Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

If he had to choose the time when it all fell apart, it was that day.

It felt like any other day. Chad had manifested his powers a long time ago. Being the first made their parents care more about him than his older brother and little sister.

He remembered getting ignored for his older brother, his older, brilliant, and super smart brother. Mom and dad used to praise him all the time, saying how he’ll become the next big hero, how he’ll become the pride of the family.

Everything Morgan ever did backed it up. Good at sports, good grades, great personality, charismatic, and friendly. All good qualities for a hero, especially for the Sterling family.

Then Diego was born, and she was their literal princess. Everything she ever wanted, she got. It didn’t help that Diego was just like Morgan in every aspect possible, just a little bit more spoiled because of her status as the youngest.

He used to hate it because his parents barely sent a glance at him.

As time went on though, their parents would start to worry, then they would start to frown as they looked at their brother with something.

That’s when the training started.

Every two days, a different set of workouts, with different survival skills. Chad was specifically given a ‘how to act as a hero’ class because of how terrible he was at being nice and friendly with others. Diego had to be given so many lectures on how to look presentable because female heroes had a stigma against them or something, like how they needed to dress skimpy or act coy and whatever.

But Morgan …

Morgan would start coming back with bruises.

They were small at first, unnoticeable. He had been 12 at that time, while Chad was 10 and Diego was six.

None of them noticed, Morgan never said anything about it either, but his training was harsh. It had everything Chad and Diego had but more, just more extreme, more brutal. One day, he came back with a black eye and their dad looked angry and irritated.

That’s when the screaming started.

He tries to wash it away, covering his ears with his pillows as if pretending that none of this was happening.

But it happened again, and again, and again. Their parents always screamed, Morgan looked worse for wear, and Diego looked uncomfortable with the atmosphere.

They started a small ritual where they’d gather at night, the screaming still loud, and Morgan would open his door for the two and let them in. They’d make a fortress made out of blankets and pillows, combined with the blankets and pillows that were dragged from their rooms.

Morgan would pick a book and read to them, play a game, and later on start playing songs on his radio.

But then there were days when Morgan just couldn’t move, he looked too hurt, in too much pain. That’s when Chad and Diego organized everything so that he didn’t need to move at all. They’d huddle into a big group hug and fall asleep in that position.

Then, one day, Morgan flinched from the hug.

And Diego cried.

Chad felt terrible.

It was the same day Chad manifested his powers, and Morgan didn’t.

“Maybe he’s a late bloomer?”

They’d say at first. As time went on, they would say that less and less until there were no mentions of being a later bloomer and more “Useless, worthless, insignificant, powerless.”

He felt terrible, and even worse because of how happy he felt about his parent’s attention on him rather than on his siblings.

They never cared about him before.

But now, with powers, they actually loved him.

Right?

His parents brought him to Morgan’s training one day and told him to spar.

“But Morg doesn’t have powers …”

“That’s why he’s going to train as a sidekick, your sidekick. He needs to get familiar with your fighting style.”

Chad felt sick.

He tries to pull his punches, but then his dad cuffed him in the back of his head and told him to go full force. That no one’s going to pull their punches at them in real battle.

“Do you think they’re going to go easy on you two because you’re kids? Because you’re powerless?” the last bit was sent at Morgan, who only looked down with what could be misery.

And they trained.

And trained.

Their parents adored him more.

They ignored Morgan more.

He was pulled on both sides. He knew it was wrong, what they were doing, but at the same time … he was so happy to have their attention, just for once, they cared about him. Chad, not Morgan or Diego.

So, selfishly, he continues to outshine his brother.

Even when Diego got her powers, he was still his parent's favorite, but Morgan’s treatment got so much worse.

It came to a halt when Chad stood on top of his brother’s bloodied body on the ground, staring listlessly above, eyes unfocused as more blood pooled underneath them.

Slowly, Chad kneeled down. Reality crashed on him as the realization of what he just did has hit him. He reaches out for Morgan.

“M-Morg?” He called.

No reaction.

“M-Morg, p-please don’t joke around, w-wake up. Morg?” He shakes his brother’s shoulders. The eyes, still unfocused, slowly turns from the clear blue sky above their heads, landing on him with …

Nothing.

Emptiness.

No blame.

No hate.

No hope.

Just plain nothing.

“N-No, please, I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. P-please get up, please-”

He pulls his brother upward.

And he hears a crack.

Chapter Text

Diego’s childhood could be remembered in parts.

There were nice times when they were all happy. She was too young to actually remember it well, but she always had this one memory of a park. There was a picnic basket. Her mom was sitting next to it while her dad was off running in the distance with both of her brothers.

