Hawks kicked in the door to the executive conference room at Commission HQ. That wasn't a metaphor for his frustration, no, Hawks literally kicked the door in. The wood around the lock splintered in such a satisfying way, but unfortunately, he didn't get to savor it.

Security responded quickly, as he expected. He dispatched them effortlessly. One suit stepped forward. A feather yanked his foot forward just before it contacted the floor. He fell flat on his ass.

The second suit simply got smacked upside the head. Easy enough.

Hawks slammed his palms onto the polished mahogany of the conference table, stared down the President, and roared. "What the fuck?!" What the fuck?! He bristled and unfurled his wings. His primaries shivered dangerously.

To her credit, the President looked wholly unfazed. "Explain." She ordered sharply.

"You're the one that needs to explain." I trusted you. For years. Don't tell me I was wrong. Hawks hopped up onto the table and marched himself right down the middle, scattering documents, pens, and coffee as he went. The other members of the executive committee recoiled. Some in disgust. Others clutched at their pearls. None of them mattered. "Musutafu. Unforeseen Simulation Joint. Tomura Shigaraki. Kurogiri. Why have you done nothing?" Please, tell me you had damn good reason.

That got a reaction from the old lady, but not the one Hawks was expecting. A slender eyebrow twitched.

"Madam President, this is highly irregular." Someone snipped from the sidelines. A stern glance from her silenced the weasel.

The president leaned forward, steepling her fingers. "No actionable intelligence regarding the USJ has been submitted by your investigation."

Hawks was floored. "No- no actionable intelligence?! I personally sent the intel to you two weeks ago!" I need more than that ma'am, you know that's not enough.

She stared him down for a moment, unflinching. Turning to her laptop, the President flicked through her inbox. "Two weeks ago, I received a communication from you specifying that your field agent had not found anything conclusive as of yet." She turned the laptop around to face Hawks.

He hopped off the table and snatched the computer up, reading the email himself. The date was right. So was the time. But the content, that was all wrong. He swore. The laptop clattered onto the table and Hawks handed his phone over to the President. She read through the email that she was supposed to receive with an icy stare.

"It would appear," she said pointedly, "That we have a security breach." Murmuring swept through the room.

Hawks ground his teeth as the President took her council to task. Smoothly delegating to the stiffs around the table. He should have raised the alert the second he realized he wasn't getting notifications for priority communications. There was a high probability that people were going to die because of this. How had he slipped up? He was never this sloppy. He also wasn't sure that he believed that she was as in the dark here. The President always knew something, always had something up her sleeve. Always. Still, the doubt he now had regarding whether she had turned traitor was a small comfort.

"Hawks, I assume your team is closest to the USJ?" The President leaned forward, working away rapidly on her laptop.

His wrath tempered by the reality of the situation, Hawks became somewhat more compliant. "It is ma'am." They're ready, just give the word. His agency was staffed with greenies, but they would do in a pinch. They were already on high alert, waiting for the signal that the USJ was under attack. They couldn't just beat down the doors preemptively, despite Hawks desire for them to do just that. If they did, and if Shigaraki was a no-show, then Principal Nezu would probably sue the pants off the whole damn commission. Personally. The little rodent had passed the bar exam some time ago and was known to be utterly ruthless in defense of his school.

Suki entered the conference room rather stiffly, but Hawks paid her no mind. He had bigger concerns. He couldn't rid himself of the bad feeling that was developing. That only ever happened when something was about to go horribly wrong.

"Ah, Suki." The President handed a folded paper to Suki without looking up. "Have a copy of this delivered to Director Ishikawa at once and have the operations chief notified of a potential coordinated villain attack in Musutafu." She returned to directing her committee, exchanging snippets of conversation with those still seated at the table. Business as usual. Update this, inform them, do that.

