Chapter 17:

My classmates should be running now. All Might should realize it soon too. If he holds back for my sake any longer, he'll be hurting me more than if his blows actually hit me. Zach's eyes focused on Compress's body as he lay on the floor next to him. He, like the villains all around him, darted their gazes to Compress when a light shone out from on top of his body. Dabi appeared there laying unconscious on top of Compress, as the entertainer's Quirk failed after his death.

"Mr. Compress," Spinner said, his eyes narrowing down. The scaly green-skinned villain turned his glare to Zach and he pulled out a sword, giving Zach a murderous glare after that. It was not so much that he needed to avenge his comrade, but that he was done trying to just get close and take the boy down. "Shigaraki," Spinner began. "Let's-"

"Kill him," Shigaraki said, his expression dark and his voice low. He stared down at Compress too, another important piece in his plans, gone just like Bakugo.

I can't win against them all! All of them trying to kill me, I'll be dead in seconds! Zach's smiling lips started to tremble, and he brought his right hand closer to his chest though it shook as he did. Toga was pulling a knife back, but her eyes opened wide and her smile spread at what the boy was doing. "I-" Zach began, and he saw Ganeshi jogging their way, each step making thuds on the ground. All For One was between him and All Might who was the farthest away, and Zach brought his right hand closer to his chest. Do it then. It's over anyway. Fuck it.

Zach's face twisted and his body stopped shaking. "My Quirk, Death, could not undergo as extensive of testing as the scientists and doctors wanted. You say you know about my Quirk, but you don't know," Zach said, looking straight into Shigaraki's eye behind his weird hand's fingers. If Shigaraki thought Zach was bluffing, he would have charged and tried to kill him in that second, but what Zach was saying actually made a little sense, and his unhinged expression made it harder to ignore. "No one knows," Zach whispered it. "Because, they were too afraid to find out what would happen if I touched myself with my right hand. They wanted to know if it would kill me, but how could they test it?!" Zach called it out and he started grinning afterwards, "But I knew it would kill me. I really wanted it to, when I first placed my hand over my heart." His hand was too close to his chest now. None of the villains were going to move to stop him from touching his chest, because he was too close to it that he would touch before they managed to stop him, and they were getting afraid of what was going to happen once it did.

"I just wanted to die," Zach whispered. "Because I thought I was a monster." His lips twisted, his face scrunching up, and his voice rose higher in pitch, as he got louder and shouted, "But when I touched it-"

7 Years Ago

"You, who killed your mother," Zach stared into the bathroom mirror. He stood there with the door locked, even though no one else was home. His dad had rarely been home recently, but he was terrified someone would walk in. "Mom," Zach whispered, lifting his hand in front of him. His thick mitten was lying in the sink, and he slowly pulled off his glove too, only to stare at his hand in terror at the sight of what was hidden beneath the specially-made glove to keep his powers under control.

He felt like he was staring at a monster. The feeling of looking at a monster though, spread to thinking he was himself a monster, because he lifted his gaze to the mirror and saw his own body holding that hand up. "I'm so sorry," Zach whispered. His heart was pounding, and he lifted his hand farther. He brought his hand close to his body, his whole right arm trembling. "I, I just can't," he whispered, his voice cracking as his hand got close. "I- can't live with this," he gasped out.

His hand stopped shaking as much. He closed his eyes. "I killed you," he whispered, and then he pressed his hand into his chest. Zach kept his eyes closed for a few seconds, wondering what the sensation of death felt like. It did not feel like this was it though, so he pressed harder into his chest and he started yelling out as he waited for it to take hold. Finally his eyes shot open and he pulled his hand away, realizing what he was doing in a moment of clarity. "I can't-" he froze after those words came out of his mouth. He froze still and stared at the mirror in front of him, and when his eyes grew wide, and he took a step backwards, the mirror reflected his own actions. "AAHHHH!" He screamed, falling backwards and reaching his hands to the sides of his head to grab his temples in terror. He calmed down a bit and shot back to his feet again, turning to the door to run. When he turned though, he caught a glimpse in the mirror and froze once more, turning back to see a human face staring back at him with sweat drenching it. "W-W-Was I imagining it?"

