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!

229. Chapter 229

A/N Sorry guys. I know it was a really long update this time. Longest I ever had. I'll say some stuff about it in the Author's Note at the end, but I just want to apologize first. I've set a standard for myself and expectations for how long it will take for me to get out chapters and I went way past that here. But, I'm back on track now and going to spend tomorrow working on 230, so hope to get these updates out quicker again! Enjoy the chapter.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 229:

Ddr-bwwrnnn Zach looked to his right and out over the plane's wing that shook right then and made some noise.

"Sorry for the turbulence back there," the pilot's voice came over the intercom. "Little bit of wind up here. Should be smooth flying the rest of the way back to U.A. Enjoy the ride."

The four returning to U.A. in the back of the plane looked to the television again after that bump shook them from their thoughts. They all looked to the news report on other recently revived people who had been questioned leading to revelations that they had not been revived either like Hisang Wang. Others who had been brought back after Zach Sazaki's arrest in Japan were coming forward and reconfirming that they had been revived though, causing some confusion as well as varied levels of reporting from different stations. Some called one side or the other liars, while others just stuck with it now being "debatable" that anyone had been brought back while Lifebringer was in Tartaros.

Kendo stood up from her seat and walked up to the television. She pressed the power button on the bottom right of the screen and then sat back down facing the others besides Zach who was across the aisle and facing the same way as her. "I'm tired of the news," Kendo said with a laugh and then a look to her left towards her friend the reporters were just talking about.

Do they both know he's Death already? Recovery Girl wondered. It is seeming more likely each day that it is the only explanation. As his doctor I wish I had been able to see it sooner. Though, I suppose I am still skeptical… But there is a ninety percent chance that it was him. Recovery Girl sighed and then rubbed her forehead while glancing towards the windows on her side.

Yaoyorozu smiled despite what the news had just been showing. It was what they got for watching Japanese news on the flight, but she still remembered what they watched that morning at the airport. They're calling all those videos "Lifebringer Videos." I'm happy that term is getting rebranded as something good. So many followed the example Dr. Reena set. And because there were foreigners inside Gangwe when the quarantine started, and some who died, some communities in the U.S., Italy, India, and Nepal have been making them too. "Thank you, Lifebringer." I don't know how long they'll be saying it for, but at least for now he seems happier.

"Did you hear?" Kendo began, looking to Yaoyorozu who turned to the orange-haired girl across from her in the cabin of their high school's private jet. "The Arutu Prize in Medicine is being considered for Jon Juan."

The guy who's using his Quirk to make the cure, Zach thought while looking to Kendo with a smile and nod as he thought the man deserved it. As he was starting to think of something else though, he smiled brighter as Kendo added with a look down at her phone she had out, "They also nominated Dr. Adriana Khatri. The 'brilliant mind' behind the KO-14's that slowed the death rate of Sleepless drastically. That's according to the doctors in all the cities where the devices started being used in the days before Sleepless was eradicated."

Kendo cleared her throat and then lifted her phone more before saying, "'Many who would have reached the point of no return were put under using the KO-14's that were mass-produced by Creati…'" Kendo paused and rose her eyes up towards her darker-haired friend who smiled nervously though wondered how big a news site Kendo was reading this off of. "'And due to that, they were saved.' There's some more about how others were too far gone, but the KO's slowed their deaths to the point that Lifebringer," Kendo darted a smile to her left, "was able to save more of them because they were not all dying as quickly or at the same time anymore."

"All of that sounds about right," Zach agreed with a nod back at Kendo and then a bigger smile himself. Yaoyorozu's lips flattened though while Recovery Girl frowned as she continued staring out the windows after hearing something Kendo just said.

Yaoyorozu noticed the tone shift in Recovery Girl's expression and turned to her. The older woman grimaced more as her sharpest student somehow could tell what she was thinking about. "They only nominated Dr. Khatri? What about Dr. Olsen?"

Recovery Girl turned back to Yaoyorozu and looked uncertain how to reply. Zach turned his head and gazed confusedly towards Recovery Girl as well, What is she thinking about? Zach's expression was convincing enough to Kendo and Recovery Girl, though Yaoyorozu tried not to frown as she suspected Zach had more of an idea than he was letting on.

Recovery Girl shifted her gaze in Sazaki's direction. She kept her frown and started in a low voice, "Olsen isn't being nominated because… Well, hahh," Recovery Girl rubbed her forehead in frustration. He helped us dramatically. Thousands of lives… but that doesn't change this.

"Lans Olsen," Recovery Girl began again in a steadier voice. "Is wanted for questioning. There is a warrant out for his arrest in sixty-four countries."

Zach lifted his eyebrows up in surprise. Kendo's jaw dropped though, while Yaoyorozu just felt her heart rate spike as her focus locked onto the school nurse. "Why?" Yaoyorozu questioned.

Chiyo Shuzenji shook her head slowly. Then she said with her eyes lifting back up to lock with Yaoyorozu's, "He was a scientist at Sci-Psi Tech Industries, a research-based laboratory in Norway. A laboratory where, about a year ago today, a massacre wiped out most of the staff at the company."

Kendo's breath caught in her throat with her eyes opening wide as they darted around to the others in the cabin. As she looked Zach's way her eyes stopped instead of shifting back to Recovery Girl. Zach attempted to maintain an expression similar to Kendo's though maybe less surprised, but his eyes shifted down instead after a couple seconds and then closed as the nurse kept talking.

"The villains who carried out the attack were never caught," Recovery Girl continued. "However it was discovered afterwards that the researchers at Sci-Psi had been building weapons and weaponized vehicles that far exceeded international legal standards. They surpassed all kinds of legal limitations on a global scale, let alone Norway's stringent regulations."

"Why were they making-" Kendo began.

"With everyone part of the company dead, and the villains never caught," Recovery Girl interrupted the orange-haired girl. "There was no way to know. Most of the researchers' families disappeared as well and were not available for questioning after the event. Some of them were found however, only they were discovered murdered in their own homes. They were killed in hit-and-runs." Recovery Girl paused and her eyes shifted to Sazaki for a moment before aiming at the floor as she imagined the briefing she had that morning before heading to the airport. She added softer, "A child of a murdered researcher was even killed while he was biking home from school."

"That's horrible," Yaoyorozu whispered. They wiped them all out?! If they were making weapons… Villains killed people, who were making weapons. Who would they have been making weapons for? Zach knew Dr. Olsen. Sci-Psi. Was that entire research company working for-

"Olsen's body was never discovered like most of his colleagues' were, but he was just marked missing along with his family until this incident," Recovery Girl continued. "Where he has surfaced for the fist time." Recovery Girl's voice got lower and she continued on, "Virtucorp is now quietly under investigation too, as authorities are trying to figure out how Dr. Olsen and that company which was created oddly just shortly after Sci-Psi's destruction, are connected."

The plane stayed quiet for a few moments after Recovery Girl finished filling them in on what she had heard about it. Zach leaned back in his seat and his eyes that had opened again stared straight ahead of him. The entire R&D department. Right when we went on the attack. As I got so much stronger, and some of our comrades out since Wampajawa were back on their feet, Fergus came for us. When we thought some villains just found out about our weapons' development lab and took it out, that was just the first stage of Fergus' attack…

"Fergus has gone too far."

"He's on the ship! I didn't go crazy! It was him, and everyone I touched while he was in me- oh my God- he could Possess anyone!"

"All teams abandon current orders!"

"Scatter!"

"Don't trust anyone!"

"Look out for his Beams. He's getting desperate…"

"We must be getting close to his real body."

"There you are."

Zach's eyes closed and he thought of Fergus' old decrepit body in front of him. "A child of a murdered researcher was even killed while he was biking home from school." He heard what Recovery Girl had just mentioned, and he opened his eyes back up with his expression flat and free of guilt. Justice was paid. Zach felt he had repaid Mr. Fergus whose old wrinkled form collapsed off the high-tech chair under him. Hawkins' face flashed in Zach's head and then screams echoed into the back of his mind that only got louder the longer he sat there in silence.

Push them down. Zach took in a deep breath and forced those voices quieter until they were nothing more than a white noise he could try to ignore. "I heard something about that," Zach mentioned. He admitted it but then rose his eyebrows a little while looking at the school nurse, "I also heard a couple of those family members did show back up though. They were marked alive…" He insinuated maybe she was wrong in what she was saying or maybe something had happened, something he was trying not to feel too worried about as he kept from jumping to conclusions.

Recovery Girl frowned at the boy who had made his expressions before out as more surprised. She hummed and then nodded after a moment, "Looking into it, it appears some extended family members of the researchers' families have been in contact with the missing relatives. The ones who weren't killed are also wanted for questioning though, and yet they won't respond to heroes' attempts to get in contact with them."

"Where did they all go?" Kendo wondered confusedly. She looked next to her towards Zach who just shook his head in similar confusion with a thoughtful look.

Recovery Girl's eyes widened even after that new expression making him actually seem confused. Was I wrong? Could his surprise have been because he already knew about this and was, confused by the way I was telling… no. No, I'm confusing myself. Thinking too hard about it. Recovery Girl shook her head at the thoughts she was having. I just hope that you do not also have too much to do with Virtucorp. It would be a shame if that company could be linked back to you.

Virtucorp shouldn't have any illegal ties that could get them in trouble, Zach was thinking along the same lines as his school nurse at the moment. He was able to quickly shift his thoughts from Life City and where those surviving researchers and the families they had saved were in hiding. It was easier when Recovery Girl did not have any bad news that he was subconsciously preparing himself for, in case any of those other evacuated people who had been popping back up more frequently had been killed. Khatri and Olsen might've- they definitely had contingencies ready too. They would have seen this coming.

Khatri probably could have been the public face on her own, so maybe this was the way that the ones who fled from Norway are really testing the waters to see if they'll be able to surface anytime soon. It's not looking like they can do it so easily. They'll work it out though. I'm sure they can handle it. Zach relaxed and closed his eyes while leaning back into his seat, resting for the remainder of the trip.

Yaoyorozu lifted a small smile as she saw that relaxed look on Zach's face. You brought them to Life City. Saved the researchers and their families from… which one was it? Which of your enemies? Eziano? Mr. Fergus? King? …Whoever it was, they killed civilians that you brought into your fight. Scientists who were building you better weapons than your enemies had. I'm sure those people volunteered to help you, but it's still disheartening to think that so many of them were killed. A child, even… I know it must weigh on you still, Yaoyorozu's small smile was gone as she watched the relaxed look on Zach's face. But I suppose thinking of the ones who you saved is better, sometimes. What am I thinking? I am jumping to assumptions.

But I jump to them because he still hasn't told me everything. I don't think, he ever will.

The private jet returned to U.A. and landed on the campus that Zach looked down on as they descended towards it. Two weeks left. His eyes were open and he stared at the school buildings that he had spent very little time at over the past two and a half weeks since he had been allowed back to U.A. It was already April. The next school year's Sports Festival was happening before the month even ended. They would be graduating before then. And after graduation…

The plane's wheels touched down as Zach could no longer push that question any farther away. There was no longer enough time. The realization that he could not just "wait" for some later date this time, was more of a relief than anything else. The understanding that he had to actually decide this now took a weight off his shoulders that he had felt for months and got heavier each time he dodged the question. He would dodge it when asked by reporters, or his friends, or even when he asked it of himself. His fingers interlocked as he looked out the windows at the moving ground outside as the plane rolled towards a point for them to disembark closest to the main school building where Principal Nezu and others among the staff were waiting to hear about their time abroad and give them the work they had missed that they needed to catch up on now.

Kendo got off the flight first with Recovery Girl behind her who was reiterating to the orange-haired girl that they would be having daily checkups until she was 100 percent better, and then a few days after that. Kendo assumed these would be going until graduation but she just smiled happily anyway as she took a fresh unobscured look from the top of the jet's staircase at a home she had doubted she would ever see again. She looked back once more and smiled towards Zach who gave her a smaller one back and a nod ahead, and they started disembarking the private jet.

Yaoyorozu waited for a moment and looked back at Zach who was hesitating for some reason instead of following right behind her. He nodded ahead at her, and she was confused but just nodded back instead of trying to figure out each and every one of Zach's actions that always seemed to have some ulterior reason behind them. Zach stepped past the door on the side of the plane and closer to the cockpit that was open and had a man inside who stood up from his seat after putting down a headset finally and flipping the last switch he needed to hit.

The police officer who got up from his seat looked back at Zach Sazaki who stood in the short hallway and looked straight ahead into his eyes. Zach knew he shouldn't. He considered walking right off the plane but stared into the coal black eyes of the figure in front of him who had a slightly bigger-than-average nose on his light-skinned face. Zach lifted the right corner of his lips after a moment of looking into the man's eyes, then he bowed his head forward in gratitude. "Thank you, Riekers. For everything." Zach lifted his head back up and gave the man a knowing and grateful look, then he turned and headed back for the exit of the plane.

Officer Riekers did not say anything in response to the teenager. When Zach's head was facing sideways as he was about to leave the plane, he did glance back though towards the man who just nodded back at him. No words were spoken, but they knew Zach's words were not solely in regards to the flights Riekers had flown over the past week.

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Backpack hasn't been this heavy since I came back. Zach shrugged his shoulder straps that were straining as his bag was full and heavier than even when he lived out on the streets. Back then at least some of the inside was full of clothes, but now it was just full of every textbook and notebook and binder he owned at once.

"Geez dude, what do you have in there? Bricks?" Sero jogged up to Zach's right side and his classmate turned and glanced to his side as his friend came up on that side.

"I still feel that," the voice on Zach's other side mentioned, and Zach turned to Kirishima whose bag was similarly heavy though not as packed as Zach's. "Still though," Kirishima had to admit with a tilt of his head to the side for a second. "It's your third week back and you've been to what? Three days of classes?"

"Well first you were 'sick,'" Sero began, lifting his right hand to count it off. "Then the two of you idiots got put on lockdown," Sero added, and he grinned more as Kirishima's smirk dropped from the insult.

