Reviews:

Archangel Xireon Chaos God: My A level in law in action XD (That and crime dramas are Spider's guilty pleasure).

Mimifan101: Maybe... it will take time though.

Guest: Aww I think they're cute too. *Realises you meant Izuku and proceeds to sweat* Uhh, how about this other nervous, awkward teenager with a heart of gold, with the added bonus that he's of legal age! *Jazz hands*

MajinTree: I love that username. Glad you like her, it's nice to hear :)

Mckertis: Answered in a pm but for the sake of continuity -

decimate

[ˈdɛsɪmeɪt]
VERB
kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of.
"the inhabitants of the country had been decimated"
synonyms:
get rid of · eliminate · do away with · remove · suppress · exterminate

Please, if you're going to criticise then at least do it correctly :)

And maybe when you write a 100k+ fanfic without a single grammatical error I can read that but until then...

Thank you for the review, it is appreciated.

:~

General Note:

Shorter chapter in comparison to the others but I did spend a little less time making this one. Had a sudden burst of motivation and pounced on it this weekend. Hope you enjoy and thank you for reading.

Stain awoke in a large, jagged room that had walls jutting out at off angles, indentations in the roof and windows giving the entire place a warped and frankly creepy vibe. It was in stark contrast to the furniture that filled said room, plush chairs and sofas angled around numerous finely crafted tables. The carpet was a deep red that felt soft under his bare foot as one leg hung loosely off of the sofa he was lying on.

wait...

The hero killer removed his gaze from the black metal walls and looked down at himself to see he was almost naked, not a blade in sight. He clucked his tongue in disappointment and made to rise into a sitting position as a headache began to make itself known, centred around a nasty looking purple welt on the side of his head. Stain put his hand to the injury only to hiss in pain and reel back, whoever did this could have killed him and he knew it, so why was he here?

The answer came in the form a young teenager dressed in the iconic grey and green UA uniform opening the huge ornate door at the other side of the room. Dirty blonde hair fell just above shoulder length from her head, perfectly framing flawless features that had to come from a quirk because no one was that finely crafted. Still, he watched. And judged.

Her uniform managed to hide the general frame of her body but confidence pushed off of her in waves with every step she took towards him, eying the hero killer without a hint of worry for her own safety. Arrogance will be hero downfall in a battle.

The youth's eyes held a gleam of intelligence though not in the traditional sense. This was someone used to people underestimating her and relishing the moment she could tear them apart, already she was thinking of ways to kill him. It was a look Stain had seen one too many times on those so called 'heroes' and he was sickened it had already infected this child. She wasn't worthy of the uniform.

She reached the two seat sofa opposite Stain, a low table being the only thing between them. The girl sat elegantly telling of a more formal upbringing that had beaten etiquette into her from a young age no matter the situation. She would be slow to react if he mirrored her.

In all the time his gaze never left her form, the girl however had looked from Stain to the dark walls of her residence and smiled something close to nostalgia before those dark emerald eyes returned to him. Smile turning into a smirk. She thought he was at a disadvantage, he could use that.

"Are you with the League?" Stain asked wanting to get the burning question out of his head and in the open.

The girl's smirk disappeared and morphed into more a small sneer. "I would rather lose my jaw again than work with them."

'So she was injured, was it by the league?' He asked himself but on closer inspection the student's jaw held no sign of injury. 'A regeneration quirk? it would explain her cocky attitude.' Stain had to think about his next words carefully, right now he had to bide his time. "They offered me a place at their side last night, I declined so I assumed you were sent to persuade me."

"They are nothing but an unpleasant distraction." She told him dismissively. "My apologies for not being here when you woke up by the way, I was in class when Lucien made me aware you were stirring."

That made him pause. "How did you get here so quickly?" This place was clearly no where near the prestigious academy for heroes. That and it was almost pitch black outside, no light seeping into the room from the windows.

"Simple, I teleported." The student told him as purplish flames danced around her hand and suddenly the same flames appeared on the table between them, disappearing to reveal two goblets of golden liquid in front of them.

Like he would be foolish enough to even think of touching that. Stain glared with ill disguised contempt and sat back in his seat making it clear he wasn't interested. The girl shrugged and picked up her own drink, swirling it in her hand. "Won't they notice if you're gone for too long?"

"Time passes differently in oblivion. Years in this realm will be a matter of weeks in your world." She responded before taking a sip. Smile playing at her lips as the refreshing honeyed wine washed over her tongue.

"My world?" Stain finally looked out the window. Really looked.

