Archive of Our Own ^beta

It’s two in the morning when she sees the news. 

She’s on a train heading back to central Tokyo, coming from a rescue mission she’d been requested for through Hawks’ agency. It hadn’t been anything especially rough, but she’s noticing lately a lot of her work has been feeling easier, so maybe it’s that. Even so, the feeling of pride is still there. The look on a person’s face when she saves them, it’s just as gratifying as ever. 

It’s one of the fancy new bullet trains they’d recently installed across the country. The seats are comfortable, the windows tall, and the walkways as wide as the UA doorways. They even have TVs placed in each car, which to Ochako is so incredibly foreign. The trains she’s used to are compact, there aren’t many bells and whistles on the Mie or Musutafu railway. While she’s gotten used to more expensive-looking things, and she won’t lie and say she doesn’t enjoy the luxury from time to time, it's hard to fully appreciate it when she prefers the simpler stuff deep down. 

Regardless, it’s two in the morning, so she has an entire car to herself. She’s flicking through the channels on the tv, only half paying attention, until she lands on one of the Tokyo news channels. It’s odd they are broadcasting this late at night, but villain attacks have no schedule. The reporter that’s speaking seems to be new, stuck working the graveyard shift no doubt. He’s scared out of his mind at whatever attack he’s witnessing. Most of the more seasoned journalists have gotten pretty good at putting a brave face on, but when you're new on the job it can be hard, Ochako understands that well. She remembers Keigo comparing the ground-zero reporters to heroes, the way they needed to be brave for the public and put themselves in danger for the sake of others. She had agreed at the time - and while he’s objectively correct in some ways - ever since she’s dealt with reporters over the past year, she just can’t give them that much credit. The far too frequent tabloids that border on stalker levels of madness have unfortunately clouded her judgment of the media. Only people like Keigo and Izuku, she finds, can ignore that insanity and give them the benefit of the doubt. It’s something she beats herself up over, wishing she could ignore it as they do. 

Izuku tries to console her about it all the time, saying it’s harder for girls given how sexist and misogynist the media can be towards younger female heroes. She doesn’t know if she wants to use that as an excuse though, no matter how frustratingly correct he is. She’s seen and cried over some of the things they’ve said about him. If he can get past all that then why can’t she do the same? At least on the outside, she’s supposed to be a hero.

And she tries! But getting other people to view her as one is harder than it looks. It certainly doesn’t help that her teammates are two of the highest-profile heroes in the world. More often than not she’s an afterthought in the reporting. The general public cares far more about the status of All Might’s successor than they do about some random non-important hero. It doesn’t bother her, not really. She doesn’t care about recognition, that’s not why she became a hero and it will never be why she stays a hero. It’s just that she finds getting sexualized, objectified, and ignored all at the same time a bit harder to handle than she might have imagined. 

The padded digits of her fingers play with the leather of her seat, and her eyes unfocus from the television. It’s unfair, she reasons, to be painting every reporter and journalist as a sleazebag who only sees her as a pretty magazine cover. She doesn’t particularly love thinking like this, about all the issues and challenges facing her. She’d much rather be thanking the gods that she’s in this position, to begin with. 

But still, there’s that voice in the back of her mind telling her that it’s her own fault. No matter how irrational it is to think, deep down maybe it’s that she’s not doing enough. If she stood out more and she saved more people and she made more of a difference, would it change? 

Maybe she really is the issue. Izuku and Hawks never get angry at the media, but she’s seen the tabloids and the articles, the “leaked” photos, and the constant rumors. They aren’t immune from it either, and they get even more attention from those types. So her mind tells her that she’s being overdramatic, that she shouldn’t care. 

But that’s ridiculous, she knows it. It’s not her fault the media sucks. There isn’t anything she can do that she’s not already doing. She’s making a difference, she’s being a hero, and that’s enough…

…

After a few minutes of murmured audio that she can’t quite understand, the camera finally flips and gets a shot of the action. Only, there isn’t much to be seen. A big, flattened area of jagged land, a whole bunch of smoke, it’s hard to make out. Even as the camera pans out, all that’s evident is a lot of destruction and what looks to be an ongoing struggle. The small headline card finally transitions onto the bottom of the screen, and she reads it.

‘ Devastating Villain Attack in Tokyo, Immediate Evacuation Alert for all Residents, Travelers, and Tourists in and around the Shibuya Area’

As she reads the words, her hands grip the seat in front of her. The entire Shibuya area? That’s at least five miles if it’s happening in the middle of the city, which, going by the limited camera footage, it is. 

It’s hard to ponder what could warrant such a wide-scale evacuation. The last time she remembers anything close to that was with the Paranormal Liberation Warfront. And even then, it was a wide-scale effort across multiple agencies and took an extreme amount of coordination, so what could it be now? 

Without much thought, she flips out her phone and opens Izuku’s contact. He should be sleeping, but with the new Fukuoka Tower so close to Shibuya, she can’t help but check base with him. 

Ring’… Ring’… Ring’… Ring’… 

*Click* 

‘You have reached the voicemail box of -  Izuku Midoriya - please leave a message after the tone. 

She hangs up and breathes a small sigh of relief. He’s probably sleeping, which means he isn’t involved. While she shouldn’t be happy at a time like this, at least she doesn’t have to worry about the livelihood of her best friend. 

Her eyes dart back up to the screen, nothing new so far. Her thumb hovers over her phone for a few moments, before she swipes over to Keigo’s contact. Just because Izuku is asleep, doesn’t mean Keigo is as well. Given the proximity, and with the agency being a hub for communication in Tokyo, he is likely involved in some way. 

Hell, it wouldn’t surprise her if he is in the process of waking up Izuku. She’ll give him a call and see if he’s aware of anything. 

Ring*… Ring*… Ring*…

*Click* 

“ Uravity? You’re awake?” 

Confusion fills her tone as she replies, “Um, yeah. The mission in Kyoto ran a bit late so I’m on the train back to the agency now.”

A horrifying screeching sound jolts through her phone and she rips it away from her ear. The noise continues for a few seconds longer before she can hear Keigo calling her hero name once more. 

“-ravity! Uravity are you there!” 

“I’m here,” panic is setting in, but she hardens her resolve and shifts her gaze back up to the tv screen, “I take it you’re in Shibuya?” 

She hears him grunt before his feed cuts out for a few seconds. It returns, however, and this time his voice is much clearer, “Yeah, it’s bad. A Tartarus escapee with a telekinesis quirk decided to wreak havoc. No casualties so far,” he pauses for a moment, “how far out are you?” 

“I’m two hours out at least, ETA says 4:11.” 

“ Shit.” 

Her tired mind gets the better of her, “Is Deku with you?” 

It’s something inside her that makes her worried. Izuku has never been one to shy away from danger, in fact, he tends to attract it. What truly eats away at her psyche is his lack of care for himself. Ever since their freshman year, he’s been making progress, but sometimes he’ll push himself too far. This seems like it could be one of those situations, though she hopes it’s not.

She hears him huffing into the mic, “Deku?” It’s quiet for a moment, she listens intently as he sighs deeply, “Yeah, he’s here.”

Once again his mic cuts out and it returns with a deafening crash that forces her to pull away from her phone. She’s aware the attack is bad, but she would have never guessed it to be this pressing. And now, with confirmation that Izuku is there fighting, her inner fears start to take over her thought process. Is he in danger? Why did Keigo sound so melancholy? But most importantly, Keigo was upset when she said how far out she was, which meant they needed help.

The phone line is nothing but static, so she puts it on speaker and shifts her luggage out from beneath her seat. All she brought was a small bag and the case that housed her hero gear. She contemplates for a moment, looking back and forth across the train car to confirm that she is alone, and nods her head once she’s satisfied with her privacy. 

Placing the case in front of her, she clicks it open to reveal her slightly dirty, slightly torn up, but (mostly) intact Hero Suit. Her mind registers that there are likely cameras on the train, but her hero training quickly takes over and all thoughts of potential embarrassment subside. She’s geared up in front of her team plenty of times, some random security guard might get a little show but there are more important things to worry about at the moment. 

She works fast, stripping off her civilian clothes and immediately pulling on her black and pink suit. As she methodically attaches all of her support gear, her ears listen for the phone. It’s still nothing but static, with the occasional distortion, but nothing audible. She shifts her attention back to the news, which unfortunately isn’t much better. The camera feed is blocked by what seems to be a storm of dust and debris. The footage shakes and glitches, and the headline still reads the same as before. Only, she notices a tagline added at the end, confirming the heroes on the scene. 

Hawks, Deku…

She pales as the words cut off and begin to repeat from the beginning. Keigo and Izuku are alone fighting in this? There aren’t any other heroes on the scene? She understands it’s late at night, but Shibuya is a populated area. How have no other heroes responded yet in such a large attack?

The phone crackles and she’s on it immediately, “Hawks! Hawks come in, what’s happening over there!”

There’s no response and she huffs in annoyance, leaving the phone floating in the air beside her. They can handle themselves perfectly fine, she doesn’t doubt that, but they need backup. Two people can’t fight an army, and it’s starting to feel like that’s what they’re up against here. 

Shuffling over to the window, her eyes try to make out the terrain. But with the bright lights inside the train, it’s hard to see anything past the abyss of night. She glances back to the tv absentmindedly, nothing new. 

It’s hard not to feel useless at the moment. Stuck on a train, hours away from a situation that needs more support, it’s like the universe is taunting her. If only she had a quirk that could make her go faster than a bullet train, Tenya would be a lifesaver right now.

Out of nowhere, a loud banging signals her attention. She stares at the other side of the train for a minute, senses on high alert, before shaking her head and realizing it was simply a bridge they had just passed. She’s on edge, yet another sample of the increasingly noticeable effects of her lack of sleep. She’s been working since the early hours of the previous day, and frankly, she’s exhausted. If this threat requires extensive use of her zero gravity, they may be in trouble. Though she’s pulled off longer shifts in the past, so maybe her experience with sleep deprivation could help her out here. 

It takes her a few minutes before she grabs her phone from the air and starts swiping through her contacts once again. Silently she curses herself as her thumb taps the Fukuoka Agency line, sometimes she forgets Keigo has more people employed than just the three of them. As rare as it is to see the handful of workers at Fukuoka, they are there, and she can likely get a hold of them much easier. 

Leaving Keigo’s line on hold, her phone rings for a few seconds before it clicks and a deep voice answers on the other line. 

“Uravity? Shouldn’t you be sleeping by now?” 

“Probably,” her eyes glance back to the tv, still nothing, “I assume you’re aware of the attack?” 

“Aware? Yeah, we’re a little more than aware.” He sounds disgruntled as he shuffles around in the background, “The psycho started it off at the agency, we’re missing a third of the building.” 

She goes silent, grip tightening on her phone so much it hurts her palm. If the escapee attacked the agency first, did that mean they were going after Izuku? Or Keigo? Both? Her mind floods with memories from their time at UA, the USJ, the shopping mall, and the training camp, so many times the villains were targeting them specifically. Izuku always had the worst of it, and it seems like nothing has changed. 

“Is… everyone alright?” 

“Hm.” The line goes silent for a minute before she hears a sigh, “Thankfully no one was on that side of the building when it happened. Hawks and Deku woke up and chased her to Shibuya, and that’s as far as I know. Their lines are pretty much unreachable, all I get is static.” 

Ochako glances up at the line she has on hold, the chances of her getting through to them at this point are slim to none, especially if the agency couldn’t with how close they are. “I’m on a train a few hours out. I was able to speak with Hawks for a few minutes but the most I could figure out is they’re either overwhelmed or facing someone my quirk could be helpful against. Do you know anything else about the villain, Senyu? Hawks mentioned something about them being a Tartarus escapee.” 

