Villains Aren't Born

by blaszczu2500

In a world where having a superhuman ability called "Quirk" is perfectly normal and quite common, Gareth Takemura was less fortunate than other people his age and was born without one of his own. What would happen if he was brought to the absolute bottom by the people around him and was approached by a man known as All For One who would offer to give him a Quirk of his own?

53. Uneasy Reunion

I don't own MHA. I only own OC's.

Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.

Tonyhedgehog: No. I have no plans for a story like this.

Haruto: Thank you once again for leaving a review :)

1. Glad you liked the chapter :)

2. Glad you liked the conversation between Gareth and All Might. I was looking forward towards writing it for a long time now :)

EternalEmperorDmitri: Thank you once again for leaving a review :)

1. Hmm. An interesting theory. It would be a massive downer of an ending as well as Origami would lose her boyfriend, her best friend and most of her family.

2. Yup. Here's hoping it will be the kind of ending all of them will get in end :)

Kingdom Kin Rool: Thank you once again for leaving a review :)

1. Glad you liked the chapter. To answer your question. We had just entered the final stretch of this arc as we have three chapters (if you count this chapter as third one) left until the end of the Dark Deku arc :)

2. Glad you liked the conversation with the heteromorph. I've been wanting to place it in the arc since the start of it and I ultimately decided the best place to put it after would be after the stuff with Lady Nagant and right before the conversation with All Might.

3. Glad you liked the dialogue in this scene as it was a bit tricky to write as I wanted to make sure the hetermorph will point out everything to Gareth and everything he and the League did wrong in the PLF War. Now it's all up to Gareth to decide what will do now after all this. :)

4. Glad you are happy to see the return of Kasai. I really wanted him to be around for the final stretch of this arc and I needed a way for Gareth to come into contact with the USJ villains.

5. You'll have to wait and see how Shinso will be involved in that scene :)

6. Glad you liked Shinso's thoughts on the League and Mustard :)

7. You'll have to wait and see what will happen with Bakugo now :)

8. Maybe he'll have his conversation with Akihiko :)

9. Glad you liked the conversation between the Shiketsu crew. It slowly sets up the inevitable clash between Tomohito and Gareth and showed a bit of Tomohito's development as he realized his mistake and wants to face it directly instead of running away and trying to hide it like he did when he punched Mustard. Too bad he couldn't be someone like that back in Aldera...

10. You have to wait and see what will happen between Gareth and Tomohito. I planned out their confrontation a long, long time ago :)

11. You'll see Nagamasa's thoughts on everything soon :)

12. I originally had plans for Gareth to met up with Stain in this arc. However, I scrapped them for the sake of Gareth meeting up with Lady Nagant and I need Stain to go his canon route.

13. Glad you liked the conversation between Gareth and All Might as I was looking forward towards writing it for a long time now. I wanted it to be about Nana's choice as Gareth wanted someone he could take his negative emotions out regarding what happened to Tenko/Tomura and I wanted All Might to find out what happened to him before All For One got his hands on him.

14. Glad you liked the inclusion of Gran Torino's words about Gareth and Shigaraki. Originally I wanted it to happen in Izuku's section and thoughts about Gareth after the stuff with Lady Nagant. However, I pushed it for this conversation as I thought it will fit better here.

15. Yup. All Might made the small seeds of doubt Gareth had in All For One grow with all the information he had given him. Now, you'll have to wait and see what will Gareth do with this information.

16. Yup. Gareth return to his friends will definitely be quite something for all of them.

17. I'm having fun with season 7 as well and seeing all of this animated really helped me with planning everything out for the Final War in this story :)

ChaosBreaker13: Thank you for once again leaving a review :)

1. Glad you liked the conversation with the heteromorph. I've been wanting to place it in the arc since the start of it and I ultimately decided the best place to put it after would be after the stuff with Lady Nagant and right before the conversation with All Might.

2. Glad you liked the dialogue in this scene as it was a bit tricky to write as I wanted to make sure the hetermorph will point out everything to Gareth and everything he and the League did wrong in the PLF War. Now it's all up to Gareth to decide what will do now after all this. :)

3. Yup. Bakugo just keeps getting shoved into the corner by everyone he comes into contact with. You'll have to wait and see what will happen with Bakugo from now :)

4. Yup. Tomohito will have to watch out around Gareth when their inevitable clash will happen.

5. I wanted the conversation between Gareth and All Might to be about Nana's choice as Gareth wanted someone he could take his negative emotions out regarding what happened to Tenko/Tomura and I wanted All Might to find out what happened to him before All For One got his hands on him.

6. Gareth looked at the situation face value as he didn't know the whole story and cared more about how his brother figure was hurt by Nana's choices.

7. Yup. All Might made the small seeds of doubt Gareth had in All For One grow with all the information he had given him. Now, you'll have to wait and see what will Gareth do with this information and if he'll manage to save Shigaraki from All For One.

Lothen: Thank you once again for leaving a review and I'm glad you liked the chapter! :)

1. Maybe :)

2. Yup. Hopefully Alice kept the camera recording in some way.

3. Glad you are happy to see the return of Kasai. I really wanted him to be around for the final stretch of this arc and I needed a way for Gareth to come into contact with the USJ villains.

4. You'll see how this reunion will go in this chapter :)

5. You'll have to wait and see what will happen with Bakugo from here :)

6. You'll have to wait until the Final War to find out. Kasai did express his support of Spinner, though. :)

7. Most likely :)

8. Glad you liked the conversation between Gareth and All Might as I was looking forward towards writing it for a long time now. :)

fan: If Total Drama Walking Dead was discontinued, then I would let the readers of that story know about it.

zikpef104023: Thank you for leaving a review! :)

1. You'll have to wait and see what will happen with Bakugo from here :)

2. His former are all angry at him because of what he did to Izuku. It showed when the confronted him about it a few chapters back while failing to mention Gareth.

PAC13L: Thank you once again for leaving a review :)

1. Yup. Gareth won't give up on his goal. Just like he said to All Might, the only way of stopping him now is either killing him or locking him up.

2. You'll have to wait and see how things with AFO and Shigaraki will go in this story :)

NEWTON RYBACK: Thank you once again for leaving a review and I'm glad you liked the chapter! :)

1. Yay.

2. With how the country is divided, you could call a somewhat civil war even if either of the sides are mostly keeping to themselves for now.

3. Glad you are happy to see the return of Kasai. I really wanted him to be around for the final stretch of this arc and I needed a way for Gareth to come into contact with the USJ villains.

4-5. It is the same as in canon with Shinso.

6-7. You'll have to wait and see what will happen with Bakugo from here :)

10-11. She noticed the similiarities, but paid more attention to Gareth, Toga and Twice as they were the only members of the League she had come into contact with in person.

12. It wasn't Gareth final day as the civilian. It was his penultimate day.

13. Yeah. It will certainly an interesting meeting.

14-16. No time for that in this arc as I already have planned everything out and we have two chapters left in this arc (three if you count this chapter)

17. It was said in the chapter he had met up after his first meeting in the chapter. They simply told him their names.

18. Yup. It is most likely.

19-20. I already have everything planned out for Hawks and Gareth.

26-27. Yup. All Might made the small seeds of doubt Gareth had in All For One grow with all the information he had given him. Now, you'll have to wait and see what will Gareth do with this information and if he'll manage to save Shigaraki from All For One.

28. See ya.

Alaster Hemlock: Thank you once again for leaving a review and I'm glad you liked the chapter! :)

1. Maybe :)

2. Yup. Hopefully Alice kept the camera recording in some way.

3. Glad you are happy to see the return of Kasai. I really wanted him to be around for the final stretch of this arc and I needed a way for Gareth to come into contact with the USJ villains.

4. You'll have to wait and see if something will happen between Shinso and Mustard :)

5. Probably. You'll have to wait and see :)

6. You'll have to wait and see what will happen with Bakugo from here :)

7. It would be hard for him to do it, considering he is on the move while the ones in the cave are mostly taking care of this stuff during his absence.

8. Yup. It will definitely be an interesting meeting.

9. You'll have to wait and see what will happen with Gareth and Blackgate prison in the Final War :)

10. Tomohito was never friends with Bakugo as they were nothing but schoolmates to each other. I see no reason why he would want to contact him.

11. Yup. It will be an interesting confrontation.

12. Glad you liked the way Gran Torino's words were worded. Originally I wanted it to happen in Izuku's section and thoughts about Gareth after the stuff with Lady Nagant. However, I pushed it for this conversation as I thought it will fit better here.

13. Hmm. Yeah. A nice observation here. It wasn't my intention when I first planned out and wrote this scene, lol.

14. He did to let All Might and Izuku know how there's no hope in saving him anymore as all the chances they had were destroyed the moment Hawks killed Twice and Tengai.

15. Yup. All Might made the small seeds of doubt Gareth had in All For One grow with all the information he had given him. Now, you'll have to wait and see what will Gareth do with this information and if he'll manage to save Shigaraki from All For One.

