Alex3600: hey! sorry it took a bit to get this chapter out. home life sucks when I keep on getting in trouble. anyways! enjoy the angst in this chapter!
Alex quietly slipped in after a kid with a black bird head (crow?) came in from training. Alex had been working with Erin on partial control which was hard for both of them. Of course, only 3 people in the 1-A dorms knew that's what they were doing, Jade, the angry kid, and Eraserhead. Everyone else thought they were working on their elemental manipulation.
"Alex, can I talk to you over a game of chess?" Alex pulled out their phone (Nedzu got it for them, as well as some Bluetooth earbuds) and called him.
"Alex, so nice to hear from you!" The rodent said cheerfully
"Yeah, umm, why over chess?" Alex asked
"Yeah! Why chess rodent-man?" Erin piped up silently so no one could hear her.
"Because it's a good game to talk over, also Erin, don't call me a rodent-man, rodent works just fine." Alex sighed
"I'll be over in a minute" Alex started to head to the door when he said
"No need! I just so happen to be in your room right now with the chess set, set up!" Alex stopped and just stared at nothing, before heading upstairs to their room. They opened the door and, yup, there was Nedzu. Also Eraserhead and a new person Alex hadn't ever seen before.
"Hello, Alex!" Nedzu chirped happily while the 2 other adults sent looks of challenge toward the other. Nedzu sat down on the other side of a table. The table had a chess set on top as he had said. Alex groaned inwardly, they didn't know how to play chess.
"I don't know how to play, Nedzu," they said in a defeated tone.
"Doesn't matter, I'll teach you!" Alex heard that and was a bit more excited about playing chess.
"But first" Alex's heart sank. First, what?
"First I must tell you, you've been accepted into UA! However, both hero course classes have the same amount of students. Another student, Hitoshi Shinsou, will be joining the other class from the one you choose." Alex looked surprised but immediately said
"I want to be in Jade's class" Nedzu smiled
"I thought you might say that!" he looked happily at Alex before gesturing to them to sit down.
"Now, to teach you how to play. Man, I've missed the days of teaching one's youth about a skill such as chess." Alex heard Eraserhead goan.
"Nedzu, do you have to make it a big thing?"
"Yes"
"Is him making it a big thing a problem?" Eraserhead looked a bit upset
"You've converted 2 new students to your idea." Alex grinned before Erin appeared beside Alex as an illusion
"2?"
"Yeah, 2. You and Alex" Erin blinked before Alex flinched. Then their eyes shined with unspoken happiness. Erin looked surprised but smiled after a second. Erin was hugging Alex in the shared space they had in Alex's head. Alex tried to speak, but Erin cut them off
"Alex shut the fuck up. No talking." Eraserhead and Nedzu looked amused at what was happening. Alex just kind of accepted it and went along with it.
"Alex, I haven't learned much about you," Nedzu said all the while shooing the person Alex didn't know out of the room. Alex nodded both them and Erin knowing where this was going.
"Could you explain to me your backstory?" Alex and Erin shot a look at each other
'So, should we submit him to the trauma that you experienced?'
'Well, let's just say the highlights of it'
'Alright' Alex sighed before shaking their head
"This is going to sound weird. Just stick with me to the end, please?" Eraserhead and Nedzu nodded, both looking concerned.
"So, it started with when my parents were murdered-"
"RUBY! YOU NEVER TOLD ME THAT!" Jade barreled into their room. Alex looked at him with a surprised look
"Hello Izuku" Erin looked over at him, not seeming bothered by him screaming at both of them. Jade looked taken aback before starting to lay into Alex
"YOU NEVER SAID THAT THEY WERE DEAD! NEVER!" Alex looked shaken up by Jade's yelling
"I had a reason?" Alex sounded skeptical, Jade just looked at them.
"Go on"
"So you wouldn't get worried?" Jade looked like he was about to lay into Alex with words and fists.
"Okay Izuku, calm down a bit. Alex is scared, and besides you could always sit down with Hobo and Rat-Man and find out why they choose to hide their dead parents from you?" Erin tried to reason. Alex looked relieved when Jade relaxed.
