Big orange eyes stared unblinkingly into a pair of amber eyes.
"Not a thought behind those eyes huh?"
Amari spoke to the goldfish she held in front of her in a plastic bag filled with water. She let out a sigh as the stupid fish didn't answer her, merely staring at her with its round eyes. It felt like they were piercing into her soul.
Did it know what she was planning to do with it?
After her conversation with Midoriya a few days ago she had gathered up the courage to start testing the more harmful side of her quirk. Amari decided to start her 'practice' on a fly she had caught in her room. As soon as she had tried reaching for it with her quirk, she grabbed onto the first thing she could feel and mentally willed it to tear, causing the fly to be brutally decapitated from the inside out.
After staring at the two parts of the fly splattered on her windowsill with open mouth, she had gathered both parts and buried them in her backyard, plucking a flower, that was more like a weed, she put it on the mini-grave in an attempt to atone for her sins.
She needed to practice on something bigger. Something with an anatomy that resembled humans more than a fly. Logically, the next step would be to move up to something like a mouse, but as she stepped into the pet shop and made eye contact with the beady eyes of a little white mouse, she had immediately abandoned that idea. She simply couldn't get it over her heart.
Amari had once read somewhere that fish couldn't feel pain. Right now, sitting in the corner of the park near her house, because she would not and could not explain her potentially killing a fish to her parents, she sincerely hoped that was true.
She let out a shaky breath, carefully gathering her quirk in her hands as she reached into the bag and grabbed hold of the fish firmly enough so that it couldn't swim out of her hand, but not firm enough to hurt it.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she tentatively allowed the smallest possible stream of her quirk she could focus on to trickle into the fish.
"Slow and steady..."
A trickle of sweat dropped down her brow as her breathing became labored. The tight hold she needed to have on her quirk was taking a bigger toll on her than she expected. Nonetheless, she was able to get a feel on the general anatomy of her fish buddy. Following the blood flow around the brain, past muscles, guts, gonads, liver, what she assumed were the gills based on the influx of oxygen into the blood stream, and back into the brain.
Okay this was it. Mentally, she took a hold of one of the smaller veins near one of its eyes. With a firm tug on her quirk, she willed the vein to burst open, feeling it tear open. She sagged over slightly at the massive drain of energy that ensued from the action.
Opening her eyes, she and let out a scream as the water in the bag was turning red. Instead of bursting open the small vein, the whole eye had popped off. A steady stream of blood exited the gaping hole in its eye socket.
"Shit shit shit shit shit shit" Amari mumbled quietly.
Helplessly, she ripped Bubbles (she had given it a name now) out of the bag and pressed her lips its scaly and disgustingly slimy body. She pushed her quirk into it. quickly closing the wound and patching up the internal damage as good as she could before dunking it back into the now murky brown tinted water.
"Did you just kiss a fucking fish?" A voice cut through her state of near shock.
Whipping her head around, Amari came face to face with her most bad-tempered classmate, decked out in running gear, as he was peering down at her, her now one-eyed fish and then back at her again.
"H-his name is Bubbles!" Was the first thing Amari could splutter in her state of slight delirium from the exhaustion that hit her like a truck.
She could almost swear the corners of his mouth perked up a bit at that but decided to write it off as the exhaustion making her see things.
"Is that a fucking eyeball floating around?" He squinted inquisitively at the bag, with a panicked fish swimming erratic circles inside.
At that she slumped dejectedly.
"I almost killed mr. Bubbles. I'm a bad fish mother."
"Yeah."
You whipped your head around to glare at Bakugou. He wasn't supposed to agree with you. His script was to say 'oh no it was an accident, you are the best mom any fish could have',
"Why are you here again?" Amari hissed, getting to her feet, ignoring how whoozy the action made her feel.
"MIND YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS, IT'S A PUBLIC PARK!" The blonde retaliated aggressively, small explosions popping from his curled fists by his side.
"Go be public somewhere else."
"WHAT THE FUCK WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU FISH ABUSER?!"
Why were there two Bakugou's yelling at her?
