"You look like shit, Shortstack."

"Screw you, Tiny-eyes." Manami was surprised she could even manage something simple as speech by that point, but her eternal, boiling distaste for Katsuki seemed to give her just enough strength to spit one last bit of vitriol his way before she curled inwards once more and whimpered her discomfort into the dirt.

"Stop being mean, Bakugo-kun! Can't you see she's hurt?" That voice was… Manami raised her head from the ground and took in the sight of a floating shirt that looked remarkably similar to the one Katsuki wore as part of his hero costume. Assuming she wasn't hallucinating from the pain…

"Hagakure-chan?"

"Yup! Where are you hurt, Aiba-chan? Bakugo-kun and I will help you up."

"I never agreed to this."

"Pretty please, Bakugo-kun?"

"... Fine."

Before she had any time to think about whether or not her antagonistic classmate would have genuinely considered leaving her at the mercy of the invading villains, Katsuki lifted her to her feet with a surprising amount of care, banishing the notion from her mind. The moment he let go and Manami tried to stand on her own, her legs gave out. Luckily, Toru was there to catch her. The invisible girl held Manami aloft and paid special attention not to jostle the red-haired heroine's broken arm, which hung limply by her left side.

"Something's weird about you two." Multicolored pink and purple eyes moved warily between Katsuki's avoidant gaze and the space where she assumed Toru was instinctively doing something similar. That said, her body was in so much pain that she didn't really have the energy to follow up. Her eyelids fluttered closed, but she pulled them open again with sheer willpower and shook her head.

"Are you okay, Aiba-chan?" Toru's voice sounded worried. Which was earned, Manami supposed. She probably looked like roadkill at the moment between her broken arm, cuts, bruises, and sweat-drenched skin and clothes.

"M'fine." she mumbled. The exhaustion was getting to her.

"Try to stay awake." Katsuki commanded with his own two cents, "If you got hit hard enough to break your arm, you probably earned yourself a concussion in addition to whatever damage overusing your quirk did to your body." His eyes glared down at her now that the attention had been shifted away from him and Toru. They were cold and rageful as always, but something she couldn't name seemed to lie just under the surface. Was he worried about her? Or was it a result of whatever had happened before he and Toru had found her? Both?

"Okay." She didn't have the energy to pry, even though whichever it was would likely be prime taunt material. Energy… "Izukun!" If her quirk had overloaded her, what had it done to him since they were still connected at the time? Did he lose because of her? Was he hurt?

"Calm down, Deku's… fine." There was a tremble in Katsuki's voice that she didn't like the sound of. A loud crash startled her, but Toru and Manami were facing away from the source of the noise. Unlike the injured red-head, however, the invisible girl was free to turn her head and look.

"W-What was that?" The waver in his tone, the silence that followed. No. No, no, please no! Toru trembled holding her. Standing so close together, Manami could hear the ragged breaths that left the invisible girl's mouth as it silently opened and closed in shock.

"A-Ai–"

"Don't say it, Invisalign!" Suddenly Katsuki sounded distressed. He stomped in front of the two and kneeled eye-level with Manami. She looked down. His hands were balled into fists and shaking. "Deku's going to be fine. Invisalign will take you back to the others. Find Ponytail and get her to use her quirk to make you a sling for that arm. Wait with the others until Deku and I get back. Do you understand?" His voice was rough and demanding, as was usual for Katsuki, but there was an undertone of desperation that he couldn't seem to stamp out.

"Tell me what's going on, Tiny-eyes!" He was coddling her. She knew it. She knew it and she didn't want it. "If he's hurt–"

"Young heroes of U.A. high, there is no reason to fear! Why?" Katsuki was saved from her wrath by the sudden, booming voice of All Might. "Because I AM HERE!"

"Fucking finally." Katsuki seemed to breathe a sigh of relief; his shoulders slumped with a sudden lack of tension. He turned to Toru with narrowed eyes. "Change of plans. I'll go with you to the entrance in case there are any stragglers; you won't be able to fight and carry Shortstack at the same time."

"Sounds like a plan." Toru's voice wavered strangely. Was she… crying?"

"Don't coddle me, Bakugo. Why is Hagakure-chan crying? What happened?" Every miniscule bit of Manami's remaining energy went into the single most glaring death stare she could muster in Katsuki's direction. His eyes narrowed when she used his name sans-honorific instead of her insult of choice; he knew she was serious. The explosive blonde growled in frustration.

