Notes: So originally, this was supposed to have a Bakugou POV too, but then the chapter got too long. At 9k, these two scenes sit on their own. I wanted this "arc" to be three chapters, but once I finished these scenes, I realized that the chapter was going to be like 18k if I added the next scene. I was concerned that it would be an overload of really important scenes. It might feel a little weird not seeing Bakugou, Deku, and the others (only hearing), but trust me when I say the next part is gonna be big. The next chapter is already done, so that's a relief at least.

"I know, better than anyone else, that there are no heroes coming to save us. There are no good Epics. None of them protect us. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
― Brandon Sanderson, Steelheart

Leaving Uraraka was more difficult than he could've imagined. He had to get her out of the way. Underestimating her would be a mistake. During their time at UA, so many people had overlooked her, but Todoroki knew she and her quirk were a force of nature. Like any hero should, she did not hesitate to drop herself into the thick of battle and put her entire heart into fighting back. She could get injured or killed and they wouldn't be able to do a thing about it while locked in their own battles.

That was the problem with Deku. He was too trusting, even now. He might've deluded himself into believing these villains wouldn't hurt her, but Todoroki didn't trust them for a second. Even Dabi, who had refrained from hurting her multiple times, might turn on her if he was in danger of getting caught and not being able to finish his goal. In their own way, the villains cared about Deku, but that only meant they'd kill Uraraka if they thought it served a better purpose and might help him. It would be easy to explain her death away as collateral damage.

Todoroki couldn't allow that. He couldn't let her get hurt because they were too caught up in their own struggles. Despite his distractions, the telltale rumbles and explosions echoed around him, reminding him that somewhere on this street Deku and Bakugou were engaged in a battle. Still, he had to remain focused on Uraraka before he could help his best friend – and he had to kill his father.

His mind had screamed as he fought her, pulling him in two different directions, a tornado of conflicting desires and needs. His boiling hatred for his father and need to erase him from his life jerked him one way, demanding that he leave her behind and return to helping Dabi take Endeavor down. She wasn't important. She wasn't what he needed right now. Later. He would deal with her later and then he would help Deku take down Bakugou. Another false hero off the charts.

However, he couldn't possibly ignore her. She wasn't a hero he could knock off. She was good, true, kind and she would either get in his way or get hurt. Using his ice to contain her was the quickest solution he had. He took her out of harm's way. This was the safest place for her. She was good. Yes, she was furious with him now, crying out for him and desperately trying to pull her leg out of the ice, but it didn't matter. He'd rather her be alive and angry with him than dead and nothing.

"You'll be safe." Not even he could tell if he was telling her or himself. She had to be. If something were to happen to her, Deku would never forgive him, but, even worse, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself either.

Stay with her. Maybe she's right. She's going to get herself killed trying to save us.

No! a voice screamed. His conscience? You need to do this! You'll never be able to live until he's gone! Do it! Show him just how strong he made you.

Todoroki took off without another word, Uraraka's shrieks chasing him. He couldn't look back. If he looked back, he would be lost. Arguing with her had jarred something loose in his head and it rattled around noisily, distracting and confusing him. His head pounded something fierce despite her protecting him when they crashed into his ice wall. He tried to blink the pain away, but it wouldn't stop. A siren blared in his head and he had to– had to get rid of Endeavor– had to wipe the slate clean so he could start from scratch.

Massive explosions and green and red lightning crackled behind him, but all he latched onto the powerful flames rising in the air ahead of him. Brilliant blues and incredible oranges and reds bleeding together into the color of a sunset. Even from a distance, he could feel the residual heat in the air that the fire caused. Anyone without fire resistance would swelter in this heat. It forced everyone back, keeping other heroes and villains alike out of the fight. Todoroki didn't have that problem. This arena was made for him.

Once he stepped into the clearing their fight had caused, Todoroki frowned. Dabi was holding his own, but was starting to fare poorly against Endeavor. It was only to be expected. Once he had explained the full lengths of his quirk, Todoroki had finally understood why he had shined where Touya had failed. His fire quirk was incompatible with his body, therefore making him a dud in Endeavor's eyes. Pushing his quirk to make his flames stronger than their father's had nearly killed him (and in a way it had), but Dabi's hotter firepower and support gear had nothing on Endeavor's decades of experience.

That was where Todoroki stepped in. He would fill in the gaps where Dabi lacked. Together, they would finally end the reign of the man that had controlled, manipulated, and ruined every aspect of their lives. Endeavor had taken away so much from them: their freedom, future, hop. He had taken Touya away from him. Yes, he was here now and Todoroki felt strangely grateful, but Dabi wasn't Touya, not anymore. That boy had been burned away a long time ago.

Todoroki lifted his left hand to attack when something caught his attention. Something glimmered in the light of the flames and moved at his right. He looked over in time to see an injured cop aiming a gun at Dabi, who caught sight of him as well. Too weakened to dodge completely, Dabi threw a haphazard column of flames at the cop in an attempt to protect himself, but it left him open to be attacked by Endeavor.

It didn't happen.

Endeavor saw the cop too and shouted, "No!" right as the cop squeezed off a shot. Instead of attacking Dabi, he lurched forward and the bullet, which would've struck Dabi in the chest, pierced him in the gut.

