Hello Reader! I am thedarkexecutioner, and welcome to my fanfic! This is my first time writing a fanfiction, so feel free to give me some advice or feedback, as long as you're not a dick about.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Punch Man. All credit goes to One and Murata for making such masterpieces.

Also: this story takes place immediately following chapter 106 of the webcomic, I want to keep this as close to the original story as I can while adding my own twist on it.

Chapter One: Pain

The sky was empty. Even the lonely clouds that flew by were small and varied. No bird could or would fly this high. It was one of the places Tatsumaki truly felt at peace.

But not today. Today was different. Usually Tatsumaki would speed along the human eye couldn't even comprehend. Today, she was struggling to keep herself in the air.

When she finally landed on the deck of her house in City J, she was exhausted. Her legs nearly collapsed when she touched down. She staggered towards her house, and without thinking, used her psychokinesis to obliterate the sliding glass door. This caused a surge of pain in her skull and this time, she did collapse. She groaned, and got back to her feet. Her bedroom was just a few feet away. She stumbled over to it and collapsed in her bed. Immediately, she fell into a deep, restless sleep.

Tatsumaki's eyes snapped open. A buzzing noise woke her from her slumber. She groaned and wrapped the pillow around her head. Eventually it stopped and Tatsumaki breathed a sigh of relief and got ready to go back to sleep.

Buzz, buzz.

Tatsumaki's eyes snapped open.

Buzz, buzz.

Tatsumaki snatched her phone off her nightstand and shouted, "What?!"

"Hello Tatsumaki," a gentle voice answered. Her brain hurt too much to remember the guys name, but she clearly remembered what he looked like. She decided to simply call him as she thought of him.

"Bearded Worker? What do you want?"

"Uh, actually, Miss Tatsumaki, my name is-"

"I don't care what your name is! And actually, you know what, don't answer that last question. I am tired and I want to be left alone. I don't want any calls from the Association in the next five days unless the world is LITERALLY falling apart."

"But, Miss Tatsumaki," Bearded Worker continued. "I-"

"No! I do too much of the Hero Association's hero work as it is. If there's a threat, send Flashy Flash, or Drive Knight to deal with it! I don't care! If you call me, I will personally fly over to City A and throw the HA HQ into the sun! Are we clear?"

"Please Miss Tatsumaki, calm down-"

"DO NOT tell me to calm down. I need a break."

"Miss Tatsumaki, are you feeling alright? You've never taken a break before."

"Yes, I'm fine. But as I said, not enough hero's are getting the credit they deserve. I'm being generous by letting them have this time to amp up their popularity before I start killing all the monsters again."

"I suppose you're right. But I have some questions, if you don't mind."

Tatsumaki sighed, pinching her eyes together. "Whatever it is, it can wait. For the next few days, just leave me be."

With that final statement she ended the call. She sighed in frustration. Why can't everyone just leave me alone, Tatsumaki groaned to herself. She flopped onto her Queen sized bed that she didn't even take up half off. She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

Two minutes later she decided to get out of bed. Looking down, she realized she was in the same dress that she fought Saitama in, and the bald bastard-

Nope. Tatsumaki scolded herself. I am not thinking about that right now. My head hurts too much to think. I can look at it tomorrow.

Tatsumaki headed to the bathroom so she could shower. As she started to undress, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and gasped.

She was a disaster. Her clothes were ripped and torn, blood streaked down her forehead as well as other places on her body. In the mirror, she noticed her legs shaking, as if they could barely support her own weight. She reached up to touch her forehead and winced. Her hand came back streaked in red.

Look at what's become of you, she sneered at herself.

Tatsumaki took off her form fitting dress, looking longingly at it as she threw it in the garbage. Although she had many more of these dresses, that one was one of her favorites. Oh well, Tatsumaki thought. I guess not everything can last.

She stepped into the shower, the hot water cascading over her body. She sighed as the warm liquid refreshed her, washing off all the blood and sweat of the last day's exertions. The smooth floor of the shower quickly turned red from all the blood coming off of her. She looked at her hands, and they were red. She balled her fists and tried as she always did to wash the blood away.

She watched the blood run down the drain and tried to remember the last time she had been this damaged…

…she couldn't. She blinked. Not in all the years in the Hero Association, not in the years before that, killing monsters she stumbled across on her way home from the minimum wage job she hated, not in her teenage years tormenting bullies that attacked her sister. Never had she been in a position like this. The only thing that came close to this was her years in The Facility, and that was something totally different.

She hated it. The feeling of being weak. The knowledge that she couldn't do anything. Blast told her that she shouldn't rely on anyone, but right now, she wouldn't mind someone to lean on.

What was she saying? She didn't need anyone. She had been independent her whole life. She found a job at 16, bought her own car at 18, got her degree at 22. Without anyone's help. It was her that did that. And when she joined the Hero Association, she was able to pay off all her student loans, and help Fubuki as well. And Fubuki wasn't even grateful. She gave her precious dollars to help Fubuki through some of the most stressful times of her life. And she wasn't even happy for it.

Tatsumaki stepped out of the shower feeling much more refreshed. She draped a towel around herself and another around her green hair. She dried herself off and put her comfy pajamas on. She sighed as snuggled down on the couch, content to stay there forever. She could stay here, and never think about anything ever again, not even the baldy who-

Stop it! No! Blah! No fucking thinking is allowed! I refuse! Shut up stupid head! Tatsumaki screamed at herself.

She watched some dumb movie about some dumb guy going on a dumb quest to save his dumb girlfriend from a dumb bad guy. She frowned. It was so repetitive. It felt like she'd already seen the movie a hundred times cause of how generic the plot was. And on top of that, all the people in the movie were so weak. If she'd been in the movie at all, she could've ended it at any time. In five seconds flat. She wouldn't even have to be at full strength, cause if she had been today she would have-

"What the fuck did I just say? Shut the fuck up!" Tatsumaki screamed and buried her head into the pillow on her couch next to her wishing she could bury herself in a tomb so dark, her brain couldn't go off and have a mind of its own.

She looked over at the clock. It was 9:45. Normally she wouldn't go to sleep until much later, but she'd had a rough day. She floated up and got into bed. But she didn't close her eyes. Because if she did, tomorrow would come. And tomorrow she would need to face the truth.