Tomura felt light headed, but he didn't know if that was due to either the whisky kicking in or being on top of a ten storey building at midnight. Not that he cared in all honesty, right now was just one of those rare times when he got to enjoy some proper relaxation without his family coming to bother him, be they biological or otherwise. Granted, having to watch Izuku get absolutely shit faced was entertaining up to when he started going into great detail about what Toga likes doing to him on Tuesdays. How the fuck she even managed to get that many whips and laxtex suits into the hideout without anyone knowing was impressive and the liberal use of animal blood explain why the bar started to smell like copper in the mornings at least. That was as much as he was willing to hear before shit got plain disturbing and asked the guy to please talk about anything else, which was surprisingly difficult given how much he seemed to enjoy watching his reaction. But eventually Izuku ran out of things to say and took a seat next to him with a half finished bottle in his fist. Tomura had finished a single glass while he took the time to enjoy the relative silence of the rooftop. He noticed Izuku looking at him intently as if he had something important to say.
"Thank you."
Tomura blinked at the statement as Izuku faced him with his cheeks rose red from the drink.
"What?"
Izuku took another deep swig from the bottle and said without missing a beat.
"Thank you, for all of this."
Tomura felt a sudden rush of realisation on what his pet project just said but Izuku was far from done.
"I know I acted like an ass at the start but I'm grateful things turned out this way. I..I want you to understand how much all this means to me. The league, what we do, everything."
Izuku paused for a moment as he took a gulp of throat burning liquid.
"If it wasn't for you, I'd still be stuck in that place with these feelings eating away at me until I die but now I know what I'm meant to do. You and me, we're meant to work together, call it destiny or fate or whatever but I think there was a reason why you let me go at the mall, and you weren't the one making the decision."
Tomura didn't know how to respond so Izuku continued his monolog, taking pause only to down more alcohol.
"I know it's odd when you think about how we were in the past, but now… fuck I can honestly say I owe you my life because you gave me one, a life I chose to make and it's thanks to you I'm better now then I was at anyother point. Hell, I'd give you my right pinky just for introducing me to Himiko… the first encounter, not so much but every other time I'd give my soul to keep."
Izuku finished his bottle and reached for another one right behind him as he set the empty on down.
"It's kind of sad it took nearly getting killed time and again to see what the fuck was really going on in the world, but I'm glad for it. I don't regret anything, and I'd do it all over again if given the chance. Though I miss my mom some days and I wish I could introduce you guys to my classmates in the right way, let them see the good that I see. Maybe then, we'd get a better shot at this whole "Normal" thing."
A silence overcame the successor of All For One as he gauged what he heard, there was something under Izuku's voice that seemed reserved, as if he was trying to hold onto an idea. His raspy voice answered back with a light bit of surprise.
"I… Thanks, I knew you would fit in fine if you had enough time. But… is anything bothering you?"
Izuku stared down at the street below before turning back to his employer.
"...Tomura, do we really have to change the way things are? Can't we just keep doing this until we have enough cash to retire on some tropical island where we can do whatever the hell we want. Sure I get being heroic is important, but that's a young person's game and we aren't going to be able to keep up one day."
The older villain shifted his drink in his hand as he spoke.
"What's got you asking this?"
Izuku shrugged.
"Himiko is constantly talking about family and how badly she wants one and it's just I've considered dipping out with her for a few years to make it happen."
Tomura eyed his subordinate with an emotion that felt like...jealousy?
"You would still come back right?"
Izuku nodded as he took a sip.
"Oh yeah, maybe not as direct or as risky, like we're doing now but me and her have too much invested in this game to walk away completely. Think of it as an extreme case of parental leave and you'd get what I mean."
Tomura filled his glass while that emotion brewed.
"Dude you're still a fucking teenager, why the hell are you thinking about kids?"
Izuku eyed his boss with something between mirth and annoyance.
"And you're a twenty year old with ambitions to kill everything that breathes so maybe we both have ideas past our years."
The glass turned to dust when Tomura let his finger drop.
"My goal is my only reason for living, the only thing that can kill my pain, you're just being seduced by a blonde bitch who clings to you because you put up with her bullshit."
Izuku delivered a slap across the villain's face.
"Don't ever call her that or I'll kick your ass from here to UA."
A twitch developed in Tomura's right eye as he fought the urge to kill his pet project. The emotion became stronger as a stinging pain filled his cheek.
