Chapter 6:

A few hours after All Might left Zach's hospital room, there was a knock at the door. Finally, Zach thought. He looked towards the door, then his eyes opened wide as it cracked open and a head poked through that he was not expecting. "Yo!" The blond boy who leaned his head in grinned and said, "How you doing?"

"Kaminari," Zach said, his voice soft as it usually was when speaking with people he did not know well. "I'm fine," Zach said, as he saw the other boy looking over towards his right hand and the strange box around it.

Another person walked in the room behind Kaminari, and Zach looked at the girl with a black ponytail and large bust in some surprise that she was there too. He looked behind her, but Yaoyorozu turned and slid the door shut behind her. No Jirou then, Zach thought.

Kaminari frowned from closer to his bed as he saw Zach glancing behind Yaoyorozu with a sadder look. "We asked the teachers if they knew where you were staying, but they wouldn't tell us," Kaminari began as he got right up next to Zach's bed. Zach was sitting up with his back against the wall and he was wearing a white hospital gown which made him feel weird since the other two were in their school uniforms.

Zach gave the other boy a confused look after Kaminari spoke though, and he scrunched up his face and asked, "Then how'd you-"

"Yaoyorozu changed how she asked, saying she wanted to bring you the work we did in class today," Kaminari pointed behind him at the girl walking up to the side of the bed too. She had a more serious and composed look on her face like she expected this to be a more serious conversation, but Zach was glad Kaminari did not walk in and start getting all depressed on him.

"Was Midoriya back in class?" Zach asked. Since I shouldn't know anything about today, since All Might was never here. He thought it made sense that he'd ask it, though then he remembered that All Might was the one who told him about Midoriya's injury when he asked earlier if anyone else had been hurt. Hope they don't-

"Yeah, he was fine," Kaminari replied. The blond boy got a little more serious of a look on his face and he scratched the back of his head while looking away. "Listen, I'm sorry." Zach's eyes widened a bit, and Kaminari continued while looking to the side. "My power's strong, but it short-circuits my brain. It's like a double-edged sword, and well, I'm sorry you had to save me." Kaminari looked back at the boy in front of him, a look of regret on his face.

"Don't be," Zach said. His lips twisted in a difficult way as he tried to make a smile, but then he wound up still frowning as he added, "If Snipe sensei hadn't shown up when he did, then, it would have been better, that it was me there."

Kaminari stared at Zach with his eyes growing huge. The last he had seen of him he was still kind of out of it himself, but what he had heard from the police when he tried defending Zach made him worried about the black-haired boy's mental state. "You're, doing alright then?" Kaminari asked.

Zach smiled and opened his mouth. He froze with it open, air coming out but without any words forming. He tried thinking on all he and All Might had talked about, but it did not help. "Not really," he replied finally. He figured it would actually have seemed stranger if he had smiled and said that everything was fine, but that did not make him feel any better that he just said this to two of his classmates. "What do-" he paused and tssked, turning away as he was planning on just finding out himself when he showed back up at class. "What does everyone, think happened?" He asked while staring towards the windows.

Kaminari frowned and he leaned back from Zach's bed. "Unfortunately, everyone in the class heard it was you who did it." Zach shut his eyes as he knew that already. "But we didn't tell them, it was some cop. We told everyone not to talk to people about it after they let us go back to class. Idiot cops spent over an hour asking me the same stupid questions."

"You guys got questioned?" Zach asked while still facing towards the windows. He already knew a lot of this from All Might, but not the details. "Then thanks. I got released from their custody, there are no cops standing outside the doors anymore at least," he looked back at them and tried smiling in a genuine way to show he appreciated what they must have said about him.

Yaoyorozu looked so frustrated when Zach looked back towards her. He made eye contact with her, and then his eyes opened wider than they did when Kaminari apologized, as Yaoyorozu bowed to him. She bowed her head so far that Zach could see most of her back even from his sitting-up position. "Whoa," Kaminari said, leaning away as he was not expecting that either.

"I'm sorry Zach," Yaoyorozu said. "I am so sorry."

"Yaoyorozu," Zach began.

