Ten, going on eleven years ago there was a house that sat on a quiet suburban road. More fancy than most, emblems of its creator's wealth decorated the stones, each of its rooms designed with the utmost thought. The yard was vast with pretty fencing. The surrounding properties were quiet and amicable. Above all, from foundation to roof, it was big enough to shelter a man, his wife, in-laws, and three children.
It was he, someone who wished to create a perfect, happy family that built the house from the ground up. But it was his youngest child who made a home out of it.
There was nothing that special about his daughter at first. She was a gentle-mannered baby, didn't cry very much, made a fuss with vegetables like most. Her growth was average, hair more common, eyes a blend of heritage. But sure enough, for all the ordinary aspects of her existence, there was light to her smile, to her laughter. And no one appreciated it more than a boy who didn't have very much to smile or laugh for till she was born.
It was with her Tenko shared his dreams, feet fidgeting under coarse blankets as they sat on the couch watching boring movies their mom put on. It was with her Tenko ran through that evergreen yard, pretending the trees were skyscrapers, the wind carrying villains in its mist, imaginary citizens just waiting to be saved, harbored under the porch. It was with her Tenko hoped he could walk to school once she was old enough, make the trip to that bully-infested place where quirkless kids got the worst of it, just a little more tolerable. It was with her Tenko someday hoped he'd go to UA, see her smile and wave goodbye from the famous blue arch the way she did every morning he left the house with his backpack on. Then one day he could do the same for her.
In that house, there wasn't much to do but dream. It was cold for a place that seemed so warm from the outside, shrouded in a pretty picture of a family while behind the curtains only the ugly showed.
Ever since she got her quirk, nobody dared touch Tenko's little sister. He didn't understand why. Hana, who loved playing with her, dressing her up, poking her nose- she couldn't get within a foot of her without their mother tugging Hana up and away. Grandpa and grandmother would take their granddaughter to the park all the time. Now, they didn't even put in the effort of strapping her into the carseat for a ride to the grocery store. Even mom and dad, such serious people softened by her constant joy, they stopped picking her up. Stopped pressing kisses to her head or even coursing a hand through her hair.
She was barely three. It went on for years.
The saddest part was that his sister didn't understand either, even after her fifth birthday passed. She'd never wanted anything, never asked for anything, never threw tantrums, never did anything wrong, never even dreamed. And all of the sudden, the people who'd been there her entire life were gone. All but one who never let her hand go.
So Tenko shared his dreams with her. He gave her his own smiles, his own laughter in hopes she wouldn't realize how much pain this world has to offer from beatings of an angry father to the coldness of an ignorant mother.
But Tenko dreamed far too much. His hope was far too great. As you walked through a far more honest representation of your home now, you could nearly feel the soul of that little boy passing through the rubble...
The sky was painted gray. The earth was silent apart from hesitant footsteps and that easy wind carrying old imagination. So when you could feel your heart beating in your throat, the shaky breaths in your chest, you knew the world had gone quiet just so you could hear the past.
Walking onto the closed off property, the ground looked torn apart by an earthquake's wrath. Stone and whatever pieces of the house that could survive all those years untouched, they marvelled at your return.
Although not a word could escape your throat, you felt like you were about to vomit. Your hand shook at your side, eyes flicking sporadically to every inch of the wreckage. Not even Atomic, whose presence was still gone, could calm you.
It wasn't until you stepped over what used to be your living room now turned to dust that your mind succumbed to it; what they brought you here for, what they wanted you for.
Rain crackled with thunder above, water falling in stride as debris shifted beneath your feet. Your ribs felt sharp, everything light and heavy at the same time. Suddenly, it wasn't so easy to breathe. Suddenly, the realness of it all along with the faces of your family struck panic in your heart.
So what could you do but succumb to it?
Because there they were, laid out like ghosts stuck in the corpse of your first home...
The last of your lost memories...
***
"Hana, we're not supposed to be up here," Tenko whispered, shoulders hunched, fingers itching at his neck.
