She wakes up to the sound of wood creaking and an aching back. The bed isn't that comfortable, which has led her to believe that Aizawa probably still slept in his sleeping bag out here if he used this as a place to nap. It's still night, but she's alert enough to know that she isn't going to fall back asleep any time soon. Instead, she stretches in the bed, raising her arms far enough to brush against the wall, and then sits up.

It's awfully silent. She assumes that at least one person is awake standing guard, but she can't hear anything. There has to be someone out there or she wouldn't have heard the wood. You couldn't step foot in this house without it making some sort of sound right back at you. Outside she can hear bugs chirping and the wind gently blowing through the trees, but that's it.

Throwing the blanket off, she swings her legs over to the side of the bed and stands up. The floor immediately protests her weight, but she ignores it as she pads over to the door. She's not quite sure why she's tiptoeing, seeing as how she was the only one supposed to be sleeping, but when she presses her ear against the door, she hears absolutely nothing. She pulls away and frowns. Maybe they're outside doing perimeter checks?

Then she hears it: the wood creaking and something else… A squelching sound? She can't make it out, not with a door in between her and the other room. Even if she doesn't know what it is, it makes her stomach twist uncomfortably.

Slowly, in an attempt to make as little noise as possible, she twists the doorknob and pushes the door open, only to find that it is completely dark in the rest of the house. The only light shining inside comes from the moon glowing through the windows. She blinks in confusion at the sight. Hadn't they made it a rule to keep the blinds closed? Besides, where is everyone? Why are they so quiet? Did they fall asleep? Did they leave?

"Hello?" she whispers.

The darkness seems to swallow her voice and no one answers her.

Stepping further outside of the bedroom, she makes her way through the house. Nothing else makes a sound. She's very much alone. Her heart begins to race wildly in her chest. Had they been called away? Had something so awful happened that they needed everyone to deal with it? That didn't make any sense though. No one had come to wake her up. Even if they didn't want her to come, they would've told her before leaving.

The first thing that she sees in the living room is Aizawa's bright yellow sleeping bag in the middle of the room. She lets out a sigh of relief. She's not alone. Her former homeroom teacher just fell asleep while on watch. Kind of odd, considering how serious he is about his job and protecting people, but this has been an exhausting few days. Even she passed out.

"Sir?" she calls out. Nothing. "Aizawa?" No response. Maybe because she used his real name. "Eraserhead?"

He doesn't stir, but then again, he is a heavy sleeper. She bends down to his level and reaches out to him, pulling on his shoulder to wake him up, but instead he rolls over easily towards her. A scream almost tears out of her throat, but she throws her hands up to her mouth at the last minute. Aizawa's eyes are wide open and unseeing, his goggles broken around his neck, which has turned red and purple. She staggers away from the body, scrambling to her feet even as her knees threaten to give out.

He's dead. She tries not to panic. He's dead. She's going to panic.

But that begs the question: what about the others?

Her head turns and she spots a figure slumped against the wall, their head resting against their chest and long green hair hiding their face. Tsu, it's Tsu. She rushes over to her friend, but when she gets close enough to check her pulse, she finds nothing. When she lifts Tsu's head, she finds blood covering half her face. She jerks her hands away, gasping for air as she struggles to make sense of everything. Tears burn her eyes and her body shakes. This can't be happening. It can't be.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she sees him. There, lying by the slightly ajar door, his left foot hanging out of it. It's Bakugou. She crawls over towards him, unable to pull herself to her feet, and tears are dripping onto the floor and her hands with every step she takes. "No, no, no," she keeps mumbling to herself, praying that she's wrong. Let him be alive. Let at least one of them be alive.

The second she touches Bakugou's body, she knows that nothing is alright. He always runs so hot, like his quirk is simmering just underneath his skin, but he's cold to the touch. It feels wrong. When she reaches for his hands, she finds them practically dry, which is not normal. Even worse they're bruised and broken, like someone stomped on them repeatedly.

"Please, no," she pleads, even though she knows in her heart that it's no use. She rolls Bakugou over and his head lolls against her knees. There's blood everywhere, pouring from various stab wounds all over him, sliding onto her hands and legs. She starts crying in earnest because she knows it's her fault. She did this. She let this happen. She allowed herself a moment of rest and they died. She let her guard down. She didn't fight back hard enough. She brought them into this when she should've taken care of it herself.

