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ohmytheon · 6 years

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heroes of the dark (10)

title: heroes of the dark

summary: Uraraka has spent almost a year grieving the loss of Deku, the greatest hero and her love, but life is slowly moving on. She’s got her job, her family, and even a strange friendship with Bakugou. Things are looking hopeful. Until Deku comes back and he’s not what he seems. Something is wrong with his mind, but Uraraka will be damned if she lets him fall again. (Villain!Deku)

– Chap 9: Kaminari’s rescue attempt blows up in everyone’s faces to unexpected proportions and things will never be the same.

notes: By sheer coincidence, this chapter was lined up to be posted right after yesterday’s new episode. There are references to the events in that chapter and it sort of ties into it in a way. This is a massive chapter. I couldn’t find a spot that felt good to break it in half ans basically just said, “fuck it,” and posted it as one. I’m talking an 8 pg fight scene here. It was insanity to write. I’m hoping it’s a good one! When I first pictured this scene, the ending was different, but then the characters took on a life of their own and this felt so natural and so much better (or worse, depending who you are). Buckle up, ya’ll. This is going to be a wild ride. Also @youseimanami has blessed me with this beautiful drawing of my Villain Deku and it is absolutely perfect. I’m legit that picture of Tom in Parks and Rec where he stares at that painting for 5 hours.

“History is moving pretty quickly these days and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts.” ― Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

The block was too quiet. Uraraka watched Kaminari’s apartment building from what most would’ve considered a safe distance, but with Deku nearby, it was anything but safe. The light was still on in the apartment, but they weren’t for sure if Deku was still inside with Kaminari. For all they knew, he’d transferred them somewhere else. She hated not knowing -- hated wondering what was going on through Kaminari’s mind as he waited to be tortured by his old friend -- hated what Deku had turned into.

How could she possibly save him when he was like this? How could any of them forgive him? Uraraka knew that she was being soft, but she couldn’t help it. She had loved Deku with everything in her and she still did, but seeing him like this was twisting a knife in her heart. It made the world seem wrong and she had to fix it.

Tsu came back down from her trip to the roof in the office building they were in, pulling her goggles off her eyes to rest of the top of her head. “Eight people confirmed in Kaminari’s apartment.” The heat signature goggles she typically wore for her hero costume these days came in handy while out on the ocean when it was hard to see, but it also helped them here tonight. “If Kaminari is in there, that’s seven villains.”

“That’s assuming that all of them are hold up in that one spot,” Kirishima pointed out. “He could have more stationed throughout or outside the apartment.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t like this. We shouldn’t go in so blind.”

“We don’t have much of a choice,” Bakugou said as he glared at the apartment heatedly. It was like he thought he could melt it down with his eyes alone. “We’re out of time.”

The end of the hour limit that Deku had given them was almost up. Uraraka glanced at the watch on her phone and chewed on her bottom lip. She kept picturing Kaminari tied up in his apartment, alone with a bunch of villains, watching the clock and counting down to a horrible death. They weren’t going to let that happen -- he had to know that -- but it was still terrifying. What if they hadn’t made it here in time? They’d managed to reach here with time to spare, but had then argued about whether to go in or not.

The truth was that they weren’t enough to take on Deku and a handful of other villains. Bakugou could deny it all he wanted, but even he couldn’t defeat seven high-powered villains at once. These weren’t every day villains. Besides, if there was one person that knew his fighting style in and out, it was Deku. He knew all of them well. He’d spent years watching them and documenting them for his own analysis. He knew her. It was frightening to know that the one person who had believed in all their strengths could now revel in their weaknesses.

A knock on the door pulled all of them except Bakugou away from the window. Kirishima answered and stood to the side as other pro heroes poured inside. Aizawa was first, looking livelier than she’d ever seen him, though perhaps it was because he was about to battle a former student. He also was the voice of reason, seeing as how Midnight and Endeavor follow after. It was hard not to get slightly overwhelmed by their old teachers and highly ranked pro heroes. Iida, Jirou, and Todoroki strode in as well.

Even though the battle hadn’t begun yet, relief bloomed in Uraraka’s heart as she took in everyone. Surely with all of them now, they could save Kaminari. They had more people in their favor now. She was grateful that they’d managed to convince Bakugou to wait. With so many heroes with incredibly strong quirks, the scales had to be tipped in their direction.

“I can’t believe that idiot got captured,” Jirou complained, although there was real worry in her eyes. Uraraka was surprised to see her at first, but then she did live close by. Jirou looked awkward standing in between Todoroki and Iida, both of whom were incredibly serious, her arms folded and a tense frown on her face.

“Deku knows us too well,” Uraraka told her. “He knew that Kaminari would be running point on communications.”

“Are we that predictable?” Jirou asked sullenly.

Uraraka bit her lip. “To Deku, maybe so.”

“Then I’ll just have to blow his expectations out of the water,” Bakugou growled, sounding like an attack dog.

“We can’t just burst in there and fight him head on,” Iida put in seriously. Bakugou rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath that was obviously an insult, but Iida didn’t care. “We need to have a plan.”

“That’s what the adults are doing,” Aizawa said, giving them a look that suggested they were still kids. It made all of them bristle, but it did the job of shutting them up. Bakugou looked like he was ready to launch himself out the window, but he clenched his fists and stayed quiet. Even after being out of school for a few years, Aizawa still had that effect on them.

