Inspired by this AMAZING animatic. Seriously check it out.

https://youtu.be/j8zcG8NrtF8

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Toshinori's mind was on autopilot as he navigated his way through the hospital, searching for the room. Nurses gave him confused looks and some people tried to talk to him as he passed by, but he couldn't pay attention to them.

When he reached the room, he saw a majority of class 1-A already sitting outside, in chairs, and on the floor. The rest of the class was in their hospital rooms, dealing with their own injuries. They weren't as bad as this, though. Todoroki sat next to Aizawa in the two chairs closest to the door, staring at his hands. When they saw him running at them, Aizawa stood up.

"They're only letting you in at the moment. And Inko, when she arrives." Aizawa's look said it all—Izuku wasn't going to make it.

Toshinori nodded and headed inside.

"Where is my son?" Toshinori asked as he rushed into the hospital room, disregarding the doctors telling him to stay back when he first got in.

No, Toshinori wasn't Izuku's actual father, but they had been through so much together and cared about each other so much that calling each other father and son had just felt right. The class had been very confused when they first addressed each other as such in front of them.

"Toshinori," Recovery Girl was at the end of the room, heading over to Toshinori, who was shrugging off the doctor's hands holding him back. "Come in. They brought him in an hour ago, he's lost a lot of blood—"

"Is he alive?" Toshinori set his hands firmly on Recovery Girl's shoulders, eyes wild and worried.

"Yes, but you have to understand, the bullets entered just above his hip and by his heart, and Shigaraki—"

"Can I see him please?" His voice was loud as he begged to see his successor.

Recovery Girl hesitated before nodding solemnly and saying, "I'm doing everything I can, but the wounds were already infected when he arrived. There are some things that quirks just can't fix."

Toshinori pushed down the feeling of bile rising in his throat and made his way across the room and pushed away the curtain.

The tears he had somehow managed to suppress up to this point now began to flow freely.

Toshinori was used to seeing Izuku in the hospital, but not like this. Never like this. Never this pale and never this close to death. And his torso—

Part of the skin on his torso had been disintegrated. Shigaraki's doing. His wounds seemed to have been tended to a little, but, as Recovery Girl said, there were things that quirks just couldn't fix. The blood on his face and torso almost made Toshinori look away. When Izuku saw him, tears in his eyes, Toshinori found that he couldn't look away, even if he tried.

"Izuku."

"Pa."

His voice was so small and frail. Toshinori wiped at his eyes as he sat at the boy's bedside.

"I did exactly as you said, pa." Izuku looked up at Toshinori, looking disappointed in himself. As if he had done something wrong. "I held my head up high."

Toshinori stared at the boy, taking it all in, before grabbing Izuku and holding him gently, almost as if to say, It's okay. I am here. "I know, my boy. I know, you did everything just right."

"Even before the fight began, I made sure to have a smile on my face." Izuku looked up, tears welling in his eyes.

"I know." Toshinori pulled Izuku away so he was looking into his eyes. "I'm so proud of you, Izuku. So proud."

Deku smiled weakly at his idol's words. The smile faltered, however, when he remembered something. "But, One For All—"

"Don't worry about it, Izuku. You made that power your own. It was yours. Don't worry."

Deku shook his head and raised his hand to his head. He plucked out a long, green hair and put it in Toshinori's hand.

Toshinori stared at it before looking back up at Izuku. "We won't need it. You'll make it." Toshinori knew even then that he was lying. "Now, save your strength and stay alive."

A few seconds later, Toshinori heard the door slam open, and he turned to see Inko standing there, pure terror on her face.

"Ms. Midoriya—" Toshinori said, standing up as she ran over.

"Is he breathing? Is he going to survive this?" She asked desperately, grabbing at Toshinori in almost the same way Toshinori had done to Recovery Girl. "Who did this? Did you know?"

Before Toshinori could respond, Izuku reached out for his mother.

"Mom, I'm so sorry for making you worry."

Inko looked at Izuku and immediately collapsed into the chair Toshinori once sat in, hugging her son. "My baby." Toshinori managed to turned away, letting the two of them have what little privacy they could get.

"You raised me and supported me."

"I'll always support you," Inko said, words interrupted by sobs as she lay her son down and held his hand.

"You'd always let me save the day."

"You'll always save the day, Izuku. You're a hero."

Another faint smile appeared on the boy's face. "I love you, both," Izuku said, squeezing his mother's hand with what little strength he had.

"I love you, son," Toshinori replied, voice small, still facing away.

