Be warned. There's a lot of talking in this chapter. Sorry about that. XD. Anyway, see down below for notes and some new artwork for the story!
Patterns of speech:
Normal – May the Plus Ultra be with you.
'Inner thoughts with single quote marks', "Radio speak, transmissions for double ones" – May the Plus Ultra be with you.
All Might – May the Plus Ultra be with you.
R3 – May the Plus Ultra be with you.
I only own my OC and the plot of this here story. All characters and locations in the MHA world are property of Kōhei Horikoshi. Star Wars is owned by Disney. Enjoy the new chapter!
Binding the Galaxy Together
Chapter 28 – First Shot
As he stood outside the door to Camilla's and Mirko's apartment complex, Izuku hoped his alien friend would wake up in better spirits than yesterday. At least now he knew why she seemed so down in the first place. Hearing that Katsuki accused her of using a Jedi mind trick on him made him reevaluate a lot of things about his old friend. Those thoughts for now were put to the side as he saw Camilla exit her apartment and drop down from the third story balcony. She landed the jump like usual but this landing seemed very sloppy and off balance. That was the first clue something was off. The second and third was the way she dragged her feet out the gate and her very groggy sounding greeting to him. The fourth was when she nodded off while they were seated on the train.
Ochako was equally concerned as she heard the Jedi snoring while using her shoulder as a pillow. Obvious events from yesterday aside, Camilla seemed fine when they left Izuku's house last night. So to see her like this was a head scratcher. The only other time she had been anything close was the day of the entrance exam and Izuku begged them to get up at that ungodly hour. Both of them hoped the cause of this wasn't anything too difficult to deal with. The thought of spending the night with her to make sure she slept tonight did cross their minds. They were both sure she would have liked a little bit more sleep, but the train slowing down signaled that wasn't going to happen.
"Camilla. Camilla, wake up." Ochako gently nudged her.
"Hmm…ugh...what?"
The Padawan learner's head rose up off Ochako's shoulder and her hand rubbed her face for a moment, almost knocking her sunglasses off.
"What is it?"
"We're at our stop. Come on."
At Izuku's beckoning, Camilla rose up to her feet with Ochako staying close if she needed help. Once they were off the train, the walk to UA began. It wasn't far, but there was still a part of the road where it was an uphill walk. With Camilla's feet feeling so heavy, she literally needed to hold Ochako's hand at some points.
"What did you do last night? Did you not go to bed?" Ochako asked.
"No…went to bed…had nightmare…didn't go back…" Camilla slurred out.
The word nightmare was what triggered a heavy wave of worry from Izuku and Ochako.
"A bad dream?" Izuku murmured.
"Mm-hm." Camilla hummed. "Don't ask 'cause I don't wanna talk."
A heavy sigh was what she could hear coming from Ochako as they reached the top of the hill and let go of her hand. "Please at least say you intend to tell us later."
"I do intend to. But for right now I just wanna get inside school aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand what in the Force is around the corner?"
In the last part of her sentence, Camilla sounded a lot more awake and alert than she had been all morning. Clearly Ochako and Izuku could tell she was sensing something. Only question now was: what or who? They got their answer as they rounded the final corner that showed the U.A. front gate. Blocking their path to it was a giant horde of news reporters with too many cameras to count.
"Holy whoa! What are they all doing here?!" Ochako cried.
"It looks like every news station in Japan wants to get a scoop on All Might's new life as a school teacher," Izuku guessed correctly.
"That doesn't mean they're gonna wanna talk with us does it?" Camilla tiredly whined. "Isn't there a back entrance into the school?"
"There is but it's too far a walk. We go that way and we'll be late."
Both Camilla and Ochako groaned. That meant they had no choice but to brave the storm of All Might hungry reporters. Even the young Jedi in her time on this world knew at this point this fact. Ryukyu and Mirko drilled it into her. That fact being: when reporters want a good story about All Might, they will go insane to get one.
"Izuku, Ochako, it's been an honor," Camilla quipped.
Izuku's hand went flat and flew up to his forehead as he stood in attention and saluted. Ochako mimicked him a second later.
"The honor was ours, Padawan Sharro," they declared in unison.
With that, the three friends steeled their nerves and walked towards the horde of reporters as if they were taking their last walk. When they were close enough, one of the reporters near the back turned around and saw three more students wearing the familiar green striped uniform of U.A. High. That same reporter immediately saw a chance to take. One he started moving, the others got wise and started following him. Then more followed. Before the three of them knew it, they were surrounded by reporters shoving cameras and microphones near their faces.
"What can you tell us about All Might's teaching skills?!"
"Is he just as good a teacher as he is a hero?!"
"Is it true he started working here because he has a secret sweetheart on campus?!"
"As hero course students you must have some information! So please just give us one comment!"
The questions they were all bombarded with all sounded different. None of the three could even start an answer before another question hit them.
"Can you please just let us by?" Ochako asked, hoping one of them would be nice enough.
"All we want is to get to school." Izuku felt the same.
"Oh come on, kids! We just want one comment! You with the glasses! What about it huh? Anything to say as the number one pro as a teacher?"
In her tired state, Camilla was having a little difficulty perceiving things around her. So many voices bombarded her ears, she could barely move a step, and so many of these reporters jammed microphones into her personal space. Those three factors and more began to mess with her head. Slowly her breathing began to intensify as the voices began to fade and suddenly, she wasn't there.
That monster was back in front of her, and she was on the ground again while cradling the broken body of her teacher while it reached out for her. It was brief but that was where the glimpse of the vision ended this time. Still, it was enough to send her into an erratic state of panic. She couldn't even register Izuku and Ochako asking her if she was okay. All Camilla felt was being suffocated by these reporters and she wanted out.
"Gaaaaaaaah!"
It wasn't her best move, but she didn't care. Camilla thrust out her left arm and used the Force to make every reporter and cameraman in her way to part enough to make a path for her and her friends to get to the gate with. Her next two acts with her power were grabbing Izuku and Ochako and then dashing away with a burst of Force speed to make it through the entrance. Once they were through, Camilla let go of her friends and fell to her knees. She threw her sunglasses off and wiped a fair amount of sweat from her forehead while Izuku and Ochako knelt down to check on her.
"Camilla, are you alright?!" Ochako cried.
"Just breathe!" Izuku shouted.
Their volume was enough to make Aizawa turn around and notice three of his students on the ground with one of them on their knees. With an eyebrow raised, he turned away from the media mob and approached.
"I…I'm fine." Camilla gasped out. "I'm alright now. I just got…a little claustrophobic out of nowhere."
"That doesn't sound like you…" More worry dripped from Izuku's voice.
As her breathing slowed down, Camilla reached for her glasses and put them back on. Then she stood up with her friends still holding her shoulders until she was fully at her feet.
"I'll talk about it. I said I would. But not here. This is Force stuff," she whispered.
Hearing the word "Force" made the two Earthborn humans understand. And they agreed. School was not the place to discuss these things.
"Well…at the very least, the mob woke me up." Camilla tried to ease the tension.
Her weak attempt did work a little bit.
"Yay for being crowded." Izuku sarcastically threw his fist in the air in triumph.