"Then straight on to China," Zach finished, as he had not returned to class after he was put under house arrest. "At least I'm here today though," he offered with a shrug like he had no idea what the next day would have for him.

"Try to make it until the end this time?" Sero wondered, saying it partly sarcastically but also not liking Zach's tone that suggested more stuff might get in the way. "You've got enough to make up already," Sero added with a laugh as Zach just nodded along with him.

Zach closed his eyes while nodding with Sero. He did not laugh along. Instead, Zach took in a deep breath as his heart was racing in his chest and his fists twitching at his sides. The bodies packing the Fundong morgue that he reached his hand for, black mist coming out of him and crawling towards them, about to revive them all… His eyes opened back up and he walked into the school, smiling and glancing to his side at Kirishima who mentioned how he needed serious help with some of the classes they missed.

"Bakugo's too busy to help me study. And Gang Orca's got me do extra work too since I missed three days last week…" Kirishima went on and Zach mentioned how he was down to study that evening after Kirishima's internship as he knew he was still going to have a ton of work left even after being back for a day. Sero crossed his arms when they looked at him though, telling them not to look for any help from him. Kirishima sighed and then looked back at Zach with a thoughtful look, and he wondered, "You want to ask Yaoyorozu to help us?"

Zach hesitated. The moment hesitation caused Sero to speak up before they reached the classroom, "What? Don't think 'Momo' will want to help you?" Sero rose his eyebrows at his friend who still called their class's smartest student by her first name.

"She helped us enough already," Zach replied to Kirishima, ignoring Sero on his other side who got confused by the response and more-so when Kirishima nodded in agreement. The notes she had given them were really helping Kirishima out, as Zach still had not gone through some of them and had not spent much time since his house arrest studying. Zach added, "She needs to catch up from the last week too. I don't want to slow her down."

"Iida will take that week and run with it," Kirishima agreed with a strong nod. He glanced back to his side after that agreement though as the right corner of Zach's lips closer to him rose up a tiny bit at what he just said like he wasn't worried about that at all. Kirishima sighed after a moment while deciding not to look into that any deeper, and he muttered under his breath, "Must be nice not having to worry about this. You've got so much more time on your hands."

"Not having an internship does take some stress off," Zach agreed in a cocky way. Not yet. Applying for a sidekick job or real internship could be a move for after graduation. If I choose to stay and be a hero. A non-reviving hero. What if I deny reviving at hospitals or natural cause deaths? Keep it back down to accidents-

"I mean because you don't really sleep," Kirishima countered. He thought Zach would understand what he was getting at without him spelling it out, and Kirishima glanced past to Sero who looked in interestedly at Zach. Kirishima finished after a moment, "Much." He didn't know if Sero had heard anything about that, but Sero started thinking of the night of the joint training and gave Zach a curious look wondering about what Kirishima just said to him.

"I started sleeping again," Zach replied to Kirishima with a shake of his head. They just reached Class A and the three of them stepped inside, but Zach kept talking anyway without caring about the other 7 people in the class who were up talking to each other or just sitting in their seats. "Bringing people back to life completely took it out of me. The ones who died of Sleepless for good while I was in China, that happened mostly while I was asleep. Knocked out from bringing back too many."

"You sure about that?" A voice muttered behind Zach. He glanced to his side as he had stopped in the middle of the room between Kirishima's seat and Sero's. He looked back at the girl with long earlobes who walked by him towards her own desk, and she frowned while looking out the corners of her eyes darkly at her classmate who she knew had passed out for a good amount of time in China. However, the most people died of Sleepless not in that earlier time when he was knocked out, but after he had left the Fundong FLICC on his own accord.

Zach looked back forward and just shook his head after a second when the other two gave him confused looks as to why Jirou had countered what he said. "Right after I showed up I revived a group of people too big for me. Took me out for half a day, or, eleven hours," Zach corrected himself as he remembered Jirou doing the same when he had asked her how long he had been out for. He looked specifically at Kirishima who wondered more about what was the whole truth based on what Jirou had remarked as she went by him. Zach nodded at him though and said, "It was the first time I had slept in over a week. But it kind of knocked me back into a sleep schedule, sort of."

"You're having trouble sleeping?" Uraraka wondered, looking towards Zach concernedly. She tried not to think of the 'over a week' thing which she assumed/hoped was an exaggeration, or like he was saying he only had a couple hours each night of that week…

"It's nothing," Zach assured to her. He shook his head that she would need to be worried about it or him, treating what he just said as if it were not an issue.

Jirou was still staring over out the corners of her eyes though. Something was weird about him before we went to China. Since he came back. He was excitable, and weirdly happy. Then sick and, and- and I don't get how he made you change your mind so fast! Jirou glared towards Kirishima out the corners of her eyes angrier than she was at Zach. She had seen them acting more normal during their house arrest, but she thought maybe it was just because they were forced to be next to each other, or something. But their house arrest was over, and Kirishima and Zach were still acting all buddy-buddy with one another.

I don't trust you. Not at all. You may have everyone here fooled. And you might, seriously have some problems, Jirou thought about what she listened in to between Zach and Recovery Girl at the FLICC when Zach couldn't take reviving any more people. I thought I could try and work with you. Try and just, not be so angry- and then you! You went and blatantly used your powers as Death to take down the Fabu! Midoriya and Momo both know already. They don't care. I don't know if it's because no one has the proof to make an accusation stick or what, but you crossed a line over there. And they're not going to let you get away with it this time.

Class A filed into their classroom and took their seats before All Might came in for homeroom. Although the rest of Class A had seen their returned classmates the night before, and others in the group had already returned a couple days earlier, All Might still congratulated Zach, Yaoyorozu, and all of the Class A's who went to China for their good work with the Sleepless Outbreak. He told them about the great work he had been informed each of them did overseas which properly represented U.A. and Japanese heroes abroad.

I can't tell if he's just talking to everyone else right now, Zach wondered curiously while looking to All Might. He got more surprised as his homeroom teacher glanced his way again while half the class was clapping for their friends as it seemed called for by All Might's little speech. I'm certain the teachers know. Ectoplasm sensei did not hide his suspicion. He accused me directly of being Death and lying about it. I can hold on though. Just two more weeks…

The second period of the day came and Cementoss came in to teach. Zach focused on the lessons he was far behind on, though he was more worried about his next class that he was not as great at and doubted he would be able to keep up with after missing a week's worth of TyreFire's lectures he had barely gotten a grip on before his house arrest. Calculus was his worst subject and he was ready to spend the period really focused solely on it, as through too much of Cementoss' lesson Zach's thoughts were stuck on the topic of "two weeks" that kept bouncing around in his mind.

Unfortunately, TyreFire had different plans. Sudou Nanima's dark gray eyes locked on Lifebringer's after he entered the classroom and Zach could feel something off about the teacher. He was not the only one to notice, as TyreFire did not speak for a few seconds after stopping in front of Zach Sazaki's seat. "Sazaki," the teacher began. The man with dark skin and silver hair also had silver fingernails the same color as his shiny hair. He wore his hero costume that was black but with silver lines like racing stripes cutting around it not in vertical or horizontal stripes but more unique ones. "Why is it the Army of Death has been telling people to say that they had been revived, ever since you were arrested?"

Zach stared at the teacher directly in front of him in surprise. Did he seriously just ask me that? This is Calculus.

The rest of the students of Class A looked at TyreFire in surprise too, though more started looking Zach's way hesitantly or anxiously as they wondered what he was going to say. Koda's eyes were shifted Zach's direction though he did not turn his head, his heart racing at the question which could lead to, something. He stared at their math teacher for the third year at U.A. who was accusing Zach very directly of being something that if it were true, would mean that Zach was an international terrorist and the most wanted man in the world.

"Why are the Army of Death telling people to say they've been revived?" TyreFire repeated the question as Sazaki only looked at him in surprise for a second before getting a more awkward look on his face but one not nervous in the least which angered the teacher who kept up his accusatory tone. "Do you have any explanation?"

Zach shrugged his shoulders. "It could be," Zach started to respond as if just coming up with it off the top of his head. "That the Army of Death are no longer reviving anyone. Perhaps the one who had been saving people had already died, as it seemed like he or she might have after the Villain Summit when so few remained." Others around the room stared at Zach with growing eyes while TyreFire tried to keep his look steady and accusing even as the teenager continued, "Or maybe they just had not been to many places to revive people recently, and the one responsible for doing so knew that the lack of revivals coming from the Army of Death would bring about the obvious conclusion that Lifebringer had been Death the whole time. So they asked some people they helped to say that they had been revived to make sure I wasn't falsely accused of any of their crimes."

Zach paused for a moment and glanced to his right towards Sero and Tokoyami. Sero had to remind himself that Zach was not lying to him but was rather just acting inconspicuous and hoping he would go along with it. It was difficult though considering his surprisingly convincing tone as he admitted, "I don't think the Army of Death would have wanted me to take the fall for their actions."

Tyfire was getting extremely annoyed at how much sense Zach was making for a minute there with his different theories. He came up with those so fast. Unless they're just obvious to him, he must have thought of them far in advance to get past this! Or, he just thought of them because it was something he would think about, but- damn it. I'm still 90… 85% sure it's really him. "Why do you think the Army of Death wouldn't want you taking the fall-"

"Because I think they're good people," Zach interrupted his teacher who completely froze this time. The man stared at Zach Sazaki in confusion that he would say that publicly, as if he was allowed to do so. Jirou gawked at Zach's back from the seat behind him with a look of disbelief on her face for his statement. Zach tilted his head back though and continued staring at his teacher in front of him, "It's my opinion and I don't care if it's what some would consider 'wrong.' The Army of Death helped a lot of people, and at one point I had considered joining them myself. Not that I ever did. I know they're not always good and that they've done some wrong, but at the end of the day I don't think they're bad people. And because of that opinion of mine, I can easily make these connections to why it is they would have told people to pretend like they had been brought back to life at the same time I turned myself in, if that's what really happened. They just didn't want people to falsely believe that I was Death."

TyreFire waited a second after Sazaki finished and then nodded his head. His certainty that Sazaki was Death got shaken there, and he remembered that he was not someone sold on that theory himself until news of those fake revivals started coming out. His mind that had been changed and confident on this accusation dropped back even lower in certainty percentage, though he was still frustrated as the looks on many of the students' faces suggested they still believed he was Death as well. "That's an interesting theory," TyreFire said, his voice easing off its confrontational tone from before. He added, "You should be spending less of your time thinking up those reasons and more on your classwork," TyreFire continued to the teen who had not done well in his class so far. With that, TyreFire focused onto his subject and lifted his head to tell all the students what pages to open in their textbooks as they began.

Sazaki's either telling the truth and he doesn't know, TyreFire thought while situating himself at the desk. Or he is far too smart to let these new revelations take him down.

If Zach said those same things on tv, people would believe him too. Todoroki watched Zach out the corner of his eyes after seeing Tokoyami in front of him stare down with a thoughtful look as if seriously considering what Zach had just theorized. He saw confusion on the faces of Sato and Koda on his right who each had also gotten more suspicious of Zach with some of the revivals being revealed as fake, and yet not all of them had been as other revived people were saying. The Army of Death could have done what Zach suggested just to increase the volume of revivals in order to keep it in the news and make sure Zach was not falsely convicted. It made sense. People would trust what he says, Todoroki continued to himself without being able to focus on the calc lesson. Even though every word out of Zach's mouth over the first two minutes of class was a lie. Every look on his face and mannerism he made. It's impressive, even.

Makes me fucking sick, Jirou's eyes bored into Zach's back. How easy it is for you to lie. How convincing you are! It comes so naturally you barely have to think about it… unless you've been planning out those responses, ever since you heard the first people lying about getting revived- Or before that! When you decided to go back, and you probably left instructions for your Army to do that for you while you're in Japan. While you're on your mission here. Jirou's face hardened and her thoughts stopped being so angry to get focused instead.

Mina is wrong, Jirou reminded herself. Zach does have a plan, and he's still Death. I know what happened in China. I heard the rumors of everything that went down there, and I know his contact disappeared and caught the villain who "slipped away" from Zach during the chase in Yuanbo, and how the contact had gotten the information… It's a secret within the heroes' ranks. None of it confirmed, but I know. I know he contacted his Army. He had them assist… And, they're not bad people.

Jirou frowned deeper again and could not keep as serious and detached as she was for a minute there. I was in the epicenter of that when it got better because of Zach saving the day. Because of that Army of Death guy saving it. He was lying but, but also not. It all seems like a lie because the biggest part of what he says is. They did save people though. A lot of people. If it weren't for Zach, I don't think I'd feel the same kind of hate towards them… I hated them more than anything while he was gone and even after he came back, but if he wasn't Death-

It doesn't matter. I'm in it now. His opinion on Death doesn't change what we have to do as heroes. Or what we have to do if he gets outed… not that we're ever going to find proof.

The morning classes went by uneventfully after the start of calc. Lunch started and Zach and Yaoyorozu were back in the cafeteria for the first day in a week. The welcome they had gotten from their own class the night before after debriefing with the principal was replicated even bigger in the lunchroom. People who did not consider themselves as much as classmates as the third years of Class A but thought of them more as celebrities at this point were amazed by Creati and Lifebringer's actions overseas. After smiling around at the clapping students, the two just went and got their lunches then sat across from each other, speaking on some of Midnight's work she gave them this morning that both of them felt totally lost about.

Iida grabbed his lunch and went straight towards the table that Zach and Yaoyorozu sat at together. He hesitated while looking towards Class B's side of the room, where one of the students was missing as she had to go to Recovery Girl's office during the lunch break to check in with the school nurse. Iida turned back and walked right up to Zach's right side that he sat down next to without Zach adjusting his right arm as he was oft to do when people would sit on that side of him. There was no potential risk with Iida though, so Zach just glanced to his side wondering what Iida had to tell him.

