Chapter Text
Prologue
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Fire. That’s all she could see as she ran through the street. All she could smell. But it wasn’t all she could hear. No, here ears were filled with a cacophony of horrifying, blood curdling sounds at the moment. The roar of the flames surrounding her and filling the giant star shaped crater that had once been the center of Osaka. The screams of bystanders and heroes alike perforated the air. The horrifying shrieks of those creatures ringing throughout the already smothering sound of screams and flames. But most prominently, the pounding of her heart in her ears as she ran.
They had just been here visiting her grandmother... what had happened?
She didn’t know and she didn’t care. Akko had only one thought on her usually hyperactive mind. “RUN.” She had lost her parents when the crowd suddenly started scrambling away from the explosion. It had rocked the buildings, even knocked a great deal of them down, and shaken the earth beneath their feet. It only got worse when the Villains arrived.
There were so many of them. And they weren’t like the ones Akko usually saw on tv. Those were usually silly and had weird names… but these… they were terrifying, twisted creatures. Shrieking and thrashing around with no logic or thought. Their bodies a pale sickly white and the majority of them with twisted and maimed figures, only the shredded remains of what one could only assume to have been clothes at one point in the near past covered their grotesque and unproportionate bodies. And even though she was only six and most things were supposed to be scary to her, not that they really were since she loved horror, Akko could tell by the way that the adults had frozen, and screamed, and ran when they saw them that these were creatures to be very afraid of.
And now she was running. Smoke burning her lungs as she attempted to flee and blood warm on her shoulder from where she had managed snagged it on a protruding piece of metal while running. It was stupid… she was stupid. She had seen a man trip and went to help him. That’s when they had gotten separated and a villain had descended on them like a vulture with jagged wings. It’s green, smoky breath leaking from a crooked, unhinged jaw that had looked as if someone had fused its skin over it in an attempt to quite the horrifying shriek that it let out not a moment later than it had landed over them. She stood in front of the babbling, bawling man as the creature’s breath melted anything it happened to ghost over. Her arms spread out wide in an attempt to shield the man as the villain shambled over to them. It’s movements short and jerky as if it was a poorly puppeteered marionette.
But luckily that hadn’t been the end of her as it should have. A hero had jumped in at the last second. A man with some sort of red cape and swords growing out of his arms. She didn’t have time to think about what to do but the next thing she knew she was running in the opposite direction. The man she had tried to help was nowhere in sight and she could still hear the battling duo behind her.
So here she was. Running. Her lungs burning and her legs scratched up from all the ruble she was running past and jumping over. If she had ever had a grasp on anything then she would be losing it right about now. Her lungs felt like fire, her eyes weren't much different as she desperately tried to blink the smoke out of them, and her legs felt like they should have given out long ago. Coincidentally it seemed that they should have. Because just then she had tripped.
“AAAHHH!!” Her screams ran out as she landed on a pile of rocks and metal. A particularly sharp fragments of what had once been a mailbox had sliced up her arm all the way from her elbow. And She could feel the blood flow from the open wound joining that from her shoulder as she cried. Crying that happened to attract some unwanted attention, as a couple of villains found her. One a huge bulking creature of muscle with a single, giant, concrete arm and sharp, screw-like rivets -that kind of reminded her of Frankenstein- protruding from its body, the other a giant lanky form with blades covering its arms.
Again, heroes jumped to her rescue from somewhere unknown to her, not that she would have been able to see even if she had looked. The smoke, rubble and fire did a very effective job of blocking anything from her sight except her immediate surroundings.
This time the heroes were a male and female pair. Both with matching white and black checkered costumes. “Don’t worry kid, we’ve got you.” The woman had bent down to grab her, attempting to soothe her nerves. And her calm and confident voice almost did the trick all on it’s own.
“That’s right kid. Just hold onto Queen there and you’ll be safe in no time.” The man’s voice was similar to the woman’s, a bit deeper but just as confident. But the relief that should had flooded Akko’s system at the prospect of being saved was quickly ripped away. As the man threw a punch, his arm unfolding like an accordion to cover the distance between them and the villains, she watched in horror as it’s target barely budged from what looked like a very heavy impact. One that resulted in a loud, responding Slam upon meeting it’s target but still looked as if he had thrown a pebble at the thing. The punch would have very easily sent a grown man flying, in fact it had several times as she had seen this hero on the news before. They were a duo named King and Queen that were fairly famous in Osaka. But the giant, bulking creature only reached up to grab the offending limb as it starred on with dead, glassy eyes. It’s grip instantly contorting and crushing the heroes muscular arm like a twig. As he cried out in pain. “AAGHH!”
