Notes: So I'm actually writing the last chapter now, and shit hurts. I can't believe I'm almost done with this fic.

"You're still blaming yourself, but you can't do that. It'll only serve as a distraction."

"Speaking from experience?"

"Of course."

Bakugou didn't look back at All Might, choosing to stare out the window instead. It was hard to look at his former teacher for multiple reasons, but the main one definitely had to be the mutual pain. He'd struggled to deal with the reveal of All Might's true form during his fight with All for One, but watching him suffer through what Deku had been turned into was somehow worse. It broke him down. Bakugou couldn't handle seeing the hero who had inspired him shatter into pieces.

He could be as strong as he wanted in front of everyone, but this was killing him worse than the injury that had claimed his ability to be a full-time hero.

Leaning forward with his elbows on his thighs, Bakugou rubbed his face. "How the hell are we supposed to fight this? How are we supposed to fight him?"

"It's a matter of will," All Might said. "Our will is stronger than his because it's not truly his own."

"That's good and all," Bakugou muttered, "but you know what is his own? His power. I'm not worried about what he wants to accomplish. I'm thinking about how he's going to do it."

All that power in his entire body - there was no one in the world that could compete with it. Bakugou knew he was one of the strongest heroes in Japan, but Deku's power was unlike anything else. He had more power in one of his fucked up hands than many people combined. Bakugou dropped his hands and stared down at his palms, the skin littered with scars and calluses. He hadn't had soft hands since before his quirk manifested, but maybe he should've been softer in the beginning. It wasn't him and never would be, but maybe…

Bakugou clenched his hands into fists. "We're fucked. How the hell are we supposed to take down the guy who ended All for One? That guy survived even you in the end, and Deku defeated him. That bastard took out countless heroes and almost destroyed the country. The only reason we're still standing in because of Deku, and he wasn't even a proper hero yet. He… He..."

It wasn't something any of them thought about often. Deku never talked about it. To be frank, he could've made the immediate jump to pro hero, but he'd refused. He wanted to walk the same path as anyone else. In his mind, while he had a quirk that was special, he wasn't anything special alone. He wanted to prove himself in the eyes of the public that he wasn't just that moment. It was stupid. He hadn't just ended All for One's reign. He hadn't just defeated the enemy that had haunted One for All.

Deku had changed the world.

If it had been Bakugou in his place, he would've taken everything offered to him. He would have stepped up to become a pro instead of slumming it as a sidekick. He wasn't sure he wouldn't have let all that praise and awe get the better of his ego, which was another embarrassing thing to admit. Deku's confidence had shaken Bakugou in the beginning, but it was his lack of arrogance that truly tripped him up. How could he not be? He'd done something that All Might himself couldn't even do - that no one could do but him.

How in the hell were they supposed to fight him?

"It's true that we can't fight him head-on," All Might admitted. "We'll have to find another way."

"Gee, why didn't I think of that? I'll just pull another idea out of my ass and get to work." Bakugou pulled himself upright and then stood up, barely refraining from kicking the chair he'd been sitting in. He made the mistake of making eye contact with All Might and averted his gaze quickly. It wasn't fast enough. He saw the look on his face, and he hated it - protective, worried. The kind of look he gave him back in school. "I'm not doing that."

All Might sighed. "I know you don't want to hear it, but taking yourself out of the equation might help."

"I'm not doing that! I'm not running away and hiding. I can't!" Bakugou paced the room in a circle, stomping loud enough to rattle the table. All Might didn't complain or point out that there could be someone in the room under them. His silence only made him more uncomfortable. It was so understanding that it made him sick. "You think Deku would run away if the situation was reversed?"

"No, he wouldn't."

"I'm not an idiot - I know it would probably be for the best - but I can't…" Bakugou stopped pacing and took a deep breath. "I can't abandon him like that." He hung his head. "Like it or not, we've always been tied together, ever since we were kids. I used to hate that shit, even more so when we were at UA. It was like I couldn't shake him, but… Where would I be without him? When he was gone…"

Bakugou wasn't good at grieving. He wasn't good at showing his emotions period, but he'd learned along the way in time. He'd gotten better about it. All of Deku's crying used to piss him off, only to find out the ugly truth that he was prone to tears as well. It was disgusting, but sometimes that rage would blow up into something else and the only way he could get it out of his system was grief. How much had he cried after Deku's death? Spent hours in a gym pummeling a punching bag until he was out of energy and tears?

"It was almost impossible to move on," All Might continued for him. He turned to look out the same window that Bakugou had been resolutely staring out before. "Nearly my entire life was built around One for All. It was such a timeless thing, so I never expected it to come to such an abrupt end. I should've told him to make preparations for in case something happened, but with All for One gone, I didn't think he would… I didn't expect him to die."

"No one did," Bakugou said bitterly. "He was the strongest hero the world had ever known."

"What you all went through that night - I can't imagine the shock and grief you experienced." All Might shook his head. "It's hard to think that any villain or organization after All for One could be powerful enough to take him out, but it wasn't about power. It never has been, and Izuku knew that."

Of course Deku knew that: he'd grown up in a society that pushed him aside and mocked him for his quirklessness - in a world where he was considered weak simply because of how he'd been born. He wasn't weak though, no matter how much Bakugou had tried to ingrain it in him to ensure Deku was always below him. Bakugou had used his quirk as a means to be considered strong - his quirk meant he had power - but it was all wrong. At the end of the day, when that sludge villain attacked him, his power was shit. The heroes trying to save him were shit and were even forced to stop helping him in an attempt to buy time until someone stronger came.

Eventually, someone stronger did arrive - All Might appeared to save the day - but it was only because pathetic, weak, quirkless, powerless Deku stepped in first. Without his intervention, Bakugou likely would've been dead. Ironic considering there was a high possibility that he would be dead soon enough thanks to Deku.

