A/N : Hello all, and welcome back to The Last Alchemist. I'm excited to present you all with the newest chapter! I hope you all like it, but first - The Reviews!

Ryuujin96 : I'm glad you like both the story and the pairing! I'll try not to disappoint you with either of them.

: I'm glad you're enjoying the story thus far! I also watched a lot of FMA:B as a kid, and was actually binging it between writing sessions before Netflix took it off on the 31st. I actually have a lot of issues writing crossovers, so hopefully this not-so-crossover is easier to write.

Guest (1) : Glad you liked my hook! I hope the follow through is just as good, if not better!

Guest (2) : . . . Interesting good? Or interesting like a mental illness? Haha. Seriously though, I'm going to take that as a compliment and say thank you.

Disclaimer : I don't own either My Hero Academia or Fullmetal Alchemist/Fullmetal Alchemist : Brotherhood, or any other affiliated media.

X X X

Alchemy : The Art of Understanding, Deconstructing, and Reconstructing. However, Alchemy isn't an all-powerful art; it is impossible to create something out of nothing. If one wishes to obtain something, something of equal value must be given. This is known as the Law of Equivalent Exchange; the basis of all alchemy.

However, Alchemy is nearly extinct; in the year 160 BQ, the leaders of the world outlawed alchemy, making its use an international offense and punishable by death, citing it to be too dangerous for normal societies. Since then, Alchemists had lurked in the shadows, learning various skills from "pseudo-religious texts" written by their forebears, avoiding detection, and blending into society as much as possible. However, despite their skills, there remains only one alchemist. Izuku Midoriya, trained by his predecessor, neither hero nor villain, and a hidden blade; he is

The Last Alchemist.

X X X

It had been a fairly normal day for Katsuki Bakugo; he'd woken up with his girlfriend, brushed his teeth, took a shower, and attended the weekly hero meeting for their underground resistance. And then, Tsuyu delivered her report of her patrol last night, beginning, "Last night, Ingenium and I began our patrol, eventually busting a drug deal between two Yakuza groups. However, we found that someone had already engaged them, taking out the majority of the two groups, ribbit. We apprehended the two groups and attempted to take the other person in for questioning, but he somehow blew up the street we were on-"

Katsuki quirked an eyebrow; did someone have a quirk like that they didn't know about? "Tsu, what do you mean somehow?" Uraraka asked curiously. "He just used an explosion quirk like Bakugo does, right?"

Katsuki felt his eye twitch when Uraraka accidently implied that some random person was just as good at him, but he ignored it. Life was too difficult for their small group to get mad at something so stupid. Tsuyu shook her head, "No. I ran into him later, after he escaped from both Ingenium and I, and he was forming a wall out of the street as he defended himself from Himiko Toga."

"Multiple quirks?" Kendo asked.

Tsuyu shrugged. "I don't know. I rescued him as Toga and Dabi cornered him, offering him a place here for the time being, but he fell asleep soon after we left the area, kero."

Katsuki, who was taking a sip of water, spit out his drink as he yelled, "You dumbass! He could be a spy, a villain, or, hell, a damn Nomu! We don't know anything about him and you bring him here?!"

Tsuyu had the quirk 'Frog,' but when she glared at him, Katsuki swore that she turned into a literal demon. "Of course not, kero. He's at one of our old safe-houses, inside a cell designed to nullify destructive quirks." She took a deep breath, and Katsuki let out a small sigh as the malevolent air around her dissipated. "He seemed like he could be a useful ally against the Front, so I made the offer. We could send someone over to question him or something later today, ribbit."

"I say we send someone over immediately," Tetsutetsu proposed immediately. "If he can take on any of the Paranormal Liberation Front's 4 Horsemen, then we can't afford him being kidnapped before we can speak with him."

"My morning's free today," Ochako volunteered. "I can go with someone and talk to him, hopefully Tsu since the guy already knows her."

Tsuyu shrugged her agreement, and the council agreed that they would leave immediately after the meeting. The meeting ended soon after that, and Katsuki returned to his room, deep in his thoughts. What exactly was this mystery man's quirk? His name? What could be so special about this mysterious man that some of the most powerful villains would seek him out and destroy him? He shook his head, dispelling his questions for the moment; they won't help him at all. Still, he reflected as he fell into bed to relax until his work started. He'd like to have the man answer a few of those questions.

