"Do you have regrets in life, Midoriya?"

It was barely above a whisper and yet it felt like a bomb going off in the cell next door. It had been hours since Hara had made any kind of noise and Izuku sighed in relief against his better judgment. Because, yes, the question was ominous as fuck but at least Hara was still alive and conscious enough to speak. He briefly considered responding in morse code, but he had a feeling that the other man wanted to actually talk to someone and so he risked it. The screams coming from the end of the hall would probably mask their voices. Probably.

"Doesn't everyone?"

"Touché. But what are yours?" Hara let out a pitiful excuse of a chuckle and Izuku grimaced. He fiddled with the switch of his nightlight, head pounding.

"I, uh… I-I don't know, man. Maybe…"

"Yes?"

Izuku exhaled through his nose, faintly aware of the fact that it was healing with a bump in the middle and a deviation on the left. He didn't feel entirely comfortable sharing some things about himself, mostly because explaining those things forced him to speak about other people that probably wouldn't appreciate having their secrets told. He could always make something up, but that felt even worse. He imagined Stain asking him the same thing, both of them sitting on a dusty couch, and words escaped his lips before he could fully consider them.

"I… I think I only regret wasting so much time doubting myself chasing dreams that made no sense. Me realizing some things earlier would have saved a lot of people a lot of trouble."

"Wasting time is the worst thing The Apprentice has done?" Hara asked sarcastically and Izuku smiled.

"Now, you asked me what I regret, not my biggest crime."

"...Do you think that if you regret all the bad shit you've ever done, it makes it better?"

Izuku bit his lip.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, does honest repentance make it up for being a bad person? It's not like it rights the wrongs, right? The consequences of your actions still carry on after you're gone, so just being sorry shouldn't be enough."

Izuku hesitated. There was an undeniable familiarity to this conversation, though the fact that he was on the other side of the equation was new to Izuku. It was usually him overthinking, him spiraling out of control, and getting caught in awkward emotional places. Did that make him the responsible person here? Was he supposed to guide this talk somewhere not terrible?

"I mean it's too good to be true, right? Bad people don't get to just be sorry and save their own asses from… karma, or hell, or whatever."

On the other side of the wall, Hara's voice faltered. Izuku's heart constricted painfully and he spared Morse's cell a glance in the dark. He wondered if she was looking back at him.

"What do you regret, Hara?"

There was a long silence, only interrupted by the sounds of sniffling and shaky breaths. Now more than ever Izuku wished there wasn't a solid wall between them.

"Does it even matter?"

Morse started tapping away at her door, just a slow little rhythm, and Izuku sighed.

"If you feel like it does, then yeah. I'm no one to judge you or even say if what you've done can be fixed or not, but… I'll listen. If it helps."

Hara sniffled loudly and then made a noise that was half a laugh and half a sob. Izuku started tapping along with Morse while he waited for Hara to gather his thoughts.

"I just had so much time to… think, and question everything and… This probably feels so sudden to you because I was only actually gone, what? A day? B-but for me it was… Just..."

Izuku's heart sank into the depths of hell. He'd figured out what type of quirk they'd used on Hara rather quickly. A few days prior another one of the prisoners had come back to ask the rest of them what year it was, and that was enough information to reach a solid theory. Izuku wondered briefly, just for an instant, if Frame Rate had been used on him as well at some point. Had he actually been locked underground for what he guessed was over a week, or had he only been there for a day? An hour? The shadow at the corner of his cell trembled and Izuku had to forcefully rip his mind away from that. He couldn't spiral now.

"It's okay, man." Izuku offered weakly, deciding that Hara would probably fully crack if he knew the truth—that he'd only been in the white room for twenty minutes at most. He'd mentioned spending years there, and that was terrifying already. Izuku couldn't even imagine.

"I don't… I trust you, man, but… I don't know how much I should say."

"That's fine, too."

Hara let out a choked laugh.

"I… wonder if you'd listen to me if you knew what I've done. What I've allowed happening around me."

"I'm here now. I meant it."

"...I knowingly and willingly looked away from things. Awful things being done to innocents. And it wasn't just in passing either, you know. I was right there, every day, and I could see it happening and I just… didn't do anything. I ignored the screams and the crying and… And back in there, in the white room, I realized something. Two things, actually. That being sorry isn't enough, sure, but… Also..."

"What?"

"That as bad as it all was, as cruel as I was… I'd do it all over again. I would still join the yakuza and I would still allow my boss to torture a girl no older than my own little brother, because to me my brothers were… are my world. And if it meant them being safe then I didn't care if someone else got hurt, not even a child. And that makes me just the same as the people keeping us here. And that kinda seals my fate, doesn't it? I mean, this is happening now and there has to be a reason for it, right? I deserve this and I can't even fight against that verdict because I know I earned it. So how do you make up for something that you don't regret? Something that you wish others would rot in hell for?"

