Pain.

Ever since he was a small child, that was the one thing Izuku Midoriya could always rely on. Whether it was the pain he felt as he sobbed for hours at the reality of his quirkless-ness. Or the dozens of times Kacchan had shoved him to the ground and laughed at his misfortunes. Even his mother's tears as she held him, unable to truly bring him what he wanted, brought him so much pain. Through his life pain had been a recurring feeling. It was something always there, in small or large quantities, it nearly grounded him to the fact that he was normal. Everyone experienced pain - those with a quirk, and those without one. That idea helped him throughout the years.

But still, he found it a little odd that the pain he was experiencing now was the only thing keeping him alive. For some reason, he was so glad that it was there. He felt it in every cell of his body. As he leaned his shoulder gently on the charred tree, he winced at the contact. But that bit of adrenaline he received from his neurons firing, kept him going. He needed to keep moving. Thankfully, his legs weren't nearly as damaged as his arms.

Start running

The blood that stained the blackened oak was the only thing that was left behind. He sprinted as fast as he could. In his tired state, it felt faster then he had ever gone before. Tired legs pushed into the ground with all their might. He bobbed through trees and bushes, noticing how his quirk was getting harder and harder to maintain. Like a constant pressure wrapping around his tendons, begging to be relieved.

He had just left Kota with Mr. Aizawa - having no choice but to turn right around and race back into the fray of action. He moved towards the battlegrounds to deliver his message. He needed to get there. Two broken arms flailed behind him, bruises scattered his chest, and his ragged breathing hinted at broken ribs.

It didn't matter, the information he had was too important for a few injuries to stop him. Still, the screaming sting coming from his arms was keeping him awake. It might have been the air whizzing past the torn flesh, or maybe it was his bone fragments grinding against each other. But it somehow trumped any type of pain he had felt before. Nothing but purple skin kept the ligaments in place, almost acting like bandages trying to hold together entire limbs.

His fight with Muscular had been much, much more taxing than he had originally thought. He recognized that he was still a hero in training. He only had his quirk for a few months and he still wasn't capable of much. But not once did he expect that man to be able to withstand a 100% punch. The same punch that was supposed to be on par with All Might. The very thought that there existed a singular quirk with the same strength as One for All, it was bone-chilling.

Question littered his mind - How was he able to draw more than 100%? How did he not completely blow his arm off? He had no answers to these thoughts but they were enough to keep his mind occupied as he ran.

Turning down one last narrow pathway, he finally reached the clearing where Mandalay along with two other Pussycats battled the villains. Taking in his surroundings, he immediately noticed that Pixie-Bob was taken out of commission. Mandalay seemed to be struggling to land a blow on one of the villains (who seemed awfully familiar to Izuku) while Tiger had been doing considerably better. He couldn't find Rag Doll, maybe she was with some of his classmates.

With no further time to ponder, he launched into a flying drop kick - shattering the reptile villain's sword and jaw. He landed in a staggered motion - surprised at his ability to still fight. Mandalay acted fast, quickly subduing the villain completely. As she looked towards him, his current condition brought a look of shock and horror across her face.

"Midoriya!? You need to go back to the camp and have your wounds treated, you look ready to pass out!" Mandalay all but screamed as she quickly examined his arms. She noted how they were nearly torn to shreds - and had to resist the urge to carry him herself back.

"There's no time!" Izuku fired up One for All to 6% unknowingly, "Kota is safe! But I need you to relay two messages!"

Having just dealt with "Physco teeth guy" as his partner for the forest walk had lovingly pointed out, Todoroki and Bakugou walked further down the circular path. The air had a fog that brought them nothing but an eerie feeling. They could tell something more was up then a singular villain encounter. "We should hurry, we don't know if any other villains are in the vicinity." Todoroki pointed out, noticing this first and starting to run down the dark path.

"Don't tell me what to do IcyHot!" Bakugou clenched his teeth as he begrudgingly met Todoroki's pace. The two ran through the forest with no real objective, other than to get back to camp and figure out what the hell was going on. Technically they weren't allowed to engage with villains, but self-defense was another story. Aside from the normal worrying - Todoroki could help but think of one question. Explosions, random villains - wasn't this place supposed to be a secret?

Out of nowhere, a loud explosion sounded from Bakugou's palm - and he launched himself above the tree line to survey the area. Todoroki instinctively stopped and waited for him to relay his findings. Eyes shifting left and right, Bakugou shot explosion after explosion as he hovered over the forest. Flashes of green electricity from atop a mountain caught the blonde's attention. He immediately turned towards the sparks, but an explosion that encapsulated almost the entire cliff-side with smoke had jolted him back slightly.

