"I'm sorry…" Iida stuttered as their group walked through the never-opened subway tunnels. According to Present Mic, they'd hit some smaller maintenance tunnels that'd connect to the main stations soon. "You expect us to believe that you're both…"

"Dead?" Toru filled in for him. To be fair, it was pretty unbelievable.

"I think they're aware of that part." Todoroki was proving as helpful as ever.

"Yeah, it's more the 'oh, we got better' part that'll take a bit more convincing." Monoma was still clearly skeptical. Looking around, Iida seemed equally unconvinced, though more out of sheer confusion at the idea than thinking they were lying. Present Mic seemed completely out of his depth, Tokoyami was brooding on the revelation (which was probably the healthiest reaction here), and Shiozaki seemed ready to pull out a crucifix and banish Cerberus to the Shadow Realm.

… Or wherever she thinks demons should go, at least.

"I don't really know what to tell you." Toru sighed. It wasn't like they really had any method to convince them – she'd never met anyone before their first (and her last) week of school, and it seemed like Todoroki was the same. Even when she was there, she hadn't really interacted with Tokoyami nor Iida, nevermind the 1B students.

And she was pretty sure Todoroki hadn't spoken a word in that first week period, so he was out.

"Clearly these heathens are trying to deceive us, making up such preposterous stories for nefarious ends…"

"Keep telling yourself that, honey." and Cerberus definitely wasn't helping the situation with her smug smiles and taunting words. Toru began trawling through her memories – maybe there was something only she and Present Mic would know…?

"Does it even matter?" Todoroki interrupted her failure of a mental search.

"What?"

"I mean, if they don't believe we are us… does it actually matter?"

"Well of course it-…" Toru caught herself. Obviously it mattered, because… "I mean…" it was… they needed to… their classmates needed…

…

"… Huh." she blinked at the simplicity of it. "I guess not?"

"You realise we can still hear you?" Monoma groaned.

"Ok." Todoroki refused to elaborate further.

"Wha- Oh, I get it, you're trying to play some sort of mind games? Reverse psychology, is that it?"

"That's it! These sinners intend to lead us astray by pitting our very minds against ourselves!"

"I see! Yes, I believe that is a strategy I've heard of among less scrupulous individuals…"

"Yep." ok, so this was what they were going with.

"Well it won't work! We're not some schmuk's you can trick into doing…" Monoma caught himself, "Whatever it is you're trying to trick us in doing!"

"Good for you." Todoroki didn't so much as turn his head.

"Aren't you being a little harsh?" Toru tried to whisper to him, but it was difficult in the echoing cement tunnel they found themselves in.

"… Am I?" Todoroki blinked back at her. Either he was screwing with her, or had the social graces of an average shopper on Black Friday.

… Then she remembered his fist-bump and finger-gun. Or rather, the excruciatingly painful attempt at one.

"Oh look." he nodded forwards, "Is that door to the tunnels?"

""Don't try to change the subject!"" the 1B students were becoming some sort of hive-mind.

"I think that's them." Present Mic was thankfully a bit more neutral. He quickly stepped up to take the lead and went to open the door. He pulled the handle, pushed the door… "Guess it's a pull." and he pulled them… "Or maybe it's lift and push?" he tried to do so, to no success. "No keyhole, thing must be jammed-"

"Step aside." Cerberus pushed him out the way casually. For a second Toru thought he was going to fall over from the unexpected force. "Sometimes, these things require a demon's touch…" she lightly took the handle, gently pulled…

*CRRACK* And the entire door came out, along with no small part of the wall.

"That's quite the strength Quirk…" Iida seemed equal parts impressed and nervous.

"Yep." and Todoroki was still replying with one-word answers.

"Wait, I thought she had a fire Quirk." Monoma muttered.

"Sure." ok, he's gotta be actively antagonising them, right? "Looks like it goes either way." stepping up to the tunnel, they soon had the classic choice of left or right. Todoroki turned back to Cerberus, "Is there any specific way Justice wants us to go?"

"Either should be fine." she shrugged.

"Could split up now, could do it later." the other suggested. "So long as we split before leaving the underground, should be fine."

"Cool." Todoroki nodded, turning to Toru, "Want to stick together or-"

"Sounds good to me!" she flashed a quick thumbs-up. Which he could actually see.

Still getting used to that…

"Cool." he repeated the word with the exact same intonation, but Toru swore she could see the smallest amount of relief on his face. He turned back to the living among them, who were still running a range of reactions to what was happening, "We'll go right. You can go left. Bye." and with that, he took off down the right tunnel.

Living without a care for what other people think… Toru sighed in jealousy. How many times did she wish she could just tell a customer to piss off? Or to be able to just do her own thing without fear of being forgotten, out of sight and out of mind? Obviously, the son of the number two Hero wouldn't have any such concerns. What a life that must be…

"S-sorry about him…" she laughed awkwardly, unsure how else to try and defuse some of the tension. "I should probably go with him, so uh…" she watched one Cerberus head through the right-tunnel, the other waiting there for her to follow. "It was nice to see you all again, I guess? Thanks for all your help with the, uh…" yeah, there was really no graceful way to exit this conversation in a hurry, was there? "Anyway, bye!" she didn't flee from the living's incredulous stares like a scared animal. She just… Made a calculated withdrawal from the conversation in a swift and timely manner.

Kinda sucks we couldn't convince them, but at least I don't have to listen to them yelling about us being liars anymore-

"I do have a question." but apparently the brooding edgelord had chosen to follow them. But his tone was polite and his voice quiet, so maybe Toru could just have a normal conversation.

"Shoot." as she glanced back to answer as they kept walking, she caught sight of the others also following them. Apparently, after seeing through Todoroki's incredible 5D chess mind games, they all decided the answer was to follow the people they suspected of being scammers and hucksters down a narrow, dark maintenance tunnel which could lead to a trap for all anyone knew.

