The Embers

Meetings and... it that a Rat?!

Nymeria fiddled with the sleeves of her sweater, pulling them to cover her hands as she waited outside the principal's office at U.A. Today's meeting was to collect the signed NDAs from the principal, school nurse, and her homeroom teachers. Cabe and Gramps were with her to help explain her whole situation to the three staff members, and to help clear up any questions they might have.
She really hopes they don't have any issues with the adjustments to her schedule and any accommodations that need to be made though. There weren't any other options for schooling for her according to the commission, and she didn't want to know how the president would react if U.A. just decided to cut their losses and deny her entry. Cabe had fought so hard to get the agreement for them to go to public school instead of straight into a commission run program. And they only agreed if she and Zo were split up to "learn independence from each other". They were both still mad about that. They didn't want to disappoint Cabe though, so they agreed to the stipulations.
She's pulled out of her thoughts by Cabe placing his hand atop her's, which had started to twist and stretch the fabric of her sleeves as her anxiety had built.
"Stop it. Stop overthinking it. The principal is a kind man, and I've worked with him when he was still an active hero. He will agree and get whoever the other staff are to fall in line."
She grimaced and glanced at Cabe from the corner of her eye. "I know just.." trailing off, she looked down at her feet.
"Nymeria, we've talked about this, and I know your therapist has discussed it at length with you. We can't help you with your fears if we don't know what they are, kid. Out with it." Turning to Gramps when he spoke, Nymeria nodded before taking a deep breath.
"It's just, they will be briefed on everything. What if they decide that because of.. Because of who my father is, that there is too big a risk to have me here. I know Zo didn't have that problem, and his meeting today is just to meet who all knows and discuss the details because they already confirmed his enrollment, but.."
She released another sigh and shifted. "Zo doesn't have as volatile of a quirk tied to his emotions like mine. His quirk isn't even near sentient. We don't know how mine will react to being placed in a situation with tons of new kids. I've been working on control, but it slips. What if I slip up during class and hurt someone. What if I ca-"
Cabe leaned over and rapped his knuckles on her shoulder, grabbing it once her ramble fell silent.
"Nymeria, how many successful missions have I taken you and Zo on now in the last six months?" She blinked. "Uh- eight?"
Nodding, Cabe continued, gently squeezing her shoulder. "And during how many, out of those eight, have you lost control of your quirk? How many of those eight high stress, real life situations, with unknown people, have you lost control or even came close to slipping up?"
"Well technically only the last four could be considered high stress situations involving multiple unknown people.." He smacked the back of her head. "Answer the question you sarcastic brat."
Blowing out a slow breath and nodding, "None, all have been successful and went according to plan."
He nodded once, patting her shoulder before giving it another squeeze. "And at the beginning, when you were told you would receive your provisional license and be required to go out into the field, how much did you worry about those similar fears of losing control?"
She gave a small smile. "A lot. Frequently."
He nodded, letting go of her shoulder and leaning back. "You haven't had any regression days in over a year, you've been working your ass off to reign in your quirk, and have already accomplished more than any of your future peers have. You are training every day, going to therapy four times a week. You will be fine, this will be fine. Take a breath and remember that."
Nodding, she took another deep breath and released it slowly. Looking back at Cabe, she gave a small smile and quietly thanked him. Waving her off with a small smile of his own, he turned his attention back to his phone.
Before any other conversations could be had, and before her anxiety could wind back up, the door to their left opened, and a short but physically fit older man wearing a suit stepped out and cleared his throat.
"Thank you for waiting. I am the principal of this school. Principal Ando or Mr. Ando is what you can call me. Please follow me and we can get this meeting started." With that, the man turned and re-entered the room, the group that had been sitting outside stood and followed him in.
Walking in the doorway, Nymeria did what she always did when entering a room. Quickly cataloged all entrances and exits, noted blind spots, potential hiding areas, checked for cameras, and noted any people in the room.
She noted Principal Ando returning to a chair behind a large wooden desk, eyes skimming past the three chairs set to the left for them, and focused on the two new faces in chairs to the right. The woman in the room she instantly recognized as the renowned Youthful Heroine: Recovery Girl, who was the school nurse.
