
" I'm sorry..." Yui mumbled as they made their way out of the facility.
" Don't ever be," Sora told her.
" Everything she did... it was because of me... because I treated her that way... she retaliated on you and everyone just the same..."
" No, it's not," Sora stated, her tone final. " You chose to stop, to care, and to make up for what you've done. But she chose to actively hate and harm others in her wake."
" But, Sora-"
" I won't say that you shouldn't feel that guilt. But again, everyone has that choice within them. And she picked hers," she cut her off. " What matters now is that we have each other. And no one can break the trust that we've built. We don't think of the past anymore."
She looked up at the bright light waiting for them beyond the door.
" Today is not the goal."
" We look towards tomorrow."...
________________
It was a long day. Sora admitted to herself.
By the time she flopped on her futon next to her grandmother, she felt exhausted.
With the woman's injury, Sora had moved to her room, in case she needed something during the night.
She had just checked her messages for the day and assured Yumei, who made it a habit to ask about her since the last battle, that she was fine.
She threw her phone and flopped on the other side, only for strong arms to pull her closer into her grandmother's warm hug.
" Thank you... for defending me..."
" I will always defend you, Grandma." She assured her as she hugged her back.
" Then let me help you this time around..."
" Huh?"
Yui's hand streaked through her short hair. " Something is wrong with you. I can tell."
" I'm fine, Grandma-"
" You're not fine, Sora." The woman then looked into her red eyes. " Just like how I'm not. Tell me, please."
Sora didn't know whether it was the hug, the 'please', or her grandmother's stare that made her behave without a single word, but she clutched the woman tightly and buried her face into her chest.
" Everything... is so wrong now..." The girl sniffed, her tears dripping slowly. " I miss Yuu... I see him everywhere... I don't know if he will ever wake up... Aoyama decided to leave our class... and I couldn't stop him... You had to fight and ended up losing your Quirk... I... I couldn't protect a single thing!"
She said, crying in Yui's arms like a weak child.
The woman patted her head gently. " You did everything you could. You protected more than you think. You just have to open your eyes and see it. It could have been worse without you out there."
" Thank you, Shirogane."
Yui didn't know if Sora heard her assurances or not, for the girl soon cried herself to sleep, still clinging to the sole family she had...