Chapter Text
Hannah Aren had been homeschooled for a long time. So long that she didn’t really grasp that her father was a bad guy, and it was all because of Kaylee Keel that she finally did. Hannah was eight at the time, and her father had taken her to the park when he had spotted the pro-hero Metamorph. He patted her head and told her to have fun playing before turning to attack the man.
Most of the families in the area ran away with their children, so the park wasn’t very much fun. But there was one little girl who stayed, hidden in the playground’s tunnel as she watched the battle fearfully.
“Hi. Want to play?” asked Hannah. The other girl looked up at her in horror.
“There’s a battle! ” she said.
Hannah looked over at the fight. She didn’t understand what the big deal was. It wasn’t even a particularly interesting fight. Her daddy just got stronger and stronger the more the hero tried to fight him. It would be over soon.
“So?” asked Hannah. She was rather startled when the other girl began to cry.
“What’s wrong?” asked Hannah.
She wanted this girl to be her friend, and what Hannah wanted she usually got. She didn’t really understand why this girl was being so difficult.
“Why are you acting like nothing is wrong?” the girl asked through her tears. “That’s my daddy out there, and he’s fighting and it’s scary !”
Hannah frowned, cogs turning in her head as she felt empathy for the very first time. It would be scary if her daddy was losing. She knew that fights ended in dead people, but now she was finally considering what it might be like if her father was the one that ended up dead.
“If I save your daddy, will you be my friend?” asked Hannah. The girl looked up at her in astonishment.
“But you’re just a little girl like me!” she said. “You can’t fight villains!”
Hannah frowned. It was the first time she had ever heard the word ‘villain’ said as if it was bad. She didn’t like it. But she still really, really wanted a friend.
“ Daddy! ” Hannah wailed, sobbing.
Her father stopped fighting at once, leaving the pro-hero on the ground as he rushed to her.
“My name is Hannah,” she said while she could. “What’s yours?”
“Um. Kaylee,” the girl said. “Kaylee Keel.”
“I’m glad we’re going to be friends, Kaylee!” Hannah beamed.
Then she transformed her face into one of sadness, with tears streaming down her face, just in time for her father to come rushing up.
“What is it, Princess?” he asked.
“I fell down,” she said. “Can we go home now?”
Her father frowned over his shoulder at the downed hero, so Hannah turned the sobs up a bit more.
“Of course, Princess,” he sighed. “This can wait.”
He picked her up and began to head home. Over his shoulder, Hannah smiled and waved at the dumbfounded Kaylee.
When Hannah got home she had one of her daddy’s henchmen look up the address for her new penpal. It took a bit of hacking, but was ultimately fairly easy. It took about an hour, and that hour was the longest of Hannah’s life.
She gave the man a hug when he finally produced it for her, none the wiser that he had just found Metamorph’s house. Hannah ran to her room and began to compose a letter in her very best handwriting, decorating the paper and envelope with Decepticon stickers. She was even more careful when she wrote the address, so the mailman could read it clearly. Hannah then carefully took it to the mailbox, and proceeded to check for a reply five times a day.
…………
Kaylee could never quite say how she got to be penpals with Benevourous’s daughter. It just sort of happened. The girl had saved her father after all, so when she got Hannah’s first letter she thought it was only polite to reply. One letter turned into two, two turned into four, and soon they were in regular correspondence.
Kaylee wrote to her about school and her friends, and Hannah wrote to her about learning to fight and messing with henchmen. Kaylee told her about her quirk of turning into animals and being able to talk to them, which prompted Hannah to ask if she could turn into a tiger.
“I can only turn into animals that I’ve touched before, and I haven’t touched a tiger yet. I can turn into a cat though!” She wrote.
In turn, Hannah told her about being able to make wind and choking people by making the air go away. Kaylee responded by begging her not to do the second one, and asked if she could fly.
“I can’t fly, which is really stupid. I can sorta use it to jump really high though, ” Hannah said in return.