"Aizawa's down. It doesn't look good."

Aizawa… Aizawa! Manami hadn't understood at the time what had stopped her quirk, but there was a sinking feeling in her gut now that she knew exactly what– or rather who– had saved her, and what the consequences were for that rescue.

"My quirk… it was Aizawa-sensei, wasn't it?"

She knew they knew what she was talking about. Toru remained pointedly silent as Katsuki nodded with a significant look.

"Then it's my fault that he–"

"Don't disrespect a hero's sacrifice by saying it's your damn fault they got hurt!" Katsuki nearly snarled the words at her. Fury and worry fought in equal measure behind his crimson irises. "Heroes leave their homes every day knowing damn well it might be their last. If he wanted to save himself, he could have, but he chose to save you because that's what heroes do! If you've got time to blame yourself, use it to push yourself harder so the next time you won't need to be rescued!"

Katsuki's voice cracked. Sparks discharged from his palms and smoke rose from beneath his clenched fists. His arms shook with rage and his legs trembled restlessly. Manami could feel it, his desire to charge head-first towards the fight as he had with the mist villain earlier.

"Bakugo-kun?" Toru, too, seemed to notice his distress. Like magic, the boy's fists unfurled and he spun on his heel, his eyes avoiding theirs as he stomped away.

"All Might will get Deku out of whatever mess he got himself into. Let's go."

Toru sighed.

"Bakugo-kun's phrasing may have been rough, but he wasn't wrong, Aiba-chan. You shouldn't blame yourself for this. Aizawa-sensei wouldn't want you to."

Manami's mouth opened and closed silently. She wanted to tell Toru she was wrong. She wanted to scream. She wanted to turn around and check on Aizawa– to at least make sure he was alive. But she could do none of those things. Katsuki and Toru were right. It wasn't her fault and Aizawa-sensei wouldn't have told her it was. She didn't have the energy to scream. Her body was too broken to expect to get close to Aizawa and survive.

But knowing those hard truths wasn't enough to alleviate the heavy feeling in her heart.

Behind them the sounds of combat erupted in full force. All Might had cleared the gap and joined the fight.

Toru started to trudge after Katsuki. She dragged Manami along with her. The smaller girl's feet shuffled, stumbling to keep up. Her eyes closed once more, but this time she was in no danger of blacking out. She blinked away tears of worry, of inadequacy, of grief. When she opened them again her eyes shone not with unshed tears, but of cold determination. Her wounds throbbed with pain, a reminder with every step she took of her victory and her failure.


"Because I AM HERE"

Mere moments after All Might's voice boomed across the USJ, Izuku's senses were assaulted by a thunderous crash and a gust of wind that blew through his hair and irritated his eyes.

"You have my deepest apologies, Young Midoriya." All Might stood tall between the young student and the League of Villains' leader. He wasn't wearing his hero costume, his massive form clad in a pair of slacks and a dress shirt that strained against his bulging muscles. If he was here, then Tenya must have been successful in getting the attention of other U.A. staff. He was safe.

'Thank goodness.'

The shuddering sigh of relief left Izuku's lips without thought and left him feeling just as helpless as before. He hadn't been strong enough, hadn't been fast enough, and now All Might would have to clean up his mess.

"Aizawa-sensei and Thirteen-sensei are gravely injured." Instead of accepting the pro hero's apology– because how could he ever think it was his fault– Izuku fell back on his training.

'Take a breath.' Stendhal's voice reminded him. 'Keep a clear head. Reflection comes after the battle.'

"That large one is the main problem, some kind of strength enhancement mutation, but the one in front of you is their leader. From what I can tell, his quirk requires physical contact, but he didn't manage to use it on me."

"I see…" With sight only of the man's back, Izuku couldn't view the expression on his face, but the grave tone with which he spoke was a promise of retribution for the suffering his comrades had endured in his absence. "Young Midoriya."

Izuku perked his head up at the sound of his name.

"I will deal with these villains. Return to your classmates."

"I…" Izuku was given no time to argue All Might's orders– even if he knew the pro hero was correct to tell him to leave the battlefield.

All Might shot forward with a loud crack that indicated he'd surpassed the sound barrier. The leader of the league of villains was batted aside without thought, sent rolling across the dirt with a cackle that no longer suited the situation.

