It was 4AM. Rin had been lying in bed motionless since she 'went to bed'. Her mind was blank but also swirling with ideas at the same time. One idea kept returning in her mind. She didn't know how to feel about her parent's death. It happened so quickly that there was no time to react properly. She didn't know if she wanted revenge or if she wanted to stay at U.A. Rin felt empty and helpless. She put her hand on her face and ran her fingers across her diagonal, soon to be, scar. It was almost like her parents weren't gone. Why wasn't she feeling anything? Why wasn't she feeling what everyone wants her to feel? Kenji wants to empathize with her, Ota wants her to exact revenge, Aizawa wants her to be positive… She closed her eyes. She passed out and she met with Atlas once again. "How do you want to feel?" Atlas gave her a glare while barking at her. Rin bit her lip. "How am I meant to feel? Everyone wants me to feel sad or angry, but I feel nothing. I don't understand," she brought her hands up to her head and pushed on her temples "I just want to feel something, but I can't accept that they're gone. I want to feel something, but everyone is telling me I should act a certain way and I hate it! Of course, I loved them, and they were everything, but it just seems like they're still here. I don't fucking get it. I feel absolutely nothing!" Rin shouted at Atlas. She was using him to project her emotions. She had snapped from her normal calm self.

Atlas gave out a heavy sigh. At the same time, it was obvious he was smirking. "Do you want to feel nothing?" Rin's arms slowly dropped by her side. "I want to feel something". Atlas dropped his head to her eye level. She never got a good look of Atlas besides him being in the shadows. He had red lizard like eyes, large black horns like a ram and was covered with black short fur. He had large teeth but was missing a few on the right side of his mouth. It was obvious he was a carnivore. Rin stared to feel scared. "I can kill you kid; then you won't have to worry about anything" Atlas said smiling as he spoke. He raised his hand and Rin's eyes were drawn to it. It had giant talons which were cracked. She started to shake at Atlas' words. Suddenly he threw his hand down and Rin jumped out of the way. She slid on the floor and hopped up quickly. "So, you want to live then? Judging by how quickly you moved out of the way" Rin was panting "Why are you trying to help me? You've been nothing but a jerk since we met!"

"I'm not kid. I'm just going to make you weaker, so I can take over your body easier" Atlas let out a chuckle. It sounded demonic and echoed through the room. Rin took a moment to analyse the situation. "If I die, you die right?" Atlas tilted his head. "You think you're so smart, don't you? Oh, you've figure out my secret boo-hoo. I can still damage you while you're here" His expression changed immediately to him snarling. Rin stood there. She knew he couldn't kill her now at least. "Why would Alira choose you out of every spirit? I hate you!" Atlas raised his head and grunted. "It's because she panicked and threw any spirit in you. It just happens to be me. She didn't give a shit who she gave to you, she was feeble minded and was horrible with calculations" Rin felt angered by his words, but she didn't show the full extent of it. She knew it would be wasted on him. "Kenji said that mum wanted to give you to me" It was silent. Atlas looked at her with confusion and bent down to her level once again. "You're listening to that dumb fucking dog? Are you that stupid? She told him lies all the time so that he wouldn't know the truth. They hid so much from him. She probably just got caught with me when she put me in that god damn trap. I was happy making people murder others but no. Alira wanted to change me because 'Every spirit is worth saving' or whatever dumb shit she said. She enslaved me and forced me to listen to her command" Atlas spat at Rin and raised his head once more. "You're as pathetic as her if you ever believe we can get along simply because I was forced into you. I will control your body eventually and get what I want". Rin said nothing but started to hope she would just wake up. She didn't want to sleep if Atlas was going to be in her head every single time she does. "I'm leaving" Rin said turning around and looking for an exit. "You leave when I tell you to leave" Atlas yelled, crouching down and letting out a snarl. "Fuck. You" Rin cheekily smiled at him. She woke up. It had only been 2 hours.