Truly, Todoroki stood no chance against such genius.

"You claim to be the departed souls of our beloved brethren…" Ok, it's a bit grating sometimes, but the whole chuuni act is kinda fun. "Yet you have told us scant few details about yourselves. Merely your meeting of Midoriya and a quest towards the surface world."

"I mean…" Toru tried scratching the back of her head, only to hit her arm against a pipe full of something very hot. "Ow- Just… What, you want, like, my family history or something…? I don't think you could easily figure out if I was telling the truth from that-"

"You misunderstand." Tokoyami shook his head, "It is not… necessarily that I doubt your words. Rather, I am curious as to your experience." Toru looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. Using facial expressions was so fun! "To…" he looked down to the ground, clearly going through emotions distinctly not-fun. "To experience… death… personally… What was it like?" he shook his head, looking back at Toru directly. "What happened? From your perspective, what did you see? What did you feel happen?"

"Oh. Well…" Toru cast her mind back. "I mean… I was kind of out of it at the time." It didn't take long for her voice to take a dull tone. "Todoroki told me to stay back while he went in. It was going ok at first. But then the Noumu ploughed through one of ice walls and got a punch off. He was on the ground in less than a second. And it didn't let him get up- it…" Toru had to swallow down the nausea she could feel building. She'd almost forgotten, but talking about it again, she could still see it… The human skull wasn't supposed to bend like that. "After he went down, I think I screamed? Honestly that part's just a complete blur. But then, I woke up, and I was in-" Toru caught herself, eyes widening. "It was her!" her quiet tone was gone, overtaken by realisation. "That woman!"

"What manner of-"

"The demon woman! The one who just put us through all that back at U.A.!"

"The spellcaster?" Tokoyami asked.

"Pandemonica, right?" Dark Shadow asked over Tokoyami's shoulder. In the dark, its form looked less solid, like it was seeping into the shadows…

"Fear not." Tokoyami noticed Toru's gaze, "Dark Shadow is in full control of himself, even in the blackest night. We undertook much training after…" he looked away for a moment.

Ah. Right. Dark tunnel, underground, narrow… Yeah, good thing he's got in under control.

"You were saying?"

"Huh?" Toru blinked, "OH! Right! It was Pandemonica that was in that office." seeing the blank look on Tokoyami's face, she elaborated, "After I died, I ended up in this office. Lot of red and black. She was the one who told me I was in Hell to 'pAy FOr mY SinS' or whatever." she turned her head around to try and address Todoroki two Cerberi ahead, "Hey Todoroki, do you-"

"It was Pandemonica." he called back, still in his flat tone. "I recognised her coming up the hill."

"Oh, you- what?! Why didn't you say anything?!"

"You didn't ask." he shrugged and turned his head forwards again, "Also, we were busy."

"That's…" Toru sighed. "That's fair." they had all been a bit preoccupied at the time. "Anyway she was there, told me I was in Hell because of garbage reasoning that doesn't properly account for Quirks," or something similar, at least. "And then I was in an 'orientation room' with a few dozen other people – including Todoroki." she nodded forwards in his direction, "And 'orientation' was just a couple of demons handing out flyers before telling us to get lost. After that the two of us kinda stuck together for safety and, well, sanity before Midoriya found us."

Looking back, they were lucky Todoroki's Quirk being able to cool people down turned out to be such a coveted resource. She still had no idea how they would've even paid for food if they hadn't gotten lucky when someone saw him ice up some assholes that wouldn't leave them alone and offered free food and a room for some A/C.

"I see." Tokoyami nodded sagely. "I wouldn't ask you to relive such circumstances, but if you would be so kind as to reveal some more banal details…" in the end, he'd just asked some basic questions about 'Hell'. What the environment was like (Tokyo, but worse), what the 'demons' they saw were like (the demons here, but weaker and worse. Cerberus snorted in amusement at that answer), what being 'dead' was like (living, but sort of worse; Toru was already feeling tired after just a couple of hours here on Earth), why they had these suits (various reasons Toru still didn't fully understand. Also they looked damned fine in them), etc.

But the big one:

"If you are such denizens of the dark lands below… Then why, pray tell, do you walk among the living?"

Yeah. She wasn't really sure what to say to that.

"Well… I can't really tell you for Midoriya." because that was a whole can of worms she didn't want to touch even as a corpse. "And Todoroki's is…" she glanced forwards. "You'd have to ask him." He'd been happy to tell them all, but that was back when they were in the land of the dead and trying to negotiate a temporary way out.

"But for me…?" She'd basically just gone along to try and stick together with two people she could actually trust. More-or-less on autopilot since arriving in Hell because, you know, death. But even in her time there it became clear that having people you could count on to not stab you in the back at the drop of a hat would be good to have. If Midoriya and Todoroki took off with their gaggle of demons, what was she supposed to do? Without Todoroki's ice sales, she might not even have a roof over her head.

But the more she'd heard since coming here, the more she thought about the state of the world, the more she thought about what could've happened in two years since she'd been gone?

"I just… I want to check if my family's ok." she turned back to Tokoyami with a faint smile, "Don't suppose you happen to know?"

Tokoyami met her gaze, before slowly shaking his head, "I'm afraid that beyond those you've seen today, connections with my U.A. classmates died two years ago."

"Yeah." it was a long shot, but Toru still felt disappointed. "That makes sense-"

"However." Tokoyami spoke with more confidence, "While I may not have the whereabouts of your blood ties, I believe my knowledge of the surface world may prove useful in your endeavour. Furthermore, while your true nature may yet prove to be nefarious, I would see the truth lain plain before my eyes. I would join you on your quest through this world and the next." he paused dramatically. "If, that is, you would have me."

