AN: next chapter 20% done.
How long has it been? The vault says 30 minutes, but my arms feel like they are burning—probably because they were. My eyes were long gone, melted from my head after the third attack. My ears followed, and I had to spit out the bubbling remains of my tongue when I made the mistake of screaming. The corpse under me twitches, and the echo of my mind that could still contain hope groans as I tighten my grip, feeling the flesh under me starting to knit itself back together.
Here it comes. 7-6-5
The shockwave hits again, blood leaking through my gritted and cracked teeth as it rips through my body. The only reason I was still alive was because I had grown my grape armor out in a sound disruption pattern. Still, that didn't mean I would survive this.
5-4-3
How many of us are still alive? Bastion seemed to be able to take the shockwave, but both he and Wendy were done. I would kill for So-Ri to hear an action song; it would have been very helpful at this point.
2-1
A hand grabs my shoulder, grape armor the only thing stopping it from being turned into powder with a flex of the corpse's muscles. It still nearly broke it in half. Didn't matter though—pain is pain, and I had a job.
0
My arm stabs forward into the healing flesh, driving the blade into the corpse through the bottom jaw into its brain, returning it to its proper state.
You're dead. Remember that you are dead, I think dully, twisting the knife before pulling out the blade. I couldn't hear it anymore, but I wiped the blade on a puddling mush that used to be a group of my hairballs. The corpse's blood was acid, mostly specified to non-original material, but after so much exposure, my attacking hand had lost most of its skin.
30-29-28-27
How much of the knife is left? How much of me is left? I wonder what everyone else is doing back at home. Do they remember—I shift the thoughts away. Half a minute before this thing comes back to life, and I'm wasting it on classmates that left me to rot. I spit out some loose teeth and hack out some of the liquid trying to fill my lungs before rearing my head back and letting out whatever sound I could. I couldn't hear what sound it was; it could have been a roar or a whimper. Either way, I hoped someone would be around to hear it.
26-25-24-23-22
Who is still alive? Bastion, possibly. Wendy can live through anything. I wouldn't mind So-Ri being here—music vs. soundwave sounds like a better matchup for us, heh. My mind goes in circles. The knife will last for at most 7 more minutes. After that, I might get another minute using the keys in my pocket, possibly another if I get a rock with the right shape. After that, it's over. A part of my mind curses at me for giving up, but after looking back at it, I could proudly say it was realism or maybe even pragmatism. The moment the corpse's brain heals enough, he will be able to focus the regeneration on the little opening I've been taking advantage of, and then I can't even touch him.
11-10-9-8-7
Oh well, can't say saving a city isn't worth the life of a pervert. I giggle, hacking up more liquid from my lungs.
"In Jackson's name, I will hold you," I whisper to the corpse. "In Jackson's name, I will contain you."
6-5-4
"In Jackson's name."
3-2-1
"I will do what has to be done."
I raise the knife again, only for my blood to go still. It was lighter.
It broke, My mind thought dully, even as I started to drive it down, feeling the buzz that signals the shockwave that seemed to be a natural defense once the corpse was reanimated. Hopefully, it is still sharp enough to pierce the brain.
The knife digs—
BRAT
\~\
I'm ripped out of the dream with a yell, only for my own hand to cover my mouth.
"Get out of my dreams!" My own voice chastises me, my mouth moving without my order.
"GET YOUR DREAMS OUT OF MY HEAD!" I say angrily behind my own hands before pulling it away from my face, "And no controlling limbs while I'm in control. We agreed on this!"
You weren't in control, you were asleep. The older me replies this time in my head. Neither of us wants to deal with mom waking up early again.
I shudder at the image only to earn a scoff from the parasite within me.
"What time is it?" I ask, feeling my eyes that were not melted out of my head.
4am Go back to sleep.
"And get dragged back into your nightmares? No thank you."
I don't get nightmares, or at least I didn't until my vault broke.
Calling it a nightmare wasn't exactly right. Ever since Jackson—or apparently the auxiliary of Jackson's—started working on the vault, it's been less of a nightmare and more of a disturbing slideshow that sometimes turns into night terrors. "How is the work on the side project going?"
Oh the work you're not helping with? it's going fine.
"You're the one that said don't touch anything!"
Yeah, building mental walls doesn't require you to touch every memory that goes past.
I flinch; he has a point…wait, no he doesn't. He invaded my body, so sue me for wanting to know more!
Yeah, I didn't exactly have a choice in that matter. If possible, I would have gone back to when you were a baby, consumed your not-yet existing mind, and go on with my life.
I sigh, already used to the bastard reading my thoughts unless I actively separate them.
Technically I know my father; you don't which means if one of us is a bastard it wouldn't be me
I roll my eyes and then roll them up into my head, slowing my breath and trying to calm myself. It took another 30 minutes, but I was able to sink into the mindscape he kept calling the vault.
"Took you long enough," the older me snips the moment I enter. I grit my teeth but strain to focus on remaining in the vault, which is tricky enough. The moment I let go, I go from a black void to the normal black of closed eyelids.
"No thanks to you, I wouldn't mind a helping hand!" I grunt once I manage to anchor myself.
"I'm not your nanny, figure it out yourself." I couldn't see him yet but I could sense the fake me move past. "Well I leave you to work on your side. I'm gonna expel some energy."
"At 4am? I love a good wank but-"
"I'm gonna work out you dickweed!" The fake me groans as if I'm the disappointment, as if beating my dick is somehow worse than burning his timeline down. "It wasn't my timeline, just Japan's!" He sighs as he sees my grin. "Just...work on your side of the platform, the sooner we get this thing complete the sooner Jackson can incorporate it and make it so you won't intrude on my memories every five minutes."
I wanted to say something but to be honest, I wanted to get this done just as much as he did. The sooner this thing was made the sooner I could get some semblance of my life back and try to figure out how to get this parasite out of my mind.
