Author's Note

I am so happy that everyone has been enjoying this so far. I have so many plans and ideas I want to write, so just stick with me. As for Izuku becoming overpowered with the potential of gaining One For All, just wait and see. You won't be disappointed.

Uploaded

11/11/2024

LEGEND BELOW

"So you want to be a hero?" = Normal speech.

''He's not serious...'' = Normal thoughts.

Chapter 3

Rated-M

M rating for violence, mature themes, romance, and language.

Music of the day

Sonic Unleashed - Mazuri (Night)

"No! No no no! Absolutely not!" She denied vehemently, shaking her head firmly.

"Oh come on, Shadow! It's not that bad." He urged, tugging on her arm.

"I don't care! And yes it is!" She replied sharply, shooting him a withering glare. Her tough girl attitude began to crack, however, when he gave her his best puppy dog impression. And he didn't even have to try, because he always had that stupid expression in her eyes and it totally wasn't fair!

"You're making him out to be this villain!" He tried meekly.

"He is!" She practically hissed, the teenager shrinking down underneath her presence.

He clasped his hands together, smiling nervously up at her. "Please Shadow? Y-You said that your favorite trait of m-mine is my ability to see the best in people even when you can't y-yourself." He stated, shrinking underneath her withering stare.

Damn him!

Damn him and his stupid cute face demanding these things from him!

And plus, how dare he use her words against her!

Tsk!

She clicked her tongue, looking away to hide her flushed cheeks. His stupid puppy dog eyes had cracked her shell. "Fine. But don't expect me to like it." She huffed indignantly, shoving her hands into the pockets of her bootyshorts, grumbling underneath her breath as she moved ahead of him. "Using my words against me…" She murmured.

His expression brightened at his little victory as he ran after her. "Hey, where are you going?"

"To bastard's house, where else?" She snorted rudely, tossing him a questioning glance.

"You know w-where Kacchan lives?" He asked curiously, scrambling to catch up to her.

She wanted to roll her eyes. "Of course I do. I had to look out for you somehow." She muttered gruffly, cheeks heating up at his stupid blinding smile.

"That's so sweet of you!" He smiled, grabbing onto her arm as they walked. She wanted to pretend like she was too cool to get flustered so easily, but every time he'd smile like that at her it made her heart flutter. Especially considering the fact that he would hang off of her like he was now, uncaring about anyone else who saw them walking by the sidewalk.

Didn't he know how embarrassing it was to be seen like this?

Although…

She supposed that she wasn't any better for complaining, considering the fact that she didn't shake him off for doing so.

Gah! What was she thinking?! She needed to focus.

"W-Why do you think he'll know what to do if you don't?" She cleared her throat, tossing her question out there to distract from how nice it felt to walk arm in arm together.

He smiled up at her, happy to explain his reasonings. "Kacchan has always b-been a natural at learning things, even when it came to other people's quirks. I think he'll know how to make use of my quirk more than I will, a-at least until I get the hang of it." He explained simply.

"Ugh, I hate it when he has a good reason for doing things I don't want to…" She muttered underneath her breath, realizing that she wasn't getting out of this. If anything it had managed to smooth out her temper, so she had to give him that.

"Oh so you do mutter too-" He smiled at her words, before clamming up when she growled. "S-Sorry, I'll shut up now!" He squeaked out.

Gosh!

She was too cute when she was trying to be such a hardass.

He smiled warmly as they walked, his neighborhood friend's house not far from his own. It didn't take long to reach their destination, the sidewalks relatively empty for this early in the morning. But it was slow enough that it was infuriating for the hedgehog.

"Why didn't you just let me run here?" She asked, clearly irritated.

"Y-You know the laws, Shadow. You're not supposed to use your quirk unless on private property or otherwise sanctioned by the government as a licensed Hero. Those that recklessly disregard those laws are classified as a public nuisance, a danger to the citizens and at the highest levels a villain." He might as well have taken the quote from Wikipedia with how perfectly he recited it to her, holding a finger up in front of him sagely.

"That's never stopped me before…" She muttered under her breath.

"H-Huh?" He blinked her way curiously.

She cracked a nervous grin. "Nothing! Come on, let's go already!" She ran off ahead of him at normal human speeds, still managing to outpace everyone around her so casually that it nearly put her to sleep.

"S-Shadow! Hold on!" He exclaimed as he struggled to keep up with her. Soon enough saw the two of them walking up to the platinum blonde's house, slowing their approach at the sound of arguing from within.

