Thank you all so much for your wonderful reviews!

Sorry this is so late! I was debating and rewriting this chapter a lot, and I'm still not completely satisfied with it. Still, I think it's decent enough to publish. I hope you enjoy!

He was back on the cliffside. The wind whipped through his hair, pressing against his back. Mina was there, hovering off the edge, with only his power keeping her from falling to her death.

Not that him keeping her afloat mattered much. Not when he was the reason she was in the position in the first place.

Shouto could feel the smile on his face, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to get rid of if. A part of him recognized that he must be dreaming. After all, he hadn't been inside his body when Cipher was threatening Mina, but watching from the sidelines, unable to help. Still, the irrational part of his brain had him in a tight grip, and all he could do was watch helplessly as the scene played out.

"You're in a pretty bad position there, aren't 'cha?" Cipher cackled, using Shouto's mouth, looking at Mina through Shouto's eyes. "How 'bout I help you out there? You give me the journal, and I won't let you fall to your death! Sounds fair to me!"

Shouto wanted to scream. He wanted to reach out and help Mina, to stop Cipher from pulling off his intended deeds. But he couldn't do anything.

He wasn't a hero. He was useless, more than useless. Mina was going to die, and it would be all his fault. Because he couldn't let go of his drive to go home, let it morph into an obsession so bad he took an obviously shady deal with some obviously shady being. He was pathetic.

Mina looked torn, unsure of what to do. Shouto didn't blame her for that, couldn't blame her for that. It wasn't something silly or replaceable on the line, it was her life. It made sense that she would be conflicted.

She handed the journal to him, and Cipher laughed aloud. "Now that's more like it!" The thing said. "After all, who would risk their life for some stranger?" His hands, Shouto's hands (were they even Shouto's anymore?) gripped the other end of the journal.

Mina smiled. "A hero would. And that's what I am!" She pushed off the edge of the cliff and pulled forward.

Logically, Shouto knew how it all went down. In reality, Mina had fired the flare first, to alert Ochako to her presence, so the other girl could catch her. She had managed to pull Cipher off the cliff, and keep him off her until they reached the ground, where she and his other friends (friends, he had friends, they actually wanted to be his friends after everything!) Kept the journal away from Cipher until his body collapsed from exhaustion, Cipher was kicked out, and Shouto was able to return to himself.

Here, in his dream, Mina didn't fire the flare. When she pulled, Cipher got over his shock quickly enough that he was able to yank the journal away from her. With a push of blue power, Mina went flying off the cliff, by herself, with no one to catch her.

Cipher watched her fall to her death with a laugh and a smile. Shouto watched her fall to her death with a laugh and a smile. There was nothing he could do, no way to save her, and now his arrogance and narrow-mindedness had killed his first friend.

It was all his fault, and Shouto wanted to scream and cry, but he couldn't. He was trapped in his own body, with Cipher firmly in control, and all he could do was smile and laugh as Mina fell, as she hit the ground-

Shouto jerked upwards with a strangled gasp. Panic took over as he spun around the room, unable to recognize where he was, that he wasn't of the cliff anymore. His heart pounded in his chest, blocking out any other sounds. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe.

There was a hand on his shoulder. Shouto automatically flinched away from it, rejecting the foreign touch. The hand quickly withdrew, but its owner stepped into his line of sight.

Green hair and eyes. Freckles. Worried expression. Shouto tried to focus on his friend's face, his heartbeat growing softer in his ears as his vision became clearer. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, trying to steady his racing nerves.

The back of his shirt was damp with sweat. He was going to have to wash that. And change the bandages on his arms, the deep cuts where Cipher had experimented with silverware still stung. And ached. At the same time. And then there were the bruises Cipher had gained from being hit and tackled by his friends, the sharp pains from his body being hurled down the stairs. All and all, Shouto felt disgusting.

Once his breathing had mostly evened out, Shouto opened his eyes to meet Izuku's concerned gaze. He opened his mouth, and then closed it, unsure of what to say.

He had mostly ignored Izuku this whole time, being dismissive whenever he acknowledged him. Yesterday he insinuated that Izuku didn't care about his mom, didn't miss her, when it was obvious he did. He couldn't even blame Cipher for that, it was all him.

