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Emotional chapter.. You have been warned.
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The world watched. The battle between All Might and All For One had transcended a simple hero-villain fight; it was a clash of gods, a war for the very soul of the nation. The resulting tornado tore through the ruins of Kamino Ward, a testament to the cataclysmic power that had been unleashed.
And then, the dust settled. The monster, All For One, was defeated, a broken heap on the ground. But the victory felt hollow.
Because standing in the center of the crater, wreathed in steam, was not the colossal, smiling Symbol of Peace. It was a skeletal man, his arm a withered, emaciated twig, his face a hollow mask of pain and exhaustion.
The secret was out.
He raised his one good arm, his fist trembling, and slowly, painfully, pointed one bony finger directly at the camera that was broadcasting his broken form to the world.
"It's your turn."
At the Yaoyorozu estate, the room was silent. Then, it erupted. "He won!" Kirishima screamed, jumping to his feet. "He did it! All Might won!" "That was… insane," Kaminari breathed, his eyes wide. Mina and Uraraka were both sobbing, clutching each other in a hug of pure relief. But Izuku Midoriya just stared at the screen, tears streaming down his face, his body shaking. He understood. He understood what that finger meant, what it cost. It wasn't just a victory. It was a handover. It was the end of an era.
**************************************************************
Days passed. The world reeled from the revelation of All Might's true form and his subsequent retirement. The League of Villains had vanished, but the scars they left on society were deep. U.A., now the center of a firestorm of media scrutiny and parental outrage, had to act.
In a quiet, secure office at U.A., the mood was somber. Nezu sat at his desk. Aizawa and Vlad King stood by the window, their arms crossed. And in the center chair sat Toshinori Yagi, his arm in a heavy sling, his frame looking smaller and more fragile than ever.
"The first step is regaining the public's trust," Nezu said, his voice all business. "The hero world is in a state of flux. The people are terrified. They need to see that U.A. is, and always has been, a fortress of stability. Which is why the dorm system proposal is no longer a proposal. It is a necessity. We must bring the students onto campus, where we can protect them 24/7."
"We'll get pushback," Aizawa grumbled. "After this, the parents will be reluctant to let their children out of their sight, let alone hand them over to us."
"Which is why," Nezu said, "we will visit each family. Personally. We will explain the situation, bow our heads, and assure them that their children's safety is our paramount concern. All Might, your presence will be invaluable."
"Of course, Principal," All Might nodded, his voice weak. "It's the least I can do. I… I owe them that."
Aizawa and Vlad King nodded, accepting their assignments. As they filed out of the room, All Might remained seated.
"Vlad, Shota, could you give us a moment?" All Might asked. The teachers glanced at each other, then at Nezu, and left, closing the door behind them.
The room was silent. Nezu just waited, patiently sipping his tea.
"Nezu," All Might finally said, his voice low and heavy with a weight that had nothing to do with his injuries. "Aizawa. He's part of the HPSC. Your personal… squad."
It wasn't a question.
Nezu's whiskers twitched. (So he finally put it together. It took him far longer than I predicted, hehehe.) "Not just a part of it, Toshinori," Nezu said, placing his cup down. His cheerful tone was gone.
All Might's head snapped up.
"I am the founding head of it."
The air left All Might's lungs. He had suspected, of course. He'd known Nezu operated in the shadows, that he pulled strings. But to hear it stated so plainly... "Then… it was you," he whispered, a new, cold horror dawning on him. "At the training camp. You're the one who allowed it. You're the one who let Young Akaza kill that villain."
"That's right," Nezu replied, his voice flat.
"How could you?!" All Might roared, his good hand slamming down on the desk, the impact rattling the teacups. "HE IS A CHILD! A STUDENT! You let him… you sanctioned it! You let him taint his hands, his soul, with murder! What you've done is unforgivable! He should have been merciful! He should have captured him!"
"Okay, and?" Nezu asked, his beady black eyes as cold and hard as obsidian.
All Might stared, stunned into silence by the casual dismissal. "What... what about it? That's all you have to say?!"
"What about it?" Nezu shot back, his voice suddenly sharp. "If not that, then what? You say he should have been merciful. Tell me, Toshinori, like the mercy you showed All For One all those years ago? The mercy that allowed him to survive, to rebuild, to create those Nomus?"
All Might flinched as if he'd been struck. He had never, ever heard Nezu lose his temper.
"You saw those creatures!" Nezu snapped, hopping onto his desk, his small form vibrating with a cold, contained fury. "How many lives did All For One have to steal, to twist, to destroy to make even one of them? How many more people did he kill in the decade since you 'defeated' him? How many more will he kill now? Would any of that have happened if you had finished the job when you had the chance?!"
"That's different!" All Might tried to rebut. "I am a hero, I do not kill!"
"You are a fool!" Nezu shrieked, and this time, All Might recoiled. "You are a fool, blinded by your own simplistic ideals! You think Muscular would have been quietly rehabilitated? He was a mass murderer who boasted about killing that boy's parents! RIGHT IN FRONT OF THAT KID!! If Akaza had 'captured' him, he would have been sent to Tartarus. And I am 100% certain that All For One, who you let live, would have eventually broken him out. And then what, Toshinori? How many more families would Muscular have slaughtered? Who would be responsible for those deaths then, huh?!"
All Might opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He had no answer.
"Akaza came to my office on his first day," Nezu said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl. "He told me exactly what he was. He told me he would kill to protect his family. And I accepted it without a single hesitation. You see his power, but I see his eyes. He has been through a hell you can't even imagine. Something even I can't find out. He was broken, cut off from the world, with nothing to live for but the girl he calls his family."
