Chapter Text
Chell shuffled around on the couch, trying to find a comfortable position to sit in. Finding a spot that she was satisfied with in the corner, she glanced up at Hizashi, who was watching her with an amused grin.
“Got yourself settled in?” he asked, handing her a mug with a brown, warm liquid, a similar drink in his other hand.
Chell took the offered beverage, giving it a tentative sniff. Her eyes widened at the sweet, chocolatey smell. She’d never had chocolate before, though she had smelled it a few times. It was often during festivals and carnivals, sometimes vendors would have booths with melted chocolate. Of course, you had to pay for it, so Chell had never had the chance until now. Taking a small sip, she fought the urge to smile as the sweet, warm flavour of the drink hit her tongue.
“Like it, huh?” Hizashi grinned, nodding his head at her drink. “What you have in your hands is good old hot cocoa, or hot chocolate as some people call it. Most folks in Japan aren’t a fan of the flavour, but I’ve always had an appreciation for how people do things in the West. I figured that it was a safe bet that you’d like it too.”
“It’s warm,” Chell murmured, taking another sip, not wanting to drink it all too quickly. “And sweet.”
“That’s the idea,” Hizashi chuckled, drinking from his own cup. “It took me a while before I managed to have my own drink of hot cocoa, but once I did, man was I hooked.”
Hizashi sat down in a chair opposite Chell, placing his drink on a side table as he focused on her.
“So, I guess you have a bunch of questions, right?” he asked, holding his hands together. “Go ahead, any question that tickles your fancy, and I’ll try to answer them as best as I can. Hell, any question I’m not confident on we can look up tomorrow, alright?”
Chell nodded, her eyebrows frowning as she tried to think of which question to start with.
“What exactly are quirks?” she started. “You explained that they’re what people in Japan call superpowers, but what are they exactly? How many people have them?”
“Okay, good start,” Hizashi nodded, thinking for a moment. “Well, the most simple answer is that quirks are the label given to any power that isn’t considered natural or standard. Someone having frizzy hair, while odd isn’t exactly unnatural, so it isn’t considered a quirk. However, having hair that stands on end without needing any product, that would be considered a quirk. A quirk can also be on the opposite end, something that no human should be able to achieve! Super strength, creating flames from your body, controlling fabric, those are some of the quirks that belong to the strongest heroes in Japan at the moment.”
“What do heroes do?” Chell interjected, tilting her head. “You mentioned that you’re a hero. Is that a title?”
“Well, it’s more of a job,” Hizashi admitted. “Now, this is specific for Japan, but the Japanese government doesn’t like people using their quirks out in public. If you’re at home or on private property, that’s one thing, but out in public? Big no no! A hero is someone who is given a license by the Japanese government, specifically the Hero Public Safety Commission, a governmental organisation, that allows them to not only use their quirk out in public, but to also use it to capture people who commit crimes.”
“I can’t use my powers?” Chell gasped, her eyes widening.
“Not in public,” Hizashi clarified. “Because you used them at U.A., which is considered private property, you’ll only be in trouble if Principal Nezu has an issue with it, but given he’s a staunch anti-restriction kind of rodent, I doubt he’ll make a fuss.”
“But why can’t people use their powers, their quirks?” Chell asked. “Aren’t people born with them?”
“Yeah, and the reason why is messy,” Hizashi sighed. “Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with the current laws regarding quirks. I’m of the belief that people should have the ability to use their quirks in a non-destructive manner that doesn’t do harm to anyone or to someone’s belongings. Now, using your quirk to defend yourself, that’s more of a gray area. On one hand, it makes sense to defend yourself to the fullest ability in a life and death situation. The problem is that most people don’t know how to use their quirks safely, and in the heat of the moment, you could very easily kill someone without trying to. Then you get into the mess of vigilantes and whether or not their intention justifies them breaking the law or not, and you can see where the problems are.”
“And vigilantes are those who want to be heroes, but don’t have those quirk licenses, right?” Chell asked.
“Yep, got it in one,” Hizashi nodded. “Some folks never had the opportunity to become heroes, for one reason or another, but despite that, still want to fight the good fight. Now, some heroes who are sticklers for the rules, like Endeavor, the current No. 2 Pro Hero in Japan, or Ingenium, a Pro Hero who operates one of the largest agencies in Tokyo, would say that vigilantism is simply another word for villany, someone who commits a crime by using their powers. Others, like myself, would say that it’s the intent that counts. Are you doing it simply for revenge? Yeah, that’s pretty villainous. Are you doing it to keep your community safe? Then I’d say it’s okay in my books. Course, it doesn’t matter much what I think; the law’s the law, and the law says that you can’t use your quirk for any reason without a license.”
“That’s stupid,” Chell scowled, glaring down at her drink. “Why shouldn’t you use your powers to defend yourself?”
“Preaching to the choir, kid,” Hizashi sighed. “Back in the day, it used to be legal in Japan to use your quirk to defend yourself. But, as the generations went on and quirks not only became more common but also more varied, it became harder and harder to judge it, so a blanket ban on illegal quirk usage was implemented. Load of bull if you ask me, but I can only bend the rules so much before I get in trouble.”
“So, what do the police do?” Chell asked. “If heroes are real, and they capture bad guys, why employ cops?”
“And how do you know we have cops in this world?” Hizashi asked with a cheeky grin.
“I saw one on the bus,” Chell retorted with a deadpan expression. “We passed right by a station.”
Hizashi’s mouth hung open, a retort frozen in his lungs as he thought back to the route they had taken.
“Oh yeah, there is a police station on the way,” he muttered. “Well, you got me! Yes, police are still employed, and yes, they still have a function. See, quirk licences aren’t a blank cheque for using your quirk. Heroes are only allowed to use them to intentionally harm people if they’re villains. Now, kiddo, wanna take a guess on what the difference is between a villain and a criminal?”
“If they use powers?” Chell guessed, causing Hizashi to snap two finger guns at her.
“Ding ding ding, that’s right! A villain is a criminal who illegally uses their quirk. So a random purse thief who doesn’t use their quirk? We can’t harm or use our quirks on them. Now, restraining, sure, but no quirks.”