Present

"But when I touched it-" Zach shook his head around and he clenched his teeth so hard as his palm moved the last inch so the space between it and his chest was as small as possible. "I thought I must have been imagining things, but I went to the roof and jumped off instead of trying again! And every time, I've caught a glimpse again, I just look away and forget about it, touching my chest or head again…" Zach bit down on his bottom lip, while the corners pulled up and he leaned his head back. "Just like the monster under your bed. You stop looking for it after a while, because you've accepted it's just in your head. But you don't check every night if it's there. In fact, you never check at all. You just believe, that it's gone, that it was fake…" Zach pressed his hand to his chest, and his smile dropped down while his eyes lost their insane look. "But when I saved Kirishima," he whispered, "I knew, the things I thought were imagined were true. I knew, all of the things I thought were dreams, were reality."

Zach's arms turned pitch black, blending in with his clothes which seemed to disappear as his body became darker and darker. His arms were only black for an instant though, before white started to become visible inside them. His bones showed through the dark coating covering his arms, then his ribs and all the bones in his torso and legs showed as well. His neck was black, and his face covered in the color too, but with a white skull showing between the darkness. His black hair started waving around over the top of his head, while small black wisps seeped off of his shoulders, his fingertips, the sides of his legs. Zach's head was only partially bowed, so the eye-sockets of the skull in the darkness were still visible, and those eye sockets filled with a glowing red light. "In my head…" Zach said, the jaw of his skull opening up and speaking in his voice, only darker. He paused, not used to the sound of his voice coming out like that, to the point he had to remind himself that he was the one speaking. "I called this, Nightmare." He lifted his head and stared with his glowing red ones into Shigaraki's.

His red eyes filled his whole eye sockets, flaring as he stared towards the villain before him. "No one's ever seen what it does," Zach said, then he let out a long breath and black steam came out of his open jaw. "Even I don't know, what I'm about to do," he said, his red eyes darting around as he rose his hands up at his sides. "I don't even know if it made me any stronger. If I can fight all of you, or not!" His voice got louder and angrier, and the villains around him already staring at his scary appearance with wide eyes all leaned back as he clenched both fists in front of him and roared, "But! I plan on winning!"

Shigaraki took a step back and then froze, his lips twisting into a furious snarl. "Kill him! But don't get close," he added.

They think touching anywhere on my body could be deadly now- Zach thought. He spun to the side and barely dodged a lone line of razor-sharp steel, and he snapped his head back towards Twice who immediately leapt backwards as he turned his way. "Whoa whoa whoa! You're really ugly- Cool Quirk!"

Zach felt a knife lodge in his right arm and he growled in pain, spinning that way and waving his left arm across his body as he spun. "Get away!" He yelled out, and when he swung his left arm across the front of his body, black wisps came off of the swing in a wind that blew towards Himiko Toga and made her eyes open wide in terror.

"Come!" Magne magnetized Toga and Spinner at the same time, and she yanked the younger girl towards their comrade. She was barely in range. That mist probably kills, Magne thought while spinning back to the kid whose power was unknown even to himself.

Zach reached up and grabbed the knife in his arm, yanking it out. He was about to drop it, and then he looked down at it with his glowing red eyes that were tinting everything in his vision that color. He stared at the blade as did the villains, and they all watched as the darkness on his hand over his boney fingers started seeping onto the knife. The steel became covered in a thin black coating, so even as blood came out and showed on the outside of Zach's arm, his jaw clenched and he felt confidence rising in him. His head was pitch black on the outsides, only the face of his skull showed to the villains before him. Zach turned himself quickly, rapidly from one villain to the next while lifting his short black blade.

Shigaraki's face was twisting in so much anger, but his eyes also darted to the other side where he saw All For One grappling with All Might again. His eyes then shot over to the portal, the warp gate next to Kurogiri's body that was still open and waiting for them. Zach saw where he was looking, and he also realized at that moment what it meant. They're not trying to take me anymore. In fact, he's only risking the other members' lives trying to finish me off.

"All Might!" Zach yelled at the top of his lungs.

7 Years Ago

On the roof of a building, All Might stood in front of a child whose live he had just saved. "What is your dream?" All Might asked. "Children have dreams, and you are a child, so tell me young man. What is yours?"

"Ah, snf ah, I- I!" Zach clenched his fists even tighter at his sides, and then he snapped his head back and screamed, "I WANT TO BE A HERO!"

