"How have you been feeling since we last spoke?" A woman with graying hair tied back into a low bun sat in a comfortable folding chair, the same one she always brought with her. A pair of glasses sat in front of her kind, attentive eyes as she gazed expectantly at the uninterested girl.
"The same," Unknown hummed, distractedly tracing patterns across the surface of the desk.
"Have you noticed any changes in your behavior?"
"No."
"Are you experiencing anything unusual? Sights, sounds, moods?"
"No."
"I see. Are you still sleeping irregularly throughout the day?"
"Yes."
"Have you tried adjusting your sleep schedule as I recommended?"
"No."
"It'll be better for your state of mind if you can keep a healthy internal clock, so please try to minimize the amount of time you sleep during the day, alright?"
"Mm."
"Ok, well let's move on. I'd like to hear a bit more about how the Manager treated you and the other children."
"I've told you all that before."
"I'd like to review it once more if you don't mind."
"There's nothing I haven't already said. He usually acted nice enough, but he got upset sometimes. He would scream and break things, you know, become violent if anyone did anything wrong, even if it was small. Sometimes it lasted a few days, then he would go back to acting like nothing happened."
"What would you do during times like that?"
"What could we do? Just tried to stay out of his way, stay quiet, make sure we didn't do anything wrong."
"Alright. When did you first start breaking away from the influence of the Manager's quirk?"
"When I was preparing to infiltrate UA. The girl whose identity I took had a wind quirk, so the Manager said I had to make mine look like one too. It took some time, but it wasn't too difficult- all I had to do was pressurize the air a little differently. I was practicing constantly back then to make sure it was convincing. It was autumn, and the weather was still warm, so I usually practiced by using air from outside to cool my room. I began noticing the difference after a few weeks: I started having doubts about the missions he gave us, I didn't follow his orders as quickly, I started hesitating during the attacks we carried out. After a while of experimenting, I realized I tended to obey him more after a while of not ventilating my room, and it became stronger whenever I was around him for longer periods of time. He never talked about his quirk, so I figured it must be like Amnestica's- a gas secretion- only it works as some kind of mind-control or something."
"I've visited the youngest member, Traceback. She was the only one who was willing to speak to me; the others all refused. Do you think that has anything to do with the effects of the Manager's quirk?"
"Probably. She was with us for the shortest time. He only brought her around four years ago."
"And you have been a member for nearly nine years, correct?"
"Yea."
"I see. Now, let's talk about your time at UA. How did you feel when you were there?"
"It was the first time I got to be away from him for more than a day, so I suppose it was nice."
"What about the people you met there?"
"What about them?"
"If I recall correctly, you were quite close to a number of your classmates. I know one student comes to visit you quite often."
"Close... no, not really. At least it wasn't genuine."
"From what I know, you seem to care for them."
"Even if I did, it wouldn't matter. They never cared about me: it was Ito Naoko they liked."
"But you were Ito Naoko, weren't you?"
"That's... no, that's not right."
"Unknown, I believe the way you were treated growing up has instilled a sense of worthlessness in the back of your mind. The way you speak about yourself tells me you believe your value comes solely from your quirk and nothing else, but you need to understand that isn't true. I know it's not easy to change your way of thinking, but-"
"Can we stop for today? I'm tired."
"Avoidance is not going to help your recovery-"
"Thank you for your concern, doctor. It was nice talking to you again. I'll see you next week."
_______________________________________________
Unknown could hardly tell how long she had been in this little white room. She had stopped keeping track. The only remaining clues she had were the weekly visits from the psychologist and the detectives who still came by every once in a while to ask her all the questions she had already answered. She didn't know why; perhaps they didn't believe her? Maybe they were looking for something more? It didn't matter, really. She would speak to them whenever they came, she would answer whatever redundant questions they asked. What else did she have to do in this empty little room?
She had long since exhausted what little entertainment they had provided her. She had read each of the five books in her room twice, despite her overwhelming disinterest in all them, and played all of the pointless little board games they gave her. None of it was interesting: empty and meaningless, through and through. Now, what little intrigue they offered was utterly drained, leaving her with nothing but her own festering mind to occupy herself.