"In your eyes, when he was marching you towards us," the girl had to clench her eyes shut while staying in her bowed position. "I saw you asking for help." Zach's eyes widened even more, and Yaoyorozu continued in such a regretful tone. "I did not understand though. I thought you wanted us to save you, from his hold. I thought wrongly, that I could come up with something in time. My judgement was wrong."

"No, it wasn't," Zach said. Yaoyorozu's head lifted up and she straightened at the sight of Zach shaking his head at her. "You were right. You have good judgement, better than mine was. I never even considered, that the other teachers would show up in time. Maybe if I had, maybe if I had thought about just trying to stall him like Jirou, maybe if I had fought back or thought about fighting in a way other than using my Quirk- I've spent so long training in just martial arts so I don't have to use it, but I couldn't think of a single way to break his hold. The second he grabbed me, with the pain, and the fear, my go-to reaction was thinking about my Quirk. All I could do was panic, thinking about using or not using it, when I should have just forgotten about it from the start and tried coming up with a different idea."

Kaminari looked down at the boy sitting in front of him, an awed look on his face at everything he just rambled. His gaze shifted towards Zach's right hand again, "So your Quirk, what does it do?"

"You saw, didn't you?" Zach asked, then his eyes widened and he spun to Kaminari after his short curt response. "Oh crap, sorry," he said, remembering how Kaminari was pretty out of it and might not have actually seen. Kaminari looked confused at the different reactions Zach just had, thinking maybe he was more right about that mental state thing than he first thought. "My Quirk," Zach began. He opened his mouth to continue, but he found it hard again to make out the words. "I- I've never actually, told anyone what my Quirk is," he whispered. Kaminari and Yaoyorozu stared at him in surprise, and then he continued quietly, "Everyone who knows, found out from other people. And I had to write it down on my application form, but, yeah, this is the first time," he whispered the last part really quietly before lifting his gaze again and looking from Kaminari to Yaoyorozu whose eyes he looked into as he said it.

"Death. That's my Quirk's name."

Kaminari gulped on his left side and got a bead of sweat on the side of his face. That's ominous as hell!

Closer to the foot of his bed, Yaoyorozu took a step towards Zach and kept looking at him in the same way. "I am sorry, we made you use it." He opened his mouth to argue again, but Yaoyorozu continued quickly, "Because if we were not there, you would not have, correct?" Kaminari looked at Yaoyorozu in confusion, then back at Zach who he got even more confused by his wide-eyed reaction.

"I always thought," Zach began while looking straight into Yaoyorozu's eyes. "That I would rather die, than use it aga-" he froze midway through that, then he clenched his mouth shut fast and he winced as he brought up something he should not have. Kaminari stared at Zach in shock for a second but made sure to wipe it from his face before the other boy opened back up his eyes. "But, when it wasn't me whose life was on the line," he continued, seeing Yaoyorozu still looking at him expecting him to go on. He faded off at the end of that though, and he shook his head before smiling in a soft way, "I'm just glad, everyone was okay."

Kaminari grinned at the guy in front of him. "Alright then! On to what you missed," Kaminari sat down on the side of Zach's bed close to where Zach was sitting himself, making the other boy scoot away. Zach threw his legs off the side of the bed while moving to Kaminari's right, and then Yaoyorozu sat down on his right side. She took her bag off her back and started going through it to get some papers, while Kaminari started going on about the Sports Festival that was coming up.

The U.A. Sports Festival. I'm actually going to be competing in that big- The door to Zach's room slid open fast and the three sitting on the side of Zach's bed looked up to see a woman standing in the doorway. She was frowning and had a bag in her right hand with a change of clothes in it. She had short black hair falling just above her shoulders, wore a pair of thin glasses, and she narrowed her eyes through them at each of the children on Zach's sides. Her eyes darted to the girl on his right, then to his arm which he held in front of his body with the black box around his hand held between his legs. She humphed at the location of it and the protection they had around it, while Zach looked towards her and said, "Hey Aunt Maye."

The others looked in at Zach in surprise, then they stood up to introduce themselves. Zach stood up too, but he began before the other two could start, "I'll see you guys in class. I have to go."