'thanks, Erin'
'Don't worry about it, just tell your story'
"So as I was saying, my parents died when I was 6. About 1 year after I developed my quirk-"
"And I appeared"
"Yes, and since Erin appeared. That day I got put into a foster care system that didn't have the best intentions-"
"What does that mean Alex?" Eraserhead pried
"They were not good to females, LGBTQ+, and females with powerful quirks," Alex said, not wanting to give more information on it. Eraserhead nodded, Jade looked like he was going to punt the person(s) in charge of the foster care.
"I noted their bad intentions immediately. When I walked into the entrance it was like an alarm went off in my head. Erin was yelling at me to get out of there. I was stuck in fear as the Owner walked up to me. She was the one at the desk when we went there last Eraser." Alex looked at him, his eyes showed some recognition.
'Show them what happened' Alex created an illusion of the memory. It showed 6-year-old them walking in. Jade visibly paled when Alex did in the illusion. Alex noted when the foster care owner walked up to them, they seemed to shrink.
"She tried to use her quirk Emotional manipulation, on me but Erin kept her from doing it by squashing it down"
"Hell yeah, I did! That bitch didn't need to manipulate you with your emotions. You were already a wreck" Alex rolled their eyes.
"Fuck off Erin. Anyways, as you can tell, I wasn't too keen on this lady. Personally, I still don't like her. As soon as the officer left, she took me to a room, where she asked me what my quirk was. I didn't inform her of my shapeshifting, so I told her it was elemental manipulation, like my mother. She never read my file, she didn't know her quirk wasn't working on me.
She looked me over, then took me over to another room. She then flung me into a cell-like room. There was food and a faucet for water, but that was it. Also a bathroom, but I didn't have much. I ended up making a small hammock made of vines." Eraserhead and Jade looked horrified, but Nezu looked calm, a bit too calm for Alex's liking. They went on, however,
"The next day, I was dragged screaming by my hair. I was roughly shoved up onto a medical table, you know the ones used for surgery? One of those, anyways the lady looked at me and told me 'please calm down, this will not hurt a bit' and she fucking grabbed my arm. She took the knife, a white one with an army green handle, and proceeded to cut small chunks off my arm, collecting the blood in a bowl.
After that was over, I was injected with a drug to make me heal quicker and prevent me from having too much energy. That happened every day for about 4 years. Then on my 10th birthday, they gave me a cupcake laced with melatonin, to make me sleep.
Then they decided to cut my arms up so badly they didn't look like arms. I only know that because they told me on my final day there. I had learned at about 7 how to sneak food and other things away and hide them. When I was 9, I took a knife. A few months after my 10th birthday, they shoved me out the door.
I've been living on the streets ever since." Nedzu started to smile, not a happy smile, but an evil smile. Jade looked like murdering someone, and Eraserhead…well, he seemed to be in between hugging Alex or killing the foster care people. After a little while, Nedzu piped up
"Alex, could you tell us about your time on the streets as well?" Alex sighed but nodded.
'This is going to be hell'
"Well, I still had that knife I stole, so I had some protection. I didn't sleep for about 3 weeks because I was looking over my shoulder for people trying to kill me. A couple of months after starting on the streets, I had an interesting run-in with a man. He saw me sleeping, and just so you know, I hadn't cut my hair into a pixie cut yet.
So it was long and decided to try to get with me if you know what I mean. I happened to wake up in time to stop him, but he kept on coming back. Eventually, he brought friends to help him. One person, however, took one look at me after being directed to me and yelled that everyone there was evil, and how 'this is sick' Everyone scattered for that night. I stopped sleeping at night, only sleeping during the day when people I knew I could trust were around. That's also when I started to go to the library every day.
After a few weeks of going there, some of the librarians made me a corner with pillows and blankets. Some brought fairy lights to string up as well. It basically became a little safe space for me. I met Jade there too. After a few months, I started to help around the library. First, I was just putting books in the right place, then I helped check out books. Soon I began to help people find books in new or interested genres.
I would even help people facing quirk discrimination, such as quirkless people being hurt by people with quirks, and people with shitty quirks being picked on too. I was basically the unpaid bodyguard for the library. I even helped in the summer with the summer programs. I participated in some as well."
"I'm assuming you read half the library" Alex laughed, their eyes shining joyfully.
