Author's Notes:
I Am Here... with a new story! I'm a new author around these parts, so please do go easy on me... on the other hand, a new story! So, yay? I still another story that I still have continued to publish yet... So... ahahahaha. I'm sorry. Please a little bit more if you want more of Horacio. For now, please enjoy my new story which has been blessed to me by the muses of inspiration.
Please R&R on your way~
.
.
.
Summary:
Not all roads leads to Rome. This is the harsh truth behind her arrival to this world. Pitted between one Earth to another, She's forced to choose to live a short life or quick death. Slight Canon-divergence. SI OC!
.
.
Chapter 1 : Rome wasn't built in a day
.
.
When people think of rebirth, they would first try to assess where are they, before assessing when are they. It's just a common thought of thinking to see if you're born during the main character's time period, or before him, or after him, right?
If they're born in the same period as the main character, great! Then they themselves has the gift of foreknowledge and is faced with the choice to face the butterfly effect in their own terms or in the unpredictable hands of fate.
If they're born before or after, oh - poor you. Your gift of foreknowledge is both a gift from Heaven and Hell at the same time. You know what's the best outcome for the future is, but don't know how to make it? Oh, don't worry - just do your best, I'm sure that you'll be able to solve them just fine, as long as you stick to the characters that you know are important to the future!
This… previous 3 paragraphs… literally explains the entire reason as to why I am here.
Here, as in, in another world. With knowledge that could make or break the Canon.
Did I confuse you? Great. If you aren't, then it would be my turn to be confused. Why in the world are you even in the first chapter then? Go forward, and stop rereading this chapter then!
If you're wondering why does it seem like I'm breaking the fourth wall, then don't worry. This is my diary, and you're just reading my thoughts. No, I don't have a quirk that breaks the fourth wall either, don't worry. The only time I will be breaking any fourth walls will be when I'm writing this down. Now then, back to my point.
Where do I begin… well…
Let's start with my death.
.
.
.
If there is one thing that could describe Kelcie, is that she's someone who's far too worried for her own good. She's not the smartest, not the cutest, not the most beautiful nor the strongest nor the most athletic. And yet, her entire presence could be described as being too cautious.
Her friend calling her bag Doraemon's pocket, for one, is a great example of what type of cautious girl she is.
"I don't understand how in the world why you haven't gotten scoliosis yet." Her friend, Mallory, the one who Kelcie knows loves fiction far too much than real life, asks her. "It's so heavy and yet you won't be putting it down anytime, won't you?"
"Nope." Kelcie replies, not looking up from her phone. Her heavy backpack is still there, on her shoulders, as her otaku friend is already putting her heavy school bag down. Kelcie could vividly hear her friend saying something about stupid schools and stupid heavy textbooks, but she ignores them in favour of her phone.
She's trying to find a good source that they could use for their paper, but off course her phone's signal just have to fail her. Gah, why in the world does the library have bad receptions? This is literally the place where students go to in order to go to the internet! Having a bad reception is like having a bad internet which means that they can't get the work done!
They're in a library right now, trying to find a good spot so they can settle down to finish a school assignment. But with today being one of those rare, crowded days where students use the place to finish their assignments, an open space in the public library is as rare as searching for a hen's teeth. And with her luck, she knows that she won't be getting a place anytime soon. Her friend on the other hand…
"Ah, Kelcie! Look, I found some seats for us!"
…is always the luckier one between the two of them.
"Sure. Do you want me to carry your bag there or should I just leave it here?"
"Carry them here off course!"
"Why didn't you carry them with you in the first place…" Kelcie grumbles, before balancing the other heavy bag onto her hold and walks towards the surprisingly empty seat with the good view of the shelves and more shelves filled with textbooks and references books over rows and rows of tables filled with students doing their work.
She dumps the bags onto the table, replying to the 'Thanks!' Mallory throws with a sigh before setting up her laptop. She found some good links that they could work with before, now she needs to move them to the document so she can refer them again -
"Look, look, Kelcie! There's a new update on Boku No Hero Academia! Do you think Izuku can beat Shinsou?!" Mallory squeals, covering her sight with the what seems to be the page showing Izuku fighting against Shinsou through her Ipad.