"Why the fuck do you put up with her, why the fuck do you put up with any of us when you could have just ran back to those heroes? I mean we're horrible people and yet you act like we're worth keeping around, why?"
Izuku shrugged once more.
"Simple, I have nothing to go back to. Plus you may not be willing to carry out that threat you made when I joined but All For One most definitely will."
Tomura clinched his fists as more unknown feelings surfaced.
"But.. you had friends, a mother who loves you, and an actual future. I took you because I wanted to hurt the heroes, but I...just why?"
Izuku looked at Tomura as if he insulted him.
"Because all that was fake, my classmates would never give a shit about me unless I broke my bones, my mom pitied me and that future would be nothing but licking the boot of rich assholes who would use me as a legal weapon while they did even worse shit then the criminals. That wasn't a life Tomura, it was a lie that you freed me from."
The words brought waves that amplified the emotions with more uncertainty on how to handle them.
"Then why me? Why fuck do you give so much of a shit about me when I've lied, tricked and manipulated you? Why the fuck do you care about a monster like me when you're a better person then me?"
Anger stirred with every word spoken by the blue haired teen.
Izuku stood up despite the wobble the drink gave him and looked Tomura in the eye as he talked with conviction as to make sure he was understood.
"Because, you're my hero."
A hand reached out and grabbed him by the neck as Tomura glared murderously at him, leaving a single finger from touching him and reducing his being to dust.
"I am no hero."
Izuku was unfazed by the venom dripping from his friend's voice or the danger he was in.
"No, you're not. Hell, you're a pretty evil bastard but you're better than any hero because you are necessary to keep society from slinking into the mire of corruption."
Tomura raised an eyebrow at what he heard, removing his hand from Izuku's neck in the process.
"I don't get it.
Izuku stepped closer to the man who almost killed him.
"You're the sort of person this world needs to put the fear of justice back into the low lives who think they're untouchable. I know you think nothing matters but I've seen too much good in you to believe that. You are not a villain Tomura, you're an angel of vengeance made to set things back into order from the chaos brought about by the rot of civilization."
A fist slammed into Izuku's gut as Tomura began to allow anger to overtake him.
"No, I'm not a hero, or an angel or a savior, I'm a fucking monster!"
Izuku nodded as he remained standing.
"Yes you are and that's what this world needs, not a hero, not a protagonist, or some asshat with a cape, it needs someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of the rot and a monster is just the thing to do it."
Tomura flinched at the words, until he pulled his father's hand from his coat pocket, showing it to Izuku in all its glory.
"Do you know who's hand this is, Izuku? Its my father's, I have it because I killed him when I was fucking four years old. I killed my dad, mom, sister, even my grandmother. I did all this with a smile on my face and you stand here and tell me I'm some kind of savior meant to rescue the world? I am nothing but a monster made to end this place and kill everything because I want to."
The confession did nothing to the green eyed teen as he jerked the severed hand from Tomura and held it up over the edge of the roof.
"Bullshit. If you were a sociopathic monster who didn't give a shit about anything then you wouldn't care if I tossed this."
Tomura froze as he saw the only thing linking him to his family dangling by a thread. He wanted to scream for him to give it back but that never worked on Izuku. Instead he found himself on his knees, prostrated with his head to the ground.
"Give it back...Please, it's all I have left."
A truly pitiful quality overtook his voice as he felt something combine with the itch. Izuku was unfazed by this but he walked back to Tomura and put it on the ground.
"I wanna know what happened to land you here."
Tomura glared up at Izuku as he held his father's hand close, careful not to let his final finger rest on the dead flesh.
"Why the fuck should I tell you anything?"
Izuku sat down next to his manchild of a superior and offered him a swig from his bottle.
"Because you just don't start a conversation with, "I killed my whole family when I was four" and not explain how that happens. Besides you might prove to me that you're as bad as you claim to be with this backstory of your's."
Izuku smirked at the anger sent his way as Tomura stroked his father's hand compulsively.
"...I….I killed them all the day my quirk manifested, at first it was just random bouts of itchiness but it was like some force of nature unleashed from me."
Tomura's eyes grew distant and haunted as the memories played back, making him relive his greatest mistake.
"Everything turned to dust that night, and I was the cause of it. My family home, all my relatives, my whole life ended without a trace in a few seconds."
He looked back to his father's hand with terror and shame filling him as he continued.
"I didn't mean to do it, but my father… I enjoyed ending him and now they won't let me sleep until I kill everything breathing."
