heroes of the dark

by ohmytheon

Uraraka has spent almost a year grieving the loss of Deku, the greatest hero and her love, but life is slowly moving on. She's got her job, her family, and even a strange friendship with Bakugou. Things are looking hopeful. Until Deku comes back and he's not what he seems. Something is wrong with his mind, but Uraraka will be damned if she lets him fall again. (Villain!Deku)

43. Chapter 43

Notes: This chapter could've gone a lot of different ways - but this was the only way that felt right after 42 chapters. Out of every chapter in this fic, this one terrified me the most. I cried and panicked and was so happy when I wrote it, but it's here.

---

"But these words people threw around - humans, monsters, heroes, villains - to Victor it was all just a matter of semantics. Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labeled a villain for trying to stop them. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human."
― V.E. Schwab, Vicious

---

Distracted by whatever the hell the giant plant quirk was, Todoroki didn't see Bakugou being thrown toward the Flood Zone before it was too late. All he could do was shout, "Bakugou!" before a thick vine slammed on the ground in front of him and cut Todoroki off from being able to take off after him.

As multiple vines circled around him, Todoroki grit his teeth and shot off a powerful wave of fire, more than his usual amount. His right side stung, the boxed-in space not giving his ice side any reprieve from his flames, but he pushed them to a hotter degree. The red flickered to white, burning the vines black. Ash fell around him like rain, and he held a hand over his mouth and coughed, the stench foul of burning plants in the air. It was acrid, the scent turning his stomach, but he ignored it, trying to find the direction of the Flood Zone.

A loud crack and explosion resounded echoed from somewhere in the USJ. Through the smoke, Todoroki could see water shoot into the air, as if someone had thrown an explosive into a lake, and he took off running. There – that had to be where Midoriya and Bakugou were fighting. The water would give him an advantage over them. He could use it in combination with his ice. At the least, it would complicate things for Deku, and they needed to use anything possible to take him down.

After all, Todoroki was so very tired of this fight. He was ready to be done.

However, before he could reach the Flood Zone, a line of darkness cut in front of him. Shit. That fucking shadow villain. If he was caught in his shadows again, he wouldn't be able to get out. No, he was tired of being in the dark. His hands clenched into fists at his side. He was tired of letting it take over him. Another thick vine erupted from the ground behind him, wrapping itself in a circle around him. The shadows did the same.

Todoroki let out a breath and relaxed his fists. He could deal with these two villains politely, but quite frankly, he didn't have that sort of kindness left in him. When he had become a hero, he had promised himself that he wouldn't be the brute that his father was known for being with villains. He would do his best to capture, not kill, although he was acutely aware of the strength he was capable of. It was mirrored in Dabi, who had used that strength, anger, and pain to become a villain. It would've been so easy for Todoroki to do the same.

It had been easy with a little push from Kyomu.

Glancing down at the inhibitor braces on his wrists, Todoroki lifted his hands as he activated his dual quirks at the same time. If they thought he was going too far, they would've stopped him, but the Hero Commission didn't care about the lives of villains, and in this moment, neither did he. All he cared about was his friends. He could suffer any repercussions later.

The moment he finally caught sight of the two villains in his peripheral vision, Todoroki let loose of both his quirks at the same time. The extreme difference in temperatures his fire and ice caused a massive and bright explosion that destroyed all the vines and decimated the shadows. It was louder than normal, perhaps in his own disinterest in controlling himself, but when he pulled an arm away from his eyes, he found the true reason. He hadn't been the only one to let off a powerful attack at that moment.

The water tower in the Flood Zone was leaning heavily on one side, two of its legs shattered. He could see one person dangling from it using a rope. No, it was a scarf, which meant it must've been Shinsou. Before the tower could fall, the entire thing glowed pink and straightened itself out, controlled under Uraraka's quirk. The lack of gravity forced it upright, but then Deku shot up there, causing it to sway even more.

It was a mess of a situation. Todoroki grit his teeth. Uraraka was strong, but she was no doubt after extensive use of her quirk. She wouldn't be able to fight and hold it up at the same time. Shinsou could try to contain Deku with his quirk, but if he swayed too much using the scarf, the lack of gravity would shake the tower and maybe even turn it on its side and rip the support beams off. Bakugou could maybe save himself, but he'd looked like he was running on empty when they arrived.

That left Deku, who was even more ready to end this than him.

Todoroki ran and activated his ice to slide toward the Flood Zone. He couldn't reach them that high, but he could at least stabilize the structure and keep them from falling. Aside from Uraraka, he wasn't sure if any of them would make it at this point, and he was wary about her after using her quirk to hold them up. Not bothering to run around the makeshift pond, he created an icy path on the water, cutting right through it, and then jumped off to land on solid ground, staggering just a bit.

Right as it swayed back to the left where the support beams had been destroyed, he slapped his right hand against the bottom half of a broken beam and created as much ice as possible to hold it in place. His breath puffed out in a fog of air. He cringed, pulling his hand away, and caught sight of the ice covering his skin. He could even feel it creeping up his neck. Even with using his fire quirk, using so many large bursts of ice was getting to him. Still, he couldn't do anything less. The ice wasn't nearly as thick as he would've liked and it wouldn't last forever, but it would have to do for now.

Now, if he could somehow make it up to the top–

A sharp crack resounded in the air, and he winced, but it was Uraraka's distant scream and Midoriya shouting her name that caused his heart to jump in his throat. He jerked his eyes to the structure at the top right when another crack echoed in the building. A gun – someone had brought a gun. It made sense. Heroes could stop a lot of things with their quirks, but an old-fashioned weapon was sometimes the best way to take someone out.

Another gunshot forced him to crouch, but then Todoroki froze when he witnessed the aftermath. It happened so slowly, like out of a dream, a body falling over the edge of the structure toward the water.

Bakugou's body.

He'd been shot.

Before Todoroki could react or even think to help him, a bolt of green lightning leaped off the edge of the structure and shouted, "Kacchan!" All he could do was watch, still in a crouched position, as Midoriya caught Bakugou around the middle right before he hit the water and turned their bodies so that he crashed into it first.

Water exploded in the air from the force of their landing, creating waves so strong that it broke the ice walkway he'd created earlier to cut across the water. Broken shards of ice floated around and crashed into one another, ripples reaching the very edge of the pond, until finally, everything went still and deathly quiet. Only then did Todoroki snap out of the horrified shock.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Todoroki created a second ice path on the water to the spot near the middle where Midoriya and Bakugou had vanished, ignoring the fear of being shot at now that he was out in the open. He could only hope that the villain would know better than to stick around after stealing Midoriya's kill and almost killing Uraraka. He skidded to a halt, dropping to his knees in order to search the water, but he couldn't see anything in the dark depths. Shit. How deep was this man-made pond? Deep enough to sink a ship entirely and leave nothing to be seen. Deep enough to drown a man.

No doubt Bakugou lacked the strength to fight back. Underwater, his quirk would be useless. It would wash away any of the sweat he built up. On top of that, he'd been fighting without any of his support gear for too long, and he'd been shot. Meanwhile, Midoriya could use all his strength. It would be nothing for him to keep Bakugou down there until he drowned, snap his neck, stab him.

And yet there was nothing. No faint glow of his quirk from the depths, no disruption of the water. It was still, quiet, eerie. The only things Todoroki could hear were his own ragged breathing and the water structure's metal groaning under its own weight and the ice keeping it standing.

"Do you see anything?" Shinsou's voice echoed from above.

"Where are they?" Uraraka cried out shortly after.

"No, I–" Todoroki looked from left to right. Where were they? How long had they been under there? After all that fighting, they couldn't be able to hold their breath for long. Had the landing knocked them both unconscious? He glanced up to the top of the waterfall and then down below. It was a massive drop. In all honesty, a fall from a height like that could've killed them, especially Midoriya, who had angled his body to take the brunt of the landing.

Todoroki blinked and pulled away from the water. Midoriya had snatched Bakugou and done what he could to lessen the dangers of his landing. He'd tried to save Bakugou.

Save–

Something green flashed in the water below, and then Midoriya's head broke the surface of the water. He gasped for air, his hair plastered over his face, and then bobbed under briefly. When he came back up, Bakugou was leaning against him, his head lolling to the side and his eyes closed. It was hard to tell from the way Midoriya was moving them if he was breathing or not. All that mattered was that Midoriya was holding his head above water as best as he could while he swam.

"Over here!" Todoroki called out, holding out a hand.

Midoriya connected eyes with him, a fearful light burning in them. Using his feet and one arm, he awkwardly swam to the edge of the ice pathway until he reached out for Todoroki's hand. Todoroki grasped onto him as tight as he could and pulled him closer. Unable to pull them both out at once, he settled for grabbing Bakugou's shirt and hauled him onto the ice with a grunt. His body flopped on the ground, unmoving, red water pooling around him from the gunshot wound in his side. Todoroki laid his left hand on his chest, not breathing himself.

Dragging himself out of the water and onto the slippery ice, Midoriya gasped, "Is he–?"

"He's alive," Todoroki cut in. "He's still breathing, but it's shallow at best. I don't think the gunshot pierced his lungs or he would've drowned." He pressed two fingers against Bakugou's neck to check his pulse, just in case. It was slow and weak, nothing at all like the hero he knew. "But he'll likely die soon if he doesn't get medical attention."

Midoriya stared at Bakugou, wet dripping from his hair and making a puddle around his feet. His body trembled, but Todoroki couldn't tell if it was from being soaked and standing on ice or something else, maybe both. He was breathing heavily, his mouth open, a mixture of emotions swirling in his eyes. It was hard to say how he felt when it looked like everything at the same time. Todoroki could understand that. It was how he felt once he snapped out of Kyomu's grip. Everything and nothing all at once.

"What do you want to do?" Todoroki asked.

"I…" Midoriya sniffed and wiped his face. "I want him to live."

Todoroki let out the breath he was holding. And that was that.

"Help me with him," Todoroki said, struggling to pull Bakugou up. Damn, he was heavy as shit. All that fucking muscle, water-soaked clothes, and dead weight. Midoriya jumped forward, reaching out to help Bakugou with the same hands that had tried to kill him minutes ago. It felt like another lifetime. They managed to slide their shoulders under his airs and carry him off the ice, moving slowly so Midoriya wouldn't fall and drag them both down. Blood seeped into the side of Todoroki's shirt, but he ignored it.

After all, it wasn't like he wasn't covered in it already. He could stand a little more.

Once they made it to solid ground, they stopped to breathe. Midoriya glanced at the water tower structure and shook his head. They couldn't lay him down here in case the ice holding it together broke and it fell. Carefully, they made their way to the center of the plaza. All three villains that Todoroki had taken out earlier were still lying unconscious on the ground. Midoriya looked at them with a strange look like he didn't recognize them and then turned his eyes away, focusing on the path ahead of them.

Upon reaching a spot Todoroki deemed safe enough, they carefully laid Bakugou down. It was out of the line of sight where he thought the gunshot had come from, but he couldn't be for sure. At least this was out of the way. He bent down and tore off his right sleeve, bunching up the material and pressing it against the wound in an attempt to stop him from bleeding out. Bakugou grunted and twitched, pain flickering across his face, but he didn't come to completely.