"I love you so much," Inko said and her eyes widened as Izuku's hand went limp and the machine flat-lined.

"No. No," Inko muttered over and over again before letting out a bloodcurdling scream that was the final step in Toshinori breaking down. Toshinori turned his head and saw his successor—his son—dead.

He immediately fell to the floor.

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Aizawa was too late to save him.

Midoriya wasn't even supposed to be there. He had already been injured in an attack a few days before and was supposed to be resting. Of course, being Midoriya, he didn't listen. So, Aizawa saw him rushing in with that determined look in his eyes that he always got when fighting.

Aizawa wanted to be mad at him, but he had come at a crucial time. If he had come any later or just hadn't come, then Aizawa was sure things would have gone worse, if that was even possible.

He had turned the tables with that crazy powerful quirk and attitude of his, a smile on his face the whole time. He really was powerful. He'd improved a lot from just last year when he broke his bones every time he tried to use his quirk. Aizawa wished he could have told him that.

Aizawa had been distracted by the other villains when it happened. He was teaming up with some of his students against Dabi when he heard it. Two gunshots and yells. Aizawa immediately turned in the direction of the sounds and saw Shigaraki holding someone. He immediately glared at the man, not allowing his students to be disintegrated.

Once Shigaraki realized his quirk had disappeared, he turned and looked at Aizawa. "Must you interrupt me so much?" As he turned, Aizawa saw Midoriya was the student he was grabbing and part of Midoriya's torso had disintegrated and shot. Midoriya, obviously in pain, was still trying to kick himself free.

Aizawa's eyes widened and he started running at Shigaraki, scarf flying. "Todoroki!" He yelled as his scarf went to grab Shigaraki.

Todoroki, who had been finishing up with some other villain, turned at his teacher's voice and took in everything. He looked at his teacher and nodded, already understanding what he needed to do. He shot ice at the ground and began sliding over their way.

Now that Aizawa had Shigaraki's quirk stopped, the students that had been holding back began heading for Shigaraki as well, Bakugou yelling at Shigaraki to die. Aizawa's thought process was something along those lines.

Before anyone could do anything or Shigaraki could fight back, a blast of air pushed everyone back. When Aizawa refocused, he saw Midoriya out of Shigaraki's clutches and backing up as far as he could with his injuries. He must have used his power to kick himself free. As usual, he seemed to be running on pure adrenaline.

Midoriya looked back at Todoroki, who swiftly changed course to catch Izuku. Together, Todoroki and Izuku slid away from Shigaraki.

As soon as Todoroki grabbed Midoriya, Aizawa closed Shigaraki in his scarf, pulling him close to him.

"You may have caught me," Shigaraki rasped out, "but I got what I wanted." Aizawa couldn't look away or Shigaraki would get free, but he already knew that he was talking about Midoriya.

"Shut up." Aizawa punched him with his free hand. He stared the man down as he heard his students rushing over to him.

"Sero, wrap him up. Yaoyorozu, create something to keep him in place. The pros should be here soon."

Aizawa ran over to Todoroki when he had students keeping an eye on Shigaraki and was sure he was out of commission. Todoroki was sitting beside Midoriya, quickly and worriedly trying to stop the bleeding.

"Stay awake, Izuku. Please stay awake."

When Todoroki saw Aizawa, he moved, letting the pro take over while still keeping a firm grip on Midoriya's hand. Aizawa went straight to work. He glanced at Midoriya's face as he got out bandages from his belt.

"I don't know why I bother telling you to stay out of trouble."

"Sorry, sensei."

Aizawa shook his head as he began bandaging the wounds as best as he could, trying to keep calm. "Don't be. If you hadn't done what you did, then who knows what would have happened."

"Just stay awake and let me help you." Aizawa tried to ignore the large amount of blood he had already lost. He's Midoriya. He's gonna be fine.

Then he looked down at Midoriya's torso. It was like the one that Aizawa had suffered last year at the USJ but worse.

Shortly after, the pros arrived. They went straight for Shigaraki, the raspy young adult laughing all the while.

I got what I wanted.

Aizawa shook away that thought and focused on the matter at hand.

"Over here! This boy needs a hospital now!" Aizawa called. He looked at Todoroki, who then hesitantly let go of Midoriya's hand. Aizawa then gently picked Midoriya up, trying to avoid the disintegrated part of his torso. A pro and some EMTs rushed over at Aizawa's words and immediately grabbed Midoriya.

Now that the student's fighting was done, students began running over to check on their classmate.

