For a minute, Izuku did not speak.

He couldn't bring out the words.

All energy had left him as the meaning of those marks dawned on him.

"Hey, quick question, what is that on his back?" his father asked, since his body was meant to hold multiple quirks, no matter the amount, he had never experienced something like this.

"Those…" Yoichi began still looking at the unresponsive Izuku "Those are a sign that the quirk has already become too much for his body to bear"

Hisashi's eyes widened as he quickly understood "You mean he is dying!? But how!? He was fine until now, what happened!?"

"What do you think happened!?" Nana snapped at him as she turned to look at the ex-villain with a storm of anger and sadness in her eyes "Guess! I dare you to guess!" she snarled at him.

It took him a few seconds but when the answer came to him, a shadow fell over his face as his voice shook "It's me"

"Good job!" Nana gave him a few mocking claps "You're not as stupid as you seem"

"Nana stop" Banjo tried to calm her down "None of us knew this would happen"

"And what!? This bastard has ruined all of our lives, and look" she pointed at Izuku "Even in death he is still causing us trouble!" she sharply turned to look at Hisashi once more, eyes filled with anger "I say we lock him up with the rouge vestige and let them have a go at-"

" Stop! "

Izuku's sudden outburst made everyone flinch "just… stop"

Everyone went quiet as Izuku took deep breaths, his hands went through his green curls, the roots completely white at this point, as he tried to calm down.

"I need… I need to be alone"

"Izuku-"

" Please " the boy pleaded.

At that, they couldn't say no, they slowly disappeared leaving the young greenette alone in his room.

With trembling legs, Izuku began to walk towards his door and before he knew it he had sat down on the sofa in the living room of the dorms, a loose shirt and hoodie covering his body.

For a while, he just stared at his hands.

His body had reached the limit, and now he was dying.

It just didn't seem real.

The entire time for both of his lives he has been fighting enemy after enemy and coming out on top that for a moment, he had completely forgotten just how fragile he really was. That he was just a human.

He had fought villains with enough strength to break mountains and yet, he didn't have anything that could help him escape the inevitability of death.

A deep sigh escaped from his lips. How long had it been since he had felt this powerless?

With a blink, his vision was suddenly filled with smoke and rubble, ashes filling his lungs as he and his friends moved in a group across the destroyed city, staying in the shadows to avoid being seen by any flying nomu.

The atmosphere around them was heavy since only a few days before they had lost Iida to a wave of villains that had ambushed them and Izuku had yet to stop blaming himself.

A thousand different what-if's ran through his head. What if he had been faster? What if he had gone with them? What if he had answered the distress call faster?

But he knew that no matter how much he tried, he couldn't change the past.

!!!

Suddenly danger sense activated, warning him from something coming from their left. Thinking quickly, Izuku wrapped his team with black whip and jumped up pulling them all with him just in time to avoid the nomu that came bursting through the wall where they had stood.

The purple beast roared as it noticed it had missed its target, before looking around to try and find them. Once they had been found by one, the best course of action was to kill it since it would chase them until they dropped dead.

Looking closely at the beast, Izuku tried to guess what quirks it had only to notice the strange lumps of metal that covered some parts of its body. Did it have some type of metal quirk?

Finally landing on the ground, Izuku began to issue orders to his teammates before the nomu turned to them with an ugly grin that sent shivers down their backs. This time, Izuku got a better look at the monster and realized that the lumps of metal were actually some type of armor fused to its skin.

Brrrmm! Brrrrmm!

The sudden sound of engines made his blood run cold, he would recognize them anywhere.

And then it all made sense.

The nomu rushed forward at incredible speeds as the engines in its legs roared to life, the heroes behind the greenette screamed in surprise and fear, and it answered.

"Midorrrrriiya!!!"

Even if it sounded like it came from under the water, it was painfully familiar to him.

And Izuku saw red.