Yaoyorozu looked at Iida the same way, allowing Iida to skip through the first few sentences he was preparing with. He did not join in on their conversation or wait for a break in it. Zach had looked to him already with a look showing he wanted to hear what Iida had to say, somehow sensing some question on the tip of his tongue just from the way Iida sat down alone. Iida noticed that Yaoyorozu did not look surprised by Zach's way of turning to him without wondering anything or looking at him first to see if he really did have something to say, she just looked at him in a similar way as Zach wondering what was on his mind. "Zach," Iida began. His voice was low and Zach's expression did not change but a look in his eyes warned Iida to be careful here.

"I had, already known about Kendo," Iida mentioned. He glanced across the table and saw Yaoyorozu frown but in a sad way as she glanced back towards Zach for a second herself then around the room. Iida continued, "She told me last year, and that I was the only one she told. I didn't mention anything about it before because it was a secret she told me. I didn't even want to tell you after…" Iida trailed off as they were in the cafeteria, but he had not brought Kendo up to Zach before despite knowing about it because he did not want to break Kendo's trust even just by letting Zach know that she had told him. He knew that Zach already knew about it, but he had stayed quiet about it anyway instead of saying the one thing he really wanted to.

When Iida opened back up his mouth though to finally say that, Zach nodded his head in understanding. "Yeah, it caught me by surprise. Wish you had told me earlier. Was a real scare," Zach got to eating his lunch and denied Iida the chance to thank him as he spoke like hearing she had been revived had completely caught them all off guard in China. He chewed then mentioned after as Iida looked strained like he just wanted to get it out, "But good on you for keeping that secret. I didn't even know that you knew," Zach admitted, sounding impressed as he continued looking down at his food and picking up his next bite.

Iida paused for another second before he nodded and started eating as well. I didn't know if he could tell what I was thinking about those times. Why did I assume he did? Maybe, I am getting better at deceiving people. I was able to hide something, at least. Iida shifted his gaze towards the table Todoroki sat at with Midoriya, talking about something unrelated to the conversation over here that Bakugo, Kirishima, and Tokoyami all joined in on as they sat with the others.

Zach focused more on his food and what Iida had been telling him about than the recent attempts by Japanese heroes to get more out of the raids they had been doing since the Koimou Massacre. Despite a few captures of high profile Radians, as well as the big Higashine Jazz Raid that took down the Jazz's Miss Management, there had been no sightings of League of Villains since the slaughter of 38 of Japan's heroes. Unlike his other classmates, Zach's thoughts were stuck on the orange-haired girl in Class B who was not in the room right now and who he was feeling sorry for at the moment. News is already spreading around the nation that Death had revived Battle Fist before. It's leading to a lot of confusion as to when that happened, and somebody's going to have to explain themselves. Sucks for Sliding Queen most of all, even if she was just going along with the Americans when they signed the NDA's.

It really sucks for Kendo though. She kept it a secret for so long, and I pushed it out of her even though she wound up surviving anyway. I could have kept my mouth shut instead of pushing her to tell everyone. Except, she needed one of the KO-14's earlier than other people, and as a hero she would have gotten it much later. No, I made the right move. If no one knew then she would have been left for last, as if she died instead of a civilian that would have been better. People would have thought that was better. And that's why I had to reveal her. Because even back at that time I knew that should a treatment get discovered, she would need to be administered it first. She just came… so close though.

Across the middle of the cafeteria, Tsuburaba sat across from Komori Kinoko. The two of them were each looking across the room subtly towards Zach but they could tell the other person was watching as well. Next to Komori sat Kodai Yui and her boyfriend at her other side who looked more blatantly over in Class A's direction, and he smiled towards the black-haired girl with her hair up in a spiky ponytail who he had saved their first year while they ran from a Nomu in the training forest together. Thinking about back then gave Awase chills, making him look back to talk to the others.

Kodai was not concerned about her boyfriend staring towards the gorgeous Class A girl. She noticed but also appreciated what Yaoyorozu had done which everyone knew had saved their class representative's life. Kodai was looking more at the strange looks that Tsuburaba and Komori had when they looked back at each other and made eye contact. The two each thought about visiting a ski resort with others in their class for a day trip off campus. They remembered how Kendo had spoken up and thanked Zach as he was leaving them after eating lunch together. The weird moment as she called 'Thank you' to him, only to pause and say she was thanking him for coming back.

When the rumors spread to them before Kendo even arrived back in the country, even though Shinso and Rin did not say anything about it, the two could not hide it very well when questioned by their classmates. News stations had picked it up too and it got harder for her Class B classmates to lie, but Kendo herself knew she could not hide it anymore and told her friends straight out what had happened after coming back the night before. Tsuburaba and Komori already knew it was true though before having it confirmed, as did a silver-haired classmate of theirs who had also been there at the ski mountain and who the two spotted and followed with their eyes as he walked straight to that table where Zach was sitting.

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu stopped behind Zach. Zach turned his head to the side and looked back only to sweatdrop as Tetsutetsu bowed his body forward. "Thank you! Lifebringer!" Tetsutetsu shouted in a gruff voice. He stood back up fully and looked down from his eyes that always looked angry between his sharp and spiky thick eyelashes. "For bringing back Kendo-"

"I didn't," Zach held up his hands defensively. Is he dense?! Zach did not know how to treat the thick-headed Class B student who looked at him uncertainly at the response Zach cut him off with. "I never brought her back," Zach told the other boy who frowned more as Zach denied having anything to do with it.

Kendo thinks it was you. That's why she thanked you! Kendo's smarter than everyone I know, Tetsutetsu frowned more as he wondered about that thought he just had. In his head he pictured Zach standing up in front of their combined hero courses and all the teachers almost two years ago exactly. That report Zach had given to them had seemed so amazing back then, and everything he said in it came true which made it sound even smarter to him whenever he would look back on it. Currently though, all Tetsutetsu could think about was the harsh way in which he felt he had treated Zach at the ski resort and the thoughts he had had about possibly arresting Zach when he was talking about his vigilante acts while he was gone. Tetsutetsu's face scrunched up in more anger at himself after thinking of it and knowing now what had already happened to Kendo at that time.

"Well thank you anyway," Tetsutetsu said after another second of just staring at Zach while everything else around them had become silent. "Kendo said you saved her in China too."

Zach's had a hesitant and anxious look that he knew he needed to keep up because of what Tetsutetsu just accused him of while trying to thank him. His look shifted though at the thought of what Kendo had apparently told her classmate, Did I? I was just wondering if what I did saved her. Making her reveal her first death. And more infected would have meant more KO-14's had to go to other people. The cure wouldn't have been able to be administered as quickly. She also seemed like what I told her about not dying- though she said she had accepted it! I'm still mad about that.

Zach's uncertainty towards what Tetsutetsu just said to him made Yaoyorozu frown herself at the sight of the subtle shift on Zach's face. Before she could even start thinking about it though or what she may need to tell him, Tetsutetsu locked eyes with hers that opened huge. Oh no- Yaoyorozu started lifting her hands to try and stop him, but Tetsutetsu's body snapped to a ninety degree angle again first. "Thank you! Creati!"

---

"…Too often, the present feels like all there is. The present, and the oncoming future," All Might spoke to his homeroom class before they were to leave for the rest of the day. He knew many of them were in a rush to get out to their internships, while others would be returning to their dorms to study, however even those students he knew would be distracted from school because of what was going on around the country. Nothing in particular had happened today, but every day that passed they felt the weight getting heavier.

Zach's thoughts trailed away from the work he had to do later. Even his deeper thoughts going on simultaneously about two weeks from now faded away too as it felt like All Might was talking straight to him. The teacher was speaking to all his students though who he had seen so focused lately, and many of them looked frustrated. Even with successful raids on villains that they assisted with, and public praise for their recent actions, Class A looked frustrated to him by how little information they still had on Raijin, Intanzo, Shigaraki, and all the other villains they really wanted to catch. All Might continued to his class, "You must also remember to look back once in a while. Look back on yourselves from even just one year ago and see how much you've grown since then."

"It's easy to forget how far you've come when it seems like there is still so much room for improvement," All Might continued. He suggested to the students who looked thoughtful and like they were all going to take the advice of the former Number 1 hero into great consideration, some of them already doing so even as he was still talking, "But don't only look at your own improvement, but the changes around you as well. Look at how different the world is today. Try to focus for at least a short time of each day, on your successes…"

It's the beginning of April now, Zach thought. A year ago?

After watching Zach and Ares fight, Midoriya's eyes shifted down to the top of his desk. All I've felt is, inadequacy. Comparing myself to them, I did forget, All Might. I forget how I'm already stronger than you ever were. Frustrated that going above 90 hurts me too much. I know it's 90. You told me maybe that's as much as I can get out, but I can't let that be enough! Zach's right. Shigaraki knows about One For All. He knows that I will be stronger than All Might, so we need to expect that the successor of All For One will be stronger as well! Stop that!

Midoriya calmed his breathing that just started speeding up. One minute. Just spend one minute, looking back instead of forward. A year ago? Before Bakugo pushed me to new limits at the Sports Festival, I couldn't even get up to 45% normally. Half of what I can reach today. I have, become stronger.

Zach closed his eyes as he imagined a year ago. A city in flames emerged in his mind. Explosions and gunfire filled his ears. It was after the Siege of Razmatan! That was still in March, barely, but it kicked off the world loop… Wampajawa, Zach bit down as he reminded himself, his heart racing frustratedly at the correction. Correcting it made things worse though, as the images started appearing clearer. Wampajawa's images faded as he thought about the world loop's first days in the actual early April of last year to get closer to an exact year ago. Thinking on the early world loop wasn't any better though. "Ahh ahh-aaaeeeaaggh Waa- HAaoouaeeeeEEE-" The screams, Zach's teeth bit down but he kept his lips covering them as his eyes opened so he could better gauge if his expressions were giving himself away, in which case he needed to stop thinking immediately.

Screams of people in Virginia that he always pushed down rang out in his mind. Exhaustion rushed through him as he thought of them again, never able to go too long without imagining them anymore. He remembered energy though as it rushed back through him just as it did in the Tusukan Desert which could have been a year ago today too. No! It's after- probably- "Fergus is here!?" "He's on the Cloak- He could be in ANYONE!" "EVERYONE SCATTER! Support, lockdown the bridge!" It was chaos. Insanity, just separating everyone like that. Right in the middle of the world loop- the start! That was still, only the start…

The Fourth Eye wiped out Sci-Psi's scientists. Butchered their families. A year ago! How much was happening? I, I had people I needed to find a place for. Not just the bad. All Might's saying to look on- this is supposed to be good for us! I had people who needed a place to live. Injured comrades from Wampajawa who needed limbs, and new members I needed to recruit for the lost- and for those who quit when I killed hundreds! I let Mysti escape and nearly kill Hagakure- Zach grit his teeth twice as hard but stopped as he remembered where he was, because the thought he just had occurred because the girl in front of him partially turned her head and saw him behind her.

Toru looked back with her invisible eyebrows risen and a worried look coming over her after a moment when the boy's expression behind her had been looking at the side of her turning head in emotions she wished she had been able to place before he immediately made himself look alright. He just smiled at her and gave her a soft shake of his head indicating it was nothing, making Hagakure's heart squeeze anyway though she did look back forward after a moment.

Why did Incognito need to ask me that? Hagakure had to hold back from crying just at the thought of a recent conversation with her pro. I'll never- Never never never! I can't investigate… Even if I know, it's probably true. I know who he is, but I can't do that.

I have made it far, Zach reminded himself after calming down. There were so many more enemies to fight back then. So many other things to take care of as leader other than fighting. A thousand jobs and a million places to be, and only 24 hours in a day. Sleeping wasn't necessary. Stopping wasn't… Besides, the me back then couldn't stop for too long or I'd lose my mind.

I know that I'm not as strong as Death was. Don't fool yourself into thinking your stability has made you better than him. He was more machine than man. More weapon… A soldier. A warrior.

Someone else in the classroom was thinking back like his friends but could not feel the same feelings of success that Midoriya managed to well up inside himself. How little I've come, the boy with half red and half white hair thought. His eyes darkened as he had just stared over to Zach during this period of self-reflection they were given as All Might had taken a very long pause for the thoughtful class. Except, Todoroki thought back on the lunchroom and the conversation he had had earlier with his classmates. The talks they had so seriously about the villains all of them were focused on, and how determined they were to continue working together even after graduation to stop them if it came to that, as it was rapidly getting to.

Talking about villains was not all they discussed at lunch though. He remembered the breaks in the conversation, and he thought about talking normally with his friends. Friends, Todoroki repeated the word in his mind after he thought it. And he thought back on the person he used to be. How little I cared about, actually having friends. Friends who I've fought with and trained with, and I've gotten somewhere from where I was, but…

---

"Todoroki?" Zach wondered, after he let in the other boy who he thought had an internship to get to right after school.

Todoroki was in Zach's room though. He did not really know what he was doing here. He looked to his classmate and his messy black hair that waved up at the back of his head and around his neck on the sides of his head. Zach's bangs were crossed in the middle but did not go much over his eyebrows, and there were some thicker waves that flipped up over his scalp. His hair was still messed up from earlier when he had worn his helmet during practical training, as he had yet to take a shower knowing he had a lot of work to make up and several essays to write. Now that he planned on sleeping some more too, there was not an infinite amount of time to get all that done and work on his extracurriculars.

Zach's classmate and floormate looked to the wall on his right after entering. Papers lined the wall of the outside of the building rather than the one Zach's bed was up against and connected to Sato's room. There were pictures of several recent incidents, pictures of villains, articles on their attacks, all connected by strings and thumbtacks or just marker drawn on the wall. Todoroki did not know what to say when he saw that wall. When he stepped in and saw Zach, the thought of Dabi just rushed into his mind and made him hesitate angrily. Seeing that picture on his wall though just grouped up with other known League of Villains' members, made Todoroki imagine the conversation he and Zach had had about Touya. I forgave him. I forgive- I didn't say that. I don't know if it's really true, yet.