The silence was becoming invasive; it filled her head with too much nothing, it echoed too loudly. The blinking red light of the security camera began to irritate her, the overwhelming whiteness of the room sometimes appeared to twitch and shift on its own, and her constant lethargy refused to ease regardless of how much she slept.
Occasionally, she would slip into the bathroom and sit for a few hours. It hardly qualified as a change of scenery, but it would have to do. She often left the shower running for hours at a time, lying curled inside the bathtub for as long as she chose, simply staring off at nothing in particular. She had even fallen asleep there a few times, which had been, rather laughably, the most exciting thing that happened all day.
Unknown could feel her mind growing restless, itching for more, anything more, yet at the same time, her body never had the energy to keep up.
A cruel predicament indeed.
_______________________________________________
Unknown tiredly pried open her heavy eyelids. Slowly, the darkness of the room crept into view, soon enveloping her vision.
It must be evening now.
She shifted onto her back, then again to lay on her other side, and closed her eyes.
_______________________________________________
Unknown stirred from her sleep as a noise disturbed her. She groaned as she turned to bury her face in the rumpled pillow, the bright lights of the little white room stinging too strongly.
A few more knocks sounded before the door opened, and a young nurse half-stepped inside.
"You have a visitor," she announced softly.
Unknown sighed and gestured tiredly at her, rolling onto her side and propping herself into a sitting position, all of which took a bit more effort than she cared to admit. A few quiet footsteps reached her ears before the door clicked shut.
"Back so soon?" she yawned, scratching her head sleepily as she shifted to lean back against the wall.
Todoroki frowned faintly at her disheveled state. He had come to visit her a few times over these past few months, and her appearance was the same each time. Regardless of when he came, whether in morning, midday, or afternoon, she was almost always asleep when he arrived. Her sleep patterns weren't the only concerning trend either; he noticed she had been acting a bit out of character lately, and while he was by no means completely familiar with her usual behavior, it didn't take much to get the feeling she was a bit... different.
"Did you just wake up?" he asked evenly, taking a seat in the little white chair across from her bed. He noticed there was a tray of food on the nightstand, seemingly untouched.
"Maybe," she hummed, stretching her arms out in front of her.
"You haven't eaten yet?"
"Aw, are you worried about me?"
"You should take care of yourself."
"Always such a downer..." she tsked, clicking her tongue.
A brief, buzzing silence fell between them. As he continued to glance around the room, small details began coming to Todoroki's attention. He noticed the books on the ground, stacked vertically to form a small tower, and the faint scratches across the surface of the desk, pockmarked with curved, shallow divots. He noticed the bedsheets looked more wrinkled than usual, and her slippers were abandoned in the far corner of the room.
"So how's hero work going for you?" she smiled halfheartedly, closing her eyes as her hands combed through her hair, "You must have a lot of free time to be coming here every week."
"Today is Sunday; we didn't have any work."
"Sunday..." she hummed, tilting her head to rest her cheek in one hand, "...right."
Another stiff silence settled between them. Todoroki wasn't sure if it was just him, but she looked rather distracted. His gaze shifted to the little tinted window across the room, then up to the security camera.
"Hey."
He turned his attention back to her slouched form, quickly finding her eyes were already on him.
"Has there... been any news about the rest of Sacrosanct?" she asked, a shadow of hesitation in her voice.
"The Manager is being held in Tartarus. He'll be spending the rest of his life there, if that's what you mean."
"What about the other three?"
"There hasn't been any information about their specific whereabouts, but I've heard they're receiving treatment in private hospitals."
"Right..." she nodded absentmindedly. "Thanks."
Unknown paused for another moment, her brow furrowing just a bit before speaking again.
"Todoroki?"
"Yes?"
"Why do you keep coming here?"
Now it was his turn to pause. His ever-passive gaze remained in place as he considered his answer.
"I'm not quite sure. Part of it is because I find you interesting, I think."
She smiled slightly, eyes focused on something distant. "How so?"