"Nomu!" He cried jubilantly. He climbed from the ground and raised his arms to the sky, covered in dirt and scrapes and bruises, an unhinged man relishing in the bloodbath to come. "This is what you were made for! Kill!"

The hulking beast, still as a statue after it had maimed Aizawa, suddenly sprang to life. Its beady eyes focused in on All Might who approached at mach speed with a punch lined up that could shatter a mountain with energy to spare. The monster opened its beak-like mouth and unleashed a roar that shook the foundation of the USJ.

They clashed. All Might's fist dug ruthlessly into the beast's leathery skin, a would-be devastating blow that by all rights should have instantly incapacitated the monster. To the pro hero's surprise, however, his attack was completely ineffectual. Like some sort of rubber or gel, the Nomu's body deformed slightly around All Might's punch, almost immediately dispersing the kinetic forces throughout its body.

The Nomu tilted its head, an almost childlike curiosity in its gaze. Far past the speed of normal human reactions, and barely inside of All Might's own as it seemed, it launched a punch in retaliation, nonchalantly aiming a clenched fist at the symbol of hope's face. All Might scarcely had time to bring his forearms up to block before they were impacted by an amount of force he hadn't experienced in years, accompanied by a shockwave in the air as nature bent around the power behind the attack.

On the edge of the battle, unmoved since his last declaration, the League of Villains' leader cackled with glee as All Might recovered from his block and continued to trade blows with the Nomu.

"I've picked your hard counter, All Might! Shock absorption, super strength, super speed, instant regeneration! My Nomu is everything you are and more! Today, I witness the end of the symbol of peace!"


Seeing those two great titans trade blows with his own eyes may once have been a dream for Izuku, but it was only now that he realized it was actually a nightmare.

His hair whipped wildly in the ridiculously strong winds that both All Might and the Nomu created with every blow. The ground cracked and shattered beneath their feet, unable to handle the stress. Beyond them, an opponent Izuku had no chance of defeating ranted and raved of his victory and jubilation to witness the end of an era and there was nothing Izuku could do to stop it.

'I need to do something.' All Might had ordered him away, yes, but Izuku felt himself far too deep to back down now. If he was to be useless to All Might, the least he could do was help in some other manner. His eyes flicked over to the first place he thought of, what had started this whole mess in the first place. Aizawa's body remained still, half-buried under the remains of the USJ's courtyard fountain. 'Please…'

Izuku barely noticed his feet carrying him forward. His eyes glued themselves to his teacher's chest, begging for it to move.

'Please…'

"Aizawa-sensei!" He ignored the protest of his knees as he nearly collapsed in panic and slid the last few feet to the pro hero's side. Immediately, Izuku carefully began to remove the shattered porcelain chunks that covered the majority of Aizawa's right side. His hands came away slick with red. Izuku swallowed thickly. His teacher's body was bruised and cut nearly beyond recognition. Aizawa's previously broken arm had bent at a painfully wrong angle at the elbow, his face covered in blood from being smashed into the ground by the Nomu's punch, and those were only the obvious external injuries.

"I-It's gonna' be okay, sensei. I've got you." Izuku shook his head and choked back a sob. Aizawa wasn't breathing . "I-I should– n-need to–" His mind cycled through everything he could remember about emergency aid. He looked grimly at the river of red that left Aizawa's body and briefly wondered at its volume, but quickly shook the thought from his head. 'Don't think about it. You can't help him if he's already died from blood loss.'

CPR? Were you supposed to do that if the person's ribs might already be broken? Probably not, right? Izuku was quickly realizing how little he had learned about first aid. Emergency situations and triage were lessons that were meant to be learned at the USJ, after all. The irony was not lost on him, and it made him want to cry once more.

'Snap out of it!' His hands came to his cheeks with a loud clap that left red stains behind he didn't care to think about. 'Do what you can.'

Izuku took a deep breath and, apologizing to his teacher under his breath, placed his hands under one of Aizawa's bloody wounds and drank from the pool that accumulated. For a moment it seemed as if the red river on the ground had assumed a mind of its own and rose toward him like a dozen tiny hands grasping for salvation, but the tendrils splashed back to the ground just as quickly.

'Think what you can do.'

Izuku closed his eyes. All around him, Aizawa's blood glowed like a beacon in his mind's eye. He felt the river that continued to pool behind him, spurred on and diluted by the waters of the fountain. He felt it stagnant inside the pro hero's veins and hoped that his heart hadn't been stopped for long.

