As they all loaded themselves into the bus they quickly realised the layout didn't match the one Iida had used for his seating plan at all. When he stepped in he tried to put everyone back into some type of order but as each student who passed him awkwardly ignored his orders and quietly moved to sit where they wanted he surrendered. Sighing, he took his own, un-assigned seat.

The back few rows had already been filled by the time Katsumi stepped in, she slipped into the closest one, the last row before the bust opened up to seats facing in on each other. Once she shuffled to the end she silently turned to look out of the window, resigning herself to a quiet, solitary trip. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of pink settle beside her. Well, she supposed someone would sit next to her, hopefully, they weren't too chatty, but her hope for that was low with how outgoing most of the class was. Expecting Mina from the pink she had seen she turned her head to greet her. Instead of the black-eyed girl, she was met with Uraraka with her pink headpiece giving her a bright smile. Katsumi returned the smile curtly.

"Do you two mind if I sit here too?" Momo's voice made both the girls turn to the aisle.

"Of course! There's plenty of room vice Prez!"

Urakaka shuffled over, too close to Katsumi who moved herself as physically far away from the brunette as possible.

Katsumi acted very interested in the view outside for most of the ride, only really looking from the window to chime into Momo and Uraraka's conversations every now and then. She didn't want to seem like she was acting too strange. Her attention was diverted, however, when her ears caught a certain blunt frog girl commenting about how she'd noticed Izuku's quirk was a lot like All Mights.

"What? Really? You think so, huh?" He tried to laugh, eyes darting over to Katsumi. As soon as he did though he must have realised how suspicious that was because he quickly looked away. "I never really thought about that. I guess it's kinda similar…" Goodness, he was a horrific actor. Katsumi was sat up straight now, watching the conversation in front of her through narrowed eyes.

"Wait, hold on, Tsu," Kirishima interrupted. "You're forgetting All Might doesn't hurt himself. That makes a huge difference." Katsumi relaxed, sinking back into her seat.

"Still, I bet it's cool to have a simple augmenting-type Quirk. You can do lots of flashy stuff with it. My Hardening's super strong and can destroy bad guys in a fight, but it doesn't look all that impressive." Kirishima said, a little bitterly.

Izuku leaned over to look at him. "Oh, no way, I think it's really awesome looking." He said truthfully, "You're definitely pro-material with a Quirk like that."

"You really think so? Seems like it'd be easier to be a popular hero if I had somethin' flashier."

"What's popularity got to do with being a hero?" Katsumi huffed, not able to help herself from commenting. She didn't mean to say it loud enough for him to hear, but he did, sighing, a little embarrassed, "I know it's not the most important, but it would be nice."

"You've got it easy!" Kaminari accused, "With your Dad, you'll be famous before you even debut!"

"My Navel Laser's got the perfect combination of panache and strength," Aoyama interrupted before Katsumi had the chance to respond to Kaminari. She was grateful, she wasn't quite sure what she would have said to that.

"Well, if any of our classmates have pro Quirks," Sero looked over to the back, "it's gotta be Todoroki, Bakugo and Ms All Might Jr." Katsumi ignored the joke, instead glancing back, she'd almost forgotten about Todoroki. He looked just as disinterested as normal, though his mismatched eyes flickered over to her, their eyes meeting for a moment. Katsumi raised her eyebrows before turning back.

"Sure, but Bakugo's always angry," she heard Tsu say, "so he'll never be that popular." Katsumi pursed her lips, eyes sparkling with amusement for a moment.

"What'd you say?" Bakugou's yelling Katsumi and the girls next to her wince, he was only a foot away from them, "I'll kick your ass!"

"Ya see?"

"Y'know, we basically just met you," Kaminari smirked, "so it's kinda telling that we all know your personality is flaming crap mixed with garbage."

"You're gonna regret the day you applied to this school, you loser!"

After that Aizawa told them to shut up, they were arriving soon. She had been distracted for a while from the thudding in her chest by the antics of her classmates, but, as they left the bus, the beating began to pick up its pace.

"Hello, everyone, I've been waiting for you!"

The building in front of them was a white dome, it was massive, stretching out far either side of them. Big space, plenty of places to run. As the rest of the students stood in awe of the huge facility in front of them Katsumi's brows furrowed. Her dad was not there.

