Hey, y'all! Hope everyone is doing good and living well. I'm v sad that JJK and AOT are finished for now, but at least MHA has started back up, and now I can get to watching my quickly building list of animes to watch. Also, the newest episode (of MHA) was so cute but I digress, onward with the chapter!

In the moments before his death, Aiko expected to feel peace and sadness. He expected to finally be relieved that this hell that he was in was coming to an end, that he would be free at last- But how could he?

How could he be at peace when he was leaving his student alone? How could he be at peace when he had failed in the one simple task he had promised himself, how could he be at peace when he broke the one promise that he had made under an unforgiving sun amongst smoldering ruins, a hurriedly whispered thing in the midst of matted curly black hair? "I'll avenge you. I promise." He had whispered, he had promised.

He had lied.

So how, how could he be at peace when the only emotion that was all encompassing besides the numbness that crept in the shadows, waiting to sweep in and take him, was regret?

"Could you kill him? Could you kill your brother?" They had asked him once. He had looked away from their eyes, not answering as the weight of their judgment anchored themselves on his shoulders. They had all known the answer at the time, and today had proved it. He had been so close to him, so close to the tyrant that he could have...if he was faster could have, if he was smarter, if he was healthier...he should have-

But he didn't and now he was left to drown in his own torment as the world erupted into a torrent of flames and his own failures became his funeral pyre. A hand touching his broke him out of his thoughts, bloodshot violet eyes lolling lazily over to see the person who had grasped his hand. The familiar yet hazy sight had a small smile creeping across Aiko's lips as the man gave his student his last words, a bright golden light bobbing between them before it disappeared into Eizo's skin and sealed it into his lifespan. His student was begging him for something now, but the numbness was there sinking its teeth into Aiko and violet eyes slid shut as he was pulled into its depths.

Elsewhere, a pair of green eyes flickered open and a green haired boy heaved and gasped from his position on the barren ground of the void he was in, uncontrollable tears streaming down his face. "W-why, why did you show me that?" Violet eyes stared down at him impassively before the man knelt down and ruffled his curly locs.

"I didn't think it would affect you like that, I'm sorry but you needed to see it. There is more about us, more about One For All, more about All For One that you'll need to learn but we don't have the time to do it today. This is the only lesson I could think to give you." The air between them stilled as Izuku's little gasps slowed to a stop, the emerald eyes slowly sliding up to meet serious violet ones. "I spent the rest of my life after Sena died in a spiral of regret, yes I knew her, no I won't go into how I did that's something for another day. The regret festered and poisoned me, locked against me like a chain to which I didn't have the key. It followed me until the day I died, and nothing I did, no matter how much I repented, begged, cried, screamed, the regret never left me. I thought I deserved it, and so I allowed myself to wallow in it. Meeting the second user, meeting Eizo-kun helped me release some of my regrets, but it wasn't enough to stop me from hesitating when it counted."

Here he paused, a hand resting on Izuku's shoulder and squeezing. "We're alike in that manner kid, we both regret too easily. I want you to learn to regret nothing, life is too short to go around with that leech on your shoulder. I'm not telling you not to be upset, I'm not telling you not to feel guilty, but don't let it rule your life kid. I'm not as good at interpreting the future as your spirit friends are, but from being tied to Raava now there's a connection there that I can't ignore. You'll be faced with a choice soon, no matter what choice you make don't regret it. The path of a hero is a rocky one, and a hard one. You have the guts to make it kid, but you won't be able to make it if you let that regret hold you back. Regret nothing, and stop fearing yourself."

"I don't-"

"You can't lie to someone who's lied to himself enough times, Nine." The man gave him a tight lipped smile and Izuku frowned, opening his mouth to say something before a sudden shudder rocked the terrain. "Don't regret making necessary choices Nine. That's my wisdom to you." The first of the one for all users rose to his feet and moved away until he was standing opposite of Izuku, giving the boy a small wave.

"Wait! What necessary choice?" The man gave him a sad smile before carding a hand through his snow white hair, raising his free hand and waving.

"I'll see you again, Nine." Izuku opened his mouth to protest but the man was already gone, and the world around Izuku was steadily brightening as he was yanked from his subconscious as multiple alarms for the day rang out.

