"Are you hurt?" Hara tapped, question aimed at Izuku. He sighed, a shaky and pathetic sound that would have earned him a look from Stain. Hours prior, when he'd been dragged back to his cell, he'd been unable of responding at all. The girl on the other cell had only stopped asking him if he was alive when he yelled at her to shut up, though Izuku suspected it'd been because hearing him talk at all had been enough confirmation of him being alive still. He'd sobbed for so long that by now he just didn't have any strength left to do much. Finally -fucking finally- his days of stress and lack of sleep had caught up to him and he didn't think he'd be able to defend himself from imminent death in his current state. Still, he craved for a distraction, and the man on the other side of the wall was the closest thing he'd get to one.

He dragged himself towards the door, finding the piece of concrete in his pocket and using it to communicate.

"Broken nose."

"You're lucky."

Izuku was about to ask why, but then he remembered Hara's appearance from before; bandaged, bloodied, and bruised. He wondered if the rest of the prisoners were as beat up as Hara had looked, but he didn't want to know right now.

"Torture not for info?" Hara tapped and Izuku shook his head in the dark.

"No."

"Why are you here?"

"Curious."

"Bad." The last word came from across the hall, a gentle tapping that reminded him that there was another person that could understand morse code.

"You know her?"

"Bad." Was the only response and Izuku sighed. He shivered on the floor of his cell, his mind still too preoccupied to let him sleep.

"Hara. Her name?" He asked.

"I call her Morse," Hara responded and Izuku snorted silently. Suddenly overcome with a sense of defeat, he curled up where he was, covering his ears with his hands in a futile attempt to rest.

"So, who's Bakugo?" Curious asked, legs crossed and tablet in hand. Izuku was on edge, being back in the white room even after days of not stepping foot inside it. He was tense, leaning back in the chair with his back as straight as a metal pole. He ground his teeth, glanced at the camera, and focused back on Curious.

"You mentioned him in our last session. You said he was dead. That Stain killed him, to be more specific."

"How do you know he's not some random target?"

Curious raised a brow, already clicking away at her tablet.

"You do know the list of victims from the Hosu incident is public record, right? Not to mention the Bakugos have been working with your mother ever since then."

Izuku glared and Curious smiled. She turned the tablet towards Izuku.

"I have the video right here if you wanna watch it."

"N-no, thank you." Izuku averted his eyes. "I'd rather you just ask your questions."

"Already did. Who was Bakugo?"

"...I'm sure you already know most of the general information."

"Yes. But I don't know what that kid meant to you."

Izuku huffed. He half wanted to complain, but the subject wasn't actually that hurtful to him anymore. Perhaps that realization was what made him hesitate. He was glad it was only them in the room because talking about this while being tortured would be impossible.

"He was my best friend when we were kids. My mother and his mother were good friends, so yeah."

"You say 'was'. When did he stop being your friend?"

"Ahhh… Whenever he got his quirk. Like eleven years ago, I think."

"That long ago?" Curious sounded genuinely surprised and that made Izuku uncomfortable. "Why would you see him in a vision representing fear if he left your life so long ago?"

Izuku sighed, shifting in his seat.

"Because he didn't leave my life. He stayed there, I… I wanted him there. And he made my life a living hell for ten years because I let him."

Curious hummed.

"What was it about him getting his quirk that broke you apart?"

"He got an ego." Izuku scoffed, a smile tugging at his lips. "And a temper. I was always his little stepping ladder to feel superior."

"Do you consider him superior?"

"No. Not anymore, anyways. He was strong, sure, but he was no hero. That's why died in Hosu."

"How did you feel when you saw him there?"

"Surprised. Scared. Slightly disgusted." And then, after a pause, "The usual feelings I had towards him."

"Are you sad he died? Or were you glad when you found out?"

That question took longer to answer. He bounced thoughts around his head, his brows furrowed in thought. He remembered how he felt when Stain told him, remembered the shock and the sick pride. But that had been months prior and now Izuku's emotions had shifted slightly.

