15 years ago,
A crow… No. A raven landed on the sill of a glassless window, its blood-colored pupil widening as it peeked inside the room.
Silently, it lifted one of its wings and beckoned someone up. Every inch of manners displayed by the raven felt very human like… a human trying to break in.
Five fingers grabbed the sill and pulled.
A boy, with rough blond hair and blue eyes, peeked inside.
"No one's in!" the raven hissed out a smothered caw. "Stop being a pussy!"
"Nyx!" the boy gasped at the profanity.
Then, trusting the raven, the boy pulled himself up fully, his figure hiding the full moon in the background.
He was wearing a torn green t-shirt over worn, blue shorts.
As he turned his face to look back, black and blue spots on his face and neck stood out as if someone had been constantly hitting him for months, never letting the wounds heal.
The raven fluttered in, effortlessly finding her way through the darkness.
The boy jumped down and slipped with the first step.
"Luke!" Nyx cawed, sounding completely opposite her previous hisses. She landed near him. "Are you OK? Did you hurt yourself?"
The boy stood up, holding his knee. "No…" he whimpered through the pain. "… Let's just get the books. If they catch us again…"
They approached the bookshelves, trying not to make any sound. Again.
Nyx fluttered up and dropped them one by one.
Luke couldn't see properly, but when he felt the sleek paper of the comics, a bright smile surfaced on his face. He took a whiff and that confirmed it.
"OK, let's go!" Nyx said, landing on the boy's shoulder.
As the two went back to the window, the boy's gaze landed on the books other than the comics, the moonlight letting him read the titles.
"… Nightly…" he read, blinking his eyes rapidly. "… Nightly Pleasures of Queen Astonia…"
"…?"
"…?"
Luke stared at Nyx, his mouth hanging open.
The raven licked her beak. "Now, listen…" she said, rubbing her beak with her wing. "… Tell me, who's the smarter between us?"
Luke's mouth twitched. "… you?"
Nyx gave him a stare.
"You."
"Good," Nyx nodded. Then she pointed at the adult book that shouldn't have been in the library at all. "And that's the reason behind my genius…"
BANG!
The door of the small library banged open and four boys rushed in, the lights coming on.
"RUN!" Nyx cawed, flying out of the window.
Luke clutched the books and the comics tightly and made a run toward the window.
"Hahahaha!" one of the boys, a fat one, laughed. "Caught you red-handed, you Quirkless chump!"
All of the fat boy's fingers suddenly lengthened and grabbed Luke's leg, dragging him back.
With his eyes wide in horror, Luke saw Nyx's flying away against the full moon and… smiled.
"Beat the crap out of him!" the fat boy roared, smiling. "… Idiot thinks he's All Might with those hair…"
He grabbed Luke's hair and tried to rip them apart.
One of the other boys brought a water bottle and dumped all the water on Luke's head.
"It's not dye…" Luke said through the bloody teeth, grabbing the boy's hand. "… I told you I was born…"
The punch came out of nowhere.
Luke balled up on the floor as they rained the fists and the kicks, perhaps knowing that it would be over soon.
CAW!
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" The raven screamed, barging inside the room through the window.
"The bird's here!" the fat boy suddenly shouted as if he had been waiting for it. "Do it!"
As Nyx came blasting toward the fat boy, one boy's throat bulged and he spat out a gooey substance.
It landed right on Nyx, gluing itself to her feathers.
With a thud, the raven crashed on the floor, cursing out loud as she tried to furiously flutter her wings.
"Stupid bird!" The fat boy walked up to it and kicked it like a football, the bird hitting the wall on the other side.
"NYX!"
Luke looked through the swollen right eye, the world blurring in his sight.
"Ah…" his hands trembled. "Ah…" the tips of his fingers throbbed. "Ah…" an itch coursed through his entire body, making him scratch all over.
"Ahh… Ahhh…. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Then, twitching like a mad, dying man, Luke began crawling toward the bird, letting screams after screams.
The fat boy lunged and grabbed Luke's mouth.
"What's happening to him?!" one of the other boys said, trembling himself. "Make him stop… Madam Butt will kill us!"
But, despite the weight, Luke dragged himself forward, growling like a beast. His nails came apart as he pulled himself forward toward…
The raven was lying listlessly inches away from his fingers like a broken doll.
Suddenly, one of her eyes opened and she saw Luke… reaching out to her. Taking a dying breath, she pulled her wing apart from the gooey substance and touched him.
As the boys panicked in the background, Luke just looked at Nyx for a few moments, holding her wing. Then her wing fell…
Something snapped within Luke. It was tangible.
There was a snap.
Veins slithered on his face as he bit the boy's fingers holding his mouth.
Unseen by all, the raven's body shone as if someone had cast a mirror's shine over it from miles away.
Lights flickered within the library as terrifying screams painted the walls with blood.
By the time Madam Butt, a middle-aged lady, entered the library, it was already over, making her face go white with dread.
Blood was everywhere with bits of flesh scattered around along with pieces of chairs and tables. Through the gore, one could make out half the face of the fat boy and limbs that could have belonged to just about anyone.
In the middle of all this, a red-haired Luke was seated, holding the raven in his hands.
Then, slowly, he looked up, his blue gaze staring dead at the colorless moon.
…
Mr. Reijirou Saionji sat up on his bed, sweat drenching his back, the barest hint of a blue spark burning within his black eyes.
He ignored his panicking wife and fumbled his way out of the bedroom, trying to catch his breath.
Not many knew that the head of the Saionji Family, the tycoon who had taken the world by storm, the man whose hands reached where even the strongest heroes and villains found themselves helpless, wasn't a Quirkless man himself.
His Quirk was Soothsayer.
In dreams, he could get a revelation regarding the future, giving him an extremely powerful leverage.
However, these revelations were always centered around him and he had no control over them.
Still, using these revelations, and with his brilliant, business mind, he had climbed his way up in society, becoming one of the most powerful and wealthy men in the world.
Then what was this?
What kind of revelation was this?
Taking a deep breath, and accepting the glass of water, Mr. Saionji calmed himself down. "Call Sand…" he told his wife. "I… have a task for him."
…
Morning,
Next day
Seated grandly in his office, wearing a black suit, Mr. Saionji adjusted his black hair, his black eyes planted on the documents in front of him.
Sand, wearing a brown shirt and pants, was standing next to him.
"He lives in an orphanage," Sand told Mr. Saionji. "No recorded Quirk. Some foreigner's bastard, I guess."
"What about the other one?" Reijirou asked, making note of the faintest tremble in his voice. It had been years since he received a revelation so… clear, yet unnerving. He had already made it. He had already achieved it.
Then how did this boy come into the picture?
Quirk-related accidents kept happening now and then, anyway. What was so special about this boy? Reijirou remembered the last scenes of the dream… the touch of the boy's fingers with the raven's wing… the mirror-like reflection…
"The bird, I mean," he repeated.
"Just a raven," Sand shrugged. "They said it's been hanging around with the boy for like forever. Ravens are very communicative… No one mentioned it having a Quirk."
Communicative? Reijirou shook his head. That wasn't just communication. No. It felt… human.
He licked his lips and looked outside the top floor of Saionji Tower, his gaze spanning the world as if he were a god.
He had decided.
"Bring him in," he ordered. "Saionji family will adopt him."
With a raised eyebrow, Sand accepted the order and walked away.
"And…" Mr. Reijirou said, making Sand paused. "Bring the bird, too… Don't hurt it."
*********************
AN: Character Images of young Luke and Reijiro Saionji, along with other scenes, are available on my P -atre0n
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