14,000,606 Outcomes

by GenericUsername3846

A future Doctor Strange didn't foresee. This is yet another story of Peter going to the world of My Hero Academia, with a few twists of my own. Lots of ups and downs, surprises, and changes to the story. Slight OOC for a lot of characters. "Slightly" OP Peter. Rated T for blood and lots of swearing. Sorry, but I like swearing. Early chapters will be rewritten someday.

47. The Pit of Misery

It's been… 84 years since I've updated. For the record, this chapter is 1,000 words longer than the last chapter, which was already above average.

As much as I want to tell you guys some crazy story about how I got abducted by aliens or how my ex-wife came for alimony and I had to spend two weeks fighting her off with a rusty fork, none of that actually happened. It'd be pretty cool if it did though.

Nah, I've been gone because of the Cold War. And by that, I mean Call of Duty.

Look, in my defense, it's a new season now and I've been grinding through levels so I can finish the battle pass. For the first time since season 2, it's actually got stuff I care about, so I want to be sure I finish this one.

Plus, there's been another… minor distraction. Okay, just listen, I promise this is gonna go somewhere.

So, after I got back from vacation, I had to help my parents clean out the garage. This only took like a day, but one of the boxes in there had a bunch of my old stuff in it. Toys, my old GameCube, that kind of thing. But the crown jewel was my old DS case. Guys, it still works, and all my games are there! Lego Harry Potter, Shrek's Carnival Craze, Fossil Fighters AND Fossil Fighters Champions, and every other game I used to have.

Speaking of which, I forgot how much I loved the soundtrack of Fossil Fighters Champions, especially the theme that plays whenever you win a tournament. That theme is just, *Mwah* chef's kiss, ten out of ten.

But yeah, if you're wondering why I've been gone for so long, I blame Call of Duty and nostalgia. Remember that. It's always Call of Duty and nostalgia's fault.

One last thing. I heard from a good source that Deadpool and the nameless narrator will be coming back soon, so we could be seeing the recaps return. But for now, let's get-

Back to That Story:

Toga had been pretty messed up before. Between living in the streets, pissing off other criminals, and occasionally drinking the blood of a sick person, she had been in dark places in the past.

But this? This put all those experiences to shame.

Where did she even begin? Hours of pains, migraines, shakes, hot and cold flashes, itchy skin, and something she could only describe as her blood hurting, all culminating in her passing out on her feet. Definitely not the best day of her life.

For a while, she had honestly thought she was dying. The pain had slowly become unbearable, to the point that it was difficult to even walk a straight line. She remembered thinking to herself, "If this is what dying is like, dying sucks."

That probably should have been a given, but it somehow managed to surprise her.

Dying hurt. It was scary. So, to make it better, her first instinct had been to go to Peter. The boy was smart. He had to have some idea of what to do. Maybe he did. Who knew? Definitely not Toga. Before she could find out if her hunch was correct, she had blacked out on her feet, which led to the situation she currently found herself in.

And where was she now? That was the question of the century. Toga was well aware of the fact that she had passed out. Even after her eyes had closed and she collapsed to the floor, she was still sort of awake. It was different from falling asleep, where you didn't really notice how dark everything around you was. It was more like standing in a pitch black room, fully realizing you're by yourself in the darkness, yet unable to go anywhere.

"... Hello?" She called uncertainly. Nobody responded, something she half-expected. It was tempting to look around, but she couldn't even see anything, so the vampire girl made the executive decision to simply drop to her knees and wait for her eyes to adjust.

At first, it was unsettling being alone. Toga was painfully aware that there was nothing around her. A cold wind appearing from nowhere brushed her skin, making her shiver involuntarily. Still, she did her best to ignore it all. But after a few minutes of waiting for her eyes to adjust to the light only for nothing to change, Toga decided to shove down her feelings of unease and try to move around. She was getting nowhere just waiting. It was time to take a step forward and figure out what was going on.
And with one step, everything changed.

The pitch black "room" gained color and form. Toga took a step forward, and the moment her foot touched the ground, the whole world changed. From underneath her foot, color spread along the ground, moving in all directions. At certain points, the color would begin moving up, forming tall, building-like structures. Even when the structures were completed, the wave of color continued advancing, creating a slightly blue night sky.

In less than a minute, her pitch black surroundings had become a city street. The street beneath her, the tall buildings at her sides, and the night sky overhead were all unknown to her, yet somehow familiar. It probably should have been reassuring to be out of the darkness, but honestly?

It just made her feel afraid.

Darkness was one thing. It was supposed to be unsettling. It made you feel lonely, isolated, like nobody was there for you. A city, though, had plenty of people. You'd be hard-pressed to feel isolated in a big city full of people walking by, cars rushing past, and stray animals padding along. It should have been welcoming.

So why was nobody here?

No people walking home after a hard day's work, no cars driving by for a late-night errand, and no stray cats proudly walking by without a care in the world. Toga couldn't even hear anything. Somehow, being alone here made her feel smaller and more isolated than she felt in the darkness. She felt afraid.

"Hello?" Again, she tried calling out in the hopes somebody would respond, and again, she was met with silence.

"What is going on here? Should I recognize this place? Why am I even here?" Toga whipped her head around, trying to find something that was familiar to her. "Wait a second, am I just hallucinating now? How could I have possibly gone from the bar to here just like that?"

The blonde girl forced herself to smile. That was it. That had to be it. She was hallucinating. Just another symptom of… whatever was wrong with her, nothing more. After all, she couldn't be dead. If she was, then why-

"Urgh!" Toga dropped to her knees, groaning as she clutched her head with both hands.

If she was really dead, then why did she still feel like crap? Why did her head still hurt? Why was her skin still itchy? Why did her blood still feel like it was on fire, burning her every time it pumped through her veins?

"Figures. I get some cool hallucination, and I can't - agh - can't even enjoy it properly. Very funny universe. Why not screw over Himiko Toga again? It's been so much fun for you in the past." Toga complained to herself.

There was some small relief. Though her symptoms remained, they were nowhere near as bad as they were before. The roaring headaches faded to dull aches, she was only slightly shivering, and her skin went from feeling like sandpaper was being dragged on it to the annoying, faint itch of a mosquito bite.

Taking a moment to get over the ache in her head, Toga shakily rose to her feet and looked around once more.

"Hm… yup, still no idea where I am. Man, couldn't I at least hallucinate somewhere familiar? I've had a really rough day and I don't feel like exploring somewhere new right now. Can't I just… I don't know, stop the hallucination? Like, by punching myself or something?"

The young vampire stared at her fist for a moment before deciding against it. She probably wasn't following fever dream rules right now. A punch wouldn't do anything but add another annoying pain to the list.

She wanted to begin walking again, but felt a bit unsure. Last time she took a step, her entire world changed. What would happen with her next step? Would the earth turn into a black hole and absorb her along with this entire city?

"... Screw it."

Cautiously, Toga lifted her right feet and tenderly set it down a few inches in front of her. She held her breath, waiting for everything around her to turn black again. The seconds passed, and nothing changed. Satisfied, she took another step, and once more, nothing changed.

Now sure that it was safe, Toga walked at a normal pace down the empty street. She looked all around for any signs of life, even just a light in a window, but there was nothing. The only lights available to her were those of the streetlights flanking the sidewalks.

As she walked, Toga continued to smile, appearing as a confident, self-assured teenager. That was only on the inside.

She felt… compelled to put up a front. Everything in her mind told her that she should be freaking out, that nothing about this situation was okay. Each dark alley held an imaginary monster, every abandoned building filled with made up criminals waiting to jump her. Yet she continued to smile, like listening to herself and panicking would lead to all her fears becoming reality.
And so the happy expression remained as she trudged through the streets alone.

Her false joy lasted for all of five minutes. Toga considered herself to be very tough for her age. She may have been young, but she had faced off against more criminals in her short life than most heroes fought after 5 years on the job. She had seen some pretty screwed up things, many of them caused by her, and smiled. But there was just something wrong here.

"This can't be a hallucination, can it? Don't I need to be conscious for that? But if it's a dream, why can't I wake myself up? I really need help here. Where's Peter when I need him?"

As she thought to herself, Toga stopped paying attention to where she was going. As side streets and intersections passed by, she ignored each of them. The blonde had been walking straight this whole time and had no reason to change direction now.

It was then, as she was allowing her mind to wander, that she collided face-first with something solid. Grunting slightly, Toga tenderly rubbed her nose in an attempt to alleviate the pain.
"Ow. What did I just-"

Her hand stopped moving, the pain in her nose forgotten. She was in the middle of a street. What could she possibly have walked into?
Opening her squinted eyes further, from her head's bowed position, Toga could make out… shoes?

A person?

Excited and happy that she finally encountered another person, Toga jerked her head upward and stared straight ahead, not caring that this person had quite literally appeared out of thin air. This turned out to be a mistake.

