A/N: This chapter has some heavy descriptions of death, so please be warned going in. Moving forward I want to focus the story on the fallout of the war from the Todoroki's and the student's perspective since we don't get much of that from the Manga, so I hope you all will enjoy that take on the story!

Chapter 51

Present Day - Day 82

Natsuo sits at the booth in the cafeteria nibbling on his sashimi as he studies from one of his textbooks for an upcoming test. He's been pretty stressed out with midterms approaching, but he's looking forward to the approaching weekend.

He's disturbed from his studying when he sees a figure approach him. He looks up to see the light-haired woman with large animalistic ears peaking from her hair approach him. A smile takes over his face, reaching his eyes as he looks onto her.

"Hey, Hun!" he calls out to his girlfriend as he places his book down. "You excited for tonight? I have something really special planned for your birthday!" he smiles wildly at her.

She frowns in response, the clear look of grief playing at her features.

Before Natsuo can ask what is upsetting her, a group of his classmates call out to him in passing. "Yo Todoroki, I always knew your dad was intense, but damn, what a piece of shit!" one of them heckles as they don't care to stay and explain.

Natsuo's brows knit together in confusion as he turns his gaze from the man back to his girlfriend. "What was all that about?" he wonders out loud, but his gaze turns stiff when he sees that she doesn't look confused at the man's outburst, but rather worried.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asks her with a concerned tone.

"Natsu," her voice shakes in her throat as she tries to find the words to tell him. She didn't want to be the one to do this and figured he had already seen it. "You haven't looked at your phone recently, have you?"

"No, I've been studying," he tells her. "Why? Did I miss your—" Natsuo is halted in his tracks when he opens his phone to see dozens of text messages from classmates offering their condolences, asking if he knew all along, or similarly calling his father out for being a terrible person.

He doesn't go into too much detail in the texts when he looks back up at his worried girlfriend. He sees the horrified look on her face as her eyes are transfixed on something behind him. He turns around to see a broadcast on the television a few seats from his booth.

Natsuo looks up at the television, seeing the dark-haired villain from the League of Villains sitting shirtless on a tattered sofa. He went by Dabi if Natsuo remembered correctly, but he never really paid the villains much attention since his focus was always on school. But now…

"I am Touya Todoroki," Natsuo's shoulders stiffen and his heart begins thumping erratically up his chest into his throat as he questions if he heard correctly. "The eldest son of Endeavor," Dabi continues as he affirms Natsuo's doubts.

"What the hell is this?" Natsuo questions as he steps out of his booth and moves closer to the television.

"To date I have killed over 30 innocent people in cold blood," the villain looks up, staring into the camera with a bone chilling gaze that sends a shiver down Natsuo's spine. "And today I'd like everyone to know exactly what brought me to commit these despicable acts."

The broadcast cuts out to a technical issue screen and Natsuo begins to panic, "What happened?" he asks no one in particular. "The recording cut out!"

He quickly grabs his phone, typing wildly on his keypad as he searches for the video.

"Natsu…" his girlfriend tries to stop him, placing her hand on his shoulder but she retracts when she feels just how rigid he is.

Natsuo quickly finds copies of the video all over the internet and continues the recording. The villain flips a paper to the camera and continues his speech. "There is a 99 percent match between my DNA and a sample of Endeavor's blood from the battle in Kyushu," Natsuo's mouth is dry as he watches the broadcast with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

This is unbelievable. This can't be happening. This isn't real!

"Still, I'm sure many of you believe this is an elaborate hoax, so I'll just have to convince you otherwise," the villain continues and Natsuo holds onto his phone with shaking white knuckled hands.

"Driven by greed and a lust for power, Endeavor did everything he could to attain the Number One spot, but he just could never crack the surface. Desperate and broken, Endeavor realized that the only way he could bring notoriety to his name was by making a child with a Quirk that did not have the same restrictions as his own. And that's when he found my mother."

Natsuo's hands shake and he feels a pit building in his stomach as the villain calls her mother. He keeps reminding himself that this can't be Touya. He is dead. Natsuo was there when he saw the bones in his father's hands that night.

