THE SKIES OPENED UP TO POUR CRIMSON RAN DOWN ONTO THE EARTH. Wherein the warmth of sunlight had vanished from her fading grasp, peppered with the taint of rust, of fallen souls that marked their passing by gouging tally marks into her very heart.
Steel and stone made up the urban jungle landscape, dust kicked up with the wind, and the flecks of crimson rain coloured the grey with its visceral hues. Her feet scraped against the rough asphalt she traversed, listless as she shielded her eyes from the rain to attempt to see through the dark. The acrid stench burns as she breathes, as if she had inhaled smoke instead of air, and her eyes stung just as much.
It was as if she was alone in the world, the only one left alive walking through a wasteland of human creation.
Perhaps, she really was.
The street she followed lead through a span of cityscape marred by crumbling buildings as streams of steady red trailed across the pavement, running along the edges of the road to pour down the storm drains. In a twisted sense the rain felt warm, but the wind was as cold as winter hail. The frigid bite tore through her flesh as if she were simply made of paper and water.
The rain falling from the skies grew heavier, thicker as it splattered against her body and blanketed the ground in red, and as she took a step forward, the chilling crack of crumbling stone permeated the air. Something latched onto her ankle through the dark, bringing her to snap her gaze straight down. A hand had risen from the cracks beneath her feet, skin wafer thin and splitting, and stained with blood as it tightened painfully around her ankle.
She tried to rip her leg free from the hand, to put as much distance between herself and the hand.
And with every shallow breath that escaped her, the more the ground beneath her began to crack.
Hands arose from the ground, latching onto her to halt her movements, to trap her within the rain and their painful grasp.
Until one last, deafening crack of stone, the slow groan of warping metal rung through the haze of terror and rain, and the ground beneath her gave way to reveal an endless pit of empty darkness below.
As she fell through the darkness, a strangled scream jolted her from the darkness.
And Kennedy Zinnia woke up.
Throwing herself upright, heaving shallow, ragged breaths and choking on the dry scratching of her throat, Zinnia's heart raced within her chest. Her hands had risen to cover her mouth out of instinct, cupping to hold her breath hostage. Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes as she struggled to calm herself down.
'Not again...' She whimpered as she screwed her eyes shut to block out the blurs of pre-dawn greys and moonlight blue from her vision.
The faint peppering of soft snores broke the otherwise terrified reeling of her mind's spiralling, reminding Zinnia before long that she wasn't actually home.
As the minutes ticked by and her breathing had finally settled down to its usual rhythm, she lifted her head to cast a small glance towards the sleeping redhead just a few feet away.
Kirishima lay undisturbed by Zinnia's nightmare, mouth agape as he snored away with a faint twitch of his every now and then causing his snoring to pause briefly.
Zinnia recalled that following Kaminari's mandatory tour of the arcade that evening, it had gotten late enough that Kirishima had essentially insisted that she stay the night, or at the very least, he walked her home. Needless to say, Zinnia didn't need very much convincing to wind up staying.
A heavy breath escaped the girl as she lowered her gaze to her hands wringing a tuft of blanket within her grasp, her blurry gaze swimming as she felt the tears begin to well up.
'Damn it...' She whispered against the quiet darkness.
Suffice to say, she didn't get any more sleep that morning.
The morning hours were peppered with concerned looks from Kirishima upon his awakening to find her already conscious, reading one of her biology textbooks in the faint light of morning. He didn't exactly question her reasons for already being awake, nor did he comment upon the clear worsening of the shadows beneath her eyes. He left her be for the most part, but that didn't stop the concerned glances, even as they both left for school.
However, a demand from Kaminari in the form of a phone call had Zinnia joining Kirishima on his walk towards Yuuei, where they witnessed a rather peculiar sight.
There were swarms of reporters blocking off the front of the massive premises, with camera crews, tv vans and an assortment of crowds harassing students in the process of trying to make their way inside.
From the far side of the street, both teens could clearly hear the reporters throw questions at anyone who approached the building, and it had them both sigh.