For the moment her eyes met those of the mystery person's, her massive headache returned in full force. Toga was unable to stop herself from half-yelling in pain as she clutched her head once more. Just before the wave of pain crashed over her, she was able to get a good look at the newcomer's face.
It was a face she had seen before.

"I… know you." She groaned out painfully.

Peter's POV:

No.

No, no, nononononono NO!

Everything had gone right up to this point! His plans for defending the bar had worked, nobody was killed or captured, and the group of criminals had managed to sneak away without being followed. They were practically golden.

And now the mother of all disasters had crashed right in front of them. He couldn't be seen just yet thanks to the massive dust cloud, but everybody knew who was there.
All Might. The massive beast of a man was barely thirty feet away, ready to make everything Peter had done up to this point worthless.

"A-... All Might." Midoriya breathed out. It sounded like it physically hurt him to say the man's name. Glancing over his shoulder, Peter saw a horrified look on the greenette's face.

Todoroki was clearly making an effort to keep his face neutral, but a small bit of fear was in his eyes. Iida, like Midoriya, didn't even try to hide his panic. Kaminari and Kirishima weren't any better. Aizawa, who was being carried between them, slipped in their grasp a bit, sagging closer to the street.

All Might had yet to step out of the dust cloud he had created. Waiting for him to emerge felt like waiting for death. The only thing separating Peter and the others from this "death" was a thick dust cloud.

And even that cover didn't last long.

With a single sweep of his massive arm, All Might caused the dust to dissipate immediately, shooting off all over the street and coating Peter's suit.

"You've put up a good fight, villains, but your reign of terror ends… here." All Might began confidently, smile wide and voice confident, just like always. But as soon as he saw the so-called "villains" he had been called in to capture, his usual bravado disappeared.

"Young… Kirishima? Iida?" The blonde's proud, mighty gaze grew heavier with every second. "Young… Midoriya?" His gaze finally rested on the green-haired boy, his voice broken, like his whole world had shattered.

"Crapcrapcrap!" Peter's mind was furiously racing, trying to find a way out of this situation. He had nothing.

All Might looked devastated. In front of him were his best students, standing with criminals against him! How had this happened? Were they brainwashed? Controlled? That had to be the case! There was no way they would just… betray him.

Young Midoriya…

All Might barely maintained his smile. The usual ear-to-ear grin was reduced to a barely curved line. He opened his mouth, trying to find something to say, something to do in this situation.

"YEAH! ALL MIGHT!"

"SO COOL!

"BEAT THOSE VILLAINS ALL MIGHT!"

Before he could come up with anything, the large hero was interrupted by the shouts of the pedestrians gathered around him. There were nearly 20 of them, each sending cheers and shouts for All Might and boos and jeers for Peter's group.

"... This area may become unsafe. I ask that you all please evacuate to avoid injury."

The hero's smile slowly returned, morphing back into its usual form. Without waiting for the civilians to move on their own, he dashed to the nearest two, grabbed them, and sped off. A moment later, he returned and did the same to another two pedestrians. In just 6 seconds, all of them had been removed from the area, dumped somewhere else by All Might, whose smile had disappeared again.

"... Explain." Gone was the happy tone. Eyes blazing blue, fists clenched hard enough to turn his knuckles white, his voice was all business now. He would not tolerate any argument or stalling.

Peter didn't know where to start. His teacher obviously felt betrayed, any idiot could see that. Did he tell him everything? Part of the truth only?

The question was, how much could All Might know?

And how much did he need to know?

"Sir, I need you to listen to me." Peter began, gaining the giant's attention.

"So it is you." All Might chuckled humorlessly. "With the different suit… I had hoped you were an impersonator. But no. It's you, young Parker." All Might's voice was even quieter now, more full of sadness.

And anger.

"Please, I know how you feel, but I just need you to listen. That's it. We don't have to fight, we don't have to make a scene, we can just talk." Peter spoke in a non-provocative voice, trying his best to defuse the tense situation.

All Might said nothing. Instead, he raised his arms and crossed them, waiting patiently for Peter to continue, though the angry, saddened expression did not leave his face.

"..."

"... Oh crap, I asked to talk, but I still don't even know where to start." Peter began sweating profusely, growing more and more nervous by the second as he tried to think of what to say, all the while All Might stared directly at him. The weight of the man's glare was immense, as if it would crush him at any second.

"... There's a lot going on here that you don't understand. I can't get into all the details, not here, not now. But you have to believe me, I'm not a villain. I never was and I never will be. Ever since I got here, all I've tried to do is the right thing, and that's still what I'm trying to do. Right now, I don't want a fight. I just want to get her to a hospital before it's too late for her." Peter nodded down at the girl slumped in his arms.
All Might spared a glance at her, taking note of her condition. She was obviously in bad shape and needed a hospital. But still…

"Do you think I'm just going to let you pass?" All Might all but spat out, surprising Peter.

"What? I told you, I just want to-"

"And I should believe that?" All Might replied coldly. "You lied to me Peter. You allied yourself with criminals. How do I know you won't just tear down the hospital if I let you pass? How long has this been going on? What have you helped them do? What have they been allowed to get away with since you've been with them? How many other lies have you told me!?"

All Might was failing to keep his temper in check. He believed in Peter. He saw him as a great hero, one who would always do what was right, even if it earned him the public's ire.

And to learn he had allied himself with villains?

Not just any villains either. He recognized the scarred man from the attack on USJ, one of the villains who dared to threaten his students. Not just him, but the hero killer himself was here, knives out and pointed directly at the tall hero. Everything about this was wrong.

There had to be a story. A reason. Something that led Peter to this. If All Might just listened, he would hear it. Peter would tell him all about how these villains were forced into their crimes or that they wanted to turn themselves in and he had never betrayed the hero community.

But for the life of him, All Might didn't want to hear it. His anger, his sadness, his crippling feeling of being betrayed by Peter, by his students, by Midoriya…

His emotions wouldn't allow him patience.

"Wait! I swear, I haven't helped them with any crimes since I met them, and they haven't done anything illegal since then either. They've been clean, they kept away from doing illegal things! They're changing All Might, really!" Peter's voice was pleading. He wanted, more than anything, for All Might to see reason, to just listen to him and understand that things weren't what they seemed.

Unfortunately, the hulking man was only half listening.

"... How long?"

"Huh?"

"How long have you been with them!? How long ago did you start lying to me!?" All Might yelled angrily, making Peter and his group involuntarily flinch back. Dabi, having lowered his hands, raised them once more, embers forming in his palms.

"... After the USJ attack, I tracked them down. I found their hideout and talked to them. I… sort of became a member of their group. They're my friends, they're…" Peter glanced down, making sure Toga was still somewhat okay. "They're people I care about sir."

"And the others? Your classmates who were your friends? Mirko, who was kind enough to allow you to stay with her? What about them, young Peter? Do you care about them?" Mixed with his anger and sadness, All Might looked pained. He wanted to calm down, to listen, to think things through, but he couldn't. His violent emotions continued to control him, forcing him to continue arguing.

"Of course they do! Mina, Ojiro, and everybody else… they're some of the best friends I've ever had. And I thank Mirko every day for letting me stay with her! Please, you just need to list-"

"No, you need to listen!" All Might slammed a foot down as he yelled once more, creating a pothole in the street and shaking the ground slightly. "You do not do this Peter! You don't play both sides, switching between them whenever you feel like it. You can't be a hero and a villain, only a traitor to both!"

No one, not even Midoriya, the resident super fan, had ever seen All Might this angry. The furious visage he had shown back at the USJ was nothing compared to this. Back then, it was pure rage on the hero's face. But now? A storm of emotions raged inside him, fueling his anger and making it burn.

"... Are you with him?" For a moment, All Might's rage lessened and he asked Peter a genuine question.

"Who?" Unluckily for the hero, Peter had no idea who he was talking about.

"I know who your leader is. Tomura Shigaraki, and his master controls everything. I will ask you this once. Are. You. Connected. With. Him?" All Might spat out the word "him," as if whoever he was referring to wasn't even worth being referred to in passing.

"I… I honestly don't know who you're talking to sir." Peter responded honestly.

This wasn't working. A fight was doomed to fail and talking was beginning to break down. Peter had to get things back on track fast!

"Look, I know you're angry. You have every right to be. I've kept you out of the loop for a long time and there's a lot you don't get. You have to believe me, I really do just want to help." Peter explained carefully.

"I fail to see how assisting villains is helpful." All Might replied coldly.

This was it. Being vague broke down, slowly answering questions only made All Might angrier, and doing nothing would surely lead to a fight. If this was going to end peacefully, there had to be some truth revealed.