The person who greeted them was a short woman wearing a large astronaut suit. Izuku was saying something about the space-themed hero but Katsumi wasn't listening, not even caring to notice how Uraraka and Izuku were happily chatting about it. The beating of her heart was loud in her ears and her whole body felt weak.

Where was he?

She took a deep breath in, trying to calm her thoughts. It was okay, her father was here, he said he would be. He was probably just inside the building.

"Holy crap! It looks like some kind of amusement park!"

They were inside now, and still no dad. The place was just as massive as it looked from the outside, there were plenty of places to go and hide. They walked onto a concrete area that overlooked the different disaster simulations, the facility dug into the ground to create more room. But Katsumi didn't spend too much time thinking about that, because she was much more focused on the thought of; 'Where the hell is he?' Was he planning on jumping out of a corner and surprising them? That was just the type of unnecessary theatrics he would do. She looked around but there was nowhere for him to even hide around them. Katsumi gritted her teeth as Thirteen went on about the different disasters that the facility would help them prepare for, the students 'oo'ing and 'aww'ing along. As she finished Aizawa strolled towards her, hands in his pockets.

"Shouldn't All Might be here already? Lemme guess, he booked an interview instead."

Katsumi watched the two teachers while the other students were chatting excitedly amongst themselves. Thirteen responded lowly, too quiet for her to hear no matter how Katsumi strained her ears. She did, however, see her holding up three fingers.

Three? Like three hours? Kasumi's heart dropped as a horrible thought crossed her mind. Had he already used up his time?

After talking quietly with Aizawa for a couple more moments, Thirteen turned to the class, "Before we begin, let me just say one thing. Well, maybe two things. Possibly three, four, or five."

Katsumi stopped listening completely. Without her father, they were all screwed. She felt faint like she would collapse at any moment. Again, he wasn't going to be there. A sense of imminent doom sunk into her chest.

But, if her dad wasn't here, maybe they wouldn't come. Yeah, they were probably waiting for All Might, and seeing as he wasn't coming, nothing would happen. A half-smile twitched on her lips, a little snort escaping her nostrils as she realised how stupid that idea was. But what else did she have, she had no idea when it would happen, she couldn't spend possibly the next two or more hours strung so tight even a little ping would make her snap. Swallowing down her anxiety, Katsumi took in a deep breath, relaxing her shoulders and back before she focused on the teacher.

"-likely experienced how dangerous your powers can be when used against other people. Carry those lessons over to this class. Today, you're going to learn how to use your Quirks to save people's lives. You won't be using your powers to attack enemies or each other, only to help. After all, that's what being a hero is all about. Ensuring the safety of others."

"Thirteen is so cool!" Izuku grinned, Katsumi looked over at him, her face had settled into a downcast expression, but she managed to smile. For a moment at least, before the guilt creeped up.

"Well, that's all I have to say. Thank you so much for listening." Thirteen said with a graceful bow. The students clapped, Katsumi's face wore a small smile as she turned around and gave a half-amused look to Ashido cheering especially loudly behind her.

"Right." Aizawa nodded, drawing the class's attention to him." Now that that's over-"

The crackle of electricity interrupted the scruffy man. They all paused to look up, the lights lining the walls of the dome flashed before they burnt out with a crack, dimming the building.

There it was.

She hadn't even stopped thinking about it for a second, she had only had the mere thought of relaxing by believing that flimsy idea of safety that she knew was improbable. Her punishment for daring for even a second that everything would be fine appeared a growing, swirling purple smoke at the base of the fountain in the wide-open middle part of the facility. She could hear gasps as it grew larger, a quick flash of yellow appearing.

"Huh, what's that?"

"Stay together and don't move! Thirteen- protect the students!"

Katsumi couldn't move, deaf to the commands from her teacher. Her eyes were opened wide, lips parted in abject horror.

"Whoa, what is that thing?" Kirishima asked, a hint of fear in his voice.

Smirking, leering people slunk out of the smoke, one after another, large scowling men and vicious-looking women.

"Wait, has the training started already?" More bewildered now than scared Kirishima looked to Aizawa. Katsumi glanced around, Ashido behind her looked vaguely confused, and Tsu seemed pretty unbothered. The other students hadn't realised it yet, of course, they wouldn't. Her gaze flicked to Izuku, his eyes were wide and mouth open, but he didn't look scared, just concerned.