"I have to go," Midoriya said as he stared down at Bakugou.

"I know," Todoroki sighed.

"You aren't going to stop me?"

"And let Bakugou bleed out while I fight with you?" Todoroki lifted his tired eyes to meet Midoriya's gaze. He'd never seen someone so sad in his life, not even his mother. It was pain beyond anything else. Tired as he was, he looked closer to breaking down out of grief than pain or exhaustion. "You'll go no matter what I say."

"I have to…" Midoriya closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I have to finish this."

"Then finish it," Todoroki said harshly. Midoriya's eyes snapped open wide, a startled expression on his face as he looked at him. "End it now."

Be a hero.

A sad smile found its way on Midoriya's face, his gaze dropping from Todoroki to Bakugou. The light was still in his eyes, old and familiar, so different from the strange glow from the past month. There was the Izuku Midoriya he knew. Buried deep under so many layers of trauma and manipulation, Todoroki had known he was still there. It wounded him, turning his stomach, but he knew it hurt Midoriya worse. No matter what he'd done, a part of him would always be a hero, at least to Todoroki. In the end, after all the awful shit he'd done to kill Bakugou, his need and urge to save him had been stronger.

"You're a good friend, Shouto," Midoriya said in a weak, shaky voice. A film of tears shone in his eyes, a few leaking out of the corners and streaming down his face. "Better than I deserved in the long run. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I-I thought–"

"Don't apologize," Todoroki cut in. "You can do that when this is all over. Just…" He tried to find the words, but nothing fit. There was really nothing he could say to describe what Midoriya needed to do. "Just finish it, okay? This needs to end now."

"You aren't gonna get in trouble for letting me go?"

Todoroki snorted. "I killed my father and countless others. I can't get in any more trouble than I already am."

Midoriya winced but nodded in understanding. "And what if I'm lying?"

"If you were still under his quirk, you would've just killed us both," Todoroki pointed out matter-of-factly, not pulling any punches. "It's what I would've done."

While the memories that Kyomu implanted in his mind had begun to fade away, the memory of how he felt during that time never left him. It was an old anger, familiar in the way it clung to his heart and refused to let go, reminding him of what he'd been like when he first started attending UA. It felt like home.

Some days, he forgot how furious he was back then. Other times, it hit him like a punch to the face, and he wasn't sure what to do with it. Kyomu had dug all of that up, bringing it the forefront of his mind so that he couldn't avoid it. In order to survive, he had to carry that weight – he had to take the reality that Kyomu created – and it hurt. Everything hurt all the time. He wanted the pain to go away, for the anger to leave him alone. All he had to do was kill his father, and it would be gone. He would be free.

And so he had, and he would never be free again.

Midoriya must've felt that way now, trapped by the crimes and horrific actions he committed while under Kyomu's control. Looking back on it had to be difficult. It was like waking up from a terrible nightmare and thinking about it the next day, except this nightmare was real. He had done those things – held Kaminari hostage, murdered villains, destroyed city blocks, beaten Bakugou senseless, and killed Iida – but the split from Kyomu's quirk would cause him to look at things distantly. He knew what he'd done was wrong now, but at the time… It all felt so right.

"Go," Todoroki told him, "before the others arrive."

"They aren't gonna be happy that you let me leave," Midoriya murmured.

"I don't care," Todoroki said. "It's not their call to make. They don't know…"

Midoriya laid a hand on Todoroki's shoulder. "I know." A determined expression settled on his face. "I'll take care of it, I promise, and then I'll… I'll come back to all of you. I'm not leaving, not again. I can't run away from this."

Todoroki hung his head, his fingers digging into the bloody material pressed against Bakugou's wound. "I want to – I'm scared to face what I did – but I know I can't. We can't." He stared down at Bakugou, his chest faintly rising and falling. Blood had soaked the front of his shirt, and he was pale and dripping wet, but at least he was still alive. He felt Midoriya squeeze his shoulder, his fingers twitching, and then his hand pull away. "Do you think the nightmares will stop once he's dead?"

"I hope so." Midoriya stepped back. When Todoroki looked back at him, he was staring in the direction of the Flood Zone, a pained look on his face. "Ochako… She's going to be upset."

"Probably call you a self-sacrificing idiot," Todoroki said, "which you are." Midoriya chuckled humorlessly, the sound close to a weak sob, and Todoroki turned back to gaze down at Bakugou. They needed to get him medical attention as soon as possible. He didn't have time to argue with Midoriya even if he wanted. "I'll do my best to explain it to her. You have to do it."

"I can't live with myself if I don't," Midoriya sighed. "Not after what I did to Tenya." He straightened, green and red lights crackling around him as he activated his quirk. "I started this, so I need to end it, one way or another. They'll either understand or they won't. Goodbye, Shouto."

A gust of wind told Todoroki that Midoriya had left, leaping away with a burst of his quirk. Todoroki let out a breath and hung his head. Hopefully, the others would understand. He didn't care what the Hero Commission said. They could rip him a new one entirely, but he didn't give a shit. They wouldn't be able to understand now matter how hard he tried to explain it. Bakugou would, he thought. He would know that they had to finish this in whatever way they could and that Midoriya was the only one who could do it – who needed to be the one to do it.

You can do this, Izuku, Todoroki told himself. I've still got faith in you.

"Shouto!" Uraraka's voice cried out.

Todoroki turned around just in time to be caught by Uraraka colliding into him. She nearly knocked his hands away from pressing down on Bakugou's wound, but she quickly corrected herself. She was sweaty and red-faced, but besides trembling a bit, she seemed fine otherwise. He let her wrap her arms around him and press her forehead against his shoulder, soaking in her warmth.

Shinsou crouched next to them. "Is he…?"

"Alive," Todoroki confirmed, which dragged a hiccuping whimper out of Uraraka, "but we need to get him out of here or he'll bleed out."

"Could you cauterize the wound?" Shinsou asked.

"I could, but…" Todoroki frowned. "There's no telling what sort of internal damage there is. It was a clean through-and-through shot, but I'm wary to mess with it."

Leaning down closer, Shinsou peered at the exit wound on the left side of Bakugou's back and then at the entry wound when Todoroki briefly lifted the cloth. The exit wound wasn't bleeding nearly as much as the entry wound, which Todoroki hoped was a good sign. He tried to think back on his UA classes about different types of wounds, but in the heat of the moment, he couldn't remember the details, just flashes of the slides that Midnight showed them. The gruesome pictures had made some of his classmates sick, but Todoroki hadn't even blinked.

He was familiar with terrible injuries and doctors. Touya had spent most of his childhood patching up his own wounds with Shouto watching in morbid curiosity and later one he'd been forced to do it himself.

"I thought for sure he was…" Uraraka pulled away from Todoroki and sank beside him, sitting on her legs. She reached out to touch Bakugou's chest, holding a shaky hand over him, but she hesitated to go any further. It made sense. Hadn't they been holding themselves back this whole time? "But then Deku jumped after him." She balled her hand into a fist and then pulled away, pressing it against her thigh. "Where is he? Where did he go?"

Todoroki didn't look at her. "To finish this."

Shinsou snapped, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. "Are you shitting me? You just let him walk away after all of this?" He gestured to the destruction around them with his free hand. It didn't even cover half of what Deku had done in his state. "We had him – and you let him go? To do what? Clean his conscience? We don't have the luxury for that. We could've captured and questioned him. We could've–"

"Could've what?" Todoroki pulled his right hand away from Bakugou to wrap it around Shinsou's wrist, a hint of ice curling over Shinsou's glove. "He had to do this. It's not about cleaning his conscience. It's about finishing what he started. It's about breaking Kyomu's hold completely. It doesn't end even after it's over."

"Bullshit," Shinsou huffed, letting go of Todoroki's shirt and standing upright. "You let your own guilt cloud your judgment."

Ochako pressed her lips into a thin line, torn between the two boys and her own warring thoughts. "Shouto–"

"It was him, Ochako. It was really him." Todoroki met her fiery, wounded gaze. "For the first time, I looked in his eyes and I knew… It was him."

"So you just let him leave?" Uraraka exploded, tears shining in her eyes. "What if he slips back under? What if Kyomu gets a hold of him again? What if–?"

"No, that won't happen."

"But–"

"It won't," Todoroki insisted firmly. "He has to do this, Ochako. It has to be him. Kyomu started with him, so he has to end it. If he doesn't…" He looked down at his hands pressing onto Bakugou's wound. By now, they were covered in his blood too. Shinsou had vanished quietly sometime during their argument, most likely to find Aizawa and radio for medical help and simmer in frustration. If they could get Recovery Girl here, Bakugou would at least live. "He won't be able to live with himself. He has to do something to make up for what he's done. It won't be nearly enough, but it's something. You want him to live, don't you?"

Uraraka's lips wobbled. "Of course I do. What kind of question is that?"

"And do you think he can be good again?" Todoroki asked.

"I want to believe he can," Uraraka murmured, the heartbreak in her voice too much for him to take. "I just want him to come back. He's always doing everything on his own. It's like that night all over again, him leaping to save the day while we're left behind. It's not fair ."

"He'll come back," Todoroki said, watching Bakugou breathe shallowly.

"How do you know?" Uraraka asked.

"Because he's Deku," Todoroki said. And that was what. He didn't need to say anything else.

Uraraka didn't respond, moving to keep pressure against the exit wound. She trusted him, or at least she wanted to believe him. There was nothing else they could say in this moment. She had to believe that Midoriya would end this nightmare. She had to trust that he would come back to them. He'd saved Bakugou instead of killing him in the end, hadn't he? When push came to shove, whereas Todoroki hadn't faltered, Midoriya had done the complete opposite. He could've let Bakugou crash into that water and drown, but he hadn't. He could've killed Bakugou when he was unconscious, but he hadn't.

In the end, Midoriya had been a hero.

---

He wanted to stay. Every part of him screamed at him to go back. He didn't want to leave again. His body ached, his mind swirled, and his soul hurt. He didn't want to leave.

All he wanted to do – all he dreamed of doing, even then, even now – was to go home. Run until he saw the familiar building, climb the rickety stairs, slip into his apartment, and crash in the bed he'd done so many times after working all day and night into the waiting arms of the person he loved most in the world.

But it wasn't his home anymore. He didn't have one, not really. After all, dead men didn't have homes.

And so Deku made a right and ran to the place he'd been tricked into believing could be a home. It never would've worked in the end. He made a home with Ochako. Something like that could never be fabricated, no matter how strong Kyomu's quirk was. A home could only be built from the inside, not manufactured from the outside. It could only ever be true. What Kyomu had shown him – what he'd given him – wasn't the truth.

Kurogiri would be convenient right about now, Deku thought distantly as he ran, careful not to waste too much energy. Memories involving the warpgate villain flashed through his mind, some clearer than others. Almost warm interactions with him, hesitant at first because of their past history, and then a quiet understanding.

Terrifying as he might have been back then, Kurogiri had thought he was doing what was best. Deku spent too many hours wishing that he'd simply let Bakugou stay in their clutches to become the villain he was meant to be. However, Kurogiri said it would have never worked. Someone like Bakugou could never work for someone else. They spent hours talking, sometimes about the future and sometimes about Shigaraki and what All for One had hired him to do.