"Is he going to be okay?" Kirishima asked, Bakugou standing in silent fear beside him.

"I don't know," Aizawa said as Midoriya and the other injured students were taken to the ambulances.

After he got the class a ride to the hospital, Aizawa pulled out his phone and saw a number that he dreaded to call. He took a deep breath before calling Toshinori.

Aizawa usually tried to act like he didn't care about his students, but this—this hurt. Midoriya wasn't his favorite by any means, but he was a kid. He was going to become a hero.

So, when Recovery Girl broke the news, it took everything in him to not break down.

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Recovery Girl was the one to tell class 1-A. Toshinori and Inko were both in the room, too heartbroken to do anything.

Todoroki ran off, left side steaming, and Aizawa was about to follow him when Ururaka and Iida stopped them and rushed after him. Instead, Aizawa stayed with the rest of 1-A.

After consoling the students who were in the waiting room, he went out to tell the rest of the class who had been hospitalized. Besides Midoriya, seven students had been hospitalized with mostly minor injuries. It was hard, but they needed to find out.

Bakugou was the last one he told.

When he walked in, Kirishima, looked at the door and stood up.

"Mr. Aizawa!" Kirishima called, louder than he probably intended. "Any news?"

"Unfortunately, yes." This wasn't getting any easier to say. "Midoriya... he didn't make it."

Kirishima's eyes widened. "What? No. There's no way! He's gotta be fine, it's Midoriya. He..."

Kirishima fell back into his chair and ran his hands through his hair.

"I am so sorry." Aizawa went further into the room and rested a hand on Kirishima's shoulder.

Bakugou completely broke down. He slumped in the bed he had been sitting on and stared down at his lap and repeated curse word after curse word, knocking Kirishima's hand off of his shoulder when he tried to comfort him.

These kids were going though the unimaginable.

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Aizawa sat Eri down in the Class 1-A common room. This was probably the conversation he dreaded the most. The rest of the people he had to tell were teenagers or adults. It was undeniably heartbreaking to tell all of them, but this was different. She was young and shouldn't have to deal with all of this pain. But she deserved to know. Plus, it would soon be all over the news, so she would figure it out one way or another. It was better for her to find out now instead of from the news.

"Eri, I need to tell you something... something you're not going to like, but need to know."

Eri looked up at him, puzzled. She fidgeted with the hem of her dress.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked, using a worried tone that Aizawa had heard her using many times before.

"No, no, you did nothing wrong," Aizawa assured her, kneeling down so they were at eye level.

"Eri, I'm sorry, but in our last fight... Deku... he didn't make it."

Eri's eyes widened. "W-what?" She quickly got smaller, folding in on herself, and Aizawa opened his arms. Eri was staring at the floor.

"No. No, he can't be. He—" Eri had tears already running down her cheeks. "He was my hero, how could he—?" She looked up at Aizawa and rushed into his arms, grabbing onto his jumpsuit.

"He was doing what he loved. He was protecting people. He saved people." Aizawa held her close. Yes, he wasn't a touchy-feely person, but he wasn't heartless. He knew Eri needed this right now.

"He can't—" Eri shook her head. "I want—I miss—"

"I know." Aizawa looked out the window. "I'll miss him too."

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The funeral was a few days later. It was filled with pros who had worked with Deku and his classmates. The kids had a few days off to grieve and recuperate after the events of the last few days.

Aside from giving a speech part way through, Toshinori stayed mainly silent. His mind was still reeling from the events of the past few days. Many people came up to him and gave him their condolences, but he just gave short responses. They were all he could muster.

When the ceremony ended, some people chatted before leaving. Eventually, it was Toshinori, Inko, Aizawa, and a vast majority of Class 1-A left gathered around the grave.

"I still can't believe it," Kaminari said, breaking the silence, "he just seemed so invincible."

Quiet sounds of agreement were murmured around the group. "I am willing to bet he would have become number one if things had gone differently," Sero added.

"Totally," Sato added, "and sure, he definitely started off rough, but didn't we all?"

"Yeah, but not all of us broke our bones every two weeks," Hagakure pointed out, causing some quiet laughter among the group.

"I'm gonna miss him." Ururaka was fidgeting with the sleeves of her dress as she stared down and the tombstone they were gathered by.

"We're all going to miss him."

The class looked to the back of the group to see Aizawa standing closer, his hands in his pockets. Meanwhile, Aizawa wouldn't look at them, staring instead at the stone.

