Chapter 9: quirk test
The first step in learning more about Akane's quirk, according to Aizawa, was getting into a laboratory to run some tests. The doctor took blood samples, asked a bunch of very uncomfortable questions, and subjected her body to various other scans. Then came the hardest part…practicing her quirk in a controlled environment.
Controlled environment or not, Akane could not have been dreading this moment more. Having Aizawa at her side helped quell her nerves, but only slightly. The last time she had used her quirk, or even taken her gloves off for more than a half hour, terrible things had happened. It took her back to a time in her life overwhelmed by fear and hate. Beatings. Killings. But she had to focus on the present — find a way to use her quirk for good, if it was possible.
"Based on our tests," the doctor told her, "it isn't just human lives your quirk has the ability to manipulate. I'd like to try it out on other organic materials."
Aizawa frowned. "What kind of organic material?"
The doctor pointed to a mouse scuttling about in its cage on the lab counter. Akane's stomach dropped. She clenched her fists, sickened by the prospect of removing her gloves. Of taking another life.
Without knowing it, she had stood up. Aizawa turned. Seeing his adopted daughter, shaking like crazy, white as a sheet, he stood up, too. He put an arm on her shoulders and pulled her into him, letting her hide herself in his black clothes.
"We're going to need a minute," Aizawa told the doctor.
The doctor left them alone. Aizawa sat Akane back down, waiting for her to catch her breath. He sat across from her, a solemn look on his face.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"Don't be." Aizawa squeezed her hand. "This is a lot."
"I should be ready by now."
"Akane," Aizawa said, "after all you've been through, it would be ludicrous for anyone to expect you to be ready."
She pursed her lips. Forcing herself to keep her breath steady, she cast her gaze back to the mouse in its cage. It seemed to get nervous, squeaking and scratching all over its enclosure. Akane swallowed.
"I want to try."
"Are you sure?"
"No, but…I want to, anyway."
Reluctantly, Aizawa called the doctor back in. He opened up the cage and pulled out the mouse. It looked so tiny in his hands, so fragile. Akane could hardly look without wanting to be sick, knowing what she was about to do.
The doctor put the mouse down on the counter in front of her. Akane was suddenly thankful to still be seated, convinced she'd collapse on her shaky legs if she tried to stand. She was also thankful for Aizawa by her side, keeping her calm. Carefully, he put a hand on her back.
In a soft voice, he said, "It's going to be okay. You can do this."
Akane took a deep, shaky breath. She closed her eyes as she removed a single glove, unable to look down at her naked hand. She didn't need to open them to be aware of her surroundings, knowing all she had to do was reach out with that cursed hand….and touch the mouse. Just a brush of her fingertips would be enough to stop the small creature's heart.
"Akane," Aizawa's voice filtered through her panic. "You still with me?"
Akane's eyes opened. Immediately, she saw her disgusting hand, inching closer and closer toward the poor creature, ready to end its life. She froze, overwhelmingly nauseous, and choked out a single sob.
"No," she blurted, frantically pulling her glove back on. "No, no, no, no, no, I-I can't, I —"
"Okay." Fast to act, Aizawa took her by the shoulders and guided her away from the mouse. "You're okay, I'm here."
"Please," Akane wheezed, "don't-don't make me —"
"No one's going to make you do anything. I promise."
She buried her face in her hands, nails scratching the tip of that nasty scar. As quickly and gently as he could, Aizawa pried them away, hoping she'd look at him. He kept his expression as warm and comforting as he could manage, even though it killed him to see her fall apart.
"I've got your back, Akane. Remember? No one can hurt you now."
He gestured to the doctor to give them some space (and take the mouse with him) and then stayed with Akane, calming her down. Once he was sure she could handle it, her breaths more even, a tiny bit of colour returned to her cheeks, he helped her up.
"Let's get you home, kid. You thirsty?"
Absently, so drained by the episode, Akane nodded.
"Alright then. Let's get you some water. Or Redbull, you want a Redbull?"
Akane tried to smile, for his sake, but couldn't quite manage it. "Sure."
xxx
The next couple days were rough. Just attempting to use her quirk again had put Akane into a state of near-constant panic, almost as bad as when Aizawa first adopted her. She hugged the shadows of their apartment, struggled to eat or speak in his company, and jumped at the smallest sound. She didn't even vent her frustrations out on the punching bag, too scared of messing up her knuckles, knowing she'd have to take her gloves off so Aizawa could bandage them.
