Chapter 1: First drops fall
Chapter Text
I start the day off as normal, I get up first and head down to get some food for breakfast. Pouring my normal bowl of cereal. Katsuki heads down and gets himself the same before we both go back up to get ready for school.
Old Hag yells across the house, "Come down now. Walk your asses to school." So we do. Walking side by side. As we leave the house, we relax. Less pressure to be perfect. To act right. To be good enough.
"You're too slow, Himiko. Walk faster!" "Shut up, LITTLE brother!" "Only by three hours!" "Best three hours of my life, you brat. Just because you got your quirk first doesn't make you better!" Stupid arguments like this are our norm; it always happens.
At school, it's the same dumb arguments. I hope it's this way forever. I spend some time with my friends, and he spends time with his. We walk home arguing all the way, but go quiet as we reach the house. It never ends well for any of us when we argue in front of Old Hag or Dad. Bruising from Hag. Acid burns from Dad, though, at least he usually has more patience before hand.
It's my job as the older one to protect him, even if he drives me crazy. He's only ever taken a few hits in his life. I take the brunt for him; it may only be a three-hour difference, but if I can protect him, I will.
We head inside, pulling on masks as we walk through the door. His has always had more cracks than mine and will completely snap faster. They are more forgiving of him, though, because he has a quirk and a powerful one. Exactly what they always wanted. If he has a temper, it's more ok as he has his quirk. Not me.
Kats starts getting ready to go out, and Hag notices before saying, “If you want to go out, you have to go together, even if it’s with another person, as it will get dark early.” “Fine, Hag. Come on, Himi, I want to see Izu.” I want to stay home, drawing in my room, so I say, “No, you can hang out with stupid Izu tomorrow on the weekend. I want to draw at home.”
“Come on, you always stop me from having fun!” As explosions start to build up in his hands. I run, but he puts out the explosions before just grabbing me, “Stop, Kats, you’re being mean!” “No, I’m not. You just suck, Himi. I want to go out to play with Izu, and Hag says we have to go together.” I manage to pull my arm away for a moment, “No, I’m not going!” He grabs my arm again and drags me towards the door.
“No!” Half, so he won't force me to go out and half a warning that if he pushes it further, it won't end well. At least not for me.
So he starts letting off explosions in his hand, burning me. In Retaliation, I bite down on his arm. It tastes weird, but I like it, so I keep drinking. “OOOWWWW HAG Himi just bit me!” I pull off his arm and look at myself. I run over to the mirror,
I’m Katsuki. My palms are sweaty, and that’s his quirk. The little explosions in my hands. Old Hag comes running in as his face starts to melt off of me. I turn around, half me, half him, “HAG SHE BIT ME THEN BECAME ME, WHAT THE HELL!” I jump a little at the shouting, then Hag turns to me, “YOU EVIL LITTLE THING, HOW DARE YOU BITE YOUR BROTHER!” That sentence was punctuated with a clean slap across the face. I stumble backwards onto the ground before getting a sharp kick to the stomach, “NOW GO TO THE GARDEN AND STAY THERE. I NEED TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR BROTHER.”
I get up and stumble outside as his form melts off of me even more till it’s gone, and I’m just brushing this Grey goo off. A little bird flies over and lands next to me. I pick it up, and instinct takes over as I bite down on it. The blood tastes different to Kats, but good. I keep drinking till I feel feathers pop out of my arms and a few down my back. Less effective than Katsuki’s blood, but I still transform a little with animal blood.
Old Hag comes out to shout at me more, probably, but then she sees me with a dead bird in my hand, blood in my mouth, and feathers up and down my arms and back. She grabs me and drags me inside, “Katsuki, go upstairs.” He scampers off as she kicks me again and again and again, screaming, “YOU DISGUSTING WRETCH, FIRST YOU DEVELOP YOUR QUIRK LATE THEN IT’S A FUCKING BLOOD QUIRK YOU HORRIFIC BEAST! EVEN WORSE YOU EAT IT!”
Dad arrives back home and asks, “What has she done now?” “THIS AWFUL THING HAS A BLOOD QUIRK!” He just nods, then bends down to put his hands on my shoulders. Is he helping me? Then the acid burns my skin “OOOOWWWW, please stop, it hurts. Please, I’ll never do it again. I’ll never use my quirk again.” I beg, but the only response I get is more acid now dripping down onto my stomach and a lot more kicks to the stomach and hits across the face.