He wondered if Izuku disliked him for that. He wouldn't blame him in the slightest.

"Are you alright?" Izuku asked softly. Shouto simply looked at him, unsure of how to respond. He wasn't, not in the slightest, but the last thing the others needed was to deal with more of his problems. Izuku seemed to come to his own conclusion, and shook his head. "Of course not. Who would be, after yesterday? I wouldn't be okay if it were me." He coughed awkwardly. "Were you having a bad dream? You were crying out in your sleep."

"...Yeah," Shouto admitted. "Sorry if I woke you."

Izuku frantically waved his hands in front of his face. "O-oh, it's no trouble at all! I couldn't sleep much anyways, so you don't have to worry about it." He offered a small smile, which Shouto tried to return. That seemed to encourage Izuku. "It's around four in the morning- we could go downstairs and get a snack before going back to bed?"

"Okay." Shouto wished he could do more than give one word answers and short sentences, but it was as though his throat had closed up, only wide enough to admit the shortest of responses. Still, he let Izuku help him to his feet, trying to ignore his arms and back crying out in protest.

They made their way to the kitchen. Izuku pulled out two pit-sodas, a drink both of them had discovered that they enjoyed, and offered one to him. Shouto gave a quick thanks and reached for the drink.

(Cipher had poured that stuff in his eyes.)

Suddenly Shouto wasn't so thirsty anymore. The pit-soda looked about as appetizing as throw up, which is what Shouto was half certain he would do if he drank the stuff.

"No thanks," he said. "Sorry." Izuku didn't ask why, just put the soda back in the fridge and poured some water for him, which Shouto took gratefully. The two of them sipped their drinks in silence.

Thumping from the living room alerted them to someone else's presence. Sure enough, Stan stepped into the kitchen, looking as though he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. He rubbed his eyes and stared at them blankly.

"Mind getting me one of those?" He nodded towards Izuku's soda, who shot upwards and took another can out of the fridge, silently handing it to Stan. The older man slumped down in one of the free seats, taking a long slurp.

"Ah, that hit the spot. Nothin' like Soda after a long night." He looked at the two of them, eyes hovering over Shouto's bandages. "You still haven't told me how that happened."

Stan had been home yesterday when the four of them reached the Shack. After the initial shock, he hadn't even questioned why Shouto's arms were bloodied up, or why the four of them all seemed to be in varying degrees of shock. He had just helped them wrap Shouto's bandages and stayed out of their business.

"You didn't really seem like you wanted to know," Shouto offered quietly.

Stan huffed, looking slightly annoyed. "Believe it or not kid, when some teenagers show up at my house with major injuries, especially when they happen to be staying at my house in the first place, I do give a damn."

"Really?" Izuku blurted out. Shouto didn't blame him.

"Really." Stan seemed more amused than anything at that. "Don't go around telling everyone that though. I have a reputation to uphold."

"We'll keep that in mind," Shouto assured him. He had never really trusted Stan, but maybe the man was more trustworthy than he acted. (At least he hadn't almost gotten his friend killed.) "We were looking for a way home. Things went wrong."

"Right," Stan drawled. "And the bloody silverware in my cabinets have something to do with getting home?" Shouto stiffened, involuntarily clutching his arms. Izuku's eyes widened. "Geez kids. I won't pry, as long as you try to not mess up the things I eat with again. But maybe tell someone about this stuff. I dunno, might help."

Izuku looked at him, as if asking if Shouto thought that idea was okay. And while Shouto was hesitant about letting even more people know how much of a screw up he was, it would be good for people like Soos and Wendy, who had helped them on their adventures, to know about the danger Cipher could pose if they weren't careful.

"I think we'll do that," he said. Izuku smiled in relief. Shouto continued, more for his friend's benefit than Stan's. "I don't think I can talk about it just yet, but there are people who should know."

There were other things he wanted to tell Izuku, Mina, and Ochako, things he thought they deserved to know at this point. But that could come later. Shouto could feel his eyes drooping once again, and wanted to get back to sleep.

Hopefully he wouldn't have any more dreams tonight.

