Lunchtime rolled around, and I was holding my bento box with the nerves all tangled up in my stomach. I was focusing on getting my nerves together when I heard Todoroki speak.
"You don't have to do it you know"
"You said that already, but you know it won't solve anything," I tell him. My feathers ruffled up letting me know someone was coming. I turn around and see Iida, Uraraka, Deku, and Kirishima coming my way.
"Hey L/N wanna eat lunch with us?" asked Uraraka.
"I can't today. I have to meet up with someone and clear some things up with them," I say.
"Oh, we can come with you and eat lunch together afterward," Kirishima suggests.
"Well I usually try to eat outside. I'll be honest, I get embarrassed because I eat a lot due to my wings burning a lot of calories when I fly," I tell them.
"The person she's going to talk to is that purple-haired guy that declared war on our class" Todoroki adds. I look at him dumbfounded that he would even say that.
"WHAT?" Kirishima yelled.
"W-why?" asked Deku. Uraraka didn't say anything.
"If you're going to do that then I'm coming with you" declared Iida.
"W-what no it's fine! He and I have eaten lunch together before so when I heard what happened I wanted to get his side of the story" I explain trying to calm everyone down.
"Is this the friend you wanted Todoroki to tell you were in the hospital?" Uraraka finally said something.
"Uh yes it is" I told her
"I'm coming with you" declared Todoroki.
"T-then me t-too" Deku said. I facepalmed while looking at my new friends. They had a determined look on their faces that was almost admirable. I let a sigh of defeat out.
"Fine you can all come but give us space when I talk to him, I don't want him to think I'm trying to get the class to gang up on him," I tell them. Luckily, they all agreed. I just hoped they gave us space.
I walked towards the spot under the tree and saw that he was already there eating quietly.
"Ok, you guys stay here. I mean it!" I tell them sternly.
I walked up to him and he looked up at me. His eyes widened a bit when he saw my wings in bandages.
"Y-you really were in the hospital?" he asked, trying to hide how stunned he was.
"Yeah. I was. That's why I sent my friend to come to meet you here and give you my phone number. I didn't want you to worry when I suddenly stopped showing up" I explained to him.
"Heh well I actually thought you heard the rumors about me and that was your way of just not coming by any more" He explained to me which only made me even more confused.
"You thought I would stop coming because of some rumor?" I asked a bit irritated.
"Well yeah. Most people do, they say some pretty bad things about me" all I could think about was how I was alone because of some rumor too.
"Well no I didn't come by because I was in the hospital with broken wings. I'm actually here to talk to you about something my friend told me about." I say seriously. "I heard you declared war on my class. I wanted to know if that was true and get your side of the story" I was really nervous now that I needed to hear his response.
He closed his bento box setting it aside and stood up. He was much taller than me, probably the same height as Todoroki. I kept eye contact with him. "So you're part of class 1-A.".
"I am. Why would you declare war on my class?" I ask him. He looked a bit stunned that I wasn't backing down. I've been small my entire life, people always used their height to try and intimidate me. This was nothing new to me
"Like you, I wanted to be in the hero course, but I was forced to choose a different path. It doesn't help that people think my quirk is villainous" he said bitterly. My eyes widened in anger, I knew that feeling, but I had found people that believed in me no question. I hate people who quirk discriminate and I knew my face was showing the emotions I was trying so hard to contain. "See you don't even know my quirk and you're already scared"
"I'm not scared," I tell him.
"Sure, you're not"
"I'm not scared," I tell him again. He seemed to get irritated.
"Are you scared?" he asks
"No" I answered that's when I felt it. Something made me freeze and I felt like I lost control of my body.
"Answer my questions truthfully. Are you scared?"
"No" I answered automatically. I wasn't in control. What is going on?
"Then why did you make that face?"
"Because I was angry" again I answered but it wasn't me. I was in a daze. I couldn't get my body to react.
"Why were you angry for me?" he asked.
"Because I've been a victim of quirk discrimination. I didn't have friends until now because people made rumors about me hurting them with my quirk. People feared me, I know the feeling of being alone" again I answered without any hesitation. I never told anyone how lonely it was. I kept telling everyone I was fine alone.
"My quirk is brainwashing. Are you scared now that you know?"
"No" I wasn't. I didn't really have a reason to. I felt my body come back into my control. Strangely enough, I felt slightly limp, so I swayed a bit. Seeing me sway a bit my friends started running towards me. I put my hand up to signal them to stop, but of course, they didn't listen.
