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!

255. Chapter 255

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 255:

"…he moving?"

"…aking up!"

"Alright, quickly! Get in position."

Zach heard voices on either side of him. His eyelids scrunched up and then squinted open. He had to open his eyes slowly because the light hurt his eyes when they opened. Everything was blurry in the corners of his vision. He heard a lower-pitched version of the same boy's voice he had just heard as he was coming to. "Zaaach? Zach? Can you heaaarrr me?" The voice came out raspy and made Zach scrunch his forehead in more confusion at the old tone to it. His squinted eyes focused a little more on the face of the boy next to him, then he lowered his eyes down from the purple balls on Mineta's head and past his eyes too. Zach looked to Mineta's mouth and cheeks and chin, which were all covered in gray hair.

The boy on Zach's right side stared in shock at Zach's eyes opening back up. "It's been sixty years, Zach. Do you remember me? It's Mineta Minoru. Rememberrrr…"

Zach closed his eyes slowly and then turned his head to his left. He looked at the other figure who he had heard next to him as he roused. Zach's eyes squinted back open and he stared at the black-haired girl looking down at him. She had a bead of sweat dripping down the side of her face, just above the top of her own fake gray beard. Momo smiled down at Zach from behind her beard that like Mineta's did little to actually make them look older. The left corner of Zach's lips closer to Yaoyorozu lifted up though, and Mineta grinned wide across from the tall girl who he had convinced to do this with him. "See? I told you he'd get a kick out of it!" Mineta broke character immediately and laughed.

Zach's mouth opened. "ACK! Kah- agh ack ka kah ku-" Zach coughed up a storm and his chest heaved up in the air off his hospital bed.

"Mineta. Get Recovery Girl," Yaoyorozu said firmly without jumping up in panic like Mineta did as his happy mood had completely wiped away.

Yaoyorozu just grabbed onto Zach's left hand with her own and tightened her grip on it. His eyes were wide as he started coughing so hard like that, but those eyes darted to her face again and then back to his left arm that she grabbed onto higher up too with her right hand. A new arm? Holy crap, has it actually been… not sixty years, but a long time? They wouldn't have wasted manpower reattaching a prosthetic to me over all the emergency surgeries needed, right? Unless… no! I can't think of a good reason! So it must have been a while. She doesn't look a day older though.

"Relax," Yaoyorozu moved her right hand from Zach's upper arm to his face. She pressed a palm on his forehead and frowned at the heat coming off of it. She leaned her head down closer to his and smiled at him brighter behind the gray beard on her face that made Zach want to start laughing again, which hurt his chest even more than the agony it had just been in when he heaved around like that. "Everything's fine. You're okay. We're all okay." Yaoyorozu brushed her hand over his forehead down to his right cheek, and she just told him in a soft voice while his eyelids were feeling very heavy again, "Rest. We'll still be here when you get up…"

---

"Careful now," Recovery Girl wanted to use a firmer and more scolding tone, but she was too surprised that he was actually trying to move. She watched as he pushed down on the bed to either side of him and moved up the frame until his back was straight as he sat up. Recovery Girl frowned from the chair she stood on next to his bed. "Please, move as little as possible," she requested of the boy who looked at her in more surprise himself that she worded it like that.

Guess she figures giving me doctor's orders won't do much. Making me feel bad about making you worry is a much better strategy than scolding me. Are you being clever, or am I overthinking this like everything? Zach did not know the answer but decided at that moment not to make her worry anyway. "Okay," Zach told her, flashing a tiny smile at the short woman while speaking in a hoarse voice. "I'll stay put."

"Good," Recovery Girl replied.

"Could you tell me though," Zach began. Recovery Girl was going back to checking his vitals and his healing injuries, but she glanced up at the boy's hesitant expression and nodded at him to continue. "What happened? After I passed out…"

"The day was saved," Recovery Girl responded. She went back to checking on him but spoke up while she did. "Thanks to the efforts of many, heroes won the day."

"Nikko Kaizo has been arrested for corruption charges," she went on and the boy nodded his head along with her. Thought as much. It would have been nearly impossible for them to get the access they had. Toga couldn't have been Nikko for long, but the villains have long been benefiting from his help.

"His wife really was killed by the League too," Chiyo continued. She hesitated and then added, "His secretary, Akemi Kuoko, was also killed. Other than the two of them however, not one person died in the huge attack on the city that most are calling: the Battle of Tokyo." Recovery Girl added after a moment, "It's being reported that they were killed before the attack even started too, so they're not being counted towards the battle's death toll." Zach lifted his gaze up to the woman's that she rose to him. She stopped moving her stethoscope around his chest that she had lifted his gown away from. "It wasn't another SFI," she told him in a quiet voice. "No civilians or heroes died."

Zach pursed his lips and nodded at her. He forced a smile up on his face and looked touched by the sentiment. Maelstrom did. Kaminari- Zach's lips twitched but Recovery Girl had looked back down at his torso already that she continued checking up on. She did not catch his changing expression because she was too focused on the way his body had changed instead. Everything about his body looked different as new scars covered up older ones or just added new layers. She had given him a checkup not that long ago, and she was baffled by the differences in such a short time.

Her head shook back and forth as she moved a hand down to his lower abdomen and applied a bit of pressure near a wound she had worked on the day before. It shouldn't have fully healed this quickly. Even after a few kisses. It's his own regenerative powers. She lowered his gown back over his torso. Recovery Girl removed the ears of the stethoscope and dropped it over her neck. Despite how interested she was about it, she knew that was not what was most important right now. It is not his body that needs the most help. It rarely is for him.

"Citizens around Tokyo rose up and helped heroes fight against the villains, using the Lifebringer's Law as a basis to justify their assistance," Recovery Girl informed her patient who smiled again back at her. "Though, none of them have stepped forward when they were called to receive civilian medals." Zach glanced away with a sly look, and Recovery Girl sighed but continued anyway, "The news is reporting that the 'knowledge' that those civilians helped save the city is enough for them."

Zach agreed with another nod as that made sense to him too. "Someone did ask me to question you about the Gentle Criminal's appearance in the city though. Would you happen to know anything about that?" Recovery Girl wondered, not sounding to care very much about his answer. Zach shrugged, and she did the same in response to his answer. "Well then." Recovery Girl sounded like she was about to leave. She leaned back from his bed but stopped herself. She pursed her own lips and looked closely into the eyes of the student.

"The city was saved, Sazaki. Thanks to you." Zach shook his head back at her. She had said that it was thanks to the efforts of "heroes" in general before, and he appreciated her saying that more than trying to give him the credit now. "The world watched you fly a bomb up in the sky that exploded with you holding it," Chiyo told the boy who stopped shaking his head to stare hesitantly back at her instead. "They saw your fight against Raijin. We heard some of the things he said, and we know you stopped him. And everyone knows that it's thanks to you that there were no deaths. Tokyo was revived. You did that. Only you could make our victory that, complete."

"Everyone fought harder to keep deaths so low, knowing any more and I wouldn't have been able to do it," he countered her.

Fine. Fine! I don't get that Death attitude you have. You're a hero. Take credit! "Rrgh," Recovery Girl grumbled under her breath and rubbed her forehead with a hand. "I haven't said anything about the Trigger I found in your blood, because I've seen the videos posted online of how you were injected," she pursed her lips frustratedly and cut herself off. She started to snap at him, "Was using it necessary to-"

Zach nodded at her again. Her frustrated look wiped away and a sadder one spread over her face. "Thank you," she whispered. Zach's eyes widened in surprise at the words of gratitude when he expected another scolding. She took in a deep breath then put her hands down into the pockets of her lab coat and dropped off the chair. "The world considers this a great victory. The government wants to give you a medal just like it's given to Midoriya, who defeated Shigaraki, Todoroki, who stopped Dabi, and Kirishima and Tetsutetsu for protecting Princess Aya."

"I don't want a medal-"

"It's important that everyone see you get it," she scolded him in response this time. He froze up and she told him, "Important that they all feel that you feel like you've been rewarded this time. That you're happy and know that they all appreciate you-"

"I understand," Zach replied. He took in a deep breath then smiled at the woman who explained that in a way that would definitely get to him. "I really do, and I want everyone to know that I do," he assured her. They do care. I've seen how much it hurts them to think I'm hurting. I tried to protect them from it by acting okay when I wasn't, but sometimes they can see through it. Sometimes I just need to accept a reward, so that they know! He smiled brighter at the old woman who gave him a better perspective on accepting the credit.

She sighed as he sounded like he was only going to accept a medal for that reason now, which made it sound more like a chore she was forcing him to do than a reward for his deeds anymore. Recovery Girl turned to walk away. She stopped at the white curtain though that wrapped around Zach's hospital bed and went from the floor up to the metal bar just off the ceiling. Recovery Girl glanced back towards him. "You are my favorite student, Sazaki. You are always free to visit me even after graduation. For whatever you need."

"I'll, keep that in mind," Zach assured her. His bright heroic smile shifted a little into a softer one that just looked appreciative to her for everything she had ever done for him, but she looked back at him with the same kind of smile on her own face.

It's all over, Zach watched Recovery Girl move aside his curtain for a moment to step out and leave him alone inside it. Shigaraki, Dabi, Kaminari, Toga… Zach lifted his right hand up to his head and pinched his fingers on his forehead which scrunched it even more. Toga, he thought with his eyes shaking for a second as he remembered the way she looked in the subway. I have to keep secret that I pushed her to kill herself. I can't let people know that I did that. They wouldn't understand that I did it because I cared about her. I really did, to be feeling this sad thinking of her face. Zach closed his eyes imagining her again but with a smile on her face.

Clink

"He should be focusing on getting better with his grappling gun. This is a waste of time."

"Aw shut it. Maybe you're just too boring, Dabi! That's why he came running to me…"

Clink

"He's not going to get it. We're taking him out tomorrow night again, and this is a waste-"

"Why don't you go stand in the target's place then if he-"

Swwsh- shtck! The knife in Zach's mental image stuck inside the target this time instead of dropping and clinking on the metal floor.

Dabi and Toga stopped arguing behind him on either side and just looked towards the target in surprise. He was panting himself while standing eight meters from the target, but he lowered his arm he had left in the follow-through stance and turned his head partly to the right so he could smirk back at Dabi who was just saying how he would not be getting it any time soon. The older man had frowned at his smug look, "Ch, beginner's luck."

"Hahaha! Sorry Dabi, what was that?" Toga had a hand cupped to one ear and leaned her head towards Dabi with a huge smile spread across her face as she cackled at him. "Ahaha! Sure you don't want to go stand in the target's spot?! Come on! Do it!" Toga taunted the man who frowned deeper and glared towards her, smoke coming off of his right hand as his eyes narrowed which just caused Toga's to do the same and her smirk to turn more bloodthirsty.

"Kid's a fast learner," Dabi had said while still glaring Toga down.

"Nah. I just had a good teacher." Zach heard his own voice sounding cocky and snarky. It was higher-pitched than his voice nowadays. He saw the two villains he was looking back at turn towards him in surprise. Their semi-hostile confrontation ended as soon as Reaper said that. Toga had stared towards him with her own look of bloodlust wiping away. Surprise had replaced it, and a different look that made Zach sick to think back on now. The kind of smile that lifted on her face before she could quickly look away from him while Dabi just rolled his eyes on his other side, made Zach bow his head on his hospital bed while thinking back on it.

I had a chance. A real chance to change her. Save her even. Could I have done it? Changed Toga Himiko for the better? Zach winced imagining a spurt of blood spraying from her neck for a second before it all just spilled down from the longer gash sliced across in the next second. Thud. The sound of her body dropping to the ground next to him was drowned out by the sound of his knife hitting the floor. Clank! Clink…

All of the top three villain groups in Japan are gone now. The biggest ones here when I got back. Duke Dread was down at the palace. I can only imagine Intanzo was defeated too. The Radians and the Jazz, the Subspace Devils, and the League of Villains. We've defeated them all. Everyone thinks I stopped them. Did I? I suspect, should I have died in the bomb and not come back… Don't think about that. Who knows how things would have turned out? Maybe Toga really would have went and killed Shigaraki? Fat chance. Zach sighed as he could not get her face off his mind despite trying to preoccupy himself with other thoughts.

I know for sure now that coming back to Japan was the right move. Not just for the people I left here and for Darling. It was the right move for the world. That it was Lifebringer, the hero, who saved the day. Death knew that they were not needed here. If they had actually shown up as Death, I think the Army would have thought that they were ruining some of the reasons for why I came back here. They would have been right about that too. I'm glad you considered that when you came, Gentle. Though I guess you couldn't help yourself but show up as the Gentle Criminal, huh? Zach chuckled quietly to himself.

There aren't singular symbols anymore, but, if everyone is looking to me, I can push for a better world more than ever before. It's not something for Death to do. But it's something I can do. Something I could do as Death, but not to the extent I can now. Recovery Girl would have told me if people were mad about anything that happened that day. What day? When is it? She never told me how long I've been in here for. It doesn't feel like that long though. Considering how many of the others are still in here.

Zach glanced to either side of him then to the foot of his bed and the curtain he just saw ruffle from movement of a body on the other side going past it. The small wind coming off their body ruffled the curtain in a small way but enough that he could figure out the body shape of the person behind it. He already heard muffled voices, and he looked closer at the curtain, Is this thing soundproof? Recovery Girl seemed not to worry about talking to me behind it. Maybe the others aren't actually whispering to each other, but the curtain is just blocking out all the sound. Could be Quirk-made. Must be imported then.

Swoosh!

The curtain opened and slid all the way to bunch up on his right side so that his bed was open to the rest of the room to see. Yaoyorozu frowned at the flamboyant boy at the foot of Zach's bed who swung an arm in at Zach as if presenting him to the floor. Zach held back a laugh at Aoyama's extra-ness but then just smiled around the room at the others whose curtains were all open already and who faced his way when they saw him sitting up in his bed like that. "You're up," Midoriya said in surprise and then smiled brightly to see the strong appearance of his friend who had managed to sit up like he was.

Zach glanced once over the room to figure out who else was in here. Hospital must be pretty packed. Looks like they fit all the guy U.A. students in here. Or, all the guy Class A students at least. There are probably Class B's and younger students somewhere else. Wonder where the Class 1's are? Dendo's in bad shape. I somewhat remember Kotsumura looking pretty messed up too. That was all a blur- don't think about it or you'll wince! Zach smiled at his classmates waiting for him to say something.

Midoriya was on a bed behind Aoyama and slightly to Zach's right, as there was no bed directly opposite from his own. The other side of the room from the foot of Zach's bed was the gap between Midoriya and Bakugo's beds. Zach looked to the left of Aoyama between him and Momo who started walking to the left side of his bed where he remembered her at when he roused for a bit earlier. He looked at Bakugo and at the boy's arms that held in two white casts wrapped very thick over his chest. "Bakugo, how are your arms?" Zach asked as he saw the kind of casts that had been put on them. They've been so damaged so many times before. With the kind of damage I saw on them in that blur- Zach winced while thinking back on how he saw Bakugo during his revival spree, trying to imagine what his bloody arms looked like only to imagine the pain instead that he had been in reviving hundreds when he last saw Bakugo.