“So what else can’t heroes do?” Chell asked, starting to enjoy the ask and response flow.
“Well, heroes aren’t allowed to take the law into our own hands,” Hizashi explained, pausing briefly to take a drink. “For instance, while heroes are able to capture villains, we aren’t able to make the arrest, that’s the job of the police. We either have to keep them restrained until the police arrive, or deliver them to the nearest station ourselves. Another important law is that heroes can’t kill.”
“What?” Chell frowned. “Why not? If someone’s killing a bunch of people, aren’t their lives more important than the villains?!”
Hizashi sighed, sinking into his chair as he finished off his drink.
“Yeah, that’s a bit of a tough subject,” he admitted. “Officially, Pro Heroes aren’t allowed to kill, regardless of where in the world you got your licence from or where you operate, that’s just a blanket, international law, one of the few international laws these days. Heroes aren’t meant to take the law into their own hands, and killing a villain is the biggest example of that.”
“Officially?” Chell asked, her face betraying her confusion. “Are there exceptions?”
“Very rarely,” Hizashi nodded. “See, while Pro Heroes have a numerical ranking system, from one all the way down the list, villains have a different system to rank them. They’re assigned a letter to categorise how powerful and dangerous they are. F-Rank villains are just mooks with quirks, someone who can easily be taken down, even if you don’t have a quirk. E-Ranks are a bit tougher, and they get more and more dangerous as you go up the list, until you get to A-Rank, who are villains who might require entire teams of heroes to go up against. All of them, from A to F, are protected by the law, at least officially. Depending on the country will depend on how lenient they are, but here in Japan, there’s no excuse, no killing them.
“However, there is an exception. The most dangerous villains are given an S-Rank, and these are some nasty bastards, sometimes powerful enough to destroy an entire city by themselves, and that’s a loss that can’t be replaced. So for them, they are no longer protected by the no killing law. They are to be treated with the highest level of caution and fear, and if they can’t be captured quickly, every chance to kill them should be taken. They are a priority target, because if we can’t beat them, they’ll kill a whole lot of people.”
“Are there many of them?” Chell wondered. The idea of people that powerful was strange to comprehend, even for her.
“Fortunately not,” Hizashi chuckled. “Those kinds of villains show up once in a blue moon, every generation or so. Most of Japan’s S-Rank villains are locked up in Tartarus, a maximum-security prison for the most dangerous villains, those that didn’t have to be put down. So don’t worry, little listener, there aren’t any villains that powerful out there.”
Chell nodded, letting out a subtle sigh of relief. She paused to think of more questions, only for a statement that Hizashi had said that had caught her attention.
“What do you mean that cities can’t be replaced?” she asked. “Is that because of that war you mentioned, the seven something war that created the Wastelands?”
“The Seven Hour War, and yes, it is related to that,” Hizashi explained. “I assume cities in your world are different?”
“We don’t have walls surrounding our cities,” Chell explained. “You can just drive through them until you reach the countryside.”
“Really?” Hizashi gasped, his eyes wide.
Chell gave him a confused look, one that he recognised as he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.
“Sorry, I know it must sound strange to you, but for me, the idea of anyone driving their car out of the city is simply strange, like something out of an old story.”
Hizashi held his chin in his hands, quietly talking to himself.
“You don’t know about the Seven Hour War, so that’s an obvious difference between our worlds. Consequently, your cities are different and there aren’t Wastelands…”
Hizashi looked up at Chell with a questioning gaze. “Do you know what the Gregorian calendars are?”
Chell nodded, taking a final drink from her cup.
“Alright, well that’s a start. What year was it when you came here?”
Chell opened her mouth to answer, only to hesitate.
‘What should I answer?’ she thought. ‘I know I was in stasis for years after I killed GLaDOS, but I don’t know for how long.’
“Before I applied with Aperture, it was 2008,” Chell explained.
Hizashi’s bug-eyed expression and hanging jaw told more than a thousand words.
“Y-You’re from the 21st century?” Hizashi gaped. “Holy shit, kid, you’ve jumped reality AND time!”
“What’s the date?” Chell hesitantly asked, fearing the answer. “Today, I mean.”
“Chell, you’re in the 23rd century.”
The floor seemed to drop underneath the couch that Chell rested on. Two hundred years in what felt like an instant. Finding herself in not only a different world, but also a different time.
‘But what if you’re wrong?’ an insidious voice whispered in her mind.
The mere thought created a chill grip on Chell’s heart. What if her darkest thoughts were right? What if she hadn’t gone to a different world? If she wasn’t a world away from GLaDOS? What if she had simply been sent to the future? It couldn’t be possible, right? Aperture Science had invented portal travel technology, not time travel technology.
But then a worse thought burrowed into her mind. What if she was wrong? What if she HAD been sent into the future? What were the implications? Everyone she had known before Aperture would be dead, but there weren’t many that she knew in her old life that she’d ever want to see again. Everything that she knew was different, from brands to places. Apparently society had changed as well.
‘What if she’s alive?’
The thought caused Chell’s heart to stop. The idea that she wasn’t free, still trapped like she had when she was little more than an experiment, a test subject. GLaDOS was immortal, she’d proved that already. She could store her memories in a backup, and as a machine she didn’t age. What if she found her? What if she had centuries to prepare, to plan? What if, what if Chell couldn’t overcome her like she had overcome every obstacle that life loved to throw at her, making her already difficult life harder than it needed to be. What if-
“Chell, hey, stay with me!” Hizashi begged, his voice cutting through her doubts and fears. Chell’s eyes focused, Hizashi’s worried face in front of her. Glancing around, Chell saw the legs of the couch, quickly realising that she had collapsed onto the ground, the soft carpet pressed against her face. Chell felt her body being pulled upright, Hizashi’s firm grip on her shoulders.
“You gave me a hell of a scare, kiddo,” Hizashi nervously chuckled. “Any idea what caused it?”
Chell pulled her legs to her chest, her arms wrapping around them to keep them close as her back leaned against the couch.