Hawks wanted to pace but he restrained himself. He leaned over her shoulder. "Madam President, we need to extract Usagiyama A.S.A.P. She's collected more than enough information to indict Kurogiri and his co-conspirators. It's time to bring her home." Bring Rumi home. Please. He wasn't going to budge on this one. That girl was in far over her head and she was going to crack if she didn't get relieved soon. The festering mass of guilt carried by Hawks grew, and grew, and grew.

The President nodded. "Agreed. You do understand that she cannot immediately return to her home, don't you Hawks? She will need to be fully debriefed and cleared by Dr. Ichiko." She sent off a brief email to the Actuarial Department, which concealed the intelligence arm of the HPSC. They were the ones responsible for managing field agents and covert operations.

"I know," Hawks grumbled, "in case you've forgotten, I've been doing this for a while now." Just bring her home.

True to form, the President didn't rise to his barbs. She never did.

Suki hadn't left.

With Hawks distracting the President, it took some time for her to notice. She dismissed the girl with a wave of her hand. "That will be all, Suki."

Still, Suki remained.

Hawks had a bad, bad feeling. He looked over and that feeling tripled.

Stripped of her patience, the President finally looked up at her assistant, and then grew still.

Suki cried. Inky black tears seeped down her cheeks. "Madam President…" Suki choked. "I'm so… so sorry. I tried… I tried to resist." She sobbed. A large fissure split her face diagonally, from forehead to chin. More cracks spider-webbed off of the first one. Black ichor flowed freely from the wounds. A voice that was wholly separate from Suki's came from her mouth. It was smooth and masculine. "You've put on a lovely show, Madam President, but this is the curtain call."

Those words left echoes of death in their wake. Hawks moved. He punched a feather through one of the windows in the room, shattering the glass. He intended to dive over the President and drag Suki out of the building, but she grabbed his wrist, stalling him. He stared down at her in disbelief.

The President met his gaze, unflinching, as he'd always known her. "I'm proud of you Hawks." She said simply.

Suki exploded. The blast cratered the top half of headquarters, raining masonry, glass, and bodies on downtown Tokyo.

Ochaco didn't know what to expect when the mist villain swallowed them up with his portals. Part of her thought she was about to die. Part of her realized that was unlikely. Going by Kurogiri's stiff monologue, he intended to use them as bait for All Might. Either way, how she felt didn't really matter, because when Mineta got sucked in, Midoriya dove after him without hesitation, and Ochaco dove after Midoriya. She must have been crazy, diving headfirst into a portal made by a villain, but at the time her brain was disconnected from her legs. They just… moved, as if they had a mind of their own.

They were falling. Everything happened very quickly. Ochaco heard Midoriya before she saw him.

"Got you!" He'd grabbed Mineta by the leg and flung the smaller boy to the side with a sense of urgency. But why? Oh, they were falling into a pit. That made sense. Wait, WHAT!?

"Deku!" Ochaco reached for him. If only she could get five points of contact with one hand! She could slow his fall; she could save him!

The boy twisted his upper body around and reached. Their fingers brushed. It wasn't enough. Ochaco crashed into the dirt, on the roughly level ground to the side of the pit.

Deku fell straight in.

The villain, he said his name was Kurogiri – and that rang some alarm bells in Izuku's head – had dropped him and his classmates over the Ruins zone. When he missed Uraraka's hand, Izuku braced himself, knowing he was going to hit the ground at full speed.

The pit wasn't straight down like he first thought. The opening was actually the side of a collapsed building, angled downwards like a steep ramp. He crashed into it, bouncing and rolling down. With nothing to grab onto to slow his descent, Izuku curled inward, doing his best to protect his head. At the very bottom - after what had to be at least ten stories of 'ramp' – the broken foundation of the building swallowed him whole. He hit the ground hard.

Mina ran for dear life. Loose soil bucked and heaved under foot. "You guys! This isn't how I wanted to die!" She dove headfirst into a shallow depression in the earth. The Landslide zone was coming apart at the seams. They'd been tossed here by that creepy misty guy, and there were about ten of his creepy buddies here waiting to turn them into mincemeat.

