Notes: I didn't want to really split this chapter up, but it was SO BIG - like the size of three chapters almost - so it just made sense to go ahead and do it. Still, as "quiet" as this chapter is, it sets up for the huge action that is the next chapter and also I think it sets the stage for other stuff that will happen in later chapters. Basically, this is an important one for both Uraraka and Todoroki, who has unwittingly become a big part of this fic, which I hadn't planned on so much originally.
"Men have to have heroes, but no man can ever be as big as the need, and so a legend grows around a grain of truth, like a pearl."
― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn
Uraraka was toweling her hair dry in her bedroom when she heard a phone ringing. The ringtone was some pop dance song, so she was caught off guard when Todoroki answered it. "Yes?" There was only time for a few words to be said on the other end before he exclaimed, "Are you kidding me? I told you to keep an eye on him at all times!"
Bakugou. Her heart leapt into her throat. Something had happened, something clearly not good.
Uraraka dropped the towel and burst into the living room to find Todoroki on the phone standing to the side of one of her windows, peering carefully out the blinds to look out into the street. Tsu was by the front door, having just come back from a perimeter check no doubt. Uraraka focused on Todoroki."What's going on? Is Bakugou okay?"
Todoroki connected eyes with her and nodded his head. Relief blossomed in Uraraka's chest, but she still felt tense. "How bad?" He sighed and pulled away from the blinds, letting them fall back into place. "Serves him right for pulling a stunt like that. He knew damn well what would happen."
It was hard for her to deal with simply listening to only one half of the conversation, especially since it was the half with no information. She could only attempt to piece together what was happening from Todoroki's responses. Tsu came to stand beside her, but Uraraka was so focused on him that she didn't notice or look away. What had Bakugou done? It had been something that irritated Todoroki, but he didn't appear super concerned. Then again, he was good at hiding how he felt. If it was really bad, he'd be doing more than talking on the phone.
"Just as I suspected, Midoriya's focus is on Uraraka. We're all targets in this. If anyone wants out…" Todoroki was passive and straightforward, turning his body from her slightly. Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't want anyone to get hurt because of her. If it came to that, she'd need to get away from everyone and try to deal with this on her own. She needed to get through to Deku. "I agree. We owe it to him. He wouldn't give up on any of us. And whether he thinks it or not now, he'd want us to protect her from him."
Deku. She knew that Todoroki was right. If it had been anyone else in his position, Deku would have gone to the ends of the earth to save them, no matter the cost. He'd given his life to save hers.
Just the thought of him out there, not being a hero, made breathing difficult. Uraraka pressed a hand to her chest while Tsu rubbed her back soothingly. Her best friend had been an exceptional source of comfort, but it made Uraraka feel guilty. She tried to be strong for Tsu as well, but she didn't feel like she'd done a good job. Todoroki accepted comfort with as much indifference as he did insults.
Todoroki suddenly tilted his head in thought. "Hm, that's...troubling, I suppose." Uraraka took an involuntary step forward, but he didn't notice. "Well, it's not entirely unexpected. I had a feeling it would happen. On a purely combat basis, I'm the biggest threat." Despite being on the phone, she could hear sudden shouting on the other end and knew right away that Bakugou was arguing against Todoroki's assessment. "He offered to do what? It's almost like he's trying to be...nice...in a way."
It was killing Uraraka not to know exactly what was being said. Next time, she'd force Todoroki to put the phone on speaker, although she had an inkling that he hadn't done it now so she wouldn't try to hijack the conversation or go into a panic before everything was explained. Her patience was wearing thin. While she loved Tsu and adored Todoroki, she couldn't stand being stuck in her apartment for much longer and no doubt Bakugou was faring worse. Kirishima was his best friend, but he and Iida were like oil and water and he liked his space.
"If I have to meet him head on, I will, but I really would prefer it to be outside of the city." Todoroki frowned and Uraraka's stomach did a flip.
The city. If Deku did come here and Todoroki had to defend them, the collateral damage would be immense. Who knew how many people would get caught up in it? Todoroki would be as careful as possible, but she knew that this new Deku wouldn't hesitate to bring a building down. After finding out about the prison break, she'd gone to hide in the shower. No one said anything, but they didn't have to. She'd seen Deku's quirk up close enough times to know what its outcome looked like.