16. Bye.

THE-Twilight-BlazeKnight: Thank you once again for leaving a review and I'm glad you liked the chapter! :)

1. Yup. I was a bit suprised by it as well when people started commenting on his height, lol.

2. Glad you liked how the chapter started off. I wanted it to show the effect Lady Nagant had on Gareth and Alice during their time together and how they grew to see her as their comrade.

3. Glad you liked the conversation with the heteromorph. I've been wanting to place it in the arc since the start of it and I ultimately decided the best place to put it after would be after the stuff with Lady Nagant and right before the conversation with All Might.

4. Glad you liked the dialogue in this scene as it was a bit tricky to write as I wanted to make sure the hetermorph will point out everything to Gareth and everything he and the League did wrong in the PLF War. Now it's all up to Gareth to decide what will do now after all this. :)

5. Glad you liked the scene of Shinso introducing himself as the new student of Class A and his thoughts on the League and Mustard :)

6. Glad you liked how class was welcoming of him. It certainly helped them take their minds of everything. Even if it was only for a moment.

7. You'll have to wait and see how Shinso will be involved in that scene :)

8. Yup. Bakugo really changed. Too bad so much had to happen for it to happen.

9. You'll have to wait and see how things will go with him from here :)

10. Glad you are happy to see the return of Kasai. I really wanted him to be around for the final stretch of this arc and I needed a way for Gareth to come into contact with the USJ villains.

11. Yup. Time for some of the USJ villains to return :)

12. Yup. Gareth isn't being told everything here due to him constantly on the move.

13. Glad you liked the conversation between the Shiketsu crew. It slowly sets up the inevitable clash between Tomohito and Gareth and showed a bit of Tomohito's development as he realized his mistake and wants to face it directly instead of running away and trying to hide it like he did when he punched Mustard. Too bad he couldn't be someone like that back in Aldera...

14. You'll have to wait and see what will happen between Gareth and Tomohito during their eventual confrontation. Let's just say it is something I planned out a long time ago :)

15. Glad you liked the conversation between Gareth and All Might as I was looking forward towards writing it for a long time now. I wanted it to be about Nana's choice as Gareth wanted someone he could take his negative emotions out regarding what happened to Tenko/Tomura and I wanted All Might to find out what happened to him before All For One got his hands on him.

16. Yup. All Might made the small seeds of doubt Gareth had in All For One grow with all the information he had given him. Now, you'll have to wait and see what will Gareth do with this information.

17. Glad you liked the inclusion of Gran Torino's words about Gareth and Shigaraki. Originally I wanted it to happen in Izuku's section and thoughts about Gareth after the stuff with Lady Nagant. However, I pushed it for this conversation as I thought it will fit better here.

18. Yeah. Gareth showing he still has humanity in him will definitely be something All Might will point out in the future talks regarding Gareth.

19. Thank you for the suggestion, but I already have everything planned out for this arc.

Emily StarLover: Thank you for leaving a review :)

1. We still are some chapters away from the Final War as we still have three chapters left in this arc (if you count this one) and a few chapters between in the time between the Dark Deku and the Final War to set up the final pieces for the Final War.

2. Glad you are excited for the Final War. Whatever will happen during this arc, I hope it will be something you will be satisfied with :)

TheGreatGodzilla: Thank you once again for leaving a review :)

1. Hmm. I don't really think Shishikura saying something like this would work as the League caused the death of his father. He even stated it himself in the canon he wants to see AFO die.

2. Aside from Origami, Gareth would get together with Ayaka, Minene and Alice in the Harem AU.

3. The changes in the AU that I brought up above would include:

- The Preparation Arc before the PLF war lasting a bit longer to set up Minene and Ayaka joining Gareth's harem.

- Minene and Ayaka joining Gareth and Origami for their date during the Valentine's Day chapter with Gareth and Origami having an eventful first time with Minene and Ayaka being the experienced women towards them.

- Origami realizes she is both into men and women because of it.

Funfact: I always thought of Origami as pansexual as she would always become attracted to the person without caring if they are a man or a woman or transgender or non binary, caring more about the person they are on the inside.

- Minene and Ayaka wouldn't get pregnant. Having one pregnant woman in a story like this is enough.

- Ayaka not being caught and Machia taking her alongside Spinner due to her relationship with Gareth and Ayaka, Minene and Origami being left alone by Gareth when he would leave on his lone mission.

- All three of them having a heartfelt moment in the cave where they would worry about Gareth and showing concern towards each other, showing how they all care about each other to make it look more like a loving relationship instead of a harem

- Ayaka notices Origami's symptoms and her pregnancy is revealed to the League much sooner here.

- Gareth and Alice's relationship starting off as a teacher/apprentice like in the canon, but slowly turning into something more instead of being kept as the teacher/apprentice related stuff like in the canon.

4. You have to wait and see how everything with All For One will play out from here.

5. How would the students tell him about Origami's pregnancy? They are as clueless about it as pretty much everyone else aside from Slice who started to suspect something a few chapters back.

6. An interesting take on this.

7. I have something in mind for those two. Be patient :)

8. You'll have to wait and see what will happen. No spoilers :)

---

Gareth silently followed Kasai through the city with Alice and Cyborg staying close to him. Their group had arrived at the city where the USJ villains had taken their shelter and were just minutes away from them reaching if what Kasai was telling them was true. Neither Gareth or Alice saw reason why Kasai would lie to them about it so they made sure they were ready for the upcoming meeting. Unless they moved out of their hideout after parting ways with Kasai. They knew it was a possibility as well.

The black haired boy kept himself silent throughout most of the trip to the USJ villains hideout, having not said much to his group since his conversation with All Might as he wanted to be left with his own thoughts. Alice and Kasai tried to start the conversation with him a few times but he always gave them short answers to show them he was not interested in having a conversation now. Even if it clearly worried them. Especially Alice.

He looked over his shoulder a second later and set his eyes on Cyborg who remained in the back of the group to keep an eye on everything around them. For the first time since he found out about this Nomu being made from his first victim, Gareth felt disgust. No matter how many times he tried to get himself to stop thinking about it, his mind kept flashing back to his conversation with All Might and everything he learned from him during it.

Gareth glanced away from Cyborg to look ahead of him, not wanting to look at him for longer than he would have to due to his reccuring new feelings regarding the Nomus. He still couldn't believe this information was right under his nose for all this time or rather he wanted to make himself didn't believe it. He couldn't help but ask himself why would the Doctor not tell him about it straight away and instead choose to make him believe the Nomus were only made out of heroes and villains.

He clenched his hand a second later, knowing he knew the answer to it even if he kept himself about it. If he had know about Nomus being made from normal civilians as well, then he would take all the steps he needed in order to get rid of them whether the Doctor would like it or not. With how affectionate the Doctor was regarding them everytime he spoke about them, he knew what Gareth would do if he found out the truth and he couldn't afford him. What All Might told him about All For One only seemed to...

"We're here." He was pushed out of his thoughts by Kasai's voice as Gareth looked ahead of them and noticed an entrance to the abandoned looking building in front of them, paying no attention to the look Alice was giving him right now.

Alice shifted her attention from Gareth to Kasai when she voiced her question to him, "Will they be here?"

Kasai looked over his shoulder at her and gave her a nod, "They should be unless they moved someplace else which I doubt as Tesla told me they will be staying here for a while unless something came up and they had to move someplace else because of it."

"Alright." Alice nodded in understanding as she and her group walked into the building. She looked around herself to get to know her new surroundings a bit better and to see if they were being watched by someone. The possibility of someone from the USJ villains being on watch was quite possible and she wanted to keep herself on guard.

Her worries were confirmed to be true a second later as Kasai passed the corner and was instantly greeted by a woman who had looked like she had her arms replaced with gorilla arms, "Who are you?"

Kasai stopped in his tracks, having recognized this voice straight away and turned to face the woman in question to reveal himself to her, "Relax. It's just me."

Gorilla raised her brow in confusion at the view of him, "Kasai? What are you doing here? I thought you said you'll be be moving towards the hospital with the rest of the heteromorphs before you went your own way."

"It was what I intended to at first." Kasai replied in confirmation as he pointed behind himself to show the woman who he had just brought into her hideout, "However, I stumbled upon someone I feel like you and your friends will be interested in meeting and brought him here."

"You brought here someone? What did Tesla tell you about..." Gorilla cut herself off mid-sentence as she looked in the direction Kasai had pointed towards and saw the person he had brought with him to her hideout. Her eyes widened in an instant as she focused herself on Gareth and Cyborg, "Holy shit. The Mask and one of the Nomus..."

Kasai nodded in confirmation, "Yeah. This is why I decided to bring him here. You and your friends have history with them so I thought all of you could have some catching up to do."

"I see..." Gorilla replied in understanding with her eyes slightly narrowing at the view of Gareth. Something Gareth didn't fail to notice. He kept himself on guard because of this, not wanting to risk anything happening if his meeting with the USJ villains will go sideways. She turned away from Kasai and his new friends and waved at them to signal him to follow her, "Come on. Follow me."

