Chapter Text
WHA Level 9 Restricted File: One For All's 9th User
Power Classification: Quirk [Emitter]
Original Wielder: Shigiraki Yoichi
Current Wielder (8): Yagi Toshinori
Potential Ninth Wielder: Midoriya Izuku
One For All is a stockpiling quirk allegedly created by [SSS] All For One {see file Shigaraki ?}, through the combination of an unknown power stockpiling quirk and Shigiraki Yoichi's Transfer Quirk. It accumulates strength via unknown means, which is not consumed on use and only seems to raise the limit with each successive user.
As Toshinori Yagi's maximum theorized output [Note: which would be lethal to himself] has approached the level of a nuclear bomb, Midoriya Izuku has been pre-emptily assigned a threat level of [SSS]. As each successive user of OFA increases the strength of the quirk, and the fact that Yagi has strengthened the quirk for almost forty years it is unknown how powerful OFA will be in Midoriya's hands.
=WHA=
[OFA File: Izuku Midoriya]
Age: 15
Birthday: July 15, 2227
Quirk: None (This has been verified. Medical history has been altered for his cover story.)
Sex: Male
Blood Type: O
=WHA=
Background Check:
Midoriya Izuku is the son of Midoriya Inko, a civilian, and WHA Level 6 Analyst Midoriya Hisashi (†) [See file: Death of Hisashi Midoriya{Level 9 Clearance Required}].
Inko possesses a minor telekinesis quirk and Hisashi possesses a powerful fire breath quirk. They have no other living immediate family, as both parents were single children and both the Midoriya and Akatani families have since passed away. There is no history of links to any major criminal activity in the family, demihuman ancestry, or relation to any major historical figures.
Izuku currently attends Aldera Junior High in Musutafu, Japan. The school is scheduled to be restructured next year due to allegations of quirk discrimination.
[See File: Otherworlders | April 25th, 2242 Incident]
Both Izuku and Toshinori encountered the five of the otherworlders upon their arrival. They were taken to U.A. custody soon after.
[See files]
{Ordan Karris [S]}
{Erra Tau [Unclassified due to comatose status])
{Hunhow Tau [SSSS]}
{Natah Tau [SSS]}
{Haylee Tenno* [SS]} *Unknown last name, Tenno is noted to be a social caste.
All of them are currently under the supervision of U.A. Principal and Level 9 WHA Asset Nezu. Natah and Ordan intend to become teachers at U.A. Council Member SHOGUN has approved Nezu to operate within reason to gain their allegiance due to their high potential threat levels.
=WHA=
The request from President Eto Hiiragi of the HPSC for Midoriya to be trained by the HPSC has been vetoed by C7 SHOGUN. The decision on Midoriya's training will be up to the discretion of Midoriya Inko and Yagi Toshinori. While the Council recognizes that the HPSC has permission to act as it sees fit in matters of Japanese heroics and supernatural coverups, we would like to remind you that One For All is aninternationalpeacekeeping asset and it's line of succession has been left to its wielder to decide due to the nature of the quirk.
One For All is a near-irreplaceable asset, but the current leadership of the HPSC is not. Failure to abide by WHA and C7 terms will result in the restructuring of the HPSC, regardless of the Commission's overall high results.
=WHA=
King's Fall Contingency
As was the case with Yagi Toshinori, in the event One For All grows to an uncontrollable level, permission for an order of termination will be granted. Following such an event, the body will be cremated per the Hades Protocol[See File: Hades Protocol]. While this is not an ideal outcome, the potential danger that One For All could bring if unleashed is too great to ignore, as its maximum output is estimated to surpass a nuclear bomb.
==========================VI==========================
[Takoba Municipal Beach Park, July 31st, 2242]
Lumine had only one thought as she sailed through the air.
Haylee and Izuku might be a bit crazy.
Well, considering she had let Izuku punch her in the face and broke her jaw, maybe she already knew that.
==VI==
An hour earlier…
Lumine arrived at the beach just in time to see Izuku carrying a 90-kilogram fridge across the beach. He barely had it off the ground but was moving it by himself nonetheless. She looked over to see Haylee talking to Mr. Yagi next to a few bags of sparring gear. As she approached them she set the bag of gear she brought.
"Yo!" Lumine waved. "Did Izuku's quirk come in?" She pointed toward the green-haired boy.
"Nope," Haylee said.
"... seriously?" Lumine sweatdropped, glancing back at Izuku.
