Thunder Hero Baraquiel 37

Bakugo stood dazed on the first place podium. The gaudy gold medal, bestowed upon him by All Might felt like a suffocating weight around his neck. He didn't deserve it, he hadn't felt like that he'd earned it, out of the corner of his eye he spied Midoriya, doing his utmost to remain standing. "Fucking hell, Izuku, I put you through hell and you did the same for me…why do I feel so hollow?" He basked in the applause of the crowd, it wasn't for him, none of this was for him. The world knew what he'd done, they knew how he'd terrorised his former childhood friend. Said friend now stood in second place. "He should have been the one to be in first place. He deserves it more than me." Then it hit him.

"I'm jealous? I'm jealous of Midoriya…no. It can't be. Hang on…whenever I berated Midoriya when he said something about another hero there was always something logical to the argument. Midoriya…he…never actually cared about the rankings, the glamour, or the fame…he just wants to be a hero who helps people. Baraquiel…sure he's not a big hero but…he's in the rankings, not high in the popularity polls over Japan as a whole but rather he's one of the highest at least amongst the police, fire service and medical services. He…declared his earnings once and donated 85% of one years earnings to those services…Yeah, I can see why Midoriya would want to be trained by him." "Bakugo-shonen?" Bakugo looked up at All Might.

"Yeah?"

"Something on your mind?" Normally, his response would be to angrily protest that he was fine and it was none of his damn business.

"A fair bit…why?"

"You need to make a speech…you won afterall."

Bakugo growled and took the gaudy All Might-styled microphone "I won, wonderful…I suppose I want to say well done to the people who made it onto the podium. Also, well done to everyone who decided to participate and to everyone who heard my confession against Midoriya Izuku…I'm going to be better, I need to set a fucking example. What I did, what I've done is nothing worse than abuse and torture. It's taken a while for that to sink in and as my teacher Baraquiel once said 'If you cut us, do we not bleed?' if I've learned anything so far than I need to be better. This tournament revealed the worst in me and I will prove to be better than that."

Bakugo handed the microphone back, before he departed the stage. The other winners left shortly afterwards, Izuku looked dead on his feet. He made his way towards his new residence, his limbs felt like lead; he sank onto the sofa and his eyes rolled into his head as he fell asleep.

Inko, who had been upstairs, descended to find her son passed out on the sofa. Her phone was out and she snapped a few photos. "Look who's all tuckered out."

"Let him sleep. He needs it, tomorrow…tomorrow we begin."

Inko checked that she was communicating with Baraquiel.

"Is it wrong to say that I don't want my boy to undergo this?"

"You'd be human. I don't want him to do it either, but, unfortunately we need OFA. Izuku won't be alone, I won't let him."

Inko stared at the message "Why does that read like you know what's happening?"

"Izuku is Me. Only better looking with far more help at his disposal. I'd rather die than let him take the fate of the world on his shoulders."

(Baraquiel)

Harry sighed as he stared at his beer can. "What is it?" Fuyumi asked.

"Aizawa Midoriya Inko…I really…"

Fuyumi stepped into Harry's arms "You're an amazing man, brilliant father and husband." She looked up at him. "You're Baraquiel, you've navigated a crisis like this before. It's the same situation, you just have a greater stake in the outcome. I'm with you, your friends are with you, you have a small cadre of apprentices. Right now, Shoto needs you."

Harry nodded, he necked his beer before grabbing four more. He trotted up the stairs and knocked on his brothers room. Shoto opened it, he looked awful…his eyes were definitely bloodshot. "Harry."

"Shoto…come on. We need to talk." Shoto nodded, he followed his brother up the stairs and through the attic until they were on a small patio on the roof.

"I never…"

"I built it myself, with Cementoss's help. I needed a place to let myself think and I think you'd appreciate this." Harry handed him a beer.

Shoto took it "I…need to apologise to Izuku. What I did was reckless, stupid and so brutal it shouldn't be used on a friend. Ever since I was small I've had this shadow that I couldn't shake, I'm normally better than it but today it beat me. I have never considered Izuku as anything more than a dear friend, my best friend…someone who sees past the shadow that Endeavour emits. That same shadow that makes everyone see me as an extension of him. I wanted to prove that I could use the entirety of my quirk…then…I suppose I got carried away by the adrenaline and wanting to see if I could use lightning."

Harry let out a breath "Fuck…fucking hell lad, talk about carpet bombing with your problems." Shoto looked dejected.

"Oh turn that frown upside down, Shoto-chan. I want you to repeat something…can you do that?" Shoto nodded wondering where his brother was going with this.

"I fucked up." Harry stated.

"I…I…fu…fucked…up." Shoto stammered.

"I fucked up."

"I…fucked up. I…fucked up. I fucked up. I FUCKED UP." Shoto finished with a yell before drinking heavily from the can.

Harry grinned "Feel better now? Now that you've got that off your chest?"

Shoto nodded "Indeed."

"Good…you're not quite out of the woods yet. Half of the crowd wanted you punished, the other half of the crows want you to be expelled. However a small but determined cross section of these halves want you to issue a statement of truth from you. It turned out unleashing Izuku and the Honey-Badger at one another was more of a Sasuke vs Naruto than I'd anticipated only…noone got their neck broken or a hand pushed into their chests or primal entities of chakra began to manifest. Although Izuku played Bakugo like a fucking pro, I am seriously fucking proud at how he played that teen."