Izuku rested his head against the wall. Hara had a much deeper voice than he did and the whispering could have been considered comforting under different circumstances, maybe with another subject of conversation. But they had this; the dark and the screams in the background, Morse's tapping barely hearable. So many people around him and yet he'd never felt so isolated. So desperate for a connection of any kind.

Maybe that's why he confessed.

"My first target, my… first kill, was a kid younger than me. Not by much, maybe two years, but he was barely a teen. I cut his hand off and then I sliced him in the chest with a katana, and I so vividly remember realizing what I was doing in between strikes and feeling… Glad. Relieved, that'd I'd finally managed to do what had to be done to protect the things and the people I care about. I never even knew his name, and even now I just don't care about him."

"Why'd you do it? Kill him, I mean."

"He was the type of person the Hero Killer targets. Not to mention he was about to kill my friend, so yeah. Maybe it was a little bit more personal than my mentor hoped for."

"Would you do it again?"

"Yes. But I guess I also wouldn't find fault in someone trying to stop me for the right reasons."

He sighed, realizing that there were no more screams coming from the end of the hallway. A part of him wanted to fixate on the fact that he was openly speaking about something that two years ago would have given him nightmares. He should feel awful, shouldn't he? For everyone he'd helped kill or incapacitate, for every single family he'd destroyed. But then he imagined Stain standing over him, hand reaching out, and the slight guilt that wanted to blossom died.

God, he'd changed so much. He wondered what All Might would think of him.

"So we're both horrible," Hara sighed.

"I don't think you're that bad," Izuku joked and Hara chuckled.

"Well, at least we can say we came clean before we died, right?"

"I mean–"

"Alive," Morse interrupted with a hiss. She sounded close, like she was pressed right against her door. She was tapping like an absolute maniac. Hara tried to talk but she just repeated herself. "Alive! Both. Not dead."

Izuku felt his jaw drop a little. He could almost feel Hara's eye on him as he searched the dark.

"Did… Morse?" He whispered it mostly to himself, lowkey shocked. He heard Morse inhale sharply, probably to hiss at them again, but then the door slammed open and the lights blinded them. Izuku groaned and he heard Morse crying out in distress, but he couldn't see anything.

"Evening, Midoriya." Curious greeted sweetly and Izuku had to force back a growl. "How did you sleep?"

Izuku glared at the figure slowly coming into focus, sparing a few glances at the cell behind her. The curtain was drawn but still swaying, and he could hear Morse whimpering like a wounded animal. He wanted to just bolt out of his cell and make sure that she was okay, but he wasn't stupid enough to show his concern in front of Curious. She'd already used so much against him, adding a new person into the mix was a terrible idea. He had to trust that she was alright and focus his attention on the situation before him.

"That time of day already?" He asked Curious. She smiled pleasantly, teeth perfect and white, and Izuku shivered. She stepped back as his cell door was unlocked.

"Not quite. You have a very special day ahead of you."

Izuku was, very momentarily, tempted to try and jump a guard in the hopes that they would shoot him in the face and spare him any more of this misery. An imaginary Stain smacked him in the back of the head and he sighed.

"Alright, let's get this over with." He stood and attempted to walk towards the white room, but Curious wagged her finger in his face.

"No, Midoriya. We're headed somewhere more important."

Goosebumps immediately spread through his arms. Against all logic, Izuku found himself wishing he could just crawl back inside his cell. Anywhere was better than here and yet…

"And don't forget your book." Curious finished gleefully, not giving him any time to even think. He was shoved back inside his cell by a man, only given enough time to pick up his book, and then was pulled back out and pushed towards the door that led to the stairs. To freedom, in theory. In an absolute panic, Izuku allowed himself to be dragged outside his prison like a lamb to the slaughter. He didn't know if it was the safety of the known, but he found himself wishing he'd been left in the dark.

He was led up the endless steps and down hallways, all the way back to the elevator. It was the doors opening that seemed to snap him out of his fear-induced shock, and he took a moment to actually look at his surroundings. There were three men with them, Curious was wearing a black dress with a winter coat on top, and the lights above the elevator doors showed him that he was at least 4 levels underground. He was pushed inside the elevator, coming face to face with a stranger. Or, at least, that was his first assumption. The bags under his eyes, the greasy hair, and the crooked nose really made him look like an entirely different person. The green roots of his hair looked bizarre with the ugly lavender on top, and, Jesus, was he actually starting to grow facial hair? 16 going on 35, he told himself with a grimace. He looked nothing like his own missing posters, not by a long shot. Even when blinking, he could have sworn that his reflection was moving at a different time, further differentiating them. Had he looked this bad before he was captured?

"Now, Midoriya. I believe I owe you an apology." Curious' voice snapped him out of his thoughts and it took him a few seconds to even register the words. He looked at the dark-eyed woman with open confusion. Was… was that a joke?