"Yeah, it's kind of scary how strong he is without using it. He's gonna be a f*cking monster when he's ready." Haylee grinned. "Freaks me out just thinking about it, in a good way of course."
Toshinori had to agree. When he'd first met Izuku the boy had been… well to put it lightly, unimpressive. Upon saving him from the Sludge Villain, he'd noted the boy's excellent art and analysis in the notebook, but that was it.
Then, even after being told that he couldn't be a hero without a quirk (or some other power, but he wasn't about to tell a boy he just met about Stands and magic) he still went out of his way to save someone while the heroes, including himself, stood idly by. Though the boy had accepted his apology for his words, he still felt guilty over what he said. He'd been worried when they started training with only a year to prepare his body for One For All, but Izuku was making staggering progress in his training.
It was only after seeing him spar with the otherworlder that Toshinori realized why.
Midoriya Izuku was a natural prodigy when it came to picking up new skills. He had seen the kind of raw talent in top heroes worldwide. Sure, some were naturally gifted with powerful quirks, like Star and Stripe, Rex Lapis, or Endeavor. Others with less powerful quirks managed to pull themselves up through sheer effort and determination. Venom, the #2 Hero of the United States, had a hyper-regeneration quirk and made his way to the top using conventional weaponry and military training.
In Japan, he'd also been keeping track of heroes like Mirko, who simply had a rabbit mutation. He predicted she would be in the Top 10 in the next few years based on her hard work. There was also that one boy, Skycrawler, who had gone overseas to work as a sidekick to Captain Celebrity. He'd read the reports about young Haimawari's actions during the Naruhata Lockdown. The boy had undergone a stress-induced quirk awakening that turned the previously named Slide and Glide into something that could help take down the SS-ranked villain responsible for the attack.
Izuku had that same fire within him. He was a hidden gem that needed his talent to be unleashed. He just needed the motivation to do so. Haylee had been a huge help in coming to that realization. It had taken Izuku weeks even to land a hit on her, but once he did his confidence and skill had skyrocketed. He still couldn't keep up with Haylee when she pushed him, but he could exploit gaps in her attacks to force her on the defensive.
These past few days, Haylee had been training Izuku on the basics of swordsmanship. He'd brought them each a set of padded sparring gear, green for Izuku, and purple for Haylee. Toshinori knew if he didn't get her sparring gear she would fight her friends without them, simply because she could heal. It didn't sit right with him to let her be hurt, even if she didn't react to the pain, just to train.
Plus if someone came across him watching two kids beating another unprotected kid with wooden swords he would probably get the police called on him for child endangerment. It was better if they all wore gear.
Hopefully, the young man would succeed in this as well. Toshinori had never tried to use a sword. Using one for all would cause any blade to shatter if he hit something with it at the level he fought at. Not to mention a katana would be a bit small for his hands. Maybe a ōdachi? He chuckled at the thought of doing hero work with a massive sword strapped to his back like some fantasy manga character.
Would Izuku get any use out of a sword once he had One For All? Toshinori wasn't sure, but even if he didn't end up using it, the experience of learning how a swordsman fights would be beneficial in case he ever had to fight one. Most normal blades wouldn't pierce his skin with One For All's reinforcement, but they were still something to be wary of.
Speaking of the boy, he was already practicing his swings with the bokutō Karris had gifted him. He still remembered a few days ago, watching Haylee correct his stance by pressing herself against him to correct his pose. Watching Izuku stiffen and his eyes bug out from close contact with her, he found it hilarious. Ah, teenagers.
==VI==
"Alright." Haylee waved Izuku and Lumine over, having finished practicing against each other. "Both of you, come at me."
"Are you sure?" Lumine asked.
"Yep, I can take the both of you," Haylee replied, pulling out a second bokutō to dual-wield them. "I'll only be defending and striking you when you expose yourselves."
"Any rules for keeping score?" Izuku inquired.
"None, I just want to gauge your skills. Just tap out if you are done." Haylee slid her mouthguard in. "Crm ah meh!"
"Alright, let's go Midoriya!" Lumine popped her mouthguard in and fastened the strap on her helmet. Her sparring gear was white with gold trim on the edges, made by her father.
Izuku and Lumine split up, each circling clockwise around Haylee. The blue-haired girl kept her eyes on whoever was before her.