"-You almost got killed! The least you could do is thank her!" The muffled sound of one Mitsuki Bakugo shouting from behind the door rang out, Shadow slowing to a halt just outside.

"I already thanked that stupid nerd! What more do you want, you hag!" His voice was similarly muffled, yet unsurprisingly louder even though it came from deeper within the house.

"Boy don't make me come in there!" She shouted back.

"Oh?! Are you challenging me!?" Somehow he sounded even louder than before.

"Damn right I am, you little shit!" She yelled in return.

"I'd like to see you try!" He snapped back.

"You forget that I control the internet access around here! Have fun playing on a phone that don't work!" She laughed loudly, sounding more like some cartoonish evil villain than the sweet mother that the hedgehog knew.

"Is she usually this loud…?" Shadow muttered under her breath, ears folding backwards at the volume. And here she'd thought that Bakugo was the loudest person she'd ever had the displeasure of meeting.

"O-Only when she's upset…" Izuku murmured nervously, flinching at the sound of something being slammed down very, very hard.

"Okay! God! Get off my back!" The explosion quirk user hissed in defeat, not relenting in his attitude.

"That's what I thought." Mitsuki hummed in victory, clearly pleased with herself. "Now I'm going shopping for a bit. So please for the love of god don't get involved with another lame ass slime villain while I'm gone. Kay? I can't go losing my only son to something that lame…" She teased brashly as the sound of keys jingling rang out as she approached to door.

"Oi! What the well was I supposed to do? The fat bastard was choking me out!" He hissed in defeat. "Do you know what it's like to feel something like that going down your throat?! Couldn't fuckin' breathe, you hag!!"

"Hah!" She laughed uproariously. "I didn't know you swung that way, baby…" She giggled relentlessly.

"I'm going to fucking kill you…" He practically snarled under his breath.

"Love you too, honey! Now be good and-" She called out as she opened the door, blinking in surprise to find two pairs of eyes looking up at her. Then she grinned. "Your friends are here! Get out here and be a good house guest!" She exclaimed back into the house, before winking at the pair. "Well good morning you two. Sleep well?" She cooed playfully, glancing down to find their hands intertwined.

Izuku's face practically turned to ash at her wiggling eyebrows, her smirk making his brain blue-screen.

Shadow's eyebrow rose in question, but answered nonetheless. "Slept great actually. Why do you ask?" She smiled a little up at the mother.

Mitsuki's grin widened a little. "Oh, no reason. Now don't mind me, I'll be off. Have fun you three." She practically sang as she walked off, tossing a wave at the two teenagers.

The hedgehog watched her go in confusion, turning back to find her freckled little cuddle toy ready to melt out of embarrassment. "Did I miss something?" She asked.

"No!" He exclaimed, face heating up even more at her questioning gaze. "I-I mean, no." He cleared his throat, slapping his cheeks. "Let's just go inside…" He murmured in embarrassment, putting the little moment behind him as he stepped inside.

"Who the fuck is it?! I didn't invite anyone over!" Katsuki shouted from his room, stepping out with a blistering expression. His dour look faded when he realized who it was, instead irritated. "Deku? What do you want?" He muttered lowly, crossing his arms. "Coming here to gloat about how you saved me?"

Shadow crossed her arms, eyes narrowed as she frowned.

Already off to a great start.

"H-Hey Kacchan…" The green haired boy murmured, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "N-No, nothing like that." He murmured, shrinking when he turned his red eyed glare his way.

"I need your help." Izuku finally blurted out, averting his gaze.

That seemed to do the trick, his eyebrows furrowing. "Help you? You've never asked me to help you with anything. What the hell would you want my help with, nerd?" He bit out gruffly, arms dropping to his side. "Have your girlfriend do it for you, I don't swing that way."

Shadow's face practically began to glow in embarrassment, mouth falling open in shock.

Meanwhile, Izuku couldn't have been more lost. "What? What are you…? Never mind." He sighed, shaking his head. Honestly he sometimes had no idea what Katsuki was talking about. "I… need your help with q-quirk stuff…" He mumbled.

"What was that?" The blonde muttered.

Izuku swallowed his nerves, looking up to face the red eyed teen. "I need your help with quirk training." He asked genuinely, finally managing to look the guy in the eyes without shying away.

Perhaps it was due to the high of realizing that he was no longer quirkless, the fact that he had Shadow to back him whenever and wherever he needed her, or if he'd slowly begun to step out of the meek hole he'd been hiding away in for his entire life. Whatever the case may be, it took a lot of effort to ask what he did without shying away in fear of retaliation.

