Lemillion let out a shuddering breath, his face the image of horror, and a part of Izuku felt bad for the young hero. The sight of blood and death had once made him feel faint, though that had been many a month ago.

I wonder when that changed, Izuku asked himself, watching the scene in front of him and finding nothing but relief flooding his chest.

Toga twisted the knife around as the mirage of blue skin melted off her real form. She even pushed down to change the angle at which the handle stuck out of Re-Destro's torso, right below his sternum, and her grin grew in tandem with every spurt of blood splashing her. Re-Destro threw Toga off with an expression that said he was making an effort, but it was nowhere near the strength he'd shown just moments prior and she landed gracefully. The knife got torn out along with the young woman and Lemillion covered his mouth. The villain touched his wound with both hands, skin pulsating with dark tones in a way that reminded Izuku of an octopus, before stumbling back and tripping over some piece of debris, losing his balance, and falling.

Lemillion's hold lessened and Izuku ran towards his mentor with a shaky smile.

"Stain!" Izuku all but barreled into his mentor, relishing in the strong arms that surrounded him. Half his brain wanted to ask a thousand questions at the same time; how had they found him? Where was Dabi? Was Shoto okay? What about Spinner?! Was Curious dead or had they stashed her somewhere? How on Earth were they all escaping now?!

The other half of his brain wanted him to become overtly aware of how fucking tired he was and Izuku's legs gave out for a second.

"How badly hurt are you?" Stain asked worriedly, holding onto Izuku as if the kid would phase through the ground and disappear again.

"I'm good," Izuku chuckled, blinking rapidly. He pushed back to take a good look at his mentor, his sense of reality threatening to slip once more. Stain was wearing normal clothes, his fear looked genuine and familiar, and he was soaked in an amount of dried blood that was most definitely from more than one person. Surprisingly, that last fact was the one that reassured him the most because his visions of Stain in the white room had never been so bloody.

No, scratch that, they had. Fuck. Izuku's hold on his mentor's shirt tightened and the teen closed his eyes so hard that he got a headache as he desperately forced himself to finish that thought properly.

They hadn't been bloody when they were meant to make him feel safe, which he did. He never felt safer than with Stain by his side.

"I'm here, I'm here," Izuku murmured, tapping at Stain's back as he went in for another spine-crushing hug.

Stain looked down at him with a look of pure rage, but it was aimed at someone else, someone that was already dead, and Izuku couldn't even see it.

"Izuku!" The shrill voice snapped him out of his downward spiral and he was quickly enveloped in another set of bloodied arms. The impact was sudden enough to knock him out of Stain's grasp and he was getting spun around in an instant, laughing as his mind blocked out his panic in an attempt to keep him functioning.

"You're back! You're back with us!" Toga was shouting, her face coming in and out of focus as she pressed herself against him from every possible angle. If hugging Stain hadn't left him a bloody mess, this sure would. "We found you!"

Izuku wanted to speak, say something reassuring, perhaps, but Toga's hands squished his face to hold him in place. Her eyes shone with tears and her lower lip trembled, brows knitting in panic.

"You're hurt!"

"N-no, I'm fine!"

"I missed you," She sobbed.

"I missed you, too," Izuku smiled. He gave Stain a look full of emotion, his breath hitching. "I missed you both so much. I didn't… I…"

"You are never leaving us again. Never. You're safe now. I'm… We're never letting someone take you again." It sounded like she was trying to convince herself a lot more than him, so Izuku just nodded. She sobbed, pulling him in for a hug that cracked his back in plenty of places, making him gasp in surprise. He was taller than her but she was picking him up like a doll despite the height difference. He didn't like the thought of her dropping him and so he hugged her even with her back being slick from all the blood on her skin.

…

On her skin, Izuku's mind slowly turned those words around, this way and that, not a hurry in the world even when he knew that something should be bothering him. The more the words gained meaning, the more of a blank his brain drew, and his expression changed to one of absolute embarrassment with the speed of a snail. And then the fact that he was holding a very undressed Toga hit him like a train and he started sputtering words and apologies with the poise of a crack addict, one hand swinging wildly and the other covering his eyes as if his life depended on it. One might find the sight amusing had it not involved a girl drenched in blood from head to toe. Said girl found it adorable though, her smile bright as the sun as she accepted the jacket being handed over by Stain, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else in the world.