"The Police Commission released a statement a few weeks ago, including details of what the four of you experienced. I think it's admirable how you fought back against The Manager, even despite the risk to your own safety."
"...ah."
"I did have a question about that, however."
"Go ahead."
"You asked for protection for the other three, but not for yourself. Why?"
"Because they deserve it and I don't," she blinked passively, tilting her head as if it were obvious.
"What does that mean?"
"It means I'm not a good person, Todoroki," she smiled faintly. "Look at my quirk and look at theirs; who do you think was responsible for all the deaths during our attacks? That was the only reason he kept me around for so long, because that kind of thing was easy for me. You know, when I was younger, when he first found me, I didn't want to do it. It felt wrong somehow, but he would always tell me it wasn't, that it was ok to hurt people, because if we didn't, they would hurt us first. Eventually I believed him. Back then I didn't know it was because of his quirk, of course, but I believed him just like that. Soon enough, it became like second nature; I stopped questioning it, stopped thinking about it at all, it was just something I did. It was the same for a lot of other things too, you know: destroying things, stealing, getting rid of anyone in our way, I really thought there was nothing wrong with any of it. He didn't need the others to kill for him, just me. The worst they've ever done is injure a few people or erase a few memories- they shouldn't be put away for such minor things."
"But everything you did was under the Manager's influence, not of your own will. You shouldn't be punished either."
She smiled dryly, head resting against one palm, "I suppose that's for the Commission to decide. There's nothing I can do about it now, anyway."
"Don't you value your own life?"
"Obviously," she scoffed, "I did all this so I could have a life. If they decide to lock me away... well, in all honesty, it doesn't really matter what they decide."
"...what does that mean?"
"I don't know, what do you think it means?" she smiled, tilting her head. "Don't give it too much thought, actually, for your own sake. It's nice to be oblivious."
Todoroki's brows drew slightly at her ambiguous, vaguely concerning words.
"What else are you planning?" he asked quietly.
She scoffed, leaning back against the wall as she propped an elbow atop her knee, the other hand coming up to card roughly through her hair.
"Still suspicious of me, I see. I guess it makes sense, but why don't you give it some more thought, hero," she smiled dryly, lifting her left wrist and rattling the handcuffs with a bit more force than necessary. "What exactly do you think I can do right now? I've been locked in this room for, what, two months now? Besides you, the only people I ever see are the police, and all they do is question me to hell and back every damn time. What could I possibly be planning? You know, without my quirk, I'm barely as capable as the average person, but everyone still seems to think I have some grand evil scheme up my ass!" she sneered, head tilting back. "Do I really look that suspicious? Exactly what part of me seems so threatening right now? I've been doing everything they ask, yet every time one of those nurses comes in here, they act like I'm about to bite their fucking head off. And you, I know you're not scared of me, but you do think I spend all my time crouched in the corner plotting to blow up the world, huh?" She scowled, the abrupt wave of irritation running hot in her veins. Her glare snapped over to the one-way glass before calling out to the person she knew was watching from beyond its tinted face. "Hey! We're done here."
A moment later, the door slowly opened and the same young nurse from before glanced inside. She looked over to Todoroki and silently motioned for him to follow her out, a tight, uneasy expression on her pretty features.
The boy remained still for a moment, his eyes flicking back to Unknown who still wore an irritated scowl, leaning against the wall and refusing to look at him.
Slowly, he stood up, his gaze lowering.
"I didn't mean you upset you. I'm sorry," he apologized quietly. With a stiff bow, he gathered his coat and made his way to the door, stepping past the nurse just before the door slid shut behind him once again.
_______________________________________________
"I'm sorry about her. She's been a bit... irritable lately," the nurse breathed, offering a slight smile.
He nodded, only half-listening as he followed her down the familiar hall. Before they could make it two steps, however, a door in front of them opened, and a figure stepped into the white hallway.
Todoroki's eyes widened in surprise upon landing on the figure.
"Mr. Aizawa... I didn't know you were here."
The ever-tired hero scratched his neck as he approached the two, breathing a shallow sigh.
