Hell's Empress (books 1-4)

 Your biggest regret, by far, was never telling Chloe the truth. Maybe if you had, she would have trusted you a little more...

 After you woke, you decided you weren't going to make that mistake again.

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 "Hhh, alright." Kai Chisaki, also known as Overhaul from what you could remember, entered the bright room you were being momentarily housed in. There was nothing but a small makeshift bed and a couple chairs, which the man sat down in one of across from you. You hung your legs from the bed as you sat there. Though the guy had used his quirk to heal you in a way while you were out, your arms and back were still wrapped in bandages just in case any scar tissue opened up. You liked the feeling of the wraps. Reminiscent of the hug you desperately needed in these trying times.

 You hadn't spoken a word since you'd woken up, even as a follower of Kai came to bring you some food.

 "I see you haven't eaten much." He noticed the tray of hardly touched food on the other chair. You were looking down, flinching when he reached his hand out. Looking up, you noticed a little late he was reaching for the food instead of you. "Rough home life?" Asking softly, he drew his hand back. Your head lowered again, hands fidgeting on your lap. You could so easily lie. This was a clean slate for you. Complete strangers all around.

 It would be easy to use what you knew about the show to lay low. Maybe become a janitor or something here, pretending to be the broken girl who just ran away from her abusive parents back home.

 "My followers say you had someone else's blood on you as well. Is that what happened? Someone attacked you, perhaps even a parental figure, and you had to kill them?" The young man continued to probe. He was too good at these guessing games.

 Your hands held each other tightly on your lap. Tucking your chin, you gritted your teeth and hissed out, "Please... Can you at least wait a little longer..? I just lost everything..." You stared at the ground, unsure of what to do here. Though you had some alright quirks of your own, this man was powerful. Able to kill you with one touch.

 The two of you sat in silence for a little while. Then the man sighed. He stood from the chair. Your small breath of relief was cut short when he merely turned the chair around and sat in it again, legs spread, arms resting on the back of it.

 "Unfortunately for you, my name isn't exactly common knowledge... So I'm going to need you to talk. What do you know about the Shie Hassaikai? Was a parent of yours a former member?" Again, this man gave you so much to go off of for a lie of yours. You could easily fib your way around this.

 But you didn't want to lie anymore. You didn't really care what happened to you from here. ...You already lost everything you cared about.

 "...You won't believe me if I tell you the truth..." You mumbled.

 The man folded his gloved hands together. "Heh, try me."

 Genuinely, he wouldn't believe the whole truth. So, you made sure to mold that truth into something he might get. "I um...have dreams sometimes. Dreams of people I've never met, doing things I could never imagine... I have no control over this, and sometimes I forget a lot of it, but..I remember you." Turns out having a younger cousin in your past life who was a fan of Overhaul was a positive, because all those little facts stuck in your head. "Your quirk is Overhaul, right? You are the one who healed me." The man ever so slightly leaned in, proving his interest. You mumbled on. "Your quirk lets you rearrange matter. You can make people explode from the inside-out, and I know you're Psychopathic enough to not care about hurting anyone in your way, even little girls... If- if you don't believe me, just wait a little bit! You're twenty, right?" You waited for the man's nod. "Well, in about a year, your boss' daughter will have a daughter with a horn on her forehead.. forgot which side. That little girl has a quirk that can..." Maybe this wasn't the best idea? But wait! Maybe you could prevent Eri's suffering by predicting it ahead of time and making sure everyone is ready and prepared to handle the situation. "..Her quirk will be to rewind the state of matter...or something. From that, you can make a drug that completely erases someone's quirk and turn it into a bullet that..you plan to sell to make the Yakuza powerful again. .. Ju-just don't put your boss in a coma, alright?? You come to regret it after losing your arms-!"

 "-You know all of this from a few convenient dreams??"

 "I know it sounds stupid, but I've never been wrong before! Honest!"