The dark sky held no twinkling stars burning brightly in the distance, instead there was only a black, unnatural almost liquid substance that dripped occasionally as it twisted and whirled over the pale bluish landscape. They were up high, below them the jagged terrain was largely made up of a lifeless rock that dropped off into shear cliffs and gave way to haunting structures and caves.

From just this one window Stain could see several towers built from that same rock rise from the ground wrapped in colossal chains and great pyres burning in similar pale blue flames as barely identifiable figures moved in droves in and out of the tower's entrance. They were too far away to see any features but most wore wicked black armour making them look like devils.

Then he saw... something. It walked on two legs, at least fifty feet tall, sharp yet crooked wings sprang from it's draconic body as the thing lumbered towards one of the towers. It's head was similar to that of the daedric helmet only without eyes, the mouth able to open wide and show an array of teeth ready to tear a meal to shreds, and huge horns only adding to it's impressive height. That was to say nothing of the thick arms and muscled hands ending in deadly claws, or of the creature's powerful tail extending at least a quarter of it's height, sweeping behind it to keep balance.

"Do you believe in God hero killer?" In his shock Stain had almost forgotten of the girl's presence and his head whipped back towards her, still swirling the goblet between her fingers. "Because he believes in you."

"... What are you?" His throat was tight and his legs felt like jelly. He'd been doing the right thing hadn't he? ridding society of the false heroes that were tainting the world with their impurity. Why... why was he here?

"Oh don't look so distraught. He's a fan." She told him. When it looked like he wasn't about to die of a heart attack she continued. "The big guy hasn't been happy with hero society for some time but he hasn't had it in him to punish our creation, never has."

"O-our?" He managed to rasp out.

The... whatever she was smiled again. "Yes, did you think he made the world by himself? His light needs my dark, we are the balance in the universe hero killer and our connection made your world." She leaned forward. "Your people like to call me the devil, ruler of hell where the souls of the damned are punished for eternity."

It- it wasn't- this was... but hadn't she said...

"Why am I here?" Stain said after several minutes of allowing himself to absorb this new information.

"I told you, he's a fan. Last night your work was about to be cut short by an ambush, and he requested that instead of allowing you to be taken away, I make use of you instead." The devil put down the goblet and rose from her seat. "As you can imagine, I get to see the worst of humanity. But the worst part is not being able to do anything about their acts of cruelty until after they die, giving them free reign to do it again and again."

Stain felt the atmosphere darken and a cold wind struck the very core of his soul.

"It's frustrating. So I have decided to visit our creation as a teenager to see how they treat a soul they believe to be simply one of their own." She explained reigning in her aura and allowing the man to suck in a breath that he hadn't realised he desperately needed to take. "During my time there I found two children, cast aside by the world. I want you to teach them."

"Teach?" He questioned, not wanting to risk anything more.

"Yes." She answered. "I want you teach them to fight, to kill. They will be the first in a brotherhood, a chosen family dedicated to protecting the world and each other from the evils of human society. Keeping balance." The devil looked him in the eyes and he into hers. For the first time he saw the blazing green fires of destruction burning in her irises and he knew she was the real thing. This was no illusion.

"...Why? Why would you want balance, you're the devil, evil incarnate not-"

She waved her hand in another dismissive gesture that silenced him. "A common mistake, did you know they think I'm God's son? The people of your world misunderstand so much about the way things are. Just because I am the dark to his light they think that means I am evil, when in fact I punish it. I do what he is too soft hearted to, and that's okay because he shows the love that I can't. We balance each other." Another smile. "But enough of that. Do you accept my proposal?"

The hero killer wanted to feel conflicted, he wanted to doubt the devil's words but he couldn't. Here was this celestial being validating his every action and decision, giving him the chance to pass his ideals on to the next generation who will continue his now divine work.

"When do I begin?"

Her smile grew wider. "Right away."

'Well that was fun.' Spider thought to herself as she returned to the classroom. Coming up with the whole 'God chose you' ploy was an idea inspired by bumping into UA's very own Ibara Shiozaki on her internship with Kamui Woods on one of Spider's free days after her own internship fell through. It was easy to fool the hero killer if she justified his actions in the eyes of a divine being and it will be oh so satisfying when he finds out the truth.

Before she left Cold Harbour (the Dovahkiin decided to keep the name as a reminder of who she took it from), Spider had set up the school system for her wards, they would train with the hero killer for at least three hours six days out of the week, the remainder of their days split between alchemy, strategy, stealth, traversal, acting and finally, loyalty. That was mainly team building exercises to show them they can rely on each other above all else. The seventh day would be their rest period where they can relax and unwind.