Somehow, she drags herself to her feet, away from Bakugou's body, but his blood is all over her hands. She's struggling for air and her body is wobbling, but she can't look away. It's only when she feels arms wrap around her, one right underneath her breasts and another around her neck, that she freezes and the crying comes to an abrupt halt. There is the familiar feel of soft hair brushing the side of her face as someone rests their chin on her shoulder and takes a deep breath.

"Do you like it?" Deku murmurs in her ear. "Now we can be together."

She feels herself breaking. "D-Deku…"

"Now there's nothing holding you back to be with me," Deku continues. "To join us."

He moves the arm around her neck to grab her hand, both of theirs slick with Bakugou's blood, and he presses the hilt of a knife into her palm. She knows that he was the one to kill them, but for a second, as she looks down at the knife in their hands, it's as if she was the one that stabbed Bakugou. Like she did it indirectly. He was only here because of her, wasn't he? If he'd been somewhere else, he would be alive.

Deku kisses her on the cheek, so chaste and innocent. "You were wasted on them. I know you. I love you." He pulls away so that he can turn her around to face him. She still has the knife in her hand, tilted towards him, but she can't make a move, not with the way he's staring her in the eyes right now. His smile is so full of warmth and love, but his eyes are cold and dead. "Come home with me, Ochako."

Uraraka bolted up right in her the bed so fast that she got vertigo, a scream in her throat. When she tried to swallow it though, she choked on it and then began to gasp for air so hard that tears leaked from her eyes. The bed was so flimsy that it made a loud squeaking noise when she woke up and the headboard slammed against the wall. Tsu was at her side in an instant, hands on Uraraka's arms, soothing her as best as she could while Uraraka tried not to sob or scream. She couldn't be for certain what would come out if she tried to talk.

When the door was suddenly kicked open, both Uraraka and Tsu jumped and nearly screamed again, but it was just Bakugou of all people, mini explosions already blasting at his fingertips, shouting, "Where the fuck is he?" He must have heard the loud noise and come running in to make sure nothing bad was happening. It couldn't have been that loud, but maybe he had been walking to the bathroom.

"He's not here, Bakugou," Tsu sighed irritably. "Calm down."

Wiping the sweat off her forehead, Uraraka added, "I'm sorry. I-I had a nightmare."

Bakugou looked no less tense, but he straightened up and flexed his fingers to loosen up his hands. He eyed Uraraka suspiciously, but she just looked down at her hands. She kept picturing him lying dead on the ground, his blood all over her hands. His red eyes sightless and unable to see her tears. The red in them had looked faded. They had looked so wrong, no passion in them at all. It was hard for her to look him in the eyes now.

"Do you...want to talk about it?" Tsu asked tentatively.

"No, no, it's fine, really," Uraraka said, a smile on her face. It probably didn't look right since she still looked like a hot mess, but she was going to push through this if it was the last thing she did. She didn't want to tell Tsu that she had dreamed that Deku had killed her. The nightmare was still too vivid.

Bakugou was still looking at her with narrowed red eyes and a frown on his face. "Take a break, Asui."

Tsu blinked at him. "Ribbit?"

"You've been in here for a while. You should get some rest."

"But-"

"I just woke up, so I'm not going to back sleep any time soon," Bakugou interrupted, his flat tone not changing whatsoever. "I'll take over." He shot Tsu a sharp glare. "We can't afford you to be tired and sluggish because you didn't get proper rest if Deku shows up. I'm not carrying your ass in a fight."

Uraraka folded her arms across chest and mumbled, "I don't need a babysitter," but both Bakugou and Tsu ignored her. It seemed to be one of the few things they agreed on. Having them both in this safehouse at the same time was a terrible idea, as Tsu spoke her mind and Bakugou got everything across through insults and yells, but neither one of them were willing to leave for long.

"Alright," Tsu finally agreed. Uraraka smiled encouragingly at her and and Tsu squeezed her hand before leaving the room. It might have been the wrong way to say it, but she did agree that Tsu needed to get some rest. Ever since they had confronted Deku, she had been pushing herself, like she was trying to make up for not doing enough.