'Move.' He thought. Izuku focused on that first. The brain couldn't last long without the oxygen from one's blood. That, at least, was basic knowledge. 'Move.' Sweat beaded at his brow. His mind screamed in agony at his attempts to exert such fine control over so much volume. But Izuku had hope. How many times had he felt the rush of another's blood flowing through their veins? Hundreds? He thought of his mother, willfully donating her blood to 'keep him in check.' He thought of the connection he felt each and every time. The indescribable comfort of the beat of her heart. The rhythmic pulse that lulled him into a sense of security when he had been young and afraid.

It started slowly. Aizawa's heart clenched under his control and moved every ounce of liquid just a bit. Izuku noted the areas where blood was forced out of the network– his wounds. More internal than external it seemed. The young hero's stomach rolled as he pushed himself further.

He focused on the blood that rested where it shouldn't and tried to clot the affected arteries where the injuries were most severe, but not so much as to restrict the tenuous flow he'd created by manually pumping Aizawa's heart. Like patching a leak, he hardened bits of blood on the outskirts of the arteries until he sensed them cease their hemorrhaging.

Izuku nearly retched as a new wave of nausea and a migraine came over him. He was overdoing it.

'Go beyond. You can do it. Just a little more…' With his heart artificially pumping and his internal injuries suppressed, it was down to Aizawa. Either his body had absorbed too much trauma and he was truly gone or his heart would start to beat on its own. 'Please, Aizawa-sensei…'

With bated breath, Izuku continued to manually pump Aizawa's heart. Ten seconds. Thirty. A minute. He was nearly at two minutes and prepared to lose all hope– and his lunch– when something new happened. A push against his control. Just a little something out of place. A rhythm that wasn't his own.

The tiny, barely-there inhalation of air through Aizawa's lungs would have made the young hero shout for joy had he not felt opening his mouth would induce an unpleasant outcome. Slowly, carefully, Izuku relinquished his hold on his teacher's heart and held his breath.

Those few moments stretched on for an eternity and he counted.

One.

Two…

Three…

Aizawa's heart was beating.

It was slow. Barely what Izuku was sure Recovery Girl would consider alive, but it was there nonetheless. A desperate, relieved grin stretched his lips and he laughed and sobbed all at once, finally allowing himself to break, just for a moment.

After nearly a minute of sitting on the ground with tears rolling down his cheeks, Izuku took a long breath. A hand rose to his face, washing away the evidence of his worries and leaving yet more blood in its place along with a grim determination to make damn sure the League of Villains left without hurting anyone else.

He rose to his feet, sparing Aizawa's unconscious form one last concerned glance before he, for the second time in his life, actively defied the orders of a pro hero and charged into the battle instead of away from it.


All Might and the Nomu were still trading vicious blows by the time Izuku arrived at their battleground.

The state of the symbol of peace seemed to be dire. His sleeves had long since given way to the sheer mass of his musculature as it was strained to its limits, unleashing blow after blow and grappling with a being that seemed to match his immense strength in every conceivable way. Blood dripped profusely from a cut above his brow, covering his right eye and forcing it closed. Dirt caked his casual attire from the times he'd been thrown to the ground.

All of this and his opponent hadn't a single scratch on its body.

The leader of the League of Villains remained on the sidelines, a childish gleam in his eye and an ear-splitting grin upon his lips.

Izuku saw red.

He hadn't taken much blood from Aizawa; he had to make this quick. At this point, even if All Might were to defeat the Nomu, there would be no guarantee he would be in any shape to take another fight. So Izuku would take the leader down before that happened.

Blood flowed freely from the openings in his support gloves and stained the material crimson. He charged silently, eyes locked on his target. When he felt he was close enough, Izuku extended his arm. From the palm of his glove sprouted a tendril of red that reached out at high speed towards the League of Villains' leader, still too distracted by All Might's fight to notice Izuku's sneak attack.

Or so he thought.

"I already cleared your stage."

The hand-clad man spun on his heels with a vexed look in his eyes. Without struggle, he reached out and plucked the blood-formed whip out of the air, closing his fingers around it with startling speed.

'Got him!' Izuku had planned for this. A villain of this caliber wouldn't leave himself open to an obvious counterattack, but his arrogance would probably lead him not to dodge. Izuku's blood changed states from semi-solid to liquid instantaneously. The macabre substance slipped through the villain's grasp and quickly reformed around his hand, trapping the appendage beneath a thick layer of hardened hemoglobin.