"He was a target, so I'm not exactly angry at his passing. But… I guess I'm mostly disappointed."

Curious tilted her head to the side, motioning for Izuku to elaborate.

"He had everything; he was smart, talented, powerful, he had such a presence. He really could have become the best hero in all of Japan. But he just… He could never see past himself, you know? If he'd just opened his eyes…" A long sigh. "Besides, he was an only child. His parents didn't deserve the horror of burring their only kid at age 15."

Curious suddenly bit back a grin, and Izuku raised a brow. It was unlike her to break her professional persona during one of their solo interviews.

"You don't keep up with the news, do you, Midoriya?"

Izuku narrowed his eyes.

"The Bakugos won't have to bury their son once, but twice in the very least. The grave was robbed a month after the funeral and the body still hasn't been found."

Well, that hit Izuku like a block of ice to the head. He wanted to ask if it was a lie, but he knew that for all her faults, Curious wasn't a liar. Besides, if he objected, he might be shown pictures and he wasn't ready for that. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his hands, deliberately avoiding his busted nose. Curious stood.

"I'll let you sleep on that, Midoriya. I have a meeting right now anyways. Hope you don't mind continuing at a later time?"

"Not like I have a choice," Izuku murmured. He stood and suddenly noticed that Curious was handing him something. It was a plastic ball with a switch on the side that, when Izuku clicked it, made the whole thing light up with a gentle glow. Izuku gave the woman a look and she giggled.

"I told you the book was a gift, Midoriya. It'd be pointless if you can't read it."

If the sounds of animalistic eating were any indication, food wasn't a regular privilege down where they were. Izuku looked at the cup of water and plate of rice that had been teleported into his cell; there were no utensils, no chopsticks, and both plate and cup were cardboard. There was, once again, nothing he could use to plan an escape.

He ate as silently as he could, pushing away the ache in his stomach that wanted him to eat everything and anything he was offered after days of just water from… well, his toilet. He was done in a heartbeat but he was able to, in the very least, drink his water at a normal pace. He waited for the sounds of eating around him to stop before attempting to speak.

"Is food rare here?" He asked.

There were a few minutes of silence.

"Yes."

"How often?"

"Once or twice a week."

Izuku suddenly had a moment of insecurity. He grabbed the little cup which was already completely empty.

"Water?"

"Your toilet."

Izuku sighed, disgust and acceptance bubbling in his chest in equal measures. A small part of him tried to tell him that it wasn't the worst place he'd ever gotten water from, that he'd already drank from the goddammed thing, but the thought did very little to make him feel better. He tapped at the cover of the book in his lap, boredom and frustration clawing at his brain. He knew that if he didn't find something to do, then he'd go insane sooner rather than later. But was it worth reading enemy propaganda?

You should know your enemy, Stain's voice told him softly and Izuku nodded in the dark like a dumb child.

He had nothing to cover the light with, but he hoped that by sitting in the corner with his back turned to the door then the others wouldn't be able to see the glow of the nightlight; he didn't want anyone knowing that he'd been given something no one else seemed to have. Thankfully the cell directly across from his was Morse's and he doubted she'd say anything.

He clicked the light on, satisfied with the dim, warm glow that greeted him, and examined the book he'd been given. It was an old book, the pages yellowish and the spine covered in markings. The words 'Meta Liberation War' were printed in black on the front and Izuku ran his fingers over the letters. It took him a minute, but eventually, he opened the book. He was surprised to see that the first page indicated that this thing was a first edition released over thirty years ago.

The first section of the book was titled 'Articles of Necessary Liberation' and the first paragraph read as follows:

'Humanity for as I have come to know it, is a flawed creation which is always subject to the eternal law of change. Laws, beliefs, systems of governance, the ideals of the masses, are always in flux with the challenges and innovations of the age in which those individuals find themselves. From the forging of copper blades which gave way to brass, then to iron and steel, man had waged war for countless reasons that had been rooted in these two self-evident forces that all people find themselves drawn to, however they may shift. These forced being, of course, Freedom and Survival.'

