Disclaimer: I do not own Boku No Hero Academia.

CHAPTER XVII – HOME

At the point of their capture, Toga Himiko had not reached the age of eighteen, making her a minor.

Even if she was a murderer, the court still saw her as more of a 'crowd follower' than an actual villain. Putting her in a normal female prison had therefore been out of the question, which was why she got a place in one of the biggest juvenile detention centres of Tokyo.

But Toga Himiko wasn't as stupid as she sometimes made it look. She was a fast thinker and she was strong and quick. By scratching one of her social worker with those sharp nails and sucking the blood from underneath them, she was able to use her quirk and transform, tough only for a few minutes, it was long enough for her to incapacitate the worker and to disappear. It had not even been a challenge for her. Because she was a young and cute girl, people underestimated her constantly. Their failures were her luck.

In the detention centre, she had learned that the youngsters in there had neither been inherently evil, nor really villains, but mostly stupid teenagers with either a difficult childhood or the inability to control their emotions – and to be fair, she was one of them too. She had heard that after the time in there, some of them used their anger to fuel themselves on their way of achieving something greater and even becoming heroes. The detention centre also included therapists, trying to help those kids getting back on the right way. But Toga Himiko was too happy being around Shigaraki Tomura and the other members for her to go the same way as those teens. The League gave her a feeling of freedom she had never experienced before, nothing any kind therapy could ever do.
She knew best; she had tried them all.
The urge to drink blood that came from her quirk was something she had never been able to suppress. Now she didn't have to, and.. she didn't want to.

After the young girl had been able to escape, she had tracked down Giran.
The broker had been contacted by All for One's doctor months before, who had informed him about the planned prison break. Giran had then taken contact with some of his people of the Tartarus coalition and in the country's higher courts, who had ensured that All Might's request had been accepted (with a change of certain conditions of course).
The League of Villains was a tiny group, but All for One's underground network was large und spread into the farthest corners of this land.

Since Toga was still infatuated with that Midoriya kid, she had not been told prior about the identity of the student that would visit Shigaraki Tomura.

On the day of the prison break, one of Giran's contacts had brought them the blood they needed for the girl to transform into one of the guards. Like already mentioned: Toga wasn't stupid. The nature of her quirk and always having to run away from the police, have made her capable of adapting and fitting perfectly into her environment. Into every kind of environment, even a high security prison like Tartarus.

Once she had been inside the building, freeing Kurogiri was nothing. She didn't even have to watch out for the alarms, because as soon as Kurogiri was free, he would teleport the rest of the League of Villains into Tartarus (including Twice, who had been in a completely different prison, which was a completely different story) and everything had taken its course. The prison's guards would then have been too focused fighting the members off to further care about Kurogiri.

All for One had planned out everything perfectly. By communicating with his own lawyer, who used his quirk to transfer information via some kind of telekinetic power (Spinner still didn't really understand how it worked exactly), the man had always been up to date from the first day inside the prison, which meant that he knew what the League had been up to all this time until their capture.

After Kurogiri had freed All for One, they had not come back with the apprentice – with Shigaraki. They had left him there.

"What are you doing? Where the hell is Shigaraki?!", Spinner remembered shouting at the man.

"It's not the right time, Spinner.", All for One had only said and stepped into the warp gate first. They had not had any other choice but to follow him.

Later, they would find out about Shigaraki's test, the one he had failed and about who the student had been. Spinner still felt relief, knowing that the one Stain had chosen to be 'a true hero', had survived.

But what did that mean for Shigaraki? And why had Shigaraki not just done it?
Not that Spinner and him had ever been close friends, but the leader he knew wouldn't have flinched decaying even a child. What had changed?

Spinner had principles: Even if All for One was the guy giving Shigaraki all the resources, he was not following him. Spinner was part of the League of Villains, the league Stain himself had been part of. Everything that had been going on since the break out, he.. he just wasn't liking it. Shigaraki and him, they had always been different: not a single spark of Stain's motivation had resided underneath that mop of silver hair, but.. Spinner had chosen to trust him. Somehow, the lizard still believed that Shigaraki and he wanted to same thing: to re-shape society and the hero's within it, but that they went on differently about it.