"Didn't you read that part already?" Kelcie asks. "That's the UA Sports Festival, not the one between Class A and Class B."
Mallory exaggerates a gasp. "So you were paying attention to all my rants on Deku-kun!"
Kelcie raises an eyebrow against her. "You're talking next to me. Kind of hard to ignore you, don't you think?"
"Awww, Kelcie! I knew you cared!"
"Ah, not really."
"Tsundere! No, you're more of the Kuudere type. Ahhh, stop being like Half n Half, or I might fall in love with you for real!"
"What? How am I even anything like him? I don't sleep in class!"
"Out of all the Ikemen qualities you could've have pointed out, you just had to pick the part before he meets Deku-kun, don't you?"
"That's the only one I remembered."
"Lies! I ranted more about Half n Half more than Deku-kun! How can you not remember any of them but remember the page I shown you 5 months ago?!"
"Since when do you talk about Half n Half more than Deku? And Here I thought you love King Explosion Murder more than Deku."
"Ahhh, Bakugou-sama is the best. He shall reign as king and as top Hero no matter what."
"And yet the main character is still Izuku anyway."
"Gahhhh, shut up! Let a girl dream, Kelcie!"
.
.
.
….Okay, maybe not my death yet. But you see, there's one thing that you need to know about me before you continue. I'm not a fan of Boku No Hero Academia. My friend is.
Mallory Hawks. My one and only best friend since Toddler. Technically, I've been with her since first grade, but I did say Toddler because we met first then but didn't really got close until Elementary.
If you ask Mallory however, she'll insist that we're close since we're four years old anyways, and I indulge only because I know she likes to create parallels of our lives with Bakugou and Midoriya's. She's a big fan of them ever since their first release online, and despite of the many times she makes me read the story, I just can't bring myself to like it.
So they were trying to be heroes in a society the meaning of heroes are being questioned constantly. Oh okay.
So they're trying be someone who saves people with little to no reward directed to them for their efforts. Oh, alright. Sounds so farfetch when you consider the basis of human nature, but alright.
So they're trying to make the greatest use of their power and be number one. Oh, that's great. Good for them, I still have little to no interest to such stories at all.
It wasn't until Mallory showed me a scene where Nighteye is dying and All Might finally shows up before him, in his deathbed that somehow made annoyed at the hero they call the Symbol of Peace. All the opinions and annoyance and complaints I have against the number one hero just comes bursting out of me in the forme of an angry rant towards my childhood friend.
I was angry at the Symbol of Peace for being able to somehow able to embody the characteristics of a Selfish and Selfless person at the same time.
Selfish, because all this time, he could've approached the Hero who only wanted nothing more than the best for him, and yet he choose not to, and choose to be selfless instead, saving more and more people, regardless of his current state of health. To some people, perhaps it's admirable, but to me, as someone who can't stand the sight of someone doing so hard for me when I done nothing for them, it aggravates me.
Just what are you doing to yourself when it's clear that a day of rest would do you better than another day of saving people?
To my rant, my friend only gave me a solemn look and a wry smile, before she says, "But that's why he's so cool, Kelcie. He saves people, when he knows he don't have to. He's everything that I could never be, you know? That's why I admire him."
Thinking back, her words maybe are meant to be mean something. But, before I could ponder about it more, her expressions shifts, and she changes the topic, and so my rant and her rarely ever solemn expression is left forgotten in anything but my memories.
I will never forget that look on her face.
How long has it been since anyone ever saw her cry or sob but me, I wonder?
… This diary entry is getting too long. So for now, let's skip to the meager few hours before my death.
.
.
.
The day is ending, the library is closing, and Kelcie finally managed to get a satisfactory progress in their work. In between Mallory's rant and frequent checks to her favourite manga, they somehow managed to get half of the work done.
Walking towards the bus, heavy backpacks in their backs, Kelcie lets out a small hum and Mallory lets out a sigh and leans forward slightly in despair. She looks at her with the most sad look that Kelcie could only compare to a sad gecko.
"Uuuu, Give me back my time, meanie Kelcie. I still haven't finished the chapter yet, how could you make me do work when I still haven't finished admiring Bakugou-sama?"
"If I let you continue admire King Murder Explosion, you won't get any work done until it's a day before the due date. Your procrastination knows no bounds."
