Searching for Him

6.

At her apartment they each put their bags on the countertop, while she went into the kitchen.

"Do you guys want something to drink? Or to eat?" She had a cabinet opened, she turned to look at the three boys who mumbled 'no' and 'no thank yous'. She grabbed a bottle of water and motioned them to sit. She sat on the coffee table in front of them.

"What do you wanna know?" Emily sighed, playing with her water.

"What really happened when you left?" Shoto was the first to respond.

"What the hell is going on with you?" Katsuki asked, overlapping Shoto. Emily sighed again, a sad smile on her face.

"Well, after I left my..uh..my dad beat me. He said that if I was stronger and prettier your dad wouldn't need to consider anyone else." She gave them a sad smile, looking at her hands.

"You're lying, what is else is going on and don't fucking lie." Katsuki squeezed her knee in a 'supportive' matter.

"M-mom got s-sick. S-she's really s-sick and dad wouldn't let me see her. I-I didn't even get to tell her I got into U.A." She cried into her hands. Her mother was her best friend, she confided in her about everything: the arrangement, and how she wanted to find that little boy.

"Oh man, I'm sorry about that." Kirishima was the first to move and rub his hand on her back.

"Why didn't he say anything?" Katsuki got angry by this point, about not knowing any information about his aunt. How could his uncle not let them know she was sick.

"I heard him talk to aunty, I thought you knew." Emily had calmed down a bit, but some tears would still escape her eyes.

"What? We're leaving shitty hair!" Katsuki got up and stomped out the house leaving Kirishima behind.

"I'm sorry about him. We'll see you at school, and I'm sorry to hear about your mom." He gave her a quick sideways hug and ran out the door. She tilted her head in confusion looking at the door and began to giggle a bit.

"You mentioned in the morning about a hero convention. What is that?" Shoto asked. The red eyed girl looked at him and smiled, getting up and sat down next to him.

"It's another way to meet other heros from different countries and talk about their accomplishments. But if they have kids, it was alway my kid this my kid that. I mean it was fun, until I got older then it turned into who was better suited for me or vice versa. I had seen your father before, lots of times actually. Our dads were always together at these things, he would talk about you. How strong you were and about your dual quirk. Many of the girls are interested in arranged marriages so they had their fathers try to push them onto yours. The majority of them were pushed away, and lots of them got discouraged in noticing that my father was alway with yours. It was spread around quickly that you were already 'engaged' to me, so they went for the next biggest fish they could get." Emily bit her lip, as she played with her hands. "He's one of those guys that only looks for some arm candy with money. My dad's family comes from old money and he has influences everywhere. So I guess I was the jackpot for him. At school he tried to persuade me into 'dating' but I always turned him down. So he tried to get his father to convince mine but my father was already set on you." A single tear rolled down her face, and again she closed her eyes and tried to calm down.

"Well...since your father was considering someone else, mine thought it was a good idea to have a back up plan. So he agreed to have us hang out and get to know each other better." Tears were streaming down her face

"That's not all that happened, is it?" Shoto was really watching her, there was something she wasn't telling them.

"He started spreading rumors about me throughout the whole school that I had slept with him.." she whispered, "Then it escalated to I was selling myself for money, and doing all kinds of inappropriate things with the teachers to get the grades and praises I was getting. I was getting bullied from everyone in my class. They would use their quirks on me on purpose to harm me. The teachers wouldn't do anything about it, and my father told me to toughen up from their bullying, that that was the reason Endeavor wanted someone else for you. Because I was weak."