Author's Note
So close to the end now, this story has been a ride for me. If you're enjoying it, I'd love to hear your comments and if you're not, I'd love to hear your suggestions. Thanks to all of you who have read this.
As always, please enjoy!
Narrator
It hadn't taken them long to find help, but it didn't change how worried they were. The new plan was simple, the shear number of people made it so, but even that couldn't make them feel any better. They wondered if they should have gone back for Zu, with her portals, she could probably reach the captured with ease and they wouldn't even be having this problem. But they hadn't, so here they were.
"Stop worrying Icyhot, it's getting on my damn nerves." Ground Zero spat, grinding his teeth as Shouto paced back and forth mercilessly, "They'll be fine."
"You're worried too, Bakugou."
The spiky blonde sent him a glare that was really only meant as a reminder that if they were in costumes they were called by their hero names. That was the rule. But anyone else would assume he was being menacing as the male crossed his arms to hide the constant tapping of his fingers, turning his head away with that ever-present scowl. He hated that they weren't allowed to do something, the police had taken charge now.
The signal was given to charge, and with brute force, the police broke through the walls and burst into the area. The first room they came to held what looked like a discarded poker game, making the silence of the place eerie and alien— like a ghost house. It wasn't long after, that they came across a hall containing two unconscious villains, five pairs of anti-quirk handcuffs and five empty chairs. The villains were immediately taken away as procedure demanded.
They continued to wander the corridors soon finding themselves hearing sounds reminiscent of a fight of some sort. The sounds got louder as they marched through the hallways until they came across a large hall filled with tables. There, they found Deku fighting with closed eyes alongside the Ghost against multiple villains, the Ghost shouting commands to the hero every now and then to help while four heroes lay, seemingly sleeping, on the floor.
Naturally, that was when the armed team began dropping like flies, each of them succumbing to sleep on by one. Some of them got a few good shots at the villains before they fell but all in all, they had been no help to the heroes at all. So much for a rescue.
It seemed like hours before anybody beyond a few unconscious villains came out of the building and the first person to exit took more than a few by surprise. It was the Ghost— hood covering his face as always— holding an unconscious Red Riot while Deku carried Invisible Girl and Ingenium beside her.
Passing the sleeping heroes to some medics Deku began to talk to an officer who seemed to be trying to arrest the vigilante. Ground Zero didn't understand why Deku wouldn't just let the officer do it, a vigilante wasn't the same as a hero after all.
Shouto and Ground Zero quickly hurried over to them but the pair had already gone back into the building along with additional officers. The two males were quickly made aware of the situation and rushed in themselves to start helping the clear-out efforts but Deku and the Ghost had apparently disappeared.
"Sho!" someone whispered desperately, drawing the attention of both men. It was Deku, who was making strange head gestures to convince them to come round the corner with him. Confused, they watched the people around them carefully as they slunk after Deku into an empty room with five chairs and pairs of discarded handcuffs, along with the Ghost, struggling with his own pair of cuffs and Aizawa, who was out cold on the floor.
"The fuck-"
Deku immediately put his hand over Ground Zero's mouth, "Please be quiet and let us explain."
Glaring lasers into the other man's skull, Ground Zero nodded and crossed his arms to listen while Deku, in fear of his life, slowly removed the offending hand.
"Well..."
"Spit it out, nerd!"
The Ghost, watching all of this, sighed and pulled their hood back, immediately throwing loose the familiar brown hair and owl-like eyes.
"Oh," Shouto breathed, blinking at her while Ground Zero blew a casket beside him... silently. Even Zu was both surprised and proud of the explosive man she'd known since they were fifteen for keeping his cool, considering he clearly wanted to scream the place to kingdom come and quite possibly tear Zu's head off.
"Yeah," the brunette said, clearly deciding to leave it at that for now as she moved on, "now can either of you get this damn cuff off my wrist?" she asked despairingly.
