I stared in awe at the scene in front of me. Izu beat Chisaki. And while I only caught the end of that fight, what a fight it was. That was incredible.

I still don’t know how he managed to use 100% and still be standing. He turned his head to look back at Eri, who’s tied to his back when a golden light emitted around him and he stiffened, as if in pain. 

“Izu?” I asked, but was still a bit far away from him he couldn’t hear.

What’s going on? What is that? It’s the same color that girls horn was glowing, except her’s is more white than yellow now. It’s gotta be her Quirk.

So why is it hurting Izu all of a sudden? 

Izu collapsed to his knees, face strained. I was about to run his way when a rumbling sound and Chisaki’s groan turned into a shout.

He’s awake?!

The strange arm thing moved and slammed down on Izu and Eri, however that golden light began to shine from within and it tore apart the giant arm and the rest of that body Chisaki was in, causing him to fling upwards.

Ochako floated up and caught him before bringing him to the ground and pinning him with some familiar martial arts she learned from Gunhead.

No, he wasn’t fully conscious to begin with, but restraining him is good.

Now Izu! I ran his way, hearing who I think Ryukyu and Ochako talking. “Izu!” I shouted. As soon as I neared that golden light reached out and touched my body.

That was when I realized how he was able to do it. “Kuh!” I stopped for a second, feeling the strange and painful feeling of my body.

Like it’s taking away. The injuries on me began to vanish and I could feel my bones go back into place. But It kept doing more.

Taking more.

Rewinding.

Is this Eri’s Quirk? “Kiri-Nee . . . get away!” He grunted, falling to his hands. 

Gritting my teeth I struggled to take steps towards them, but I forced myself to. If I don’t do this, Izu is going to die. To revert to nothing. But if I don’t do it quickly we both will.

It’s hard and very difficult. “Ugh.” I winced, falling to my knees in front of them. This isn’t good. I think . . . this is it. As the thought crossed my mind a spike pierced through me from behind, bringing fort pain. “AGH!” I shouted at the sudden attack. 

“Kiri!” Ochako, Midnight, and Kitsune’s voices shouted.

The hell? I glanced down at the poison that missed my vitals but definitely is somewhere where it’ll cause damage. As I thought that though, the light evaporated Kei’s weapon and healed the wound.  But in doing so it no longer hurts.

As it did, another hit me again. Again. The hell Kei?! That hurts! Where is he?

I looked around wildly but didn’t see him. What is he playing at?

Ah. I can move though. 

As long as I’m injured, I can withstand Eri’s Quirk, even if it’s a little! 

I looked up to see her crying, a look of panic, fear, and sorrow on her face. She knows she’s doing this and that it’s hurting us. She’s trying to stop it, but she’s so young and I doubt they told her what her Quirk was exactly or how to use it.

“Kazuya!” Ryukyu called. I glanced back to see her with Asui holding an injured Aizawa, and a beaten Tamaki holding an injured Mirio.

Aizawa looks messed up.

Ignoring them I reached over and gently touched her. “Eri.” I spoke calmly and softly. 

Her eyes finally showed their natural ruby, but tears still streamed. More and more spike kept hitting me, and at this point, I think Kei is trying to help me. I don't know why but I don't have time to think about it.

I held her gaze with my own red eyes, fumbling to take off the red cloth tying her. “Calm down. It’s okay.”

She shook her head, the tears coming down harder. “No! I’m hurting him! I can’t stop! Deku will die!” She wailed with so much pain that it struck a cord too close to home. 

The cloth dropped and I plucked Eri off him and stood, holding her close to me, like one would naturally do.

The light increased and it began to go too quickly for Kei’s damage to hold it back some, not completely. He stopped at my back and went for my legs. But I still held her and kept standing, feeling it eating away at me.

“It’s okay. Your emotions are taking over you, and that’s why it’s happening.”

She just cried louder and I fell to one knee as it increased. Damn it! But, I need to calm her down. “Eri, it hurt, didn’t it?”

This question took her so off guard that it stopped her tears momentarily.

“It hurt, being in that stone room underground. The experiments they would do. The punishments they’d inflict. Their training. Feeling like you deserved it all because you think you're a monster.” 

She nodded, eyes still wet with unshed tears. Her power stopped growing but it remained at large.

“I know it did. You see, you and I are a lot alike. I grew up like that. In a house like this. With people who would do awful things to me. Just like you.”

With some struggle, I ripped at my already torn shirt on the back and held her closer so she could look at the large scar that covered a majority of my back. 

She peered over curiously and gasped, her eyes going back to me. Her power weakened some more to where it stopped covering Izu, but I was still in the line.

She held out her bandaged arms to me and unwrapped, showing her scar. “They’re similar.” She whimpered.

I nodded, my face unsmiling like usual, but I knew it was softer. “Yeah, they are. I get it. I do. It hurts, you’re scared, and you think that you belong here. Away from people. Because you’d only hurt them, right?” She nodded her head fervently.

I looked over at Izu. “You see him, Deku?” I nodded to him. She looked back and Izu was staring at us from the ground, exhausted.

The corner of my lip was up in a half smile. “He saved me too.”

Her wide eyes went back to me, her power diminishing even more. 

Kei’s attacks stopped. “He did?” I nodded as I fell to my butt, still holding her close. “Yep. He sure did. Hey, Eri?” I spoke her name softly.

She peered into my face with her innocent eyes. An ugly part of me stung, envious at how she was so precious that all these people saved her.

While I never had that. Izu did save me in a sense. He gave me courage to run. To see that maybe there was something to life.

He gave me the feeling of hope. Hope that never belonged to me, but I had wanted to live again.

But while they all looked at her, saw the wrong that was done and the desperate attempts to save her, I was abandoned.

