Disclaimer: I do not own Boku No Hero Academia.

CHAPTER XII – EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE

„Do you want to go back?", All Might asked his student who was sitting on the passenger seat. The younger man's fingers were buried into his green school uniform pants and he was sweating, big drops wandering down his forehead. The teenagerwas naturally pale, but he currently looked like a sheet of paper.
To All Might, it was only natural that his apprentice was so nervous; Midoriya hadn't seen Tomura since the day he had beaten him (together with Bakugou) and he had no idea how much the villain had changed.

It's not even fair calling him a villain anymore.

"No..I really want to do this!", Midoriya objected.

"Are you sure? You don't have to force yourself, young Midoriya and you don't need to prove something to anyone."
He said that, but the former number one really wanted Tomura to get a visit from someone else beside him. If a younger person, especially a student of the school he had once attacked would have the courage to go into his cell, there was a small chance that Tomura would start to see himself as human again. Once Nana's grandson was able to accept himself, he would maybe start regretting. And if he truly regretted all the things he had done, then he could eventually forgive himself as well, which would mean..

..that I will get the possibility to show you all the wonderful things in the world, Tomura. I know you don't believe there are any good things in this life. How could you believe that after a life like this? But I will convince you otherwise.
I want you to see the sun and the stars again.

And again, he was thinking too far ahead: Even if Tomura regretted, who said that they were going to release him anytime soon? Who said he was going to be released at all? No one had seen Tomura like he had. Well, technically the guards had, but they were drilled not to feel sympathy towards any prisoner.

Was there going to be a happy end to this story?

Before all of this, I promised Tomura and myself to never give up on him. I will not do that now, I've come too far.

If Midoriya didn't feel safe however, All Might was the last person on earth to try and talk him over, not even for Tomura's sake. This wasn't his apprentice's battle anymore – it was his own, a battle to free Shimura Nana's granchild's mind, to free Shimura Tenko from Shigaraki Tomura.

"– and then I murdered my own self, Shimura Tenko.."
No, you didn't. I will never believe it.

During his imprisonment, All Might had seen the child inside of Tomura. It had been rarely, only a few glimpses of that purity and innocence and All Might held those moments dear, closing them into the symbolic treasure chest of his heart.

If there was one thing he was jealous of when it came to All for One, it was because the underground king had seen Tomura grow from a boy to a young man, something All Might would never get to see. Was this the jealousy and sadness a mother or a father felt, when they realized that they had been gone for too long, not seeing their own children grow?

Shimura Tenko – what a beautiful name, unusual for a boy, unusual for a child in general. But it fit him so well – a special name for a special personality and a special quirk. Instead, the boy wanted to be called Shigaraki Tomura, a name that held so much villainy and pain, a name that associated him with death. All Might had seen Tomura's signature on the investigation papers, below all the other personal information like hair and eye colour, sex, height and blood type, a kanji used for the word 'funeral'.

Horrible.

I hope I'll be able to call you by your real name one day.

Out of the corners of his eyes, he could watch Midoriya letting go of his pants, wiping away the sweat on his forehead and taking the notebook he always carried around, out of his bag.

"I am sure, All Might.", he said with a newly gained confidence and turned the pages of his notebook, "I have even made some notes on what to talk about."

All Might smiled proudly. I couldn't even stop you if I wanted to. You are on the best way of becoming a hero, young Midoriya.

"You're not allowed to mention Tomura's name in your project, right? Aizawa said something about that."

The freckled young man nodded: "Yes. He doesn't think the school would agree to me visiting Shigaraki. But I think Kachann noticed something anyway."

"Bakugou? Why do you think so?"

"Iida told Kirishima about my project. I don' know for sure but I think he told Kachann. I don't get why he would be interested in it in the first place, but he's been very abrasive these past two weeks."

All Might frowned: "Don't get me wrong, young Midoriya, but isn't he always a bit abrasive towards you?"

"I guess..but it's different this time."

