The Seeker | Volume 2

Back at his apartment, Sebastian woke up late in the morning to the smell of something burning. His eyes widened as he hurriedly pushed off the covers and entered his kitchen, only to see that Damien had encountered some trouble using the toaster properly.

The white haired boy looked back at Sebastian with worried eyes. The older man just laughed nervously as he approached the toaster and put some bread in, twisting and turning knobs until they were in the correct orientation for cooking the perfect slice of bread for breakfast.

"You should tell me first, I don't want the apartment burning down." Sebastian said with a reassuring smile. 

Damien nodded, his face flushing a little upon the polite scolding from Sabestian. 

After he and Damien had finished their breakfast, Sebastian went into his room to change into his casual attire. Since today was a Thursday, he had the day off since the shooting club would be closed for its annual maintenance. 

According to additional information given to him by Cattleya and Shinso via a quick telegram, he was in charge of watching over Aaron's establishment for small intervals in the day. The previous day, he'd been confused when he saw a man wearing rather elegant clothing rapping on the door, asking about my whereabouts. 

After he got Damien changed too, they both headed out into the street, walked past the market and more populous parts of town before arriving at the address. Damien approached the front door while Sabestian opened the mailbox and stuck his bulky arms into the opening, taking out an envelope.

He took it into the house before opening it while sitting at the kitchen table.

Dear. Mr. Daniels. 

I saw your advertisement plastered on the board beside the historical society, and I couldn't help but wonder what it is you could want. I'll probably stop by tomorrow evening since my new occupation has been shredding any time I could get my hands on.

From Sylvie Mulligan.

...

Shinso honestly couldn't tell if it was night or day when he awoke in his bed that Katsuki had given him. The room was actually quite spacious to say the least, and by the bed was a portrait of a young man clad in fiery armor slaying a dragon, most likely Katsuki himself.

Shinso put on his clothing and left the room, before knocking on Aizawa's door. The black haired man rubbed his eyes and opened the door, meeting Shinso's gaze.

"Come with me. I tried to show you this yesterday but we didn't get to talk after." Shinso explained as he suddenly grabbed Aizawa's hand and led him down the corridors. 

They arrived in the throne room, and Emperor Katsuki raised an eyebrow as he looked towards and massive clock situated in the ceiling. 

"You're up early." He said neutrally. 

The two didn't reply as Shinso situated him in front of the painting showing the boy that resembled himself.

"He looks familiar." Shinso whispered.

Aizawa's eyes narrowed as he inspected the painting, he even had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. 

"He bears an awful resemblance to you."

"What are you talking about?" Katsuki asked, standing up from his throne. Shinso and Aizawa looked towards Katsuki and swallowed. 

"This boy, he looks familiar." Aizawa explained as the red eyed boy walked closer to the painting and examined it himself.

"I knew you had an ass for brains, this is Hitoshi Shinso, your partner in the lab. The idiot next to you!" Katsuki explained in an annoyed voice.

"I guess you do have an ass for brains." Shinso chortled, nudging Aizawa slightly.

"I think you have the most ass in your head if you can't remember who you are you fucking idiot!" Katsuki shouted, the ends of his lips curling up into a mocking smile. He was looking directly at Shinso.

"You have your duties in 30 minutes, so eat breakfast. I want more research about the Reversal Formula when I get down there." Katsuki said as he walked back to his throne. 

"Reversal Formula?" Aizawa was confused by the name drop, he had never worked on a potion of any kind in his entire life, he didn't know a thing about alchemy.

"Well, we should at least eat breakfast." Shinso huffed as he led Aizawa out of the castle.

...

"Katsuki, Katsuki!" Hazel yelled as she ran into the room. Katsuki looked back at the young girl and sighed.

"Yes, Hazel?"

Hazel was sweating all over, she parted her hair with shaky hands, and she had a fearful look in her eyes.

"Dad's acting weird, weirder than usual!" 

Katsuki didn't say a thing, he immediately stood up from his throne and ran down the hallway, down the stairs and into Izuku's chamber. He observed the green haired boy writhe on the ground in inexplicable pain.

There seemed to be a growing darkness on his chest, the edges were like roots, ebbing away at his skin and digging into his flesh. His eyes were jet white, washed over with this foreign feeling.

"Aizawa!" Katsuki shouted as he darted up the stairs and entered the lab.