Todoroki looked back at Zach. He thought of the way Zach looked in class again. As they were told to think back to a year ago. And Todoroki knew after class ended where he had to go. Villain captures were highest ever in March. Until April of last year, when they were blown out of the water. And no one knew why. Everyone said it was heroes. Anonymous tips from citizens. It was you. "I'm sorry, Zach."

"For what?" Zach wondered back.

"For betraying you," Todoroki replied.

Who did he tell? Am I fucked right now? Zach tried to keep his eyes on Todoroki, but he kept his window in his peripheral vision just in case even as he nodded at Todoroki seriously for him to go on.

"When I first heard about Mark," Todoroki went on, and Zach flinched at the way his classmate started. "I confronted my father about it and tried to get you incriminated for being Death."

"There's nothing to apologize for then," Zach said, relaxing and letting out a metaphorical deep breath in his mind. Right after I came back then. Just suspicions. The others who were there when I opened the package must have brought it up. Mark's a common name though. No proof for Endeavor. Zach gave Todoroki a small smile and admitted, "There are much worse things I've done." Especially in regards to one of us betraying the other-

"I told Endeavor about Mark. And I joined the ADTF," Todoroki continued this time. "And I have tried to turn on you, and I know Bakugo and Jirou are both-"

"Stop," Zach said it firmly and shut up Todoroki in an instant. Don't betray the others in your attempt to stop betraying me. This isn't like you, Todoroki. I guess you don't know much how to do this. "It's fine," Zach repeated to his classmate who looked more confused by Zach's acceptance rather than him getting upset about it or wanting to know who was investigating him. Zach flashed a small smile back at Todoroki again and shook his head at what Todoroki thought he was doing for him. "It's a hero's job to try and stop me," Zach reminded his hero friend who stared back at him with his different colored eyes both opening wider at the statement. Zach continued though, "But I just hope that day will never come."

Todoroki did not know how to reply. Slowly, he started to nod his head in understanding at what Zach was saying, only for Zach to snap at him to now get out of there and get to his internship before Endeavor got pissed at him. Todoroki nodded quicker and then left Zach's room. He started a jog as Zach was right and he was already going to be late now, but he could not get his thoughts off the tone in Zach's voice near the end there. He left it so vague, as to what he would do.

Zach, you did that on purpose. "Try, and stop you." What will happen on that day? As much as Todoroki had felt a need to apologize earlier in class when he did his reflections inward, he was left feeling a rough way about it afterwards. What will you do?

---

"Are we sure about this?" Midoriya wondered.

Zach looked next to him at his classmate who appeared so much more unsure than he was. Zach nodded at him though. They had the smoke detector disconnected on the ceiling of Midoriya's room and the batteries taken out on the desk behind them. A small rubbish bin sat between the two boys, a couple crumpled-up pieces of paper at the bottom, and Midoriya held up the pack of matches he had to get because Zach could not leave campus. He had suggested they get Todoroki in on this just to have someone who could make fire himself, and because Izuku could not feel as confident as Zach did about what they were doing.

"We agreed to keep it just between us, but," Zach looked down to his right hand at the book he held in his glove. He stared at the ancient writing on the front of it, and he gulped thinking about some of the things he had read in there. He whispered softer, "We already agreed to destroy it. Let's not back out now." He shook his head and said that quicker to stop hesitating.

"Once it's done, it's done," Midoriya said. "There are no copies. There's no way to take it back. We'll never know, all those parts we can't read yet."

Zach looked up from the God Book and looked into his friend's eyes. Midoriya's looked stronger than his now as he seriously considered what they were doing and if it was right. Zach had been the one to convince him how necessary it was that they uncover the true history and learn everything about the past. He was the one seeming more intent on reading the rest though that Zach and him had been unable to decipher. "Those languages may not be lost forever. If we keep trying, someday we should be able to learn some more."

Zach felt guilt well up inside him that he had to push down again as lying to Midoriya had gotten so much harder after he told him about Virginia and the Tusukan Desert. Things he could not tell anyone else fully. Things, he still felt he left so much out to when telling Midoriya, though he suspected Midoriya heard what Ares had shouted about the men Zach gave "mercy" on the day of the massacre in the sand. Some things, Midoriya, should stay hidden. I didn't realize it.

But I've deciphered so much that the world would never believe, Zach looked back down at the book while starting a speech aloud similar to the one he used to convince Midoriya in the first place. I wanted to read the book myself. I convinced you, but it's just full of so much horror that I hate to imagine has happened in this world. Maybe, I am wrong though, Zach hesitated in his mind and while speaking aloud, and Midoriya countered him in a hesitant way as Zach was convincing but not enough that all of Midoriya's qualms were squashed right away. Midoriya's attempt at making them rethink this added to Zach's own thoughts, as he considered, Some of those people who died in such terrible ways will never be remembered…

It's better for the world this way though. The people of today who can still be hurt rather than the ones who are long gone. And, better for myself. And for Midoriya, who I don't think can take learning much more of this shit. That's an excuse, Zach countered himself darkly as he thought of millions of dead faces glaring at him for thinking it. But I killed Ares. I've avenged those people, even if the world doesn't learn their full stories. What I know is that I can never let the world learn the truth about these horrors. As much as I want the world to learn from the past, some things would just make everyone depressed and there's nothing they can do looking back on them.

Zach rose dark eyes to Midoriya. There have been many things I told you we just couldn't decipher, when admittedly I read them fully. So much of this that "we've" accepted is just to be forgotten, are lost parts of history. This book could have been split across multiple volumes, of which this book was the sole survivor. No matter how much truth I have learned from The God Book, Deku, we will never know what Ares knew about this world. Things I could have learned had I not…

"I don't want to give villains any ideas, for how they can ramp up their cruelty," Zach whispered. Midoriya stared at him in shock and then pain at the reasoning Zach had not mentioned before but upset him too as he considered the last history lesson Zach had decoded with him. The one that after it was done, led Zach to suggest destroying the true history right then and there. "Nothing good will come of teaching people about it. No one will ever believe us."

"I thought it was just about us knowing," Midoriya whispered, though his voice had lost some of the fight in it too, as even he wished he had not known about that story now. Zach was right. Nothing good had come from knowing the kind of tortures that Enzo and Ares enacted on an entire civilization. The mind games they had played to turn the people against each other. A game the two had played, where Enzo tried to impress Ares by having his half win after they had split the country in half through minor divisions about trivial issues. They had uncovered the worst tortures they had read about so far, and those tortures were not committed by Enzo or Ares himself, but by those people they had just turned against each other. Neighbors, friends, and family turned on each other in such brutal ways that it became harder to read less because of the coded way in which it was written in different languages, but just from difficulty swallowing what Enzo had to say about it.

"It was," Zach whispered back. "But those ramblings of mad men weren't teaching us about history. They were just… they were sick. And what they consider history will only contain the worst things that they enjoyed, not the good things that happened in history. Not the things that were recorded and passed down for a reason." Zach forced out a smile as he looked into Midoriya's eyes. "We choose what's worth passing down as history. And the people before us wrote a better history than the one those assassins painted, with themselves in the center of it all."

Midoriya started nodding in agreement. He preferred looking at the past in that way too, even if a part of him had to think, But they were in the middle of it all.

"Come on. Let's do this," Zach said. He took in a deep breath and turned the God Book over in his hands. He opened it up and flipped through the pages covered in ancient history that they were about to burn.

Midoriya took a deep breath in and then nodded in acknowledgement of the decision they had made together. He struck a match, and he dropped it into his garbage can. Zach waited for some of the pages of his notebook he had crumpled and tossed in for tinder to catch. Then he lowered down and used his left hand to place the book into the flames with the pages open downwards and the binding at the top. Flames came around the sides of the top and bottom of the book, and they dwindled as too much of the spine and front and back covers blocked oxygen from reaching the flames.

For a moment it seemed like the flames might just go out. Then the inner pages caught. Zach stood up fully and stared down, while Midoriya picked up Zach's own small garbage bin, a second one he had bought for Zach's room and matched his own. This one had water in it though. He readied to put out the flames, and his hands trembled as he stared down at the book that ignited with flames that rose way too high. Even the fire, Midoriya's eyes rose up in front of him to the flames that lifted over six feet high so that Zach's face was hidden partially behind them. Midoriya was shocked by how high the flames rose, but his heart just pounded hard at the dark and knowing look on Zach's face as he watched the fire dance like this between them.

Those pages that were not made of paper. They burn differently. Zach's eyes shifted back down to the bottom of the fire he did not lean away from like Midoriya when the heat got too strong. It was too much to absorb, that I forgot to even consider what they may have used to write on, in that place…

Midoriya put out the fire after the book collapsed in on itself. The bindings broke and the collapse in the can let more flames come out, and Midoriya dumped the bucket because he was worried about the smoke and the fear that one bucket of water might not be enough for what was supposed to be a small fire. Zach frowned as he stared into the bin at what remained of the book. It did not burn fully when Midoriya dumped the bucket on it, and Zach knelt down and reached into the bucket with his left hand and then his right after testing the water temperature. Midoriya just stared in silence as Zach shredded up the remnants of the paper. Ink or whatever sloshed off the burnt pages that soaked in too much and crumbled into mush as Zach pulled them apart and demolished what remained.

An hour after they set the God Book aflame, Zach and Midoriya continued to sit around in Midoriya's room. They needed to process some stuff, but they talked while they hung out.

"…There is definitely collaboration between the various Japanese gangs, and not just between gangs seemingly affiliated under the Jazz. Those villain groups are working closer together than ever, as Miss Management's BOSS was surrounded by other villain gangs in Higashine. That's what people hear about though when they think of villains working together. That, and the fact that Carlos was there with them, but people want to accept that the Radians were just selling weapons to the Jazz. And that might be true," Midoriya paused after finishing there. He hesitated but the person in front of him was someone who he knew had input to give if he spread this information.

"There were tunnels in two different Radian raids recently though," Midoriya said. "The tunnels were collapsed but their structures, the method used to dig them, they match the LoV base in the forest near Koimou."

"Does Endeavor think it's the Digger?" Zach wondered. Intanzo and Shigaraki are working together then. I knew that would be bad but I also expected it. These tunnels are real unsettling though, if they're not just quick escape routes. There's no way to just come across bases that Digger makes. You have to know exactly where they are to find them.

"I, haven't heard anything about that," Midoriya replied. Does Endeavor think that? Midoriya knew about the Digger. He had initially heard about him when the ADTF explained how the villain known as King escaped during their raid of the League of Shadows' Headquarters. He had heard much more about him as of late though.

"King was a Shadow Boss, which meant he operated from the shadows. But I revealed him. I attacked his Headquarters with the entirety of the Army of Death and the Anti-Death Task Force, and he still escaped with most of his strongest forces and Digger, who I still haven't caught…"

After hearing what Zach had told him in one of their previous conversations, he remembered the most recent time he had heard of the Digger though. "His Quirk is a disease! We may have an old Triakuza safehouse Digger once dug up that was repurposed for the Fabu, thanks to the generous donation from some benefactors of ours…" The mad leader of the Fabu's rambling voice echoed in Midoriya's mind, and he frowned deeper thinking about this villain who Zach now suspected was in Japan after already being a cause of so many problems in the past.

"Do you think it's him?" Midoriya wondered after replying that Endeavor had not told him anything about suspecting the Digger.

"I saw the edges of the tunnel near the League of Villain's base," Zach replied. He thought about that day and showing up too late to save anyone except for the villains who he chose to leave dead. He shook his head at Midoriya's hopeful look that Zach recognized the tunnel as a signature of Digger's Quirk. "The League could have known that we'd- that I would suspect him though. They could have smoothed out the walls, or maybe Digger himself just changed up the way his Quirk leaves places looking each time he uses it. Not wanting anyone to be able to track him," Zach finished quieter, shaking his head more as he frowned thinking of this League of Shadows villain constantly evading him.

"So I'm not sure," Zach admitted. He sounded upset at himself for not being sure when this was an enemy he had been dealing with for so long. "The Digger hasn't surfaced once. And I mean that literally," Zach added with a look back into Midoriya's eyes from the ceiling he looked to when he started that. "I've been close before, but I never got to him. Never even seen what he looks like."

Midoriya nodded in understanding. Then they fell quiet again. There had been a few silences like this as they had hung out, Midoriya sitting on the edge of his bed and Zach on his friend's desk chair. Midoriya looked down and then over at a garbage can still pretty full of water, as he was going to go dump it out late at night tonight. He turned back to Zach who had stared over at the bin again himself. "Did we do the right thing?" Midoriya wondered in a breath.

His question was followed by a long pause. Zach replied after considering it for a few long moments, "There's no one who can tell us that."

"No one who understands what we had in our possession," he looked back up into Deku's eyes. "Other than us. We saved that book, but it could have been destroyed that day. Maybe it should have been. Every last thing in those mountains, uninhabited for…" The implications of why those mountains were empty for so long reverberated in the teens' minds. Midoriya still felt he had failed that night by letting them all die, but he nodded at the thought of what Zach was saying. Zach finished, "Some things are better off forgotten."

Midoriya's eyes changed. His expression narrowed and refocused on Zach who sounded like he was speaking on experience. "I don't agree with that. Your lies, there are too many of them." Zach frowned that Midoriya wanted to talk about this again when he had already given so many reasons to explain himself. "You say stuff like if people find out about Stain or One For All, that I'll be in trouble. That those secrets are so important for me to keep, and that it will be fine as long as I never tell. It's different for you, Zach. You have too many secrets, that you must know some of them will come out."

"They don't have to-"

"Things don't stay secret forever," Midoriya countered. He glared over towards his garbage can then back into Zach's eyes, "We're living proof of that."

"The only living proof," Zach retorted. "And if we don't tell anyone, then they really will stay secret forever after."