"And that," All Might said, making the boy snap his head back down with huge eyes that he just yelled that. All Might was smiling wide at him still but leaning farther forward now so their heads were closer together, before he finished, "Is a magnificent dream…"

Zach stared in shock at All Might for a few seconds, then the eight year old's eyes filled with tears that spilled out over his face as he broke down. He fell to the floor while All Might stood straight up, and Zach cried at the top of his lungs. The emotional boy started crying thinking of all the fear he felt when leaping off the building, then his tears stopped flowing and his body tensed up. All Might was looking down at the boy and smiling as it looked like he had just saved his life, but the boy stopped sobbing emotionally and the hero sweatdropped as the kid said while looking at the floor, "But, but I'm-" he thought about what he tried only thirty minutes before going up to the roof, back in the bathroom of his apartment. "But I'm a monster," he whispered. It was real!

"You are not a monster," All Might began.

"I was!" Zach shouted. All Might lowered down to a knee in front of the boy, and Zach shook in fear as he stared at All Might's face, sliding his right hand behind his back and hiding it there. He did not want to show All Might what he saw, he did not ever want to touch his body with his right hand again. He did not know what had happened, why he had seen that for a moment, but it was stuck in his head and he started shaking while staring at the hero. "After, what I just saw," he whispered, though not going into it. "I'm, I'm scared All Might. I think, I'm terrified that, I'm actually a monster."

All Might looked at the boy who was not saying this in regards to the things he had done that he regretted. All Might could see on the boy's face, that he thought he was actually a real monster. He almost wanted to laugh at the idea, but instead he put his fists on his hips and stood in a heroic pose while he called down, "No." Zach lifted his bowed and teary-eyed gaze, and his eyes opened wide again as All Might declared, "Before me stands a human!" Zach's eyes widened even more, but his lips started trembling and his eyes filled with even more water. "Enough of that," All Might continued, and Zach blinked some tears away to see what All Might was talking about. "If your dream is to be a hero, you can't do it looking like that."

"The times when you're scared, when you're worried, are the best times to smile. So smile young man, and live!"

Present

Zach smiled. He could feel his face moving as it normally should, even though he knew when he had caught glimpses of this in the mirror that he did not have a real face. The darkness surrounded his entire body though, all of him including his head, and the boy's bones were only translucent through that dark veil. He knew he could get hurt now in this state, as he could see the blood coming down his right arm over the darkness, though it was a little hard to see as black wisps rose right up through the flowing liquid. He was still afraid of the villains. They were in the middle of trying to kill him, but when Shigaraki Tomura looked towards the warp gate, he remembered what All Might had told him. Zach lost the scared expression he had had to match how he was feeling while he spun around to face them all.

All Might glanced towards the boy, and Zach grinned even more so that his jaw on his skull and all his teeth showed it, and even the darkness in front of his face partially shrouding that skull lifted up over the corners of where his mouth should have been. He smiled, and he yelled, "You can't save me anymore! Touch me and you die! It's the same for everyone here- so All Might, before I wind up killing everyone- JUST DO IT ALREADY!" Zach screamed it and kept smiling, despite what he knew, or at least hoped was coming.

"Geez, young man," All Might started, his muscles tensing all over his body, a look of pure rage coming to his face as he turned back towards All For One. His muscles tightened more and more, and the ground beneath his feet cracked under the pressure. "Pushing me into a corner like this," All Might said.

"Go through the warp gate!" Shigaraki shouted.

The other villains ignored Zach and they all started running for the portal. Zach sprinted at Shigaraki, but the man was too fast and escaped in front of him. He reached out, then he clenched his fist before he would have reached anyway. His smile dropped back down, as he turned his head and watched Shigaraki take another step for the portal. Zach took another step, then he felt the collision that he never saw. He almost started turning to see if All Might had moved and that was just his lift-off explosion, but the wind that hit him in the back sent him flying. He was running towards Shigaraki, and when he was lifted off the ground he flew past where he had been sprinting towards, all the way into another figure who had been running towards Shigaraki from the other side.