"I thought we were rescuing people?"

"Stay back!" Aizawa snapped, making the students flinch. Katsumi turned back to face him, he glared as he pulled up his goggles

"This is real. Those are villains."

As the rest of the students gasped, Katsumi stayed silent, her eyes returning to the deep purple hole. Her body seized with a sharp breath as her eyes fell upon an image she had been anxious to find. In the middle, standing still at the base of the portal while the grunts filtered out, a man with light blue hair stood. Face and body grasped by severed human hands. It had been a long time, yet from such a distance, he looked almost the same.

Tomura.

.

.

.

Weeks earlier.

She had found herself standing in the middle of a vacant room, concrete and dirty. Dark except for a sickly neon purple light coming from behind her. She barely had a chance to process the change in environment before a familiar voice rang out in the silence.

"Well, Yagi, it's wonderful to see you again, it's been too long."

At the sound of that voice, a sound that made her skin crawl, the wall in the back of her head had been blown open. The influx of repressed memories smashed into her consciousness, cold and hard. Her hands began to tremble, her lips parting, her mouth growing dry as she slowly turned her head. There was a single table with an open laptop on it. The screen glowed bright, and a slightly distorted voice came from the speakers.

Her legs felt frail as if she could collapse at any moment. Where she was, she had no hope of knowing. There were no windows, just a single solid door. She could probably break through it, but the thought seemed so far away in her mind at that moment, her head full of fear and regret. Why, why had she gone through that portal? Her mind went bitter, doom seeping into her racing thoughts. Why did she ever come back to Japan? She should have fought it, how stupid of her to accept it, even feel happy about it. Was she so pathetic, so missing her father that she would ignore the danger she was putting herself in? All those years, pushing those memories back, further and further, why? How stupid. She was too weak to confront it then, and now, faced with it, she couldn't even move. Even if she could, what could she do? This was it. Soon, she was convinced her father would find his daughter's corpse, or worse, would have to kill a monster with his daughter's face. Or maybe, he wouldn't be able to do it at all, and his body would be the one lying in blood.

"There's no need for tears Katsumi."

The man's voice rang out again. She flinched, his words slowly registering into her brain. She hadn't even noticed the wetness in her eyes but it had been clouding her vision. She blinked the hot tears away and wiped them quickly. She sucked in a harsh breath through her nose which was threatening to run. Breathe. In and out.

"Why," her voice was meek, meeker than she had spoken in a long time. It was like the walls of her throat were closing itself as she forced words out, "I, I don't-"

"I'm not going to hurt you Katsumi. I just want to talk."

She could hear the smirk on the man's horrible face, through the distortion of the speakers she could hear how he was enjoying this. Her stomach turned, seizing up in a flash of anger that made her grit her teeth together.

"Don't get upset now, I wish to congratulate you. You've done a very good job keeping our secret, haven't you?"

She felt as if could actually puke, her stomach churning and twisting. And she did, keeling over and retching violently onto the floor. Her throat burned as she coughed and spluttered, hot tears spilling from her stinging eyes.

"Do you need some time to adjust? I suppose it has been quite a while, you probably haven't even thought of us in a while."

Us.

"To-" Her voice was blocked, the sound sickly and gross. Katsumi spat onto the puddle of chunky vomit, coughing harshly to clear her throat.

"Tomura. Where is he." Her meagre voice had managed to turn into a growl, brows creasing as she rose her head to glare up at the computer.

"Tomura? Not here, but don't worry, I have taken good care of him."

"You," She snarled, hatred blazing in her eyes as she slowly stood back up, ignoring the quivering of her stomach and the sharp, uncomfortable sting in her throat. "What have you done to him?" She demanded the answer.

The man went silent, the fan of the laptop whirling the only sound in the room other than Katsumi's anxious heartbeat in her own ears. After a brief moment, the sounds of harsh laughter jutted out of the speakers.

"What have I done to him?" She could hear the grin on his face, "You're a funny girl Katsumi, I'm surprised you even care."

"Of course I do!" She said incredulously, stepping forward, face folded into a clear expression of defiance.

"Hm, but didn't you leave him?" She stopped. "Left him here with me, a man you hate oh so much?" He was still smirking, his words even through the computer clearly laced with malice and amusement. "Never even telling another soul about him?"

