Death

by tmb1112

Death is a Quirk that can only kill. A perfect Quirk for a villain, but what if the boy who manifested that power just wanted to be a hero? Enrolling in U.A. might not be enough when all your Quirk can do is kill people. Follow Zach Sazaki from his first day in Class A on a story that spans years, as he learns to be a hero, finds out more about his Quirk, and too much to summarize!

141. Chapter 141

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 141:

Am I dead? No, I'm Death. Or I was. Well I wasn't, but I was. Zach wasn't. I'm Zach. So I wasn't. I'm not dead. I know what death is like. Way too much thinking happening here. Why is it so dark though?

Oh, my eyes are closed, Zach's eyes parted open a crack. He realized they were closed because he started to hear things. They were around him and he knew he was awake; the darkness had just had him feeling very dead there for a minute. His thoughts had only just started so he figured he was waking up, though he also remembered not really going to sleep. In his head he recalled getting shot and then a lot of blurry stuff following that.

Zach slid up a bit and shimmied his back up the headboard of his hospital bed. His eyes opened more and he took in a deep breath, a sad look on his face as he thought about the expressions of Sero and Ashido as they panicked and tried stopping the bleeding of his wound. Then Zach turned his head to the left and looked at the seat next to his bed. He stared at the third person who he recalled in those blurry memories hovering over him. She was sitting on the left side of his hospital bed, her head bowed but her body not slouched much like she had just nodded off and never got comfortable.

It was light outside on Zach's right, and he turned back that way after looking at the girl on his left for a few seconds. What's she- It's bright out. If she's asleep, it's probably not the same day. What if I've been in a coma for years? She's wearing something different, and she's not bloody… but she doesn't look more than a day older than yesterday. Was it yesterday? I'm going with yesterday. She's probably been up all night and- What hospital am I in? I assume they brought me to the closest one. There would be no point in bringing me anywhere else. Rairosu is no different from Musutafu. It's not like they'd be bringing me closer to home. I don't have a home. My clothes are gone now. They took the only weapons I brought back with me. I have no belongings.

Zach sighed and he lowered his head to look down at the white bed sheets over him. He shifted his gaze to his right shoulder that was wrapped in many white bandages that went down his right arm over his bicep as well as wrapped around his whole upper body and tight to his sides. The white bandages wrapped him vertically and horizontally, covering much of his torso and the wound that he suspected was somewhere beneath it all though he was feeling sore all over his upper right side. Where is it? Zach focused in on the spot where he felt the sharpest pain when moving his right arm, which he knew he was not supposed to do considering that arm was in a sling over his chest.

"Zach?"

Momo Yaoyorozu stared at the boy in front of her who was partially turned the other way with his head bowed. Zach lifted his gaze from his arm and then turned his head the other direction. He looked at the young woman on a chair who had her head lifted and was staring back at him in shock that he was awake and sitting up. Yaoyorozu stared at him right in his hazel eyes and the two of them sat there in silence for several seconds. They just looked at each other.

Yaoyorozu examined the boy who was taller than her now, something she noticed as he had been walking towards her the day before but could see better with them sitting up close like this. Zach was six feet and one inch tall, his hair fell long around his body with some bangs over his forehead more messy than they were the day before as he had fixed it up a little before walking out in front of everyone. Yaoyorozu looked from his eyes down to his neck, to below the bandages and then to his left arm that her eyes softened more at while looking back into Zach's that got a slightly darker and also hesitant look to them at her glance down there.

What are you doing here? Zach thought, staring into Yaoyorozu's eyes from only a few feet away. The large scar covering the bottom left side of his face cutting down over his chin onto his neck, the deeper split on his left ear, and the marks on his neck were all new and clear for Yaoyorozu to look at. She had been thinking about them for months since the video she saw of Zach at his sentencing, but the look in his eyes did not give her any clarity as to what had happened to him. He stared at the girl who looked older than the last time he had seen her; more mature. She was a little taller herself, though her hair was up in the same style he recognized it the most in, and she was as beautiful as he remembered her. I- can't. I didn't even- not once…

"Zach," Yaoyorozu finally said, speaking his name and looking for the reaction in his eyes.

He nodded his head as if responding, though she had not asked him a question. His lips lifted up at the corners as he smiled at her. It was a warm, happy smile and Zach's eyes steadied as he looked into her gray ones, "Hey." She came to see me, even though I didn't accept any visitors. Even though for months I've been, ignoring you. And I would have for years. Zach turned his body a little more to Yaoyorozu but she held up a hand for him not to move.

Her eyes went to his right shoulder and the exact location of his wound on his upper chest. "Don't move around," she said, her voice quiet. Zach nodded in response and stayed still. Yaoyorozu looked back up into his eyes and then down to his left arm again. Zach grimaced as she looked to it again, and he lowered his eyes down as Yaoyorozu said softly, "The scars are in the same place." Her eyes rose up his arm to around his shoulder, to the thin line that wrapped around under his armpit and up over the top of his arm.

Zach looked down to his left and then lifted his head a bit and said, "I meant to keep it a secret."

Yaoyorozu lifted her eyes a little more and into Zach's. "I won't tell anyone," she whispered.

The two of them fell quiet again just sitting there looking at each other. Zach's face scrunched up and he could not hold his silence at her expression. She was not waiting for anything, nor was she saying anything to him, or at him, and he could not hold his tongue. "I'm-" Zach started. He shook his head once and his forehead wrinkled while his eyes squinted and his breathing got harder. "Momo, I need to-" Zach stopped.

Yaoyorozu could see what he was doing when he started right there. She wanted to let him say it, the apology that it seemed like he was going to tell her. He froze though. He froze and gulped, and his lips lifted into a smile even as his eyes looked to be getting wet. "What?" Yaoyorozu asked, having no idea as to what this reaction was for.

Zach started to shake his head, but he stopped doing that too and closed his eyes fully to hold back those tears he felt without wanting them to form in the first place. He took in a deep breath, As much as possible. As often as I can, I don't want to lie. "I was really afraid," Zach began. He opened his eyes and looked into Momo's before continuing, "That if I said it, you would say 'call me Yaoyorozu.'" Zach said it and then pursed his lips as the girl before him shook her head with a look showing he did not need to be worried about that. He pursed his lips hard though and his eyes got frustrated, and confused, even though he wanted to just feel happy at what he was seeing. "How?" Zach whispered, his voice coming out hoarser than he thought it would.

Yaoyorozu stopped shaking her head and looked into Zach's eyes. She saw him stare at her in a desperate way, and though she was not shocked by his look she still opened her eyes wider as he started louder and faster at her, "How are you not- why are you not scolding me, or more mad? I killed people and- Why are you even here with me, after what I did to you?" Zach asked it all without thinking much, the words coming to mind just spilling out of his mouth with no restraint. Why am I doing this?! She is here, why tell her to leave- but why is she- isn't she angry?! She's just, looking at me like-

Yaoyorozu's expression stayed calm and her lips flat as she shook her head at Zach again. Then she stopped and stared him straight in the eyes while speaking firmly, "Did you think I cared about you so little, that what you did would really change that?"