"I was the first to be born, and though I lacked the combination of ice and fire as my father sought-after, for a moment I was enough for him… until I wasn't," Dabi's voice turns sinister as he looks up at the camera, eyes burning into the lens as if he were trying to destroy Endeavor with a single look.

Natsuo examines the villain for a moment as he looks onto the camera. He wonders if this could be Touya, but he is brought back to the day that his father trekked down from Sekoto Peak with shaking hands as he clutched onto fragments of his brother. There were tears in his father's eyes and it was clear that there was no denying that was what remained of his brother. They later gathered the ashes and placed them in an urn at their prayer alter. There was no possible way this could be Touya.

"After all that, Endeavor made sure Mom kept having kids," Dabi continues and Natsuo tries to focus on the video instead of his horrible memories of his brother being gone. "The Fourth was someone most of you are familiar with. At long last little Shouto was the successful creation!" the villain rejoices with a spiteful craze in his chuckle. "But even the successful creation was not spared from Endeavor's abuse; I've seen him do it many times."

This has to be some sick kind of joke. Touya's… he can't be… Dad has his bones!

Natsuo can't help but scan the features of the villain in a frantic search to disprove his despicable words. His face and body are heavily burned and scarred and with Touya dying before he hit puberty, he has no idea how he would have turned out. He doesn't want to believe that this maniac could be Touya. But those eyes…

"Endeavor doesn't have an apathetic bone in his body!" he continues with such hate lacing his tone. "At his core, he's addicted to the limelight. A man who wallows in his own small-mindedness and self-importance. Is that the sort of person who should call himself a hero?"

Natsuo's eyes glance down at the live chat accompanied with the video as so many people weigh in to shit on Endeavor and other heroes. So many people calling for his resignation, and crying out that Stain was right about heroes all flood the conversation.

"Those who keep company with Endeavor are no different," Dabi continues as the screen changes from him on the couch to a man in a black and gray suit being stabbed in the back by what appears to be Hawks. "Take Hawks, the Number Two Hero."

"No," Natsuo whispers out in a bleak whine.

"I still gotta protect their happiness!" Twice cries out in the video.

"Even when he was begged to stop…" Dabi continues in a voiceover as the video changes position.

"Stop it! You're killing him!" Natsuo's eyes shake in their sockets as his body involuntarily takes a step back. His eyes frantically trying to focus on the screen as he recognizes her cry. He looks onto the small screen of his phone to see her purple eyes littered with tears as she cries out in the video.

"Asami!" Natsuo speaks up as if calling out her name would have her answer to what she is doing in the video.

"… He still killed him," Dabi's voice is strained, as if gritting his teeth while speaking.

"No! Jin!" Asami is seen on the camera running to the man cradling him in her arms as he bleeds out, begging him to stay with her.

Natsuo feels himself getting sick to his stomach when he recognizes the man from the dinner at their house. He must have been from the League as well, but what does that mean about her? Why is she with members of the League?

"That crying villain who's trying to run away to save his friends? I did my best to protect him but Hawks skewered that guy without the slightest hesitation."

The video replays Hawks leaping towards the villain, driving his feathered sword into his back once more, making Natsuo flinch at the sight.

"And the girl?" Dabi's voice flutters for a moment as a sting of remorse hits his cords. "Sworn to protect those in need and Hawks used her as a shield when I retaliated against him."

The video is horrific, cutting to show Hawks hugging Asami's head against his body in what appears to be him forcing her to lay atop him as a shield against blue flames that soon cover the shot, leaving nothing but her screams to be heard.

Natsuo's body quivers at the image, goosebumps covering his body at the sheer pitch of her voice while his heart beats uncomfortably in his chest. His vision begins blurring and a painful ringing radiates in his ears. He can't think to say or do anything as his eyes fixate on the brutal image of Asami being burned alive.

"I tried to stop my flames when I realized, but it was too late…" the remorse in his voice is genuine and people in the chat begin analyzing Dabi's reaction on the video as an authentic response to this shock.

Natsuo doesn't even have another second to think when the video is obscured by his phone screen lighting up with an incoming call.