Around the clearing, sounds of grunts of exertion and groans of pain echoed. Around the clearing, one could see students of class 1-B staring at the exercises that class 1-A were doing in complete shock, some of them wincing in sympathy as they saw what was going on. In one area, Ojiro, Sato, and Kirishima were fighting. Kirishima was struggling to maintain his hardened state as a bruised tail crashed into him, followed by a boy holding an entire cake in one hand and taking bites of it as he swung at the hardened boy as well, his body-switching between a sugar rush and sugar crash constantly. In a cave a ways away there was the sound of someone screaming about revelry in the dark, and in another area, there was a pink-haired girl who was gritting her teeth as she forced acid coming out of one hand to dissolve metal while simultaneously trying to keep her opposite hand from disintegrating a piece of fabric. In the middle of the clearing sat two giant vats of water, one of them boiling as a boy with spiky blonde hair shoved his hands into the hot water and screamed as he raised them over his head and unleashed consecutive explosions. In the second vat sat a boy who had to switch between cooling the water and boiling it without burning himself or giving himself frostbite. A few feet away from them stood a boy enveloped in what appeared to be green lightning holding a giant boulder over his head with his quirk while he bellowed fire from his mouth, tears making their way down from his red-rimmed eyes only to immediately evaporate due to the intense heat coming from the fire. He stood like that for at least a minute when a bell rang out and he immediately dropped the rock and switched stances, moving water with one hand and shooting air out of another.

"This is crazy." Tetsutetsu mumbled, his eyes wide with disbelief. Secretly everyone else in 1-B agreed with him, silently creeping away from class 1-A before they were stopped by Vlad King appearing in front of them with a creepy smile.

"Class 1-A has been at it for some time now, we'll have to get you guys caught up! Alright, to your stations we're going to work on your quirks!" The blood hero clapped his hands together almost as though he was excited, but all 1-B could feel was dread.

"Bakugou, you received third place for the ball throw at the beginning of the year. Your score was 732.5 meters, so if you improved any then your score will obviously be higher. Take this ball and toss it."

"I'll blow this shitty ball into the atmosphere! Die!" Izuku placed a hand on Dark Shadow's head, patting it lightly as the creature shied away from the light created by the blast. Aizawa observed his tracker silently before turning the phone to face them, and Izuku found himself shocked as Katsuki stared silently at the phone before tsking and turning away.

"736.8 meters. Only a 4 point difference. We've spent time honing your bodies and your minds, but not your quirks. That changes today, starting now."

He had experienced pain before, multiple times in fact. He had experienced the pain of injuring himself (something that had happened constantly) when he first started to learn how to bend, he had experienced the pain of sore and aching muscles to the point where even movement would make him cry as he would force himself into an ice bath. Hell, one of his most recent experiences with pain included him being smashed hard enough to create a crater and having part of his back disintegrated to the point where he had scars dancing across his back, but even that pain couldn't have prepared Izuku for this.

His chi was screaming. He had attempted to use bending together once and was successful in it, but it was to create a barrier. That was easy, compared to this. Forcing himself to use two elements at the same time was extremely draining, and more often than not it failed on him. What some people didn't understand about his bending (but to them a quirk) was that it was not without its drawbacks. While Izuku's bending didn't leak out like Aoyama's quirk, and it didn't make him throw up like Urakaka's, his bending exerted its force upon him, especially his earthbending. It was almost as though he was using muscles that he was unused to, and he knew it probably wasn't natural for his chi to be running wild and constantly switching like this, but he had no choice. He knew that he was out there and Izuku needed to be ready.

But still, it hurt and by adding OFA into the mix, it hurt even worse, especially since he wouldn't be able to bend two elements consecutively without OFA. The first time he had tried to bend two elements at once that morning he had failed, and it had taken him nearly 15 minutes before he added One for All to the mix after remembering what Raava said about his quirk corrupting his bending (something he desperately wanted her to explain but she would not). Once the green electricity had danced across his body he had been able to bend two elements at one time, but it was so challenging. Add in the part where Tiger was randomly attacking him and anyone could understand why Izuku nearly cried when he was finally allowed to stop bending and take a 2-minute break. Staggering over to where the rest of his equally exhausted-looking classmates were, Izuku helped himself to a bottle of water. He swished it in his mouth for a moment before spitting it out onto the ground and immediately going back to drinking his water. It was a habit that always garnered him weird looks, but he couldn't help it. It was a habit that Sena had taught him to get some of the moisture back into his mouth, something he wasn't even sure if it was entirely accurate but he still used it because it was taught to him.