X X X

Izuku sat down in the small cell where he had been placed, presumably by the woman who identified herself as Froppy. It was bare and apparently untouched for the longest time; dust rose and fell every time he shifted on the small mattress he was on, so he sat still and read silently through his ancient tome. He did this for several hours, growing more and more frustrated as the annoying sounds of rusty metal being grinded against itself refused to stop its incessant chant. "Damn it!" He cried out eventually, slapping his palms together and pressing them against the iron bars of his cage.

The bars burst apart in a mass of sparks and a flash of light as the atoms collided rapidly, leaving a large, gaping hole in its place. While he wouldn't admit it to almost anyone, he received a vast amount of satisfaction from the ceasing of the constant grinding. He sighed and laid back down onto the bed, before jumping back up as a cloud of dust rose. He grumbled a bit, before he stepped outside the cage, stretching his arms out as he did so.

After stepping through the bars, he took a closer glance at his surroundings; the room, much like the cell, was heavily bare in decoration and looked to have been out of use for some time, at least half a decade going by the solid layers of dust that coated the few pieces of furniture that did exist. There were only a few decorations in the room; a wooden chair pressed up against a small, circular table, and a tiny refrigerator that he frankly was too afraid to open and check. Izuku sighed and plopped down onto the chair, his book doing the same upon the table, and thankfully there was no massive dust explosion from either action. He stretched his back over the back of the chair, feeling several pops as he rolled his spine against the chair.

He simply sat and relaxed in the chair for what felt like hours, closing his eyes and lightly dozing before the door to the small house opened slowly. "Hello? Sir?" An unfamiliar voice called out softly from the doorframe. Izuku opened his eyes and glanced at the door frame; there he found a woman around his age in a pink, spandex outfit and a clear faceplate. She entered the small safe-house, followed by a familiar face in Froppy, who Izuku now noticed was in a black and green spandex suit with some goggles resting on her head.

"Who's asking?" Izuku asked, subtly sitting up and focusing on the visitors, specifically the new face.

"If you can remember, my name is 'Froppy,'" The woman answered calmly, before gesturing towards her partner, "and this is 'Uravity.'"

Uravity gave him a pointed glance. "Since you know our names, maybe you'd like to gift us with yours."

Izuku looked between the two warily, before closing his eyes and sighing. "Izuku Midoriya." He opened his eyes and glanced again between Uravity and Froppy. "What is this?"

"We're just wanting to make sure that you-"

"-won't kill, betray, or otherwise harm you guys and your secret organization." Izuku gave a rueful smile, before it changed into an amused smirk as he watched the suspicion grow on their faces. "You guys operate just like in the movies. Seriously, what's up with all this cloak and dagger nonsense?"

There was silence for several moments as both of the heroines stared him down, before Froppy sighed and broke eye contact. "Anyways, tell us about your quirk," Uravity continued.

Izuku quirked an eyebrow; this wasn't a question, he observed. "What about it?" He asked evasively, not letting his eyes leave hers.

Likewise, Uravity refused to drop his gaze as Froppy picked up the dropped question, "We just need to know if your quirk is passive, a mutation, its effects, etc. Is that okay?"

Izuku shrugged. "I guess it couldn't hurt to tell you." Both women's eyes widened slightly and they leaned slightly forward as he said, "I have none."

"W-what?!" Uravity spluttered out, her companion not much better.

Izuku stopped himself from actually laughing, instead saying, "It used to be hard to admit when I was younger, but now . . ." he trailed off as he glanced at the two heroines. "It's all easier when I see their shocked, dumbfounded faces."

"B-but I've seen you use it, kero! Right in front of me!" Froppy responded incredulously.

"After I got hit with a quirk-erasing bullet," he pointed out. "No, I don't have a quirk. Instead, I harness energy from tectonic plates and use that to change the molecular structure of my surroundings."

"But . . . how is this not a quirk?" Uravity asked curiously.

