It was Midori who made the first move. The lightning around him pulsed, and he shot off like an arrow from it's bow, darting across the distance with speed her eyes can't follow and bouncing from wall to wall, leaving nothing but a trail of green light in sight. Todo moved next, his quirk encasing his left with an icy mist and his right pulsing with heat.

Hibiki took a step to her right, steadying herself for the headache she knew was coming now with both of them using their quirks, the onslaught of information hits her as she anticipated and she fell to one knee, groaning. Ice was all over the alley, she can feel the cold prickling her skin and under the stress her every senses were forced into hyper focus, everything was so overwhelmingly clear she could barely process it all.

For a while she couldn't tell what was happening. All she knew was to take every injury there was away, dodge every attack and stay alert, she don't even feel scared anymore at some point. She recall lashing out with her stolen knife somewhere along the way, but it was all blurry.

"His movements' changed from before!"

"Midoriya!"

Hibiki cried out again as another injury traveled through the link and to her upper arm, further injuring her already bleeding shoulder.

Hibiki looked up with blurried eyes, only for them to widen as she spotted Stain, blade at the ready aiming to Midori. Without thinking she lashed out with the knife, throwing it across the distance and surprisingly, nailed him in the face with the blunt of the blade.

Stain recoiled, and Midori dodged to the side while Todo shot out a jet of flames, forcing the man back. She grunted a little as she felt another cut travel through the link, this time to her ankle, and Hibiki fell on one knee, leaning against the wall for support as it healed at a much slower rate.

" Stop it..." From behind her, paralyzed on the ground came Tenya's voice, " Please... Please... Don't get hurt anymore... Not again... Not for me..."

Hibiki felt her heart squeeze, her throat tightens and a strangled sob leaves her throat, quirk-wise, she've always had seemingly endless stamina, but with this much mental strain even Hibiki is begining to tire out, her brain and body are starting to scream in protest. But even so, she opened her mouth to speak.

" IF YOU WANT IT TO STOP, THEN STAND UP!"

Hibiki tilted her head to the side, eyes glancing back to look towards where the voice came from. That sounded like something she's like to say, but... and it hadn't been her voice.

Midori is now collapsed deeper inside the alley, once again paralyzed by Stain's quirk— she failed, she'd failed and now Midori's paralyzed again— she screwed her eyes shut, and forced herself to stand up. As Stain leapt towards Todo with his sword extended, Hibiki leapt to meet the blow with her make-shift shield.

A numb sansation traveled up her arm, and the shield flew out and away from her hand, slamming against the wall. Hibiki fell, and found herself sitting on the floor, Todo a few meters to her right, his eyes wide full of horror, as she stared up towards Stain, whose blade was raised above his head, ready to strike a deadly blow.

MOVE! Her mind screamed, but she was paralyzed with terror. Her feet won't respond, the slowly closing wound on her ankle was still aching with pain, her limbs are trembling and she couldn't move.

She can't move.

A dazed sansation overcame her, as Todo's mouth open to shout her name, as the towering silhouette loomed over her Hibiki could almost see her life flash before her eyes, I'm sorry, Akemi... Tenya... Hiroi... She found herself thinking, I guess this is it for—

A blur of white.

"HIBIKI!"


"I'm glad that my work helps so many people though!"

"Save that one over there first."

"I don't care even if I meddle with your business, your life is on the line, and I am NOT going to stand aside to watch you DIE!"

"IF I JUST IGNORE THOSE IN NEED, FORGET BEING A MEDIC, THAT'D JUST MAKE ME AN ASSHOLE!"

"STAND UP!"

How could he've been so blind?

"You know... If something's wrong, you can always tell me."

"Iida-kun... You know you can always rely on us, right?"

"Tenya..."

Everyone had been so worried, everyone had always been there, all along, how could he not see it? How could he- how could he have been so selfish?

He would defeat the Hero Killer in place of his brother, and get his revenge for Hibiki. But he strayed so far from what he aspired to be, who he looked up to and who inspired him.

His brother, who tried so hard to live up to his name, who worked endlessly to help those in need willingly, and smiled all the same.

Hibiki, who always had some love, a hand, an ear, and a space in her heart to offer for anyone who needed it, and never had a space for hate.

He was right... Stain was right.