Bakugo frowned deeply and his eyebrows narrowed down. "Mind your own business!" Bakugo snapped at him.

"Fine," Zach shrugged his left shoulder up and accepted that response. Sounds like it's fine. Midoriya didn't look guilt-ridden or anything, so must not be any news like he can't be a hero or anything. I'd find a way to get him cyborginizated arms before long anyway. Might still have to do that. I'll figure it out. We will.

Zach glanced around more and saw Todoroki to Bakugo's right side, which meant that he was farther to Zach's left. Past him was Tokoyami closest to the windows and Shoji across from him on Zach's side. Then across the room from Todoroki lay Sato in a near full-upper-body cast, though he was smiling wide while barely turning his head towards Zach who wondered how many bones he had broken. On Sato's right and Zach's left lay Sero who was unconscious at the moment. "How's Sero?" Zach asked when Momo got up next to him in the gap between the two of them.

She looked over her shoulder at the other black-haired boy laying on this side of the room. "He had to undergo intensive surgery. Damage to his lungs and a piece of shrapnel they needed to get out." She looked back at Zach though and smiled in a reassuring way. "The surgery went well. He's stable, and recovering fast thanks to Recovery Girl."

Midoriya looked down to his own left shoulder and sweatdropped. He held back from saying anything though, while Mineta looked over from the edge of his bed on Zach's right side that he was sitting on with his legs off of. Kirishima also sat up on his bed across the room from Mineta, and he looked to his side at Midoriya whose injury Zach had not asked about. Midoriya felt a little strange about Zach not asking what happened to his left arm, but he started reasoning with himself, Zach must know that it's just an arm. Like, I can be fine with only one. I can still be a hero! It's not even something in question for me, to him, so losing an arm isn't even a big deal! That must be it.

"Oh Midoriya, your arm!" Zach exclaimed while looking back towards Deku.

Kirishima's bottom lip dropped, then he puffed his cheeks out and started laughing as the thoughtful and serious look on Midoriya's face wiped away in place of confusion. The corner of Bakugo's lips closer to Deku lifted up too and he looked away so that his childhood friend would not see him smirking like that. Midoriya sweatdropped at what he was just overthinking, only to lose that look a second later anyway. I still think I'm right. He's making a joke out of it, but it's because he knows that I will keep going anyway that he can joke about something like that. His humor, has been very dark since he came back. Midoriya lifted his right arm up to and scratched the back of his head through his green hair. "Yeah, I seem to have, misplaced it."

"Pssh- hahaha," Mineta burst out laughing while a few of the others were still gawking at Midoriya for returning Zach's joke.

Good. He's in good spirits about it, Zach thought. He imagined he might have to give some speech to his friend about it but saw with that response that it would be unnecessary. You know that losing an arm doesn't mean much. Zach rolled his left shoulder out then glanced to his left side again and at Momo who had come up right next to him and smiled at his face and his relaxed attitude. I think you knew more than anyone, just how much this meant to me. How He was the most important thing. Everyone knew that though. All of you. I told you all the other day… When is it? "What… time, is it?" Zach hesitated on the word 'time' as he did not know if it was the correct word.

"Around noon," Mineta replied on Zach's right quicker than Momo could answer him. Zach started nodding, then Mineta added, "On Monday."

"It's been around 40 hours now," Yaoyorozu said softer to her friend who looked somewhat surprised for a second but then nodded again.

I slept through Sunday, huh? Zach leaned back on his hospital bed and took in and released a long breath. Breathing that deeply inevitably caused another fit of coughing, "Nn- nn ack-" Zach lifted his left hand and softly grabbed onto Momo's right arm right as she started to get worked up. "I'm fine," he assured the girl he did not want calling out to Recovery Girl and making him stop this interaction with them. Yaoyorozu closed her mouth and calmed her heart rate at his look, nodding back at him and turning fully to show that she would not do what he was worried about.

"Hey, is he really up? Zach!" Zach turned towards the door in surprise at the sound of the happy shout of his name. He chuckled to see Koda running in and looking him over carefully. A big smile formed on the boulder-faced teen who saw his classmate smiling and looking in good spirits.

Uraraka let out a long breath of relief and felt tons of weight lifting off her shoulders. She had come in with Koda, as had Ojiro who closed the door behind himself showing it was just the three of them together right now. Uraraka smiled towards Zach while Ojiro walked over to Mineta's bed and sat next to him on Zach's right side. Uraraka walked over though towards Midoriya and Bakugo's beds' gap, and she reached down and slid a folding chair out from underneath Bakugo's that she opened right between the two of them. It was clear to Zach that she knew exactly where it was like she had spent a lot of time sitting there already.

Koda breathed out in relief at the foot of the bed next to Aoyama. "When Inasa brought you over to Recovery Girl, we were all so worried," Koda told his friend in his usual softer-spoken voice than the loud one he had called out with as he entered the room. "I'm glad to see you're okay."

Zach looked back into his friend's eyes and took a second but then nodded. Koda's right. I'm alright. Right? I feel pretty weak, but it's not that bad. It could be worse. I suppose.

"Recovery Girl tells me we won?" Zach wondered. He glanced around to the rest of the room's occupants who all looked at him in surprise then glanced around at each other too.

"You don't, remember…" Ojiro began.

"I just mean after I passed out," Zach countered him. He realized some of their uncertain looks were a few of them wondering if Zach had lost his memory of the whole day or something. Ojiro nodded his head in understanding and relief, as that would have been a much more difficult conversation.

"Oh, well, there wasn't much left to be done when you were finished," Yaoyorozu told the boy who looked back to his side at her. She sat on a folding chair she had just pulled out from below his bed too, and Zach nodded at her to go on when he made eye contact with her. "The international response was ready to move in as soon as they got communications back online. They're still around, making up for how they missed most of the battle by helping with the damage."

"They also helped with the raid last night," Mineta added. "Though it was us Japanese heroes who led it!" He said louder to make sure there was no question about that.

"The heroes who you revived took the lead, since they're pretty much the only ones not injured right now," Ojiro told Zach.

"A raid last night?" Zach wondered.

His guy friends on Mineta's bed to his right side both nodded at him. Koda began at the foot of his bed, "The League's biggest and main base was found. One of the villains, this guy called Kimmatsu Shi, who turned on them and helped out in the middle of the battle, he gave up their location."

Zach thought of the name but came up blank. He shrugged his shoulders without recognition of who this guy was. He switched mid-battle? Did he wait until he saw they were losing and just tried to get his sentence reduced? Maybe he saw what was going on and really thought it was too horrible.

"He was in the Jazz, became leader of the Bushido Dansei after Duke Dread killed Ramurai apparently," Yaoyorozu explained. "But he turned on the others and the rest of the Jazz during the battle… after he killed Underguard." Zach frowned, and a lot of the others did too. Yaoyorozu tilted her head to the side, "Which is, not something we can forgive him for. Apparently he really helped out though, as the League were about to evacuate their base. If he didn't give the information he did, when he did, we probably would have lost the rest of them."

"We found them though?" Zach wondered. "All of them?"

"Well…" Yaoyorozu paused and then sighed. "The Digger escaped. I know, you were probably worried about that." Zach nodded his head as that was exactly who he was worried about. He sighed himself, but then he tensed up and got an even darker look on his face as she added, "Intanzo too. He slipped away from Endeavor and the Gentle Criminal after they defeated him. The ground just, swallowed him up. His Matter Control Quirk made it impossible to chase after him. Or, 'Inorganic' Matter Control, as it's now known as."

Zach lifted a small smile and imagined how Gentle had looked when his friend gave him the Trigger. You took down Intanzo? Sucks you didn't manage to capture him, but you saved Endeavor I'm sure. That would've been a sight to see.

"Kimmatsu Shi got exonerated for some of his crimes, and since Underguard's alive again, I think they're going to hit him with just 'assault' on a hero, rather than murder." Yaoyorozu paused and then added in a softer voice, "The heroes: Electro, Bloodhound, and Embrya were all saved from the base too where they were held, and apparently being tortured by Intanzo. The public doesn't know that bit," Yaoyorozu added to the boy who nodded in understanding as to why that might have been kept secret. "Intanzo apparently planned on taking over Tartaros after the villains took over, and he was going to be the warden over all the heroes they were going to throw in there."

"Hah, what an optimist," Zach retorted. The others did not think it was funny, but Zach cracked a smirk at the idea that Intanzo actually thought things would go his way to such an extent that a plan like that could happen.

"Not, all their captured hostages were kept alive…" Ojiro continued.

"Recovery Girl told me," Zach told the thick-tailed boy so that he would not have to feel the need to tell him. "I feel for Nikko's receptionis-" Zach cut himself off. "For Akemi Kuoko. And for Nikko Enri."

Ojiro nodded as those were the people he thought he might need to tell Zach about now. He pursed his lips thinking of someone else though which caught Zach's eye and made him nod for Ojiro to go on. "Also, Adam Rasheed." Zach's eyes opened huge, and Ojiro said in a softer voice to his classmate, "He killed himself, during the battle."

Zach's heart had started racing in panic that he had not checked Rasheed Corp.'s building and missed the CEO's death. "He was working with the League," Yaoyorozu said quickly to Zach who spun to her and let out a huge breath of relief. He started panting and gasped for air, and Ojiro felt his own heart race at the difference in Zach's attitude after hearing that Rasheed could be considered as a villain. Yaoyorozu herself frowned a little too but wanted him to know, "Apparently, a lot of the weapons the League were armed with had been stolen from shipments the Rasheed Corp. 'lost' intentionally. Some of those weapons were sabotaged though and misfired or just plain broke during the fights, so some people think that Rasheed tried to do what he could to at least do something against the League of Villains stealing his company's products. The guilt got to him though…"

Yaoyorozu trailed off. She said "some people think" while explaining it to Zach, but he shook his head and saw that she already sounded skeptical herself though and was just trying not to speak ill of the dead. "Ganji's people, in the company, you think?" Yaoyorozu wondered to Zach who nodded back that she was right to assume that.

It was what he imagined had happened. If Rasheed himself was going to sabotage the weapons, he wouldn't have sent the shipments at all. This would have been stopped by heroes if he was the kind of guy to stop it himself. Instead, he was a coward. Let the League arm up for this attack. Then killed himself before he could face justice for his crimes. There's no need for me to feel guilty for not reviving him. Zach frowned to himself after the thought. I'm not just thinking that in order to feel better. It's what I really believe. He was as much of a villain as the others I didn't revive. And he likely did more damage on his own than any of them…

"The heroes getting saved from that underground base wasn't all either," Uraraka mentioned across the room to add on some stuff she had learned about that morning in briefings with other heroes she had taken part in. She had taken away most of the weight from her body, and a couple of kisses from Recovery Girl made it so she was able to walk without causing herself any pain due to a lack of weight on her still-injured legs. She was glad to get off her feet again though but wanted to be able to tell the injured guys around her more about the clean-up they were all worried about and had been talking about wanting to leave their beds early to help with too. "The League's top doctor, who they call the Dissector- or Dice, was captured in his lab before he could escape with his experiments and research."

"They found where those Meta Liberation Army guys all got turned into bio-weapons," Ojiro said and nodded. "Met a few of them myself out there. Shouted all this stuff about Destro, that guy we learned about," Ojiro trailed off a bit and did not really want to mention Destro's ideals considering how similar they were to Zach's. "They were a bunch of fanatics though, to volunteer for experiments like that."

Zach nodded in agreement with his friend who was right in calling them "fanatics."

"All the League's bases made by the Digger are being discovered now. The remaining members are being rounded up." Koda smiled at Zach, "It's a total victory."

"Most of the world thought it was a 'tragedy' and called it that," Yaoyorozu said to the boy who looked left and into her eyes. "But they've been requested to stop saying that. The heroes here in Japan, and all the citizens too- everyone really. They're calling it, the Miracle of Tokyo. The fact that not one civilian was killed during the battle."

"All those buildings that fell too," Mineta added. "The international heroes say they won't leave until they've repaired the city. So they're doing it fast. Rebuilding as much as they can as quickly as they can."

"To minimize the impact on all fronts," Ojiro said. He looked to his right away from Zach's bed and across the room to some of his other classmates who looked thoughtful about this as well and smiled at the idea of the villains' impact meaning so little.

"Those heroes are helping out track down the bases too that have been discovered," Yaoyorozu started. "But the ones leading it are Ryukyu and Crust. Nejire-Chan and Suneater. Underguard, and even Ragdoll helped out too…" Yaoyorozu listed off heroes who Zach had revived but stopped herself after the last name. Zach looked towards her with his eyes growing wider.

"Ragdoll's Quirk was stolen by All For One," Kirishima mentioned slowly while looking across the room towards Zach's bed. "I guess, you reviving her brought it back?"

"And… All Might?" Zach wondered. He looked uncertain. As if he did not know that his Quirk had the ability to do this.

Zach noticed skeptical looks from his classmates who then tried to hide their skepticism. It hurt a little, and he shook his head at them. Yaoyorozu replied without the same look as those others, "All Might didn't get his."

"Hmm," Zach hummed and he lifted his prosthetic hand to scratch the side of his head with. No skin sleeve had been replaced to cover it, which he was glad to see as that would have meant more time wasted on him that should have been spent on others. He frowned though as he saw people looking at his seemingly confused look in uncertain ways. "Maybe because All Might didn't have his stolen, it might not be the same kind of mechanics for how my Quirk works," Zach theorized with a shrug. "I really don't know. The Quirk-Destroying Drug was unique, and All For One's Quirk too, so it's not like I've run into this before. I promise," Zach said directly towards Todoroki who stared in surprise and then glanced away feeling bad that Zach thought he was doubting him and thinking Zach was just lying about not running into it before. After glancing away, Shoto's eyes shifted up a bit to a boy laying next to him who avoided all looks in his direction.

Oh. That's not why they have those looks. Of course not, Zach felt relieved but bad at the same time for a different reason. He did not look towards Midoriya though who a few of the others darted sideways glances at. They already know that All Might lost his Quirk for a different reason. Or at least they all have their own theories. They've had them since Kaminari yelled that stuff in the basement. Zach closed his eyes tightly shut.

Don't think about that now. How? Zach squinted his eyes harder while they were already closed. He forced them open and looked to his left but past Momo and to the windows across the room. There's still work to do… is there? His determined flattened lip shook. He steadied it and focused on Yaoyorozu's face while she looked back at him with her eyes huge at how red his eyes were getting just sitting there.

Swoosh

The door to the hospital room opened up and two more people walked in. "Zach!" Ashido called out as she saw him sitting up and looking over towards the windows on the opposite side of the room as the door.

The darker-haired girl who stepped in behind Ashido closed the door behind her and smiled when she saw Zach sitting up this time too. Ashido started running to Zach's bed already, but Jirou only took one step in after closing the door before freezing when Zach turned to look at her. Hold it! He yelled at himself, but failed. "Kyoka," Zach whispered, his voice cracking as he said her name.