"... Things aren't perfect, sir. Do you really believe that every criminal is a 'villain,' that every lawbreaker is a heartless monster who just wants to cause chaos? This is the real world, not a Saturday morning cartoon. People aren't one-dimensional objects, they have emotions, motivation, probable cause. You can't just call everybody a horrible villain whenever they even slightly trip up and do something wrong. I just want to change things, to make them better, to help people who really need it."

Peter took a breath, carefully considering his next words.

"I… I want to help people. The people who are pushed away or mistreated because of their quirks. The people who are called monsters because they committed a petty crime. All the people who aren't properly handled, ignored, or abused because of things they can't control, because some guys in a fancy committee decided this was the way things should work. All I'm trying to do is make things better." Peter finished.

That was it then. He wanted to change society? To alter the way things had worked for so long now? To replace the system with one he felt was better?

All Might gritted his teeth. Had he been more in control of his emotions, he might have seen the reason in Peter's words. Hell, he may have even helped him. But, as was made clear by his clenched fists and burning eyes, All Might was not in the best type of mind right now.

"You want to change society? The way we've done things for the past hundred years? The way things have worked? People are safe, they're happy, they're comfortable. You think things will just work out because you want them to? You preach to me about how life isn't a cartoon, yet you just assume things will be fine even if you change society?"

Finally, All Might's temper had reached critical mass. His rage was boiling over for one last remark. He knew what he was about to say, felt it, knew the effect it would have. The massive man tried to deny it, to force himself to not speak, but he couldn't. His mouth opened, and he spoke again.

"Need I remind you that you do not belong here!?" All Might shouted accusingly. You came to our world, became a part of our society, and now you want to change things just because they aren't what you know? What gives you the right? Why do you have the right to change our world so it suits you? This isn't your home, this isn't your place, and this is not within your rights! If you hate the way things are here, you should just go home!"

And that was it. With his final rant finished, All Might felt his anger draining from him after every word. His rage left him, leaving him with only sadness, pain, and a feeling of betrayal.

And an awareness of what he had just said.

"No. Nonono." All Might saw the eyes of Peter's suit widen, knowing what that meant for the boy inside. He didn't mean it. He hadn't wanted to say it. He knew Peter couldn't just go back, he knew it hadn't been his choice to come here in the first place.

Damn it, why did he say all that?!

"What the fuck is he talking about?" Dabi glanced at Peter, confusion written on his face.

"Other world?" Stain, too, sent a questioning look at Peter, his eyes sharp.

The others did the same, all of them equally confused by their teacher's sudden proclamation.

Peter wasn't really paying attention to them. He was more focused on All Might and all the things he had just said. It… hurt hearing that. He couldn't just "go back." He hadn't even wanted to come here. He didn't ask to be thrown into another world. The man's words genuinely hurt him, more than any punch could. Once again, Peter was faced with reality.

He couldn't "go back." He likely would never be able to.

"I can't take it back. I can't go back. I can only push forward." All Might forced his newest emotion, guilt, back down and focused on the group in front of him. What next? Did he continue to argue?

"All… A-All M-M-Might?" A nervous, stuttering voice cut through the crippling silence. All Might looked at the boy who had spoken, the main source of his uncontrollable emotions.

Peter he could handle. The boy was a wonder, but he was also an anomaly. He never hoped for it to be the case, but All Might did have some tiny suspicions that he could someday turn on him. But Midoriya? The boy he had placed all his trust in? Who he had given his quirk to carry on his legacy?
That was practically a knife in the number 1 hero's heart.

"P-Please, listen to us. We really don't want to fight you. All we want is to help her. That's our job as heroes, to help anybody who needs it, even if they're v-villains. I'm like Peter. I… I didn't change. I still want to do the right thing, to be a hero. What Peter is trying to do is the right thing. If I help him, I can do more good than I ever could at UA. This is my choice sir. It's what I want to do." His stutter wasn't completely gone, but the green-haired boy's voice was uncharacteristically firm, strong even. He was truly passionate about this.

All Might felt inclined to listen, to believe his students.
But he couldn't.

Why hadn't they come to him? He had thought that Peter trusted him, that he knew the kind of man he was. If he truly believed what he was doing was right, why hadn't he even tried to contact him, to convince him?

And that was to say nothing about Midoriya, his successor, his hope for the future effectively betraying him. And what about the others? His beloved students who were to be the next generation of wonderful heroes.

Helping villains fight heroes. He had heard from Tsukauchi to be careful because some of the heroes sent into the building had been electrified. Nobody but Kaminari had an electric quirk. There was no denying his involvement in the base defense or the assault of the heroes who raided it.

His senses may have mostly returned to him, but All Might could not simply stand aside and allow them to pass.

"... I can't do that." All Might responded almost dejectedly. "Good cause or not, I cannot simply trust you. You've lied to me so many times, you've allied yourself with villains, and you stood against professional heroes. After all of that, how can you ask me to trust you now?"

The entire group, save for Dabi and Stain, opened their mouths to respond, but no words emerged. They had nothing.

"... I can clearly see that, if nothing else, your friend truly does need assistance. If you surrender and allow yourselves to be taken in, I promise you I will see to it that she is cared for. Surrender now and we can avoid a battle." Now it was All Might's turn to practically plead. He was hurt, angry, sad, but he didn't want to fight his precious students. If that could be avoided, he would.

"No." Was Peter's immediate answer. "We can't surrender. All my planning, everything we did to defend the bar and escape, all the promises I made to my friends… we can't just surrender. I don't want to fight you, but there's no way I can just surrender to you."

All Might's shocked eyes bored into Peter's head. Then, adding to his shock, Peter reached up and pulled off his mask. Why? Did he want to look at him with his real face? Was he showing that he would never turn his back on his group? Was the mask a symbol?

In any case, the mask was gone. In place of cold metal and fabric, Peter's face glared back at All Might. The number 1 hero and the young vigilante stared each other down, neither of them willing to look away. All Might's worried eyes too hardened into a glare, once again nearly crushing Peter with the weight of his gaze.

Then, breaking the stalemate, Peter began walking. Not to All Might, but out of the street and to one of the nearby buildings. Gently, he set Toga down, positioning her so that she was resting with her back to the building.

"I'll be back soon. I promise." Peter leaned forward, gently whispering in an effort to comfort her despite knowing that she likely couldn't hear him.

"Hey, he's not serious, right? We can't fight All Might!" Kaminari whispered to Kirishima. The redhead looked just as nervous as him.

"It's that or jail. We don't have much choice here." Kirishima took the full weight of Mr. Aizawa and set him next to a building as well before walking back to join Kaminari. "Besides… a group of young guys trying to do the right thing and having an epic duel with the strongest guy around? Can you think of anything more manly than that?" Kirishima shed a manly tear as his skin hardened. He didn't waste any time in his base state, instead going straight to Unbreakable.

Peter had left Toga, albeit reluctantly and returned to the group. He sent a worried look at Midoriya. He knew how much the boy loved All Might. Was asking him to join this fight too much?

"We can't beat him. Nobody beats All Might. He's too strong for us." sure enough, the boy seemed to be in the middle of a panic attack.

"Hey, hey! Relax buddy. Look, we don't have to beat him. We just have to restrain him long enough to get to the hospital. Once we're there, we'll be pretty much invincible. Nobody, especially All Might, is gonna start a fight in a hospital."

Midoriya still looked like he could drop dead at any moment, but he still forcefully nodded his head up and down, trying to convince himself this could work out.

"All Might, eh? Finally, I get to fight a real hero." Stain looked more excited than Peter had ever seen him. Drawing all four of his knives, Stain clamped two of them between his elbow joints and held the other two in his hands. "Let's see if he can kill me!"

All Might watched Peter's allies milling about, preparing themselves. This was it. He had to fight his students, and, at the end of it, he would have to arrest them. Even Peter.

Even Midoriya.

Taking a deep breath, All Might lifted his hands and forced his usual smile to return.

"Any last words before you're arrested, villains?"

"Oh, we get last words? How about "Fuck you." Dabi responded mockingly, a single middle finger raised. "You want me to say more, or do my 'last words' cap at some point?"

All Might did not dignify the question with a response. Instead, he cocked back a fist, ready to end the fight with a single punch. Just as he was about to throw his fist forward, a sudden weight collided with his back, catching him off guard.

"Don't forget me! YOU MEAN US!" Twice was latched onto All Might's back, clamping his arms around the man's neck as he screamed to… himself? The blonde hero had failed to notice him before. He must have been further down the street.

Seeing the fight had begun, Stain and Kirishima both ran forward, Todoroki, Dabi, and Kaminari hanging back to utilize their quirks. Iida and Midoriya stood by, waiting for an opportunity to run in.

Peter waited a moment before putting his mask back on.

"Karen?"
"I'm ready Peter."

"Good. That makes one of us."