 "Hhhh," The man rubbed his forehead with the side of his hand. "So you're telling me I'm going to have to conveniently wait a whole year before this dream of yours is proven? Come on. Spit it out. How do you really know my name? And how did you know Pops has a daughter??"

 "I'm telling the truth, I swear! I just lost everything! You really think I would make up a lie as crazy as this??"

 "Guess...you do have a point." Overhaul stood up from the chair and ambled toward the door. As his hand rested up on the knob, "If you can find ways to be useful around here, then I'll let you stay until then... In the meantime, write every minor detail you remember from those 'prophecies' of yours down, even if it seems pointless to you." The brunette then opened the door and slipped through it, leaving you all alone.

 You could do nothing but twiddle your thumbs... Guess this was your new life now.

 Living with the Yakuza.

----------

 As expected, the janitor life was for you. A week into living here, and you had a decent mental image of the campus you were to clean. You were only allowed on the top floor, for assumingly obvious reasons, where the Yakuza base merely looked like a small palace in the traditional Japanese style. It was really pretty up here, actually, so you weren't complaining.

 You slept with the maids, worked their schedule, and cleaned just as much as they did despite only being thirteen. The only difference between you and them was that you were occasionally visited by the prying eyes of a Yakuza member to ensure you weren't scheming against them. They were especially suspicious of you, even after a whole week, because you claimed to have no quirk. That was hard to believe for them, since it was one of your speed quirks that had grabbed their attention in the first place. So, you wouldn't be able to lie for long.

 A surprising visit, only a full week after arriving here, was by "The Boss" himself!

 "(Y/n), was it?" The silver haired man turned around the corner into the hallway you were sweeping. You glanced up from the dark wood floor, eyes widening a little. Recognizing him somewhat, you bowed immediately to the old man out of respect.

 "I'm sorry if I am in the way or anything, Boss.." Your voice was still so passive and quiet. It hadn't returned to how it was before since the accident. You as a whole hadn't returned. You still wore the bandages snugly around yourself despite it being pointless. Sad as it was, these bandages were the only thing that brought you a sense of comfort.

 "Oh, don't worry about that!" The elder chuckled. "I've been looking for you!"

 You stood up straight again. "Anything you need?"

 "Come with me." The man turned back around. You left the broom leaning against the paper thin wall and followed. The two of you exited the small house of sorts, which was only connected to the rest of the mansion via short path. The old man stepped onto the grass and you followed. He brought you to the center of campus; a courtyard, where the grass had already been stomped so many times it was mostly dust. In the middle here were a few beaten old training dummies. The old man stopped and turned to you with his hands folded behind his back. He didn't even have to speak a word. You had a feeling you knew what he was going to say already. "I would like for you to use your quirk on this. My men say you have so far refused to reveal what it is. And though I personally don't fear you, some are beginning to get a little uncomfortable. I won't ask anything else of you, but as the master of this place, I would like for you to respect my command."

 You turned to the dummy nearest you with a dumb look. ...Which quirk should you use? Should you tell these guys the truth?? Again, that might be a little risky. If they found out about your real quirk, then, if they knew anything about All For One, they no doubt would connect you to him. And, well, you were trying to distance yourself from your dad at the moment. Even going so far as to hide whenever his spying quirk was actively watching you..which he was now using less and less, seeing that you were purposefully avoiding him.

 But... You had also decided to quit lying.

 Wait, but you would need this ability to be at least somewhat known in order to save Eri.

 You walked up to the dummy with your hands in your pockets and and kicked the base of the object. Then you turned and casually walked away.

 Under your breath, "5..4..3..2..1."

Boom!

 The base board holding up the dummy exploded, forcing the rest of it to fall.

