it's been a *while*. (´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)
*cries in procrastination*
The concept of good versus evil.
That was something this world seemed extremely fixated on. The line was simply drawn at that spot, there was no middle or in-between.
And that intrigued her, how this universe viewed things so impossibly black and white. Hero or Villain. Good or Bad. It was because there was nobody wondering, 'Maybe the reason this criminal stole was because she had a sick daughter who needed medicine badly?' or thinking, 'This hero exaggerated a common thief for publicity...'
It was only, 'He's a villain because he used his Quirk for his own gain,' and, 'She's a hero because she obeys the law and apprehends the wrong.'
What was wrong?
It was confusing and oddly intriguing. It was also a bit hilarious, actually. Was Azula, someone who punished the disobedient and merciless to misbehavior, who was the law, thinking so deeply on the concept of criminals?
Why? So she could be a hero?
Well, she wouldn't be curious for that shallow of a reason. But if society's views were so set on just and unjust and yet so laughably hypocritical...maybe she wasn't the villain everyone thought she was.
Maybe everybody was wrong about her, too.
"This is Nakamura with your daily news. At daybreak just yesterday, a prison for villains in Hosu City had a frightening jailbreak, resulting in at least a quarter of the criminals escaping their holdings. Many nearby heroes, like Manual, made an appearance, apprehending several villains and returning them to their cells. Even so, there were some villains able to escape, and nobody knows of their exact whereabouts as of now. The causes of this occasion also remain unknown, and the prison is not disclosing any further information to elaborate on that. Is this the start of another villain group, or could it be inside forces working together? This incident will definitely keep civilians and heroes awake at night.
Keep in mind, a multitude of hero injuries have been spotted all over Japan recently, Tokyo and Yokohama especially. Heroes with broken limbs, claiming they were attacked and knocked out, others with even more severe injuries...it makes us wonder if these happen to be linked together. If so, what does that mean for us, and-"
The clinking of glass, and a shadowy hand rubbing the remaining droplets off a shot cup. The figure's eyes flicked towards an old television screen, which crackled with static.
The voice on the other side remained silent.
"-Authorities reassure us, however, measures will be taken to prevent further harm towards heroes. The heroes on the job claim the people responsible for this will face justice, and the ones who have escaped are being tracked and will be found-"
"Contact our sources," came the voice from the TV screen, coming out scratchy and slightly distorted, and in a tone that left no room for argument. "I believe it's time to act on our investment."
"Yes, Master."
The shadowy hand picked up the remote, shutting the old television with a quiet click. The screen went dark. Smoky yellow eyes peered down at the shot glass, picking up an almost indiscernible spot of red.
Kurogiri sighed to himself and placed it in the sink.
"N-now, what about Endeavor? You two have really similar Quirks! Of course, his is kinda orange-y, but it's still fire!"
"He looks weird," Azula intoned dryly, looking pointedly at his flaming beard.
"Then what about Mirko? I mean, she's really strong, kinda like you! Look at her ears!"
"She's alright, I suppose." Azula stared up at Broccoli-san's bare ceiling as she slumped back on his bed. It was perhaps the only area of his eyeball-scorching room that did not contain portraits and merchandise of a buff blond man with a smile practically ironed into his features.
It looked very painful.
Even his pajamas and maybe half of his clothes were filled with 'All Might' products. Over the last week, Izuku had given her utterly enthused lessons about his beloved heroics, filling her head with his incessant praise of all things hero.
(Or, if she was to be specific, All Might).
She'd nearly backed out of her spontaneous acceptance of their friendship because of how one-sighted this little boy really was. He was really boring in that respect, like the airhead Ty Lee was.
Azula had to admit, however begrudgingly, his infinite knowledge in heroics was helpful. Now, she had a bit of a better understanding as to how this world's justice system worked. Sort of.
"There has to be a hero you really, really like!" came Izuku's latest, (pointless) gush, wiggling around on the floor with his shiny, colorful hero cards strewn all around him. He probably had thousands in those tacky metal tins of his.
"Maybe," Azula drawled tiredly, hand flopping to the side. "Are there any other...heroes? Like, less flashy ones, perhaps?"
"Erm," Izuku's nose scrunched up in thought, emerald eyes squinting as he peered off into blank air.
She sighed. "Those 'Undergound Heroes' I've heard about. What about them?"
That seemed to spark something in the bean's memory.
"Right! There's Eraserhead! He can cancel out Quirks! He's less well-known since his work is less upfront, but he's also super-duper cool!" exclaimed Izuku, face stretched out into a beam.
That seemed interesting. A sort of ability nullifier, was what it sounded like. Azula wondered if it would work on her. She surely hoped not, it would be one thing this world wouldn't be able to use against her. Azula's golden eyes flicked up to see Broccoli-san staring at her intently, goggling her with that puppy-esque gaze. "Thanks," Azula said, in a smile that was more lethargic smirk than anything else. "You're pretty helpful."