"Zach," Jirou whispered softly and in a hurt tone as she did not know what she just walked in on.

Ashido froze too, but then she looked around in surprise as no one else seemed to be expecting Zach to look like that as he turned around. His head tilted back though. He pulled his face away while staring towards Jirou, unable to hold back the thoughts that flooded into his head. Zach bit down so hard behind lips he tried to keep steady and not trembling like his wet eyes were. Those eyes rapidly turning bloodshot held back any tears though as he just met Jirou's gaze. "I…" Zach started.

He took a breath to calm his heart down. His chest hurt already and he had not even said anything yet. This hospital room is soundproof, right? It should be. It has to be! Please, let it be. "In the end," Zach started again. He glanced around the room at the others all staring at him too and feeling their own hearts race at that look on his face trying to appear strong but barely hiding his true feelings beneath. "After I made it so he couldn't move anymore, I… I destroyed Raijin. I killed Raijin- but, he kept his heart beating for a minute. I talked to him. To Kaminari, at the end," Zach said, looking back towards Jirou who scrunched her face up and pulled it back.

A frustrated and angry look covered her expression over any sadness that had formed just by hearing his tone. All of that anger wiped away though as Zach's voice cracked while he told her, "I was right." He lifted the corners of his lips while saying it, but his teeth clenched so hard behind them that it was hard to imagine the smile was real at all. "I was right," he repeated softer. "He was in there, the whole time. Watching-" Zach closed his eyes. He took in a deep breath through his nose and tried to find his breath to speak.

Jirou sucked in her own breath and looked away. She looked down at the floor and curled her fists at either side in fury. "He apologized," Zach whispered when he opened his own eyes back up. He kept a steadier look on his face and made sure to tell her, "He wanted me, to tell you specifically, Kyoka. He needed me to tell you. I promised him, I would. While he was-" Zach bit down again to hold it back. Jirou looked back towards him with her eyes huge and shaking to hear that that had happened.

A soft touch pressed onto his left shoulder. Zach flinched and snapped his head to the side. He was biting down hard. His whole body was so tense as he held back the emotions tugging at him as best as possible to be able to keep talking like this. Yaoyorozu's eyes were soft though as she stared back into his. "It's okay, Zach," she told him. Her eyes were a bit red too. She squeezed her shoulder and then slid her hand behind his back and pressed softly on him. Zach looked past Yaoyorozu and saw Sato and Shoji, and he could see the others in the right corner of his eyes all staring towards him too with similar accepting looks. "It's okay now," she told him. "You don't have to hold back anymore."

Zach's face scrunched up instantly and tears fell from both eyes that he slammed shut for a second. "Ahhh," Zach gasped out a breath as his lungs squeezed. Jirou's own hurt look faltered a little only to get worse at the sight of Zach's face as the pain completely covered it now.

"It's just us here," Yaoyorozu whispered to him. "You don't have to hold it in-"

"Ahhhhhhh," Zach's voice was less of a gasp for air this time and just louder. His tone was agonized and his head snapped down as it came out with no restraint. "He was crying-" Zach seethed as soon as he got in his next breath, because he didn't know if he could get it out. "As he bled out, of a hundred wounds I- that I-" Zach closed his eyes but only saw the way his friend looked. He stuck his tongue out imagining in disgust the taste of his blood. The images were burned into his mind and every sense was overloaded with the memory of their battle. "And he saw it all. He saw, every moment…"

There really was a Kaminari. You were right. I didn't- I couldn't imagine it. Jirou cough-gasped herself and walked over towards the foot of Mineta's bed that she sat on. Ojiro slid himself closer towards her, after glancing towards Mineta who just motioned away for him to help her instead, even though the shorter boy had his own head bowed and tears dripping down his cheeks. Ojiro placed a hand on Jirou's shoulder while Koda walked around her other side and sat next to her even closer.

"He missed me. He could have gotten a fatal blow at the end, but Thompson called out for 'Chargebolt' and he missed. He missed me, on purpose. He died as Chargebolt. In that moment, he really did," Zach said. He forced back up his smile through the tears as he thought about it. A few of the others smiled as well, but their own smiles faltered when they looked towards Zach and saw that he was failing at keeping the forced smile up. "He told me how sorry he was. How, he never wanted to do any of it… while he was- while his heart was…" Zach's lips trembled and Yaoyorozu squeezed his back even harder to make sure he still felt it while his emotions seemed to be overloading.

You're safe here, Zach. Around friends. It's okay, Yaoyorozu did not want to speak and let her voice crack, which she feared would make him stop talking as he would know that he was hurting all of them. She just wanted what she was thinking to pass on to him through the touch alone.

"As he… died," Zach whispered. "Bleeding out. I- I stabbed him through the heart, again, and I- I cut him… into pieces. And I- I held him-" Zach's voice cracked as it got higher pitched. As he moved his left hand to his chest and squeezed over it with his eyes closing which pushed out even more tears. "And I! Ahhh- he stopped, moving… in my arms. He just, stopped, beating his own heart. I'd already killed him. I killed him, again and again- ahh, and aga- AHHhhhh! Ahhh-Ahhhhhh…"

Todoroki looked down at his own lap and rose an arm that he gently rubbed once in front of his eyes. I'm sorry, Zach. Todoroki thought back on the start of the fight between Kaminari and Zach. You knew it would be the hardest thing you'd ever have to do. You knew that you were going to feel like this. That it was going to hurt this badly. And you did it anyway. You did it because you knew he was in there. You knew you had to free him. You knew, you had to kill your own best friend… Todoroki bit down to stop himself from crying another tear as he almost did just thinking those things in his head. Who you always knew was in there.

Sato's neck hurt, but he still had to look away from Zach for the same reason that Yaoyorozu did not want Zach to see any tears. Hide it! He thought at himself, and Shoji saw the tear streaks covering Sato's face when he turned his way.

Shoji glanced across the room from his bed and to Tokoyami who looked back his way sadly and then out the windows on his right side. Tokoyami stared outside and felt relief that also made him feel worse for feeling that way. He was relieved though. Being controlled by Hypnos was horrible. I came so close to strangling Shoji. That, was one of the worst moments of my life. Maybe the worst, because I almost killed my best friend. But I didn't even do it. It wasn't a conscious decision. And I didn't finish the job. And it was still haunting…

Tokoyami looked back towards his classmate who he stared sadly at but also in admiration. Zach's just that much stronger than me, that he was able to do that.

Zach started sobbing. He cried so hard in front of friends who he did not feel the need to hide these feelings from. Who had told him before to stop worrying about how it would make them feel to rather just let them help him instead. That was help he sorely needed right now, even if all it meant was them sitting there and letting him cry while being there with him.

His sobs were painful to listen to. His friends stayed there to comfort him and share in his sorrow, as friends do. Even though Zach saved the day for everyone else, Ashido thought while closing her eyes and blinking out some tears. Even though no one died among the civilians and heroes, Zach lost people. He lost Kaminari. He lost, Toga. Who he got to kill herself, because he cared about her? I don't think I'll ever understand that, but it hurts you. I know it does.

Zach could not keep Toga out of his mind either now that thoughts of Kaminari had flooded in. It all just compounded together. He saw that memory of learning to throw knives, and how he had tried to make friends with Toga. It was partly because he considered what he was doing at the time to be infiltration, and partly to get stronger, but it had worked as well in making her trust him as it made him care for her the longer they spent together. He saw her there that day smirking alongside him back towards Dabi who had doubted he would be able to do it so quickly, and then he saw that same girl slightly older than him falling to the floor. Blood pooling around her corpse…

A different young woman appeared in his mind. His own voice echoed in his head, "You have no idea how strong you can be." He saw the timid girl with orange hair tied in spiky pigtails that kind of matched how Yaoyorozu's ponytail spiked back behind her head right now. He thought of what he told her that day and the look in her eyes when she heard Death tell her that. He saw himself encouraging her. Training with her. Training her. Teaching, laughing, eating with her, and admiring her in all her strength as she made them the storms that they survived because of.

"Your coffee, Commander."

"Maelstrom?"

"One cream and one sugar, right?"

She knew Seraphim would always get me a cup. And when the world loop started and we moved so fast, and Seraphim was gone, and days had passed without sleep… she gave me a cup of coffee. A simple cup. Just like Seraphim used to. Seraphim was gone, but she knew that I needed people to help me. She matured for my sake. So that she could take up the roles they left behind. Do more. Get stronger. Be the best! She was. She was the best of all of us.

"Villains didn't win anything, but-" Zach cut himself off. He gasped and stopped himself. He bowed his head though and hissed through it, "But Maelstrom… She died, for her second time too. I- I know, no one can ever know that. The victory, means less if they do. She's no martyr, but- but she did die. She also… died in my arms. Haha- minutes after Kaminari did." Zach's laugh echoed the notion of how ridiculous it sounded that he had to go through that twice in a short span of time. The cracked laughter could also have been just to hide the pain, or because it hurt too much to say without focusing on the ridiculous nature of it in order to lessen the impact. That laughter just happened once though and then his face scrunched up again and the tears continued to pour down his face.

"She stopped a thousand of them all on her own. The unknown civilian who stopped the invasion of Adachi… who will always be unknown, but who gave her life to save us- ah haa, ah ha-" Zach hyperventilated for a few seconds as his chest had tightened up too much.

Yaoyorozu's hand had froze on his back. She shook her head after letting what he just said process. Then she started rubbing his back again. Oh Zach. "Sorry" isn't enough. I wish there were words that could help you. For this though? I honestly can't think of what to say. I wish I did. I hope, that just us being here will help. Knowing you, I think it will. That's why you're telling us about her, right? Even though she wouldn't want you to?

We told him he could tell us, Kirishima thought with a look towards Ashido who just glanced over her shoulder and met his gaze. He told us about Maelstrom, Kirishima thought and stared back towards Zach too. He told us about all of them dead and alive. She brought the storm. She was, awesome. She saved a ton of people.

I'm sorry, Zach. Ashido pursed her lips and tried not to cry herself while imagining another of his friends who died. You don't have to keep it secret with us. We told you that you don't have to keep it to yourself. That those people who only had you to remember them, could also have us. I didn't know though. I didn't think- I wouldn't have ever guessed, that she had died protecting us. It's better that everyone else goes on thinking no one did. That the villains really accomplished nothing. Ashido shook her head, as even understanding their reasoning for it, she felt so horrible at the idea that no one would know Maelstrom's sacrifice. You guys are all so cool.

After seeing the mental images of Maelstrom and all their time together, Zach saw other images flashing faster through his head. He saw his best friend whose room he sat in. The two of them were laughing so hard at something that he could not even remember what it was. He remembered laughing that hard though. Zach pictured Kaminari looking at a photo on his phone that he turned so Zach could look at the cute girls they were checking out. Then he imagined them tossing a football back and forth in that room, that room he had spent a lot of time in, and talking about Kyoka and Momo together.

He saw them training together. On the roof of a skyscraper in the urban training zone. Fighting side by side in the Sports Festivals. And against Shatterer… and then against each other as they clashed in the sky over Tokyo.

Zach felt the jolt in his arm from stabbing a blade into his friend so hard but the blade hitting bone that pushed back against him. He felt the splash of blood on his skin, and the pain of getting stabbed. The pain of realizing what those weapons Kaminari had been hurting him with were made out of, and Kaminari bragging to him about what he had done to those people… It all hurt. It hurt worse than he could describe, not that he had any words to speak over the sobs. As he saw them stabbing each other and bleeding and screaming! As he saw himself killing his best friend over and over, and over and over and over again.

Midoriya clenched his eyes shut as an especially loud sob of agony pierced his heart. He bowed his head. When I forced him to tell me that stuff about the Tusukan Desert and Virginia, he went on a revival spree and saved 206 people, just to stop feeling the pain of all those things he talked about. He needed to get his mind off of them so he revived everyone and put himself in so much physical pain that it stopped him from dealing with it. To stop thinking about it. And then he couldn't keep that up once he went back to school the next day, which led to Himazuri finding out about him. Midoriya curled his right fist into the blanket over his legs. He pushed this off. He killed Kaminari but stopped himself from dealing with it, and he used the pain from reviving the city of Tokyo to help him hold it back. He can't do that anymore though. In this safe place? Surrounded by friends? He can't stop it anymore.

He still tried to keep up a wall that day, Ashido imagined sitting next to Zach in his room after the trial. Probably because he still had Kaminari to deal with. One last thing. He couldn't let himself completely, break, Ashido squinted her eyes back open and looked sadly through blurry eyes at her friend whose sobs sounded so painful. He was letting it all out. No more reason to hold it in.

"…ahh, ah haa- ahh, I just…" Zach caught his voice in his throat and choked on it. He coughed a few times and hunched forward. "I let him, go on living like that- for so long," Zach gasped. "Trapped in there! Koimou?" Zach whispered. His voice cracked again and he had to duck his head and turn away feeling shame fill him at the thought of some of the heroes there that day and the ones in this room who cared about them. He almost cut himself off completely because it felt wrong to say it when there were others who suffered worse, but he could not care more for any of them at the moment while his friend's face in his final moments filled his mind. "The regret-" Zach gasped, thinking of how Kaminari looked as thoughts of the Koimou Massacre must have rushed through his head with so many other things.

Bakugo ground his teeth but rose a casted-arm up in front of his face for a moment and just bit down harder to not make any noise. He was frustrated hearing this, as it was a lot easier to just direct all his hatred about Fantasma straight at Raijin. Hearing Zach say that Kaminari regretted it? It was nearly too much to handle that he just wanted to scream. He stopped himself though. He stopped himself because he heard the gasped sob of his friend who breathed out, "All because, I didn't stop him sooner. It wasn't his- I should have… I should have stopped him. I shouldn't have let him kill so many people."

We all should have stopped him sooner, Midoriya thought with his own eyes closed. You only blame yourself. You believe you should have been able to do it sooner, but all of us should have done more. We all knew… that it was possible. That, the way he described how he betrayed us, sounded weird.

We could have stopped him. I could have acted quicker, in that basement. Before your aunt and cousin were killed. Before your friends- before you! Todoroki grit his teeth and had to turn away in his own frustration. I should have defended before attacking. Made a shield of ice before he could zap me again. I- I could have prevented all that pain. I should have! For you, Zach. But also… for Kaminari.

"…All because I couldn't- I didn't find the courage to kill him quicker. Letting them die? Losing him? Everyone?!" Zach gasped and grabbed at his chest tighter. "I just- I can't, anymore." His eyes slammed shut so hard and the others who looked away stared back towards him. Their eyes grew wider to hear the cracking tone that sounded apologetic too at what he just said. "I… for so long, I haven't been able to take it, anymore." Zach squinted open his closed eyes and stared into his own lap below where his hands were grabbing onto his chest. His head shook side to side. His chest hurt so much in a familiar pain that only got worse every time he felt it. "I couldn't… it already broke me. And now again? And again? I just…"

I've lost too much. I knew! I… I knew, I couldn't take it. Even one more friend. I knew I couldn't take that any longer. I did it anyway…

Yaoyorozu spoke softly to the boy just shaking his head side to side while looking down, "It's okay, Zach. It's okay." I'm so sorry. "We're here."

