Chapter Text
The world changed when a "luminescent baby" was born in Qing Qing City, China, possessing a unique, glowing superpower. Following that first anomaly, superpowers—dubbed "Quirks"—began appearing all over the globe. A "Quirk" is a unique, superhuman ability possessed by roughly 80% of humanity. Quirks typically manifest by age four. They vary wildly in category—including Emitter, Transformation, and Mutant types—and function biologically like muscles. As superpowers became the norm, society collapsed into chaos because laws couldn't handle the influx of meta-abilities. Eventually, individuals with strong Quirks stepped up to protect the peace, giving birth to the profession of "Pro Heroes”, and “villains”.
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It was cold, colder than it should be. Nyx had been sure she turned the fan off when going to bed. Her skin crawled, and a gasp escaped her throat. Cold white gas materialized from the hot air she had breathed. Nyx stumbled to stand after realizing she’d been sitting hunched over herself on the concrete floor beneath her. Standing up the freezing temperatures hit again, shaking her already weak stance, and almost knocking her back down. In an attempt to figure out where she was she began walking, the bare skin on her feet stuck to the seemingly frozen floor with each step. But she kept walking, and walking, and didn’t stop until she felt warm. Not all over, rather at the soles of her feet. Looking down she saw blood trickling from her soles, leaving a thick puddle of red goo behind. Her breath hitched when she saw the reflection starting back in the puddle. Their eyes were hollow, yet they smiled at her, and there were people behind them. Four figures she recognized as her own kin. Her mother and father were at their left side, staring through her. Tears escaped the holes where eyes were ment to be. Nyx’s brother as sister were at their right. Mocking laughter came from her brother, making the puddle tremble under his loud sounds. Her sister on the other had looked apologetic, almost sad for her.
“SHUT UP JUDAH” the scream echoed across the misty, empty surroundings. The figure of her brother seemed to notice, and it crawled out of the red covered ground, to stand in front of her.
“You’re weak. And it’s because you took so long. You know what I’m talking about right?”. His voice was cold, same as the air, the floor, and the aura this place exuded.
“No I don’t, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not weak. I’m the oldest, I can’t be weak”. Her voice was hoarse, the words catching in her throat.
“Oh but you do know”. He gestured to behind himself, and Nyx followed the motion to see the rest of her family had followed in leaving the puddle, and were now standing behind Judah, watching. “We all do”, he continued a, quick scoff leaving his mouth before he could stop it. “Come on Nyx, don’t tell me you forgot how late your quirk came in?”. The question was lined with mockery, but he didn’t stop. “You’ve always been weak sister. Just because you the oldest doesn’t make the fact that we over shadowed you since we were little not real”.
“shut up.” Her response lacked emotion. It was made clear she wanted him to stop talking.
“Oh sister, you can’t say things like that. What power do you have to say those things?”, the last part hit Nyx harder that she wished. Her hands clenched into fists and she tryed to end the conversation again.
“Judah. I said. Shut. Up” this time she looked up from the ground, facing her brother head on.
“Nyx, do we need to show you your place?”
“Shut up. Just stop talking” she didn’t give him room to continue, cutting him short before he could finish.
“Oh dear-“ Nyx cut him off again.
“Shut up. Shut. Up. Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up, SHUT UP”. Her last bit of strength was thrown into her last words. Her hands waved away the picture of her family, the mist taking their place instead. Looking up she expected to see the emptiness that had surrounded her before this whole mess started. Instead she found the empty eyed figure from the puddle. It looked at her, no expression on its face, or sound leaving its throat. Nyx stared back in confusion. Then it moved, right up to her.
“You will never live up to them…and you know it”. Nyx felt a tear trickle down her cheek.
“You don’t know that”. Her voice was shallow now, trying to sound stronger than it was.
“I do. You wanna know why. Because I am you Nyx. We are the same”. This time it moved closer to her, making it clear it couldn’t be waved away like before.
“N- no…no your not. I’m strong, I have a powerful quirk, and I’m better than my siblings. I’ll show them, ILL SHOW THEM ALL. Mom and dad won’t keep pitying me after I prove I’m capable of taking care of myself, and Judah will know he can’t look down on me anymore, and Nijeri…sh- she’ll look up to me again…IM NOT WEAK. IM NOT”. The creature let her finish before stepping even closer. It reached inside Nyx, merging with her. It made Nyx’s skin itch violently, but no matter how much she struggled to get away, the figure didn’t stop. It kept going, getting closer, making her feel its emotions. Anger was echoing through Nyx now, not her own, but rather the figures. Slowly she became one with it, and the inch became a violent burn deep in her bones.
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Nyx awoke with a start. Sweat drenched her shirt, leaving a large stain near her neck. She reached to her side and grabbed her phone. The screen read 2:33. Nyx released the pressure from her shoulders, and relaxed on her bed, before pulling her body up on the head board. Her back ached from the position she’d been laying in, and she made the hard decision of getting up to grab water. Her movements were slow and uncoordinated, every step making her wobble to her door. When she got there her unbalanced movements threw her into the door frame, and in retaliation she turned and grabbed it, letting mist protrude out of her hands. The wood on the frame warped within seconds of contact, poised oozing from its cracks.
Nyx removed her hand, mumbling out angrily “damn Judah”. When she got to the kitchen she opened the cabinet overhead her sink and grabbed a cup. She filled it, and gulped down the contents, finishing she bent down and curled her hands into a bowl. She used the make-shift bowl to pick up water with her hands and splashed it on her face, waking her up fully. Thinking back to how she had warped the door frame earlier made her realize that was another way she could manipulate her quirk.
