Chapter Text
Who was Geten? To her, it was an easy question to answer. She was Re-destro’s weapon and an instrument of the Liberation Army. She fully dedicated herself to their principles and Grand Commander, whom she had always respected and cared for. To her, Re-destro was the most powerful man she had ever known.
So imagine her horror to see her mentor laying on debris, bloodied and legless, whilst the gang leader of those upstart brats stood over him, his clothes ripped, grinning.
Her body moved on its own, reflexes guiding her motions. A thin shard of ice appeared in front of her, created from the ice cubes she always kept in her pocket. The spear aimed true: at that boy’s head.
A thrust of her arm was what it would take, and she would enact the vengeance she desired.
“Stand down.” Re-destro waved off the incoming wave of his loyalists. Not that they would have followed through anyway. Those cowards were petrified by that boy’s smile, but she would have moved if it weren’t for her leader’s orders.
“What?” She gasped, breathing heavily. Am I hearing right? Rage, shock, fear, it bleached her mind. No good. Stay – stay calm.
Perhaps the fight with that man earlier, the fire-user, had drained her more than she’d liked to admit. Her heaving breaths betrayed her fatigue.
She watched Re-destro beckon Trumpet over, who responded immediately, jumping off his truck and sprinting over. They conversed for a while, with the boy standing beside them. His smile had faded, replaced with an expression of weariness.
“Our leader has ordered us to cease all fighting with the League Of Villains!” Trumpet decreed. “Tend to the wounded, collect the fallen, repair our home, and…” He faltered, as though unsure of how to phrase the following words. “Our leader has requested to bring our…guests—” Trumpet nearly choked on the word, “sushi.”
While the remnants of the army scattered to heed the order, Geten rushed forward to Re-destro, manipulating the ice from her pocket to create a makeshift cast, fitting it around the stumps.
“Grand Commander…” she whispered, feeling tears drip down her cheek.
“Apocrypha, I am sorry. I have failed the Liberation Army.” He said, head drooping.
“You’ve lost a lot of blood. Let’s get you to the hospital.”
Re-Destro gave a laugh that was devoid of any humour. “He’s destroyed nearly all of them.”
“Hey.” The chilling voice of the boy brought her attention to him. Geten felt satisfaction seeing the boy in just as bad of a shape as her leader. “I need some help too. Where’s the hospital?”
“We’ll take you there. Trumpet.” The politician turned to face them. “The van.”
He understood immediately and whistled for the driver.
Even for an ice-user, Geten felt the coldness in the van. Re-Destro and her were seated in the back, while Trumpet took over the driver’s seat, and the boy rode shotgun. Everyone was quiet.
There was shivering, Geten could tell. From the slight tremble in Trumpet’s right arm from being in such close proximity to the boy who had levelled nearly half the city, to her own hands. She kept them moving, kept them dancing, moving the few ice cubes in her pocket, ready to —
“Hey, girl. Stop that.” The boy muttered, not even facing her.
She froze. “What?”
“If I was going to do something, I’d have destroyed you all just now.” Trumpet flinched at his words.
She eyed the man beside her for a command. Re-Destro only gave her a weak smile, as though that would reassure her. It only deepened her snarl.
“Okay.” She said, forcing her restless fingers to remain stationary.
She could end it all. She could do it. One shard — the boy wouldn’t even be able to see it. Yet, only two things kept her from following through: her loyalty, and the fearful thought that even her leader couldn’t defeat him. Was this boy stronger than him, or...no, no .
That was a treacherous thought she had no right to entertain.
She kept her eyes on the people outside that the van was rushing past. The Meta Liberation Army, nearly 20 thousand strong, and they were unable to kill 6 brats. Now these supposedly strong soldiers were strewn about on the streets, dead or dying, like ants after an exterminator’s sweep.
They’re weak, all of them, she snarled at their pitiful states. She had none for them. Only she trained at the level all of them should have. Only she was worthy of her leader’s praise.
Then why didn’t you kill that fire-user? Her conscience asked, with the same tone of condescension she had towards her fellow citizens.
She thought about it for a while, and had no answer she liked.
Everyone was on edge on the first night. They were tired, as was she, but how could she sleep when she knew the League Of Villains was right next door?
The handful of undestroyed buildings were crammed to the brim with the survivors of the army. The League was given the rooms in the Deika Hotel, and Geten was posted there to keep guard, though she would have done it regardless of the request by Skeptic. Him and Trumpet would be protecting Re-destro at the hospital, given that half of the League was also in an equally bad shape and were hospitalised as well.
That left the lizard man, the one with the hat, and the fire-user, so Geten wasn’t too worried. Still, she sat in the room opposite theirs, both resting and anticipating a move by those delinquents.
There was the opening of the door. Instantly, she opened hers, brandishing her ice shards.
It was him.
The two looked at each other for an instant. His expression shifted from surprise to condescension, tilting his chin high, his mouth curling into a sneer.
“I didn’t know you were a girl.” He said, seeming to note her long hair which her parka wasn’t covering.
“The Grand Commander tasked me to deal with you,” Geten stated, disregarding whatever he had said, “I have never failed him. I don’t plan on doing so.”
“Cool threat. Hey.” Dabi snapped his fingers at her eye level. “Wake up. It’s over. We won, you lost, and now we’re using your money and eating sushi.”
She smiled. “You’re an idiot if you think we’ve surrendered. We’ve merely entered a ceasefire. The Festival will continue, and it will start with me delivering your corpse to the Grand Commander.”
He sighed, muttering something under his breath that Geten didn’t catch. “Look, I’m tired. I’d think you’d be tired too if you were actually, y’know, human. Let’s go and sleep, and one day, I’ll burn you alive. Deal?”
“I’m not tired. I’m not you .” The last word was spoken with derision.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Dabi waved her off and started ambling down the hallway. “Trained for years, strength is amazing, Re-destro’s the best. I’ve got more important shit to deal with than you.”
“Don’t you dare utter his name with your filthy mouth,” She hissed, the icicles pointing at him.
Dabi turned around. “Alright, little girl,” he said, “If your Grand Commander is so great I can’t even say his name, tell me why he lost to Shigaraki and I’m not six feet under.”
“My job isn’t finished. It’s as simple as that.”
Dabi eyed her. He opened his mouth, then closed it, turning around to continue down the hallway.
Again, for the second time that day, Geten could have followed through with the kill. But she found her arms lowering, her ice shards reshaping back into cubes, returning to her pockets.
She exhaled. Why didn’t I do it? What’s wrong with me? Something about what he said...Shigaraki. That boy.
Her face creasing into a frown, she shut her room door behind her.