"Data Transfer is a quirk that allows the user to upload and download any memory or experience from another person's mind. Images remain in the first person, no emotions are transferred, and whenever information is exchanged, the giver loses said information. In other words, the information is given away completely, rather than duplicated."

Izuku stared at Dr. Gurin with a tired expression. The person sitting in front of him had to be at least 70 years old and they didn't seem capable of hurting a fly. Still, the moment they started connecting things to his head, he knew he was in for a nasty experience.

The older man was wearing a blindfold, his body language relaxed. It honestly made Izuku even more nervous, and the feeling worsened when the man grasped one of his hands.

Dr. Gurin showed Izuku a flashcard with a red house on it, and Izuku didn't really know what that was supposed to mean.

"Tao-san, what am I showing Midoriya?"

For half a second, Izuku was left in a white blindness of sorts. He half thought he'd passed out, his breathing immediately picking up in fear. He looked around wildly, searched for the flashcard he'd been shown, and desperately realized that he couldn't remember what he'd seen a mere second ago.

"A red house." The elderly man responded and Dr. Gurin smiled gently. Izuku immediately felt like his chest was tightening.

He was shown another card, then another and another, and each time, his eyes would stop seeing and his mind would completely erase the picture he'd just been shown. By the fifth and final card, he wanted to cry.

"Connection between subjects successful. Moving on to stage two."

"S-stage two?" Izuku whispered to himself, not missing the malicious smile on Curious' face as she approached.

"Midoriya, what was it like meeting Stain?"

He didn't mean it. He tried to resist it. But in the end, the images of that first night in the alley came to his mind. Then there was a flash of white and-

"NO!" Izuku screamed, knowing something had been taken from him but unable to fully grasp what it had been. He didn't remember anymore, how could he forget something so important. No. He didn't forget.

"YOU FUCKING THEIF, GIVE THAT BACK!" Izuku hollered, spit flying out of his mind. He was livid and, had he not been restrained, he would have ripped apart everyone in the room with his own two hands.

"Tao-san?" Dr. Gurin asked.

"They met in an alley. Kid was burning some childhood drawings when the Hero Killer came in with a target. They talked a little, kid hit the killer with a pipe."

Izuku growled ferociously, tears streaming down his face. Had he really done that? Had he… How could they…

"GIVE ME BACK MY FUCKING MEMORIES!" Izuku couldn't even understand what he himself was saying. His panic and rage had taken complete control of him and he was fighting against his bindings with so much strength that he started hurting himself.

"You hit the Hero Killer with a pipe?!" Curious laughed, and the elderly man smiled.

"Had a broken arm to boot."

"Oh, Midoriya! You're a riot!"

Izuku's only response was an inhuman growl, followed by a 'I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU, YOU FUCKING FAKES'

"Why would you do that?" Curious asked. "Hit a serial killer, that is."

Izuku sobbed. He was overcome with a feeling of emptiness, an emotion that followed his incapability to remember what had happened that fateful night. He felt as if a physical part of his body had been ripped off, could even imagine himself bleeding out as a result.

"Emotions and inner thoughts don't transfer, Curious-san." Dr. Guring reminded gently. Curious made a hand gesture and the other woman nodded.

Izuku tensed in his chair, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. He could only see white and a terrible migraine exploded in his brain. The pain was so bad that Izuku actually passed out for about a minute, drool dripping down his chin when he regained consciousness.

"Returning of memories proves tasking for the subject." Dr. Gurin said for the camera. Had Izuku not been so out of it, he might have scoffed at the understatement.

"Did that hurt, Midoriya?" Curious asked. Izuku looked at her as if he didn't understand her words and the woman patted his head carefully. She rested her hands on his cheeks. "If you behave today, I'll make sure you get everything back, okay?"

More tears streamed down Izuku's face, his mouth opening and closing without a clear objective.