She had been playing with a doll.

In the memory, her brothers and dad would run back, laughing so loudly that they must have caught other people’s attention.

She’d eat her favorite sandwich, Chad would tell her what they did, and mom and dad would laugh at the way he retold everything.

Diego would turn her head to look at her oldest brother, and she’d see him smiling.

That had been the only clear memory of when he was absolutely happy, with no fear or anger tainting his face.

Then came the worst part of her life.

She wasn’t sure what exactly started it, but everyone started to change. Morgan would look scared, Chad would look terrified. Mom and dad were always screaming and arguing. She’d run at her brothers to feel better, and it usually helped.

Then she noticed how battered they were, both of them looking worse as time went on.

What used to be nice and fun safe nights under the blankets turned into something that hurt to watch. Sometimes Morgan or Chad just didn’t have the energy to continue, they’d just lie down in the fort and fall asleep.

Then, Chad gets his powers.

Everything changes again, somehow Chad forgot about them, always going to mom and dad. They stopped screaming, no more late-night fights, and they even started smiling at her again!

But Morgan didn’t change, no, he got  worse.

And worse.

And worse.

And so much worse-

Sometimes, she’d hear him cry at night. Not the loud sobs you’d expect from children, but the small silent little hiccups some have when they’re trying to stay silent.

Of course, he never cried in front of her. Instead, he’d act like nothing is happening, and she hated it because she knew things weren’t getting better for him.

Chad on the other hand was … ignoring them. Always hanging out with their parents, always doing what they say, always away.

He stopped caring about them, she realized in the end, even as a kid.

He’s abandoned them.

Then her powers came.

She remembers looking at the mirror, biting her lips, and feeling devastated.

She didn’t like powers. All it did was split their family. She  liked  not having them so that she could feel closer to Morgan. All it ever did was make her parents either ignore them or make them feel worse.

They didn’t even care much about her powers anyway, they loved Chad more than they ever cared for her, but they did treat her much better.

And they treated Morgan worse.

That’s when the sidekick thing started.

She felt powerless as she watched the –  torture  – training session continued. Her training was outfitted for her powers, but the way they went on with her brothers-

That part of her life ended when her mom picked her off the floor and they went to the hospital.

In that part of her life, the sound of heartbeats followed her.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

BeepBeepBeepBeep.

Beep Beep-

Beep.

Morgan, who used to be so happy and full of life, the one who always animatedly moved while reading her the storybook, the one who always talked on and on about a thing he learned or the adventures he had with his friend from school, lays down motionlessly in the bed.

“Comatose,” the doctor said. “Could be in a vegetative state,” they’d say at another time.

The way Chad flinched when people turned to look at him, the way they’d start to whisper when they thought he can’t hear them, which was useless with his super-hearing, the way her parents would look at all of them as something clicked in place behind their eyes.

The way everything just became silent in her life.

The only sound that she ever heard at that time so vividly was the heartbeats. Always repeating, sometimes steadily, sometimes not. But she’d sit down next to Morgan, holding his hand and waiting patiently for him to come back.

Maybe she’d bring a book and read it to him like he always did for her, and maybe she’d start crying when no one else was around because she missed him so much.

Things were weird at home now. Their parents still continued with the training, but it was less intense than before, and they started working all the time, staying away from the house when they could.

When she turned nine and Chad became 13, they just outright never came back home.

They only sent money while they fended off for themselves.

And she’d get hit by the realization that they did they'd always done that when Morgan was around as well, but all the responsibility had been on their older brother who always hid everything bad from them so that they wouldn’t worry.

She’d start crying again.

Because she missed him so  much.

Chad was silent again. His attitude from before when mom and dad doted on him now completely gone, and he returned to his old silent self. He’d flinch at times whenever he used just a little more power than intended when playing with her.

He would train extra hard even when their parents weren’t around to see, and when he could, he’d come with her to visit their brother, and usually ends up running out of the room looking like he was going to puke.

That part of her life ends when Morgan’s hand, the same one she had been holding that day, twitched.

Chapter Text

“It’s out-out- outright ridiculous,” Barnaby says, rubbing his arms as he tries to rub the cold away. Morgan didn’t say much as he continues to rub the ghostly dog’s face.

“I don’t know, I sort of agree with them.”

“Of course, you would, Mr. Grey morals.”

“Look, the way I see it, if you can’t take what you dish out, then don’t? It seems like a better way to protect yourself.”

“I don’t dish out more than I can take, why do you think I’m still a D-tier hero,” Barnaby asks. After a long moment of silence, Morgan simply shrugs.