Zach slammed into Ganeshi hard, and he let out a gasp of pain as his chest rammed into the elephant-man's huge body. "Move," the man said, and Zach's eyes that were clenched in pain opened up. He stared in shock at the torso in front of him, then an arm slammed in on his side and Zach rose up his already bloody right arm to block. It did not make a difference. At the same time that his arm broke, his body remembered the pain from Ganeshi's earlier attack, and his back filled with pain at the same time as the right side of his body from his shoulder to his upper legs.

The kid screamed in agony as he was thrown through the air to his left side, only for another huge blast of wind to hit him in the back and send him flipping head-over heels forward. He was caught bouncing around in the air, to the point of regret over the sheer agony his was feeling. He regretted telling All Might to go at it. He regretted that All Might listened to him. He regretted missing Shigaraki Tomura, though he was unable to tell whether or not Shigaraki or any of the others made it into the warp gate. He doubted they did from his current condition, but the guy Ganeshi had kept running without being hindered by the wind. He had even managed to smack a hand across his body, and finally Zach was able to think about that right as he started falling from the air.

That should have killed him, he thought in panic, shock, but still mostly pain. His head turned, and his neck hurt from doing so as he tried looking back towards Ganeshi. The elephant-type Quirk user was still moving towards the warp gate, but slower now, and Zach did not think it was from All Might's fight which he could not longer see. That, should have killed me, Zach thought, right before hitting the ground and rolling so hard that while he rolled, he thought, It will kill- mee-ooowwww! He could not scream it aloud as he lost all breath while rolling over his chest. Still, he finally stopped moving while lying on his back, his head propped up to the side because of the angle he landed on and the debris where he stopped rolling. He turned his head which caused him a lot of pain, looking back towards where he hoped to catch a glimpse of All Might fighting at his strongest, but yet could only see the shaking buildings around that area and the rising dust, the explosions of men fighting at speeds faster than he could follow.

Then his gaze focused on something closer to him. He noticed Ganeshi had stopped, and he thought maybe the warp gate had vanished on the other side since he had no idea how long Kurogiri's power would last for while the portal-user was himself unconscious. As Zach thought it though, he saw Ganeshi's legs collapse from beneath him. He fell to his knees, and Zach's eyes opened wide as he heard a roar of agony come from the guy who had smacked him away, who he had slammed into and been pressed into his chest for a few seconds by the wind pushing on his back. What's, going on? Zach thought, as his body started to numb, as his vision got hazy. Did I, kill him, or not? His vision got hazier, but he forced his eyes open. Zach brought his left arm in front of his body and he used it to drag himself onto his chest, then he pushed it down below him since lying on his chest caused him huge amounts of pain. His whole right side of his body ached as he pushed up, and his red eyes grew wider as he saw Ganeshi's upper body collapse down, his face dropping into the floor.

Like this, Zach thought. Does it still kill, just slower? Or, does it kill, based on the amount… Zach wanted to think more on it, on a revelation that was blowing his mind and making it impossible to realize the extent of his own injuries. All he would have to do was look down though, as he would be able to see so many broken bones through the translucent black veil over him. He slid his right knee up on the ground, pushing his left hand down harder to get up to his left foot too. His right leg screamed in pain at him from midway up the thigh, but he wanted to keep standing. He needed to get up, get a better look at Ganeshi. What if I just- he thought, before wincing as he tried moving his right arm. He winced, then his arm went numb and he could no longer move it. That made him worried, very worried about the nerve endings connecting and holding his arm together, but he still did not take his eyes off the man far ahead of him. What if I just, knocked him out?

Hope filled Zach's eyes, and he brought his left arm over to his right leg to try and pull it up. He let out a scream of pain as he tried to stand on a broken bone, falling forward again. He did not want to fall on his chest or right side, so Zach quickly bent the top half of his body and slammed his forehead into the ground first. "RAAAA!" He screamed in pain, as that hurt his head and still did not stop his right side and all of his broken body to flood with agony. He convulsed, dropping to his left side and squirming to try and shake off the pain in his right. He could not even pass out anymore, as he had felt himself doing before, because the pain was too intense and he had nothing to help with it. "AAHHH! RRAAA!"

"Zach," a voice called over.

