She was eleven once more, and she was terrified. It was happening all again, the villain standing there, her father shielding her whilst her mother tried to protect them. Everything was happening far too quickly. One moment her mother had managed to push the villain back with her quirk and the next, her father was screaming her mother's name as a blade flew at her, lodging itself in her spine as she looked back at them to make sure they were safe.
She didn't know what to do. She was too scared to help her so when her father, the quirkless man who could do nothing to save them, tried to run to her mother despite the villain being there, she felt hopeless. Above all, she wanted to help, but her own fear intensified. Watching as her parents put themselves in danger for her, she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to make it all go away.
But it didn't. She was stuck in her own terror, too cowardly to do anything as her mother and father risked their lives. She was weak.
Suddenly, someone was chanting her name desperately, and she opened her eyes, gasping for air. Looking around, she realized she wasn't in the alleyway, and she was confused. Where was she?
"Umiko!"
Snapping her head back to where the voice was coming from, she came to her senses, realizing where she was. Of course, she wasn't in the alleyway, she was fifteen and attending a hero school.
"Are you alright?" cried the voice, and she looked at him, realizing who it was. He was on the ground next to her, his eyes looking at her anxiously.
"Tsukamoto, what are you doing here? Where are the villains?"
"They're gone, it's fine,"
"Did someone catch them?"
"No, they escaped, but it's thanks to Iwasaki that we managed to escape. His reflexes made him use his quirk to turn into the size of an ant and escape under the door just as that rope guy started getting us all. He managed to get the teachers and some heroes from outside the building in time, and they got here quickly, but the villains escaped using some sort of teleportation quirk."
He pointed to a black-haired boy standing nearby who noticed them, rubbing the back of his head nervously.
"Is anyone hurt?"
"You were the last one to fall asleep by that guy's quirk, don't worry?"
"How long was I out for?"
"It's been about ten minutes since the villains left."
"So the quirk doesn't last long, or it varies."
"Actually, the others woke up within two minutes. You were out longer for some reason. And you were kinda mumbling for a bit..." he mentioned slowly.
"Oh, that's... it doesn't matter," she shook her head with embarrassment.
"You sounded scared, are you sure? What if the quirk had some other side effects."
"I'm fine, really," she said, before getting up. She felt fine, so she wasn't sure why he was worrying so much. It was just a dream, it didn't concern him.
"Alright. Oh! I forgot to thank you. You saved me by letting yourself pass out from that quirk."
"You don't need to thank me, it was nothing."
"But they were threatening to kill me! You didn't think heroes were coming but you still put your own life on the line for me, despite what could have happened," he answered.
"Well it's not like villains are just gonna give you a cupcake and leave," she mumbled.
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
"Then we should probably get going now, the police will be here soon, and they'll probably want to question a few people."
"Wait, the man who looked like he was in charge of that group said something about needing our quirks. Are we sure everyone has their quirks?" she said, her voice rising with panic.
"Relax, there's not much of a chance that they could just take our quirks. That stuff only happens in books,"
"But-"
"C'mon, let's go."
"Alright."
Walking out of the room, she noticed Miyoshi staring at her.
"Woah, Fujiwara, are you okay?" she asked worriedly.
"What do you mean?"
"You look really pale, are you sick?"
"I'm fine," she replied hastily. There was an unsettling feeling in her gut, but she didn't want to worry anyone with her problems, it just made her seem weak. Besides, it was just a dream, right?
༺♡༻
By the time she arrived home, it was already the late afternoon. Pushing the key in the lock, she swung the door to her house open, surprised to find both her mother crying whilst her father comforted her. Locking the door behind her, she walked to where they were.
"Umi, oh darling, we were so worried when the school called us," she cried into her hands.
"We were worried sick, what happened?" her father asked steadily.
"It was just a group of villains, but I'm fine, the teachers got there before anything could happen."
"Are you sure you're not hurt?" her mother asked suddenly, her tear-filled eyes looking right up at her daughter.
Umiko impulsively moved her head away from her mother's gaze, not wanting to look right at her.
"Umi, why won't you look at me?" her mother asked, her voice revealing that she was hurt.
Gulping, she twisted her head back to look at her. It was awkward, and she wanted to look away, but her mother was upset enough as it is.
"Mum, you shouldn't worry so much about me, it's not healthy for you," she said coldly, gesturing to the wheelchair.
"She'll be okay, you're the one who was in danger," her father replied.
"I said I'm fine!" she snapped out of nowhere. She was more surprised with herself than the shocked looks on her parents' faces.
"Umiko, what's going on? You never raise your voice with us. Is something going on? You know you can talk to us."
"How many times do I need to tell you that I'm okay? I'm not the one stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. Stop worrying about me, I'm the one who should be worrying about you. I'm going to be a hero for crying out loud! Just stop it already!" she shouted.
They looked at her with pained expressions.
"We know you don't want to talk right. But just know we don't blame you for what happened back then. We know you think it's your fault, but what happened, happened. We love you regardless of whether I'm in this wheelchair or not. If you need to talk, we're here, because we love you,"
Turning away from them, she ran up the stairs, ran to her room, shut the door and climbed onto her bed. Curling up in a ball, she waited for the tears to come. Eventually, they did, and all she could feel was the choked sobs in her chest as she tried to calm herself down.
This was so unlike her. She'd known herself to be a quiet, reserved person for the longest time now, but her behaviour recently was completely unlike her. Since when had she become a weak, on-the-edge-of-tears person?
But they were right. She did blame herself. And it was her fault. If she hadn't been so scared back then, she could have protected her parents with her quirk. If she hadn't been so feeble, they wouldn't have to pretend that nothing happened.
"Pull yourself together," her thoughts screamed at her.
She didn't want to be the eleven-year-old she once was. She'd forced herself to change. Reverting to that low state of herself was the last thing she wanted. Standing up, she walked to her mirror and looked at herself. Her eyes were swollen and red, and there were still tears rolling down her cheeks. Wiping her face with the back of the sleeve of her hoodie, she looked at herself sternly.
"No more tears. I won't be weak anymore."
༺♡༻
┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓
Character Spotlight
Name: Umiko Fujiwara
Quirk: Aqua Hair
Favourite Thing: The Ocean
┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