Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or Fate/Stay Night

...

Nezu hung up the miniature phone in his office having just gotten off the phone to one of U.A's Alumni. The fact that one of the top ten Professional Heroes was unable to get the job done would undoubtedly cause the rest of those considering chasing the runaways to second guess themselves. Or, for some who were possibly more foolish, they would think that they could alter their ranking significantly by accomplishing something that someone much higher than them were unable.

That however, was whether or not the three runaways could be found. The description that Ryukyu had given was unsettling in that it was difficult to determine just who could have, in their eyes, rescued the teenagers. Had it been someone with villainous intentions offering a helping hand in exchange for something notorious, they were effectively left in the dark. It could very well have been a couple of people with revolutionary tendencies, reading that fandangled book written by Destro that had been making the rounds as of late. Teenagers who had been training to be heroes revolting against the system that they had been learning under could very well be seen as a different kind of hero altogether.

For now though, they had to double down on finding the students.

He also had to break down the news to the student standing in front of him. "It would seem that after a number of conflicts, your friends have managed to escape with the aid of some outside interference," declared the Principal. "More agencies have been summoned and are currently searching the area where they were last seen."

"I see," said Midoriya, nodding in understanding. "Do we know how they escaped?"

Nezu paused before answering. Ryukyu had been quite clear in what she had witnessed and the registry would come out shortly trying to discover whether anybody living in the area had a quirk close to what was described. While Midoriya could likely be trusted with the information, Nezu's mind returned to the time when the League of Villains had infiltrated the school. The criminals had done so with some manner of inside information. While the odds of it being Midoriya were low, there still was a miniscule chance. There was a higher chance that it was somebody within his class and it was highly plausible that Midoriya would share the information with the informant.

"It is currently under investigation," he said. "When we discover anything, we will be sure to let you and your friends know."

"That's much appreciated," said Midoriya, a small smile crossing his lips.

"The staff here are lead to believe that you and your friends have been reaching out to each of the agencies that you all studied under. It is understandable that you all are concerned about your friends, I can only imagine what all of you are currently going through. However, I implore you all to leave the situation to the professionals."

While it was clear that Midoriya didn't like the suggestion, he had little choice but to nod. "As you wish sir," said the green haired student. "As soon as you here anything, please let us know."

"Of course," said Nezu as he watched Midoriya head towards the door. Rubbing his paws together, he knew that the longer the three students remained on the loose the worse it would be in the long run. U.A had not had such a blemish on it's record for some time. This year had just been one nightmare after another.

At this rate they would be lucky to receive half the applicants that they had at the start of the first semester. Provided nothing worse happened before the year was over.

...

Midoriya allowed an uncharacteristic scowl to cross his face as he left the principal's office. The fact that he hadn't particularly been given any worthwhile information was highly disappointing. There was enough which would sate some people but this were their friends that were being discussed. These were people whom they shared meals with on a daily basis and had fought both with and against on regular occasions. Knowing that they had fought against a number of professionals was something that they could have assumed with little chance of them being incorrect. Even if Nezu hadn't told him it would either be on the news or social media before the day was over.

Midoriya supposed this was just the Principal's way of trying to keep them in good stead. After all, of the number of first years who had started the year in the hero course, their numbers had dwindled to less than half from both those who had left and those who had...

He tossed his head to the side violently in an attempt to rid those thoughts from his mind. Those from 1-B didn't deserve to die and in an alternate timeline, he very well could have landed on the other side of the coin and ended up in that class instead of 1-A. Had that been the case, could he have made a difference? Could there be a chance that any of them would have survived?

Slamming his fist into the wall, Midoriya ground his teeth together. He was getting increasingly frustrated by everything he had been told over the last couple of days and it was taking everything he had to keep it all in. His mentor, All Might, had told him one thing, his friends another and even now he could tell the principal was withholding information from him. It was just so frustrating!

For a brief moment, he considered a theoretical opinion which he hadn't contemplated thus far. He had been told what his friends would do, what his mentor would do and even what he was expected to do. None of these however brought into light what Shirou would do.

Midoriya was more than aware that Shirou was responsible for the situation in the first place ut that didn't mean he couldn't try to imagine what his peer would do if the shoe was on the other foot. It took him no longer than a few seconds for Midoriya to figure out what it was that Shirou would do, and it would be the one thing that essentially he couldn't do if he wanted to keep his dreams of being a hero alive.

Even if he was to become a hero, would people trust him for his assistance if they knew what was transpiring. Could he be somebody that civilians would have faith in? Would he even be recognized on the streets, or would he be a hero without any public applause?

Midoriya couldn't help but focus on his childhood, how children at school had passed around trading cards and action figures. The rankings of professional heroes and their most recent accomplishments spread through the classrooms like wildfire. Even when he hadn't had a quirk, he had dreamed of being mentioned in those conversations. At those times though, one hero that he had only heard of in the smallest of doses and even then it was done so in hushed whispers, as if the hero didn't ever exist at all.

