Uraraka felt happy for the first time in a long while. She had just gotten done with her patrol work with Gunhead and managed to save a lady from getting mugged right as she had only an hour left and now she was done with her work study for the day. Her uniform was back at Gunhead's HQ and so were her responsibilities for the week. The sun was low in the sky with the light turning a colorful reddish yellow as the celestial body dipped ever deep below the horizon, leaving the heroine to tread along the rapidly emptying streets.

She was supposed to report to the dorms in half an hour, but right at that moment her hunger had a tighter pull on her mind that made it less of the two worries. Her boots clicked on the sidewalk as she entered the convenience store and left with her goods with due haste. However, something drew her eye to the left of the exit as she reentered the street. It was the same lady that she rescued not long ago, standing right in front of her.

The woman was middle aged with heavy wrinkles under her eyes that suggested a life of heavy stress that was concealed in a gray hoodie which matched the pants around her hips. Uraraka smiled uneasily at the stranger who met her gaze with an unflinching expression of one who was tired beyond belief.

"Can I help you miss?"

She asked in a polite tone that went unnoticed by the adult.

"Yes...I apologize to ask but would you mind escorting me back to my home? I know that's asking alot especially given this time of day but I can pay for your service. I would have asked the police but they couldn't spare anyone with all the chaos that's been about and the heroes charge more than I can pay given my salary, so would you please help a fellow maiden out?"

The girl thought on the matter for a moment, yet when she looked at the face of the woman there she saw someone who was desperate for help and was reaching out to her which threw her caution to the wind.

"That's fine, I'd be glad to."

No smile came from the woman, instead she merely nodded as they began to walk down the pathway which brought the student further from her home and deeper into the city. Silence stalked them every step of the way as the woman was practically mute, leading the gravity user to speak in order to fill the uncomfortable air.

"So if I can ask, is there anything bothering you?"

The woman remained quiet for a time that lasted longer than normal as she visibly tugged on the sleeve of her hoodie.

"I lost someone very dear to me and right now he's out there in the big dark world by himself with no one to help him."

Uraraka darted her gaze away from the lady when she heard the sorrow in the woman's voice as she spoke.

"That's awful, have you put out a missing persons report? I could get some heroes I know to take a look into it if that would help."

The Maiden shook her head in dismay, seeming to fall deeper into the hood of her jacket with the action.

"No, he ran from me because I was horrible to him. I didn't love him in the right way and I treated him more like a doll then a man so one day, he just left without even saying goodbye."

Awkwardness slowly rotted away the good mood of the hero as she became unsure of what to say.

Cold wind whistled past them as buildings grew ever more dilapidated the longer they tracked into the concrete jungle and in that Uraraka slowly noticed how she had lost any sense of direction with each twist and turn this woman led her to.

She was about to speak up as they approached the entrance to an alleyway when the lady turned around without warning.

"I'm sorry Uraraka, I lied."

Confusion came to her at the woman's words lending her to take a step away from the alley.

"What do you mean?"

The stranger didn't move as her savior started to move away. Their eyes locked once more as she spoke.

"I didn't have another choice, you were the only good person who forgave me so I have to do this."

Forgave her? Who did she forgive-

Recognition shown in her almond eyes as a choking sensation filled her throat. She backed away faster this time, never taking her eyes off the woman.

Yet it was pointless when the woman sprang forwards like a cat and stuck something into her neck as the world quickly faded to blackness.

Her head hurt immensely when she awoke. She tried to pull her hands to her scalp but immediately something held them in place no matter how hard she struggled. Her legs felt like jelly but to her relief she could stand up with some effort.

The air was warm and tasted stale with a strange smell hanging about that reminded her of cheap pomegranate perfume. She scanned the barely lit room around her to find it made solely of concrete. Yet the one thing which attracted her attention the most was a person sitting by a far wall in a curled position with their eyes fixated on her.

It was Himiko Toga.