"The villain… This man that took Izuku and warped him into this awful mockery of him - he's nothing. In the long run, most people would see him as incredibly weak - and he is - but we should know by now that quirks aren't just about strength or power or flashiness - that people are more than that." All Might pushed himself to his feet, his old bones rattling under his thin skin, and stepped closer to the glass. Sometime after midday, the sun was high in the sky, shining down on them brutally even through the window. Bakugou peered at his reflection out of the corners of his eyes. "No one could've imagined that a small, mental quirk like that could be used for such evil. It's unimaginable that a man who based his life on helping people overcome their trauma turned into a villain who used their trauma against them. He puts their pain on display for everyone to see."

Deku's pain being Bakugou's and society's treatment of his quirkless status, the ugly underbelly of the hero world, the repeated abuse his body had gone through in order to live up to All Might's expectations, the loss of Uraraka and his old life… It was a lot to take in. Bakugou wasn't sure if Deku completely understood everything bearing down on him - some of what Uraraka said he talked about didn't make sense - but it likely wouldn't matter anymore. He was done. He was ready for this to be over with.

Bakugou could understand that. He was ready too. It was time to truly face the actions of his consequences. Was it fair to put all the blame on his shoulders? No, it wasn't, but he wouldn't argue with Deku over that. It didn't matter. He had done what he'd done and he would die trying to save Deku or he wouldn't. If it was his death that spurned Deku to return to them… Bakugou sighed. He had to accept that reality too. A hero had to face the truth that they might die in the line of duty.

Deku had and now it was his turn.

Taking a deep breath, Bakugou started, "Do you think if I-?" when a loud explosion rattled the building.

All Might put a hand on the glass to steady himself while Bakugou stood his ground. The explosion had been close but not at the building they were in. An alarm rang shrilly, like the day Shigaraki had destroyed the front gate and reporters had flooded onto the grounds. Doors opening and shouting could be heard from the hallway as other people in the building began to react, but none of that seemed to matter to All Might who simply stared out the window in shock.

"What the fuck?" Bakugou's eyes locked onto a pillar of smoke rising in the air like a signal. He gritted his teeth and let out a low growl. It was a signal. Maybe it wasn't meant for him specifically, but he took it that way anyway.

That smoke proclaimed, I am here!

"He's here?" Bakugou growled. "They fucking came to UA?"

"I didn't think…" All Might's hand on the glass clenched into a fist. "There are children here. I didn't think he would come. I hoped..."

"That bastard! He should know better. We were attacked by villains as students too. He should know. What the hell did that guy put in his head?"

Fuck. What the hell were they doing here? Not even Bakugou had thought Deku would stoop so low as to attack innocent kids. If they attending UA, most of the hero course students would be able to take care of themselves and hold their own - they had their first month at school - but that didn't make it okay. The Deku he knew would have thrown himself into the fire before attacking a kid. How the hell had that asshole villain manage to convince him this was the right move?

Bakugou's eyes flickered from the smoke to All Might. Maybe it wasn't the school itself he was after, but what it represented.

For as long as Bakugou could remember, he had wanted to attend UA. He would attend it. When Deku shakily admitted to wanting to apply as well, he'd been infuriated. How could a quirkless stupid little shit possibly think he could be on the same level as him? There wasn't even any competition. Did Deku really believe he was as good as him? Did he think so lowly of him? UA had represented the future. Getting accepted would mean he would become a pro hero - he would be the best. It spurned him forward. He didn't care who he was leaving behind in the dust. He was going the distance. His quirk was stronger than anyone else's and he'd prove it there.

That was the start of so much for them. UA was the goal, the dream, the path. It was the start of their lives as heroes. It was the beginning of everything.

The moment Bakugou ran to the door, All Might finally ripped his gaze away and turned on his heels. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Bakugou demanded, his hand on the half-open door. "I'm ending this."

An alarmed expression crossed All Might's face. "You can't be serious. You're not ready-"

"I know I'm not ready!" Bakugou exploded. He didn't have his hero costume on him, none of his support gear, not even all of his confidence. He was running on fumes and uncontrollable emotions. It was like Deku gave them enough time to recover physically, but not enough to deal with things emotionally. He was on edge, pissed, and stressed the hell out. His mind kept leaping to his and Uraraka's kiss and all the longing he'd poured into it, all the grief and pain, and how it wasn't right.

Damnit, Deku, it wasn't fair. I didn't want it to be like that with her. I wanted it to be okay. I wanted her to be happy.

Everything was spiraling out of control, and if he could grasp this moment and take a moment to breathe for just one second, he'd be grateful. He couldn't though, not when he felt like he was running out of time. The clock was up. This was it. He was completely unprepared, but he couldn't hesitate for a second. This was his bed, and he was going to fucking lie in it even if it was the last thing he did. He would do whatever it took to bring Deku back to their side. Whatever it fucking took.

Bakugou tightened his grip on the edge of the door, his knuckles turning white. "I know I'm not ready. I know… I know this could be it." He took a deep breath. "But you're right. Deku's stronger than me, but it's not about power. It's about conviction. His heart ain't in this shit. He's still in there, that caring asshole that drove me mad."

Deku had genuinely believed that he was helping Todoroki by allowing Kyomu to use his quirk on him. He'd thought he was protecting Uraraka. He'd taken out villains to protect her and make her area a safer place. All that awful shit, and he'd done them with the purest of intentions. He'd done some evil, but he wasn't evil. Bakugou would never believe that. That caring side was his true strength. He had sacrificed himself to save Uraraka. If anything, the least Bakugou could do was return the favor.

After all, at the end of the day, it was always going to be them.

"I have to do this," Bakugou said. "I have to end this."

All Might started for the door. "I'm coming with you-"

"No! You can't fight, so you'll only get in the way."

