Flashback Ellie's POV

Age 18

I scanned the darkened alley uncertainly as I clutched at a small rose gold locket. It had belonged to my cellmate in prison, since my sentence was only a few years, she asked me to find her daughter when I'd gotten out and to give her the locket. Though my cellmate was a hardened criminal, a cold ruthless killer involved with various murders in several crime syndicates, she was a loving mother and wanted to make sure her daughter was alright. Since she'd taken care of me in prison and kept me safe from harm, I promised I'd find her daughter, give her the locket and make sure she was safe.

After a few minutes passed I spotted a young teen of fourteen with beautiful caramel curls, bronze skin and bright green eyes as she stepped into the alley. Her eyes darting around in the darkness. I slipped from the shadows and offered her a warm smile.

"Good evening, Grace."

A look of relief flooded over her and she ran to greet me, "You must be Ellie, it's nice to meet you." She said politely and accepted the hug I gave her, another message from her mother, "How was mom doing last you saw her?" Her mother refused to let her come to visit she didn't want her daughter involved in crime or to be anywhere near it.

"Good, she's untouchable in there, she's practically the Queen of the A Block." I smiled.

"That sounds about right." Grace laughed.

"She wanted me to give you this." I extended the locket to her. "And she wanted me to make sure you were doing alright. Is everything okay at your aunt's place?

Grace frowned slightly, "My aunt is great. I'm not so sure about her new boyfriend, I think he might be involved in something..."

"Has he done something to give you that impression?" I mirrored her frown.

"He came home later than he said he was going to be and when my aunt asked him about it he got really angry and told her it wasn't any of her business. She tried to ask him about it again and I thought he was going to get physical, he kind of acted like he was going to hit her but stopped himself and told her not to ask him about it again." Grace bit her lip, "It really scared me."

"Has he ever hurt you or said anything to you that made you uncomfortable?"

"No." She shook her head. "He's always been pretty quiet and polite. He doesn't normally pay me any mind."

I grabbed a pen and paper out of a nearby trash can and scribbled my name and number on it before handing it to her, "If you ever need help, call me."

"Thanks Ellie. I really appreciate it." She looked down at her watch, "I need to get back it's almost curfew."

"Are you okay on your own?"

She pulled a can of pepper spray out of her pocket, "I'll be okay."

"Anything you want me to pass along to your mom? I'm going to visit her this weekend."

"Oh, can you bring her these? I doubt they'll let her keep them but can you show them to her?" She handed me a small envelope, "There's some pictures of things she's missed over the years and some sketches I drew for her. I'm thinking I want to be an artist now and I'd love to hear her thoughts on my drawings." Grace smiled.

"Consider it done. Now, head ho-." I cut off as I sensed someone approach from the other end of the alley and turned to see who it was. My heart dropped as I spotted a small ring of thugs armed with guns.

Grace let out a terrified yelp as she spotted the approaching thugs.

"Run home, Grace. I'll handle this."

Grace took off at a run and disappeared the way she'd come from before.

"Get the girl." One of the thugs, who I presumed to be the leader, yelled to his subordinates.

"Over my dead body." I hissed and launched a screeching gale force wind in their direction as they opened fire on me. The bullets couldn't penetrate the winds and ended up being swatted away like they were nothing.

The strangest sensation came over me and the winds suddenly died down as the thugs prepared to fire a second round. My quirk wasn't working! I tried waving my arms to get the winds going again but nothing happened. Just as the thugs prepared to take aim a loud thunderous voice roared from above. One of the thugs pulled the trigger in confusion and I let out a cry of pain as the bullet pierced me in the gut. There was a burning searing pain in my gut, my insides suddenly felt like they were on fire, it had to have hit an organ.

Everyone dropped to the ground with their hands over their ears. I felt a warm liquid substance drip from my ear and onto my shoulder. The loud amplified voice was causing brain hemorrhaging. My knees gave out and I slipped to the disgusting grime covered ground. After everyone was down for the count, I heard two people drop from the rooftop. Most of the thugs were unconscious from the auditory assault. I struggled to get to my feet and turned to face the newcomers only to feel my blood run cold as I spotted a familiar face, my next-door neighbor, Shota Aizawa.

"Don't get any ideas, Tornado, you're under arrest." He growled unsympathetically as his dark hair stood on end, using his quirk to erase mine.

"For what?! I didn't do anything!" I snarled.

"Looks a lot like you're involved in a gang related fight." He snapped.