His counter worked too well as Midoriya felt too many secrets had been revealed to him lately, but the same was not true for everyone in the world. After a few seconds Deku whispered though, "There's no way to tell who will find out though. How the secrets will be revealed." Zach looked away and hated that he agreed with Midoriya. He knew that his curly-haired friend was correct though, as Midoriya added, "Life, is too unpredictable. Did you see the way your secret was revealed coming?"

"Of course not," Zach muttered. Or I wouldn't have thought about giving Momo that stuffed animal. Darling slipped up seeing me almost do that. The glare that alerted Midoriya and Iida. I should have expected it, considering when she shot me the first time. I wonder if she would have shot me again or if she was just watching through a lens. My guard was still up. I saw the glare too. The change in the lightning that didn't make sense. I just, I wish you weren't so observant, Zach thought it unenthusiastically at his heroic friend who he was actually glad was that good. "If it was the me now at that fair though," Zach brought up to the frustration of his classmate who immediately frowned darkly at him. "I would have known and been able to avoid it. I kept her off the mind though. Hiding from my failure."

"So it was just the you back then's fault?" Midoriya wondered. His voice was accusatory and made Zach look at him interestedly which made Midoriya lean back on his own bed in annoyance but also losing the frustrated look. Zach's interest in what he was saying seemed genuine and like he would want to have a conversation about it instead of just shifting the conversation. So Midoriya mentioned, "You always do that. Blame, past versions of yourself."

Zach's lips flattened out and he leaned back on his chair too. Midoriya continued to him, "You say that they were weak or foolish or stupid. You say that they made bad choices."

"I know I'm all of them-" Zach started muttering.

"You are! And that's not a bad thing," Midoriya said. Zach looked at him confusedly as he thought he understood Midoriya's frustration was about him separating all the different times of his life like they were different people. Midoriya shook his head though that Zach was still caught on that, when he already felt like Zach had reassured him that that was not the case anymore. Zach did not need to tell him that he knew he was all of them, but Midoriya told him, "The Zach from a month ago, and two months ago, and a year ago and two years ago, they aren't all these failures to look back on. Mistakes," Midoriya added while looking deeper into his friend's eyes. I've never heard you talk about yourself in the past tense really, without talking down about him- you! Yourself.

"I hate that you look back and only see all the mistakes you made," Midoriya said softly. "The 'you' back on Inazuma might have been- you might have been hiding from some things but, but that's not all you were doing." Zach looked at Midoriya in even more confusion now. Midoriya opened his mouth. Then he closed it. He opened it again and hesitated with his lip furling, but he continued to his friend, "I don't like it, because you're an amazing person, Zach. You are. And even if I have to- had to think of you as a villain," Midoriya switched it into the past tense and shook his head as it was no longer true and he knew that. He looked seriously at his friend and continued to him, "I wish you yourself didn't think that. That you had been living at least, believing that you were doing good all that time."

"But you didn't think I was," Zach replied. Midoriya looked back at him not understanding the response. Zach whispered to his friend, "I knew you would consider what I was doing as villainous. What I did made me a villain in your eyes, so it made me a villain in my eyes too. Each time I made the decision I knew you would consider… evil."

"Why…" Midoriya did not finish. Why me? He thought it to himself but did not ask it aloud for some reason.

"It's why even now, I'm not sure that what you just started saying was really a slip of your tongue," Zach continued. Midoriya opened his mouth quickly to deny it, but Zach continued to him, "You still consider me a villain. And you're right to, after something like what happened in China happens. When we fought the Fabu?" Zach wondered with his tone raising. His intonation got shaky for a second as he brought it up, and Midoriya closed his mouth rather than interrupt what Zach was trying to say. He thought back on it himself too which made him question if Zach was right about the 'slip of the tongue' comment.

"It's just, I became so used to the use of fear," Zach said it quietly and in a voice showing that he was admitting this to Midoriya as much as he felt it was something he needed to tell himself and work on. He kept eye contact with his friend as he brought it up though, and he continued, "It's a given that heroes want to end villain incidents with the least amount of violence possible."

Midoriya nodded in agreement with the way Zach started. Zach went on to explain anyway, "Less fighting means you don't have to hurt the villains as much. It means less collateral damage, less risk to innocents, and admittedly it means that the incident is finished quicker which is always more important than anyone else gives it credit for. The haste, that some heroes like to ignore," Zach added as he recalled Midoriya countering him on that and bringing up Sir Nighteye in the past. Midoriya still frowned as Zach brought that up showing he did not agree with Deku's old pro.

"I wasn't always like this," Zach continued after a moment while Midoriya stared at him in an upset way. Midoriya eased back his expression as Zach continued, "…but every time I was a second too slow, I thought of the times I acted scarier when I finished things just a little faster. Even just a few seconds saved by intimidating everyone more so I had to threaten them less afterwards before they dropped their weapons and surrendered, it was worth it when I would just barely save people. And that led me to become scarier and scarier. In order to intimidate everyone into stopping what they were doing the second I showed up."

It was your experience that turned you into it. I know it's not right, what you're saying, Midoriya frowned deeper at this line of conversation. He found it difficult to just deny Zach flat out though. If it had taken us any longer in China, the casualty numbers would have been higher. Every minute there people were dying by the peak. So if that was what you had to do to make it go faster… Midoriya tried to justify it but a wafting smell of poo filled his nostrils just from the memory of the Fabu's base. Even with me there, villains were still that scared of you.

"…I once thought villains were tight-lipped," Zach went on. "And the strong ones, the bravest ones, they wouldn't speak to even me not just keeping quiet to heroes. It didn't matter what I did, and I went so far in my threats but they wouldn't talk. And I never… I rarely ever actually tortured anyone," Zach corrected himself and kept eye contact instead of breaking it despite what he told his friend who glared harsher at him for feeling free to admit that to him. After a moment Midoriya nodded at him to continue though, but he gave him a look showing that Zach could say these things but should not do so feeling that Midoriya felt he was in the right for any of it.

Zach continued darker, "I came to learn how to get information even better than through pain though. That's the kind of fear I could inflict on men." He paused and rose his gaze up for a moment before bringing it back as he wanted to talk to Midoriya about this, not just talking it out loud while Midoriya was there. "Imagine, being scary enough that your appearance and words can make people talk better than hurting them ever could. I acquired that kind of terrifying nature."

"Too much of it though," Zach admitted. His voice had some regret in it even though he had defended his use of fear. Midoriya even had to defend it to himself as Zach had been able to avoid physically torturing people by coming up with this alternative method. It sounded clear to him that Zach avoided torture even if it meant he did not get information he could have gotten through torturing people, but the fact that Zach was willing to go that far on occasion was bad enough to keep Deku glaring firmly at him in disapproval. He nodded when Zach admitted it got too much, but he stopped and stared with more pain in his eyes as Zach brought up, "In China? Those two villains sat in front of me, taunting me for my helplessness, and I… I was back in it. The thick of it."

"I was Death in that moment. And I'm not Death," Zach said that with a look into Midoriya's eyes. "I was never Death. I-" Zach grit his teeth while Midoriya looked at him in complete confusion as to what Zach just said. "When you leave, you aren't- you aren't the you who was there… Maybe I did that because I was so used to it. Maybe it's because of what we were just talking about, separating earlier versions of myself from who I was, but I expected everyone to be able to do it and I ordered them to. Not me but, him." Zach lifted his right hand and rubbed the side of his head, then he ran it over his forehead and pushed up through his bangs as explaining this was not working. As I thought. It just doesn't make sense to people. Or maybe I just don't know how to explain it. I'm not Death though. I was never…

"Those villains in China," Zach said. "And the people watching around us. I, I acted in too terrifying a way. It just came so naturally though," Zach shook his head at the thought of it. "It's how I fought for so long. The most efficient way, and best way to save lives. But not save, people. If that makes sense?" Zach wondered, and after a second Midoriya did nod at him in complete understanding as to what Zach was saying now.

"You always wanted to save people though," Midoriya countered, speaking using the terms Zach just described. "That was part of your reasons, right? Never compromising. Making sure you saved them, and saved them the right way-"

"But if it came to saving five people in the right way, where I completely saved them and showed them a smile and all that," Zach countered right back. "Or saving six people? Just their lives. In the most terrifying way imaginable… I'd still choose saving six lives, over five who would not have to experience my terror."

"That's, the right choice," Midoriya told him. "But you make the assumption too often," he continued to his friend who rose his dark gaze and started losing it at what the hero was telling him. "That you can't save that sixth person unless you cast away so much. You readily sacrifice that goal of yours to save them all correctly, just in fear of the worst case scenario where you let one of them die because you tried to stick to that goal. That's why you fail. You never feel confident enough in your plan-"

"Because I've seen what happens when you fail and don't have the backups," Zach snapped. He caught himself and calmed his voice immediately, but he shook his head again and continued, "I've done what you say and planned for complete victory before. I've even planned for the second best scenario, backups for all the third and fourth and fifth and tenth and twentieth best scenarios. But then I fail all the way through the fiftieth scenario I came up with, and I didn't have the fifty-first at the ready." Midoriya stared at him in shock at how far into his contingencies Zach had apparently had to dip into before. Zach's voice got into a lower growl though as screams rang out in his head, and he growled out, "And when I didn't plan for what to do in case of a worst case scenario, after all of the fifty best ways I could win had failed, I didn't have a fifty-first best that could have negated some of the bad of that worst case."

"I understand that you need to fight and plan based on your experiences, Zach," Midoriya started back and said it in a firm voice not going to let Zach use this as a final measure to defend the way he processes his actions. "But you cannot let those failures determine how you be a hero. Sometimes we fail, but we get back up and continue trying to be the best we can be. Failures should not define us-"

"If you don't learn from failure," Zach started back. "Then there is no utility in it. Then, you're bound to make the same mistakes."

"It's the fear of making those mistakes again, that causes you to make far more," Midoriya retorted. Zach pursed his lips and after a second he gulped back his words as he considered that instead of shutting it down. "Every time you plan for the worst, Zach, and you act on the contingencies you made rather than just fighting to make the best outcome possible… You fight, to prevent the worst. You don't fight with the sole purpose of saving everyone. Not with your whole focus. And because of that, you did what you did in China. And what you did in, I'm sure, so many other places-"

"You're right," Zach whispered. "That's why, I say it was wrong. Why it was too much fear," Zach grimaced while hissing that out, pain flashing over his face while he turned to the right and ducked down his chin closer to his chest. "I've scared people too much before. To a point that it's cost lives." He bit down hard and then rasped out in pain, "Being so terrifying that it kills people, you don't get to shake that off. It's not that easy to just stop being that person."

How could fear of you alone kill people? Midoriya wondered it but gulped as he already had an answer ready. Wrangler had a heart attack while facing Faith. It isn't a stretch to think you could do the same to people, knowing that you're worse- better than him, at what you both do.

"Midoriya. You're right," Zach admitted. He said it more steadily now and with his expression back to normal as he refaced his friend. "I know that you are. And, my responses are wrong. So often they are." He shook his head at himself and reflected on the past week, "I was so worried that the virus would continue to spread and kill relentlessly, unless the terrorists were stopped. I acted rashly because I believed we needed to stop them in that moment."

"What you thought was understandable-" Midoriya started to counter. You stopped them!

Zach interrupted him though, "It always looks understandable when I'm right. When my gambles pay off. And so often they do." Midoriya watched him and gave a slight nod for Zach to continue, while he thought of how Zach told him he had never lost before when Midoriya questioned about the times Zach had failed and done so much bad for no reason. Zach continued in a heavy voice, "But usually I can look at what happened and what I did and say: 'What I did was the best choice.' Or 'The course of action I decided on may have been best.' I've always been able to be confident about that before, at least that it might have been best."

"Right now though," Zach continued with his eyes squinting in frustration. He snapped at himself angrily, "I was there among heroes and decided to take matters into my own hands… but if I had stayed in Fundong? If I had just waited for the cure, and revived the hundreds who died while I was on my mission?" He wondered it at himself and lowered his gaze as he grit his teeth much harder, "If I just ignored my fear, and revived them all anyway."

He looked back up and into Deku's eyes. Midoriya instantly said to him, "Some of what happened out there was unheroic of you, but I don't think that you should have revived more if it was that bad-" Just the look of Zach's eyes when he rose them there after speaking of reviving them all anyway made Midoriya justify it to him.

Zach snapped at him though as Midoriya tried to help, "That's not the point though! I took matters into my own hands. And there was no need to. People came up with a cure. They saved China. And the measures heroes were taking to find the Fabu were amazing as well! As much as I thought I could do better…" He trailed off in annoyance at himself but also frustration that he had been right about that and was the one to find them the quickest. He continued softer after reminding himself of his success, "Yue Fei listened to me too, and with the cure out there, and the KO-14's in production, and the Third Response Team coming, that weak group of villains I found in half a day would have been located in just a little longer amount of time."

He looked deep into Midoriya's eyes and told him, "I could have just kept reviving everyone. So I believe I was wrong. I need to admit when I am," he finished.

Midoriya started shaking his head a second after Zach finished what he was saying. "I don't agree." Zach frowned but that made Midoriya say it firmer, "We found those vans of Sleepless because we got to the villains when we did. That brief time between when we found them, and when we would have found them anyway had we not used every resource you had, may have been enough for the Fabu to way over-infect the population to a point that we couldn't make cures and KO's quick enough."

He's right. I'm right! I've thought that before, so why am I going back on it now? The same smell of shit Midoriya had wafted earlier filled Zach's nose this time, but he also saw the faces from closer up than Midoriya had. The looks of sheer terror facing him even while he was a hero. Looks he had seen on occasion since coming back but that were never so severe that he could not tell if he was acting as Lifebringer or as Death.

Deku went on with even more to defend it, "And if the villains heard about the cure then they could have come up with other ways to kill even more people, or to mutate the virus in an even more deadly way. Maybe a way that would have been able to avoid the cure."

