**WARNING!** This chapter contains a major character death!

Chapter 17: Moving Forward

A wide, toothy smile spread across the entirety of Shigaraki's face. Check-mate. Channeling his will into that copy of the explosion quirk he had placed inside of Aoyama back when he had given the boy his laser quirk was easy even at this distance, which is one of the reasons he had started making copies of that specific quirk in all of his pawns.

They usually never manifested control of the hidden quirk on their own since he never bothered to tell them it was there to begin with. In the rare event that someone was self-aware enough to find out about it, or more likely triggered it on accident, the problem usually took care of itself by incinerating them from within.

Nice, tidy clean-up and an on-demand bomb that typically removed itself from the equation when discovered was usually more than he could ask for from a single quirk, and it had quickly become one of his favorites. Right now, it was going to help him clean up another mess, too; one his brother had made that had been bothering him for too long.

Honestly, he should have cleaned up Yoichi's mistake a long time ago, and in retrospect he realized that he may have fallen to the trap of greed in struggling so long and hard simply to make that special power his brother's body had concocted his own. He had never needed it, really, and even now he still didn't need it.

So, with a sigh and a fond farewell to an ability that would have been nice to have taken, Shigaraki consigned himself to being slightly less god-like with the loss of such a gift as he triggered the explosive power stored within Yuga, taking control of the boy's body and having him grab hold of Izuku for good measure, since he couldn't afford to miss.

Nothing Tenko or anyone else could do would be enough now, not at this range, he...

Shigaraki's mouth gasped at the sudden white-hot pain across his neck. At the same moment, his mind pulled away from the events at U.A. enough for him to be aware that things had changed back in his cell in Tartarus. The cameras above him were no longer subtly moving to track the motion of his breathing as they had before.

They were utterly still. And someone was behind him, a man whose chuckle filled his quirk sense of echo-location with sound as Shigaraki felt his life-blood spatter down onto his own lap. Even with the respiratory system he was attached to, he couldn't breathe. The man known as Stain had slit his throat while his consciousness had been elsewhere.

His wounds started to heal rapidly from his regeneration quirk, only to suddenly cease as the dark-haired man just behind and to his side licked the blade he had slashed All-for-One with. Shigaraki's mind panicked within his frozen body; his quirk could paralyze the quirks of others! He couldn't die like this, he had to...

One-for-all jerked a few times in Stain's grip, the tall, lanky man waiting for the life to go out of the body sitting next to him before relaxing. He had been ready to stab Shigaraki again if needed, but even that powerful old man had finally met a situation he couldn't survive after all this time. Chizome had always wanted to kill this villain, it was too bad it had to be like this...

In a perfect world, Stain would have announced his intent loudly and defeated the king of villains in a fair fight, proving his strength of commitment with the power of sword arm. Sadly though, one thing that Akaguro had learned upon being incarcerated in a place like Tartarus was that resolve alone wasn't always enough to get what needed to be done accomplished.

Truly, setting aside his desires for a glorious battle that would highlight his own strength was a manifestation of his will to do the right thing, too, even if it was a messy, underhanded affair. He didn't have time to finish watching the most notorious villain in history bleed out before the door opened behind him and guards rushed in with weapons raised.

Stain had been lucky in finding the room that monitored this cell, where he could both pinpoint All-for-One's location and disable the security that barred the rogue hero from the villain. But his luck wasn't infinite, and apparently some other camera must have spied him making his way to where he was, bringing the guards down on him in force.

He knew he wasn't going to win against such numbers, especially since they had him cornered in Shigaraki's cell, but he fought anyways on principal; why give up just because it seemed impossible? That wouldn't be very heroic, and Stain was nothing if not a true hero. As the press of bodies shoved him to the floor and disarmed him, Chizome was nonetheless smiling.

Two of the guards were looking over Shigaraki's corpse, one of them shaking his head at the other. Too late, Akaguro thought. He might have been captured again, but not before he had done the right thing, no matter what the weak-willed hero community might label it. It wasn't relevant what they called him, or what they did to him now.

It was done.

