Water was splashed harshly, making the 5-year-old girl jolt harshly with a pant, hearing the faint mechanical whirring below her before a scream left her body at the sharp edges she now felt around her arms. Looking up with scared eyes and her breathing still out of control she was met with the red eyes of her father, and the green of her mother.
"Stay still sweetheart, you don't want to hurt yourself," her father said, a small smirk on his features.
"W-" pain, had little Eli cut herself off before she could say anything, looking down at her arms to see that they had large metal bands wrapped around them. She looked at them with woozy eyes, as she blinked rapidly, still trying to wake herself up.
Her father squatted down to her level.
"You see, in these little gauntlets are dozens of knives, all sides so make sure to keep your arms up. You see every time you move-" he cut himself off as he threw his hand at her making Eli flinch roughly before she heard the same faint whirring from below before she screeched in pain, the edges of the knives digging into her arms further.
"Like that, these things will just get tighter," he told her, a playful grin on his face as he looked at her.
"So I think it's best not to move too much," he chided before standing up from his squatted position and going back to his wife.
"Keep your arms still, that much you should know how to do," her mother said, an aloft look in her eyes as she stared at her daughter watching as her husband jumped and began to waltz back over to their daughter.
"Oh! I almost forgot. Heroes, Eli, heroes withstand many things, and one of those things is pain. Not to say that you'll ever be a hero, no, but if you want to be able to kill them, yes," her father bent down to whisper into her ear before he raised his hand again swiftly, watching as Eli didn't flinch as hard this time.
"Good," he said tapping her shoulder lightly before walking back over to his wife and putting her hand in his.
"We'll be back in the morning, please, try not to get too much blood on the floor," her mother urged as they turned around and began to walk away. Her husband opened the door for her, and she nodded, giving him the kind smile she never gave Eli, before both of them left.
Leaving Eli alone, tired, and arms cramping for hours as she tried with all her might to keep them raised.
·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•٠·˙ ˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•٠·˙
A gasp jerked Katsuki from his sleep, his eyes flying open to look at Eli, who was rushing to get out of the bed.
Sweat stuck to her body, as she gasped. She rubbed her arms hastily as she scooted herself off the bed. Her body trembled and her hot skin grew cold as made haste to open one of the balcony doors and stepped out, desperately trying to take in huge gulps of air.
"Bell, what the hell," Katsuki mumbled, following behind her to stand beside her. With wide eyes, he took one of his hands and placed it on her shoulder, taking notice of how hot her skin was before taking another step towards her.
"S-sorry, whew, y-yea it's just a weird dream, and I-I got really hot-" she began, but she was cut off by her own wheeze, followed by a small cough. Katsuki almost rolled his eyes before he pulled her into a hug.
"You're doing that thing you told us not to do... idiot," he mumbled making Eli fidget before she sighed, leaning her head to sit on his shoulder, and wrapped her own arms around him.
"Sorry," she said.
"And you're doing that sorry thing again," he sighed.
"S-, my bad," she muttered.
"That's the same thing," he told her, and this time she just sighed, nodding. Before long she'd let him go and they walked to sit on the bed, sitting criss-cross beside each other.
"So, what was your dream about?" Katsuki asked, his back hunched over and one of his hands supporting his face with his elbow.
"Ah, my parents, the usual," she said with a sigh, her eyes closed as she tried to relax against the headboard behind her.
"About, how I got these," she went on, trailing off at the end as she rubbed her arms gingerly, feeling the small bumps from the scarring.
"Your parents were real assholes ya'know," Katsuki huffed, which made her chuckle as her eyes opened to look at him.
"What about you? This is the first time you've taken me up on my offer," she asked peering over at him with a Quirked eyebrow, letting her body relax due to the cold air blowing in from the balcony.
Katsuki sighed, kicking his feet to get under the covers.
"Damn slime villain," he mumbled, turning over to face away from Eli making her chuckle.
A knock was heard making them both turn their attention to the door, Katsuki sighing as he buried himself under the covers.
"Too many damn siblings," he muttered making Eli chuckle again before she stood up and went to the door to open it.
When she opened the door she was surprised to see not only Himiko but Hitoshi, and Shoto too. With wide eyes and concerned eyes, she let them in.
