Summary:

The start of third year brings unpleasant news.

Izuku was woken from his sleep by the alarm on his phone, the familiar generic alarm filling his ears as he turned it off. Quietly, he changed into some work out clothes and made his way downstairs. He heard his classmates slowly going about their morning routines around him. Stepping into the kitchen to fill his water bottle he saw Sato baking, hoping to make everyone's day special with fresh baked goods.

Walking outside Izuku saw a group doing yoga; Uraraka, Jiro, Mina, Hagakure, Sero, Tsuyu, and even Aoyama all casually chatting to hold back nerves. Off to side Ojiro, Shoji, Koda, and Tokoyami were meditating. Judging from the small smile they all had they were enjoying the quiet conversation around them. After a few quick stretches he started his morning run.

He looked up at the sky above him, habit more than anything as he admired the quiet world around him. It was just before sunrise, the sun nothing more than a thin line on the horizon, the sky holding onto the last remains of the previous night.

Izuku felt a presence behind him, and after a moment Shoto was at his side, doing his own morning run. He held up one finger while the dual haired teen held up two. He smiled and they ran at a steady pace for a while. Together they caught up to Denki, Shinso, and Yaoyorozu, who were running as a group. The five of them stayed as a group for a while, and as they passed the dorm Uraraka and Jiro decided to join them.

The group broke apart as Izuku and Todoroki pulled ahead, and he welcomed the feel of his body waking up. Sure, he ran almost every morning, but there seemed to be a charge in the air, and the more he ran; the more he saw his classmates getting ready for the day, the stronger the feeling.

Halfway through Izuku's second lap around campus, right before the forest, he heard familiar yelling. Just ahead of them, about to enter the forest, was Kacchan and Kirishima. He looked over at Shoto, and with a grin he took off sprinting, the blond ahead of him hadn't noticed him yet.

He was about to.

The couple stopped arguing and froze for a moment as Izuku sprinted past, and just moments later he laughed as he heard Kacchan scream obscenities behind him, heard him sprinting to catch up to him. It was their unspoken rule that if they came across each other to start sprinting, no quirks allowed. The world faded around him as he focused on the path ahead of him. Roots, rocks, and dips in the path, avoiding those as he attempted to keep ahead of the blond behind him. Minutes passed before the trees were thin enough to risk a glance behind him, he decided to risk it. Kacchan was almost within arms reach.

Next thing Izuku knew he was face planting into the path. He felt more than heard his ankle snap, heard Kacchan's cursing as he lay there too stunned to move. He knew all to well the feeling of a bone breaking. He managed to roll over and saw Kacchan standing to his side, hands on his knees as the tried to catch his breath after their sprint.

"You're damn lucky Icy Hot is not far behind us." Izuku let out a grunt as he stared up at the sky, sunrise was finally upon them, the sky being painted hues of orange and pink.

"Hey Midoriya! What happened?" It was Kirishima calling out to them as he arrived at his side with Shoto.

"Fucking nerd tripped over a tree root, the root won." Kacchan answered as Shoto knelt down to ice his swelling ankle.

"So, any idea why your newest quirk healing you?" The red head asked as he sat up.

"I'm not sure it works on every injury, it won't heal paper cuts. I think it only happens in emergencies."

"So it can heal you after Recovery Girl is done with you?" Kacchan barked out with a laugh. Izuku felt his spirit leave his body. Recovery Girl was going to murder him, and once she was done he felt Aizawa-sensei would be next in line.

"Kacchan."

"What Nerd?"

"I leave you my All Might collection."

"How about we see if you make it out of her office before you start your will." Kirishima advised as he looked Izuku over. "So who wants to help drag his beefy ass across campus?"

"No need, help has arrived." Kacchan smirked as the group who had been behind them caught up, the group with Uraraka.

"You guys go ahead," she waved her group away as she stopped at his side. She looked at his ankle, and with a sigh she activated her quirk on him. "Someone keep a hold of him so he doesn't float off, let's go get this over with." Shoto quickly grabbed his injured ankle with his right hand, his quirk active to keep the swelling down, and the group made their way to Recovery Girl's office.

Ochaco and Todoroki waited outside Recovery Girl's office, the door in front of them closed. They had heard her raised voice for a bit, obviously lecturing Midoriya, and then it had went quiet. Minutes later she looked over at the sound of footsteps, saw Aizawa-sensei coming down the hall. Instead of going into the office in front of them he goes into his own office, moments later coming out with a bottle and going into Recovery Girl's office.

After a few minutes he came out again, with the look of someone who hasn't had enough coffee yet to deal with anything. "Uraraka, if you would please float the unconscious problem child number one back to the dorms. He should wake soon, but if we leave him I fear our dear Recovery Girl will be tempted to make an example of him to the new first years arriving today."