“Is anyone else coming?” Kirishima asked.

Bakugou shook his head. “We don’t have the time.”

And he was right. They didn’t. They had to make do with what they had; they had to work together with who they had. If Bakugou wasn’t complaining about having to work with others, then it was clearly a dire situation. He considered Deku to be that much of a threat. Then again, he had witnessed power like Deku’s up close before when he’d witnessed All Might battling All for One. If Deku was capable of that kind of power nowadays, they would need all the help they could get and more.

They moved through making a plan quick. When they were done, not wholly satisfied but unable to do much more, they all split up through the room.

Tsu rubbed her arms. “Do you really think we can do this, ribbit?”

“We have more people,” Iida said. “We have the advantage.”

“We don’t know that,” Todoroki pointed out. “More than likely there are other villains out there lying in wait. He did that when I fought him.”

The not knowing made Uraraka incredibly anxious. Her former classmates huddled together one last time before the night would go to hell. None of them really knew what would happen. They could stick to the plan and still be defeated or they could go off script and do something amazing. Anything could happen.

Uraraka glanced up at the apartment. What was going on up there? What was Deku doing? She pictured him sitting in Kaminari’s computer chair, looking out the window and waiting for them, but that wasn’t right. She bet he was talking. But about what? Would he just talk with Kaminari about how his life had been for the past eleven months? That sounded right. It was unsettling. He shouldn’t be able to do such casual things while hanging the threat of torture and death over a person.

When Uraraka’s phone rang, she jumped, completely forgetting that she had it on her. She pulled it out of a pouch and looked at the ID.

“Who is it?” Aizawa demanded. She held it out to show Kaminari’s caller ID. “It’s Midoriya.” He stared Uraraka down, making her question everything she had ever known about her life. “Answer it.”

Taking a deep breath, Uraraka swiped to accept the call and put it on speaker before setting it down on the table. Everyone crowded around the table, except for Bakugou and Todoroki, both of whom hung off to the side on opposite ends of the room but watched out of the corner of their eyes. “Hello?”

“It’s good to hear your voice, Ochako,” Deku responded on the other end. He sounded like he genuinely meant it, like he would when they were together and he was gone for hero business outside of the city. The late night phone calls had always meant so much to her, if only to hear him, even if it meant listening to him ramble.

“You too, Deku,” she replied softly.

“Kaminari says hi as well,” Deku said before there was a shuffling sound. “Say hi!”

“Don’t listen--”

There was a smack followed by a yelp and then Deku was sighing into the phone. “So much for being nice.” Yeah, he was threatening to kill one of his old friends by breaking all his bones. That didn’t sound like a nice thing to do. Uraraka didn’t comment on that though, not wanting to push Deku’s buttons any further. “Did you come like a good girl?”

Uraraka tried not to blush, as it wasn’t the appropriate response given the situation, but it was weird with everyone listening. “You know I did. I don’t want anything to happen to Kaminari.”

“Such a good friend,” Deku said. “I hope you didn’t come alone.”

“No, I--” Uraraka glanced up at the others, most of whom had their eyes on her. “Everyone you saw on the camera feed is here.”

“No Shoto?” Deku asked, disappointment evidence in his voice. In his corner, Todoroki stiffened, but said nothing out loud. It was more than evident to Uraraka now that she wasn’t the target for tonight. By him calling her, it made it appear as if he was focused on her, but his mentioning of Todoroki told her that they had wanted him to be here tonight. Maybe he should’ve stayed back, but no, Todoroki was as stubborn as she was and they needed him here besides. “I thought we were friends. Maybe he doesn’t care as much as I thought he did.”

Todoroki turned away from them completely, hiding his face in the shadows. She gazed at his back, reading all the tension in his body. He cared. He cared so much. This was tearing him apart. Everything that had brought Deku and Todoroki together was either gone or twisted into something awful. Just as Deku’s love for Uraraka had been turned into some sort of obsession, his love for Todoroki had changed as well. Into what, none of them could be sure, except Deku seemed unable to decide whether or not he wanted to kill Todoroki.

“Maybe if you gave us more time--”

“No, I’m afraid I can’t do that. I’ve probably been too accommodating as it stands.” Deku chuckled lightly to himself. “Can’t have the other guys thinking I’m going soft. After all I did to prove otherwise. I’d have to break a few things to prove my point again and, well, no one would enjoy that.”

Uraraka fought the urge to shiver. To think that Deku had actually injured other villains in order to prove that he was not to be questioned was a strange thing. Actions would always speak louder than words. He could tell them that he was no longer a hero only so many times before it became repetitive. Or he could show them just how cruel and cold he could be. Deku had always been good at proving what he believed in and who he was.

“Ochako?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m a little disappointed that you don’t think I still know you.” He did sound disappointed, like when you wanted it to be sunny but opened the door to find it raining.

His words caused Uraraka to furrow her brow. “What--?”

“Tell Shoto I’m sorry.”

Uraraka whipped her head around to look Todoroki, who had done the same to look at her. Their eyes met for a second, confusion written in both their gazes and their bodies equally tense, when a massive wall of blue fire exploded into the room and took Todoroki completely out of her sight. She didn’t even get the chance to scream out for him. The explosion was so intense that it knocked all of them off their feet. Uraraka went sailing back, crashing into Bakugou and then through a window. He managed to grab her so that he took the brunt of their fall when they landed, but then let go as both of them rolled about on the ground.