Fuyumi.

Natsuo's hands shake as he swipes his thumb over the phone to answer. "Natsu!" her shriek calls out over the other end before he can say a word. "H—Have you seen?" her voice is shaking and it's clear that she's crying. "Natsu, this has to be some kind of joke?" she whines.

Natsuo is in an absolute state of shock. He doesn't know what to do or what to think. He can't think about the ramifications of Touya being alive, of Dabi being Touya, or Asami being… dead? He can't think of any of it.

"Where are you?" Natsuo asks in a harsh tone that makes him sound so much like his father.

"I'm leaving the school now," she informs him on the other end. "I called the hospital to block the transmission to Mom's room but…" Fuyumi sighs on the other end of the call. "She saw, Natsu."

He takes in a deep breath as tears threaten his long lashes. Shutting his eyes tightly to ward off the tears, he says, "I'm on my way."

He hangs up the phone and shoves his things sloppily into his backpack. "Natsu!" his girlfriend calls out to him with a worried tone. He looks up at her, completely forgetting that she was there in the chaos of it all. "Where are you going?" she asks with a whimper in her tone.

"I have to go," he tells her. "I need to see my mom and sister," he says packing his things.

"What about tonight? Will I see you?" she asks him, hands cupped to her chest as she watches him pack up with worried eyes.

"I'm sorry," is all he can respond with as he turns from her and leaving before she can call out to him in response.

Natsuo doesn't know what to think of all of this as the images continue to stain his mind, and all he can think about is being with his family.

It's not real. It's not real. It's not real.

"No…" Endeavor's voice quakes in his tightening throat as he looks onto the wide-eyed villain standing just above. "Touya is dead," his words are heavy on his lips, wishing they weren't true, but he brought back the only fragments of his son that day. He cannot be here. He cannot be this villain before him. "Take back that despicable lie!" his voice is anything but threatening or strong, as he's unable to find any strength in this situation. He has been taken completely off guard by the most horrid thing ever said to him and his battle strategy and wit have crumbled to pieces as he looks onto the white-haired villain.

"Nope!" the villain responds with a joyful unhinged demeanor. "I'm clearly alive! And that's the despicable truth, Dad! Because you put together a whole agency of fire and heat-type Quirks, that you didn't even suspect me!" his amusement is beyond compare.

"Don't believe me?" Dabi questions him with a wide smile on his face. "I'm happy to donate some blood or a hunk of skin," Dabi extends his arms out, showing the man the horrific sight of his body melting to pieces. "Go ahead!" he encourages him, "I have plenty to spare! Get your DNA test! Not that it matters since the test I ran has already gone public!" he announces with feral excitement.

Endeavor's eyes widen with shock and Dabi chuckles at the response. "That's right," he begins with a smile that rips a staple loose. "I ran the test and made sure to broadcast it for all of Japan to see!" he informs him. "A little trick your old PR rep taught me! Give 'em something to talk about, and the whole world will be shitting on you in no time!"

Endeavor chokes on the lump building in his throat. Hawks was supposed to get her out before the war began. She has to be safe with him.

"Asami?" Shouto questions under his breath. "Where is Asami?" he turns to his father to see his flabbergasted expression, unable to question the villain himself. Shouto turns from his father to look onto the smiling villain. "Where is Asami!" he now demands from the villain.

Dabi lets out a wry chuckle that burns his throat. A sinister smile tears his cheeks taut as his eyes turn white from how much he widens his usual lidded expression. "I KILLED HER!" His voice is rabid, tearing at his vocal cords as he roars at the two looking up at him.

The expressions of the two heroes is too much for Dabi to bear and he throws his head back laughing like a gleeful child as he continues to move his arms to the dance he's orchestrated. "That's right Endeavor! I killed her with your flames! Burned her to ashes until there was nothing left!" he boasts with gratified delight.

"No," Endeavor's voice quakes in his throat with no more strength. "Touya would never…"

He thinks back on all is memories of the two as children. He wasn't blind to the subtle looks of admiration that Touya would sneak her way when she wasn't looking. Asami may have been more obvious with her liking towards Touya, but he was never opposed to it. Despite never acting on his emotions, they were always there; he cared for her and he would never do anything to harm her.