“KING!” The woman screamed as she held Akko against her chest. Clutching her tight and turning her away from the villains as if hiding her from sight would save her any of the horror she had already witnessed. It was obvious that she was about to try an help the man but he stopped her before she could.
“GO! Take the kid and get out of here. Your bro’s got this so just leave it to me.” King lunged at the monster, his body and legs unfolding much like his arms, and wrapped around the Giant body of the creature. He had attempted to avoid the rivets at first but there were so many that to get an effective hold he wouldn’t be able to miss them all. So gritting his teeth, he constricted around the creature as tightly as possible. A few of the rivets puncturing into his body, it looked like it hurt, a lot. But he just grit his teeth and smiled. “This thing’s no problem, so don’t worry.”
The woman lingered for only a moment longer, before she was launching off in the other direction. Her gaze turned full away as she held Akko as tight as possible, never looking back at her brother. As she unfolded her legs in the same manner as he had to bound forward and away. Keeping her gaze forward in an attempt to the temptation to turn around and help. This coincidently would be her undoing. As long blades pierced through her abdomen, clipping into Akko’s leg about half an inch or so. Resulting in a dead stop from the hero and a cry from Akko. “AAHHHGGH!”
“QUEE-” Turning to look for the source of the blades and the subsequent yell, all that was visible was the grotesquely stretched arm of the taller creature that had thrust the blades covering it’s hand through Queen’s stomach. Still standing in the same position a good 15 meters away. Next to it was crushed and mutilated remains of King, lying under the large concrete arm of it’s ally. His insides splattered so gruesomely that Akko would have surly thrown up if it wasn’t for the jerking movement of the taller creature pulling them back towards itself. In her last stitch effort to save Akko, Queen threw her away just as she was pulled back into the grasp of the creature, her life ending with one last shout as she was ripped into shreds by the creature’s asymmetrically bladed arms and hands. “RUN!” were her last words. Words that would ring through her head for the rest of her life as she stared on in horror. So shocked and out of her depth that she couldn’t hardly think, let alone act. But soon the word’s meaning kicked in and something inside her socked her in the brain, kicking her into action.
But Akko couldn’t so much as push herself up before the creatures were moving towards her. The bulkier one moving with surprisingly jittery movements as it’s body slowly progressed despite the quick, shaky nature of its steps. The taller one taking jerky almost uneven steps. Akko would have run, but the moment she put pressure on the leg, the cut from earlier range with pain as she collapsed to the ground. She couldn’t run because of her leg, She couldn’t crawl because of her arm and shoulder, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t try. As the soot and smoke from the surrounding fire rained down on her she willed her working limbs -sore from the impact of being thrown to the ground- to move pushing herself away from the ever nearing death that trudged slowly towards her.
And like an angel, a saving grace that brought hope to her heart and tears to her eyes, A hero descended from somewhere -likely the remains of a nearby building- from beyond her view. She, quite literally, shone with radiant light, like a star falling from the night sky, one that had previously been covered by a veil of smoke and screams to only now be revealed in all its splendor. Her white outfit covered in far too few blood and dirt stains for the current havoc that raged around them. Red hair flaring from underneath her pointed hat and eyes of a matching color, perfectly pairing the brilliant smile that adorned her face, despite the dire circumstances. Normally Akko wouldn’t have felt hopeful at the appearance of this stranger, after all three heroes had already tried to save her and she saw two of them die and could only believe that the same fate had befallen the first. But there was something different about this woman… She radiated power and she stood out against a background of blood and dust, her smile like a beacon through the darkness.
“Don’t worry I’ll have you out of here soon. So just sit tight!” The woman spoke with an excited and soothing voice. One that sounded of silk and honey. And so much pure confidence that Akko couldn’t help but feel put at ease.
After making her proclamation she turned to face the Villains, energy arcing and radiating off of her body as she closed a distance that Akko honestly couldn’t measure, give her a break she’s 6 and bleeding, but knew was to great for the single hop she took to cross it.
If she had said that she wasn’t expecting the mysterious woman to end up like the other two heroes, she would have been lying. But to the wonder and awe of her young, at the time, mind. It went in much the opposite direction. As she ended her hop right in front of the bulkier of the two creatures it, much as it had before, had already raised it’s giant concrete arm. But unlike before, as it swung down the woman simply sidestepped it, simply despite how fast and long the single stride had been. She effortlessly ducked, more like tucked herself in but dodged nonetheless, under the lanky strike of the second villain, dancing around on her toes as she jumped over the subsequent swing of a large concrete arm. One that slid along the ground, uprooting stone and dirt as it arched under her nimble form and landed square against the hip of the other creature as it veered up in an attempt to strike the smaller woman.
