This is now a four part thing. I've officially called this AU the Shattered!AU because that's what Midoriya is in this universe. A thing made from glass, smashed to bits by the world and put back together in all the wrong ways. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I started this and assumed I could just squeeze everything into a single oneshot or at max two parts. We're nowhere near the end by the way. I'm considering whether I should really drag Shattered!Midoriya through the grinder before or after the Overhaul arc. Stories change, they evolve and every time I write one, the end product is always vastly different from what I was thinking of. Because you all give me such wonderful ideas and things to think about. To the one person who asked if I hated the way BNHA has gone, the short answer is yes. There are many things that irk me, moreso now that I understand how truly messed up the world is. I'll rant in the AN after the story. This is depressing enough.
Mei is more affectionate than usual today morning, but it isn't exactly something surprising. He's unsure what to call their relationship anymore. Ever since the start of their odd friendship, he had been subjected to more physical affection in a matter of days than he had in the last few years. He had been flustered in the beginning, but had slowly gotten used to it. After a week or two, that is. From carefully positioning himself in class so that no one could reach out and grab him without giving him enough time to react and run(Bakugou ramped up his torture after the first few times he had just booked it out the nearest exit when he heard a single explosion aimed in his direction), to using that six sense he developed in order to make sure Mei didn't launch them both into an early grave with her hugs. Surprisingly, as compared to his original profile of her(self-absorbed, obsessed with machines, completely lacking understanding of personal space), she had proven to be much more perceptive than he had expected. After the third or fourth time he had flinched from a surprise tackle, he had noticed that she always made sure to call out a warning before slamming into him. It was a pleasant change from how people usually just ignored him or went out of their way to make him uncomfortable. Bakugou with his seaing explosions and insults. His classmates hiding his belongings and attempting to trip him in the hallways. His teachers telling him to stop muttering and encouraging his classmates. Suddenly, he had found a single person who didn't pity or hate him. A person who was perfectly fine with his Quirklessness. In the beginning, he had been prepared for her to leave once their partnership was over and the beach was cleaned. And he was fine with that. Because his mind constantly whispered to him that she was too good to be true, that she was only being nice to him due to the fact that he was supplying her with scrap metal. Yet, their relationship had evolved from a simple partnership to the beginnings of a friendship when he had seen a machine she was building and his brain to mouth filter stopped working. Instead of laughing at him or shunning him or calling him a creep, Mei had just paused to ask him to elaborate. They bonded over bad jokes and pushing their bodies to the limits just because, and somewhere along the way they had become each others' failsafes. When Mei was on the brink of collapsing from sheer exhaustion, he made sure that she took a nap(a nap being a four hour one) and when his muscles screamed in agony, she would somehow sense his pain and force him to stop and help her with the latest invention.
Their friendship was something he treasured, and he started spending more time at Dagobah beach just to see her more often. Mom wasn't home most of the day, so she never raised a complaint. When asked why she came to the beach every alternate day and never left until he did, she just shrugged and said that she had nothing better to do. He never pushed to get a proper answer from her, because the one time he asked, Izuku saw the slightest change in her eyes, when the constant glee and optimism in them were snuffed out for just a fraction of a second. And in that moment, it was like looking into a mirror. Something that he had tried his best not to do after All Might broke him, because when he saw the void that his eyes had become, he had to resist the urge to shatter it. Before his image of his idol was forever ruined, his eyes held just a smidge of darkness. Afterwards, they were just empty. But if he looked hard enough, Izuku could see the beginnings of the fire that would end up consuming his thoughts and twisting him even further than he was already twisted. So he said nothing. He didn't know what she had gone through to earn the darkness in her eyes, but he was okay with not knowing. In the beginning, it was out of respect. Now, it was because Izuku didn't think that he would be able to hold himself back from hunting down the perpetrator.
