Disclaimer: I do not own Boku no Hero Academia.

A blast sounded through the dome as Bakugo's explosion clashed with Kurogiri, dust and smoke clouding the students. Shards of ice were scattered by the heat and Todoroki clicked his tongue at missing the chance to immobilize the villain. Kirishima stood up from his kneeled down position, fist clenching tightly at nothing.

"Where is senpai?!" The redhead demanded, hardening his arms in the process as the smoke cleared.

"Oh dear, that's dangerous," the villain manifested himself again, glowing gold eyes staring at the students. "That's right. Even if you are students, you are excellent golden eggs. But don't worry; you'll meet your senpai again. My job is to scatter you all and torture you to death!"

Waves of smoke shot out from the warped figure, flying towards and surrounding the students. There were shouts of confusion within before the voices disappear as Iida rushed to save Ochako and Sato, turning back to see the dome of smoke. By the time the smoke disappeared, only Ashido, Sero, and Shoji remained.

Ayame was falling; fast and hard. She let out a shout, eyes wide at the swarm of people beneath her and the ground getting dangerously close by the second. She closed her eyes, imagining a tengu to slow down her fall and within seconds; a medium sized crow took form. The tengu grasped onto Ayame's arm with its black talons, slowing down her descent long enough for her to recognize where Kurogiri had sent her.

"Sensei!"

Aizawa looked up at the sound, dark eyes widen in response to see his niece falling from the sky. Ayame landed on a villain's head, softening her fall with a kick to the thug and efficiently knocking him out.

"The hell are you doing here?" Aizawa dodged from an attack right as Ayame sent the tengu at another villain, trying to reunite with her uncle surrounded by dozens of villains.

"That gate guy warped me!"

"And the other students?" Aizawa activated his quirk and punched an unsuspecting thug, sending them crashing a few feet away.

"I-I don't know—" Her tengu disappeared into smoke as a girl with a pipe swung hard at it. Ayame concentrated on the dissipating smoke, reconstructing the form into an ookami to charge at the one that attacked it.

"You need to make a run for it," Aizawa instructed sternly, "I'll create an opening for you."

"No!" Ayame relented, "That guy sent me here for a reason! Whether it's intentional or not, I'm not going to leave you!"

She could see the scars and cuts tearing apart on his clothes, blood seeping through parts of his body from the few glances Ayame was able to steal at her uncle. Aizawa looked completely worn out and he looked to have defeated about twenty villains by himself. Ayame knew her uncle was not suited for prolong fights—he only rushed head into the battle because he put his student's life before his.

"Hey! Is it really wise to chit chat amongst yourselves while we're still here?!" A villain popped up behind Ayame, hair moving animatedly by their Quirk right as Ayame turned to face her. Aizawa's eyes glowed red, disarming the villain's attack and Ayame ducked to swing a punch at the girl's stomach.

"Fine," Aizawa begrudgingly agreed, "Stick close to me but as soon as you see an opening, you take it."

Ayame pursed her lips, unable to wholeheartedly agree yet still nodded her head regardless. Her ookami moved to attack the villains as Ayame danced around them. Aizawa neutralized their Quirks and Ayame followed up with an attack, efficiently working together to control the damage. It may have been her imagination but it was going way easier than Ayame expected—like the 'villains' weren't as difficult to face as that warp gate.

She whirled around, glancing at the first man to step out of the warp gate earlier. Severed, grey hands cover his body and face yet Ayame could still see striking red eyes glare right at her. She shivered momentarily, trying to contain the amount of killing intent coming from him.

"Don't get distracted!" Aizawa blocked an attack aimed for her and Ayame snapped her attention back to the battle, "We'll take care of him last."

She nodded her head as she spun around, blocking an acid spit with her starry cape. Luckily, it did no damage against the strong fiber and the ookami pounced on the thug, rendering them useless.

"That shadow gate user said they're here to kill All Might," Ayame informed, lilac eyes looking at Aizawa in worry, "He won't be taken down that easily, right? All Might will come save us?"