“Yeah uh, hold on.” She hears shouting in the background before his voice comes clear once more on the phone, “Sorry, I’m helping evacuate the outer districts. This chick has some serious power though. According to the records, or at least what I could find, her name is Miura Shizuku, and her quirk is registered to be Telekinetic Will. There wasn’t much, just that she can control whatever she wills. Apparently, she was locked in Tartarus because one day she freaked out and destroyed an entire block of homes within seconds, she escaped back during the war, and nobody’s seen her until today.” 

Telekinetic Will? She could see how a quirk like that would be hard to fight, and she could imagine how much easier it would be with her quirk. If this Shizuku girl were throwing heavy objects with no effort, catching them would be much easier without gravity weighing them down. Izuku is strong though, with One for All and Keigo’s skill backing him up, he should be able to handle it. Then again, an entire block of homes within seconds is an insane feat…

It almost reminds her of Shigaraki.

As she wraps up the phone call, Senyu tries to ease her mind by reminding her that, “Hawks and Deku are experienced and some of the strongest heroes out there.” 

She agrees in the moment, although she’s hesitant to let go of that fear. Izuku could be the strongest person in the world, and he very well may be, but that doesn’t mean he can’t get hurt… or worse.

She hangs up both calls, checking quickly and grimacing at the static she still hears on the line with Keigo. It’s no use, phone lines and signal in the area have been disrupted. She’ll have to get by off the limited info the news is sharing. 

It’s only a few minutes of her staring at the tv before she feels a wave of exhaustion hit her once again. She yawns, looking across the aisle and noticing the larger booth seat, its softer cushioning tempting her. Maybe she should try and get an hour or two of sleep. If all she’s doing is sitting on this train, the least she can do is save her strength and try to regain some stamina. Besides, she doesn’t think she can sit still and let her mind create nightmare scenarios for two hours straight. 

Hopefully, by the time she gets there, the threat will be dealt with. They won’t even need her quirk, or at the very least, she’ll just be helping with the cleanup.

Miura Shizuku. Passing her on the street, no one would ever suspect such power laid dormant beneath her quiet demeanor. Though, he realizes the irony behind him of all people thinking that. He started off just as timid, even if his situation was a fair bit different.

Keigo explained it to him the best he could. Tartarus escapee from the war, young, telekinesis quirk, all vague and not a lot to go on. The best they have on her is she showed up attacking the agency, so she’s after one of them most likely. And really, what are the odds that such a powerful person decides to knock on the front door of the ninth holder of One for All? With his very small downtime, he’s concluded she is either an incredible coincidence or a former follower of All for One. They’ve dealt with plenty of those in the past few years, and they all seem to follow the same plan. Power up with an enhancing agent, and then try to kill him. 

Something about her is off though. Even with her insane power, he somehow doubts she’s on any quirk-enhancing drugs. She also doesn’t seem to be after anything in particular, and if she really had wanted to kill him, why did she aim for the side of the agency no one sleeps on? 

Black Whip jerks him to his left just as Danger Sense alerts him of the next concrete slab hurdling toward his face. Scratch that, she definitely has somewhat of a goal, and that is destroying as many buildings around her as possible. Float takes him soaring up into the dark sky, clearing the massive cloud of dust and oncoming projectiles beneath him. Just as he settles in the air, his hand yanks off his ventilating mask. His chest relaxes as fresh air finally flows through his lungs, he relishes the feeling as he feels Keigo fly up and hover beside him.

“You good there?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He clicks his ventilator back into place and runs a hand through his tangled hair, “How’s the evacuation going, you hear from Robin and the others yet?” 

Keigo taps his ear and sighs in frustration, “Communication is still down, but everyone should be out within this three-mile district.” He uses a long feather to draw out a box on the city down below, Izuku nods in agreement.

“I don’t how we’re gonna get close enough to subdue her,” he scratches the back of his neck in contemplation, “we’re lucky she’s sporadic with her attacks, but it’s like she keeps a wall of concrete, and debris around herself at all times. Even if we could get close enough to try and break it, she’s lifting hundreds of tons of materials, and it’s like she's barely trying.” 

The situation seems hopeless now, but what’s even worse is there aren’t any active heroes capable of keeping up with this level of fighting. Most of the responders are working on evacuating the civilians, and a handful of others are keeping the reporters at a safe distance. Thankfully at this time of night, they aren’t too big of a hassle, but if this goes on for too much longer it could be a serious issue.

“I think our biggest problem for us right now is you not being able to go all out…” Keigo seems contemplative as he floats around trying to keep an eye on Shizuku below them, “If only there was an easy way to get her up here with us, you wouldn’t have to worry about the city and she wouldn’t have so much access to material ammunition.”

“What about Uravity? Were you able to reach her at all?”

“I got through to her for a few minutes, she actually called me,” Keigo half smirks up at Izuku before tilting his eyes back down to the dust storm below, “and she seemed concerned. But she’s also two hours away coming off a full day of hero work, so I wouldn’t count on her quirk being an option here.”

Ochako really would’ve been a lifesaver. Her quirk would make it thousands of times easier to deal with these massive projectiles, and it could make it so Shizuku wouldn’t damage three blocks of city road with each attack. But she’s not here, which means he needs to come up with a solution instead. 

A sharp pulling sensation suddenly flares in his mind, “Hawks, on your right!” 

With barely a flinch Keigo curves away from the oncoming projectile. What looks to be a chunk of the sidewalk narrowly passes by both of them, and falls back into the ocean of dust below. 

Thank you, Fourth.

“Alright, I think I got it.” 

He looks up at Keigo with a smirk, “What’s the plan?” 

A flock of red feathers explodes out from behind him, blanketing the sky with a glowing red aura, “First, we find her.” 

The Fierce Feathers plunge into the abyss below, tinting the dust clouds a dark red and providing a stark outline of all the destruction. It’s difficult letting it get this bad, but at least there have been no casualties. Damage can be repaired, but a life lost can never be replaced. He’d never forgive himself if he were to let that happen.

He catches Keigo’s eyes just as they snap onto her supposed location, “Got her?”

Keigo nods and smirks, calling back most of his feathers before signaling Izuku to follow him, “Next up, we’re going fishing.”

The plan seems simple enough. Izuku will cast a thread of Black Whip down into the dust below. Once he gets Shizuku’s attention, he’ll wrap Black Whip around her concrete defenses, and pull her up into the air where she’ll have less mobility and material to throw. Since he’s high up in the sky, he’ll be able to use a higher percentage of One for All without risking any more unnecessary damage to the city. Simple and fast, yet effective, that’s always been Keigo’s specialty. 

It only takes a few seconds for him to launch Black Whip down toward the ground. The tendril sparks back through his arm as it comes into contact with the debris cloud below. He waits, focusing on the quirk and letting it act as an extension of his body. Neurons fire, and it doesn’t take long at all for the tendril to find its target. 

His body jerks forward and suddenly he’s getting pulled to the ground. Float kicks in, stronger than before, and he’s able to stop himself in mid-air. He grunts and stabilizes his center of gravity, before turning back to Keigo, “I have her, when I pull her up we need to be fast, we don’t know the range of her quirk!” 

Keigo responds but he chooses not to listen, instead he focuses entirely on the twenty-ton block of cement and metal that’s trying to rip him to the ground. Slowly, he turns the dial up on One for All, and he feels the tension in his arms alleviate. Under his breath, he whispers, “Banjo, I hope Black Whip can take the strain of Fa Jin under these conditions.” 

He hears the grumbly voice echo through his mind, “You know, after everything we’ve been through, I would hope you know the answer to that question.”

Stifling a laugh, Izuku tenses his forearms and grips Black Whip as tightly as he can. Using Fa Jin is usually something he tries to avoid, most of the time it would be overkill anyway. But in situations like this, where he has very little leverage and the situation is dire, it comes in handy. Sure, normal One for All strength could handle this easily, but Fa Jin wastes less stamina in the long run. 

And well, he doesn’t know how long this fight is going to last.

With a deep breath, he activates the third’s quirk. Almost like a spring uncoiling, he feels a boost of power and speed burst up from beneath him. With all of his might, he pulls, and within moments Shizuku is hurdling up toward the sky. True to its name, the fifth’s quirk whips up past them and sends the heavy mass flying through clouds.

“Hurry! Don’t waste this chance!” Keigo screams next to him, darting through the clouds in tow.

Just as fast, Izuku charges after it, sparks of energy flying behind him as he launches through the air. Quickly he spots the unraveling defenses of Shizuku, and he pounces. Power courses through his body and a flash of green lightning booms through the night sky as he smashes his fist into the broken concrete. It shatters on impact, millions of fragments replacing the once dense slab. 

Turning immediately and not wasting any time, he charges forward once more. His eyes catch a glimpse of Shizuku just as his boot collides with yet another broken jumble of concrete. Black hair, the first glimpse of her since her initial attack on the agency. Mentally taking note of her position in the mess of rubble, he dashes in once more. He turns and shatters another concrete block coming towards him. A broken light fixture, roof tiling, cars, storefronts, it seems neverending. Yet again and again he attacks, slowly destroying her defenses and widening the gap for him to finally strike.

To his left, Keigo speeds in. Narrow and fast, his feathers whirl around him creating a protective barrier as he flies through the debris. With his speed, he’s able to get in close, and the closer the better. Shizuku doesn’t show it, but she’s scrambling for protection. Izuku’s attacks have broken away most of her material, and in the sky, she can’t seem to readily pull away anything else.  He hangs back to look for a clear opening until a wrenching pull in his mind brings his gaze over to his left. 

Shit- “HAWKS! On your left!” 

Rebar, hundreds of dense iron rods all hurdling through the air and coming straight for them. He launches higher up, narrowly avoiding them, and surveying the cluster of attacks below. It’s there he spots Keigo bobbing and weaving, and he knows how impossible that must be in the dark of night. Calculations fire off in his head, iron rods are heavy but nothing immovable, which means strong enough wind could send them to the ground. He channels 100% of One for All into all five of his fingers, and without a second thought, he snaps them open toward the projectiles.

Whipping down like a tornado, the wind immediately blows all of the dust and debris from his previous attacks down to the ground. The rebar shares a similar fate, just as one seems to puncture Keigo’s stomach, the pressure from the wind shoves it down and out of the picture. It’s seemingly strong enough to break Shizuku’s telekinetic hold on them as well. They spin to the ground below them just as quickly as they appeared. Keigo also gets pushed down, but he recovers quickly. 

Shizuku on the other hand seems to struggle more noticeably. Most of the debris she was using for cover is now gone, leaving her wide open for attack. But all the same, she stays still. And that’s when he locks eyes with her. 

Through broken rubble, floating on a sidewalk tile, the attacker who caused such destruction stands and stares back at him. Miura Shizuku, plain as day, cold-faced and stoic in her gaze. Black hair, shorter than most, flowing upwards and shimmering in the moonlight. The analytical side of his mind attributes that to her quirk, likely a sign of it being in use. Even as she’s clearly exhausted, evident by her heavy breathing and wobbly stance, her eyes show little to no emotion. He had thought the same thing before, but looking at her up close almost tells a different story.

In fact, she almost looks focused. As if her attention is elsewhere, and yet the battle is right in front of her. She is the most vulnerable she has been since the fight started, and yet she stands there confidently… as if she has the upper hand.

It intrigues him, and for a moment he tries to put himself in her shoes. How does she think? What is her goal? What led her to these actions? 

He steels himself as he remembers the situation, this woman is dangerous. Even in the pitch black of night, he can look down and see the utter destruction she has caused. How many homes has she destroyed? Lives uprooted and potentially lost… and for what?  

Him? Is all of this really just to service All for One’s will? Go after One for All and bring back the age of villains? Somehow he doubts it, which troubles him even more. If he isn’t her goal, then what is, and why is she doing all of this? 

Snapping back to the fight, he spots her final two clusters of road floating beside her. It’s hard to tell with only the moonlight, but he notices her face contort, almost as if she’s smirking.

…

She launches the concrete, and for some reason, it infuriates him.