"We're not here to sleep, it's already like 5 in the morning," Hitoshi said, already holding a cup of coffee in his hand as he yawned loudly. All of them actually had cups of coffee and tea, Hitoshi and Shoto holding 2.
"Alright, then what are all of you doing here?" Eli asked.
"To spend time with you!" Himiko cheered quietly, wrapped up in a pink sleeping bag, something Eli had to assume she'd gotten from Shouta.
She'd tease him about that later.
"We brought coffee, even for you Katsuki," Hitoshi teased as he walked over to the side of the bed.
"Shut it eyebags," Katsuki grumbled, but this didn't stop him from leaving the cover and scooting over, taking the mug from Hitoshi when he was done. Hitoshi just laughed as he sat next to him, digging his cold legs into the covers.
Shoto nodded as he handed Eli a cup of tea which she took with a smile before looking to see him pull out a stitched teddy bear from under his arm.
"Shoto, is that a... you teddy bear?" Hitoshi asked.
"Yea! I made it for him!" Himiko said rolling on the other side of Katsuki who was trying his best not to laugh as he drank his coffee.
It was discovered that Himiko really loved to crochet and sew. It was quite an unexpected hobby for her to pick up, but Eli ended up buying lots of yarn, crochet needles, and a sewing kit along with it. When Christmas came around, she'd get the girl a sewing machine if it was still in her interests.
"She said it was for protection," Shoto said raising the bear up. Eli couldn't help the small chuckle she let out as she looked at the little crochet knife Himiko had made and stitched onto the Shoto teddy bear.
"What's in the back?" Hitoshi asked, trying to get through his fits of giggles.
"Oh," Shoto said as he turned the bear around and unzipped it, and pulling out a small knife.
"Himi said it was a good luck charm," Shoto said leisurely.
"Lady?!" Katsuki said as he stared at the knife with wide eyes.
"Himiko-, Shoto, honey," Eli said as she gently took the knife from his hands and stared at them with still wide eyes.
"You know somehow I knew," Hitoshi mumbled as he rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"Keeping a knife in your room is only okay if you know how to use it," Eli said with a pointed finger.
"Are you telling me there are knives around this room?" Katsuki asked.
"Why are you asking a question you already know the answer to?" Eli asked as she twirled the knife around her finger before sitting on the end of the bed, sipping her tea softly.
"Oh am I allowed to find them? You know like hide and seek?" Himiko asked as she unzipped her sleeping bag, Shoto sitting beside Eli on the bed.
"Honey, you are never going to find them," Eli told her as she placed the knife in her hand beside her.
"And why not?!" Himiko asked, playing offended.
"I hate to use this, but because I said so, and plus you already have your own knife collection," Eli said with a wave of her hand.
"But it's a lot more fun when it's not your knife," Himiko grumbled, sipping her own cup of hot chocolate.
"That's crazy, I wouldn't know," Izuku joked as he gestured to the stab wound on his stomach which you could see due to his cropped muscle tank, waltzing in with a cup of coffee, and scooting in next to Himiko with a chuckle.
Why Izuku was still making fun of himself for getting stabbed, no one really knew. But it was still funny, so who cared.
"I would!" Himiko cheered.
"Me too," Eli agreed, making them turn to her with quirked eyebrows.
"You know, you never really talk about your hero work," Hitoshi pointed out making Eli shrug as she took a sip of her tea again.
"Hero work is not all it's cracked up to be. It's messy, and it doesn't always end in a dramatic 'I Am Here!'. You'd be surprised how ugly it can get," Eli said with a sigh.
"Trust me, we know," Katsuki said pressing a line against his neck to reference the scar on her own.
"Nee-chan, how'd you even get that scar?" Himiko asked pointing to her neck.
"Some puppeteer guy on the run panicked when I finally caught him. He freaked out when he heard the police sirens coming, and he made these strings appear and he sliced my neck," she said rubbing her neck and taking a sip of her mug.
"You should've seen Izuku's face when they came to see me in the hospital, I think they thought I had really died," Eli said with a chuckle.
"Of course we did, that is what one would typically think when they find out their sister's throat was slit," Hitoshi said with a glare turned her way, Izuku blushing vividly at her statement.
