Toshi was sick. He was sick of his weakness, sick of the limits age and injury placed on him and sick of watching his students suffer. A whole year had come and gone since his pupil was taken by All For One's lackies and he was no closer to finding the boy. He had used every ounce of influence his position granted him, begged, bribed and fought to locate Young Midoriya, only to find dead end after dead end. The public was ignorant of the kidnapping due to Nezu wanting to not draw more attention to the villains or inspire a copy cat incident, but it hardly felt right to passively approach the issue when he thoroughly explained in graphic detail who had taken a student of UA for who knew why. His main theory was that the demon wanted to torture the boy until he gave up One For All, something so depraved wouldn't be beyond the Symbol Of Evil. Yet the course of events challenged that idea, particularly the fact that his nemesis hadn't gloated about what he'd done or given evidence of the crimes. What was going on when the person responsible for all his pain didn't lord the fact that he took another loved one away from him?

Perhaps Young Midoriya escaped somehow, but if that was the case then why wouldn't he return already? Maybe he's out there somewhere hoping with all the hope in his heart that All Might would save him from the horrors that bastard and his demented children were inflicting on him. A shudder of fear crawled up his spine at the mental images the thought summoned but he remained strong. Toshi knew his ward was still alive, he knew deep in his bones that Izuku was fighting the good fight and living up to his calling as a hero. A bell rang, breaking the number 1 hero from his mental argument and brought him back to reality as he ordered his papers and assumed his public form. His sides hurt but that reminded him that he was alive and that he had a duty to stay strong. There was too much to do for him to fail.

Toshi made a checklist of all the things he had to do for the day and sighed when he remembered his upcoming meeting with Inko this afternoon. He couldn't stand the hatred and sorrow in that woman's eyes, especially when he caused most of it. The thought was banished however when he heard shouting from class 1-A. The normal quiet classroom was filled with the sounds of yelling that echoed down the halls with its volume and intensity before the noise of something slamming against a wall made him rush with all the power his massive body provided.

"Never fear my students for I am here!"

Toshi said as he opened the door with all due flare. The situation he walked in on was not befitting of such a light hearted action with Bakugou standing the center of the room while the rest stood by the sides, encircling him with a numbness to the outburst as the blond let off tiny pops from his hands in rapid succession with tears rolling down his cheek. This was far from the first time he'd strike out at the people around him, it became so bad at one point that when Aizawa introduced Young Shinso as the person to take up the now vacant spot in the class, Bakugo marched up and punched him in the face until he was unconscious. When Nezu questioned him about why he did what he did, the boy simply said "That's Deku's chair and I'll kill anybody who thinks about taking his place."

Normally the beast would have expelled a student for doing something so violent but it would have been in bad taste to lose another pupil when one was taken. So the whole facility allowed these shows of emotion, provided no property or people were harmed but this was different. Even at his worst Bakugou had a fair amount of self control, now he was actively trying to hold back from crying.

"Young Bakugou what bothers you?"

Toshi nearly flinched when the now red faced teen spun around to look him in the eye. Anger nested deep in the red of those orbs that he never saw on a normal man as this boy approached with death coming from his smoking hands.

"I saw him, I fucking saw him and I was too goddamn slow…"

Teeth grinded as fury radiated off the teen in waves of raw emotion that simmered the slightest when Toshi knelt down and clasped his shoulders with the largest smile he could make.

"Saw who, my boy?"

Katsuki glared murderously at his teacher as his fists tightened. The words exiting his burning throat while some tears trailed down his cheeks.

"Deku...I fucking saw him at the mall and these motherfuckers don't believe me!"

An explosion came from the blond's closed fist as more anger built up and realised with every sentence that left his soul.

"Don't you all fucking understand, Deku is alive and he needs our help now instead sitting on our asses and pretending he never fucking existed!"

Toshi sighed reluctantly at his student's claim, an action carried by most of 1-A as the boy eyed them with raging contempt.

"Young Bakugou, you have to realise that the odds of your classmate being right where you were is unlikely, what saw was just your mind playing tricks on you."

A punch bounced off the armor of Toshi's stomach as Katsuki bared his teeth.