"Bakugou! What was that noise?!" Todoroki turned towards the direction of the sound.

'Deku?' Bakugo thought, narrowing his vision as the smoke cleared from the mountainside. A pang of worry uncharacteristically shot through him, but it didn't stick around for long. Todoroki watched as he fell through the sky. Immediately he noticed a slightly worried look on the boy's face, but it was hard to tell as a wash of anger clouded his emotions.

"I think that idiot nerd got himself into a fight, he might need our help come on." Bakugou's feet hit the ground and he took off towards the smoke.

Todoroki followed after almost immediately, but he was admittedly taken back by the seriousness Bakugou had expressed over Midoriya. It had been very uncharacteristic but he decided quickly that now was not the time to ponder over trivial things. If Midoriya was really in trouble, he would be there for him. He considered Midoriya to be one of his closest friends, he had helped him grasp his own reality, Todoroki would not let the boy down.

Uraraka kneeled over the insane, bloodthirsty Toga. Her hand squeezed the girl's wrist while the other clenched down on her neck. Squirming with all her might, Toga fought her captor - but Uraraka tightened her grip even further causing the girl to let out a tiny hiss of displeasure,

"Hehehe..." Toga turned her head upwards, "I know you - Ochako was it?"

Uraraka gulped at the mention of her first name, "Ugh, shut up!"

"Aww don't be mean Ochako!" Toga squirmed under her grip once more, "You have the same smell as me! You're wonderful...you like someone right?"

Eyes widening, Uraraka had to restrain herself - she was just trying to get to her, "Tsu! You ok?"

"Yah! Kero," Asui was busying untangling her hair from the jagged knife Toga had pinned her with, "almost down."

"You want to be like that person right?" Uraraka felt a small blush come to her cheeks, "Right? You're a maiden like me so I can tell!"

As she was distracted by Toga's words, she felt a sharp pain in her left thigh. Her grip slipped slightly at the feeling.

"Suck...suck...suck...suck" Toga cooed as a blush crept onto her face as well.

"What the..." Uraraka hissed flinching, only to be cut off by a large body crashing into hers. She fell back, releasing Toga in the process.

"What the fuck!" Bakugou screamed as he held his head in one hand slowly standing up.

Todoroki ran out of the woods to find Uraraka and Bakugou both on the floor. Bakugou had already been standing up but Uraraka seemed more rocked. His first thought was to run over and see if she was ok, so he did. He gently helped her sit up - and he quickly realized that Bakugou had been running and crashed into Uraraka. Unfortunately, this let the villain Uraraka had subdued to quickly get up and backflip away from the hero's in training.

All of a sudden, Mandalay's voice rang through their heads, "Attention all UA students, by word of Eraser-head you are all granted permission to use your quirk to fight the villains. And one more thing! The villains seem to be after a student named Kacchan! Your goal is to get back to the camp and watch out as they may be after more than one student!"

Todoroki took note of Mandalay's message but was snapped out of his thoughts by Uraraka.

"Ugh...what the hell Bakugou!" Uraraka scanned her surroundings to find Toga near the tree-line, "Hurry, get her!"

Todoroki jumped into action and shot ice through the air, encapsulating the blonde freak. He was about to rush forward but before he could, he was cut off by a large tower of bright blue flames. The heat singed his clothes, nearly burning his skin. Through the flames, he could make out a black figure.

An eerie chill shot through his back - who the hell was that?

Izuku laid on top of Shoji as the real pain from his injuries finally started to catch up to him. His arms had gone completely numb by now. His legs were not totally damaged, but his energy levels were so low - he didn't think he would be able to move if he tried. He sent a silent thank you to All Might when Tokoyami had been able to gain back control of dark shadow all on his own. He was shocked that he was able to, but luckily Tokoyami knew dark shadow better than anyone. And he had been training for this specific event just recently. Luckily, the one thing that worked on Dark Shadow was the word of his friends being in danger.

The three were now traveling down a path towards the main camp. They were all worried about the others, but none of them had the necessary power or energy to help. Tokoyami and Dark Shadow were high risks, as Dark shadow could lose control once again at any moment. Izuku was out of the fight, his energy levels were shot. Shoji was capable enough, but he was occupied with helping him move. They were in shambles, to say the least.

Rounding one last corner the three stopped dead in their tracks.