"Hello there," the woman began to the girl who turned back to her. "My name is Maye Sazaki. Please give me and my nephew the room."

Kaminari spun back to the woman in surprise too, and he felt like he should say something considering the attitude he had about her. Zach put his left hand on Kaminari's arm though, and he just nodded at his new friend with a small smile, telling him it was okay with the nod. Kaminari nodded back and then grabbed his bag that was leaning against the wall next to the bed. "Well, see ya' man," Kaminari said, heading for the door and looking away from the woman whose gaze was piercing.

"See you tomorrow, Zach," Yaoyorozu said, smiling at him too and bowing her head a bit as she excused herself from his hospital room.

They left the room together, then Maye closed the door behind them. She looked back towards Zach who lost his smile fast and bowed his head at the look she gave him. "Put these on, I'll get you home," she said, then she walked over towards him and held out her bag. While Zach reached for it, Maye kept an eye on his right hand, a dark look in her eyes as she stared at the black box around it. She turned her back to him once he grabbed the bag, and Zach reached in to grab a shirt from his own closet.

Just like her. She went in without asking. Even though it's her name on the lease, I wish she wouldn't do that. He started putting on a casual change of clothes, and he said in a quiet voice as he did, "Did you bring Tsura?"

"No," Maye replied.

Zach frowned deeper at the reply, which was why he asked while putting his shirt on. I haven't seen my cousin in years now. "Of course," he said as he finished sliding his shirt on. He walked forward and when Maye heard him approaching her back she started for the door and opened it. They walked down the hall, Zach trailing ten feet behind his aunt, until they reached the front desk and Maye had to sign him out.

They got in her car and drove in silence for ten minutes. As they neared his house though, Zach looked towards the rear-view mirror in the center of the car because his aunt spoke. He looked at her face, though she continued to look through the windshield as it came out. "You used it again. Like I knew you would."

Zach opened his mouth. It's been years. I had to. People were in danger. I was going to die! None of the excuses he wanted to shout at her came out, and his mouth just closed again. I don't need to justify myself to her. Of all people-

"You really are, such a…" His aunt shook her head before she finished, then she just drove him the rest of the way to his apartment in silence.

He got out of the car, and he responded when she asked if he needed her to come up with him, "I'll be fine. Thank you, Aunt Maye."

"Don't do it again," she said. The window of her door closed and she started driving away. The way she said that sounded like a threat to him, and he wondered what exactly she was threatening him with.

He watched her car drive down the street. I'm such a what? Why did you have to trail off? Monster? Burden? I hate you, Aunt Maye.

Zach sat at his dinner table, staring at the cup ramen in front of him. He did not feel like making himself a big dinner. The lifeless eyes of the man he killed stared back into his own while he gazed at the cup ramen. "I really, messed up," he whispered. He brought his right hand up and put the box on the table, starting to feel a little tired of lugging it around everywhere. It was not very heavy, but it was made of steel and after carrying it for a whole day, it was starting to wear him down. He brought his left hand up next and rubbed his forehead with it, clenching his eyes shut as he saw the villain's eyes on the black box too.

All Might seemed worried about the League of Villains. He dragged his left hand down his face and then stared forward in his dimly lit apartment where only the light in his kitchen was on. Their main guys got away. The creepy guy with the hands, and the portal guy. Do they really have a way to kill him? That's not why he's worried, but it's why I am. Why kill All Might? It's because of what he stands for. It must be. To people like me, All Might in an untouchable force of good. The "Symbol of Peace," he's called. If that symbol is destroyed, peace is destroyed. This hero society. This world. How could I ever make up for that?

Maybe there is no way, Zach lowered his head down to the table, pushing his instant ramen away from him as he no longer had an appetite. Was it a good thing that I was born? I helped tarnish the symbols of peace in our world. I do more damage than good everywhere I go. But All Might is right. If I stay at U.A., I can be forged into a force for good. The longer I'm there, the better a hero I'll become. Zach closed his eyes while laying partly on the table. He was exhausted, and he fell asleep before long.

Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock…

Zach lifted his head and looked towards his door. I fell asleep without eating my ramen. He glanced at the cup, but it looked old. I left the kitchen light on too. He heard the knocking continue and he finally pushed himself out of his chair. All Might or Jenny? He wondered, while fishing around in his pocket for his phone. He remembered that he had left it back at school when he had changed into his costume before leaving for Rescue Training, which meant it was still there.

The boy sighed and just checked through the peephole. He saw Jenny standing there, but really all he saw was the top of her head and her long red hair. He froze as he stared out there at the girl who had looked down and was lowering something to the floor. She had brought him something, but he did not care about that. Mom, he thought, staring at the long red hair and imagining her lifting her head and having his mother's face. When the girl lifted her face up though, she was far too young and freckle-faced to be his mother. Why would I think that? He thought. Mom's been dead for years. I wonder if Recovery Girl healed my concussion completely. I'm hallucinating.

He turned and walked back into his apartment, but this time he went for his bedroom to pass out in. I gave myself a concussion. I broke my own hand. Recovery Girl sure chewed me out for that. I was ignoring everything she said at the time though. There were more important things, he fell onto his bed and lay there flat on his stomach for a few seconds with his face pressed into the blankets. Those things still are more important. Zach flipped onto his back and stared at the ceiling of his dark room. Mom. Dad. How do I become heroes like you were?

"You can't," a voice said above him.

His dad's face appeared blurry in the air above him. "You're not here," Zach muttered, but he stared up with a trembling lip anyway at the sight of his father. The father he was looking at was Titanium, not the face of the man in the final years Zach knew him.

"You, who killed your mother," his father said it while looking down at him, and Zach lifted his arms and put them both over his face. I'll never forget about that. Sometimes I pretend like it was a dream. Like I imagined it, which is why he never brought it up again. Zach stared into his arms in the darkness, and he heard another voice over his head. "We're sorry. He was once, a great hero."

All Might didn't say anything about it, Zach thought while his expression darkened much more. When he said the way I ended the phone call made him come, I thought he meant… I thought he was talking about how I said I killed them. If he had argued with me on that point though, I wouldn't have listened to him. Did he know that, which is why he didn't try? Or, does he agree with me? Zach lowered his arms down to his sides and stared up with a dark, emotionless glare. He knows why my father did it. I thought he would tell me it wasn't my fault, but it was. I killed him. I killed him, but not like I killed mom and that villain. It wasn't fast. I didn't stop his heart, halt his brain functions in an instant, I- I made him fall apart.

Zach stared up and saw the face of Titanium appear again, then watched his expression slowly distort and his face get wrinkled and scraggly. His sad look turned angry and erratic, and Zach reached a hand up towards it. Reaching his hand made the images he saw above him fade away, and he shook his head as he knew they were never there to begin with. Aunt Maye was around so much back then. I don't blame her, I don't really hate her… not really, right? No, she's family. She just, loved her brother. He was her hero. And I made her watch him deteriorate. She saw him go from his worst to his best, standing with him the whole time unable to do a thing about it. Then he killed himself, because of me. But by then, she had abandoned him like the rest. I remember how she snapped at him that Christmas, yelling how she couldn't have him near Tsura anymore. How long was it after that? I knew she blamed herself because of it, but more than herself, she blames me for pushing him to the point that she had to say that. Doesn't she? Zach narrowed his gaze at the ceiling.

For some reason, sleep evaded him. He was so exhausted not that long ago, so he did not know what was causing this. All he could do was lay there, lost in his thoughts, for hours. His thoughts were as dangerous to him as his right hand though, and he started thinking hard on the rescue training again. Thirteen told us. He told us our powers weren't meant to hurt people, and I agreed! Then I went and killed the first villain who ever gave me a little trouble. That was so fucked up. No, Yaoyorozu was right. All Might was right. I did it to save them. Even if it wasn't selfish though, even if it was for the sake of others, I still ended a life. If I don't treat life as sacred, then it'll all be true. I really will be just a monster. A monster with control over death. With the power to kill strong people- he thought it then froze and his eyes opened huge, sweat covering his body and a dark feeling creeping through him. That's right. That's how I knew it. Even before I pulled his mask off, I knew, because I had that feeling. That, sensation. It's what made me scream more than just the realization of what had happened. That feeling I got when I used my power. The feeling that made me laugh, when my mom- It was the same feeling that I had not felt since back then, but stronger. Waves of grief and regret pushed it aside, but it was there for a moment. Is it just a part of my Quirk, or did a part of me feel like that just because? Why, did I feel pleasure?

