Chapter ?̸̢̨̞̫̩͙̪̗͕̭̮͍̟̹͐͛ͅ?̶̧̧̻̩̼̞̲̹̣̭̟̤͙̗̱̗̏ͅͅͅ?̴̨̮̯̲̹̹̥̻̖̤̦̤̤̖͓͙͂́̍̊͝ͅ?̵̧̡̘͙̖̮͓̦͚͖͇͇̻̱̝̰̠̓̌̈́̑̔̽͂̑̓́̅
F̷͈͈̥̺̂̈̀a̴͉̍̈̇̀l̵̲̭͋l̸͗̂͜ ̵̧͈͗͆͛͛ò̴̢̧̪̯̑̍̅f̶̮̓͘ ̵̫̔͜ã̷̟́͝ ̷̺͕̹̻̑͂P̴̯̬̙̃̓ͅh̸̪͉̠̀o̸̥̞̜͇͐͌e̷̞͔̬̔̃͆n̷̯͔̻̫̾̃̈́͋į̸̯͎́́̐͝x̷̪͐͝t̵̫̏̌
He rose to his feet, blood dripping down his face. Fire surrounded him, the night air stifling. He could hear the sirens, but he knew it would be a long time before any emergency workers would reach them. As he rose, he stumbled, blood loss truly taking its toll now. Green eyes took in their surroundings, though they were dimmer than they had been a few moments ago.
"D-Deku?!" A voice shouted. A girl's voice, anxious and afraid. Izuku turned to the sound of the voice to find Ochako staring at him, hiding behind the ruined remains of a car,, a look on her face as if she'd seen a ghost. To her side, he could make out Tenya and Shoto, both appearing to be unconscious. Ochako seemed to be better off, but her costume was tattered, her helmet broken, her body littered in small scrapes and cuts.
But she was alive.
"U-Uraraka…" he said, voice shaking, "y-you're okay?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," She answered frantically, "so are these two, as far as I can tell."
Izuku nodded, grateful that his friends still drew breath.
"Deku, we… we need to get out of here. Who… whoever he is, he's on a completely different level… we can't win," she said, tears threatening to spill.
Izuku looked around them. The explosion had been devastating, so many buildings had been obliterated. The once nice apartment complexes had become piles of rubble and debris. Screams filled the air, distantly.
"He… he isn't going to… he won't stop," Izuku said, weakly. "If… if he… gets away, more… more people will…"
"Deku," Ochako said, trying to make her voice as strong as possible. "You can't. You can't win. You won't win, Deku, please!"
"I… I know," came his short answer.
"DEKU!" a new voice shouted, more masculine than Ochako's. Katsuki burst out from the rubble of one of the former buildings. One look and Izuku could see his childhood friend was in bad shape.
One of his shoulders hung loosely, most likely dislocated, and his hair was matted by blood from a blow to the head. His hands sparked, but in his crippled state, he wasn't able to get his quirk to do anything of value. The blond seethed.
"Deku, do you want to fucking die?!" He demanded. "He'll kill you! You need to run, get help!"
"And… and leave all of you? I… can't do that, Kacchan."
"To hell with us! If we die here, it will be because of our own damned weakness. The only one standing here is YOU, Deku! You have the ability to get stronger, to take him down one day, but if you do this now, you'll get yourself killed!" Ochako noted that she had never heard Katsuki sound so… desperate. He was terrified, she realized.
Almost as terrified as her.
A crash sounded behind Izuku, making him turn his back to them. She could see how bad of a shape he was in, the boy clutching an open wound, one of his legs forced to limp, the ankle useless. Still he trudged forward, and as she watched, he began to glow green.
She remembered what that entailed. He was going to die.
"..no," her rejection came swiftly. "No, no, no-no-no! D-D-Deku, you're too injured! If you do this in the state your in, you'll kill yourself!"
"The fire…" he muttered. "The fire will… my flames will heal everyone in the area of the ex-... explosion. Might even… take him with me, or at least hurt him badly… enough to force him to surrender…"
He took one shakey step forward, closer to the inferno caused by the explosion.
"Deku, you idiot! It isn't worth it!" Katsuki shouted. "Stop with your martyrdom, and do the smart thing, please!" He was begging now.
"Izuku!" Ochako cried out, tears threatening to fall. "Please don't… don't do this, don't…" She took a wobbly breath. "Please, don't leave me!"
He took another step forward, sparks from the inferno now landing on his shredded costume. He coughed, multiple times. His lungs burned.
"Why?" Ochako asked, not caring about how she sounded. "Why can't you just be selfish for once? Why do you have to do this?!" She tried to rise to her feet, but she instantly fell back down, her injuries too debilitating. She saw Katsuki struggle against the rubble he was trapped under.
"Why do you have to go?!" She sobbed freely, openly.
The boy stopped in his advance, turning back toward his best friends of past and present. Both looked at him with such fear… such terror. Such… despair. They knew how this would end.
And so Izuku did the only thing he could.
He smiled, a wide smile full of teeth, even as blood seeped over his lips. A smile of hope and kindness, despite knowing what was going to happen.
"I have to go..." he began, smile persisting. "I have to go because I know a truth, Ochako." He closed his eyes, as blood began to fall over them, and even then his smile lingered. "I know a truth. And for that reason, I'm not afraid to die."
And so, he turned toward the inferno, stepping forward again, deaf to the cries of his closest friends.
Ochako watched in horror, as orange flames swallowed her dearest friend whole. She screamed at the void, praying Izuku would turn back, walk out of the flames, deciding he had changed his mind.
Then, a second explosion, even more fire than the first one.
Green fire.
She felt her wounds close, she felt her strength return to her, yet she did not feel the same sensation of warmth and comfort the green flames usually provided her. Instead, she felt cold.
The green flames swallowed the inferno, putting out most of the fire that had just been burning. She looked across the wasteland of destruction, eerily silent when moments ago it had been filled with the sounds of screams and flames. Ash fell from the sky like snow. Izuku Midoriya was nowhere to be seen.
Her best friend. Her dearest companion. Her love, was gone.
And the ash was all that remained.