Even when he laughed with her after clearing Dagobah Beach, even after they had exchanged stories of bullies and their phone numbers, he had already been prepared for her to leave. Then when she had stayed, he had to suppress the urge to constantly ask her why she stayed. Because he dared not turn her against him. So when she had further solidified her position as a true friend and support, he had finally been able to silence the slowly shrinking part of his mind that whispered she was going to stab him in the back. And while it was still a possibility, he was already prepared for it. Still, he would die for her. Without question, without reward. And from how she had tazed Bakugou, unrepentant and angry for him instead of at him like everyone else, he believed that she felt the same. Then they had shared a bed. Twice. And it felt right. Things hadn't felt right in a long time. Even his body felt disjointed and awkward, like his mind had somehow been disconnected from his body and he was just pulling the strings of a puppet to make it move. The only time his mind and body clicked together like two parts of a puzzle was when he was in physical contact with Mei. And that terrified him. The adrenaline from battle or the rage from rebelling against the broken system was both near and far away, enough to fuel the venom on his lips but it still felt like he was watching himself do the things he did. But when Mei dragged him into the customary hugs they now shared, he was briefly back to normal, with that strange warmth in his chest replacing the ice that was only quelled by the fire that flared up when he got angry. He glanced briefly at how Mei was literally attached to him(she was clinging on to his arm) and his free hand brushed against the key ring he knew was in his pocket, with the two tiny plush animals that he believed represented the two of them. He had managed to get a spare key to his house and had given it to Mei, who had immediately added it to an identical copy of his key ring. Upon noticing his gaze, she had flushed and pocketed it before trying to take his attention off the item by talking about their plans. He had complied of course, but the question still remained in his head. What were they to each other? When Mei laughed, a soft and pleasant sound that snapped him out of his thoughts, he looked over to see more affection on her face that he could handle.
She tells them that they are friends, and before he can stop his tongue, it betrays him by asking if friends shared a bed and hugs and even a kiss(well, not really). Her brow furrowed briefly and her tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth, one of her only tells, and one that had quickly become endearing to him. She mulled over the question, before shrugging and replying that the label they put on themselves didn't matter, just that he should know she would follow him to the ends of the earth and in return he would do the same. He hums in affirmation, and before his nerves(funny how he could duel Nedzu in wordplay and deflect an explosion at the last second, but couldn't tell Mei what he was really thinking) could clamp his mouth shut, he asks if she loves him, expecting disgust in return or pity, which would sting even more, despite all he has learned about her pointing in the complete opposite direction. She grins softly, one that reaches her eyes and banishes the darkness that sometimes creeps in the corners when the silence stretches for too long(another thing they shared, the dislike of how deafening silence was) before leaning over to press her lips against his cheek. He reddens, unsure of what she is trying to say, until she explains that she loved him with all her heart, and nothing would change that. He sighs, both in relief and disbelief, before returning the gesture and making sure to tousle her hair before replying that he was glad they had met. She nods while fixing her hair, and his streak of "good" from the previous day continues to stretch on, which just makes the one part of his mind he kept on guard 24/7 scream even louder that something was wrong. His question is answered. Whatever they were to each other wasn't exactly something that could be put into words. To the onlookers, they would be a couple. But to him, she will always be that grinning genius he had found digging through scrap metal and adding it to the backpack with spider legs that followed her around, and he thinks that to her, he will always be the strange boy with old eyes and a smile like broken glass.
She accompanies him all the way to class 1-A today, probably wary of another Bakugou incident or perhaps even Aizawa-sensei. His mood threatens to sour when he remembers the way his teacher, someone he had thought understood this world crushed those who did not fit within the borders, had threatened Mei with his bullshit authority and had most likely brought him onto Nedzu's radar out of vindication. She opens the door and pokes her head in for a brief moment, before giving him a look that he classified as "room's empty". Before she leaves, he tells her that he has thought of a word that describes them better than any labels they were used to, but shoos her to her classroom when the bell chimes. She pouts and gives a two finger salute before bouncing back to her classroom. Just as planned, the fact that he arrives just outside of class 1-A gives him enough time to place the devices Mei had cooked up before grabbing his hero costume and running for the meet up point. He throws himself through the door of the bus and past Aizawa-sensei, noticing that the entire class was already there. Bouncing off the wall of the bus opposite the entrance to remove his momentum, he dusts himself off and looks around the bus. He pins them in place with a half-hearted gaze before moving to his designated seat(in the middle of the bus, next to Yaoyorozu). Iida attempts to scold him for being late, but he points out that he is actually right on time to shut him up. Yaoyorozu looks more comfortable with him than she was yesterday, probably due to the apology, while Kaminari tries to conceal himself when his eyes turn to the direction he is located in, most likely afraid of another verbal evisceration. He returns Aizawa-sensei's burning glare with one of his usual smiles, secretly enjoying how no one seems to like it and silently dares his worthless excuse for a teacher to do anything. He doesn't, and the bus starts to move as he takes a seat at the front of the bus.