Zach's bottom lip dropped and his breath got stuck in his throat for a second. "But- but I-"

"I am upset," Yaoyorozu continued before Zach could counter her. "About the things you did. You're right about those things you said, but you're back now and I'm here for you if you need me." Zach closed his eyes at her response and he bowed his head. She continued to the top of his dark hair, "I needed you to know that, and I'm sad that you wouldn't let me tell you while you were in jail, while you were so close but still out of reach." Yaoyorozu paused and then added in a lower voice, "Intentionally."

Zach rose his head back up and he pulled his head back a couple inches at the look she was giving him now. "I-" Zach began. He paused and thought about the reasons he had for not accepting any visitors while in Tartaros. "I just-"

Yaoyorozu pulled out her phone and Zach stopped trying so hard to force himself as she looked down at it and started typing. "We don't have to, right now," she started. Before he could argue, she continued quickly, "The others are all here and I've texted them that you woke up." Zach's eyes widened and Yaoyorozu stood up from her seat while putting her phone back in her pocket. She grabbed a hospital gown off the side table next to his bed and handed it to Zach who grabbed it with his left hand while she continued speaking to him. "They all needed to know that you were alright. I could not keep them in waiting any longer, but," Yaoyorozu paused and she looked into Zach's eyes hesitantly. He had been worried she was about to turn away and walk out after just coming to say what she needed to, like he had been so worried about for so long. Instead, she hesitated and then finished, "We'll talk again, soon, okay?"

Zach opened his mouth, then he just started to nod his head but the door to the room slid open too fast for him to get anything out. Yaoyorozu stepped to the side, giving Zach a clear view of the entrance and the group that just came rushing into his hospital room. He slid into his gown while they were rushing in, and when his head was back through it there were already eight others from Class A inside his room besides Yaoyorozu. Uraraka, Iida, Sero, Mineta, Ashido, Hagakure, Ojiro, and Sato were all inside already but they slowed down after entering and seeing Zach sitting up and slipping into something to cover himself up with. He looked towards them appearing to be fine, and he gave them a smile of reassurance at the worried looks that were already starting to fade from their faces.

Deku jogged into the room and he moved his way to the front to get a good look at Zach and make sure he was alright. As Koda, Tokoyami, Aoyama, and Shoji made their ways into the room, Deku stopped at the foot of Zach's bed and looked ahead into his old friend's eyes. He let out a breath of relief and Zach smiled as he saw Deku do so. Then Zach turned and watched as the other third years headed inside and all moved to spots where they could see him without being blocked by their classmates. Did everyone come? Zach thought, in amazement and shock at just how many of them were coming in. It's the break between terms I guess… One last term of high school.

Asui was slower to walk into the room than the others, but she still made her way up to the front as one of the shortest in the class. She stepped up to Mineta's right side, and Zach stared towards her with his eyes growing wide. Then he turned next to her at Mineta who was an inch taller than her. "Someone hit a growth spurt," Zach said. It was the first thing any of them had heard from him in a year and a half, other than the 'I'm sorry' he said when looking at the camera during his trial.

Mineta gawked at Zach too for a second just as many of the others around him did, but he was also one of the quickest to lose that gawking expression. "You're one to talk," he said, and Tsuyu looked to her left at the boy with purple balls on his head who had grown a lot in the last year. She looked back at Zach though and agreed with what Mineta said as she stared at the boy who was so different, more than just growing taller.

Iida calmed down after rushing into the room with the others. When he saw Zach actually sitting up and looking alright, the feelings he had had before started to well back up inside him. His face covered in frustration after the first thing Zach said, and Zach looked to one side of him where Iida was standing, and he lowered his lips down into more of a frown at his taller friend's look. Iida was now the tallest one in Class 3-A at six and a half feet tall, and Zach could not avoid seeing his face. Deku saw Zach looking back and he thought towards the scar-faced boy, A lot of the people in this room have problems with what you did and didn't want to see you. Seeing you almost die while they all had so much they needed to say made them come to the hospital but, but the feelings that felt so petty just a few minutes ago are getting stronger again. They didn't want to let them get in the way, but seeing that you're going to be alright, there's no rush anymore.

One of the people whose thoughts matched what Deku was thinking about too well was still standing back in the doorway, looking between people and towards Zach in a frustrated and upset way. Kirishima started walking forward though, unlike Bakugo who just stood to the side though in a spot that was easy enough to see Zach from. Kirishima had frozen after looking at the text from Yaoyorozu, walked his way slowly behind everyone else and came behind even Tsuyu who had stopped herself outside the door for a few seconds after everyone else had run inside.

"Zach," Ashido started while Kirishima was walking up behind her. She stepped forward closer to Zach's bed, and she pursed her lips for a second before curving them up into a giant smile at his reassuring look and the nod he gave her. "I was, really…" Ashido shook her head fast to get the thought of Zach dying on the ground in a puddle of his blood out of her head. She smirked instead and leaned her head in, asking, "So, what were you doing while you were gone?"

"Are you Death?" Sero asked.

There were many in the room around Sero who wanted to ask that question in a much more serious tone or while cross-checking Zach on his story. So many of them being there at the same time with them thinking different things about him made that difficult though. Zach shook his head at Sero which had half a dozen of his former classmates frowning at him for lying before a word had come out of his mouth. Zach started without laughing or treating it as a joke, "No. I get why you'd think I was, since they asked me about it for a few hours at my trial and right after I came back. One of the only things I told them was just how I'm not Death, but hey, they didn't believe me either."

Zach shrugged as he finished, glancing over at Midoriya and then Iida. His eyes shifted over to Tokoyami and then to the back at Bakugo, before pulling back close and into Kirishima's eyes. Kirishima glared back into his and Zach felt a pain inside at that look he had yet to receive from his other old classmates. "You didn't tell them anything?" Kirishima asked, as Zach just made it sound like he had only told the judge a certain few things. "How'd you get away with that?"

Ashido turned to her side and back at Kirishima with a frown at his tone, but Kirishima just kept staring ahead and into Zach's eyes. Zach shrugged his left shoulder inside the blue sleeve of his hospital gown, and he responded, "I wasn't on trial for what I'd been doing, so I didn't tell them." He said it like it was simple but the answer boggled his friends who had thought for months that Zach must have tricked the judge and officials to only be charged with the Lifebringer Incident. Sero lowered his bottom lip and Tokoyami's beak parted a bit, and the others all stared at their classmate who took in a deep breath before looking around at them all. Zach continued, "I cooperated and pled guilty to everything I did in that forest. Because I was guilty," Zach paused and then said in a lower, regretful tone, "and I'm sorry. For everything." Zach looked back at Kirishima who balled his fists hard at his sides as Zach tried to apologize just like that.

Mineta's face started to get a little more serious but he just looked away himself as it was hard to stare at Zach in a way saying he did not forgive him after making eye contact with his old friend. Sero smiled too after hearing the apology, something he was waiting for and did not think he would feel satisfied unless it was one of the first things out of Zach's mouth. He had initially wanted Zach to say that first thing, but his own question slowed Zach from getting to it, as did Zach's surprise at seeing how tall Mineta had gotten.

Jirou and Todoroki didn't come, Zach thought while making eye contact with his friends one by one. "I shouldn't have done, what I did that night. It was wrong. Killing those people. Whatever my reasons, whatever state I was in, it wasn't right. I don't think it was." Zach's eyebrows dipped down near his nose and he scrunched his face up while continuing towards Deku, "And I'm sorry, for the other things I lied about. The anti-heroes and, what I was really doing with the villains other than being Lifebringer." Zach looked towards Shoji and he lowered the right corner of his lips with a tsk as he was hesitating and needed to keep this up. "I'm just, sorry. For all of it. I was wrong."

