The Coward

Needed to do this for mc to finally have a complete personality. :|

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Somewhere in a random planet of the Multiverse...

A blond middle-aged man, wearing fancy and aristocratic clothes, was locked inside a spacious bedroom containing various antiques.

Well, more like he locked himself in.

"Y-you can do th-this Charles...! I-It's for the Kingdom after all!" He said as he guided his sword near his sweating neck.

The man, Charles, is currently trying his best to kill himself.

But with his quivering hands, heavy breathing, and fear-stricken face, if not for the sword that is currently near his neck, you would think that he's been found by some hardcore sadist instead.

"I-I can't do it after all!" Charles voiced out as he dropped the sword, causing it to land with a thud on the carpeted floor of the King's bedroom, his room.

With tears dripping down from his eyes, Charles plopped down on his bed, biting the blanket, his snot and tears getting all over it.

"I'm sorry for this failure of a son... mother, father..." He cried out with sadness, but mixed in was a hint of rage.

Not for his family, but for the Pope.

"That conniving lowlife...! Because of him... Because of him..!" King Charles gritted his teeth, anger apparent in his voice. "That bastard, I'll... skin him alive! Yes! That mongrel dares to... d-dares to... I-I will..."

But as he continued on with his short soliloquy of hatred, the usual fear and cowardice kicked itself in, leaving Charles quivering on his bed yet again.

Wrath as he might, in the end, it's just an emotion. Without action, what is its use?

"P-Please forgive me... father, mother, elder siblings... yet again, I..." Charles called out self-depreciatingly as he thought of all the sins he has committed to them.

His father, the previous king, was an upright and honorable man. A gallant knight in shining armor. The one who taught young Charles the ways of the knight.

His mother, the previous queen, was an elegant and refined woman. She was the one who always consoles him whenever he gets bullied by his eldest brother.

His eldest brother was a rather crass and rude squire. He always makes fun of him for being a coward, but Charles knows that it's just how he shows his love.

And lastly, his elder sister, the one he was supposed to wed. The person he loves the most. An adventurous and bubbly woman, she was.

A lovely family, is it not?

(A/N: next few paragraphs are a little disturbing)

"And yet... I... I..." Charles cried out again as he thought back to the times when he sinned them.

When he watched all of them die one by one as they called for his help.

His elder brother, stripped of all his clothing, beaten black and blue, slices all over his body. As he was burned alive, all Charles could do at the time was run away, too scared to intervene.

His mother, defiled, by the Pope no less. With his father impaled at his foot, forced to watch the whole process. Later on, they both committed suicide, leaving a letter for him not to fault himself, but it only made Charles' hatred for himself worse.

And worse of the lot, his elder sister was deemed as a witch. 'Evil practitioners' aiming for the downfall of the Goddess, the Pope declared to the public at the time. Two days later, Charles found his sister at the town square, butt-naked, limbs amputated, tongue-cut, and lifeless eyes, with various liquids all over her body. She was situated atop a pedestal, with vendors either selling rocks to throw or men waiting in line for her to 'service' by the side.

Even as a coward, Charles still had his limits.

So he ran to her, wailing loudly for everyone to hear. Alas, he was stopped in his place by three burly men that were nowhere near his match. Worse, instead of being mocked or beaten, they had worried expressions on their faces, as if afraid that Charles would get some kind of curse from his sister.

And as he saw the Pope grinning from afar, Charles finally realized.

'I cannot defy this man.'

From thereafter, Charles became the puppet of the Pope, using him for his own agendas.

Charles was crowned king, married to a non-royal blood, had children, and even recently declared war on the Spades Kingdom, a rising-power from the west.

For years Charles hid his hatred of both himself and the pope, for he knew that even with it, he won't be able to do anything. Which leads us to his current state.

"*hic* I beg of you... If there really is a Goddess up there, will you please... give me a little bit of courage..?" Charles kneeled down on the bed, facing a cup that symbolizes The Goddess.