Rin massaged her head and tried to stop her heart from racing. She could tell Atlas wanted nothing to do with her and wanted to leave as soon as he could. She didn't want him to be near her either. Their only compromise was for her not to sleep. Her phone alarm startled her as it went off. Rin had loved lo-fi ringtones, but she didn't want to relax. She turned it off and stepped outside her room. "You're up earlier than I thought you would be" Kenji turned to her. He was scrubbing a frying pan clean and had an apron on. He looked ridiculous. "I didn't sleep well" Rin muttered as she walked to one of the chairs in the living room to sit down. She didn't feel right after seeing Atlas again. He angered her but made her think. What do I want to feel? 'I want to know if I'm going to make the right choice' Rin thought to herself. Her mind was spiralling with Atlas' words. He was a harsh angry demon but underneath that hate was someone worth listening to. Rin thought about manipulating him but decided that it would be too difficult. She didn't know what he was capable of. "Here's some breakfast" Kenji said as he placed a plate of pancakes on the coffee table in front of Rin. Rin looked at Kenji and smiled. Atlas knew about him too. He did seem to go off what she had said in the previous night so perhaps he can see and hear what she does or maybe just hear her thoughts. Rin poked the pancake with a fork and sat there trying to calculate her best course of action. She wanted to find out more about Atlas but from the sounds of it Kenji didn't know much. She started to eat her breakfast. 10 minutes passed, and Rin walked to her bedroom. It had been a month since she last went to U.A and she wondered if anyone would care if she was gone. She put on her uniform and looked in the mirror. It was still cracked. Her normal uniform didn't look right anymore. She put on Gunslinger's cloak and grabbed his glove. It's not like anyone would tell her to take it off. Rin smiled. She wanted to be the image of Gunslinger. Someone who does something right and saves others. The more she stared at it, an uneasy feeling was present. She didn't look the same anymore. Something about her was different and Rin hated it. She didn't know what was wrong with her look, but the uniform didn't suit her anymore. She sighed, closed the cupboard door and walked up to Kenji. He respected her and showed loved to her. Rin wondered about how becoming a villain would make Kenji feel. She remembered Ota saying Kenji would get a promotion. If she didn't do it, would he lose his job? "Can I ask you something before I walk to school?" Rin didn't make eye contact with Kenji. "Of course, woof, what's up?" Rin took a few moments to figure out what she wanted to ask. "What is Chief Ota's quirk?" Kenji didn't say anything but had a disappointed look on his face. "He manipulates people's minds. He makes them think what he wants them to. He is almost on villain status, but he has only done good as a police officer. He does seem a bit off if you're afraid of him. We all feel like that woof" Kenji smiled at her before showing her the time on his watch. "If you're wanting to go early then maybe you should start walking now. Here take $10 and get yourself something from the store around the corner" He stuck out his tongue, winked and shadily handed her the $10. The look on his face almost said, 'Don't tell Maria please'.

Rin started walking. It was the same route as always only a tiny bit longer. She had to walk past her house to get to U.A though. She took out her phone and looked at the chat. Hizashi was asking Aizawa how Rin was and if she needed anything. Aizawa had replied 'I think the best idea is to give her space but show you care, she needs us right now'. Rin smiled but something about that made her deeply sad. She didn't know what she needed. Kenji's block was mainly apartments and tiny cottage like houses. Alira and Gunslinger's block was the more modern houses. Around Kenji's house was many trees and fountains. It was aesthetically pleasing. Rin took a photo with her phone of a cherry blossom tree and the blue sky above it. She sent it to Aizawa and Hizashi and kept walking. It had to be at least five minutes when Hizashi replied "is she okay? She's taking pictures of trees…" Rin rolled her eyes and responded "It's AeStHeTic Hizashi". Hizashi replied immediately and sent an emoji that looked confused. "Why did you do that with the letters?" he replied. He really was behind in the times. Rin had walked ten minutes away from Kenji's home and reached the store. She went inside and grabbed herself an iced coffee and crunchie. She was about to check out when she saw a strawberry lolly that was in the shape of a cat. She needed to get that for Aizawa. She purchased her items and kept walking. The sun was warm, but the air was cool. It was a beautiful day to be outside. Rin thought it was beautiful but something about it seemed dark. She ignored it and tried to enjoy the day. She eventually reached her block of houses and looked around the corner to see her house. It had police tape along the front door. The police were there in fact. Rin stopped in her tracks. She zoned out on her house and remembered a memory when she was little. Gunslinger had saved a few civilians from a fire and came home early. She was about 5 at the time. She ran up to Gunslinger begging to hear about his day. Gunslinger smiled and picked her up. He looked her in the eyes. His eyes were passionate. He loved Rin with everything he had. He gave a large smile and laughed "I beat a whole bunch of bad guys today! There was a fire dude who almost got your dad but oh boy no, no! I shot his hand so there was no more fire while another hero saved the hostages in the building. The villain surrendered, and I won! I saved the day just for you Rin". Rin remembered laughing with him. She truly thought that he was the number one hero. She came back to reality and felt depressed. She held out her hands and looked at his glove. Would she ever be a hero like Gunslinger? She clenched her fists and remembered the night and the last look Gunslinger gave her. He had slightly smiled when he hit the floor. Almost like he was telling her it was okay. Rin stood there in silence for a moment before walking off to continue her walk to U.A. Before she knew it, she was there. It was 7:20AM.