Again. Hits land. I cry, "I THOUGHT THIS WAS WHAT YOU WANTED! FOR ME TO HAVE A QUIRK AND NOW I HAVE ONE! SO WHY IS IT WRONG! WHY AM I JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU! YOU HATE ME FOR NOT HAVING A QUIRK, BUT THEN YOU HATE ME MORE FOR HAVING ONE! WHY CAN'T I EVER BE GOOD ENOUGH!"
Old Hag just yells back, "YOU HAVE A BLOOD QUIRK, THE WORST AND MOST EVIL KIND OF QUIRK, AND WORST OF ALL YOU EAT THE BLOOD YOU CANNIBAL." I don't even know what that means, but I know it's bad. She looks disgusted, and so does Dad. Why couldn't I just exist right?
The acid burns. It hurts, "WHY CAN'T YOU STILL LOVE ME!" Dad is the one to respond this time, "BECAUSE WHAT YOU ARE, YOU'RE MERE EXISTENCE IS EVIL! IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE THAT COUNTS AND YOU'RE INSIDES ARE ROTTEN!"
It continues like that for hours. I think. All I know is it wasn’t dark when it started.
I’m dizzy as she grabs my hair and drags me to the car, strapping me to my seat and starting to drive.
"LET ME GO! I WANT TO GO HOME!" She just snaps back, "YOU HAVE NO HOME ANYMORE!"
It goes on for a while till we arrive in an unfamiliar city. She gets out of the car and drags me out into the street, "DIE HERE LIKE YOU DESERVE FILTHY THING!" Then she throws me into an alleyway and everything goes dark.
My head is pounding. Where am I? I look up to see bins, rubbish bags, and brick walls surrounding me. I’m in an alley where I can see the street, but everything hurts too much, so I curl up in a ball, trying and failing to fall asleep to escape the pain.
It stays like this for a day or so, I think. Sun rising and setting. Drifting in and out of consciousness. When someone. A lady walks into the alley. She bends down to kneel next to me, hand and arm reaching out to me as she asks, “Hey, kid, are you alright? Where are your parents?” I don’t think about it, I just bite down on her arm, drinking as much blood as I can, and transforming. It tastes so good, and I’m no longer bloody and broken but only slightly battered; transforming seems to help heal me.
So I keep drinking until she finally rips her arm away and runs. I look down at my arms and see my clothes stretched by the new form, starting to tear worse than they were, by the acid and ripping. So, I pull it off to see the lady's clothes underneath, I walk out into the street and find a shop full of food and some clothes, so I grab lots of snacks and some clothes for my kid's body. Still, I have no money, so I run back to my alley and transform, not wearing anything, I pull on some of the new clothes I got and rip open some snacks, and eat them. I haven’t eaten in days.
I saw earlier that the blood from that lady seems to have helped heal me. As if her blood gave my body a jump start to healing, like it gives me energy to piece myself back together.
That cycle continued for weeks. Find people, bite, transform, get food, hide, and eat. Over and over. It’s exhausting, but I have to, or I will die. That's not going to happen. I will prove that I can survive with every odd against me. I will show that even with my quirk, I can be something.
Chapter 2: Something's Missing
Chapter by MoonandStarsGravityandBlood
Chapter Text
I left my room, thinking the situation downstairs was over, and maybe Himi would stop being an awful sister and just listen to me. When I reach the top of the stairs, I can hear her crying as Old Hag drags her by the hair to the door and into the car before driving off. Dad comes upstairs and says, “She won’t bother you ever again, the filthy wretch.” More muttering now, but I can still hear, “Disgusting blood quirk.”
Speaking up again, “Hey, why don’t we go out to get ice cream?” We walk to the ice cream place and get some. I get Mint choc chip, my favourite, and Dad gets vanilla. We head back to the house and watch an All Might movie.
She's not a bad sister, I love her, but she knows just how to get on my nerves.
We’re still watching as Hag gets back without Himi. So I ask, “Where’s Himiko?” The Hag just says, “Don’t worry about it, she’s not our problem anymore.” “I WANT MY SISTER! WHERE IS SHE!” As I make sweat build in my palms. The Old Hag snaps, “SHE HAD A BLOOD QUIRK THOSE ARE EVIL. SO SHE’S GONE AND NEVER COMING BACK.” Then, with a hard slap across the face, I fall back and everything goes dark.
I wake up with a headache and head downstairs for some food, but something feels off. Is something missing? Not that I can think of. “Hey Hag, what’s for breakfast. Also, is something missing? It feels off.” “No, I don’t think so, Brat. Maybe it’s that your dad has already left for work. It’s cereal for breakfast, serve yourself.” Her tone was weird, cold, and kinda angry. I just eat in silence, then get ready to head out with Izu.
