Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay between chapters again, I meant to have this out last week but I got my second vaccine and it absolutely took me out, like it was a fight I never had a chance of winning lol. I hope to start updating more (like I said last time) but my juices are definitely slowing down a bit and these parts are so tricky to write out and I have no idea why. Anywho, that's all lol enjoy the chapter!

"Sena, have you ever attempted to contact your predecessor or any other Avatar during the solstice?"

"Yeah, I have."

"Did you ever make contact?"

"Unfortunately, no. But don't worry kid, you won't have that problem. I promise you that."

The night of the Winter Solstice was Sena's favorite time of the year. The one day where Night triumphed under Day, where the shadows were cast the longest, Tui shining brightly as if she were Agni herself; Sena couldn't get enough of it. The preparation for festivities in her village started a week before the solstice itself, and then the festival would begin the night of and would continue into the New Year. It was a time of restoration and celebration, a time where Sena would gladly mingle with the children she had grown up with, where she would gladly endure her parents nagging as her mother fussed with her regalia and her father carefully painted on her warrior markings. She had taken it for granted, had assumed that the festivities would always go on.

And now she prepared to spend her 4th solstice alone. There was no more week-long preparation, no more festivities. Sena didn't even bother putting on her regalia anymore and she painted her warrior markings on herself with a bitter smile. Aiko had offered to do it for her once. She had immediately declined.

On the night of this winter solstice, she found herself making her way to a nearby stream. Kneeling on the ground, she painstakingly drew the symbol of the air nomads into the dirt, taking care to make sure everything was right. She rose to her feet, dusted herself off, and then moved, sitting cross-legged on a flat rock that she had bent to be smooth. She inhaled deeply through her nose and exhaled through her mouth, placing her fists directly next to each other. She had tried this once before during the summer solstice only for it not to work (she wholeheartedly believed that Agni blocked her attempt, the summer solstice was not a holiday for her even if she was the Avatar). If it didn't work this time, on a night where Tui shone her brightest and reigned for the longest, she would never try it again. Ever. Centering herself, she focused on her chi, and she focused on her connection to Raava.

"Avatar Leodis, I seek your assistance." She whispered into the air, unwilling to raise her voice any higher and disrupt the still silence that seemed to form around her. She could feel the spiritual energy running through the air and despite herself, adrenaline began to thrum in her veins as she awaited her predecessor-

And she waited.

And waited.

And waited. She stayed on the rock until the night had passed and the dawn began to rise. She calmly climbed off of the boulder she had sat on, a placid look on her face as she placed her hand on the boulder, moving fluidly as a long whip of water emerged from the creek and slashed the symbol in front of her in half and then cut into the boulder itself, allowing it to split into two pieces. Glaring at the rapidly brightening sky, she made her way back to their current hideout in order to wash away her symbols and get herself ready for the day. Feelings of disappointment, feelings of rage, and feelings of hurt were all shoved into a box deep in the back of her mind. She didn't need her predecessor's guidance, his inattention was the reason she was in this situation in the first place.

No, she didn't need his help. Instead, she would dedicate herself to being the best damn Avatar the world had seen since Avatar Korra, since Avatar Stephanos. And if she couldn't do that, then she would be the best damn spirit guide that the next Avatar would ever have.

Unbeknownst to her, a spirit watched her trudge away from his place in the spirit world, letting out a soft sigh at his cowardice.

If someone had asked Izuku to describe what he thought being kidnapped was like, he definitely would not have described the situation that he found himself in now. He had risen with the sun (though he had been in a restless state of unconsciousness so he couldn't tell if that really constituted itself as sleep), his talk with Sena lingering in the back of his mind. The rest of the bar was quiet with the various villains scattered around him in different states of sleep with only the patchwork villain still being awake. Izuku had watched him warily but the man merely glanced at him before tucking something that he had been fiddling with back into his pocket, tucking his hands deep into them.

"You're up early for a runt. Aren't you supposed to sleep until noon or something?" Izuku chewed on his lip before answering hesitantly.

"I always wake up early." The villain made a noise with his mouth that Izuku didn't know how to interpret, turning away from Izuku and instead walking over to a person dressed in all back curled into a ball on the floor, kicking them hard in the side.

