A/N : Hello and welcome to another chapter of The Last Alchemist! I had so many ideas for this chapter that I actually started to write it immediately after finishing the last one, and I'm pretty excited to actually share it with you guys!

But first - The Reviews!

Karlos1234ify : Heh. Thanks for such positive praise; this was the first time someone called my writing 'outstanding!' :) Yeah, I do think that a major issue with the current MHA world is that the heroes, those in active duty, refuse to take that final step and settle for putting them in Tartarus. Don't worry though, stuff's going to change this chapter for some people.

Guest : Huh. I didn't think about that combination, but I think that you're right. Shigaraki might have some more trouble going forward because of you! Thanks for the compliment on the last chapter!

Shin : Yeah, I agree. Like I said above, I honestly think that black/white mentality is a major problem with not just Tsuyu but also the entire world of MHA. I also don't think that you'd be wrong about your interpretation of her 'holier-than-thou' mentality at the beginning of the series, but I do think that after the whole 'Kamino Ward Rescue' incident, she'd begun to realize that there are shades of gray to the world.

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

Izuku kept his face down as he swept his way through possibly the most dangerous place on Earth - the Paranormal Liberation Front's base of operations, formerly known as U.A High School. It'd been months since he had met Tsuyu, Ochako, and reconnected with Katsuki, and since then he'd done some small things for their underground movement - small stuff like tips on what Yakuza groups were doing deals on which days, which drugs were being shipped in by them, or even which members were going to pick them up. And all the while, he'd lied, bribed, and killed his way into the base because of a small rumor : all the Generals of the Liberation Front were meeting here, today, to discuss something big, and if there was one thing his master had taught him well, it was that when evil congregates, destruction and chaos followed. Of course, his master was talking about the government at the time, so he took that lesson with a slight grain of salt but it was nevertheless still true.

He hummed along to a song that wasn't playing as he forced his dyed black hair in front of his face, pretending to sweep at a single spot as Dabi passed, muttering, ". . . Shigaraki for calling. This better be . . ." Izuku frowned as he walked out of earshot. Apparently, his source was true; not only that, but apparently the thing was a mystery to even the Generals. That worried him even more.

"Hm." Izuku continued humming and sweeping as the various Generals went past, and after the last member had passed him he followed from a distance. They had all entered room 421, and so when the door closed, he began to sweep absent-mindedly as he listened to the events occurring within the room. ". . . all here, we can start." Izuku's eyes widened as he recognized the voice; that was the voice of the bastard who destroyed his house. "We've received some intel about-"

"Where'd this information come from, Shigaraki? Last time we had an informant, they were a double-agent, and Dabi here gave away all our info." This voice was somewhat familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place it, as if he had only heard it in a dream he'd had months ago.

"One of the heroes that's been attacking our Yakuza allies." Izuku's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he dropped his broom. He scrambled to pick it back up before they exited and caught him, but they didn't seem to notice as Shigaraki continued, "Minoru Mineta to be specific. It's the worst that we needed hints, but still, we can deal critical damage to our remaining opposition here in Mustafu."

"What did you get, Shigaraki?" Himiko Toga asked.

"The location of their base of operations," Shigaraki stated smugly as Izuku felt chills run down his spine. "It's just out of the city, under the Yaoyorozu girl's summer home."

His heart sank as he heard a deep and wavery voice ask, "What is your plan now then, Timura?" Izuku noted absent-mindedly the familiarity needed to call the dictator that.

"It's obvious - we wipe them out. We leave in 10 minutes - call your guys and assemble them out front : Kurogiri will take us from there. Use a super potion, medpack, whatever. Just be there ready to go."

If Izuku had been any less shocked, he would have noticed that there were footsteps coming closer and closer to him from behind the door. But he didn't notice, nor did he see the shadow underneath the door. Suddenly the shadows retreated and a new voice exclaimed, "There's a spy! He's right ou-"

Izuku didn't stick around to hear the rest of the person's statement; he bolted down the hallway as fast as possible. Behind him, he heard the door slam open, and around half a dozen individuals exit the room. "Stop him!" Shigaraki cried out, with fury laced in his tone.

