Disclaimer: I don't own My Hero Academia; that belongs to Horikoshi. Nor do I own Pokémon; that's GameFreak/Nintendo. I am also not someone who worked on the Fangame Pokémon Reborn. I also have not written and do not own any songs that appear in this fic or work as the title of each of my chapters.

A/N: Playing through the last episode of Reborn (currently before the Elite 4, but I have to finish my last assignment before I can challenge them) and then I'm going to do a full playthrough again since some early game stuff was changed. Going to have a different team this time!

(Although Garchomp and Drapion are proving to be really good, and I know I could get Drapion earlier now)

WARNING: Post Panic attack, Xerxen isn't given any leeway to defend herself (she actually had a solid reason for her actions) and is vilified a bit, Victuuri swears every sentence because she thinks it's funny.

Honestly, I wish I could have "Strained Family relationships" and "Undiagnosed Trauma/Disability" as tags. They do try and they do love each other, they just don't know how because they've never seen a healthy example.

I hope you enjoy this chapter and this story. Stay safe!


Chapter 6: Sometimes to win, you've got to sin

Kiefer rhythmically knocked his steel maws together. Calamity breathed in for the five-second intervals and breathed out for the next four-second interval. Xerxen was pouting as Phocidae sassed her into her place.

"Oh no, it's fine to ignore the fact your sister's having an episode for your own comfort." Sarcasm was practically flooding out of her tone. "A little graze truly is of greater concern than a full-blown panic attack. You truly know best, youngest sister of ours."

"That's not what-." Xerxen was cut off before she could defend herself.

"Zip it," Phocidae growled. The temperature dropped a degree and Calamity could almost taste the burgeoning condensation in the air. "If you wanted a sibling to comfort you, Kiefer was right there. You also could have woken Tsarina up; she wouldn't have minded." Their eldest sister, now awake, hummed and nodded in agreement. "But no, Calamity had to be the one to do it. Even though she was the last person at the time who should have done it. You had four other siblings who would have helped you. If you didn't want any of us, you could have just waited for Mum to come back. Now don't do that again. You hear me, Xerxen?"

There was a pause before, "I hear you." Xerxen said, put out.

Phocidae nodded. "Good, 'cause you're sticking with me until I can trust you to do so."

"What?!" Xerxen shouted. "I don't need to be babysat!"

"Well then prove it to me. Actions speak louder than words, Xerxen. I'm not putting Calamity at risk just because you want to always be near her. Besides, we can have some sister bonding of our own. Won't that be fun?" Phocidae stated, actually sounding excited near the end.

Xerxen groaned. "I don't want to only study all day. It's so boring!"

Phocidae froze. Calamity's breath hitched. Kiefer and Tsarina shared a sigh. There was the sound of a flick hitting Xerxen's forehead carapace. She yelped, Calamity couldn't tell if she was overreacting or if it actually hurt.

"Oi, what was that for Fieyre!" Xerxen exclaimed.

"I really shouldn't have to tell you, Xerxen." Fieyre said.

There was silence as the two normally jolly siblings stared off. The eldest and the youngest were the most similar to each other. But Fieyre was considered the eldest for a reason, and that was because of experience.

Since they didn't know their ages, he was the eldest from being in Mum's care the longest. Xerxen and Calamity had only been in Mum's care for three months before they broke out and began living on the streets. Fieyre had years on them. Xerxen couldn't compete with the contents of those years.

He'd lost three younger siblings in that time frame. Everything Mum went through in there; he was there too. Being a family, even in that place, was his idea, his dream. He was the one to make Mum care for them. She could have been like all the other unconsenting donors in that place and not cared a lick for them.

If not for him, Mum would have never gotten the drive to get out of that place. They'd be weapons, inhuman, just like Calamity's father. Like everyone else born in that place.

Fieyre wasn't someone you could cow. Xerxen lost the battle of wills quickly.

"Sorry for calling studying boring, Phocidae." Xerxen apologised, gaze pointed at the floor. "And sorry for forcing myself into your space when you needed it, Callie."

Calamity just nodded at her; she didn't want to speak just yet. Phocidae spoke though, "It's alright, I know it's not a fun activity for everyone. Just… be tactful. You know it's my favourite thing. Besides, I hadn't said we'd only be studying. Though we will be doing that." Calamity could hear the smug grin in her voice as she continued. "Besides, I like sparring and I know a few dances you don't know. I wouldn't mind teaching you a thing or two."