With Tsu gone, it left Bakugou and Uraraka in silence alone. Now that she thought about it, they hadn't been alone in a few days, not since the night they'd arrived at UA. The safehouse was remote, but despite being in the middle of nowhere, it had little room to give any sort of privacy. Outside of the two bedrooms and the bathroom, you could practically see the whole place. Bakugou didn't like it for tactical reasons, but then Aizawa had pointed out that it never been made to be a stronghold. Not like that mattered against Deku, who could break through concrete and steel reinforced walls with a single punch.

Bakugou moved to the window, peering out of the curtain sideways, and harrumphed. He wasn't going ballistic so he must have been appeased with what he saw. "Was it the dream?"

"Huh?" Uraraka stared at the back of his head for a moment before it clicked. "Oh. No, it wasn't. It was…" She really didn't want to talk about it and Bakugou wouldn't press her for more information if she didn't. "It was something different."

She could tell that a part of him wanted to ask more questions, but the rest of him either didn't think it was all that important or didn't care. He stayed silent, continuing his examination of the outside world. It made Uraraka itch. Every time she got so much as near a window everyone freaked out. Didn't they see it was pointless? If Deku or any villain connected with the League was out here, then they already knew who was inside. Now she really felt like she was locked away in a prison. This was so much worse than her apartment.

Crossing her legs under her, Uraraka pressed the palms of her hand on the bed and straightened her back, trying to stretch out her arms, anything to break the tension in her body. "I hate this." She glowered at the blankets, like it was their fault that she was here. "I hate this hiding, not doing anything, not knowing anything. I should be out there doing something. I'm a hero, not some hapless victim." None of her friends were exactly treating her like that, but they were all so protective of her. It was endearing, but also smothering now that she couldn't escape it. "I feel so useless stuck here."

"You don't think I feel the same way?" Bakugou questioned, turning back to face her. His eyes were like molten lava, glaring holes into her, but she swatted the feeling away.

"I know you do," Uraraka replied. "It's driving you up a wall, isn't it?"

Bakugou tightened and then relaxed his fists. "Fucking mad."

"We don't know anything about what's going on," Uraraka said angrily. "We don't know what Deku is up to or what he's doing. We don't know what the League of Villains is planning. We don't even know how they did this to him." She rubbed at her eyes, not because she was about to cry, but because just thinking these things made her head hurt, the pain throbbing behind her eyes. "We're running blindly in the dark, trying to catch a break. Why can't we be the ones to find him? It's always him finding us."

"It pisses me off," Bakugou said, his voice low and gravelly.

"Has there been any news?" Uraraka asked, almost begged. "Anything?"

After a moment of consideration, Bakugou sighed and shook his head, but not in the way to tell her 'no'. It was more like he didn't want to tell her because he knew she wouldn't like it, but Bakugou didn't half ass things. He wouldn't keep things from her because he was worried that it might upset her. Oh no. He was upfront about every single thing, even if he knew it would break her heart. That was just who he was. He'd been like that for as long as she'd known him.

"Four of the escaped prisoners were found dead in the past two days," Bakugou told her.

Uraraka frowned. If they were going by Deku's MO, then that fit him, but it didn't make sense that he would break them out only to kill them. Maybe they had pissed him off or something. Maybe after failing to kill Todoroki and not being able to get rid of Bakugou, Deku had gone off the handle. She'd seen the way his fingers were twitching and she hadn't known what to make of him. Had he been struggling to hold back or struggling to break free of whatever or whoever had a grip on his mind?

"Who were they?" Uraraka asked.

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Bakugou pulled up the email and walked over to her. "They were killed the same way that we now know was one of Deku's confirmed villain kills, but they aren't sure if it's him or not. Could be dissent among the ranks. You know how fickle villains can be."

She took the phone from him and flicked through the pictures. They weren't pretty by a long shot. There was blood everywhere, seeing as how they'd been beaten severely. The same cause of death, but far more intense. It looked...personal. Like the killer had lost control and kept going even after they were dead. It made the villains (well, victims) impossible to recognize. However, because of the blood evidence, the authorities had been able to figure out who they were.

As soon as Uraraka read the names, it clicked for her. "It's him."

"How do you know?" Bakugou questioned.