"That's where you're wrong, Dad!" Dabi continues to taunt the breaking man. "Because I did!" he announces with delight. "Because you never taught me to turn down the heat, that I ended her life."

"That filthy spy, Hawks even tried to save her, but what can you expect from a half-assed hero like him?" Dabi continues to taunt. "So quick to turn face, he killed the Number Three Hero just to see her again. Little good that did him when he was so willing to use her as a body shield against my flames like the coward that he is!"

Shouto can't keep his eyes off of his brother as the villain recounts the final moments of her life. He didn't know his brother very well since his father was determined to keep him from his siblings and focused on trainings. But he remembers Asami being around, and he's heard the retellings of her time with Touya from Fuyumi and Natsuo. There was something there; he couldn't possibly have hurt her in such a way.

Dabi stops dancing as he sighs with a satisfied smile on his face. "I am having such a fun time, I really am!" he chuckles with a gleeful smirk. "And to think I was willing to throw this all away for her…" he says with a bad taste in his mouth. "Well, back to the main event!" he turns to them, lighting his arms on fire as blue flames lick at his melting skin.

"Thanks for going strong until now, Endeavor!" he cries out as he jumps from the colossal villain's back.

Shouto stiffens as he crouches into a battle position, igniting his left side and preparing for a fight. "Father!" he calls out to the frozen man at his side. "Here he comes!" he announces, but the man is unmoving as sweat drops from his panicked face.

"Father!" Shouto cries out to him as tears begin pooling in his eyes. "Hado and I will handle this fight! Just protect Midoriya and Bakugo!" his father remains unmoving and Shouto looks up at his brother's igniting body plummeting towards them like an impending bomb. "C'mon!" he growls at his father, you gotta protect them, worry about the rest later!"

His father continues to look at the sight of his burning son with shaking eyes and a quivering lip, frozen and unable to move towards Shouto's request of him.

"Iida!" Shouto growls in frustration as he looks onto his friend, "Evacuate the injured!" he commands him as he turns back to his brother as the flames cover his entire body.

"Flashfire Fists!" the villain cries out as Shouto's heart races in his chest. "Prominence—"

Shouto prepares however he can for the fiery attack from the sky, however, when it never comes, he looks to the heavens with a confusion.

Wires begins falling from the sky as Dabi's body is apprehended midflight. He grunts as his body snaps from being held back. He looks over his shoulder as his arms are pinned down at his side to see the blonde hero being dropped from the sky by an approaching aircraft.

"Apologies for the delay," he smugly responds as he fixes his combover. "As of today, Best Jeanist is back on duty!"

"Impossible!" Dabi growls up at him. "You're supposed to be dead! That corpse was real!"

"You've overreached, and now you're coming apart at the seams like inferior denim!" the blonde jests.

Dabi rolls his bright eyes as he begins to ignite his body in his flames. "So what if you're alive! That doesn't change what was aired for all of Japan to see. The civilians will lose their faith in you heroes for what Hawks and Endeavor have done! Hero society will crumble!"

In the corner of his eyes Dabi sees a flash of purple hair coming his way and his heart jumps with a hopeful joy as he turns towards her.

Butterfly!

But when his eyes land on the long purple hair that approaches him, it is not his lover, but some kid—some hero thinking she can make a difference in this fight. A fury boils inside Dabi's chest as he's reminded that she is truly gone, and with that hatred heating up his dead heart, he engulfs the stupid girl in his flames as he did with Asami.

"Hado!" Shouto shouts with a desolate wail.

She cries out as Asami did, with a primal and high-pitched cry that sends shivers down his dead skin and he begins to laugh uncontrollably. "Check it out, Endeavor! History's repeating itself!" he says feeling elated at the idea. "Another kid with a bright future all burned up… by your flames!"

"Stop it!" Shouto cries out to his brother in a desperate plea. "Asami wouldn't want this!" he begs him as he beseeches his love for her.

Dabi looks down at his brother, his skin lit up with his flames and he looks like a God of hellfire. "Then it's a good thing she's dead and can't see this," his voice stings like venom.

