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XVI.

Under the Weather

A few hours later, it was nighttime, and Mikoto stared into darkness, the latest nightmare fresh in her mind.

It was by far the ugliest she's ever got to see. The black monster tore her apart as the rest of the Sisters cried in agony, each of them getting crawled into pieces as it burst through the crowd. Blood spattered into her eyeballs and poured into her mouth, drowning out her cries in the mast of bodies and screaming.

Her nightmares hadn't been this bad in a while.

She could feel the broken pieces of herself with fresh pain, sitting still and unmoving in her spot, knees tucked under her and arms around herself. Thoughts running like a whirlwind in her mind, although she paid them no mind, staring blankly into the void until his familiar presence started to manifest again.

"I – "

"Shut it."

He immediately said, before slumping down and leaning his head back to the wall behind them. His eyebags were starting to look impressive, she suddenly noted, and wondered if hers were too. Had they always been this way, or was it her fault this time too?

But her line of thought trailed away soon enough in favor of not thinking anything too much about him. He didn't get back to sleep either, just sitting there with her, both their minds blanking out. She almost asked about it aloud when his eyes finally closed, but chose to lean her head back instead, copying his movements. She pulled her knees to herself, and tried to dull the pain as they hid from the whole world.

x

x

x

As with most other tracking missions, he started with his most trusted source.

"'MISAKA is trying. The SISTERS will tell MISAKA right away if there's anything, ne' MISAKA assures Accelerator."

Last Order told him through breakfast, and Yoshikawa leveled them both a flat stare at the news. Accelerator almost face palmed himself, he should have known better than ordering Last Order while their guardian was still at home.

"Tell him what?"

"'Oh just this person MISAKA is helping Accelerator look for' MISAKA tells Yoshikawa!"

"To – kill?" the elder woman said flatly, directing her questioning gaze to him.

"No, to give him his birthday present. Damn right to kill, what the hell else would I be looking for people?"

"Aren't you the sweet-talker?" Yoshikawa blinked at him, chopsticks hanging in mid-air before she shrugged and continued eating. "Something me or Yomikawa should be worried about? Just in case you break the law and end up in jail and we'll have to find excuses to bail you out?"

"Laws mean nothing and you know it," he muttered around his coffee cup. "And no, he has something of mine I need to get back."

The scientist simply stared at him for a moment, before nodding, seemingly dropping the subject. It wasn't hard not to, he rarely let them in on his missions anyways and she turned a blind eye to the blood at the hem of his shirt or caked in his fingernails when he hadn't scrubbed hard enough, most of the times.

She did, however, told him though, when Last Order had bounced back to her room and he helped her clean up the table after their supper.

"I just hear noises sometimes you know, in your room. Like you're sleep-talking or something." She said casually, but Accelerator could detect that familiar hint of worry in her voice anyways. She's been keeping a closer eye on him ever since the Kakine incident, he guessed it couldn't be helped. If only they knew it wasn't himself he was talking to.

"It's just a mission. It'll be over soon." He replied curtly. "It's whatever."

"Fine enough." She said, but stilled him with her gaze when he put the last plate in the sink. "But whatever it is, be careful, okay? You don't have to worry about just yourself anymore, remember?"

It took a moment, but he eventually willed himself to look away to reply to her. "Yeah, I know."

If only they knew how true that was.

x

x

x

He started testing their powers again, just for the heck of it.

It came unsaid that they both kind of needed some kind of release, and he supposed training could be helpful, at least the girl hadn't made any protest when the abandoned warehouse came into view. Technically, she hadn't made any noise at all since last night, although it came as a no surprise also. He's made a little note to himself a long time ago, whatever he saw that didn't concern him, he'd let it be, least they had anymore angry, frustrating fights again.

But she hasn't.

"Does it sting?" she murmured in curiosity, watching with great intent as blue sparks flowed out of her and into the palm of his hand. "Like a buzz? Or nothing?"

"A buzz, now stop asking stupid questions."

He replied curtly, but stared at the power in the palm of his hand nonetheless. It did feel strange – possibly the strangest sensation he's ever felt in his life. Against his power of deflecting everything from touching him, the electric blue spark spazzed in his palm like a trapped little bug, just shaking to be escaped. He turned it in his hand, absent-mindedly, and suddenly was hit with a painful realization that they had actually started to get along. Probably had been for a long time considering he stayed the night before to help with her nightmares.

He'd never helped anyone with their nightmares except Last Order. Hell, he could barely even stand his own.

"Why didn't you tell me about the MISAKA Network?" The Railgun said, a little more bluntly than he ever expected of her and he almost pulled his hand back into a fist in surprise.

"Because it wouldn't make a damn difference. What the hell did I just say about stupid questions?"

She rolled her eyes, she was always rolling her eyes, "Right, as if being shot through the brain for the Sisters and getting crippled from it wouldn't be a major change at all. I know your ego's huge and everything, but even when I was already in here..."

"You tackled me and called me an asshole every fucking day?"

"I didn't know better!"

"My point exactly."