“I thought you need to kill people to level up.”

“Th-That’s for villains!” Barnaby yells, and Morgan covers his ears, squeezing his eyes tightly from the volume. Barnaby’s face fell as he stops, reminding himself to lower it down. “So do- do you have any new g-gadgets you’re- you’re working on?”

Morgan wasn’t entirely sure what he was making, it was good enough that some heroes would drop on their knees to keep him around in their association, but it wasn’t exactly his best work since he couldn’t care much about remembering the blueprints to it.

So, he shrugs once again.

“I made another disguising device for one of the new kids. Couldn’t control the fact that he has purple skin.”

“Oh, why is it purple?”

“They’re a walking corpse.”

“Wh-What-” Barnaby’s face shifted from excitement to outright horror.

“Yeah, their dad was a serial killer and tried to kill them. Turns out their power is returning to life like a zombie, or Frankenstein, or something. Their skin turned purple though.”

“Oh my god, d-don’t tell me th-they’re sending out an effectively p-powerless kid into the field?!”

“Technically, he’s immortal.”

“He’s a walking- walking corpse!”

Morgan agrees with Barnaby’s assessment. The kid was a corpse who already died and instead of giving him therapy, like how most heroes who started out needed to do pronto, they’re sending him to the field.

It was downright irresponsible, but would the fairness association listen to him? Granted he’s the head of their tech division, but him? Powerless, weak, civilian, Morgan?

“Why- Why would the d-dad k-kill his kid? Don’t serial k-killers have a profile they usually go- go after?” Barnaby asks, and after too long of silence from his end, the d-tier hero turns to him with a raised brow. “Wait, his k-kid f-fits the profile?”

“I mean, his usual targets were kids, so …”

Barnaby takes a deep shaky breath.

Yeah, he can understand how that feels. Fucking hell.

After the walk to the building, his friend waves goodbye to him before running along to do his usual job. Morgan waves back, a small smile brightly sat on his face before it dropped. It’s very hard to keep up a smile, but he does genuinely feel happiness, and when he was happy, he didn’t have much trouble.

He was usually happy to be around Barnaby, the guy was genuine and down to earth.

Looking back at the building, he felt his shoulder slump as he thought about what other situation will stir up today.

0o0o0

When Morgan woke up that day many years ago, a lot of things changed around him. He couldn’t choose what he wanted to do next, too out of it to be in control of his own thoughts, too young to be given the freedom to.

But he was released back into his parent’s custody, no one asked anything, and no one would believe him if he said this happened because of the training they planned for him.

He simply gave up.

It seemed that they, in turn, also gave up on him becoming a hero or even a sidekick.

He was a civilian.

And with that came the responsibility of actually protecting him.

It suddenly flipped their attitude.

Everything he did was potentially dangerous to himself, and he wasn’t allowed to play or hangout for long with his younger siblings, which is ridiculous, because they were his baby siblings, they wouldn’t harm at all – except Chad did and he did it so badly that he lost about two years of his life.

Chad refused to look him in the eyes, he spent the least amount physically possible with him and would always jump away when he realized that Morgan had snuck up closer to him. Chad always looked afraid when that happened, like he accidentally did something terrible – he did and neither of them knew how to fix it and they shouldn’t because it was their parent’s fault and not theirs.

Diego, poor sweet Diego, has acted so overprotective since he came back. She refused to let him out of her sight, she refused to let him go out for what little training he was allowed to do – self-defense in case he was taken hostage as his parents explained – and refused to give him any privacy.

It was fine. Morgan can tell that she was just as scared as everyone else. What happened is scary, and they shouldn’t ignore it like they are right now.

But Morgan was fifteen ... or was he sixteen? He was mentally thirteen, and he didn’t know how to help.

His parents had never dared to touch him since he woke up either, they thought he was fragile, that even a small tap on the shoulder would break him, and Morgan resented it so much. What kind of parent wouldn’t touch their kid? Not even for a hug? They never cared about how fragile he was when they were all younger, what made them change all of a sudden?

Did someone catch wind of their treatment and decided to act nice all of a sudden to save face?

He couldn’t think of any other reason.

So, he was left alone, isolated from everyone else he used to be in contact with except for Diego. Not even his cousins were allowed to be near him for the same bullshit reason. Couldn’t even go back to Hero High, and couldn't attend a normal school either just in case of bullying. Only at home, online, homeschooled, and self-taught.

His parents threw in money whenever he tries to at least talk, and he’d take the money begrudgingly to do whatever.

He wasn’t sure about what kept him sane anymore.