Toru waited a moment to make sure he was finished before giving her response:

"Bwahahaha!" she couldn't help but burst out laughing. "'Blood ties', seriously?" Hot damn does this kid have a flair for the dramatic or what?! "And didn't that last part rhyme? Did you just come up with that or- wait!" the biggest grin formed on Toru's face, "Were you planning that whole speech out earlier? Is that why you were so quiet?!"

"N-No!" Tokoyami immediately flushed red. "Of course not!" he coughed, trying to get his tone of voice to something other than 'squeaking'. "I was merely pondering the nature of our existence and formulating questions which I believed necessary for-"

"He made up the speech while you were answering the questions."

"SHUT UP!" his hiss probably sounded the full length of the tunnels. Which seemed to be nearing its end, if the door Toru could just about see ahead was anything to go by.

"Sorry, sorry!" she would've given a slight bow for empahsis, but it was hard in the tunnels. "Sorry, just…" she took a deep breath, "Needed a good laugh after… well, everything that just happened."

"A fair point." Tokoyami nodded furiously, "On occasion a good jest does well for the humours"

"The-" Toru decided not to ask. Laughing too much again would be rude. "Nevermind. But yes, Tokoyami. I'd really appreciate some help getting around outside."

Considering how they needed to split up and she'd been leaning pretty heavily on Todoroki so far… In this broken new world, she was probably going to need it.

Ochaco was honestly expecting more issues transitioning into the main subway. You'd think that a group of people dressed in suits and whatever hobo nouveau aesthetic Aizawa had going for him randomly coming onto a platform without any maintenance-looking uniforms would draw attention, but…

'Line 66 service to Klegger station is now arriving. Please mind the gap.'

Nope. The few people present really didn't seem to care.

I mean, I guess if it were me, I'd probably just assume… what, exactly? Actually, I probably wouldn't even think about it. These people had their own lives; their own problems to deal with. Why would they think anything of some people coming out of a staff-only door?

I'm probably just being paranoid… It was nice to know that not literally everything was going wrong. Better yet, after their group stepped onto the incoming train, they found it practically abandoned. Carriage barren, fold-out chair-stalls empty, the smell of cold metal making itself known. Before long, they had a whole carriage to themselves.

Guess we missed rush hour. That, and passenger counts had really dropped off after everything went to shit. As their group made to find seats, it was quickly made apparent that there were clear divides. After Midoriya took one seat, Justice sat next to him pretty much immediately. Modeus made for the other side, only for Cerberus to get in her way, all the while growling at Aizawa to make it very clear that he wasn't welcome anywhere near.

Ochaco saw her chance, and she took it, quickly sliding into the other seat. Was beating two apparent demons who could probably melt her spirit or something the wisest decision? Probably not. But if she only had a limited time to talk to the boy who'd literally been through Hell to get here, who she'd wanted to see – just one last time – for two years?She'd take every chance she could.

"H-hey…" she tried to break into a conversation with Midoriya. He'd been silent ever since their old teacher pulled his stunt. Not an awkward or nervous quiet as she'd seen back in her early days at U.A., like he would take an opportunity to talk but just didn't know what to say. But the type of dark, brooding silence that she'd expect from Tokoyami when he was having a shit day.

Midoriya was having a really shit day, so fair enough.

"Did you know?" he spoke up for the first time, bringing Ochaco out of her thoughts. With a small prompt, Midoriya turned his head away from his lap to face her, "Did you know? About my…"

"No!" she quickly shook her head, "Definitely, absolutely, 100% no! Promise!" she raised a hand slightly. That was a gesture for swearing on something important, right? "I haven't spoken to her in… Go- sorry, Gee, it must've been about… 20 months or so?" the fact almost felt like a bucket of water being dropped over Ochaco's head. "Wow…" Had it really been that long? "Guess time can really slip away from you, huh?"

"Don't remind me." Midoriya pinched the bridge of his nose. "I still can't- wait." he pulled the hand away from his face to give Ochaco his full attention, "You've… When did you speak to my mom?"

"Oh, it was-" she caught the word in her throat, before swallowing to continue. "It was at your funeral…"

"Oh." Midoriya's eyes widened the slightest amount, before he nodded dumbly. "I had a funeral. Right. I guess that makes sense." they really couldn't go more than ten words without stepping on some landmine, huh? "H-How was it?"

"It was, uh…" what did you even say to that? 'Oh, yeah, it was great. Love me a good funeral, 10/10' she gave the answer a bit of thought. "It was kinda shit, not gonna lie."

"Oh." Midoriya really didn't know how to respond to that. Again, understandable. "Anything in particular, or…?"

"They turned the whole thing into a bloody media circus." Ochaco hit her head back against the train's window. Talking about this brought back unpleasant memories… "Tried to salvage U.A.'s name, did a whole thing with everyone else who died at the USJ. Whole school had to come, speeches from Pro's about sacrifices for the future…"

"For the record, I disagreed with-" Aizawa soon had a stall thrown his way, courtesy of Cerberus.

"Shut." the dog-demon put a finger to her lips.

"So, yeah." Ochaco continued before her old teacher could piss of the demons any more, "Kinda shit, really. But your mom ran a smaller memorial." she nodded at the memory. There were only a handful of people. Ochaco had considered it was a mystery at the time why she was even invited… Looking back, she was pretty sure Midoriya's mother had done it in part for Ochaco's sake. "That was nice…"

"… Did Kacchan come?" Ochaco felt the train carriage's temperature drop at least a few degrees.

"Nope." because why would that piece of human-shaped excrement show any emotion other than self-righteous fury? After pushing down her anger, she could practically feel the temperature drop further, an icy chill almost radiating off of Midoriya's blank face. As much as Ochaco didn't want to, she did have to be fair in this instance. "Though, I'm not sure if he was invited…" and thus the train's temperature began to move away from a harsh winter-

"He was." and Aizawa plunged it back into the arctic.