Zach sat up fast. He had been groggy and still half-asleep, thinking about just going back to bed again when he felt himself fading from consciousness. Then he heard the birds. Then he remembered something as he thought about checking the time. His half-asleep state did not register it very quickly, but when he patted his pockets for his phone he realized he was still wearing pants. Then he remembered why he was wearing pants, as he had not changed since coming home from the hospital. And then it hit him that he did not have his phone either. And that, reminded him that he no longer had his alarm clock either.

The fifteen year old jumped out of bed and spun to his windows, to see a lot of light coming out the cracks on the blinds. He ran over and pulled them up, then he grimaced at how bright it was. I'm supposed to go to school today- he ran into the other room and looked into his kitchen to see the clock showing 9:30. "Oh man," he muttered, falling onto a recliner next to his couch. What am I doing? He put his hands over his eyes and let out a groan while leaning his head back. "Alright," he muttered into his left arm, pulling his right away as he had just smacked himself in the face with the hard black box and it kind of hurt. He looked down with his right eye at the box, then imagined how he would walk into class now.

"Hey." "What's with the box?" "Why'd you kill that guy?" "What's your Quirk?" "Is it like Thirteen's?" Maybe they already know about it though. Kaminari and Yaoyorozu seemed pretty surprised though, and they even saw it up close. I guess they were expecting some strange power, not just, Death. How do I avoid questions when everyone knows it's me? They'll all know it has something to do with my right hand for sure, even if I wasn't wearing this box. My fighting style during combat training didn't involve my right hand at all, Midoriya mentioned, loudly. Zach rubbed his forehead and then sat up and got off the chair. The longer I wait, the later to school I'll be. Maybe they'll give me a break today.

An Hour and Ten Minutes Earlier

Aizawa Shouta looked over to the things he had with him as a phone started ringing. He grabbed it and turned off the third phone alarm that morning, which was making him annoyed at this point as this one was not a wake-up alarm but one labeled, 'Time to leave.' I don't know whether to call him organized, or forgetful. He turned off the alarm and put the phone back with his things, so that he could give it back to its owner later that day. He sweatdropped as he continued driving towards U.A. himself, If it's the latter, will he even show up?

Present

Zach threw open his door, wearing a collared shirt and some khaki pants. He had left his school uniform in his locker when he changed into his costume for rescue training, as he did with his backpack too. He had the papers his classmates brought to him in the hospital folded up and slid into his pockets, but he did not look like he was prepared for school at all. He took a step out the door, but he stopped before his foot came down. He looked down at the metal tin on the floor with some tinfoil over it, and he moved his foot away to pick it up. Jenny, he thought, glancing to his left at his neighbor's door. She's in school already, he reminded himself, walking back inside to put the food he brought for him on his counter. He checked the contents and grimaced, before opening his fridge and putting it in there. Hopefully it doesn't go bad, he thought.

The boy headed back out and he started his long walk for school. I'm already late. What's getting there even later going to do? He thought, countering his idea to run all the way to U.A. I'll just make my clothes sweaty, and I'll look like a mess when I get there. Well, if I'll be changing into my uniform anyway, I guess it won't matter if these get a little sweaty. He picked up his pace into a jog and tried ignoring the looks from passersby who stared at his right hand.

Really, how am I going to do this? He thought, unable to distract himself with the city around him as he jogged his route to school. All Might, Kaminari, and Yaoyorozu might have accepted what I did already, but what if everyone else freaks out? I am not prepared for that at all. I don't even know what I'd say! "Sorry?" I did give U.A. a worse reputation. I did keep them from being applauded for standing up to villains. U.A. was coming just around the next corner, and Zach found himself slowing down again. I barely got into the Hero Course, and I've only- come on, he shook his head around. I made the decision to come back. Now, I've got to deal with what that means.