She hadn’t even come to a complete stop when she started scrambling to her feet and screamed, “Todoroki!” Her wide eyes took in the sight of half the building blown to pieces as blue flames ate greedily and flickered in the air. It didn’t look like it would stand for much longer, certainly not if another explosion hit it. To their right, Iida was setting Tsu back on her feet. He must’ve grabbed her and leapt out the other window. Everyone else was still inside. Uraraka felt sick. The blast had been huge. Was anyone still alive?

“Oh, was that rude? Should I have knocked?”

The smoke cleared a bit, showing Dabi standing beside the hole of the building. Of course she had known it was him -- those blue flames were as good as a signature -- but to see him just standing there, jacket billowing in the wind, his eyes glowing as blue as his flames, Uraraka couldn’t help but feel like she was on edge.

Before Uraraka could do anything though, Bakugou was flying himself toward Dabi with his explosive quirk at a rocket-like speed and screaming, “You bastard!” Both of them let off explosions at the same time, Bakugou’s orange colliding with Dabi’s blue, so strong that Uraraka was forced to throw an arm over her face and bend down to one knee to brace herself so that she wasn’t thrown back again. When she pulled her arm away, she saw that Bakugou had launched himself in the air with one hand at the last second to avoid Dabi’s flames while attacking with the other. He fell to the ground now, aiming like a bullet, directly towards Dabi, his eyes as red as fire.

“Uraraka, watch out!” Iida yelled.

So focused on Bakugou and Dabi and dazed from being thrown out the window, Uraraka had stopped paying attention to everything else. She spun around just in time to see a large chunk of the street flying towards her. She couldn’t dodge it, so she threw a hand out in hopes that she could tag it with her quirk before it smashed into her, but at the last second a wall of ice erupted in between her and the concrete. Ice shattered around her, but it did the job of shielding her from the rubble.

Todoroki hopped out of the window of the burning building, panting heavily and staggering for a moment. His costume was singed and he was bleeding over his forehead, but he was alive. He must have used the ice half of his quirk to shield himself from most of Dabi’s initial blast. Now he looked infuriated as he walked towards the villain who had appeared from the mouth of the alley.

Fire burst to life behind Todoroki as Endeavor joined Bakugou in fighting Dabi and she heard Dabi actually laugh, “Oh, you too!” So some of them had survived the initial attack. She shook her head. She couldn’t worry about that. She couldn’t be distracted during this fight. Their fears had been correct; the only villains in the area hadn’t been in Kaminari’s apartment. They hadn’t even gotten inside the building.

Iida and Todoroki started towards the villain, who pressed his hands to the ground. The street started to quake under their feet, as if alive, and then break into pieces. It threw Iida off track, taking away his footing. Tsu was able to leap from each chunk of concrete like it was a maze while Todoroki used his ice quirk to skate over the broken ground. The villain threw up more of the street in Todoroki’s way, forcing him to blast them with his fire, but it gave Uraraka an idea.

She ran forward, stumbling through the street as it shook and broke underneath her, slapping her hands on the large rubble as she did so. When she felt like she had enough, she rounded back to where she’d started and touched the large block of concrete that had been thrown at her initially. “Get out of the way!” she shouted. Todoroki slid to a halt and glanced back at her. He got the picture pretty quickly, throwing himself to the side right as she swung the debris like a bat so that she hit all the floating chunks of rabble as hard as she could. It rained on the villain like a hailstorm, too massive for him to dodge.

The victory was short-lived though as a shadow snaked its way through the cracked street and then wrapped itself around Uraraka’s ankle. She let out a yelp as she was jerked into the air upside down and then slammed into the ground like she was nothing but a ragdoll. She gasped as the air was stolen from her lungs and her head felt like it had been cracked despite wearing her helmet. Then, before she could be thrown again, Tsu’s tongue wrapped around her waist and pulled her to safety.

“Do you see him?” Iida questioned as they all looked around for the source of the shadows.

Instead of getting their questions answered, Dabi jumped back and said, “Your turn!” and shadows as black as ink burst onto the scene. They were so thick that they seemed to swallow Bakugou and Endeavor until nothing could be seen except pitch blackness. It was like they were gone, except that they could still be heard. Even one of Bakugou’s explosions sounded out, but only the darkness could be seen and they all gaped at it, not knowing what to do.

After only a moment’s hesitation, Iida shot forward, darting into the shadows and disappearing from sight. Seconds later, he appeared again, looking frazzled, but before he could get out of the mess completely, the shadows contracted, like water being sucked down a drain. The shadow caught hold of his leg like it had Uraraka’s ankle. When it was done, they could see the shadows were tightly wound over Bakugou and Endeavor as well, holding them in an anaconda-like grip in the air so that neither of them could move their hands. Explosions rattled out of Bakugou’s hands as he struggled in the painful grip, but they did nothing to hinder the shadows binding them.

When Uraraka and Todoroki took a step forward, Endeavor snapped, “Don’t come closer!”

“Smart choice,” Dabi mused before letting off another burst of fire. This time, it was aimed towards Tsu. She leaped out of the way as Todoroki shot a row of ice spikes at him.

