Chapter Text
Fifty years after the Golden Child is born and forty five after Quirks are confirmed. Thirty-five years after the acceptance of Quirks and fifteen years after the Hero System has been established, we begin.
The High Fae had met to discuss this Opportunity. They had watched, passive as immortals are. These humans had random, strange powers that mimicked Fae abilities. There was a threat if one day they could waltz into Faerie and bypass the safeguards, Faerie glamour and secondary insanity. What then? The Fae while ever-lasting and powerful, knew it was only going to be a matter of time. Their own could not reproduce as humans could- they did not wage cataclysmic war as Faerie did.
Of the Seven Archfey to decide what Faerie would do about it- ranging from absolutely nothing to outright War- the final Archfey to choose cleared her throat. As the other six settled down in iridescent gowns and suits made of nightmares, they waited for the old Goddess of Dreams to offer her advice.
Isadora, Archfey and Queen of the Hidden Court had smiled, d̸a̷r̶k̷ ̵a̷n̶d̸ ̵s̴h̸i̶m̶m̷e̸r̷i̸n̵g̶ crown catching the faerie-lights floating above them. There, she proposed a middle ground.
Introduction and integration, she advised. Go into their world, to downplay the threat of Faerie. Show them the Seelie Court, show them the face of helpfulness, or charity, of goodness. The humans seldom learn that blood is the same on both gold and coal. They know not of cold iron and the rules they played by. A chance to spin a web, to inflict the presence of Faerie indiscriminately. As Faerie presence expands, it consumes. A Fae-touched human was better than one who wasn't, after all.
The Archfey acquiesced.
-
Step One.
Isadora spirits away twenty of her Court to Japan, and divides the other forty between England and Argentina. With strict instructions to integrate, they wave goodbye to her.
Convincing the Emperor had been a fascinating experience. Isadora sends herself on a breeze, invisibly floating past the primary guards to land in a decorated courtyard. She waits for a moment, admiring the koi pond as the sounds of metal come closer to her. A man flickers into her field of vision, moving fast with a hand stretched out and glowing white. Before the human can procure the supernova light he has, Isadora sends his mind to a pavilion made of sunsets his mi̴̧nd͟͡ c̴̛o̸̢ų̷͞l̶̢d̕͟͜ n̡ơt ҉͞n͜a̕͜m̸e͘͟ t̡h͏̷e ̶c̛ ̶̛o̡͜ ̷͝l̢ ͏̶̕o͝ r̶̡ ş̷ of. A moment to observe the man foaming at the mouth in delirium, she picks the small flower tucked into his uniforms’ lapel. The courtyard is tense as she shakes a finger at the second line of defense. A woman with clay-red skin steps out from the line, silently leading her to a modest study.
Boring, too easy to convince a scared Emperor to accept her offer. Instructing the Court Healer to tend to his ill wife, another Fae to grant a fertility rite for his son in exchange a decent slot of land in Mustafu. Humanity hadn't changed much, in her opinion. To have the Emperor's name in her ledger, to listen to a lonely man ramble about the security her people could bring to the area. Heroes to watch with smiles and others to observe with hooded eyes, villain networks and drug rings she was given full blessing to meddle with. A peer around the Emperor's personal library, not entirely in her pocket but drinking her words all the same.
"Do not worry so, young man. We will lift our magic for your people, your heroes. We've had-" Isadora's laugh was of tinkling bells and warm honey, "-centuries of experience with Heroism and Villainy. All will be well, Emperor. Just watch, and wait. How do you wish to officiate this?"
It will be many decades later until the Game is set, stacked high in Isadora's favor.
It will be many more years until the fruit is sweet enough to e͇͈͟a̷̶̰̭t̴̘͙̲̱͎͎ .
-
A Court, a demesne, a Faerie home takes time to shape. Plants from Faerie are transplanted into the garden, vines that can attack the malevolent twine around the pillars of the building. Sunken pools for the Selkies, Sirens, Mer, arched ceilings for those gifted with wings. A raised circle, for three throne chairs. Queen, Consort, and Heir. Only one will be sat in for now.