All for One however was different. He was the true king of the underground, the symbol of villainy: The one villains whispered about, the one who wanted to rule and someone Spinner couldn't trust.

Weeks passed with the members of the League wasting time inside some sky scratcher somewhere in what Spinner easily recognized to be Yokohama. All for One warned them from leaving, telling them that all cities would be swarming with police only looking for them.

It was during the middle of April when Spinner began losing his patience, demanding an answer from either Kurogiri, who was the only one allowed to leave at times, and from All for One, on what had happened that day of the breakout. And that had been the moment they had been told everything, from the moment the members of the League had been caught and how Shigaraki had changed
– because of a hero.

Who that hero was, remained a mystery to them.

Leaving Shigaraki in that cell apparently had been All for One's way to show him that no one, except for the villains and the underground, would ever accept him for who he was. Even if he truly changed to fit into the current society, to them, he would always be garbage. All for One wanted him to know, that being his successor was who he was meant to be.

Spinner knew better: What the man was telling them was basically just a nicer way to say 'I am going to break him until he obeys me, until he never questions me again' and it left a bitter taste in his mouth. Not only that, but all of the things All for One was telling them. But what was he going to do about it? The guy looked like he was about to die on that wheelchair, yet emitted such a fearful aura that Spinner had problems just keeping his eyes on him. And he was glad that he didn't stick around with them in that loft. Spinner needed time to think.

Later that month, Kurogiri then was finally told to get Shigaraki out of wherever he was. And he did.

It was April 28th, four days after the leader had been brought back. But Shigaraki still wouldn't talk to them. At all.

He very rarely left the room he had been assigned to, mostly to go the bathroom, then strolling back into the dark chamber without even looking at them. He always hid his head underneath that black hood, but whenever Spinner was able to get a glance of his face, he could see the emptiness in his scarlet eyes and the even sicklier colour that his skin had gotten.

He didn't wear any hands anymore; probably because they were still in police property, and he therefore couldn't hide his anxiety behind the one he used to call 'father'. But what got Spinner the most, was that one time he caught Shigaraki in the kitchen, holding a glass of water with all his five fingers closed around it. The lizard man's eyes had not left his hand and when their leader had noticed, he had let the glass fall, shards of it spreading on the floor, while he had stormed past him back into his room.

Ragdoll – he was reminded of that one woman from the Pussycats, whose quirk had been taken away by All for One.
The king's quirk must have been something like this, something able to make people quirkless and take their abilities for himself. And now he had taken away Shigaraki's quirk, his own student's!

Spinner remembered when he had spoken to the others about it:
"So he basically became a fossil.", Dabi had said, shrugging and turning back to the game he was playing on that ancient gaming device he had found in one of the rooms.
"Poor Tomura. I hope he's all right!", Toga, feeling genuinely sorry about their leader.
"Where do we want to go from here?", Mr. Compress, wondering about all of their futures.
"He's our leader!", Twice's split personality argued, "Let's forget about him, he's useless now!"

It was obvious Shigaraki wasn't going to lead them anymore and Spinner wondered, what All for One was waiting for and why he thought it was even worth it anymore to keep him around.

And Spinner wondered, if he shouldn't just leave?

Did he care about the others? Yes, but was it enough to keep him around?

He didn't know the answer by the time it was already too late.

All for One was a gracious man. Not only had he taken him out of that closed psychiatry, he had given him one of the three sole rooms of this loft on the top floor of the tallest building that towered above Yokohama. Tomura's hometown, the place he used to live together with his father, before Sensei took him to Musutafu. He gave him a room there, near to the bar hideout he would later frequently visit, but they used to spend a lot of time on the country side as well, where his master would train and teach him.

All for One was a gracious man, but Tomura hated him.

The other members of the League all had to share two rooms, while All for One resided alone on the lower floors, not to be disturbed unless he called for anyone. Tomura had not been called since Kurogiri had taken him here; however the black mist regularly entered his room, multiple times a day without permission, to look after him.

Usually, he would say something like:
"Are you well?"
"You should eat."
"Are you feeling sick?"
"All for One will soon call for you."

Tomura would never answer and he felt like he should appreciate the effort Kurogiri invested, but he didn't, he just wanted to be left alone.

