A/N - I feel like I say this alot but sorry for the late post! Writer's block hit this one hard and if I'm honest I'm still not entirely thrilled with how it ended up so there may be lots of edits done later.
Comments are always welcomed and appreciated. All of the love and feedback you have given me for this fic keeps the fire going under me to tell this story. Please please please let me know the things you love about this fic or things that you think I need to work on (constructive criticism is both appreciated and welcomed!)
TW: Graphic Violence and mention of someone unaliving
Chapter 17 – Ready As I'll Ever Be
The weekend passed too quickly for Aine's liking, which meant the nightly coffee dates would have to wait until Shouta went back on patrol again. Monday morning brought her first visit with Midoriya since the incident with Ikeda and Sasaki. She had spent the weekend looking through Midoriya's files from elementary and middle school. They all confirmed what he had said that Thursday afternoon: he had been quirkless up until the entrance exam for UA.
Now, the greenette was sitting on the sofa in her office staring at the floor while she sat in the chair across from him. His hands curling and uncurling in fists atop his knees nervously. Gone was the curious teen who had excitedly interrogated her about her quirk or filled her in on events that happened during class training sessions. Looking at him now, she could see the scared and timid boy underneath the sunshine mask.
"Midoriya, I wanted to talk to you about what you said Thursday." she waited until he looked up at her, green eyes wide with either surprise or fear – she couldn't decipher which emotion flashed through them. "You mentioned being quirkless up until coming to UA. I looked through your records which all backed up what you said."
His eyes went back to the floor, "M-my quirk came in after my body was strong enough to use it without causing severe injury." he repeated it as though it was a mantra.
Aine raised an eyebrow at his statement, "Breaking bones isn't exactly a minor injury but I'm sure that is something you and your teachers have already addressed. I wanted to talk about something else you said – you specifically mentioned middle school." he didn't look up, but she could see his features darken, "Midoriya, were you targeted for being quirkless?"
His hands stilled into fists, but he didn't respond.
The silence gave her all the answer she needed. She stood and walked to her desk, leaning against it she crossed her arms.
"I'm going to tell you something I've only told a rare few, Midoriya." he didn't move, "The thing is my mother and uncle were both quirkless."
At this, the greenette's head snapped up to look at her, "B-both of them?!"
Aine nodded, "Fraternal twins. This was back before they had all of the tests, so no one recognized them as being quirkless until they were around 8 or 9 from what I was told. It wasn't as uncommon back then as it is today, but they were still ostracized from a young age. My uncle told me stories of how it started with comments or being excluded from activities. Eventually, it escalated to where their classmates would take and destroy their belongings or, in my uncle's case, being physically assaulted while the teachers turned a blind eye to what was happening."
"Now that you have a quirk you'll be just like them! Thinking you are so high and mighty." his eyes flashed with an anger she had never seen before. The walls of their small apartment felt like they were closing in as he towered over her before grabbing her arm.
"I-I-I'm sorry, Uncle! Please! I'm sorry!" she pulled against him as he dragged her towards her room, tossing her into the dark and closing the door.
She hadn't meant to use her quirk on him. Uncle had looked so worried, she wanted to help him and it just….happened. She thought she had done so well at hiding it even at school when they watched her for signs of a quirk. Had kept it whispering in her brain even when she felt alone.
"I don't want it. I don't want it. I don't want it." she whispered to herself in the dark.
Aine physically shook her head, driving away the buried memory. "Midoriya, I'm only going to ask this one final time and if you don't want to answer that is perfectly fine. Anything you say will not leave this room; I just want to understand you."
He nodded once and she continued, "Were you bullied by someone for being quirkless?"
Midoriya's eyes glassed over, and his gaze went back to the floor. Silence stretched and for a moment she thought that he wasn't going to answer. Finally, in a voice so quiet she could barely understand, "Not just someone….everyone."
Aine pushed herself off of the desk and knelt in front of the boy, "Thank you for telling me."
His head jerked up and his eyes met her own, "Y-you meant what you said r-right? N-nothing leaves here?" his eyes looked as if he was trying to read any sign of deception from her, "You a-aren't going to tell anyone, r-right?"
"Unless I think you are in danger, everything you say is kept in complete confidence." She tilted her head slightly to the side, watching as his shoulders visibly slumped in relief, "Is there someone you are worried might find out?"