"You would be correct, I mainly read fantasy, dystopia, and non-fiction. I met Jade while I was going to find Fahrenheit 451 to re-read. He was looking for Mockingjay, the third book of the hunger games. He was being picked on because he was quirkless so I stood up for him. I jumped up and punched the kid in the mouth. He got what he was coming for him in my opin-" Alex was cut off by a knock at their door. They turned, before checking to see who it was.
"Hello new gir-" he didn't even finish before Alex growled, and slammed the door in his face.
"Who was that?"
"grape-head? I have no clue what his name is" Jade nodded
"Mineta. Yeah stay away from him, trust me" Alex nodded before continuing
"As I was saying before Grape-boy intruded. I KNOW YOU'RE STILL THERE! BRACCAS MEAS VESCIMINI YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Jade cringes
"Bad move on the Braccas meas vescimini, he's a pervert" Alex looked at Jade
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT BEFORE I TOLD HIM THAT?"
"I didn't have the time to" Jade looked down, clearly upset Alex's anger at him immediately evaporated.
"I'm sorry for yelling Jade, I'm just upset" Eraserhead coughed from behind the 2 teenagers
"Translation for non-language speakers?" Alex nodded
"It means 'Eat My Pants' in either Latin or ancient Greek, probably Latin though. Anyways, as I was saying, I punched the kid in the face and handed Jade back his book. He thanked me and asked me about the series. He said he had read 1 book, but didn't understand it, so I asked what book he read first. He read the SECOND book first! I directed him to the first book, then told him if he had any trouble with any other kid, go to me." Jade popped into the story
"Yeah! They were so cool! I asked later if I could analyze their quirk. Alex said yes to it, so I analyzed it to the best of my abilities!"
"And I really appreciate it, Jade, if you hadn't I probably wouldn't have been able to do some of what I can! Anyways, Jade went over to the little corner the librarians had set up for me and asked if he could sit with me. I said yes, so we sat and read. It did take him a little while to get to Rue's chapter, I-" Jade cut them off
"We do not speak of Rue's death, or my reaction to it" Alex nodded
"We don't, anyways we have had fun together since that day. After this new school year started up, Jade's been coming by the library less and less. One month, he didn't show up at all. I was worried but knew he wouldn't do anything too drastic since he doesn't like not finishing a series or book. Jade sometimes popped into the library once a month to chat with me.
I had started to fight people who were trying to frame homeless people for theft around the time you found me, I had started about a month earlier. I didn't expect them to target me next though.." Alex trailed off as everyone in the room looked at them
"What?" Eraserhead looked slightly surprised, Nedzu looked shocked as well. Jade looked unfazed. He grinned and put up his pointer finger and pinky finger. Alex felt the air above their head. Their skin brushed something fluffy.
'Damn it, I got too excited' Alex put up their pointer and thumb, Jade nodded. Alex groaned.
"Yes, I can shapeshift into a half-dog thing. I think I just shift into a type of werewolf, but I'm not sure." Jade started laughing, then Eraserhead, although he tried to hide it.
"What's so funny?" Jade just looked up and burst out laughing again
"Your ears are a bright yellow" Alex groaned more
"If I get too emotional, this can happen, as well as the elemental aspect of my quirk activates. Jade! Don't act like you've never seen me like this before!" Jade just laughed, before Alex wrapped him in vines to help calm him down. After he calmed down, Eraserhead looked at the ears, his fingers twitching.
"You can pet me, just between the ears though, anywhere else is weird" Jade immediately started to rub the area between their ears. Alex relaxed a bit, trusting their friend.
"What about the tail?" Alex didn't even have to turn to know it was Nedzu, his mind had been buzzing with that question
"Yes, but don't pull" They felt 2 hands (paws?) on their tail, they tensed up, but after a while calmed down.
"As I was saying, both parts of my quirk can flare up because of emotions. If I get really angry, I spontaneously catch fire. Sadness causes rain to appear above me, fear shadows, and so on and so on." their door was knocked on again however, this time it startled Alex, so they jumped and turned invisible. They turned visible again, their ears and tail gone. Alex walked over to the door and opened it. It was the angry kid from before.
