I woke to the buzzing of my alarm. Squinting my eyes I blinked in the darkness. The sun hadn't even come up yet. Sighing I clicked off my alarm and started dressing for school. It was about an hour and a half earlier than I usually woke up. Last night I set my alarm for 5:30 instead of 7:00. I wanted to leave for school early. Alone.
After getting my bag together I tiptoed down the stairs, careful to skip the squeaky stair three steps from the bottom. I took a few minutes to pet the cats, both dozing together on a chair. Then I quickly scribbled a note to leave on the countertop.
I left early. I'll be at the school. -Y/N
Even the simple act of writing a note left a taste of disaffection in my mouth. I couldn't shake the anger I felt last night. With a hard face I unlocked the door and set out for school. I let my mind wander as I looked up at the last remaining stars of the night. I shivered as a burst of wind tingled along my bare arms. I wish I'd brought a sweatshirt.
For what felt like the first time in forever, I wondered about my past. Who was my mother? Was my father even alive? Where did they come from? What were they like? My dad never told me much detail about how I came into his life. He always just said that he found me alone, and left it at that. All I knew was that my mother was dead, and my father may as well be too.
As I continued walking my mind started to weave together a romantic and tragic backstory. Maybe my parents were elite spies, or pro heroes. They came to Japan from across the sea on a special mission. They couldn't bear to leave me behind, so they brought their child with them. Sadly, in a tragic accident they perished...leaving little me all alone to carry on their heroic legacy.
Or something like that...
"Everyone please line up in groups of two! We can enter the bus in an orderly fashion!" Iida yelled strictly as he did his odd arm chops.
My class was buzzing with excitement. Today's hero training class was: Rescue Training. We would finally work to learn arguably the most important job of heroes. Natural disasters are statistically more likely to occur than villain attacks. Knowing how to deal with those disasters and surprises is crucial.
"I guess it's not that type of bus," someone giggled softly. As I stepped into the bus I looked around at the open seating. Humming I took one of the only seats left next to Kirishima. He smiled at me as I sat down.
I debated pulling out my book before Kirishima asked,
"So, Y/n, what do you think of UA so far?"
I thought for a moment, "I think it's quite impressive. The sheer scale of possibilities for training and learning is incredible. Hopefully today will be a worthwhile learning opportunity.
"Wow. You sound so professional! Its manly dude!" He laughed.
"What about you?" I asked.
"Its been really fun! I was worried my quirk wouldn't be great for being a hero, but maybe with enough practice I can really make something of it!"
"I think your quirk is amazing!" I insisted, "Its super strong, and can be used for both defense and offense!"
"Yeah well, it's just not as flashy," he explained, "Hero's success is partially based on popularity. I gotta say that in terms of flashiness and skill— you, Todoroki, and Bakugo are at the top."
"But Bakugo's personality is so shitty no one will like him!" Someone called out. I smothered a laugh.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Bakugo screamed from across the aisle.
"Yeah man, I gotta admit your attitude is worse than garbage," Kirishima laughed.
"I'LL KILL YOU! JUST YOU WAIT SHITTY HAIR!" He screamed back.
The banter and jokes went on for a few more minutes. I tried to stay out of it, but happily laughed with the others watching Kiri and Bakugo go at it. Eventually the chaos died down.
"I wonder what kind of stuff we'll have to do today," Kirishima asked aloud.
"Ask Y/n, maybe she knows," Momo suggested from a few chairs down.
"Why would she know?" Kiri asked puzzled.
"Well her dads our teacher, so maybe he told her something," Momo responded.
"YOUR DADS OUR TEACHER?!" Kirishima shouted. Suddenly all the chatter died down.
My face grew hot as I felt the stares of the entire bus watching me.
"Oh-well, I-I mean yeah," I mumbled.
"How did I not know this?" Iida questioned.
"Well, not many people knew, I didn't see the point in announcing it or anything," I muttered.
"Its just, I didn't think Mr. Aizawa was married or had kids. He seems kind of like a recluse." Kirishima said. Others nodded.
"Well, he's actually wasn't ever married," I corrected, "Its just me and him at home. I was adopted a long time ago."