Shouto was the first to give it a try, surprised Deku hadn't been able to force it off her wrist with his extreme strength. The bicoloured man began to freeze it, warning Zu that it would probably hurt, but the change in temperature failed to make the metal more brittle so Deku's attempts to snap it while it was frozen failed. "I could try heating it up?" Shouto suggested, "It wouldn't be great for your wrist since you've probably already gotten a cold-burn,"
"I'll be fine Todoroki, it's that or get arrested so..."
Her childhood friend nodded in understanding and began heating the metal, noticing the way she was carefully controlling every muscle in an attempt to hide the pain he knew she was experiencing. He had to be careful not to heat the metal too quickly or he'd accidently release fire and then she really would have some bad burns to deal with, unfortunately, this also meant her pain was prolonged and probably excruciating.
Yet again, the stubborn piece of junk refused to warp in the slightest, even when given some encouragement from Deku (who was also trying to avoid getting burnt in the process).
"Are you sure you can't get the suit off?" Deku checked as Shouto brought the cuff to a normal temperature.
"I tried, so did you, this thing's not coming off. I don't even know how I got it on with this," She lifted her wrist from Shouto's grasp for a moment, "here in the first place." And then gently placed it back with a small wince.
"Surely if you got it on, you can get it off again." Shouto stated logically.
"You'd think so, wouldn't you? But apparently no."
"Give the damn thing here!" Ground Zero demanded, yanking the now pleasantly cool cuff on her wrist over to him. Zu withheld a hiss at the increased pressure on her fresh burns but couldn't hide the wince from the people looking, "You sure about this?" the blonde confimed, appearing concerned all of a sudden, "It's probably gonna hurt like fucking hell." he warned.
She just nodded, "I prefer that to the other option,"
"But you haven't actually broken any laws, you have a license," Deku pointed out, not liking the idea of Ground Zero literally attempting to explode something wrapped around the brunette's wrist.
"That's not really the point, from my position as a vigilante it's easy enough for me to go back undercover-"
"Back?" Deku parroted with a frown.
Zu sighed, rubbing her forehead which hadn't stopped causing her agony for a moment with her free hand— that pain was actually working as quite the distraction from the pain in her wrist, "Later." she told him, really not up for an explanation right now (and they didn't have the time anyway). She turned back to Ground Zero and nodded.
He waited a moment, gauging how strong an explosion he should make so that he could maximise the chance of obliterating the annoying, little fucker around her wrist while minimising the chance of actually injuring her.
The bang was quiet; the aftermath, not what they were hoping for.
"Use a stronger blast." Zu ordered.
Ground Zero eyed her, "No." Zu glared but he stood his ground.
"Bakugou,"
He glared before taking a deep breath, "Missing a hand will make the Ghost far too recognisable. Don't be an idiot."
Zu sighed, the most annoying thing was having to admit that Bakugou was both dealing with the situation better and right. "Ok, so the way I see it, I have four options: I go out and reveal myself and deal with whatever happens;" This seemed to be the option they agreed with the most. "Two, I go out there and one of you somehow manages to keep them from taking off the hood and mask;" The frowns on each of their faces told Zu what she already figured, they probably couldn't do it. Unfortunately, she wasn't actually too fond of option three, "three, I make a scene, a big one, and I return to undercover work as a villain," Zu could see they didn't like the option much either. She could also see that Deku was still refraining from asking about the whole 'return to undercover work' thing. "and option four is I try to sneak past all the people waiting outside for me, but if it goes wrong the only option I can really fall back on is option three so..."
Saying it aloud hadn't really helped. They were all just looking to her for a decision which hadn't been the point of the exercise, but she knew as well as they did, it was her choice in the end. Aizawa had been telling her about an underground case that needed help, he said they'd even asked for her specifically for it, though who knew why?
She closed her eyes. If she was going to do this, she had to be sure because once she made the first move, even she wasn't capable of moving back. A deep breath, another attempt to push aside the pain in her head, the pain in her wrist and a final decision.
Eraserhead groaned as his eyes opened.