No one spoke after that. Naught but the rocking of the train carriage interrupted what was otherwise the calm after a storm. That moment when everyone's just come out the other side, but no one knows quite what to do next.

Except for Modeus, who was still on Midoriya's phone. Apparently she'd gotten it back from Present Mic.

I hope the others found something better to talk about…

"What is the Todoroki scandal?" Shouto asked the question that had been on his mind ever since Uraraka's overview the moment they'd entered the train carriage, before anyone else could start any pointless conversations. Was such a description insulting? Maybe. But with the 1B students still watching them with hostility, Iida showing clear suspicion, and Present Mic failing de-escalate anything, Shouto really couldn't find it in him to care.

At least Tokoyami was getting along with Hagakure. That was good, right? The sight of the two sitting together on the train made Shouto feel a bit weird, but that was probably because he was the only living person their group was getting along with. Or maybe the odd feeling was because he was a Hellborne soul that had stayed in the land of the living too long?

Regardless, he was focused on what really mattered. He'd bitten his tongue getting through the tunnels as the situation was still so chaotic, but now he needed answers.

"Ah." Present Mic scratched his cheek after coughing slightly, "That's… A bit of a long story."

"Then tell it." Shouto wasn't in the mood for vague gestures. If he was going to rub his death in his father's face, he needed details to mould the insults around-

Wait… a thought occurred. If it were about him, wouldn't it be 'the Endeavour scandal'…? Maybe his father's terrible attitude at home had come to light, and so it was more framed around the scandal of the man rather than the Hero?

"Where to start-"

"Hold on, we still have numerous questions-"

"Then ask Cerberus." Shouto immediately shut down Iida's attempts to interrupt. If they wanted a recap of the weirdest two weeks of Shouto's life, they could ask the demon or wait in line.

Also, it would mean he got a break from Cerberus. Win-win.

"Ok, where to start…" Present Mic ran a hand through his hair, "So… What do you know, exactly?"

"Anything up to and including the date of the USJ incident." or tragedy. Or debacle. Or whatever people had decided to call it. "You said 'Scandal'. Does that mean Endeavour's secrets came to light?"

"'Endeavour'…" Present Mic whistled. "Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while."

Shouto couldn't contain his shock, "He lost his Hero license?"

"He lost all that he held dear." Tokoyami decided to contribute to the conversation cryptically.

'All that he held dear…'

"… So he lost his Hero license?" there really wasn't anything else Shouto could think of.

"It is bad enough you impersonate the deceased." Shiozaki growled at him. Didn't he say to talk to Cerberus- "But to speak ill of the dead as well… Have you any shame?"

Shouto blinked slowly. "He's dead?" the thought was… Impossible to put into words. Was he shocked? Of course. Was he upset? Eh. But more than anything the idea felt… unsatisfying.

He'd been forced to live under than man for almost 15 years. He'd been put through more painful training sessions than he could count, taught isolated at home by more tutors than he could name, introduced to more 'industry contacts' than he could ever dream of utilising, all in the name of making 'A hEro tO SurPAsS aLl MiGHt'. He'd had so many plans for where to tell his old man exactly where he could shove it… And now?

Now, he was probably lounging about in Heaven. For all the good he'd done for humanity.

Shouto knew life was unfair, but he'd heard that death was supposed to be 'The great equaliser' or some such.

Apparently, he'd heard a lie.

"You ok?" Hagakure's concern was understandable, but…

"Yeah." ultimately unneeded. "I mean, I'm not glad, but…" he simply shrugged. At the end of the day, that was the most emotion he could really work up. The entire thing just felt so hollow. "I guess we can focus on finding your family, though I'd still like to speak to-"

"Uh," Present Mic interrupted him, "Sorry, but… Enji Todoroki isn't dead."

"Oh." Shouto blinked once more in response. I guess that's good- "Wait…" he started to feel a chill, "'Enji' Todoroki isn't dead…"

"Most of the details were never made public. But…"

"May God rest their souls…" Shiozaki did some stupid thing with her hands.

"Who's dead, exactly?"

"Well, not Shouto Todoroki's eldest brother, that's for sure." Monoma growled.

"Oh." Shouto looked down. That chill started to grow. Natsuo was ok. That was good and all, but if he wasn't the one they were talking about-

"True, many a' soul believe that one child amidst the endless void would be preferable to Touya's begotten banquet of blood."

… What-

"OH!" Cerberus snapped her finger at Tokoyami. "That's where I recognised that burnt guy's taste from!" her other body turned to Shouto, "Same Quirk bloodline, one degree of separation! Knew it was familiar."

"What." Shouto could feel his jaw hanging, "But- That-"

"Such a grand legacy the Todoroki family leaves behind." would Monoma just shut up already! If they weren't talking about Touya, then was it Natsuo? Or-

"What about Fuyumi." Shouto spoke again before he could even register the thought. "What happened to Fuyumi."

"Haven't you continued this farce for-"

"What happened TO. MY SISTER?!" his shout startled everyone in the carriage, and his glare finally shut the 1B pair up. Or maybe that was the ice he'd unconsciously sent at them.

But they only stayed blissfully silent for a moment.

"S-She died." Monoma's words turned that icy chill Shouto felt into numbness. "They all died." Shouto fell back into his seat.

"What…?"

"We still don't know all the details." Present Mic finished the statement, "But Fuyumi Todoroki, Natsuo Todoroki," he focused more keenly on Shouto, "Shouto Todoroki… They're all dead. Their mother too." Shouto knew that statement should've hit him harder, but right now he couldn't find it in himself to care. "The only sibling to 'survive' is Touya Todoroki. Better known as one of the League of Villain's central members: Dabi." Present Mic shook his head, "The 'scandal' is both the latter coming out as fact, and the former happening at all. Enji Todoroki was fired for a whole host of reasons. Only reason he's not in jail is because the court systems broke down before he could go to trial, and All for One loves keeping a sour reminder of the Hero industry's dark side around."