It wasn't so unlike what Kurogiri did for Deku while they worked together. He wasn't so bad.

The mere thought of those memories made his stomach turn. These were his own. At least he was pretty sure they were, especially since he had formed them in the past few months. Kurogiri's words might not have been as honest. Everyone had been forced to play a role in order to keep up the charade that Kyomu built. When it came to memories fabricated or altered by Kyomu, there was always a fuzzy quality to them, like they were old or not quite right. It was like the truth was in the corners of his eyes, slightly to the left, but he could never see it, just what Kyomu wanted him to see.

No, you're confused. Kyomu showed you the truth. They're trying to trick you again! He showed you what you needed to see–

Deku slammed down on the roof of a building, denting the concrete with his hard landing, and skidded to a halt. Doubling over, he pressed his hands against his knees and panted heavily, his breath more erratic from his conflicting thoughts than running. He lifted a hand to the side of his head, pressing his index finger hard against his temple and closing his eyes as he tried to focus his thoughts.

This was real. He had saved Kacchan's life for a reason. Because it was the right thing to do. He didn't want to kill him. If he had really wanted that, wouldn't he have done it already? So many times, he could've ended this thing in one blow, but he never did. He always held back. He always hesitated. Even when he raged and broke everything, even when he made Ochako cry, a tiny part of him had resisted. Kacchan didn't deserve death.

Doesn't he? After what he did to you? After all the torture he put you through and pain he made you suffer? He let you die and then tried to take Ochako in your absence.

"No," Deku ground out through gritted teeth. "That doesn't mean he deserves to die. I don't have the right to make that judgment. I don't–"

Why not? It's all about power. Isn't that what he believed? He was stronger than you, so he could do whatever he wanted. But you're stronger than him now. You have more power than he could ever imagine. You were the Number One Hero–

"Yes," Deku gasped, his eyes snapping open. He stared at the ground. "I was a hero. I was… I am…" He pulled himself upright and took a deep breath. "I wanted to be a hero. I still want to be one."

They're corrupt. Heroes are corrupt. Look at Kacchan. Look at Endeavor. Think about what he did to Shouto. He turned his own son into a villain. And for what? Because he was powerful but wanted more? Do you want that? Do you want to be like them?

"Stop it!" Deku shouted. His voice echoed and then silence settled around him.

Distantly, he could hear the city running below like everything was normal, the attack on UA far away. Even when villains attacked, elsewhere, life went on. People continued to live their lives: they got up, went to work, had lunch, texted their friends. Yes, they were no doubt checking the newsfeed with bated breath, but this far out, there was nothing they could do. Only the heroes and police could step in. Civilians had to trust them and go on with their daily routines.

Dropping his head from his head, Deku wiped at his eyes and nose, clearing them of any signs that he was close to crying. Maybe he wasn't the sniveling baby that Kacchan complained about all the way through high school, but the torrent of conflicting thoughts and memories were enough to bring anyone to tears. It hurt. His head throbbed, a steady painful beat. Maybe he hadn't snapped like Todoroki, but he could feel something ripping apart, the curtain slowly tearing away to reveal the truth hidden behind.

But it hurt more than anything to look behind that curtain. It would've been easier and less painful to pretend it wasn't there.

He couldn't do that though, not after what he'd done. Holding his hands out in front of him, he stared down, the red gloves mimicking the blood he knew was on them. So many people had died because of him, good and bad. Even if they were villains, he had never wanted to kill people. It wasn't right. He didn't have the right to take someone's life from them.

Iida...

There was no explaining that one away, especially since Deku hadn't gone under Kyomu's quirk again after that. He hadn't allowed that man to put something else in his head; he hadn't wanted Kyomu to take Iida away from him too.

"I have to do this," Deku told himself.

Why should you trust them? All they've done is protect Kacchan. They don't care about you.

If that was the case, then why hadn't Todoroki taken him out? He might've been distracted trying to save Kacchan and keep him alive, but surely taking him down was prioritized over saving one life. Maybe he felt guilty for what he did to Endeavor and his agency – for failing Kacchan in some way – so he was trying to save his life. Maybe he knew that killing Kacchan would break Deku more than help him.

He was trying to save them both.

Bullshit. Shouto betrayed you. He tricked you and tried to ruin everything for you. The moment he got what he wanted, he left you on your own. He's always been closer to Kacchan than he let on.

Deku stared across the skyline of the city. From his vantage point on the outskirts, it was beautiful if he didn't think about the destruction of UA. He had run without stopping or thinking, so he couldn't rightly say how far he'd gone. With One for All, he could cross insane amounts of distance in such a small amount of time. He wasn't even in Musutafu anymore. He looked around, finding the area vaguely familiar, but he didn't know for sure. In the end, all the cities he'd been through looked the same.

You're wasting time with all this waffling.

"I am, aren't I?" Deku sighed.

What was it that Dabi had told him? "You gotta figure out what you want and where you stand or this will all just be a waste of time."

Deku chuckled lowly. How far had he fallen to get lectured by a villain fugitive? And for Dabi to be right? That was the icing on the cake. Deku did know what he wanted. At least, he thought he did. A few seconds later, his brain would try to convince him to think of something else. It was hard to say which one was the truth, especially when one of them hurt far more than the other.

Shaking his head at himself, he activated One for All again and leaped off to roof to drop down into a dark alley, darting through the side streets until he was out of the city. His time with the villains had taught him how to stick the shadows of a city in order to travel without any hold-ups. There were so many that he'd never considered before, cracks in society that had gone ignored, places for people to slip in when they didn't fit society's mold. That was the truth. He'd learned that in school, but he'd forgotten it along the way.

Never again. He was as familiar with these dark crevices as any villain. They felt safe, like he could hide from the whole world, but he couldn't, not really. He had to step into the light. He had to come home, like he promised Todoroki, like he owed Ochako, like Kacchan wanted.

As long as he kept running, the dark thoughts stayed away. He could sense them, hanging around in the back of his mind, waiting for any hint of vulnerability to strike, so he didn't stop. He ran and ran and ran, little more than a blur to anyone who happened to look his way until he was standing before an innocent and familiar building.

An old home on the edge of a sleepy town, easy to ignore on the outside and even inside. It was large and clearly in need of repair, reminding him of a quaint inn. As far as anyone that lived in this town was concerned, there was nothing of note of it, just a two-story house that had been built years ago. Here, the thought of villains was a distant thought, a city commodity. They feared them like people who lived inland feared sharks.

It was a problem, but not theirs.

If only that was the case. It was so easy for villains to hide in the backyards of people who thought they existed for only others. No one even knew about the basement that had been built ages ago, a terrible, hidden world beyond the townsfolk's imaginations that been both Deku's nightmare and savior. They could blend in and no one would know the wiser. Kyomu was so good at that. No one would ever blink at him twice. Average, moderately friendly, and clever, he could've shown his face a hundred times and made jokes about villainous activities and people would've laughed and forgotten about him hours later.

Deku didn't bother knocking. With the security cameras installed, they already knew he was here. He gazed up into one of them, tilting his head to the side and raising a hand in a mock-greeting. Either they knew what he was here to do or they didn't. Honestly, he didn't care either way. All he had to do was avoid that villain with the serum that blocked access to his quirk. They had to use high doses and the effects didn't last forever, but if they were able to knock him out, Kyomu could get his hands on him again and–

No. He wouldn't let that happen ever again.

Why not? You can trust him unlike everyone else. He's not like All Might or Aizawa. He's only ever wanted to help.

Then why had things started to feel different once he stopped letting Kyomu help him?

Right as Deku reached out to grab the doorknob, the door swung open. He eyed the tall, muscular, dark man standing in the doorway, catching the dim look in his bright eyes. Sighing to himself, Deku shook his head in disappointment. It would have been a better strategic move to keep Sawada around with his shadow quirk. He was one of the few villains who could've potentially neutralized Deku even with One for All. However, he'd been sent to the frontlines since he could also take out multiple strong people at once.

"We can't let you in, Deku," the villain guarding the door stated in a flat tone.

Deku smiled and held out his hands. "Why not?"

"Kyomu's orders."

"Well, that's odd," Deku hummed. He dropped his hands and tapped his fingers on his thigh. "I've been nothing but loyal, haven't I? In fact, out of everyone here, I've worked the hardest. This is a little unfair. Don't you think?"

The villain didn't budge. "Sorry, the boss said if you came back this early, something was wrong."

Deku licked his lips, tasting the metallic blood from where it had split due to one of the many hits he'd taken, and frowned. "Something wrong, huh?"

When he stopped going to Kyomu for the quirk to be reinforced, he must've gotten suspicious. After they had taken Ochako and Todoroki, Deku had gone to him willingly and asked him to use his quirk. Everything had been so mixed up and confusing in his mind; all he'd wanted was for it to go away and be straight again. He should have done that after the attack on Endeavor's agency, but he hadn't. He'd thought about it, but then Dabi laughed at him, called him a lapdog, and even gave him a bloody grin after Deku socked him in the face.

While he wasn't a criminal mastermind, Kyomu knew people like it was his job. He knew the human mind. It didn't help that Deku wasn't that great of an actor. He wore his heart on his sleeve too much. It was why Kyomu's quirk ravaged him so much. Everything he'd done, everything he'd thought, it had been him. If he felt something, he meant it with his whole being, and Kyomu had used that to his advantage. Even now, Deku was struggling to play the role he had for months. He could picture himself behaving in certain ways, but it didn't feel right.

"It's Haruno, isn't it?" Deku asked, switching tracks. The villain blinked in surprise. "You've got a…" Deku closed his eyes, searching his memory. Even under Kyomu's quirk, his habit of cataloging people's names and quirks hadn't faded. "You've got a strength-enhancing quirk, right? You, uh, you can match people's strength after they hit you, like your body acclimates to it."

Haruno eyed him warily. "Yeah… You remembered all that from one conversation?"

Deku chuckled coldly. "I remember everything."

And he did, both reality and fiction. Could he tell the difference between them? Not necessarily. It didn't matter. Even if he remembered all the awful memories about Kacchan and why he deserved to die, he also remembered how he felt when he saw Kacchan bleeding out from a gunshot wound and toppling from the water structure after protecting Ochako. Nothing could erase that moment, save for maybe Kyomu, and Deku wasn't about to let him touch anyone ever again.

"However, your quirk relies on you surviving that first hit in order to match their strength." Deku held up a hand, the glow of One for All surrounding it. "I can assure you that won't happen. One hit from me, and I can reduce you to a pile of broken bones, akin to falling from a plane without a parachute. You can't match my strength if you're dead."

Realization dawned dimly in Haruno's eyes, his face paling. It was hard to break through Kyomu's quirk – Deku knew it all too well – but appealing to one's self-preservation just might do the trick. These villains didn't bear the same powerful and emotional memories that people like him and Todoroki did. Yes, they could be tricked and manipulated into fighting against him – and some no doubt would – but others would balk no matter what Kyomu did to them. In the end, all it took was a little push in the right direction.

