Black.
Everything was black.
It was strange, being asleep, yet unable to wake up. Because the moment she opened her eyes she'd feel Kira fighting her.
The two had struggled for a while, but eventually, they'd ended up in this state. With neither of them having control. Their body laying motionless.
She could still feel Kira's will. Waiting. Expecting Nise to back down at any moment.
Well, she'd be sorely disappointed.
Then, without warning, sight returned to her. And she found herself in some kind of purple cafe, with a strange girl staring at her.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room," Lavenza said, giving them a small bow and a comforting smile.
"Huh?" Nise looked down at herself, and moved her body around, finding that she could do so without issue now. "What the-"
"What's going on!?"
Nise turned to her right and found that she was sitting next to herself.
The other girl turned to look at her, and her eyes widened. "What!? How is…Nise?"
"Kira." Nise glared at her counterpart, and her counterpart glared back.
"I'm guessing you didn't do this?" Kira growled.
"No, that was me."
The two looked behind them and saw Izuku and Ren standing there. Izuku in particular had a very displeased expression that made both of them deflate a bit.
"I used my quirk to bring you both into this space, so we could all have a little chat," Ren explained.
"Kira, I've been indulging your lack of cooperation up until now. But it's gotten to the point where I can't overlook this anymore. We're going to talk, and figure out what everyone wants to do, and how we're going to move forward." Izuku said sternly.
Nise looked over at Kira, who was looking down at the ground, fist clenched with a frustrated expression.
"Damn it. Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Kira cursed as she tried to summon her vectors to thrash the cafe.
However, instead of that happening, the cafe shook, as if being rocked by an earthquake.
"What the hell!?" Ren shouted as he struggled to stand.
"Ah! Her psychic powers are disrupting the link between our minds!" Lavenza explained as she held onto the counter.
"Can I stop her!?" Nise asked, trying to activate her own vectors.
"Don't! You'll likely just make things worse!" Lavenza explained.
Izuku walked over to Kira, struggling to stay upright as he did, but he did make it over to her and put his hands on her shoulders, "That's enough Kira! Do you really think that any of this will help? That this will lead to your happiness!? I'm begging you, please just talk to us. Please!"
Kira looked up at Izuku, gazing into his eyes.
There was no real anger or judgment in his gaze. Just kindness and concern. Concern for her.
Kira felt her hold over her vector's slip, as her will shattered, and the shaking stopped.
The former assassin sniffled and looked back down at the flour. "Fine, do whatever you want. I don't care anymore."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you," Izuku said, bringing Kira in for a hug, which the girl neither broke away from nor embraced. Simply hanging limply in his arms, while silently crying.
"Alright, let's take a bit to calm down, shall we. How about some food?" Lavenza offered. "Curry?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
After some curry and drinks, they all sat down in one of the booths. Kira and Nise sitting together(much to their displeasure), with Izuku and Ren sitting across from them.
"Ok, let's start with why you two are fighting in the first place?" Izuku asked, continuing to keep a stern yet gentle tone.
"I was trying to tell you what happened during the fight! Kira was gonna let Shina die!" Nise tattled, pointing at her counterpart as she did so. "And she tried to stop me from telling you!
"I didn't think we could save her and win the battle! And she was fine anyway!" Kira shouted back, glaring at her doppelganger. "And it's not like I wanted her to die! But I didn't want to die either!"
"You didn't even think about saving her! And then you tried to kill someone when you didn't need to! Monster!" Nise hissed.
"Idiot!" Kira shouted back.
"Maybe we should have died! It'd be better than sharing a body with you!" Nise shouted.
SLAP!
Kira immediately slapped Nise across the face as a furious expression took over her face. "You ungrateful brat! YOU decided to stay awake during the fight! And YOU decided to keep asking about me! If you just stopped and did what I told you, you wouldn't have learned about me! And you could have just kept being happy! But you just had to ruin EVERYTHING! So you don't need to exist anymore!"
SLAM!
"ENOUGH!" Izuku shouted, slamming his fist on the table to get both of them to stop.
Both girls immediately flinched, and fearfully looked over at Izuku, to find him scowling at them more intensely than he ever had before, causing them to promptly shut up.
"I don't want to hear EITHER of you say anything like that ever again!" Izuku scolded, he was holding back a lot of his anger but a good chunk of it leaked into his voice. "Am I clear!"
"Yes." Both girls said at the same time, looking deeply ashamed.
Izuku took a moment to breathe and calm himself before he spoke again. "First of all, Kira. There was no need to be so concerned about Nise telling me about what happened during the battle. I don't blame you for what you did."
"What!?" Both Nise and Kira shouted out in disbelief, their eyes wide and their mouths hanging open.
