Crimson Empress (FemDekuxToga)

09 - Progenitor II

A small girl with long green hair stared at the open cut across the palm of her hand with curiosity. Strangely there was no pain even as the blood began to seep out of the wound.

For such a small cut its bleeding a lot.

However after a few minutes the bleeding had yet to stop and a small puddle the size of her palms had formed on the ground before her. But instead of panicking she could only admire how beautiful the dark crimson color was. She closed her hand to perhaps staunch the bleeding, it worked but something more interesting happened. The blood on the floor had formed into a sphere. The girl opened her palm again and the blood fell flat with a small splash. When she made a fist again the blood pool turned into a sphere. When she poked it with her other hand it was still a sank in like a normal liquid. But it made her realize that she could feel the blood sphere. She smiled as she began to play with the blood more. The girl had discovered that she could control the blood throughout the course of her playful experiments. She could mold it and move it around away from her own body. She could even split the sphere into smaller pieces but the more pieces she added the harder it was to control. But perhaps the most interesting of her discoveries was that she could harden her blood into crystals and then soften them back into liquid.

"Izumi!"

She looked up to see a blurry face staring back at her. She could vaguely feel the concern in the distorted voice. When she looked back down at the blood it had turned back into a puddle because she had lost concentration. But instead of emerald eyes and forest green hair she found herself with shining crimson eyes and raven black hair.

Why did I forget this?

It was a memory from when she was much younger but it felt as if something was desperately trying to block it out. The longer she stared into the puddle the stranger things became and the more questions filled her mind.

Why couldn't she remember that she had a quirk? Why couldn't she remember her mother's face? Why couldn't she remember anything before her mother disappeared?

However her questions would go unanswered as her consciousness was shot back into the present. The stinging sensation from the cut on her bicep was gone and she could feel the familiar connection between herself and the blood that was pooling in the palm of her hand. It felt as if she had regained a part of herself she never knew she was missing. Like a chain that had been holding her back was finally unlocked.

"Izumi are you alright?"

Vlad King stood across from her with a concerned expression, his blood claw still active. Izumi stared at it curiously as a strange pulsating filled her ears. She could feel it, the same connection she had with her own blood, yet it ran through both Toga and Vlad King. A faint overlay of red vein-like structures ran across their body that felt as if they were rushing back and forth towards their chest. She could feel a powerful warmth rushing through her body and it brought a feral smile to her face.

Without warning Izumi charged forward and was beside Vlad King before he could even register she had moved. She molded the blood in her hands into a claw similar to the hero before her and swung with every ounce of power she could muster. Before his mind could keep up his instincts made him step backwards and raise his own claw to defend himself. Vlad King's claw was made from condensed and pressurized blood that he had honed from years of training. On the other hand Izumi's claw had crystalized and easily cut through the condensed blood. He felt a gash open up on his chest and looked down to see that Izumi had copied his extension to the claws when she struck. A technique he had developed after learning about an 8-sun blade and required years of training before he had perfected it. Yet she had made a perfect imitation after seeing it once.

BOOM

Vlad King spared a glance behind him to see the wall Cementoss had made to withstand an attack from a National Rank Hero explode with three claw marks carved into it. Toga stood on the side with her mouth completely agape and eyes wide with shock.

"I've always had a quirk," Izumi said quietly as her blood reversed itself and flowed back into her cut which closed a moment later. "How did I forget?"

"I think that's enough for today!"

Nezu's cheerful voice came from next to Toga's ear. She understandably freaked out and would have flung the small chimera off of her shoulder if he did not jump down just a moment before.

"I will take charge of Izumi's training from now on since there is much to discuss after what we just witnessed."

Izumi, who had a conflicted expression somewhere between confusion and happiness, only nodded and left the training facility before anyone could say anything.

"I hope you don't mind being separated for a few more hours of the day from Izumi do you?"

Toga shook her head to answer no. In truth she was bothered that she wouldn't be able to train with Izumi anymore, she hated not being by her side. But that expression had shaken her, it was like looking at someone who had lost everything but regained something important all at once. She knew that Izumi would need time to adjust now that her quirk had been reawakened. To what end, she didn't quite know.