"They were all my collars," Uraraka told him. She set the phone down on the bed. "This one" - she swiped to the third victim - "he managed to get a hit on me. I had a black eye for two weeks."

Bakugou looked mildly disappointed that she'd allowed any villain to hit her, but didn't comment on it. Instead, he focused on the pictures. "And the other three?"

"All difficult and rough," Uraraka said. "You know, the kind of fight where you come out scraped but in one piece."

"I don't have those," Bakugou replied flatly. She was not going to point out that Deku had broken two of his ribs a few days ago. It would only cause his hackles to raise and he'd get shitty. Already he was in a foul mood from not being allowed to hunt Deku down. Still, the prison Deku had destroyed had held the worst of the worst, so it stood that anyone locked in there had been pretty strong. Uraraka was confident in her abilities, but she wasn't perfect. Besides, she'd gotten them in the end, hadn't she? Sure, they'd been broken out, but now they were…

"Oh." Uraraka's heart dropped into her stomach. "He's doing it for me again, isn't he?"

"Another one of his weird love letters?" Bakugou quierred. "These were the only people you collared that were sent to this prison?" She nodded her head. "I guess he didn't want Uravity's good work to go to waste." He made a disgruntled noise in the back of his throat and pocketed his phone. "You told him about them?"

Uraraka fiddled with her fingers in her lap. "Well, I mean, yeah, it was a hard to avoid topic, especially when I came home sporting bruises and scratches. He always got so worked up over when I was hurt."

He had been kind like that. If she didn't have time to tend to her wounds at work, he would help her with them at home. Once, when she'd broken a rib, he'd helped her with the bandages every day. It had been sweet. She could remember them lying down in bed together, her reading and him napping, and then he'd woken up and kissed her gently right above her injured rib. It had tickled and left her breathless at the same time, but they hadn't been able to do much before she'd started wincing in pain.

Her eyes darted away from Bakugou's when she caught him watching her with a guarded expression. No way was she going to sit here thinking about things like that and Deku while he was right next to her. It was awkward, even if he didn't know what she was remembering. No doubt he was picturing Deku fussing over her all annoying-like. They had two very different images of Deku in their minds.

Bakugou looked away from her and scratched the back of his head. "Deku definitely escalated in violence towards them." Yeah, he'd gone to Baku Rage levels, except he'd followed through on the threats that Bakugou used to make all the time while they were at school. Deku really had killed those villains. "He must have remembered them and how they hurt you. He wouldn't have stood for them to be in the League."

"But do you think the League is okay with Deku just killing potential members?" Uraraka wondered.

"I don't think they have much of a choice, not with Deku's strength," Bakugou said. It was strange hearing Bakugou more or less admit that Deku was very strong, but she knew better than to comment on that as well. It was just something they had to accept. "Besides, if they get killed just like that, they didn't have that much potential anyways." He snorted. "Quality over quantity."

There was a moment where neither of them had anything to say or they just couldn't figure out what it was they wanted to say. More and more, Uraraka was beginning to feel like something was missing from these moments, like there was something they weren't doing that should've been done, but she couldn't figure out if it was his or her doing. She'd only begun to notice it after Deku had returned and it didn't hit her fully until she'd realized that Bakugou had put up the wall she'd painstakingly broken through.

She knew exactly what he would say if she did question him on it. He would say that he couldn't afford to let himself get distracted by anything with Deku on the run as a villain. Distracted from what, she either couldn't say or didn't want to, but she also knew that he was right. They couldn't be distracted. Already it felt like they were running in last place of a race that ended in death if they didn't finish first.

Letting out a deep, frustrated sigh, Uraraka flopped back on the bed. "What are we doing, Bakugou?"

"Jack shit," Bakugou responded, as delicate as ever.

Uraraka swallowed, staring up at the ceiling. "Am I…? Am I naive or stupid for thinking I need to save him? Is that even possible after all that he's done?"

"You tell me," Bakugou said. "You've seen him more than any of us so far."

"It's not just that." Uraraka chewed on her bottom lip to the point where it would've started bleeding had Bakugou not nudged her harshly. "Say he's being - I don't know - mind controlled or something. What if we do snap him out of it? What if he does break free? What then? He still…" She didn't want to think about it, but she knew that such things would rest heavily on Deku's mind if it were to happen. "He still murdered people. Yeah, most of them were villains, but innocent people died during the prison break as well. Not to mention any people that might get hurt or killed because of the escaped villains."