"I'd hate for you to end up like Murai," Deku sighed, gazing at his hand as he stretched his fingers. To be honest, it was sore, but he'd suffered much worse when he broke his bones repeatedly and continued to fight. Haruno had nothing on Muscular, not even with a quirk that could match anyone blow-for-blow. "We've lost so many comrades today, but if you really want to fight me, I'll put you down."

He wouldn't – his only target was Kyomu – but he could still knock Haruno out so cold that he thought he died.

"I-I don't…"

"The question is," Deku said, clenching his hand into a fist, "who do you fear more: Kyomu or me?"

He had wanted villains to fear him, just as they had feared All Might. He'd wanted to make them think twice about committing a crime. He'd wanted them to lie in bed at night and wonder if he would be there to take them out the moment they closed their eyes. Yes, the greater part of him had wanted to inspire hope, excitement, relief, and joy upon his arrival, but it was even better if the crimes he saved people from didn't happen in the first place. He wanted villains to see his smile and know that it promised retribution.

And so Deku smiled now, as bright as could be, as kind as he could imagine, and as sharp as ever.

Haruno swallowed and stepped back into the house, sliding to the left and allowing Deku to walk inside without a fight. He nodded in thanks and then gestured to the door, given him an opening to run. The villain took one look at the green and red light flickering around Deku's hand, then bolted out of the house. Deku watched him run and shook his head. Kyomu's quirk might've forced multiple people to play into his hand, but it didn't inspire loyalty.

Should've killed someone as weak as him. Pathetic.

"Maybe." But now was not the time. He had to focus.

Not all of the villains would be as easy to manipulate as Haruno. Truth be told, that had been hard on Deku. His skin crawled at having played the villain, but… It was who he was. It was how they saw him. In their eyes, he was no longer a hero, and killing a so-called bad guy was even easier because of how disdainful he was of them. It had been nothing to him, in part because it had made him feel like he wasn't truly one of them. He was better than them still, not a hero but not a villain either.

The further he walked through the house, the more oppressive it felt. Memories of walking through these halls flickered in his mind, simple, quiet ones that gave the illusion of a better life. Card games with Mizumi, Ikeda, and Compress, Kurogiri trying (and failing) to teach him how to properly tie a tie, Hase showing him how to throw a knife, Sawada using his quirk to scare others as a prank after Deku kept them distracted, long discussions with Kyomu about everything wrong with hero society over drinks.

No one talked about their family, but it was always there, dangling on the tips of their tongues. It was easy to look back now and see all the times Dabi turned and walked away when family came up, how Compress' would watch Deku with understanding when he talked wistfully about Ochako, the way Kyomu's hands would tighten whenever he saw families in public, Ikeda's sisterly behavior with Dabi, the way Mizumi fawned over everyone as deceptively one of the oldest members of the group.

When Deku noticed smoke coiling around his ankles, he paused in the dark hallway. "Is that you, Okano? I didn't see you walk through one of Kurogiri's gates to UA."

"Clever, little beast, aren't you?" a voice hissed from somewhere in the dark. "Kyomu said you might turn on us."

"Wasn't he always preaching about my loyalty to the cause to soothe everyone's concerns?" Deku asked. "Can't he make up his damn mind?"

"He warned us that girl might get into your mind," Okano snapped, still hidden from sight. The smoke was thicker further down the hallway, concealing him from sight, but it also blocked any security cameras from seeing what was going on. They were hidden along the walls so Ochako hadn't noticed them. Needless to say, Kyomu had done a bit of remodeling of this place, just on the inside. "Said you might get confused and attack us."

Deku clucked his tongue. "He's just playing to your paranoia as a shield."

"So you're not attacking us?"

"Why, I've been nothing but friendly!" Deku exclaimed, placing a hand over his heart. He tried not to wince. Maybe he was going too over the top, but in all his memories, he acted out, playing up his bravado to make up for any of the insecurities and inconsistencies he might've felt. "Why would Kyomu try to convince you of that?"

"Why are you here then?" Okano demanded. "Is the fight at UA over? Did you win? Where are the others?"

Shrugging carelessly, Deku said, "As good as captured or dead. They were weak compared to me."

"So why did you come back?"

"To talk. It's been a long day." The longest day didn't even begin to cover it, not when it hadn't truly ended yet. Deku felt as if an entire month had passed since he stepped out of Kurogiri's warpgate at UA's front door. He'd gone through so many changes since then that he wasn't even the same person anymore. He wasn't like his old self either, not after everything he'd done, but he was starting to recognize himself a little more. "I think I might need a little reset, you know? After what I did...things are a bit foggy."

"You're a terrible liar," Okano snarled.

"I mean, I wasn't lying," Deku said. "It is hard to see right now."

The smoke floating around Deku's feet snapped into a whip, trying to grab a hold of him, but he leaped off the ground, bouncing off the walls, ceiling, and ground to keep from being in one place for too long. As he darted down the hallway in a spiral, the smoke whipped like a screw, but he was too quick. Flipping upside down so that one foot was on the ceiling, he swung his other leg in a roundhouse kick with enough power to slice through the smoke and blow it away, revealing a tall, thin man crouched low to the ground.

Although he didn't want to seriously hurt any of them, Deku kicked off the ceiling and flipped right side up with another kick. The man, Okano, scrambled out of the way at the last second. Deku stood up, moving to attack again, but then the wooden floor underneath him cracked open and peeled away, dropping him into the basement with an ungraceful yelp. He landed on his ass but had no time to sit still as the wood ached and twisted down to grab him. He rolled to the side, popping back onto his feet with one hand holding himself up. Concrete mostly made up the basement, but there was still wood everywhere.

Kyomu's been busy filling up the ranks, maybe because you were starting to act flakey. He knew you were weak.

"I thought he said I was strong," Deku muttered.

"Talking to yourself, Deku?" Okano called out mockingly from the first floor. "You must be really losing it!"

Smoke flooded through the hole in the basement, blocking his field of vision completely. He lifted the bottom half of his mask and locked it into place over his mouth and nose so he could breathe safely. He wasn't sure what Okano's smoke was made of and didn't want to find out when he passed out. Still, he couldn't see anything. He might have been one of the weakest members of the group, but using Okano here made sense. Deku couldn't grab or punch the smoke while it could snatch him. Also, his quirk worked best in limited, dark spaces.

He had to open up the place a little. Well, he'd always liked the idea of an open concept after living in an apartment for so long.

Focusing One for All in his legs, Deku jumped as hard as he could, blasting through the first and second floor, all the way through the roof, plaster, wood, and more splintering around him. The power of his jump created a vacuum, sucking the smoke out of the hole he'd created. It poured outside and dissipated, the open air making it too difficult to contain. There was far too much space for it to fill, rendering it essentially useless. Okano was still weak. He lacked the flexibility to use his quirk in places that he was unfamiliar with, something that Deku knew from watching him play with his smoke.

Placing a hand on his hip, Deku leaned over to peer down into the hole and raised an eyebrow. It went all the way down to the basement. At first place, it made him think of something Kacchan would do, but then, no, he had done something like this in his first combat training scenario. He'd created a massive hole and destroyed a building with one punch instead of striking Kacchan.

Should've hit him then–

But I didn't want to kill him. I didn't want to hurt him. I just wanted to win – to beat him.

At least he'd learned to contain his damage. Not that Deku cared about this place. With all the memories it held, he wouldn't mind tearing it apart brick by brick. Maybe that would help soothe the nightmares that had been plaguing him for so long.

"You okay down there, Okano?"

Coughing answered him, but Deku waited patiently until he heard the villain spit out, "Still a little shit!"

It wasn't normally in his nature, but Deku allowed his anger and frustration to bleed into him, a particularly vicious streak slicing through his mind. Acting One for All, he lifted one foot over the hole and dropped down. He fell through both stories until he landed hard enough to create a crater in the concrete basement floor. The shockwave blew away all of Okano's smoke and sent cracks weaving through the floor and up the walls. The entire building rattled, but being on the very bottom floor, Deku didn't sway. He jumped up, grabbing ahold of the edge of the hole in the ceiling backward and swung forward to flip his legs up through it. If there was one thing Aizawa taught him, it was how to be flexible and surprising with his attacks.

Okano didn't see it coming. Too distracted trying to gather his smoke again to shield him, he took a solid boot to the face and was knocked flat off his feet. He hit the ground and rolled until he finally struck a wall where an old picture fell off and landed on his head, the glass shattering around him. Deku scrunched up his face in displeasure, but he didn't feel a hint of pity towards Okano. He was a villain, plain and simple, and not a very good one.

Deku knew a good villain when he saw one. He had faced plenty and been one himself.

Some people just weren't cut out for it. He should've stuck to petty crimes, but Kyomu had a way of convincing people to do more. It wasn't charisma so much as manipulation, but Deku could admit it was a little bit of both. In his times of doubt, before he was finally let loose, it had been Kyomu's words, not his quirk, that had convinced him to keep in line. Oh, how it must have amazed and amused the other villains, watching Kyomu twist Deku and play him like a puppet. It made him sick.

More wood from the ceiling peeled away and tried to grab him, but Deku broke through it easily, like a child playing at karate. A few kicks here, a punch there, and wood was splintered around him in pieces. Honestly, it was kind of pathetic. Kyomu had sent most of his heavy hitters to UA. It made sense, but if he had thought Deku might turn on him after he completed his mission, as Todoroki had, he should've found better people to protect him. Maybe he wasn't as vindictive and petty as Todoroki, but Kyomu should have known that Deku would hunt him down if he broke from his quirk.

He could admit at not playing as nice as All Might. As much as he had been the noble and honorable hero, villains had learned not to cross him either, especially after he took down All for One. Very few villains could even look him in the eyes after that. Todoroki said something had changed in the way he looked when he fought people. He was colder. Or maybe that was a false memory or a twisted one. It was hard to say. He'd always fought with passion before, but he just got so angry when people needlessly hurt others, when they used the system to their advantage to get whatever they wanted, when they took and they took and they took...

A beam of wood wrapped around Deku's wrist in his distraction, jerking him forward and slamming his face-first into a wall. It shoved his mask up, the metal digging into his skin. Before he could smash it with his free hand, another piece of wood snatched him and stretched his arms away from each other. The strain made him grunt in pain, but he grit his teeth and clenched his hands into fists. Lifting his feet up, he pressed the flats of his boots against the wall and pulled hard. His shoulders protested, his arms threatening to pull out of their sockets. Taking a deep breath, he awkwardly kicked up at his wrist. The tip of his boot barely glanced at the wood, but it was enough to crack it, and he jerked hard to break it the rest of the way. He dropped his feet to the ground and freed his other hand with a downward crack against the wood.

"You must be new here," Deku said as he waved his arms and stretched the pain out of his shoulders. "I don't think we've met."

From what Deku could tell, this unknown person could manipulate wood. Elemental quirks were typically very strong. However, all the shattered pieces lying around on the ground remained untouched. The wood that attacked him was from what made up the structure of the building, which suggested to Deku that the only wood the person could manipulate was something that he could touch. It had to be connected in some way. Once that connection was lost, so was their manipulation. An old house like this gave them multiple weapons, but use too much and they could bring everything crashing down on them. The downside was that they could be anywhere in the house, even outside.