"Let's try another memory, shall we?"

Considering how much abuse they endured, it took a couple more days for the first person to die. Izuku himself had never seen them or spoken to them, but he still lowered his eyes respectfully when they dragged the body out of the white room and down the hall. They were bloodied and bruised and oh so thin and Izuku just didn't want to see their face; He feared he'd see himself if he stared a second too long.

The empty cell was locked and the lights were turned off and not four seconds had passed when the first 'Alive?' was heard.

Morse's voice was meek and frail, but the panic was evident. She asked and asked until someone told her the truth, not an ounce of sympathy in their voice. She started sobbing right after. The sounds she made were long and pitiful, raw emotion in her voice. The sounds of something hitting the wall also became evident. He didn't even have time to process what was happening, much less time to try and come up with some way to comfort the girl, when he heard a steady tapping coming from Hara's cell. It was louder than usual, the sounds evenly spaced -meaning he was saying nothing- and soon after Hara's soft whispering flowed from one cell to the other.

"You know, I actually have three younger brothers. The youngest loves ducks for some reason I can't comprehend and he always wanted to go to the park to feed them. This one time we went really early, in spring, right after a storm. The ducklings had just hatched and we saw one wrapped in string in the middle of the lake. My brother cried so much that I had to jump in, into the freezing water, catch the duck and then help untangle him. The water was so cold."

Hara laughed. Izuku stared at the wall separating them in pure confusion. The other man kept on talking about that day at the park, not once stopping the gentle tap tap tap from his cell door.

Morse sniffled loudly, the sounds of hitting no longer coming from her cell, and Izuku blinked. Without being asked to, he matched Hara's tapping at his own door. It took a few minutes, but eventually, Morse joined them on their little flat rhythm. She spent the rest of the night repeating a name in code, over and over; Jin Sayuri. Izuku didn't find out that was the name of the person that had died until Hara told him, days later.

'Few events have ever reset the scales of liberty as much as the emergence of the supernatural powers which we now find in our age of wonder. And as with any change in the structure of the order given by the law of man, there is resistance from both the masses and those who puppet them, for they who lash out at those who are unknown are not to blame. No, the ones that deserve the blame are those in power who try to smother that which threatens their hold of the people. The birth of our powers represents the very thing that has given tyrants cause for fear since the very beginning; people being able to liberate themselves from their enslavement. That is our lot in this life, our responsibility to our fellow man.'

Izuku bent the corner of the page he was reading, the light held bellow his chin. He'd marked plenty of pages already, all of them with quotes that he managed to read in Stain's voice. Perhaps the objective behind Destro's work wasn't the same as Stain's but the vocabulary and the passion sure reminded him of his mentor. It was a nice thing to have, all things considered, even if the one that had given it to him had been Curious of all people.

He leafed through the pages of the book, going through unread sections to see what else was written. He picked a random page in the middle and started reading.

'...They tried to reason with me to leave, but I refused, not until I knew what was to become of my mother.'

Izuku hesitated. He moved his head and the ball of light fell to the ground with a soft thud. He grabbed it, shadows looming and dancing around him. One shadow in particular leaned over him, the shape of a hand reaching out, and Izuku threw himself in the opposite direction. He held the light in one hand, the book in the other as an improvised weapon. But there was no one there. He let out a shaky sigh, panic already threatening to take over him. He looked around and, in the dim light, he could see Morse's small hand push aside the thick curtain of her cell, the shape of her face peeking out.

Dumbly, Izuku waved. The curtain fell back.

Izuku fought against his restraints, cold sweat falling down his face. His eyes were tightly shut in an attempt to stay calm, but the invasive feeling under his skin was proving to be too much. His nails dug into the armrests of the chair with enough strength to crack two individual knuckles and Izuku growled, low in his throat.

Dr. Gurin looked at the heart monitor connected to Izuku, taking some notes. There was another man in the room, one that wouldn't take his eyes off Izuku in order to activate his quirk. Today, there was no Curious.