"GET THE FUCK BACK HERE AND FIGHT ME LIKE A REAL VILLAIN!" A tremendous blast rocked the world. In that little impromptu foxhole, Mina joined Hagakure and Koda. The three of them clung to each other, shaking in their boots. After realizing they were surrounded, Bakugo gave Mina and the others exactly two seconds notice before he lit up the villains.

BOOM!

Earth and chips of stone showered the trio. The sky over the foxhole flashed like lightning was striking, as if to spite the perpetual broad daylight created by the USJ's lighting system.

"DIE EXTRAS!"

Hagakure was swearing up a storm. "Jesus – BOOM! – fucking – BOOM! – Christ!"

"I didn't think you were religious!" Mina hollered over her plugged ears, over the racket of Bakugo cutting loose, over what felt like Armageddon unfolding.

"I'm not!" Hagakure wailed back.

"EAT THIS BASTARDS! HOWITZER IMPACT!"

BOOM!

"Hey! Is everyone okay!?" Ejiro stood, dusting himself off. He hadn't fallen very far, and his Hardening took care of any potential damage. Since he was the first on his feet, he decided to do what he could for the rest of his class. It looked like there were a lot of them here too. Nearly half in fact. Sato and Shoji looked okay. They were both pretty big guys and seemed tough too.

Ejiro trotted over to Aoyama, who lay flat on his back. "You alright man?"

"Oui, oui. All that is hurt… is my pride." The blond boy wheezed with his glasses sat crookedly on his face.

"Uhh, right… here, lemme help you up." By the time Aoyama was on his feet, Shoji and Sato had already moved on to pulling Kaminari out of a broken building. By the way he was complaining, Ejiro guessed he was uninjured. The only other students he could see were Mineta and Uraraka.

Mineta was literally kissing the ground. "Oh sweet, precious, solid earth. Terra firma!" He seemed fine, so Ejiro wasn't about to unpack whatever that was all about. He moved on.

Uraraka looked pretty winded, but she was up. Sort of. She perched at the edge of some cavernous opening in the ground. "Deku? Deku, can you hear me?!"

"Hey, Uraraka, what's wrong? You okay?" She whipped around, all wide eyes and urgency. "I'm fine, but Deku- I mean Midoriya, he fell. I tried to catch him, but… I missed."

Ejiro almost frowned but caught it just in time. Little things like that were important when people were in trouble. Instead, he smiled – like Mina would have – and patted Uraraka on the shoulder. "Midoriya's pretty manly, I'm sure he's okay. He probably landed in a nice soft pile of dirt at the bottom, right? I mean it wouldn't have been a straight fall. I feel like UA wouldn't just keep giant pits around without a mattress or something at the bottom. Right?"

"N-no, I watched him roll down. You're right, he's probably fine. I guess I'm just shocked." She laughed in a way that sounded more stressed than anything, shaking out her hands. "Thanks, Kirishima. Oh! Is anyone else hurt? Do we have everyone?"

"Pretty sure we have half the class here, except for Midoriya. Well, I guess we'll have him too once we unearth him." Kirishima rolled his shoulder, before smacking his fist into his palm. "We'll team up with the others and get out of here in no time. Don't worry!"

Shoji's baritone rumble cut in. "I think we have bigger problems."

Ejiro and Uraraka looked over, then up, following Shoji's gaze. High up in the surrounding buildings, in the windows of the broken "buildings" that made the Ruins Zone, he saw them. Villains, a whole lot of them, crawling out of the rubble.

"Ah jeez. Heads up! Looks like we're fighting after all."

Izuku, at the bottom of the ruins pit, was in a fog. He'd come to moments ago, and wobbled to his feet, unsure if his balance was off because of the thick airbag he stood on or because of just how hard he had landed. At least he wasn't dead, thank god for that. Once he lurched his way onto firmer ground, he paused for a breather, bracing his hands against his knees. It had been a bit of a struggle; the airbag was massive. At least ten meters per side and coming up to his waist once he'd stepped off. UA really spared no expense when it came to facilities.

