Chapter Text
The sky is a pale blue as the wind blows through reddened trees. Fuyumi stands in the frigid breeze, unaffected by the chill. She stares down at the grave in front of her. She places a lily on the grey-green earth. Natsuo steps forward to stand beside her as he shivers violently in the cold.
“You think he’s with Touya?” Natsuo asks.
“I hope so.” They stand there in the late autumn. Staring. “I wonder where he would be right now if he were still alive.”
Natsuo shrugs. “Beats me. Probably UA. Not like dad ever gave him much of a choice on the matter.”
Fuyumi feels tears budding in her eyes. She had just stopped crying whenever she thought about Touya. Now she was a crying mess whenever she thought about Shoto.
Natsuo sighs. “Is it bad that sometimes I’m jealous of them?”
“Natsuo,” Fuyumi shrieks. “That is a horrible thing to say!”
Natsuo lets out a huff of a laugh. “Yeah, I just wish we could have seen dad this upset about Touya. Or upset without losing either of them.” Natsuo places a hand on her shoulder and starts directing her away.
She glances over her shoulder at her baby brother.
Natsuo, in a harsh breath, says, “This family is a god-forsaken mess.”
“Yeah. It is.” She wasn’t there when it happened to Shoto but she remembers it being on the news. A villain attack gone wrong and a scared kid acting out in fear. Shoto was just too close to the chaos. Dad never should have brought Shoto anywhere near a villain attack. It doesn't change the past, and it doesn't change the facts. It certainly didn't change Dad at all, it may have even made him worse.
She catches someone stepping up to Shoto's grave after they leave. She didn't know how to feel about it. They didn't really know Shoto. Even if they thought they were being nice, it left a gritty taste in her mouth like she was trying to swallow dirt. The whole thing felt fake. But she never said it. She just smiled politely and left whenever she could.
She appreciates that this stranger at least waited for them to leave the grave first before visiting.
All Might did not understand why Naomasa called him down to the police precinct. But he wasn’t one to ignore the call either. He walks in and is pointed towards Naomasa’s office. He walks in and sees the man in complete disarray. He has papers clutched in his hands and more scattered across his desk as he paces across the room.
“Toshinori, you’re here. Thank heavens.” He stops pacing and his shoulders lose some of their tension. “This is something you need to hear.”
All Might hesitantly sits down in a chair as Naomasa sits across from him. He tilts his head looking at Naomasa from the side of his vision. He looks his friend up and down. Naomasa doesn’t usually move this much, isn’t this nervous about much. But he knows information is more forthcoming if he goes along with it all. “Alright. What is it?”
“All for One died.”
Time stops through no effect of any quirk. He knits his brows in confusion at the statement. He thought this was known information for Naomasa, maybe it is just settling in. “Yes, in my fight with him,” Toshinori says prompting his friend as he comes to realize the far more likely situation is that it is not that simple.
“No. Last night.” Naomasa sighs as he sets the papers down to the side. “We received a bunch of calls from pro heroes last night about a fight between two villains. They were drawn to the fight by the ruckus it stirred. None of them engaged, instead making sure damage was minimized rather than throwing their lives away. One or two watched it unfold. They said one was a tall man wearing a mechanical mask looking like life support systems, and showed signs of several quirks. This aligns with the description for All for One. The other is identified as a younger villain with a shadow quirk and bird head. He is going by the alias of Nevermore, or at least that was how it appeared in the fight.”
All Might feels numb and tingly. He didn’t think anyone could beat All for One without One for All. The idea of someone matching him for even a few minutes of time terrifies him. “Do we know anything else about Nevermore?”
Naomasa smiles crookedly, “Yes. We actually know a lot about him… All Might, before I tell you more about this villain I need to ask how much you have heard about the Todoroki incident?”
All Might opens his mouth, closes it again as he thinks this through, not only gauging how much he knows but how it connects to the issue at hand. He opens his mouth again and after a moment says, “Very little. I heard his youngest son died in a villain attack and very little more on the details.”
“Allow me to walk you through it, then.” Naomasa takes a deep breath and deflates as he begins. “A few years ago, Todoroki Shouto was killed when Endeavor brought him near a villain fight. However, he was not killed by the villain. He was killed by a kid around his same age. The kid acted out of fear and instinct and, through a series of unfortunate events, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Todoroki Shouto was killed in the collateral damage. The kid who acted out was one Tokoyami Fumikage. The same kid who we now know as Nevermore.”