Given the way time works in her realm, Spider would be able to visit regularly, weekends in this world would be over a month in oblivion where she could personally oversee Ichiru and Shiko's training. Even without her though, she had some of the finest teachers available in oblivion, the best assassins, tacticians, warriors and poisoners you could ask for. Even if some of them were draemora.

The only thing she didn't have there was easy access to the more pure hearted masters of their craft, they mostly went to Sovngarde or Aetherius. It just meant that when teaching alchemy Spider would need to focus on healing potions and curative concoctions rather than the deadlier side of the art. Or drill in the importance of helping those they care for rather than becoming cold hearted killers. Not that that was a bad thing.

Hopefully Lucien will be able to keep the two happy in her absence.

There was still about ten minutes until the day officially started when Spider returned to her desk. It had been a few days since the Hosu city incident, Spider had to spend a little money to get certain people to look the other way about the issue of her and her friends being the only ones near the hero killer when he was killed given the chief of police had called in some influential friends to make the situation... difficult, but in the end it would be swept away. Amazing the things you could get away with after bribing the right people.

Best part is it didn't take long for something interesting to happen. It began with Bakugo entering the room having his hair styled flat giving the explosive teen a smarter appearance, altogether he looked more approachable despite the constant scowl. It didn't help that Kirishima and Sero were laughing their asses off at his expense.

"Time to make use of my favourite feature on this thing." Spider said to herself standing next to Midoriya, Iida and Todoroki as she brought up the camera on her phone zooming in on Bakugo from the back of the class and snapping pictures of his predicament in the highest quality. She seriously had to thank whoever the teen interned with because this was just too perfect.

"Stop laughing, my hair's gotten used to this and I can't get it back the right way." Bakugo seethed physically shaking with anger. "Did you not hear me? I'll kill you both."

"I'd like to see you try pretty boy." Sero almost bust a lung getting that one out.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?" As he screamed Bakugo's hair miraculously poofed back out into it's usual spikey style much to everyone's disappointment.

"Aww there it goes." Both Kirishima and Sero spoke in unison.

That was when their attention did a one eighty and flipped to the back of the class along with everyone else who had been talking about their own internships only to start asking about the fight with the hero killer since the news had been playing it on a loop that the man had met such a gruesome end, exclusive footage showing a blurry figure throwing Stain at Endeavour's feet.

"I'm glad you guys are alive after that, seriously I was worried after I saw you were there." Kirishima offered.

"Yes I was worried too." Momo had genuine concern lacing her tone.

"We... I guess we were lucky whoever got to him had already left by the time we got there." Midoriya replied.

"I'm sure you would have been fine little hero." Spider reassured him with a hand on his shoulder.

"As a hero in training, I will admit that I am conflicted. The man hurt my brother almost permanently but to have that happen to him..." Iida dropped his gaze.

"Have you heard that he was connected to the League of Villains? Can you imagine how frightening it would have been if that creep had been there when they attacked the USJ?" Ojiro asked with a slight shudder.

"He's scary yeah, but did you see him in that weird video that's going around?" Kaminari inquired. "The dude had a herotube channel and posted it the night he died."

"I didn't know there was a video." Ojiro replied.

"Yeah, Stain's a pretty evil villain but super tenacious. He's almost kinda cool don'tcha think?" Kaminari obviously had zero tact given he was talking about someone who attacked four of his classmates

"Kaminari!" Midoriya whined pleadingly looking to Iida specifically.

"Uh- Oh! Dude I'm so sorry!"

"No it's okay. You're fine." Iida said keeping his voice level. "It's true he is- was quite a tenacious villain and I understand why people might think he was cool. But instead of helping the world his beliefs led him to cold-blooded murder. No matter his motives, killing cannot be condoned."

Spider instantly stepped away like she'd been physically struck. "I am stood right here Iida."

"I'm sorry but it's the truth." Their class rep responded managing to look her in the eye.

"Agree to disagree. You put a murderer in prison there's always the chance he'll kill again, put him the grave however and I guarantee the chances are lower." Spider parted her wisdom.

"Uhm... wouldn't there be no chance of being killed by a dead guy?" Ashido asked confused.

"The chances of that are exceedingly low, but never zero. Remember that." The Dovahkiin said this with absolute seriousness before looking back to Iida. "Either way I'd rather go with the more permanent option."

"As you said. Agree to disagree." The class representative replied. "Now, everyone get to your seats as class is about to begin! Let's get the day started!" He reverted into his given role expertly, hand gestures and everything.

Aizawa strolled in as the bell rang like clockwork and took his place at the podium. No staff in his hand this time.