Tenko was shouting for Aizawa, but he knew Eraser wouldn't make it in time, desperately trying to peel Aoyama off of Midoriya as he shouted at the blonde, "Let go, you idiot! I didn't work this hard to keep him alive just to have you blow him up!"

Tearfully Yuga wailed out one apology after another, but it was clear that he wasn't in control of his own actions, and Shimura was a little surprised that the boy was so strong. He wasn't going to be able to get Izuku free; in fact, at this rate he was going to blow up right along with the other two. This had to be All-for-One.

That smug bastard just couldn't stand to lose, and after everything they had gone through, he was still going to get his way, as always. Feeling the sting of loss he often experienced when he thought about Shigaraki, Tenko let out a fierce, frustrated scream of anger. His councilors wanted him to let go of it, but how could he?

It was too easy to hate everything when the damned universe just refused to cut him some slack!

Just as suddenly as it had started, the glow suffusing Yuga vanished and the blonde blinked, pulling his arms from Midoriya, "Huh?"

Tenko let out a breath and sat back heavily. He glanced around, expecting to see Shota somewhere nearby canceling out Aoyama's destructive quirk, but Aizawa was nowhere to be seem. Exactly what had just saved them?

Watching as Aoyama profusely apologized and bowed over something he never had any ability to stop, Shimura observed as the heroes whom had been assembled gathered the sleeping Nomu and bound them securely as police sirens sang their familiar warbling song outside of the school, the flashing reds and blues highlighting the academy entrance.

Police officers rushed inside, as late and useless as ever, Tenko thought. The men in blue brought with them capsules designed to hold people with quirks and keep them powerless while they were transported to more secure locations. All of these Nomu were likely going to Tartarus, or maybe some laboratory deep underground somewhere.

Shimura did not know nor care anymore; the only thing his mind could ponder was what had just happened. Had Yuga broken free from All-for-One's hold on him? It certainly hadn't looked that way; from the manner in which Aoyama was acting and speaking, he seemed to be completely at Shigaraki's mercy.

Deciding to shelf the thought for the time being, Tenko rose and shambled tiredly back into the cafeteria, where Toga was already checking on Shuichi. The Nomu had roughed him up quite a bit when he had been slammed into the floor earlier, but he was standing now and didn't seem to have any broken bones.

The lizard boy waved tiredly at him and was going to say something too, but Jin suddenly rushed over, somehow still full of energy despite the taxing battle. Well, Tenko thought, he probably hadn't actually done much fighting; with his powers, it would have been a better move to run around and avoid the actual fight so his duplicates could do their thing.

Twice was gesturing emphatically and shouting as he brought them news, "Hey guys! I overheard those cops back there talking about some action going on back in Tartarus! Probably not important! Apparently that Stain guy went on a rampage and killed All-for-One! More than mostly dead!"

Toga and Shuichi were quiet, both of them looking to Tenko. He hadn't told them yet how Shigaraki had been responsible for what had happened to him and his family, and while they might have heard what he shouted during the battle, they might not be certain where his loyalties lay. After all, he had told them that All-for-One had practically raised him.

Ever behind the curve when it came to social acumen, Jin slowed down in his speech and dimmed his excitable tone as he read the room and belatedly realized what the news might mean to Shimura. "Oh... uh, sorry I..."

Realizing that his face had been settled into an expression that must have been scary for Twice, Tenko closed his eyes, shook his head and ran a hand through his hair with a sigh, "No... don't worry about it. That asshole just bit the bullet that was always coming for him. He thought he could push everyone around forever and never get pushed back..."

A vein stood out on his forehead as his skin flushed a little with frustrated anger, "Mostly I'm pissed that I wasn't able to do it myself. I owed that fucker a heap of pain, and it was probably over too quick with that Stain creep."

He turned away from the others, hiding his pained expression. That wasn't the main reason he felt a gnawing emptiness in his gut; he didn't feel resolved by that man's death at all. There were so many things he had wanted to demand an answer for, but now Shigaraki was truly out of his reach. How in the world was he supposed to move forward now?

Making that man pay for what he had done to Tenko's family had been the driving force behind all of Shimura's plans for the future. With no target available for all of the angst and accumulated rage that all of his hurt had wrought, he wasn't at all certain what to do next, and a listless sense of unease assailed him to the core.