Had his streak of good luck actually ended when the villains invaded? He certainly didn't think it was good that they were under attack. But with that, well, bad development came a silver lining, in that he wasn't dead. Or paralyzed. Or even injured. And, as far as he saw during the fall, which wasn't much, no one else was in imminent danger aside from Mineta, and he'd successfully kept the smaller boy from falling all the way down here. All good things… so, had Izuku's luck run out… or…?

He rubbed at his eyes, now wasn't the time to ponder life's mysteries, he had to get out of here. There didn't seem to be a convenient or rapid way to go up the shaft he'd fallen down. What about One for All? Considering his fight against the Zero Pointer, he was certain that he could clear the rim of the pit with a hundred percent jump. Then came the problem of his inevitably shattered legs. Was it worth breaking his legs just to get back quickly? He strained his ears, listening for, well, anything that could key him into the situation up top. He heard nothing. Probably not. Now would be a great time to have x-ray vision. Or a hearing quirk.

Rumi.

Back when this all started, less than a half hour ago, Mr. Aizawa had made an aggressive push against the villains. He covered an impressive distance in a short time, incapacitating villains as he went. With a pang of guilt, Izuku recognized that he'd been excited to watch Eraser Head in action, despite the sinking realization that the grumpy homeroom teacher was outmatched. Eraser was, essentially, an ambush predator. He specialized in stealth tactics and rapid takedowns. Eraser was not an endurance fighter like, say, Fat Gum.

When Mr. Aizawa was… defeated… no one was able to make out much detail. The scale of the USJ was so great that from the top of the stairs where Class 1-A huddled, Mr. Aizawa and the villains he had been fighting in the central plaza were little more than colored specks. There was a little flicker of purple light and a navy-blue fleck crashed into Mr. Aizawa. He didn't get up again.

You were excited to see him fighting and for all you know he's dead now.

His stomach turned and his eyes watered. Mr. Aizawa wasn't dead. Full stop. But still, Izuku had this… this horrible, rankling suspicion that wouldn't leave him alone. That navy-blue fleck looked like… he didn't want to say it, even to himself, but Izuku thought he saw a splash of bright white sitting atop that navy dot. Hair… or maybe… ears.

Rumi.

No. No, it wasn't her. Rumi aspired to be a Hero, with a capital H. She wanted to become a living legend, to be the absolute best the world had ever seen. If that meant dethroning All Might himself and taking the top spot, then so be it. She'd never been shy about it either. All through childhood she'd boasted and bragged in Kacchan's face, taking him down a peg every time he showed off. Challenging him at every turn, as if to prove that she didn't need to be the most gifted student, or athlete, or have a powerful and flashy quirk to be the best.

You know it was her. Stop pretending.

Izuku had watched those two get into scraps over who would be the better hero more times than he could count. For years. And then there was the downward spiral of anxiety, depression, and dread he watched her suffer through when she was on house arrest. They'd actually talked a lot over text, way more than usual, and one of the key topics they always came back to was whether or not she'd 'screwed' herself out of her shot at becoming a hero.

You recognized the mist villain as Kurogiri before he ever introduced himself.

There was no way that his… no way that Rumi would willingly become a… a villain.

She told you about life before adoption once. That's how you recognized Kurogiri.

It's not her.

Eight years ago, when mom brought Rumi to the police, they found out from that she'd been living on the streets in Kamino ward. Someone had been teaching her to pickpocket. To steal. Villains.

It's. Not. Rumi.

She ran away. Kamino ward is the only place she's lived besides Musutafu. Where else would she go? Who else would she have a connection to, if not Kurogiri?

Izuku ran. He grit his teeth and pushed ahead, through a set of double doors with a cheery green exit sign above them. He was sure the others would be okay, practically half the class had been dropped in the ruins zone. They'd take care of each other. As class rep it was his responsibility to make sure everyone else was okay. At least, that was the responsibility he charged himself with. He was pretty sure his actual duties were limited to taking attendance and handing out papers during homeroom. But this was the heroics course. The UA heroics course. There had to be more to it than that. Right? Right.