"It's a science, not a quirk," Izuku responded immediately. "Quirks are biological and unique, but anyone could do . . . it, given enough study and practice." Izuku could see both of them attempt to wrap their heads around that fact, before Izuku shook his head. "It's pretty complicated, so let's just continue."

Both of the heroines glanced at each other discreetly, silently communicating god-knows what to each other before Froppy nodded and turned to him. "Alright. Then, please tell us what the League of Villains was after you for, kero."

Izuku tensed before he turned away sharply, gritting his teeth. " . . . I don't know. I just showed up at my house after escaping you and . . . Ingenium I think it was, and they were just there waiting for me."

Uravity raised an eyebrow, clearly believing absolutely none of his hasty lie. "Really?"

Izuku didn't glance back at her as he clenched and unclenched his right fist rapidly. "Listen, I'm sorry, but I can't tell you," he replied through his gritted teeth.

"Somehow, I find that hard to believe," Uravity stated skeptically.

"Well, it's the truth, damn it!" He insisted, standing up rapidly, knocking the chair over as he did so. He looked down at the chair, before taking a deep breath and looking both women in their eyes. "I can't tell you what they wanted me for, but I promise that it's nothing that will harm you or anyone besides me."

Silence reigned once more as the two women had a silent conversation, and by the look on Uravity's face, Froppy was winning. Suddenly, Uravity slumped over in defeat as she turned back to him. "Tell us about yourself; just the basic stuff like age, hometown, a brief summary of your life."

Izuku gave them what they asked for, albeit he skimmed over the parts of his backstory that they didn't need to know. Izuku looked at them expectantly once he finished, before he laughed at the unimpressed look that Uravity had on her face at his backstory. "Is something wrong with my backstory?"

Uravity didn't respond. Instead, without a word of notification, the two walked out the door to speak, unheard by him. Izuku wasn't too upset about it; after living in a quirk-based society without one, he was used to people whispering behind his back.

X X X

It was later that evening that Katsuki saw that Ochako and Tsuyu had returned to their base of operations, with a slightly small guy following behind them. He was off duty, having finished his small reconnaissance mission around noon, and so was relaxing with a meal from the surface: specifically a burger from one of Lunch Rush's franchises. Luckily, he was nearly done, so he hurriedly finished, before running up to catch up with them.

However as he approached, he noted the small flecks of black from within the green hair of their companion, something that caused a wave of nostalgia to wave over him as he recognized . . . something. He couldn't quite put his finger on who this guy reminded him of, but . . . that's neither here nor there, he thought to himself as he shouted, "Hey, Uravity! Froppy!"

The two heroines and their companion turned around at his shout. "Hey Katsuki!" Tsuyu exclaimed, seeing him in his street clothes.

Their companion let out a small, shocked, "Kacchan?!"

It was quiet, nearly inaudible, but Katsuki's trained ears picked up on it. That was a name he hadn't heard since . . . green hair . . . the voice . . . it couldn't be . . . "Deku?!" He let out, taking a few steps forward as he looked him over with closer attention. His hair had grown out a fair bit and he'd definitely grown some, but those freckles definitely hadn't changed. Neither had the nerd's fashion sense; he was still wearing those damned red shoes, and a thin red coat with an odd black symbol on it.

He also noticed that Izuku had, in conjunction with him, had also taken two steps back, and Katsuki winced as he felt a pang of a feeling he was well-experienced with : guilt. "Katsuki, do you know Izuku, kero?"

He ignored Tsuyu and instead focused on Izuku. "Deku . . . what happened?! I thought that you . . . that I killed you."

Izuku grimaced as well as Tsuyu and Ochako tensed and looked between him and his past friend, ready to intervene if anything got too serious. "I . . . can't tell you that, Katsuki."

"Bullshit," Katsuki immediately responded, ignoring how his heart deflated when his name was spoken instead of 'Kacchan'. "I thought you were dead for almost a decade! No one knew you were alive, not even Aunty Inko knew!"

Izuku flashed a guilty look for barely a moment, before his face hardened. "I know, Katsuki. I needed everyone to think I was dead. No exceptions."