And it must've shown, for the blonde simply stared at him in surprise.

Instead of asking the obvious and similarly stupid question of why, Bakugo took a moment to mull over what Izuku had asked of him and more importantly, why.

As for the green haired teenager, he could practically see the gears in his childhood friend's mind turning as he came to a conclusion, the teenager crossing his arms. "You have a quirk, don't you." He didn't ask, but stated.

"Mmhmm." Izuku hummed in confirmation.

"Show me." Bakugo demanded simply, eyebrow raised.

Izuku blinked in surprise, but nonetheless did as asked. He closed his eyes, taking a breath as he tried to draw upon that hidden power inside of him.

Katsuki watched in surprise as his green hair bled off as it shifted to a silvery white in mere seconds. It took a moment for him to get it to hold, but once he was sure he'd accomplished it, Izuku opened his eyes to reveal that they too had been effected, now a shining gold in color. More then that, he newfound head of white hair flared upwards in the back similarly to the girl beside him, although most of it fell down his back.

It was also worth mentioning that when activating it his hair would grow longer, ending up twice the length that it normally was. It did seem to vanish alongside the color when he stopped using it.

"So what? You can change your hair and eyes?" Bakugo muttered dryly, more than a little disappointed.

"W-Well, that's only the start of it." Izuku cleared his throat nervously, glancing down at his hands. "When I transform like this it allows me to do things I can't normally do."

"Like what?" The blonde grunted.

"W-Well…" Izuku held out his open palm towards the other teenager. Then came the green aura. At first it merely surrounded Izuku, but then it formed around the explosion user. To Katsuki's surprise, he found himself slowly lifted off the ground. "So far… only this." He murmured, lifting the blonde into the air with relative ease.

Katsuki's mouth fell open in shock. "You have fucking mind powers?!" He shouted, but there was a little less bitchy tone to it and more holy shit is this actually happening.

Izuku took the little victory in stride, smiling up at him. "Y-Yeah I guess." He smiled meekly.

"How high can you lift shit?!" The red eyed blonde exclaimed loudly.

"U-Uh?"

"How fucking high?!" He hissed, an eager grin on his face.

For some reason seeing Katsuki excited about anything Izuku related was more unnerving than seeing him bitching about the usual things he loved to complain about.

…

…

…

But it was better than him threatening bodily harm again, so she decided to just take the tiny victory for what it was.

"Outside! Right now! It's time to test this shit!" The grin on his face was all Izuku needed to begin rethinking coming to Bakugo was a good idea. Nevertheless, he did as was asked and maneuvered Katsuki out the front door without cracking his head on the doorframe.

"I don't know if this is a good idea…" Shadow found herself stating as Izuku held the blonde aloft a mere few feet off the ground.

"Good ideas don't make a great hero! Wild shit does!" He laughed maniacally.

"That's totally not true!" She bristled, but went ignored.

"U-Uh… Up you go." The white haired teen was more than a little unsure as he raised his hand higher, visibly struggling the higher Katsuki went.

The black haired girl watched in morbid curiosity as Katsuki went higher and higher, eventually reaching the ceiling of whatever sort of range her boyfriend was capable of at around a hundred feet in the air.

But, that said, Izuku was holding a human over a hundred feet in the air with his mind.

"Hahahaha! Holy crap! This is crazy!" The explosive teenager's laughter rang out in the air high above them, his wild grin so full of ideas that it made the hedgehog girl nervous for both of their immediate safety. "Okay, okay! Put me back down!" He demanded, still grinning.

"O-Okay…" Izuku breathed, suddenly winded. He tried to do as was asked, but his vision began to blur as he exerted himself. Try as he might, his complete lack of any significant stamina immediately came back to rear its ugly head as he collapsed out of exhaustion.

And the green aura surrounding the explosive teenager vanished almost instantly, something he became intimately aware of when he began to fall. "Oh hell!" He roared in surprise, flailing as he fell.

"I knew this was a bad idea!" Shadow exclaimed, leaping high up into the air to catch him before he hit the ground, landing on powerful ankles like it was nothing. She blew out a relieved sigh as she landed, glaring down at the blonde in her arms. "I told you this was a stupid idea, idiot." He glowered down at him, red eyes reflecting back off of his own.

"Psh! I could've saved myself." He defended hotly.

She raised an eyebrow in challenge, letting him dwell on what she would do next for a second before ruthlessly dropping him on the grass at her feet. "Oops." She held up her hands like he'd slipped from her grasp, smirking down at him as he barked in painful surprise.