Jerking off the bottom half of his mask, Deku shouted, "I feel like we got off on the wrong foot!" He held up his hands in mock surrender. "I don't want to fight!"

Oh, don't you? These pathetic wannabes thinking they're good enough to take you down–

He waited for a beat, but there was no response. Damnit. The villain must not have been in the house. Either that or they were the silent type. There was a possibility that they could sense him because he was standing on wood. The basement would make him a little harder to detect. Nonetheless, it made things difficult. He had to take out everyone before he finished this. There was a chance that Kyomu wasn't even here and using these villains as a distraction while he escaped, but...

No, he was here. Deku could feel it in his gut. Right before he had stepped through Kurogiri's warpgate, he had glanced back at Kyomu. He hadn't been watching them but looking down at something in his hand. A photo, if Deku's memory served him right, worn around the edges and taped together. There had been a tired but faint smile on his face. He hadn't looked angry, nervous, or upset so much as...accepting. Whatever happened would happen. He had done his part. He had played his role. He had made them all dance to his whims to fulfill his goals.

Kyomu was ready to finish this just as much as Deku was. He would be here, waiting for the grand finale.

When another beam of wood reached out to him, he broke it in half, only for three more to shoot in his direction. He dodged them, jumping to the side and then back, skidding on his feet. The house ached above him, protesting even more at its structure being taken away, and he paused to look up. If the villain wasn't careful, they bring the house down on them. He wouldn't mind that, but he didn't want to be inside when it happened – and he didn't want Kyomu to get out of paying for his crimes.

"Okay," Deku growled. "I'm done playing games. This ends now."

With a speed much faster than the one he'd used to run here, he bolted through the house. Wood ripped from the walls, banister, molding, everywhere in the house, but none of it could catch him. He was careful not to use any of the wooden flooring or walls as footing. Even as the building began to collapse in on itself, the villain's attacks couldn't reach him as he hastily searched everywhere for them. Green and red lightning zipped around, his body little more than a blur, and he could sense the villain's frustration in their rapidly frantic attacks.

Finally, in an act of desperation, a thick wall of wood snapped into place on the second floor, at least two feet thick. Deku grinned coldly and twisted his body to make a roundhouse kick so powerful that it didn't just shatter the wall. The attack completely decimated the defensive shield, sending the person behind it flying through the glass window. Deku landed for a brief moment to gain footing and jumped through the window after them, reading to strike the final blow – only to connect eyes with a young girl.

They were empty, completely void of light, a shell of who she might've been.

He hesitated, and she did too. With nothing but shards of wood and glass around them, she was all but helpless. He could've hit her once and taken her out completely, but he didn't. Instead, he grabbed her shirt and pulled her into his arms, twisting his body so that he landed on his feet. It was a clumsy landing, and his knees buckled. They fell to the ground and rolled, but he took the brunt of it, shielding her as best as he could. When they finally stopped, he was breathing heavily, but he could feel her body trembling.

"Why...?" the girl whimpered against him. "Why did you save me? He said... He said you were bad – that you couldn't tell right from wrong. He said you would kill me…"

"I won't kill again," Deku muttered into her hair. "I won't, I won't, I won't."

He didn't even know who she was, but for the first time in so long, he could feel that painful echo in his heart, that desire to save and protect, the one that had called to him all those years ago when that sludge villain attacked Kacchan. Yes, yes, he could remember it now. He could feel it.

"You weren't supposed to save me!" the girl cried, beating her small hands against his chest. It didn't even hurt, but for some reason, it made him flinch. "I-I wasn't supposed to come out of this alive!"

This was what Kyomu did. He took people and he looked into their minds and he twisted their hearts until they were unrecognizable. This girl couldn't have been old enough to be out of high school and yet here she was. It reminded him vaguely of Toga, but instead of grinning happily, this girl was limp and sobbing. She had bought fought him to survive, but she'd pushed him to the breaking point. If he had killed her – if he had hurt her... What would he have done?

Was this just a game to him in the end?

"I'm sorry," Deku murmured, sitting them upright. He set her to the side and pulled away from her. Hell, she was small . Just a fragile girl with long, choppy, dark hair rubbing at her eyes with her legs tucked underneath her. "I'm so, so sorry that you got dragged into this. I don't know how he found you or what he showed you to make you think this way, but I'm going to end it. I promise. It'll be all over after tonight."

The girl sniffed and held a hand over her eyes. "You're supposed to be a villain."

Deku laughed weakly. "Aren't I?" He gestured to the barely standing building. "Haven't I destroyed everything?"

"Not me," the girl whimpered. "You were supposed to kill me. He said it was the only way."

"The only way to what?"

Her hand fell from her eyes, falling limp to the ground, and she stared at him, completely empty. How many times had she gone under Kyomu's quirk? He didn't recognize her, so she couldn't have been here for long. Pushing his quirk too hard with her could've sent her over the edge.

"To atone for killing my family," the girl said flatly. "When my quirk manifested, I tore the house down. I killed everyone." She swallowed and stared down at her hands. "You were supposed to release me…"

Placing a hand on her shoulder, Deku snapped, "Listen to me." Her eyes shot up to his, and he let out a breath, softening his face. "I don't know what happened and, knowing Kyomu, you don't either right now, but I don't think you killed your family on purpose." A film of tears covering them and a faint light glowing inside. Maybe it was only the sunlight. He couldn't say. "Every terrible thing I did, I did of my own violation. I did it because I thought I was doing the right thing when it was so very wrong." Her lips trembled. He nearly looked away, but he didn't, not even when his eyes burned. "But I can't die. I won't. It wouldn't be fair to those I hurt. It wouldn't make up for anything. It would be a cop-out, and I won't take the easy way out or fail them, and neither should you."

The girl wiped away the tears sliding down her cheeks. "How am I supposed to do that?"

When Deku opened his mouth, nothing came out. He didn't have an answer. How was he supposed to do that? He didn't know. He wasn't even sure if it was possible. He'd already failed them so much. But Iida… Iida wouldn't want him to simply give up. He would never except rolling over and accepting death as a means for forgiveness. No, he would want Deku to work for the rest of his life. The good could never outweigh the bad – the world didn't work in scales like that – but as long as he was alive, he could still do good.

Deku swallowed. Yeah, he could still do some good in this world.

"I don't know," Deku admitted. "That's something you'll have to figure out for yourself, I think." He nodded his head. Yeah, figure it out himself. He could do that. "I'm done letting him do the thinking for me, making me think this was how it was always meant to be. We can change it."

"I don't–" The girl hiccupped. "I don't understand."

"It's okay. It'll all be okay." Deku pushed himself to his feet and patted the girl on the head. "Right now, I need you to get away from here, as far as you can."

The girl tilted her head back to gape blankly at him. "What are you gonna do?"

Gazing at the broken house, Deku clenched his hands into fists and said, "Whatever it takes to end this." He turned his head to settle a fierce look on her. "Now run."

She didn't need to be told twice. As she scrambled to her bare feet and ran toward the town, Deku walked back into the house a final time. He used one of the holes the girl had created with her quirk. She'd taken a lot of this house apart to attack him. Maybe she could put it back together, but some things were never the same after being broken, not even when they were fixed.

Aside from the creaks and groans from the house, everything else was quiet. Upstairs, the only light came from outside, the wiring destroyed by that girl's attacks. It didn't matter. His fight wasn't up here. He bypassed the stairs, not trusting them to be stable, so he dropped through one of the holes in the floor into the basement.

Down here, lights flickered on and off. There must have been some sort of connection still or it was ground elsewhere. He passed the room that had served as his bedroom for the past year. There was nothing in there that he wanted to remember or keep. If he could bury it and everything inside it, he would. The pictures with Kacchan's face scribbled out, the crumpled up and ripped poster of All Might, the question marks around his friends' faces, the recordings of Ochako's voice to help him sleep, the shattered mirror hidden in the back of the closet when the voices got too loud in his head – he wanted them all gone.

Didn't you feel at home here? Didn't you feel cared for? Understood?

He...had.

As much as he wanted to believe that it was all a lie, he had felt those things. Maybe the other villains had been acting, playing their part so he could be content in the pretend world, but not even they could fake everything for so long. It might've been a means to survive and reinforce Kyomu's quirk and hold on Deku in the beginning, but near the end, things had been familiar, maybe even warm. They talked, joked, poked fun at each other.

All Might said Deku had a way of drawing people in and inspiring them. It was what Kyomu had counted on when he took him in. So many villains had come out of the woodwork to follow his lead after he'd turned on heroes and the society that used him up. Strange, considering that he hadn't had any friends growing up. He'd been bullied, shunned, and pushed to the side for years. Now, he could be thrown into bloody waters with sharks and came out with companions.

Even in the dark, Deku knew his way through these halls. They were one of the few clear memories he had. How much time had he spent down here? How long had he haunted these halls until he was allowed to live again? He'd grown paler during that time, his muscles not as defined in the confined space, turning him into a ghost of himself.

It made sense. He had been dead.

A light flickered under the door of a room down the hall. It was a dim, red glow, different from electricity-produced light. Deku hesitated, his breath hitching in his throat and his vision splitting as he recalled the sight from a hundred different times. Kyomu's quirk didn't hurt in softer, warmer settings. After a while, it was even pleasant. It didn't hurt.

It didn't hurt. He was helping you, remember? He didn't want to hurt you.

"But he did," Deku reminded himself in a low whisper. "He did."

And he had hurt Todoroki too. Deku had watched him use his quirk on him. It had been a brutal, awful process. He'd made Ochako watch him too – had Deku hold her back as he dug around in Todoroki's mind. Poked and prodded, and twisted. Deku told both Todoroki and Ochako that it was for his own good, but it wasn't. He hadn't wanted to be alone. He'd thought he was doing the right thing – that Todoroki would feel better, as he had – but in truth, he'd been selfish too. The villains had become familiar, but they weren't safe like his old friends and family.

Taking a deep breath, Deku continued down the hallway. The doorknob was cool and offered no resistance as he twisted it and opened the door. It slid open, revealing a room that had both offered him a way to escape from the nightmare and the pathway to it. The last time he'd been in here, Kyomu had held out a hand, offering to use his quirk, but Deku had declined. He was good. He was finally settled. He knew what he had to do. He didn't need a refresher in order to destroy the institution that created him.

Despite the delicate warmth of the room, Deku knew he'd descended into hell.

There were two large cushioned chairs in front of a fireplace, which was bright enough to fill the entire room with light. Kyomu sat in one of them, his face turned away toward the flames, wearing the same clothes Deku saw him last in. It hadn't been long since the UA attack, maybe only a couple of hours. On either side of him stood two large, hulking figures, the last of his defense. The one on the left looked a cross between a man and a rhinoceros, cutting a threatening figure, while the one on the left almost looked like...

Deku pointed at him. "You wouldn't happen to have a sociopathic villain relative in Tartarus for life, would you? Missing an eye, enjoys attacking innocent kids, dumb as all get out." The villain didn't respond to him, blinking lifelessly. "Pushed yourself a little too hard, didn't you?"