“SHIZUKU!” The hoarse scream reverberates through the night as he speeds past the projectiles and his fist finally connects. She reels at the contact, he’s lowered his output of One for All, but it’s enough to knock her unconscious. Yet still, he instinctually pulls back slightly as he spots blood flying from her mouth. She chuckles as she stumbles around on her floating platform. With zero hesitation, he grabs her and pulls her arms behind her back, “Why are you doing this?! What is your goal here?” 

Her neck leans back and she presses her head into his chest. He shuffles back and tries to change his grip on her, but she twists and contorts her head until it’s face-to-face with his. “Oh Hero, I am simply using my quirk as it is intended to be used.” 

“W-What do you-” 

…

…

…

Miura Shizuku’s hair falls.

The concrete block below them gives way, and he immediately catches the two of them with Float. She's still smiling, and just as he's about to question her she begins to giggle. It's small at first, but soon it rises and bubbles out into a hysterical fit of laughter. He grimaces, trying to search her demeanor for answers. 

The way her eyes squint up at him, however, shows him that he’s searching in the wrong place. 

"W-What did you do?!" His voice is desperate, but her laughter drowns out his question. He asks again, "What. Did. You. Do?" This time he punctuates each word with a shake as if trying to jar the answer out of her. It doesn't seem to work, as her laughter only grows and he feels the anger inside himself rise even further.

He looks down at her, and for a brief moment, he wonders where the woman he fought earlier that night had gone. The one who was so tepid, she had barely shifted her face, she had seemed to be in complete control. But in front of him now, that’s all gone. In place is the hysterical laughing girl in his arms.

Gritting his teeth, he grabs her in a more secure hold and begins to float lower in the sky. He doesn't know what she did, but he knows it can't be good, and he has to figure it out as soon as possible. Floating a few thousand feet in the sky, however, is not going to help him in that regard. He’ll bring her to the ground, regroup with Keigo, and-

“I-I used…” in between the laughter, Shizuku’s voice rings through the air, “my quirk! I used my quirk!” 

Izuku stills, stopping in the air and once again directing his attention toward the girl's face. She repeats her mantra, “I used my quirk! I used my quirk! I used my quirk! ” and he tries to decipher her once more.

For some reason, his mind jumps to Himiko Toga.

This behavior reminds him of previous cases they had tackled in their second and third year at UA. After the war, the new and reformed Hero Public Safety Commission introduced a widespread quirk counseling program. It worked with schools and all places of employment to adequately address quirk discrimination. It was partly his idea, which meant he got to be more directly involved along with some of his other classmates. Miura Shizuku shows similar signs to that of quirk suppression. The most prominent case he can think of is with Himiko Toga, though Ochako took the lead with her, she too had been forced into suppressing her quirk when she was younger. It made the effects of her quirk worse on her mind, and it led her to latch onto an ideology that promised her she would be able to live the way she wanted. No more suppression, no more holding back who she truly is.

And so, as he stares at the manic girl in front of him, he can’t help but compare her to Toga. It had taken so long to just get through and speak with her, if Shizuku had gone through anything similar, maybe that’s why she has been so hard to decipher. And her words, her chanting, lends directly to the idea that she too was a victim of quirk repression. 

Before he can question her on this, however, the laughter starts to die down. It dies so suddenly and so quickly that it sends a cold shiver down his spine. 

What once was laughter morphs into a soft, low whisper. Her eyes seem to be almost… jittering back and forth. To the sky, back to him, back to the sky, in front of her, back to him, their erratic movement confuses him even more. It’s almost as if they're giddy, excited about something that he just can’t decipher. They close, and he watches as her face falls slack and her entire body goes limp in his arms. He shifts his hold on her once more, confused at her behavior and hesitant to press her for more answers. And through all of it, she’s silent, and the entire world seems to quiet at her request.

It’s then that he hears it. 

“Hero. Look up.”

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Emergency Report: Shibuya Under Attack!

“People of Tokyo, we are here for you tonight with a very important message from New Fukuoka Tower, which is the home of Hawks’ agency. The Shibuya Area is under attack. We repeat, the Shibuya Area is under attack. An emergency evacuation order has been established – going forward all civilians, media included, are being advised to follow the immediate sight instructions of heroes who will be helping with the evacuation.

Residents and Travelers residing in neighboring cities including but not limited to, Chiyoda, Minato, Meguro, Setagaya, and Suginami are being asked to remain on high alert and be ready to either shelter in place or evacuate. We are going to be going to our field reporter, Hayazaka Kenmi, with an immediate report on the current situation. Hayazaka, please describe the current situation to us.”

“...T-Thank you. The current situation is chaotic, to say the least. It appears that a lot of the buildings in the Shibuya Area have been destroyed, roads upheaved, and cars and shops destroyed. There are, however, many heroes who are doing their best to help with the evacuation of civilians. I do not know what else to say besides that.”

“Now Hayazaka, we are understanding that Hawks is not the only hero who is directly on the scene. Is that correct?”

“That is correct. B-Besides Hawks, I can confirm that Deku is also on the scene. The two are currently battling the villain high into the sky, likely in an-um-effort to draw the battle away from the city and prevent any more needless destruction.” 

“Thank you, Hayazaka. You will have to forgive the lack of helicopter footage at this time, for the evacuation order also prohibits any airborne vehicles from flying near the scene. For now, we go to our analyst, Haruno Sakoron, for her thoughts on the current situation. Haruno, what do you make of this mess?”

“Well, it is certainly a very dire situation. I think that it is commendable that the heroes are working together to try and evacuate as many civilians as possible. I believe that their efforts will certainly help to minimize the amount of destruction and loss of life. However, it is an issue that there are only two heroes actively fighting this villain. We all know of the dip in the Hero population after the collapse, but with so much destruction and danger, there surely must be a stronger communal effort. While Hawks and Deku are both very capable, as we have seen in the past, I must wonder where the other combat-oriented Heroes are at this time. Shoto? Dynamite? Other Tokyo-centric based heroes could be helping, we can only wonder what is delaying their assistance.”

“Thank you, Haruno. We will be sure to keep our viewers updated as- *click*

The small remote she had finally been able to procure is tossed to the side after she mutes the television. Her eyes sting with the craving for sleep, but her mind races just as the train finally arrives at her station. She’s been able to catch a few hours of actual sleep, but it’s done little to calm her stress from the entire situation. At the very least, she isn’t as tired as she was before.

It doesn’t take her long to grab her things and make her way off the train. Thankfully, the agency isn’t too far from the station. It’ll only take a few minutes if she hurries, and with such light luggage, it won’t hurt to quicken her pace. 

As she makes her way across the platform, she takes note of the other passengers as she goes. It's late, and the station is mostly empty, but she can see a few people lingering and waiting. Most of the civilians that would have evacuated must have done so by now. It’s quiet, but the wind makes up for the lack of sound. She pulls her arms around herself, feeling the chill of the night air across her torn hero gear. It’s now she wishes she had packed her spare suit. The fatigue of the day weighs heavy on her, and the cold isn’t helping.

As she rushes down a flight of stairs to the main road, her mind lingers on the news report she had just heard. The first thing that ticks her off is the comments on the whereabouts of Bakugo and Todoroki. While it's true they are both Tokyo-centric heroes, Tokyo is big, and it's the middle of the night, it's entirely possible they are sleeping and unaware. Or, similar to her situation, they are out on a call-away mission. 

Second, the fact that only Keigo and Izuku are actively fighting. It's not that the others aren't powerful, but against someone like this? She can tell it's a situation that requires either serious strength or specific capabilities. Keigo wants her there, which means her quirk can be directly useful in this fight. Other than that, there aren’t many heroes in their immediate area with as much combat experience as those two. She doesn’t even consider herself anywhere near their capabilities, and she’s their teammate. There’s a reason the reporters didn’t even bring up her name when talking about the lack of support. She doesn’t blame them, how can a rescue hero like her be on anyone’s mind at a time like this?

She must have been correct in her earlier assessment of the reporter, though. He was shaking as he spoke, and while it’s not something she could ever fault someone for, it is a clear sign that he’s new and inexperienced. This also means the media is being told through the eyes of someone inexperienced. Which, in turn, means her only source of information so far has been likely unreliable. For all she knows, the fight could be much worse than they have let on. Or, it could already be over, which would certainly be the more favorable outcome. Regardless, she needs to get there as fast as possible. It’d help if she could run, but she needs to conserve her energy. A couple of hours of sleep isn’t much to work with, even if she pushes her natural limits. And even then, who’s to say she’ll be useful once she gets there? 

The very least she can do is not be a burden. No one needs her passing out mid-fight.

The closer she gets, the more police sirens and shouting she hears. The entire area is a bustle of frantic activity. She quickens her pace as she turns a corner, only to abruptly stop. In front of her stands a large crowd of people, all trying to get a glimpse of something happening down the street. The crowd’s agitation ripples through the area. She pushes her way through the mass of angry civilians and media who’ve stacked up against the borders. Her voice only gets so far, and she’s quick to realize trying to calm them is a lost cause. She hops over the police tape and shuffles past a line of officers trying to push back the rowdy crowd. 

It’s only when she’s a few feet away that she’s able to really see the destruction. The front of the building is caved in, with debris and dust everywhere. There’s a sudden ache in her chest, and Ochako has to pause to catch her breath. Whoever did this is powerful, and if Izuku and Keigo are fighting them alone , she can’t even begin to imagine the danger they’re in. 

In front of her, about to step into an armored van, she spots a hero she recognizes, “Mt. Lady! Wait up!” 

The mountainous hero pauses and looks back, “Uravity? Thought you were –ah never mind, get in we’re headed out now.”

Most villain attacks are confined to a specific area. A city block, a building, or even just a specific corner of the street. Ochako remembers this being thought of as a villain's “territory” so to speak. The villain feels comfortable and in control within this territory and so their attacks will be focused there. This gives the heroes a specific area to search and defend and allows the police and other emergency services to set up a perimeter. It’s taught in all academies that a priority outside of saving lives, is minimizing damage, which is why these territories are so heavily emphasized, it’s much easier to contain an attack in a singular area than it is for one that spans across multiple. It’s an ideal that Heroes are supposed to strive for during the circumstances of a targeted attack.

That ideal cannot always be realized, though, and when it’s not, things can get chaotic. This is one of those moments, albeit on a massive scale. She’s glad to hear from Mt. Lady that the evacuation efforts went smoothly before most of the damage was dealt. No confirmed casualties, which is a good sign, but considering the scale of the attack it very well could change. The recovery effort alone will be monumental.

The van rocks violently as it rides over torn-up streets and debris. She looks out the window, and upon glancing at the wreckage she’s brought back to Gigantomachia’s rampage. The streets are lined with burning wreckage, and the air is heavy with the stench of blood and smoke. Homes vanish and lives are uprooted, but worst of all is the uncertainty. 

It’s a scene that feels all too familiar.

In the seat in front of her, Mt. Lady breathes a heavy sigh, “I honestly thought we’d never see something like this again, not after the collapse.”  

Ochako nods, “It took so long to get things stable, I just hope this isn’t enough to shake everything again.” 

All for One and Shigaraki had been the last villains to ever destroy on this level. She wouldn’t call it as bad as back then, but just from the glimpse of the damage she’s seen, it’s clear this isn’t something the country could simply shrug off. Some of the buildings are still standing, but barely. The roads are practically unnavigable, and the air is so thick with debris that it’s hard to see more than a few meters outside the window. It’s a level of destruction that will uproot lives and send the nation into a panic, and that’s only if they’re lucky.

Stifling a yawn, her hand comes up to rub at her eyes, "I just wish I had more energy." 

"Honestly, I'm surprised you're even here." Mt. Lady's voice is laced with disbelief, "We got word from support at Fukuoka that you were hours away coming back from an agency request across the country."