The man blinked a few times, stopping momentarily to put some eye drops in his reddened retinas. The feeling of insects crawling under his flesh stopped and Izuku let out a shaky breath, pupils dilated. Dr. Gurin checked the clock on the wall.

"You've been going for 23 minutes and 17 seconds. Would you like to continue?"

The man nodded, blinking hard a few times before settling his eyes back on Izuku. The horrible feeling started again and Izuku whimpered involuntarily.

"Why are you here?"

Izuku waited for a response, stone in hand and book under his head as a makeshift pillow. He heard Hara humming in his own cell, a flat tune that spoke of nothing but boredom. They hadn't seen food in days and by now Izuku couldn't move around much without the pain taking over. He breathed through his mouth, his nose probably permanently moved out of place and practically unusable.

"I work for someone. They want info."

Izuku frowned. Hara had mentioned being there for about six weeks, and if you add the approximate time since Izuku's arrival, then…

"How are you still alive?"

"I haven't said much."

There was a brief pause. Izuku was almost too afraid to ask, but his curiosity got the better of him.

"How hurt are you?"

"Very. Missing parts." Izuku shivered at the response, remembering how one of Hara's eyes had been bandaged over the first time he'd looked at him.

"You're valuable," Izuku concluded, though he wasn't sure if that was a comfort or a sentence far worse than death. He heard Hara scoffing. Minutes of silence stretched between them and Izuku was just about to doze off when he heard tapping again.

"Why are you here?"

Izuku sighed. He looked at the ceiling of his cell, pretending like he could see the night sky on the concrete surface. A shadow moved in the corner, but he didn't react. There were so many ways to answer the question, and yet none of them seemed correct at the time. Why was he really here? What had he ever done in his life that would warrant such a fate? Painful flashes of faces attacked his mind and he squeezed his eyes shut.

"Curious finds me interesting," Was the first thing he tried to say, but by the second word he already knew that was a pointless statement and so he stopped. He bit his lip and, finally, gave away some truth. "My mentor killed Endeavor."

It might have been his imagination, but he thought he heard Hara rearranging his position in his cell, mumbled words not quite loud enough for Izuku to hear. It took a while, but eventually, Hara asked,

"You're the Disciple?"

"Hi."

And then Hara started giggling like an idiot, disbelief and surprise attempting to make themselves heard to everyone. Izuku had to bite his lip, the hint of laughter trying to escape his lips.

"Holy shit," Hara whispered.

"Yup."

'But be wary of those who proclaim that their actions are justified for the sake of others while never taking stalk of the suffering their actions cause, for these imposters are no ally of freedom, no paragon of liberty, they are tyrants. Those who would restrict the rights and freedom of the innocent, these are the people who I fight against and when dealing with monsters such as these death is nothing to fear, for the very act of existence is to defy the ideals of tyranny, so long as the dream of just and righteous freedom is held.'

Izuku flipped the page, a small mouthful of rice keeping him busy. He cracked his neck, nights of tension and sleeping on the floor making him ache all over. The strange shadow in the corner of his eye moved forward, almost as if it wanted to read the book over Izuku's shoulder. The teen leaned to the side, offering a better view to someone that wasn't there. He'd grown accustomed to the odd presence that kept him company whenever he read, finding some solace in the idea of having someone there with him. Maybe the cell's last inhabitant had remained in the walls and they were as bored as Izuku was.

Maybe he was finally going insane.

He bent the corner of the page, rearranged his position, and stuffed some more rice in his mouth. The shadow remained, ever-present.

Izuku fought against every molecule in his body. He clawed at the armrest, his knuckles white from the effort. His arm convulsed forward but he managed to deviate the movement, only hitting himself on the side. Tears blurred his vision and his teeth ground together.

Dr. Gurin and Curious were wearing sound muffling headphones. The girl sitting next to Izuku carried on singing, a sad and detached voice that filled Izuku with nothing but despair and horror and sadness and things he didn't think he'd ever feel again.