"Ohhhh. So he's not your real dad." Kaminari spoke up.
"Of course he's my real-," I stopped short. They were right. He wasn't my real dad. Our little conversation last night made that perfectly clear. My real dad was out there somewhere, maybe even waiting for me.
"Alright class, everyone quiet down. We're here." Mr. Aizawa's voice came around from the front of the bus.
I lowered my head. I couldn't bring myself to look or talk to him all morning. It felt a little childish, but its not like he made any effort either. I waited until the last person exited the bus before filing out behind them. I fiddled with one of the shurikens I had taken out from my belt.
I couldn't contain my gasp as we walked into the USJ training center. It was massive. Each area was sectioned off into its own zone. I couldn't see everything, but I made out a mountain zone, tall buildings, and one area surrounded by water.
"Gather around students, gather around!" We all crowded around a hero in a large white suit who went by the name Thirteen. "Welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint! Or as I like the call it, USJ!"
The kids stared in awe.
"All Might was supposed to be joining us, but he's running a bit late," Thirteen announced. "Today, as you know, we are learning rescue training. Disasters come in all shapes and sizes, and its important for a hero to be equipped with as much knowledge as possible to deal with those disasters! Now, let me say a word or two...or three, or four, or five..."
I bounced on the balls of my feet with both excitement and anticipation. Although my quirk was well rounded and pretty flashy, I never saw the huge appeal of fighting villains 24/7. What I really wanted to do was help people who were helpless. If that happened to come in the form of villain fighting, so be it. But I was sure basic disaster rescues would be a large part of the job I wanted to play when I became a pro hero. If.
"As some of you may know, my quirk is called Black Hole," Thirteen continued, "I can suck up anything and turn it to dust. This is very useful, but also dangerous. I have a quirk that can kill easily. It is important to know what your quirks are capable of, and to be able to control them. Thanks to your previous fitness tests and training you should already have an idea of how your quirks work against others. Keep that in mind as we train today! Let's get started!"
As soon as Thirteen finished, a large cloud of black fog appeared at the center of the building. I watched in confusion as people with odd quirks started emerging from it.
"Is this part of the training?" Someone whispered.
"Don't move!" I heard a deep voice yell. My dad was there, wasting no time in putting on his goggles and grabbing his scarf.
"Those are real villains. Apparently they were behind the break in yesterday. Kaminari, try using your quirk to contact the school. Thirteen, protect the students and start evacuation!"
"But Mr. Aizawa!" Midoriya called out in fear, "There's no way you can take on all those villains yourself! Your fighting style is used for individual stealth fights!"
"You can't be a pro hero with just one trick," he grunted. With that he leapt into the air like a cat landed on his feet; into the crowd of villains.
"Dad!" I screamed in shock and fear. He was crazy. I fumbled for my knife and started to rush over to him. A hand caught my forearm.
"Wait Aizawa, you can't go over there," the quiet boy with a scar told me.
"I have to help him!" I tried to yank my arm away. His grip was strong.
"I know he's your dad, but that will only make it harder for him to focus if you're with him!" Todoroki reasoned. "You need to stay here and trust him to do his job."
My head felt like lead. I could feel my heart pounding as it pushed fear through every inch of my body. I took another look down at the center dome in time to see two villains get knocked together with the capture scarf before falling to the ground. I turned back to Todoroki, and nodded.
"Right, come on, let's see what we can do to help our class," Todoroki held onto my hand and we ran over to where the group of students was gathered near Thirteen.
Suddenly the black warp gate that appeared at the center of USJ was before us.
"Nice to meet you. We are the League of Villains. It may be presumptuous of us, but we have invited ourselves in." He spoke. "We are here to kill the Symbol of Peace. Speaking of which, where is he?"
I saw Thirteen make a move to suck up the villain, but before they could get a chance Kirishima and Bakugo leapt out in front.
"You idiots," I growled, before sending my capture scarf out to try and stop them. It was too late. Before I knew it they were sucked up by the warp gate, dragging me along.
"Oww," I looked over to see Kirishima rubbing the back of his head. I squinted in the dust that was settling around us. Kirishima, Bakugo, and I were laying in the middle of a pile of rubble.