Peter then ran forward, ready to fight his teacher. Rearing back his right arm as he ran, he threw his fist forward as soon as he was close enough to land a hit on All Might.
The large hero had shaken off Kirishima, who latched onto his arm a moment ago, and, upon seeing Peter, reared his own arm back and threw a punch.

The two heroes met in the middle, fists colliding between them, sending a small shockwave through the street.

Toga's POV:

It was a young boy, about a foot shorter than her and at least four years younger. He had short hair, barely noticeable freckles, and kind eyes. A stark contrast to the grim smile on his face.

"Why… why are you here!?" Toga snarled. She was pissed. Whether this was a hallucination, a fever dream, or something else, she didn't care.

This was way too fucking far!

"I SAID WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE?!" Her headache got even worse the angrier she got, though it did nothing to stop her from screaming at the smiling boy.

"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE GONE!" Toga screamed in fury. She had known this boy. Years ago, they were friends, yet now she couldn't even remember his name.

The boy just continued to show her that smug, dark smile. It was like he was trying to mock her without ever saying anything. Toga wasn't sure what this was, but it pissed her off.

"Why. Are. You. Here!?" She growled furiously.

"... Oh, me? I'm just here to watch." The boy spoke casually, yet with a haughty edge. It sounded like he was trying to both be casual and also as infuriating as possible.

The worst part was, it worked. Just hearing him talk made Toga even angrier, which in turn made her headache worse.

"What do you mean?" She did her best to remain calm and patient. It was doomed to fail of course, but at least she made an effort.

"What, is it that hard to understand? I mean that I'm here to watch, that's all. I'll be blunt Toga, you're about to die." The casual manner with which the boy spoke shocked Toga. "Let's say you drank the wrong Kool-Aid and now you're paying the price for it. About time if you ask me. First time in 4 years you actually had to face the consequences for something." The strange boy laughed at Toga, enjoying her confusion.

Dying? Well, that was one of her first assumptions, but seriously?

Toga continued to glare at the laughing boy. She had nothing to attack him with, something she was painfully aware of.

"And what exactly makes me so interesting? Why bother watching me?" Toga asked, unimpressed.

"That's the fun thing! You're the most interesting thing I could possibly watch! There's nothing else to do in here! I mean, I could watch my own death, but that gets so boring after a while."

"In here? So you know where we are?"

"Boy, you really are stupid. Come on, think about it. You're about to die, you're in a totally empty city, and, well, I'm guessing you remember who I am, don't you?" The boy pointed to himself, his aggravating smile growing wider.

"... Yes." Toga growled.

"Perfect, that means I don't have to explain that to you. Well, I'll keep it simple. You're in your own head. Apparently, you were so desperate to get away from feeling pain, you retreated into your own mind. You always were good at running away from things, you know that. Well, it didn't work completely. You're still in pain, aren't you? Well, at least I can enjoy that." The boy turned around and walked off, talking over his shoulder.
Though reluctant, there was still a lot Toga didn't understand about all of this, so she followed him. She couldn't really be in her own head. What did that make this? Some kind of dream?

"You know, I've been waiting a long time for you to show up. I've got the other you's, sure, but they're so boring. They just do what they've always done. There's no variety, no change, just boring routine." The stranger continued complaining as he walked the city streets, sounding more like he was talking to himself than to Toga.

"I mean seriously, it's bad enough that a guy has to die, but couldn't there at least be some entertainment in this place?"

Other Togas? Routine? What was this idiot going on about?

The tall office buildings and skyscrapers gradually faded away as they walked. The previous district left behind, they were now in some kind of residential area. There were plenty of apartment complexes, but also a few actual houses here and there. Almost all of them were two-story, with simple white or grey walls and dark roofs. They all had the same stone steps leading up to wooden porches at the front of the homes.

"Remember this place? I sure do. It was a lot of fun raising hell here as a kid." The boy pointed all around, gesturing to many of the homes. Courtesy of the darkness of the night, many of them were covered in shadows. None of them even had any lights on in the windows. All of the houses and apartments were just "dark."

All except for one.

There was a single house, the first building Toga had seen in the entire city, that was illuminated. There were lights in the windows, as well as a single lantern-esque light bolted to the front of the house, lighting up the wooden porch. It was the only house in the entire area that was lit up. Like the boy, Toga knew this house.

And in her opinion, it deserved to be shown the least light.

"What is this?" She hissed at the boy, who still had not stopped smiling.

"Why are you asking me? I've never been inside there. Maybe somebody got up for a nightcap."

Toga stared at the house, waiting for something to happen. A swish in the curtains, a shadow in the windows, a voice to cut through the silence. Nothing happened. The only thing setting the home apart from the others were its lights.

As she stared, she was very aware of the annoying boy standing behind her leaning forward so that his head hovered over her right shoulder.

"You know, if you're so curious, you could always go inside." He stage-whispered in her ear, annoying her further. Pressing a hand on his face, Toga shoved him away. He barely seemed to care, casually taking a few steps back to maintain his balance. Raising his hands in a placating gesture, he added "just a suggestion."

Toga huffed in annoyance. Did she really want to go in there? She hadn't been in that house for so many years now. She hadn't planned on ever going back, yet here she was, standing right in front of the nightmare den with the last person she would ever expect to see. This day wasn't exactly letting her do exactly as she pleased.

"You know what? Fine. This whole city's been empty anyway, so why should anybody be in there? I probably won't even see anybo-" Toga walked as she thought to herself, reaching the base of the stone steps leading to the porch before a loud yell cut off her train of thought.

"DISGUSTING LITTLE MONSTER!" An angry voice came from inside the house, the volume hurting Toga's ears.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!" Another voice, this one younger and higher pitched, shouted back. They sounded like they were hurt.

The screaming persisted, but it was difficult to make out what either of the two voices were saying. Between the yelling, Toga could hear the sound of loud stomping, gradually increasing in volume. The sound stopped just behind the front door. For a few seconds, there was silence.

"GET OUT!" Silence which was then broken by one final scream. The door was flung open, revealing a short woman with long, blonde hair and green eyes. Her face was red with anger and Toga could see her left wrist was bleeding.

At her side was a little girl, also blonde, with golden eyes. There was a red mark on her cheek and a small amount of blood around her mouth. It was obvious she had bitten the woman.

"I'm sor-"

"I SAID GET OUT!" The angry woman picked up the little girl and practically threw her outside. The girl caught herself at first, but tripped when one of her feet slipped off the porch, causing her to painfully fall down the stone staircase. The woman, clearly uncaring about the little girl's pain, slammed the door shut and stomped away.

"... Why the hell am I here?" Toga didn't hiss, nor did she growl or demand an answer. Her voice was hollow, desperate. She watched as the little girl pushed herself to her feet, tears running down her face. She sat down on one of the steps and pressed one hand to her now bleeding knee, using the other to wipe the blood away from her mouth. Based on the slightly red color of her eyes, it had been a while since she had any blood. Whatever went on inside the house barely provided anything.

"Don't ask me. I didn't bring you here, you just showed up. Not that I'm complaining. If it makes you miserable, I'm all for it." The boy shrugged, watching the injured little girl with clear enjoyment in his eyes. Toga glared at him, frustrated with his apathy towards what was going on.

"Hey, are you okay?" She knelt down and spoke gently, trying to get the girl's attention. If her voice was heard, the girl made no moves to pay attention to her. She continued to cry, clutching her bleeding knee with both hands.

The girl sat there for nearly 10 minutes before she stood up and walked away.
"Hey, wait! I'm trying to talk to you!" Toga also stood up and ran to catch up with the girl. She reached forward and tried to place a hand on her shoulder, only for her hand to pass straight through the girl.

"What the-?!"

"Oh, did I forget to mention that? Yeah, you can't really interact with these guys. They're on a fixed path that constantly gets repeated. You can't interfere with it and they don't stop on their own. Oh, look. Next repeat is already starting." The boy pointed at the little girl, who walked only a few more feet before suddenly disappearing. This shocked Toga, but before she could ask a question, she heard shouting again.

"DISGUSTING LITTLE MONSTER!"
"I'M SORRY!"

Toga whipped around, looking at the illuminated house. Just like before, the door was wrenched open, the girl was thrown outside, and she sat down on the staircase to clutch her worst injury.

"... What is this?" Toga turned to the boy, whose smile had grown wider.

"I'm not sure. I think the locals call them mem...o...ries? I'm not sure, I'll have to get back to you on that." The boy commented sarcastically. Toga rolled her eyes at his response. [1]

"Explain." She ordered. Now it was the boy's turn to roll his eyes, though his smile remained nonetheless.

"Eh, why not. I told you, didn't I? They're on a set path, one we can't interfere with. You can't just change your memories, so why would you be able to interact with them?"

Toga stared the boy dead in the eyes. Neither of them said anything for several seconds. Then, without warning, Toga violently punched him in the face. Instead of phasing through him like with the girl, her fist solidly connected with his face, earning her a satisfying cracking noise.