He jerked backwards and started waving his hands in front of him, "Nothing like th-that! There is someone here from my middle school, but we've worked through all of that." He flashed a wide smile, "Really!"
The bell and timer simultaneously went off before Aine could ask the next question. She stood and dusted off her pants, "Again, thank you for telling me, Midoriya. Next session, we will talk more about it if that is ok with you."
"Y-yes. Th-Thank you…for sharing your story I mean." He gave her a genuine smile as he stepped out the door, giving her a short bow before heading off down the hallway.
"I've brought you a gift, my dear child." Ceannasaí pushed the door open revealing an empty room save for a singular figure tied to a chair. His arms were each tied individually to the arms of the chair and his body was strapped tightly against the back. As the disheveled head looked up, the man's eyes widened in recognition as she stepped in.
He immediately began straining against his bonds and attempting to speak through the fabric currently acting as a gag in his mouth. As Aine's eyes looked over the familiar features, anger flared in her veins as memories flooded through her mind.
Ceannasaí placed a hand on her shoulder, "I know you have been discouraged lately with completing your mission, but your training has been immensely successful in sharpening that quirk of yours." He gave a pat to her shoulder before stepping over to stand next to the chair, "Now, we found this man and brought him here for you to get the justice that the heroes never gave you. The justice deserved for all that he did to you that no one saved you from."
Aine stepped closer to the man, his eyes wide and pleading for mercy. She knelt and hooked her finger into the side of the gag, slipping it out of his mouth.
Tears spilt from his eyes, "Aine!"
"Quiet!" she hissed. "You do not get to talk, asshole." His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.
"Do you remember what happened when I first used my quirk? You locked me in my room for 3 whole fucking days. For trying to fucking help you, you locked me up like an animal – I was 8 years old for fuck's sake! My uncle was worried, and I just wanted to calm you and that was the thanks I got."
"Aine, there's no excuse for what I did. Please I'm – "
The crack of knuckles against jawbone reverberated through the room as his head slammed to the side, "I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
He couldn't have spoken if he wanted to, his jaw hung awkwardly – obviously broken. A pitiful whine echoed from his throat.
"You used me as a goddamn whipping boy for everything bad that ever happened to you! Then, when we lost the ONE place I could call home you sold me to the highest bidder for your fucking debts! Debts that had shit to do with me. I was a 13-year-old CHILD and you traded me like I was a fucking piece of property."
The tears flowed freely down his face now, although their presence only stoked the fiery brunette even further. She grabbed his face roughly, causing him to cry out in pain as the broken pieces of his jaw ground together under her touch. "TEARS?! You have the balls to be fucking crying right now?! Fucking pathetic." Aine flicked his face to the side as she stood again, turning to stand with her back to the room.
"The choice is yours' child, what should become of this man?" Ceannasaí stepped around until he stood behind the man she once called "Uncle."
The sickening smile that spread across her face sent chills through the air of the room, "Ceannasaí, I know exactly what I want." She slowly turned and knelt in front of the bound man, her hands gripping the tied arms tightly as her eyes looked at her victim.
"It's only appropriate, my first attempt to use my quirk on you was meant to calm but you treated it like I was trying to hurt you. My last attempt…."a dark laugh slid from her throat, "Well, this last attempt will actually hurt."
She placed both hands on either side of his head, her eyes glowing a clouded purple as she began overflowing his synapses and nerves with sensations of pain and all the dark feelings she could pull forward.
He began to scream, a choked, wet, gurgled scream. Blood began to trickle from his ears, eyes and nose as his body began to convulse. Every nerve ending was screaming and the connections in his brain were beginning to shut down.
Then everything went quiet. His body stopped moving as a final gurgle left his throat. His eyes were unfocused and gazing towards the ceiling. The only evidence that he was still alive was a slight twitch in his hands.
Aine felt the slight trickle of blood coming from her own nose at the exertion of overusing her quirk. Her own brain was beginning to feel foggy, and sleep was desperately calling for her.
Ceannasaí stepped forward and gently removed her hands from Hiruma Mashiro's head, allowing it to slump forward as he helped the girl to stand.
"Well done my little Blink. What should we do with him now? I can have Tomura come and dispose of him if you wish." he smiled down at her as he placed his hands on her shoulders.
Aine shook her head, "No, toss him in the river like the trash he was. Let him drown."