Dad was right downstairs, what if he came up? Afterall, this was his study. He always made it clear none of the children were allowed there because of his work. But nonetheless, Hana dragged you both up stairs, said it was a secret mission. You and Tenko just couldn't resist the sound of that.
Hana rummaged through one of the drawers as you stood behind him now. Holding onto the hem of his shirt, you blinked with curious eyes, head tucked just below your brother's arm. Dad had scolded you earlier for trying to hug mom, crouched down and explained the doctor hadn't finished your exams yet, that you still couldn't be touched. He was harsh as always, but you never really cried when dad yelled. You were just confused, a little girl who just wanted the reassurance of being held.
Tenko trotted down and picked you up once dad left the room, took you to the safety of the backyard and threw the ball for your dog. He even pushed you on the swing. Let you draw on his arm with markers, laughed at your attempt to draw an angry looking puppy with spiky hair.
You did plenty of fun, distracting things. And Tenko refused to leave your side till your smile returned. Because he refused to let you feel the way he did. That within this perfect, beautiful family living in this perfect, beautiful house, all the kindness in the world was only rejection.
It made him angry when dad yelled at you. It made him angry when dad got violent with him. It made him mad at mom and grandma and grandpa for doing nothing. It made him wish people at school saw how bad he itched and bled. It made him wish those doctors would help your quirk rather than treat you like a science project. It made him feel so helpless when all he could was watch you be avoided and feared like a pest. It made him feel so weak that he didn't have a quirk of his own to help you. It just made him so angry. It made him so angry he itched harder and harder till he felt like he hated everyone in the world!
"Shh..." Hana shushed him with a finger to her lips, finally shutting the drawer and holding a tiny piece of paper in her hands. You made a little excited humming sound, tugging at Tenko's shirt with little fists. "It's a secret, okay? Look."
Hana took a few steps closer, revealing the paper in her hands to be a tiny picture. One of a woman and her son hugging on a sunny day. She was dressed in a costume, gloves on her hands, a cape at her back. She looked a lot like Hana, a bit like father too.
"This is our grandma," Hana said, you and Tenko staring with wonder at the image, eyes bright and shining as he realized exactly what this meant. "She was a hero."
***
"Our Nana was a hero Y/n!"
Tenko paced back and forth across the freshly cut grass of the yard, sweltering sun beaming in the sky. His skin felt raw from the humidity, fingers anxiously scratching at his neck and eyes, but that didn't matter at all. None of it hurt.
All that anger he felt festering inside of him from the time he was old enough to know it- it didn't lurk over his head anymore. His shoes tippy tapped the earth, little fits of excited laughter shaking his whole body. Never had a birthday or christmas ever excited him as much as this moment.
"Do you know what this means!?"
Tenko put his arms out to the side as he faced you. Sitting there on the ground, criss-crossed, sluggish from the heat, you hummed out a little no. Then, blinking curiously at the boy, your head cocked to the side, hair falling around your face, tied up too loose since you and Tenko had to do that kind of thing alone.
"It means that our family had a hero in it!" He yelled, jumping up and down, eyes shut tight, teeth showing as he giggled.
You gawked at the joy on his face, in the little noises his mouth emitted. It was so simple, so pure, like he'd never wanted anything else in the world to be as true as this. Eventually, he calmed himself, pursing his lips, shaking his shoulders back and forth, fists clenching and unclenching with remaining nervous energy.
Though Tenko never truly realized, you understood he was a rather sad boy. Even children young as yourself, they learn to distinguish the blurred lines between what is a lie and a truth. So when he faked his smiles for you, faked his laughter in want to bring you hope, you knew beneath it all, he wanted to cry sometimes. He wanted to yell, to be angry. He wanted to tell everyone in the world who did you and him wrong just how fed up he was. Moments like these though, when he could barely stop himself from hugging you round the shoulders, giggling like crazy- you knew it was true.