"I'll kill you! Good morning Dabi!" The man sprung to his feet and Izuku recognized him as Twice, the one who had bandaged his ankle the night before. The patchwork Villain, who Izuku now knew was Dabi, said something quietly to Twice, tossing a gaze over at Izuku before turning on his heel and walking out of the door that led to the interior of the bar. It slammed shut behind him with an unneeded force as Twice moved over to Izuku, checking the cuffs that had been placed on him sometime after he had been brought back from the infirmary type place he had been in, the place where AFO had tried to take his quirk.

"Are you thirsty? No one cares!" The man's personality switches were honestly confusing him, but Izuku shook his head slowly even though he was absolutely thirsty and hungry. He hadn't even been gone 24 hours yet (at least he didn't think so, he wasn't actually sure how long he had been out), but he had burnt off every calorie that he had eaten and sweated out every gallon of water he had drunk. Twice gave him a once over before moving to take the spot that Dabi had been in previously, and Izuku gave the man one last wary glance before closing his eyes and allowing himself to meditate. It was clear that this point that no one in the room was allowed to hurt him yet otherwise they would have killed him already, and AFO was clearly interested in killing Izuku in front of All Might, so he wouldn't allow anyone else to take that pleasure for him

What a depressing thought. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he focused entirely on any spiritual encounter he had ever had. He was unable to enter the spirit world himself, but maybe if he searched hard enough...Raava he whispered into the depths of his mind. I need to speak with you.

You have called, and I shall answer. The response echoed in his head and for one disorienting moment, he felt like he was falling, plummeting into an area unknown but as soon as it started it stopped and Izuku found himself reclining in the bluegrasses of an entirely familiar field, the kite spirit hovering in the sky above him. "Young One, you have called for me?" Izuku could only stare as Raava floated closer to him, unable to believe that that had worked. If it had always been so simple-

"It would not have always been this easy Young One. I am bound closer to the physical realm in part to your corruption and the weakening barrier between the spiritual world and the physical realm as the summer solstice approaches. Now our time is limited Young One, what is it that you seek?"

There were a thousand things that Izuku wanted to ask but didn't know what to say, didn't know which question was imperative to him escaping but-

"You protected my quirk from being stolen." The words that came out were not a question and both of them knew it. A grimace crossed Izuku's face as he hastened to correct himself but the spirit waved him away, drifting towards him and allowing one tendril to caress his face carefully.

"I assisted yes. Despite my dislike for the bindings that have been placed upon me that connect myself and your meta-ability, I will not allow any harm to come to you. Not only that, but when he attempted to destabilize your meta-ability, he indirectly attempted to destabilize your connection to the elements. None of those who have taken interest in you appreciated that." Images of Agni, of Tui and La, of Oma, flashed through his mind rapidly before they came to an abrupt halt.

"But why-"

"I do not know their reasoning Young One, but we have all put our stakes in you. You are protected in ways you do not know, observed in ways you do not see. It was the same for your predecessor, only it was two spirits that had an interest in her. However, at this time it does not concern you. Your time is running out Young One. Do you have a plan?" Izuku's confusion must have shown on his face because Raava let out a long-suffering sigh. "A plan for escape Young One. The solstice is upon us and one way or another the final stage will be set. Do you not feel it young one? Will you rise, or will you fall?" Izuku opened his mouth to say something else, to ask for any type of advice but his vision abruptly darkened as he was dragged back to the physical realm only to become aware of someone digging their hand in his hair and bright yellow eyes staring into his.

"Izu-kun's finally awake! It isn't nice to go back to sleep on your hosts you know. Unless you're willing to give up some blood." A knife was held directly in front of his vision as the girl gave him a blood-thirsty smile only to be yanked back by the same reptilian figure who had intercepted the magnet user from capturing him the night prior.

"Toga! He's Stain's chosen, don't harm him!" The two of them dissolved into an argument that was only disrupted by the warp user, Kurogiri his mind supplied, appearing in the bar. At his entrance, the commotion suddenly died down with Toga flouncing over to pout by the wall and Spinner tossing him one last look before resheathing his katana and moving away from him as well. Kurogiri gave them all a long-suffering once over before turning to Izuku himself.

"Sensei requires your presence once more." And without any other warning, Izuku was warped away, reappearing in the middle of that forsaken infirmary.

Yagi Toshinori sat in the middle of the war room, drumming his fingers against the table in agitation as he waited for the rest of those attending to finish filing in. Everyone had assembled as quickly as possible after Nezu had sent out a meeting signal, Toshinori and Tsukachi being the first ones to arrive. As the last of the stragglers settled down in their chairs, Nezu climbed on top of the table with his paws clasped together and allowed his gaze to sweep over the room.

