Chapter Text
The crashing waves along the shoreline did little to quell her nerves. The sand shifted underfoot as the girl raised her arms in a lax fashion. She could feel the ocean calling out to her, steadily eating away at the shore that divided them.
(Y/n) waved her wrists in the air, like some kind of bizarre dance. The water responded, eagerly following her movements, drinking in the commands. She could feel the cold settling into her limbs as the ocean reached out to her as they joined together.
Every night was ritualistic; She and the ocean would dance together, her anxiety would melt away as the water carried her, combining their strengths until she gathered a real hold over it. As she felt more confident in the sand, the water rose in front of her, taking shape as she moved. The cold of the night traveled through her arms when she pictured a tundra splitting the water, manipulating the floating water into thin icicles.
They dropped to the sand as she coerced the water, before raising her left arm to pick the ice back up. Icicles were trickier than normal water, her movements had to become frigid rather than fluid in order to properly control the shards around her. Ice didn't conform the way the water did, and trying to control water and ice at the same time was incredibly difficult.
The girl remembered what her parents had taught her when she was young: That water, no matter the phase, bends to her command. She only needs to take charge of it— however the girl begged to disagree.
The truth is that it worked the other way around; The water controlled the girl. It gave her a piece of its power when she was a toddler and she must treat it like it's equal, or else the waves would swallow her whole and she would drown within its grasp. Her only goals could be feigning control as she utilized her gift. Her only concerns were of the ocean that commanded her.
(Y/n) gracefully threw her arms into the air, pulling a giant section of the ocean to move with her and ripping it from the shore. The dark water hovered over her, refracting the moonlight to shine on her face. She bent her legs and swayed her arms, pushing the water through the air before finally launching it up.
She summoned the cold from deep within her chest, letting out a cry as she cupped her hands together, forcing the water into powdery clumps of snow. Snow was hard to summon, not quite water, not quite ice. One of the many inbetweens she had to practice. She had to get better. If she couldn't master her quirk then she had no hope to survive at UA.
As the snow gently fell, she absent mindedly snagged some droplets and swirled them around her. She got in on recommendation, of course, her parents would accept nothing less of her. However, she felt unfit.
She had stormed ahead of the competition at the recommendation exams, scoring third overall. But after hearing about the regular entrance exams, she felt cheated out of proving herself. The others with violent quirks had a better chance to make it in the world; Pro-Hero's may be known for saving people, but their power is what many people fixate on. Besides, there's a big difference between knowing how someone's quirk works and seeing it in action against a villain.
It was so unfair; She had an amazing quirk. She could move the ocean if she wanted to. The depths of it called out to her, she could feel it in her bones. She could freeze around all of Japan, create a never ending storm or rid the clouds completely. She just needed to prove herself, she needed to show them—
With a strangled cry (Y/n) slammed her hands into the sand, crystallizing a wall of ice that sprouted from the shoreline. Its jagged edges shimmered in the moon’s light. Dangerous, deadly.
As she exhaled, her breath fogged against the wall crystallizing as it moved up into the sky. her hands had become buried in the ice, but the cold was little shock to her. Rigorous training had kept her from hypothermia and frostbite, making her quirk easier to control.
Her quirk could be deadly when out of control, especially by the ocean. It was like a match with dynamite. One small reaction could flatten a mountain, or level a town. Hero's don't lose control, hero's don't fail.
The girl summoned her cold once again, picturing the ice melting into nothing. Slowly but surely, it began to evaporate leaving the trace of warmth into the air as it dissipated. The crashing of the waves brought her back to reality.
(Y/n) let out a sigh as she finally let the fatigue settle in. She walked over to a simple stone and looked at her phone, the time reading 23:39. As she stuffed it into her pocket, she began to stretch out, distressing from the power she had built up. Her arms would constantly cramp from overuse of her quirk when she was younger. The only reason she could think was because the water in her body desperately fought to stay in tune with the water she controlled. It was the same numbness after walking off of a treadmill, or standing for the first time in hours. Either way, stretching was the only way to remedy the soreness of the next morning.
Slowly she worked the knots out of her body, stretching each limb appropriately. Her mom probably wouldn't be happy she was staying out so late, especially the night before her first day…
‘Whatever’ She thought, wincing as her joints popped. ‘They're the ones always yelling about how I need to train more. She's always saying I need better control anyways.’ With a final stretch, she raised her arms high and the tide finally receded from her feet, retreating to the usual waters edge. She smiled as little crabs scuttled after the shore, seeking shelter from the exposed air. As the remaining moisture receded into the sand, she pondered the question that beat in her heart and rang through her mind.
Can I still become a hero?