Todoroki responded immediately, using his right foot to create multiple beams of ice that crashed into Endeavor's back with a sickening crunch. His father was knocked face first into the ground and skidded painfully through the rubble. For good measure, Todoroki made his ice slide past him and encase the cop as well. He cried out in shock from the cold and dropped the gun, unable to focus on anything else while the ice froze him.

Dabi stood still as well, breathing heavily and staring at the struggling form of their father on the ground as smoke poured from him. Blood seeped out from the gunshot wound, but it was hard to tell if it was life-threatening. It depended on what organs were hit. Gunshot wounds were fickle like that. The ice attack looked like it might have hurt him more. The shell-shocked expression on Dabi's pale, scarred face looked misplaced. Todoroki understood why he looked that way.

What had their father been thinking? Had he actually believed protecting Dabi would change their mind about killing him? Like one good deed outweighed all his horrific ones?

Endeavor was their father. He was supposed to protect them. Staring now was thirty or so years too late.

A dark look overcame Dabi as his face twisted into a furious snarl. Ah, the same questions must have come to him. He stormed over to their father and kicked him in the side as hard as he could. Endeavor grunted in pain, but he didn't get up. The fires of his costume flickered, some of them dying out.

"Oh, does it hurt?" Dabi growled. "Are you tired? Are you injured? Do you need a moment to breathe?" He kicked him in the side again. "Get up." Kick. "Get up!" He kicked wildly over and over again, blue flames flashing around his hands. He didn't even seem to notice he'd activated his quirk. "It doesn't matter if you're hurt! If you feel like you're going to die! A hero doesn't give up! Stop being so pathetic! Get the fuck up!"

"Touya–" their father wheezed out, grabbing his ankle to stop his kicks.

Dabi ripped his ankle out of his grip and staggered backward. "Don't. Don't you fucking dare." He would've fallen had Todoroki not stepped up behind him and caught him with a hand on his back.

"Calm down," Todoroki said.

"Fuck that!" Dabi ripped away from him and furiously paced in a circle. He took a few deep breaths and ran a hand down his face, streaking blood that had seeped from where his staples had torn his skin further. "Fuck that," he added in a duller tone, staring down but not seeing anything. Todoroki understood that well. Oftentimes he tripped into a memory and had to claw his way back out.

His father struggled to get up. "Shouto, don't." The gunshot hadn't hurt him nearly as much as the ice's direct hit. Todoroki wouldn't be surprised if he'd broken a bone or two. He could've killed him right then, but it hadn't felt right. No, he wanted to look his father in the eyes when he died. He wanted to see the light go out in them so he'd know for sure the monster was dead and the nightmare was finally over. "This isn't you. It's the quirk. Whatever he did to you, I'm sorry. I couldn't save you. I couldn't–"

A burst of blue flames exploded in their father's face, forcing him down, and Dabi reared on him. "Shut the fuck up!" He stomped his boot heel down on the gunshot wound and dug in deep. It was a testament to Endeavor's strength that he didn't howl, but merely grit his teeth and grunted, bearing the pain. "We wouldn't even be in this position if it wasn't for you." He straightened and gestured around them. "This isn't what you wanted? Someone with a quirk strong enough to take down the number one hero? Or only when it wasn't you? Because I gotta say, you're pretty fucking hypocritical as it is."

Their father didn't say a word this time. Perhaps he knew better or maybe he simply didn't have anything to say. It was obvious they had judged him and found him guilty enough to be deserving of death. He didn't look angry. The thought niggled in the back of Todoroki's mind, itching its way to the forefront to be heard, but he shoved it down. Of course his father was angry. He hated this. He hated them for not being exactly what he'd wanted. He didn't give a shit about either one of them.

Dabi snorted in disdain. "You're just pissed a failure like me managed to make myself stronger than you and helped take you down." They stared at one another, their eyes mirror images. How had Todoroki not seen it before? How had their father? It made some sort of sense for him not to remember since he had been young when Touya had vanished in the night and separated from his siblings. But their father couldn't even recognize his own son right in front of him? "Who's the pathetic one now? You should've killed me instead of trying to play the hero. Because that's not me."

"You are my greatest failure," their father told him. To Dabi's credit, he didn't even flinch. "Because I failed you. I wasn't a father. I wasn't a hero. I tried to turn you both into what I wanted and I was wrong, but Kyomu is doing the same thing. He's using you the way I did. Don't let him. You deserve better and I'm–"

"Wrong answer," Dabi interrupted with a sneer, pushing further down on his chest with his boot. "You don't get to say that. We don't need your apologies. We just need you gone."

Todoroki stayed silent. For some reason, it felt important to let Dabi and Endeavor speak. Besides the fight outside of Kaminari's apartment, he couldn't remember the last time they had talked. How long had it been since Touya's accident? Since the morning he dragged himself down to the kitchen for breakfast and found Fuyumi sobbing hysterically on the floor. Touya and their father had gotten into a huge argument the night before, hadn't they? It was hard to remember. Some things were so vivid while others were distant.

("Where's Touya?" he asked from the floor, panting with the effort to get up.

His father glared at him from above, his facial features pulled into a look of disgust. "He's gone."

