Chapter Text
Valkyrie still wasn't sure how she got into her current situation. Of course, it was pretty clear when you laid it out, it wasn't very difficult to explain.
She'd gotten into a fight she couldn't win against; Fletcher had come to save her; Fletcher had failed to save her; Valkyrie had failed to save Fletcher; Skulduggery had failed to save both of them; and they died. And now she was here, reincarnated. Which was pretty cool all things considered, being reincarnated meant that no one was staring at her and calling her God.
Unfortunately, she was born into another dimension so she couldn't reach or contact Skulduggery because he simply didn't exist. One thing that was bothering her though, was the fact that she was alone. Fletcher had died on her shoulder, moments before she was also killed, so realistically, he should have been there as well. But he wasn't.
She'd hate it if it turned out he'd been reincarnated as well but in another dimension than her own. She didn't want to make new friends, she was really bad at it.
She looked to her side to see Melissa Shield playing with a hero figurine. She didn't remember the guy's name, she was always focused on how loud and annoying he was. He was always smiling and saying that anyone can become a hero.
Oh yeah, the hero thing.
This world was incredibly different from her own. Melissa chatted about it to her all the time now that she knew how to read. The four-year-old seemed to be the only one who knew that Valkyrie understood what she was being told and was more than happy to explain the world to her.
Eighty per cent of the human population on Earth had a superpower, or 'Quirk' unique to them and Quirks are said to be the next stage of evolution in the human race. It was completely different from the percentage of Sorcerers in her dimension. A person's Quirk will normally manifest anytime before the age of four, sometimes even straight after birth in some cases. She had no clue if hers would be like her magic or like her parents' Quirks.
Her Mother, Danielle Sword, had a Quirk that attracted metal to her hands. This forced the woman to wear gloves at all times unless in a room where there was no metal. But seeing as she was an inventor, that was a difficult thing to achieve.
Valkyrie wasn't sure who her father was she hadn't seen him as of yet, and it had been two years. She assumed he was a deadbeat, and she wasn't sure what his Quirk was. Honestly, Valkyrie wasn't sure about much. She wasn't sure what to do with her life now.
She'd spent the first twelve years of her life as Stephanie Edgley, a normal girl in a normal town who'd been given her Uncle's estate, money and belongings after his passing. She'd spend the next eighteen years working as a detective under the name Valkyrie Cain, fighting criminals, Gods and warlords. Not necessarily in that order. And now here she was, Stephanie Sword, a normal girl again.
At least it wasn't a boring town. It wasn't a town at all. Her mother had shown her around after she'd relearnt how to walk and she'd told her all about the Island they lived on.
Every company in the world involved with helping heroes invested money to create a technological paradise for the research and development of Quirks and items to enhance them. They named the Island it was all built on: I-Island. The place Valkyrie called home was an artificial moving island created for scientists to peacefully research together. The place was always loud, colourful and interesting.
There are supposedly several countermeasures in place to prevent criminal incidents from occurring, but Valkyrie had seen a few attacks so it wasn't that great, no matter what they claimed. They continued to live under the pretence that I-Island would never be attacked though, so there was hardly much Valkyrie could do to change their minds.
Scientists aren't allowed to leave the island to ensure confidentiality, which is why it reminded her of Haggard. It seemed like a place she wouldn't be able to leave unless she tried incredibly hard. Valkyrie wondered why anyone would want to have children on an island those kids can't leave, it seemed cruel. It was cruel. Valkyrie couldn't stay on an island for the rest of her life, not on her life.
Melissa nudged her and Valkyrie looked up from her drawing. "Look Stephanie," She shoved a rudimentary drawing of two stick figures wearing bright colours. "I drew us as heroes! And this guy," She pointed to a third figure who was three times as big as the other two, "That's All Might, we can be his sidekicks!"
Valkyrie nodded silently, which satisfied Melissa, and she turned back to her own art project. Valkyrie liked Melissa, on the scale of how much she could like someone. She was a kindhearted girl, unlike herself, and was quite intelligent for a four-year-old. She was outgoing and generous and never short of friends, something Valkyrie could not relate to. No one seemed to like her much, even the adults.
One of the babysitters had said that there was 'great evil' inside of her. That had freaked her mother out for some reason.
She yawned and finished her rough sketch of Tanith. It wasn't amazing by any shot, her hands were clumsy and she couldn't hold anything that well, but it was alright all things considered. She'd made a few pictures of her, her sword, her hidden knives, her upside down. She had to do something to pass the time.
Melissa took a look and gasped, "That's so good Stephanie!" She frowned, "That looks like someone who drives a mo- motobike? Is that what they're called?"
Valkyrie smiled and doodled a motorbike next to the version of Tanith who was standing with her sword in her hands.