Shouto calls out as the battlefield erupts in chaos when Gigantomachia begins charging against his restraints, but Shouto focuses on his brother. He charges him with a heated fist, striking the villain in the chest. "You don't mean that!" he yells at his brother. "You cared for her! For Natsuo! How could you send that villain his way? He was almost killed! Remember him? The brother you cried to every night?" he tries to remind him of his childhood.

" 'Almost killed'? What a shame! His death would have really hurt Endeavor!" Dabi replies with a wide grin.

"Are you insane?" Shouto shouts at his brother in a desperate plea.

"Sure am, Shouto!" he cackles. "Your big brother's not too big on feelings anymore," his voice turns hard as he grinds his jaw at how stupid he was for letting someone make him feel something, only to crush it in one single moment.

Dabi strikes Shouto in the face with a flaming fist, making the boy fall back a few steps. They begin to fight one another with their Quirks as the battle around them erupts into pandemonium that Shouto cannot focus on. He can see that Iida has Hado in his arms and shuttles her from the fight while Jeanist works to fight off Gigantomachia, but there is nothing else he can see when Dabi begins attacking him with his Quirk.

Luckily, Touya was also taught by their father, and uses some of the same fighting techniques that he was taught. His moves are predictable, and he's able to defend himself for the time being.

As the fight continues, Dabi grows angry with Shouto's ability to fight off his attacks and defend against each of his hits before they make contact. He knows that he will have to do something unexpected to get the upper-hand on his little brother.

He smiles with a smug grin on his face as he launches at his brother, extending both of his arms out and exposing his core for an attack. As expected, Shouto charges towards him to make an attack when Dabi closes his arms and captures Shouto into a tight hug against his chest.

"Poor Shouto," Dabi's voice is muffled against the boy's shoulder as he hugs him tightly. "No fun for you, only pain." His body begins to heat up as he begins to burn Shouto in his arms.

"But you're burning up too!" Shouto grunts in an attempt to push himself against his brother's hot body. "You're going to kill yourself too!"

"You know, Shouto, I have to be grateful for her," he muses as he glances down at his father who looks up at the fight frozen and helpless. "She showed me what it means to truly love someone. I wouldn't have understood if it weren't for her, but I can now; because look at that face!" he hysterically yells as he looks at his father. "That is the face of a man helplessly watching the person he loves die," he says bitterly as he thinks about Asami and how helpless he felt when she was dead in his arms.

"I loved her, Sho. I really did," he admits to him sadly as his tone lowers and Shouto stiffen in his arms. "And for a moment, I was willing to give up on everything just to be with her." Blood begins seeping from his stapled face as he says goodbye to the life he could have had with her.

The babies, the countryside, her smile. Visions of all that could have been flashing through his eyes as he halts on her face smiling up at him.

It was all a broken dream. Just like his desires to become a hero like his father.

"Instead, I get to see that broken man watch as his puppet masterpiece burns up and die in the flames of his failed experiment while he sits there unable to do a thing about it! Once my fire burns you to ash…" the image of her dimpled smile fades to the dead look on her face when he held her in his arms, begging her to come back to him, crying and pleading for her return. "I wonder what kinda face Dad'll make!"

He engulfs their bodies in fire as he did with her, willing them both to die in the heat of his flames, but before he can snuff him out, Dabi is hit by a black fog that tears Shouto out of his arms. He growls as he looks over his shoulder at some dumb kid shooting the whip from his mouth.

"This is a family affair!" he snaps at him. "It's none of your business!"

"It is my business!" Midoriya cries up at the villain. "Because Todoroki's my friend, and Endeavor's my mentor who's made me stronger!" he announces to him with a shaking voice as he tries to be strong against the burning villain. "Sure, the past never dies, and that's why I'm watching Endeavor as he works hard to be a better man!" he cries out as those final words itch at the back of Dabi's skull.

"And you're not Endeavor!" Midoriya cries, trying to reach him as he once did Shouto.

But he will never be a better man.