"You said to-" Katsumi's angry demeanour slipped for a moment, her brows flying up as she tried to defend herself.

"But you moved away, I couldn't reach you in America. Eight years, it's been that long, and you never told anyone?"

"You bastard." Her disgust returned as she was forced to listen to his slimy, manipulative words. She might have buried those months deep into the far corners of her mind but she sure as hell remembered what happened. "How could I tell anyone? No one would have even believed me, my Mum-"

"Did she never figure it out?" He interrupted, forcing Katsumi into silence. "Disappointedly I never got to experiment with that quirk we used on her properly, but surely at some point, the affected individual would realise the massive gap in their memory about a certain person no? Especially I would have thought a mother pays special attention to her child, she surely would have noticed."

Katsumi seethed, white-hot rage boiling inside her skull. The anger came in waves, blowing away the remains of the once-strong wall in her mind that had protected her from all the frustration, anger and fear. The wall was now rubble.

"As for your father," he continued, dismissing Katsumi's expression of unfocused rage, "well, I count myself lucky he distanced himself from you for so long. But you really would have thought he'd try to check up on his daughter once or twice in a span of six months-"

"Eight." It was Katsumi's turn to interrupt. "It was eight."

"Ah yes, it was, wasn't it?"

She stared at the blinding light of the computer screen for a long moment as her body full of rage narrowed into a glare of pure hot anger.

"So now what? You gonna finish turning me into Nomu or whatever you call it?" Katsumi gritted her teeth, eyes blistering with the sting of the light from the harsh glow of the computer. "Set me off to kill my father?"

"No, I've moved on from that prospect." His voice was conversational as if he was catching up with an old friend." By the time you were born I already had attained Tomura, you have always been a backup. He's the one who will succeed me."

She snorted, "Like hell he will."

"You seem doubtful."

"He knows what a piece of shit you are. He won't-"

"Seems you've got your spark back." He hummed. Katsumi grit her teeth, she wouldn't let him mock her into submission. "But you don't actually believe that do you? If you think he hates me you're sorely mistaken. He only wishes to destroy, and I intend to cultivate that need of his."

"He's not like you," she responded, forcing a smirk on her face that portrayed more confidence than she really had, "he went out of his way to get me out of your hell-hole and-"

"That is true." He interrupted again. "I didn't expect him to get so attached to you, and perhaps I was too hard on you. Unnecessarily, even."

"You put me through hell!" The sleepless nights drifting from nightmare to nightmare flashed through her mind as her voice rang out defiantly. If she was to die, she wanted to at least go down fighting.

"Hm, it was worth it though right? You're much stronger than you would have been without my help."

Katsumi wanted to jump through that screen and rip the man's throat out, to silence his damned evil words for once and for all.

"Say, have you trained your regeneration recently?"

She could have screamed with fury, beat her fists down on the laptop, splitting it and the table in two with the force gathering inside her. Instead, she stood unmoving and stiff.

"I guess not. Though I see you've picked up fighting. Arrested at fifteen, grievous bodily harm, you have the wonderful promise of a villain in you."

A scowl grew dark on Katsumi's face.

"Of course, I've been keeping tabs on you, it seems you struggled to adjust to life after. A lot of fighting in school, conflict with teachers and whatnot, you're angry aren't you?"

"I fucking wonder why."

He laughed at that, the sound was like nails on a chalkboard to Katsumi's ears.

"Now what?" She waved her arms out, frustration clear in her voice. "What do you want?"

"Well, you are, I can't quite have you running around in UA unsupervised. I'm sure you want as little interruptions from me in your life. After all, I see you have a new freckled friend who will be joining you in UA."

Katsumi felt her whole body surge with a powerful force, "You do anything to him and I swear-"

"Let's make sure I don't. As long as you're helpful, it won't be in my interest to upset you. I already have my way of procuring information from UA, but I think Tomura would benefit from someone to work with him… if he wants that is. He does have Kurogiri- ah that's who brought you here- though he is more of a babysitter than anything. No, he needs someone I can trust so he can get used to being in charge of others. And I can trust you, right?"

Mind ticked slowly as the words swirled in her disorganised mind, she didn't really understand what he meant. Work with Tomura to do what? But she did know that would mean she could see him, an anxious sort of hope began to embed itself. She swallowed discreetly before she replied slowly.

