Everybody ready, raining down confetti
Champions are born right now
Ain't about the glamour, click goes the hammer
Run when you hear that sound - Finish Line by Skillet
1999
Mara flashed down the stairs, feet thumping loud enough to wake the neighborhood. At twelve, Mara was already known as a lovely girl. Long curling blonde hair that seemed to float around her paired with tanned skin and blue eyes reminiscent of Caribbean waters. She was pretty, energetic, and ready to watch UA's Sports Festival.
"Moooom!" Mara rounded the stairs and a door opened above her. If she had to guess, it was probably one of her brothers poking his head out to yell at her to be quiet—as if that was a possibility. "You recorded it, right mom?"
"It's not even seven in the morning." A similarly skinned woman with hair the color of the deepest forest smiled at her daughter. "Mara, you're going to wake up your father."
She pouted, but restrained herself from using her quirk. "Daddy should be up. And Zakky too." She smiled. "You said you'd record it, so…"
"You'll be quiet while I make breakfast?" Mara's mother laughed softly as she rubbed a hand over her pregnant belly. "Of course. It's all queued up for you, hon."
She clapped her hands and gave her mom a careful hug, "You're da bomb!"
"Don't forget softball practice." Her mother retreated back into the kitchen.
Mara flipped on the television, and stuck her tongue out at her mom's back. She'd wanted to take Taekwondo because ever since she learned that her quirk was made for better things than skipping school and stealing cigarettes, she'd become obsessed with going overseas. She worked and studied to make straight A's and in many classes turned in so much extra credit, her grade point average was 4.2. When she got into high school, she was going to apply for the nationwide hero student exchange.
But today, she was going to watch the biggest sports event of the year. For her, anyway.
UA's Sport's Festival. Ever since the Olympics had gone bust as more and more quirked athletes tried to compete against non-powered athletes, nations had tried to look for ways to make quirk sports equitable, and still make money off them. Japan's Sports Festival season was by far the biggest success. The entire world watched what UA was doing, and Mara was no different.
She watched them, and dreamed about going to Japan one day. She longed to learn how to use her quirk bigger, better, faster. She watched them because they were full of cute boys not too much older than her, and she was at that age where that was starting to matter. She smiled again as she pressed play. She'd bug Dad about Taekwondo later.
The games had only started yesterday, and the subbers had done their best to subtitle live, so it was a little choppy, but she considered herself a super fan. She loved even the buggy English scrolling across the bottom of the screen. She settled, her artfully ripped jeans contrasting with the family's new soft-suede couch.
She watched the screen as UA's freshman class gathered on the training grounds to start with the first event, and what her mother had recorded, the obstacle course. It was so much cooler than any obstacle course should be. Mara nearly bounced on her seat. The names of the students who 'won' the chance to be featured in the next two sets of competition would be shown after this. She just hoped that someone would have a defensive quirk like hers.
She could twist your mind. Mara's quirk advisor called it Manipulation, and her parents had agreed. What Mara did was first-order villain. She'd been using it that way, too. She'd twist whomever she felt like for whatever reason she wanted. To a sassy, cute, young lady, that meant she got in a lot of trouble. A lot of trouble no one even knew about until it was too late.
Then came Maria: A police officer with a similar quirk. Maria had taken Mara under her stern wing, and showed her exactly what happened to people who used their gifts toward an unwise and ultimately short-term goal. That life was about the good you could make in it, and that she could help people with her quirk. Maria had watched the Sport's Festival with her that year, and Mara's life had changed.
Although Mara was still plenty sassy, she was now focused. Growing up in America's heartland was just too boring for her. She'd needed more to keep her occupied. Now she had a goal, something that was hard to attain, but she wanted it with all her heart. She would be a hero. A good one.
She watched the obstacle course, and had come up with her favorites. A girl with long curls the color of ripe raspberries, a boy who was a beast; literally, and a short girl who reminded Mara of herself with long, shining blonde hair and mirror-bright blue eyes. There were a few others, one was a black-haired boy who seemed to be just good enough to pass to the next level. But he seemed to be using a defensive quirk. Mara watched with bated breath.
"Welcome to the UA Sports Festival!" The television blared out the information regarding how the games worked and the names of the students getting top spots. This year, the team event was a gigantic tug-of-war. Each team would square up against the others in brackets. The rest of the information was lost as Mara saw her dad striding toward her.
He had a curly head of blond hair the exact same color as her own. She'd always admired her dad with his easy grin and ready laugh. For an empath, he was surprisingly cheery. Mara loved that the most.
"Do you have time to watch some?" Mara's eyes lit up as he sat next to her.
He hugged her close. "Thanks to you, I have time before I need to get to work, you little hellion." His laugh was rich and bright. "Who're we rooting for?"
Mara watched the screen, locating her favorite. "Raspberry Hair." Mara pointed. "I missed her name, but she does this red whip thing. It's like, so cool!" She giggled at her dad's raised brows.
"Hmmm. I thought you'd like that young man." Her dad pointed and Mara scowled. "Oh ho! I better keep my opinions to myself, huh?"
Mara knew her dad couldn't read minds but he'd uncannily picked the black-haired boy who'd just barely passed the obstacle course.