 "Impressive.." The Boss smiled. However you just held up your hand to him, staring coldly at the dummy now. As you neared, your brain recalled how your mother lay so similarly on the floor only last week. This fueled your next coming quirk. You knelt down and touched the object's shoulder. Cracks sprouted throughout the object, originating from your hand until they had crawled all around the thing and broke it into a hundred little pieces. From there, the terrible emotions that still filled you fueled the next quirk, a blue flame which you tossed on to the pile of rubble. The flame happily ate up what was left until the dummy was nothing but ash. To finish, you kicked off your slippers, rolled up your pants sleeves, and walked toward the fire. Iron scales grew to cover your whole body. Your bare feet kicked out the remaining fire until the only thing that remained was soot. The whole time, you wore a blank, dead inside expression. At last, you turned to The Boss with those same dead eyes. "H...how did you-?"

 "I was created to be the ultimate monster. The reason my mother tried to kill me last week..." Stepping out of the hot ash, you stood in the dirt staring at the elder with something of a casual scowl. "My real quirk cannot be used on objects, which is why I resorted to using so many in its place.. I can steal people's quirks and use them for myself. That, or I can give them to others. It's a scary ability, I know, which is why I prefer not to talk about it. ... You don't have to be scared of me, though. You guys have been hospitable enough. I wouldn't turn on anyone unless I had a reason to." It was now that you realized what confidence you had. Though you didn't at all mean to prop yourself up, your little comment there made it seem as if you were certain you could make yourself quite the opponent to the entire Yakuza. The elder smiled.

 "And I am thankful for your consideration."

 "In fact, the only thing I really plan to do with my quirk is save your granddaughter."

 "Oh? I heard about that. Those...dreams of yours?"

 "Do you play any part in naming your grandchildren?"

 "No?"

 "Okay then... If your daughter names her Eri.. then know that I am right. Trust me, her quirk is so dangerous that she will accidentally kill her own father. Then, her mother will abandon her. We can possibly prevent that by letting me steal the girl's quirk before she has the chance to do this."

 "You're acting so confident this will happen." The boss was a little cross.

 "It can happen. I've been able to use what I see in my dreams to change people's fates before. You guys can do whatever with her quirk once it's gone. I just want to help her out."

 "...Why are you so determined to help a little girl who hasn't been born yet..?" Asking quietly, yet firmly.

 "... Guess I grew fond of her in my dreams is all. And... I don't want her to go through the same pain as me... I had to..kill my mother..just to save my own life..."

...

 The old man held his breath for a moment as he looked down at you. His eyes snapped away for a second. But, after sighing, he seemed to calm down. "I see... Well, in the meantime, continue what you were doing before. I must go discuss this with a few others."

 "Alright..."

----------

 You thought time would heal these wounds, but apparently you were wrong. You talked less and less as the month progressed, to the point that you rarely ever opened your mouth. Not even to eat. Didn't really help that you were the youngest here. Everyone was far more serious and goal oriented than what you were used to.

 Also, you missed your mother's hugs. Only now did you realize just how accustomed you had gotten to being snuggled, both by your mom and your dad. Their warmth had no replacement. Nothing but these cheap wraps everyone now questioned why you still wore despite being perfectly fine.

 Chisaki kept at a distance for the most part. Your best guess was that he was a little nervous being near you. If he was, he was great at hiding it the few times he did show himself. The only real thing that changed after revealing your quirk was that you were required to wear gloves as well as write down every quirk you had. You did such to the best of your ability, however there were a few you simply could not recall thanks to their 'floater' status.

 A "floater quirk" is what you started calling the quirks that don't really do anything, you can't remember when or how you got them, and more often than not they turn out to be completely useless or too out of reach to use, meaning that you simply don't know how to use them, and therefore cannot activate them.

 On occasion, a member of the Yakuza would ask for a favor of you that required using one of your quirks. These were small tasks that were the equivalent of chores in your book. But, a chance to practice with your quirks would forever and always be a good thing to you. In the span of a month, you had become the silent wonder of the Yakuza. Their potential "secret weapon" the gang were still ensuring was on their side. You had no intention to be completely on their side, but you saw nothing wrong for now in acting as a simple maid or doing little jobs here and there for them.