“What if I didn’t go to a different dimension, Hizashi?” she whispered. “What if I wasn’t able to escape from it all?”
Hizashi sighed, sitting down next to her. “Well, I’d say that, in a sense, you have. Even if this is still your world, that you’ve only jumped time rather than reality, you’re still two hundred years in the future, it’s practically a new world anyway!”
Chell didn’t respond for a while, instead burying her face in her knees, trying to calm her racing heart.
“What happened?” she mumbled, looking at Hizashi from the side of her eye. “After Aperture put me in stasis? What happened to the world?”
“Well, that question is probably one that anyone in the world would be able to answer, kiddo,” Hizashi chuckled. “It happened a year after you went under, on May 16, 2009. Some American company called Black Mesa was doing experiments, experiments that resulted in tears in reality opening, allowing for creatures from another dimension to come pouring in. These portals opened up all across the world, with new and dangerous alien creatures popping up all over the place. People started calling this event ‘Portal Storms’, and they lasted for weeks. More and more creatures started appearing, a lot of them dangerous. Various governments told their citizens to gather in the cities, making it easier to defend people, rather than having to spread out the military. And that seemed to work, for the most part. But, those portal storms seemed to have caught the attention of something more dangerous.
“We called them the Combine. They found our reality thanks to the portal storms, and sought to conquer Earth. Humanity resisted, of course, but it was fruitless. The conflict lasted seven hours, hence the name, Seven Hour War. Billions died in the fighting, as the Combine bombarded all but the largest cities. The fighting came to an end when Wallace Breen, a Black Mesa scientist, had made a deal with the Combine; they’d stop the invasion, so long as humanity surrendered to their unconditional rule. Humanity didn’t have a choice, and so began twenty years of slavery underneath our extradimensional masters.”
“Why didn’t we resist?” Chell asked, finding it hard to believe that people wouldn’t fight back. She knew that if she was in that situation, she’d have fought tooth and nail for her freedom.
“Oh, people fought back alright,” Hizashi nodded, a sombre expression on his face. “Rebel cells formed across the world; in every city that the Combine had spared, turned into their administration zones, pockets of resistance could be found. But as the years went on, less and less people fought back. The Combine were millennia ahead of humanity, with techno-organic vehicles and soldiers, energy weaponry, and more. But the worst use of their power was preventing humanity from reproducing. They created something called a Suppression Field. It made every human sterile, ensuring that every lost life couldn’t be replaced. Pair that with the ecosystems being contaminated with alien fauna and radiation, and chemicals being put into the city drinking water to make people forgetful, and over the years less and less people resisted. Some humans even willingly joined up with the Combine, becoming members of the Civil Protection, while those unlucky few who resisted but were captured had their minds broken, being tortured into the Combine’s much more dangerous transhuman soldiers.”
“How did humanity win?” Chell asked, turning her face to properly look at Hizashi. “They’re gone, right?”
“Oh yeah, they’re gone,” Hizashi grinned, “been gone for hundreds of years. See, twenty years after the Seven Hour War, humanity not only was still enslaved across the globe, but in dire straights. Because no kids were being born, humanity’s population only continued to drop. Add in executions for the slightest sign of resistance or defiance, random inspections, and workplace hazards, and humanity's already small population had dropped to just over half a billion. Imagine that: the fifth of humanity who had survived the Seven Hour War, being whittled down to a tenth of what humanity had once been. But when everything seemed lost, he arrived.
“Nobody knew his name, or if people had, it’s been lost to time, but the Combine called him The Freeman. The Vortigaunts, an alien species who had been fleeing the Combine as well, had a different title for him; The One Free Man. He was their messianic figure, having defeated their slave masters twenty years ago, when the first portal storms ravaged Earth, only to disappear. But he returned, appearing in City 17, what is now known as the Citystate of Sofia. Those who have a more religious view of The Freeman state that the reason why he appeared in City 17 was because it was the heart of the Combine’s forces on Earth. It was from here that the Citadel was located, as well as where Wallace Breen resided.
“Both the Vortigaunts and the city’s rebel group flocked to him, following in his wake. He was said to be a master of all weaponry, able to pick up a gun and use it like he had centuries of training with it. But the most powerful ability he had was that he appeared to have a quirk. The true nature of his ability is still contested. Some claim that he was the first human to have a quirk, or meta-ability. Others say that he wasn’t a human at all, but something greater, and thus his powers couldn’t be considered a quirk. The third main view of The Freeman, mainly held by the Church of Light, claim that he was simply a human with advanced technology, though their claims are often thought of as outlandish and born out of their religion’s distaste for The One Free Man. Regardless of the origin of his power, this being was able to move objects around with crackling chains of yellow energy, and he led the attacks against the Combine forces. But it was after The Freeman’s attack on a Combine prison that change started to happen. You see, somehow, a broadcast of the attack had been shown on every screen, monitor, and outlet, across the world. The entire human population saw that the Combine weren’t untouchable, that they could be challenged. That spark of hope quickly ignited the bonfire of resistance, people rising up in every city on Earth, fighting back against the Combine.”
“And it worked, right?” Chell asked, her eyes wide with hope as she listened, enraptured by the history she was learning.
“Not at first,” Hizashi admitted. “Remember, even with almost the entire human population who hadn’t yet bent the knee to the Combine rising up, the Combine still had their advanced weaponry, their transhuman forces, as well as various Synths, biomechanical weapons and vehicles. But despite the losses, despite the struggles, humanity fought on. Historical records claim that people were visited in their sleep by a man in a suit, encouraging them, telling them the fighting was nearing its end. And so humanity fought on. A day passed, then two, then four, then six. Street by street, humanity fought for each centimetre lost, each life taken. But on the seventh day, humanity won. A broadcast showed the Citadel, the chair of the Combine’s authority on Earth, being destroyed in a massive explosion. A shockwave of energy was felt all across the world, shutting down the Combine synths, depriving the human forces loyal to the Combine of their greatest assets. The fighting continued for weeks, until the last of the Combine forces were pushed out of every city, into the Wastelands. Humanity, after two decades, was finally free.”