With him distracted by counteracting Todoroki, Uraraka ran up behind Dabi. She was only a few inches away from slapping him on the back when a knife buried itself in the ground right at her feet. She gasped and pulled back, which caught Dabi’s attention. He threw a hand in her face and started to activate his quirk. Both of them seemed to realize what was about to happen at the same time and their eyes widened in surprise. He was going to hit her right in the face with his flames. Deku had sworn that if Dabi hurt Uraraka, he’d break Dabi in half and she had a gut feeling that Dabi had seen firsthand what happened to people that Deku didn’t like.

And then the fire winked out as if someone had blown on it so that she was left to gawk at Dabi’s hand an inch away from her face.

They stared at each other for a second, interrupted by a yell and then someone crashing into Dabi. Uraraka gasped when she saw that it was Kirishima. He was a little burnt, but otherwise uninjured. When the explosion hit, he must have hardened himself. Dabi’s flame had gone out suddenly too, which meant-- Uraraka looked over to see Aizawa carrying Jirou out of the nearly destroyed building. They both looked worse for wear, Jirou especially, but they were alive. He must have cancelled Dabi’s quirk right before Dabi let it off.

However, Uraraka didn’t get to bask in the relief of her friends’ lives when more knives started to rain down on her. She did her best to dodge them until one of them got her in the thigh and she went crashing to the ground.

“Not her, you idiot!” Dabi shouted as he jumped away of Kirishima’s swing. His nose was bleeding from where he must have been hit by Kirishima, but he’d gotten out of the hero’s grip.

“Stay still!” Kirishima growled.

Uraraka tried running in Aizawa’s direction, but was forced to come to a halt when a villain dropped down in between her and them. It was a woman, wearing an absurdly revealing outfit that seemed almost entirely made out of knives. The woman smiled and practically purred, “Oh, you must be the one he talks about so much.” Uraraka narrowed her eyes. “Strange. You don’t look like much.”

Once upon a time, talk about Deku might have gotten Uraraka’s mind off track. She was terribly messed up over this whole scenario, but she wasn’t about to let some villain knock her off her game and so she attacked. The woman was much more graceful than Uraraka and she pulled out a knife from around her leg, spinning it delicately on a finger before slashing at Uraraka with it. She managed to bend backwards out of its way, sliding under the woman’s outstretched arm and slamming a palm into her chest. With her quirk activated, it sent the woman careening backwards until she hit a wall.

“We got this!” Uraraka exclaimed as the knife villain and Dabi squared up together. “Help the others!”

If Aizawa managed to find the villain with that strange shadow quirk, it would free Bakugou, Endeavor, and Iida from his grasp. She could hear Bakugou exploding behind her in rage, Iida’s engines bursting at full speed to pull himself out, and Endeavor’s flames attempting to cut through the shadows to no avail. She couldn’t help them. She needed to get through these two villains so that she could get to Kaminari.

Todoroki seemed to be on the same page. “I’ll distract them and you and Tsuyu go.”

She knew that Todoroki could take them on, but she didn’t like the idea of leaving him alone, especially since Jirou was nearby almost completely out of commission.

“Froppy will stay back to help,” Midnight’s voice came from behind. The three younger heroes looked back to her. Besides Jirou, she looked to have suffered the worst of the blast. Her costume had so many burnt patches, along with her skin, and pink smoke seemed to leak out of those holes. “I will come with you. With Eraserhead busy, we’ll need my quirk if we have any hopes of subduing Midoriya.”

After taking the two gas masks that Midnight was holding out to her, Uraraka nodded her head tightly. This was a disaster. She was frightened. She didn’t want to confront Deku again, but knew that it was unavoidable. A part of her hoped that he wasn’t in there. They couldn’t fight him head on. It should’ve been Todoroki or Bakugou.

Using his vast power, Todoroki cut a line for them straight to the apartment building, blocking the two villains from attacking her or Midnight, and they bolted in that direction, Midnight slightly ahead. Once they reached the side of the building, she touched the other woman’s arm and threw her up in the air. Uraraka did the same thing to herself, pushing off the ground, when she saw the streak of shadow out of the corner of her eyes. She was five feet off the ground when it burst up like an arm reaching out for her. Right before it could do so, it disappeared and she knew Aizawa must have found the villain controlling the shadows.

There was no time to consider it though, not when Uraraka grabbed hold of the railing on Kaminari’s balcony and deactivated her quirk so she and Midnight could stand on it. Uraraka took her helmet off and slipped the gas mask over her face as a thick, pink fog began to seep from Midnight’s exposed skin and they jerked open the door, the air happily sucking in the sedative smoke.

Except the apartment was empty.

Uraraka bolted through the apartment, but there was no one inside. There were obvious signs of a brief struggle and it looked like someone had raided Kaminari’s fridge, but that was it. Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach as she realized that they had been tricked and she ripped the mask off and ran back onto the balcony.

“Where is he?” Bakugou screamed from below, ready to blast himself up to her level. Uraraka could only shake her head. She didn’t know.

“Up here, you guys!” came Deku’s excited voice. Uraraka leaned over the railing and twisted her neck so that she could look up towards the roof. Sure enough, there was Deku, one foot propped up on the edge while he rested his folded arms across his knee and leaned half his body over it. “There you are, Ochako. Safe and sound. I knew you’d be the one to come up for Kaminari.”

