Regret and Grudge

Horrid Reality

Ochako POV:

I sat in the common area staring off into space thinking of my visit with AFO. His words when the mic feed went out still echoed in my mind. I felt like crap not doing anything, but still debated what was without a doubt the best course of action. "Hey, Uraraka." I came out of my train of thought seeing Midoriya walk downstairs with Pork Rinds behind him. "What are you still doing down here? It's almost curfew." I glanced at the clock to see it was already 9:30 to understand there was only a half hour before the common space would be closed.

"Sorry. I was kinda deep in thought. That in mind, what are you doing down here so close to curfew?"

"I've been...having some trouble sleeping lately. It's nothing big." He blew it off as nothing with my own personal knowledge from not that long ago knowing he's covering it up.

"What is it? Bad dreams or something?"

"Yeah. I asked Hound Dog what the dreams could mean and he said it might be my body's attempt to cope with the information that my father is no longer around to try and make sense by giving me dreams of some of the acts he's done. At least, that's how he explained it in a nutshell."

Wanting to avoid the worst outcome, I stood up and walked towards the kitchen to grab some milk tea to pour in two cups and put them in the microwave. "A good trick to help calm my mind is warmed milk tea. I don't know why, but it helps me."

"Thanks."

"I'm just doing what I think is right. You're not a bad guy, so it's only fair that I try to help where I can." The timer went off a few seconds after I finished my explanation for me to grab both with a towel before placing them on the counter. "Careful. They're hot."

"Don't worry. I got a quirk that can handle it." As he said this, Midoriya's hand turned red before grabbing the tea and blowing on it before drinking it. "Thank you."

"Those quirks really do come in handy at some points. One could even argue they're a blessing in disguise."

This comment seemed to not sit right with him to give Midoriya a pained smile. "Sometimes I think these quirks are more a curse than a blessing. The amount of pain they have given is unfortunately a clear answer to that." He glanced at his hand before looking at me once more. "Let me ask you something. If you had my power, what would you do with it?"

"Uhh. Take quirks from villains who'd abuse them. Use them to stop other villains. Give them to those that are less fortunate. I don't know, the normal stuff any of us in the Hero Course would probably do."

"What if I told you I can hear the echoes of everyone who's quirk is inside me. Even though they are not theirs anymore, they aren't mine by nature." I raised an eyebrow at this comment somewhat not knowing where this is going.

"I don't get it."

"Take OFA for example. Do you still see the past users?" I nod for Midoriya to continue. "Consider what the vestiges of them are as somewhat an imprint. Since they were part of OFA for a time being, the quirk locked the information of that past user inside it's genetic code. Sorta like a ghost of what they were."

"Ok. Basically like voices in your head."

"Exactly. Now imagine that with thousands of other quirks with each having a different user. Fairly recently when I fall asleep, I start to see the faces of these people. They're angry at me. They want me down to their level. They want to see me suffer. These are things that continue to echo in my brain and recently, I've been seeing my father standing above them. He tells me that they are merely worms trying to succeed in becoming a god that I am. I try to escape them, but something tells me that if I do, something bad is going to happen. But if I don't, the same feeling stays."