"You better have that formula ready, damn it!" The tired man turned around as he raised his goggles, meeting Katsuki's fiery gaze. He held a bottle of fiery green liquid. In the concoction there was a tiny pinch of blue that resembled fireworks exploding.

Katsuki swiped the bottle from his hands and darted out of the room, but he quickly smashed into Aizawa, who was standing outside of the doorway, having finished breakfast.

"You damn bastard!" Katsuki groaned as he rubbed his aching head. When Katsuki looked up at Aizawa, he felt a sudden rush of confusion upon seeing the two variants of Aizawa in the same space.

Aizawa met the others' gaze, both of their expressions were matching, both of confusion, fear, and a little sense of excitement. 

"It's...real." The other Aizawa clad in alchemical wear murmured in astonishment as he caught sight of his variant.

"What's real?" Aizawa asked, confused.

"Dimensional travel! My theories were true!" The other Aizawa exclaimed as he laughed.

Shinso turned the corner and looked at the other Aizawa, his eyes widening.

"...Shinso?" The other Aizawa's voice suddenly grew quiet. He suddenly took two steps forward and wrapped his arms around Shinso. Shinso squirmed in his grip, feeling extremely uncomfortable in the new sensation.

"Let go of me, idiot!" Shinso said with strain as he wiggled free of the variant's bear-like grip. 

"What the hell is happening here?!" Katsuki asked as he stood up, brushing off his armor. 

His head darted towards the Reversal Formula which had just completed, noticing that the bottle had been shattered on the marble floor. 

"You morons!" He yelled, attempting to scoop up the thick liquid and put it back into the bottle.

The Aizawa variant quickly bent down, extending his left hand. The illusory blue and green liquid lifted on its own, squirming in the air, before gravitating back into the vial.

"You're lucky I'm Order 6, otherwise I'd have to make it all over again." Aizawa huffed.

Aizawa didn't have time to speak again as Katsuki ran down the hallway holding the bottle with an iron grip. He ran down the stairs, past Hazel and into the room. Suddenly, Katsuki's body trembled, his gaze lying on the scene before him.

...

After we had all left the constantly burning forest, I turned to Cheyenne with a question. 

"What Order are you?"

Cheyenne glanced at me and smiled. "I'm Order 6, you?" 

"I'm Order 8, I just completely digested my potion. I just need to find the Order 7 potion ingredients and drink it." I said.

Cheyenne raised an eyebrow. "Only Order 8? Then why do you have a brand on your forehead? I've never seen one like that before."

I parted my hair and showed Cheyenne the symbol. "It appeared after a mental battle I had with someone. Shortly after, my mindscape rearranged, and a throne room manifested within my consciousness, one which I can go to and from whenever I have the strength."

"A throne room?" Cheyenne asked, some bewilderment and puzzlement in his dark expression.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just that...it doesn't sound like the normal Divine Protection people receive after getting into danger. Mine is only a small hut around the size I had back home."

I nodded, looking forward in the distance and catching a glimpse of an animal eating away at the black grass. The animal was about 5 and a half feet tall and was red and black. Upon closer examination, it could deduce it was an Elkritcht.

"Look, it's that animal you told me about." I whispered, pointing at the deer-like animal in the distance. Suddenly, Cheyenne slapped my hand down, as he slowly reached for his spear on his back.

"Never point at an Elkritcht, they take any gesture made towards them as a sign of authority." Cheyenne whispered.

The Elkritcht didn't move for a few brief moments. It looked up at us slowly, its eyes crimson without any visible glow. The creature stomped its foot into the dirt, and it began charging directly at me!

Cheyenne quickly leaped in front of me, raising his spear as he opened his mouth, letting out an inhumane scream. The shrill scream seemed to come from elsewhere, but I could tell it still was Cheyenne's scream.

The Elkritcht stopped in its tracks, freezing on the spot upon hearing the noise. It took a careful step back, raising its head and pointing its antlers at Cheyenne. The man didn't falter, he continued to take the defensive stance, quietly warning the deer that if it attacked, he'd do the same.

The rest of the group remained still and silent, it was almost like everyone had suddenly turned into a statue. 

The Elkritcht let out a small moan-like sound as it turned around and walked away. Cheyenne finally lowered his weapon and looked back at me with a worried expression.

"Scream of Catastrophe, an Order 7 ability."