"I heard from Grenda and Candy," Ochako offered, as the Mystery Crew and Soos spread out in the living room. "They were disappointed when I told them we needed to leave, and worried when I said Shouto had gotten injured-" which was their decided upon excuse as to why Shouto's arms were now covered in bandages- "But things at the puppet show pretty much went off without a hitch."

Not that Ochako could find it in herself to care much about that show now, not when them focusing on it like that had temporarily cost Shouto his body, and almost cost Mina her life. Ochako felt like the worst person in the world. She had seen Shouto getting more and more frustrated, known something was wrong with him before Cipher even came into the picture, and yet hadn't done anything to stop the demon-thing from taking over her friend, even if just for a little bit. How could she call herself a hero after this?

Especially after that note she had found. Just thinking about it chilled her to the bone.

"At least there's that," Soos offered. "Cheer up dudes. Now that we know about this Cipher guy, we'll be ready for him if he shows up again. No one's gonna fall for his tricks anymore."

"I ah, actually found him in the journal, I think." Izuku flipped the pages on the journal, turning to one that was covered in scribbles, as well as what looked suspiciously like blood. "I don't know for sure if this is the same Cipher or not, but it looks like the author had a bad run in with him as well."

Shouto peered over Izuku's side, face darkening at the page. "That's him alright." Mina put a reassuring hand on his back, and Shouto took a steadying breath. "The author calls him 'the most dangerous being he's ever encountered' in this."

"He also says 'I must hide the journal before he finds it," Izuku mused. "Perhaps he was referring to Cipher in that?"

"It would make sense," Shouto agreed uneasily. "Cipher wanted that journal really bad."

They decided to leave the conversation with that solemn train of thought, and spent the rest of the afternoon playing all sorts of different card games. Grenda and Candy stopped by at one point, joining in on the game and conversation and worrying over Shouto's arms. He hurriedly assured them that he was fine.

It was late afternoon when they decided to pack everything up and head inside. Ochako hung back, clutching the note in her hand. It was all over now, and Cipher was gone. The words he left couldn't hurt them anymore. Even so, they sent a wave of fear down her spine whenever she thought about what was on the page.

"Ochako?" Mina seemed to have noticed her hesitation, hanging back herself. "What is it? Everything okay?"

While a part of her didn't want anyone else to have to see the note, Ochako realized it would be better if she could get it off her chest, at least a little bit. Having decided, she lifted up the note for Mina to read. The other girl took it curiously.

"This was in the Mystery Shack," She explained quietly, as though saying it aloud would make it true, would make it more threatening. Mina's eyes widened in horror as she read the note. The pink girl stifled a gasp, before looked back up at Ochako.

"This really says what I think it says," Mina breathed. Ochako nodded gravely.

"We can't tell him," she said. Mina looked personally offended, the note crumpling in her fist.

"Why not?" She took a step forward, clearly passionate about not keeping this particular secret. "Cipher wrote this! He was going to- going to throw Shouto's body off the water tower! Then he was going to try and do the same to us! How can we just not tell him about this?"

"Have you seen him today?" Ochako countered. "He already feels horrible about the whole thing. I don't want to put this on his conscience as well. Maybe I'm not as good at telling what other people need as Izuku is, but I think this would just hurt him even more."

Mina seemed completely torn, looking from the scrunched up note, to Ochako, to Shouto and Izuku disappearing into the shack, and back to her. Finally, she sighed in defeat. "Yeah, you're probably right. I just hate keeping secrets like this."

"Me too," Ochako admitted. "I just don't want to make things even worse." She had already done enough harm, she didn't want to screw things up even more.

"Yeah." Mina held up the note. "What should we do with this thing then?" The two of them stood in silence for a moment, thinking.

"Stan's probably got a lighter somewhere in the house," Ochako suggested. "We could burn it."

"That sounds like a great idea. I'll go get it." Mina dashed inside the shack. Ochako waited for a few minutes before Mina returned, carrying what Ochako presumed was a lighter. She handed it to Ochako.

"Want to do the honors?" Ochako nodded, before flicking the lighter, and pressing the flame to the piece of paper that reminded them far too much of the horrible event that had occurred yesterday.

Watching the flames consume Cipher's words was far more satisfying than it probably should've been.