'I guess this is because All Might is teaching at your school, now?' Zinnia asked.
'Yeah.' Kirishima chuckled slightly in dismay. 'They've been here since school started, but this is pretty insane...'
'Don't tell me Kaminari-san wanted me to come just to see this.'
'I doubt it.' Kirishima responded with a wry chuckle. 'I think I heard his mom or something yelling at him in the background, so he was probably still home.'
'My mom was not yelling at me!' Came Kaminari's indignant complaint from over their shoulders, earning the attention of both teenagers standing on the sidewalk. 'She was talking to me in her outside voice!'
'Yeah, that's called yelling, Kaminari.' Kirishima responded with a small scoff.
The vibrant blond in mention chuckled slightly with a small shrug, grinning as he looked between the two standing before him.
'Good morning, Kaminari-san.' Zinnia greeted.
'So, not that I'm objecting or anything man, but why did you insist that I had to bring Zim with me today?' Kirishima asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he fixed the blond with a questioning stare. 'Her school's in completely the opposite direction to home, I'll have you know.'
'Eh?' Kaminari seemed rather shocked at the remark. 'You mean her school isn't nearby?'
'Clearly not. Have you seen any girls wearing that same uniform around here?'
Kaminari practically gaped at the two, entirely disbelieving of the small revelation he had just been given.
'Then what school do you go to?' He eventually asked her.
'Sarayashiki.' Zinnia promptly answered.
'And that's not here in Musutafu?'
It's right between Musutafu and Hosu, usually half an hour's walk if traffic's good.' Zinnia explained as she buried her hands in the pockets of her skirt. 'That'll be over an hour from here.'
'Wha--?! Why didn't you tell me?!' Kaminari demanded as he rounded upon Kirishima, who held his hands up in defense.
'Yeah, well I couldn't help it. You're the one who hung up on me before I could say anything.'
'But you could have--'
'Excuse me! You two boys there!' Called out a voice from the front of Yuuei's front gate, bringing the group of three to turn their attention upon the approaching commotion.
It appeared the hoard of reporters and camera crews had noticed their presence standing there on the side of the road, for a good half of the hundred or so adults were approaching at a quick jog to cross the road.
'Seriously?! They're more persistent than Iida's nagging!' Kaminari whined as he backed away from the group.
'Sorry Zim, I think we'd better run for it.' Kirishima added.
'Wait! Run for what?!' Zinnia squeaked out.
However, the only answer she got was the two boys taking off at a desperate sprint across the road, veering around startled camera crew and reporters in kind to disappear through the gate of the Yuuei campus. They got past the reporters before any complaints could be issued, and before Zinnia even knew what was going on, all the reporters had turned their attention upon her, who had been within the company of their previous targets.
'Did they just abandon me in the street?' Zinnia wondered, stunned and at a loss of how to actually feel about such a development.
'You there! Little girl!' A reporter shouted out as the swarm began to encircle Zinnia, bringing a weary sigh to escape her as she stood her ground. 'We have some questions for you! Wait right there!'
And a second later, Zinnia found herself with microphones being shoved right in her face.
The other reporters and tv crews took advantage of the encircled girl and began to approach, providing other Yuuei students opportunity to get into the campus undisturbed. None offered her any help, and the ones that did look over cast her pitying stares. All Zinnia could do to just sigh and turn her attention to the closest reporter who had just shoved a microphone into her face.
'You're friends with some of the students, right?! What have they mentioned about learning under All Might?!' The woman pleaded, evidently more than a little stressed by the tone of her voice. 'Give us anything you can, please! We need information!'
'I'm sorry, I really need to get going.' Zinnia hedged as she held her hands up in defense.
'Please give us a statement!'
'How do you feel about All Might taking up a teaching role at Yuuei!?'
'How do your friends feel about this development?!'
Zinnia could only sigh as she shifted her weight on her feet.