"I'll walk him out, if you don't mind," he turned to the nurse, gesturing towards the hall behind him.
"Oh, yes, of course," the woman nodded. She offered a polite smile before quickly excusing herself and hurrying off, leaving the two heroes alone in the pallid corridor.
Todoroki glanced at his teacher questioningly, Aizawa motioning for the boy to follow as he turned and started down the hall.
_______________________________________________
The pair sat across from each other in an empty waiting room, sectioned off from the activity of the rest of the hospital. The metal plaque near the entrance was engraved neatly: Isolation Ward A.
"You've been coming here often," Aizawa stated plainly.
Todoroki only nodded in response.
"The higher-ups are the Hero Commission have been monitoring her since she first arrived. They asked me to keep an eye on you."
"...do they suspect me of something?"
"I don't know; it's possible. With all the chaos surrounding this case, they want to make sure everything goes as well as it can."
In the months since Sacrosanct's capture, since the revelation of Unknown's defection and her role in bringing them down, the public had split into two distinct sides.
The first was staunchly in support of Unknown and the Commission's actions. They were touched by her story in one way or another; they believed she was a hero, overcoming unimaginable circumstances where every possible factor was working against her, yet still taking such brave action to bring down four of the nation's most dangerous criminals. They sympathized with her and the other Sacrosanct children, seeing them as victims of a villain's quirk, unwitting accessories to his crimes. They were only trying to survive; after all, they had grown up under his influence, his quirk affecting their minds and making them truly believe they were only doing what was right. Advocates exhibited a massive outpour of support for Unknown, petitioning for her release, holding public demonstrations, arguing that the police were morally bankrupt to be even considering punishing her.
"We owe her awards, not jail time!"
"Why isn't she a hero? She's done way more good in a year than most pros ever have."
"They say she's being kept in a hospital? She's not sick. Why are they treating her like she is?"
"I can't imagine what it must have been like to abandon everything she ever knew, even if it was for the greater good. I'm not sure if I would have been brave enough to do what she did."
"Guys, she was- what- seven when the Manager first kidnapped her? Can you even imagine what it must have been like growing up? It's a miracle she was able to break free from his mind-control, so why the hell are we treating her like she's the villain here?"
Many people were passionate and incredibly vocal about their support, however there was another side that was arguably even more outspoken.
Not everyone believed Unknown deserved such praise. In fact, there was a significant group of people who believed she was the furthest thing from sympathetic. They believed her actions were not out of any issue of morality, but rather were purely selfish, simply fueled by her own desires. They didn't believe her actions in helping capture Sacrosanct were enough to outweigh everything else she had done: from reckless endangerment of the entire city, to astronomical public damage, to, most notably, the dozens, if not hundreds, of innocent people she had killed in cold blood. They believed she was a villain, regardless of what little good might have come as a side effect of her actions, and they made their stance known.
"People are actually fans of this monster? Are you serious?"
"Lock up her and her disgusting quirk up."
"For the people who think she deserves to be free, have you seen any of the old crime scene photos? Let me know when you can look those families in the eye and tell them she's innocent."
"You're just going to trust that she's good now? After she literally betrayed both sides before?"
"It's not even about what she did in the past for me; it's that there must have been a better way to take down Sacrosanct than that convoluted, dragged-out bullshit she thought up. Why didn't they just storm the hideout right after they got the location? Why didn't they capture her and use her as leverage? This whole thing is fucking dumb."
It was difficult to say which side was right- maybe both, maybe neither- but tension surrounding the case was high and still growing, and the end was yet to be in sight.
"The Commission doesn't want to risk any more damage to their public image; that's why they're watching her so closely. They're still reviewing the details of the case as well, but with how careful they're being, I'm afraid it'll be quite a while longer before they come to any decision," Aizawa stated plainly, sighing as he leaned back in his seat.
Todoroki nodded, brows faintly pinched in thought. "Will they continue to keep her here until then?"
"It seems likely. There's been some push to loosen the security around her, but it's yet to be successful. The higher-ups don't want to risk it."
