MHA: Ground Zero

Chapter Text

She was young when they met, Mommy said she knew his parents since they were as big as her! But he was bigger than her. Stronger than her. And faster than her. Even though they were the same age, it wasn't fair!

He wanted to move and explore and grow so much more than she did.

But it was so much fun to chase after him she didn't care. And he felt sad, so she wanted him to be happy. Maybe if she kept up long enough, he would stop being so sad.

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They were both three, and she had to try so hard just to keep sight of him these days.

His red eyes always glinted in the light as he watched the world pass him by. He refused to do anything anyone told him to. He figured it out on his own or stopped caring about it. The teachers hated it, and loved it, she could tell.

She was still there watching him, running behind him because she never could quite pull ahead, but that was okay because she was ahead of everyone else in class trying to do the same thing.

Some kids had given up trying to do the things he did, not her! No sir. He always did the best things, like when some of the kids had pulled her hair and torn it out of the braid Mommy had done for her that morning before heading to work that morning and he had looked them in the eyes and sent them running.

It was like they thought he was scary or something!

It was weird because he wasn't! He even rebraided her hair exactly the way Mommy had! When she got home and told her, her mommy looked so happy, but she was crying too. Which had made her cry, which made mommy laugh and hug her and tickle her until they were both laughing and crying.

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They were four, and she was broken.

The doctor had given her the truth, and it hurt…

It hurt so much…

The other kids started to laugh at her, and call her names, and try to hurt her. Usually the teachers would step in before they went too far, but they were beginning to not care. Sometimes they'd just tell everyone to be quiet when they were trying to hurt her, and most of the time they stopped…

But sometimes they didn't, and the teachers let them…

She'd come home sometimes with a bruise, a scrape, or cuts that couldn't have come from falling, and her mommy would cradle her close, dirty skirts and shirts and all, and cry just like she had when they got home from the doctor. She didn't want anyone to get in trouble so she closed her eyes and hummed when mommy asked her where they came from. The kids had started calling her a different name most of the time, the teachers were slowly starting to call her that too…

He wasn't there, when he went to the doctor they gave him good news, not like hers. It was so good, he apparently needed to go to some special place for a few months to make sure he was okay. He'd be back next week, and they could go back to the way things were. It would all be better. He would make it better.

She told herself that over and over as her tears stained her well loved pillow, her dirty bright red sneakers she was told she needed to wear now leaving dirt on her bed as she tried to hold onto the pieces of herself she needed to put back together.

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He was back.

…

He wasn't sad right now so that was a good thing. The problem was now he was angry, and she didn't know why.

He wasn't happy when he went back to school and the kids and teachers acted like she wasn't one of them…

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When class was over, he'd grabbed her wrist and dragged her into his parents car. He'd silently glared at them when they tried asking what was wrong, and refused to let her go… it was nice so she curled into his side in the seat after he put the seatbelt around the two and went to sleep, warm for the first time in what felt like forever.

The next time she woke up, she was in his bed with her mommy right next to her. It was nice, so she grabbed the blankets and curled deeper into her arms and fell back asleep.

She woke up the next morning with her own hair in her mouth and the sun in her eyes. She was still at his house, which surprised her almost as much as the fact that her mommy was still beside her when she usually left before the sun was up for work.

She looked around and saw him next to the bed with his parents. He was seated alone in his large rolling chair with his parents seated on the ground in front of him. She knew what those lines on all of their faces meant, she'd cried and watched her mommy cry enough to recognize them anywhere. He wasn't as sad as he'd always been anymore, she could tell. And that made her so happy that she wiggled free of her mom and slowly made her way to the three.

His parents saw her first, and gave her small sad smiles that didn't reach their eyes but were real in a way the teachers never could be. All it took was a small hop to get from the bed to the big chair he was on, which finally got his attention. His red eyes locked on her and saw through her like they always did, but they looked more real than yesterday, like he'd settled down and was actually in front of her again instead of a billion miles ahead like when they'd met. His face remained the same small scowl that sent most kids and some adults running, it brought a small smile to her as well.

