My Hero Academia: Stone Cold.

Speaking Life into Your Future.

*** TRIGGER WARNING*** MENTIONS OF RAPE. Just want to say that this has been a hard chapter to write since I have been trying to make sure to tread on the subject lightly and as respectfully as I can. Anyone who has been through this please do not feel pressured into reading this chapter. 

Ari found herself with tears down her face and she chuckled as she wiped them away. A boy liked her again, a boy she could trust. She had a mix of devastation and pure joy whirling around in her stomach and she didn't know how to feel. Kirishima put down the book for the moment and brought her close to hold her. 

"You're okay." He rubbed her back. "It's going to be okay."

she leaned into the crook of his neck, smelling the foresty scent upon his skin. His touch was so comforting and gentle. She loved is touch, she wished that he could hold her like this for the rest of the night. To Kirishima, he was grateful that she trusted him enough to touch her. It was a privelege and he handled that privelege with delicate care. "Thank you."

"For what, Ari?" He asked, looking into her eyes as she lifted out of the crook of his neck. 

"For liking me back." Her head dropped. 

"Oh, Ari." He cupped her face. "You couldn't keep me from liking you. You're an amazing person."

She nodded and looked over at the book he had set aside, picking it back up and handing it to him, "Please keep reading."

"Okay." He nodded, taking the book and read it until he saw the three words in all caps. His eyes went wide as he read the words, 'I WAS RAPED' upon the page. He looked up at her with a morbid expression on his face, sorrow rushing into his eyes as he saw Ari break down and cry. 

"I'm sorry, I-"

"Shh!" Kirishima hushed her and held her tight. "Don't you dare say sorry. Don't ever apologize for something like that."

Ari clutched his shoulders as she buried her face in to them, crying hysterically. He couldn't hold her tight enough as he sat there wide eyed and feeling as if his stomach had fallen into a black hole. "Ari." He spoke gently. 

She tried to speak but her crying didn't stop, Kirishima let go of her and started to write on her arm with his finger, 'Its okay, breathe.'

Ari understood and took a deep breath to calm herself, a faint smile from the little act he did. 

"Can you tell me...what happened?" He asked. 

Ari nodded and sat down next to him on the bed, "Isaiah was my boyfriend for a few months, alost to a year before I came here." She took another breath and tried to recall everything without getting too upset which was an almost impossible feat on its own. "Isaiah had this idea for us to be alone together for a couple of weeks over the summer. My Dad, being the protective father that he is would never let me be alone with him so I lied."

"Isaiah is the one you told me you met through a mutual friend of your Dad, right?"

"Yes. I lied and said that he and his parents would be in their summer home for a few weeks and he and I wanted to spend time with them. Of course he said yes because his parents were good friends of his. I was excited...I felt like I was surrounded by this halo of warm light when I was with him. He and I spend three days in that house and each day...he tried to...push things a little farther with me." Ejiro held her hand firmly as she recalled her trauma, letting her know he was there listening through all of it. 

"W-we would end up...doing things that I was uncomfortable with and I never said anything because I loved him so much. I didn't want to disappoint him. When he said he wanted to have sex with me...I said no. I was tired of doing things with him I didn't want to do and thats when he got violent."

"You can stop whenever you want, Ari. You don't have to tell me everything all at once."

"I like you enough to tell you everything." She squeezed his hand. "I want to. I'm tired of...hiding awy from it all, like it never happened."

He nodded and didn't interrupt her again, she told him about the horrid experience. She felt soulless, as if her soul had died yet still laid there in her body lifeless. She couldn't activate her quirk because of the deep, immense fear she felt that made her feel as if she were on the edge of death itself. She didn't think that the phenomena would ever happen to her but the stories were all true, some quirks didn't work under extreme traumatic experiences. She was hours from home in a secluded place. He had taken her cell phone and any means of contact in order to prolong her suffering. 

"Finally, I was able to escae and run out of the house. He found out quickly but... I was able to hide in the woods until the morning came. I remembered there was a town a mile away from where we stayed at and I walked there and someone found me. They called the police and my Dad came running." She looked down at her knotted fingers and shook her head. "I just wish my quirk worked when it happened...I feel broken."

"You are not broken, Ari." He spoke up. "You were simply afraid."

"I am a lioness, I couldv'e-"

"I know." He faced her. "Your quirk not working won't happen again. Your enemies will fall under your shadow when they see you. There will be nothing that they can do or say that will make you feel as if you are less than you are right now."

"Eji-" 

"I mean it. You have endured such a terrible thing, you told me your past. At least let me speak life into your future."