Later in the woods, Izu asks, “Hey Kacchan, where’s your sister. What was her name?” “What are you talking about? I don’t have a sister.” “I’m pretty sure you have a sister.” “Nope. Just me, Old Hag, and Dad.” “Hey, what’s that on your arm?” My sleeve had rolled up to expose two little puncture marks. “Kacchan, were you bitten by a vampire, cuz that's what it looks like? How did you get it?” “I think I got it yesterday, but I don’t remember how.” “Oh, ok, Kacchan. Look, the perfect spot for the den.”
We start building as time passes, and we eat snacks. I still feel off like I’m forgetting something. Eh, it’s probably just homework or something. I go about the rest of the day. Finishing work on the den for the day, we head back to the house for lunch, and that missing feeling gets stronger. The house is too empty.
After food, I walk Izumi back to her house. She says just before heading inside, "I am sure you had a sister just yesterday." "That's dumb, I've never had a sister. Bye, Izu." She closed the door behind her.
I head back to my house, and Old Hag comes up to me and says, "You, come outside now, we need to train that quirk." I follow her out, rubbing my palms to build up sweat. We get started after she pulls out the targets, firing, small blasts, "Not good enough. You will be the best or nothing, no in between." I place my hands together and set off small explosions, warming my hands and making me sweat more. Then fire a larger blast.
My ears ring, but I look over to the Hag for approval. She is wearing ear defenders, she always does when we do this, but I'm supposed to just get used to it, and my ears should have natural defences. "Still not big enough, and you need to work on accuracy. You are hitting the sides of the target, not the centre. Do better." So I keep going, I'm tired, but I still need to be the best.
Finally, I get to head inside and eat some food. It's good, then I head up to my room, but there's a door I can't remember what's inside, so I walk up to it and push, but it's locked. So I just sit against it, and that feeling of something missing gets stronger, like there should be something behind the door that's just not there now.
I want to get inside, but how? Then I get up and use a small blast to break the lock, then push the door open.
It looks like a girl's bedroom, and it all feels familiar, but something is missing. It feels almost crushing how empty the room is. Not physically, no, there's stuff scattered across the floor like a kid, just like me, was just playing in here, but then had to rush off.
Memories seem to come rushing to my mind, but with another person. Us playing in this room, but they are blacked out. Everything else in the memories is clear but them. Then more memories of me and the blacked out person playing with Izu in the woods, me and them in the back garden running around, me and them at school. What is going on? Who are they?
That's when Old Hag storms in screaming, "HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE TO LITTLE SHIT! OH, I SEE YOU BLASTED THE LOCK! YOU SHOULD KNOW NOT TO ENTER LOCKED ROOMS AS THEY ARE LOCKED FOR A REASON!" I snap back, "WHO IS THE BLACKED OUT PERSON IN MY MEMORIES!? WHY DOES IT FEEL LIKE SOMETHING IS MISSING!? WHO'S ROOM IS THIS!? WHO WERE THEY!? WHERE ARE THEY!?" I would have kept going, but the sharp kick to my stomach shut me up quickly enough as I hit the floor. The ache after has me curled up in a ball on the floor, then another kick to the back, and I cry out, "Please stop. I will never go in here again, I promise. I never ever will. I mean it just please make it stop!" It doesn't. The kicks keep coming. Maybe even harder now, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry! I'll never ask about the blacked out person again!" She seems satisfied with that answer.
It finally stops just for her to grab the collar of my shirt to slap me across the face hard and stinging before dragging me to my room and shutting the door. With tears streaming down my face as I crawl to my bed and huddle under the blanket, I hear the sound of a hammer on nails and wood clattering by where the mystery room door should be.
Once the hammering stops. Everything is finally quiet, and I'm left with the ache in my stomach and ribs and the tingling sting of my cheek. I wipe my own tears as I remember the mysterious person doing the same thing.
I miss them, whoever they were, but I'm not supposed to. I feel hollow. Empty, like one of the most important things in my life has been ripped away. I don't know what to do. They, whoever they were, always did these things for me, I think.
This place no longer feels like home. What made it feel like home and what made it feel safe is gone. It's missing.
Notes:
Authors Notes
First off, we see that Katsuki has seen and heard only the end of the situation. He is also frustrated with Himiko not cooperating, like most siblings. He seems to feel guilty for his thoughts. Then we see him scream at his mother something which would be terrifying to do in a home where these types of punishments are the norm. Showing how much he loves her, even if they fight like all siblings do. Old Hag's reaction isn't a surprise to him.