"Ok then, this is what's going to happen..."
Suzumi
Have I made the right decision here? Maybe, maybe not. But the decision is made and I can't turn back.
When I was a child, I never expected I'd be trying to hide from the people who are supposed to protect us, the people you should trust even if they're strangers because they exist to serve. I was taught that with the police, I would always be safe. That was a long time ago though.
Now, not only has that idea been shattered by Captain Tanaka, a man I've been investigating for a whole year near after a small piece of evidence pointed me in his direction, but I've also got to hide from them now to keep my cover because I decided to make life hard for myself. Great plan, right?
The whole place is surrounded by officers and heroes and anyone else willing to help with the clearing up of all the still-sleeping people, I'm still amazed that out of everyone (except Midoriya) Aizawa was the first to wake up from that guy's quirk. Nightmare, he called it: the ability to send someone into their darkest dreams as long as their eyes are within view. Pretty incredible, pretty powerful. Just that one person took out almost the entire hero team, but my hood kept me safe and Deku somehow managed to break out of it so we ended up fighting together against the horde. And then when the police burst in, they were immediately knocked out and the fight continued.
Aizawa crouches beside me on the high ledge. We're hidden by our dark clothes, camouflaged against the night sky as we watch the milling people. Getting past all them is going to be hard, I don't even have a plan, it's not like I can sneak through them, I'd be arrested on sight because as camouflaged as the suit is, it's kinda pointless when you're wanted and known for wearing black.
"You ready?" Aizawa asks.
My head whips round to him, "You have a way around all these people?"
Aizawa flings a bandage out into the high reaches of a nearby tree, far above the people below and their main focus (the building currently being cleaned out) so that they don't see the strange line of white in the sky.
"You're kidding me,"
His response is clear enough in his expression, You got any other ideas?
I sigh in defeat, "So how exactly is this supposed to work?" I question concernedly.
He turns so his back is to me and places his hands like hooks by his sides. No way. He can't be serious! Reluctantly, I take a calming breath as I awkwardly but gently wrap my arms around his neck. It feels... embarrassing. I feel... like a toddler. I haven't had a piggy back in years and it just feels nothing but weird. But I have to keep my objections silent as Aizawa moves his arms away to get a proper hold of the rope-like material. This is literally my only choice right now— no matter how much I hate it.
I can sense the amusement in his voice as he warns me to "Hold on tight." before he drops into the empty air. We swing, completely in free fall for a terrifying moment before the slack is picked up and we're suddenly arcing through the air, far above the heads of the people below. Silent and cat-like, we land among the safe cover of the cocoon of leaves born by a tree.
Almost immediately, the bandages whip back to him like they somehow honed in on him. "I will never understand how you do that." I whisper, staring at the neck scarf in disbelief.
He just shrugs, he honestly has no clue either.
Sneaking to the end of the branch, he sends out another section of the scarf to the next tree in the row. We land flawlessly again, still high enough to avoid being spotted, or that's what we thought at least. We were just one tree away, then we'd have been safely past the police perimeter and I could go home for the night like nothing had happened and maybe have a nap, simply for the sake of having a nap. I wouldn't even have to worry about going undercover again.
"There! The Ghost! Freeze, criminal!"
No. No, no, no. Damn it all to hell!
Neither of us move. The tree is surrounded now, and everyone is staring, trying to find some light sources so they can see us. If we move even an inch, we'll be spotted. It's pointless, even the dark can't hide is now. So much for my nap.
"I can go, say I came to help." Aizawa offers kindly but it's useless now.
"Then I'd be stuck in a tree for hours until someone rescued me."
"You don't have to do this, you don't have to go undercover again." he reasons, knowing that this isn't truly what I want.
"Maybe, but I can do more good like that,"
"You can do more good as a real hero," he argues, "like you have been doing but without the mask."
I just shake my head. That wasn't the point, it isn't time yet. I-I haven't earned it properly. "It's ok Aizawa, thank you. See you soon."
