Wingless Bird

Antidote

Akari sat in the hospital room all by herself. She was naturally worried for her mother but the pit in her stomach made her a little more on edge. Something just doesn't seem right. Hawks and Ryder left a while ago, and Hawks should have been back by now right. 

Suddenly a nurse came into my room. She had a small cup of pills in one hand, and crackers and a bottled juice in the other.

"Hi, honey," she smiled at the frail girl, "how are you feeling today?"

"Uh," Akari responded, "A little tired, but I feel okay."

"Do you have any pain anywhere? Any discomfort?" The nurse pulled the table close to the bed and set everything down. She took out the clipboard and started to flip through the pages.

"I fell down yesterday so my palms and knees are a little scraped up. But other than that, I feel okay," Akari stared at the crackers.

The nurse laughed a little, "Are you hungry? You slept through breakfast, but I can get a meal brought up to you. Are you in the mood for anything in particular? We have really good soup, sandwiches, salads, desserts." The nurse shimmied her shoulders when she said desserts making Akari giggle.

"Um..." Akari waited to ask, "Is my mom okay?"

The nurse smiled gently, choosing her next words carefully, "I can't tell you a lot due to confidential laws but she is very sick as you noticed."

Hawks voice broke into the conversation as he walked through the doorway, "She has been sick for a while. Due to high toxin exposure her body developed an illness that targets the nervous system. She's receiving treatment right now, so she'll feel better within the next couple of days."

Akari nodded her head knowing it all too well, "It's from our quirk. Our bones actually produce the toxin."

Akari continued nodding her head as a spacey look forms on her face, "Science can't really explain it yet. But what we know is that our bones, similar to how bone marrow produces red blood cells, produces toxins."

Akari stopped nodding and looked at Hawks and smiled sadly, "I'll probably develop a similar illness in my life time."

Hawks had a straight face and in a serious tone, "what do you know about it?"

"I know my blood is extremely toxic and needs to be handled with a lot of care. I know that the toxins me and my mother produce targets muscle contraction signals in the nervous system. I also know that I have a high tolerance to it, but I'm not immune to it. If I don't use my quirk I build up high amounts of the toxin in my blood system. But if I over use my quirk, my body with burn through the toxins and then use other... Resources."

The nurse scrolled down on the clipboard, "what do you mean other resources?"

Akari looked at her and nonchalantly explained, "I don't quite understand how my quirk works. But it seems to need to break down chemicals or cells in order to work. So it primarily uses the toxins but if there's no toxins," Akari shrugs, "I get a burning sensation."

"Where, honey?" The nurse seemed concerned.

"My whole body," Akari answered.

A flash back to Akari's x-rays come to Hawks mind, "is it in your bones, do you think?"

Akari shakes her head, "no. It's not that deep. It's like..."

She thought for a while, "it's like under my skin. Maybe my blood, or muscles..."

"Well, luckily your mom has given us almost everything," Hawks pulled out a large pile of papers that were bundled together with rubber-bands and clips.

"Your mom has prepared for this day for years," Hawks chuckled lightly, "Your whole life, matter of fact. Just to make sure that one, you would be okay, safe. Two, that you would have the tools to better your own quirk. And most recently- three, that you would be healthy."

Hawks hands the bundle to Akari. As Akari poked through the papers she saw some of her old letters that she sent her mom. Clues to her possible whereabouts were highlighted and notes were scribbled on the side. Maps with circled around the very park Akari lived just a few days ago, even possible streets that Akari would have taken. Test sheets, and chemical diagnostics that had diagrams and numbers that meant nothing to Akari at that moment. A word stood out to her. Antidote.

"Antidote?" Akari whispered. She turned towards Hawks, "She found an antidote for the toxin?"

"Well, kind of. Your mother found an antidote for her specific toxin," Hawks corrected, "However, with this knowledge and study, we could find an antidote that works for you as well."

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Vivid memories came to Akari's mind. When she was at the orphanage, it was hell. When she was 4 or 5 she was supposed to be under watch of an older boy maybe 10 or 12. He was so mean to her. He knew if she was hurt, especially bleeding, she would have to be isolated from everyone. The orphanage would send her to an old storage shed, away from everyone until her scrapes, scratches, and cuts were healed. Akari spent a lot of time in this shed. Isolated, pushed to the side, alone and hurt. But she would always come back, under the supervision of the older boy.

In Akari's eyes, he always looked sad. Her younger self wanted to try and cheer him up. She would try and ask if he wanted to play with her.

But in his eyes, he hated her. Hated that he was treated like a babysitter. Akari still doesn't know what she did wrong but one day he grew very angry. He approached Akari and slashed across her face with a knife. The now scar ran from one cheek, across her nose and under her other eye. She remembers the smell and taste of blood and the sound of his angry screams.

"Why don't you ever just stay away!"

"You're so annoying, just leave me alone!"

This led to the first time she ran away. Because the more he attacked, the more of Akari's blood clinged to him. His clothes, his face, his hands. Suddenly, his attacks stopped and so did his life. He keeled over, with no last words, he just died. Akari was terrified that she was going to get in trouble. So she just ran away. Hoping to never be found. But, the the police followed the blood and found her quickly.

Akari was so scared. She cried to the policeman not to take her to jail. She was so terrified that they would blame her, that she killed him and she would be sentenced just like her mother. Taken to jail, to be isolated even further, to be condemned as a bad person for something that was out of her control.

But after the incident. She was left alone, no one was assigned to look after her, she was able to go to class, go to breakfast, lunch and dinner with the other kids, but the rest of the day, she sat alone. She would sit on the swing set, sit on her bed, the bench, the dining room. But always alone.