Zach turned through the front gates of U.A., and he started for the doors of the high school. As he neared the entrance, the doors opened up and Zach grimaced at the sight of the principal standing there with Midnight, looking like they were waiting for him. He slowed down and gave them a hesitant look, but both the teacher and the principal smiled at him and they moved to the side for him to come in through the door.

He walked in and Principal Nezu began in his cute, high-pitched voice, "Zach Sazaki. Could you please come with us to a disciplinary review?" The mouse/dog/bear hybrid started walking and Zach followed behind him.

"Yeah," he replied, already figuring this was going to happen from what All Might had told him. I thought maybe they would give me a little time first though. Not first thing when I come in…

"Pretty late there kid," Midnight began as she walked on Zach's side.

He lowered his gaze and muttered, "Sorry. I left my phone-"

"It's fine, Aizawa mentioned something about that earlier," Midnight said. Zach looked up at her in surprise, Aizawa sensei did?

She smiled back at him, and Zach was starting to feel confused about the mixed vibes he was getting here. The principal led him to a board room and he and Midnight went in first, telling him to wait a second for them to call him in. Zach stood anxiously outside the door for only a few seconds before he heard the principal's voice calling him into the room. He gulped and then opened the door and stepped inside.

Zach walked to the middle of the room and turned to look at the curved table of teachers with an opening on his side. The table had a 'U' shape with six teachers sitting around the sides and the principal sitting at the curve of the 'U' straight ahead of him. He wondered if he was supposed to move in to the center of the table, but the principal started speaking when he was just at the edge of it so he figured there was fine. "Zach Sazaki, the nice policemen of Musutafu City have left the decision of what to do with your right hand in our hands," Nezu began.

I get that they're heroes, and my teachers, but really? Zach tried to keep a calm expression and not bite down on his bottom lip nervously, though he was glancing around at the teachers with a concerned look in his eyes. Aizawa-sensei's here, he thought at the sight of the man closest to him on his right side. And I know the other teachers already knew about it, but they're not saying anything about how I'm here while All Might's like, that. He looked past Cementoss on Aizawa's right to where All Might was sitting. Then he saw the principal, followed by Midnight, then Snipe, and finally Ectoplasm closest on his left.

Aizawa stood up and he walked towards Zach. The short boy leaned back as the teacher with long black hair stepped in front of him. "Hold up your right hand," Aizawa said.

Are they gonna cut it off?! Zach thought, while at the same time lifting his hand up in front of him.

"Careful now," Nezu said.

"I got it," Aizawa began, while pulling out a key and turning Zach's hand to put it in the keyhole.

Zach's eyes widened, and he said quickly, "I'll unlock it." Aizawa paused with the key in the hole, then he nodded and walked back over to his seat. "But, is it really okay?" Zach lifted his head when he was about to unlock it himself to ask his teachers.

"We have decided, that you will not be punished for the events at the rescue training," Nezu said. The small mouse-like creature gave him a soft smile and Zach lowered his gaze back to the black box. "We have also acquired a new glove, with the same specifications as your old one."

"The same?" Zach whispered while staring at the box he had yet to open.

"The glove did as it was meant to. If you had ripped through it accidentally, it would have been a different story," Aizawa said. "But since it was intentional, we don't see a need for an upgrade."

"However in the upcoming sports festival, and for future U.A. training purposes, we have included an extra piece of equipment for your uniform to make doubly sure of the other students' safeties," All Might said. Zach lifted his gaze over to the thin, triangle-faced teacher with long blond hair. "But this is not meant to be a punishment, solely a safety precaution, as we are upgrading U.A. security on every scale after the recent attack."

"All Might," Zach whispered. He looked back at the box, and he turned the key. He heard a clicking noise and the box split down the middle. He grabbed one side of it and pulled it apart from the other, and the box was held together on the bottom so it did not fall apart when he opened it. Zach stared at the light skin of his hand as he lifted it out of the box, still with some dried blood on it. Although Recovery Girl's treatment had healed his hand, it had never been taken out of the box for them to look at it. It had also not been cleaned either. Zach grimaced as he thought it might smell, and he realized as he thought about it that he had not taken a shower since rescue training either.

