Playing the Hero

Chapter 1

A/N: TW (For anyone who needs it): Healed scars, light swearing.

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Vallerie Vasiliev didn't have the desire to wake up that morning, but like every other morning before, she got out of bed anyway. Besides, she couldn't afford to waste even a second, she had a job to do. Today was her first day at the esteemed U.A highschool, and it had to be perfect. It was no lie to say that it was a matter of life and death.

Throwing off her covers, Vallerie shot out of her bed. She took a second to shake out her wings and do a few stretches before she walked along the cold tiles of her bedroom floor, towards her closet. Although having a lot of space had its benefits, the size of her room was just ridiculous. If only Mother didn't feel the need to choose a house that was just as big as her ego. Vallerie thought, as she opened closet doors and grabbed the school uniform that had been tucked away for the past week.

Her eyes scanned the clothes, she had never worn a uniform before. Vallerie had never even been to a real school. They laid the uniform out on her bed and quickly peeled off her pyjamas. The silk shirt and shorts are now discarded on the ground and replaced with a bra and underwear. Vallerie put on the rest of her clothes and walked over to her washroom to finish getting ready, idly tapping on one of the columns on their way there.

Her house wasn't even that old, it was so weird to come in from the outside, where everything was modern. It feels like walking into some rich Victorian-era mansion. Grabbing a hairbrush, she started to tackle the mess that was her hair, then she cleaned up her face. Making sure to disguise the dark circles under their eyes, no one could know how little sleep they had gotten last night. She needed to look like she was at the top of her game today.

Looking back at the person in the large mirror, she took a second to take a breath and check her appearance. Vallerie had a love-hate relationship with how she looked. Fluffy red hair, which was really on the pinker side, sharp green eyes with black markings on the inner corners, eye bags that never seemed to leave, pale skin that was just covered in freckles, and pink lips that were slightly uneven at the top. Her wings were probably her favourite part of her appearance, and her tail, she supposed. In her opinion, they were very well taken care of, and very nice to look at. Vallerie fluffed them up a little, for no one but herself to admire. The only other place where feathers grew were around her "ears" which just looked like holes in her head, and some baby feathers below and above her eyes, framing them in a way that Vallerie thought was quite nice.

She was grateful that the only thing she seemed to inherit from mother dearest was her terrible emotional status, although Vallerie wished she could trade that for some of her communication skills instead. Those issues had led to terrible things, she was reminded of them every time she saw that damned scar that ran across her face, from one cheek to another. A keepsake from an accident that Vallerie couldn't afford to let happen again. And it won't. She mentally chided herself. Taking another deep breath, she shook out her entire body. Flapping her hands and wiggling her toes, like she was trying to shake the anxiety out of her soul. If anyone saw her, they would probably think she was possessed. And as a final step of preparation, she did a little dance and waddled around the bathroom before walking out and closing the lights.

She quickly made her bed and scooped her pyjamas off of the floor, Adeline wouldn't accept any excuse for messiness, even if the world was ending. They picked up their headphones and phone that were charging on the nightstand and grabbed their backpack, which was already filled with school supplies the night before. Before she finally left her room and officially started her day, she picked up the paper version of her school schedule that was printed out by Adeline. Vallerie double-checked to make sure that the schedule that she put in her phone was identical to the one on paper, then neatly folded up the paper before unceremoniously shoving it into her bag and running out the door on her toes.