This Thing A Quiet Madness Made

Chapter 40

The next morning, the effects of the previous late night were none too subtle. Unknown had been yawning and zoning out all morning, having been woken up early as the others snuck out of her room before any of their classmates- or Aizawa- could catch them. They slipped out with small waves and half-conscious morning greetings as they fought to stay awake long enough to make it back to their respective rooms. Now she was alone again, and she couldn't tell whether that was a good thing or not. She was leaning towards the former, for now at least. Once she had rubbed her eyes enough to leave faint red marks and collected enough sentience to form a cohesive thought, the events of last night began leaking slowly back into her mind.

'Dinner with the heroes, huh?'

She wondered how that would go. She could think of at least two people among them- and two was a rather conservative guess- who would decidedly not want her there, one of which might actually try to bite her throat out if he so much as caught a glimpse of her.

Huh. She hadn't thought of him in a while.

She wondered what she would do if she ever did run into him. She probably couldn't outrun him, not on foot anyway, and she would have a hard time fighting him off without seeming like the villain they always thought she was. Perhaps her best bet was avoiding him like her life depended on it, otherwise hoping there would be someone nearby to hold him back while she made a break for it.

It was funny, really; she had her quirk back, but she couldn't use it. It was only ever good for destroying things, for fighting, but what use did she have for it now? Now that she was supposed to live a normal life? Well, she supposed it didn't really matter. It never did her any good anyway.

For everyone's safety, she decided, especially her own, she would have to deny their invitation.

If someone had told her a year ago that she would be afraid of some no-name student heroes, there was exactly no chance she would have believed them. She had yet to meet a person she couldn't beat- or at the very least, hold her own against- and that still held true, as conceited as it certainly sounded. But things were different now. It was no longer just about her, she was no longer just fighting for her own survival; there were three other children who were still locked up in hospitals, put away by no fault of their own, and now her behavior affected them directly. If the authorities believed she was "reformed," as they call it, then the other three had a greater chance of being released quickly. On the other hand, if they believed she was a threat, they would be even less likely to trust the others; they would have no reason to believe they could be released safely.

She knew they were watching- the Hero Commission, the police, the school- they were watching her, waiting for her to step out of line, waiting for any reason to scoop her back up and dump her into some dingy little cell. She knew they didn't really trust her, nor could she entirely blame them, but she was never the type to step out of line when so much was at stake. She would let them watch her, watch as she lived a normal, unnoteworthy, mundane life that was so boring it would rot their brains. They could watch all they wanted; she would do whatever it took to get the other three released. After all, she didn't go through all this trouble so they could waste away in some padded room for the rest of their lives.

At the thought of the other three, she wondered how they were doing. It hadn't been long since she saw Traceback- she certainly hoped the girl was still holding up- and she had yet to hear from Horus or Amnestica at all. She had tried getting information on their current whereabouts, conditions, anything, but ultimately found nothing. Principal Nezu had come to visit a while ago; he was as upbeat and kind as she remembered, but he didn't seem to know anything about the others either. If he didn't know, neither would anyone else here.