This was undoubtedly why Seiya enforced a no paparazzi rule on hospital grounds. Dealing with this kind of nightmare was already doing Zinnia's head in, and she had been taught by the said doctor on how to deal with these instances.
'What little I have been informed of by my friends has been given in confidence, so I'm sorry, but I can't answer your questions.' Zinnia addressed the woman, who looked a little appalled by the response. 'However, what I can say is that my friends appear to quite enjoy learning from All Might, which is quite evident in the way they spoke about their day's events, yesterday.'
'What were their day's events with All Might?!'
'Again, what I was told is in confidence. I can't tell you.'
The group of reporters and camera crew were surprised by her adamant refusal, but they seemed to take it much better than the others, who had tried to run or cussed the reporters out.
'Isn't...' One of the other reporters began. 'Isn't there anything else you can tell us?'
'I'm afraid not. I have never even met the man to be able to tell you anything to begin with. Ultimately, you probably know more about what's going on than I do.' Zinnia apologized as she readjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder. 'Anyway, I'm sorry to disappoint, but I really need to start heading to school now.'
'O-oh, That's a Sarayashiki High uniform, isn't it?' A nearby camera man remarked with a faint chuckle.
'That's a long trek from here.' Another muttered.
'Sorry to keep you! Thanks for your time!'
And with that brief exchange, the swarm of tv crew returned to engulfing the front of the school campus.
A few seconds later, Zinnia's phone began to ring from her pocket, drawing a weary sigh from the girl as she shuffled slightly on her feet and dug the device out from her blazer pocket.
Across the screen of the device was Kirishima's details, bringing the girl to accept the call and press the device to her ear.
'You two are horrid.' Zinnia complained bitterly.
'I'm sorry.' Kirishima's sheepish chuckle sounded through the earpiece briefly. 'They didn't rough you up too bad, did they?'
'I dunno. What do you think?' She quipped as she turned to begin the long walk to school.
'They had you pinned for longer than we thought.' He responded.
'I thought they'd leave you alone since you're not wearing our uniform!' A nearby Kaminari called spoke in the background.
'Of course not. They saw me with you two.' She complained.
'Yeah, that makes sense...' Kirishima sighed. 'I'm sorry.'
'I'm not forgiving you for a stupid stunt like that.' She dismissed as she buried her free hand back in the pocket of her skirt. 'You essentially used me as a decoy for the reporters to save your own skin.'
'I know. I promise we'll make it up to you.'
'We'll see.'
'Jeez, is she actually mad at us?' Kaminari's muttered voice sounded in the background.
'It's fair, man. We did just ditch her.' Kirishima shot towards Kaminari, who sounded an audible groan in response.
'Anyway, I've got to hang up, cause I'm late for scho--'
'Wait a second! Are you working today?' Kirishima cut in quickly.
'Yeah, I'm wanted in early.' She responded with a roll of the eyes. 'Really, Kiri, I have to--'
'We'll make it up to you after you finish work then! We'll be waiting at the rest station!' Kirishima cut in before he bid her a quick farewell and hung up.
Another sigh escaped Zinnia as she lowered her phone to stare down at the display.
'Idiot...' She muttered as she then pocketed her phone. 'You don't even know when I'm finishing up.'
There honestly was no point in arguing, though.
The sound of the warning bell for class rung faintly through the city air, peppered with the sounds of traffic and the sounds of the renown Yuuei Wall roaring to life. She paid no heed to the sudden presence of great carbon fibre-plated walls blocking all access to Yuuei beyond a brief glance back.
Just as it had felt to her, the existence of Heroes felt so far away, so alienesque to her. It felt as if that great dividing wall did more than block unauthorised people from entering within the territory. It felt much more that it was a divide between two worlds. Kirishima and Kaminari aside, Zinnia felt like, perhaps, she never wanted to understand what lay within the depths of such a secluded word.
She broke away from her thoughts, turning to continue onwards to school, when she found herself crashing into something, or rather, someone. A form easily twice her size and far sturdier had appeared on the sidewalk before her, apparently shifting mid-stride to walk past her motionless form when she'd suddenly begun to move.
