Air. Katsuki Bakugo was desperate for even one breath of air. The sludge villain currently suffocating him refused to budge no matter how many times he blasted him, but even his quirk - his greatest strength - proved insufficient in saving him.

Katsuki had never been too weak to achieve what he wanted to. His entire life, he'd been praised for his unlimited potential, stemming from his strength and intelligence. Ever since he gained the ability to sweat nitroglycerin at the age of four, everyone would tell him how great he was, how he would become a great hero one day.

And, in Katsuki's opinion, they were all correct - merely extras understanding their place in the hierarchy. Over a decade, he's been working on refining his quirk to the upmost potential, so he could become stronger.

He always wanted to be a hero - and what does it mean to be a true hero? To be strong. To be the strongest. To be so strong that no matter how many villains throw their self at you, you would always emerge victorious.

Yet, here Katsuki found himself - too weak to defeat the sludge villain that was currently strangling him to death. As he looked at the 'heroes' and the crowd formed in front of him through blurry and darkening eyes, he found one thought playing on loop in his head.

When will a true hero show up?

As his final heartbeat drew closer, Katsuki heard one loud voice rip through the crowd.

"Kacchan!"

Izuku Midoriya was currently having the worst day of his life - rivalled only by the day he learnt he was quirkless. The day that crushed his dreams. The day that signed off on his life being a mundane one.

His entire life, all he wanted to do is save people as a hero. He wanted people to see his smile, and for them to know that they're safe. However, this ambition was crushed the day he learnt that he was unlike everyone else. He lacked a quirk, a superpower, which was a rarity in his generation. Twenty percent of the world may be quirkless, just like him, but for his age group, it was unheard of. This resulted him in being the only quirkless person out of everyone he knew.

The result? He quickly became ostracised by everyone he knew, with even his closest friend, Kacchan, becoming his tormentor. Kacchan used any opportunity to test his quirk on him, going out of his way to bully and abuse him. He even called him Deku, an alternative way of reading his name, meaning useless – "A perfect name for the quirkless freak you are!" Being born without powers was like having a disability. This fact, coupled with the influence that Kacchan had, resulted in him having no friends – not since the age of four.

Despite all the constant harassment from everyone, despite not having any friends, despite not having a single person believe in him, Izuku took on every day with a smile. His ambition and desire in becoming a hero was nearly as endless as his admiration for All Might – his idol, and the number one hero. Even though he subconsciously thought it was impossible without a power – just like everyone else told him – he didn't give up. If he didn't have his dreams of becoming a hero, what else did he have? So, even when his own mother didn't believe in him, he still believed in himself and his goal to save everyone with a smile.

Izuku would study every day in his notebooks, analysing quirks and heroes, amassing thirteen notebooks over his decade of research. He would take off and watch any hero fight he caught wind of in his area. He would indulge in as much hero media as he could. And, whenever Kacchan decided to bully someone else, Izuku would stand up for the victim, no matter who they were. Most of the times, they were someone who also bullies him, but Izuku didn't care. He would face down Kacchan, and shout at him, "I won't let you hurt him anymore! A true hero saves everyone, regardless of who they are!" This would typically be responded to by a grin and a beat down.

Was helping that one kid worth it? In Izuku's eyes: absolutely. If that meant he stayed true to his ideals, then yes, it was worth the pain and the hassle of hiding his injuries from his mother.

If he focused this time and tenacity into other aspects of his life, Izuku could probably achieve a job in any other field he desired. But for him, helping people made his life worth living. That's why, after all these years, he still held onto his dream, no matter how unrealistic it seemed.

That was, at least, until today. He had a horrible day at school, with the class learning of him applying to try get into UA, Japan's number one and most competitive hero school. He went through the repeating process of having Kacchan blast him and tell him that he's worthless, whilst being mocked by the class. Then, after school, Kacchan found his hero notebook full of notes, set off an explosion on it, threw it into a pond, and then told him to jump off a roof in hopes of getting a quirk in another life.

However, this quailed in comparison to how his afternoon went. He was saved by All Might from a sludge villain that was about to kill him, and through his own stubbornness, learnt of All Might's crippling injury. But Izuku had to know. Could he be a hero? All Might's words scarred him –

"No, I don't think you can become a hero without a quirk."