"No you fucking old man, I saw him, he looked at me and ran away. He smiled right before he walked into one of those goddamn portals."

All Might noticed the conviction in the young man's eyes that burned with the desperation of a dying fire. He truly believed what he said. Toshi considered letting him speak but Ururaka stopped his rant when she placed a hand on his arm.

"Bakugou...no one blames you for what happened but we have to accept that Deku isn't coming back and trying to force yourself to believe he will is just going to make it harder when we do find him… if we find him."

The gravity user voice was filled with sadness as she gazed into the now deflating rage of the boy's actions. Katsuki opened his palm but his teeth still remained gritted and the edge never left his eyes.

"I know what I saw."

Toshi cleared his throat, startling the students as he regained control of the situation.

"Then Young Bakugou if you believe you know something that could help locate Young Midoriya, please speak up."

Katsuki moved away from Ururaka and looked around to ensure all eyes were on him. Once he had everyone's attention he spoke with a direct, to the point tone that surprised no one.

"I saw Deku staring at us back at the mall yesterday, he looked out of it until he noticed that I could see him and when he did, the fucker turned around and walked out of the building. That's when I ran after but since there were too many extras in the way, I couldn't get to him before he made it to the end of an alleyway and stepped in to a portal...I saw his face All Might, I saw what they've done to his fucking face."

Toshi flinched at the fear riding off of Katsuki's statement, as had the other students. For all the emotional behavior he had seen since Izuku was taken, never had the boy shown fear towards anything. He wasn't able to act yet as a haunted gaze came from his student like a shadow that leaked over to the others as he kept detailing what he claimed to see.

"It was so pale, almost like a corpse and his eyes were bloodshot with these dark rings under them...he...he had a scar that went across his face from the forehead down to the other side of his face. But, I saw something that made it all so much worse, there were purple hickies all over his neck and… I swear he had teeth marks on under his fucking shirt."

Katsuki said the words in a semi robotic way, as if he couldn't comprehend them himself. His hand began to tremble while he clinched again and again until Iida spoke from the now thoroughly shocked class.

"Bakugou what you're suggesting is highly illogical, why would a group of villains allow Midoriya to roam free when he could simply return here and furthermore, if what you said is true then why would Midoriya run from you and not come to us for help? That would be too impractical for someone like him."

The class president said with a noticeable tug in his voice that doubted his certainty but was subdued by his lethal knife hands cutting the air. Katsuki approached Iida with danger beaming towards the engine quirk user as smoke filled the room from the barely intact self restraint he had.

"I don't know, but he was scared of me which means those fuck heads are doing something to him. We need to figure out how in the fuck th-"

Toshi interrupted what was sure to spiral into a violent altercation between the two youths if Katsuki reached his classmate. Such things had become nearly commonplace after Midoriya was taken, some days the quiet erupted into a class wide shouting match that not even Eraserhead could stop until the emotions ran dry, other times students would brawl over what was said about their missing friend and needed to be pulled apart.

"Now is not the time to consider what we should do, instead a hero must always focus on what he can do and at the moment, all that is in our power is to take the information at hand and wait until the time to use it arrives. I understand how you all must feel about what happened but if we allow doubt to overcome us, if we submit to fear, then the forces of villainy would have won without throwing a single punch."

His speech drew in the eyes of his wards, cooling the flames of their worry for the time being as he assumed his place at the head of the room. Toshi wanted to continue reassuring the heroes of tomorrow and most importantly, himself, but he had a duty to educate them and so he did. The lessons came and went in a blink of an eye for class 1-A but their demeanor was nothing short of shell shock in most cases and denial in others as they muttered about how unlogical or out of character for Izuku to run back to his abusers. The walk back to the dorms was more akin to a march to the grave with how solemn the faces of the usually bright students were and after returning to their private rooms for what felt like an eternity, the class regrouped in the rec room.

It was an organized sea of bodies, stationed in any furniture that they could find while their now numb eyes rested on the sole individual who still allowed his feelings to show. Katsuki permitted smoke to leave his flesh as he fought back the urge to scream once his obligations were met, but the way his classmates looked at him with an expression reminiscent of languishing killed any chance of an outburst. Shoto was the first to break the silence with his normally stoic voice carrying a lethality to it as his quirk seeped out and chilled the air around him while the fabric of the sofa began to warp under the heat sent from his skin.

