Prologue - Chapter 1

5 Years Ago...

The ear wrenching sounds of an eight year old crying in the middle of the UA dorms was not something Raven enjoyed. She watched in horror as her greatest masterpiece of a prank came tumbling down and her worst fear a reality.

She looked around, people glaring at her and others shaking their heads, Aizawa comforting the eight year old. "Get out!" Someone said, but the words fell on empty ears. All Raven could do was stand there as tears fell from her face and her prank came to an end, leaving her favorite people to never forgive her for hurting someone so precious to them.

Especially when it was Eri's birthday.

Don't get her wrong, Raven loved Eri. She was the sweetest little girl on the planet, so when her devious plan to prank her and get a cute little laugh from her failed so terribly, she couldn't comprehend that she had done something so terrible.

That was when she realized-

-She needed to give up on pranking.

It would mean she would end her bloodline of being a trickster, it would bring no meaning to her family surname. Raven was terrified for this reason. She loved pranks and getting laughs out of it. But, somewhere along the line, the line between pranks and hurtful ones got blurred. And Denki! Oh, how she knows he hates her now. It physically felt like her heart was ripping in two.

Finally, she snapped out of her trance as Raven turned around in the other direction and ran, not being able to stand their hateful stares and leaving class 2-A to clean up her mess.

When had her pranks become so hurtful? When had she started to hurt the people around her, the people she cared for like family? The dread in her heart as she ran and ran became bigger and bigger as she realized there was no turning back anymore.

Everyone despised her. Her pranks were no longer fun.

Without her pranks, who was Raven Tanuki?

What was she to do with the rest of her life?

She ran back into the school with these thoughts in mind, running through the halls and opening a door which she didn't know what was behind it. She flung it open to reveal a janitor's closet. Great, She thought. She make her way into the small room and sat on the dirty floor, her uniform crumpling underneath her as she sobbed and hiccuped, her bubbly personality becoming one with the past. Afterall, she's nothing without her pranks. It's even part of her quirk!

Even if she can't pull her pranks anymore, it doesn't mean she can't still be a hero though. If she's using her quirk on the villains, then it doesn't matter because she's technically not pulling any pranks. It's just her quirk.

Yeah.. Just her quirk.

That's all she is now.

The depressing thoughts started getting to Raven as she felt more and more sorry for herself. She shouldn't be feeling like this. It's not right. She should be back at the dorms, apologizing to Eri and her classmates for going overboard.

She knew her pranks were getting hurtful to a point. But she couldn't fathom that she would ever hurt someone like that, so she ignored her gut and the people hurting around her. Until.. Today.

She can't ignore it anymore. She has to face the consequences of her actions. It's karma, She thought to herself.

Sure, it could be karma. But it could also be the fact that she didn't listen to the people around her because of selfish reasons, because she didn't want to give up something she loved the most.

That something isn't hurting people, it's her pranks; she doesn't want to give up her pranks. But.. does she really have to give up pranking?

Yes. It's a no-brainer.

If pranking is what got her into this mess, then she won't do it anymore. Simple as that. Taking out the main component is what makes the most sense, right?

So, yeah. She's not going to prank anymore.

She sat up straight as she wiped her tears, her purple eyes developing a red hue around them because of her crying. She needed to accept this, no matter how hard it is. No more staying up late coming up with different pranks on people, no more pranks, period.

A couple stray tears fell down her cheeks as the reality set in. She never thought this day would actually happen, but here it is.

Raven looked around the small space, seeing a couple of bleach bottles and spray bottles, brooms and mops. There's many things in here that could be used for a prank-

No.

She needed to get out of that mindset.

Pranks aren't a priority. They never should have been in the first place, but from how she grew up, it became one. Raven was raised to prank. It's her lifestyle. So giving something up like that that was such a big part of her life, feels pretty fucking shitty.

It felt like a piece of her personality was gone. But, pranking isn't a personality trait. No, being mischievous is though, so maybe that's what has gone missing.

What's done is done. She can't go back.

At least.. That's what she thinks.

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--Present Time--

The familiar beeping of the microwave snapped Raven out of her trance of reminiscing on that horrid day. The day she felt she lost everything.

She pushed off the counter lazily, trotting the two steps it took to reach her microwave in the stupid small apartment she had. She sighed. It's been five years since that day, and it still won't go to rest in her mind.

It's quite a day to be stuck on all the time, but it still lives rent free in her head--unlike this shitty apartment she lives in.

