The rock hit me in the back of my head.
I knew it was coming. I always know. Tuesdays are rock days. Mondays they just shove me into lockers, Wednesdays they trip me during lunch, but Tuesdays? Tuesdays are for rocks.
I didn't turn around because what's the point? It's not like Daren's gonna apologize or anything. Plus my neck was already sore from yesterday when Marcus, Daren's friend, the one with the stupid haircut, decided to practice his fire techniques by singeing the back of my uniform. Mom had to sew patches over the burn marks. Again.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!"
Oh great. He wanted a response today.
I stopped walking and turned around slow. Real slow. Daren gets extra mad when you move too fast, like your trying to run or something. Which I'm not. I tried running once in first year. He has earth powers. The ground literally grabbed my ankles. I fell on my face infront of like fifty people.
"You know, Daren..." I probably should just shut up. I really should. "For someone with earth powers, your aim is still pretty bad."
The courtyard went quiet.
Even the birds stopped chirping. Do we have birds here? I don't actually know. Maybe I'm thinking of that one time I saw a pigeon near the cafeteria. It was eating someone's dropped sandwich. Lucky pigeon.
"What. Did. You. Say?"
Daren's voice had that edge to it. The one that means I'm about to have a bad time. His friends started moving closer, forming this kind of semi circle thing. They always do that. It's like they practiced it or something. Maybe they did. Maybe there's like a bully choreography class I don't know about.
Before I could say anything smartass back, which, let's be honest, I was definately about to, Daren grabbed my collar.
His hands are always weirdly cold. Like, he has earth powers, you'd think his hands would be warm or rough or something, but no. Cold and kind of clammy. It's uncomfortable.
He slammed me against the wall and my head bounced off the stone. The world went fuzzy for a second. I could smell his breath. Not meat buns. I don't know why I thought of meat buns earlier when I was imagining this. He smelled like eggs. Like he'd eaten eggs for breakfast and didn't brush his teeth after. Gross.
"You think your funny, Zero?"
There it was. Zero. The name that followed me everywhere. Started in second year when everyone's powers came in and mine... didn't. Someone, I think it was actually Mira, said I had "zero talent, zero power, zero future." It stuck.
I used to hate that name so much I'd cry about it at home. Now? Now it just feels like part of my name. Jin Yuno Zero. Like a middle name nobody asked for.
"I think..." My voice came out scratchy. "I think you should brush your teeth more."
Stupid. Why did I say that?
His fist hit my stomach and all the air just LEFT. Like my lungs forgot how to lung. I doubled over and my bag fell off my shoulder. Books went everywhere. Great. That's my history textbook in a puddle. Ms. Reina's gonna make me pay for that.
"Still got that smart mouth?" Daren shoved me down.
I hit the ground hard. The cobblestones were still wet from rain last night, so now my pants were wet too. Cold and wet. Fantastic. And my hands were scraped up, bleeding a little. Not alot. Just enough to sting.
My palms always scar weird. I got these white lines all over from all the times I've fallen or been pushed or whatever. They kind of look like a map if you squint. Not a useful map. A map to nowhere.
"You're nothing," Daren said, putting his boot on my shoulder. Not pressing down yet, just resting it there. A promise of more pain if I moved. "You'll always be nothing."
His friends laughed. There was five of them today. Sometimes it's three, sometimes seven. Today was five. Daren, Marcus with the bad haircut, two twins who's names I never learned, they both have water powers which seems like a waste, and Mira.
Mira wasn't laughing though. She was just standing there examining her nails. She does that alot. Her nails are always perfect. Red, usually. Sometimes gold. Today they were red with little flame designs on them because of course they were.
We used to be friends. Like, actual friends. When we were six we used to play in the creek behind her house and catch frogs. She was nice back then. Then her powers came in, fire AND wind, a dual affinity which is super rare, and suddenly I wasn't worth her time anymore.
I tried talking to her once after that. Asked if she wanted to hang out like we used to. She looked at me like I was a stain on her shoe and said, "Why would I waste time with someone powerless?"
That hurt worse then any punch Daren's ever thrown.
"Leave him alone."
Oh no.
Everyone turned. I tilted my head, painful with Daren's boot still on my shoulder, and saw Old Lady Chen standing at the edge of the courtyard. She had her shopping basket in both hands, knuckles white from gripping it. Her grey hair was in that same bun she always wore. She looked scared but she was standing their anyway.
"This doesn't concern you, old woman." Daren didn't even look at her properly. Like she wasn't worth turning his head for.
"He's just a boy. He hasn't done nothing to you." Her voice shook a little.
