BNHA: Force Within

Anakin pushed his rice around his plate, a sure sign something was bothering him. Megumi watched him from across the dinner table, waiting. He'd been quiet since coming home from school.

"Mom?" he finally asked. "Can you tell me about my dad?"

Megumi's chopsticks froze halfway to her mouth. She'd been dreading this conversation. Over the years, she'd given him vague answers - that his father wasn't in the picture, that it was complicated, that they'd talk about it when he was older.

"Why do you want to know now?"

"We're doing a project at school. About our families and quirks." Anakin set his chopsticks down. "Everyone else knows where their quirks came from. Kenji has his dad's color-changing and his mom has a bubble quirk. But I don't know anything about my dad's quirk."

Megumi put her bowl down. "Anakin, there's something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you before, but I wasn't sure how."

"Is he dead?"

"Yes, but... it's more complicated than that." She took a deep breath. "You don't have a father, not in the usual way."

Anakin's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Nine years ago, a man with a quirk I'd never seen before used his power on me. Two months later, they found his body - he'd died from quirk overuse. Around the same time, I discovered I was pregnant with you."

"But... how?"

"His quirk could create life. He used it on me without my permission, and then he died from quirk overuse." Megumi watched her son's face carefully. "That's why your quirk is so unique. It came from him, but it's evolved into something different."

Anakin was quiet for a long moment, processing this. "So... I'm like Jesus?"

The question caught Megumi off guard. "What?"

"We learned about it in history class. Jesus didn't have a dad either. His mom had him because of God's power." He looked up at her. "Is that what happened to me? But with a quirk instead of God?"

Megumi felt tears pricking at her eyes, but she blinked them away. "Something like that. Though I don't think the man who did it was anything like God."

"Was he a villain?"

"I don't know. I never knew who he was or why he did it. The police found his body, but they couldn't identify him."

Anakin looked down at his hands - the hands he used to control his quirk. "Is that why my quirk is different? Why Dr. Nakamura says she's never seen one quite like it?"

"Yes. The man had some kind of power similar to yours, but much weaker. Somehow, when you were born, it had evolved into something stronger."

"Are you mad at him? For what he did?"

Megumi reached across the table and took his hand. "I was, for a long time. But then I had you, and being angry didn't matter anymore."

"Did you ever wish... that it hadn't happened?"

"Never." Megumi squeezed his hand. "Not for a single second."

Anakin nodded slowly. "That's why Grandpa moved back from America, isn't it? To help you?"

"Yes. Everyone helped - Grandpa, Grandmother, Great-Grandma Chiyo. They all wanted to make sure we were okay."

"Does it bother you? That my quirk came from him?"

"No, because it's not his quirk anymore. It's yours. You've made it into something completely different."

They sat in silence for a while, their dinner forgotten. Anakin seemed lost in thought, occasionally making his chopsticks float absently above the table.

"Can I tell Kenji?" he asked finally.

"If you want to. But you don't have to tell anyone if you're not ready."

"I think... I think I want to keep it private for now." He picked up his chopsticks again. "Except maybe Dr. Nakamura. She might understand more about my quirk if she knows."

"That's very mature of you."

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for telling me the truth."

After dinner, Megumi called her father.

"I told him," she said when Ben answered.

"How did he take it?"

"Better than I expected. He compared himself to Jesus."

Ben chuckled softly. "Leave it to Anakin to find the bright side. Do you want me to come over?"

"No, I think we're okay. He's processing it in his own way."

Later that night, Megumi found Anakin sitting on his bed, looking at old photos on her phone - pictures of himself as a baby with his family.

"Do you have any other questions?" she asked, sitting beside him.

"Just one." He looked up at her. "If you could change what happened, would you?"

"No." Megumi pulled him close. "Because then you wouldn't be you."

"Mom?" His voice was quiet now. "I love you."

"I love you too."