Uraraka decided that she hated Bakugo Katsuki pretty early on in her time at UA. He was quite frankly a bully, was cruel to everyone and had nothing but scorn in store for anyone that tried to get close to him.

So she completely loathed having to fight off villains alongside him, because she despised his rotten personality, and personally, although she'd never say it, wondered how he intended on being a hero.

While she wasn't normally judgemental, something about Bakugo rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe his own harsh demeanor clashed too dramatically with her more outgoing, cheerful attitude, or maybe it was just gut instinct.

Either way, she didn't like him, and she liked working with him even less.

That, perhaps, was due to the complete lack of teamwork. He blasted his way through the villains with almost terrifying efficency, while she struggled with each and every fight.

"You're useless, Round-face." Bakugo snapped. With one finaly explosion, he finished off the villain that Uraraka had been fighting with little success.

She turned around to face him, still struggling to catch her breath. She'd had little experience using her zero gravity in combat, and in the Conflagration Zone, she had next to nothing to work with, since she couldn't touch much of the debris due to the horrifyingly high temperatures. It was fustrating and exhausting, the flames doing little to help with the sheen of sweat coating her features.

So she was prepared to give Bakugo a piece of her mind- sharp words bubbling in her throat, only to be greeted with the sight of his back as he stormed away.

"Where are you going?" She cried, half out of shock and half out of fustration.

"I need answers." Bakugo answered shortly, not even turning to look at her. "Don't follow me."

"What answers?" She snapped, her patience gone. "What could be so important that you'd do something as suicidal as go straight where the villains are?"

"It's none of your business." Bakugo now whirled on her, looking furious. "And I could totally take on those villains, so don't call it suicidal, you weak extra!"

She scampered after him as he stormed away. "You really shouldn't- we should try and escape or help-"

"Shut up! And don't follow me!" He snarled, interrupting her.

She continued though. She wanted to be a hero! And that meant even though she didn't like Bakugo, or his personality, or his cruelty, that she wouldn't try and help him, if she thought it would save a classmate.


"Oi Deku, time for some answers!"

Nomou was jolted out of his focus by the loud yell. He had barely a second of clarity as he felt the ice-cold clarity fade away, and he felt a flash of shock and fear, as sudden and as painful as lightning.

Then the static was back, and everything faded out of focus.

One word, one thought, however, wormed its way into his mind, before the static closed in on him like a pair of thick, oppressive curtains.

Kacchan.


It had been much harder to tell from so far away, but the nerd had changed.

He was skinnier for one.

Bakugo had known Izuku for a long time, and while Izuku had always been a little scrawny, he never looked this bad. The Deku he remembered was scrawny and awkward and smiling and-

And this Deku's clothes were baggy, and his face had a gaunt, haunted look to it. Bakugo didn't like it one bit.

He was paler, too. His face was a chalky white, and his eyes looked so much darker, so much emptier because of it. He could hardly see the resemblance with the Izuku with the flushed face and the burning eyes that stood out so clearly in his memory.

"You looked like you were calling for help."

And this Izuku with the dead eyes. Katsuki told himself that the nerd had always been so pathetic, but he felt cold at the thought that Izuku, with his blank eyes, couldn't even help himself.

"More interferences, how annoying." The creepy freak with the hands muttered. His hands clawed feverishly at his neck, and his red eyes narrowed in dislike.

"Nomou." Both Izuku and the massive bird turned to stare at him with the same blank eyes. "Not you." He said, gesturing dismissively at the large one. "You carry on."

Then he turned to Izuku. "You. Dispose of them."

And Izuku blurred into motion.

And it wasn't only the force of the blow that Deku dealt to him that sent him reeling.

That speed... That strength... It wasn't natural. It had to be a quirk- that was the only answer. But Deku was quirkless, Deku was weak and Deku never, ever had the courage to stand up for himself, never ever had the courage to actually fight back.

He could only stare in shock at the new blank Deku. This wasn't the same quirkless moron that used to follow him around. This wasn't the same Deku that had once, so long ago, been his friend. This wasn't the same Deku that had risked his life to save him.

And for once, Bakugo was stumped. All of the confusion, worry and guilt that had been gnawing at him since Izuku had disappeared caught up with him. He could only stare, struggling to process the feelings of revulsion and almost betrayal as he watched Deku slowly step towards Uraraka.


Nomou slowly walked forwards, looking down at the trembling girl. She had collapsed after just a few hits, from the power that felt like fire. Some part of him recalled that the quirk was some form of hardening, but that was hardly important at this point in time.

It was simple. All he had to do was defeat the two that Tomura ordered him to. It would be easy, all he needed to do was activate his quirk once more and aim for the head. Then they'd both collapse like puppets with their string cut, and it wouldn't matter to him at all.

He took another step forward. She was whimpering, and Nomu could tell that she was already exhausted, and her muscles were shaking with her efforts to move.

It would be easy.

Then he caught her eye. She was terrified. Her chocolate coloured eyes were wide with fear and brimming with tears. One glance told him how helpless she felt, how she was on the verge of accepting her fate.

And suddenly, memories came pouring through the static, and he froze.

He was clawing and struggling and squirming, but nothing was working. He was desperate, he was terrified, but none of it made any difference. He couldn't breathe and darkness was crawling across his vision.

He was going to die, and he knew it.

He was going to die, because he was powerless, because he was the least special and because he was just a useless Deku.

He slowly bought one hand to the side of his head in the hopes it would dull the trobbing pain as his memories tore their way through the static and the ringing words of Tomura's orders.

