"It's fine; why? For I am here!"
Tears began to stream down my face as I reached out. "All Might, Midoriya... Everyone, you came."
Before Arcuz, my friends and allies came. All Might, Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki. My cries for help weren't for nothing. "We won't let you hurt our friend anymore!"
"Your rein is over evil overlord."
"Yeah, so just die already!"
"𝕀 𝕤𝕖𝕖, 𝕤𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕘𝕠𝕥 𝕒 𝕗𝕖𝕨 𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕜𝕤 𝕦𝕡 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕤𝕝𝕖𝕖𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕟? 𝕌𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕛𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕕𝕞𝕚𝕣𝕖 𝕤𝕠 𝕞𝕦𝕔𝕙. 𝕀𝕥 𝕨𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕓𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙, 𝕀'𝕝𝕝 𝕤𝕙𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕕𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕞𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕖𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕠𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕒𝕝𝕝! 𝕎𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙 𝕞𝕖 𝕐/ℕ 𝕒𝕤 𝕀 𝕘𝕠 𝕓𝕖𝕪𝕠𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕝𝕦𝕤 𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕣𝕒."
The Red String pulled me back, holding me up in its webbing. My head hung low. I watched helplessly as my hopes and dreams fought for me. Jumping down from his throne, Arcuz smirked, leaning forward tearing the sword. His quirk made him from the ground. "𝕀𝕗 𝕀 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕡𝕝𝕦𝕔𝕜 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕕𝕠𝕦𝕓𝕥 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕐/ℕ, 𝕀 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕕𝕠 𝕤𝕠. 𝕎𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙 𝕠𝕟 𝕒𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕤𝕠-𝕔𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕕 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕗𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕓𝕪 𝕠𝕟𝕖."
All Might was the first to rush in, thrusting his fist forward yelling. "Detroit smash!" Arcuz's quirk piled together, creating a barrier from his hand, negating the attack into nothing. "I'll be taking back my student now, villain!"
"𝕆𝕙 𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕄𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥, 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕒 𝕣𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕔 𝕠𝕗 𝕒𝕟 𝕒𝕝𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕪 𝕕𝕪𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕘𝕖. 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕤𝕚𝕕𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕤𝕥𝕦𝕕𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕟𝕠 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕞𝕪 𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕣!" Retracting the barrier, the attack was sent back, forcing All Might into the darkness. Midoriya and Bakugo came simultaneously, trailing around Arcuz, waiting for the moment to strike.
Neither pushed in as Todoroki swung his hand up with an open palm sending out a massive cluster of ice forming into an iceberg, freezing Arcuz on the spot. Midoriya and Bakugo rushed in, with Bakugo spinning in the air, screaming, letting off a heavy explosion. "Die."
Midoriya came from above, slamming down with his foot using a combined attack to halt the villain in his place. However, the ice shattered and Arcuz freed himself, gripping Bakugo by the throat and Midoriya mid-swing slamming him to the ground. With both heroes in training knocked back, Todoroki stepped back, holding his arm forward, sending off a concentrated blitz of fire scorching the area around him. All I could do was watch as Arcuz was smugly beating the competition; he was in a completely different league of his own. That quirk was unnatural... I kept trying to break free, but with each movement, the red string tightened, my bones becoming brittle ready to snap at any moment.
"Carolina smash!" All Might yelled, slashing at Arcuz, blocked just as quickly. However, to his surprise, All Might quickly stop his attack, grabbing Arcuz by his robe and slamming him to the ground. Before he could stand back up, All Might spun him around faster and faster before a tornado was formed from the force at work. Arcuz was sent flying back, which Midoriya worked off punching him in the back, making him smash into his throne, shattered the disgusting thing in a single attack.
Arcuz screamed, holding his hand up as the Red string combined together into the same judgemental eye from above. Then, targetting All Might, he was quickly deleted from my mind without a chance of escape. Pulling himself from the rubble, Arcuz spat a clot of blood, his quirk very quickly healing him. "𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕄𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥. 𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕒 𝕛𝕠𝕜𝕖, 𝕙𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕞𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕀 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕓𝕪 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕪𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕤 𝕒𝕘𝕠. 𝔼𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝕗𝕒𝕚𝕣𝕪-𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕖 𝕓𝕦𝕝𝕝𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕥 𝕐/ℕ, 𝕘𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕦𝕡 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕀'𝕝𝕝 𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕚𝕥 𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕔𝕜."
This couldn't be it... No. I can't let it be. Still struggling, my head hung low as tears fell. "All my life, people saw me as the villain. I was born with a quirk seen as evil, a foul and dangerous tool neither my mother nor father had. Because of this, I was branded as a villain."
