We're Still so Far Away

All Might's figure stands out from the clouds of dust surrounding him. Instead of his typical, extravagant costume, he's wearing a simple white collar shirt and khakis. It would be a pretty funny scene if not for the expression on his face. There's no wide, goofy grin or absurd pose. His brow is furrowed and he's clenching his teeth, as if he's attempting to contain the emotions that are burning within him. The shadows on his face that usually make him look silly now only serve to accentuate his raw emotions. It's a version of All Might that I've never seen in all of the videos and interviews that I've watched. This is All Might when he's furious.

My first instinct is to flee, to run away and hope that he doesn't pursue me. I try to supress the urge but I can't stop myself from inching away. His mere presence seems to exert a massive pressure on my body. I'm not the only one. Kurogiri seems to feel the tension as well, his misty body shifting erratically. Even Bakugo and the students seem to be rendered completely motionless by the hero. The only one who seems undeterred by this turn of events is Shigaraki. His initial shock has faded and is replaced with an almost childlike glee.

I can't see his face but I can imagine the sadistic smile that he must be wearing now. Nobody reacts as All Might begins a slow walk down the stairs from the entrance. My mind starts racing but I force myself to slow down and properly interpret what's happening. Kurogiri mentioned that one student managed to escape and, assumedly, that's why All Might is here now. But it's only All Might, with no other teachers or reinforcements. I can only guess at why the hero doesn't have any backup but that isn't what matters. More importantly, if he's alone then our plan can still work. Nomu can defeat All Might, as long as it has enough time. All Might reaches the bottom step, his presence still overwhelming the entire field. But the knowledge that we can still win seems to lessen the overall tension in my body. For a moment, I feel just as confident in our victory as Shigaraki. But only for a moment.

All Might crouches down a little before rocketing forward. I don't even have enough time to process his potential targets before he's suddenly right in front of Nomu. The pair stare each other down for a moment until their bodies blur and a massive cloud of dust appears. Barely a seconds passes before a massive gust travels across the battlefield. The wind is enough to drag me back a few feet and force me to close my eyes. When I open them again, All Might is next to the students with a wounded Eraserhead in hand. Nomu is still right where he was, seemingly unaffected by the clash. What just happened was… unimaginable. Their speed and power, it goes far beyond what I expected. I know that All Might is the best but seeing him fight in person is different. He's nothing like he was when he attacked me. So this must be what it's like when the Number One Hero gets serious. Before, I had a vague plan to help Nomu by restraining All Might, even if it was only by a little. Just to know for sure, I halfheartedly activate Impel and attempt to stop the flow of All Might's quirk.

Immediately, I feel like I'm drowning. As if I've been completely submerged in total, raw power. The pressure comes from both inside and out, as if every inch of body was under attack. If Bakugo was like a river, All Might is a raging ocean. And my attempts to control him are as futile as trying to pour the entire ocean into a single cup. The second that I release Impel, I collapse to my knees. Sweat runs across my face as I try to catch my breath. That pressing feeling has disappeared but the mental fatigue has persevered. I ignore the lethargy and get back to my feet. I never thought that I would become so inconsequential in this battle. At this point, it's best for me to just stay out of the way. I back up, retreating to the spot where Shigaraki and Kurogiri are already regrouping. My presence is only barely noted by Shigaraki with a head nod as he returns to his conversation.

"All for One already said that All Might was getting weaker. As he is right now, Nomu will win easily. It already has it's orders so just be on standby for when we need to escape." Kurogiri nods in response and the three of us all turn our attention to All Might. He seems to be talking with Bakugo and the other students.

"Young Bakugo, Todoroki, and Kirishima! You all did quite well to defend yourselves for this long. But there is no need for further conflict for I am here!" he says, dipping back into his more eccentric side in what must be an attempt to calm them down. Fairly pointless, since none of them look remotely worried. Bakugo is especially quick to interrupt.

"As if!" he roars. "These losers aren't even second-rate to me! How about you let us move on and fight the real villains?" He points at us, as if he's verifying his intentions. All Might seems to stumble with this development.

"Hold on, young Bakugo! This is serious business! You can't just," he tries to reply before suddenly turning away from the exchange.