"What did you do to our class deputy?!" yelled Kirishima as he looked ready for a fight.
"Guys stop!" I yelled standing in front of him. "He didn't do anything, he just asked some questions," I told them. No one seemed to calm down; they were still defensive. "Sorry about them. They're on edge since you declared war on our class and all"
"You're the class deputy for class 1-A?" he asked.
"Yeah, I am," I said scratching my face a little embarrassed at the title.
"You're the one who saved the entire class and ended up getting hurt?" he asked completely stunned.
"Whoa, the entire class? That's a bit exaggerated. I saved two of these guys and someone else but not the entire class. That's how my wings ended up broken and I was in the hospital" I explained while holding up my hands. Were people really saying I saved my entire class?
"That's not entirely true L/N," Iida said. I looked at him with a confused expression.
"Y-yeah if it wasn't for you. Iida wouldn't h-have been able to get help" Deku said.
"W-what no no guys you're giving me too much credit. Changing the subject, he wanted to let you guys know that he was aiming for one of our spots and I honestly think he has a chance to get one. I hope he gets one. He can replace Mineta" I say.
"L/N! YOU SHOULDN'T SAY THAT!" Iida yelled.
"I wouldn't mind getting rid of Mineta," said Uraraka. Making Iida froze upon hearing her words.
"I don't care for him," added Todoroki.
"I do wonder how that pipsqueak even made it into class 1-A," said Kirishima scratching his chin. Deku was shaking wide eyes looking at everyone as they responded.
"I really think you have a chance. So train hard ok. I'll put in a good word for you with Aizawa Sensei so he can keep his eye on you during the sports festival" I tell the purple-haired guy. That's when I remembered I didn't know his name.
"I'm Izuku Midoriya, this is Ochaco Uraraka, Ejiro Kirishima, Tenya Iida, and Shoto Todoroki," Deku said while introducing everyone, and everyone responded to their names saying hi's or hellos. Except for Todoroki who only nodded at his name.
"Well, you already know me Y/N L/N," I say while pointing at myself. I put on a smile remembering what Todoroki said about me not smiling. It got awkwardly quiet.
"So, you're not going to introduce me to the class?" he asked. I visibly flinched and the smile on my face was gone.
"I'm not very good with names, I kind of forgot yours already…" I say looking at the ground.
"I-it's t-true! She k-knew me for a w-whole y-year before she r-remembered mine" Deku came to my defense. To be fair I saw him like 4 times that year.
"Hitoshi Shinso. I really thought class 1-A was full of brats like that Bakugou kid" he paused for a second and looked at me. "I'm glad I was wrong"
"Hey, why don't you come inside and eat lunch with us?" Uraraka suggested. Shinso's eyes widened a bit.
"A-are you sure? There are still rumors about me. Being seen with me might give you guys a bad name" He said a bit worried.
"I told you rumors mean nothing to me, besides it sounds like a good idea," I told him. He smiled for the first time since I'd known him. Taking that as a yes, we walked back and ate our lunch together in the cafeteria. We got weird looks, but no one seemed to notice them besides Shinso and me. It made me happy that our small group was growing so fast. Todoroki ate with us too meaning he wouldn't be eating alone anymore.
Time was slowly flying by and it had been 2 weeks since my talk with Shinso. I told Aizawa about him and he said he would keep an eye on him during the festival. Unsurprisingly enough Mineta got his second strike with the school for being a perv. The first time was when Tsu told the teachers he groped her during the attack in USJ. He was complaining to Kaminari about how if he got a 3rd he would be expelled.
I was getting along pretty well with the counselor and after what happened at USJ she was made to be just the counselor for class 1-A. Her name was Cece and she was not anything like I was expecting.
The first thing she told me when I walked in was "Hey there! So are we going to talk about the PTSD from getting your wings completely crushed or the fact that your parents stopped you from using your fire quirk to the point you can't control it and in turn stop you from fully understanding who you are?"
Overall I really liked her, she quickly explained her quirk. Her quirk was Brutal Honesty, she's able to get a full psychological read on anyone in exchange for losing the filter that allows her to lie. In turn, she cannot lie for the life of her. Her quirk is always on, but she found out that alcohol dulls the effects of her quirk. So every once in a while I would find her drinking her favorite alcohol during our sessions.