As conversations continued, Toshinori looked back and saw Todoroki hanging back. It was understandable that he wouldn't want to be crowded and in the group given what had happened. Toshinori had been distancing himself all day. He looked down at the grave before walking over to Todoroki.

Todoroki looked up as Toshinori approached him, but he didn't tell him to go away, so Toshinori took that as an invitation to stay.

After a bout of silence, Toshinori said, "Young Todoroki, I am so sorry."

Todoroki shook his head. "Don't be. It wasn't your fault and with how self-sacrificial he is, I—" He cut himself off, unable to finish.

Toshinori nodded, understanding, and the two of them stood there for a while.

Eventually, Toshinori pulled the bag out of his pocket and looked down at the green strand inside. After a few seconds, he looked over and saw Todoroki staring at it.

"Did Izuku ever tell you...?" Toshinori asked hesitantly, lifting up the bag slightly.

Todoroki nodded. "When we were in the battle and almost immediately after he got hurt, we were alone and he told me about all of it. He tried to offer it to me too... He was rushed, but I got the gist."

Toshinori was about to question what Shouto thought before stopping himself. Shouto was grieving, just like he was. He couldn't expect Shouto to have made this decision so easily after everything.

After a while, Todoroki said, "I'll think about it. If you have someone else in mind, then ask them, but I just..." Todoroki sighed. "I just need some time to think." With that, Todoroki walked away.

Toshinori stood there for a while, thinking, before he made his way over to the other onlooker. He was farther away and not easy to recognize from the grave, but Toshinori knew who it was. Even as Toshinori approached, they didn't turn to face him.

"Young Bakugou, I know this must be hard for you, having known Midoriya for so long."

Bakugou was shaking, still not facing Toshinori.

"I never got to apologize."

Toshinori's eyes widened.

"I treated the nerd like shit, and then he sacrifices himself and I never get the chance to apologize. I—"

Bakugou's hand went to his mouth to cover the sobs that were racking his body. Eventually, he continued, "He sacrificed himself for me. That villain a-hole was heading for me and Froppy. But Deku ran in front of us and—and now look what happened! I hated him. And now he's..."

"How can I be a hero when I treated him like that? And now he's gone and I can't even begin to make up for it!"

Bakugou's voice was even more intense than usual. It reminded Toshinori of how he had acted during that spar last year when he blamed himself for Toshinori's retirement.

These kids had been through so much. Too much.

Toshinori stepped forward and opened his arms. He wouldn't force it on Bakugou, but he knew he should offer it.

Bakugou looked over his shoulder and quickly turned around to claim his hug, surprising Toshinori. Loss can do strange things to people.

"I was so close. He was right in front of me. I should have—I should have done more. If I had done more, then, maybe he would still be here and I would be yelling at him for being a self-sacrificing idiot and—"

Toshinori gently patted Bakugou on the head. "I know. You're all children. You're all so young, you shouldn't have to go through this."

Bakugou and Midoriya had a complicated relationship, to say the least. Their relationship was just starting to get better before this all went down. Bakugou may have hated Izuku for a long time, but he certainly didn't want this to happen, at least with how their relationship was now.

Bakugou eventually pushed away from Toshinori and shoved his hands in his pockets, eyes cast downward. "Don't say anything about this, got it?" His voice was back to normal, besides a few sniffs here and there.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Toshinori said sincerely.

As Bakugou began to walk away, Toshinori added, "Let your classmates help you, Bakugou. And help them in return. I know you pride yourself on being independent and better than everyone, but you and your classmates need each other, especially now."

Bakugou paused momentarily. "Yeah, whatever."

He continued to walk away from Toshinori when Kirishima's voice called out from across the cemetery.

"Bakugou!" Kirishima had left the group and was now headed in Bakugou's direction, hand in the air. When he reached the halted Bakugou he took a deep breath and then continued, "Listen. I know this is really hard for you and if you want me to just leave you alone and mind my own business, fine. But, I just wanted to say that if you need someone to talk about or anything, I'm willing."

Bakugou looked Kirishima up and down before giving in and hugging him. Kirishima stood still in shock at first before throwing his arms around Bakugou in return. Toshinori smiled softly and walked away, back to the main group.

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As he watched the students of Class 1-A talk about their best memories of Izuku, Toshinori thought about how much these kids had gone through in just two years. They had fought the league of villains multiple times, the symbol of peace retired, and now, they had lost a classmate—a friend.

They were going through the unimaginable.

But they were heroes. They would continue to be heroes and avenge their friend. That, Toshinori had no doubt about.