"Way to state the obvious!" Dabi laughs hysterically as steam lifts from his burning body. "Better man," he scoffs at the thought of that monster ever reaching that height. "Endeavor is a vile broken waste of a man who pushed his hollow dreams onto his kids, and I'm the result of it! His selfish goal festered inside of me and now evil is thriving! This world is full of ugly bastards like him stepping on the weak, and I'm here to show you sentimental idiots who's to blame for all this!" he shakes his head, heating up his flames to make a fatal strike towards Midoriya. "So come on Dad!" he calls out to his father as he moves to strike down Midoriya. "Show me what you got!"

Endeavor steps towards Dabi to stop him when Gigantomachia falls down with a massive crash that shakes the ground around them, causing him to be knocked out. Dabi growls to himself as he sees his father fall to the ground and unresponsive. He will not be able to see another student of his fall to the flames of his failure of a son, and suddenly there's no point if he can't show his father just how much of a waste he is.

He glances back to see the League is in trouble as the fibers of Jeanist's Quirk are holding them back. He moves his flames to help the rest of the League escape when Mr. Compress calls out to him. He can see they are at a loss without the giant oaf to shuttle them out of here, and he's not about to get sent to jail after everything he's worked to achieve. Especially after losing her in the process.

"Touya!" his brother calls out to him as he launches a fired fist towards him.

"Sorry Masterpiece, but plans have changed. Can't destroy dear ol' Dad's hope by killing you when he's not awake to watch!" he says, sending a Jetburn attack his way, burning up the boy's face, but strategically keeping him alive.

He turns from the fallen boy and towards his comrade. "Get me out of here, Compress," Dabi says looking over his shoulder one last time to see his father and brother on the ground, biding his time to ensure he really hurts them before killing them.

Dabi is compressed into a small marble by the villain as Endeavor looks onto them once more. The hero's heart is aching and his chest caving in at what has transpired here. He crawls with what little strength he has towards his son, reaching out to the boy as steam lifts from his burning skin.

"Shouto?" he dares to call out to him, his tone broken and fearful. The boy is badly beaten and burned, but he is clearly breathing as he looks up to his father one last time before falling unconscious.

Iida comes running towards his classmate as Endeavor clutches onto his son with shaking hands. "Take him to the first aid station," Endeavor's voice cracks his weak command. "Have him join the rest of the wounded."

"Yes, Sir!" Iida respectfully bows to the hero as he bends to lift Shouto in his arms and uses his Quirk to quickly usher them to the first aid tents they set up during the battle.

Iida cradles the boy's body as he looks for an open spot to lay him down to get the aid that he needs. Iida's eyes are wide as he takes in the sight of so many people moaning in pain as they lie down and wait for assistance. Recovery Girl bounces from station to station administering aid, but clearly looks more weathered than she normally does.

"Iida!" his name is called out and the young boy looks around to find his classmate waving him down.

"Tokoyami!" he returns to him as he joins the bird boy as he sits on his knees next to a bandaged and barely breathing Hawks.

Iida places Shouto down carefully next to Hawks as he waits for Recovery Girl to come assist. "You've been gathering the wounded and fallen?" Tokoyami asks him as he looks down at Shouto.

"Yes," he says remorsefully as he thinks of all the bodies he's shuttled back and forth, with more being gone than wounded.

"I need your assistance," Tokoyami beseeches.

"Anything," Iida says, eager to help.

"There is a woman left at Ganga Mountain Villa," he begins as he looks at his classmate. "I was unable to…" the words choke Tokoyami and he can't admit to himself or to Iida that he failed as a hero. "She meant something to him and…" he tears his eyes from his peer and looks onto his mentor. "He deserves to say goodbye."

Iida swallows hard, seeing in the boy's dark eyes that his request is not a rescue mission, but a recovery one.

"I will go at once!" Iida says with a respectful bow of his head.

"Thank you, Tenya."

Tenya Iida always knew he was going to be a hero. Born into the family that he was, it seemed as though a different path was never really discussed for him. Despite all of this, it was never anything he was resentful for. He loved the idea of continuing the family tradition and joining his parents and brother on the streets where he would bring justice to evil doers.