If the events that had prefaced the fight hadn’t been so horribly childhood scaring, and just scary in general, the Akko would have been completely enraptured by the fight. The woman was nimble and acrobatic, she had ended up on the opposite side of the creatures after the initial exchange. Akko couldn’t really see what she was doing over there but that didn’t matter for to long as not but a seconds after the villains had fumbled, the larger one was sent flying a small distance, the woman standing where he had been, fist still clenched from the super powered punch. Her body in what little Akko could only relate to the poses that she had seen boxers make on tv after, what her father would call, “a solid punch” . One arm raised in front of her face, the other still moving through the punch, and her body turned forward, it was more like a twist than a turn but she didn’t really care that much, ever so slightly. Akko didn’t really know why the pose was always like that, but she did know that it looked cool regardless.
The second Villain didn’t seem keen on letting her make another move before it wiped it’s straight down in an attempt to squash her. And Akko couldn’t tell you what the woman had done, it was too fast for her now blurring eyesight to follow, but she was standing with one foot pinning the hand against the ground by the wrist. Her arms were occupied with a similar task as she had it’s elbow pinned against her shoulder, if you could even call it an elbow with how it’s arm could stretch, one on the outside pushing against it’s elbow and the other on it’s forearm pushing it in the opposite direction of what one would consider a normal bending joint. The creature was obsessively attempting to pull it’s arm out of her hold.
It must not have been very intelligent, since even Akko was wondering why it didn’t just attack with it’s other arm. But any posturing on the subject was cut short as the bulkier villain came charging back at them. Concrete arm raised above its head as it body shook and convulsed with each quick step. Akko was about to call out to the woman to warn her. To let her know that it was coming so she wouldn’t end up like Queen. But the gesture was apparently unneeded. As the hero was already looking straight at, a devious smirk on her face as it neared. But she waited, the only movements she made were to keep her grip on the lankier villain and to dodge its second arm, which it had apparently remember it could use.
And at the last moment, when the creature was already right next to her, and it’s arm swinging down in the fatal blow; she let go and rolled out of the way. Leaving the giant arm to crush not only the hand she had been holding, but also the second one that had just happened to be mid strike as well.
“ GHHUAUAAUAUHHH!” The second creature cried out in agony as the bulkier on attempted to pry it’s arm up. It had apparently swung down too hard and gotten the rivets in protruding from it buried in the ground. The woman wasted no time as she lead over the villains and all the way back to Akko with an elegant and overdramatic backflip. Her cocky smile still in place. As she looked at Akko.
“Well it’s about time to wrap this up don’t you think?” All Akko could do was sit back in awe and reverence of the hero in front of her. Who was she? How was she so strong? Was she actually supposed to answer? She probably should because the woman was looking at her expectantly. But to enamored to form coherent words all she could manage was a small nod, one punctuated by an open mouth. The response from the woman was a brilliant smile and exaggerated tune as she talked.
“All right then!” She raised her left arm into the air, palm open and fingers together as her thumb formed a right angle with the others all the while energy still arching and radiating off of her. “ Then sit tight and enjoy! Because it’s time for the finale!” Suddenly the soft glow surrounding her hand grew into a blistering fire. The energy so intense that Akko could feel it radiating off and around her. It wasn’t painful, in fact it was much the opposite. It was warm and comforting, like a really soft kotatsu. So much so in fact that she could feel all her worries and fear fading away. Even the pain and soreness that had settled into every inch of her body felt eased by the soft warmth.
The woman raised her right hand to rest in the crux between the thumb and pointer finger of her left hand. “Are you ready now? All you need to do is one thing.”
The energy radiating off of her spiked and arched, almost all of it visibly channeling to her left and as it fluxed and spun. “It’s simple really! Just raise your hand and remember these words.”
Her body shifted as her stance changed. And this time Akko was close enough to see every small detail that she had missed before. Not that she would have been able to look a way if she wanted, the woman had stolen her attention and Akko couldn’t will herself to look anywhere else. Her feet shifted, the front tilted slightly while the back was pointed forward with it’s heel off the ground. Her hips lowered as her back tilted ever so slightly forward. All the while still holding her hands towards the two villains, that were still trying desperately to pry the bulkier one’s arm from the ground.
“A believing heart; is your power!” For the third and final time, the energy spiked suddenly blaring out in such an intensity that Akko had to squint her eyes to even look in it’s direction. She swiftly brought her right arm all the way back. The energy gathered in the left one fallowing it’s trail down her arms and transferring to her right hand as it reached the end of its motion.
“SHINY ARK!!” The woman’s voice blared out into their surroundings as she punched her hand forward through the air. At the end of the punch all the energy that had been stored up propelled out faster than anything that Akko had ever seen, and she had ridden a bullet train. It left the woman’s fist with a blast wave, pushing the woman back slightly as the ground beneath her feet gave way to the force while her body remained firm. Decent sized chunks of rubble and debris were blown away as the uprooted concrete left a trial of her bodies movement beneath her feet. Akko herself would have been blown away if she wasn’t almost pushed up against a chunk of concrete already.
