Chapter Text
The house is big. Or at least, it seems that way. Standing on the porch, I observe the plain looking house as I notice just how quiet it is. Three months ago I would probably be intimidated by the silence. But not much scares me anymore. Not since Kamino, All Might and All-For-One.
Ragdoll.
I shake the offending thoughts away when I begin to feel a familiar burning behind my eyes. "C'mon Izuku, keep yourself together a bit longer."
I walk up to the door and take note on the poor condition of the house. The grass is almost waist high, the white paint is peeling on the entire building, and the windows on either side of the door are blurry with dirt and grime. No-one's been here for awhile. I'm not really surprised. The Wild-Wild Pussycats were always out in the world doing jobs. House care was probably second priority. I reach the door and raise my hand to knock. My hand never touches the door. It freezes midair, and I just can't bring myself to commit and finish the motion.
Everything I panicked about hours ago when I decided to come here came screaming back. Will she even want to see me? Won't I just make it worse? That's what I usually do right? Make things worse for others. I should probably leave before anyone see's me.
The door cracking open snaps me out of my rapidly fragmenting thoughts. I look down and see a young boy opening the door.
"Kota."
He looks bad. Tear marks stain his face. He looks like he hasn't slept in days and he hasn't even bothered to tidy his clothes up at all. Regardless, light still returns to his eyes when he looks at me. He smiles at me, probably his first smile in a long time.
"Hi Izuku."
I wave and give a half-hearted grin when he says my name. But it falls apart pretty quickly. I look Kota in the eyes and ask him a question.
"Is she here?"
Kota's eyes narrow a bit as his smile fades away. Like he just remembered an unpleasant memory he had tried his hardest to forget.
"Yeah." Kota opens the door, waving me into the house. "She's in here. I can take you to her if you want?" I look at Kota as I step into the house. I see his hands gripping his shorts while they shake, eager to move. He's eager to move, to do something. I can't possibly say no when I feel the exact same way. I'm already a liar, no need to add hypocrisy to my list of mistakes.
"Sure Kota." I smile and nod at Kouta, giving him the go-ahead. "Lead the way!"
We enter the house and I'm surprised at how small it is. I walk into what looks like the living room. To the right is a television atop a dresser, along with a couch nestled against the opposite wall. Pretty barebones. To the left of the entrance is a kitchen/dining room area. A stocked pantry rest against the wall. A fridge and stove are next to a sink piled high with unwashed dishes. A table sits in the middle, five empty chairs surrounding it.
"Follow me Izuku." Kota starts walking straight ahead, down a hallway. I follow, nervous about what awaits me ahead. But I do notice something.
"Hey Kota?" He turns to look at me as we walk. "Where's everyone else?" Kouta looks ahead before answering.
"Tiger went to the gym. Auntie and Pixie bob went shopping." We make a U-turn and start marching up to the second floor.
"What about you and Ragdoll?" Silence stretches on for awhile as the young boy keeps marching on, ignoring my question. "Kota?"
"She didn't wanna go." Kota spits out harshly as we step onto the second floor. "She never does." I hear him say, but something tells me I wasn't supposed to hear that bit. We continue down another hallway until we reach the end. We come across a doorway and Kota motions for me to stop. He open the door and looks inside, motioning for me to wait. Apparently satisfied with whatever he saw he opens the door fully and nods in my direction.
I look inside and my heart breaks at the sight. Ragdoll's room is barren. The walls are empty and the only a few items litter the place. A dresser sits against the far wall. An empty closet embedded into the wall sits next to it. A lamp atop a drawer sits next to a bed. And that bed is were Ragdoll herself sits. Her back is to the door, she hasn't noticed us. She's wearing a plain T-shirt and sweatpants, staring at the floor, motionless.
"It's been like this every day."
I jump as Kota start speaking without warning. I look down and see the young child staring at Ragdoll with the saddest expression on his face. His eyes are watering yet he can't look away. Doesn't need to.
"Every day she gets up and just goes through the motions. She looks at us and……there's just nothing there." Kota looks up at me and my breath stops. He's looking at me the same way Bakugou was last year. When that sludge villain was hurting him. A look that was just begging for help. Kota had it down to a T.
"You helped me Izuku." A part of me wants to deny it, wants to say that I was just doing what any other hero would do. That I didn't do much. But that would make me an even bigger liar than I already was. "You helped me, and you became my hero. Now please Izuku." Kota shoves me into the room, tear filled eyes glaring holes into mine all the while.
"Help her. Help my sister." Kota closes the door behind himself quietly. Apparently he wasn't quiet enough because Ragdoll tenses up at the sound of the door.
