Presence

Ch. 1

The inky black sky canopied the world with the light pollution emanating from the city staining the edges of the ozone. Noise of every decibel clawed its way past the quiet open grounds of UA. The moon hung high above the high school grounds surrounded by a small entourage of stars, giving off its soft glow that washed the world below in pale blue strokes. Leaning against the roof's railing with her head tilted towards the night sky was Uraraka Ochaco. Her halo of short brown hair swayed with the wind, the long bangs that normally framed her round face pulled back by a small outside world seemed distant up there as the cacophony of light and noise just could not reach the youth in her tranquility. Ochaco gazed up without any focus, her soft brown eyes slightly glazed. She came up to the roof to get away from her rowdy classmates and their probing questions or explosive squabbles. If she was being honest with herself though, she really came up to the roof tonight to escape just one person: Izuku Midoriya. Ochaco took a deep breath with the mental image of his face fixed on the back of her eyelids. Concern riddled his kind green eyes. She could not blame him. It had been a terrible month and morale in Class 1-A was low. Between the stress of classes and internships mingled with the recent loss of Sir Nighteye, everyone had been on edge. Sure, they were coping in their own ways but it was all beginning to take its toll. Ochaco had more than her fair share of worries as she tried to focus on her goals of improving without letting her feelings become an obstacle. As she breathed out slowly, she imagined his face floating away like dust in her exhalation. She opened her eyes again with a small sting of tears at their edge.

Ochaco needed to make peace with her recent decision about her feelings for Midoriya but did not think it would be this hard. She was not desperate – yet – but was exhausting some of her best coping mechanisms as the days went on. Tsuyu Asui, her frog-like friend and closest friend at UA, had suggested a few options that she tucked away for a rainy day but hoped against hope that it would not come to needing anything more help. Ochaco continued to breathe for several minutes more, focusing on the motion of her respiration, the sensation of the air in her nose and mouth. An abrasive beeping alarmed from her hip. Time was up. Her shoulders heaved and fell with one last resigned breath. She had taken the edge off but she was not sure for how long. Ochaco began to steel herself for the bombardment of commotion from her classmates as she looked up one last time. The moon was still a knowing smile that mocked her from the heavens but something was amiss with the stars. She looked harder and saw that there were fewer twinkling lights than before. One began to shine brighter than the others before it blinked out into the darkness. Soon the other surrounding stars began to burn out and faded away as if they were not there from the start.

Shrugging off the phenomenon as a fluke, Ochaco turned towards the stairwell and headed back to her dorm room. She did not see the smoke trail that cut through the moon's surface nor the blazing object that was falling to the earth perilously fast.

Dagobah Beach

Smoke and fire bloomed from the wreckage of their crashed vessel. Kairi looked onto the scene with a sense of irony. It could have been worse. It could have been a lot worse. Brushing off some dirt and oil off her face with a scratched up hand, the would-be traveler began doing her best to put out the fire before she was discovered. A blare of sirens off in the distance signaled that she did not have long. Giving up on her dismantled vessel, the petite redhead quickly made her way towards the harbor. A dampened thump from behind alarmed her. She hid behind the nearby shack and peeked around the corner. With most of her line of sight blocked, Kairi could only see what appeared to be a cloth waving freely. Odd, she thought. There was hardly any wind in the area. A strange orchestra of sounds announced more arrivals of unknown entities followed by humanoid voices.

"What is it?" a feminine voice chirped. A murmur of suggestions sounded out but the closest they got was an alien aircraft. Kairi was on foreign soil and had not been invited by any locals. It did not help that her gummi ship was a jumbled mess of colorful blocks. A husky, brusque voice took command, hushing the others.

"Spread out and be on your guard. We don't know who or what was piloting this."

Kairi grit her teeth. This was bad. She needed to be gone from that area yesterday. If only the blasted chipmunks had taught her how to land. She crept back from her lookout and summoned her weapon in a small flash of light. She could hear heavy steps slowly making their way towards her. Fighting with the local authorities was clearly breaking the world order. Before she had a chance to defend herself, however, a shriek trilled from the left side of the dock. The surrounding voices called out and soon followed the muffled thunder of running. Kairi crept to opposite edge to see what was happening.