With one of her hands raised, she shook her head before continuing to drink her tea, her once tense body cooling immensely.
"Eli-nee, can I ask about your scars? You know like the ones on your back?" Himiko asked, bringing her legs up to her chest still tightly holding the coffee mug of hot chocolate tightly.
It was a question Himiko had pondered around asking for a while. She'd seen most of the scarring due to Eli no longer trying to hide them. You know sometimes her shirt would lift, or she'd be wearing a tank top and she'd see the outlining of some of the scar bumps on her back.
Maybe Eli would find herself wearing shorts, and you could see the cuts on her calves and knees that her hero costume covered. She didn't want to overstep or anything, because she knew that's what they never wanted to do with her, but still, she was curious.
Shoto had wondered this as well since he had to leave Eli to her other brothers after the USJ incident. The question had loomed over him ever since then, especially since now that he lived here, he saw the scars on her legs, arms, and back.
"Well, the small ones on my hands are covered by my tattoos, but you can see a little bit of them," Eli said twirling her decorated fingers around.
She smiled lightly as they all looked at her hands in wonder.
"They kind of look like mine," Izuku muttered, recalling how he basically double-shattered his hands during the Sports Festival since 5% wasn't nearly enough when fighting Shoto.
"Yeah, I told you that my Quirk used to hurt me too. None of it was permanent, but it still left some scars," Eli explained briefly.
"Is that tattoo new Bell?" Katsuki asked, pointing at the one on her wrist.
"Oh yeah, guess who it's for?" Eli asked before throwing a wink towards Himiko.
Himiko beamed as her mouth made an O shape. The tattoo was of a little black bat, with red where its little fangs would be. Smiling at Himiko's expression, Eli moved on.
"This one is from some dude who tested out some type of serum on a dog, and it scratched me," she said pointing to a light scar on her collar bone.
"I got this burn uh... from my mom because I'd made too many mistakes during training that day, and the rest are mostly from my dad. From, training my Quirk or something," she said rubbing her arms with a sigh.
"Do... do they still hurt sometimes?" Shoto asked, fiddling with the mug in his hands.
"Ah, not really. Sometimes during a bad dream," she said rubbing her arm again.
Shoto nodded, for his scar ached a bit when he'd have the occasional nightmare.
"Yea, me too," Himiko said with a huff.
"You've got scars too?" Eli asked her, trying her very hardest to stay casual.
"Yea, well, just a couple. I have a scar from my mom here," Himiko said gesturing to her forearm, Eli looking at the faint scar with wide eyes. It was jagged, so that must of meant it wasn't just one and done. Eli frowned at that.
"When I got my Quirk my mom freaked out, she was real happy when I got it, but when she found out what it was she just kind of blanked? After that, they started hitting me and stuff when I brought home a dead bird. I ran away when I was maybe when I was 13 or 14," Himi said with a small shrug.
"Toga Himiko, H-i-m-i-k-o, right?" Izuku asked scribbling into a small notepad he somehow had.
"What are you gonna do?" Toga asked making Izuku chuckle and pat her head as he ripped the paper out and stuffed it into his pocket.
"Oh me, nothing," Izuku said with a small shrug. Eli lowered her head to stop the chuckle from her.
"Come on Himi, you've been here long enough, you should know," Hitoshi pointed out making Toga look to Eli who stared off as she drank her tea.
"Don't worry Himiko, I've found that legal battles are quite easy to ignore," Shoto said with a nod. Many on the bed almost laughed, but unfortunately, Shoto was dead serious.
"Honestly, from the way, it's looking, there won't be much of a battle," Izuku said, typing away on his phone and drinking from his coffee. Himiko, who sat next to him, leaned against him, her eyes darting around trying to follow his fingers.
"You're too perceptive," Eli said with a sigh as she drank her tea.
"Oh, he's too perceptive!?" Katsuki asked sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.
"Hey, I have to be! As of a couple of months ago, I only had 4 kids to look out for, and now there's 20+," Eli said with a huff.
"Hm, maybe you're losing your touch," Hitoshi pondered aloud making Eli glare at him playfully.
