The door to Emma's apartment was almost always open.
It was a well-known fact. The smaller children had the room number memorized, and there were bits of tape on both the elevator buttons and pieces of paper at the end of each hall in the building with reminders on where to find both the older kids and the retired "Mother"s and "Sister"s, who were now compensated by the Ratri clan to care for the children.
It was almost as though their little community was an actual orphanage, now.
But, for a large portion of the kids, they bypassed the Sisters and Mothers and went straight to Emma for their needs.
She knew it bothered the older women who'd opted to stay. They'd actually cared for the children they'd been forced to look after. A lot of trust had been stripped away after the truth of the farms had emerged, though. Quite a few kids found it difficult to trust the adults when, if it came down to it, they would've been willingly sent away to their deaths.
And so, it was common knowledge that Emma was the one to go to for anything. Even when the door was closed, a simple knock was all it took for it to open.
Which was why Emma wasn't surprised in the slightest when a hesitant knock rang out through the living room. She stood from where she sat on the couch, lazily scrolling through various wikipedia pages about quirk laws, theories, etc. The first day of school had been hectic, and only served as a reminder that-despite her experience-she was still far behind the others in terms of natural ability. The dim light of the laptop was all that illuminated the dark room. She hesitantly flicked on the entrance light as she approached the entryway.
"Alicia?" Emma asked, opening the door to find the young girl, her eyes watery and red. Emma immediately crouched to the girl's level, "What's wrong?"
The small girl looked downwards, shifting her feet and clenching her hands nervously together.
"Hey, let's get inside. We can make some hot chocolate, or-"
"Do you and Ray want to die?" Alicia suddenly blurted, her watery eyes shooting upwards to meet Emma's.
Emma paused, her posture stiffening as she processed Alicia's words.
She inhaled sharply, her voice barely coming out in a whisper, "What?"
This seemed to demolish any ounce of composure Alicia had been able to maintain, and her hands flew up to her face as she let out a muffled sob and a fresh wave of tears emerged.
"Alicia, no-"
Emma was quick to pull her inside the apartment, quietly pushing the door shut behind her and engulfing Alicia into her arms, rubbing circles against the child's back as she began to ramble.
"Jemima and I were looking at hero stuff online, and it said that hero's had the highest death rate and then-"
Alicia's breath hitched, the fabric on the front of Emma's pajamas growing damp from tears, "And then?"
"Then it linked all sorts of statistics so we clicked on them."
"What did it link?"
Emma could feel her heartbeat speed up as Alicia spoke, her mind sifting through everything that could've been done to prevent the child in her arms from crying in the first place. VPNs, parental controls… they were only nine, the internet wasn't like the library. How did they gain access to a computer unsupervised?
"It said a lot of quirkless people try to kill themselves."
Emma shut her eyes, sucking in a heavy breath.
Of course they'd manage to find statistics like that. Even in their sheltered little community, she'd seen the effects of prejudice and discrimination based on quirks. All too often there were small news articles, detailing the untimely death of a quirkless person, whether it be due to a hate crime or suicide.
She didn't want any of the younger kids to be exposed to that-not yet. Not ever. Not when the majority of them were quirkless. Not when the human world was filled with a concerning amount of meaningless hate.
Emma gently placed her hands onto Alicia's shoulders, "Alicia. Me and Ray are still here. We're still alive, and we aren't going to go anywhere."
"That doesn't change the fact that Ray tried before we escaped."
A flash of fire as flame caught onto the match, glowing orange swiftly drifting downwards to the inky oily substance, words ringing out through the quiet night- "Bye, bye, Emma."
"That was before. He's fine now. We're fine now."
The " I hope" was left unsaid.
Alicia grew quiet, her gaze drifting to her feet again.
"You promise?"
Emma nodded, pulling Alicia into a tight hug.
"You said that Jemima saw this too? Is she okay?"
Alicia didn't reply, only tightening her grip around Emma.
Emma sighed, forcing herself to stand, arms still wrapped protectively around Alicia.
"Come on, let's get you back to bed," she said, "we can talk to Ray in the morning."
As it would turn out, they didn't get to speak with Ray in the morning. The kids were out the door and on their way to school by the time he emerged from his room, bruise-like circles dark under his eyes as he poured himself a cup of coffee and offered his tired greetings.
Emma couldn't help but casually study him, eyes locking onto the long-sleeved sleep shirt that obscured his arms and draped over the majority of his hands, the meshed up hair that was a tell-tale sign of restless sleep…
She tried to force the intrusive thoughts away. Ray couldn't sleep from time to time, they all dealt with that. He also liked to wear long sleeves; heck, it was still cold outside, of course he'd wear such a concealing top.
But… Ray had been suicidal at one point. That was common knowledge.
But they were fine now. The desperation and near-death experiences were gone. There were no reasons for spite-filled suicide attempts and self-sacrifices.
Alicia's fears from the night before clung stubbornly to her mind.
Emma managed to push the thoughts away enough to converse and laugh with her two friends on the way to school, only to fall back into an awkward silence as they walked down the hall to their classroom.
