"The League of Villains took him."
She didn't know how, but Ashley had somehow made her way to the city hospital where the injured students had been taken. Her mind was a complete fuzz and she had no time to process her surroundings.
"The League of Villains took him"
The words kept replaying in her mind. Her brother, with whom she had finally made up with after so many years. She could lose him again, for good.
Stop it She thought to herself.
She ran through the hallways of the hospital looking for a sign of any of her classmates or teachers. Popping her head through doors as she ran past but not recognising anyone. Then when she turned a corner she was met by the concerned mismatched eyes she'd been looking for.
They stood a few metres apart, both exhausted, as Ashley took in the sight of him. He was badly beaten up but nothing too bad that needed immediate attention. Ashley was fighting back tears, she was glad he was ok which meant her main concern turned back to her missing brother.
"Ash..." Shoto whispered over in concern, just loud enough for her to hear. In a split second she was running to him and threw herself in his arms, which he opened immediately to embrace her. She burst into tears the second she nuzzled into his chest. His hand ran over her head and through her hair slowly as a means to comfort her. He had promised himself that he would not allow her to be in this state any longer, he was going to help bring her brother back.
"It was an ambush." Shoto was explaining the events of the day before to Ashley who seemed like she was holding on to her last bit of sanity as she listened. They were sat opposite each other on a window ledge on the hospital stairwell. "He's one of the strongest students so I understand why they would look for him." he went on.
"That's not why they took him." Ashley blurted out. Shoto looked up at her in confusion. "It might have been part of it but there's more to why they took him." She explained, she was looking down at her hands avoiding his eyes. Shoto's confusion persisted. Ashley had avoided bringing this up for weeks in fear of the boy in front of her would change his perception of her. Craning her head to the side to look out the window, still avoiding his gaze, she sighed. "You don't know why I was taken away from my family, do you?" she asked, not taking her eyes away from the skyline of the city through the glass.
"No... I don't." Shoto realised that he knew a lot about her, but not probably the most important moment of her life. He heard her chuckle but he knew to was an uncomfortable laugh that masked her sadness. That when she looked up at him, when their eyes connected his heart broke; she looked ready to cry her eyes out. She gave him a small sad smile.
"Of course you don't... I doubt you'd still want to be around me if you did..." she whispered to herself.
She's too hard on herself
"No, I'm not." she said. Shoto then realised that she had heard his thought. She looked back down in embarrassment for having listened. "Sorry..." she whispered. She was too hard on herself, she felt bad for her powers doing their own thing if she lost focus even for a split second. H hated how she felt about it, but he didn't know about the root of it all and she was letting him in on it all.
"I...I really messed up... that's why I left." she was struggling to find the words to describe her darkest moment to the boy who had completely changed her world.
"Ash, you don't have to-"
"I killed somebody."
She said it. She finally said it. She hadn't said it out loud in years, she had tried to forget about the accident. She had stopped breathing, in wait for Shoto to express him shock and horror. But to her surprise he didn't move. He wanted to know more, she sensed it. She looked into his eyes and saw the confusion and concern that was rattling in him head.
"K-Katsuki and I were 5..." she stuttered.
10 years ago
"No fair!" a small blonde boy ran through the small backyard of the modest home out front of it.
"You'll just have to be faster next time!" A young girl, the same age as the boy said jumping up a large tree at the back of the yard, in her hand she held a small All Might action figure. The young boy ran up to the foot of the tree and threw his arms up in the air.
"I am fast! You cheated!" he exclaimed up at the girl, who was sat on a high off branch wearing a large smile on her face.
"I didn't cheat, I'm just faster." she taunted.
"Guys! Don't fight!" a shy small voice from behind the boy called out. Another young girl, her hair long and black and her eyes a deep blue, walked up behind them.
"It's Ashley's fault! She cheated!" The boy, Katsuki, responded.
"Did not!" Ashley yelled as she jumped from the tree to land beside her brother. She looked toward thew other girl and saw her expression of worry. "Urgh fine, here." she gave up and handed the figure to her brother. He took it with one swift move and ran for the house.
"Thank you..." the black haired girl said in a shy tone. Ashley smiled back, she didn't like people in distress, especially her friends.
"No problem, he needs a win sometimes." she responded, both gave a small laugh.
The three had been friends basically since birth, their parents were old school friends so they'd been around each other a lot. They played at each other's houses almost everyday after school, even though the siblings did fight fairly often, they were all best friends.
There was a sudden change in the air, the street lamps flickered off slowly down the whole street.
"This isn't right..." Ashley said, walking up to her friend and trying to look around for signs of what had caused the sudden change. Ashley grabbed the other girl's hand to try to comfort the shivering girl.
"It's ok. Stay with me." she reassured the girl, who nodded slowly in response although her fear rose. The air was cold and dry, a thin mist had filled the garden enough that they couldn't see a couple feet in front of themselves. Ashley knew this wasn't just some change in the air, she had a knack for sensing danger.