"Ryuko." And her voice is so exhausted and broken and annoyed and angry and lost that I almost break into tears right there. "I told you I don't wanna go to the mall-" and she cuts off mid sentence because she's turned around and she see's me. All I can do I smile and try to hold it together.
"Hi Ragdoll."
She flinches when I call her that. It's small, but I still catch it. I'm figuring out that we're both alike in a lot of ways. I flinch the same way whenever Bakugou looks at me. Regardless, she still tries to smile and I admit, It's almost believable. Almost. Too bad that I've been faking smiles all my life and know exactly how to spot one.
"Hey kitten. How ya doing?"
I take a few steps and sit down on the bed next to her. Ragdoll is actually a few inches taller than me. Normally I would be nervous, but today is an exception. I want to ask her if she's alright. But something tells me that wouldn't be a good idea. She's probably been asked that same question countless times in the past week. So I humor her instead, it's the least I can do.
"I'm feeling pretty good all things considered." I grin at her and take my hoodie off, laying it down on the bed. "A little sore here or there, stiffness in my arms. Nothing I can't ignore or power through." Ragdoll looks pleased at my health, but she's tense. I notice that her hands are trembling as she tightly grips the sheets. I reach for her hand and she slides it away. I look back up into her eyes and her smile is gone, she's just staring blankly at my hand. At my scars.
"Look, Ragdoll-"
"Please." The pro-hero cuts me off and her voice takes on a desperate note. "Don't……don't call me that." Every thought in my head screeches to a halt and I take a moment to really look at Ragdoll. The makeup she usually wears is gone. All the accessories she usually wears are gone. It's just her and nothing else. Even her hair, usually so green and vibrant just seems…..dull. Like someone had taken away everything in her that was colorful and happy and left and empty shell of hurt and grief. And that’s not far from what actually happened. Her Quirk was taken, there's no way around that. You don't lose something so integral and come out fine. And it's all my fault. I promised. I swore that I would protect her. Then All-For-One went and made me a liar.
"What should I call you then?" I ask her, struggling to not have my voice crack halfway through. She looks at me and gives me a pained smile before responding.
"Call me Tomoko." She blinks away tears and closes her eyes before giving me a wry grin. "I would like that way more than Ragdoll. Kay, kitten?"
I nod and try to laugh, but it comes out more as a wheeze. "Alright then, Tomoko." Her hands stop trembling and I feel relief that I've at least done something right.
Tomoko looks away, seemingly in thought before speaking to me again. "My injuries aren't that bad either. I got away with little more than a few cuts and scrapes." And my whole world, goes unsaid but we both understand anyway. I frown at her and wonder for a moment.
"Tomoko…"
I look at her and see the bags under her eyes, the bruises on her arms, the exhaustion. And for the first time in almost a year, I tell someone my secret.
"Wanna hear something funny?"
The ex-Pro hero glances at me with an inquisitive expression before giving me a nod.
"How old do you think I was when my Quirk manifested?"
Tomoko's head whips around so fast you'd think I was a villain. She stares at me with poorly veiled confusion before answering.
"Four years old?" The answer sounds more like a question and I give her a wide, sad smile before shaking my head. My answer doesn't really help matters as now she just looks even more confused than before.
"What do you mean? All quirks manifest at age four."
"Not always Tomoko." Her eyes widen in surprise as she stares at me.
"My Quirk didn't manifest until I was fifteen." Tomoko's eyes widen even further as recognition dawns and now she knows.
"B-but….but that would mean-"
"Yes." I cut her off, deciding that being blunt was best. "I was Quirkless." Tomoko flinches at the word 'Quirkless' as if it was burning her. All pretenses drop after that. No more smiles or half assed grins. "For a straight decade I had to deal with the abuse and pity that came with the title of Quirkless." I give her a somber grin before saying- "Sometimes, even now, I still deal with it."
Tomoko stares at the wall, seemingly lost in thought for a long while.
"H-how?" Her voice sounds watery and broken and I feel my heart crumble under it's weight.
"What do you mean?"
Tomoko looks me straight in the eye as she leans in before speaking again.
"How did you do it?" Suddenly I understand what she's asking and I feel like I'm looking at myself. The me I was two years ago. A desperate kid looking for an answer, a method to get through the day. A grown woman is begging me for answers, answers I don't have.
"I-I….I don't know. I just found something to hold onto. But even that won't keep you running forever." Tomoko lets out a pained sob as she collapses into my arms and I hold on tight, because I need to know. Know that she's still here, that she's not gonna vanish and suddenly never have existed.