"Ow!" He yelped, glaring up at her as he got to his feet. "Bitch…" He muttered as he rubbed his sore back.

"Dick…" Shadow muttered similarly, at as crossed under her bust as she looked the other way. Her irritation at the blonde faded as she instead turned her attention towards Izuku as he sat up, shakily trying to pull himself to his feet. "Freckles, you ok?" She asked in worry, running over to him to help him to his feet. "I gotcha." She smiled, pulling him up.

He smiled a shaky look, black bags suddenly underneath his eyes. "T-Thanks Shadow." He muttered, leaning heavily on her for support.

Her worried expression only grew once she noticed that he could barely stand on his own. "Okay, you need to sit down and rest until I say so." She stated firmly, scooping him up before he could argue. "And before you try and tell me that you're fine, I'm going to cut to the chase and point out the fact that you just collapsed for the second time this morning." She muttered down at him, eyes narrowed as he flushed in embarrassment at getting called out so quickly.

"Y-Yes ma'am." He squeaked meekly, realizing that she was right when he felt it difficult to even keep his eyes open. He was forced to realize just how safe he felt in her arms when he had to fight just to stay awake, the moment his head fell to rest against her chest saw the world fading to black.

"Okay…" She hummed softly as she moved to sit him down on the couch, only to pause when she took one glance at his face and realized that he'd fallen asleep. "What am I going to do with you…?" She smiled to herself, shaking her head as if it couldn't be helped.

This was the goofball that she'd decided to fall for. Of course he would suddenly find out that he has a power that he can't handle and leave her to look after him when he passed out in her arms.

"Did he pass out?" Katsuki poked his head into the living room, having apparently taken the lol in the action to snag a soda from the kitchen fridge.

Shadow sighed, crossing her arms with a thoughtful frown. "Yeah. He just found out about his quirk like, three hours ago. Every time he uses it to any sort of significant degree he just sort of collapses…" She explained simply, sliding to sit on the couch beside him.

The blonde frowned, casting his sharp red eyes down at the scrawny sleeping teen. He cracked the can open, the hissing click not managing to wake him. "Okay, shoot." He stated simply, throwing his feet up on the coffee table as he looked her way.

"Excuse me?" She blinked in confusion.

He rolled his eyes. "You came here for help with quirk stuff. He's passed the hell out, so now you get to ask. Stupid…" He pointed out with a huff.

She let the name calling fly over her head for the moment as she put Izuku's interests first. She blew out a sigh, her tough expression fading as she found her gloved hands absentmindedly running through his now long white locks while he slept, mind working on putting together just what she wanted to ask.

"Well… Let's see." She hummed quietly, recalling hours prior at the beach. "He first used his quirk on a pile of truck tires. He seemed to struggle a lot to lift them and he couldn't hold them up for long. He managed to get them twenty feet before he nearly passed out, completely drenched in sweat." She held up one finger as she explained what led them here. "When he woke up he realized that he must be using it wrong and thought you would know how to use it better. So…?" She shrugged. "Here we are."

"He was sweating? It's freezing outside." Bakugo mused aloud. "How the hell would he…?" He trailed off, before his eyes narrowed. "Hold on. His mom can lift stuff with her mind too. But like, only tiny shit yeah?" He recalled pointedly.

"Yeah. Inko can't lift anything over five pounds." She hummed quietly. "Why do you ask?"

He rolled his eyes as if she had asked the stupidest question in the entire world. "Okay, so his quirk is a mutation of hers. He can lift and move crap with his mind, that's already more than she could do. So, now I have to ask what upper limit is and why the hell he was trying to lift two hundred pounds of fucking truck tires right off the bat…" He grunted.

She blinked owlishly.

He sat a little straighter. "My point is that he just got his quirk. His body isn't prepared to be doing crazy shit right off the bat, and physically he can't even move one of those tires without passing out. The fact that he could lift them up at all is, (a) crazy, and (b), completely stupid!" He nearly shouted.

"Watch it." She warned lowly, eyes narrowed. He didn't even blink.

"When I first got my quirk you didn't see me blowing up trees and walls right out the gate! It started off small until I built up my stamina and shit. He-!" He pointed an accusatory finger at the sleeping teen. "He had not! Lifting all that weight is probably the limit of his powers right now and he's constantly swinging for one hundred percent and expecting to not pass out? It's like trying to bench press five hundred pounds when you struggle to do two hundred."