"Oh?" Far from distressed, the League's leader seemed… curious? Amused? He chuckled darkly, even as Izuku willed more blood to follow. The man didn't move while a second tendril secured his other arm and spread further to encase both of his upper limbs. "You're one of them, eh? A life-eater."

Peals of laughter tumbled from his chapped lips. It was a horrid sound, one that held real, genuine mirth that was all but corrupted by some kind of lunacy and sadism.

"That isn't me."

Izuku was familiar with the term. A derogatory of sorts for the wielders of vampirism-class quirks. Not particularly common in polite society; something even the most ruthless doctors at the Quirk Rehabilitation Center would only call him under their breath when they thought he couldn't hear them. There were, however, niche movements that demanded stricter regulation that used the term. Protestors and activists who, by Izuku's measure, vastly misunderstood what it meant to have a need for blood. People who saw Izuku and others like him as more monster than man; ticking time bombs just waiting for the moment to go off and harm whomever they could get their hands on.

"Oh, but it will be."

Izuku felt rather than saw the villain flex. His fingers sunk into the blood that surrounded them. Immediately, the young hero knew something was wrong. Starting from his palms, the blood that encased the villain's arms seemed to disintegrate into nothing, taking with it Izuku's control over its shape and movement. Black lines like soot marked the furthest degradation and it slowly crawled down the line and back towards Izuku.

Panicked, he terminated the connection and watched warily as every molecule of the blood he'd previously had under his command inexplicably crumbled to ash. If that had managed to get back to him, if it had gone under his skin and into his circulatory system… he shuddered at the thought. His hope of a quick victory, or even a victory at all, now seemed like a mere dream.

"What is your name, life-eater?" The League of Villains' leader tilted his head quizzically, still casually eyeing Izuku as if he were a mere annoyance instead of a hero here to end his terror.

"I haven't decided on a hero name yet." A gust of wind from another of All Might and the Nomu's clashes ruffled Izuku's hair and rolled dust between his feet. His eyes narrowed dangerously, cautiously. He refused to play the villain's game, whatever it was.

"Still in beta, huh? Not even a working title? That's fine. There's still time to iron those things out." The villain scratched at his neck with a dry chuckle, finding his words funny somehow, "I'm Tomura Shigaraki. I'll kill you, someday."

The now-named Tomura cackled menacingly. Instinctively, Izuku took a step back.

'Stay calm!' He swallowed thickly, panic setting in. Tomura's soulless red eyes spoke only the truth. There was death in his future. 'Analyze! Touch-based quirk. Requires multiple-finger contact, exact number unknown.' Theories and ideas flashed behind Izuku's vision. His breathing slowed to a normal pace. 'Effect disassembles contact substance, possibly at a particle level, likely at the very least induces some sort of natural decay. Duration and scale unknown.'

"Why are you going to kill me later? Why not now?" Izuku played a dangerous game, goading the villain into making good on his threat sooner than later, but he needed more time to plan. Keep the villain talking for a little longer. How exactly was he supposed to counter a quirk that could essentially evaporate his own?

Tomura grinned.

"Because you're fun. But not yet. It's too soon. First I need you to suffer. I'm going to break you down, bit by bit until there's nothing left. When I give you your final game over, my quirk will only be doing to your outside what there is on the inside. But first…"

Izuku had no time to analyze the extraordinarily ominous threat he'd been issued. Tomura launched forward in a dead sprint, a punch aimed for Izuku's face that had more than enough power behind it to leave him hurting for a long time.

The hero swiped his arm across his front and left behind a trail of blood that hardened into a shield that took the brunt of the blow. He retaliated with his other arm, swinging a crimson tendril around his opponent's blind spot and wrapping it around his throat.

Tomura growled and brought a hand up, activating his quirk on the substance. Izuku was forced to relinquish control once more and made distance with a small wave of blood that suffered the same fate as its predecessor. He gave no room for Tomura to once again take their fight to close-quarters and swung his arms, throwing globs of bloody projectiles that forced the villain to dodge back further away.

"No matter what you think you plan to do to me in the future, I'm not letting you hurt anyone else today!"

Izuku threw another round of projectiles, but this time purposefully threw wide. Tomura, as predicted, grinned and charged, assuming he'd gotten under the hero's skin. At just the right moment, Izuku sprung his trap.

