Chapter Text
00. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠?
One could almost say you enjoyed putting yourself in situations where you'd need to exhaust yourself.
It wasn't as if you were generally bad at communicating with others, you prided yourself on your ability to get your point across, but turns out, it doesn't always work when the object in question doesn't involve you—but involves something about you. There were far too many things at play here, people were worried for you, people were scared, but not one of them seemed to be excited.
You had gotten your quirk and not one of them was happy.
Your eyes scanned the crowd of people gathered at your front porch, rioting, screaming, criticizing; asking your mother to take you away because you were now suddenly not welcome. You were suddenly no longer the lovable 4-year old child that ran behind kittens and puppies in the area, you were not a toddler that drew in the sand, you were not the same little girl that yelled happily at the accomplishment of your first task, you were now branded with a new identity.
You were a villain's daughter.
"Get her out of here! She's a danger to our kids!" One of the worried mothers yelled, and your wide eyes couldn't understand half of what they were saying at the time.
"If she loses control, there's no telling what will happen!"
"She's exactly like that monster of a father!"
"She's a loser in this society of heroes! Just like her father!"
You winced because you couldn't remember your father being the monster or loser that they were branding him as. All you could remember were images of his back, smiling from the side, his eyes gazing at you lovingly. You remember your mother saying something to him at the time, but your eyes were fixated at your father's lovingly warm glance at you; you would never forget the way he looked at you right then, his face turned to the side, his back facing you.
You remember trying to reach out for him, but as always, your father, your beacon of light in the dark, was always far too bright for you to ever go near.
"She's a monster!"
Was that what you were?
Was that all you would ever be?
"P-Please, she's just a child—"
You admired your mother. You loved her hair, which thankfully you had inherited. You had inherited your father's features primarily, however, but you were thankful for having your mother's hair. You were watching her, her back facing you as she faced the people in front of your house, and your grip on your teddy bear slipping slowly as your mind was focusing on the people ahead. You couldn't see them because your mother was shielding you from sight, but with the way your heart was palpitating, you were certain that being seen might not be such a good idea.
You took a deep breath before running to the kitchen and jumping out the window. You winced when you landed on your knee, definitely sure that you had scraped it. But, you stood up anyway and moved along, your teddy bear long forgotten on the floor of your house's kitchen. You looked at the sky before identifying it as the time you usually would play with your kindergarten friends. You were glad you could call them friends because you remember quite clearly how when your father was around, you were barely allowed to leave home. You caught the visage of a few kids huddled below a tree and you blinked with confusion. You rushed over to one of the kids, Tsubasa, before tugging at his sleeve.
"What's wrong?"
Tsubasa's face reddened with how close you suddenly were and he pointed to the treetop. Your eyes widened when you spotted Kacchan, a classmate you barely ever spoke to, perched above, looking down angrily. You looked around and spotted Izuku, another one of your classmates, looking at Kacchan with fear lodged in his eyes.
"What is Kacchan doing there?" You asked, pouting at how you suddenly grew envious of his position above the tree.
He's always trying to show off, you thought before glaring at him before hearing it. Your eyes widened, you knew Kacchan's lips didn't even move for his voice to sound so clearly in your head, but at the same time, you knew that it wasn't his voice, to begin with. Tears filled your eyes when you recalled what you were called—Monster, Villain, Freak—by people you had never met, people who may have been these kids' parents. Your lower lip trembled with the way Kacchan's apparent voice kept growing in your head; you weren't even trying, you weren't even using your quirk much to your awareness, yet, there it was, slapping you so hard across your face.
Ugh, how will I get down now?!
You couldn't think because Kacchan's voice was in your head; it was a strange feeling, not being able to think, and not hearing your own voice in your mind. Your lower lip trembled before you looked up at Kacchan again, whose gaze was at the branch below him.
Maybe, I can jump down little by little and get down? Agh, I don't want these extras to think I'm scared!
With absolutely no thought, you moved forward and bellowed, "Kacchan!"
His eyes met yours with wonder, not the decent kind, but merely wondering what the hell you were doing here. He knew you, or he knew of you, but he had never hung out with you before. He didn't even know your name, but just that he had seen you around.
"Jump!"
What the... What is she saying?!
"It's okay! Jump down!"
He narrowed his eyes at you but then you felt Tsubasa tug your arm and pull you back; the sudden movement causing you to wince in pain. Your head was blaring now—Kacchan's voice was muffled, and the side of your temple had a stabbing pain shooting from the back.
"Are you crazy!? Kacchan will get hurt if he jumps—"
But, Kacchan did what Kacchan did best. He attempted to prove Tsubasa wrong because Tsubasa had believed he couldn't do it. You quickly turned to Kacchan again, the word 'monster' ringing in your head now and your arm moved forward, and you stopped breathing.
A moment later, Kacchan froze.
Everyone around you held their breaths just as you were before you lowered the blond boy down as much as you could. However, your elbow began to hurt and the pain escalated from your elbow to your upper arm, and you quickly stopped. Kacchan fell down, but the height wasn't enough to even hurt him, and you toppled over and fell straight on your butt, fresh tears falling down your cheeks. You felt someone crouching beside you, a mop of greenish-black hair was all you could see with how fuzzy your vision had become. You could hear the boys yelling at you, and your mind took you back to the adults who were yelling at your mother.
"Freak! Can't use her quirk well either!"
"You're a loser!"
"Such a loser!"
You felt Izuku pull you up, helping you sit up and you noticed Kacchan's intense gaze glaring at your form. The least you could do was sit up straight and glared at him back, at least you tried to help unlike the actual losers around you, but you were exhausted, and in such pain that you couldn't even comprehend Kacchan's next few words. His lips moved, but you didn't hear anything, but with the way he was looking at you, you were positive that he was saying something to you and no one else. You'd never realized how intense a four-year-old boy's gaze could be, but Kacchan was Kacchan; everything about him screamed intense.
And you were only left to wonder what his words to you that day were.