Spectre - (MHA x OC)

Chapter 40: Cursed Quirks

Aiko couldn't face any of her classmates, not directly at least. She felt too ashamed. When anyone tried to talk to her during or after class, she refused. Even when All Might asked for her to come to the teacher's lounge to discuss Midoriya's new quirk, she refused. Even Haru's attempts at helping her were ignored. How could she deserve his pity, after all? 'After all this time... maybe I am a villain...' she thought to herself, memories of things children would say to her and about her all the time growing up ringing in her mind. 

A knock was then heard at the door. Aiko flinched as Haru stood to get it, opening the door to reveal Aizawa in the doorframe. "Kid," Aizawa stated.

Aiko only looked at his legs, asking, "Yes sir?"

'He's probably going to expel me, after all who would want a villain in their school?' Aiko thought to herself.

"I'm asking you to help me with something," Aizawa stated.

When Aiko didn't respond, Aizawa sighed and walked into her room, sitting beside her on her bed. "Look, I get you're feeling down about yourself right now, but Eri needs you," Aizawa stated.

Aiko finally met his eyes before agreeing to follow him. As they walked through the halls, word got out that Aiko had finally left her dorm, and so several students followed. Among these students were Mina, Kirishima, Kaminari, Bakugo, and Todoroki, all of whom were concerned about the girl's mental state, although some (Bakugo) weren't willing to admit it out loud. Aiko and Aizawa met Eri, Monoma, and Midoriya in the downstairs lobby of the dorm as the students following them hid behind a corner, but within earshot. "Spectre!" Eri exclaimed.

Aiko put a fake smile on her face and said, "Hi Eri."

"Can you try to borrow Eri's quirk? I want to see if you can borrow it, train with it, and teach Eri how to use it," Aizawa stated.

"I already tried, but her quirk turned out to be blank for me, so he's asked you. How's it feel to be the second-choice, Class A scum?" Monoma teased as Aiko's expression fell.

The Class A students hiding behind the wall all had to hold Bakugo back from storming out there and fighting Monoma for saying that. "Monoma, say something like that again and I'll put you in detention," Aizawa warned.

'For Eri,' Aiko thought as she knelt down to Eri's level and said, "In order to do this, I'm going to need to steal a little bit of your energy. It's going to make you feel pretty tired, and if you need to take a nap or if you want me to stop and give you your energy back, just say so, okay?"

Eri nodded, and so Aiko reached out and pulled 10% of Eri's energy. She slumped a little bit as Aiko tried to activate the quirk. Suddenly, a yellow, warm type of energy came out of Aiko's body. Everyone lit up as Aiko smiled and said, "I can do it."

Monoma went back to his own dorm as Midoriya theorized about why Aiko's quirk worked while Monoma's didn't as Aiko got used to the feeling of Eri's quirk. "Well, didn't you say that Monoma's doesn't work with stockpiling quirks, because he can't take the stockpile the other person has?" Aiko asked.

Midoriya nodded, and Aiko continued, "Since I'm taking their energy, especially in Eri's or even in your case, I might be taking that stockpile to use as my own. It's also probably why I can use O-" Aiko stopped and noticed Aizawa and Eri staring at her, listening to her explanation, "Your quirk while Monoma can't."

The boy lit up as he scribbled all of this down in his notebook. After Aiko was confident that she knew how to turn the quirk on and off, she then knelt back down to Eri's level and asked, "Eri, can I take more of your energy so I get a better idea of what you're working with? I wanna be able to train effectively so I can teach you."

Eri nodded, and so Aiko took another 15%, totaling at having 25% of Eri's energy in her body. As Aiko trained with the quirk, she started to struggle in controlling it as it was much more powerful than it was initially when she only had 10% of Eri's energy. Aizawa even had to interfere multiple times so that she wouldn't go out of control and hurt anyone who was nearby. As Eri watched, her expression dropped and dark thoughts entered her mind. After about 30 minutes, as Aiko was taking a break, she could hear soft sniffles coming from Eri's direction. She turned to see Eri holding back tears. Haru started trying to comfort her by summoning flowers for her, but Eri didn't care. "I'm so sorry, Spectre... you're having to deal with my quirk..." Eri cried, "It's so dangerous... I don't want you to get hurt..."

Aiko's heart broke as the people listening around the corner felt sympathy for the small girl. Midoriya then knelt down and said, "It's okay, Eri, your quirk isn't cursed. Think of it like a kitchen knife. It can be used for bad things and can be seen as dangerous because it's really sharp, but if you use it correctly, it can be used to make some really good food!"

When Midoriya said that, for the first time in her entire life, something in Aiko's mind finally clicked, and a smile graced her face for the first time in a few days. "You know," Aiko said as she knelt by Midoriya in front of Eri, "Growing up, people would say that my quirk was dangerous."

Eri cocked her head to the side, confused, while Midoriya quirked a brow in concern. Those listening in were either confused or knew exactly what Aiko was talking about in Kirishima and Mina's case. "It was hard to train with, and it scared a lot of people. Most people didn't even want to be near me because it scared them so bad," Aiko explained, "It scared me a lot growing up, and... even to this day it scares me sometimes, because all I can hear is the voices of the people I grew up with echoing in my head. I can imagine that's what's happening with you right now, you're hearing Chisaki's voice, right?"

Eri nodded sadly as Aiko continued. "People like them will tell people like us that our quirks having the ability to do bad things make us bad people. But... I never was the bad person they claimed I was. Just like you never were the bad person Chisaki said you were, and neither is your quirk bad... or cursed. Can your quirk do bad things? Yes. Just like Midoriya said, a knife can either hurt someone or be used as a tool to make yummy food that makes other people happy. Does that make the knife bad?" Aiko asked.

Eri shook her head. "Does it make the chef who uses the knife bad?"

Another head shake. "Does..." Aiko hesitated for a moment, "Does the fact that my quirk could be used for bad things make me a bad person?" Aiko asked.

Eri shook her head again, saying, "You're such a nice person! You saved me!"

Aiko's smile widened and tears lined her eyes as she hummed in agreement. "Just because your quirk could be used for bad things doesn't make you a bad person either. It doesn't even make your quirk bad. Your quirk just is. You decide what you do with it, and knowing your sweet, kind soul," Aiko said as she brushed some of Eri's hair behind her ear, "You're going to use your quirk to make many people smile some day."

Eri started crying fully as she enveloped Aiko in a hug. The people listening around the corner all had different takeaways. Mina and Kirishima couldn't help but feel more hatred for the people they grew up with, Kaminari was shocked as were Bakugo and Todoroki especially. Both Bakugo and Todoroki finally understood why she always seemed to have no confidence in her abilities, especially seeing as she was one of the strongest in the class, and why she seemed to have shame in regard to her quirk, especially when she introduced it to new people. 'I'll kill the extras...' Bakugo thought to himself.

'How could anyone ever think that...' Todoroki thought.

After Aiko was done training with Eri for the day, Haru couldn't help but look at her smugly. "So next time you feel like shit about yourself, I should get a 6 year-old to help make you feel better?"

"I get it, I get it, I'm an asshole who wasn't listening to you, but I'm sure you understand why..." Aiko muttered as she approached the kitchen.

However, when she was there, she was surprised to see her friends all there cooking something. "Uh, guys?" Aiko asked.

"Oh, hey Aiko!" Mina exclaimed, "We were actually going to go find you! We decided to make you food!"

Aiko quirked a brow but decided to shrug and accept the small gift from her friends. 'Those people knew nothing about me... they were wrong...' she thought to herself as she and her friends all laughed together as they cooked.