She sat down on the grass and stared at the sky. Rin really did wonder if they were watching her. She had become lost in the sky. She thought of nothing. She was at peace. "Yo!" someone yelled next to her. Rin quickly snapped out of it and looked to her right. It was Hizashi. He had a new hero costume. "I thought we could only wear those in practice" Rin said, pretending like she was paying attention the entire time. She took off her dad's cloak and put it in her bag. Hizashi put his arm behind his head. "Well you know… I just wanted to wear it in. We'll probably have to use it first up anyways so I'm just preparing" He winked and signalled a thumbs up to Rin. "How are you somehow lazier than Aizawa?" she sighed. Hizashi's expression dropped and he opened his mouth to speak but closed it. Rin bit her lip. She hated this sympathy she was getting from everyone. "Can I speak to you in private?" Hizashi whispered. He looked concerned. She nodded, and they walked a grass patch near a fountain to the back of the school. They sat down and neither of them said anything. Hizashi eventually sighed and managed to get out "I don't know what I'm meant to do. I feel bad, but I can't do anything to help you…". Rin put her head in her hands. "Just don't pity me. I don't want to feel like anything has changed" Hizashi turned to her with a worried look. "But things have changed! I don't know how I can help you or what I should do. This has never happened to me! I can't help but feel bad. They took care of Aizawa and me a lot. I feel sad about it too" Rin felt slightly irritated. Both her parents did take care of the three of them a lot of the time. Rin's house was the HQ for all their mischief. She wondered if he felt the way she did. Hizashi grabbed Rin's hand and she turned to him in shock as he held it near his head. "Please tell me what to do" he looked sad, almost on the brink of tears. "I don't know anymore" Rin muttered. She looked at the ground to distract herself. He sighed and gripped onto her hand harder. A coin flew between them into the fountain. "What's going on here exactly?" It was Aizawa. He had one hand in his pocket, the other was tossing a coin in the air as he was staring at Hizashi angrily. Hizashi let go of Rin's hand. "C'mon dude it's nothing. I'm just asking what Rin wants me to do" Aizawa turned his gaze to Rin. She didn't look him in the eyes. "About what?" He said looking back at Hizashi. He had a slight moment of realization as Rin and Hizashi sat awkwardly next to each other "Oh, sorry". Rin stood up. "Just help me become a hero. How about that?" she turned to both with a smile. She really didn't want them to think she wasn't okay. They smiled back, and both signalled with a thumbs up. They really liked doing that. The three walked to class and sat down. As soon as Rin opened the door there was chatter. Rin looked around. She couldn't remember any of their names and their faces seemed blurred. Were they not that important to her or did she just forget? A girl with a large blue bow in her long blonde hair came over. "I heard what happened. I'm sorry- "the girl went to speak but Rin cut her off "Please just leave me alone. I don't want anyone to pity me". The girl nodded and walked back to her seat. Rin rested her head on her arms. She felt exhausted. She could see in the corner of her eye that everyone was staring at her. She felt all their eyes on her. It was almost crushing. Aizawa looked concerned more than anything. Class went on as usual with roll call. When the teacher got to Rin's name he paused but didn't say anything. She knew he would try to tell her that she could see him if she needed something. This made her avoid his gaze and not look at him. He started to go on about the hero setting that they would do today. Rin couldn't focus and started to stare at the window on the other side of class. It's not that she didn't want to listen… she just couldn't. His words weren't making sense. "Rin" Aizawa whispered poking her. Rin looked up and heard the teacher say, "Who do you want on your team Rin?" she looked at Aizawa and Hizashi and gave a broken smile. "You already know". The teacher smiled back but Rin's dropped as soon as he looked away. She hurt pretending it was okay to be this way.

