Chapter Text
With 80% of the population with quirks, the world has become fanatical with the creation of heroes, children growing up and not just watching fictional heroes on a screen but physically become a functioning savior to a community of people.
A Hero...
Heroes are brave and commit their lives to a lifestyle of defense, and heroism. Some just aren't ready for that life.
Awkwardly fumbling through the mess we call high school. She feels her shoulder get smashed causing her footing to stumble and her books to go scattering across the tiled floor. Shamefully she looked through her heavy bangs and bend to the ground shuffling her notes and textbooks into a somewhat organized shamble of mess in her arms.
She huffs out a sigh and she strides into class. Her ratty long hair hangs down in a low messy ponytail, her fringe is well needed of a hair cut yet she refuses to do so. Her curtain of hair over her eyes is like a shield, protecting her from ever growing too close to another person.
Her name was (Y/n) Fiferson but many just call her Knott, she was a quiet girl, not very social or confident and this was the reason why many, particularly people in her class, questioned how or why she was ever put into class 1A of UAs hero course.
Knott wasn't outspoken about wanted a hero life, she wasn't confident in her abilities and she was plain average at everything...
Average.
Average grades, Average looks, Average old Knott.
Maybe that's why she didn't hold herself too highly...
Finally, in a flurry of steps to try and maneuver her way around a pack of loud rambunctious teens, she scurries through the door of her classroom.
"Bakubro--"
"I SAID STOP FUCKING CALLING ME THAT SHITTY HAIR!!!!"
"Bakugou!! That is not appropriate language for a UA student!!! And for the last time TAKE YOUR FEET OFF THE TABLE!!"
"FUCK YOU!!"
The screaming and yells of the classroom seem normal by now, with the whole Bakugou being Bakugou situation no one noticed Knott scurry into the classroom, not that anyone ever does...
Knott slides into her seat - 4th back in the second row closest to the door, a remarkably average spot in the classroom. The only thing you could see apart from her slim lips and slightly freckled cheeks were the thin brimmed round glasses resting on her nose under her fringe. It was peculiar to have such items under such a thick bush of hair, some questioned why she didn't just pin back her hair.
Knott reaches up and fiddles with her glasses, preoccupying her mind for the anxious feeling her in the lower gut.
"Hey Knott!!' Called a voice, the girl's head rears up peeking through her hair to see Uraraka, a pleasant and friendly girl who offered Knott a gentle smile.
"Do you have any spare paper? I forgot my book for English" Uraraka giggled to herself, she was so pretty, lovely flushed cheeks, bright smile, vibrant hair that shon in the sunlight. Knott could tell people liked her, people always liked people like her. Uraraka was everything Knott could never be.
Knott leaned to the side fishing through her book back and pulled out a page from her book, the edges crimpled and slightly abused but in a good enough condition to take notes on. She slid the paper to the girl who offered Knott a genuine smile. Knott narrowed her eyes to her book and distanced herself from the girl.
And just as fast as she came, Uaraka gave a polite thank you and went on with her business.
Finally, Aizawa came to class, the buzzing of the class mellowed down as they waited for their teacher's instructions. He slammed down a sizable pile of paper stuffed into a yellow folder which looked as if it would burst any minute.
"Okay... Here are the requested internships from the sports festival"
Oh yes, the sports festival...
Probably one of Knott's worst experiences ever. She bearly just made it into the under the 40s for the first race, having to sprint the whole way and use her with and distraction.
In the cavalry battle, she was taken over by a purple-haired by but unlike her classmate Ojiro she had no guts to forfeit her place in the game which in the end didn't matter because she was beaten in her first match by a boy covered in steel and metal who threw her off the platform.
Once again she wasn't well known, she wasn't looked at as the worst person which was good but she also wasn't looked at at all. That's how it always seems to be for her.
Knott's quirk allowed her to produce illusions, disfigure the mind and manufacture whatever she wants as long as she keeps a calm mind and a high level of imagination. Sadly because Knott's constant anxiety and stress her mental state is never tranquil enough to produce a good enough illusion.
Aizawa went around and passed out people's internship sheets along with permission notes for guardians to sign. As he placed down Knott's page she found it very baren.
Many students would have 3 or more requests, some who ranked high in the festival had hundreds so when looking down at her own sheet her chest filled with storm clouds, clouds that fogged up her chest and made her want to slip away and cry.
1 name.
Only 1 person in the whole of Japan wanted her to intern her...
She felt saddened by this. She bearly even wanted to be a hero at this rate. Feeling flat and emotionally drained Knott picked up her belongings and filed out the room for her next period along with her other classmates, happily bubbling on about who they had and getting peer support on who to take on.
Maybe she just shouldn't do it? The school doesn't force the students to do one... it's just highly recommended...
she sighed as her day went on, both too quickly and agonizingly slow at the same time. At the end of the day, no one was in the halls, distant chatter echoed from far away but the little noise brought peace her Knott's mind. She would just stroll through the hall with a universe of thoughts in her mind yet feeling so at peace.
