Colors in the Dark

[59] Functional/Dysfunctional

A/N: It's been six months... whoops.

~

A calm, if not very tired, and serious-looking Ayami with bright gold-green eyes and copper-colored hair that faded to the color of grass was not what 1-A was expecting as they went to leave Ground Beta. Especially not an Asclepius-controlled Ayami lying on the ground, glowing hands pressed together to heal the charred and aching skin on them both.

In short, a possessed Ayami that was neither running away nor attacking without mercy.

Further questioning only clarified the extent of her injuries due to her sparring with Bakugou- which was, despite the minor injuries both of them received, a successful lesson, given both of them came up with new Super Moves- and that Ayami was unconscious due to her exhaustion, leaving the mellow green spirit in charge. With her full trust. And he was cordial, kind, and not taking advantage of it like most of them had been expecting.

It had been a long time since any of them last saw her possessed, usually by Deimos or Ares, both of whom fought with no restraint or mercy. They had figured the sentient spirits of her quirk were mostly all violent and volatile by nature, only tamed by Ayami's quiet and strong-willed nature, but would grab at any chance to take advantage of her.

The students of 1-A learned something that day. Maybe they had been wrong about the spirits. Maybe there was more to them than they had expected, more than they had thought, if they put any thought into it at all.

Maybe Ayami wasn't the only one in their little system that was deserving of their title as a hero, their placement in class, even their body as a whole. Perhaps they had been too harsh in judging what they perceived to be threatening creatures, but were really people just like them living half a life in which they'd known nothing but pain and fear.

...Or maybe you were just Midoriya, and you overthought everything.

The green-haired student had been confused when Ayami and Bakugou had gone flying by him, nervous when he realized her hair was a brighter red than usual along with her eyes and that she'd made contact with him meaning she had a plan relating to One For All. Hearing she'd used Bakugou's fear of him becoming stronger than him- which the blond vehemently denied- to take on his appearance and use his quirk to gain an advantage was almost eerie, and yet so clever he knew he'd write an entry about it in his to-be hero journals on his classmates. He had no doubt she could also fight with his nightmarified-Bakugou if she so chose.

According to Asclepius, the attack combination they used was a work-in-progress Super Move that had yet to be named, but it would play off their target's weakness, something they feared or hated as sensed by either Deimos' Nightmare, Brizo's mind reading, or Prometheus' ability to read emotions, and use a combination of Ares (if the person was nearby and their quirk could be copied) and Hecate (to take on that person's appearance). The resulting shock would allow Ayami to have an advantage, aided by the Counter Shield that could reflect most oncoming attacks if she was in danger, though that had the drawback of too-powerful attacks harming her as well.

By psychologically manipulating her opponents and using their own emotions against them, it was a powerful and deadly combination, almost cruel with its accuracy. Midoriya recommended the name Psychological Warfare to the green spirit as he helped him via Ayami's body to Recovery Girl's office, Bakugou refusing treatment or even visiting the school nurse.

Honestly, a lot of his perspectives on things had changed since the redhead had joined the class. Stigma around orphans, specific types of quirks, and mental illnesses has always been something he didn't quite believe but didn't have the sources to delve into, so he usually just stuck with what he knew, being apprehensive.