"I can still hear your thoughts." He replied before leaving the void and taking control of my body. "And don't forget to figure out a different name."
I wave him off finally managing to 'see' the platform he had begun to create.
I leave the fake me to work on his half before letting out a sigh. "For every morrow arrives... rejuvenation? ...shit, can't think of one." Acronyms were hard enough, let alone for words like FEAR that start with F and then follow with two vowels. I kick off my bed and decide a workout will give me something to do as I figure out my next plans.
2 weeks of interchanging combat lessons and therapy and they wanted to talk to my parents, not the worst thing. The question now was what was I supposed to do with that. Mom is easy though I might have to give her a carrot to avoid her getting pissy at me. Dad... Dad gonna be tricky though it would give me the chance to reapply my foot on his neck. Grandpa would need to be handled sooner or later but keeping control of Dad was the most important step at least for now.
Alright so send mom to meet teachers, she can lie easily enough and shove most medical questions on my father's side, which gets the school off my back for the shorthand.
A familiar pain starts to pull on my muscles as I push myself up into a handstand, trading arms with every 20 pushups. If I didnt have plans for today I would of worked my muscles to failure. Alright, to-do list to save Japan: find the second pervert at school, kill Grandpa, deal with PT and possibly HPSC, and finally live a good life. Normally, the order in which these events should be completed would be easier to start, but with the knowledge I have, things... change. Killing Shigaraki while slowing down AFO's plans doesn't stop him then, and without him, most of my information goes out the window. I need to handle AFO first, or both of them at the same time, which leaves 2-3 instances. Killing AFO is gonna have to be a more long-term plan, with minor changes to take out or injure LOV members when needed. Between workout forms, I search on my laptop, seeing the results of each LOV member.
It was easy enough to measure who could be killed, used, or turned. There were some members that turning was next to impossible AKA Dabi. The best bet for him was to put a bullet in his head or leave it for the family to handle...or put a bullet in his spine and give him to his family. If AFO couldn't turn Dabi to be loyal then no way I can without actually killing his family or mind control but forcing him into a situation with his family before his quirk awakening might have merit. Toga and Twice are more mid difficulty to turn. Twice wants friends so whoever picks him up first gets him. Toga...Toga I think I got an idea for her. Next were the easy ones. Spinner and Mustard, or as I know him Kiroii , Were not villains before Stain so if I meet them I can probably turn them especially since I know them. Mr compress is being turned whether he likes it or not Kotei and Rin did too much for me to let their brother locked away in Tartarus forever.
Hmmm well I can't do anything with most of these I'll try and find one of them this week but for now, let's work on a father-back up plan. Using speech to text while doing some crunches I decide to send an email over the sea. Now personally I never met Star and Stripes, she died to Shigaraki and AFO before reaching Japan but after meeting her sister I decided to do some research and with a vault full of secrets and what the teachers told us I was able to piece a lot together.
What can I say that will get her attention but won't have America knocking on my door? I pondered the thought before shrugging and deciding to keep it simple and writing out an email to the number one hero giving off her family address, her SSN and a copy of her quirk's abilities and how she had used them for the last 5 years. "I love my vault." I mutter giggling. "If she wasn't so popular I probably wouldn't have the information to do this." I look over the email while stretching. All right so I have an email filled with private information on the USA's #1 hero, what next? That answer came soon enough and I kept talking.
"This is not a threat, I need you to be listening. Soon Japan will have a new villain and the world will be called to face him. Be warned, the name you know him by will not work. He will have high-level regeneration that will be able to resist the power of the lasers on your crew planes and he will be able to survive a series of Tiamat missiles with minor defenses on digging underground...I will give you more information when It is closer to the time.
I finish the email. I couldn't send it yet, I would have to get a VPN and use a public Wifi to send it out when I go out. It wasn't much but Warning Stars And Stripes will be good in the long run, at least I can stop the loss of New Order.
I briefly had the idea of contacting some GA members but quickly shook it off. Now was not the time and none of them know me yet. I might have to wait till I meet them naturally.
As I continued the work I briefly considered the second pervert. Are they class 1A students? Doubt it, only ones I could see doing it are me, Kaminari and Sero. Aoyama wouldn't want the attention, Iida was a stiff, Ojiro too plain, Koda was too shy, Sato is buff and can cook, he should get girls, and Shoji.. I briefly consider that mutation user. It's possible with discrimination it might be harder for him to find a girlfriend and if he could put an eye stock into the hole... doubt it but I'll investigate later. The only time Tokoyami even thought about girls was when Jiro's ass was on his back in the final battle so I doubt it's him and Bakugo's too angry to be horny and at this point only boner Shoto has is a hate-filled one for his dad.
So other classes...great I'll have to check every day to see who drills a hole or leaves cameras or something...also might be possible that the hole is from a girl drilling into the boy's side but if that is true then I'm fucked, no one gonna believe me over a girl.
All right put a pin in the pervert hunt, let's move on to living good with the proof that random choices will still be random in this timeline, the idea of going to gambling rings and using vault knowledge is impossible but the possibility of actually gambling is possible and something I can easily do...if I wasn't 14 year old.
Dang it, hmmm, guess I'll have to gamble outside the casinos for now but later this week. I can hit another electronic hook machine. That was good in the short term but even if I play fair sooner or later that will be cut off so I'll need a way to get more money, as much as I love the allowance both my mom and dad are too uncontrollable for my only source of income. I might have to get a job...or steal. I chuckle at the idea before actually considering it, going into the vault to consider something. I could make an AI or something or digitally steal myself, could give me a way to contact villains which could get me closer to LOV members. The idea had legs while being dangerous. It wasn't like the world or Japan wasn't familiar with AI's, more dumb AI's than smart versions but there were global responses to the discovery of one. The only reason I got away with it in the past was because the Academy's AIs are good, PT was trying to keep everyone out of Japan and I used it sparingly...Until I made the K-link that is. Hmmm, I'll have to think about this later, can't download it straight from the academy like normal so I would have to type the entire code by hand which would take...days. I shudder at the memory, it had taken the better part of 4 years to code a smart AI as Moonseed, mostly on the fact that I couldn't sit down to straight up type for days on end. To make it at this age it was possible but also more dangerous. Putting a pin in that idea I decided to see if UA has any internships or jobs students can take. If they do it will help me get in contact with the business branch that I'm gonna need to talk to sooner or later.