That's when a loud crash was heard across the mist, which made the girls turn around. It was completely disorientating, they couldn't tell if the lights around them were the house lights or flashlights. That's when Ashley stared to fixate on one of the lights which seemed to move side to side until it started to grow in size. Ashley stared at it as it seemed to get bigger and bigger until she realised what was happening.
"GO!" she yelled as she pushed the girl beside her out away from her and jumped in the opposite direction. That's when a blast of hot light blasted through past were they were stood, a loud crash and the sound of what seemed to be the house behind them falling apart.
"Kids! Kids!" the girls heard one of the mothers call out, they still couldn't see far enough to see where she was.
"Mum!" the black haired girl called out into the smoke, and in a sudden spur of courage she stood up and ran toward the general direction of where the light had hit.
"Saph!" Ashley called out to her as she disappeared into the mist. Then everything stood still. Not a sound. Not a single move. Ashley's breathe was the only thing she could hear. She was frozen. She couldn't tell if she couldn't move from fear or if something was stopping her. That's when everything went black. Not black as if lights went off but black as if she had suddenly gone blind. Ashley started to panic and was turning on herself as she could hear footsteps on the grass around her.
Hello child.
She heard, it wasn't a voice, more of a thought that wasn't hers that had just appeared in her mind.
You've been allowed to live in peace among these useless being for too long.
There is was again.
We've come to take you where you really belong, where you're true potential can be untapped.
NO. NO. NO.
She was completely lost, confused and terrified.
"Leave us alone!" she screamed into the darkness.
"Now why would I do that?" this time a voice, young but not as young as her and male.
She heard footsteps quickly approaching her from all directions. That's when the overwhelming darkness became a blinding white light. She felt a snap in herself, as she was begging to be left alone.
"Go away!" she screamed as the white light filled the yard. She felt light all of a sudden, as her vision started to come back slowly. A small blurred figure stood in front of her, she couldn't make out who it was until it spoke.
"Ash...ley..." she recognised her friend's voice as she croaked out her name. Ashley blinked a few times hoping her vision would come back, which it did. In front of her she saw her friend standing still before her, slowly swaying back and forth. Her nose was bleeding, her eyes watering up and she slowly began to shake before she hit the ground.
"S-Saph?" Ashley whispered but she got no response or any movement back. Her friend lay on the ground her eyes wide open and seemingly not breathing.
I did this?
The present
Shoto and Ashley sat in silence. The sound of people running through the hospital corridors was the only sound that could be heard. Ashley fought the urge to burst into tears as she avoided his eyes again, she didn't want to feel judged by him.
Ashley sniffed as she fought the urge again and she swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Her name was Saph." she whispered. "She was 6." she added removing her gaze from the window and back to her hands. "Her name was Saph, she was 6 and I killed her." she could barely get the words out as she started to break. She hadn't told anyone, she felt like she could have possibly lost him by telling him, but he needed to know. As her mind started to loop the different reactions of anger, fear and disgust he could have she felt something cool cup her cheek. She quickly looked up to see those mismatched eyes she loved so much staring at her into her own. He seemed unmoved by the story.
"You didn't do it on purpose." he said to her, his tone strong and reassuring.
"I still did it." she responded, trying to process the fact that he didn't seem to care that she had killed somebody.
"You were a kid, you didn't mean to."
"It doesn't take away the fact that I killed somebody, Shoto." she stated. These are all thoughts she had had as she tried to process the events as a child in the end she just ended up shoving it all away for the last 10 years.
"It doesn't make you a bad person, or a villain." he tried to convince her of her innocence and pureness but she really couldn't see it that way. As a single tear left her right eye, she gave small smile.
"How does somebody who has gone through as much as you have, become this kind?" she said to him, looking into his eyes, it looked like she was studying his soul. In response he took her hand.
"The same way you are." he told her. "You might not see it, but you are one great person, Ash." he added, looking back at her.
Ashley felt electricity between their hands as he intertwined his fingers with hers. Her heart was light and her eyes began to water, this time she didn't stop them. She leaned forward quickly catching his lips in hers in a desperate kiss. He caught her and held her close to him. The kiss wasn't long but it meant a whole lot to her that he was close to her in this moment.
As they slowly parted they stayed only a couple inches from each other and softly looked at each other.
"Shoto I-" she started but she was interrupted by the stairwell door opening and a boy with spiky red hair popped through it.
"There you are." he said, looking at the two who had leaned away from each other and looked somewhat caught in the act although this time he had burst in they had kept things PG.
"What is it?" Ashley asked her friend as she shook away a strange embarrassed feeling.
Kirishima walked a few steps into the stairwell and swept his left arm over his shoulder, using his thumb to point behind him. "Midoriya is finally awake.".
