United We Stand
Chapter 2: An Unlikely Bond

The one with the spikey hair is going to kill him.

"I'm going to kill you!"

Kaito knows that because that's what Rory told him for the third time since beginning to chase him two minutes ago.

It is during this chase that Kaito begins to question his decisions that led up to this point.

To start off, he technically isn't even supposed to be here.

Back home, he'd been lucky enough to make fast friends with Professor Derry due to their mutual love for all things science.

Even luckier when it turned out Kaito's Uncle Sho would be the engineer chosen for this particular cycle and his two favorite adults would vouch for bringing him along.

Luckier-er when it turned out a very special probe was returning from Mars. Special because it held proof of actual life on other planets in the form of a single cell organism dubbed (through vote from Kaito's classmates back on the moon colony) Calvin.

"Calvin, what a stupid name," Kaito couldn't help but think as he runs er- swims in zero gravity towards the section of the old space station where the alien is being housed.

Kaito still hadn't been able to see the alien because the rude older lady told him it was 'too dangerous' for a nine-year-old.

In her defense, as the one in charge of risk assessment, she was probably right.

Perhaps Calvin would turn vicious and crawl into Rory's mouth and eat him from the inside out.

Something Kaito might not mind.

That didn't seem very likely though since after the breach of Calvin's container, the alien was believed dead, and Kaito couldn't help but want to try.

Despite Professor Derry's persistence that all options had been tried and the only thing left was electroshock in an attempt to wake up Calvin, Kaito thought different.

I mean could you imagine how you'd feel if you were captured by aliens and woke up on fire?!

What if Calvin really did decide to go all mad alien and kill everyone right then and there because he thought he was under attack? Even worse the shock could kill Calvin.

At least it's worse in Kaito's mind.

That's why Kaito is running.

That's why he hadn't slept, had snuck into the rude lady's compartment, stolen her book of passwords, and tried to sneak into the section of the space station that Calvin was in.

It would have been easy if only he hadn't been caught.

Rory had seen him and when the rude lady woke up angry her book was missing, Rory deduced what had happened.

So Kaito had used one of the passwords to lock the door and swam as fast as he could. Going into this he knew the consequences of if he was to be caught, and he knew of the possible consequences if he wasn't.

Like getting eaten alive or having the alien's eggs inplanted in his chest.

Still though, a small part of Kaito couldn't help but focus on what might happen if he made it and his plans didn't work. Like Calvin dying and Kaito being known forever as the person who killed the alien, but still Kaito weighed the risks and found them inadequate.

As he makes it past another door, he uses the corresponding password and once again locks the door.

"Ha," Kaito thinks, smirking at Rory before continuing on.

Rory doesn't know the passwords and thanks to her paranoia the rude lady won't tell him so he'll have to wait for her to catch up.

Meaning that Kaito really didn't need to be faster than Rory.

Funny that when it came to the chance of a kid interfering with the alien, she still is worried about the passwords. Probably because since the system is old, she can't change them.

At last Kaito makes it to the final door and locks himself in.

Turning from the door he floats still in awe at the beauty of Professor Derry's makeshift lab before laying his eyes on the glass box that holds Calvin.

Before doing else, Kaito turns towards the panel to his right and as fast as he can he enters all the codes he can muster to lock the door as long as he can, but that's not all he does.

If this works, Kaito would know how to fix what he did, but if it turns out Calvin really is evil. Well Kaito can't exactly let himself be responsible for the other's deaths.

He'd read it in one of his comics once. 'A necessary sacrifice for the greater good.'

From the book of codes Kaito also learned that, despite their low resources, the colony had instructed the rude lady to jettison this section of the station if Calvin turned dangerous.

Just another firewall to keep everyone safe.

So Kaito closes every vent, every hole, and every crevice Calvin could escape from.

After that, he turns towards Calvin's rectangular home, a thick glass box secured at the corners with metal and over a dozen large screws with only two holes with very thick rubber gloves as any means of weakness.

So of course what does Kaito do?

Find the sharpest object he can possible find and poke a hole through one of the gloves.