Chell’s attention was fully focused on Hizashi’s words, the tale of resistance and determination striking a cord within the girl.
“But unfortunately, the rest of the story will have to wait for tomorrow,” Hizashi concluded, flashing Chell a knowing smirk.
“What?!” Chell protested, her fists clenched at her side. “Hizashi, you can’t end it there! What happened next?! When do quirks come in?!”
“I promise to continue our little history lesson tomorrow, Chell, but it’s late,” Hizashi argued, gesturing to a clock on the wall, the face of which showed just how late into the evening it was. “Tomorrow I’ve got classes to teach, and Recovery Girl will be wanting to see you anyway. She’s got some fitness program she wants done, testing what you’re capable of and all.”
Chell huffed at her guardian’s reasoning, looking to the side as she did.
“Fine,” she muttered, standing up from the ground. “Which room am I staying in?”
“Come on, I’ll show you,” Hizashi said, standing up and leading her to one of the spare bedrooms. “Nemuri often takes this room, so you’ll probably feel better sleeping here rather than where Shota sleeps.”
“Are they friends of yours?” Chell asked as Hizashi made some final changes to the room.
“Yeah, my best friends,” Hizashi smiled. “I’ve known the both of them for years, since we were all students at U.A. They’re like siblings to me, so they sometimes crash at my place whenever they need to. Nemuri sometimes comes over whenever she’s in Tokyo and doesn’t want to catch the train ride home late at night, and Shota crashes over when he needs someone to talk to.”
“Will I meet them?” Chell asked, curious what these friends of Hizashi were like.
“You’ve actually met Shota already,” Hizashi revealed. “He was one of the guys Principal Nezu chose to meet you. He was the one with the large scarf around his neck.”
“The homeless guy?” Chell asked, tilting his head. “The one who looked like he hadn’t slept?”
“Yep, that’s him!” Hizashi laughed, amused by her description. “Since Shota’s an underground hero, the type who specialise in nighttime fighting, he often catches up on missed sleep in his classroom using a sleeping bag. He looks like this big, yellow grub! It’s honestly so funny the first time you see it!”
Hizashi laid out some clothing on the bed, a simple pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt.
“Sorry that the clothing might be bigger than you’re used to, but I figured Nemuri wouldn’t mind you using them while you don’t have any spare clothes of your own. That, and these were the most decent pair I could find.”
Hizashi walked out of the room, closing the door behind him until only his head leaned out through the opening.
“Goodnight, kiddo,” he smiled. “Try to get to sleep quickly; we’ve got an early start tomorrow. Sleep tight.”
With that, he closed the door behind him, leaving Chell alone in what was now her new room. Stripping off her old clothing, Chell slipped into the fresh set, trying to ignore how loose it felt on her. After turning off the lights, she pulled the covers on the bed back, laying down as the moonlight streamed through an open window, the quiet noise of the city a comforting, familiar sound.
-]l[-
How long had Chell been trying to sleep? An hour? Two? Maybe not even one? Whatever the answer, Chell knew one thing; she couldn’t fall asleep. No matter if she lay on her side, her back, or her front, nothing worked. Turning over the pillow and resting her head on the cool side didn’t cut it, nor did sleeping with the blankets covering only her feet. Regardless of what she tried, Chell simply couldn’t fall asleep. How could she, when her mind was full of worried thoughts.
What if her fears were right, and she was still in her world, only hundreds of years in the future? Did that mean that GLaDOS was still out there, or had the A.I. perished in the past? Was GLaDOS even aware that her plan had failed? How was Chell going to have a life? After all, even if she wanted to go to school, something she’d never experienced, she legally didn’t exist. She had no records, no birth certificates, no forms of identification.
‘Well, at least some things haven’t changed,’ she silently grumbled, idly staring out the open window. Light streamed in from a full moon, the pale light illuminating the city. It was strange to think that she had been to the Moon before. How many people alive could say they’ve done that? Chell reckoned not many, if any at all.
‘You don’t deserve this,’ a voice whispered in Chell’s mind. ‘After all, Hizashi is a hero, someone who fights villains. Fights people like you.’
‘I’m not a villain,’ Chell argued, turning over to face away from the window. ‘I just had a hard life.’
‘Oh yes, because that’s a good excuse,’ the voice taunted. ‘Did you steal and rob because of your hard life? Was that the only way? No, of course it wasn’t, but it was the easiest.’
‘Well what other choice did I have?!’ Chell yelled in her mind, her hands grabbing fistfulls of the blankets. ‘Who was going to hire me, an orphan kid, to do a job?!’
‘Did you ever try?’
Chell was silent, scowling instead of answering the question.
‘No, of course you didn’t,’ the voice smirked. ‘After all, little Chell doesn’t give up when she’s set her sights on something, right? No matter what, or who, gets in your way, you’ll simply go through them, consequences be damned. It’s always been your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness.’
‘You don’t know anything,’ Chell hissed.
‘Of course I do,’ the voice laughed. ‘After all, I’m you. I’m the doubts that plague you, the voice you hear when you don’t know if you can do something. I’m your anxiety, your fear, your uncertainty. So when I say that I know you, I mean it. I know that your greatest strength, your determination, is also your greatest flaw. You’re so determined to see something through once you’ve settled on it, that you’re blind to any other possibility that appears. It doesn’t matter if it’s easier or harder, if it’s right or wrong. You made up your mind, so the world had better get out of your way, right?’
‘Shut up.’
‘After all, you were determined to make it on your own when you left the orphanage. You didn’t want anyone's help, even though life would have been easier. That’s why you kept people at arm's length, why you were always on the move, never staying in one place long enough to grow attached.’
‘Shut up.’
‘That’s why you hated it whenever people tried to help, because you had it in your head that to accept help was a sign of weakness, that they thought you couldn’t do it.’
‘Shut up!’
‘And if someone offered you a job, offered you money, took pity on you? Oh, you’d hate them, wouldn’t you? You’d see it as them pitying you, seeing you as this weak, helpless child, when you’d rather people hate you than think of you as weak.’
‘Shut up!’