Almost as if he knew what Zach was thinking about, the principal began, "When you go to get your school uniform from the locker room, you may take a quick shower."

Zach snapped his head up, and he nodded slowly at the principal after a few seconds. Is the principal a mind reader? He wondered. Are you a mouse, a bear, or a dog? He stared at the principal for a few more seconds, then he sweatdropped as the small furry white creature was not saying anything.

"There is one more thing, Zach Sazaki," Snipe began. Zach looked over at the teacher in a cowboy hat, then around at the others who all stood up at the table at the same time.

"Present Mic is currently teaching your class English, so he could not be here, but he wanted to give you this message as well," Nezu continued. "Though this message is from the entire staff here at U.A."

All at once, the heroes around the table started bowing their heads. Zach leaned back, his breathing speeding up rapidly. "We apologize," the group of seven said at the same time.

"Wh-What?" Zach mumbled. He wondered if he was really seeing this right now.

The teachers lifted their heads, and they could see the child was very confused at what just happened. "As administrators it is our job to provide for our students a safe learning environment," Nezu began.

"Not only was our school attacked, but all the security measures we have in place were useless," Midnight continued.

"I myself was supposed to be at the rescue training, but I arrived late," All Might added, grinding his teeth together after it came out.

"I took too long to take my shot," Snipe added, his voice full of regret.

"And I took my eye off the portal-user, and he was able to scatter you all from Thirteen. Thirteen also sends his apologies," Aizawa said while looking straight into Zach's eyes, the boy staring back at him in utter shock.

"As heroes," Cementoss said, "we failed you."

"As teachers, we failed," Midnight added.

"To allow a student to feel the need to use his Quirk to take a life, on school property no less," Ectoplasm said. "It is our greatest shame."

"No!" Zach exclaimed. "It- it wasn't any of your faults. That's just what the media is saying-"

"This time, the media is right," Aizawa said, though he frowned as it came out. "We won't tell you not to feel regret for what you did, but don't think you can tell us not to." Zach spun to his homeroom teacher again and saw him giving Zach a harsh look, and he continued, "We're adults, and heroes, and your teachers. The second you enrolled here, you became our responsibility. It's as simple as that."

Zach got such a conflicted look on his face as Aizawa spoke. He looked around at the teachers and the principal, and he did not know what to say to them. After they had just apologized, it seemed weird to thank them. But it also felt like they were trying to make him feel better, and though it aggravated him that they were accepting the blame for his actions, he did feel like they were making some sense. It did not make him feel much better, but it did relax him as he realized all the panic he had for how his teachers were going to react was unfounded.

If only my classmates are this cool about it, he thought, then he grimaced as he thought about the day before, and the absence of a girl he thought would have shown up when Kaminari and Yaoyorozu did. "Is, is that all?" He asked after they had waited for him to give his response for what they all said for a few seconds. The teachers glanced around at each other, a few of them frowning as they had hoped for a better reaction than he had. Nezu smiled at the boy and nodded though, telling him he could go to the locker room now.

"Hold on," Aizawa said as Zach started to turn. "Forgetting something?" Aizawa held up a plastic bag with a black glove in it, along with a cell phone. Zach's eyes widened, then Aizawa slid the bag across the table in front of him for Zach to walk over and grab. "Shouldn't rely on your phone so much," he said, and Zach nodded at him back apologetically for his lateness. The boy backed up and bowed his head to the teachers, saying 'Excuse me,' then he walked out of the room.

The teachers glanced around at each other once he was gone. "A kid like that," Ectoplasm began. "An incident is bound to happen again. Are we sure this is the route we should take?"

"Zero punishment, or expulsion," Nezu said, putting his hands together behind his back as he looked around at the other teachers. "When those two options are the most logical, it is a difficult decision." The principal smiled though and continued, "But he has the desire to be a hero. Our failure to protect the students cannot be a cause to take away his dream."

"If it happens again though," Ectoplasm began.

"He knows the consequences," Aizawa said. "We won't be able to punish him if he does this again, because the police will keep him detained this time. Whether or not it's justified, I don't see them letting him go a second time. Not unless, they take that hand of his."