And just like that, he was and they were never to talk about him again. But he was here, he'd been with him for years, they'd fought against each other and now they were together and it made sense, it felt right, it was better–)

Dabi finally looked over to him and held out a smoking hand. Considering that he had been mad with rage moment's earlier and all too eager to hunt down Endeavor, there was a rather patient expression on his face now. Not bored, not distant, not unimpressed. Patient. Like an older brother. Todoroki's eyes dropped down to his hand. He knew what it meant. He was offering to dirty his hands and shoulder the weight, but their father's death would only make him lighter. He couldn't breathe under Endeavor's reign, weighed down by the chains of his past that not even Kyomu could help him with.

("If I could've done more for you…" Kyomu sighed. "Uraraka wanted me to ease your pain."

"It's okay. Some things you shouldn't forget.")

"No," Todoroki murmured, shaking his head, "this is what I was meant to do."

He took a deep breath and formed a thick ice spear in his right hand. Looking him directly in the eyes, Todoroki plunged the spear into his father's chest as hard as he could until it hit the ground underneath him and let go.

Todoroki took a deep breath, fully expecting to feel relief as his father choked on his own blood. Instead, he felt uncertain. This was not the time for that. He didn't know where the feeling came from. He had spent his entire life wanting to be free of this monster and he finally was. He'd never truly been able to make his own choices, not with Endeavor's shadow hanging over him like a cloud. Finally, he had stepped up and made his move. A lifetime filled with hatred, pain, and longing – all because of this man and his stupid, petty goals – and he was done with it. He could breathe easy. The nightmare was over. This was what he wanted, all he dreamed about, what he desperately needed.

Wasn't it?

Why didn't he feel happy? He should feel something, but the lack of anything on his end didn't make sense. He stared down at the man with a furrowed brow, a twisted panic building up in his chest, nausea twisting his guts. Why did each breath he take feel as painful as it looked for Endeavor to do? Todoroki breathed heavily through his nose, his chest rising and falling, as frustration swirled in his mind. Next to him, Dabi was absolutely silent and still, as if he had nothing left to give.

Nothing at all. This was nothing like he'd expected. No triumph, no laughter, no smirk, no "Congratulations, little brother, you did it." What was wrong with them?

Kill his father. Rid himself of the nightmare. Breathe. Live. He could live now. What was wrong? Why did this feel like a mistake? Something was missing, but he couldn't find the piece as the light in his father's eyes dimmed. Todoroki looked around as if he could find it, but there was nothing except blood, ice, and rubble. Endeavor looked painfully human as all the flames from his costume fully extinguished, leaving him little more than a broken man."

Why did this hurt? It wasn't supposed to hurt. It was supposed to feel good, freeing. He was supposed to be free.

"This is your fault," Todoroki said in a strained voice. "I just wanted one thing – one damn thing – and you're taking this away from too. Why can't I enjoy this? Why do you have to ruin everything?" He melted the ice spear, but that didn't take away the hole in his father's chest. Before he knew it, he was on his knees and gripping the front of Endeavor's costume, jerking on him wildly. "Answer me, damnit! It's always about you! Why? Why can't you let me have this one thing? I just wanted an end to this!"

"Shouto–" Strong hands wrapped around his arms, pulling him back, and Todoroki fought to shrug them off. He was felt like she was being dragged back to a strange reality he didn't understand. He didn't want to go there where things didn't fit. "Shouto, stop it; we have to go–"

"This is what I wanted!" Shouto shouted, as if repeating it out loud would make him feel something – anything – that made sense. He ignored Dabi hunched over him trying to drag him away, pushing back on him again. All he could see was his father dying. The blood seeping out, pooling around his body, soaking into the knees of his pants and his hands as it spread over his father's costume. "This can't be it. There's nothing ."

Endeavor choked as he fought to breathe. Blood dribbled out of his mouth, streaking down his chin and across his cheek, but he managed to lift a trembling hand. That was the strength of Endeavor. He couldn't just lie down and die, not like Todoroki wished he would. Instead of touching Todoroki, however, he laid his on Dabi's arm, his blood staining the brace on his sleeve and the scars on his exposed skin. "My son…"

An incredibly alarmed expression pulled at Dabi's features, but unlike before, he didn't jerk away. It was like he was incapable of focusing on more than one thing, his brain unable to process even moving.

"Get...Shouto…" – their father struggled with every word, but Dabi was frozen in a crouch, staring at his face, while Shouto held his breath – "away..."

Violent, bloody coughs interrupted Endeavor, but it was all he needed to say. Dabi snapped out of whatever fog he'd fallen into, slowly sliding his arm out of Endeavor's weak grip. His hand fell back to his chest over the horrific wound. With two puncture wounds to the chest, it was only a matter of seconds before he bled out. No one would be in time to save him. Tightening one hand on Todoroki's arm, Dabi wrapped his other arm around his chest and hoisted him to his feet, dragging him kicking and screaming away from Endeavor.

"Get off me!" Todoroki snapped, fighting back against Dabi. Both of his quirks flickered to life, like a switch being flicked on and off, but Dabi refused to let go of him. The ice didn't bother him, Todoroki knew his fire stung him fiercely, judging from the way he hissed in pain, but the bastard only held on tighter.