In the whole city, no one else is feeling this bad right now. Kirishima thought. He glanced up towards Jirou but got surprised to see that she was also just staring towards Zach in a hurt way about how he was feeling rather than looking crushed herself. The only one hurting this badly, is the one who can't take it anymore. Zach, you can stop now. How do I say that to him? What happens… if I do?

Zach curled his fists and lowered them from his chest. That's not fair, he thought. His own thoughts were frustrated at himself and pushed aside some of his own grief. I let him suffer, and now just because I ended his suffering, that's enough? That's nowhere near enough! "Kaminari, suffered more than anyone. Because of 'Raijin' he suffered, and he suffered for longer than he had to because of my own damn cowardice." The depressed tone of despair had shifted away, and even though that was supposed to be a good thing, his friends still felt bad for him that he was distracting himself from it by getting angry at himself.

"It wasn't your fault, Zach," Aoyama said in a soft tone at the end of Zach's bed. He glanced up at the dazzling blond who shook his head once in a more serious way than Zach thought he had ever seen Aoyama get before. "He was just, too smart. Even for you."

"Y-Yeah, you were searching everywhere for him," Uraraka agreed. "You told me you searched all the subways of the major cities, right?" Zach looked past Aoyama and then lowered his gaze down after meeting Uraraka's eyes in frustration for a second. "He knew you would do that though. His own tunnels were hid better because he knew you would. It's not like you weren't actually trying."

"I thought…" Midoriya began quickly and trying to add on to what Uraraka was saying. "I actually thought, you let Eziano escape you. When you told me about how powerful he was. Remember?" Zach looked back up and towards his one-armed friend who shook his head apologetically while some of the others looked towards Midoriya in surprise. "Because I actually couldn't believe that you weren't able to find someone. You told me that you just couldn't do it. That he was that good at hiding, and that was hard for me to believe because of how good you are at stopping guys like him."

Midoriya frowned deeper then said in a sterner tone at Zach, "And you feel the same way. You know how good you are at it, that you think you must not have actually been trying if you never managed to get Kaminari. That's not true though, Zach. You're being too hard on yourself this time."

"I agree," Todoroki said. He thought of the pain in Zach's voice when he was apologizing to Kaminari back on the street where he and Dabi had been fighting. "You blamed yourself for that, but he was just that smart. You know that. You know that he was planning for you for years. It wasn't a lack of effort on your part. It was an excess of effort on his, that he managed to hide from you."

Zach glanced around at the heroes in the room all telling him the same thing. I could have- I should have tried harder. I should have searched everywhere! They're all smart though. They know me. They know him. Am I right and they're all wrong? Or, am I putting blame where it doesn't belong? "It doesn't matter," Zach whispered. It really doesn't. "Blame, isn't going to help-" Zach stopped himself.

His friends wanting to counter him and stop him from being so down on himself gained confused looks at what he was talking about. He shook his head side to side. "It's not about it being my fault. It's not about me being the cause of his suffering either! He was my friend. He suffered. Whether it was because of me or not, that's something I can't just forget." Zach frowned and stared down at his right hand in the glove some doctor he bet he had revived in the past slid onto him at some point.

Zach curled his right hand that was so full of Death that it would kill instantly. "Raijin was my worst enemy. He was the one trying to control my destiny for years, and succeeding many times along the way." Zach frowned deeper. "But Kaminari was never in control of his own life. Not like the rest of us. Kaminari might have opened up his full mind using his Quirk, but the rest of us were able to decide for ourselves whether or not to do things, whereas all of Raijin's decisions were made by a 6 year old. A 6 year old Kaminari who was testing his Quirk on his own, made every decision that 'Raijin' would ever make. They weren't decisions at all. It was all pre-determined by that little kid who didn't know what he was doing!"

Zach's tone got even more frustrated as he snapped about that. Mineta stared at the side of Zach's head with his eyes squinting for a second in pain before getting wide again as he watched the gears turning in Zach's head. "…Blame, isn't going to help-" What does he mean by that? "Help?" What is he, thinking about?

"Kaminari messed up and gave his need for winning the highest priority in his mind," Zach said. His eyes were still locked down on his own right hand that he had believed controlled so much of his own life but felt inconsequential when he considered his best friend's. "That tiny piece of his mind allowed the dark thoughts willing to betray others and kill people to take hold. It accepted those thoughts all for the purpose of winning. Doing whatever it takes in order for the most 'victories,' he needed to accept anything. Cut out all inhibitions. He made his darker thoughts more powerful so that he could ignore everything that told him not to…" Zach closed his eyes and shook his head again in pain imagining how something like this could happen.

"Kaminari had the most cursed Quirk in the world," Zach growled in anger. "Not even I can beat that tragedy. Not even close!" Zach hissed, thinking of all the times he had been in such self-pity about the way he had been born. I've known people who had it much worse than me. Too many people, and yet Kaminari? You really were the most cursed of them all. By having a Quirk that people called "blessed" because electricity-Quirks are just so powerful.

"Because Kaminari Denki was my best friend, and he was also the person that Kaminari could have become if he just hadn't messed around with his Quirk irresponsibly as a kid… If only someone had taught him the dangers. If someone taught him how to use it responsibly…" The gears turned quicker in Zach's head, but his own grief drowned out some of the serious thoughts he had forming. "I hate this feeling," he whispered. Talking about it logically was impossible for long. He just imagined his friend's dying expression again, before Kaminari smiled to make him feel less horrible. He cracked a corner of his lips up for a second thinking of how Kaminari did that. One last heroic act to save me. You knew what you were doing. In all the pain you were in, you smiled for me. For my sake. And I know that you were a hero. That makes you a hero in my book. The best…

"He could have been an amazing hero," Zach whispered with that small half-smile. Thinking of how heroic Kaminari was made Zach imagine how much good his friend could have brought to the world. We would have been two of the strongest heroes ever. Best friends, working together to make this world a better place! DAMN IT! You were a hero to me, but no one else- other than Thompson. You never got a chance to be a hero to them. I, want you to have that chance. Zach hated the feeling swirling in his chest, but it started to alleviate a bit at what he was considering. "I couldn't save Kaminari, but, I'm not going to give up on him."

My most important mission is over. If I only focus on that though, then what is left? I need a mission. I'm the kind of guy who needs something else to move onto! Or… Or I'll just be depressed. I need to focus my energy on something. When I do, I can accomplish great things. And right now? The only thing I want to do? I want to make you into a hero. Zach took in a deep breath and let it out as a slower exhale. Relax. Grief is good. Letting it out, when you have good friends around who can help you? Zach glanced to his side at Momo who was looking at him with wide eyes as she watched him calm himself down and focus on something new right in front of her eyes.

"I'm going to make Kaminari's tragedy worth something," Zach told her. He felt her hand lift off his back as if by a reactionary flinch, or as if she was wondering if she even needed to keep it there any longer. He leaned back a little so that her hand pressed back on him, assuring her that he really had been comforted by it by the way he smiled when her hand touched again. I'll always have another reason to keep fighting. "His death, won't be the end of Kaminari Denki. The end of Chargebolt. It can't be," Zach shook his head side to side imagining that being it.

"His story can be a warning. A cautionary tale," Zach whispered with his smile staying on his face as he imagined it. "I want other countries that are being too slow, like ours! I want them to start teaching about Quirks earlier. I've wanted it for a while but had too much in my way. Too many other goals, but, but now? I do think I know what I want to do after graduation," Zach admitted with a lifted smile and glance around at some of the guys who he had talked to in the courtyard of their dorms the other night about this very thing. He had no real answer for them at the time, and it sounded like he was giving that answer now. All he had been able to tell them was 'stopping Kaminari' at the time, but now he answered them and they could see him figuring it out while he spoke.

No big plan, Shoji thought while looking over in amazement towards his friend. Ashido was right. He really does just act so quickly that it feels like he's had everything planned from the beginning.

So soon after accepting his death? Jirou thought with her own heart feeling like it was in her throat. She was in disbelief watching him talk about some greater purpose for Kaminari's death. Imagining it meaning something rather than just being a pointless tragedy too, made her feel so much lighter all of a sudden. Weights she did not even know had been pressing down on her lifted from her shoulders. Her eyes twinkled in awe and she lifted up a smile that she did not have to force when he looked her way as if seeing what she thought of his idea.

"Educating children about Quirks at younger ages is the safest action we can take to prevent more tragedies like this. What kind of world did we live in that billions of kids were handed weapons more powerful than guns and then not trained how to use them safely? Or to not use them at all in certain ways? Telling them not to use them didn't work. Everyone knew kids used their Quirks and they just ignored it. Pretending like that issue didn't exist created villains." Zach shook his head and smiled again after ranting for a second about the stupidity of their past policies. "What we need are responsible teachers and heroes to make this happen. The world that discouraged all use of Quirks by non-heroes is disappearing. More and more countries around the world will allow people to use Quirks as time moves forward, and teaching Quirk safety earlier will come with that, but I'm going to try and make that happen faster."

"Because how many children will come to abuse their powers? How many will become cursed, in the time it takes for things to change? The change is happening quickly, but if I can make it happen any quicker and stop even one kid from making that mistake?" Zach wondered. He saw encouraging looks and smiles from around the room as his friends all looked to support him in what he was suggesting. "Then it's worth it," Zach finished.

"Yeah, it is," Jirou agreed with him.

Saving a kid like Kaminari from becoming a villain? Saving kids like Eri, or like Zach himself, from killing their own parents? Midoriya wondered. That's an amazing goal, Zach. No one would ever expect it from you. Your ability to revive anyone? The fact that you can stop entire villain groups on your own? Most people would hear this goal of yours and not understand why you think it's up to you to do it when there are "better" things for you to be spending your time with. But this is you. You've had these ideas for years. Longer than you knew you could revive anyone and before you could stop all villains yourself, you were this smart. You looked at the bigger picture, always.

And if you never learned how to use your Quirk to revive people or knock out villains, I could still see you doing this, Midoriya realized. Everything that happened, and the core values that make you, you, didn't change. From the start, Zach, you've always been a hero. Midoriya smiled wider and nodded in complete agreement when Zach looked across the room towards him and into his eyes.

Zach tried to keep up his smile. Again though, he just saw Maelstrom and Kaminari's faces. Two more people to add onto a pile of bodies he saw flash in his eyes on the floor in the middle of the room. He looked back down at his bed between his legs. Tears spilled out his eyes again even though he had managed to distract from the pain for a bit with plans for the future. It's not so easy. I need to get past this! I need, to keep fighting.

I can mourn them though. I have to… How long? If I mourn everyone I've lost? It'll take years. Zach clenched his eyes shut harder. I can't handle it- I can! I have to. No more though. I can't do this, anymore. He saw so many people dying in his arms. The boy burning him with radiation. Cee, crying in frustration. Hyper's panic. The feeling of Zombieman's flesh tearing in his claws- Zach's head cocked to the side and ducked down so hard he pressed his chin into his chest. His fingers twitched at the feeling of flesh tearing in them. His friend's flesh. Too much.

I don't have to do that anymore though. I can save people in other ways. I've stopped the menaces. I did it while back as Zach Sazaki too. Zach lifted back up his smile even with his head bowed still from the things he just recalled. I know now for sure, that returning home was the right move. I always doubted it was just the insanity that forced me back here. That those reasons I came up with were excuses to give up on being Death. Which came first? The reasons for coming back, or the need to give up my position because of the craziness? It was impossible to tell, but I was right even in my insanity. I might have been crazy, but I made the right call.

Everyone knows I was Death. Most of them believe it at least. And I bet a lot of them understand that Death showed up in Tokyo too, but they won't be reporting on it. Civilians using Lifebringer's Law. Unknown heroes who stood up for their fellow citizens. They all finally understand why history can't remember it being Death. The AoD can be kept out of history. A shadow alone, with no recorded impact on the happenings of the world. Just like the assassins. Just like the anti-heroes. Shadows don't affect the real world. Which is why I know I'm better off here. As powerful as those shadows can be, I can't change the world like that. Not the perceptions of people. Not to the extent I can here. Not without emerging from the darkness.

All I've done since emerging has given me the influence that I wouldn't have had if I only emerged now, once the battles were all won. I won them as Lifebringer. I won them, in the light.

Only in the light can I really affect the minds of the world, rather than just tricking them. Only as Lifebringer can I convince them to change. Only, as Zach Sazaki.

---

A wing of Tokyo General Hospital was dedicated solely to heroes at the moment, due to the disproportionate amount of them who were badly injured during the "Miracle of Tokyo" compared to the rest of the populace. Villains were being treated at various prison hospitals, and civilians were scattered around at lots of other hospitals in the greater Tokyo area, but the heroes were focused in Tokyo General. The large hospital had several giant wings on different floors, allowing the heroes some degree of privacy from the prying eyes of the public who all wanted to come interview them after the battle.

Due to the strict security measures in order to spare the injured the heroes the troubles of dealing with the press and their injuries simultaneously, especially the younger ones who had yet to even graduate high school, no unauthorized persons were supposed to be up on the floor where the U.A. third years were all undergoing treatment and follow-up procedures to their emergency surgeries and care. Even though this meant that no one was suspicious of people they saw on the floor, as the security measures went on downstairs to keep anyone from getting up here who were not supposed to be around, it was hard for people not to stare for a few seconds with raised eyebrows at the pair walking down the wing's hallway in the direction of the younger injured heroes.

The pair who walked down the hall had the least inconspicuous outfits on. Especially in a hallway full of heroes and aspiring heroes, they could not have stood out more. But then again, a pair looking like this would not have gotten past the security measures if they were not actually allowed up in the hall. It was how truly bad they were at making themselves seem inconspicuous that made the few people who saw them walking down the hall just decide to ignore the pair rather than follow after them. The man in a gray trench coat had a pair of sunglasses on indoors that he was looking down from behind at the girl walking with him. Her hair was bunched up underneath her purple hood, though some long orange strands were hanging out over her shoulders. The man in the gray coat also had a matching hat on that covered his grayish-black hair and shadowed over his sunglasses a bit.

Their appearances were masked a bit to hide who they were, but they were not there to hurt anyone. The two walked past Class A's room, and the younger of the two glanced at it and pursed her lips for a second but then continued walking. She walked past Class B's room too where most of the injured boys from Class B were undergoing follow-up treatment. One of their classmates in particular was not with them though. The girl and her guard walked past Class B's room and to a private room at the end of the hall. Her hand moved to the handle and she took in a deep breath to calm her nerves and relax her rapidly beating heart. Toyo glanced down at the girl next to him and frowned deeply while she was not watching his expression. "I will guard the door, Princess," he told her in a quiet voice, removing his frown when Aya spun around to look at the stern man who just gave her a reassuring nod.