‘I bet you hate Hizashi, don’t you? He had no reason to take you in, to look after you, to feed and shelter you. He thinks you’re a weak, helpless child that needs to be comforted. I wonder what he’ll think of you when he sees how selfish you really are.’
‘I SAID SHUT UP!’
Chell lay in the bed, gasping for air, furiously blinking back tears that she refused to let fall. Her anger seemed to banish her thoughts, her mind a still, quiet, tranquil place for a time.
‘She’ll come for him, you know.’
Chell gasped as the voice, her own thoughts, spoke.
‘If we’re right, that we and GLaDOS are still together in the same world, our fight isn’t over, not until one of us is dead. And GLaDOS will use every tool at her disposal to get to us. Even targeting those we care about.’
‘Then it’s a good thing I don’t have anyone like that,’ Chell scowled.
‘Oh Chell, Chell, Chell,’ the voice sang. ‘You can lie to the world, lie to everyone in it, and they might believe your lies. You can even lie to yourself enough to believe it. But you can’t lie to me. You can’t hide the fact that you’ve already grown attached to Hizashi. My, how weak and soft you’ve become. What would our old self think of you now, wishing to be a part of something with someone.’
‘What do you mean?’ Chell asked, confusion filling her thoughts.
‘You view him as a father,’ the voice laughed. ‘You see the father you never knew in him. You see him as what you wished you had, as the father that you had discovered, a father who would care for you, who would love you, who would protect you. Because you know, deep in that black heart of yours, that Hizashi would sacrifice his life to protect you if GLaDOS tried to finish the job.’
The image of Hizashi, laying on the floor as he bled out flashed through Chell’s mind, causing her to flinch in the bed.
‘How pathetic,’ the voice snarled. ‘You’ve known him for only a day and you’re already attached. If GLaDOS had known how easy it was, how starved of love and attention you were, then I bet all she’d have to do was show you a crumb of care and you’d have thrown yourself in that fire, simply if she’d told you how good you were.’
‘I won’t let her kill him,’ Chell vowed. ‘I won’t! He shouldn’t throw his life away for someone like me. I can handle myself.’
‘You want to make sure she doesn’t target him?’ the voice asked. ‘I know a way to do that.’
‘How?’
‘It’s simple; we simply run away, distance ourselves, like we always have; like we always do; like we always will.’
‘But how?’ Chell asked. ‘Hizashi would hear me if I tried to go out the door, and I don’t know where the keys are.’
‘Oh silly, why use the door, when we can make our own. A door that allows us to go wherever we want.’
Chell’s eyes widened as she began to realise what she could do.
Slipping out of bed, she walked over to the window, looking out. Over in the distance, Chell was able to see the large, towering walls that surrounded Tokyo. Thanks to the area that Hizashi lived in, his house sat on a hill, allowing Chell to look out over the city. While it certainly wasn’t high enough to see the top of the walls, it did allow Chell to see the walls themselves.
‘Hizashi would come after us,’ Chell reasoned, torn between running away or staying.
‘For a time,’ the voice reasoned. ‘But like he said, there are plenty of places to hide in the Wastelands. And if we follow the train tracks, I’m sure we’ll come across another city to start over in. So what’s it going to be, Chell? Are you going to risk his life for your own selfish desires?’
Chell took a deep breath, hesitating as she stood on the window sill.
“I’m sorry, Hizashi,” she whispered into the night, before stretching out her right arm, a streak of orange light shooting out towards the wall. Somewhere inside of her, Chell felt the entrance to the portal tunnel form, and if she squinted her eyes and concentrated, she could make out the small sight of an orange oval on the faraway wall.
Glancing down at the ground beneath her, Chell stepped forward, entering into a brief freefall as she fell from her bedroom window. Rather than landing on her heels, allowing her implants to absorb the impact, she landed on the balls of her feet. But no searing pain was felt, the sensation of broken bones or bruised flesh absent.
‘Oh, clever,’ the voice chuckled. ‘You wanted to test yourself. If you were able to survive that fall without using your implants, you think you’ll be able to handle yourself in the Wastelands. And if you failed, Hizashi would have rushed to your cries of pain, and you’d be able to put this plan off for another night. Come now, Chell, I thought you were committed. Clearly not, if you’re second guessing yourself.’
‘Shut up,’ Chell dismissed, pointing her left hand down at the driveway. ‘You’re not even real.’
‘And yet you respond to me,’ the voice chuckled.
Chell opted to ignore it, instead watching as the portal connection was made, the blue ring of the portal showing an elevated view of the city.
Chell took a deep breath, standing in front of the portal’s bottom. Slowly exhaling, Chell began to tip forward, before gravity took hold, falling through face first. Gravity quickly shifted beneath her, and Chell shifted in response, her head aimed towards the ground as the wind whipped past her as she gained more and more momentum. Pointing both of her hands towards the ground, two streaks of light shot out of her palms, two new portal entrances forming; one directly beneath her, and the other right next to it. She fell headfirst through the orange portal, shooting up into the sky out of the blue portal, the momentum carrying her high into the air. But it wasn’t enough, as Chell was only able to get close to, rather than go further than, the top of the wall. But she wasn’t discouraged. After all, this was a technique she had refined in Aperture, a technique she used as she ran up the wall as far as she could before gravity took hold. Once it did, Chell turned, pushing downwards off the wall, accelerating her drop. Once more, she fell through the portals, but this time with the added momentum she had built, sending her flying out of the orange portal. With the built up momentum, Chell was able to briefly go above the rim of the wall. While in the past she might have been too slow to create a new portal entrance, time seemed to slow down as she concentrated, giving her ample time to create a new portal tunnel; while the orange entrance below her remained where it was, a new blue exit was formed on the top of the walls. Falling back down and through the orange portal, Chell soared above the walls, observing with awe the sight of the city stretching out beneath her, the lights from buildings and people who hadn’t yet gone to sleep creating a twinkling sight.
