Chapter 1 rewritten as of 4/4/2020

Chapter 1: Call From the Past

Strands of gold danced in the air as a gentle breeze caressed the figure of a young woman who stood by the forest edge, emerald eyes transfixed by the soft glimmers the afternoon sun created on the pond's surface a distance away. Her white sundress fluttered slightly as another gust of wind passed by, rippling the still waters of the pond, and she raised a pale hand to secure her hat that had, just moments ago, been tempted to fly off.

This small clearing in the forest was still one of her favourite places despite having travelled to almost all scenic locations in the world. Nothing was comparable to the fresh, brisk air in Canada during the spring, she thought with a pleased grin. She looked to the sky; it was blue and wide, and the air, apart from the small bouts of wind, blew lazily by. Birds chirruped quietly, and squirrels scampered up and down the trees.

A small deer peered at her from the side of her mother who watched her warily as they hesitantly continued to drink from the water.

There was perhaps no place as relaxing as this clearing. It was beautiful if one looked at the clearing from the ground, however, Leia knew that this clearing was far more beautiful when observed from above.

The large clear pond, surrounded by tall evergreens, looked stunning from an aerial view.

She had just been about to lift off the ground and hover above the tall evergreens when her cell phone rang loudly. The deer balked and sprinted off as the jovial ringtone echoed across the clearing.

Her lips pursed into a tight line, an irritated growl making its way to her throat as her little pocket of peace was disrupted. She had been so sure she had turned off her phone.

"Leia speaking," she said tersely.

"Oh! Is this Sylph?" a bright cheerful voice asked from over the phone.

"…"

She hadn't heard that name in years. When she had continued to receive calls after she had disbanded her agency, she had, in a fit of brilliance, threw out her old number in exchange for a new one. That was two years ago, and now, she went by Leia, her real name. Her decision to leave the hero world was not because she had a falling out with the society she had been serving, nor had it been because she had suffered a serious injury that forced her to retire.

No.

She had simply been bored. In Canada, there had barely been any crime more drastic than minor scuffles on the street. Of course, some were larger than others, but when compared to what she heard from other countries…

They were fairly tame. Dull.

Eventually, after apprehending the same sort of victims for a couple of years, she had just gotten bored and had resigned. She found that the monotonous lifestyle did not suit her, and with her earnings, she chose to explore the world.

"Hello?" prompted voice uncertainly over the phone after a moment of silence.

She cleared her throat. "Yeah, I'm Sylph, but I go by Leia now. If this is a call to capture a villain, count me out," she said, yawning slightly at the idea of another boring villain chase.

"Well," squeaked the voice, "It appears that I'm just in luck!"

"Oh?"

"This isn't about villains! Rather, I've called to talk to you about the application you sent in five years ago to the U.A. High School in Japan."

U.A.

"Wait." A grin stretched across her face. "Principal Nezu!" Leia exclaimed with a sheepish laugh. "I almost didn't recognize your voice."

"You've forgotten about your poor old mentor already? So quick," Nezu said as he snuffled sadly into his paws.

"Well, I was a bit busy—"

"Oho?"

Leia huffed as her mouth twitched into a fond smile. She owed quite a bit of her success as a hero to Nezu. Even now, she wouldn't have chosen differently if asked to apprentice under a hero. He was the best mentor she'd had.

"I was out exploring the world—"

"Oho?" accompanied by another sad snuffle.

Her grin widened; she knew her mentor was pretending. "Fine! So maybe I just forgot about you for a short while. Why? How are you? How's the school?"

"Brilliant!" Nezu chirped in his squeaky voice. "We're both totally Plus Ultra!" There was a slight pause in the conversation before Leia caught a quiet sigh. "But, we've run into a bit of misfortune."

Leia hummed, prompting him to continue.

"Well, unfortunately, one of our teacher's health has been declining, and the villains here are becoming more restless. I'm a bit concerned for the safety of our students."

Leia waited for him to continue, but when it became apparent that he had nothing else to say, she drew the conclusion that this was the point of the entire call. Her smile slowly fell when she caught on to what he was trying to say.

"So you want me to come and provide an extra hand? I'll be what? A guard of sorts?" she asked with a hint of distaste. "I'm sure there are tons of heroes that would be interested in helping. You know I hate that sort of stuff. I was never great with children, and besides, being a security guard just sounds a bit… boring."

Nezu gave a small chuckle. "Was it that obvious in what I wanted to ask of you?"

The silence on the other side answered his question. He could literally imagine his old pupil arching an eyebrow at his question.

"Well, that was what I wanted to ask—However!" Nezu exclaimed with a small sheepish cough, "I disagree! Things are never dull with young heroes running around the campus causing mischief. Besides, I know for a fact that an attack will happen soon. And when it does happen," Nezu paused before his tone turned serious, "it'll be deadly."

The wind whistled quietly around her. Silence settling for a moment as her heart skipped a beat at her mentor's tone. What was happening over in Japan!?

"How would you know that?" Leia finally asked, before remembering her mentor's quirk and wishing that she hadn't.

She could almost visibly imagine his eyes lighting up with excitement at the chance to explain the intricacies of probabilities and his ability to predict things using his quirk, High Spec. And do so he did.

Suffering silently until he realized no one was listening was often the best, and really, the only option one could take when it came to this. Saying anything affirming or contradicting would just be adding fuel to the fire. Oh, Leia would never deny that her mentor was brilliant, but she wasn't half as genius as he was.

And that was a problem when it came to his mini-lectures.