"What are you doing", Rory roars as he arrives.

"Kaito let us in. I'm sorry I didn't let you see Calvin", Kaito can hear Professor Derry's voice now, and even though he feels terrible he knows he can't stop. Can't even look because he doesn't have that much time. As the glove breaks and Kaito reaches through the hole into the box he hears the adults scrambling and bickering.

"Open the damned door, Miranda," Professor Derry roars.

"I can't," and she's right. If the rude lady attempted to open the door now she'd be risking everyone else's lives. Despite her being so intense, that was something Kaito had liked about her.

She was very practical.

As a matter of fact, it wasn't even Kaito who decided she was the 'rude lady'. It was his Uncle Sho who didn't like how she hovered his each and every move. When Kaito thought about it, she was actually his third favorite person on the station.

Only being outshined by Uncle Sho and Professor Derry of course.

After all the stalling she's inadvertently done, she might be his first.

Sliding his fingers gently under Calvin's slim but firm starfish like body, Kaito handles Calvin as if he is a new born made of sharp glass shards.

Curling his fingers up he pulls Calvin out gently.

If any of his other classmates had done this, they'd be squirming like they'd done when watching the dissection videos in Biology with Professor Derry but just like then, Kaito isn't fazed.

Calvin appears nearly translucent to the point that Calvin's primarily cream colored skin looks darker once placed on the metal table. With Calvin laid out like a frog from dissection, Kaito can more clearly observe the black veins that extend from his center and even smaller veins that extend through each arm.

But to Kaito, it doesn't matter what Calvin looks like. Observing the aliens size, Kaito almost doesn't believe it.

When Professor Derry had described Calvin growing every day, Kaito had no idea exactly how much he'd been talking about. From a single cell organism, Calvin was now wider than a grownup's hand outstretched like he was but still barely thicker than a piece of paper.

"Kaito what are you doing," at that voice, Kaito freezes for just a moment before trying to focus on his work.

After Kaito's dad (Sho's older brother) had died a couple years ago Sho was the only one Kaito had left. He was more than family, he was his best friend when all the other kids would bully Kaito, and he loved him very much.

But Kaito had made his choice, and in the shape of things, even that love didn't matter. Looking over Calvin, Kaito tries to ignore the pleas from Uncle Sho and the arguing between Professor Derry and Miranda.

"Don't worry little buddy. I'm going to save you", Kaito whispers as he looks over Calvin for any sort of orifice. Anything that Kaito could consider a mouth to proceed with mouth-to-mouth. It wasn't the best of ideas but it was one to start with it.

More importantly it was one that no one else had tried yet.

He'd already theorized many reasons for Calvin's growth. Either he simply ate smaller organisms in the air that floated near, absorbed the water vapor in the air which was kept at about sixty percent here on the space station, or simply pulled other organisms to him and grew by forcing them to become it. Only problem was that all of these options required some orifice to get the food into Calvin's body.

An orifice that Kaito is having an excruciating time finding right now.

For a species as advanced as this, Kaito can't understand how Professor Derry could be so dense. If any of this was true, that could literally make Calvin the most resilient lifeform in existence, especially to come from something so little like it had.

Calvin's growth could be limitless especially on a planet with life like Mars is believed to have had at one point. Maybe even the type on Earth, dubbed the 'qurantined planet' by the moon colonists due to it being forbidden to ever go there.

"If Calvin really is advanced as I think, then how does it eat", Kaito thinks to himself.

"Kaito please put Calvin back so Miranda will unlock the door. We all just want to see you safe", Sho pleads as calmly as possible though Kaito can hear the worry behind his words.

Especially since Uncle Sho doesn't even know if Miranda will ever let Kaito out even if she can get past the codes he'd put in place.

Kaito didn't have time to worry about that though. "I need to put everything I am, my whole being into saving Calvin", Kaito thought before his eyes widened and he gaspsed as an idea came to him.

If Calvin really was the apex lifeform that Kaito believes, than Calvin wouldn't need a mouth. Like he thought it wasn't that Calvin ate, it's that it became. Somehow, someway Calvin had learned to morph the DNA of other organisms so they would combine into him. That was possibly Calvin's way of eating.