"I think this is the collapse zone," I murmured, standing up.
"How the hell did you get here you damn extra?" Bakugo snarled at me.
"Shut the hell up, I'm not in the mood for your shit," I growled back. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kirishima's look of surprise at my remark. I didn't care. We wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for them. It was rash and irresponsible, it was— exactly what I almost did.
"Alright," I sighed, trying to ease up, "I guess we all got split up by that warp villain."
"What should we do now?" Kirishima asked, his arms had hardened into jagged looking rocks.
We should—," I started.
"What?"
"Shh. Do you hear that?" I held up a hand.
"I don't hear anything," Kirishima said.
Suddenly, from under a pile of rubble a large man with two drills instead of arms rose up.
"I feel bad, we came here to kill All Might but got a few kids instead," the villain laughed. His drills make a high shriek as they started spinning faster.
"I'll make this quick," he grinned, walking closer.
I rolled my eyes and held out my hands. Using my quirk his fast spinning drills froze.
"What?" He growled, looking at his arms in confusion. As he was distracted Bakugo jumped onto him and let out a few explosions. One villain down.
"I was gonna say that we should make our way back to the class," I finished.
"I'm not leaving till I can kill all these stupid villains," Bakugo huffed.
"Well, I agree we should head back, but maybe it would help if we take out a few of the ones here first," Kirishima offered.
I thought for a moment. The villain we just dealt with was obviously a common delinquent; all bark with no bite.
"Fine," I agreed. I followed the boys as we ran through the rubble looking for more villains.
I swung from the ceiling with my scarf, and slammed both legs into the face of an ugly moth-like villain. Quickly I turned around to find my next opponent. Around me the rest of the villains were on the ground with Kirishima and Bakugo standing over them panting.
"Is this all of them? They're so weak," Bakugo announced. I had to agree with him. We had been fighting for only about ten minutes, and I was sure that together we took out about a dozen villains. If this was the army, I wondered how they thought they would be able to kill All Might.
"All right, let's hurry up and save the others!" Kirishima told us. "I'm worried about the ones with a less offensive ability. Besides, it was our fault that we all got separated anyway."
"Technically I was just trying to stop you," I mumbled.
"If you wanna go, then go by yourself," Bakugo replied angrily, "I'm gonna kill that warp gate."
"You're acting up at a time like this!" Kirishima started arguing.
"Shut up!" Bakugo yelled, "That warp gates their only way out, I'm gonna cut off their getaway route for when the time comes.."
"Stop talking! You kids have let your guard down!" A chameleon that had been hiding along the walls for the past few minutes finally tried to jump down. Bakugo easily grabbed its face and let off an explosion.
"Anyway, if these small fries are the ones assigned to us..." he continued.
"Since when are you so calm and rational?" Kirishima said.
"For real," I agreed, "You're always like...DIE DIE DIE," I mocked him.
"I'm always calm you shitty glasses bitch!" He yelled. I looked over at Kirishima and giggled.
"That's more like it," Kirishima whispered to me.
"You two go if you want," Bakugo huffed as he started to walk away.
"Wait wait wait!" Kirishima stopped him. Bakugo turned around, "Believing in our friends, thats very manly. I'll follow you!" He started to join Bakugo.
"You coming Y/n?"
"Sorry guys. I think you got this handled," I assured them, wrapping my scarf back around my neck.
"Where are you going shitty glasses?" Bakugo snarled.
"Can't survive without me, huh Kacchan?" I smirked.
"Don't call me that!"
"I'd love to come along, but I need to go check on my dad. He might need help," I explained anxiously.
"Oh thats right," Kirishima nodded, "Sorry Y/n, I forgot about that."
"Its fine," I reassured him.
"Hey Aizawa," Bakugo snarled at me. I turned around to look at him.
"Be careful," he muttered looking at his feet.
"Don't worry about me, I can handle myself...KACCHAN," I fired back one last time before leaping off a pile of rubble to go find my father.
Finally, after exiting the collapse zone and weaving through the different sections, I found the middle of the USJ center. Before me was a water fountain. On the other side was my dad, being held down by a large monster.
"...in the face of overwhelming power, you might as well be quirkless," I was close enough to hear the hand face man sneer at my dad.
