The Stain of the Skylines 2

Star Skyline watched as Stain's tongue darted out and licked Native's blood off the katana, the hero's body going rigid again, and decided things were very, very much not fine.

She heard the Hero Killer's intention before he started to raise the blade he had cut her with in his other hand, reinforcing her assessment of the situation.

In fact, she would gamble that she was safer chained up at the warehouse, than at the mercy of the man looking at her like she was the reason for the evil in the world. She was pretty sure she'd even shiver under his murderous intent, if she had more than a second to make her move. But, she didn't. No movement would be fast enough to stop this.

Luckily for her though, her quirk didn't need movement.

She had started building the bridge the second she locked eyes with him across the length of his blade, and she hoped to every power in the universe that it was enough as she projected across the connection.

As the Hero Killer's eyes went wide, she grasped at her last chance to make it out alive with Native.

-An eight year old Star Skyline ran down the large victorian spiral stairs as she heard her father and his friend's deep laughter echoed against the marble ceilings. -

Star lunged desperately towards Native, pulling the bleeding and still man towards her.

-As she threw herself into Native's arms, he chuckled. The child missed how he glanced up at her father hesitantly as he hugged her back. -

Putting his arm over her shoulder, she struggled to keep the memory going while focusing on the present, she sagging beneath his weight and her injury. She had to keep going. She had to keep moving.

-"Did you bring one, did you bring one?!" She chanted, turning around in his hug to look in his hands. Removing a glove, she touched him and gave a toothy grin. "Ah-ha! You did bring one! It's in your pocket! It's so pretty! Can I hold it?!"-

They were two yards away now, and Star wasn't sure if the warmth on her was from the blood seeping out of his shoulder onto her, from the blood seeping out of her back. She had to save him. She couldn't let him die.

-"Star Olivia Skyline, what have I told you about using your quirk?" -

-The eight year old looked down at the ground at her father's stern voice, tugging at her long blonde hair anxiously as she pulled her glove back on. "I'm sorry…"-

Stain let out an enraged growl at the sight of her father, and she winced. She hadn't had time to accommodate for her audience. She just projected the first memory, and Native had come to mind. She felt every stab of pain as they moved, Native's pain seeping through to her mind as he leaned on her.

-"She's just a kid, Christopher, she didn't mean to." Native defended, pulling out a rock split open with purple crystals inside. He handed it to her and Star's eyes went wide in joy at the shiny thing. -

They were almost away, when they heard Stain kick the garbage bag next to him in rage. Oh god, if he realizes he can still interact with the world around him… has he realized? She couldn't focus on his mind while maintaining contact with Native, especially not while projecting. She wasn't strong enough.

-She was distracted as she took the rock, her father's words starting to fade in the child's mind as he spoke. -

-"I can't risk it, Native…"-

The memory was violently interrupted as she gasped, her free hand flying to her chest in shock. Sticking through her shoulder was the end of a dagger, having gone clear through her body despite being thrown in the villain's blindness.

Before she could react, he was on her, his vision returned to him. Using his dagger as a handle, he yanked it backwards, pulling her with it and causing Native to drop to the ground, still paralyzed. She could hear him counting the minutes down in his head. Native still had 7 minutes left to go.

As she was pulled back, the dagger was yanked out, and Stain's other hand covered her face as he slammed her into the ground. She hit the pavement hard, unable to brace herself as her body went completely rigid mid-air as he licked the blade.

This was it. He would easily kill her in the six minutes the quirk would affect her for. She didn't even need to hear his mind to know that, but she heard it anyway, the reality of the situation sinking in.

If no one else came, no one else would die. He had no intention of killing Native now that he had her, same as Ingenium. Killing her would be a message enough to her father. She just had to stay quiet. She was suddenly thankful her phone was cracked, it's black screen reflecting the scene above it as it laid on the ground next to her. No one else would die tonight.

"Star Skyline, youngest child of the ultimate false idol… The fake Pro... The biggest stain on heroes… and the man at the heart of this cancerous society…" Her eyebrows furrowed at his poisonous words, finding that even though she knew they were untrue, he was not lying.

"You aren't heroes, you have no right to be called that. Both of you are nothing but fakes."

Suddenly, he dropped down, bringing his blade next to her face as he fell on top of her. Pulling it out of the ground, he straddled her as he held it to her throat, his bumpy tongue flicking out to wet his lips in anticipation.

"Hero is a title for those who've accomplished great deeds! This city is full of false champions. All they care about is money and fame. The false hero you tried to save? He's just like all the rest... a hero only when the cameras are watching. He gave you pretty rocks, accepting how your father altered the minds around him like they were playthings in order to maintain his false image… Not that anyone is allowed to remember this."

Star's eyes narrowed. She wasn't sure how he had found out about her dad's real quirk, but he was obviously bluffing since she had no siblings. "I'm an only child, you fanatic! You know nothing about my father, or my family-" She gasped as a blade implanted itself in her leg, but bit her lip to keep noise from escaping. Her eyes watered instinctively as streaks of pain shot out around the wound as she panted.

The laugh he let out was chilling, and she was sure her body would've trembled if it was able to.

"You think you were immune to your father's quirk just because he was immune to yours? You think he wouldn't sink so low as to alter a few brains when his sparkling reputation is at sake? I don't believe that at all… Why else would you be in Japan, out of his reach? Why else... would you have answered the letter?"

He smirked victoriously at the emotion that flashed through her face, knowing he was right. Star couldn't speak, shock ripping through her. It was Stain that had tipped her off? He was the reason she had come to Japan? Had it been a trap then? Or was what he was saying and what he had written about her dad true? She was quickly losing control over her focus. The pain was consuming her mind, leaving room for nothing else. Why was she so weak?

"There was only one person immune to your father's quirk. Only one person who knew the truth as well as I do. You may not be able to remember them, but you want to hear a secret, Star Skyline?"

He twisted the blade in her leg, grinning maniacally as a tear escaped the corner of her eye.

"They remember you."

She sucked in a gasp at the pain, holding on desperately to the walls in her mind and the scream behind her lips. Even if it meant she couldn't hear him, at least no one would hear her.

"Well? You're awfully quiet for a Skyline…"

Her eyes instinctively glanced at the broken phone on the ground next to her, and she looked back at him, biting her lip in determination as he tapped at the blade's handle impatiently. A smirk crawled across his thin lips as he realized.

"You're trying not to draw attention, aren't you? How unusual for a child born under the ultimate false idol. Are these your true colors, I wonder? Or is another act, like your hypocrite of a father…" He spun his other dagger in his hand, never breaking eye contact.

"People always show their true selves when on the verge of death… did you know? So let's find out your true colors, shall we?"

She felt a searing pain across her arm as the Hero Killer brought his blade down in a slash, and her lip started bleeding with the effort it took to remain silent.

He grinned at her silence, savoring the tears running down the sides of her face as he hovered an inch away from her. His voice crawled into her ear as he spoke three last words.

"Where. is. Skyline."

Then, as he drove his blade into her already bleeding shoulder... she broke.