Perhaps his homeroom teacher, the professional hero Eraserhead, would be able to provide him some insight that was missing. Or, if not, at least he could provide a different perspective.

...

"So, not to sound ungrateful for the save and all but...you did save us, right?" asked Jiro looking directly at the four members of the Wild, Wild Pussycats. By her side stood Bakugo and Yaoyorozu, the three of them looking battered and exhausted after their continuous battles against multiple heroes and sidekicks. Despite that though, even though they were very much worse for wear, they still were prepared to spring into action in case this turned out to be some sort of elaborate trap.

"Rest assured, we mean you no harm," said Manadlay, holding her hands up to gesture that she wasn't going to attack them. "We're not going to take you back to U.A or hand you in to the authorities."

"And why should we believe you?" growled out Bakugo. Jiro couldn't help but feel as if he was agitated because he fully believed that he was on equal grounds with Ryukyu and had had a fair chance of walking away victorious. How well he had been battling the top ten hero was impressive but it was still debatable as to whether Ryukyu had been going all out. After all, Jiro herself had managed to land what seemed like a significant strike when Ryukyu had arrived on the battlefield. The likely only reason she had done so was because the hero had underestimated their capabilities. Had Ryukyu arrived with pure intent to knock them unconscious as opposed to trying to talk them into surrender...well she didn't particularly wish to think about that possible timeline.

"We know you're on edge, I'd think it'd be foolish if you weren't," stated Tiger, his imposing figure not helping convey any peaceful messages. "If it's any consideration, it wouldn't bode well for us in the media if it was discovered that we poached prey from another hero."

"Duly noted," said Yaoyorozu, still not changing her stance. "The four of you are rather far from home, is there a reason that you're in the city?"

"We originally were summoned to assist in a mission by one of your teachers, Midnight," explained Pixie-Bob. "She had sent out the invite to a number of agencies and we weren't obliged to respond to the call but we chose to do so because we knew that there was more to it. Midnight may have been the one to send out the request but we knew that the plan was made by somebody else."

"Wouldn't that had made you more wary to join, knowing that there was misleading information?" asked Jiro.

"Except we knew who it was who was pulling the strings," said Ragdoll. "It was because we knew who it was that we chose to accept in the first place."

"Your quirk, you've been watching him this whole time," growled Bakugo as he connected the dots together.

Ragdoll nodded her head. "When we were attacked in the forest while you all were there, I was targeted by a villain who tried to capture me. Shirou stopped it from happening and was nearly killed later in the evening. At first I wanted to watch him through his recovery. When he started moving far sooner than he had any right to after the injuries he sustained, I couldn't help but be worried."

"You don't see him in like a physical state or anything like that?" questioned Yaoyorozu.

"No, while I see him as a spectral image, almost like a beacon of light, I can't see anything more than that," answered Ragdoll. "I've seen him go from place to place and through a little bit of sleuthing we fully believed that he was in on what Midnight requested of us."

"That ain't all is there," accused Bakugo harshly. The immediate reaction from Ragdoll confirmed his theory.

"One day," started Mandalay, knowing how hard this was for Ragdoll to put into words. "Shirou's light went out. That was the day when the League of Villains attacked the Provisional License Exams. Ragdoll feared the worst and we couldn't help but be worried as well."

The three teenagers who had been at the Exam at the time vividly recalled exactly what had happened and how Shirou had essentially whisked them all away to a different plane of existence. It was no surprise that Ragdoll's quirk had been unable to locate Shirou at that time. Given that Shirou very much wished to keep exactly what his abilities were a secret, Jiro decided to swiftly change the conversation back to the original topic. "That still doesn't explain as to why you decided to save us."

"We don't know what it was that Shirou is planning, but we do believe that he will need all the help that he can get. While we can't directly help him due to our position as heroes, we can assist the three of you in joining with him and to add your strength to his own," said Pixie-Bob.

"Wait, you mean you know where he is?" asked Yaoyorozu, dropping her stance for the first time and relaxing around the four heroes.

"Once his light returned, I never stopped watching," said Ragdoll, a small smile gracing her lips.

"The four of you are pathetic!" spat Bakugo in disgust.

"What?" shouted Mandalay.

"How dare you?" growled Tiger.

"Bakugo's not wrong," said Jiro calmly. While the looks given to her from the Wild, Wild Pussycats were to be expected, the gaze that Yaoyorozu shot at her hurt. She could understand though, given that Yaoyorozu had spent the greatest amount of time with Shirou, even having trained under him directly during their internships. They were given a golden opportunity to rejoin with him but that wasn't their objective. The heroes in front of them weren't to know that, their mindset however needed to directly be addressed. "You say that by rescuing us and taking us to Shirou, you are repaying a debt that you owe him for having saved one of your own. That's not paying back your debt, that's using somebody else to satisfy your own sense of justice. You say that the four of you can't help him because it will jeopardize your position as professional heroes. Your reputations do not equal a life saved."