"Are you all alright?"
One at a time, the trio turned around to face their teacher and gave themselves a brief check over.
"I'm okay," Ochako answered.
"Me too," Izuku replied.
"A little jarred, but otherwise good." Camilla finished.
Aizawa raised his eyebrow a little more at that last response but decided to tug that particular string another time.
"Then head on to class. I'll be there soon," he instructed.
A swift nod from the three of them, and they turned around to comply with their teacher's request. After that, Aizawa walked back over to the media with his patience for them already gone.
"I'm gonna say this for the last time. Today is All Might's day off, meaning he's not here. That means there's no reason for you to be here either. If you want a story, go downtown to the next coffee shop grand opening. God knows there's a million of them a day. Now if you'll excuse me, school is about to start."
He didn't give them more than that because he thought they didn't deserve any more than that. Aizawa just turned his back to the news teams and walked past the gate once more. As he moved, he could only wonder just how All Might or any other limelight hero got any work done with those vultures constantly tailing them.
"Wha-hey! You can't just leave us out here with no comment!" One of the reporter women stubbornly yelled.
She was ignored by the hobo-looking hero. This woman was not having it though. She took a couple steps forward to go after Aizawa but didn't hear the warning from her cameramen. She was just barely able to avoid the heavy metal door that rushed up from the floor and nearly killed her.
"Waaaaaaaaaaa! Hey what's the big idea?! What is this thing?!" she cried as she backed away.
"You've never heard of it?" the cameraman remarked. "This is called the U.A. Barrier. Every entrance to the school is rigged with a sensor that goes off whenever someone tries to pass through it without a student or staff ID card. No one else is allowed in unless you get a visitor pass."
"Rrrrrrrrrrggh! This is so unfair! UA thinks they're so high and mighty yet they won't even give us one measly comment for the record!"
As more reporters voiced similar frustrations. One person separated from the crowd and gazed up at the school's main building with annoyance. Yeah he wanted All Might just like the press did, but his reasoning was much different.
"This is where the fun begins."
Once they got to class, Camilla, Ochako, and Izuku noticed they were the last ones to arrive. The three of them took their seats, and Camilla took off her glasses since she was safe in here to do so. From her left, Shoto had taken a look at her and noticed that she looked a bit tired. Even with her eyes being blind, he could tell a look of exhaustion when he saw one. Before painful memories of a woman who constantly wore that look herself filled his head, the door opened one more time and Aizawa walked in to greet his class. After a short bidding of good morning, he got right down to business.
"Alright. All Might sent me the videos of your fights yesterday along with the notes he took on all of them. Not bad overall but not outstanding either. All of you have room to improve. Before we get started let me just say a few things. Bakugo—" The mentioned boy turned his gaze up to his teacher. "—you lost yesterday. Quit acting like a child when it happens and learn something from it."
Katsuki leveled a glare at Aizawa for only a moment before turning away. It didn't faze the erasure hero at all.
"Whatever," he grumbled.
Aizawa paid him no mind and looked to the student sitting directly behind him.
"Midoriya, I saw that in order to win you ended up breaking your arm again. Remember what I said about being a liability. Work on bringing less harm to yourself. The excuse of you having no control over your quirk has already been wrung dry. Got it?"
"Y-yes sir!"
"Good. Todoroki—"
Shoto's eyes shifted from Camilla to his teacher at the front of the room.
"—in All Might's notes, he wrote down that you were restricting yourself to just your right side voluntarily. You may be powerful with your ice, but as I'm sure you've heard by now; half your power is still just half. Either start using all of it, or your future as a hero is looking bleak."
Shoto gave him no verbal reply. All he did was stare at his left arm and clench his fist.
"And as for you, Sharro—" The blind girl herself had given her teacher her full attention. "I apologize if forcing you to reveal your blindness to everyone on the first day made you uncomfortable. But I did that because with you I saw the opportunity for a lesson I don't get to teach very often."
Now Aizawa's attention was to the whole class.
"In this day and age, disabilities don't mean a thing: missing limbs, loss of hearing, or even a pair of blind eyes. All of those and more can be made up for with quirks or support items. As you clearly saw yesterday, merely being born with something that some others don't have doesn't automatically make you better than them."
Only Izuku could hear the growling coming off Katsuki that could only be described as demonic.
"I'm not going to have any discrimination allowed in my classroom. In here, everyone is your equal. Is that understood?"
The sound of multiple voices responding, "Yes sir!" made Aizawa nod.
"And you Sharro,—" Camilla had her attention focused again. "—you're skilled. Just don't let that go to your head and I'm sure you'll be fine."
The young Padawan felt a small smile grow on her mouth as she now looked upon her teacher with a very positive feeling. Her opinion of him from day one wasn't all that good thanks to him forcing her to take her glasses off and reveal her eyes. But after hearing his explanation why, Camilla couldn't exactly fault Aizawa for it. It was a good plan and one she was very much on board for, even if she wasn't aware of it at the time. Keeping her smile, she nodded to her new teacher in acceptance.
"Yes, Master Aizawa."
"Good. Now let's move onto-wait, what was that?"
He eyed Camilla once more who now had her lips in a straight line.
"I said yes, Mister Aizawa."
Even though the erasure hero was positive he heard a different word the first time, he didn't bother with it since it was too early and time was precious. But had he taken another second to look to either side of the room, Aizawa would have seen either Izuku or Ochako with their own lips curled in like they were withholding laughter. Thankfully for both of them, they went unnoticed.
"Alright. Now then, let's get onto homeroom business. You lot now have the pleasure of facing something that could very well determine your future."
All at once, the twenty one students tensed up. First it was a threat of expulsion, then yesterday's battle trials. What else could their teacher throw at them now?
"You need to pick a class representative."
Most of the class did not care how audible their sighs of relief were.
'Just normal school stuff. Thank goodness.'
Once the tension melted away, multiple students shot out of their seats and shouted they were the best fit for the role.
"You guys definitely want someone manly like me to be your class rep!"
"No way! I'd be the better rep, Kiri! I did it in junior high! Remember!?"
"It's clear that you all want moi to be your shining light in front of you!"
"You extras need someone strong to be leading you! And that's me!"
"Didn't you lose your fight yesterday?"
"What the hell did you say, earlobes?!"
"Ummmm…what's a class representative?"
For eighteen out of twenty kids, it felt like a record scratch when they registered that question. In what looked like one singular motion, all of them turned their heads to land their confused gazes on Camilla, who looked back at them just as confused.
"What?" she innocently asked.
"Uhhh…Camilla? Didn't your old schools have class reps?" Toru sweetly asked.
The Jedi in hiding just shook her head.
"Can't say they did."
"Wow you really do come from far away."
Most around her felt the same way. The more things they learned about this girl, the more questions seemed to pop up. Feeling that, and also the need to assist his classmate not in the know, Tenya walked over and stood in front of Camilla's desk.
"Allow us to explain then, Sharro!" Excitedly, both Tenya's arms began to chop up and down like a robot. "For most schools, every class in every grade selects one out person out of all of them to represent the rest of us for the entirety of our time at this school. Be it for official school functions or joint classes or anything of that nature."
