Hey do you ever cry because your readers are the fucking best or is it just me? The response to Shouta's chapter was just overwhelming. Thank you so much to everyone who has favourited, followed, or left a review! I promise I re-read your comments about a million times to hype me up for writing and I appreciate every one of you. Please see my responses at the end of the chapter!

Chapter Fourteen: Heaven Don't Hear Me

Koharu's ears were ringing.

Her eyes were locked onto the retreating back of her brother— brave, foolish, awesome, as he descended into a warzone. His capture device floated around his head in loose weaves, a sure sign that he was ready for battle. Koharu felt her own float as well, growing looser around her wrists as her Quirk begged itself to the surface.

Shouta ran headlong towards the villains, capture device in hands and golden goggles firmly in place. The first of his foes were snagged by his pseudo-scarf with ease, and swiftly tugged towards each other until they met as a tangle of limbs in the middle. The next was dealt with with a swift punch to the face, before he too was entangled and tossed into Shouta's next target.

The villains fell. Sometimes one by one, and some in groups, all felled by Shouta's expertise. Koharu's eyes tracked them all and then some, as hard as it was to tear her eyes away from Shouta's form. No more of them came crawling from that terrible blackness, but so many of them were just… standing there, watching.

Like her. Studying.

Would they notice the pattern in Eraserhead's Quirk? Koharu's eyes found Shouta again as he tossed a villain ass-first into the trio behind them, his hair lagging to his shoulders. Surely there was someone smart among their ranks, looking for the same weak spots that Koharu desperately prayed stayed hidden.

"Koharu."

It wasn't like these people were common thugs. They had managed to break into Japan's prized school for aspiring heroes in circumventing state-of-the-art sensors. And with that weird guy capable of teleporting people to and from locations, there was no telling if there might be a phase two to their invasion.

A hand wrapped firmly around her forearm. Shocked, Koharu followed it to meet Iida's stern eyes, glinting behind his glasses. His grip was unwavering against her wrist. Softly, he repeated: "Koharu."

"Iida." Her voice was steady, stronger than she felt in that moment. She avoided looking at Midoriya as he hovered anxiously beside them.

"I understand how you're feeling," Did he? "But we can't help him. We need to go."

"Right," Koharu said, her voice barely above a whisper. Her eyes fell to Eraserhead once more as he hauled a body into the crowd, a pair of villains falling like pins.

Wait for me, Koharu thought. Just stay alive a little longer. I can't protect you like this.

Iida's grip on her wrist turned insistent, and the trio broke into a jog to rejoin their class. Koharu lagged behind her friends, unable to shake the feeling that she was leaving her heart behind. Her body screamed that she was making the wrong decision.

They had only barely made it to their classmates before the ground spat out another villain, Koharu's boots skidding from her hasty stop. Before them was the same dark mist that had spawned the rest, looking vaguely more humanoid than they had seemed from afar.

"I won't let you," spoke the smoke in a deep, masculine voice. Koharu focused on the sharp yellow of his eyes, towering abnormally above them, as he continued, "It's nice to meet you. We are the League of Villains. It may have been presumptuous of us, but we have invited ourselves into the home of the heroes, U.A. High School, in order to have All Might, the Symbol of Peace… take his last breath."

Koharu swallowed thickly. Sweat rolled down the back of her neck, itching her to turn around. Her suspicions had been confirmed— there was no way Eraserhead could take on an entire League of Goddamn Villains on his own, no matter her faith in him. Restless, she felt her eyes drifting away from the villain in front of them. Without the ability to punch smoke, there wasn't anything she could do to help their chances against this particular baddie.

Like she had summoned them, Kirishima and Bakugou surged towards the villain. Kirishima's skin was jagged as he reared back an arm for his punch, eyes alight with a fire only outmatched by the sheer size and brightness of Bakugou's explosion. Koharu slid her goggles into place as heavy black smoke rolled over the balcony.

Kirishima's voice rose through the darkness. "Did you consider that you'd get beaten by us before you did it?"