He stood up as he ranted, groaning once he realized how stupid the white haired teen had been considering how thoughtful he usually was about anything quirk related.

But…

Shadow had to admit that everything he said made complete sense.

His quirk, like everyone else in the world, was an extension of his body. If it alongside his body was not properly trained to handle the power given to it then it was completely reasonable that he would collapse out of exhaustion from rapid overuse.

"Why do you think I'm always popping off small blasts?" He leveled her with a raised eyebrow, tone lowering. "I'm constantly training my stamina as much as I can." He murmured, looking away when she shot him a genuinely surprised look. "What? Thought I wasn't as smart as him?" He muttered lowly.

"Well if you want me to be honest…" She smirked, withholding a giggle when his face turned red.

"Fuck you…" He hissed, taking his soda and leaving. "Take my advice and then talk shit about me-"

"Thanks." She cut him off, tone genuine. "I think this will actually help him." She smiled, attention drawn back down to the boy sleeping on her lap. She brushed her thumb over his cheeks, her own warming when he smiled slightly in his sleep.

"Whatever." The blonde blew out a sigh, walking off into the house, likely vanishing back into his bedroom. "Just don't go giving him a handjob on my couch-" He laughed as he walked, only to be cut off by a violently tossed couch pillow thrown at speeds that would rival the intercity train.

"Ow! You bitch!" He yelped, eyes spinning as he struggled to stand back up. Christ! She had an arm that would give All Might a run for his money.

She growled lowly as she held a second pillow up threateningly, face red as a tomato in embarrassment. "S-Stupid bastard!" She hissed quietly.

He laughed as he walked back to his room, ducking the second toss that threatened to take his head off. If the pillow had been any denser it would've likely blown a hole through the wall.

If anything was learned in that moment, it was that pissing her off would certainly lead to painful consequences.

That didn't remove the temptation to do so, however…

"That's what he said?" They once again found themselves at the beach, the sun now setting on his first day of pre Yuuei training. Shadow had just finished explaining the gist of what Katsuki had told her, and now was time to return to training.

He'd spent the latter half of the day resting and recuperating so that he could try using his quirk again without collapsing. Now he stood poised and ready to try again, gently this time. "Yep. Pretty much. Just try and take it slowly this time, don't go lifting something that you can't."

"Kay." He hummed, holding out his hands towards a single tire this time. The green aura surrounded the rubber trash, and tentatively he began to lift it up. He unconsciously began to hold his breath as he did so, brows furrowing as he lifted it up.

"Remember to breathe." He heard her voice call out gently, sucking in a breath without breaking his concentration. "That's it, come on, come on. You got this." She encouraged from atop her fridge throne, one leg crossed over the other.

The scrawny teen smiled as he moved the tire from its resting place in a pile of trash all the way over to the street where All Might had designated for him to drop it. "Almost! Move it to the right a couple- There! Drop it!" She called out from atop the mountain of trash, directing him to where he should drop it.

He let his concentration go, unconsciously aware that it had fallen even though he could no longer see it. He felt tired from the experience, but not nearly as winded as he had before.

"Hah…" He laughed a tired sound. "Haha! I… I did it." He breathed in surprise, glancing down to his hands as if this was the first time he was truly taking in the fact that he was no longer quirkless. "S-Shadow! I-I did it!" He exclaimed, spinning around to face her with a blinding smile that could raise the dead.

She couldn't shake the grin that formed, cheeks warming as she leapt down to embrace him in a hug. She spun around as she held him, finding the way that he laughed so freely a sound that she would be happy to hear for the rest of her life.

His training had barely just begun, but she knew that at this rate he would be a shoo-in for Yuuei when the time finally came. More then that, despite her own feelings towards hero's and or the thought of truly working to become one herself, she didn't find the idea as repulsive anymore with the reality that he would finally be able to stand there by her side just like she'd always wanted.

Maybe if he continued to train like this, then perhaps one day he might be able to stand on a level similar to her own. If that day came, she would be happy to stand there beside him.

"Come on, let's go home." She urged gently, taking his hand as she turned back towards his home.

His beaming smile began to falter a bit when a new thought finally popped up. "I-Isn't your father going to be worried? You haven't been home in a couple days now." He pointed out nervously.

Her own joy seemed to suddenly dim a bit at the reminder, and she realized that she couldn't stay that night. As much as she wanted to stay by his side, there was something more important that she needed to handle first and foremost for both her own safety and those around her.

