Chapter 6: S1, Ep 6: Forming the Team
[Forming The Team]
"…Z…! L…Z…! LUZ!" A voice Luz recognized as belonging to Julia called out, breaking her out of her groggy half-sleep. Her eyes were heavy with the same kind of feeling that someone who had just woken up had, a tired groan sighing from her as she cupped her forehead. The headache from earlier was gone, thankfully, though now it was replaced with a heavy weight on her shoulders.
"All For One… the power to steal away others powers…" Luz thought, a frown taking up her visage, only for it to disappear a moment later when a hand grasped her shoulder. It was Julia's, that much was obvious, given how it had been her voice that had woken her up from her sleep. "Julia…?" Luz muttered, turning her whole body to face the girl in question, who looked down at her with worry written all over her face.
"Are you okay?" Julia asked as Luz raised an eyebrow.
"I mean… aside from not wanting to be here, I'd say I'm fine. Why?" Luz asked as Julia breathed out a sigh of relief. But… why? What was she so relieved about?
"Well… when I came to check on you, you were, uh, what was the term again… sweating buckets? Yes, I believe that was the saying. And when I touched your forehead, you had a blazing fever. To the point where I almost believed you were going to go into shock from how hot you were getting," Julia answered as Luz blinked.
That… wasn't good. It also didn't make sense. She was fit as a fiddle when she woke up the day of her getting on that bus. So why or how on earth did that change? Not to mention she didn't feel sick. Not even remotely. Was it a consequence of speaking to Shigaraki or being inside that "Vestige Realm" or whatever it was called?
Luz frowned. This was all too confusing for her to deal with after the massive bombshell that was dropped on her by her less-than-a-friend mental pal. Luz had no idea just what kind of person Rikitasu Shigaraki was, but if she had to guess based on what she knew currently? He was someone who was to be avoided at all costs. Well, if he could be avoided, what with him living in her head rent free.
Then again, if he was the only way that she could learn about her power, then... what choice did she have?
She found herself still staring at the palm of her right hand, glaring at the hole in the center with nothing but aggravation and annoyance. Theft. Stealing. That was her power. She stole from others the power of which was rightfully theirs. The jokes wrote themselves, and while she knew it was wrong, there was a voice in the back of her head, tiny as could be, whispering to her.
It wasn't Shigaraki's voice. It wasn't a mysterious third party, either.
It was her voice. And it was telling her to indulge. To take without consequence.
"No…" Luz thought, clenching her hand into a fist, covering the hole with her fingers, her nails digging into her palm as her frown slowly morphed into a toothless sneer. She glanced up at Julia, who was still staring at her with worry written all over her face.
A string, barely even visible, marked itself right between Julia's eyes. It sparked with red lightning, like a tempting offer. Her left hand twitched, small, barely noticeable sparks jumping to and from her hand and fingers as the voice of her subconscious began to speak.
"Go on… do it. You know you want to. Why not? Who's going to stop you? The world is your oyster, so goes the quote, right? Why not indulge a little? Take what's yours. You're the one in charge. You're the one with the control. For once in your life, be a little greedy. What's the worst that can happen?"
For a moment, her hand rose an inch off of the bed, but she stopped herself. "No…." Luz thought, this time with more defiance in her mental tone. "I won't do it… I can't do it..."
The voice went quiet, and for a just a second, she was met with pure silence. That was, of course, until Julia spoke up. "Luz? Are you sure you're okay?"
"Huh?" Luz snapped back to the world around her, blinking rapidly as the string disappeared. She looked up at Julia, meeting her eyes, before a blush of embarrassment washed over her cheeks, a nervous chuckle following after it. "Hehe… sorry about that. Just spaced out, that's all!"
"Well, if that's all," Julia said, a heavy dose of skepticism in her voice. She sat next to Luz, hands flat against her knees as the two stared at the wall. There was a heavy silence between them, and as Luz glanced outside, seeing the veil of darkness begin to coat the ground outside, she realized just how long she had been "asleep".