He looked over the class for a second before speaking. "You're getting better. Just keep quiet and you can talk amongst yourselves until Modern Literature starts." Aizawa proceeded to pull his yellow sleeping bag out from under the podium and step inside of it.

There really wasn't much else that happened throughout the day, Modern Literature ended with a written account of Spider's discovery of the aetherium forge, English was basically Present Mic being his energetic self, Art History just had Spider and Midnight exchanging snipes (Careful with the deserts Midnight, you're filling out your costume a little too well recently. - Oh yeah? Don't worry your edgy little chunibyo head about it). Then lunch passed by slowly since Tamaki was busy, the Dovahkiin was a little offset by that but kept going none the less.

That was until the basic hero training classes in the afternoon, currently everyone stood around one of the battle centres in their costumes sans Spider who opted to remain in uniform while All Might explained the rules of the following exercise. They were to race across another training centre inside which is a maze of connected factories and find All Might himself in order to 'rescue' him. They would be competing in groups of five and each person would start from a different location and property damage was to be kept to a bare minimum (looking at you Bakugo...)

First up was Sero, Midoriya, Ashido, Iida and Ojiro.

"Huh, I'd say Midoriya is at a disadvantage against the others in terms of mobility, even with his control at the sports festival he won't be able to navigate the labyrinth as fast as the other four." Momo thought out loud next to Jiro.

"That's what I think too, I haven't seen him move through anything so complex before." The musically inclined girl agreed.

"Who's your pick? I'm betting on Sero." Kirishima asked Kaminari on his right.

"Oh yeah? I got odds on Ojiro." The electric teen placed his bet.

"I choose Ashido because she'd got a super athletic body." Mineta added.

"I know who will come last." Bakugo said confidently.

"Does that really matter?" Spider asked, sitting on Kirishima's left side. "The only prize goes to the winner so the rest are equally losers regardless of position after its over."

"Tch that's not the point." Bakugo replied getting Spider to shrug indifferently.

"You know I think Iida's got this one." Uraraka threw her hat in the ring along with Asui who hummed the affirmative at her friend's choice.

"You got a favourite to win?" Kirishima asked the Dragonborn.

"As much as I would like to bet on Midoriya I'm not sure how much he's improved. I'll take Iida." Spider eventually decided and man was it a bad choice.

Sero was catapulting across the landscape and swinging through the steel maze like bootleg Spiderman leaving most of his other classmates in the dust. The cellophane quirk holder was momentarily passed by a blur of green only to retake the lead after Midoriya mis stepped at the very end allowing victory to slip from his grasp.

"I hate it when I'm wrong." Spider grumbled and tossed a gold piece to her right, caught by a flustered Kirishima.

"W-wait a second is this actual gold?!" He cried holding it up to the light as if that would help decide its legitimacy.

"Calm down Red it's just a gold coin." Spider soothed while the others still there gathered around to see Kirishima's prize gawking at the septim that was so common back home. "Sometimes I forget how poor you guys are."

"Now that's just rude." Jiro pouted.

"My family's quite wealthy and I've never seen one of these before." Momo said inspecting the coin in Kirishima's hand appreciatively.

"See even money bags hasn't got any." Kaminari exclaimed gaining him a flick to the forehead by Jiro.

"I apologise, that was insensitive." Spider had the decency to look bashful as the others returned.

Eventually everyone managed to race in their assigned groups to get to All Might, everyone except one.

"I hope you don't think I forgot about you Young PoisonBlood." All Might looked to the Dragonborn who was just finishing Healing Mineta after he'd managed to slip and fall from one of the pipes in the battle centre and coming in dead last since he barely made it past the starting area, though she was fairly sure he was making it out to be worse than it was. "Since you have a quirk which allows you to teleport the rest of the class and I have devised another kind of exercise for you."

"Really?" Spider asked intrigued by the grins most of her classmates were sporting. "I can't wait to see this."

Ashido began giggling. "It's a tough one even for you, Midoriya's notes definitely helped us a lot."

"It was nothing." Midoriya blushed and looked away, Todoroki giving the green haired teen a reassuring smile while Iida and Ururaka patted him on the back.

"Okay now I'm slightly worried." Spider spoke cautiously. If Izuku was involved then this might actually be a challenge. "When did you have time to plan this?"

"We have a group chat dedicated to figuring out your weaknesses." Ojiro informed her and promptly had his mouth covered by Hagakure eliciting a surprised sound from the tailed student.

"That's supposed to be a secret remember!" The invisible girl shrieked.