"Hey Bakugou?" She started quietly.
"WHAT?!" His red gaze narrowed on her accusingly.
"I'm like" She stumbled a step to the side "really tired."
"Then go to fucking bed."
Bed? Sleep? Yeah that did sound reaaaally good right now. She should do that.
And thus Amari closer her eyes and conked out, leaving her classmate to catch her before she hit the ground.
"STOP FUCKING PASSING OUT ON ME YOU STUPID FIRST AID GIRL!"
Class 1-A was back at the USJ for a rescue training. Amari exited the bus alongside her classmates, peering up at the building with a knot in her stomach. It had been a few weeks since the villain incident and the bad memories still occasionally visited her in her sleep.
Walking inside they were greeted by Thirteen, who was apparently also recovered from her injuries.
"Welcome back, everyone!" She cheered. "I know a lot happened the last time you were here, but class is class. Let's not dwell on it and begin the rescue training."
"Are you really okay to teach, Thirteen-sensei?" Uraraka asked sweetly.
At that Thirteen spun around smoothly.
"My back hurts a bit still, but it's nothing compared to Senpai." She spoke, pointing a finger at Aizawa.
Amari narrowed her eyes at her bandage clad teacher. You knew that under those bandages the man was nearly completely healed. He was completely milking this situation.
"We're ready to begin class." The grumpy man said, turning around. "Stop wasting time."
"Aizawa-sensei" Midoriya started from somewhere beside you. "All Might is supposed to meet us as well. Where is he?"
"I don't know. Forget about him." Came the uncaring reaction from their teacher as he kept walking
The students exchanged a few nervous glances between each other, before seemingly making up their minds and following after their teacher. The last time All Might was supposed to be here and he wasn't, was not a good day for the class of wannabe heroes.
Thirteen took the students over to the water zone first, instructing Iida, Mineta and Bakugou to enter the water and pretend to be drowning. Amari nearly laughed at the undignified look on Mina's, and the absolutely furious look on Bakugou's face as they waded into the cold water.
"Now, Sero, Tsuyu and Uraraka," Their teacher explained "you three will act as the heroes. Your objective is to get the civilians out of the water and bring them to your medic, Shuzenji."
Uncertainly, the four students walked to the edge of the water, as the others took a careful step backwards.
"Begin!"
Immediately, the three 'heroes' jumped into the water, swimming towards the 'drowning' victims as fast as they could with Tsuyu taking the lead.
"Oh! Please help! I am drowning!" Their class president wailed dramatically.
"Don't worry sir! We are on our way! Hold on!" Uraraka yelled back convincingly, the three heroes slowly closing in on the three victims.
"Tsuyu! Uraraka! Come and carry me out of the water in your soft bosoms!" Mineta's grating voice squeaked.
In some unspoken agreement, Tsuyu steered towards Bakugou, grabbing the angry boy by his collar and swimming him back to the shore under the sound of his yelling at her to 'keep her creepy fucking frog hands off of him'.
Moments later, Uraraka reached Iida, utilizing her quirk to make him weightless and allowing her to easily swim him back to the shore.
Lastly, Sero grabbed onto one of Mineta's sticky balls with a semi-disgusted look on his face, before using his tape to wrap around a tree branch on the shore and sling both of them onto solid ground again, wriggling his hand in order to get the boy to unstick to him.
Amari was already working on 'treating' a still angry Bakugou. Asking him to couch as she used a stethoscope to listen to his lungs in order to determine whether he had inhaled any water.
"Hurry the fuck up, first aid."
"Yeah, yeah" Taking the stethoscope off of his chest, which was more muscled than she had initially thought, she waved him off.
She quickly repeated the same check up on Iida before moving onto Mineta, staring at the boy apprehensively as he grinned up at her creepily, one of his hands twitching by his side.
But she was going to be a healer. Healers had to deal with all kinds of patients so she just had to suck it up and get to work and-
A tiny hand traveled up her leg, causing a shiver of disgust to run down Amari's spine. Helplessly, she looked towards Thirteen, who was in a discussion with Aizawa and not paying attention to their little rescue operation whatsoever.
