I smiled. "It's nice, simple, and cold. A lot of the time I would go looking around in old ruins up high in the mountains for things left behind long ago, or I would find a cave deep in the forest." I looked down, "That was before my thirteenth birthday, a villain kidnapped me and my twin sister..."
"Oh... you don't have to tell me." Mina said. "I didn't mean to dredge up bad memories."
"No... I just feel like I have to get this off my shoulders. And, well you've been so kind to me, I know I can trust you. And I know every one will be asking about... the scars soon enough." I clenched my fists. "My and sister had no powers up until then, everyone thought we were Quirkless." Half truth, half lie. "When we woke up we had been chained to the wall of a crypt for some quirk cult. At the head of the chamber below us was the leader and his followers around a cauldron filled with blood. On the floor were too many bodies to count. They started to chant to a god named Molag Bal."
We sat on a bench inside of UA's walls. "That's horrible... I never thought of..." She looked sick. "But then Heroes came for you right?"
"No... as that vile stench of blood filled my senses I prayed that anyone would stop this... but no as that thing arose from the blood..." I clenched my eyes shut. "It... I can't." I hid my face in my hands, trying to hold back the tears. "Helsa didn't survive that thing making me watch as it... then it turned to me... and did the same, that's where the scars came from." She held me to her shoulder. "I was found by the local heroes hours later comatose. But when I woke up the experience had activated my quirk... which includes blood starved states where I lose all sense of myself... I didn't want to harm anyone."
Chapter 12: The Path to Healing
I sat in the guidance office with Mina. Silent as she explained to Hound Dog, the school's guidance councilor, the canine hero leaned back in his chair. "I should have known." He slammed his fist on the table. "Ashido, I thank you for helping her... it makes sense why she wasn't able to... inform us." I knew the entirety of UA was somewhat familiar with my past, but the day I was turned... I had never disclosed to anyone aside for Serena and Isran. "We will do what we can to help."
Mina hadn't stopped holding me. "What of the villains?" She asked.
"A hero group that specialized in cult villains back home hunted them down about a month before I came here..." I hadn't gone on that mission, Isran had led the Dawngaurd into the mountain cave where the Vampire clan had hidden in. And there had been no survivors of that clan.
Hound Dog nodded as he removed his muzzle. "They are gone now... if you ever need to talk come to us." He looked me in the eye. "Villains so long as heroes exist will be at the mercy of the hammer of justice. Now, I think you two should enjoy your day. You still have a some time before everything closes."
I nodded as Mina led me out as I wiped away tears. "Come on, let's get you something to drink." She said as she stayed next to me.
"T-thank you." I said. "I... that was eating at me."
"I'm your friend Ama. If you need to speak about anything, come to me. I swear I'll keep it between us." She wiped a tear from my cheek. "You deserve to be a hero, and have a hero."
She was so much like her, my twin, so positive, so... happy. "Thank you." I said as I walked with her.
That day we spent it doing small things, simple things. Shopping, eating treats, playing games... being a kid again. Something hadn't let myself be in a long time. The pink girl made sure we didn't miss a thing. As we walked in front of a shop she looked into the window. "Oh my god, Ama, we have to check these out." She pulled me in by grabbing my hand. Inside was a clothing shop based around female heroes.
She was shuffling through a rack of jackets. "They have the new Mirko leather jackets." She pulled out one and turned stark white. "What is this price!?" I walked next to her, the white leather jacket had purple sleeves, a gold crescent down one side and metal plates on either side of the midsection. The price was five hundred thousand yen.
"You want this?" I asked. "Are they limited edition?"
"Yes, they are only being made for a few weeks. I've been looking for one." She went to put it back but I took it and another in my size. "Ama?"
"I'll pay." I said as I took the two jackets to the counter. The lady with gills at the counter looked at me then the clothes. "Aren't you a bit young?"
"Quirk. Stopped my aging." I explained briefly. She nodded and I paid for it.
As we walked out with the jackets Mina tapped me on the shoulder. "Um... why do you have so much money, you really didn't have to to that."
"I was taken in by a pro hero agency. Between that and... well my inheritance I have enough to take care of most things and not worry." I said, that despite really in truth having looted nearly all of the gold I had from dead bodies, bandit camps, and a crypts. But she didn't need to know that. She put on the jacket while I put mine in a bag.
"So your not super rich." She said. "Okay. But I was supposed to treat you."
"You really don't. I never liked being pampered." I said as I looked away from her. "It's a gift from one friend to another." I smiled at her.
She gave me a wide smile. "You are so considerate."
'That's because those around me will all die one day... and I'll just keep on existing.' I looked away from her. "Aye."
That night I laid awake in bed. Naomasa hadn't been informed by Hound Dog of the talk, but I laid back and clenched my fists. 'Deserve to have a hero... I was always saving everyone else.' I ran a hand down my face, finger stopping at my fang. 'Mina...' I rolled over in my bed as I looked on the jacket on the chair. I had bought it on a whim. I reached over and pulled it over me. The image of my class mate wearing hers still fresh in my mind.
She was so kind to me, and when I told she had listened to me, with genuine care, not like how Isran had with indifference, how I was just a useful tool. Serena had been through the same thing, but she was so far removed from the event, her scars more derived from her father Harkon and mother Valerica's war. Mina... she knew nothing about me, and choose to be close to me.
