Work Text:
Everything about Illena could be classified as “average.” From her looks to her grades, her talent, her middle-class family, and finally, her ability level, nothing could ever grow from the mind-numbingly dull state of the “average” to bloom into something “exceptional." Growing up, she had constantly ranked in the middle of every list. Oh, she’s definitely won some local sports and trivia competitions and whatnot, but when it came to moving on to compete on a wider scale, she could never make it.
When her ability first manifested, her parents had told her to be grateful to the skies for giving her a chance to thrive among the weak; to avoid the pain that came with being ranked as the lowest of the low.
She had not understood their words then, but she does now.
She understands them now, she thinks, as she bashes the first low-tier’s skull against a brick wall.
She understands it now: this system they’ve all been born into and forced to follow, she muses, as she gets yelled at for bumping into an elite-tier in the hallway.
She understands, and she accepts, she supposes, as her teacher makes a crude remark about her appearance for the umpteenth time.
She understands the rules and follows them to a T, she screams at the same sky that had given her a chance, so why was a god-damned cripple getting a free pass to skip all the pain and anguish that’s par for the course for anyone ranked lower than elite? Why was Seraphina allowed to waltz through the school unharmed when she had caused them to suffer on endless occasions just to prove a point? The answer was simple: she wasn’t.
So, as an upstanding member of their society, Illena took it upon herself to organize a welcoming event for the newest member of the lower class to introduce her to the core principles of the hierarchical system from the commoner’s end of the spectrum.
And, just maybe, to get revenge for the hundreds of hits she’s had to take for committing the unforgivable crime of being average.
She didn’t feel satisfied, seeing Seraphina on the floor, beaten to a bloody pulp; the poor thing hadn’t come to terms with her place on the ladder yet. It’s a shame, really, that she couldn’t learn her lesson today, but tomorrow is a new day to learn, so she sets her mind on coming back the next day and offering a few more demonstrations on the daily life of a low-tier.
When the high-tiers came in to preach their morals, she saw red.
The fucking nerve these people had to lecture them on the gruesomeness of their actions when they were the ones enforcing this cycle of violence upon everyone else in the school. The fucking nerve they had to come to rescue a cripple just because she was part of their ranks at some point when they would never have done anything to rescue her or any other mid-tier had they have been in the same situation. The fucking nerve they had to come in here and spew the most hypocritical bullshit she had ever heard and leave with no consequence. She had had enough.
Illena did not regret a thing when she punched the barrier; she would not for the rest of her life. If being average is a crime with a life sentence as punishment, then she'll gladly live it out while enforcing respect for the system she had to learn to understand, and she won't stand for anyone not knowing their place within it, without exception.