"They attacked me! What the hell did you want me to do? Stand here and get shot? Oh wait, I did get shot BECAUSE OF YOU!" I raged and tried to hurl a strong gust of wind at the pair but he was still erasing my quirk. In my anger, I rushed forward and attempted to punch him, I'd never really had to fight without my quirk before so my steps weren't very steady and I couldn't put a lot of weight behind my punch.

Shota caught me with ease and spun me about before handcuffing my hands together behind my back. He knocked my feet out from under me in one fluid motion and I fell face first to the glass and grime covered ground and held back a cry of pain as my insides screamed in protest from the bullet wound in my gut. "Don't blame others for your own shortcomings, criminal." He growled unsympathetically as his blonde-haired partner went to round up and handcuff the others. "You can tell your story to the police and see what they have to sa-."

"Wait! She's innocent!" A voice cried from an open window in one of the buildings overlooking the alley. An elderly man with dark weathered skin and pure white hair stuck his head out the window and yelled down at us. "Those punks attacked her and her friend for no reason."

"Friend?" Shota scoffed. Since when did he hate me? We'd never been close but why was there so much hatred in his voice? Because he thought me a vile villain now?

"Shut up, she's just a kid, I found her missing necklace and was just returning it to her, I told her to run when I saw the creeps." I hissed, "Not that you'll believe me anyway, you seem convinced of my guilt already."

Strong hands gripped me by the arm and I hissed in pain as I was wrenched to my feet. The handcuffs were removed from my wrist and Shota fixed me with a dark look, "Get out of here before I change my mind." He roughly shoved me away from him and I nearly stumbled into a nearby dumpster.

I was losing a lot of blood and my insides were writhing. "What the fuck is your problem?" I shot him a dark look.

"I make it a point not to be acquainted with criminals." His voice was cold.

"Fuck you... You obviously never knew me." I snarled.

"Get out of here Ellie, before I arrest you."

Hot tears of rage burned behind my eyelids and I turned and sprinted out of the alley ignoring the excruciating pain in my stomach. As soon as I turned the corner I disappeared in a gust of wind. I'd only managed to make it a few blocks away before I collapsed to the ground outside of a pawn shop that was already closed for the day. I leaned against the wall and applied pressure to my abdomen. The pain was blinding as I applied pressure and I couldn't help but cry out in pain as I let the hot tears of rage and frustration fall freely.

"Ellie?!" A familiar voice boomed nearby as the edges of my vision began to darken. I saw the outline of a large muscular figure with glittering sunshine golden hair running toward me.

"I didn't...do anything...wrong..." My voice was meek and fading, "Leave me alone..."

"Ellie?! What happened?" Strong arms encircled me as my mind began to feel hazy from the blood loss and I was lifted off the cold ground and cradled in a warm embrace. "Stay with me."

"Just let me die."

I woke with a start as I felt someone smooth their hand through my hair. My body felt like it was on fire. It was just another fever induced dream making me relive my past. I opened my eyes and found Toshinori sitting at my bedside in his weakened form looking worried. Relief flooded through him as he realized I'd awoken.

He lightly brushed away the tears that had fallen as I'd relived that terrible night. "What did you dream about?"

My throat felt scratchy as if I'd been screaming a lot recently. Had I been crying out in my sleep? That would explain why he looked so upset. He didn't handle feeling helpless well. "The night I met Grace." I'd found out later that Grace had run into All Might on her way home she was panicked and told him I might be in trouble she'd heard a lot of gunfire. He made sure she got home safely and went looking for me.

A morose look crossed his gaunt face. I'd almost died. The bullet had hit several organs and gotten lodged against my spine. When I'd woken up at his apartment, mostly recovered and functional, he'd tried to tell me to stay and rest. In my confusion I'd sent him flying through the window and taken off with nothing but the envelope Grace had given me as I didn't know where any of the rest of my stuff had gone. I'd fled his apartment in nothing more than one of his plain white t-shirts that completely drowned me.

"Thanks for saving me, Toshi-chan."

He slipped his hand in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. "A world without you in it, would be a dark and desolate place."

My face burned at this, a mixture of fever and embarrassment causing him to panic and scramble for a cool cloth to place over my head thinking my fever was getting out of control again. I held back a laugh as he fluffed my pillows and placed a cool damp cloth on my forehead and pulled the blankets around me in an attempt to help with my fever. Once he was sure I was comfortable he went to get me some water, tea, medicine and broth. He'd always been an all in kind of guy and I couldn't bear to tell him that wasn't always effective when it came to illness but I didn't want to rain on his parade and I selfishly liked to be doted on from time to time.