As she reached her locker she retrieved the items she needed and went to go home. But as she went to shut her locker she felt her body slam into the locker door. A harsh slam rumbles down the hall and she feels her body go heated from the pain. She trips as she turns to see her abuser.
His burning crimson eyes glared down at her petite form, even on her toes she would bearly be up to his shoulder. His crazed blond hair stuck out and made it clear who he was. Bakugou Katsuki.
Ever since her first day he seemed to have a problem with her. He would say it's her lack of commitment to heroism which is understandable, she really had no passion left in her to keep pursuing an empty dream.
"How the fuck did a weak ass as you get into the Hero course? Let along UA" He spoke, It felt so much worst this way. Bakugou would usually yell and scream at people when he's angry but not Knott, He had this viperous tongue that spat toxic spit wounding her emotional. He would look don to her as if his voice shouldn't be used for such a worthless bug of a human.
She felt her body go numb with fear as he reached down and grasped her collar, bundling the fabric of her shirt into his fist as he lifted her off the ground and into the air with ease.
"Look! I could just pick you up and hurtle you out the school if I wanted! I trust me..." His face got dangerously close, teeth bared in a snarl as he looked at her face threatening glare, "...I really want to" His vice grip tightened restricting the collar around her throat causing her to gasp in pain.
Her shirt tugged at her neck giving her burns, she could feel Bakugou's hands heating ready to inflict damage on her. Her hands pulled up and coiled weakly around his wrist, desperately pleading for retrain.
He laughed seeing her struggle. His grip disappeared causing her to plummet to the ground landing with a thud on her ass. She took short sweet breaths gaining the air she had lost while gently rubbing her neck trying her hardest to sooth the fabric burns Bakugou had caused.
"You're nothing" He spoke with his snake tongue. His manner was always threatening, his purpose was always to downgrade her, make her feel worthless...
Well, it was working.
After being told countless times not just from Bakugou but from her peers, her bullies, her teachers, her 'friends...
Her self mostly.
As Bakugou left the sound of shoes on floor tapped away further and further until you could no longer hear them. Even with no noise and no one around Knott lay on the floor, weak, defenseless and broken. She had taken so many hits throughout her life and she felt at her lowest now.
She pulled herself to her knees, at some point in the fight her glasses had fallen off her face sitting sprawled out on the ground, arms open and left to be forgotten like her.
She placed her frames back on her face and resumed her walk, fiddling with the straps of her bag as she walked away from the school. Along with being bullied and having copious amounts of self-loathing she also lived alone.
Her father lives in America somewhere, after her mother died her father remarried to a woman, lovely yet uncaring. She already had a son, he was brilliant. His Name was Lucas.
Lucas was proud, confident, his quirk stood out along with his devilishly handsome face. Knott always knew her father wanted a boy, maybe this was why he was so eager to accept Lucas as his son and forget about Knott.
She decided to move to Japan on a whim, she had been there many times with her mother to see family here and after proposing the small idea of moving to a completely different country her father and stepmother were radiant, they couldn't have shipped her over quicker. Knott tried to fool herself into thinking they wanted the best for her and that they were embracing her independence but after 2 years of hearing nothing from her family and being blocked out from their lives, she quickly accepts they just wanted the parasite of a daughter gone. She lived with her grandmother and father for a couple of years and then once high school came around she wanted to go alone.
Now she lived in a small apartment close to UA...
She constantly contemplated how she EVER got recommended into UA. Yep, she was a recommendation student! which was shocking when comparing her to the other recommended students in 1A.
Todoroki -
A handsome confident boy with the 2nd best Hero in Japan as a father, trained from birth he was almost guaranteed to get in.
Then Yoayorozu -
A rich girl who provided detailed planning and strong leadership. Her quirk was spectacular and useful and she looks like she was sculpted by the Gods.
And then there's Knott...
A short loner who lives alone, can bearly use her quirk without having a panic attack and was just plain average. For school she wore an oversized jumped which hung over her hands and bagged at her waist hiding her body and a slightly longer skirt, her grandmother didn't want her wearing a mini skirt to school so she bought her a shirt 3 sizes too big and sewed the waist to her size so the skirt came lower than her knees. Less than appealing to boys and girls. She was just Knott, a long-haired outcast with little to no self-confidence.
As she arrived home and placed her bag down beside her bed and stared mindlessly up at the ceiling.
Why would anyone recommend her?
How did she even get into the course?
The words Bakugou spat at her rung through her head...
"How the fuck did a weak ass as you get into the Hero course?"
Shes surprised she was even surprised she got someone wanting an internship. Remembering this she leaned over and fished through her bag pulling out a slightly crumpled piece of paper titled:
-(Y/N) FIFERSON'S INTERNSHIPS-
- Cordelia The Queen
Cordelia The Queen?
The name sounded familiar but not enough to pinpoint who they were. They must be desperate to want someone like Knott to intern for them. Knott placed the sheet of paper inside her bedside table. She decided she didn't want to do it. She wasn't cut out to be a hero, she wasn't worth it so she might as well give up.
She turned to her side and closed her eyes and tried her very hardest to sleep away the day's pains.