She glanced down at her hands, the large rings on her wrists glowing a bright almost hot gold. Not only that, but the rings clasped around her legs were also glowing, bright enough now that all four were shining in the darkness of the twilight. She'd been putting it off for too long now, and she knew that she needed to return home before it became a problem.

"S-Shadow? Are you ok?" Izuku pulled her attention when he noticed her sudden mood swing, and his worry only deepened at the fake smile she tossed his way.

"Oh yeah, just something I have to take care of tonight." She said quickly, stepping away from him. "I'll see you around, freckles." She placed a quick kiss on his cheek before she ran off, leaving him alone on the beachfront.

She cursed herself as she ran, knowing that she'd allowed herself to get distracted for too long and had put off what needed to be done.

She left an afterimage in the streets of the city as she ran, a blur of red and gold that people stopped to gawk at. She glanced down to her wrists as she ran, worried at the brightness of the rings.

"Warning. Limiters capacity reached." The automated voice rang out as she ran, sending a spike of worry through her heart.

"I know, damnit!" She hissed quietly, fear crawling up her spine as a dark aura began to radiate off of her. It didn't take long for her to reach the corporate headquarters once again, uncaring of who she passed on her way as she blitzed into the lobby, thankful that it was empty.

"Welcome back, Ms Shadow. How can-" The pink haired receptionist chimed pleasantly, only to trail off when she noticed the malicious energy that surrounded the young hedgehog girl. Her fur was sparkling over the surface, golden bolts of energy swirling around, dancing over her exposed skin.

"A-Amy, I need to see my father immediately." The hedgehog urged in a small panicked voice, her entire body shaking. It was a far-cry from the confident young woman that she knew personally, looking as if she was barely keeping it together.

The woman behind the counter nodded firmly, pressing a hidden button on the desk. "He's in the laboratory as we speak. I'll alert him that you're coming." She said seriously, opening a hidden door behind the desk.

"T-Thank you." Shadow blitzed through the hidden passage, finding herself in a dark underground facility few knew of, the door locking shut behind her.

Cold metal tunnels met her eyes as she moved, cool blue lights lining the hall. Hundreds of doors lined the hall, rooms that she passed without a second thought on her way towards the center of the facility.

Once more she found herself in a familiar laboratory, the room layout nearly identical to the day she awoke over eleven years ago. And standing at the center was the man she was looking for. He seemed to expect her presence as her already been facing her when she arrived, hands clasped behind his back as he leveled a deeply aged smile her way.

"Welcome back, Shadow." He intoned gruffly, smiling as she zipped up to him. "Come, your limiters require attention." His tone shifted rather quickly as he directed her to a large metal pedestal, something she didn't fight. She quickly stood atop the platform, watching as four mechanical arms extended out from hidden spaces in the floor below.

She watched as a gravity field was formed around her, lifting her up off the ground. "I am going to remove them now. Please hold on, it won't take long." Gerald urged gently, acutely aware of how anxious she was.

The hedgehog closed her eyes, fists clenched as the rings were removed.

The moment they came off saw a sudden wave of raw energy explode forth without stop. The energy managed to slip past the gravity waves before a second anti gravity field formed around her to keep it under control. Golden lightning rolled over her body, snapping at the machines around her like viscous wild snakes. The energy levels rising beyond her control.

It was too much, too fast. The power that suddenly filled her felt all consuming and blinding, but it didn't last long at all. For merely moments later saw new rings clasped around her limbs. Unlike the golden rings from before, they were a dull grey, almost lifeless in color.

Immediately the power stopped, sucked back into the limiters. Slowly she was lowered back down to the floor, eyes opening as she found it easy to breathe once more. She glanced down to her wrist, limiters in place and absorbing her power once again.

"Shadow?" Gerald called out, gaining her attention. "How are you feeling?" He asked curiously, almost cryptically.

She blew out a sigh, that anxiety from before gone. "Fine, Father." She muttered softly, walking up to him with her head down. "I let them get too full again…" She mumbled in shame, realizing that her own carelessness had almost placed her and her friends in danger. "I'm sorry."

But…

The old man pulled her into a hug, one hand becoming lost in her head of soft furry hair. "Nonsense, daughter." He gently corrected. "You cannot blame yourself for these things. I'm just glad you are ok." He muttered into her forehead.

She found her eyes beginning to water as she wrapped her arms around him, not trusting her own voice in that moment. "T-Thank you… daddy." She whispered quietly under her breath.

The aged man's eyes widened imperceptibly behind his rounded goggles, but her words touched his heart.

Yet…

At the same time, it also broke it.

Chapter

3

End