"C-c-couldn't you use Curious' clothes?!" Izuku squeaked, both hands over his eyes now.

"She's too tall," Toga spat, sticking her tongue out at the thought of using the clothing of a woman she hated.

"And yours?!"

"I had to ditch them. She would have recognized them after she made that blood explode in my mouth."

That statement pushed some of Izuku's awkwardness away, making room for uneasiness of another type. He risked a glance at Toga, who was now thankfully wrapped in a garment long enough to cover her properly—if just barely. It was hard to tell with all the blood smeared on her face, but he noticed that part of her upper lip was badly burnt, the damage mirrored on the lower lip and going down to her neck. He remembered too suddenly what Curious had said right before he'd been taken.

"...She hurt you," Izuku exhaled, looking at Stain and noticing how his mentor's clothes were also charred in certain places, his knuckles all torn open. Stain's eyes flicked his way, that horrid something shining in those red orbs.

"Not as bad as we hurt her," Toga smiled, the statement sounding twice as cruel when spoken with such glee.

"W-what did you do?"

"You can talk later," Stain spoke stiffly, grabbing Izuku by the shoulder and pulling him along towards the door. Izuku stumbled, his eyes frantically scanning the roof until they landed on Lemillion's form kneeling next to Re-Destro. His sleeves and boots, once pristine white, were splattered with blood as he attempted to stop the bleeding from the villain's wounds, but it looked like a lost battle. Toga had torn open a solid 30 centimeters of muscle and viscera of the abdominal region and even with Lemillion using his cape to stuff the wound, there was just so much blood on the floor already. It was awful.

But not as terrible as the thoughts spinning in Izuku's mind.

"Wait, Stain, wait, please!" Izuku begged, fighting to break free from his mentor.

"We have to go, kid," Stain pulled him back and shook him, but Izuku wasn't focusing on him. He was breathing too fast, his lips stuck in a mockery of a smile that he'd grown accustomed to wearing during his interviews.

"What did you do to Curious?"

"...Why does that matter?" Stain frowned.

"Is she dead?"

"Yeah, she is," Toga smiled, sure that the statement would comfort Izuku. It did not.

"W-What did she say before you killed her? Did she talk about me?!"

"Izuku,"

"Stain, what did she tell you?"

"It doesn't matter. Breathe, I need you to focus–"

"Did she threaten you?"

"Izuku–"

"Did she threaten my mother?!" The question hung heavy in the air, earning very mixed reactions from the others. Stain looked angry, Toga looked upset, and Lemillion… He just looked sad, his smile from before nowhere in sight.

"She had her under surveillance, she… She had pictures of my house a-and even police officers on her side, she…" Izuku ran a hand through his hair, panic taking over every fiber of his being. "She was gonna kill her if I… I held on, I didn't do anything to myself 'cause I was afraid she'd follow through, but she said we were done and–"

"Izuku…" Stain's eyes flashed with pain, his eyes landing on the wound Izuku had inflicted upon his own neck that wretched night after his rescue, still in the process of scaring.

"But I don't know how much time she had after the alarm went off and I– Oh God, Morse could be dead and I'm here panicking about… I…"

Stain leaned back, eyes steadying with determination.

"Did she have time to call someone or not?! Stain, is my mo–"

The punch was harsh, so much so, in fact, that Izuku was sent flying back. He lost his balance and crashed to the ground right by Re-Destro's prone shape, gasping for air. His immediate focus had been knocked out of him along with all the air in his lungs and he sputtered as he tried to suck in a breath.

Toga yelled his name and tried to move, but Stain shoved her aside before briskly pulling Izuku up like he was nothing and dragging him towards the stairs. Or he tried, at least.