Bakugo is on the verge of complaining again when All Might bolts away. This strikes me as odd until I realize that Nomu has disappeared. In an instant, they collide in the center of the terrain. The force of them crashing into each other sends another gale through the building. I'm a bit more prepared this time so I manage to resist the force of their impact. The pair barely lets a moment go by before simultaneously grabbing each other. Locked into a grapple, the force of their struggle sends cracks through the pavement. Nomu seems to be gaining the upper hand by overwhelming All Might. It's raw power seems to be too much for the hero as Nomu begins to force All Might down to his knees. But before he can be completely dominated, All Might headbutts Nomu directly in the face. The shock absorption quirk takes the brunt of the blow but the speed of the attack is enough to force Nomu to loosen it's grip. All Might takes advantage and , instead of attacking further, leaps away from Nomu. The answer to his uncharacteristic behavior comes to me as I see a trail of ice travel across the ground. Nomu fails to react and the right half of it's torso is encased in ice. Nomu is so caught off guard that it stumbles and crashes to the floor, shattering the frozen section of his body. It would much more concerning if not for his regeneration.

All Might lands near the students and immediately attempts to lecture them. He starts "What were you doing, young Todoroki? You interfered in a very serious battle?"

The ice student, apparently named Todoroki, is emotionless with his response. "But it worked, didn't it?" It's a simple argument and it's one that All Might has no counter for.

A sudden motion in my peripheral vision draws my attention. Shigaraki has begun to scratch his neck again. His earlier glee has been replaced by cold hate once again. He itches harder and faster until he breaks skin and blood starts to drip down his neck.

"Kurogiri," he says, his voice cloaked in a deadly calm. "I want you get me, Midoriya, and those students out of here ." Both me and Kurogiri are startled by this suggestion and start to protest before Shigaraki cuts us off. "Keep us in the building but drop us somewhere else. Another zone or something. Just make sure that we're away from this fight. Now."

I can tell that Kurogiri was against the idea until Shigaraki said "Now". There's so much determination in his speech. It's as if he's become a completely different person. Kurogiri nods and turns to face the students. By now, Nomu has finished regenerating and is back on it's feet. It turns to look at Shigaraki, expecting new orders. Shigaraki simply points at the students. All Might understands the situation in an instant and steps in front of them. Nomu strides across the battlefield and strikes All Might. The hero blocks the attack but the force it sends the students flying back.

At that precise moment, Kurogiri opens three portals behind them. All three students sink in, disappearing completely. "They're in the ruins of the city. You should be able to find them easily." He opens a portal for us as well. Shigaraki walks in and I follow. Before I can fully enter the gate, Kurogiri nods at me. It's a simple gesture and I can't help but nervously smile in return.

I land in the ground floor of a ruined building. Shigaraki is already surveying the landscape, trying to find the students. I quickly join him but neither of us see anyone amongst the rubble. Taking advantage of the silence, I start to to talk to Shigaraki.

"So, why did you separate us?" Shigaraki chuckles, as if he was expecting the question, before replying.

"It's Boss Battle 101. Most Boss monsters have a bunch of support minions. They're weak but when they're helping out the boss, they can be such a pain. The best strategy is to pick them off before focusing on the real enemy. We can get rid of the little punks and cut off All Might's support. In the meantime, that musclehead will be so worried about his students that he won't be able to focus on Nomu." By the time Shigaraki's finished, I'm speechless. I was already surprised that he was so proficient in his fight against Eraserhead and now he's developed complex tactics on the fly. He's much more capable than his lazy demeanor would imply.

We continue to inspect the city in silence until the faraway sounds of explosions and arguing break through the quiet. "You'll go first," Shigaraki whispers to me. I nod in return and wait for someone to come into view. Unsurprisingly, the first one to appear is Bakugo. He's flying through the air and yelling at someone behind him. He's followed closely by the student with spiky red hair.

"Do whatever you want, Kirishima! I'm finding that shithead Deku!" The redhead, who must be Kirishima responds dejectedly.

"All Might could need our help! We should get back to the main area." Bakugo ignores him and continues to search for me. Todoroki seems to also be following, though he's trailing behind both of his classmates. I'd prefer it if we could separate the group and then attack but that isn't possible now. Just as Shigaraki instructed, I exit the building and run directly into Bakugo's path. All three of them are taken off guard by my sudden appearance, giving me a great opening. I use Impel on Todoroki and take hold of his ice powers. As per my instruction, an ice trail surges forth and separates the group. Bakugo is isolated on the right, with Kirishima and Todoroki trapped on the left. The two of them are next to the building that I was hiding in, so I choose to leave them to Shigaraki. I step to the right and find myself face to face with Bakugo.

The initial shock of my abrupt arrival has worn off. Now, Bakugo is wearing a vicious grin on his face. His voice is laden with anger as he speaks.

"So, are you gonna run away again? Or will you get brain freak to fight for you?!" This time, I respond without hesitation.

"Your quirk is incredible, but you're still the person that doesn't scare me that much." That's a blatant lie. Bakugo's raw power and the fact that he seems to already be adapting to my quirk makes him terrifying. I'm basically stalling for Impel to cooldown. However, my comment seems to hit some nerve.