Izuku let out a groan as he cracked open his eyes, was then blinded by the light from the windows so he quickly closed them, his head pounding behind his eyes. He was back in the dorms? The last thing he remembers is Recovery Girl standing by his bed glaring at him as Aizawa-sensei walked in, then nothing. He heard movement as he groaned and when he opened his eyes again his vision was filled by Uraraka's upside down face, one brow raised in amusement.

"Guys! He's alive!" Her voice was slightly too loud for his pounding head. Whatexactlydid Recovery Girl do to him?

"She decided to not hold back and heal it instantly, something about how the sun wasn't even up so why should she be up. So instead of gradually using your stamina to heal, she did it all at once." Her response was a bit too bubbly for his liking right now.

"I said that out loud didn't I?" He sat up, took in the common space around him, took in his classmates in various stages of dress, some eating still in their pajamas, some fully dressed, and panicked. "How long?"

"You were out cold for about forty-five minutes, we had to get you out of her office quickly. So you have about two hours before class starts." Thank goodness he had time for a quick shower, he felt a bit sticky from the dried sweat, his shirt stuck to his back didn't help either. He stood up, and when nothing spun he made his way to the baths, giving everyone he passed a sheepish grin. Leave it to him to break something before classes even started.

Thankfully Izuku was the only one in the baths, and as he wiped the steam up mirror clear he saw what his mother meant not long ago. He had grown quite a bit since he started high school, and she was right, he needed a haircut. Well… there was a pair of scissors in the drawer, he could do it himself before class started. He grabbed them and started snipping hair away, just grab and snip. He was humming to himself when there was a light knock on the door, and Ashido's voice followed.

"Midoriya, you have about an hour before classes start." He didn't realize he had been in here that long, most of it was spent cutting his hair. He put on a fresh pair of shorts so he could run up to his room and change, but he only got a few steps out the door before there was a shriek.

It was Ashido, and she looked at him in horror. "I-is that a m-mullet?"

"Uhh, I did my best, I couldn't reach the back."

"You arenotgoing to class like that," the pink girl had her hands planted on her hips, blocking his way as she glared up at him. "Jiro, I know you can hear me, I need you immediately!"

Somehow Izuku was bullied into the girls baths and forced into a chair. He gave Yaoyorozu a sheepish grin in the mirror, and she did a slow full body turn at the sight of his hair.

"Midoriya, how could you do this to your hair?" Her fingers reached out and just caught the tips at the top of his head.

"Don't worry, I've called reinforcements." Ashido said from where she was digging through the drawers. "Do we still have that electric shaver from when Hagakure wanted an undercut?"

"Bottom drawer," Jiro said as she walked into the room. Stopping dead she studied him, "I've dealt with worse." Izuku gave her a look and she just shrugged it off, "Try cutting something you can't see. Now, let's see what we can save."

Thirty minutes later Izuku was running down the stairs as he had to go up and change, he still needed to eat. He was surprised by his classmates waiting for him, Sato holding food for him. He carefully unwrapped it and found it was Sato's homemade protein bars.

"Wow, thank you Sato." He bit into one and looked around, everyone was staring at him, or his lack of hair. The girls had tried to save what they could, but he had cut it awkwardly, with dull scissors as well. He ended up with an undercut, and while Jiro had left the top half alone she shaved the underpart, showing her creative side as she cut a lightning design into his hair. Ashido then took over as she tamed the rest, Yaoyorozu giving suggestions as she watched from the side.

"Oi, Nerd! Whoever the fuck cut your hair deserves a medal!" Kacchan's voice came from the main doors, followed by Kirishima.

"That wasn't very nice Kats."

"It looks way better than when he cut it!" Ashido's yelled out from the crowd. Someone else asked if there were pictures, and to his embarrassment she did, he never saw her take any.

"Guys, we should get going, as third years we should be setting an example." He called out as he rushed out the doors, hoping to distract everyone from looking at the pictures.

Izuku smiled as he walked a cross campus, at some point Shoto had come up beside him and took his hand. The underclassman walked in groups around them. He could hear their voices around him stop or lower into whispers as his class passed them. There was a slight breeze, and the many cherry trees around campus caused the grounds to be covered in the iconic blossoms, and he heard joyful laughter as it caused them to fly about as they fell from the trees. The groundskeepers had been out early today to tidy up, as there were neat piles along the paths to school.

He watched with a smile as Uraraka ran ahead of them, collecting as many as she could into a basket.

"What are you doing?" He asked as she stood, full basket in her hands as she ran back to the group behind him.