"But it's Bakugou-sama! And he's fighting against those Class B extras! I want to see him when he wins! Did you know that he has this new technique that he's using against them too?"
"Uh-huh. Watch your step, Mellie. Don't trip."
"I won't, I won't - Woah!"
As if on cue, she almost falls forward, had Kelcie has not grabbed onto her bag and steadied her quickly.
"...What did I just told you?"
"Shut up… That's just a coincidence, that's all."
"Uh-huh. Sure."
"Don't just give me that response, Kelcie!"
.
.
.
I have always been the protector.
I never really known what it means to be protected or helped by other people.
Maybe that's why… seeing All Might so weak and frail, right before I saw him running out of the embers of life, seeing him passing off One For All to Midoriya, and then left with those small spirit that ever clings to life and teaching…
It made me somehow felt fear, just like that day.
Is this a potential future that I could've been had I have Mallory in my life? Is this person whom Mallory has say countless times that is so similar to me, is a reflection of whom I could've been had I continued on life had I not choose to save Mallory and choose to save myself instead?
.
.
.
They were walking down the zebra cross when the shouts began.
Mallory, being the ever clumsy yet so absorbed girl she is when she rants, did not notice the speeding truck heading towards their direction.
And Kelcie, being the protector, immediately did the one thing that she only could think of as she saw the speeding truck heading their way.
She held Mallory close, a short hug that stopped her ranting, grabbed her bag from her, and pushed her down the other side of the street, where she instinctively knows she won't be hit by the speeding truck heading ever so close to her now.
Weighted down by the heavy bags, she throws them off her, but she knows. She knows that she won't make it. So the last thing that she could do to prevent more casualties is to stop the speeding truck. Their bags are filled with books and heavy things - they should do something to stop the truck from moving, right?
"You have no fear…" She says over the Mallory's wide eyes, filled with fear and dread. She wanted to say something, say anything that she knows is her last words as the truck is already there, just a few seconds before hitting her, before she instinctively says that one line that she knows is Mallory's favourite.
"...For I am here."
A crash, blood spreading everywhere, a huge amount of pain, and before she knows it, she's being welcomed by the hands of death and knows no more.
The truck that crashed onto her immediately killed her on the spot, and the two heavy school bags somehow manages to stop the truck from speeding anymore before it slams onto another car, crushing her corpse underneath it's huge wheels, and just stops.
"Aaa…..Kel….Cie?" Mallory gasps, before her eyes tears up, her reality somehow breaking down right before her.
Her friend. Dear God, her childhood friend. Her Bakugou and her Izuku. And now…. Her All Might, right before she died and is crushed underneath those wheels that if she could, would burn them to dust and sue the living hell out of those people who killed her one and only best friend.
"aa….Ahhh….aaaaa…...AAAAAAAAAAAA! KELCIE! NO!"
.
.
.
Death is not supposed to be something that is glorified. Death is not something to be welcomed.
And yet, Here I am, dead to my childhood friend and my one and only friend who I know would be so lonely without me.
We don't know where we go after death, don't we? Some people say we go to Hell, some people go to Heaven, some people say they go back to the Earth to be reincarnated….
Well, as for me, I think you guessed it.
I got the Reincarnated path, and it's trust me when I say that you're better off going to Heaven or Hell. being Reincarnated means living again, but with a life like mine…
I really don't think that being reincarnated is worth all the time and effort being brought back to life with all of my knowledge and memories with me.
.
.
.
The first thing that Kelcie noticed when she opens her eyes is that it's really bright. That, and the fact that she's lying down on something really soft. Where did she end up now? She's sure she's dead to the world - so where will be heading off to now?
"You know, for a human, you're very welcoming towards death."
Kelcie blinks, looking towards her side, where there is another human seating on a chair. He -or is it She? She can't really tell since he looks so… feminine, or the lack of a better word to describe his beauty- wore what Kelcie thinks is the most trendiest thing on earth, with those fashionista clothes and trendy square lens glasses. His eyes looks at her with such a welcoming confusion, and, if she didn't knew any better, she would've think that he's one of those popular korean boy bands that Mallory hates so much.