"Nise. I appreciate your devotion to your siblings, and your desire to keep them safe. As well as the bravery it takes to be willing to risk your life for them." Izuku assured her. "But. You can not blame others for lacking that same bravery. Dying is a terrifying thing, and asking someone, especially a child, to risk that, is at best, unreasonable. Imagine asking Fuku to risk her life to save someone? Would you be angry at her if she was too scared to do so, even if she really wanted to?"
"T-T-That's." Nise went silent, looking very distressed at how things were panning out.
"And Kira, please don't be too harsh on Nise. She was just as afraid as you were." Izuku explained. "The fear of losing loved ones can be just as bad as the fear of losing your life. Nise probably desperately wanted to save Shina, and from her perspective, you took the ability to do so away from her. That feeling of powerlessness and fear, probably caused her to say some things she didn't really mean. Even now."
"Hmmmmmm." Both girls glanced at each other, with an uneasy look. Most of the edge was gone, but it was clear that there was still a good amount of hostility between them.
"So then, with that addressed, let's dig into the real issue," Ren said. "Nise, why do you hate Kira so much?"
"S-She's a killer!" Nise shouted, somewhat weakly.
"But you don't hate Shina for that. Because you know she didn't have a choice. And the same thing goes for Kira." Ren pointed out. "No, let's be honest. The reason you hate her is because you think her being a former assassin means that YOU are a former assassin."
Nise cringed hard. Looking like she was on the verge of tears. She went silent, not wanting to confirm what Ren had said, but being completely unable to deny it.
"I want to make this clear. YOU are not a killer. You likely didn't even exist back when Kira was killing people, and you definitely didn't kill anyone." Ren explained. "You and Kira share a body, yes. But it's clear you have a will of your own. You can make your own choices. And as such, whatever Kira does, does not reflect on you. Not to mention, as we discussed, Kira didn't really have a choice in the matter in the first place, so even if what she did reflect on you, you still couldn't be blamed for what happened."
"I…I know that…but it doesn't feel like that." Nise said as she looked down at her own two hands. Her body had been used to kill people. Even if it wasn't her, even if the person who actually did the killing did it because they had no choice.
Even despite all that, the idea of living in a killer's body made her want to vomit.
"What's so hard to understand! You're innocent! Innocent! That's the point of you!" Kira hissed, frustration and anger pouring out of her.
Izuku was about to speak up, but Ren put a hand on his shoulder. The two shared a few looks before Ren continued. "Kira, let's make sure I have everything straight. While Nise and you are separate people, you do feel what Nise feels and experience what she experiences while she is in control. And since you believe Nise to be nicer, more innocent, and someone people would like to be around, you've been using her to experience things like friendship and companionship, while trying to keep her ignorant of your past. Because that would make her, and by extension you, less happy."
"...Pretty much," Kira grumbled, not liking one bit that she'd been figured out so easily.
"And you believed that would be ok?" Ren asked her.
"It would have been fine if she did what I told her. All she had to do was enjoy her time with her family, forget about the past, and let me do what needed to be done if we ever needed to fight, and it would have been better for both of us." Kira insisted, crossing her arms and glaring at Nise, who in turn glared back.
Nise was about to say something, but Ren raised his hand up, signaling her to stop, and to let him finish.
"Despite what you say about benefiting from the situation, you mostly did this for your own benefit did you not?" Ren inquired.
"..." Kira stayed silent, but of course, the answer was written plainly on her face.
"So then, let's sum this up. You possibly created someone to use a tool for your own benefit, held complete control over them, and insisted that they would be better off obeying you without question." Ren surmised. "Does this now sound similar to what your parents did with you?"
And then the room went completely silent.
Kira's face shifted, going from a look of contemplation to absolute horror to crestfallen acceptance. Their head sagging and tears brimming out of the corners of her eyes. "I didn't…it doesn't matter. Of course, I did something like that. I'm a bad girl."
"And now we've reached the root of the issue. Kira, we've talked about this, the fault for all those assassinations lies on your parents, not you." Ren told her.
"They all died for nothing," Kira spoke softly. "I would have killed as many people as they asked me to if it meant that they would love me. But they never would. Never."
Tears started dripping from her eyes, running down her cheeks before dropping onto the floor. "And I wasn't stupid! I knew what I was doing! I knew I was hurting people! And I always knew they'd never love me the way I loved them! I just didn't wanna believe it! So I kept hurting people, for nothing! I killed them for no reason! I'm a bad girl! An evil girl!"
"You would have been killed if you stopped!" Izuku pointed out.
"Who cares!" Kira shouted, her screams punctuated by the shaking of the Velvet Room. "I should have just ripped out their stupid throats and died! No one would have missed me!"
The room went silent once again, the only sound being Kira's soft cries.
After a few moments, Ren spoke up once again. "Kira, every time Nise is in danger, you come out to make sure you two are safe. Despite the fact that you very obviously didn't want to be in control. If you truly didn't care about your life, you wouldn't have done that would you."