At first, I was very concerned but it turned out she can't become drunk. She's also really good at telling when someone is lying. I also somehow managed to find out she had a huge crush on Iida's brother. She wouldn't stop nagging me about giving her Iida's phone number to somehow get close to his brother. Luckily I haven't caved in and given it to her.
Although I did think Counselor Cece is a bit crazy she was genuinely helping me with the PTSD, she found the triggers quickly and even suggested my mom help me with the nightmares. Thanks to the quick treatment and constant sessions I was getting over the attack and was using my experience with the attack to better train.
Todoroki and I began training the same day I spoke to Shinso. He was focusing on teaching me close combat training. He said that the style he wanted to teach me was known as Northern Shaolin Kung Fu. We also studied together at his place before or after training. His sister was nice, she always brought us snacks and drinks while I was there.
Not long after that, I had a talk with All Might. I asked him if it was alright if I told my parents about my wings. He was shocked that I even asked and said he thought I already had. Right after that, he told me what the test he wanted to run was for.
"I wanted to see what your DNA looked like with you holding so many quirks. I should warn you the results are quite shocking" he said.
"What do you mean?" I asked as I sat down in the teacher's break room with him.
"It seems you do not possess your own DNA"
"What do you mean I don't possess my own DNA. That makes no sense All Might"
"It seems you possess a cluster of different DNA that makes you, but you don't have your own unique individual DNA. What I'm trying to say is I don't believe you were born. I believe you were created. You are technically an artificial life," he said.
"Shouldn't my parents be here for this? This is a lot of serious information" I said trying to remain calm but I was completely terrified of what was going on. I could feel my heart ready to burst out of my chest.
"Your parents thought it would be best if I told you this personally. They know the situation. I have involved the police as well to investigate your appearance. Recovery Girl is helping the medical team separate the clusters of DNA in your body to see if maybe we can match them with missing person reports. So far only 2 DNA sequences have been separated. One was easy to notice because it makes up about 75% of your active DNA. However both of these did not match missing people reports" All Might explain. He was waiting for my response to this but all I could do was stare at the wall behind him. "We would like you to start talking to the counselor here in UA about this. She has already been briefed on the investigation. She can help you process all of this"
"Ok" was all I could respond to.
~Time skip to the next day~
I was at Todoroki's house for training. We had just finished some studying and I was in the bathroom staring at myself in the mirror. I had washed my face trying to clear my mind of what All Might said.
'75% of my active DNA, what the hell does that even mean?! Is it possible that I look like that person. Could they technically be considered a biological parent? If that's the case…. does that mean I have a biological family out there?' I kept thinking to myself. All of this I had already gone over with the counselor. I kept staring at my features in the mirror. My h/l h/t (hair texture, straight wavy curly) h/c that framed my face just the way I wanted it too. The freckles on my face that never seemed to bother me before. My e/c eyes, could that person have the same eye color?
I splashed my face with more water and used the towel around my neck to dry off. I left the bathroom with more determination than ever. Whether this person was dead or alive I would make sure I was not going to waste their genetics. I was going to do something with myself.
I went outside where Todoroki stood. I started stretching when I remembered Deku and All Might seemed to be spending a lot of time together. I was curious about what was going on with those two.
"L/N!" Todoroki called out.
"huh what?" I asked a little surprised.
"Is something wrong I was calling out to you and you weren't paying attention" he said.
"Oh, sorry I was thinking about something. It's been bugging me for a while" I answered honestly.
"What is it?" he asked.
I haven't really talked to anyone about how I thought Deku could be All Might's kid. I mean there was the fact that their quirks are similar, and I caught All Might looking at Deku in such a proud way. Ah! What the hell I can trust Todoroki he was the main person I spent time with anyway.
"I may sound a bit crazy but," I trailed off a bit looking up at Todoroki giving him a serious look, "I think Deku may be…. Augh, I can't believe I'm saying this out loud, I think he's All Might's secret kid" I finally say out loud and look over at Todoroki. He was just looking at me blankly.
"Why do you say that?" he asks
"Well, they have similar quirks for one. Then I caught All Might looking at Midoriya like a proud father. On the first day of school when we did the quirk assessments, he was there hiding behind a corner smiling widely as he threw the ball" I tell him
"Interesting, I see I'm not the only one who noticed these things," he told me monotoned.
"So, you see it too? Well, I rather not get involved in this kind of hero business. It will only get us in unnecessary trouble" I said while crossing my arms.
"Agreed. Let's continue our training" Todoroki said, and we did just that.