I've known Old Lady Chen since I was nine. She lives three houses down from me in the lower district, where all the poor people live. The people without fancy elemental powers or rich parents. She makes this soup sometimes, cabbage and potato, and she always makes too much and brings me some. Says I'm too skinny.
She's probably right. I am too skinny. Hard to afford food when mom works two jobs and I can't get into any of the paid academy programs because, you know, Zero.
"He exists," Mira finally spoke up. She stopped looking at her nails and actually looked at me. Her eyes were cold. "That's enough. People like him make the academy look bad. Powerless trash shouldn't even be allowed here."
That one hit different. I don't know why. I've heard worse. But something about the way she said it, so casual, like she was commenting on the weather...
"Just go home, Grandmother." I tried to smile at Old Lady Chen. Probably looked more like a grimace. "I'm fine. This happens all the time."
"Your bleeding." She pointed at my hands.
"I'm always bleeding." I tried to laugh but it came out weird and breathy. "It's like my thing now. Very on brand for me."
Daren pressed his boot down harder and I gasped. Pain shot up my shoulder into my neck. Sharp and hot.
"We're not done here. Someone needs to teach this Zero some..."
A sound cut him off.
Low. Deep. Wrong.
It came from somewhere past the academy walls, from the direction of the market district. Like a growl but bigger. Heavier. The kind of sound you feel in your chest.
Everyone froze.
"Was that..." Marcus started but didn't finish.
The sound came again. Louder. And then a scream. High and terrified and very, very human.
"DEMON!" Someone was yelling from the streets below. "DEMON IN THE MARKET!"
Everything happened fast after that.
Students scattered. Some ran toward the sound, the ones with good powers, the ones who wanted to be heroes, and most ran the other way. Daren's boot lifted off my shoulder as he turned toward the noise.
"Finally. Some real action." He was smiling. Actually smiling. "Come on, let's go!"
His friends followed. Marcus's hands lit up with fire. The twins were already making water spiral around there arms. Mira's hair started blowing in a wind that wasn't there, flames flickering at her fingertips.
They ran off toward the demon like this was fun. Like this was a game.
I pulled myself up slow. Everything hurt. My ribs, my hands, my shoulder, my head. Pretty much everything. Old Lady Chen just stood there, frozen, staring toward the market with huge eyes.
Another scream. Closer this time.
"Grandmother." I limped toward her. My leg was doing this weird thing where it didn't want to hold my weight properly. "You gotta run. Get to the shelters."
"But the people down there..."
"The heroes will handle it." The words felt hollow coming out. I've seen how 'heroes' work. They save the rich district first. The fancy houses with the nice gardens. The lower district? Where Lady Chen lives? Where I live? We're always last. Sometimes we're not even last. Sometimes were just forgotten.
She nodded but she was still staring.
That's when I saw it.
A shadow moved across the rooftops. Not a normal shadow. This thing was HUGE. Like house sized huge. It had too many arms. Or legs? I couldn't tell. And eyes. Red glowing eyes. So many of them.
A Class B demon at minimum. Maybe higher. I've only seen pictures in textbooks but this matched. Scaled body, multiple limbs, acidic drool. Yeah I could see the drool from here, it was dripping and hissing when it hit the roof tiles.
And it was coming toward us.
No, not us. The evacuation route. The path that leads straight to the lower district.
Straight to where people like Old Lady Chen would be running.
"RUN!" I screamed it this time.
She turned, saw the demon, and just... stopped. Completely froze. Her basket fell and vegetables went rolling everywhere. Potatoes, carrots, some leafy thing I didn't recognize.
The demon jumped.
It was in the air, massive and terrible, all those red eyes focused on the spot where she stood.
I didn't think.
Thinking is for people with time. I just moved. My legs pushed off the wet cobblestones and I ran. Faster than I've ever run. Faster then when Daren chases me, faster than PE class, faster than I thought I could.
My ribs were screaming. My leg was still being weird. I didn't care.
I hit Old Lady Chen with my shoulder like I was one of those tackle dummies in combat training and we both went flying sideways.
The demon hit the ground where she'd been.
The impact was insane. The cobblestones didn't just crack, they exploded. Chunks of stone went flying. The shockwave knocked me back further and I rolled across the ground.
When I stopped rolling and looked up, the demon was right there. Close enough to touch.
Up close it was so much worse. Black scales that looked wet. Drool that smelled like rotting garbage and old meat mixed together. Teeth like broken swords, all jagged and sharp. And those eyes. Dozens of red eyes all moving independantly, all looking at different things.
Several of them looked at me.
"Go!" I yelled at Old Lady Chen. "GO GO GO!"