"I see.", All Might didn't see it at all; how was it different this time? He liked Bakugou for who he was, but the young hero wasn't really known for a very diverse character and way of thinking and looking at things. He could be abrasive towards Midoriya for no logical reason, the kid gets even angry when someone walked in front of him! But what was he supposed to say? If Bakugou really had realized who Midoriya was visiting, All Might would have to sit down with the lad and have a chat. It was not the idea to let Bakugou feel excluded after all this time, he already knew about One for All and All for One, he might as well know about Midoriya wanting to visit the prisoner they put in jail in the first place.

But what if he wanted to go to Tartarus too?
No, not Bakugou. He would only go to fight Tomura again.

All Might noticed the gas light flashing up: "Oh."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing.", it really wasn't even worth mentioning, "I thought I just pumped some gas, but it's already almost gone. The car doesn't feel as light either. I will have to tell the rental place."

"Will we make it anyway?"

"Sure, we're actually almost there."

In Tartarus, everything went as smoothly as All Might had wanted it to go; the prison's security guards were already informed of a student visiting and guided them both to the elevators, giving the student a feeling of safety.
All Might was used to everything in here, but Midoriya couldn't stop looking around, taking in everything his eyes would catch just like Gran Torino had done.
How was his master, anyway? All Might made a mental note to get in touch with the older man soon. He, who had always been so sceptical about Tomura, would want to know about the progress the prisoner had made these months.

On the lower floors, another guard awaited and asked them to follow him to Tomura's cell. The temperatures down here were always a bit cooler and Midoriya rubbed his arms to keep himself warm.

"Too bad they took my jacket."

"You'll get used to it in no time, don't worry.", All Might assured him.

As usual, the guard informed them both about the general rules but added some additional points just for Midoriya. He asked the student to listen carefully and told him that not following the rules would have serious consequences, even if he was still a minor.

"First off and this is the most important, we ask you to not approach to the prisoner under any circumstances. Please stay near the exit and don't move or walk around unnecessarily. Second, do not talk to the prisoner about any outside information, be it as simple as the date or the weather. If you're unsure whether you're allowed to talk about it or not, just take the easy route and don't do it. Third, do not provoke or threat Shigaraki and don't be provoked by him: He likes to play mind games a lot. On the other hand, it's important that you do not show any fear or he will it use it to his to be confident but not cocky."

It was a bit much to keep in mind but All Might didn't doubt that his apprentice couldn't do it – he was a smart kid.

The guard continued: "When I open that door and Shigaraki is sitting or laying down, you sit down as well. If he stands up, you stand up too."

"Why is that so important?", Midoriya wondered aloud.

"He might feel threatened if you tower over him but we don't want him to get overconfident either, so always try to meet with him on equal footing.", the man explained and looked over to All Might before he continued, "These rules are usually not applicable, but you're still a minor and even if the people higher above agreed to your visit, they still prefer not to be the centre of the media because of something happening to you."

He's already nervous to begin with, don't scare him unnecessarily., All Might thought to himself and placed his hand onto his apprentice's shoulder.

"Do not fear, young Midoriya. I'm right behind you."

All Might looked at the guard for help, but the man just frowned and a sudden anxiety spread inside the blonde's chest at that face. He feared the answer to his question, but he had to know: "Isn't that right?"

"I am sorry to disappoint you, All Might, but you are not allowed to enter at the same time."

All Might couldn't believe what he was hearing: "What?"

"The documents we received clearly mention only Midoriya Izuku to enter the cell. There's no word about you accompanying him."

"You must be joking, right? This must be a mistake?", All Might demanded to know but received only a shaking of the head, "Are you out of your mind? You can't send a student in a cell with a prisoner alone!"

"All Might, it's no problem–", Midoriya tried to calm his teacher but was interrupted by the guard.

"Are you suggesting it's not safe, All Might? Wasn't it you who made the inquiry? If you do not think that it's safe enough, we will cancel all of this immediately."

Although the way the guard had said it seemed rude, it stopped All Might from speaking further.

Am I really suggesting that?
Am I secretly thinking that?
The doctor with the bendable pencil came to mind.

No. That's not it. I just want to support young Midoriya! This wasn't supposed to go like this!

"All Might.", Midoriya tried again and he turned to look at the boy, "It's alright. Everything will be fine."

Wasn't it supposed to be his job to calm down his student? Now it was the other way around and All Might couldn't help but feel old, way older than he was – and he felt as if Midoriya had already surpassed him in many ways.