Soon enough, everyone is talking and his mind still picks apart individual conversations even though all he wants is to block out the sound. But that would be rude, and it would be a bad thing to paint himself as rude on top of being ruthless and heartless. So he taps a finger against his thigh in a constant beat in time with his heartbeat and attempts to find any useful morsels of information amongst the riff-raff. Soon enough, the conversation drifts to Quirks and he groans internally, already prepping his answers to the inevitable questions. Asui starts first with a direct assault, telling him that his Quirk is similar to All Might's, but his personality is "as bad as Bakugou's". It causes two reactions. One, the Explosion Quirk user growls and threatens to turn Asui into paste, another thing conveniently ignored by their sensei. Two, he laughs and begins his first verbal spar of the day. Or verbal beatdown, as Mei liked to call it. He points out that if his personality was bad just for being blunt and showing them the hypocrisy of their words, then her way of being straightforward and unable to mince words made her just as bad as him. It draws a flinch, and he knows that he has touched a nerve despite the fact that her face never wavers. Although now that he thought about it, that was probably why she conveyed everything through words. Her face didn't allow for the little twitches and quirks that could help you read a person's emotions due to her similarity to a frog. So in order to soften the blow, he mentions his hypothesis to test if it held water(a success) and then in the best understanding tone that he can muster, he tells her that it isn't her fault for being that way. And before those listening in to the conversation can release the collective breath they are holding, he goes for a sucker punch by talking about how he couldn't help the fact that he naturally sought to defend himself after a lifetime of getting pushed around. It helps him sow dissent amongst the students of class 1-A. The more sympathetic students, the "heroic" ones with kind hearts now have a reason for his nature. The ones that turned against him immediately after realizing how "powerless" he was with a Quirk that broke his bones now have a reason to feel guilty. And most of all, it taunts Bakugou.
Bakugou is smart, but there's one thing that has truly irritated Midoriya in the years struggling to survive. He has all the necessary criteria to be a hero even from the beginning, but because of the people around him constantly pointing out that he is strong and practically bowing to him like subjects before a corrupt king, his perception has been twisted so that beating down the weak is alright. Or to be more specific, those weaker than him. Which is why directing all his attention onto useless Deku works so well in helping to defend those that were bullied by him as well. So if he gives a good enough reason, Bakugou will get a nice chance to display how superior he is to the Deku and his classmates can get first-row seats to a demonstration of why Bakugou is a monster. Surprisingly, he says nothing. Probably still stewing over the battle yesterday, and that still worked to his advantage because Midoriya was always the punching bag when the explosive blond's rage finally boiled over. He wondered briefly if they were to pull all the anger out of his and Bakugou's body, his fire would consume Bakugou's. Anyway, he has managed to try and open his classmates' eyes to their own bias, because he knew that if the new generation of heroes were blind to the danger he put them in just by walking in their midst, they would be helpless against the true masterminds that came along every decade or so, the ones who embrace the shadows and break heroes with ploys and tricks.
Completely straying from his expectations(not really, actually), Ashido mentions Mei and while she acts casual about it, he knows that any weakness he shows now, any affection would be seized and used. Most importantly, Aizawa-sensei was secretly tuning into their conversation, and any information that went into his ears would also go into Nedzu's. So he decides to mess with their heads rather than deny any relationships between himself and his partner. He starts off by saying that she is his support, and while their equipment was made by the Support Department, his had been crafted by her and only her. Hagakure picks up the stick and prods him further, quoting the incident yesterday where she had pounced onto his back and the two of them had run off. He acknowledges the fact that it did happen, and says that they've been friends for around half a year or so. The "opening" that piece of information produces is eagerly seized upon and he would be lying if he said he wasn't concerned about how a little nudge in the right directions was enough for them to chase in the directions he leads them, like a bone dangled in front of a dog. He shrugs, and says that the two of them trust each other with their lives. It means little to these bright-eyed, naive students who think he is just being romantic or sappy, but the finality of his tone is enough to cause Mr I-am-asleep to stiffen up. Because as a Pro-Hero, trusting someone with your life in the field was like jumping onto a bed of spikes and expecting the person to grab you before you can hit them. Bakugou ruins the moment by loudly stating how he didn't care about "Deku or his bitch" and his expression locks and hardens like stone. Examining his hands in order for them not to see the sheer rage that thrums beneath his skin and begs to be release, he calmly replies by telling Bakugou that if he was jealous that useless Deku was going to get laid before him, he could have just said so and it triggers multiple cries of "burn" and causes the blond to clamber onto his seat, ready to throw himself at Midoriya. He freezes before he can when Midoriya looks up and directly at him, using an especially sharp smile as a warning and slowly backs down. Even so, he can still hear the faint pop-pop-pop that comes with muffled explosions.
