As I had already posted these two parts on AO3 and FF, I was contemplating how to post it here. Thought I'll wait until the whole thing is complete. But with the word count getting bigger in the later parts, guess I can't post a 10k fic here after all. In my defense, it was supposed to be a simple exercise haha 😅
Genre: Angst/Family | [5+1 fic, Canon Divergence]
Pairing: (platonic) Accelerator/Mikoto
Rating: T
Word Count: 1620
Summary: They kept finding each other when their paths shouldn’t have crossed at all, like parallel lines that managed to make the impossible and meet
or
Five times Mikoto came across Accelerator, and One time he willingly invited her into his life.
⚡ Devastation ⚡
The construction beams that had been lodged in the ground like mere toothpicks, collapsed under their weight with a thundering crash. Mikoto didn’t need to verify they broke in half. She couldn’t turn around anyway.
He deflected...my Railgun.
Her ears were buzzing. For the first time in her life, Mikoto’s powerful electric attack had zipped this close to her face—instead of going after her enemies and everything that stood in her way. Someone had managed to cancel it before; sparks vanishing into thin air, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. But it had never returned as if stumbling across an impregnable wall like this.
The one responsible for this twisted miracle, the specter of a person, was unfazed. His voice echoed muffled as if this empty train graveyard was submerged underwater. The meaning behind those words reached Mikoto crystal clear. Written all over his face was the manic glee of someone who had found a new toy to break. She’d be torn to pieces. Her body parts would soon join her clone’s severed leg, currently lying in a pool of blood at the edge of Mikoto's vision. There was nothing she could do. Just watch frozen as he advanced.
Another voice joined the final act of this wretched scene. Familiar and uncanny like hearing one’s self from a recording, but devoid of any emotion and sentiment. It was hers.
Mikoto looked over her shoulder.
There stood a small army of her clones, their Night Vision goggles obscuring their features with an eerie blue glow. They explained the situation, each clone continuing from where the other had left the sentence. A fight with the Original would disturb the results of this experiment.
Call it what it is! Her mind screamed. Slaughter!
After brief consideration, the killer complied. She wasn’t worth the trouble when he had beaten her ace-in-the-hole move already.
“Oh, yeah. We haven’t introduced ourselves yet,” he said, his words dripping with irony.
Gravel crunched under his shoes while he approached Mikoto. Even Espers that held immense power had to walk on the ground like commoners, it seemed. His presence was overwhelming to the point of nausea. As if some heinous monster stood behind her back, instead of a scrawny albino teen.
“Name’s Accelerator.” His breath ghosted the nape of her neck. Its alien warmth made her skin crawl. “It’s a pleasure.” He almost purred at the last words, his hoarse voice sinking into lower octaves.
Cold sweat traveled down Mikoto’s spine. She didn’t react—too numb from all the shocking revelations to consider fighting him again.
Without any fanfare, Accelerator left. The oppressing aura dwindled along with the echo of his steps until the only thing weighing down on Mikoto was the stifling humidity.
Her knees faltered and she collapsed to the ground.
This was a living nightmare. She had been too naive thinking that once a project was discontinued, they wouldn’t repurpose the results for another. Her decision to blindly believe in Academy City’s generosity had cost #9982 her life and those of all the clones that had come before her.
Artificial lives don’t matter because they’re made with the push of a button? What a joke!
Standing tall against Accelerator at her current level would be suicide. There were other ways to end his ambition for absolute power though. No price, no matter how sweet, deserved such a high body count to achieve after all.
⚡ Animosity ⚡
That was him alright.
White hair and pale skin.
The same crimson eyes.
He had replaced his black shirt for one with a gray gradient though. This only made the dark stamps on it more evident. There was no mistaking them anyway. Accelerator wiped the remaining blood from his chin while the burly man next to him greeted the newcomers. His gaze recognized Mikoto for a brief moment before glossing over her to reach Touma.
The blatant disregard offended her. After three months since the Level 6 Shift project was terminated—thanks to a certain Level Zero’s right hook—she had given up hope they would meet again. But they did, half a continent away, in Hawaii of all places. And she wasn’t worth his time to address her, more so explain why an older-looking clone of hers was following him around.
It made her blood boil.