Tenko underestimated his companions, though, and trying to hide how he felt from his similarly broken fellows simply by turning his face from them wasn't enough to hide anything. For months now they had forged their bond of mutual distrust of the society that had scorned them, and few things brought people closer than being outcasts together.

Toga surprised Tenko by taking his hand in hers gently and squeezing it, smiling at the grey-haired youth, "I could never do this before you know... so maybe you losing your quirk wasn't all bad, right?"

As he stared down into her cheery golden eyes, Shuichi hobbled over and rested a scaly hand on his shoulder, the lizard boy's voice strong despite his apparent injuries, "If you ever want to talk about your past... or maybe just veg out and play some good games, I'm your man."

Jin was looking from one person to the next but didn't say anything, his expression hidden by his mask. He probably wanted to contribute to the attempt to bolster Tenko's morale, but probably didn't trust his tendency towards random outbursts not to spoil the mood. Having a mask helped hold his personalities together, but they were always slipping out in his speech.

Feeling warmth on his face, Tenko quickly raised a hand up to touch his own cheek, worried that he had taken an injury to the head that he hadn't noticed, but when he pulled his fingers back and looked at his hand, he realized it wasn't blood that he felt there. A tear had slipped free unbidden, likely in reaction to the kindness of the only souls he could call friends.

He realized belatedly that Toshinori was standing a short distance away, and quickly worked to wipe at his face with one sleeve, his face flushing crimson in embarrassment. All-Might had just witnessed him getting so sappy with emotion that he had actually cried; how humiliating!

Before the tall blonde ex-hero could say anything, though, two Midnights strolled up, both of them hugging a surprised and very pleased looking Jin between them. One of them waggled a finger at Twice, her voice dripping with fake admonishment, "You still haven't released the other me! Were you hoping to be taken care of by two of me?"

"No?! Yes!?"

Both of them laughed and hugged him again, a number of approaching students and heroes now crowding to thank Jin for his clear contribution to the battle. Shuichi sighed, knowing that few saw his valiant efforts, and because he was terribly jealous of Jin now. Why did he have to get stuck with stick-in-the-mud Cementoss?

Tenko had started moving himself away from the crowds, Toga and Shuichi joining him in doing so, but Toshinori chased them down, smiling as he gave Shimura a thumbs up, "I heard from the others what you did for young Midoriya... I knew you had it in you to be a hero!"

This caused Shimura to draw up short in surprise, his eyes wide in astonishment. He hadn't expected to be accused of doing anything heroic... "I had my own reasons for what I did; I wasn't about to owe that little fool anything or let Shigaraki have his way, either."

Undaunted, All-Might kept right on smiling at him, "Well, regardless of why you did it, throwing yourself in the line of fire in order to help someone is the core of what we do, so I'm still going to commend you. The fact that you could look past your animosity today had already impressed me, but anyone whom is willing to sacrifice themselves for someone they thought of as an enemy can't be a bad guy."

Toga was gasping and Shuichi put a scaled hand to his face; he had known her long enough that he was aware of what she was likely to say even before she started saying it, "Oooh! Does that mean we can join the hero class now!? I want to be a hero!"

Now it was Yagi's turn to be shocked, as he stammered out a stunned and noncommitted reply, "Uh... s-sure... I think? Wait... I don't know..." he scratched at his tangle of blonde locks, "Can I get back to you on that one? I know we jumped a lot of hoops just to put you in the general studies course temporarily, so that one might be a bigger step."

Her eyes were lit up as if he had said yes, though, and she was already dancing in victory, which put Toshinori on the spot and caused Tenko to let out an exasperated sigh. The gray-headed youth swiped a hand at her, "Do what you want; I'm not interested in that crap."

She immediately began tugging on his sleeve, her adorable eyes seeking to use her patented 'puppy dog begging' stare that she had usually used to get Tenko to buy stuff she wanted and that they didn't need with what little was left of the League funds. Already knowing it was coming, Shimura was pointedly avoiding eye contact.

