A Song of Ice and Fire

~Ch5: pAiN~

"There's a letter for you."

I heard the door slam shut behind me, a week after the exams.

I swiveled around in my desk chair. "Who's it from?" I asked, exasperated, trying to fit in the cramped space.

My younger sister, S/N held a thick envelope in her hand. She flipped her long golden hair and adjusted her gemstone infused glasses.

"Don't know and don't care. But knowing you, it's probably some warning about usage of quirk on school grounds, since you're always using it on your guinea pig of a friend. You know, the usual." She snickered. "Who still uses letters anyway?"

I quickly stood up and took the envelope from her. She glared at me.

"U.A., that's who," I whispered under my breath, inspecting the intricate wax seal.

She gasped. Apparently she had heard me. "Did you take the entrance exam? How did mom and dad even agree to it?! " She narrowed her eyes, jealousy radiating off of her. "We both know they don't care for you, they barely realize you exist. They've always hated you, and your curse of a quirk, villain. I'm the only child they'll ever love!"

I ignored her as I quietly opened the envelope, trying to avoid angering further. Things never ended well once she was truly enraged.

A hand slammed on my chair. 

"Don't ignore me!" S/N roared. "You should be grateful you've even got a room in this house! Villains like you should respect your superiors. So, answer me!"

I shook my head. "You know I don't have ill intentions, S/N. Please, I don't mean to irritate you. Just let me wallow in my self-pity."

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "You still didn't answer my question."

"I never took the entrance exam," I finally replied blatantly, and she noticeably relaxed a little. "I signed up to get in by recommendation."

"WHAT?!" She snarled, snatching the letter aggressively from my hands, and scanned the neat writing. "No... No no no no no... This can't be real." She pointed at me accusingly.  "You cheated. Of course, you did! How else would some mutation like you be accepted to U.A.?"

The letter fluttered to the downward gracefully, having been released from S/N's strangling grip. I quickly snatched it, crumpling it into my pocket before it drifted out of reach.

Meanwhile, her arms began to glow a faint turquoise, the veins weaving over them seeming to be filled with a fluorescent liquid. As the halo of her blood intensified, and her fury increased, glowing threads of light of an identical turquoise hue began to form in every part of the room.

My sister's quirk, Energy, allowed her to convert the nitrogen in the air to pure tendrils of energy and power. Once created, these threads of light, with the right amount of skill, can be weaved into powerful rope-based weapons and tools. However, when she was greatly angered, she lost all control over her quirk, putting everyone in the vicinity in danger.

We'd been in the middle of a heated argument the day her quirk manifested, 10 years ago, and I'd feared her ever since, always worried the slightest misstep would lead to another accident, and she had taken advantage of my phobia, using it to get away with psychologically harassing me, without fear of me ever defending myself. That initial accident had given me a nasty scar, peaking from under my jawline, and coiling around my neck like a snake. I had almost been choked to death that day, but somehow survived. Since then, I'd had my fair share of encounters with S/N's torturous quirk, but none had left any scars or otherwise lasting effects, excluding psychological trauma.

This was one of those encounters.

"You'll never be anything but a cursed villain," She rasped, glowing threads concentrating into a single, thick cable.

"And you'll never be a hero."

The turquoise chord lunged forward, coiling around my legs before I could react. I hissed in pain, clawing at the rope a it tightened unbearably.

Then just as soon as it had begun, it stopped.

The room was showered in darkness, with nothing left but the fading blue of S/N's eyes looming over me. 

I held a sob, trying to hide my pain, gently cradling my legs, not even realizing when the unforgiven eyes of my sister had drifted out.

~~~

I woke up with a start, clutching my throbbing calves. 

Checking the dimly lit clock hung on the wall, I concluded that it had been 3 whole hours since the outburst.

I weakly stood up, and slowly limped to the nearest bathroom where I studied my reflection in the full-length mirror by the door.

No new scars or markings, thankfully. Just the one.

I gingerly retraced the graceful curved of the gash on my neck. Despite its painful origins, it was a beautiful pattern, looking almost as if a Chinese dragon had chosen my skin as its skies.

I opened the faucet and washed my face, rubbing my tired eyes.

After a few minutes, I finally fished the letter from my pocket, read the neat lettering, and sighed.

At least I've been accepted into U.A.