*A/N: Hey everyone! Hemza here with this week's update of Affinity! So, just wanted to give you all a fair warning for this chapter's content. It does contain some graphic/gruesome injuries, so we wanted to do you all the courtesy of forewarning you in the event that it isn't your cup of tea. If that is the case, we're sorry and we hope to see you next week for chapter 30! :) As ever, take care, stay safe, we love you all!*
Chapter 30 - The Cruelty of a Mother
As blackness receded from her vision and her heartbeat began to settle, Emiko focused in on her mother. She was sitting cross legged on a chair that she'd seemingly pulled out of thin air, one pointed heel crossed over the other.
"How'd you like your dream, Miko?" Mara taunted, standing up slowly. Her perfectly manicured fingers tapped on her knees, and Emiko's stomach swirled with nausea.
"I'm sure it was nice, in the beginning."
Shoto's lips pressing into her forehead danced through her mind, the feeling of his fingers wrapped tightly around hers ingrained in her memory.
"I knew you cared for the boy, Miko. But really, it was too easy." Her mother stepped closer, brushed her fingers across Emiko's now damp cheeks. "Who would've thought that the little girl I tried so hard to break would've been so soft?" The elder redhead's voice was coloured by a disappointed pout, like a child who had just brought home a puzzle they'd saved up towards for months, only to solve it within minutes.
"One little push-" she practically sang, one dainty hand mimicking a tip of a domino and twirling gracefully through the air in a falling motion, "-and sweet Miko is reduced to a pile of rubble beneath my feet." Ruse smirked wickedly then, squatting down to face the trembling girl in front of her, eyes manically wide as she tried to catch Emiko's gaze, the younger girl fighting feverishly to resist the quasi-magnetic draw of this demon's gaze. "You are nothing, Empath."
Mara spat the words as if they were rotten food, laced the words with venom, and Emiko felt the hatred as clear as day. Sentiment still hid in her veins, trembled just below the surface of her skin like some sort of wild creature. It thrashed deep within her, scrambling as if it could hide in her chest if it fought hard enough. The normally comforting feeling now hid, as if her veins were a prison it could not wait to escape.
"You thought you could be a hero?" Ruse laughed cruelly, tilting Emiko's chin up to glare into her eyes. "You are nothing - a nobody. Just a pile of dust waiting to be swept up. Do you hear me?"
Emiko couldn't answer. Couldn't find the words or the strength to tell her mother what she really thought. It was as if she'd had her lips glued shut, or as though her tongue was made of stone.
"I asked-" Ruse shouted, whipping her hand across Emiko's cheek. "If you heard me, Miko."
The stinging in her cheek left her eyes watering, but Emiko found the strength to nod her head slowly. She knew if she didn't, much worse than a slap lay waiting for her. Flashes of pain danced in her mind, the sound of shattering glass taunting her as it always seemed to do in her weakest moments.
"Good girl. I would've hated to have to pay a visit to poor little Shoto Todoroki. Lord knows that boy has been through enough, really."
A flash of defiance danced through her at the mention of Shoto, and Emiko swung her gaze up to glare at her mother.
"Really, Miko You couldn't have picked a worse person to fall in love with, you know. You really think that a child of the number two hero could love villain trash like you?" Mara laughed brightly, reveling in the pain flashing across Emiko's face. "You're lucky he's put up with you for this long. Though he probably just feels bad for you, since he can tell that you come from a family of villains… or, I guess, that your mother is a villain."
Her hands trembled from their place in her lap, but Emiko couldn't find the strength to say or do anything to stop the havoc her parent was wreaking in her head. Her mother smiled wickedly at the weakness in Emiko's eyes, her stoney gaze landing on the trembling of her fingers and the tightness in her jaw.
"Tch." Ruse clicked her tongue, running the pads of her fingers over the scar that had marred Emiko's eye for as long as she could remember. "I wonder what he'll say to you if he ever sees you again. Do you think he'll be happy? Or, do you think he'll look at you with disgust when the heroes find out that your mother has been working with the same villains who have caused you all so much grief?"
Emiko didn't answer, her mind reeling as she stared blankly ahead.
What would he say? He'd be happy, right? He… he cares. Doesn't he?
"You were such a stupid kid, Emiko. Did you know that?" Mara stood, pacing the room slowly. Her heeled feet clicked methodically across the concrete floor, the soft brush of her cloak across the floor sending a chill down her spine. "Sometimes the only way to get you to listen was to make you suffer, just a little."
She laughed dryly, moving slowly to one side of the room, far enough away from Emiko that she couldn't feel the warmth emanating from her mothers skin. Her mother only glared at her daughter, pensively. She brushed a few fingers across her chin, then ghosted those same fingers up to her wild hair before smirking.
"You would've been so much better if you were my master's child, Miko." Ruse taunted. "I tried to get him to show interest in you, do you remember?"
Emiko only shook her head, trying desperately to slip back into the life her mother had created for her in her memories.
"Just before your damned aunt came to take you, he came to the house." Ruse laughed, "But my master saw no use in a stupid, ugly girl like you."
In a flash, Emiko heard a voice like velvet in her mind. Saw broad hands, scarred fingers grip her chin roughly.
"He told me to get rid of you, or he would." Ruse giggled cruelly, reaching into her pocket slowly. Emiko's stomach dropped as she caught sight of what her mother had pulled from the elaborately draped fabric of her long jacket. "That was the night I gave you that pretty scar, Miko."