When his mind finally came back to him, he stood above a massive corpse, the legs of it ripped off its body and thrown aside like thrash and in his hand he tightly gripped a broken bloody exhaust pipe.

Izuku shook his head as he pushed away the memory. That had been his first encounter with one of his friends turned into nomus and it had been one of the worst days of his life.

It was no secret that he had made notes on his friends' strengths and weaknesses, but they had been to help them grow and become better and yet… using his knowledge to take them down like that made him sick.

"Couldn't sleep?" a sudden voice makes him jump and turn to look at the equally surprised Shinsou.

"Fuck, Shinsou were you trying to give me a heart attack?" Midoriya asked as he placed a hand over his chest, the purple haired boy scratched the back of his head while he walked closer.

"Sorry, I didn't mean too, I just wanted a midnight snack but, guess you already beat me to it" silence fell between the two boys as the twoo looked at eachother, Shinsou could feel his hands begin to sweat as Izuku unblinkingly stared at him, slowly he turned around to the kitchen ready to grab anything and leave.

But…

"What if… what if someone told you that you didn't have long to live?"

The question made him freeze on the spot. In the situation they were in, someone could interpret it as some kind of threat, but there was no malice in his trembling voice. When he turned around, he saw the greenette with his head hung low.

Through the few weeks they had been together, Izuku had exuded a kind of reassuring aura, standing atop the powerhouses of the class, getting the best grades and even surviving alone the USJ incident.

He seemed invincible.

But now, sitting right in front of him, was a scared, lonely boy just like him.

Swallowing his nerves, Shinsou walked forward and sat next to him on the couch, Izuku didn't look at him.

The question was… heavy, to say the least, but after what they went through it was normal for all of them to think about. So, what was his answer?

"You know, when I was younger, I thought that what everyone said about me was right," he began "They all talked about me as if they already knew what I was going to become, and you know what I did? I believed them." Shinsou cringed at the memories of his past, he really wasn't expecting to talk to anyone about this in UA, but Izuku had decided to be vulnerable with him so it was only natural that he gave some of that trust back too.

"My quirk, as you already know, allows me to control anyone that answers to me and well… brainwashing isn't a power that heroes usually have, so they went with the next best thing, a villain" Izuku flinched a little at the sudden edge Shinsou's voice took but he kept listening "Everyone thought that just because I had a villainous quirk I would grow to be a bad person, another one of the monsters under the bed, but I didn't want to believe them."

"For a while I was stuck in a world where everyone saw me as nothing more than a ticking time bomb, but…" A soft smile came onto his face as his voice softened "Then I met someone"

Izuku froze, he had a feeling that he knew where this was going.

"I can't go into the specifics since I promised that I wouldn't tattle on them but back then, they were my only friend, they came to visit me and talk to me, they made me feel better, less… alone."

"Since the day I met them, it was as if they had made a hole in the cell that had held me captive for so long, showed me the light of a world I had never imagined and since then, I made myself a promise…" Shinsou softly placed a hand over Izuku's shoulder "I promised myself that I would not waste the chance they gave me and that I would live the life I wanted to have, one that would leave me with no regrets."

With a shy chuckle, he took his hand back and placed it on his lap again "I know that sounds cliche but I don't think I could ever live with myself if I had stayed bound by the expectations of all those people, so I want to live everyday to the fullest to the very end."

With his little speech finished, silence fell between them. The only difference was that instead, the two felt comfortable with each other, having opened their hearts, even if just a little, to one another.

Taking a deep breath, Izuku stood up, the knot in his stomach remained but… it was much looser than before.

"Thank you, really, Shinsou, it means a lot" Izuku said, his words soft but they had regained the confidence they once held "You also helped me take a decision on something important"

Shinsou couldn't see the greenettes face but he could hear the smile that was on his face from his words and it made him feel warm, he had been able to help him.

As they walked back to their own rooms, Izuku made sure to wipe away the tear as silently as possible.