"Oh hello-" they were cut off as he stormed into the room
"WHAT THE HELL DEKU! YOU CAN'T JUST DISAPPEAR LIKE THAT!" Jade looked shaken, so Alex stormed into the angry kid's face
"LISTEN HERE POMERANIAN! JADE HEARD ABOUT MY PARENTS AND WANTED TO KNOW WHY I HID MY PARENTS' DEATH FROM HIM! HE DIDN'T DISAPPEAR, HE CAME INTO MY ROOM!"
"Pomeranian?" Jade and the angry kid asked
"Yeah, he reminds me of an angry one or Chiwawa."
"WELL LISTEN HERE JEWEL KID-"
"Actually, Jewel girl sounds better than Jewel kid. You can call me that I guess" The angry kid didn't look too happy about Alex interrupting him, but they just shoved him out the door.
"Fuck off Pomeranian, Jade'll come out when he wants to. Leave him alone" They closed the door in his face and locked it. They could hear what sounded like explosions on the other side of the door.
"Hey, remember that kid I pushed with the wind back when you were 6?"
"Which one, you did that to about 3, I actually pushed one myself"
"The one who was firing off explosions, then when I pushed him with wind yelled something along the lines of 'WHO THE HELL PUSHED ME?' as you were leaving the park?" Alex nodded
"What are the odds that's the kid?"
"Low" Alex's vision was coated in red for a few seconds
"It's him" Alex's vision went back to normal
"You've got to stop doing that Erin"
"Nope!" Eraserhead coughed
"What're you guys talking about?"
"Oh, Erin shoved a kid who was going to hurt this other kid with some air. Every time she uses my quirk without taking some control of my body, my vision turns red"
"Is it red now?" Alex shook their head
"Nope, because the illusion of Erin is actually being projected by me!" Nedzu piped up
"Would you like class 1-A to know abou-"
"NO! I mean, I would rather not. Especially about my shapeshifting abilities." They looked at Eraserhead as they said that
"My clothes are part of my quirk, you can't erase it without my clothes going away too. Also traumatizing everyone with my fleshy arm-but-not-arms" Eraserhead nodded, Nedzu looked at Alex
"You will have to wear the uniform" Alex nodded
"If I can see the uniform, I can shift into it," Nedzu nodded, before pulling up an image of the girl's uniform. Alex willed their cells to change, the clothes coming onto them. They looked at themself and shook their head.
"Do you guys have pants I could use? I don't feel comfortable in a skirt" Nedzu nodded and showed Alex an image of the pants. Alex quickly shifted into them, feeling much more comfortable. They made a small knife out of light and cut through the darkness to find what they were searching for.
'Yes!' Alex stuck their hand into the small hole they made and pulled out a baseball hat with pins on it.
"Alex, what is that?" Eraserhead asked
"An old hat! The pins are old and new." Jade looked at one of the pins
"Post 48? What's that?" Alex grinned
"An American group consisting of veterans and their families!"
"But why do you have a pin?" Alex smiled at this comment
"Because some of my relatives are in it! They sent me one a few years back when we would send letters periodically. I used to use an old house nobody lived in as my address for the letters. My grandparents' siblings moved to America and served in their military, that's how I got the pin." Jade just nodded and went back to looking at the pins.
"Whoa! This is a Put Your Hands Up Radio pin! Those are hard to get, how did you get it?" Alex shrugged
"I found it in a dumpster" (they stole it from the store) "It was a shame someone threw it away too! It's so cool." Alex suddenly felt fatigued. Erin's illusion wavered before going out.
'Sorry Erin'
'Well, you have used a lot of energy. I'll be fine'
'Okay,' Alex put the hat on, smiling at the familiarity it gave them. They wore it often at night so nobody saw their face and attacked them. They gave an involuntary shudder, they couldn't understand why they did, it was weird. They started to sway a bit before stopping themself.
"Whoa, Alex, are you okay?" Jade looked worried, but Alex shrugged his worry off
"I'm fine, just tired. I should probably get some rest." Jade, Eraderhead, and Nedzu nodded. However, there was one very distinct voice in Alex's head yelling
'BULLSHIT' Alex almost decked their mind buddy
'FUCK OFF ERIN' they yelled back.