Bakugou was silent for longer than Uraraka could ever remember him being. Sure, he didn't go on rambling tangents like Deku and he didn't blabber nervously like Uraraka or make admittedly dramatic speeches like Todoroki, but he was very rarely silent. He was never quite still unless it was deadly serious. Of course she knew that he could be quiet when it called for, but getting lost in thought was not one of his habits.

"I guess," Bakugou said, more thoughtful than usual, "that will depend on Deku." He twisted his lips into something that was not quite a sneer but not a frown either, as if he didn't know how he felt. "Stupid nerd will probably cry himself silly over it."

Every time Bakugou mentioned confronting Deku, it usually involved Bakugou threatening to kill him. Uraraka knew that he wouldn't really do that though. Maybe he wanted to or maybe he didn't, but he wouldn't. She could not say for sure why. Maybe he did feel a hint of guilt over not being able to save Deku. He'd only managed to keep her from falling into the ocean after her quirk had finally tapped out. Maybe he was just angry about how Deku was toying with him. This time though, he seemed to at least acknowledge that he wasn't going to outright blast Deku to another planet.

Forcing herself to get over whatever melancholy was threatening to swallow her whole, Uraraka pulled herself back up into the sitting position. Bakugou was close enough to the bed where she could reach out and grab his hand, like she had the night he'd put her drunk self to bed. He flinched at the contact, but didn't pull away. It wasn't so strange to do it without the alcohol dimming their defensive systems, but it still took some effort.

"Thank you, Bakugou, for being here."

"Don't really got much of a choice," Bakugou mumbled.

Uraraka smiled and said, "Of course," when she really meant, That's not what I mean. He appeared to be at the limit of his emotional comfort, even if it would've looked like to anyone else that he hadn't done anything, so she decided not to push it. He was in here with her when he didn't have to be. She could've stayed in here by herself, but he'd chosen to stay.

His eyes fell to their hands, a thunderous expression on his face. He liked to hide how he was feeling with anger, as if he could transform any emotion into that. She wasn't quite sure what that look was for now. Her heart jumped a little when he rubbed his thumb in a circle over the back of her hand. His fingertips were calloused from firing off multiple explosions. It didn't hurt him, but his skin still built up a tough resistance. She wondered if it affected how much he could feel things with his fingers, but right when she opened her mouth to ask, there was a knock on the door and he jerked his hand away.

"Guys?" Kirishima's voice called from the other side.

"What?" Bakugou barked. "It better be important."

"Thought you'd want to know Kaminari is calling in with an update."

That was important. Bakugou was barreling towards the door as Uraraka bolted out of bed and followed him. A testament to how much Kirishima knew his best friend, he was already standing a good distance away from the door when Bakugou ripped it open and stomped out. Uraraka at least thanked him for letting them know before taking the call. There were multiple screens set up in the living room showing feeds from multiple cameras around the area, but they went to the laptop set up on the coffee table.

In her dream, Aizawa had been lying next to it, dead, but she blinked the memory away as she sat down on the couch next to Tsu behind the boys and Kirishima pressed the button to answer the call.

"Hi, ladies and gents," Kaminari greeted when he appeared on the screen.

He was so pale, but then he had been working tirelessly for the past few days. She wondered how much time he'd gotten outside, how many breaks he'd taken, if he'd been properly resting or eating well. Bakugou had been riding him hard about getting as much info as possible. Since the end of his time at UA and after, Kaminari had really come into his own using computers and other technology to work as a hero. He often worked with Hatsume on testing her support gadgets, thinking it great fun unlike Iida. It helped that he was the best one at setting up communications between all of them.

"Are you feeling well?" Uraraka asked before Bakugou could barrel through the conversation like a bull.

Kaminari blinked. "Huh?" He only then seemed to notice what he looked like in his own camera and let off a shaky chuckle as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Oh, yeah, I'm-I'm fine. Too many energy drinks."

Tsu frowned. "Those are not healthy for you, ribbit. I told you that years ago."

"Ha, should have listened…" Kaminari chuckled again.

