Paradis: The Savior of Humanity
Disclaimers: My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia) and all associated characters are owned by Kohei Horikoshi. I make no claim to ownership of this material.
Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) and all associated characters are owned by Hajime Isayama. I make no claim to ownership of this material.
I only own my original character, Zack Miller, and his family members. Any other original characters are based in both of the above mentioned universes which I have no ownership over.
Note: This story WILL contain manga spoilers for both My Hero Academia and Attack on Titan, so be warned.
Chapter 2: Momentous Changes
2169, United States of America
After the bombshell of his Quirk diagnosis (or lack thereof), Zack, Kyle and Rachel went to the local Department of Quirk Registration office (or DQR). Surprisingly, in spite of the sheer amount of Quirked people in the United States, the DQR was small, severely understaffed and underfunded, and always had lines of people going outside of the building.
After tiringly standing outside the building for 4 hours, accompanied by Kyle making small talk with the people in front of them (apparently he was now in consideration for being a wedding attendee as the couple would be having theirs in the coming months), the group finally made it inside. Rachel spoke with the clerk, explaining the situation, and another 2 hours later they had placed an order for Zack's new identification card which would supposedly arrive in two weeks. As the doctor had dictated on the paperwork for his examination, Zack had a Quirk factor but had no Quirk. Thus, he was able to avoid a "QL" Quirkless status on his ID card, and instead received a "UD" for Undetermined.
Despite not being Quirkless in the eyes of the government and his doctor, the reaction to the announcement of his new Undetermined status at school was less than desirable. His friends, despite promising each other that they would be friends until the end of time just last month, began to avoid him. Sure, they would include him in activities if he asked, but they wouldn't go out of their way to invite him to their various outings. More often than not, they would come up with excuses, or refuse events and playdates that he set up. However, Timmy could only use the excuse of "I have to get my tooth extracted" so many times before Zack genuinely questioned whether or not he had a Quirk to do with his teeth rather than his wings. On the other hand, there was no bullying. The teachers at his school made sure to keep the kids in check on their ethics standards and reinforced the concept of punishment for not following the rules, so there was one silver lining.
In pursuit of his dream to help people and the potential arrival of his Quirk, Zack took his father's advice and began to research other career opportunities. With his mom's help, he was able to open a note document and start to analyze how he could help people. However, he wasn't happy with what he found. Politicians weren't viewed very positively and they were constantly criticized, so that was a no-go. Lawyers had to go through several years of college and it was expensive. Despite his mother and father's (especially his father's) insistence of it being worth it and offering to pay for it, Zack said no. Fire people almost exclusively had water-based Quirks or strength Quirks, so that wasn't an option.
The only thing that caught some of his interest was medicine. That looks like I can help people! He thinks hopefully. But it also takes money and time. And most doctor's have healing or diagnostics Quirks. I might be able to be a nurse, but that would still be hard.
After a good amount of research, Zack still couldn't find anything as appealing to him as the profession of becoming a hero. With that announcement to his father, the man let out a huff in frustration.
"Just keep thinking about it kid. You never know what might happen."
For the next few years, Zack kept up with occasional research into future careers (and continuing to hope his Quirk would manifest - it never did) until the next big event in his family's life.
2171, United States of America
"Mommy, Daddy, I'm a BANANA!" his now 4-year-old little sister Alice shrieked happily from her play space on the floor.
That's cool, Zack thought as he was reading an All Might comic book. She must be playing make believe. I wonder what she will be next, a unicorn or a grapefru- WAIT WHAT?! Zack cuts off his thought as he glances up at his sister in front of him. To his surprise, her skin did resemble the peel of a banana, an over-ripe one to boot.
Another thing he did notice that his parents failed to as they walked into the room, was that Alice was apparently secreting banana oil from her skin on the floor as well. So when their parents, both of whom were on their phones, walked up to her, they both slipped and fell on their butts. It would have been rather comedic for Zack, but his brain was still trying to process HOW IS MY SISTER NOW A BANANA?