"..." Once again, Kira stayed silent.
"Kira, you want to live. You want to experience love, family, and happiness. And you deserve it. But first, you have to let go of that excuse." Ren told her. "The excuse of being a bad girl."
"But I am!" Kira argued.
"Putting aside your past, being "bad" is not a thing that you are. It's a path you choose to go down. A path you can choose to keep going down or abandon at any time." Ren explained. "But when you tell yourself that it's the only path you can take, it makes it easier to keep going down that path. When you tell yourself that you're a bad girl, it's because it makes doing bad things easier."
Again Kira stayed silent, squirming uncomfortably as she took in Ren's words.
"When someone wants to do something or doesn't want to do something, they often label themselves as something, and use that to justify their decisions," Ren explained. "I'm a bad cook, so it's okay to just eat out all the time. I'm not smart so why bother studying? I'm an alcoholic so it's only natural to drink to an unhealthy degree. I'm a bad person, so of course I'm going to do bad things. Tell me, while you were doing those bad things, did you ever tell yourself that? Did it make things simpler, and easier for you?
"I-I-I…" Kira could distinctly recall that being the case, for many of her actions.
"But the truth of the matter is, regardless of how true those things are, or once were. Those labels are almost irrelevant." Ren stated. "No matter who you are, you are capable of change. You can get better at cooking, you can get smarter, you can stop drinking, and you can be a better person. For some people, these things can be harder, or easier. But you can do it if you decide to make a change, and work for it."
"Kira, please look at me," Izuku said.
Lavenza snapped her fingers, and suddenly Izuku and Nise swapped places, much to Kira and Nise's shock.
Izuku grabbed Kira's shoulders, and Kira found herself looking at Izuku eye to eye.
"I don't think you're a bad girl. Yes, you did many terrible things, but most of those things were outside your control. Yes, you did consciously choose to do bad things even when you had control. You've made mistakes, but those can be corrected, and you can move on from them." Izuku told her. "Kira, tell me. Did all those things you felt when Nise was in control, feel as nice as when I hugged you and you let you sleep next to me that night?"
"...No," Kira admitted.
"That's because that hug was meant for you and Nise. Not just Nise. Even if you feel what she feels, you are not Nise. And if you choose to live life the way you were, all you'll ever do is experience love that is meant for someone else. And that's not what you want is it?" Izuku asked rhetorically. "You want to be loved, as yourself. You want to live your own life. And you CAN do that. No one is stopping you, except for yourself. Kira, I'm begging you, choose to be better. Please, it's the only way you can be truly happy."
"I…I'm scared." Kira cried. "I don't know how to be good! All I've ever done is bad! I-I don't know if I can-"
"I know you can." Izuku interrupted her, with a voice full of gentle affirmation. His eyes full of determination that helped reassure the small girl before him. "So long as you try, then you can. Sometimes you may not understand certain things, or you may make mistakes. But that's ok because as your guardian, I am always here to teach, guide, and forgive you. And not just me, Ochaco, and the other kids too. Some may be wary of you, but they know you suffered, and they're not willing to let you suffer anymore. So, will you make that choice? To be better."
"I-I-I…Yes! I-I'll try! " Kira sobbed as she finally caved. She rushed in and wrapped her arms around Izuku while she sobbed into his chest, and Izuku naturally hugged her back.
"Shsssh. It's okay, It's okay." Izuku whispered as he embraced her.
They stayed like this for a while, until eventually Kira's sobs subsided, and they separated.
"Kira, before we move on. There is something we have to do." Izuku told her firmly. "There's someone you wronged, of your own free will. And you need to apologize for that."
Kira looked over at Nise, the girl with her face was wearing a rather…confused expression. Emotionally confused that is.
"I…" Kira took a deep breath. As she got ready to make the first step. "I'm sorry! I was wrong to try to control you like that. Please forgive me."
"...Ok," Nise said quietly.
Kira's eyes widened. "J-Just like that? Y-You forgive me that easily?"
"...I'm still a little angry but…you're not who I thought you were," Nise admitted. "I thought you were a scary heartless killer. But…you're actually not like that at all. And you're just as scared and confused as I was this whole time. You've been through a lot. A lot of terrible things. And so I…I don't want to hate you anymore. If you're going to try and be better, then I guess we can get along. We have to share a body after all."
"I…Thank you." Kira said sincerely.
"Good job, you just took the first step," Izuku told her, giving Kira a pat on the back.
"And now it's time to take the next few steps," Ren said. "Because now we need to figure out how controlling your body is going to work from here on out. Are you two ready to work together?"
Kira and Nise shared a look. One that contained a bit of hesitance and doubt, but also, understanding. And a willingness to move forward. "Yes!"
Please review and have a nice day.