Aizawa clicked his tongue, unable to reply to her confidently about the tight secret regarding All Might. He threw another villain around with his bandages, glancing at his niece through goggled eyes to see her summon a kitsune when the ookami dissipated.

"You have the power, too, Ayame."

Wide, lilac eyes stared at the black blur in surprise. Aizawa trusted her. With those simple words, Ayame was able to decipher the miniscule approval coming from him. Her fist tightened, determined and confident as she punched another thug. Unbeknownst to her, the kitsune summon grew a few inches in size, powerful jaws locking onto unsuspecting villains and nine tails whipping opponents away.

"That Kurogiri…" Shigaraki mumbled to himself, scratching his neck in frustration, "He dropped an annoying enemy towards us."

His eyes followed Aizawa and Ayame dutifully, counting down the seconds within his mind as the older man's hair fell over his face. There was a pause when Aizawa took a breath, adjusting his bandages while Ayame commanded the kitsune to keep the villains at a distance.

Shigaraki sighed.

"Nomu."

"'Scatter you and kill you', huh?" Todoroki let out a breath of cold air, "I hate to say this, but you just look like guys with Quirks they didn't know what to do with."

He walked towards the mass of frozen bodies, eyeing them carefully yet unafraid of the villains. None were able to withstand the speed of his ice capturing them and he almost felt disappointed at the lack of challenge. If those 'League of Villains' were serious in defeating All Might, then they were doing a poor job of attempting it when these thugs could not last longer than a second against him. Not that Todoroki was hoping for them to be strong; but it gave him a small piece of mind to know the others may be faring well against common thugs than actual villains.

Another figure jumped out behind him with a speared aim at his head but Todoroki shifted at the last minute, ice spread from under his foot and hand as he gripped the spear and trapped the larger man. He broke the icicle and let the villain drop, turning to the one shivering in both cold and fear.

"Hey, at this rate, your cells will slowly die. I want to be a Hero. I would like to avoid something so cruel if possible." Pathetic, there were nearly tears in the grown man's face when Todoroki put one hand in front of his. "On what basis do you think you can kill All Might? What's your plan?"

The sooner he finds their strategy, the faster he can think of a plan to counterattack it. Todoroki was not going to allow All Might die in his presence.

"Die!"

Bakugo exploded a villain, sending him flying against a wall as Kirishima finished off the last. The two stood within the collapsed building, breathing heavily as they surveyed the dozens of unconscious villains around them.

"Is this all of them? They're so weak," Bakugo sneered.

"All right. Let's hurry up and go save the others! If we're here, then everyone else should be inside USJ, too. I'm worried about the guys with less offensive ability." Kirishima clutched his fist, "We weren't able to grab Ayame-senpai before she disappeared and got in the way of Thirteen-sensei before he can suck up the fog. As men, we have to take responsibility for what we did!"

"If you want to go, then go by yourself!" Bakugo refused, "I'm going to kill that warp gate."

"What?!" Kirishima gaped at him, "You're going to act childish at a time like this? Besides, that guy's attacks are—"

"Shut up!" The blonde barked back, "That gate bastard is the enemy's way in and out. I'm gonna cut off their gateaway route for when the time comes. It's not like we don't have a way to fight the fog."

"Since you've left your guard down—"

Bakugo slammed his hand onto the chameleon villain that attempted to attack them, creating an explosion in the process and rendering him useless.

"Anyway, if these small fry are the ones assigned to us, pretty much everyone'll be fine, right? That shit-pai would have disappeared along with us even if we did grab her so it's useless."

Kirishima blinked, taken back by the blonde's ability to access the situation. "That reaction time was amazing… Anyways, were you always so calm and rational? I thought you were more like…" The redhead imagined Bakugo's furious face, exclaiming 'die, die, die' at anyone and everyone.

"I'm always calm and rational, you spiky-haired punk!"

"Oh yeah, that's more like it!"

Bakugo threw the unconscious chameleon aside and began to stalk off. "Then go if you want to!"

"Wait, wait!" Kirishima stopped him, "Believing in our friends…that's real manly, Bakugo! I'll follow you!"