"Alright. We'll be right behind you." Kasai nodded as he wasted no time and followed her. Gareth and Alice exchanged brief glances with each other and followed him and Gorilla with Cyborg staying closely behind them.

The group followed Gorilla deeper into the abandoned building, their footsteps echoing softly against the cracked concrete floors as neither of them said anything to each other therefore making everything quiet enough for them to hear their own footsteps. Gorilla looked over her shoulder at Gareth every few seconds with her expression remaining the same at it was after she processed who was brought here by Kasai and who was was standing before her now.

Gareth took notice of the looks she was directing towards him whenever she looked at him and kept himself alarmed with his eyes constanstly looking around himself and his group and scanning every bit of his surroundings. Alice stayed close to his side with her looking like she was attached to his hip, occasionally glancing at him as she remained worried towards him because of what happened during his conversation with All Might. She decided to stay silent, despite this as she could tell Gareth wasn't ready to talk about it.

The blonde haired young woman looked ahead of herself, keeping her hand on her holstered pistol as the hallway seemed to stretch on endlessly, dimly lit by a few sparse, flickering bulbs. Gareth and Alice cringed a bit at the smell coming out of the hallway as well the further they want into it. Cyborg walked a few steps behind, his heavy footsteps a constant reminder of his presence. He kept turning his head to scan their surroundings, intending to protect Gareth, Alice and Kasai in case things went wrong.

"Come in." Gorilla said upon reaching the steel doors at the end of the hallway with all of them right behind her.

She opened the door a second later and walked into the room with Gareth, Alice, Kasai and Cyborg following her into the room. Gareth and Alice looked around the room, wanting to get to know it better with Kasai not doing this due to him having been here before. The room was really large. Gareth and Alice could tell this room was where all the important stuff was taking place in the heyday of this building.

Gareth found himself becoming the center of attention straight away as the atmosphere in the room became became a bit more tense with everyone in it setting their eyes on him. The black haired boy scanned the room, wanting to see how many there were and saw Kasai the numbers in the room were the same ones as Kasai gave him. He saw two women who he suspected to be Needle Hair and Martial Hair and one man who he suspected to be Steel Bulwark watching him from where they stood, having completely given up on whatever they were doing upon setting their eyes on him.

"Yukimura-san. I see you brought us some old and new friends." A male voice rang through everyone's ears right after Gareth caught the sight of the three USJ villains as everyone shifted their attention to it and saw a lone man standing in the corner of the room. The man wore dark green sleeveless bodysuit with a white belt and black boots. His face was covered by a skull-shaped mask. Gareth could tell who it was. It was Tesla. He fit the description Kasai gave him and Alice perfectly.

Gorilla, who Gareth assumed was the Yukimura-san brought up by Tesla, explained herself a second later, "They were brought here by Kasai and I thought about letting them in as I doubted sending them away would work."

"I see." Tesla voiced his understanding of it as he turned around to look directly at Gareth and his group with his eyes being specifically set on Gareth. Gareth and Alice kept themselves at ready for whatever will happen during this conversation with Cyborg appearing to be ready to act if the situation will require him to act as well, "Hello the Mask. It's been a while since we saw each other. Tell me. To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit? This is also the first time we talk in person because we haven't had much chance to talk the first time we worked together."

---

Tomohito, Inasa, Camie and Shishikura walked together through the safe zone of Shiketsu, keeping themselves close to each other as they searched for Nagamasa. Tomohito felt the dirty and angry looks that he received from everyone around them, having shown himself up like this in front of them for the first time in a while after keeping himself locked up in his dorm in worry of what could have happen to him if he showed himself to everyone.

He didn't care about it now, though and cared more about finding Nagamasa and having this conversation with him. It wasn't just because he wanted to clear the air between them like he did with Inasa. He knew there must have been something wrong with Nagasama if he kept mostly to himself and kept himself distanced even from Inasa, Camie and Shishikura during all of those days. All of them just had to find out what it was and address that with him.

He pushed himself out of his thoughts a second later, feeling Camie giving his hand a grasp as if she was trying to grab it and hold it. Even if he wanted to return the gesture and hold her hand, he knew he couldn't do it due to the school policy against dating. He was already on thin ice with the school facualty and he didn't want to press them more. Shishikura took notice of the way Camie was teasing Tomohito as well and reminded her about the rules, making her pout cutely. It almost made Tomohito chuckle.

The group of four walked further into the safe zone, finding themselves in the more isolated part of it as Tomohito shifted his attention away from the banter going on between Camie and Shishikura and shifted it to Inasa who kept himself at the front of their little group. Tomohito smiled upon laying his eyes on his best friends. He found himself thinking back to the conversation he had with him back in the dorm.

Tomohito's smile grew a bit when he found himself thinking back about it. Words couldn't describe how much he was grateful and relieved to have him back. Inasa was always there for him for their first day of school. They got placed right next to each other in the classroom and Inasa started being friendly with him straight away with his attitude annoying Tomohito a bit at first, but he slowly came around to it and accepted it.

Inasa was there for him when he was distressed when the identity of the Mask was revealed as well, comforting him and constantly reassuring him how he couldn't have prevented his schoolmate from taking such a path in his life before he found out the truth about him. He was there for him during the exam as well even if he was dealing with his own stuff regarding Todoroki after he took notice of Izuku and Bakugo at the exam. It was why he appreciated him so much as a friend and the thought of losing him as such hurt him even if he wouldn't blame Inasa if he didn't want to be around him anymore.

He smile faded away a bit when he found himself thinking about Izuku and Bakugo once the exam crossed his mind. He felt like confronting Izuku about what happened in the past back then and have conversation about Gareth with him. However, he was stopped by his own guilt and regret from approaching him and left himself distanced from him for the entirety of the exam with him refusing to get close to him.

"Guys! I see him!" Inasa's voice rang through their ears a second later as Tomohito, Camie and Shishikura stopped whatever they were doing right now and looked in the direction Inasa was pointing towards right now. All of them laid their eyes on Nagamasa a second later.

He looked terrible to say the least. Even though they couldn't tell how he really looked like due to the way his Quirk made him look, all of them could tell Nagamasa was doing far from perfect right now and could tell there was something bothering him heavily. It was only confirmed to them when Nagamasa didn't notice them even if he was staring directly at them right now. He must have been too lost in his own thoughts to acknowledge their presence.

Inasa took notice of this and decided to break him out his trance by calling out to him, "Nagamasa-kun?"

Nagamasa pushed himself out of whatever trance he was in right now just a second after Inasa'a voice rang through his ears. He acknowledged his friends presence a second later with his voice being a bit shaky, "H-Hey guys..."

"How are you doing?" Camie asked him.

Tomohito nodded in agreement, "Yeah. From what I've been told by the rest, you've been keeping yourself distanced from everyone after our conversation at the rooftop."

"Really? I didn't notice this..." Nagamasa decided to try to play dumb here with hopes of it working. However, his friends didn't buy what he just said to them as all of them could tell he was lying. Nagamasa was never the type of person to like about something. It was why it was easy for them to tell when he was lying.

"Come on. Don't try to play dumb with us." Camie's voice had concern evident in it when she uttered those words to him.

Inasa nodded in agreement, "Just tell us what's bothering you, buddy."

Nagamasa didn't stop and continued with his attempts at brushing their concerns off, "Guys. Seriously. I appreciate your concern, but you're just wasting your time by asking me that. I'm really fine..."

"Just cut it out and tell us what's wrong with you. You know we won't leave until you'll tell us what's been bothering you for those last days." Shishikura cut him off, not wanting Nagasama to continue with this as this would get them nowhere. He just wanted to know what was wrong with him.

Inasa nodded in agreement, "You know we will listen to everything you have to say. Just let us help you."

"We're supposed to help each other. We're friends, after all." Tomohito added as Nagamasa set his eyes on him and stared at him silently for the next few minutes. If Tomohito was honest with himself, it left him feeling a bit uncomfortable even if he couldn't tell what kind of expression Nagasama had on his face right now because something in the back of his mind Nagasama was not happy to see him.

Nagamasa shifted his attention from Tomohito a second later and lowered his gaze on the ground. He could tell his friends were not going to leave him alone and saw no point in lying anymore. He looked up at them again a second later, letting out a sigh as he gave them an honest answer, "I just have been feeling like crap since everything at the mansion went down..."

Inasa looked at him sadly, "Nagamasa-kun..."

Shishikura stepped a bit closer to Nagamasa, "Nagamasa-kun. I know what happened to you back there must have been hard for you. But none of it was your fault. We did everything we could to stop from despicable villains and..."

"No. It's not what I mean..." Nagamasa shook his head with Mustard's words from earlier flying through his mind again as Shishikura looked at him questioningly. His other friends had the same expressions on their faces and they wondered what he meant by that, "I just can't stop thinking about Mustard's words on how Gigantomachia's rampage was our fault. As much as I don't want to admit this to anyone out loud, I can't help but feel like he had a point in some of the stuff he said to us back there..."