Lemillion's hand wrapped around Izuku's wrist firmly and he glared at Stain with a passion that rivaled that of the Hero Killer. Izuku gasped for air, not able to fight against either of the forces threatening to pull him apart.

"Let go," Stain ordered, eyes manic and wild.

"No," Lemillion gritted his teeth, readjusting his leg so he could pull Izuku without risking the loss of pressure on Re-Destro's wound.

"Don't touch him!" Toga hissed, clawing at Lemillion's hand only to have her nails phase through and hit Izuku instead. She recoiled at the realization, her eyes promising nothing but destruction before she dived back in with killing intent only to get easily thrown to the side by the other blonde.

"You won't make it far with reinforcements on the scene," Lemillion confidently stated, but Stain only scoffed.

"There's no one else here, otherwise you wouldn't have fought alone," A stab to the blonde's face did nothing, followed by a warning growl. "Let go, you brat!"

"You're not taking Midoriya again, Hero Killer!" Lemillion's voice boomed, navy eyes shining with something grand and purposeful. "Not while I'm here! He's going back home, him and Todoroki, where they belong!"

Stain exhaled slowly, red eyes flashing with emotions. His grip on Izuku tightened as the teen coughed, his breathing getting back to normal bit by bit.

"You're with Eraser, aren't you?" Stain asked, though it definitely sounded like a fact. Lemillion's face tightened and he pulled Izuku closer as the teen's eyes widened. Izuku grabbed his arm with all his strength, navy eyes snapping to meet with forest green.

"You know Eraser Head?! Then you can speak to All Might, right?! Somehow?!" Izuku wheezed, holding on with all he had as Stain pulled him back. It was absurd to watch, one young man grasping at another with enough strength to bruise skin even though they were, for all intents, enemies. Nothing separated Lemillion from any other marks Stain had taken out, Stain was his family for God's sake, and yet Izuku pulled himself forward just enough to end up face to face with the young hero, with nothing but hope in his eyes.

"Please, I don't know how much time she has. Curious had people everywhere, she's gonna die if someone doesn't get to her first! Please, Lemillion, promise me! You need to tell All Might!"

Lemillion's blue eyes widened with so many conflicted emotions, his gloved hand trembling from the effort of holding on. Stain's leg shot out, hitting Re-Destro on the side and almost sending the villain rolling along the ground. It was an instinct, his gentle side forcing him to keep pressure on a deadly wound, but Lemillion's grasp on Izuku faltered and the teen was taken from him in a flash. Stain's red eyes glowed with hatred, the irises practically leaving a shine in their wake as the man twisted to pull Izuku away and towards the stairs. Lemillion screamed after them but his eyes vanished from sight and Izuku was left with a mess of emotions that he couldn't quite deal with at the moment.

"Stain, please, just let me make sure!" The teen pleaded, clawing at the man's clothes to try and get his attention, but Stain just rearranged his grasp on Izuku and kept running forward, away from the one person that could possibly help Izuku's mother.

Or was he too late already? He had no idea of how long ago the MLA had become aware of the fact that they were under attack, much less at what point they realized that his rescue was the reason, and so he didn't know how much time Curious had to…

Something dark and disturbing flashed in his eyes and Izuku groaned, pressing down on his eyes with the bottom of his palms.

No, Curious wasn't one to keep quiet about the many things she held over Izuku's head; if anything, she usually flaunted those things whenever she had the chance. So she would have said something before he was snatched away by Re-Destro, right? Right? Lemillion probably had a way to contact the backup he'd mentioned and then everything would be fine.

Unless the blonde was just a fake, like all the others, and he didn't actually have any interest in doing things that didn't add digits to his paycheck.

No, but he was Eraser Head, right? Stain had said as much and he hadn't killed Lemillion so then he was a good guy. A hero.

But maybe his misguided heroism would make him try and save Re-Destro with all his might, and in the process forget about the pleads of a lowly criminal. Or maybe they just didn't have time to dispose of the sham. Maybe with Izuku so weakened, Stain assumed that the teen would have to be carried all the way to wherever they were going and there just wasn't a moment to spare, not even for their cause.