I sigh and finish my morning workout, hitting the shower as I reach the final problem I decided to put myself onto today. Alright, back to family matters: who's dying and who's living? The first one on the dead side is Grandpa. He is dying and if that can't happen then he is going to jail. A part of me wants to have dad go with him but that wasn't fair. While he had abandoned me with not even a message about how my quirk would cripple me without the right diet...on second thought killing him started to seem better. I shake the thought from my head. No, while an asshole my dad had been forced into this situation almost as much as my mom, he also has a wife and kid that don't need that backlash. Grandpa is the only one who needs to die while mom and dad could go to jail at the worst or pay me allowances for the rest of my life. I briefly considered my step mom but besides seeing her cry at my father's funeral I know nothing about her, as for my sister. I aggressively scrub soap in my arms as I consider whether or not I should meet my sibling. If I even say hi to her dad is gonna get nervous and try to bolt or maybe he won't, he obviously didn't care about me so maybe he doesn't care about the next kid. I feel a tang of bitterness from that thought before shaking it off. This time period making me weak or maybe it's sharing headspace with the kid I stopped caring about that man years ago and now here I am, mad that Daddy didn't have time for me? I turn the water colder using the freezing bite of the water to wash said troubles away.
Are you aware you are fondling a child?
My hands which had been doing essential cleaning crack against the side of the bathroom wall as I fling them away. I hissed in pain growling at the brat who was laughing like the literal bastard he was.
The fuck was that?
Hey just thought you should know.
You're aware it's my dick first right?
My body first but it doesn't matter, any time you bathe you're gonna feel like you're molesting a 14-year-old.
I cringe at the mental image then cringe deeper when I remember a comment that I had said to Eri. Alright Point for the twerp.
You better be done with your part. I mentally grumble as I get back to shampooing.
Not yet, I want to lay down a ground rule.
I blinked surprised and a bit amused, rules?
If we are sharing my body.
My body
The body, there needs to be some rules. Until this vault dream issue is fixed I want an agreement if I get trapped in your dream and or flashbacks you have to explain the situation that it relates to.
No. I replied. My memories are my own.
Well until you learn to keep them to yourself I deserve to know what I am getting dragged into. I was stabbing someone over and over.
Something. I corrected then sighed. I will decide how much I will tell you of a situation but ..I'll allow you to answer the question.
Really?
You sound surprised I can be reasonable.
Not to me, I honestly expected you to tell me to suck it.
The idea came to mind.
You do realize it'd be asking sexual favors from a minor?
Fuck you.
Imma call Chris Hanson.
I hissed, the auxiliary been teaching you I accused.
I asked for some tips, he admitted. You were molesting me with your words, I needed protection. I groaned at that sentence, anyway who were you stabbing?
A Beta Nomu, it had some sort of shockwave EMP vibration quirk that could melt steel with if it got the frequency right, super strength and regeneration.
Beta Nomu?
A lot of villains around the world tried to crack the Nomu code. I allow the cold water to crash against my face as I go back to that time. This was in...Spain. We were supposed to capture the classic mad scientist villain trope, we tracked him to his lab and he dropped 30 of those things on us.
How did you beat them?
This was still early in my career so Zilko was still an active member. He and Bastion handled most of them.
Isn't his quirk...radiation?
No his quirk is Hyper Flesh Growth ..sort of like Super Cancer, his suit can give off radiation to help control it.
So, what led to you being alone?
It was me, Bastion, and Eero vs 7 of them, we took down 6 of them but the whole group was down, Bastion was the only one with the power to put one down permanently. It ended up with most of us down, Zilko being distracted and me having to keep killing the last one over and over again waiting for backup, thankfully it's regeneration worked in stages, if the bone had been the first thing to heal my knife wouldn't have worked and it would have ripped all the downed members apart.
The younger me is silent for a couple moments allowing me to enjoy the biting cold of the water.
Do you still think about your old team? He eventually asks.
I sigh, yes and with that question we are done.
What? He squawked in surprise, You can't just end it there, I have more questions!
Too bad, I'm not answering for now.
Alright, how about you ask some of them? I blink at that suggestion.
Run that by me again.
Do you have any questions for me? You have to- I snort at the question then laugh at the statement.
I've already lived your life. What questions could I have for you?
Um.. the fake seems to ponder. And I roll my eyes and go to wash myself. It was around a minute before he continued.
You're the anime meme.
I paused what?
You are the 'she is a 3000-year-old dragon' meme.
I pause and then think on it ...holy shit.
Fuck, you right. I mentally lean back as I process that I hadn't even thought about that.
Wait, but your brain is my brain, so are you? The younger me ponders. You're like an Isekai character.
Shut up, I need to figure this out.
Wait, didn't you flirt with Momo?
I commented on their outfits! I mentally Howled, In what world is that fli-oh gods was this what I was like? Was that what it looked like?
Now that I think about it, is it moral for you to date?
I swipe my arm to the side physically cutting off that line of thought. Most of the girls in our class have tried to kill me, not exactly jumping to join a relationship with them.
Did you have a crush on any of them?
By the 7 cucks why would I tell you?
Who are the 7 cuc- Nope! Whatever, don't even try to distract me, back on track, if we really stop to think on it any girl my age would be underage for you.
Shut up.
And anyone your age would have to get past the idea of banging a kid with an adult mind. The increasingly annoying younger me continued that's...not impossible.