"Stop fighting me, Shouto," Dabi snapped, jerking on him so hard that Shouto's feet were briefly lifted from the ground. "We have to get out of here–" Something zipped through the air and struck him in the shoulder. "Shit!"

Shouto slipped out of Dabi's loosened grip, his feet slamming on the ground, and turned around to snap at his brother for holding him back. Instead of arguing with him, Dabi stumbled backward, holding onto his shoulder, and crashed against a burned out car. Shouto stared at him, watching as blood similar to his father's seeped out of from underneath his hand and down his wrist and jacket.

"Wha–?" Shouto blinked, his eyes falling down to the feather on the ground at Dabi's feet. Realization dawned on him quickly. He knew every hero in the top one hundred, after all, considering that he had been in the top five. A cold feeling settled into his gut, rage boiling over until it was all he could feel. It was the only emotion that made sense. He couldn't understand why he wasn't pleased with his father's death. He couldn't make sense of why it hurt so much. That wasn't what Kyomu promised. He said it would feel good. He'd be free.

Maybe he had to rid the top of a few more fakes first. After all, it wasn't like no one had known that Endeavor wasn't a good person. How could they miss all the telltale signs of abuse? They knew and they didn't care. They worked alongside him like it wasn't a big deal, just another thing they could look over for the greater good. It didn't matter if Endeavor had to step all over his family to get to the top.

Shouto took a deep breath and lifted his gaze from the feather. "Hello, Hawks."

"Aw, Shouto, I really didn't want it to come to this," Hawks sighed, crouched over Endeavor. He stood up now, his right hand painted red.

It didn't matter. It would always come to this. Maybe he wasn't meant to make it out in the end either.

Uraraka couldn't move. Her mind screamed at her to do something. Run. Fight. Save him. ( You have to save the number one hero. You can't let Shouto kill his father. You can't let him do this to himself. ) But it was as if Todoroki had frozen her to the ground with his quirk.

This couldn't be happening. It couldn't. She was going to save him. She was going to make sure that he didn't do the one thing Kyomu had manipulated him into doing.

Witnessing the destruction of Endeavor's agency had been painful enough. It was hard to believe she could bring him back from that. If she did manage to break from of the hold Kyomu had on him, Todoroki would be devastated. There was no beating around the bush: he had killed innocent people. She couldn't be certain of his motives. Had he done it to bring Endeavor out of hiding? Had he done it as punishment for ignoring or looking away from his father's crimes towards his family? Had he even cared about them at all? Had he even considered them when he penetrated the building with his ice?

Even after wafting through the horror inside the agency, Uraraka thought she could still save him. He would never be the same after the attack, but he could come back from this. Killing his father would break him. She didn't know if he could ever recover from that; she didn't know if he would want to anymore. Maybe the quirk would start to crack once he did the job and found it lacking. He could snap out of it, but he could always dig in deeper as a coping mechanism.

How would he react if he got exactly what he thought he wanted, only to find out it wasn't real? Deku had started to fall deeper into his delusions about his future with Uraraka once she was with him. It wasn't what he'd pictured. Instead of coming out of it, his mind reinforced the false reality even further. They needed it to be true after everything that they'd done. If it wasn't...

If these things weren't what they truly wanted – Bakugou's and Endeavor's deaths, the end of a corrupt hero society – then all they had done would be for nothing. They had killed and shattered lives and shaken the foundation of the community for no damn reason. It was horrifying. Their minds literally might not be able to take it. Not everyone could handle Kyomu's quirk. What if that was the final piece? Once their false thoughts and memories shifted back into reality, they completely broke down, like a vehicle that was driven until it broke down for good and had to be junked.

What if that was Todoroki now?

Tears welled in her eyes over her hands as his visage began to crack. He switched from confused to furious in a matter of seconds. He dropped to his knees and grasped Endeavor by his costume, shaking him and screaming for answers. His expression was contorted into one of rage, but his voice was raw with pain, confusion, and grief. Was he crying? She didn't think he even realized tears were slipping down his face.

"This is what I wanted!" Shouto cried out desperately as Dabi tried to pull him away from their dying father.

It wasn't. Once upon a time, Todoroki had hated his father. He had wanted to do everything he could to prove that he was better and stronger than him without using the fire half of his quirk. He had wanted absolutely nothing to do with him - but even then, he hadn't wanted his father dead. They had a complicated relationship and they always would. Endeavor had seen to it that Todoroki would never fully be able to trust or love him like a son should a father. He had hated him, but wishing for his death never crossed his mind.

Not like it had his oldest brother's. No wonder Kyomu had been able to twist Todoroki's memories so easily. One son had already fallen to the wayside. Somehow, Todoroki had remained strong. He had been good and heroic, if only out of spite in the beginning. It could've easily gone the other way, if Dabi was anything to go by.

Kyomu tipped the scale in the other direction, leaving Uraraka to watch as the brothers struggled to handle the reality of what they'd finally accomplished.

"Uravity."

She blinked at the familiar-sounding voice and a gloved hand on her shoulder, startling in shock when feathers flashed in her vision. When she turned her head fully, Hawks was standing next to her, an unreadable expression on his face. She struggled to find the words, but all she could do was say in a hollow tone, "I was too late; I couldn't save him." She wasn't sure if she was talking about Shouto or Endeavor.