"Not possible, because if I did I wouldn't have found out about the pregnant cat you brought home a week ago," Eli said with a smug smile, a blush appearing on Hitoshi's face as he stared at her with wide eyes, and Eli cut him off as he tried to formulate a sentence.
"Don't ask me can we keep it, I already ordered one of those huge cat posts and a litter box," Eli said casually as she sipped the tea.
Katsuki let out a rumbling laugh as he stared at Hitoshi's face, the rest of the teenagers joining him in his laughter. Hitoshi grumbled something about a name, the cat's name being Espresso. Eli rolls her eyes a bit at the name.
"Mm, that reminds me, you guys never told me about your hero names, what are they looking like?" Eli asked, sitting up in interest.
"Shoto," Shoto said making Eli quirk her eyebrow before nodding.
"Nice and simple, cute," Eli said with her thumbs up.
"Damn Midnight kept turning down my names," Katsuki said, basically seething.
"If I was Midnight I'd decline King Explosion Murder too Katsuki," Hitoshi said with a huff.
"Katsuki... now what the hell," Eli said with a sigh, rubbing her eyes tiredly, not being able to believe that, that was his hero name choice.
"I told him it could've just been like C-4, or Ground Zero," Izuku said with a roll of his eyes, unfortunately making Katsuki turn his seething towards Izu who just tried to pretend like he was not being glared at by the angry dog from Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
"What's yours Izu?" Eli asked him making Izuku perk up.
"Deku! Ochaco said that it kind of sounds like 'You can do it!' when I told her about my... middle school experience. I like it!" Izuku said, a bright smile on his face making Eli's own eyes shine with pride, which Izuku beamed at.
"Toshi?" Eli asked making him shrug.
"Uh I don't know, I'm not good with names," he said with a huff, gingerly drinking his coffee as he did so.
"Well, you can always change it huh? Oh, by the way, I finished your hero costumes," Eli said rubbing her eyes softly.
"All of them?" Katsuki asked, Eli nodding.
"Yea, and a couple of others. Had some upgrades to do, and Hito your voice modulator is done," Eli said.
"Even mine?" Shoto asked, Eli, nodding once again.
"It's just a prototype though, you can always change it," Eli said as she peered over at the clock to see it was 6:03 am.
"Agh, I got a meeting," Eli sighed as she rubbed her eyes.
"When?" Hitoshi asked.
"In like an hour," Eli mumbled, picking up her phone to see a couple of missed calls from Dabi, who she figured she'd call back after her meeting was over.
"Where is it?" Katsuki asked, watching as she stood up from the bed and leisurely walked to her closet.
"The police station, if you want I'll drop by the school to visit the kids so you guys don't get ambushed like yesterday," Eli suggested with a sheepish smile. Setting her mug down she looked at her mountains of clothes before deciding that this wasn't a formal thing, so she could wear whatever she wanted to this particular meeting.
So, she pulled out a green sweater with black dinosaurs drawn on it cartoonishly, along with some brown corduroy bell-bottoms, and threw both over her shoulder. Also, since the meeting wasn't supposed to be too long, the clothes she'd picked out were infused with her hair, just in case she had to use her Quirk while at the school.
"Oh thank god, do any of you have any idea how annoying Pinky and that Pikachu fake are when Bell isn't there?" Katsuki complained.
"Oh shut up Kacchan, we all know you love your friends," Izuku said knowingly.
"Oi, shut up nerd!" Katsuki yelled at him.
"You're the worst liar Katsuki," Hitoshi said, he and Toga throwing themselves into a fit of giggles.
"Katsuki, are we not friends?" Shoto asked.
"Don't ask me stupid questions like that IcyHot!" Katsuki said pointing an accusing finger at Shoto.
"That's grenade for, 'of course, we're brothers Shoto,'" Izuku said mimicking Katsuki's voice as he pats Shoto on the shoulder.
"Don't put words in my mouth, you damn nerd," Katsuki grumbled taking more sips of his coffee before setting it down and sliding further into the covers.
"C'mon Katsuki, admit that having Shoto and Himiko around is great," Hitoshi said nudging him with his finger.
"Don't forget Himi is the one who made you that tiny grenade that I'm positive that you kept," Izuku teased.