Destruction

His eyes watched in horror as red flames battled blue. Blood painted the murky green grass. Todoroki and another figure stood in the middle of the flames and burning trees. Seemingly having a conversation - he couldn't hear it. Tokoyami was taken back by the battle, ice shot forward only to be immediately melted by scolding blue flames. Shooting flame after flame, Todoroki struggled to maintain his ground in the battle. It was to no avail. His opponent had simply parried the fire with his own. Izuku immediately took note of the lack of his other classmates. He knew for sure that Kacchan and Todoroki had been partners during the activity. But where is he then? That question was quickly shelved as a flash of blue light left Shoji and Tokoyami completely immobilized, and turned into two bright blue marbles laying on the ground.

Izuku fell right off of Shoji, face-first onto the charred stained grass. His instincts kicked in, and he instantaneously rolled to the right evading another blue flash that would have left him marbleized as well. Rolling over once more, the young Izuku was able to catch a glimpse of the source. A man in a large yellow coat, with a mask, and a rather odd hat. His eyes widened as yet another blue flash traveled towards him.

'Move Izuku!'

The flash was seconds away, but his energy was almost completely shocked.

'You have to move!'

The boy's willpower may have been strong, but he simply could not muster the energy to move his body. The flash had been inches away from his face, and he was sure that he had failed. He closed his eyes waiting for his coming demise. That is...until a body crashed into his, hugging Izuku's bloody form, and rolling away from the danger.

Opening his eyes, Izuku saw his savior. It was Uraraka. She had dove over him and rolled him out of the way. A large wall of orange flames shot up in between the villain and the two young heroes. Bakugou then appeared next to Uraraka and the rag doll that was Izuku.

"We have to get him back to camp! Help me out here!" Uraraka called out to the pissed off Bakugou.

"Take him yourself! I'm helping IcyHot kill these bastards!" The explosive boy screamed, tossing the marbleized Shoji and Tokoyami towards the girl.

Bakugou flew towards the villains prompting Izuku to scream back, "NO! KACCHAN! THEY'RE AFTER YOU!"

His brown-haired friend shared a similar outburst, "BAKUGOU! YOU IDIOT! YOU'RE THEIR TARGET!" This fell on deaf ears, however, as Bakugou continued to blast off towards the villains. Focusing on the task at hand, Ochako grabbed Izuku's bruised chest and heaved him up to a standing position. This caused the young hero to almost get a second wind. He stood up on his own two legs, with help from Uraraka, and looked towards the battle.

He noticed Uraraka ripping her pink top off, too battered to even become flustered, he simply leaned against the girl. His body ached, his arms completely numb, there wasn't much he could do here. Uraraka was now only wearing a sports bra but realized that now wasn't the time to worry about being embarrassed. She quickly made splints for his two arms, as well as supporting him while he struggled to stay upwards.

"U...Uraraka! We need, to help Kacchan!" Izuku coughed out as Ochako started to help walk him through the forest back to camp.

"We can't right now Deku. We have to get you and these guys back to camp." Ochako explained holding out three marbles, which consisted of Shoji, Tokoyami and Asui. "And besides, the villain Todoroki was fighting backed off so I'm sure he's helping Bakugou." Ochako seemed to have some logic behind her words, but even she was worried, silently wondering if she should have stayed and helped.

He wanted to fight back on her claims, however sound and logical they were. He just wanted to help his friends. Unfortunately after cranking out more than 100% of One for All, suffering extreme damage, and sprinting a few miles, Izuku could simply not stay awake any further.

He slumped off of Ochako's body and fell face forward onto the ground.

"DEKU!"

- Beep -

...Stiffness...

- Beep -

...Paralyzed?

- Beep -

...No...

- Beep -

...

- Beep -

...

- Beep -

...

- Beep -

...

- Beep -

"Midoriya?"

- Beep -

"Can you try opening your eyes?"

- Beep -

"Midoriya?"

His eyes shot open and he quickly sat straight up in his hospital bed. This was a terrible mistake. His head immediately raged with pain, and falling back onto the hospital bed with a low groan - his hands grasped at his forehead.

"Deku be careful! Don't strain yourself!"

That familiar voice calling out from the left of him...Uraraka? Ugh, his head. His eyes spun as the rush subsided, finally, his gaze fell on the people standing around him. A nurse that seemed a few years older than himself stood on the right of his bed. She was fiddling with his IV drip. Looking to the front of his bed Izuku saw a good majority of his class. Iida stood closest, Kirishima stood right behind him, while the rest were scattered. Everyone except Uraraka, Momo, Todoroki, Jirou, Hagakure and Bakugou were there.

He found that one of his missing class members, Uraraka to be specific, was standing to the left of him. She had a look of worry mixed with glee on her face, and it made a small tint of red glisten over Izuku's, barely noticeable unless one were right in front of him. The nurse slowly helped him sit up, while Uraraka simultaneously propped his pillow up behind him. The nurse proceeded to leave with her clipboard to go and get the doctor, as for the rest of Class 1-A, they filled in around the recovering boy's bed.