He really had no right to call himself a hero.

But if he don't stand up now...

He will never be able to catch up to them

He looked up, and his heart nearly stuttered to a stop.

Somewhere in his thoughts, the Hero Killer had shot across the distance, and is now looming over Hibiki, his blade raised high in the air.

If he don't stand up now... He might lose one of them.

The paralysis slipped away, as Tenya gripped his fist and raised to his feet, his quirk flared up and he pushed it to it's very limit, forcing the engines into overdrive.

"HIBIKI!"


The instant Ueno darted in and bodily slammed into the blade, Shouto felt his eyes widen with horror and shock.

What is she thinking?! This girl is absolutely crazy! She's going to get herself killed! He hit the wall with a grunt and pushed off immediately to help the girl, but knew that he won't reach in time.

"Recipro... BURST!"

Shouto thought his eyes couldn't possibly get any wider, but he was proven wrong as Iida shot across the distance and as the blade swung down, blocking the blow from connecting with a wide, violent kick.

It all happened in an instant, and everything was little more than a blur, but Shouto was sure the teen had gotten in another kick before falling back onto his feet, Stain was forced back deeper into the alley, and the girl, previously frozen with fear, slumped and released a sound that is a cross between a breath, and a terrifired sob.

"Iida-kun!"

Shouto almost sagged with the relief, if Ueno had died... he shivered at the thought of telling Akemi the news if Ueno had... he can't even imagine.

"Todoroki, Midoriya... You shouldn't 've been dragged into this. And for getting you both involved, I'm sorry."

Iida's sudden words startled him out of his thoughts, and Shouto stared at the blue-haired teen, blinking. Midoriya, however, seems enraged by the speech.

"Iida, if you're saying what I think you're talking about—"

"That's why I won't allow you two to bleed for me any more!" At this, Ueno seems to start, blinking rapidly, "I wanted to hunt stain down for hurting my brother and making Hibiki bleed for him... but..." Shouto watched as his classmate turned to look at the girl, who stared at him with shock.

"Ten, I-"

"Trying to convince me with empty words is futile." Shouto's eyes snapped back towards the villain, who wiped away a trail of blood from his face, which he realized was from the dagger Ueno threw earlier. "Life isn't a movie... no one changes as easily as they do in them... You are still nothing but a fake who—"

Before he could get another word out, a trash can lid nailed the man in the face. Shouto blinked, and turned to his left, where Ueno stood panting, with one arm still extended from throwing the thing.

"I usually don't go around hitting people, but sometimes, Akemi is right." She grumbled, "Some people do need a good capitalised Bitch-Slap to get some common sense in their heads." She glared at the Hero Killer, eyes furius, "Nothing but a Fake?! Nothing?! You have no idea how much more Tenya is! Sure, he's lost, he' even made mistakes, but He's still human and is just as human as anyone else on this planet, and you have no right to take his life away!"

"Hibiki... He is right, I still have no right to—"

"The right to be a hero, whether the job or the dictionary definition, is not decided by anyone. So think as you wish, Ten." Ueno snapped, cutting her friend off before he could continue, " But you are still so, so much more. Even this person in front of me is more than what I can see, so that gives me no right to take his life, even if he is threatening my friends' and mine."

"Nonsense!"

With a burst of speed, Stain dashed towards them, this time aiming for the girl. Shouto pushed her aside and shot a torrent of flames, forcing him back so Ueno wouldn't be harmed.

Stain isn't particularly strong, quirk-wise. But his determination and skill is nothing to scoff at. Though multiple opponents is not his strong suit and they need to take this advantage to it's best. He tusked as the villain dodged his ice and flames with smooth movements, but failed to get in close.

He is starting to get desperate, Shouto realized, He is trying to get in a kill before any reinforcement gets here.

"Todoroki!" Shouto didn't look back, he daren't. "Can you regulate temperature?"

"I'm not used to it with my left yet, why?!"

"Freeze my legs!" His eyes darted towards his classmate with shock, "Without plugging up the exhausts!"

It was a mistake to look away. The very moment he took his eyes off his opponent, a knife was shot towards him and he had no time to block it, with his right directed to the other side. Shouto stepped back, and braced for impact. Much to his surprise, Iida had extended a hand, and the dagger had hit him instead. However the dagger, like he've seen before, shot back out and away and not even a trace of the wound was left on his classmate's arm, and behind him, a sharp cry of pain rang out in the voice of a girl.