Life isn't a hentai and whoever said that it's what inside that matters was talking out of their Quasimodo-looking ass.
Ohh and when I think about it, it's probably harder with me in here.
I blink at the idea of picking up someone with a kid, nah this kid in my head. The idea of doing anything with this brat commenting I processed and digested said idea before articulating the most elegant response.
Fuck me sideways with a duck.
How the hell am I gonna get a girlfriend if you're in my head? The brat bemoans.
The fuc- what are you on? Don't you act like you were gonna get a girlfriend if I wasn't in here!
You've dated? The fuck was that surprise tone coming from him.
I've had one-night stands.
While impressive and something you will teach me, those aren't dates...wait have you ever even had a crush?
Of course I have, I had a dozen crushes and two relationships that might have become more-
Did you date these two? The brat interrupts.
Yes!
Something tells me you are lying.
I will sunder your mind!
Wait, so I'm gonna get a girlfriend before you?
No! No you are not!
You can't use time knowledge to get my classmates to fall for you.
For the love of, that wasn't what I'm saying! I'm saying neither of us are dating until we split or we are the legal age!
That's not fair, what If I get a girlfriend?
Tell you what, you finish the platform and when I'm deep...deep...deep in the vault doing stuff, if you can somehow bend fate and time to get a girl, it's allowed.
Fine, but if you get a girl I get to watch.
I didn't reply to that with words. I simply drove a fist into my groin and at the same time chucking the fake me's mind into the controls.
"Ompf!" fake me groans as he falls to his knees.
I'm gonna look over your progress, dry yourself off. I reply, going deeper into the vault. I briefly feel him trying to imitate the quick switch I did but that wasn't exactly baby's first vault move.
One quick vault look around had me back in control of the body and working in the kitchen preparing my next random collection of thoughts I'm working on.
What are you doing? I sigh as the brat goes back to asking questions as I work on a pan of eggs.
Working over our mother, I reply, dropping a couple tablets into a wine bottle I made sure to not look at it so the brat couldn't see what I was doing through my eyes.
With breakfast and wine?
Bit more than wine, I think to myself, briefly considering if five were enough but knowing my mom's liver decided to drop 3 more tablets in, enjoying the bubbling sound the wine made.
Shut up and watch the progress...wait no, get back to working on the platform.
You better not hurt her.
Would you care? I asked with a snort, then was surprised when I sensed actual worry. You do care about her? Now that's adorable, foolish but adorable, don't worry you'll grow out of it.
A son should care for his mother. He defended.
And the other way around as well I challenge back.
Well if you're not gonna help her and not gonna hurt her then what is your plan?
I ignored that question mostly because I had no idea. Honestly, If you were to ask me what my plan was with my mom I would have replied with semi shrug mixed with a dash of fuck it we ball. But with all the shit on my plate processing my home life is a decent start and not like I can do anything big away from school.
A couple minutes later My mom walks into the living room greeted by her son waving a fork at her with an American breakfast with a raised eyebrow.
"What is this?" She asks, sitting down and scraping her fork through her plate.
"Hashbrowns!" I answer biting into my omelet. "Small talk or straight to the point?"
"Talk."
I nod my head. "So good news and bad news, what do you want first?"
She raises an eyebrow. "Bad, if you making me breakfast you have to be buttering me up for something big."
"Butter you up? Never even considered it." She scoffs at my lie as I draw one of her heavier wines and pour her a glass, "Bit early for a drink."
"Never stopped you before." She blinks at that statement before shrugging and downing the glass. "Alright so the teachers are gonna need to talk to you. Probably about these fits of paranoia and aggression that I have.. that they believe I have." I correct myself at her look. "I've attacked 1 student out of a fight and went a bit too far in a spar... You look shocked."
Surprise didn't suitably describe my mom's face, her expression was more along the lines of 'what in the finest fucks' which I personally relished "since when can you fight?"
"I wouldn't have called it a fight, to be honest, more of a scuffle."
"You can't scuffle either! The number of times you come home covered in bruises can attest to that!"
"Oh good to know that you noticed I was getting my ass kicked all the time!"
She shrugs as I refill her cup.
"Not even gonna say anything?"
"We're playing nice, remember? I don't think you would like my response."
I sigh and wave my hand "Could've taught me self-defense or something."
"Hey, you didn't tell me you were going to UA!"
"You would have trained me if I had?"
"No." She sniggers at my growl, taking another sip of her wine. "Anyway get back to the point, what do the teachers want besides I talk? Am I supposed to discipline you?"
"School already done it." I pour her another glass. "They'll just want more info on the medical records to try and see why I freak out and why dad is out of the picture, I want you to tell them the truth."
"And what truth was that?"
"Loveless matrimony forced upon you by family debt and that he left you to care for a kid by yourself." I consider an arm motion then settle on a dismissive hand wave. "Shed some tears if possible."
My mom considers it. "I can do tears."
"Real Tears." I warn. "Principal has a super smart quirk or something so he might be able to tell that you are acting." That was a lie he would absolutely be able to tell but as long as he cant tell how much is a lie its fine.
"If you can fool him then I should be fine."
"With that logic, you're gonna get called out." I make a point of rolling my eyes only for them to widen as I lean back when she raises a hand "Whoa!"
My mom blinked seemingly confused before she appeared to realize she was about to clock me showing that the drink was doing its job. Though not enough that she was gonna apologize. "That was...hmm never seen that expression on your face, reminded me of your father."
I raise an eyebrow. "I thought you were over him?" I ask refilling her glass.
"Don't be stupid, me and your father never truly dated so there wasn't anything to get over."
"Your father and I." I corrected. I did not even know if that was the right grammar but the look she gave me was worth it. "True, but from the public stance your husband walked out on you? That can't be good for your image or does everyone think he was dead?"