Tomura stepped on the fallen blood of one of Izuku's thrown attacks, only for the substance to snap up with sharpened points like a bear trap. One wasn't much of an inconvenience, it wasn't more than a half cup of blood and the damage was minimal, but the other small pools quickly joined the first, advancing on the villain's position from all sides. Some snapped around his legs with 'teeth' similar to the first while others connected to each other and wrapped wide around his torso to trap his arms and hands to his side.

"That stings a little." Far from concerned, Tomura simply laughed at his newfound predicament.

Across from him, Izuku gasped for air. His vision was swimming and his head was pounding. Controlling so many small, intricate pieces was far too taxing on his body after what he'd done to Aizawa earlier.

'I did it…' It didn't feel like a victory. Why was that? Izuku fell to his knees suddenly and retched, dry heaving violently. The tug was fading. His powers slipped out of his control. His quirk! Time was up!

"Is that all you had? I have to say, I knew you were still a newbie but you gave the impression that you had more in you than that." True to word, Tomura sounded disappointed and it was a slap in the face. Izuku raised his head high enough to glare in defiance at the somewhat blurry form of his enemy. The blood that had previously hindered his movement dropped to the ground and formed a grotesque puddle. Soon enough, that manic grin returned. "Ah, but maybe you just need a little motivation, hm? Really I came here for All Might, but you might be just as fascinating, given time and pressure."

Tomura turned his head to the symbol of peace as he spoke, showing teeth. Izuku's eyes widened, gathering an inkling of what the villain was planning.

"You said you wouldn't let me hurt anyone else, right?"

With that, Tomura shot off towards All Might and the Nomu. The two were grappling hand-to-hand, evenly matched in strength as it seemed. All Might couldn't defend himself even if he knew the attack was coming.

Izuku's hands clawed at the dirt and found enough purchase to scramble to his feet, his sneakers skidding as he went. He full-sprinted with every ounce of his strength, just barely making distance. Or was Tomura letting him catch up? The hero had let himself get caught up in the villain's pace, but there was nothing to do about it now. He pushed further ahead, eyes locked on Tomura's outstretched fingers.

"Hold him still, Nomu!"

"No!"

"Young… Midoriya?"

Izuku looked from All Might's startled eyes to his wrist, caught in Tomura's grasp. The villain's cackle was like firecrackers setting off in the deafening silence.

"Fascinating indeed!"

He let down his pinkie, fully enclosing Izuku's wrist within his fingers.

The burning was like nothing he'd ever felt before. Not even the agony from trying to heal Aizawa compared. His skin was set aflame with searing heat that gave way to bitter cold and both were Hell on Earth. From the contact points of Tomura's fingers, Izuku's skin peeled away layer by layer, inch by inch, turning black and decrepit before crumbling to dust. Agony, yes. But his goal had been accomplished.

"Y-You…" Izuku growled between clenched teeth. He flexed his arm, visible musculature rippling beneath crumbling skin. "... will… lose!"

With a heave and a cry of desperate and righteous anger, Izuku pulled down on the arm that Tomura held in his grasp and flipped forward. The awkward position twisted the villain's arm and forced him to release his grip, further allowing Izuku the movement he needed to continue his momentum into a full front-facing roll. At his apex he kicked with all of his might directly into the villain's smug face, reveling in the satisfying crack of his teeth clacking together.

Tomura reeled back, no longer an image of self-assured victory. Instead he spat blood from his bleeding lips and teeth and growled petulantly:

"Nomu! Break him!"

It took a moment too long for Izuku to realize that Tomura hadn't ordered the Nomu to resume its attack on All Might.

"Young Midoriya!"

It was All Might who realized first just who the villain's ire was directed towards. With supersonic speed, the Nomu directed a bone-shattering punch towards Izuku, who had yet to move from his position for the pain that yet continued to slowly crawl its way up his right arm. He braced himself for an impact, but the one he felt was far tamer than he expected.

All Might's arms wrapped firmly around the young hero, protectively pulling him face-first into the symbol of peace's broad chest. There was a sickening crunch and the feeling of incredible wind pressure as both Izuku and All Might were sent hurtling across the USJ's courtyard. The number one hero curled his body around the smaller boy's frame and took the brunt of the damage. He grunted painfully when they finally skidded to a halt.