"Do you remember?"
Emiko nodded, the image of that night burned into her mind. The feeling of glass biting into her flesh a feeling she couldn't shake, no matter how hard she tried. She couldn't erase the fear the sound of tinkling glass fed into, and now, seeing her mother with a small cup in her hand, she found herself trembling in fear.
With a wicked grin, Mara darted forwards, her cloak dancing around her like a shadow. That wretched sound reached her ears, and she flinched. Her eyes slammed shut as she felt Mara's breath tickle the back of her neck menacingly.
"What do you say about getting a haircut, child?" Mara laughed, though the sound was low and empty. "I think you would look just…"
Mara paused, raising a hand to graze over Emiko's cheek. It was only then that Emiko noticed the blood dripping down, the shard of glass clenched tightly in her mothers palm.
"... like me." Mara finished her sentence, before gathering Emiko's hair in her fist and slicing. Despite her mothers relative strength, not all of Emiko's hair fell, and so Mara spent the next few moments hacking wildy at the hair sitting around Emiko's shoulders.
Emiko could feel her mothers blood matting in her hair, dripping down the front of her shirt and smearing across her cheek as her mother swiped a hand across her flushed skin.
"Now, Emiko. Let me take a look at you." Her mother cooed, moving quickly to face her daughter. Her eyes were wide and wild, pupils almost completely blown. Trembling hands brushed over her hair, more blood dripping down, trickled across Emiko's eyelids.
"Hmm…" Mara cooed, running her fingers over the scar on Emiko's face. "Not quite right. Not quite right."
She saw it in the way her mother moved, the way her teeth seemed to chatter and the way her jaw clenched periodically that she was close to losing control of her rage as she had so many times before.
"Not right."
Mara repeated it, tugging at Emiko's hair. "This isn't right."
She stepped back, bloodied hands flying up to her hair.
"NOT RIGHT!" she screamed, her voice pinballing off of the walls of the cramped space.
She flitted back over to Emiko, her fingers darted around quickly, somehow the shard of glass materializing in her palm. Her fingers tightened and the stream of blood grew more steady with each passing second. Her mothers fingers tugged at the free strands of hair in front of Emiko's face, rearranging it frantically.
"The scar." Mara whispered, "I have to hide the scar."
Frantically, Mara gathered the small section of hair framing her face and raised her hand. She continued mumbling under her breath, fidgeting with her hair until it laid just right. Emiko sat perfectly still, daring only to breathe as her mother adjusted those mindless curls.
A deep breath, more muttering before Mara swung the shard of glass down, through the hair.
At that moment, a loud crash erupted from above them and both Komatsu's flinched.
If Emiko hadn't been so exhausted and numb she may have screamed from the burst of pain that erupted from her right eye. She could feel the glass break through her skin, feel the way it bit and tore and slashed as she tried to pull away. It felt like fire dancing across her face, the way the pain seemed to blossom and grow with each passing second.
Just barely, she could see her mother stand and scurry backwards, her hands and her face coated in blood. Emiko wasn't even sure if it was hers or her mothers at this point, but she couldn't quite find the strength to care. As Mara stood up, she cast one more hateful look at her daughter, before darting out the metal door that had kept Emiko so isolated.
With her mother gone, her eye seemed to throb. She couldn't see out of it, but she knew the blood pooling in the fabric of her shirt was hers. Only a few glimpses of light peeked through the ever darkening sliver of vision she had left.
Not good.
Emiko swung herself frantically backwards, attempting to shatter the chair holding her back. She felt the rope holding her back loosen ever so slightly, and she wriggled her hands quickly, making light work of the bonds that had once been unbearably tight.
As soon as her hands were free, she pressed a trembling hand to her eye, wincing as she felt the warm blood seep from the wound. Her fingers could feel the loose flesh there, the way her skin seemed to part, and Emiko couldn't help the sharp burst of pain that followed. Without thinking, she tore her shirt off, binding it tightly across her face, the pressure stifling some of the pain she felt through her shock.
Panic was taking root in her veins, fluttering in her chest like a wild bird trapped in a cage. She could hear voices from above her, could hear the sounds of a fight beginning, judging by the sounds of gunfire breaking through the terribly thin walls.
She moved herself into the corner, wrapping her fingers around the same shard of glass her mother had held only a few moments before. She pressed her back into the concrete and waited. She watched the door carefully, sparing only a few moments of hope. She knew, even without Sentiment, that the heroes had come to rescue her and Katsuki. She could just barely hear All Might, his booming voice echoing in the narrow halls.
She waited for what felt like hours for him to come, her grasp on consciousness slowly slipping from between her trembling fingers. With each passing second, the pain grew steadily, and she had to fight the urge to press a hand against her eye to stop the pain. As darkness threatened to take hold, Emiko begged the universe to help her.
She closed her eyes tightly, and she willed All Might or Aizawa or anyone to come and save her, to come and wrap their arms around her shoulder and hold her together. She could feel herself falling to pieces, crumbling to dust as she sat in that dimly lit room.
Her mind whirled and she felt tears threatening to surface, but none fell. Her hands trembled and her teeth chattered while the pain grew nearly unbearable, but still, Emiko sat with her back pressed to the concrete. Still, she held the glass tightly in her hands. Still, she waited.
She waited.
But they never came.