Just as she always did, Zinnia's exceedingly slender and tiny form essentially rebounded right off of the larger form, and she'd barely managed to catch herself before she went crashing to the ground.
She'd caught glimpse of a masculine form dressed in black, of haywire pale hair with a faint hint of blue, but beyond that, she didn't pry.
'I'm very sorry for bumping into you, sir.' Zinnia spoke quickly as she straightened up, pausing to tip herself forward ever so slightly into a courteous bow.
There was silence at first, however, Zinnia didn't necessarily wait for any response.
She straightened up and shuffled straight out of the man's way and continued on her way at a casual jog, given the pressing lack of time before school was due to start.
She didn't turn to glance back at the man she had bumped into, nor pause to regain her bearings, and she didn't need to.
Not to notice the presence of a gaze upon her dispersing form, in any case.
Zinnia's arrival at school just after the end of first period earned her stares and mocking chuckles from various people, and her late arrival was not let off with a warning. Kida was prompt to issue her another week's worth of detention and one strike to her Sarayashiki record, contrary to his declaration just two days ago. The girls who had a vendetta against Zinnia for standing up to them giggled haughtily, and under no circumstances were reprimanded by their teacher for disrupting class further. He simply snapped at Zinnia to take her seat and get her textbooks out, and continued with his lesson.
It was a joke, one of which Zinnia found utterly displeasing.
Upon Kida's regular disappearance the second his lesson for the hour had been completed, Zinnia felt the sudden force of something slamming hard into the back of her head, splattering upon impact and flecking what she immediately recognized to be egg throughout the classroom. A startled squeak escaped the bunny girl who sat directly in front of Zinnia as she was flecked with droplets of gloopy residue.
And yet the tiny girl remained motionless in her seat, slowly taking a deep breath as she found herself reminded very well of other cruel pranks she had been victim of at the hands of others both sibling and peer alike; A ball of frozen blood hurled at her from across the street by Claudia and her friends, the multiple sabotages of her bedding in much the same manner, not to mention all the more violent shoves and the deliberate contamination of food to make her sick.
A second egg slammed into the side of her head and splattered against both her glasses and her books opened on her desk.
'Hah! Look at this freak here!' Cackled one of the girls seated towards Zinnia's right, gloating like a hawing donkey as she raised another pair of raw eggs. 'How disgusting is that?! She hasn't even moved an inch!'
The bulk of the class watched silently, not daring to utter a word as the gang of seven girls began to jeer and mock the tiny girl. The bunny girl had even lifted a hand to cover her mouth as she stared in horror, wide eyes prickling with unshed tears.
'Go on you fucking bitch! Use your quirk! I dare you!' Another shrieked at Zinnia.
Unfortunately for these girls, Zinnia was quite used to such hostilities, even some far worse.
She did not give them the satisfaction of granting an affronted response, and instead deposited her books into her bag and lifted herself to her feet.
'What's this?! You fucking running away like some cowardly brat?!' The taller blonde of the group snapped as she dragged herself to her feet. 'Not so tough without your mutant freak's deformity, huh?!'
They really had to work on their originality.
But Zinnia wasn't about to give them the time of day to learn such an uncommon concept and grabbed her bag on her way to the door.
'Don't you fucking ignore us!' One of the girls roared as she threw another egg at Zinnia's dispersing form.
However, this egg did not hit Zinnia, and the girl hadn't made a move to dodge it, either.
A hand had appeared through the door to intercept the thrown egg, large and slightly clawed in shape. The form who had appeared caught the egg with remarkable ease, and before Zinnia could even turn her head to look up at the form, horrified gasps had rung through the classroom upon the obvious revelation that the cruel prank had not gone unobserved.
'Excuse me?!' Came the furious roar of a female voice, that of one outraged Ohara Shizuru. Her form of blonde, spiky locks and reptilian eyes came striding into the classroom with fury clear in her posture, with the egg in her clawed hand cracking with the sheer force she was clenching it. 'How dare any student hurl vicious pranks and insults at another student?! Especially one to inflict actual harm!?'