"Is that why you came back?" Hagakure asked. The invisible girl on the right side of the foot of Zach's bed stepped a little closer to it and asked when he looked towards her, "Why you turned yourself in?"

Why is he really here? Shoji thought.

Could that really be all it was? Uraraka wondered hopefully.

What's he really planning? Sato thought, a frustrated expression crossing his face at the doubt he already felt from what Zach was saying.

Zach looked ahead of him. He looked to the foot of his bed with a glance at Midoriya. In his head appeared news' stories he had seen before getting thrown into prison. Other countries talked about you too. Deku, stopping villain incidents so fast just as an intern for Lemillion. Someone compared you to All Might, the speed and power you used in that battle they only caught glimpses of. All Might. Stopping every villain attack with ease, saving people everywhere, you could do that. Just a little longer…

Zach rose his head up a bit and a serious expression covered his face. "I'm looking for All For One."

Everyone stared towards their classmate in different levels of surprise at his answer. He did not say whether or not he came back because he was sorry and that he thought he was wrong. The response showed that he had a different reason without denying what Hagakure said, though to some it sounded like he was saying that what she asked was not it. His actual reason still had them staring at him without getting too angry though that it was not the reason as most had hoped. Mineta was more focused on the response though, and he asked with a nervous look over his face, "What about what you said in the forest? About All For One being down for good, too messed up to fight?"

Zach took his eyes off of Midoriya and looked to Mineta with a dark look. "I heard rumors on my travels. Discovered things, secrets," a grin cracked on his face after Mineta's eyes opened huge there. The dark and mysterious look was gone and Zach said while leaning back, "But really, I just decided to come back and face up for my crimes." He leaned back on the headboard behind him and said in a steady but quieter voice, "I realized, I was just being a coward in the forest. I ran off so I wouldn't have to face the music for what I'd done, again. That was," he paused and looked back down and around at the people he had left in that forest. "Stupid."

"You really think so?" Ojiro asked.

Zach turned to his right and nodded at the blond. "I mean it. I'm sorry, for the stupid way I did that."

"'Stupid?'" Iida questioned his wording. Zach looked back at the tall boy who had calmed down and reverted to the feelings he had when he declined going to see Zach get out of prison with Midoriya. He glared at his former classmate and then said in an intense and mad voice, "What you did was… Reckless. You knew what- doing things like that-"

Because of Stain, you could never accept it. I know, Iida. Zach stared Iida's way as he thought that, pushing his thoughts outwards with his expression that had Iida getting more frustrated at the understanding and knowing look in his eyes. "I didn't though," Zach said. He looked at Iida and shook his head, and he said lower, "Because I was playing at being an anti-hero the whole time. I played stupid games, and I won stupid prizes." Zach's eyes darkened but he kept it apologetic as he looked at his old classmate, "But Iida, I'm not breaking the rules anymore. I've decided, never to break them again." Zach's face started to light back up and he leaned his head back and said louder, "I'm all about the rules now. Mr. Rules, ready to…" Zach hesitated and then just finished there instead of continuing the sentence.

"What are you doing now?" Midoriya asked.

It was a question many of them wanted to ask, and the room looked closely at their old classmate to see how he responded. Bakugo glared his way and his eyes narrowed as he awaited the response. Don't say it, Bakugo thought darkly.

"Are you," Ashido started, a look of hope in her eyes.

"I'm going to try and be a hero," Zach replied. He continued before anyone's faces could lift or get more upset, "I'll be attempting to get my provisional hero license again. It was revoked, but because it was a full pardon and not just a reduction of my sentence, I'm free to take a test to become a hero. Plus, I heard from my lawyer that the prime minister plans to hold a new licensing exam soon. I think he wants to give me a chance to get my license back, though anyone else who failed last year or wants to take it the first time will be able to take the test too. It's technically just another test, but it'll actually be my first time ever taking it." He added that part at the end since he was just granted his provisional license the last time without a test.

"You're really, going to try and be a hero?" Kirishima asked. Zach looked back to the redhead and nodded. He tried to give Kirishima a smile, but his old friend glared at him at that look and clenched his fists harder. "After everything you did, you're just going to come back and act like none of it happened?"

"That's not what I'm doing," Zach started.

"Yeah? And what about what you did that year you were gone?" Kirishima asked. His eyes narrowed and Zach paused at the dark look covering Kirishima's face. "You haven't said a word about it. You just going to act like it doesn't matter? All you did."

"If you want to ask me, then go ahead," Zach said, shaking his head and trying to stay neutral with his response. He saw some confused looks around the room including Kirishima's, though Kirishima's stayed very angry behind that confusion. Zach continued while glancing around at them, "I said I didn't tell them at my trial, because I didn't have to. I didn't take the stand and they didn't have proof of anything I did. And I didn't feel like trying to explain everything to a bunch of people I didn't care to-"

"Then what were you doing?" Sato asked. "If you weren't Death," he added, and he still gave Zach an unsure look after mentioning it. Sato's look was less skeptical than half the people in the room's though, which Zach noticed and kept his expression flat even at the sight of.

"I left the country, and I went to America."

"I knew it," Ashido cut in, before stopping herself as she wanted Zach to be able to continue.

"Uh, only because I told you," Sero began.

"Stop," Kirishima grumbled, darting a look over at the black-haired teen who lowered his smile and got an awkward look on his face instead. Zach could only see intense and examining expressions or awkward ones around the room from people trying to not cut into the mood as it was too low for any smiles to raise it. Kirishima glared into Zach's eyes with his red ones and awaited Zach to continue, as so far he did not think Zach was lying though he could not tell or call him out on it.

"I went to America. After we crossed the Pacific, I split up with Gentle and La Brava. Then I tried to, act as a vigilante," Zach paused and he shook his head with a low smile forming on it. Many of the others noticed something there but kept quiet about it for now as much as they got uneasy feelings, and Zach continued, "I did that for a few months, and I heard about Death. I thought about going to join them, but I never did," he rose his head and shook it as he said that. He focused specifically on some of the people who had unbelieving looks on their faces. Zach looked over towards Ojiro who looked willing to listen to him, and he continued, "After I came back I heard about a lot of the things they did though, and I was glad I didn't join them. They killed- I mean I did too, but I understand that what I did was wrong now. No matter what the outcomes people might consider what I did were, it was wrong of me to do-"

"Hold on," Kirishima muttered, and he had a hand lifted rubbing the side of his head through his spiky hair. "What are you-" he paused as asking what Zach was 'talking about' could have made him start talking about anything. Kirishima was too lost though, and he snapped, "What do you mean, after you came back? Where did you go?"

Zach grimaced and he hesitated again like he did after he said how he had never joined Death. He looked away towards the windows, and Ojiro asked the boy with long hair sitting in front of them. "What? Can't you tell us?"

"It's not that," Zach started. He looked back at Ojiro and then said, "It's just so unbelievable, and I've already lied to you guys a thousand times. There's no reason-"

"Where did you go?" Midoriya asked, shaking his head and looking closer at Zach who turned back and just grimaced harder at Midoriya's look.