While he explained, Camilla did a very good job at holding back her snickering. The way Tenya moved to her looked like a protocol droid in high gear. Memories of what that one Anakin said he built started to creep into her head. What was his name? C-3P…something? Something to recall when she had the time.
"For most normal schools it's just a bunch of extra work," Eijiro joined Tenya in explaining. "But in the hero course, being the class rep or even the vice rep is a great way to get noticed by agencies. It shows how good your leadership skills are."
"Oooooooohhhhhhhhh. Now I get it. Then I don't want it."
"It's quite obvious you would-what?!"
Tenya wasn't the only one not expecting that. Again the room went silent as Camilla stunned her class for the second time today. Even Izuku and Ochako were surprised this time. She turned it down so casually and without hesitation or thought.
"What do you mean you don't want it?" Mashirao asked. "Camilla, you'd make a great class rep. The way you took charge yesterday in the battle was top notch."
"I agree! It was like you had done it a million times before!" Toru agreed.
Upon the invisible girl's proclamation, Izuku and Ochako started to get a clue as to why Camilla denied this so easily. The uncomfortable look on her face was evidence of that.
"Truth be told, I'd be alright with Sharro as our rep," Rikido said.
"She did take top score in the entrance exam and Aizawa's quirk test," Kyoka agreed. "If we had to vote for someone else, I'd go for her."
A few others agreed, while Izuku and Ochako kept their eyes on Camilla. Normally someone would be touched by how much their class trusts them after only being together for two days. Camilla however, she only seemed to look more uneasy. Right after Denki voiced his own support of her, she slammed a fist down on her desk, causing everyone to reel back and go silent.
"I said no, alright? I don't care who you choose or how you choose them, just leave me out of it."
It may have been her lack of sleep or something else. Whatever it was, Camilla certainly didn't intend to sound so harsh and frustrated when she said that. But she did and now most everyone felt as uncomfortable as she did.
"Sorry…it's just that, the last time I was in charge of leading a large group of people it didn't go all that well."
The mental image of Camilla running from her own troops filled Ochako and Izuku's heads as she confirmed their suspicion. Tenya wanted to press more, but he also didn't want to hold up the class.
"Very well, Sharro. I'll respect your wishes," Tenya said.
The majority of the class seconded the boy's thoughts as they found themselves back to square one.
"So what are we supposed to even do here? How do we decide?" Hanta asked the question everyone else wanted an answer to.
"Maybe each of us could go up one at a time and present our case for why they would be the best choice?" Mezo suggested.
"That would take too much time! I believe Jiro had the right idea!" Tenya chopped an arm in Kyoka's direction.
"Wait, me? What did I say?" Kyoka asked, confused.
"You said that if you had to vote for anyone, you'd vote for Sharro. That's the best way to go about this decision. The class will all vote. Not for Sharro of course since she prematurely abdicated. Mister Aizawa, is this course of action acceptable to you?"
Tenya turned to his teacher only to see him zipping up into his sleeping bag. "I don't care how you decide. Just do it before I wake up."
With their teacher asleep, the class was left to their own devices and the discussion kept going.
"Ribbit. We haven't known each other for long enough to build any real trust yet. Are you sure this is the best way?" Tsuyu asked, a bit concerned.
"Yeah, and since most people here want the job, they'll just vote for themselves." Eijiro agreed.
"All the more reason if you ask me," Tenya quickly said. "It's true that some will cast votes for themselves, but doesn't that mean that whoever does get multiple votes is the best suited for the job?"
Try as they might, none of them could really put a hole in his logic. Though it was obvious to all that Tenya was trying to score points for coming up with this idea and getting a few more votes to his side. After a few more seconds of no one saying anything, Tenya took that as his green light.
"Thus it shall be! Let the voting commence!"
From there, everyone took out a blank sheet of paper so they could cast their votes. Camilla's was the only one written in Braille so she had to tell Aizawa who it was. Once they were all collected and tallied, Aizawa wrote down the results on the board. Like Camilla had asked, there wasn't a single vote for her. But Izuku was stunned to see that he was the one who ended up with three, placing him as the winner of the vote.
"Which of you morons voted for him!?" Katsuki shot out of his seat, enraged.
"I think the better question is what made you think any of us would vote for you?" Hanta asked.
As Katsuki was told to shut up by Aizawa, Izuku looked over to Ochako and then to Camilla assuming two of those votes were from them. But who was the third? Before he could figure it out, he was called up to the front of the class alongside Momo who came behind him with two votes.
"Then it's settled. Midoriya is your rep and Yaoyorozu is the vice rep," Aizawa declared.
As the class watched Izuku tremble in place next to an indifferent Momo, some of them voiced their approval of the choice believing Izuku to be satisfactory. Tenya however silently lamented the fact that he only got just one vote. Everyone just assumed he voted for himself like most others did. There was nothing he could do about it now. The class made their choice and he had to live with it. From there, classes proceeded as normal. When it came time for lunch, Class 1-A made their way out of the room hurriedly to get their hands on some of Lunch Rush's food. On the short walk there, Izuku huddled down in between Ochako and Camilla still feeling very nervous.
"Me? They chose me to be the class rep? Guys I'm not exactly sure I'm the right call for this," Izuku fretted.
Ochako shook her head in disagreement and placed a reassuring hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Don't say that, Deku. You'll be a great class rep. I know that's why I voted for you."
Her peppy tone was enough to get Izuku to steady his breathing again and stand up straight. Ochako considered that a win.
"Well at least one of us does," he said. "Does that mean you feel like that too, Camilla?"
The young Jedi adjusted her sunglasses while she turned her head to her friends. "No. I actually don't."
That response surprised the both of them.
"But…he got three votes. Wasn't one of them yours?" Ochako asked.
"No. I voted for Tenya," Camilla answered.
Again they were surprised. Camilla just rolled her eyes.
"Well I mean no offense, Izuku. But I could sense you weren't as excited as others about the prospect of being the representative. So I figured that meant you didn't really want it. Tenya though, I could feel he wanted it more than anyone in class. And he didn't want it for selfish reasons. He just genuinely wants to serve his class."
"…oh."
From her position, Camilla could now sense Izuku's surprise melt away and guilt beginning to take its spot.
"Well now I feel kinda guilty that he didn't get it. If he really wants it that badly, maybe I should just-"
"No, you can't do that." Ochako stopped him. "Even if Iida is the better choice, the decision has already been made. Plus voting was his idea. If you give the spot to him purely out of guilt, I bet you anything he's gonna turn you down."
Izuku had to relent again to the point. It was a damn good one. After only two days, everyone and their mother could tell that Tenya was very strict about following the rules. Asking him to just take the position while factoring that in, now sounded like a very silly idea.
"Why don't we change the subject now and get some food in our bellies?" Ochako asked, sensing the need to lighten things up.
"Yes please, I'd like that," Izuku said. Then he smirked as a question came to his head. "So I gotta know something, Camilla."
"Yeah, what is it?"
"When did Mister Aizawa become a Jedi Master?"
Ochako began snickering while Izuku felt Camilla's elbow jab into his gut. He smiled anyway. It was worth it.