"Keep your arms up," Todoroki instructed as we were sparring. I did my best to keep up with him, but he was too good. I was getting better, but the smallest things always cost me the win. He came at me with a punch with his left and I blocked it using my wings.
That didn't stop me from flying back from the force I caught myself by lifting myself into the air flying. I was looking at him when suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw red coming straight at me.
It was fire.
The fire was coming at me.
'What the fuck?!' I thought.
I screamed and covered my face and started falling from the shock. I felt cold air suddenly instead of heat. I opened my eyes and saw that Todoroki made a wall of ice protecting me from the flames. I was still falling but I felt someone catch me. Of course, it was none other than Todoroki.
"You only have one quirk. Wings." He whispered in my ear. I didn't know what he meant, that's when I heard a deep voice scream.
"SHOTO!"
I turned to see the ice be melted by flames creating a hole in the ice. It was the number 2 hero Endeavor. My eyes widen in disbelief. "Why do you protect this intruder!" he yelled out. Todoroki just glared at him.
'Intruder what is he talking about?'
"Dad! When did you come home? You said you had a mission?!" a flustered Fuyumi came outside panting holding a tray with drinks.
'Dad? HOLY SHIT TODOROKI WAS THE SON OF ENDEAVOR! HOW DID I NOT KNOW? That's embarrassing, it's probably public knowledge!'
"She's not an intruder. She's my classmate, we're training together for the sports festival" Todoroki said calmly. He was still bent down with me in his arms. I was frozen in shock about the situation.
"Uh, hi" was all I was able to muster at that moment. Endeavor just glared at me with an eyebrow raised.
'AW shit, I need to get up and introduce myself properly.' I started to get up with Todorokis' help. I pat down my workout pants and bow saying, "Hello I am Y/N L/N. Thank you for having me over." I straight up and Endeavor was still glaring at me like I was nothing more than a bug. It didn't really surprise me. I had heard he was always in a bad mood but his contributions to society were what kept him as number 2.
"You don't look like someone who would be in UA" he stated simply. 'Oh, great here we go again talking about my weight, my height, and my innocent-looking face.' I didn't give him a reaction. I kept my face expressionless.
"That's too bad I guess" I simply replied. He clearly didn't like my answer.
"What's your quirk?" he asked. I expanded my wings and just before I spoke, I heard Todoroki's words in my head. '"You only have one quirk. Wings."'
"You're looking at it," I say pointing at my wings.
"Shoto you should be training with someone stronger. Not some girl who only has wings on her back" he said strictly at Todoroki. I kept my face straight even though I really wanted to punch his face in.
"She's more than she looks. She placed first in the entrance exams and she's the class deputy." Todoroki said monotone, but I knew him well enough to start to recognize the annoyance in his voice.
"So, this is the dumb kid who got hurt during the USJ attack. She's not what I was expecting" he said looking me up and down. "Very well, you did save my precious creation so for now I will allow the two of you to train"
'Precious creation, that's a weird way to show love to your kids' I thought to myself.
"D-dad, why don't you come inside. I'll make some food" Fuyumi said, cutting into the tension in the atmosphere. She went inside with him leaving behind the drinks she brought out.
"I didn't know your dad was the number 2 hero"
"It's not something I'm proud of" he stated simply. I melted the wall of ice turning it into water which disappeared under the rocks.
"Why did you tell me I only have one quirk?" I asked him which he did flinch at. It was a weird reaction as he was always so calm and collected. He didn't answer, he just looked at the ground. It looked like he was trying to find the right words but couldn't put them together. "I'm assuming because you don't want your dad to find out that I have similar quirks as you. He might see me as a threat to you becoming a hero." I said studying his face for any small reaction.
Naturally, there was none. "Forget it. You don't have to say anything. Whatever it is I trust you Todoroki. You wouldn't have asked that of me unless it was important."
He looked up at me with a bit of surprise in his eyes "Thank you for following my lead on that"
"Of course,"
After the incident, we ended up training more on UA grounds with some of our classmates. A few of our classmates tried joining us but Todoroki seemed uninterested in training with them. After convincing Aizawa to help me train with my fire I could use my fire a bit more than before. I was still nervous about using it though.
I even trained my ice quirk to see if I could use the ice whip that I created during the villain attack. I manage to get it down in a week. I knew I could manipulate my ice at will, but I didn't know to what extent. I wanted to train more with what I could do with my ice, but the day of the UA Sports Festival was already here.