"You look like shit Deku." Tired green eyes danced over to the red ones that were staring forward as Katsuki drank his own bottle of water, Izuku keeping quiet as he saw the boy's hands shake. Katsuki's quirk did a lot of damage to his wrists from the recoil, Izuku would have to harass him into letting him use his water on his wrists later in the night if Izuku even had enough energy. A fluff of pink settled on his shoulder as Mina leaned against him, nuzzling her face into his neck.

"M' so tired," Mina spoke as if there was cotton stuffed in her mouth and Izuku gave her a weary smile as he raised a hand and patted her head, careful to steer clear of her horns. She had told him once that she didn't really like them being touched unless she specifically asked for it, and he made sure to respect her wishes. He definitely knew she was tired, he felt the same way himself. After all, they had been forced outside at 5:30 in the morning and had been practicing ever since with the exception of taking a break around 9 in order to have a light breakfast.

"Aren't we all, Raccoon eyes. Fuckers are trying to kill us." Izuku opened his mouth to argue that this was for the better of them all before the self-righteous steam went right out of his sails and he instead nodded slightly, his movement hindered by Mina's placement.

"Yeah, they are." They all let out small sighs as Tiger called for the end of their break, Mina pulling herself up with a huff of desperation and tenderly touching her palms which looked a brighter pink than normal. That makes another person that Izuku would force to accept his care, though Mina would give into it far more easily than Katsuki would.

"Green kid, you're with me for now. I noticed you use several different forms of martial arts for your quirk, we're going to spar." Izuku's eyes locked on Tiger and he nodded as he made his way over to the man, activating full cowling and allowing the familiar green electricity to dance across his body. There was no warning as Tiger suddenly charged at him full force, Izuku leaping backward to avoid a blow to his sternum, twisting to the side and using his forearm to block a kick that suddenly came sailing at him. He was easily forced onto defense, doing his best to evade and block but he only lasted another 30 seconds before he was flat on his back against the forest floor, wheezing from the light palm strike to his sternum. "Get up, we're going again." Izuku staggered to his feet and resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to schedule a healing session with himself too, something his muscles and the already forming bruises immediately agreed with. Unbeknownst to him, the little boy who had tried to punch him in the balls stood behind a tree, watching him with a frown on his face.

The end of the training day came quickly, but not soon enough. The adults left them to their own devices as the students shuffled about, deciding what they were going to make for dinner tonight. Izuku wanted katsudon, wanted his mom's katsudon but he knew that was just homesickness. Besides, they didn't even have the ingredients to make katsudon. After a few minutes of everyone arguing about what they wanted to make, Yaoyorozu spoke up and brought forth the idea of curry, something that everyone immediately agreed with because it was quick and easy. Izuku placed himself in charge of making the rice, one of the only things that he trusted himself to make despite his mother doing her best to teach him how to cook other things.

"How are you doing Midoriya-kun? Your exercises looked extremely painful earlier." Izuku turned his attention from the now boiling pot of rice to Iida-kun who had slid a cutting board next to Izuku's station as he carefully cut up the carrots for the curry. Izuku gave his friend a small smile as he lowered the flames with his bending, even that slight movement causing his exhausted muscles to twinge. He mentally apologized to himself before turning back to Iida.

"I'm alright, really sore but nothing a healing session can't fix. How are your legs? I know you were running around the camp all day, do they ache? I think I'm going to do another group healing session tonight in the hot tubs to relax our muscles-"

"Don't tire yourself out caring for everyone else Midoriya-kun. Take care of your own aches and pains first, we'll be fine." Izuku frowned at him, remembering another time when Iida had rejected his care and Izuku had allowed it. The guilt that had plagued him for weeks was not something he wanted to experience again.