Zach walked towards the locker room, and he had already put his glove on. In case anyone started leaving classrooms, he did not want to risk anyone accidentally bumping into his right hand, even if it was in the middle of a class period. He took the glove back off when he reached the locker room, then he took as quick a shower as possible really just to wash off all the dirt and blood on him. He barely washed his hair at all, but then when he got out he realized that his hair was going to be soaking wet when he got into the class. It's gonna look like I just woke up. Not that I got up that long ago, but, Zach went over to a mirror and started spiking up his black hair. He stopped while he was dragging his fingers up through it, looking down the whole time and wondering why he still did this. My dad, hated me, he thought, pulling his hands back from his head for a second. He paused while looking back into the mirror, and then his face filled with shock and he brought his right hand back to his head again.

Zach spun around and checked the locker room fast, but no one else was in there. He ran over to where he left his glove and he put it back on, Why did I fix my hair with both hands? I never do that! I should have Recovery Girl heal me again. Did she say something about seeing her when I came back? I can't remember at all! Is that why I don't remember? Zach's chest was heaving and he was breathing so hard he was starting to wheeze. He sat down on the bench in front of his locker, a towel wrapped around his waist and lower body. That was, that was… for years I- he turned and looked back towards the mirror he had just been staring into. I just imagined it, he thought, shaking his head and chuckling while clenching his right hand in its glove. His eyes lowered down to that black glove and he saw both of his hands shaking, trembling, and he could see the mirror in the corners of his eyes. It's my imagination. This damn concussion. I shouldn't have smashed my head into that mountain.

Deciding that it was a concussion that kept messing with him, Zach stood back up and started getting changed into his school uniform. As he got dressed and left the nice clothes he brought to school behind in the locker, he wondered what happened to his hero costume. The doctors probably ripped it up to try fixing my back. I'm just glad, no one was stupid enough to try and touch my hand. Zach finished getting his clothes on, then he reached up his left hand and finished spiking up his short hair. It'll dry faster this way, he thought, though he was being specific about which parts of his hair he ran his hand through.

He finally had nothing left to do except get to class. He pulled his phone out and checked the time, Almost time for lunch? Nope, still got time. Period is about to change though. I shouldn't walk in and interrupt Present Mic, so I'll just go in between classes. Ugh, but that means there'll be nothing to keep everyone from asking those questions. If I walk in now, I could just sit down quickly without- yeah! And then Present Mic will tell them to be quiet if they start asking anyway. So just go in, and interrupt the lesson, and it's Present Mic after all… so he might start shouting an apology like the other teachers, giving away other stuff that happened too. Jeez, such a hard decision.

Zach decided to wait until the lesson was almost done, spending a few more minutes in the locker room, then he headed towards his class in a slow way. He thought that maybe if he walked in close to the end, but not too close, Present Mic would still have stuff he needed to finish in his lesson, so he would finish getting that out of the way before saying anything, if he said anything at all. Unfortunately, by the time he reached his classroom he had had so many doubts about the plan that he wondered how he even came up with it in the first place. He wound up hesitating so long that he stopped believing he would make it into the classroom at all before the end of class, and he just stood there in the hallway near his door for another five minutes, checking his phone constantly.

It was time. Present Mic opened the door to go out on his break, then he lifted his eyebrows and stared through his sunglasses in surprise at the boy standing there right in the hallway. Hizashi Yamada closed the door behind him, then the hero looked back at Zach and said, "Decided to skip English, huh?" He leaned forward with his hands on his hips, and Zach lowered his bottom lip before apologizing fast to the teacher. "Heh, well get on in there. And you know, I'm-" Zach grimaced, then Present Mic just put his hands behind his head and started walking off. "Well, I'm sure they told you anyway."

The kid actually let out a breath of relief that the teacher did not say it to him. It was strange having the people in positions of authority in his life act like that towards him. Zach turned from Present Mic though and looked at the door in front of him. "Alright," he muttered. "I can do this," he reached forward and grabbed the door handle, and he slid the door open.

A/N Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! Leave a review below telling me what you think.