"I've been thinking." Mina drummed her fingers on the table. Stan had given them a day off of work, and the four of them were eating lunch together at the shack. Mina couldn't help but notice that, unlike the previous days, Shouto wasn't touching the pit-soda. "That laptop was our only lead, and now it's totally destroyed."

"Sorry about that." Shouto looked away from all of them, eyes clouded. Mina hastily backtracked.

"Oh we don't blame you for that, not at all! This wouldn't have happened if we'd all agreed to help you work out the passcode when we should've. He looked about to argue, so Mina pressed on. "Anyways, I was thinking. We got the laptop from the bunker, right? What if we went back down, looked for other clues as to how to get home."

"I dunno." Ochako looked hesitant. "We almost died last time we went down there. I mean, we seriously came close a bunch of different times."

"The shapeshifter is locked away," Izuku argued. "If there are any more dangers down there, we can handle them. Besides, heroes risk their lives every day to help others! We can't just stop trying to get home just because it's dangerous."

"What's the point if we die before we even make it home?" Ochako shot back. "Deku, normally I agree with you, but I for one am tired of almost dying every single day. Maybe when we're actual pro heroes we'll be used tp it, but for now we're just kids. We just started UA, for pete's sake! We're not anywhere close to being heroes yet. Can't we just wait for the pros to come and find us?"

"It's been almost a month," Mina pointed out, her voice almost shaking as she did so. She'd been having the same thought for days now, and it chilled her every time. Still, she knew she was going to have to voice it at some point, and now seemed as good a time as ever. "We don't know if the pros are coming for us."

"They will!" Izuku burst out, eyes flashing indignantly. "Of course they will! The heroes would never leave some kids trapped in another world like this! All Might wouldn't leave us trapped in a world like this, and he's our teacher! He knows us!"

"I'm not saying they wouldn't come on purpose," Mina said. "But they might not have any way of getting here. If that portal guy escaped the USJ, they'd have to track him down first, and make sure he holds the portal open long enough for them to get us and get back to our own world. And what if the villain can't send them here? What if it's a one way trip? We need to find a way back ourselves."

Izuku was tearing up - oh no, was he about to cry? Had Mina made him cry? - And Ochako looked very much like she wanted to argue some more. Mina geared herself up to defend her points.

"Can we not?" They all turned to look at Shouto, who looked - for lack of a better word - tired. Thankfully not the angry, far beyond exhaustion type of tired he had been, but tired all the same. "I tried so hard to get back home, and look where that got me." He raised his bandaged arms.

They all hastened to reassure him. "That's not your fault-"

"If we had been-"

"We should have-"

Shouto shook his head. "Thanks. But this was on me. Don't blame yourself for my mistake. I should've known better than to make that deal."

"You were absolutely exhausted," Izuku pointed out. "You weren't thinking straight."

"I wouldn't have been so tired if I hadn't been so consumed by my need to get home," Shouto said. "Look, what I'm saying is that we could keep throwing ourselves at every little possibility, but there's a much greater chance we're going to find something terrible, deadly, or worse on the other side than there is that we find a way home." He paused, taking a deep breath. "I would know better than anyone."

The rest of them were stunned into silence, unable to come up with anything. Shouto continued. "I think we need to rest and regain our strength, learn more about this world. Figure out just what we're dealing with before running headfirst into things again."

"That sounds like a smart idea," Ochako voiced quietly. "I agree with Shouto."

"...It makes sense," Izuku admitted, although he didn't sound to happy about it. "We could all use a break, go try and regather our thoughts. If we're going to find a way home, we need to start thinking smarter, understanding more about Gravity Falls."

Mina could tell she was outnumbered. "Alright then. I'm okay with that plan as well."

And just like that, the tension that had steadily been building between the four of them dissipated, and the Mystery Crew was back in action.

"Hey Shou," Wendy leaned over the counter of the gift store, eyes lingering on the bandages peeking out underneath the kid's jacket. Soos and Izuku had told her what had happened the other day, with the mysterious Cipher, but a part of her still couldn't wrap her head around it. The way it was told, it seemed to unreal to be true, until Shouto walked into the shack from two days off of work covered in bruises and bandages.