"Wait, is your hat the only part of your clothes that isn't made by your quirk?" Alex didn't even care who had asked, they just needed to sleep
"Yes," the 3 people in their room nodded and left. Alex grew some vines to put away the chess set. They flopped down onto their bed and closed their eyes. They slowly nodded off to sleep.
:::::::
Alex woke up in a rush, adrenaline rushing throughout their body. They started to sweat, their pores secreting the fluid faster than ever. They went over the nightmare. The pain they felt, the fear they felt, and the safety that vanished as soon as they fell asleep.
They felt their panicked breath start to slow. The tears running down their face felt hot. They reached up and grabbed their locket they always kept around their neck.
"Mom, Dad. I love you" They looked up. They knew they wouldn't see their parents for a while. They did know that they were watching them. Alex knew they could see their parents whenever they wanted, but they didn't want to seem too needy for their parents' voices. To be completely honest, they really needed a big hug and kiss from their parents. They knew, however, that that wouldn't ever happen, seeing as their parents were ghosts.
They opened the locket, looking at their parents and grandparents. The tears slid down their cheek. Alex decided they needed some time alone, so they went out onto the patio thing outside their room. They quickly noted it wasn't calming them down. Alex chose to use the wind to fly. Where? Alex didn't know, but they did know they would feel safe there.
Alex got to where they needed to be quickly, as it was the roof of the dorm system they were staying in. They sat down on the edge of the roof, legs swinging, as they calmed down. They looked around to see a door that lead to the roof
'Guess I didn't need to fly after all' Erin snorted at that
'You're awake?'
'Yup, although, I don't dream, so I didn't have a reason to wake up' Erin snarked, clearly pissed off at waking up
'Well I apollo-fucking-gize for waking the bitch up' Alex quipped back, pissed off because Erin was acting like a brat. They started to shake like a leaf in the wind, which was ironic because they could become one at any time. Alex felt the familiar ache in their chest for comfort, knowing they wouldn't ever get to experience it. Who would want a feral 16-year-old?
They gathered themself and stood. They flew (read: fell with style) into a tree and settled into it. They knew they would need some sugarcane in the morning, as the coffee berries they would sometimes eat caused them fatigue instead of energy. They put their head onto the branch above them and cracked their neck.
They felt much better being outside than inside. Their mind was cleared, and they felt better in general. Alex grew some moss for their head and went back to sleep.
:::::::
"Sho, Alex left again" Shouta was getting tired of going to find Alex.
"This kid is going to be the death of me" he grumbled as he got out of bed. Nemuri stood at his doorway.
"How did you even know they even left?"
"Nedzu"
'Of course'
"got it, does he know where they went?"
"Nope!"
'Fuck'
'Hello Eraserhead, you know, maybe don't swear that much, it's bad for the kids' Shouta almost couldn't believe he was hearing Alex in his head
'Alex, explain'
'I've got this. They are forming thoughts using shadows in your head, like how they can read minds' Shouta decided not to question that
'Erin, fuck off. What she said was right'
'Where are you?' Shouta didn't get an answer.
"Fuck" Nemuri looked at him with a tired smile
"Yeah, I bet you'll have fun tracking down the kid anyways. Nedzu did say they were still on campus though" Shouta groaned. Nemuri offered a sympathetic smile
"Good luck Shouta, come back." Shouta nodded before heading over to his still-asleep husband and kissed him. His husband smiled in his sleep. Shouta grabbed his capture scarf and headed out. He found some footprints, but they were too big to be Alex's.
'Damn it, kid, where are you?'
'Alex fell asleep. Luckily we can both chat like this anyways. They-'
'ERIN!' Shouta shoved down the urge to laugh.
'Alex, where are you?' no answer. 'Fuck.'
'Trees' Shouta nodded before Alex fell out of a tree.
"OW FUCK" He went over to them and crouched down to their height
"Alex, why were you in a tree?" Alex looked annoyed by the question
"I had a damn nightmare. Besides, going to the roof and jumping into a tree is fun!" Shouta was in shock. They jumped off the roof of the dorms? A berry bush sprouted beside Shouta. Alex nodded towards the tree.