She put her nose in the air. "Maybe so. Or you can say whatever you want and get Mom to agree to Taekwondo."
His eyes searched hers and she felt his warmth and concern, the very thing that made him a successful therapist. "She worries, but I spoke with Maria. She and I agree you're serious enough in your goal to be a hero." He ruffled her hair with a gentle smile. "Finish out the softball season, and we'll get you signed up."
"You mean it? Daddy! Thank you!" Mara grabbed her dad with a fierce hug.
Mom came in with two bowls heaped with fried potatoes, bacon and cheese. It wasn't the healthiest breakfast, but this was the midwest. Mara tore into hers as her parents discussed the end of softball. Mara smiled, and returned her attention to the TV in time to see something amazing.
The shaggy-haired boy was in front of a team of five on the rope. He dug in his feet, his hair lifted, and his teammates all started pulling. Suddenly nearly everyone on the other side of the rope totally flipped out. A few looked confused and two of them dropped the rope all together. He'd used his quirk, and they won the tug with hardly any effort!
"That was first year Aizawa Shota!" The announcer enthused. Even reading the words, Mara felt their excitement. "Holder of the Erasure quirk, he's going to be a cagey player! One to keep your eye on!" He laughed at his own joke, and Mara forgot all about her breakfast. She wouldn't take her eyes off him.
Mara missed her mom leaving to wake up the boys. She gave a limp wave to her dad as he headed out for his sessions today. She even managed to ignore Zach and Tommy as they joined her on the couch and yelled encouragement at the screen. She watched that Aizawa kid tear through the competition.
During the pause to set up for the one-on-one battles, Mara finished her breakfast, and left the TV running as she did her kitchen chores. She was just putting the last dish in the rack when the announcer came back on with the scoreboards reset with points and names. Mara couldn't read the Kanji, but she wished she could. She wanted to see his name and all the points he must have won.
The battles were ranked like the tug-of-war had been, and each student was bracketed with a random drawing. She'd had to watch several battles before he came on screen again.
Aizawa stood on the big concrete stage and pulled out a bottle of eye-drops, liberally soaking each orb. Mara watched in fascination as he turned to fight the beast kid. His hair didn't lift, nor did his eyes turn red. She felt confused, trying to figure out what was different. Then it hit her, he couldn't erase mutant quirks; quirks that were a part of your physical body. That made sense.
The underdog fought hard, using his smaller body to great effect, making the beast dizzy looking for where the next punch was coming from. The white cloth around his neck—which she just noticed for the first time—was probably a support item of some kind. He whipped it off, and used it to tangle that beast kid up, dropping him in a pile of cloth and fur. Mara had clapped with joy.
So it went. Mara watched with wide eyes as he fought three battles, each more frightening than the last. He even took out the Raspberry Hair girl in the third round. While he was certainly starting to look pressed, Mara silently urged him on. When the final round was announced she had no reservations at all: Aizawa Shota was going to win it all!
The last battle was here, and Mara watched like her life depended on the outcome. The boy was starting to look rough. He had a compress wrapped low on his forehead, and took a long time with his drops and careful rubbing. His opponent, a hulk with hands lit up in a sickly yellow fire, stood on the other end of the stage sending pops of colored fire above his head in a display obviously meant to scare.
When the flag lowered, Aizawa rushed the giant, his eyes flaring red while his hair lifted in an untidy black halo. The fires went out, but the other kid was no slouch. He'd been ready for that, obviously. He was now depending on brute strength as he settled into a low fighting stance and opened his arms to grapple.
Aizawa's scarf lashed out, catching one arm, and he did not stop. He pulled, not to knock the hulk off balance, as Hulky had expected, but to rocket himself straight at his face! He snapped his feet together, and in a move too fast to be countered by the heavier, duller hulk, landed a hard kick which knocked the hulk back to bounce. His head slammed against the concrete with a meaty thunk as Aizawa stood over him. The flag was thrown and the official at the side rushed in to lift the shaggy-haired boy's arm high in victory.
Mara shook her head. Though her brothers seemed to think it was rather anti-climatic, she knew intelligence and perseverance when she saw it. Every time she looked in the mirror. And she saw it again in this kid. Shota Aizawa, a boy with a defensive quirk, had won the Sports Festival. She was in LOVE.
AN/ Aizawa did not go to school with All Might. Just take that right out of your mind! All Might had already been a hero for like 20 years! So. Stop it.
SLANG/FASHION: since MHA started running in 2014, I assume this is when Aizawa is 30. He has only aged ONE YEAR. So in the MHA Universe (if you hold to the belief that they live on an alternate timeline adjacent to ours like I do) it is only 2015. So, expect a little 'retro' style, home skillet! Honestly, this is the only thing that makes Katsuki's awful fashion sense acceptable.
Also, if I were you, and I love Aizawa too, I'd read BNHA: Vigilantes #59 - 65 A fantastic Aizawa centered arc. He has his capture scarf in 2nd year, but did not have goggles yet. I figure he got the scarf sometime before starting UA, so I used it!
A big shout out to my friends: xSteleAliniax and Mosevic for their loving guidance and encouragement.