The cafeteria bustled like usual. Thankfully, the line for Lunch Rush was never a slow one. One at a time, each student selected their meal off the menu, and the chef hero used his quirk to whip up their order. Like yesterday, Tenya, Ochako, Camilla, and Izuku all sat together at a table to eat together. As they began to eat, Tenya decided to start a new conversation.
"I still don't understand why you would turn down being class rep, Sharro," he said. "I mean, was whatever happened before really all that bad?"
Oh how much either three who heard that question wanted to say that was the understatement of the year. Camilla just sighed as she lowered her hand, currently holding her chopsticks via the Force.
"Yes it was, for me at least. I've been trying for the better part of a year to move on from it. And I like to think I've taken great strides in accomplishing that."
Izuku and Ochako responded, "You have!" in unison while they each took a bite of their meals. Camilla nodded to both of them as she levitated her chopsticks to pull up another bite of her white rice.
"I'm honestly surprised you only got one vote," Ochako herself said. "You took charge the way a rep should, so I thought that would get one or two more on your side. I thought you gave in and just voted for yourself like the rest of them before Camilla told us it was her."
Setting aside the surprise from hearing Camilla voted for him, Tenya decided to focus on the other issue he saw with Ochako's statement.
"I wasn't going to sully the spirit of the vote by voting for myself. I know plenty of others did but I truly felt I needed to vote for who I thought would be best at leading us. That's why I cast mine for Midoriya."
Izuku, in a state of shock, choked on his bite of katsudon for a moment before looking at Tenya surprised.
"Hold on. You voted for me? Why? And aren't you mad with me about it?"
Though confused at why Izuku sounded so surprised, Tenya still smiled as he gave his answer.
"Like I said, because I felt out of all of us, you were the best choice. Sure you may have hurt yourself during the fight yesterday but you came up with a plan and ended up winning with it. Also during the entrance exam, you told me you didn't know about the rescue points at all just like the rest of us. Yet you were the only one who turned back to save Uraraka when her life was in peril. Having someone like that for our class rep is an obvious choice. Would I have preferred things went differently during that fight? Of course I do. Do I wish I won the vote? Obviously. But I can hardly be mad at you when the whole voting process was my idea in the first place."
"Told ya," Ochako said with a smug grin.
Izuku rolled his eyes and took a sip of his water.
"You seem awfully surprised that I'm not mad at you over something so trivial, Midoriya," Tenya said softly. "If you don't mind me asking, is there a reason for that?"
Suddenly the feeling of discomfort multiplied in Izuku's head as memories of his previous school years floated within it. It began to show a bit on his face as he turned away from Tenya in thought. Katsuki was the star of most of those memories. Memories of getting burned, punched, and tormented for years while his classmates either laughed or joined in. And the teachers did nothing. For all they cared, Izuku wasn't worth their time. So why not let their future prized hero student get away with whatever he wanted?
"There is," Izuku answered. "I was bullied a lot before I came to UA, but I would much rather leave that can of worms closed."
Ochako gave her friend a sad frown while Camilla rested an assuring hand on his shoulder and gently rubbed it. Now it was Tenya's turn to feel bad.
"I'm sorry for bringing that up, Midoriya," he apologized before scowling. "Bullying is such a disgraceful act. My brother didn't stand for it during his school years and neither will I!"
"Your brother?" Ochako asked while an eyebrow rose.
Sensing the chance to change the subject and possibly lighten the mood, Tenya flashed a smile and nodded to Ochako.
"Yes indeed! Are any of you familiar with The Turbo Hero: Ingenium?"
Like the flick of a switch, Izuku's attitude perked right up and he looked Tenya right in the eyes. He had thought the tall boy had an air of familiarity to him, but Izuku couldn't put his finger on it. With that name drop, he immediately got it.
"Ingenium? Heck yeah I know him! He runs the Idaten Agency with over fifty sidekicks! It's one of the highest rated operations in Japan!"
"You are correct. And he is my older brother."
The stars in Izuku's eyes grew wide as Tenya happily went on speaking.
"I come from a long line of heroes. Tensei, my older brother, is the current holder of the Ingenium name. He is the one I strive to be like most in my time as a pro hero. He is a wise and dutiful leader who puts the hero code above all else. The Idaten Agency is most famous for its efficient teamwork. Every pro on the streets working for that agency is a gear in a well oiled machine. My brother is the one who makes sure that machine keeps running. And because of it, he and his amazing crew are responsible for many lives being saved. Tensei is a remarkable hero and I wish to uphold his legacy. That is why I want to be a hero."
Izuku smiled and nodded along knowing most of that stuff already. He had done his homework on Ingenium. The guy and his quirk were great. Part of him was kicking himself for not seeing the relation between Ingenium's arms and Tenya's legs. When the tall boy said that last part though, Izuku choked up just a bit feeling inspired by the reason Tenya wanted to be a hero.
Camilla too felt a great surge of honorable pride radiate off Tenya like a heat lamp. There truly was a lot of genuine love for his brother as well. That little bit made her smile. Thinking of her own brother was sad at times but this time, Tenya's positive atmosphere about his own made the sound of Cayden's voice not so painful.
Ochako was just surprised to learn that not only was she friends with an alien, but now she was friends with a rich kid. Suddenly his heavily proper and rule abiding attitude made a lot more sense.
"Your brother sounds amazing, Iida," Ochako complimented.
"Thank you." Tenya nodded. "What about the three of you? Why do you wish to be he-"
"Hey hey! There you are!"
Startled over the interruption, Tenya turned to his right to see a very happy blue haired girl he didn't recognize setting her tray of food down next to his own. Right behind her were two others he hadn't met yet but he was more focused on the girl.
"I've been looking all over for you guys!" she said.
"Um…excuse me? Looking for us?" Tenya was still very confused.
He looked back to the other three thinking maybe they had the answer. He apparently guessed right seeing as how none of them seemed as lost as he did here. Camilla let out a soft chuckle before gesturing to the girl.
"Haha. Time for introductions I suppose. Tenya, this is my friend Nejire Hado. She's a third year here. Nejire this is one of our classmates, Tenya Iida."
Immediately Tenya stiffened upon learning the girl was an upperclassman.
"Hello there! It's a pleasure to-"
"Iida? Oh wow! So you're Tensei's little brother! Ryukyu and I have teamed up with him a couple times! Hmmm…your arms look normal though. So where are your engines on your body? Or do you have a quirk that's different from his?"
From there, the slew of questions from Nejire poured out of her mouth like an open hydrant. Izuku, Ochako, and Camilla all glanced at each other wondering who was gonna be the one to perform their recently discovered trick. Ochako sighed as she stood up.
"Oh, does it have something to do with your eyes? Is that why you wear glasses? Or is it-?"
Finally Nejire went silent but not voluntarily. Looking slightly down, she noticed a thumb and index finger belonging to Ochako gently pinching her nose. The other two guys with her were now looking at the scene with increased interest. Tenya just looked back and forth between Ochako and Nejire wondering just what was happening in front of him. After a soft count to three, Ochako released Nejire's nose. The latter scrunched her face and pouted in response.