"OW! Hey, what was that for?" The boy clutched his bleeding nose. So he could feel pain at least. But, even now, he continued to smile.

"What about you then?" Toga asked sternly. "If I can't touch them because they're memories, what does that make you?"

"You know, I'm not really sure." Toga raised a fist threateningly. "No, no, really. Maybe I'm a regret, a lingering thought, I really don't know. Could be anything I guess." A simple shrug ended his explanation. Toga groaned in annoyance. She was seriously getting fed up with this kid.

"What now?"

"You know, I'm no expert, but if I had to guess? Find the next memory. Not like that was obvious or anything. Man, this really isn't your day, is it?"

Not bothering to respond, Toga grabbed one of his fingers and bent it back, making the boy yelp in pain. Relinquishing her hold on his finger and allowing him to nurse it gently, Toga looked all around. In the time that they had spent talking, the loop had repeated again and the girl was once again sitting on the stone staircase.

"Next memory? I don't really remember much from this time though. I got kicked out because I bit that bitch. Not my fault she didn't give me any blood for a week because she "forgot" to go to the blood bank. After that, I wandered around, dumpster dived a lot, then…"

Perking up, Toga grabbed the boy's wrist and dragged him behind her as she sped off in a specific direction.

"Oi! Where are we going?"

"Where do you think? The next memory."

30 Minutes Later:

"Well, you've dragged me across the city to a movie theater because… why? If this is your way of asking me on a date, sorry to say, but I would honestly rather suck my own-" The boy was cut off by a warning glare from Toga. Over the course of their "trip," he had made several comments that earned him some kind of physical harm in return. By now, he knew that if Toga gave him a certain look, he needed to be quiet.

"Just shut up, okay? This is the first thing I can clearly remember after getting kicked out. We just have to look around here and we'll find… me." Toga explained.

A clattering sound emanating from an alley proved her right. Sending a smug look at the ever-smiling boy, Toga dragged him with her to the alley. It was fairly dark, so nothing could be seen at first. But, upon taking a closer look, they could see a pair of legs sticking out of one of the large dumpsters. The rustling sound came from the dumpster itself, stopping briefly before the person inside jumped out.

It was her, though slightly older. It had only been a month or so since she had been kicked out, but she was already much thinner. Her torn shirt and pants were too big for her and her cheekbones pressed against her skin.

"Weird. I don't remember being that skinny." Toga commented.

"Man, is that it?" The young girl sorted through her loot. A half-full bag of popcorn and a mostly empty water bottle were the only items her search had yielded. A small squeaking noise distracted her from her momentary sadness, her eyes immediately brightening.

Both items were dropped as the girl whipped around, trying to find the source of the noise. She listened closely, pinpointing it's location. Then, suddenly, she dove into a corner of the alley and grabbed hold of something. The squeaking grew louder as she stood back up. There was a single, skinny rat in her hand.

"Oh god, I forgot I did this." Toga pressed her face into her hands, embarrassed by her past actions. Sure it was for survival, but this was just humiliating! It was a wonder she never got some kind of disease from doing this.

Just as she remembered, the young girl didn't hesitate to open her mouth and bite the rat, who squeaked fearfully for another second or two before going limp. Satisfied with her "meal," the girl dropped the rat to the ground, wiping the blood from her smiling lips.

"Oh yeah, that's what I needed."

"You know, I really don't think that's safe." A new voice, this one belonging to a boy, cut through the darkness. The girl perked up, her smile falling away as she dove for the nearest sharp object she saw, a broken bottle.

"Who is that?" She demanded.

"Whoa, whoa, I don't want any trouble." The boy's voice sounded panicked. "Here, look, I'll come out." From the shadows, a young boy, about the same age as the girl, walked out with his hands up in surrender. He looked terrified. Toga regarded him for a moment before lowering the bottle.

"What do you want?"

"Well, uh, it's just that this is where I usually go to find stuff to eat, but, it looks like you got here first." Like her, the boy was very skinny. His clothes were too big for him and torn in many places. He had short hair, barely noticeable freckles, and kind eyes.

Just like…

Toga looked at the… annoyance standing beside her. He looked just like the boy in front of her. The only difference was that the non-memory version was slightly taller and older-looking.

"Hmm, so this is when we met. Not how I remembered it, but I guess it doesn't matter." The boy didn't seem to be impressed with himself, smile remaining despite his bored expression.

"Sorry about that. If you want, you can have these. I don't need them anymore." The girl picked up the popcorn and water and handed them to the boy. He took them gratefully, thanking her before shoving the popcorn in his mouth and downing what remained of the water at an inhumanly fast speed,

"Man, it's been a while since I got that much at once. Thanks a lot! You saved me here!" The boy began smiling, a smile very different from his counterpart's. This one had no malice, no hidden anger, no obvious double purpose of annoying whoever saw it. It was a simple, genuine smile.

The girl seemed to like it. A small bit of red appeared on her cheeks, though no smile appeared.

"Save you? That's a bit…" the girl began, trailing off at the end.

"I agree. Was I really that dramatic before?" Without looking at him, Toga punched the boy roughly in the shoulder to shut him up.

"No, really! You did me a big favor! Hey, why don't you come with me? I've got a place I stay at. It's not a house or anything, but it's better than nothing." The boy kindly offered, taking the girl's hand without waiting for a response.

"Hey! I didn't agree to this!" Young Toga protested. The boy either didn't hear her or was just ignoring her. He continued to pull her by the wrist, paying no mind to her protests.

"... So we were friends. I remember that much. But what about your name?" Toga asked as the younger versions of them disappeared.

"If you don't remember why would I? This is your mind, remember? If you don't remember something, obviously I won't." Of course, his smile still hadn't disappeared, but the boy seemed even more bored than before.

"Hm. Well, whatever. Come one, I know where to go next."

Toga and the boy spent the next hour wandering around the city, revisiting memory after memory. Many of them were meaningless things, such as scavenging for food, throwing things at people from rooftops, or just screwing around at the boy's hideout, which was actually just a collection of cardboard boxes underneath a large sheet that had been nailed into the walls of a narrow alley.

Over time, Toga watched herself grow slightly. She also became less skinny thanks to her lessened hesitance to drink the blood of anything she found. Birds, rats, anything worked.

Over time, Toga noticed two things. For one, every time the boy's name was said, it was "censored." Some loud noise would come out of nowhere, the speaker would suddenly grow silent, or their voice would become too distorted to understand.

For another, the young Toga never smiled. She was always either blank-faced or scowling, but never smiling. In contrast, the boy was always smiling. Even when he got hurt or when they couldn't find anything to eat, his smile was ever present. He was constantly trying to get her to do the same, but she never did. Occasionally, he would start crying because he believed she was unhappy being around him, which led to her being unwilling to smile.

After a solid hour of wandering around revisiting memories, Toga found one special memory in particular. This was one of her most vivid memories, yet also the one she most desperately wanted to forget.

It was her eleventh birthday.

"Okay, keep your eyes closed." The boy had his hands clasped over her younger self's eyes, making sure she couldn't see anything.

"This is stupid *&^$%." Once again, his name was "censored." "Why do I need to close my eyes? I already told you it was my birthday, so I know this is gonna be some kind of present. Just give it to me, we don't need to do all this." Young Toga complained.

"That's not the point. There's a process to this. Okay, open." The boy removed his hands, allowing Toga to see his surprise. It was…

"Is that a knife?"

Resting atop one of the cardboard boxes they slept in was a single kitchen knife. It was rusty and slightly bent, but could still make a decent weapon.

"Yeah. You're always complaining about not being able to fight back when some criminal shows up or when somebody tries to steal our food. So when I found this, I figured it'd make a good present." The boy picked up the knife and showed it to her. "See? It's even still-ow!"

In some kind of effort to prove it was effective, the boy poked his finger with the knife, piercing his skin and earning himself a small cut. While he groaned and put his finger in his mouth, the younger Toga looked on blankly and said-

"If you get tetanus, I'm not stealing you medicine."

The boy just sighed at her, his smile returning shortly after.

"... Why are you always smiling. You just hurt yourself. Shouldn't you be crying or yelling or something?" This had always bothered Toga. The boy barely ever stopped smiling for more than a few seconds at a time. Even when he was sleeping he smiled.

He just looked confused by the question.

"What do you mean? I smile because you don't." Toga gave him a blank look. "Think about it. You never smile, so I've gotta do it all the time to pick up the slack. Plus, I figured it'd make you feel better. I mean, we always see people walking by, smiling at people which makes them smile too. You're always so gloomy and mad. Maybe if I keep smiling, I'll finally get you to do it. You'll feel better if you do."

"No." Toga didn't hesitate to shut down her friend.