"But..", he tried again but stopped himself. Nothing he would say would persuade the guard to infringe the rules. He hadn't made them, he just followed.
And Midoriya could defend himself, right? Tomura was quirkless.

Nothing is going to happen. Why am I so worried? I should believe in both of them!

"All Might. We can watch and listen to everything from the camera room. Nothing should happen if Midoriya Izuku sticks to the rules. There will be guards standing in front of this door: In the rare case of emergency, we will intervene before something happens to him."

Midoriya then stepped in front of the door and peaked through the little window. His teacher wondered how and what he was going to feel, seeing the man that had tried to kill him multiple times, in this.. sorry state?

Midoriya bit his lip.

Pity. That was what he was feeling.

The guard started to unlock the door. While he did that, All Might placed his hand upon Midoriya's shoulder again and the teen turned his head, waiting for him to say something.

"Young Midoriya..", he searched for the right words, "I.. thank you. For wanting to help I mean. And good luck."

The young hero nodded and put on a bright smile and All Might let go of him.

How could that fifteen year old boy grow into a strong young man so fast? He had been nervous but he had pulled himself together and now here he was, visiting one of Japan's most dangerous criminals and wanting to help him.

Your selflessness is admirable.

Tomura was really tired.

He couldn't remember having been able to sleep properly those past two weeks, constantly having to think about his meeting with Kurogiri, about Sensei and All Might and trying to find out what his heart wanted; It was all kinds of things from wanting to kill every living garbage on this doomed planet, to wanting to hear Sensei praising him when he did well in his training..to wanting All Might to embrace him.

Sometimes he pushed into an even more forbidden territory, imagining what it would be like if he lived together with All Might in the same house. The hero had promised him an own room, but whenever he tried to imagine that part, he kept thinking of his old one near the bar hide out. The shelves in that room had been filled with books and toys, the walls plastered with maps and various news articles about heroes. It had been a dark room, an ugly room: A place with bags of trash piling up because no one bothered cleaning neither the room nor the rest of the apartment (and especially because Tomura didn't want people looking around his room). An apartment that All for One had frequented less and less with Tomura growing into a teenager and further into a young adult. He had hated the place, preferred to spend his time at the bar, where he would drink so much he would fall asleep on the wooden counter to find himself waking up back in his room. But still.. technically, it had been the place he grew up. And now all of his possessions had been burned to ashes.

"Come back to us and All for One will forgive you." Why had Kurogiri not talked to him? It wasn't in his character to act all secretive.

Maybe because Sensei was watching..?

"Shigaraki, you have a visitor." Tomura startled at the guard's voice. He hadn't even heard the door being opened and when he looked up expecting All Might, a young man he just knew too well was instead standing in his cell.

The student.

This feeling.
What was it called?

Ah yes.

Unbridled rage

– yes, that was the feeling that was taking a hold of his heart and his whole body.

Rage because it was him, him! Who else could it have been, of course it was him!

The guard patted the teen's back before closing the door, leaving them effectively alone – and the kid at Tomura's urge to kill inside his brain switched on and he suddenly felt all of his body burn with energy.
He wanted to take in the irony smell of blood and fill his lungs with the smell of death; the death of one of the students that had put him in here.

Had it not been for him, Tomura would have been able to kill the symbol of peace back at the attack on U.A.
Had it not been for him, the Vanguard Action Squad's other members – Moonfish, Mustard and Muscular – would not have been arrested.
Had it not been for him, Tomura would have been able to escape with the kidnapped classmate through the portal his Sensei had opened. It would have been an even more fatal blow to U.A. and the heroes and maybe Sensei wouldn't have been arrested.

Had it not been for Midoriya Izuku, Tomura wouldn't have been caught and put into Tartarus.
And then All Might would have never been able to visit him. And everything would be as it was before, everything would be fine.

The young hero made a step back, as if he could read Tomura's mind and feel the bloodlust.

This was the student Tomura would have to kill to prove himself to his master and oh, how much he suddenly wanted it! But right now, the kid was too cautious.

Calm down, Tomura.