"Just trust me!" She laughed and he glanced back and saw she wasn't the only one gathering them, all the girls in class had a basket of them, Jiro had two now as the brunette handed hers off and ran ahead again. Izuku couldn't help but feel her joy as well as she gathered an overflowing handful of the petals. In a well practiced action, she floated herself and scattered the petals around her, suspended in air from her quirk. She threw her head back and let out a bubbly laugh as she spun, the petals following her movement.

Her performance was followed by a series of whistles from his class, as well as applause from several others around them. "I didn't know you could control stuff with your quirk now." He said as he reached her.

"Nah," she dropped to the ground in front of him as she released herself. "I found out young that they would follow the air flow I created as I moved through them. See?" She swiped upwards through them, and they indeed followed the air flow.

"Are you going to release them?" He asked, while the lowest ones brushed the top of his hair there were a few classmates behind them who would get a face full of petals if she didn't release them soon.

"Not yet," Izuku didn't trust her tone. She hooked her arm around his and dragged him and Shoto ahead with her, leaving the suspended petals. As they walked she reached into her bag and pulled out a mirror and began to adjust her lip gloss. He saw her smirk and close the mirror, and heard her count to three under her breath. "Increase!" She whispered, waited a beat, then took off running.

"Fucking Pink Cheeks!" Izuku ducked, forcing Shoto to duck as well, as Bakugo used his quirk to rocket over them after Uraraka, who was laughing as she ran. He was almost to her when his quirk stopped and he crashed.

"Hello Problem Children."

"Hello Aizawa-sensei," Uraraka's reply was sweet and innocent as the class caught up to them at the front of the school.

"I know better than to ask why he was chasing you, and I'm not entirely surprised that someone from my class made a scene."

"I hear a but," Bakugo growled as he stood up.

"Did you have to provoke Bakugo of all people?" He asked her as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Wait! Sensei, I have something for you!" Kirishima called out as he jogged up to them, digging through his school bag.

"The only thing that could make this better you are not legally allowed to buy, Kirishima."

"Will this work?" He held up a slim black can, it had coffee X10 written down the side, and Aizawa's jaw actually dropped.

"Wheredid you getthat?You have to have a special permit the even buy those."

"One of Fatgum's new interns has a caffeine quirk," he just shrugged as he handed the can over.

"Get inside. All of you."

"Guys wait! Class picture!" Uraraka yelled as Aizawa started to walk back inside. "How else was I going to get you outside Sensei?" He looked at the can of coffee, then back at his smiling class.

"Okay everyone, settle down!" Aizawa's voice rang out and was followed by silence as Izuku and his class settled at their desks. "As you all know this is your last year as students. So there isn't room for mistakes. Am I clear?"

"Yes Sensei!"

"So the rough timeline for this year. Most of you have steady internships; so those of you with them will continue them. Your general classes will continue as normal, but instead of three days a week your heroic classes will be four days a week, with a joint class taking place at the end of the week. You will have them with not only class 3B but the underclassmen in the hero course as well." There were excited murmurs at that, and Aizawa flashed his quirk to quiet them.

"Before the sports festival, depending on your progress and your own thoughts, you will choose your specialties going forward."

"What kind of specialties?" Izuku questioned as Aizawa paused, almost as if he knew someone was going to ask. Uncapping a marker he turned to the board behind him.

"First we have the spotlight heroes; you have the ones like All Might, strong and very flashy, they take out the worst of the villains. Other examples are Mirko, Best Jeanest, Hawks. Just because their quirks are flashy doesn't mean they didn't put in the work to get where they are."

There were sounds of agreement as Aizawa continued. "Next up are rescue heroes; Edgeshot with hostage situations, or Thirteen and the Wild Pussycats with natural disasters. They are in the spotlight as much as the flashier ones."

"Next is a little know group of support heroes, and no, not like the support class. I'm talking about heroes like our own Recovery Girl. Before she was our nurse she was a field medic, going out into the worst fights and disasters to heal. Even Principle Nezu would be considered support for his analysis of situations that leave us pros clueless."

"Last are underground heroes like myself. Heroes who have the talent to go unseen and get the job done quickly and effectively."

"Sensei," Yaoyorozu spoke up. "Why are we choosing our specialty now, instead of last year?"

"Because quirks grow, take Uraraka for example."

"Me?" Izuku heard her surprised squeak.

"Yes, at the beginning of last year you could only decrease an object's gravity. Which would be good for rescue work, not so much for fighting unless you were willing to risk damage to your surroundings in the process of getting something to fight with. With your quirk growing you can now use smaller objects with increased weight to your advantage, not to mention your hand to hand skills are one of the top in the class. You will make a fine hero no matter what specialty you choose."