Left only to claw onto any chance I can by myself.

“I have been enshrouded in that darkness all my life. But, if I can somehow stand alongside them, work with Heroes like this, have that happiness I had always wanted, doesn’t that mean you can?”

She seemed a bit hesitant. “But you need to take a step by yourself too. You have all of us here with you, but it becomes meaningless if you don’t take that first step as well. But once you do, then you can do anything that you’ve ever wanted to.”

Her eyes widened a bit more as she searched my eyes for any lies.

Eri and I are two sides of a coin. We both know how cruel life is. We’ve both experienced hardships. We’ve lost loved ones and have been betrayed by others. This little girl and I are painfully alike.

With only the difference being she was saved. And those who did it, wanted to do it. 

And she can see it in me too. Because she has also experienced it, she can probably see more into me then anyone else ever has.

Her light diminished and her horn now had a faint glow. “I can . . . go?” I nodded, brushing her raggedy white hair.

“Yeah. You can go. You can go wherever you want. You can do whatever you want. You’re-”

The word was trapped in my throat. Jealousy creeped in along with despair. Because unlike me, she’s . . .

"-free.” And like that, her horn stopped glowing and her Quirk stopped. A few more tears left her wide eyes and her arms tightened around my neck. 

Her eyes began to droop with exhaustion and she fainted.

I sighed, holding her head with my hand to my chest as I fell onto my back, also exhausted. “Kiri!” Midnight, Ryukyu, and Ochako ran over and looked between me and Izu, who still remained on the ground.

I ignored their eyes and stared at the sky, which was annoyingly bright despite everything that had happened. This whole ordeal hit too close to home, and I don’t know how to deal with that.

“I’m tired.” I complained flatly. 

~

I stood in the hospital hallway, back to the wall as their cries carried through the doorway. Inside is a room with Nighteye’s sidekicks, Recovery girl, Aizawa-Sensei, and a doctor.

Beyond that is an open area where Izuku, All Might, and Mirio were.

Crying over a dying Nighteye. 

I didn’t particularly like him. But I didn’t dislike him. And he was someone important to Izu, even for a bit. And someone important to the sobbing Mirio and distraught All Might.

This is probably something All Might has experienced, but I doubt it’s something that Mirio had. And I know Izu had never been through this.

That’s the ugliness of this world. Of the Heroes vs. the Villains.

No matter which side, you will lose those you held dear, those you called friends, and those that taught you. 

When you lose someone and they die in front of you, you’re never the same again. You’ll carry that with you for the rest of your life and it changes you. For better or worse it depends.

But it never bettered me. 

I . . . I didn’t want Izu to experience it. Because he is so pure and kind. Something like this would probably mess him up.

But if he wants to be a Hero, he’s going to have to go through this sooner or later. Maybe sooner is better. But I at least wanted him to remain unaware of it. Just for a little bit longer. 

“Are you going to go in?” Midnight asked. I glanced over at her briefly on the other side of the door.

I looked back to the ground in front of me, face void. “I don’t really know him. Today was the first day I met him.”

She hummed and looked upwards. “What about Midoriya-Kun?”

My finger twitched at his name. Of course I want to comfort him. But it’s impossible. “I’m not sure how to comfort him. And I think it’s not the right time for it.” I stated.

Many people were injured. So many. But they all miraculously made it through it.

All except for him.

They won’t use Eri, as she;s unstable and the damage it’d further do to her. And I no longer have that Stone. Nothing can be done. So the farewells were in order. “I’m sorry, Kiriya.”

Huh? I looked at Midnight in confusion. She was staring directly at me.

“I’m sorry about this mission. About how your friend is hurting because of it. And . . . because it was such a sensitive matter for you.”

Of course she’d know. As someone who had been put in charge of me at a young age.

Eri’s sad and pathetic life was a mirror image of mine. But Eri’s had a happy ending. One that only resulted in one death. While mine remained just as pathetic as it was all those years ago.

And with those I loved gone forever.

“I know talking to her about that was difficult for you. But you still helped her. Thank you. Your mother would have been proud.”

I grit my teeth and turned. “No. If she saw me she wouldn’t be.”

Not for what I’ve become. How I’ve become. “That’s not true.” Midnight started, but I shook my head, walking away. “We’ll never know, will we?” I asked, although I wasn’t waiting for an answer.

It bothered me that a few people were close enough to hear me speak with Eri. I opened up more to that little girl than I ever had. I did it to save Izu and me, but I still did it. Despite being so jealous of her.

And that pisses me off just as much. I shouldn’t be so envious. 

And I didn’t want them to hear. The parts of me that I don’t want anyone to ever see. The darkness in my heart. The chains that forever bound me to my accursed father. The hopelessness that is this meaningless existence. And that I’m not even a person anymore.

I’m a weapon my father created. Just like Kei. 

Eri might have been able to see all that they couldn’t but she’s still so young. She cries easily, and she is attached to Izu and Mirio. Her light wasn’t completely snuffed out yet.

She’ll definitely have some damage for years to come, but she’ll be able to live a normal life.

Normal. 

I stopped briefly and glanced back. Midnight was no longer there, but I could still hear their cries.

Izu . . . 

I’m sorry that this happened. That you had to go through this. But you wanted to be a Hero. As much as I care for you, you did need to go through something just like this. In order to save the world, you need to know what it’s like.

Can you continue this path? 

I used to want you to give it up. So you could live an easier life. But things are different now. You’re different. And so am I.

I think you could be the greatest Hero there ever was. A true Hero. And that’s what the world needs.

It needs you.

So I hope you’ll be able to get through this. It’s only a step in that path.

I turned back and headed towards the exit. I can’t stand the stench of this place even longer.