He clearly isn't going to believe anything I tell him. Why does he care about the lie so much then? He just wants to hear the excuse I give, but I know he thinks I'm Death. Zach sighed and he rose his left hand to his head, rubbing his forehead under his bangs for a second. "I, was chasing after this thief. She could create Doorways, opening holes in walls and slipping through to the other side. I chased her-"

"Was that girl with you?" Tsuyu asked.

Zach looked towards the girl with dark green hair who had not said anything to him yet. He paused and she stared into his eyes with her big frog-like ones. Tsuyu thought about when Zach had grabbed that girl while surrounded in his black aura, and how he was slow to let go of her only for her to be perfectly fine. Just like she was fine when she wrapped her tongue around his body to catch him from a falling office building. "Yeah," Kirishima started, and Zach looked back towards another classmate he had brought back to life before. Kirishima glared into his eyes and finished in a more snide voice with his eyes narrowed down, "What about your, 'darling?'"

"I won't say," Zach replied. He stared straight into Kirishima's eyes while saying it which made his fists clench harder just like his teeth as his eyes narrowed more at his old friend.

"'You won't say?'" Kirishima repeated.

"Zach, what did-" Uraraka started, feeling pained even though she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Iida's eyes were dark though and he began, "You got a girl who had brought you back to life-"

"She was crazy-" Midoriya started.

Zach's eyes coldly shifted over to Midoriya which cut him off as well as the others who started talking to him at the same time about this. "You don't know anything about her," Zach said. His voice was dark, and cold, and he took that tone for the first time since the others had seen him that had them shutting up and staring at their dark classmate covered in scars. "Don't talk about Darling, like you know her," Zach said. He referred to her by the word that Kirishima said so snidely, in a way that made it sound less like a term of endearment and more of an actual name.

Yaoyorozu stared towards Zach's bed with her eyes wide for a second, though she brought them back to normal size and repeated what he just said in her own head. We don't know, anything.

"Then tell us," Hagakure started, feeling like the others around her were getting increasingly hostile from Zach's response.

He shook his head though. "I won't. I'll tell you guys anything you want, but I won't talk about her. I won't put her in danger."

Sero's eyes opened wide and he thought about those things they heard outside of Zach's room the night of Kaminari's betrayal. His eyes shifted down to the floor for a second, thinking about the look on that girl's face on top of the truck. He heard Zach telling her to shoot them, and he saw the creepy but cute girl smiling at his order. I really, don't know anything though. "You told her to shoot us," Sero began. He looked at Zach and his old friend looked at him while opening his mouth to defend himself, but Sero continued, "So that we wouldn't chase after you, right?"

Zach froze with his mouth open, and then he just nodded instead of defending himself as it was not needed. He took another second's pause and then added softer, "She wouldn't have shot. She knew, I didn't want that."

"You took her with-" Kirishima began. Zach started looking back up with his gaze darker again, but Kirishima's teeth were grinding and he glared furiously at his old friend. "You were telling a story, right? Telling us where you were all that time?"

Zach glared back into Kirishima's eyes for a second more before softening his look and nodding his head. "Yeah. I was chasing a thief. She was… She had a Quirk that could open Doorways. I followed her and chased her all night, and then I chased her to this final Doorway she made underground. I thought it would lead into a sewer or old subway system, but when we went through that door…" Zach paused and his eyes started to brighten even as he kept his expression steady. In his mind he saw bright green fields, and crazy creatures that had filled his imagination, an entire world appeared before him. "Quirks really are, amazing," Zach whispered quieter.

He rose his head up and looked away from any of his classmates while imagining Terra. "I went through that Doorway, and instead of popping me out on the other side of a wall, the door acted as a portal. To a whole new world."

Most of Zach's classmates stared at him in disbelief. A few who did not even believe Zach in the slightest just gained darker looks on their faces at the story even as it was just starting. Zach lowered his head and he continued, "I know it's hard to believe. I thought that maybe I had entered into my own mind or hers, but the people in that world were as real as you or me. There was no way I could ever hallucinate the things I saw there, in the world of Terra."

"Are you serious?" Mineta asked.

Zach nodded once at the short boy who continued to look at him in even more disbelief that Zach was sticking with it and not saying that he was joking. "I was brought into a parallel world by her Quirk. Into a place that was similar to our world but yet so different. Quirks had been around for tens of thousands of years. There were mythical creatures from this world there in that one just walking around and, massive empires and continents, oceans full of beasts and powers beyond belief. I thought for a while that maybe she had created that world. The woman with the Doorway Quirk, but I realized that she could create pathways to other worlds, or at least to the one I was in. At the time I thought it was only the two;" his friends started staring at him with their bottom lips lowering even more at how he was about to continue that they saw coming. "I only learned later on that she could create pathways to other realms besides the one I was trapped in for the first several months."

"You weren't even on Earth?" Ojiro asked. "Are you- are you serious?"

"Of course he's not," Kirishima muttered loudly, glaring at Zach who glanced his way before turning to Ojiro again and nodding, which made Kirishima bite down in more anger as his doubt was ignored.

"I came to understand the people of that world. I believed they were as real as anyone here, even if they looked more like magical beasts: centaurs, goat-men, goblins and orcs, dwarves and elves. I think that maybe the people who first came up with those creatures on this world may have come in contact with that alternate world at some point because the trolls there looked exactly like trolls I had seen in movies." Zach paused for a second and then he shook his head and stopped talking in such a carefree tone with a smile on his face. He lowered his voice and spoke darker, "The Doorway Quirk user was the Queen of Arcasia, an evil kingdom spreading its borders and abusing its own people and the ones of different lands."

His friends who had been shocked by what he was saying just stared at him in even more stunned silence. Kirishima started to open his eyes bigger too, and the ones who were not believing anything Zach was saying rose their eyebrows up and stared closer at him in confusion at what he was doing. Midoriya and Iida got hesitant looks on their faces at the darker one forming on Zach's, and Bakugo's annoyed and skeptical look transformed a bit as he stared at the strange expression on Zach's face. Yaoyorozu was looking at him carefully, and her heart raced as Zach rose his head with a colder look in his eyes than she had ever seen before. There was something different about his look now, that even though he did not look as dark or sad or angry as some of the emotional times she had seen him before, this was different. What, happened?

"So I went to war," Zach said. He looked a couple of his classmates in the eyes. He turned to Tokoyami who had looked not to believe him at all before, and he looked darkly into the bird boy's eyes that grew larger at his cold gaze. "That world was always at war, and I became a- soldier. Quirk warfare, was," Zach paused and in his head flashed a hundred images all at once, and the figures in those images started getting pointier ears and holding swords instead of assault rifles. The Quirks being used were still being used though, and Zach continued in a low voice, "We would win the war. After seven months in that world, I would lead my forces on the Queen's capital. I came to lead the allied forces fighting against her. When I left here," Zach started again, his tone changing and his eyes rising back to look in his classmates' eyes in a slightly lighter way that the way he had just been looking. "This world was still chaotic and with crime rates higher than they had ever been. But when I came back, in late May, things had changed."

"And you think the Army of Death had something to do with that?" Midoriya asked.

Zach looked towards the muscular teen with curly green hair and a disapproving look on his face towards him. Zach scrunched his face up and he said, "There something you want to say, Midoriya?"