"Pick out your hero costumes, don't take them home this time Hizashi" the teacher spoke. Rin could slightly hear again. She walked over to the girl's locker room and picked up her hero costume. It was a black t-shirt and black jeans with black boots. She had a chain belt and red aviator goggles. She wanted to look as cool as possible when she made this costume but now it didn't seem right. She put on her hero costume and put on Gunslinger's coat once again. Her goggles were on the top of her head. She walked out with the rest of the girls to the arena they would be practicing in. As she walked up to stand with the class they looked at her jacket. She had a lot to prove wearing it. "Here's how this is going to work. We've allocated your teams. It'll be a 3 on 3 battle. The main thing to focus on here is… say it with me… Teamwork! Both teams will treat the others like a villain. You must get these cuffs on the opposing player. Working together to ensure victory is vital. Most of the time you won't be alone and will have to adjust your hero skills and quirks to another heroes. Remember there will only be one cuff per person. I will allow the same cuff being used on two people. Once it's closed on you, you're out! Do we all understand?" The whole class agreed and yelled yes in an almost irritated tone. Rin said nothing. She had no desire to use her quirk. While the others fought Rin watched them fight. Aizawa and Hizashi were discussing strategy while Rin stared at the 6 who were fighting. One of them used an earth quirk. He could bring up either a wall or create balls of rocks out of the earth to throw at others. Rin watched him closely. She saw the way his feet moved before he hit the ground. She observed him closely. "Rin are you okay?" Aizawa said shaking her shoulder. Rin wasn't expecting it and jumped and stuttered "Y-yeah! I'm fine, why?" She looked back at the screen and smiled. "Your eyes just kind of went red for a second. Maybe I was just seeing things, but the brown looked red" Rin stopped and put her finger up to her chin. Was this like the nurse? Did she copy his quirk? Even if she did, there was no way she could show anyone. Atlas was a secret. He was almost a curse. If she somehow got powers Rin may be suspicious. There were stories of a villain who could give people quirks. Rin might've been thrown in with them and taken to jail if she didn't go about this properly. Rin was overwhelmed with this thought. "Rin are you paying attention?" Hizashi said dragging her over to them. "Alright so we're fighting these quirks," Aizawa pointed to a drawing of 3 stick figures they had drawn. Rin sat there in disbelief that they drew this. "Fire hands, elastic body and the weird one that likes the shadows". Rin knew these kids briefly. One could shoot fire with her hands. The second could extend his body to any shape or form. The last could paralyse a target if they're in the shadows. Rin put her hand on her chin once again. "So essentially here's what we do… We keep fire hands near shadow dude so that there's always light over his attacks. The only one we gotta be careful of is elastic dude in case he becomes larger to produce more shadows in the area. Let's all team up on elastic first. Hizashi should be able to at least make them stumble for a bit, while Aizawa can take shadow dudes quirk if he gets too cocky with his attacks. I guess I'll…" Rin went silent after she had thought about her plan. Her quirk was useless to her. "Teleport to them or some shit". Aizawa and Hizashi looked at each other and sighed loudly. Hizashi was dramatic and laid on his back. "Rin use your teleport to get your cuffs on elastic first. You're faster than us" Aizawa smiled at her. "You're not as 'useless' as you think. You might be able to get the cuffs on them before us. I believe in you, alright?" Hizashi sat up and looked at Aizawa. He was salty about something. "Yeah, yeah save your sappiness till after we win, would you?" They both shot a glare at each other. Rin felt uneasy. They seemed to be fighting with each other a lot more even if she hadn't seen them. It must've been her that was dividing them. "Next round! Shouta, Hizashi and Rin versus Reno, Amethyst and Blake! Head to your starting positions". Rin's heart was beating. She gave her two partners one last look. They all nodded at each other. Rin put her goggles on her eyes and took a deep breath. She was nervous.

