When the Stars Align

Chapter 43

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The Sports Festival had officially come to a close.

You had woken up just in time for the awards ceremony that marked the end of the first years event, falling into the quiet stampede of students as they descended from the viewing box. From there, you'd all been taken to set up podiums, with only three blocks of cement reigning high over the crowd.

You'd been corralled over to the third place block after Midnight had spotted you because, apparently, you'd managed to actually pull a rank in the end. You hadn't been as attentive as you probably should have been when it came to seeing who the final four were before the official final round, but in your defense, you'd been so damn tired, it really hadn't made a difference to you at all.

In the end, Bakugou had placed first, and that was just that.

Sure, he hadn't looked happy about it if his outburst was any indication, or the chains with which they'd held him down with, but nothing could be done to change the outcome of the day. You had all been afforded medals- shiny, little things that they'd hung around your neck- had been made to pose with All Might for some glorified magazine, and then you had all been sent on your way.

Students were allowed to go home after a brief period to enjoy the remainder of the Sports Festival and their two days off from class, but you'd had to stay behind. With Yamada and Kayama still heading the continuation of the festival for the preceding years, and Aizawa locked away in secret meetings until someone could help him down the stairs, you had essentially been made to barricade yourself in your guardians classroom until further notice.

It had been fine, at first. It was easy enough to dodge the questions everyone threw your way when you explained you would be waiting at the school for someone to pick you up, had accepted cheery congratulations from your peers and wandering others who you came across when climbing up the schools floors, and had made it to the 1-A classroom with enough time to shut the door behind you before any wandering eyes could inquire much.

But, now, it wasn't fine.

Now, you were sifting through endless thoughts as the sun set more and more from behind Aizawas podium, mindlessly playing with some stale water you'd found from an abandoned bottle. Now, you were running over your performance from beginning to end, sighing away your frustrations until they seemed just on the cusp of bursting-

The small bubble you'd created rippled slightly before popping, faint mist colliding onto your waiting palm as you gathered the small bits of fractured liquid and began anew with your Quirk.

Your Quirk. Your dumb, stupid Quirk that you weren't allowed to understand.

Brooding was pointless. You knew why the Commission was so adamant that you only focus on whatever they could supplement to you; your power had been deemed volatile if under heavy duress, a liability they had to work around. You'd been taught where to toe the line, when certain actions were acceptable when necessary, how to work around any deficiencies you might have, but now...

Now, you felt stagnant. No progress had been made in your name, no attempt to further your level was ever mentioned above what you were already given, and you were now shipped elsewhere until the higher ups decided you were something they could finally pay attention to.

You were just stagnant, wading through a too still current as everyone else took to swimming past you.

And therein lied the problem; compared to the others, you weren't supposed to be stagnant. You were supposed to be something fierce, something immovable, something brilliant. That's what you were told all those years ago, when your only option had been to grasp the hand of a mysterious woman that claimed to have your best interest in mind.