That was the final nail in the coffin for Izuku's dream. If even his idol, the greatest hero who ever lived, doesn't believe he can do it, then why should he believe in himself? Everything after that was a haze, he didn't even register the skeletal man that was All Might exit the roof - the words he said sounding like static. He didn't register subconsciously walking outside onto the road either.

Now, here Izuku found himself, staring at the burnt notebook whilst walking down the road. 'Don't cry,' he told himself, 'you knew, didn't you? That it was impossible to become a hero?' The hardest part for Izuku was accepting it, as now he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life.

'I wish I could've at least saved one person.'

He put his notebook back into his backpack and allowed himself to wander the streets in a daze. Subconsciously, he found himself gravitate towards the explosion he heard whilst talking to All Might earlier. He snapped out of his stupor and looked up, acknowledging the crowd of people formed at the end of the narrow alleyway. Wondering what's happening, Izuku walked to the edge of the crowd and peered over their shoulders. His mouth dropping in shock and horror, he sees the same sludge villain that tried to kill him earlier currently suffocating someone. The surroundings were a disaster, flames blazing all down the alleyway with rubble all over. He could spot heroes scattered around, but Izuku stared in confusion as to why they weren't doing anything. Backdraft was currently putting out the fires, but the heroes like Death Arms were simply standing there. 'Why weren't they doing anything?'

Then, the realisation hit Izuku as he wondered how the sludge villain could have possibly got here and escaped All Might. It was his fault. The reason this person was dying was his fault. He must've knocked out the bottles when he clung to All Might's leg as he jumped. The thought made Izuku's stomach churn. 'I'm so sorry. Please, someone, a real hero, come save him.' He knew All Might was most likely nearby, but again, it was Izuku's fault that he ran out of his time and can no longer transform today.

As the crowd around him began to verbally wonder why the heroes weren't doing anything, the person stuck inside the sludge villain continued to struggle, as he turned to face the crowd with pleading eyes. Izuku stared at the victim until his eyes opened and his face was shown, revealing him to be his life-long tormentor – the person who made his life a living hell.

Izuku burst through the crowd before his mind had time to process anything that was happening, as a scream tore from his throat.

"Kacchan!"

As Katsuki heard that nickname and saw a figure burst forth from the crowd of useless extras, his mind put together who it was. 'There's only one person who calls me that shitty nickname.' Katsuki couldn't understand why Deku of all people was rushing in to save him. 'The useless bastard is going to get himself killed!' If the heroes here are too weak to do anything, then how is Deku going to help him?

"Stop! You're gonna get yourself killed!" the heroes shouted in tandem, echoing his thoughts.

But Deku didn't falter.

Katsuki stared at him with his horrified and desperate expression as he slipped off his backpack and hurled it at the sludge villain's face. Against all odds, it was a direct hit. The sludge flinched and pulled back in pain, allowing Katsuki to finally slip out of the sludge. Coughing up the sludge in his throat, Katsuki quickly gasped for air, which felt like heaven. Quickly regaining his breath, Katsuki took the opportunity to speak to the reckless and suicidal moron currently clambering towards him.

"Deku! What the fuck are you doing?! Do you want to die?!"

Deku continued to climb towards him through the rubble and sludge, saying "I don't know! My legs just moved on their own!" Once he finally reached Katsuki, through crying eyes, Deku gave him the biggest smile he could.

"It just looked like you needed help!"

Deku? Katsuki pondered in growing rage why Deku thought he needed help from him, the weakest person he knew? Was he looking down on him? Katsuki couldn't piece together what was going through Deku's head. Was he trying to get him to owe him, or was he still childishly holding onto his dream of being a hero, naively thinking he could be one too? Before he could respond in anger, Deku plunged his hands into the sludge, grabbing a firm hold of Katsuki's arm.

"That's what true heroes do, right?" Deku pivoted on his foot, mustering all the strength he physically could as he began to rip him from the sludge. Strain and determination showed on his face as he struggled, slowly pulling him from the stunned villain. "No matter who or when…" Deku finally ripped Katsuki from the sludge thanks to the combined effort of his constant explosions. In a final feat of strength, he hurled Katsuki to the edge of the alleyway away from the sludge.

Once landing, Katsuki quickly turned himself to look at Deku, as his face adopted a soft smile.