Then what we see the next morning is if you haven't figured it out. It is dissociative amnesia, where what he experienced the day before was traumatic enough for his brain to take over and say, "Having these memories is only going to hurt us more, so let's just remove them entirely." Along with that, his brain blacked out her completely to protect himself from questioning it again, which only got him hurt last time.
On to a happier note, we get to see Izuku, but as you can tell from the way he is referred to as either Izu or Izumi, this Au has trans Izuku. The reason Katsuki says Izu is as a shortening as Izuku has already shown discomfort with his name. In this Au, the name Deku is a complete replacement for covering his name change in front of parental figures, rather than an insult.
Izuku has been around Himiko, but has not really interacted with her, and that is why he can essentially be gaslit into not remembering her the same way Katsuki can't remember her.
Then we have another reason to hate Mitsuki in this Au as she has a massive inferiority and superiority complex, which she projects onto Katsuki by making him the best and known. In her twisted worldview, it's all or nothing and being nothing means you deserve punishment.
The bedroom, now this is the lifeline to Katsuki's memory of his sister, and he has been shown that any interaction with it means pain, so he will avoid it and those memories as a self-protection method, but given that he is a child will cling to the little comfort they provide till he forgets.
As always, thanks for reading.
Chapter 3: A Bird and a Blaze
Chapter Text
We're going to my cousin's house today. The car is already so uncomfortable with my wings, and then we have to fill every spare crevice of the car with stuff. My wings have been cramping for an hour already. I would complain but that only every gets me hurt.
I feel something in my wings, it's weird. Almost on instinct, I look out the window. A fire in the woods. I need to help now.
Unclipping my belt, freeing a feather to smash the window, "Keigo Takami, what the fuck are you doing!" I don't answer, I have to get to that sound causing a vibration in my wings, in the middle of it. I just crawl into the window and take off like a bullet straight out of the car to the sound.
Winding through trees. I can see the flames up close now. Just move fast enough so I don't catch fire. The cries of a kid my age are clearer now as I change route to head for them.
I see them now. Got them. Shit, they are the sauce of the fire. This hurts, but if I can move fast enough, the air currents will put them out like blowing out a candle. Shooting out of the flames first as I speed up wings beating faster than ever.
Finally. Cool air hits my skin. The flames on what looks like a boy have gone out. I start coughing and hacking, I guess the heavy breathing through a forest fire wasn't the best idea. My vision is fuzzing out, and we go down.
I open my eyes to see the boy I grabbed on my chest, "Hey, Bird boy, are you alright?" I think that's what he said, at least my ears are ringing and my head is pounding, "Yeah, I think I'm ok. What about you when I grabbed you, were on fire? Are you ok? Not to burnt?" He responds, "Yeah, I have a fire quirk, it does burn me, but not as much as a normal person. Hey, what's that sound?" I hear it now, too, as the wind picks up, I see a helicopter let down a rope ladder, and a few people come down. I think the adrenaline has faded from us as we both pass out, him first, then me.
I blink open my eyes. I see the kid I dragged out of the fire. He's covered in burns, skin ruff and a pinkish purple and covered in bandages. He is sitting on my chest, "Welcome back Bird Boy! How you feeling?" "I'm alright. You look like shit." "Yeah I got a lot of bad burns turns out I'm only immune to fire up to certain temperatures, buutt a healing quirk fixed up the worst of the damage. So it should only be some scars."
A lady in a suite walks in with to buff looking men. The lady with a stern expression spoke, "You too have very powerful quirks, the makings of perfect heroes if you train properly. I know you!" Pointing at me, "Have strong heroic instincts, willing to risk your own life for others. That behaviour makes a strong hero, and you." Now pointing a the fiery kid, "I know your Farther has been training you. Being trained by a pro hero from a young age is incredibly valuable in becoming a hero. So with both of your quirks, Your instinct, and your preexisting training, you both have an obligation to society to be heroes. We are the Hero Public Safety Commission, and we would happily take you in and train you both. Do you except to honour bound duty."
"So we would get personal training to perfect our ability's!?" I question, Fire Boy adds, "Would we get away from our family's?" The lady answers, "Yes, you would get personalized training, and yes you would be separated for your family's. I know that should be a relief for both of you give the obvious signs of abuse on both of you medical reports. With us you would have caretakers who's job it is to keep you healthy, well nourished, and strong. So again do you accept our offer?" We look at each other nod and in sync say, "Yes, we will become heroes!"
