"You're weak from the poison," you tell him, activating your quirk, "why were you so careless?"

He's healed quickly, and his skin no longer burns, but his veins still glow like fire. Midoriya joins your side, tracing the veins on the boy's arms with a worried look.

"He's here." Shinimi mumbles. "Run."

And at that moment, the world crumbles.

❧

The hospital is blown to bits by an unknown force, shattering your world in an instant. In that moment you don't care about the people inside, but only about the two people's hands you hold. 

The sound is deafening, and you struggle to help Shinimi up. His legs shake with both fear and weary bones, and he looks around with wide eyes.

"What happened?" He shouts, his voice shaking, "What did he do?"

You sigh. "Now isn't the time for jokes! The hospital is collapsing!"

You run from the falling debris, a dreary feeling of deja vu filling your lungs along with the dust, dragging the teen with you. 

"Midoriya, come on!" You shout.

He stands there, still, unharmed, unmoving, unafraid.

"Calm down," he tells you, not looking back, "it won't hurt us."

"What is it? What'd Kurai do?" Shinimi asks you again.

You look around, confused from both of the boys' weird statements. Midoriya points to the collapsing hospital, not an ounce of worry in his movements.

"It's fake."

You pause, turning to watch as the collapsing slows.

"That's his quirk," Shinimi explains, "it's similar to mine, except he's better at controlling anger. He can make people see things by manipulating the chemicals in their brains. What did you guys see?"

"The hospital was exploded, and collapsing," you tell him, slowly taking a step towards the now-reversing rubble, "but how come you didn't see it?"

"He probably just wanted to confuse me. He's somewhere here, I know it, just hiding. Watching."

"He sounds creepy," Midoriya huffs, brushing dust off his shoulder.

In the split second after the words leave his mouth, the illusion is gone, and the hospital is back to normal. You blink, the whole event feeling unreal.

"Nimi?"

It's a voice you don't recognize; someone completely new walks out from thin air, a name on their lips you don't know. 

Familiarity rings in Shinimi's eyes, though, and his knees buckle making him fall to the ground.

"Kurai?"

"You're alive."

"Of course I'm alive," Shinimi says to him, still sitting on the ground, "who do you think I am? You're the one that should've died by now."

"Well, of course. You've always been the stronger one, little brother."

Kurai kneels before the teenager, and that's when you notice their similarities. The same dark eyes that seem to hold a thousand secrets, the same curve of their lips and freckles on their cheeks. The only difference is Shinimi's bright-red dyed hair, a colorful contrast to Kurai's black hair and pale skin.

They stare at each other for a moment, in disbelief, in regret, in doubt that this is even real. There's tons of emotions you don't understand passing through their gaze, but you know whatever fight they might've had has been avoided when Kurai offers his hand to his little brother.

Shinimi takes it, standing up.

You notice that his veins no longer glow with fire; he looks like nothing ever happened.

As soon as the brothers embrace, they disappear.

❧

"We have to find him."

Midoriya nods in agreeance. "Who knows what could happen to him. And there's no way his brother knows about Shinimi's illness. He could die at any moment."

Kirishima is the hero you both chose to help you, since he's Shinimi's idol and he's also the only one who doesn't seem scared of Midoriya still. 

"Guys, but it's his brother," the hero says, "maybe it's better off like this. He seemed happy seeing him again, didn't he?"

"He kind of gave a lot of," you glance at Midoriya, "mixed signals."

Kirishima runs a hand through his bright hair, sighing. "Alright, I'll help. Poor kid. No hurting his brother though, you understand?"

"Fine," Midoriya mutters, nodding slowly. You nod as well, though you probably wouldn't be able to hurt him anyways.

"I have a meeting soon, at the police station," Kirishima explains, "we can go there, tell them Shinimi's been kidnapped, and I can go to my meeting. It's a win-win situation."

"I don't know if we should tell the police," Midoriya argues. The pro-hero shrugs.

"Do what you think is best, Izuku. I trust you."

❧