Chapter 1: Chapter 1: The Life Giver
Megumi Skywalker's hands glowed with a soft green light as she worked. The patient beneath her fingers – a young boy with a nasty burn – whimpered softly as her quirk began knitting his damaged skin back together. She hummed a quiet melody, something her grandmother had taught her years ago to help calm nervous patients.
"Almost done," she said softly. "You're being very brave."
The boy's mother watched anxiously from the corner of the emergency room, clutching her purse so tightly her knuckles had gone white. It was a familiar sight to Megumi after two years of working at Musutafu General Hospital. Parents always seemed to blame themselves when their children got hurt, even when it was just an accident.
The glow faded from her hands as she finished. Where angry red burns had been just minutes before, fresh pink skin now covered the boy's arm. He stared in wonder, poking at it carefully with one finger.
"It doesn't hurt anymore!"
Megumi smiled, pulling off her latex gloves. "That's right. But you still need to be careful for the next few days while the new skin toughens up, okay?" She looked up at his mother. "The doctor will want to do a quick check, but he should be fine. My quirk works best on fresh injuries like this."
The mother bowed deeply. "Thank you so much, Skywalker-san."
After they left, Megumi sank into her chair at the nurses' station, feeling the familiar tiredness that came with using her quirk. Life Genesis wasn't as draining as her grandmother's Heal, but accelerating cellular growth still took its toll. She'd learned to pace herself over her shifts.
"You should take a break," her colleague Yui said, sliding a cup of green tea across the desk. "That's the third quirk healing you've done today."
"I'm fine," Megumi insisted, though she gratefully accepted the tea. At twenty, she was the youngest nurse on staff, and sometimes she felt like she had to work twice as hard to prove herself. It didn't help that some people still gave her odd looks because of her foreign surname – a gift from her American father.
The rest of her shift passed in the usual blur of rounds, paperwork, and the occasional emergency. It was nearly midnight when she finally clocked out, her comfortable shoes squeaking slightly on the polished hospital floors as she made her way to the staff exit.
The night air was cool and crisp, carrying the first hints of autumn. Megumi pulled her jacket closer, checking her phone as she walked. A message from her mother reminded her about Sunday dinner – as if she'd forget visiting her grandmother. Chiyo might be officially retired now, but she still had plenty to say about proper quirk management.
Lost in thought about family obligations, Megumi almost missed the strange feeling that suddenly washed over her. It was like static electricity running across her skin, making the hair on her arms stand up. Her quirk flickered to life without her calling it, green energy dancing across her fingertips.
She stopped walking, looking around the empty street. The feeling grew stronger, and with it came an odd sensation of heaviness, as if the air itself was pressing down on her. Something was wrong.
"Hello?" she called out, trying to keep her voice steady. "Is someone there?"
The shadows between the buildings seemed to deepen. A figure stepped out – tall and thin, wearing a dark coat that made them hard to distinguish from the darkness around them. Megumi took a step back, her hand going to the personal alarm on her keychain.
"Your quirk," the figure said, voice oddly distorted. "It's perfect."
Megumi turned to run, but her body wouldn't move. The air around her had become thick, like trying to move through syrup. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. The figure raised a hand, and impossible pressure surrounded her.
Their quirk felt strange – almost familiar, yet completely alien. Like her Life Genesis but twisted, operating on a level she didn't understand. Energy swirled around her, through her, into her.
Then everything went black.
She woke up in the same spot an hour later, alone. The strange energy was gone, leaving only a lingering sensation like pins and needles throughout her body. Nothing seemed to be missing or hurt. Even her bag was still slung over her shoulder.
Megumi made it home in a daze, trying to understand what had happened. She reported the incident to the police the next day, but they found nothing. No security cameras had caught the figure. No other attacks were reported. Life went on.
Two months later, she stared at a positive pregnancy test in her tiny apartment bathroom, hands shaking.
That morning's news flashed through her mind – they'd found a body in the industrial district, a man with no ID. The police said his body showed signs of quirk overuse, his cells seemingly burned out from the inside. Somehow, she knew it was him. The man who'd attacked her had died using his quirk that night, but he'd left her with something that would change her life forever.
Megumi slid down against the bathroom wall, her whole body shaking as she stared at her phone. She had to call someone. Had to tell someone. Her vision blurred with tears as she hit the speed dial for her mother.
"Mom?" Her voice broke immediately. "I... I really need you and Chiyo-obaasan to come over. Please."
"Megumi? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
"I'm pregnant." She burst into tears as soon as the words left her mouth. "I don't know what to do. I'm so scared. I haven't even been with anyone, but the test is positive and I can feel it with my quirk and I don't know what's happening—"
"Don't move. We're coming right now."
Twenty minutes later, Megumi was curled up on her couch, wrapped in her old high school blanket, trying to explain everything through hiccupping sobs. Her mother held her hand while Chiyo Shuzenji, her grandmother, listened with growing concern.
"I can't be a mom," Megumi choked out. "I'm not ready. I still get takeout four times a week. I can barely pay my rent. I work crazy hours at the hospital. I don't know how to be a parent!"
"Oh, sweetheart." Her mother pulled her into a tight hug. "No one's ever ready. I cried for three days when I found out I was pregnant with you."
"But you were married! And older! And... and... normal! Not whatever this is!" Megumi gestured helplessly at herself. "What am I supposed to tell people? That some villain with a weird quirk got me pregnant and then died? They'll think I'm crazy!"
"You don't have to tell anyone anything," her mother said firmly. "Not if you don't want to."
Chiyo leaned forward in her chair. "The pregnancy is healthy?"
Megumi nodded, wiping her eyes. "My quirk can sense it. It's there. It's real. I just... I don't know what to do."
"First, we breathe," Chiyo said, her voice gentle but practical. "Then we look at your options. All of them. And whatever you decide, we'll support you."
"But what if I mess everything up?" Megumi whispered.
"Then you'll fix it and try again," her mother said. "That's what parenting is. But you don't have to decide everything tonight."
Megumi pressed her hands against her face, trying to steady her breathing. "I'm going to have to quit my job, aren't I?"
"Absolutely not," Chiyo said sharply. "I'll speak to the hospital about adjusting your schedule. And we're going to find you a better apartment – that glorified closet you're living in won't work."
"I can't afford—"
"You can afford it because we're helping," her mother cut in. "That's what family does."
Megumi looked between them – her tiny, fierce grandmother and her determined mother – and felt a fresh wave of tears coming, but different this time. She was still terrified. Still had no idea how she was going to handle any of this. But at least she wasn't alone.
"When..." her mother paused, squeezing her hand. "When is the baby due?"
Megumi touched her stomach lightly. "Based on my quirk's reading of the cellular development... April."
"Spring baby," her mother said softly. "Just like you."