Uraraka’s heart seized in her chest. “Deku--”

“Stay there,” Deku told her as he straightened up. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Him ordering her around -- like he had any right to do so now -- angered her so much, but there was little she could do about it, especially when she realized what was about to happen. The others down below did as well and tried to brace for it, but when Deku jumped off the roof, they could only prepare so much for the impact. Using the strength of his quirk, Deku crash-landed in the middle of the fight like a meteor, smoke exploding everywhere, the impact so hard that it created a large crater and wrecked the street. The concrete shattered and more pieces of the building that Dabi had partially destroyed began to fall off in chunks. It created a shockwave that broke windows and set off car alarms. At the same time, Todoroki threw up a huge wall of ice and Bakugou let off a massive explosion to defend themselves and others.

It was way too much power. Uraraka had never seen Deku unleash so much unless it was to fight a villain, but now he was using it to just break things. Because he could. Because he was capable of such destruction and whoever was behind the scenes of this new League of Villains was just letting him go.

Uraraka didn’t wait for the smoke to settle. She threw herself over the balcony and did a free fall before activating her quirk on herself a few feet from the ground. The ground was uneven, like from an awful earthquake, and she skidded down a chunk of concrete before getting her balance. She shoved her way through the smoke towards the ice until she saw red flames to her right and she came to a stop. Had they come from Todoroki or Endeavor?

Chains shot towards her and wrapped themselves around her before she could react, writhing around her like snakes, and she fell sideways onto the cracked street. She gasped as they tightened around her and she couldn’t move her arms. A yelp slipped out of her as the chains began to drag her through the rubble towards whatever villain controlled them. She twisted her right wrist to a painful degree and stretched her fingers until she was able to brush her fingertips against the chains and then she tapped her thigh. The sudden change in gravity meant that she was jerked forward, but it must have startled the villain as well. She floated in the air and the chains loosened around her so that she was able to wiggle out of them.

Using an upturned part of the street as a base, Uraraka kicked off of it and floated through the fog like she was a part of it, shouts and explosions surrounding her, until she finally spotted two people. She released her quirk and landed next to Jirou and Iida, both of whom were covered in dust and blood. Iida was crouched down over Jirou, who was shoving him away so that she could sit up, even though it looked like she might tumble down again.

“Thank everything you’re alive,” Uraraka gasped.

Iida raised his eyes to her. “Uraraka, you came down here!” Of course she had. Had they expected her to listen to Deku’s order? “Help me with Jirou. She’s being stubborn. We need to get her out of here.”

“I’m fine,” Jirou snapped. She certainly didn’t look it, but Uraraka understood how she felt. “We’re blind right now anyways, so unless you want to walk right into a villain…” Iida gave them both uneasy looks. Taking a deep breath that looked uncomfortable, Jirou extended one of her earjacks into the ground and listened. Uraraka looked through the smoke. It was beginning to clear and she could see the telltale red streaks that came with Deku’s quirk. “Okay, there’s a clear path to our right, but we’ve gotta be quick.”

Luckily, quick was what Iida did, so she activated her quirk on Jirou so that he could pick her up with no issues and then climbed onto his back herself. She didn’t take away her own gravity, starting to feel the toll of using it on herself in the pit of her stomach. The last thing she needed to do was puke in the middle of a fight.

It was only when they stopped and Iida let them down did she notice that one of his engines was beginning to sputter. Iida caught her line of sight and admitted, “I had to overdo it in order to get Jirou away from the building when pieces started to fall off.”

Jirou practically fell down in a sitting position. “And I used my heartbeat speakers to blast most of the rubble away from me, but broke my left one. I think…” She struggled to move her leg, gritting through the pain that she could no longer hide. “I think my leg is broken.”

Behind them, Uraraka thought she heard Bakugou shouting something at Deku and she turned towards the sound of his voice, calling out like a beacon. With the smoke and dust mostly settled, the fight could be seen clearer now. Five villains, including Dabi, were on Aizawa and Endeavor while Todoroki and Bakugou were fighting with Deku. Tsu and Kirishima were nowhere to be seen. She couldn’t think about that.

At first, it looked as if the five villains were struggling with the two older pro heroes. With Aizawa cancelling their quirks left and right, it gave for easy picking for Endeavor, who was even more talented with his hellfire quirk than Todoroki was. The shadow villain was the most difficult to deal with, considering the versatility of his quirk, so Azawa was mostly focused on him, but then Dabi would let off a large burst of flames that forced Endeavor to counter with one of his instead of paying attention to the shadow villain. Endeavor was also forced to deal with a water controlling villain that worked alongside Dabi, which left him little opportunity to help Aizawa or consider the other fight going on.

The realization struck Uraraka: the villains weren’t fighting Aizawa and Endeavor; they were distracting them.

The real fight was between Deku, Todoroki, and Bakugou and the villains needed to ensure that the older heroes, especially Aizawa, were kept out of it. Deku’s quirk was overpowering. Now that he’d mastered it, he could take on multiple people at once. If Aizawa were to join in that fight, Deku would immediately go from one hundred to zero and Bakugou and Todoroki would be able to subdue him.

As of right now, Todoroki and Bakugou were trying to close in on Deku and keep him in one spot, but while they were fast, Deku was faster. He could punch a hole in Bakugou’s explosions and knock him back or shatter Todoroki’s ice with a kick that sent sharp ice flying everywhere.

