Dragon's Pride (Ch 2) (Patreon)

“All Might, the fuck is wrong with you?” The Symbol of Peace looks in surprise at the villain he’s arresting. It’s odd, he seemed so dead-set on escaping when he first saw him, and he nearly succeeded after taking to the sewers! If he hadn’t been nearby when All Might got out, he likely would have been unable to find him without panicking the local populace from his rushing around the area.

Which is why it’s so odd that he’s been so cooperative. And that’s the first thing he says to him!?

“I AM UNSURE OF WHAT YOU MEAN. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG!”

Well, other than the fact that his grocery shopping has been interrupted. But he reasonably has doubts that someone who is being arrested for robbing a convenience store would care about that. Though he is relieved that he didn’t lose anything in the chase! The villain sighs as the police try to load him in the car, but All Might holds up a hand to delay them, curious as to his words.

“Seriously? You just crushed a kid’s dream, and you don’t see anything wrong with that!?” His volume starts off normal, but quickly climbs to yelling, causing the police to draw their weapons. But he has yet to try and escape, so they thankfully hold their fire.

“I GAVE AN HONEST ANSWER TO HER QUESTION! I HARDLY BELIEVE THAT WOULD CONSTITUTE CRUSHING HER DREAM!” Besides, it was a hypothetical anyway. Probably for a school project or something. It’s not as if she was asking for herself, right?

He gets a deadpan stare from the villain, which is extra disturbing given how large his eyes are. But to his surprise, even a few of the police are giving him looks! One of which actually speaks up.

“Are the two of you talking about that girl with eyes like a dead fish who was standing around when we got here?”

Dead fish? What? Her eyes were practically sparkling! But to All Might’s surprise the villain nods! “Yeah. She asked if she could be a hero without a quirk, and Ass Might here chuckled like it was a joke.”

“HEY NOW, SHE ASKED IF A QUIRKLESS PERSON COULD BECOME A HERO, NOT IF SHE COULD!” It’s just like a villain to try to twist his words around, but then why are the officers looking at him like he’s an idiot? It gives him flashbacks to Nana and Gran Torino’s lessons.

“You realize that someone without a quirk generally does whatever they can to hide that fact, right?” The officer shakes his head. “Getting laughed at by the number one hero, who constantly says anyone can be a hero? No wonder the kid looked dead inside.”

Why are they siding with the villain!? Besides-

“I TOLD HER THAT IT WOULD BE EXCEEDINGLY DANGEROUS TO BECOME A HERO WITHOUT A QUIRK! I SUGGESTED THAT A QUIRKLESS PERSON SHOULD BECOME A POLICE OFFICER OR A DOCTOR INSTEAD!” Both of those professions are much safer for someone without power of their own. If, as they say, the girl was referring to herself, then if she was only interested in helping people either profession would be great! Being a hero is just as much being a symbol as helping people, so if she didn’t care about fame she should be perfectly fine with either one!

“You really think she was listening after you laughed at her?” The villain scowls. “I was watching. After you laughed she basically passed out on her feet! I wouldn’t be surprised if she ran into a wall on her way home and just kept walking like a game character.”

Really?

“I had someone escort her just in case,” the officer in charge says, reassuring the villain!? Why is this such a weird arrest!?

“You realize that being a police officer is much more dangerous than being a hero, right?” One of the female officers who was previously silent speaks up, scowling at All Might. “Unlike heroes, we don’t have the privilege of being famous, so the news doesn’t really report on if one of us gets killed unless a hero was somehow involved. Not to mention any villain who kills a hero instantly becomes infamous to the point there’s basically a nationwide manhunt for them! They’re lucky to stay free a week! But a villain kills a cop? Ha! We’re lucky if one of you daytime heroes cares enough to get involved! Even then, you don’t have the training to track them down but try to take over the investigation! So where do you get off-”

“Enough, Kayano.” The one in charge cuts her off with a sharp gesture. “Why don’t you go ahead and take the prisoner in for processing?” It’s clear that it’s not a request, and she clenches her teeth before turning away. But not before sending one last glare at All Might, who’s gobsmacked.

He obviously knows that not everyone is blinded by hero worship, but he never expected to come across someone who so clearly harbors such a deep loathing to be working as support for them! He’s pulled out of his thoughts by the leader bowing his head.

“I apologize for her words, All Might. I will make sure to reprimand her once we get back.”

“UM, NO. IT IS QUITE ALL RIGHT. SHE IS FREE TO HER OPINIONS. JUST ENSURE SHE DOES NOT SAY SUCH THINGS AROUND SOMEONE WHO WOULD TAKE OFFENSE, LIKE ENDEAVOR.”

They nods seriously. “I agree. I’ve done my best to keep her away from heroes like that, but we don’t really get to decide who captures villains. Good day, All Might.”