Ray paused a bit before they entered, gripping onto Emma's shoulder to halt her.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah. Just thinking about a few things."
The classroom was a lot less hectic than the day before, with most of the others seeming to have fallen into their own, seperate groups relatively quickly.
Emma tried not to think about the fact that she wasn't part of any of those predetermined groups.
She looked over the classroom, her eyes catching on a boy a few seats away, dual-toned hair and scarred skin causing him to stand out in the classroom setting.
He caught her gaze, and quickly looked away, but there had been no mistaking it. He'd been staring straight at Ray.
If she recalled correctly, the boy had been using an ice quirk during the tests the day before. Was he watching Ray because of his quirk?
She dismissed the thought as their teacher entered the room.
Class started, and All Might appeared.
The fabric of her hero costume was heavy in her hands, tan jacket and black turtleneck staring menacingly back at her, looking far too similar to the things they'd worn back in the demon world.
She'd chosen this, though. It was easier to fight in clothing she was familiar with. It was convenient, the coat being comfortable and breathable with several large pockets to hold whatever she might need.
Then, there was the gun.
She'd originally written about it on the off chance the support department would be willing to make it… she hadn't thought they'd actually give it to her. It wasn't a real gun, though, so it wasn't as though they were providing her with a super dangerous firearm.
Which, she knew, was super illegal in japan. Especially for minors-hero school or not.
Emma smiled as she examined the multiple barrels and their contents.
It wasn't exactly what she'd asked for, they'd left a note explaining how certain components were illegal, and another would possibly harm other students… but what she was given was more than enough to suffice for the time being.
She sighed, the other girls were done ogling at the costumes they'd been given, and some had already finished changing.
They were going to see the scars eventually.
Before Emma could second-guess herself, she began changing into her hero costume.
She could hear another girl muffle a gasp as she removed her blouse.
" Are you okay? "
" Ashido, don't be rude! "
She knew how they looked. Cutting straight through her torso, mangled skin on both her back and along her stomach, stretched from the few inches she'd grown over the years since the incident.
Emma forced a smile, pulling on her black turtleneck and turning to face the other girls, "Oh, it's fine. It happened in a villain attack years ago. They're completely healed."
The pink girl-Ashido-frowned, "Still, those look really bad. Are you sure they don't hurt or anything? I thought healing quirks could prevent most scarring."
"I wasn't really able to get medical attention immediately," Emma explained, sticking to the story that she'd crafted with her friends to explain the excessive scarring.
She'd been caught in a major villain attack when she was twelve, and was trapped with a few others under rubble. Ray had cauterized the wounds while waiting for help. They were stuck for a few days and she fell into a coma.
It wasn't too far off from what happened. Just replace the "villain" with "demon" and "stuck for several days under rubble" with "rushed back countless miles to a hidden bunker where medical equipment was available".
She could see the worry painted upon Ashido's face, no doubt repeating the image of twisted, uneven stitches and red, melted burn scars.
She could still remember the terrified shouts of Ray as he desperately fused her torn skin together, the apologies he murmured as overwhelming pain shot through her half-conscious state.
Her explanation for the scars was vague and believable enough, and the other girls dropped the topic. Villain attacks were common in this world, after all. It wasn't too far-fetched for someone in their class to have survived something like that.
Emma could still feel their prying eyes on her as she pulled on her coat and made her way out to where they were meeting for hero training that day.
"You're Emma Ratri, right?"
The girl she'd been paired with was tall, towering over her and donning a revealing red costume.
Emma nodded, "Yeah, you can just call me Emma, though. I'm not really fond of the name Ratri."
The two girls stood by each other as the first teams were called onto the field.
"We might as well begin planning now," Yaoyorozu spoke softly, her voice soft and formal. It reminded Emma of how the noble demons spoke, using a tone that was rarely seen in those from lower classes. If she had to make the guess, she'd say that the Yaoyorozu girl was rich.
Emma nodded, staring intently at the screens before them. The layout of the building seemed to be similar to a maze, with no real rhyme or reason to the rooms and corridors.
"We're going up against Kaminari and Jirou, I don't think I saw them use their quirks much yesterday," Emma mentioned, "so I'm not quite certain what to expect from them."
She was pretty sure that Kaminari had a sort of electricity quirk, based off of his costume. Jirou had a quirk related to the headphone jacks on her ears.
"That reminds me, I don't think I ever saw what your quirk was?" Yaoyorozu asked, glancing quizzically at Emma.
"Oh, right," Emma forced a smile, "I don't have one."
Please don't be a jerk.
Instead, she was met with an expression of amazement.
Her statement seemed to draw the attention of a few others around them.
"Wait, for real? I thought the entrance exam was geared towards those with physical quirks?"
It was a boy who'd spoken, with red hair styled upwards into spikes. If she remembered correctly, his name was Kirishima.
"Oh. Right. I guess it was."
"That's so manly! How did you pass?"
"I hit the robots with a stick."
"A stick? "
The next student to speak had been the one with the tape quirk. Sero . He leaned over to look at her from where he stood next to Kirishima.