Suddenly, as if to answer Charles' prayer, Charles felt something hot boiling within his body.

Shocked and confused at was what happening, Charles came to the conclusion that this was the Goddess' way of giving her blessings. And so, he banged his head even lower as he said with the most sincere expression on his face.

"O, Goddess, forgi—"

He plopped down the floor, dead.

Soul-dead, to be exact. His body was unharmed, but no soul occupies it.

And as the body lay peacefully, a wandering translucent ball of light, a soul, entered Charles' corpse through the ears and rested inside.

*twitch*

Starting from his fingers, Charles, no, Zach's body slowly started twitching as his heart pumped blood, his brain and all his body parts functioning again.

"What the hell, Zentros didn't tell me about this—"

Zach stopped mid-sentence, as he felt overwhelming, powering pain coursing throughout his whole body, especially in his brain.

"AARRGGHHHH!!!"

He screamed, not just from the pain all over his body, more so from the memories and emotions he inherited.

***

Meanwhile, in the MHA world...

"Have no fear, people, because I am here!"

"Muhahahaha! You and what army, hero?!"

"Humph! I have no need for an army if all I'm taking down is a bedwetter!"

"Y-You! How dare you mention my cruel past?! Are you really a hero?!"

As Zach entered possibly the most traumatic experience of his life, the kids of the orphanage were playing heroes and villains, like most children of the world.

Marita was being taught by Grandma Lola on how to iron clothes, again. And Head Priest Juan was watching quirk soccer on television, cheering for his favorite team.

A wholesome scene, all in all.

Except one person was not in a wholesome mood at all.

Althea is currently watching the boys play in the backyard with her mind occupied by the scene from when she ran from her home.

---

It was a sunny day with a cloudless sky. Children were playing, adults were chatting, and Althea was inside her home, helping her mother fold their clothes while her father was watching quirk soccer on television.

{"AND GOAALLL!! Donaldinho makes the SHOT! Did you see that folks?! The Goalkeep didn't even see the ball coming! Another win for the-"}

*bzzt*

"Honey, shouldn't you be helping us so we can go to the park faster?" Muerta 'smiled' and said to Felipe as she turned off the television.

Felipe, upon seeing his wife's 'smile' quickly got off from the couch as he put on the best smile he could muster.

"O-Of course my dear wife, I was just waiting for you to call me, haha..." He said, averting his eyes.

"Oh~? So you wouldn't do anything if I didn't call you?" Muerta questioned, still with a smile on her face.

Felipe sweated profusely.

*insert loli chuckling*

Hearing the cute laughter of their cute child, the couple smiled to each other as Felipe picked Althea up and Muerta finished her folding of clothes.

"What do you want to eat little one? We can buy lots of-"

Before Felipe could finish his sentence, Althea's whole body suddenly glowed bluish-white as her temperature rose.

"Althea...!" Muerta screamed worriedly as Felipe put Althea down on the floor slowly.

Althea felt that her whole body was burning, something a four year old shouldn't feel. Luckily, with her father's quirk, most of the pain was mitigated.

Felipe, upon using his quirk on someone else, which takes immense focus on his part, instructed Muerta to form a see-through cocoon with Althea in the middle so that they can minimize the damage of whatever what would happen.

Nodding her head, Muerta willed the vines entangled upon the furniture of the house to form a frontless cocoon with an area of 2 meters around Althea.

"Calm down little one, daddy and mommy's here for you alright?" Muerta instructed in a kind and soothing tone to Althea, who was currently having a panic attack.

Althea, upon hearing her mother's words, calmed down slightly as she inhaled and exhaled mightily.

"Papa?" Althea questioned as she looked at Felipe.

"Don't worry about your papa for now, dear. Do you feel any pain?" Muerta asked in the same soothing tone.

Nodding her head, Althea was just about to stand up when—

a small ice block, a smooth rock, a flower, a large water drop, and an orange flame suddenly circled around her, making Althea plop down back to the ground.