Instinctively, Izuku ducked behind a corner, just in time as a knife flew through the air where he'd been only moments before. Clapping his hands together, Izuku slapped his hands against the floor and rose, a moderately-sized poleaxe rose with him, and then fell into a fighting position. The first one to turn the corner was Toga, but before he could swing the poleaxe, she kicked it out of his hands with a surprising amount of force. Cursing the waste of time, he flipped backwards and created some extra space between them. "I know you!" Toga exclaimed as she stalked forward, "Shigaraki punished me severely for losing you, last time."

In the moments before she leapt forward, Izuku noticed the flash of silver coming from her right hand. A robot arm, maybe, he thought absent-mindedly before Toga leapt at him, regaining his full attention. She swung hard with the knife in her left hand, which he ducked under before retaliating with a quick punch to her ribs, to which she hissed and swung with her right arm. Unlike the first swing, he couldn't dodge this entirely, but he did manage to roll with the punch and reduce the damage. However, the blow still landed and he felt several cracks come from the left side of his body. "Damn it!" Izuku cried out as he saw her continue to move slowly towards him. She's toying with me, he realized frustratedly.

Clapping his hands together and pressing them against the floor, he formed a linoleum fist that slammed into her. She was sent flying back through the hallway, into Dabi as he turned the corner as well. He scrambled to get back up after she was hit, and when he'd managed to do that, he turned and began to run, before skidding to a stop. A large, purple mass of fog stood before him, gathered into a suit, and glared at him as the fog expanded to let Shigaraki step through. "Now, why don't you-" The villain stopped speaking as he recognized him. "Well, Mr. Midoriya! Was last time not enough for you, so you came back to try and farm some EXP?"

Izuku looked into his face and grinned, "What can I say, last time we met you couldn't lay a finger on me. So yeah, I came back to bite you in the butt."

Shigaraki scoffed. "That ended well, did it?" He asked sarcastically, "After all, despite your power, alchemist, I know exactly what you can do. Changing the forms of your surroundings is pretty broken, but ultimately fairly easy to overcome." There were several moments of silence where both simply stared at the other, until suddenly Shigaraki began, "You're surrounded now, Midoriya. Surrender, and I'll kill you quickly; don't, and I'll make you disappear. Piece. By. Piece."

Looking back behind him, he exclaimed, "Damn it!" He'd been too concerned with the ring leader and now he was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Exhaling and moving his eyes around rapidly, Izuku backed up against the wall as they closed in on him, before suddenly smirking. "You know, Shigaraki, I believe that you think you know what I can do. But," Izuku clapped his hands together and pressed them against the wall. "You have no idea how high I can fly!" Before anyone could react, the walls extended around him and blocked him from their view. Not leaving any time for them to destroy his walls, his palms touched together before being slammed into the floor, which then broke apart, brick by brick.

Jumping down to the lower floor, he ducked into one of the large classrooms that lined the hall and immediately scanned the room for anything useful. He grimaced as nothing apparent stood out to him, before his eyes got caught on the window and a new plan began to form in his head. He didn't fancy falling from the second-story, but . . . From behind the door, he could hear his enemies begin to climb down the pile of rubble and he made his decision; slamming his palms together, he took a running start before pressing them against the window. The window burst in a flash of blue lightning, and he leapt through the small window like a runner over a hurdle, before glancing down - he was higher than he'd thought. Nevertheless, he didn't let the sudden flash of fear paralyze him; instead, he braced for impact.

He suddenly felt a sharp spike of pain emanating from his ankle, and through his pain he mentally cursed himself for not looking before he leapt. Still, he had to make it beyond the U.A barrier, otherwise he couldn't send a warning text to Tsuyu, and this entire trip was for nothing! Staggering towards the gate, he winced every time he put weight on his injured leg yet still continued on. Eventually, he made it through the gate, his leg burning as he did so, and whipped out his phone and clicked on the contact 'Frog-Girl.'