Wait, had Eraser Head even survived the attack he'd suffered? The last time Izuku saw him, the man had gotten stabbed twice in the ribcage, the third stab just out of Izuku's sight. Or had that come to fruition? How had Stain not gotten arrested?

How long ago had that happened? Izuku's stay underground had messed with his sense of timing so much that he just didn't know how many days he'd spent in that cell.

Or had they used Frame Rate on him, just like they had with Hara and that other prisoner who mentally spent over a year in that pristine white room?

Was he still there?

He opened his eyes wide and for a second, the moment that it took his eyes to adjust after the pressure he'd put on them, the concrete beneath them looked too bright. Too perfect.

Where was he?

"Put me down," Izuku moaned.

Stain wasn't one to allow pit stops, but Izuku's voice sounded abysmal and he let the teen go in the little alley between two buildings. Izuku stumbled forward, crashed against the floor on his hands and knees, and threw up bile and saliva, his stomach entirely empty. He heaved uselessly, his chest aching so horridly that a scream escaped his lips. Toga was at his side in an instant, her hands caressing his face as if to move away his hair so that he could puke comfortably even with Izuku's hair being pretty short and out of the way already. But he didn't mind, her cold skin proving to be a solid link to reality.

"It's okay, you're okay," She whispered, leaning over him like a backpack as he retched up nothing.

"I'm fine," Izuku whimpered loudly, his fingers tapping on the ground rapidly. "I'm sorry, I… I'm okay,"

"Breathe, kid." Stain looked absolutely conflicted as he kept watch of the street, eyes darting back at Izuku every couple of seconds. Izuku's spine tingled with embarrassment and he aggressively wiped his face, his hand coming away with spit and dried blood. Lord, he'd never wanted to take a bath more than at that very moment.

Toga watched him with those sharp eyes, the yellow perfectly clear and tranquil. She pulled him towards her carefully, cheeks dusted pink beneath all the blood caked on her skin.

"Izuku, Curious did mention your mother," She said after Izuku showed no signs of getting sick.

"Toga," Stain hissed, eyes narrowed. Izuku let out an odd blend of a gasp and a cry and Toga held his face in her hands.

"What did she say?" Izuku pleaded, terrified green meeting hectic red. Toga's face was the picture of calmness, her voice a soft tone that didn't shift.

"She tried to threaten Stain with her, so she's probably still an asset she considered usable. And then Stain killed Curious, and she didn't have the time to do a single thing, not her or the useless minions she hid behind, like a coward."

Izuku whined like a wounded animal, his hands holding onto Toga's wrists as if she was the only thing holding him together; in a sense, she was.

"You worry so much about everyone around you. You feel like if you don't do something, then no one else will; it's gotta be so rough inside your head right now, huh? But we're here to help you. Trust that we won't let anything bad happen, okay? You can leave it to us."

Izuku's vision blurred but when he wiped his face, his hands came back dry. He swallowed back the knot in his throat and, when Toga opened up her arms, threw himself into her embrace. He was still too terrified to let his guard down entirely, but he wanted, oh so desperately, to give himself at least one second to believe that everything would be okay. That maybe they'd make it out of here, that he'd never have to set foot inside an elevator or a white room again, that he'd get back the life he'd been so proud of not that long ago.

"We love you," Toga murmured against his hair and Izuku shivered.

"I love you, too,"

Stain pulled them up to their feet and against the wall in one solid motion, Izuku's body crashing into the brick so fast that the air got knocked out of his lungs. He tried to gasp, but Stain's hand covered his mouth—along with most of his face—as he twisted himself to protect the teen from whatever was heading their way. It took him a second to recognize the sound of running but suddenly there was an honest-to-goodness mob hurtling past the alleyway, towards where they'd left Re-Destro and Lemillion. Some of them were yelling something about their 'Grand Commander', others yelling that they needed to hurry, and thankfully no one seemed to notice them. Izuku watched with wide eyes over Stain's shoulder, Toga holding onto his arm until the throng of people thinned enough for them to relax a little.