"I don't know, maybe I shouldn’t be with such little sleep," her eyes narrow as she once more looks out the window, “Hawks sounded like he wanted me there, though. I guess my quirk could be helpful, whatever that means at this point. I just hope they’re not in any real danger.”

“That’s sort of the reason I’m here too, well, more or less. Hawks contacted his agency somehow and requested me specifically, so we’re in the same boat kid.” 

“Y’know,” Ochako chuckles lightly, “I’m not technically a kid anymore, nineteen years old now.”

“Yeah well,” Mt. Lady runs a hand through the back of her hair, “I still remember seeing you at your first sports festival. It’s kinda hard to forget that badass first year who took on the impossible.” 

She smiles at the compliment but doesn't continue the conversation from there. There are too many rough memories she associates with her first year at UA, it kind of makes it hard to reminisce. Especially at a time like this, where she wholeheartedly feels useless. Her stamina is shot, she feels ready to pass out at any moment, and if she’s being honest with herself, she isn’t even sure she’ll be able to help in this situation. With this level of power, she might just get in the way.

Her head shakes violently at the thoughts clouding her judgment. She knows it’s not healthy to think that way, and she knows that her ability extends past her combat prowess. Self-deprecating thoughts will always taunt her, if anything, the real problem she needs to be worrying about is Izuku. She’d started off calling him on the train to check if he was safe because deep down she knows what happens when he gets into massive fights like this.

She just hopes he hasn’t had to push himself too far. They’d worked so long on getting him to care about his own well-being, his safety, and his health, but at the same time, they never pushed him as far as he’d gone before. Ochako knows he’s made progress, she’s seen it firsthand, but who’s to say this threat won’t just push him over the edge again? 

She sighs as she leans her head back against the seat. Her energy is low, but her mind can’t stop racing at the idea of him relapsing into his old mindset. Worst of all, he could spiral without her there to help him. As much as she tries to push the thoughts away, they continue to plague her. What if he’s already gone too far? What if this is the breaking point? What if she’s too late?

But she doesn’t want to think of it, she doesn’t want to think at all. All she can do is hope that he’s safe, that’s all that really matters anyways.

The van finally slows to a stop and the doors are flung open. Ochako is the first one out, and she’s immediately hit with a wave of dust and heat. She coughs as the thick air enters her lungs, but finds that the sensation doesn’t last long. Mt. Lady has already transformed and it only takes one swipe of her giant hand to blow away the smog of debris. 

Without the dense fog, the full extent of the destruction becomes much easier to see. The immediate area around them is flattened, with only a few buildings still standing. There’s a large crater a few hundred meters away, large enough to go unnoticed even in the sea of crumbled offices and flattened neighborhoods. Gushing out the sides of the crater are large spouts of water. Whatever happened there was enough to break into the city's sewage piping, it’s insane to think one villain could cause all of this. 

It’s then she notices the snap of electricity biting at her arm. Her head whips in its direction, and her entire being jumps back in shock as her eyes fall upon its source. Coming from above, jutting into the ground and cracking the concrete around it, is a black tendril. It emits a green glow that reveals trace amounts of debris still floating in the air, and flickers of green lightning spark around its core.

She knows what that is…

Izuku’s Black Whip. 

Her mind races faster than her eyes can process. Black Whip is usually more fluid and thin, but here it’s holding stiff like a support beam, and its size has nearly tripled. Following it upwards reveals it’s trailing into the sky, past the clouds, and disappearing into the night. Off in the distance, she can see more of the same green glow shooting down. Two tendrils, three, four, five… she counts eight in total. 

She’s brought out of her reverie by the sound of Keigo’s voice, “Uravity?”

Stumbling back, her eyes flicker up to find Keigo floating above her. His suit is in tatters, and his wings look ruffled as they hover behind him. He has an injury, dried blood has leaked into a piece of gauze near his stomach. She’s opening a medical kit before he even touches the ground. 

“How long ago did this happen?“ She moves forward and immediately begins unwrapping the makeshift bandage, “What caused it?” 

“Metal pipe, maybe an hour ago,” Keigo grimaces, “tetanus no doubt.” 

“Hold still,” as she removes the bandage, fresh blood begins leaking down his stomach. Any attempt at sterilization would be wishful at this point, at least until he can get to a medical unit. Field issue derma bond and fresh gauze will have to work for now, “med evac should be a few minutes behind us, you should wait for them.” 

“Not really an option, unfortunately,” he glances at the tendril of Black Whip behind them, “I’m sure you wanna know what’s happening with that.” 

Her gaze follows his as she stands up, “Well, I’m more concerned about what’s happening with the villain,” she gestures back to Black Whip, “that was going to be my next question.” 

“You’re not gonna like the answer.” 

Ochako’s brow furrows, ”I already don’t like it.” 

Suddenly there’s a far-off look in Keigo’s eyes, “We aren’t sure what was going on with her. Deku seems to think it was a case of quirk repression.” 

It’s hard not to think about Toga as that phrase is spoken. She understands just how badly holding in one’s quirk can affect the mind and body. Though even still, it’s hard to imagine something similar could lead to this level of destruction.

“Her last attack killed her.” His voice is monotone, and he makes no expression, “Extreme quirk exhaustion, most likely.”

The words hang in the air for a moment, before Ochako nods and tries to shove down the feeling of guilt that’s crept its way into her mind.

Keigo sighs as he stretches out his arms, “I’m sure you’re not in the best condition for this right now,” his wings flap behind his back as he looks up to the clouds, “but you might be our best chance here, Mt. Lady was a longshot, she definitely isn’t tall enough. And Cementoss is out of the country.”

Ochako glances over at Mt. Lady, who stands towering over them, “what do you mean?”

“Well,” Keigo’s voice is heavy as he looks between them, “the reason those are down here,” he points to Black Whip, “is because Deku is up there.”

The pieces slowly start to form together in her mind. All of this destruction, a villain with a telekinesis quirk, and that gigantic crater across the way, all of it points to the same thing. And if Izuku is in the sky with Black Whip supporting him from that far up?

Her heart sinks, “You don’t mean…”

“Yeah, Shizuku dropped what was in that crater over the city, and Deku’s up there carrying it alone.” 

She can’t help but take a step back. Her first thought is to look up, but the clouds completely shield her view. It’s one thing to imagine, but another to have it confirmed. Something that big falling from that high could cause catastrophic damage. The realization hits her like a slug from Gunhead himself. She’d been worried about Izuku being pushed too far, but she never thought it would be this bad. Her mind flashes back to their first year, to the boy she’d seen beaten and bruised in a hospital bed. Then to the collapse, when he’d gone out on his own and nearly killed himself just to protect everyone else. The countless times he’s put himself in danger with no care for himself whatsoever, and the countless times she’s promised him to stick by his side from then on out.

Her stomach twists uncomfortably, and her vision blurs. Her knees wobble and threaten to give out, but she forces herself to stay standing. The one time something like this happened, she wasn’t there to support him. But that doesn’t mean she can’t help him, that doesn’t mean she can’t do something now . This isn’t the time to crumble, not when everyone is counting on her, not when he is counting on her. This time he’s not alone. She’s here now, and she’s not going to let him do this by himself. 

Not again, never again.

“How long has he been up there?” Her voice is shaking, but she can’t bring herself to care. 

“It’s almost been an hour,” a surge of electricity pulses from behind them, “the clouds and the darkness are keeping it hidden, but not too long from now the sun will rise. If we can avoid it, I’d rather we not scare the public with this. Though if it’s unavoidable, I know where the reporters...” 

There’s a pain lingering in the back of her head. It’s nothing she can’t deal with, but it eats away at her psyche. She knows she’s sleep deprived, it’s annoying how her body keeps reminding her. Keigo’s words go right through her, there isn’t much she can do with them anyways. There’s only one thing she needs to focus on, and that’s Izuku. Her hand wipes at her eyes once again, and she takes a deep breath to try and calm herself, “Alright, what’s the fastest way up there?”

The wind rushes by Ochako as she’s carried through the air. Even just breathing at this altitude is uncomfortable, but she pays it no mind. Getting to Izuku as quickly as possible is all that matters. It’s a good thing Keigo is here, she’s not entirely sure she could’ve made it up on her own. Not in her current state at least, it’s better if she saves her strength regardless.

“You doing alright back there?” Keigo’s voice is muffled by the wind, but she can still make out his words. 

“I’m fine,” she grits her teeth and tries to ignore the pain in her head, “just focus on getting us there.”

“Right…” he doesn’t sound convinced, but he doesn’t push the issue either. He must know she’s running on little sleep, usually, he would force her to stop working if she ever got to this point on a normal day. It worries her that he hasn’t brought it up, but she tries to put that thought away. 

The clouds whip by them in a blur, and the only thing she can see is the darkness of the night. It’s disorienting, and it takes a minute for her to adjust to the lack of visibility. When she does, she notices the tendrils of Black Whip more prominently. They’re still a ways off, but she can see them now, and the green glow gets stronger as they get closer to its source. 

The tendrils also grow larger as they approach, and Ochako can see the strain in Izuku’s quirk. Almost as if it is rippling with the immense pressure of whatever it’s holding. Honestly, it’s almost off-putting. This won’t last forever. This means they need a plan, or at the very least, an idea of how they can help. If this mass of land is as big as Keigo explained, she wonders if she could even extend her quirk far enough. Even if she can just lighten the burden, it will be worth it. It’s times like these that she wishes she could be stronger. As strong as him.

They finally reach the edge of the clouds, and Keigo begins to slow their descent. Ochako takes a deep breath and tries to steady herself. It’s a long way down, and the last thing she wants to do is fall.  Of course, her quirk can save her, but she’s tired, and risking such a maneuver with low energy is not something she wants to bet on. Her hands grip tight to Keigo’s feathers as she looks down, and the sight that meets her is one of utter destruction. The entire city is flattened, and she can see emergency services off in the distance, trying to make their way through the debris. It’s a miracle there haven’t been any casualties, though a sinking feeling inside her says that might not last for long.

Her stomach twists at the thought, and she forces herself to look away. Now is not the time to think about that, she needs to focus on Izuku. Keigo explained the situation to her, he’s been holding this thing up for almost an hour so they’ve had time to judge it. Dropping it to the ground, even from a smaller height, would cause catastrophic damage. Earthquakes would ripple out across Japan, and oceanic fault lines would shift causing massive tsunamis, and that’s just not something they can risk. Slowly lowering it won’t work either. Because of its size, Izuku wouldn’t have enough time to get out from underneath before it crushes him. And, according to Keigo, Izuku more or less got himself stuck into a position that’s acting as leverage to hold the mass in the air. Moving at all could risk a folding effect, and then it would plummet to the ground with even worse repercussions. 

Unfortunately, this leaves them with only two clear options. They either find a way to destroy the meteor-sized mass of land completely, or Ochako floats it enough for Izuku to carry it down.

In Keigo’s very positive words, “We’re in a bit of a pickle.”

The first option seems a bit more manageable, but it comes with risks. Even if they could find a way to destroy the landmass, who knows what the debris would do as it fell to the ground. It could cause even more damage, and with how emergency services are already stretched, that’s the last thing they need. And on top of that, they have no idea how durable the thing is. They’d probably have to contact more heroes from other districts. The news analyst was right in part, Bakugo could be extremely useful here.

The second option, however, is the more practical one. But it’s also insane to imagine. The heaviest thing she’s ever lifted was a skyscraper filled with people. This land mass has multiple buildings on top of it, not to mention sections of roads, sidewalks, and whatever fills the ground beneath it. Even if she could stretch her quirk across the entire thing, which she highly doubts, who’s to say she’d be able to hold it in time? If she’s not careful, she could lose control, or worse, drop the entire thing on top of the city. All of this is without the fact that she’s exhausted and barely running on a few hours of sleep.

The air gets moist just as she hears Keigo calling back to her, “Hang on!” 