So in order to mouth-to-mouth the most effective way possible, there really is only one option.

When Kaito hears slamming on the door and hears Rory's yells of anger, he knows he doesn't have much time. The other's, with the exception of Miranada, don't see the logic and will do whatever it takes to get into this room to make sure Kaito is safe.

So Kaito can not and will not hesitate.

As gently as he can Kaito folds Calvin to get him as small as he possibly can before shoving him whole into his mouth.

The look on the adult's faces would've made any kid laugh, and at this point, Professor Derry faints, and even uncle Sho thinks Kaito has lost his mind.

With puffy cheeks and the strangest taste in his mouth Kaito does his best to breathe in the little hole between his lips he'd left open, out his nice, and he prayed to Sol he didn't swallow the alien.

Else Professor Derry will literally dissect him just to get Calvin.

But as Kaito breathes in and out in and out, Rory keeps banging on the door, but he isn't hitting on the glass. As the engineer, Rory knows every inch, every crack, and every dent in this station. He is one of the permanent residents after moving from the colony. So he knows where to hit, and it is working.

A particular screw was getting loose and if it gets loose enough the door will open. So Kaito doesn't have much time. So he presses with his tongue to hold Calvin in place, places his hand over his mouth, and breathes in three heavy breaths before pushing twice with his tongue on Calvin's body.

He knows it isn't anything like Dr. Jordan had taught them in Pre Med, but it was the best he could do. Besides what did Dr. Jordan know? Calvin was an alien, and nobody had ever done mouth-to-mouth on an alien before.

"I got it," Rory yells as the large screw comes loose enough for Rory to use a tool to open the door the rest of the way.

It's now that Kaito realizes he's screwed.

He's failed.

Even with Miranda's 'help' he's failed to save Calvin, and now he'd be known as the one who broke into the alien lab. He'd be made a janitor by the Tribunal for sure if they didn't jettison him straight into the sun. Which would be a more preferable punishment in Kaito's mind.

But that's when it happens.

Kaito's eyes widen and his starts shaking his arms his arms frantically mumbling through his closed lips, "Stop! Stop! Stop", and lucky for him, Professor Derry had woken up and listens.

Grabbing onto Rory just in time to stop the door from opening, Professor Derry orders, "Wait," before turning to Kaito on the other side of the glass and asking, "what's happening."

For a moment Kaito waits to see if it was just a trick, but then it happens again, and Kaito mumbles out, "I think he's movin."

"You think what," Professor Derry asks being unable to understand Kaito's mumble through the glass.

"I think it's moving," Kaito tries again before finally pointing towards his mouth and wiggling his fingers. Understanding now, Professor Derry translates to the others who don't understand, "Kaito thinks Calvin is moving in his mouth."

"By Sol," groans Miranda, who knows she's going to be jettisoned for this large of a security breach on her watch.

"Don't open the door yet," Dr. Jordan tells his longtime friend Rory who thankfully listens to the doctor who'd come with Kaito and Sho to the station.

"That's my nephew in there," Sho pleads to a very worried Rory, who truly wants only to help the kid, even if Rory doesn't like kids to begin with.

Finally taking in the gravity of the situation and the consequences should she return to the colony and the Tribunal, Miranda grumbles, "With an alien lifeform that in the worst case scenario could kill everyone one of us on this ship," now slowly losing her sanity as she grows light headed.

But while they were arguing Professor Derry was watching, Kaito was trying to think of what to do, and Calvin.

Calvin was alive.

It was true that he was moving inside Kaito's mouth and it isn't just a reflex Professor Derry is silently hoping it is.

At first, Calvin was feeling for its surroundings. Trying to get a feel, and when he tasted the cells belonging to the living organism, he knew he was inside a mouth of some kind.

Second, Calvin realized something peculiar. This creature wasn't attempting to eat him. As a matter of fact, the beast was trying to both keep him inside its mouth and not swallow him at the same time, if the creatures tongue pushing against him was any clue.