"Please sir, refrain from touching the medical personnel." She tried uncomfortably, removing his hand from her leg.
"But nurses are so sexy." Mineta was nearly drooling now, making grabby motions with his hands towards her boobs.
Another glance at their teachers revealed they were still not paying attention. She swiftly grabbed one of the senbon from her pouch, pricking it in the creature's arm. Withing a second the boy went down, as she hurriedly stuck the senbon back where it came from.
"Oh no! It seemed like our patient has fainted from the shock."
Several of these little mock rescue scenarios were conducted in different zones in the gigantic building, each time with a new pair of victims and heroes.
Finally, Thirteen led the class into the mountain zone, coming to a halt next to a gaping chasm. Amari stretched to take a peek, immediately taking several steps back from the edge at seeing how deep it ran.
"There will be three students at the bottom of the chasm. One of them will be unconscious, one will have an injured leg and the last will be very worried."
Kirishima stepped close to look into the chasm.
"So high!" He exclaimed.
"How are we even supposed to get down there?" Kaminari demanded.
"Todoroki, Yaoyoruzu, Tokoyami and Bakugou. You four will be the heroes this time." The named students stepped closer to the edge in varying degrees of wariness.
"Uraraka, you will have the wounded leg, Midoriya, you will be unconscious and-"
"Wait!" Bakugou interrupted. "Why the hell do I have to save Deku!"
"Stand down Bakugou." Aizawa cut in, eyes glowing red menacingly. The boy shut his mouth but was visibly still fuming.
"As I was saying" Thirteen continued. "The last victim will be Shuzenji, who will be acting panicked."
Amari nearly choked on her spit. She thought she would get to play the medic again, as she had been doing the rest of the day.
"Wait no, no, no!" She interjected, panic gripping her heart.
She was afraid of heights. Like seriously afraid of them. She couldn't go in there.
"Yes! That is the spirit Shuzenji! Already getting into your role." Thirteen cheered to Amari's great horror.
This couldn't be happening.
"No, you don't understand-"
"Come on Amari-san, it will be fun." Midoriya smiled at her with his puppy eyes as he dragged her down a hidden elevator into the depths of the chasm.
"Nooooo!" Her voice echoed up the walls, causing the other students to share a look.
"Shuzenji is really getting into her persona! How commendable!" Iida spoke.
"Is it a persona?" Tsuyu mumbled to herself.
"So who is going down?" Todoroki questioned his fellow 'heroes'.
Bakugou, not liking his tone one bit already turned around, ready to explode only to be interrupted by Yaoyoruzu.
"Todoroki-kun, there's something we need to do before that." She stated calmly, before bending down over the chasm. "Please keep calm! We heroes are here to help!"
She sweatdropped as she was met by the too chipper call of Uraraka for someone who was injured that she 'was glad the heroes were here now and to take their time'. This was then followed by the panicky wail of Amari begging them to let her get out of there.
At least someone was taking their character seriously.
"The first thing to do is reassure the victims." Yaoyoruzu explained to her teammates. "There are occasions where you can't rescue people who are desperate and panicking. Reassuring them is related to saving them."
"She's good." Kirishima whistled.
"So good." Mineta, who could move again after the paralysis had worn off, drooled, staring at the vice presidents behind.
"Bakugou, please help me set up the pullies. Todoroki, please make a patch of ice against the rocks. It will help prevent the ropes from breaking. Tokoyami, if you are up for it, we can lower you down to the injured." Yaoyoruzu commanded excellently.
Bakugou was fuming, but one firm look from Aizawa made the boy comply, albeit it accompanied by a flood gate of cussing.
Once the pullies were in place, Momo turned to Tokoyami with a harness in hand. He swiftly put it on, letting himself be lowered by his three classmates.
Several minutes later, they felt a tug on the rope, signaling them to start pulling him up again. He emerged a few moments later, carrying an 'unconscious' Midoriya in his arms, accompanied by dark shadow who was holding on to Uraraka as she chatted away merrily.