Almost jokingly, Jirou asks him what Mei is to him, and completely serious, he replies with the answer he had formulated in his head. He tells those who are listening that Mei was his soul, and he would fight armies just to make sure she was safe. The last part is true, but only tacked on as another implicit warning for Aizawa-sensei that if they tried to get to him through her, they would face all that he had, and then some. While the girls coo over how "sweet" he is and he finally slips the earplugs that have been waiting into his ears, he observes Todoroki out of the corner of his eye. The boy was starting to be wary of him. Understandable. Here he was, another broken kid, but one that had managed to pick himself up and walk forward while he remained in his father's shadow. If they had swapped places in life, he would have been jealous of himself. Actually, that was a lie. He would have been able to enjoy a powerful Quirk and the benefits that came with it, but considering how Mama Todoroki is in a mental hospital(he makes a note to visit her someday) and Endeavour seems to bring all the hatred out of his classmate, he's guessing that the boy's home situation isn't exactly the best. Just another victim of the system. He resolves to fix it someday, a mental image of the files in his room coming to mind, transcribed by hand and in a code that he has developed in order to stop prying eyes from getting what they want, and slips on his mask to prevent the grin from showing.
The bus stops outside a facility and it looks suspiciously like Universa Studios Japan. He almost deadpans when Space Hero Thirteen introduces it as the Unforseen Simulation Joint. When asked about where All Might is, they signal Aizawa-sensei with three fingers as an excuse about how the Number One Hero is doing something more important comes out, and Midoriya rolls his eyes. It turns out the Symbol of Peace would rather save people than teach, which begs the question of why he decided to take a place in UA. Probably a misguided attempt to follow his successor's journey, but if he couldn't bother to sacrifice some of his time in order to be a proper teacher, he shouldn't have gotten the position in the first place. Thirteen launches into an explanation of how Quirks were dangerous if used incorrectly, and he guesses that more than one of his classmates has just made the connection that his bone destroying Quirk would probably liquify a human being if turned on them judging by how certain members of class 1-A pale abruptly.
Before they can assign tasks to the students, a dark haze overtakes the fountain in the center of the facility. The part of him that has been muttering that something was wrong since yesterday screams once before falling silent, point made. He quickly sends a signal to Mei, hoping that she'll get it even as his mask unfolds. A notification alerts him to the fact that his distress beacon has been blocked, and he curses to himself before trying to find a loophole. Out of all the leering and jeering villains that come from the swirling portal, three stand out. One, a man covered in severed hands that were most likely real. Two, the hulking monstrosity standing next to him, with an exposed brain and a blank look in its eyes that is devoid of life. Three, the portal itself, who is apparently a man made from mist. He zooms in with a thought(as experimental as the connection to his brain the mask has, it is very handy) and notes the glint of metal. That means the man has a physical body, which is useful information. Aizawa-sensei snaps on his goggles and launches himself at the villains after telling Thirteen to protect the students. He continues searching for a loophole, and sends a message through the private network that only he and Mei can tap into, hoping against hope that she will notify the heroes. The mist villain floats up to them, announcing that they were the League of Villains and the students would be scattered, tortured and slain. He closes the connection in time to pull a sticky bomb from one of his pockets, but Kirishima and Bakugou mess up his chance of blowing the villain back to the hell he came from when they attack his mist. One moment he is in the central plaza, the next he is falling through the sky, towards the water.