Princess Aya nodded back gratefully, then she turned the handle and opened the door up. The lone boy inside the room with wavy gray hair turned his head towards the door and his eyes opened huge at the sight of the girl who stepped inside and removed her hood. His eyes darted over the girl stepping in and to the man whose intense and scary gaze locked on his and set off all of Tetsutetsu's warning signs. The door closed behind Aya while Tetsutetsu gulped at the sight of her scary guard's watchful gaze, then his anxious look shifted back to the girl who ran up to the side of his hospital bed. "P-Princess. You're here, again."

"Are you doing better?" Aya smiled up at the face of the boy a year older than her who pulled his head back at how close she leaned in to examine his injuries a bit closer.

Oh I'm in trouble, Tetsutetsu turned away when Aya lifted her gaze and tilted her head to the side at the look on his face. He glanced out the windows of his room with a bead of sweat dripping down his face. He darted his eyes around the rooftop of the building across the street, and he grimaced even more at the sight of two scary figures glaring straight towards him with the same looks that Toyo had had on his face. He gulped again but then turned back and nodded his head at the girl asking him questions about his treatment and if the private room was to his liking. She put a hand over his left on the side of the bed closer to her, and suddenly Tetsutetsu imagined a red dot on the back of his skull closer to the window. He could just picture it in his head, but he smiled anyway at the girl in front of him who had been in the same spot she stood now when he first woke up yesterday after passing out at her Palace.

"…And they're charging Taizo and Duke Dread with murder too, so they're going to be put away for a long time. They only got 'attempted kidnapping' though on their charges. Thanks to you, and to Red Riot," she added quickly when Tetsutetsu was opening his mouth to add something on. "And to that Army of- I mean, to the civilian who came and helped you guys." Aya winked at the boy who laughed which she joined in and laughed along with too. His eyes bulged as she laughed along with him, her eyes closing and a bright smile spreading across her beautiful face, while one of her hands was still on top of his own at the edge of his bed. Oh man, his cheeks turned redder. I am in a lot of trouble here. He gulped again, but the smile did not leave his face this time despite the anxiety he felt mixed with that other creeping feeling.

A few rooms down from Tetsutetsu's private one, Zach sat up in his bed with the curtains all drawn around him. He had a smart device with a wide screen in his hands that he was looking down at and at his green-haired friend from Class 1 who had it resting diagonally in front of him so it pointed at his face. The conversation was intense, and Zach nodded seriously at the boy on the other side who was laying in a hospital bed like his own but in a more secluded room than Zach's which had a lot of other people in it at the moment.

Hawks stood at the side of Tokoyami's bed and was talking to his former intern who sat up on the edge of it and was discussing his injuries and asking his old pro about his own. Tokoyami had already informed Hawks that he would be starting his own agency after graduation, and Hawks expected nothing less from his student for the past few years. Hawks had his left arm in a sling that Tokoyami felt bad about, due to it being his own claws that had slashed through it, but Hawks told the younger hero not to worry as the doctors informed him his arm would fully heal soon. He had been refusing treatments from Recovery Girl in order to let her focus on the younger heroes and ones in critical care first, which was something a lot of the older heroes were doing apparently which Tokoyami just learned.

Hawks also had a right arm that Tokoyami had looked at in more surprise when he saw the way Hawks was moving it around. The fingers had great dexterity and the movement of the arm was a lot different from how it had moved around in the past. "Is that…" Tokoyami began when he saw Hawks make a hand motion with the arm not in a cast, and Hawks looked down at his new arm himself.

Hawks moved all of his fingers individually and then spun his arm in a full circle from his shoulder in a way no normal arm or prosthetic could. He chuckled and shook his head with a glance over his other shoulder and towards a closed curtain in the room separating one of the students from the others. He looked back at his old intern and scratched the back of his head using the prosthetic. "Apparently they had one ready for me. I should have accepted it a while back," Hawks admitted. "There's no reason to doubt Sazaki's intentions for making Virtucorp. Shouldn't have held a grudge," Hawks shrugged his fake shoulder up and chuckled, playing off his previous reluctance as solely personal because of Sazaki beating him in a fight once.

Tokoyami lifted a smile though that Hawks said that. His pro thought about how quickly Tsukuyomi was to call out to him that Zach would not have killed Nikko Enri. It was why he was so quick to realize that "Electro" had left the scene. I was too late though, Hawks thought as he imagined that moment. Sazaki was in a bad way, but he figured it out before any of us. Knew exactly where they would put a bomb. Kid's a genius. And his tech company makes some amazing prosthetics.

On the same side of the room as Tokoyami but a few beds down closer to the door than the windows where he sat, Shinso Hitoshi stood with his arms in casts looking similar to Bakugo's. He also had a bandage wrapped around his head, due to his concussion, but he had ignored his doctor and came to Class A's room with his friend Kuroiro who had crutches under his armpits to help him stand. "…Thanks to a plan Kendo and Shinso came up with," Kuroiro accredited while talking to the redhead with spiky hair nodding back interestedly at the story they were telling him. "We managed to capture Marin. We'll finally be able to see justice for Shoda."

Shinso nodded his head in agreement. He thought back on the Sports Festival Invasion and his initial cowardice against the monster they had faced the other day. His regret and guilt was fading away though, and he imagined how they defeated that man who Zach had warned him about. Shinso glanced towards the curtains blocking Zach from the others and sighed, wishing he could speak to him right now about Marin's capture and some of the things the assassin had said during their fight.

Kirishima stopped smiling when the others' story seemed to end, and he looked closer at Kuroiro next to him who he remembered in the past with another of his own classmates. Speaking of Shoda reminded him of the Class A student that had been lost too. "You know, Kuroiro," Kirishima started. He hesitated and frowned angrily and frustratedly while Shinso and Kuroiro both focused back on him.

Kirishima glanced across the room and to his right to Zach's blocked bed. He spoke in a lower voice while looking at the Class B student who he imagined in the cavalry battle alongside Zach and one other. "When Zach beat Raijin, he got a minute with Kaminari. The real one…" Kuroiro's eyes started to grow wide and then get wet as Kirishima explained it to them.

The bed between Tokoyami's and Bakugo's was empty at the moment as Todoroki was not in the room, and neither were Mineta or Sero on the beds to either side of Zach's blocked-off one. Sero came back into the room though with a small smirk on his face that made Sato raise his eyebrows while turning his head to his approaching friend. Sato was able to turn easier as he no longer had a neck brace on as it had been removed after his last dose of healing Quirk from a recently-arrived Russian doctor who had been given special permission to use his Bone-Fill Quirk. A lot of people needed his help, but Sato's neck injury was near the top of the list.

"What's up with you?" Sato wondered.

"Just bumped into Komori out in the hall," Sero said with a shrug of one shoulder up. He grimaced as doing that motion hurt his chest a bit, despite how quickly his own recovery was going. He went back to his bed and sat on it, then lay back and put his arms slowly up behind his head. He leaned back and added casually, "Looks like I've got a date to the dance tomorrow."

Sato pushed his big lips out and blew air through them in surprise and then frowned with annoyance covering his face. "You're a dick," Sato grumbled at him.

"Hey, I don't know why it's so easy for me either," Sero said, smiling wide with his smile that covered half his face. He laughed as he had not expected to find a date before tomorrow, only for that accidental encounter to lead to him asking the girl he struck up conversation with in the hall. "Don't you have a date already though?" Sero wondered at the more muscular boy who frowned deeper at his classmate who already knew the answer to that question. "You don't? Oh, well, you don't have much time there buddy. Might want to-"

Sato pulled his pillow out from below his head. He grunted in pain as that was actually much-needed support for his injured upper back and neck, but he needed something to throw at Sero's face while Sero's hands were still behind his head and could not block. The soft projectile thrown by such a strong hero still nearly knocked Sero off his bed, and Sato started laughing as did Bakugo across the room who caught sight of it.

Sero reached for the pillow quickly, then he winced in pain- "Oof- ah ah ah," Sero leaned back carefully and just lay back on his bed rather than throw a pillow of his own at Sato. "You're the lucky one. I don't want to have to dance tomorrow," Sero muttered, imagining dancing in this condition.

Sato frowned again but rose his eyebrows and shrugged in admission to himself that he was not really looking forward to dancing either. "Surprised they didn't push it back at all," Sato muttered. "With half the graduating class beat to hell."

"Half the graduating 'hero' course," Sero corrected, as most of U.A.'s third years were fine. He sighed then added, "And don't you know? There wasn't any battle. Just the 'Miracle' of how we're all perfectly fine- nnn, ahh," Sero ground his teeth and grunted in pain but forced up a smile through those uncomfortable feelings. "Can't push back any of the dates if nothing happened, right? Gotta show how the Battle of Tokyo had such little impact that we won't change anything up for it. Graduation on Wednesday, dance tomorrow night… Really not giving us a lot of recovery time."

Across the room from Sero, Bakugo's smile was gone and replaced with an annoyed look at the girl between him and Deku. "Are you two serious? You need to stay another night," Uraraka scolded the boys on either side of her. "This is no time to be prideful-"

"If Deku's getting out early I'm getting out earlier," Bakugo grunted in reply. There was no question that that was the truth. No way he was laying in this bed longer than the idiot next to him.

"I'm fine though. You need-"

"You need to watch your mouth, idiot Deku."

"I'm not the one with broken arms-"

"Yeah, you're missing one altogether. Why don't you stay another few days while they finish making yours? You can graduate next year."

"What?! I'm more ready to leave than you are, Kacchan-"

"Both of you, quiet! Just wait until Recovery Girl tells you that you can leave. She's in charge…"

"Not if she says I'm staying longer than Deku."

"I need to go help the reconstruction-"

"Ugh! You're both idiots!" Uraraka exclaimed at the frustrating boys on her sides who would not stop arguing with each other. "Why they put your beds next to each other I'll never know," she grumbled under her breath with a sigh. Though, I'm glad they did, she admitted to herself with a small laugh that only she understood. She just shook her head when the other two gave her confused expressions as to why she laughed like that.

Zach nodded at the boy speaking to him over his tablet they were video-calling on. "…Though the surgeries on my arms went, decently, apparently," Dendo paused for a second and grimaced deeper. His tablet was resting diagonally in front of him rather than in his hands because they were in casts right now. "The doctors are skeptical about my ability to walk, ever again. Or fight."

"Heh," Zach chuckled and Dendo's eyes bulged for a second before just getting confused as he did not think Zach was actually laughing at him. "You want what Ingenium got then? Or Mulan?" Zach asked. He grinned at the boy on the other side of the call who had spoken in a slightly discouraged way but did not sound as depressed as a person who just had their dreams crushed would be. Dendo paused for a second but then lifted a corner of his lips up as he did not expect to hear anything less. "Doesn't sound like you need prosthetics, exactly, but the Cyborginization Quirk that Virtucorp incorporates into their surgeries will work wonders for your legs. Might be a bit though before you're back on your feet fighting again."

"I'll deal with the wait," Dendo replied with a shrug of a shoulder. "It sucks, but I'm glad I survived. Really. I didn't want you to have to die for those injuries-"

"Thank you, for that," Zach told his friend. I believe your mentality of not wanting to die to help me might have kept you alive. Willpower really does have that power sometimes. Not giving up, just because you knew I would revive you, saved me. "I'll see what I can do to expedite you getting that enhancements. Tell those doctors to screw off next time they say you can't be a hero."

"Hah- well, I won't do that. They're helping me out… but I'll word it a bit differently," Dendo smiled at his friend who did not sound doubtful at all after he relayed his diagnosis that Dendo would be able to get through this and be a hero again. "Thanks, Zach. I'll owe you for-"

"You don't owe me shit. We're on the same side here, Dendo." Zach smirked more at his old classmate, "We always have been." Dendo sweatdropped while imagining the first week they knew each other and how confrontational he was against the boy he thought of as an enemy back then. Zach laughed as he saw Dendo think back on that though, in a way showing his friend that the past had been forgotten and forgiven. "Anyway, you get some more rest. I'll talk to you later, yeah?"

"Of course. See you soon, Zach," Dendo replied.

Zach ended the call and then leaned back in his bed and rolled his shoulders out. I need to get some exercise. I've been laying in one place for too long. Zach put down his tablet and stood up from his bed. He pulled the curtain and stepped away from his bed while everyone else in the room spun towards him.

"'Sup?" Zach lifted a small wave then glanced around the room and hummed at what he saw. Todoroki's not around. Heard Endeavor's in bad shape. I want to check on him too. "Gonna go take a look around. See you guys in a bit." He did not wait for the others to respond to his initial greeting before heading towards the door looking like he had a destination in mind already which dissuaded anyone else from stopping him to ask questions as it felt like he was busy.

Zach glanced at the clock on the wall when he was on his way out. Hospital's visiting hours can't last much longer. Wonder what the night will be like here? I'm sure I won't be the only restless one ready to go before night. Better not to make Recovery Girl worry though. Might as well stick around as long as everyone else is still here too.

Zach walked down the hall and glanced to his side at the guy in the gray trench coat and at the door behind him that had a small window in it that the guard darted the occasional look back through to keep a close eye on his ward and the boy she had taken too much of an interest in. Zach cracked a smile as he imagined who was likely behind that doorway considering he recognized Toyo who looked at him and went wider-eyed behind his sunglasses. Both of his eyes opened huge which still felt weird to the man who had worn an eyepatch for a decade. Zach just nodded at the guy whose neck he had snapped in order to ensure he could revive him while still on Trigger. Toyo had not spoken about that to anyone else since it happened, and he just nodded back at the hero who saved his life in a very grateful way so he was practically bowing.

Zach went by and around a corner. He ignored looks from doctors and patients who stared at him and stopped what they were doing at the sight of the legend himself just walking down the hallway.

Zach spotted a flash of white hair near the end of the hall. The white hair had traces of red spots in it that Zach recognized and focused on. Looks like he's over there. He headed on a straight line to the door near the end of the hall he had turned onto that had a hero's family name on the nameplate outside the room. The door had closed after the girl a few years older than him just went back inside, and Zach knocked after reaching the door himself.

The same girl who had stepped back into her father and brother's room opened the door for Zach who realized that Endeavor was not the only one laying on a bed inside. He stared towards Todoroki Natsuo in surprise at the sight of the older boy in a hospital gown like his father who lay on a bed to Zach's right with his family between him and his son to Zach's left. Both Natsuo and Endeavor stared towards the doorway in surprise, as did the woman between their beds whose eyes widened at the sight of the boy with messy black hair who glanced around after staring straight at Natsuo for a few seconds in surprise.

Fuyumi froze after opening the door. The 24 year old girl smiled after a moment though of staring at the teenage boy who surprised her by showing up in their doorway. Her mother also smiled too over at Zach while the other teen with half red and half white hair standing at her side only glanced Zach's way for a moment before nodding and looking back to his father who he figured Zach had come to see. Zach walked in with a nod at Fuyumi thanking her for letting him in, as she had opened the door at first frowning as they did not have much time left during visiting hours to spend in there.