"I feel so empty!" her statement is almost incomprehensible because she's crying so hard and I'm almost right along with her.
"It's gone! It's all gone! I can't feel anything! He took it! He took my Quirk!" All I can do is stroke her hair and rock my mentor back and forth as she cries her heart out.
"I'm sorry." I whisper into her hair wishing with all my might that I could take her place. Tomoko seizes up , tears stopping entirely. She leans away from me before speaking. "What?"
I realize that she had heard my apology. "I said I'm sorry." I've never put more emotion into a simple term before in my life.
Tomoko looks at me before she adopts a watery glare. "No Izuku. Don't be sorry." I begin to protest but she cuts me off immediately.
"No, don't. I'm your teacher young one. It's my job to get hurt so you don't have to." Tomoko has a surprisingly stern voice as she lectures me, but it does little to change my views on the matter.
"But it's my fault that you got hurt! If I didn't try to save you! If I was a little bit faster-" Tomoko silences my rambling by placing her hand over my mouth. She levels a watery glare at me before speaking in a level voice.
"Don't blame yourself for the choices of a villain. I hate this. I hate this more than anything else. But I don’t regret it. Because the only other choice was you dying. And that wasn't an option."
I stare at her and suddenly I'm back in that dark hospital room. Helpless to stop the pain in front of me. Unable to alleviate her grief. She removes her hand from my mouth and she just stares at me.
"I'm sorry that this happened to you Kitten. Your so young, but you've been through so much."
I look at her as she apologizes to me, and something in me just breaks. This time, it's my turn to break down crying into her arms. At least this doesn't feel backwards. This time it's teacher comforting student and that’s how it should be. After awhile I stop crying and I let go of Tomoko. She cups her hands around my face as she wipes my tears away.
"Feel better kitten?"
No, I don't feel better. I'm never gonna feel better, but this is a start.
"I won't let this happen again." Tomoko's hands tighten ever so slightly and I look into her eyes and see confusion.
"What?" I grab ahold of her hands and look her right in the eyes. I feel it, an urge to protect, to act, an urge that I only feel when other people's lives are on the line.
"I won't let this happen. Never again. A Villain is never gonna hurt someone I care about ever again. Not the way you've been hurt. They're gonna have to get through me first."
Tomoko is shaking her head before I even finish speaking.
"No. No, kitten you can't promise that."
"I can! I have to! I already broke my last promise! I said I would protect you and I failed!" Tomoko's hands have moved down to my shoulders as she shakes me, desperately trying to get me to stop my train of thought.
"It's not your responsibility to protect Pro hero's! We're supposed to keep you safe!"
"That doesn't matter!" The volume of my voice surprises her, because she backs off few inches. Staring at me in shock.
"Your forgetting the most important thing!" My voice is hysterical now because I need to make her understand.
"Your human! Just like me!" Tomoko's eyes widen in recognition and understanding before she sits up and keeps staring at me.
"Hero's aren't gods! You can die and get hurt, just like I can! So if I have the chance to help you? To save you? I'm gonna do it! Cause I refuse to ignore someone in need of help! I refuse to let someone I care about die because of some stupid rule!" I calm down from my rant and just sit there, panting as my mentor stares at me, jaw agape.
"And I know you would do the same thing for me."
Tomoko is in shock for a moment as she processes my words. But when she does, she starts smiling. It's slow, but it's real. And I smile along with her. She practically tackles me across the bed, grabbing onto me in the tightest hug ever. I'm grinning my face off because she's laughing and it's the most genuine she's sounded during this whole conversation. She's laying next to me now laughing and laughing and laughing some more.
"You are the craziest kid I've ever seen!" She somehow forces out between cackles. I'm smiling as I watch her be happy for the first time in what was probably a very long week.
"Yeah, I get that a lot."
We laugh together until it feels like our sides are splitting. Eventually we calm down, and I just watch her. She's laying there on the bed looking almost like a carefree child, staring at the ceiling, grinning like she just won the Nobel prize. I think about how happy she seemed just minutes ago. I want to make her happy again. I want to see her smile again. So I grab her hand and drag her off the bed. She seems confused and resist at first.
"Kitten, what are we doing?"
"That face paint you were using before." I walk up to the door before looking back at her, wearing the biggest shit-eating grin I could pull off. "Where do you keep it?" Tomoko looks at me, clearly baffled before answering.
"In the bathroom down the hall. Why?"
