Chapter Text
The paper is impossibly light, yet so heavy in Phil’s hands.
He reads the note over again for what feels like the thousandth time. Kristin’s powers had been strong. They knew the risks of keeping them secret, but they never believed anything would come of it.
His eyes water, and tears stain the page as he reads it again. “When the HC isn’t respected, we must bring justice.” The HC. The hero coalition.
Something ugly, and dark settles deep in his chest. He had always hated the government, but what he felt right now was unparalleled.
Phil knew he should never have left them home alone. As he stands in the wreckage of his own home, he wonders if he could have prevented this. Had he stayed, or hell, even made one of the boys stay, would they have lived?
Maybe.
There’s a hole in the wall, the hole they must have come in through. The whole house was a mess, but the bedroom had definitely seen the worst of it. All the bookshelves were turned over, the windows were blown clear off their hinges and had fallen into the yard.
The front door slams downstairs, and three sets of steps come stampeding up the stairs.
“Dad! What happened? Is Mom–” WIlbur cuts himself when his eyes land on the scene in front of him. His face expression shifts into one of horror.
Techno comes in right behind him. His face turns ghostly pale. Phil’s youngest tries to force his way in, but Techno turns to shield him from view.
Phil’s heart sinks into his gut. If they hadn’t gone out to get the supplies for the new baby, none of this would have happened. He could have protected them. He could have saved them. She had just been brought home from the hospital.
His only daughter. And she’s already gone.
They had been so excited, they all had. Wilbur chose all the clothes, Techno chose her name, and Tommy… He had been so excited to pick out the toys.
It was Techno that brought him back to attention.
Techno, the stoic one, the child that never minded a scraped knee or a bruise, was crying. He had chosen her name. Lani. It meant “heaven” or “sky” in Hawaiian culture. Techno researched for so long to find a name that fit, and was so fucking happy when he found it.
Now it would never be used.
Never would they get to hug their daughter and sister, call her name, or even see her. The boys never got the chance to see her.
They were really, truly gone.
_______
Kristin’s body ached. Immediately after giving birth, she had been tossed around like a sack of potatoes. She had been too weak to fight back. The epidural had messed with her powers, making them impossible to reach.
The car they were being transported in jostled them, and Kristin held her baby tighter against her chest.
The poor angel hasn’t stopped crying since the heroes came.
Kristin felt like such a failure. She failed as a wife, she failed as a protector, and she failed as a mother.
The metal shackles locked around her ankles were ice cold. She was only allowed one free arm to hold Lani. And Lani was…
Everything. She was everything. And at the same time, everything had been taken from her.
She’s just a baby , for Death’s sake.
Suddenly, the car came to an abrupt halt. They were here. The one place she had feared her whole life, the place she had run from. The Hero Tower. She should’ve known those files weren’t fooling anyone. Whoever had been working the power registries when she sent them in was just lazy. And now, since they had to run a blood test in the hospital, she was caught.
The heroes were always the most powerful people in the city.
What most people didn’t know was that the most powerful people in the city were often forced to be heroes. It was foolish of her to assume she wouldn’t succumb to the same fate.
Heroes forced them out, their grips were tight and their words were harsh. They spat curses at her and her baby, and Kristin knew exactly when the realization settles in for them.
Soon, she would be one of them.
They shut up quickly.
Kristin was shoved forward, coming face to face with him .
The number one hero, the top dog, the leader of the coalition.
Dream.
______
Nine years moved along quickly.
Lani was seated in front of her mother’s vanity mirror, admiring the pretty braids she had been given. She was nervous, of course, but she knew she would be alright. At the end of the day, no matter what happens at school, her mom would still be there when she came home.
(And then kristin died hahahahah)
She was only in fifth grade, yet her teachers had been so impressed they bumped her up to a freshman class.
Freshman . Like high school freshmen, real high schoolers.
Of course it was only math class, but still– freshmen! High schoolers!
She bounced a little in her seat. Lani
loves
math. She spent much of her free time watching videos about it and learning new equations whenever she could. It just clicked so well.
Although, she was also very scared. How would older kids react to having a nine-year-old in their class? Would they mock her? Would they
bully
her? Her mom, seemingly reading her mind, squeezed her shoulders reassuringly. She pressed a kiss into her hair, and hugged her shoulders.
“You’ll be alright Lani, don't stress about it.” She says.
Lani slumps. “I’m not!”
“You are.”
“I am.” Lani giggled, and hopped down. Gathering up her books and pens, she packed everything she’d need into her bag. She was very responsible, if she said so herself. (Kristin would not agree, as she kept having to pick up everything she forgot.)
If you ignore nearly all her books, her crayons, and her ruler, she brought everything, all by herself!
Every morning, she would take the bus to her school, find her way to her high school level math class, and then return to her fifth-grade class and continue her day. And if she didn’t leave now, she’d miss the bus.
The bus was going to stop outside the hero tower any minute now, and she wasn’t even in the lobby yet.