"...Heh?"

Curious smiled, the reflection on the mirror showing him that she was already going over her notes.

"I was asked to come to get you yesterday, but I was far too busy. I hope you can forgive that."

"Come get me? For what?"

"Something special. You'll see."

She added that last part to keep him from asking questions, though that only made him want to ask more things. Like how long he'd been here, why they suddenly needed him upstairs and not in the white room, how much longer they planned on keeping him in a cage, if he was going back after this. Did he want that? To go back into the darkness? Or was it something else?

The elevator dinged open after what felt like ages, the lights next to the door telling him that he was all the way on floor 27. He assumed floors were similar to one another and so he wasn't surprised when he was led to a room similar to the one where he'd spoken with Curious that first time. The table, the screen, everything was just as pristine and professional as before. Izuku had never felt so out of place.

"Would you like anything, Midoriya?"

He stayed silent, eyes locked on Curious' figure. There was food on the table, just a nice plate next to a black box, but he refused to give in to his desperation. Thinking of the people still locked downstairs, he'd just feel like an even worse human being if he took something. The older woman gave him a look and, knowing he wouldn't say anything else, pointed at a chair. He sat down carefully.

"How are you feeling? It must be really nice to be out of the basement, huh?"

Izuku glared at Curious, digging his nails into the cover of his book in order to keep his temper. She sat down across from him, her hands daintily resting on top of the mystery box. Green eyes shifted from the package to the woman smiling at him, the whole situation feeling off. Why was he here? Feeling impatient, he voiced his concern.

"What do you want?"

Curious smiled at his voice, her hand tapping on the box a few times before she pushed it towards him. He didn't move an inch.

"This isn't about me, Midoriya. It's about you."

The response irked him. He wanted nothing more than to just walk out and go back downstairs, and it wasn't only because he was worried about Hara and Morse. No. He just didn't trust himself to not lose his patience and do something idiotic. Like it or not, he was desperate to escape and that emotion pressed all types of buttons inside his brain.

One, two, three, four…

"You know, when it was first decided that you would come here, I had to talk down a lot of people that wanted to kill you."

Izuku bit back a snarky 'Gee, thanks', still focusing on his breathing.

"No one expected anything from you, and they wanted to use you as this… Outlet, after what happened to our members and to Endeavor. But I knew there was something special about you and your story, and I just couldn't let that go to waste. But now, I'm not the only one that thinks that."

Izuku stared at Curious with an empty look. It was odd, how compliments from the wrong person can sound just as disgusting as insults from the right one. Hell, it sounded even faker this way. Curious pushed the box a little closer to him and then motioned at it with her hand. It was an open invitation, but Izuku was hesitant to open the box. A part of him feared what could be inside.

"Go on. Open it."

"Why?"

"It's a gift. From our Grand Commander."

Izuku swallowed dryly. His stomach was twisting painfully and his fingers felt numb.

"I don't…"

"I insist." She interrupted, professional persona in place.

It took him a moment and an insane amount of self-control, but Izuku eventually let go of his book, placing it on his lap to keep it close, and rested his hands on the table on each side of the box. It was fancy, made of solid-looking cardboard, and adorned with a clean black bow at the top. For some odd reason, Izuku thought of the word 'coffin'. Curious gave him an expectant look and Izuku exhaled shakily. He managed to keep his hands from trembling as he lifted the lid carefully, half expecting the thing to explode. But it didn't blow up. The inside was pristine as well, not a hint of anything nefarious or cruel. It was…

"You know, I'm not the only one that reviews the quirk training videos. You've impressed our leader with a few of the things you've said. So much so, that he's willing to offer you a deal."

It was clothing. Expensive-looking clothing that Izuku believed would fit him rather well. And underneath, a newer edition of the book Curious had given him.

"...What is this?"

"A present from…"

"What for?"

"It's an offer like I said. You get to choose and maybe be a part of something much bigger. Something that, clearly, has connected with you." Curious tapped the cover of the other, much newer book.

Now, Izuku was very aware of the fact that he was a reactive person. He jumped into things without thinking, he screamed at people, he risked his life at the drop of a hat. It was something that he'd once been very insecure about. He couldn't count all the times that that impulsiveness had gotten him into trouble, how many times he'd ended up hurt and crying after the fact, filled with shame. But then, Stain had found him and Izuku had learned to both embrace and control those impulses in a much better way. He was reckless, yes, but he was also quick-minded. He did things without hesitation, but a plan was never far behind.

A year or so ago, Izuku would have reacted differently. But then he thought of his mentor, his friend, telling him that he was proud of him. He remembered the way he'd felt, strapped to the chair in the white room, repeating words that didn't belong to him but still made him feel something. And he remembered the empty looks. The open confusion.

Fakes. All of them. Stain would rather die than listen to this.