And as she stared absentmindedly, all of those items entered her body in a flash of light as—

the flame suddenly exploded, engulfing all the vines in flames, burning her parents, and blazing the whole house down.

Except that did not happen.

Right as the flame was about to explode, time stopped.

Yes, time stopped.

Felipe's panic, Muerta's worry, Althea's absentmindedness, and the vines' encroachment.

"..."

And just as fast as time stopped, it started to flow yet again.

"W-What happened...?" Muerta questioned, more to herself as she looked around and noticed that all the vines were gone and the stuff surrounding Althea was gone too.

"This power..." Felipe said as he seemed to have felt what happened.

"As expected of you. Even after all these years, you didn't lose your touch." Came a masculine voice from behind the three.

Turning around, Felipe and Muerta were faced with what can only be described as a vampire. Jet-black hair, pale grey skin, reddish eyes, and sharp teeth, Felipe recognized this person.

"Markandeya... What are you- Ah, I see... so you guys caught up, huh?" Felipe smiled bitterly.

"P, no, Felipe... You can still come back you know? It's not too late." Markandeya, the newcomer, said with a forlorn expression on his face.

"Heh, you know the boss, she won't forgive anyone who leaves, right?" Felipe closed his eyes as he hid Muerta who was holding Althea, behind him.

"B-But I'm sure she'll understand if we-"

"Markandeya." Felipe opened his eyes and looked straight at the vampire-like person.

Seeing Felipe's gaze, Markandeya gritted his teeth as he—

Suddenly appeared behind Muerta and stabbed her with his arm directly to her heart.

"Kuaaghh...!"

Vomiting blood, Muerta looked behind her and saw Markandeya, whose face was now stained with her blood, and his tears.

Felipe, upon witnessing the scene, was grief-stricken as he turned around and held his wife's body by the waist as he shouted.

"Mandaleya! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Felipe bellowed out with tears in his eyes.

Due to his age, Felipe wasn't able to follow Mandaleya's movements. And Muerta, though younger than her husband by almost two decades, also couldn't follow as she wasn't by any means a fighter.

Mandaleya, upon hearing Felipe's voice, squatted down next to Althea as he put his finger near her throat and said,

"Please don't make this harder than it already is, Felipe."

With his quirk not meant for fighting in the first place, and knowing Mandaleya's capabilities, Felipe stood up with his wife in his arms as he looked at Althea, who was confused and afraid at the sudden change of events.

"Make sure to live a happy life, my dear Althea..." He said as Mandaleya's hand went through his heart. "...And make sure to... live it to the fullest..."

Feeling his life slowly fading away, Felipe closed his eyes one last time.

"..."

Nobody said a word for half a minute as both Mandaleya's and Althea's silent tears fell down.

*beep* *beep*

Feeling a vibration in his pocket, Mandaleya picked up his phone and answered it.

"..."

{"Ah! Finished the job yet, Manda~? By the way, those goons of AFO really are something huh? You know, all we could do was hide cuz we don't know if their deaths're transmitted to the big guy himself-"}

"I'm finished. You can burn the place down now." Mandaleya curtly said.

{"Are you sure? No pedestrians nearby or somethin? Could be bad if some of them get caught up."} The voice said, looking like they were used to Mandaleya's way of reporting.

Hearing the question, Mandaleya looked at Althea for a moment before replying,

"None."

{"Oki~ Fire starts in 3... 2... 1..."}

*BOOM*

Suddenly, the whole house started to be engulfed in flames. From the inside, it slowly spread through Muerta's vines till it reached the outside, burning it's walls.

Mandaleya, upon seeing this, nodded his head as he stepped closer to Althea and using his abilities, morphed his head to look like a bat's, effectively scaring the little girl as she ran away from her home.

And as the confused, panicked, and terrified Althea ran out of her burning house, she would only come to remember this set of events the very next day.