PRIDE VS PREJUDICE

Discrimination was prevalent in the early days and hate crimes against the then-called Meta Humans were rampant. They became targets and seen as the minority by the 'normal' humans. Contrary to how people with quirks are now seen as normal and even idolized; in the past, they were ostracized and pushed away from society. - Excerpt from "The Harsh Reality of Life in the Dawn of the Superhuman Society" by Moni Yamamoto

Sora Busujima

Miu and I were doing our best to act like normal humans and helpless girls in hopes of keeping the men's attention to let Deku and Dynamight slip by unnoticed. And we were nearly succeeding. If only the two people we were trying to save actually followed the plan to the dot, we would have gotten out of this bind without risking exposure.

Turns out, the very people we were trying to save can not follow simple instructions and can not restrain themselves from interfering. I honestly expected this from Dynamight, but Deku? No...

Imagine my surprise when I thought the crisis was averted when Deku stopped Dynamight from attacking, only to attack in his own way.

"Let our teammates go!"

And with those four words, the plan got derailed in an instant.

The man whose arm I was desperately clinging on to and pulling to the direction opposite my so-called 'teammates', suddenly turned and marched toward the very direction I was preventing him from going to.

In a last ditch effort, I followed closely behind him and whispered in a practiced desperate voice, "Please ignore those strange men. They are scaring me. Please just bring us to the market."

I know he heard me when he clenched his fist and turned with a disgusting smile on his face. "Don't worry, girl. Let's not mind those low-lifes and just go our own way, shall we?"

"Yes."

"You sure you don't know them? He called you 'teamma-'"

"No."

He stared at me for a second, studying my face with a serious look. Is my face not believably pitiful right now? I made sure to avert my eyes, to hide their true colors. Hopefully, he thinks this is me being meek.

Suddenly, he brings a hand up and puts it under my chin, trying to raise my head, but I fight it and keep my head down.

Before he becomes suspicious, Miu comes to the rescue and convinces them for me. "We seriously don't know them, sir. Please just take us far away from them, sir," she said, voice even slightly trembling. Nice touch. I should practice doing that, too. And the 'sir' seems to work great in feeding their pride as well. I wish I was as good as Miu at this.

Succumbing to Miu's charms, the man sighs and says, "Okay then. Let's go. Give me your bag."

"Wait, n-"

Too late. Before I could finish my sentence, he already ripped the bag away from me, revealing my bat wings. It even almost slapped him in the face when it sprang out of the bag.

"What the-" His face and the faces of everyone around us contorted into varied emotions; fear, disgust, pity, anger.

Unconsciously, I took a step back and bumped into the man holding Miu.

"You're a fucking Meta Human?!" He stepped back as well, away from me and pulled Miu with him, until he realized that we were twins. "Wait- You too?"

Forcefully, he pushed her away, making her fall on the ground. The bag slipped out of place, revealing only a glimpse of her wings. Still, it was enough to make the man who held onto her so tightly bring out a handkerchief and wipe his hands fervently as if he just touched dirt. "Ugh! I can't fucking believe you let me put my hands on you! Freaks of nature!"

"What did you just say?" came a voice from behind me, outside the circle of disgusted civilians.

It was not a shout. In fact it was quiet and deep, yet somehow it made everyone silent. When I turned to look, I saw that the voice actually came from Deku.

"I said these girls are freaks of-" He did not get to finish that sentence because in a flash, his mouth was covered by Deku's black tendril of energy, muffling his voice.

"Hey, nerd! Why do you get to use your quirk and I can't?!" Dynamight complains beside him, palms crackling with tiny explosions.

Deku sighs and replies curtly, "Because your explosions are noisy."

They started bickering as if they were not in imminent danger. I was just about to call them out when the people that surrounded us started running away while shouting at the top of their lungs.

"More freaks!"

"Call the patrol!"

"They're harming civilians with their powers!"

The people scattered, for sure looking to grab a patrol officer who could arrest us.

Miu and I shared a look. Reading each other's minds, we started to sprint, grabbing the two troublesome heroes with us.

"Run! The patrols are coming. We can't get caught, you understand?" Miu huffs as she forces her wings free from the bag.

Deku nods. "Okay. Then, let's fly-"

"No!" Miu and I shouted at the same time, surprising Dynamight and Deku.

"They will surely be looking for us in the sky now that they know we have wings," I explained quickly.

We continued running for a minute then our surroundings became quieter. Maybe we escaped?

Feeling a little safer, I changed my pace into a jog. My knees are already throbbing with pain, but I ignored them and continued forward. Then, just as I thought we were free…

"Over there!" Someone shouts from behind. I did not dare look back. Maskless, my face was completely exposed and I can not have them seeing my face.

"Miu-"

"Let's split up!"

"You read my mind! See you at the base," I quickly told her before running off to the left, grabbing an arm with me. I did not get a chance to look whose arm it is, but when I heard crackling and angry grunts, I figured it out pretty quickly.

Katsuki Bakugo

The long-haired vamp and I ran through the maze of the town's outer portion. Instead of various shops like earlier, it looked more like a rundown residential area with windows tightly shut and doors bolted as if in a war. It sent me quick flashes of the time after the Paranormal Liberation War. When everyone thought they were left to fend for themselves and no one trusted anyone, not even the pro-heroes.

What is this? Is this really how it was when quirks started appearing?

"Hey, vamp-" I was going to ask her about the situation, but I stopped midway my sentence when I noticed that she was trying to hide how she's pretty much limping now, and failing miserably at it. Actually, it looks more like she's half running/limping, half flying, but keeping low to the ground.

Then, I remembered something that I saw while on the island...

Bangs pauses for a second before running, rather clumsily I noticed, into the forest. Just as her image disappeared through the trees, I caught a glimpse of the black somethings she's wearing on both knees that her twin doesn't have.

