Finished season 5 recently and felt extremely restless, I knew I had to write something in order to get all the creative energy out. I know this isnt the best, but I had fun with it. Might do more chapters in the future, I'm very interested in seeing Deku try to help them. Hope you all enjoy.
Midoriya Izuku, Hero Name Deku always hated Tartarus, from first sight it filled him with an almost animalistic desire to tear it down. He logically understood it's function, some villains were too violent, volatile or simply high risk to be allowed into a general prison, even one designed to house quirk users.
But still, every time he came here, Deku couldn't shake the feeling that it was a hole. A place heroes tossed their greatest villains to forget about.
They punch the bad guy, save the day, and toss them into a hole never to be seen again. Something about that always sat wrong with him, and upon his first visit he made a promise. He would not rest until he had done everything possibly to redeem those inside of here. He would not be content to sit on his laurels and allowing people who had never been given a chance to be more rot, not while he had a chance to help them.
He knew it was naïve, for the last nine weeks he'd been visiting here and every time he was reminded what the people inside these walls had done. The lives ruined, left in tatters by those who now call this place home. The people he loved who had been harmed in every way imaginable by some of its denizens.
They must atone, they must be punished, and they must do all they can to set things right.
And none of this can be achieved by forgetting about them.
And so, at least once a week, Deku made it a mission to visit the villains he had sent here. At first most of them assumed he was here to gloat, or to rant at them for all their wrong doings. It had taken time to just begin talking to any of them.
Shigaraki would stare into space, not responding to anything. The doctors assured the hero that he was healthy, he had just shut down emotionally, never really responding to anything. But on the eighth visit, Deku knew he saw Shigaraki's eyes look his way. He remembered them meeting his own and knowing, there and then, that for all that had gone wrong, hewas at least listening. The next step was getting him to engage.
Dabi had burnt himself out during the final battle, his patchwork body unable to sustain the mad flames which he threw out.
Compress would simply gloat about his fool proof escape plan over a game of chess, Deku would move the pieces for him and the pair were happy to fall into a simple rapport.
Spinner listened to him with rapt attention. His idol Stain, the closest thing to a hero the metahuman had, believed that Deku was a true hero. And even though he didn't truly believe what the hero was saying to him, always pushing back and scoffing at the idea of needing to make amends. He was at least engaging with him, which was more than the doctors in Tartarus could accomplish. Now he just had to hope what he said would get through.
Twice was incomprehensible at first, constantly fighting between pleading to see his friends and violent threats against Deku for putting them all here in the first place. It had taken a lot of effort on Deku's part, but he was able to convince the wardens to allow Twice to visit his friends. Both of them straight jacketed and guarded, but this was enough for Twice and the two had actually worked up something resembling a friendship now.
Toga was... well Deku still had to fight back a blush as he thought about her confession to him right before the final battle. He had rejected her, as had Uraraka and this had hurt Toga in a way that still pained him to remember. His first visit had mostly comprised of convincing her that he wasn't there to kill her, or gloat, or finally accept her proposal break her out of here. After he had assured her that none of those were going to happen, They ended up talking. And shockingly enough, Deku found himself enjoying his conversations with the girl. He still remembered the smile that covered his face when Toga and Twice were finally able to see each other again, their enthusiasm and happiness at seeing their friend flooding the room and making the young hero even more determined to make this right.
The more he spoke to the villains, the more angered he became at the cracks they had been allowed to fall down. How even the smallest amount of help would have allowed them to flourish, to lead happy, healthy lives. He looked back on how life before he was given One for All. How angry and isolated he had felt at times, his only friend turned into a vicious bully, his school doing nothing to help support a quirkless child who struggled every step of the way.
What would he have become if his mother rejected him? If All Might hadn't extended his hand to lift up a boy that by all rights he should have ignored. Would he have ended up like Spinner? Dejected and isolated in his bedroom until he saw something that radicalised him to action?
The villains needed punishing, at the end of the day they had made their choices and those choices had hurt thousands. But Deku believed, truly believed to his core, that people could change their lives. He believed in second chances.
All for One had been given his chances to atone, he had refused them eagerly, harming everyone and everything in his wake for his own pleasure, he was beyond redemption. But the others? They had destroyed lives, including their own, but leaving them in prison wouldn't fix that. They could be saved.
And Deku would save everyone, he would see them smile happily, even if it took him until the end of his days.