"We've still got a job to do," Hawks told her, holding out a pair of quirk inhibitor braces. He looked more serious than she'd ever seen him. He wasn't the young hero he used to be, back when she was a UA student. She and her friends had slowly started to take his place as the new generation, but he was still an incredible hero. Swallowing her grief, she nodded and took the braces. "Can you get through to Shouto?"

"I…" Uraraka swung her gaze back to Todoroki, who was fighting against Dabi like a lost boy. "I don't know."

"Not good enough."

Uraraka steeled her nerves. "I will."

"Better. We have to take him out if we want a shot at containing Deku too. His defense is too strong, but he looks unsettled right now." Hawks popped his neck. "I'll make an opening and get them away from Endeavor." He flapped his wings in preparation to take off. "I can't believe I was this late to the party."

Without another warning, he was off. She was always amazed by how fluid Hawks was in the air. He took to the skies like he was meant to be there instead of on the ground. She loved floating and felt at home there, but it was nothing like him. She didn't have his dexterity or his maneuverability yet. Instead of heading straight for them, Uraraka slipped around the side so she could come up on them from behind. With firepower like theirs, fighting them head-on would be a mistake for her. She needed to subdue Todoroki and clamp the braces on him.

Striking Dabi in the shoulder with one of his feathers as he dropped down next to Endeavor, Hawks broke Dabi and Todoroki apart. A grimace flickered across his face after briefly examining the fallen number one hero before he wiped his expression clean again.

While he had been struggling seconds ago, Todoroki went deadly still and silent as he stared at the offending feather on the ground. Slowly, he turned around and lifted his gaze to connect eyes with Hawks, a terrible chill settling in his mismatched eyes. Uraraka's stomach twisted when she realized his gaze was starting to look empty like Deku's. Despite the rage and despair on his face moments before, there was nothing in his voice when he greeted, "Hello, Hawks."

Even though Uraraka knew he could see her creeping up from behind, Hawks didn't even blink as he stood up and flippantly replied, "Aw, Shouto, I really didn't want it to come to this."

"Then leave," Shouto told him.

Hawks shook his head. "You know I can't do that."

A faint sneer crossed Shouto's face. It didn't look right on him. "Of course not. You were always up my father's ass. You knew he was a piece of shit, but you admired him anyway." Hawks didn't react, but kept his gaze forward and unwavering so that Todoroki remained focused on him. "Doesn't matter. Everything about you is fake. You're just a cardboard cutout for people to latch onto. You don't really give a damn about being a hero."

"Tell me how you really feel," Hawks said.

A handful of his feathers ruffled in preparation. Todoroki breathed out, cold fog puffing out in a cloud, as he activated the ice half of his quirk. Before either one of them could attack, blue fire roared to life in between them, creating a thick forty-foot wall that forced Hawks a step back.

Todoroki blinked in surprise and rounded on Dabi. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I told you to go!" Dabi snapped. His shoulder of his jacket was singed, smoke seeping from it. He'd used his own flames to cauterize the wound, making Uraraka think of his half-assed suggestion when Todoroki's arm had been sliced. Something to stop the bleeding now, but bad in the long run. Considering the scars littering his body, he didn't much care about things like that. He stepped forward, flames overtaking his hands. "Nice to see you again, Hawks. You're welcome for the promotion, by the way. Isn't this the second time you've risen a rank because someone has died?"

"You can't be serious!" Todoroki snapped. "You can't take on the number one hero and then the number two on your own. There's no way you can fight him and win without me. You can't do this alone!"

Dabi knew this very well, but despite the pain on his face and the fact that his body was literally smoking at the seams, he grinned. It didn't reach his eyes. "Who says I'm alone?"

An object as small as a pebble sailed in the air over their heads, reflecting off of Dabi's flames like glass. Her eyes widened. Not a pebble, a marble. A bright light flashed in the air and the perfectly smooth marble transformed into a truck as Mr. Compress released his quirk. It passed through the flame wall and exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. Uraraka was forced to duck behind a chunk of rubble while Todoroki threw up a wall of ice to protect himself and Dabi. Separated from him by the fire, she had no idea if Hawks had been able to escape or shield himself. She could only hope he'd seen it and reacted in time.

"Now get out of here!" Dabi ordered. He snatched Todoroki by the back of his jacket and jerked him away from his ice. Todoroki stumbled, but then took a step as if meaning to do as he was told, when a feather caught him by his sleeve and pulled him out of the fight.

"Go!" Hawks shouted from above.

Uraraka jumped to her feet and bolted in the direction Todoroki was taken. Flames chased after her. She used her quirk to float herself and the jets to boost her speed to escape Dabi's attack. Todoroki threw up another wall of ice to stop the feather from dragging him away even further. His feet slammed against the ice hard enough to crack it.

She deactivated her quirk on herself and grabbed Todoroki by the wrist, quickly activating it on him. Twisting his arm behind his back, she moved to cuff him. However, he shot off a burst of flames and rolled with it, flipping them so that she was underneath him and dragged him to the ground with her gravity. The rough landing knocked the air out of her lungs and forced her to loosen her hold. He broke fully out of her grasp and kicked off of her, shooting into the air out of her reach. This time, he didn't hesitate to use his flames to launch further away. Uraraka scrambled to her feet and did the same using the jets in her boots.