"You don't know what you're talking..."

"Jiro knows exactly what she's talking about!" cut off Bakugo.

Jiro paused momentarily as she considered that Bakugo, for what felt like the first time, had actually referred to her by name and not by a derogatory term. Perhaps this was his way of showing that he now considered her as more than an extra. Bakugo's sudden show of respect aside, Jiro still had to address the Wild, Wild Pussycats. "The four of you are so worried about your positions but have you even considered those standing right in front of you? You want to pay back a debt with no risk to yourselves! Do you know what we have risked? Everything! We don't know if after what we've done since leaving U.A will ever be forgiven. Our parents were all so proud when they discovered that we were going to such a well renown school, and now we don't even know if they'll ever speak to us again. We could spend years in prison and our dreams of being heroes could be destroyed. In comparison, what have you decided to risk? Not even yourselves, you've decided to risk three teenagers who are already being hunted in your stead!"

This time, none of the members of the Wild, Wild Pussycats could retort what had been said. Their silence spoke enough, Bakugo deciding that he didn't even wish to hear whatever pathetic excuse they came up with ad walked straight past them, unapologetically driving his shoulder into Tiger on the way past. Jiro followed after him but chose not to strike any of them on the way past. She felt that her words had done more than enough damage.

"You coming Ponytail?" shouted Bakugo, not even bothering to look over his shoulder to check whether she was joining them. Jiro did look to see if their peer was making her way past. It took more time than she particularly liked but eventually Yaoyorozu did make her way over to where the other two teenagers were marching away from the heroes.

With their backs to them, Jiro couldn't help but overhear Ragdoll whimpering. "But...I thought we were doing the right thing..."

...

Aizawa looked at his student with the blank stare that had encompassed his face for many years. "The definition of heroism," he repeated after having heard what Midoriya had asked of him. As much as he wished he could roll off the standardized explanation that was taught within the academy, he knew that wasn't what Midoriya wished to hear right now. This kid, no, the entire class that he taught, had gone through far too much for kids who were just starting to believe that they could really become heroes.

For the briefest of moments, he recalled his own time studying in U.A and when he had suffered his greatest loss. Given everything that had happened, maybe it was destined for Midoriya to approach him on the topic. "During my youth I was unsure if I had what it took to be a hero," he said slowly. "My quirk wasn't exactly built to stand out amongst the other heroes of the time. It didn't even stand out with the students I studied with. For a while, I was unsure whether it was even the path that I wanted to take."

"And then I lost everything."

Midoriya visibly stiffened at the raw honesty emitting from his homeroom teacher at that moment. "I could very well have given up trying to become a hero that day," continued Aizawa. "I almost did to be fair. I am a hero today however because of that day. Am I the same hero that was being shaped before that event, who's to say. I can tell you though that the events and circumstances that have lead to you standing here right now will shape not only your days as a hero, but your life outside of it. You will always wonder whether you made the right decision, whether you took the right path and whether if after all of it, you did the right thing. Each day however you will take another step forward, pushing yourself past your limits and self doubts towards a goal that you believe in, that your actions make the world a better place, even if nobody notices it. That, is my definition of heroism."

Seconds ticked by before Midoriya nodded his head. "Thank you," he said before giving a polite nod of the head and walking away. Aizawa watched the form of Midoriya walking away, hoping that he had given the young boy the advise that he needed to hear. Now, more than ever, it was required for the next generation to show their mettle.

And Class 1-A would be at the forefront.

...

"Here's the last of them," said Eri as she handed the last of the dirty dishes to Shirou, having carried them from the table where Rin was still sitting.

"Thank you," said Shirou as he took the offered dishes with his metallic arm, Eri's eyes lingering on the artificial limb for an extended period of time. "You know, I used to know a little girl like you once before."

"Really?" asked Eri, looking up at him with wonder. "What was she like?"

"Well, maybe after I finish cleaning up I can tell you a little bit about her," offered Shirou.

"Could you tell me her name first?" asked Eri, wanting to at least get a touch of information to go on before later.

"Her name, was Illyasviel von Einzbern," said Shirou slowly, his eyes becoming distant for a short moment.

"Illi...Iliyesvol..." said Eri, trying to figure out the proper pronunciation.

"If it's a little easier, I knew her by Illya," said Shirou, gifting Eri a small smile.

"Illya," repeated Eri, the word sounding so strange off of the tongue. Shirou's smile grew a little bit larger.

The smile was noticed not only by Eri, but also by Rin who couldn't help but mimic the smile as she left the dining area to leave the two of them alone.

...

Hope you enjoyed.