"What he's implying," Kirishima started, and Zach turned to the redhead who was glaring at him in such a pissed-off way with his fists curled angrily at his sides. "Is that you were one of those terrorists." Kirishima kept glaring at Zach even as Zach's eyes narrowed in a darker way back at him. You think I'm buying any of that bullshit?! Kirishima did not fully believe Zach was in the Army of Death himself, but he believed it a lot more than he believed the story he just heard no matter how convincing Zach looked while saying it. He glared at Zach and then lifted one corner of his mouth at the way Zach was already reacting to the way he called them 'terrorists.' Kirishima continued while giving that sharp-toothed smirk at him, "One of the pathetic Army of Death members who are too cowardly to show their faces-"

"Hey Kirishima," Zach started. He leaned his head towards the redhead and then growled straight at his face, "Fuck you." Kirishima's eyes bulged and his smile dropped down before twisting in rage at that response. The others around the room gawked at Zach as he said that after apologizing so hard to them just a couple minute ago. "If you really think I'm one of those 'terrorists,' then fuck you."

"You're practically admitting it with-" Kirishima started.

"If you think I'm one of them, those people out there right now fighting villains and dying," Zach interrupted the muscular teen who stomped closer to his bed while countering him there. Kirishima froze and his eyes grew huge again, staying that way at the furious and also hurt look covering Zach's face at what he was saying. "And you're calling them pathetic, straight to my face. People who you think I fought side by side with as comrades, as brothers and sisters in arms. You might not agree with them but they're people who died and we all know they died, so if you really think I'm one of them, then yeah, fuck you. I thought you were more heroic than that, to say something like that to my face just to get a reaction out of me." Kirishima was frozen in place and then his fists started shaking so much angrier at what Zach was saying which made sense to him and was just hurting him more inside. Zach finished darkly to him, "I didn't think of you as a person who would insult the dead who fought villains without caring about recognition-"

"You don't know what kind of person I am," Kirishima snapped. Others were about to cut in for him, but Kirishima glared into Zach's eyes and then shook his head right as Zach's expression started to soften. "You have no idea, after being gone for a year and a half. You don't know me at all. Just like I didn't know you." Zach's look got guiltier while Kirishima just eased back and lost as furious a one that he had. He turned away and growled under his breath, "I didn't think of you as a person who would massacre six people, like it was nothing. But I guess we were both wrong." Kirishima's teeth clenched after he said it, glaring away and then just tssking and turning fully when Zach looked to be about to defend himself.

Zach stopped. He looked around at the others and saw most of them looking confused and conflicted. A lot who he felt had started listening to him about his story to traveling to another world were just frowning at him or had sadder looks on their faces now after what he just said. Zach shook his head at their looks though and said, "I know what it might look like, me defending them and all, but I wasn't one of them. I just- I don't think of them as villains." The others stared at Zach and looked into his eyes as he spoke strongly and without hiding what was not a popular viewpoint to have. "I know they do wrong. They kill people and they deserve to be in prison and stopped by heroes. But they're out there fighting villains, getting killed by villains, and I think they do it to try and make the world a safer place for everyone."

He looked around and then straight at Midoriya who looked back into his eyes. Midoriya was skeptical but also did not feel like Zach was lying about everything he was saying, though he could not tell if he should believe that or just accept that everything Zach said was a lie to get them thinking a certain way about him. Zach saw that but tried anyway, "As I said, I thought about joining them. But while I was gone, I realized I had to turn myself in. I figured out that I was lying even to myself, and that I wasn't coming back because I was too scared, to face you guys. I still was, even after I returned," Zach added in a lower voice, looking down while the people who had come to visit him in Tartaros stared wide-eyed at their classmate. "I'm sorry. Coming back like this, after everything I said, after those goodbyes that were meant to be for good."

"Yeah, they felt like it," Mineta said softly. "I didn't think you'd ever come back."

"Yeah!" Ashido exclaimed. She did not sound angry but mock upset as she leaned forward with her hands on her hips, which was an attempt to change the mood of the room in itself, "You totally sounded like you were gone forever in your letter-" Ashido froze and covered up her mouth fast.

Bakugo looked over towards the pink girl and his eyes narrowed down at what she just said. Then they rose back up and his eyes grew huge while shifting around at the others in the room.

"You got one-" Sato began, before cursing himself at the stupidity of what he was doing. He saw a lot of the others around him look to him in surprise too, but not that much surprise that he started looking back at them in questioning gazes himself.

Midoriya looked around him and his bottom lip lowered as everyone in the room was glancing at each other with stunned questioning looks. Zach got a small smile on his face as he watched them, and he glanced to his left over to where Yaoyorozu was standing only to see a semi-confused look on her face that made him turn back forward before she could look his way. Huh?

"Wait, did-" Mineta began. He glanced at Zach in hesitation about saying it, but then he looked around and asked, "Did everyone get one?"

No one really responded against it, though Bakugo was glaring at them all from farther back in the room. Yaoyorozu looked towards Zach herself in a questioning way but he did not look to her while just cracking a small smile for the others all looking at him now. "Hey! You wrote that not everyone got one!" Hagakure said in frustration at the boy who chuckled at her fake upset complaint.

"Not everyone did," Zach said. He looked behind the others in front of him and said, "I figured Bakugo would just blow it up before reading it, so I didn't leave one behind for him."

Bakugo glared straight at Zach past everyone, but he had a strange feeling that what he just heard was not actually a lie. I would have, Bakugo agreed in his head. That just made him more pissed off though, the fact that Zach thought he knew him well enough to make that prediction. Bakugo humphed and turned his head towards the door, and he took a step towards it tired of all this already. Trying to be a hero. He didn't mention anything about coming back, and he cut off Ashido. He's bullshitting his way through it all-

"Bakugo wait," Zach said, leaning up more on his bed.

Bakugo narrowed his eyes more that Zach was trying to stop him. He turned his head to the side and looked back across the room and all the others who were looking back and forth from him to Zach. "What? I just came to-"

Before Bakugo could give his reason, Zach continued, "I need to talk to you and Midoriya alone, after." Bakugo stopped talking and his mouth closed, his eyes getting more questioning and also darker at the teen with long black hair. Zach looked to Midoriya after saying it and then to Bakugo again, "Just for a second, I promise."

"Fine," Bakugo snapped, leaning against the inside of the door instead of walking out. What does he have?

"Telling secrets already?" Tokoyami said, and he shook his head when Zach looked to him.

"They aren't my secrets to tell," Zach responded without looking apologetic for what he was doing. Tokoyami leaned back in some surprise at the answer, but he thought about what had happened to the anti-heroes based on Zach giving away secrets before and nodded his head in understanding. That Darling, and whatever this secret is, he does not keep them for his own protection. Though the others, the other lies he is telling which I am sure… He is Death, isn't he? I was certain, for so long…

"Hey Zach," Uraraka started. She wanted to get off of such strange topics as every new conversation seemed to be getting confrontational. There were a lot of things she wanted to ask too, but the things she wanted to question him about with the strange world he had mentioned she also felt might start controversy from the others who did not believe it at all. She looked towards his neck though and to his left cheek and the big scar on it curving down under his chin. "You have a lot of new scars. Did, something happen?" Uraraka asked.

