A.N. — I wanted to end the month with another pretty well-known character, before the first week of February is basically dictated by a bunch of canon birthdays. So here's a hero who didn't die when he probably should've, only to perish later.
31. Native
Nobody wanted to disparage a hero who'd just had a brush with death, but many saw exactly why Native had been targeted by Stain.
The Hero Killer was, by his own words, killing "false" heroes. By having his schtick be appropriating Native American culture, Native had earned a spot on Stain's list of the unworthy. His survival was mainly down to three first-year students, and those in the know just saw that as further evidence that Stain's appraisal was sound.
Native had heroic spirit; no-one could fault him that. But its genuineness fell flat in the public's perception.
A.N. 2 — This is a whiny author's note; feel free to skip. Through one month of posting, this has 2,400 hits, a handful of favs and follows, yet not one comment. I normally get less comments over on AO3, but for this story at least, that is not the case. I'll take any feedback: positive, negative, requests/ideas, etc. I've got a list of over 100 character without birthdays who are just waiting for a spot.