The villain didn't move when they made eye contact, she simply stared back with an animal-like curiosity while she stayed in a ball, looking up at the girl she captured as her feline eye glowed in the low lighting.

Uraraka couldn't look away from the other girl as a sliver of fear coursed through her body, making her stare in disbelief. The murderer curled her head into her knees and clung tighter to her legs. She raised her head once more, not saying or doing anything other than look at the heroine who was stuck in a similar state of silence. The lips around her vampiric fangs opened, then shut close in an instant as she seemed to attempt to speak.

The yellow pupils of her eyes darted to an area that was cut off by a hallway then landed squarely on her captive.

"I'm sorry Uraraka, but it was the only way for you to listen to me. I need your help and I didn't know what else to do."

She said in a quiet, almost fearful tone which added to the strangeness of the situation. The heroic student continued to stare, unsure of what to even say. Her back was suddenly on the cold stone of the wall behind her when Himiko arose from her squatting position on the floor with a knife resting in her hand as the madwoman pulled it from the hoodie she still wore.

However the shapeshifter flinched at her captive's actions and backed away with her hands raised in a strange sort of surrender.

"It isn't what it looks like, I just want to get those ropes off your wrists."

Uraraka pulled at her hands again and dared a look down at them, thick brown rope tightened around her arms that crossed them behind a metal pipe built into the stonework of the wall. She had no opportunity to protest as Himiko approached her and cut through the bindings in a few slices of the tanto blade she held, freeing the girl from the bondage while returning to her original spot shortly after.

A sharp, painful tingling sensation came to her hands as blood began to flow earnestly into her fingers once again as her wrists were exposed to the open air. The two teens eyed each other for another moment before the nobler of the two found the will to speak.

"Where am I?"

She asked in an authoritative tone that held none of her usual kindness. Himiko sank her head a little lower at this.

"The basement of an old factory I found that's about ten miles from UA."

She pointed a finger to a space on the left.

"I kept the stuff you bought if-"

A rage began to fill the student as the fear ebbed away as her freedom was rising beyond the haze of what happened, granting her clarity to the situation.

"You kidnapped me!"

Himiko cringed as if she had taken a punch to the gut at the response.

"Yes but it's for a good reason, I..I need you to help me figure out how to be more like you, to be better."

Astonishment colored Uraraka's face as her jaw fell open, then rapidly closed as anger and confusion made her run a hand over her features. A habit learned from her time with Bakugou.

"You came to me for life advice and decided that the best thing to do would be to steal someone's identity, knock me out and trap me here?"

An uneasy chuckle came from the blonde as she shifted her gaze to the floor with a hand rubbing the back of her neck.

"Well technically, I drugged you not knock you out so-"

She stopped when the other girl glared at daggers at her. Uraraka inhaled deeply for a moment and held it for a brief ten seconds before exhaling as she rubbed her temples. A scraping sound came from out of sight as Himiko retreated into the darkness and returned with two folding chairs in her arms. She set one aside for her guest and gestured to it with a feeble smile that earned her a glare from the hero as she took the one now opposite to it. Nothing was said between them for a time with the air growing fouler the longer it lasted to the killer. The brunette removed the hand from her face after studying the villainess' expressions.

"Do you mean what you say Himiko? Do you really want my help?"

A pleading look attacked the golden eyes with their owner leaning forward to cup her hands together in a pitiful motion.

"Yes, please Uraraka, you're my last hope!"

Again she inhaled as the fire within her died in the quenching flood of logic and interest.

"Then tell me why. Why do you suddenly want any help after all this time?"

Teeth nearly drew blood from the criminal's lip when she bit down habitually.

"I lost my Izuku...he ran away and I want him to come back but if I don't change then things will go back to what they were like before only he won't trust me again."

Uraraka raised both her eyebrows in surprise at the news.

"He's not with the League anymore?"

Himiko shook her head.

"No, he ran from us after we managed to get away during the attack on the bar and right now he's with another group."

Hundreds of thoughts bounced around the heroine's skull, each threatening to burst out before she could speak with forethought. Eventually, one came to mind which she wanted answered the most.