Zach hummed and he rose up his left hand and rubbed at his neck with it. There was a red mark around his entire neck, with thin scars on the front and left sides, as well as darker scar tissue higher up his neck on the left leading up to the one on his chin and cheek. He moved his hand from his neck and pointed at it on the right side more where it was just the red marks, and he started, "I had to wear a collar for a little, and I had my throat slit too." His hand shifted a little to the scar on the front of it. Zach ignored his classmates' shocked expressions and continued, "Luckily it was shallow and I was able to hold it closed until it got sealed, and a different time someone got me on the left side of my neck with this fast Quirk I could only pull just far enough away from." Zach moved his head to the right fast and cocked his neck to show the scar there too. Back when fighting Arma was actually a challenge, he thought and lifted a small grin as he did.

He, had to wear a collar? Sato thought with his forehead wrinkled and his eyes confused.

How the hell is he smiling right now, saying his throat got slit? Ojiro felt unnerved by it. Then again, would we all be feeling so dark and apologetic, if he treated it like horrible things? Then when we leave, some of us might have thought he said that stuff just to get us feeling bad… Does he not want us to? He wants us to think he's… or does he know some of us might think this? Ojiro looked down in a more sad way at the floor. I don't trust him at all.

Zach rose his head back up and he motioned at the bottom left side of his face. He pointed at the most noticeable and biggest scar, and he said to the anxiously awaiting group, "Oh, and I cut myself shaving." He ended it on a lighthearted tone while looking back at Uraraka, but her eyes were just soft and sad as she was stuck on what he said about the collar too. The part he mentioned about cutting himself shaving was a joke too, but it was clear that it was not from shaving but something worse that had done that to him, yet Zach did not respond with an explanation for what had happened to him there.

"Hey Zach," Aoyama started. Zach looked over at the blond with shiny hair who he looked at in some surprise at the small voice he started off in. Aoyama sounded like he was holding himself back, and he looked at Zach hesitantly when the darker-haired boy turned his way. "Were you serious, about the place you went to? You're not lying?"

Zach shook his head but did not gain a hurt expression at the question. "No," Zach replied. "It really happened. I planned on doing more here, but-"

"Hold on," Ashido cut in and shook her head when Zach was about to give some more explanation. "Didn't you say you came back in May? But you didn't turn yourself in until July!"

"Yeah," Zach started. His voice got more restrained and he looked away when Ashido asked which made her accusing look lower down as she was accusing him of getting his story wrong right there. "I had planned, before returning, on turning myself in. But when I was in the final fight against her, and I was lunging at her with for a final attack, she opened up a Doorway and I fell through onto the top of a mountain." Zach paused and looked back at Ashido who he continued to in a hesitant tone, "I knew by then that when I went through her Doorways she couldn't shut me away from her because she couldn't leave me in a strange world. Her Quirk wouldn't allow it. But when I came out of that portal, I looked back and it closed behind me, and I knew that I was back here." Zach hesitated and he glanced around at his friends again who were listening to his explanation but still looked confused as to why he was saying it.

He paused and then finished in a lower voice, "But I wasn't ready. Even though I was determined to turn myself over if I ever returned, I wasn't… strong enough. I had said goodbye, and I couldn't- I was a coward." Zach rose his head with a stronger look and he continued to the others staring at him in surprise, "So I told myself that the world was still in a lot of chaos, and I figured out that I was in Europe and started fighting villains there. In June and July I traveled around Europe; those stories about me being there were real."

"I did hear you were there!" Ashido exclaimed. "But I didn't- no one thought they were any more reliable!"

"I was still hiding, mostly," Zach said, nodding at the girl as to why there was not much proof about where he had been even after he came back. "And I convinced myself I was doing a lot, because villains were always quick to surrender to me and stop fighting." Zach sweatdropped and some of the others lowered their bottom lips at his look. He lowered his gaze for a second and muttered, "Every villain was super convinced that I was Death, so they all freaked out whenever I showed up."

"Do you think that's why you got shot?" Hagakure asked.

Zach hummed and rose his gaze back to the empty spot where Hagakure's head should be. He nodded but slowly, and he responded, "It's a possibility, but…" Zach lifted his left hand and scratched his head with a small smile that many of the others thought was fake. He finished with that smile but in a voice that gave some of them chills, "I made a fair share of my own enemies too. In the time I was here, and even before I left Japan too it could have easily been the League, or assassins who they hired."

But it wasn't. It could have been anyone, but I know the truth. I have to be more careful.

"Oi," Bakugo snapped from the back of the room near the door. "I'm leaving. So if you've got something to say."

Asui looked back at Bakugo, then she turned to Zach and lowered her gaze down for a moment. She stepped backwards and said while lifting her eyes to Zach's again, "I'll leave. Zach-chan, it's- good to see you, doing alright."

Iida nodded his head once in solemn agreement. "Zach," he said it in an intense tone and Zach turned to look Iida in his eyes. "I will be keeping a close eye on you. I hope you mean what you said that you will be sticking to the rules. If I see that you are not, as a hero, I will stop you."

"Iida," Ashido started, looking back at the tall boy behind her.

Kirishima grunted and he turned his head, marching away back through the room without so much as a goodbye to Zach.

"I'm glad you guys came," Zach said before any of them could walk out. "I am sorry, about everything. And I'm not just back to find All For One, or to face up for my crimes." Asui stopped and looked back over her shoulder, and Iida's harsh expression softened a bit. Kirishima's eyes shadowed under his red bangs and he kept glaring forward with his teeth just clenching harder. "I came to make it up to all of you, as well. For everything I did. All the lies, and the pain I know, you must have felt when I left like that." Zach's eyes shifted around more as the rest of them were going to have to go out to give him his moment with Midoriya and Bakugo that he had asked for. He saw those hurt and betrayed looks coming back to his classmates' faces, the ones he imagined had covered them that night after he had left them behind and that he was reminding them all of right now. "I know it won't be easy for you to trust me again, or ever… but I'll do whatever I can and try."

Hagakure rose her head after bowing to look down at the floor. She stared at Zach's expression that looked like he genuinely did want to make things better. "You think the way we looked at you in that basement was fear? You've never seen fear, like the fear on a man's face when he thinks you're going to kill him and drag him down to Hell. When he thinks you're going to keep killing him over and over and over for eternity." Hagakure clenched her eyes shut and turned away from the boy whose horrifying voice she could hear those words echoing from even now. Even if you did that to save Kaminari, it's too- that's too… "I crossed that line, for YOU! Because you mattered that much to me, that I wouldn't just take a bullet for you, I would have literally turned into a monster- the devil! Just to save you!"

"I'll, see you later Zach," Hagakure said, looking back towards the long-haired boy before leaving. "And we can talk, okay?"

"I want to hear more about that crazy world you went to," Sero said, and he flashed a grin when Zach looked his way that had Zach's heart pound. Sero's expression was forgiving and carefree, and he spoke in a voice so normal like it was not a year and a half since the last time they had seen each other. Zach's face flinched and then he forced his lips up into a smile despite the pained look he had just had that made Sero's eyes widen for a moment. Zach smiled at Sero and the other boy got a bigger one on his own face at the way Zach reacted like it actually meant a lot to him.

"I want to know the secret too," Ashido muttered. She only played at being upset though, and she flashed Midoriya the upset look as she said it which made the curly-haired boy lean back in surprise. Midoriya looked past Ashido too and he saw Uraraka glanced his way while turning around herself, her eyes half closed and lowered down, her mouth in a small frown. Midoriya's heart ached at the sight of that look, and he turned away as he saw too many of his classmates giving him similar looks that showed they still believed he was hiding something from them even if they had all stopped asking a long time ago.