"Thank you all for gathering on such short notice, the past 48 hours have been nothing but hectic I know. First, we have the disappearance of one of our students and the injury of over 20 more. I have called you all here to deal with the fallout." The chimeras eyes gleamed as a single voice called out

"Which student is missing?" This came from Snipe who had just returned from an out of town trip where there had been no WIFI connection, and so he wasn't aware of the news.

"Midoriya Izuku." Yagi's hands clenched the arms of the chair he was sitting in, forcing himself to keep a tight lid on his emotions. A hand placed on his shoulder by Tsukachi was meant to be soothing, but it was far from it. "And that is not all. At 0500 this morning a single tape was delivered to the front of the building, I was only able to intercept it due to an early morning inspection of the barriers after the events of the night previous. As of right now, whoever delivered it is still unknown but I imagine that it was done at All For One's directive. Eyes to the monitor please." Blue eyes raised from their position on the table to the plasma screen that sat directly behind Nezu's throne (because the man refused to call it a chair when such a scary creature sat in it), the screen lighting up without warning and Yagi found himself leaning forward until he was pressed against the table, still gripping the armrests the entire time. On the screen was a video of Midoriya, and he looked terrible. A ruined green hoodie barely covered his clearly cold frame, his pants were destroyed, and his ankle-

Aizawa hadn't reported Izuku having a damaged ankle, which meant the injury had come after. Toshinori allowed his eyes to roam the boy again, taking in the sight of the long dried blood still plastered to his face, taking in the sight of the boy's nervous gaze flittering around the room until that man stepped into the frame and all the blood in Toshinori's body froze. There was no audio so none of them could hear what was being said, but suddenly All For One moved, Izuku's body locked up and green wisps began to leak from his body but he wasn't focused on that.

No, he was focused on the way that Izuku was screaming. He could hear it clear as day even without the audio, could see his boy slump lifelessly against the chair only to be taken away from the environment with a wave of a hand and the opening of a warp portal.

He could also hear the sound of wood snapping echoing through the nearly silent room (only interrupted by a ding from Tsukachi's phone, the man slipping away quietly to answer it) as nearly all eyes turned to look at him, the only set still staring at the screen being Aizawa's.

"Yagi, sit down you're being illogical." The man's calm voice echoed through the air as glowing red eyes turned towards Nezu, the red disappearing and turning back to their regular black.

"What's the plan?"

"I'm glad you asked Aizawa-kun! We'll get our student back of course." The chimera leaned forward once more with a dangerous glint in his eye, one that was mirrored by Yagi. Izuku was precious to him and All For One had hurt him. It only added on to Yagi's ever-growing list of unforgivable sins that the man had ever committed.

This one would be his final offense. Yagi would make sure of it.

Katsuki rubbed his hands on his hospital gown for the thirtieth time in the past 5 minutes, glaring at the sterile white wall in front of him. He had been admitted to the hospital after Deku had been taken and had spent a day drifting in and out of consciousness from pure exhaustion. When he had woken up he had immediately gone into a rage and had to be sedated again, leading him to drift in and out of consciousness until today, day 3 of Deku being gone. From what he had heard, both 1-A and 1-B had taken their losses. In 1-B, half the students were still unconscious from some quirked gas and the other half had been injured in various ways besides the students who had failed the final exam. The same could be said for class 1-A, 7 out from the quirked gas, 6 students with miscellaneous injuries, 5 safe, and 1 missing.

That stupid fucking smile was angled at him, meant to be reassuring but only showing Katsuki how much of a fucking mess Deku looked. The nerd's hoodie was half gone, his pants tattered. Blood trailed down his face, his left arm was a bruised purple, and he had dozens of little cuts decorating his body but the nerd still had the audacity to fucking smile at him as the burnt fucker held the back of his neck.

"DEKU!" Someone called the nerd's name and it took him a moment to realize that it was him, that Katsuki had screamed his name. He had never heard his voice like that, so raw and full of vulnerability. He hated it. He hated Deku for making him sound like that. He would never fucking forgive that shitty fucking nerd-

"It's okay Kacchan, I'll-" I'll be fine, Deku was going to say that he would be fine but he wasn't. He said it was okay, but it wasn't. It wasn't okay, it WASN'T okay, it wasn't OKAY! Katsuki had failed. Katsuki had lost.