The man smiled down at her then walked over to open the door. Two henchmen walked in, "You heard her, toss him in the river. Make sure you aren't seen."
The men quickly gathered the vegetative man and left.
Black spots began to swim on the edges of Aine's vision, strong arms scooped her up as she stumbled.
"Thank you, Cea- I mean – All For One." she barely whispered out as an exhaustion fueled sleep lulled her into unconsciousness.
Shouta's phone buzzed in his pocket. Since the students were taking a test, he quickly looked at the message on his phone
"The package will arrive this afternoon at the address you sent. Let us know how Aine likes the upgrades!"
"Upgrades? I thought you were just sending her credentials?" he texted back.
"We are sending her credentials and a few extra things. Nothing to worry about!"
Shouta rubbed his eyes in annoyance. Anytime someone said it was "nothing to worry about" it always ended in something to absolutely worry about. The one saving grace was that he had given the German woman his old apartment address so at least if there was some kind of nasty surprise it wouldn't put his students at risk.
"You know if you tried pulling something like this in my hometown you'd get shot." Christopher grumbled as he carried the heavy box up the flight of stairs.
Emma shushed him as she checked the numbers against the scrap of paper she had with her. "I know, I know. Everyone and their brother has a gun or three. Not everywhere is like that, you know. Ah! Here it is!" She stopped in front of the door with a bounce.
"Are you sure this is the right address? It doesn't look like anyone has been here for months."
"Positive! Now put it down right here and I'll text…"
"何をしていますか? (What are you doing?)" a gruff monotone voice startled the pair. Emma yelped and nearly dropped her phone. They looked to see a man with long black hair in dark clothes and a grey scarf covering his neck and part of his face.
Christopher set the package down and grabbed Emma by the arm, "We're just dropping off a package. If you know the person that lives here just let them know please." He lowered his voice to whisper, "Let's go…now. I'm sure this guy will let Eraserhead know…"
Emma pulled her arm from Christopher's grip and stalked over to the man. She stood on her toes, attempting to make her 5'2" frame seem more intimidating, "This box is for our friend. If it goes missing, I'll have you know that the legal repercussions for stealing anything in that box will be…"
"Why are you here, Emma? And I'm guessing you must be Christopher?" the man shifted to English.
Emma grinned sheepishly, "Oh! You must be Eraserhead! Well, we thought we would deliver the credentials as promised and surprise Aine. Kind of a two birds with one stone thing!" She beamed and bounced slightly on her toes. "So? Where is she? Does she live in this building?" Emma's eyes grew wide as she gasped, "Wait….Does she live with you?!"
That evening, Aine reclined on her couch with her cup of tea, several files in front of her. She had pulled all of the information she could find about quirk discrimination or violence against quirkless students at the middle schools. Especially, the two middle schools that Midoriya and Sasaki had attended.
She believed both boys when they told her they had been bullied in middle school. There was one problem. Nothing had ever been reported. Both boys had a large list of "accidents" that had sent them to nurses and, in couple of particularly bad cases, to the hospital. She nearly threw the files closed in frustration. It was no surprise that Midoriya had reacted how he did, they didn't think anyone would do anything about it, so he took the matter into his own hands.
How much worse is it going to be in their minds when they see Ikeda allowed to come back? The betrayal is going to sting worse than anything he could have done to them.
Aine pulled out her phone and sent a text to Maijima requesting a meeting to talk about supports for Sasaki.
A knock at the door interrupted Aine mid-sip.
"Just a minute!" she called as she set down the cup of tea and gathered all the files. After depositing them in her bedroom, she went to open the door.
Shouta stood on her doorstep holding a box, "Aine, about these friends of yours…"
He didn't even get a chance to finish before a flash of blonde hair nearly tackled Aine into the middle of her living room.
"Wha-" she looked behind Shouta to see Christopher waving awkwardly in the hallway.
"Chris? Emma? What are you….Why are you…?"
"I'm sorry we didn't have a way to get ahold of you so when we heard from Eraserhead here that you needed your stuff we thought we would deliver it personally and see you at the same time!" Emma stepped back, hands still holding on to Aine's arm as the words tumbled out of her mouth without stopping to breathe. Shouta stood to the side and allowed Christopher to walk in before following. As he shut the door, Aine blinked in disbelief.
"Emma….You….No…no…you guys can't be here!"