"Whatever. I approve of them if they're helping you work longer." Bakugou shoved Tsu out of the camera so that he could hog most of it. They could have moved the computer back so they could fit in it comfortably, but they ended up squashed together. "What have you got? Any new leads? I'm dying out here."

A twitchy grin appeared on Kaminari's face - he really needed to lay off those energy drinks - and he rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, yeah, well, you know how you told me to keep digging around looking for clues about Midoriya's whereabouts?"

"Did you find anything?" Bakugou demanded.

"Well, uh-" Kaminari was abruptly knocked out of the view of the camera.

Only to be replaced by Deku, causing them all to give a start and gape. "I kind of found him instead." He gave them a winning beam and waved his hand, like he was a classmate that they hadn't seen in a long time. "Surprise!"

Bakugou reached for the computer like he could physically jump through it and strangle him. "Deku, you little shit!" For a moment, Uraraka was worried that Bakugou might actually break the laptop, but then Kirishima jerked his hands away from the screen.

"He's gotten a lot better at this," Deku said conversationally as he clicked through a few files on Kaminari's computer, his eyes slightly unfocused as he looked away from the camera. "I'm not as tech savvy, but even our guy can't figure out where you all are. Impressive." His eyes jerked back to them. "You all are in the wind, but I figured someone would keep the communication up. Kaminari was always good at that, with or without his quirk."

"I swear to fucking god, Deku," Bakugou growled, gripping the coffee table so tightly that it looked like he was about to break it into pieces. Tsu had already jumped over the couch to alert Aizawa and a few key others.

Deku laughed. "Don't worry. I haven't hurt him." He held up his hands in a what can you do? manner. "Not yet at least." The humor bled away from his face, replaced by a cold expression. "I see you didn't follow my one rule, Kacchan. Still entirely selfish. I told you what would happen if you didn't stay away from Ochako."

At the mention of her name and the unspoken threat hanging in the air, Uraraka pulled a Bakugou and barrelled her way into the conversation. She dropped down on the ground in between Bakugou and Kirishima, knocking the latter to the side so that he was completely out of the camera's view. "Deku!"

A bright smile twitched onto his face, but he still looked angry, likely over the fact that the very two people he expressly did not want to see together were now the only two he could see. "Where are you? I want to see you."

"You know I can't tell you that," Uraraka told him, forcing her voice to be soft despite the fact that her heart was racing like a dog chasing after a rabbit. Or maybe it was like a rabbit running away from a dog. "Please, don't do anything rash."

"It's not rash at all," Deku pointed out. "I told Kacchan what would happen if he didn't listen to me. I told him nicely too. All he had to do was stay away from you. He's not good for you."

"And you are?" Bakugou snarled out of the corner of his mouth.

Uraraka elbowed him in the side, making him grunt but shutting him up at least for a moment. He glared at her furiously, but she ignored him, putting her entire focus on the man on the computer screen. Deku. It was Deku. Always worried about her. She knew he trusted her and believed she was strong, but that never stopped him from considering her safety and happiness.

"Listen to me, Deku; you don't want to do this," Uraraka told him.

His nodding emphatically only made them more anxious. "I don't - you're right - but Kacchan forced my hand and, well, Kaminari is not being particularly forthcoming." He turned his head to smile fondly at someone off camera. "Are you going to tell me where they are?"

"I don't know!" Kaminari's disembodied voice shouted from somewhere off camera. There was an audible crack or maybe a pop and then the sound of a scream muffled through a grunt, like the person was trying to hold their pain in and not let it show. They all knew what it was though: another villain breaking one of Kaminari's bones, most likely a finger.

Shock them, Uraraka pleaded in her mind, just shock them stupid.

But then it would leave Kaminari completely defenseless and they'd kill him. The ball was in Deku's court, but they had to steal it and Uraraka knew that she was the only one capable of doing so.

Right when Bakugou made to shout at Deku for hurting Kaminara, Uraraka completely shoved him out of the view of the camera, so hard that he went sprawling against the floor, and held up a hand to stop him from trying to shove his way back in. She relaxed her shoulders and put a soft expression on her face. "I saw what you did for me, Deku," she said in a shy voice.

That caught Deku's attention. His eyes darted to hers, unblinking, and they were so bright and alive. "You did?"