Shishikura looked slightly taken aback by it until his mind processed it. He looked at his friend questioningly a second later with a hint of disbelief in his voice, "Don't tell me you let what that villain said to us back at the mansion get to you..."

"How was I supposed not to let it get to me if I feel like he raised some good points back there? You shouldn't have asked me what was bothering me so much if didn't expect me to give you an honest answer. Why did you ask me to give you an honest answer if you didn't expect it can be something you won't like?" Nagamasa shook his head. Shishikura was about to respond, but he paused for a second. He realized the had to choose words very carefully here if he wanted to push this conversation in the right direction.

Inasa stepped forward a second later as he decided to say something in Shishikura's place, "Nagamasa-kun, listen. Villains like Mustard say things to hurt people on purpose. They want to make you question yourself and your actions because that's how they win, even if they lose the fight. It was his purpose when he said those words as he knew he was captured and don't let him get what he wanted back then..."

Camie nodded with her usual playful tone replaced with a rare seriousness, "Yeah, like, don't let their words stick, ya know? We did what we had to do. Did you forget Mustard was one of the villains who kidnapped me all this time ago to allow them villains whatever they did during the exam?"

"I get that it's hard not to listen when someone points out something that hits close to home." Shishikura added, "But Nagamasa-kun, we know you better than anyone else. You're not the type to ignore people's pain or make reckless decisions. None of us are."

"How am I supposed to just ignore them?" Nagamasa retorted with him having second thoughts about everything still evident to his friends, "You never wondered what could have happen if we approached things differently. Maybe if we did something else instead of attacking them straight away, then none of this would happpen..."

Shishikura shook his head, "Nagamasa-kun. You can't be thinking that. You know what comes out of trying to reason with villains. Hawks himself said it in the press conference that he wanted to reason with Twice and you know how it ended up. The same goes for the U.A students as they tried to reason with the Mask and Weaponsmith only to me beaten and wounded by them,"

"How can you be so sure about that? Mustard himself said it they weren't planning to use Gigantomachia. What if we tried to talk things through with them? Maybe our country wouldn't be in ruins if we tried it..." Nagamasa asked him with his tone showing off his seconds thoughts more and more as the conversation he was having right now with his friends was not doing anything to help them get rid of them.

Shishikura shook his head in disbelief, "I can't believe what I'm hearing right now. You're trying to make excuses for those murderers? They killed my dad and you make..."

"Maybe your dad wouldn't have died if we approached this differently!" Nagamasa pointed out to him, cutting him off.

Shishikura looked slightly suprised by Nagamasa's words. His suprise faded away a second later and was replaced with a narrowed glare. Anger was evident in his voice as well as he clenched his fists and stared directly into Nagamasa's eyes, "You better watch your mouth when you speak about my father. You have no right to speak about him like that. He died trying to keep those monsters locked away in Tartarus where they belonged and those monsters killed him in return for it. You really are going to say to my face he wouldn't have died if it wasn't for us trying to stop those terrorists."

The tension in the group was palpable as Shishikura and Nagamasa continued to stare at each other with Shishikura's anger towards his friend becoming more evident with each passing second. Nagamasa's gaze dropped for a second a moment later with a hint of guilt for bringing up his friends dad showing up in him. The rest of the group stayed silent, watching the scene unfold anxiously. Even Camie, usually the one to defuse tense situations with her humor or her usual antics seemed at a loss for words. Tomohito shifted uncomfortably, not knowing what to say.

Nagamasa shifted his gaze from Shishikura to Tomohito a second later and added to what he said, "Perharps your dad would have still been alive if it wasn't for him."

Tomohito felt his words hitting him like a truck, "Nagamasa-kun..."

"Save it." Nagamasa bitterly cut him off, "You know what you did. We all know. But it's not just about you and Gareth, Kazari-kun. It's about what all of us have done. Every choice, every mistake that led us here. Everything the League and their allies showed us in their videos. We just need to accept we're as much as to blame for this mess as they are instead of constantly denying it like some people."

Inasa stepped forward in defense of his best friend, "Nagamasa-kun, that's not true!"

"He's right." Shishikura agreed with Inasa with his glare remaining on his face, "I said it so many times and I'll keep saying this. What the Mask chose to do, what all those villains did, was their choice. We didn't force them down that path."

Camie wasted no time and came in her boyfriends defense as well, "Tomo-chan may have made mistakes, but he's trying to make things right! You haven't seen him after our conversation on the rooftop. He wants to make things right for what he did in the past. He even told us he wants to face the Mask directly the next time the League will make their move."

"And what's that supposed to do, huh? What's facing the Mask going to change, Camie? Is it going to bring back Shishikura's dad? Is it going to undo all the people who've been hurt because of him?" Nagamasa retorted as he shifted his gaze to Tomohito and voiced his question to him, "Tell me. Would you have ever told us about any of this if he didn't release his video? Because the way you tried to silence Mustard back at the mansion left me with some questions regarding it."

"I-I don't know." Tomohito gave him an honest answer. He was not going to lie about this. He knew lying would get him nowhere. He knew what he doing when he punched Mustard to stop him from spilling the beans and knew it was a cowardly move from his part.

Tomohito took a deep breath and added his own part, "You're right, Nagamasa-kun. About me, at least. What I did to him was horrible. I'll carry that guilt for the rest of my life. If I hadn't bullied him, then maybe he wouldn't have turned into the Mask. Maybe he wouldn't have done all the things he's done. But it's not about what we could have done differently anymore. It's about what we do now. We can't change the past, but we can decide how we face the future. We can still make things right and this is what I'm going to do by facing the villain I had created after running away from my guilt and mistakes for so long."

"He's right, Nagamasa-kun." Inasa added as he placed his hand on Tomohito's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "We can't keep getting stuck in what-ifs and regrets, Nagamasa-kun. That's how we let the villains win. What happened with the Mask was awful and Tomo-chan made many mistakes in the past. But Tomo-chan is trying to own those mistakes and that is something not many people in his situation would do."

He looked directly into Nagamasa's eyes when he added, "We all have things we wish we'd done differently, things we regret. But that's why we're here. To learn from those mistakes and become the heroes people need us to be. If we let our guilt or our doubts control us, then we're no better than the villains who gave in to their pain. Tomohito's not just running off to fight Gareth out of guilt. He wants to face what he did head-on. Because that's what being a hero means."

"And we don't do it alone. We're here for each other, no matter what. That's what friends are for. So don't push us away, Nagamasa-kun. Let us help you too." Tomohito smiled at Inasa gratefully and took everything over from there as Nagamasa glanced at each of them again, then let out a long deep breath.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay." He gave them his answer a second later and shifted his gaze between his friends again with his tone turning slightly apologetic, "I'm sorry for everything I said to you..."

Camie waved it off, "It's okay. We're all on edge, and it's okay to feel this way."

"Yeah..." Shishikura's glare softened, but only a little. If he was honest with himself, it will take him a while before everything Nagamasa said about his dad will leave his mind. He intended to let this slide, though as Nagamasa was his friend and was clearly dealing with a lot of guilt over everything that happened.

Nagamasa sighed, "I just want to make things right. But I don't know how."

Inasa stepped closer to him and placed his hand on his hairy shoulder, "We'll figure something out together."

Nagamasa nodded at him and shifted his gaze to Tomohito, "If you're really going to confront the Mask, then I want to help. I want to be there too. If this will be a way of making things right, then I want to help you."

"Thank you, Nagamasa-kun. For giving me another chance to prove that I can be better." Tomohito smiled at him gratefully. Everyone from their group stayed together in the isolated part of the safe zone afterwards, catching up on everything and feeling happy their group was complete again. However, what they failed to notice was the uncertain and conflicted look on Nagamasa's face...

---

Gareth stayed silent, allowing Tesla to say everything he had to him as his as his words flew through his mind while doing his best not to look at Tesla's comrades due to the looks they were directing towards him right now. Tesla started off their conversation by introducing himself and his comrades to Gareth, wanting him and Alice know who they were dealing with and Gareth made sure to take a mental note out of everything for this conversation and possibly the future.

Needle Hair's real name was Hazama Rinka. She was a young woman of average build and height, with brown eyes and long gray hair styled into dreadlocks. She wore a dark purple bodysuit with sleeves sporting a gray and light purple pattern, along with black boots. Her Quirk allowed her to control and harden her hair. She is also able to fire off strands of her hair like bullets. If Gareth was honest with himself, her Quirk reminded him heavily of Slice

Gorilla's real name was Yukimura Kirara. She had brown hair that reaches down to her shoulders and bangs that cover her left eye. The skin around her right eye was indigo with two indigo lines extending from that area, one toward her ear with the other one going down her cheek. She wore a short purple sleeveless dress with a v-neck. It has three diagonal light purple lines on the right side.