The PE teacher's fist closed viciously around the egg, which cracked and broke apart into pieces instead of a hail of gloop like the others.
'Eggs! And this one is hard boiled, not to mention frozen!' Ohara continued to growl, much to the growing apprehension of the bulk of the class. 'Who is responsible for this? Answer me!'
Nobody spoke a word, not even Zinnia herself, who chose to let things continue their course without any intervention.
However, it appeared that the reptilian woman had enough of an idea.
'Kanzaki, Ikari, Yamomoto, Machii, Aohara, Sato, and Kanno!' The woman barked out, causing the aforementioned people to flinch, who were coincidentally all the participants of Zinnia's grief to date. 'Do not think you can fool me! I can see all those eggs you're trying to hide behind your backs! And the rest of you! How dare you just sit there and watch this happen!?'
A few of the students in the room actually had the modesty to look a little ashamed.
'All of you will be joining me for detention!' Ohara seethed, tossing the decimated egg into the nearest wastebin without a glance away from the class. 'And I will be sending written letters to each of your pare--'
'Excuse me, Ohara-sensei.' Interrupted none other than Kida, who had appeared at the door of the classroom.
'Oh1 Kida-sensei!' The reptilian woman gasped out as she turned her attention onto the scruffily dressed man. 'I was just about--'
'I heard.' He interrupted without so much as sparing Zinnia a glance as he stepped into the room. 'Please leave this to me.'
'Wh-what?!' The woman spluttered, entirely shocked by the words escaping her colleague's mouth. 'I'm afraid I can't do that! This is an act of assault I have just intervened in! And as such--'
'I will handle it.' Kida once again interrupted, waving the woman away dismissively. 'This is my classroom. I will deal with my students as I deem fit. Those are the rules here, and I'm going to have to ask you to leave.'
'Are you out of your mind?!'
'Take seat twenty nine, if you must. She has to go clean herself up before she gets any more egg throughout my classroom.'
And it appeared that was all Kida was going to say on the matter, much to the horror of the PE Teacher standing at Zinnia's side.
The woman stood rigid, face flushing with the taint of red as the girls in the back of the classroom cast her victorious sneers and giggled among themselves.
'Come, Kennedy-san.' Ohara instructed with the most level of tones she could manage at that moment. 'Let's get you cleaned up.'
Zinnia certainly didn't need telling twice, and as such she followed the only level-headed teacher on campus wherever she lead.
Brisk footsteps peppered the hallways as Zinnia trailed after Ohara's rigid form, tugging her bag a little higher over her shoulder as she jogged, just to keep up. She kept her gaze from taking in her surroundings, and instead fought to pretend the egg wasn't running down the back of her clothes.
Eventually, Zinnia was lead to the Gymnasium, where Ohara unlocked a door on the far side and ushered Zinnia inside.
'Please use the facilities inside. There is shampoo and soap inside, and afterwards, I will get your uniform dry cleaned for you.' Ohara instructed her tersely, motioning vaguely towards the back of what turned out to be a set of staff-only locker rooms. 'You have your PE uniform already, I expect.'
'No.' Zinnia disagreed, shaking her head as the reptilian woman cast her a surprised look. 'My class hasn't been given any, yet.'
'Oh, of course. I don't teach your class until Thursday.' The woman appeared to shake her head slightly in dismay before she stepped past Zinnia to head inside. 'Here, I'll pass you a set, now.'
And indeed, Ohara did.
The woman who was still undoubtedly quite mad and humiliated combined had shut the door behind her and left for the other parts of the building, informing Zinnia that the door can be locked from the inside if she preferred.
Zinnia showered and changed into the uniform provided, which scarcely tightened enough to keep the pants on her slender frame, feeling much like a child in a set of pyjamas many sizes too big for her, already. The gymnasium was silent, empty save for the sounds of Ohara's voice ringing shrilly from the staff office, with the phrases of "this is assault" and "that man isn't going to punish them at all" echoing in loud enough repetitions for Zinnia to understand that the topic of argument was the egg attack on her.
