Chapter Text
“It’s nice to meet you.” The woman sits across from you, resting comfortably on a cushioned seat as if there’s not a care in the world. A clipboard rests ominously in her lap. You try not to stare at it.
It is decidedly not nice to meet her, but you send that thought to the back of your mind. Being abrasive won’t get you anywhere. “You too.” You answer stiffly, staring intently at the walls lined with books behind her.
“How are you feeling?” She asks. Her voice is smooth, compelling. It would be comforting, if you weren’t in this situation.
You shrug. The answer should be pretty clear. The fact that she’s even asking is a little insulting. You’re still draped in a pristine hospital gown, an IV tucked into your skin with fluids dripping down into your veins. After everything that happened during that final fight with Chisaki, there’s no way you’d be feeling anything other than miserable.
“Like I got hit by a bus.” You answer honestly. Your whole body feels like it’s being dragged to hell, like weights have been attached to every muscle.
The woman nods. “That’s understandable, given what you went through.”
Classic therapist line. You narrow your eyes, “It’s just the after effects of Eri’s quirk-”
You’re panting, trembling as agony sparks through every nerve in your body. You’ve never felt anything like this, even considering Chisaki’s punishment techniques. You find yourself falling back to your knees, back into the pool of blood under you, left behind by the hole Chisaki punched through your stomach.
Underneath the shimmering yellow light of Eri’s quirk, the wound has healed, but somehow that pain had been replaced with something worse. As if you’d been impaled over every inch of your body, not just your abdomen. It’s an agony you’ve never known. You entire being trembles, jolts of agony shocking through your nerves. You curl in on yourself, panting and twitching, as you dig your nails into the concrete below you.
Eri is at your side, tiny hands dripping in your blood. You want to apologize but you can’t speak. You bite down as hard as you can, terrified that as soon as you open your mouth you’ll scream. Poor Eri was only trying to help, but she’s going to kill you. She tried to save you, and she’s going to kill you. You swallow down the agony as best you can. The last thing she needs is to feel worse about it.
“Please! Make it stop!” She cries, terrified by the strength of her own power. “I’m sorry!”
All you want to do is comfort her. Make it better. “It-its okay.” You hiss through clenched teeth, body wracked with an existential pain. Your very cells are being melded into something new all together. Still, you try to reach her to wipe away her tears.
“Are you okay?” The therapist’s concerned voice drags you out of the memory.
“Ah, sorry.” You try to blink away the visual of your body spasming with pain. “Um, I was just saying that the effects of Eri’s quirk are still lingering.”
She nods. “Yes, yes. The doctors informed me that it caused your body some extreme exhaustion. They say that it will take a few weeks to recover from.”
“Well, it’s better than the alternative.” You say bitterly. You try not to picture the wound. You remember looking down at it and seeing the ground through yourself. Bile rises in your throat. “There isn’t a scratch on me.” You tell her as much as yourself. You’re okay now. You’re whole.
“That doesn’t mean you didn’t suffer.” The therapist’s words feel like a stab in the heart. She continues, “You nearly died. Twice. That’s not something you can easily recover from, dear.”
You swallow thickly, glancing away quickly as your eyes begin to sting with tears. Where is this coming from? You don’t even feel like crying, and yet your throat seems to constrict at the implications of her words.
“It wasn’t only twice.” You whisper before you can think to stop yourself. Your heart drops. Why did you say that? How could you say that?
The woman glances at the clipboard in her hands and you want to the ground to swallow you whole. “It’s mentioned in the police reports that Chisaki used his quirk on you before. Did he hurt you?”
“He brought me back.” Your voice trembles through a whisper.
You don’t remember anything other than emptiness in your chest. The next thing you know, your eyes are snapping open and you're gasping to fill your lungs with air. Your body jerks off the cold tile floor beneath your back. Warm blood glues tattered clothes to your newly scarred skin.
Chisaki’s empty eyes stare down at you.
Your body shakes terribly as your terrified fingers reach for where your missing limbs should be. They’re back. Fully restored. But somehow, the echoes of the pain you endured still linger.
“Welcome back.” Chisaki rasps.
You open your mouth to say something but nothing comes out.
“Brought you back?” She asks. “From death?”
You hesitate. “I don’t—I don’t know.” You do know. You were dead. Then you weren’t. “Can we talk about something else?” You ask hurriedly, trying to keep your voice from shaking. You wring your hands together anxiously.
“Avoiding your issues won’t fix them.”
You bristle a little at that. “Well, it doesn’t matter anyway.” You glare at her. “This isn’t even real therapy.”
She tilts her head. “What do you mean?”
You stare down at your fingers. “We both know that you’ll clear me to go to UA no matter what I tell you.” You may have only regained consciousness last week, but you weren’t born yesterday. “They’re just making me do therapy because they had to for appearances.”
You stare blankly at the two suited men who’ve made themselves all too comfortable in your hospital room. You’d only woken up three or four days earlier, and you’ve had a dozen or so visitors already. Doctors, quirk specialists, police, heroes. What really surprised you, though, were the two men who introduced themselves as being representatives from the hero commission, and the fact that they’re asking you what you plan to do after your stay at the hospital.