"Most didn't know of him or our relationship, neither of us wanted to be together."
"But you still hate him." I point out as she downs her wine. She doesn't seem to notice the light flush on her face though to be fair if the wine was the normal version she could down the whole bottle and decimate a runway with no problem.
"Of course I hate him, he left me with you."
...!
The younger me didn't even say anything but I could feel the heavy Curl of his heart at those words. Yeah that one had even hurt me a little bit.
"Was I so bad?" As I once again refilled her glass. Wasn't a question I planned to ask but I had to know.
"As a baby? Hell yes, you were so high maintenance crying every 20 minutes but once you hit one you were refreshingly quiet. But I more meant that your quirk wasn't what your grandpa was looking for, I had a debt to pay and was ..pressed to try more times till one came with the right quirk."
"Such a loving mother." I roll my eyes trying to get the same expression as before, I must have gotten closer cause my mom's eyes narrowed. So nice to get her out of her bitter little shell.
"I never desired children," she says as if that was a just defense earning another twinge of hurt from the brat. "Never had the interest, it was just nothing I felt comfortable with, and why is that a problem? Why I must accept a blunder thrust upon me?"
"Really? Because I remember you talking to one of your clients about loving to have a daughter a couple years ago." I rub a finger on my chin. "I wonder what changed your opinion, was it because of grandpa...your grandpa, not my father's father? Cause to me it sounds more like you have a problem with a male in the house than just any old chi-"
My eyes drift down to her glass which had gained a couple cracks as her fingers tightened around me. I flash her a raised eyebrow then raise my hands in a placating manner.
"Sore spot I take it? Forget I ask." I wave my hands. "I just assumed since grandma i-"
"You still haven't mentioned how you even remember so much about mo- of your grandparents." My mom's voice wasn't slurred but did have a slower cadence to it.
"Like I said, a teacher in my clas-"
"I'm not sure If I believe that, even assuming that there was a quirk that can have you remember your whole life there should still be limits to childhood knowledge and memories after all. Even if you can remember past the age of 4 a child shouldn't have the sentience to truly register what was said and that's ignoring the fact that I honestly don't believe that we talked about such matters with you in the room for you to even remember this much."
"Then how do you think I know? Mind reading? Spy? Time travel?" The brat choked on mental air in my head as I chuckled. "If you call your son a liar what do you believe to be the truth?"
"I will leave my ideas to myself until I consider how possible they are." She takes another sip, "For now I'll choose to believe your little teacher's story since it's still...possible though you understand my doubt."
"Of course of course." I conceded the point: a good lie is like a cocktail, you gotta get a mixture right. Time to add a little bit more truth into it. "I don't exactly know how the quirk works but I will admit that I didn't find out all I know from just my memories. Research does wonders when you have a starting point." I slide my mom a freshly refilled cup and she downs the remainder of her cracked glass before grabbing the new one. "You might not know me Mother but the teachers at my old school would have plenty of tales about me weaseling my way out of situations meaning that I am quite clever." I mentally tap the fake me on the head to get his attention. "But you do not need to take my own word on that mother, I'll prove it to you."
"And how..hic is that?" My mother hiccuped, she stifled a snort and reached for her glass missing it the first time then sighed in relief when I slid the bottle over to her.
What's going on, she shouldn't be this drunk already, she has downed 5 times this on a bad day. It probably said something about her when even the idiot knew something was off, it probably said something else that he was quick to blame me. Did ..did you roofie my mom?! I rolled my eyes. It shouldn't have taken the fool this long to notice that, though to be fair he probably still processing how much Mother didn't love us.
Closer to truth serum, I want answers not into her pants! I ignored the brat's mental retching while I stretched my arms, enjoying the nice series of pops as I think of my next step. Alright, time for stage phase two. "Dear mother, if it doesn't anger you so, can I tell you your story?" I bat my eyelashes at her.
"Depends," she's taking a healthy swig of the bottle. "That smirk on your face is starting to remind me of your father and grandfather."
"Which one?"
"Both and since I can't reach them.."
"You want to wipe it off my face?" I ask with a raised eyebrow. Wasn't every day that a mother asked to slap a smug look off their son's face. "Sure, just let me get in the zone. If I'm getting hit I want to have earned it."
"Good son." She nods as if I had given her a macaroni picture instead of permission for a cheap shot. "If you turn your nose high enough I might not break it."
I briefly wondered if she was joking before shrugging when I saw she was not and placing one arm on the table. I close my eyes centering myself as the brat yells about this not being a good idea. "And action," I say looking up and giving my smuggest smile. Anyone who has a midget friend knows of the smile I am giving off, it's the 'I am half your size and yet you lost to me? Disgraceful.' Smile, similar to the "Imma about to drop a draw 4 on your draw 4!" smile you see in Uno. I guess the smile did the trick or maybe I really did have my dad's face because I had barely started the smirk when my mom had dragged her fist back, her body briefly flashing into a pretty decent combat stance.
Oh right, she does have some hero training. I reminded myself, tilting my head to the side and relaxing as I allowed the blow to connect, the force knocking me off the chair. I allowed myself to roll, Bleeding off momentum but I bet I would still have some sort of bruise for that.
"UA already taught you how to turn with a punch?" She asked as I pushed myself back up to my feet, tongue flicking over my teeth to check them. She was checking her fingers, apparently proud to have thrown such a good punch without even chipping a nail.
"One of my classmates taught me," I explained. Not technically a lie, it was just from a different life in a different time.
OW! She hit us? The brat raged. wait, why did I feel it?
I felt no need to explain the trick, it was basically the inverse of what I had performed earlier that had made it so he was the only one to feel that little love tap in the shower. Didn't feel the need to not share the misery after all.
You sound surprised, not the first time I pointed out.
Yeah but not so blatantly! She normally only does it when she is really drunk.