Arcuz smirked, knowing the speech. "𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥'𝕤 𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 𝕨𝕖 𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕚𝕟; 𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕪 𝕡𝕚𝕔𝕜𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕜 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕤 𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕕𝕖𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝕔𝕚𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕞𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕤 𝕔𝕙𝕠𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕗𝕒𝕥𝕖. 𝕀𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕣𝕜 𝕚𝕤 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕚𝕔 𝕖𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕒𝕤 '𝕘𝕠𝕠𝕕', 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕓𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕒 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕠. 𝕊𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕤𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟. ℍ𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣, 𝕚𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕣𝕜 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 𝕤𝕠-𝕔𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕕 𝕤𝕚𝕟 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕚𝕤 𝕤𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕒𝕤 '𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕝', 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕕𝕠𝕟'𝕥. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕒 𝕧𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕟 𝕚𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦'𝕧𝕖 𝕕𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕨𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘. 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕐/ℕ; 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕜𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕕𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕤; 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕣𝕜 𝕙𝕒𝕕 𝕙𝕦𝕣𝕥 𝕘𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕡𝕖𝕠𝕡𝕝𝕖. 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕒 𝕞𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣."
I nodded, muttering to myself. "I will never be a hero. I accepted that early on and began to refuse to use my quirk. I simply chose the cowardly option and gave up on my dream. That was until All Might and my friends. I betrayed them and planned on killing the man who ruined everything, but they gave me a second chance. Even after all I did and planned to spread all the rumours and lies around me, they still believed in me. Believed I could be a hero after everything they sacrificed to help me. Everything I've gone through, I'm not just going to give up now! Not when so many people believe in me!"
Gripping the string tightly, I kept tearing at it, bearing the pain until something just suddenly changed. The Red String echoed in a strain of blue, breaking apart. Arcuz's eyes widened, dazed by the sudden change. "𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥'𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕓𝕝𝕖..."
Falling to my knees, I began panting, gripping the string falling around me, the colour matching my own. A bright and hopeful blue. "We share the same quirk, right? You simply thought you could control me and use this power against me. Well, I'm taking it all back."
The Blue String wrapped around my fingers as I moved my arms out, using the string to my own advantage. "𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕜 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕪𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘. 𝕀 𝕒𝕞 𝕒𝕝𝕝-𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕦𝕝; 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕕𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕒 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕟 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕡𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕣𝕜!" Arcuz roared his Red String, quickly piling together towards his fist as he charged up a devasting shot. I couldn't avoid this; that didn't matter; I just had to attack. Use any part of my body to fight!
Just as the attack was unleashed, Bakugo came flying in, gripping my arms shooting into the air allowing the two of us to barely graze past the attack. "I'm not letting you kill a loser like Y/N! Only I can bring him to justice."
"Bakugo..." Firing off serval explosions, Arcuz was blinded forced on the defensive. Swinging me around, Bakugo threw me as he fell back down into the smoke. Flipping forward, I suddenly landed safely on Todoroki's ice pillar as he came sliding back on an evergrowing layer of ice.
"Jump on!" Quickly diving forward, Todoroki caught me, helping me up as I was now behind him, holding onto his shoulders as we began sliding around the area avoiding more attacks from Arcuz. Todoroki sent out serval heatwaves countering any attacks that would hit us. "The world expects so much of us simply because of who we were born to be. Family, quirks, none of that matters when we take each life into our own hands. No one can dictate who we are meant to be!" Slamming his foot down, a mountain of ice blasted up as Todoroki turned to me, nodding. "Go! Show this villain just who you are, Y/N!"
I propelled myself over the ice show high in the air using the Blue String. Flipping back, I was readying my counterattack only for Arcuz to strike quickly, cutting me down. Gagging, I began to fall into another attack. Midoriya kicked Arcuz back, letting me escape trembling to my feet weak. "𝕎𝕙𝕠 𝕕𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕜 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕣𝕖? 𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕞𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕀'𝕞 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕠𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕟𝕪𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘. 𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕕𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕒 𝕡𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕥𝕚𝕔 𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕣𝕜𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝕓𝕠𝕪 𝕙𝕠𝕡𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕖𝕧𝕖. 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕒𝕟'𝕥 𝕓𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕒 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕠, 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕒𝕟'𝕥 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕟 𝕤𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕗!"
"It doesn't matter if he's quirkless or not. Anyone who puts their mind to it can become a hero!" Midoriya yelled. "Don't give up Y/N fight! Fight for your future. Don't let him win."
Pulling on the Red String, I screamed at the top of my lungs, tugging at them, all the string becoming blue and under my control. My breathing slowed as the blood falling from my face also began moving in slow motion. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. "Truth is Arcuz, I've never needed you. Whatever the world sees me as, it doesn't matter because I'm stopping you right here!"