"They always save everyone."

Katsuki watched in stunned silence, not being able to understand that Deku just helped him escape – 'that's right, just helped. It was mainly my explosions.' But he quickly snapped out of his inner turmoil, shouting at him to "Fucking run!"

The sludge villain, now recovered, prepared to attack Deku, yelling "That's it brat, you're dead!"

Katsuki saw within his peripheral vision the heroes began that were running towards them, who were also adding their own pleas for Deku to run.

But, before he even had the chance to even step away, Katsuki watched in slow motion as the sludge villain began to bring down an attack upon Deku, his impending death approaching. Yet, Deku's smile remained.

Katsuki and Deku's eyes remained locked together. In horror, Katsuki saw as the attack fell upon Deku, crushing him.

The sickening crack of his bones echoed through the alleyway.

'No. This can't be happening.' Katsuki felt vomit rise through his throat as his mind played on repeat what he just witnessed occur in front of him. Sitting in stunned silence, he immediately assumed the worst. Despair ran through him and his blood turned cold at the thought of Deku dying because of his weakness.

Seemingly materializing out of thin air, All Might stood next to where the sludge was covering Deku, screaming "NOOO!" Normally, Katsuki would've been in awe of seeing his idol in the flesh: he's the greatest hero that ever lived, because he's the strongest. He would always win despite the odds. Katsuki founded his philosophy of what a true hero is based on the man. His immense power was unrivalled, ushering in an era of peace. It was unanimously agreed that he was the definition of a true hero, and Katsuki believed it was because of his power.

Yet, Katsuki only felt a torrent of fury upon seeing him. 'If he saw what happened, how could he not get here in time to stop it?'

Without hesitation, All Might – missing his trademark smile, replaced by a frown full of anguish – pulled his arm back and reached into the sludge with the other to grab onto whatever remained of Deku. He hit the sludge so hard it caused a miniature tornado to form, whilst pulling Deku back behind him.

The surrounding crowd and useless heroes remained silent despite All Might's feat as he gently laid down Deku and examined the boy and – 'fucking hell necks aren't supposed to turn that way'.

All Might quickly asked around for paramedics, but it didn't take a professional to pronounce that he was dead – no amount of healing quirks could heal all the bones that were completely twisted and emerging from the body.

Slowly rising from sitting, his gaze still fixed upon Deku, Katsuki steadily staggered towards him one step at a time. His wide ruby eyes burned with an indefinable emotion, staring.

"Hey. Hey Deku. Deku. What the fuck are you doing?" Katsuki finally dropped to his knees beside his body, grabbing him by the collar with both hands, slowly raising him.

"Deku. Get the fuck up. Don't make me fucking repeat myself!" Katsuki began to tremble. He raised Deku's face to his.

The heavens opened as the alleyway was shrouded in darkness. The tornado All Might had caused had made it begin to pour with rain.

"DEKU! Deku you useless bastard, wake up! WAKE UP!" He could feel tears begin to well in his eyes, but he refused to let them come out. People couldn't see him be weak anymore. Katsuki couldn't see himself be weak anymore. He stared into Deku's lifeless eyes for even the slightest sign of anything – anything that would show his consciousness. He raised a hand to try to turn his neck in the correct direction, "Deku, please-"

Katsuki felt a large hand grab his shoulder, trying to stop his efforts, as the person said "Young man-"

"Get the fuck off of me!"

Katsuki jerked away from the hand, shooting a glare full of conflicting anger and pain over his shoulder at All Might. He looked feral, his teeth clenched and brows furrowed, manic eyes threatening to spill tears. Just as quickly, however, he snapped out of his stupor, realising that he might've hurt Deku even more due to his outburst and erratic movement. He returned his attention to him, gently trying to fix him, softly muttering "Deku, please-" repeatedly.

Silence completely filled the alleyway. Katsuki was left alone with just his thoughts and pounding heart to fill his ears, no one daring to disturb him. For thirty seconds, he repeated his actions, trying to fix the damage. Each attempt was unsuccessful. Many thoughts ran through Katsuki's mind, a lot of them expressing his hatred at the unfair situation, questioning why it was happening, but one thought ran through his mind and struck him into freezing.

"Go take a swan dive off the roof!"