New plan: Regroup with the others and hold out for All Might.

He blew past a stairwell, glancing over the sign indicating that it led to the entrance of the ruins zone. Instead, he ran deeper into the tunnels under the USJ. It seemed likely that the rest of the class was scattered across the remaining five zones. Izuku had no idea how to pick his next destination, so he just kept running, trusting his gut to navigate him. Part of him hoped that One for All had some hidden aspect to it that might help him. In his mind, he reached for that torrential river of crystallized power, grasping at it, but not drawing from it. Imploring. The electric rush that lit up his nerves was comforting.

Childish or not, it seemed to be working. Every so often he'd feel a faint tug – maybe he imagined it – and he'd abruptly dart down a different hallway or take a flight of stairs. He wasn't sure where he was running to, but the destination seemed to be changing just as quickly as he was running. Was it taking him to another person?

The doubt came rushing back with a vengeance when he crashed through another set of doors, right into a trio of villains. Izuku and the trio hit the floor in a tangle. Izuku scrambled backwards on his butt, trying to put some distance between himself and the villains. His heart thumped in his ears, a rush of heat washed over his body, his stomach started performing a gymnastic routine. There were too many for Izuku to take on alone. He couldn't use One for All without breaking himself and he didn't know how to fight without it. With his ridiculous power output at one hundred percent he could accidentally kill them. On top of that, he also didn't know anything about his opponents. Too many unknowns. Too many players. He was cut off.

What do I do!?

Thoughts racing a mile a minute, Izuku tore through his memories for every scrap of info on how to use One for All. Dozens of instances of All Might triumphantly crushing his foes with little more than a flick of his wrist came to mind. None of it was remotely helpful. All Might was so absurdly strong that he didn't fight with any particular style. He didn't need to. Why bother mastering a martial art when you could just win every fight with nothing more than a flick of your finger?

With nothing more than a flick of your finger.

That's it! Izuku watched the three villains scrambling over each other in slow motion. He was right-handed, so he raised his left hand, ring finger curled inward and braced against the pad of his thumb. He supported his wrist with a white knuckled grip from his dominant hand. One for All ripped through his body at full throttle. He had little time to focus on shunting it all into his finger, but it would have to do.

Back in February, on the chilly morning of the UA entrance exam, Toshinori Yagi stood before Izuku at the Takoba Municipal Beach Park. The sand was finally clear of litter and other detritus. He laid a skeletal hand on Izuku's shoulder "One for All is power in its purest form. Passed down, growing, and crystallizing with each successive generation. That power is yours now and with it you will surpass me some day. I have the utmost faith in you, Young Midoriya, so keep your head held high and always give the world your best smile." Toshinori swelled, growing larger than life, until All Might beamed down at Izuku. "Now, eat this!" He held out a strand of his blond hair, trademark grin stretching his face in the light of the early morning.

Back in the present, Izuku steeled himself. All Might saw something that convinced him to choose Izuku as his successor. If he could have faith in Izuku, then Izuku could have faith in himself. One finger would be enough.

Izuku put on his best smile – or grimace, rather – and flicked.

Rumi was spitting mad. Furious. Beyond furious, even. Honestly, when wasn't she? At least lately, she seemed to have two modes: angry and sleep. Currently though, she was particularly cranky. Hawks was fucking nowhere to be seen. She'd given the moron ample time to prepare for Shigaraki's little plot. Hell, she CC'd the Commission President herself when she emailed the intel to Hawks.

So…

Some poor fuckers nose crunched under her boot as she rocketed through the service corridor, stacking bodies as she went.

Where the FUCK is the cavalry!?

Mirko sneered. She was going to rip that old bitch a new one when this shitshow was over. Hawks too. And anyone else that happened to be in the room. Fuck the commission and fuck their priorities. Shit, she might just quit on the spot.