How could she have been so foolish? So selfish? She couldn't stay here. Uraraka looked around her apartment, already mourning it even though she'd grown despondent over how empty it had felt before. There were so many memories of Deku here, so many bright points in her life that she was loathed to leave behind. Then she thought of the other morning when he appeared in her living room. She didn't want to taint the good with the bad.
"We will. Keep an eye out, though I don't think you'll need to be worried. He's coming here. I know him."
The second Todoroki hung up, Uraraka was on him, pulling away from Tsu. "We need to leave. Now."
Judging from the way Todoroki was gazing at her calmly, she figured that her response had been what he was expecting. "Are you certain?"
"I…" Uraraka bit her lip. "I don't want anyone else to get caught up in this." She looked down at her feet, suddenly ashamed that she hadn't considered civilians and that she was thinking so poorly of Deku. "We don't know what he's willing to do. We barely even know what he wants. I don't want to find out the hard way." She took a deep breath and gave Todoroki a determined look. "The fact is my being here puts innocent lives in harm's way. I hate it enough that you all are in jeopardy."
Todoroki pocketed his cell phone. "We're heroes. This is part of the job, just a little more personal." He was so calm about it, so straightforward. Both he and Tsu were, although Tsu was more open about how upset she was over everything. Still, when she looked him directly in the eyes, she saw the hint of uncertainty in them. The fear of the unknown.
"You can admit that you're afraid of what will happen when you see Deku," Uraraka told him quietly.
As if he'd been waiting for someone to call him out on it or maybe afraid that they would, Todoroki broke eye contact with her and rubbed his face, the first obvious sign that he'd given that this was deeply troubling him. "I don't… I don't want to hurt him. We're both capable of mass amounts of destruction, but I don't want to get to that level. I'm worried that he won't give me a choice." He looked down at his hands. "I'm worried that he'll push me to that brink on purpose."
"He did it once before, did he not?" Tsu put in. "At our first sports festival."
"Yeah, but that was to help me," Todoroki said. "This would be to hurt me. It's a twisted version of him, like how he's killing villains in order to please Uraraka and get her attention." It made her feel sick. She hated how there were so many hints of the old Deku in him, but they were distorted. "Midoriya showed up to confront Bakugou."
Uraraka gasped. "Is he-?"
"He's fine. Two broken ribs, but I think his ego is what's mostly damaged," Todoroki told her. That still didn't stop Uraraka's heart from feeling like it was going to beat right out of her chest. She had more or less figured it out, but hearing it upfront was still terrifying. He'd probably been much braver than her. A lot less crying, that was for certain. It was what he'd wanted, but it clearly hadn't turned out the way he would've liked. "As predicted, he told Bakugou to stay away from you."
"I bet Bakugou did not like that," Tsu said, shaking her head.
"He reacted about as well as we can expect, but Kirishima said that he didn't try to fight Midoriya immediately. I think actually seeing Midoriya in person took Bakugou off guard more than he anticipated." Todoroki was so analytical about it, but she could see that he was wondering if he would fall victim to the same reaction. Out of everyone, he and Tsu had spent the longest time with her searching for Deku. He'd ran himself past ragged. "He admitted to being behind the prison break, so it's clear that he has a goal for the League outside of you."
She had known it was him, but she didn't like hearing it. During his time as a hero, Deku had helped capture many of the villains locked up in that prison, as had some of the others. There were villains in there that had only ever known Deku as a hero and their enemy. Now he'd broken them out after putting them in there. She couldn't imagine the insanity right now. However, she recalled him mentioning how he'd killed the villains in her sector instead of recruiting them. If any of these newly freed villains acted out of line, she didn't think they'd last long.
Gods, what was she thinking? Two of Deku's best features were that he was so forgiving and kind. She had loved him for it so much. He had such a good heart.
A rather thoughtful look crossed Todoroki's face. "Deku offered to kill me and Endeavor to give Bakugou a clearer path to the top if he left you alone."
Uraraka paled and straightened up in shock. "Oh my god, that's… That's awful. Todoroki, I'm… I'm sorry."