All Might pales at each part of this story. He coughs a little and he feels blood slip out of his mouth. “So how did he end up a villain?”
Naomasa sighs and exhaustion is written in every line of his face. “That, I believe, is Endeavor's fault. You are aware of quirk restrictions and quirk-based restraining orders, right?”
“Well, I mean, quirks aren’t allowed to be used in public. Privately owned buildings are allowed to set their own rules on the matter,” All Might says, trying to remember the finer details of the laws.
“Yes, but those rules get a little complicated when certain quirks are involved. Passive quirks like Nedzu’s would be unethical to restrict in that way as well as near impossible. Mutation quirks also fit this same grey area of ‘it is not very reasonable to try and restrict them in that same way as other quirks.’ ”
“But neither of these would apply to young Tokoyami’s quirk, as I understand it,” All Might says. He is, despite popular belief, not entirely dense.
“That is correct. However, Tokoyami falls under the very strange and rare third issue of sentient quirks.”
“Sentient quirks?” All Might will admit he is unfamiliar with that one.
Naomasa sits up, clearly aware this is something most people are not familiar with. "Yes, sentient quirks. Quirks that have their own thoughts, feelings, and personalities, even if they are closely linked with their host. It… it doesn't happen often that they exist but when they do it's like operating with two separate people. It's not easily restricted."
"Naomasa, I'm following everything you're saying, but can you please start working back to the reason I was brought here?" All Might just wants to know how this kid beat All for One.
"I'll get there, just trust me on this one," he tells Toshinori. "Endeavor did not take the death of his son well and demanded the culprit be punished. It was a whole scandal. He tried demanding a number of things including putting Tokoyami on Tartarus grade quirk suppressants. Tokoyami fled after the idea was even broached. For a few weeks, we had no clue what happened to him. Then, just bits and pieces here and there. The kid has killed more people, almost entirely villains. He gets stronger in the dark, so he operates mostly at night. Last night was the darkest new moon this city has had in a while. All for One was not prepared for an onslaught from something that couldn’t really be hurt in the dark.”
All Might nods. “Tokoyami used his advantages and wore down All for One until he was able to get a killing blow on him.” He understands this. He also understands that there is a very big difference between someone aiming to kill, and aiming to apprehend.
“Yep,” Naomasa says, sinking down into his chair again.
All Might’s brows furrow more. “So why did you really call me in here with the urgency of the world ending?”
Naomasa doesn’t look at All Might, “Tokoyami didn’t deserve what happened to him. And he managed to take down one of, if not the biggest threat this country has seen. We owe him a favor for that one. And there is no avoiding it anymore. Tokoyami now has hundreds of eyes on him and many of them are out for his head. Villains will be after him for the prestige and power it will give them, heroes will be after him for being a villain. And Endeavor finally has an excuse to hunt him down and exact the ‘justice’ he sees fit. No one will think twice about him killing Tokoyami when he became this big of a threat overnight.” A long pause as Naomasa lets that sink in. All Might waits patiently for what is being asked of him. “I need you to help capture him before he is killed.”
All Might stands. “Of course. I will do my best.”
“Thank you, Toshinori.”
Tokoyami sits on the edge of a roof. Dark Shadow curls beside him. He closes his eyes as a chill wind breathes life into Tokoyami’s veins. He hears the whispers spread like wildfire in the villain underworld as well as across news stations.
Nevermore.
That was his name now. It was fitting that he should lose his name. Fitting he be given the name of a famous harbinger of death. That he forever be tied to Lenore.
He breathes out and he can feel Dark Shadow squirm with uneasiness. Tokoyami tilts his head to look to his left. He opens his eyes and sees Lenore sitting beside him. Todoroki doesn’t speak. The same way he never does. Tokoyami stares at the white hair stained red, the red hair dripping droplets of crimson. He needs to make peace with this ghost if he is ever to move on.
“Todoroki.” Todoroki looks at him and the heterochromic eyes stare at him with dull apathy and a lifeless gaze. He tilts his head as if wondering what Nevermore will say. “I never meant for any of this to happen.” Todoroki does not respond to him in the slightest. Tokoyami takes a deep breath. “ ‘An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young – A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young.’ … Do you mind the poem? It is the poem, Lenore, by Edgar Allen Poe. It- It feels fitting. Lenore was a tragedy, a girl with a perfect life before her but she died before she could live it.”
