ONE'S JUSTICE

ARC TWO CHAPTER FOUR

Arc 2 Chapter 4: How it all began Part 3; Shattered Allegiances

'Oh for the love of God how big is this forest?!'

He thought as stumbled through the dense underbrush of the woods surrounding UA, each step feeling heavier than the last. His wounds from the previous battle ached with every movement, and his body was running on fumes. But there was no time to rest. He could feel the alarm bells ringing in the back of his mind—the whole school was on high alert, and it wouldn't be long before they found him.

"Move faster. Move faster." The thought repeated in his mind like a mantra, but his body wouldn't obey. His legs felt like lead, his injuries from the battle still raw and stinging. He was close—he could feel it. Just a little more, and he'd be free. But the seconds were slipping away, and every rustling branch, every crackling twig underfoot, made his heart pound faster.

His quirk was unstable, his energy manipulation fluctuating erratically as his body struggled to keep up. He couldn't fly—not without drawing attention, not with the kind of speed he needed. No, he had to stay low, hidden.

"Damn it. Damn this place."

UA was huge, sprawling—an entire city's worth of land stretched out before him, with no clear way to escape unnoticed. He was running out of time, and he could already feel the weight of doubt pressing on him. His friends, his mentors—everyone thought he was a traitor. Everyone believed the lies.

Ken gritted his teeth as he trudged forward, the heavy weight of their disbelief anchoring him. His friends were all out there, and if they caught him, if they brought him back… it was over.

The rumbling In the air came without warning.

Boom. A flash of light and force exploded in the distance, the ground beneath him shaking as if the very earth had been ripped apart. He was flung off balance and sent tumbling through the underbrush, rolling and crashing into the ground with a sickening thud.

Before he could even regain his bearings, a loud thud echoed in the silence. Ken's head snapped up in time to see a pair of boots land heavily in front of him, blocking his path.

It was Bakugo.

Ken's cursed his luck. His body screamed in protest as he tried to push himself up, but the weight of the situation was crushing. He could see the fury in Bakugo's eyes, the rage, and the pure venom. "There you are, you damn traitor," Bakugo snarled, his voice low and guttural. "Running away like a coward? That doesn't seem like something you'd do. But after everything you've done, I'm not sure what to think of you!"

Ken didn't respond. There was nothing to say anymore. No one would believe him—no matter how much he pleaded, no matter how many times he swore he wasn't the one who had betrayed them. It was over.

Behind Bakugo, the air grew cold, and the sound of ice cracking against the trees reached Ken's ears. Shoto Todoroki stepped forward, his gaze hard, unwavering. "Running only makes you look more guilty," he said, his tone devoid of emotion. "If you didn't do anything wrong, then why are you fleeing, Ken?"

Ken's fists clenched at his sides. He didn't want to fight them. They were his friends—his allies—but the coldness in their eyes was undeniable. They believed the worst of him.

"Shut up!" Bakugo's voice cracked through the tension, his hands already glowing with explosions ready to be unleashed. "I'm gonna beat the truth out of you, bastard. You're gonna pay for what you've done."

Ken's chest tightened, a surge of frustration bubbling up inside him. He didn't want to fight. He didn't want to hurt them. But there was no way out—no way to prove himself right.

He couldn't run anymore.

With a roar, Bakugo launched himself forward, his gauntlets flaring with explosions. The force of his assault sent Ken scrambling to the side, narrowly avoiding the blast that tore through the air. He hit the ground hard, his side slamming into the earth. Pain shot through him, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to his feet. He couldn't stop now.

Bakugo was already on the move, blasting forward with another explosion. "You're not getting away!" he shouted, his fists clenched, eyes blazing with fury.

Ken barely had time to react, his body sluggish and slow as Bakugo closed the distance between them. With a flash of light, another explosion erupted, and Ken was sent crashing backward. His head collided with the ground, stars dancing in his vision.

"Damn it, bastard!" Bakugo screamed, his gauntlets glowing again, ready to finish the job. "I'm gonna make sure you never betray anyone again!"

Ken's breath came in ragged gasps, his body screaming in pain. His vision blurred as he struggled to sit up, but he couldn't stop himself from getting back to his feet. He had to keep moving. He couldn't let them stop him now.

Todoroki's voice cut through the chaos, cold as ice. "You've already made this worse, Ken. Running doesn't help. You know what we have to do."

Ken gritted his teeth and stood tall, trying to ignore the pain lancing through his body. "You think I want to run?" he spat, his voice raw. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

But Todoroki was already moving, his ice growing at a rapid pace, freezing the ground around Ken's feet and trapping him in place. "This is the only way."

