hero's shadow // mha

72) cleared

When Rabbit is pushed closer to where Iida is paralyzed off to the side, Stain's katana quickly comes down, straight for Iida's neck, but Rabbit gets a foot up under him and kicks him away just in time. Iida goes skidding away, out into the road, and Izuku hears the students around him gasp.

"That looks like—"

"Is that—!"

"He's from the hero course!"

The building on the video shakes and causes the camera to vibrate. Cracked glass falls from somewhere above and shines in the light.

"Bastard! Don't touch him!" Rabbit shouts on the video, making the students quiet down. Izuku takes an instinctive step back, not wanting to see this. He already lived through it once, and even more than that in his dreams, so he doesn't need to watch.

He doesn't want anyone to watch.

Rabbit is in the air in a flash, aiming to hit Stain's head from above, but Stain sends him back with a nasty kick.

Everything that follows is fast. Izuku can barely track what happens with his eyes—the only reason he can is because he did it all.

He doesn't remember it being like this, though. He doesn't remember it being this fast. He remembers his clock ticking down, he remembers having to predict Stain's every move whilst paying attention to Iida and Native at the same time to ensure they wouldn't be harmed.

But it was all so still to him. It was all slow. Each moment and action took its time to ingrain itself in his mind.

He didn't ever think that this is what the fight looked like to everyone else.

Iida. Where is he right now? He—he's probably seeing this too. He needs to get out of here. Izuku needs to—

Izuku heart constricts when the camera wrenches free from the mount on the building and drops to the floor, rolling closer to the scene. It's cracked now, and condensation forms on the lens, but it dissipates quickly enough—just in time for the world to see Rabbit's hand shoot behind him to pull the bloody dagger that went right past him back to him.

All without touch.

Izuku's eyes fly open, and before he knows it his back is hitting the glass windows behind him at UA. Pull. He used Pull. And the entire world saw it.

It's online. It will never be erased. His teachers will see it. All Might will see it. His—his mother—

Rabbit has one of Stain's katanas in hand now and also his pipe, getting into a more defensive position in front of Iida. His mouth moves, but the sound cuts in and out like a broken record.

Izuku isn't naive enough to think it'll stay that way though.

Rabbit throws a few light bombs towards Stain, but it's not good enough. Soon, Stain is slicing down at him, tongue flicking out. The vigilante's arms come up, and Izuku knows what happens next, but he can't look away.

Deflect shimmers into life and saves him just in time, and sparks fly off of Stain's blade.

"How is he doing that?" Another student asks, and others voice their own confusion and theories. They're quickly shushed, though, because then Rabbit is cracking his knee against Stain's face, and fingers are flying past the camera.

Oh, yeah. Izuku did cut them off.

Someone gags and turns away, and a few students quickly walk the other direction, leaving the video behind.

Izuku should too. He should be following them. But the more he tries, the more he realizes that he just can't.

In the fight, there's a brief pause. A tense silence between all four people in the clearing.