They turn away, walking towards the last car. They stop with one foot inside, speaking without turning around. “Though, if you don’t mind me saying so. Maybe you should mind your words, if you’re simply  going to change your mind when someone calls you out on them.”

He leaves before All Might can respond, and he can’t help but wonder-

Did he really crush that child’s dream?

`~`

“Come on Izumi, we’re almost to the top!” Mom shouts down at us from above, further up the trail than me and Dad. It’s been about three days into summer vacation- a week since All Might crushed my dreams- and my parents saw how sad I was about it (though they didn’t realize that’s why I was sad, they just saw that I was). So they decided that we should take a family trip! Not only that, but they said they have a surprise for me too!

And I have to say, the hike has been nice. The effort of climbing so high has worked really well to take my mind off of everything. Especially how Bakugou has started beating me up more often, and letting other people do so too.

I don’t even know why! All he would tell me when I asked what I did wrong is that I need to ‘learn my place’! I thought that was what I was doing! I even stopped calling him by that dumb nickname he hates! And he’s always saying that we aren’t friends, which is why I don’t call him by his first name either! I thought he would be happy about that and finally leave me alone!

Instead, on the last day of the school year he tells me that I ‘better fix what’s wrong with me’. If there’s something wrong that made the beatings more frequent, I’d definitely fix it!

You can’t fix being quirkless.

I shake the thoughts free. This is supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to make me happy! A happy family, that’s what we are! And a happy family doesn’t have a depressed daughter, so I’m not depressed! I’m happy!

I smile at Dad, not getting one in response. But that’s ok! He doesn’t smile much anyways. Maybe I’ll manage to get one out of him on the trip! Yeah, that’s my goal. Get Dad to smile! I can do it! Even if I can’t achieve the dream I’ve held basically since I could think, I can still achieve this at least!

I hope…

Eventually we reach the top of the mountain, and Mom explains that it’s actually a volcano! Leaning over, I peer down the hole in the top of the volcano and far, far below, I see bubbling lava. So cool!

But before I can stare for long I feel someone grab my arm and pull me away. “Be careful Izumi! It’s dangerous to be so close to the edge!” I pout at my mom, though I have to admit that the lack of any rails is a problem. I forcefully push away the memory of Bakugou’s words that day. He didn’t mean them. I can’t even become a hero, so it’s not like they even matter anyways.

We leave the rim to go make camp, and there I see that we aren’t the only ones who decided we could use a trip. Scattered around are a variety of tents, though the ones that stand out to me are the black, purple, and the one with speakers around it. It’s pretty colorful, and we’re only going to add to that when we set up our green tents! And of course they have to be green. The Midoriya family’s defining trait is green! And the huge amount of tears we’re able to cry, but that’s the result of a latent quirk that mutated to be a part of our bloodline. But it’s not an actual quirk, which is why I still get bullied.

But hey! Maybe I can actually make a friend while we’re here! As long as nobody finds out I’m quirkless, I can pretend that I’m normal! But before I can go out and look for some other kids, Mom pulls me back again.

“Sweety, you can’t go off by yourself. You could get hurt! Why don’t you help me and Hisashi set up our spot instead, then we can celebrate getting to the top with smores!”

But I want to look around… But I do like smores… And if it will make her happy…

I look up and give her a bright smile that hides my sadness. “Ok, Mom! Can I have double chocolate on mine?”

She smiles back at me, and I can’t help but notice the relief in her eyes. “Of course you can, dear. Now,” she makes a show of rolling up her sleeve even though she did that before we started hiking, “let’s show all of them what a real camp looks like!”

“Yeah!” I jump excitedly, pumping my fist.

`~`

Two days after the start of our one week vacation, I’m playing with some of the other kids! One of them is a boy with a super cool quirk! When he asks someone a question and they answer, he can control them! He seemed really shy about it when I first got him to talk about it, but I don’t know why. It’s absolutely perfect for heroics! I don’t get why he was surprised when I listed off all of the different situations where he could help people with it, but he gave me a hug afterwards and said we’re friends! His name is Hitoshi Shinso.

There’s also a girl who doesn’t really show expressions on her face but is really caring. Hitoshi tripped and she got worried that he got hurt, so she used her quirk to make a piece of grass really long and tied it around his ankle. Apparently she can change the size of anything as long as it’s not living. Her name is Yui Kodai.

The final kid is named Kyoka Jiro, and she was almost as shy as Shinso when I first met her! She has long purplish hair, like Shinso, but instead of a mad scientist look, hers are in buns that cover her ears. She kept telling me that her quirk enhances her hearing, but looked away every time she said it so I know there’s more. And now I’ve finally discovered it with the help of Kodai and Shinso!

“You have earphone jacks!” I pop out of a bush and yell as I point at her, causing her to yelp and drop her phone into a pile of leaves. Which leaves the jack that extends from one of her buns just hanging in the air. She freezes as she stares at me, then Kodai and Shinso pop out of the bushes beside me. But instead of being victorious, both of them have bored looks on their faces. Though Kodai would probably be smiling if she could. Apparently she has a condition that makes it hard for her facial muscles to move. I forget what it’s called though.