Tokoyami looks at the bright sky. He should sleep soon. But there is still more to say. “I can not say what would have happened had I not been there at that exact moment in time. Perhaps you would still be dead, perhaps you would not be. But no matter. It is done. It means very little to dwell on ifs and could-have-beens. My guilt will follow me. But I have given up my life to the whims of fate. I will fly where it wills me.” He smiles as he closes his eyes. “ ‘May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.’ ” He turns to face the ghost, Lenore, Todoroki, and finds they have gone. No apparition haunts him any longer.
Tokoyami stands and makes his way into the building to hide in a corner until sunset. As he walks down the stairs he recites the last few lines of “Lenore”.
“ ‘Let no bell toll!--lest her sweet soul, amid its hallowed mirth, Should catch the note, as it doth float up from the damnéd Earth. To friends above, from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven – From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven – From grief and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of Heaven.’ "
His sincerest hope was that Todoroki found peace and rest in death. He found a place to rest for the day. He lays down and lets sleep take him.
Dabi is furious. His heart is hot coals and it burns with vengeance. Vengeance that some random kid took away from him. Shoto was his to kill. Endeavor was his to piss off. He has been hunting the kid for months but that kid stuck closer to the shadows than a rat to garbage. That is until his name was whispered in every shadow he used to hide in. Dabi is no longer the only villain looking for him, which is good in that it helped him find the brat but bad in that that kill may also be taken from him.
He has to admit though he didn’t expect the league of villains to fall to one kid overnight. Really makes him question if any villain is worth his salt. Then again anyone who can kill his bastard father’s perfect child probably isn’t anything to scoff at.
Speaking of, that excuse for a hero would be looking for his son’s murderer as well. He walks up to a building that, if you were anyone who lived here for more than a few weeks, you knew about.
The broker opens the door. “Come to ask about Nevermore, get in line.” The door is left open and Dabi walked in.
“I heard rumors,” Dabi says to the broker who looks more fed up at this exact moment than in his entire career.
He rolls his eyes at Dabi. “Everyone has heard rumors. You’re going to have to be more specific.”
“I heard Nevermore was here the day the League was killed.”
Quiet rage builds on Giran’s face. “Yeah he was; wanted information on the most notorious villain I have ever had the pleasure of working for. Killed him too.”
Dabi hears those rumors too, he hasn’t paid much attention to them though. He is never sure how much is myth and how much is true about the nightmare that was All for One. “Does he have weaknesses?”
“If that kid proved nothing else it is that everyone has weaknesses,” Giran says. “Issue is, I have no clue what they are.”
“What can you tell me about the kid?”
A scoff. “Kid shows up in the villain underworld one day, I’m sure I don’t need to explain why, and decides to be a villain. He’s not an idiot, that much I’ll give him. Works at night, avoids heroes. Doesn’t draw too much attention to himself. Was a gun for hire for the most part. He killed a lot of villains. Most of them third rate, but one or two times he crept up on some bigger fish.” Giran moves around, collecting items and placing them in boxes. Dabi looks around and sees more boxes. Seems Giran is leaving town. “Mostly nocturnal, but the kid operates under the radar so that makes sense.”
“His quirk is shadow manipulation?” Dabi asks, looking around the room until he sees a shattered bulb hanging from the ceiling.
“Close, but no cigar,” Giran says as he takes a break from packing boxes and lights a cigar up, taking a deep breath of the smoke. “Kid is the only person I met who has a sentient quirk. I’ve heard of a few people who had ‘em but I never met any of them. Dark Shadow is an attack dog you do not want to mess with.”
Dabi smiles as he looks at the broken light. He gestures to the broken fixture. “Did he break this?”
Giran gives Dabi a dead stare of slight irritation. “Yeah. Kid knows how to set an atmosphere.”
Dabi feels his skin pull as his grin only grows. “I think our little bird is scared of the light.”
Giran gives him a dismissive wave of his hand. “Glad I could help you figure that out. Now get out of here and good luck killing Nevermore; you won’t be the first to make the attempt.”
Endeavor has given up his career. He has never been better than All Might and the public did not take well to his reaction after his son’s death. It doesn’t really matter to him anymore. His son is dead. They took away everything he had worked for. He doesn’t care that each day he spends angry about that villain, the public’s opinion of him diminishes.