There were only a few of Shigaraki's dime store rejects left down here, and she raced ahead, picking them off with brutal effectiveness. If only there weren't a literal army of them left. She'd been here less than an hour and the minutes were blurring together. She was tired. Upset. Angry. Sore. Desperate.

Alone.

And on top of all that shit, she had this persistent itch deep in her skull that she just couldn't shake. It was driving her up the fucking wall. It came and went in waves, but never faded to the point of being unnoticeable. She didn't know what it was, but it started shortly after she crossed the portal from the subway station to the USJ.

She ignored it as best she could, refocusing on the situation at hand.

There was only so much she could do to help the UA brats. By wedging herself firmly in the middle of The Plan to Kill All Might (copyright pending, Tomura Shigaraki), she'd effectively wrested control over the goons from Tall, Pale, and Creepy. As his "lieutenant" they all reported to her. Luckily, that meant none of them had a way to contact Shigaraki short of physically walking up to him. When the creep had realized he could delegate ninety percent of the work to her he'd gladly fucked off, meaning she had to do everything but babysit Nomu and plot the nefarious plot.

Plot the nefarious plot? I'm losing my goddamn mind…

Whatever. Eraser Head was down for the count, so it was unlikely that Shigaraki'd zero him. She wasn't sure about Thirteen. Kurogiri turned her Black Hole power against her, but she was probably alive. That just left the brats. The way she'd set it up with Kurogiri was such that the majority of them got dropped in the ruins zone.

Originally, Shigaraki protested.

Mirko countered. "Does it really fucking matter how they get terrorized? You and … that," She gestured vaguely towards the basement door, behind which Nomu stood blankly in a corner, "get to have all the fun with All Might, why can't I get some side action? 'Sides, the brats are first years, they aren't likely to be worth anything. At least let me get enough together to squeeze one real fight out of 'em."

In the end Shigaraki huffed and washed his hands of the whole matter. Grumpily slithering off into the darkness without another word.

Mirko got her way. Kurogiri was to take at least half the class and deposit them in the ruins zone. Mirko directed the goons to stay well the fuck away from that zone too, on pain of broken legs. She gave some excuse about wanting to see what UA was all about without interference.

It was the only way she could minimize the possible damage Shigaraki could do here. She had to leave some of them out in the wild, and yeah, that fucking sucked, but she didn't have free reign to do as she wished. She'd count it as a victory as long as she could keep everyone away from Shigaraki and Nomu.

She'd keep fighting. Until her body gave out. Until she ran out of people to fight. Until her cover got blown. Then she'd deal with the fallout. She always did.

Mirko rounded the corner and sighted the last three morons from the group she'd been mowing down. One saw her over their shoulder and yelped at their buddies. They scrambled faster. Not fast enough to get away though. They crashed into a pair of double doors and fell in a heap.

Mirko's dogged pursuit came to an abrupt halt. She toppled, brought down by a sharp lance of pain just behind the eyes. She cradled her head, gasping for air. That horrid itching had developed into a torturous raking sensation, all across the inside of her skull.

Get up, get up, get the fuck up!

Mirko whimpered through her teeth as she hauled herself off the floor. Her pain became anger, and her anger boiled over. She lunged once to close the distance, then lept high, twisting her body in the windup for the mother of all kicks.

Then, something… inexplicable happened. That near hysteric rage pulsing in her veins, all of it, just… left. Something changed, like a stubborn part of her shifted just enough to snap into place after years of dysfunction. The itching faded, replaced by a gentle tug, leading right to the door she was already soaring towards. The world dripped by slowly, as though it swam in molasses.

Trust. Warmth. Safety.

Mirko refocused in midair – driven by instincts she didn't understand – and reoriented, shifting her body. She flipped roughly a hundred and eighty degrees around, so she was flying headfirst towards the slowly recovering villains. Her legs flexed and shifted, as though she were preparing to land from a dizzying height. Only she was moving in the wrong direction for the way she was positioned. She just… reacted. Predicted? Either way, Mirko was just along for the ride at this point. It felt so right that she didn't mind giving up the reins, if only for a moment.