"You know, one of these days I'm just gonna end up sneezing all over your hand."
"If you do, I won't say 'bless you'."
"Only villains do that, you meany!"
From behind Nejire, one of the two she was with, a young man with blonde hair began to uproariously laugh.
"Ahahahahaaaaa! Oh wow! These first years found Hado's off switch! Amajiki, can you believe it?!"
The other guy next to him, who's main defining feature was his pointy ears, just kept his eyes pointed to the ground as if trying to think no one would see him if he didn't move.
"Let's just go. Can we please just find our own table? Please don't ask to-"
"Hey, do you mind if the three of us join you?" Nejire asked the group of first years.
"Why do you hate me?"
"We don't mind at all, Hado!" Izuku answered. "Right guys?"
One by one, Camilla, Ochako, and Tenya all voiced their approval. Smiling wide, Nejire sat down while her two friends from behind moved to sit beside her. From Camilla's vision the first boy to sit down had a bright white light in his heart symbolizing his Force connection. The other boy who dragged himself to sit next to him had a light just as bright but colored a deep indigo. Next to Nejire's yellow, these three seemed to be quite the trio. One that Izuku could swear that he had seen before but he couldn't remember where.
"It's nice to finally talk with some first years," the blonde boy said. "The first two days of our third year have been killer but I still wanna see how the newbies are doing."
"Knowing who their teacher is, I bet I already know how day one went," Nejire said teasingly.
She used that tone on purpose hoping the four would catch on. Thankfully they all did.
"You three had Aizawa in your first year too?" Tenya asked.
"Sure did. He didn't pull any punches. Had us do a quirk assessment test and everything. It was scary," Nejire replied.
"Mirio was the one who came in last on that test," The pointy eared boy bemoaned. "I seriously thought Aizawa was going to expel him. But then he told us it was all a lie, and I felt I could never trust another teacher for as long as I live…"
No one at the table needed an empathic ability to tell this guy was drenched in anxiety. The way Camilla was subtly trying to rub her head was an indicator of that.
"But we got through it, didn't we?" the blonde proudly declared. "And it really taught us a good lesson. A lot of us going into that test, and I'll admit even myself, had the impression that hero school was just gonna be a dream come true. Using our quirks as much as we wanted to, sounds good doesn't it? But Mister Aizawa, he quickly hammered it into us that we needed to take our lessons here seriously. To be rational. But, unlike him I still like to stick with my sense of humor. What good is being a hero if you can't have a few laughs too, huh?"
The four first years at the table found themselves agreeing with every word this guy was saying. While maybe none of them had that exact mindset during the apprehension test, they clearly heard a few in their class did. And on the first sight of it, Aizawa stomped that flame out. It was oddly relieving to know that their class wasn't the only one to receive the expulsion threat.
"Yeah, Aizawa doesn't play games," Izuku said. "But can I ask you something?"
The question was directed to the blonde and he nodded.
"Go right ahead."
"Who are you?"
The silence lasted for a few good seconds before the broad bodied boy let loose a small bout of laughter.
"Ahaaaaahahaha! I probably should've led with that," he admitted while giggling. "The name's Mirio Togata. This guy next to me is Tamaki Amajiki and of course you already know Hado. We're all third years."
Now that he had two more names to work with, Izuku now remembered where he had seen this very image in front of him before. Nearly a year ago on his TV screen, he watched as these three third years, second years back then, were standing on a familiar podium together.
"Wait a minute, I recognize you now! Last year's sports festival! All three of you were on the podium!"
"I wanna leave. I wanna leave. I wanna leave. I wanna leave. I wanna leave." Tamaki got a lot more uncomfortable after being recognized like that.
"Got it in one!" Mirio confirmed it. "It sure was better than the impression I left on the school in my first year. Whoo! That was a day."
"The boy that flashed the world. Those news headlines were fun to read," Nejire teased.
Mirio did agree, but then he realized he was being a tad rude.
"Right! You know our names but we don't know yours."
One at a time, the first years of the tables sounded off.
"I'm Izuku Midoriya."
"Hi! I'm Ochako Uraraka."
"Like Sharro said, I am Tenya Iida. A pleasure to meet you."
"And my name's Camilla Sharro."
Tamaki barely acknowledged them while Mirio greeted every one of them upon hearing their names. After he did, his eyes landed square on the girl in front of him with sunglasses on her face.
"So, Sharro huh? It's nice to be able to finally put a name to the face."
Camilla's head tilted a bit.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"I'm talking about last year," Mirio answered. "You and Hado here had your photo posted in a news article after you took down that villain."
"Oh yeah." Camilla remembered now. "Principal Nezu brought that up with me when I took the entrance exam."
"So is it true then? I'm sorry but I just wanna know. Can I see?"
It was quite clear exactly what he was asking to see. But the way Mirio asked that question, Camilla could tell right off the bat he was more excited than curious. He wasn't searching for something nor was he out to belittle her. He just genuinely wanted to know. If his feelings didn't show that then the tone of his voice sure did. Normally Camilla would have just waved him off but this guy did seem to have Nejire's stamp of approval. So with a shrug, she lifted a hand to the sunglasses currently on her face and slipped them off, allowing her eyes to be seen for everyone at the table.
"Well would you look at that? You really are blind. That's amazing!"
Once Mirio got a look at them, he was definitely surprised but he still had a smile on his face that grew bigger. Camilla couldn't see that, but she was relieved that Mirio seemed to be on her side.
"Thanks…I guess," Camilla struggled to say. "That's something I need to get used to, isn't it? People telling me my blindness is cool."
The question was directed to anyone, but Ochako was the one who answered first.
"If you make it as a pro, most likely." The gravity girl nodded. "But that's a good thing! Think about what an inspiration you'll be to people with other disabilities!"
"Do social disabilities count?" Tamaki muttered but went unheard.
"It's like Mister Aizawa said in class. Disabilities mean nothi-"
The sound of a loud bell ringing throughout the cafeteria brought Tenya's sentence to a grinding halt. Then a voice came over the school intercom.
"Warning! Level three security breach! All students evacuate the building in an orderly fashion!"
"An alarm?! What's happening?!" Ochako cried.
"Level three security breach. Someone managed to get past the U.A. barrier outside." Tamaki finally found some volume to his voice. "I've never seen this happen before!"
Before anyone else could speak, Mirio shot up out of his seat.
"Conversation to be continued! Let's get movin'!"
As he, Tamaki, and Nejire all headed for the exit together, Mirio's extended gaze on Izuku went unnoticed. Everyone else followed his example and headed for the exit. In their haste, no one else noticed that Camilla's eyes were as wide as dinner plates.
'Oh no. Is it happening now? Is my nightmare coming true?!'
Fear began to plague Camilla's mind as images of that monster with multiple lights in its body formed within. Her thoughts became lost as she herself became lost in a swarm of people trying to shove, push, and trample over each other to try and get out the door. She was so distracted by her fears she didn't even notice Izuku, Ochako, and Nejire get pushed away from her leaving her alone. She wanted to push her way through the crowd using the Force like she did this morning with those reporters, but there were so many more people here now. She was trapped.
