Flames of the Phoenix

Chapter 19: Beware The Mama Bear

Cyra's POV"Mom, I'm fine." I batted her hand away from the stack of dishes I was carrying. "Just because I'm still wearing a bandage doesn't mean that I'm weak. I've been working with weights in the evenings... Don't give me that look." 

I rolled my eyes and placed the dishes in the sink. "I've been careful not to overdo it and tear the stitches. They've almost healed anyways."

"Cyra! You don't need to lift the weights anymore. I've already talked with Yagi. He agrees that you and Izuku should switch schools."

I threw the wet towel onto the counter and turned to face my mother. "I can't believe that you're listening to him over me! Do you even know who he is?"

She straightened and lifted her chin a little. "Yes, I know that Yagi is All Might."

Crossing my arms, I glared at her. "Do you know what he did to Izuku? Or what he told me?"

"What? Did he say something during the questioning while you were at the hospital?"

I clenched my fist and dug my nails into the palm of my hand. "He said that I was a villain! And, have you noticed that Izu hasn't used his quirk since Endeavor took down the villain in Hosu? Have you ever wondered why Izu tried to end it?" I didn't give her a chance to respond as I finally let everything off my chest. "He took Izu's quirk! Izuku didn't develop a quirk late! It was given to him by All Might! And he took it back! He didn't care that it hurt Izu! He just took it!"

Wiping the condensation from the corners of my eyes, I pushed past Mom and slammed the bedroom door behind myself. About an hour later, Izuku came into the room and sat down on his bed. I looked up from where I was seated at the desk. He sighed, "So, you told Mom about All Might?"

"Yeah. Sorry about that. I should have asked you first."

He ran a hand through his hair. "Actually... I'm glad that you did it. I wouldn't have told her otherwise."

I sighed. "I just don't get it. Everyone loves All Might! It's just like most of the politicians and actors back in America. I'm sick of it! All this worship of false gods! Gah!"

Izuku's arms wrapped around me. "It's okay. I understand."

Familiar muffled voices came through the door. I turned to Izuku in confusion. "Are we expecting anyone?"

"I didn't think so. Harrison is out shopping right now."

We opened the door and looked down the hall. I smiled as I spotted Aizawa, but my smile fell as All Might entered our apartment after him. Mom led them to the front room, where Izuku and I followed. Aizawa bowed to Mom. "How are you and the kids doing?"

"We're doing alright. Thank you."

"We want to apologize for not stopping Cyra's kidnapping. The school has made steps to keep the students and families safer so that this sort of thing doesn't happen again." He sighed. "We understand that you might be hesitant to send your kids back, and you aren't alone in your concern, but we have made changes to the school for your kids' safety."

All Might put a hand on Mom's knee and smiled at her. "Did you consider my proposal?"

Mom clasped her hands together and set them in her lap, avoiding eye contact with All Might. "I was considering it, but Cyra said something..." I watched from the doorway as All Might fought to keep his face neutral as Mom continued talking. "Yagi, is there anything that you need to tell me?"

He scowled and tightened his grip on her knee. "Hearth is a liar! All I've heard from her are lies! What did she say this time?"

Aizawa's eyes narrowed at All Might at the same time that Mom took a steadying breath. "You're telling me that my daughter is lying to me? You're telling me that you didn't take your quirk from Izuku? That Cyra is just making it up? That Izuku's confession when I confronted him was fake? That Cyra forced him to?" 

All Might's anger grew. "Yes! She is manipulating you! You've only known her for a few months..."

"Get out!" Mom stood abruptly and glared at All Might. "Get out of my house." He tried to say something, but she cut him off. "No. Get out. We are through. I don't want to see you discriminating against my kids ever again. I will take the issue to the principal if I have to."

He shoved himself off the couch and glared at me as he exited the front room. Aizawa sighed. "I am so sorry for..."

"And you! Have you also..." 

I hurried next to Mom and cut off her sentence. "No! He hasn't done anything! All Might was the only asshole."

She took a deep breath and smoothed her hair before addressing Aizawa again. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that."

He smiled. "It's alright. I would also snap if someone acted that way toward my son. But, I should probably get into why we came here today." Mom nodded and let him continue. "One of the safety measures put into place is that all students are required to move into dorms. Do you have any concerns or questions that I can help answer?"

I didn't want to hear about boring rules, so I got up and headed to the kitchen. After Aizawa left, Mom let me know that she wanted Izuku and I to kick All Might's ass for her. 

The next day, she and Harrison took me and Izuku to the mall to pick out a few new room decorations for our dorms. "Cyra, it's my treat! Pick out some nice things for your dorm!" I let Mom lead me around the store and put things into the cart. "What do you think about this?"

I chuckled and ran my hand through the fuzzy white rug. "It's soft. Do you think that it would fit with the rest of the things we've grabbed so far?" She shrugged as I spotted an even better one. "Look at this!" I held up a light grey rug with concentric circles of orange and grey.

Mom smiled and gestured to the cart. "That's great! What else do we need for your room?" She consulted her list for a minute. "Lighting. We need to find you a lamp and a mirror. We already have the sheets, blankets, pillows, and rug. Do you want to hang anything on the walls?"

"I have a few posters from my old room that I need to fish out of the moving boxes. Could we get some paint for the walls?"

Mom pulled out the letter we got from the school and read through it. "It doesn't say that you're not allowed to paint your room, but..."

"Sweet! That means that I can!"

"No, not necessarily." I ignored her and headed to the part of the store that had paint. Comparing the shades to the decorations I had already picked out, I made my choice and put the cans in the cart.

As Izuku and I packed our bags to head back to school Mom fussed over us like it was the first day again. Harrison reminded me to follow the rules, to which I rolled my eyes and replied that I would only follow them if they were fair.

"Cyra! I'm so glad that you're okay!" I laughed as Mina flung her arms around me. "I missed you! We were all so worried!"

"It's okay. Let's head to our rooms." I paused for a moment. "Do you know what room you're assigned? I don't know my room." She shook her head.

Aizawa came out of the dorm building with a clipboard in hand. "All right. I wanted to address a few things. First of all, who knew about Izuku, Todoroki, Momo, and Kirishima's plan to rescue Hearth and Bakugo?" The class went quiet and avoided eye contact with Aizawa, making him sigh. "I'm required by law to scold you all for not telling me, but the real part that I'm not pleased about is to hear that you let them go on a dangerous mission by themselves. You are a team. We will have more training exercises focused on building teamwork and working with people who might not agree with you." He looked directly at Iida, who stiffened and looked away. "Now then. All of you have a dorm room to yourself. The first floor had a kitchen, commons area, dining room, and laundry room. The girls' dorms are on the right side of the upper floors. The boys' rooms are on the left. I don't want any funny business going on, so please stay in the hallway of your gender only."