In the plains of Midwest, Mirko sits on a dead, freshly killed imugi. She eats it raw, it's essence strengthen her, this caused her white hair to slightly gain a blue tinge to it. Her eyes were the same as Bakugo in that if Mélusine sees them she would see Galahad in them.
As she eats the imugi quickly dissolves and not even bone is left, except the parts that were lost in battle. Mirko sighs as she begins to look for more when she halts.
"… Hmph." She turns around and makes a wide smile. "BOUT TIME YOU CAME!!"
She leapt into the air, spinning rapidly before doing an axe kick onto Mélusine. She easily blocked it but the ground beneath her cracked apart like spider-webs.
"Nice kick." She replies.
Mirko pushes off her and gets some distance.
"I've been meaning to fight you since forever!"
"Hm… Well how about him?" She stepped aside and the space bent.
Galahad walked through and stood before her.
"You look well, Mirko." Galahad smiles at her.
Her eyes meet Galahad and her face turns to fury.
"YOU BASTARD!!"
She rushes him with even more speed. Magical circuits appeared all around her body making her strike all the more powerful. Galahad did nothing as she struck him in his neck. To his surprise she was resistant to his presence, or just wasn't effected at all.
'Is it the Imugi that she ate that cause this?'
She kept attacking him with devastating attack. But he ate them all. This kept going until Mirko tire herself out.
"Do you still need more? time" Galahad asks.
"You…" She catches her breath before meeting his eyes. "Where the hell did you go. I… I looked for you and you were gone."
"… Let me tell you everything."
Galahad proceeded to tell Mirko everything. He told her of his origins and how they first met. This made her calm down. Her shoulders slumped as she sat down.
"I knew that." She said. "You felt just like that person I kicked the hell out of at the warehouse."
"I have to thank you, truly. If not for that sucker kick, I would not have met my partner." He gestured and looked to Mélusine who was listening to the side.
"Hello!" She greeted. "I am Mélusine."
"Hm." She looked at her. "A good, pretty, and strong girl."
"Well this leads us to the next part."
He then began to tell her of the Holy Grail War and the things that lead up to Albert becoming Galahad.
"That does gives a lot of context."
"I thought the others would have told you. Did Kischur not tell you?"
"Kischur? You mean that old man who likes to sit on his neat chair he keeps yapping about, that guy?"
"Yeah."
"No. He taught basic Magecraft and to those who killed the imugi you made. Very few get the privilege. After that I went back to fighting villains."
"Hm… Do you want to share a drink with me and Mélusine? I want to catch up with you."
"Do you even have money?"
He snapped his fingers and from the earth a table forms along with two polished cups of rocks. Liquid filled the cups, Mirko could smell it was alcoholic, but the scent was nothing she smelled before. It had a fruity, sweet smell to it.
"What is this? You have a taste for the new kind of drinks?" She sat down.
Galahad and Mélusine sat down as well.
"Alcoholic drinks were originally very fruity, it helped with you know the taste. I mean wine is the oldest forms of drinks and that is from a fruit."
Mirko takes a sip of the drink and smiles.
"Ooh! That is really good! Where did you get it?"
"I made it. I can leave you with some bottles."
She nods as she pours herself some more.
"So, what do you wanna know?" She takes a another sip of her drink.
"… How were you after the collapse?"
"The collapse you did? Well… pretty good, aside from trying to find you."
Mirko told her story of what she did after the collapse of society. It didn't change much of how she operated, she traveled, fought criminals, traveled more, ate, slept, repeat in not so much in the order. She also said that she also ate from an imugi like Bakugo. This made Galahad and Mélusine to think that she was resistant because she ate one even more. Mélusine began to recall her time with Bakugo, and he really wasn't fearful of the aura she was putting out. By the time Cathleen showed up that intimidating aura was tempered down.
"So what have you been up to this past decade?"
"I was fighting an alien."
"… Heh."
Galahad and Mélusine stared at her, not saying anything else. She gulped a bit and asked nervously.
"R—Really? Were they green?"
"Uhh… more like a silver-teal-spider-crab thing."
"Hm… How was the fight?"
"It was… interesting. Fun." He smiled. "They fought like a machine. An unrelenting calamity, to say the least. We practically flung and fought with a bunch of cosmic stuff."
"So now what? What are you going to do?"
"Travel the stars with Mélusine."
She looked at Mélusine who was smiling ear to ear. Her eyes never left him.
"That's lovely. So…" She leans back as she finishes her drink. "When do you leave?"
"After I meet with one more person."
"What of your mother?"
"She means Star and Stripe." Mélusine added for clarification.
"… She's my mom?" He was surprised by the information. "Huh… that is surprising."
"You got the same eyes. She thanked me for having you under my wing."
"Hm… maybe I should go meet her before I leave." He looks to Mélusine. "I assume you met her, yes?"
Mélusine nods.
"While you were away."
"Why didn't you bring it up?"
"I was too caught up in your return."
"… Do you have her scent?"