She tilted her head and Accelerator's eyes were suddenly drawn to the little wrinkle between her eyebrows, "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

Mikoto stared, and put on what Accelerator called her 'don't bullshit me' face. She's been pulling it a lot more nowadays, and he had to mentally curse at himself for letting that pass so often. "Whenever I try to ask you about yourself, you just cuss and use sarcasm."

Accelerator considered making another sarcastic remark just to be combative, but found himself not wanting to piss the girl off at the moment, "You're in my damn head, you see everything already, and I don't like to talk about myself."

Mikoto raised an eyebrow under her bangs, but let it hang there between them.

Accelerator moved to rake a hand through his hair before remembering he still had his hoodie up. "Fine," he said, and promptly cut off their connection to kill the spark in his palm before shoving his hands in his sweatpants' pockets.

"You were a mess, and I thought keeping everything away from you was the best idea."

"That's not possible. You didn't know me."

"Please, I knew every one of your little Espers' cult."

"Every one."

The Railgun repeated flatly, and he passed a glance to see the puzzles piece together in her head. "Us Level Five's? How?"

He shrugged, "I know the underground, all the labs they built up to study us, but I was special. They gave me a little bit more of everything than they gave the rest of you," he added, knowing the extra information would aggravate her, "I've been in the dark side of this city since the day I was born while they go parading your Esper brands around like you're all some goddamn mascots."

He knew he hit a sore spot when the Railgun winced at his last remark. "I - I wasn't…"

"Relax, I'm not holding it against you." He cut her off, but then thought better of it when passing her another glance. "Well, not after you got stuck with me at least."

"Oh look, sympathy gone." Mikoto said.

He smirked at her, but looked away again. "And in addition to my powers being horrifically destructive on every sort of scale, I'm not interested in proving people right–or wrong, whatever."

"That's…fair, I suppose," the girl said, large pupils staring at him before turning to the huge city expanse in front of them, suddenly looking smaller than he thought she could be.

"I wish I could do that too, sometimes."

He spun back to look at her, pale brows raised in question. And she turned to him in reply, before rolling her eyes again, like she thought he'd understand what she meant. He wondered if he should have. "It was too much, sometimes. Being so known. Like I was always expected to do good, and then better, and it just went around and around like that."

She sucked in a breath at that and stared at the sunset in front of them, in the end.

"Feels like I'm running in a race that'll never reach the finish line."

The silence that followed was expected, but not the tired sigh he subtly let escape through his lips that Mikoto dutifully ignored. She didn't know how long they stayed there in silence—could have been ten minutes, could have been two hours. There was something strangely comforting about being able to be around someone and not feel the need to speak. Eventually though, Accelerator pulled his hands out of his pants' pocket, and pushed the hoodie down to smooth back his hair, pale bangs falling back over his forehead that made the red of his irises shine even brighter in the dark space.

"That's just fucking sad." He deadpanned, and Mikoto finally lost it. A dark chuckle slipped past her lips before she could stop it. Accelerator just passed her a glance, but the intensity in his eyes wasn't angry.

Not that it mattered, not when there was no real bite behind his words. He actually looked even a little grim at her sob story. Suddenly overwhelmed with an urge to wipe away the frown between his pale brows, she raised her hand towards him.

Mikoto didn't know what she was going to do, tap him by the arm, knock him over for cussing again...but she never got to find out her odd trail of thoughts as he was faster, his Esper reflex unmatched. He grabbed her by the forearm in midair and her mind immediately whirled with panic and embarrassment.

Her breath hitched, but Accelerator didn't seem to notice as he lowered his hand, bringing hers down with him. Pale bangs casting shadows over his deep maroon eyes as he absent-mindedly turned her wrist over in his grip. It was funny, really, for all her big talk, a spirit that's bigger than life, the girl was so frail-looking - wry bone jutting out below her neck, every limb and feature thin and delicate. He could circle her whole wrist with just his thumb and index finger.

And something suddenly rose in his chest, fought past the prickling daze still clinging onto him. Even more than a chill, it was like a whispering voice that's being provoked by the resonant gold in those amber eyes. He looked up, watching her, and she him.

Her wrist twitched in his grip, and he immediately released her.

Mikoto didn't say anything, a flush washed down on her face. She side-eyed him, and it was all there in that one glance - a wordless reminder of the predicament they were in. The sleepless nights, trapped minds, ticking time-bombs, built from the worst of humanity stuck between them. But none was enough to hide the question in her amber eyes.

He rolled his own eyes in retort instead and brushed it aside. "I'm beat. We're heading back."

The Railgun simply stared at him. And for a second he thought maybe she would voice it, that curiosity in her eyes, before she nodded along, and looked forward. He followed suit right after, slipping back into their usual silence quick enough that almost looked like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Like a paradox that only made sense to them.

x

x

x

Last Order cornered them as soon as he stepped through the door, a bright gleam in her eyes as she skipped over and tugged at him.

"'MISAKA did it' MISAKA announces to both Accelerator and Onee-sama gleefully. 'MISAKA found Kihara'".

(TBC)

NOTE: Hi again, I hope the pace isn't too slow here, I just really really want more interactions between Accel and Mikoto :'D. Thanks for all the support. Stay safe and healthy!