Deku bolted in zigzag directions, leaping out of the way of Bakugou’s explosive reach to the side of a building, kicking off it to aim a punch at Todoroki. He managed to block Deku’s hit by using his fire to blow himself out of the way, but then Deku corrected himself swiftly by grabbing onto a piece of rubble, swinging around it and then launching it towards Bakugou. He blasted the rock with such a strong explosion that it turned the rubble into dust and bits of debris. Unfortunately, the rubble hid Deku who was coming up right behind it. Bakugou didn’t have time to let off a strong enough explosion to defend himself and he took a heavy hit from Deku, flying back at least fifteen feet and one of his grenade bracers breaking.

She couldn’t wait any longer. She had to make a decision on what to do and she had to do it now. “I’m going in.”

“Uraraka--” Iida started.

“Trust me, I’ll be fine,” she interrupted firmly. “I need you to look for Tsu and Kirishima.”

Iida didn’t look pleased, but he nodded his head in a determined fashion. He took off one way and Uraraka went off in the other in the direction of the fight between Aizawa and Endeavor and the five other villains. She activated her quirk on a large chunk of the street and then threw it like a frisbee in the direction of the shadow villain, whose back was to her. The ground villain saw her though and pulled up some more of the street to act as a shield. Still, it was enough to distract them and Aizawa was able to cancel the shadow villain’s quirk long enough to wrap him up in bindings and slam him hard enough on the ground to knock him unconscious.

The female knife villain let out a snarl and sent five blades in Uraraka’s direction, but then she was saved by Endeavor’s flames. With the fire as her cover, she was able to reach the knife villain and grab her by the wrist. Without gravity, Uraraka threw the woman into the sky, sending her floating practically into space, and then released her quirk so the knife villain fell at least fifteen stories from the air, a scream tearing from her throat as she fell. The villain with chains was able to snatch her out of the air and bring her safely to the ground.

Gasping for air, the woman shouted, “You little--” and threw at least a dozen large daggers at Uraraka. This time there was no Aizawa or Endeavor to save her and she let out a shout of fear.

Just as Uraraka hoped, Deku came to her rescue, letting out a gasp of, “Ochako!” and then shooting away from his fight with Todoroki. He was quicker than lightning, practically invisible to the naked eye. He snatched her up bridal style and carried her out of the way of the knives so fast that it was like a gust of wind blew through. Her hair settled as she took in a breath of air. Even Deku was breathing heavily. “Why would you be so reckless?”

Uraraka turned to face him, tears in her eyes, as she cradled his face in her hands. “I’m sorry, Deku.”

As soon as the words sunk in, Deku staggered as he began to float in the air and nearly dropped her. She peeled herself out of his arms and away from him, keeping his gaze as he clenched and unclenched his fists. His eyes flickered from her to his hands and then behind her. An awful, furious expression overcame his face when he realized that Aizawa had canceled his quirk and he had no hold on his gravity, leaving him to be an open target.

“DEKU!” Bakugou half growled/half roared as his explosions propelled him forward like a bat out of hell. He threw a hand out to snatch Deku, another explosion at the ready. Deku used a bit of debris to kick off the ground with his gravity zeroed out by Uraraka’s quirk to escape his grasp. She cancelled it quickly as Todoroki created a wall of ice from behind Deku to keep him from escaping. They had him. My god, they had him.

And then pitch black shadows and blue flames exploded at the same time, the shadows swallowing Deku and Bakugou while the fire forced everyone else back. It was like a line was cut in between them, severing them from each other.

“ENOUGH!” Deku raged from inside the darkness. There was a series of explosions as Bakugou set some off at random in an attempt to hit Deku, but then Uraraka saw the telltale signs of Deku’s power. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. The shadows shielding him didn’t seem to matter as red and green lightning streaked through it and into the sky. “This would be easier if you did your damn jobs!”

“Bakugou, get out of there!” Uraraka screamed.

The shadows retreated and they were all left to watch in horror as Deku slammed a fist into the ground. Simply speaking, it blew everyone out of the water, heroes and villains alike, the ground rippling like a tidal wave. Uraraka was thrown backwards, but hit some rubble so that she didn’t go far. It was still painful and hard. She hit her head and blacked out for who knew how long.

When she came to, Uraraka slowly opened her eyes and pushed herself up, her entire body screaming in pain, her ears ringing, and her head throbbing. She gingerly touched the back of her head and winced when she felt something sticky and wet, her fingers coming back with blood. No wonder her head hurt so much, but she couldn’t think about it for too long. It was difficult to focus her vision, much less her thoughts. When she tried to sit up further, her body protested and she fell back down again, her hands scraping on the debris.

Lying there on the ground with her head turned to the side, Uraraka blinked her eyes and tried to focus. As far as she could tell, nearly everyone else was down as well. She caught sight of Aizawa’s scarves, but he wasn’t moving and they looked stained with blood. There seemed to be a flicker of Endeavor’s flames near him, but they were barely there, as if he was coming in and out of consciousness. The whole place was destroyed, looking as if someone had dropped a bomb in the middle of the street. The building they’d been in earlier was gone, having collapsed in on itself. Where were the others? Had Iida been able to find Tsu and Kirishima? Had they been able to get out of the area?