"Izuku is my responsibility," All Might proclaimed. "I passed on One for All to him. I swore to teach him, protect him, and it is my duty to do that even now." Weak as his body was, Bakugou still saw him as the hero he had admired so much as a child. It would never fade from him, not entirely. "Maybe, if I can get through to him somehow…"

"He could kill you," Bakugou pointed out.

All Might didn't even blink. "I know. That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

Weren't they all? Bakugou didn't want to admit to being scared. He'd never done it before and he wouldn't start now. Still, when the anger and pain on Deku's face after he struck Iida flashed in his mind, he almost hesitated. Running wasn't an option - it had never been one - but there was a tiny, insecure part of him that didn't want to do this. He couldn't beat Deku. That wasn't how this would end, not when it had started that way. This wasn't about winning or losing.

It was about saving someone. That was what Deku would do.

Shoving the door open, Bakugou stepped out into a hallway. The alarm pierced his ears, lights flashing in warning. Another thunderous boom shook the building, and the ceiling lights flickered. With the classrooms in another building and school being in session, the hallways here were nearly empty save for a few staff members scrambling to figure out what to do. Not every employee at UA was a licensed hero, but there was protocol to be followed in case of an attack.

No one thought about such things like that anymore. It had been a very peaceful few years.

During Bakugou's time at UA, there had been three attacks on the school if they counted that first one where the door was disintegrated, but there hadn't been one since his graduation. UA had bulked up its security, changed up things where cracks had been made, and installed a better defense system. It would never be flawless, but villains would think a few times before trying to break in here.

Granted, shit like that didn't mean much to someone with One for All.

As Bakugou ran for the stairwell, his phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out as he shoved the door open with his shoulder and bolted down the stairs, barking, "You better get your ass here!"

"I am, I am!" Kirishima shouted on the other end. "We just got the call. Shit, is this really happening?"

"You hear the alarms? It's happening. I don't even have my fucking suit."

"Shit. I can't believe Midoriya…" Kirishima's voice was shaky. He must've been running too as the heroes at his agency mobilized. Bakugou wasn't going to say it, but he thought they were too far away. By the time they arrived, this whole place could be leveled. After less than a week of having One for All, Deku had been able to destroy a building with one punch. He'd seen what Deku was capable of years later after honing it into his own power, but even then, he'd always had to hold back a little.

He'd continued to hold back. Time and time again, when he shouldn't have - when he should've used everything he had to destroy him - he held back. Afraid. Unsure. Resistant. Maybe it was more of a subconscious act, but after what he'd told Uraraka in her apartment, he was aware of it now. He wanted this over, and so he'd brought the fight right back to where everything truly began for them.

Bakugou rounded the stairs for the third floor. "Just get-" An explosion blew him back into the wall, knocking his phone out of his hand and knocked the wind out of his lungs. He caught himself with the railing to keep from falling to his knees. Coughing and waving a hand in front of his face, he lifted himself upright and wasn't surprised to find a hole in the wall. What did startle him was Cementoss thrown into the wall on the second floor of the stairwell.

"Hey!" Bakugou shouted at the top stairs.

"Go!" Cementoss replied back shakily. Shit. At least he was conscious, even if he was struggling to move after being thrown through the wall. Gritting his teeth, Bakugou jumped out of the freshly made exit and used his quirk to land safely on the ground. Kirishima was probably freaking out about the call being interrupted by an explosion, but there was nothing to be done.

The worst of the fighting hadn't reached them yet, but it was scattered through the massive campus. The heroes could've held any villains at the front, but judging by the line cut through the ground as if a meteor had struck, Deku had broken through it. Once allowed inside, Kurogiri was able to transport other villains throughout the campus to spread out the fights. Heroes were left to scramble to reach them in time, on top of trying to evacuate students without provisional hero licenses and non-hero personnel. Smoke was everywhere, along with the telltale signs of blue fire mixing with orange and red flames, and the grounds half-destroyed.

It was a fucking disaster.

Using an explosion to launch himself in the air, he collided with a bug-winged villain attacking a pair of students and snatched him by his ugly ass face. A stinger came up from behind to attack him, but he used another explosion to send them crashing into the ground. The impact was powerful enough to cause a crater in the grass and rendered the villain unconscious.

Bakugou stood up over him and pointed at the shocked students. "What class are you in?"

"Gen Studies, 2-E," the girl replied unthinkingly. Shit, he'd hoped they were Heroics students so they would be familiar with combat, but the majority of students didn't use their quirks often. She stared at him like she'd never seen a hero before, her friend grabbing onto her tight enough to hurt. Maybe she recognized him as Ground Zero, but it would've been easier with his suit on. If she didn't, she probably just thought he was a civilian.

"Get as far away from here as you can," Bakugou ordered as he stepped over the bug villain. "If you find any other students, take them with you. Getting separated will only make this more dangerous. Do not engage in combat unless it is to defend yourself! Do you understand?" The kids nodded. "Go!"

Back in the day when put in this same situation, he hadn't understood why he wasn't allowed to outright fight the villains that attacked them. However, he was old enough now to realize that fighting an opponent and defending one's self were two different things. Quirks should be allowed to be used freely, but letting everyone fight would only cause mayhem. Plus, it drew attention to them. If the students stayed under the radar, the villains would focus more on the heroes fighting.

Bakugou had been like a signal to every villain. So filled with determination to prove himself and anger over being perceived as weak and needing protection, he'd practically invited any villain to attack him. He spent years with that itch to fight buried deep in his skin.

Ironic that the last thing he wanted to do now was fight for the first time in his life.

Once the students ran, Bakugou shot toward the thickest part of the fighting. Once he caught sight of Aizawa, he dropped in beside him, kicking a villain away that had tried to attack his old teacher from behind.

Aizawa jerked around. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I was talking with All Might," Bakugou said. "This must be my lucky day."

"You shouldn't be here-"

"Where is he?" Bakugou wasn't going to hide. Neither was Deku. If Uraraka was aware of what was going on, he had no doubt she was on her way too. This was it.