We both stay in the hospital two more days before the lady takes us back to the commission and settles us in our room. A small group walks in, the lady who seems to be in charge of the group smiles and says, "Hi we will be your Caretaker team. I am your handler. My name is Miss Sakura." She then points to a gruff looking man and says, "This is your chef he will cook for you and specify your diet." Him in a voice as gruff as his appearance said, "My name is Mr Komido." The lady apparently our 'Handler' says, "This is your personal medic. Miss Hashima." The smaller woman Miss Sakura is pointing to gives us a wave. Miss Sakura continues, "And finally these are your trainers and teachers. Miss Matsuyama, and Mr Shinesagawa. That's everybody you need to know outside of Madam President who you met at the hospital. I have been told to tell you. You will now and forever be known as Hawks and Dabi. You don't have to be weighed down by the baggage that come with your old name as they are no longer your. you will address each other as such or there will be conversations. Goodbye for now. I will come in when it is eating time and show you where to eat." They all leave.
I ask, "So I guess that saves us telling each other our names doesn't it?" "Yeah I suppose. Hawks is a cool name suites you." "Well I would hope so as my quirk is hawk. Dabi sound so cool. What is your quirk called, I know it's a fire quirk?" "My quirk is called blue flame. I'll show you." So he does lighting his hand up in blue flame, "Wow it's beautiful Dabi!" "Well tell me about your quirk?"
"I have features like a hawk. Wings obviously, talons, and eyes. My wings are cooler then you would think though. I can separate each feather from my wings and control them individually and feel vibrations though them, they can also harden and become sharp like a sword. Even if they get destroyed I can regrow them with time. I also have some bird like instincts."
"Woooowww. Your quirk is so much cooler than mine, and your wings are really pretty." "It's not that cool Dabi. Yours is amazing cuz if I remember correctly blue flames are much hotter then most." "Yeah they are hot enough to melt things like concrete and other things like that." "Dabi did you say melt not burn. That is so cool!"
Dabi seems surprised by my excitement, "Wait you think it's cool and not dangerous? I mean it burns even me, and I am relatively fire resistant?" "Yeah I think it's awesome!"
The door opens and Miss Sakura walks in, "Dinner time boys!" So we get up and head out following her. nether of us know our way around this place and it's built like a maze anyway. I'm sure we will learn in time. We walk into a more open space with an booth bench type thing. As we are directed to sit down Mr Komido brings out two plates of weird looking food. I start to eat, it's not great but not awful either. The atmosphere feels tense so I don't complain or talk but I can see from Dabi's face he's as uncomfortable as I am.
After diner we are guided back to our room in silence. Once we're inside Miss Sakura says, "That we good for now boys however you will need to control you're faces in future. Now you have to shower and get ready for bed. The bathroom is over there a shower stall for each of you. Go." We do this all feels weird but I'm sure we'll get used to it. It's still better than home and definitely better than my cousins.
We do settle in to this routine and for about a week learn our way around the place, and learn our schedule. We will apparently start training next week.
Notes:
Authors Notes
This was the intro to the second main plot.
Now we meet Dabi and Hawks as they meet each other, and the way they do that is dramatic. Now Hawks is a very perceptive person a learned and necessary skill for the home he grew up in and surprisingly helpful for hero work. This is how he accidentally trained his wings to notice things like what he did for Dabi.
We meet Dabi having his menty b a bit younger than in cannon. Both Dabi and Hawks are the same age in this and are both eight years old at the time. So this occurs when Himiko and the others would be baby's to one year old's.
There pov's are further back in the time line for a bit for a while but I will let you know when they start to mach up though that may only occur when the others get to high school.
So the fact that Hawks saves Dabi weaving though trees and fire then immediately crashes once they are out of the fire is so funny to me. Like you go from the best flyer in the world to a newborn chick that barely has pin feathers when it comes to ability to fly.
He then wakes up to the boy the last time he saw was on fire, sitting on his chest and calling him Bird Boy is certainly a way to wake up. Then the adrenaline wears off and they both pass out.
Once they wake up they aren't really given time to get to know each other before the HPSC comes in and manipulates two traumatized children into agreeing to something they don't understand the implications of and the effect it will have on their life.
The next thing they know they are being given identity's separate from them selves which at their age can and will be detrimental as they are supposed to be finding their own at this point in their lives.
As always, Thanks for reading.
Chapter 4: Fraud and a Friend
Chapter by MoonandStarsGravityandBlood
Summary:
I'm am so sorry this is late I had a shit ton of homework and forgot to post
Chapter Text
The same routine for days or maybe a week, I'm tired. I want stable food, water. I miss school, Katsuki, and a roof over my head. If I get into school, I can at least get food and water. How would I get into school? The library has computers that I can use.