I drop down below to find Deku there waiting with a pair of cuffs and an expectant expression, "You're going to arrest me?" I ask aloud, surprising the nearby police members who are intelligent enough to realise my voice is distinctly female.
Deku pauses, "I'm sorry." he responds, sounding resigned.
This was my only real chance to make a scene and sadly, I have to grab it with both hands, "'Sorry' isn't good enough, all I've ever done is try to help! Why won't you let me do that?!"
Deku can't even answer, he knows it's pretend but even if it weren't been, he can't imagine he would have been capable of finding the right words, because there are none. Vigilantes are considered villains even if they do no harm and, wrong as it is, the concept does some good at least but it doesn't change the fact that those determined few who turn to vigilantism with no other option, are not bad people but must be treated as such by law.
"I saved your life," I whisper, pushing deep emotion into my voice beyond what Deku is expecting judging by the shock in his face. All the training has left me a damn good actor and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Then, I direct my next comment to the crowd, "I've saved all your lives, or the life of a loved one at least once! Haven't I earned something better than this by now?!"
"You're a vigilante!" a brave soul calls from within the crowd, "A criminal! You don't deserve a thing!" People like this, I dislike.
My head drops along with the hood as I shake my head in true disappointment at that one person in the crowd, "You heroes are all the same," Something about these words reminds me too much of what I said to the woman I eventually put in prison for being a traitor to heroes, "you talk about forgiveness and second chances, but that's all it is, talk." I spit ashamedly. In truth, I understand the views of people who do think this way, but one can't make assumptions on a whole based on only a few. It can only lead to misunderstandings and cruelty beyond what I'd even like to witness.
The venom in my voice actually sends a jolt of fear down Deku's spine that causes a noticeable shiver and I see the slight shock on his face as he finds himself reaching out to put the handcuffs he's holding around my wrists.
"At least with villains, you know what you're getting into." I finish in the voice of ice I remember once living in complete fear of.
I slap Deku's hands up, taking him by surprise and knocking the cuffs up into the air where I catch them with ease, and is stumbling back a short second later until I stabilise him, hooking the chains of those cuffs tightly around his throat, but making sure to avoid actually hurting him, "Sorry," I whisper before raising my voice, as Eraserhead's familiar scarf drops down. Now that's a man with perfect timing. "Next time we meet, it won't be on such good terms!" I grab hold of the bandages, bullets flying with seriously bad aim in the dark as I get pulled up quickly.
"How did you know?" I ask him with amazement, it's creepy that it feels like w read my mind somehow. I hate that feeling.
"I couldn't think of anything else either."
That's a fair point.
A bullet flies way too close for comfort, lodging itself in the trunk. "Run!" I order as we swing for the next tree over. And we don't stop running until sunlight dusts the early sky.
Narrator
The heroes were given a day off to settle after the ordeal they went through the night before and most of them were spending their time with the people they cared the most for:
Todoroki and Midoriya were happily dozing in the warmth of each other's arms on the comfort of their sofa. Kirishima and Bakugou were easily losing themselves in one another. Iida and Uraraka were having a cook-off at Uraraka's place and even Hagakure was visiting her parents.
But while they relaxed, Zu was preparing herself and yes, Yamada had murdered her and Aizawa after he saw the news. She had a lot of explaining to do, she called Hayley to her home quickly, telling her everything without holding back. Hayley didn't like it one bit, but the blonde knew she couldn't change Zu's mind if she tried and wished her well in the end.
"Please, do you think you could look after Keiko for me? She's welcome to stay here for as long as she likes and definitely don't let her be alone at any home until her ex is definitely away, I've been trying to get his case moved up but it's not working well."
Hayley just nodded along, overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of tips for looking after their ebony-haired friend but also forlorn at the idea of Zuzi leaving. "Are you going to say goodbye to her?"
Zu looked over to the room where Keiko was peacefully sleeping in, "Yeah, just not right now. I've got a lot to sort out before I go."