At the end of his words the bell rang, signaling the start of the entrance ceremony. "We will continue this conversation next homeroom." At his words the class got up and went to grab their new gym uniform to go change. Izuku had a feeling they wouldn't see the ceremony, ever, and apparently so did the rest of the class. They had to do quirk assessments their second year, missing the ceremony then as well as their first year.

"Not this year, class. Special request from Principal Nezu that all students and staff attend the opening ceremony this year."

Izuku stood at the back of the class line between Kacchan and Shinso; they were lined up behind the school, he could see the dorms behind them as the second years walked past them. An average of two hundred and twenty students per grade, almost six hundred and sixty in total, and Nezu had requested theentireschool to attend.

As the stream of second years ended there was a pause before the first years entered. The new students; some looked determined, others looked surprised they were even here, but under the determination and surprise there was a trace of fear, Izuku could tell because he felt it too, this year would be different.

As the last student got into line Principal Nezu made his way onto the platform in front of them, as he cleared his throat the sound rang through the speakers, drawing attention to him.

"Welcome, students, to UA; one of the finest hero schools in the country." Izuku hated to admit it, but he started to zone out during this part of Nezu's speech, it was all the basic stuff he's heard before. How the school strives to produce the finest heroes, how everyone should strive to be the best person they can.

"There will be increased safety measures this year," those words made all heads turn to Nezu. "Due to unavoidable circumstances, no student will be permitted off campus unless there are two staff members present, and no staff will be permitted off campus unless they have my approval first. I'm sorry to inform this will also extend for breaks as well. If anything ever feels wrong, even if it's something small, please let the staff know." Worried whispers rippled through the students, but with all that has happened Izuku wasn't surprised at the news.

"The HPSC doesn't want me to inform you, as students, because they fear it will cause panic among you. As of the last few weeks the number of villains has exceeded the number of heroes." No reaction, everyone was stunned into silence at that bit of news. From where he was standing behind Kacchan, he saw the involuntary sparks come from his palms.

Nezu continued speaking, their silence said more than his words at this point. "This school is a safe space, and plans are being carried out to make it safer for you students and for civilians if the need arises. I tell you this, not because you are students, but because you are our future. You need to hear the truth about what is happening around you, harsh as it may be. You need to know what awaits you out there before if happens, not on the news as it's happening. Please, stay safe and keep each other safe." After a few more words of warning they were dismissed, and on the walk back to class Izuku heard a few phones go off.

Everyone streamed into the room, chatting away as usual, at least until Ojiro walked in. He seemed nervous and paler than normal, Hagakure was on his arm, speaking to him in hushed, soothing tones. Sato walked in after them, he seemed to be giving off the same feeling.

"Guys, what's wrong?" Izuku didn't notice the mood in the room change, waiting for an answer, which Hagakure provided.

"Ojiro's family dojo was vandalized this morning, along with Sato's family bakery."

"You don't think it was the Meta Liberation Army?" Someone wondered aloud.

"No, there aren't any signs it was them. Police think it was just vandals because it was just that general area. Whoever it was hit a few other businesses, nothing more than broken windows and graffiti." Aizawa happened to walk in just as she finished, and class started.

The next morning the wall had dozens on new pictures, simply because it was the first day of classes. Many candids of everyone, some snuck during class or lunch, some posed. Most were group selfies taken by Ashido or Kamanari. Several stood out among the hundreds covering the wall.

The first was taken at dawn, the sun just breaking the horizon behind the group. Bakugo and Kirishima were in the lead, followed by Todoroki who was holding Midoriya's leg, keeping him from floating away, Uraraka was the last one, her quirk helping bring Midoriya to Recovery Girl's office.

The one next to it was the aftermath of the visit, Midoriya sprawled out unconscious taking up the entire couch, his hair an overgrown mess around his head. It was a selfie Kamanari had taken, for some reason he was doing finger guns at the camera.

The next two were before and after pictures taken in the girls' bath. The first was of the horrific (according to Ashido) haircut that Midoriya had given himself. The next was the result of the joint haircut the girls had given (forced upon) him.

Then was an outstanding one of Uraraka, caught floating mid-spin in the floating cherry blossoms, her head thrown back in joyous laughter. Next to it was a startled Bakugo as he and Kirishima were covered with cherry blossoms. Then came the moment he had crashed into the ground, the owner of it still hasn't spoken up.

The final one was a class picture taken in front of the school. Everyone looked so happy, and the cherry blossoms the girls had collected Uraraka had floated in the air around them. A moment of true happiness frozen in time, for just a moment they weren't worried about what comes next.

Notes:

Meta Liberation Army = League of Villains