Well, it wasn't exactly a lie to say she had been asleep. She certainly felt rejuvenated, but the heavy weight of the revelation of what her powers made it almost feel pointless. What made it worse was that it finally had begun to sink in that this, all of this, was real. Oh, sure, she had acknowledged that fact earlier, but now she was truly coming to grips with it.
Luz had hoped, with all of her heart, that this was just one big bad lucid dream. Or, well, a nightmare would be more apt to describe the shitshow she was in, though that was just semantics. She wanted this to be fake—desperately so. She wanted to have woken up, back home, in her bed, in the comfort of her home with her Mama making her favourite food and continue binge-watching The Legend Of Korra—she had just finished watching The Good Witch Azura, The Animated Show, for the fifteenth time that year so she decided to spice things up—while knowing she had the whole summer to make more AMVs and read more books.
But, that, of course, was just a fantasy that she had cooked up in her head. A world that simply didn't exist. If she had been back at home, she probably would've been locked in her room again, left to rot while her mother continued to drink herself into oblivion. Or, worse, she'd be in prison serving a fifteen to life sentence in a medium-security prison.
Luz didn't know what was worse. Prison, or here. Both had the same issues. The only difference was that she was outdoors, in the wilderness, with nothing going for her. If she was lucky, she would've been out after fifteen years and monitored. Frankly, that would've been better than being slapped into a death game.
Either way, if this was their way of trying to get her to feel remorse... that wasn't going to happen.
However, even with that in mind, there was one dark, horrific thought that came to mind. Looking down at her hand and squeezing it into a fist, she sighed. "I'm going to die here…" Luz muttered, earning a sharp stare from Julia.
"No, you won't," Julia stated in a matter-of-fact tone, causing Luz to glance at her, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"At least you have something to defend yourself with. What do I have? These useless hands that do nothing," Luz grumbled as Julia crossed her arms, giving her the typical "are you kidding me" stare that her mother would often give her when she did something, admittedly, stupid. Although hidden in that stare, there was an accusatory gleam in her eyes, something that Luz picked up on.
"You're lying," Julia stated, leaving no room for argument. Luz was about to say something, but Julia continued. "I know you're lying because I'm the queen of lies. I had to be to get stuff around my father. You looked at the floor for just a moment, so therefore, you're lying."
"And how do you know, huh?" Luz spat, frustration coating her tone as Julia smirked.
"Because you just confirmed it," and with that, Luz realized that she had fallen for the good ol' bait and switch. She should've seen that coming, but, she didn't. Blame her social unawareness of cues like that, but it wasn't all that wrong for her to get defensive. No one liked being told that they were lying, even if they knew deep down that they were.
Luz slouched forward, looking down at her hands, specifically her palms, and regarded them with disgust. Before, she used to look at her newfound palm-holes with intrigue. With curiosity. With joy. Her one major fantasy, the one where she received a superpower, came true. Where she could be the hero of her own story and save people from themselves and others. To bring about world peace at a time when it was needed most. Basically, she wanted to be like Azura.
She finally had something, even if it was a little confusing and something she was having a hard time figuring out, to do that with! And what was better was that others were awakening powers like her! She could have cool, awesome battles that she's always envisioned to have. It was her dream come true!
And then she met Shigaraki. She learned the truth about her power, about where it came from. She learnt that it was, in fact, not that. It was something that embodied the very thing she despised. The taking away of someone's individuality given manifest. Greed incarnate. Something that she had no business being linked to.
But yet, if that was the case, if that was true… when why had Shigaraki said what he had said? Was he just trying to manipulate her? Or was he telling the truth?
"They're a reflection of the person who awakens them. If you really found stealing power from others to be as underhanded and as awful as you proclaim, then would it have not made sense for you to awaken some other kind of power? Instead, you awoke to mine, so what does that say about you?"
Those words stuck with her. If what he was saying had been true. If "Quirks", as he had called them, reflected the person that they awoke in, then why would she, someone who was entirely against taking away things from others for the basis of "just because", awaken to a power that's sole purpose was to do that?
Was it a cruel joke on behalf of the world? Or was it something else?
Although, she could think of a few reasons why the universe would want to give her that kind of power. She couldn't, nor would she lie to herself about it, but there was a part of her that craved violence. A part of her mind that screamed for it. To purge those who had wronged her, and to do so by any means necessary.