"You're watching this case quite closely too, aren't you, sir?"
Aizawa sighed and absentmindedly scratched at the back of his neck, dark-ringed eyes focused on something in the distance. "You've spoken to her. You've noticed she's been a bit... off lately, haven't you?"
Todoroki nodded.
"She has a few visitors, mainly the police and hospital staff, but she's alone most of the time. The isolation was deliberate, of course, to minimize her contact with the public and manage any risk she might pose, but it puts a strain on a person to be confined to such a small space with such limited stimulus. It's not unusual, the effect it's had on her mental state. Unfortunately, it's rather common in those who undergo prolonged isolation."
"Can anything be done about it?" he asked, his expression unreadable from beneath his stoic features.
"Nothing the Commission is willing to do," Aizawa shook his head. "She's alright for the time being, but I'm afraid it could get worse rather quickly."
"I understand, but why are you telling me this, sir?"
"Well, people can become unpredictable under that kind of stress."
"Do you think she could lash out at me?"
"Not necessarily at you, just at whoever she can reach. It may be for the best, at least for now, if you stop coming."
"Are you saying that because you believe it or because you were told to?"
"That's beside the point. I know you sympathize with her, Todoroki, but you should prioritize your own health."
The boy remained silent for a moment, staring down at his hands as they flexed unconsciously. His expression was passive, eyes unfocused as he drifted deeper into his own thoughts.
She had asked him why he kept coming back, and he had answered honestly. He didn't know for certain- truly he didn't. He did, however, have an inkling.
On that night at UA, after Sacrosanct had been captured and whisked away, he was watching from inside his dorm. His window had a partial view of the front of the building, swarms of policemen hurrying past as sirens flashed in the corner of his vision. From his half-obscured position, he couldn't tell what was happening at first, only catching a few glimpses of figures being led away, surrounded by police. Then, however, another figure entered the frame of his window.
Unknown walked slowly, unsteadily. She looked disheveled, her clothes seemingly torn in some places, her hair unruly with a strange shine to the back of her head. One hand was pressed over her temple while the other held onto the shoulder of the police officer next to her. Unlike the previous figures, she was not restrained, nor was she surrounded by armed men, instead she was moving of her own accord, moving in the direction of the main gate. She appeared to be in pain, her brows pinched and her lips pressed tightly together. Her eyes, however, were rather strange.
They were calm, tired, and most of all, overwhelmingly sad.
It struck him instantly. He had seen those eyes before, somewhere else. They burned at the front of his mind. That stare, that feeling: they were the same as his mother's.
Perhaps that was what compelled him to visit the first time: intrigue and pity. It hadn't helped, seeing her in that hospital room, so cramped and sterile, it was almost a perfect reflection of his mother's. Almost, except she was not brought here to become well.
Todoroki wasn't ignorant; he knew there was always a certain level of danger in entering that room. He knew perfectly well what she was capable of, what she had done before, yet for some reason, he kept returning like clockwork, every weekend without exception. Now the danger was becoming more present; she wasn't entirely herself, and soon it may no longer be a matter of what she would willingly do. He knew this as well, but he spoke nonetheless.
"It's not just sympathy, sir. I don't know whether her punishment is right or not, and I can't say who's at fault for how things ended up, but I know she didn't choose to grow up the way she did. You can't choose your family, and their impact on you, whether good or bad, is all beyond your control. I also know how difficult it is to be isolated. I know it makes you feel hopeless, as if you don't matter, as if you were never anything in the first place. You see those around you living happily and you can't help but want that for yourself, regardless of how much you feel you don't deserve it. Sometimes all it takes is the kindness of a single person, even for just a moment. That can make all the difference, I believe. So with all due respect, sir, I'm not going to stop."
Aizawa sighed, rubbing his forehead as his eyes fell closed.
"I thought you might say that," he mused tiredly. He rose to his feet, stretching his neck as he stepped towards the exit. "You're responsible enough to manage your own priorities. I can't force you one way or another; just be careful."
And with a final glance, he was gone.