Aizawa huffed. "You're only going to make this worse-"

" Where is he ?" Bakugou demanded again. They didn't have time for this bullshit. He didn't care if Aizawa thought this was another grudge match between him and Deku. It had never really been about that in the end, had it? This was between them, however. He didn't want anymore people to get caught in the crossfire.

Pressing his lips together, Aizawa jerked a head to his left. "Last I saw him was near the main campus building. I've been trying to make my way there, but we didn't anticipate this many villains."

"Kyomu's got a talent in recruiting." Bakugou's eyes locked on the building, and he grit his teeth. "That's where most of the students are."

Would Deku really attack them? It went against everything in him. He hadn't attacked Kota. He'd given time for civilians to be evacuated. Besides Endeavor's agency, he'd chosen the least populated area en route from Uraraka's place to UA to attack Todoroki for the first time. It was one thing to put him against Bakugou, All Might, and hero society, but it shouldn't have been possible to twist him so much that he'd attack kids. How far gone was he?

They ran in that direction. With Aizawa erasing quirks, Bakugou was able to easily take out villains so that they didn't have to stop. He would've been able to without Aizawa's help, but damn if it wasn't convenient and quick. Now they just had to get one over Deku. After cutting a path to the main building, Bakugou dropped down and switched into stealth mode. It wasn't his forte, but it was right up Aizawa's alley.

However, right when Bakugou pointed at a hole in the building where Aizawa could get the perfect vantage point and still hide, green lightning flashed in the corners of his eyes. He jerked back in an attempt to get out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough, still getting clipped in the shoulder and being thrown back. He let off two minor explosions to correct his course and keep from crashing into a pole, but it was a close call. Aizawa's reflections were perhaps faster, but he was still struck and knocked into a wall. He only avoided a direct hit likely due to Bakugou being the target. The lightning and blurred figure darted up a wall until it stopped where he'd been trying to point.

Smug, little bastard knew that too.

"Hey, Kacchan, you up for a little high school reunion?" Deku called out, holding out his hands. "UA sure brings back memories, doesn't it? I'm sure you got a kick out of beating the shit out of me, but I guess I got the last laugh." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Didn't you say you were always going to be stronger than me?" A grin crossed his face, his green eyes lighting up dangerously. "Why don't we replay some memories from our last year when I kicked your ass in everything?"

Explosions rattled in Bakugou's hand in preparation. "You damn nerd!" Damnit, Deku was still cheesy as hell. That mental headcase villain apparently couldn't change that about him. "What are you doing here?"

"Just figured I'd come back to where it all began," Deku said, shrugging casually. "I should've known you'd already be here. You must be so worried about All Might."

"Yeah, and he's worried about you too!" Bakugou shot back. "I don't know what for when you're clearly busy being a damn idiot!"

"He isn't worried about me," Deku snapped coldly, any amusement on his face dying. "He's just worried about his precious power!"

"Of course he fucking is! You were the Number One Hero! You were his hero!"

Deku shook his head, but it looked more like he was trying to get rid of something than say no. He closed his eyes and put a hand to the side of his shaking head until finally he snapped out of it. He opened his eyes and threw his hand down as his quirk's power surged around it. Bakugou narrowed his eyes. It looked like Kyomu wasn't the only one in Deku's head. Hadn't All Might said something about the vestiges of One for All helping him out when Shinsou brainwashed him all those years ago?

"He doesn't-" Deku clenched his fist. "It was just a facade!"

"Bullshit!"

"Shut up!" Deku slammed a fist into the wall of the building, sending a crack through the concrete and shattering glass. It wasn't a blow at his strongest, but it still made people below panic. "You weren't the one breaking your body every damn week for his approval!"

"That's stupid, and you know it!" Bakugou hunched over and threw his hands behind him. "You wanna keep talking or you wanna end this now?"

For once, Deku didn't respond. He simply raised the bottom half of his mask over his face and glared at him over the metal contraption, the same rage and pain Bakugou felt burning in his bright eyes. They weren't dead-looking any longer. Good. Bakugou was tired of talking.

Uraraka had to fight every urge in her body to shove the officer aside and take over driving. He was going as fast as he could, but it wasn't fast enough for her. The agency she worked at was en route to UA, so she had a sidekick bring out her hero costume when they swung by. She'd also called Shinsou to alert him and meet her there. He pulled up not a minute later, and she all but shoved him into the passenger seat while she clambered in the back so she could change.

She'd never hated her costume more in her life. It wasn't that it was skintight or clunky. Her mind kept drifting back to Deku's comments about hero society and how broken it was. Shefelt like she was just another cog in the system even if Deku considered her a true hero. Was she? What made her any different from the others? She'd become a hero to make money - because she liked making people smile. It wasn't some powerful, unexplainable, altruistic reason had motivated her.

She was a part of that broken society too. Deku had worked hard during his time as a hero to fix it, going so far as to try to end the ranking system that had unknowingly ruined life. People had been very resistant to the idea as it was ingrained in both hero culture and society as a whole, but it was out-of-date and led to people becoming heroes for the wrong reasons.

All Deku wanted to do was fix that - except now that meant pruning the system of heroes like Endeavor and Bakugou. It harkened back to something they'd not talked about in years but she knew would always rest in the back of his mind. Stain. Simply thinking about him made Uraraka shudder. He'd looked at things differently after that night, but she hadn't found out why until many years later when he told her the truth about what happened.

In reality, heroes had failed so many people and not because they couldn't save them. They could be just as dangerous too. What had happened to Takumi and his family to turn him into Kyomu wasn't an excuse for what he had done, but it was something they'd overlooked. Heroes were trained to consider collateral damage, but it wasn't like it was on the forefront of their minds during a villain attack. Most heroes considered attacking first and defending second.