A gust of wind blows through her hair as their speed picks up. Tightening her grip on his feathers, she watches as the dense cloud above them grows larger and larger. A booming sound blows behind them, and for a brief moment, she feels as if it were raining.

“Deku’s just ahead,” he shouts back, “get ready!”

Ochako does as he says, preparing herself for what she’s about to see, and what she’s about to attempt. The wind rushes in her ears, and she squeezes her eyes shut. The boom gets louder, and Ochako’s eyes meet with a wash of green light. For a moment, she can’t see anything else.

And then they break through the clouds.

The first thing that meets her eyes is a black tendril of Izuku’s quirk. It’s even larger than she expected, and the green light is almost blinding. The tendril is thick, and it looks like it’s about to snap under the strain. Her eyes follow it to its source, and her breath catches in her throat.

Above them is Izuku, hovering just beneath the meteor with his arms pressing up against the rocks. He’s wearing his hero costume, but it’s in tatters, and his skin is covered in cuts and bruises. His eyes are closed, and his face is scrunched up in concentration. Even from here, she can see the beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Black Whip seems to jut out from his body in every which way. From his support gloves, his shoulders, his waist, and his legs, millions of smaller strands disperse and then come together to form tightly wound bands. They stab into the rock above and then angle themselves down to support the weight from the ground. Most of it is lost in the sea of light that surrounds them. The sparking strikes of green lightning illuminate the black support beams that Izuku has created, but its flash extends upwards as well. 

That’s when she sees it.

The land mass. The meteor. The mountain of buildings, streets, homes, and earth that Miura Shizuku dropped on the world. In her final moments, she took the world and put it on the shoulders of Izuku Midoriya. 

Ochako looks down at her hands.

In her final moments, Miura Shizuku took the world and dropped its burden on her best friend. 

Her finger pads tingle with the familiar sensation of her quirk. It reassures her, even if only a little bit. She’s done this before, she knows she can do it again. The only difference is the scope. This time she’s not just lifting a building, she’s lifting an entire section of the city. The thought is daunting, but she can’t let that stop her. Izuku needs her, and she isn’t going to let something as asinine as limitation stop her from helping him.

That burden, that ever-daunting burden that’s piled heavy on Izuku ever since they were young. 

She’ll help him carry it once more.

Don't look down.

His mantra of sorts for the past hour. Call it plausible deniability, call it ridiculous or immature, but it’s kept him sane and that’s the most he can ask for at the moment. The very notion of his position screams for some sort of irrationality anyways. So what if he doesn’t want a reminder of how high up he’s flying? Let it be known Izuku Midoriya has no fear of heights, he’s just… not a fan of them right now. And that seems perfectly reasonable. 

It’s not just how high he is, though. The light of the sun has yet to ignite the sky, so to speak, which leaves nothing but the pitch black of night beneath him. Looking down doesn’t actually show him the ground, no, it shows him nothing. Nothing at all. Which he considers even worse all things considered. So, he doesn’t look down. 

Easy enough.

What about other directions though? 

Well, that’s what he thought at first. If he can’t look down, then what about right out in front of him? It’s the most logical solution to his problem, and usually logic never fails him. Only thing is, apart from it being dark, his own quirk has been creating a glow of blinding green light. It’s so bright his eyes can’t handle more than a few seconds of staring. Imagine trying to stare directly at the sun, it’s not easy. What’s worse? It’s so overwhelmingly bright that it also rules out looking left or right. 

Which just leaves up.

Izuku can only look up.

And that’s fine. He’s content with that, really. He doesn’t need to see anything else. He has everything he needs right here. The meteor is huge, sure, but it’s not moving. It’s not going to fall on his head, and it’s not going to kill him. As long as he keeps holding it, everything will be fine. 

He speaks to Keigo like this for a while. Going over strategy, testing theories, making sure what he’s carrying doesn’t have civilians on top of it— all while he stares up at the rock a few inches above his head. It’s a process, admittedly, who would’ve known so much could go wrong when you’re holding a couple hundred thousand tons just above your shoulders… give or take.

…

Keigo assures him all the civilians in a 10-mile radius have been evacuated. And with his feathers, he’s able to make sure all the buildings on top of this meteor are clear of people as well. 

“Good,” Izuku sighs with relief, “that’s one less thing to worry about.”

“Yeah, but there’s still the small matter of you being the only one holding this thing up.” 

Fair point.

He shrugs in response, “I’ve been holding it for a while now, I think I’ll be fine.”

“You sure about that?”

“Of course I am,” Izuku replies with a somewhat shaky smile, “I’m Deku. The Ninth holder of One for All. I can do this, at least until we come up with a plan.”

Keigo can only really sigh in return, "Alright."

Which, frankly, is good enough for Izuku. He doesn’t like pulling the One for All card, but he also doesn’t see many suitable alternatives at the moment.

Though, it’s also kind of hard to think clearly. His head has been swimming for a while now, and he’d rather not have to contemplate the ways of handling this situation. All the ones Keigo has presented him with so far have been troublesome anyways. 

Mt. Lady was a long shot from the start. She’s not even close to being tall enough to reach this thing, and even if she was, Izuku somehow doubts she’d be able to lift it all by herself. 

Cementoss could have been a big help, but he’s out of the country and won’t be back for at least another day with the fastest of planes. 

Aside from waiting for more powerful heroes to get the distress calls, the only other option would be to inform the public about the dangers and prepare them for catastrophic earthquakes throughout Japan. 

Not ideal… to say the least.

Keigo briefly brought up the idea of using some leftover quirk Trigger public safety still has. Izuku shot that down faster than he’d like to admit. It’s not a completely baseless idea, but he’s closer to death than ever willingly taking a drug like that. Keigo dropped the subject pretty fast, but Izuku knows him, it’s likely he’s already sent for it. 

And really, who is he kidding? At this point, if he has to, he’ll do whatever it takes. But he’d rather not think of that reality. He isn’t even quite sure how it would react with One for All… if it’d even work.

One thing he’s certain of, however, is the trembling in his muscles hasn’t stopped in a long time. 

It aches, with every micro-movement he attempts it pulls on his tendons and rips at Black Whip. His heart stretches and burns with a fire that’s losing its flame. He’s felt pain, and he can handle pain, but this is a different thing entirely. It’s a slow torture, little by little it’s getting worse. Sooner or later he’ll break.

Everything hurts. It’s hard not to think of it. And what’s worse, is the feeling of defeat. Miura Shizuku had won, outright and completely, even if she’s gone now. This… is ridiculous . Thousands upon thousands of tons of pure rock and material, floating in the air like it had been nothing. He’d thought they had her, truly believed they’d won that fight. But in reality, she had been doing this. Ripping up the earth itself and launching it into the sky. The true danger of quirk suppression. It makes him want to give up, what’s the point of it all if he’ll end up dropping it anyway?

There’s a tick in the back of his skull, a tiny murmur that’s telling him to let it drop. Soften the blow as much as possible, and let it fall back to the earth. There’s nothing else that can be done, so why suffer like this any longer?

He stares up at the rock and presses his forehead against it as he thinks. Maybe there really is a way? If he can hold it in place, maybe he can lower it slowly too. Keigo explained to him the dangers, and he said it was too heavy to move at all… but One for All is amazing. If he tries, maybe there’s a chance? 

…

…

…

He can’t.

Not yet. Not until he knows there’s no other option. He won’t risk Japan, he won’t risk what they’ve worked so hard for. He needs to make the best possible decision for this situation, and that’s keeping it here until they can come up with a solid plan.

…and that’s when he hears her voice. 

“Deku!”

His eyes squint open at the sound, and he bends his neck in its direction, “Ura-Uraraka? That you?”

A presence appears in front of him and he can tell it’s her immediately. She breathes a small sigh before placing a hand on his arm, “I’m here. I’m right here. Hawks filled me in on everything, how are you doing, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.”

“What are you…” as his mind races his muscles burn and he bites back a scream, “…what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you still be on a train?” 

The words come out harsher than he intended, but the weight is crushing and the pain gets worse by the second. While his eyes are closed he can’t see her, but she’s shifting around trying to assess him. Beneath her breath, she’s muttering small phrases, something she’s picked up from him funnily enough.

“Probably a hairline fracture, bruising, lacerations along lower bicep, minor blood loss, extreme muscle exhaust-”

“Ura-“

“Sorry,” her hand runs down his arm and she reaches behind him into one of the pouches on his belt, “I got off the train a little over half an hour ago— just gonna borrow this.” 

“You shouldn’t be here, you’re coming off a… a full day of active duty, you shouldn’t even be permitted to be —aah!”

“Sorry again, just some disinfectant… oh you may continue your chastising now.”

“I…” he trails off as he realizes what he’s doing, “I’m sorry.” 

There’s a bit of a pause as she stuffs the gauze and other medical devices back in his pouch. He feels her fingers run down his left arm, and then suddenly pull away. He reasons she’s either found a disastrous injury from his fight with Shizuku, or his muscles have suddenly started bursting at the seams. Neither of which, at this point, he’d be surprised by.

“I don’t know if you’ve had a look at yourself, but there’s not a single thing you need to be apologizing for.” The vibrations in his hand change as he feels her place her palms up on the meteor, “It’s my own fault, I’m on edge right now and you’re right, I’m not doing great on energy.” 

He chuckles faintly, “Well, that makes two of us.” 

There’s no way to tell if she’s smiling, or silently laughing back, but a part of him feels like she didn’t take that kindly to his words. Which is totally understandable, especially given his current state of well-being. But with his eyes shut and his mind trying its hardest to focus, he likes to imagine she’s softly smiling and agreeing with him.

“Deku, how stable are you right now?” Her voice comes back once more, and again her hands are traveling lightly over his arms and legs, “You’ve been holding this thing up for a long time, and for the plan to work we need you to be able to move and get out from under this.” 

“Plan? There’s a plan?”

“Something like- hold on my earpiece is— Hawks? What’s wrong? Wha-What!?”

Fighting against the light, he squints his eyes towards her and grunts as his arms buckle slightly, “What –ngh what happened? G-Go help him!” 

From what little he can see, her squinted pupils snap around like she’s trying to figure out what to do. It annoys him, and he squints his eyes shut just as they start to water from the brightness, “ OCH-AKO!”

“It’s the press!” She caves, “They’ve figured it out, there must have been a break in the clouds and a reporter saw you up here. Hawks and the others are trying to stop news helicopters from getting too close!” 

“You should…” he tries to tell her to go away, he tries to shout or do something, but he remembers the situation and the fact that there’s a plan. It’s painful nausea that creeps up from within him. The weight of it all, the people beneath, the person in front of him, it all starts to hit him and he shuts his mouth. The rock above him seems to wane, and he pushes harder as he tries to find the words, “We have to let them handle it. What about the plan!”

“Uh, right, the plan. Did I say plan?” She’s moving in circles around him now, breathing heavily and feeling the rock above, “It’s more like a general idea.” 

“A general idea?” 

“Yeah… it’s definitely an idea.” 

Another wave of pain overtakes his head just as he’s about to answer her earlier question. It pulls at the front of his skull and his teeth clench tightly in response. As the seconds tick by, the pain becomes unbearable. It feels like his muscles are on fire, his bones ready to snap under intense pressure.

He controls it, reels it in, and pushes it down. There’s no time to let pain distract him any further. Taking a deep breath, he forces his mouth to form the words, “W-What is it?” 

“I’m gonna use my quirk and remove its gravity.” 

…

…What?

Ochako is going to float… this? 

Can her quirk even spread across such a large area? It’s possible, the heaviest object she’s lifted is a skyscraper, and from what he can tell that’s not even a tenth of what this thing weighs. She’s been able to spread her quirk before, but never to something this heavy.

No, he has to assume she can lift that much. Of course, she can, she’s incredible. She’s used her quirk like this before, maybe it’s a jump in scale but it’s nothing that she can’t overcome. He has to believe she can do it. 