However, as he immersed himself into the heroing lifestyle, Iida quickly came to the realization that being a true hero was nothing like he believed it to be. He didn't expect it to be easy by any means; he saw the late nights his parents and brother put into their work and he often cherished their hard work for it.

He knew there would be late nights, he knew there would be despicable villains, and he knew it would be hard work, but this…

He never thought he would be here. He never thought his hero career would lead him to the burning ruins of a city as he searches for the body of a woman fallen in the crossfires.

The sight is sickening and Iida finds his eyes burning, despite having his helmet on to ward off the smoke. His stomach is flipping as bodies and blood litter the crumbling grounds below his feet.

A sense of helplessness overtakes him knowing that he was too slow to help any of them. How is he to be a hero of speed, if he wasn't quick enough to help any of these people? So many bodies, so many lives, all senselessly snuffed away at the whim of these despicable villains.

Iida thinks about the hero name Ingenium and how he is not worthy of it's title. He should have never agreed to his brother that he would take on such a mantle when he was not ready. He is bringing disgrace to the name and it's clear to him that he is not fit to hold the Ingenium title and call himself a hero like the rest of his family members.

He is just a child, a young kid who should have been worrying about his studies and his upcoming semester, but with the city in the state that it is, how is he to worry of such menial things now?

Iida felt useless in the battle, only there to shuttle away the wounded. He continued to see the broken faces of those who tried their best but failed over and over. He can't help but think about how they lost this war, not only in losing the villains in their escape, but in also the destruction that was left in their wake. The city is in shambles and thanks to Dabi's video, the faith in heroes is now diminished to nothing.

Iida wants to return to the moment where his biggest concern was convincing his classmates to entrust him to represent them as class president, and now he wasn't even strong enough to fight this battle as Todoroki, Bakugo, and Midoriya did.

Tears begin to obscure his vision and Iida removes his helmet to look around powerlessly. The amount of debris and destruction make this landscape impossible to find anyone. Bloody limbs peak from the rubble, and all Iida can do is begin pulling at the boulders to dig up the bodies that have been buried by the collapsed structure.

Iida wipes his brow from the heat that emanates off the small piles of fire that burn around him. He wishes Uraraka was here to assist with her Quirk and help him, but he is all alone. It is clear there is no one here that survived the collapse of the building, and finding the girl that Tokoyami described would be an impossible one at this point.

He isn't sure how he will face his classmate and tell him that he failed at this as well. He feels useless in this war, despite helping move countless people to safety, he found himself moving more bodies instead.

It is a strange feeling of vulnerability that Iida is feeling; despite knowing that he's aiding so many people, being here and seeing more bodies buried under the rubble, he notices that the handful of lives he saved are trumped by the thousands that have died before him. And yet here he stands, searching for more lost lives to bring back to the camp.

What seems like hours pass of Iida searching the rubble for bodies to provide a proper burial as the young boy gathers over a dozen victims that he has lain out to transport back to the first aid station to prepare for burial, but none of them are the girl Tokoyami asked of him.

As the sun sets, Iida knows he has to begin moving these bodies back to the camp if he wishes to be finished by nightfall.

He carefully walks the precariously placed debris below him, not only so he doesn't slip and fall, but also so he does not disrespect the bodies of the fallen that are undoubtedly entombed below him.

Iida sighs heavily as his shaking hands lift his helmet and he looks onto it. The markings are the same as his brother's and parent's, but he put his own spin on it as well. He used the same costume designer as they did in order to look the part of a member of the Ingenium family. Yet, he feels far from the legacy that they left as he's set to carry these bodies back.

He finds himself getting angry with his self-deprecation and uselessness, and in a fit of rage, he throws his helmet off into the distance.

He is no hero.

He doesn't want to be.

Not if this is what it means to be one.

But then Iida thinks of his brother, and how he was attacked by the villain Stain. His brother fought to live, and though he will never be able to resolve another case again, he remains a hero in Iida's eyes because he fights ever day to live. He fights to learn how to walk again and he fights to wake up and smile each day.