She kept those thoughts and feelings to herself. In the past, there was never a time where she had thought about doing anything outwardly visceral to anyone. Whenever she was overwhelmed by the wickedness that burrowed into her brain, she'd violently beat up a bunch of plushies to get her frustration out. It started small at first. Punching, kicking, and slamming against the wall. But then it would get worse. It would devolve into trying to choke the life out of something that didn't have life, tearing off limbs and stitching them back on, only to tear them off again.
Her mother never paid attention to her when she did that sort of thing, even if it was only in the purview of the basement. Never once would she question why she went down there. Then again, she also never once paid attention to her actions point blank period.
There was one time where she almost caught a squirrel to take her anger out on, but in the end chose not to. At the time, she viewed that as being too much. Stuffing and fabric being all over the place was better than clubbing a Squirrel to death. She wasn't a heartless sociopath who craved blood. She just had... issues.
Anger issues, to be exact.
They were made a lot worse by the nonstop harassment and physical abuse at the hands of her bullies... No. Calling them bullies were too tame. They were simply abusers.
They did... a lot of things to her.
A lot of things that she outright refused to acknowledge, at times.
One of the most notable things that she had recalled them doing was spreading false rumours about how the only reason she got good grades in her science class was because she was giving Mr. Jones, a teacher who she actually respected and liked, under the table blowjobs during lunch or after school.
They had no evidence for that sort of thing. The only "evidence" they had was that her grades were higher than theirs, so obviously they had to be something nefarious had to have been going on. After all, in that bitches own words "There's no way a worthless spick could possibly have better grades than me."
The school was forced to do an investigation into Mr. Jones after the rumours got to the point where the parents heard about it. Nothing was found, because there was nothing to be found, but Mr. Jones had left the school after the fact. He had been on the receiving end of a lot of god-awful emails from a bunch of people, and eventually he fled town after a bunch of people threw Molotov's in through his window to kill him. Thankfully, he lived, but not without suffering severe burns.
By the end of it, Luz had not only lost one of the only people who had her back, but then the whole school believed she was a whore. It got so bad where some people had approached her and... asked for favors. She dared not to even think of the things that she heard, and frankly, it was for the better.
And it all led back to that bitch. Since the first day that she stepped foot into Gravesfield High, she had been marked by her as her personal punching bag. Someone who was less than human in the eyes of those who had the real power in the school. If she said roll over, the staff did as such. After all, when you were the daughter of the former town mayor, it didn't matter what others thought, only what you thought.
It was at that point that Luz realized that maybe... maybe he was right.
Maybe... maybe that was why the universe gave her All For One.
Maybe... maybe she was supposed to be an equalizer of sorts.
Of course, there was always the chance that he was manipulating her. And, considering the kind of vibe that Shigaraki gave off, that was more than possible. But, on the off chance that he wasn't doing that. That he was being honest. Then she had to take his words to heart. Regardless of what she wanted to be true.
Even if Shigaraki was lying to her, it could be a white lie. And a white lie was often far worse than a normal lie. Because a white lie contained just enough truth to deceive the person being lied to. She thanked having her binged Death Note for that one.
And that, most of all, made him that much more terrifying. The fact that he could so effortlessly lie and tell the truth at the same time was horrifying. And that wasn't even considering the presence he drew in. Just knowing him for a few minutes left her with the impression that the man she was speaking to was nothing short of a master manipulator and genius. When he spoke, he commanded respect. He commanded fear. He commanded obedience.
And he was in her head. Rikitasu Shigaraki, a man who supposedly conquered his world, was now living inside her head. Someone who she had no doubt in her mind was a bona fide supervillain. A monster beyond compare. And now, not only was he in her head, but she had his superpower. She had become a wielder of All For One.
A power that could take other people's powers.
A power that was Greed incarnate.
A power that reflected its user, but did it really? Was he telling the truth? Or was he lying to her? The fact that she couldn't tell if she was being lied to scared her. She was really good at piecing together that type of thing. So for her to be unable to tell was a feat in of itself.