The worst part, though…the worst part was the nightmares.
For the second time in one night, Aizawa was brutally awoken by a piercing scream from Akane's room. Even knowing it was just another nightmare, even knowing she'd be safe, his blood ran cold. He leapt out of bed and burst through her door.
"Akane," he said, approaching the crying figure still asleep in bed. "Akane, wake up. Wake up."
At his touch, she startled awake, desperately scanning the room for danger.
"It's me," he assured her. "Hey, hey, it was just another dream. You're safe."
She squinted at him, doing her best to return to reality. "Aizawa?"
"That's right."
Exhausted, ashamed and still terrified, Akane pulled her knees into her chest and buried her face in her hands.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry."
"Shh." Aizawa rubbed her back. "Just breathe. Everything's going to be alright."
"I can't keep doing this to you."
He chuckled. Tired as he was, he still had plenty of energy to take care of his daughter.
"How many times am I gonna have to tell you?" Aizawa asked. "You're my kid. If a couple nightmares is the worst you ever do to me, I'll consider myself lucky."
Slowly, she pulled her face out of her hands. Her eyes were wide. Pleading. "I don't want to go back to sleep."
Aizawa sighed. Nodded. "Alright. Guess it's time for for some late night T.V." He stood up and gestured for her to follow. "Let's do this."
And that was how the new father and daughter ended up passed out in front of the T.V, slumped against each other, comfortably unconscious until morning.
xxx
The ordeal at the lab had Akane too shaken up to make it to school for a couple days. She'd received several texts from Midoriya, Iida and Uraraka concerned for her wellbeing. She'd heard from Bakugou, too. However, she wasn't expecting to hear from Todoroki.
TODOROKI
It's your third absence. Everything ok?
Akane looked at her phone. She frowned, but responded anyway.
Yeah, everything ok.
His next message came almost instantly.
TODOROKI
That's good. Let's train?
Akane paused. Was she ready to train again? Was she even ready to leave the apartment? She decided to run it by Aizawa, who, to her surprise, said it might be a good idea. For Akane, training with Todoroki was probably going to be the easiest segway back into classes at U.A she could get. So, eventually, she agreed, and they arranged a time to meet up in one of the U.A gyms after school.
Todoroki had gotten there before her. Seeing her, his eyebrows went up.
"Akane."
She frowned. "Surprised to see me?"
"Sorry." His expression returned to neutral. "It's been a few days." He paused. "We were all worried."
"Don't be." She shrugged her jacket off and approached the ring. "Let's do this."
Much to Todoroki's confusion, Akane didn't insist on training against his quirk today. He had to assume it was because of what happened with Bakugou — maybe she'd lost faith in her ability to take on powerful quirks without using her own. He decided not to question her. Whatever the issue was, it was her business, and God knew Akane didn't appreciate it when someone invaded her business.
Todoroki let himself get distracted, and he underestimated her. Big mistake. They went three rounds without quirks and Akane creamed him every time, only breaking a light sweat. Finally, while they took a quick break, he dared to ask the question.
"Should we practice with quirks?"
Akane arched an eyebrow. She met his stare, waiting for the catch.
Todoroki held up his hands. "If you don't want to —"
"Okay."
Only then did Todoroki seem to realize what he suggested, but Akane had already returned to the ring. There was no way he could back down now. He faced her in the ring, still stretching out his joints.
"So," he said, "you going to tell me go all-out, like Bakugou?"
Akane's face was hard. "Whatever."
Todoroki swallowed. Suddenly he felt like a jerk — why would he bring that up now? Was he trying to test her? Or maybe he just wanted a reaction. She was stoic and detached today, even more so than normal. Most people probably wouldn't have noticed the difference, but it worried him. Even still, he told himself to relax. She'd only clam up tighter if he provoked her.
So, instead, he fought. Todoroki came at Akane with ice and fire, letting her know he wouldn't underestimate her this time, but also knowing when to hold back. The way she counter-attacked, pouncing ferociously on every split second of vulnerability, made it seem like she wanted him to go even harder. It was just as he thought — whatever? No. She wanted him to give his all.
It happened right when Akane got pushed right to the edge. Todoroki, sweating, panting heavily, was convinced she was about to call time — she was smart enough to know her own limits. But she didn't. She did something else. Something unthinkable.