"I don't get why I should agree to this."

"You want your friend to remain safe?" That was as clear of a threat as you could get without outright saying it. "Do you want your parents to stay ignorant to those eight months? You want to see Tomura, make sure I don't hurt him, right?"

"...Yes." He had read her like a clock… dammnit! She would rather rip her own limbs off a hundred times than have her father find out about any of this, and this was a perfect opportunity to see Tomura again.

"I promise you all those things in return for you working for Tomura." He paused before he continued. "I will say though, he's a little… childish at the moment. If something he asks you to do is well… especially compromising to your safety, you think it will backfire or just inappropriate, talk to Kurogiri."

"The one who's been stalking me?" She hadn't even seen the man, just that swirling purple hole. He must have some sort of warping quirk to have go her here, and that would explain how he managed to follow her anywhere.

"Yes."

"So what you're saying is that I gotta what, work with Tomura to do… I don't get it." She sighed, this was tiring and she still didn't know exactly what he was asking of her. What she did know was this was not a problem that was going away anytime soon. The prospect of lying and working behind the curtain for who knows how long began to weigh on her, she just wanted to go home.

"Tomura will be leading an attack against UA in the first week of term," that knocked her out of her blues, "We know All Might will be teaching there, and they will attempt to kill him."

"The hell!" Katsumi yelled, stepping towards the table, the offence rising in her from the way he spoke with such a casual demeanour about something that so obviously would upset her. " "Why the hell would I agree to that? You want me to help kill my own father? You just said you wouldn't hurt anyone if I agreed but that sounds like the damn opposite right? Not to even mention you know my friend is going to UA too! Will he be caught in the crossfire? The other innocent kids at the school?" She growled in frustration, banging a fist down on the table, "Y'know what? I don't care if you kill me or tell my dad you fucking kidnapped and tortured me while he was off saving other assholes, do whatever you want! I'm not helping you hurt my father!"

He let her finish before speaking, leaving a moment of silence for Katsumi's words to settle while her chest rose and fell as she breathed heavily.

"I would have thought you'd hold more contempt for him." He said finally. He didn't seem fazed at all by the outburst. Katsumi swallowed. "Well, no worry. Your problem is your father being hurt, right? I hope that the fact the plan is unlikely to succeed will quell your worries. In fact I promise you it won't, it's designed to fail, after all, Tomura must taste defeat to grow. Your father will be fine. It's mostly low-level grunts that he has gathered for this little invasion, I'm sure even the most pathetic of students will be able to defend themselves."

"I don't trust you." It was stating the obvious, but Katsumi had to make sure he knew. She had to ensure he knew she wasn't stupid.

"Well, let's put it this way. Your father's weak right?" Katsumi's brown furrowed, "One day, the flame of One For All inside him will disappear, when that happens, wouldn't you prefer for it to be only the flame of One For All, not the flame of his soul too? If you work with us, I'm sure you'll be able to guarantee your father's survival."

Katsumi hated the owner of that disembodied, distorted voice more than anything in existence. The day he would die would be the happiest day of her life. She could imagine doing it, seeing his dark blood spread over her hands as his flame slowly died off into nothingness.

But that wouldn't happen, not with how things were at the moment. Images of her father coughing, blood spurting from his mouth, the fact he could only be 'All Might' for a fraction of the day, he was getting weaker. Now he had passed One For All to Izuku, it was possible that the speed of his debilitation would increase more rapidly. Izuku, there was another problem, would be the next focus of this man's attacks? If she worked with the enemy, she would know what they were planning, and prepare him beforehand. She didn't need any more surprises. Then there was Tomura, whatever that man said he was planning for him, what she was sure of it wouldn't be in his favour. He was a lying, conniving, selfish man, no way he would want the best for the boy he had taken under his wing. If she could just show that to Tomura, then he would leave and be safe. She owed him to try. Maybe he would even help her get rid of the problem once and for all.

"I don't have a choice, do I?" She said, standing up straight as she stared down at the bright screen.

"Clever girl. Now, let's talk more about specifics."

"Come back to the alley we warped you from in four days' time. You will be given a burner phone with a single contact on, you send a single message of 'here' when you wish to be warped to base. There is a tracker on it so we can warp you from anywhere. Do not let anyone see it. When you come back I will also bestow upon you a second quirk."

