Chapter Text
She didn’t know where or who she was anymore, truthfully she didn’t even know what she was anymore. The most she could tell someone is that she used to have a name, she used to have a mom, and she used to have a best friend. That changed the day her quirk didn’t come in; for some reason the person she called her mother got angry. She can barely remember what happened, all she remembers is that next morning, she woke up here, in this cell, chained and bound to the wall. Memories surface of her screaming, pleading, and begging to be let go, but that was evidently the wrong answer, because then he came in, the man in the bird mask. “SHUT UP,” he screamed, causing her to shrink back in fear, “You’re going to be quiet and do whatever I say, because if you don’t, I will make sure your life is a living hell!”
That day was the start of it all, for years, the mask man kept her locked up down here for… how long has it been? She tried to remember but whenever she tried, it only caused her head to hurt more, it didn’t matter, it’s not like she’d get out, she wasn’t the only one down here though. As she looked around, she saw six other children, though seeing isn’t really the proper term she’d use anymore. She could smell them, and see their energies, their outlines, but she couldn’t properly see them, her eyes had been exchanged for another's for disobeying the mask man. The amount of other people grafted to her body using the mask man’s quirk were innumerable. She bore giant dragon-like wings stolen from one of the early subjects, the claws of another, the scales of one who sang, the horns of one who prayed to daemons, the mixed man and womanhood of one who screamed… and the eyes of one she dared call friend.
It had been a full day since last she ate, she barely ate as it is, but then a whisper roused her from her thoughts, “Psst, hey, you, with the horns and wings.” She turned her head just barely enough to signify that she had heard the girl with the purple aura, “You’ve been here the longest, right?” She gave a curt nod, “Don’t worry, heroes are on the way, we’ll get you out of here.” For a moment she stayed silent, then she chuckled darkly, her own voice catching her off guard with how raspy and choked it sounded, “Heroes… no… save… he… kill us.” The room returned to silence after that, no one wanted to speak to the girl who sounded like the literal demon she looked like, they didn’t want to run the risk of getting experimented on either. She couldn’t remember the last time someone tried to get out, tried to get to the heroes, but she remembered their fate, and it wasn’t pretty.
A moment later she heard the familiar sound of the locks on the door being opened, and the hinges creaking as it swung wide, “Subject IZ-UM1, you’re coming with me.” Another day, another experiment, another two hours of hell at the hands of the mask man, she would say she hates it, but in truth, she’s accepted her fate; she just hopes he’ll kill her some day soon. As they walk through the corridors, her eyes barely making out the surrounding walls and corners, she feels the man reach up, “You won’t need these anymore,” he states, and a second later she feels him remove something from around her eyes. The moment the shroud is removed, she can see more clearly, but everything is still oddly distorted, lights are violently bright and ethereal, shadowed corners that should be too dark to see into are perfectly visible. Seeing the shadows, she wishes that one of them would just swallow her whole and kill her, that something would make this torment end, but she knew it was false hope, something that would end in misery. Once in the lab, the mask man and the doctors moved quick to strap her down, then the familiar click of the recorder came, “Start recording; subject IZ-UM1 will be undergoing another procedure today, in hopes of installing a shadow type quirk into her body, past attempts have been… unsuccessful.”
She tuned out the rest, she knew they weren’t unsuccessful, it was simply the fact that she refused to use them in hopes they would kill her, would finally see her as useless and end her torment. “Beginning operation in 3…” she hated this, “2…” she just wished they would die “1…” a second later darkness took her, an all encompassing, familiar darkness.
— ~~~ —
She wasn’t sure how many times she’s experienced this but it’s always the most peaceful part of the procedure, and the part she liked most. Gazing out into the black, silent abyss of death was always oddly comforting after she lost count on the fifth experiment, “How many times have I gone through this,” she asked herself. When no reply came, she sighed, “I wish he’d just hurry up and kill me,” then another voice chimed in, “Is that what you really wish for, death?” She froze, ‘ when was there another voice’ , she thought, “Oh we’ve been here, but thanks to the newest quirk, we can finally talk to you,” the voice stated, so she turned around.
There, standing before her, were somewhere around nineteen other children… nineteen other quirks, “You alright there,” the eldest one asked, and she shook her head, “How… how are you here?” The girl shrugged, her long black hair shifting to show the hole in her chest where her heart should be, “My guess is as good as yours, probably something to do with having all of our quirks put into you.” UM1 nodded, “So then… am I dead, am I… am I finally free,” she asked with so much hope in her voice, she prayed for this day, when finally it’d be too much, when it’d finally be over! Sadly life could not be that easy for her, the girl shook her head, “No, but with the addition of the new quirk, you should be able to get yourself and all of the other kids out.” She shook her head, “No, he… the mask man… he’ll kill them… I can’t… won’t risk another… can’t, can’t, can’t, CAN’T!” The group quickly moved to help her, realizing she was having a panic attack as they worked to calm her down, only a moment later would her breathing finally return to normal, “You can, you can do this!”
