a/n: Before this whole book starts, I'd just like to address some very important things!

Y/N (or the reader) is 18, while Overhaul is 20. Shigaraki and Touya (Dabi) are 18 as well. :)

This story is also told from Y/N's point of view, and Overhaul is a Yakuza leader that has taken over this city??? I'm not sure how to word it, maybe kind of like a town idk-

With all that said, enjoy this book (that'll probably be kind of short but oh well-)

I sifted through the leaves of the newspaper, frowning as my eyes suddenly landed on a picture of a man wearing a leather plague mask that was in the middle of the page. His lidded yellow eyes held a bored and uninterested look to them as he surveyed the huge crowd under him. His glove-clad hands were resting on the marble railing, and his short brown hair was being blown by the wind. This man was Overhaul, and I hated him. He was the leader that had decided that all people who lived in the city would get their quirks removed, since he claimed that he saw them as an illness that plagued humanity. People just laughed and shook their heads. 

They didn't believe him, but he proved them wrong by injecting everyone with a special drug that he created himself. After that, it was a protocol to check all children if they had a quirk at the age of five, (since that was the usual age for quirk-development) so that the quirk could be removed. If anyone refused to let their child get the check-up, they'd be taken away by Overhaul's underlings: the Shie Hassaikai. People couldn't hide their children either, since Overhaul constantly had random check-ups on the houses of everyone in the area.

Because of Overhaul's actions, no one had a quirk in this city that I knew of - well, except for me.

My quirk had developed when I was fourteen, about four years ago. My parents had assumed that I was quirkless before then, since all of my peers had developed theirs long before mine. However, one day, when I was lying on my bed reading, I suddenly felt something straining at my back. I got up and was about to book it out to tell my parents when orange wings suddenly burst from my back, tearing the back of my shirt open. 

My quirk is called Phoenix. I have these medium-sized wings that I can fly with. They can also conjure fire when I flap them. The more power I put into a wing flap, the more fire I can summon. However, it's quite dangerous when I fly with them, so I usually don't. Besides, flying around with those wings would draw a lot of attention, and that's not a good thing in the environment that Overhaul has created today.

The wings aren't the only thing about my quirk. My tears can also be used for healing purposes, which is pretty useful for everyday life. Whenever my mother accidentally burns herself when cooking, I can just shed some tears over the marks, and the burns are gone. My mother always has this tearful look in her eyes whenever I heal her, which I find strange. I know for a fact that it doesn't hurt when I heal a wound, since I've used my quirk on myself before, but I guess I'll never know why.

Now, of course, there are drawbacks to my quirk. If I use my flames for too long, my wings completely go out - they turn into ashes. It takes about a day for my wings to fully grow back. Since it's hard to hide my wings under normal clothes when I go out, I usually strain my quirk until the wings are gone. Only on weekends or on long breaks I allow them to grow out completely. To make wearing clothes more comfortable for me, my mother created specially made shirts and hoodies with slits at the back for my wings to fit through.

My tears also have a downside to them. When I shed too many tears, I get terrible headaches. My quirk doesn't differentiate between actual healing and straight-up crying from sadness, so I usually just hold back my tears when I'm sad. I don't want to have to deal with being sad and having a head pounding headache.

Phoenix resembles the quirks my parents once had. My mother had a healing quirk, tears that would heal, to be exact. They weren't as powerful as mine were, but she wouldn't get as serious headaches as I would. Meanwhile, my father's quirk was similar to my wings, except his wings wouldn't burn out, and he could control whether or not the fire activated when flying. My father was devastated when he had to give up his quirk. His wings were his pride and joy, and Overhaul had ripped them away from him.

Back to the statement I made about hating Overhaul - I actually loathe him. He's a self-righteous germaphobe that doesn't deserve to rule over any group of people. I know he's a germaphobe from the way he constantly wears that plague mask of his, and how his gloves never leave his hands. I bet he's never felt the touch of another human against his smooth-looking skin. He'll never know the pleasure of holding someone's hand.

Overhaul will never understand that some people cherish their quirks a lot, either. Maybe he took away everyone's quirk since he's jealous that he doesn't have one. After all, he's never shown any signs of having a quirk to the public. 

I smile wickedly to myself at the thought.

...Yeah. Yeah! He's probably just an angry, jealous piece of sh-

"Y/N, Shigaraki's here to visit you!"

I nearly fell out of my seat when my mother suddenly called out to me from the other side of my door, her knuckles rapping against the dark wood. I quickly shove the newspaper I was reading under my pillow, knowing that if my parents saw any pictures of Overhaul around the house, they'd have bad memories.

"O-Okay, Mom! I'll be downstairs in a minute."

I said, and I then heard the sound of feet against wood as my mother walked away from the door, her voice fading as she called back,

"Okay, I'll tell him."

I let out a breath that I didn't realize I was holding in when I was sure that my mother had gone downstairs. 

"Tomura's here, huh? I wonder if he brought Touya with him... Guess I should go downstairs." 

I muttered to myself, but before I leave the room, I let my eyes wander back to my pillow. I realize that an edge of the newspaper was sticking out, so I immediately pushed it deeper under the plush material.

"Phew."

I said out loud, and then I opened my door, heading out to meet with Tomura.