It started with whispers.
Not in her mind.Not in her dreams.
Outside.
In the halls.In the vents.In the air itself.
A thousand voices speaking in unison.
Only one sentence.
Over and over.
"She gave up first."
The girl sat up in bed, breath ragged.
Eri clutched her arm, wide-eyed.
"What's that noise?"
"I think…" she whispered. "I think it's me."
UA's defense grid blared red.
Power Loader scrambled down the main elevator shaft toward the underground control center.
"Nezu! The walls are pulsing with her frequency again! All of them!"
On-screen, threads of light coiled around the school's structure.
Like veins.Like memories trying to rewrite reality.
Nezu was silent for a long moment.
Then: "No. Not memories. Reinforcements."
In the courtyard, one figure stood under the moon.
A girl.
The same face.
Different eyes.
Hollow.Tired.Dead inside.
She wore a UA uniform… burned at the edges.
Blood on her sleeves.
She looked up.
And said nothing.
All Might arrived first.
Then Aizawa.Then Midoriya.
None of them moved.
The girl standing there wasn't attacking.
She wasn't doing anything.
Until she looked at them.
Then past them.
Straight to the dorm window.
To her.
Eri clutched tighter. "That's not you… right?"
The girl didn't answer.
Didn't blink.
Down below, the other-her whispered.
"I remember what you did."
She stepped forward once.
And the world shuddered.
Not from power.
From recognition.
The skies rippled.
The ground adjusted.
Like the universe welcomed her back.
Because this version had lived a full life.
One where she gave up.
Flash—A memory not hers—
But she felt it.
A version of her where she handed Eri over to the government.
Let them dissect her.Said it was "for peace."
Watched as the world slowly "stabilized."
At the cost of every person who ever loved her.
This version of her lived.And rose.And became head of the Rewind Regulation Committee.
Her job?
To erase anomalies like herself.
Back in the present, the courtyard girl raised a hand.
No weapon.Just a finger.
Pointed at the window.
"You don't deserve this chance," she said.
Then louder—
"You gave up your timeline. Now give up mine."
Midoriya stepped forward. "Who are you?"
She looked at him like he was dirt.
"I'm the version she should have been."
A beat.
Then: "I don't want to kill you."
"I want to replace you."
The girl upstairs took a step back.
The whole building responded—creaking under time-pressure.
She could feel it.
A breach.
Not from the Architect.
But from within herself.
Another her.Another path.Trying to overwrite the now.
Eri's horn lit up.
She shook. "This one… she's close. She's almost real."
The girl nodded.
"She is. Because she won."
She stepped toward the window.
Opened it.
Looked down at her alternate self.
And said quietly:
"I know what you gave up."
The woman didn't respond.
Just walked forward—
And every step she took erased more of the world behind her.
Grass turned gray.Birds stopped moving.Stars vanished.
She wasn't attacking.
She was replacing.
All Might launched first.
United States of Smash—
Intercepted.
The woman caught it.
Absorbed it.
And smiled.
"My world learned how to contain myths."
Aizawa blinked.
"Everyone. Fall back."
Midoriya didn't listen.
He charged.
Fists lit.
He made it within one inch of her face—
Then stopped.
Frozen.
Time locked.
The woman touched his chest.
Whispered something.
And let him fall.
Softly.
Like she cared.
Then she turned to the real girl again.
Lifted her hand.
And said:
"I'll make this painless."
"Don't."
Her voice cut clean.
Sharp.
Louder than she thought she could be.
The woman froze.
"I'm not your mistake," the girl said.
"You are mine."
The woman paused.
Her fingers twitched.
Something faltered in her face.
Not anger.
Not pain.
Regret.
"I remember the moment I stopped fighting," she said softly.
"You cried for help. And I turned my back."
"I lived a good life. Quiet. Safe."
"I smiled. Had friends. Awards."
She looked down.
"But every night… I dreamed of this one."
"This moment."
She dropped her hand.
And whispered:
"So don't make my mistake again."
The girl opened her mouth—
But the woman vanished.
Just like that.
No light.No noise.Just a breath—
And she was gone.
Silence.
Long.
Heavy.
Then the girl turned to Eri.
"I don't think she came to kill me."
Eri blinked. "Then… why?"
"To warn me."
She looked down at her hand.
It shimmered.
Like something inside her had cracked open.
"She wasn't the worst version of me."
"She was the saddest."
Far above, in a corridor outside time—
The Architect adjusted the board.
One less piece.
No reaction.
Except one final note etched in gold beneath the girl's name:
"Empathy detected. Escalation required."
To be continued.