"Hi," Zach said as he walked in. He bowed his head towards the woman between the beds in the room. "Nice to meet you, I'm Zach."

"I know," Rei responded with a small smile at the boy. "I've been meaning to meet you. I want to thank you, for being a friend to my boys."

Everyone else in the room tensed up except for Zach who just looked at her softer for a second and then back at Shoto. Todoroki Shoto glanced over at Zach and then told his friend, "When you flew in, with that entrance music Rebel gave you. A lot of people were recording. Caught you talking to, him."

"Oh," Zach said. I knew people were watching me throughout the day. Do people know he was Touya? I guess, Todoroki's mom knows I know. They must have been told. Or Endeavor told his family. Zach nodded in understanding that they had all seen that video, then he looked towards Natsuo who looked his way a bit frustrated but also sadly imagining the speech Zach had made at Dabi.

Natsuo bowed his head as he thought about it, "…But Dabi, even after you killed my family… I could have forgiven you." He cared about Touya. As much as any of us. I could tell.

"I… I know, that you thought I would be allowed to revive them. You're a monster for what you did to her. Killing John and Mary, and the way that you tortured Jenny when you burned her alive…" Rei closed her eyes and took in a deep breath while thinking of the video she had watched with her children and showed her husband already. "But, but despite all of that, I really think I could have. It would have taken a lot! You would have really, really had to… I don't know. I don't know what you could have done to make me forgive you, but it was possible. You, could have been forgiven. Even after all of it… Had you not been a coward." This boy tried. He tried to save Touya when he was with the villains. Tried harder than either of us ever did, to save our son. Her eyes were sad when she opened them back up, but she still smiled at Zach Sazaki in an appreciative way.

"Is, your brother, okay?" Zach asked while looking towards Shoto who was the only one in here he felt really comfortable talking to right now. He glanced towards Natsuo too and gave Shoto's older brother a concerned look also confused as to why he was in there and apparently injured.

"My son gave me a kidney," Endeavor explained to Zach who turned in surprise to the hero then back to his son who frowned and looked the other way. "After Splodo ruptured my right one during our fight. Natsuo saved my life-"

"Not that Lifebringer wouldn't have revived you anyway," Natsuo muttered. "Probably should have kept it actually-"

"I'm glad you didn't," Zach told the older boy who turned back in surprise as Lifebringer spoke directly to him this time. "Thank you."

Natsuo just stared back at Lifebringer for a few seconds then nodded his head dumbly as he realized he was just staring. He's so intense. Natsuo imagined that same video he was thinking of where he could tell how close Lifebringer and Dabi had been. Lifebringer had never actually said Touya's real name during their confrontation, which saved the Todoroki family a lot of grief even if there were a few questions as Endeavor's name had been mentioned a few times. "For the people who have died today, Dabi, you will burn far worse than last time. In the Pits of Hell…" Natsuo shivered thinking of that threat.

"Are you alright, Lifebringer?" Fuyumi wondered to the boy she walked to the left side of and looked at closely. In that same video her whole family was thinking about, they had seen Lifebringer's injuries from stopping the H-9 Cyclone Bomb. She felt unnerved by the fact that she could not see any of those injuries on his face now when he had looked on the verge of death in the video.

"Yeah, I am," Zach assured her with a smile to prove it. He was at the foot of Endeavor's bed a bit to the side of it at the edge of the gap where Shoto and his mother were still standing. He focused back on Endeavor specifically after getting close, and he looked the number 1 hero up and down to see that Endeavor had suffered some other pretty terrible injuries other than a ruptured kidney. Zach nodded though after a closer look. He'll be fine.

"Wait," Endeavor told the boy who he felt was about to turn and leave the room. Zach had not even started to leave yet and looked at the hero in surprise that Endeavor caught him. "Stay," Endeavor told the young man who stared back in a more hesitant way at the look on Endeavor's face.

Rei stepped closer to the young man at the edge of the gap and put a hand on his shoulder, nudging him closer towards Shoto instead who looked at his own mother in surprise then back at his father in the same way. Zach stepped up next to Shoto though so the two were side-by-side. They were around the same height, with Zach a bit more bulked-up with muscle than his classmate, though Todoroki had a toned figure too. The two of them looked down at Endeavor who sat up more in his bed despite his injuries and then turned to rest his legs over the side.

"You shouldn't be moving," Todoroki said to his father.

"Speak for yourself, son," Endeavor replied. He had a proud look though as he faced his son who still had some wrapped bandages around bad burns on his body. Those bandages reminded all of them of the villain who Shoto was being awarded a medal for capturing in the battle. "You never should have had that responsibility put on you," Endeavor said while looking into Shoto's eyes. "It was, my own shortcomings that forced you into that position-"

"Dad-"

"Listen, Shoto," Endeavor cut off his son who tried to interrupt him. "And you, Sazaki." Endeavor bit down hard. He looked into the other young man's eyes and saw a hesitation in Sazaki's that the boy could usually hide. "I am sorry," Endeavor said. He said it earnestly and from his chest. His head bowed to the young men. "It was my own fault. All of it-"

"Both of our faults," Rei added. Endeavor bit down harder and glanced up towards his wife who sadly looked at the young men spinning to her in surprise. "We, didn't know how to help him," Rei whispered. "And we, failed as parents to him."

"Mom," Fuyumi whispered. She stepped closer to her mother and put a hand on her shoulder when Rei's eyes watered up.

"I ignored him," Natsuo hissed, making Shoto spin around and his eyes open wide at the frustrated and regretful look on his older brother's face. "I didn't listen… I didn't help him, when I had the chance." He lifted his head and looked at his brother, and then to Lifebringer who glanced back and met his gaze. "But you did. You tried, harder than I did at least."

"It was my responsibility to stop my own son," Endeavor said in regret. "And you took that on yourself, Shoto. You're more of a hero than I am. Than I ever was," Enji grit his teeth while saying it. "But I still regret that you had to be the one, to stop your own brother. I will take it from here. Touya, will spend the rest of his life in a cell." The rest of the Todoroki family scrunched up their faces and got looks of pain and regret in their expressions. Endeavor continued firmly though, "But I will do what I can to help him. If there is anything that can be done now… I don't know what it is, but I will try. I will visit him and take on the responsibility from here on to make up for my sins."

Endeavor reached his large arms out in front of him and placed a hand on the outer shoulders of either of the young men facing him at the edge of his bed. Zach's strong expression even shook for a second as Endeavor put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Zach felt the pressure Endeavor put on his right shoulder, and for a moment he felt that he could let himself not look as strong as usual just from the look in Endeavor's eyes staring back at him and his friend.

Todoroki closed his heterochromatic eyes and let out a long breath at the thought of his fight with Dabi and how it was really over now. He had done what he needed to, and he knew his father was right and that it was up to Endeavor to try and fix anything else he could now. Zach was right though, Shoto thought. Dabi made his choice. Dabi was a coward and stepped over the line. If you feel that you need to save him still, then I can't stop you, Dad. I think you need to do it for yourself as much as for him. I don't need to though. I didn't do anything to him, and he held a grudge against me anyway. A grudge that he hurt so many innocent people over. All because he couldn't change. Unlike the two of you, Shoto looked from his father to his friend on his right side who glanced back towards him too and gave a nod in agreement that their roles in this story were over.

Endeavor saw the way the two young men looked that made him lower his hands he felt he no longer needed to give them encouraging pats with. They're strong, Endeavor reminded himself of the young heroes before him who had appreciated his support but who he knew did not need it. Endeavor glanced longer at Zach than his own son who he had already been speaking to about this before. I saw Death at the peak of his "world loop." I fought side by side with him before the Villain Summit. After Wampajawa. In what must have been the hardest time of his war. I heard the way he sounded that day when he nearly broke down, only to keep fighting… longer than anyone else could have.

Endeavor saw the cracks in Zach's armor here for a second when the boy let a softer look form on his face. Lifebringer's expression returned to his usual masked one though once Endeavor had lowered his arms back to his sides and started taking deep breaths as just that much movement was difficult. Rei stepped back closer and the boys moved back as she got to her husband and pushed him softly back onto his back. "Stop moving, you," she whispered at him with a shake of her head while Endeavor grumbled but did not push back against the woman who lay him down.

Fuyumi smiled while watching her parents act in a way that she could not remember ever happening throughout her childhood. Natsuo was laying on his back with his eyes pointed straight up now, but they still darted over in shock for a moment at the way his parents acted right there too. "I think I'll head out. I'm glad to see you're doing alright, Endeavor," Zach told the top hero he had come to see.

"Same to you, Lifebringer. Thank you for coming to see me," Endeavor responded respectfully to the younger man who stepped back like he was about to head out of the room. The tone Endeavor took with him sounded more respectful than the tone Zach just used while trying to make it intentionally like he was speaking to the more impressive hero. Endeavor did not take the tone of an equal, but of someone appreciating that someone else so important would come to check on him.

"Todoroki family," a voice called out from beyond the door. A couple knocks sounded and the door opened with a nurse outside who told them, "Five minutes until visiting-" The nurse's eyes bulged and her mouth dried out. "Oh- uh, L-Lifebringer. I, uh…"

Don't know what video she saw most recently, Zach thought while getting a softer and more innocent expression on his face to try and appear as least-threatening as possible. Must have been a scary one though.

Endeavor watched the young man head out while his wife and daughter started talking to the nurse and wondering if they could get an extension to stay at the hospital later. Titanium. Your son has grown into a fine young man. I'll look after him as best as I can from here on out.

The teenager who just left the room felt a bit awkward about the interaction with the Todoroki family that felt too personal for him to have been a part of. I did consider Dabi like a brother, but that doesn't make me part of the family. That was weird. Zach had an uncomfortable feeling in his gut and just shook his head around to get that lingering weirdness out of his system.

Zach headed back to his room while guests around the hospital floor started to head out. He made it back to the room and greeted a few of the guests on their way out, but it was mostly the boys in the room still and some of their female classmates who also needed to either leave the hospital or get back to their own room as the nurses and doctors were going to get annoyed at them if they had to ask again. Uraraka sighed as she was being stared at by a doctor who gave her a skeptical look down at her legs wondering if she needed to stay in this hospital any longer. Uraraka put away the folding chair she had been sitting on back under Bakugo's bed, then she headed towards the door with steps that took her extra far and showed she had barely any gravity, reminding the doctor that it was her own Quirk allowing her to move so freely despite her own injuries.

Zach returned to the room and went to his bed that he sat on the edge of and looked to Sero next to him who he was glad had woken up. He looked past in surprise to Sato who mentioned Sero's date tomorrow night, then laughed while looking back at Sero who just shrugged but with a smug look on his face. He turned when Shoto came back into the room too shortly after him, but then another person came in too who had been gone for quite a while to the point some of them imagined the bed on Zach's right might just be empty now.

Mineta came back into the room and had an envelope with him that he waved around in the air while his classmates all looked at him. "What's that?" Midoriya wondered as Mineta was flaunting it and awaiting the question.

"Oh, this?" Mineta wondered. "Well, our final grades just got posted," Mineta informed his classmates who all got a lot more focused. Mineta opened up the envelope and smirked while pulling out a small rectangular laminated card. He turned it in his fingers, then he flicked it towards Midoriya who lifted his hand and caught it quickly. He spun it around and stared with sweat all over his face, then a giant smile that spread over it as Mineta said to him with a smirk, "Doesn't say 'provisional' on it, does it?"

"A pro license?" Sato asked in shock while leaning forward on his bed, hurting himself a bit in the amazement.

"He's not the only one," Mineta flicked another license towards Sato, then passed more around the room. He turned towards Zach who was staring at him with wide eyes and then a big smile as Mineta pulled another card out. "Whole class passed. Same with Class B," Mineta said. Mineta tossed Zach his card that Zach caught and turned over in his hand with the biggest smile plastered across his face. "We're heroes baby!" Mineta called out.

"WOO!"

"Lets go!"

"Hahahaha, oh man. This is so cool."

"Figured they'd just wait until graduation to give us these," Sero said with a chuckle while looking at his own pro hero license. This is surreal. Hard to imagine the world could have been in chaos right now had we lost on Saturday. Instead, we're looking at our pro licenses and getting ready for graduation and prom. All thanks to you, Sero looked to his right at his best friend who was still just smiling down at his hero license photo which had him smiling on it.

Principal Nezu probably picked out a good picture for me. I'm glad. Who needs a scary picture on their hero license? Or their mugshot? Zach nearly laughed imagining the hero officials picking a good picture of him out of dozens of terrifying and intimidating ones. I did it. Zach dropped onto his back on his bed and laughed for real this time. I guess I did well during finals, but I was a bit worried about calculus. For no reason, I suppose. "Haha," he laughed some more and then pulled the license down from held up over his face to put it close to his chest.

I did it, Dad. Jenny. Everyone. I really did it. Zach closed his eyes and laughed again, curling his hands into the license he held over his chest. I never would have managed it without all of you. I know none of you will be at my graduation. Physically, at least. I'll see you though. In spirit, I know you're all still with me.

Skylord. Sir Nighteye. Wonderlass. I appreciate all you did to get me here. I'll take it all on. Every crime. Every incident. Even more than All Might did, because I'm even stronger! Midoriya made promises in his head to the heroes who had gotten him so far.

All the people I wish I could show this to, Bakugo thought. His smile lowered down at the thought of all of them. He looked at the hero name specifically and imagined the girl who pushed him into keeping the name when other heroes told him to replace it. Bakugo imagined that girl learning in and planting a peck on his cheek that he had pulled away from too late. As he thought of that moment though, he saw a different face that made his eyes grow in surprise at why she was appearing in this thought. His eyes darted to his right at the curly-haired boy next to him who glanced back his way with a bright smile that faltered at Bakugo's uncertain glance.

The blond boy shook his head and got that expression off his face. He looked back down at his license and imagined the faces of those lost again. Couldn't have done it without you… Eh, who am I kidding? I would have done it without any of your help. Bakugo smirked and then curled his fist around the license. But I'll be better thanks to it. Thanks to you.

"So besides our licenses," Mineta began after everyone had absorbed the fact that they were all pros now. "You guys are probably out of the loop for what's going on out there. Looks like State Minister Enuda is taking over as the temporary Prime Minister while they figure out if anyone else knew about Nikko's corruption. They're getting a snap election ready, but might take a bit to set it up."

