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CHAPTER START---
"What the actual fuck was that?" Law asks as he paces back and forth around the living room within Horizon Tower.
Nezu was sitting on the couch typing away on his phone trying to figure out what's going on while Law kept walking.
"I'm making a call to the Prime Minister," Nezu says. "Hopefully he can give us a hand."
"Yeah I hope so," Law runs his fingers through his hair as he walks to the window, staring out at Tokyo. "Those fuckers really betrayed Pantu, betrayed us, I didn't ever think she'd lose control of her own people."
"When someone rips a city from the earth, crumples it into a ball, then throws it at their country, that inspires enough fear and doubt to make people turn on each other," Nezu says.
Law glances back over his shoulder, seeing Nezu begin talking on the phone.
Ignoring Nezu he closes his eyes, focusing on Scan, sensing Pantu being processed at a police station only 25 miles away.Her items have been removed, and now she sits cuffed to a table in the interrogation room, under heavy guard, waiting for what he assumes is her legal team.
SHAMBLES!
He warps his visor onto his head before looking back at Nezu, "I'll be back in a minute…"
SHAMBLES!
He warps away, appearing across the table from Pantu, seeing the woman staring down at the table deep in thought.
"You shouldn't be here, breaking into a police station," Pantu says without even looking up at him.
"I just want to know what's going to happen to you, any ideas?"
"I've been charged with everything short of treason, and since I'm not a National Asset like you and Nezu, lethal injection," Pantu says.
"So you're definitely in no position to help me," Horizon mutters. "I was hoping you'd have some way out of this…"
"Covering for you is what got me into this," Pantu looks up at him, then gestures to the cuffs. "I was so desperate to keep you in Japan that I covered up all those things you did without hesitation, because I knew that even if I lost my job, or worse, all I had to do was last until your contract was done."
"Then what?"
"Then, hopefully you'd be so happy with the support I'd given you, and with some convincing from Nezu, you'd stay in Japan," Pantu sighs and leans back, rattling the cuffs. "But I didn't account for you being so scary that my own people would be willing to turn on me, just to get you out of Japan, the filthy cowards."
"I see," Horizon sits on the chair opposite her. "And all the spy games, trying to learn about me…"
Pantu scoffs, "considering how things played out, do you really think I was wrong for wanting to know how to bring you down if you did turn against us?"
Horizon nods, "no, that's just you doing your job."
They sit in silence for a moment before Pantu asks,"Was I close?"
"I…don't even know anymore," Horizon admits. "You were closer than I'd like to admit, I was really starting to like this hero stuff."
"I spent my entire life working myself ragged, sacrificing everything to keep Japan safe. And now, when I was so close to getting some immortal war god to protect us, everything blew up in my face."
"At Least you have someone else to blame," Horizon says. "In my case, everything that happens now is all on me, and I just have to grit my teeth and deal with the outcome."
"Consequences, yes," Pantu reaches forward and gently touches his hand. "I'm sorry but, if you're hoping I can tell you where that facility is, I sent them to a place I don't know the location of, just in case I was compromised."
Horizon doesn't detect any lies from the woman, before she withdraws her hand.
"Sorry, standard procedure for the paranoid," Pantu says.
"You had good reason, but that's not why I was here," Horizon says, and Pantu doesn't detect any lies.
She collects her thoughts for a moment before speaking, "then why are you here?"
"I, um… I don't know," he lies, which she easily detects. "But I suppose this is goodbye, thank you for trying to help me, I'm just sorry it turned out like this, for all of us."
SHAMBLES!
He warps away, leaving her alone in the room to face her fate.
Horizon appears back on the couch in his living room, then quickly removes his visor once again.
"Where'd you go?" Nezu asks Law.
"To visit Pantu," Law says. "She's going to be executed, probably sooner rather than later."
"The Prime Minister confirmed that much," Nezu says as he continues writing some plans for their new courtroom strategy. "He also said he isn't allowed to get involved in this matter, and is in the process of deciding who the next President of the HPSC will be."
"Already trying to replace her huh."
"The country cannot function without someone in her chair," Nezu says. "Do you feel bad for her?"
"No, she knew the risks of helping me," Law says. "I just never expected things to go this badly for us, what about you, how do you feel?"
"I'm fine," Nezu says. "Lives were lost but humans will mourn then move on as if nothing happened, it's what you're all best at after all. Adapting and overcoming."
"Wow, and they think I'm the monster."
"I'm not human," Nezu reminds him. "My students and staff are one thing, but people who don't affect me are another story entirely."
"And what about me?" Law asks. "You turn a blind eye to all the horrible things I've done, why? Why can you easily look past all the lives I've taken?"
Nezu looks at him in surprise for a moment, then shakes his head and continues writing.
"Because, you're Horizon, it's really that simple," Nezu says. "I will guide you down the hero path as long as it takes, no matter how many times you stumble and fall, I will pick you back up, because the good you can bring to this world is boundless.
