Chapter 5: Unnecessary worries

It all made sense now. Why the names sounded so familiar. Why the island was called Paradis. Why our family name was Fritz.

This wasn't just a peaceful, idyllic island paradise. This was the island. The one from the anime that I used to watch obsessively in my previous life.

And I was a Fritz. As in the royal family of Paradis. As in the family that, in the anime, was directly connected to some seriously messed-up history involving Titans, wars, and existential dread.

I stared blankly at the wall, the full weight of this revelation sinking in. My parents—King Maximilian and Queen Eleanor—weren't just quirky monarchs of a random island. They were descendants of the Fritz family, and I was now a part of that bloodline.

I felt like I was going to puke.

"What's wrong with you?" Sera asked, frowning at me. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

In a way, I had. The ghost of my past life, mixed with the horrifying realisation that I was now living in a world connected to one of the most tragic, complicated stories ever.

"Nothing," I mumbled, trying to regain my composure. "Just... uh... I'm tired."

Sera narrowed her eyes. "You're weird."

Yeah, well, you don't know the half of it, sis.

The next few days were a blur of me trying to process this new information while also continuing to live my life as a three-year-old prince. I had so many questions. Was this really the same world as the anime? Were the Titans real? Or was this some weird alternate version where none of that happened?

I tried to casually ask Dad about it during dinner one night.

"So, uh, Dad... do you know anything about... big creatures? Like, really big creatures?"

Dad blinked at me over his plate of roast boar. "CREATURES? LIKE DRAGONS?!" he boomed, clearly excited by the idea. "I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO FIGHT A DRAGON."

Mum, who was seated beside him, swatted his arm playfully. "Oh, Max, don't go scaring the boy with your ridiculous fantasies."

"But Eleanor, think of the GLORY!" Dad said, striking a heroic pose in his chair. "I, King Maximilian, slayer of dragons, protector of Paradis, ruler of—"

"Max, eat your vegetables," Mum interrupted, handing him a plate of greens. Dad pouted but obediently started munching on the broccoli.

Clearly, they weren't going to be much help. Either this was an alternate universe where the Titans didn't exist, or they were really good at keeping secrets.

Either way, I was stuck with this nagging feeling that my peaceful, idyllic life might not be as peaceful as it seemed.

Despite my inner turmoil, life on Paradis continued as normal. Sera kept bossing me around, Mum kept dancing in the hallways, and Dad kept flexing his muscles every chance he got.

But every time I looked out at the vast ocean surrounding our island, I couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. There was a whole world out there—a world that I might not be ready to face.

A world that, in my previous life, had been filled with Titans, betrayal, and bloodshed.

I just hoped that this time around, my second chance at life wouldn't end in tragedy. Because if there was one thing I learned from my first life, it's that the universe has a cruel sense of humour.

---

At the end of my third year, just when I thought I'd fully come to terms with my absurd situation, another twist threw me completely off balance.

It happened in the courtyard, of all places. I had just finished my daily sword training (yes, sword training—I know, very medieval for what I thought was a medieval setting) and was taking a break, sitting under a massive oak tree that had probably been there since the dawn of time.

I remember feeling… weird. Not just tired from practice but *different*. Like something inside me was buzzing. My heart was racing, my palms felt sweaty, and before I knew it, a flash of light erupted from my hands, shooting out a few metres in front of me and scorching the grass.

"AHHHHHH!"

The guards rushed over, thinking something serious had happened. I mean, it had, but not in the way they thought.

"Prince Aiden! Are you alright?" one of them, a burly man named Gregor, shouted, his eyes wide with panic.

I stared at my hands, completely dumbfounded. What the hell had just happened? Did I… did I have powers?

The guards looked at each other, unsure of what to do, while I just sat there, staring at the blackened grass. My hands still tingled from whatever had just exploded out of them, but I had no clue what was going on.

After an awkward silence, I stood up, my legs wobbling. "Uh… I'm fine," I muttered, even though I was far from it. "Just… I need to go talk to Dad."

---

"QUIRK?!" I shouted, nearly falling off my chair as Dad casually explained that what I had just experienced was a quirk. 

Dad shrugged, leaning back in his chair with his usual nonchalance. "Yeah, Aiden, it's not that big of a deal. Almost 80% of the world has quirks these days. You're just a bit of a late bloomer."

I stared at him like he had just grown a second head. "A quirk?! You mean, like… superpowers?"

Dad chuckled. "Yes, exactly that. You've heard of them before, haven't you? People with quirks."

"Of course I've heard of them!" I cried, my voice rising with disbelief. "I just didn't expect to have one! And why has no one ever mentioned quirks before? Why haven't I seen anyone use theirs?"

"Oh, that's because here in Paradis, we don't use quirks openly. It's an old decree from our ancestors," Dad said, waving his hand dismissively.

"But yes, most of the world has quirks. We just prefer to stick to our traditions and live as we always have."

I leaned forward, gripping the edge of the table. "Wait. So… we're not in some medieval, slayer of dragons world?" (A/N Don't complain about why he is acting this way.)

Dad grinned. "Yes, son! Paradis may seem old-fashioned, but outside our borders, it's all modern. We just happen to keep things a bit… classic around here."

My brain was scrambling to process this. The beautiful, traditional palace with swords, armours, and fancy titles. The royal family of Fritz. The island of Paradis. *Quirks*. It was like someone had smashed together two different worlds and stuck me in the middle of the mess.

And it wasn't just any modern world. It was the My Hero Academia world. I knew this because Dad had casually mentioned "quirks" like it was normal, and in my previous life, quirks only belonged to *one* world.

The world of heroes and villains. The world where everyone had insane powers, but also… where people could be seriously dangerous.

"What kind of quirk do I have?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly as the weight of the situation hit me.

Dad gave me a thoughtful look. "Well, you'll have to train it to figure out the specifics, but it looked like something energy-related when I saw you outside earlier. You'll be fine, Aiden. Everyone has quirks, and most of them live normal lives."

"Normal?" I repeated, incredulous. "Normal isn't exactly the word I'd use…"

But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. It explained why, even though I had lived in a palace that seemed to belong in the Middle Ages, there had always been strange technology in the background. Cell phones, computers… it was all there, but I'd just assumed it was some weird, steampunk-fantasy combination of magic and tech.

Nope. It was just modern life. I was the one living in a weird bubble, thinking this world was all knights and kings, while the rest of the planet was cruising around with quirks and heroes.

---

That night, I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Everything had changed. I thought I had been reborn into a peaceful, albeit quirky, royal family in a medieval setting. But no. I was in a modern world full of superpowers.

A world where people could shoot fire from their hands, control gravity, or grow extra limbs.

And I had a quirk. My hands still tingled from the energy blast I'd accidentally fired off earlier. What did that mean for me? What if my quirk was dangerous? What if I couldn't control it? 

More importantly, why hadn't anyone told me about this sooner?

I groaned, burying my face in my pillow. As if things weren't complicated enough already. First, I found out I was a member of the Fritz family from Attack on Titan, and now I had a quirk in the world of My Hero Academia? What was next?

Was I going to wake up one day and find out I was actually in a crossover of every anime ever created?

But one thought kept nagging at the back of my mind. Why had my family kept this from me? Why hadn't I seen anyone using their quirks in all the years I'd been alive?

Was there some kind of deeper reason why quirks weren't used in Paradis?

I decided I'd get answers. And if Dad was going to be cryptic about it, I'd just have to figure it out myself. Because one thing was clear: this world wasn't as simple as I thought.

And knowing my luck, things were only going to get weirder from here.

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