Even Endeavor had been known for causing collateral damage in the process of fighting villains. It was one of the main complaints from his critics. That wasn't even taking his hidden treatment of his family into consideration, which had been fueled by the hero ranking system and his own jealousy and greed. In his tortured mental state, Todoroki had used that to his advantage. It had been his focus outside of destroying Endeavor completely.

Shinsou stiffened in his seat. "Holy shit. Is that...from UA?"

Uraraka leaned forward in the middle to see through the front windshield. "What-?" The blood drained from her face. "Oh my god."

Thick, dark smoke rose above the city skyline. It reminded her of when she and Bakugou arrived at Endeavor's agency, but it was worse. An explosion of blue flames burst high enough to be seen over the buildings, followed by a thunderous boom strong enough to rattle all the vehicles in the street. The officer barely managed to keep their car on course, but it helped that he didn't have to worry about traffic. They were the only vehicle heading toward the destruction.

What had Deku done?

Multiple reports blared over the radio, but it only gave them a glimpse of what was going on. Even taking Deku's unparalleled strength into consideration, she didn't think they had the gall or manpower to launch a full scale attack on UA. Attacking Endeavor's agency had been a gamble, but with Todoroki on their side, it had been worth it. He could start off with a devastating blow that distracted heroes while the other villains attacked.

UA was different. The security systems would mean very little to someone with Deku's power. He'd broken into a maximum security prison with one hit. There weren't as many pro heroes, but there were also around a hundred students throughout the three years that were close to the equivalent of a sidekick. They would need more than a handful of villains to destroy the very thing which Deku believed fostered an unhealthy and poisonous her ideology.

She couldn't picture the few villains she'd seen being capable of that even if they had attacked a hero agency. According to the reports on the radio, there was a hell of a lot more villains than any of the first responders had anticipated. It was like the USJ attack all over again. They could take care of it. They could handle this. How many villains had Aizawa taken down on his own before that Nomu had nearly killed him?

But the students… The children… Potential collateral damage like that would be a terrible distraction, one that would likely cost lives. The heroes would do everything they could to protect them. How could Deku agree to doing something like this? There were lives and futures and dreams at stake. Was he so angry and hurt that he would take it out on kids who had once been like him?

"There's no way I'll be able to get close," the officer said as she turned right onto the street that led directly to UA. "I can drop-"

"Watch out!" Shinsou shouted.

A line cracked down the street toward them, asphalt and concrete breaking apart as if an earthquake had struck. The officer swerved to avoid it, but it was impossible to avoid. Uraraka slammed her palms on the car door and activated her quirk. Combined with the car's momentum, the action launched them ahead in the air. Shinsou and Uraraka slammed into side, but they were high enough to avoid the damaged street, which could've killed them had it hit them. It continued to shatter underneath them as the car rolled upside down when Uraraka spotted a figure at the end of the street. She recognized him despite the distance. One of the villains that had attacked outside of Kaminari's apartment.

"How attached to this car are you?" Uraraka asked the officer.

"Um, I've got full coverage insurance…"

Uraraka turned to Shinsou. "Slingshot?"

He considered her suggestion. Luckily, neither one of them were unused to being upside down thanks to their quirks or support gear. "I'd need to have my gravity again in order to have any pull."

"Okay, get you and Officer Ango to the ground. I'll take care of the rest."

Kicking his door open, Shinsou attached the end of his scarf to a light post and used it pull him and the officer out of the car and closer to a part of the ground that hadn't been destroyed. Uraraka pressed the tips of her fingers together and deactivated her quirk. It was only for a second, but the car lurched as it fell to the earth. She took away its gravity again only a second later. She clambered out of the car as if it was underwater and then kicked it in Shinsou's direction.

Now fully on the ground and with his gravity returned, Shinsou wrapped his capture scarf around one of the open car doors. Using his body's weight, he jerked on it as hard as he could and threw the car like a rock in a slingshot. When he released his scarf's hold on the car, Uraraka returned its weight and landed onto the roof of a building. The villain threw himself to the side to dodge the car when it crashed and rolled down the street. Shinsou used the distraction of the car to his advantage, using the scarf to jerk himself forward and slam a foot into the villain's chest.

When the villain slapped the sidewalk to use his quirk, Shinsou said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Oh yeah-?"

Uraraka dropped down next to him and looked down at the vacant expression on the villain's face. He hadn't even known what had hit him before Shinsou's quirk brainwashed him. "They really can't help themselves, can they?"

"Everyone's gotta have the last word," Shinsou sighed.

After handcuffing him behind the back, they passed the dazed villain off to the officer, who was also in something of a daze staring at the ruins of her car. It hadn't exploded like cars did in the movies, but it was utterly destroyed. The villain's presence told them one thing. They were trying to keep as many heroes from joining the fray, a wall of sorts to keep others from invading and causing problems. Getting in on foot would be better - or rather the air. Neither of them needed their feet on the ground in order to get somewhere.

"You ready?" Uraraka asked.

"Hell no," Shinsou replied even as he pulled up the mask of his voice regulator.

Using a combination of their quirks, they made their way to the school, landing on top of a building just outside the gate to assess the situation. It was like the agency all over again, except much more familiar, a hit much closer to home.

Memories of her time at UA overlapped with the destruction she saw now. An outcrop of trees where she had sometimes done her homework on nice days was on fire. Her first dorm building looked close to toppling. Fire, debris, and more littered the ground. The front gate was gone, a massive cut in the ground reaching all the way to the main campus as if a meteor had struck. Deku must have used his quirk to cut a path through the heroes and security features.

Even worse, the reports on the radio had been right. There were a lot more villains than expected, multiple battles having broken out between them, heroes, and even students. Uraraka recognized a few villains on the grounds: Dabi, who seemed sluggish but even more chaotic with his flames, Compress, who was up against Midnight and a group of students, Kurogiri, and even Mizumi whose quirk wasn't fit for combat.

