MHA Fanfiction: Inbound

Hero Inbound

Iylla's POV

I want to be strong.

 The thought crossed my mind as I hit the power button on my Nintendo Switch Lite and listened to the music blaring through my wireless earphones. I folded my legs under myself as the shining sun warmed my skin and the wind ran through my dark purple hair.  

The little character in my game stood still, waiting for direction, while I watched the people pass by the park bench I sat on and wondered; If a villain attacked the park right now, how many of these people would require saving from a Pro Hero? One? Five? All of them? 

If a villain attacked right now, would I need a hero or could I save myself? A high school third year who, save the fighting techniques taught to her by her father, was utterly untrained in the art of survival wouldn't last a minute against a real villain. Of course, I knew that this was the correct answer, but I wanted it to be different.

I don't want to be saved, I want to do the saving.

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Suddenly, I found myself thinking back to the conversation I had had with my English teacher earlier today. The brightness of the sun was traded for the fluorescent lighting of the high school as I allowed myself to remember. 

It's the last few months of our final year in high school so the teacher, Ms. Cerv, decided it would be advantageous for us to start thinking more seriously about which colleges we would apply to. She handed everyone a sheet of paper and asked us to list three colleges and programs of study that we had interests in. 

My classmates all got to work on their assignments, but I was already done.

UA University- Hero Course.

For me, there was no second best option.

"Ahh, I had a feeling you would be done already." Ms. Cerv had said as she took the paper from my desk. "Following in the footsteps of your esteemed father and older brother, I see." 

"Yes, ma'am." My father had gone to UA University to be a hero and even graduated at the top of his class. Now, my older brother was attending UA as a second-year student and was doing very well for himself. My twin brother would be Applying to UA this year with me as well. "I've got to live up to the family name."

The words sounded hollow when they left my mouth and I knew why. It was because even though I wanted to make my family proud, it wasn't the soul reason I wanted to be a hero.

"You know," she said, taking off her glasses "There's more to being a hero than family honor."

"I know." I met her steely gaze "I will not only live up to my family name, but I will surpass it and become the strongest person I can be."

Ms. Cerv did not say anything, she just looked at my sheet of paper, sighed, and then handed it back to me. Without a single word, she walked back to her desk and started grading other classwork. 

I stared down at my paper and then back at Ms. Cerv. Was that not the right answer? Was it not a hero's job and responsibility to become as strong as possible?  I glared at the piece of paper in my hands, willing it to tell me what it was that Ms. Cerv wanted from me. Of course, the paper remained silent and I, in turn, remained unaware of my misstep.  

The minutes went by one by one and slowly but surely my classmates were finishing up their assignments. Their voices echoed in the background of my brain as I tried in vain to think of two other Colleges that would interest me. Before I knew it the bell had rung and my classmates began to turn in their work and file out the door. I gathered my things and handed Ms. Cerv my paper, still only partially filled. I turned my back on her and made it to the doorway before I heard her voice say.

"Who do you want to be, Iylla?" 

"I want to be strong," I answered, without facing her.

"Being a hero is more than a family business, Iylla."

"I kno-" I started.

"And it's more than being strong or the best." Her voice gained an exasperated tone. "A hero is a hero not for oneself, but for others."  

---------------------------------------------------

The park came back into view as the memory faded into the recesses of my brain.

Ms. Cerv was right, of course. I fully agreed with her, A real hero is a hero because they want to save others even if that means hurting themselves, not because they want to prove themselves. A real hero is concerned with being strong enough to save the people they have a responsibility to save, not being the strong just for the sake of it. Even though I acknowledge these things to be true, is it wrong for me to still desire strength above all else?  

The strongest people in this society are the people we call heroes, regardless of whether or not they earned or deserved the title. Hero was a word that once held something special, but now it was only a term, a job description. One could be a Pro Hero without being a real hero. Pro Heroes were a dime a dozen. There were very few people that I would consider a real hero; All Might, and my dad, were just two examples of real heroism. 

A real hero. That's not me, at least not right now. For now, being the very best I can possibly be is my drive, my aspiration. Saving lives is just part of the job, a fortunate bonus. I could be a Pro Hero without being a real hero. Maybe one day I'll come to find that a real hero was forged inside of me while I was busy getting stronger.

If I want to be a hero then there is only one place to go, UA University. UA has the best hero course there ever was, but that only meant the competition to get in would be tough. High schoolers with quirks of all kinds will apply to UA, and unlike me, their quirks will be obvious hero material. If I want to be able to compete with other UA hopefuls, I would have to put some serious work into my quirk. However, training to use your quirk for anything more than control is considered to be illegal. So, if I can't compete with the other applicants and I can't train my quirk, I'll have to train my body instead.

I can't rely on my quirk for everything. I need to be able to lean on myself, I need to be able to use my head. There may come a day when my quirk is my disadvantage and I need to be able to solve that problem by simply forgetting that I even have a quirk. I've trained most of my life in the art of the binding cloth, bow and arrow, staff, and hand-to-hand combat, so expanding that training for the UA entrance exam shouldn't be difficult. My dad always impressed upon me the importance of being a well-rounded fighter when your quirk isn't what he would call multipurpose. Eventually, he helped me to see that being strong is more than having a powerful quirk, it's having a powerful physical ability, as well. 

The little character on the screen of my Switch Lite waved its hands in the air to make sure it hadn't been forgotten, but of course, it had been. If I stood around and waited for some unknown force to tell me what to do and where to go, one day I'd find myself waving my hands in the air.

No. When all is said and done and I'm an old woman looking back at my life, I want to die knowing that I was the best I could be. The strongest I could be. I want to die knowing that I never needed anyone else to tell me what my purpose was. This life is mine and mine alone. I decide what I want to do with it, no one else.

 Ms. Cerv had hoped to deter me from the life of a Pro Hero, but she only served to push me further down that path. I was going to be a hero, maybe not a real hero, but a hero nonetheless. The only thing stopping me from sprinting full speed down that path was UA University's entrance exam. 

I shoved the Switch Lite into my bag and rose from the park bench I had been sitting on. I speed-walked down the park trail, anxious to get home and begin a whole new training regimen. I was going to train harder, get into UA University, graduate and become a hero.

I will be strong.