Hayley nodded again, "Good luck."
Zu smiled, "Thanks, do well." she told the other girl, also sad to go.
They hugged and almost immediately, Zu was gone with a wave.
As much as each of the heroes was enjoying their free time, they all had to pause at the sight of the small paper fluttering to the floor. Some sighed tiredly. Some wanted to ignore it completely. But others eagerly latched onto the piece, desperate to understand.
It didn't change the fact that they were all at the specified place at the right time, a few of them more than a little surprised by where they were. Uncertain on how to get into the warehouse, Midoriya was the one about to try knocking on the door (instead of letting Bakugou blast through it) when a portal opened which allowed his hand to slip through while his body fell gracefully after. They each jumped in, landing on the other side of the door to the very same warehouse that Hirota had trained Zu in for a year of her childhood.
She greeted them at the door, "Hi," she said, glad to see that they all came, "I know I have," she sighed, "far too much explaining to do." They all wordlessly agreed. "Why don't we all take a seat?"
Kirishima jumped onto the sofa, dead in the middle while Bakugou took the edge seat. A second later, Kirishima had shuffled over so they were right up next to each other where the redhead could lean into the blonde. It was sweet. Hagakure and Uraraka took up the remaining two sofa seats so Iida took a chair to the left while Todoroki took the one on the right and Midoriya plopped onto a beanbag at the heterochromic man's feet, enjoying the way the elder of the two lightly played with his hair.
"So," Zu began, "I'm the Ghost." She had no clue what else to say, "Any questions?"
"Hundreds."
"Thousands."
"Way more than that."
Zu nodded. She was expecting this kind of response. "Well, I'll see what I can do. Midoriya?"
Midoriya paused as he tried to think of what question to start with, some he couldn't word right, others weren't important but he finally decided, "How did you get Hirota's warehouse?"
She hadn't expected that to be question one, out of everything she could have been asked she hadn't even considered that as something they'd want to know, "Apparently, he owned it but he's in prison," She rethought that last bit quickly, "ish," she tacked on, "so the moment I turned eighteen it was mine." she said, not really understanding the legal details herself.
"Todoroki?"
The man stared into her eyes disconcertingly for the longest few seconds of Zu's life as he halted in playing with his fiancé's hair. The time dragged on like a sloth trying to pull an unwieldy cow behind it until he finally opened his mouth, "Why?"
That could have been about anything, it could have been about why she'd left, it could have been about why she lied, but Zu knew what he really meant and quickly got up to grab the costume she'd grown so used to. Having laid it out on her bed after yesterday, she took the bottom half— the loose pant section— and returned to the swizzle chair in front of her friends. She held out the piece as she spoke, "Do you see the spirals along the side?" she asked, waiting for their nods to continue, "Everytime I do something that helps, something good, I add another spiral. It's all the way up to my side these days." she explained, pride dancing in her voice towards the end.
Each of them nodded along, not seeing how this connected to the question but amazed that Zu would choose such intricate and tiny spirals in the pattern if her plan was to let the pattern grow all up along her body.
"Now please don't start arguing with me over this but after... everything that happened, I wanted a way to make up for what I did and give back without some reward for it."
Now they understood why the spirals were so small.
Zu could see how desperately they wanted to tell her she should have put all that behind her, that she shouldn't feel guilty at all. But saying it, wouldn't change the fact that she felt that guilt every day without fail.
"That's why I decided I'd go down the vigilante route. This way I could help the way I wanted to. I kept myself on the down-low for a long time— managed to completely avoid the public eye. I was more of a myth among even villains for years."
"So what happened?" Uraraka asked curiously.
"Somebody decided to get artsy and paint some walls." the brunette sighed with annoyance.
They frowned.
"There were situations where I had to give the villains something to call me so I gave them the name 'Ghoul'."
"Like the hero name you decided against?" Todoroki checked, surprised, while the others wondered where Ghost had come from if she was originally called Ghoul.
