Dynamight approaches the two of them cautiously, knowing one wrong move can ruin everything. "Come on, Deku. You don't have to do this."

"What are you trying to do here, hero? Trying to stop me?" Deku taunted with a ghost of a smile on his lips.

Dynamight didn't let the outward teasing appearance fool him. If he wanted to take him down, he had to do it now before Deku was lost forever, "Deku, I know."

The hostage whispered as the villain drew him closer to his body, the threat of the knife in his hand even more present against his neck, "You know what?"

"I know that you are still that little nerd who wants to protect people," Dynamight said, startling Deku if only for a brief moment from the widening of their eyes.

"That oblivious child is gone," Deku glared at him with venomous green eyes sinking into his soul. "You should know that better than anyone, Dynamight."

Dynamight protested with a sneer on his face, "No he fucking isn't!"

"And how exactly could you come to that delusional conclusion?!"

"You think I haven't been paying attention?! I have been a part of your ongoing case since you first showed up after my official debut!" Dynamight responded strongly. "You think I wouldn't notice?"

Deku remained quiet as Bakugo shouted at him, holding the hostage closer to remind the hero to not make a single move. "Each time you had hostages, you never tried to kill them. And I always called out your bluff on it even when the other extras thought you were being serious. You never go for the kill no matter how much you lose."

"You don't know anything," Deku countered.

Bakugo shook his head, "Let go of the hostage, nerd. We're done here."

Deku stayed silent for several moments, listening to the city around them as they tried to control the panic around them. The fires littered across the street. The shouts of people coming from within a separate building that was slowly being taken over by police officers who were arresting several thugs.

No one was paying attention to the two men facing off against each other on the tall rooftop. A rooftop with an excellent view of the familiar rooftop where his idol crushed his dreams behind where Dynamight was standing. But that building was already up in flames, crumbling down into debris as their talk continued.

Deku sucked his lips between his teeth briefly before pushing away the hostage roughly to the rooftop gravel, without breaking eye contact from the hero.

"I always knew that even as a villain you wouldn't have the guts to do something like that," Dynamight said. Deku could almost believe that he was being sincere. "you always held onto your childhood dream."

Deku straighten up while looking at his friend, his bully, his nemesis.

"I wouldn't have the guts to harm someone like you have done to me many times before in the past," Deku paused as the hostage coughed on the ground. The hostage crawled to their feet before running past the hero to get out of the way. "Kacchan."

Deku chuckled with a haunted look on his face, "That's why it started in this path in the first place. To prove that everyone was right. That I couldn't be a hero. So I became the exact opposite on the scale."

Deku shrugged with a chilling smile, "I became the rival you always wanted me to be."

"I didn't want you to become like this. I never wanted that!" Dynamight argued, his fists were curled up in his heavy gloves. He was hesitating on launching the first punch, like he wanted Deku to make the first move before retaliating.

"Why not? You get what you always wanted! You get to be the shining hero everyone thinks you are on the outside and you get to beat me up with an actual excuse," Deku laughed, clapping his gloved hands together. "A HERO can't beat up a quirkless citizen without an excuse. But if they're a villain, they won't give a single shit about me. You also can't use your quirk without a license but that never stopped you from burning me every single time I so much as breathed wrong near you."

"You were in the way!"

"I WAS BEHIND YOU. Like I always was," Deku brushed his curls back as he grinned maniacally. "God, I wish I can go back and knock some sense into me earlier without discovering for myself how much of the friend I knew was long gone in favor of an adoring audience."

Dynamight wisely remained silent as his gaze became more desperate along the edges of his passionate eyes.

"In fact, why not appease your adoring audience? Let me hear the amazing crowd as they cheer for the hero who finally took care of the villain that has been causing havoc for the last seven years. After all, seven is a lucky number."

"If you want a fight, let's fight."

"Oh no, I'm not going to fight you. That will just be giving you what YOU want," Deku shook his head with a disinterested expression on his face. "And I am done catering to the needs of someone like you who will and forever will be a bully to others around him."

"No matter how many lives you save, you will always be responsible for the creation of Deku!" Deku spread out his arms and spun in a circle, gesturing to the pure chaos around them. "All of this is on your shoulders. All of the deaths that happened today because you could have saved them, that's all your fault.

"Because you were the one who took a poor quirkless kid and shoved him down for years. Made him feel worthless. Made sure he had no one he could confide in, even his own mother didn't support him!" Dynamight flinched as Deku continued to rant. He could hear his teammates over the com in his ear, taking down the thugs that were let out of prison and the frantic questions about what was happening. "You were the one who bullied him, abused him, told him to JUMP OFF THE ROOF AND PRAY FOR A QUIRK IN THE NEXT LIFE!"

Dynamight's face fell into a completely devastated expression , I didn't mean—!"

"I. DON'T. CARE." Deku almost growled out from the sheer frustration. "I don't care about anything as much as I did back then. And hey, the notebooks went to a new reason, didn't they? I'm the one who took down the big AFO and replaced him. Wait, oops, you took credit for that capture and idea, right? You were the one who claimed that the bullets could be used against him when I was the one who you told to shut up about it."

Dynamight struggled to keep the situation under control. He had to get him detained quickly before he started to monologue again. But Deku knew all of his moves, he had to stall for backup to come.

Deku paused, taking in Dynamight's silence. "And since you stole my plan, my advice, I might as well take yours."

Deku breathed in deeply with one single tear falling from his eyes, "I should have taken it a long time ago."

"What are you talking about?" Dynamight asked with a weird tone in his voice that made his voice crack at the end.

Deku bit down on his laugh as he stepped backwards. He continued to look Dynamight straight in the eyes as he backed up against the ledge. Dynamight's eyes widened as he noticed what the other was doing.

Dynamight's eyes widened behind his mask, "Deku, no!"

"See you in the next life, Kacchan."

With those last words, Deku threw himself backwards to avoid bumping into the rooftop ledge. He spread his arms as he took in the orange sunset sky above him that was filled with smoke and embers from the surrounding fires.

The last sight he had was a figure flying towards him with flashes of light propelling them towards him fast. The figure reached out their heavy gloved hand, reaching for Deku's with a muffled shout.

He reached out his hand weakly before it all went black.