Looking at the last unknown person in the room, Nymeria's thoughts ground to a halt.
That. That was a rat? No, not quite a rat, but definitely an animal. Wearing a suit and sipping out of a tea cup. She knew exactly who he was, as she had heard Cabe laugh at the commission higher ups complaining about the damn intelligent rat that refused to conform to their rules.
This was Nedzu, and the process of elimination meant that he would be her homeroom teacher if all went well.
Blinking a few times, she looked away and sat down, not allowing herself to begin to think too hard on that yet.
"Welcome and thank you for being willing to put this meeting off until today," The principal began, shuffling some papers around on his desk before looking back up at them and continuing. "The beginning of each school year is always hectic here, and to be honest, I am in full swing of planning my retirement for four years from now. That means I have been walking my successor through all of the steps involved in running the school, and it's sucked up all my spare time."
Cabe nodded before clearing his throat and turning so he could address the three staff members. "Thank you for having us, before we begin, may I collect the NDAs you were requested to sign?" The principal handed a stack of papers to Cabe, who thoroughly checked them over before tucking them into the briefcase he had brought with him.
"Everything appears to be in order. Thank you."
The principal nodded before gesturing to the other two across from them. "I introduced myself, but allow me to also introduce the school nurse, Recovery Girl." At that, the older woman gave a head nod and a smile. "Please, call me Chiyo. If I am to be learning personal details not available to others, it's pointless for such formalities."
They nodded as the Principal continued. "This is Nedzu, the homeroom teacher for this year's class 1-A, and thus the homeroom teacher who will be working with Miss Akatani."
"Pleasure to meet you, may I get anyone a cup of tea?"
At Nedzu's question, Nymeria and Cabe declined while Gran accepted. While Nedzu prepared the tea at a table tucked to the side, Cabe began to speak. This was something that was agreed upon prior to the meeting. Cabe would do all of the talking while Nymeria and Gran answered questions or filled in blanks as needed.
"My name is Takeo Hada, but please, call me Cabe." Pointing at Gran he continued, "This is the hero Gran Torino, He was, and still is, deeply involved in the situation I will explain to you today." Placing a hand on Nymeria's shoulder briefly, he said "and this is Nymeria Akatani."
Nymeria bowed her head and spoke up. "I would prefer to go by my first name, if you don't mind."
At the nods from the other adults, Cabe continued once again. "I am going to try to get through this all as fast and brief as possible, just because it spans over fifteen years and it's most important that you get the general idea, the finer details can be discussed at a later date if needed." When the other adults nodded yet again, Cabe began.
"Two years ago, the heroes Gran Torino, Sir Nighteye, and All Might got clearance to perform a secret raid on a confirmed base for the Villain All for One. I won't waste time explaining who he is, as I was informed that all three of you are already aware. While All for One was not present at the compound, the heroes discovered.. gruesome.. evidence of what was later to be confirmed as an experimentation stage phase of a human, mainly children, trafficking ring. While clearing the building, the heroes only encountered destroyed equipment and.. well... terminated experiments."
Cabe paused as Chiyo and the principal both paled and Nedzu stiffened.
"The heroes had heard screaming upon entering the facility, and eventually found the unconscious forms of two children who were still alive, and strapped to medical tables. These two children were later identified as Kenzo Yukutake and Nymeria Akatani." At the mention of her name, Nymeria could feel all of the eyes in the room snapping to her. She kept her gaze on her hands in her lap and after a short pause, Cabe began speaking again.
"They were both rushed to a hospital with high fevers. Both were unconscious for about a week, and Nymeria briefly woke up and had a short conversation with their doctor before her quirk surged and she fell back unconscious."
Nymeria could feel her quirk slowly fluctuating from her head to her chest, almost as if trying to comfort her while Cabe spoke.
"Kenzo woke up five days later with no memories, including those of who he was. After Nymeria woke up again two days after that, it was discovered that the doctor who led the experiments had injected them both with a serum he had developed to alter the hippocampus and affect memories. Nymeria's quirk had prevented the serum from working, and later aided Kenzo in recovering his memories."