He droned on and on for the next forty minutes or so, and Leia continued to make the customary agreeing sounds. Understanding only a fraction of what was said, most of that information went in one ear, and out the other.

"I've lost you, haven't I?" he asked when his student finally failed to hum in agreement.

"After the first minute," agreed Leia.

"This brings me back," reminisced the principal.

Leia chuckled sheepishly in response.

"Well, either way," Nezu continued, "I know you aren't on a job or anything right now, so maybe you could visit me to have a more detailed discussion face-to-face. Update you on what's been happening?"

She knew if she went, Nezu would definitely try to drag her into the being a bodyguard. He'd update her too, of course, but that hadn't been his main reason to invite her.

She didn't want the job. Leia was perfectly content with travelling the world. Her search kept her busy, and whichever villains that had crossed her paths had often been interesting—the perfect seasoning to keep her otherwise peaceful life exciting and eventful.

Nezu hummed thoughtfully at his past mentee's resistance. If she was still similar to how she was in the past…

"I'll let you spar with one teacher of your choice when you arrive for our meeting—you don't even have to accept the position!" Nezu said brightly.

Leia positively salivated at this idea. A fight?

The application process for U.A. was so long simply because there were always hundred-thousands of applicants each year. Hell, it had taken her 5 years to get a reply—her application had probably been buried under the mounds of the other applications. The heroes that were selected to teach were among the best. They were probably, at the very least, just as good as the most dangerous villains she had defeated and captured in the other countries for fun.

There was also the rumour that All Might, Japan's top hero, was teaching at the school. This was a chance that Leia would not be willing to miss for anything.

"All right, if All Might is up for a small competition, then I'll be there in three days," she promised. A fight with the best hero of Japan? Sign me up!

Nezu hesitated in his reply, something that Leia immediately noticed.

"Well," Nezu stopped as if he was deep in thought before continuing, "All Might has been really busy these past few days—you know with him being the top hero and all—so if you want to spar with him, there'll be a time limit. It can't go on for more than two hours."

She pondered on Nezu's hesitation for a brief moment before pushing that out of her mind. It didn't matter to her as long as she got her match.

"Even ten minutes would be enough," Leia said with a smirk. "After all, ten minutes, where we both go at each other in full power, is often enough to determine the flow of the battle, as well as the victor," she said, quoting what Nezu had taught her years ago.

"Done! I'll see you in three days then!" said Nezu chirped cheerfully before cutting off the line. A student after my own heart, he thought with a happy sniffle. I can't wait to see how she's grown.

As soon as the call was over, a grin flashed across Leia's face and excitement bubbled in her veins as she launched into the sky. She altered the natural flow of the wind currents to assist her, and within an hour, she was back in her apartment which lay snug within the quieter areas of the city. Ignoring her extremely wind-tangled hair, and the slight dryness of her eyes from travelling at a continual high speed without wearing goggles, she hastened to her laptop to search up plane tickets that would allow her to arrive in Japan in three days.

As expected, the tickets were expensive, being so close to the time of departure. But at this point in her life, money didn't matter much to her.

Without a care in the world, she bought the ticket.

o - o - o - o - o

She woke to a cheerful weather. The sun streaming through her cream-coloured window blinds created small pools of light in her bedroom. She stared blearily at the pile of mess she had created late last night from unpacking her luggage after she had arrived at the hotel in Japan.

One puddle of early morning light fell on a particular piece of clothing.

It was her hero costume.

The Department of Support in her transfer year to U.A. had been extremely accommodating to her preferences. Her costume was mostly just for aesthetics, though the goggles and the well-crafted bodysuit did come into play if she wanted to travel at extremely high speeds—which for the difficulty of her jobs in Canada, was not required.

Her cape, on the other hand, had just been made to offer her secrecy. The deep forest green fabric lined with earthy brown markings on its edge had often fluttered about her—like wings—whenever she had travelled at high speeds. While walking around the media, she had been content to simply pull up the hood and hide her face as she slipped back into the shadows, away from attention.

She rubbed her eyes lazily, and with one hand, felt for the phone she had placed on the nightstand. Feeling the familiar rectangle, she picked it up and brought it close to her face and saw that she had an email from Nezu.

Staring at the notification, she groaned before she dragged herself up into a sitting position on the bed. The document attached was a list of the current U.A. teachers.

"In case you change your mind" – Nezu

Instantly, Leia felt more awake. She quickly opened the document, and damn. The list was impressive, all the heroes may not have been ranked the highest, but they were damn good specialists in their particular niche. Besides, everyone knew that the ranking system was just a popularity contest. Scrolling through the list on her phone, she felt slightly disappointed that she would only be able to fight one of them. Suddenly, her finger paused, hovering above the face of a rather scruffy looking man.

Eraserhead. That was the name written beside the man's profile.

She zoomed in on his face, carefully scrutinizing his features. Dark pools stared back at her without expression. Where other heroes wore bright smiles or mischievous smirks, he just stared blandly in the camera. The bags under his eyes accented his exhaustion, and instantly, Leia realized that he must have been an underground hero.

Feeling a bit more curious, she tried to search for the hero on the web; however, that only led her into a small handful of links. There were no videos, and other than a couple of low-quality pictures that told her nothing about his quirk, she could not find anything.

Her eyes lingered on the blurry image of a slender man with a mop of shoulder-length black hair and yellow goggles. He moved mid-air, chasing after villains with some sort of scarf.

I wonder what his quirk is.

It was too bad that All Might was at the school. She would have loved to spar with this interesting-looking hero as well.