Where had all the others come from? Had more villains started to crawl out of the woodwork once Deku's turn came to light? It made sense. They would be bolstered by his seeming support of their cause to take down hero society. He had made a good face for the heroes, but a fallen hero turned villain was even better. He wasn't a villain so much as leading a rebellion.

It was worse than she could've ever imagined.

"Do you see Deku?" Uraraka asked as she tried to pick out the telltale signs of his or Bakugou's quirk. Both were flashy enough to be seen through the madness.

Shinsou pointed to the main campus building. "Pretty sure I saw him there." He jumped upright. "Shit! It's him, and he-"

A whirlwind of an explosion shook the buildings, but it was Deku cutting through it to slam into the ground created a shockwave powerful enough to be felt even where they stood above them. It took nearly everyone out, blowing his own comrades back along with anyone around him. Uraraka's heart jumped, demanding to go to him, and she wasted no time in leaping off the building with Shinsou calling after her. The blow to the ground had loosened the dorm building even more, debris crashing to the ground. No one should've been in it at this time, but the threat of a collapse still terrified her.

Throwing out a hand, Uraraka caught the end of the capture rope and activated her quirk. There wasn't anything close enough for Shinsou to use to get onto the campus grounds quickly. She used a quick boost from the rockets in her boots to shoot them over the perimeter and land in a spot not overcrowded by fighting. Easier said than done when it looked like a free-for-all melee. There was little she could do to save the building except warn everyone nearby. It was even more weight than the top of the agency building she'd used her quirk on, and she didn't want to wear herself out completely right off the bat.

"I'll get as many people away from this area as possible," Uraraka told Shinsou.

Shinsou furrowed his brow. "What about Deku?"

Uraraka shook her head. "No, seeing me will only reinforce what he thinks he has to do." As much as it pained her to stay away, she was almost positive her presence would only make Deku believe he had to finally get rid of Bakugou more. She had to trust her friends to take care of him. "You need to find Deku and Bakugou. Maybe he'll be distracted enough for you to trick him."

"Got it." Shinsou darted into the fray and vanished from sight, leaving Uraraka to get to work.

Maybe students were surprised to see Uravity on the scene, but there wasn't time to think about it when she alerted them to the unstable building behind them. More heroes had appeared on the scene after the attack, so no one questioned her presence. If anyone looked at her strangely, they ran the moment they saw the building wobbling. Even villains hesitated.

She ran up behind a villain with some sort of slime-producing quirk while he attacked a student, but her hand slid right off his arm when she went to grab him. She grimaced in disgust and ducked when he threw his arm back to strike him, kicking his legs out from underneath him. Before he could get up, she slapped him in the chest, grabbed him by the front of his shirt as she stood up, and threw him into another villain rushing to attack. She heaved a breath. There were so many.

Was Deku's turn against hero society truly that inspiring to them?

"Oh, hey, Uravity, just the hero I wanted to see!"

Uraraka turned around to the sound of the voice, stumbling back away from a wall of blue flames that cut her off from everyone else. They weren't close enough to actually hurt her, but an uncomfortable heat washed over her. The flames faded from his hands, smoke seeping out from between the staples of his wrists. She clenched her hands into fists, prepared to fight, but then he held up and waved his hands, and she hesitated.

"You're looking a little rough around the edges," Uraraka said, taking note of the new wounds on his body. Instead of more burns, however, they were cuts that hadn't fully healed yet. Considering his propensity to scar, she had a feeling they never would if he made it out of this alive. Judging by the way he was swaying and his feet were shifting, like he was drunk, she wasn't sure if he would. Still, his eyes were still sharp despite his rather sluggish behavior, and Uraraka narrowed hers.

A tired grin pulled at Dabi's lips. "You saying I don't look good?" No, he really didn't, and that wasn't counting the scars. Despite the flames surrounding them, the unscarred parts of his skin were pale and covered in cuts. "Ah, yeah, Hawks did a real number on me. Pretty rude of him, if you ask me. All I was doing was trying to protect my little brother."

At the mention of Todoroki, Uraraka bristled, fury flashing through her. "I don't have time for this." She bent down and touched a large branch that had been ripped from a tree during an earlier skirmish.

"Shouto-" Dabi awkwardly stepped forward but halted himself when Uraraka jerked her eyes back to him, his hands twitching in the air. He could still produce flames. She didn't care what he said. He was still a threat. "Shouto, is he-?"

"His life is ruined," Uraraka snapped. "Even if he could be a hero after what happened - after what he did - he wouldn't take the opportunity." She didn't want to think that Todoroki was broken forever. After everything that happened to him, he'd still had a fighting spirit that burned to protect others. He was so passionate and strong. That side of him couldn't be gone. It couldn't . "The amount of guilt and stress that he's under - he thinks he should be locked up for good. He's devastated."

A strained grimace flickered across Dabi's face, one that she might've described as abashed if she wasn't too furious with him. "I figured that was the case. I was kinda hoping he clammed up - that maybe I could take the blame - but that's not him. He's not a liar. Dumb kid with all that honor bullshit crammed in his head. He's too good."

"Don't act like you give a shit about him." Uraraka tightened her grip on the barely floating branch. "All you cared about was ruining Endeavor - and that included his 'masterpiece', didn't it?"

Dabi stared at her, a flat dark look in his bright blue eyes, and admitted, "Maybe. Probably." The admission was like a punch to the gut, one that she was grateful Todoroki wasn't around to hear, but it also strangely eased some of the tension in her body. She hadn't expected Dabi to be upfront. "It's hard to say. I knew the quirk was making his pain worse. I wasn't as far gone as Midoriya to believe it was for the best, just that it'd be easier to accept if he gave in. It felt kind of good seeing him like that - seeing him as weak as me."

Disgust filled Uraraka to her core. Todoroki truly had been alone. She stood up, lifting the branch with her, but instead of backing away or lashing out at her, Dabi dropped his hands.