His parents, now focused on the situation at hand, looked at their smiling daughter, touching her fruity skin in glee and ignoring her snack (a half eaten, over-ripe banana) on the plate beside her. They immediately looked at each other and said "Doctor!" at the same time. With that, they carefully collected their daughter and son, jumped in the family car, and drove to their Quirk doctor.
"This is extraordinary," the doctor explained as he gently touched Alice's skin which was now iron. "This is quite the Quirk, it appears to be a mutated-cross between both of your quirks! Little Alice here can turn her skin into the substance of an object she looks at!"
To demonstrate, the doctor set down the iron skillet he was holding and picked up a wooden plank, holding it within Alice's view. Alice looked at it unblinking for a few seconds, and sure enough, her skin turned to smooth, unblemished oak wood.
"Rachel, she obviously gets the photo and eye part from you and Photographic, and Kyle, her ability to change her skin material is a slight deviation from your ability to change your muscle mass with Muscle Maker. Simply extraordinary! Congratulations little lady, that is quite a Quirk you have now."
Filled with glee, Alice pumps her arms in the air in excitement while Rachel hugs her from behind and Kyle puts a hand on her head to ruffle her hair proudly.
Looking over at Zack sitting in the corner of the exam room, the doctor switches over to a soft smile and slowly approaches him. "You must be excited for your sister, huh Zack?"
"Yeah," Zack says with a slight smile. "I'm happy for her. She'll do great things." He continuously looks at his family, watching his father now pick up Alice and gently throw her up and down in the air a few times to her delight (and to their mother's dismay).
"She sure will," the doctor agrees. "And what about yourself? Any new findings on your Quirk?"
Zack loses his smile, his tone becoming flatter. "No, still nothing."
The doctor gently puts a hand on his shoulder. "It should come any day now. Don't give up, kid. It is probably waiting for the right time." With that, he makes his way back to the other three. "Now then, you'll need a name for your registration! Since this hasn't appeared before in our records, you should be able to name it! Might I suggest 3D Printer, or perhaps Photo Mimic? Or maybe even…"
At that point Zack had tuned out the doctor, and just kept looking at the picture perfect view of his family in front of him, happy as they could be. I am happy for her, but what about me? Why couldn't that have been my Quirk? It would be perfect for a hero! he thinks. Why does dad want me to be anything but a hero? Being a lawyer is no fun, and I want to be able to help people.
He balls up his fists in determination. Maybe I have a chance! The doctor says I have a Quirk factor, so I must have a Quirk. I just have to wait. Maybe it will be like Alice's! Or even better! I just have to wait.
2175, United States of America
And wait he did. Still, nothing. Over the next few years, Zack tried everything his young mind could think of to activate his unknown Quirk. Hoping his power could be similar to his sister's, he tried in vain to concentrate and stare at various household objects, attempting to will the material to form on his skin, or at the very least one of his limbs. However, the only thing that earned was worried stares from his mother, curious glances from his sister, and anger (surprisingly) from his father. Whether that anger was targeted towards the universe for the unfairness it brought upon his son, his son for bulging his eyes pointlessly at household objects, or their local sports team for losing for the 5th time in a row, the boy didn't know. Zack himself decided to call it quits on the idea that his Quirk is like Alice's after he glared at an orchid for the thousandth time with no result.
However, he didn't stop there. Zack tried a variety of other creative ways to draw out his Quirk. He tried meditating and clearing his mind of thoughts in the hopes his Quirk would be like his mom, yet that didn't activate anything. He tried exercising more (or as much as his mom would allow him since his body was still growing and she didn't want him stunt his growth) in the hopes he could grow his muscles like his dad, but that didn't help either. He even tried to scare himself by watching scary videos and movies to forcefully activate the Quirk; that, unsurprisingly, only gave him nightmares and a fear of the dark. On the brightside, it got him more cuddles from his mom when he was scared. Beyond that, he tried countless other experiments, all of which sadly shared the same fruitless results.
Despite these failed attempts at Quirk activation, Zack never lost hope. The doctor had said his Quirk factor, while weak, existed, so it may just need time to activate. So he just continued on with what he could do: live.