Don't, don't, Izuku stop, he told himself as his hand convulsed again. The gun was right fucking there just take it just- the girl reached a high note and Izuku's body moved on its own. His arm shot forward at the speed of light, his hand grasped the gun, and, without a second of hesitation, he pressed the barrel against his temple and pulled the trigger.

The sound of the hammer hitting nothing was soft, just a tiny and quick 'click', but it was enough to send Izuku into a full-blown panic attack. The gun fell from his hand, screams filling the room. The girl took a sip of water, and Dr. Gurin removed her headphones.

"8 minutes and 12 seconds. A new record."

Izuku could recognize the sound of someone punching a wall. It was hard to tell, particularly when the sound of sobbing and screaming was so loud, but he could still identify it.

"Morse, Morse!" Izuku hissed desperately but it only earned him another pointed scream. Izuku cursed, his face pressed against his door; his nose had stopped hurting a good while ago.

He heard the girl all but throwing herself against her door and Izuku winced. At the end of the hall, he could hear Hara cursing and yelling, his method of torture left to Izuku's imagination.

The person before Hara had died and then the young man had been dragged away, leaving Izuku all alone with Morse, her manic state taking complete control. Izuku could feel tears stinging his eyes, could feel his chest constricting painfully, but he didn't know what to do. Or, to be more precise, he hesitated before acting. Strangers surrounded him, he was wounded and tired and scared and he just didn't feel like he had it in him to even try to help. He wanted to curl up into a tight ball and just block everything out.

Morse screamed in emotional agony and Izuku bit his lip so hard that he could taste blood. He slammed his hand against the metal bars, took his piece of concrete, and started tapping as evenly as his shaking hands would allow.

"A year… A year ago me and my m-mentor stayed in the forest for a while. It was, I don't know, a few weeks? It was summer, and we had a… a river nearby. The water was so cold and refreshing, it was so nice to just swim there for a while, you know?" Izuku let out a small chuckle, the sound immediately turning into a small sob of his own. Someone to his right shushed him loudly, but Izuku pointedly ignored them.

"There was this one morning, I was out getting us some food, checking a few things and, you… y-you know what I saw? Morse, I… I saw a deer! S-she was so pretty with her big black eyes and huge ears, the sun shining on her back. She looked at me, you know… Haha, c-can you believe that? She just stared right at me! An-nd I smiled and th-then she walked away but… I… I just remember it so well. That summer was the best time I've ever had in my life a-and when I get out of here I'm going right back to that forest. W-we could all go! You, and Hara and m-me… That'd be so nice, right?!"

Izuku inhaled desperately, tears streaming down his face. He held his breath, the silence around him suddenly hitting him like freezing water. It wasn't true silence; Hara was still cursing and Morse was still crying, but the violent noises from her cell had ceased. Izuku let out a shaky sigh, his mind working all on its own.

"I've never told that to anyone, you know. It was like… My own little thing from that trip. But you're my friend, so it's okay if I tell you, right?"

For a moment, he only heard her crying. Then, after a long moment, she started tapping at the same speed Izuku was. The teen sobbed in relief, suddenly unable to speak any more than he already had.

'I learned something indescribably important that day as I escaped to the city with the only people I had left in this world, and that is the need for strength if moral good is to survive. The wicked and the evil use their power unjustly and hide their misdeeds behind petty words while their actions show the truth of their intent.'

Izuku read the paragraph for what might have been the fifth time already. He was a fast reader and once he'd finished the book once he just restarted it. He had a few parts memorized, a few sections placed somewhere next to his heart and deep in his mind. He looked up from the book, the shadowy figure sitting across from him. The figure was entirely made of darkness, but somehow Izuku could tell that there was a mask of darkness around their eyes. Izuku stared at the figure, putting the book down in his lap and shutting the light off. Neither of them moved for a while, static crackling in Izuku's ears.