Shouto looked up in surprise, pointing to himself. The other teens looked curious as well. "Yeah, you," Wendy clarified. "If you don't want me to use a nickname-"

"No, it's fine," Shouto assured her. "It was just startled is all." He walked over. "What is it?"

"I was wondering how much you knew about self defense, as well as hand-to-hand combat," Wendy said. Shouto looked curious.

"I know some. I'm nowhere near the best at it though." He looked away, as if embarrassed. "I can dodge very well, I guess."

"That's good." Wendy smiled. "I can teach you a lot more, if you'd like."

Wendy had grown up in an extremely interesting family. Not only had her had forced her to participate in lumberjack games as a kid, but instead of Christmas, the Corduroys had apocalypse training. One of the other things her dad signed her up for, and one that she was particularly proud of, was self-defense and martial arts. It was the best stress reliever she had, and while she may not have been the best in math or English, she was talented enough in her hobby that she was reasonably certain she could incapacitate and three hundred pound muscled man.

Shouto seemed to be having a particularly rough time, and if Wendy had to guess, was feeling extremely vulnerable at the moment. Even if learning how to fight didn't work against weird demon things in a dreamworld, it would help him regain some of his confidence.

"Don't worry," she assured him. "I'm kind of one of the best in the state. I know what I'm doing."

"I'd-" he cut himself off, lost in thought. Then: "I'd like that a lot. Thank you."

"Is this Shouto exclusive?" Ochako asked. "Learning how to fight like that sounds really cool!"

"It shouldn't be exclusive," Shouto said. "I don't want it to be."

"Then sure, Ochako can join too." It was the least Wendy could do, after she and Izuku had helped save Wendy and her friends in that convenience store. Plus, Ochako seemed upbeat and eager to learn. Wendy was excited to teach them.

"We can start after work," She told them. "We'll just be going over the basics for now, but that's more important than the fancy stuff."

Ochako grinned. "We're ready to put in the work!"

They were all curled up in their bedroom, three days after the incident with Cipher. Izuku studied all the pages the author had on the being, including everything he had written in invisible ink. They needed to know what the thing's weaknesses were, and if it was the type of creature that would come back and try to hurt them again. So far there wasn't much, just a lot of desperate ramblings, although that was pretty telling as well.

Mina yawned loudly. "We should all probably turn in soon." Izuku nodded at her words and flicked off his new black light, a bigger one so that he could both see the whole page, and write with his pen at the same time.

"Hang on," Shouto said. "There's something I want to tell you guys." The other three looked up at him curiously. "Something I think you should know."

"Go ahead, we're listening," Mina encouraged him. Shouto looked at his hands, before starting his tale.

"We were talking yesterday, about whether the pros could or would come and find us. I'm not so sure there is a way for them to get us back. After all, my old man would do absolutely anything to get me back to him." Shouto chuckled bitterly. "That's not actually a good thing."

"What do you mean?" Ochako asked hesitantly. Izuku shared the feeling. Something about the way Shouto had worded it set his 'danger' nerves off in all the bad directions.

Shouto's father was Endeavor, right? The second best hero in Japan! So why was mention of him making Izuku nervous?

Shouto seemed to gather his resolve. "He doesn't care about me as a person. He just wants his 'masterpiece' back." He sighed. "Have you heard of quirk marriages? Where two people marry for the express purpose of passing on a stronger quirk to their children. Endeavor could never beat All Might, no matter how hard he tried. Everything he did ended in failure. So eventually he turned to quirk marriages, winning over my mom's family and getting ahold of her quirk.

"I was the fourth attempt, and the only successful one, in his eyes. Never mind that my oldest brother died because of him, never mind that my sister and other brother suffered horrible neglect under him. I was the only one whose quirk came out the way he wanted, so he'll do anything in his power to bring me home." He sighed.

"In my memory, my mother is always crying. He'd hit her whenever she tried to protect me, whenever he was in a bad mood. Eventually she couldn't take it anymore, only saw him when she looked at me-" he raised his hand to his scar. "-and poured boiling water on my face. That's what my father's obsession caused."

"Shouto…." Mina gaped. Ochako was covering her mouth, horrified. Izuku couldn't speak, could hardly breathe.