Once she was close to him, she released her quirk and tapped herself again before she could fall. Todoroki didn't have the same luck, immediately dropping without anything keeping him up. He tried to create another ice slide so he could safely return to the ground, but the awkward and abrupt fall left him open for attack. Before the ice could make it fully to the ground, she kicked down on him as he fell past her, interrupting him. The half-made slide shattered like glass when it hit the ground and he landed painfully after.

Uraraka dropped down over top of him. She managed to slap one cuff over his left wrist, pulling it behind his back again, but he pushed up with his right, knocking her on her side. He twisted to roll on top, pinning her underneath him. She connected a hit under his chin, but he grabbed her wrists to slam on the ground above her head.

"Stop it!" Todoroki ordered in a hoarse shout.

"Listen to me," Uraraka said breathlessly. "You're hurt. You're wounded. Upset. Confused." He struggled to focus on her. He was zeroed in on his goals before. While he was no less intense, when he looked down at her now, it was like he couldn't even see straight. He sounded furious, but he looked so hurt, tears pricking at his eyes. "It's not what you thought it would be, was it?"

Todoroki dug his fingers into her wrists. "Shut up."

"Kyomu made you believe that you wanted to kill your father – that you needed to do it in order to be happy or free or whatever else he promised you'd feel." Uraraka took a deep breath as Todoroki's face began to change. The pain stayed, but it started to soften, the rage fading like a distant memory. She was distantly aware of the fight around them – explosions streaking across the sky, engine bursts, buildings rattling, the ground quaking, and shouts she could only vaguely make out – but she forced herself to focus only on him. "But it wasn't. You don't feel any of that. Everything he told you was a lie. You're not relieved. You're not happy. It isn't what you wanted."

"You're wrong," Todoroki snarled. "You don't know that. He helped me– He helped me understand. He helped me see–" He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, as if trying to rid himself of any conflicting thoughts. Desires. Memories. "I hid so much from myself. I blocked things out. I had to in order to survive – when I was too weak, too set in his ways, when I was too afraid to fight back–"

"You were never afraid to fight back," Uraraka interrupted firmly. "This isn't you. This isn't what you wanted. You are so strong, Shouto. You know this isn't right."

"You said it was okay!" Todoroki screamed. "You told me I didn't have to keep fighting! I was hurt and scared and you said– You said it was okay to be selfish – that I could let go. You said it was okay, so stop it! Just stop it!"

Uraraka froze and stared up at him. In all the time that she had known him, she had seen him get emotional and lose that steel impassiveness he was known for known, but he had never screamed like this at her. The words were ripped out of his mouth, his voice raw and thick with emotion. He sounded more than upset; he sounded afraid. As ice began to creep over her wrist and down her arm, fear threatened to take her over as well. Maybe he was starting to snap out of it, but he was losing control in the process.

Before he could unintentionally hurt her any further, Uraraka jerked her left hand up and over her chest to grab his wrist. She lifted her left leg to press her shin against his chest and pushed against him as she twisted in his grip, breaking herself free and shoving herself away from him. So lost in his head, Todoroki barely fought against her. He didn't even reach out to grab her again, allowing her to scramble to her feet. The ice was too thick on her wrist to break it without hurting herself, but the cold stung bitterly even through her support gear and costume.

Todoroki stayed on his knees on the ground, his head hung and one hand pressed against the ground with the cuffed hand covering his eyes. His mouth was twisted into a pained grimace as he struggled to get himself together again. A part of her wanted to wrap her arms around him, pull him close, let him know that he wasn't alone. She stayed put. He could snap right back under the complete influence of Kyomu's quirk the second she touched him. After dealing with Deku, she was afraid she'd only make things worse since he clearly used memories of her to manipulate Todoroki too.

Goddamn you, Kyomu, Uraraka thought, a vicious streak burning through her. I'll kill you. I swear I'll kill you for what you did to them.

Swallowing, Uraraka prompted, "Shouto?" He didn't respond. She pushed forward anyway. "Shouto, listen to me: it's okay. I'm here. I'm not going to leave you. I...I didn't want to before, but Deku made me let him go and I couldn't…" Tears pricked her eyes. "I failed you."

"What?" Todoroki dropped his hand from his eyes and raised his head to stare blankly at her.

"I failed you," Uraraka repeated, the words catching in her throat as it constricted. "I promised I wouldn't let the quirk you and I didn't. I promised that I'd be there for you and I wasn't." There wasn't a single emotion on his face. It was utterly empty, as if he wasn't capable of it. Maybe that was what the quirk did. It put so much in his head to accomplish a goal and, once it was done, everything just faded away to leave a void in its wake. "I promised I would keep you from doing anything you would regret and look at us. Look around us! I was supposed to protect you from yourself and I didn't do it!"

Todoroki didn't move. "Why would you…?"