“After?” The word tastes foreign in your mouth. You hadn’t even thought about what comes after. Sure, you’d imagined being rescued from Chisaki’s grasp. But, you always saw yourself returning home. You always knew it wasn’t possible, but it was a nice dream. Now that you’re out, you have to face the reality that there is no home for you. Not anymore.
“Well, we know that Eri is going to be staying with Eraserhead at UA for the foreseeable future. Unstable quirk and all that.” One the men waves his hand dismissively, as if he hasn’t just shattered your whole world view. “But has anyone spoken to you about where you’ll be going?”
Aizawa had already told you that he’d be keeping an eye on Eri, which you were thankful for, but you hadn’t thought that you'd be separated from her. “I—I’m not going with her?” You stutter, wide-eyed.
The man shakes his head in fake sympathy. Even in your panicked state, you can sense it. “Unfortunately, it’s impossible for you to follow her there. You're eighteen now, and the reports say that you have no family to speak of. Your family home was burned down, I'm sure you know that by now, right? We can put in a good word for you at the local homeless shelter, though.”
You can't do anything but stare at him, your mind gets caught on a singular thought. Alone. You're alone now. Left with nothing. No family, no belongings, no path or future. Not even a high shcool diploma. When Chisaki took you, you'd been freshly sixteen. You still had time to plan, but then your life became Eri's, your sole purpose to keep her alive. And now—now you're...nothing.
“Wait,” the other suited man places a hand on his partner’s shoulder. “There could be a way.”
This scene has been rehearsed. You can tell they’re shepherding you into some sort of deal. Alarms blare in the back of your head, but you ignore them. It makes you sick, the way your heart jumps with hope, like some starving dog being blessed with scraps. But, it doesn't matter what the deal is. You just want to be with Eri.
“You could attend UA University as a student. You could join Eraserhead’s class of soon-to-be heroes.”
You can’t tell if it’s all the medication you’re on, but it sounds like he’s speaking another language. “But I…I’m not…I can’t be a hero.”
“Nonsense!” The man says enthusiastically. “We saw the footage of your fight with Chisaki—”
The sound of his name sends shivers up your spine.
“—you have incredible potential. Your spirit, your willpower…”
The other man jumps in, “With a quirk like yours, you could easily be a top hero in the future.”
“You could be one of the best Japan’s ever seen, kid.” The man finishes. Their intentions shine clearly.
“I…I don’t want to fight—” you try, but you’re interrupted.
“If you agree to become a pro, if you make this deal with us, we’ll ensure that Eri has a comfortable and carefree childhood. With you in it, of course.”
"We'll make sure tuition is covered, all three years. How's that sound?"
The room grows silent as you toss the idea around in your mind. You aren’t sure you could handle ever fighting again, not after you spent the last year of your life fighting to keep you and Eri alive. You don’t ever want to fight again.
But, everything you did was to guarantee that Eri has the life she deserves. What’s one more sacrifice?
You breathe out a shaky sigh. “Okay,”
“This may not be conventional therapy, but we’re all working together to make sure that you come out of this okay.” The therapist says.
“Come out okay?” You scoff, indignation rising inside of you, boiling over into anger.
“What you went through was incredibly traumatic.” She replies. “But, it’s something you can come back from.”
Your ball your hands into fists. How dare she? How dare she tell you this. “I can’t and you know that!” You say sharply, on the verge of yelling. “It doesn’t matter how I feel! I’ll never be ready to become a hero, but it doesn’t matter because the hero commission doesn’t actually care.” Your voice cracks at that last word. Care.
Your family is gone. Dead. In the entire world, there is no one who truly cares for you. Not anymore.
“That’s not true.” She replies softly, voice smooth like honey.
“It is!” You aren’t normally so combative, but something about her just makes you angry. “If they cared, they’d leave me alone!”
“They just want to see you reach your full potential.”
You shove yourself out of your chair harshly. Every muscle burns at the action, but fury spurs you on. “I’ve done enough!” You shout. “I’m sick and tired of fighting for other people! I just want to be left alone.” Your legs nearly give out under you. Your voice waivers and cracks. Finally, you whisper, “I just want to go home.”
You’re sitting at the dinner table with your parents. It’s your sixteenth birthday. Your favorite flavor of cake rests on a plate in front of you, candles flickering in the low light. It’s time to make a wish.
It takes a moment before you can think of what you want. ‘A puppy’ is what you wish for.
If only you had known that the very next day you’d return from school to see the handle of the front door completely missing. You wandered through the empty house, some odd sort of dust coating the carpeted floor.
If only you had known that you’d enter that very same kitchen and see Kai Chisaki waiting for you in the same chair that your father used to sit in. Your little brother is sitting crying on the floor, blood dripping down his arm. One of his fingers is missing.
“We were just going to go out looking for you, ████.” Your name sounds like a curse coming from him.
Your brother's eyes blow wide at the sight of you. “Scar!” He cries for you, using the nickname you’ve had since you were little. He leaps up off the kitchen floor and begins to run to you. “They took—”
Chisaki reaches out with one hand and suddenly your brother is no more.
“Sorry, but we have no use for him now that you’re here.” Chisaki said, taking out a handkerchief to wipe off his bloodied hands.
If you had known that your whole life would be ruined in only a few hours, you would’ve wished differently. You would’ve prayed to every God that you could think of to save your family. To save you.
You didn’t, of course, and now you’re alone. Completely and utterly alone.