Ken's heart pounded. He wasn't going to get out of this one easily. Bakugo was too fast, too volatile, and Todoroki's ice was too precise. He had to think—had to fight back—but his body was giving up on him.

Bakugo blasted forward once again, a flash of light lighting up the woods as his explosion hit the ground just beside Ken's feet. The shockwave sent Ken flying backward, his body crashing into a tree. His head spun, and his breath came out in ragged, desperate gasps. His vision flickered, but through the pain, he could hear Bakugo's voice, full of rage and betrayal.

"I'll never forgive you, ya moron!"

Ken clenched his teeth, his hands shaking. He couldn't do this. He couldn't win like this. Not when he was so weak, so exhausted, so close to breaking.

And yet, something inside him snapped. The energy he had been holding back surged to the surface, a raw, untamed force.

With a deep breath, Ken forced his quirk to the forefront. "I won't let you win," he growled under his breath. His body crackled with energy, his control faltering as he forced himself to rise.

Bakugo launched forward again, his gauntlets firing with terrifying force. But this time, Ken was ready. His energy flared brightly, creating a shield in front of him just in time to block the explosion. The impact shook him to his core, but he held firm, pushing through the pain as his energy shield absorbed the blast.

Ken staggered, barely able to keep his balance, but he wasn't done. With a roar, he shoved forward, his energy surging outward, a shockwave of raw force that sent both Bakugo and Todoroki stumbling backward.

"I'm not your enemy!" Ken screamed, his voice raw with emotion. "I'm not a traitor!"

Bakugo snarled as he scrambled back to his feet. "Shut up!" he shouted. "I'm going to make you regret this!"

But Ken was already moving, his body pushing through the pain as he summoned another burst of energy, this time sending a wave of force toward Todoroki, who was already preparing another ice attack. The ice shattered on impact, sending shards flying in every direction, but it gave Ken the opening he needed.

With a last, desperate push, Ken used every ounce of strength he had left, launching himself forward. He barreled through the gap between Bakugo and Todoroki, his body alight with energy, using his quirk to send both of them flying backward.

For a brief moment, everything stood still.

Ken didn't stop. He couldn't afford to. He could hear the shouts of his friends, their voices distant and full of rage. But he didn't listen. He didn't have time to explain. He had to escape—he had to clear his name.

The gate was ahead. He wasn't far now.

With a final burst of speed, Ken pushed through the trees, his energy propelling him faster than ever before. The gates were just ahead.

He could make It.

And with that, Ken vanished into the woods, disappearing into the night.

The city was alive, but it was a different kind of life—a cold, restless hum that echoed through the silent streets at night. The moon hung low in the sky, casting long shadows across the alleyways as Ken sprinted between buildings, his breath ragged and his muscles aching. His legs felt like lead, each step harder than the last, but there was no choice—no time to stop.

Normally he would choose to fly but he didn't want to risk getting caught by Aizawa's quirk for any reason. His body, weakened from the battle with Bakugo and Shoto earlier that day, was protesting every movement, every inch of ground gained. But none of that mattered. What mattered was getting away.

The explosion of energy that had ripped him free from the capture scarf had left destruction in its wake. Pro heroes and students alike had been thrown backward, and even All Might—his former mentor—had been knocked off his feet. The impact had sent a shockwave through his body, but it had also given him a chance to escape. It hadn't been a clean getaway—his quirk was still too erratic, still too volatile—but it was the only option he had left.

He could feel the eyes of the world on him, even though no one was chasing him directly at that moment. They were looking for him. His mind raced, remembering the looks of doubt on the faces of his friends, the shock and betrayal in their eyes when Tsukauchi's quirk had called him a liar. There had to be something wrong there. Maybe whoever framed him found a way to bypass the detective's quirk to make him look guilty. His heart still pounded in his chest, his throat tight with frustration. How could they not believe him? How could his own friends, people he had fought beside, turn on him like that?

But he couldn't dwell on that now. He couldn't afford to.

Ken's thoughts kept spiraling back to the moment Tsukauchi had activated his quirk. It was supposed to prove his innocence, but it had only done the opposite. Every plea, every word of defense he had spoken had been dismissed. And now he was the one being hunted—by the very people he had trusted with his life.

He rounded another corner, his shoes slapping the cold concrete, and ducked into the shadow of a narrow alleyway. The moonlight barely touched the ground here, the buildings on either side towering over him, trapping him in the silence. He pressed himself against the wall, trying to steady his breath, but the weight of the situation was unbearable.

He had to think. He had to find a way to prove his innocence, but how? It had to be the League of Villains that had framed him, most likely they had used Toga or Twice's quirk to set him up but for what purpose? Why had they chosen him? Of all the people in UA, why him? Ken's mind worked overtime, trying to piece together the puzzle, but there was nothing clear. The footage, the witnesses, Tsukauchi's quirk—it all painted him as a traitor, and he had no way of explaining the contradictions.