"The Royal Palace is taking a pretty big role in it too," Mineta added in a more surprised tone of his own. "The Emperor put out a decree that they're going to help in this 'Grand Reconstruction.' The Royal Guard are out in the city helping out with the cleanup and repairing property damage…"

Zach slid up on his bed and put his back to the headboard and sat up again to focus on the news and get his mind off the emotional thoughts he was having with a pro license in hand. He remembered once dropping his wallet in front of the people in this room with him and discarding his provisional license like it meant nothing to him. He felt a bit bad about that now and lowered his gaze down, but he lifted it again to focus on Mineta who went on, "…The Police Force's emergency decree has allowed for legal Quirk usage of any of our citizens and the aid workers coming in from abroad. It's being regulated by the police and heroes, but any volunteers can take part as long as their Quirks are deemed useful to assisting in the rebuilding efforts…"

Mineta jogged back over to his own bed despite not feeling like he really needed to be here anymore. He would rather stay another night in the hospital with his friends though rather than go back to their dorm that was so empty when he went back there earlier. "It's crazy. You can barely tell there was a massive battle in the city just two days ago. I mean, some sections have more foundational damage, and the city kind of dropped a few meters down as the underground tunnels collapsed… but even those areas are getting built back up quicker than anyone thought possible. Reconstruction just keeps going nonstop through the nights too though."

"Quirk-based technologies and equipment are supplementing the efforts too, right?" Zach wondered. "Along with people actually using their Quirks?" He asked.

"Yeah! Some of those aid teams brought in their own equipment much better than what we had on hand," Mineta admitted.

Zach nodded and did not look as surprised as Mineta sounded about how fast the reconstruction was going if that was the case. "That's going to propel the policies so much quicker," Zach said thoughtfully. "All of the Quirk-based materials are going to be stronger than the traditionally-used ones, or they wouldn't have been accepted in the first place with our stringent earthquake codes. All the rebuilt buildings will be stronger than any of the older ones I'm sure."

"That's, pretty cool." Mineta said, though a bead of sweat dripped down the side of his face at what Zach was talking about that he had not been thinking of. He shook his head around and added with a grin though, "Would have been a ton more damage too apparently. If not for Yaoyorozu… who I was hoping to see here." Zach tilted his head to the side and a few others looked at Mineta confusedly too.

"Seems like someone didn't knock out their enemy for long enough," Mineta admitted with a smirk towards Bakugo who stared back wide-eyed. The short boy laughed and said, "That monster you took down was getting up after you passed out. I heard Yaoyorozu showed up when he was rousing though, and she Created enough sedatives to knock out a zoo of elephants that kept Machia down until the restraints could get brought into the city to handle him."

Bakugo let out a breath of relief that that monster had not actually gotten up and continued its rampage. He shook his head around thinking of how durable it was that it could have been getting back up after he had passed out himself on Saturday. No one's brought it up, so she must have done it fast. She didn't say anything to me though. Annoying… Bakugo grumbled to himself but just glanced away in a frustrated way that she had not said anything to him about it. Why didn't she? She didn't want credit or anything- well, she was just keeping him down. We're the ones who beat him. Uraraka and I. Still… I should, when I get a chance, Bakugo grit his teeth but forced the thought into his head. I should thank her, when I see her next.

It was annoying to imagine having to do it, but he did feel grateful that she kept Machia from causing any more damage after they had defeated him. It would have felt like a lot less of a victory had Machia actually managed to get up again and keep causing damage. He knew as he imagined it that it would have felt like they lost their fight entirely had that happened. She did us a favor. Not going to take credit though? Not even going to say anything about it? Bakugo frowned deeper thinking of what that reminded him of. He darted a look up and across the room at the boy who Yaoyorozu's actions reminded him of.

"You know what else I heard while I was out there today?" Mineta wondered, and he looked specifically to his left and at Zach. He jumped off his bed and walked into the gap in the middle of the room, and he tried to put a scary look on his face while stomping forward and snapping his head around. "'I would take being a hero over being a God, any day!' Hahaha," Mineta laughed after calling it out while Zach sweatdropped and slouched a bit in his bed as the others glanced towards him too, showing him they had seen that as well. "You want to know what the view count on that video is, Zach? I'll give you a hint: It's over 10 digits."

"Billions?" Zach muttered with beads of sweat dripping down his face.

"Hahaha," Sero laughed too as it was one of the first things he saw when he woke up. "Most shared video in the world. And fastest-shared video ever too," Sero admitted.

Probably what that nurse was thinking of before. I screamed about how great killing feels. Guess the part about wanting to be a hero more though is what really stuck with most people… maybe? Mineta seems to think it's funny at least.

Mineta laughed a couple more times but then shook his head around and sighed. "Zach, that was probably the coolest thing I've ever seen."

"It was pretty epic," Shoji admitted, making Zach dart a look over with a cracked smile that Shoji would be the one to say so.

"And scary," Midoriya mentioned, and Zach looked back towards the curly-haired boy who had flat lips and a hard-to-read expression when Zach stared at him. "You knew people were watching you, right?"

"I knew," Zach admitted with a tilt of his head to the side. "But I really didn't care." Midoriya sweatdropped at the response that was not what he was hoping to hear.

Bakugo rolled his eyes and glanced away. He tried to hide his smirk but couldn't. He couldn't care less. I heard some of the shit he was shouting about. If he cares about keeping those secrets, he didn't during that fight. I don't think he cared about a single thing in the world other than ripping Kaminari apart. His smirk lowered a bit as he thought of earlier that day when Zach bawled over the same thing. He forced his smirk back up though rather than let a depressed look form that could remind Zach of that feeling and get him back in that mood rather than the relaxed one he seemed to be in now.

"It was funny too," Mineta countered Midoriya's 'scary' comment. Midoriya frowned towards him but Mineta laughed from where he stood between the rows of beds. "What? Zach called Raijin a 'loser' like ten times. Totally ripped him a new one. Haha- he looked pissed when you laid into him like that."

"Yeah, gotta admit, that was cathartic," Zach admitted, and Mineta laughed harder while a few others joined in this time to hear Zach say that.

"I saw an edit of that video," Tokoyami mentioned. Zach looked over towards him and sweatdropped himself this time as Tokoyami continued, "When you were saying how much it hurt to revive, there was some epic music playing in the background, and a revival counter on the side of the screen. The number kept getting larger until it covered the screen while it kept rising higher, and your speech got louder in the background… and some of your screams too after that people got footage of," Tokoyami scratched the side of his head as he wondered how Zach felt about this.

Someone made a cool revival edit of something that hurt that much? That's… interesting? Zach tilted his head to the side. I guess I appreciate that people care that I did it, at least. When billions of people watch a video like that, some of them are going to make content from it. I think I want to watch that myself though. Zach cracked a small smile and shrugged his shoulders while thinking back on those moments himself.

Mineta grinned as he looked at his friend who appeared laid-back and smiled while they were all talking about this. His own smile lowered though as he stared at his friend who looked so normal right now, despite how his appearance had changed in the past few days. His skin was still a bit tanner than it had been before the battle. His hair was longer now than that day, if just by a bit, but Mineta had seen it be much longer too. He had seen Zach's damage before Zach left Heroally, and he saw him again while Zach was in the middle of fighting Raijin. I watched him seal his own wounds. He was fighting so hard, but, that doesn't explain it! That doesn't explain anything…

Zach glanced into Mineta's eyes and his lips lowered a little. He did not flatten them out but did lower the corners and give Mineta a curious look as to the meaning behind his uncertain look. Mineta was holding something back, and Zach gave him a look wondering what that was as if Mineta could be free to ask anything he wanted to. Mineta took that look as permission. It's just us Class A's in here, Mineta thought while taking a deep breath. He panted a couple times though after taking that breath, then he took in one big one and said, "Zach, you flew."

Zach stared back at Mineta at the foot of his bed while the others in the room all focused over on the two of them. Mineta was the only one standing while the rest of them were in their beds. They looked towards the shorter boy then over at Zach and his flat expression. Zach did not respond right away, and Mineta said in a quiet voice but more confused than anything, "I saw you fly. Like, not pushing Death out below you. Or using wings… You just, flew?"

The others looked towards Zach in similarly uncertain or confused ways as Mineta. Some of them like Todoroki and Sero had seen this moment that Mineta was talking about themselves. Others just stared in surprise and then confusion as Zach did not counter him immediately. Zach looked past Mineta though and at another boy in the room who stared at Zach with huge green eyes. Zach examined his expression for a second before cracking a smile and saying, "Looks like I wasn't the only one who learned how to fly on Saturday, right Midoriya?"

Mineta scrunched his face up in confusion and then spun around while everyone else also snapped their gazes onto Midoriya. Deku looked surprised as well and then darted his look around at all his stunned classmates, other than Bakugo who just grunted after a second when he saw Midoriya not denying it. "You did?!" Mineta exclaimed in shock that Midoriya apparently knew what Zach was talking about and 'learned how to fly' during the Battle of Tokyo.

Midoriya held up his hand defensively. "I did, but that was part of my Quirk though," Midoriya said quickly, as if to explain himself. Mineta had looked at him in a baffled way upon hearing what Zach said. Zach was looking towards Midoriya in a proud way that his friend had managed to pull out that part of his Quirk that he had been unable to force out of Midoriya himself. Midoriya's response made Zach's smile wipe from his face though while his eyes rolled in realization of what was about to happen.

Everyone else in the room tensed up. Midoriya glanced to his right side after responding to Mineta. He looked to Bakugo and Todoroki as they both knew about his Quirk and the various parts of it, one of which was Float. The two of them were staring at him with huge eyes though, as was Tokoyami beyond them. Midoriya got confused as to what their looks were for, because each of them had massive eyes and looks of utter confusion on their faces. Midoriya looked back towards Mineta who had sweat on both sides of his face dripping down fast as it paled a bit.

Midoriya panicked himself and pulled back his head while looking past Mineta regretfully, as if he had just said something he was not supposed to. The fact that Midoriya moved like that only made Mineta's face turn white and cover in even more sweat. "Wh-What do you mean, by that?" Mineta asked, while slowly turning his head sideways to glance behind him.

It's "part of your Quirk?" What? Because Zach flying isn't part of his?! Kirishima gulped while darting a look sideways at Midoriya then back across the room at Zach. He had to purse his lips to stop himself from laughing though at the look on Zach's face directed down at the back of Mineta's head.

Mineta was turning his head sideways. He had frozen in place at Midoriya's unnerving response that suggested something way more terrifying about the question he had asked Zach. As he turned his head sideways though, he got a look at Zach's face behind him. He saw the smirk that Zach had. The menacing expression with his eyebrows narrowed down and a shadow cast over the top half of his face. "What does he mean by that?" Zach wondered at the short boy who yelped and stumbled backwards. "AHhahaha," Zach burst out laughing at Mineta's panicked response.

"Why?!" Mineta yelled at Zach for getting so much pleasure out of doing that.

Sero laughed himself and grabbed at his chest in pain from doing so. Kirishima burst out with laughter a second later with Sato who laughed more uneasily but pretended to not still be unnerved by what Midoriya had said.

Zach shrugged at the short boy who yelled at him for intentionally scaring him like that. "I honestly don't know why Midoriya said that," Zach replied. He was still laughing but looked back up and towards Midoriya. "But he definitely made it sound spooky, didn't it? I learned how to fly, but that is also part of my Quirk. Um, weird way to word that though, Midoriya." Zach looked amused and glanced back at Mineta. He shrugged as he did not know how he could convince Mineta otherwise after Midoriya had said something like that which sounded so ominous once they put it together that Midoriya was suggesting that Zach had flown without using a Quirk.

The fact that Midoriya had looked panicked about what he "revealed" only made it harder for any of them to just let what was just said slide. Shoji's rapid heart rate started to steady after a couple of seconds though. Zach's right. Or maybe… no. I don't know what Midoriya's talking about. Does he think Zach learned how to fly without a Quirk?

It didn't feel like his Quirk, to be honest, Sero admitted to himself. That pressure we felt on the street? His regeneration? His flight? None of it seemed like he was using Death. What else could it be though?

"It's definitely part of my Quirk," Zach repeated while looking into Mineta's eyes at the foot of his bed. "Even if it looked like I was flying without Death. It's just a more precise use of it. Control over such thin Death that it's not even visible. As well as control of the Death within my body." Zach flicked his right hand and shot some darkness out the tips of his fingers into the air in the middle of the room. The darkness took shape of a thin skeletal structure, and then that structure started jolting upwards and left and right. "I make myself lighter, control my trajectory by moving my internal Death mentally." He pulled the darkness back to his hand and absorbed it into a curled fist.

"Allows me to fly without wasting any Death," Zach explained.

Mineta started nodding his head, and Midoriya did too while looking towards Zach apologetically for assuming something else. Zach nearly cracked a smirk that Midoriya looked to actually believe his made-up explanation rather than the real power of flight he had discovered on Saturday. "Undoubtedly part of my Quirk though, as that's the only way I could fly."

Mineta nodded quicker, as that made way more sense than whatever Midoriya had been suggesting. Mineta shook his head around after a second though. "Wait. Did you know you could do that? Had you ever tried it before?"

Zach hesitated but then shook his head 'no' this time. "I needed to get the fight into the sky, so I just flew."

"And your regeneration?" Bakugo asked. Zach glanced towards him and saw Bakugo giving him a discerning look to check if he was about to lie or not, though the blond had to admit to himself that he would likely be unable to tell.

"I had to stop losing blood," Zach replied.

"So, you just did?" Sero asked in amazement that Zach thought that was the only explanation needed.

"I did. But, it came at a great cost," Zach confessed.

"'Cost?'" Todoroki asked in concern towards his friend who shook his head back that it was nothing to worry about.

"A few years off my life," Zach admitted. He glanced from Todoroki to Midoriya who stared at him with massive shaking eyes at Zach's confession. He was saying more than Midoriya thought he would after he just made up an excuse to Mineta's first question, but Midoriya realized a couple seconds later that the amount of truth Zach was sprinkling in here made every response sound more real. It's how he lies so well. Truths in the lies. It took some years away, but Zach used some strange power to accomplish that. Not Death. He used a power that he learned from Ares. And, those years he wasted? It's because he thought he might live forever. How many years did you use up? Were you really, acting so recklessly? It was only a theory they had that he would live forever! If he used up decades, he might… he might not… It wasn't decades, was it?

How many years, Zach? How many centuries did you use up to regenerate like you did? Midoriya's eyes grew wider still as he stared towards his friend looking straight back into his eyes and seeing that Midoriya understood exactly what he was looking at him for. Midoriya's heart ached. Was it all necessary, to beat him? Kaminari was that strong? I saw you two fighting up in the clouds. Honestly, I think he was probably stronger than Shigaraki. The strongest villain in the city, and our strongest hero took him down. That's you, Zach. It's always been you.

Mineta continued to give Zach a hesitant look even after telling himself to accept some of what Zach said. He was still uncertain and unnerved about it all, and Zach noticed his friend's unsure and even nervous expression. Zach sighed and glanced around to see a few more skeptical and uncertain gazes from his classmates around the hospital room. "I will admit though, that even without my Quirk," Zach looked back and straight into Mineta's eyes. "I have become very strong. Beyond strength."

What the hell is that supposed to mean? Bakugo thought, though for some reason, he already imagined that he understood it.

Zach grimaced for a second but then admitted in a softer voice to his friends, "I've killed too many."

Oh, Shoji thought. He tilted his head back. Oh. The second 'oh' in his head was the realization really setting it. How strong? How much stronger each time? Oh man. And now with Kaminari too? How many… How powerful, has he become?