He lands and feels two ribs crack due to the impact(at that height, water was equivalent to cement), but the pain is distant and not enough to stop him from clawing a villain swimming towards him across the face and turning the water red. Something wraps around him, and he almost cuts it with his claws before he realizes it is Asui's tongue. He is tugged onto the boat(shipwreck zone) and notices that Shinsou is also there and hacking up water. Asui asks him if he has a plan, and he wonders if it is too early to reveal some of his cards before deciding that he wasn't exactly in danger if the first villain was an accurate representation of the forces below. He redirects the remnants of the electricity he has collected from Kaminari the previous day into a battery and ejects it from his armour. Before anyone can ask him what he is doing, he tosses it into the water and watches impassively as he electrocutes about fifteen adults. Shinsou is snapped out of his daze and mouths a curse. Asui raises a single eyebrow, but he can sense how shaken she is. Understandable. The only one who should be electrocuting people was Kaminari, and he wasn't exactly here right now. Still, the villains looked like they all had water-based Quirks, so he would just have to hope that the charge only rendered them unconscious and pray they didn't end up face down and drowning. Although, considering that he had an unsettling amount of explosives on his person(for a normal person, that is, Mei complained about him bringing too little), he could have turned the situation into a bloodbath with a couple of bombs. Pointing out the shore and stating that they needed to help out Aizawa-sensei(brave fool, putting his life on the line and yet so blind to the ways of teenagers) before he got overwhelmed. Asui grabs the both of them and in almost no time, they reach the edge of the zone and he immediately starts to pinpoint threats while Shinsou not so subtly fawns over his idol and Asui keeps an eye out for any villains that might have spotted them.
As expected, Eraserhead was a hit and run kind of hero, but remarkably talented at close quarters combat against so many people at once. Or perhaps it was just the fact that the villains he was fighting were pretty much cannon fodder, and he snickered when a villain tripped over another one and both landed on the ground in an undignified heap. The constant rising and falling of his hair helps to indicate when his Quirk was active, and judging from how the man with hands seemed to be counting to himself, the main villain was perceptive enough to understand that a Quirk like Aizawa-sensei's had a limited time period, and since it was based on how long he could hold his eyes open, the intervals would get shorter. Soon enough, the man lunges forward and closes his hand over Aizawa-sensei's arm. Before he can remove the villain's grip, his clothes, and then parts of his elbow crumble under the man's touch. Disintegration Quirk. Touch based. Judging from the fact that the villain didn't just poke him in the face with a single finger or just tap him once before removing his hand, it was probably reliant on all five fingers, and disintegrated based on how long the five fingers remained in contact. Conclusion, remove some fingers, or the hand entirely. Before he can suggest that they leave to get Thirteen, the man says something about a "Nomu", directing it to attack Eraserhead. A split second later, the monster which had just been silently standing there moved, so fast that he was barely able to track its motion and when he blinked, Aizawa-sensei was pinned to the ground. With a savage twist and the sounds of bone breaking, the Nomu broke his already damaged arm. To his credit, their teacher merely grunted despite the pain, but Shinsou turned pale and a single bead of sweat rolled down Asui's face. Midoriya unsheathed his knife, having a feeling that they would be tossed into combat soon. Shigaraki taunts the fallen hero with the fact that this abomination was created to kill All Might, and he feels a brief flicker of incredulity at the sheer audacity of the statement.
The black mist villain warped to stand beside the hand guy, and he could finally stop calling him "hand guy" when the other villain addressed him as Shigaraki, reporting that Thirteen had been taken down(and there went plan A) but a student managed to escape. He guessed that it would be Iida, considering he was the only person in the class with a speed Quirk. Shigaraki seemed to undergo a mental breakdown plus a temper tantrum, and he reclassified the man as a man-child, especially when he threatened to kill "Kurogiri". Odd that a villain would identify as his Quirk, but considering it was most likely a codename, it was one that was apt. He said something about them having to leave before the heroes showed up, and the duo on either side of him each breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He tightened his grip on the knife as the feeling of danger coiled in his gut, and when Shigaraki's eyes drifted to their general direction, he quickly urged his classmates to start running. Unfortunately, they seemed to be locked in place, and he was considering whether or not to just pick them up and run with them as baggage when the villain said they would kill some kids just to send a message to All Might. A part of his mind carefully filed that information away for further reference as the man-child darted at them with unnatural speed, hand outstretched towards Asui's face. He had a brief premonition of the frog-like girl screaming as her face crumbled to dust and revealed the inner workings of her brain before she was silenced forever, and he forced his body to move, dropping a portion of his mask as he did so.