"T-that means I can be a hero too," He said, tiny voiced, humble.
Helping you up from the ground, taking your hands in his like he did a hundred times before, Tenko had never felt like his dreams were closer to reality than now. Hell, he felt like he could take on the world even before you added;
"I wanna be a hero with you, Tenko,"
Your voice was always so quiet by default, your curious questions or wish to communicate usually ignored by the rest of the family. But as you said that, you stood just a little taller, spoke just a little louder. Tenko's hammering pulse against your palm slowed at the comfort your words brought.
"Of course you will, We're a team." A more gentle sort of smile graced his face as he led you back inside to shade you from the sun. Then, looking back over his shoulder, he added with that genuine happiness, a promise he never meant more, "We'll always protect each other."
Those dreams you shared lit his and your eyes alike at that moment. You and him standing side by side in a starlit city, atop skyscrapers instead of trees. Fighting enemies together in that easy wind who knew you both all too well. Saving real people, hearing real life cheers of a crowd rather than your innocent laughter ringing through the yard.
It was the promise of a real future rather than some far away fantasy.
No one would ever push you away again, Tenko thought, feeling your hand squeeze his with ease. Instead, the public would rejoice in just the thought of standing near a hero as kind as you. And no one would ever scold or lock him away for living out his dream either. No, in this future you would build together with heritage on your side, Tenko would make for certain that no one, not even a family's false kindness, would ever hurt him or his sister again.
"Hah," He laughed to himself, reaching to open the sliding door, getting on his tiptoes. "We should start coming up with hero names don't ya think- Oh careful, Y/n!"
Sometimes, you and Tenko left things lying around like Mon's toys. Easy to trip over when you're not paying attention.
A small oomph left your chest as you fell over Mon's tennis ball before reaching the house. You scraped your knee, the feel of blood and sudden change, waking a power inside your body still growing in its slumber.
Your brain felt all jumbled up from earlier, but now your head was really spinning. It was like something was tingling throughout your chest, your arms, your legs, tensing your muscles, loosening them again. As you groggily sat back up, you even swore you heard a faint voice inside your head.
"Y/n, hey, are you alright?" Tenko asked. Given that your eyes were opening as wide as they went and you blinked heavy and hard, the boy could decipher something bad was happening. Your quirk never did much that was noticeable, but whenever you got this way, nothing good followed.
He held you upright the best he could while at once giving you room to breathe.
"I-it's hot," You stuttered, rubbing your eyes, wondering why all the sudden you felt so odd. Why it felt like another living thing had just woken up and was spreading with alarm.
"Here," Tenko said, hoping to god you wouldn't have to visit that awful doctor again, "Let's get you inside-"
"Tenko!" The sliding door opened with a loud slam, your father's voice echoing against the fence of the yard.
The boy with his hand at your back flinched, taking a step away from your body in fear. His stomach dropped when he saw his father's face, a darkness shrouding his eyes, such a deep frown etched into the lines of his face. He walked out the house and into the yard with his fists clenched, the view behind bringing Tenko only dread as his face fell.
"Were you in my study?" Kotaro breathed so heavy his chest rose and fell with not an inch of hollowness. He was so focused on his son standing there, cowering with his shoulders slouched, tears welling in his eyes, he didn't even notice his other child whose skin was slowly starting to glow around the nerves.
"It was Tenko's idea!" Hana cried in her grandmother's arms, throwing her arms around in a fit, sobbing endlessly, the whole family frantically surrounding her. "H-he wanted to go in there! I'm sorry!"
"Dad?" Tenko whispered, not understanding what Hana was saying all that for. It was until his father's hand smacked him so hard across the face that he fell backwards from the shock.
His face stung from the force instantly, neck whiplashed, hair crowding his face as soon as he felt the earth beneath his palms. The sound it made resonated just like so many scoldings he'd endured before. But never before had his dad hit him with so much hatred behind the palm. That was perhaps the most painful part of his violence; how when Tenko looked back up, it was so obvious how much his dad wanted to hit him again.
