~O~

Something clicked in his mind.

The keys...

The memory lane.

The keychain held many keys but Izuku was able to use only one!

Why?

Because the others were to be used outside of the alter ego's boundary! There was only one place that held memories in it's domain and that was the cabin. But as far as Izuku remembered, that thing somehow removed every single trace of the cabin when it sent out Bakugou's clone to lure him outside the vale.

Now, why would the green haired boy think of a way to regain his memories to keep himself sane when he was about to kill his childhood friend in a minute, once the darkness takes over again?

Simple. The answer was hidden in the name,

Memory lane.

Memories are wondrous things. It helps one reconnect to the past. A photographic memory could allow you to relive a moment anytime. All you need to do is remember it. And right now, stuck in a mindscape taken over by a psychopath, memories would allow him to connect.

Unlike how he contacted the ash blonde — without knowing what he really was doing. This time, if Izuku found the entire memory lane, he could connect to the real world with full conscience. He could connect to his friends, his mom, his teachers... Or his own body. Moreover, the memory lane was probably the place where he entered the mindscape from. There must be an exit!

He could wake up from this nightmare.

He could save his ash blonde rival. As well as himself.

He just needed to somehow get out of that thing's range.

Somehow.

There has to be a way. This place couldn't possibly be an endless domain belonging to his alter ego. There had to be a limit. He just needed to figure out what it was before he became the puppet again — God, how he hated that feeling. It felt so pathetic.

But right now... He needed to hurry. He needed to think faster. He needed to form a strategy. Just like Bakugou said; use your head.

Izuku shut his eyes closed, tightly, leaving the ash blonde a little confused as tears kept trickling down the smaller boy's freckled cheeks.

The thing was; Izuku didn't even have a whole minute to think of something to save his childhood friend and himself and everyone out there in the real world.

But what was a little time limit in front of Izuku's most critical quality? A quick thinking brain had it's own perks. He just needed to think of every most-possible-and-best ways to defeat the enemy and deliver the words to Bakugou.

Now, the decoy said that it's boundary was limited to over the mountain. It was obviously a lie but you never know unless you try. But, Izuku still needed a better option.

He made a mental image of his alter ego standing on top of the glass fort, translucent circular waves surrounding it's figure and moving outwards in a continuous motion. Now, if these waves were to be dubbed as the power capacity and range of the alter ego, that meant moving the alter ego would move it's boundary. Wherever it went, it formed a boundary!

'That's it!' He thought.

They just needed to change it's position for enough time so Izuku could reach the lane!

Contrary to that, if that wasn't the case, Izuku would tell Bakugou to take it across the river and over the mountain, just in case. Either one of the options had to work.

He slowly reopened his teary emerald eyes to look at the ash blonde and tried to give a weak smile as a signal that he was still here.

"K-Ka... K-Ka-acchan..." Izuku's voice was croaked, almost as if it was hurting him to speak.

Bakugou, on the other hand, slightly nodded his head as if he were saying that he was listening to what the green head had to say.

"T-Take... T-Take him o-over the... Th-The river.... A-A-And d-don't... Don't s-stop." Izuku uttered out with his usual I-have-a-plan glint in his eyes. The green head was struggling with his words just as much as he was struggling to keep his senses for a while longer.

Bakugou gave another slight nod before he eyed the alter ego standing in the corner, watching.

Shouldn't have done that...

The moment his ruby red eyes left the struggling green haired boy and met the one's of the alter ego, he was met with a strong punch from below that sent him to the left until he hit the edge that thankfully was secured by a small three feet wall serving as a railing.

Izuku lost his senses again. He was a puppet once again.

Izuku slowly stood up, supporting his frame with his arms as he eyed the ash blonde. The emeralds lost their shine and were once again dull.

Bakugou glanced at his childhood friend, expression unreadable. His attention was taken away by a chuckle followed by a few laughs from the alter ego.

"Looks like chat time's over, Kacchan~ Only if you two talked things out years ago, maybe you wouldn't be facing these problems. But, oh well, who am I to complain?" It shrugged and rolled it's eyes with a grin.

Bakugou took one last glance at Izuku who had gone apathetic again before standing up on his feet and sprinting towards the green head's alter ego, leaving it a little surprised.

Bakugou grabbed it in his right arm and jumped off the fort, using his left one to emit large scale explosions for the purpose of propelling himself upwards straight. Within a few seconds, the ash blonde was airborne.

The ash blonde fled across the river and over the mountain the green head told him too, taking the alter ego away with him.

And just as they went out of Izuku's sight, the green haired boy could feel himself coming back. He was right... That thing made a range where it was. It was only a matter of getting it away.

Izuku dropped to his knees as he fully caught ahold of his senses. He clutched his head and took a few deep breaths, settling his mind and body after the sudden nauseatic effect. He maintained his stability before sitting up straight and searching his pockets for the keys.

Thankfully, he still had them.

Izuku stood up, a hand on his chest while the other held the keys, "Okay... Okay... We can do this. We can do this."

He didn't know till how long Bakugou could keep that thing away from him. He didn't know where the memory lane was in the first place. He needed to hurry. They still hadn't won yet. There was still a lot left to do.

The green haired boy rushed down the flight of stairs made out of mirrors and ran away from the fort.

In hopes to find the memory lane.

~O~

Bakugou had taken the alter ego pretty far from where Izuku was and what made him the most worried was that it wasn't doing anything.

It wasn't moving. It wasn't talking. It wasn't mocking him.

It almost felt like it had lost consciousness.

But the ash blonde couldn't take the risk to actually believe that. It was most likely waiting for the right time to attack.

He sure hoped Deku knew what he was doing and wasn't just getting them into more problem.

"You know..." The alter ego spoke up. He knew it. That bastard wouldn't get knocked out so easily.

"Izuku was hard to trap in here... They tried to pry him away from me. They were pretty strong. But they had their limits to a point unlike me..."

Bakugou raised an eyebrow, "They...?"

Who were ‘they’? What was it talking about? There are more people in here? Could they be a threat. Or could they be on their side?

It smirked, "They shouldn't be bothering us... As I sealed them away..."

~O~

Izuku ran and ran and ran until he was back at the vale where the cabin was. Now that he remembered how to use his quirk properly, he made it their faster than expected.

Huffs and ragged breaths escaped his lips as he felt his body grow colder for some reason he didn't know. It was obviously a cold weather around here but he was feeling a little bit too cold. He had never been too cold to make his fingers go numb.

Izuku ignored that and focused on the matter at hand.

The cabin still wasn't there. Where else should he search? Where could the memory lane be?

The green haired boy looked all around, finding nothing.

"Maybe I should go over there..." Izuku pondered looking at the direction where the forest that led to the clearing used to be. There must be a reason why that thing left him alone at the clearing. He should be able to find something even if there was just another river now.

Izuku ran up the hill as fast as he could with One For All coursing through his veins as bright green lightning cracked around his body.

He skidded to a halt once he reached the end of the hill. There was a vertical cliff and there was no way he could climb down without any equipment.

So, there was only one way left to get over to the other side...

Izuku took a few steps back.

He gotta jump.

The green head rushed at one hundred percent not caring about the damage to his body — since the last time it happened it was a bluff, so hopefully he wasn't really going to get actually injured even if it still hurt.

"What the—?!" Izuku was in midair when he gasped, his eyes widening.

The terrain shifted.

Izuku was surrounded by darkness.

~O~

Did you know 'quirk' falls under the synonyms for 'alter ego'?