Martial Hair's real name was Maehara Megu. She was a young woman of average height with a lean build. She has light brown hair and ovalish eyes of identical shade with her hair being styled into twin tails that go just above her shoulders. She wore a set of magenta boots, a pair of magenta shorts and a magenta sports bra. She also wore two large arms bands with a dark shade of magenta. Her Quirk allowed her to manipulate her ponytail such as being able to shape them into weapons.

Steel Bulwark's real name was Sugaya Natsuhiko. He was a muscular man with a rocky greyish-blue body and two extra arms on his back. He wore a black mask with yellow lines which extends to his upper chest and wore beige cargo pants and black boots. His Quirk granted him grants him with two extra arms in addition to providing him with great physical strength. If Gareth was honest with himself, it reminded him on this one boxer Rappa faced back in Deika City.

Tesla's real name was Yanagisawa Kouki. His Quirk allowed him to harvest and manipulate electrical currents. He can use his gathered electricity to attack, and can even use them to block other electrical signals. If Gareth was honest with himself, it reminded him of one of Izuku's classmates. He wouldn't be suprised if Tesla faced him back in the USJ.

Gareth stayed silent throughout all of this introduction, nodding his head every now and then to show Tesla that he was listening to him and understanding everything. He noticed the expressions of the other villains from Tesla's crew as well even if he was trying to ignore them. Gorilla's glare was much more apparent now, showing him how displeased she was by seeing him right now as she kept her gorilla arms crossed.

She wasn't the only one looking at him like this. Needle Hair clenched her jaw with her expression showing he was barely keeping her angers within herself as her eyes were narrowed at Gareth. Martial Hair had her arms crossed as she glared at Gareth with how unhappy she was to see him showing in her expression. Steel Bulwark's fingers on all of his arms curled slightly, looking like he was ready to pound him into the ground.

The only one who remained completely unaffected and didn't show any anger or animosity towards Gareth was Tesla. Even if his face was covered with his skull mask, Gareth could tell his gaze and expression were calm as if they were old friends meeting for a casual chat even if they were basically strangers who had worked together once but never actually met in person. Gareth kept his expression stoic, despite everything as he didn't want to show any notable reactions to the way everyone were looking at him right now.

Alice stiffed a bit as she remained beside Gareth as she looked around the room and saw the way most of the USJ villains were looking at Gareth. She refused to move her hand away from her holstered pistol because of it, seeing them as the potenial threats in case things went wrong during this meeting. Cyborg remained in the background with his lifeless stare locked on Tesla's comrades, ready to act if they will try anything funny. Even Kasai, who was supposed to be familiar with this crew, seemed tense as he stood slightly off to the side, watching everything carefully.

Tesla crossed his arms with his gaze remaining focused on Gareth, "Now with the introductions on my part done, allow me to repeat myself. To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit? Is that what we're calling it now, Yanagisawa-sama? Because I seem to remember our last interaction with him being him leaving us behind to be captured" Needle Hair shook her head, pushing herself out her silence as she spat out with venom being evident in her voice. It made Alice take a half-step closer to Gareth.

"I'm sure you'd see it that way." Gareth replied with his tone remaining stoic. His worries about meeting the USJ villains were correct. He already suspected they won't be happy to see him when Kasai first offered to take him to them. This just confirmed everything to him.

Martial Hair crossed her arms, "Really? How nice of you to understand why I'd see it that way."

"What's wrong?" Needle Hair sneered, "No excuses this time? No justifications?"

"I'm not here to make excuses as I know nothing I will say will make you less angry with me." Gareth shook his head. Thinking back to the USJ, he doubted he wouldn't change anything about and he would still leave everyone behind. It had to happen to prevent him and Shigaraki from getting captured. He was having a headache and Shigaraki was shot by Sniper. They had no other choice.

Martial Hair scoffed, "How noble of you."

"Do you know how prison was like for us?" Gorilla asked with contempt evident in her voice, "We were interrogated for weeks because of you as they've been trying to get every possible information out of us regarding you and Shigaraki. You know how they were reacting when we were giving them nothing because we knew nothing about you?"

Steel Bulwark clenched his hand, "We were just disposable to you."

Gareth glanced at her and refused to look away from her to show her he meant what he was about to say to her, "It was our only option. Me and Tomura-kun were in states which would leave us easy enough to be captured. We had to choose. Either staying behind and being captured or leaving and fighting for another day. Even if the choice wasn't made by us back then, both of us would agree the latter was the better option. If I'd stayed and gotten captured, I wouldn't be standing here now, and neither would Tomura-kun."

"The better option?" Steel Bulwark stepped towards him with anger evident in his voice as Cyborg got himself ready to launch himself towards him. Gareth held his hand, stopping the Nomu from doing anything as the USJ villain got himself closer to him, "For who, exactly? You and Shigaraki got to walk away, but what about the rest of us? We were left to fend for ourselves against all those U.A teachers! Do you know how easy it was for them to catch us after someone who was supposed to be our leaders left us behind?!"

Gareth stared directly at him, "I did what I had to do. You know what state I was in. If we stayed, we would've been captured, and that would've been the end of it."

Needle Hair scoffed, shaking her head as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing, "So, what? That justifies abandoning us? You think it's that simple? That easy?"

"Do you think leaving my comrades behind is easy for me?" Gareth asked in return as he shifted his gaze to her, "Do you know how terrible I feel whenever I leave someone behind? Recently I had to leave so many of comrades behind even if I tried not to repeat what I did back in the USJ, despite it not working and them getting captured neverthless."

Needle Hair shook her head, "And? Do you think feeling bad makes it okay? You think it makes up for all the times we were scrambling to get away from the U.A teachers?"

Gareth's expression hardened, "No. I don't expect forgiveness. I know it better than anyone "I'm sorry" doesn't magically fix everything. I already suspected you wouldn't be happy to see me after I was told about you to Kasai-kun and yet I decide to come here neverthless. But I'm here now. That should tell you enough."

Gorilla glared at him, "Tell us enough? What should it tell us?"

"Alright. That's enough." Tesla cut the discussion between his crew and Gareth short as everyone shifted their attention to him, "His decision to leave us behind was a tactical decision. One that made perfect sense, logically speaking. If he and Shigaraki would be captured back at the USJ, then we would be locked up neverthless. At least this way they managed to get away and grow stronger and now look at us. We're free people. Even if freeing us must have costed him and the League some support from the civilians."

"You have no idea..." Gareth muttered under his breath, clenching his hand as he found himself thinking back to his conversation with the bee heteromorph.

Steel Bulwark looked at Tesla in disbelief, "What, so we're just supposed to forgive him? Just because he had to do it?"

"I didn't say that. But there's no point in acting out now, is there?" Tesla pointed out to him as Gareth stayed silent, observing how Tesla talked with his crew in order to keep them in check. Gareth was a bit suprised by it. He expected Tesla to be angry with him like the rest of his crew was with him. He instead appeared to be more curious than angry. He set his eyes on Gareth again, "What do you want, Gareth? You didn't come all this way just to reminisce about old times, did you?"

Gareth shook his head, "No. I'm here because I believe we can still work together.

Gorilla looked at him in disbelief, "Work together? After what happened at the USJ? After the way you abandoned us?"

"You think you can just walk in here and suggest an alliance like nothing's changed?" Martial Hair asked with her arms crossed as Tesla looked at Gareth with a silent intrigue on his face.

Gareth once again shook his head, "I know it's not that simple. I'm not here to pretend everything's fine or ask you to forget what happened. I know trust is not built overnight as well. I'm asking you to assist me and my friends when we will make our next move."

"Why would we do that?" Tesla wanted to know.

Gareth gave him his answer a second later, "Because I feel like there may be people among you who don't want to live in the current system anymore for one reason or another. You may have been hurt by it or someone you care about may have been hurt by it. It can be something else. I can't be so sure. We have a common enemy in the form of heroes and there's a popular saying of enemy of my enemy is my friend. I'm here because I want to fight alongside you because despite everything, we still have the same goal and I'll be glad to trust you with my back."

He went further into his words as Tesla's crew watched him silently with their own reactions to his words showing on their faces, "I know you won't trust me straight away. I've been there as well with some of my comrades as the scar you're seeing on my face came from a woman who now is a valued and loyal comrade of mine. In fact, she is one of my advisers in the PLF. My friend Mustard didn't trust us straight away as well and yet, he ended up accepting us as his comrades in the end and we became a family."

Tesla slowly nodded at him, "I see."

"What if we'll say no?" Steel Bulwark asked.

Gareth turned to look at him, "Then I leave and I don't bother you again as I'm not the type of person to kill people who aren't willing to work with me. But I'd rather we didn't end things like that. We're stronger together. That's why I'm here and I'm willing to give it..."

His words died in his throat all of a sudden as everything around him became black all of a sudden. Gareth's expression grew more panicked, feeling all the air leave his lungs upon seeing everything around him go black like this as someone appeared in front of him among all the darkness around him. It wasn't Tesla's, though. It was his younger self again. He could tell who it was straight away as this time he didn't pretend to hide himself from him by turning himself.