And so long as you keep returning to the hero path, no matter how many times you are knocked away from it, or even if you abandon it on your own. So long as you return to it, we have endless chances, to have our own Guardian Deity."
"I see," Law mutters.
"I also quite like talking to you," Nezu quickly admits. "But you've probably noticed that. After all, you're the only other person I've met that's truly unique, so we can best understand the isolation it brings when you operate differently from every other thing in the world."
"Yeah, it's lonely being better than everyone," Law says.
"Well I wouldn't put it like that."
Law sighs, leaning back into the couch. "Just me, you, and apparently Pantu, versus, everything. Never would have expected this to be the outcome."
"Yes we're all in this together."
"And I'm sorry, for whatever repercussions you'll be facing for standing by my side, and for whatever happens next," Law says as he warps his visor back on.
"Ready to get back into the fight?" Nezu asks.
"I'm ready to end the fight," Horizon says as the both warp away.
Minutes later Nezu and Horizon, along with everyone else are back in the courtroom.
Horizon's Provisional Hero License rests on the table in front of him, but as Nezu and Lady Gisei go back and forth making their points either for or against Horizon, everyone can feel Nezu's points being shredded.
The odds were far too stacked against them, mass murder, government corruption, and all the smaller crimes that lay between them.
For the first time it seemed as if being Horizon simply wouldn't be enough.
This is all but confirmed when he gets a message on the inside of his visor from the Whitehouse, extending another offer from President Christopher Skyline.
'Everyone is ready to pick apart Japan's corpse…' Horizon thinks as he recedes into his own mind.
He thoughtlessly begins playing with his Provisional Hero License again, making it hover and slowly rotate above his palm as he considers his future.
'Even if I win this case by some miracle, Pantu is going to get executed, and my parents will soon follow.
UA will be in serious trouble when I leave too, so Nezu will have a mountain of problems to deal with.
Endeavor will be the main target for Shigaraki, and at this rate he'll be dead before the end of the year.
And I… I don't even know what I want to do anymore. I really didn't count on enjoying this hero crap,' Horizon thinks.
He recedes further into his mind, recalling his parent's words to him, December 24th the year before last.
How they begged him to forget about them, to move onto a new chapter of his life. To simply let them go and live the life he wants to live.
"---Horizon!" Judge Boshu snaps him out of his thoughts.
"Yes?" Horizon asks.
"Did you not hear the question?"
Horizon looks around, seeing everyone looking at him, "uh, no, i wasn't really paying attention."
"You are on trial for serious crimes, and you weren't paying attention?"
"Well, yeah," Horizon takes a deep breath as he gets up, still hovering his license above his palm. "It's not like I'm the one on trial here, right?"
He walks closer to the judge, making the man a bit nervous as he gets to the middle of the room, taking the floor.
"But you are," Lady Gisei says.
"No, I'm really not," Horizon looks at all the cameras and spectators, then points at them. "All of you are."
He sees some people look confused while Endeavor just nods, knowing what he meant.
"Because this case doesn't decide my future, it decides yours, all of you. Because if I lose, it's not like I'll be locked up, I'll just go to a different country, they've already sent dozens of offers, I just have to pick one.
But all of you, well, if I leave, you're all going to die. Because when Shigaraki sends his next monster, you won't have anyone capable of fighting it, and it will leave Japan as a pile of rubble.
And the very best you could hope for, is that whatever country I move to allows me to come stop them, but that's unlikely, and it'll be too late anyway."
Horizon sighs and raises his Provisional License to float even higher.
"All of this drama, to decide if I can keep this, as if you could possibly survive without me. You need me, because none of you, can save you, only I can do that, because I'm Horizon, and you're not.
You need me, and I…" he pauses for a moment, finally coming to the realization, and accepting his parent's words. "I really don't need anyone," with those words he feels a weight being lifted from his spirit.
As a newfound sense of freedom rushes through him, allowing him to finally be whoever he wants to be.
The room is still for a moment until he looks around, seeing most of the people here terrified of what comes next, but some such as Endeavor and Mirko are smiling, knowing this was the only way for the masses to understand.
Horizon exhales and relaxes his shoulder, "the fate of a nation is in your hands now," he hovers the Provisional License over to the judge. "But I only stay if Pantu stays, so think very carefully about what you decide…"
With that being said he warps away, leaving everyone stunned silent.
They now realize they'd not taken a single breath since he began speaking, fear and astonishment was so thick they couldn't drink in the air.
Judge Boshu looks at the license in his fingers, unable to collect his thoughts.
Everyone expected this case to continue for days, but it seems that Horizon's patience had run thin after only a few hours, now the fate of a nation rests in his hands.
'So this is the pressure that child must have felt, every day as Horizon,' he thinks to himself as he looks up at the crowd, into the cameras. Billions of people ready to hand onto his every word.
But he is not Horizon, he is not ready to face such a daunting challenge head on, so he retreats to collect his thoughts, and the facts.
"Court will resume after a 2 Hour recess," he slams the gavel, and the room immediately erupts into chaos as reporters rush toward Endeavor and Nezu…
END CHAPTER---