Izuku woke up in a pool of sweat.

He looked around panicked, not knowing where he was.

He remembered his nightmare. In it, Shigaraki had inflicted irreversible decay onto Ochako, who couldn't even manage to say anything to him before dropping dead. He looked back at his phone.

The text was still there. What had she meant?! Was she just saying "I love you" like a friendly goodbye? Or did she mean the love kind of love?!

Izuku remembered then where he was and what had happened. It overcame him like a tsunami of feelings.

"I—I just lost almost everything that was important to me," he realized. Up to middle school, he had had no friends and had been very alone. Going to UA High changed all of that, and what really changed was gaining his quirk. Now, he was training in a remote location for the rest of his high school life to protect the others. But what was left for him now? He didn't know any of these people. He had no connection to the outside world.

He got up, and looked to the clock, memories flooding into his mind from the middle of the night.

Wake up at 6:30 at the LATEST. Remember, you must be ready by 7!

The clock read 6:22.

Ochako woke up. Smiling at the ceiling, she stretched her arms up. The events of the night before were not on her mind. She didn't remember how sleepless she had been seven hours ago. She got ready to go out the door. Class would start soon.

She went through her morning routine. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

She began to hum. When she was ready, she set out the door.

When she went into Mr. Aizawa's class, Mr. Aizawa was looking extra shifty. "Our first order of business today is to elect a new class representative. If you are interested in this position, please raise your hand."

Yaoyorozu, Mineta, and Aoyama raised their hands.

It didn't click in Ochako's mind that Iida was dead. It didn't click in any of the students' minds who hadn't witnessed the incident.

"Everyone, fetch a 3x5 and vote for your candidate of choice."

People got out cards and started writing.

Ochako wrote, in the prettiest handwriting she could, "八百万百", which is Yaoyorozu Momo.

Then they were passed back to the teacher.

Mr. Aizawa looked over them, counting on his two hands; he assumed Mineta would only get one vote: his own, and that assumption proved to be correct. "Our new class representative is Yaoyorozu. Now, class rep, please lock the doors. The subject matter today is very intense, and I don't want to see any of you trying to run away from it. This is a very important exercise today."

The class looked confused.

"There's no lock on this door, Mr. Aizawa," Yaoyorozu stated.

"Make one, and keep the key safe," Mr. Aizawa ordered.

"Wait, this can't be what I think this is, right?" Sero muttered.

Mr. Aizawa turned on the projector. A bright light shot to the front of the classroom.

Then Mr. Aizawa pressed play.

"No…" Sero muttered.

On the screen, Iida could be seen speeding in from the left, nearly hitting Kirishima. Then Kaminari made some lame joke that got them all laughing.

"That's no fair. I wasn't ready!" Sero pouted onscreen.

"You still laughed!" Kaminari responded, also onscreen. Then Shigaraki could be seen grabbing Iida's neck from behind.

"This one's Izuku's best friend, isn't it?" Shigaraki questioned.

None of them could do anything but watch as Iida decayed, screaming and wailing with the voice of a breaking man, his cry loud and composure-shattering.

Everyone started to cry.

Iida's cries got louder and louder.

The onscreen Todoroki tried to shoot ice at Shigaraki, and the onscreen Sero tried to use his tape to save Iida, but the tape was intercepted by a villain he had never seen before, who also negated the ice.

Then Iida's cries stopped.

Eventually, Iida's body seemed like carrion.

"Let this be a message to you all. Heroism is rewarded with death in this world," Shigaraki spouted.

The clip ended.

Mr. Aizawa looked back at the class. "We'll replay this until every one of you keeps a straight face."

"No, please! Mr. Aizawa! Don't play it again!" Uraraka cried.

Ashido used her acid to melt the lock, running out, the others following her.

"Spectacular," Mr. Aizawa deadpanned. "There's a word for this if they can't overcome it… Trauma. It would have been better if they hadn't seen it in the first place."

They all left for the rest of the period. Mr. Aizawa wasn't going to discipline them for not wanting to see that. He was just hoping it would grow them as heroes. None of them seemed capable of handling it.

Outside the classroom, Ochako embraced Tsuyu, crying on her shoulder. "Iida's dead, and Midoriya's gone, and I told Midoriya I loved him over text! I wasn't thinking, and—"

Then she realized everyone was looking at her.

"This is a private conversation!"

"It's not a private conversation when you're that loud," Tokoyami stated.

