"Tomu.." Izuku whispered, looking up at his brother, "please.. come with me. I.. I can't do this without you."
Shigaraki looked down at him. "I can't. I'm a villain, Izuku. They won't accept me."
"I was a villain and they accepted me!"
Well, some of them.
"Izuku, it's different for me." he stated, playing with the greenette's hair. "I've killed people. I can go to prison for that."
Midoriya looked up desperately. "No! They'll let you come with me! Mr Aizawa will! I--" determination could be seen on his face, "I won't let them take you from me!"
"Even so, I can't be a hero." he looked at his other gloved hand. "My quirk.. my quirk is villainous. It's not made for heroics."
"But it can be!" Izuku protested. "Your quirk can be used to disintegrate rubble and debris in disaster zones! And you can help people escape collapsed buildings by turning the whole thing into dust!" he smiled at him. "Tomu, you can be a hero!"
Tomura was confused. All of his life, he was convinced his quirk was villainous. All For One had said so himself. He had taught him to kill people if they made him mad or acted discriminative towards him. But, here, Izuku was saying something else. Something completely different from what he'd been told all these years.
I can be a hero?
"Hey," Dabi stood up, having put down his half-empty mug while the two had talked, "what're you two talking 'bout?"
The ravenette walked over to them both, ruffling Izuku's hair in the process. The other members of the league seemed to be looking over at them, seeming intrigued by the greenette's return.
Izuku turned around, Tomura's arm still somewhat draped around his shoulder. "I was asking Tomu to come with me, to U.A."
His eyes widened in surprise. "U.A?!" he rested his hand on his shoulder. "What are you doing at U.A, trouble?"
His eyes traced the floor. "I was caught at the training camp but U.A took me in for a villain rehab thing and Mr Aizawa's been taking really good care of me since!" he looked back up at Dabi, a smile etched on his lips. "He even allowed me to come here today!"
He looked at Tomura, before revisiting the question he'd asked the greenette, having heard parts of their conversation previously. "How are you so sure that U.A is going to look after us? We're proper villains after all. We've killed dozens."
"W-well, Mr Aizawa looked after me well so I thought he'd look after you well too!" he kept his smile, refusing to show what he actually felt.
The ravenette hesitated before smiling back at him. "Well, if you're so sure this could.. help us in a sense, I don't see why I shouldn't join you."
"R-really?!" he asked, before hugging the villain tightly.
He nodded before looking at Tomura, who seemed to be very interested in the floor right now. He seemed to be deep in thought. He looked behind him, seeing Toga walking towards them while the other members stayed seated.
"I'll come too, Izuku!" she exclaimed, smiling greatly.
Izuku looked up at her, his arms still wrapped around the ravenette. He smiled at her, eyes sparkling. "R-really?! You'll come too, Himi?"
She nodded before patting his head softly. She looked at Twice, eyes meeting his. "Please.. Jin? Join us?"
Twice slowly stood up, joining Toga at the room's entrance hesitantly. Himiko was his friend, but he wasn't sure if going to U.A was the right choice. Toga was a minor so she'd have to go to the rehabilitation regardless, but him? He could still go to prison.
He thought about it, eyes on the ground. "I'll join. No I won't!"
The greenette giggled, smiling greatly at the scene before him. He suddenly felt a hand on his head, looking up to meet Tomura's eyes. He tilted his head in confusion.
"I've thought about it, brat." he started, playing with his hair. "I'll come with you."
Dabi looked towards the other members, arm still wrapped around the greenette tightly as his eyes travelled around the room. Mr Compress staring at them intensely as Magne was packing away the Monopoly board.
"Count me in." he said, rather loudly in Izuku's opinion.
Magne stood up, picking up the folded-up board. "Me too."
"So, is this family reunion done or..?"
They looked towards the sound, seeing a visibly tired Aizawa leaning against the doorframe. He looked like he was practically done with life.
"Who are you to--"
Izuku cut his brother off. "Yes, Mr Aizawa! We can go.." he trailed off, frowning, "Tomu, where's Kuro?"
"He should have been here earlier. Maybe fathe--" he corrected himself, "Master called for him. Why do you ask?"
Shota's eyes widened, softening almost immediately into a look of concern.
Aren't they aware that All For One's in Tartarus?
He looked down. "I wanted him to.. come with me too.. he's helped me all this time, why can't I do the same for him?"
Shota stood up. "What do you mean, he 'helped' you?"
"Well, Kuro would always make sure I ate good and had enough to drink and slept enough.. he was like a father figure to me." he explained, before resting his head on Dabi's chest.
"Well, why don't we go find him, trouble?" the ravenette asked, smiling slightly at him.
He nodded, turning his head towards Shigaraki. "Tomu, where does Kuro go?"
Although he was a villain, he had never been allowed into most of the rooms here, so he wouldn't know much location wise. But, Tomura was allowed into most of the rooms here as well as going with the warp gate villain sometimes when All For One called for him.
"Well, when I would go with him, All For One would usually ask for him in the meeting room or the lab. Both of which I assume you've been in."
He tightened his hold on Dabi's clothing, memories of the places coming back to him in seconds.
- FLASHBACK -
"Um.. sir? Where are we?" he asked.
They were in a darkened room with tubes filled with a mysterious, glowing, purple liquid. He looked up to see a second floor full of the same tubes. Wires and pipes contaminated the ground which led to each individual tube. A doctor of some sort sat on a chair by a dashboard ahead of them.
"This is Dr. Garaki. He will assist in the process of getting your new quirks."
Midoriya nodded but then stopped. He looked up. "Quirks?!"
"Yes, quirks. These will help you on your path to becoming a villain."
The man on the chair turned around. He was bald, with a grey, bushy mustache. He wore green-tinted goggles as well a slightly dirty white doctor's coat.
"What brings you here, All For One?" he asked.
Midoriya looked around as he tuned out the conversation. He noticed there were big, dead-looking creatures in the tubes. Subconsciously, he walked closer to get another look. The creatures looked unreal. Some had a brain exposed, some were unrealistically tall. What were they doing in there?, he thought.
"Kid!"
- END OF FLASHBACK -
"Kid!"
Dabi was crouched in front of him, holding his hand as he watched Izuku. Midoriya blinked a couple times, breathing sort of heavily.
"Izuku, are you okay? You zoned out for a second and weren't responding to us." he explained, squeezing his hand.
He nodded. "Just.. just a flashback.."
"Have you been having these a lot recently?" Shigaraki sat beside the ravenette as he spoke. "You're acting as if this isn't your first."
He looked away. "Not recently.. I had my first when I met All For One... they stopped for a bit but then they came back after I started the villain rehab thing."
Shigaraki brought him into a hug. "Zuku, you need to tell us about these things. You worry us a lot, you know?"
He nuzzled his head into the blue-headed male's neck as he felt the normal tiredness wash over him. He never knew why, but after every flashback, he'd just feel restless. Normally, he'd deal with it, but this time, he couldn't help but accept the drowsy feeling as he felt a familiar warmth on his back.
"Rest well, kid."
It had taken a while, but they'd made it. Shigaraki ended up carrying Izuku to U.A, letting him rest. Dabi had stayed beside him, his palm resting on the greenette's back to provide warmth. Toga, Magne, Twice and Mr Compress weren't far behind, trudging slowly along the path. Kurogiri had stayed with Aizawa, the pro hero carrying out protocol and watching the one he deemed 'most dangerous'.
But, after that exhausting journey, they had made it.
They had made it to U.A High School.