"Right, sorry guys." Ojiro said after she let him go, rubbing the back of his neck embarrassed.

Spider was a little stuck in place while the others quickly forgave their friend. "I don't know whether to be creeped out or flattered." The Dovahkiin said after gathering her thoughts.

"You're fine with Mineta but this is creepy?" Asui asked curiously.

"Dang that was savage, hey Todoroki can we get some ice for that burn?" Kaminari laughed along with the others. Until Todoroki literally made a block of ice and gave it to him, that was when Spider started chuckling at the teen's misunderstanding.

"Settle down class!" All Might brought them under control. "Now then, for this exercise we needed a bit of help from class 3A and thankfully he was willing to help when we asked." He began to explain and that unsettled feeling Spider had grew worse.

'They wouldn't... would they?' Her thoughts stopped when she felt his aura approaching. 'Bastards.'

"I believe you know Tamaki Amajiki of UA's big three." All Might nodded towards said student who was looking down the entire time he walked towards them, apprehension coming off him in waves even when he eventually took his place by All Might's side.

Spider looked around the class before finding Midoriya and glared pointing at the now scared teen. "I don't know how you found out but this is not over Izuku, I know where you live..."

"W-well I recorded the sports festival for the other years and I noticed you showed up and Amajiki's match in the finals wasn't like anything we'd seen before so uh... I checked my notes and he fit two of the three criteria you told us about when we were going to the USJ for the first time." Midoriya felt the need to explain himself.

"Young Amajiki will be playing the villain, he will attempt to make his through the battle centre without relinquishing to you the photo he has in his possession." All Might told Spider as she looked to Tamaki and confirmed there was indeed a photograph he was now holding tightly to his chest.

"This doesn't make sense, what are they offering you in exchange?" Spider asked deciding to ignore her traitorous tenant... for now.

"I get to keep the photo if I escape from you." Tamaki responded in a quiet voice, he then raised his head and large pleading eyes found Spider's. "Please let me have it."

She was about to combust. He was so adorable.

'Conniving, evil, malevolent, nefarious, loathsome, depraved bastards.' Spider couldn't contain her thoughts as they apparently spilled out in small mutterings so only those closest to her heard.

"Dang right we are!" She heard Kaminari hi-five Jiro.

"Get to your starting positions." All Might commanded and both students did so without further talking to the rest of class 1A.

Spider could see Tamaki was given a twenty meter head start on her though his form was almost lost in between all the pipes that connected the factory like buildings to each other. When she thought about how she would be able to play this Spider realised something important, she had no fucking clue what Tamaki's quirk had ingested today.

"We can still make a deal Tamaki!" Spider called out to the young man. "Hand over the picture and no one has to get hurt!"

"I- I'd rather not." His voice was timid as usual and only heard clearly thanks to the Dragonborn's magically enhanced hearing.

"I will give you anything you want in exchange for it." Spider doubled her efforts before All Might could announce the start of the exercise.

Tamaki blushed as he looked behind him from the photo to Spider then back to the photo and clutched it closer to his chest. "No thank you."

"BEGIN!" Came the booming voice of All Might through the speakers.

The 3rd year was off in an instant, to Spider's amusement he had transformed a few of his fingers into incredibly long tentacles similar to an octopus and used them to grab on to the pipes and manoeuvre through the battle centre with ease, leaving her behind. He seemed to like using that aspect.

"You know what, up close I see why that guy said his quirk was kinda creepy back at the sports festival." She said to no one in particular before teleporting herself over to the far end of the battle centre where she waited patiently for the other student. It wasn't long before Tamaki appeared, his speed and skill in moving through the labyrinth impressive to even her eyes. "I wonder if that's all he can do with those." She pondered.

Tamaki landed a good ten meters away from the Dovahkiin as she was effectively blocking the tunnel he needed to get through in order to claim victory and there was no way around her as the outskirts of the battle centre were flat, no buildings or pipes to give him cover.

"Last chance Tamaki, I'll give it right back I promise." Spider gave it one last try but it only succeeded in making the teen hold on tighter to his prize.

Acting suddenly and confidently Tamaki's tentacles launched forward wrapping around the Dovahkiin tightly, their elasticity preventing her ability to break free with strength alone, she barely managed to slip an arm out in between his hold with the rest of her being effectively smothered aside from her head. That still left the option of using her sword to slice through her impromptu prison or maybe burning her way out, freezing them, electrocuting him, perhaps using unrelenting force to blow them apart... Not that she would actually do anything like that, even if it would be temporary she didn't want to see the look of hurt on Tamaki's features. That would be unforgivable.