Xerxen snorted but her tone made it clear it was in good humour. "We'll see about that, you white-haired nanny."

"Nanny?" Phocidae repeated, jokingly aghast. "It seems that class is in session, and I've got a volunteer for a demonstration. Let's show the others how to beat the ass of an ogre scorpion, shall we?"

A piercing whistle prevented them from actually starting a spar. Previously silent steps were made audible to Calamity, and she turned to the source. All her siblings followed her turn towards the direction she faced. None of them could rival her hearing. Although there was one once. Not that she ever physically met him.

There was a pause as they waited, cautious. Then, out of the shadows, their Mum returned to them, and Calamity's siblings cheered and rushed over. Except for Kiefer, though she picked him up and walked after them. No need to run over like the others. Although it would have likely taken Kiefer far too long to reach them with his stubby little legs.

Phocidae whooped as Mum handed her present over to her. Calamity couldn't see it, but it wouldn't take a genius to guess it was a new book. Although the fact that Tsarina, Fieyre, and Xerxen were all interested in the book and its contents was a surprise. She looked at Kiefer.

"It's a book on poisons, toxins, and venoms, that kind of thing. Dad's area of expertise. Though Tsarina and Xerxen inherited part of his quirk so it should be actually useful to them." He shrugged. "The only thing I could learn from that wouldn't actually be feasible in combat for me, so I don't care."

"What about me?" Calamity asked, faintly interested. Poison and the sort did provide coverage for one of her few physical weaknesses.

Kiefer hummed, thinking, trying to recall, but he wasn't the one to answer her.

"There's only one fucking thing." Her Mum answered her. "But Kiefer can fucking teach you some better shit. A bitchin' metal headbutt. Shit can handle Ice users better while also fucking up those fucked up 'fairies'. One shitty move, full fucking offensive coverage."

It's a good thing Calamity has such good hearing, or she wouldn't have been able to figure out what her Mum was saying over her own laughter at her Mum's language.

Kiefer sighed, but there was a grin on his face and in his tone as he complained about their shared sense of humour. Hypocritical of him if you asked Calamity, seeing as they all had their Mum's sense of humour. Along with a terrible naming sense, so Calamity refrained from naming things as best she could.

"Shitty swear words are fucking funny." Mum just laughed back. "Fuck, innuendos too. I can't say those that fucking easily though. Cain was a damn master at it."

Her snort of laughter was ladened with sadness, but Mum didn't stop to linger on memories. "While above, I fucking managed to pilfer a truly shitty stone. Here Calamity. That shitstain is going to fucking riot when he sees you have the bloody thing."

She reached out and grabbed the present. It was a smooth, perfectly spherical, stone encaged by metal wires and attached to a tough leather cord. Kiefer reached up and jangled the similar perfectly round stone that he had attached to his ear. They were near identical in everything, except for their colouration apparently.

They stared at their Mum in astonishment. She stared back at them. Her expression does not shift a nanometre. She offered no explanation for the acquisition of the one-of-a-kind, specially engineered stone that had recently belonged to Calamity's father.

She could have only got it on her venture out if she had run into him. That fight couldn't have been quiet. As Kiefer opened his mouth to speak, Mum reached over and gently shut it.

Unable to feel her face muscles, Victuuri couldn't smile reassuringly at them. Couldn't make any expressions whatsoever actually. But a hand each on their shoulders still conveyed all the reassurance they needed. If their Mum told them not to worry about something. They wouldn't.

For all that it was Fieyre's dream for them to be a family. They wouldn't be alive and surviving if not for their Mum. The three siblings they've lost over the years left through their own choices. Calamity could still remember Lucifer, who Xerxen replaced, and how the genderfluid lighting zebra shapeshifter died.

She only knew them for a fortnight, but her memories of them are full of the songs they'd loved to sing and play. They were the one to start teaching her the cello, even though Mum had to finish it.

Mum plucked Kiefer out of her arms and kissed his forehead. "You fucking like learning new shitty languages, and while this bitch isn't actually a new language, it kind of is? Morse code is just fucking tapping or beeps. Shit's like sign language for the blind."

"Is it actually going to be more universal than your sign language Mum?" Calamity asked, following her brother and Mum a small distance away so they don't interrupt the rest of the siblings' attempts to learn more about poison.