She was alright with where she was for now.
Melissa was Quirkless. Valkyrie personally didn't think that changed much in terms of her becoming a hero. Sure, having power as a backup was nice, but sometimes the situation called for normal fighting. And from what she'd been told over the past few months Melissa had been in school, there were numerous kinds of heroes someone could be.
Melissa didn't agree when she said this with jumbled words. "Quirkless people aren't liked out there, beyond I-Island, they get hurt by other people, good and bad."
Valkyrie frowned, "If they get hurt, both categories are bad. If they're beating someone up for not having a superpower, they aren't good." Or at least, that's what she tried to say, some words were still hard to pronounce.
The girl nodded and wiped her eyes, "I guess... But I can't be like Uncle Might like this!"
Valkyrie sat next to her, "No, but you could be like someone else."
Melissa sniffled and seemed to fall deep into thought. Valkyrie waited patiently, this was normal for most of the people who lived on I-Island. "You're right... I don't need to fight villains to be a hero, I just need to do good for the world and those living in it!"
Valkyrie averted her eyes, that wasn't what she meant. But if that's where Melissa wanted to go, so be it. "What does that mean?"
"I can do what everyone here does, and make support items to help the heroes and those with Quirks they can't manage! I'll be a hero without risking my life or having fun exciting adventures or making friends off the island..."
"You sound so excited."
"I just need to get into the mood! Inventor mode... ACTIVATE!"
Valkyrie blinked, "I don't think that's how it works."
"Shush Stephanie."
Valkyrie clenched her fists as her mother berated her. She was five. She was doing well in every class, naturally, except for the small inventing classes they took. And her mother wasn't happy about it. Danielle Sword worked alongside David Shield, Melissa's father and one of the top scientists on the island. They both had reputations for creating powerful support gear and it was expected that their children would share this gift.
Melissa lived up to the expectation more than Valkyrie did.
Creating things like that just didn't come naturally to her, and she could never focus in a room full of kids, pushing and shoving each other for parts. Unfortunately, this wasn't a good enough excuse to be failing in Danielle Sword's eyes. Valkyrie had to be perfect at everything.
"How can you hope to succeed like this Stephanie?" She asked, waving the report card in the air, "The most important class for you to take and you fail?"
"I thought Science and Math were the important ones, and I'm doing fine in those."
"You're barely passing Science, and math is easy for now," She glared. "You should be excelling."
Valkyrie's Grandmother and her mother's mother, Riley Sword, laughed and waved the woman off, "Relax Dani, she's doing fine for how she is. I expected less from someone with such a short attention span." Valkyrie glared and the old woman shushed her, "There's no use getting worked up about it, you're so much like your father it hurts sometimes. In body and nature."
Valkyrie couldn't agree more. Her mother's Quirk was just a stronger version of her father's. Her Grandpa had been able to attract metal using his fingertips. Her Grandma was able to use the air to create water. She used it to fill glasses of water, and sometimes just sucked in a deep breath to fill it with liquid. It reminded Valkyrie of Skulduggery sometimes.
Valkyrie felt her hands start vibrating and lifted them, only for a knife to fly at them. She yelped and fell back, covering her head as all the metal in the room attacked her. Her mother cursed and batted away knives, Riley helping her. Valkyrie felt gloves cover her hands and the brutal attack seized. She groaned and rolled onto her back, wincing as she held a hand to her face, which had been cut by a knife.
They were staring at her.
Valkyrie frowned, it wasn't that big of a deal. So she had the same Quirk as her mother, it wasn't as exciting as she'd hoped it would be, but at least it was done now. "What?"
Riley cursed and glared at her daughter, "I knew it."
"Mum, shush."
"Of all the people to sleep with-" Valkyrie would grin if she weren't so confused. She looked her mother up and down, scanning for injuries, only to realise that her gloves were gone.
And nothing was attacking her, "What's going on?"
Her mother didn't say anything, just opened and closed her mouth. Riley had no problems, "You took your mother's Quirk." She sighed, "Good thing we got here before the monster found out you were pregnant isn't it Danielle."
Valkyrie whistled under her breath, she just got full-named. Her mother glared and smacked the top of her head. Valkyrie blinked, that was the first time she'd been touched by her mother's bare hands and it was a smack. Nice, "How do I give it back?"
"No clue."
Her mother peeled back one of the gloves and felt her palms. The metal began to vibrate and Valkyrie eyed it nervously, "No holes."
Valkyrie snatched her hands back, "Well I'd hope my hands didn't have holes in them, our knives aren't that sharp."
Riley's eyes glinted, "Always have a comeback don't you kiddo?" She knelt and moved the metal away, "Your... Father, had holes in his hands that allowed him to take Quirks. Seems your Quirk is a mix of his and your mother's, you can pull Quirks towards you."