"You asked me to kill you if it came to this," Uraraka cried. "Deku probably would've asked the same of Bakugou or you had we been around for him." She wiped away the tears from her eyes, angry with herself for allowing them to come. Now was not the time. (But when would it be? When they were all dead and gone and she was the only one left alive? When she was dying without saving anyone?) "I couldn't do it. I can't now. I'm too weak. I'm sorry, Shouto. I'm so sorry. You needed someone stronger than me. If it had been Bakugou in my place, he would have been able to do something, but I…"

"That's not–" Todoroki pulled himself up to his feet. "That's not right." He furrowed his brow. "You told me– Izuku even said you wouldn't want me to be in pain. Kyomu said– He told me you asked him to help me. Both you and Izuku knew how much I'd been hurt, betrayed, and manipulated my entire life and you just wanted me to be free. You didn't want me to have to fight him anymore. I was hurt and you wanted more for me."

"Not like this!" Uraraka exclaimed, gesturing around them. "Do you think I'd want you to become a murderer?"

"My father deserved it!" Todoroki snapped. "He tortured his family for years and for what? So he could be the best hero? So he could be the father of the best hero? What kind of monster does that?"

"He did deserve to be punished – you're right." Uraraka couldn't argue with him. She knew Endeavor wasn't the same man he had been years ago. He wasn't the controlling, cold-hearted father he had been when Todoroki had started at UA. He hadn't been the terror Todoroki remembered growing up. He would never be perfect and he would never be able to completely make up for what he'd done to his wife and children, but he wasn't the man that Kyomu had forced him to see now. "But what about the people in his agency?"

"They weren't innocent," Todoroki shot back coldly. "Any one of his sidekicks could see that something was wrong with his family and they didn't do shit." It was difficult to believe him that so many heroes would turn a blind eye to the uncomfortable feeling that something bad was going on. How could they have truly known? Maybe they thought Endeavor was a harsh father, but not anywhere to the extent he was. After all, he was the number two hero. How could he be? "You know, he used to bring Touya here, back when he was being trained. And one day he stopped coming and I did – and then he was never brought up or mentioned again. Not one so-called hero asked a single question."

Uraraka closed her eyes briefly to let out a shaky breath. When she opened them again, Todoroki was still gazing at her with that dead look in his eyes. Like he was gone. Like there was nothing left in him. He'd got exactly what he wanted, but instead of being filled with relief and joy, he had nothing to take his fury's place.

"What about the civilians?" Uraraka asked. "What did they do to become collateral?"

"Kyomu said sacrifices had to be made–"

"I don't give a shit about what he said or thinks!" Uraraka cut in. "What do you think? What did they do to deserve this, Shouto?" He didn't answer her. How could he? There wasn't a good enough answer. Kyomu had jammed enough into his head to make him think things made sense, but once he was forced to confront the truth, things weren't stacking up. "Do you really think I'd be okay with you doing this? Any of this?"

Todoroki blinked. "I…"

"I would rather die – I would rather be killed – than be complicit in this," Uraraka told him harshly. "I didn't say those things. I wanted you to keep fighting. I wanted you to hold out until I could rescue you. I know it hurt – what Kyomu did to you, what your father did to you, what losing Deku did to you – but I would never – ever – tell you to give in to something that would twist you into your worst nightmare."

"No." Todoroki backed away from her, stumbling and struggling to keep his face blank as a multitude of painful emotions fought for dominance within him. "No, no, you told me– Izuku said– Touya, my brother, Dabi, you have no idea what he went through – because of me. Because I was the perfect one. I was the masterpiece. I ruined his life even more by simply being born." Ice shot out behind him when he took another step back. If not for his left wrist being cuffed, fire would've exploded from him too. "I had to get rid of Endeavor. I had to– You said it would help me live again–"

"I wouldn't tell you that and you know it," Uraraka said sadly.

All she could do was watch him shatter, try to clumsily piece himself back together, and shatter again. Ice formed behind him in waves, getting stronger with each go. He tugged on the handcuff and began to tug on it violently, crying out in anger when it wouldn't come off. He so desperately wanted to explode, but he couldn't completely, not with half of him being refrained.

She saw the moment right before he finally burst apart. Knowing she wouldn't be able to get enough distance between them in time, she dropped down and touched a broken van door, lifting it up in front of her as a shield. Ice exploded everywhere, freezing the air, but she held onto the makeshift shield tightly as hell froze over around her and shoved her feet and knees through the dirt.

After it stopped, Uraraka didn't even have to drop the shield or deactivate her quirk. The shield was stuck in the ice that had struck it. She had to crawl out of a hole in the ice in order to get back into the open. When she did, she found Todoroki still standing but swaying on his feet, his skin patchy with ice from overuse. She wanted to run to him and catch him before he fell, but she didn't dare get closer to him in case he exploded again. She couldn't see his eyes, his hair covering his face as he hung his head.

"Shouto?"

Explosions sounded to their left, right, all around them. It sounded like a war was going on, but here they were, encased in their little bubble away from the world due to Todoroki's ice. With two large ice structures, the street was completely overtaken. It was almost quiet, even though they were in the middle of a battlefield. Pieces of ice broke off and crashed to the ground.

Her thoughts drifted to Bakugou for a moment. Iida had said he'd seen him and Shinsou facing off with Deku. It would be impossible to miss yet another massive glacier from Todoroki. What did he think about it – or did he even have time to think about it? She hadn't seen him since she jumped off the roof. She didn't even know if he was alive. He didn't know if she was alive. They could only trust that the other survived. He might not even be around to see this–

Don't think like that. He's alive. He's going to save Deku. He, Iida, and Shinsou are gonna bring him back. And if not…

Uraraka watched Todoroki carefully as he ran his left hand through his hair and tilted his head to the sky. His eyes were closed as he panted heavily, but there was something loose about his body that she hadn't noticed before. It wasn't emptiness so much as...a release.