A frail man wearing a one-piece spandex suit accompanied by helmet, visor and cape cringed as several small, inky black creatures with glowing yellow eyes and twitching antennae surrounded him. Their hind feet spanned the length of their body and they bounced in harmony to a song that only they could hear. Heartless. Kairi cursed under breath. Yensid was right about the Darkness growing strong once again. A million questions raced through her mind but her attention snapped back to the scene unfolding down below when a large plume of fire snaked its way around the cringing victim. The tell-tale sound of a vanquished heartless was drowned out by the roar of smoke and fire. A ring of hearts floated up to the sky and dissipated as they returned to the abyss. Kairi had not realized that she was holding her breath and took a second to inhale as quietly as her lungs would permit. Shadows were not particularly difficult to deal with but the ease of which they were dispatched struck her. She looked closer and watched as a tall, broad man who seemed to be on fire sauntered over to the hapless victim who looked up to the towering pillar of flames.

"W-what were those things, Endeavor?" squeaked a voice to the side. Before he could answer, a crackled voice sounded from various gadgets on their persons.

"There are some weird black monsters over here on the northern shore! We could use some back up. They're tough!"

Off in the distance, an explosion boomed deep into the night sky followed by a large cloud of sand and dust. The man known as Endeavor squared his jaw and shoulders. He barked some quick orders and took off with the crowd towards the fight. Kairi wished them luck though they would hardly need it by the looks of them. They were all dressed strangely and looked incredibly strong. Shaking her head, Kairi crept around the back her hiding spot to see if any lookouts were left behind with her wrecked ship. Thanking her lucky stars, Kairi was alone with her still smoking gummi. She squared her hands on her hips in exasperation. She had no clue how she was going to get her ship back in shape. A familiar warping sound whispered to her left. Kairi did not bother to look as Riku walked through a Corridor to Darkness, her focus still on the heaping pile of burning blocks. A strangled guttural choke burst from her friend throat.

"What did you do?!"

Riku looked utterly dumbfounded as his silver hair shone orange with the dying embers of the wreck. His long exposed muscular arms swung lamely as he hunched in awe of the sight. Kairi turned her head slightly to watch the keyblade master. A giggle escaped her smile and she turned her head back to her original focus. They stood like that for a moment before Riku composed himself.

"Glad I was able to stop by. This is bad, Kai." She only answered in a grunt. Giving up on the smoldering pile, Kairi turned and gave Riku a warning that there had been some strangely dressed folks who had seen her ship.

"Oh ok so this is really bad. Got it," he replied.

"I know but we have bigger problems. The heartless are here. Yensid was right," she said, her eyes hardening slightly. Riku cupped his chin in deep thought. A question burned on the tip of Kairi's tongue but a desperate fear kept her mouth closed. With a final nod, Riku motioned for them to move. They ran off into the night, into the brightly lit city with it's twisting streets and crowded sidewalks.

And the moon gave a wicked smile from above.

Perspiration sloped down Uraraka's face, matting her hair to her head. Her face was set in a scowl as she panted and looked down at the low-level thug twitching on the ground. Thunder roared in her ears and her vision slowly cleared as she regained her composure. This was her third capture today and had to be the most difficult so far. The crook had a strong quirk that allowed him to phase objects in and out of varying states of solidity. She had a hard time capturing him as he began to endanger the surrounding civilians during their chase. At one particularly sharp corner, he had phased out the base of a lamppost. It would have crushed someone had Uraraka not been there to make the object weightless. Her scowl deepened as she thought of how many people could have been hurt by the man's quirk. Two uniformed officers took over the scene as the crowd gathered around began to cheer. Someone from the back called out to ask her name and only furthered the frenzy. The air was full of hands outstretched trying to capture Ochaco's escapades on their phones. In a swell of pride, Uraraka stood as tall and victorious as she could.

"My name," she began, "is Uravity! And to anyone foolish enough to fight for evil or injustice, I just have one thing to say to you: look out!" The crowd's roaring swelled as she made herself weightless and jumped away from the scene. The officers were the only ones who looked put out as they watched her take off.

"But who's going to give us a statement?"

The air around Ochaco breezed by, cooling her off as she basked in the sun's rays. Her heart was full of pride and for a moment, she could not think of anything but the cries of encouragement she had received. This was the future she wanted so desperately, that she had been training so hard for. The more popular she became, the better her chances of being recruited by a high paying agency. Granted, she might not make it to the top spot. That was reserved for Dek-

Pang.