"...Do you think Re-Destro's still there?" Izuku asked as his face was released.

"Hopefully he's dead by now," Stain murmured, not letting go of Izuku.

"We should go," Toga smiled, ignoring the look Izuku gave her once he realized that Stain's knife had ended up pressed against her throat in their rush to hide. "Right?"

Stain glowered at her, the blade's positioning suddenly feeling much less incidental, something flashing in his eyes before he stepped back and out of the alley. They waited until he gave them a nod and they all ran in the opposite direction. Izuku's chest felt like it'd been filled with lit coals as they ran past debris and houses and then past the building that had seen Izuku through his entire stay in Deika city, familiar and unfamiliar bodies strewn on the ground, where Stain took a long stride to crush Curious' face and phone beneath his boot. He almost tripped over his own feet at the sight, but he pushed through with all his might. Thankfully Deika wasn't all that large and they were on the outskirts of town in a matter of minutes, Izuku's shaky breaths mixing with an odd giggle that then turned into a proper laugh once he spotted Dabi standing next to an SUV.

"You look so much shittier in person," Dabi mocked in his usual monotone, holding out his hand for Izuku to grasp welcomingly. His hands were now entirely burnt, the feeling making Izuku shiver as their hands met. Still, he smiled at the friendly gesture, more than aware that Dabi wasn't a fan of human contact.

"T-that bad?" Izuku stammered, scratching his brow in an attempt to cover his busted nose. Then, he blinked. "Wait, what do you mean in person?"

"Your new friend didn't mention it, huh?" Dabi smirked, nodding toward the car as a stranger wearing a mask opened the doors for them. Inside, next to a trembling shape covered by a tattered curtain, was Hara. The yakuza member looked at Izuku with relief, Izuku's mind attempting to understand what exactly the words meant as he watched Stain show, but not hand over, a little box that he had in his pocket to the stranger.

"He's the only reason we found you," Dabi added.

Izuku didn't know what to make of the statement. Despite how conspicuous Dabi made the whole thing sound, Izuku doubted Hara would willingly put himself through weeks of torture and starvation just to try to get to him in some way, not to mention that there were far too many variables to deal with in order for things to turn out the way they did. He had too many questions, but they all died in his head once he realized that Hara's eye socket was bleeding, his functioning eye fogged over in a way that made him look far too wounded to be alive. Then that thought morphed into one of chaos, different injuries upon other people, and Izuku shivered, eyes frantic.

"Where're Shoto and Spinner? Are they okay?!"

"Scales was too wounded to come; couldn't even walk," Dabi whispered after a moment, his eyes carefully analyzing the man standing by Stain. He was still examining the contents of the little box.

"And Shoto?"

Izuku didn't miss the look the burnt man shared with Toga, the girl just as wary of the outsider as he was. He also didn't miss the way Dabi's jaw clenched, or the way his breath ignited a small flame.

"They both stayed back as collateral,"

"What?" Izuku's voice wavered, "What do you mean?"

"Let's go," Stain interrupted, giving Izuku a long, considerate look before getting in the co-pilot's seat without a word as the stranger jumped in the driver's side. Dabi patted Izuku on the back to get him to walk, his eyes shining with the direct request that Izuku kept his mouth shut for the moment. He didn't like it, but he trusted his friends' judgment enough to not push the situation any further. He ended up in the back of the SUV, comfortably seated by his two allies while Stain sat in the front with the unknown member of their party, Morse and Hara in the middle row of seats.

Izuku swallowed, rubbing at his wrists furiously as the car's engine roared to life and they sped off, away from the nightmare that Izuku had lived. Well, not just Izuku.

Actually, Izuku had been the one to suffer the least, time-wise, the teen realized with a grimace. Pink eyes peeked at him from the middle row of seats in the car, Morse's form that of a tiny, bloody ghost.

"Free?" She asked feebly, shrinking when Toga's fangs shined behind her grin. Green and brown eyes met for a moment and then the laughing started, the sound heavy with disbelief and incredulity because yes, they were free.

It was finally over.