"That's cold. I was just trying to be nice to you." The non-memory counterpart of the boy mumbled to Toga. The vampire girl ignored him. She was too invested in the conversation taking place before her. It was something she had never once forgotten, but it still managed to interest her more than anything she had seen so far.

"Aw, come on. I've never even seen you smile once! Not even when you caught that really fat rat!"

"Still no. You're already doing such a good job smiling on your own. Why do I need to help you?" Toga stubbornly refused.

"At least fake it! You know, so you don't always look so sad. You might even feel better once you start smiling! I bet you'd look nice." The boy pressed.

"No."

Giving up, the boy held the knife by the blade and handed it to her. She took it carefully, not wanting to hurt him again.
"Thank you. I'll be careful with it." Toga slipped the knife into her back pocket. At some point in the past year, she had found newer clothes in a dumpster. They weren't shop-quality, but at least they fit better than her old clothes, "How's your finger?"

"Not good." The boy chuckled, holding up his finger. The cut on it had been much bigger than either of them realized. It stretched from the tip of his finger to the first knuckle down. A fair amount of blood was leaking from the cut, a few drops dripping to the floor.

"It's pretty." Toga stared, mesmerized at the blood coming from the injury, seemingly fascinated by it. It took her a minute to realize she was staring. Shaking herself, she collected her thoughts.

"Uh, I think I'm gonna go test out the knife. There are probably some rats around here." Toga pulled the knife from her pocket and walked away.

"O-oh. Okay then. I guess I'll see you later."

"Oh god, I totally had a crush on you, didn't I?" The boy groaned as if this were the worst thing he could have possibly seen. Again Toga ignored him. Not because she cared about what was happening, but because she realized something.

He looked the same as the version of himself in her memory. They were the same height, had the same face, everything matched.

It was time.

Following herself, she found that, true to her word, she had tested the knife out on a few rats. It was not a pretty scene. Some only had a single, large cut. Others had been stabbed multiple times. The one constant was that they had all been left to bleed, allowed to move around so the blood would form unique patterns each time.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing was that she continued to remain blank faced. Her younger self watched each dying rat as they bled out, giggling to herself, but still not smiling. Even the boy beside her didn't make any comments on what he was seeing.

"So pretty." The young Toga stared dreamily at each blood pattern, her eyes starry and glazed. She was obviously spacing out, going to her own little world. "So many patterns, so many textures."

A few times, she dragged her finger through a few of the puddles, leaving small trails, as if using a paintbrush.

"I can't believe I was this bad before." Toga stared in shock at herself. After leaving her home, she had been excited that she didn't have to hide her quirk and could enjoy blood as much as she wanted to. But…

There was such a thing as enjoying something too much, made evident by the… disturbing scene before them. There were few things in life creepier than a giggling little girl killing and then playing with rats.

"... I wonder what $#%^& would look like." She wondered aloud. Present Toga felt her heart sink. There it was. The single, passing thought that ruined everything.

"Is it pretty? It looked pretty when he cut his finger, but there wasn't that much of it. Would it look better if there was a bigger cut?" She continued to talk to herself, growing more and more excited the more she spoke.

This continued for a while. As she found and killed more rats, Toga continued to talk out loud, wondering what it would be like if she stabbed $%^^ . Eventually though, she got bored and wandered back to their hideout.

"Oh, hey! Does the knife work?" The boy greeted her, his usual bright smile on full display.

"Yep, it works great! Thanks for the present $%&^. I love it!" Toga thanked her friend for the knife, and even finished it off with… a bright smile. The boy stared, mouth agape and eyes wide.

"You… you smiled! You finally smiled!" He was overjoyed. His already massive smile grew even larger, and he found himself unable to keep his voice down. Dashing forward, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her as hard as he could.

"OI! What're you doing?!" Young Toga protested, trying to escape the hug. It was futile. Her friend's arms were wrapped over hers, preventing any escape attempts.

"Wait." Finally, he released her, offering an apologetic look in response to her glare. "Why are you smiling? Do you like the present that much?"

Toga looked down at the knife in her hand, then back up at her friend. And again, she smiled.

"Yeah. It's a really good present. Thanks a lot."

After that, not much happened. Toga went back for one of her rats and drank what remained of its blood while her friend ate some food they had found earlier that day. After that, they both said goodnight and went to sleep. Or at least, the boy did. Toga, however, remained awake. She stared at nothing, clearly deep in thought.

Present Toga remembered this. She had spent hours debating on what to do. Her mind had screamed at her the whole time to stable her friend, to observe his blood, to watch the pretty pattern it made.

But, even then, she understood that was her quirk talking. The rational part of her mind told her to not do it, to ignore the urge, that her friend was more important than a momentary desire to see his blood.

In the end, it was pointless. He quirk knew what it wanted, and what it wanted was her friend's blood.
Toga didn't want to watch anymore. She had gone along with this memory trip in the first place because she thought that if she did, something would happen. Maybe she would even get out of this place. But so far, absolutely nothing had changed. If it wasn't necessary, she didn't want to watch this.
However, when she tried to leave, the boy grabbed her arm.

"What are you doing? You want me to hit you again?" Toga spat out.

"... You killed me with my own damn birthday present. You could at least have the decency to watch." he replied coldly. He was still smiling in spite of his tone.

The two of them had a short staredown, one that was broken by a loud scream.

One laced with pain.

"AAAAGH! TOGA!?" The boy shoved out of the large cardboard box he slept in, clutching his arm, which now had a large cut from the shoulder to his elbow. Losing his balance, he fell to the ground and crawled away backwards, not taking his eyes off the box as he did so.

Shortly after, Toga herself stepped out, glaring at her bloody knife.

"Not enough. There needs to be more." She muttered, stalking over to her bleeding friend.

"No. No, STOP IT!" Toga walked over to herself, trying to keep her from doing this. It made no difference. Just like the last time she tried to interfere with a memory, she just phased through herself.

"T-Toga, stop! Stop! Please!" Her friend continued to crawl away, but it made no difference. Toga easily kept up with him, and upon catching up, she stabbed him again, this time in the other arm.

"Unbelievable. You didn't even have the decency to kill me in my sleep. You had to drag it out and make me suffer. So much for a year of friendship." The non-memory boy scoffed.

Toga closed her eyes, not wanting to watch herself do this. More screams tore through the alley, making her flinch each time. Then, all at once, they stopped. In their place, was the sound of crying.

Opening her eyes, Toga saw exactly what she expected to see. She saw herself, crying over her friend, who had dozens of cuts on his body, each of them leaking blood.

"Please, I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it. Please wake up." Younger Toga shook him again and again, hoping for a reaction. Nothing changed.

Then, there was a tiny twitch. Toga perked up, suddenly interested. Her friend slowly, painfully cracked his eyes open. There was no way he would survive much longer, not with all of his injuries.

He stared into the younger Toga's eyes earning her attention.

"Qu… Quirk… or you?" He asked, despite it clearly being painful to just talk.

"Quirk! I swear it was my quirk! I didn't want to do this! Really, I didn't." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself, not her friend. She didn't stop there either, continuing to plead her case in an effort to convince her friend.

Eventually, he laughed, a few drops of blood flying from his mouth in the process.

"It's… it's fine. You didn't want to. This isn't… this isn't you." Her friend grabbed her hand, the knife still clutched inside. "Remember Toga," Her friend flashed her his bright smile, the one he always wore. "It helps to smile."

That was it. His hand went slack, releasing hers and falling to the ground. The younger Toga stared at him for a few seconds, registering what just happened before she began panicking again, shaking him once more, apologizing profusely.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SO SORRY!" She apologized again and again, as if that would somehow heal her friend.

"... I'm sorry too." The current Toga whispered, knowing he couldn't hear her.

"Oh, that's nice. No, that's real great of you! I brought you to my house, gave you food, a friend, a birthday present, and you fucking stab me with it! Thank you so much for apologizing! That fixes everything!" The boy ranted angrily. His smile stayed. His words were angry, his tone was filled with rage, and his kind eyes were narrowed in a glare, but his smile remained.

"... Why am I here? You said I was dying. Then what's the point of this? Am I supposed to learn a lesson? To find something?" Toga felt like crying just like her younger self, but held back.

"Oh, the point? There is no point." The boy responded casually.

"... What?"

"What? Did you think this was some kind of redemption arc? That I'd show you your memories to teach you something and you'd be a better person by the end? No, you're just here to suffer. Your body couldn't handle what it was going through, so you blacked out and hid in your subconscious to get away from it. You didn't fucking teleport anywhere, this isn't a goddamn sci-fi! The real you is still out there. Think of this like thinking of a memory. You're going on a little trip through your mind, ignoring the real world in the process. So, congratulations. You ran away again."

"Again?"

Footsteps caught Toga's attention. Turning around, she saw that she had stood up, taking a look at her friend, and offering one last "I'm sorry," before leaving him behind.