Gods, where was Bakugou? He’d been so close to where Deku had exploded.

Movement to her left caught her eyes and she watched as Dabi and the ground villain appeared in the clearing of the smoke. The ground villain must have used his quirk to protect them both from the quake caused by Deku. Dabi was nudging something with his foot as he wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, his blue eyes glowing dimly in the light of the fires and a hint of interest on his otherwise cold face. She managed to scoot a little to get a glimpse of what Dabi was looking at and felt her breath stolen away when she saw that it was an unconscious Todoroki, his right half patchy with ice and steam coming from his left.

“There, there, stay still,” she heard Deku sigh in a calming but exhausted tone. With some difficulty, Uraraka pushed herself up so that she could get a better view of him. He was leaning over someone, a knee pressed deep into their back, an almost gentle look on his face. “I wouldn’t struggle if I was you. After taking a hit like that, even indirectly, you must be in a lot of pain, Kacchan.”

Bakugou. Deku was leaning over Bakugou. Uraraka’s heart jumped. She tried to get up, but it was a struggle. She couldn’t tell if she’d broken anything, but her head was so dizzy. His costume was burnt on his right leg, showing red and angry skin, where one of Bakugou’s explosions must have hit him, but he was the one still standing while Bakugou was on the ground.

“I-I’ll kill you, D-Deku,” Bakugou said through gritted teeth.

Deku tossed his head back and let out another sigh. His right arm was shaking slightly, so he used his left to grab Bakugou by his hair. “I know.” He slammed Bakugou’s face into the ground and Uraraka twitched. “And I know. I really should just kill you now.” He did it again, like that Nomu had done Aizawa during the USJ Incident their first year. “All those stories about how villains get caught because they couldn’t stop talking or let a personal grudge get the best of them?”

Blood spilled out of Bakugou’s nose and he spit out some more when Deku let go of his head. “Why d-don’t you just sh-shut up then?”

“Oh, Kacchan, you didn’t think this was just about Ochako, did you?” Deku asked in a voice that brought tears to Uraraka’s eyes. It wasn’t anger or disgust or anything like that. It was hurt. It was pain. It was all the awful things that Bakugou had done to Deku when they were kids before some sort of respect had been born. Even Bakugou stilled upon hearing that voice. “All those years, all those days, when I was just trying to be nice because I admired you and you were so strong. I wanted to be just like you -- but you were a monster.”

Uraraka clawed toward them, digging her way through the dirt and rubble, gathering more scrapes and bruises as she went along, the thin material of her outfit catching on rocks and tearing. She had to get to them. She wasn’t sure what she could do, but she had to do something. “Deku…”

“It amazes me,” Deku continued, his words taking on a disdainful tone, “the kind of trash they’ll let become heroes these days. You were a nightmare, Kacchan. Do you know how many times I had to go to the nurse’s office after getting a beating from you? How many burns I had to fix up on my own? How many outfits my mother had to either repair or just throw away because they were too destroyed?”

Bakugou was silent, as he should be. There was still anger in him, of course, but it bled into something else that she couldn’t read from where she was on the ground. The left side of his face was pressed into the ground and he stared up at Deku with one red eye, blood seeping over it from a cut over his eyebrow. He was still, the only movement coming from his chest as he struggled to breathe with Deku leaning on top of him.

“That quirk of yours… So strong, so destructive… You never once used it for good until UA. All you knew how to do was hurt and so that’s what you did. Now does sound like like a hero to you?” Deku leaned down closer to Bakugou and dug his knee further into Bakugou’s back when he didn’t answer. “Does it?”

“Screw you,” Bakugou gasped.

Deku pulled upright, a rather smug expression on his face, like he’d expected that response. “You’re only as strong as your quirk and I was nothing compared to you then. Look at us now!” He pulled something out of his boot and held it up in the air. Uraraka’s eyes widened when she saw the knife gleaming in the light of the fire. “Your quirk comes from secreting sweat from your palms, right? Have you ever wondered if you’d still have a quirk if you didn’t have hands?” He grinned in amusement. “I have. You know, I wondered how you’d feel if you were quirkless. Not so I could treat you as you did me, but so you could learn some humility. So you could understand what it truly means to be a hero.”

Oh god, no, oh god, no! Panic flared in Uraraka’s mind as she watched Deku spin the knife delicately between his fingers. Bakugou began to struggle again, but then Deku used his quirk to still him and Bakugou grunted in pain as he was shoved harder into the ground.

“I don’t think I’ll use my quirk for this. I deserve to take my time.”

“Deku!” Uraraka managed to cry out. “Deku, please!”

This was too much. She couldn’t handle it. There would be no going back.

Deku paused, the knife right over Bakugou’s right wrist. “You know what he did to me? You know what he said?” She didn’t reply, knowing that it was his time to talk. This was his moment. “The day that sludge villain attacked him and I jumped in to help him despite being weak and afraid, Kacchan told me to throw myself off the roof. He told me to kill myself.” His hand shook. “He probably would’ve laughed about it had I done it. What kind of hero does something like that?”

“They don’t,” Uraraka said. She pushed herself up, cringing as she did so, but then she grabbed onto some of the upturned street and got to her feet. “They don’t do this either.”