The blast was powerful. Too powerful. And much to fast to reasonably dodge or even really react. The villains couldn’t even manage a pitiful final screech before the attack hit. It landed square on the concrete arm and the resulting blast enveloped them entirely, forming first a small sphere, then growing to envelope both villains, and finally erupting into a giant pillar of light and tiny particles that sone and flitted like stardust.
Akko was so enamoured with the pillar of light that she almost didn’t notice the woman walking over to her and crouching down in front of her face. She almost felt like backing up. This woman was so powerful. Was she really here to save her? How could someone so strong even exist? But her worry was washed away a second later as the woman spoke. “Hello there little girl. Are you okay. Do you have any ouchies?” Akko hadn’t noticed it before but the woman had a slight accent. She couldn’t tell you where from but it sounded nice. Remembering that she had been asked a question she decided it was probably a good idea to answer. Her parents always told her to answer a hero when they ask a question.
“U-Uh-huh.” She brought her arm up, whining and whimpering as she realized how much pain she was in. Before the calming light of the woman and the life or death circumstances had distracted her from the pain but now it all came back full force. She wanted to cry but she knew she should probably tell the woman about it first, that’s what her parents had taught her to do. And besides she didn’t like kids who cried a lot anyways, it was annoying and a waste of time. She thought it made kids who cried at every little thing look like babies so she tried not to cry often. She was a big girl!
“Come on kiddo, tell me where it hurts.” Oh… that’s right she should probably do that.
She brought her arm up and held it for the woman to see, a few more tears leaking out of her eyes despite her willing them not to. “My arm hurts.” She moved her hand to point at her leg where she had gotten cut. “And my leg too.”
“Hmm…” The woman hummed to herself as she examined the wounds. Mumbling under her breath, mostly to herself but Akko could hear it still. “The should is just a shallow snag… the arm isn’t good but it’s nothing that bad either… but this cut on the leg doesn’t look to good…” She had her hand covering her chin as she thought. Eyes raising to catch Akko’s own after a few seconds. And a smile covering her face as she Spoke again, in full volume this time. “You’ll be just fine. We just need to get you somewhere safe.” She ripped of a few strips of the cape she wore and tied them tight around Akko’s arm, shoulder, and leg. After the impromptu-to bandages were attached she grabbed Akko from under her armpits and hoisted her up gently, making sure not to hurt her wounded leg or shoulder as she moved her. But right before they could leave they heard someone calling from over a pile of rubble.
“HEY!” Turning to look for the source they found a group of brightly dressed heroes. All covered in blood, though some were worse off than others. And a couple of them carrying people in their arms.
“Are you two okay down there?!” The one calling to them was a tall man wearing a funny looking orange and yellow costume with white frillies.
“I’m fine but this girl needs medical attention!” The woman raised her hand, waving to the group as she called out. A signal to come near. And that they did. As the group neared it was easier to tell that the people they were carrying were all hurt as well. Mostly men and Women but a pair of children that looked like twins as well. They all had varying degrees of injury but none of them looked all that bad to Akko. Though she had no basis in terms of medical knowledge. And for all she knew they could have been in very bad need of medical attention. But she was only a child at this time, a bleeding and probably traumatized child on the verge of unconsciousness but a child nonetheless. Siad bleeding and almost being unconscious was probably what lead to her not putting up much of an argument as she was handed over to the group of heroes. What lead to her not saying anything as the woman leapt away. What lead to the fussy memories that followed as she was carried to a hospital and reunited with her parents.
Akko had always known that heroes were… well… heroic. She remembered seeing them patrolling and stopping villains. She remembered hearing on the news and how her parents talked about them that they were there to protect and save people. But it was the first time she had experienced it. How they tried to save people, how they gave their lives with qualms as long as they could save one in return. It was the first time that she wanted to be a hero. And it was all thanks to those the three that died for her, as she would later learn the first one had indeed perished in defeating that villian. But more than anything; it was thanks to that woman. Shiny Chariot as she would later learn. How she smiled in the face of danger, how she saved her life as well as another 126 people during the crisis. It’s what Akko wanted to do. It became her dream just as Chariot became her Idol.
If she could get there one day, if she could save others and make them feel safe while doing it. Putting a smile on the faces of everyone she save. She’d give anything for that.
Today was her first step. Well not really that had been long ago. But it was the first step that would make all the difference. The Luna Nova entrance exams. The days she had worked and fought so hard to get to. The alma mater of her idol and the school that could make anyone into a hero.
Today. She would see if she can make it.