Bakugo clicked his tongue and turned around, not bothering to see if Kirishima would really follow. The boy jogged up to him, walking with him at an even pace as he pumped his fist together.

"But you know, even if you dislike her—Ayame-senpai is still our senpai. Can't you think up of another...endearing nickname?"

The blonde continued to ignore him, red eyes glaring at his surroundings and alert for any unsuspecting enemies.

"After all, senpai put her life in danger for us. In my opinion—that's real manly too!"

"I don't care what she does!" Bakugo exclaimed, "If she said she was going to defeat him then she should have! It'll save us a whole lotta trouble than this!"

"Man, you really are a piece of work," Kirishima shook his head.

"Gah!"

Ayame flew through the air when a heavy arm swiped through her kitsune and body, sending her into the distance at the unsuspecting attack. Aizawa huffed after taking down another villain, bloodshot eyes wide at the sight of his niece rolling a few feet away on the ground. He was not given any time to help when Shigaraki charged at him, grabbing his elbow tightly.

"It's hard to see because you keep moving around, but there's an instant when your hair falls. That's when you've finished an action and the space in between has gotten shorter and shorter. I had to send your little sidekick away in order to get close like this." The elbow Shigaraki grabbed began to deteriorate, crimson eyes wide at observing the hero. "But it looks like you're both pushing yourselves very hard, Eraser Head."

His Quirk activated again, pushing Shigaraki aside and jumped back. Ayame struggled to rise to her feet and felt her brain rattle against her head from the overuse of her Quirk and pain. Her eyes were unfocused on Aizawa, noticing a large spot of red broken skin on his elbow. Four villains surrounded him and Ayame tried to conjure up her summons again—anything—to help with Aizawa but her head felt hazy and cloudy, unable to focus clearly on a creature. Smoke emitted from her body yet none of the images were able to stabilize.

She cursed herself, feeling the dizziness take over and struggled to stay awake. Her body felt sore now that she was not acting on impulsiveness and adrenaline any longer, looking up weakly at the giant dark villain that had attacked her. Wide, unfocused eyes were surveying his surrounding, the veins on his head pulsating in movement and Ayame swallowed down the fear and shakiness of her arms.

That…thing had attacked her but it felt like she was ran over by a truck. Ayame knew she was not physically in the best shape; she could take a beating or two. But that villain just hit her once and she already felt out of breath and powerless.

"That Quirk isn't suited for fighting long fights against a large group, is it?" Shigaraki slowly stood up from his fallen state, a carefree tone in his voice as he studied Aizawa. "Isn't this too different from your usual job? What you're good at is a short fight after a surprise attack, right? Even so, you jumped right in to fight us from the front. Was that to put your students at ease?"

The villains surrounding Aizawa attacked but he relented. Despite his fatigued state and injured arm, Aizawa fought with the same vigor as before. Ayame's vision began to come back as she rested on the ground, breathing deeply to calm her rapid heartbeat and ignoring the pain as she forced herself on her knees.

"You're so cool…!" Shigaraki exclaimed, deeply amused by the hero's efforts. "By the way, Hero… I'm not the last boss."

All it took was a blink and Nomu appeared behind Aizawa, one large hand slamming down his face and ripping the goggles off. Ayame gasped, barely believing what her eyes was seeing as blood splattered from her uncle as the giant villain punched Aizawa again, and again, and again.

"Shouta-oji!"

Shigaraki turned to Ayame as she pushed herself to stand up, taking one step forward towards Aizawa but collapsed back onto the ground. She gasped, watching with wide eyes in horror as the monster continued to beat her uncle and—he was unable to fight back. Tears began to build up behind her eyes and she sees a blur of colors and red—so much red.

"Oh? What an unexpected development," there was a light and happy tone in Shigaraki's voice, teeth widening behind the hand as his eyes looked over Ayame's trembling form. "You're related to…Eraser Head? How does it feel? Watching him crumble in front of our very own anti-Symbol of Peace, the bioengineered 'Nomu'. He will be the first kill before All Might."

"Stop it!" She screamed as the monster twisted Aizawa's arm, crushing his elbow like a twig under his strong grasp and causing Aizawa to shout out in pain.