Did he though? Did he even want anything anymore? He felt like even his wish to die had left him yet.. he had felt shame when Spinner had seen his hand closed completely around that glass. How, after a lifetime of acting carefully with all the things he touched, could he have been to careless?!

Tomura had spent these past days sitting on the ground in his darkened room, non-stop watching the news on all the channels this TV got, changing the channel whenever they were over, looking for the next. They didn't report anything about his disappearance; the police wanted to hide it. But what was he even looking for? He wasn't sure, but it had something to do with All Might.

"I won't hurt you Tomura. And I won't allow him to hurt you either."

Aside from a bed and a few fresh clothes, there wasn't anything else in this room, but nothing would make him go outside to meet the others, especially not after what had happened in the kitchen.

I am not who I was before.

Today, he had awoken from a dream about his cell in Tartarus. All Might had been part of it too, standing before him, brushing the hair out of his face with a bright smile – like a father would with his son. He remembered the feelings his heart had held in the dream. They were gone now; what remained was void.

When things had become tricky, All Might had not wasted a second to push him aside.

But now that Tomura was here, back where he supposedly belonged, it didn't feel good either.

His master, his teacher, the man who had raised him.. had been the one responsible for what had happened to his family.

Why can't I forget?

On the fifth day, Kurogiri entered his room again, closing the door behind him. Tomura felt his presence but ignored him, his eyes fixed on the bright screen before him. It was only after twenty minutes that the black mist sighed and decided to speak up (he must have had realized that Tomura wasn't going to say anything).

"Is there anything I can do to help you?", his voice wasn't that of a servant who just did what he had been told to do, but of someone who seemed to care. Seemed to care because Tomura didn't believe that he really did.

"You could leave me alone and not enter without permission."

"You're acting bratty, Shigaraki Tomura.", there was the usual Kurogiri again. Tomura muted the TV and turned around to face the man.

"Why didn't you tell me back then?" Like back during their meeting in Tartarus, Kurogiri remained quiet, his expression unreadable.

"Then I have nothing more to say to you.", Tomura just wanted to turn back to the TV when Kurogiri sighed again and sat down on the side of his bed.

"If you feel like you were used, I-"

"I don't care about that!", Tomura interrupted him and got on his feet, facing Kurogiri with a mix of fury and desperation on his face, "But why them..?"

"Shigaraki Tomura, know that I am on your side! We-", Kurogiri started, when suddenly a phone ringed inside his pocket. At first, Tomura couldn't believe that the guy really had decided to pick up that call in the middle of their conversation. Kurogiri had been the one to come into his room to have a talk, what could be more important than this?! Until he realized that it was their Sensei speaking on the other side.

"Yes, Sensei.", Kurogiri only said, put his phone away and stood up, facing Tomura, "Sensei wishes to see you."

"Now? Weren't you just going to say–", but this time, it was Kurogiri who interrupted him.

"Sensei, doesn't like to wait.", the way he said it was harsher than usual. Tomura wanted to speak up but closed his mouth and nodded, then followed his servant out of his room, determined to ignore the others. As expected, all of the League's members turned to look at him with no one saying a word. He didn't look at them, but he could feel their eyes on the back of his head until him and Kurogiri were out of that apartment.

Once on the lower floors in front what was supposed to be his teacher's office, Tomura was left by Kurogiri. He took a minute to calm down and focus before he opened the door and entered. Inside, he couldn't see much, even though his eyes had been adjusted to the darkness due to staying in his room all day long. There seemed to be a lot of machines in here. All for One was sitting on a desk, looking at a computer screen, the only thing giving off a bit of light. The young villain couldn't think of anything but that to be the place Sensei had usually communicated with them. Behind his master who was attached to a machine that was helping him stay alive, stood an ominous figure, veiling itself from Tomura's eyes. Was it the doctor? It must have been, All for One didn't let so many people get this close to him.

"You wanted to see me?", Tomura was not surprised at how hollow his voice sounded compared to a few minutes ago, reflecting what he felt inside now that he stood before the man that had turned him and his whole life into the absolute garbage that it was. He didn't feel anger, he felt absolutely nothing.