"Where is Deku right now?"

Himiko cast a glare at the mention of her partner's hero name but it quickly died with a rush of shame.

"I don't know, I only found out by chance when I found him on some random video online. He's been gone for over a month and I've been working nonstop to figure out where he is but well...I don't think I need to repeat myself."

There was a tension in Uraraka's chest. She wanted to grab the girl by the shoulders and scream at her to tell who had her friend, but that would burn the only lead any of them had to Izuku. So, unfortunately she realised with a reluctant admittance that it is best to play along for now.

"Alright, we can get to that later. Tell me what you think I can help you with because I'm willing to hear you out Himiko, but I can't just...fix things for you."

The slasher smiled warmly at her.

"I know and I appreciate that you're willing to try at least."

She reached into the pocket of her hoodie and pulled out a photo.

"What I need is for you to do is to teach me how to make Izu-kun smile like this."

She said with her pointer finger resting on the boy's enormous grin.

"I could never make him that happy even when I did my best and no matter what I tried, he still looked sad at times."

Uraraka blinked at that ridiculous statement.

"Yeah, but he was taken away from his friends and family for almost two years so that's kinda normal."

Himiko weighed the response and visibly sagged in her seat.

"But I did my best to make him happy, I gave him all my love and made sure that he never gave up so why-"

"It's because his well being can't be completely changed no matter how hard you try, people decide their own emotions and others can only do so much. He was always going to be upset with his situation in one way or another."

Uraraka cut in as the self pity of the villain began to irk her.

"But that's not true, when he was around I felt better then I ever had in my life. He was my everything, he was the only thing I thought about most of the time and the only one who accepted me even after I showed how ugly I could be."

Another breath of air left the round faced youth as she leaned back in her seat, the patience wearing thin.

"Maybe that's your issue. You derived so much happiness from him being around that you couldn't see his problems with how things were."

The girl fidgeted in her chair at the answer.

"I..I...but I was finally happy in a good way and he never said anything was wrong."

A hard eye was sent her way by the crime fighter.

"He was trapped with a bunch of killers and villains, those aren't the kinds of people you complain to."

Himiko pursed her lips as blood came from a cut made by her fangs.

"...but, he…"

She suddenly pulled her legs up to her chest and placed her head down as a quiet sobbing sound started to fill the room. Uraraka found herself softening slightly when her kidnapper began to shake with the increase of the noise.

Hesitantly she put a hand on top of the blood drinker's head and slowly patted the oddly complex hairdo held together by a legion of bobby pins.

"Easy Himiko, let's take this from the beginning. What happened to make Izuku leave? Was it because of something you did or was it because of someone else?"

Silence returned again as the blonde muttered something in tune with her sniffling that Uraraka had to lean close to hear.

"He found out that...that I had been drugging him with quirk suppressors in his sleep ever since he first joined."

Warmth left her head when Uraraka pulled her hand away in a jolt. She didn't need to look to see the horror on the kind hero's face yet she was made to when the hand returned and gently made her mascara runny eyes meet those soft brown ones.

"Did they make you do that?"

She continued to shake uncontrollably.

"Yes...no, sort of. Tomura told me that Izuku would leave if I didn't so I did until he found out and now…"

Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks in a wave of black wetness that continued until a stern voice answered.

"Now you have to deal with the consequences of your actions."

Himiko stared at her captive bewildered by what she heard. Yet she did not get a chance to speak.

"You have to realise that doing something like that would catch up with you eventually. Think about it, would you willingly stay with people who did that sort of thing to you?"

Anger built in those feline eyes that sent the killer to rise from her seat, defiance burning strong.

"I did it to free him! Yeah it was a shitty thing to do for so long, but he needed to let go of the past so he could grow and that stupid quirk would always be there threatening to remind him of the fakes!"

"Then you knew that he didn't want to be there with the League? Because why else would you have kept him from being able to leave if he actually wanted to stay?"

