Weak [BNHA Fanfiction]

Chapter 31

I'm honestly just using this as a way to procrastinate on my homework, which is not good.

"Charlotte, will you forgive me if I push you a little harder today?"

Charlie blinked and nodded slowly, forcing the resolve in her chest to grow. Edgeshot had told her that he and Hina would be taking turns being Charlie's test dummies but that also meant no breaks for Charlie.

Today had been a bit busier than usual. That morning she had endured her last gruelling martial arts class with Hina, taken a shower before lunch, and had rushed out of the building after eating to respond to a nearby robbery call from down the block. The situation was resolved quickly with Edgeshot's intervention. He usually would have had a sidekick or newbie hero dispatched to the call but he informed Charlie afterwards they he thought it would be a good learning experience for her to see an active crime scene and a pro hero at work.

Charlie then found herself sitting on the floor in the dojo on the second floor with Hina sitting in front of her and Edgeshot standing slightly off to the side.

Hina was up first. Charlie closed her eyes and imagined the spider web inside her head. She remorsefully gave it an experimental flick to make sure it still worked, receiving a stifled gasp in confirmation. She once more willed the spider to crawl across the web and weave an image of herself. Today took less effort than it had yesterday—perhaps because Charlie's nerves started off less frazzled. Hina seemed fine despite their session yesterday, so Charlie hoped that she would also be fine after this one.

She cracked her eyes open when she heard Hina beginning to move away, shakily scooting backwards to put more distance between the two of them. She released her hold with a trembling sigh. As she had yesterday, she replaced the web with a string and stilled it's tremors, calming Hina down immediately.

Edgeshot examined her appearance with sharp eyes and scribbled something down on the clipboard he was holding. "Please describe the symptoms of backlash you're experiencing."

"Ahh," Charlie rubbed her cold hands together, not expecting for notes to be taken. "My hands are cold and a bit numb. Some auditory hallucinations but surprisingly enough not too many sensory or visual ones—those usually come first. I'm still able to tell them apart, however. Feeling a little panicky but alright."

Edgeshot nodded as he finished writing his notes. "That's fantastic improvement from yesterday already," he praised. He handed his clipboard to Hina, who inched to the side to make room for him, and sat on the floor as well.

Charlie's brows pulled together in concentration as she formed the web in Edgeshot's head and projected the same image onto it. The spider walked slowly to not disturb the web too much—not to cause too much fear. When she had succeeded—with a bit more trouble this time—she stilled his string and retracted her quirk back into herself. She shook as pain flared up on her wrists. She didn't pull up her sleeves to check, fearing her mentors seeing any of the real red lines she had made the night before. She knew she would regret taking her scissors with her. 

Her auditory hallucination—a dog barking from somewhere she couldn't see—got louder. Charlie teared up, feeling overwhelmed.

"Very good. Thank you for properly controlling your quirk, the fear wasn't overwhelming. Symptoms?" Edgeshot straightened his back as soon as his panic subsided.

Charlie's voice shook as she responded. "Same as before, just more intense. Auditory got louder. Only thing new is a sensory hallucination."

"Sensory?"

"Pain," she managed out, gritting her teeth as her heart pounded louder in her ears and the barking somehow got even louder, nearly drowning out Edgeshot's words.