“I thought you guys had stuff to do with your parents.” Jiro says, her jack shooting up back into her bun.

“Nope!” I smirk. “We wanted to figure out what your quirk actually is, so that was just a rational deception!”

“Where’d you even learn about something like that?” She grumbles as she picks up her phone while I shrug.

“Apparently a hero called Eraserhead says it a lot. I haven’t found out much about them though, other than they’re an underground hero.”

She frowns at us before turning away in a huff. “Well congratulations. You found me out. So go ahead.”

“Huh?” I tilt my head before exchanging glances with our other two friends, but they look just as confused as me. At least as much as they can. I look back at her. “Go ahead with what?”

She huffs again, not looking at us and keeping her arms crossed. “Make fun of them. Call them weird, or creepy. Call me a tattle-tale. Make jokes about how I must be related to a phone. I’ve heard it all before, so let’s just get it over with.”

“...Why would we do something like that? It would be mean.”

“Huh?” She turns around in surprise and sees the three of us frowning at her.

“You’re our friend. Why would we say things like that to you? Besides, your quirk isn’t creepy, it’s cool!”

Shinso nods. “Yeah, what Sunshine said.”

Kodai nods. “It’s not nice to insult your friends.”

“R-really?” Jiro blinks at us for a moment. “The other kids at my school are always picking on me about them. That's why I have my hair like this.”

“You mean you don’t like that hairstyle?” I frown, more than familiar about how mean people can be.

Her jack comes out of the bun and she fidgets with it, twirling it between her fingers. “Um, not really. It takes a lot of work to keep it from getting tangled, and I don’t like how the buns dull what I hear. I always feel like I need to double check what people say to make sure I heard them right.”

“Then change it to something you like.” Kodai says matter of factly.

“We could probably talk our parents into sending us all to the same school so we don’t have to deal with bullies alone either.” Shinso mentions with his hands shoved in his pockets.

An excited grin starts to make its way to my face before vanishing just as quickly. If we all go to the same school, they’ll find out I’m quirkless.

“Really? You think we can pull that off?” Though she tries to act as if she’s not interested, there’s hope in her voice as she asks the question.

I nod happily, even if I’m actually dreading that it will actually happen. “Of course! With the power of friendship, we can do anything!”

“”...”” Jiro and Shinso give me deadpan looks, and Kodai gently slaps the back of my head.

“You’ve been watching too much anime.” She chides.

I flush, turning away in embarrassment. “It’s actually a quote from a hero article I read a while ago about someone who can literally turn their feelings of friendship into power…”

I ignore their chuckles, at least until Jiro asks me the question I’ve been dreading. “So, Green, what’s your quirk?”

“Huh?” I look at her and cup my ear. “Sorry, I didn’t hear that.”

She raises an eyebrow, matched by Shinso while Kodai stares with curiosity as well. “You already know all of our quirks, but we don’t know yours. It’s only fair to share, right?”

I fidget, looking down at the ground and refusing to answer. Shinso sighs, putting a hand on my shoulder. “You guys aren’t judging me for my quirk, and you even gave me a bunch of ideas for how to use it as a hero, not to mention training it. It’s not like yours can be any more villainous than mine.”

“Your quirk isn’t villainous!” I pout at him. We talked about this! “There’s-”

“No such thing as a villainous or heroic quirk.” Shinso finishes with a smirk. “I know that. You’re the one who taught me that. So what’s so bad that you can’t tell us yours?”

I look down, digging at the floor with the toe of my shoe. They all just stand there, watching me. I keep shooting glances at them, hoping they’ll get bored and move on. But they don’t. They’re patient. They’re good friends.

If only they’d be friends with a quirkless…

I sigh, not looking up as I prepare for it. “I’m…quirkless.”

I close my eyes, not wanting to see the looks of hatred and disgust. I wait for them to hit me. To push me down and call me a freak. But after a few minutes pass with nothing happening, I crack one eye open and peek at them. They’re just looking at me. Looking at the freak who shouldn’t even be-

“That sucks.”

“Huh?” I blink in shock at Shinso, who shrugs.

“I said that sucks. I know what it’s like to be bullied for a ‘villainous’ quirk.” He puts air quotes on the words villainous to show that it’s not him calling it that. “But I can’t imagine how bad they’d bully me if I didn’t have even that.”

“Yeah Green, if you ever need our help with anything, just let us know. Us outcasts gotta stick together.” Jiro’s words are filled with determination, matching the look in her eyes. I turn to Kodai, my mouth hanging open. She just leans over and gives me a hug, saying one simple word. But it’s a word that means the world to me, bringing tears to my eyes.

“Friends.”