The weight above him seems to worsen, and for a moment he’s brought back to Miura Shizuku. The feat of lifting the object this high in the air is astonishing. Even for someone who could seemingly move anything she wanted, it was an incredible task. 

A task that took her life with it…

Once more he peers ahead to look at Ochako. Focusing on her takes away the blinding nature of the light around him. He sees her, and he watches her face. It’s strained, not from the light but from the rock above. 

She looks tired, so incredibly tired. Her hands are clenching and stretching at her sides, and he notices her teeth lightly biting the corner of her lip. Her eyes make their way over to his, and as they meet he sees the determination within them. 

It’s frightening.

“Hear me out Izuku.” 

“…I am.”

“I have to try. There’s no other way to get it on the ground without it falling. Even if I can lighten your burden, remove some of the weight then… then it will reduce the damage if we let it fall and…“ 

“…Ochako.”

“If I don’t try, if I don’t float it, all of what we’ve accomplished could be destroyed.”

“…We can find another-“

“There isn’t one!” 

They both go silent.

The wisp of a cloud passes beneath him. Tangling through his legs and distracting his mind. There’s a dampness left behind on his legs. Barely present, but still there and drawing his attention away. 

They’ve been lowering to the ground. He doesn’t know for how long, maybe a few minutes, but they’ve been inching their way down. Bit by bit his strength is giving out, they’d been far above the nearest cloud the last time he remembers checking. He can’t keep this up for much longer, sooner or later he’ll give out.

He looks up and there’s Ochako. Looking at him, eyes squinted and glossed over. The wind whips past and her hair flies wildly to the side. The muscle in his left arm starts shaking, and the burning feeling inside gets stronger as he feels Black Whip pull taught. 

There it is again. That tick in the back of his mind. 

Drop it, grab Ochako and fly away. Deal with the outcome later, just make sure you both survive.

But he doesn’t listen. Instead, he strains his neck back and watches through squinted eyes as Ochako places her hands on the meteor above them. She stops, and in the green glow of his quirk, he looks at her entirely. Her hair is disheveled, dark circles have formed underneath her eyes, and her costume is ripped to shreds… but above all else, she’s smiling. 

Smiling wide, with a look on her face that could rival All Might’s in his prime. It’s why it shocks him when she starts speaking, and her voice shakes with fear. 

“H-Hey… D-Deku?”

The smile falls, slightly, barely noticeable to anyone who doesn’t know Ochako. But he can tell, it slips. 

“What do you think? Can I… can I really float this whole thing?” 

…

Yes.

It’s what he wants to say, so desperately, everything inside of him is shouting that he believes in her. But he also knows another fundamental truth. She could die. She could overuse her quirk, push herself too far, and she could die. Just like Miura. 

So, instead of answering, he takes a deep breath and tries to clear his mind from the pain and torment. There has to be another way, another plan, another option. And then he thinks of One for All, how much power it has… and how he has to try and do this himself.

“I think…” he takes a deep breath and forces his muscles to tense against the rock above, “I think you can. B-But, it’s risky, you could kill yourself in the process. There’s another way, One for All is strong enough, I won’t let anyone else die tonight.” 

“Deku-”

“I know!” Suddenly, a burst of power from within him explodes from his eyes, igniting them in a mess of thunderous electricity, “But if I can do this, I have to. I just have to! I won’t let it fall!” 

And it’s there everything starts to appear a million miles away.

She’s shouting, screaming at him to stop it. Her hands are on his shoulders, she’s pleading with him now, practically begging him to let her try. But he won’t, he can’t, how could he? 

More power. 

Force it out. 

You can’t let her die Deku

The energy around him surges, and for a moment he loses consciousness. The back of his eyelids sting, and the sudden darkness snaps neurons through his brain screaming at him to wake back up. It’s only a second, a split second if even that, but it’s long enough for him to miss it. 

As he opens his eyes, through the lightning he can see he. Energy around her palms flaring. Eyes rolling back. Screaming through bloody teeth as she pushes up against the meteor with every fiber of her being. 

No. 

No. Stop it.

“OCHAKO! STOP!” 

Blood leaks from her nose, her ears, and her eyes, all while a pink glow fights to overtake his green. His arms buckle, spewing blood down and soaking into his hair. She’s screaming something, something powerful at him, but he can’t hear. It sounds like his name, but it won’t get through to him.

Instead, he pushes more, and more, and he forces himself to keep going. He can’t let her do this. There has to be something he can do. Anything, to help her, to ensure her safety, to save her.

He won’t let her die. 

“Just… please… STOP!”

He can’t let her die.

“ Don’t! PLEASE!”

Give it all, take it all, just stay alive.

No more death. 

Not her. 

Not Ochako. 

No more-

Void.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Nothing but a void.

All the pain… gone. 

All the burden… gone.

Ochako? Gone.

It’s dark, so very dark. It extends on forever, as far as he can see and as close as he can feel. It’s the ground, the sky, the air he breathes. Nothing but a black void, a sea of nothingness, a landscape so very empty.

He turns, and an explosion of color paints the world. Pillars of Blue, Purple, Red, White, and Yellow tower into an endless sky. Beneath them, throne-like seats all centering a cracked building. Looking down, he finds his body caked in a dark green glow. He feels light, and relief sets in as he realizes the pain he’d been experiencing before has all but vanished.

The vestige world. The universe in his mind, building out from within his heart and giving shape to One for All and its previous users. The lingering lives left behind, a world within him. 

A single hand lands on his shoulder, “Do you remember the last time you were forced into this world, Izuku?” 

The voice of Nana Shimura floats past his ear, and as he turns around he finds her presence has drifted away. Just as fast, the world around him drifts as well, color and void speed through the sky as he’s brought back to a familiar memory. 

There he was, barely formed, staring down the face of Tomura Shigaraki as he struggled against All for One’s influence. The look in his eyes, and the outrageous feeling inside himself to lunge forward and reach out to him. To save him. How could he forget this? 

“My brother had come close, but when threatened we chose to stay within you. We made the right choice back then, and we continue to make that choice now.” 

The first user… wait what?

Once more the world collapses. The memory vanishes, and before him lies a sea of rolling black waves. They tumble and crash at his feet, and he’s flung back from the force of their rapids.

He’s stopped in the middle of a static-filled plane. Dots and dashes of color pepper the sky, and a thin film of green stardust cascades across the ground beneath him. His mind feels light, so incredibly light, it’s as if nothing and everything mattered all at once.

“Izuku, look at me.” 

Turning around, this time he finds Nana Shimura towering over him. Beautiful and caring, her arms reach out and grab his shoulders. 

Before she can speak, he forces out words of his own, “What am I doing here?” 

She smiles, “We’ve been trying to speak with you out there, but too much of our power is being used, so it’s difficult to communicate like we usually do.” 

The colors in the sky shift, what once was black swirls into white and purple streaks lighting up the sky. He looks back to Nana, who’s looking at him with a face of worry.

“That’s not…” his mind reaches back and he remembers the position he was in before coming here, “that’s not why I’m here, though. It feels different, somehow, like I was pulled in.”

“In a way, you were.” She speaks with such warmth, such comfort, it reminds him of his mother. 

But his mind doesn’t linger. No, it searches, and he can feel the storm of dark green clouds swarm from behind him as he remembers it all. Miura Shizuku, the meteor, and Ochako.

“W-What’s happening!? Is it falling, is Ochako okay-“

“You don’t have to worry.” She cuts him off, and he feels her yellow glove pat the side of his head, “Remember, time doesn’t work the same in here as it does out there.” 

It’s brief, but he relaxes. The clouds dissipate, and he runs his hand over the dream-like fabric of his tattered hero costume. The confusing parts swim through his head, though. So many questions, so few answers.

Directing his attention back to Nana, his voice asks more calmly, “Why have I come here? What happened…?”

Her eyes look up, and before he can even react the sky shifts once more. No more purple or green, but a defeating white that rips out the darkness and leaves them standing in a field of bleach-white grass.

The entity behind him speaks. 

“Ninth, you’ve attempted to transfer One for All to Ochako Uraraka.” 

He spins, faster than his normal body would allow, and he finds the face of the First User less than a meter away. It reels him, both his words and his sudden appearance. 

“W-What do you mean?” He stumbles forward, “I didn’t-“

“We know you didn’t mean to.” Nana speaks this time, her hand finally leaving his shoulder and coming to rest at her side, “But you did, subconsciously, you tried to transfer the power to her in an attempt to save her life. She touched you, for only a brief moment…” 

He… 

Oh…

Oh, gods no.

One for All, this sacred power. 

A power so strong it’s unfit for anyone born with a quirk. A power that shortens a non-quirkless person's lifespan. A power that holds the weight and responsibility of the world within its core. And he was about to force that all upon Ochako. 

He did… he tried to transfer it… the predecessors said it themselves…

How did he even…

What has he done? 

He looks up, frantic and desperate. Nana’s pensive face turns to one of empathy. She holds a hand out to her right, and the first user nods as he disappears into the white void. 

“Listen to me Izuku,” Nana walks forward, and the ethereal sky dissipates back into a sea of darkness, “it didn’t work. We stopped it, just like before, because we know you didn’t mean to attempt a transfer. It was an instinct, you were trying to save her, and you thought to share the power that had saved you. ”

Relief settles in, but now a deeper worry eats away at him. Behind him, somewhere in the void, a muffled cry. It sounds strangled and covered, but it’s there, and it takes every ounce of his being to not turn and run toward it.

He stays still instead, “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t apologize, it’s unromantic in times like this.” She smiles, earnest and bright as her hand squeezes into a fist, “What you did was quite beautiful, even if reckless. You were trying to save that Ochako girl, the only problem is you were doing so by trying to shoulder it all yourself. You even tried to give us away.”

“I know… I just couldn’t — wait Uraraka! Is she okay, what’s happening to her?”

Nana seems to look off in the distance before bringing her gaze back down to him. She smiles, and the hand resting on his shoulder lifts and points far behind him, “Why don’t you ask her yourself.” 

As he turns around, he hears the muffled cry once more. A speck in the distance, small and collapsed on the ground. It calls out through the void, struggling to stand or even be heard…

Ochako?

O…

…

Oc…cha

…

Why is that such a hard word to say? 

Och…

It’s her name. She knows it well. So why can’t she…

There’s something covering her mouth. Or… it’s more like her mouth is missing. Not even missing, it’s there, she can tell, but it feels out of place. Detached? 

Same with her arm, and most of her lower body, it’s hard to tell if she’s even standing. There isn’t any point of reference, sign, or even a feeling in the air that would tell her she’s not just floating through an empty vacuum. Is she even breathing? 

Ocha…

It’s getting closer, but it’s still not quite there. Like a distant echo, coming from somewhere she can’t reach. But she knows it’s coming, she knows it’s there. Then, a feeling of something familiar. A warmth, a presence, a voice. And then a hand gently taking hold of her. 

“Ochako…”

And just like that, she remembers.

Izuku. The meteor. The feeling of power coursing through her. And then…

Void?

It’s dark, so very dark. An endless chasm of shadow is laid out before her. And at her feet, simply black. Pitch black with only faint ripples of light that lead shadows to form around her.

"Ochako, it's okay. You're safe here," the voice gets closer, and she recognizes the cadence, “It’s gonna be hard to stand, but don’t worry everything is fine.”

As things around her become tangible, she feels her legs give out beneath her. Someone’s catching her, holding her up, and keeping her from sinking. 

She feels naked. Bare and stripped in a way she hasn’t felt before. As she looks at her arm, disjointed from her body with pink-toned smoke filling in the gaps, everything starts to shake. She is naked. Not completely, only pieces of her body are floating out through this form of smoke. A bit of her stomach, most of her arms, half of her legs, and the top portion of her face. No wonder she can’t seem to speak. 

She has no mouth to form words.