He was still a bit sad, even if it was a million times better than yesterday, so she wrapped his thick blanket around the two of them and snuggled into him. His hands slowly came up to wrap around her, and put his head on top of her own. She settled against him, breathing in the earth and cinnamon he always smelled like.

Distantly, she heard the news they were watching saying that several schools were being shut down and investigated? She didn't know what that was about, but she'd find out later.

All she wanted to do right now was sleep, because everything was okay for the first time since she'd gone to the doctor. And she was just so happy her best friend wasn't so sad anymore, now she just had to figure out what to do about all the anger that was bubbling inside of him since they'd been reunited yesterday.

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A nice police officer had come to his house as they were quietly eating breakfast to ask her a whole bunch of questions. About the school, the teachers, and the kids. She hadn't wanted to talk, not at first. But the officer told her she'd be helping a lot of other kids if she did, and then her friend had sat behind her on the stool. She'd happily gone back to leaning against him as she answered the smiling police officers' questions.

In exchange, the officer had told her of his gift, and how he'd used it to become an officer since no one could lie to him. She'd thought it was the coolest thing ever, and had gotten sad when she had to tell him she wasn't special like everyone else. She felt her friend turn slightly behind her to look the officer in the eye but decided to keep looking at the nice man as she waited for him to react.

His eyes had shrunk when he'd met her friend's own, and his body went still for what felt like forever! He finally moved to kneel down to her level and give the third real smile she'd seen since she'd gone to the doctor and told her she was indeed very special. She was smart, and brave, and kind, and had a mommy and family that loved her, and a great friend.

Her eyes stung and a smile hurt her cheeks as she managed a small thanks, before turning back to throw her arms around her favorite gift. Her eyes continued to sting over and over again for a good bit until her mommy came over with a hanky to wipe both of their tears away. The nice man had thanked her for her honesty and said that what she'd told him would help many people before asking for some time with their parents.

She was too tired to move anymore, so her friend carried her back to his room, like a princess she read about in the library when the other kids were looking for her, he wrapped her in his blankets and told her to sleep. And then the jerk sat on his chair and turned the volume on his tv off to keep watching the news! Ugh…

So she dug deep into an empty well of strength and powered her way back to him, snatched the remote, and turned the tv off. His face finally changed, the sheer confusion she could feel between every frown line in his scowl was cute so she let a small giggle escape her lips as she dragged him back to the bed and wrapped the blanket around both of them. She rested against him, listened to his steady breathing until he wrapped one arm around her and fell asleep yet again.

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They were starting a new school today! Apparently, the police had 'launched an investigation' into many different schools just like hers after the nice officer had left. Something about discrimination? She didn't care, because she was back with her best friend, and even made a new one on the first day?! Life was awesome!!!

She got to see her friend more than ever because they'd moved in with his parents. Something about money and overtime? It didn't matter because her mom was home more than ever which was awesome! She'd eat breakfast together, all five of them and laugh together. Well they'd all laugh and her best friend would watch them quietly, but he wasn't annoyed or angry during that time; he was just… relaxed!

Yes, that was the only time he relaxed now that she thought about it. When they were all together and he could see them all at once. Hmmm…

Wait, her new friend!? She brought her new friend to meet him and she acted weird; when they met and she looked in his red eyes, she kind of froze up and turned red for some reason. She didn't have a fever, she'd checked! Oh well, it cleared after a minute and she'd gotten the chance to introduce her new friend to her old one.

It didn't take long for her to get a new buddy to chase after her friend with, neither of them could keep up with the boy so they helped each other, pushed the other to try to match his pace as he raced ahead of them.

It was hard. It hurt sometimes. And she was almost always exhausted. But she was happy. So when she found out her new friend wanted to do the same thing as her when she grew up, she couldn't help herself. She dragged them both to her friend's room after asking for permission when all of their parents met to pick them up at the end of the day.

She'd sat down on the bed and asked them both to make a promise with her. That they would try their best to be who they wanted to be. To fulfill their ambitions, united in their end goals if not paths.

After all, heroes can't be anything other than the best, right?