Nymeria closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. She knew what was going to be discussed today, but that made it no easier to relive the memories. She was fighting so hard to stay present in the moment and not disassociate. She had been working on grounding techniques with her therapist, but hadn't needed to use them in a while.
"After many detailed conversations with both young teens, we were able to get a full picture of what exactly they went through."
Nymeria's struggle to stay mentally present ended as Cabe began to go into detail of the human experimentation and torture that both her and Kenzo went through. She missed the looks on the school staff member's faces as it was described how Nymeria's quirk evolved and became what it is today.
Missed Nedzu's lip curling over his canines as Cabe brought out pictures of the multiple scars littering their entire bodies, explaining the tattoo of the five numbers on the back of her neck, 00258, and 00263 on Kenzo, that was the marker for which subject they were to the doctor.
Missed the tears that escaped Chiyo as Cabe described her parentage and how she came to be in her father's clutches. Also missed the looks of shock, anger, sadness, heartbreak, on all of the adults' faces as the situation with Izuku was explained.
She didn't hear Cabe explain the commission's interference, or how both teens have since been undergoing training by three pro heroes and Cabe himself.
Was mentally absent for the explanation that they have a type of provisional hero licenses allowing them to perform hero work with proper supervision, and how the commission has been using that for the last six months to have the two teens begin to track down known associates of All for One, gain information, and bring them in.
She completely missed the explanation of the good that has happened in the last two years too. The found family, the birthdays celebrated, the milestones marked, and the healing that has happened. The discovery that, as long as her quirk was properly fueled, she has a photographic and eidetic memory, a trait they suspect was passed in part to Izuku as well.
She began to come back to herself as Cabe walked them through the deal he had made with the higher ups of the commission on their behalf. She was fully attentive by the time Cabe was laying out the accommodations that would need to be made, almost an hour later.
"Shiketsu has agreed to all the accommodations in regards to Kenzo, who was the best option for being a student there, due to his clearance to use his quirk to travel to school daily. As for Nymeria, the accommodations are similar.
Most importantly, we need to prioritize her mental health. I've told you her known triggers, and I will need updates on any further discovered ones. She will still be attending therapy, and in the case of her having a regression period, would need an appropriate amount of time to regulate back to her baseline."
"She will also be subject to being pulled out of school at any time for requested hero work. This is, unfortunately, one thing I was unable to sway the commission on. They want her to be available at a moment's notice, and her absences will need to be excused and covered appropriately with the other staff and students."
"As far as her quirk, Toxic Absorption, which I explained in detail earlier, there are two other factors you need to be aware of. The first, is the fact that the evolution that caused her quirk to heal her, also prevents healing quirks to be effective on her. We believe that her quirk attempts to 'protect' her from the healing quirk used. It is wise for no one to attempt to heal her, as it's useless and depending on the situation involved, could prove to cause her quirk to lash out in an attempt to further protect her"
Nymeria heard Chiyo grumble at that and looked up to see the woman frowning.
"The second thing regarding her quirk is a requirement for it to function properly. I explained earlier that it absorbs toxins and converts them into energy, but that she will still have negative side effects depending on what toxins are used. We have discovered that when her energy levels sink below a certain level, Nymeria's body begins to shut down much like it does when she experiences quirk exhaustion. This means she has to have a certain amount of intake of toxins daily to ensure her physical wellbeing. The more we have worked with her quirk, the more we realized that if she doesn't have a consistent supply of toxins, she will get 'nudges' from her quirk. If she ignores these nudges and doesn't intake some form of toxin, there's a higher chance of her quirk flaring up without her control"
"The commission had contacted a support company, and they formulated three different 'fuels' for her to use. The lightest dosage, Fuel number one, is the type she uses daily. It's a metal-liquid filled pod she inserts into a chargeable base that burns the mixture of chemicals. She has safely adjusted to this level for minimal to no drawbacks, and it releases into her system through breathing it in."