"So what I heard was a group healing session tonight, got it." His tone was firm, signifying the end of that discussion, but it lightened just as quickly. "I think they have the curry cooking, Kacchan's manning the pot now. You should take the carrots over to him." Iida gave him a searching look over his glasses before giving Izuku a small smile and a nod.

"I shall return momentarily to aid you with the rice!" Before Izuku could tell him that he didn't need help since the rice was only simmering, the engine user was already gone, handing the cut carrots to Katsuki and waving his hands robotically as the blonde complained about the way the carrots were sliced. Izuku knew that Katsuki didn't actually have a problem with it, he was only being difficult for the sake of being difficult. He allowed a fond smile to cross his face as he moved away from his station, keeping a mental timer in his head as he walked over to Yaoyorozu and helped her start setting the plates out. 15 minutes later the food was finished and everyone was sitting along the table, scarfing the food down as if they didn't eat it would be taken away from them. It wasn't the best curry, but it was edible and that was all that mattered. Halfway through his meal, Izuku poked his head up and gazed around, looking for the red hat that was slowly becoming familiar to him, only to not find it anywhere. Nudging Uraraka who sat next to him, he waited until the girl turned her attention to him before speaking.

"I don't think Kota-kun is here, I'm going to take him some curry. I don't want him to be hungry."

"Alright Deku-kun, hurry back though!" He gave her a nod before rising to his feet and quickly plating some food onto a plate before grabbing a spare set of chopsticks and taking off in the general direction of where he had last seen Kota. Upon not finding the boy there Izuku slammed his still shoe-covered foot into the ground, wincing as his leg protested. Though his seismic sense was muddled and blurry due to him having his shoe on (he had switched out of his hero shoes for his normal red sneakers), he was still able to piece together the direction that Kota had gone in. It didn't take him long to stumble upon the path that the child used, following the footprints until he came to a stop on the top of a cliff that overlooked the entire forest. The view was amazing, and Izuku could have spent a much longer time looking at it had an angry 5 year old not walked up to him and slammed his foot down onto Izuku's.

"What the hell are you doing here, this is my secret spot! Get out!" Izuku ignored the yelling, having enough experience in doing so from dealing with Kacchan. Giving the boy his best smile (and ignoring his now throbbing foot), he set the plate of curry down on the ground between them as he moved away to give the boy a bit of space, settling down near the edge of the cliff. He didn't say anything for a moment, instead focusing on the green expanse of trees that stretched before him.

"I wanted to bring you something to eat in case you were hungry-"

"I don't want anything from someone who wants to be a hero" The last word was dripping with a sort of disgust and hatred that a 5-year-old shouldn't have.

"Kota's parents were the Water Hoses." At Izuku's look of horror, Mandalay nodded solemnly. "They were killed by the villain Muscular, and ever since then, Kota has had a deep disliking for heroes because being a hero is what took his parents. He thinks that they chose to be heroes over being with him."

Izuku didn't say anything, eyes trailing up from the trees to instead watch the moon make its rise through the sky. Though it wasn't quite full (which it wouldn't be for another 4 days, coincidentally coinciding with the summer solstice) Izuku could still feel the power of Tui, of Lady Yue running through his veins. Lady Yue imbibed him with a sense of calm and he absently fiddled with the hem of his shirt as he finally spoke.

"I know what it's like to lose someone you care about. And to blame everything and everyone for it." Though he was ashamed to admit it, he did not take the first few months of Sena disappearing back to the spirit world kindly. He had been depressed, he had raged in a way he hadn't before cursing everyone for taking his older sister figure away from him, his Sena nee-chan (though he never called her that to her face), even Sena herself at some point. That attitude hadn't lasted long before Izuku had regained control of himself, but even thinking about it bothered him, though he knew that it shouldn't. In a way, he had been grieving, and grief was a strange thing. "But you can't hang onto that blame forever. Anger is a poison only to yourself."

"And what do you know, you're just another hero wannabe, and I bet the person you lost was one too! All heroes do is hurt people, and that's why I hate heroes! Now for the last time, get out!" Izuku gave the boy a look at this and rose to his feet. He was tempted to ask him if he really meant that, tempted to push him and tell him that it meant that he hated Mandalay and that he hated his parents, but Izuku wouldn't do that. Sena would his mind whispered to him, but he pushed it away. He may have had some of her tendencies, but he wasn't her. He wouldn't push the kid if he wasn't ready.

