Chapter Text
Life isn’t fair. It isn’t nice and gentle even if you’re hurting. I’m lucky in so many things. I’ve been lucky so many times before. This isn’t one of those times.
“Hello, is this someone from the Aki household? Related to pro hero Aero?” an unfamiliar voice sounded through the phone.
The corners of my lips turn down slightly, we don't get calls often at home. My mind flitted through recent incidents or any reason someone who might know my father as pro hero Aero would be calling us on our home phone. Immediately worry filled my tone.
“Uh, yeah. This is Athena, his daughter. Who is this?” The phone luckily distorted my voice, it was hard to keep a tight grip on my quirk when I got nervous.
“Is there anyone else in the house? Maybe your mom?”
My eyes flitted towards her room, she wouldn’t want me to bother her. “No. Who is this?” I repeated. My foot tapped against the floor quietly.
He breathed in before speaking, as if he was more nervous than I was. “I have been asked to inform you that the hero Aero, Mr. Aki, has been reported dead in Musutafu, Japan.”
I inhaled sharply, almost choking on the empty air.
What? This must be a mistake. It must be. ”No.”
He stopped mid sentence. The phone line stayed silent for an eternity before he cleared his throat, an image came to mind of a nervous police officer trying to sound like he had any sympathy for me, waiting for the right words to come to mind to console me as if I'd blow up or blame him. I might.
“I’m very sorry.”
My hand twitched against my side, my eyes drawn to it before I looked back up. “I think you called the wrong number.” My eyebrows drew together, but I didn't hang up. He said Aero, how could he be calling the wrong number?
“There was a villain attack. Your father and his son were there. Your father fought very bravely and saved very many people. His son is injured but alive at the Musutafu hospital. You should call your mom.”
I inhaled and exhaled just as fast, too much air entering my lungs but still I couldn't breathe. This couldn't be happening. Dad's more careful than that, he'd never leave my brother alone. I rested my hand on the counter to stop it from twitching again.
“-drive to the hospital? Your brother needs a guardian.” His voice cut into my thoughts.
I felt the air around me pressing into me from all sides, feeling like I was going too far into deep water. The thick air invaded my lungs and I coughed out so that I could breathe in again.
“Mother.” My voice cracked.
Her eyebrows were drawn together, mirroring mine. Her mouth moving but I heard nothing. Her hands on my head, she brushed my cheek, her fingers coming away wet. Her voice rose above the surface once I brought my hand to hers. “What happened, baby? Why are you crying.”
“We need to go get Mat. Dad’s dead. He’s at the hospital.”
Panic blooms across her face and down into her body as her fingers grew rigid against mine. I felt her hands start to twitch. She often told me we were too alike, apprently I got all her bad habits. She drew her hand back to pry the phone gently from my grasps, peeling my fingers off one by one. “What?”
“We need to get Mat.”
She whispered into the phone. Dulcet tones that I inherited, much to her dismay. Another reason we were too alike. My hands reached for the floor as I crouched down to stabilise myself.
The man on the phone must be confused, we all know how the police are. If he even is police. They have to identify themselves first, right? Maybe he’s a fraud like a scammer, trying to scam us cause of dad. People try to come after pro heroes all the time. Understandably. But dad’s one of the lower ranking ones, prioritizing his kids over his work as a hero. He disliked- dislikes it when Mat talked about the hero system like that, like it did anything but protect us. Mat thought that made it even more suspicious, but he knew dad would do anything to protect us. Even die, I guess. I hummed.
My thoughts drifted farther before they drew back towards my brother.
Mat… was hurt. Alone at the hospital.
I reached up to tug on my mom's sleeves, my hands still trembling. Her own hands covering her mouth which hunt open, unmoving. I tugged harder.
“We have to go. Mat is in the hospital. Mother, come on. We need to go, we need to go!”
We got to him before he died. At least he didn’t die alone. Slipping into an eternal sleep while mother sung to him gently so he didn’t feel any pain.
After that day I was alone.
My mother's grief pained her in a different way than mine pained me. It dragged her down so heavily until it started wearing her body down as well as her mind.
She mostly stayed at the hospital nowadays, but I tried to take care of her as well as I could. She didn’t die, but it feels as if she’s left me. She tries to hide it but it bothers her to see me. I think I only remind her of what she lost, of dad. She always hoped I’d turn out more like him than her so she made sure we were always the best of friends. It’s probably why my relationship with my mother was so lacking. Without dad, it had no bones, leaking out, and spreading thinner and thinner every time I went to see her.
We spent a lot of money trying to keep Mat alive and I'm using the rest on my mother, despite her protests.
I lost dad and Mat. Mother can’t die too. I won’t ler her leave me too.
The hospital keeps eating away at the money dad left behind. My mother needs more and more to stay alive, money that won’t last very long. I needed money for food, for school. I was going to become a therapist but I can't when it might not give me enough security and stability to pay my mother's bills and cover her treatments.
Mother doesn’t like it but I have to pick a new path. For the money. For mother.