I head over to the library, I found it a couple of days ago. Once inside, I go over to the computers and search for all the details needed to get into a school. Then I find schools in my area after getting the necessary fakes ready. I found one, opening up the website and finding out how to apply and went through the process of how to get into the school, stating I only have an email and putting in an address for the nearest house to the library, all done under a fake name.
Once that's done, I wait at the computer messing around on it. I get an email back agreeing to take me on as a student I and that my fake mother just needs to sign some papers, and that we are eligible for free school meals, which is a massive relief.
A few days go by till the day I have to go in to sign the papers. First, I need to find a way to collect some to store. I head down to a pharmacy. Quickly taking someone's form, then walking in and asking taking what I need, a syringe.
The next thing to do is find a woman to become. I find a lady sleeping in a park. Carefully slip the needle into her arm, taking as much as it will hold. Then repeat the process for the other four needles. Finally, I bite down so slowly so as not to wake her, drinking through my teeth. The form pops over me with the grey goop it always does. My clothes rip as I take her shape. I can get new ones.
I make my way to the school and introduce myself, "Hi, my name is Miss Toga. I'm here to sign the papers so my daughter can attend this school." The receptionist lady says, "Sure, come this way, Miss Toga." I follow her to this office, and I sit on the other side of the desk from this new person who slides the papers over to me with a pen. I read through as best I can, still learning how to. Then I find the place to put in the details. I fill them out with a faked confidence, finally, the signature I designed. The man says, "Thank you, Miss Toga. You buy the uniform here, this is her schedule, and Himiko will start on Monday." "Thank you, Sir." With a bow and I leave with the knowledge that I will have food and water easily in two days.
Back in my alley, I wipe off the goo and head to sleep on the little pile of blankets over me. Soon it will be ok. Soon I won't be totally alone.
When I get up the next day, I find someone biting, but not just to steal food and water this time. I take as much as I can to buy myself time. Then head over to the shop for the uniform. Grab my size, three of each item, then run! Once I'm clear, I head over to the convenience store and nick all the food I will need till Monday.
After escaping back the the alley. Shaking off the form and pulling on some new clothes. Having the stolen food, knowing the end of this is in sight. I go about the rest of my day with hope and excitement bubbling under my skin. Almost covering to hole in my chest for Katsuki.
Monday morning, I'm buzzing. Jumping up and pulling out the uniform. Tucking behind the bins, which is my usual changing spot. First, the skirt, the socks, the shoes, the shirt, the jumper, the collar and the neck tie thing, which I looked up how to tie.
I start the walk over, seeing other little girls and boys in similar uniforms. As I get closer and closer, there are more and more kids in uniform. Most walking with their parents. But there's this little girl with brown hair walking alone like me. I wonder who she is? How old is she? Why is she walking alone like me?
Once inside, I ask a kid around my age with a round face, brown eyes, and pink patches on her cheeks, "Where is this room? I'm new here." "The girl answers, "I'm going there to! I guess we're classmates. My name is Ochako Uraraka. What's you're name?" I answer with the new family name I chose myself, "Himiko Toga!" "Hey Toga, do you want to be best friends?" "Yes, I do."
We walk together, and she sits down as the teacher grabs my arm and says, "Good morning, class. This is a new student. Introduce yourself." With all the bright, happy confidence I can muster and the encouraging smile from Uraraka, I say, "My name is Himiko Toga." "Now, Toga, go sit down in that empty chair." She is pointing to the chair next to Uraraka, which is amazing. She turns to me once I sit down, "I guess we're seat neighbours!" "Yeah, I guess we are! That's great."
Me and Uraraka talk all day. She has her quirk. Zero gravity, she can stop gravity applying to an object if she touches it with all five fingers, and can release the objects if she touches all of her fingers to each other, but it makes her feel sick, and she can't really do it to large things yet. I lie and say my quirk hasn't presented yet. I'll tell her if I'm sure she won't abandon me or tell other people.
The lessons go on, and it's fun. I have a roof over my head, at least for a few hours. I miss Katsuki, but I'm not alone anymore.
Notes:
Authors Notes
Tired of the routine, she doesn't want to just bite, steal eat for the rest of her life. She wants change.
I wonder what the Library workers were thinking when they saw a six-year-old researching how to apply to school. Then take a piece of paper and keep repeating the same scrawl that looks like a signature. Then, I filled out the application with fake information.
Stealing blood so she can pretend to be her mother, but she needs to be able to use the same form multiple times, so stealing needles was the best shot, though she may have to have it congealed and off the next time, as she doesn't have access to a freezer. So, chewing a blood clot to suck it up through her teeth is in her future.