"Yes. Do you hate me now, Tomura?", All for One looked up from his screen and waved his apprentice to come closer.

Tomura stayed where he was.

"Yes.", he wasn't going to lie to him.

All for One grinned: "Good. You've lost your attachment: that makes you invulnerable."

The young man clenched his fist, relishing on the anger that suddenly filled his hollow body with new energy.

"I won't hurt you Tomura. And I won't allow him to hurt you either."
"I will never give up on you!"

You lied to me. Where are you now, All Might?

"Have you learned your lesson, Shigaraki Tomura? Have you seen, how they were ready to give up on you as soon as they didn't have someone else to blame?"

Tomura's fists loosened and he weakly nodded. It was the truth and yet all he wanted to scream at the man, to jump onto his throat and force him to admit the murder of his loved ones.

My family..

I can never bring them back, not even if I managed to kill him.

They're gone.

They're gone and they're never coming back!

All of the anger slowly vanished like chalk on the ground, washing away with the warm rain of a summer afternoon.

"There's no reason to be scared, it's just a storm, Tenko."
"Tenko, go wash your hands. Supper is ready."
"Welcome home, Tenko!"

His head hurt at those memories, if one could even call them that. It was more like snippets; pictures and people speaking, sometimes making sense, sometimes so foreign he couldn't imagine them being part of his childhood.

"Shigaraki Tomura."

Tomura feared his teacher and All for One liked it, a wide grin appearing on his face again: "Come closer."
The apprentice obeyed and slowly dragged his weak body to his master, stopping right in front of the desk.

"Closer.", All for One ordered and Tomura sighed silently, walking around the desk and letting himself fall onto his knees right next to his master's wheelchair, placing his hands onto the wooden floor and waiting.
He already expected All for One to caress his head, but what he didn't expect was feeling creeped out by it.

"Will you be good from now on?", the man asked, still playing with Tomura's hair.

Please take your hand away.

Tomura wanted to gulp, but his mouth was dry. He hands were sweaty, and he felt nauseous at the idea of going back to be All for One's little pet, but his head nodded before he could make a conscious decision.

"Please..don't leave..I'll be good.", his pathetic words when All for One had left him in that cell.

All for One raised his hand from his head: "Stand up. It's time to give you back your quirk"

Tomura did as told and before he could say something, black spikes shot out of All for One's hand and pierced his chest.

He was smacked onto his back. All of his five fingers immediately dug into the fabric of his black long-sleeved shirt as he screamed in agony. The spikes felt as if they were tearing his flesh apart, while at the same time non-existent knives were stabbing into the open wound, a wound that wasn't there. Although the young villain had pushed away all memories of the pain he had received from this quirk back at Tartarus, he was sure it felt ten times more excruciating now than it did then. Tomura bit on his teeth so hard, he feared he would break them. Why did it have to hurt so much? He tried to open his eyes, his vision blurry from either the tears or because he was on the brink of unconsciousness. But this kind of mercy wasn't granted to him.
Why couldn't he just pass out? Why did it have to hurt so much and.. had other people experienced this pain as well when All for One had taken or given them their quirks? Why had he never cared or even thought about them?

"I won't hurt you Tomura.."

MAKE IT STOP!, he begged mentally, not able to form a sentence with all those screams coming out of his lungs, praying to whatever deity or higher existence was responsible for his suffering, Please make it stop! PLEASE!

"..And I won't allow him to hurt you either."

Then why are you allowing it now?

Tomura wanted to turn around on his side and hug himself in comfort, or to scratch his neck in the hope that familiar feeling would distract him from what was happening. He didn't manage; the spikes kept him pinned down where he was. Then suddenly, as soon as it had begun, it was over and Tomura grasped for air, breathing heavily and not moving from is spot. He realized that he was whining like a child.

How long would it take for him to regain himself? Minutes? Hours? He didn't know and his blurriness started to make him nauseous.

"What is it, Sensei?", it was the doctor's voice resonating weakly into his ears.

"I can hear my little brother's voice again.", All for One sounded amused, "They're coming."

Who's coming?

"WHAT?! We need to leave immediately and get you to safety, Sensei!", the doctor was panicking.

What is going on?

"No."

"No?"