He was ecstatic the day it had been announced that Nevermore – what a pathetic name, fitting for a coward that ran – is now an S-class villain. His notoriety only grows as he kills more and more. No one would blink twice if the boy were to die in a fight.
He hears the heroes plot against him behind his back. They want to capture Nevermore, throw him in prison. All Might himself was asked to join the search. Even a few of his sidekicks seem to be against him. His children seem appalled by the idea. He doesn’t care. Nevermore took his child, his masterpiece, and broke it. The fact that it was ‘accidental’ only made it worse.
“Endeavor. What do you need?” the detective asks him with an exasperated sigh.
“I believe the files on Nevermore are available for all heroes to look at,” he booms, looming over the shorter man.
“I also seem to recall that information can be withheld from heroes who have a strong emotional investment in a case, especially one of such high profile.” The detective gives him a disheartened glare. “Which I believe has been the case for you for several years.”
Another plotting against him; no matter, he was merely a detective. “But it seems I was right about him being a villain.”
“He became a villain because you pushed him so far. Do you even know the first thing about sentient quirks, Enji?” the detective says in irritation, pinching his brow. Irritation and anger fill Endeavor in turn. “It’s Endeavor.”
“You didn’t even answer my question.”
“What does it matter if I know the first thing about sentient quirks? I seem to recall that it was simply a hypothetical and that there is no such thing.”
The detective seems baffled as his eyes go wide. “there is ‘such a thing’. I had a man get his quirk legally documented as his emotional support animal. They are a very real thing and you don’t know the first thing about them.”
“If they are real, they’re incredibly rare and are not pertinent to this situation.”
A groan of frustration as the detective screws his eyes shut. “Did you pay no attention to the entire case you mounted against a child? The kid you tried to prosecute has a sentient quirk.” Endeavor felt a smile tilt across his lips. “Anything else I should know about Nevermore?”
“Of course, you would call him that rather than his actual name.” Naomasa sighs. “No, I’m not giving you any more information. The fact that you don’t know more about this kid is frankly outrageous, considering you tried to sue him for months.”
Endeavor doesn’t see why he should know more, he lets others handle the unnecessary details. “I knew what I needed to know. Now, the files.”
“The fact that you don’t know this information despite your involvement with him just proves my point that you have too much emotional investment in this. I am allowed to refuse you access.”
Endeavor felt the flames rise around him. “I will find him, with or without your help.”
“This isn’t justice Endeavor, this is revenge,” the detective calls out after him.
Endeavor doesn’t see the difference.
Tokoyami loathes this new situation he finds himself in. Villains have been crawling out of every crack in the city, like an infection, to try and kill him. He has barely had a moment to rest. Dark Shadow is perhaps the only reason he does rest. He puts his head down for a moment only to be awoken moments later by the sounds of harsh clashes and pained grunts.
No villain has posed a threat to him yet but the persistence is leaving him exhausted. He has not been spared from the onslaught for more than an hour at a time. He feels his soul drain of its lifeforce with each waking second.
He looks around for any sign of a villain, listens to the wind in hopes it might carry the sound of silence. It never will but it seems devoid of the sounds of attackers so it will have to suffice. He lays down in the hopes he may sleep for even a short time. He does not in fact get to sleep for any lengthy amount of time. Dark Shadow grows restless as Tokoyami hears footsteps.
He rises to his feet and slowly moves out into the darkening evening. He prefers fighting beneath the sky, with the wind ruffling his feathers, and more room for Dark Shadow to move freely. Despite his weariness, he can feel the anticipation flowing from Dark Shadow and he can not help but feel the same. If they wish to meet their end, let them come and the shadow will consume them.
A slim woman with fine features prepares for a fight. She survives longer than she has any right to, but the sky has just tipped into night. She does fall though. As all of his challengers do. One would think that they may reconsider the thought of attacking him with how many have perished at his hands. But they don’t, and now this building is compromised. He begins his travels across the rooftops to find another location to try and rest for more than a measly hour.
He is stopped when a figure drops down on the roof behind him. He sighs as he turns surprised by the figure he sees. Ms. Joke stands across from him, her flamboyant colors washed out to dull memories of what they used to be in the dark of early night. She does not prepare to fight. She does not utter a word for a long time. That does nothing to alleviate any of Tokoyami’s tension. “I’m not here to fight. At least not yet,” she tells him.