"Oh dear…" intoned the mist. "That's dangerous." The smoke began to clear, revealing the Warp Villain. Slivers of mist had been blasted away to reveal peculiar metal armor hidden within. "That's right— even if you are students, you are excellent golden eggs."

Thirteen raised a hand towards the damaged villain, undoubtedly prepared to use their Quirk: Black Hole. To the two boys, they shouted, "Move away, you two!"

The body of the mist began to stretch and grow. "My job is to scatter you all," began the villain as the darkness enveloped the class. "— and torture you to death!"

"Sorry, what?" Koharu's words were lost to a strong burst of wind that came down upon the class, pressing in at them from every side. She watched as Iida sprung into action, grabbing Uraraka and Sato under each arm before dashing from sight. Just in front of her, Mezo Shoji huddled over Mina and Sato with his large webbed arms.

Behind her goggles, she saw the future. Broken limbs scattered, bodies askew, and blood on her hands. There was no way she could endanger her classmates by trying to manipulate a Quirk she knew nothing about. Her eyes were as useless as her fists, and now they were going to be tortured to death.

The next thing Koharu knew, she was falling. She was weightless for a moment before she crashed through broken floorboards, hitting the level below in a crash of debris. Her goggles were covered in dust, blinding her. Her head spun from the sudden crash-landing. She blindly shoved a plank of wood off her leg with a pained groan.

Koharu coughed as she breathed in the dust she had unsettled. "Fuck!" Both of Koharu's shaking hands raised to her goggles, blindly lifting them off from her face as she hacked up her lungs.

"DIE!"

Koharu looked up in alarm to see a large blade swinging down towards her— however, before she could register her fear, the man was side-swept by a thunderous explosion. It was followed swiftly by a snarling blond, the sword-wielding villain downed with one blast from Koharu's classmate.

Bakugou stood over her with his palms still crackling. His hands ignited small sparks that danced, rolling like a coin between his fingers. He turned his head towards her suddenly, glaring down towards her. His eyes were fire.

Koharu stopped breathing.

"Are you just gonna keep sitting there like a fucking idiot?!" Bakugou's lips were still twitching with the same snarl he wore for the villain, currently curled in a smoking heap on the floor.

Koharu's heart thundered into action, and her response was innate. "Fuck you," she said. She quickly wiped her goggles on her shirt and replaced them before standing, firmly ignoring the aching of her lower back. She willed her heart to beat normally to no avail.

"Yo!"

Bakugou and Koharu reacted in unison, swivelling to the new voice with their hackles raised. They found Kirishima, his Hardened arms already raised placatedly. He offered them a sharp smile.

"Man, was I glad when I heard you guys. I thought I was alone for a sec."

Koharu exhaled sharply through her nose. "Being with us isn't much better if we don't know where we are." She was already moving towards the paneless window, sidestepping the unconscious body of the villain. "Or, who else is here."

"Only one way to find out," growled Bakugou. He stomped towards the stairs without another look back. Kirishima began to follow him immediately.

Koharu raised an eyebrow, knowing it would be lost to their backs. "I'd really have to disagree with you on that one…" She rushed after them regardless.

Five minutes and several thugs later, the trio landed victorious on the final floor of the building they had been warped to. Koharu stood triumphant over her last opponent, a man who had relied too heavily on an ability to breathe fire that he was suddenly without.

Across from her, Bakugou's palms were still smoking. "Is this it?" He asked incredulously, looking around to the bodies strewn haphazardly across the floor. "They're so weak."

"All right, let's hurry up and go save the others!" Kirishima said, deactivating his Quirk. "If we're here, then everyone else should still be inside USJ, too. I'm worried about the guys with less offensive ability."

Koharu sighed. Caring about their classmates was all well and good, but her priorities lay elsewhere. Her feet shuffled impatiently beneath her. She side-stepped her away around the body below her. "Sorry, pass."

"What?" Kirishima whirled towards her, his face disbelieving. "What do you mean 'pass'? You're the class rep!"