"It took me a while to get used to this world too. But you'll be able to develop and become whole again, just like I did, so don’t worry." The voice again, this time closer and more intimate, “It’s okay if you can’t speak, my mouth didn’t form in the beginning either.”

(Izuku?)

As she looks up at him, an overwhelming sensation of fear overtakes her. Why are they here? This place, he’s told her of it before, it’s connected to One for All. So why can she appear within it? Is this the result of her failure?

Was he right? Did she die and fail him? Have they both been crushed to death? All of this is her fault. She couldn’t do it. She overshot her capabilities and she’s let down everyone once again. She’s failed Izuku.

And now everything is dark. Darkness stretching on forever, a world of nothing. 

(Is this… it? Are we...)

Her hand gets grabbed and once more all of her attention is focused on him, “We’re alive. This is the vestige world like I’ve told you before, time works differently in here so our bodies are more or less frozen out there. Technically, even as we speak, we’re still trying to lift that giant meteor.” 

(Wait… you can hear me?) 

Without reacting, he wraps his arm around her cloud-like form, trying to provide as much support as possible. She stands fully, and watches as he smiles oh so close to her face, “I still remember what it feels like, you get scared, and you feel like everything is out of place. You’ll get used to it though, and yes, I can hear you.” 

The look on her face must be outlandish because he’s reeling back with the biggest of smiles. It’s short-lived, however, as before she realizes it the world is shifting around them and it seems to be Izuku who’s pulling them across the plane.

“I’m sorry for being abrupt, but I don’t know how much time we have. We need to find the vestiges, they might know a way to stop the meteor from falling.” 

Squinting from the sudden change in lighting, she looks up to Izuku and tries to grab his attention.

(I can do it then? I still have time, I have to keep trying.)

They stop.

The world around them starts to build, piece by piece. First the floors, then the walls, and then they’re enclosed in a familiar room. 

“What is this?” He asks, walking into the scene and glancing around the room, “Wait… isn’t this your old dorm room?”

She watches as the room dims, and all of a sudden the lamp on her desk clicks on. Her mind stills as she watches her own body materialize in front of them. Hunched over the desk, sobbing into her arms, with a letter off to the side. 

She remembers this night well.

Izuku, who’s on the other side of the room at this point, also stills as he looks over to the desk. It’s obvious he sees the letter, because just as quickly he turns and hides his reaction from her. 

“This memory… it’s one of yours.”

(After you left that night, I thought… I thought I had failed you. That I was too weak to follow you. That I was never going to be able to save you.)

Izuku takes a step closer to her, and their eyes meet. He takes her hand, and it feels so warm and comforting. She can feel her cheeks flush, and then he starts to speak.

“I left back then, I thought I had to do it myself, I was afraid of you all dying and I thought I knew the answer.” He turns and looks at her younger self, “If it weren’t for you, these past years, I would never have known how wrong I was.” 

Lightning strikes outside the dorm window, and her vapor body jolts back from the noise. She can feel it coming, his next words, telling her that she shouldn’t be pushing her quirk so far just to save his life. That she shouldn’t make the same mistakes he made. 

But she knows that’s backward. How perfectly Izuku that argument is. Ignoring everything he’s been going through, ignoring his own suffering to prioritize someone else’s. 

So she gets ahead of it.

(Where does that end? Because I know what you learned, and I know what I learned, and being a hero comes with sacrifices, Izuku. That doesn’t just apply to you.)

She doesn’t expect an answer, but she can feel it coming from him. He’s not going to forget about this. He’s not going to ignore it or push it back. He understands. But he’ll avoid it like the plague, just like he did before. The answer is too painful.

He gives her no look or smile before turning to leave. He simply guides her body out of the memory as he sighs, “Let’s go.”

And the world fragments once more.

This time, it’s the common room of the dorms. After hours, it was dark and raining outside. Only one of the lights was on, and a younger Izuku sat quietly on the couch. 

(Our promise.)

Izuku takes a few steps closer to the couch and his younger self, “We made a promise back then, the night after I returned.”

The rain outside gives the room a dreary atmosphere. Tears form in his eyes, and she knows why. The night after he returned from hunting Shigaraki. The night after her speech on top of UA. They’d texted each other to come down to the common room. 

He turns and looks at her. He doesn’t have to say anything, it’s all there in his eyes. The memory of that promise, of a future together, of support and trust.

Behind him, she appears now. Half asleep, still in her nightwear and hair flying all over the place. She remembers being embarrassed, but not caring enough to change anything.

It was Izuku, after all. 

Time flows out of order. They watch as their younger selves talk and talk on the couch for hours. She remembers it so vividly, but whatever version they’re watching now seems more disjointed. 

They come in flashes, brief moments passing by—

“Can we even stand by your side? Are we good enough for any of this?”

“ WE WORRY! I WORRY! YOU MATTER, IZUKU!”

“ If I’m not good enough, is there anything I can do to ease your burden?” 

“Are we even friends? To me, you’re my best… I thought we… how could you leave like that?” 

“What you said about Shigaraki in the letter… I think I understand. Himiko Toga, I feel the same about her.”

Izuku hears them too, front and center in his mind—

“Of course you are all good enough! I just… I wanted to protect you all. I don’t know what I would do if any of you got hurt in my place.”

“T-Thank… you…”

“Just you being here, just you talking to me, it’s more than enough…”

“You are my first… my first real friend… I… I don’t… I am so sorry I made you feel that way…”

“Sometimes, I wonder what it means to be a hero, and if what we are doing is even right.”

There’s a moment, however, where the flashes intertwine. They sync with one another, and the voices become one. The couch becomes clear once more, and both of them are leaning forward, resting foreheads against one another, and crying silently. 

“Promise me… Izuku… from now on we will do this together. You don’t need to suffer this burden alone.”

They tearfully laugh as their pinkies interlock.

“I promise, you’ll be there for me, I’ll be there for you, Ochako, I promise.”

The words, so full of emotion, hang in the air. Tears stream down her face, and she can feel her chest swell. It’s as if the world has stopped, and everything is just them. She turns to Izuku, and he’s already staring at her. Tears in his eyes, the saddest of smiles on his lips.

The moment ends, and the world starts to tremble. Before she can grab hold of it, the scene shatters and the picture around them becomes nothing more than floating pieces to a puzzle incomplete.

With a flutter of light, the memory fades away, leaving Ochako and Izuku standing alone in the darkness once more. Staring, so close yet just out of reach. His hand ghosts over hers, and she relaxes. That promise they made, it seems more relevant now than ever.

Before she knows it, he’s turning to her and sobbing, “O-Ochako, the reason you’re here, I think I know and I need to tell you. I…I didn’t mean to…but I guess I did…”

(Tell me. It’s okay.)

“When you tried to lift it, I got scared, and I took everything I had and tried to lift it as well. I didn’t want you to die, and I was afraid you would, and I guess you might have touched me at some point, so subconsciously, I tried to pass One for All to you.”

…

(Izuku.)

“It was stupid! I know, and you know, it’s not a power to give away like that and it’s not something I should have ever tried to force on you.”

(Just relax.)

“I just… I just didn’t want you to die. I couldn’t, I couldn’t stop thinking about-“

(Izuku.)

He stops. 

(Never apologize for trying to save someone. And don’t worry, as long as we’re here we have time to figure it out. If anything… I’m sorry for not being able to keep up.) 

There’s another pause, and he’s suddenly grabbing her shoulders and pulling her close to him.

“You’re anything but incapable, Ochako. Promise me you won’t forget that.”

There’s an odd feeling of relief that washes over him as he notices her tenseness release. Maybe it’s the idea that she isn’t blaming herself, or maybe it’s just her presence, but everything washes away. The phantom weight lifting off their shoulders seems to appear to him in the form of joy.

Their eyes lock, endless tunnels of emerald clash with deep seas of hazel. She nods, and they drift closer… 

They have time. 

They’ll figure it out together. 

They made that promise for a reason.

Until suddenly, blood splatters on Ochako’s face. 

It’s small droplets at first, barely present. But then it gets worse, from a few drops to streaks of crimson red. It stains her hair, and before either of them can react, she collapses forward. 

Blood. Deep red painting the dark world. It bursts out from the fog beneath her lip. She screams, but no sound escapes into the void. Silent agony. Blood.

Izuku hears it all, however. Every scream, every gag, and every cry for help. He tries, he reaches for her, tries to make it stop.

But it’s at that moment the world around them crumbles. 

The floor slips away, the sky breaks into a white void, and Ochako is pulled from him. Far away, she reaches out to try and grab his hand. It’s no use.

She disappears. 

Fading away and melting into a thousand sparkles of stardust. Gone, within mere milliseconds of time. And what’s left? Izuku Midoriya floating through an abyss.

Ochako Uraraka leaves his mind.

She returns to the hell of reality, without Izuku, likely to die and shoulder it all in the process. Without him by her side, without his help, without his support.

She’ll break their promise.

He will break their promise.

Izuku can feel the weight of Nana's hand on his shoulder, and he knows she’s trying to get through to him. He wants to listen, to understand what is happening, but his mind is a jumbled mess. He can’t focus on anything except for the fear and desperation he feels for Ochako.

"I can't let her die," he says, his voice shaking. "I have to do something. I have to save her. She needs my help, I promised!”

Nana's expression softens, and she speaks in a gentle voice, "Izuku, you are doing all that you can. But you need to understand that you cannot control everything. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we can't change the outcome. All we can do is our best."

He shakes his head, there’s no way he can accept that. He can’t give up on Ochako, he won’t leave it up to chance, not when she needs him the most.

"There has to be something I can do," he insists. “One for All is so powerful, if I can just draw more of its power out then maybe I can-”

Stop.

Nana looks down, and his mouth snaps shut as he feels the strength of her will pass over him. 

I’m sorry.

She breathes, “All of our quirks, One for All, it’s gotten stronger over the years. You’re right, we have power, we have strength,” Nana’s dark eyes start to flicker green as white hair flows in between her dark bangs. 

Before he realizes it, the first user is the one speaking, “But we aren’t the only ones who’ve grown, we aren’t the exception, Ninth. And neither was Miura Shizuku.”

Each user, flickering out, appearing before him in this catacomb of his mind. They look at him, and one by one they smile. Banjo, Shinomori, En, all of them reaching out to him and smiling.

The fiery ghost of All Might as well, echoing out to him, “It’s time to wake up, Young Midoriya.”

And then, Yoichi, the reflective green mirage of the first user looking out past him. Eyes sparkling with wonder as they snap down and meet his gaze, “You’ll want to wake up now, Ninth.”

And finally, Nana. The gentle warmth of her embrace overtakes him, and slowly he feels the crushing burden of the meteor reappear. It hurts, it burns, but her voice stops it all.

“Izuku, go to her, wake up.”

Follow that feeling, you are not alone, not anymore.

“D-DEKU! WAKE UP!” 

The world calls to him and he answers. Fast and jarring, he returns and the tension in his body reels him back. He yells in pain, but he hears nothing. He calls out for Ochako, but he hears nothing. There is simply nothing, nothing but pain, and weight, and burden. 

Opening his eyes leads him to that quiet world.

The volume is so low that it all feels muted, his ears are ringing in frustration and the sensation rattles his teeth. It shakes him, through his skull, and down to his jaw, it clicks painfully, and all of a sudden he’s drawn to the sight in front of him. Silence, nothing but a silent world as far as his clouded vision can see.

Silence. 

Silence?

Screaming.

It’s the first sound that pokes through. Visceral and raw, he can feel it before the noise actually gets to his ears. Even before that, however, he can see it. 

He can see her.

Ochako. Blood leaks down her face and mouth, teeth clenched in a painful bite, and that scream. Wide, panicked eyes that are glossed over in an ethereal glow, a shaking body that is trying to keep itself from collapsing. And the blood, god the blood, there’s so much of it, everywhere he looks. It’s on her clothes, matting the fabric to her skin and blending the black of her suit with red. It’s even in the air, a thick coppery scent that makes his stomach turn. But more than that, more than anything, it’s not stopping her.

