Seraph - Katsuki Bakugo

s i x

Reigen ended up having to be admitted temporarily to the hospital after losing consciousness once again at Shouta's bedside. It was another short loss of consciousness, but led to the assumption that she had a concussion from the blow.

She sat unhappily in her own room, wishing that she could've passed it off as simply falling asleep. A knock sounded at her door, and she told the visitor to come in with an unhappy tone to her voice.

Her closest friend waltzed into the room, his purple hair and eyes blazing in the setting sunlight streaming from the window. His eyes widened when he found her, and he paced slowly toward the bed.

Reigen crossed her arms and looked away from Shinso, still a bit upset about their conversation earlier that day. Not only that, but she was in a bad mood from having to be admitted in the first place.

"Shit..." Was all that Shinso could manage. Her eyes found his, bright with indignation.

"What?" She asked, much like her godfather had earlier that day.

"I..." Shinso sighed heavily, pulling a stool from the corner of the room and sitting near the bed. "I thought you said you weren't hurt."

She remained quiet, hoping that her silence would indicate that her injury was not on this list of topics she wanted to talk about.

After a few moments, he seemed to get the idea. "I'm sorry I was rude over text." She scoffed slightly, looking out the window again. He was taken aback, he had never seen her so put out before. "I know I don't know your situation. I know I tend to assume that there's privilege when I don't have any sort of proof. So I'm sorry."

Reigen's face softened, never having heard him apologize before. She realized that the treatment she was giving him wasn't entirely fair-- her foul mood mainly stemmed from the fact that she was a patient in this damn hospital in general.

"I'm sorry for not telling you my situation sooner, it's just not something that's easy to bring up." She paused, feeling the need to explain herself further. "And I'm not really that angry at you, I'm just pissed that I'm here as a patient!" She looked at him, watching his stony expression soften and a grin stretch his face. He gave a small laugh, covering his mouth with his hand and looking away from her slightly.

"Right, of course." They sat in silence for a couple seconds after a grin cracked Reigen's face as well. "But do you... Do you want to tell me the situation?" Her face fell a bit, fingers intertwining in her lap.

"I guess now's as good a time as any," she said, almost in a whisper. She took a deep breath, trying to figure out where to start.

"As I've already said, my mother and Shota and Hizashi-- EraserHead and Present Mic-- were friends. Close friends, I think since at least the guys were in high school. When my mom had me, she asked them to be godfathers." Her fingers were fiddling with the sheet that was covering her now, eyes fixated on the fabric. "They came over a lot when I was a kid. But my dad... Got jealous. I think that's what it was, anyway, I never knew the full story. Just that they stopped coming when I was seven. He started getting worse around that time."

"Worse?"

"Uh-- he--" She sighed, unsure of how to word it. "He was abusive, I guess. He was obsessed with making me stronger, making me use my quirk until I would pass out from exhaustion. It became physical when I wasn't making the progress he wanted, and I was never allowed to go outside. Meaning, uh, I didn't go to school. Or make friends, like I've told you before. My mom had my little brother when I was eight, so I helped to take care of him when my dad wasn't around."

Shinso was speechless. He didn't know what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't this. But she wasn't finished.

"It got even worse after my brother was born, my dad stopped working as much. I think the financial strain stressed him out. There was this one night... I think my brother was around three? But my mother was really sick. In the hospital sick, and my dad was stressed out about the bills. I don't remember what I said, but something snapped and he came after me." Reigen shifted her body on the bed, turning her back to Shinso and opening the hospital gown slightly so he could see the scars that carved around where the base of her wings would be if they were out. "He tried to carve my wings out-- I think he was afraid that I'd run away. Or, fly away. Something stopped him though, I'm not sure what. I just remember seeing the blood, the pain, and a bright light. I thought I was dead," she chuckled, turning back around and looking carefully at Shinso. "I woke up a long time after that in the hospital."