And if Shigaraki was honest about that, what else was he not lying about? Or better yet, how much of his words had been whole truths? It started to make Luz panic a little bit because now she was on a deadline. She didn't want to hurt anyone. She refused to hurt others. It was wrong, even if there were a few times where she had so badly wanted to.
Luz wanted to discount everything that Shigaraki had told her. She wanted to throw away every word that he had spoken and forget their meeting ever happened. But logic demanded that she heeded his words. If what he said was true, then she might've been in for a rude awakening very soon.
She had no idea how close "soon" was. For all she knew it was a few days away, or if that was only moments away. Hell, it could've been right now and she wouldn't have been any the wiser—
"Luz? Are you alright?" It was Julia's voice that snapped Luz out of her thoughts yet again, a frown on her face. "You spaced out again. Luz, tell me what's wrong?" Luz blinked, her dark brown eyes meeting Julia's golden yellow. She wanted to tell her the truth. Really, she did, but…. What would her reaction be? To learn that her friend—someone that she trusted—had the power to take away the very thing that was hers. All with just a handshake.
It would paint all of their previous interactions in a bad light. And the last thing that she wanted to do was to drive a wedge into their budding friendship. So, against her better judgment, she lied.
"No, I'm… I'm alright. Let's just get this party started, yeah?" Luz said as Julia arched an eyebrow, her frown deepening as she crossed her arms.
"Luz…. You just about had a stroke," Julia said, her tone of voice dripping with worry and concern. "I don't know what happened, but you need to see a doctor, or—"
"What doctor, Julie?" Luz interrupted, her voice deadpan as she stood up, dusting off her leggings as she looked over her shoulder and back at Julia. "There's no doctor in this camp, and no, Arla doesn't count. Besides, I doubt the Governor is gonna send one because one of us got sick. Hell, he's hoping for us to die here anyway, so what does it matter?" Luz said, her tone cold as Julia looked away.
"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have said anything…" Julia muttered, causing Luz's features to soften. Why had she said it like that? Sure, she was in a bad mood, but Julia was the last person who needed to be on the other end of it.
"No, Julia…" Luz said, shaking her head. "I should be the one who's sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you. I'm in a bit of a bad mood right now, and I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
Silently, Julia nodded, her expression one of understanding, if not a little on the upset side. She couldn't blame Julia for that. Not one bit. "Uh… how about this, I'll gather everyone and I'll finally tell the truth about my power, okay?"
"Alright," Julia said under her breath, standing up next to Luz before looking her over one more time. "But Luz, please, if you need someone to talk to about something, I'm willing to listen. After all, my old friends used to tell me I was an amazing listener." As Julia said that, Luz couldn't help but smile.
What did she do to deserve suddenly getting a friend like Julia? Maybe this was the universe's way of counterbalancing all the toxicity that she had encountered in her life. If that was the case, then she would be more than glad about it. However, there was something in the back of her mind telling her to not get too attached.
The situation they were in… it was obvious that something bad was going to happen. But, she'd like to think that no one would take any of the bait that The Governor would put out. She had confidence that, given enough time, they could all work together to revolt against The Governor. Especially if there were people like Arla and Stanley around.
"Do you think you can gather everyone else, Julia?" Luz asked as Julia nodded, stepping out of the cabin. Luz breathed out, calming herself as closed her eyes. "Come on, Luz! You can do this!" As soon as that thought ended, an idea formed in her mind. On top of revealing what her power was, she was going to divide people into groups.
The groups would be simple, and also small. It kind of had to be, especially given how many people she had to work with. But, if there was something that Luz was semi-good at, it was strategy. Those 1500 hours of Command and Conquer were going to come in handy, it seemed. And while she wished the circumstances behind it were better, it was better than nothing.
Exiting the cabin, Luz saw her fellow prisoners, all of whom were sitting by the fireplace. A nervous sigh escaped her lips before she approached the group of now ten people, including Julia. The moment she stepped out, all eyes were on her. She had no idea how long she had been out, though considering the sun was about to go down, she must've been asleep for a while.