Shoto grinned "That was a rather good match. I didn't get to watch much of it, Hiro and Nozomi wanted to play."

"Thanks by the way. I know Fuyumi and I don't bring it up, but, we're fucking proud of you. Thanks so much for helping with the kids, just being there."

Shoto grinned "I was watching on YouTube, something about being used as free childcare…"

"You sneaky shit. No you're not free childcare…if you ever checked your bank account, You'd notice its larger than before."

Shoto's eyes widened "Why didn't you say?"

"You didn't ask. When you said thanks to us, I took that as You'd noticed that we'd paid you."

"That was thanks for not charging me egregious amounts of rent and for allowing me to join your D&D Game…although why are you using 5e and not the latest?"

"Everyone has their preference. Just because it's the latest does not mean it's the best. In fact TTRPGS and Heroics can be loosely categorised together. Anyway…you have a friend to apologise to and a twelve-pack to get the pair of you through." Harry replied as they headed back down into the house.

Shoto pulled out his phone.

S: Izuku? You awake?

I: Am now…what is it?

S: Can we meet? It's…important.

I: Sure? At yours or mine?

S: You pick.

I: I'll be over twenty.

Twenty, it turned out, was twenty seconds. Izuku breezed in with a smile and cheer, before it faded slightly. Like Harry with him, Shoto led Izuku back out onto the balcony and handed him a beer. "You're…going to want that."

Izuku took it and his eyes widened as he realised that there were twelve "What is it?"

"I fucked up, Zuku, I completely and utterly fucked up. What I did was inexcusable, feckless and reckless and borderline suicidal. My entire life I've lived with the shadow of the Number Two Hero being my father, being seen as an extension of him and nothing I ever did would be good enough for people to differentiate between Endeavour and I. Today…during the sports festival…I lost. I lost to the fucking expectations my father drilled into my head, 95% of the time I tell his image to go fuck himself. After I did what I did I've been doing nothing but thinking, you didn't deserve my bullshit not with your own bullshit to go through. How'd your finals go? I was trying to watch but…"

"Niece and Nephew?" Izuku commented, swigging from the beer can. Shoto nodded.

"Got to the finals…nearly killed Kaminari."

Shoto snorted "I saw that. Textbook suplex, that was on Kaminari for the bad landing."

"I ended up fighting Bakugo. I did what you did, I brought up my life of bullshit, bullying and brutal teenage behaviour. We clashed in D-Rank version of Sasuke and Naruto." Shoto couldn't help but snort.

"I'm sorry…just you saying your final attack with him was that particular scene."

Izuku giggled, "Yeah…it's a little silly now that you think about it. Shoto, I forgive you…I already did. I know what this festival means to the Hero Course. Just please…don't use me as your target again."

"I can do that. Another one?"

Izuku nodded and the boys began to burn there way through the twelve beers "I do have to ask, Izuku, what's going on with 'Alexander Dumas'? What is that? The only reference I have of it are the books 'Man in the Iron Mask' and 'Three Musketeers'."

Izuku sighed "There's an entity from the days of the Luminescent Baby, who can take and bestow quirks. Apparently his brother had a quirk that could be passed on…because it on its own is such a weak quirk, the Entity gave it a stockpiling quirk. Then little brother passed his new quirk on and it's burned its way through the centuries until All Might. The Entity is known as All For One, subsequently the Quirk that's been passed down from the younger brother…"

"One For All." Todoroki breathed in realisation "Has All Might taken leave of his senses?"

"Erm…I'm the only one who can."

Shoto's eyes widened "Right…fuck…that's bullshit. You're being given a quirk! Cool…that's somewhat logical, I mean we haven't discovered the true limits of what quirks can do yet. This feels like something a bad writer would think of."

Izuku chuckled at that "It gets even worse. Baraquiel said that I'm the only one he'd trust, want and wish to inherit this quirk."

"I can see that…you're the only one I'd want to wield it. Izuku, I have one question for you rather a few…why do you want to be a hero? What does it mean to be a hero?"

Izuku grinned at him "I just want to be able to save people, from themselves, society…anyone I can. A hero is meant to be there for anyone and everyone, just because someone is performing villainous or stupid acts it doesn't mean that they should be punished with the same antiquated laws. So being able to stop someone doing something stupid and potentially destroying there livelihood if I as a hero can do that then I'll be happy to be a hero."

They'd reached the kitchen as Midoriya explained his reasons for being a hero. Banshee, Malkav, Broadside and Athena were in the kitchen planning for the next couple of weeks, they stared at the teen with open mouths and wide eyes. Harry and Fuyumi snickered and carried on with setting up the table for games night. "Baraquiel…did you know?"

"I know a great many things Athena…you're going to have to be more specific with your enquiry."

"Did you know that Midoriya had such pure intentions about wanting to be a hero…"

"You heard his 'help for the sake of helping'...yup. I knew and I know. It's partly why I think he'd do very well with Alexander Dumas."

"Yet you hate it." Banshee stated.

"Of course I hate it. I hate the fact that it boils down to Midoriya having to clean up the world's fucking shit."

"Passing the torch… janitorial hero to another unfortunate teenager."

Baraquiel grunted at the Illusionist. "Yup…"

"Only this one has the expertise of his predecessor."

"Yup. Now, Shoto, Izuku…you playing?"

"Yup."