He went to school and did his best to study to make his parents proud. At the very least, if he did get his Quirk one day and wanted to go to hero school, he would need the grades to back him up. Thus, Zack spent countless hours studying and gaining a better understanding of his subjects. His prior friends were either still coming up with excuses as to why they couldn't see him or just flat out ignoring him, so it wasn't like there was anything to distract him from studying.
Which is fine, Zack thought, just one less thing to hold me back. Each day, he would quickly complete his homework, and keep reviewing his lessons to ingrain the knowledge into his head. When he got bored of that or had reviewed everything he could, he would make his way down the hall to his father's study which held a small assortment of books, pick one at random, and just start reading. He would read one book a week, two if he could manage it. Any and every subject caught his attention. History, science, journal articles, novels, even law and politics despite his protests towards engaging them as a career (which somewhat pleased his father who was preparing his cases in the same room while Zack was reading). Both of his parents were impressed at this, as they boy was reading above his age level, but nonetheless encouraged it as it visibly took his mind off his predicament.
The boy kept reading, and found that he liked new knowledge as much as he liked heroes. At this, his father suggested he could be a teacher, to which his mother responded "In this economy?!"
Additionally, Zack spent a large amount of time playing with his little sister. Despite his initial upset and jealousy at her having a wonderful Quirk while he didn't know his, he still loved her. Whenever he completed his homework or wrapped up a chapter of his most recent book, he would play with her in the living room playing board games or making up story scenarios for her dolls and his action figures. More often than not, they would just sit on the couch and watch cartoons. Sometimes, their mom would watch over them while Alice experimented with her quirk, turning her skin into flower petals or fabric, causing both children to laugh in delight.
He would spend time with his parents as well. His mother always helped him with tasks and ensured that he was content, or as content as he could be in his current circumstances. She would make it a point to feed his yearning for knowledge with more books. She gathered books from her parents David and Laura who lived a few blocks away. Occasionally, she would allow Zack to help her cook as another way to learn something new and useful. His father on the other hand, was busy during the day, and exhausted when he got home from work during the week. However, Zack would always be following him into his study on the weekends or on the rare occasions where he could afford to work at home, and read while his father did more prep work for upcoming court cases.
The family of 4 would also spend time together of course. Dinners were happy events, and the family shared the events of their days. However, whenever Zack brought up heroes and his hopes of becoming one when his Quirk appears, he was met with sickeningly sweet smiles from his mother and disappointed grunts and huffs from his father. At these reactions, he would stop talking and the conversation would move on to something else, but he would still bring it up occasionally, albeit with the same reactions from his parents. Movie nights were fun, and so were the occasional vacations. The best part of these years was when the family visited David and Laura to let the grandparents spend time with their kids and bond. Overall, life was ok, but Zack yearned for more.
After 3 years of this routine, Zack became anxious again regarding his quirk. Sure he thought about it every day, but he was now 10 years old and nothing had changed; of course he is going to be concerned. He had researched and considered other professions like his father recommended, but nothing had spoken to him like becoming a pro-hero.
Determined to rekindle his dream, Zack took to the family computer to research hero schools in America. The entry age for most schools was around 14 to 15 years of age, and all of them required both decent grades from school and 3 or fewer notices on your permanent record. To Zack's dismay and growing horror, all of the 43 U.S. hero schools all required entrants to have some type of quirk registered. Both Quirkless and Undetermined hero hopefuls (the latter of which applies to Zach) would not be allowed entry as it was apparently "too dangerous for those not possessing some semblance of a Quirk or little to no knowledge of their Quirk to willingly put themselves in harm's way."
No, that..that can't be it! Zack widens his eyes in shock. He reads through the information on his screen once more and confirms the denial of entry, falling back in his chair in grief. Hold on, maybe somewhere in Europe? Maybe they will accept Undetermined applicants? Sitting back up, Zack starts to search for prominent European schools, and frantically adds lesser known ones to his browser tabs after a few minutes. Great Britain, France, Germany…all of them bar Quirkless and Undetermined students as well. Sitting back in shock once more, tears start to sprout from his eyes as he pulls his legs to his chest and hugs them, resting his chin on his knees as he starts sobbing.