She's been boring since that day. Since she gave up on the thing she loved most. Boring and dull; she lost the spark that drew most of her friends toward her. Until she lost all of them.

No one spoke to her after the incident, and she couldn't tell whether it was because she distanced herself, or if it was because everyone else hated her guts. The more she thought about it, the more it made her sick to her stomach because it sounded like she was victimizing herself.

And she very well could be, if she didn't catch herself thinking about it.

But that's not the point here.

The point is, is that Raven graduated three years ago from UA High and hasn't pranked anyone since that day in the beginning of her second year. She hasn't pranked anyone in five years.

Now, she's just living a boring ass life in her apartment as the number forty seventh hero.

Yeah. She's that far behind. well, she's in the top fifty of over a thousand heroes in Japan, which is pretty good. But if we're comparing her to the kids that used to be in her class that have hated her for the last five years?

Let's just say she's got some catching up to do.

Raven usually goes out on missions incognito since her quirk doesn't let her get recognized easily, if she uses it right, but we'll get on with her quirk specifics later on.

She's not one of those underground heroes. No, she's publicly known--just not well known. She's not a try hard in becoming number one, Raven focuses on saving people because she wants to help them. But, as much as she loves her job, her life is just..

..Plain boring.

Her family stopped contacting her when they found out she wasn't pranking people anymore. Believe it or not, her family is the Tanuki family. Her family is well known for pranking and pulling tricks on people. Raven used to be someone the younger kids in her family would look up too, but since she quit, she's been an outcast.

Raven has no friends and she's pretty gloomy. Her whole personality changed when she decided to quit pranking. She used to be bubbly, and very friendly. But now?

She doesn't like people. She doesn't like them because of how two-faced people are. Once you screw up in their eyes--even once--they don't give you a second chance, and then--boom. You're an outcast to everyone you've ever known.

She knows this all too well.

How?

Because it happened to her five years ago.

The thought of having friends and going through that same thing made a shiver go down her spine as she ate her instant ramen she had pulled out of the microwave a couple seconds ago, shoving her chopsticks in her mouth as she slurped up the spicy noodles at an agonizingly slow rate.

Her teacher didn't even look at her the same way after the incident. But, who would after making an eight year old that was basically someone's daughter cry like that?

The sound of her wails still haunted her to this day, the main reason being the fact that Raven was the one that caused them. It was her doing to make her unhappy. On her birthday of all days. All she wanted was for Eri to have a laugh. Raven didn't understand what would make herself think that that prank was a good idea in the first place, but she still did it.

Maybe she was clouded by the thought of it. Just pull another prank, it'll be fun, you can make people happy.

She didn't know.

But what she did know, was that she would never pull another prank like that again. She wouldn't pull another prank period.

The thought still hurt her. It still felt like a piece of her was missing.

Raven had turned on the news, but she wasn't really paying attention. Too caught up in her thoughts to tune into what was going on in the outside world.

Then she remember Denki Kaminari. He was her right hand man. The person she would go to when she had an awesome prank she was about to pull. She still remembered his face when she pulled the last prank she would ever pull.

It was horrifying.

To see her best friend look at her with such..

..Disgust.

It was that moment she knew she went too far. With Eri crying, people going to comfort her, and her best friend looking at her like that, she knew she fucked up.

That's why she ran.

But, time has passed now. She doesn't have to work with them, she doesn't have to see them. Hell, she doesn't have to think about them, but she still does.

She rejects all missions that involve her old classmates. That's why she only goes on solo, incognito missions. That may make her look like a pussy, but she just can't stand to see the look on their face one more time. Even if it's something that had faded over time.

The person she was most terrified to see, though, was someone she wasn't ready to think about just yet. She had blocked him out of her mind. She hadn't talked to him in five years. Avoided him at all costs.

She convinced herself she was doing it for his own good, so he wouldn't have to ever see her again after everything she did.

She regrets everything she did in high school.

Sighing, she finished her instant ramen as she realized she had nothing to do today. Today was her day off, but she doesn't like to just sit around and do nothing.

What better way to spend time than to work, right? Raven decided that since she has nothing better to do today, she would go out on her patrol. Her hero suit was in the closet, which was only a couple steps away because of how shitty her apartment is.

As the number forty seventh hero, her pay isn't very great. At least, not as good as the top ten.

She sighed as she got up to throw away her ramen cup, then making her way to the closet.

God, She thought to herself as she opened the closet door, Today cannot get anymore boring.

Oh, if only she knew.