The idea that Deku would even consider doing something like that was overwhelmingly painful. Todoroki had been Deku's best friend. They'd grown inseparable in their own way over the years. Deku had trusted him with everything, believed in and supported him, loved him even like a brother.
"He did say that he missed me and killing me would be a shame, so there's that, I suppose," Todoroki added, like it was no big deal when it clearly very much was. She watched the way he shifted on his feet and how he wouldn't meet her eyes again. Deku's offer and words had affected him. "It was going to come down to it anyways. If it's not Bakugou keeping you from him, it's one of us. I felt like I was the most logical choice. I'd...hoped that he might be more hesitant if it was me, but that doesn't seem to be the case. At any rate, if I'm not a threat with you, I would be for the League of Villains."
It was too much. Uraraka wasn't sure how much more she could take and yet she knew that it would have to be much more. This was just the beginning. All they could do was roll with every punch and fight back. They couldn't give up. It didn't make it any easier to accept though. "How can you talk so...practically about this?" she asked. He was just so clinical about the whole thing that it was beginning to drive her up a wall. Maybe it was just her nerves. Maybe she'd been around Bakugou too much.
Todoroki gave her a look that for the briefest of moments showed a pain in him that very much mirrored her own. "Because if I don't - if I allow myself to feel all of it - I don't know if I'll be able to fight him." He shut it away, hiding everything from her again, but she was grateful that he opened up to her even for a second. "Because I don't know if I'll be strong enough. And if I'm not…" He shook his head, like he was getting rid of those thoughts or at least hiding them. "That's not an option."
It sounded like something the old Deku would say: accept your fear and then move past it to save the day.
"C'mon, Ochako," Tsu said, tugging on her arm. "We need to pack if we're going to leave."
"Where are we going?" Uraraka asked.
"I'll figure that out while you're getting ready," Todoroki said decisively. "We need to alert the others to our move. And I think it's time we warned U.A. Perhaps it was wrong of us not to tell them earlier." He carefully glanced through the blinds again, but seemed appeased by what he saw - or what he didn't see. "I'm concerned that Midoriya's focus might swing to All Might at some point. He's focused on you, but he's also proven erratic and not opposed to killing any of us if it's necessary."
Tsu gulped. "You don't think-?"
"I don't know," Todoroki sighed, exhaustion evident in his voice again. Had he slept any in the past two days? To be honest, Uraraka couldn't be sure. She'd barely got sleep, but it was necessary to keep them in top shape in case a fight did come about. "I honestly don't know."
What made Uraraka feel even worse was that she didn't know either. She would swear up and down that Deku wouldn't hurt her (showing the bruises on her wrists to Tsu and Todoroki had caused a lot of hubris), but at the end of the day, she didn't know what he was capable of doing at all. She didn't know what he was willing to do or what he wanted to do. It didn't make any sense. She had always known what was in his heart and now… She couldn't even be sure what was going on in his mind. If it was even his thoughts to begin with.
Where are you, Deku? Uraraka thought aimlessly.
While Uraraka packed a bag with a separate one that included her Uravity gear, Tsu set about telling everyone that they were moving to a safer location. Everyone mostly replied back to Tsu in the affirmative and to contact them if they needed help with the transfer, except for Bakugou, who sent Uraraka a personal text that said, Fucking finally.
It was the first time she'd spoken to him since his encounter with Deku and she was itching to call him, but knew that they didn't have the time for a chat on the phone. She'd have to either settle calling him on the way or sending him a flurry of texts if she wanted to remain more private. It bothered her that she thought that her conversation with Bakugou over Deku should be private, even though everyone likely knew most of the details already.
What had Deku done? What had he said exactly? She wished she could have been there though a small part of her was relieved that she hadn't. She didn't know what she would've done if she'd heard Deku say that he was willing to kill Todoroki. It would've shattered her heart into pieces. And then he'd broken two of Bakugou's ribs, although she wasn't certain how. The fight had clearly not gone in any way that Bakugou had planned.
She was scared. She was upset. She was angry .
