Chapter Thirty-Four: 9 1 1


"To think we'd meet again after all this time, man that just has to be fate, huh?" The hoodie clad man spoke, his voice raspy and ominous as the hand around his throat tightened just a tad, implying his own aggression that he was seemingly holding back. "Come with me, like I said, we have much to talk about, Izuku Midoriya."

Izuku noticed that his full hand wasn't gripping his neck, instead he left a finger hovering. Considering what power he was able to show off during the USJ attack, he must have needed all of his fingers in order to activate it. That was good knowledge to have, especially if Izuku wanted to get out of this man's hold as soon as possible.

"Tomura Shigaraki…" The greenette called, his voice quiet and cautious as he stared at the blue haired individual with fear overtaking his heart. To be caught off guard so easily… It was disheartening.

"Easy now… I'm gonna need you to pretend we're a couple of old pals. No making a scene, 'kay?" The man instructed, he let a silence pass them as he waited for the greenette to speak or nod in order to confirm that he'd comply. Izuku saw no way to catch the man off guard, so in order to wait for the proper moment as required, Izuku nodded, gulping nervously as he did so. "Good. Calm yourself, breathe naturally. I'm only here to talk, no need to try anything funny."

Izuku followed his instructions, relaxing his shoulders and trying his best to keep his breathing regular. That was a bad move on Shigaraki's part, if Izuku was able to calm his racing heart there was an increase for his own escape. Luckily for Shigaraki the boy wasn't good at calming down, at this point he was on the brink of a panic attack and fearing for his life!

"It'd be all too easy, y'know? The second all five of my fingers make contact, you'd turn to dust. It would spread from your throat outward, imagine the pain of being turned to nothing. It must be scary, no?" Izuku's heartbeat quickened as his panic increased. He was trying to make him lose control, trying to make him so fearful that he'd be more impulsive and make the wrong move. What the hell could he want!?

"W-What… What do you want from me..?" Izuku inquired, gritting his teeth in order to stop them from chattering. He used a free hand to grip onto his other in order to stop his shaking and he began taking deep breaths. He needed to remain calm, let the fear set in later after the fact. Right now he needed to survive using his fight or flight response. "You know if you try anything the heroes will show up, right? E-Even if you kill me."

The man grew silent for a moment, the pleased expression from controlling the boy's life in the literal palm of his hand faded and was replaced with a flat line and an unamused look in his eyes.

"No doubt, but by the time it takes to catch me, I could take out twenty- No, thirty innocents. They'd all go down with me." The man replied blatantly, glancing around at the crowd of people around them. It was an endless bounty for the villain to partake upon.

Izuku was no fool, he realized very quickly that Shigaraki was right. There was nothing he could do, he couldn't defend himself, he couldn't defend the lives of the civilians- And Kyouka. Poor Kyouka, she must not have a clue where he is right now. It wasn't worth the risk.

"What do you want to talk about…" The greenette mumbled in response, looking down at his feet as the blue haired villain kidnapping him led him further into the crowd so that the chattering of others would hide their conversation.

Shigaraki chuckled softly, glancing around at their surroundings before spotting a few open seats around some palm trees. "Smart move… Here, we can sit and chat a little easier. Try to relax."

"W-Well?" Izuku inquired, waiting for the man to speak his mind. Shigaraki hummed, raising his head to gaze up at the sky and giving Izuku a good look at his face.

Aside from the obvious red eyes, the man had dry skin apparent from his touch. There was a small scar on the side of his mouth, and even more around his neck. It looked as if he scratched his skin heavily. Did he not use moisturizer? And his hair… It was long and unruly, similar to his own but definitely less curly. His eyes were sunken, bags that showed his own lack of rest. He didn't look good, but then again what person hidden from the law would look their best?

"You know… I pretty much hate everything." Shigaraki started, his voice lowering slightly as he rested his arm around Izuku's shoulders, keeping his hold on the greenettes throat. He was sure not to let up one bit. "Yet right now, what really seems to grind my gears is that damn Hero Killer."

"What?" Izuku let out accidentally, his own surprise at Shigaraki's declaration slipping. Why would he hate someone he had so much in common with? Or was there something else afoot? Truth be told, when he thought about it he didn't really know what drove Shigaraki to act against society, unless it was All For One behind all this like how All Might theorized. "But… Wasn't he working with you..? Why hate him?"

Shigaraki fell silent once more, sighing as he had to explain further for the greenette to get the picture. "...I never really agreed to that. It was society that seems to think so, and that's my problem. Everyone's so hung up on him."

'So that's what it was…' Izuku thought, his hands balling his pants in his fists as he tried to keep himself together. He was jealous of the attention, he wanted to gain the eyes of society, yet all they can focus on is some guy with ideals regarding hero society. "...I see."