"Did you want to take his place instead?" Shigaraki giggled, tilting his head to the side playfully yet Ayame was unable to respond. She trembled in front of them, feeling the horror and dread consuming her because Aizawa was beaten—he's being overpowered—her uncle can't…!

"Ayame, run!"

Aizawa turned at that time to activate his Quirk, glaring into the Nomu's eyes yet the monster slammed another palm onto his other arm. The hero cried out again, both of his arms bending at an awkward, broken angle and Ayame lost the strength to move.

"N-no…stop," Ayame cried yet she wasn't sure who she was asking anymore. The Nomu grabbed Aizawa's head and slammed it into the ground, a small crater forming beneath him just from the impact. She felt hopeless, useless—weak. Ayame watched her uncle be tortured in front of her eyes, dragging her body to move.

Something flicked besides Shigaraki and the warp gate appeared in his shadow form. Ayame could do nothing but watch in horror. If he joined the fight too—then it really will be the death to them both. There was absolutely nothing Ayame can do in her injured state and she could feel tears overflowing.

"Kurogiri, did you kill Thirteen?"

"I put Thirteen out of action, but there were students that I was unable to disperse and one of them was able to run away."

She paused, looking up almost hopefully at the news. If one of the students managed to escape—that means there was hope for them. If they can hold out for a little longer then the Pro Heroes will arrive on time; Ayame prayed.

Shigaraki looked none too pleased by the news, his fingers reached upwards to scrap at his neck. "Kurogiri, you… If you weren't a warp gate, I would've crushed you to pieces." Ayame resisted a shiver from the killer intent the villain emitted, watching everything unfold through teary eyes. "We can't win against dozens of pros. It's game over. Man, it's game over this time. Let's go home."

Her eyes widen. They were going to go home? After everything they've been through—they're just going to…leave? Ayame may not be the smartest in class but—even she knew it cannot be that simple. Something felt terribly wrong with that villain's statement and slowly, crimson eyes turned to her.

"But before we leave, let's smash some of his pride as the Symbol of Peace!"

Ayame didn't even have time to blink.

Shigaraki appeared in front of her so fast her eyes couldn't even track his movement. A pale hand reached forward towards her face, lilac eyes widening as she barely processed the man in front of her had put his hand on her face.

But nothing happened.

"Tch," Shigaraki turned his head, "You really are cool…Eraser Head."

Aizawa forced his head to stay up, eyes glowing red to erase the villain's Quirk at the last moment. Nomu slammed his head back down and Ayame strained herself to move through the pain and shock, slapping his hand away in his moment of distraction. A flash of blue and green appeared from the corner of her eyes and she turned to see Midoriya fly towards Shigaraki.

"Let senpai go!" Midoriya pulled back his fist and Ayame swore she saw his veins glow when he released his fist. "Smash!"

A shockwave rang out the dome as Midoriya's attack made contact and Ayame tumbled backwards from the sheer power of the attack. She coughed, putting one hand up to shield her eyes as the braids behind her head become undone and brown locks flew around wildly.

This is…Deku-kun's power?!

The smoke cleared, revealing the giant Nomu shielding Shigaraki from the assault. It didn't look like it took any damage at all and Shigaraki looked calm, unsurprised by the sneak attack.

"You move well. Your 'smash'… Are you a follower of All Might's?" He shrugged, slowly turning his attention back to Ayame. "Oh well, I'm done with you."

The Nomu grabbed Midoriya and Ayame pushed herself to her feet, reaching out to the shorter boy in a panic. She ignored the hands reaching over to touch her, still uncertain of the villain's Quirk and focused on conjuring up a large serpent to wrap around the Nomu's hand in hopes of stopping his attack. She barely recognized the pink tongue wrapping around Midoriya's waist before a giant crash echoed throughout the whole dome.

The villains stopped moving and Ayame's concentration vanished as everyone turned to the source of the new arrival. Tears began to pool her eyes again at the sound of a masculine voice echoing throughout the plaza, staring at the embodiment of hope.

"It's fine now!" All Might boomed, "I am here!"

Ayame's tears fell, watching her most admired Hero appear right before her eyes.