"Bakugou, did you really see Midoriya?"

Katsuki matched the elemental user's murderous glare with his own as they were drawn into a battle of wills that waxed and waned with each parlay of words between the classmates.

"For the last fucking time, yes, you icyhot bastard. He looked right at me and ran away, how many times do I need to repeat myself before you all realise I was right?"

Frost formed on the nearby objects as the few students surrounding him slowly shifted to avoid the drop in temperature. The son of Endeavor clinched the armrest as images conjured up from the darkest parts of his mind transformed the once shining ray of hope that had helped unlock his quirk and go beyond his trauma was subjected to whatever those depraved animals dared to inflict upon someone so pure and innocent. He glared back at his rival and saw the same brewing fury held not only within Katsuki's eyes, but in the eyes of everyone. Even Koda seemed enraged as he clasped his hands into white knuckled fists.

"Then tell us exactly what happened."

The anger in his soul lessened as the ire of the class was directed towards him for answers about the one topic that kept them all awake at night. Katsuki leaned back into his chair and took a deep breath before starting his explanation.

"I can't tell you more then what I've already said, I caught a look him just before he stepped into that portal and he fucking smiled at me like he was happy I was trying to grab him. I…"

A shudder ran through the teen's body as he remembered Izuku grinning at him despite the visible disfigurement shifting around his face. Thankfully one of the bystanders stepped in to take the place of the clearly disturbed Katsuki. Momo stood up from her seat and spoke with a thin layer of self restraint when she addressed everyone in a tone more befitting a corporate CEO as an attempt to mask her inner turmoil.

"We have a single lead regarding Midoyria's wellbeing and even if the results are hard to imagine, we as students of UA, as heroes, and as Midoyria's friends, have to face the facts as they are presented to us so that one day that boy who was an example to us all can come back home. The current information we have is that he is alive and last seen in Kiyashi ward by himself, which means he has to either have a small amount of autonomy with these people or he was forced to go. Since Bakugou has told us everything he can about the situation, does anyone have a suggestion on why he would be there, or more to the point why the villains would allow him to be there in a location with so many people?"

Everyone stopped to consider the reason, many unable to consider an answer, until Uraraka recalled something.

"I don't know if this helps but the last time we went to that mall before the...incident happened, I saw Deku talking to somebody on a bench and he was scared when I tried to come closer. He wouldn't talk about it no matter how much I asked but the guy he was next to just seemed… wrong somehow."

The whole of class 1-A turned to face the pink cheeked hero in training, Bakugou being one in particular who was most interested in what she said. He stared at the girl with a heavy weight to his words as smoke bellowed from his skin at his rekindled fury.

"What did he look like, this guy that Deku talked to? Don't spare any fucking details Round Face."

Uraraka put a hand to her chin and tried to picture the man with the fragments of memories she dug up from her mental catalog.

"He..He had blue hair, red eyes, pale skin with a few scars on his face along with some really chapped lips and he spoke in a raspy voice that sounded familiar but I can't remember where I heard it before."

All at once the image of the man clicked to life in the students' minds and the realisation of who this person was attacked them with ungodly force as Katsuki said the name of the devil in everyone's head.

"Shigaraki...that son of a bitch…"

He thought on countless nights why those fuckers would take the worthless bastard but now it all made sense but… a single conversation wouldn't make up for how badly Deku fucked over the creepy cock sucker's plans, so why… Then Katsuki remembered a scene from his childhood that made him lock up even now.

The smell of nitroglycerin and burnt flesh violated his nostrils as he was thrust back to his time in elementary school, it was a moment where even he knew he had taken things too far. Deku was on his back with a large hole burned through his uniform and exposed a massive chunk of melted skin that fell off or fused in a bright red on his stomach. Katsuki had been angry that the quirkless nobody still wanted to play despite being nothing but a pebble on his path to be the greatest hero ever and no matter how hard he hit the boy, he wouldn't leave him alone. Deku just started crying, begging him to not leave even though school was over. It got annoying when he said he was scared to go home because nobody was there and grabbed on to him with snot dripping from his nose. That's when he made "that" mistake. Two full power blasts launched the other boy ten meters away and slammed his back into a brick wall with enough force to make an audible cracking sound. Katsuki stared at the boy's limp form, horrified at what he'd done.