Shouto was still listening. He was, but… He wasn't. He was hearing, but he wasn't taking it in. He was too preoccupied with that one single claim.

"Fuyumi's… She's gone?" she'd been the one thing in his life he could honestly claim was good. He didn't have anyone he could call a friend, his mother had scarred him for life, his brother left him while Shouto was still in Middle-school and had barely been home before that, his older brother was apparently a homicidal maniac, his father was even worse…

She's…

"She can't be." Shouto said the words not as desperation, but as fact. "She may not be fully trained as a Hero, but our father made sure each of us had some combat experience." he turned back to Present Mic, "Did this happen after Dabi, or before?"

"Um-" he was caught a little off-guard, "After, I think-"

"Then that proves it." Shouto nodded. He'd connected the dots. He'd figured it out. "After that came out, obviously the Todoroki's would be in danger. The HPSC would know that."

"Is this the one that collapsed-"

"Going further," Shouto ignored Monoma's aggressive negativity, "They would try to protect them. If nothing else, simply to ensure father's loyalty."

"Is this before or after he was fired-"

"However, all the time they're in the public eye, they're in danger. They knew Kurogiri had a warp Quirk; if their location was known, they weren't safe. Meaning…" he breathed a sigh of relief, "The commission faked their deaths in order to protect them." which was why even Present Mic, a Professional Hero, didn't know all the details. It all made sense!

'Next stop, Shoonandai station. Next stop, Shoonandai.'

"T-that's me…" Hagakure glanced nervously at Shouto. He looked outside; they were approaching the station.

"You should probably get up." the doors for the these trains closed surprisingly quickly. They had limited time, so needing to go back would be unfortunate.

"R-right…" she got up. She looked towards the doors, then back to Shouto, then repeated a few times. He tilted his head slightly in confusion. From the fact they were getting up after a brief discussion, it seemed like Tokoyami and Monoma would be accompanying her, along with a Cerberus of course, meaning there wasn't any logistical problems to sort out… What was the issue?

"T-Todoroki…?" he 'hm'd in response. She was running out of time, what was she doing? "Just… Remember that… I mean, we're still here, right?"

"Yes." he blinked. "We are." and if she didn't get off the train soon, she'd end up where she didn't want to be. For some reason, his response just made her groan-

?! Before pulling him into a hug for some reason. … Why?

"Meaning it's not the end." she hugged him tighter, "And I'll still be here to… Anything you need to talk about, or just have someone listen…"

"Habagake…" Cerberus was holding the door open. And still didn't know Hagakure's name.

The girl in question pulled back from the hug, her face mere centimetres from Shouto's. "As soon as I've checked on my family… You won't be alone. Promise."

"… Sure." obviously Shouto wasn't alone. Considering he had Present Mic, Iida, Shiozaki and Cerberus accompanying him, he'd rather be alone.

But even so, the words seemed to make his chest feel that little bit lighter.

"… Thanks." Hagakure barely had time to hear his final word before rushing out the train. They were starting to draw attention. Shouto still didn't quite know why she'd looked so desperate throughout that exchange, but he had the strangest feeling it was somehow for his benefit…

Is this friendship…? This was uncharted waters for Shouto. She could've just asked him out on a date, for all he knew.

I'll need to confer with Fuyumi once we find her. The thought was enough to bring a small smile to his face, I think she'll like Toru…

After reaching Klegger station, Izuku and co. were maybe… Five minutes from Musutafa beach. Justice modified her spell… thing while they were still underground, and made sure Cerberus did the same for Todoroki and Hagakure at the same time. Izuku had taken the chance to ask how they were doing.

"I mean… Better than you?"

Izuku found her answer vague and unconvincing. But after making sure they weren't in imminent danger or anything, he had to focus on their current goal.

Five minutes.

Five minutes and this could all be over.

"So, um…" he decided to take the opportunity to speak with Uraraka some more, seeing as they had the time from here to the beach, and then however long Justice gave him to go and speak with his mother.

Who was still alive. He had to keep repeating that to himself. Not to remind himself, but to try and forget that brief period he'd thought it untrue.

"H-How are you?" start with the basics, right?

"Me?" Uraraka answered with confusion, "You die, and you ask me how I'm doing?"

"W-well, I mean…" why was it easier to talk to literal demons than a girl his own age- wait, technically she's two years older than me. Not chronologically, of course, but… he'd spoken with demons millennia older than him. He'd spoken with his mother's friends before. This was basically the same, right?! "It was kinda easy for me. You know, sort of…" he made a small explosion noise, miming the sounds with his hands, "and I was gone. I barely even heard the bang, honestly. But for you…"

"Fucking Hell…" Uraraka raised a hand to her face, before letting out a small laugh, "You literally died, and you still care more about what happened to other people." she shook her head with a smile on her face, "Jeez, and I thought Aizawa had been exaggerating…" the name made Izuku tense the smallest amount, briefly glancing the old teacher's way before catching himself. "But yeah, I've been… Well, I'm not dead, so I guess that's a plus." she sighed, "You know, technically. What's Hell like, anyway?"

"Uhhh…" Izuku recalled the surreal trip they'd had barely a day or so ago. "Depends on the Circle."

"So there's really circles?"

"Yep." Izuku nodded, "Gluttony's a frigid wasteland, and the souls there are…" he shook his head, "It's definitely the worst place I saw. Lust is a sort of scorching desert which seemed like it'd hurt to even touch, but I didn't actually meet anyone there…"

"I could've introduced you to some-" Cerberus quickly reigned back Modeus. Izuku would have to thank her yet again at some point for giving him some time.