Adrenaline sharpened his senses and guided his knife to its target. Before the hand could close around Asui's face, Midoriya stabbed the military grade knife straight through the outstretched palm and ignoring the way bones felt like when they were giving way beneath an object, he utilized the brief moment of shock to tear the knife out diagonally, and gravity did the rest. Shigaraki screamed and clutched his hand(careful to only use four fingers which confirmed his thoughts) as two of his fingers flopped uselessly. Before he could plunge the knife straight into Shigaraki's face, the man fell into a warp gate and reappeared next to the Nomu. Pale and trembling, he screamed for the monster to kill the green-haired brat, and he takes note of the fact that it follows the man-child's orders and had no form of higher intelligence just before a purple fist slams into the water where he just was, creating a shockwave big enough to throw his classmates away from the fight even as he lands on the Nomu's back, legs stinging from the sudden surge of One for All he had used to dodge. The Nomu swings around and he jumps off once more to prevent himself from getting swatted like a fly and buries his knife in the monster's exposed brain on the way out. It shrieks and twitches, just like its master who was currently throwing a tantrum. He dodges twice more, practically throwing himself out of the way of the fists sent at him with the intent to kill. Pulling the knife out and making to twist as he did so, he gets backhanded into the floor by a stray limb when the Nomu screams. He coughs as the shock absorbers in his suit do just enough to stop his lungs from caving in and getting punctured by his own ribs, but knows that a second strike will ruin him. A quick glance shows that the brain is already healing. So he could add regeneration to super strength and speed. Taking a gamble, he pulls the majority of his explosions from his pockets, straps them to his knife and once again buries it into grey matter like a twisted parody of King Arthur pulling out Caliburn from the stone. He allows himself to get caught by a fist, propelling him backwards and as he skidded against the floor, more ribs broken and at least one organ damaged. Shigaraki laughs in triumphant glee, right before Midorya's finger depresses the detonator.
A brief flash of light, the sound of thunder and then the complete obliberation of the Nomu's head, scattering its brain and blood everywhere. Almost comically, most of it splatters onto Shigaraki, who screams in fury. Midoriya tosses the detonator aside and draws the collapsible staff, using it to support his weight as he commands the mask to slide up and allow him to spit out the blood pooling in his mouth. He leaves it like that as Shigaraki demands to know who this "secret boss", apparently, is. He must look like something straight out of a horror movie, with a mask covering the top half of his face, black voids for eyes and blood dripping from one corner of his mouth. He dabs at it with a single gloved finger, and just for intimidation's sake, he swiped the blood across his cheeks in a smile. That just seems to irritate the villain more, and helpfully draws his attention away from the fact that the Nomu was still twitching feebly, struggling to rebuild itself without a head. He straightens up, walking towards the Nomu with confident, measured steps and scattering the remnants of the still forming head with a golf swing. Kurogiri suggests that the villains should leave, for their trump card is gone. The man-child shivers and screams, throwing another tantrum about how it isn't fair the heroes get both All Might and a max-level assassin on their side before running straight at him. Midoriya's legs are weak, but they remain stable long enough for him to deliver a blow to the side of Shigaraki's head with the intent to smash the bastard's skull despite the strength draining from his body. He barely manages to use enough force to cause at least a heavy concussion, and at most a skull fracture. Still, Shigaraki presses forward and clamps a hand on his arm, bleeding from his head but the hatred he can feel oozing off him carrying him forward.
His suit lasts for about two seconds before the sharp stab of pain alerts him to his arm getting damaged. With no time to spare, he drives a kick into the villain's groin, dropping his staff to wrench back a single finger to stop the disintegration and in the pain-filled haze coming from a combination of internal and external wounds, he bends the finger in his grasp until it snaps, now parallel to his other digits but in the complete wrong way. Both hands disabled, he still throws Midoriya to the ground with sheer animalistic strength alone before attempting to place his first ruined hand(the one that still had a chance of five point contact without too much pain) onto his mask.
He gives a bloodstained grin(to Shigaraki, this is the grin his Sensei wears when his plans fall into place, and it terrifies him) and reveals bloodstained teeth, causing the man to stop long enough for a sharp bang to reverberate through the air, punctuated by a projectile carving a nice hole in Shigaraki's throat. He panics, clasping both hands around it even as Kurogiri opens up a warp gate next to them. The villain dives through, and it seals up. The only signs that they were even there were the groaning bodies on the floor, the destroyed Nomu and the injuries he and Aizawa-sensei sustained. Midoriya coughs weakly before turning to the side in order to prevent the blood from going down the wrong pipe. Pushing himself to his feet, he looks towards the main entrance and instead of the gun-wielding hero he expected with an entourage of heroes, Mei is rushing towards him with the prototype railgun(well, not exactly a railgun, they couldn't harness enough power for one of those) slung over her shoulder. He allows himself a moment of relief, before hobbling towards her. He reaches her just in time as his legs buckle and collapse underneath him, Mei reacting fast enough to catch Izuku before he can faceplant. He uses a little bit of the strength he has remaining to gently flick her in the forehead as she panicked over the blood dripping from his mouth. She almost slaps him, but probably realizes that his suit is slowly getting stained with blood. Mei pulls out the plasma cutter, and before he can resist, she cuts a section of his suit and pulls it off to check the damage. Turns out that last hit from the Nomu did plenty of damage.