Shouto's eyes widened, as if he had suddenly reached some terrible conclusion. "God," He roughly ran a hand through his hair. "I've become just like him! I let my obsession with getting home take precedence over everything else, and all of you were hurt because of it. Mina almost died! My first friends, and I do this-"

Izuku acted on instinct, rushing forward and enveloping Shouto in as tight of a hug as he could manage. The other boy froze up upon impact, but slowly returned the affection.

"You're not like him at all," Izuku said firmly. "You made one bad mistake, and you're beating yourself up over it. He made a lot of much worse mistakes, and he has yet to make them right, might never do so." It was sickening, to think that he once looked up to the number two hero.

"That's why you almost never used your fire powers," Ochako inferred. Judging by Shouto's muffled exclamation, she had guessed right. "Because they come from him, right? Shouto, that's your power, not his! He has no right to control your life like that, and he has no right to control your feelings over your quirk either!"

"What happened might've been partially your fault," Mina admitted. "But it was partially our fault as well. And mostly Cipher's fault! What happened with your dad, that's just his fault, and no one else's. You're not him. We know you're better than him." With that, she got out of her bed and joined the two boys in the group hug. Ochako followed quickly after.

"You're our friend, Shouto," Izuku whispered. "We care about you so much. Don't beat yourself up about this, because we don't blame you at all."

"And whatever your father tries to pull, we'll do whatever we can to help you." Mina said. "Just tell us what you need."

Shouto's sobs came quietly at first, then started pouring out all at once. Izuku held him tightly as Shouto's tears stained his shirt, trying to convey that he wasn't about to let go. The four of them sat there on the ground, in that group hug, for a long time.

Things weren't anywhere near perfect. But they certainly were starting to get better.

When Shouto woke up, it was still dark outside.

It hadn't been from a dream this time, thankfully. Maybe all those days of sleep made his body accustomed to only getting a few hours each night. Was that how sleeping habits worked? He wasn't sure.

His stomach rumbled. Shouto stood up carefully and made his way out of the attic, trying as best he could not to wake his friends.

Something warm fluttered in his chest. His friends. They knew him, had seen the worst he had to offer, and accepted him anyways. And not just Izuku, Mina, and Ochako, but Soos and Wendy as well. Even Stan had been weirdly understanding the last few days!

He found himself in the kitchen, and flopped down in one of the chairs. His eyes partially closed again. Maybe he should've stayed in the attic, just tried to go back to sleep. His stomach rumbled again.

Shouto glared at the fridge door, wishing he had Ochako's amulet so that he could just float an orange over to him. Without really considering it, he stretched out his hand, willing for said orange to just come to him on his own.

Bright blue flames covered the fridge door, which slammed open. The orange flew into his palm.

So. One part cliffhanger, one part major deviation from GF canon. Why did Shouto keep some of Bill's powers? Is Bill aware that this happened? If he is, is it all part of his plan? I know the answers of course, but I'm curious to see what you think.

Next chapter we'll be back to season one episodes, so be prepared for a bit of breather. These kids seriously need it.

On the plus side, Shouto's character development! This may sound a little ranty, so skip past it if you wish, but one thing I've noticed about a lot of aus is that unless the Todoroki's escape Endeavor early, Shouto's character development relies on his Sports Festival battle with Midoriya, and if it doesn't happen, he doesn't change. Not to mention in some of those stories, his negative traits are amped up way beyond canon level, and if he does have the SF fight, he just switches to his post development self.

It seems people think his development is centered around being forced to use his flames, even when he doesn't want to. When I watched his fight with Izuku, I always got the sense that it wasn't really about the fight, or Shouto's flames (although that certainly played a part), but Izuku's sheer willingness to put everything he had on the line to help Shouto, in a way no one had done for him before. The fight might've triggered his flames, but being confronted with the fact that someone cares that much about him, that he can be someone worth caring for, that's what made him change to be a better person.

In this au, Shouto has not only Izuku, but Mina, Ochako, Wendy, Soos, and even Stan. Friendship and character development is inevitable.

Rant over.

Speaking of seriously needing something, if there's anyone reading this who would like to beta the story, please let me know! I try to go over my work and fix all the little mistakes, but I obviously miss some things. Having a beta reader would be a great help.

That's all for now! I hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review!