You : The PLF knows where u r! Evac now!

He clicked send as fast as he could, before letting out a deep sigh of relief. "You think you're clever, don't you?" Shigaraki's voice sent chills down his spine as he turned around. There, right behind him, were approximately 30 members of the Paranormal Liberation Front with Shigaraki at its head. "It doesn't matter though; after your little . . . excursion, I sent Geten and Twice ahead to cause some damage."

Izuku's heart sank into his stomach as he stumbled backwards. That couldn't be true! However, when he looked into the eyes of his foe, there was nothing but manic glee. "You BASTARD!"

Without a thought, he sprung forward off his good ankle, his arms outstretched with nothing but the intent to throttle Shigaraki. The man himself sighed and called out, "Spinner."

Behind Shigaraki, a reptilian man with an absurdly large sword leapt forward, swinging the sword down so fast, he saw nothing but a flash of silver. Suddenly, his mind erupted with pain as he fell to the side, feeling lopsided. He clutched at his right arm . . . rather, he clutched at the spot where his right arm would have been; the swordsman had sliced his arm off, right off of the shoulder. "AH! DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU, YOU BASTARD!" He writhed on the ground as the villains all stared at him blankly.

He continued cursing them, not sparing them any words in his vocabulary, only vaguely registering Spinner speaking to Shigaraki, asking him if he could finish Izuku off. "No, I'd like to spend some more time interrogating him. Kurogiri, send him down to the prison block."

X X X

Eri lay down in her cell, counting the cracks in the ceiling, when there was a whooshing sound from the cell next to her, one she recognized as belonging to Kurogiri's warp quirk. She was proven right when she heard him say, "Shigaraki will come to visit you within the next few hours. Try not to die before that, sir."

". . . Bastard." This voice was new and sounded weak. There was another whooshing sound as Kurogiri left the prison block once more. ". . . damn it. I'm sorry Tsuyu . . . Ochako . . . Katsuki-" The voice stopped and took some deep breaths before there was a sharp intake of breath, before some sounds of shuffling.

It was at that point that Eri began, "He-hel-" Her voice was shaky and hoarse from disuse, so she cleared her throat and began again. "Hello? Who's there?"

". . ." The voice was silent for several moments, before it called out, "My name's . . . Izuku. I'm a . . . hero, of a sort." There was some more silence, before it suddenly asked, "You?"

"Eri. I . . . I just exist."

There were moments of silence where neither spoke, but the shuffling sound still continued, this time closer. "Are . . . you trapped here, too?" The person sounded winded, as if they were forcing themselves to remain conscious and keep moving.

"Y-yeah."

". . . How long?"

She racked her brain for a time when she didn't live in this cell, but short of vague memories of sunlight, there wasn't anything she cared to relate, so she answered, "As long as I can remember."

"How . . . would you like . . . to get free?" The pauses were coming more often now, but they seemed to be getting louder. "What if I . . . can get us free?"

She didn't respond for the longest time, eyeing the wall they shared suspiciously; this had to be a trap! But . . . what if it wasn't? What if this was her only chance? Hesitantly, she began, "Can you?"

"Absolutely!" For the first time, the voice sounded completely aware and sure of itself. "I've . . . done this . . . plenty of times." After their words, there was a scraping sound from behind the wall, a noise so sudden that she physically jumped.

"Wh-what is that?!" She cried out, backing against the opposite wall as the sound continued.

"Sorry. I . . . it's how I'm getting us out . . . of here." The scaping continued as her curiosity was piqued, but there was no payoff for about a minute, until, "If you'd . . . stand back . . . please." She pressed herself as hard against the wall as she could, and after a couple seconds, an azure glow overtook the wall and with a burst of blue lightning, it broke apart, revealing her savior.

The man was noticeably older than her by maybe a decade, with a small, black afro and a smattering of freckles across his face. However, what drew her gaze was the bloody shirt he was wearing, and the noticeable lack of a right arm. "What happened to you?!"