"Kotaro!" Your mother yelled from the door, walking out in a haste, pulling her husband's shoulder back. "That's enough!"
"Let me go," The man protested, tearing his wife's hand off before turning back to his son still incapacitated on the ground.
Although, when he turned around, rather than catching sight of Tenko rubbing the soreness on his cheek, he was met with someone else. Someone standing right in front of him who was barely recognizable at all.
"Y/n," Kotaro breathed, suddenly so, very cautious of how close he was to the girl who's blood vessels had light streaming through their walls.
You stood before your father with no intentions. None except to become a barrier, a wall between his fists and your brothers' already hurt soul. In truth, it felt hard to stand up on your own. Your bones felt heavy, mind in a similar spot, like falling asleep was a welcome exchange. But at the same time, it felt like someone was holding you upright, like someone else inside your head was giving you the strength to do what you and Tenko promised.
Protect.
"Y/n, go inside." Your father ordered, pointing to the door behind him.
You swallowed, shaking your head.
"Now!"
"No," You said, shaking your head again and this time when Kotaro took a step forward to pick you up on instinct, your quirk made an audible threat. It glowed more prominently, flowed sightlessly from your fingertips with lowly sounds of pure energy.
It was merely a warning. But it was enough for your father to take that single step backwards again.
"Y/n," Your mother said, wishing she was braver than she was, wishing her hands wouldn't shake as she reached for her daughter. "Y/n, baby, come here it's okay."
After almost two years of knowing you had a quirk that could potentially hurt others, your mother was sick of having to be distant, of having to watch you grow from afar like some kind of bystander. All she ever wanted was to protect you, make sure the rest of the world didn't judge you or fear you the way your own family had to. And now that her husband was growing more violent, she just wanted to protect you from him. Although, she could've never realized it was him she should've been protecting from the power lurking in your body.
"Nao, be careful!" Your grandfather yelled as the woman dipped down and picked you up. She didn't care that your body felt warm and cold at the same time, that light emitted from below your skin. She just had to keep you safe.
"I can't leave her like this!" Nao yelled back, finally prying you from the ground, holding you in her arms and walking backwards against the house.
"No!" But you didn't care what your mother wanted. You kicked and thrashed when she took you away, when her hand held the back of your head and the other wrapped around your back. You fought with all you had, pushing and squirming, but to no avail.
"That wasn't your grandmother in that picture, you understand!?" Your father yelled, to you and Tenko both, as Hana's cries continued to fill the air along with his anger, your mother's guilt, and your brother's fear.
Everything was building, building, building.
The boy still sat speechless, holding his cheek with one hand, eyes wide, tears streaming down his face as his sister was taken away, replaced by the nearing aura of his father's brutality. You nearly screamed when you saw your father's hand come down on the other side of his face so hard, blood split Tenko's lip.
"That was a monster who abandoned her child! You and your sister! You're idolizing a monster! Is that what you want to be!?"
He hit him again. again. again.
Every strike, Tenko was silent.
Every ounce of cruelty beat into him led to nothing but tears watering the grass.
Everytime the sound rang through the yard, you felt your own hatred grow.
You felt the power in your body come to life in a way it never had. You felt the energy tormented by the sight impossible to look away from. You felt that voice inside your head growl and cry.
You felt that thing cultivating since the day it first latched itself to your soul start to tear itself apart.
You felt its thirst for anger and fear and violence and hate separate from its kindness and maternity and light. You felt the creation and destruction of its birth split in two.
When your father finally grew tired of harming his own child, Tenko's numbed soul adopted one of its pieces. A zapping feeling coursed through his fingers and to his mind. And suddenly, that hate that always overshadowed his life became whole. Suddenly, the helplessness was gone. Suddenly, he felt protected.