The three opponents stood on the other side of them. Reno was the elastic quirk user. He had red hair and wore a white costume that stretched with his body. Blake was the paralyse shadow user. He had black hair and always looked disinterested in everything. Almost like Aizawa but more extreme. His hero costume was a simple t-shirt and jeans. Amethyst was the fire hand user. She had long purple hair and had a smirk on her face. It was almost like she thought she was going to win. The bell rung. Immediately, all 6 of them sprung to action. Rin teleported behind Reno and tried to cuff him. He stretched his body outwards and stood above her. "We've already thought this through Rin. You went away for too long. We know your quirk" he wrapped his arms around her and held his cuffs near her arms. She teleported back over at Aizawa who was fighting Blake. Aizawa was jumping around avoiding staying on the ground for too long. Rin looked over at Hizashi who was fighting Amethyst. Amethyst would throw fire at him and he would scream it backwards. Hizashi couldn't keep his quirk up for too long without it going into different directions which was the same for Aizawa. It would cause strain on all of them. Rin stood there as Reno took advantage of her being distracted. He threw his arm out and punched her in the face. He intended to hit her to the ground and pull her backwards to cuff her. Rin teleported behind him and kicked him. Reno saw through this and moved his body to make a hole where she kicked. He closed it and had her caught. Her body fell to the floor, breaking her leg. Rin was breathing heavily. Reno was smiling. It was over. He moved the cuffs closer to her leg. She closed her eyes. She was useless. "Is this how you want it to end?" a voice said. It sounded faintly like Atlas. Rin opened her eyes. She copied someone's quirk once, it was worth a shot to try again. She slid her left foot and copied the earth user as much as she could. A small slab of rock came between them and knocked Reno back. It was a pathetic amount, but it worked. He had hurt her leg badly. Reno stood there in disbelief and looked at her. Her eyes were red. These weren't her powers, but she wasn't going to lose. There was so much adrenaline in her that she didn't notice her leg was broken. She brought out her cuffs from her belt and smiled. She wasn't ready to mess around. Reno launched himself at her, but she teleported behind him. Somehow, she was quicker than before. Reno tried to grab her, and she teleported again. This time she had landed on his arm. She threw the cuff on him and jumped back. "Reno has been caught by Rin!" the announcer said. She landed on her feet and gave Reno a smirk. Rin had the choice to save Aizawa or save Hizashi. Aizawa was fast but smart when it came to fighting. He didn't use his quirk all the time just in case his eyes hurt too much. Hizashi's voice was straining itself. She ran over to Hizashi. Amethyst realized Rin was running and threw fire from her fist at Rin. Hizashi quickly yelled again to disrupt the fire from Rin's direction. Amethyst took this chance and lunged forward at Hizashi. She surrounded herself with fire. Rin ran after her. Hizashi tried to yell again but he could only strain it for so long. Rin was in the way of his attack and held her ears. Amethyst had built a shield of fire around her. When Hizashi stopped, she jumped and knocked him down. She put her cuff on his leg. "Shit!" Rin said. She did nothing to help but she still felt guilty. Hizashi let out a defeated smile as he walked off the stage. Amethyst started going after Rin immediately. She was throwing consistent punches at her. Rin did her best to avoid them by teleporting backwards. Suddenly her body stopped. She looked down and noticed she had landed in Amethyst's shadow. Amethyst looked insane as she went to punch Rin again. Rin braced for the attack, but it didn't come out. She looked to her left and saw Aizawa. He had used his quirk on Amethyst. Blake ran forward and cuffed Aizawa's left arm. "Game over" he said. Aizawa gave one last look at Rin. He looked like he had faith in her and almost like he was apologizing at the same time. Amethyst walked forward. Rin was still stuck there. This feeling suddenly felt familiar. She remembered the men who paused her. The men who killed her parents. Amethyst and Blake had already won. She was paralysed she couldn't move. Rin started to sweat. She only saw the men. She saw her parents lifeless again. She started to hyperventilate. Amethyst moved slowly forward with her cuffs.