"You didn't let the villains I caught get away," Uraraka said, sounding oh so nervous, like she was on a first date or something. She fiddled with her fingers, glanced away from him briefly before bringing her eyes back to him. It wasn't all that hard to feign. She did feel nervous and scared. What if this ploy didn't work? She saw Bakugou gawking at her out of the corner of his eyes, like he didn't know who she was either.

The eagerness on Deku's face would've been cute if she didn't know that he'd killed people for her. "I couldn't just let them live after what they did to you. It was unacceptable. Besides, you worked so hard to get them off the street. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let them work under me knowing how they hurt you? I'd be implicit."

"You're a little more than that," Bakugou muttered under his breath, not loud enough for computer mic to pick his voice up. "Some fucking boyfriend."

"You told me that you wouldn't let me get hurt," Uraraka continued.

"And I meant it," Deku replied in the most earnest tone. It twisted her gut. He sounded so much like he had before, so much like the boy she'd fallen in love with.

The tears that pooled in her eyes weren't fake. She wanted to let them loose. This was breaking her heart. "Then why are you hurting me, Deku?" A hurt expression flashed across Deku's face, like she'd just slapped him. He looked genuinely hurt by her words. "Kaminari is my friend. Your hurting him hurts me."

Deku considered her words, one of his fingers tapping thoughtfully on the keyboard. It was like he hadn't thought of this factor before. When he'd said that he wouldn't let her get hurt, he'd meant physically, but the emotional pain was getting worse with every passing day. Was he breaking his word to her by doing this? Was it worth it? She could see the gears turning in his head as he wondered if she would forgive him this.

"I'm sorry, Ochako," Deku settled on, a determined look on his face, "but it has to be done." Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. She'd failed. "If you come back to me though, I'll spare him. Kaminari's only doing what Kacchan told him and I understand him listening. Kacchan's very persuasive in his own brute force way."

Well that was better than nothing. Bakugou looked about as pleased by this development as he would be about chewing on gravel and seemed to be doing just that as he ground his teeth. He dragged himself to his feet and went to his bag so that he could rifle through it for his hero costume.

"I just want this to end," Uraraka said quietly, allowing her grief to seep into her voice.

"I know, I know," Deku replied soothingly. "And it will once we make things right." She didn't know what he meant by that, but she knew that whatever it was, it wouldn't be right at all. Not by a longshot. "I know you won't come alone. Tell Shoto I look forward to seeing him again. I'd like to finish what we started."

Bakugou ripped his t-shirt off so viciously that she was surprised he didn't tear it and snapped, "I'm going to be the one finishing him," before pulling his black and red tank top over his head.

"And remember," Deku said, pulling Kaminari back into view of the camera. Kaminari was somehow paler than before, but sweat was covering his face and he was breathing heavily, one of his fingers swollen and bent at an awkward angle. Still, he wore a determined look on his face, like he was ready to fight on. Deku had a tight grip on Kaminari's wrist, but when a few sparks crackled around him, Deku didn't even flinch. Uraraka only then noticed that he was wearing thick, rubber gloves. "If you all don't come, we'll see how Kaminari handles the pain that I suffered through when I was first learning my quirk." Tsu gasped behind them and Kirishima hissed, but Uraraka held on tight, staring Deku down. "You've got an hour."

The screen went black and Uraraka was left to look at her own reflection. She looked lost. She felt lost.

"What do we do?" Kirishima asked in the silence.

Bakugou snorted. "Obviously we go there and kick his ass."

"Doesn't fighting on his grounds sound like a bad idea?" Kirishima wondered out loud. "I mean, we have no idea what we're walking into. He's obviously not alone, but we don't know how many villains he has with him."

"It's a trap," Tsu added.

"You think I don't know that?" Bakugou rounded on them, his red eyes looking like they were on fire. They were all too used to him to flinch, but it would've sent anyone that didn't know him scrambling. "But what other choice do we have? Kaminari might be an idiot, but do you want him to suffer a very slow and painful death?"

That shut them all up. Deciding quickly with a few glances towards each other, the other three rushed to suit up as well. By the time they were ready, it was likely other pro heroes that were now involved in this situation would be on their way to the location. Uraraka wasn't certain what Deku would do if heroes showed up to Kaminari's residence and they didn't, but she thought it would be awful.