My dad lifted his head angrily, his eyes red, before yelling out in pain as the giant monster crushed his arm. I felt my body shake with anger.
"Get away from him!" I screamed from the other side of the arena.
"My, who is this?" The hand villain said, turning to face me, "One of your little wards Eraserhead?"
I tried using my quirk to feel for any metal. There was nothing. So I pulled out my knife and held it up.
"I'll say it one more time, get off of him," I growled.
"Your students seem awfully fond of you Eraserhead," the villain noted before turning back to me, "But it seems this one even shares your costume! Maybe she means something a little more to you huh?"
"Y/n, get out of here," my dad half growled and half cried at me. I looked into his eyes. They weren't an angry scarlet. They were black, like coffee, like night, like our cat; everything that I loved. They were him.
Before I had a chance to process what I was doing my knife was flying through the air, me right along behind it. As I got closer to the villains I guided it in the monsters' eye. It let out a blood curdling scream.
"You kids are much more of a hinderance than I anticipated," the hand villain sighed. I now had my shurikens in my hands as I faced him.
"Let my dad go," I snarled.
"Dad?" The villain sneered, "Eraserhead, I never knew you were a father! Well that makes this whole thing so much more fun!"
In an instant everything fell apart. I heard my dad yell in pain. In my moment of distraction the hand villain grabbed my wrist and pinned my arms behind my back. I seethed as I felt a burning sensation on my skin.
"You try anything," the villain murmured in my ear, "and I disintegrate your arm."
Next to us the black warp gate appeared again.
"Tomura Shigaraki," he said, "I put Thirteen out of action. But a student got away to warn the school. More pro heroes will be coming any minute.
"Huh?" The hand villain, who's name I assumed was Shigaraki, said angrily. "Kurogiri, if you weren't a warp gate I would've crushed you to pieces!"
I took in a sharp breath as I felt my skin start to crumble under his grip.
"I guess its game over this time," Shigaraki sighed, "Let's go home."
I made the mistake of letting my body relax slightly at his words.
"But," he continued, "before we leave. Let's smash out some of his pride as the Symbol of Peace! I may as well start with your little girl, Eraserhead!"
Everything flashed in my mind. I was a little kid, crying because it was my first day of school and I didn't want my dad to leave me. Christmas lunch with Uncle Zashi and Auntie Nem. An irritating boy with fluffy purple hair asking me if I really listened to Led Zeppelin. It was over. I would never see that boy again. There was so much more I wanted to tell him...
Shigaraki's hand covered my face. I winced, waiting for the pain. Nothing.
"Damn it," Shigaraki huffed, "You really are cool," he turned around, "Eraserhead."
As Shigaraki stepped away I saw my dad, face set with pain. His red eyes and bloody face staring at the villain. Suddenly, the monster creature lifted up both its arms. I knew what would happen. It would bring them down, with enough power to crush the Eiffel Tower, right on my dad's head.
"NOOOOOO!!!!!" I screamed. I couldn't see. I couldn't tell if my eyes were filled with blood or tears. Yet I could feel. In my head I saw—felt— a map. It was a mass of energy that ran through the ground and around the air, all up into my arms. In this new light I saw the monster. It was a maze of winding blood, and I could feel it all. Every push of blood as its heart pumped. Every blood-filled vein from its brain down to its toes.
Sticking out my hands I envisioned the monsters arms that were midair, and I stopped them. I felt it freeze. I was controlling it.
(A/N) I am back!! I'm so sorry for how long this new chapter took. I was slacking big time. I guess its because writing is something that for once I don't think I'm completely terrible at (I'd like to think xD), so whenever I do write I want to make it good. Action scenes are not my forte, so I definitely procrastinated writing this chapter a lot. But after a break I feel much more motivated to continue now :) (so don't worry Pt. 2 will be up soon!)
Alsoooo guys thank you so much for almost 1000 reads! Thats so crazy and flattering! I kind of wanted to do something special. I don't know if I should write something special (like a little short story with theses characters), or if maybe I should do a little get to know the author thingy? Aghh idk if you all have a preference lmk! As always I love yall and thank you do much for reading <3