It wasn't easy and Tomura felt like a drug addict, seeking the next shot that would calm his whole being. There was an impulse to lay all of his finger on the teens neck, chest, face and––. Funny how he kind of knew that it was this guy who would come to visit but he's still surprised.
Tomura took a deep breath and greeted his visitor: "Midoriya Izuku."

How truly different they were, not only when it came to the side they chose to be on in this world. Even their faces; Midoriya's was so perfect; he was plain and not even his freckles could save that. He was so plain he could have been the perfect protagonist of a book or a manga, making the readers see themselves in him.

"Shigaraki Tomura.", Midoriya's voice was tiny, like a mouse. He sat down, probably something the guards had told him to do. Midoriya had just felt his bloodlust, no one in that situation would sit down unless he had been told to do so. Tomura wasn't stupid, when were they ever going to stop underestimating him?

"Tell me, hero, ", he made sure to lay all of his venom into his words, "why are you here? What could the pure Midoriya Izuku want from someone like me?"

Midoriya looked already overstrained with this question. He was sweating and was getting pale.

"I..", he grit his teeth before speaking again, this time with a stronger voice and a confidence he seemed to have taken out of nowhere, "I want to help too."

"Help?", Tomura repeated and burst into laughter. The confused look that appeared on Midoriya's face only made him laugh harder.

"Help?! I don't need any help! How could you ever help me,hero?", he grinned widely and could feel his lips starting to crack again. Midoriya couldn't hide his fear from the prisoner, he just switched from being scared in one moment to becoming a confident wannabe-hero the next. All for One's apprentice was actually surprised he had not been warned yet through the speakers. Was All Might in Tartarus as well and if yes, was he watching? Why would he let Midoriya do this all alone? Hadn't he promised to be there as well? Or was this all Midoriya's idea?

Kid probably wants to act all grown up. It's almost cute.

I'll tear your dreams apart.

"There isn't much I can do but.. I guessed you were lonely in here.", Midoriya's eyes wandered down to his hands and it looked as if he blamed himself for putting Tomura in this position. He was obviously trying to make up for that and there was only one reason why; because All Might had told Midoriya about him. And now the kid was having a bad conscience and trying to clear it.
Why else would he want to visit Tomura, the former leader of a group of criminals who had murdered civilians, other criminals and had even tried to murder children? It was all just too obvious.

The fact that Midoriya was feeling sorry for him made him so furious, that urge to murder this child in cold blood became even stronger and Tomura could feel his own red eyes burn with hate. He wanted to get these gloves of and grab that neck and disintegrate it until there was nothing more than dust.
Right now, he didn't even care what All Might would think about him, he just wanted to stop the stupid kid's heartbeat.

I hate you. I hate you and your friends and your school. Your very existence PISSES me off!

Midoriya stood for every failure in his whole career as a villain, as becoming the heir to All for One.
A small voice inside him still cried for All Might's hand to brush his hair and for the man to smile so bright it would fill Tomura's heart with light, but that voice was silenced by hate, so much hate that poured out of that black hole that was his soul, his mind and his body.

"I could be your friend!"

All of the anger and hate was suffocated in an instant. It had been big and daunting like a burning forest, but what Midoriya had just said was even bigger and Tomura's burning fire was suffocated with what felt to be all the waters of the earth thrown onto him. He was empty.

Friend?

Friend?

Tomura did not have friends.

The members of the League had been his comrades. Had they been his friends too?
Maybe in their eyes, not in his though.
He wanted friends. He craved to have people around him who liked him for who he was, he had just assumed that there was no place for things like this in his life. Additionally, who would have ever wanted someone like him to be their friend?

And yet, there sat Midoriya, the very kid who had beaten him, (figuratively) offering his hand in friendship.

"Everyone just passed by, pretending not to see, thinking that some hero would save the day."
"Who decided to make the world this way?"

Tomura never had the chance to consider taking that hand before his hate took over again.

Where had this offer been all these months ago?
Midoriya had never cared about him. He was so plain and boring and still, Tomura was jealous of him because of all the things he was and had: He didn't get looked at when walking down the street, he didn't go to bed remembering snippets of his life where he killed his own father because of his quirk, because he probably still had a family and friends. He was going to one of the best hero schools and having the time of his life and worst of all, he was supported by All Might and all of society.
Midoriya Izuku had all the things Tomura never had and never would have. He didn't want those things, but who in the world had decided who got to have everything while he got nothing?