***
Tenko cried so hard his jaw ached. Back pressed up against the fence, arms wrapped around his puppy, the ground hard under his legs, the boy bawled till his eyes were near empty of tears and his throat became sore with sobs.
Night fell soon after his family went back inside. His father finally left him alone- only when he was out of breath that is. His son's face was painted with red marks, itchy under eyes fraught with scars split open when he'd been hit too hard, a wedding band's damage apparent on his cheekbone. Not able to look at the results of his own actions, the man just turned on his heel. He pushed past his perfect family into his perfect home and the door shut with a clack.
Once again Tenko was all alone.
He hid himself away, only let the wails of pain and fear and hurt go once he knew no one else could hear. All he could feel was the sting of his father's palm, the sheer force behind every slap, the poison of his words. As he crawled over to the fence line however, everything suddenly felt much too hot, much too cold at the same time. You often felt that way when your quirk activated. It's probably what happened before father came running out.
Tenko thought of you in his mother's arms- heard you screaming to be let go, kicking and squirming, reaching your hand towards his weakened figure helpless on the ground. Because he always took your hand, always, when no one else would. And you promised. Made a promise to protect each other. You screamed and kicked and squirmed because you couldn't bear to break it.
If only you and Tenko knew, your quirk wouldn't stand to see it broken either...
"I hate it!" Tenko cried into his dog's fur, holding him close, scratching at his eyes so hard only more red soiled his fingernails.
His mind flashed with images of your eyes rolling into the back of your head as you fainted in your mom's arms only a few hours ago. He didn't even know if you were okay, and he knew his parents wouldn't do the right things to help you if you weren't!
He was so angry. So angry and alone.
"No, no," He whimpered, his body growing hotter and colder at the same time, an odd sort of feeling heavy with aggression coursing through his veins. "I hate it- It hurts, it hurts- I hate it!"
That feeling only intensified the more he pictured his family and their negligence. The more he saw your smile fade and felt your hand in his slip out of reach. The more that anger he buried resurfaced with a vengeance.
The feeling crawled as if getting used to his body, nestling into his nerves. It found a home in his anger. It learned from his spite, from his pain. It learned from his itchiness. It wanted to save him from what that want of violence did to his mind and body both. And as it learned from Tenko's soul, it only saw one solution.
Give into it.
"I can't take it anymore," Tenko cried, his only audience the destructive half of a power mankind had never seen. "I hate everyone. I hate everything!"
Sniffling, the boy's last salvation was the thought of the only person who never rejected him, who never hurt him, who would stand between him and a man who struck only fear in her heart. He heard your joyful, closed-eye laughter and saw your face as your feet dangled off the couch when he came home from school. He felt your squeezing hand-holds leaving the doctor's and remembered your gratitude as you thanked him for not letting go...
"It's gonna be okay Mon," Tenko breathed with choppy breaths, swallowing down another cry. "Her and I," He spoke, knowing he could be brave with you in mind, "We can still protect each other."
Protect.
Tenko's entire body seized, his head perking up as he heard a voice. It was far away, as if coming from inside the house, but faint like a whisper too.
"Huh?" The boy blinked, fear-stricken, grasping at Mon's fur again.
That feeling in his body only intensified once he heard that word echo in his mind. It spread to his hands, rested in each of his fingertips, wrapping itself around flesh and bone alike. Like armor it hardened within his palms, took control.
Protect.
All the sudden, the power so unwilling to see the boy in pain learned enough to become a part of him. It took his anger. It took his hatred. It took his want for violence. And with his hands that had always been made to bring you love, it created a weapon...
Mon began to whimper when his body decayed in Tenko's hold. From the inside out, organs and bone turned to dust, the dog's existence rendered to a pile of dismembered parts in a pool of blood.
Tenko's eyes went wide, his pupils disappearing into the faded color of his eyes. His jaw dropped, his breathing intensifying as he huffed, arms suddenly empty as his beloved pup was replaced by the sight of death.
