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Everything was going to hell; the fight had been going on for far too long, heroes and villains everywhere, innocent people injured or dead, the city in shambles. And in the middle of it all: All Might and All For One.
It all started that morning, that dreaded morning, AFO had decided he wasn’t waiting any longer, he wanted All Might gone and he wanted it now, the nomus where ready and his “army” was too. But if you asked him, Kurogiri really thought the only thing that group of teenagers was ready for was a panic attack. Even Dabi seemed kind of sick under all his bravado, trying to appear calm in his self appointed big brother role.
Izuku and Tomura were cuddling on the couch, looking distant but getting comfort in one another, Kurogiri was once again grateful to have Izuku, god knows Tomura needed the emotional support, the teen was so touch starved before his younger sibling became part of their “movement”. At the other end of the couch, an uncharacteristically quiet toga was sited on the backrest, playing with Dabi’s hair like she tended to do when she was nervous. And lying on the floor face down was the rare sight of a subdued twice, if it wasn’t for the movement on his chest while he breathed he would have thought the young man was dead. Either way. That was the pitiful image the younger (and allegedly core) members of the league portrayed while waiting for AFO and his orders for the battle.
From there things only seemed to go south, after the meeting their allies received their signals, and they themselves where let loose in the city with orders of staying on a specific part of Musutafu – Wreck chaos. Bring him to me – AFO had said, the plan was simple enough, his children (when had he started to think of them as that?) just had to do what they always did, let out their crazed personas and become havoc personified for a while, let their quirks loose while keeping relatively close to each other and keep the heroes entertained until All Might got there, then AFO would make his grand entrance with the nomus (wouldn’t it be easier to just unleash them at the start? He learned to appreciate drama what with all of Compress’s antics, but this was plainly impractical.) And from then they wouldn’t have to worry that much about the heroes, just keep alive and wait for All Might’s, and subsequently, the hero society’s downfall.
It seemed to be going nicely at the start as well, but then the UA children started to arrive, and he could easily tell the deep sadness in Izuku’s eyes when that blond child screamed at him.
–DEKU!! You…. Why?! YOU WANTED TO BE A HERO- he didn’t like that child much, he was the reason of so much of his boy’s pain, but he seemed so broken and remorseful while fighting with Izuku, even if his word choices where lacking.
– AGHHHH… SHITY NERD JUST… just… stop DAMNIT. STOP THIS SHIT AND LET ME HELP YOU, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS!! FUCK!—
He couldn’t stay focused enough in what was said thought, he had to move a distracted Tomura out of the direct line of fire of the quirk belonging to a third enemy, while keeping his ground against his own. He had already lost sight of Toga, but that wasn’t uncommon, Twice’s screamed remarks were like riddles sometimes, but gave him the impression that both of them were all right. Out of the corner of his eye he could se Dabi fighting Hawks (Keigo, his mind supplied, even if they were fighting against him right now, he was Keigo), neither of them giving their all just yet, faces schooled to their roles that couldn’t ever hide the regret in their eyes, he sighed internally, their tentative relationship didn’t hold much hope after this fight.
And then there it was.
—Do not fear, why? Because I AM HERE!—
Everything seemed to stop for a second, in what seemed to be just a blink he found the eyes of every one of his children and nodded, AFO appeared with all the flare and drama he had hoped for, in a screen of smoke that not only reveled him but his nomus. Using the shock to their advantage, they regrouped, they would still fight of course, but it was best to be as close as possible to each other, if anything went wrong they could just leave quickly. Keigo seemed thorn at first but decided to stay with the heroes, poor child.
And that’s how things were now, heroes and villains fell like flies, he would keep his children alive no matter the cost. The fight had been going for at least two hours now, Dabi seemed to be almost at his limit, Izuku was clearly in pain, they were pushed back and were now far too close to the battle between All Might and AFO to Kurogiri’s liking. He had completely lost sight of both Compress and Spinner half an hour ago, he trusted them to keep each other alive. From time to time he could see Keigo flying about, he seemed to be all right, but that child had a thing for hiding pain. His musings where interrupted by a strong blinding light at his back. He turned around in time to see AFO and All Might charging at each other with their all, and suddenly…
AFO was on the floor, and All Might panted on his knees.
1…
2…
3… 3 second passed in what felt like an eternity, the battle around them had seemingly stopped, and AFO wasn't getting up.
—Is... Is he? ...—Izuku’s whisper seemed to break the moment, his children had gathered around him at some point and where looking at their fallen master expectantly.
Erearsedhead appeared out of nowhere, and after making sure All Might was all right went to kneel next to AFO, checking his pulse. Every person, heroes and villains seemed to be waiting in a daze.
Aizawa simply nodded at All Might, and the symbol of peace slowly stood up, looking directly at him and his children.
— Give up now, villains, your leader is gone. —
He said, every other noise seemed to be static, he didn’t realize he had stopped breathing until Dabi’s laughter brought him off of the initial shock.
— We are free! Tomura, we are finally free!! — Izuku had shouted throwing himself at a still frozen Tomura’s arms.
— A-are you sure Izu? … What if he comes back again… — Tomura’s whisper was clear in the stunned silence of the heroes.
— He won’t! He can’t hurt us anymore, I promise, He can’t come back this time — Kurogiri felt himself smile, Izuku could always bring comfort to Tomura. — Now we can do things our way! — Izuku almost screamed in excitement, dragging a laugh out Tomura.
At this point Toga and twice where bouncing with excitement, and Dabi had finally stopped laughing and was now extending and arm towards Keigo in the sky, looking at him with so much hope. They really needed to leave now, the surprise was quickly leaving the heroes, but Kurogiri decided to give Keigo a couple seconds to make his decision.
Just as he was about to take them away, Dabi slowly bringing his arm down with a defeated expression, Hawks launched himself forwards encasing the fire user in a hug and kissing him fiercely, ignorant of the surprised and betrayed noises other heroes made.
Finally Kurogiri wrapped them to the base. He would have to go back in order to find Compress and Spinner, but his children were safe, the safest they had been probably all their lives (wasn’t that saying something?), and things were going to get interesting quickly now that they didn’t have AFO to worry about.
He might have to thank All Might some day.