Zu nodded, "In short, somebody wanted to use me as a scapegoat but couldn't remember my name, I'm not quite sure but I think they were American originally and mixed up the words or something so they ended up just calling me Ghost— they painted that in black on the walls. And, irritatingly, that stuck more than Ghoul. And it was what drew the police's eye to me for the first time."
She waited a moment to let it sink in before moving on to the next question, "Bakugou?"
"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" he asked.
She had definitely expected this one, but it didn't help her answer it, "I started this, I guess a little bit before you guys all graduated and I wasn't able to see you then. And I only finally met you guys again a few months back, by then, I guess I was so used to keeping it a secret, I didn't really feel the need to say anything to you." Her voice dropped suddenly, "Honestly, I kinda figured we'd end up drifting apart again."
Some looked at her with sadness, some with sympathy. And then there was Bakugou, "Idiot, you really haven't changed."
She laughed, "I'm glad I was wrong too."
Midoriya raised his hand up timidly like he used to at school. Zu turned to him with an amused smile, "Midoriya you don't have to put your hand up, we're not at UA anymore." she reminded him.
The greenette looked up to his hand as if he hadn't properly noticed that he'd lifted it and brought it down quickly as his face turned a light pink, "It's just that we're kind of going in a c-circle and I didn't want to take someone else's turn."
A few of them laughed to themselves gently. Zu just looked at the other three with a warm smile, "Are you guys ok if Midoriya gets another question before you guys?"
As she predicted, they didn't seem to mind one bit so she turned right back to the greenette and waited for him to ask, "What did you mean by returning to undercover work?"
Yet another question Zu was expecting, Zu opened her mouth to speak when-
BANG!
- the sound ricocheted through the room. Zu looked about ready to punch something. She took a very deep breath and released it in a quietly deadly sort of growl, looking like this was something she was very tired of, "If you'll excuse me, there's someone I have to deal with, Kirishima and Bakugou have the answer to your question just be aware nobody can know you know about this." Then she walked away, anger in her strides, but then she turned back— any sign of the faintest feeling of anger gone— "And definitely, never tell Aizawa. Please." she begged, before disappearing.
Zu stood before Hirota Dairoku with her arms firmly crossed and her anger written wherever it could be, except for her face. Her face was a mask of cool collectedness but with just enough seething rage to make it threatening. It was reminiscent of a viper waiting to attack and even Hirota knew to be wary.
She raised one eyebrow and tilted her head expectantly, "Yes?"
"I'm bored."
She watched him unsettlingly— in a deathly silence that wanted desperately to swallow them both— for a few moments, "Only boring people get bored." She turned, about to teleport.
"You can't just leave me here, suffering, I thought you were a hero?"
Part of Zu saw an opportunity here, partly to annoy the hell out of the man currently wrapped in heavy chains behind thick bars, partly for her new job. She stalked up to the cage and leant threateningly against the bars, "One, I can do whatever the hell I want with you and nobody will bat an eye, two, I'm a vigilante," she paused, "or I was." She pushed off and away from the cage violently.
He still assumed she was a child, a weak girl not intelligent enough to manipulate someone else, not that she was really trying all that hard. She figured her plan would be too obvious, too transparent, but apparently not. The man who made up half her DNA seemed to be falling for it. The imbecile. It didn't mean she didn't keep her guard up, for all she knew, he was just pretending.
She crossed her arms, levelling a powerful stare at him, "I have some questions for you later. I'd stay quiet until then if I were you."
"And if I don't?" he pushed, his voice filled with interest.
She looked to the side, clearly thoughtful, but her face showed that same emotionless mask. Then she flicked her head round so she was staring dead into his eyes with a gaze so harsh he felt himself shiver, "Then maybe I'll show you a real taste of vigilante justice."
She left without a second's hesitation, leaving him to smirk, feeling oh so triumphant. He even allowed himself to laugh, she'd spent so long fighting him, he'd known all it would take for her to fall into the path he'd laid out for her would be a taste. Who knew a sip of vigilantism would be all it took for the impregnable morals of Hirota Suzumi to fall like Jericho?