She'd save Deku too.

As Todoroki's breathing slowed, Uraraka eased her way toward him. She couldn't be for sure if he had broken out of the quirk's hold, but if he wasn't, she needed to be close in order to fully cuff him. He'd overused the ice half of his quirk without being able to use his fire half to regulate it, so he was no doubt severely weakened, but he hadn't made it into the top ten by only relying on his quirk. She had to be wary of him either way.

When she reached out to grab the wrist being cuffed, Todoroki snatched her hand lightning fast. She tensed, preparing to fight back before he could use his quirk on her, and opened her mouth to yell, "Let–" but he slapped his other hand over her mouth to silence her. Despite her body screaming at her to kick away from him, she froze on the spot. He wasn't even using his quirk. Slowly, looking her directly in the eyes, he let go of her wrist and lifted a finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet, and her eyes widened.

"Don't scream," he told her in a voice little more than a mumble. It sounded like him. There was a light in his eyes, dim but there, and a sadness he couldn't shake. His face wasn't contorted into something painful. He wasn't holding her down, only keeping her quiet, his palm cool against her lips but also delicate. "It's me."

Once he decided she believed him (and she wasn't sure she did), Todoroki dropped his hand from her mouth and took a step back, giving her space. That felt more like him. He always seemed to be aware of the space between him and other people. He looked at her now, regret and shame molding onto his face until finally he darted his eyes from her, unable to face her any longer. She reached out to him again, but he held his hand up to stop her.

"It's still– His quirk is still in there. I can almost feel it." He took a shuddering breath. "But nothing was adding up. Things didn't make sense. And I knew you were right. I was wrong – about everything. It's hard to– understand. It's like watching a movie on two screens side-by-side, but a few things are different."

"Shouto, I'm so sorry," Uraraka said.

Todoroki swallowed and replied in a thick voice, "Yeah, me too." He turned his eyes in the direction of the blue flames where his brother and father were on the street. "Dabi went under the quirk too. I think–" He choked briefly and then cleared his throat. "I think he was actually getting better in prison. I don't know. Kyomu made things weird. I'm not sure if all the memories I have of Touya are real, exaggerated, or I blocked them out. I honestly might have. But I-I feel responsible. Whatever his reasons, he did save me – and he tried to keep me from being the one who–"

Uraraka touched his arm. He flinched, but didn't pull away from her. "You need to get out of here."

"No, no way." Todoroki shook his head. "I started this. I caused this. Don't argue with me, Ochako." She closed her mouth and glared at him. "We're going to need everything we can throw at Izuku – and that includes a broken down hero like me. I was only under it for a few weeks. Izuki is lost. This will kill him. I can't let them do that." He held out his left wrist. "Take it off."

Despite wanting to believe this was truly him, she eyed him warily. It was hard to tell. Even he had admitted he was partially still under the quirk's effects. Could she trust him?

"How can I be sure this isn't a trick?" Uraraka asked.

Todoroki simply shrugged. "You can't, but I've never been one for tricks. That's more of Izuku's style. He's the clever one." He wasn't wrong. Deku had broken into her apartment. He'd found Kaminari and lured them to their doom. Tricked Kota into coming to the park. Todoroki just...blew up like a bomb. "You saw the attack: it was head-on, stubborn, all I had in one go. It was my idea. The others might say it was to cause as much damage as possible to get Endeavor's attention and distract the other heroes and first responders, but honestly, I was just laughing out because I was mad at him."

"It wasn't–"

"It was." Todoroki breathed and repeated softly, "It was. It was me. That's the really messed up thing about it. I'd never wanted anything more than my life. I still feel like that in a way, but I know it isn't real, not when the feeling is just so...fucking hollow." He straightened up, standing stronger in front of her despite looking like all he wanted to do was pass out. "I won't let Izuku feel like that. I won't let him feel this nothingness. I can't let him kill Bakugou. He'll break and that's dangerous for all of us." He settled a measured gaze on her. "You need to take it off. He'll know I'm not on his side if he sees it, but I have to get close to contain him and we need these to control his quirk."

"This isn't a good idea," Uraraka told him as she took hold of his wrist. "What if you fall back under the quirk?"

"I won't. I'd need to go back under it to strengthen it again and Kyomu does not come to the fights."

Uraraka chewed on her bottom lip. It was already so raw and chapped that it bled a little. "The moment he realizes you've betrayed him…"

"Yeah, I'll probably be dead to him and lose my best friend all over again." Todoroki sighed and watched her unlock the handcuff. The moment it clicked and popped open, her heart skipped a beat, but all he did was rub the skin. "He can't hate me any worse than he does Bakugou."

That did not give her any relief.

"What about Dabi?" Uraraka asked. She could see the hesitation in his shoulders. Every time a noise came from that direction, he would turn slightly that way, only to pull himself back.

Todoroki hardened his expression and said, "I'll have to deal with those consequences later."

Some things were too late to resolve. Others… They could only hope.