Chell concentrated on the sensation she felt in her hands, feeling it disappear as the portal entrances blinked out of existence. She landed in a crouch on the top of the wall, panting slightly from the adrenaline pumping through her blood. While she waited for her heart to calm down, Chell sat down at the edge of the wall, her legs dangling over it as she simply gazed at the city, her eyes wandering across it, focusing here and there at features that caught her attention. The flashing lights of billboards, the movement of vehicles, and even the movement of people leaping across the gaps between buildings, either villains or those underground heroes that Hizashi had mentioned.
Deciding that she had tempted fate long enough as it was by staying there, Chell stood up, turning around to face the Wastelands. The difference couldn’t have been more plain. While the city was filled with lights and sounds, the Wastelands were dead quiet and devoid of light. No illumination could be seen, only the pale light of the Moon allowing Chell to make out the outlines of the ruined buildings and structures.
Chell hesitated as she stood on the edge of the wall. She could turn back, try and slip back into bed, and Hizashi would never be any the wiser. Chell could even forget it ever happened, pretend it had just been a strange dream. But then she remembered the pettiness of GLaDOS, how spiteful the A.I. could be. People wouldn’t be safe around Chell, not while GLaDOS had the possibility of being alive.
Chell glanced over her shoulder, looking roughly where Hizashi’s house would be. Her eyes felt hot and her chest tight as she shuffled closer to the edge, her gaze fixed on the place she had called home for only a few hours.
“Goodbye, Hizashi,” she whispered, before stepping off the wall, dropping into the Wastelands.
-]l[-
Hizashi woke up groggy. Glancing over at his bedside table, he groaned when he saw how early it was. He had gone to bed just after 10 PM, yet the clock said that it was just after midnight. Hizashi lay there, hoping that he would quickly slip back into unconsciousness. But a sense of unease lingered, preventing him from falling back asleep.
Deciding that he might just be thirsty, Hizashi got out of bed, making his way to the kitchen as quietly as he could in hopes of not disturbing Chell. But even after said water break, Hizashi still felt a sense of unease.
‘Maybe I just have too much energy, and I need to burn some,’ he thought, dropping down into a sit up in the living room, doing reps until his core begged for him to stop. Yet the sense of unease simply wouldn’t leave.
Deciding that he might as well check up on Chell and see if she had a similar feeling, Hizashi gently opened the former guest bedroom, poking his head in. However, rather than seeing the sleeping form of the young girl in her bed, Hizashi was greeted with the sight of an empty bed, the covers pushed all the way down the bed, and the window slid open.
“Fuck,” Hizashi swore, swinging the door open as he stepped into the room. With a cursory look, there hadn’t seemed to be a struggle, so Hizashi felt he could rule that terrifying idea out. Glancing out of the open window, Hizashi couldn’t see anyone down below, so there was that. If anything, it was as if Chell had simply vanished.
“Come on, kiddo, where are you?” Hizashi worried, his phone in his hands as he checked social media. Even though it was a slight chance, some people did post about illegal quirk usage, and given the stronghead nature that Chell seemed to possess, Hizashi had no doubt that she’d quickly disregard any quirk laws if they inconvenienced her.
As Hizashi checked various social media platforms for his missing ward, an alert from the Hero Network popped up on his phone, detailing a recording of suspicious activity. As much as it pained Hizashi, he knew that he should at least register what the alert was about, rather than trying to find Chell.
As it turns out, those two things were not mutually exclusive.
The alert contained footage of a blue rimmed portal forming on top of the perimeter walls of Tokyo, and a figure shooting up from it, before they landed in a crouch. A figure that Hizashi recognised immediately as Chell.
The alert was asking for any available heroes to investigate the situation, due to the illegal quirk usage as well as the suspicious nature of an individual entering the Wastelands. Why Chell would do such a thing, Hizashi didn’t know, but since the section of wall in question was nearby, it involved someone he was looking for anyway, and he was up and awake, Hizashi decided to respond to it, saying that he was in the area.
Quickly getting changed into his hero costume, Hizashi raced downstairs, turning on the lights in the garage, revealing his pride and joy. With a light blue body, grav-clamp wheels, and the smoothest hydrogen converter you could get for something this small, Hizashi’s personal motorcycle was a sight to see, especially when he raced it down the highways. Affectionately named Loud Cloud after his deceased friend, it allowed Hizashi to make it to any crime scene in record time, giving him a larger response area than if he was on foot. Opening the garage door and leaping on, Hizashi rode down the quiet roads of his neighbourhood, making it to the wall in record time. He raced towards an elevator after parking his cycle, making it to the top of the wall where Chell had been only minutes earlier.
“Now where are you, Chell?” Hizashi wondered aloud, glancing around to try and find the girl. Glancing down at the foot of the wall, Hizashi noticed that the ground had cracked and splintered, as if something had landed on it with great force.
“Gotcha,” he smirked, racing back to the elevator. Riding Loud Cloud to an exclusive exit available only to heroes, Hizashi rode along the wall, quickly making it to where Chell had landed. Flicking on his bike's lights, Hizashi slowly followed the tracks, moving slow enough that he could actually tell where they were. They were fortunate that it had rained recently, leaving the ground soft, allowing for Chell’s implant to leave a clear imprint in the dirt.
All the while that Hizashi followed Chell’s tracks, he was nervous. The Wastelands were dangerous, anyone could tell you that, but at night? Even more so. Every fallen wall provided shadows and cover, hiding places were everywhere if you knew where to look. And those who tended to hide out here usually weren’t the biggest fans of heroes. But rather than fear for his own safety, Hizashi was worried for Chell. Sure, she was strong, he’d seen that already. Most girls her age weren’t able to bend metal with their bare hands. But Chell was in an unknown environment, and it only took one bad hit for her to be in danger.
This fear for her was heightened when Hizashi not only heard a shrill screech, but also the yells of a young girl.
“Shit, Antlions,” Hizashi swore, kicking Loud Cloud into high gear. Racing towards the noise, Hizashi crested a hill, looking down at the battle that was ongoing. Chell was backed against a wall, dark yellow blood covering her arms as she held them up, but the trembles that were visible were either signs of her fear or her exhaustion. Surrounding her in a loose ring were the yellow bodies of Antlion Soldiers, the scouts and common soldiers of an Antlion colony. They were all around 1.5 m in height, and around 1.8 m in length. As a species, the Antlions' legs were arranged oddly, with their back legs set at their front, and vice versa. On their heads, they had no visible eyes, while three mandibles were arranged in a triangular formation on their face. And while they weren’t using them, Hizashi was well aware of the set of wings they held underneath their shells.