"Ueno!" He whirled around, the girl is slumped against the wall, bleeding heavily from her forearm, and much to his horror, many of the wounds she took early on in the fight was still there, including his own, and the one on her ankle.

"Get out of my way!" Shouto looked back and his eyes widened at the sight of another dagger heading his way, only for Iida to bodily shield it, and another sharp cry sounded from behind.


Some where out there in the quiet streets, a girl froze mid step at the distant, echoing scream. And despite her companion's cry of protest, shot off with a golden burst of energy.


"Hibiki! Stop it!"

"Just get on with whatever your idea is!" The girl screamed back, her voice breaking towards the end with pain.

Shouto gritted his teeth and knelt down, placing his hand on Iida's calf and freezing it without plugging up the exhausts, while shooting fire to keep the villain away from them. He glanced back to the girl laying against the wall, her hands glowing as she stubbornly kept her quirk going. It's one thing to get in something like this with his classmates, but Ueno is not trained for this, she is a medic, not a fighter, she didn't sign up for any of this and he don't like any of this, at all.

"DAMNIT!" The Hero killer dodged his fire, once again speeding towards them with swords extended. He took a step back, bracing himself like he always does in training.

Blue flames.

Shouto's eyes widened, from the corner of his eyes, he can see blue flames shooting out of the pipes extending from his classmate's calf, burning white with the heat and turning the metal red, the force of the jump that followed bringing up circles of dust, sending him up so fast Shouto's eyes could barely follow. All the way across the ice, crackling with lightning, Midoriya emerged, shooting him up like a rocket, aiming for the Hero Killer.

Both hit their marks. Midoriya with his fist and Iida his feet, the punch and kick was so hard he almost winced but Shouto didn't let his guard down. He watched as Stain fell, yet still conscious, and barely moments after Iida got in another kick, shot out a jet of flames, which this time, hit their mark.

The villain's limp body crashed landed on the ice, and Shouto moved back into a prepared stance, "Don't let your guard down, he might still be— "

He stopped. The figure laid limp and silent on his ice, unmoving. Unconscious.

There was a few tense moments, no one spoke. Shouto stared with wide eyes at the villain, before he finally, finally, broke the silence.

"He's... Unconscious."

A thud sounded.

The three of them froze, almost afraid to turn around for several long moments and a voice slashed through the tension.

"HIBIKI!"

There was a crash, and Shouto whirled around. Then there, a little towards the back, there was Akemi, who knelt with eyes wide full of horror cradling a still bleeding Ueno, who trembled with wide, unseeing eyes in the other girl's arms.


Current Poll Results~ (from both the poll and the reviews)

Akemi's paring:

Todoroki Shouto: 12

Midoriya Izuku: 1

Iida Tenya: 2

Seiba Hiroi: 0

Ueno Hibiki: 3

Bakugou Katsuki: 3

Iida Tensei: 1

Others (Please state in review!)


Hibiki's pairing:

Todoroki Shouto: 0

Midoriya Izuku: 0

Iida Tenya: 4

Seiba Hiroi: 0

Kimura Akemi: 3

Shinsou Hitoshi: 5

Others (Please state in review!)


Aaaaaannnnsssttt...I absolutely love Angst. Don't kill me just now! What I like is Angst with a neutral ending ( not exactly happy, but not bad), not full blown tragedy Romeo and Juliet stuff. Okay? Everyone lives! For now. ('cause I'm a cold-blooded monster who kills off half their main characters, painfully... Then resurrected some of them purely because the amount of traumatic experience they've had wasn't enough.)

I really can't promise anything about their fate in distant future, but I can tell you that the tone of this fanfic will turn a lot lighter soon, about two to three chapters later... up until the Summer Camp.

Also, I recently posted two drawings of Akemi n co. in them on my Instagram account, I might also post them on Tumblr later! And since they are hand drawn, they look a lot better and I mean it. I am really bad at drawing people digitally. But by hand? Dude, I'm an art student. So they should look a lot better.

Alright. now that I have finished ranting, onto the replies!

To darkpaladin89: You read my mind! (And I will leave it up to you to think what I did mean by that.)