The clock resumed its normal pace, and reality rushed back. There was a tremendous thundercrack. A wall of pressure smashed into Mirko, launching her back. Far down the corridor, at the corner Mirko had rounded just moments ago, she struck the wall with meteoric force. Her legs were braced perfectly to absorb the impact, and the concrete shattered under her feet.

The trio of villains smacked into the wall around her without an ounce of grace. As gravity took hold, Mirko pulled her hands from her ears – when did I cover my ears? – and landed in a neat handspring.

Happiness. Triumph. Pride.

With a single bound Mirko crossed the distance of the corridor for the third time in ten seconds. Mirko stumbled for just a second as she regained full control of her body, but maintained her momentum, crashing into the person that little tug was pointing her towards. They tumbled to the ground. On reflex, Mirko got her left hand on their collar and hauled back her right to throw a punch.

Her heart lept into her throat. "Izuku?!" She froze completely.

He stared up at her, wide eyed. The way he breathed her name, as though he didn't believe his eyes, sent a jolt up her spine. It peeled Mirko's mask off her face, leaving Rumi behind, raw and vulnerable. He was one of the few that knew her well enough to see through the masquerade. A wave of gooseflesh swept over her. "You… you got in." Izuku was here. At UA. Quirkless Izuku was a UA student. Except… that attack. That burst of pressure, where did it come from? Did he…?

"I- uh, y-yeah. I did." He closed his hand around hers, almost wary.

She relaxed, letting the fabric of his hero costume – of Izuku's hero costume – slip through her ragged fingers.

He sat up slowly, until he could prop himself up with one arm, never looking away.

Rumi knew how this must look. How it did look. Here she sat, squarely on his lap. Bloody. Torn. Beaten. With Eraser Head's goggles hung on her neck and his capture ribbon slung 'round her hips. Trophies.

Villain.

The transgressions Rumi had committed, all in the name of peace and justice caught up to her in a wave of fear. The ends justify the means, that's how she'd been operating. How she'd been trained to operate. The numerous injuries, the pain she'd inflected in the last nine months, the people she'd crippled, it all weighed on her. She'd kept it back as best she could, but now? "I…" she tried and failed. What would she say? What could she say? She couldn't lie. Not like Hawks could anyway. She didn't want to lie either. "Izuku," she whispered hoarsely.

He said nothing, but then, he didn't have to. Fat Midoriya tears rolled over freckled cheeks as he stared up at her. Open, curious, afraid, but not judging. Not condemning.

She felt her own eyes prickle.

Izuku softly pressed his lips to hers. His hand found her hip as he sat up fully. Fingertips grazed at the base of her ear. His palm warmed her cheek.

That nightmarish whirlwind of emotions which threatened to swallow her only grew more intense. How should she feel here? What was she supposed to feel? With desperation she wished for that blip of comfort and safety to come back, that gentle presence she felt just before she crashed into Izuku. It didn't return, so Rumi let Izuku pull her in, taking comfort in him instead. She worked her lips against his in a clumsy way, running her fingers through his hair.

He broke the kiss.

She butted her forehead against his with a gasp. "I missed you." She sniffled in a way that felt so pathetic.

"I missed you." His voice cracked. They were still whispering, as though any sudden noise would steal the moment away.

The corner of Rumi's mouth twitched, and a crooked little smile grew. "You finally kissed me."

He blushed beautifully and stumbled over his tongue. He took great care to get his mouth under control before nodding. "I… I said I missed you. I meant it." He rested a hand on the small of her back.

She shivered when his fingers brushed against her tail. A fond laugh slipped out and her hands roamed down to his chest before snaking around his back. He'd grown taller in the near year since she'd run off. Broader too. Much of the baby fat had left his cheeks. "I think… you need to convince me. Kiss me again."

Izuku obliged.