"Yes, doctor. We will stay here and fight them. No more running away.", All for One explained.

Fight who? Who is coming? Heroes?

"Are you sure, Sensei?"

Tomura managed to turn onto his side, now hugging his hurting chest. Even through the pain, he could feel his teacher's eyes on him – and fear grasped him.

"Yes: The time has come."

„Are you sure it's here, young Midoriya?", All Might couldn't remember the last time he had been so nervous.

"Yes All Might. It's like.. I've never been so sure of something else in my life." The way One for All reacted to Midoriya was different than with him. His student dreamed a lot about the predecessors and was sometimes even able to communicate with them, learning how to use certain techniques All Might didn't even know were part of the quirk. Like the one the student had been using now.

"All for One and One for All are the two different sides of the same coin.", Midoriya had said and All Might had felt like their roles had been switched and he was back to being the student again, "They are intertwined. He has shown me how to feel All for One's aura, his 'life-energy', and how to pinpoint its location."

"Can All for One hide it?", Tsukauchi had asked the boy during one of their meetings at the police station. There had been a lot of those these past few days.

"Yes. But he assured me that he won't do it once I don't hide my aura as well."

"Who is he?", All Might asked although he felt like he already knew the answer.

"He is One for All."

Now they were here, inside a disguised police truck, waiting for the signal to enclose the building with all their forces. There would be Nomu's, there would be the League of Villains and maybe some of All for One's lackeys, but Endeavor, Best Jeanist and many other pro heroes with them as well. And not to forget even some students out of class 3-A and 3-B!

All Might closed his eyes and tried to even his breathing, going through the memories of these past four to five days.

After Tsukauchi had called him to tell him that Shigaraki was gone, he hadn't even tried going to sleep anymore. Had Midoriya not told them about his new ability, All Might could have sworn he would have gone out there looking for Tomura on his own.

As if you could still do anything. He laughed to himself about his own stubbornness. Didn't he want to do the same thing after the battle of Kamino, when he had already known that his powers were history?

Had Gran Torino not stopped me that day, then.. I might have died at Tomura's hands.

"All Might? Are you alright?" The blonde opened his eyes to find Midoriya's worried face.

He nodded and reached forward to ruffle his apprentice's hair: "Young Midoriya. There is still so much I want to teach you."

The student smiled: "After we save Tomura and bring All for One to justice."

"Right."

Will I even make it out alive? The last time I fought a battle like this, I was still able to use One for All. Barely, but I was able to defend myself, but now..

He wanted to tell his student that this man wasn't their everyday criminal or some street thug, that even if they incapacitated the League of Villains and the Nomus: All for One could fight alone. Even in his battered state, this man, this monster, wasn't to be underestimated.

But Midoriya knew that. And Bakugou, Todoroki, Kirishima, Yaoyorozu, Endeavor, Best Jeanist, Mount Lady, the Wild, Wild Pussycats and all of the others that had already fought against him (or had watched him). There was no point in telling him or the others what they already knew.

How can they be so optimistic?

"I got the signal!, Tsukauchi then suddenly announced, "Friends, today, we're going to win. Let's move out!"

End note: There will be a "what happens next". Kind of a mini sequel but not really.

Answer to HankFlamion18: yes, you are adorable, yes, you are *saying this in a voice as if speaking to my pet*!
"It nicely tied up some ends, and opened up the avenues necessary to move forward." Damn, your way of phrasing sentences, I wish I could speak English that well. Then I might not be forced to go back to the same sentence structuring all the time and this story had more potential. hehehehe "Kurogiri express"! Fucking beautiful. Andit's you who's the best for always reviewing, I appreciate you taking time for this : )))

Answer to Galaxy diamond: I honestly don't know about the bun *haha* I just imagine someone from the workers did it. Thank you for reviewing, darling!

Answer to penameRinMay: Thank you so much for liking it and leaving a review! I appreciate you taking time! I've been waiting for something like this too and figured I would have to write it myself

Answer to InfectedAnimeMonster: I am glad you like it, thank you for taking the time and leaving a review! Chapters should come more often starting from now : )

Answer to Barbora(Guest):I am so happy you like it! Thank you for leaving a review : ) More will come!