"Fuck no. You're not messing with my body anymore."

"You will be able to cope with it fine, it's a simple quirk, and it will be useful for concealing your identity and getting to places you're not supposed to be. You don't want anyone finding out right? This is the best way… you may become ill from it for a while though."

When she returned to the alley she was warped into another place unfamiliar to her. She stayed strong and stoic as a man made of purple mist gave her an old flip phone. When he entered, she didn't fight him. After all these years, it was strange to be in his presence once again, it felt like her whole being was screaming danger, but she stayed silent. She kneeled before the man without complaint, not daring to look up from the floor. As his fingers wrapped around her skull, a torturous pain shot through her. But he was right, she managed to get back home fine, the pain fading.

The place the portal he had gotten Kurogiri to summon was not too far from her house. As she made her way back, her mind began to fuzz and ache more and more, by the time she had gotten through the front door she collapsed onto the floor. The pain was different now, it was like her veins were overflowing, her flesh burning and freezing at the same time. She gasped and huffed as she dragged herself onto the sofa. Through blurry eyes she watched as her hands faded away, god she felt sick. She shut her eyes, throwing her head back against the sofa. In and out.

She opened her eyes, looking at her hands again, it was like they weren't there. The outline was, the shape could be seen, but from the absence of anything. To describe it as pitch black wasn't exactly right, there was nothing there. Like the colour you see when you close your eyes. It spread up her arms, down her chest and up her neck.

"Not now." Katsumi winced. She stood up, the pain bearable, as she walked to the closet mirror. She wasn't there. Not invisible, just not there. A gaping, colourless, lightless hole in her vision in the shape of her. You couldn't see where her hair ended and forehead began and when she moved her hand to her face the two meted into each other, as if she was a drawing that had been completely filled in with ink.

Quirks were innate to a person, so there was some natural understanding each person had about their power. This quirk was foreign to her. Unwanted and unnatural, forced onto her. She didn't know how to control it. All she had was that man's words he had given her of how to use it.

"It will remove you from the physical world, when you want to use it float away and when you want to come back, ground yourself. That's how the previous user described it anyway. You're a clever girl, I'm sure you'll be able to use it fine."

Katsumi growled in frustration, she shut her eyes, sinking her vision into darkness. Ground yourself. What the hell did that even mean? Her body screamed out in pain, her thoughts drowned out by the fiery agony. She gave in, abandoning her thoughts for the pain, the ache of her limps and the tightness of her chest.

As she did, something appeared in her mind, was that quote? 'Pain is how we know we are still living' Where did she hear that? Where it came from didn't matter, it was enough because she felt something shift and she opened her eyes. There she was in the mirror, dishevelled and glossy-eyed.

She dragged herself up to her room, she slept for a long time.

For a week she was practically bedbound, blaming stress and some mysterious illness. After a couple of days, her dad started to get extremely worried, he started to talk about getting her to a hospital to see what was wrong with her. Obviously, he would, god had that man thought this through at all? If she was to go to the hospital and the doctors discovered she had another quirk the secret would be out. Neither of them wanted that but it seemed solely on her to keep their deal under wraps. She was lucky that at that point she had started to get better, she was eating and moving fine. She was almost completely adapted in time for the first day of UA, but not quite.

Between receiving her quirk and her first few days of UA Katsumi hadn't attempted to use the quirk. She didn't have the time, and the prospect of becoming ill from the stress of it was a huge deterrent. Not only that, but it was a reminder of her situation, something she could do without thinking of.

The days between her reuniting with that man and receiving her quirk were some of the longest days of her life. She barely left her room, as she slowly rebuilt the wall in her mind, desperately attempting to seal what had happened back into the corner of her mind so she could return to some type of normalcy. Dad was busy out on patrol most days, and she ignored Izuku's messages as she wallowed in her bed, re-running the conversation over and over again. Safe to say she was struggling to push the memories away.

The best way to deal with it was the way she always did, pretend the problem isn't there until it's rearing its ugly head against your face. So she did, she re-learned how to ignore it, well, as best as she could. She distracted herself with her games and worked out hard in her dad's gym. But as she punched and kicked for hours on end, sweat dripping down her neck, her thoughts didn't leave that dark corner of her mind.