Five of their kin lay dead on the ground, their shells cracked and their limbs violently removed. As Hizashi raced down the hill, leaving his bike behind, he started to piece together what had happened. Chell must have wandered into their territory, accidentally drawing their attention with any noise that she had made. They’d clearly surrounded her, and some of the braver one had tried to attack, only to wind up dead from Chell’s enhanced strength. And while they seemed cautious now, Hizashi knew it wouldn’t last long.
As if one que, one of the larger Antlions letting out a piercing hiss, its shell raising to reveal its wings, its companions mirroring it. Hizashi knew they were going to rush her, relying on their numbers to bring Chell down. That was something Hizashi wouldn’t allow.
“BACK OFF!” he yelled, his quirk amplifying his voice more effectively than any microphone could, the support gear he wore around his neck directing the noise forward.
The Antlions each let out a pained screech, scattering into the darkness, their sensitive hearing that they used to navigate making Hizashi’s quirk particularly effective at driving them off.
Confident that they wouldn’t return for an hour at least, Hizashi rushed over to Chell as she collapsed against the wall, the support of the structure being the only thing keeping her standing.
“Chell, there you are,” Hizashi said, using his arms to catch her from slipping. “Why’d you run away?”
Chell’s eyes lazily opened, her gaze wavering and unfocused.
“ Você me encontrou, ” she mumbled, her head lolling onto Hizashi’s shoulder, resting against him. “ Sinto muito por ter fugido, Pai. ”
Hizashi froze, glancing down at Chell as her breathing steadied, passing out from unconsciousness.
‘Did she just call me Dad?’ Hizashi wondered. He didn’t speak Portuguese, even though it was one of the most spoken languages in the world, but given the similarity it had to English, the context, and the tone that Chell used, Hizashi was fairly certain that he knew what she had said.
‘Am I even ready to be a parent?’ he thought as he walked back to his cycle, Chell carried in his arms. ‘I mean, I was fully prepared to be her caretaker and guardian, but a parent is a step up from that, right? I mean, I don’t know the first thing about being a father! It’s not as if I have any experience of my own!’
But as Hizashi looked down at Chell’s sleeping expression as she rested her head against his chest, Hizashi couldn’t help but feel a warmth bloom in his heart.
‘Ah, what the hell,’ he sighed, chuckling to himself. ‘If I let her down now, I’d be no better than my own sperm donor. I’m sure my experiences with Kashu’s brats is good enough anyway. And if I need some pointers, I’m sure there are plenty of books I can get out.’
As Hizashi gently placed Chell on his bike in front of him, ensuring that she was safe within his arms, a solemn promise was made in his mind as he rode back to the walled city.
‘So long as it’s something you want of me, Chell, I promise to be a parent that’s there for you; to be a father that neither of us got to experience. No matter what, I’ll be someone you can rely on to look out for you, as a hero, a teacher, and a father.’
-]l[-
The week passed without anything of importance happening for Hizashi and Chell. Chell had apologised profusely to Hizashi for running away and putting herself in danger, but all Hizashi had asked was why she had done it. Chell revealed her reasoning, being afraid that GLaDOS would try and hurt her by hurting Hizashi, paired with feelings of guilt and not deserving the kindness she had been shown. All of these were flags for Survivors Guilt and Impostor Syndrome, all things that Hizashi had seen before in civilians he had rescued. While Hizashi was busy throughout the day with teaching classes, Chell often accompanied him to U.A. anyway, mainly for Recovery Girl’s rehabilitation tests, but also because she didn’t have anything else to do. Because of this, Hizashi asked one of his colleagues at U.A., Hound Dog, the school’s guidance counselor, to talk with Chell whenever he had a free moment. While they seemed to be making good progress, Hound Dog reminded Hizashi that it might take some time before anything could be properly addressed. At this stage, it was all about Chell feeling comfortable with opening up. Until then, she was apparently content with simply cuddling with Hound Dog, as if he were a large dog. Given the nature of his job, it was something that the counselor had learnt to deal with.
Overall, Chell’s first week in Japan had been fairly mundane. That all came to an end today, however, as Hizashi and Chell were both called to Principal Nezu’s office during lunch.
Chell ate with Hizashi in the teacher’s lounge, mostly due to him being someone that she knew and could communicate with, so it was easy enough for the two of them to make the short journey to the Principal’s office. Stepping inside, Chell and Hizashi noticed Principal Nezu standing on his desk, shaking hands with two individuals before him.
The first was a tan-skinned woman with short, dark brown hair, held back by a headband. Her clothing was fairly simple, consisting of jeans and sneakers on her legs and feet, while she wore a gray hoodie with a leather jacket over it. To Chell, the woman’s attire seemed very practical.
The other figure in the room was a tall, Caucasian male with short, brown hair that was cut close. Unlike his companion, he wore smart clothing, being trousers, dress shoes, as well as a suit and tie, as well as a pair of black-rimmed glasses on his face.
“Ah, Hizashi and Chell Yamada, come in,” Nezu greeted, waving them over. “Allow me to introduce you two to my guests.”
Nezu hopped down from his desk, walking out from behind it to stand in between the two parties, giving the introductions.
“Mrs. Vance and Dr. Vance, this is Hizashi Yamada, one of our English teachers and the Pro Hero Present Mic, and his daughter, Chell Yamada.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you two,” the woman greeted, offering her hand. “My name is Alyx, but I’m aware that Japanese culture prefers to refer to those you don’t know well by their last name, so please call me whatever you feel most comfortable with.”
“A pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” Hizashi greeted, shaking her hand after Chell. “It’s not every day you meet a pioneer in the field of robotics.”
“Oh, thank you for your praise,” Mrs. Vance smiled, before gesturing to the man next to her. “And this is my husband, Dr. Gordon Vance.”