“Then what is the purpose of this encounter?” Tokoyami asks as suspicion paints his voice a shade of violence.
“I want to talk with you,” she says, palms open and inviting.
Tokoyami does not relax when the sign of peace is offered to him. He simply stares and waits. “Well? What did you want to say?” he prompts.
“Well first off, I want to warn you. Endeavor is looking for you and he won’t hesitate to kill you when he sees you. He wants you dead and because of how dangerous you have gotten in the view of the public, they won’t care.” She tilts her head with a look of such earnestness that Tokoyami finally lets his tension melt away, even if he does not let himself relax.
“So what are you suggesting?”
Dark Shadow looks at him and he can feel the fear wash over him. A silent cry of ‘Fumi’ pleading that he not let them be separated. He sends back reassurances that he would never let that happen.
“Turn yourself in.” Tension sprouts anew in his chest as he imagines losing Dark Shadow. “Villains won’t be hunting you, heroes won’t be able to do anything if they disagree. What happened to you is completely unfair and not your fault. So many heroes want to help you, Tokoyami, you just have to let us.”
Tokoyami feels his emotions roil like a storm. But one screams louder than the rest. Terror nestles deep in Tokoyami's mind. He can not allow Dark Shadow to be severed from him. "Do you think that makes you my savior? That you are helping? Perhaps you are too narrow-minded to realize that the reason I became a villain is because you thought you were helping. Save your breath."
She shifts her stance and smiles widely.
His eyes narrow on the adversary before him. An angel will fall today. "Dark Shadow."
Dark Shadow lunges but collapses to the ground as if gravity suddenly affected them. A fit of cackling laughter escapes through jagged shadow. "Fumi. Make it stop." He felt Dark Shadow's terror grow but watched as laughter forced Dark Shadow to become a fraction of what they could be.
Tokoyami is about to act when he feels laughter sprout in the pit of his chest and grow like a thorny bush, pricking his mind and nestling in his chest. It builds until it is a full laugh and tears are streaming down his face. His chest hurts and he knows in his mind nothing here is funny. No, everything here is horrifying. But he simply cannot stop the maddening laughter. It felt like an evil straight from one of the Grimms fairytales, where someone is cursed to laugh their whole life until their lungs split open and their heart falls out.
Ms. Joke strides towards him, she says something that he recognises as a joke but all he can see is the cuffs dangling from her belt like a noose from the gallows. All he can hear is the small clink as they hit against each other that seems so much louder than it has any right to be.
It feels like it will continue on for eternity until everything stops in a moment. He feels cooling air in his lungs as he can breathe freely, the terror from before hits him full force now, he feels Dark Shadow calm and grow with dignified rage. It lasts a few milliseconds before Ms. Joke starts running at him. He starts to make a break for the edge of the roof. She raises a hand, eyes wide as she yells at him to stop.
He should have listened in hindsight. Instead, he runs and a wall of crimson flame appears in front of him. The heat is torturous, the light horrifically blinding. Dark Shadow is cowed by it. Tokoyami turns and bolts the other way. He needs to get away. From the heroes, from the villains. He needs to run and he needs to hide.
He jumps from rooftop to rooftop. Ms. Joke follows after him, constantly checking over her shoulder to keep track of the incoming attacker. He sees the end of the available rooftops and he jumps down into the alleyway. He knows these streets, learned them quickly.
He doesn’t know where the night will lead him, only that it must lead him away. He looks over his shoulder and sees the night glowing a vibrant ruby. He faces forward again and keeps running. Tokoyami thrives in the shadow, he had even before he abandoned the light, but never, not when he was a villain, not before that, did he ever like fire.
To him fire is destruction, it is chaos, it is weakness, and it spells his death. It is the markings on the wall that tell him he is next. Fire is always a warning, it is never pretty, or warm, or holy. Fire holds no good, not for Tokoyami.
He runs around corners, the sky brightens as if the sun were rising but he knows that it is the middle of the night and the sun is nowhere near. He runs until he is out in the open, a place he recognises as the same place the Jabberwock met its end. He feels like prey as he sees the soft glow of flames. His lungs still ache and running is not helping them any. He pants out gasps of air and then he sees someone in front of him. Purple scars are laced into his skin like some horrid doll. Blue flames crawl up his arms. Tokoyami has not been this afraid since the case mounted against him started.