There is magic pressed into every crevice and corner; rooms changing locations, sentient shadows in dim hallways. Brownies kept the house immaculate but could never be seen cleaning. The Court will stand two stories for those with Mortal eyes, dozens more for Fae. The untrained eye will only see a small mansion, gleaming shrubbery just a hint too lush for the city, towering trees blocking the view from the back garden.
They will not see balconies made of paper-thin glass and iridescent pillars, the cobblestone driveway will not murmur to them as they walk across it. The media will never experience the rose bushes greeting them as they enter the house. The Backyard- Isadora's favorite project- will become tethered to Faerie, shimmering magic on the boughs of a weeping willow. Naiads and Drayds will find the comforts of a hedge maze, faerie-fruit trees shall provide nourishment for those in contemplation. It will become a home for all those with the slightest bit of magic in them, a soft place to rest an immortal head, a break from humanity's sprawling cities.
Perhaps a fae-touched child will see a smiling face at the window by the door, a peek into the bushes may reveal a tea set with sweets laid out on it. For these children, all is free without ulterior motive.
Weeks later and she walks the city, eyeing the names of heros on shirts and juice boxes. Soleli, a hero Isadora was aware of, patrolled these streets. Isadora filers glamour over her, reducing her presence to a youthful woman with green hair. She still catches stares, winking at a young business man. To be beautiful enough to cause such a reaction, though. It’s quite charming.
A few turns around the city and Isadora spots a young child being picked on. Grade school uniform dirtied, what she assumes is the child’s backpack is open and dumped over the child. Two other children jeer and point with ugly laughter pouring out of them. The bullies seem normal, though one has a gray tinge to their skin. A Quirked child! Intrigued and therefore invested, Isadora stalks over to them, face carefully neutral.
“-like you! I heard your momma left when you got your quirk! You’re just a-” She clears her throat, both bullies startling. The child on the ground is covering their face, eyes clenched tight and still crying. Isadora looks to the standing children, face now set in disapproval and demanding silence.
“What, exactly, is going on? No,-” She tapped her foot at the taller bully looking to run. “-you stay here and answer me. Why are you hurting this child?” She hears the child on the ground make a noise of confusion as she glared at the two. Both are male, she recognizes. The bigger, gray skinned one looks furious someone’s stepped in, but the younger eyes the ground with guilt. Good. The first idea is that either this child has an uncommon quirk, perhaps the kid’s family? Isadora taps her foot again at the leader and lifts an eyebrow.
The boy gives in.
“She’s got a villians quirk. She can’t be a hero with it, and that's all she talks about! She's just a future villain!” The bigger one spits out, she watches the gray intensify around the bully’s hands, creating almost a shine to them. The boy elbows his friend and jerks his head to Isadora.
“Her quirk makes people feel whatever she wants.” He mumbled, shifting away from the three. The child-she, apparently- slowly starts to get up, and out of the corner of her eye Isadora sees the girl trembling.
Isadora scoffs at the two before turning and offering her hand to the girl. She only stares at Isadora in awe, seemingly unable to decide where to look. Isadora smiles when the girl takes it, pulling herself up and cottoning to the Fae’s side, hiding her face in Isadora’s pants.
“So you’re angry she has a better shot at being a hero than you two do.” Is what she decides to say- they are young kids, after all. “You probably say some villian on TV with a similar quirk, didn’t you? She could make someone calm down, or feel safe, or happy or sleepy and you decided that’s villainous?” She rolls her eyes, hand patting the little girl’s head. “The only people aren’t being heroic are you both.” She looks at the lackey, ”You know better. Why didn’t you stop this kid from bullying her?” The boys’ head twitch at that word. As they should. “Run along, and you better think about how people see your actions.”
They scamper off, though the lackey looks back at them with an unreadable look.
Isadora knelt down before the girl and grins. “Don’t worry about babies like that. You ok?” She tries to brush the dirt off the girl’s side for it to smudge. That’s alright, she has an idea.
-
Hana Kyoko has no idea what to think right now! Keiki and Aiko were bullying her and no one cared- and she knew it would get worse if she used her quirk! Sensei was always trying to get her expelled ‘cause she ‘complained too much’ and her parents hated it when Sensei talked to them!