"I shouldn't have let him do that. I should've done it myself. I had a bad feeling - a wrong thought - but I didn't listen to it when he said he would do it himself. I was- I am the oldest. It was my responsibility." Dabi didn't look away from her as he spoke, not like Shouto had. Maybe he did feel guilty, but he'd accepted that his hate had turned him into an awful person a long time ago. "It wasn't what I wanted. I thought it was, but it wasn't- It wasn't like anything I'd imagined. All those years dreaming of that moment and there was nothing ."

"You know what Kyomu did," Uraraka said, "to Shouto, to you, to Deku. You know it's wrong."

"Yeah," Dabi breathed. "Yeah, I know."

Uraraka almost dropped the branch. "Then what are you still doing here? Your entire family is worried about you! Your mother-"

"I know!" Dabi shouted, flames bursting to life around his hands again. She tensed up in preparation, but he didn't attack her. "Shouto's avoiding them too, isn't he?" When she didn't answer, he nodded. As different as they were, there were still similarities too that she couldn't ignore. "I can't fix it. I can't change what happened to Shouto. But you know this has to end, one way or another. Kyomu put Midoriya on a rampage that isn't gonna stop for anything."

"I don't believe that." She refused.

"I tried to warn him. I really did." Dabi shook his head. "I knew he wasn't gonna listen to me, not fully, but I tried. That bastard dug deep in his head." He took a deep breath. "Once Midoriya ends this, I have to make sure his grudge doesn't spread to Shouto. I wasn't there for him, not even back then - I'll admit that - and Midoriya will probably kill me in the end, but- Kyomu has already hinted at his betrayal." He took a step back, swaying like he might fall over. The flames had started to die down around them. "I'm not a hero, not like Shouto. I'm a villain. I'm okay with that."

"And your family?" She thought of Rei pleading for Touya to be brought home alive, Natsuo's storming out of the room and vibrating with grief to the point of anger, Fuyumi's quiet tears. She thought of the pain Todoroki felt at knowing that some of the good memories he had of his oldest brother were fake. How could he forget about them?

Dabi held out his hands. "This is where I belong. I'm not that person anymore. It was always gonna end like this." He pulled one hand back, the flames growing stronger around it, and she stepped back. Was he actually going to attack her? "Thanks - for taking care of him. I mean it. He's had a lot of people fail him."

"Then stop-"

"I'm not the one you should be trying to convince," Dabi cut in. "I'm done for."

He released his flames without warning, forcing her to dodge to the side. A pained cry echoed in the air behind her, and she cried out, "No!" as she scrambled to her feet to help his victim. However, when she looked back, terrified of what she'd see, it wasn't a student or hero on the ground. She froze, gawking at the scene. It was another villain.

"Just like old times." Dabi waved the flames from his hand and sneered irritably. "Fucking idiot. That's why I had to block them off. The last thing we need is Midoriya going into berserk mode because you're injured or worse. No one would make it out alive if that happened." He gestured to the main campus where she thought she caught a glimpse of green light. Deku was so fast; she couldn't be sure if it was him or not. Bakugou's explosions blossomed over the trees. "If you wanna try to save him, maybe throw yourself off a building. Jump in front of him like Ingenium. That'll be a shock to the system. Or you can just let him end things and see if he snaps out of it like Shouto."

Uraraka released branch and her quirk on it. "That's not an option."

"Your loss." Dabi shrugged. "You sure you wanna get in the middle of that?"

"I don't have a choice," Uraraka told him. "I'm a hero."

Dabi laughed coldly. "Yeah, yeah, so was Midoriya." He took a few more steps back, his jacket whipping in the wind, and swept one hand so that fire flowed from his fingertips and separated them. She could easily jump them with her quirk, but she didn't go after him, choosing to watch him wave a hand. "Good luck. Tell my brother… Ah, well, it doesn't really matter."

He vanished into the smoke and fire. A part of her wanted to chase after him for Todoroki's sake, but he was right. He wasn't the one she needed to convince to come back to their side. Hopefully, Todoroki wouldn't be upset that she didn't try harder with his brother, although it hadn't felt like he was fully committed anymore either.

Turning on her heels, Uraraka tore in the direction of the main campus building where Dabi had pointed, her heart thundering in her chest. A loud boom forced her to halt, only for her to nearly scream in horror when she saw two people crash into the dorm building. Smoke and debris exploded from the building, crashing to the ground, as the violent crack of concrete breaking blared like a warning. It was too much for it to take. The building startled to topple over, but there was nothing anyone could do but run. Not even she could carry that much weight.

"Everyone, get out of the way!" Uraraka screamed.

There was no way everyone would make it out in time. Students, heroes, villains - far too many of them would be crushed. She couldn't save them.

Locked in a room that was just above his cell with the villains, Todoroki didn't have much of an idea about what was going on outside the holding facility. There wasn't a window to look outside either, but at least he had a room instead of a cage. The mattress was softer, the food better and more regular, the lighting was better, and he wasn't being mentally tortured twice a day, so it was perhaps around the same comfort level as living at home after his mother's institutionalization.

Before being captured ( Touya saved you, but is he really Touya? ), Todoroki hadn't minded being alone for most hours of the day. He had spent most of his childhood either locked in solitude, pretending to have a normal life with his mother, or training with his father. After his mother was taken away, he spent even more time alone. UA had been a shock to the system, one he'd steadfastly ignored up until the Sports Festival when he was forced to face the fact that he wasn't alone anymore.

He had truly thought he could become a hero without help from anybody, but in the end, he had even been forced to admit that he could even stand to learn from the Number Two Hero.

If anything, he would know what not to do in order to be better than him. His first step was to accept the help of others. It hadn't been easy. Right when others believed he had learned to be a team player, he immediately jumped back into working alone. It was second nature to him. He was incredibly strong. Other people, especially anyone weaker than him, would only hold him back.