Over with Tenya, he was on his own too having been separated rather quickly from Ochako and Izuku. Though once he was alone he managed to maneuver to the window to try and spot what got past the barrier. To his great surprise, it was just the mass of reporters from this morning. He recognized quite a few of them. They were persistent to stick around this long just for a story. But now they were actively causing a disturbance and sending everyone into a panic because of it. That wouldn't do. This was U.A. High. This was the school that turned out some of the finest heroes. They were better than this.
"Everyone! It's just the press outside! There's no-oomph!"
It was no use. He just wasn't heard from his vantage point, and he had no way to get louder when he was getting hit from all sides like this. He spied Eijiro and Denki trying to do the same thing even though they didn't notice the press. But they too were overrun by the tidal wave of students and swept away. It didn't look like this was gonna stop anytime soon without an announcement of some sort. And there were no teachers around to do anything.
'Dammit! What would Midoriya do here? What would Sharro? Or my brother?'
Suddenly his eyes caught Ochako in the sea of students and he extended his hand with an idea in his head.
"Uraraka! Use your quirk on me!" he called.
Thankfully Ochako heard him and looked at him confused. "What?! Why?!" she cried.
"Just do it! Touch my hand!"
This time, Ochako did try to extend her hand out to meet Tenya's. She had to shove her way through quite a few people to get there, but she managed to get all five fingers pressed against his hand and turn her quirk on. Once Tenya felt his weight go away, he pushed himself off the ground and turned on his engines. The thrust gave him enough momentum to send himself forward, albeit flipping the whole way. When he impacted the wall, he turned around to hold himself steady and took in a deep breath.
'Alright, be direct and precise, Tenya. You can do this!'
"EVERYONE PLEASE CALM DOWN!"
Once his voice boomed into the ears of the crowd, they all silenced themselves to look up at a boy on the exit sign. He was doing a very good job mimicking the pose on said sign.
"Everything's fine! It's just the media outside! There's no reason to be panicking like this! We are U.A. students! The best of the best! Let's act like it and be more organized with this procedure!"
The crowd kept their attention on Tenya for a few more seconds now feeling a lot calmer. Then their attention was grabbed by the sound of police sirens outside. There the other students did all see that they were panicking over the press. Eraserhead and Present Mic helped the police get them all out now so the worst was over. But they still had to follow evacuation procedures. So now with a sense of calm among them, they all dispersed out of the hallway. With a lot more breathing room, Ochako bent to her knees and let loose a deep breath. Then she looked over and saw her green headed friend doing the same thing.
"Deku, are you alright?" She walked over concerned.
Izuku smiled in her direction. "Yeah I'm fine. What about you?"
"Uh-huh. Just a few bumps. Hardly anything."
That smile could only grow as Ochako flashed her own back at him.
"I'm glad to see you two are okay!" Tenya called from above as he tried to float down. "Uraraka, can you please let me down now?"
"Oh, right! Sorry, Iida!" Ochako swiftly brought her fingertips together. "Release!"
His gravity returned and Tenya landed nicely on his feet before joining his friends.
"Thankfully this was all resolved quickly. Now we can adhere to the procedure calmly," Tenya said.
"Thanks to you, Iida," Ochako stated. "That was such a cool idea! And it worked too!"
"Yeah. Thanks a lot for doing that. I thought I was gonna get trampled," Izuku said.
Tenya smiled in return to his friends, happy that his plan not only helped but kept them from getting harmed. "Anyway, I suppose now we should..." He stopped talking in the middle of his sentence when he looked past Izuku's shoulder and noticed a familiar head of red hair. "Say, is that Sharro over there in the corner?"
At the mention of the name, Izuku and Ochako followed Tenya's eyes to see Camilla was indeed there. Her position however, set off some alarms. She was over in a corner, crouched down to her knees with one hand clutching her head and the other on the floor shakily holding her steady. At first, it looked like maybe she had gotten hit on her head. But when they took a few steps closer, Ochako noticed the way Camilla's back was rising and falling so rapidly. Then she heard the erratic breathing and in a flash, she was down on her knees next to the young Padawan trying to steady her.
"Camilla?! Hey! Camilla!"
The blind girl didn't seem to respond at all to Ochako's voice. Neither Izuku's nor Tenya's registered either as they too crouched down to her level and spoke to her. No response. All three of them looked over her body for any sign of injury, but she was clean. There wasn't even a wrinkle on her uniform. What they had in front of them was a girl in the middle of a full blown panic attack.
"Did the crowd make her like this?" Tenya thought out loud.
Izuku and Ochako looked at each other, concerned. Maybe it was the crowd that caused it, but it wasn't what kept it going. This had to be related to the Jedi stuff Camilla hinted at before. They knew her well enough to know panic attacks like this were not like her at all. Something was going on and they only wanted to know what it was that much more. The time and place for that however was not here and now. They each took one of Camilla's arms and helped her up to her feet. When she was up, neither of them kept a solid grip on her, not wanting to let her go. They both knew that only one of them had to stay and help her. Ochako was the first to volunteer.
"You two head back to class. I'll take Camilla to the nurse's office."
The boys nodded and headed off, while Ochako guided Camilla in the other direction by her shoulders. The poor redhead seemed to be having a very hard time getting her knees to bend if her walking speed was any indication. Ochako almost wanted to float her and just run to get her there but she had a feeling that would make things worse for the Jedi. So she kept letting Camilla walk at her own pace. When they were far enough away from the main mass of students, the girl began to calm down.
"Camilla? Hey, can you hear me?" Ochako tried again.
This time there was a visible reaction to the question. Camilla turned her head slightly in Ochako's direction and nodded.
"I…Ochako I…"
"I know. You'll tell us. But don't worry about that right now. I'm gonna take you to Recovery Girl's office so you can be away from everyone else."
The thought and concern for her mental state made Camilla feel a little bit more relaxed. When they arrived at the nurse's offices, Ochako explained the situation to Recovery Girl and asked if it was alright for Camilla to stay a bit and calm down. The elderly heroine first checked her clock. Lunch period was about to end. Then she turned around to give the blind girl a look over. She wasn't injured so a kiss wasn't needed. That was good. All in all she seemed fine until she got a good look at the face of the teen. It was there that Recovery Girl gave the OK for Camilla to stay for a little bit after lunch ended. Ochako thanked her immensely, not even bothering to question it. Then she was hurriedly shooed out by the school nurse and instructed to get to her class before the bell rang. Alone with her patient, Recovery Girl went to fetch a glass of water while Camilla sat on the bed trying to get herself and her emotions under control. As the glass filled, Recovery Girl couldn't help but see that face Camilla now wore on countless others she had helped in her many years as a pro. But for someone so young to have that expression…it didn't sit well with her. She wanted to pry and ask questions, but that wasn't her job right now.
The bell had rung and class was back in session. When the door closed and everyone was seated, everyone had one question on their minds.
"Where's, Sharro?"
Shoto had been the one to ask it first though. Standing up at the front of the classroom where Izuku and Momo stood ready to get things rolling. But the former should have known people would ask that question first.