"WHY, DAMMIT?!" Katsuki cried out in frustration, taking another step towards him. "What made you think that cutting yourself off from everyone-"

"Because they would have killed you, my mom, and anyone else affiliated with me if I didn't!" Izuku cried out, equally frustrated with him. Suddenly his eyes widened and Katsuki knew that Izuku had said more than he meant to. There was silence as everyone stared at the man in various degrees of shock.

Katsuki's eyes narrowed, before he calmly asked, "Who are 'they,' De- Izuku?"

He briefly noticed Ochako looking between them in interest; apparently they hadn't gotten this out of him. Izuku fidgeted with his hands slightly, a sight that Katsuki completely recognized back from Aldera - he was about to ramble. "I can't tell you, Katsuki." Katsuki saw Ochako open her mouth, but he subtly signaled for her to stop; he could spill more. "Even if I could, would you even believe me? I mean, it is fairly reasonable to assume that I'm lying or something when it's about this. Especially if you are a hero now. Besides, it's not as if you could do anything about it, or if anyone else besides me could do anything about it for a matter of fact. With it being even bigger than Japan, it'd be hard to even confront it, let alone change it. I haven't even managed to evade them entirely, and I've become an entirely different person. I don't doubt that they could find you all here and take you out if they find out I told you anything, despite your quirks or skills. The combined go- '' Izuku's eyes suddenly widened at what he was saying and clapped his hands over his mouth.

Katsuki sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose after listening to Izuku ramble gave him a small headache - it always had. However, he shook his head and said, "Damnit, Dek- Izuku. What the f*** did you get yourself into now?"

Izuku shook his head. "It's too long to explain, at least at the moment."

"Then when will you tell me?" Katsuki asked, his eyebrow arched as he stared into the eyes of his one-time friend. As Izuku hesitated in responding, Katsuki began, "Come on, Izuku. At the least, I deserve to know what actually happened."

Izuku sighed guiltily, before looking into Katsuki's eyes. Katsuki's eyes widened as they met his; they looked haunted by what they'd seen. "Katsuki, I promise that I'll tell you as soon as it's safe to do so. Is that fine for you?"

He nodded slowly, suddenly feeling the discomfort that Izuku felt at that moment, before stating, "I expect that's all I can get from you, you damn nerd." He turned to Tsuyu and Ochako, addressing them, "I've got a bit more reconnaissance to do before nightfall, so I guess I'll see you both later."

He turned away, before Ochako shouted back a few moments later, "Hey, wait up!" His curiosity peaked, he did so, waiting for his fellow hero to catch up. "Sorry. I've got something to do on the surface too, so I'll save Denki the brain power and carpool with you."

Katsuki scoffed, before continuing on his way and saying, "Do what you want. I won't stop you, Round Face."

There were a few moments of silence as they walked in a somewhat comfortable silence, before Ochako interrupted it. "How do you know Midoriya?"

Katsuki sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, already knowing that this interrogation would happen. "Childhood friends. We were kind of close, but then my quirk manifested and his didn't. You already know that I wasn't . . . a good person, to say the least, at that point in time, but around the end of Middle School, I was abusing him so badly that I openly suicide-baited him." Ochako took a sharp breath as Katsuki chuckled without humor. "Yeah. I was at the worst of my violent youth then, doing all my verbal and physical abuse openly at school and even being encouraged for it. And then," Katsuki let out a deep breath, before shakily letting out, "he didn't show up to school one day. I knew he wasn't at home, since I heard his mom panicking over the phone to mine, but I didn't worry. 'The Nerd will turn up eventually,' I told myself. And, he did."

There were some more moments of silence, before Ochako prompted, "What happened when he did turn up?"

Katsuki stopped moving and shook his head. "Nothing. He didn't show up alive again." She gasped and he nodded. "I learned over the news that a teenager, age 15, with green hair and red shoes had jumped off a particularly tall apartment building to his death." He suddenly realized that he was crying slightly, before wiping them away angrily, "I'd never felt anything like that wave of guilt as I saw the news that night. Immediately, a constant that had been in my life for over a decade was gone, and I had caused it. I was responsible for someone's death."

Suddenly, he began to move again, before he sighed and tried to calm himself down. "Afterwards, I tried to pick up the pieces of my life, tried to clean up my act as best as I could. Eventually, I made it into U.A., newly reformed and trying to move past his death. The rest, you know."