The sound of his hospital door opening had him glaring over at the door, spiky red hair appearing in his vision as the extras in his class shuffled into the room. Kirishima was at the front, a grim look on his face as he held Ashido's hand, and Katsuki had to acknowledge that the girl looked terrible with dark bags under her eyes, her hair limp and skin a pale pink. All of the extras in the room looked terrible, and a small part of Katsuki raged with guilt as it yelled at him that he caused it.

"How are you doing, Bakugou?" Glasses spoke up from his position in the middle of the room, arms folded across his chest as he looked like he would rather be anywhere else.

"Fuck you. What do you extras want?" There was a silence in the room that was broken by the half and half bastard.

"We know where Midoriya is." Almost immediately all eyes swiveled toward Todoroki and Katsuki had to wipe his hands on the hospital gown once more, eyes narrowing dangerously in Todoroki's direction.

"Talk." As Todoroki told them about the tracker that Ponytail had placed on a Nomu that had been there (one that Katsuki didn't even know was there), he listened quietly, giving the other boy his full attention. Katsuki's respect for Ponytail went up a couple of notches when Todoroki got to the part about how she had done it, the girl was ballsier than he thought. When Todoroki finished, his classmates immediately exploded into arguments, the most prominent being from Frog Face.

"I care deeply about Midoriya-kun, but acting without the heroes? Doing what we want just because we can makes us the same as villains, ribbit."

"How could you say that? Midoriya would do the same for any of us!" This exclamation came from Kaminari, his eyes wide as he stared at Frog Face in betrayal. Katsuki vaguely noted that Glasses and Round Face were staring at her with wide eyes too, but Katsuki didn't care about those extras at the moment. Instead, his eyes were focused on the two directly in front of him.

"Oi, all of you fuckers get the hell out. Except for you two idiots and Half and Half." The calmness in his voice must have startled them because they immediately followed his instructions, Round Face throwing one last look over her shoulder at them before she closed the door behind her, Icyhot moving to stand next to Raccoon Eyes and Shitty Hair.

"Bakugou-"

"Raccoon eyes, get something the fuck to eat and go the hell to sleep or I swear to all fuck that you aren't coming with us." Black and gold eyes locked onto him and he watched in silent alarm as tears began to fall from those eyes, the girl's nails digging into her palms.

"I couldn't do anything, I didn't even know until you guys came back that Midori w-was gone-"

"There's no point in crying over it now." Icy hot cut in, still staring at Katsuki. If Katsuki was in the mood, he would have told him to fuck off and beat his ass for looking at him for so long, but for once in his life, he couldn't muster up the energy. "Izuku has been gone for 3 days and we're going to get him back. Yaomomo made a tracker for the heroes earlier so I have reason to believe that they're going to act tonight. I'm going whether or not you guys come with me. Bakugou, Kirishima, Ashido, are you in?" Raccoon eyes nodded yes, and Shitty hair agreed immediately. Katsuki was dimly aware of his nails digging into his calloused palms, the feeling barely registering in his brain.

"Kacchan, your quirk is so cool, we'll be amazing heroes!"

"I chased after you because you were like the sun! You were so bright Kacchan, you are so bright that I couldn't stop gazing after you even though it hurt. I couldn't stop chasing you, I couldn't stop wanting to be near you even though I was getting burned by your warmth. No matter how much it hurt, I wanted to be just as amazing as you are Kacchan!"

"Kacchan, you've gotten stronger, Kacchan you're amazing!"

"It'll be okay Kacchan, I'll-"

"I'll fucking be there Half and Half. I'm going to show those fuckers why you don't mess with Bakugou fucking Katsuki."

Bile rose in his throat as he steadied himself against the wall, staring forward almost as if doing so would allow him to unsee everything he had just saw. To his left, Ragdoll laid in a bed completely limp, and if Izuku hadn't just watched what had happened he would have thought he was lifeless.

"I do apologize for what you experienced two nights previous when you visited. It has been a while since I have last interacted with my brother's quirk, and I forgot that it had a tendency to be...difficult. My intent was never to cause you pain, Izuku and I do hope that you'll sincerely consider my apology." The words had been followed up by a pat on the shoulder before All For One had told him to rise to his feet and follow him. Izuku didn't want to, but at this point in time, he had to. He had to play for the long haul, to stay alive long enough to escape. "Ah but first," The man had stopped in his tracks and turned around, unshackling Izuku's arms. They hadn't even bothered shackling his legs after his ankle injury.