As they got older the letters turned into phone calls and texts, and when they reached middle school age they could finally meet up again, as both of their parents trusted them enough to go to certain places around the city on their own. Throughout it all, Hannah became more and more disillusioned with her father.
“It’s… strange,” said Hannah. “I still love him. But… what he does is wrong.”
They grew to be very fast friends, and Hannah even professed that she did not know what would have happened had she not met Kaylee. Which was why, at the end of ninth grade, Kaylee was not particularly happy to be imparting the news that she was.
They had gotten ice cream at one of their favorite local sweet shops, and Hannah was very happily telling her that she thought she could convince her father to let her attend public school in the fall.
“We may be able to go to the same school!” smiled Hannah.
Kaylee winced, and Hannah’s smile slid away.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” asked Hannah.
“I… I might not be here next year,” Kaylee admitted. Hannah looked at her in horror. Kaylee continued.
“I’m applying to U.A.,” she said. “In Japan.”
There was a long stretch of silence.
“Then I’ll apply to U.A. too!” said Hannah.
That took Kaylee by surprise, and she blinked at her friend.
“You know U.A. is a hero school,” she said. “The best hero school in the world.”
“I’m not dumb. Everyone knows what U.A. is,” said Hannah. “Why? Don’t think I could do it?”
“No! That’s not what I meant at all! It’s just… What about your father?”
Hannah frowned.
“Let me deal with my father,” she said.
……..
And within the week, Hannah was emancipated.
“How did he take it?” asked Kaylee.
“He was ecstatic,” said Hannah with a roll of her eyes. “He thinks it’s an elaborate plan to infiltrate the heroes.”
Kaylee raised an eyebrow. Benevourous was deadly and smart, but he had a bit of a blind spot when it came to his daughter.
In the weeks that followed, the girls practiced their Japanese as they packed. It was a language that was taught to everyone when they were very young, ever since the small country had become the Quirk capital of the world, housing not only U.A., but the world’s number one and two heroes among many others besides.
That didn’t mean Hannah and Kaylee were perfect though, especially with writing.
“Why are there so many little lines!” cried Hannah.
At the start of the school year they flew overseas, staying in a hotel. If they made it past the entrance exam, they would be able to live in the dorms, which housed the few international students the school took on each year.
Hannah paced the floor a lot more than she normally did. She would have to be exceptional in order to pass, especially with her background. She had to prove that she was worthy enough for the Hero Course. She prepared by working out and practicing her fighting skills, and Kaylee prepared by visiting local zoos. She batted her pretty brown eyes until she was cleared for an exclusive tour, allowing her to pet many of the animals.
“How do you convince people you’re so cute and innocent?” asked Hannah.
“Well,” Kaylee said slowly. “It helps if you’re actually cute and innocent.”
“Oh, fuck off," huffed Hannah.
…...
The day of the exams came. Everyone around them spoke in rapid Japanese, and it was a little overwhelming. Hannah and Kaylee really had to concentrate on what was being said, so the surrounding babble was just that: babble.
“Wow, this place is so huge!” said Kaylee, turning around to look at her friend.
“Look out!” cried Hannah.
Kaylee crashed into a young man, and they were only just able to keep from toppling to the ground.
“What are you doing standing in the middle of the walkway, idiot!” cried Hannah. “There’s a lot of people here, you know!”
“I’m sorry!” the young man replied with a short bow.
But Kaylee was a little distracted. The boy she had run into was unfairly adorable. His hair was an iridescent green-black, and his round face and wide eyes made him look incredibly cute. Yet she could tell from bumping into him that he had a very mature and muscled physique. She felt herself blushing.
“Are you alright?” asked Kaylee.
The young man nodded, but seemed unable to speak.
“Well, uh… That’s good. Um. I guess I’ll see you around?” she asked.
Hannah clicked her tongue and threw up her hands before grabbing Kaylee by the elbow and dragging her off.
“For fuck’s sake,” she growled in English. “We’re going to be late.”
Kaylee snapped herself out of it. There would be time for this later. Hannah was right, she had to focus now.