Using Spider as a kind of pole to pull himself towards her he managed to catapult himself past the Dragonborn, close enough to reach out and touch her, only loosening his hold when he had physically put the distance between them and sprinted the last few meters through the tunnel exiting the battle centre with a smile fiercely tugging at his lips.

Thankfully he hadn't noticed the brief flash on green light enveloping the picture he held so tightly.

Spider had exited the battle centre accepting her defeat gracefully and even let a lot of the teasing slide as the class jokingly made fun of her soft spot for the 3rd year student. To be fair it was mostly Ashido trying to play cupid (Weirdly pushy about it too) while the others laughed. All Might managed to bring them under control and tell her that despite not being able retrieve the photo he was happy to see her softer side for once.

He was totally revelling in the fact he finally beat her. She could literally see it in his aura.

Once they had all gone back to the changing rooms and Tamaki hurriedly disappeared, Spider took herself back to her apartment rather than class since it was the end of the day, deciding to just leave her bag at her desk since the thing was essentially purely aesthetic anyway holding a few textbooks and some kind of candy bar Kaminari gave her because 'she never eats' according to him.

'That's not true... I ate a fresh soul just the other day.' She'd thought at the time and felt said soul grumble about it somewhere inside of her own draconic soul.

As of now though she had removed her shoes and jacket as she sank into the plush armchair she had in the far corner of her current home. Fishing out a small square piece of paper from her inventory Spider finally got a peek at what Tamaki was hell bent on winning against her for. She hadn't honed her skills as a master thief for nothing after all.

While Tamaki launched himself past her, in the brief moment he was in arms reach Spider swiped the picture, quickly replacing it with a copy using her alteration magic while she kept the original. It was a dirty trick considering Tamaki seemed so stubborn in not wanting her to see it, resisting every opportunity to get something arguably better by accepting her deal.

Turning it over in her hands Spider saw why. It was a clear shot of her, alone in the cafeteria sat at a table next to one of the large windows, her journal open in her hand while a quill occupied her other. She was looking at something outside allowing the sun to catch her features in such a way that her blonde lochs glowed as a smile graced her lips completing the image that she was some kind of angel. How ironic.

The absolute best part was that she remembered the exact day this was taken and what she was smiling at. Spider was in the middle of updating her log of her time here when a movement outside caught her attention, It was Aizawa carrying a stack of papers across the campus and when he wasn't paying attention he tripped over a particularly large rock and faceplanted into the floor as the papers scattered to the wind. After seeing that could you really blame her for smiling?

There was a similar tug at her mouth now though it was tinged with sadness. She hadn't realised the young man had developed a crush, as a matter of fact she had vehemently denied that Tamaki harboured such feelings towards her. And vice versa. So why was her chest fluttering slightly at the thought? Her time for romance had passed, she couldn't love him only to see him fade like... like they did.

"He was too shy to tell me so he put everything he had into getting the picture instead." Spider spoke softly as she gazed somewhat mournfully at the picture of herself, holding it a little tighter for a moment until a thought struck her. "Hold on, who the fuck is taking pictures of me?"

Deciding to pay a visit to the Midoriya residence in order to determine this crucial piece of information and definitely not torture Izuku for using Tamaki against her, don't know what you're talking about, you have no proof, she just wants to talk, I swear. Spider awaited the green haired boy's return from school with his mother who asked about how school was going. Her response?

"You're son is evil." Spider said in a deadpan tone as she sipped on the tea Inko had given her.

"Oh no, what has he got himself into this time?" There was a vague concerned note in her voice as she too sat down to drink her tea.

"Not just him, everyone in the class has a 'group chat' dedicated to finding my weaknesses and exploiting them." The Dovahkiin informed the elder Midoriya. "Even the teachers are in it."

A small laugh came in reply. "Can you blame them after your display in the sports festival? Congratulations on first place, I didn't get chance to say anything before your internship took you away for the week."

Spider couldn't suppress the sigh or the droop in her shoulders. "Please don't remind me about that, it was not very enjoyable."

Inko raised a hand to her mouth and quickly apologised. "That's right I'm so sorry I forgot about that awful business with the hero killer, I'm so glad that you, Izuku and the others weren't hurt."

Surprise overcame the Dragonborn's features for a moment. "Oh no that was fine, Actually that was the best part." Spider's answer received a questioning glance. "The hero I was working under was unbearable, apparently he was All Might's sidekick at some point and the man is obsessed. Seriously he makes Izuku look like an amateur fanboy."

"It's hard to believe that, Izuku has following All Might's career since he three years old." A warm smile wormed its way onto Inko's lips at the memory of a young Izuku all dressed up and playing hero.