The green glow of his quirk seems to pulse in time with her screech, and with every beat, it seems to get louder. It’s a painful sound, one that pierces through his skull and makes his eyes water. But he can’t look away, he can’t do anything but watch as she screams and screams and screams.

Time freezes in that moment, everything around him fading into a blur as he stares at her. He can feel the blood on his hands, sticky and warm, and the weight of the world on top of him. He can feel the pain in his chest, constricting and tight, and the tears on his cheeks. He can feel everything, and yet he can’t move. He can’t do anything but stare at her, at the girl he loves, and regret it all.

Regret everything in that one moment. Doubting her as he did, how could he be so blind to her will? And going back on their promise, it’s as if he had forgotten everything that’s happened to the two of them. So much regret, so much love, so much he won’t be able to do. He loves her, god he loves her, and he won’t ever be able to tell her. 

She’s still screaming.

He’s used it all.

He can feel it inside of him. The Embers of One for All, flickering, running out of steam. There’s no more he can do, there’s no more power he can borrow, there’s nothing. He’s used it all, he’s exhausted the power of his predecessors, and his stamina has run out.

The green light of One for All fades away. Darkness overtakes the world around him. His hold slips, and it all comes down. The meteor begins to fall to earth, and a part of him wonders whether this will be his legacy. Deku, the hero who couldn’t hold the world on his shoulders. The hero who failed.

And then he thinks of All Might, his choice all those years ago.

He thinks of his mother, and how she’s always worried for him and his safety.

He thinks of Kacchan, Shoto, and all of his friends. He was lucky to even have as many friends as he did.

Then it’s Ochako, and only Ochako, over and over, and every bit of his soul latches on to the thought of her. 

He thinks of how she’ll die too…

Regret, so much regret. It fills every crevice of his heart. He’s let everyone down, he’s pushed them all away and now he’s paying for it. But what’s worse is he can’t even accept his punishment alone, Ochako will suffer too. In the end, it was impossible to avoid even the one thing he’s been running from all of this time.

It all fades, everything but her. Her smile, her laugh, the positive force in the world known as Ochako Uraraka. It all lands on her and in that brief flash of a second, he feels as if he’s figured it all out. Yet even her light fades… and he loses himself to the crushing weight of it all. The wind rushes around him as he falls through the air, and his arms flail up, reaching out to her one last time.

…

…

…

…

…

But then… there’s a glow. 

From above him. A light, twice as strong as before. No longer green, but pink, white, and impossibly brilliant. It blinds him, but his eyes focus on its source, and Nana’s words come back to him in a flurry.

‘All of our quirks, One for All, it’s gotten stronger over the years. But we aren’t the only ones who’ve grown, we aren’t the exception, Ninth. And neither was Miura Shizuku.’

That figure in the light, it’s Ochako.

He was wrong.

The flicker of a flame inside of him. It’s small at first, merely a smoking ember, but suddenly a fire roars out and he feels it flow through him once again. The tendrils of Black Whip he’s had extended all this time rush back to his body and the energy flows through him once more. 

One for All, he thought he’d reached its limits, but as he falls the ethereal powers rush through his veins. His head spins, but the energy brings his body back to life, and Float catches him in the air. 

In his daze, he realizes something. The meteor above them, Ochako, it’s no longer falling down. He’s not holding it, but the mass is floating. The pink glow, the light that overtakes the sky, it’s Ochako’s quirk, and it’s stretching across it all.

The light catches his eye and he’s drawn to it. Ochako, holding the meteor in place with a look of pure determination. Her eyes meet his, and even with the pink energy wrapping around her skin, even with her pupils being hidden by the white glow, it’s in that singular moment that he knows.

She kept their promise.

The dark world cascades over in pink light. It’s mesmerizing, so much so that as he looks up at the meteor he no longer finds it. No, just Ochako, towering above it all in the most captivating way. A dumb smile creeps its way to his face. She’s done it, she’s awakened her quirk, and she’s broken past her limit.

But it won’t hold forever. She’s struggling, it’s too much weight all at once, even with this new power. She’s kept her promise, but that’s only half of what’s necessary.

He has to keep it too.

He can’t let her die, not after everything she’s done for him. Not after everything they’ve been through together. He won’t let her die alone, he won’t let her die at all. Ochako saved him… and now he has to save her.

With every bit of energy left in his body, he channels One for All to his core. He doesn’t know the actual mass of this meteor, but Newtonian physics should still apply. The bigger the object, the larger gravitational potential energy that object has, which gets converted into even greater kinetic energy upon impact. If he tried this without Ochako’s quirk, he’d go straight through it and likely cause a catastrophic meteor shower.

But it has no gravitational mass, so if he sends every last fraction of his power into its base, it should shatter its outer layer, and send the rest of it flying up through the Kármán line. 

In theory… he could kick it into space, and it’ll burn up as it enters the atmosphere

Ochako suddenly cries out in pain, her body shaking as she tries to keep her quirk active. She screams, and he winces as the energy around her sparks up violently. He can feel it slipping from her, if he doesn’t act fast she could die from the strain.

Float lets him go for a few seconds, and he falls back. Down through the air, weightless as he spins and turns. Quickly, as quickly as he can, he begins channeling it. Forcing the power out from within, cranking the dial as high as he can. Bit by bit, it fills him and the snap of green lightning ignites a flame of fury from within.

There’s a pause… 

And then a sea of lightning.

His arms snap behind him and a clap of thunder launches him through the sky. He clenches his teeth as the wind pushes against him, but faster than that he reels his leg back and turns himself in position. All of it is decided with this. Ochako’s life, Japan’s stability, all of it with this one kick. 

Once again there’s a pause, and then he screams. 

Raw and carnal, a battle cry as he throws his leg up and slams into the rock. Faster than a bullet train, the kick crashes into the meteor, and suddenly everything shifts. Immediately from the contact, a million green lightning branches ripple out and cover the entire surface of the land. Even through his ringing ears, he can hear the surge of energy swallowing everything in its path.

It seems to still, right before the sound catches up and a booming crash of wind erupts from beneath it. Above him, before he can even comprehend it, the meteor is flying into the sky and erupting into a grand ball of fire. The night sky lights for just a moment, before the fire fades slightly, and the second moon drifts through the atmosphere, crumbling more and more with each second that passes.

A wave of air buffeted against him and he spins out of the way just in time. The wave seems to carry him, and he’s sent flying back to Ochako’s side. The pink light fades away as the wave subsides, and Ochako, struggling against the weight, collapses. He catches her in his arms, and the world around them fades away.

He holds her close, and he cries. He cries because of her, for her, and for everything they’ve been through. He cries for all the pain, for all of the suffering, and for all of the love. He cries for all the mistakes, all the times she was there, and all the times he’s let her down. 

She cries too, her tears mixing with his and her body shaking in his arms. They hold each other close and together they float there. Drifting in the sky, the sun just barely peeking over the horizon. It’s in that moment that he feels it. 

That gentle warmth of an embrace, the feeling that he‘s not alone., it’s strong and comforting and he realizes he’s been searching for it for so long. 

Now he’s found it. His arms squeeze her tight as consciousness leaves them both.

He won’t let it go, never again.

“Good Evening, citizens of Japan, residents of Tokyo and the greater Shibuya area, this is Hayazaka Kenmi reporting on the devastating villain attack that occurred last night and early this morning. We have word from New Fukuoka Tower, along with neighboring Hero Agencies, that the evacuation efforts have so far confirmed earlier reports that the only casualty is that of Miura Shizuku, a former Tartarus inmate and a victim of quirk suppression. Further search is still underway, missing person reports can be filed with local agencies or police.”

“Now, what’s playing on the screen is footage that was captured this morning of the land mass that hovered above Tokyo for more than an hour. Local media efforts were able to capture this video of heroes Deku and Uravity launching the mass into the upper atmosphere, effectively eliminating the threat it posed. A few reports of smaller meteors crashing into the countryside have been followed up on by authorities, and we can confirm there have been no casualties resulting.”

“ Hayazaka, you were there this morning, from the perspective of someone at ground zero of such an attack, what can you share with our viewers trying to grasp this harrowing situation?”

“I was there, yes, and while the fear I experienced was certainly strong, I must say as time went on I felt more and more secure with the courageous heroes above me, protecting me and all of Japan. And, frankly, it is evident that the heroes we need to be recognizing are Uravity and Deku. If it were not for their courageous actions throughout the night, as we can see in this footage, Japan may have forever been–

–*Click*

The breeze passing by the open window ruffles the ends of the plain white curtains. It’s gentle, not enough to noticeably affect anything, but she takes note all the same. The way the shadow of the sun dances with the waving material. The beauty in the smallest of movements. It’s a bit of a disruption to the monotony of machines and heart monitors, so she’s thankful.

Even still it is a quiet hospital. It doesn’t make much noise at all, and when it does there’s hardly any commotion following it.

Unusual, at least for her. Most of the time there are screams of grieving parents, crying children, or maybe a few depressed heroes standing nearby. But not here, there hasn’t been as much as a pin drop outside the norm. It's probably cynical of her. A tell to her relationship with places like this is that she’s disturbed by the lack of destitution. 

She glances over at the bed. They released her a few hours ago, and the first thing she did was come here. Izuku hasn’t stirred once, it’s comforting to see him sleep like this. There hasn’t been much time to check up on anything. She heard Keigo was doing fine, unconscious, but fine. Most of their friends and colleagues were helping with the cleanup, but they’d had some visitors earlier. She spoke to her parents on the phone, they’ve been out of the country for a month or so now. It was tough trying to convince them not to book the next flight to Japan, but she managed. Izuku’s mom called as well, she’s been trying to get on a train but apparently, the evacuation has blocked up all the stations near Musutafu. Ochako promises to call back as soon as Izuku wakes up. 

Other than that, she’s been avoiding as much news as possible. That rookie reporter would be the last news station she listens to for at least a few days. Even if it’s validating, even if it’s nice to hear her name next to his on the report, nothing could matter less to her at this moment.

There’s been a faint smile on her face ever since she woke up. She can’t place it, the feeling she has running through her body. It’s like an electric current that causes her to feel a little more alive in each moment. She’s not sure if it’s just the feeling of being here with him, or the tingles that have been running through her fingertips ever since she woke up. 

Maybe it’s both.

Her hair is white. Not fully, only a few strands running through her bangs, but she noticed it fairly quickly. It isn’t clear why, the doctors attributed it to extreme stress from the entire situation, one of them claimed it’s a side effect of pushing her quirk so far. It’s funny, her natural color mixing with the white almost forms a pinkish hue. She doesn’t mind it.

Izuku, on the other hand, looks just the same. Pure, tranquil, maybe a few more scars running down the side of his torso, but nothing serious. She’s leaning forward onto his bedside before the action even registers in her mind. His hand, his scarred hand, it’s laying there open to the world, open to her. Her own inches towards it, and her smile widens as she gently interlocks their pinkies.

She sighs.

The hospital blanket rubs into her hair as she lays down fully. The position’s a bit awkward, her torso up on the bed while she’s sitting in a stiff hospital chair, but it’s good enough. Arms crossed and eyes closed, finally giving in to that exhaustion. It’s nice. Her hand fully grabs onto his, and to her surprise, he lightly squeezes.

While her eyes open, she doesn’t bother looking up. The feeling is too comforting, and even though she’s rested, every bone in her body is still shouting at her for sleep. It’s a different kind of tired, however. Before she felt heavy, like an impossible weight had curled itself around her neck. 

But now, here with Izuku, she feels lighter than she’s ever had. She’s still tired, so instead of checking if he’s actually woken up, she lets herself lay there. No more burden, sleeping at last. Next to him, comfortable, content.

A part of her knows he’s feeling the same.