He went over the basics he'd seen in Limbo, how it was essentially just a re-created urban metropolis with some weird elements courtesy of Hell. He even ended up describing the katsudon he'd eaten, comparing the taste to what he'd eaten in different places back home. And that ended up going into how much he loved his mother's cooking…

"But, um, anyway-"

"That it?" Justice pointed ahead. There, past some of the run-down Tokyo flats, over cracked pavements and before a calm sea reflecting the sunset…

"There's a beach under there?"

"It smells worse than a glutton's decay…"

Was the familiar sight of piles of garbage ruining Musutafu beach.

Huh… All things considered, it made some sort of sense that the beach had returned to its littered state. Sure, Izuku had cleaned it up to a pristine state, but it wasn't like he'd actually solved any of the problems that made all that trash show up in the first place. Costs of disposal, simple physical distance to the dump, general apathy. He hadn't fixed any that; in essence, by clearing the beach, he'd only treated the symptom. So, of course, after being gone for two years, after leaving the beach for two years without treatment? It wasn't in a much better state than back when Izuku had first started all those months ago (or three years, depending on your perspective). That all made sense, but even so…

"I'd kinda hoped… I'd made a little difference…" with only two years gone, and one of the only things he'd accomplished in his life had been undone.

"At least that guy's trying to help." Justice nodded towards a man on the beach, trying to clean things up. It seemed like it was slow going, as he had some kind of injury-

"It's him." Izuku found himself freezing at the words. Despite everything he'd said, coming here was basically a shot in the dark. A not-so-insignificant part of him hadn't believed they'd find him here. Two years had passed, things had changed, he had other responsibilities… Yet there, among the piles of trash, stood a haggard man with blonde hair, sunken eyes hiding a vibrant blue beneath.

"It's All Might."

"Evidently so." Aizawa's words came out somewhere between a growl and a groan.

"I haven't seen him in…" Uraraka's were caught between shock and awe. "I kinda thought he might've recovered a bit, but…" even from their distance, they could see him cough violently after trying to lift a box too large. The hint of red told Izuku it had almost certainly been blood. "So do we go over, or…?"

"We should keep it a smaller group." Justice made the executive decision, "The longer we're out here, the higher the chance something goes wrong." she turned to Izuku, "Any preference on who goes besides you?"

"Well…" Izuku took a moment to think.

Part of him wanted to go over at talk with him alone. Call it selfish, but he felt that after everything that had happened, it felt… proper. Like handing it back on this beach with only the two present would bring a weird sort of closure to this insane circle One for All had been through.

But another part, a larger part, told him that going over by himself would end poorly. Be it by his own nervousness or literal divine intervention, he just knew that something would go wrong if he was by himself. If he wanted to make sure any otherworldly visitors wouldn't interrupt them, a friendly otherworldly being would probably be his best bet. And with that thought, another option became obvious.

"I mean, it was the two of us that started all this." he sent Justice a nervous smile, "I guess it'd make sense if we both finish it."

She returned his smile with a far larger one, "Good answer." she turned to the other demons, "Cerbs, do me a favour and keep her from doing anything annoying for a few minutes."

"No promises." Cerberus stepped closer to Modeus, before pointing a finger towards Izuku, "And you still owe me for keeping our gaggle of mortals connected. I expect proper payment once we're finished here."

"Right…" Izuku laughed nervously. Technically Justice owned his soul through a contract for work after this (well, co-owned with Malina), so it wasn't like Cerberus could ask for anything too extreme, right?

Is it a good or bad sign that I'm protected from extreme deals by virtue of being property?

"And you two wait here." she nodded at Aizawa and Uraraka, "We'll fulfil this part of the deal, then go find Izuku's mother so we can wrap up loose ends."

"I'll find out where she is." Aizawa pulled out his phone, before pausing. "Phones don't alert… I don't know, radio demons or anything, right?"

"So long as you're not making an inter-realm call, it's cool." Justice thought for a moment, "Unless they're tapped into Japan's communications network or anything…" she waved off the thought, "Nah, no way."

"… I'll keep the details vague."

"Good luck!" Uraraka sent an encouraging smile and thumbs-up his way, "S-Speak with you after, right?" Izuku nodded back.

With that sorted, the pair of a demon and a human started the walk towards the former Hero student's idol. The person that gave him such a chance to begin with, and would be the one to ensure Izuku's failure to make use of that chance wouldn't doom the world-

"Penny for your thoughts?" Justice asked.

"You mean yen?"

"Well, from my perspective I mean fragmented soul energy, but the principle still applies."

"… That's a thing?" did he have to worry about his Quirked soul being balkanised and made into commemorative coins after getting back?

"Eh." Justice waved her hand back and forth, "Sort of. Pretty rare; guess it's like a premium currency. Most demons barter with goods, and trade for more ephemeral rewards, e.g. an eternity of internship." she nodded towards Izuku, "The only non-counterfeitable currency literally being built from souls makes a stable economy a tad difficult."

"Makes sense…" Izuku nodded. This really wasn't that important, but indulging his curiosity was doing wonders for calming his nerves. Which were starting to fray once more as they approached the gaunt form of All Might.

"Remember, we're still not in the clear." Justice tapped where one would expect a watch on her wrist, "Say hi, give your power back, and we can leave. No supernatural buzzkills the wiser…"

"Right." Izuku nodded. Maybe it was their hushed conversation, or the sound of sand hitting against plastic bags and metal as they approached, but All Might heard them. He turned around…

… He looks old

Without the use of his 'powered' form, his mentor for this (well, a) past year had always looked unwell. Baggy clothes, constantly coughing blood, haggard form; they didn't exactly spell 'picture of health'

But the man that stood before him now was worse by far. His sunken eyes looked dark and tired. His movements were slow and uneven. His hair showed bunches of grey, and had even lost its combed bounciness to a barely neatened mess. But most of all was his face. Not the fact that it seemed greyer than before, nor the deeper lines it now wore… It was the expression. His typical look of tired hopefulness was completely gone. In its place was an exhausted apathy.