 This hollow spot in your heart remained, showing no signs of leaving any time soon. For the most part, you were just empty. Some limbo between denial and depression. It was clear you needed some kind of support system, but...you had none. The Yakuza supplied any basic needs of yours. Food. Water. Shelter. Protection. But, that wouldn't save you from yourself. And you feared things might get really bad if you left things as it was.

 So...then came the hard choice...

----------

 "What's the matter here?" A detective with short black hair and a tan trench coat entered the lab. Just on the other side of thin white curtains across that room was the body of a victim who had just been murdered the previous night. His trained eyes scanned the two doctors waiting in there for him. "It was another quirk stolen, wasn't it?" The doctors stood uneasily before him, having only recently finished the autopsy.

 "Yyyes...and no." One doctor said while slipping off his mask. The detective raised a brow. "In case you didn't hear, the popular online influencer known as 'Kattie Tap' was jumped by a street thief last night. He claims to have been knocked out almost instantly, so no one knows exactly what happened after that, as there were no other witnesses on the scene... or how his quirk was later stolen. But! An autopsy done on his attacker," The doctor gestured to the body's shadow cast over the curtain, "has given us some surprising intel."

 "And..?"

 "He..has multiple quirks, sir. Though it's hard to tell how many."

 "Huh?"

 "In fact, since there are no other clues to how else he was killed, we believe he may have died of a..quirk..overdose." Even the doctor who said this could only shrug at the absurdity of what he was saying. The doctors and detective stared at one another for an awkward few seconds.

 Running a hand through his hair, the detective finally opened his mouth. "..Holy mackerel, we're going to need All Might..."

----------

 It was sacrifice after sacrifice with this mission of yours, but you would be lying if you said you had regrets afterward. This was a scheme three days in the making, and the only thing you came close enough to regret involved the poor YouTuber's injuries.

 After a while of thinking, you came to the conclusion that you had two problems, actually. Quirks, just like objects in your room, had memories attached to them. In your case, these quirks. These memories.. felt more like chains dragging behind your every step. You just couldn't take it anymore. It has to be fixed somehow.

 Your solution came in the form of someone you hated.

 Kai Chisaki had just recently started bringing on common thieves into his ranks. Though for now he only brought in ones with the upmost potential, you knew that in time this standards would eventually drop to allow in as many disposable foot soldiers as possible.

 And one of the first thieves Kai brought on just so happened to be a creep. The first time you even heard about him was through the fellow maids' gossipping. Apparently, in his free time, he liked to spy on the women and be a general nuisance. Definitely the kind of person you wouldn't want in any higher position of power. Worst was that this guy was an alleged murderer, so who knows what he was capable of!?

 You used this flaw of his to your advantage, however. All the women correctly assumed he would be peeking into the changing room at a certain time, so there you sat waiting in the changing room while all the other women changed elsewhere. Not scared of the villain one bit, you purposefully created a scene that would make anyone suspicious. You sat in a corner of the room, looking around everywhere but where the man poked his head through to make yourself appear paranoid. In the corner with you was an upsidedown bucket, some paper, and a pen. You used the bucket as a table to scribble on the paper, making sure the villain read the scene how you wanted him to.

 After you were finished drawing a half-a##ed attempt at fan art of Kattie Tap, you folded the paper up and slid it into your pocket. Spinning around again, you almost chuckled when you heard the man's frantic shuffling away. You pretended not to hear, sneaking out of the room just as suspiciously. Having memorized when the man would be on break by now, you continued to act suspiciously when you assumed he might be near. Until, eventually, while everyone was supposed to be sleeping, or at least shut away in their rooms for the night, you snuck out from the safety of the Shie Hassaikai walls and into the city streets.

 You traveled slowly, checking every so often to make sure that suspicious perv was still following. As you'd hoped, he took the bait and followed you. The poor guy couldn't possibly expect to tell his superiors of his suspicion, as that would require explaining why he was peeking into the woman's dressing room in the first place!