Today Midoriya was here, feeling sorry for the villain he himself had put in jail.
No, Midoriya had never cared about Tomura, Midoriya only cared about what All Might thought of him.

Good for him because..

..Tomura didn't care for him either.

He stood up and before Midoriya could do the same, the taller villain threw himself onto the student and pushed him to the ground, holding him down by the wrists.
Midoriya must have been shocked, because he hadn't reacted at all – from what Tomura remembered, his quirk relied heavily on physical strength. Not that Tomura was weak, his slender body only gave that impression, but he shouldn't have been able to hold Midoriya down that long.
Still, he was going to use the time he had until Midoriya would beat the crap out of him, until the guards would storm the cell and drug him and All Might would be disappointed again and either visit him at the hospital or when he was strapped to a chair, because he had broken the rules. He had thrown away his last chance.

But he didn't care anymore! He wanted to kill this kid, to dig is nails into Midoriya's chest and tear out his lungs and heart. If All Might didn't want him anymore, Sensei would acknowledge him again. Right, right?!

"You think you're so smart, you little brat! I have long seen through your whole charade!"
The guards would enter anytime soon.

"STOP! TOMURA! TO––!", it was All Might's voice he heard shouting through the speakers, suddenly cut off.

All Might?

The world around Tomura became black. He wasn't unconscious. What was happening?!

"Come here, Tenko!", he turned around to see his father, standing there with a bottle in his hand. He was looking for him, looking to hurt him!

"Little Tenko, I won't hurt you!"
"LIAR!", Tomura screamed, "Get the fuck away from me!" But his father was getting closer and closer and Tomura had forgotten how much those slaps had hurt.

"You're a disgrace!"

Tomura let go of Midoriya wrists, falling back onto his behind and holding his temples with shaking hands. Pain, pain, what was this pain suddenly shooting through his head?! He closed his eyes and opened them again, his father gone but his vision was too blurry to see anything. He didn't see Midoriya getting on his feet, storming to the exit. He didn't see that the door didn't open and he didn't see Midoriya waving and talking to the cameras without getting any reaction from Tartarus' guards or All Might.

"What is happening?!", Midoriya shouted and activated his quirk. He started punching the walls that didn't break and Midoriya was beginning to panic, but Tomura saw none of that.

There he was again, his father holding a belt in his hand.

"No more! Stop it! Please!", Tomura cried to the things in his head. His rips hurt like back then and Tomura embraced his upper body to protect himself from any more kicks.

"Stop! Please, daddy, stop!", he screamed at the man that he knew was not here. What was happening to him?

"Shigaraki!", he could faintly hear Midoriya calling his name, but he was so far away.

"Please..", he begged and cried but Shimura didn't stop and Tomura reached to decay him but there were his gloves, and –– no, no, no..!

All Might. He stood next to his father.

"Why did you do it, Tomura? Why did you kill him?"
The next thing he saw was Midoriya's body turning to dust and Tomura looked down at his hands, both of them covered in blood.

"I didn't do it!", he screamed. He had wanted to kill him but he didn't do it! How could he have done it?

"Why did you do it, Tomura?", it ripped Tomura's heart in half hearing the disappointment in the man's voice, like his biggest fear had just become reality.

"I DIDN'T DO IT!"

...

"Tomura."

Tomura opened his eyes. His breath was heavy, his muscles strained and hurting and his cheeks wet from tears. He was looking up at the ceiling, realising that he was still in his cell. Had this all been a dream?

"Tomura.", the voice spoke again and Tomura stood up, his legs still shaky.

There he stood again: Sensei.
This time however, he was real.

Answer to Galaxy diamond (user): Thank you for reviewing again! Well, he kinda did but also didn't haha. We'll see what happens!

Answer to HankFlamion18 (user): I am sorry I didn't write him as you wanted him to be : (( However you will be pleased to hear that I have a fluff scene with Kurogiri already planned : )) I didn't intend for him to be harsh, but believing in AFO's ideals and wanting the best for Tomura.
Love the idea with the epilogue! Thank you for reviewing!