Uraraka fully turned away from Deku and then kept going to the door. She walked past Bakugo who glanced out the corners of his eyes at her, before looking the other way with a click of his tongue when he saw her glancing at him too. Uraraka's head bowed more on her way out of the room as Bakugo did not meet her gaze showing he was hiding it just as much as the others.

A few of the others bid Zach farewell. Some mentioned how they were going to see him soon while others made mentions of how they felt before turning around. They all walked out of the room though, ultimately with Shoji walking out last and glancing in one more time at Zach who he had just spoken to when it was only the four of them left in the room. Bakugo and Midoriya both watched Shoji go still looking surprised after hearing what he had to say to Zach, and Zach's eyes were still lowered down to his bed sheets himself.

The door closed and Bakugo started towards the bed. He had an annoyed expression on his face and his arms crossed. He glared down at the boy on the bed who was dressed in a hospital gown with his right arm hidden under it as he could not get that arm in the sling through the blue sleeve. Midoriya stepped around to Zach's left side too before Bakugo reached it, and Midoriya came closer to the top of the bed so he was next to Zach now. His expression turned more serious than before, his fists clenching in determination that Bakugo saw with a glance down to Deku's sides. "Zach," Midoriya started now that it was just the three of them. "There's a lot, I need to tell you-"

Zach looked past Bakugo and over to the door, and he did not see any shadow through the glass on it of anyone standing there trying to listen in. He sat up with a deadly serious look covering the one that had emerged at what Shoji said to him. He sat up too fast and had to bring his left hand over to his right shoulder as he winced in pain, but his eyes kept a completely serious look in them as he stared at Midoriya and then Bakugo who lost his annoyed look to get serious himself. "We're in the end game now."

"The fuck does that mean?" Bakugo growled instead of pausing or getting shocked like the boy at his side.

"You have to stop him," Zach said. He looked at Midoriya and continued to his surprised classmate who returned to a serious look himself, frowning as he could not tell if Zach was being serious or if this was just a set-up for a lie. Midoriya started to feel it was serious though as Zach continued, "All For One."

The other two felt it might have something to do with AFO, but because Zach had mentioned him aloud in front of all the others they could not be sure. Bakugo started glaring at Zach, while Midoriya asked, "What do you mean?"

"You have to stop him, before it's too late-" Zach started to explain.

"Oi," Bakugo snapped. He glared into Zach's eyes when the darker-haired boy looked at him, and Bakugo growled, "If you're going to try and say some bullshit to make us think we're all on the same side or that you're being serious-"

"Bakugo," Zach interrupted. He made the blond boy get an even more pissed look on his face, but Zach hissed with a nervous look on his face at the other boy, "What I was afraid of is coming."

Bakugo gave Zach a look of confusion for a moment, then a look of recognition as to what he said covered that look up. Midoriya turned to Bakugo in even more confusion though as Bakugo seemed to understand what Zach just referenced. "What were you afraid of?" Midoriya asked, spinning back to Zach and then looking at Bakugo to see if one of them would explain it to him. There was a lot he felt he needed to talk about too, but the looks on their faces had him feeling very nervous all of a sudden.

"You can't-" Bakugo started, but Zach nodded his head as seriously as possible. "Wonder if he'll be there forever?"

"You told me All For One was in jail, so I didn't need to worry about it," Zach continued while looking into Bakugo's eyes. "But he got out, like I thought he might. And now-"

"What are you two talking about?" Midoriya asked, cutting in and getting upset at the conversation flowing too much without enough being said. "What's he planning?"

Bakugo's eyes darkened. "World-destroying Quirks. It didn't seem too far in the future when the principal asked me about it yesterday. But the chance of someone training that power is one in a million, and the chance of that person also being a villain, is also one in a million, so the chances of it ever happening like that are tiny." Bakugo rose his head and stared into Zach's eyes intensely again, checking to make sure that what he was hearing was not just more lies from his former classmate. As much as he had told himself that Zach could lie about anything though, this was not something he was expecting nor something he believed Zach would lie to him about. Sweat formed on his face and he thought about the rest of what Zach told him that day of his fears, "Yet it doesn't seem that far in the future if All For One gets out. Because it isn't about them training it, or them turning out to be a villain, when All For One could just take that power. An evil mastermind with the ability to steal powers. As long as he's still alive, I seriously think there's a chance he can destroy the world."

"The day of the capture the flag game," Zach started, confirming what he could already see Bakugo was thinking about. He looked to Midoriya with his eyes shadowed and dark lines covering them showing the dread in his expression. "I told Bakugo what my worst fear was. That All For One would escape, and that he could take a world-destroying Quirk for his own. I didn't tell you that day Bakugo, but I thought he might seriously do it even when I acted convinced by what you said. Because I believed that he might just get tired of ruling the world from the shadows. After so long, priorities change. People change." Zach's eyes darkened more and he said in a softer, ominous voice, "He's doing it. Searching, for a world-destroyer."

Bakugo and Midoriya opened their eyes huge and stared at Zach in shock. Sweat covered both of their faces, and Midoriya gulped with his whole body tensing in fear. Zach turned and looked up at them with so much dread on his face that it was clear he believed what he was saying. "You have to stop him," Zach said while looking at Midoriya. Then he glanced at Bakugo and then down at his own left hand he lifted in front of him. "We all do. We have to-"

"Are you sure?" Midoriya asked, leaning forward and then biting down on his bottom lip as he did not mean to get so close or talk to Zach in such a way. He hesitated after asking like he would believe Zach, but he pulled back at the look Zach gave him after he asked.

Zach looked into Midoriya's eyes with a tired and dark expression. "I heard the rumors. I knew, that if I continued to fight the way I was, that I might get too tired in a fight and he might get me." The other two stared at him in more shock again at how he was continuing. "I was afraid, that he would set up villain attacks and get me in a trap. That he was going to make me use up too much of my power, and then he was going to attack me and steal my Quirk. Because if All For One's looking for a world-destroying Quirk, then there isn't anything better than Death." Black wisps swirled over Zach's left fist and he opened that hand while the black covered it in a thick veil that did not flare in the least but just turned him pitch black there.

Midoriya and Bakugo both stared at that darkness and then snapped their gazes to Zach's face that stayed the same and did not transform into Nightmare. The control he showed over his own Quirk did not make them feel any more confident or less unnerved, instead they both just noted the way he used his power right there as information for later. Zach looked up at them and the darkness faded away after he showed them the ease of its use. They looked back into his eyes and Zach continued with his lips twisted down, "I got myself sent to the most secure prison in the world, buffed up after the first break-out, to hide my own power from All For One."

"That's why you came back?" Midoriya asked, looking at Zach with his eyebrows raised that it was such a pragmatic reason and none of the others he had mentioned while the rest of their classmates were there. "To hide?"

"Yes," Zach replied. "One of the reasons, the most important," Zach continued. He lowered his gaze down from the others and hesitated for a second, "I had to get out of reach." Zach shook his head and then rose it again to continued to his old classmates, "I don't know who tried to kill me, but they weren't with All For One. I hope at least, that All For One isn't trying to take my Quirk. I thought he would come for me for sure, but someone almost killed me and he didn't do anything. He didn't even come when I was defenseless to take it, so maybe, even All For One doesn't want something as unnatural as Death." Zach's teeth bared for a moment and his eyes lowered in a dark way at the bed he was sitting on.