It made him happier than he'd ever been before.
"Hey, what's that space over there for?" Once more, Midoriya had hit her with yet another question she just did not think would come up... even in the slightest. Especially having just reappeared after Bakugou and Kirishima's explanation of her year-long mission.
She frowned at him for a moment in surprise before choking out the answer, "Um well,"
They were all shocked to see her looking so sheepish but part of it was actually more about the look on Todoroki's face. He didn't look happy, and that was to put it lightly; she was naturally concerned.
"The woman teaching me during my undercover stuff,"
They all nodded, knowing enough of what she meant by that now.
"well, she had some err..." She looked for the right word, "interesting," she landed on, "teaching methods."
Bakugou scoffed and received a light punch to the shoulder from his redheaded 'friend' for it.
"But, some of her methods had some credibility and I decided to keep it up." Zu almost laughed at the highly concerned looks on Bakugou and Kirishima's faces, even some of the others looked concerned, but Todoroki hadn't changed from the angry expression and Zu couldn't tell what he was so furious at.
"It's a method that teaches grace and the ability to improvise in the middle of a fight."
Now they were looking contemplative and confused as they tried to figure it out.
"I think it's a method Mina would have supported while-heartedly."
Kirishima's jaw dropped as the others continued looking utterly confuzzled, "She taught you how to dance?" Kirishima guessed in utter shock, his eyes threatening to burst out of their sockets with explosive speed.
Zu laughed and nodded, honestly shocked Kirishima had guessed.
"Can we see?" Hagakure asked.
Zu shook her head firmly her eyes widening in secret fear, "Oh no, no, no, no, no, I dance for three reasons and not one of them is for performing. Besides, I'm not that good."
They didn't believe that last comment for a second.
"What are the reasons?"
Zu's eyes widened slightly, yeah, she walked into that one, headfirst, "To train," They nodded, "to clear my head," They nodded. She paused nervously and cleared her throat, "and t-to help me sleep." she admitted quickly.
The redhead and the explosive male beside him tensed, watching her concernedly. Nobody asked the unspoken question, but everyone wanted to, Zu could see that. It was about damn time they all got a true answer for it and not just the 'I don't remember' that Bakugou and Kirishima had to deal with for so long.
"My birth quirk sends me visions sometimes, more often than not, they're not much fun."
"Your unfair advantage?" Midoriya inquired with a nod and a smile teasing his lips.
"Yeah," she answered in surprise, proud of him for guessing.
Bakugou and Kirishima continued to look pensive as this new information answered a whole lot of questions in their heads.
"How often do you get these visions?" Uraraka asked, worried about Zu.
"It depends," Zu answered, "there have been times when it's been every night, other times I get a whole month off or more. It's completely random."
"When did they start?"
"After I came back from the dead."
The questions continued and while Zu answered each one that came up fully and truthfully, her mind was still whirring around wildly to figure out what was wrong with Todoroki. Then, just as she prepared to send everyone home, her childhood friend had a small and highly private conversation that Zu— even though she desperately wanted to listen to it— blocked out. Portals opened to send everyone home as Midoriya sent a glance Zu's way and nodded to his fiancé. Midoriya walked through the black screen, but Todoroki stayed behind and when Zu realised he wasn't moving, she closed the portal.
The brunette waited patiently for him to speak. The silence was painful, it wasn't like the comforting source of peace Zu had gotten used to whenever she was in this warehouse, it was a tense and painful thing that made it hard to breathe. She wanted desperately to break it but held herself back because it wasn't her place. She didn't even move but she definitely wanted to busy herself, her brain started thinking about the best way to clear up the chairs and bean bag even as she tried to focus. In the end, she just stood there, looking at her old friend's back, her fingers twitching as they longed to do something beyond just standing still.