It was such a foolish line of thinking. All that strength hadn't been able to help him for shit once Kyomu sunk his claws into him and Uraraka was gone. Alone at the villain's mercy, Todoroki had been nothing but helpless. In fact, his tendency to close in on himself and keep his emotions under wraps had only made things even worse for him and easier for Kyomu to twist everything up.

His mind became his own worst enemy - and it was a terrible, horrible place to be.

This room left him with only his mind to deal with. Perhaps luckily, he was constantly being pulled out for "talks" - a pleasant word for what he knew were interrogations. Psychiatrists and therapists had interviewed him along with Naomasa, a few heroes, and other people involved in the judicial system. Aizawa and All Might had managed a visit as well. He had a lawyer, although he wasn't sure what to do with her. He missed Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, Kaminari, and even Bakugou. He missed his family, but he couldn't handle seeing them. Even Shinsou's visit had pulled him out of his fog if only for a moment.

He was exhausted, but anything was better than being by himself. His mind wasn't the mixed up mess it had been after his father's death, but it still made him leery. Because he'd not spent as much time under Kyomu's hold, the memories he'd planted or changed hadn't been as fixed in his mind. He still wasn't quite sure how the quirk worked exactly, but he could sense it fading away until it was almost nothing and his mind was his own again.

Losing memories of Touya hurt all over again. He'd liked them because he hadn't had many to begin with and they'd been good. Some stayed. Touya's constant exhaustion and injuries, peeking through a crack in the bathroom door to watch him bandage his burns up. Touya ruffling his hair during lunch since it was only the two of them during the day sometimes while Fuyumi and Natsuo went to school. The relief and fear on his face when Half Hot/Half Cold manifested.

Touya bending him and grabbing him by the shoulders, practically begging, "Don't let him change you. Don't let him turn you into him. You're better than me. You're stronger."

At five, Todoroki hadn't understood what his oldest brother meant by those words, and, in time, he forgot them. Kyomu had brought the memory back to the surface. When it didn't fade away like some of the others, he almost cried. It was real. It wasn't exactly a good memory, but it was important. He was glad to have it back even if it hurt like hell.

A lot of shit hurt like hell in here, which was why he immediately picked up on the mood change when Ikeda was dragged back to her room. Even if he hadn't been able to peer through the small window in his door into the hallway, he would've known she was being returned because of her echoing laughter. It wasn't the tired laugh he remembered from the villains' hideout but gleeful and cold at the same time. He watched as she was all but tossed back into her room and flopped on her bed happily before the door was slammed shut and locked.

Her laughter still faintly resounding in the air through the door, Todoroki almost didn't catch the sound of someone walking to his door. He barely had time to step back when he heard the keycode being punched in to unlock his door. It slid open, revealing a disheveled Naomasa, a disgruntled higher-ranked officer, and a steely-faced Hawks. He'd forgotten how cold the Number Two ( One - you killed your father, remember? ) Hero could be when called for it.

"What's going on?" Todoroki demanded. "What's happening out there?"

Naomasa and Hawks glanced at each other before the former stepped forward. "Midoriya, along with an unexpectedly large group of villains, have attacked UA."

Todoroki paled, his entire body going tense. " What ?"

How could he…? Why would he do that? He knew what it was like to be a student at the center of a chaotic villain attack. Granted, any kid that applied to UA for the heroics course ought to know what they were getting into. They should've been prepared for a villain attack. Maybe not at school since that hadn't happened in years, but it wasn't entirely unheard of after what they'd gone through.

Was he trying to kill All Might? Make a statement by destroying an establishment that created heroes - that had turned him into one? So much of their lives had been shaped by UA, even before they had attended it. Todoroki had known he was going there since his quirk had manifested, and it had been Midoriya's dream as far as he could remember, even when it shouldn't have been possible.

It was hard to say what the institution meant to him now, but if he'd willingly attacked it, perhaps in a bid to draw Bakugou out and finally end things, it couldn't be good.

Todoroki stared at them. "You need me."

Hawks sighed. "The truth is that Midoriya's strength is overwhelming. If what All Might said about his quirk is true, it'll take everything we've got to bring him down."

And, if there was one thing Todoroki proved, it was that he was a powerhouse of destruction. He wasn't as strong as Midoriya - neither was Bakugou, as much as it had pained him near the end of their time at UA - but combined with some of the other strongest heroes, maybe they could take him out. It was still a gamble. Midoriya had taken out the villain who had destroyed and killed all of his predecessors except for All Might. There was no one in the world like him.

Maybe fighting wasn't the answer. Maybe there was another way. If anyone knew what Midoriya had gone through with Kyomu - what that villain had made him believe he'd gone through with Bakugou - it was Todoroki. If he couldn't beat him, maybe he could reach him. It was worth a shot.

"I know you don't trust me - I wouldn't either - but it's not like we have a choice," Todoroki said. "I can do this. I know I can do this."

They had obviously considered their options before coming down to speak with him, but he still felt the need to plead his case. He could do this. He had to do this. He owed it to Midoriya, Uraraka, Bakugou. He owed it to his family, Touya, his father. If he could do this one thing, maybe he would be able to face them again. Maybe he could face himself.

"If you show any signs of turning again…" Hawks warned.

"Kill me." Todoroki straightened even as Naomasa raised his eyebrows in surprise. Maybe he hadn't expected such an upfront response, but Hawks didn't even blink. "Put a pair of remote-controlled quirk inhibitor braces on me that you can turn on at the slightest chance or just kill me. Let me help. I want to… I want to protect people again. I want to save them, just one last time. Please."

Just let me be a hero again, the one Midoriya believed in, so I can do the same for him.

And then they could lock him up and throw away the key. He could be at peace then. All Todoroki wanted was for this nightmare to truly end. He'd give his life if it meant bringing Midoriya back. He would do whatever it took.