Voodoo Doll [BNHA]

Chapter Three

"They said you were an abomination...a disgrace...something this world should never have had to suffer." Her mother rocked back and forth in the kitchen pointing a trembling finger at a six year old Fumeiyo. Her dark wiry hair was mussed from how many times she clutched at her head in agony trying to shut out the voices of her demons. She gave in to her demons. "They were right, you shouldn't exist... Monster...DEMON!" Her rambling soon turned to screams.

Fumeiyo tried to retreat to her small closet sized bedroom, but her mother was quicker and pinned her to the ground with inhuman strength. Tears streamed down Fumeiyo's cheeks as she screamed for help praying her father would be home from work in time to save her. Her mother reached for the counter and grabbed one of her sewing needles.

"SILENCE DEMON!" She threaded the needle and forced Fumeiyo's mouth shut, unhindered by her futile flailing.

Doll shivered as the horrifically vivid memory nearly knocked her off her feet. She dropped to her knees and threw her hands over her head trying to hide from the painful memories. A gentle hand pressed into her back and waited for her to calm down. After she'd managed to take a few deep breaths her cloudy white eyes sought out whoever was trying to offer her comfort. Doll spotted a girl a few years her senior with wild flaming locks and a fierce gaze, Burnin. Though she could be quite abrasive, she was one of the first of Endeavor's sidekicks to accept Doll and one of the few who didn't flinch the first time she saw her unbandaged.

"Everything okay?" Burnin asked somewhat strained, it was difficult for her to be nurturing, she was normally fiery and aggressive.

Doll nodded and shakily got to her feet. "Sorry." She tried to muster a reassuring smile, "thanks for your concer—"

"Who said I was concerned?!" Burnin snapped at her reassured the eerie girl was alright and moved away from her, "you were blocking the damn walkway."

Doll glanced around; she was off to the side of the gym out of everyone's way. She giggled quietly. "Thank you for looking out for me."

"Brain damaged." Burnin grumbled before ruffling her hair a little more forcefully than was necessary nearly toppling her over in the process. Satisfied Doll was alright, Burnin went about her own daily training regimen.

Doll shook her head to rid herself of the haunting memories and went to run a few laps around the full-sized track above the Olympic sized swimming pool. She'd always enjoyed running, but it had been difficult to find a safe place to run before. If she went somewhere too populated it tended to freak people out and if she tried to go at late hours she'd run into unsavory types. Due to her macabre appearance, people bullied her and told her she was suited to being a villain or a monster in a horror franchise. She thought about Hawks making her run in the hall earlier and wondered if he'd somehow knew that she liked running.

Her mind stayed focused on the curious second ranked hero, pushing away all of the dark haunting thoughts of her past that often bubbled up when she trained alone. She played over the moment he'd called her cute on repeat in her mind's eye. She still wasn't sure if he'd meant it or not. The more she played it over in her head, she started to feel flustered. Cute was not a word she'd thought she'd ever hear someone call her. Hearing his voice in her mind calling her Endeavor's 'cute little subordinate' made her feel strangely warm and fuzzy inside.

Out of the corner of her eye she thought she spotted Endeavor near the track entrance waving in her direction but she was too lost in her daydream to pay him any mind. Endeavor stared at his youngest sidekick with a frown as she continued running around the track with a faint splash of color on her cheeks and a small smile across her lips. He'd called out to her several times but she was too far gone in her thoughts.

"DOLL!" He roared growing annoyed with the amount of times he'd had to yell to her.

She jumped at his sudden outburst and Endeavor winced as she tripped, lost her footing, and hit the ground, hard. She rolled across the hard track skinning her arms and legs before coming to a stop at her mentor's feet. Her cloudy white eyes met his teal gaze.

"Yes?" She asked meekly feeling embarrassed as she realized he must have been calling to her for some time to lose his cool as he did.

He offered her a hand up as her scrapes began to mend. "You alright?"

She nodded. "Did you need something?"

"I want you to come with me tomorrow. That brat, Hawks, said there's been reports of possible Nomu sightings in his neck of the woods." He noticed her cheeks redden a little at the mention of Hawks and groaned inwardly, he'd hoped she wouldn't be charmed by the brat like everyone else seemed to be.

"Okay." Doll agreed without fuss or questions, as always. Not that many of his sidekicks ever had complaints about assignments but there were occasional grumbles or at least a few questions. Doll always accepted whatever task he gave her without question. He'd always appreciated that about her.

"Where did you disappear to while you were running?" He asked curious about her wandering thoughts. Normally her thoughts were never anywhere pleasant but she'd seemed oblivious and happy before.

Doll looked up at her towering mentor curiously, it wasn't like him to inquire so much. "Is everything alright, you've been asking more questions than usual after your talk with All Might at that Provisional Hero Training?" She noted thoughtfully. After he'd taken over as number one hero, he'd sought out his old rival for a chat when he went to watch his youngest son, Shoto's provisional Hero License Course remediations. Since then it seemed like he was trying to make some changes in his behavior, though not very many people picked up on it.

Endeavor groaned inwardly once more; Doll was one of his more perceptive sidekicks. "I merely wanted to know more about what it meant to be the symbol of peace." He grumbled.

"And asking more questions is part of it?" She asked curiously.

Endeavor sighed, "never mind. If nothing's wrong then it doesn't matter." He was trying to be a better leader and trying to understand his subordinates better. Doll was always hard to read even when she wasn't wrapped in bandages like a walking mummy. Since she had no visible pupil or iris it was hard to read expressions in her eyes and she rarely smiled. He noticed a new scar on the palm of her hand from the wound she'd inflicted and removed on Hawks for calling her cute. "...perhaps I should ask someone else to go inste—."

"No, I'll go!" Doll piped up quickly and blushed as she realized she'd raised her voice. "Ah...sorry..."

Endeavor stared down at her in awe, he'd never heard her raise her voice before. "Alright. I was just worried after last night that perhaps he made you uneasy."

Doll shook her head.

"Okay." Endeavor noticed her cheeks turning red.

"Was that all?" Doll asked him curiously as she nervously chewed on her bottom lip drawing attention to the now somewhat pronounced upside-down cross tattooed beneath her bottom lip stretching down to her chin.

"Yeah. Get going." Endeavor replied waving her off and watched her for a moment as she nodded and returned to her running. In no time she seemed to lose herself in her thoughts. A small ghost of a smile twisted onto her lips as she thought of seeing Hawks again. "That brat's going to be even more trouble than I originally thought." He grumbled to himself as Doll continued running in a daze with a faraway look in her eyes and a small shy smile on her lips.