"All that time and you couldn't even give me a damn burial. You just ran away because you couldn't handle what you did." The boy commented as the memory reset, going back to when he had given her the rusty knife.

Toga didn't respond. She stared at her feet, too guilty to defend herself.

"... What are you then? You're not a memory, you're aware of all of this, so what are you supposed to be? A ghost?"

"A fucking ghost? Are you serious? You can't seriously be this stupid." The boy smirked at her, trying to make her angry. "Like I said before, I don't know. Maybe I'm some kind of regret, something you wanted so badly to take back you created a copy of me in your head to stay with you. Just saying, the real thing would have been better than a fragment.

"Or hey, maybe I'm some kind of curator. You needed somebody to control your head, so you gave me the job. That's a nice job, isn't it? Forget letting me live, forget being friends, it's way better to just kill me, abandon me, then trap me in your head to look after your mind. Oh, I wish that was the case. The ammo I would have to torture you with… oh yeah, that'd be great. But no. If I had to guess, it's probably the first one. Your fucked up mind figured the best way to apologize was to bring a piece of me with you instead of completely forgetting me. Yeah, that sounds like something the jacked up mind of Himiko Toga would come up with." The boy continued ranting angrily, getting closer to Toga until he was practically face to face with her.

Toga was taking several deep breaths, trying to force herself to calm down. She didn't need to get angry, not here, not now.

"Be honest. Did you actually care about me? Was I actually your friend, somebody you were invested in? Or was I just another victim? Another bloodbag for you to drain or a box of watercolors to decorate the street with?"

"Of course you were important to me! If you weren't, why would I even need to debate over killing you? If I really didn't care about you, the first friend I ever made, the first person who actually cared about me, I would have just killed you without a second thought." Toga shouted back, frustrated that he would even insinuate her apathy towards his life.

"Really? I'm pretty sure that's how it was every time. It was always "Oh, I can't kill them, they're so nice." But what happened 10 minutes later? Oh, that's right, you killed them. You watched them bleed out and then drank their blood. And let's not forget that after all of that, you had the goddamn audacity to walk around in their body, pretending to be them, as if you had any rights to their name!" The boy shouted back, not the least bit intimidated.

Toga shrank away.

"Stop."

What were their names again? Kana? Michiro? Genzo?"

"Please, stop." Toga pleaded

"No, I'm not finished yet! Who were the others? How about those foreigners who came here for vacation? Mika? Tai? Ooh, how about Lexi?"

"I said stop." Toga growled, getting angrier by the second.

"Let's see, who were the rest? Ichika? Rei? Oh man, come to think of it, I'm pretty sure she was pregnant. That's a double kill. Nice work with that one." The boy was obviously enjoying this. With every word, his face came closer and his smile grew wider.

"STOP IT!" Toga screamed. Anger taking over, she grabbed the first thing she saw, a sharp piece of glass, and stabbed the boy in the side of the neck. He didn't even flinch, not even as the wound bled profusely and stained his clothes.

"Now there's the Himiko Toga I remember. The devilish little girl who killed anybody she didn't like. Don't worry. I didn't forget about Saeko either."

Realizing what she had done, Toga gasped and let go of the glass. Seemingly uncaring, the boy grabbed hold of it and tore it from his neck, leaving a gaping wound there that he paid no mind to.

"You haven't changed at all. You had that nice little moment with your new boyfriend, and absolutely nothing changed. As soon as you got angry, you didn't hesitate to go for a vital spot. You must really want to kill me, huh? To make me shut up so you can go back to ignoring everybody you killed before and pretend you're a good person? You can't just start over. You don't get to forget everything you did and pretend to be somebody you're not, no matter what the guy tells you!"

"... I didn't forget them." Toga mumbled, unable to speak any louder. "I remember them. Every single one. Every person I ever killed. I remember their names, I remember the way I killed them, I remember the looks on their faces when they died. I didn't forget anything. Not even you."
Toga lifted her head slightly, glancing at the replaying memory. It had reached the point where she killed her friend once more, crying over him while begging him to wake up.

"The only thing I can't remember is your name. I remember your face. I remember how I killed you. I remember the look on your face when you died. And I remember what you told me." Toga looked up, staring her "friend" in the eyes.

"You say I've forgotten everybody. You say I'm trying to move on and pretend to be a good person. I'm not. I promise you, I've never once believed that I'm a good person, and I probably never will. You think that because I have the nerve to smile and be happy, I'm ignoring my past. I'm not. I'm just following your advice."

The smiling boy lifted an eyebrow.

"My advice?"

"You said it helps to smile. You said it makes other people happy when you smile. You said you can make yourself happy when you smile, that you can forget the bad things, that you can focus on the good things. And you were right. When I remember something, I smile. When I kill somebody, I smile. And if I think I deserve to be happy, I smile. You were right, it helps. So I smile all the time. Not because I'm happy, but because I want to be happy."

The boy's eyebrow twitched. Evidently, he was not happy. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Toga.

"Look over there. What do you see?" Toga pointed at the memory, which was now showing her leaving him behind before resetting.

"What do I say? I see a monster. I see a horrible little villain murdering me and walking away without a second thought."

"No. No, you don't. You said I made you, that you're made from my guilt. If that's the case, you're not really you, you're just my perception of you. I thought you'd be mad, that you would hate me and call me a horrible person, and that's how I know you aren't real. Even when I was mean to him, or when I hit him, or… when I killed him, he was still nice to me. I didn't deserve it, but he was nice to me. You aren't real. You're a copy. You're something I made so I would feel better."

Toga took a deep breath. Tears were beginning to fall.

"I made you because I wanted closure. Maybe I thought that if you hated me, that would make up for what I did. That if you were still here to hate me, I could make up for it. But I can't. I can't take back what I did, especially not with a cheap copy like you."

The boy's eyes were furiously twitching now. He was pissed.

"So what?! Because I'm not the real thing, I can't be angry? I can't look at my own death and be angry at you? What happens now? You forget about me and replace me with a nicer version, one that'll tell you it's okay, that you don't have to feel bad for killing me? Get over yourself! You can't just rewrite your own mind to avoid taking responsibility!"

Toga closed her eyes, trying her best to keep more tears from falling.

"I know. I know I can't make up for this. I know you shouldn't be here. I can't change the past, but I can do better in the future. I don't have to kill people, I can help them. I don't have to make people afraid, I can make them happy. It won't make up for anything, but it's better than doing nothing."

The boy just glared at her. So it was all self-indulgence then? An effort to convince herself she was doing good? It was pathetic.

"I can't stay here." Toga continued. "You said it yourself. I'm dying, aren't I? Then I don't have time to waste here. Peter is out there, doing his best to help everybody, and I'm in the middle of some kind of fever dream arguing with myself. It's not fair to make him do all the work himself, is it?" Toga chuckled, a small smile on her face.

"YOU! YOU'RE LAUGHING!? YOU'RE SMILING!?" The boy shouted, angered beyond reason by this insult.

"Yes." Toga admitted freely, her smile growing wider as more tears fell. "I am smiling."

He wanted to be angry. He wanted to yell at her, to insult her, to do whatever was necessary to drag the vampire girl into a pit of misery.

But he didn't. The boy stared at her, eyes red, cheeks stained with tear trailers, and her lips twisted into a smile, and said nothing. He couldn't say anything to make her feel worse than she already did. Not with her smiling like that. The smile itself was proof that she did his job for him.
With nothing left to do, he stopped. For the first time since he had been created, his own smile vanished. He had nothing left. His entire purpose was to make her miserable, to remind her that she deserved nothing. If she did that for him, he had nothing to do, nothing to say, and no job to finish.

He hung his head low, staring at his feet. What did he do now? Did he continue to wander around her mind, accomplishing nothing? Did he disappear? What happened now that he had no purpose?

Faint, soft footsteps caught his attention. Lifting his head, he saw that Toga was walking closer to him. He made no moves as she stopped right in front of him and wrapped her arms around his back, pulling him into a hug. She was much taller, so her head rested on top of his. He could feel her tears dropping into his hair.

"I'm sorry. If you want to hate me, fine. If you want to call me a monster, fine. But please don't ever think that there isn't a single day that I don't think about this. I really am… so, so sorry."

Other than her, the boy could hear another person crying. It was difficult to see thanks to their height difference, so he twisted his head a little to look over her side. He saw the memory of herself. She was crying, holding onto him and begging him to wake up.

"PLEASE! I DIDN'T MEAN TO! I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE WAKE UP!"

The boy closed his eyes. He hesitated, thinking about it for a moment, before deciding on what to do. He raised his arms and hugged her back. They remained that way for several minutes, listening to the memory replay behind them. When finally they separated, there were two things that Toga noticed immediately. One, he was crying. Tears streamed down his face, making his cheeks look slick and wet.

Two, he was smiling.