They made their way into the auditorium, where Present Mic greeted all the potential students and began to carefully explain the practical portion of their entrance exam. They were going to be let loose in different battle center and would be fighting robots worth 1, 2, and 3 points. At the request of a particularly loud student, Present Mic also explained that there were robots worth 0 points that were only meant to be obstacles.
They were then dismissed to get changed and head over to their respective zones.
“I’m in Zone A,” said Kaylee.
Hannah looked down at her paper.
“I’m in Zone B,” she said.
“We’re not together?” asked Kaylee. She looked very disappointed.
“I think they do it on purpose. You and I are likely to help each other if we’re together,” said Hannah. “I’m sure they want to judge us based on our own merits.”
They reached the locker rooms and began to rummage through their bags to find their change of clothes.
“I guess,” Kaylee frowned. “You’ll be careful though, won’t you? They’ll disqualify you if you hit anyone.”
Hannah gave her friend a glare as she changed her shirt.
“I’m not stupid,” she said.
“I never said you were!”
Kaylee changed into her workout outfit, which was at least one size too tight. Her clothes had to be skin-tight when she transformed, or the clothes wouldn’t transform with her. And that would get very embarrassing, very quickly.
Then with one last whisper of luck to her friend, they parted.
Kaylee made her way to Zone A. She saw the one green-haired boy from before, and almost called out to him. But then she realized he was looking at another girl, one with a similar hair color to her own. She burned with embarrassment.
Now was not the time to be making friends anyway.
There was no countdown. Present Mic opened the doors and they all rushed forward at once. Kaylee leapt, arms outstretched, transforming before she hit the ground. To take care of robots, she would need some incredible hitting power.
She would have to send a gift basket to the zoo. She would never have been able to do it without them.
Kaylee gave a trumpet in warning, and felt very pleased as those around her parted to make way for the charging African elephant.
…..
Hannah moved to Zone B, stretching before the gates opened. From the silhouettes they had been given, she would have to focus on 1 and 2 point robots, as those would be the easiest to knock over. She wouldn’t be able to do much with the level 3’s unless they weighed less than a car. And even that would take a lot out of her. But that would mean that she would have to take out a great deal of robots.
As she was thinking, a boy with blonde spiky hair pushed past her.
“Get out of my way!” he growled.
“Hey! Up yours, asshole!”
“Fuck you!” he snapped back.
“Get in line!”
Hannah liked him.
The doors opened, and everyone rushed inside. Hannah made her way to the front of the pack, coming across the robots soon after entering, all neatly lined up in a row as if they were waiting for her. With one large exhale she knocked over two two-point robots, which in turn knocked three one pointers over.
“Ha!” she shouted.
Her victory was short lived, as the rude blonde came barreling past, shooting three three-pointers with explosions from his hands.
“Move!” he shouted.
Oh, it was so on.
…..
Kaylee was having the time of her life, crawling over every robot that got in her path. So far she had crushed nine three-pointers, seven two-pointers, and five one-pointers. She lifted her trunk and trumpeted in triumph. There were very few robots now, but she was sure she could still score a few more before time ran out.
But that was when the zero-pointer came onto the scene. Everyone began to run away, and Kaylee thought it was best to do the same. She turned around and began running, only stumbling when she almost ran over a blonde boy with gray eyes. She managed to not break stride, picking him up with her trunk and slinging him up on her back. He didn’t stay there though. He jumped off, and soon there was a male African elephant running beside her. Kaylee was shocked at seeing a quirk like her own, but didn’t let that stop her from running. She soon spotted another boy who was struggling to run away due to his short stature. She picked him up too, and he stayed where he was, sticking to her back with some purple substance that he pulled from his head. She only stopped when she heard the large crash, and she turned around to look.
The green-haired student had punched the zero-pointer, causing it to collapse, allowing all of them to get away. It seemed he had done so at a great cost to himself too; his arm and legs looked broken as he fell from the sky. Kaylee felt helpless as she watched him fall, sure that she was about to see him die…
Then at the very last moment, the other redhead was able to graze him with her fingertips, and used her own quirk to stop him from reaching the ground. Kaylee sighed, and it sounded very odd as an elephant.