"Why do you even bother with this? Those people clearly hate you after your failure at the USJ and having them work with you won't in any way. You will just fail them again. You will just make everyone hate you more. Hasn't the heteromorph guy told you enough what people think of you?" His younger self told him with his voice being completely normal as Gareth turned away from him as he refused to look at him again. He felt a really cold chill go down his spine at the sound of his voice. If he was honest with himself, he sounded way creepier when his voice sounded normal than it did when it was distorted.

Gareth gasped for air, feeling himself growing more panicked as all the air left his lungs. Everyone around him looked at him either with concern or raised brows as he turned away from Tesla while struggling to keep up with his own breathing. He let out a deep shaky breath and pushed himself into walk away from everyone without even bothering to excuse himself from them. He vanished from everyone's view a second later, walking of into the more isolated parts of the building.

Martial Hair raised her brow in confusion, "What's wrong with him?"

"Not again..." Alice muttered under her breath in worry with her eyes set in the direction Gareth had just gone off towards.

Kasai glanced at her with a questioning look on his face, "Again? What do you mean?"

"I'll explain later." Alice replied and pushed herself into walk to follow Gareth, "I need to go talk with him and..."

"No. You stay here." Tesla cut her off as he pushed himsel into walk in the same direction, "I'm gonna go talk with him."

Alice stopped in her tracks and looked at him questioningly, "What? Why?"

"Just trust me on this." Tesla replied, proceeding to make his way in Gareth's direction as Alice sighed and reluctantly agreed to stay behind with Cyborg, Kasai and Tesla's crew in the room. All of them watched Tesla walk away from them until he vanished from their view as well, just like Gareth.

---

Bakugo aimlessly walked around the safe zone at U.A, having nothing else to do right now as he left the student dorms of his new class several minutes ago. The blond haired boy had his hands in pockets and walked around with his head bowed in order to avoid seeing all the looks everyone he had walked by directed towards him, letting out a sigh as his introduction to his new classmates kept replaying in his mind.

The introduction to his new classmates was far from perfect to say the least. His new classmates didn't react kindly to him when he first arrived at their dorm and showed him just how much displeased they were to have him as one of their classmates now. Their displeased welcoming into their class was followed by a cold indifferent silence as they ignored him, treating him as if he didn't exist after he walked out of his dorm upon leaving his stuff there.

If he was honest with himself, he wasn't suprised by it one bit. He saw this coming from a mile away and kind of wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. It didn't make anything any better for him, though. He could tell the next school year for him was going to be anything by pleasant for him as he would be surrounded by people who didn't want him around. The blond haired boy shook his head, not believing how cruel irony it was...

He looked up a second later, having just heard a familiar voice in the distance and saw Hatsume walking towards him. She wasn't alone. She was accompanied by a boy who Bakugo had never seen before. This boy and Hatsume seemed to be really into the conversation, talking about whatever topic they were on right now with smiles on their faces. Bakugo raised his brow at the view of them boy. Even though it was his first time seeing him, he couldn't help but feel like he was familiar to him in some way. He didn't know why. He just was.

The blond haired boy shrugged everything off a second later, not thinking much of it as this boy probably was one of Hatsume's classmates and his familiar feeling regarding him probably came from the sports festival. He kept walking forward, bowing his head low again and walked past Hatsume and her unknown friend. However, what he failed to notice was her friend setting his eyes on him when they passed each other.

Whatever words Akihiko was about to utter to Hatsume died in his throat in an instant upon laying his eyes on Bakugo. He stopped in his tracks in an instant right after Bakugo caught his attention, completely forgetting about whatever conversation he was having with Hatsume a second earlier. Hatsume looked at him with a confused look on her face, suprised by his sudden silence.

"You alright there, pal?" She asked him as Akihiko didn't answer her and focused himself on Bakugo. He fully turned away from her and stepped closer to Bakugo, intending to ask him if he really was who he thought he was and placed his hand on his shoulder in order to get his attention.

"Excuse me." He said upon placing his hand on Bakugo, making the blond haired boy stop in his tracks as Bakugo turned around to face him. Akihiko looked at him with narrowed eyes, "Are you Bakugo Katsuki?"

"Yes. Do you..." Bakugo looked at Akihiko with a questioning look on his face, looking slightly taken aback by him grabbing him the way he did as he began to voice his answer to him. His words died a second later, though as Akihiko directed a firm punch to his face. Bakugo landed on the ground, clutching his pained cheek as he looked up at Akihiko who glared down at him. The blond haired boy sighed, "I suppose I deserved that."

"Exactly." Akihiko kept his glare on his face with his clenched fist beginning to shake slightly as Hatsume approached him from behind.

Hatsume placed her hand on his shoulder, "Aki-kun. Just calm down."

Akihiko looked over his shoulder at Hatsume and saw what expression she had on her face right now. He sighed upon seeing her looking at him like this, "I'm sorry, Mei-chan. But I felt like I had to do. For me and my family. After what he did to us..."

Bakugo kept himself on the ground, not wanting to risk Akihiko punching him again if he'll try to get up as he raised his brow at his choice of words. What did he meant by what he did to his family? He voiced his question to him a second later, "Who are you? Did I do anything to you?"

"You did. You really can't tell it, huh? I thought you'd already figured it out by now. After all, I saw your parents with my parents." Akihiko told him with his glare remaining on his face as he turned to look at him again with Hatsume pulling her hand away from his shoulder, "You're more than familiar with my cousin Gareth."

Bakugo's eyes widened at this information, "W-What?"

"You heard me right." Akihiko nodded in confirmation. He didn't bother to hide this from like he did with everyone else at the safe zone. His parents were already on the friendly terms with his parents. Bakugo finding out about him was probably just a matter of time, "The Mask is my cousin."

"Listen. Whatever I did to your cousin..." Bakugo tried to tell him.

Akihiko was having none of it, though and cut him off, "What? You want to tell me you're sorry and you regret this? Let me tell you. It won't work on me. Not after everything. Not after you turned him into a villain. Not after he turned our country into what it is right now. Not after the way my parents were hurt by the actions caused by you."

"I know nothing I will say will make things right for you an your family." Bakugo admitted with him remaing internally suprised about someone from Gareth's family standing in front of him. Now, he could understand why he got his weird feeling after seeing Akihiko. His gut must have been telling him it was someone related to the villain he had careated, "I just wanted to tell you..."

Akihiko once again cut him off, "I don't care what you have to say to me. Will this bring my normal life back? Will this make everyone who knows who I am stop viewing me as the cousin of the Mask? Will this stop making so many people from being judgemental of me and my parents? I just can't understanding any of it. Me and my parents didn't do anything and yet, we keep getting caught up in the bullshit you started, because you couldn't be a good person. Is it really that hard not be a jerk nowadays?"

"I know. Everything you just if true. If I wasn't such a big idiot back then and was actually someone worth of being a hero, then you and your parents wouldn't be hurt by any of this..." Bakugo replied with guilt evident in both his voice and on his face. Shame was becoming more evident in his emotions with each word he had uttered to the cousin of the victim of his past mistakes as well.

"Good. At least you're decent enough to know how much you screwed over my family. Too bad you couldn't be like this in the past. Maybe this way my cousin wouldn't become whatever he is right now." Akihiko commented as Bakugo lowered his gaze to the ground with his expession growing more shameful. He looked up at Akihiko again a second later when he added, "Do you know who else am I angry that? I'm angry at my cousin."

Bakugo raised his brow at him, "What?"

Akihiko wasted no time and gave him a nod of confirmation, "You hear me right. I'm just so angry at him, because of how his actions are affecting my parents. I hate him for making my mother break down like she did when she found out about her sister's death. I know my aunt was a terrible person who hurt my mom herself but she was still her sister neverthless..."

Akihiko found himself thinking back to his mother and the breakdown she had when she found out her sister was killed. All the thoughts he had regarding his cousin when he didn't know what to think of him faded away in that moment. It was when he hit his limit with everything going on around him and his parents. He just wanted everything to end. He just wanted his parents to have normal lives again without constantly getting caught in the crossfire of whatever the others from their family are doing...

His tone became more shaky the more he uttered to Bakugo even if his angry tone was still evident, "I just want him to stop everything he is doing. I want my parents to be at peace again. He needs to be stopped to make it happen. He needs to be locked up where he won't be able able to continue any of it. If that will happen, then my parents will finally be at peace and will be able to come back to their normal lives. I just want my parents to stop suffering, because of him..."

"..." Bakugo didn't say or do anything about it as he knew nothing he will say or do will make Akihiko feel better. He knew him out of all people trying to comfort him would be a terrible idea as he was one the people responsible for starting all of it n the first place. Staring at him with a guilty look on his face was the only thing he found himself capable of doing right now.

"Aki-kun. How about we stop with this? I think you aleady him everything he needs to know. How about we go talk talking about the baby idea you gave me a few minutes ago and grab something to eat to make you calm down a bit while we talk about it?" Hatsume suggested to Akihiko with a worried look her face as Bakugo shifted his gaze to her. If he was honest with himself, he was a a bit suprised to see her acting like this as it was a contrast of how she usually acted.