"If they ever get into a room together I dread to the one locked in there with them." Came the dry response. "Look, my hands are shaking at the thought of it!"

Inko Midoriya's chuckle was interrupted by the opening and closing of the door leading out of the apartment.

"Izuku! Spider's here for-" Her words were cut off by the slam of another door, more than likely the one to Izuku's room. "That's odd, he never comes in without saying hi unless he's upset." Both of them got up from the table leaving behind half finished tea. Knocking on Izuku's door Inko tried again. "Honey, what's wrong?"

Muffled sobs were her only answer. Spider and Inko looked to each other in concern until the Dovahkiin spoke.

"I'll handle this one, more than likely its to do with school, I think All Might wanted to have a talk with him after class." Spider said and Inko nodded in understanding thankfully. The woman had years of living with her emotional mess of a son, she was one too after all.

Gently turning the handle on the door Spider entered and she felt an unpleasant tug in her chest at the sight of the usually joyful teen burying his face in his pillow to drown out the sound of his sobs. Wild green hair looking more tussled than it did most days, it too having a strangely downtrodden look. She closed the door behind her, hearing a soft click when she left to approach the boy and sat on the edge of his bed.

For a while Spider just sat there, a calming hand rubbing circles on Izuku's back as he cried his heart out about Divines only know what leaving the Dragonborn with a mixed batch of emotions she could have done without today. It took some coaxing but the boy eventually shifted his position into a sitting one, his eyes red and tear stains running down his cheeks, to say nothing of his soaked pillow, seriously are they sure he doesn't have a crying quirk?. Spider's hand never left him as Izuku leaned into her side and she embraced him in a one armed hug as he tried get past his sniffles enough to talk.

"I'm going to assume All Might said something stupid to you." Spider broke the quiet that had overtaken them.

"H-he didn't... It wasn't stu- stupid." A few more tears broke through threatening to unleash another flood if she didn't fix it. Tranquil green rays engulfed the teen and he suddenly found himself feeling a lot better than when he'd got here. "Thank you." He said in such a small voice it was hardly there.

"Think nothing of it mal drem." (Little peace) Spider whispered reassuringly. "Now will you tell me what the idiot said that has you so upset?"

"... I'm not supposed to talk about it." He replied with his voice still not rising above a murmur.

"And I'm not supposed to be creeped on, having someone taking pictures while I'm not looking but here we are." Came the soft yet joking reply as she produced the picture she'd stolen earlier making Izuku gasp when he saw it.

He looked from the photo to Spider and scrunched up his face in confusion. "Where did you get that? Amajiki promised he wouldn't show you if he won."

"And he didn't, he also never actually won either." He smile was devilish when she next spoke. "I took it when he wasn't looking and swapped it with a copy before he crossed through the exit tunnel."

"So we didn't actually beat you today huh." Midoriya's volume was levelling out again.

"I suppose not but it was nice to see you all so excited." She gave Midoriya a comforting squeeze gaining a small smile from him. "I am curious however, where did you get the idea to bribe Tamaki with a picture of me? As bright as you are I doubt you'd have figured out his feelings quite so quickly."

Izuku blushed and looked down at the floor when he answered. "Amajiki was with his friend Mirio when we asked and after he'd refused since he was nervous even talking to us, Mirio suggested we offer something related to you." The teen's blush only grew when he recounted the next part. "We managed to find someone in class with that picture and that was all it took."

Spider hummed at the answer and resolved to have a little... chat with the overly friendly blonde when she next saw him. "Well that answers part of my question, though I'm still curious exactly who had that picture."

Tearing his gaze away from the floor Izuku managed to look at her again. "Promise you won't tell anyone I told you?" He asked and got a nod of confirmation. "It was Kirishima, he said he was in the middle of taking a picture of Kacchan when he noticed you smiling and decided to photograph you instead."

A chuckle climbed it's way out of her throat. "Nice to know Red has an artistic side." Spider was glad to hear that the teen at her side also let a brief giggle to relieve him of the stress he was feeling. "But we've digressed. I would very much like you to tell me what has gotten you so emotional, I can't help if you don't."

"I already told you, All Might said it's a secret." Midoriya repeated regretfully. "And... it's been a bad day."

Ah. Izuku had improved in the time since he'd met the Dragonborn, but no one recovered completely from being told they were worthless and treated as such by almost everyone for over a decade easily. The boy had had exactly twelve 'bad days' as he called them where his thoughts had been dragging him down, where only the cold comfort of a blade could bring him back to reality. The reason she hadn't noticed anything amiss in his aura was simple. He was good at hiding it.