"Our attack on UA, the nomu I released in Hosu… It was all overshadowed by him. No one's noticing me at all, I just don't understand… Why? He can grandstand all he wants, but in the end all he's doing is destroying what he hates. Same as me, so what's the difference? What do you think, Midoriya?" He questioned, prolonging each syllable in Midoriya's name and sending shivers down his spine. Izuku could feel the leering gaze of the man holding him captive now, but as he genuinely thought over his question he could only come up with one answer.

"What makes you different..?" Izuku mumbled to himself softly, looking away from the man as sweat beads rolled down his face out of fear and anxiety. "I think… Well, I can't really condone what you do, nor do I understand it, though perhaps I wish I could… The hero killer is easier to empathize with. For me, and him, it all started with All Might."

Shigaraki seemed to tense at the mention of the number one, a movement that didn't go unnoticed by the greenette speaking, "Back then, the Hero Killer saved me, I didn't understand why but he seemed to see us as one and the same. At the very least he's destructive, but he's doing it for a reason: His ideals. For you it seems more like a stupid game, but for him it runs much deeper. He wants to change the current world, not rule it like a crazed tyrant."

Suddenly Shgiaraki's tired eyes widened like he reached some great realization, his gaze was so intense it sent an extreme shiver down his spine that Izuku could not hide. The man's head then dropped, his gaze falling to the floor as a terrifying smile graced his scarred lips.

"Ahhh… I see. It makes sense now, why the Hero Killer pisses me off, and why you're so damn irritating… I think I get it now." He said, tightening his hold around the greenette's neck, cutting off a lot of airflow as he turned to face him, giving Izuku the terrifying look of his crooked smile. "It's all because of All Might. It's always been because of him…"

"What!? No, that's not-" Izuku attempted to intervene, to speak up and change the route that this villain would take from this conversation alone. He was being rash, coming to a quick conclusion that gave some excuse for him to act the way that he did. He needed something to make his actions make sense and it seemed that Izuku had just given it to him.

"I mean that's the conclusion here, right? Right…" He started, his smile widening as his eyes seemed to dilate to the point that his expression could only scream his insanity. Izuku shuddered as his eyes scanned the villain's features frantically. "The reason that all these morons can smile and continue to live their lives like nothing's wrong is because All Might's always around with that big dumb grin on his face."

Suddenly the grip on Izuku's throat tightened, Shigaraki had clenched his hand tighter around the greenette's neck causing a small moment of realization to rain over the greenette's consciousness.

'I… I might die here. He might actually kill me..!" He dreaded fearfully, beginning to squirm out of fear as Shigaraki continued on his anti-All Might tirade.

"He's constantly smiling so wide as if to mock me and say that there's no one he can't save! Well, I say you've already failed, number one!" Shigaraki started, grinning widely as Shigaraki gripped even tighter in order to continue the greenette's squirming. "Ah, Midoriya! I'm so very glad we had this chat! So glad! Thank you, truly!"

Izuku struggled to respond with the lack of air he was now supplied with. It was like the man was trying to pop his head like a balloon; he could only squeak out a small, "...Let go… Please…"

"Like you have the right to make demands, hero. I could just get rid of you now, I'm sure it would cripple your peers enough to keep them from interfering again with my plans." Shigaraki taunted, moving his finger idly as if to scare him into shape. "What do you say? Want to really help me, hero?"

For the first time since becoming a hero, Izuku truly felt as if this were the end for him. There was nothing he could do, he kept his guard down and found himself at the mercy of one of the most deranged criminals known to man. Him and All For One both had no regard for human life, and thus he could do nothing but accept his fate now. Shigaraki planned to end him and there was nothing he could do.

He felt… Helpless. A familiar feeling; a feeling bringing back memories from his youth, a boy without powers forced to be surrounded by those who could even forget he existed. The helplessness of being tortured day in and day out by your peers. It broke him then, and… It broke him now. The disgusting filthy touch of someone who wished nothing but death upon you.

The hands of fate weren't kind, especially to Izuku Midoriya. He apologized to all of his friends, family, and especially his heroes inside of his mind. He couldn't truly make use of his power destined to defeat the greatest evil, nor could he stick around long enough to live a full life. He was stuck, stuck in the middle of a rock and a hard place.

He was defeated.

"Deku-Kun?"

Izuku's eyes widened at the familiar voice, both he and Shigaraki turned their heads to face the voice, finding that it was a brunette girl with rosy cheeks and an understandably concerned expression on her face.