Valkyrie frowned and adjusted the gloves, "Well, I don't want to have this Quirk-" She gasped as her mother and Riley turned completely black. She looked around to see that everything else was normal, the black silhouettes were moving towards her and everything. The Riley Thing had a large white orb resting on her chest.
Valkyrie touched it and the orb floated to her, making her scramble back. Her mother came forward, only for Riley to stop her. "She'll figure it out, everyone goes through this, she'll manage."
Valkyrie calmed down and pushed the orb away with her gloved hands. The orb floated back to her Grandma and settled in her chest again. Valkyrie frowned. Seeing as Danielle didn't have an orb, she was guessing that they were Quirks. She was seeing Quirks in a pure form, kind of like her Aura Vision (she'd given up finding a better name).
She thought about her mother's Quirk, following her instincts, and another orb appeared in front of her. Valkyrie pushed the orb towards her mother and it settled in her chest. She grinned and then yelped as metal started flying and her vision went back to normal.
The first time Valkyrie stole a Quirk it was at school. Most of her school was under the impression that she was Quirkless like Melissa and she'd had to deal with whispers about how unfortunate it was for the both of them for months.
Danielle had forbidden her from taking Quirks from others, which Valkyrie agreed to, her tone sharp. Stealing an innocent's Quirk would be horrible of her and apparently, just like her father. But having such a powerful Quirk and no way to use it well bugged her.
It didn't help that one of Quirk's weaknesses was that she was compelled to steal them like a magnet was drawn to iron. A small voice in the back of her head that'd urge her to take whenever she met a new person. She'd spent a week home after the initial activation because of it, training not to grab at power when it was used immediately.
Valkyrie sighed and continued her sketch of Skulduggery. She'd developed a hobby of drawing her old friends. It was fun, and she had the time, she wasn't going anywhere. Melissa came running into the living room, followed closely by a man Valkyrie instantly recognised as All Might.
Valkyrie raised a brow and Melissa scowled, "One day, one day I'm going to surprise you."
"You've already said you know him, you call him 'Uncle Might'. Why would I be surprised?" All Might was still too loud and flashy for her taste, but there was one thing that interested her. His Quirk. She switched her Quirk Vision on and nearly yelped as the light blinded her.
The Quirk was unlike anything she'd ever seen before. Quirks were one colour. Red, blue, green, yellow, white, even grey, but this Quirk was different. It was a rainbow of colours. White and Blue and Red and Green and Orange and Purple and Pink and Yellow, all blended into one with the white being in the centre. It was beautiful. Melissa clapped her hands in front of Valkyrie's face, dragging her back into reality.
"As I was saying, Stephanie, this is All Might."
Valkyrie stood and brushed herself off before shaking the man's hand, making her realise how tall he was. She barely reached his knee and she was tall for her age. What did his parents feed him? People?!
"Nice to meet you."
All Might let out a booming laugh and Valkyrie nearly jumped out of her skin, "And you as well young Sword."
"Stephanie is fine," She told him while patting her ears to make sure they weren't bleeding. Maybe his parents had fed him a speaker instead of people. "Young Sword sounds weird, also being called my last name is a school...thing... Melissa, we have school."
Melissa stared at her sceptically, "You never like going to school, why remind me?"
"My eardrums hurt."
"You're being dramatic, he isn't that loud."
Valkyrie raised a brow and turned the TV on, the volume at five. All Might grimaced as his voice came out loud and clear despite it. "She isn't being dramatic Melissa, being loud and smiling is my brand after all. It's not going to appeal to everyone."
'Well, at least he's self-aware.' Valkyrie picked her backpack up and swung it over her shoulder, "Let's get going. I don't need my mum coming after me any more than she already is."
Melissa picked up her own bag and frowned, "Right, she's been on your case more often lately. Did you two get into a squabble or something?"
"Less of a squabble and more of a standoff. She doesn't believe me when I say I'm trying my best with the inventing classes, and that I should be more like you. I don't particularly want to be an inventor or scientist, and I don't want to be in someone's shadow." She shrugged, "Neither of us is budging but I'm sure someone will break the ice eventually."
Melissa stared for a moment before smiling and shaking her head, "I don't know how you two stand each other sometimes, you can be so different."
"That's why Grandma Riley stays with us."
Of course, the moment it was made clear All Might was in the city, someone had to make a big deal of it. The school had alarms for villain attacks, but they didn't drill the classes nearly enough so when her classroom was attacked, the teacher was useless.
The first villain, a muscular woman with red hair, rushed Professor Damino and pinned him to a wall. Valkyrie already knew he was done. The professor was a scrawny man with a tame Quirk that let him melt metal together, which was useful for the subject he taught, but not for villain attacks he wasn't prepared for. From what she could tell, the woman's Quirk was Super Strength if the crack in the wall said anything.