He paused at this and looked to Nymeria, nodding his head. Nymeria pulled out the device and showed it to the others in the room. "We call it Pod for simplicity's sake. It's pretty much a deadlier version of an electronic cigarette. I could smoke regular cigarettes and get the same results, but the government wasn't comfortable approving that for a minor I guess." She shrugged.
"Oh and my body is constantly pulling and absorbing toxins from the air in a six foot radius from me, so no one else will be affected by second hand smoke. No need for concern there. The air surrounding me is actually safer to breathe than normal." With that, she put her pod away and turned back to Cabe as he spoke up again.
"She will need to use it frequently throughout the day to maintain her levels, including during school. Though she will refrain from doing so during class times and mainly stick to breaks, lunches, and free periods."
He paused to pull out two metal containers from his briefcase, holding up one with a blue band.
"This is the second fuel source. It's a drinkable mix of stronger toxins that she takes when she's aware that she will need to use her quirk in excess, such as quirk training or a mission. It tends to make her experience dizziness and nausea for a short time due to the higher levels of toxins, but gives her quirk the amount necessary for use without drawbacks. Options one and two Nymeria has independent access to and knows when to use them. She needs no assistance with them. Both options would cause health issues for someone without her quirk, so I would stress to those around her that it is a medical aid for her quirk, and not to be consumed."
Holding the container up with the red band he opened it and pulled out a silver metal syringe and needle.
"This is the third fuel. It is deadly to anyone else as the toxins are extremely high. It is administered as a last resort. So if her quirk is past the exhaustion point, or she has an injury that is severe and would lead to quirk exhaustion from it attempting to heal her. She knows how to administer it to herself, but anyone who is frequently around her should also have the knowledge needed to administer and carry one as well, in case she's incapacitated and is unable to. This is filled with toxins strong enough that they had to formulate a specific syringe to contain it, because the contents ruined more commonly found plastic and glass ones. We've only had to use this twice in the last year and a half, but both times Nymeria was out of commission with a high fever and unconscious for two days. So I will stress it again, this is a last resort option."
Cabe put the containers away before continuing. "Are there any questions or issues with Nymeria attending school here?"
Nymeria took a steadying breath and crossed her fingers in her lap. The room was silent for a moment before Chiyo spoke up. "Not that I am upset that I was, but why was I involved in the briefing, if I won't be able to aid in her healing?"
Cabe looked to Nymeria. Greattt. Looks like answering questions is on me.
"We were hoping to be able to give you the emergency fuel to keep in case it's needed, as you wouldn't need additional training on how to administer it. I also don't heal instantly. My healing is fast, so smaller things shouldn't be an issue, but bigger injuries would still require basic first aid. For example, a broken bone tends to take anywhere between a day to two weeks depending on the severity of the break. I would still need to be wrapped or casted and an actual medical professional to check that everything is healing properly."
Chiyo nodded and was silent for a moment. "Of course dearie, I can keep the fuel in the locked cabinet in the med wing, and could insure you have time and space to heal by providing a bed." Nymeria nodded and gave the elderly woman a small relieved smile.
"Well I'll be honest, I have never had a heavy hand in the student's lives, choosing to operate more on the administrative side of being a principal and letting the teachers have free reign over classes. I mainly see students for graduations and disciplinary actions. But I can handle giving the needed explanations to the other staff, and guarantee the conditions you have are met in all regards."
Nymeria felt her shoulders relax as the realization that U.A. was going to let her attend sunk in, unclenching her fists and smiling at her Gramps and Cabe. She looked back at Nedzu as he cleared his throat and stood from his chair.
"Miss Nymeria, may I ask, what do you know of my past?" Nymeria paused, "I am aware of the basics I believe..." At his encouraging nod she continued. "I know that you were an experiment yourself, that you are classified as a quirked animal with the quirk 'high specs' which gives you an extremely high IQ." After glancing around the room she took a chance and switched to ASL, as she knew that Gramps and Cabe only knew JSL. And she has a thing for languages, okay. She likes learning, don't judge.
I also know people think you are a rat and you never correct them. I think differently.
Everyone in the room looked confused, which was ideal, as she wasn't sure Nedzu would want what she thought said aloud in case she was correct. Nedzu smiled and began signing back.