"Beyond strength?" Yeah, that sounds right, Todoroki thought about the pressure he knew he had felt radiating off of Zach while he faced Raijin. You taught yourself how to fly, because the sheer power coming off of you might hurt us? That's still part of your Quirk, but I get why Midoriya would think it's something else. That night you fought Eziano Mozcaccio, there was a giant storm over the Muindo Mountains. I assumed Maelstrom had showed up to help them. Maybe, it was just you though. That's… insane.

Oh crap! Mineta just realized. He saw Zach's uncertain and uneasy look after what he just admitted to his friends. I'm making Zach feel alienated right now! Panic rose in the short boy who wanted to ask these questions and get these answers, but not at that cost. "Hey. You're not the only one. I probably could have taken Raijin and Moonfish by myself, to be honest," Mineta said. He pointed a finger over his shoulder towards Todoroki, "But someone just got in my way, right before I was going to finish him off."

Todoroki sweatdropped. "That's not how I remember it," he said.

"That's because you're in denial," Mineta responded without looking back. His deadpan delivery without hesitation at Todoroki's response made Sero lift his lips into a grin and start cracking up, making him grab his chest again in pain to do so. Zach cracked a grin himself and then laughed along with them while Sero agreed that Mineta had Moonfish on the ropes when Todoroki got in the way, making Todoroki gawk towards him and then look around with wider eyes as some of the other guys started looking his way skeptically.

Shoji met Todoroki's gaze for a second but then looked away disappointedly while Sato shook his head on Shoji's right side. Kirishima had to turn the other way to stop from smirking ear to ear that Todoroki looked to be buying it that some of them actually believed Mineta and Sero, which none of them did.

Zach was not smiling because of the jokes though. Despite that insane strength I'm telling them about, he's trying not to make me think that he sees me any differently. The fact that he's making that effort alone tells me that he still sees me as his friend, which proves it better than the actual content of your effort itself. I see what you're trying to do, Mineta. All of you. Something you'd only try to do for a friend.

No matter how strong I get. No matter what I become after graduation or where I go, I'll always know this, you guys. You're the best friends I could have asked for. I can't imagine ever losing you. And now, I think I've cut down my excess time. I cut it close. Too close. I think I ran out of years to spare. It wasn't just the fatigue catching up to me. I really think I ran out of years to spend by speeding up my regeneration more. It's something I won't be able to do again. It'd kill me to try without the extra years left. I won't have to do it again though. No one else should ever be able to push me that far.

My greatest fights are all over now. My power is unquestioned. My greatest "combat" fights are over, at least. There are still villains I need to catch. Ones we'll all catch together. But, I don't think I'll need my full strength for that. Definitely not the power of a "God," as Ares would call it.

The fights I have left are philosophical. They're in my head. Pushing myself harder. Staying strong for all of them. Getting them to look past all my flaws, and how scary I am sometimes, to see me for the hero I'll try to be.

I don't have to worry about doing any of that on my own though. Zach smiled and then started laughing as he realized that Todoroki was in on the joke by a lifted corner of his lips that he had been hiding from the others at first to let them all think he was falling for it, when really he was just playing along for the heck of it. I have all of you with me. The girls too. Our whole class might be separating in a couple of days, but you'll always be my family. I might not be yours. You all have your own… but to me, you're the family I choose. From now on- well, from a while ago… until the end.

I love you guys.

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A/N Thanks for reading guys! My left hand is killing me after writing most of this yesterday. Carpal Tunnel is brutal. Years of writing millions of words a year has finally caught up to me. ;( I think I'm going to need a break after this one. Only 2 chapters left! If you wanna skip past this I'm going to talk about my career here for a little rather than the story, though I'll get back to it soon: I'm finally going to move on from fanfiction entirely. It's been a good 8 years of this. The most important thing in my life really. The main constant through the end of high school, all of college, studying abroad, and now multiple jobs, I was writing fanfiction through it all. It's a huge change in my life knowing that I have to make this conscious decision to stop. I have other fanfic stories that I've been picking back up and wanting to keep writing, but I know that I can't do that. I need to start a career. Either I make it writing, or I do something else with fanfiction as a hobby forever. I don't want writing to be a hobby. So instead of continuing Nexus when this is done, which could go on for years, or even finishing Broken Log Pose, I've decided to stop fanfiction altogether once I'm done with Death. It's a really hard thing to do. I love writing on this site, but I'm 24 now. I need to move on with my life. I need to get started, really. :) And I have all of you guys to thank for really giving me confidence that people will like the books I come to write in my career. This story has over 1,000,000 views on it in total. A view every four words I write. Thousands of reviews. I appreciate all of you more than I can tell you down here. Any of you who read my other stories too and stuck with me as an author onto this one as well. All the comments I've got over the years that helped me make my writing better or told me what you all liked the most about my works has made me into a better writer. One of the main focuses of my writing on this site has always been to become a better writer so that one day I can become a published author with a lot of experience already under my belt. XD Anyway! I just wanted to write this here. I suppose I'm feeling a bit nostalgic. The idea that this story is coming to an end. As plot lines wrap up and the chapters remaining dwindle down, and years of my life's focus come to a conclusion, I feel sad. Satisfied, and happy, but sad at the same time. Shed some tears this chapter as well. Seems like it's happened every chapter I wrote recently. I hope you guys are looking forward to the concluding 2 chapters of this story. Thank you all for the years of support. For all the reviews, follows, favs, and everything you've all done for me. Next chapter will be the last one with review responses, I suspect, as I'll likely finish the final chapter definitively without an Author's Note at the bottom. Maybe... Not sure yet. But as for this week's review responses... look below!

Alucard347 chapter 254 . Feb 1

I've been reading along since around chapter 100 and I've loved it every step of the way, it's rather meloncholic to think of it coming to an end ngl

Thank you. Ngl, I feel the same way. :) Hope you enjoyed the new chapter.

Jxgod chapter 254 . Feb 1

Damn that one was tough. Maelstrom was one of my favourite member of the AOD. The way her death made me feel is all the way up there with Cee Mark and Seraphims deaths. Had me crying like a child. I just really really loved the chapter tho. It just gives off this feeling of completion, like everything is slowly setting into place. One of the best parts to signify that for me personally was that one hero finally recognising that its zachs decision, and only his who he revives. Damnit I dont want this Story to end, but at the same times I want to finally see zach being able to sit down and relaxe. He hadn't had the chance to do that since he was a child and killed his own mother of we're being honest. Really all I want to see now is the most precious ship in modern literature finally setting sail.. Momozaki all the way!

Definitely a hard one to write too. Glad I made you that invested in the character of Maelstrom, and sorry about her ending, as much as I'm glad I could get you emotional about it. People accepting Zach's decisions and all his scariness along with his integrity and sacrifice as a hero looks to finally be catching on. As scary as Zach can be, he has those who are behind him always. Anyway, we'll see about that ship... ;) Not much time left. Who knows what will happen?! XD Thanks for the review, and hope you enjoy these last chapters!

cartoonfan9 chapter 254 . Feb 1

Did Zach just...die? It was really unclear (Avatar reference). I hope Nejire and Suneater not being revived was just an oversight on your part. Wouldn't make much sense if all the other heroes were revived and not them imo. Exodus taking Thunderclap to the AoD in the middle of heroes was hilarious. I wish we got to see Exodus beat down the Ultimate, but I'm quite glad instead that all those students and teachers are alive again. Tensei saving Tenya was really cool. Nice moment with Ashido and Trabo too. Maelstrom dying was sad, I didn't even remember she had died before, but you've killed many characters I liked whether permanently or temporarily. So I'm used to it at this point. I just hope you haven't killed Zach like that, but it does seem more like he passed out than anything. I know my boy Inasa can help out

XD Love the reference. Wasn't so much of an oversight, as there just were an insane amount of dead heroes to jump back and forth between. I could have had another 5-10 scenes of Zach showing up somewhere, screaming, people being shocked by him going through the pain and how strong he is, an emotional conversation, and then him moving on to the next revival. Nothing important really would have been added to show that scene though. Maybe Midoriya shocked by Zach's ability to still move. And Nejire and Suneater amazed to be alive... but I could have done that with so many of them. Underguard's revival and maybe Zach meeting Kimmatsu Shi instead of it being referenced in this chapter. Crust? So much. Anyway, Zach revived everyone, but to show him revive them all would have taken another 20k words with not much really added to the story. Glad you liked the scenes though of Exodus, Tensei, Ashido... and Maelstrom. She had died in the Battle of 6 Armies. One of the girls Zach left on the bridge of the Cloak because she was on her first life, so he knew he would be able to revive them (even though he left Shang there too...) ;(. Zach survives- shocker! - XD and yeah just passed out, but he's awake now and got his pro license! Hope you liked the chapter and enjoy the upcoming final ones.

sloganlogan chapter 254 . Feb 1

This chapter was amazing. Emotional, hopeful, and tragic all in one package. I can't believe that in a few months time I won't have the anticipation of an update for this story anymore. I'm sad that it's ending but I'm glad that I at least along for the ride. Amazing work as always I can't wait for the next chapter. Also please give Zach his happy ending, there's already been enough tragedy.

Thank you! Happy to hear you liked it. It'll be strange for me too not having another chapter of this pending to post in a month or so. Guess we'll both just have to adjust. As for Zach's happy ending... no spoilers! XD Hope you enjoy it though!

pink9571 chapter 254 . Feb 1

While reading this chapter, I felt so hopeful yet sad at the same time. I was bawling when Maelstrom died and a couple of my lash extensions fell off :(( Haha worth it tho!
Man, Zach really deserves a happy ending. But I can't wait to see how you finish off the story. Like I'm excited but I don't want it to end! Ahhhh so many mixed emotions! Keep up the amazing work!

Lot of hope in all these reviews. Everyone seems so hopeful! (Last review and the next one both have it in there)! Zach inspired a lot of hope though, that is true. This chapter it's shown a lot that people really do consider the battle a victory thanks to Zach. Keep looking forward to that ending. It's coming up, and... Maelstrom had me the same way. ;(( Thanks for caring about the character. She appreciates it too! XD

Angryshadow04 chapter 254 . Feb 1

I really hope zach doesn't die mudda fakkah.
Its crazy that as this fic is about to end (and how zach vs rajin also ended) as luffy vs kaido is also gonna end. Both being some of the longest stories in their respective fields.
You and oda must be plotting together behind the scene

Keep hoping! Lot of good it will do you! Mwhahaha, lol jk... maybe. XD Love that none of you can tell how this is going to finish up. I'll never spoil anything, but I'm glad you're really looking forward to it. I'm excited for the end of Wano too. Can't wait to see how One Piece ends... when I'm 90! XD Hahahaha thanks for the review!

Writour's Block chapter 254 . Feb 3

QUICK UPDATE LETS GOOOOOOOO!
Zach is crazy. This man really experienced the fight of his life and chose to bite down and heal everyone he could. The "He is Death itself" sent shivers down my spine. Also nice introspective scene where Shoji realizes why so many powerful people follow Zach.
I don't think Zach is dead (please no my man needs his happy ending right?), mainly because he hasn't relayed Kaminari's apology to the others, especially Jirou. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if his life span's been cut or something like that. I recall Recovery Girl hinting on the toll that revivals would have on his body, but I'll have to re-read the story.
As for predictions...I'm keeping my fingers crossed on seeing the final payoff between Momo and Zach. Maybe some spotlight on the state of the Hero world and who exactly is in charge after all the carnage? Jirou hearing and breaking down due to Kaminari's death...some of Zach's old crew for sure, and a bittersweet touch of the years of his life being cut in half or something like that.
I never expected you to update this fast, so this was a great surprise! I can't wait for the next chapter

THANK YOUUUU! Glad you're liking the chapters and quicker updates than I've had for a while. 2 weeks for this one is still pretty quick compared to this past year as a whole. Zach? Dead? ;) How many times have I trolled you all with that? Sports Festival Invasion. Bridge out of Tartaros. Battle of Tokyo. Zach just can't stay dead! XD Great call on his life span being cut, as Zach suspects the same thing which he told his friends near the end of this chapter. Same with your call about Zach telling Jirou about Kaminari's death, though Zach was the one who really broke down as he talked about it. He's having a tough time... Anyway, thanks for the review! Hope you enjoyed this one, and look forward to the coming end to Death!

EmperorCookies chapter 253 . Feb 7

Cryin in the club rn. That was an incredibly satisfying conclusion to his arc. Honestly would not change a thing.

EXOOOOODUUUUUSSSSSS! The king is BACK

Fucking champion. That's not how I expected it to end, gonna be honest, but there are still a few to go. I like the way that this was the natural conclusion to everything Zach had tried to be: a flawless victory. No concessions or caveats, just a clear cut triumph. I don't think Malestrom counts, every triumph needs a sacrifice and she was ready and willing to fill that role. We'll see how this ends. Exodus seems to think this is going a certain way and honestly, I'm inclined to agree. There's no conceivable way this story has a happy ending. At least my girl Airi got out.
Thanks for the read, mate.

XD I can imagine someone in the club reading my fanfiction on their phone! Haha thanks for being so excited about reading it that you did that, and that you're enjoying and getting emotional over these chapters so much. Lots of things concluding. Zach's perfect victory that everyone else sees for them is definitely one that hurts him more than anyone, and he knows it's still a perfect victory even though he lost them. His friends are there to help him out though. As for his happy ending, and your doubt that he can get one... I wonder... :P Wonder how you do think this is going to end? I hope you'll be satisfied by it no matter what it does turn out to be! And I appreciate all your reviews over the past year since you caught up. Loved reading them as I went on with the story. Glad you're around as we come to an end. Thanks for the reviews, mate.

NBoss01 chapter 254 . Feb 13

Well... when I finished reading this initially I felt a tremendous emptiness... so I decided to read over the 'high impact' parts to just get me over till the next update came out [the next chapter came out the same day I decided to do that... bud I read over anyway :)]. With that mission underway I managed to read over 2/3 of the story... for that much to be high impact really shows how good this piece of art is with soo much being relevant.

Gotta admit I feel a bit of that myself. Definitely going to reread this start to finish once I finish it entirely. Going to be a sad read through though knowing it's all over. Left out some of the review since it was so long (not to mention all the other reviews as you reread it XD). We'll see about some of those ships and possible scenes you've mentioned though, and whether or not we'll see those characters again. I don't know about a 'thank you Lifebringer' video again, but the cool edits people are making of his scenes in the Battle of Tokyo might have to suffice! XD I hope you guys got a kick out of that, and out of Zach scaring Mineta near the end which I still laugh just imagining him doing it even in that serious situation. I really love these characters. Had a ton of fun making this world come to life in my AU of the BNHA world, and I hope you guys all like the way I'm wrapping it up. Let me know what you think, your predictions for the end, and all your questions and comments for this story as a whole in reviews below! Likely the last chance for it... Thank you again, everyone. I'll see you again soon.