 The population thinned out as darkness settled soundly over the sky, though there were still a few dawdling along. Using the local library computer -- since, yes, the Yakuza allowed you to go wherever you pleased in your free time -- you had managed to map out well enough where that YouTuber might be at this hour. Because child-friendly he might appear online, the man's favorite hangout spot was his local bar! Apparently, he'd admitted this in one of his own videos. And thanks to a few rumors, it didn't take long to assume exactly which bar he gave reference to.

 Back in the present, you walked all alone along the darker sidewalks, sensing that suspicious young man was still following behind you. And, as you had hoped, you eventually spotted Kattie Tap laughing the night away with a couple of his friends. One of the three waved to the others a fairwel, giving you the best opportunity to plant your bomb now.

 You put on a big, fake smile and charged up to the YouTuber like a giddy fangirl.

 "Oh my gosh! You're Kattie Tap, right?! I LOVE your videos!" The man and his friend were a little too drunk to put on their usual act, but you just played along with their babbling like there was nothing wrong at all. "Here! I drew this for you!!" You handed the same folded up piece of paper you had drawn suspiciously earlier today to the popular influencer. The man held the paper in hand, tearing up in his drunken state.

 "It's beautiful!!" He cried. "Can I keep it??" You nodded frantically. He cried some more and hugged the paper. Really wasn't that well drawn! Lol.

 After that, you slipped away and actually hid this time. No longer having someone to follow, you forced the criminal into following the YouTuber just to see if this was some kind of secret message you had sent. His suspicion greatly decreased, but it was replaced with a greed driven excitement after hearing the drunken buddies blast about how much money their videos were making! This robbery would be too easy for him~ You stalked the stalker as he stalked the drunken pair.

 After Kattie Tap departed from his friend, everything else happened in the matter of only a few dozen seconds. First, the YouTuber was hit in the head with a brick by the stalking villain, knocking him out instantly. Then, as the man was perusing through the innocent one's belongings, you snuck up from behind and placed your hand on his barren shoulder.

 Quirk Dumping, as you now called it. That was what you did the moment your skin made contact with his. You released so many quirks in such quick succession that the villain fell into a seizure at once. His body shook and convulsed until he simply stopped moving at all.

 You stood there panting afterward. It all happened so FAST! You would have been terrified about what you had done if it weren't for the relief that washed over you!

 What a rush!! Your left arm, the one which had expelled so many quirks, now stung all the way up to your shoulder. Your fingers twitched in pain, but a smile still crept onto your face... It was like dropping a fifty pound weight! One you had been lugging around for years at this point! All of the smaller quirks, even the ones you tended to find pretty useful, were gone. Hopefully, this included the quirk your dad had given to track you and the one he gave to suppress your own regeneration abilities. You couldn't exactly be sure.

 The only quirks you kept were those closest to you. Your mom's, Tenko's, and Toya's.

 Toya's, though it held a painful memory, was a reminder for you to not get too ahead of yourself. You could still make mistakes in this life. Big ones at that. And besides, his fire would be more than handy in the future. Also just felt rude to get rid of his quirk this way. If you were going to dump this quirk on to someone else, it better be someone who deserves it and is capable of using said flames.

 Tenko's was a little more obvious. Keeping his quirk, oppose to Toya's, reminded you of how much good you can do in this life. Despite being so destructive, it filled your spirits with hope every time you used it. Hope that you really could change things for the better.

 And Chloe's... Well, it was the only thing you had left of her.

 Every. Other. Quirk. Was. Gone. --- Dead with the dead man laying on the ground.

 This was a new, fresh start for you.

 You turned slowly to the fallen YouTuber, knowing exactly where that fresh start would begin.

----------

 Hhhhhhhhh.... This was supposed to be a well deserved break after a relentless week of tracking down a villain and bringing him to justice. Why now was he having a hard time sleeping?!

 Aizawa ambled out of his bedroom and entered the kitchen. He didn't care to turn on the lights. He'd memorized his apartment well enough.

Murr?

 The man's light brown tabby cat rubbed against his legs, begging to be fed. "No.. I already fed you." The man nudged the middle aged tabby away with his foot, taking shorter steps toward the fridge to prevent himself from tripping. He opened the bright box of nutrients and began to peruse the few things a young bachelor like himself had available. His cat jumped atop the counter, meowing at him a couple more times. Aizawa huffed, wondering if this was all the rest of his life had in store for him. Suddenly, the cat quieted down. Now staring out the distant window, it's back and tail hairs stood up, growling at the dark void beyond. Aizawa ignored it for the most part, but he finally took a little interest when his cat went as far to hiss at the thing outside. "Foof, what is it??" He snapped at the animal, following her gaze to the window outside.

 Sitting calmly there in the window frame was a pure white cat with spectacularly sparkling, bright blue eyes. It just stared at him, occasionally making a very subtle movement like flicking its tail or ear to prove it was no statue.

 Aizawa had to squint, for only the light of the fridge beside him illuminated the creature. Its fur was full; incredibly soft looking. Looked like a medium, long-hair cat breed. Pretty young too. Still just a kitten.

 Aizawa waved his arm out at it. "Shoo. You're scaring my cat." But the kitten didn't leave. Instead, it stood up and started to pace against the glass, muffled meows breaking through to him. Sounded so hungry, or scared, he couldn't really tell.

 Rubbing his face, the tired man who couldn't go to sleep ambled across the room and slid the window open. "Alright, you're coming in. But only so I can take you to the pound tomorrow. Got it?" The cat mewed happily, staring up at his hands that hovered hesitantly over it. The kitten stood on its hind paws and nudged one of them with its head. His assumptions were correct. Its fur was extremely soft! Since the cat seemed more interested in pets than coming inside, Aizawa picked up the cat to bring it inside. "Woa, you're really thin." He noted. It was a lot lighter than he expected it to be. But when he put the cat down and gave it some food, it wanted nothing of the sort. Instead, the kitten rubbed against his legs while purring happily. "Not hungry, huh?.. Might have worms. A trip to the vet might be necessary..." Again, the man sighed at the growing laundry list of things he would have to do on his weekend off. "Foof. Foof, where are you?" The striped cat growled, fur still puffed up as she stood in the kitchen corner, glaring down at the kitten. But the pretty little kitten showed no interest in the older cat, instead much more interested in getting white fur all over his new pajama pants. "Ughh, stupid cats. Foof I thought you liked other cats... Hadtogetyaspayedtwoyearsagobecauseofit." Looking down at the kitten, there was definitely something a little uncanny about how it walked -- like it was still getting used to it or something -- but that could just be either his tired brain acting up, or some birth defect the cat had. Shouldn't discriminate against the poor thing for that. Oh well. The kitten seemed clean and nice enough to not have to worry about. It was probably just a neighbor's cat coming to him for some extra food, so maybe the pound visit wouldn't be the best idea.. Oh well. He was tired. Better head back to bed.

 The young man dragged his feet across the ground until he found himself plopping into bed. The white haired kitten hopped up after he had gotten comfortable and nested against his back. Funny thing. It was such a loud purrer. The cat purred so happily despite the little attention he had given it.

 "Now don't get too comfortable there, buddy." Aizawa growled over his shoulder at it. The kitten yawned and stretched, pressing as much of its back against his as it could. The purring was so strong it vibrated his whole body, and, oddly enough, was just what he needed to lull him to sleep.

 Only seconds before slipping into a deep sleep, Aizawa wondered if he was going to be one of those 'first victims' at the beginning of every horror movie...

 Eh. He lived a decent life so far. Dying to a creepy alien cat would be just his luck at this point.

...

 It was sad that you had to resort to turning yourself into a cat just to get a little attention. Even sadder to realize you had no one else to go to but some strange man you only knew from an anime. But...guess this was alright. For now at least, someone else's warmth was here to melt away the pain trapped deep inside.