She scrambled to her feet and ran. Good. That's good. At least she'd be safe.
The demon made this clicking sound with it's claws on the cobblestones. Click. Click. Click. Like it was in no hurry. Like it knew I couldn't run.
It was right. I tried to move but my body wasn't cooperating. Something was wrong with my right side. Really wrong. Like... broken wrong.
When I looked down I saw why.
Blood. Alot of blood. My blood. Soaking through my uniform on the right side. The demon must of clipped me when it landed. Or when I rolled. I don't know. Everything was starting to feel fuzzy and far away.
The demon stepped closer. Click. Click. Click.
"SOMEONE HELP!" I tried to scream but it came out quiet. Weak. "ANYBODY!"
Where were the heroes? Where was Daren with his stone armor? Where was Mira with her fancy dual affinity? Where was anyone?
The courtyard was empty.
Of course it was empty.
I'm Zero. Nobody comes for Zero.
The demon raised one of it's claws. The really big one that looked like it could split me in half. Which it probably could. Which it probably would.
This was it. Sixteen years and this is how it ends. Bleeding out in an empty courtyard while the real heroes fight somewhere else. Somewhere important. Somewhere that mattered.
At least I saved her. Old Lady Chen was safe. That counted for something, right? That had to count.
The claw started coming down.
I closed my eyes.
But then... crash.
I opened my eyes. The demon was thrashing around under a pile of rubble. Half a building had collapsed on top of it. Just... fell. Right on top of it.
Lucky. That was really lucky.
Except the demon was already trying to get out. It's claws were digging through the stone. It wasn't dead. Just trapped.
I tried to crawl away but my right side wouldn't work at all now. Nothing. It was like that whole side of my body wasn't even there. Cold was spreading from my side into my chest. That wasn't good. That was bad. That was really bad.
"Help..." My voice barely made sound. "Someone... please..."Footsteps.
Finally. Someone was coming. I was saved. I was...
But when I looked around, the courtyard was still empty. No people. No heroes. Nothing.
The footsteps weren't coming from the street.
They were coming from the shadows under the collapsed building.
A figure stepped out. Small. Child sized maybe? But the way it moved was wrong. Too smooth. Like it was floating more then walking. Like it wasn't quite touching the ground.
It was made of shadow. Not like it was hidden IN shadow. It WAS shadow. Darkness shaped like a person.
"Interesting."
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. Not deep, not high. Not male, not female. Not old, not young. Just... voice. It made my teeth hurt.
"A human with no power, yet you threw yourself infront of certain death for an elder. Fascinating. Why?"
I tried to answer but my mouth wouldn't work right. Everything was getting colder. Darker. The edges of my vision were going grey.
The shadow thing crouched next to me. Where it's face should be was just... nothing. Empty darkness.
"Your dying."
I knew. I could feel it. The cold had spread to my chest now. My heart was doing this weird fluttery thing. Wrong. Everything felt wrong.
"I can save you."
What?
"But there is a price. Your right side is already gone. Dead tissue. But I can replace it. Make you whole again. Give you power that these 'heroes' could never imagine."
Power. The thing I'd wanted my whole life. The thing everyone else had and I didn't.
"What's..." I had to force the words out. "What's the catch?"
"The catch is that you will carry me. I will live in that side of your body. We will share it. And the power I give you... others will not understand it. They will fear it. They will call you demon. They will hunt you."
So nothing changes then. I was already Zero. Already hunted. Already hated. Already nothing.
At least this way... maybe I could matter. Maybe I could save more people like Old Lady Chen. Maybe I could be something other then powerless trash.
"Do we..." I coughed and tasted blood. "Do we have a deal?"
The shadow thing tilted it's head. Like it was surprised. Or maybe curious. Hard to tell without a face.
"You understand what your agreeing to? You will be feared. Hunted. Called a monster."
"Yeah." My voice was barely a whisper now. "I get it. Do we have a deal or not?"
I thought about Old Lady Chen safe somewhere. About all the other people in the lower district who needed someone. Anyone. About everyone who ever called me Zero and said I'd never be anything.
About Mira's cold eyes and Daren's boot on my shoulder and Marcus's stupid haircut and every single rock thrown at my head.
The shadow thing reached out with a hand made of pure darkness.
"Then yes. We have a deal."
It touched my right side and everything went black.
Not the grey fuzziness from before. True black. Empty black. The kind of black that exists before stars are born.
And somewhere in that black, I heard something. A heartbeat that wasn't mine. A breath that came from somewhere else. A presence that was ancient and tired and alone.
Just like me.
Then nothing.