He wanted to run over to Deku to make sure he wasn't dead and rush him to a hospital like his dad constantly told him to do if something like this ever happened, but he was frozen in place. Too immobilized by the shock of what he'd done to act. He relaxed ever so slightly when he saw Deku get up. Katsuki was about to tell the dumb ass not to move until he got to a doctor but there was a quality to the quirkless boy that stopped his heart from beating as he approched with a rock in his hand, paying no heed to the sizzling of his torso as the usually pathetic sadness that filled his eyes was replaced with a emotion unbefitting a child. Katsuki couldn't move as fear caused him to lock up like a mouse about to be devoured by a snake. The only thing that saved him was the limp in Izuku's stride that slowed the quirkless terror until he succumbed to the injury and passed out while teachers swarmed the playground from the building.

Katsuki tried his best to forget what he did and the look Deku gave him yet it was so obvious as all the times he attacked Izuku played back in tandem with the rare moments where he saw his punching bag glaring at him out of the corner of his eye with that same evil shine. Shigaraki knew about this, he knew what Deku went through and was going to use that to make him into a villain. All this happened because of what he did.

An ear shattering KABOOM echoed off the walls of the dorms as Katsuki launched his chair into the ceiling with enough force to reduce it to splinters. The blond teen throwing whatever he could grab as the realisation of his involvement in this tragedy finally came full circle. Tears were streaming down his face in waves of raged fueled guilt that his body couldn't handle, quickly draining him of his energy before he fell to the floor in a crumpled ball of self loathing and sadness that sobbed quietly in the view of his peers. No one moved as the storm of smoke and destruction subsided into this pathetic mess. Uraraka broke off from the pack and slowly approached the slumped form of the explosive hero with her hands landing on his torso as she pulled him into a hug. They both laid on the floor until a single sentence came from Katsuki's mouth.

"This is all my fault...I..made Deku get taken by those monsters and I couldn't save him the one time he really needed me."

Uraraka wiped a tear off of the boy's face with her thumb as she moved to cup his head between her hands.

"Bakugou, that's not true, you can't be responsible for what a bunch of psychos did. You tried to help Deku the best you could but fate wasn't on our side. All we can do now is to be strong for him."

The tears kept coming as Katsuki fought off her embrace to stand to the crowd of students surrounding him.

"Don't you fucking get it!? I made him fucked up and that sick bastard saw a chance to manipulate him into becoming a villain because of what I did! If I was kinder to him, if I didn't take out my anger on him then maybe he'd still be here with us instead of god knows where with those animals! This is all my fault!"

A pair of hands gripped his shoulders, making him weightless as he was spun around to the pink cheeked girl, who pulled him close until they locked eyes.

"Katsuki Bakugou, none of this is your fault. You didn't do anything to make this happen other than try to get to him. Yes you did some awful things, but you were a kid back then and the fact you feel this torn up about what happened proves you can make amends with the past by being the person Deku always knew you were. Now are you going to let that son of a bitch beat you without even throwing a punch or are you going to get up and help us plan on how to rescue our friend?"

Warmth sparked inside the hero's chest as he rose back to his feet, a fire now roaring in his soul as he met his fellow heroes with the drive he always had.

"I'm going to drag that mop headed asshole out from whatever rock those villains are keeping him and make damn sure to never let this shit happen to anyone ever again, but not before I remind them what happens when they fuck with us."

The determination spread from one person to the next as anger and sorrow was transformed into a pure desire to see the missing part of their little family. Katsuki felt a hand touch his side and saw Shitty Hair grinning at him like a wolf.

"I'm right there with you Bakubro."

Katsuki returned the sentiment when the rest of the class took on an aura of hunger, they had found their purpose again and wouldn't stop until it was fulfilled. All they needed was time.

A thought came to him as he listened to the plans, one that gave him hope like a prayer while he popped his knuckles in anticipation. He knew somehow that they would meet again, and it would be a moment worth remembering.

"Don't worry Deku we're coming to get you, just hold on a little longer."