𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐈𝐑! ❀ 𝐊. 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐀𝐌𝐈 [ˢʰᵒʳᵗ ˢᵗᵒʳʸ]

① 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙠

The world was collapsing. Every corner of the earth was caving in on itself. It folded and cracked and splintered. No person or animal was left alive, burned by the magma that engulfed them. The ground shook from the force of the earthquakes. Fires burned and explosions erupted, filling the air with smoke. The sky was bleak and gray from the ashes. No one could breathe.

Except for Kimika.

She stood in the middle of the chaos, untouched by the mayhem. Her pale skin was flawless and clean. Her pin-straight hair was still the color of snow. Her red eyes reflected the fires that burned in front of her.

Kimika watched the world end. She watched the home she once loved become nothing. She watched, alone.

At least, that's how it felt to her.

In reality, the world was fine. Sure, villains still roamed the streets and people died, but heroes were there to save the day and make sure everyone lived a peaceful life. In fact, her vivid daydreams of the world's destructions were just that: daydreams.

She was locked in her empty room, with no bed or desk or anything to entertain her. The walls were made from a quirk: white walls that couldn't be broken by anything, not even her power. Inside that room, it was just her. Just her, and air. It was the one thing she couldn't touch.

The one thing she couldn't make disappear.

Kimika remembered the day when her quirk first manifested. It was the day when the fires sparked and engulfed everything in her mind. Her quirk had absolutely nothing to do with the flames, and yet there they were, turning every happy memory to ash. She didn't know why they were there. She didn't know how to get rid of them.

As she sat in that barren room only two years later, they haunted her.

A shaky breath escaped her lips. She pulled her knees to her chest, burying her face in her arms and letting herself sink farther and farther down the spiral. That's what it felt like to sit here for days on end. It was a spiral that circled to the depths of her consciousness. She could sense all the ghosts that haunted her, everything that disappeared thanks to her power.

She took a step down the spiral staircase of her mind.

There was a desk.

Another step.

A tree.

Another step.

A hairbrush.

Two more steps.

A gemstone. A baby bunny.

Three more steps.

A backpack. A door. A vial of medicine.

Another step.

The doctor who had first tried to help her.

Another step.

Two government officials.

It kept going and going for what seemed like miles. There was no end to it.

A loud click snapped her out of her thoughts. She quickly rose to her feet, her fingers wrung tightly in front of her. She kept them a safe distance from the plain white robe she wore. If she touched it-- it would disappear.

Kimika watched as a section of the white walls fell away and a man stepped inside. She shrank under the man's gaze. Dressed in a sleek black suit, holding a metal contraption in his hand, he called out to her.

"Vanish. You are required in level 3's main training facility."

There was a lump in Kimika's throat that she couldn't swallow. She felt the man apply the metal gadget to her wrists. They were cuffs. They fastened at the wrist, a long slab of platinum that divided her hands so they wouldn't, and couldn't, touch anything. It was the only thing they could do to prevent the effects of her power.