But-but then this really pretty woman came over and told them she could be a hero. Told them off! Her bullies ran off! The lady smells like the best thing ever , between the campfire her grandpa had at his house that one time and her stuffed animal’s detergent and-and now- waitreallyprettylady with really pretty eyes was asking her something!
“Your uniform? Little one, can I clean your uniform?” The lady has her brows tight as she looks at her uniform.
Kyoko’s confused but ‘clean your uniform’- was it this lady’s quirk?
“Something like that.” The lady laughs softly. Oh dang it, she did it again! The lady smiled, brushing a lock of hair-green like jade!- behind her ear. Kyoko could only nod shakily, still sore after hitting the ground. The lady tutted about boys being boys everywhere , waving a hand slowly over the dirt.
The dirt pulled itself off. Just like that. Kyoko looked at her skirt to see the same thing- like it was flying away from her clothes! This lady’s quirk was awesome! Could she do this with bigger things? Was it dirt or just small things like dirt? Could pretty lady make someone’s uniform dirty like that as well? Elemental quirks were still pretty weak generally but she saw this show where doctors were saying quirks were only going to get stronger but wow wow wow wow wow-
“It’s magic!” the lady laughed, patting her on the head. Her eyes looked a little different now, they were still green but now they had gold in them! Kyoko couldn’t put a finger on it, but this lady looks- looks almost weird. Like the colors are wrong. Green lady would look better with blues and purples and maybe some more gold! That’s okay though, lady was super nice! “It’s a special thing my family does. Almost like a quirk, honestly. Now, I’m just a stranger but you can call me Isadora! Now, did you want help finding a way home or…”
-
Hana Kyoko will go home safely, a phone number scrawled on a piece of paper. Kyoko will see the lady known as Isadora occasionally, and she’ll run up the pretty lady and talk about anything and everything. There are little cakes Isadora gives her sometimes and they taste h̛e̢a͠v̛e̡nly̴. Kyoko will struggle with bullies for only a few more weeks before her teacher gets fired and a much nicer one comes in.
Kyoko’s quirk will get stronger as the years go on, catching the eye of a hero school recruiter. On the bad days where is father stares gloomily at a photo of his daughters’ mother, he’ll wonder why she looks so different from the both of them. He’ll compare yearly pictures with a phrase on the tip of his tongue, only to be distracted and forget what he’s thinking. Kyoko’s eyes will begin to see things they could not before, and lying these days leaves her with headaches. Must be from her quirk, who hasn’t heard of a weirder drawback? She keeps in contact with Isadora weekly, graduated from tea shops to cat cafes and brunches.
There’s something that remains mysterious about her, whether it’s how the woman looks the same over the years or maybe something else. It doesn’t matter, Isadora gives the best advice and even better hugs and it’s nice to get doted on, okay? Isadora has people with her every now and then and they’re just as kind, just as mysterious and breath-takingly gorgeous. When Kyoko makes it into Hero school, she steps out the door the next day to find an ornate box with her name on it, a jade-colored ribbon in a bow sitting on top. She’ll almost knock over her father in childish impatience to rip it open.
Inside this box she’ll find carefully packaged homemade treats and a rough sketch of what her hero costume could look like. Tips on what she should focus on in studies, which websites are legitimate for citing in future papers. Recommendations for martial art studios, and an open invitation to visit them at their home.
Isadora is the best!
-
Kyoko,
I heard you’re about to set off to become a hero! We’re all so proud of you! Rhys and I made a bet how much you’d crush the competition, but I won’t tell you who won. (Rhys won, but only because he cheated)
Yes, you’re welcome to swing by our home anytime you want to! I cannot guarantee I will be home when you’re over, but everyone here at home is rooting for you and appreciates your company. The costume idea is something we all sat down and thought of, though you are not required by any means to use it. You could show it to the Support department for a second opinion.
A word of advice from us. Always remember why you want to be a hero. It truly isn’t about rankings or publicity-but saving people. You said I saved you, when we first met.(it’s been so long, sweet Goddess above) Become the type of person that would step in if she saw bullying, if she saw something unjust happening before her very eyes. This world isn’t kind to the strange and new right now, and it will take many more people with the right mindset to change it for the better. You can do it. You can lead, take charge of your peers. SHow them why the world you want can be a reality. Make your Dream your reality.
With love and best regards,
Isadora and Rhys