Valkyrie yelped as she was swiftly pulled off the ground alongside several other classmates by a man. Red hair like the woman, and his Quirk was obviously something like Super Speed. Valkyrie squirmed in his grip, but he held tight and laughed in her ear.
The woman let the professor fall to the ground and turned to her accomplice, "This is the last class we had to round up right?"
"Yup, the other brats are tied up with their teachers and the school's locked down."
Valkyrie narrowed her eyes and came to a realisation. She would never take a Quirk from someone who didn't deserve or want it, it'd be cruel. But to steal a Quirk from someone who was trying to use children for ransom? Valkyrie activated her Quirk vision and mentally reached for both Quirks, letting the balls of light draw closer and touch her face.
"Get these ones to the hall and we'll make the ransom call."
The man nodded and ran at a normal speed. He stopped and frowned before trying again. When it didn't work, he squeezed the tighter and glared, "Which one of you brats was responsible for stopping my Quirk?"
Valkyrie lifted her feet, activating the Quirk as she did, and pushed into the man's chest. He stumbled back, dropping them all. Valkyrie frowned, the woman's Quirk wasn't powerful at all, it was as if it hadn't been refined whatsoever. She closed her eyes and focused on the other Quirk, to find that it was slightly stronger but not by much.
It made sense why she wasn't drawn to the Quirks now. She felt compelled to take powers that had powerful auras, or if they were familiar to her in Riley's case. These two Quirks were neither, so it wasn't until she was in danger that she had any thought to steal. She'd have to make sure stealing powerful abilities didn't become a bad habit now that she thought about it.
Her mother and Riley rushed to check on her once All Might had blasted through the school to save them. Valkyrie had a cut on her face from falling on a small piece of glass, which Riley used her Quirk to wash, wetting her fingers and clearing the blood away.
The two villains were led out of the school, yelling and spitting curses. "Tell the brat that took our Quirks to give 'em back!"
All Might's hands tightened on them and his face darkened, "You will not harm these children anymore."
Valkyrie swallowed thickly and looked at her hands, feeling the power coursing through them. No one knew her Quirk, and from here on out she could use the stolen Quirks to cover for her. Her mother's hands tightened and she narrowed her eyes, "Stephanie."
Valkyrie met her gaze and issued the silent challenge, "Yes?"
"Have you got anything you'd like to tell me?"
"Yes." Melissa and her dad came over, "I got my Quirk today."
Her Quirk reminded her of her magic. While her magic hadn't been able to 'steal' magic, it had been able to copy it, giving her access to every kind of magic imaginable if she'd put her mind to it. Meaning, realistically, the same applied to her Quirk. Her body should be able to adapt to any Quirk she took. The question was what would happen if she gave a Quirk to someone else.
She'd tried to research her supposed father. She'd figured he was a villain and if he was able to take Quirks he had to be well known, but all she'd found were theories on if a Quirk like hers existed. There was nothing on the man himself and when she'd asked Danielle and Riley about it, they'd clammed up and refused to say a word. Valkyrie threaded her fingers through her hair and sighed, Skulduggery would know what to do. He was good like that.
She missed her home, where people understood what a grey area was and she had a family who accepted her for what she could do and she had a loving girlfriend and a dog and- She banged her head on the desk and shook herself. She needed to stop doing that, if she didn't catch herself she'd be stuck for hours.
From what she could tell, if Fletcher had been reincarnated with her, he was out in the world. From her mother's and Grandmother's accents, she'd concluded that had they not fled her father, she'd have been born in Ireland. This means that Fletcher was most likely in England, doing whatever it was he was doing. But that begged another question...
Were her fallen enemies here as well?
It wouldn't surprise her with the way her luck was. But it was a scary train of thought. Did the fallen enemies count the Grotesquery or the Faceless Ones? Did it count the hundreds of Infected or zombies or draugr? She'd be overwhelmed the second it became clear who she was. She was in trouble even if the list didn't include those thousands.
Baron Vengeous, Dreylan Scarab (who'd died a few years after being put away again), Billy-Ray Sanguine, Remus Crux, The Children Of The Spider, the Necromancers. Hell, she could throw Lord Vile from Dimension X into the list if she wanted to. The fact that she had managed to be reincarnated opened up endless possibilities. If her friends died, would they end up with her? Would they be younger than her?
She snickered at the idea of a small Skulduggery.
The point was, she had no clue what her future held for her. But as always, she wasn't going to let that stop her. As Never had said years back, she wanted adventure, and she'd do anything to get it. She was selfish like that.
Although, surely no one could blame her when she was so bored all the time.