"Yeah," Emma said, "I'm pretty sure it was more of a metal rod, but I just stabbed them until they stopped moving."
" They were that easy to beat? "
Emma nodded, "Although it might've been because I looked at the remains of one that was already destroyed. I just figured out what spots were the weakest and went from there."
"I'm really glad you happen to be on my team, then." Yaoyorozu smiled as she processed this information. "My quirk is called Creation," she explained, holding out her hand. A single, wooden doll emerged from her palm. "I can create any non-living item, as long I know the chemical composition. I can definitely create a stick if we need one."
"So you can create anything that's not alive?" Emma asked, searching for a confirmation.
"Pretty much."
Emma smirked, a plan already forming in her head, "Alright, so here's what we're going to do."
Kirishima and Sero went back to discussing strategies for themselves while Emma began to plot, eyes gleaming as Momo confirmed the limits of her quirk.
The first match was called to start, and the two girls turned their attention back to the monitors that illuminated the room.
Emma and Yoayorozu were the villains for their scenario.
The air was filled with the thick scent of smoke, and Emma flashed Ray a smile as he entered the monitor room after his round. He'd gone up against Aoyama and Ashido, who'd gotten lost in the clouds of flames that barricaded the entryways and exits, a constant stream of fresh fire and smoke drawing out the match long enough that the villain team won, small bugs filtering in and out of the upper windows to report the location of the hero team as Ray and Koda swiftly cornered and outsmarted their way to victory. Ray snuck around, creating walls of fire, and Koda communicated what the other team was doing.
(Emma took note of how Ray used his fire. After all, it wasn't as though there was a rule detailing that they couldn't steal ideas from the other teams.)
Kaminari and Jirou waited outside as they entered, and they began to swiftly make their way upwards, looking at each alcove and doorway as they passed.
"So, Jirou will be able to hear us from wherever we are in the building," Emma noted, "so it'd be better if we avoided the area where the bomb is placed."
"Jirou will also be able to hear whatever we say through our communicators, so it's probably best that we avoid speaking after the match starts."
Emma nodded, clinging onto Yaoyorozu's words, her palm reaching downwards to fiddle with the hilt of her gun. If she'd had the original barrels-the ones used back at Goldy Pond-Jirou's hearing wouldn't have been an issue, although Emma wasn't quite sure she'd even want to use the bang portion of the gun. Jirou was just her classmate, and with a quirk centered around sound… she definitely didn't want to cause any sort of permanent hearing loss.
Which reminded her-
"Oh, just a warning, I might not be able to hear you that well during the battle."
It was honestly just an afterthought. The small communicator that was hooked into her one remaining ear was already muffling the sounds around her.
Yaoyorozu sent her a quizzical look, to which Emma simply shifted the braid that draped over the scarred skin on the left side of the face.
"I can hear with my right ear perfectly fine, but the earpiece kind of muffles the noise around me and my left ear has nothing to funnel and direct sound. If you have to say something during the round it'd be better to do so with the communicator so I can hear it better."
Her partner nodded, thankfully not questioning the jagged skin from where she'd ripped off her ear.
That was a story she didn't exactly have a good explanation for.
They climbed another set of stairs, reaching the top floor, where they'd requested the bomb to be placed. The floor was littered with various rooms that seemed to mimic offices, with heavy, monochrome doors and the cheaply made outlines of tables and chairs.
"It looks like it would be possible to add locks to these," Emma noted, crouching down to the door that led to the room with the "bomb".
Following Emma's train of thought, Yaoyorozu promptly began to form heavy, metal deadbolts and the materials required to install them, along with other various items Emma had mentioned during their earlier discussions.
Wire nets, smoke and flash bombs, lighter fluid, a decently sized jug of water… although the last one was simply a passing thought when addressing the topic of Kaminari's electricity. She wasn't quite sure that Yaoyorozu could create a large enough amount to do any real damage.
But still, Yaoyorozu could create water! If she had enough knowledge, she'd be able to make things like medical equipment or other emergency items… it was honestly one of the most useful quirks she'd ever seen. She could only imagine what it would've been like in the demon world. Goldy Pond would've been so much easier, as well as taking care of the kids at the bunker, or even just escaping the farm… although she was pretty sure the quirk suppressants would've greatly decreased the limits of what Yaoyorozu could create.
"So, this should be everything," Emma noted as Yaoyorozu split up the supplies, "There should be only a few minutes left until the match starts. We might want to block off this floor and set everything up."
Yaoyorozu voiced her agreement, quickly moving to set up a line of explosives along the stairwell, rigging them up to detonate at the start of the round, and followed Emma onto the lower floors.
It was pitifully easy to lock off the stairwells, installing deadbolts onto the doorknobs and leaving a trail of just enough TNT and lighter fluid so that it would be inaccessible from most floors.
All Might's voice rang out over their speakers, calling the match to start.
Emma's heart rate quickened as she glanced over at Yaoyorozu, who simply signaled at her to continue with their plan. She quickly struck the match against its box, the flame flickering into existence before her eyes.
Emma flung the match forwards, and fled with Yaoyorozu just as the building shook with the familiar ring of explosives decimating thick stone.