"Commander, you're here," Stanley said as he stood up, a smirk on his face as he stared at her. "So, what do you have in mind? Do you have some form of game plan for tomorrow?" Stanley asked as Luz scratched the back of her neck.
"Well… to be honest, no…." Luz replied as Stanley frowned, crossing his arms. He was about to open his mouth to say something, though Luz quickly followed up her reply. "BUT! I do know what we can do right now," that seemed to appease Stanley, who shifted in place, uncrossing arms as Luz continued. "The nap I had allowed me to clear my mind, and I came up with an idea for how we can operate going forward. Have any of you played Command and Conquer?"
"My mom used to," Carla spoke up, raising an eyebrow. "But, what does that have to do with us?"
"A lot, actually," Luz quipped, a smile slowly taking up her visage. "You see, for those who haven't played, as the commander, you can group up people and have them do specific things. Can anyone guess what I'm trying to do?"
It was then that Marcone's eyes widened, and as soon as they did, he chuckled, before flashing a toothy grin. "Good idea, Signorina Comandante," a few seconds later, his grin turned into a look of confusion, as he stroked his chin in thought. "However, how can you group us into, well, groups, without knowing our capabilities? Sure, you know our names and powers, but none of us know how to fight—supposedly, and we're all just a bunch of kids. We have no survival skills outside of maybe Stanley."
He had a point, unfortunately. That was another aspect of this nightmare of a "game" that they were being forced to play. Assuming that everyone here had no real experience in these sorts of situations. Like, fighting, survival, and all of that fun stuff, then they were all at a disadvantage.
"Well, don't go assuming that stuff," Johnny said, crossing his arms. "I just so happen to know how to survive in the wilderness. Looks like I can put my scouting background into action!" Johnny said as he smirked. "And besides, with my Vibrations, I can probably use it to track animals for hunting purposes."
"And how do you suppose that'll work?" Judy asked incredulously. "Haven't you only had your power for a week? Cause that's when these things started showing up, yeah?"
"Huh? No," Johnny replied, tilting his head to the left. "I've had my power for over a year at this point."
"Y-yeah! And I was born with m-mine," Arla added, causing Luz to blink.
"Wait, what?!" She exclaimed as Arla giggled, a smile on her face.
"Y-Yeah… it's because of my Mom. She can Restore things, and I guess I got a better version of it. T-Though, I'm not supposed to say anything about it. I-I guess it's okay here, s-seeing as we're all the same," Arla muttered, causing Luz's brain to, for all intents-and-purposes, shutdown. How was this possible?! This was supposed to be a new thing, so how did Johnny and Arla have their powers before the beginning of the week?
"That doesn't make any sense, though," Julia noted, crossing her arms. "Superpowers have only been around for a week. If you're truly claiming that you've had yours your entire life, Arla, then that implies that this sort of thing has happened before, and there are no records of it happening prior to the beginning of this week."
"Well, personally, I don't trust the Government to be honest about that sort of thing," Ronny said, frowning, earning a skeptical gaze from Julia, which he returned in kind. "What? Do you mean to tell me you'd believe the people who said that the reason we were in Iraq was to "get rid of terror" and then tell the truth a few years later saying that they're only there for the oil?"
Julia went to say something, only to stop, looking away with a hint of embarrassment on her face. "Yeah, that's what I thought," Ronny snarked, before scoffing. "I mean, if something like this has happened before, then it makes sense how the Government, or at least Maxwell, was able to set something like this up rather quickly. And the reason why we never knew about whoever pre-dated us, is because they were successful in wiping them out."
The air around the campfire suddenly became heavy. If what Jean said was true, then…. "Let's not think about that right now, yeah?" Luz said, nervously smiling as nods and grumbles came from around the campfire. The last thing that they needed on their minds right now was the idea that this wasn't the first time something like this had happened.
"So then, how are we going to do this, then?" Theodore asked as Luz smirked.
"Well, let's start with the simplest team to sort out. A scouting party. The group of people who'll get the supply drop for our team," Luz said, before looking over at Judy. "You'll be leading it, and the two other people with you will be Stanley and Arla."
"Aye, aye," Judy replied, a smirk on her face. Stanley grunted, and Arla nodded.