"I…" He mumbled, feeling completely out of himself and speaking to no one. "I think Stain would like you."

"Midoriya?"

Izuku looked blankly ahead, his expression vacant of any emotion. His eyes flicked towards Curious on pure instinct, but there was no flash of recognition there.

"I asked you what it was like to find more people that would follow the Hero Killer." She repeated patiently, not an ounce of anger in her voice. If anything, she looked pleased. Izuku blinked slowly, cogs lazily turning in his head. Finding people, like-minded people, people who believed in your work, in your word… Your… word…

Izuku mumbled incoherently, his throat dry. He cleared it painfully before speaking again, his mind only able to think about one thing.

"'The blade of will is given its edge from morality.'" Izuku quoted from heart, remembering that the words were on the fifth line of page 8 of the book he was reading. What was he attempting to do, exactly? To level with these people? To show them he'd learned something? To try and persuade him that he understood what Destro's words meant? Or most likely, he realized, the words simply made him feel better because they reminded him of Stain in a twisted way.

Curious and Dr. Gurin exchanged a look, both women looking confused. Then Dr. Gurin shrugged and Curious giggled.

"You're quite the poet, Midoriya."

Izuku's heart shattered, a helpless smile on his lips.

"My full name is Hara Yukio."

Izuku squinted in the dark. He was pressed up against the door of his cell and that was the only reason he was able to hear the whispering coming from Hara's side of the wall. If the breathing was anything to go by, Hara himself was pressed against his own door, right next to Izuku.

"Hara?" Izuku attempted to tap, but the other man ignored him. He kept on mumbling, his voice distant.

"I'm 21. I have three brothers: Atsushi, Kei, and Makoto. I've been here for… I… I'm yakuza. I got captured making sure an important package reached its destination."

"Hara?" Izuku tried, risking a whisper. Across the hall, Morse started tapping on her cell door.

"I was born in Kioto. My father left when I was 10 and my mother got ill when I turned 12. I've… I've been here for… I…" Hara was hyperventilating.

"Hara!" Izuku begged. The other man let out a choked sob. "Hara, breathe."

"I… they… have they ever used Frame Rate on you? It's… I-it's gotta be the worst-"

"Hara, focus on me. Inhale."

"Such a cruel quirk. It… m-makes time so much s-slower, Midoriya."

"Come on man, work with me."

"I was in there for years, years I-"

"Hara!" Izuku said, much louder. Someone told him to shut up and Izuku flipped them off in the dark. Hara finally inhaled, a violent and desperate sound that a drowning person would make. But he stopped talking after that, and Izuku sighed.

"Take a deep breath. Hold it, one, two, three, four…" Izuku used Morse's tapping to keep a steady beat, something that Hara could easily focus on. He didn't count out loud, instead making sure that his own breathing was audible and clear. He had a brief memory of doing the same breathing exercises with Stain, and the mental image grounded him. It was about five minutes before Hara spoke again, his whispering barely audible.

"They're never gonna let us rest."

Izuku swallowed.

"Then just tell them what they want, man. There's no shame."

Hara laughed a little, the sound hollow.

"My boss would kill my brothers if I do."

"How would he even know you spoke?"

"He would. He does." And then, after a bitter chuckle. "He knows everything we do, everything we see. I can't… risk…"

There was a long silence, only interrupted by Morse's rhythmic tapping. Izuku tapped along with her and eventually, Hara joined them too. They kept going for a long while, each of them lost in their own thoughts, all of them wholly unable to say anything that would make the others feel better.

'There shall be those in the future who proclaim they have the keys to liberation from your sorrow, from your trials in life, but they do not. They hold no love for you or your fellow man, they merely see you as pawns to be disposed of, which is why you must grow strong. Use the hardships you have faced to move forward and ensure tyrants such as those I have faced will never hold your life in the balance, for you are far stronger than you know. Use that strength within yourself to cast these deceivers down and destroy any who would pervert the goals of liberation, so that all may be free to live without fear of the wicked.'