She is really drunk I think to myself though when I think back on it it wasn't just the drunkenness that had been the problem. While it was rare for her to strike when sober it was more correct to say by the age of 10 I rarely got hit purely on the fact that I had learned all the pitfalls that trigger my mother's anger. These pitfalls that I was purposely stomping on today.
"Feel better?" I ask, retaking my seat.
"Less than I thought." She replies, feeling her hand tugging lightly on a finger.
"Reluctance to hit your son?" I teased.
"Hardly, I guess the vengeance itch will only be scratched if I can't get my hands on the bastard himself."
Assuming she was talking about my father I smiled this time, going for one more cruel and bitter "When" I corrected her which earned her attention. "I have UA now, play our cards right and the heroes might find him for us."
That got a smile from her. "My my my, how my son has grown into himself so quickly, I'll have to thank this teacher if I get the chance."
Should you be worried about that? Fake me asked, I wave him off, though making a note to figure out excuses on both sides to avoid the obvious blunder...maybe I could have Recovery Girl cover or say that it was an odd effect of her quirk.
"Alright, so can I tell the story or do you want to?"
She rubs her chin finishing her plate and having her hair flow over her shoulder to pick it up and take it to the sink. "You tell the story and I'll make corrections, I want to see how good your information gathering is."
I nod my head and decide how much of this story I wanted to tell. Jackson had given me the high and low points but by after leaving UA, I hadn't been all that interested in either half of my family. After collecting my thoughts I grin and cross my legs.
"Once upon a time, there was a pretty little girl that went by the name Murasakino Jushi ." I change my voice into something you expect a parent to tell a bedtime story with which clashes horribly with the lisp that I still need to deal with.
For the love of fake me groans even my mom raises an eyebrow as I start.
"She grew up in a wealthy family and grew up in luxury. She had all she ever wanted, a mommy and daddy that loved her. Her mom was a singer and her daddy was Murasakino Kagehiro he was a hero, a big one whose name was Indi-Golb. He could create orbs and make them dance in the air. He loved doing shows for the children, hundreds of orbs making shapes in the air becoming platforms for him to dance in the sky." My mother's eyes had glazed over slightly, I could almost imagine her younger self, small, less hurt, less bitter, watching the father she adored dancing in the sky on floating orbs of purple combining and shifting to make all sorts of shapes in the sky. I wonder how much was the drink and how much was just her. "It wasn't just her that loved her father, all the children loved him. He would visit schools, set up fairs and all sorts of events. The children loved him. It could be said that the reason he made it to the top ten was not because of his power but because of his foundation. Yes, the children loved him very much but that was the problem wasn't it? or rather-"
"He loved children too much." The smile was gone from my mother's face replaced with a deep frown and haunted eyes. "Loved them in a way no adult should to a child."
Oh...oh shit.
Fake me voice sounded all so small in my head even as I nodded at my mother's words.
"Indeed, It was years before the truth came out; he had more than enough money and influence to get away with it. Buy off families and the like. It wasn't until his wife found out that things got...sticky." I raise a hand and wave it back and forth. "I don't know much about what happened so feel free to correct me. The wife finds out about his big secret and before she can confront the father about it both of them are attacked by one of the father's villains causing the father to lose an eye..I'm assuming that bull?"
My mom was silent for a moment. "To this day I don't remember the night clearly. It might be from the accident or Dad might have had someone with a quirk that did something to me. I only remember that night as nightmares that are echoes by the time I wake up. If any of it was real then it was my mom that put that knife in his eye."
Ohh, points for grandma! "The mother grabs her daughter and runs, getting away in a car until a traffic accident runs them off the road and into the lake." Memories of a tendril around my leg and lake water flooding my lungs crawl through my head. "They were down there for 20 minutes, it's a miracle they survived, the daughter got through it with some nightmares, the mother was in a coma."
Silence, my mother's face had gone still for a moment before going through thousands of micro-expressions. I decided not to read all of them but what I did get was that it wasn't a miracle.
"And like that, the little family tried to heal. The father called all sorts of doctors to help the mother and more importantly, convince the daughter that that nightmare she saw was just that, a nightmare. The daughter was adamant that something happened, but after months of colorful pills, months of not seeing any friends and months of everyone that she was allowed to see and talk to her telling her that she imagined it, she just had to believe it. And after that Life goes back to some sort of normal. The father and daughter go back to loving each other. A couple years the mom wakes up and while life is different it is more than close enough that it picks up where it's left. The mom doesnt remember anything..uncomfortable, and everything normal."
"Until." My mom starts.
"Until the day it's not." I continue. "One day men come to talk to the father. Men that helped dad hide his little secrets, men that help the mother and daughter in and out of the lake that certain day. Those men were messengers from father's old friend, an old friend that wanted payment. I don't know what this payment was suppose to be but the father couldn't or wouldn't pay it and it made his old friends so very upset, so upset that the old friend spilled some secrets about one of the kids that the father had loved a bit too much. Not enough to get the police involved but enough to taint the cape. Suddenly the father was being watched just a bit more around school fairs that he tried to go to, he got a little less praise and attention, and the families that he had paid off were asking for a little bit more to stay quiet. And as a cherry on top, the friend told the father about how the doctor that had been helping the mother works for him. The father finds himself in a pickle and is forced to keep paying his old friend...this old friend being my father's father, correct?"
"Yes, apparently he and my father had been working together for a long time. He had joined Shiketsu high
but quit during the third year for some reason while my dad went all the way. He was my dad's clean up man, cleaning up all the lives he broke, all the families he ruined..including his own."
"Once the father agrees to keep paying the pressure lets up. The angry families back off, the evidence gets holes pricked into it and everything goes back to normal ...but it doesn't. People don't forget stuff like this and even if the cases are dropped people remember. His peers watched him closer and he started losing popularity fast. People stopped wanting to work with him, his agency started having alot of bills to pay. The father was getting more stressed, his old friend was asking for payment and he didn't have the money so he decided to pay in another way, with his daughter."
