Shadowfire - OC x Shoto Todoroki

Chapter 8 - Blood and Guilt

Kaida arched an eyebrow when Midnight, standing on a podium in front of UA's first year and the crowd of people who had come to watch them compete, announced Bakugou to speak on behalf of their cohort. Sure, he was a good representation of power and determination, but he was also egotistical and overconfident.

"I'm going to win." He said flatly into the microphone, his face expressionless.

She frowned. If he didn't keep that promise, he would look like a narcissistic idiot. But Kaida doubted his ability to beat her if she was really trying to win. She pursed her lips. She wanted to win, but she remembered Bakugou's fury when he had lost a simple sparring match. She didn't want to have to deal with his wrath if he lost the sports festival. He would be murderous, violently furious, because of her.

^^^

She stood at the starting line of the obstacle race, surrounded by her class. It wasn't the long course laid out in front of her or the surrounding competition that made her breath hitch in her throat; Kaida could practically feel the judging eyes of the pro heroes sitting in the audience boring into her, waiting to see how much of an asset she would be to their agency.

She scanned the phenomenally massive crowd with a blank stare, her eyes stopping on a familiar pair of scarlet wings. Even from this distance, she could see the number three pro hero's golden eyes on her. Hawks winked, and Kaida stuck out her tongue and held up a peace sign, which was reciprocated by the pro.

"You two know each other?" Bakugou arched an eyebrow at her interaction with the winged hero.

Kaida shrugged and smiled. "We have a history."

Bakugou made a face of confusion and disgust and Kaida snorted at his expression.

"We didn't fuck if that's what you were thinking."

Present Mic's voice came crackling over the intercom before Bakugou could reply, telling all the students to get ready to run. Kaida had debated just shadow-travelling to the end of the course to save herself the effort of actually running it, but the sports festival was too good of an opportunity to show off her quirk to the pros to pass up. Winning so easily would be boring for both Kaida and the audience.

The second Present Mic screamed "GO!" Kaida sent a wave of shadow washing over the crowd of students, pinning everyone except herself, Bakugou and Todoroki where they stood.

"Gotta have some competition!" She shouted at Bakugou's dumbfounded face as she took off running, jumping through the shadows to land directly in front of the first obstacle and releasing her hold on all the other competitors as she did.

Kaida slammed her hands together and watched as tendrils of shadow wrapped around the limbs of each robot like huge tentacles, immobilising the towering machines long enough for her run underneath.

The second she was clear of the obstacle, she ripped her shadowy tendrils apart, the dark tentacles tearing pieces of the robots away with them. As the machines came crashing down to the ground, every other runner that couldn't fly over them would be stuck until the explosions had subsided.

Bakugou could hear her maniacal laughter getting fainter as he ran through the piles of smoking debris. Fucking sadist.

Kaida was having the time of her life as she ran through the thick layer of smoke created by her destruction. Instead of her formidable quirk terrifying those around her, she was strong, she was powerful, and she was winning.

She could feel the eyes of the audience on her as she controlled the course and all its competitors and a familiar wave of anxious nausea began to make its way through her stomach at the attention, but she choked it down, focusing on the air cooling her sweaty neck, the power swirling through her veins and the distant explosions and occasional screams she could hear behind her.