"Next up, we've got the two lookouts. That'll be Marcone and Theodore. I'm sure you guys can find a way up on the walls, right?" Luz asked as the pair nodded. Marcone grabbed a rock off the ground, before grunting, and as he did, it began to transform into a thick, rope-like vine with large, heavy-looking leaves. An exhausted sigh came out after he was done, and a bead of sweat dripped down the side of his face, which indicated he was suddenly exhausted.
"I can create a vine-stair case out of rocks, but it drains me…" Marcone said as Julia shook her head.
"You could just ask me to lift you up there, I can carry well over a ton of weight with my vines. Remember, the tree?"
"Oh, right, yeah…" Marcone muttered, causing Luz to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"What are you talking about?" Luz asked as Ronny chuffed, looking over to Luz with a smirk on his face.
"A tree, for some reason, nearly toppled over the base. Guess it just got too old or something. It was gonna crush the cabin you were in, and Julia wasn't a big fan of that. So, she used her vines to grab the huge thing—and I mean, it was fucking huge—before chucking it across the forest without so much as breaking a sweat, ya shoulda seen it, it was amazing!" Ronny explained as Luz slowly turned to look at Julia, who had a sheepish smile on her face.
"Remind me to never get you angry, okay?" Luz asked as Julia giggled.
"Don't worry, I doubt you could. You're face is too cute for that," Julia replied, an honest smile on her face as she closed her eyes, both of her hands clasped together and sitting front and center in front of her. As those words left her mouth, Luz's face became as red as a tomato, stammering as she tried and failed to get out a single coherent sentence. Julia opened her eyes, raising an eyebrow, confusion coating her expression as she tilted her head to the side. "Luz? Are you okay?"
"I-I-I-I-I—"
"I think you broke the captain there, Jules," Stanley quipped, wrapping an arm around Luz's shoulder, which seemed to snap her out of the sputtering mess she had briefly become. Stanley unwound his arm, before slipping a hand into his pants pocket, yawning. "Jeez, is anyone else tired?"
"Nah, I think I speak for everyone by saying that we're all fine," Ronny said, followed up by a couple of nods and "yes's" from the others. Stanley shrugged, ruffling the back of his hair before sighing.
"Well, I'm gonna go to sleep. I can't keep my eyes open for much longer. Peace out, ya'll." And with that, Stanley retired to one of the cabins for the night. When he fully disappeared, Luz turned to face everyone else. She looked at the remaining group of eight—not including Julia—and she frowned. She genuinely didn't know what to make of everyone else.
Stanley, Judy, and Arla were perfect for being scouts. Someone with advanced movement, someone who could act as a defensive wall, and someone to heal others in case of injuries. The two lookouts were perfect seeing as they seemed to know the most about survival. Although, maybe she could throw Johnny on the scout team…
But, what if someone came to attack the base? She didn't doubt Ronny or Carla, nor did she doubt Julia, but what if that fire guy showed up? Suddenly, things changed, so having Johnny there to vibrate the ground out from underneath the pyro-guy was a good move.
"What about the rest of us?" Jean asked, curiosity sparkling in his eyes.
"Hold down the fort, basically. The less people who wander out from the base, the better. Especially because then we can watch our backs far easier when we're all grouped up. For all we know, they could have people out there scouting, looking for people to pick off. We have no idea what their mentality is, and the last thing I want to do is to go assuming things, even if I would like it for them to be against killing, that fire-user seemed to be indifferent to it," Luz said as Jean nodded.
"Makes sense to me," Carla added, getting up from her sitting position in favour of crouching. As she did, rubbed at the back of her left car ear with the back of her hand, kind of like a cat wound when grooming itself. Arla shot her a glance, which was met by a frown and a raised eyebrow. "What're you looking at? It's instinct, alright?"
Arla let out a tiny little "eek" before muttering an "I'm sorry." Carla didn't seem to care and went back to her self-grooming. Luz turned around, not caring much for it. She was about to wander around, silently declaring the meeting over, but before glancing at Julia, who stared at her with a look that said "You're not done yet". Luz honestly, dreaded this part of the conversation, especially because she didn't know how anyone else would've reacted.