He delicately placed both charges on the floor before roughly being shoved by Bakugou.
"Take of the harness. I'm sick of waiting around doing nothing. It's my turn."
Helplessly, Tokoyami shot a look at Yaoyoruzu who just shrugged. Letting out a sigh, he shrugged of the harness and gave it to Bakugou, who eagerly tugged it on and got lowered into the chasm.
As soon as he touched down, he started looking around for the last 'victim' to be rescued. Lucky for him, his small fish abusing classmate wasn't hard to find.
Amari was perched next to a small rock formation, sitting down with her legs pulled up and her face buried into her knees as she slowly rocked herself back and forth, repeatedly mumbling 'no' under her breath.
Bakugou had to give it to the girl. She was a phenomenal actress. Remembering what ponytail girl had said earlier about 'calming down' panicked civilians, he let out a measured breath. He'd much rather be beating up some villains than dealing with annoying, whiny civilians.
"You can calm the hell down, a hero is here."
At that, the girl's head snapped up, allowing him to see her wideblown pupils.
"Bakugou?" Her voice was lined with an edge of desperation. "Listen you have to get me out of here."
"Yeah, no shit." He had heard the assignment.
Unceremoniously he grabbed the girl by the collar on her back, pulling her to go with him back to the place where they could be pulled up, only to be met by resistance.
"What the fuck." He muttered as he saw the white-haired girl hugging one of the rocky formations tightly, apparently refusing to be dragged away by him.
He was starting to get annoyed right now.
"Listen here, you little shit." Changing tactics, he started prying her fingers loose. "Don't make this any more difficult than this fucking needs to be."
With surprising difficult, he finally managed to detach Amari from the rocks, dragging her over to the wall. To his great misery, the girl kept wailing at him to let go.
Was he allowed to knock out the victim? It would surely calm them down? Only the ghost of Aizawa's angry stare withheld him from knocking the girl out right then and there.
With a rough jerk, he pulled the girl upright and then into a bridal position, tugging on the rope to signal his stupid classmates to pull him up. He did a double take as he felt the girl shaking in his hold, her eyes tightly squeezed close.
"Isn't this a bit much, first aid?" He asked in a deadpan.
He recoiled as she opened her eyes, filled with the glossy sheen of tears. Okay so she couldn't be that great of an actress.
"...Are you really afraid of heights?" He asked, quickly putting the pieces together.
Sniffling slightly, she nodded.
God, why did he have to come down here. He should have let stupid bird face handle this. What was he supposed to do with a crying girl? Feed it chocolate? But he didn't have any on hand.
"That's honestly pathetic." He started. "Surely, you realize this is completely safe. There are two teachers here and-"
Bakugou was interrupted mid speech by the girl throwing her arms around him with a squeak, burying her face in the juncture between his neck and his chest as the pair was raised into the air.
For several awkward seconds, the boy didn't know what to do. Finally, he decided to clumsily use the hand steadying her back to awkwardly rub back and forth on her back. He had seen his father do it to his mom to calm her down.
"I won't drop you, you know." His voice came out rougher than he had intended, but he could feel the girl nod, not loosening her death grip on him though.
As he kept rubbing her back, he could feel her breathing calm down slightly. His father was a genius.
"Wipe your tears." He commanded as they were almost back to the top.
Amari sniffled quietly, but wiped her tears as asked...on his costume. It took everything in Bakugou to not drop the girl in retaliation, but one look at her red rimmed, but now dry eyes made him hold on instead.
Both classmates let out a sigh of relief as they touched solid ground. Almost, keyword almost, gingerly Bakugou placed Amari down, giving her a brief look over before walking away to Yaoyoruzu, taking off his harness on his way and shoving it into her hands.
"Excellent work, you guys!" Thirteen cheered happily.
In the background, Amari quickly shuffled into the back of crowd of students, attempting to gather her bearings for the rest of the day. Bakugou was right. It would not do to show her peers how shaken up she had really been.