"Midoriya? Are you feeling ok? We heard that you took down a villain with incredible strength, and that's how you got your wounds." Kirishima asked impatiently, as his thoughts ran through his head faster then Iida could. These thoughts projected the rest of Class 1-A's, none of them really felt like speaking up however. They simply waited for Izuku to speak

"Umm, y-yah. I was able to take down one of the villains with a muscle quirk, I-I think his name was Muscular." Izuku explained a little slower than his usual quickened analytical pace.

Kaminari's face showed a deep look of fear, "M-M-Muscular? H-He's..."

"A very high ranking villain," Mina finished with a serious tone, "no wonder you got so beat up."

The whole class seemed to share the same emotion, everyone looked shocked, even Izuku himself. The realization of how dangerous his fight had been hit him like a truck. The reliable adrenaline coursing through his body hid his fear and pain at the moment, but that energy was almost all used up.

"W-Wait! Where is the rest of the class? Jirou? Todoroki? Momo, Hagakure... a-and Ka-Kacchan?" Izuku noted their absence, extremely worried for his friends.

"Jirou and Hagakure were knocked out by a gas substance that one of the villains used," Iida answered rather stoically.

"They're in recovery right now, but the doctor said they should be fine kero." Asui added with a look of gloom on her face.

Izuku noticed this but chose not to mention it, he pushed further, "And what about the others?"

"W-Well, Momo was pretty hurt...but she should be fine, we just came from her room." Sero explained, holding his head down low as if he was afraid to go on.

"W-What about Todoroki and Kacchan?! Why is no one telling me what happened to them?" Izuku pushed with hints of anger, he wanted desperately to know what happened to his friends.

Kirishima stepped closer to Izuku, his face filled to the brim with pure sadness. Tears welled around his eyes, something Izuku never had seen before from his rough classmate. This was unusual for Kirishima as he prided himself on his manliness. Izuku did not like this, "Kirishima? What happened to them?" His classmates acting like this was not a good sign, and Uraraka had been unusually quiet this entire time.

"Todoroki and Bakugou...they...they were in a really intense battle. Mr. Aizawa...he told us they fought off three villains, just the two of them. In the end though...Todoroki was injured, very badly. He's in emergency care right now and they don't know if he will make it." Kirishima squeezed out trying to hold back his tears and failing.

Izuku's eyes widened, Todoroki had been the strongest in their class. How could he lose? How strong were the villains? Izuku remembered back to what the villain had told them about their goals. To capture Kacchan...

Kacchan

Before he could ask, a singular sob filled the silence that was once present in the hospital room. That sob came from Kirishima, but he wasn't the only one crying.

Uraraka's fists were clenched at her sides, and tears fell onto the floor as she looked towards her feet.

The rest of the class didn't fare any better, their expressions showed extreme sadness, and before he knew it, he himself had tears brimming his eyes.

"B-Bakugou...was captured by the villains!"

Izuku Midoriya did not have the best reaction to the news he had learned earlier that day. To say the least, he was upset. He blamed himself. If he had just been faster, if he had been stronger, he could have helped Todoroki and Kacchan fight off the villains. Then he wouldn't be gone.

Kirishima had pushed through tears and emotions to let the whole class know of his plan to get his best friend back. How Momo had placed a tracker on one of the Nomus, and how he planned to go that night to get him back. Iida and Asui disagreed immediately. Asui preached how they would all be breaking the rules, and how even though she wanted to get Bakugou back, this wasn't the way to do it.

Iida followed a similar argument.

Uraraka however, was very eager to follow this plan. She expressed how, although very dangerous, the smallest bit of help could change the tide in the end game. She believed that if they went, there would be a better chance of Bakugou being brought back alive. She did mention how he probably would not want their help, but it didn't matter in the end because he would take it from the one person he was closest too. Kirishima.

Izuku had to agree.

How could he not? This was Kacchan. Sure, he might not be so fond of Izuku, but the green-haired boy was not one to turn down saving anybody. Especially a friend. Especially Kacchan.

He might have been his bully. He might have been the reason he hated himself for so long. Kacchan might have been the source of most of Izuku's problems throughout his youth. But it didn't matter - he still cared for him.

He and Iida shared an intense gaze with each other. A silent conversation, one that reminded Izuku of his previous encounters, and his previous warnings. In particular, their fight with Stain. He could tell what this was, they had been instructed before not to do the exact thing he wanted to do. Iida knew this...he was the only one here who knew this.

