Summary: Enter Shigaraki Tomura. Warnings: Blood and implied character death.

...

Tenko's scream echoed through the quiet apartment.

He covered his eyes with his hands and shrieked even louder. Blood poured down his face as his own touch betrayed him. The skin of his forehead burned, and the air around him stung like ice. His entire world was dyed red. Blood ran down his neck and arms and dripped off his fingertips.

Tenko wobbled and collapsed. His eyes lost focus and he passed out.

Tenko woke with a start as he heard someone bang at the front door.

"SHIMURA! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! YOU'RE LATE!"

The boy's heart pounded. Everything ached, but he scrambled up in panic. He heard a crack and the sound of splintered wood, and he fled into his room. He held his breath as heavy footfalls invaded his home. Absentmindedly he noted that the intruders hadn't removed their shoes.

Tenko's eyes shut as the voices got closer. He longed to cover his ears, but he learned from his last mistake.

"Shimura, Yokusai isn't happy, but as long as he gets the money you're in the cl—WHAT THE HELL!"

"What is it? HOLY—What happened?! It's a damned massacre scene in here."

Shoulders tense, Tenko backed away from his door and headed towards his bed, he would climb out of the window and then get he-! He slipped on ash and dust and cried out in surprise.

"Someone's back there!"

"What?!"

Tenko paled. His door was shoved open, and he had nowhere to run.

The man in the doorway called out to his partner, "It's Shimura's brat," and he turned to face Tenko.

His voice was almost gentle, "Hey kid, what happened here? Are you hurt?"

Tenko felt himself drawn to the man. His fear melted away, and he tried to speak, "I-I—"

The other man interrupted him, "Watch out Kandou, we don't know if the kid has a quirk."

Kandou shot his partner an irritated look, and the spell was broken. Tenko blinked and shook his head. He looked back and forth between the two men in his room, but his legs remained rooted to the spot. They were here for his father.

His father?

Memories flooded his mind. The bed. The dust. The BLOOD.

"KANDOU SHUT HIM UP! HE'LL WAKE THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD!"

Tenko scratched at his arms and screamed. He screamed and screamed until his throat was raw. Kandou tried to speak over him, but Tenko didn't even register his presence.

"FINE I'LL DO IT!"

The second man snatched Tenko by the front of his shirt and yelled at him to shut him up. Tenko's eyes widened and he instinctively grabbed at the arm that held him. Soon it was the man who screamed. His arm was gone in seconds. Tenko dropped to the floor and rocked back and forth.

"Fault. My. Fault. My. Fault…"

Kandou looked at the boy on the floor and his partner who cursed and pressed at the stub that was once his arm.

He whistled, "Now that's a quirk. I'm taking him to Yokusai."

His partner grit his teeth, "No way. I'm gonna kill that brat."

Tenko's head snapped up at that, "Kill?"

The temperature in the room dropped. The two grown men couldn't help the shudder that crept up their spines. The boy's attention was fixated on his hands.

A smile spread on the child's cracked lips and he laughed, "Heroes come after killers, right?"

"Hey. They'll come, right?"

They did not come.

Tenko carefully buttoned up a new shirt by himself. Father wouldn't like the mess. He carefully washed his face and approached the entryway. He ignored his shoes, turned slightly, and called out, "I'll be back father."

He took a couple of steps outside of his home and the horror of what he'd seen—what he'd done sunk in. A weight pressed down on the boy, and he staggered.

"Hel…p me… Somebody…"

With each step he repeated this phrase over and over until he was no longer certain if he spoke aloud. People whispered and passed him by. Concern tinted their speech, but none made a move to approach. They went about their daily lives, and Tenko remained. Horrified.

He collapsed at some point. Had he been crying? His stomach growled. How long? Tenko barely registered the pair of feet that stopped in front of him.

"So nobody came to save you, huh, little one…?"

Tenko ignored the voice.

"It must have been so hard for you… Shimura Tenko."

His hands twitched.

The voice continued, "'Just wait, a hero will come to his rescue,' they say, and so assured, everyone makes as though they don't even see you there."

Even now not a single person directed their eyes toward the troubled boy.

"Who is it that made society this warped, I wonder?"

Disdain made him sneer as he glanced at All Might's image plastered throughout the area. But he smiled softly and stretched out his hand and offered it to the boy.

"It's not your fault little one."

Tenko looked up then and stared at the man incredulously, at his outstretched hand even more so. His gaze was almost hungry. A helping hand, the warmth of another person, mere days and they were so easily forgotten.

"It hurts," he said while he gripped at his chest, careful to leave one finger held out.

His hands shook.

"What is this? It hurts so much."

The boy's brow, mostly hidden by hair nearly bleached white, carried wounds that would likely scar him for the rest of his life. His quirk was likely to blame. All for One retracted his outstretched hand and knelt by the boy. The man scribbled two characters on the ground. The first was simple, one that reminded him of his younger brother if only because of its shape. He did not dwell on the meaning himself.

"Tomurau. To mourn."

The boy looked down at the word with an understanding that surpassed his age, "Tomura… That's me."

"Tomura. Father—hrk!"

The boy bent forward and retched, but nothing came up. His eyes lit up with rage fueled by the unfairness of the world, and he slapped his hand on the character written on the ground. The area under his hand grayed and crumbled at his touch. The character, long gone, imprinted itself on the boy's mind.

He grabbed the dust and glared at his hand.

"Are you really going to help me, Sensei?"

Sensei? He liked the sound of that.

All for One placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and looked towards the future. He saw a future with All Might on his knees, face full of regret and despair.

"Let's help each other."

...

弔う: Tomura.u: to mourn

弟: Otouto: younger brother

死柄木弔: Shigaraki Tomura