Todoroki sent a blast of fire her way, and Akane, too slow to dodge the whole thing, held out her hand. Almost instantly, the fabric of her glove burned right off.
Todoroki gasped. Pull back. Pull back!
But she didn't. Instead, her face hard as steel, she stayed where she was. The fire touched her hand…and stopped. In fact, the very second Todoroki's flames kissed her naked palm, they fell to ash. Red burst to black and rained to the floor of the ring.
For several moments, Todoroki and Akane just stood there, breathing hard, staring at the ash. Finally, they looked at each other. At the glossy sheen of tears on Akane's eyes, Todoroki blinked.
"Akane?"
She fell to her knees, glaring down at her shaking hands, one gloved, one naked and burnt. Her breath wavered, trying to make sense of what happened. She'd just….used her….quirk? That was what it felt like. She wouldn't forget that feeling in a million years — like a surge of electricity through her whole body. Overwhelming destructive power, ready to tear her apart. The feeling alone brought back a hundred ugly memories, obscuring her view of the present.
Todoroki knelt down in front of her, trying to get her attention. "Akane? What's happening?"
Hardly even registering his presence, she whispered, "What did I do?"
Todoroki looked at Akane, looked at the ash, and looked at Akane's burnt hand. "I think, somehow, you activated your quirk."
Suddenly remembering her bare hand, Akane gasped. "G-gloves. I need my glove."
Todoroki tilted his head. "Uh, it's gone. I torched it. Sorry."
"No." She shook her head, frantically, cradling her exposed hand to her chest. "I need it."
Seeing her panic, Todoroki searched for a fast solution. Thinking on his feet, desperate to help, he pulled his shirt off and handed it to her.
"Here. Wrap this around your hand."
Akane took it, gratefully wrapping the sweaty fabric over her hand. She swallowed, a little calmer. "Thank you."
Todoroki nodded. He tried not to think about the fact he was now half naked, crouched in front of a pretty girl. He swallowed, but before he could say anything, Akane looked him in the eye with a renewed desperation.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
He raised his eyebrows. "Me? I'm fine. I'm…worried about you."
She wrapped her hand up tighter. Her mouth opened to respond, but she couldn't seem to find the words.
Todoroki cleared his throat. "So you've never done that before? With your quirk?"
She shook her head. "I've only ever used my quirk on….you know."
"That's incredible."
She frowned. "What?"
"What you just did. Don't you see what this means?"
At Akane's unhappy silence, Todoroki continued.
"It's not just human life your quirk manipulates. It's got to be anything that exhibits signs of life."
Akane considered. "Like…fire?"
"Right. Fire is a natural element. It exhibits almost every characteristic of life — eats, grows, produces waste. Even the way it moves. Whatever the trigger for your quirk, my fire just activated it. Maybe this is why."
Thinking she'd be happy for this discovery, Todoroki's face fell at the tear drop rolling down Akane's cheek. He leaned forward, tempted to reach out to her, but deciding against it.
"Akane…what's wrong?"
Several more tear drops rolled down her cheeks. "Do you have any idea how many people I've killed with my quirk?"
She met his eye, despair rampant across her features. She took a deep breath.
"All that time, all those people…and I never knew." She squeezed her eyes shut, but the tears kept coming. "What kind of monster only ever uses their quirk for evil?"
Todoroki's heart sunk. "You didn't know." She didn't seem to hear him, devastated by her past, until Todoroki wrapped her into a tentative hug. "You couldn't have known."
She cried into his shoulder, shuddering with each breath. A part of her was still aware of how dangerous this situation was — trusting a guy she did not know well enough to trust, a guy who was probably much stronger than her, and who probably thought she was more disgusting now than ever for the things she'd done in her past. But, for once, she let all that go, overwhelmed enough that his embrace was the very comfort she needed to hold everything together.
Once he felt her body stop shaking and heard her breath gradually even out, Todoroki pulled away. He eyed her with concern.
"Are you feeling any better?"
Akane nodded. Her eyes were tired.
He gestured to her hand, still wrapped in his shirt. "I'm really sorry about that. We should get it checked out."
Akane just nodded again. "Okay."
Leaving her only briefly to retrieve a clean shirt from his gym bag, Todoroki helped Akane to Recovery Girl. Neither of them said anything the whole way there. They didn't need to. Their discovery held the weight of a thousand words between them.