"Get back to the camp safe okay? I won't bother you anymore." Is what he said instead as he trudged back down the slope, leaving the child to sit on the rocky ledge by himself. The conversation played itself back in his head, only disappearing when he stepped back into the lodge and made his way to the hot tub to soak in for a while. He wasn't surprised to find most of the boys there except Mineta and Kacchan, and he ignored Iida's questioning look as he sank into the heat and allowed a blue glow to overtake the hot water. Almost collectively everyone let out a small sigh of relief, it wouldn't be much to heal all of their injuries but it would at least be enough to take some of the aches away from their muscles. They all sat in relative silence for a few minutes, simply enjoying the feeling of the aches and pains leaching out of their body.

"Midoriya, bro you're seriously awesome for this and I don't wanna bring down your mood or anything but are you okay? You came back looking kind of sad." Kirishima's words had the other's looking at him and the blue glow faded but did not die out as Izuku's concentration wavered. Sitting up properly in the water he looked up at the sky, focusing on the vast expanse of stars that he would never be able to count.

"I'm fine Kirishima-kun, long day you know?" He could feel Shouto's eyes on him from across the hot tub and shook his head minutely, hoping that his friend would get the message. He considered it a successful endeavor when the gaze was removed, only for Shouto to rise from the water and walk over to Izuku after wrapping a towel around his waist.

"Let's head back to the room together, Izuku." He nodded and rose from the tub himself, rationalizing the fact that he could always get up a bit earlier and sneak back for a soak if he really wanted to.

"Alright, Shouto-kun." He waved goodnight to the rest of his friends and the two boys walked together in silence before Shouto (whom he had been on a first-name basis with since the second week before final exams, though he still had trouble actually calling the boy by his name) broke it by speaking.

"What happened with you and the boy who attempted to end your lineage?" Izuku gave him a look at the mention of his almost emasculation, but instead, he let out a sigh as they came to a stop in front of the room that they shared with Shoji and Tokoyami.

"He really hates heroes Shouto-kun, and I don't know how to fix it. I don't know how to help him at all, he's so hurt and I just-" His voice died and he stared at the floor only for emerald eyes to snap up as Shouto spoke in his regular frank way.

"Don't try to fix him, just show him what a hero is supposed to be I guess. You involve yourself in strange situations, Izuku." A shared smile passed between them as they both thought about the Sports Fest and Izuku forcing Todoroki to use his fire.

"Yeah, someone told me that sticking your nose where it doesn't belong is a true sign of a hero." Todoroki shrugged before swinging the door open, allowing both of them to quietly trudge into the room in order to not disturb their sleeping roommates. Climbing into his own bed, Izuku clutched the blankets tight to his chest as he thought about Kota's words and Shouto's. In his eyes, Kota was another person who needed saving.

And so Izuku would do his best to embody the right traits of a hero and save him.

Light blue eyes stared down into the forest as a man with staples and scars across his body stood with his hands deep into his jean pockets, a sadistic smirk dancing across his lips as his black hair waved with the light breeze.

"When do we get to go in? I want to see them bleed, pretty and red." A blonde-haired girl gave the black-haired man a crazed smile as she flounced around, her hair pulled into two buns.

"Not yet, we have orders to wait until tomorrow night." A third person spoke, one with a red scarf around his neck and a white mask across his eyes, both doing nothing to obscure his reptilian features. As the girl complained the blue-eyed man ignored them both, a glint appearing in his eyes as he looked over the land that the Pussycats owned.

"We've waited this long, another 24 hours won't hurt. I can't wait to see the reactions on their faces." He spoke at last, the other's shutting up immediately when he spoke. A single blue flame appeared on his fingertip as he fantasized about the way the forest would look with a wave of his hand, the dreams of those heroes going up in smoke.

OMAKE:

"Kacchan, get over here and let me heal your wrists I know they're aching-"

"Fuck off nerd I don't need your shitty-"

"Bakugou fucking Katsuki get the hell over here and let me heal your aching wrists!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Kacchan I am so sor-"

"Fine, fucking Deku. They better not hurt one fucking bit after this!"

"Yay, thank you Kacchan!"

"Tch."