"I guess I was right. Smiling does help." He chuckled humorlessly. Toga joined him, both of them laughing despite neither of them truly feeling happy. Everything about them was a lie. Their smiles, their laughter, it was all fake.

The only real things about either of them were their tears.

"... What do I do now?"

"... You don't belong here. You were right. I don't know how, I didn't even know I did it, but I made you just to make myself feel better. You shouldn't be here, so you won't be."

His smile dropped.

"What do you mean?"

"You're not my prisoner. Not anymore. You aren't a tool to make me feel better, to pity me until I feel good. You never should have existed in the first place, and now you don't have to." Toga explained.

That was it then. It was finally time. 4 years of wandering around, watching Toga's memories play themselves back over and over on repeat with no real purpose. For the first time in his existence, he had actually done his job, and here he was, quitting on the first day.

"... That's fine. It's not like I have anything I need to do anymore. Besides, you can only watch the same memories so many times before you get bored."

"And how do I get out?"
"I don't know. I guess just… go back. You ran away from the pain and hid here to get away, so you just have to go back. Wake yourself up. Give yourself a reason."

Toga thought for a moment. A reason to wake up? What was that supposed to…

"Peter?" Toga thought aloud. "What is he doing? Weren't heroes about to attack us? Is he safe? The others? Do they need help?"
"Well, there's your reason then. Stop wasting time with me. Go save your boyfriend." The boy sighed.

Toga glanced at him. She couldn't just say goodbye. There had to be something else. Something he liked. Something he wanted. Something about him that she couldn't remember.

Wait…

"I'm fine just being here with a friend. Who'd have thought quirkless, homeless $%^ would make a friend?"

"As long as I don't have to do things myself, I'll be okay. Don't worry, #$%^ is tougher than people give me credit for."

"... Thank you. If it weren't for you, I'd be dead. Really, thank you $%^."

Toga thought as hard as she could, looking back on every single moment she had ever shared with her first friend, her first family member.

The boy watched her thinking, painfully aware that his hand was flaking away. His skin, muscle, and bone flaked off, turning to ash as his body gradually dissipated. It only made sense. He had no purpose, so of course he would no longer remain.

Suddenly, as if she was hit by a bolt of lightning, Toga jolted upright, her eyes meeting the boy's. She walked closer and pulled him into one last hug. One of his arms had disappeared, so he used the other to hug her back.

He was more important to her than she would ever know. When her life was terrible, when she had nobody, he was there. He was a friend, he was somebody to lean on, somebody who helped her carry on. If this was the last time she would see him Toga at least wanted to remember him properly.

"Goodbye. I'll miss you… Jomei." [2]

Again, Jomei looked over her side at the replaying memory.

"It's… it's fine. You didn't want to. This isn't… this isn't you." Again, he watched himself grab hold of Toga's hand. "Remember Toga, It helps to smile."

Satisfied, Jomei used what was left of his left arm to hug her back.

"I'll miss ya too, monster girl."

The two of them held onto each other until the last of his arm dissipated into ash. Only then did they pull away. And, once again, Jomei was smiling.

"Guess I'll see you again someday." He commented.

"I doubt it. I don't think I'll make it to where you are." Toga chuckled.

"We'll see. Maybe you'll surprise me." Jomei's smile grew ever so slightly larger just before he finished dissipating. Toga was now alone, save for her memory replaying in the background.

"... I guess that's it then." Toga took a deep breath. No more crying. No more getting angry. She needed to focus. If there was ever a time to wake up, it was now.

"Open your eyes. Pinch yourself. Do something! Peter is out there right now! Maybe he;s getting attacked by heroes, maybe he already got captured. The more time you spend here, the more likely it is he'll end up captured."

She tried her best, but nothing changed. It was so tempting to get angry, but she forced her emotions down and remained calm.

"Toga… your whole life, you only ever did the wrong thing. Your entire life is one monumental screw up. For god's sake, we finally have a chance to do something good, and you are not going to waste it! NOW WAKE UP!

With that final thought, Toga's world warped around her. The colors blurred, the buildings collapsed in on themselves. Everything disappeared until, eventually, she was left standing alone in the original dark "room" she was in when she had first passed out.

The darkness returned, but this time, Toga wasn't afraid of it. She knew why it was here. She wasn't torturing herself with her own mind anymore, now she was simply asleep. Her head still kind of hurt, but that didn't matter. All she had to do was wake up.

Smiling to herself, Toga lifted a hand, clenched it into a fist, and punched herself as hard as she could.

She felt her eyes snap open, taking in the world around her. The colors, the buildings, everything.

She just barely had enough time to register the fist flying at her.

Peter's POV:

It had not gone well.

Everybody was knocked out except for Peter. Stain's swords were broken, Todoroki was covered in ice, Kirishima was exhausted from overusing Unbreakable, Kaminari was brain dead, both of Midoriya's arms were broken, Iida's engines had overheated, Twice was slumped against a fire hydrant, and Dabi would have a few more dark purple marks when he woke up.

Peter had just been on the receiving end of a ferocious right straight, which hit him directly in the center of his chest. After receiving the hit, he had been sent flying into a building, which turned out to be the same building he had set Toga down against.

Cracks ran all through the chest plate of his new suit and he was pretty sure some of his ribs were broken. Now, temporarily out of commission, he was forcing himself to his knees, defiantly glaring at All Might as he stomped over to him.

This isn't you. You're supposed to be the world's greatest hero, the guy everybody relies on, who always does the right thing. If even one of those things was true, you'd listen to me, you'd help me. Instead you're thinking with your fists." All Might stopped directly in front of Peter. One of his mask lenses had been destroyed, revealing a single, hateful eye glaring at the large hero. "You know I'm right. When are you gonna wake up All Might?"

"... For your crimes against the people of this city, you will be detained and arrested. You have the right to a lawyer and will be tried in a court of law. I'm… sorry things turned out this way, young Peter."

All Might half-heartedly raised a fist, ready to knock Peter out. It was the smart thing to do. They both knew that if the opportunity presented itself, Peter would strike, and he would strike hard.

Peter saw the punch coming. He could tell it carried far less force than one of All Might's usual punches. Even Midoriya could probably stop it if he tried. Now, though, that wasn't happening. Peter's arms were completely numb from blocking so many of All Might's devastating punches. He could barely even move them, let alone catch a punch.

Closing his eyes, Peter waited until the strike was delivered, prepared to be knocked out.

1 second.

2 seconds.

"... Huh?"

Slowly opening his eyes, Peter saw All Might's fist had stopped directly in front of him, mere inches from his face. Pressed against his massive fist was a much smaller, feminine hand, fingers and thumb outstretched to cover as much surface as possible.

Somebody else had stopped the punch.

Looking at the hand, Peter saw the arm was coming from… behind him?

Slowly turning around, hardly believing what he was seeing, Peter finally laid eyes on the person who had stopped a punch from All Might.

"... Toga?"

"..."

Holy… fuck.

Guys, I'm gonna level with you, I did not plan for this chapter to go in this direction. Originally, it was gonna be the All Might battle, the stuff with Toga, and the ending would be the same. But once I wrote it, all that stuff at the end just… happened. I got an idea and I just couldn't stop. All that stuff happened all at once. I was just gonna spend some time guilting Toga and use it for character development, but… holy shit. I really didn't plan on making a depressing chapter, it just ended up being like that by the time I finished. The "smile" stuff, the disappearing, the moving on, none of that was part of my original plan. Damn. I honestly don't know if this is good or bad.

[1]: Yes, this is an SAO Abridged reference.

[2]: I love when author's put thought into their character's names, so I made sure to put a lot of care into picking the perfect name for Jomei. If you don't know, apparently "Jomei" means something along the lines of "somebody who spreads light, who is passionate for life in general and always shows interest in others, specifically their friendship and the good aspects of them." It's the perfect name for a "good-guy," nice character like… well, Jomei.

I know many of you were probably disappointed by the lack of… everything, in the All Might battle. It just wasn't an important part of this chapter, so I glossed over it. Plus, it would have been weird to have a full fight scene right after all the emotional stuff. Don't worry, we'll be seeing more next chapter. Promise.

To avoid any confusion, the stuff with Toga started the second she blacked out, I just didn't write any of it until now because I figured it'd be easier to keep track of in a single chapter. And because I didn't want to take breaks in the bar defense chapter to show things from her perspective. In case it wasn't obvious, this whole chapter was hers. The only reason I included the breaks for Peter and All Might was so that I wouldn't keep you guys waiting on finding out what happened. Maybe it would have been better to do two separate chapters, but this is just how it turned out. Hopefully it was good, because, again, I planned very little of this. I seriously don't even know how to feel about it if I'm being completely honest with you. If you'll excuse me, I gotta go sit down before I cry over one of my own chapters again.

Thanks for reading and remember to leave a review.

Aren signing off.