But beyond that, Zinnia didn't intervene, leave or even move to carry out what may well be an early session of detention.
She instead sat herself down on the floor nearest the locker rooms Ohara had let her use, and pulled her biology notebooks out to begin self-study for the time being.
Third period came and went, before lunch break arrived, and by that time, Zinnia was expecting to be issued her owed detentions. However, Ohara had come marching out of her office, waved Zinnia back to her self-study and disappeared out of the gymnasium, returning just minutes later with the seven classmates who'd attacked Zinnia with eggs.
'Your detention isn't going anywhere without you girls!' Ohara reprimanded as she directed the girls into the PE Storage Room, just as she had yesterday. 'And if you do not complete your issued detention today, either, then you will have another one on top of what Kida-sensei will have issued you for that attack you made against Kennedy-san!'
'We don't have any.' The ravenette of the group stated, much to Ohara's obvious disdain. 'We didn't attack that freak.'
'Excuse me?! You most certainly did! Don't you dare try to pull the wool over my eyes!' The woman rebuked. 'And under no circumstances are you to call another student a "freak"!'
'Look, lady.' The blonde of the group grunted out, pausing to cast a vicious sneer in Zinnia's direction. 'We didn't attack Kennedy, and Kida-sensei already said there's no proof that we did! You're accusing us of something without evidence!'
Ohara was silent at first, however from the flinch that escaped a few of the girls, the look across her face was far from pleasant.
'You are walking yourself right into another bad habit, Ikari-san.' Ohara spoke tersely, motioning once again to the PE storage room. 'Now please, all of you commence your detention, and do not shirk your owings, or I will be sending a letter to each of your families and issuing yet another detention. Do I make myself clear?'
'What about her?' The butch brunette of the group demanded.
'You have the audacity to ask that of me?' Ohara snapped as she turned on her heel to head for her office. 'Of course she won't be serving detention today! Now get going!'
The group of girls stared the woman down before they reluctantly began to do as instructed.
'Tch, fucking freak hag...' The ravenette muttered.
'That is one detention, Yamomoto-san! You will be returning here tomorrow during lunch break!' Ohara's voice rung out from the office, sending the group of seven to bolt for the safety of the PE storage room.
Zinnia still found herself rather amazed that the woman could pin names to faces so efficiently after just one day, even moreso memorize the sounds of a student's voice so clearly. Perhaps not quirk-related, but it was still impressive none the less.
She however picked herself up upon the sound of Ohara's voice calling her into the office.
Her footsteps were light as she tucked her book back into her bag, her gaze tracing the way the light filtered in through the skylights. She had glanced at the door to see that it was shut.
She was a fool to wave it off simply as that.
As she stepped past the door to approach the one just two meters beyond, the door swung open to make way for a basket ball hurdling straight for her head. She'd barely flinched from the sound of the door opening before the impact had collided hard into the back of her head, sending her crashing forward with enough force to slam her head on the floor, and for her glasses to hit the wood and smash.
Voices swam through the daze of Zinnia's stunned state, peppering her with the broken sounds of voices echoing overhead as she gingerly picked herself up into a seated position on the floor.
It felt like deja vu, so eerily similar to the way Claudia and her friends had attacked her one afternoon outside her own house.
And as Zinnia felt the lines of blood begin to trickle down her face from a cut along her right eyebrow, she felt herself almost let out a bitter laugh.
They're just the same.
Petty for no other reason than their desire to indulge in their own inferiority.
And even as Ohara carefully walked the girl into the office and set her down on a chair with a wad of paper towel to her injury, it didn't change anything. It didn't help Zinnia, and it didn't do anything to reprimand the group of girls who had taken off at a run to escape detention now that the teacher was tied up with Zinnia's injured state.