She turned to one of the smaller voices and… “Vela?” There, standing before her, was the girl she called friend, her eyes missing and replaced with glowing dots, her blue silver hair suspended with shadows. “You can do this *****,” the girl stated, but the last word came out garbled, “I know you can do this because you’re my friend *****!” Again it came out garbled, she wondered why that was, did it have to do with her memories? She would get time to ponder, as the darkness was quickly being replaced with light, “It’s our time, no matter what, I want you to know…” Vela smiled at her with tears in her eyes, “I love you!”
— ~~~ —
Hell, that’s what shook her from the cold darkness, the mask man and the doctors were nowhere to be found, and the bindings on her right arm had been cut loose by a chunk of the ceiling that came down, and the entire place was shaking. Quickly, she unbound the rest of her limbs and got up, finding she barely had any strength as she collapsed to the floor, but she had a mission, “I will not fail you Vela, not again!” She pushed herself to her feet, having to steady herself on the medical equipment around the room just to make it to the door and out into the corridor. Red glaring lights and blaring sirens filled the entire base, making it hard for her to concentrate due to the burning feeling in her eyes. She hated it, needed darkness, wanted darkness; she reached a hand out as if hoping to break the light, and as she did, the shadows of the walls struck out and destroyed every light and speaker. She stared at her outstretched hand for a moment before retracting it; black and purple smoke like shadows wisped around her arm like snakes around a tree, purple cracking lines glowing along the length of her forearms.
‘ I can do this ’ she thought to herself, keeping her arm outstretched as she made her way back to her holding cell where the other children were, where she hoped they still were. It took her sometime to move through the corridors, both to avoid guards running by, and because of how weak she felt. Once she was finally there, she took in the large, locked door, she would not be denied those she cares about, never again! Bringing both hands up in violent twists of power, she watched as the shadows converged on the door like a pair of angry beasts, and assisted her in ripping the entire thing from the wall. Slowly and carefully she made her way in and took stock over the room, everyone who had been inside was still there; she lifted her hand once more, and a second later the chains were torn asunder. The children all looked up at her, and she motioned for them to follow, she turned and was barely stopped from hitting the floor as the girl with the purple aura helped her up, she could also now see the girl had purple hair and weird ear lobes.
“I’ve gotcha,” she stated, helping to hoist her up, softly smiling as she felt the smaller girl struggle, but she was too tired, too exhausted to fight her off, so she opted for directing them. As they made their way through the corridors, the shadows kept calling out, telling her of the directions she needed, the quickest routes out, when to hide, when to stop. It wasn’t until their eighth and final turn that the purple haired girl called out to someone, “AIZAWA-SENSEI!” The man looked like he was homeless, black baggy clothes, weird gray scarf, and his jet black hair was a mess, but he was clean-shaven at least, “Jirou, thank god you’re safe!” He rushed up and looked her over, then looked at the other kids, all of which were weary until UM1 slipped out of Jirou’s grasp and knelt down, “Shh… it safe… trust.” The others were still scared, but she slowly reached her hands out low, the shadows guiding her on what to do, “It safe… no hurt.”
Slowly, hesitantly, the children reached forward, taking her clawed hands, “We go,” she stated, and the children nodded, with all of them turning back to the hero, “We go?” He was stunned for only a second before he nodded, “Let’s get you kids outta here,” he stated, and a moment later they were moving back through the corridors, with Aizawa now helping to carry UM1. It only took them a few minutes, but once they were at the door and the sunlight hit UM1’s foot, she hissed and yelped in pain, pulling back and hitting the floor as the flesh boiled on her foot, the shadows pouring in to heal it seconds later. Aizawa and Jirou stared in horror at what they’d just seen, both had to remind themselves that they needed to act, “Aizawa-sensei, we need blankets and something to put on her feet!” The man nodded and ushered the other kids out the door, leaving Jirou with UM1, who was panicking, “Hey, it’s gonna be okay, can you tell me your name?” She shook her head, she tried to articulate her words enough to speak, but her throat wouldn’t let her, and it felt like all the energy was draining from her body fast, only a moment later, exhaustion finally took her.