"Tenko?" Hana. That was Hana. She was walking out the house. Her chin remained downturnt, fingers fumbling together, her teeth chewing on her lip, remorse in her step. "I'm sorry for what happened, I shouldn't have said that."
Tenko nearly fell forward, water spilling from his eyes. Panic stunned his body still. The power took his voice away. It took his ability to move. His ability to think. It took control. And in its stead, it left Tenko without a single breath to take.
"Y/n's okay, she just wants to see you real bad. She's all tired right now." Hana spoke, scratching the back of her head, taking gentle steps towards a boy she knew she'd hurt. "I was the one who said it had to be a secret, I'm sorry for lying, I just didn't want dad to get mad at me, and-"
Hana quit talking as she heard a wheezing sort of a noise, her head snapping up at the sight of Tenko on his knees, grasping at his chest. Of course, she didn't notice the fear in his eyes or how hard he reached for her help. All she saw was the corpse at his side; A resulting carnage of her little brother's quirk created by years of forsaking.
The girl screamed. She threw her arms up, her knees nearly buckling as she tried to run away. Tenko's eyes continued to spill over, his fingers scratching at his throat without mercy. He couldn't talk. Couldn't stop feeling so itchy.
Seeing his sister's back, all he could think was that he needed help. He needed somebody to help him, to get this feeling away, to take it all away!
Hana, he thought, outreaching. Please. Protect me.
Protect.
The power in his hands intensified. Felt the threat of his itchiness and of his hate grow. So the moment Tenko's hands met Hana's shirt, collided with her body, a twinging sound of crackling skin and bone filled the already bloodied air. It was like she turned to a stone statue, fragile enough to be destroyed by wind.
When she was gone, the itch only got worse. The fear and anger and helplessness only got worse.
Tenko grabbed at his face, wishing he had a voice to scream at the horror of his sister's existence spread about like a carcass. His fingers dug so hard into his eyes redness mixed with his tears, the itchiness deepening below the skin.
The power inside him felt threatened the more. It needed to stop the itch, stop the panic, stop the pain. Emptying his body of whatever was so hurtful, Tenko's quirk made him vomit onto the concrete patio just beside Hana.
Even then, he couldn't stop scratching. Couldn't stop thinking the world was going to end. Couldn't stop hurting himself to the point that his power resorted to all it knew; destruction.
Of course, Tenko would tell you he had no idea what was happening back then. That he was too young, that it was all too much too quickly to process, but that would be a lie. Because as he saw the rest of his family walk out the house, fear in their eyes- hesitance, all he saw was his life in their perfect home and their perfect family.
So maybe, he did understand. Maybe as the ground he touched was torn apart, grass and concrete rising with the pressure of his quirk demolishing the earth atomic by atom, he knew what was really going on.
Because why did the people meant to protect him never so much as speak up. Why did they always make excuses for the pain he had to endure. Why did they always tell him to not cry and just listen. Why did they never so much as stand between him and his abuser? Why did they never take his hand to fulfill their promises?
It was no longer just the power evolving in Tenko's palms that fed on the hate. It was Tenko who let it all build up, little by little over time. It was Tenko who willfully turned his mother and grandparents to nothing but ashes carried by the wind. It was Tenko who saw his father walk out the house met by a force past destruction. It was Tenko who reached for the man who'd done nothing but fill his memories with dread. It was Tenko, who in that moment, filled with brimming, unmistakable bloodlust, touched his father and told him to die.
It was Tenko, who knew that deep down in his heart, he'd been yearning for that violence all along. It was merely his new power that gave him a way to act on it.
And just like that the itch was gone...
However as the boy's crazed laughter rang through the air and blood dripped down clawed hands, he heard a noise. A sound of life. Something still moving among the death and the rubble. And when the color returned to his eyes, Tenko was met by the sight of the only thing in the world his hands would never harm.
A little girl on her knees staring back at him, her ears ringing till they bled as her power called out to his.
***
Atomic by Jumpstarart
Atomic's truth by Jumpstarart