If he could plan it right, he would make them regret that. Still, his eyes had widened without his consent and All For One chuckled as if it amused him. "I do not fear anything that you can do, child. Besides, I do not see the point in keeping you chained when you are already incapacitated. All it will do is hinder our movements even further. Please, if you need assistance do not hesitate to ask." Without any other words the man made his way forward, not looking back to see if Izuku was following. Glancing once more at the room around him, Izuku hesitantly took a step forward and immediately collapsed to the ground, eyes watering and vision whitening as he accidentally put too much pressure on his ankle.

"Hurry now, daylight is fading." A snarl crossed Izuku's face as he pushed himself to his feet, biting his lip hard enough to make it bleed in order to prevent crying out. He dragged himself forward slowly, using his right hand to guide himself along the wall that he leaned into as he trudged after the villain. At the sight of steps he allowed the tears he had been desperately holding back to fall, but All For One did not approach them, instead veering left and continuing deeper on into the building. Even if Izuku wanted to escape, he wouldn't have been able to without getting hopelessly lost and it was obvious that All For One was making that very clear.

After what felt like a century to Izuku they finally arrived at their destination, at last, a sight that made Izuku gag as he took in the sight of various Nomus scattered around, floating in vats of liquid.

"Midoriya, what are you-" His head had snapped to the side, catching sight of a woman with blue hair matted with blood staring at him. He moved away from the wall out of instinct, only to cry out and collapse to the floor, barely catching himself with his noninjured arm.

"Ragdoll-" He gasped out only for the sound of a low dark chuckling to send them both into complete silence.

"Ah, I forgot you two had each other's acquaintance. This actually makes it an even grander showing." All For One strode over to Ragdoll, both of the woman's arms chained to the rails of the bed she found herself confined in. "This is what my power looks like when done properly."

"No! Please don't hurt her-"

"Don't worry, it won't hurt." The voice was pleasant as if they were discussing the weather and then a hand enveloped Ragdoll's face the same way it had covered his and no no no he had to help her, he had to do something- bend his mind screamed at him, save her! It yelled, but he couldn't move. He couldn't breathe.

He could only watch as pink and blue wisps were dragged away from her body and absorbed into All For One's palm, the woman's eyes catching his before they rolled shut and she slipped from the world of consciousness. The masked man turned to him after that, and Izuku found himself feeling as though he was standing in a world that he could do nothing to save, a world where he could only stand and watch as it broke apart and burned.

"Why?" The word was whispered but Izuku found himself glaring up at the masked villain. Why? The one worded question was loaded and they both knew it. Why did you kill Nana? Why are you trying to kill Yagi-san? Why do you want One for All so badly? Why did you kill Sena? Why are you trying to kill me?

"I simply cannot help myself when I see such an interesting quirk." The man rubbed his hands together and clapped twice. "But alas, that is what happens when I am successfully able to retrieve a quirk. It is a normally painless procedure, however, my brother's quirk has always been stubborn. It is easier to stamp something stubborn out than to bother coaxing it out, wouldn't you agree, Izuku?" The way his name was said sent shivers down Izuku's spine but he stared resolutely forward as the man gave him a careless wave. "Hopefully I never run across anyone you care about with an interesting quirk like that blonde boy. I've never seen an explosion quirk before and my hand positively itches just thinking about it." Izuku knew a wide grin would have been plastered across his face as Izuku's vision tilted red at the mention of Katsuki only to be obscured by black and purple before he was allowed to make his rage seen as he was swallowed by Kurogiri's warp. He found himself sitting in the bar once more, tightly reining in the anger boiling under his skin as he was shoved into a chair and then bound by Toga, the girl whispering about how pretty he looked when he was bleeding and if he wouldn't just let her take a little bit of blood. He wouldn't let any of them touch his friends, his family.

This would end tonight, one way or another.

In the spirit world, a girl stood on the edge of a pond said to be connected to the pond in the Oasis deep within the Northern Watertribe. Below her, images of the physical realm shifted and glittered as the barriers between the two became translucent, allowing any spirits who wished to cross the ability to do so but so far none had crossed, and none would.

For now.