'Stance: Mountain's Edge!'Haylee's posture suddenly shifted as she blocked Izuku's attack. He'd jumped into the air to avoid making noise on the sand, yet she blocked without looking at him. Lumine took advantage of the supposed distraction by rushing Haylee with quick jab. Unlike Haylee and Izuku's bokutō, her training sword was styled after a more traditional European one. As such, it was slower to swing but carried a stronger strike.
Haylee blocked both strikes, then spun around, using the momentum to knock the blades out of their hands. Izuku lost his and received a whack to the back with the flat side of Haylee's bokutō. 'Hmph, loose grip. He needs to hold the store tighter. When they sparred, Eikyō wasn't tough enough with him, but he got the basics down. And he attacked from my blind spot too. Very good.'She blocked Lumine's retaliatory strike and sidestepped her, jamming one of her blades into the ground and grabbed Lumine by the back straps of her padding.
Lumine was suddenly struck with the sensation of weightlessness, soaring across the beach. 'Eh?'She blinked in slow motion as she flew. 'Did she just throw me? She's nuts!'Lumine landed with a thump in the thankfully soft sand, knocking the wind out of her. 'Owowow! I didn't think Tenno was that strong!"She spat out her mouthguard to catch her breath.
"Are you alright young Eikyō?" She heard Mr. Yagi's voice behind her. He held out his hand, which she took and pulled her up with a surprising amount of strength. With how skinny and withered he looked, she didn't think he was that fit. Guess she shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.
"Yeah," she answered while catching her breath. "Just a little winded." They both watched as Izuku continued to attack. Haylee would knock his sword out of his hands, again and again, trip him, or smack him with her blade whenever he messed up, which was often. No matter how many times Izuku failed, he got up right away and grabbed his bokutō to try again.
"Are you going to keep going?"
"I will." Her lip jutted out in a pronounced pout. "I'm just watching her technique."
"Is that all?"
Lumine exhaled. "I just… I know Midoriya just started a while ago, but I've been practicing since I was eight. Tenno took me out in less than a minute." She sighed, wiping the sweat from her brow. It wasn't anything against the blue-haired girl, but rather her own shortcomings. All the talk of a shared interest in swordplay and she'd barely lasted longer in the fight than Midoriya. "Its just frustrating, that's all."
The older man nodded. "She is quite skilled."
Calling Haylee's swordplay skillful was an understatement. The only word Lumine could think to describe it best was "beautiful". She moved with graceful elegance, deftly dodging and deflecting any strikes Izuku sent her way. The only reason his training sword got within centimeters of her skin was because Haylee allowed it. Lumine realized now, that the only reason Izuku was doing so well was because Haylee was doing it on purpose so he could learn to exploit those gaps in her style.
"More like a prodigy…" Lumine muttered. Despite the same hyperfocused look in Haylee's eyes that Lumine had seen during the laser tag match footage, she could tell Haylee was restraining herself from going all out. "She must have practiced more than I did. I never took classes."
Toshinori's heart ached. He and Izuku knew why Haylee was this good. While her real body had slept in stasis, her Warframe had years of live combat and training experience. The girl had been fighting longer than Toshinori had been alive. If he had to guess, she was probably in the top five of the most skilled swordswomen on the planet. "Young Eikyō, don't let it get you too down. This is training after all, so think of it as a learning experience that you can grow stronger from." Toshinori advised.
"I guess…" Lumine watched as Haylee knocked Izuku's blade into the air, throwing one of her blades off to the side. She caught Izuku's sword by the handle and held it to his throat. "I guess I have a long way to go."
==VI==
[Takoba Municipal Beach Park, August 7th, 2242]
Haylee had never considered herself to be a prodigy. The first time she picked up a blade was when a Dax trainer tossed it at her feet, and the seasoned warriors had brutally battered her for years until she had a modicum of skill. Years upon years of brutal training to reforge her from a pathetic child piloting a Warframe to a fearsome Tenno.
None of her abilities came from any sort of natural talent. Shooting, swordplay, carving, sewing, cooking, you name it. All was the product of hard work that most wouldn't master until retirement. The only thing special about her was her tolerance for pain, which was genetic, and she was just really good at math due to eldritch Void f*ckery. Apparently, being turned into an unholy abomination made you a savant in mathematics.
She wasn't like Izuku. That boy collected new skills like Prex cards. Quirk analysis, drawing, sparring, and now swordplay. Sure, he had a skittish personality but whenever Izuku found something and really put his mind to it he excelled. On the other hand, when she tried to do something that wasn't adjacent to her existing skills… she didn't have the best of luck.