"W-w-well, there are two things I wanna say before we get started. First off, to answer your question Todoroki, Camilla is fine. She's just in the nurse's office. The crowd from before gave her a little panic attack but she should be back before class is over."
While Shoto's eyebrow only raised the tiniest bit, the rest of the class mumbled to themselves just what would cause someone like her to get a panic attack. But Izuku wasn't going to let them get too far into that.
"The other thing I wanna say is…I think Iida should be our class rep. Not me."
This came as a collective surprise to the whole class. Even Katsuki gave off a look of confusion.
"I really should have said this from the beginning, but what Camilla said about not wanting to be voted for; I was in the same boat. Truth be told, I still feel a lot of pressure on other things right now to focus on something like this. Iida though, I can already tell he's the one we need leading us. Earlier in the cafeteria, he really took charge and was able to get everyone to calm down like a real leader should. So my first and only act as your class rep is to step down and give my title to Iida. Because I know for a fact he's the best choice out of any of us for this role."
As all eyes in the room shifted over to Tenya, the bespectacled boy could only look upon Izuku with a look of surprise and admiration. Though part of him wanted to argue that the class had cast their votes for him and they should honor it, he also heard it when Izuku, his friend, said he felt too pressured by the role to be able to carry out the duties of it. He wasn't voted for, but he was being entrusted with it by the one who was. That was at least the way he saw it. With a smile on his face, he stood up out of his seat.
"If Midoriya is nominating me for the job, then I will gladly accept it. But only if the rest of the class agrees."
One by one, most of the other kids voiced their approval of Izuku's decision. Some of them even chuckled and joked about how Iida looked like the guy on the emergency exit signs. So it was decided. Izuku returned to his seat and Tenya took his place standing next to Momo. Though the girl did seem upset that she was overlooked in favor of someone who only got one vote. But it was too late now. The class made up its mind.
From there, the day went on as usual. Once classes were over, much to the relief of the whole school, there were no more reporters outside waiting to hound them. They'd put together that getting escorted off campus by the police was a good warning to stay away. Maybe some of them even got fired for having the audacity to trespass on U.A. too. It may have been a little cruel to think but after the hectic first three days of school, no one in class 1-A was in any mood to care. Especially one Shoto Todoroki.
After Aizawa had dismissed them, he grabbed his things and patiently waited outside by the front gate for Camilla. When he heard that the girl was in the nurse's office because of a panic attack, there was a bit of concern but it was overshadowed by his confusion. That didn't sound anything like the girl he fought yesterday. The Camilla he fought was a cunning and fierce fighter with a powerful quirk and deadly swordsmanship. Hearing that a panic attack of all things had rendered her to such a state didn't make sense. That is, until he thought about it. She told the class yesterday about her whole quirk marriage past. Maybe there was some connection to it that she intentionally left out. Were crowds some sort of trigger for her? Was it the noise? Maybe he would get some answers with this walk.
A minute later, she came out of the front door with Izuku and Ochako next to her. Right before they reached him, they bid a "See you later." to the blind girl before heading off by themselves. Then Camilla closed the gap between herself and Shoto.
"Ready?" she asked.
Shoto nodded and the two of them headed off in a different direction. He didn't really have a route in mind for them to walk on. It was just a prelude for a talk. One that he figured he should probably start.
"Midoriya told us why you didn't come back to class after lunch," he said. "Are you alright now?"
It was hard to tell if Camilla reacted all that much thanks to those sunglasses on her face. But the girl still gave him an answer with a nod.
"Yes, thank you, Shoto," she softly answered as they rounded the corner.
The use of his first name again made Shoto want to ask a question that he had wanted to ask since yesterday. "Why do you call everyone by their first names when you don't know them?"
He didn't have to wait long for an answer.
"It's just an old habit. Where I came from, first name basis was the norm rather than surname."
"You mean like America?"
"Something like that. If you don't want me to, I can start using your last name."
She almost sounded guilty of doing something wrong. For some reason that didn't sit right with Shoto. So he just shrugged it off.
"If it's what you're used to, you can keep doing it. I really don't mind."
Camilla nodded back with the faintest hint of a smile gracing her lips. "Very well. You can call me Camilla if you want to. I actually kind of prefer it."
Shoto didn't really have to think about it for long. She asked her to, said it was her preference, so what was the harm? "Alright then, Camilla. There's a reason I wanted to talk to-whoa."
The peppermint haired boy stopped in his tracks when he looked in Camilla's direction and saw something odd past her. When Camilla turned her head, he assumed through her power she saw the same thing he was. It was another entry point in the U.A. barrier, only the door itself was in shambles. Looking closer, it seemed like the giant metal slab that was supposed to be impenetrable just rotted away. There was a whole bunch of caution tape stretching from end to end as a short shirtless man wearing what appeared to be an excavation shovel as a helmet worked with some others to install a new door.
"I suppose this is how those reporters got in," Camilla guessed. "Looks like one of them really wanted a story more than others."
Shoto nodded, agreeing with her but only on the first part. One of the press members breaking the door didn't make sense. Quirk regulations were in place for a reason. Yeah some reporters were hungrier for stories than others. He's had to deal with more than his fair share of journalists knocking on his front door trying to get a scoop on his father. But none of them ever went as far as to try and use their quirks to break into his house or use them to threaten an interview out of him. They were smart enough to know that they would be signing the death warrant for their own career. This wasn't the work of a journalist. This was something or someone else. That he was sure of. But it wasn't his concern right now. U.A. had plenty of their own security cameras and systems to work out who was behind this. So at his urging, he kept walking with Camilla by his side.
"So what were you saying?" Camilla asked.
"Well before I start, I need you to promise that not a word of what I tell you stays between us. No telling Midoriya or anyone else. Understand?"
With the right angle, he could see past the lenses of Camilla's sunglasses and view her glazed over eyes looking at him with a flash of confusion. It was only for a moment though.
"You have my word," she swore.
A deep breath out his mouth was what came first. This was something very sensitive and Shoto still wasn't fully sure if he should go through with this. But this girl was brave enough to reveal her past to the entire class just to answer some measly questions. He could reveal his to her alone.
"I wanted to talk to you about the whole quirk marriage thing."
Immediately that got a response out of the blind girl.
"That's uh…it's not really something I like talking about," she said, noticeably uncomfortable.
"As I would assume. But I don't want to talk about your past. I want to talk about mine."
The smallest gasp could be heard from Camilla as she slowly turned her head to fully direct her useless eyes in Shoto's direction.
"W-what do you mean?" Her voice was barely heard.
Another sigh later and Shoto had his answer. "You're not the only one born from someone wanting a powerful child. I too am the result of a quirk marriage."
Judging by the look on her face, Shoto correctly guessed that Camilla's eyes were very wide right now as she took the revelation in. Clearly she had to be shocked that there was another like her. And her feet kept stepping in tandem with his own so she must have wanted to hear more.