"XAX had cameras. Xing's streets had the cameras. Encode had the algorithm to figure it out," Zach said and shook his head at Midoriya's defenses. It wouldn't have been long. "They stopped trying because we finished the mission first, but how much longer would it have taken them?"

"If that newest surge had hit before those other heroes had found them," Midoriya added over Zach's voice. "Then all those heroes you say were coming to help find the Fabu would have had to switch to mitigation and it would have taken even longer." Zach closed his mouth and looked unsure but hesitated to say anything else. Midoriya repeated at him in a sterner voice now, "You always look at the worst case scenario, Zach. Even after you've done things, the worst case scenario for you then is that you did them in a way that you could have done it better. The best case is that you really saved thousands, but you choose to look at the worst possible side of things, which right now is that you could have saved everyone."

"I wanted to believe that it would take so much more time to come up with the cure though," Zach countered. "I, I may have influenced my decision by not wanting that pain, so I convinced myself the cure wouldn't come even though I knew there were hundreds of smart people working on it! It could have taken so much more time, and so I saved the higher number of people I wouldn't have been able to by taking down the Fabu… but the cure was created the same day I decided enough was enough. I was wrong, even if there was no way to tell that I would be wrong beforehand. I could have stayed and kept reviving for all the hours that I missed."

"It was more than 5 hours that we were gone from Fundong. I couldn't revive everyone when I returned, not even everyone in my time limit." Zach grit his teeth hard and hissed at his friend who never went all the way back to the morgue with him as there was so much else for Midoriya to do. "You didn't see, the mountain of bodies. Trucks full of them," Zach's jaw tightened and water filled his eyes immediately upon saying it. "They didn't have enough room, to store them all- ssss-" Zach sucked in breath through his clenched teeth as he pictured it and the dead, cold eyes of the morticians who opened the doors of those packed trucks for him. "Little bodies of children and, and corpses melting into each other because their skin and flesh wasn't cold enough-"

Zach's chin pulled down into his chest and his eyes clenched shut with tears pushing out the corners. "Hundreds and hundreds of people who all died so horribly…" Zach snapped his head back up and opened up eyes that were red and not from use of his Quirk. "And that's just it. I thought about how bad it was. How painful it was, and- and I think that that affected my decision."

"And the fact that it hurt me slowed me down or might have made me decide to rush at the terrorists faster; not because I wanted to save more people, but because I wanted to save myself the pain of dying any more times?" Zach wondered it as if that was the most selfish and horrible thing he could have said.

"That is selfish," Midoriya whispered. More than just pain covered Midoriya's face as he watched Zach's expression over the last thirty seconds. He whispered what he did but then continued, "If you really believe that… but Zach, I don't think that's true. I think you don't like pain because no one likes pain, but Zach, you're the only person who will blame your own fear of pain."

Is it like the boy in the Dragon's Den? Do I just fear so much afterwards that I acted for the wrong reasons?! Or did I really let him die back then too, because I was being selfish? Zach did not know but he closed his eyes again in pain at not knowing the answer to that question.

"Zach, I doubt anyone has ever felt the kind of pain you've felt before," Midoriya told him. "So the idea that you still think it's not enough, that you have let people down by not accepting more pain… Zach that's insane." Midoriya did not use the word in a light sense and Zach opened his eyes to stare back at him seeing the pained but also nervous and scared look in Midoriya's eyes. "That's actually crazy," Midoriya told Zach, and the fear he felt and anxiety about this was because for some reason, Zach did not seem to understand what he was saying in the least. "Zach if you go on thinking like that then, something is going to snap for you. Really snap-" Midoriya clenched his teeth at the shocked look on Zach's face like the idea of this was real for Midoriya.

Zach looked bug-eyed at his friend who just told him how it was both selfish to think what he had thought, but also how pushing through anyway would have been straight mad of him to do. Midoriya's right. Zach's shoulders slacked. He nodded quickly back at the green-haired boy who went similarly wide-eyed at the accepting and relieved look on Zach's face like he just, listened? Zach relaxed his whole body as a wave of relief rushed over him. "You're right, Midoriya. It was okay for me… It was more than okay."

It was responsible, Zach reminded himself. Choosing not to feel that much pain. I told Mina why. I didn't tell her those things lightly. If they were not legitimate fears I would not have voiced my fear of them. Zach shook his head around and laughed as he wiped his eyes quick using his left arm. "Haha, man, that was rough," he said while chuckling about how worked up he had just gotten and in such a serious mood. He lowered his arm from his eyes and looked at a semi-concerned Midoriya who did not know if he should believe Zach's reactions or if Zach was just hiding that he still felt how he did before and was faking this response for him.

It got harder for Midoriya to tell as his friend gave him a knowing smile clearly hiding something even after the looks of relief crashed over him. Midoriya doesn't understand, because I never told him. I haven't told anyone how I had flown out into space and considered just flying off and getting lost. That's how close I got. I've broken my own mind and come so close to giving up so many times. Doing things my way instead of trying to force myself into more pain, is good. Doing it just because that's what everyone expects from me is what almost finished me off. I didn't fly off into the stars, and I'm glad that right now I think that was an insane thing to almost do. Because I remember that I was seriously considering it that night.

"I'm glad, I can talk to you about this," Zach started. "About stuff like this."

Midoriya nodded, and he whispered back, "Yeah. You can."

"Maybe some of the decisions I made in China were right," Zach admitted. "And maybe I shouldn't have fallen back into, tactics of fear, as heavily as I did. Right now I regret what I was never able to regret back then though." Zach paused then reminded intensely, "You know, that I had accepted I was dead."

"For a while I thought I could do it. That I could win," Zach said it with a voice almost taunting the naivety of a past self. "Then I reached the point where I saw how deep the rabbit hole went. Just how much darkness filled this world. And, I accepted that I was going to die. It made it easier for me," Zach explained. "To go out there and lay my life on the line. Rush to the front lines in every battle. Thousands of battles. Across those worlds and-" Zach's jaw clenched up at the wording. "I went after them so often despite not having the forces or resources to do so. I went after the strongest forces when my own were still small, but I had the superior tactics, strategies- my forces were an army that I trained and made strong myself."

"Yet I still rushed in first, and I knew that when I died the rest would fall apart and likely go their separate ways. The war, was reliant on my survival. So I tried to survive, but I knew that one day I was going to fall on the battlefield," Zach said that in a low voice and shook his head once in a scary dark way to his friend sitting just in front of him and leaning forward off his bed. "So many fights, seeing so many comrades die, I understood that there was no way I was going to make it through and survive. I was already on my second life after all, while others were dying a second time after joining on their first life. And I was getting reckless. Less recon. I went faster and faster without training as much, without spending as much time with my comrades… my subordinates. And then, I won."

"Sometimes I wish there was some incident that changed things after victory. To show me that those methods weren't right anyway, despite what they'd created. Something to transition me back, but that's not the way things went," Zach described. "I won. There were pockets of enemies left. Resistant strongholds against my charge, but I had turned the tides. I had gained so much momentum and the world changed with my pushes. I won, and things started to get less dangerous… but I still didn't accept that I wasn't dead. I was still moving fast, even if it was slower than the peak- and then time stopped."

The way Zach cut himself off to say that time had stopped came abruptly. The abrupt nature of it happening in real life though echoed in his sentence that made Midoriya understand better than anything could have. Jumping from the intensity of all Zach was just describing to just, nothing. It was a haunting thought. He watched as Zach thought about it himself for a few more seconds before choosing how to continue, "For so long, I had time to just sit around and think. I lost the mindset that I was going to die soon. I realized that, I wasn't dead. You know the moment," Zach said rather than touching back on it himself, and Midoriya could not tell if that was because he did not care to say it again or if he was trying to dodge thinking about it.

"And during all that time thinking in that infinite instant, I had realized that there was so much I regretted that I was just trying to ignore. Things that I could accept because I had said my goodbyes here and was ready to die. I had prepared myself for it, and not dying wasn't part of the plan." Midoriya felt his heart ache as Zach admitted that to him directly. As Zach told him he had planned to die. "People ask me what my plans are now, like I have this huge master plan in place that I had set up long in advance."

"They think it was all to get back here and put it in motion, but I'm really just winging it," Zach admitted that in a more relaxed voice as for once, he felt like the person he told this to would actually believe him when he said it. He could see that Midoriya was willing to. He could see that Midoriya believed him. "I thought I would die doing what I was doing, and I didn't, so I decided to come back. People accuse me of only doing these things for secondary reasons. That they aren't that important to me because I wouldn't have left in the first place if they were. If you were," Zach added, describing the reasons as 'you' whether in reference to Midoriya or all of Class A, or just anyone he had left behind and betrayed. "But they are the most important thing to me now. To who I am now."

"I'm trying my best to keep doing good, while also trying to correct some of the wrongs in my life. Stopping villains while also reversing the things I regretted so strongly when time stopped for me. There is no master plan. I'm just doing my best at being a hero, though I'm not very good at it…"

"I think," Midoriya started. Zach looked at him intensely and saw in Midoriya's eyes a willingness to believe all that Zach had just said, though the tone of his voice sounded like he was denying something about it. Midoriya finished to his friend and classmate who smiled at the response, "That you're going to be a better hero than you think."

"Luckily we still have a lot to learn," Zach said, cheerfully and without any sarcasm in his voice. "Two full weeks," Zach stretched up over his head while saying it like there was a ton of time left, even though for the past two days he had been thinking along opposite lines.

"We'll continue learning even after graduation," Midoriya replied, smiling himself after a moment as the mood lightened between them. "And we'll continue to become better heroes, through watching and helping each other rather than from the guidance of our teachers."

"So wise," Zach said with a smirk while standing up. Midoriya frowned that Zach treated what he just said as a joke, though Zach really was the one making the joke about something he was glad to hear and agreed with when it came from Deku. "But while we're here, we have to learn from our teachers. And right now our teachers have given me a crap-load of work to do. Plus I promised Mina I'd help her study tonight," Zach added with a tilt of his head towards his right shoulder. "Hahh, she's really worried about her test scores lately, and I feel partially responsible."

She's still behind from trying to get me out of Tartaros. Or maybe she just isn't the brightest- or it's all your fault and that's an excuse. Whatever. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, Midoriya." Zach glanced back towards the garbage can again as they both remembered the reason Zach was in his classmate's room in the first place. I'm quickly finding that I'm not the best tutor though when I didn't take these classes in the first place. I guess I'll ask Momo to help both of us if it doesn't work out, but only once I'm sure she's caught up herself first.

"Don't forget about what we read, Midoriya. We were brave to decipher as much as we did. No one asked us to," Zach glanced back at his friend who met his gaze. "And we did our best. Remember that history and use that memory however you can. I don't know if it'll help us somehow, but who knows?" Zach rose his eyebrows and shrugged one last time, then he turned and headed out of Midoriya's room.

Izuku watched as Zach closed the door behind him and left him alone. His gaze shifted back to the small garbage can. The amount of paper in there wasn't enough to make a fire of that size. Why- I don't need to know… Isn't that what I just did by burning the book? Do I regret that? I don't want to know why the flame seemed to- Just don't. Midoriya imagined the silence between him and Zach the minute after he dumped the water. As Zach shoved his hands in the garbage can and tore up the burnt and soaking remains of the book. Shredding it into oblivion with the sheer focus to never let a word of that book be read by anyone else. Ever.

After the chills passed through him again, Midoriya refocused on the last couple of minutes of his time hanging with Zach. What set him off like that? Sometimes, he just starts talking about so much. And it's all in the gray. I wonder if All Might was this close with any of the anti-heroes he knew of. Probably not. He said he had no idea about their society when we were on the bus that night after, just that he knew of a few of them and asked them for help in getting Zach.

Even if he just barely knew them though, I'm sure he tried to do the same thing. Midoriya was confident about that and he leaned back and lifted his gaze to the ceiling over his bed. Part of him just wanted to lean farther and fall softly onto his back with his hands behind his head. Instead he interlocked his fingers and rested his chin on them. His elbows planted on his knees and he hunched forward, The two Zach knew, Webb and Ganji, as well as that man Lavamander who Wrangler described. The man responsible for catching Faith the first time. All Might said he had known him as well when I brought it up before. All Might must have tried with all three of them. To get them onto the right path. The heroes' path, Midoriya's last thought made him curl his bottom lip and lower his darkened eyes down to the floor in front of him. Why did I have to think that?

The way Midoriya had gone on from the "right path" to have to think the "heroes' path" after made his stomach tie in knots. Don't ignore it. Midoriya frowned deeper but he lost the look of frustration and self-anger that came with those kinds of thoughts usually. I know Zach's path wasn't right. I know that. Zach is upset at the things he did wrong, and I don't disagree! We were on the same page about all Zach was saying about his methods and excessive cruelty and, and yet Zach's successful. We're on the same page, because he knows I think like this? That part of what Zach had been saying troubled him as well but it got pushed down by the previous thought again.

Zach went out and did what he set out to. What I saw he was trying to do after Breakneck's lab, as he moved forward with what he wrote in his report. As he "used everything." That thing you told me once, so long ago. It stuck with me because… Maybe, because I had no idea what you were talking about. "Using everything," I should have known just how much you think. That you could plan so far in advance. And as you made your report a reality, step by step, and as you tried to make a difference by fighting villains and changing people's opinions- and I see that Zach's still doing that now! I see it now and I saw it back then, but I didn't realize he was still doing it while he was gone.

He was fighting villains as much as possible, yet at the same time he was influencing politics with what he had been and the legacy he left behind. He used what he was then and how he was helping the world in ways it couldn't help itself without him. And he- Deku grimaced but lifted his hands and put them behind his head now. He leaned backwards and sighed while falling onto his back. He wasn't wrong there either. Laws aren't always right. Sometimes they hurt people in ways that he could see. Systems have been changing all over the world in regards to Quirk laws over the past 2 years, and I can see that Zach has actively made that happen… and because of that, Kendo lived.

