In A World Of Grey
Words: 4K
(Not my art. Please credit the artist if you know their handle💕)
Thank you @anonymous for reminding me to update this piece!!!
Sountrack: ‘34+35′ by Ariana Grande, ‘I Don’t Miss You At All’ by FINNEAS, ‘Chained to the Rhythm’ by Katy Perry
Grey:
Adj: A color intermediate between black and white
Adj: Pale, as through age, tiredness, or illness
expulsion...ExPulSiOn...EXPULSION!?!?! Grey couldn’t believe that she was sitting on the sidelines of the track getting ready to compete for her spot in Class 1-A. She’s only been in the class for a few minutes and she’s already on the chopping block for being expelled. As Grey looked around, she noticed her peers having the same fearful, anxiety filled gazes as they looked around the obstacle courses.
Aizawa stood in front of them, gazing at them as they huddled together, trying to think hard about how they were going to pass (and some of them thinking to impress) with Aizawa. All of them stood together in a line, waiting for the next directions to be given.
“As a hero, you must be resilient and strong. These obstacles are meant to test your strength before we begin your training as a hero. We’ll start with the fifty meter dash, followed by grip strength, standing long jumps, and the ball throw. You are allowed to use your quirks,” only problem with that was that Grey couldn’t think of any song that would help her. She wanted to shake as she now understood she’d probably fail if she couldn’t think of a song. And, failing means EXPULSION.
‘I can’t fail, I just can’t. Not after I’ve come so far to be better,’ she starts to feel the world spinning as she fears the worse however, she knows she won’t give up without giving it her all.
They line up for the fifty meter dash, Iida to her left and Midoriya to her right. It doesn’t take a genius for her to know that she’s already beat by Iida but she surprisingly comes to the end with five seconds, her thighs rubbing together as she runs. Truthfully, she’s disappointed with how she’s performed but she supposes it’s better than coming in last.
The grip strength test wasn't as difficult as she thought it would be (although, she could probably thank her father's rigorous training regimen for that). She managed to lift 85 kilograms, which was better than a lot of other people, extraordinary for her considering that she doesn't even have a mutant type quirk.
The standing long jump wasn't anything too spectacular. She landed within the box.
‘At least I’m not in last place,’ Grey felt bad for Midoriya. She could already tell from his attitude that he had a positive outlook on life and she’d hate it for him to lose the sparkle his green eyes contained. Plus, isn’t this what they were going to U.A. for anyway? To gain the strength they needed to be heroes? Why would Aizawa expel any of them? It just didn’t make sense.
The ball throw was good for Grey, her total coming to eight-hundred meters high, higher than Bakugou. Grey smiled giddily as Bakugou cussed about her being a ‘shitty girl’ that cheated.
“There’s no fucking way she beat me. I call bullshit,” Bakugou glared down at her radiating face, part of him already knowing he wasn’t truly mad.
“She’s so manly,” Kirishima gushed.
“Manly? No, she’s too adorable for that,” Kaminari grinned. Sero was to his left, observing Grey as well. Grey didn’t notice how most of her classmates looked at her whenever she started to get happy, all of them wondering if she had a second type of quirk that could make them feel this way.
“Midoriya, how do you expect to save people when you keep breaking your limbs whenever you use your quirk?” Grey felt bad for the boy that was currently being held by Aizawa’s scarf. Although, she understood why Aizawa was being so rough on him. He couldn’t keep getting injured the way he was if he wanted to be a legitimate hero.
Thankfully, Midoriya was able to push through and, in the end, none of them were expelled. She supposed the extra incentive to do well was good for them all however, she still thinks it was a bit of an unorthodox method of teaching.
“You are all dismissed. Grey, I want to talk to you,” Grey tensed up as Aizawa beckoned her over to speak to him. “No songs for the fitness test?”
“I couldn’t think of any and my quirk wasn’t supplying anything,” she bows her head.
“Supplying?”
“Yes, Sensei. My quirk normally comes with a song before an event happens, normally either a day or days before. It normally clouds my judgement or rings through my mind so much I can’t forget it.”
“Have you tried writing the lyrics down? Making your own music?” Grey shook her head hard, her eyes dimming as she thought of the time she tried to make her own lyrics.
‘Never again.’
“You should try, it will help you for when these types of things happen,” if only her father were here to protest what her Sensei was telling her. Nothing good comes from her making her own songs. “We noticed at the exam that your songs also seem to influence those that are in your proximity. Is that a side effect or do you have dual quirks?”
“No, Sensei,” it was a good lie. Short and sweet to the point and Aizawa bought it. Grey’s father popped into her head, repeating the lie to her, telling her she should never tell anyone about her mother’s quirk, no matter what trouble she may be in. Was it a selfish request? Yes, but her father was a selfish man. Either way, she knew she owed it to her mother to never use her quirk again.
“Very well. We’ll work on it during training,” wait...does that mean he’ll help her with her quirk?
“Wait, you’re the one that's going to help me?”
“Of course. I’m your teacher,” Grey couldn’t help but squeal and jump up and down, her energy hitting Aizawa full force, making his tiredness disappear. He had a small smile on his face as he watched her run away squealing. “She’s a peculiar one.”
“What did Aizawa-Sensei need?” Mina asked as Grey returned to the girls locker room to change.
“He wanted to know why I didn’t use a song for the test today.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“My quirk didn’t give me one,” yet, her quirk was now starting to belt a few tones, making her think something important was about to happen. She got dressed quickly and left the locker room, excited to see whatever the music was prepared for.
“LITTLE LISTENERRRR, WAIT FOR ME,” Present Mic was once again screaming from the distance, his tone gaining in pitch with how excited he was getting. He was running towards her when one of Aizawa’s scarves came from nowhere, wrapping him up before he could reach her. “AIZAWAAAAA.”
“Yamada, leave her be. Can’t you see she’s in a rush?” Aizawa rolled his eyes as he caught his friend in the middle of trying to stop Grey as she was running to the front gates of the school.
“PLEASEEEEE,” Aizawa put him down, already getting a headache from his friend’s pleading. “Five minutes.”
“You’re Grey, right?” Yamada asked her and didn’t wait for her reply. “Yes, you are. I’ll be assisting Aizawa with your quirk training. The school thinks you could use the extra help considering your quirk is a sonic-emitter type like mine. So, I look forward to hearing whatever you come up with in that little noggin of yours,” Grey smiled hard, her energy once again amplifying.
“Thank you so much for helping me,” Grey bowed and ran away before they could say anything, causing both of them to smile.
Grey decided to take the long way home that day, popping her hips to the pop music in her head. She wanted to dance but she opted not to considering all the looks the people around her were giving. Her smiles were infectious, lifting the days of the people she passed.
She ended up passing a group performing on the street: a keyboard player, a violinist, and a drummer were playing. All they needed was a singer...