Mum looked back at her. Calamity just grinned at her. "I invent a totally new bitchin' sign language and that's the shitty respect I get? You're all lucky I fucking love you."

"Well, it's not like you knew any proper signs. Honestly, you'd think there would have been another mute person in there at some point. You couldn't have been the first Mum." Kiefer joined in.

"You think those arseholes would have fucking taught any in the past?" Mum rolled her eye. "I only started getting that shitty special treatment after I fucking proved my worth. By then, that shit didn't matter anymore."

And time went on, they actually learned Morse Code instead of bantering the whole time. Time was unknown within the abandoned railways. Eventually, though, people did start getting tired. Xerxen was the first to drop, using Phocidae as a pillow. Tsarina was all too happy to make Xerxen into a pillow herself. Even though her carapace armour plating wouldn't be the most comfortable thing to sleep on.

Her twin brother was a bug, maybe the carapace was actually comforting for her. Calamity wouldn't know.

Phocidae remained awake, silently reading her new book. Probably trying to figure out how to make an all-purpose antidote. Tsarina had a lot of hidden pointy poison barbs. It's non-lethal, but it's guaranteed to knock someone unconscious in about a minute. Only Xerxen who's venomous – exact same poison actually, which is perhaps why – and Kiefer, with his steel enforced skin and vastly superior immune system, were immune to it.

Although there was an argument earlier on whether Tsarina was poisonous or venomous because apparently there's a difference. Not that Calamity bothered to remember the difference or the conclusion they came to. Kiefer was lightly dozing, kind of awake, but not for long. Fieyre looked drowsy where he sat, even though it was clear he was tense. He was too paranoid to fall asleep.

Calamity wasn't that eager to go to sleep either. The stone resting on her chest was warm, an unmissable reminder that her father was out there and now really pissed. She couldn't help but still fear him, even after being free from him for so long now.

A hand combed through her hair. So gentle she could barely feel it. She looked at her Mum. She was cycling through some videos she managed to get in that place. Stolen security footage that was more for them than their perfect memory recalling Mum. As the slightly staticky music started to play, Fieyre looked over. Tension drained out of him from the first word.

Cain's voice couldn't do the same to her. He wasn't her dad, he's barely her stepdad. Fieyre came over and sprawled out across the ground. The flames on his head which had 'grown' there instead of hair spread out, but it doesn't burn anything. He had better control than that.

Fieyre joined in with the song. His voice easily blended in with years of prior experience. Kiefer woke slightly to join in too. Phocidae just hummed, although it was always a challenge to actually make her sing. She much preferred to listen.

"They say before you start a war
You better know what you're fighting for
Well baby, you are all that I adore
If love is what you need, a soldier I will be

I'm an angel with a shotgun
Fighting til' the wars won
I don't care if heaven won't take me back
I'll throw away my faith, babe, just to keep you safe
Don't you know you're everything I have?
And I, wanna live, not just survive, tonight."

Calamity quickly fell asleep to the voices of her brothers and the gentle touch of her Mum.


Coming up next: I've been cold, I've been merciless

Okay, my Walrein Phocidae has the IV Characteristic that states she is short tempered. All of the characters are traumatised and need help from a specialist. Some have issues and even disabilities none of them knows about.

One thing I can admit to, it's not the most spoilery is that Phocidae later (and subconsciously currently) realises and knows her temper is bad and she needs help for it. The current/future version of her would not react the same way as she does at the beginning of the chapter.

Seeing the improvement it makes for her, Phocidae tries to have her siblings go to therapy for the problems Reborn has left them with.

Like the inability to handle grief, possessiveness, tempers, trust issues (both at others and even themselves), depression, slight dissociation, co-dependency, inability to handle failure so excessive perfectionism, and controlling habits. Honestly, it probably goes on.

I kind of can't wait to write the next "book" because it has some of the siblings post therapy. Xerxen goes from Jolly to Careful, Phocidae goes from Sassy to Calm (though still is quick tempered). But not all of them, so Tsarina's still Timid (and severely depressed) even though ideally she'd be Bold after therapy.

Honestly, Tsarina probably needs it the most. I'll stop talking about it now. I'm sorry about wanting to vent about my own story so much.

The song of the chapter was Angel with a Shotgun, The Cab.