He shrugged, before dragging himself over to her by virtue of his sole arm. "I got . . . too close to . . . a sword."

Eri watched him, dumbfounded for a moment, before snapping out of it. "What are you doing, just crawling around," she asked as she helped him up. The man was average sized - only a couple inches taller than her - so he leaned on her when he finally could stand. She glanced at his wound with some regret; if only she could somehow control her quirk, she might be able to help heal it.

While she was steeped in her guilt, Izuku asked, "Can you . . . get me . . . something to stop . . . the bleeding?" She cursed silently as she glanced around the room, before handing him the small blanket she had been using. "Good. Can you please hold it against my shoulder?" Silently, she complied, wincing slightly at his sharp intake of breath.

"Okay, Izuku. What now?"

"We get out." He shambled forward shakily, the pain of his open wound touching the blanket disrupting his coordination slightly. Still, she held the blanket to the wound tightly as she walked with him, stopping right in front of the bars.

She watched as he touched his fingers to the bloodied shirt he was wearing, before tracing out a complicated series of interlocking shapes within a circle on the padlock. After he was apparently done, she watched in fascination as he pressed his palm against it and in response, it glowed blue, before blue lightning appeared and ran along the cell bars as it broke apart. In amazement, she stood and watched as it broke apart, almost of its own volition, until there was nothing left to break. Izuku stepped forward, and unconsciously she echoed him, before she shook herself out of her stupor and asked, "What was that?! I've never seen a quirk work like that before!"

He smiled wearily at her confusion. "I'll explain . . . later. When we get . . . to my place." She nodded steadfastly; there was a time and place for questions like that, and now was not one of them. They began to walk fairly confidently, but a few steps in, he almost collapsed. In fact, he would have if Eri hadn't been able to catch him. He rolled his head around a couple times, before saying, "Sorry, I just . . . need some rest."

She nodded, before helping him to pick himself back up. "Here, let me help," she demanded, putting herself into a position under his left shoulder where he could put some of his weight on her. Nodding relievedly, he did so, and she felt a dozen pounds or so weigh heavily on her shoulder, before she resolutely took a step forward, with him echoing her movement as she did so.

As they moved throughout the base, with him occasionally giving her directions towards the entrance. She could feel him begin to slouch and fall asleep, but even with her little medical knowledge, she knew that wasn't good. Suddenly, she asked, "Who were those people you mentioned in the cell? The ones you're sorry for?"

"Oh. They're some . . . friends I have." He was silent for a minute, but before she could ask another question to keep him awake, he continued. " I came here . . . to get some info . . . that could've helped them . . . but it's too late."

"If you don't mind, would you tell me about them?" Izuku obliged her, and the more he spoke about them, describing them, she felt that they were . . . familiar. Like a half-forgotten dream, they felt vague and mysterious, but nonetheless, she couldn't help but remember small things like a woman with a permanent blush on her cheeks, or one with a frog-face. However, despite her memories, she didn't interrupt him as he spoke, at least until they exited the building. "Um, Izuku, where now?"

"Oh! Get out of the gates and try to hail a taxi - my place is too far away to just walk."

X X X

A couple hours later, a bandaged Izuku and Eri lowered themselves down the elevator shaft into the underground hero base. Once their feet touched the ground, Izuku surreptitiously glanced at his teenaged companion; he hadn't expected to find another person down in U.A's basement, especially one that had apparently been there for almost a decade. She even looked too young to be an enemy of the PLF, only a decade or so his junior. His thoughts were derailed when he heard her sharply gasp. He followed her vision and the bottom of his stomach dropped; there, with his eyes wide open and his face stuck in a derpy face, lay ChargeBolt, a large stab wound in the middle of his chest. He took a couple steps forward, before reaching out with his left arm and closing his eyes. "Let's move on."

They made their way through the base, occasionally finding the dead corpses of heroes and, although rare, villains. He was about to call off their search for survivors when Eri suddenly called out, "Izuku! Over here!"