Despite this, Calvin is scared. What if the creature really is trying to hurt him. What if the beast believed its saliva would dissolve Calvin overtime. Yes, that must be it. Maybe Calvin should fight and grow from the inside. With any luck, Calvin could easily be five maybe ten times the size just from assimilating this creature alone.

"Please let him be okay, please let him be okay, please let him be okay," the mumbled words came quickly from the creature housing Calvin.

A foreign frantic sounding language but it made Calvin pause. "Odd isn't it. To speak so wild when eating. Maybe it honestly isn't trying to eat me. Perhaps I should investigate", the alien whom didn't even know it was being called Calvin thought.

So Calvin did what Calvin does.

He stuck one of the five arms to the mouth's inner wall and kept it there as it used it's micro parts to scan the beast and find its brain. Once found, it would be a wealth of knowledge for Calvin.

Immediately once connected through the long line of fibers that connected from Calvin in the mouth to Kaito's brain, this knowledge flooded Calvin's own mind.

Understanding the language, Calvin began to wonder whom the creature could be referring to. Maybe many were eating, and another animal had choked, thus stopping this one from eating.

Before his mind could dwell on those thoughts any longer, Calvin freezes as he hears a sort of voice. Not born of violence or of ill intentions but of protection and kindness.

They are the thoughts of the human boy without a quirk named Kaito, as Kaito often thought of himself, that asks if Calvin is okay.

From viewing the boy's thoughts, Calvin learned that he is the Calvin the boy refers to. That these humans referred to him as Calvin and Calvin found he somewhat agreed with the boy named Kaito whom believed it to be a stupid name. These thoughts proved it though. Kaito cares for Calvin.

In fact, despite Kaito's young age and what that meant for these people, Kaito had attempted to save Calvin when Calvin was believed dead or injured. This makes Calvin pause. Despite assimilating with billions of species of its life from microorganisms to T-Rex sized creatures, Calvin has never cared for those it assimilated.

Mostly because they never cared for him.

The thought of caring though is a new feeling. A feeling Calvin quite enjoys. It's the feeling that Calvin can feel Kaito feels for his Uncle Sho.

So for the first time in it's existence-.

No! It would no longer refer to this as its existence. In the first time in Calvin's life, it found itself wanting more than to just assimilate and get larger as it had in the past. Consuming planet after planet of all life as it moved on from one to another over hundreds of billions of years.

So for the first time in its life. Calvin begins something it never has done before.

It's a new type of assimilation. As Calvin copies Kaito's DNA to become Calvin, so was Calvin's DNA becoming Kaito. Perhaps assimilation isn't the right word, but it's a word that Calvin does't know. He wonders if Kaito can teach him. In fact, Calvin would be happy to learn it. The word that meant to for two to become one, for a relationship more profound than even Kaito and his uncle, and for a relationship that was based on one for all and all for one. For that's what this was.

This isn't a relationship nine-year-old Kaito had intended, nor did the billions of years old Calvin, but it's a relationship that will have resounding effects for not only their future but the future of everyone living on what those back at the colony called the 'quarantined planet.'

For this is their story, and as Calvin grows as one with Kaito, it feels something deep within him that's barely a ting, a single ember buried within. An ember, that much like these new emotions, Calvin has never felt before.

When Kaito finally realizes Calvin was shrinking, he'd immediately found a mirror and nearly passed out as Professor Derry had done earlier because he could've sworn the last thing he saw before Calvin vanished into his tongue was Calvin's wave. At the realization Calvin was no longer in Kaito's mouth, the decision would be made, and the door opened. First, it would be believed that Kaito had swallowed Calvin, but that simply wasn't the case.

When Professor Derry would go to take Kaito's blood for testing, a thing like one of Calvin's arms would immediately grow out of Kaito's own arm to save him from the fear that Kaito felt was the needle.

All eyes would be widened in complete and utter awe, but no one would be more surprised than Kaito would be when that arm changed into what looked like a Calvin colored dragonfly-like insect with a string from it's body to Kaito's arm and said one simple word.

"Hello."

Disclaimer: I do not own the original characters, story line, or themes of My Hero Academia or Life (2017).