Katsuki nearly instantly vomited. He understood the meaning of what he said, he understood the intent too, but he didn't understand the ramifications. The result was laying right there, blood finally beginning to pool under him. Katsuki's mind failed to grasp the difference between telling someone to die and the reality of them dying because of him.

He couldn't understand what was happening. He couldn't understand why it was happening.

Katsuki's gaze snapped upwards, scanning the crowd and swivelling his head to look at every gaping and solemn fucker around him. "Why…" Katsuki began to slowly rise to his feet, one leg at a time. 'Why weren't they doing anything?'

Katsuki bellowed. "Why are you all standing there and staring?!" His eyes, judgemental, swivelled to address all those who failed to take any action – all the bystanders. Crimson eyes glossed over each side of the alleyway, to the citizens, to the heroes, even to All Might, but never to Izuku. "What's wrong with you fucking morons!? Why didn't you do anything? I don't get it! Why are you fucking sitting here and just watching as if this was a show?!"

"You just watched a kid-" die. Katsuki could not bring himself to finish that sentence. He could not accept what just happened. Vomit threatened to spill from his throat if he did, however it began to climb due to one realisation. Katsuki couldn't remember the last time he thought of Deku as anything more than sub-human.

To say Katsuki was taken aback was an understatement.

Behind him, he heard a faint voice: "He was a true hero." Katsuki slowly turned to stare at the perpetrator of the usually-heinous words, as he came to look into All Might's hollow eyes; eyes that could not look away from the broken boy.

"What did you say?"

"He was a true hero." All Might reiterated. Once again. "He was a true hero. I am so sorry for my failure; he should not have died." Those present bore witness to a dejected All Might.

His huge stature was dwarfed by the guilt upon his hunched shoulders. His virtuous bangs which stood ever tall now sit, drooping, covering his face due to the rain. His protective hands stay clenched together in front of him in mourning, far from the boy. Yet his eyes would not stray from the corpse in the alleyway.

Katsuki could not understand this. Isn't a true hero defined by their strength? But All Might failed to save him. Why is he saying Deku is one? He's the furthest thing from one, that's been clear my whole life.

Katsuki felt his world view crumbling around him. All Might saying that Deku was a true hero? I failed to be strong enough? Someone had to save me? I caused someone to die? Questions piled up and up and up in his mind until he reached a breaking point.

With police and paramedics finally bursting onto the scene and rushing towards him, Katsuki did the only thing his body could.

With bloody hands, he ran.

He ran.

He kept running.

He didn't stop for anything, refusing to allow his mind to think for even a second.

Katsuki couldn't tell what was louder, the pounding of his feet or of his heart.

Eventually, after an indiscernible amount of time, he found himself at the entrance to Dagobah Beach. "How did I end up…", Katsuki cut off his own questioning for why his legs led him here as his eyes began to scan over the mounds of trash that covered the whole beach. His head was heavy, pounding, threatening to destroy him from the inside, and yet his body was still fuelled with energy, and thus he found himself vaulting over the barrier onto the sand.

He had run out of the distance of the rain clouds, but he still felt the ghost of water trickling down his cheeks. So, he did the thing he knew best. He walked on over to the nearest trash pile, winded up his arm, and with shaking eyes, utterly destroyed it with an explosion.

And another.

And another.

And another.

The bangs were loud, though not loud enough to silence the intrusive thoughts creeping in.

He was a true hero, All Might said. And he said it about Izuku.

As the voice chimed in his head, flashes of the boy's fate plagued his mind. Katsuki screwed his eyes shut and felt himself churn, impulsively going from a facial expression that bared his teeth to one where his mouth was screwed shut.

'Why do I care so much?' Katsuki pondered this, and instantly answered himself anyway. He wasn't stupid, despite his outward arrogance and showboating. He was at the top of his school both physically and intellectually, and this wasn't exclusive to academic intelligence. He could read his own emotions. He was aware that, despite not feeling any positive emotion towards Izuku in so many years, he was still a young innocent boy that he had just witnessed die. And not only that: it was his fault.

Katsuki whispered, "I'm so sorry Izuku." He wasn't grieving because he cared for the boy, God no. What he did feel, however, was regret, pain, guilt and a host of other emotions due to his weakness.

