Annette is working on her garden. I slip through the front door and quietly walk away from the house. Once the house is no longer in view, I begin running as fast as I can. My head is pounding, but not because of the running. It’s because of my quirk.
“I want to go home.” As the words fly around my head, I begin to grow hesitant. “Mommy and Daddy don’t love me. They got rid of me.” I stop running and look around. I don’t know where I am. Unsure what to do, I keep walking.
I find myself in a big city. My head is still pounding, so I walk into a nearby alleyway. I lean against the wall and grab my head. The pounding grows and grows.
“Please leave me alone!” I shout, sliding to the floor. My head begins to hurt, until all feeling disappears. I try to move but can’t.
“I will do what I want.” Said my body. The other person in my head has taken over. My body starts running out of the alleyway and around the city. We can see heroes on patrol and people enjoying their day. We pass by a playground where we can see other kids playing. They’re kicking two balls around.
“I want to go play with them” I thought, not that anything would change. We walk past the playground and into a supermarket. We roam around the isles until we find where the candy is. There we grab a candy bar. My body opens it and takes a bite. The flavor of chocolate and caramel hits my tongue. I blink a few times and wiggle my fingers. I look at where I had bit the candy. I take another bite and leave it on the shelf.
I wonder around the store, unsure what to do. I turn into an isle to see a woman who clearly doesn’t know what she’s doing, and a little girl my age. The two are holding hands. The woman is focusing on something on the shelf. The girl sees me. I wave my hand and she waves back. Her hair is tied back into a ponytail. I begin walking over to her, but the mother starts walking away. I walk away too, leaving my friend. I leave the store and try to find a place to go.
While walking, I hear police sirens. I turn to see police cars passing. I follow the police cars to see where they lead me. There I find a person who is cornered by the police. He is smiling, despite his situation. His eyes flash red and his skin become covered in black slime. The slime transforms him into a huge black beast. All the police began backing away and calling for heroes. It begins walking away and grabs a bystander. The woman is screaming for help while the family watches her get caried away.
Without thinking, I start running towards the villain. My legs are moving on their own. I’m able to wiggle my fingers so I know it’s still me. I approach the beast with no plan. I run up to its foot and start punching it.
“Let her go!” I shout. The beast looks at me and reaches down to grab me. But before it does, something causes it to fall. The beast turns back into a person and the woman is reunited with her family. Someone picks me up from behind. I don’t react for some reason. I’m carried into an alleyway and somehow fly to the roof of the building. The building is five stories tall.
The person puts me down. “What were you doing kid? You could’ve been killed!” She spoke. I look at the person who saved me. She has black hair tied into a braid. Her eyes are purple, and the whites of her eyes are black. She’s wearing skinny black pants and a skinny purple shirt that covers her arms. Around her neck is a silver chain necklace. There are purple stripes that go around the ankles and black stripes that go around the wrists.
“I don’t have the ability to think for myself anymore.” I replied.
The hero gives me a strange look. “So… you had no intention of moving?” She’s trying to wrap her head around my situation. I shake my head. The hero smiles. “Something like that happened to me when I was younger. I wasn’t as young as you, but I was still in primary school. I rushed into a situation without thinking and was saved by someone. That person gave me this.” The hero takes of her neckless and hands it to me.
“Wow. This is cool.” I spoke.
“Yeah, apparently the person who made it had the ability to change the properties of stuff. So, he made it so it would change color depending on who’s wearing it.” I stare at in in awe. The hero chuckles. “I want you to have it.”
I look up at her. “But… it’s yours.”
“Not anymore. The person who gave it to me said to pass it on to someone, but not just anyone. He said to give it to someone special that only you can understand.”
“What do you understand about me?” I asked.
“I get the feeling that your quirk is like mine. You can’t control it and there’s another person in your head.” I look at her in surprise. “I’ve been following you for a bit.”
I give a faint smile. “Your quirk is like mine!” I say excitedly. “I have a person in my head, and they can control my body.”
“Yeah… been there, done that. Now what are you waiting for? Put it on.”
I look down at the necklace and pull it over my head. After a few seconds, the necklaces changes from silver to black. “It changed color!” I say in amazement.
“I guess we both got boring colors. The person before me had this fiery red orange. Come on, we need to get you home.” She holds out her hand. I take her hand and tell where the area I live.
After a few minutes of searching, we arrive at Annette’s house. There is a police car outside. We stop at the front door. Before I knock, the hero tells me something.
“I know better than anyone who’s going to tell you this, but don’t let people drag you down. They’re going to think your weird because you have a person in your head, but don’t listen to them. Because they don’t know you. Live your life doing the things you enjoy with the people you love.”
I smile. “Ok!” The hero gets up and starts walking away. “Bye miss hero!” I shout as I wave goodbye.
She freezes. “Hero? Kid, I’m not a hero. I'm not technically a villain, but that’s how the law sees me. I’m just a person who wanted to help people. To be more specific, a Vigilante.”