Midoriya admitted it to himself and could not help but lift a small and fleeting smile. His lips lowered flat again though as he thought in a steady way but darker to himself, She survived not just because Zach had a contact in the country, or because he was there bringing people back to allow her an early KO-14, but because of the influence he has had on the world already. So much influence that a random man from a country across the world could come and help create a cure with his Quirk, a Quirk that never would have been utilized if it weren't for Zach.

Deku's fists balled and he sat up quickly. I've had All Might's power longer than Zach's known how to use his Quirk, yet I still don't have One For All mastered while Zach's in full control of his. No limiters anymore, he says. Midoriya's thought of that complete control did not stir any relaxing feelings of relief. While I had this power and what I thought was a huge responsibility, Zach had no one expecting anything from him and yet… Even though I had All Might, my greatest hero, expecting me to become this amazing hero- and I felt the pressure of that and the world resting on me… I did nothing.

I went to school. I did things the "right" way because that's how All Might did them. All I am, is a follower! Midoriya jumped up on his feet and glared to his right. "I haven't made my own path at all, but Zach's wasn't right either!" His thoughts escaped him as Midoriya spoke up then quieted himself into a mutter as he paced across his room, lifting a hand over his mouth to hide his voice. He found it easier to articulate these difficult thoughts when saying them aloud though, so he tried not to be bothered by the habit he had tried to quit long ago as it was ultimately what led Todoroki to find out about All For One and One For All. Midoriya told him in full detail after being questioned about it, bringing Todoroki in on the secret, but it only came to that because of his muttering that no one ever listened to or could understand, or so Midoriya had thought.

Midoriya shook his head around while frowning towards his door. He turned from it and thought with a softer glare towards his windows, "Yet Zach had it harder. He had it worse than me. He had no responsibility at all to do anything for this world that had cursed him…" Midoriya said it and hesitated but did not retract the words that came out of his mouth so easily. He continued on with a voice expressing admiration, "And yet he went out there and tried to save it in every way imaginable. He went as far as throwing his own name away, his life, and he broke every rule in the book and is still doing it!"

The way he was admiring Zach brought him right back to condemning him, making Midoriya raise his hands up to his hair and run them through his thick though short curls. I know his contact tortured the villain, Ungi. Because the villain picked up by Chinese police was terrified and bruised and hurt.

"And yeah, Zach's contact used more fear than actual physical torture," Midoriya admitted that aloud while looking to the right in sudden annoyance at his own thoughts that seemed to intentionally leave that out. The limited damage on Ungi could have been just from taking him down while he was running. But would that man have tortured the Fabu villain if he needed to? Zach doesn't know. He "didn't ask." Deku shook his head more and his glare returned harsher than ever. He slowly started pacing back and forth through his room again.

The reason he found himself getting more and more upset became clearer to him. It wasn't just as Death. It's who he is and who he will continue to be even as a hero. I hate Zach's methods, but, I also don't like myself very much right now, that I hate how much stuff Zach gets done. I hate that it works. How much his way works. That way doesn't belong in this world… Something I thought you accepted. Something you can't just break, even in what you see as an extreme circumstance. Because maybe it was to save thousands of lives this time. Next time, would you stop yourself if it was only hundreds of lives? What about just one life? Zach's, too kind a person not to see all options as viable even if it's just one life on the line. Which means at any given moment he could do so many illegal things in the name of saving a life. Justify it to himself. Hide it from me. I can't allow that. Not knowing what he is capable of is- no… it's knowing, exactly what he's capable of. That's our relationship. I know, and I don't do anything about it.

Because it's the better of two evils? He's not evil- it's a saying! I know that Zach still has contacts. People loyal to him out there. Deku's expression hardened and his breath came out sharply through his nose as he told himself to stop overthinking this. He could disappear and go anywhere in the world and still have an absurd amount of power. There are still villain groups out there, but there's one no one's focusing on that is the strongest in the world. Ones who could escape the greatest collection of heroes without hurting any of them, so governments can't even scare their people enough into letting them build weapons to match them. A group of villains with members existing everywhere with no borders to stop them. No concern for the law. With loyalty to a person who I believe might be the strongest in the world…

"He's my friend though," Midoriya whispered to himself. Just as those normal people he just thought of could not be scared into letting their governments get away with producing internationally illegal weapons, Midoriya's own argumentative side could not convince his whole person to treat his last thought seriously. Zach has the power to wipe us all out. And I wouldn't trust anyone more with that kind of power. If it were that simple though, and that was all your "power" meant, things would be so much easier.

Midoriya's pocket buzzed. He pulled out his phone and looked down at the contact…

---

Sero Hanta walked up the stairs of the building he had lived in for over two and a half years now. His hair was damp though he had dried off pretty well from his post-internship shower he needed after facing off against a couple car thieves with Ape Man and Gargantuan earlier. The villains had been distracted by Gargantuan's growth and what Sero's pro hero was yelling at them about their Quirks meaning nothing against his comrade's. It was Cellophane who wound up capturing both of them though, and he had been the one to read them their rights after tying them up and arresting them in a scene caught on various spectators' cellphones.

The smile on Sero's face covered the whole bottom half of it. The big-toothed teen chuckled again as he thought about texts he was getting from girls all over campus. He considered that he might feel guilty about getting so much popularity out of the incident, if he had at any time during it actually thought about these great consequences that were going to happen afterwards. In the moment though, Sero reminded himself in a great mood how he was just thinking of how Fantasma had told everyone to trust in Class A to save them. Those videos they were taking were going to spread, and the knowledge of that and the good that could come out of it had made it even easier to keep up his big smile as he called out the villains' crimes of grand theft auto, reckless driving, endangerment of pedestrians, and assault against heroes due to them popping off their Quirks at the arresting team when confronted.

Sero glanced down the fourth floor hallway as he reached the platform one floor before his own. He looked down the boys' side for a moment as he spotted Midoriya not too far down it. The door closest to the stairs was an empty room on the 4th floor, but the second door that Sero could still see from the diagonal angle opened up as he reached that platform and glanced towards it. Bakugo opened the door, but Sero just kept walking while humming once in a semi-interested way that did not change his mood at all. The two of them are hanging out this late? Ha, who am I to question something like that, considering?

Sero had left his phone in his room when he went down for his shower. He got into his room and took the towel off his shoulders, rubbing it up over the top of his head once more before tossing behind him at his door that had a plastic hook attached that his towel fell on so it would be dry come morning. The teen took off the clothes he had worn down to the shower and put back on afterwards to make it up to his room. He dropped them into his laundry basket then got changed in some more comfortable clothes, but ones he could still leave his room with as he was not planning on staying in for the rest of the night. His eyes shifted to the ceiling after he put his head through the neckline of his t-shirt, then he looked back down and headed to his traditional-style bed that did have a ledge on his headboard where he kept a few things.

The Taping Hero: Cellophane, picked up his phone and took it off the charger after he got dressed. It was back at full battery, as it did not need much time plugged in for it to go from no battery back to full, and he was not at no battery when he left it there. Sero scrolled through texts and passed a couple missed calls as well. His finger paused as he swiped down and nearly passed over Ashido, Azure, Tsunotori, and Camima's messages because he was scrolling too fast without checking them all. He sweatdropped as all four of his high school girlfriends had texted him in succession so their names were stacked over each other on his locked phone screen. There were also names of cute girls he knew above and below the cluster of four messages attached with more flirtatious messages than, half, of his exes had sent him.

Sero scratched the back of his head and started to lose his smile a bit as he knew he had to respond to all these messages. Long night ahead. But, Sero smiled back fully again as he hit the message he was looking for and held it down with his phone opening at that moment after recognizing his fingerprints and irises. Already went? His eyes glanced back up to the ceiling then he pocketed his phone without responding to the message or any of the others he had seen.

The black-haired teen let out a yawn and shook his head around to keep himself awake and ready for the night. He left his room and turned to the right, walking back towards the stairwell. He stopped before reaching it though. Sero walked just to the door closest to his own. Closer than even Todoroki's on his other side, was a door that he had never used himself in nearly 3 years. Sero chuckled under his breath, Never needed to use it. Thought I wasn't supposed to or like it was for emergencies only.

Sero got a quizzical look on his face at the thought he just had. Why'd I think that? He wondered. Did Aizawa sensei tell us all something like that, back when we moved in? As Sero headed up the stairs past the roof access door, he rose his eyebrows higher, Oh man. What if Aizawa sensei did, but Zach wasn't there at the time? He wouldn't have been, since he was with the League when we all moved in…

Down a floor below the teenager questioning if he was about to break the rules, Todoroki cracked open his door and glanced down the hallway with a confused look on his face. He had just been standing at his own door silently for the past minute. He had had his hand on the doorknob when he heard Sero's door open back up. He was going to wait longer now to avoid bumping into his classmate, and yet he just felt confused as he had heard the door open and close again. It was farther away though, Todoroki stared towards the next door past Sero's that had made less noise than Sero's opening and closing first. He went up to the roof… Zach. Todoroki did not need to question it any further, but he did still move silently down the hall and past the access door.

"Hey man," Sero walked across the roof and right up to the ledge. He crouched and put his hands down on the edge of the building to either side of him, then he dropped his legs off the building just like Zach sat on his right side. He picked the spot naturally so Zach's right arm was farther away from him. "This is cool," Sero said as he looked out from the side of the building into the direction of Musutafu and then farther towards Tokyo which had taller buildings and brighter lights which let it be seen from even farther away. Even just one floor down he did not have this nice a view, and he whistled though kept the volume of it low as he again wondered about being up there. "I never knew we could come up here," Sero brought up.

We're not allowed to. No need to tell him. Only a couple weeks left, Zach lifted the right corner of his lips farther from his friend while just nodding once to what Sero said. "It's a place I like to come to and think," Zach replied. He lifted his lips into a little grin and admitted, "I did the same at my old apartment, back when I was a kid."

Zach cleared it up after a hesitation that Sero had thought was the end of the sentence. His classmate assumed for a second that Zach was talking about the apartment in Yutapu, but Zach was talking about his Musutafu apartment as he stared out into Musutafu now… Zach curled his right hand tighter into the ledge of the building on his side. He was sitting back far enough that it did not look dangerous, and Sero sat similarly far back with their lower thighs just barely sticking out past the ledge before the crook of their knees dipped their legs down, their heels resting against the outer wall just below them. They still sat with their hands down in such a way that falling forward was even harder for them, though Zach's right fingers were curled over the ledge while under his palm was a coin that his grip was starting to flatten and crush into the building. His grip relaxed as he felt the roof below the coin giving way, as well as under the vice of each of his fingers that had no Death on them but dug into cement like a hard stick of butter.

Zach sighed a breath out and calmed himself thinking back on that old apartment in Musutafu. Not the bad times, Zach reminded himself as a few horrible sights filled his head. The roof. "It's where I trained to be a hero," Zach added softly.

"Watching Grappler videos, yeah?" Sero wondered back, nostalgia in his voice as well as some sadness and respect. "It was amazing to see him go back out there-"

"I forced him to take the arms," Zach whispered in response. Sero shifted his vision to the corner and stared at the side of his friend's solemn face. Zach's stoney demeanor remained as he stared off into the night, as he said, "I went to his house and called him a coward. Pushed him so hard…" Zach grit his teeth then seethed a heavy breath out from his mouth with his jaw relaxing. He lifted his right hand and tossed the coin he gripped in it up in the air. It flipped around and around- and instead of letting it drop down he reached his hand up quickly and caught it with his hand curling around it again. He closed his eyes and did not look at what was face-up, just turning his hand over and pressing it back into the roof at his side again. "His very first raid after coming out of retirement."

Sero lifted his left hand and he rubbed it on the side of his head. He rubbed it through his hair and then tilted his head back. Geez. Every time. You're just so, unlucky. "That sucks," Sero muttered.

"Yeah," Zach whispered back, though already the tone of that reply made it sound like he was a thousand miles away. Sero looked back at him and shook his head at the sound of his voice and that response like what was going on now had nothing to do with Grappler. Sero had just been the one to bring him up, and Zach chose to tell him what he thought about when Sero did.

"What's on your mind?" Sero wondered. He picked Zach's brain and his friend glanced back to see Sero lean back with his palms back down on the floor at his side. Sero had an open look on his face to hear out what Zach was thinking about. It was better than Zach completely changing his attitude and trying to make a different expression to hang out with him in a lighter mood. Now that Sero had seen this, he felt like the rest of the night would just feel shitty if they didn't talk about it.

Zach rolled his neck and looked to the right and the distance in a darker direction than the brightest city lights straight out ahead of him. The direction he looked was also where something else was, though that something was so much farther than he could see. "Someone I know died tonight," Zach admitted.

"Who?" Sero wondered back after a moment. He felt a twist in his chest and imagined that coin that Zach had flipped up but caught without looking at. He shook that dark thought that he imagined out of his head though and tried to look in Zach's eyes though his friend kept looking away for another few seconds.

"Kiera Maymoney. She's a pretty famous singer over in America, and in Europe, and she has some Japanese songs too. Collaborations." Zach looked back at Sero who seemed to recognize the person he was talking about. "Someone whose music I've listened to for years. In school, out as an anti-hero, as the leader of an army studying and preparing for combat, I listened to this woman's music. It helped me, I guess. Or maybe I just enjoyed it. I enjoyed her. I liked her. And she died tonight," Zach said the last part in a steady pace but his voice did change from getting louder and more confident to a quieter whisper when he said 'tonight.'

"If I left right now, I know I could reach her and bring her back from her overdose. Keep millions of her fans from mourning. Save a life. Save Kiera," Zach whispered it with his own heart pounding just as fast in his chest as Sero's was next to him. Zach looked out ahead of him and tilted his head back though, and he said, "I can't do it though."