The buzzer sounded, indicating the end of the test, and Kaylee allowed herself to slip back into being human. She panted for a few seconds before realizing that the little purple guy was still on her back, his hands on her chest.
“You can let go now!” she screeched.
He shouted and fell to the ground.
“I’m sorry, they are just so luscious!” he cried.
She hit him on the head. And frankly, she thought he got off lucky. He’d be dead if Hannah was there.
…..
If Hannah was right, she had taken down three three-pointers, fourteen two-pointers, and fifteen one-pointers by the time the zero-pointer had come out and ruined everything. The test ended with her way behind that one blonde bastard, who had been killing it with three-pointers the whole time.
All the potential students gathered around again as Present Mic took them inside to conduct their written exam.
“So?! How’d you do?” asked Hannah.
“I got forty-six points, I believe,” said Kaylee.
“Hell yeah! I got fifty-two!” cried Hannah, punching the air. “Dinner is on you!”
Kaylee scowled, but Hannah couldn’t stop beaming. She was aceing this hero shit! The written portion was easy too, once she got past the language barrier. She knew the law incredibly well. One had to know it extensively in order to evade it after all, and it was one course of study her father had made sure she was well-versed in.
Hannah was walking on cloud nine. She knew no one thought she could be a hero. The day she moved away from her father and crashed at Kaylee’s, she heard the other girl arguing with her dad. Metamorph was convinced Hannah was just using his daughter, and had no qualms about telling her so.
“She is a villain. She will only hurt you!” Hannah heard him shout.
Eventually the pro-hero begrudgingly accepted Kaylee’s judgement, but he wasn’t happy about it.
Even when applying to U.A. she had been denied the first time. She had to write a personal plea to Principal Nezu, and was only here on his good graces. And she was pretty certain she had only gotten that because he was confident the pro-heroes that worked there could stop her if she tried anything.
As far as she could tell from asking around, very few other students made more than fifty points in the practical portion. Of course, there were a great deal of people who weren’t willing to share their scores, but she worked with the information that she had. Hannah was floating on top of the world for the next week, and nearly busted Kaylee’s eardrums when their results came in.
“They’re here! Oh my god, they’re here! I can’t look!” she gasped. “You open it!”
She thrust her envelope into Kaylee’s hands only to snatch it back right away.
“No, I have to do this on my own!” she said.
“Together?” asked Kaylee. “One… Two… Three!”
They ripped them open at the same time, and two little gray disks fell onto the desk. Each projected their own holograms, with Kaylee’s just a tad out of sync and playing just a moment behind her friend’s. Each showed an image of All Might in front of a bright background.
“Don’t be afraid, I am here!” said each projection one right after the other. “Sorry for the wait for your test results, but with great power comes great amounts of paperwork! My apologies, young lady! The truth is, I didn’t come to this city just to fight villains. You are looking at the newest U.A. faculty member!”
“No way!” gasped Kaylee.
“You passed the written test,” the All Mights echoed.
“And you passed the practical portion with 52 Combat points.”
“46 Combat points,” Kaylee’s echoed.
“Congratulations on passing the exam! Welcome, Hannah! You are now a part of hero academia!” finished Hannah’s.
“However, there were other factors! The practical exam was not graded on Combat alone! We also have Rescue points! A panel of judges watches and they award points for heroic acts! Kaylee Keel: 10 Rescue points! Congratulations on passing the exam! Welcome, Kaylee! You are now a part of hero academia!”
Both girls sat in shock.
“We made it!” laughed Kaylee. “We made it into U.A.!”
Hannah was excited. There was no denying that she was. But the videos felt like a slap to the face. She hadn’t done anything heroic at all, and it made her previous joy about her score seem stupid. She had been tied for second place based on Combat points alone, but with the addition of Rescue points she hadn’t even made the top ten like Kaylee had.
It was a sobering, humbling reminder.
She was going to have to work hard to overcome her own shortcomings if she wanted to be a hero, she was going to have to push beyond…
“Plus Ultra,” she said.