Ochako was so embarrassed. "Tsu, let's, uh, find someplace to talk…" She was almost expecting Iida to pop up and tell them to stay with the class, but that didn't happen.

Tsuyu looked sympathetically at Ochako as they left for a private place, just outside the building. "You confessed to him accidentally over text?"

"Yeah…"

"Why would you do that?"

"Because… I don't know! I just want to take it all back! He'll think ill of me for texting him something like that!"

"Let me see the text."

Ochako navigated to it on her phone and showed Tsuyu.

"Hmm. Be thankful you didn't use kanji. Otherwise, you couldn't call it a typo. You wrote 'あいしてる'. Tell him that you meant 'かいしてる' if he asks about it." (愛 介 or 解)

"Tsuyu, could that really work?"

"So, you sent this right before his phone lost reception?"

"Yep."

"Man, only you could pull this off."

Then they heard some explosions.

"Tsuyu, what's that purple smoke coming out of the classroom building?" Her voice showed alarm.

"Float us out of here," Tsuyu advised. "The League of Villains has struck again. If I had to guess, I'd guess that they're all dead."

Then they saw Yaoyorozu running out with a gas mask carrying Todoroki. She clearly only had time to guard her own lungs from the fumes.

Todoroki looked dead, and he nearly was. Whatever gas it was, it was "mildly" lethal.

"We need to get out of here. Uraraka, you and I are good at moving away from an area fast. Take Momo on your back." Tsuyu grabbed the unconscious Todoroki and sent her tongue out grabbing onto something, pulling her and Todoroki towards it very fast. Uraraka warmed up, grabbing Momo and floating her before making Tsuyu and Todoroki float.

They did this all just in time, too. The building was collapsing and nomus could be seen emerging beside the building. The building fell upon where they had been a moment ago.

They fled to the nearest hospital.

Uraraka fidgeted as she watched the hospital's television. They had taken Todoroki to the ER.

On the news was apocalypse-like news for them. The League of Villains had completely wiped out UA High.

Momo cries a dearth of tears. She didn't even have enough to number their lost classmates. It seemed like hardly a response for what had just happened.

"Is he going to make it?" Tsuyu asked.

The nurse responded. "We really can't tell. We are filtering the toxins out of his body, but he might not pull through. Had you brought him five minutes later, he wouldn't have a chance."

"Come on, Todoroki! You can do it!" Yaoyorozu called. She knew he couldn't hear her.

"They're all dead…" Ochako realized. "And if I hadn't sent that text, I never would have pulled you out of there to talk to you, and we both would've died."

"Yep, that's how things went down," Tsuyu responded. "You're lucky. You know that, right?"

"Yeah…" Why am I still alive? Why not Iida, or Kirishima, or Hagakure, or Iida…

"We'll get through this, Ochako."

Ochako gasped. "My parents are probably in despair! I have to tell them I'm alive!" Ochako dialed her mom.

"We should probably do that too with our parents, Momo," Tsuyu realized.

"Mom! It's me, Ochako!" Ochako stated.

Ochako's mother was shocked. "Ochako?! You're alive?! We thought you died! Honey, Ochako's alive!"

"Don't worry about me. I'm not injured. Asui, Yaoyorozu and I escaped unharmed. Todoroki's in critical condition. The others are all dead, except for Midoriya, but I guess he wasn't attending UA at all when the attack happened."

"Thank goodness you are okay! Be sure to come home soon."

"I will, Mom."

There was a pause.

"Love you."

"Love you too, mom."

"Goodbye then. See you soon!"

Ochako hung up, exhaling much air.

Meanwhile, Tsuyu called her mom.

"Tsuyu, is that you?"

"Yeah, mom, and I'm okay."

"We were so worried about you! Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Come back home soon, sweetie. Your father still thinks I'm talking into the phone to trick him."

"Okay, mom. I'll come by tonight."

"Stay safe!"

"Will do, mom."

Tsuyu hung up.

Momo called her mom.

"Momo?"

"Have you seen the news, mom?"

"Yeah."

"I just called to tell you … that I'm alive!"

"Good. You come from too rich of a family to die young."

"Yeah, hehe… Goodbye!"

Her mother hung up.

Momo burst into all of the tears that wouldn't come before.

The nurse entered the room again. "The patient isn't going to wake up anytime soon. Unless you don't have somewhere better to be, you should probably go. You're taking up visitor seats."

"What's her problem?" Ochako complained under her breath.