He obeyed, his curiosity piqued as he moved, only to see Ochako there, her arm bent at an unnatural angle with a bloody shirt, letting out a shaky breath. "Ochako!" He knelt next to her, and she turned to him, her eyes widened like she'd seen a ghost.

"I-Izuku?" She let out another breath. "There were so many of them. We-we couldn't hold them. Half of us stayed behind to cover t-the others as they evacuated. I-I . . ." She left the sentence trail off, tears gathering in her eyes. "I'm the last one! They all died in front of me! I tried to h-help, b-b-but I couldn't beat them! So I tried to hide, played dead until they left."

She was obviously distraught, and even though she hadn't been the warmest towards him when they first met, they became close friends and he felt for her, remembering the first time someone close to him had died; his master, Himishu Kyoshi, when he was 15. He knelt down next to her, rubbing her back and muttering, "It's alright Ochako. Take deep breaths, and try to relax." He turned back to Eri, who was standing back and letting them have a moment or two. "Eri, do you still have the bandage I gave you?" She nodded. "Alright, I'll need you to make a sling for my friend here."

Suddenly, Ochako cried out, "Izuku! Your arm!" She was staring at the spot where his shoulder was wrapped tightly as if she'd just seen it.

Izuku grimaced as he was reminded of the noticeable void where his arm used to be, before he forced himself to smile. "I know, right. Decided to make a change."

She ignored his joke and just stared at him with those wide, horrified eyes. Before she could make a statement, Eri finished pulling the bandages out of the small bag she carried. "Alright. Can you help me with this?" Izuku nodded, and together, the two wrapped her bent arm in a sling, with him doing his best to put her constant pained groans and cries of agony out of his mind. They managed to finish quickly, but her arm would need to be set right before it could properly heal.

"Ochako, are you okay?" Izuku asked after several moments, giving her time to get used to the pain of having her broken arm forced into a new position. Slowly, she nodded, not trusting herself to speak. "Alright. Eri, help me get her up." Together, the three of them exited the base, leaving the secrets held there for the dead as they set out for the future.

X X X

"What. Happened. Here?" Shigaraki asked in a deadly calm voice. The surrounding members of the PLF all took a step back, sans a single oblivious member of the party.

"It appears they brok-" The poor man was interrupted as Shigaraki's hand rapidly grabbed his face, forcing the man to crumble to dust within moments. You could hear a pin drop as the entire mob stared at him in shock.

"I know that, you NPC!" He shouted after his ashes, "That bastard used a cheat code to use his alchemy without another hand! Not only that, but he also recruited another member to his party!" Behind him, the mob scrambled to leave as he turned towards them, no one wanting to be on the receiving end of his wrath. Player 2 was gaining EXP for his party and recruiting some new members, he thought, glancing at the cell where Patient 001 had resided. "Shame," he muttered, "I had such big plans for her quirk."

Still, he thought, he didn't have to take her quirk now. Soon enough, he'd have another chance.

X X X

A/N : Another chapter down! I'm pretty happy with this one, but there are a couple questions that I anticipate seeing : Why did Izuku recover so fast after having his arm removed? And what about his master's name?

As for the 1st, I figured that the humans in MHA are evolved in order to increase the pain resistance. Even the quirkless individuals. I mean, if you were to use someone now and have them punch something with One For All, they'd do more than break the arm : they'd easily be hospitalized, dislocating an arm and shattering every bone within it. Or if one produced and could ignite Nitroglycerine on their body, then they would likely end up with severe burns. My point with this is that people in this universe can take more damage without being incapacitated, and will be able to tolerate more pain.

And for the second, I took a page from Kohei Horikoshi's book and combined Japanese words with the character's personality/fate. It's a combination of the words for secret (Himitsu) and practice (Renshū) along with the word for teacher (Kyōshi).

ANYWAYS, I hope you all liked this chapter! Remember to Read & Review, and to point out any details that I got wrong! See you next chapter! BYE!

[Edit : I added the intro to the opening. Haha, I'm an idiot!]