"Kaa-san!"

Four year old Ayame pointed towards the television, lilac eyes wide and excited to see the hero on screen. Yume giggled, brushing back her sister's light brown hair and nodded her head.

"Yup! That's kaa-san alright!"

They watched as the press congratulated Nightmare's accomplishment in stopping another villain. The screen flickered to the hero then another wearing a tight bodysuit of red, blue, and white with a blue cape. All Might's shining smile appeared on the screen as he took down multiple villains with the help of Nightmare, both shaking hands happily at the end.

"Who's that?" Ayame turned to her sister curiously, pointing towards the tanned blonde.

"That's the strongest hero ever! The Symbol of Peace; All Might!" Yume clapped her hands excitedly, violet eyes sparkling in admiration.

"Stronger than okaa-san?" Ayame questioned again, opening her mouth in shock as Yume nodded her head. "More! I wanna see more!"

Yume spent the rest of that afternoon showing old videos of All Might saving civilians to Ayame. The younger girl watched with wide eyes at everything, her admiration for the hero grew with each clip. Ayame loved the way he took down villains without breaking a sweat. She loved how he was able to smile through every single battle, reassuring everyone watching that there was no need to fear.

"Why? Because I am here!"

Ayame cheered loudly, raising her hands in excitement as she imitated All Might's poses. Yume watched her sister with mirth as they both talked excitedly about each video and All Might until their mother came home.

"Tadaima," Shiko shouted through the house, taking off her boots as she made her way indoors, "Yume! Ayame! Where are you?"

"Okaeri, okaa-san!" Ayame rounded the corner at that time, jumping into her mother's arms happily as Yume trailed behind her. "We saw you on T.V. today! With All Might!"

"Oh?" Shiko looked at the child in her arms in amusement, "Well what do you think? Wasn't your okaa-san the greatest?"

"Mmm!" Ayame agreed, "But not as great as All Might! He's my favorite!"

Shiko gasped in disbelief, staring at her child in betrayal as Yume giggled behind her hands. "Ayame! I'm your okaa-san! Shouldn't I be your number one hero?"

"You're my number one kaa-san!" Ayame reaffirmed, "But All Might is my number one Hero!"

Their mother turned to Yume in shock, black eyes scanning the elder daughter who appeared to look almost guilty. "How many videos did you show her? In one afternoon, my little baby doesn't see me as her favorite hero anymore!"

"Sorry, okaa-san," Yume smiled sheepishly, "I like All Might, too."

Shiko gasped dramatically, dropping onto her knees as she held both of her daughters in her arms. "Betrayed—by my own blood! There's only one thing to do…"

The sisters blinked, staring at their mother with curious violet eyes as Shiko leaned back.

"I'm going to tickle you until you admit I'm better!"

Ayame squealed, hiding behind Yume while their mother encased them both in another hug. Laughter rang through the house as Shiko played with her daughters, laughing along with them in her arms.

"But you know okaa-san," Ayame said between giggles, "I'm going to be a hero too! I'll be strong like All Might and save people with a smile! That's what heroes do!"

"Oh?" Shiko paused; eyes softening at the fire in her child's eyes.

"You'd have to go to school first, Ayame!" Yume poked her sister's nose playfully.

"I will! I'll go to school and work hard! I'll become a strong hero just like All Might! And one day, I'll fight right beside him, too!"

A/N:

While I do want to deviate from the main story, I will not because I love the development and growth of everyone in canon. This will focus more on Ayame's growth in the BnHA world alongside of the other precious children so I'm sorry if it seems repetitive!

If you've read my other stories, whether it by ATLA or BTS, I love to focus on friendship development first before romance. Even though I did choose it as romance, I like to slowly incorporate Ayame into the world before we get to the good part! Slow burn is my favorite genre and this one will be quite a slow build so I apologize if there isn't much romance in the beginning!

Thank you everyone that had reviewed! I am always such a nervous wreck whenever I write a new story so thank you so much for the encouragement! I also drew more fanart of Ayame and Todoroki on my Tumblr (toomuchpineapples) if you want to check it out!