The pro hero's grip slackened and left Izuku free to roll to his knees, breathing heavily and groaning from the pain of his still-decaying skin, the progress of which seemed to slow with distance from its instigator. While All Might had protected him from most of the harm, he still had a fair few bruises and a nasty case of whiplash to contend with.

"Thank you, All Might." he gasped between breaths, his eyes fixed to the ground. When he gathered his wits enough to raise his head, his next words died in his mouth. "All Might…?"

"I am… fine."

All Might was not fine.

It became apparent that the sickening crunch Izuku had heard was the cracking of the bones on the left side of the symbol of peace's face as he took the blow meant for the younger hero. If there was anything left of the man's eye, it was not visible under the profuse bleeding that had started and continued to flow freely.

Barring that most obvious injury, Izuku's attention was brought to All Might's stomach. The buttons on his too-small dress shirt had finally given way and left the pro hero's torso visible. On the left side of his stomach was an injury, already healed over but Izuku could simply tell it was far more serious than it looked, for the scarred skin was taught and sunken in where there should have been musculature and internal organs

"Y-You're hurt, All Might." Izuku didn't know what else to say. Twice now he was faced with his inability to save his mentors from harm. Thrice he had failed to do what needed to be done. The decay of the skin on his arm yet continued and finally reached his shoulder.

"I am." All Might finally admitted. He sounded bitter, a sharp contrast to the ceaseless optimism Izuku had come to expect from years and years of following the man's exploits. White steam began to rise from his body accompanied by a hiss like a deflating balloon. "I am hurt." It was as if admitting that out loud was the most painful part. All Might frowned, his intact eye closed in a grimace. "I knew what needed to be done, but I was too afraid. Afraid of failure. I stepped back and pretended it was alright while ignoring the reality closing in every single moment of every single day." he rambled. The pro hero's eye opened and he served Izuku a severe look. Forceful. Determined. Resigned. "Young Midoriya. You are yet green, but already a more exemplary hero than I have been in the past year. Your feet carried you forward when no one else had the courage to move. Your will carried on when no one else would tell you you could. Your dreams remained intact even when…" he swallowed, no doubt remembering his own words, "... even when your heroes discouraged you from pursuing them."

"You didn't-"

"I did. And I have failed you again. But this time… this time I will make things right." There was an unearthly glow in All Might's eye. Lightning in a bottle. The depth of a lifetime, of multiple lifetimes. Pure, condensed power.

"My blood, Midoriya. Drink it."


Apparently I lied both about being quick with the next chapter and about this one being the last in the USJ arc. Huh.

Apologies really are in order, but I really can't go in depth about why I disappeared for almost eight months so just know I thought about this every day and felt incredibly terrible for leaving you all hanging. I swore I wouldn't abandon this story and I won't, even if sometimes it takes me too long to update.

As for the contents of the chapter, oh man. These scenes went on longer than I had planned them to, but really that's been this whole story in a nutshell. I think I'm in love with All Might's speech at the end the most, because it's something I feel like Izuku needed to hear. It's him who is doing all the hard work. Even if he'll thank everyone but himself for it.

As for the other stuff, I finally got to name drop Shigaraki and good god his personality is hard to pin down. It's been such a long time since I've watched BNHA and I never actually started Season 5 (my watching partner wanted to get through Naruto), so I haven't actually seen him all that much even though I know he gets more focus later.

In regards to Aizawa… yeah. I know some people thought he was dead, and that was by design. While I never truly intended for him to die, I toyed with the idea briefly and left it open just in case I decided to change my mind. Medically speaking what Izuku did is probably all nonsense, but we're talking about superpowers that are basically magic so logic doesn't need to apply unless I want it to. He's not coming out of this unscathed though, and neither is All Might, obviously. I think Izuku is about to go through enough without dealing with the death of one of his mentors.

And I think we all know where I'm going with that last line. Some of you will hate it, some of you will love it. For me, Izuku isn't Izuku without OFA and it gives me an excuse to change some things about Hemokinesis that I feel I wrote myself into a corner with. Izuku has always been training to be a close/midrange fighter in my story, so I think this will only complement his powerset moving forward.

I love you all and apologize again for my disappearing act. As always, please review if you liked it or have criticisms. If you have questions, PMs are the best way to get an answer. Later this week I will also be crossposting this story to Ao3 (spacing out chapter uploads so it might be a bit before they're all up), so if that's your preferred site feel free to make the switch come chapter 14. Have a lovely day, everyone!