"Oh, uh, one more thing… STANLEY, GET OVER HERE, THIS IS IMPORTANT!" Luz shouted in the direction of the Cabin, as Stanley walked out, an annoyed look on his face. Thankfully, he didn't seem drowsy yet, meaning he hadn't tried falling asleep. Although, he was shirtless now, and it was more than a little attention-grabbing.
She had figured that he was muscular back on the bus, not being able to see much of anything. But now? Now she could. And while she had more of an attraction to girls than guys, to say that he wasn't attractive would've been her lying to herself. Again, not that she personally cared, she was just stating an objective fact.
The saying "a body chiseled to perfection as if it was were a statue" rang true for the 18-year-old. Be it because of his power having made it that way, or if it had been from years of working out, Luz couldn't tell. He had an extremely well-defined chest and abs, broad shoulders, and a neck as thick as a log. His arms were as wide as tree trunks, too. He honestly looked like he could deadlift a whole car without so much as batting an eye.
"What?" Stanley asked as Luz waved him over. She could faintly see him rolling his eyes, before lazily walking back over to the campfire. She glanced over at Judy, who had been biting her lip, looking him up and down, obviously interested in him. Stanley noticed that, too, scoffing. "What're you looking at?"
"Mama likes what she sees," Judy commented, causing Luz to cringe. If they started this crap now… "Wanna go take a walk later?"
"I don't wanna get shot in the back of the head for breaking the rules. Remember?" Stanley noted, crossing his arms. "Also, watch it, there're little kids here, remember?"
"Hmph, you're not fun," Judy quipped, before smirking. "But, if I survive this, and if you do too, you're mine."
Stanley seemed to shiver at that, though Luz couldn't tell if it was one of fear or one of something else. What? She wasn't exactly all tuned into that kind of thing, she was a kid! Not a horndog! "Anyways!" Luz said loud enough to break the two out of their little weird conversation, earning everyone's attention. "I finally figured out what my power is. I had… some help. Not of the physical kind but of the mental kind. It… came to me in my sleep, ya know, like a vision?"
"So, what is it?" Theodore asked, hunching over slightly, like a cowboy would. Luz swallowed down the fear that was building up in her throat. This was it, if she was going to back out now, she should. But… she didn't. She wasn't going to lie to her teammates. To the people, she was supposed to lead. Unlike Maxwell, she was going to be a good leader, damnit.
And so, with a relaxing exhale, Luz spoke. "My power, which I'm now calling All For One, when I come into physical contact with someone, gives me the ability to steal away other people's powers. Permanently. O-Oh, and if I have a stockpile of powers already, I can also give them to people," Luz explained, biting her tongue with an anxious look in her eyes after she stopped speaking.
For a full minute, there was nothing but silence. Luz felt as if a million people were watching her. She didn't like it, not one bit. All she wanted to do was to hide. Hide away from everyone and everything. And that was exactly what she was about to do, until….
"That's incredibly useful, actually…." Johnny's voice snapped her out of her near-panic attack, as Luz looked up at him, a wide smirk on his face. "Think about it, Luz. You're our secret weapon! If we ever get into a fight, for any reason, with anyone from the opposing team, you can de-power them and we can beat the snot out of them!"
"He's got a point," Stanley said, his smirk matching Johnny's. "I'll be honest, at first, I was a little iffy about joining your team instead of Kennedy's. But something told me that choosing you would let me survive this thing. Not only do you have guts, but you also have the power to back it up! We might actually win this thing, and it'll be because of you!"
Luz was confused. They… weren't afraid of her? But why? And more to the point…. "But, I don't want to win. Winning implies that we have to kill everyone else! I don't want to kill anyone!" Luz said as Judy shook her head, crossing her arms.
"You don't get it then," Judy stated as Luz looked over at her, eyes slightly narrowed.
"What don't I get?"
"That we don't have a choice," Judy responded, her tone leaving no room for argument. The sharpness and decisiveness in her voice borderline matched Shigaraki's, as did the coldness. It almost made Luz flinch, but she resisted it. She wasn't going to be intimidated by her. She couldn't be. Not when she was the leader. Leaders weren't intimidated by anyone. That was the point.
