My Hero Academia: The Promises We Make

Chapter 5: Your Weakness

There was a soft knock at the door, the metal resounding slightly across the cold walls of the dark cavern. I shifted slightly in my cot, my body heavy and sluggish from sleep.

"Wakey wakey kiddos." There was a soft creek as the door opened.

I turned around, a mess of dark hair and stark white eyes greeting me.

Slowly I rose up, looking over to my right at Clay, still as solid as a rock save the slight rise and fall of her chest against the sheets. This had likely been the best sleep we had gotten in a long time, and she deserved every minute of it that could be spared.

I squinted and shifted my eyes away as the lights in the room shot on spontaneously, shedding the cavern in the fluorescent daylight. The sudden change in environment also caused Clay to start to stir.

"We have a big day ahead of us!" He set down a silver tray on the small wooden table.

Still squinting at the light, I managed to form words with my still sluggish mouth. "...a big day?"

"But of course! Today we start to test out those gifts of yours! But first..." He took one arm to the silver platter, and with the same flamboyance he displayed in the alley, lifted the tray cover.

The smell alone was enough to make my mouth water. Eggs... and bacon.

"A special breakfast for a special day! Bon appétit!"

Whether it was the smell of the food, the lights, or the noise, or even all of the above, Clayra was awake and just as stunned as I was for the extravagance of the meal. But our shock didn't last long before we delved into the warm food, grateful for the gift.

When we had eaten our fill, there was a clap as the shadow man rubbed his hands together, ever eager to begin the day.

"Alright! First, shall we start with the little one?"

I immediately got defensive, shooting up from the table and standing in between her and the shadow man, uncomfortable with the idea of my little sister being a guinea pig for his games.

He put his hands up to signify his harmlessness. "Now, now as promised you will need to do nothing that strikes you wrong."

He walked around to the other edge of the table, beckoning Clayra to join him. Shuffling his feet he gathered up a clump of dirt. Shadows slithered out from underneath his trousers, and immediately surrounded the clump, meshing it into a perfect cube.

"My dear Clayra, I want you to try something for me if you would." He drew her closer to the cube. "I want you to try to make a hole right down the center of this cube. Can you do that?"

She bit her lip, before tentatively nodding her head. I clenched my fists. The activity seemed harmless, but I also knew that the request would be slightly beyond her current abilities. That level of control was a large task.

She furrowed her brow as she hovered her hand over the dirt cube. Slowly, a small perfect hole started to form at the top. Small specks of sweat started to peak out on her forehead underneath her bangs. I saw her hand shake, but slowly the cylindrical hole started to move down the cube. She had gotten stronger than I realized.

I saw her shut her eyes tightly as she fought the exhaustion, but against her will, her focus collapsed, and the dirt cube melted along with all her hard work.

The shadow man nodded slightly but said nothing.

He then turned to me.

"Very well. Shall we try you next?"

I folded my arms across my chest, gazing down at my sister who was knelt down on the ground trying to catch her breath.

"What do you want me to do?"

He walked over to the other end of the small room.

"Nothing really. All you need to do is get past me."

I scoffed. It was easy. For the last few months it had been my only means of survival for Clay and myself. Getting past people without being detected.

I closed my eyes. I imagined what it would be like to walk among the shadows in the cavern, with the slight flickering of the fluorescent lights halted. The heaving of Clayra's chest to resemble more of sleep than an exhausted anguish.

A surge of energy coursed through me and I chuckled slightly, before beginning my journey across the room.

I winced as the energy drained from me as I held the world at a constant crawl. Thankfully, the distance across the room was not large and I knew my stamina could hold out for at least that long.

As I reached the shadow man, a chill ran through me as I noticed a small smirk that was slowly forming on his scarred face. There was a tap at my foot, and I noticed a black tendril wrapped around my ankle.

In a flash, the tendril yanked me back, releasing my footing and my focus, yanking me down to the ground with a thud that knocked the wind out of my lungs.

I coughed.

"Connor!"

Clayra ran up to me, her hands still shaking slightly from the exertion, but now more concerned for me than herself.

"I see I see." The shadow man clicked slightly. "Not bad, truly! But I can see we will have much work to do. Yes, much work to do indeed."

I gasped trying to bring air back into my lungs. "What... the hell... was that?"

There was a guttural noise that I could only assume was a chuckle.

"That my dear boy, was your weakness."

I blinked processing the words.

"You think because the world crawls, you are immune to it. But until you can make sure the world stops, there will always be something that will trip you."

He walked over to the now shapeless clump of dirt. "And you dear girl think it is your responsibility to force your will onto the earth as opposed to letting its natural shape guide you. If you listen, it will tell you what it can do. Something need not be perfect to be functional."

His words washed over us as a cup of cold water on a hot summer day. Was it even possible? To become faster than time itself? I tried to imagine walking a world where things were not just slowed but stopped. Imagine a world where I was walking among statues. A world outside of time.

"Well, we know where to start!" The shadow man clicked his heels together, his gravelly voice filled with anticipation. "And there's nowhere to go but up!"

And so we trained. And trained, and trained, under the guidance of a man who emerged from the shadows with a snicker and a promise.