"A small price," Kyomu sighed without looking at him, waving a hand aimlessly. "They're still capable of fighting, even if they can't think for themselves anymore. That's good enough."

"I was hoping we could just talk one-on-one," Deku said. He tilted his head to the other villain guarding him. "You really think this is enough?"

"Can't hurt." Kyomu snapped his fingers, and the villains jumped into action.

Deku huffed, "I don't have time for this," and kicked the rhinoceros villain in the chest. He flew across the room and crashed through the wall into the next room. When the Muscular-lookalike swung a massive fist at him, Deku ducked and did a spinning kick low to the ground, knocking the villain on his side. Before he could get back up, Deku snatched him by his neck, lifted him up, and slammed him hard on the ground. Dazed and barely conscious, Deku tossed him into the hallway like a sack of bricks. He stood up and flexed his fingers. "You were saying?"

"You were always so efficient and quick," Kyomu said, eyeing the hole in the wall with mild interest. "I could've been frustrated that you were dragging your feet with your vendetta against your precious Kacchan, but it worked to my advantage in the long run. You caused so much more damage."

"And you were always so good with words," Deku added.

Kyomu gestured to the chair opposite of him. When Deku shook his head, he dropped his hand and said, "You wanted to talk, so talk."

Trying to steady the wild beating of his heart, Deku started slowly: "All these people you set up to protect you, everyone you manipulated tonight – if you thought I was going to come back to take you out, why didn't you just leave?"

"Leave?" Kyomu mused. He drummed his fingers along the armrest of the chair. "I could've done that, I suppose. My passport is likely flagged, but I know a few people willing to help me out. Villains are so easy to manipulate. Sometimes, all they want to do is a little good to make them feel like they're not too far gone. I could've gotten a boat to China, maybe even somewhere farther."

"So why didn't you?"

Kyomu turned his head to peer at him. "Why did you come back?"

Understanding bloomed in Deku's chest, but it was more painful than healing. "To finish this."

"If all good things must come to an end, it stands that all bad things must end too."

Deku pressed his lips together. "You never intended to make it out alive."

"We're not too dissimilar, you know," Kyomu told him. "We both died a long time ago." He shook his head at himself and smiled. "That's a bit of a weak excuse, isn't it? I've heard it multiple times from patients. Working with villains, you learn a lot about humanity. People will say anything to push the blame aside. You could say that I manipulated you into doing all those awful things, and I could say that my hands are clean since you were the one that did them."

It would've been so nice to embrace the former, but it would've been a disservice to Iida and the others to do so. "Maybe you pushed me in that direction, toyed with me, planted the idea in my head, but you're right, I did all those things. I killed people, hurt my family, helped destroy my friends. That's on me. I knew they were bad, but I did them anyway because I thought they were the right thing to do. I won't make excuses for my actions, not when I have to face them."

"If it's any consolation," Kyomu drawled, "I don't think you ever would've done what you did without some sort of manipulation." He leaned back in the seat, the photo from earlier appearing in his hand again. He flipped it with his fingers, tilting his head to the side as he gazed down at it. "It's a wonder what people are capable of the right push."

"I guess it's only human, isn't it?"

"You're not wrong. Humans are capable of a lot of evil as much as they are good." Kyomu set the picture down on the side table. He shifted in his seat to face Deku. "Todoroki was easier to turn than you. Even after everything Bakugou did to you for all those years, you never wanted to hurt him. Can't say the same thing for your friend. He spent years wanting to hurt his father. Dabi was even worse. He already tried to kill him a few times, and failure is such a bitter, festering emotion. It never quite lets go." His lips quirked to one side upward tilt, but it wasn't a smile or a grin. "One might say that Endeavor was better at turning people into villains than me. He certainly had a knack for inspiring hatred almost as much as he did admiration. And he was the hero, the good one."

Deku clenched his jaw tightly, his teeth gnashing against each other painfully. "Shut up."

The other side of Kyomu's lips dragged up into a mocking grin. "Come now, Deku, you knew it just as well as I did, if not more. It's why you caved to Dabi's suggestion so easily. You knew he'd be easy to flip. You wanted it. You didn't want to be the only one with blood on your hands. Deep down, you're still that little boy afraid of being all alone and a total outcast. If your beloved Ochako couldn't accept you, then maybe Shouto could."

"I said shut up!" Deku shouted. He grabbed Kyomu by the front of his shirt, ripping him out of the chair, and slammed him against the wall, his head bouncing against the drywall. Pain flashed across Kyomu's face and a gasp slipped from him, but he didn't fight back or try to escape.

Kyomu gripped Deku's wrist, but it was more to hold himself up than pull away. "You struggled for months, but with Todoroki, he was almost eager to cave and accept what I showed him. Honestly, I barely had to lift a finger. He was one step away from becoming a murderer long before he crossed paths with me."

"You're wrong," Deku snarled. "I saw what you did to him."

"Yes, you did," Kyomu laughed lightly. "You watched almost every session. I wasn't sure if you were there as some sort of comfort or if you were punishing yourself." Both, perhaps, Deku wasn't sure. He had known it would be painful in the beginning, so he wanted to be there for Todoroki in some way, like he'd been there for Ochako when they thought he was dead. "He only held off because Uraraka was here, but the moment you let her go, he quit putting up a fight. He was more than ready to be set loose. He wanted that blood on his hands."

"Stop it!" Deku threw him across the room. Kyomu crashed into the chair, knocking it and the end table over, breaking the furniture. He didn't get up, but he was moving, groaning in pain. With a quirk like his, he was no doubt not used to fighting. The human body could withstand a lot, but it still broke, as Deku knew all too well. Someone like Kyomu wouldn't know how to take falls to ease the pain.

(Deku knew how to fall. It was easy. It was why he didn't hesitate to take out that villain the night he crashed into the waves and sank to the bottom of the ocean, why he didn't hesitate to use the last of his strength to save Ochako instead of himself, why he let go of her on the roof. He could fall, but she was meant to fly.)

"It doesn't matter," Deku said in between heavy breaths. "You didn't win."

Kyomu struggled to push himself up on shaky arms. "No?"

Deku shook his head. "I didn't kill Kacchan. I couldn't. All this time, I thought it would make things better, but when I thought I actually lost him, I couldn't handle it. I couldn't take it." A few tears splashed onto his shoes, and he wiped them away. Kacchan was alive. He had saved him. Todoroki would protect him. He was alive. He had to be alive. "I wouldn't have been anything or anyone without him."

"And all the things he did to you?"

Burning his hero analysis notebook and throwing it out the window, singing his shoulder, Go take a swan dive off the roof and hope you're born with a quirk in the next life , mocking him, belittling him, convincing other kids and even adults to ignore or tease him, stealing his toys, ripping his trading cards, destroying his things, beating him over and over and over and over–

Not all of them were true, but some of them were. The fact that he couldn't entirely tell the difference stung bitterly.

"It wasn't right," Deku said in a strained voice, staring hollowly at the floor as memories flooded his mind. "It wasn't right, but killing him isn't right either. He can't make up for what he did, but I...I never asked for an apology. I never wanted one, and his death is just a cop-out."

"Must have been why you kept hesitating so much," Kyomu said, before spitting out blood. He rubbed the back of his head and then sat up fully. "No matter. Ground Zero's death was never really the endgame. It was just a means to push you along."

Deku's eyes snapped to him. "What?"

"All those villains with their grand schemes to take down heroes – it's really quite laughable," Kyomu mocked. He pushed his hair out of his face, running his fingers through his hair, and tilted his head back. Closing his eyes, he took a few deep breaths and then sighed. "Heroism is dug so deep in our society. Its roots are too strong. There's no getting rid of it; there is only changing it. The goal was never to kill a few heroes and make the world a better place. It was about changing people's minds. Hasn't it always been?"

"I...I do think that hero society needs change, but what you had us do…"

"Was drastic, I know, but people as a whole don't listen unless tragedy strikes, and then everyone's up in arms." Kyomu gestured vaguely, rolling his eyes. "Even then, tragedy fades from their minds and they go on living until the next one happens and then the next. If I wanted the world to listen, I needed more than a single tragedy. I needed a face." His hand stopped, pointing in Deku's direction, as Deku gawked at him with wide eyes. "I needed a figure, a shining beacon, and what better than the Number One Hero? What better way to crush people's hope than use it against them?"

Horror dug its way into Deku's heart. He didn't want to believe it, but then he remembered his conversation with Kota at the park, the conviction he'd felt in his words. A system that would prioritize faulty rules over a child's life didn't make sense. People couldn't always rely on heroes. That reliance made them blind to victims all around them. So many people slipped through the cracks because neither heroes nor the police could be there. Hadn't that been what happened to Shigaraki? Hadn't that been how All for One twisted him as Kyomu had done?

And even worse, there were the heroes that abused the system and got away with it. Heroes were humans too, and it was all too easy for them to fall to human avarices. Hadn't that been what happened to Endeavor? Couldn't that have happened to Kacchan had he not received the proper guidance at UA? It was like a doctor with terrible bedside manners. Yes, they were brilliant at their job, but that didn't make them good. Deku couldn't proclaim to have been good or perfect all the time when he was a hero – he had a temper that people sometimes forgot and he tended to bend the rules to fit him if he thought it was right – but he tried. He really tried to be good.

And he had still wanted and thought all those things during his conversation with Kota. It was so logical .

"You see?" Kyomu asked. "If I was going to make a difference, I needed to start at the very top. I was planning on trying to go for Shouto or Ground Zero – hell, maybe even Hawks, with his shady background – but then you fell right into my lap by chance. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up, the new Symbol of Hope, the holder of a power beyond belief."

Deku paled, his stomach twisting, and he staggered backward. "You knew."

"Of course I did," Kyomu scoffed. "You thought you could hide a secret like that from me? One for All is a part of who you are. It's more than a quirk. It's a title. Anyone that saw you defeat All for One should have recognized that you have a power on his level and be very, very afraid."

Hands trembling, Deku asked, "Then why didn't you–?"

"Trick you into passing your quirk onto someone more malleable?" Kyomu cut in. When Deku nodded stiffly, he shook his head. "It would never have worked. I had plenty of villains. That wasn't the issue. I needed something far greater than that. It's what all those other so-called villain masterminds lacked. A villain could never take down or change hero society, but a hero, especially the former Symbol of Hope and All Might's protege, definitely could."

"You needed a hero."

"I did, and there you were, right when I needed you the most, the strongest hero in the world." Kyomu clucked his tongue. "You can imagine my shock when I flicked through your memories and found that out. I was always careful not to dig too deeply. Something about those memories were off, like they weren't entirely your own. They were resistant, but it didn't feel like you were the one resisting."

Could it have been One for All itself? His predecessors? There was a chance. They helped him break free of Shinsou's quirk during the Sports Festival in his first year. Maybe they had had a hand in keeping Deku from caving entirely to Kyomu's quirk. While he had for the most part, there was always a piece of him holding back. If he hadn't, Kacchan would've been dead by now and likely Todoroki and All Might too, along with countless others. He wouldn't have felt the shame he had after Iida's death.

He couldn't fail them again either.

"Now what?" Deku demanded edgily.

