SEMBLANCE
Antagonist
Emerald had been on her own for as long as she could remember. If she'd ever had parents, she couldn't recall them. There had been a few teachers, mentors if you will; but no one even resembling a parent figure.
She had learned after a while that being on her own had its own advantages and disadvantages. Without a partner, she could slip in places two people might be obvious. She could get by with smaller marks too when working alone. However, she had no backup on the rare occasion her marks caught on to what was happening.
In fact, a pickpocket attempt gone wrong was how she had discovered her semblance. The older man she was targeting looked harmless with no obvious weapons. His glasses and habit of learning close to things he was looking at convinced her his eyesight was bad. Altogether, he looked like the perfect clueless shopper she liked to target.
When she'd bumped into him, though, he had grabbed her arm, intending to steady her at first. His eyes had landed squarely on his wallet, which was gripped in Emerald's hand. His eyes had widened when he realized what was happening, and his grip on her arm tightened almost instantly.
Knowing she was caught, Emerald tore her arm from the man's hand and raced off into the crowd. Unfortunately, the shopping center was entirely too crowded for her to get very far ahead; and the man was able to keep pace with her. Realizing that she wouldn't be able to outrun him, Emerald started looking for someplace to hide.
Spotting a convenient hidey hole, she had dived for it without a moment's hesitation. Luck hadn't been with her, though. The man pursuing her had seen her. Fear and instinct made her press herself as tightly against the back of her hiding place as she could. Her eyes snapped closed, and she chanted silently in her head, "I'm not here. I'm not here. You can't see me."
Her panicked breathing stopped entirely when the light coming in the entrance of her hiding spot was blocked. Almost against her will, her eyes slowly opened to stare into the face of her panting mark. Their eyes locked, and Emerald knew she was caught.
Then the man's eyes flitted around her little hiding space, and he cursed loudly. "Where did that little rat get to?" he muttered to himself as he climbed back to his feet.
Emerald sucked in a deep breath when the man was gone. She had no idea what had happened. He'd looked right at her! There was no way he hadn't seen her, but he had acted like she just wasn't there.
It had taken a week of trying to figure out what had happened before she had the idea that this incredible new talent might be her semblance. She started experimenting as much as possible, but almost a month had passed before she was able to keep someone from seeing her without the desperation the first time she'd done it.
Months and years of testing her semblance's limits made her the best of thieves, if she said so herself. She could make people see things that weren't there or keep them from seeing things that were there. She had become so confident in her abilities that she was starting to think about teaming up with someone for bigger and better things. However, before she could put much thought into it, a strange woman with yellow eyes and hair as dark as coal had made her an offer she would have been a fool to turn down.
AN: Darkerpaths kindly pointed out some formatting errors in chapters 2 through 5, which have now been corrected. They're legible now. :)