"All humans all arrive here asking questions, crying out their lungs, or just screaming out their regrets," he continues on, ignoring the analysing looks Kelcie throws at him. "But you, you're so accepting towards death. You don't even seem to care the fact that you just died. How rare of it… you're not suicidal at all, that much I know. But it's almost as if… you know what's going to happen to you. Interesting…"
Kelcie didn't know whether to feel flattered or annoyed at that. Off course she's not suicidal. She just… hadn't really had the time to process her death or not. And even if she could, she definitely wouldn't. Not now, at least - where if she did break down she would be doing it in front of this weird man.
"This weird man you're looking at is the one who's deciding where you should go, you know?" The man starts, and much to his annoyance, the only response that he got from her is a blink.
"You can read minds." Kelcie retorts.
"Out of all the things that could've come out of your mind, this is the one that came out." The man sighs. "Oh, whatever. Let's just get this done and over with. You humans usually ask for a name, but let me start by the fact that I don't have any. So, with that done and do, let's get started. I'm going to be your interviewer, your judge to determine where you'll go." At that, he snaps his fingers, and a table pops into existence in front of him.
On the table are piles and piles of papers that she swore she seen in one of those animes Mallory made her watch. It looks so vaguely similar to a certain scene in… ah, she can't remember what's the name of the anime - maybe she'll get back to it later.
"So, Kelcie Crescent. You died on the age of 16 from a speeding truck that instantly killed you, you did nothing notably evil or good, you had no clear aspirations as to your future, and you had no clear attachments to anything in the world except for your family and you childhood friend, Mallory Hawks." The man continues on, reading off from a document from one of those piles of papers on the table. "You are absolutely not attached to anything clear in this world… and this, Ms. Crescent, is a problem. I don't know where should I send you to if you do not have anything that you care for. Is there anything that you would like to say to me?"
Those papers… are they filled with all the details in her life? Does that mean that this place is the place between death and life? If so… if this judge before her is the one determining where she's going to go, then...
"Not really." Kelcie shrugs. "If you read everything about my files, then there is nothing that I would like to say. To say something means that either I would have to lie or to tell the truth. And if anything I say is just going to sway your judgement for better or for worse, I rather kept my silence."
The man hums. "So you'd just take my judgement as it is and not argue for it at all?"
"You're the judge," Kelcie answers. "And Judges are meant to be impartial and fair. I will only argue my case when I know what my choices are."
She won't argue for a hopeless case. If people don't wish to listen, then she won't bother start talking. If people have made their decisions, there's just no point in arguing with them. She learned the hard way that when people don't care, she shouldn't have just bothered at all.
The man stared at her response. At that, Kelcie blinks back at him. What? Doesn't he have anybody that bothered to tell him to just get this done and over with?
"You're apathetic and lack of care for yourself is something that I have not seen in humans for a thousand years now." He says, as his eyes somehow starts to glow. She never really paid attention to anybody's eye colours properly before, but is it her or did his eye color just glowed in an alluring pink color? "Humans, they're always so selfish, always so needy, always, always want to get the best for themselves and not the others. You on the other hand… just don't care. I have never seen anyone not caring about themselves like this at all. Yes… That route will be the best lesson for you then."
Kelcie blinks again. What route?
"I decided!" The man shouts, as he stands up from the chair and smiles widely for the whole world to see. "Kelcie Crescent! I have chosen you, for this route that many would have want to kill for! This route will teach you what it means to care! What it means to love! And more importantly, what it means to live! Now then! Get ready! Cause I won't be saying this twice."
And that he jumps, landing perfectly next to her, much to her astonishment.
Crouching down, he smiles as the wild Cheshire Cat would, and says,
"How do you feel to be reborn into a world of Heroes?"
At that, Kelcie could only, once again, blink.
"...huh?"
Because really, what else can she say or do in that situation?
.
.
.
That was just the beginning. If you're wondering why the hell does it seem like who's writing this and who you're reading about it completely, different, let me just say one thing to do you.
Don't mess with the Judges. When they say it, they mean it. Because this is what I have become. This is what I have come to learn and to live for.
But this is just the beginning. So don't take my word for it. For now, let's stop this flashbacks and get down to the road.
Stories always have a beginning and that's mine. So now then the prologue is done and over with, let's just say…
This is the story of how I came to live a life worth living.
.
.
.