Somewhere along the way, between patching up Zinnia's bleeding face and recovering the broken pieces of the girl's glasses, Ohara had escorted Zinnia personally to the main building to see the vice principal. She had presumed, through her gradually clearing thoughts, that it was to demand action to be taken. It was of no consequence to Zinnia, who was already familiar with these incidents from her old school, though in that place it was deemed better for her to spend more time out of school than in.
And she expected it to wind up much the same.
She was asked to wait outside the vice principal's office, all the while Ohara argued with the stout man inside about the incidents that had been taking place that day. There was enough of a crack in the door for Zinnia to hear the general gist of what was happening inside.
The students had to sort out their differences on their own.
The school would not intervene, as that would be taking sides in a situation that should be resolved exclusively on its own, and to defend a girl who had already used her quirk -an act that was already banned by the school- would be a violation of the principles of the establishment.
Quirkless students were the underdogs of the society, and under no circumstances was the staff to undermine the only safe haven for quirkless free from the mockery of the quirked.
Somewhere through that argument, Zinnia had decided she'd heard enough.
Her vision was blurry without her glasses, and while Ohara had checked and ruled out a concussion, Zinnia still preferred to leave, possibly heading to Hosu General Hospital for proper testing.
However, luck wasn't on her side.
Around the corner leading towards the stairwell was the same group of girls, evidently waiting for her to wander away from Ohara's sight. There was nothing for Zinnia to say, nothing she could really do as the girls stepped away from the wall to encircle Zinnia's smaller frame.
'Where do you think you're going, freak?' One girl questioned, mockingly as she shoved Zinnia backwards, away from the stairwell. 'We haven't finished with you, yet.'
'What's wrong? Don't like the fact that we're getting off with just a slap on the wrist for attacking you like this?' Another asked, puncturing her words with another shove to Zinnia's form.
'Tell you what, we don't care that we'll never be heroes, so we can do whatever we want to you. We'd be doing the world a lot of good by getting rid of another worthless freak!'
And yet, in spite of the insult those words were supposed to deal, all Zinnia really could do was laugh.
It was sudden enough that the girls had fallen motionless in their attempts to harass Zinnia, and one had even let a rather uncomfortable shiver shake her form.
'What the fuck's so funny, you freak?!' The blonde one snapped, only identifiable to Zinnia from her close proximity at that second. 'Didn't you hear what we said?! The world would be a better place if you were fucking gone!'
And yet, Zinnia still laughed.
'Yeah, I heard you.' She chuckled, lifting her head to gaze up at the rather indignant girls standing before her. 'I was just thinking, you sound just like my siblings.'
'So even filthy freaks in your own family want you gone, huh?'
'No. They're all quirkless, just like you, drowning themselves in their own weaknesses like they're gods gift to this hateful world.' The girl's bitter laugh ended as she cast the girls a pitying stare. 'You moan and whine about how filthy everyone else is, but really, you're just terrified of your own filthy flaws and chalk it down to being cheated on in life, right? My parents are quirkless, just like you, but they don't whine about their injustices like self-entitled maggots feasting on a rotting corpse, unlike you. They accept the cards they're dealt and do the best they can to fit in.'
The girls stood frozen at first, stunned by Zinnia's response, and perhaps too shocked by the revelation of Zinnia's familial situation.
However, the blonde standing before Zinnia raised a hand and slapped the girl right across the face.
'How fucking dare you talk as if you know a single thing about us?!' She shrieked, shoving Zinnia further back until she collided with the window along the side of the building. 'You have no idea the amount of bullshit we have to deal with because of monsters like you! We have to take care of ourselves, and you have the fucking cheek to tell us what we--'
Whatever the girl had intended to scream at her next was cut off in the most unexpected way possible.
And that way, was a violent explosion at the front door of the school building directly below them.
Sirens blared through the air, screams rung through the haze, and as smoke began to rise up and flood the cerulean skies with plumes of black, footsteps and the eerily calm humming of a man's voice began to sound from the stairs.
--=[Submitted 25th October 2018, 5698 words total]=--