Aesthete

Chapter 24.

TW: Graphic Violence.

I lost count of the seconds when they began electrocuting me. I had awoken chained to a cement wall, darkness cascaded me, I had no recollection of how I ended up in the cell.

The iron bars separated me from Tomura Shigaraki. His eyes trailed over my body in curiosity, but he also looked disgusted. I wonder what I looked like.

Pain was something I grew accustomed to throughout the course of my life. It was a constant ache that never allowed for redemption, pain and I were one, a double-edged sword that was never seen without the other. But this was more.

This was so much more than pain. Then again, I felt numb, empty, discarded into a body that no longer belonged to me. Shigaraki began explaining why the entire League of Villains spent the last twenty-six hours of when I had been awake shattering any mobile limb I had.

"I know, if we want you to join the League, we should treat you as an equal. Feel flattered with this, we needed to make sure we broke your body because you're too powerful, you could kill all of us if you wanted to. Do you get it, now?" I heard him finish his rhetorical question, Toga rose from the shadows in the corner of the confined space I was in. She giggled, "Hey, Florence. You're such a good girl, you stopped screaming hours ago!" Her nasally voice irritated me more than the blade she wedged under my skin. I breathed out, my vision was unclear from the blood that dripped into my eyes.

I wasn't aware how long I slept from the time Dabi dragged me into Kurogiri's portal. When I stumbled back into consciousness, my mind went into overdrive, fright greeted me like an old friend while I screamed. My voice was muffled, I had a bar over my face in the same manner that my wrists and ankles were chained.

I saw the man named Dabi, Tomura Shigaraki, Himiko Toga, a lizard looking person, the man who yelled in two tones, Kurogiri, and the magician. They observed me, trying to gauge how I'd react to the way I woke up. From what I learned while glancing around the room and feigning sleep for two seconds, I was back in the midst of a city, in a narrow and tall building several stories up in an abandoned and dimly lit bar.

"Your sedative's going to wear off soon. If you don't listen to what we have to say, we have no choice but to hurt you, Florence." Dabi spoke, blue eyes honing in on mine. I simply stared, I couldn't speak, and even if I wanted to, there was nothing I could say to these monsters.

"I'll be honest with you, we wanted Katsuki Bakugo." Shigaraki explained, while I stirred at the mention of his name, groaning slightly when I realized both of my ankles were twisted oddly.

"But, you took his place. How heroic. You're nothing like what we had in mind, but we still need you on our side. Do you want to fight for a society that betrayed you? My master did research on you, you came from America, you were abused throughout your life and bullied severely. The government over there didn't care about you until they saw your power. You're only in Japan because they're using you to benefit their name, all throughout your life, you've just been tarnished and used. We can fix that, Reyna. Join us and no one will hold you back or force you to do anything you don't want to, you can help us destroy those who hurt people like us. Your origin story is that of a villain, not a hero."

I froze, eyes scanning him. Why would he tell me this? I don't give a shit what my past reminds him of, I didn't have to be what others were to me. His plan to kidnap Bakugo was just as poorly thought out, he wouldn't budge and neither would I.

I remained silent, eyes flitting to the corner only slightly to see the smallest stem rise from the corner of the bar. I can use my quirk.

Thinking of a plan, I ignored the way Dabi sauntered over to me, one hand cupping my cheek while he stroked it with his thumb. I'm pretty sure whatever you're thinking is illegal, perv.