Arcuz kept attacking, and almost like clockwork, I avoided each attack as if I already knew where it was. The time came to a halt as I ducked under one last attack putting all my power into this attack. Punching Arcuz, his body exploded. Red string poured out. Reaching for my face, he screamed in anguish. "𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕤𝕟'𝕥 𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣. 𝕀 𝕨𝕠𝕟'𝕥 die like this!"
Passing through him, I stood up, panting time, resuming its normal speed as Arcuz vanished from my mind, all the Red string turning blue. Then, glancing at my hand, a faint clock disappeared. "Was that..."
"You did it, Y/N." Todoroki congratulated.
I turned to the three heroes shaking my head. "No, I couldn't have done it without you guys."
"Did you forget, loser?! We're all in your mind."
"You did this by yourself. You overcame your demons, Y/N. That was you." Midoriya reminded, smiling. "All Might was right; you can make a great hero."
I clenched my fist-shaking my head. "No. Arcuz wasn't exactly wrong. There's no such thing as a hero, just people doing the right thing. But I'm not done yet. I still have a few demons to take down."
"We'll be there to help."
"No. This has to be something I do myself."
****
My eyes shot open as I broke from the cacoon, keeping me prisoner, falling to my knees, raindrops falling onto my face. A faint blue aura emitted from my hands as I looked down, clear-minded yet defeated. Finally, I stood up, seeing Yuuki gone losing too much blood. Kneeling down, I kissed her on the head, wiping my teary face. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry I couldn't save you again, Yuuki. I'll make things right."
Stepping outside, the Red String Jester smiled; that smile didn't last long as he saw the blue aura radiate off me. "What have you done? What have you done?!"
"The right thing," I whispered, all the raindrops coming to a halt with time slowing down to a crawl, clocks appearing all around me. Rushing forward, I avoided all the gunfire leaping high into the ground below me, breaking. Floating in the air, I opened my ears, roaring forward, breaking the forces apart, avoiding attacks after attacks breaking any villain in my path. Moving at such high speed, or was it time was just moving so much slower? That didn't matter, my own quirk had come home, and this was what I was going to use to win.
Striking the last three cultists, my eyes turned to the Red String Jester began grinding his teeth playing cards by his side as time resumed usually. "You've ruined everything! I devoted my life to thy lord. Who do you think you are?!"
Running forward, I dropped to the floor, sliding under the exploding playing cards and gunshots; as I rose up, Blue String appeared all around, holding the villain in his place. Finally, I landed the final blow. "No one important. Just a boy doing the right thing!"
Pinning the Jester to the ground, a loud roaring blast echoed off as he was subdued along with the rest of Arcuz' legacy. Standing up, I kept panting as the rain kept hammering me. Holding my wound, I glanced up, seeing Midoriya and All Might left dazed. Wiping my face, I limped over, giving them a faint smile. "Hey..."
"What was that?" Midoriya whispered.
All Might placed a hand on my shoulder, nodding. "Did you do it?"
Looking back, I nodded. "He's gone... I'm my own man now. But at what cost, I've lost everything. So the world will want my head; I lost the only person... The only person who saw me as a hero. I couldn't save her All Might. I couldn't save anything but my damn self!"
"That's not true, Y/N. Come back to UA, let us help you. We can clear your name and help you become the greatest hero possible."
Glancing up at All Might, I leaned over, meeting Midoriya's eyes. "Don't give up on what you believe in. You can do it, Deku; I was never destined for this. There's no such thing as a hero, just people doing the right thing." Ploughing through my tear, I smiled, stepping back. "I'm going my own path now to find who I am. But one thing is for certain. I'm not the villain."
The End
*****
Flicking the light on, I sat at the bottom of the stairs throwing Mina the keys. "As I promised. Free at last."
Mina darted for the key, untying herself, looking concerned. "You said you would only free me if... You seriously did it?"
Sitting on the bottom step, I shook my head. "You were right; I can't kill All Might. I'm sorry Mina for everything. If I could turn back time and change things I would, I'm not asking for your forgiveness. However, I made things right. And for that small shining moment, I really felt like a hero... Is that what you want to become? Someone who saves others?"
Mina rose to her feet, still distant, nodding. "I do."
Moving out of her way, I nodded, staring at the ground wiping my face. "Then do it. Never doubt your choices and be the best hero possible."
Mina began climbing the stairs to her freedom. She stopped looking at me. "You wanted to be a hero too, didn't you?"
"How could you tell?"
"The disappointment in your eyes. You couldn't save someone, right?"
"Have a nice life Ashido Mina."
Stepping out of my apartment, I threw a match behind me, setting the building on fire. Then, throwing my hoodie up, I walked opposite from where Mina went heading into an uncertain yet brighter future without a doubt in my mind. This was the right decision.