Now signing then papers is an odd feeling as she has to talk about herself in the third person. But the joy of having some stability makes her absolutely ecstatic at the thought of it.
Now getting food and a uniform. With this done, she can finally start back to school. On the way, seeing kids with their parents. But there was one girl with brown hair alone, and we found out that this is Ochako. Why do you think that is?
As always, thanks for reading.
Chapter 5: New Normal
Chapter Text
What the fuck!
I'm being dragged out of bed. Just blinking open my eyes, I see it's Miss Sakura, and a glance towards Hawks' bed says that he is also being dragged up and out of the room.
Now, in the corridor, we were banned from going down. With a look over to Hawks shows that we are both barely awake and stumbling, "Wake up, you are going to medical for evaluation of your body and quirk. Heroes wake up instantly and don't stumble when they are needed. You will learn to fix this soon." She lets go of our hands, but the glare from her says they need to keep up.
She turns a corner and uses her finger on what looks like a sensor, and the door next to it opens. The new hallway has that hospital smell, fresh and familiar from our recent stay. We continue to follow until she walks us into a room with the lady what was her name? Hawks says, "Hi, Miss Hashima." That was her name, and she responded, "Hello Hawks, Dabi. Miss Sakura, you can go now. I will call you when the evaluation is finished, and you can go over the files on your computer."- Our handler leaves, -"So, boys, I will be completing a full medical evaluation. First"- She brings out these weird fabric bands -"Blood pressure." Wrapping the things around our upper arms, then pressing a button on a machine. The things start to inflate, squeezing my arm.
NO! I light it on fire, and it's gone in less than a second. I look over to Hawks and see he's stabbed his with a feather, both of us breathing hard from panic. In a cool, calm tone with a threat laced into the words, "Now, now, boys, that's not how we behave. Especially if you want to be heroes, now we are going to try that again, and if you do that again, there will be consequences." The statement is made in such a calm manner, which is somehow almost more terrifying than my Father's rage. She puts new ones on our arms. The fear of sensation is still scary, but nowhere near as bad as the fear of her, so we both sit there and let it happen.
"Now, boys, was that so hard?" We both shake our heads in unison, "Good. Now, blood tests," She brings out these needles with these weird things attached. Me first, it seems. My temperature is reaching highs high enough to burn people on contact with my skin. She must have seen the air around me heat up with those strange heat wobbles. So she puts on these thin but high-quality gloves to protect her hands before slipping the needle into the vein in my arm. My hair lights on fire, "Now we can't have that"- Still drawing blood. The fear of her from that tone puts me out, -"Good, see it's not that hard to control your quirk. All done. Hawks, your turn." In a voice as sweet as sugar and scary as a knife.
I look over to Hawks, and his wings have hardened, as sharp as knives. He doesn't resist for fear of being harmed, but if the way the feathers in his hair and around his eyes are lifting to stand on end and the dilation of his normally slit pupils is anything to go by, he is terrified and fanning calm.
Once that fresh hell is over, she puts the blood into this machine. Then check over our entire body, head to toe, before calling someone on a radio. Probably Miss Sakura, as she comes back in the room in less than a minute.
We are back out of the room in seconds and following our handler. This walk is so long and down a few floors at least, Miss Sakura is using her fingerprint on the sensors next to some of the doors. eventually, we reach what looks like a training ground and see Miss Matsuyama and Mr Shinesagawa. Matsuyama says, "Hello, boys. We will be completing a quirk evaluation to see how your quirks work and what you can already do, so we can create a bespoke plan for your training, and where you may have more power, you just cannot use it yet, ok. let's get started"
Mr Shinesagawa instructed me, "Dabi, come over here. Now I want you to produce the hottest flame you possibly can underneath this thermometer. Once the reading shows you can put your hand in this ice bucket to cool." They put me next to a thermometer. As instructed, I lit the hottest flame I could. It melted the thermometer in under five seconds, but before it did, it registered nearly one thousand degrees. I then stuck my hand in the ice bucket to soothe the burn, at least that was the intention, but the water evaporated on contact with my skin.
"Wow, ok. Well done, that was around one thousand degrees Celsius, and you evaporated ice water on contact. However, by the nature of your quirk, you should be able to reach temperatures over one thousand five hundred degrees. You also need to be able to control what area is what temperature to protect your skin and prevent burns."