"Think, Ken. Think!" he muttered to himself, slamming his fist against the brick wall in frustration, cratering it. Even without his quirk he was still quite the beast in terms of pure physical strength. His hand stung from the impact, but the pain was grounding—something to focus on other than the chaos swirling in his mind.

But there was no answer. No simple solution. And that only made it worse. He continued to steady his breathing as he tried to keep to massive ambient energy in him under control.

His quirk—his energy manipulation—was as much a curse as it was a gift. It had protected him, made him strong, but now it was out of control, unpredictable the more emotional he got. He had never felt more isolated, more vulnerable than he did now. The fight with Bakugo had been brutal. Bakugo had been enraged, lashing out at him with everything he had, but Ken had been too tired, too drained to fight back the way he normally would. And Todoroki… Todoroki's ice and fire had been a brutal combination. Ken had barely managed to hold his own, the two of them pushing him to his limit.

The physical toll from those battles had taken a heavy toll on his already weakened body. His head was throbbing from the exertion, and his ribs ached with every breath. His quirk was no longer an easy thing to control—it was wild, uncontrollable, a volatile force that he could barely keep in check.

And yet, despite all of this, Ken got up and kept running. The sound of sirens echoed in the distance, a reminder that the pro heroes and the cops were closing in. He needed to get out of the city. He needed to find a place to rest. He couldn't stay home cause that would literally be the first place they'd look. Now that he thought about it, was his mother aware of the situation? What had she been told? Scratch that, if she was aware did she believe him to be working with the league as well? He hoped not, he needed to get home and explain himself to his mother before heading out to figure things out, to find a way to clear his name before it was too late.

After what felt like hours of moving through the shadows, knocking out a few random heroes that had managed to find him, Ken reached the outskirts of the city. The buildings grew farther apart, the streets quieter. The city's heart seemed to fade away, replaced by a stillness that unsettled him. He slowed his pace, trying to catch his breath, but his body screamed for rest. He stumbled, his legs threatening to give out beneath him, but he pushed on.

He reached the familiar street, his heart heavy with unease. The lights in his house were off. Which was rather strange since it was still not anywhere close to the time she always headed to bed. Everything seemed eerily still. He stood there for a moment, staring at the door, trying to gather the strength to open it. Maybe, just maybe, his mother was there, waiting for him. Maybe she hadn't heard the news. Maybe she'd know that he wasn't the one who betrayed everyone.

But as he stepped inside, his heart sank.

The house was empty. The silence was suffocating. His mother's absence hit him like a blow to the chest. There was no sign of her. Just an unsettling emptiness that seemed to stretch on forever.

"Mom?" Ken called out, his voice thick with panic. But there was no response. He ran through the house, checking every room, every corner, but there was nothing. No sign of her. The sinking feeling in his gut deepened as he stood there, surrounded by the hollow echoes of his own voice. He reached the kitchen and his eyes widened when he saw her phone laying on the ground. She was always with her phone.

Where had she gone?

His mind raced as he used his quirk to search for her energy signature but he didn't sense her anywhere around the area. He growled lowly trying to make sense of it. Had she been taken? Kidnapped? Had the League done something to her? Or was she simply gone, leaving him behind in the wake of everything that had happened?

Ken's knees buckled, and he sank to the floor, his hands clutching at his hair. He didn't know what to do anymore. He had always thought he could handle things on his own. He had always believed that he could make it through, that he could survive anything. But this—this was different.

The weight of the situation, the betrayal, the loss of his friends, and now the disappearance of his mother, was too much. It was all too much.

He closed his eyes, letting the tears come, the frustration, fear, and anger crashing over him in a wave. He didn't know how to fix this. He didn't know how to clear his name, how to stop the chaos that had been unleashed. He didn't know if he would ever be able to fix what had been broken.

But one thing was clear: He was on his own. And that thought, more than anything else, was the one that stung the most. With a low sigh, he got up and wiped the tears from his eyes. He needed to move before any of the heroes or cops got him.

"Well hello there." A calm voice cut through the quiet environment much to Ken's shock causing him to whip his head and turn around only to be met with darkness as the last thing he saw was a hand reaching out for his face.

Well that's it for this chapter. I would have published a while ago but school's been annoying me lately. Anyway, that's it for this chapter, next chapter you'll see how Ken and Shigaraki are related. I'm waiting for when I'll go on holiday so I can publish the Naruto x DBS story and the Fairy Tail story that I have planned cause I can't do it from here since I don't have the story files.

Anyway, till next time. Read and Review.

Peace.