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The two men walking behind Aizawa had faces which could have belonged to anyone, but the pressed suits and briefcases were all too familiar to any child of a pro hero.
They were agents for the Hero Commission.
“Todoroki,” Aizawa called. “A word?”
Shouto numbly stood up from his seat on the sofa. He felt Midoriya’s eyes follow him up. They had been in the middle of watching a film in the common area, but someone must have had the idea to pause it, for now the room was entirely silent.
The agents’ eyes watched him impassively, not a trace of any emotion lingering on their face. A blank wall, impenetrable.
Something was wrong. All of Shouto’s inner alarms were blaring, telling him to run. Those two men were danger incarnate, and Shouto knew his time was up.
He moved his hand to his pocket, fingers brushing over the keyboard of the burner phone that connected him to the League. A physical model, prepared for exactly this scenario, so he could type in the code without needing to see the screen and let anyone else see what he was doing.
He never thought he would have needed to use it. He thought his tracks had been hidden well enough. Thought his father would be enough of a threat to stop them even thinking of Shouto as a traitor.
But now it seemed his time in UA was over.
“What for?” Shouto asked, heart in his throat. This could just be nothing, his paranoia flaring up. He had to know before he would ruin everything.
Aizawa glanced at the suited men beside him, his mouth twisted into a frown for a brief second before composing himself. “It’s just a few questions, nothing serious.”
That gesture told Shouto all he needed to know. What the men were here for, Aizawa didn’t agree with it. Didn’t believe they were in the right. That meant it could only be one thing. They knew. They knew Shouto was a traitor for the League. And Aizawa didn’t believe them, still thought of Shouto as one of them. What would happen next, it would hurt him, his teacher who had supported him, still trusted him. But it had to be done.
Shouto typed in the code and pressed send, reassured by the soft vibration he received immediately after. Dabi had got the message. Now, all Shouto had to do was get himself out.
Easier said than done.
“Sorry, I can’t do that,” Shouto managed, stepping backwards. It was all he could do to stop himself from crumbling down into the floor. The stares of the few classmates from their positions on the couch burned into him. That would be the last thing he would see of them before they would hate him. Before they would know of his deception.
Midoriya’s eyes would be the worst, the ones that would stick with him every night. Midoroya had tried so hard to help, so hard to be Shouto’s friend. But he could never be, not truly. He was a hero student, believing in the same very system that had hurt Shouto over and over again. In the end, none of them could help Shouto. Not to the extent he needed. No, there was only one person who had offered Shouto what he really wanted.
Aizawa’s expression turned grave. He stepped forward, eyes turning red. Shouto felt his quirk slip from his grasp.
So, even Aizawa’s hesitance had run out. Even for one of his own students, he was so quick to jump to conclusions. He was right, of course, but even so. The paranoia of heroes. So easy to turn on anyone but his father.
“Todoroki, we can help you get out. Whatever they’ve got on you to make you help them, we can fix it,” Aizawa pledged, genuine honesty in his words.
And oh, didn’t those words hurt. For any help they could offer was already far too late.
“Could you kill Endeavor?” Shouto asked, voice steady as ice.
Aizawa’s twitch was answer enough. That was the thing with Heroes. They always protected their own, even if their own caused pain over and over. In the end, villainy was the only option, the only thing that would get them to listen . It hadn’t been what Shouto had wanted, not at first, but justice would never come to a man like Endeavor if it wasn’t at Shouto’s own hands. That was what Dabi could give him. What the League could give him.
Justice against their father.
“The only thing that will fix it is seeing him dead,” Shouto murmured, words heavy with his own held back pain.
His classmates still seated on the sofa had finally understood what was going on. Midoriya stood up, reaching out to Shouto, eyes glistening with betrayal.
The hero commission agents moved forward, hands reaching for whatever weapons they had on hand, whatever they would need to take Shouto down.
Nine… eight… seven...
Shouto couldn’t move just yet. The timing had to be right, perfectly aligned. Shigaraki had taught him that.
Three… two… one.
Aizawa blinked and Shouto moved.
A wave of ice came up between them and his classmates, blocking all of them from view, their screams muffled by the thick layers of ice. Immediately Shouto was off, sliding down the hallway, heading for the huge window he knew was waiting for him.
That was the problem with UA. Impossible to break into, but to break out? Child’s play.
He sent an ice spear towards the window. Glass rained down around him as he jumped out, feet cresting a wave of ice. He could see the high gates of UA. So close now. Out there, Kurogiri would be waiting.
A blast of sound sent him flying. He flailed into the air, feet no longer on solid ice. Shouto sent an ice block downwards, ice spiralling into the air to support him. He sent another wave towards the oncoming form of Present Mic.
Aizawa must have notified the rest of the heroes. Shit, he was too fast. Shouto could see why Shigaraki thought of him so highly.
Shouto forced himself up, but the echoes of that sound wave left him woozy. He reeled on his feet, forcing himself to keep moving. He couldn’t let them catch him, not now. Not without seeing his whole mission complete. Else all of this, this betrayal, this pain, it would all have been for naught.
Blue fire exploded out in front of him. Despite how uncontrolled the initial shot appeared, it worked neatly in separating Shouto from the rest of the heroes. Shouto couldn’t help but smile. Touya was here at last.
He saw the heroes stumble back from the flames attempting to catch onto their clothes.
Shouto rose to his feet, unhindered by any more attacks. Focusing his ice downwards he shot up into the air.
A sharp blast of pain echoed through his ribcage, and he gasped. He was more injured than he thought. His ice faltered and he slipped, slowly tilting towards the earth.
A scarred arm snapped out and caught him around his waist. It forced the air out his lungs and sent pain reverberating along his existing injuries, but it did nothing to dull down the relief. His brother had caught him. His brother had saved him, once again.
“Couldn’t go out easily, could you, Shou?” Touya laughed, crooking up Shouto from their place on top of the UA gates. The spiralling void of a warp gate twisted behind him.
“Hey, they came for me. Wasn’t my fault,” Shouto breathed out. He tugged on Touya’s sleeve. “Are we going to go now?”
“Wait, you’ll wanna see this,” Touya breathed out. He spun Shouto around so Shouto’s back rested against his chest. From this position, Shouto could see all the heroes, his former teachers, fighting to put out the flames. Even further back, he could see his classmates, crowded around the entrance to the dorms. They were barely visible through the night, but Shouto swore he could feel the weight of green eyes staring at him.
“Well, Shou? Wanna say something to your audience?”
Shouto looked out amongst the crowd, the frenetic energy. Aizawa wasn’t moving at all, hand resting on his capture scarf as he looked at Shouto. He was nearly expressionless, but Shouto had learned to read him by now. It was pure disappointment he saw in those eyes.
Shouto took a deep breath, and turned his face up to the sky.
“Thank you for absolutely nothing, UA!” He screamed out, pouring his rage, his pain, his whole heart into these worlds.
Touya’s laughter echoed through Shouto, as Touya’s arm squeezed around him.
Together they tipped backwards, off the wall, falling into the abyss.