"Yeah. Let's just go..." Akihiko agreed with his tone remaining shaky and tearful and pushed himself into walk in the direction he and Hatsume were walking towards before coming into contact with Bakugo. Hatsume quickly followed him and caught up with him, leaving both of them walking by each other sides and leaving Bakugo all by himself.

Bakugo watched Akihiko and Hatsume walk away from him together, keeping his eyes on Akihiko as he couldn't help but feel bad for him. Bakugo knew he had his fault in this situation. He knew Gareth had his fault in this situation as well even if his actions drove him to everything. Akihiko and his parents, however, were completely innocent by all of this. They were nothing but innocent people who got dragged into this mess by the actions of other people...

He knew he wasn't among the members of Gareth's family who wronged him as well. Akihiko being clearly half american confirmed it to him. He knew he must have been related to the aunt who outed her own sister and her sister's husband to the media for being an abusive and neglectful parent. They were someone who wanted to help Gareth's situation in some way and had no part in turning him into the Mask and yet, they were still caught up in the crossfire of everything. All of this was just so unfair towards them...

He pushed himself up from the ground with his cheek no longer feeling the pain from Akihiko's punch and composed himself a bit. He pushed himself into walk a second later, going back to his aimless walk as he knew there was nothing else left for him to do now. He kept his head low like before as well, wanting to be unnoticed by people as he didn't want to be more of a nuisance to them than he already was.

The blonde haired boy stopped in his tracks a few minutes later as he saw his former classmates with addition of Shinso preparing themselves to leave the safe zone. He could tell all of them were leaving the safe zone because all of them had their hero costumes on themselves right now. It didn't take him long to figure out where they were heading right now. He managed to catch a glimpse of what they were planning back when he was still in their dorm even if they excluded him from the planning.

Bakugo clenched his hand at the view of them, setting his eyes on Ochaco who happened to be in the middle of a conversation with Iida and Asui. There was something he wanted to ask her and the rest about before they would leave for their mission. He clenched his hand tighter a bit, knowing asking her about this probably won't be the best idea as he pushed himself into walk towards Ochaco who exchanged nods with Iida and Asui who left her by herself shortly after.

"Hey." He called out to her in an uncertain tone when he found himself close enough to her a second later in order to gain her attention.

Ochaco turned to look at him with her expression becoming colder the moment she laid her eyes on him, "What do you want?"

Bakugo swallowed his breath and gave her his answer, "Whatever you are planning to do with Midoriya. Let me come with you."

Ochaco looked like she was slapped across face upon hearing this, "...Why would we allow you to come with us? Just that you could hurt him again?"

Bakugo clenched his hand, "I just want to talk with him about everything which happened between us in the past. Okay? I want to make things right between us. Even if it won't do anything and he won't forgive me which is something I'm not expecting him to do. Just let me do something right for once in my life. Something nice..."

"We should take him with us Ochaco." Hagakure's voice caught their attention a second later as Ochaco and Bakugo shifted their attention to the invisible girl.

Ochaco remained uncertain about this, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Whatever will happen, I'm sure he is smart enough not to be stupid enough to pull off anything during our mission to bring Midoriya back here." Hagakure confimed it to Ochaco. Unbeknownst to Bakugo, she managed to overhear his interaction with Eri before he left the dorms due to her being close to them when their conversation happened and it made her feel a bit more certain about taking Bakugo with them than Ochaco was. Even if her distate and anger towards him and everything he did remained in her.

Ochaco silently stared at Hagakure, looking like she was deep in thought for a moment before making her choice on this matter. Ultimately, she gave him her permission to join them even if she was uncertain whether taking him with them was a good idea, "You pull off one stunt around him again and I'll make you you won't come near him ever again."

Bakugo nodded to show his understanding of it, "Point taken. You don't have to worry about anything."

"We'll see about that." Ochaco replied, letting him know she'll keep her eyes on him as she turned away from him and walked over to her classmates with Hagakure remaining close to her. Bakugo followed them, but made sure to keep his distance from his former classmates, knowing it would be for the best if he kept his distance from them.

As the blond haired boy joined his former classmates while still keeping a decent distance from them, he failed to notice a certain person who happened to be Eri watching him from the distance...

---

Gareth kept to himself, staying in the isolated part of the building after leaving the others following his conversation with Tesla and every other villain from the USJ. His mind was filled with thoughts right now, finding himself thinking back about everything as a way of making himself forget about what just happened with his younger self appearing in the middle of this conversation with Tesla.

He placed his hand on his chest, trying to steady his erratic breathing, but it was to no avail as his breathing remained unsteady. No matter what he did, nothing in his behavior changed and he felt like he was growing worse. He honestly felt like he was seconds away from passing out from everything or even worse. He couldn't tell and he didn't want to fo find out if he was honest with himself. Even if he doubted he'll manage to stop it.

To make matters worse for him, he began thinking about everything which happened to him recently and everything he had recently learned. He couldn't stop thinking about it following his conversation with All Might, having only managed to make himself stop thinking about it and eating him from the inside after he came into contact with Tesla and his crew. Even if it was really brief. All of it came flooding back at him in an instant and nothing stopped.

He found himself thinking back about everything the hetermorph told him when he confronted him and how much he hated how right he was about him. His actions harmed people. The same people he had claimed to care about. He claimed he had cared about civilians and yet he released so many villains he was disgusted with himself into the world with Shigaraki's help. Even if he could call him his brother, not knowing who he was anymore because of the other stuff All Might told him about. The heteromorph was right. His words of caring about civilians meant nothing if he was pulling off stuff like this...

The matter of Shigaraki and All For One crossed his mind as well as the thought of All For One taking over Shigaraki's body filled his body with nothing but dread. Even if he didn't want to believe All Might, he knew he couldn't write it off as a lie straight away as All Might was never a liar and more importantly he had already seen All For One controlling Shigaraki with his own eyes back when escaped the hospital ruins and attacked Tartarus...

The black haired boy felt his unsteady breaths slowly turning into whimpers at this. He knew how he felt about it. He disagreed with the thought with All For One taking over Shigaraki's body and nothing in the world would make him accept this. He knew it was something he couldn't just accept and move on even if All For One did so much for him by saving him from taking his final steps and mentoring him. He couldn't just give him a pass and allow him to take over his brother's body...

He constantly kept him away from Shigaraki as well when he wanted to talk with him and lied to him about the Nomus as well. Gareth couldn't help but ask himself this the further he went into his thoughts. How many stuff All For One had hidden from him? How many stuff he lied about. Did he or Shigaraki cared about him in the first place? Or were they just someone he was planned to use to reach his own goal.

All For One's goal crossed his mind a second later. His Sensei constantly talked about becoming the Demon Lord and it wasn't something he and the League were working towards. If anything, it sounded like something one of the villains Gareth himself was disgusted with would say. They lost so much support because All For One wanted to use him and Shigaraki to break himself out of jail. Did he care about their goal in the first place?

How was he supposed to aporoach this? He knew he just couldn't walk over to All For One and confront him about it. He suspected doing something like this was a disaster waiting to happen and it was the last thing he wanted to happen right now. He wanted to find a way how to approach all of this but nothing came to his mind. His head was empty. He couldn't find a solution to any of this...

Gareth pressed his hand aginst the sides of his head, feeling his heart starting to hurt. What was he supposed to do about all of this? He didn't know. He didn't know what to do now. He was a fucking kid? How was he supposed to figure all of this out by himself? He was supposed to be a leader and yet, he didn't know what to do. All he did while having this position was having one screw up after another even if people were having their trust in him and were looking up to him...

He was useless...

"Hey." Tesla's voice rang through his ears, taking him out of his thoughts.

Gareth glanced at him, "Hey. What are you doing here...?"

"I thought I should go check on you to see what's wrong with you. Your foreign friend wanted to come after you, but I stopped her as I wanted to talk with you myself" Tesla explained to him. He looked at him questioningly a second later, "What's bothering you?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Gareth replied.

"I see..." Tesla said in understanding. He decided to push the conversation in the right direction a second later, "How we talk about something else, then?"

Gareth looked at him questioningly, "About what?"

"I don't know." Tesla decided to play dumb for a second, wanting Gareth to come up with himself.

Gareth stared at him silently until something crossed his mind, "Why were you so open about talking with me even after I left you behind at the USJ. Your friends weren't exactly happy with me. Your approach to me a was different, though. Why?"

Tesla sighed, "I watched your video and I could relate with you in some parts. I could relate a lot."

Gareth raised his brow, "What do you mean?"

"Your suicide attempt. It was something I could relate to a lot to someothing from my past." Tesla gave him an honest answer as Gareth looked at him with a shocked look on his face, "Yeah. You see. I had a friend. Mimura Hikaru. He was my best friend. We did everything together. We played together. We ate dinner at each other houses. Everything you can expect from childhood best friends."

