Song: Already Gone by Sleeping At Last

Please give this song a listen. It is beautiful.

The pros were arriving one after the other to secure Shigaraki before he woke. They bustled around us and spoke but I couldn't absorb any of their words because inside me my world was falling apart.

I was so filled with relief and a sense of triumph while I felt warmth coming from Izuku that I didn't notice anything was off until I saw him, a teen again in his hero outfit, standing with his back to me on the hill.

"Kacchan," he spoke my name and I came closer, "promise you won't be mad" I heard the lightness to his voice like he was holding back a weak chuckle. He knew I was approaching, my sense of triumph dying as he slowly turned to smile at me warmly but I couldn't return the smile. I froze. He was sending me nothing other than relief and warmth and affection.

I had been stupid. I had seen the cracks form, felt them even, at Shigaraki's touch on his back and hand, though I didn't feel any of it now. I had been so set with the idea that since Izuku didn't have a physical body, that he couldn't be harmed. Not permanently. Not like this. If anyone should be turned to dust it should be me. It was my face his hand had touched.

Despite my shocked and horrified expression, Izuku turned fully to face me with a smile that lit up his eyes.

"It had to be one of us" he said as though it were an apology. I stepped closer, slowly, scared.

"No" I told him.

"I'm sorry Kacchan," he flashed white teeth as his smile grew. The crack on his cheek crept downwards along his neck.
"You promised you wouldn't be mad"

"I didn't promise you shit" I hissed but I could feel my throat growing thick as the cracks grew, covering him inch by inch. As I watched a chip fell away from his cheek and beneath it glowed a warm light. I didn't feel any fear from him and the smile remained as I came closer still, my eyes frantically looking him up and down. Warm light was starting to seep through the cracks in his skin and clothes. He held out his hands to me to take and as I did the cracks there grew. I wanted to release them if only to save them from more damage.

"Don't" he spoke softly now that we were face to face again and so I held on lightly.

"You're an idiot" I growled through the thickness in my throat. His eyes only closed more as his smile grew and he huffed warmly through his nose.

"Kacchan, this is-" he began.

"Don't" I snapped back, "don't say it" I added more gently. I cast my eyes down, not wanting to see that smile. He was falling apart and he had the audacity to smile. Looking at him made it harder.

"This can't be it you idiot"

"Shigaraki still touched us," Izuku explained softly, "you would have died if I didn't take this" his voice cracked with his need for me to understand and accept. He squeezed my hands.

"I love you Kacchan"

"Don't"

"I want you to know"

"Stop it"

"You couldn't have loved me better"

"Shut up"

"I loved every moment with you"

"Stop"

"Kacchan"

His voice ached with the need for me to look at him so I lifted my head, my throat aching and my eyes wet as they met his. His green eyes sparkled with unshed tears but his soft warm smile never left his face as his deep emerald eyes searched mine. Behind that galaxy of green I could see how much he loved me, how much I meant to him and I only hoped that he knew that I felt the same about him too.

"Why?" I croaked as my voice broke.

"Because I'm already gone" he replied gently, "I couldn't let you die"

"What, so I'm supposed to just stand here and watch you die instead" I hissed back but even that broke.

"Kacchan," the corners of his eyes creased with softness, "I'm already dead Kacchan but you – you're alive. You have so much to live for still" I felt his hopes and affections seeping into me like the warmth of a warm drink on a cold winters day.

I wanted to scream at him that he wasn't dead, that he was alive inside of me, alive with me. He squeezed my hands again at the thought and a piece broke away from the back of his hand, the same warm light shining through. I gazed up at his face again. It was riddled with fine cracks stretching out like the bare branches of a tree in winter. Behind each and every line that same light shone.

"Were you happy at least?" I asked and he blinked at me slowly.

"Very" his smile grew, breaking away more from the empty space on his cheek.

"Kacchan," his tears were close to overflowing, "you made me so happy" he assured me.

"I hope I made you happy too?" he added. I dropped my head back down to stare at our feet and bit at my lower lip as my tears fell. Warm and salty, leaving cold tracks in their wake across my skin. I barked a laugh before I lifted my head back to him.

"Very" I replied and he chuckled. A fragment broke away from his arm, the skin around it crumbling till a large hole was left. The light shone through, yet not from that area in particular, it was shining from further in.

"You won't be alone Kacchan" he spoke warmly. The cracks growing and pieces falling from him with more frequency. My tears continued to trickle down my face.

"You're a part of me, how am I not alone if I don't have you?" I chocked out.

"You were never alone to begin with" he smiled back to me, "you'll never be alone" his eyes glimmered with assurance.

"But I-I won't have you" I despised how my voice cracked. For once he couldn't offer a response and just continued to smile at me softly, his eyes saddened a moment before he wiped it away.