If possible, Broccoli-san's beam grew even larger, sparkling with childish innocence.
"Is everything okay in here? I was going to make some katsudon for lunch, if you kids would like..." spoke a soft voice, peeking through the faintly chipped doorway.
Azula glanced at the newcomer, tilting her head in observation. Inko Midoriya. She was a petite, pleasant-faced woman with the gentle yet bright eyes that seemed to run in the Midoriya family.
When Azula first met her, she thought the woman might faint. Inko had spewed something ridiculous about how cute Azula was, and for a moment she'd wanted to leave an even better first impression for saying such a thing.
Then again, murdering her new friend's mother for a compliment likely wasn't going to give her any brownie points, so she was proud of herself for holding back, instead giving a "Hi, Mrs. Midoriya, it's wonderful to meet you!" with a brilliant smile.
The woman probably now thought Azula was the sweetest child in the world, other than her wholesome son.
"Katsudon!" cheered Broccoli-san, vibrating with joy. Inko glanced at Azula, still smiling. "And you, Azula-chan?"
"I'll pass, thank you," Azula chirped politely. She caught Izuku staring.
"Yes?" she asked, patiently.
"Do you know how good katsudon tastes?" demanded Broccoli-san with a fervent gaze. "No." Azula replied plainly. "I've never had it." Obviously a mistake on her part, because Izuku jumped to his feet.
"You need to try it!" he near-shrieked, grabbing her hand.
Before she could growl in protest, he sprang to his door with the force of a comet, dragging her along with his fervent passion.
"You little - unhand me right now-!"
Midoriya was much too squealy to hear.
Azula squinted through the lines and lines of chattering peasants, heaving a bored sigh. Midoriya bounced like a ping-pong ball beside her, making these squeak-y yelps of joy that made her almost cringe. In the next two weeks they spent together, Midoriya had made it his personal mission to introduce her to the wondrous world of heroes, probably in hopes he'd raise another rabid, obsessed fangirl like he was.
Azula was not so easily persuaded, and although she had tried multiple times to quell the green-haired boy's fierce motivation to get her to idolize any hero, (he insisted that she'd understand if she met them face to face), her attempts were futile.
And so, Makoto and Inko had worked something out; Inko could take Izuku and Azula to a Hero Convention, where "meet-and-greets" were supposedly happening with multiple top-heroes. Including All Might.
Azula had never seen the Broccoli-Boy so exuberant. And that was saying something. She pursed her lips with thorough annoyance, making every effort to not look at a certain, spiky haired blonde that glared at anything two inches within his vicinity.
Unfortunately, since the event was so popular, and Midoriya had been hopeful to invite Blondy, spouting all that Kacchan nonsense, Inko had made arrangements with the brat's mother to bring him along as well. Luckily, there was controlled chaos throughout the large field, only those who'd been signed and had their conversations screaming shrilly about their beloved autographs as they galloped to the other side of the convention area. It was almost shameful to see near-adults fawning over a slip of paper of a picture with a name signed on it. She almost felt bad for the heroes. "Are we there yet?" she grumbled, dragging her hands over her cheeks. The line was supposed to break off to look and speak to different heroes at the convention, with a small loop to join back on the line and move forward.
Midoriya and Blondy were hellbent on the All Might line, however, to which they were barely inching forward towards, and besides Midoriya's cheerful chatter to voice their sweaty, painstakingly slow crawl down the aisles, Azula wanted nothing more than to burn the place to the ground.
She was being patient enough already, dealing with both brats at once.
"Look, Midoriya, why don't we simply go to that fireman hero's stand?" She pointed at the man on fire, Endeavour, with a placid smile. "Isn't the 'Number 2 Hero' hero enough?"
MIdoriya looked at her like she'd spoken alien language. Bakugou gave a loud snort. They said in unison: "No way! I've never met All Might in person before, and he's never come to an event like this!"
Bakugou's version was a little more crass, and he shot daggers at her with his devil-spawn eyeballs.
Azula grit her teeth, feeling like the air around her was clawing at her throat. If she didn't get out of here soon, she was going to end up causing homicide. "Fine!" she breezed out. "I'll go myself! Meet me back at that little tree there!" she waved dismissively at wherever.
"Azula-chan, wait, I promised Makoto-san to watch you-"
She disregarded Inko's meek call and strode over to the branch of Endeavour's line. It wasn't nearly as long as All Might's despicable horde of fans, and each child who left looked scared instead of awe-inspired.
She finally reached the front of the line, where she had to look up, (ew), to meet the eyes of a hulking man with flames for a beard and scalding blue eyes.
He gazed impassively down at her, and she tilted her head.
Hello there, hero.
BAHA it's been so long -3-
I don't know what I'm doing. This is 1.8k words. Sorry y'all had to wait.
Chlo~