*WARNING INNER YAP AHEAD*
From what I can tell, my quirk only began developing 2 months ago, and so far I have been able to make an ink black goo protrude from any pore in my body, and now I can turn that goo into a mist. Given that it’s a less compact on a molecular level now, I doubt it’s as lethal, however sense my original substance is crazy deadly than it’s probably still super powerful even if it’s muted a little. Though I doubt I’d be able to test it since I gave up on the “vigilante/assassin” type shi-. I mean I could use it on one of the flowers down stairs, but I am not trying to get absolutely jumped by my regulars when they see what I did. Guess I’ll just do a chemical test at the doctors or something.
Her train of thought broke when she felt sleep creep in at the edges of her mind. Slowly but surely she wobbled her way back upstairs, and plopped herself down on the mattress. Letting the feeling absorb her, she drifted away from consciousness. This time the dreams didn’t follow.
When Nyx woke up again the sun had already risen. Bright yellow light streamed into her bedroom through the balcony door at the far end of the room. She sat there in silence, letting her eyes adjust to the morning light. When she was finally ready, she stretched. Throwing her arms up, and hitting her hands on the head board while doing so. She shrugged herself out of the warmth radiating covers, standing, face to the balcony door. She walked over and pulled the door open. It slid with a metallic screech. Eventually she was able to haul it open, and she made her way to sit on one of the chairs.
The air was fresh, leaving the calming scent of the flower beds that lined the outside of her apartment, to take over her nose. Nyx took one last long breath, before walking back inside. She took the stairs down to the second level and made her way to the kitchen for some well needed coffee. She lived in a 3 story apartment complex. Her room was on the top where the attic was, and the second layer was her kitchen and living spaces. Lastly, the first floor was the flower shop she worked at, owned by a sweet old lady past her prime. The lady had rented her the apartment, saying as long as she did her best (meaning doing all the shifts by herself), then the lady would have no problem giving her a place to stay. Although she still had to pay the grandma rent for the apartment, witch kinda sucked, however the lady still paid her for her shifts, so she could afford it.
By the time she reached the kitchen, she was already wobbly from exhaustion. So with the last of her strength, she slammed down the start button on the coffeemaker, and plopped down into on of the counter stools. She put her head in her hands, elbows resting on the table for leverage. Then Nyx sat there, and peacefully waited for her coffee. Well it was peaceful, up until the hair on the back of her neck rose, with the certainty that someone was watching her. It was a weird sensation, and she only assumed that it was someone passing by. But as time went on, the feeling never left.
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So if someone is watching me, then that must mean they have something to do with me. Possibly a recruitment (subtle foreshadowing), but that doesn’t make any sense. I’ve been lying low for 2 months since the incident. and my connection to my parents shouldn’t be public, so there’s no reason to recruit me. Or maybe they’ve seen me use my quirk. That could be the case. But then that would meen they were watching me last night. Damn this is so awkward.
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With a mechanical click, the coffee pot was finished. Nyx broke herself out of her thoughts, and hobbled her way to the cabinet above the sink. Opening it she grabbed a mug this time, and made her way to the coffee pot to pour herself some. She did so and drank it black, letting the bitterness of it swallow her senses. Minutes pass, and Nyx was awake enough to walk back upstairs to her room. She changed out of her hello kitty pajamas, that she hadn’t replaced since she was 13, and put on a black turtle neck, a white suit shirt with the arms pulled to her elbows, and a pair of blue jeans that hid the shape of her legs. Following that she grabbed her phone, wallet, and gift card the old lady had given her as a bonus for over time, and walked downstairs.
Nyx got there and plopped a piece of bread in her roster next to the coffee pot. When the click came she grabbed it and walked down another flight of stairs to the first level. She hadn’t even bothered with butter, given that she was just gonna eat it quickly while on her walk to the store. She made it to the bottom, and a scene of shelf’s that lines the windows were covered completely in flowers that leaned into the suns rays. The rest of the shop was lightly decorated, it had some photos on the walls here and there, but the main thing was that the whole place was covered head to toe in shrubbery. Vines slithered up and down the walls closest to the windows, and a waiting couch was placed about a foot away from them. It was a dainty, and cute place, that made Nyx feel at home whenever she came down the stairs or entered the shop, and the entirety of it was big friendly, given that the only things that came to visit were lady bugs, bees, butterflies, and the occasional grass hopper on the outside pots. Thankfully Nyx learned that some bugs were attracted to her because of how her quirk smelled, and some were not attracted to her, so the shop was home to all the good bugs because of that.
After Nyx had fully taken in the sight, she walked to the door, and put on her boots that had been patiently waiting for her. Nyx made her way out of the shop, and walked down the sidewalk to the store. The lingering feeling that someone was watching her was still there, but obviously better hidden now that she had stepped outside. She ignored it though, and kept walking down the street, eventually stumbling onto a littered can. Nyx winded up her leg and kicked with all the force she could muster without making it obvious she worked out. The can went flying down the sidewalk, and ricocheted off a nearby wall, into an alleyway. Nyx mumbled something about how stupid her stalker was, and didn’t chase after the can.
Eventually she made it to the store, walking in, the man at the checkout across from the entrance flashed a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes, before returning to his endless loop of scanning. Nyx brushed it off as the usual way of life around town, and continued on her way to pick up some rose and lily seeds, as well as milk (who needs their dad when Nyx can get the milk…and come back). She made her way to the checkout, where the man who had “welcomed” her in was at. He scanned her items, neither of them bothering to make conversation. The awkward silence was broken when he asked how she would pay, and Nyx pulled out 2,000 yen from her wallet, handing it to the man. He gave back the receipt, as well as her change of 670 yen (bro I had to actually do math for that scene, genuinely hope yall are proud of me). With that Nyx left, starting her trek back home.