"My mom's quirk was giving off a gel-like substance from her hair. Mixed with his quirk gave me Hair-Gel." She makes a show of her hair, taking the shape of a bird, then a Buddha statue, and then a spear. The gel extends until there is a light tendril connecting the weapon. She spins it in her hand. " my father thought that a quirk marriage could be a good bargaining chip."
"And so it was so the father and the old friend had a deal. An arranged marriage between the daughter of the father and the son of the friend." I clapped my hands. "The father's debt would be paid and the friend would be given the child, an even deal that would clear away all problems. Except both men missed three points" I raise up 3 fingers. "The daughter wasn't a little girl anymore." One finger down. "The daughter was deciding to become a hero like dear old dad." Another finger down. "And the daughter kissed a girl and she liked it."
At my mom's confused look I sighed, no one ever gets my references.
Your references come from more than 100 years in the past.
"Surprised that I know that?" I asked, tilting my head and ignoring the brat.
"Which part? Because if you didn't know I was a lesbian I've failed as a mother." Her eyes narrow as I cough some words into my hands, "What was that son?"
"Nothing my non-alcoholic non-abusive non-neglectful mother." I say sweetly only to yipe from her hair wrapping around my throat. "Too far? I feel like this is your hint I'm going too far." The gel-like hair tightens.
Stop pissing her off! Fake me yells, don't know why he was panicking, I was the one that couldn't breathe.
Oh relax, I'm testing something.
How fast you can get filicide-ed with conviction?
Relax, trust the process.
BURNING JAPAN WAS A PROCESS!
You're not gonna let that go are you ...Oh right I'm choking, brb.
I focus back on a slightly different issue. Mom was glaring at me but it was a dull anger. Over the conversation, I had been judging her reaction and expression, using it to decide my next choice. After watching her enough I latched on to a main fact. She was burned out, it was clear that she did hate me but the actual hate she had was pointed toward the other male members of our family. I was a punching bag, her third option since she can't reach her real target. Any true hate she had from me was mostly gone after 14 years. She was mostly apathetic and even when I pushed buttons her anger doesn't last long so it was easy to ride out this little temper tantrum...on second thought she had hit me might as well get pay back.
I tilt my head back and roll my eyes up, opening my mouth wider, "Harder." I mewed.
My mom's eyes widened into saucers and the feeling of choking was replaced with the feeling of my head slamming into the ceiling. "The fuck was that?" She yells as I hang from the ceiling, laughing my ass off. The brat was repeating her question.
"I-I I wasn't expecting that reaction" I snicker, unsticking myself from the ceiling. "But what was that reaction? No way the 'you're a bad mom' card ticked you off? You can't believe we have a normal relationship."
"I could have been a good mother if-" she waves a hand around, I raise an eyebrow waiting for this point to hit, "If I wasn't so fucked!"
"You?" I raised an eyebrow. "Out of the two of us wouldn't expect you to believe you're the fucked one of this relationship."
"I was raised by a monster."
I raised my eyebrow.
Her eyes narrow.
My other me eyebrows rises up.
"I walked into my dad trying to drown my mom, got driven in a lake, had brain damage and he had some black market doctor fuck with our minds."
"Better." I nod my head. "I was experimented on as a child."
"Please, they were trauma tests at best, only reason you're remembering them is because of that teacher."
I'm a time traveler soaked in the blood of a nation, I have slaughtered in the name of a man I see as a god. I rub my chin, "fair enough I guess you're right but still."
"Fine, we're both fucked up."
"I'm just better at hiding it."
She raises an eyebrow "You molested your classmates. I own a salon chain."
"And yet you're still in debt to a crime family."
Her eye twitched but beside a minor sigh and another sip of wine she shrugs, "You figured that out quickly."
"Could it be anything else?" I ask.
"All Might destroyed all the organized crime families."
A tiny girl being picked apart would disagree, I think to myself. Hmm, now that I think on it I could probably save Eri if I wanted to...but how would that change the timeline, questions for later.
"Anyway, that's the bread and beans of what I know."
"You say it as if you didn't just spill every little secret of my life." she sighs.
"I haven't, I still don't know how you and Dad interacted."
"Badly."
"What grandpa had on him."
"Familiar control."
"Or how he met the woman he left you with."
"Flower sho-"
"Stop that!" I throw a piece of toast at her, making her blink with wide eyes as it bounces off her nose. "Stop spoiling! You're gonna tell me the story and you're gonna tell it right, with music, flashbacks and pictures and all that!"
"You know damn well that's not gonna-"
"Oh, do I?" I smirk while finishing my breakfast. "I know it for the same reason I know you're gonna do the dishes today."
"And why's that?"
"I don't know much past this point in your story, but I do know you don't know where your mom is...or rather you didn't."
My mom goes still and I grin.
"I found her."
What the hell was that!? The brat yells in my head as I slide my mom a glass of orange juice. She shoots me an old look and a nod downing it as she speeds the dishes. If that orange juice carried something to help her work that alcohol from her system quicker than that's just something else.
Don't ignore me! The brat's screeching makes me flinch a bit.
Fuck what? What do you want?
What was that!?
What part?
All of it!?
Pick. A. Part.
Why you piss her off? And how did you figure out where grandma is?
Same way I know where dad and grandpa is? I poke my temple I only waited this long so I had the excuse of reaching trying to find her...which I did as well just so I would have a paper trail.
And why you piss her off?
Oh, that's simple, I'm trying to... I stop actually not sure how to explain my plan. My eyes trail to my mom who was muttering something while she was doing the dishes.
What do you notice about her?
That she hums when she does dishes, she normally has me do all the chores?
Anything else? I raise a mental hand into backhand position, use your brain for this
She's...peaceful?