He remembered gasping for breath. He remembered disappointment.

He remembered having a choice, he remembered the temptation.

Unconsciously, he whispered the words ringing out clearly in his mind.

"No."

The girl stared at him, shock and confusion written all over her face, her eyes wide and still terrified. She was watching him warily, like he would attack her at many moment, but also with some small amount of curiousity.

Nomu wanted to say something- apologise, ask for help, anything- but another sudden burst of pain flared inside his skull as Tomura noticed his lack of movement and took action.

"Nomou!" Tomura howled, and the sheer rage and fustration contained in that one word was enough to make Nomou flinch.

Because, unbidden, more memories rose to the surface. He recognised the events this time, because they were about the time when the static first started and he had some hazy recollection of them at times when the static was slightly more forgiving.

"How do you like your new quirk Izuku?" It was Sensei that was talking, and he could hear rather than see the smirk in the man's voice.

He didn't respond. He was numb with disbeleif and at the same time, every single part of him throbbed with pain.

He couldn't have a quirk, it was impossible.

He was useless, quirkless. He couldn't have a quirk.

Sensei sighed, sounding more bored than disappointed. "Forced quirk activation." He said simply, and he bit down on his tongue to stop a scream at the sudden feeling of fire coursing through his arms. It hurt worse in some places than others, but he stared down at his hands in shock.

They were rough and a rough, smoky grey.

"It's a variant of a hardening quirk. There are plenty of them around." Sensei said idly, while he could only stare in horror.

Wrong.

This wasn't meant to happen. He'd always wanted a quirk, he remembered, he had always dreamed of this, but it was all wrong. It was like someone had taken his dream through a mirror and distorted it, and he was left wallowing in the horror of it all.

But stronger than the wrongness was the hatred that had settled firmly in his mind. The villains were evil, they were the cause of all of this and he hated them.

He had to escape.

He looked down at his hands, so wrong and so deformed, and didn't need to look at his arms to know that the dark splotches would be there too. This was wrong, this was terrible and he hated it.

But he could use it.

He could escape.

With some effort, Nomou dragged himself away from the memories. He already knew how this would end. Whatever he'd tried, it had failed, and the dark tendrils of fear were still wrapped firmly around his brain whenever he thought about the consequences of his attempted escape.

Unfortunately, the other Nomou had taken Tomura's screech as an order and had moved to crush the girl.

Nomou wasn't sure why he did it. His body just moved. He didn't have any reason to save the girl- he had been trying to kill her mere moments before- and he still had his orders to kill both her and the boy.

But instead he moved on reflex, and shoved her out of the way, just as the other Nomu's fist slammed into the ground where she had been moments before.

The rest was a blur.

He was aware of Tomura screaming and an awful, agonising pain in his head. He was aware of the static closing in on him and the last of the clarity he'd once longed for be covered and stolen away.

He was aware of other voices, both of them failing to spark any recognition, he was aware of Kurogiri talking, the other Nomu screaming.

He was aware of falling and then he was aware of nothing more.

#

All Might knew he had failed the instant the man with the Warp Gate quirk reappeared. He only needed to hear the word 'reinforcements' to know that they were going to bolt.

He was winning. It was a long, drawn out fight and although the huge monster hadn't shown any visible signs of weakness, he'd felt its punches grow weaker and weaker.

If he'd been late because he'd overused his quirk... He didn't want to think on what would happen.

But instead he'd been talking to Inko Midoriya and apologising again. He blamed himself for Izuku's disappearance, thinking that maybe, just maybe his own harsh words had driven the boy to... to whatever had happened.

And Inko hadn't been coping well. Now All Might worried for her, because she looked frailer and thinner and sicker every time he saw her. She needed someone to vent to, being so very lonely without her son, and he was more than happy to listen, if it would help.

So he desperately wanted to somehow save Izuku from the grip of the villains, because he still saw the boy with the heart of a hero, the boy with Nana's smile, the boy he'd so badly wanted as his successor. He wanted to save Izuku so he could somehow fix what he'd felt he caused.

But the massive monster wouldn't let him get close. It was infuriating.

He could just hear little snippets of conversation as he traded blows with one of the toughest opponents he'd ever faced.

"Kurogiri, Nomou's being defective. Again."

"That's... troubling. I realise that we had no choice but to leave him like this due to his analysis skills... But for him to rebel so soon..."

The monster let out a deafening screech as All Might punched it square on the jaw, and he felt the beast shudder from the impact.

"The reinforcements will be here soon. We must leave."

"I..." Tomura glared at Izuku. "Fine."

The monster's attacks were getting wilder now. It's desperation showed in its movements.

"Defective Nomou! Get over here." Tomura bellowed, and All Might would later hear from Uraraka that Izuku flinched at the voice.

One last punch and the Noumu he was fighting collapsed, no longer having the strenth to move.

Then the reinforcements arrived. The villains panicked. And All Might lost Izuku.

Izuku was stuck on the back of the head, and fell limply into the portal. Tomura gave them one last venomous look, dark eyes promising pain and death and suffering.

Bakugo was screaming, apparently recovering from his shock. "Deku!"

Uraraka had finally dissolved into tears.

And Izuku was gone.

Cementos sheilded him from the two students, and All Might felt his stength slip away from him. He sank to his knees, gasping for breath. He thought of Izuku's dead eyes, so lifeless and dead and horrible, compared with the fire he'd seen when the boy rushed forwards to save young Bakugo. He thought of Inko's eyes, welling with a horrible, anguished sadness.

And allowed himself to feel complete and utter defeat.