That's it then. There is nowhere that will accept me. I have no future as a hero! he thinks to himself as he tries to hold back his cries without success. It just isn't fair! He continues sobbing for a few more minutes, but suddenly halts when he remembers something. There are a few more schools I haven't checked. Japan…how could I have forgotten Japan!?
With renewed vigor, he researches the Japanese hero schools and sorts them in tabs, starting with least prominent and lesser known schools which may have a better chance of accepting him, and ending with more well-known schools that are longshots at the very end. He takes a deep breath, and starts reading out each school before quickly closing and switching tabs in response to the bad news. "Isamu Academy: No Quirkless. Seiai Academy: No Quirkless, girls only. Ketsubutsu Academy: No Quirkless. Shiketsu Academy: No Quirkless."
With that, Zack closes the tab for Shiketsu, leaving just one hero school left: U.A., the best of the best, the place where All Might himself and Japan's other top heroes attended. This is it. The longshot. This is my last chance. Taking in one more deep breath, Zack quickly opens the tab for U.A. and looks through the applicant page before freezing. He reads through the requirements once more in silence, then reads it aloud slowly to hear it in his voice. "U.A. will now accept Quirkless applicants starting next school term for all prospective courses, including the hero course, general studies course, support course, and business course."
Zack slaps a hand over his mouth and starts tearing up again, this time out of relief. U.A….U.A. might accept me, but it will be difficult to get in. After shedding a few more tears, Zack starts to think about what was unsaid on the website. But it doesn't say anything about Undetermined status, does it? The schools in Europe did. He reads through the website once more and confirms it only mentions Quirkless applicants. Slowly, he starts searching for information on Undetermined status in Japan and clicks on the first article he sees.
"Unlike other western countries, Japan only uses the Quirkless status in regards to citizens or non-citizens (i.e. visa students, migrants seeking asylum, tourists, etc…) as the Undetermined status used by those countries is deemed as misleading. Japan's top scientists and quirkologists assert that the Undetermined status is a sham, and people either have a quirk or they do not, regardless of if those individuals have some type of quirk factor but no signs of a quirk or neither. Those non-citizens who have an Undetermined status, having no counterpart to their status in Japan, will automatically have a Quirkless status applied to their relevant documents when visiting the country for any purpose."
After reading this aloud, Zack begins to shake as he grimaces in anger. He clicked on a few more articles, all of which confirmed what he just read. So if I want to be a hero, then I will have to say I am Quirkless? That is worse than being Undetermined. He pauses in thought for a few moments, eyes widening in realization. But I don't have any other options. If I want to be a hero, this is it. Nodding to himself in resolution, he jumps as he hears his mother down the hall.
"Zack, dinner is ready! Everyone is sitting at the table."
"Coming mom," he calls back. He gets up, and leaves the room to go to the living room. Upon entering, he sees his mother, father and Alice all sitting at the table, He quickly gets to his seat and they start eating.
"So everyone, how were your days?" his mother questions in her regular routine as they eat the wontons she has prepared.
"I finished a book today," Alice announces produly. "I am going to start reading as much as Zacky!"
At his nickname, Zack grins while his parents smile. Zack wants to bring up the fact that she is still reading children's mystery novels while he is reading dissertations on political stances, but he doesn't want to see her cry so he holds his tongue.
"That's nice sweetie," his father remarks. "I had to do more work at the office. I have an important case coming up, and I was doing some more prep work."
"That's great honey," his mother says cheerily. Then she looks over at Zack with a soft smile. "What about you Zack? I haven't seen you all day little bird. What have you been up to?"
Zack draws in a quick breath and strengthens his resolve. "I was researching hero schools."
At this, his mother freezes, giving a quick gasp as she sucks in her lips so her mouth looks like a single thin line. His father on the other hand tightens his grips on his utensils and grits his teeth, letting out a deep grunt. Alice, not reading the situation at all at the tender age of 8, lets out a cheer and starts clapping.