They left shortly thereafter.

"Did you kill All Might?" Shigaraki hissed.

"Yes, sir. All Might must be dead." The low-level minion wagged his tail.

"Good, and Midoriya?"

"He must be dead."

"Did you find his body in the building?"

"No."

"Then he's not dead!" Shigaraki bellowed. He grabbed the minion's neck with four fingers. "Wait, did you find All Might's body?! Why, I ought to—Urgh, it's not your fault if Midoriya wasn't there in the first place." He tossed the minion to the side. "Wait, did you find All Might's body?"

"Does a cardboard cutout count?"

"NO." Shigaraki grabbed the minion's neck again, this time with five fingers, and the minion decayed away.

"I will find you, All Might and Midoriya, and I will give you death!" Then he laughed. "I'm so glad One for All was able to give me all of his quirks before he passed on. Even his original power is mine. As you all know, he lived much longer than anyone else. That is now me. Twenty-four hours ago, I had not a millionth of the power I have now. Even you, Overhaul, are much stronger with the quirks I bestowed upon you. I can see why he kept these quirks all to himself, though. Man, this is going to be fun, taking over the world. I want to face maximum resistance, too. As long as I can extinguish All for One, or take it as my own, I shouldn't lose, but I doubt I'll be able to steal One For All like I can with other quirks… Do you know the history of these powers?"

"No, sir." Overhaul kept his eyes on Shigaraki.

"Well, they're artificial. I can't say any more about that. Don't want to endanger my inherited secret intellectual property…" He cleared his throat loudly. "At any rate, I want you to be my left-hand man. Kurogiri's already my right-hand man. I can relate to your attitude much more than most, and you're very loyal to evil."

"Yes. Sir? There is a girl from the campus I retrieved. She was a visitor to the school. My estranged daughter… I can use her blood to take away people's quirks permanently."

"Ooh, we have to see if this works on Midoriya…"

"Do you see no other use for it?"

"Well, I should be able to steal most quirks. Hmm, we're going to be so filthy rich after this! We'll have plenty to celebrate once we kill all the heroes."

Midoriya wasn't used to this. He had never trained his body this hard, not even in the months he trained to receive One For All.

He lifted rocks the size of cars, carrying them from one place to another.

Their drill sergeant, err…, teacher yelled at them. "Harder! Faster! More energetic!"

Izuku wanted to fall over and sleep, but he couldn't do that. Not now.

This school only taught people with strength quirks. Izuku could see the gnarly muscles on many of his classmates. He felt like he was in a communist manual labor center.

He pushed himself harder. He couldn't take this much longer.

He set down the rock in the designated spot for it and leaned against it, panting heavily.

He was wet with sweat. After a moment, though, he returned to the exercise.

They were split up into teams, and his team was losing.

He knew that if he could just push through, he could do this.

He thought of All Might, the hero on the hill, but it didn't give him drive. Then Ochako crossed his mind.

"あいしてる" Ochako had said.

Izuku's mind went into overdrive. Was she accidentally giving him a greeting that she only gave her parents? Was it a typo? Was she confessing her love to him?!

"Hey, look, the new kid's pushing harder again. Not as weak as I thought." The guy who related this was Kenfurume Wakadou. (若胴・賢古目) (OC)

Izuku got one more rock to his territory before giving out.

The teacher rang the bell. "Alright, time to count the rocks!"

Izuku's team had 56. The opposing team had 58.

"Losers have to clean the bathrooms!" the teacher reminded. "It's time for lunch! Exit the training arena in an orderly fashion.

Izuku got his lunch as the line moved in the cafeteria. While this school was secretive, in a remote location, and it only trained people with strength quirks, it wasn't small.

He walked up the table where his former teammates were sitting.

"Hey, guys!" Izuku greeted.

"Midoriya, is it?" a girl asked.

"Yep."

"Sit down! Don't just stand there like a doofus."

Izuku sat down quickly.

"My name's Katara Ine, but call me Inawara." (稲わら・語ら) "This here is Kenfurume Wakadou, Oushi Kotori (小鳥・牡牛), call him Tori, and—"

I'm really out of ideas for OC names. Don't worry, the OCs aren't going to take over the story. You'll see that they're not very important. You just can't have everyone introducing themselves as Marumaru, however. And I kind of killed off a lot of characters, so I'm going to need OCs. T_T Sad, right? I'm so tired… Will I ever update this story… I hope so. I think so.