Bakugo immediately flies into a blind rage and darts forward. I allow him to charge, somewhat thankful that the fight is becoming close quarters again. With those gauntlets, I stand no chance in a ranged battle. Bakugo rockets through the air and begins to reach towards me as he gets closer. Just before he reaches me, his palm directly faces the ground. I activate Imepl and launch a blast at the floor. It isn't strong enough to knock him off course but it does raise a cloud of debris that Bakugo flies straight into. Using it as a smoke screen, I dash through the cloud and reach to grab him. I only have a vague idea of where Bakugo is now but I need to try. I grasp at the area where I think his wrist is. Luckily, I'm dead on and make contact with his gauntlet. As expected, Bakugo immediately reacts to me and goes to blast me with his other hand. I fully grasp the gauntlet and force it to collide with Bakugo's attack.

The immediate explosion blows me away, sending me flying into a wall. The air is knocked out of me as I sink to the ground, unable to move. I thought that Bakugo's attack would shatter the gauntlet but I didn't think that it would detonate with such ferocity. My already singed clothes were further burnt by the eruption and even more small burns are scattered across my body. My hands especially hurt to move, oozing blood everytime that I try to stretch my fingers. Without the sounds of our own battle, I can hear more of the fight that's happening on the other side of the ice wall. The sound of scattered commands and dull impacts are scattered amongst the dull ringing noise in my ear. My mind drifts back to Bakugo and I drag my head to look in his direction. Amidst the dust from the blast, Bakugo's silhouette stands out. But as the debris settles, his figure looks far less impressive. He's gripping his left forearm, where the gauntlet was. Beneath his hand is a horribly burnt area running all over his arm. At the best spots, it's a slightly irritated red and at the worst, it's dark and dripping blood.

Bakugo manages to tear his vision away from his injury back towards me. I attempt to respond by standing back up, using the wall to support me. Bakugo begins to stride forward while slightly limping. He just gets closer and closer as I struggle to maintain my balance. My mind seems to be incapable of focusing, so much so that I barely hear Bakugo when he starts to speak.

"I don't know what the hell has changed about you." He speaks in a low whisper as if he was talking to someone on their deathbed. "The old, shitty Deku that I know would never stand a chance against me. And he would never run with a bunch of shithead villains." I push myself to stand on my own. I start to match Bakugo's pace.

"All I do know is that everything about this," I lean forward, about to throw a punch. "Just makes me want to pummel you!" Bakugo swipes at me, landing a direct blast on my chest. I'm knocked back into the wall, all air escaping my lungs for the second time. It takes all of my strength to resist the urge to just drop to the floor again. Despite the viciousness of his attack, Bakugo seems to be worn out as well. He was pretty confident when he attacked but he's reverted back to grasping his injured arm.

Suddenly, a shockwave seems to travel through the ground beneath us. A wave of power crashes over me and almost drags me back down to the ground. It feels as though this force is emanating from the center of the building. More specifically, the fight between All Might and Nomu. A part of me wonders: what does this surge of energy mean? My question is swiftly answered. Another wave crashes over me as a black mass is launched through the air and collides with the roof. The steel structure resists for a moment before being blown apart as Nomu sails through the sky. The entire building seems to shake in response. Nomu lost. All for One was wrong. And we failed.

I want to respond but the shock of the battle's outcome and my damaged body overwhelm my instincts. My vision seems foggy as I turn back to look as Bakugo. All Might's victory and my defeat have returned him to a relatively confident state. He steps forward to finish me off before a cracking sound breaks through the air. Both of our attention is turned to the ice wall that has been separating the two fights. At first, there's no visible damage on our side. But it only takes a second for a large fissure to form in the wall. It must be Shigaraki's quirk that's affecting the wall but why? The answer immediately comes to me. A distraction.

Without thinking, I turn and run away from Bakugo and our fight. My movements are sluggish so my retreat is not fast at all. But Bakugo is in no position to pursue. He moves to launch himself towards me but flinches as he raises his arm. I push through the pain in my legs as I reach the end of the ice wall. Just as I make it past the wall, Shigaraki also emerges. Unlike me, he's largely untouched except for a few cuts and patches of ice. I turn back to look at his opponents. Both the redhead and the ice student are covered in bloody, exposed areas where Shigaraki must've made contact. The fact that Shigaraki could be so formidable still strikes me.

We both exit the city zone together, despite how much I'm trailing behind. All Might seems to be stationary in the middle of the battlefield. His gaze was already set on the zone that we just left and he looks concerned by the fact that we were the ones to leave. Kurogiri sees us as well and immediately reacts. Two warp gates spawn right in front of us. Shigaraki quickly leaps through his but I falter a little. In the small instant that I stutter, All Might closes the distance between us. The force created by his movement blows away the portal and leaves me with no means of escape. Kurogiri can't create another one before All Might catches me. He tightly grips my arm and picks me off the ground.