“Nevermore. I’ve been looking for you.” The stranger walks slowly and steadily towards him. “Even before you gained all that fame. You killed Todoroki Shoto. I was supposed to do that. You took it from me, so I guess I have to kill you.”
Tokoyami wants to scream that it was an accident but he knows that would not change what happened, nor this villain’s desire to kill him. He looks around trying to find a way out of this. He knows a fight he can not win when he sees one. Two fire wielders already spell his end. Add a combatant like Ms. Joke and he doesn’t stand a chance.
The villain tsks and then breaks out into a cruel chuckle. He sends a wall of flame in either direction. Tokoyami blocks out the sudden light as his eyes adjust. “No running, not anymore. You’re mine, Nevermore.”
Dark Shadow slinks closer and whispers in his ear, “Fumi, it’s too bright.” Tokoyami knows this. He knows that Dark Shadow must really be scared if he was talking to Tokoyami. After all, they found it a distinct advantage that people thought Dark Shadow was simply a manipulated shadow and not conscious. Tokoyami breathes in. He stares down this villain. He needs to stall while he thinks of a plan.
“If you plan to kill me, at least have the dignity to tell me your name.”
The villain smirks, “I don’t recall you ever had the dignity to tell your victims anything. But sure.” Never once does he stop his steady stride forward.
Tokoyami begins taking steps back.
“Around here, I’m known as Dabi, but the truth would probably mean more to you, wouldn’t it?”
“I am uncertain,” Tokoyami says. His throat feels tight.
“I am Todoroki Touya. You killed my father’s masterpiece, and I promised the world I would be the one to destroy him.”
Tokoyami swallowed. Someone whose sole desire was to kill his family was not someone you could reason with.
“Endeavor, stop! He’s just a kid,” he hears Ms. Joke yell behind him. He turns to see the looming figure of the number two hero.
“He is a threat,” Endeavor calls back.
He hears a laugh made of shattered sanity pierce the night and echo off the bouncing flames. “Oh how poetic, that you be here to witness this, Endeavor. I was going to take your son away from you, but Nevermore here beat me to it. Guess I’ll just have to settle for taking your revenge from you.”
A burst of blue flames races towards Tokoyami, but he dives out of the way and feels white-hot pain burst across his back. His skin feels brittle. He feels brittle. He looks at Ms. Joke. She has so much fear and concern in her eyes.
“I’ll just have to kill you both then.” Another blast of red flames races towards the two villains. Dark Shadow is no bigger than a house cat, the flames leeching power and strength from him. With the loss of power comes sorrow.
“ ‘Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die. Into the valley of Death.’ ” Dark Shadow said in a voice so small but the din of flame dimmed to allow Tokoyami to hear these last words.
He dodges another blast of light and heat and found that Dark Shadow was barely the size of a mouse. Dark Shadow forced a smile. Not a word was uttered as the unconditional love was shared between their bond.
He dives out of the way of another blast with less grace than a newly born stag and Dark Shadow can no longer hold a physical form. Tokoyami is, for the first time in his whole life, alone in a time of need. He tries to escape but there is flame everywhere and no path to escape when two flaming foes want to send him down the Stygian River.
He feels his skin break away into ash as his legs feel weak. He can no longer feel the pain. Could barely move. His exhaustion dulls his emotions.
He looks at the people surrounding him. Touya smiles a wicked smile, as he aims his hands towards Tokoyami, his skin looking equally ashen. He turns his face to Ms. Joke as tears bubble up over eyelids into slight trickles down her face. She is trying to stop Endeavor but it truly seems fruitless. His eyes pan over other heroes that had arrived who were running around trying to stop the flames. But even beings of light can not bear the heat of hell for long.
Flames erupt towards him, his legs are no longer able to carry him away from the attack. He needs to move, though, he wills his legs to listen, to move. As he struggles his eyes land on a figure he thought had left him.
Todoroki Shoto stares back at him. His eyes no longer are glazed over in death. His hair no longer painted red, no longer dripping rivulets of blood. He seems almost alive.
Todoroki smiles at him, it was small, barely there at all, but there nonetheless. And speaks. “It’s okay.”
Tokoyami stops trying to force his legs to move. He brings his arms up to block the attack knowing full well it will do nothing to save him. He screws his eyes shut and prays it will be quick. The light is bright staining his eyelids vibrant colors of blue and red as they swirl around him. He feels flames touch his skin, lick around him.
And then the light is gone.