"Deputy Class Rep, thank you very much," quipped the short girl in return, looking coolly up at Kirishima. "You can go if you want. I'm going back to help Shouta."

Kirishima looked torn, understanding of her motives but still unwilling to let her go. Turning to Bakugou for aid, he was met only with an indifferent shrug.

"If you want to go, then go by yourself. I'm gonna kill that warp gate."

Kirishima sputtered, looking ready to throw his hands in the air. "What? You're gonna act childish at a time like this? Besides, that guy's attacks are— "

"Shut up!" Bakugou snapped shortly. "That gate bastard is the enemy's way in and out. I'm gonna cut off their getaway route when the time comes. It's not like we don't have a way to fight him."

Koharu's eyes raised above their heads as the sound of movement met her ears. She only needed to see the barest hint of movement to activate her Quirk, an unimpressed eyebrow raised into her hairline.

A skinny, chameleon-like man suddenly fell from the ceiling with a loud yelp, shards of his skin blistering courtesy of Kirishima's Hardening. Midair, Bakugou caught his head in the palm of his hand and let out a fiery blast that left the villain blackened in his hand.

"Besides," Bakugou continued as though he hadn't been interrupted. He eyed the villain in his grip with clear distaste. "If these chumps are assigned to us, everyone else should be fine, right?"

"Wow!" Kirishima exclaimed. "Were you always so calm and rational? I thought you were more like…" he trailed off, words unneeded.

"I'm always calm and rational, you spiky-haired punk!"

"Yeah, that's more like it!"

Bakugou tossed the unconscious villain aside. He landed face-down, another among the many the three had defeated. "Then go if you want to!"

"Wait! Believing in our friends— that's real manly, Bakugou! I'll follow you!"

Koharu was already halfway out the window. "You idiots can flirt on the way! Let's fucking move!"

She knew they were yelling after her— well, mostly Bakugou, but still— but their words were lost to the blood rushing in her ears. Not one to be outdone, Bakugou soared passed her a moment after. Just like during their fitness exams, he propelled himself forward with his explosions, which made him a particularly difficult ally to follow behind. Still, the sight of his back only made Koharu push herself harder.

The race to Shouta was not one she would lose. She forced herself to run faster, faster, faster. She needed to see that Eraserhead was okay, despite the pit in her stomach that warned he was not. Koharu may have had the luck of facing common thugs, but the League of Villain had come with the intent of killing All Might. Certainly, they had someone strong enough in their disposal to make this plan seem worthwhile.

Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, lost behind her lenses. Wait for me, she thought.

I'll save you.

chapter end

This chapter was a challenge to write because Koharu and I have very differing opinions on where she should have been during this arc. I actually have another version of this chapter written in which Koharu stays behind to watch Shouta be brutalized, but it just felt too OOC that any of her classmates would let her go, and too OP for her to be able to get away without someone noticing. Maybe I'll post the chapter as an alternate one-shot one day, just for that tasty angst. :)

jessylane318 — I can't even tell you how much your review meant to me. You put so much thought into it, and to have someone highlight the aspects of the story I work so hard on (Koharu as flawed, teenagers as actual teenagers, show-don't-tell, Shouta as a secret softy, etc...) was so incredibly gratifying. I'm so glad that you've been enjoying the story, and I hope that I continue to meet your expectations!

Otakugirl1996 — Thank you! I hope that the next few chapters will break your heart thoroughly enough for you :)

M — I'm glad that you enjoyed having Shouta's POV! There will definitely be more Shouta chapters coming up and throughout the story because I think it's integral to the story I want to tell.

oLainao — Sorry xo :)

Guest — I think you are the first person to mention wanting to re-read this story, which made my heart soar. Thank you for taking the time to review!

Aqua Salmon — Thank you for leaving reviews as you read through! I was so happy to see 3 notifications when I woke up, and it made me even giddier to realize they all came from one person. I hope you'll continue to enjoy the story! Sorry about your feelings.