"Why?" Sero asked. Another one word question. And yet Zach heard in that one word that his friend was really wondering. As if Sero was questioning the entire existence of his Quirk and what it was like to have that power to make this choice. It was breathed out at Zach not in confusion, because Sero already understood that only Zach understood. He knew being confused about it did not make sense, because it was not something he could come up with given any amount of time. He watched as the boy next to him looked back and into his eyes.

Zach opened his mouth partly. Don't, he reminded himself. Zach closed his mouth and shook his head rather than giving him a glimpse of what he showed Mina. "It doesn't matter," Zach whispered finally. He looked away and hunched forward a little though keeping his butt just as far back off the edge of the roof. Sero opened his mouth but Zach continued, "Everyone has to die someday. I can't just save someone because they're famous or because I like them. I've done that too much already just by bringing back Sato."

Sero hesitated for a few seconds but then nodded. "Yeah, you're right." He said it in agreement as he had seen the fallout from Zach reviving Sato too. "Though, admittedly you were kind of lucky you got shot." Zach cracked the left corner of his lips up at the dark humor he was glad to hear from Sero as he heard so little of it lately. The smirk on Zach's face in appreciation of Sero saying it made Sero gulp though as Zach's entire expression looked scarier when he smirked like that. Sero lowered his gaze after a moment though as he had to look the other way as his friend, back towards the protrusion on the roof for the stairs to the fifth floor. "I'm glad you brought back Sato," Sero added softly after a few quiet seconds.

"Even though I know it's hard for you because of it," Sero felt he had to look at Zach when he said this. He turned and looked straight into Zach's eyes before saying without hesitating or denying it, "I don't think I would've been able to forgive you for that."

"I know," Zach replied. "And," he started to admit. "Thinking about that, and all the texts I had received, may have influenced my decision. Wrongly," Zach added in a darker way.

"You-" Sero started.

"What you just said is wrong," Zach countered anything Sero could try to say to defend them here. "Wrong for a hero at least," Zach added after a second. Not for a man. Not for humans. It's just normal, to want to save the people you love.

"The Shiketsu students who called me out on it made me feel like trash," Zach continued in a darker way. "But they were right," he finished, and Sero did not counter. His round-elbowed classmate next to him just felt like trash as well after hearing Zach say it was true. "Bringing back Sato was completely selfish," Zach went on.

"Saving heroes always came secondary to Him, because they knew what they were getting into and it was innocents who He went to save first before any heroes," Zach explained. Sero wished he did not feel his stomach turn over. He looked to his side though and gauged the way Zach looked while saying this. They were things that were damning so there should have been no point in mincing his words, if he was not trying to hide anything. "Heroes accept the risks. They have to be saved last and I- I ignored so many pleas for help from regular people to answer the pleas from heroes to save another hero. Friends, to save another of my friends…"

"And you're right," Zach added right away. "I was lucky. I wasn't prepared for it enough, so I didn't manage to immediately resolve that situation looking as completely in control as I normally can. I actually got shot. Didn't turn into Death quick enough and, and it fucking hurt. Only milliseconds between when I turned my heart to Death and when that bullet would have hit it." Sero grimaced and bit down as he regretted bringing it up now as he had not known about how successful that assassin had been.

"And so it became a distraction. A distraction from what I did. From why I was there. From the fact that he knew I would come there to save Sato. It makes you wonder, if they were always at every incident our classmates respond to. If they were constantly watching. How many…" Zach trailed off. Did I get them all? There would have to be so many more for that to be true. Not nearly as few as- Except why break all those covers? Why risk all that, unless he was risking it all? He was. They're gone now. Every last one of them.

Sero bit down angrily as Zach said that so thoughtfully and looked to be thinking deeply on it afterwards. You told us how powerful Eziano was. How just one of his guys started that war in Yemen. And you told me all about his efforts at the joint training. Then they blew up your apartment. They infiltrated our Police Force. They fired a damn missile at Japan. How do I still not get it? Eziano is the most deadly-

"Eziano, was the last," Zach started in a low voice.

Sero's thoughts were cut off and he wondered for a moment if Zach had known what he was thinking about. He was reminded a second later that they had just been talking about Eziano though just without mentioning him yet. "What do you mean?" Sero wondered though, completely confused as to what Zach was saying there.

"When I came back," Zach started. He looked at Sero and then off the roof again, "The one thing that made me hesitate the most about leaving was the idea that I never beat Eziano. And I would never again have the kind of resources I had there after returning here." Sero nodded in understanding, though something was still bothering him that he could not place yet. Zach continued softly, "I had lost friends to Eziano, and I lost Mark after I left. Eziano killed him while my old comrades tried to take him on without me. Because I left. And I regret that. I regret that Mark died all alone. Scared. In agony as Eziano cut him a thousand times."

"How do you-"

"Mark's Liquid Control. Any cut. Any wound. All wounds," Zach whispered. "I'd never revived him. Never needed to. He was already the strongest so… so learning how to use his Blood Control for medical purposes? And being able to use it on himself passively while continuing to focus on attacking. I didn't see it, but I bet he gave Eziano a run for his money. As much as Eziano made it out… like killing Mark had been sport. Like it was easy," Zach hissed the last word as he could not get it out as calmly as he wanted to.

"I regret that I wasn't there to save him, but I've beaten Eziano now."

"WAS" blasted in Sero's head. The past tense Zach had used as he first brought up Eziano made his throat dry.

"And I know now that I was wrong, when we were talking at the joint training." Zach thought of their conversation late at night after Sero had woken up from the Death that had knocked him out. "You asked me how the world could have been at peace for so long? If Eziano had the kind of power I described. If those assassins wanted to create so much chaos and had so much power, then why weren't there more wars if they could start them so easily?"

"You changed your mind?" Sero asked. His heart pounded in his chest. The air around him felt haunting. His mouth was dry and he found it harder to breathe.

"I told you I thought it was because humanity is even better than I always thought," Zach said. He understood the miscommunication here that had Sero looking at him in such horror as he implied killing Eziano and no longer believing in the good of human nature. He even chuckled at the misunderstanding, which did nothing to relax his friend whose palms were getting too sweaty that he was worried about them slipping on the roof. Zach continued to finally ease Sero's nerves, "I was wrong, because now I know humanity is even better than that. Better than I thought it was even that night."

Sero had been shocked by Zach's explanation as to why Eziano had been failing when Zach told him the night of the joint training. For a brief moment he grit his teeth and glared at Zach as he felt his friend had just intentionally terrified him while leading up to this. Thinking about it for another second had his jaw dropping though and his heart continuing to race at rapid speeds. "Because it wasn't just Eziano," Zach explained. "Not just the past several hundreds years. His father too. And his father before him. And, another person. All with Longevity Quirks. All, doing so much to try and bring this world to its knees."

"Seriously?" Sero's voice cracked midway through the rasped question as his face twisted with a lost smile.

"How many wars? How much damage?" Zach wondered these things aloud. He grinned while staring off the roof. "Creating conflicts around the world from the times of Ancient Greece, if you can believe that. And if it was really them," Zach looked next to him and as seriously as he could into Sero's eyes even as he continued smiling and with a glint in his eyes. "And I want to believe that it really was. So if it's true. If I'm right," Zach sounded beyond excited. He looked forward with amazing determination on his face as he gripped onto the edge of the roof tighter but only in anticipation and exhilaration. "If it's even more people who want to do right than wrong. If the ratio is farther skewed, towards good?"

Damn man, why do you have to say such awesome things with these kinds of looks on your face? Sero watched Zach grinning determinedly off the edge of the building. Sero had no idea what he was imagining. He could not piece together why Zach would say these things so ambitiously. And he also hated how Zach could look like this while he had apparently killed-

"It wasn't me who killed them," Zach assured his classmate next to him. He grinned Sero's way and nodded to show he meant what he said. I got out of it with the best ending for those assassins. Never to be seen again. Not the best ending. They shouldn't have died. Zach's smile lowered. His heart stopped pounding as fast and he took the darkness off of it as well as off his brain that had caused his irises to turn blood red. Midoriya regrets it. Feels he failed. I killed. I have too much-

"So they're really all gone?" Sero wondered while leaning back himself and tilting his head back. He stared up into the sky and cracked a smile after a second. He found he was not upset with their deaths, and the only things making him sad and frustrated and angry had to do with Zach being the one to kill them. "And you seriously think-"

"Maybe," Zach replied, his excitement rising back up though his tone did not sound so evil now as he said such amazing things. "If he was the reason for so many of the wars, and if with his absence the human race can advance farther. Reach higher than ever before!" Zach whisper-yelled that. Then he and Sero both lifted their chins and looked up towards the sky together.

They stared towards the stars, and Sero agreed quietly, "It would be nice." He lowered his smile at the hopeful thought that Zach was right. "But I don't think it's that easy to fix the problems of the world," Sero added with a shrug and tilt of his head towards his lifted right shoulder.

"It's possible with Quirks," Zach said. "The world's Quirks. 8.4 billion of them?" He whispered in amazement, "What kind of awesome things do you think can happen? Terraforming deserts to make them fertile, ending world hunger. Quirks to alter mentalities, for people born insane who can't be helped in the current system. People who can't be saved from illness as things are now, frozen until someone else with a Quirk to save them comes around. Or to remove the criminally insane pieces of someone's mind."

"These things are-"

"Futuristic?" Zach wondered, while he reached out in front of him and up towards the stars. He reached using his left hand, a hand the glowed blue at the end which forced Sero to grin and tilt his head in admission that Zach was absolutely right. Just that one word question said so much about what was once thought as 'impossible' or 'futuristic,' and which was technology Zach literally held in the palm of his hand. "I had a hoodie with so much Quirk-advanced tech in it. Man I wish I had that right now. It would tighten around my body and get harder. Transform into armor and fill with power to fly me through the sky faster than any jetpack I used previously. The most advanced tech, superior to tech I had only a couple months before it which at that time had already been the most advanced tech in the world."

"Listen, Sero," Zach said with that glint back in his eyes. He did not look dangerous though. If anything, he sounded like an excited child, though the words coming out of his mouth were far too wise and advanced for any kid to say. His left hand reaching out curled into a fist and lowered back next to him, but Zach whispered in an inspired voice, "Someone once said humanity would be in the Space Age if not for Quirks, exploring distant solar systems and galaxies."

"What if Quirks didn't need to hinder that progress? What if the world used our Quirks, all of them, to progress further?" Zach asked it in an amazed voice but also one sounding like he believed this could really happen. And Sero realized it.

All that Zach had said was crazy. It sounded insane and was hard to believe. He had completely believed Zach's stories about Terra, and on Inazuma his beliefs were shattered to hear the truth Darling revealed. Somewhere inside him that shattered belief was still too strong to completely believe anything Zach said. And so even throughout all this conversation, somewhere deep down he knew that afterwards he would think about it and wonder if it was true or not. But he did not need to anymore. Not as he stared at the boy next to him who sounded truly to believe this thing. This thing he was saying that sounded amazing and absurd, and which could only be considered so realistically if one were to accept that there really weren't the barriers anymore that kept that advancement of the human race from arriving.

They're really all dead. He didn't kill them, probably. But they're dead. And they told him something- some truth! Some crazy, insane- I don't know if it's true, but he believes it! I believe that. I believe that he believes in the possibility for this future- is it even the future? How much longer? Our children's lifetimes? Our own? Sero's heart raced and the excited and child-like look spread on his face too. I might not know if why you feel this way is true, but if you believe it this strongly then- then you might be right. You're smart! You say wise shit like this all the time!

"…And if we could reach for the stars using Quirks it would go so much faster." Zach paused and he shook his head once, "It was the chaos that superpowers brought that stagnated the world a couple hundred years ago, but I wish things could change. I want the world to be able to reach a better point where we can all use their Quirks, and no one is misunderstood and no child ever born cursed just because of their power. A world where there are so many more opportunities than people, and the planet is so rich that no one ever has to turn to being a villain again."

That's going too far, Sero thought and laughed at the hopeful nature of it though. He smiled brightly, Wouldn't that be something though?

Zach felt his heart rip apart a little at the sound of that laugh. His lips trembled then steadied again while he stared out into the stars. What am I saying? What am I doing? Sero started speaking back to him in rhetoricals about this world that could be. Zach was lost so far from their conversation though. Is he right to laugh? Is it really that unbelievable? That everything else I said could be real, that the existence of Quirks for millennia, and space travel, worldwide Quirk usage and- and it's stopping villains that's the hardest to believe? Tears fell out of Zach's eyes and rolled down his face.

Two weeks isn't enough time. Every day is a day less. Zach blinked long and hard to push out the water before laughing as he started explaining them away as tears of joy to his surprised friend next to him who saw his smiling but tear-soaked face. I don't know where I'm going to go. What I'm going to do. I don't have the answers. I can't make the world move faster. And I… I can't stop them all. I'm sorry, but it isn't possible. I can't save everyone. And I can't stop all villains. Stop thinking about what you can't do! His eyes opened back up and he laughed before reassuring Sero that he meant it.

I've thought a lot these past two days about what I can do. Plans. I need them and I've got some already. I can't make everyone happy. That's okay though. I'll do what I can. That… that should be enough. I'm sorry. I can never- Never? Can't? Impossible? Since when do those things matter? I'm D- I'm not. If I was then maybe it would be possible. Or at least, it could still be the goal. Change the goals. To what? Where? How? I have no idea. Well you better think fast. The day of reckoning will be here before you know it.

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A/N Thanks for reading. Took me a full day to edit this. I don't know why this chapter was so hard to get out, but I had to reread the entire story as we near the end. I want to make sure I finish it all. That I finish every plot that I opened up. Give realistic and satisfying endings. I just want, to write a good story. And I'm again sorry that writing this chapter took such a long time. The next will 100% come out quicker. And I will respond to reviews that time too, as I'm actually going out right now but have procrastinated on this for too long to tell myself "tomorrow" one more time. Thanks again guys for reading. Thanks for sticking with me. And hope you're all doing alright and handling 2020 the best you can! See ya soon!