Atlantis

Beggining

"Mizuki!" A worried voice of a man called.

"Miiizuuukiiiii!!!"

Pant, pant, pant...

"Haa..." A young girl, barely at the age of 7, panted as she ran barefoot through the cold, damp grass.

The moonlight barely reaches her small figure as the trees covered most of the visible sky above. Her wavy white hair that reached just below her shoulders swayed side by side while she ran as fast as she could. Her breathing deepens, her breaths ragged and short, her lungs burning.

Why was she even running? A seven-year-old girl, running through the forest in the middle of the night is not suspicious at all.

The girl looked back and halted to a stop. She stared at nowhere in thought as sweat kept running down her forehead.

She sighed heavily in worry, continuing to look around for someone, or something.
When she didn't hear or see anything, she cautiously walked away in a different direction. Now, she may be as strong as a grown-up man, but she's still a 7 years old little girl who can get scared whenever her mind imagined something.

But... Was she running away from just her imagination? Or was she running away from something else? Something... more powerful than just imagination.

"Let's go to the market today, Mizuki!" A woman boastfully said to the little girl. "But please make sure to hold my hand alright? Not so tight though, you might break mommy's hand." The woman continued as she giggled.

Mizuki giggled in response. What she saw last night shook her to the core but she had decided to ignore it and forget about it.

As Mizuki and her mother walked through the busy market, her mother spoke. "Mizuki, do you think it's wonderful?"

This shocked Mizuki, staring up at her mother and tilted her head to the side in confusion. What her mother said made her confused. She isn't aware that her strength was impressive. She only thought of it as a disturbance rather than a blessing.

People also took her appearance heavily. Kids often bully her for having white hair. Some say she looks like a grandma, and most just give her the stink eye. It's not so different from how older people treat her too.

Her mother and her father are far more different than what she looks like. Her father has red hair and red eyes while her mother has black hair and purple eyes. It's very far from her blue eyes and white hair that she's starting to hate.

Mizuki is also known because of her unbelievable strength, a strength that could easily give concussion to 10 men. She once accidentally punched her father in the face when she was 3 years old and that almost led him to a concussion. Neither of her parents got mad at her for it. They only found it impressive, even though it cost them quite a lot to pay a doctor for her father to heal since he did bleed on his forehead.

Mizuki, however, hated that moment. She doesn't want to hurt anyone because of her strength, especially her parents. She's thankful for her parents because they accepted her, but... She couldn't say the same thing about herself.

"What do you mean, mommy?" She asked. Her voice was small and high-pitched.

Her mother sighed as she smiled at her child. "I meant, your superhuman strength!" She picked up Mizuki all of a sudden causing the small girl to yelp and giggle.

Her mother knew.

She knew that Mizuki hated herself for her strength and appearance. She knew it hurts Mizuki to hear all those hurtful words people of different ages say to her. She knew how Mizuki always tries to stay away from people, afraid of hearing their words or hurting them. She knows how Mizuki has always tried to love herself just like how she loved her parents, and other people even those who have said hurtful words to her.