He met Iida's gaze with a confident look, "If we can rescue him without harming the villains with our quirks, technically we won't be breaking any rules in that regard. Kirishima will be going anyways, so as classmates we need to back him up. For Kacchan. Who's with us." He had spoken with confidence.

In the end, Himself, Uraraka, Kirishima, Momo, and a reluctant Iida, bent on making sure his friends did not get into too much trouble, had decided to join the Bakugou rescue mission. After the class had left the broken boys room; them having made plans to meet up that night, Uraraka decided to stay behind and keep him company.

She had joined Izuku on his bed, the two waited for the doctor to come back and remove the boy's casts. Sitting cross-legged from each other, the two chatted over light-hearted topics, trying to brighten their spirits. Both looked tired, they were tired, emotionally, and physically. And yet, they talked with vigor, not showing any exhaustion whatsoever.

"I'm serious Deku! It's insane that you were able to take down such a crazy strong villain!" Ochako pushed back after he had turned down her compliments once more.

The two were in a conversation revolving around his fight with Muscular. Ochako had insisted that it must have been legendary. For him to break two arms and STILL win against the villain was simply unimaginable.

"It really wasn't Uraraka, really!" He pushed back once more. Of course, he hadn't done anything special. If not for Koda, he might not be alive. He relied on someone else once more to win. That's how he saw it. He'd rather be praising her, Todoroki, Bakugou, and the teachers for fighting off the villains in the middle of the woods at a disadvantage.

"You should really be praising yourself, Todoroki, and Bakugou. You acted so professionally in the situation! They fought off three members of the league of villains by themselves!" Izuku exclaimed, shifting the tone of the conversation substantially.

He soon realized his mistake by the look in her eyes.

"Ya...they really were great, huh?" Uraraka said dipping her head down, clenching the brim of her shirt.

He noticed her mood shift and immediately went to apologize. He too had been upset at the events that had unfolded, although it probably seemed like he was taking it a bit better. Before he could apologize for bringing it up, however, Uraraka let out a loud sob as tears flowed from her eyes. His own eyes widened.

It took a moment for the tears to come - but after a few seconds, the dams broke. She began to cry, sobbing uncontrollably, "It's all my fault! If I would have stayed and helped them fight Bakugou wouldn't be kidnapped! And Todoroki wouldn't be in the ER!"

He wanted to cry with her, wanted to show his weakness, wanted to scream. He knew it wasn't her fault, and she had made the right call by bringing him and the others back to camp.

But apart of him, a small shred of his soul agreed with her. He hated himself for it, he wanted nothing but to smack himself for thinking such terrible things. But deep inside, he felt that if they would have stayed, maybe they could have changed something. Maybe they could have saved his friends. There was much doubt on whether he would ever change his mind on that opinion. But he knew she made the right decision.

Now, a beautiful girl, his classmate, one of his best friends sat directly across from him, crying her eyes out. He was crying too, more silent, fewer tears but they were still there. He thought of All Might, what he would do in this situation. When all Izuku wanted to do was scream out and ball right next to her, he knew that's not what she needed.

So, he did what he thought was right. He leaned forward, wrapped his casted arms around the sobbing girl, and hugged her. He squeezed her tightly, and Uraraka fell right into him. She shoved her face into his chest and all but screamed, he hugged her, comforted her, held her in his bandaged arms.

She had curled up almost into a ball on his lap, and although Izuku's face wore a red hue, he couldn't help to admit that he wouldn't mind staying like this forever.

Having seemed to finally calm down, small breaths now escaped her buried face. Izuku's chin now rested on the top of her head, while her head rested on his chest. He couldn't imagine what the rest of the class would say if they saw them like this. The embarrassment would be almost unbearable. He doubted he would move from this position though, even if they were here. He would go any type of embarrassing situation for her.

He decided to end the comfortable silence, "You made the right call," he breathed heavily, "you made the right decision. If you didn't, all of us could have been captured, or all of us could have been in the ER."

Izuku felt her squeeze his chest a little tighter in their embrace, "I promise you Uraraka, I wouldn't lie to you. You made the right call." He assured, gently making circles on her back with his casted hand.

Those words seemed to cause a reaction in Uraraka, as she wrapped her arms higher up around his chest and pulled away slightly.

Her face had been red, just like his, but her eyes seemed weathered. Almost like she had been crying for a long while. Izuku noticed the large wet spot that her tears had formed on the front of his hospital gown, but he didn't care. He didn't care that her hair looked insane, that her nose was puffy and red, or that they were holding each other dangerously close.

"Thank you, Deku." Uraraka whispered, leaning towards him. This time, she hugged him.