She had been preparing for the U.A. entrance exams when she wasn't hanging out with Izuku and Lumine. The practical exam? A piece of cake with her combat experience. Haylee was more worried about the written exams. Math was easy. Physics and other related sciences were simple, she just needed to adjust to the slight differences in molecular structure and phenomena that worked differently in this universe.
If she had to pick the most annoying subject, it would be a tie between history and hero legislation. It was hard enough remembering one world's history, but having to learn the history of this planet was f*cking bullsh*t. Quirk warlord this, metahuman rights that… it gave her a headache just thinking about it.
That was what was on her mind as she blocked simultaneous attacks from both her friends. Ah, training. The perfect way to blow off steam and focus her negative emotions into something productive, and she had alotof negativity to excise. All the burning hatred in her heart, self-loathing, and guilt she felt was reforged into something that could help her friends grow stronger.
And by the Void it was working. Izuku's strike had some serious power behind it, and Lumine's already decent technique had improved in just a week. Seeing as they only met up to spar on Sundays the two of them must be practicing on their own time. Lumine did say she trained with her dad…
Her arm trembled as Izuku pushed the advantage, causing her to stagger. Lumine took advantage of that brief window to jab her in the ribs with her blade.
'Good. Very good.'A faint garbled laugh could be heard from her mouthguard. A solid hit. She didn't let Lumine enjoy it though. 'Time to step things up a notch!'
※Haylee is a practitioner of the Naramon Tenno arts, one that she chose based on her preference for close-quarters combat. Naramon users have harnessed the ability to enter a sort of 'flow state' using the combo system all Tenno have mastered. This combo is maintained by striking and blocking blows, allowing the Tenno to harness the built-up kinetic energy to enhance the power of their strikes, or release it all in a powerful heavy attack.
Practicioners of Naramon use this 'flow state' to maintain the flow of combo indefinitely so long as they actively perceive themselves in combat, regardless of the gaps between fights.
※
'Tennokai!'
Lumine and Izuku saw Haylee's eyes narrow to slits, almost like a predator. An aura of calm, focused murderous intent radiated off her. Though they could tell it wasn't focused on them, it still froze both teens to their cores. Haylee's knees buckled and she vanished, reappearing a few meters away, unleashing a powerful slash.
Even using a bokutō Tennokai could easily kill or severely injure someone, so she dashed away. Tennokai was an application of heavy attacks where the user channeled Void energy into their weapon. Doing so required incredible focus and a window of opportunity to use it. Honestly, Haylee was surprised she could even do so without a Warframe. Most melee weapons were too heavy for her weaker human form to wield properly so she'd never attempted it. She simply had a gut feeling and tried it at that moment.
'What the hell?!'Lumine tightened her grip on her sword to stop her hands from shaking, sweating not just from the exercise, but from a mixture of fear and awe as well.
Izuku swallowed the lump in his throat. He knew Haylee had killed before, but the aura of danger that had surrounded her seconds ago terrified him. Even if it wasn't directed at him it was offputting to have someone he looked up to and cared about have such a malicious aura.
"Nice job, you landed a hit," Haylee shouted, appearing right in front of them again.
Lumine took out her mouthguard. "You can teleport?"
Haylee nodded. "It's an application of my energy manipulation. It's… kind of teleporting. I'm just phasing, or… I dunno, turning myself invisible and launching myself to a point?" Now that she thought about it again, how was she doing that? The Void plane didn't exist in this universe so she shouldn't be able to 'put one foot in the Void' as they say.
Her powers were so f*cked up. Why did they work this way now? Why was she able to turn into a Warframe? All questions with no reasonable answers. Oh yeah, she told Lumine she would show off her quirk during sparring, didn't she? "Hey, Eikyō. Do you want to see the rest of my quirk?"
"Uh… sure?" Lumine blinked.
"Alright. Let me take off my sparring gear. Uh, before I start, it's kind of a gross transformation if you have a queasy stomach, right Izuku?"
"It's not that bad…" Izuku protested.
"I think I can handle it," Lumine assured her.
Haylee tossed the last of her sparring gear onto the ground. Technically she could've transformed with it on, but she found the more clothes she had on the weirder it felt. "Alright, don't say I didn't warn you." She grunted and stretched, preparing herself for the discomfort. It didn't hurt as much anymore when she transformed, but it was still felt awful in other ways.