Then again, more pressing matters needed their attention. The fate of the world was at stake, barely ten days later from the last incident. This ragtag group didn’t have time for Mikoto’s lingering trauma, but it didn’t stop them from roping the two together. Both were part of Academy City’s elite; the successful projects which had reached closer to the realm of unimaginable power than every other Esper student in their Curriculum. If someone had to rival a military force, the first and third-ranked Level Fives were their best bet.
Mikoto knew innocent lives were at stake. For their ever-shifting plan to work, they had to rely on everyone present. Her goodwill could extend so far.
“There is a lot I want to say to you.” Looking over her shoulder, she cracked her knuckles in preparation for the upcoming fight. “So, I’d rather not get bogged down here.”
Accelerator spared a side-glance in her direction. “I intend to repay my debt to the clones. but I have no intention of apologizing to you,” he declared. “You aren’t conveniently forgetting you were one of those responsible for that experiment too, are you?”
“I will repent to the Sisters for that sin.” Her fists trembled from barely restrained rage. “I don’t need to hear it from the poster boy of the experiment.”
Something akin to a smirk rippled across his face and he pushed forward with his cane. “Let’s get this over with so you won’t have to, Railgun.”
She blinked. What?
His response threw her off, delaying the beginning of her attack. Gunfire already echoed on the beach and Powered Suits were flying around in mini-tornados. Entering the fray with a dash, Mikoto pushed every unrelated thought to the side. She couldn’t allow Accelerator to steal her thunder just because he showed some basic human decency for once.
The fight ended a couple of short minutes later. It always did when the adversary couldn’t effectively shut down a Level Five's power from the start. Dealing simultaneously with two might have been overkill if the other guys were this weak.
Mikoto dropped her opponent like a trash bag on the sand.
Relieved voices rose higher than the murmur of waves as the hostages were reuniting with their loved ones. This heartwarming scene was a temporary interlude though. Unless they stopped the enemy’s real goal, there would be more casualties down the line. It frustrated her that they could only react to the problem instead of finding the source.
Why do we have to leave everything to that idiot? She thought, closing her fist around the rings in her pocket. He’s out there risking his life, while I have to deal with small fry.
“Leaving already?” Misaka Worst called, gesturing with her injured arm. “Weren’t you gonna have a word with him, Sis?”
He seemed preoccupied. A child was clinging to him in tears while their guardian—the man Accelerator had saved at the beginning of this skirmish—was trying to calm them down. The fact a cold-hearted person like Accelerator endured this sort of situation, as if resigned to his fate, baffled Mikoto even further.
"You’d think kids could spot there's something wrong with him,” she said.
“Apparently, not.” Worst barked a laugh. "Misaka thinks their undeveloped brain can see past his tough act.”
“Act?” Mikoto quirked an eyebrow. “Wasn’t he the one who broke your arm?”
They hadn’t had the time to discuss this either. But knowing Accelerator’s history with the clones, her assessment of their partnership didn’t sound off-base. There was only one path on which they could have met each other: violence. Both bore the scars to prove it.
Worst shrugged. “Misaka’s brain is fully developed, despite not counting a year of existence. She can’t tell if her theory is correct.”
“Whatever,” Mikoto said, dismissing her with a wave. “If he ever decides to grovel for my forgiveness, he knows where to find me. I don’t have time to deal with him.”
“Oh, yeah.” A wolfish grin spread across the clone’s face. “You’re busy chasing another boy around in the middle of a battlefield.”
She flushed. “What has that to do with anything?”
“Nothing much. Both of you are honest to a fault, except for when it matters. That’s all.”
This was the most absurd thing Mikoto had heard in a while. “I’m nothing like him!”
“True.” The clone tapped her chin in thought. “You walk around pretending there is no blood on your hands.”
“Believe what you want.” Huffing through her nose, she turned around. “I have a ride to catch.”
American fighter planes were approaching the beach, the muffled rumble of their engines permeating the sky. Their trajectory suggested they were headed for the other side of the island. Touma and the rest had to save a little girl from the entire world there. Since Mikoto was done with this battlefield, she could lend them a helping hand in the ordeal.
As soon as the fighters were within reach, she used her magnetism to latch onto one and allowed it to lead her away. Mikoto wasn't running away from the conversation she had started. There was simply no point in forcing Accelerator to talk. He hadn't bothered to acknowledge her presence in the first place, and she wasn’t going to sink as low as to beg a murderer for some consideration.