Zach heard it, and he snapped his head back and stared towards a piece of debris near him. It was a chunk of wall from a building he figured must have been around here, and he looked towards it for the source of that voice. It was hard for him to spot the person though, even though he was already out in front of the debris, because the boy he was looking towards blended in so well with the night. When Zach saw Kuroiro staring at him though, he froze and his mouth that opened to bellow out another scream of pain just let out a gasp instead. In his head he saw when the two of them were walking through the forest, when he had gone back on what he wanted to show the boy from Class B. It was not because he had thought Kuroiro might get scared, or because he did not know what this form would do, but because Zach had reminded himself that it was not real in the first place.

The lie he told himself to avoid showing anyone, to avoid making it real, it came back to him as he stared at the kid looking back his way. Kuroiro took a step towards him, and Zach's glowing red eyes grew larger in size, filling his whole eye sockets and more of his black face. "Stay- back," Zach managed to rasp out, before groaning in pain and pulling his head away from the other teen. He rolled himself back over and got to his knees again. How many of our classmates are here? Are they all just scattered around this battlefield? In the middle of a war between villains and heroes?! If the other villains got blown away… no, not the "other" villains, just, the villains. If they got blown away, they could be around here. They could be trying to attack my friends. Zach's left foot rose up again, and his left hand clenched in front of his torso and he staggered up onto his feet, putting all of his weight on his left leg and leaning to that side as he got up.

Kuroiro started jogging forward, but slowly, like he wanted to help Zach balance but at the same time was hesitant about getting any closer. "Zach," Kuroiro began. "I should have asked you about what you were talking about," he began. "I'm not afraid though," he added. "Because I know who you are. It doesn't matter what you look like-"

"I'll kill you," Zach whispered. It was not a threat, but a warning because Zach could not stop it from happening. "My right arm, my hand," he continued. "I think he, shattered them, ack, ack-" Zach coughed a few times and blood came out of his mouth. Don't look down, he thought, imagining the sight of cracked ribs on the right side of his chest, imagining what Kuroiro must have been looking at at the moment for him to have that kind of expression.

"We, can't move your arm for you," a voice said on Zach's right. He looked over and saw two others stepping out from behind the wall of a fallen building. Kaminari stepped farther forward while Todoroki stepped up behind him, keeping his head on a swivel unlike the blond who was staring straight at Zach. "But dude, you can figure something out, yeah?" Kaminari said. He could not mask his expression, or hide the fact that he was sweating badly as he faced Zach. Then again though, he could see past Zach into a battlefield where he had just seen all of the most terrifying things in his life.

"It'll hurt," Todoroki said, "But try touching yourself with your hand again. We'll get you out of here once you do."

Zach looked around at the three of them, then he bit down hard and he ground his teeth. Blood seeped between his teeth, and it drenched his right arm. He looked at his arm, stared at all the broken bones inside it, some of which were sticking out of the darkness. I, look like a monster. I- I just killed someone… again, Zach lifted his gaze again, and his eyes grew huge as another person stepped close to him. She held up a splint she had just created, and she had bandages and gauze ready with her. Yaoyorozu looked at Zach, straight in his glowing red eyes, and she said without flinching or having any fear in her eyes, "Quickly, Zach. So that we can help you. So that we can escape!"

The boy looked around at the young, aspiring heroes in front of him, and his heart started racing. "No," he whispered, "we can't leave yet." His eyes grew even wider in realization, and as he stared at the group in front of him, he said quickly, "Gran Torino, Mt. Lady, I think they're dead-"

"That's why we have to-" Kuroiro started.

"I can save them!" Zach exclaimed, then he coughed up blood and he dropped back to his knees. He leaned forward when he said he could do it, and just hitting his right knee shook the bone in his upper right leg. "AHHHHH!" His scream of pain cracked and he lost his voice as blood came out with the sound.

"Zach!" Yaoyorozu shouted.

"Don't push yourself," Kuroiro snapped.

"Just stay still," Kaminari begged him, as even with a skull for a face, even with a deeper voice, he could see and hear all of Zach's pain. "You can't save everyone-"

"Just," Zach started. "When I, drop on my right hand," he started, while reaching over to his side with his left. He reached near his wrist, and he slowly put his left hand around it. He could feel the pain starting, not that intense yet, but what he was about to do he knew would be a more intense pain that anything. A part of him felt like this was karma for what he did to Midoriya. He did not know if he would be conscious after it, so he said, "If I pass out, drag me to their bodies. There's a time limit, so it has to be right now. Try to wake me up, force me awake if you need to, but don't try using my arm to save them on your own. I don't know, if when my skin turns black…" Zach had to catch himself off guard, surprise himself. He did not think he could knowingly cause himself that much pain, so he spoke until he was no longer thinking about the pain at all, then he yanked his right wrist towards his face while falling towards it.