"Is he a friend? He doesn't really look like it…" She mumbled to herself, approaching the two men cautiously as the "Fight" part of Izuku's fight or flight response kicked in and the greenette took the chance while Shigaraki was distracted to activate his quirk and use all the speed he could muster from his body to attempt to land a devastating kick to his captor's cranium.

Ochako gasped, watching as Izuku's body suddenly contorted to allow his kick to reach the necessary height, he practically yanked himself out of the bluenette's grasp and used one of his arms to hold himself up as he spun around enough to swing his leg.

With his hold no longer on Izuku however, Shigaraki had enough time to react and swiftly leaned out of reach of the kick. What no one expected was the pure gust of wind that quickly followed after, disrupting the entirety of the crowd around them and pointing all the attention onto Izuku, Ochako and a quickly dispersing Tomura Shigaraki.

As the crowd's attention shifted to Izuku Shigaraki took the chance to disappear into the crowd making it seem like he had just acted out for no apparent reason.

"Shigaraki…" The boy mumbled angrily putting down his guard and turning to the brunette who just so happened to have saved his life. "Uraraka-san, you… Thank you. You, uh… You kinda saved me there."

The brunette blushed nodding as if to say "of course". "Wait… You said Shigaraki? As in..?"

"Yeah…" He replied, his expression distant and almost panicky as the adrenaline in his body was still circulating through his system. They both turned to the crowd unsure of what exactly to say, at least that was until Izuku felt a hand on his shoulder and swiftly dashed back while instinctively activating his quirk out of fear.

"W-Woah! D-Deku-Kun, calm down, you're okay." The brunette commented, flinching as he moved away from her hand and retracting it as he stared at her with the most frightened expression she had ever seen on his face. She knew that the situation must have been bad but there must have been more at play than she thought. Ochako turned to the crowd watching them, "Someone call the police, heroes, anyone! He was attacked by a villain, they're still on the loose!"

Izuku heard the mumbled words of the crowd, some of genuine concern and action while others accused him of being the very villain she was talking about. He just caused a public disruption and for what? A little attention from a girl?

Izuku looked down, balling his fists in the process. "I-I gotta go. I need to leave…"

"Wait, you shouldn't leave before the poli-" Ochako tried to interrupt as she turned to face him but the greenette had already vanished. He didn't want to be seen right now, and he made sure no one did. Whatever he just did reminded her of an American hero that made it a point to vanish whenever he was done talking to someone. Actually, he reminded her a lot of Aizawa too…

"Uraraka? Did you see what caused the disturbance?" The voice of Mina called, urging the brunette to turn around and find that the entirety of their class that had been at the mall gathered around her, all with concerned expressions. But she could only look back at one of them: Kyouka.

"Jirou-San…" She called, her expression filled with a pained guilt of having to be the one to tell her.

The purplette's eyes widened as she looked around the crowd for her boyfriend before turning back to Ochako with an almost vengeful glare. "What happened?"

"A villain…" Was all she could croak out at first, pointing to the crowd calling police, heroes, and all the other proper authorities. "H-He ran off, gone before I realized."

Kyouka wanted to scream, to yell at her for letting him run off like that, but she knew better. It wasn't her fault, she needed to only concern herself with Izuku's whereabouts, but that was a difficult question… Would she be able to find him? She needn't ask that question yet, the only thing she needed to figure out was:

Where did Izuku go?

He ran, he continued to move as fast as his legs would take him, he ran with everything he had. Break for air? Didn't need it. His legs were on fire? Didn't matter.
People all across the area reported sightings of a green blur flashing past them on the streets, in the air, on the rooftops. Izuku's mind wouldn't let him give up, all he could do was run and there was only one place that he could think of where he could hide, be totally alone and unbothered so that he could relax. But was that spot as safe as he remembered? The last time he was there he was almost a victim.

There was only one way to find out.


It's been some time.

Truth be told, life hasn't been very kind to me in the gap between my uploads. I wasn't in a good place and I ended up abandoning a lot of what made me happy in life. I had friends that I cherished that were gone in an instant and above all else, I... I gave up on myself.

I'm only here now to tell you my story, and to hopefully come back to the life I had known. If you knew me when I was writing then I'm sorry for disappearing and I can't do anything to change that now. I know that it isn't that easy.

To those that followed my stories, know that I'll be back to posting albeit a bit irregularly. Don't ask for more, I can't provide that anymore.

This story was the first, the one that made everything that you see on my profile and so I'll be starting here.

I'll write for my enjoyment, and I hope you all can still enjoy this as well. It may take some time for me to really get back into writing as I was, but I won't isolate myself anymore. I can only say now that after this gap that I regret not continuing sooner.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter as short as it is, and here's to more to come.