Not because I was the Dragonborn, or I did something for them, or a prophecy, or I sought them out, or ordered to travel with me as a housecarl. She choose to be my friend for no reason other then I was there. She choose me.
I silently cried. Because I knew how this would end. There was no kindness extended too me that didn't have a curse to it. My phone lit up and when I picked it up it was Mina.
'You okay?' her text asked me
'Yes. I'm just in bed.' I sent back.
'That's good, I enjoyed today Ama. I hope you did too. I'm happy to be able to have helped you.' She said through the message.
'Want to spend time together again soon?' I asked her.
'Absolutely!' with the message were little pink hearts. 'We should get some sleep for school see you in the morning.'
If my heart could beat it would have skipped. 'Is it right for me to feel this way for her? Dose she feel the same way for me?'
The next day I sat in class next to Mina after getting the class to settle down. "You feel better?" She asked me with a smile.
"Yes... I do." I said as I wrote in my journal. But all I could think of was the past. 'Would it be better if I just found a way back now?' I didn't know how to handle my feelings, and my dead body didn't exactly help with that. "Just thinking of home. I wonder how they are?"
She put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure they are just fine." I tensed up for just a moment as Aizawa walked into the class.
"All right, 1-A I have some announcements. Security after the USJ Incident has been increased as you know. And the way you handled the event was exceeding expectations. Midoriya, how is your hand?"
"O-oh, Recovery Girl fixed me up." Midoriya said being put on the spot.
"Good, Amavera. Your quick thinking and quirk use may have saved plenty of lives." Aizawa.
"ARE WE JUST GOING TO IGNORE SHE KILLED FOUR OF THE VILLAINS!?" Bakugo shouted, referring to the Lurkers and the seekers.
"Those weren't people, they were a form of Nomu like the bird creature." Aizawa said. "A artificial life form."
Bakugo slammed back into his seat. "Damn lucky brat."
"You have to remember Bakugo, Essori is ahead year in both quirk power and skill due to how much she had to train it prior to UA. It is a Mutation class quirk with both transformations and emitter abilities. It is a quirk that can easily be misused." Aizawa scolded him.
"Tsk. Yeah, she is so special." he growled.
Mina glared at him. But just shook my head. Mouthing that it wasn't worth it.
"And lastly, there is the Sports festival. It will be held in two weeks after a long deliberation with the staff." He said.
"The sports festival? Are you sure that's safe with the villains on the lose?" Mineta asked.
"Yes, we saw that they weren't able to take out a class of school students. And more then that it would be more of a problem for the school if we decided to cancel the event." He said. "We are calling in heroes from across the nation. You goal is to train in the two weeks before the event. And do keep atop your school work. Remember this opportunity only happens three times, once a year. So make the most of it."
As the class started I leaned over to Mina. "Sooo, I'm not familiar with the sports festival."
"How could you not be? It's the biggest sporting event of the year." She whispered to me. "It's the single biggest quirk competition on international Tv. You could be scouted for work from across the world depending on how you do in it."
"Not one too watch sporting events." I said. We spent that morning doing our usual classes, At lunch as I was packing up my school supplies Midoriya walked over to me.
"E-Essori? Can I ask you something?" He asked me.
I gestured to Mina that I'll be fine. "Sure Midoriya, what is it?"
"C-can you help me train my quirk? I can't control it so that my body isn't damaged... so I thought since you have such a powerful quirk thatyouneedtohavecompletecontrolover. Butyoudon'thavetooifyoudon'twanttoo."
"Ahem." I cleared my throat getting the vice class rep's attention. "I not sure how much I can help, but I'm willing to lend what aid I can."
"Move out of the way you damn Extras!" Midoriya flinched at Bakugo's shouting from the class room door.
"So this is the infamous 1-A." A blonde boy with combed hair and blue eyes stood at the front of the class. The class let me to the front.
"Is there a problem? I'm the class rep for 1-A." I said as I stood there. The door way was blocked by a crowd of students. A platinum blonde boy with stark white eye lashes. And boy with baggy eyes and messy purple hair, and more students.
"I'm Monoma of Class 1-B." The haughty boy stood over me, "So you are the famous Essori Amavera, the girl who the villains were after. Or are you just a plant for them?"
"Hey! Don't you dare...!" Mina started to shout but I put up a hand to stop her.
"Mina, it's fine." I glared up at Monoma and the other students. "I am assuming this is about the Sports Festival? Here to declare war?"
"DMAN RIGHT WE ARE! I TETSUTETSU TETSUTETSU WILL LEAD 1-B TO VICTORY!" Tetsutetsu declared.
"And I am Hitoshi Shinso of general Studies. I couldn't be in the hero course because I didn't have a flashy heroic quirk." The boy with bags under his eyes looked down at me. "Your quirk is Vampire correct? Flashy enough to get into the hero program."
"Something about her is dark, and malevolent." A girl came to the front of the group. "Shiozaki Ibara of 1-B." Her green vine hair traveled most of the length of her body.
"You best watch what you say." I retorted, glaring at the group. "1-A will be ready for what ever you throw at us."
"Say's the half pint brat." Monoma leaned down to look me in the eye.
And what do you think of this chapter?