--

Himiko yawned as she walked the halls of UA, sleep has been rough for her ever since the USJ happened and it didn't just affect her, the entire class has been in low spirits ever since the attack but she could see how they were still trying to do their best, even more so her brother.

He had been alone in the attack after being scattered by the villains, so it was a surprise how he was trying his best for the class as their class president although it made her worry, and the strange white streaks in his hair didn't help make her feel better.

"Himiko? are you okay?" Kendo's voice snapped her out of her own thoughts, having realized that she had been spacing out for a while "Do you want to go back to the dorms?" Aside from her worried expression, she could also feel her hand softly but reassuringly holding her own and she couldn't help the sudden rush of heat that covered her face.

"Y-Yeah! Sorry, I was just thinking about something" She quickly lied and turned to look away trying to hide her sudden blush. From the beginning of the year the martial arts girl started acting like an older sister to the group but it was after the attack that Tenko suddenly caught her attention, they had begun to talk more to each other, mostly because Himiko was worried that she was going to burn herself out. It started as small talks over tea to help her relax only to realize that they had a few common interests, that soon turned to sitting together at lunch and they had even thought about going out with the other girls (she totally didn't feel sad about not being alone) and her legs didn't turn to jelly when she saw her well-toned abdomen, not one bit.

"You are spacing out again Himiko"

"Sorry!"

"It's okay, but are you sure that you don't want to go back?" The concern was still there but the green haired girl could only focus on the fond smile she gave her.

"Yeah, I swear I'm fine!" Himiko reassured her while doing her best to slow her rapidly beating heart.

"Oh good" A sudden tired voice caught their attention and they soon spotted the black figure walking towards them, it was Aizawa "Himiko, I need to talk to you about some points in the essay that you gave me, do you have time to talk about it?"

The sudden question caught her off guard but it was nothing more than a simple talk to her teacher so she didn't see anything wrong with going with him. She waved goodbye to Kendo as she followed her teacher through the halls, passing by a few other classrooms and students.

"Are you okay, Mister Aizawa?" Himiko asked once again, making her teacher sigh.

"For the fifth time, yes Himiko, I only received a few small wounds from the attack, nothing life threatening" He reassured her. He could understand why she was so worried about his well-being, she was one of the few that saw his sorry state after the rogue vigilante attacked him.

Not long after did they reach their destination as Aizawa opened the door and walked in and Himiko followed only to freeze in place when she saw the extra figure in the room.

Sitting on the couch that looked comically small for his hulking figure, was All Might "Ah! The young Midoriya, good to see you!"

"G-Good to see you too, sir!" She answered, really confused at the situation and it didn't help that Aizawa just went and sat down next to the yellow suit hero and pointed at the other couch in front of them.

Slowly, she followed instructions and sat on the couch opposite of them as she nervously put her hands together.

"How have you been, young one? I hope that you and your peers are okay, including your brother! I know that with everything that happened, things can be… tough" an expression of guilt took the number one hero's place before quickly changing back to the usual big smile "But I promise you that we are all doing our best to get to the bottom of the problem."

"T-thank you" she answered, still confused about the situation while glancing at the black dressed hero.

"To explain, there was nothing wrong with your essay, that was just a lie" Aizawa revealed "We actually needed to talk to you in private, well mostly All Might did."

"With… With me? about what?" She asked, still very lost in the situation.

"Himiko Midoriya" All Might suddenly spoke with complete seriousness making her sit straight and sweat at the pressure that engulfed the room "What we are about to tell you is a secret that you must keep with yourself all the way to the grave, do you understand?"

"Y-yes…" she squeaked "But… Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I have seen what you are capable of, you managed to get into this academy with your mind and power alone, even if it wasn't the best suited for battle, you managed to gain your spot in this academy, not only that, but when the USJ happened you showed great teamwork with your classmates and a great heroic spirit that didn't falter at the face of great danger. That why…" with a sudden pause, All Might took a deep breath " I wish to make you my successor "