"Sure do."
"Then let's go." He gets up and with a sweep of his hands he made three bottles of the drink he made for Mirko. "Mirko, Rumi Usagiyama." He smiles at her. "You are my favorite hero. I am happy that I could be your sidekick for the short time that we worked together."
She also smiled back. She lifted her right foot onto the chair and rested her head on her left knee.
"I am happy you found happiness, Albert."
"Farewell."
Mélusine grabbed him and they took off. Mirko watched them leave and she only sighs.
"… I'll make sure another child like you does not suffer what you went through."
She picked up the bottles and then left back to her temporary base to store them before getting back to work.
Mélusine flew Galahad south all the way to what use to be Cuba.
"Hm…" Galahad gazed down on the country he helped overthrow to see it back in a civil war.
He could hear what everyone was saying, and he got the gist of it.
"Oh, they doing what they did in the early to late 50s, another Cuban Revolution."
He could see several powerful Quirk users battling it out in the streets.
"I will give you a hand." He extends his hands down, but before he could do anything he saw rock shoot across the street and kill one anti-revolutionary.
He looked to see Star And Stripes running down the streets of Cuba helping up the repressed people and helping them reclaim their home.
He smiled seeing this.
"Mel, put me down."
She did as he asked and put him down. Immediately he inspects the whole island with his Magic Circuits—or as he calls them down Linear Patterns. They spread through the island instantly and he modified the island in certain parts to let him listen in on everyone.
He found all the people who were part of the American government and he killed them all. How? He made them all explode via his Linear Patterns entering and triggering them.
"Hm!" He smiles even more widely, so much so Mélusine who was watching thought his face would tear, instead it stretched to match his emotions. "A good day!"
Mélusine clapped for him. As she clapped Star And Stripes—Cathleen lands on the rooftop to spot the pair, detecting their massive presence. Her eyes widen seeing Mélusine and beside her was…
He turned to meet her gaze, and he saw his own eyes before he transcended humanity. Instinctively he knew. His face softened and his stretched smile shrunk down to give him a very sincere and heart-touched expression.
"Hello—"
Before he could even greet her she immediately came over and hugged him firmly.
"I'm sorry!" She cried out as tears ran down her face. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I—I should have known sooner!"
Regret and pain laced her words that touched Galahad deeply. He moved his hands to hold her, his body, upon his will and thoughts, became more human to connect with Cathleen even more. His appearance slowly shifting back to how he was before the Grail War.
"…Mom." He says that as some tears run down his face as well.
He felt her hug tighten even more. Tiamat was right. The love and sincerity he felt from this single act was more than what Tiamat could give to him. He made sure to savor this moment deep in his heart.
They hug for a while before she pulls back to meet him face to face.
"I do not deserve to be called mom. I never raised you, never took care of you, never… I never even gave you a name."
"How could you? I was kept hidden from everyone. You… you at least tried."
"I should have tried harder…"
"… What should I call you?"
Cathleen thinks for a moment and lands on a choice.
"Call me Star And Stripes."
"I'll just call you Star."
"That is fine." She lets go of him and takes two steps back. "You… you really do have my eyes…"
"I have been told." He turns to look out at the city. "You have been hunting down and destroying everything related to America, right?"
"I have." She nods. "For what they did… it is only right that justice fall on them."
"…" he turns back to her to find she was studying his face. "Do you want to spend the day together? I… I always wanted to spend time with my parents. That maybe can't happened but… yeah he is a piece of shit."
"Oh I killed that Handler of yours as well Gal!" Mélusine added.
"Oh wonderful! What of those Seraphim?"
"They were mostly all killed on that day. I killed the rest after you went off to fight."
"I am sorry but there is things I need to—"
"I already got rid of them." Galahad answered Cathleen. "There are no more here to stand against the revolution."
Her eyes widen in surprise.
"You… did?"
"Yeah, so we can spend the time together. What do you say?"
"I… I think we should do it when the sun is high, what do you say?"
"That is fine." He flicked his hand and the two of them were now on the other side of the planet where it was day. "So, shall we have a walk?"
Cathleen looked around in a bit of awe.
"Where… are we?"
"The shores of Madagascar."
"I see…" She looked at him and sighs. "You are full of surprises. Alright, let's go on a walk and catch up."
The mother and son spend the day together till the sun eventually sets and they leave with one last, warm, halcyon memory. But before he left she did leave him with something.
"I want to give you something, Galahad."
"What is it?" He asks, curious what she could give him.
"I… I never gave you anything, but I hope I can give you at least a name, my last name. Bate."
"Bate…" He closes his eyes and repeats the name a few times. "Galahad Bate… Hm." He opens his eyes and smiles. "A good name. I will carry it with me, thank you, mom."
She made a wry smile.
"I told you, I do not deserve to be called that."
"You may deny it, but I won't, mom."
With that he disappeared. Cathleen takes a deep breath as a few tears run down her face.
"I'll miss you, Galahad Bate."