"Aww, I like you guys too," Himiko said with a giggle.
"And Shoto didn't even flinch when you made his bento," Eli pointed out with a smug smirk on her face.
"I am 'IcyHot' for a reason," Shoto said with a thumbs up, making Eli have to turn around before she laughed, quickly going over to her dresser to get out some underwear before walking over to the door.
"Alright, I'm going to go get ready. Feel free to stay here I guess," Eli said with a huff of laughter as she took her leave.
She showered, running water through her hair to make it more manageable for when she got out. Eli shared her bathroom with Himiko since their rooms were the closest to one another, and since they were the only girls. Well... besides the new cat I guess.
Eli decided to take her time in the shower, her back leaning against the cold shower tiles, her knees buckling a bit making her have to catch herself. She hastily rubbed her arms, staring down at the scarred lining on her arms with indifferent eyes.
She was still afraid, a grown-ass woman afraid of her own parents. Parents that were dead anyway. But the thing was, she wasn't afraid of what they could or couldn't do to her, Eli was afraid of what they could do to what she'd made for herself.
The little family she'd made for herself that Eli was holding onto with every fiber of her being. Her hands shook at the thought of losing any of them, and she had to force herself off the wall and back under the water quickly so she didn't stay in too long.
With a sigh, she combed her hair in the shower, pondering if she should cut it since the curly strands reached her mid to lower back, another side effect of her Quirk. Since Kinetic energy is caused by movement, it promotes access growth so her hair grew about 3x as fast as any normal person, so it grew roughly 2 inches a month.
Luckily for her and her sanity, this side effect only affected the hair on her head.
She washed up, twiddling her fingers against her washcloth wondering if she could fit a small tattoo somewhere on them before she finished up and wrapped herself in a towel. She wasted no time in washing her face in the sink and doing some other cosmetic things before she moved on to her hair.
She spent roughly 20-30 minutes running some leave-in conditioner through her hair before she oiled her scalp, and scrunched up the ends of her hair with the same oil. Then, she pulled her underwear on, followed by some lotion and her clothes. She sighed as she walked out of the bathroom, seeing her siblings still on her bed talking before she went to get out some socks.
"Every day I grow more and more fascinated by your choice in clothing," Hitoshi said with a sigh.
"It should never work, but it always does," Izuku said shaking his head.
"You nerds dress just like her?!" Katsuki pointed out.
"You have fashion designer parents Katsuki, if anyone should respect it, it should be you," Eli pointed out, going over to her vanity to look through the different accessories she had, pulling out a couple of silver necklaces and laying them on the vanity.
"Nee-chan, have you ever had a boyfriend?!" Himiko suddenly asked making Eli chuckle and her brothers freeze.
"No," she answered.
"What about a girlfriend?" Himiko asked again.
"Nope," Eli said, popping the P at the end as she put on the 2 necklaces she'd picked out before moving on to some makeup, simply shaping her brows, doing some eyeliner followed by some mascara. She put in small silver hoops before she slid on a couple of rings, one on her right thumb, one on her right middle finger, left index, and left pinky.
"Aww, why not?" Himiko whined, sneaking up behind her to hold her arm making her chuckle.
"I don't think anyone's ever been really interested in me, well except Tamaki but I don't like him," she said with a shrug, rolling up her sweater sleeves to let Toga sit at the little vanity.
"Are you serious?" Katsuki asked, looking at her in true astonishment.
"What?" Eli asked as she began to do the little space buns for Toga.
"Oh you are dense, just like Izuku," Hitoshi said with a hand over his mouth.
"Hey! I'm not dense, attraction does not equal liking somebody," Eli argued.
"W-wait a minute? I'm dense?" Izuku asked, an alarmed expression on his face.
"Possibly," Hitoshi said blandly as he pats the greenette beside him.
"Then what about All Might?" Katsuki argued, making Eli's eyes widen.
"What about All Might?" Eli asked, turning around to face them as she adjusted the two buns a bit before patting Himiko's back, making the smaller girl grin up at her before going back to sit beside Katsuki, Himi soon being replaced by Izuku who now sat in front of Eli.
"Yea, what about All Might?" Izuku asked.
"Oh, you two really are dense huh?"
4252 words.
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