The tall man gave a nod of his head, his hands raised as he made some gestures with them.
“He says that it's good to meet you as well,” Mrs. Vance translated. “My husband is mute, so I’ll also be acting as his translator in this discussion.”
“Discussion?” Hizashi asked, turning to face Principal Nezu. “What’s this about, sir?”
“That’s to be discussed, Yamada,” Nezu answered, laying out a tea set on a coffee table in the room.
The rodent-like teacher turned to face the ground, gesturing to the couches that faced each other, along with a chair that was Nezu’s.
“Please, everyone, take a seat,” the Principal offered. “We have much to discuss, and I feel nothing prompts the conversation forward like a good cup of tea.”
Yeah, my estimates for humanity’s population following the Combine invasion weren’t only dire, but also EXTREMELY optimistic. What I did was factor in the death rate over twenty years, scale it down because I imagine the Combine would have tech to heal diseases and such for citizens who weren’t part of a resistance, and there’s your number. However, humanity was still reduced to over 600 million in the process. How bad is that, you ask? Well, the last time the world’s population was 600 million was at the start of the 18th century, or the 1700s. Yep, humanity’s population got shot back three hundred years, and that’s with me being VERY optimistic about the population that survived the Seven Hour War. So yeah, big yikes.
Now, an eagle-eyed viewer will be able to notice the differences I’ve made regarding Gordon and Alyx’s attack on the Citadel to try and rescue Eli, and trust me, they aren’t just arbitrary changes so that the story flows better. I mean, it is, but there’s also a lore reason for the changes to the timeline, which will be revealed next chapter.
And we finally had our heartwarming moment with Chell and Hizashi. Yeah, surprising no one, Hizashi is going to be playing a father-figure role in this story, rather than an uncle figure. Instead, that uncle and aunt role will go to Shota and Nemuri.
Also, shout out to my brother for pointing out some of the flaws in Chell’s movement regarding speed and momentum, as that’s what caused me to change her movement to running up the wall and then kicking off of it.
Anyway, not much more for me to say, so let’s get into the reviews.
Randomguy65, thanks for the review, and trust me, some of Chell’s experiences are going to come into play. Most of these kids don’t know how to use their quirks to their full extent, thanks to Japan’s inane quirk laws. Chell, while having almost zero knowledge, has experience with a clunkier version of her quirk. As for character interactions, I plan to make it amusing.
Atromitos1526, cheers for the review. I’m now trying to image what kind of noise that would be. And yes, Hizashi is best dad, and I stand by that fact. As for the Moon trick, not only do I have some ideas, but I plan for that to be one of her ultimate moves. She wouldn’t be able to use it in the Sports Festival, mainly because 1, it’s during the day, and 2, it’s WAY too dangerous to use in a competition. But don’t worry, that trick will be used again in the future.
Ding ding ding, BloodOrKetchup is the first to get it right, the animation channel I hinted at was Sea Maggie. Let me know if there’s an O.C. you want in the story, and I’ll try and fit them in.
TheGigaGamer75, thanks for the review. I’m glad you liked the soda scene, I put my heart into that one. I kind of channeled some of the frustration and anger I’ve heard in my parents, since both of them went through a similar scenario. And when Gordon saw there was a religion about him, he was speechless.
*crickets chirp*
Okay, anyway, PrimoDegenerato, thanks for the review. I agree, when it comes to someone speaking English, Hizashi is the way to go. That, and I think he’d simply be a better father figure than Shota, no offence intended to our insomniac, but I see him as more of an uncle figure, which will be happening in this fic.
ultima-owner, thanks for the review. As you saw, nukes would be tame compared to what the Combine did to Earth. At least with a nuke, it’s fairly quick, unless you’re on the outskirt, in which case yikes. And I’m glad you noticed the Freed, they are going to have a prominent role in the story, and more on them will be mentioned next chapter, but a true breakdown of their beliefs will be just before the start of U.A., with an O.C. character who will be part of the main group, alongside Chell.
AnotherChara, thanks for the review. I agree, the U.A. students in the hero course would have more and more hero classes in their later years, but I feel that would be because of their specialisation. I feel that the Business and Support courses would have something similar, while General Studies would be fairly standard. The problem is that each of the students will need their standard subjects, because, at the end of the day, U.A. is still a high school, so their basic education does need to be taught. However, I do like the idea of the older students having more time out in the field, preparing them for when they graduate.
i_really_should_be_sleeping, thanks for the review. For me, I saw that 9999999 scene as the machine malfunctioning, but that’s just me. As for the music, I actually wasn’t aware of that fact. I always had it that it was simply music they added for the ambiance, other than the Turret Opera at the end of Portal 2, which is so good.
Schwertmensch (Guest), thanks for the review. I imagine Aperture would have a whole bunch of spare parts laying around. That, and given the sheer vastness of the Aperture facility, I imagine GLaDOS would be able to cannibalise some areas for spare parts and resources. As for Bad Cop and WILSON, I might add them, but I’ll have to play through their games first. I have it in my library, just need to actually do it.
Aerondax, thanks for the review. I agree, it doesn’t make sense for all of the U.A. teachers to rush for the U.S.J., something that was mentioned in another story I’m writing, which ironically is actually at the U.S.J. arc right now. I’ll try to figure out how to work it, and I agree, while it is an interesting world, some aspects of it are just poorly thought out.
123 (Guest), thanks for the review. Some of your ideas aren’t only good, but ones I’ve had myself. GLaDOS, to me at least, would absolutely try and remove the addiction to testing that the main A.I. is forced to experience. As for developing new products, oh boy, just you wait…
And finally, grindy_rust_rustbucket (Guest), thanks for the review. And you were also right, the channel was Sea Maggie. I really like the style that they did for not only GLaDOS’ human form, but also Wheatley’s. And because I’m feeling so generous, you can give an O.C. as well.
And that wraps it up. For your sneak peak, next chapter is called, ‘ Past and Future ,’ and we’ll see how Gordon and Alyx wound up in the 23rd century.
See y’all then…
- Jevm