Solstice and Eclipse: Part I

Chapter XI: The Safety of Others

Everything had gone dark, like his body had been completely swallowed by shadows. It was a feeling like nothing he had ever felt. His senses were blurred and even his quirk was blindsided. The world felt like static. It took him several seconds to clear the feeling, and when he did, he realized he was falling. From somewhere nearby he heard someone scream. From the sounds of it, she was close, and falling just as fast.

Finally gaining full consciousness of the situation, (L/N) reached a hand towards his classmate and caught them in a bubble of light inches before hitting the ground. He didn't have control enough over his quirk to stop himself, but he managed to shield the brunt of the impact before he crashed into hard stone, several rocks breaking against the light surrounding his body.

"(L/N)!"

A pair of hands cleared away the stones and snow that had covered his body after he fell into the mountainside.

"Are you okay?"

"Ashido?" He asked, shaking his head. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me." The girl replied. "Are you alright?"

"I'll be okay."

"Don't be so sure." A voice called from somewhere nearby.

The sounds of sinister laughter echoed throughout the blizzard zone as villains emerged from behind the rocks and over mountain peaks. They were surrounded.

"I got first dibs!" The same voice said. "Alright kiddies, I'm gonna drop this mountain on ya!"

A large man with a strength enhancement quirk lunged towards the two students, his right fist cocked as he prepared to strike the two down. Ashido squealed and turned her face away, causing the man to laugh. Without thinking, (L/N) pushed Ashido behind him with his right arm while at the same time getting to his feet. His left hand glowed and caught the villain's fist. He managed to stop it, but the force behind the attack rattled his arm and made his shoulder ache. The villain stared at (L/N) in confused surprise.

(L/N) was scared of his own power. Scared of what it could do. After his parents' death he swore he would never use his quirk again. But he couldn't control it. The power was too great for the young boy to control and he couldn't stop it coursing from his body. Many times, when he was scared or upset, a powerful surge of energy would ripple from his body throughout the room, overturning furniture and cracking the walls and ceiling. As he grew older his quirk grew more powerful, and with no one to teach him how to control it, he instead suppressed it. He realized he couldn't control the quirk itself, but he could control the factors that caused it to manifest. His emotions, fear and stress in particular, but sometimes excitement, happiness, and anger. It caused the energy in his body to spike and his quirk to express itself, so he was careful to keep his emotions in check. He didn't want to hurt anyone. But right now, he didn't have a choice.

He placed his right palm on the man's chest. A blast of light carried the man into the sky. (L/N) had to be careful though, even with something as seemingly simple as this. Light doesn't stop travelling. Ever. So, unless he consciously made the photons dissipate, his blasts would travel indefinitely, whether he wanted them to or not. Once the villain was some thirty feet in the air, (L/N) forced the energy to stop. He had learned this much on his own quest to master his powers. With nothing propelling him further, the villain fell back towards the earth, landing with a loud crash.

[My Hero Academia]

My name is Watanabe Hikaru and I am a villain. My quirk, Absorption, allows me to take on the properties of anything I touch. I can make my body hard as stone or flexible as water. I got my start as a criminal robbing my first jewelry store when I was twenty-seven. I wasn't your run of the mill crook, though. I wasn't in it for the money. I wanted the unique properties only precious gemstones could provide. Diamond skin to make me bulletproof. Tungsten to resist Endeavor's flames. I'd had my fair share of run ins with the police, even tussled with a few pros in my time, but after nine years of taking precious gems I was still a free man. Never did I think that some kid would be my downfall.