She couldn't hold out any longer, "Tod-"
"I don't know what to say," he interrupted finally, "I'm your friend so I should be understanding and accepting, right?" Unbeknownst to her, he had been struggling to find the right words which was why there had been silence. It wasn't some method he was using to build tension or suspense or to scare her. It wasn't because he was angry. He was just uncertain. "I know what I should be, just like the others were. I should understand how you were feeling why you hid it and accept it so we can all move on, but I can't." he said, turning to face her.
She listened intently, still standing, still frozen, hearing what he had to say and hoping she could somehow make things better.
"I thought-" he took a breath, "After everything, I thought we'd put the secrets behind us. We knew everything about each other, we were friends."
Zu knew he wouldn't take it lightly, she'd been surprised and awestruck by how the others had taken it. But even this, admittedly, was more than she'd expected after being forgiven all those times when they were little. She just hoped more than anything that they could leave here still friends.
"You know, when you appeared back in the classroom, came back from the dead I thought maybe, finally the world had decided to do something good for me. To give me back someone I could tell anything to. But I understood and accepted when you said you had to go. I wanted you to stay so much but I knew you had to leave so I pushed my feelings aside." He stepped forward, "And now I hear that you left for some hero mission you shouldn't even have been allowed on!"
He wasn't wrong, she could admit that.
"And then!" Another step towards her, "I find you've been suffering nightmares all this time. Midoriya told me you'd had nightmares about Hirota, and that you didn't want to tell me." Another step and another, each long strides that brought him so much closer to her, "He told me about it when Hirota made you a villain because he felt guilty somehow. He said you hadn't told me yourself because you were worried about me not getting sleep. Well you should have let me worry about me!" He pushed a finger into her shoulder to punctuate his words and she stumbled back slightly, "You needed help, why couldn't you trust me to help you?"
"Todoroki, of course I trusted you,"
"But not for this! You just did it alone like always!"
"I wasn't alone, I got help," she told him.
"Yeah right, from who?" he asked bitterly.
She paused a moment before answering, hesitating as she wondered whether this would just make him feel worse. But she answered before he had a chance to speak over her, "Bakugou and Kirishima."
He was shocked to say the least and also hurt, she could tell. "How did that happen?"
It wasn't the time for Zu to laugh but the shear gobsmacked expression on his face made her want to. "I was teleporting in my sleep, I didn't have any control over it and for whatever reason I ended up in Bakugou's dorm."
Todoroki didn't quite seem to know how to respond to that. He was mad and he was hurt and he couldn't keep forgiving her, whether her intentions were good or not, she was wrong and she had to be made to see it. He couldn't just let it go this time.
He just decided to skip over it and keep going, shaking himself of it. "But now you choose the life of a criminal, you're walking away from us again! We only just got you back, again." For a moment, the whole conversation truly seemed completely ludicrous, she seemed to have done far too much wrong it was just absurd, but this wasn't the time,"Can't you please, just stay?"
"I'm sorry-" she began.
"No!" He closed the small distance that had formed between them again, "If you're sorry, then prove it!"
All she could do was try to look him in the eyes, hope they could somehow convey what she wanted to say. They used to be able to have whole conversations without saying a word but now, they really had drifted apart.
"We both know the job," she whispered meekly.
He didn't respond so she took it as a sign to continue.
"We serve the people-"
"Stop using that as an excuse," he cut off, venom dripping from his tongue, "we both know you're only doing this to avoid us." he spat.
"What? No-"
"I'm sick of lying and secrets Suzumi! What did we do to make it so impossible for you to be around us?"
"Nothing!" Zu cried out, "You-"
"Then why?!"
"Because I want to help,"
"No! You're doing this because your selfish!"
"Todo-"
"Because you want to feel like you're not a bad person! Like you earned your place! Well I hope your happy!"
She didn't answer, there was no point. He didn't want to hear. Maybe later, he'd calm down, they could talk about this without raising their voices and come to some sort of understanding. But not now.
"You're earning your place," he said, "but losing all of us."
Opening a portal, watching his back recede, it had never been so painful.