Uraraka clutched at her chest as she felt her heart squeeze itself. It had been four days since her last thought of him and disappointment began to seep into her limbs as she landed softly on the roof of a nearby building. She had been doing so well. She had been so focused on her training and studies with no interruptions. She had even stood to hang out with the source of her frustration for a little time without her heart constricting. Ochaco took off her helmet to help her breathe easier though it was not impeding her before. She looked at her reflection in the visor sternly and lightly scolded her reflection.

"Eye. On. The prize! Did you hear that crowd? And now they know your name! You have got to focus if you want to go pro."

A buzzing in her utility belt snapped her out of her concentration. Flipping open her still buzzing phone, Uraraka answered the incoming call with a strained smile.

"Tsu, what's up?"

Her closest friend, Tsuyu, had continued in the same internship with her. She had the briefest thought that it was odd she would call her phone instead of using the comms installed in their costumes by Hatsume. Ochaco's breath caught in her throat when the other line answered her but was not Tsuyu.

"Uraraka! I saw you in action and you were amazing! Training with Gun head and Ryuko has really paid off. And how that crowd cheered you on! You left before they started chanting your name. It was incredible!"

Izuku Midoriya's bright eyed enthusiasm shot through the phone and straight to Ochaco's constricting heart. She could hear his wide smile as he continued to ramble and could imagine his soft round face lit up like a Christmas tree. He continued to gush and Ochaco felt like herself being steamrolled by his admiration. Her breath caught in her throat and strangled choke quietly escaped her lips. It was almost imperceptible but Izuku must have heard her. He abruptly stopped and a deafening pause threatened to engulf their call.

"Uraraka, are you ok?" His voice colored with concern. Always to the rescue that Deku. Shaking her head quickly she responded with a bubbly tone, praying that he would not pick on the strain in her voice.

"Geez, I didn't think it was such a big deal. Thank you for calling Deku. But wait," she started, the gears in her mind churning, "How were you able to see me? Aren't you at UA right now?"

Deku chuckled and she could just imagine a pink tinge blooming on his freckled face as he spoke. The image twisted her stomach into knots.

"Well that's actually a really funny story. I, uh, had some d-down time and turned on my computer to watch some livestreams of active heroes when I saw your image pop-up. There was a person running after you and the crook who shot the whole thing. Though, come to think of it that is a little strange right?"

Ochaco paused and looked around her half expecting to see someone with a phone pointed at her. It was odd. Who would go out of their way to livestream a rookie hero chasing a low-level crook? Izuku spoke again and his voice had hardened.

"Be careful out there, Uraraka. I'm here if you need anything."

A small smile wound its way on her lips. He was always so thoughtful.

"Promise. You too, ok? I'll try to catch up to you later," she lied. With her self-made promise blaring out in her mind, Ochcaco had plan to avoid Deku like the plague. A full out cleanse from him would be just what the doctor ordered. Not knowing her intent, Deku gave his warm goodbye and hung up the phone.

Ochaco stood still for a moment with a strange expression on her face as she looked at her phone's backlight blink out. She had been doing so well. Why would her feelings have swelled up just so suddenly? Maybe it was the rush of chasing down a criminal or basking in the cheers of the public. Whatever the case, she had let her guard down and her feelings seemed to have come back with a vengeance. She pocketed her phone and noticed a small blinking light in her helmet.

Looks as if I missed a call while I was busy with Deku, she thought. She replaced her helmet and tapped the side buttons to scroll through her visor. A brief message flashed across her eyes in bright blue 8-bit letters: Message from Ryuko.

She took in a quick gulp. Missing a message from a teammate was one thing but her boss? She trembled slightly as she tapped on her helmet twice to play the message. To her surprise, it was a video-recorded message. New tech just got fancier by the minute.

Ryuko popped up on her screen a determined smile flashing on her face, half of it hidden by sleek blond bangs. She stood in her private office at the agency next to Tsuyu. Both were still in costume.

"Uraraka," Ryuko began, "Congrats on catching that thug earlier. I'm quite impressed with your progress."

Ochaco took a moment to bask in her mentor's pride before she continued with her message in a more serious tone.

"I need you to return to the agency office as soon as you receive this message. There is a situation that requires all hands on deck. See you soon, Uravity."

The message blinked out and her visor cleared to a view of the mountainous city skyline that surrounded her. Without a moment's hesitation, she activated her quirk, made herself weightless, and took off running. She bounded from rooftop to rooftop as quickly as possible. There was a sense of urgency in Ryuko's voice that she did not often hear. Ochaco grit her teeth and push forward. Whatever was happening was bound to be big.