He was being destroyed from the inside because, for the first time, he had experienced failure. And this was the result.

'If only I was paying more attention. Or if I was strong enough to fight it off. Or fast enough to escape it. He would be alive.'

But, as his thoughts strayed to how he had to be stronger to win and survive, he found himself remembering who saved him.

'Izuku saved me. Quirkless Izuku. I know for a fact that I'm stronger than him, so how did he save me? What am I missing here?'

Mulling his thoughts over, he began to walk over to another pile of trash.

'That's right. All Might called him a true hero.

What is it that makes a true hero?'

Despite hating the boy, Katsuki knew a lot about Izuku. He was practically stuck to his side for a decade, whether he liked it or not. And he knew their opinions differed on him. Katsuki admired his strength and infallibility. Izuku valued his ability to save people and smile. 'And I suppose that's exactly what Izuku did. He…he saved me. I was about to die of suffocation. Was my admiration wrong? But no, that can't be it. A true hero, All Might, wouldn't die while saving someone. He wouldn't let anyone he saved feel the guilt of him dying in their place and not being able to save anyone else – those other people in the future needed him. So, his strength is needed and justified, so Izuku is just…' "…a fucking phony!"

An explosion.

"A boy so enslaved to his dream that he'd throw away his own to save one person!? And me of all people! What a fucking joke!"

Another explosion.

"He couldn't become a hero so he did the only bullshit he could; become a martyr! How could he be so selfish?!"

Another explosion.

Katsuki never admonished Izuku out of arrogance. As mentioned prior, he was smart. 'He was never meant to be a hero – he wasn't born with the skills or innate talent to be one, so why not step back and let those with the power to be one do it for you? We live in an elitist society for fuck's sake, let those who can compete rise to the top – if you jump into the pool with us, all you'll do is drown!'

This explosion shook the ground he stood on and made his hands shake with pain, yet he didn't stop.

'It wasn't your fault that you couldn't be a hero Izuku, it just infuriated me how you looked down on us all. You think it's easy to be a hero? If you want it enough, it'll just happen? Give me a break. Why didn't you be an analyst for heroes, or a police officer or something?'

All these rational and irrational thoughts in Katsuki's mind started to intertwine. He felt righteously angry, and sickly with guilt in the same beat. Here he was, insulting the very boy who traded his life for his, Katsuki realised.

"What's wrong with me…"

Katsuki fell to the ground, sitting. He knew what was wrong. The fourteen-year-old boy felt his defences fall due to his solitary state as he also felt the tears in his eyes. His world view was being shattered due to the trauma he just witnessed.

"How did someone weaker than me save me when I can't even save myself?" emerged from his lips, barely audible. "How could All Might fail where Deku succeeded?"

'He wasn't a hero. He died to the very first villain in his path, like the pebble he was. So why did All Might say he was a true hero!?' Katsuki still couldn't find an answer.

"I'm not stupid, I wasn't saying he couldn't be a hero for no fucking reason. I was right."

A cacophony of Izuku's past ideals invaded his mind. 'A true hero saves everyone, regardless of who they are!'

'Of course, that's why he threw his life away to save me.'

'It just looked like you needed help!'

'Don't remind me of my failure.'

'That's what true heroes do, right? They always save everyone.'

A heartbeat. And then a sharp inhalation.

"Ah."

"I get it."

"I get it!"

"Deku was right. And so was I!"

His voice quivered, as with shaking hands, he could feel himself stitch back his shattered worldview back together again. This time, with tints of green and yellow.

"I get what a hero is now!" Katsuki felt a mania overtake him. His eyes burst open, blazing in a raging fire, and if you were to look at him, his grin would make you think he was a wild animal.

"It doesn't matter what happens if I can save people!" He jumped to his feet, rising from the ashes, reborn. "A hero always saves someone, no matter what happens to myself in the process! I wasn't wrong, All Might is a true hero, he was just always strong enough to do that without getting hurt!"

"I feel like my eyes have just been opened. The ends always justify the means when it comes to being a hero! Ah, thank you Izuku, All Might." For once in his life, Katsuki felt humbled, grateful for the lesson he'd learnt.

"It doesn't matter if I get hurt, or if others get hurt, or if I ruin anything – all that matters is saving people, no matter what!"

The teardrops finally hit the sand.