Lumine wasn't sure what to expect. She'd seen a lot of weird quirks in elementary and middle school, in both her classmates in adults. Maybe it- oh. Oh sh*t.
Haylee grunted, and Izuku noted that the transformation seemed more stable and fluid now. While bones still cracked and popped while her body shifted, she didn't cry out in pain. It also didn't look like liquify and looked more natural like other transformation quirks now. Maybe because it wasn't a quirk before her body had taken some time to adapt to it? Although Mr. Karris and Ms. Tau didn't seem to have any issues… weird.
Lumine grimaced as the transformation finished. It sure didn't look very comfortable. Haylee now stood about a good head and a half taller than before. Her feminine teenage form had been replaced by a lean and muscular masculine build, covered in gilded armor and glowing highlights. "Woah."
"That's her Excalibur form." Izuku said, pulling out his notebook. "She-can-manifest-swords-using-her-energy-manipulation-as-a-power-source-but-she-can't-regenerate-her-energy-quickly-in-that-form…" He began to mutter at a rapid pace, quickly losing Lumine who could only understand bits and pieces of it.
"It wasn't too bad, was it?" Haylee nervously tapped her fingers together, which Lumine thought was hilariously adorable considering her intimidating stature.
"No, I've seen weirder quirks. Did it… does it hurt?"
"It used to, but it doesn't much anymore." Haylee shuffled to adjust herself. "I generally don't feel, well that's not entirely correct…" Her armored foot tapped against the sand. "If I get hurt, I feel it, but I won't flinch. I think that's the best way to put it. My dad had it way worse. He couldn't smell at all or feel it. At least I can regenerate." She chuckled sadly with a bit of fondness in her tone, her transformed state giving her voice an echo like she was inside a tin can. 'Or at least I could after I got my powers.'
"Oh." Lumine took a step closer, and Haylee relaxed to let the blonde inspect her body. "Is that part of your quirk too?"
"No, it's a genetic disorder. What was it called again?" She looked over to Izuku. "Hey Izuku, what was that thing I have called again?" He continued to mutter, lost in his own little world. "Oi!" Haylee raised her voice and snapped her fingers at him. "Izuku!"
"Ah! Sorry!" That snapped him out of it, so she repeated the question. "Oh, congenital analgesia."
"Yeah, that." She nodded.
Lumine circled around Haylee. "So did you like, name it after the legendary sword from the legend of King Arthur?"
"I didn't name it, so uh… probably?" Haylee shrugged. She had no idea who this "King Arthur" person was. Was it some book like the Tales of Duviri where she came from too, or just some contrived coincidence? She'd have to look it up later. "But if it is named after a sword I guess that makes sense." With a quick flick of the wrist, she summoned Exalted Blade and twirled it around.
'She's so freaking cool!'Lumine squeed internally. Haylee was basically like a knight in shining armor from the stories her dad read when she and Aether were little. Well, a knight in sci-fi armor. Still, dope as hell. "Uh, quick question. Why does it make you look like a guy though? Shouldn't it make you look like a bigger version of yourself?" sh*t, she hoped that wasn't insensitive. It wasn't common, but some quirks could change your biology like that.
"Oh… uhhh." Haylee struggled to come up with a good answer. Technically, this was Umbra's form, not hers. But it was her form now that it was part of the quirk she had? She couldn't tell the truth, so what was the best way to explain it? "It just looks like that? I can only change the color." Well, she could change the form of her Warframe if she still had access to her foundry. That's why Umbra looked like Excalibur's Dex model. Why couldn't she still have transference? That would make it so much simpler.
"So it's like growing a crab shell then?" Lumine asked.
"Wat?"
"Like you… you are making a suit of armor around yourself like a crab." Izuku elaborated. "Except it's on top of your existing body?"
Haylee gave the two of them an unreadable expression before slumping her shoulders in resignation. "Sure, f*ck it. I'm a crab." She let out a muffled snort, then began to shrink back down to her normal form. "So yeah, that's my weird freaky mess of a quirk."
"It looks like it would be incredible for hero work." Lumine jittered excitedly. "It's basically a ready-made hero suit! Most transformation quirks you have to get specially made to work with your quirk."