"Nothing," Kyomu sighed, his shoulders sagging. "After Todoroki snapped out of it upon killing his father, I had a feeling that you would as well, so the UA attack was the last piece in the puzzle. Nothing is more like a cold dose of reality than losing purpose. Everything you thought you wanted is meaningless. Your mind goes blank, and you forget who you are. It's too strong of a disruption."

"So what? You sent me and everyone else out to destroy the core of hero society and waited for me to return to chat?" Deku narrowed his eyes. "No, you as good as admitted it: you didn't plan on leaving alive."

Kyomu chuckled mirthlessly. "I was rather hoping you'd kill me, but considering those other two are still alive, I'd say you've regrown your conscious. Heroes with that stupid code against killing are so weak. They'd rather destroy half a city taking down a villain alive than simply killing them on the spot. What a pity."

Deku wanted to kill him. It would've been so easy. After everything he had done, didn't he deserve it? All the pain and hurt he had put him and Todoroki through? Ochako? Bakugou? All Might? How many lives had he carelessly destroyed in his mission to change the way people looked at hero society? How many people had been irreparably damaged by this man's manipulation of one single person? Was it worth it? No, it couldn't be.

"You can pretend that you did this for a cause, but we both know it's bullshit," Deku snapped. "Say what you want about having to hurt people to help them sometimes. This isn't it."

"No?" Kyomu turned to look at the cracked ceiling. The building above them was failing. It wouldn't be long before it crashed down on them both. "You're probably right. I'm sure my wife and children would be horrified over what I've done, but it doesn't matter what they'd think since they're dead. Considering their feelings would be pointless."

"You're wrong," Deku ground out.

"Thinking about your friend, are you?" Kyomu tsked, an adult scolding a child. "Turned out he was an even more worthless hero than I guessed. You still went on to attack UA after his death. Should've let Stain kill him all those years ago."

Something in Deku snapped. He saw flashes of their fight with Stain. Something was different in the memories, but he couldn't tell what. He just knew that Kyomu had messed with them somehow. Had Todoroki been that cold and dismissive? Had Iida yelled at him after? Had Stain saved him from that Nomu? He didn't care. A siren blared in his mind, and he lashed out, striking Kyomu in the face hard enough to break his nose even without One for All activated. His knuckles stung, but it wasn't enough, so he punched him again, knocking him on the floor.

However, when Deku pulled his fist back to hit him one more time, he pictured Iida striking him outside the hospital before they went to rescue Kacchan, Kota using his quirk to stop him and Muscular, Ochako holding out her hand to let him take her with him, Kacchan dropping his fists and simply talking to him. It hurt. The memories hurt, all of them bleeding together and demanding to be seen. They were the real ones, weren't they? It was why they hurt so much as they fought their way to the surface.

With his face bruised and broken, blood spilling from his nose and mouth and an eye swelling shut, Kyomu gasped out, "Do it. Finish it, Deku, just like you want. It won't make you a better or worse person, but it will be a mercy. You can understand that, right?"

"No, I-I can't," Deku whispered. "I can't–"

"You feel it too, don't you?" Kyomu asked as Deku held him by his shirt. "People like us aren't meant to make it to the end. We're the villains in the story." No, he wasn't, but yes, he was. He had done those things and he'd sworn to take responsibility for them. "I know you want to be a hero. It's in your heart. You might've said you didn't to appease me, but I could never change or erase that. You just wanted to be one in a different way. And you still can now. All you have to do is end this. They'll say you saved the day – that you won – that you overcame the quirk and defeated me. They'll love you for it."

"I don't want them…" Deku closed his eyes and willed the tears to leave him alone. Now was not the time. "Even if I do, it won't be worth it. I'll still have lost everything. You knew what I would lose and you did it anyways. And for what? You took my entire life from me! Ochako…" Tears rained on Kyomu's face, but he didn't blink or look away. Shit, Deku hated being so emotional sometimes, but he couldn't help it. Ochako used to tell him that she loved him for it. She loved his tears and his passion. "I can't be with her. I know I can't. Even if I make it out of here, even if I think for a second that I deserve to live, I can't… I can't put her through that. I devoted my entire life to become a hero, I have One for All, and for what? For what? It's useless. I'll never be a hero again, even if I kill you."

Kyomu lifted a hand, but Deku dropped him on the ground and stepped back. He grimaced in pain, laying there, barely able to much. "It's too much, isn't it? The weight you carry is too great for anyone. And that power…" He closed his eyes. "No one should have that much power. You're unparalleled. Do you realize that? You fought about multiple top heroes – and you were holding back. With a quirk and mind like yours, you could've taken UA down on your own. Think of it, Deku: if this power belonged to anyone else, what's stopping them from tearing everything apart in order to stand on top?"

"I wouldn't–" Deku bit his lip. "I wouldn't do something like that. I wouldn't give it to someone like that."

"How do you know that? You know firsthand that power corrupts." Kyomu coughed and rolled onto his side, spitting up more blood on his shirt and the floor. He pressed a hand against the side of his face. "You saw it with Endeavor, the Hero Commission, and so many more. You saw it happen to a kid, watched him grow and use his power to taunt others. You had to live with your weak, pathetic body and know you would never amount to much, but you still wanted more, always wanting more. Who can say you wouldn't have found yourself here?"

"Shut up! You don't know me!"

Kyomu laughed coldly. "I think I know you better than most. I was in your head. And let's face it: you knew that you were stronger than everyone around you. The power you have is dangerous, Deku. It's a ticking time bomb. In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. It was borne from All for One, wasn't it? I'm sure he started thinking that he was doing good in the beginning too."

Deku's heart skipped a beat as his mind shuddered away from memories that were both his own and someone else's. It hurt so much. He pressed a hand over his eyes and groaned, trying hard to push them into the back of his mind. Not now. He didn't need this now. He had to focus, but it was hard, especially when Kyomu's words tapped into his worst fears.

"Okay, no more talking. We're done here." Deku grabbed Kyomu by the back of his shirt. He winced when Deku pulled on him, his clothes most likely pressing against wounds, but Deku ignored it as he dragged him out of the room. They needed to get out of this hellhole before the building collapsed entirely. Kyomu didn't even fight him until he reached the stairs, and he awkwardly grabbed the railing to weakly pull himself to his feet. Deku prodded his back. "Walk."

Kyomu eyed the stairs and then slowly started, grimacing in pain with each step. It would've been easier to just throw him up there, something Deku briefly considered before scolding himself over it being needlessly cruel. It would've been nice to hurt him a little more. Break a few more bones, snap a few fingers, make him bleed a little more. It could also easily kill him, so Deku didn't.

It would be so easy to kill him. So easy. One hand around the neck, one kick, one punch. All it would take was one hit. The human body could endure a lot, but with a power like One for All, people were so fragile that he'd needed to be careful when fighting even villains.

"Your power is far too much for this world," Kyomu spoke up as they neared the top of the stairs. "You know that, right? It's only a matter of time before it's exploited again." Deku bit his tongue. He wouldn't talk. Kyomu was only trying to bait him. "You can stay silent, but you know it's true. Your quirk somehow came into existence as a countermeasure to All for One, but he's gone and so is his power, leaving you entirely unchecked and alone. And isn't that what created him?"

"I won't be like that," Deku insisted. "I couldn't ."

"You were like that," Kyomu pointed out, stepping out into the open. Light from the setting sun poured over him. It looked wrong. Deku had only ever seen him in the dark and dim lights. "Look at everything you've done – at what you're capable of. Eight generations' worth of power, all at your fingertips, and you think you'll be content to roll over belly up and let the shackle you for the rest of your life? You wanted to break free from that. It's why you finally caved."

Deku held his hands over his mouth, desperately trying to think. He had to do good. He had to do something to make up for his actions; he had to live to face the consequences. "I can…"

"What do you think will happen to you once I'm dead? You can't live happily ever after. You murdered people in cold blood, aided in a mass prison break of some of the worst villains, destroyed city blocks, had a hand in large scale attacks on heroes and children, kidnapped people, killed and attempted to kill heroes. Your life is over."

"I can serve my time," Deku muttered. "I have to face any punishment I'm given. I have to… I can't run away…"

"You'll just go to jail?" Kyomu barked out a laugh and then coughed up more blood. Some people couldn't take a punch. Still, he turned his head and grinned, blood staining his white teeth. Deku almost punched him again, anger and desperation boiling inside of him. He was already so mixed up from the conflicting memories and emotions coursing through him that it was hard to control. "You really think you'd be okay with that when you had a taste of what it's like to be at the top? All that power and you'll just turn yourself in and spend the rest of your life behind bars knowing you're so much better than everyone else. You'd be better on the outside put to work. You're worth ten heroes combined, twenty, who knows."

You are, a voice echoed in his mind. You proved it. They sent all those heroes after you and not one of them could do a damn thing. The only reason they didn't die is because you spared them. They weren't worth the effort.

"Imprisonment would be a waste," Deku murmured. "I have One for All for a reason. Wasting away behind bars would do nothing. It wouldn't serve anything."

"And yet you can never be a hero again," Kyomu said softly. "That life is over. You killed so many people, including one of your closest friends, and aided in the deaths of so many others." He stopped once they were fully outside, turning to face the building and wiping the blood away from his mouth and chin. "Who's to say you won't turn again? How can you say that you're in control now? Look at you: you're shaking. You want to kill me. It would make you happy, wouldn't it?"

Deku stiffened and shook his head. "No."

Yes.

It would be a pleasure. Kyomu deserved it. Deku deserved it.

"They'll lock you away for the rest of your life, but maybe you'll see some sunlight if you take me out, one last good deed from a fallen hero." Kyomu shrugged his shoulders and sighed deeply, placing a hand over his side and cringing in pain. "Maybe you'll waste away in prison with your power unused until you grow too restless and break out. A quirk like that can't be contained. Or maybe the Hero Commission will convince you to pass One for All along to someone else, a fresh-faced hero they can groom and manipulate to become their puppet."

"No!" Deku exclaimed, stumbling backward away from him. "I won't let them. They can't have One for All! It's my responsibility! It's–"

Kyomu tilted his head. "It's yours." It was… It was his. He'd earned it. He had shown All Might he was good enough to become a hero, just like him. "They'll take it from you. In the end, you'll give up and give in to their demands. One for All will become a tool for the government to use and bend to their will. And who knows what they'll do with that sort of power? It's bad enough if one corrupt gets a hold of this quirk but an entire government?"

He wasn't wrong. All Might had kept the secret of One for All for a lot of reasons, but at least one of them had to do with people trying to exploit it. He had become a hero in his own right, just as his sensei had done. Deku wanted to do the same thing. He didn't want people telling him what to do, trying to guide him into doing things their way. Maybe he could refuse, but then what? Would he let One for All die with him? It wasn't like he could find someone to pass it onto while trapped in a prison filled with villains.

Was there anything he could do?

"You did this," Deku murmured.

"I did this?" Kyomu shook his head. "On the contrary, you did everything. You said it yourself. All that blood is on your hands."