Ochako was silent for the remainder of the journey to the Chargebolt-powered elevator. He was grateful for the silence; it gave him some time to sort out his thoughts about Izuku. He didn't expect to ever see him again, at least not in this life, and to see him again . . . he shook his head. He felt, unsurprisingly, grateful for the second-chance he had with him, but he also felt somewhat angry about it all, with him faking a suicide and neglecting to tell his mom and all. That single event had changed his life, forcing him to grow up and to change how he lived his life, but had also weighed heavily on him as he had grown, producing more nightmares than he had the ability to count.

Suddenly, they found themselves in front of the elevators. "Going up?" Denki asked them jokingly, before focusing his charge into the elevator, forcing it to open. No words were said as they entered the machine, and no words were said for the rest of the ride.

X X X

It was nearing the end of the tour and Izuku was fairly certain of one thing: the heroes that made up the small apartment complex underneath the giant Yaoyorozu Summer Home were too . . . goody-two-shoes for lack of a better term. Izuku wasn't some villain, but the heroes that worked underground here were too rigid, too unyielding in their methods to do anything against the villains. He was against killing people in general, but even he realized that sometimes, prisons couldn't hold the villains and they were too far gone to actually be reformed.

Froppy would often stop and talk with other heroes that had a day off, introducing him to them, and although they never talked about it, Izuku had become good enough at understanding people's responses to reaffirm his assumption. There were exceptions of course, like Battle Fist or Creati, but on the whole they were against killing at all, which, he reasoned, was probably better for the future of heroics. However, it did nothing to relieve his growing frustration about how his new allies refused to take the final step if necessary.

"Alright, nice to see you, Red Riot!" Izuku's train of thought was derailed as he heard Froppy end her conversation with the red-haired hero. Izuku politely smiled and waved as the hero exited. They stood still for several long moments, before she turned back to him. "I believe that's it for our tour, ribbit. So, what do you think of our operation, kero?"

Izuku sighed and leaned against the wall of a nearby apartment, before answering bluntly. "It's not going to beat anyone besides smaller Yakuza gangs. The heroes you all have are powerful, don't get me wrong, but they are simply too unwilling to do whatever is necessary to get past Shiagaraki and his puppet government."

Froppy's eyebrow quirked, "But what do you mean 'whatever is necessary?'"

Izuku looked her in the eye and calmly said, "I mean that if Shigaraki came here, they wouldn't take him out, even if he was killing everyone here. They'd resign themselves to keeping him in Tartarus, or wherever they put him, despite Tartarus having been broken into before and him being the most dangerous villain alive." He let out another sigh before saying, "Look, I get it. It's against the law to kill someone, but if you can't get past the law if it would save the country, then I can't stay here."

Froppy's eyes widened slightly, before she said, "But if the law is broken, what makes us different from the villains?"

"If the law is broken, then what use is keeping it? The difference between villains and what makes a hero is something known as principle and morality, not the law." Izuku huffed frustratedly, before saying, "Look, we'll have to agree to disagree. I can't stay in a place where such a code is enforced, since the law states that I'm to be killed on sight, but I support you guys and your cause. Listen, I'll have to abstain from joining you all, but I can do some underground investigation for you, maybe give some support on your missions, but not actually be a member of your organization."

Froppy sighed herself, before responding, "I'd much rather have you be a hero with us, and I can't promise that the leadership will accept. However, from what I can tell, they'd rather have you as an ally than as an opponent, ribbit."

"Alright, then." Izuku thrust his hand out towards her, which she took. "This, Froppy, seems like the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

X X X

A/N : WOW! My longest chapter yet! I've got kind of mixed feelings about this chapter, and it focused a little more on character development than the stealth/action style I hope to have for this story, but you'll see that more next chapter.

Can I just say that I never expected this level of support for this story thus far? I've already gotten what feels like more follows/favorites than on the other story I've tried to write, but I'm too lazy to actually check. ;)

Anyways, I'm very tired, and writing so many scholarship essays hasn't helped at all, so I'll call it quits now. Have a good day, week, month, and life! BYE!