"DNA fabrics," Izuku added. "And they are pretty expensive and are mostly made out of hair and tissue samples. They only regenerate if you have a regeneration quirk, which adds to the price. You can just a normal hero outfit since your transformation doesn't ruin your clothes." He pointed out.
"No, I can't. My… my quirk is more of a mixed bag than you think, Izuku" She void dashed over to him, yanking the notebook out of his hands and flipping to the sketch of herself.
'Midoriya's a good artist….'Lumine noted.
"So when I'm in that form." Haylee pointed to the drawing of Excalibur. "My energy regenerates super slowly, and I can't heal. I trade efficiency for destructive power and strength. If I run out of energy in that form I have to switch back, which makes me more vulnerable. A good blow to the head could take me out of a fight if I'm not careful while I'm recharging." She pointed to the sketch of her untransformed state. "If something manages to hurt my skin while I'm transformed, when I switch back I will heal, but not my clothes." She knew that from the time she stabbed herself, but didn't say that because it would upset her friends if they knew she did that.
"Oh!" Lumine exclaimed. "So it's like playing World Heroes Online!"
"You play!" Izuku perked up. "Who is your main? Mine is All Might!"
"I have a mixed team of elemental heroes, like Geten or Endeavor…" The two continued to chatter, quickly losing Haylee in a jumble of gibberish gaming lingo.
'What the hell are they talking about? Some sort of video game?'Haylee wondered, visibly deflating from boredom. If there was one thing she didn't care much about, it was popular culture. Video games, celebrities, sports, music… it didn't matter to her. These were things that kids her biological age should probably know. "Hey, quit geeking out and explain you nerds." She snapped, rolling her eyes in annoyance.
Izuku and Lumine stopped sharing a single brain cell and blushed in embarrassment, having completely forgotten about Haylee.
"So, do you play any collection games?" Lumine asked. "Like Gachas, Online TCGs?"
"I don't play video games." That was more Ordan's thing, and she had no idea what TCG's were. Trading cards maybe?
"Have you not heard of World Heroes Online? It's really hot right now." Lumine pulled out her phone and booted up the game start screen."
"No."
'Does she live under a rock or something?'Lumine blinked. "Well, you play as a character who goes around collecting trading cards that you use to fight, and if you build up enough of a meter you can summon the hero or villain on the card to fight for you for a short time."
'Summoning stuff on a card sounds like a pretty cool power.'Haylee thought to herself. "So that's what you mean by my quirk being like that?"
"Yeah, you have to build up energy and then you can transform and use your abilities, then change back," Izuku said.
Haylee looked confused for a few seconds as her brain tried to make sense of it. "Ok, I don't really understand it since I've never played, but that makes sense I guess." She glanced at the corner of Lumine's phone and noticed the time. "Well, we've taken enough of a break. Back to training!"
Both teens gulped as Haylee scrambled to put her sparring gear back on.
==VI==
[Eikyō Residence, Evening]
Lumine groaned as she staggered through the front door. Her muscles ached from the sparring and exercises that Haylee had been putting Izuku and her through. Even with the sparring gear she brought, her skin was still covered in bruises from being whacked by Haylee's bokutō.
"Lumi-nee!" She nearly fell over in exhaustion from a small form colliding with her. "You're back!"
"Hi Pai-pai~" Lumine ruffled her little sister's hair. Paimon was only five years old, and her quirk let her halve her size and float around.
"Did you get into a fight?" She held onto Lumine tightly with wide innocent eyes, drawing out the last word.
"No, I was just training with my friends. I still wanna be a hero remember?" She gave Paimon a pat on the head, ruffling her white hair.
"Does that mean you are going to go look for big brother Aether?" Paimon asked hopefully.
"That's a job for the police and heroes. Remember what daddy said? I'll still just be a hero student next year." If not U.A. she still had a reserved spot at Seiai. "I won't get my license until my second year at least. That just means I can do work studies."
"I miss him…" Paimon sniffled, and Lumine's heart broke. Whoever killed their mom and took Aether hadn't left any demands. Their family was fairly well off, coming from old money even if it didn't appear so. If they wanted money there would've been a ransom note. If they went through all that trouble, they were probably after his quirk.
Elementalist had the potential to be a powerful quirk, even with its weak output. What it lacked in power it made up for in versatility and synergy. Plus, unlike a majority of elemental quirks, it manifested itself ex nihilo rather than using existing material.