"It's not a big secret that my father is the number two hero: The Flame Hero: Endeavor. That's the rank he's had for a long time. The only obstacle in his path to the top was All Might. And in the years he was stuck as second to him, his desire to best him only grew. It grew so much that he devised a horrible plan. If he couldn't beat him with his flames alone, maybe a combination of him and another could in the future. That's where my mother came in. My bastard of a father had enough resources to practically buy my mother from her family and started to breed children with her. I wasn't the first one. It took him four tries before he finally got me, the ultimate combination of fire and ice together. His masterpiece…God how I hate it when he calls me that. Because that's all he sees when he looks at me. Not a kid, but a tool meant to surpass him and All Might one day."
He took in another breath to keep going and failed to notice how pale Camilla had gotten.
"I feel really sick," she murmured.
"I know. It's hard to imagine such a popular hero with a past as dark as this," Shoto replied. " But It wasn't just me who was affected by his madness. It took an even greater toll on my mother. The bastard had worked her sanity down to the very last thread until finally, one night, she snapped. She called my left side unbearable. And in her crazed state, she threw boiling water in my face. That's how I got this scar over my eye."
As they turned another corner to continue around the perimeter of U.A.'s main building, Shoto turned to look at her now curious about something.
"Do you even see my scar?"
Slowly, Camilla shook her head no. "I didn't even know you had one."
So that was one mystery solved about her power. She could see him but she couldn't see all of him. This quirk of hers really was interesting. He would have to remember to ask her about it in the future.
"After that, Mom was sent away and I've been stuck with him as my only parental guardian since," Shoto continued. "But ever since that day, I made a vow to never use the flames he cursed me with. The ice I was given by my mother, that's the only side of my quirk I promised myself I would ever use. And that's what I'm going to do. I'm here at U.A. for one reason: to show my old man I can be a better hero than he ever was using only ice. He and his damn flames can go to hell for all I care."
With that, his tale was done with. Now Shoto just kept his eye on Camilla and waited for her reaction. It was about what he expected. Her breathing picked up in pace and she had grown a lot more pale like she had just witnessed someone get murdered in front of her very eyes.
"Do you need to sit down or something?"
"Um…n-no. I'm…it's just…it's just a really big shock is all."
"I understand." Shoto nodded. "He inspires so much and has so many adoring fans, yet none of them have any idea who the real Endeavor is."
"Shoto, why are you telling all of this to me?"
The dual haired boy answered as they rounded yet another corner of the block.
"You asked me yesterday why I didn't use my left side against you. Well this is why. I figured after you were brave enough to tell the rest of us the truth about your past, I could at least return the favor with this. And I guess I just wanted you to know you aren't alone. I know what it's like to be bred for a specific purpose. Granted I wasn't thrown out like you were, and I won't say my past has been worse than yours because I don't know your full story."
"No…no you…you definitely had it worse," Camilla wheezed out. "But if it's really so bad then why don't you tell someone? The police or even another hero. All Might works for the school now. Maybe he could do something."
"If it were that simple I would've already done it," was Shoto's answer. "Endeavor had enough money to buy my mother, a human being. He has more than enough now to sweep whatever legal troubles come his way under the rug."
It was sad but true. Shoto had brought the issue up with his older brother Natsuo before in the past. But he was just told the same thing he was telling Camilla now. Endeavor was too powerful of a man now, both in quirk and social standings, to be touched by the mere claims of one child without solid evidence.
"But it's alright. I can survive for three more years. After that, I'm out of his custody for good and there won't be a damn thing he can do about it." The thought of being free of his father did bring a slight feeling of joy into Shoto's thoughts. "And if I can be honest with you, knowing I'm not going it alone like this anymore kind of helps."
Again Shoto stopped looking straight where he was walking to and to Camilla again.
"I guess it's just…kind of nice knowing there's someone in class who gets it, someone who I can trust."
The next series of sounds and expressions from Camilla confused Shoto greatly. Her cheeks bulged out a little bit as some slight gagging could be heard. One of her hands flew up to her mouth and covered her lips for a few moments before her cheeks deflated like balloons.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit," Camilla answered between ragged breaths.
"If you feel sick, I hear crushed ice can help ease it." Shoto brought up his right hand and cold vapor began to emanate off it.
"Appreciated, but I'll be alright. In fact, I think it's time for me to head home. I already missed one train. If I miss the next one, then I'll be waiting at the station for a long time."
Shoto could understand that. Not that he cared but he was in no mood to hear his father bitch about not getting home on time. Camilla turned to leave but before she got a step in, she stopped and turned back around.
"But thank you, Shoto. For trusting me. I'm just…I'm sorry. I'm sorry about your mother, your siblings, and so much more I can't even begin to explain. And I promise I won't speak a word of this to anyone."
Shoto nodded, happy she remembered that. And she sounded like she meant it. "Alright then. I'll let you get home then. See you tomorrow, Camilla."
If he hadn't turned around right after, he would have seen Camilla slightly wince.
"Sleep well, Shoto."
That was it. The two of them went off in their own directions to go home. As he now walked alone, Shoto thought that little talk went over rather well. Of course she was surprised that such a high ranking hero held such a dark past. Who wouldn't react that way after hearing something like that? But letting all of that out, talking with her about it, that hasn't happened before. Trusting people outside his siblings didn't come easy for him. His father tainted that for him thanks to the years of isolated training. Now three days into his high school career and already he found someone he felt he could connect with. It honestly felt really good. Shoto wasn't clear right now as to what the future would hold. But as he kept walking away from his new school, he had a feeling that it wouldn't be as bad as he thought as long as he had people like her with him.
Camilla sat on the train alone with her phone clutched tight in her hand. She had just hung up on Izuku after telling him he wasn't going to be at his apartment for dinner tonight. She had very much lost her appetite. Of all the things Shoto could have unloaded onto her, it just had to be that. It made her feel so bad she had almost unloaded on him, and not with words. She was lucky she was able to swallow it back down. She was horrified, angry, and everything else a Jedi was told they should never be. But none of those negative feelings were aimed for Endeavor. Every ounce of them was for herself and only herself.
"It's official. I am the universe's most horrible Jedi."
A/N
What did I tell you, huh? Loooooooots of talking. The next chapter will include more action oriented stuff with the USJ starting. Only I'm throwing a Jedi suffering from PTSD into the mix. So you know, fun!
So that being said, there is something I wanna say to the lot of you. I am super SUPER appreciative and unbelievably happy that there are so many of you who love reading this story and want so badly to know what happens next. There's seriously so many of you between and AO3. That makes me smile so much! But there is something I have to say. This isn't directed to everyone, mind you, but I still feel the need to say it anyway.
I have a life.
As much as I love writing this story, I have a life outside of it and I love living it. So that means from time to time it may take me a little bit longer than other times to get an update posted. Like recently I've had to deal with moving into a new apartment and getting ready to attend a convention up in Seattle. So that's where most of my attention has been. So, when I log in and see that a new review or comment has been posted that reads simply, "Please update." or "When is the next chapter coming?" that doesn't motivate me to write any faster. If anything that just gets me more stressed out. So please, if you do wish to comment or review this story, I politely ask that you refrain from leaving ones of that sort.
That being said, thank you all so much for enjoying the story so far! And I've already started working on the next chapter. Hopefully the wait won't be too long but please be patient if it is. If you wanna see some new art for this story, head over to the archiveofourown page for this fic to see it. See you next update and stay safe!