It was like Deku was using her as an excuse to hurt other people and their friends and she hated it. Maybe if he'd just been a plain old evil villain, it wouldn't have wounded so much, but he'd dragged her into it and she didn't know how to stop him or if she even could. She was really afraid that the only way to get him to not hurt anyone she cared about was to go along with him, but she couldn't do that. She wasn't even sure what that would mean. He couldn't possibly be expecting her to join him in the League, could he?
"You ready?" Todoroki asked.
Uraraka nodded her head and slung her bags over her shoulders. It would've been easy to use her quirk on them, but she wanted to save her strength as much as possible just in case. No extra usage of her quirk unless absolutely necessary. She cast her apartment - her home with Deku - one last glance over.
Tsu laid a hand on her arm. "It's not goodbye."
"I know," Uraraka sighed. "I just hate feeling like I'm running away."
It was the logical choice. She knew it now. However, they all knew it would come with a new set of consequences. If Deku got it in his head that they were trying to steal Uraraka away from him, there was a very high possibility that he would go on a rampage. He had been capable of damage before when he was a hero; she did not want to think of what he would inflict now as a villain.
It's not him, Uraraka told herself. Deku was a hero in her heart and mind and always would be.
"We're going to U.A. first," Todoroki told them as they got in his car. It was nice . Uraraka offhandedly hoped to the gods that he had good insurance, just in case Deku decided to pop in for a visit. "I spoke with Aizawa. He has a safehouse that he used back in his pro hero days."
Uraraka swallowed. "Did you...tell them?"
Todoroki connected eyes with her in the rearview mirror. It was safer if she stayed in the backseat out of sight. His windows were tinted dark enough where she could hide there. "Yes, there wasn't the time to wait until we could do it face-to-face and I thought you might want a break from having to explain it again."
Relief and exhaustion threatened to swallow Uraraka whole, but all she could think was how much she appreciated her friends. The more she explained what had become of Deku, the more desolate she became, like every mention of that morning chipped away at the memory of who he'd been before. Telling their former teachers had been a burden that Todoroki had lifted from her shoulders.
"How did All Might take it?" Uraraka asked, her gaze falling on the buildings that they passed by.
"Devastated, shocked, ashamed," Todoroki said, like he was listing what was on a menu. "I don't think it's set in fully. He partially blames himself for Deku's death and now this. No one pushed Deku harder than he did."
Uraraka smiled sadly. "Not true. Deku did."
"Yeah," Todoroki agreed quietly, his eyes focused on the road. "He did."
"I'd never met anyone with such determination before," Tsu added. "He really made you want to become a better hero, right from the start."
They had all been determined to become heroes in their own way when they'd first joined U.A. For Uraraka, she had wanted to make enough money to give her parents a comfortable life and while she had done that, it wasn't the only reason she was a hero now. The idea that she had the ability to save lives meant so much to her. If she could save Deku now… If she could keep Bakugou, Todoroki, and all her friends safe…
"It's that determination I'm worried about now," Todoroki admitted, his white knuckles on the steering wheel betraying his collected voice. "He never once gave up, no matter what he was up against, no matter how many times he had to break himself. That's incredible in a hero, but dangerous in a villain."
It didn't help that they didn't know what Deku's exact plan was or what he wanted. They had some vague ideas, but beyond Uraraka and something that involved a lot of powerful villains, they couldn't be sure. Without that, they were having a hard time coming up with a plan. The three of them had spent the past two days coordinating and talking with the others, trying to figure out something beyond keeping out of Deku's reach. It wasn't just Bakugou that was getting antsy and reckless.
They were close to U.A., about ten minutes out, when Todoroki slammed on the breaks so hard that Uraraka jerked forward and hit the back of Tsu's seat despite wearing a seatbelt. His face was as pale as his knuckles now, lips pressed into a thin line, and his entire body was pulled like a tightly coiled spring. Uraraka rubbed her head and moved to follow his gaze as she reached out to touch him on the shoulder and then froze.
Standing in the middle of the road about thirty meters ahead of them was Deku. He was wearing a costume that was similar to his pro hero one, but not at the same time. The colors were wrong, black where it had been green and red or green instead of grey or white. It looked as if he had a hood that could be pulled over to cover his eyes and a mask that could cover the bottom half of his face, but he was letting himself be seen by them now. He wanted them to know who it was - that it was him.