She's excited. I corrected watching my mom finish the dishes with all that was going through her mind, there was a very good chance she wouldn't notice how undrunk she was getting.
So you did drug her!
Obviously, I needed her emotional.
Why?
To figure out what to do with her.
Why does anything need to be done with her?
I blink trying to figure out how to say what was going through my mind. Honestly In the grand term of it all I was originally planning to throw the whole family in jail but ever since the brat came up things have gotten complicated. Or emotions might be mixing or at least our memories, he cares for mom much more than I do after all. I shake the thought from my head.
Do you know why she hates us? I change the topic slightly.
I remind her of father.
Not just father, you remind her of every male and bad thing in her life in some way or another. Though it's not your fault, at least not fully but whether you know it or not you're following grandpa's footsteps.
A mob boss?
My silence was damning.
Wait, you mean Mom's dad? I would nev-
Groping girls might not be the biggest crime but when her dad was..well you know.
I would never-
Nor have I ever but can you imagine it? I walk back to our room, you already have his face, can't imagine that's good to look at honestly. I'm happy we got the other half of the family's eyes, can you imagine us with pink eyes? Nah, I'll stick with purple thank you.
My eyes are black.
Side effect of mob boss bloodline, one of our ancestors had a quirk called Compact Survivor. It's why we're so small and have so many hormonal problems. Our irises are, for lack of a better term, compressed. It doesn't affect our eyesight too much but you will notice a change once we start getting some height, though it will still look black to most people until I'm tall enough for them to look me in the eyes.
That's..something, wait it's dad's line that's making me a perv?
I'm not really cool with the idea of you throwing all of your problems onto genetics but it is the reason for your Asperger's syndrome, high functioning ASPD and hormone problems.
But, my mom's dad?
He's just a bastard, you're a piece of shit but you have the excuse...no the explanation of mental issues, and then a lack of parents to teach you better. While our father's father is the field of our family's misery, the cultivator is of our mother's blood. And yet it is funny.
I can't see the humor in it.
If not for our mother's father's sin and our father's father's greed we would never have be born. Mom was lesbian and dad had a lover, they would have never met normally and yet even though they gave us life we hate them.
They are monsters.
Indeed they are monsters as am I, creatures lower than humans...are you surprised? I could sense the brat's were indeed shocked. Yes I consider myself a monster, Mineta, how could I not? I've slaughtered in the name of Jackson and burned my homeland to the ground. I destroyed Phoenix Tree but there were innocents consumed by the flames as well.
That is not the same!
I blink, honestly surprised. You're an odd child, you know that? You defend me now?
No, you're a bastard and the moment we have my body back I am gonna punch you in the nads but you're not like them.
I never said I was like them.
What?
"They are monsters, and though I am myself, I am also a monster that hunts other monsters. They prey on the weak and innocent; I prey on them in a simple circle of life."
The younger me didn't seem to know what to think of that, I could practically feel his mind putting it all together.
So what is your plan? Monster that hunts another monster?
I smirk, well aren't you sounding poetic now? Well, what do you think I will do?
Rip the tree from its roots? Will we be the last of the Mineta line? Should I buy a coffin for my mother and father?
Not quite, I put on a jacket idly hearing my mom calling for us to get ready. She sounded so happy, well I was taking her to see her mom after all. Grandfather will have to die of course but does dad have to follow? Does mom?
You hate them, do you not?
I'm not sure anymore, to be honest context and time dull many wounds. Mom beat me but she is a bitter functioning alcoholic trying to hold what is left of her life together. Dad left but he didn't just leave us, he left a loveless marriage created only to create child soldiers for a shell of a mob boss. I hate them and yet I understand them and I ... I wish to fix them?
The kid's confusion mixed with my own as the feeling I'd been trying to piece together finally clicked.
Fix them?
Indeed it's quite surprising for me as well. I want to fix them even as I hate them and want revenge. I will obtain both and fix them, what I've been doing.
Can you say you've been doing that when you did not even know you were doing it?
Worms go up for rain without ever knowing why, a deer knows how to walk hours after birth, it's just instinct. I laughed, it makes sense in a way, ever since I've come back I've wanted to live, well, I guess a step involving that would be a loving family.
Loving a bit much but stil,l so grandma the first step?
No, making Mom mad was the first step. I don't know much but I'm aware that you have been acting too much like dad.
How?! I didn't even know him.
Meek, weak not in body or quirk but in mind and spirit with quite a streak of cowardness, though I can't blame him. He was too weak to be born of a mob boss to the point his father saw him more as a breeding bull than a son. An abusive son giving birth to an abusive son, we were just born unlucky, I wonder how different our lives would be if our mom didn't see so much dad in us.
That your plan? Act out and piss her off to show you, aren't dad?
Close, I'm not gonna treat Mom like a mom which is fine since she really isn't, but I'm also not gonna act like you would. Meekness added with this face and she won't see us as a person, will just see a mini dad. I'm gonna have to break us out of that mold by acting like myself.
Aggressive? Dickish? Sarcastic?
Pretty much, hell I might even hit her back the next time she grabs me. I'm gonna show her that I'm not my dad, even if I have to beat the fact into her.
Seems...dangerous.
I've clashed with Nomus, villains, and heroes an alcoholic businesswomen with some UA training ain't gonna scare me.
"Oh deeeear!" I flinch slightly as my mom yells up in a sing-song tone still sounding cheery. "If you're not down in the next 30 seconds I'm gonna throw you out the window!"
"Don't get your tacos in a twist" I yell back laughing when I hear the brat gap in surprise. I roll my eyes making sure I have my wallet before running out of the room and down the stairs.
Like I say, she's gonna find that her son and Ex are two different people after..well after that we will see how she treats us.
So what now?
Now? I close the door dodging the hand swipe my mom throws my way and grabbing her hand. "Let's go over to grandma!" I say out loud, replying to both the kids and distracting my mother while I drag her to the sidewalk.