It hurt. It ached inside that he had no words for that. I wanted to hear that he would always be with me still and it stung knowing that he wouldn't even lie to me about it but I knew he would never promise me something like that when it could never be true. It broke me. I clenched my jaw to stifle a sob. The tears came heavier and faster and I chocked while trying to be silent. My hands trembled in his. More and more pieces were falling from him. He gave my hands a squeeze and half of his broke away, turning to dust. It felt like another knife was being driven into my skin with each piece he lost.

"I want you to move on Kacchan" he asked of me softly.

"Fuck off" I spat through tears.

"I know you'll find another"

I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want to hear him talk about me finding someone else when he meant the world to me. Fuck. How I wished I had loved him sooner. I wish I could have shown him all my love, shared it with him. Wished I could have spent more time with him without acting up like the idiot I had been. Everything I had shared with him to this moment just didn't feel like enough.

I leaned in, pressing my lips to his. I felt another piece break away and fade at the contact but the damage was done so I remained there. I needed him to know how much I loved him. I was never good with words but we needed this. He leaned into my lips. It was simple and clean and I felt his warmth seeping into my chest again, loosening some of the daggers in there. I pulled away, looked to his cracked and shining face. His green eyes shone with tears.

"I love you" I whispered to him, our noses almost touching.

"I know" he told me affectionately, "kiss me again?" he asked and although I was too close to see it, I could hear the self-conscious smile behind his words. And I did just that. I cupped his face with one hand, feeling him lean into it, eyes closed, feeling more of his face flake away at the touch as I kissed him with more passion this time. Our lips moved against one another with meaning and I wanted to freeze that moment and never let it slip through my fingers. I could feel his tears against my face and kissed him through our sobs and hiccups. My other arm wrapped around what was left of his back, holding him to me as gently as I could. He was the first to pull his face away.

When I opened my eyes again he was almost gone. So much of him missing that I could see it now, the warm light emanating from his chest like a small sun.

"I'm sorry Kacchan," he whispered, "I can't" I knew he meant he couldn't hold his form much longer. I could feel his energy growing fainter and weaker by the second and panic flared inside me.

"Please don't" I asked but I knew it was out of his control. He had already been trying his hardest to stay as long as he had, I knew that now as behind his affection, love, hope and warmth I could feel the lapping water of his exhaustion.

"We were always meant to say goodbye Kacchan" he smiled softly and warmly.

"Don't got" I begged.

His mouth flaked away but I could still see his loving smile through his eyes but they were fading too, every last part of him growing smaller and smaller by the second like blossom petals being carried away with the breeze. My arm wrapped around him was coming in closer to my own body as there was less and less of him to hold. My hand had no more cheek to touch but I kept it where it was.

"Stay" I sobbed. He was fading right before me.

"Please!" I cried but he was gone, only the warm orb that had been within him remained, floating at chest level. I brought my arm closer, bringing to orb to my chest and feeling it's warmth. Izuku's warmth. It was starting to fade already, it's light growing weaker. Its was fading in my hands, shrinking, becoming transparent but I clung to it with both hands, pressing it to me with everything I had but it wasn't enough. I closed my eyes tightly, tears still tracking paths down my skin. I felt it fade to nothingness until my own hands pressed to my chest, nothing left between them and I was truly alone.

Only a few seconds had passed on the outside. The heroes were hovering around me, someone was shaking my shoulder and asking if I was alright but I was still and silent, staring up at the clouds high above as tears dripped from my face. One voice cut through the rest, calling my name from a distance. I lowered my face to gaze emptily across the wasteland the battle had made around us. Uraraka was there, running our way. No. My way. It hurt to think about.

Even from a distance and under the grime of hero work I could see her wide brown eyes were filled with concern and I felt a stab in my chest. How could I even begin to tell her that he was gone. That Izuku was gone and never coming back this time.

I fell forward on my forearms and screamed into he earth. I screamed and cried out and ignored the questions and concerns around me. Nothing anyone could say or do would ever make this pain go away.

I heard the crush of knees on grit and gravel and felt a warm body lean over me, arms draping over me. Uraraka. I knew her by scent and touch at this point. She was saying soft reassuring words that never truly reached my ears beyond my own cries. I felt her tears against the back of my neck. I felt her warmth and her hands rubbing against my back. In any other circumstance I would have pushed her away. I would have bottled up my tears and emotions for when I was alone. I would have snapped at anyone who even thought to ask me if I was okay. But I didn't have it in me to push her away or tell the others to fuck off. I felt so raw and surging with pain that screaming was the only thing I could think of to deal with it. I didn't even have it in me to blast something.

I had lost the most important person to me for the second time and I knew there wasn't going to be a third chance waiting for me in my dreams and nothing hurt more than knowing that.

Question: If physical contact made pieces of Izuku crumble, then how is it that they could kiss like that?

Answer: Izuku was using the last of his physical strength to maintain his form long enough to spend those last moments with Katsuki. When kissing he chose to channel most of the strength to his lips to maintain their form so he could enjoy that last moment. As a result, the rest of his body faded faster.