The resolves do not make him a hero, and though he is not actively working, he is still a hero and he is still Ingenium. Iida may not be saving these people, but he is giving them and their families closure. He is doing something, and these actions are enough!

Iida smiles to himself as he watches the sun setting in the sky. There is still a ray of hope as the light reflects against the clouds and a single beam of light shines down on him. He may not have seen it first in the bleak image of so many lost around him, but he is determined to be the hero he was destined to be.

The young boy moves towards his helmet, grabbing it and brushing off the ash and dust from his visor with a soft smile on his face. He fastens the helmet atop his head and moves towards the bodies when something shining below him catches his attention.

He looks down to see a hand reaching from the rubble, with a large ring glistening against the light of the setting sun. Iida kneels down as he begins to pull the boulders of rocks away from the hand delicately so not to damage the body any more than it already has.

He pulls on a large piece of wood, heaving it away from the body when he uncovers a woman covered in dirt and ash. Her face is still and her eyes are closed. She's covered in burn marks and her purple hair is stained with black soot, that he barely recognizes her as the woman Tokoyami described to him.

His heart drops as he looks onto the woman his classmate asked him to retrieve. He begins to dig her body out of the pile she's entombed under, figuring that bringing her back will at least give Tokoyami and Hawks some closure and solace.

Once her body is fully dug up, Iida reaches to lift her into his arms. He snakes his left arm around her neck, and when he moves his right to the back of her knees, he hears a soft moan lift from her chest.

Iida freezes as his heart races wildly. He tears off his helmet and returns back to the woman's face to ensure he's not imagining or hearing things. He places his ear to her lips, closing his eyes to listen for something… anything… and he hears a soft breath.

"Ma'am! Can you hear me?" Iida speaks up to her as his chest aches with excitement. "It's alright! You're safe now!" he tells her as he adopts his strong hero voice. "My name is Ingenium and I'm here to save you!"

"Tokoyami!" Iida calls out to his friend as he carries the burned girl in his arms.

Tokoyami looks up from his mentor to see Iida running towards him, her burn arm fallen and swaying at each of his steps towards them. He frowns at the sight as he lifts himself from his kneeled position.

"Tokoyami," Iida says when he sees the sadness in his peer's eyes. "She's alive!" he informs him in an excited tone.

Tokoyami's eyes widen as he quickly turns to look at the woman in his arms. "She has a pulse and she's breathing," Iida confirms to him, "albeit weakly," he adds.

"Recovery Girl!" Tokoyami calls out to the woman as Iida carefully begins to place her down.

"Oh dear!" the old woman comes quickly when she sees the state that she is in. "Put her down on her stomach, and carefully," she instructs when she sees her back.

Iida does as he's told, placing her down next to Hawks on her stomach as her head is turned to the blonde hero.

Hawks begins stirring at the disturbances around him as Recovery Girl instructs Iida to gather certain medical supplies. He groans softly, trying to open his eyes to see what all the commotion is about, and only manages to open one eye slightly.

His vision blurs and he can't see much beyond the red of his bloodshot eyes, but he can make out someone lain out next to him. He groans as he tries, but fails to communicate to Tokoyami about what is going on.

His disciple hears the hero's groan and he quickly moves to him, kneeling down next to him with a large smile across his face.

"Hawks!" he calls out to his mentor. "It's Asami, we found her," he tells him as Hawks blinks to get a better view of her. "Hawks, she's alive!" he informs him and Hawks releases a building gasp in his throat. "She's alive!" the boy repeats and validates what he just heard.

He shakily lifts his hand as he reaches out for her. Tokoyami sees the attempted gesture and takes Hawks' hand and moves it to enclose over Asami's. Hawks grips her hand as tightly as he can when he feels her fingers under his. His heart thumps heavily in his chest and though he can't see her, he can feel the warmth of her hand in his and that's all he needs.

Finally, Asami is back in his arms.

A/N: Iida for the win! Alright you guys got me! You know I couldn't kill Asami like that! How she survived will be explained in the next chapter.

Remember when I told my anti Hawks stans to be worried since this was not the end of their relationship... 👀

Thank you all as always for the engagement! You keep my heart warm and motivated to continue on!