Chapter 23: The Order’s Warning

"You fought well," she started, her voice hard but unflinching. "But you allowed your emotions to get the best of you. Chaos magic is a two-edged sword—can improve your strengths, but also amplify your weaknesses. Today you discovered the price of not being in control of it."

Izuku's hands curled into fists, his red eyes cast down. "We believed we were prepared," he growled, his voice heavy with anger. "But we weren't. Not even close."

Katsuki pounded his fist on the ground, his rage getting the better of him. "Damn it! We trained for this! We should have been able to defeat her!"

Minoru, always the peacemaker that he was, put a hand on Katsuki's shoulder. "We underestimated her," he said gently. "And we overestimated ourselves. But this is not the end. This is just another lesson."

Agent K nodded, her face inscrutable. "Exactly. And now, you've caught the eye of a competing faction. They've been monitoring you, tracking your movements, and waiting for the perfect moment to attack. Your chaos magic makes you a target, and your performance today has only made them more interested."

The triplets looked at each other anxiously. "A competing faction?" Izuku asked, his voice shaking slightly. "Who are they?"

Agent K's eyes furrowed. "They name themselves the Order of Aether. They hold that chaos magic is a sacrilege to the balance of the world, and they won't hesitate to destroy those who perform it. It hasn't been open for decades. The last person to have Chaos magic, made their own reality so they were never tracked down. That is until they heard of you guys." Looking down at them, she straightened her back, realizing that these were kids that they were after.

"You have to be ready. They won't engage the correct way, and they won't show mercy."

The gravity of what she said lingered in the air like choking mist. A knot formed in Izuku's chest. Decisions they made—embracing chaos magic, joining Class 1-ZX—had a weight so much heavier than what they could've ever anticipated. He glanced over at his other halves, their eyes mirroring his confusion.

---

That night, the triplets went back to their treehouse, their boyfriends—Touya, Akoyano, and Averill—on standby, which really was just them outside sitting and eating chips, reading a book and on their phone.

The mood inside the treehouse though was thick with tension as the triplets relived what had happened during the day.

Izuku sat on the beanbag chair, his fists balled. "I just can't get Agent K's words out of my head," he breathed. "We're not learning to be assassins. We're learning to survive. And now there's an entire faction that wants us dead."

Minoru sat down next to him, a reassuring presence. "We knew this would never be easy," he whispered. "But we don't have to do it alone. We're doing this together, aren't we?"

Katsuki walked around his hammock, pacing back and forth, anger radiating from him. "I don't care about a stupid faction," he snarled. "What makes me mad is we lost. Again. We're supposed to be good, but we always find a way to mess it up. We never get anywhere."

Minoru sigh softly before getting up to walk towards him, blocking him. "You're not a failure, Katsuki," he asserted. "You're learning. And yes, losing is bad, but it's something that happens. You cannot let it eat you up."

The triplets grew quiet, their feelings raw and unvarnished. The burden of their decisions, their abilities, and the perils that lay ahead weighed on them like an avalanche. But through their struggle, they took comfort in the knowledge that they had the complete support of their mates.

---

As night fell, a faint knocking on the window was heard resonating in the room. Izuku had gotten up to open the window and had discovered a small, sealed letter landing on the floor.

He stopped and picked it up, his heart racing upon realizing that the design cut into the wax seal was a corkscrew whirlwind, the signature of the Order of Aether.

He ripped open the envelope, his fingers shaking as he unfolded the letter within. The note was short, penned in beautiful script:

"𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔."

Izuku's breath was stuck in his throat. He gazed up at his brothers, his face pale. "It's from the Order," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "They're after someone from our past."

Katsuki yanked the letter from his hands, his eyes reading the words. "What the hell does this mean? Who are they talking about?"

Minoru's familiars woke, their eyes glinting with fear. "It is anyone," he told them, his voice shaking. "Someone we know, someone we love. We have to make it fit before it's too late."

The room fell silent, the weight of the message palpable in the air. The triplets knew that they were out of time. The Order of Aether was closing in, and their next move could turn it all around.

---

The triplets gathered again the following morning on the training grounds, their determination strengthened by the mysterious note from the Order of Aether. The atmosphere was tense, an ominous cloud over them, prophesying destruction. They knew the stakes were higher than before, the threat more real than they ever experienced.

Agent K stood in the middle of the arena, her sharp eyes scanning the team, determining their preparedness for what lay ahead. "Today," she declared, her voice echoing clear and strong, "we're going to be working on strategy and teamwork. The Order of Aether is not going to play by the rules, and we won't be playing by them either. You'll need to be prepared for anything, able to think on your feet and do whatever they can throw your way."

The teens nodded, their faces serious, their minds already whirling with possibilities and backup plans. They knew they couldn't be caught off guard, not with the Order of Aether monitoring their every step, waiting for the ideal moment to attack.

As they were trained, the triplets found that they were unable to avoid feeling as if they were under observation, with every step, every choice scrutinized by the unseen. Spooky, reminded of danger so ever-present and over them, the stakes high beyond measure in the game that they played.

They dived headlong into their training, testing their limits and refining their skills with an increased sense of urgency. They rehearsed their chaos magic, their movements smoother, more precise, their mastery over the raw energy that coursed through them more assured with each day.

But even as they trained, the mysterious message of the Order of Aether lay in the back of their minds, always waiting, always telling them of the threat that waited ahead. They knew they could not wait for it to arrive, could not wait for the Order to attack. They had to act, had to make a choice about how to protect themselves and the ones they loved.

On one evening, when they were lounging in their dorm room, Izuku at last spoke under the dense silence that had set in between them. "We have to figure out who the Order is going after," he told Katsuki, his tone firm, his red eyes blazing with resolve. "We can't sit around and wait for them to make the first move. We have to do things ourselves, figure out a way to stop them before somebody gets hurt."

Katsuki nodded, his own conceit softened by an unusual glance of seriousness. "Yeah. But where do we begin? We don't even know who they're looking for, who they're hunting. It could be anyone."

Minoru's familiars chirped softly, their eyes going wide with worry and interest. "What if we begin to see if we can dig into our history?" he breathed, his determination but soft-spoken. "The message indicated the target is someone from our history. Perhaps we can glean a clue there, something that will provide us a look at who the Order is targeting.

The triplets all nodded, their determination hardening. They knew that the future would be trying, full of obstacles and dangers beyond their comprehension. But with everything they love, they were prepared for whatever it was to turn out to be, prepared to battle for the people they loved.

As the first light of morning seeped in through the window, the triplets huddled together, their determination strengthening, their minds racing with schemes and scenarios.