Zach's limp right hand smacked him in the face, while the agonized scream escaped out his open jaw. The black veil vanished from his head, and his red eyes turned white, pure white. His eyes were rolled back in his head and his voice cut off as he kept falling forward, his arms dropping limp at his sides as he fell face-down into the floor.

A/N Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed. Leave a review telling me what you think and predictions for upcoming chapters!

Colinpop5 chapter 15 . Jun 27

WOOOOOOOO

WOOO back at you! XD Glad you're excited!

Byzan chapter 10 . Jun 27

you updated the story faster than I read. I won't complaint about it though.

this arc where Zach got emotional made me teared up. Literally. I'm not lying. well, hope that tells you how great this story is for me.
I hope you keep updating faster than I could read. :D
thank you for your hard work... I hope you are working hard. if not, then you gotta tell me your work(s) where you worked hard on it. :D

Thanks! I had a lot of this story finished before I even started posting the chapters, though this chapter I wrote after I had posted the first chapter, so I'm only a little ahead of it right now. Really glad I got you with the emotions, and if you like this work of mine, then you could try reading Nexus/ Nexus Heroes Will Rise. I've worked harder on those two fanfics than anything, and it's still in progress. Check it out on my page if you want! Thanks for the review!

Roxas Itsuka chapter 16 . 18h ago

Awesome chapter. It seems as though Zach finally reached his breaking point. He's more of an anti-hero in this story.

Thanks! Zach hits the "fuck it" point this chapter, going fully off and trying something even he's afraid of. The anti-hero thing occurred to him last chapter too, I think it was, and with the body count he's racking up, he really is... Thanks for the review!

zerom1v chapter 16 . 14h ago

Oh no! Zach has gone full out! I guess NONE of the villains wanted to actually risk getting touched by him, only Mr. Compress went for the catch and died. I wonder, were they expecting the kid to hold back? Guess they depended too much on his moral value. But when you push too much, one can crack.
I feel bad for Zach. He made that call because he was the reason All Might can't go all out and Mt. Lady got hurt.
Hope All for One doesn't take away his quirk. That would be horrible O.O Hope the others did't leave him behind as well. That would be worse.
What happens next?! Can't wait! Great chapter! Glad to know Bakugou put the pieces together and wanted to leave with Zach!
Hope Monoma and Kuroiro and Denki come and save the day! They still didn't show how heroic they can be!

Zach went nuts there at the start of this chapter/ end of the last one. Compress couldn't see Zach's face when he snapped, but all the villains who did were stopped cold in their tracks. They could see he was ready to kill them, and that he did not have a hero mind-set at that point. Zach just keeps getting pushed into corners, though with All Might facing off against All For One, no time in there for the big boss to snag the boy's power, if he did even want it. Bakugo, that last second look down towards Zach, and then looking back once they were flying off and seeing the relieved smile... Zach's friends show up to get him at the end of the chapter, though no sign of one of them- Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

LordOfTee chapter 16 . 14h ago

Shigaraki used Speech, Oh no ! Zach has been afflicted with Insanity, Zach attacks current allies because of Insanity, Current Allies have been frightened !

Zach uses Nightmare, it was super effective- kind of. XD Laughed at this review, so thanks, and hope you enjoyed the chapter!

zerom1v chapter 16 . 11h ago

wait a minute... Mr. Compress is fully covered in clothes. Does Zachs' quirk work either way? I thought Contact was needed, as in skin with skin
(Gasp) Is Mr. Compress pretending?!

Nah, Compress got done in. Zach thought maybe the clothes thing would make a difference back at USJ too, but he knew from the moment he touched that it had worked, and it had. Compress goes down- but what about Ganeshi? Thanks for the review!

D-Koy24 chapter 2 . 7h ago

First anime fic I'm trying and I must say,bravo!
I think I chose well with this one...btw I like how Zach fits into the class, characters like him are always fun to follow :p

Wow! Thanks a lot! Hope you're still enjoying it! Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing!