The near-invisible glow that surrounded Kendo Rappa faded as the master martial artist looked down at the lifeless body with a mix of pity and disdain. He was sure if the boy went all out he would have a worthy opponent. The boy's punches sent him flying like a ragdoll, and when the pressure was too severe he couldn't hold up.
He was disappointed in the boy's performance. Such a strong quirk had gone to waste because he had been overzealous. A boy who would've become strong in the future no doubt. Killed by one of Overhaul's enforcers.
Honestly, Kendo didn't like Overhaul that much. He respected his strength for sure, but the whole evil scientist and mob boss thing was bit... much for him. Not that he was morally opposed, but he felt he was... wasted, acting as Yakuza enforcer and guard. He wished he could fight every day. He wished he could fight somebody strong.
Having just killed such a promising young opponent left him feeling conflicted.
You've never killed a kid before. An evil voice in his head said to him. He squashed it. It was the boy's fault, getting into a fight without the spirit to back it up was the epitome of weakness.
Kendo looked down at his hands, the fight did not leave him satisfied. He felt a bit more hallow then before, a bit colder.
Kendo stared at the body, the boy's petrified expression had faded in his final moments, replaced by a fierce snarl. It was such a shame he never saw that side of the young warrior.
The corpse twitched.
Kendo blinked, then rubbed his eyes.
The corpse took a breath.
Kendo's eyes widened as the body slowly floated up, coming to a stop mid-air.
The zombie-child twisted to look directly into his eyes, then stuck his hand through his chest, and ripped out a piece of his lung. Blood flowed like a geyser as air returned to the child.
Neither said a word as they stared into each other's eyes, a thousand words spoken in a single silent moment.
A loud boom sounded as the boy became a blur moving much faster than before. Kendo braced his arms as the boy slammed into him, knocking him back a dozen feet.
In a blink, the child was on him, a fist nearly at his face. Kendo dodged, turning the devastating attack into a glancing blow. Kendo retaliated by striking the boy in the throat with one hand and sticking his other into the monster's chest.
The boy grabbed and stopped the hand aiming for his chest and let the throat punch land with a grunt.
Before Kendo could follow up his attack the boy flew up, taking Rappa with him. Kendo furiously attacked, but without a proper angle to pivot from his punches lacked much firepower, enough to maybe bruise his assailant but he had already done that enough times for a few more to be a non-issue.
As they exited the underground layer via the hole made in the boy's entrance, he looked at Kendo with tears in his eyes. "Thank you Kendo," the boy said, his voice deep with emotion, "you helped me realize something important."
Before he could ask what the child could possible thank him for, Kendo Rappa was spun and thrown sailing through the air and skidding to a stop in a parking lot, a dozen meters short of a large pond.
...
Julian quickly flew back into the lab and where the test subjects were and called the police, letting them know everything that happened sans fight with Kendo Rappa. The police confirmed that he could use his quirk to fly patients to safety. Julian's multitude of injuries screamed at him as he picked up the patients and flew them to the front of a hospital dropping them off one by one.
He did his best to reassure the few awake that he was there to help, but his mind kept wandering to his past. Kendo Rappa was terrifying, even though he really shouldn't have been. The memory of the fighter turning into his own father in this life made his hands shake.
Julian felt so damn angry. Angry at Overhaul for experimenting on children, angry at Kendo Rappa for nearly killing him, angry at the stupid world that was supposed to be a bright anime about superpowered high school, angry at himself for being weak, for fucking crying in the middle of a fight. There were too many things to be angry about and he didn't have a clue how to deal with any one of his growing emotional problems.
A small voice broke him from his lamination "Excuse me, sir, are you a hero?" asked a little boy, maybe ten years old.
Julian grimaced at the question, unsure of his answer. After a long pause he decided to keep it simple.
"Yes" Julian answered, voice shaking. He didn't feel like a hero, but if this kid needed one then he would give him one.
"Then do you think I'll be able to see my mom and dad again? Mom dropped me off here because she said I was a burden, but I hate it here. The mean-looking guys said I could stop being a burden by helping with their tests but now I feel sick. I wanna go home and tell Mommy I won't be a burden anymore."
Julian's eyes watered. He had no idea how to comfort a crying kid, who from the sounds of it was sold off by his own parents. In the end, he stayed silent, flying the child to the hospital like the others.
"Hello? Mr. Hero, can you hear me?" The kid asked, his somber town replaced by a more curious playful demeanor. He felt like someone was putting shackles on his heart.
"You're not a burden. If your parents think you're too much of a burden to take care of then they weren't worthy of taking care of you in the first place." Julian responded, feeling triumphant at his inspirational message.
"That's pretty shit advice," the kid said, making a face.
"well, the world's pretty shit, kid, and I guess I'm a shit hero." Julian responded, his emotional reservoirs too drained to deal with trauma and snark. To his surprise, he heard giggling which turned to full-blown laughter.
"yeah you are a shit hero." the kid said, bursting into laughter.
A smile spread across Julian's face as he set the kid down at the hospital. Helping these people just felt right to him, and his conversation helped relax him from his fight.
"Hey, I know you're too short to be a hero!" the kid shouted as soon as Julian dropped him off. "You're secret's safe with me!"
Julian's grin grew into a smile at the antics.
By the time he returned police cars and ambulances arrived at the scene, accompanied by a pro hero Julian didn't recognize.
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Lowkey I got tired of writing sad stuff and making it feel all heavy and depressing so I kinda dropped it for a while. Then I had the epiphany that I can write whatever I want, so I was planning to write this chapter for a while but then finals came, then there was winter break I was gone the whole time, then other life stuff happened. Updates will have no schedule because I'm busy and trying to commit to something like last time just made me procrastinate more and only but like eight chapters :(
lmk your thoughts on the chapter and sorry for the 180 on mood. Also I changed a few small things from the last chapter, everything is the same except the very last part of the flashback.