Gareth looked at him questioningly, "What happened to him to make him end his life?"

"He could really fit into society's standards. Let's not go into details here as I don't want to bring this up..." Tesla explained, letting out a sigh when those memories flew through his mind. He went further into his explanation a second later, "There were two people in my school who wouldn't leave him alone and they just kept bothering him, no matter how many times he asked them to. Everyone knew it was happening but didn't do anything."

"Why?" Gareth asked even if he already suspected the answer.

Tesla confirmed his assumptions a second later, "I think you already know the answer. They had potential to be heroes."

Gareth sighed, "I see..."

Tesla went further into his words a second later, letting out a sigh, "Yeah. I went to the school facualty so many times to ask them to make them leave Hikaru-kun alone but they always brushed me off while giving the bullies excuse like "Boys will be boys" or "Just ignore them and they'll get bored". This kind of crap."

"At least you tried to do something when your friend was getting bullied instead of admiring them for having potential to be heroes and making excuses for them as well..." Gareth muttered under his breath as Tesla looked at him. Even if he wasn't fully certain about it, he suspected what Gareth must have been talking about. He decided not to push the subject, though.

"The bullies didn't left my friend, though. In fact, their bullying just got worse as the time passed." Tesla explained further with him clenching his fist in anger. His voice became a mixture of anger and hurt when he added, "One day. Hikaru-kun just couldn't take it anymore. He threw himself off the roof of the building..."

Gareth looked at him with a pitful look on his face, letting out a saddened sigh, "Tesla-kun. I'm so sorry..."

Tesla nodded at him to show him his appreciaton with his voice becoming more hurt and angry, "You know what the school did afterwards? They did absolutely fucking nothing to those who drew him to suicide. They just made it look like he had some undiagnosed depression or something and no one could tell it because he only spoke with me. They fucking let those assholes get away with causing his death..."

Gareth looked at Tesla with his expression becoming filled with sympathy. Words couldn't describe how angry he felt on the inside now and how much he hated how much it reminded him of his school. He was slowly starting to see where everything was going as as well. If the school was refusing to do anything, then someone else had to do it for them, "Did you take matters into your own hands?"

"Yes. Someone had to make them pay. If it wasn't going to school, then it was going to be me." Tesla confirmed it to him, "I killed them. I killed them and I made sure they'd feel pain Hikaru-kun felt whenever they would bully him. Only intensified. I went on the run right after, knowing everyone would be after me for killing precious boys who did nothing wrong and just wanted to be heroes. I think you know where everything went from here if I ended up joining you and Shigaraki for the USJ attack..."

"Yeah." Gareth sighed sadly with a look of understanding on his face. He and Tesla stared at each other silently, showing themselves some mutual understanding.

Tesla broke himself from his silent understanding a second later and voiced a question to Gareth, "Now, can you tell me what's been bothering you so much?"

Gareth stared at him silently and buried his face in his hands, "I'm a worthless piece of shit..."

Tesla looked slightly taken aback by this admission, but composed himself quickly and asked him, "What do you mean?"

Gareth gave him an explanation a second later and made sure to be as honest as he could, "You heard me right. I'm fucking useless. So many people are putting their trust in me and all I'm doing is keep failing them. I'm a fucking failure of a leader. I fucking didn't do anything about Hawks and now look where that got me and my friends! Some are dead with Twice dissolving in my fucking arms! Do you know how fucking terrible it felt?! Having your friend die like this because of your fuckup! Some are fucking locked up! Who knows what else can be worse! They all fucking trusted me I fucking failed them!"

He didn't stop there and continued his rant as he intended to let out everything, "I didn't just fail them as well. I failed my supporters as well. If only I had not attacked Tartarus and actually showed them that I care about them instead of just giving some empty words, then maybe I wouldn't fail them. I recently met someone who would admitted that he would have supported me and my friends, but my actions just caused him to hate us. All I'm doing is ruining lives of innocent people evne if I claim to care about them.."

"You know the worst part about this?" He asked him as he went further into his words, "I was fucking hurting civilians for all this time without even knowing. Someone who I had trusted with my own life and I would gladly give my life for once fucking lied to me about the Nomus as they never told me about them using actual civilians to make them. To make everythin worse, he might be doing something with my brother now and I don't fucking know what to do about it..."

The black haired boy fully buried his face in his hands just as he was about to finish his rant, "I'm worthless. All For One should have just let me jump off the roof. Maybe this way all this trouble would have been spared without me constantly fucking everything up."

Tesla looked at him with a worried and saddened look on his face as he placed his hand on his shoulder and gave it a reasuring squeeze, "Hey. It's okay. We all fail. We all make mistakes. It's what makes us human. Isn't that the message you and your friends are trying to give into the world? That villains are humans as well? You wouldn't be a human if you weren't any mistakes right? Especially you. You're still a teen for Gods sake. Look at me for example. I made a mistake back at the USJ and ended up defeated..."

"How does that make everything I did better?" Gareth asked him in return, "You didn't have people counting on you. You didn't fail anyone..."

"You're wrong. I failed Hiraku-kun." Tesla shook his head, "I should have protected him. Stopped everything from going wrong. I failed him. You, unlike me, still have a chance to fix everything, though."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Gareth asked him with his expression showing just how uncertain and doubtful he was about everything.

"Just show them you really meant what you said about caring about them the next time you and your comrades will make your move." Tesla explained to him, "Make sure nothing like the prison breaks and Gigantomachia's rampage won't happen. If you'll have to kill someone, make sure it will be the kind of situation where you'll be left with no choice. Like when they attacked your home and killed your comrades to start this bloody war between you."

"Gareth..." A female voice rang through their ears a second later. They looked in the direction of it a second later and saw Alice walking towards them with a worried look on her face. She wasn't alone. Kasai who had a worried look on her face and Cyborg were with her. Tesla's crew who didn't show as much animonsity towards him as they did earlier was right behind them.

"Alice..." Gareth muttered under his breath at the view of her and everyone else.

Alice stopped next to Gareth and placed her hand on his shoulder. She looked directly into his eyes, "We-We're going to make it. We have to. For people like you or me or Tesla or Kasai. We all need you to make this happen."

"We can fix this." Tesla added as Kasai silently nodded in agreement.

"Together." Alice smiled at him slightly as Gareth looked down and exhaled softly.

"Of course we can. Together..." He looked up at everyone around him when he gave him his answer. He shifted his gaze to Tesla, setting his attention fully on him and held his hand out to him for a handshake to show him how much he appreciated what he just said to him. Tesla smiled at him underneath his mask and gave him a firm shake. Gareth pulled away from the handshake a second later, "...So. How do we start?"

"Make a new video with yourself. Tell people your side of the story. Be completely honest about it." Tesla told him, "You said it yourself the heroes attacked your home and killed two of your friends. Just tell the world how everything looked like from your perspective."

"Alright." Gareth nodded at him as he shited his gaze to Alice. Alice silently nodded at him, letting him know she will get the cameras ready. Gareth nodded back at her to show her he was grateful and shifted his gaze to Tesla a second later, "Let's do this."

---

When you realize it's been over a year since Gareth and Shigaraki's last conversation...

If you know what the final scene between Gareth and Tesla was inspired by, then you'll have my eternal respect.

More episodes for season 7 came out and I can say I rellly liked them. The stuff with with the Torodoki family was amazingly done in the anime, like always even if I'm a bit sad they cut out the scene between Mr. Compress and Geten. Younger AFO with Levi's voice was not something I thought I needed as well, lol

The anime adaptation of NieR: Automata came to an end and I can easily say I absolutely loved this adaptation. It was definitely the best anime adaptation of a video game I've seen (I only watched 4 but it counts neverthless). I'm so happy my girl A2/Freesia finally got the spotlight she deserved to get and the scene with 2B and 9S waking up and 2B smilling just touched by heart so much. Seeing Accord at the end was cool as well.

The new Digital Circus episode came out and I loved all the stuff with Kinger in this episode. He and Pomni were a nice grandpa/daughter duo in the episode. I now realize why he is so obsessed with insect collections in the first episode. His wife loved bugs, and probably made a collection from adventure they had together. Now Kinger is obsessed with talking about them because they remind him of her. Poor guy. I also like how Caine isn't some malicious tormentor like AM. He's genuinely trying to make people happy, which is why he wants to know why Zooble isn't interested in the adventures.

Played the new Warhammer game. Even though it was the first Warhammer game I ever played, I had some fun during it and found myself saluting in the same way as space marines do by the time I reached the final cutscene, lol.

Watched the new Beetlejuice and had fun during it.

Watched the new Joker and I can describe it only one word. Dissappointing, very disappointing. Even if I was willing to give it a chance, despite it being a musical (after all I'm into Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss) and I really wanted to like this movie as I absolutely loved the first move Honestly I can't remember the last time when I was so disappointed by a movie. They should have stick to having just one movie as it was perfect as the standalone movie...

Hope it wasn't so bad. See you in another chapter.