"You really want to call yourself a hero?" Amethyst said. Rin clenched her teeth. She was angry and terrified. She didn't want to remember this. She didn't want to feel this again. She snapped. Rin forced her hand forward and grabbed Amethyst before she could put the cuffs on her. She clicked her fingers. Suddenly, Gunslinger's glove had gone off. It electrocuted her. She was screaming but Rin didn't stop. She couldn't. She just stared at her lifeless. It almost felt good. Rin almost smiled. Something about it seemed pleasing to her. At the same time it frightened her. She wasn't herself. A hero jumped down into the arena and pushed Rin forcefully back. She slid on the pavement half way across the arena. Everyone was looking at her. They looked terrified, disgusted and angry. Rin felt everyone's eyes on her. She didn't know what she did or why she did it. She couldn't stop. She slowly pushed her body up. Other heroes were consoling Amethyst. She looked terrified. Gunslinger's glove was nothing to mess around with. If she hit it in the right area, Amethyst could have died. Rin's arms were bleeding from sliding on the pavement. Her leg was broken. She stood up still and looked at what she had done. Amethyst was knocked out and shaking as a hero called Recovery Girl ran over to her. Aizawa and Hizashi were in shock as they looked at Rin. She felt isolated. She looked at her hands. They were shaking. What the fuck did she just do? She looked around. She felt their eyes on her. She wanted to apologize but was it too late? She had fucked up. She hyperventilated again. This time, she ran. Aizawa and Hizashi ran after her, along with another hero who was watching from the stands. She ran down a long hallway that connected to the arena. "Rin stop!" Hizashi yelled. He let out his quirk on her. She grabbed her ears but kept running. She was crying. Hizashi yelled at her again. Her ears started to bleed. Adrenalin was still pumping through her. She didn't want to face the consequences. She suddenly blacked out. Her body fell to the ground. The group ran up to her. "What happened here? Why did she electrocute Amethyst and why did she just pass out?" yelled the hero who accompanied them. "I'll get the nurse!" Hizashi said running off. Aizawa looked at Rin. What the hell was going on?

Rin opened her eyes. Her leg hurt like hell. Atlas stood over her. "Wasn't that fun? You would've killed that poor girl if that hero didn't get in the way. What a shame" he smiled at her. Her body was numb and she didn't have the strength to fight against him. "Why am I here?! Fuck I need to go back! What did I do?!" Rin yelled. Atlas put his hand over Rin's leg. She thought for a second he was going to hurt her. She saw a green light. Atlas was fixing her leg. "I'll reward you this time because that was really fun" Atlas giggled at her. She stared at him angrily "Is this some fucking joke to you?! I almost killed some class mate because I remembered how those stupid villains held me before they hit me. Fucking hell how am I going to get out of this?!" Rin grabbed her head in anger and hit the ground. "Fuck my life!" Atlas said nothing but kept healing her leg. He eventually spoke up "They're healing you at the same time but they're isolating you in a room alone. This could be bad for you. Have you made your choice yet on what you want to feel?" Rin looked at Atlas. She wanted to crush and kill him. "What I want to feel?! You do realize there's more things important here than just my feelings?!" Atlas smiled at her. "We won't make the same mistake twice kid, understand?". Rin's eyes widen. She was terrified. She blinked, and she was awake again. She was cuffed to a chair as Nezu, Recovery Girl and some other heroes stood in front of her. She tried to struggle the cuffs off but couldn't. "You have a lot of explaining to do Rin" Nezu said. He looked emotionless yet angry. She started to sweat.

"I swear I can explain"