Across the room, I hear Miss Matsuyama say in an incredulous tone, "You can fly at speeds up to one hundred kilometres per hour. This could be improved, given your quirk is based on a red-tailed hawk, and they have nearly double the top speed, so there is room for improvement, and your zero to top speed rate needs to be much faster. Then you need to get more control of each individual feather and control more at one time. You also need to be more precise with your movement. They can sense things, and we will want to refine their accuracy."
Miss Sakura walks back in and announces, "Lunch time, and I don't want to see any faces showing dislike for the food, it is disrespectful and not how heroes behave. Come along." Hawks and I follow her out and up to the dinner space. We sit down, and the food is presented to us, and we eat it, still as weird-tasting as ever, but we keep our faces blank.
I can see our handler discussing something with our trainers. "Hawks, can you use your wings to hear what they are saying?" "Yeah, I can. They are discussing a training plan for us. They are reviewing the notes we were given. Now they are saying something about Identity training. I don't know what that's about. Oh shit, they are walking over."
"Hawks, Dabi. We are heading back down to the training ground for the session we have just prepared." Once we are back in the training room, they split us up again. "Now, Dabi, I want you to light a flame at three hundred degrees." I do as asked, "Now five inches from your hand, raise the temperature to four hundred." I focus on the flame farther from my hand. The tone of the fire shifts slightly, "That is five hundred degrees, but there is five inches of changing temperature. I want you to cool the further area to four hundred now." Ok, cool it down a bit. Regulate temp, "Good job, that is three hundred at your hand and five inches from your hand is four hundred. We still need to refine that ability; it is nowhere near the necessary control you need to be a hero, but it is a slight improvement."
It goes on like this for a few hours. Me controlling and isolating areas of different temperatures. Hawks seemingly doing moving target practice with hardened feathers as arrows, and doing laps of the room with sharp turns. Before heading up to this new room with way more desks than are needed for two kids. Our handler starts at the front of the room, "So you both know what your names are. However, you need personalities, ones that won't break under pressure, stress, or injury. I have curated identities for you to embody." She hands me a file and Hawks one as well, "Read them, really study and practice with each other for the next hour. I will leave the room for now. When I return, I will ask you questions, and you will behave and answer in the same manner as those files describe. This will take time and practice, but I expect some level of modification by the time I return. This will apply constantly. The only exception is that you are not allowed to disrespect any of our staff, even if it matches your personality as written. See you in an hour." She just walks out.
I read over my file. "Dabi is a sarcastic and brash person with a temper. You scowl or just do not smile, most of the time. You don't speak with your hands; they remain relatively still when you speak. You need to speak in a bored or irritated tone unless one of your interests, as listed, is occurring: Combat, Drama, Chaos, or other shenanigans. Are involved. You are introverted and dislike touch. Shove people away if they touch you. The only exception is Hawks. You swear a lot, examples: fuck, shit, bitch, asshole, motherfucker, twat, shithead, fuckface, and bugger. We will list more if needed. You are straightforward, you say things as they are, with no regard for others' feelings. You are quick to anger. You and Hawks argue a lot about random things, but are close. More will be added as needed."
"Hey Birdie, what's your's like?" "I am friendly with a slight attitude, make a lot of jokes, mostly bright, talkative and very bubbly. I must speak in an upbeat tone with a smile. I am very expressive with my hands, face, and wings when I speak. I swear sometimes, and I am supposed to blame you if asked about that. I am extroverted. I must not act like a bird. I am prohibited from chirping, cooing, trilling, or making any form of bird noise." He is gesturing with his hands and wings more, and sounds quite upbeat.
"I think the bird noises are cute, so you should still make them, just maybe not in public or in front of the staff, so you can fit the file around them." "Ok. Hey Dabi, what about you?" "I am a sarcastic introvert who doesn't fucking like touching except from you. I swear a lot, and I say things as they are. We are supposed to fight about dumb things but be really close." "Wow, that sounds cool." With a bright smile.
We talk for a while, correcting slips in our personalities for the rest of the hour, and when put through a review, we are told that it is "Adequate for today, but needs so much work." We have dinner, then are sent to the showers, then to bed.
I could get used to this, it's better than home at least.
Notes:
Authors Notes
So the commission needs full knowledge of how their quirks work and their capabilities for the future and present, so that is what the morning is about.
Now they have not reached their max capabilities. Their stats at the minute are. Hawks, 100km/h flight speed, can control six feathers at one time with limited accuracy, can hear when within 50 feet of the sound and can sense from 500 feet away. Dabi, Max temp 1000 degrees Celsius and with low accuracy regulate areas of temperature.
Them being given personality is a bit strange and controlling, don't you think, and the constant threats. I wonder what that's about.
As always, thanks for reading.