That made me look down her legs and to her knees. Unlike her noisier sister, she was wearing a pair of black knee braces.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Did you get hurt? Your kn-"

"I am fine. Just keep running. I can still hear them behind us."

Now I know something really is wrong, her voice sounds tighter than it usually is, which is saying something. Her teeth seem to be clenched, so I suggested the best way I could think of to get out of this mess. Which should have been what we did in the first place if they weren't so stubborn!

"You have wings, why don't we just freaking fly? I can keep up, you won't have to carry me like in the island-"

"No. The patrols will see us- Ah!" She stumbles and almost falls face first on the ground. Thanks to her reflexes, she was able to catch herself by quickly flapping her wings.

Instantly, I pulled my hand back before she saw it outstretched and ready to catch her. What was I thinking? Was I going to keep her from falling? Damn my insane reflexes. And hers.

"Fuck being seen! They can just chase us with their eyes then. Or are you saying that they might actually catch us? Are you that damn slow?"

She stared at me and I stared back at her light red eyes that seemed to glow dangerously in the dim light. Something ignited inside her with what I said. I know it. I can see it.

So, I guess she gets provoked, too. I thought only her sister was competitive and compulsive. Well, they still do share the same DNA.

"Fine! Make sure you can keep up or else I am leaving you behind. Just know that I am not risking my life and our hideout for you."

"I never asked you to," I snapped back, a little softer than I intended so I harshly added, "freakin' vamp!"

"You must really love name-calling or is your memory so bad that you can not remember my name?"

"Shut up, Bangs."

"Vamp or Bangs? Make up your mind-"

"Let's just take off!"

Her eyes glistened mischievously for a second, then she nodded.

That must be the equivalent of a laugh in her body language dictionary. Is she making fun of me?! ME?!

I was just about to give her a piece of my mind, but she decided that it was finally time to take off and flew up, taunting me to a race.

A laugh bubbled up my throat while I shouted, "You're on!"

No point in trying to stay silent. My explosions were more than enough to draw their attention toward us.

"There! Two flying meta-humans! Shoot them down!"

"You damn extras think you could stop me?! Hell no!" I shifted a bit to send them at least one blast and keep them back.

"Stop! Do not hurt them!" her voice stops me.

"Why the fuck would I liste-"

"Do not start a fight with normal humans. It will just make things worse for our kind. Just run!" She grabbed my arm, sending the blast that was meant for the chasers up in the sky. I was able to brace for the drawback, but she didn't.

She was thrown down to one of the roofs. Thankfully- Wait, thankfully?!- Her reflexes prevented her from slamming down headfirst, but her landing was still rough and I could see that it put a lot of pressure on her already weakened knees.

I was just about to go down to her when she instantly recovered and flew back up, towards the direction of the sun at an astonishing speed.

I followed, eyes glued to her.

Because I need to follow her to their hideout!

Really?

Shut the fuck up!

I shook my head trying to get rid of the senseless noise inside it and tried to ignore the fact that the sight of her in the sunrise made my throat clump up, made me forget that we were being chased, and made me- A RIDICULOUSLY RIDICULOUS IDIOT!

Miu Busujima

A few minutes ago…

"Over there!" Someone shouts from behind us. Oh no no no no. We can't get caught!

"Miu-"

"Let's split up!" I quickly told Sora before she could even finish what she was gonna say.

"You read my mind!" As always. "See you at the base," she quickly told me before running off to the left, grabbing Dynamight.

Okay, I'll take Deku then.

"Follow me!" I ran to the right, trying to remember the quickest way out of here.

With my echolocation, I could still hear the people tailing us along with other people who were waiting to ambush us. I tried my best to avoid them, but the more I tried to avoid the people, the more I lost my sense of direction.

Ugh! Sora has always been better at escaping and remembering the best routes! Why can't I have an ounce of her geniusness?

My frustration must have been obvious because soon, Deku ran alongside me when we reached a slightly wider street and pried. "Hey, Miu, are you okay?"

"Fine- Just- Run," I managed to say in between huffs. "So- Near."

"Tell me the directions," he said, not even out of breath. How?!

"Straight- At the end, left- First corner, left- Main road, fly."

"Okay. Hop on my back," he casually says.

"I'm fine-"

"Trust me. I swear, we'll lose them in a second."

"Without fly-"

"Without flying."

I stopped sprinting and jogged to study his (bouncing, blurry, cute) face.

"Fine!" I folded and quickly hopped onto his back.

Once he secured my arms around his neck with one hand, and both thighs with his other arm, green light glowed from beneath his skin. Then, I didn't know what happened next.

One second we were just one street away from the pursuers and in the next, we were miles away, on the empty main road, surrounded by barren land where he gently placed me down.

I looked around, aware that my face must have looked so pale and my jaw must have reached its maximum capacity for dropping down. Sweet, innocent, blind Deku must have thought I was surveying the area for pursuers because instead of freaking out, he calmly asked, "We can fly now, right?"

"Wha- Ho- Whe- Huh?!" Okay, so I think I left my vocabulary and it's still trying to catch up to us.

"Oh yeah. Sorry for shocking you. It's another quirk- er, meta ability of mine," he says sheepishly, face red with a blush. Now, he realized what happened!

"How many do you have?!" I couldn't stop myself from shouting in his face. My brain can't handle this.

"I'll tell you when we're safely hidden, I promise! For now, let's fly to your base, okay?" He said again with that gentle face, as if he didn't just carry me on his back and- teleported? zoomed?- brought me miles away in seconds.

This man keeps surprising me and I just know he will keep doing that, but surprises are bad for the heart, you know? And my heart skipping a beat from his soft smile is proof of that since hearts aren't supposed to be skipping beats!