She was in over her head, she knew that. But that man had made it so she had no escape. She couldn't tell her father, physically she couldn't. How she would explain it wouldn't even form as thoughts, let alone words she could speak. And even if she managed it, if she somehow could tell him the truth, it would break him. All the pain she harboured alone would only be prolonged and shared, exasperated even. It was like a bad joke told by an edge lord teenager. A stupid, ridiculous, dreadful thing that Katsumi could have lived the rest of her life without thinking about again. Hell, she had spent years now thinking about it, thats what made it all that much more infuriating. It all had been so perfect, she was having so much fun, and now her thoughts were bleaker than they had been in a long while.

The thought did flicker into her mind a couple of times, what if she did tell her father? Ignoring the aftermath of the conversation, would she even be able to say it? Revealing what happened would destroy so many 'truths' she wasn't even sure she'd be believed. That was scarier than anything else, what if she had to prove it? She could tell him what happened sure, but the questions, the answers she'd have to give… It would be like digging her nails into a half-closed wound ripping it back open. God, her mother would get involved too, and she wouldn't believe it. Katsumi could almost hear her voice, "What on earth are you talking about? Is this some type of bad joke? You were with me the whole time."

She wouldn't believe her. That woman never believed her. Katsumi could hardly believe herself, she had almost managed to convince herself that it had all been a bad dream, an imaginary story that dominated her restless nights, and let her roam free in the daytime, haunting from the shadows.

For almost a decade Katsumi hadn't spoken about it, and now it was just too late to bring it up. Too late to admit. She couldn't ruin her father like that, couldn't tell him a foe he thought to be dead had silently stolen his child he left vulnerable and broken her.

What if that man did try to kill him? He had already injured him once, and now her father was even weaker physically. If they were to meet again, who knows who would stand victorious? She couldn't destroy his mental state. Confronted with the knowledge that had been kept from him for so long, he would be inconsolable, and that man could swoop in and end him with little trouble.

No, she had to do this alone. She had to protect him, and Izuku and… Tomura. Every time her mind drifted to that foggy face in her memory her heart was filled with shame. He had been forgotten alongside those months as just another facet of the hell she so completely disavowed. Now, she had to make it right, without him she would be dead, and she owed him to ensure he did not suffer the very fate he had saved her from. She could convince him, she could show him how he was being trapped. If she played her cards right, she could get him to sell out that man to the police and the heroes could capture him. Without the figure of that horrible man looming over them, they would both be free. Maybe.

All she needed was a little time and tack, and everything would be okay. Everything would be fine.

Katsumi needed to believe that, everything would be fine.

But it was becoming hard to believe anything of the sort, and her mind was descending once again into terror as she watched hundred of villains emerge from that massive swirling purple mist. And in the centre, leading them out was someone she hadn't seen in a long time. He'd really grown, she could see that now, but the grey hands that littered his body remained the same.

"Villains? No way! What villains would be dumb enough to attack UA?"

"Sensei," Momo asked seriously, fear barely concealed, "aren't there any intruder sensors?"

"Yes! Of course there are!"

"Are they only here, or also at the main building?" Todoroki was calm, much calmer than anyone else. "Either way, if the sensors aren't working, it's got to be one of their quirks doing it. This place is far from the campus, they picked a time when there are few people here. These aren't any dumb villains, they must have an objective. This is a well-coordinated sneak attack."

Katsumi didn't know where to look as her classmates came to terms with that this was, in fact, a real invasion. She felt so exposed, her revealing costume suddenly making her feel very cold. She was sure the guilt was written on her face clear as day, that any moment someone would ask why she had been acting so strange that morning, and connect it to the events unfolding. As anxious thoughts overwhelmed her mind, she found herself unable to remove her eyes from the far-off figure, still standing unmoving at the portal. Despite the distance and his concealed face, she was strangely confident in the face he was too staring right at her.

"Katsumi!" Her eyes were ripped away as her shoulder was grabbed, spinning her around. Izuku stared at her, green eyes wide. "Are you okay?"

Katsumi could only stare at her friend, the realisation slowly dawning on her. Now, it was happening now, and she had to protect him. Her father wasn't there, and that left the responsibility to her.

"Yes." Her gaze hardened, her mind clearing for the first time in weeks as she grasped his hand in hers. "Everything is going to be fine."