"Come on, Tenko-kun! If you don't join the class too then we would end up getting split up! You heard the old man; you're already practically a hero now!"

"I don't have a quirk anymore anyways!"

Toshinori frowned, "Old man?"

Himiko jumped up in down exuberantly as she continued to argue her point, "That's okay, maybe we can find a way to get it back! Or maybe you could be one of those tech only heroes! Besides, Shuichi wants to be a hero too, and I know Jin would love it!"

Scowling, Tenko turned to the lizard boy, "Would you just tell her she's wrong so she will..." After taking a look at Shuichi's chagrined face and avoided eye contact, though, Shimura was caught short in what he had been asking, "Wait... you want to be a hero too?!"

Iguchi did not readily answer, shyly twiddling his thumbs as he shuffled his feet and kept his gaze averted to the ground, "Well... I never really thought that I could get into a hero school, especially not one like U.A., because my quirk isn't really all that special... but ever since we started doing big things together... I guess maybe I could try?"

Yagi scratched at the faint bit of stubble on his chin, watching as Tenko started berating his friend for wanting to be a hero. Looking over to where Jin stood, that man's body language stating plainly exactly how happy he was to receive the praise of the students despite his mask, Toshinori had to wonder if there might be something to young Toga's whims, after all.

He had started this program because he had wanted to save Shimura Tenko from the plot Shigaraki had coiled around the boy due to his relation to the seventh user of One-for-All, Shimura Nana. Even as deranged as the boy had clearly become, and the assertions by some of his colleagues that the cause had been hopeless, he had tried for the sake of his friendship to Nana.

Before he had even broken ground with Tenko, Aizawa had made it painfully clear that he was neglecting his responsibility as a hero by only helping the one victim. If he was going to tackle the really hardline criminal profiles, why stop with the one boy? It was selfish to only help one stranger, and while that was acceptable for most, it wasn't for a hero.

And certainly not for All-Might, the previous number one hero in Japan. He would be remiss to argue that hard and open that many doors only to allow Tenko to pass through before closing it on the countless others whom otherwise held no opportunity. But maybe he was still doing it; maybe Toshinori still missed a bigger picture.

The hero society was still plagued with issues that had underlined it from the beginning, problems that gave rise to extremists like Stain. The fact that heroes rose or fell in success based on their popularity was a huge flaw that existed before rules on how to be a hero had even been written. Too many people were shunned for the wrong reasons.

Whether it was bigotry against people whom looked different like Shuichi or those whose powers frightened others, people too often allowed fear to isolate those that might actually want to be heroes from the role. Yagi pondered hard, deep in thought as Himiko bounded off to tell Jin that they were all going to be heroes, Tenko shouting at her the whole while.

If Iguchi wanted to be a hero, his chameleon power was more than enough to get him started on the path... Toshinori was fairly certain it had more to do with his physical appearance that he had become a shut-in and avoided people. This was the impression he had gotten on talking to Shuichi's councilors, anyways.

Yagi smiled; the Principal must have chosen Cementoss to be his guardian for that reason as well. People whose quirks mutated them to look differently than the common populace had even more misunderstandings and unmerited fears to contend with than anyone else. Since Cementoss was also a demi-human, he was a positive role model for the boy.

More than most, that pro hero's appearance was bizarre, a blocky and alien form that caused people unfamiliar with him to stare. But despite his differences and the sometimes unjust world around him, Cementoss was a calm center to the storm, reassuring and pleasant with his strength of character and mild manner.

What if they were to do more than simply set an example of how to weather the unfair attitudes that still existed in the world? What if the Principal was actually showing Shuichi a man like Cementoss because he wanted to boy to know that he could aspire to reach for the top despite his appearance and social mores?

Toshinori could feel it, he was getting fired up. Why stop at the mundane notion of rehabilitating criminals into average citizens? Wouldn't it be much more fantastic if he could convert villains into heroes? Doing such a thing was unheard of, and the fact that it wasn't considered meant it would create a lasting impression if he could pull it off.

He halted in his line of reasoning as he carefully considered what that would mean, and Yagi thought deeply then on what would actually have to happen to make his new objective work, and whom it would include.