Dangling, I can only weakly struggle and try to loosen his grip. With each attempt, his clasp gets tighter. The hero waits until I've stopped resisting to speak. "The second that I saw you from a distance, I could tell that I knew you." His speech pattern is much more subdued than usual, while still being bold

. "Up close like this, I can finally recall. You're Izuku Midoriya, the boy from that incident with the Pro Hero Tremor. And... you were the boy that asked me if you could become a hero." The fact that he remembers me is surprising but I try not to let that show. It feels wrong for this man to remember my weakest moment. " I looked into you a little after that and found out about your mother. I'm so sorry."

Anything but that. I didn't want to hear that from Bakugo and I don't want to hear it from you. I'm unable to keep my frustration from boiling over as I reply.

"Is that what think I am? Some kid that's lashing out because he's upset?" All Might is shocked by my response and leaves me to continue on my own. "I've joined the League of Villains because I think that heroes are wrong. Being able to do whatever they want. Stepping on the weak. How many people aren't saved? How many are hurt?" All Might still doesn't respond, probably because there is no real correct answer to my question. "I don't know what kind of society that I want to help create, but it'll definitely be better than this one."

I activate Impel and focus on All Might's power. I've learned my lesson and instead of restraining the power, I want to increase. I urge that strength just a little, hoping that the it won't destroy my arm. All Might's grip tightens drastically and a snap reverberates through the air.

"AGHHH!" I scream in response to the pain in my bones. The sudden injury is enough to startle All Might and he immediately releases out of reflex. As I drop to the floor, a portal forms beneath me. Before I completely sink into the darkness, I look at All Might one more time. I expect some form of rage but his face seems to speak to a feeling of helplessness.

I crash to the floor of our hideout, clenching my arm. Kurogiri is quick to appear next to me and examine the injury.

"It's only a small fracture," he says carefully. "We should set it before it can expand into a full-on break." In almost an instant, my arm is set in a sling. With my most pressing wound temporarily taken care of, I can focus on my surroundings. Shigaraki is already settled in, hunching on one of the bar stools. He seems to be lost in thought. His focus is broken by the sound of static.

All for One's screen slowly lares to life and his slow voice pours out the speakers."With Midoriya here, we can finally debrief." Shigaraki marches to the screen and pounds the wall that it's attached to. "You said that he was weak! You told us that Nomu would destroy him!" His voice has changed once again. This time, it's angry but also whiny. Shigaraki sounds like a child having a temper tantrum. All for One's response is strikingly cool in comparison.

"Yes, I was wrong. It seems that I have underestimated the Number One Hero's resolve. But there is no need to despair, for we still accomplished much even though All Might was victorious." Shigaraki is outraged with his retort.

"Accomplish?! What the hell did we do?! NOTHING!" He accentuates his point by kicking over a bar stool. All for One still stays calm when he answers.

"The Hero Society at large will not forget this event. A group of villains breaking into UA and attacking a class? You can be sure that such an occurrence will remember the League of Villains. Even the foot soldiers and Nomu that were lost are of no consequence. The most important members, the irreplaceables, have all persisted. Each of you did quite well." All for One's words are a great comfort. I was also worried that this mission would be labeled a failure, despite all of our hard work. To know that it was worth something makes me feel much better. But that's a sentiment that Shigaraki doesn't seem to share. Instead he just slumps back on to his bar stool and seemingly returns to his thoughts. Kurogiri leans down and grasps my shoulder.

"You're in quite a terrible state, Midoriya. You should get some rest." I weakly nod in response and make way to the stairs. Just as I reach the first step, I turn to look at the group at large. The flickering screen tells me that All for One is still listening.

"I was thinking about battles and that I'm not sure that I should just be called 'Midoriya' in the middle of a fight." Both Shigaraki's and Kurogiri's heads turn at my statement.

All for One is the first to reply. "So you desire a name, fitting of a member of the League of Villains? And what did you have in mind?" In my own mind, I flashback to Bakugo. For as long as he's had his quirk, I've never been able to stand a chance against him. Today, although I lost, I was able to do something. My mind is set on this.

"You can call me Deku." If they were surprised before, Kurogiri and Shigaraki are outright astonished now. Kurogiri is the first one to speak up.

"Someone who can't accomplish anything?" He asks it hesitantly and I feel the need to justify myself. I respond as I turn to walk up the stairs.

"It is the one type of person that I will never be again."

As I climb the stairs, I can hear Shigaraki chuckle behind me.