About three ribs were breaking skin, and a good portion of his chest is bruised(possible internal bleeding). The bleeding isn't serious, but the amount that has dripped from him was mainly because of his decision to engage Shigaraki after getting injured. Mei whispers that he's an idiot before binding his ribs, and he tells her that she should see how the other guy looks like, gesturing to the headless Nomu. She chokes out a laugh that's more of a sob, before helping him to his feet. As if according to schedule, All Might breaks down the walls to the USJ, not smiling for once. His eyes are searching for villains, and when he finds none, the frown on his face becomes more confused than angry. Ignoring the commotion, he asks her how she got here so fast as they shamble to the entrance, and she replies, almost sheepishly, that it involved a ballista she turned into a makeshift human launcher and a lot of luck. He bonks her on the head again and tells her that she should be more conccrned about her safety. She retorts by gently prodding his ribs and causing a brief lance of pain to shoot through his already aching body. He chokes out the words "point taken" and she nods with the smug air of someone who has just won an argument. All Might hesitates, before offering to bring him back to UA. He rejects the offer almost immediately, saying that the Number One Hero should make sure the rest of 1-A were fine. His mentor accepts the explanation, blurring out of view. Despite his logical response, Izuku's true reason was that the villains had come here for All Might. They were willing to kill students, and if he hadn't fought back, Shigaraki would have disintegrated both Asui and then Shinsou after that. He wouldn't have been in time to save his students during his lesson, just because he decided that it was better to use his limited time to do who knows what instead of going to teach his own class. Look how that had ended up. He was slowly bleeding out, Aizawa-sensei got his arm broken and face smashed into the ground, and there were probably other students injured or in danger. What use was the Symbol of Peace if he just ignored his own class? The others might not see it like he did, but what All Might had done was equivalent to abandoning a bunch of teenagers to the mercy of villains that were prepared to kill. He mentioned this to Mei as quietly as she could, and she whispered back that one day she was going to kill All Might for the things he had done. And for once, he didn't try to talk her out of her righteous fury. He was too tired for that.
They were maybe a quarter of the way back to UA when more heroes rushed in the direction they had come from. They all came to a screeching halt at the sight of a student practically carrying another one in an eerie mask, with bloodstains all over the two of them. Power Loader called out Mei's name in surprise, and he allowed her to unclip his mask so that they wouldn't think he was an intruder. Kayama-sensei called out his name, and then immediately dragged Recovery Girl along with her to check on him when they noticed the blood caking his mouth and some parts of his cheeks. He rattled off a list of his injuries and got that syringe-cane to the head and a scolding session before Recovery Girl beckoned for Ectoplasm to create a couple of clones to transport him back to UA. When the teacher hesitated, Midoriya waved a hand and told them that they could keep going, even though the villains had already left. When a confused Present Mic asked him what he meant, Mei and Midoriya exchanged a look before he confessed that he had fought the main villains off. The teachers exchanged incredulous looks before he sighed and gestured to his injuries, demonstrating that they had come from fighting the villains. Nedzu, eyes gleaming with hunger that was way too obvious and caused his gut to clench in preparation for a fight even thouggh the danger was over, asked him how he had done so. He gave a brief description of Shigaraki and the Nomu, before explaining what he had done with explosives and a knife. Ripples of surprise run through the teachers, but before any further questioning can occur, Recovery Girl puts her foot down and demands for Ectoplasm to "help carry the boy whose bleeding out you idiot".