He leaned forward, his black eyes burning. "And for one shining moment, he was becoming human again. He was laughing. He was talking to his classmates. He was helping them. And what did that class do? The instant he did the hard, ugly, necessary thing to save their lives, they turned their backs on him. They called the boy who had just saved them a 'villain.' All because they've been raised on your childish, black-and-white fantasy, where the hero just smiles and the villain goes to jail with no consequences!"
"Nezu, that's not--"
"News flash, Toshinori: The villains are not scared to cross the fucking line! So if our heroes aren't willing to at least acknowledge that the line does not fucking exist, we have already lost! So don't you dare come in here and tell me what Akaza did was wrong. Because you, with your symbols and your smiles, are too damn naive to realize he's the only one who truly understood the stakes."
Nezu turned his back on the Symbol of Peace.
"Now, get the fuck out of my office!!!"
All Might stood there for a long time, his one good hand trembling. He was the victor of Kamino. He was the hero who had finally, definitively defeated his nemesis. And in that moment, he had never, ever felt more like a failure.
*****************************************************************
Meanwhile, in Musutafu General Hospital, the only sound was the rhythmic, steady beep of a heart monitor. Akaza sat on a hard plastic chair, his head bowed. He hadn't left this room in two days. He hadn't slept. He hadn't eaten.
He just stared at Rumi's hand, clasped gently in his own.
She was still unconscious. The Pussycats' medic had stabilized her, and Recovery Girl had done her work, but the damage from Muscular had been catastrophic. Multiple compound fractures, massive internal bleeding. Her body, pushed to its absolute limit, was now in a coma, knitting itself back together.
Akaza lifted her hand, brushing his lips against her knuckles. He was still in his blood-caked costume. He couldn't bring himself to change.
"Hey, carrots," he whispered, his voice hoarse from disuse. "It's me. I... I did it. I got Bakugo back. He's safe. Everyone... everyone's safe."
Tears began to well in his eyes, hot and unwelcome.
"I'm so sorry," he choked out, the words tearing from his throat. "I was late. I... I know you said I was late. I should have been there. I should have… I should have been faster."
He squeezed his eyes shut, the scene replaying in his mind. Muscular's fist. Rumi's broken form.
"I swore," he sobbed, the tears now falling freely onto the white sheets.
"After Yuna... I swore I would never be helpless again. I swore I would be strong enough to protect my family. And I failed. I failed you, Rumi. I let him hurt you. I let him… I…"
He buried his face in her hand, his shoulders shaking with the force of his grief. He was terrified. Terrified of the silence. Terrified of the steady, mechanical beep of the monitor. What if it stopped? What if she didn't wake up? What would he do? The Asura, the Battle God, the monster who had liquefied a man... he was just a broken man, terrified of being left alone in the dark again.
"Please wake up," he begged, his voice a broken whisper. "Please, Rumi. I don't know what I'll become without you. Please... I love you so much... just... wake up."
The door to the room slid open, the sound jarring him.
Kenji and Miriko Usagiyama stood in the doorway. They had been briefed by the police, told what had happened, told to wait. They looked exhausted, their eyes red.
Miriko saw her daughter, so small and still in the large hospital bed, and a choked, agonizing sob escaped her. She collapsed into Kenji's arms, her body shaking. "My baby... my little girl..."
Seeing their pain, Akaza's grief turned into a crushing, suffocating guilt. He slid off the stool, his knees hitting the cold tile floor. He bowed his head, his forehead touching the ground.
"Please... forgive me," he said, his voice thick with self-loathing. "I... I failed you. I failed her. I should have... I should have protected her. I'm so sorr--"
He was cut off as Kenji's hand clamped down on his shoulder. He was hauled to his feet, and before he could even register what was happening, a fist connected with his jaw.
CRACK.
The punch sent him flying back, crashing into the wall. He tasted blood. He didn't fight back. He didn't even raise his hands. He deserved it. He deserved so much more.
He looked up, expecting another blow, only to see Kenji standing over him, his face a mask of grief, tears streaming from his eyes. Kenji grabbed him by the collar of his ruined costume, his knuckles white, and hauled him to his feet again.
Akaza braced for the next punch.
It never came.
Instead, he was pulled into a bone-crushing, desperate hug. Kenji's massive arms wrapped around him, holding him so tight it hurt. He felt Kenji's shoulders shaking.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kenji's voice was a raw, broken growl in his ear. "Failed her? You're the damned reason my little girl is still alive. You're the one who was between death and her. You saved her. You saved our baby." He squeezed tighter. "I can't... I can't ever be grateful enough to you, you damned bastard."
Miriko came up to them, her own face streaked with tears. She put her hands on Akaza's shoulders, pulling him into her own embrace, sandwiching him between them. She looked him in the eyes, her gaze maternal and absolute.
"You can let it out, Akaza," she whispered, her voice gentle. "It's okay. We've got you. You can let it out."
And the dam broke.
The coldness, the rage, the terror he had held back since the moment Rumi had whispered in his arms... it all came pouring out. He clung to them, to his family, and for the first time since he was a child in another life, he cried. He cried for Yuna. He cried about his sorry past life. But most of all, he cried for the girl in the bed, terrified of a world that didn't have her in it.
"I was so scared," he wept, his voice muffled in Miriko's shoulder. "I was so scared I'd lose her..."
In the middle of the shared grief, a small, raspy sound broke the silence.
"...Aki...?"
Akaza froze. The entire world stopped. He slowly pulled back from Miriko's hug, his heart hammering in his chest.
He turned to the bed.
Rumi's eyes were fluttering, half-open, her amber gaze hazy and unfocused, but awake.
"...You're... crying... dumbass..." she whispered.
--XXXX--
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