Under The Willows

Chapter One: The Gardens

It was Violet Flowers's first day teaching at Yuei. She was intensely nervous as she eyed the immense building as she collected her thoughts, took a few deep breaths, and fanned her cheeks that were now hot with anticipation. Her quirk, healing heart. Violet extolled her energy and vitality in order to bring comfort and peace to those she encountered.

She trained relentlessly during high school because she knew she could help people. She had attended Yuei but didn't graduate in the hero course. One day, by accident she discovered a terribly brutal application of her quirk. Violet was naturally a good-natured person, so it never occurred to her that her quirk could change based on extreme emotion. Her healing heart could comfort and heal, but it could also maim. One day a hero course student, Rion, began to tease her. She tried her best to ignore him, but he only doubled down in the following weeks. One day he went too far.

"You're too fat to be useful to anyone. What are you going to do, sit on a villain and crush him to death? If you could catch him, that is!" Rion chortled at his own joke and of course his band of lackeys guffawed with him egging him on. Rion came closer and closer to her as his air vipers snapped at her. She tried to run away but tripped. She panicked, knowing she was no match. The laughing rang in her ears and the pain from her bleeding knees that she fell on throbbed. And her heart upon hearing such hurtful things from a fellow student stung so intensely. Someone who was trying to be a hero, it was unthinkable for them to act in such a way! Rion had been slacking in training his control over his quirk and his sloppy work reared its head at the wrong moment. As one of his air vipers struck her arm drawing blood, emotions she was unaccustomed to dealing with bubbled up and her quirk manifested a new component. Normally her healing heart formed an invisible shell of her energy around herself and the people she was helping and granted the recipient a measure of her own peace, comfort, and happiness. With the panic growing in the pit of her stomach, her healing heart went into a defense mode and she surrounded Rion with her panicked energy aura and it nearly suffocated him. She shared her hurt and panic, but it hit so hard and with no control that it dealt him a great blow. Principal Nezu had witnessed the tail end of the exchange and saw the poor frightened student unleash her negative aura. There were plenty of witnesses that filled the principal in on the details. Nezu immediately saw potential in the girl and recruited her to the Hero Course. Rion was expelled for a month and had to have another intense round of quirk counseling. When he came back he apologized profusely.

Violet underwent special training lessons with the principal and learned to control her emotions when using her quirk. Making quick progress, Violet went into the hero work studies early. That is where her dreams of being a hero came to a crashing halt. A violent altercation with a villain left her entire agency either dead or in critical condition. The villain who tried to kill her ended up bleeding out in an alleyway because in near death situations we sometimes go beyond our natural capacities. He had beaten her so badly she was almost dead, when the fear she had of dying crystalised the air and lacerated him so badly he died. It couldn't be helped, of course, she had no other choice or control in that situation, but having to be in a court hearing and seeing his widow and child made was too much for her to bear.

She quit the hero course and finished up as general studies. She went on to work many part time jobs that brought smiles to peoples' faces. Violet was satisfied with life. She had her own cafe, she worked nights at her friend's bookstore pub, and volunteered at the animal shelter on the weekends. None of these things required her quirk and she liked it that way. Although, if she could help a sick animal with her healing heart, she would. Her life was uneventful and happy. That is until Kamino Ward got destroyed. She lived only blocks away from the destruction. Her café was demolished in just seconds. She watched out her window as All Might battled the villain everyone would all come to know as All for One. Shortly thereafter, Principal Nezu called her knowing that the kids and teachers would desperately need Healing Heart. Violet had been in a good place mentally for many years and had just lost her café so she figured why not. It was a chance to use her quirk for some good. After all, heroes need saving sometimes too.