Quirk trafficking victims had been on the rise in the past few years, and compared to kidnapping victims they had a much lower recovery rate. She didn't want to think about what they could be doing to Aether if that was the case, and she didn't have the heart to tell Paimon not to get her hopes up. Instead, she put on a brave smile for her adorable little sister.
"I know, I do too. Just have faith that the heroes will find him, alright?" She reassured, kissing Paimon on the forehead. Her show of affection was interrupted by the growling of her stomach. "Mmm~ I'm starving. Good thing I've got some emergency food right here!"
"Noooo! I told you Paimon's not food!" Paimon cried out. Lumine let her wiggle out of the hug. Paimon then used her quirk to fly into the kitchen. "Daddy! Lumi is trying to eat meeeee!"
Lumine pretended to chase after, wincing from the soreness. "I'm gonna get youuuuu!~" She giggled. As Lumine approached the kitchen she could smell a freshly cooked meal that her father had prepared, likely anticipating her arrival.
"Paimon, what did I tell you about flying in the kitchen." Her father scolded, causing Paimon to slow.
"Not to…" Her cheeks puffed out in a pout as she gently floated to the floor, only to be picked up in Jonathan's muscular arms.
"You're not in trouble, you just need to remember that you can't always fly everywhere. You need to walk sometimes for the exercise." He chuckled and gave her stomach a little pinch, causing Paimon to squeal with laughter. "Speaking of exercise," He added, azure eyes turning to Lumine. "Looks like you got a lot today."
"Mhm." Lumine slumped into her chair, rubbing her hand along the bruises to ice them with her quirk. "I'm so dam- dang sore." She backtracked.
"More intense than our training I see." He chuckled. Paimon whined something in his ear and he set her down in her chair to eat. She immediately began stuffing her face messily.
"Definitely." Lumine groaned. "Tenno has been running Midoriya and I ragged with sparring drills. Mr. Yagi just has arranged me the meal plan I gave you and has me doing endurance training." She raised her arm and flexed to show the more developed muscles, not that she didn't have any before, but her extra efforts were starting to show.
"So he's taking on more of a supervisory role and letting her train you?" He asked between bites. "It's impressive that she's that skilled at such a young age, from what you've told me."
"She's kinda scary, but she's really cool at the same time," Lumine recalled.
"Well, as long as you are fine with that level of training…"
"Dad, stop worrying. She hasn't actually hurt anyone, and if I have an issue I'll let her or Mr. Yagi know."
Jonathan chuckled. "It's a parent's job to worry, little light." His expression darkened briefly, and he didn't speak for a few minutes.
"Hey, dad?"
"Hm?"
"Can you read me the Sword in the Stone tonight?"
"Aren't you a little old for bedtime stories?" Jonathan raised an eyebrow. Lumine shook her head. "Well, I don't see why not."
==VI==
After putting Paimon to bed by reading a cookbook of all things, Jonathan grabbed an aged storybook out of his study and entered Lumine's room. His daughter was snuggled tight in her sheets already, clearly exhausted. "How many years has it been since we did this?"
"Five, six maybe?" Lumine yawned.
"You and your brother loved this book."
"Yeah…" Lumine's head slumped. "Dad?"
"Yes, little light?
"Do you… do you think Aether is okay?" Lumine asked with a facade of composure. "I keep telling Paimon that the heroes will find him, but what if he's…"
"I think he's alive. I've got a gut feeling at least. Call it parent's intuition." He reassured calmly. "You feel it too, don't you?"
Lumine shifted in her bedsheets. "I just get the feeling that he's in trouble, wherever he is."
Jonathan looked troubled, like he was about to say something important but stopped himself. "If… if I could, I would be out there, searching for him. I know I'm just a historian, but…" He looked away briefly and stared out the window at the barely visible stars. "I promised your mother I would take care of you all, no matter what. I can't just leave you alone." His eyes closed, and he let out a deep breath. When he opened them again, Lumine was holding his hand.
"I know, I miss her too." Lumine put on a brave face to hold back her tears. She felt her father's grip tighten for a moment.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, holding hands. He could hear Lumine's breathing growing slower and decided to start reading.
By the time she fell asleep a half hour later, she sported a warm smile. Despite that, he still noticed the single tear running down her cheek.
He returned to his study, passing rows of bookshelves and historic artifacts. A few swords from across the world decorated the walls with plaques describing their origins. At his desk was an out-of-place family photo.
Jonathan didn't sleep that night.
(A little Pride Month art as a treat)