It was hard, and took a great deal of time to perfect, but it could be done. Midoriya had spent too long hiding his feelings that it had translated into his aura too, so it was a good thing he felt close enough to the Dovahkiin to trust her, just like he promised he would almost a year ago. She'd deal with it, but as it stands. One problem at a time.

"Coming from the man who revealed his greatest secret in the middle of the street to two middle school kids I get the feeling he isn't really the best at keeping them himself. Besides it's not like I'll use this information against you, trust me Izuku that is the exact opposite of what I'll do." Spider allowed her words to sink in and could plainly see Midoriya going over them in his head.

"... Okay. I- I trust you." He told her after his inner debate.

"Thank you."

"It... All Might wanted to see me after class and he told me about a villain, the one who gave him his injury before you healed him. He said that he was called 'All for One' and that he used to rule an empire from the shadows by taking away peoples quirks and giving them to others in order to make them loyal." Izuku's voice faltered slightly at the next part. "All Might said that he sometimes gave people quirks they couldn't handle making them like living dolls... like the Nomu in the League of Villains. He thinks All for One still out there now and he's scared that he'll come for me now that I'm One for All's successor." This was where a few leaks sprung up again as fresh tears began to fall. "He- he said that soon he won't be able to help me because he's going to die the next time All for One shows up. And it will be because I'm not strong enough to fight him myself and he doesn't want the other pros to get killed."

Spider gently pulled Izuku down into her lap allowing him to rest his head as a sob tore itself free, all the while she ran her fingers through his messy green hair in an effort to comfort him. "Shhh, I doubt that's exactly what he said, the man may be an idiot but he isn't intentionally cruel."

"N-no you're right. I left after he told me he wasn't going to be able to stay by my side and that- that he'd be effectively killing himself just so that I could survive." He managed to choke out the words between sniffles and more broken sobs.

"It's alright, it's alright. Shhh." Spider soothed with her best calming voice, still running slender fingers over the boy when an idea came to her. Singing was what she often used to do when her own child was upset. Perhaps it would work here too.

Warming up her voice, the Dragonborn hummed a soft melody before turning it into a song. One that had been around for thousands of years.

"We tilled Skyrim's ground despite frozen toil.

We tended the kwarma beneath Morrowind's soil.

We hunted the Wamasu, in Blackmarsh's glades.

We three hearts had no need for blades."

:~

"Then they came from the seas, folded steel in their hands.

They burned down our homes and ravaged our lands.

Akaviri brought nothing but bloodshed and lies.

Our families were slain before our eyes."

:~

"With three separate people, they shared a cruel joke.

A choice between death or the yoke.

But then our three people knew what must be done.

To end the oppression, our three became one."

:~

"Forged by war the Ebonhearts rose, and drove the Akaviri back to the sea.

When the enemies begged for the mercy they lacked.

Three voices as one shouted blood for the pact."

"Forged by war our story be told.

No shackles can hold us whether moonstone or gold."

Hearing the sound of soft snores from the body below her was like music to Spider's ears after suffering the hurt lacing his every word not minutes earlier, she could handle a sleeping hero much easier than a crying one.

Still running her fingers through his dark forest green hair Spider began thinking about what comes next. The boy would be inconsolable if All Might died and this new villain that could steal quirks was something she didn't want anywhere near her class. Even as aspiring heroes at the most prestigious school in the country, they were only teenagers, still blind to the ways of the world and wholly unprepared for an enemy of that scale.

First she would speak with All Might and hold herself back from punching him in the face. Then she would find this 'All for One' wherever he was hiding and give him one chance to fuck off before removing him from the picture. Permanently. Finally, Spider would ensure Izuku felt safe, safe to learn how to control his power and to become the hero he longs to be at his own pace, not rushed into it by a series of dangerous situations orchestrated by delusional psychopaths.

But for now... she would sit on this bed let the little hero sleep on her lap while she chased away any nightmares with her presence alone, giving Izuku several hours of blissful uninterrupted rest.

Funny scene I want to implement later for this chapter is -

*Endeavour during the final episode of season 4 after getting smacked down by the Nomu.*

Spider teleports in: I AM HERE!

Hawks: Hey, it's the wonder kid from UA. We've got this.

Spider: TO WATCH! *Pulls out a chair and a bucket of popcorn* Divines I hope the wound is fatal.

Hawks: *Drops from the air to stand in front of her* Aren't you going to help? Like a hero in training is supposed to?

Spider: Get out of the way bird boy, you're blocking my view.