"It's coffee berries, they have caffeine, and don't taste like coffee." He looked at them before grabbing a handful of berries and eating them. Energy flowed through him after a few seconds. Alex seemed to be growing something for them. They grabbed it out of the ground. It was sugarcane. They started to chew the end after they cleaned it.
"So do you want to explain what you were doing jumping off a roof?"
"Nope," Shouta sighed, there went that plan. "You're not going to leave me alone, are you?" Shouta shook his head, munching on the berries in his palm. Alex sighed. The sun started to come up as Alex finished their sugarcane. Shouta got up and walked over to Alex. He helped them up.
Alex quickly walked back to the dorms, stopping to say hi to Midoriya on their way inside. Shouta quickly went back to his apartment. He got ready for the day.
"Sho?" He turned around to see his husband sleepily walking over to him. Shouta smiled at his messed-up hair as he helped his husband start his day.
:::::::
Alex looked up at the giant door in front of them. Fear started to set into their body. Their hand went up to their locket, twisting it around their fingers. Alex couldn't seem to get their legs to move toward the door in order to open it. They took in a deep breath before lighting their hand on fire.
'Deep breaths Alex' Alex started to take deep breaths.
"Ruby? Are you okay?" Jade popped up behind them. Alex nodded, giving him a smile.
"Yeah, I haven't gone to school since. Well, ever. I was too young to go to school. Or at least I haven't got any memories of school. I don't remember much before my parents' death anyways." Jade nodded putting his hand on their shoulder.
"You'll be fine. Class 1-A is a good group of kids. Other than Kacchan, he's kinda loud" Alex suppressed a laugh
"Yeah, well he literally explodes I'm not surprised at all." Alex joked, extinguishing their hand. Alex heard someone start to walk towards them and turned invisible.
"OI! JEWEL girl, where the hell did you go?" Alex sighed before tapping the angry kid's shoulder. They learned his name was Bakugo from Jade. When they touched his shoulder, he exploded his hands at them.
It missed both Alex and Jade.
"Nice try pomeranian. Ya failed though." Alex said, still invisible. A look came across Bakugo's face.
"Jewel girl, could you scare the extras? With your quirk?"
"They could, but why should they?" Bakugo shrugged
"I thought it would be a fun idea. Plus I bet they couldn't find you guys" Alex grinned
"Sure, I'll do it. I'll be visible by you two and Eraserhead though." Jade looked between Alex and Bakugo like he was picking his poison. Bakugo walked them into the empty classroom.
"Alex" Alex whipped around to see Eraserhead standing behind them in a yellow sleeping bag.
'Holy shit that's hideous
'That's probably the point'
'Yeah,' Alex looked up at the Pro hero "What do you want?" Eraserhead sighed
"Well, number one. You and Bakugo are planning something, don't burn down the school. Number two, call me Aizawa-sensei now since I'm your teacher as of today" Alex nodded.
"Well, I don't plan on burning down the school, but I do plan on not calling you Aizawa-sensei. I have the perfect nickname for you: Caterpillar! You look like one in that sleeping bag, so it fits" Bakugo seemed to be holding back a laugh, while Jade looked horrified.
"Alex! You can't talk to teachers like that!" Alex looked confused
"Why not"
"Because you aren't!" Alex shrugged.
"Oh well"
"Yeah, I call dibs on Shouta or Hobo" Jade looked more horrified than before. Bakugo tried to not laugh but was failing. Aizawa shrugged as if he couldn't care less. He hop/walked over to the front of the class and went to sleep. Alex hid in the corner, invisible to all except 3 people.
The class started to trickle in slowly. Alex started to get more nervous, but seeing the escape routes helped. Nobody was paying attention to the floating book and Alex was enjoying reading up on Tris and Four.
"Aizawa-sensei, why is there a floating book?" Shit, oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
Alex put the book back quickly before anyone else saw it. A bell rang and everyone took their seats. Bakugo seemed to be signing something to Aizawa, but Alex couldn't read it from where they were. Aizawa nodded before saying
"Class, we have a new student joining us today. However, they seem to be hiding. Today, try to find them and capture them. That's all. Good luck. Alex, welcome to hell"
A feral grin spread across Alex's face. Let the games begin.