I open the door before marching down the hall
"I wanted to try some for myself." I walk down the hallway before coming across a modest bathroom. I start opening cabinets searching for face paint. I can feel Tomoko's eyes on me a she follows me out the room. I eventually find a bright green plastic bag full of face paint and brushes. I grab it off the shelf before practically sliding down the stairway railing.
"KOTA!!!!" I yell his name as loud as I can knowing that he'll come running. I'm proven right as Kota dashes out of the living room and meets me at the bottom of the stairs.
"What is it Izu-!"
Kota cuts himself off as he see's Tomoko right behind me, walking down the stairs. His eyes widen in disbelief, as if he can't believe she's left her room. She gives him a little wave when he stares for a little too long.
"Kota!" His attention refocuses on me when I call his name.
"Yeah?" I answer his question by showing off the bag in my hands.
"Tomoko is gonna help me paint my face. Wanna join?"
Kota is surprised for a few seconds that I called Tomoko by her real name, but he quickly nods an affirmative to my request.
"Sure, as long as we don't do anything girly." I hear Tomoko giggle behind me at Kota's statement. He stares at her like she's grown a second head before moving his stare over to me, a silent question in his eyes. All i do is wink and laugh as I lead the two family members over to the dining room table. Luckily the table is circular, which makes organizing this much easier. I spread everything across the table before taking a seat. Kota sits down to the left of me, and Tomoko sits to my right.
"All right then! Everyone pick a color!" Kota goes for blue. Tomoko looks like she wants to go for pink, but she goes for green instead. I take pink in her place.
At first, things go pretty well. Tomoko gives us advice and walk us through the process of applying face paint. I put a star on my cheek and Kota puts a few splatters on his face that he claimed were supposed to be "Water Splashes" Tomoko went with her normal Whiskers and Eye look. And the best part was grinning wide the whole time. It was going well until I knocked over my bottle and spilled it all over Kota.
I felt the bottle hit my arm but I couldn't move fast enough to stop it. All I could do was watch as it fell over and splattered on Kota. When the paint splashed all over Kota, he gasped and froze in place. Like he couldn't believe that his shirt and face was covered in paint. Tomoko started cracking up behind me while Kota narrowed his eyes into a classic Death Glare.
"Oh my god, I'm sooooo sorry Kota! I didn't mean anything by it I swear! Here let me get something to help-" whatever I was about to say next I cut off with a squeak as Kota chucked some blue paint at me. I dodged, but Tomoko was still laughing at Kota behind me. She didn't see the paint coming until it was too late.
Tomoko reacted differently to having paint splashed on her. She screeched at first. Then she stood reeeaally still. She reached up to wipe the paint out of her eyes. Then she glared at both of us with eyes so cat-like that I actually felt my heart stutter a bit. Kota backed away, realizing that he had made a mistake.
"Oh shit." As vulgar a statement as it was, I couldn't help but agree with Kota in that moment.
Finally, Tomoko spoke. "I am sooooo killing both of you." That…… is not what I wanted to hear. Like, not even remotely close.
I barely heard Kota's strangled warning to run before he dashed away. I was right behind him and Tomoko was right on my heels, yelling and laughing the whole way. What ensued for the next several hours was the weirdest game of Paint Tag that I have ever played. But everyone was smiling and laughing and having fun. Almost like what happened this last week was just a dream. And Tomoko's grin was dazzling! I guess Uraraka was right. There isn't anything better than seeing a smile on someone's face, and knowing that you’re the reason it's there.
After hours and hours of paint tag and destruction of household furniture, everyone called a truce and collapsed. Somehow, we all ended up leaning against the coach in the living room, on the floor. Kota was sleeping in my lap, splattered in a weird mixture of blue green and pink paint. Tomoko was sitting next to me, dozing on my shoulder. Clearly she was exhausted, but she was grinning so I counted it as a win. I was the cleanest out of both of them, splattered in little to no paint.
I sat there with them for the rest of the day, letting them sleep after the fun they had. I sat there and just….thought about things. I thought about Kota, the child that I saved and I wondered if he could be my little brother. I thought about Tomoko, the woman that sacrificed her Quirk for me, and I wonder if she would accept being my big sister. I wondered if this was what it was like to have siblings. And I want to cry because the thought alone makes me SO happy. I look down at people I think of as family, and I made a vow to myself.
No-one will ever hurt them again. Any villain that try's to hurt them will have to go through me first. And they won't succeed. I'll make them crawl away wondering what went wrong. I will do this one thing right. I swear it.
Eventually I dozed off along with them. The lullaby that followed me to my dreams was the sound of Tomoko and Kota, breathing peacefully.
The End