"We do have a choice," Luz argued, as Judy sighed.
"Then I guess you'll have to learn the hard way. Don't complain to me when someone's fist is elbow-deep in your guts, all because you hesitated," Judy spat, tilting her head in such a way to show the disdainful look in her eyes. One that made Luz shiver. "Just remember, leader or not, none of us here are loyal. We're here to survive. And if, for whatever reason, I believe you're sabotaging us all because of your own moral beliefs?" She drew a line across her throat with her thumb, before a black spot appeared in front of her, as she leapt through it, but not before announcing what she was doing. "I'm going on a walk. Catch you losers later."
And then, just like that, Judy was gone. Ronny sneered at where Judy had been standing, shaking his head disapprovingly. "Don't listen to her, Luz. She doesn't know what she's saying. It's nothing but a bunch of empty threats." After Ronny finished speaking, a yawn followed soon after, his eyes reflecting tiredness. "Well, I'm gonna go crash."
"Yeah, me too."
"Same."
"My eyes are way too heavy now…"
"Y-Yeah…"
And just like that, one by one, everyone, aside from Luz and Julia, began to walk back to the cabins. Luz was left staring at where Judy had teleported away using her spot power and frowned. She was just, gone. Did that mean that she could leave the camp whenever? Or, did it have a range? If so, how small and or large was the range?
She kind of wanted to try it out. You know, just to see what it would be like. And considering what she knew about her power….
"No, don't be stupid, Luz. She'd probably kill you if you tried," Luz thought, her frown turning into a near-scowl, only stopped by Julia poking her in her cheek, making Luz snap out of her little funk.
"If looks could kill, that wall would be hacked to bits," Julia quipped as Luz looked away.
"Well, can you blame me? Did you hear what that… what that bitch said?!" Luz spat, acutely aware of what word she used. But she didn't care. Her Mama wasn't here to scold her, and even then, why would she care what she had to say? Especially after their last conversation.
"She's just stressed. Everyone here is, and stress causes people to say and do stupid things. Especially in tense situations like this one," Julia reasoned, causing Luz's shoulders to sag. She hated to admit it but Julia was right.
"Right…" Luz muttered, glancing in the tree line. And when she did, Luz practically paled. Why? Because standing in one of the trees was something that didn't look right. For a second, she thought she had been hallucinating. Because what she had seen wasn't human. And while it was covered in shadow due to the sun having gone down, she could make out a slug-like body.
It was hanging in the tree, strange blue eyes staring her down, before quickly slinking away faster than she could blink. "Luz?" Julia, for what felt like the fifth time today, snapped Luz out of a daze of some kind, as the colour in her face refreshed. Whatever that was, Luz didn't know. All she knew was that it was in the forest, and it wasn't human. It wasn't any animal that she had recognized. And it saw her face.
What it was going to do with that information, she didn't know. And it worried her.
"Sorry, I just thought I saw something," Luz drawled as Julia yawned.
"I'm going to get some rest. I take it you're staying up?"
"Yup," Luz replied, sticking her right thumb up with a smile on her face. "I'm all energized from my nap. You can all count on me!"
"Good, because I'm about to pass out," Julia said, stretching as she did. Then, out of nowhere, Julia wrapped her arms around Luz's torso, pulling her in, and then rested her head on Luz's shoulder. "G'night, see you in the morning." And then, she pulled away, before turning to the cabins, disappearing into the doorway, leaving a confused, flustered, and blushing red Luz.
Luz was never good with physical affection. Not even from her mother. So, after being willingly hugged by an admittedly extremely cute girl it was no wonder why Luz's cheeks flared red. All Luz could do was shake her head, push down the strange feeling fluttering in her chest and ignore her fast-beating heart.
She had never had a crush before. Not on anyone. But, she was fairly certain that she had a crush on Julia; ironic, considering she had just met her not even a day ago.
A hopeful thought filled Luz's mind, that maybe, just maybe, if things all worked out. If everyone survived, and if they were able to escape this hellish nightmare, Luz could finally have someone to spend time with.
Maybe, just maybe, something good could come from this hell.