The man before him ran an eye briefly over Justice and Izuku both. Izuku froze in place, at a loss for how to start- "Hm." only for All Might to let out an annoyed grunt before he went back to clearing through the trash.

Guess the 'Shawl' is still up…

Izuku made to introduce themselves, "U-um-"

"Not interested." he didn't so much as turn his head.

"I can guarantee you will be." Justice tried to cut through his apparent apathy.

"Hah." his sarcasm was clear, "Well, I suppose I can't exactly make you leave. Just do me a favour and don't interrupt." he made to lift a box of scraps, full of small and broken pieces of metal. He struggled for a moment, and the attempt ended with him coughing up blood. Justice picked the box up effortlessly with one hand instead.

"… Fine." he eventually grumbled, nodding in the direction of a familiar pickup truck with a few bags of trash already loaded. "Guess I can hear you out… You don't look like the regular HPSC goons…"

"HPSC?" Izuku echoed the word.

"You're not with them?" his jaded expression gave way to confusion for the briefest of moments, "Thought the darker suits were you acting 'incognito'…" he shrugged, "How can I help you, Miss…."

"Justice." she nodded in turn, putting a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "I trust Izuku here needs no introduction."

Judging from the way All Might coughed up a particularly large bout of blood, took a step back in shock, and stared at Izuku like he'd seen a ghost, she was correct in that assumption.

"Wha- But- You're-" ok, yep, Shawl down. "What manner of trickery is-"

"It's a long story." Izuku sighed. He was already tired, and going through this whole routine again… No. he shook off the thought, This is the last time. Just one last push… "U-um, but, the thing is, we might sort of be on a time crunch-"

"A time crunch?" All Might looked between the two of them suspiciously before huffing, "What, is this the part where you insist I hand over my credit card details or miss the opportunity of a lifetime?" he shook his head, "I can understand the difficulty in finding work nowadays, but using this against an old man-"

"We don't want your credit card, dude." Justice put the box of scraps on the pickup, before looking towards Izuku.

"We want you to take One for All back." All Might's jaw dropped at the statement. "Yes, we know about it. Because itisme. It's Izuku. Not some imposter with a disguise Quirk or one playing tricks on your mind. And yes, I still have it even after death." he ran a hand through his hair, "And to be honest, I still don't quite understand- no, actually, I barely understand anything that's going on anymore. But we've travelled a long way to get here, and there's every chance someone's about to interrupt us. So please, even if you don't believe me…" he pulled out a strand of his hair, and held it out towards his Hero.

"Just… take it. Please."

The man looked at the strand of hair in Izuku's hand, eyes widening and mouth remaining firmly open in surprise as he took in what he was seeing. After a few moments, he tried to recover, coughing into his hand. "I… Look, even if this is true, I'm not I'm qualified at this point to-"

"Please…" Izuku's voice cracked as he stuck his hand further forward. It didn't matter if All Might didn't believe him; he could explain later. Heck, Aizawa or Uraraka could explain later. But they'd finally made it. He was finally here. He'd travelled through Hell itself, he'd pushed through what had seemed more like a barely-functioning wasteland than the city of Tokyo he'd called home, he'd fought undead and demons and come out in one piece. And all for this… All to give humanity back a chance at a brighter future. The last step… All he needed… Was for All Might to take it back.

"… Ok." the man's reply almost made Izuku's legs give out from under him. "Don't misunderstand, I still have questions, but-"

"We'll answer them!" Izuku nodded furiously, "Anything you need to know- Justice knows more about this, she can tell you anything that might be important you'll have to watch out for, right?"

"Sure." she leaned back against the pickup, "It'd be a waste to go through all this just to see my efforts wasted because skeletor over there ended up pissing of Heaven or something."

"… What does-"

"We'll explain later!" Izuku practically pushed the hair into his hand.

"R-right, right…" All Might held out his hand. He was accepting. Izuku gave him his strand of hair. That… That was it. They'd reached the end of their journey.

… It's over…?

He had to stop himself from laughing. Doing that would probably just make All Might more suspicious, and he would not ruin this. Instead, he settled for a tired smile. He'd done it. There were so many points something could've gone wrong… But he'd done it. Thanks to Justice, Cerberus, Modeus, Todoroki, Hagakure, Uraraka, everyone… He'd reached this moment. He watched All Might move the hair up to eat it; this part would be a little gross-

"Huh?"

Or at least… It would've been. If All Might had actually eaten the hair.

If the hair didn't disintegrate into a green-and-red haze.

"That…" Izuku blinked. That was… What? "M-maybe it's because my form is less stable up here!" he ripped out a few more strands of hair. He shoved them in All Might's hand…

Only for them to all disintegrate again.

"N-no-" he ripped out a good handful of hair. Some of the strands had some blood on them, but that just meant more DNA, right?! It was still good! It was still good until he gave it to All Might, and a few moments later, it disintegrated again!

"M-maybe I need to feed you directly-?"

"Hold on." Justice put a hand up. "What are you doing?"

"I-I'm trying to transfer One for All back to All Might-"

"Ok." Justice nodded slowly, "And that's done by, like… A handshake or something… Maybe an incantation… Right?"

""What?"" Izuku and All Might echoed in sync.

"That's- No! It's passed down by the next holder consuming the DNA of the current holder!"

"It also requires the current holder to willingly pass on the power." All Might added some key information.