"Oh...r-really?" Rachel stutters out. "That's nice, but little bird, I thought you wanted to do something else?"
Zack shakes his head. "No mom. I still want to be a hero. And I think I know how I ca-"
"Alice, why don't you go to your room?" Kyle interrupts suddenly.
Alice frowns and scrunches her eyebrows. "But dad, I'm still hungry and we haven't finished ea-"
"GO TO YOUR ROOM!" Kyle growls out, shocking everyone at the table. Kyle is a gentle and caring man, and never raises his voice in front of anyone, let his daughter. Alice's lips begin to wobble.
Rachel notices the pending cry fest and tries to stabilize the situation. "Don't worry sweetie, It'll only be a few minutes, just go to your room ok?" she says softly. Alice slowly nods, gets down from her chair and goes to her room.
Kyle then turns his head slowly towards Zack while Rachel turns her head to stare at her plate. Sensing that something is off, Zack gulps in fear.
"Now," Kyle starts out, "I thought that you gave up on that…dream of yours? You were going to do something else right?"
Zack gulps again before responding. "Not really dad, I had thought about other things I could do, but nothing stood out to me like being a hero."
Kyle grits his teeth. "We have been over this. You don't need to be a hero to help people, you can do other things."
"I know dad, but I don't want to do those things. Those aren't jobs that I want to do."
"Kyle, maybe we should just hear him out", Rachels starts to plead. "Maybe he found something."
Kyle looks over to Rachel, shaking his head. "No Rachel. We talked about this and we both agreed. You know what I must do." Rachel waits a moment, then slowly nods, looking back down at her plate.
Zack becomes confused. "What is going on?" he questions, looking between his mother and father.
Kyle gets up from his chair and walks to Zack, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of his chair.
"Ow!" Zack cries out in pain. He attempts to pull himself out of his father's grip but it is no use. His father has used his Quirk to expand the muscle on his hand, keeping Zack from pulling out of the death grip.
"We have given you more than enough chances to get this dream out of your head," Kyle growls. "I have given you multiple ideas and opportunities to do something else, something more productive than your dream. Yet you have continuously squandered them in the hopes of something that will never happen!" Kyle somehow tightens his grip on his son's hand as he pulls him towards the front of the house.
"Please dad, let go! Please, let's talk about this!" Zack pleads, tears coming out of his eyes for nearly the third time today.
Kyle remains silent as he walks towards the front door. Zack looks back at his mother, hoping to see her coming to his aid to handle his father like she always has. However, she is still seated at the table, staring at her plate. Only now, she has tears streaming down her face.
"Mommy, please help! He's hurting me!" he begs. The only thing Rachel does at his plea is look away. Zack falters for a second as he is being dragged by his father. No. N-n-n-no! How could she? Did she agree to this? What is dad doing to me? He turns back to his father and tries to wrestle his hand out of his father's grip, but it is no use.
Kyle then unlocks and opens the front door, roughly dragging Zack forward in front of him while the boy looks up in shock and fear. "That is it! You are gone. Get out of this house!"
Zack's jaw drops in shock. "No! Dad please, why are you doing this? Just because I have a dream? Just because I want to do something that I want to do?!" Zack demands, his voice cracking as he is overcome with sadness.
"No, it isn't just that," Kyle chuckles darkly. "It's that you want to do all that without even knowing what your Quirk is! No son of mine would do something so unreasonably stupid that it could get them killed. You might as well be a useless, Quirkless relic, filled with nothing but high hopes. Now, get your stupid ass out of my house, and don't come back until you empty your head of pointless dreams!"
With that, Kyle lifts Zack up and tosses him on the front lawn. Zack lands on his back and rolls twice, bruising his leg and hip. Groaning, he sits up in time to see the front door slam shut, Kyle locking it shut.
Shocked, in pain, and with tears dripping down his face, Zack just had his family, his last lifeline, cut off from him. He sits there, wondering what will happen to him next, alone.
AN: Hello readers, it is I, AkaDeca. I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. I have a lot more in store, I just need the time to refine my ideas before I post them. Please feel free to leave comments, and be sure to let me know if you would like to beta read.