"Do you still think it's a curse?" Midoriya asked. Zach rose his head and he looked into his old friend's eyes. Midoriya stared around his chest where his hand was in the sling below his gown, and though Midoriya thought for a second that maybe Zach's right hand had touched his chest to allow his left hand to go dark like that, he tried to keep his thoughts focused on Zach's feelings and not the specifics of his powers.

Zach shook his head though at Midoriya's question. "No," Zach replied. Midoriya looked back into his eyes and Bakugo examined him closer to at the way Zach replied to that. Zach continued while glancing back Bakugo's way too, "It's just a new kind of Quirk, unlike all others." His voice was steady but the other two started to feel more uneasy at the way he was talking. Then Bakugo's eyelids pulled far apart and Midoriya's jaw lowered as their former classmate explained himself. "I didn't understand until an arms deal I was spying on in Arvat went wrong and I wound up being attacked on two sides at once without my army around me." Zach's eyes were dark and cold, and he said in a steady voice to the two young heroes, "And entire armies fell at my feet. I can turn into Nightmare now without touching my head or chest, and I can do things with it that no human should be able to do. It's a next level Quirk, and I don't know if it's because my parents' Quirks were just that compatible or something, but it never should have been trained this far."

He said the last part and was already shaking his head as he did. All For One could have made it so much more powerful easily. He really could have taken it and turned it into a world-destroyer with ease. "Even if All For One isn't coming for it though, he is searching for one."

"How do you know?" Bakugo growled. Is he lying about the armies? Arms deals and world-destroying Quirks. He thinks his power's that strong? Fuck, what's he actually planning here?

"He's decided," Zach replied, looking into Bakugo's eyes and shifting his former classmate's thoughts back onto AFO. "All For One has given up on this world. He's no longer with the League of Villains," Zach looked back at Midoriya and nodded his head seriously while the green-haired boy stared into his eyes. "He's going to destroy everything."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Midoriya asked. After that final look before Zach finished, Midoriya believed him now but that just frustrated him more. His fists tightened and he asked, "Why did you not say something while you were in prison, when I came to visit you?!"

"Because I hoped my being there, would stop him from getting that power," Zach replied. "I hoped I would be there longer and stop All For One from ever getting my power, but I was almost killed stepping right out of prison, which means All For One didn't try stopping it. He just let it happen, which means I might not be a part of his final plan like I had assumed." Zach paused and then he continued in a softer voice though keeping eye contact with Midoriya, "I thought if I told people while in prison, they'd just kill me to make sure All For One didn't get his Quirk."

Midoriya's eyes bulged for a moment and then snapped back to normal. This doesn't make sense! It doesn't all add up.

"Why just tell us?" Bakugo asked. He was thinking along the same lines as Midoriya, that there was something weird about all this and the main thing seemed to be the secrecy around this. Zach had not mentioned anything about One For All so far, the secret that the three of them were in on and the other two assumed would come up in the conversation to get Zach to clear the room out first.

"Why not tell everyone?" Midoriya questioned.

"You want to tell everyone that the world's going to end?" Zach asked, raising his eyebrows at Midoriya and shaking his head at the idea of it. "That'd start a panic, and people would get hurt. People would kill their neighbors with strong Quirks to make sure All For One doesn't get them. It'd be, too sad," Zach whispered the last part while shaking his head again and then looking down as he imagined the scenario he just mentioned.

While Zach's head was bowed, he did not catch the shocked looks on Bakugo and Midoriya's faces at his answer. Bakugo turned away with an annoyed "Ch." He glared across the room and his eyes narrowed in a really pissed way over at the windows. Staring through them the sky got darker and he saw that huge black form shouting something that had shocked him more than anything else that had happened the entire night of the Lifebringer Incident. "Whereas Kurogiri, you're, you're the biggest threat to peace in our world." I never thought that you were lying about that. Bakugo's eyes shifted back to the boy sitting on the hospital bed next to him. As much as you lied before that night, you put everything down on the table. You told us everything. That seems, to still be the way you feel. Bakugo ground his teeth in an even more annoyed way, as for some reason he felt like confirming that had been the main reason he was in this hospital right now.

Too sad? Midoriya looked at Zach's bowed head and his heart raced in his chest. His shocked look faded though and he looked down himself, his clenched fists loosening up and the corners of his lips lifting the smallest amount. When he rose his head, Zach had lifted his too and was looking at them ready to continue this conversation. Midoriya looked into his eyes and nodded intensely, ready to accept what Zach was saying and to talk about this with him. In his head as he nodded though, Midoriya thought, He's still… I'm glad, Zach. After all this time, you're still… the same person we became friends with.

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A/N Thanks for reading. Zach reveals to his friends the reasons he's returned, though not all of them are being very friendly. And not all of his reasons are being told to everyone. Zach mentions some plans for what's coming ahead while leaving more in the dark too, and there are a lot of new developments coming soon... stay tuned!

Naruffoku chapter 140 . Feb 19

Just restarted his GTA run after getting busted by the feds and as soon as he walks out the truck he gets wasted? Smh... shape up Zach I expected noob mistakes like this back in chapter 60

Lol great comparison. XD

QuestingforBitches chapter 140 . Feb 19

Fucking hell man this fanfic.
This fanfic.
Been following it since chapter 8 and yet I'm still getting fucking surprised

Thanks! Glad to always keep you guys on your toes!

Ace Amity chapter 140 . Feb 19

Wow wow wow. I've been telling myself i'd wait to review until i was all caught up and what a ride it's been. The world building and overall thought that goes into this story is incredible, and i'm so glad i started reading. This is actually probably the only story around this length that i haven't gotten bored of and quit. It got confusing at times with just how fast everything was moving and i felt like OC's were popping out of nowhere but the story is some genius nonetheless. But man! What a time to get caught up! I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the next chapter. It's about damn time Zach reunited with class 3-A. Didn't think it was gonna be this way though. You e gotten me so attached to Zach at this point to where i'm literally getting mad at Midoriya whenever he tries to villanize him. Anyway, keep up the good work and expect another review next chapter!

Thanks for the awesome review! Really glad you've liked the story so much up til now. And I started speeding things up a lot in the later AoD chapters a lot in preparation for what's coming now which is Zach's here with most of his time a secret (even some of it from you guys, the readers). Definitely a great time to get caught up... even though the posts have been getting farther apart lately. Zach has his reunion with Class 3-A this chapter to many mixed reactions: hesitant, happy, angry, confused, etc. Midoriya goes easier on Zach than we've seen coming through the past few dozen chapters, though there's still a lot to say and work out between Zach and his old friends. Hope you enjoyed and again glad you've stuck with it this long without getting bored!

Kerchanko chapter 140 . 13h ago

I'm throwing my guess in: Zach dies and the next 5 chapters are an epilogue about how he becomes a martyr and the world enters into it's longest peaceful period in human history.

Great prediction. So close. But nah we got another 40-50 chapters of this to go! XD Thanks for the review!

Guest chapter 140 . Feb 19

This story has become a prime-time drama and I fucking live it.

Haha thanks for the comparison. Seems I got a lot of you guys excited and surprised in that last chapter which is always a great feeling. Thanks for reviewing and hope you liked the new one!