One thing she had noticed was that during their confrontations so far, Deku hadn't really been angry. He'd had flashes of fury, but then it would fade away by the time the fighting began. He hadn't fought in anger. She had a feeling that if he did, the devastation would be immense. They had to keep him from getting like that. How was another matter. They couldn't exactly make him happy without caving to his insane demands, which they were still unsure about.

Uraraka padded over to Bakugou, who was down on the ground lacing up his boots. "I don't think I'm the main target here."

"What do you mean?" Bakugou tied his boots so tight that it looked painful. "He all but demanded you hand yourself over to him."

Fiddling with her helmet in her hands, Uraraka chewed on her words carefully before continuing. "Well, he had Kaminari call you, not me. Maybe he thought he'd get a hold of me that way, but if you had done what he'd told you to do and stayed away from me-"

"Not likely," Bakugou rumbled.

"-then he wouldn't have been able to see me," Uraraka finished, ignoring his interjection. "He also brought up the fact that I wouldn't come alone and that Todoroki would be coming." Bakugou finally looked up at her, tilting his head back and watching her through narrowed but not disbelieving eyes. She stilled her hands. "I think you and Todoroki are the real targets. I'm just…"

Bakugou arched an eyebrow. "The cherry on top?"

As much as she liked sundaes, Uraraka wasn't a fan of this one. It made sense to her though. Deku had more or less said that the League of Villains wanted Todoroki and Bakugou dead. They were both strong enough with their quirks and rising fast in the hero ranks that they would prove to be an issue for any villainous activity. Besides, using Uraraka as the reason, they were pointing Deku like a missile at his former friends. Maybe he believed in what the League was doing and maybe he was just there for the ride, but his desires and theirs lined up for now with Bakugou and Todoroki acting as a barrier between him and Uraraka.

I just want this to end, she'd said. What she had really meant was, I want you to come home.

But Uraraka was starting to realize that it would never be possible. Even if the old Deku did come back, it wouldn't erase all the things that his new Deku had done.

Bakugou jumped to his feet. "Likely he's got a few villains handpicked to counteract our quirks." He wiped his sweaty hands off on his baggy pants. It seemed like a casually haphazard thing to do, considering that he was essentially rubbing explosives on himself. "But I'm not letting that stop me. I told you I'd get him and that's what I'm gonna do." He gave her a look. "Can't promise that he won't be more than a little busted up."

A little busted up was a grave understatement considering how much she knew Bakugou wanted to fight Deku. It wasn't just about blasting him to next Tuesday. This was a serious grudge match, a long time coming. She kind of thought that Bakugou believed Deku had held back some, at least a little, to ensure that no one was seriously hurt, but Deku wouldn't do that now. When he punched, he would be aiming to kill.

A sudden hand on her cheek startled Uraraka out of her thoughts and she peered up at him. The touch was a lot more intimate than the ones she was used to from him, but it had the effect of forcing her full attention on him and letting her know how deadly serious he was. There was that strange, unreadable look on his face again, like the one from their last quiet night. "Promise me," he said in a low voice, "if things go south, if we can't take him, you'll get out. Grab Kaminari, whoever you can, and go."

Uraraka bristled and hardened her expression. "I'm not just going to leave you two. This is my fight too."

"Promise me," Bakugou repeated. "Save who you can and get out."

She would've argued with him more if not for the way his voice cracked just a hair. It was almost unnoticeable. Maybe if she hadn't been staring at him, she would've missed it, but she didn't and it caused her to hesitate. His fingertips were as rough as hers on her cheek, but his was from multiple explosions and burns. "What if I want to save you?"

"Then it better not be at your expense," Bakugou told her, "or you'll have wasted my time and you know how much I hate it when people do that."

Taking a breath, she nodded her head, silently agreeing to his terms, even if she didn't like it. Only then did he pull his hand away. The main goal was to stop Deku, but obviously saving people and keeping them safe was a top priority as well. Being in the city, there was a chance for massive collateral damage. Tsu had told her while they were getting ready that the pro heroes were going to attempt to evacuate the area as much as possible. Deku's reaction to that worried her, but if his main focus was on Bakugou and Todoroki, then he might not care.

The thought that Deku didn't care about innocent lives was a very painful one.