What is it you think I am then?
She smiled before signing
A chimera
The room occupants jumped as Nedzu began to cackle, leaning back and clapping his hands, paws?, together.
"Ah Miss Nymeria, I think you and I will get along just fine!" He laughed a few more times before taking a breath and returning to a more serious demeanor.
"I was asking you what you knew about me, because you are correct, I too, was used for experimentations. As such, I have first hand knowledge on the horrors and evil that can be in this world. I also know that the healing from such experiences is not always a linear one. In fact, I believe that due to our similar pasts, I might be one of the best beings to be able to help you learn and grow." He smiled at her then, a twinkle in his eye that made everyone's spines straighten.
"I also think that with your high intelligence, shown through your impressive results you received in both the written and private practical recommendations exam you took, that you would thrive as a personal student of mine. This would encompass lesson topics that won't be taught as part of the typical curriculum here at U.A., if you are interested?"
Nymeria felt herself slowly smiling, the thought of learning from the being that has caused so much chaos for the commission sending her quirk jittering through her.
"I think I would enjoy that very much, sir."
Nedzu's matching grin was on the side of feral as he held out a paw for her to shake, "Please, call me Nedzu, pup."
As they shook hand and paw, the other occupants in the room felt a chill go down their backs, all thinking along the lines of- "what did we just allow to happen."
It was too late to get them to back out now, Nymeria had a slightly sadistic and feral side. A side to herself she rarely showed. A side that Nedzu wanted to expand on, and that side of herself was pumped.

"We're home!" Nymeria called out upon entering her home, taking off her shoes as the two tired older men did the same. They had sat in the office and discussed the finer details of her schooling, filled out required paperwork, created the general cover stories that were to be told, and took a tour of the school grounds. The entire process took over four hours and was tedious to all involved.
The "Welcome home!" from her aunt and uncle, and "Obviously" from Kenzo were nearly drowned out by the rapid little thumps rounding the corner and the high pitched screech of "MAMA!" from the three year old that proceeded to launch himself at her.
Dropping her bag to the floor she caught Izuku and spun him in a quick circle while laughing.
"Hey love bug! How was the daycare today?"
"Funnn! Kacchan and me played heroes, an he let me be All migh today since I was sad since it's been foreverrrr since I seen him! An Mrs. Yoma let me pick first from the snack bin since I clean up all my toys first, an I drew another picture for the fridge of all our family. It has me, and Kacchan, and you, and uncle-dad, and uncle Kento, and Ama, and auntie suki and uncle masu..." Izuku took a deep breath before continuing, "Oh an it has uncle mirai and uncle migh but I drew him with face hair for a dis-disgus-"
"A disguise?"
"YEAH! And I put grampa gran and grampa Cabe in it too! It got a gold star and it's on the fridge Mama- go look!"
Everyone within hearing range of Izuku's excited rambles laughed as Nymeria carried him into the kitchen, waving at her uncle and Mirai on the couch and giving her aunt a hug from where she stood in the doorway of the kitchen, drying her hands on a rag after prepping an early dinner. She was grateful they arranged their schedules to be home early today in case the two teens came home triggered by the discussions.
On the way to the fridge, she paused by Kenzo's side where he was sitting at the kitchen island, leaning into him for a brief moment to just give herself that bit of extra assurance that this was real, that they were both here. Okay. Safe.
Relaxing into the hug he gave her, and by extension, a still chattering Izuku, she took a moment to breathe before walking to the new picture that hung on the fridge, and listened to her son happily talk about his day.
As the family sat around the extremely large table they had specially made for them and their constant rotating guests, Nymeria found herself smiling and realizing that she was excited to go to school next week. And that night she went to bed after bathing and tucking Izuku into bed, and was almost asleep when she shot up out of bed and quietly raced into Kenzo's room, making him sit up and look around, still half-asleep but alert.
"Wha- What's happenin?!"

"Oh my gods! ZoZo!- He called me pup. I think I got adopted by a Rat God today."
....

Nymeria returned to her own bed after being hit in the head repeatedly with a pillow, but she was still smiling through it all.