Uraraka said a bit colder than she meant to. Himiko flinched, then proceeded to bare her fangs in more rage.

"I knew that he needed help and I gave it to him. Izu-kun was the first person to accept me completely but he was just so lost that he didn't know what he wanted or what was good for him. He stood by me so I became his advocate, the one person who he could run to for advice."

She kept a furious eye on the heroine with each word.

"He needed me, and he needs me now but I can't allow things to keep going unless I change which is why I'm wasting my time in this place."

Ururaka inhaled slowly before speaking.

"He's a human being Himiko, you can't just assume that you know what's best for him. That's not how people work."

A growl left the villain as she raised up a hand, exposing a scar along the flesh of the palm.

"I swore an oath to always be his shadow and I'll die before I let him get lost again."

"What if he doesn't want anything to do with you anymore? What then, are you going to drag him back kicking and screaming until you break him down again? His actions have no regard on whether you want him back or not, he's free to make his own choices in life and the best thing to do is just let him go."

Petite hands grabbed her shirt collar in a sudden rush of madness that overcame the blonde.

"Never! I will not allow my hero to be alone in this world! He's the only one for me and I'm the only person who can save him! He needs me!"

Sorrow filled those kind brown eyes.

"But what if he's already moved on to somebody else?"

Her expression became hardened with a tightening of her grip.

"I'd kill myself right after I get rid of that fake because a world without him isn't worth it for either of us."

"Then maybe you should try to figure out why you feel this way before you go racing off to do something more drastic then just kidnapping me? Himiko, you have to understand that the only thing you'll do is serve to make him upset and drive yourself deeper into this funk. You know you have issues so the best thing to do is to search your soul and try to improve into the sort of person you want to be like."

Uraraka said only to be followed by Himiko turning away and throwing her chair into the wall with a shout.

"I've fucking tried that, but no matter how hard I pretend to be good, my quirk always makes want to act out! I can't be perfect like him and even if I kill you right now and become you it's only going to be skin deep! I'll still be the same horrible monster who drove the only good person who ever loved her away!"

That made Uraraka back away from her as she spoke with an uneasy smile.

"I'm not telling you to try and be me. Look at yourself and be honest with who you are and think about what type of person you want to be. Not me or Izuku or anyone else, think about what you want Himiko Toga to be like."

The rampage ceased at those words with a strange light coloring the distraught girl's expression.

"What I want to be like?"

"Yes, you have to figure out what you want to be to yourself before you try to help anyone and don't get me wrong it's hard, the hardest thing you'll ever do but it's worth it to look at yourself for all your flaws and understand what you want yourself to be. The only one who can call you a monster is yourself and the only one who can change things so you won't be one is you."

Himiko didn't respond to the statement, instead she kept listening as Uraraka went on to try and rid herself of the discomfort brought by this.

"That's what being a hero is all about, going beyond your old limits to become better for the people you love. You know, Plus Ultra."

Himiko stared at the brunette with her face an unreadable mask of blankness. Then in the passing of a second she wrapped her arms around the girl's torso in a choking embrace.

"Thank you Uraraka, I...you've given me a lot to think about."

"Not a problem, I'm happy to help though, maybe you should have asked over tea."

The pair detached with Himiko reaching into another pocket and pulling out a wad of bills. She handed it to her captive without waiting to be asked.

"...would you mind if we talked again some time?"

"Sure, but can you answer something for me? I want to know who-"

A phone rang suddenly from nearby, interrupting the question when Himiko answered it. A quick muttering of "Yes" and "I know" and "I'm fine" was followed by another stream of silence from her that ended with a click of the line disconnecting.

"I'm sorry but I need to go. Thank you again Uraraka, I'll be sure to check up on you and if you ever need anything just give me a call."

Himiko said with reluctance as she handed a piece of paper to the hero. A vortex appeared not three feet from where she stood and with a wave goodbye, she was gone. Leaving Uraraka alone to study both the money and the phone number in her hands and the sudden feeling of dread it set into her chest.