The knife was trembling a hair over Bakugou’s wrist. “He doesn’t deserve a quirk like this. He doesn’t deserve to be called a hero. He isn’t one.” Tears appeared in his eyes. So emotional, her Deku, he felt everything. He felt so much. He never hid how he felt either. “Kacchan might have been the hero in his story, but he was the villain in mine.”

He lifted the knife, ready to bring it back down, and Uraraka exclaimed, “You’re right!” and Deku halted. He turned to look at her. She took a shaky step towards him. “You’re right. He’s...terrible. He’s rude, selfish, and an arrogant bastard.” She didn’t look at Bakugou as she spoke, only at Deku, who stared back at her. She didn’t want to see the look on Bakugou’s face, whether it was shocked, confused, or nothing at all. She didn’t want to know. “But I don’t want to see you do this either.” She held out a hand. “Take me with you.”

Deku blinked. “What?”

“Take me with you,” Uraraka repeated, stronger this time.

Bakugou jerked from his spot on the ground and this time Deku didn’t push him down harder, just stayed in position. “Uraraka, don’t--”

“Shut up, Bakugou, this doesn’t concern you,” Uraraka interrupted, not unkindly. He went silent though. A small, tremulous smile appeared on Deku’s face. “I’m starting to get it now, I think. How can a society be good when they allow bad people to become heroes? It’s not fair. I...I don’t want that. But I don’t want this either. I’m still a hero to you, aren’t I?” He slowly nodded his head, almost mesmerized. Her hand started to shake the longer she held it out to him. “I’ll do whatever you want, Deku. Just don’t do this. Please, for me. Let’s just go. Take me away from here. Take me with you.”

It’s you. It’s always been you.

There was nothing but the crackle of fire around them and the wind until finally she watched as Deku sheathed the knife back in his boot and step up. Before Bakugou could attempt to get up, Deku hooked a foot underneath him and kicked him hard so that he flung to the side and smacked into a wall. He didn’t get back up or even move. Uraraka flinched, but she said nothing, just continued to hold out her hand. When Deku told a hold of it, she tried to breathe steadily.

“We’re done here,” Deku decided. He tugged her closer to him. He didn’t look just happy as he looked her in the eyes; he looked relieved. His eyes flickered behind her and he furrowed his brow. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Uraraka turned around and brought a hand to cover her mouth when she saw a warp gate appear and then Dabi lift an unconscious Todoroki over his shoulder in front of it. Todoroki was by no means small. He’d been fairly tall when Uraraka had first met him back when they were fifteen. But despite being thin, Dabi carried him like a sack of flour. Todoroki hung limp, his feet and hands swaying as Dabi moved and his hair hanging over his grey and blue eyes.

“You get your toy,” Dabi replied. “Why can’t I have mine?”

Deku huffed. “That wasn’t the plan. We’re supposed to kill him.” He didn’t sound angry, just worn down.

“What if we find a better use for him?” Dabi countered, a sly grin on his face. It looked eerie on him. “What if he’s better to us alive?” Deku tilted his head in thought. “You don’t really want to kill him, do you?”

“He could...come in handy…” Deku murmured.

Dabi hoisted Todoroki further on his shoulder. “I think it could turn into a new opportunity.” He jabbed a finger back where Endeavor was coming to. “Plus, it’ll really stick it to that bastard if we’ve got his precious, little Shoto.” He took a few steps back towards the warp gate. “C’mon, Midoriya, it’ll be fun. We’ll all be one big, happy family.”

Uraraka didn’t think that Todoroki would be happy about any of this. When he came to and found out that she had willingly gone with Deku, he was going to be infuriated. Still, she hadn’t known what else to do. She couldn’t let Deku freaking cut off Bakugou’s hand. Uraraka suddenly felt as if she’d overused her quirk and maybe she had and the adrenaline was just now wearing off. My gods, would Deku have really gone through that? How horrible had Bakugou been? Deku had talked about it some, but he’d always brushed it off in the end before.

“What are you going to do with Todoroki?” Uraraka asked in a quiet voice as Deku guided her towards the warp gate. She was almost too afraid to ask, but knew she had to even if she didn’t get an answer.

“It’ll be for his own good,” Deku insisted, though it wasn’t much of an answer. “I mean, I won’t lie. It’s going to hurt -- it did with me -- but this will be for the best.” He nodded his head enthusiastically, but his eyes were distant, like his mind was lost in thoughts again and she couldn’t really reach him. “Yeah, this is much better. I wasn’t really savoring the idea of killing him.”

He swung an arm around her and kissed her on the temple. She was still dizzy and weak from his last attack, so he was very nearly supporting her. She didn’t look back until the very end when they turned around. Bakugou was shoving himself to his feet with Kirishima’s help, but Uraraka couldn't feel relief at the redhead’s appearance from the way Bakugou was swaying dangerously and how damaged they both looked. When she and Bakugou connected eyes, the first thing she saw was rage -- but then behind it, clear as day, fear. She couldn’t remember seeing that in him ever before. She wondered if Deku could see the desperation in Bakugou as he tried to fire off a few pitiful explosions.

Maybe Deku had, but his warning goodbye, “Stay back, Kacchan,” and the protective way he held Uraraka against him had Bakugou freezing. The last thing she saw was Bakugou’s horrified face. Hopefully he saw her mouth the words and he believed her.

I’m sorry.

Gods, she was. She really was. She couldn't keep her promise to him.

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