A lukewarm sensation tickled his sides as he began scratching his neck to ease the pain. Tomura looked to the source and saw Izuku place a bottle by his seat.
"You need this a fuck of a lot more then I do."
Tomura picked up the liquor and slugged it down as it helped to ease the pain. He didn't say a word once he finished, content to simply stare off into the starless night to escape what he'd done. Izuku patted out the quiet with a question that burned more than the whisky.
"Just… what made you want to kill your dad in the first place?"
The air turned icy cold as Tomura measured his response with tension growing as every second passed.
"...He hurt me."
A sense of hesitation filled him as he forced the words out.
"He hurt me because I wanted to be like those heroes. He showed me exactly what heroes are and I thank him for it. That's why they won't leave me alone, I have to make up for what I've done so they can rest."
The pain rumbled under the numbing effect of the drink and threatened to awaken the dead slumbering his head. He reached out, the dirty nails digging at his skin to kill the coldness inside him.
"That's why he beat me because I was damned from the start, and I deserve what's coming my way."
The sound of glass shattering against concrete startled Tomura out of his self inflicted trance. He saw Izuku standing over him with a face red with both the influence of alcohol and indignation before he was hoisted up by his collar.
"That's a fucking lie! Tomura you were fucking four, what happened couldn't have been your fault, it was out of your control and all you're doing is tormenting yourself for the sake of motherfuckers who didn't give a shit about you! Yeah they might have been your blood, but that doesn't mean they get to lord over the acts of an innocent child until you fucking snap!"
The reek of whisky assaulted his nose as he fruitlessly tried to get out of Izuku's ironclad grip.
"I killed them, that's enough to condemn me to who I am. I-"
Izuku pulled him closer as more fury built up in his soul.
"Who you are is fine, it's that you won't let go of the past! Tomura look at this fucking city, how many people are living in fear and squalor because of the way the system turned away from them!? How many criminals are running amuck, ruining the lives of innocent civilians because they know the heroes won't do more than lock them up!? Society is failing because everyone is too distracted by their own bullshit and that's why they need the League to keep these animals in line!"
Tomura stood shell shocked when he saw Izuku reach for his hand and grip it tight, careful to not touch all his fingers.
"You can't change society overnight and even if you did, the majority of people wouldn't care but it's not about fixing the minds of sheep, it's doing something to know that we did something good, something worth remembering so that our example will create a better world once we're gone! These hands Tomura, aren't made to destroy, they were meant to cleanse the rot eating away at the foundations of everything! You are not a villain! That's a label people put on what they don't understand to classify it into a black and white category from centuries ago!"
Izuku looked right into the red eyes of his savior with a fire burning in his chest.
"I don't care what All For One told you, I don't care what All Might told me, because you are better than a simple criminal! That's why I'd follow you into hell and back if you asked, you were the one who showed me the truth and I know that you are more noble then any fucking hero! You have to go beyond those simple words and see the world and yourself for what they are!"
Tomura felt something that made an empty feeling take the place of all the turmoil inside his heart as Izuku motioned to his father's hand.
"And the first step is letting your family rest."
Words could not describe the storm in his brain. Thoughts raged and voices screamed but Tomura felt...calm. It was like he was by a lighthouse that buffered him against the elements as he looked at the only memento of his old life. The cold touch of skin left him disgusted with the memories and years of self torment floating back to the surface. He gripped the limb, but hesitated. There was no going back after this, why should he get to be happy after all he's done? He was nothing but a monster anyway. Everyone called him that, even Sensei told him he was destined to destroy society and end the symbol of peace. But why did he have a voice telling him to do it? It sounded so familiar, like he knew it well but lost the memory.
He stole a glance back at Izuku, who looked back at him with more confidence and faith then anyone had shown him. The same person he once hated utterly, now considered him to be more noble then the symbol of peace. Maybe...Izuku saw something in him that he didn't, maybe...he was right.
Tomura returned to his father's hand and stared at it for what seemed like forever until he shifted a finger onto it. And then another. And then another. Before only a single one hovered in the air above the symbol of his guilt. He heard his father beg him to stop, that he needed him and how much of a failure he was, but then that voice whispered in his ear again with it's soft, feminine tone soothing his pain as he finally laid his father's soul to rest.
A new emotion came into being as the hand was crumbled into dust, one that he had never experienced before.
As he watched the last part of his father leave this world, Tomura felt something great and grand, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
He felt...free.