He thanks her silently when the teacher creates a couple of clones to help lift him up(and joustling his injuries in the process). Mei begins to follow before Nedzu attempts to have her stay behind so that they can get an account of what happened. Tired, but not out of it just yet, Midoriya takes on the manner of a frightened boy and demands for his friend to come with him. Mei does so without question, and Kayama-sensei chatises Nedzu for trying to separate "the lovely couple" when one of them was in terrible pain. Ignoring the implications of that comment(seriously, cracking jokes while his life essence continued to paint the floor red), he suggested that maybe they should speed up before he dies. Mei snorts and punches him in the shoulder, telling him that he was being too dramatic but agreeing with the sentiment. Only then does he stop putting a mental block on the pain and exhaustion, nearly screaming with the sudden rush of sensations before falling into blissful unconsciousness.
He wakes up, for the second time, in a bed in the infirmary. A glance at the clock shows that he's been asleep for more than half the day. He considers whether or not to pluck out the IV drip in his arm, but decides against it. His ribs are back in place, and the ache in his bones has been reduced to a dull pulse that does nothing but make him feel tired. Once again, Mei is by his side, and he wonders if he's going to keep getting injured. He pokes her in the cheek to wake her up, and she opens her eyes blearily, looking around before focusing on him. She sighs, leaning over to wrap him in a hug, mindful of his ribs and tells him that he needs to stop getting injured or he's going to be in the infirmary more often than he is in class. He chuckles and tells her that he can't make promises. She tightens the hug, and he feels tears dampen his shoulder. Izuku almost panics, frantically patting her on the back and apologizing for not taking her seriously. She responds by saying that he was taking her seriously, but knew that he couldn't promise her to stay out of trouble. His next laugh is a little more bitter, and he asks if he's really that transparent. She breaks the embrace to cup his face in both hands and tells him that she simply knows who he is. Izuku tries not to get embarrassed by the matter-of-fact tone that she was using, but she must see what he's thinking because Mei laughs quietly and presses a kiss to his forehead. He has to fight even harder to keep the flush from his face.
Apologies, this was supposed to come out yesterday. Unfortunately, my brother seized my computer immediately after school was over, and then I had to help him fix his phone because he somehow managed to forget all his passwords, and then I only had enough time to write about half of the chapter. So, here I am, using my Friday to write instead of sleeping because I only get four hours of sleep a day. Oh well, I guess. Thanks to everyone who commented, and to the one guy who asked how I got the glitch text effect in chapter 2, search it up on google. Just search "glitch text" and click on the first link. It's worked for me so far. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. I know I am. Continue reading this AN if you want to see some of what makes me so irritated wth BNHA. Firstly, as someone has mentioned in the comments, the way they went about it. Midoriya's Quirkless, and that is treated like a disability in a world full of superpowered individuals. Yet, instead of turning him into a Quirkless Hero to show that disabilities don't make you any less than others, he conveniently gets a Quirk, and in the more recent chapters of the manga, this Quirk allows him to develop even more Quirks. What's the point of giving someone a disadvantage if its going to get removed almost immediately? What's the meaning of it? Then there's Midoriya's selective intelligence. We see that he has 13 Hero Analysis books, and he can easily figure out weaknesses and plans on the fly. Yet, when it comes to his own Quirk, his brain just vanishes. I mean, think about it. If you fire a rifle and the recoil is too strong for you, you switch to a pistol until you get used to the kickback. So if One for All breaks his bones when he forces 100% power, why not just...I don't know, lower the power output instead of forcing it into an even smaller part of your body like your finger and just accept that you're going to break your bones. Don't get me wrong, he's a surprisingly well-written character with flaws. And yet, his improvement is so miniscule that it's almost like the author wants us to believe that he's doing is best but hard work can't surpass natural talent(Midoriya losing to Todoroki despite permanently breaking himself and Todoroki winning despite not ever using his flames, ever. Uraraka losing to Bakugou despite her plan and back up plan and refusing to stay down until she can't move anymore, all her effort gone in a single blast). Compare All Might to Midoriya. The Symbol of Peace manages to channel One for All at 100% since the beginning, and just tosses it to his successor with zilch advice on how to use it, encouraging him to break his bones, not even thinking of asking Gran Torino for help. The whole plotline is just "the strong are strong due to their Quirks, and hard work can't do shit". Something that pissed me off even more was how Mirio, a person with a weak Quirk that made it strong through sheer hard work, just gets written out of the world when Overhaul turns him Quirkless. You give the perfect hero, who came about through sheer determination. Then you crush him and turn him into little more than a background character. Again, what's the point? I think that's enough ranting for now. Maybe I'll do this again next chap. Anyway, enjoy your weekend everyone who's reading this. The world is falling apart, so take joy in the little things.