Her mom checked her watch, and gasped. “Oh shit! We need to get down there now! ”
Lani’s jaw drops at her mother’s profanity. She nearly calls her out on it, but is silenced when Kristin sweeps her off her feet.
Normally, they take the elevator. But they must be really late, because Kristin has taken to sprinting down the stairs.
Lani blinked maybe twice, and then, they’re outside.
The bus rolled to a stop, and she was set down on her own two feet. She stands still in shock for a moment, and her mom smoothes down her hair. “Have a good day at school, sweetheart!”
Kristin went inside.
Lani forced herself to move forward, getting on the bus and searching for a spot.
There were a lot of open seats. Barely any kids were driven in from the inner city, so their bus was usually pretty empty.
They didn’t even live in the tower, but with how much time Mom needed to spend working, it made more sense to just let the bus go there. One of the other kids had told her that was sad once. Obviously, she didn’t tell them what her mom does for a living.
But, she told them how often her mom worked, and that was possibly the first time she realized her situation wasn’t as normal as she thought it was.
Their place in the tower had one bedroom with a twin bed, and a pull out couch in the living room. Sometimes, Lani would stay home that day and her mom would get the bed, but usually she got the spare room.
Lani settled into her seat, and watched the world pass by. The buildings around the Tower were all super tall.
She couldn’t even begin to imagine how scary it must be for her mom and the other heroes to go running and jumping across them every night.
Even worse, they have to fight people up there.
Lani shudders, and sinks a little further into the seat. She would much rather stay on the ground, where it’s safe. (The thought that she might not have a choice soon lingers in her mind, but she chooses to ignore it.)
In the blink of an eye, they’re pulling up outside of the school. Students stream in, and Lani barely has to move her feet as the crowd pushes her through.
One particularly tall kid walks through, and her life flashes before her eyes when he nearly crushes her, but luckily, she survived.
Lani finds her way to classroom 205-G, and pushes the door open.
There’s a teacher at the desk cradling a cup of coffee that looks like it is boiling hot. With the way she’s holding it, Lani just hopes she doesn’t spill it all over herself. She takes a deep breath, and strolls up to her desk.
“Excuse me, are you–”
“Ms Puffy? Yes, I am! And you’re Lani, correct?” The woman is bubbly, and her smile stretches wider than even her mom’s. And that’s saying something, because her mom is a saint.
“Yes, I am miss.” She squeaks. Her face heats in embarrassment at her own voice, but Ms Puffy doesn’t react at all. She only smiles her big smile again, and reaches out a hand for her to shake. She takes it, feeling weirdly formal.
“You can take a seat next to Tubbo. He’s the boy in the green over there.”
Lani nods, and makes her way to the only open desk in the room.
Pretty much everyone was looking at her. She doesn’t really have anxiety about stuff like this, but it was still very uncomfortable. She can’t blame them. Surely by now everybody’s heard about the nine year old taking a high school class, but still…
She wants her mom.
The room looked vastly different from her fifth grade homeroom. It wasn’t bland per se, but it wasn’t nearly as lively as the classroom she was used to.
The boy next to her, Tubbo, tapped her desk. “So, you’re the little kid taking algebra?”
Lani blushes. She didn’t expect someone to call her little to her face. And so bluntly, too. “I guess so…” She relents, not really in the mood to argue with an older kid.
A voice pipes up from behind them. “Just don’t bother her, Tubs.”
It’s a blonde kid with big blue eyes. Pretty much the same as Lani’s blond hair and gray eyes. He’s wearing a red hoodie, and he’s scowling.
Lani’s pretty sure she’s never seen him before. Not even in the hallways. But for some reason, he seems familiar. Normally, she would never want to interact with someone who was so openly glaring at her. But she feels like she should, so she does.
“I don’t mind, it’s okay to be curious.” she says.
The kid’s frown deepens more, if that’s even possible. He looks her over, before apparently just deciding she wasn’t worth his time. “Yeah, whatever.” He pushes out of his seat and heads towards Ms Puffy’s desk.
“He’s not usually like that, just so you know.” Tubbo stage whispers. “He’s actually very nice. He’ll warm up to you eventually.”
In all honesty, Lani thinks that’s a little cliche to say, but maybe it’s true. “So who is he?”
“Hm?”
“That guy. Who is he?” She reiterates.
Tubbo nods in understanding, looking back to where his friend is still chatting the teacher’s ear off. “His name is Tommy. He tends to come off as aggressive at first, but he’s a teddy bear.”
Lani smiles. The older kids weren’t making fun of her, one of them was even trying to be her friend! Tommy stalks back over and drops into his chair. He very pointedly ignores Lani, which makes her giggle a little.
“So, what’s your name? I can’t keep calling you ‘the little girl’ in my head.” Tubbo chuckles.
“Oh, I’m Lani.”
Both of the boy’s faces drop.
Tubbo’s eyes grow to the size of saucers, and Tommy looks about ready to cry. Suddenly, Tommy runs. Immediately, Tubbo follows. Lani blinks in confusion.
Did she say something wrong?