Deku grabbed him by the neck. "You pushed me! You wanted to make a statement! You have no idea what you've done! What damage you've caused!" He squeezed. Kyomu's eyes widened, his mouth opening as he gasped for air. "You ruined everything! My life, my future, everything I was trying to protect and fight for! You destroyed Shouto's life and mine. Ochako will never forgive me. I failed All Might. I broke my mom's heart. I betrayed all my friends. And Kacchan– Kacchan–"

"If only," Kyomu wheezed, "you'd been more of a hero–"

"Shut up! I was a hero! It was all I ever wanted! And you just–" Deku's nails dug into Kyomu's throat. Tears burned his eyes, blurring his vision. "You took everything from me!" His lips trembled as strips of red light snaked around his arm and hand, power surging through his body. "And I– I'll take everything from you."

All it would take was a single snap. He had promised himself that he wouldn't allow his emotions to cloud his judgment, but he was just so angry and hurt. Besides, was killing Kyomu so wrong? It was what Todoroki would no doubt do, perhaps even before being manipulated. Maybe. Did he not deserve it? Did he truly deserve to live? It would be too kind, letting him live out his days in peace in prison, probably heralded as a champaign by other villains for what he'd managed to inflict on hero society. He had taken so much from everyone, not just him.

He and Ochako had their whole lives ahead of them. He was going to propose to her. They could've gotten married, the big, fancy one she secretly dreamed about thanks to her obvious internet searches. He would have bought her the large house she always dreamed of having, enough space for as many pets and kids as she wanted. They had both wanted kids. Busy as they would be as heroes, he'd make as much time for them as possible. Even if he was on the other side of the world, he'd go out of his way to be there for them. He knew what it meant to love someone more than himself – had seen his mother do it every day – and he wanted that too.

He had wanted so much. He'd had so many dreams of the future – what kind of hero he wanted to be, what he could do with the power he had, how he could use his gift to actually make a difference. There was something flawed with hero society. He'd known it had to be fixed somehow, which must have been how Kyomu managed to worm his way into his mind.

No matter. What was done was done. Maybe his means accomplished that goal, even if they weren't justified. All that was left was to put the nail in the coffin – to bring this to a close – to finally end the nightmare and wake up. He just wanted to wake up. It felt like he'd been asleep for years, and he was so close.

Kyomu closed his eyes, his face turning blue and red, wheezing for air. Deku held him up by his throat, squeezed a little harder, and–

"Put him down, Izuku!"

Deku startled and nearly dropped Kyomu, his hold on him loosening instinctively. He jerked his head around and gaped in shock and confusion as All Might clambered out of the driver's seat of a car that had barely stopped. Wearing the suit he had worn to teach classes today, he looked so terribly normal and out of place that Deku didn't actually believe it was him at first. He could see the fear in his bright blue eyes, even in that sunken skull, terrified at what he was seeing himself. Deku shook his head and looked again. Yes, there was fear, but there were also...concern and grief. Pain. It hurt.

"All-All Might?" Deku whimpered weakly.

"I'm here, my boy, I'm here," All Might said gently, holding his large, thin hands out in front of himself. "I'm sorry it took me so long. You don't know how much I've missed you – how much I wanted to see you again. Every day, I told myself, I had to find you, I had to talk to you, I had to… I had to hold you in my arms, to protect you."

Deku swallowed. "How did you find me?"

A faint, sheepish smile flickered across All Might's face. "You're not impossible to track if you know what you're looking for. One for All leaves a familiar mark. Using technology, we were able to track your course after you ran away from UA."

"After looking through records, we found this house listed under his late wife's maiden name. Using your course, we figured out your destination."

The light of his power faded from Deku's arm, dissipating from his body. He stared at his arm, willing his quirk to return, but it didn't. Under normal circumstances, he could have held up Kyomu by his throat and snapped his neck without his quirk, but after a long day of fighting, his arm began to tremble and he was forced to lower him back to his feet.

Deku dropped his chin to his chest and let out a weak chuckle. "Should've known you wouldn't let All Might come here alone, Aizawa. Smart thinking. If I snapped back into the quirk, I might've killed him."

"You think you won't?" Aizawa questioned flatly as he rounded the car. "It took Todoroki a few days to completely shake it."

He really didn't pull any punches. Definitely not the soft, caring touch like All Might. Ah, it was for the best. He needed a put in the gut to keep him on track. Unlike All Might, having been in the thick of the battle at UA and the USJ, Aizawa looked like hell. His uniform was torn and there was blood on the side of his face, side, and hands, not all of his own. He also had a capturing scarf again. He hadn't had that at the USJ, so it must've been Shinsou's.

"You're probably right. I've been, ah, having trouble concentrating. It's like there's another voice in my head itching to go back. It'd be nice. It was pleasant – felt good." Huffing a few tired breaths, Deku's fingers twitched around Kyomu's throat. "But maybe-maybe if I kill him, then it'll go away. Maybe it'll all go away. I can be free, so can Shouto and, hell, Dabi and all the other people he used. We can wake up. The world can make sense again. I'd be a hero then, right? I'd be good. I'd…"

"You are still good," All Might told him in a pained voice. "You still have such a good heart. Even after everything, I could see it in you and in everything you did. You wanted to help Todoroki. You were devastated by what his father had done to him."

Deku nodded. "The things he told me… It was awful. No hero should be like that."

"And you wanted to protect Uraraka. You love her. You missed her. You wanted to keep her out of arm's way."

"I-I just– I wanted her to be safe," Deku pleaded. "I wanted her to understand that I-I still loved her." He sniffed and rubbed his nose with his free arm. "It was a stupid dream. I knew it would never work, even when I brought her back with us. She couldn't… She never could have… I just want her to be happy again."

"So you had to let her go," All Might finished for him softly.

"It hurts," Deku cried, tears flowing freely from his eyes. "It hurts so much, All Might." Flashes of Ochako burst into his mind, all at once, happy, sad, angry. She'd slapped him, kissed him, smiled, danced, yelled, jerked away from him. She didn't want to let him go, but she had to, for her own sake. He pressed his hand over his face, gritting his teeth and grimacing as his head throbbed in pain. "It hurts. I want it to stop. I want it to end. I have to end it. I promised, Shouto. I have to make it go away."

"Not like this," All Might insisted. "Never like this. It isn't you, and it isn't what Shouto would want. The quirk is making you think it, maybe made him think it too, but that is not who you are."

Deku cried or laughed or maybe something in between. "What about Kacchan?"

"Well, maybe him, if only for a moment. He's been through a lot this past month." All Might sighed. He was closer now, almost close enough to touch. Aizawa still had his quirk activated, just in case, but it wouldn't have mattered. He could stop Deku from hurting All Might, but he wouldn't be able to save Kyomu if he snapped. They all knew it, especially Kyomu since he'd grown completely still. "But you can't kill him. We need him. There are too many questions that only he can answer. We need to know exactly how his quirk works in order to help you."

"There isn't any helping me," Deku said flatly. "I'm done for. It's over. I've lost. I should just..."

"No, don't ever say that," All Might cut in. "It's not over."

"How can you say that?" Deku demanded, shaking his head frantically. "After everything I've done? After all the people I killed? It doesn't matter if almost all of them were villains. What about the people at Endeavor's agency? And Tenya? I murdered one of my best friends!"

All Might hesitated, breathing shallowly, and then swallowed. "You did, and I know that hurts you more than I could ever understand. A lot of awful, bad things were done, but you can't atone for them if you're gone. You owe it to Iida to see it through."

"What does it matter?" Deku asked spitefully. "Iida's dead." Maybe Kyomu was right. Dead people didn't care about what went on in the world. They didn't get upset or hurt. They weren't disgusted or ashamed. And he was so tired… He was tired of feeling ashamed of himself, dirty and broken and terrible. He didn't know if he could survive facing Ochako and the others again. He was tired of being hurt. "It's all gone. I've got nothing left, and I can't even be trusted with One for All. I don't deserve this. I lost everything."

"No, I don't believe that. There's still hope. There is always hope. Someone taught me that."

Deku lifted his head to look at him. "Who? Nana?"

"You," All Might, his hero, his idol, his mentor, a man more like his father than his own biological one. "You taught me that the moment you stepped in to save Bakugou and in everything you did after that."

Deku stared at him. For a single moment, his mind was clear. He could picture that day so easily, like it was yesterday. How many times had Kyomu toyed with that memory, twisting it to fit his narrative? And yet, in this moment, it was bright and honest. The desperate fear in Kacchan's eyes, pleading for help when he had never wanted or asked for it in his entire life. The way his feet moved on their own accord, his fingers digging uselessly through the villain's sludge as terrified tears poured down his face. All Might saving them with a punch so strong that he made it rain and put out the flames.

It was all right there, picture-perfect, pristine, untouched. It was his and his alone.

His grip on Kyomu's loosened until finally he pried his fingers off enough for him to slip through it entirely and crumple to the ground. He laid there and clutched his throat, coughing and choking as he struggled to breathe. Deku stumbled away from him, horrified at the sight. He'd almost murdered him in cold blood. After he told himself that he wouldn't. After he promised himself to never kill again. He'd wanted to do it. He'd wanted to end everything, Kyomu, this house, the night, himself. He'd wanted to destroy it all–

His foot caught on a piece of debris, and he staggered backward. He leaned forward to catch himself, but it was too much, the adrenaline rush suddenly gone. Instead, he fell forward onto his knees and would have fallen on his face had All Might not been there to catch him by his shoulders. It was an awkward grab that brought him down to his knees as well, and he flinched in pain, his body not what it used to be before, but he didn't pull away.

"All Might," Deku whimpered, burying his wet, tear-stained face into his shoulder.

"I told you," All Might murmured. "I'm here, my boy."

He pulled Deku closer against him and Deku let him. It hurt too, stabbing him in the heart, but as much as his mind screamed at him to shove him away and run as far as he could ( you don't deserve this kindness, you don't need it, you're stronger than this, you're pathetic, you don't– ), he clung to the back of All Might's jacket instead. He held onto him and he sobbed, his body shaking with every cry and scream that poured out of him.

It was over. At least this nightmare. The future was so uncertain, and it terrified him. Now that he couldn't be a hero, he didn't know what he was supposed to do anymore. He didn't know what his life meant. The world had made so much sense before, even when he didn't have a quirk, but now it was dark and terrifying. It was so easy to fall and he'd done it so many times before, but he'd forgotten how frightening it could be.

"I'm so sorry, All Might, I'm so sorry," Deku cried, his voice muffled by All Might's shoulder. "I failed you. I shamed everyone. I'll never– I'll never use One for All again. I can't. I don't deserve it. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

All Might held a hand over his back as if to hold in his wracking sobs. Deku could feel hot tears dripping on the crowd of his head. "You're not alone anymore. I'm here. We're all here for you. Let's go home."

Deku almost laughed, but he couldn't. Home. He didn't even know what that meant anymore. Despite his encouraging words, All Might didn't move to stand up or let go of him, and neither did Deku. They kneeled in the grass and cried and held each other as the moon glowed over them. For a tiny moment, he could pretend none of this ever happened and he was back on the beach after Kamino Ward. In a minute, he would allow reality to rush back in, but for now, he needed this.

It was done, but when it was time, he would need to step back into the light again. There was no going back.