"No," Izuku whispered.

"You can have a room again, take some time. Then meet–"

"No." He surprised himself with how strong his voice was. He narrowed his eyes, pushed his chair back, and stood. "I'm not interested."

Curious, for once, looked a little taken aback. Her eyes shifted from one thing to another as if trying to figure out a puzzle.

"Midoriya, you haven't even heard what the offer is."

"I don't care what your offer is."

"Even if that could lead to your freedom?"

Izuku wanted to spit on her face.

"I'm done entertaining you. All of you. If I'm a prisoner here, then at least have the decency to treat me like one. You have nothing that could interest me, you fake."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. And I'm done here."

Curious looked at him for a moment longer. There was something flashing behind her eyes but Izuku was too angry to try and process it. No, actually he was just too offended to give a shit. She got up from her chair slowly, arms crossed over her chest as if she were hugging herself. Izuku turned away, more than ready to walk out of the room.

"Midoriya, if you don't take this opportunity, I will no longer be able to protect you."

Izuku froze, back straightening until he was at his full height.

"Protect me?" He hissed, looking over his shoulder at this pathetic excuse for a human being. She had the audacity to look at him with sympathy.

"I have made sure that only certain quirks get used on you, not to mention the frequency of said sessions. But you've told me so much already. The article is finished. If you reject this offer then… I no longer have an excuse to keep my soldiers from doing as they see fit."

Izuku's brows furrowed, chest shaking. His vision blurred with tears and with just pure, white rage. He wanted to scream. He could remember very few times in which he'd felt this furious, and most of those occasions had been fogged over by his own mind in order to protect him. No one was supposed to feel that much, he assumed. But he was feeling it, right now, right this second, an emotion that fully consumed him. He could feel it burning through him just like that last day at the bar and his body tensed in anticipation. Did it matter if he attacked Curious? Did anything matter at that point? Would any choice, be it violent or not, change the outcome? No. It wouldn't. No one would even know he had been there to begin with since the MLA's little operation looked like utter shit if people knew what they'd done to him. Had they even considered that? How many of their members knew of the people downstairs? How many had participated? It hit him then that maybe the prisoners were no secret, though he doubted that. There had to be normal people in their ranks. People who wanted freedom, understanding, teachings, people who maybe had no way of controlling their own quirks without the proper training and use. People who wanted to make a difference. People like Toga, or Stain, or Izuku himself.

Suddenly, he wasn't in that building anymore. He was in a broken, unfinished house in the outskirts of town with his mentor standing his ground before him and his only friends on the floor below. He heard himself, panicked and sad, asking Stain what he was supposed to have done. Leave you to rot in Tartarus? When the Hero Killer had so much yet to accomplish? When Stain himself had a drive and a passion for life and what he could do with it? When Izuku needed him?

Yes.

And then, like a flickering light, he understood. He finally got what Stain had meant back then when he told Izuku that they should have left him behind. It had sounded like unnecessary martyrdom at the time, even for the Hero Killer, but some little piece shifted into place just then. It wasn't about escaping or even trying to gain more time for himself. It was about living with purpose and, if necessary, dying in order to protect that very purpose. It was the first thing Stain had told him, but Izuku had always associated that death with a blaze of glory. But perhaps standing down was just as powerful, if it meant keeping your morals in place. He got it, and he was almost proud of himself for understanding.

Perhaps now, his biggest regret could be that he'd never be able to tell that to Stain.

"I'm done here, Curious. For good." He said evenly. The other woman sighed, shaking her head.

"You could at least hear me out."

"No."

"...As you wish, Midoriya. It was a pleasure and I truly thank you for giving me such wonderful material to work with. I won't forget."

Izuku looked at her, realized she was holding out her hand, and sighed. He tapped his book with a finger for a second and then carefully placed it on the table as if it were made of glass. Curious looked genuinely surprised as Izuku ran his hand down the cover before walking away, shoulders set. He'd learned everything he could from those pages and he was done holding on; if this was it, then so be it.

He was led back through the halls and towards the elevator, Curious no longer following behind to try and record him or ask him questions. The elevator felt empty and Izuku's reflection looked exceedingly tired, but he felt lighter than he had in a few days, probably mostly out of shock and denial. He knew what was awaiting him, knew there was no gracious way to deal with any of it, but at least at this moment, he was in control of himself and his path. Stain would be proud.

He already is, Izuku told himself with a sigh. He looked at himself in the mirror, fully facing what was about to happen to him. The elevator stopped on a lower floor and one of the three men escorting him stepped outside. The lights flickered, leaving him in the dark for a second. People ran down the hall in front of them, and the distant sound of rumbling could be heard. Izuku frowned. One of his guards pointed a gun at him while the other stepped outside to see what was happening. The power went out just as a window shattered down the hall.

And then the elevator fell four floors.