“Vigilante? What’s that?” I ask.
“Someone who does the job of a hero without the necessary requirements. Heroes can use their quirks however they want because they are allowed to. Me however, I haven’t been given permission.”
“That’s cool! I want to be a vigilante.”
“Nah, if you want to help people, they you should be a hero. Start while you’re young. See ya ’round kid.”
From a young age, I have always known two things about myself. I have always aspired to be someone who can make people smile. And I've always had a soft spot for little kids. However, I never really knew why. I will get my answer very soon. Little do I know how much everything will change by then.
I’m sitting on the couch watching anime. I recently started two new ones; “Demon Slayer” and “The Promised Neverland.” Bo is laying on the floor watching them with me. Claude is in our room drawing manga and Delaney is using the punching bag. Everything has gone back to normal. However, they refuse to tell what happened while I was gone.
I can hear Annette’s car pulling up the driveway. She was hesitant to leave me alone. I assured her I would be fine. Our compromise was to always have someone in the same room as me and to never have my phone on me. Just in case one of the personalities would need to contact her.
Annette takes longer to enter the house then usual. When the door finally opens, I pause my show and turn to see if she’s alright.
“Salazo… There’s something we should talk about.” Annette says. She holds up a paper labeled; “U.A. Dormitory System.” I nod my head and get up from the couch. Both Annette and I have different opinions about returning to U.A. after what just happened.
The next day is the home visits. They are going house to house in hopes of persuading the parents. They visit our house around three in the afternoon. All Might is the only one to show up. Annette takes him to the table where they will discuss the dorms. I am listening to the conversation in a nearby hallway.
“Thank you for having me Ms. Dominic.” All Might began.
“It’s great to have you. You wanted to talk about Salazo moving into the dorms.” Annette replied.
“Yes, that is correct. We at U.A. are hoping you will allow us to continue working with your child. We deeply apologize for any trouble we may have caused. We didn’t protect our fledgling heroes.”
“But you did. The teachers and The PussyCats fought for their protection. I can’t thank you enough. And you fought All For One. You risked your life to protect the world!”
“Ah, thank you very much. I should also be thanking you. You tried to save Young Bakugo and Young Salazo. Of course, things didn’t go entirely to plan.”
“Yeah… Bakugo wasn’t able to come with us. But luckily, he was rescued another way. But wait, we’re getting of track. You’re here to talk about the dorms. And I’m sure you have more places to be. Sorry for wasting your time.” Annette quickly apologizing.
“It’s quite alright. But back to the matter at hand. We would like to know your opinion on Salazo returning back to U.A.” All Might began again. I sink to the floor with my knees to my chest and my back against the wall. Tears begin forming in my eyes.
“We had talked about it… and it was ultimately decided that he will not be returning.” Annette sound heartbroken.
“We understand your concern. The students are our top priority. We understand U.A. this year has gone though many troubles. But please think about the future of U.A. Is there anything we can do to change your mind?” Asked All Might.
“N-No… he won’t be returning.” It sounds at though Annette is on the verge of tears.
“You must understand what Salazo will be-“ All Might is cut-off.
“This was Salazo idea!” Annette shouts. Tears begin running down both of our eyes. “We had talked about it. I told him that he should go back, but he didn’t want to. I-I don’t know why he doesn’t want to return.”
All Might completely froze. “Will you allow me to talk to him?” All Might asked.
“H-He doesn’t want to talk to anyone at the moment.” Annette lied. I just don’t want to talk anyone from U.A. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for him. And… I’m sorry that he won’t be returning.”
“Thank you for giving us a chance to know Salazo. I wish the best for the both of you.” After that, All Might left.
A day later is the first day of school again. Everyone returns back to U.A. and moves into the dorm. Early in the morning, we receive a package from U.A. It’s anything I had there, along with my hero costume. Late in the evening, I receive a call from Momo.
“Hello?” I said, trying to hide my sadness.
“Hello Salazo. I see you will not be returning to U.A.” Momo said.
“No. I didn’t want to.”
“You chose not to return?”
“No… it’s complicated. What are you doing?” I try to change the subject.
“Ashido had suggested we have a competition of sorts. We visited everyone’s room to see who has the best one.”
“Who won?”
“Sato. All the girls voted for him because he baked a Chiffon Cake!”
“Sounds like you didn’t vote for his room.” Momo is cheering me up.
“That’s true. But it was very fun!” the call goes silent for a while before she speaks up. “I’m going to miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you too. It’s weird saying this but… I love you.”
“Why is it strange to say? Is it not common for you to say that to your loved ones?” Momo questioned.
“My only loved one is Annette, but even then, I rarely say it. Saying ‘I love you’ is probably the biggest complement you can receive from me because I don’t know how to love. You can’t blame me for not trusting people when people don’t trust me.”
Even over the phone, I can tell she is smiling. “Thank you. I love you too.”
I'm going on break again! I need to plan some things before I continue. Also... I made it to 1k reads! I'm thankful for anyone who's read this far.
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