"Oh- Maybe I'm unconsciously trying to hold back!" but why would his unconscious do that?! The damned traitor-

"You…" Justice looked at Izuku dumbly. "You need… To give him your DNA…?"

"Y-yeah…" maybe there was some specific spell she would use to solidify his form?

"And… You knew this the entire time?" he nodded at the question. "Ever since we first made our deal?" another nod. Justice pinched the bridge of her nose and looked down. "That's…"

"I was under the impression you were both informed of the mechanics." All Might asked Izuku.

"W-well, I told her some of the major stuff, but-"

"Haha…" he heard Justice chuckling under her breath. "Ahahaha…" it was less under her breath as she tried to look back at Izuku. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-!" she suddenly erupted into uncontrollable laughter. Izuku couldn't remember ever seeing her like that… Was the whole 'you have to eat my hair' thing really that funny?

"You-" she tried to talk between great bouts of laughter, pointing at Izuku, "You managed to- HA! To trick a demon- to trick a primordial arch-demon- into accepting a bullshit contract…" she started wheezing, her voice becoming high-pitched, "And you didn't even fucking realise it!" she started using the truck for support, smacking a fist against it out of humour… which badly dented the metalwork.

"That-that was a custom job…" All Might groaned, turning back to Izuku, "I'm sorry, but am I missing something?"

"I think we both are…" and Izuku had absolutely no idea what to make of it.

"Missing something?" Justice began to get control of herself, but was still interrupted by bouts of giggling, "What you're missing, Hero boy… is a body." Izuku blinked in response, so she continued. "See, you may feel pain, but you don't actually have pain receptors. You might feel hungry, but you don't need food. You might feel tired, but you don't need sleep… Though resting your soul can reduce mental, fatigue, so that one's a bit," she tilted a hand back and forth.

"But…" All Might looked at Izuku, "He has a body… I can clearly see it."

"NOPE!" Justice wagged a finger at him, "What you're clearly seeing… Is a projection." she turned back to Izuku, "A shell created by your soul within to interact with the world. Remember what happened with Todoroki?"

"That… That weird orb thing-?"

"Was his soul." she poked Izuku in the chest, "Something you've also got in there. And that weird orb thing is creating this." she gestured to all of Izuku, "A replica of your original body, based on your perception of yourself. And once a piece falls outside the soul's projection range, the whole thing falls apart. Fun fact: people who never have a clear view of themselves look weird after getting to Hell. Those with blindness often arrive in Hell black-and-white, or completely grey." she paused, "Or, at least, I know they used to. Plus, people with mental issues that interfere with perception can initially show up in a whole bunch of weird and wacky ways. But that's what it's based on: Perception. Unless your view of yourself is extremely closely tied to those microstructures invisible to the naked eye, e.g. stimulus receptors, and unless you know precisely what they should look like, you don't have them." she shrugged, "It's another reason you need sleep. It's an internal requirement, and you perceive that time has passed without sleeping. As you're so used to needing sleep after a certain amount of time, you honestly believe you need sleep, consciously or not, which causes your form to need rest." she sighed, "Plus, we all just need a break sometimes…"

"I still don't get it. Why does that mean I can't give back-" Izuku's question caught in his throat.

Oh no…

"Finally figured it out?"

"I'm sorry, but would someone please explain what's going on?" All Might hadn't realised the terrible truth.

"Sure. His hair may seem full, but that doesn't mean he's actually growing new hair." she pointed at Izuku's head, "Look, those pieces he pulled out look like they never left. It's there because he perceives to be there, it doesn't actually grow. The hair follicle doesn't produce more hair. The follicle probably isn't even present, unless Izuku subconsciously perceives it as such and knows what it looks like. It isn't there. Neither are the proteins which are processed into the hair. Nor is the transcription machinery necessary to make those proteins. Even if they were injected somehow, they wouldn't have anything to do, because-"

"I don't have DNA." Izuku breathed out the words. "Even if we stabilised my soul projection's hair somehow, there wouldn't be anything useful in it." Justice wasn't interrupting him. In fact, she was practically nodding along to his reasoning. Meaning…

"I can't pass on One for All…"

A/N:

What a twist. Probably. Unless you saw it coming; I tried to drop some minor foreshadowing a few chapters ago by having Todoroki's Quirk be un-copyable by Monoma, and was (trying to be) careful about what Izuku told Justice regarding the OfA mechanics so she didn't realise the transfer was impossible with what they've got on-hand. Fun fact, I nearly made a plot hole back in chapter... 7, I think? By having Malina refer to the soul sample as a DNA sample, which would've destroyed the foundation of this twist.

Meanwhile, Todoroki's figured out the truth behind the so-called 'Todoroki scandal' which Uraraka/Tokoyami told him about. He's seen through the lies. Definitely. Also, I honestly feel bad as Uraraka and Hagakure have ended up being a bit sidelined in terms of their focus and how they're handling everything compared to how I expected to write this. There's some interactions and thoughts I just couldn't fit into the conversations without the flow feeling more stilted (or delaying the chapter releases). But Hagakure's gonna get some love in the next arc, and of course by love, I mean having an awful time. Plus, I think I can get some of the Uraraka parts I wanted into the next couple of chapters.

But as mentioned, next chapter is gonna take a bit longer than usual. As you might've realised, we're now going to have at least 3 different main plotlines progressing in tandem (and, ironically, I think Izuku's is going to end up as the least intense. Though that could definitely change.), which means I've got to try and give a bit more thought to how the next chapters are structured so everyone progresses at an even-ish pace. Plus, there's something else I've been working on that I wanna finish the first chapter for at least, and this fic has kinda been dominating my writing time.

Other than that, as usual, feedback incl. thoughts, predictions, concrit etc. are all welcome in the comments; I hope everyone has a good weekend and see you soon...ish (TM)!