Reader, I would like to apologize for the extremely quick flash montage of Midoriya's training, but I am afraid I am just not willing to relive the pain he suffered during the five months and twelve days he was missing. I will only tell you the parts of this story that are important. I don't do time fillers.

Anyways, I have decided that for this bit here, we should switch to the point of view of class A.

After Midoriya had gone missing, class A went frantic, all of them using their respective Quirks, personalities, and influence to try and find him. After about a week, there wasn't a person in all of Japan who was unaware of the disappearance of Deku. Everybody was hoping that he would be found. That is, until 3 months later, when he made his first appearance as the notorious Deku. He had gotten into a fight with the up and coming star Kamui Woods. He also burned down a federal building in the process.

After more similar situations and many photos of Midoriya in his costume as evidence, class A got continuously quieter. With each misdemeanor and every violation, the class of heroes began to give up hope. Soon enough, no one even dared speak his name.

Now, we are nearing the time in which Midoriya received the letter. The children of class A were sitting in their respective spots doing their respective forms of recreation. In the corner of the room, a T.V. the school had bought in order to keep track of world affairs was on. As the children spoke to each other, it blared boring news such as the weather and who was in a relationship with who. That is, until the main news channel turned on.

"Breaking news," the reporter read.

The entire class went silent.

"the notorious villain who answers by the name of Deku has just struck again. A gas station in Tatooin Station has just exploded due to a fire started by the villain himself. Luckily, there were no casualties in the explosion but this has just added arson to Deku's list of misde- "

While the class watched in completely hopeless silence, Ashido had stood up from her seat and turned the T.V. off.

They all stood in yet another silence, looking at the television relaying them news about their former friend. After a few moments of awkwardness, they all turned back to their activities. However, due to the interruption, the air was definitely more tense than the moments previous.

The class had multiple reasons to be tense. They all felt betrayed for one thing. The boy they had all considered a friend (exempting Bakugo) had left them in the dust. He was always the one who stayed determined and kept trying, no matter how stupid it seemed. Then, after all of his dreams of being a hero and all of his speeches about how we should always keep trying, he gave up. He gave up on his dreams and became a villain for no reason. They also felt like failures. They felt like in some way, they had failed Deku. They felt that maybe if they were better friends, they would have been able to see that something was bothering him and prevent him from straying to the path of villain hood.

There were a select few people who took Midoriya's leave harder than the others. People who felt even more betrayed and even more of a failure. They were the people Midoriya was close to and the people Midoriya left a lasting impact on. Uraraka, Iida, Bakugo (Although he won't admit it to this day), and Todoroki.

Todoroki wasn't a part of Midorya's closest friend group, but that day he fought him in the sports festival was a turning point for him. Thanks to Midoriya, Todoroki was able to find the path of the hero he truly wanted to be, not the one his father forced on him. Ever since then, Todoroki felt that Midoriya was someone who Todoroki could always count no to do the right thing. That was why when he found out what the name Deku began to mean, he became reserved. Even more so than usual. He didn't talk to others unless it was absolutely necessary and he spent all of his time sitting in silence and thinking.

Throughout all of his thinking, one single question kept recurring through his brain.

Why?

Everyone knew that Deku was one of the more passionate students in the school. He was truly destined to be a hero. So what changed? What could possibly make him decide to become the worst villain? Did he not know how worried they were for him? How worried his mother was? Did he not even care? Was it all an act? Todoroki didn't know what was what anymore.

This was how Todoroki spent the rest of his day.

It was now the end of the school day and Todoroki was gathering all of his belongings, ready to head out of the school building. Or, well, he would have been if he hadn't been stopped by Uraraka.

"Hey, Todoroki." Uraraka smiled weakly. "We were just going out to get ice cream and decided to ask if you would join."

Uraraka and Iida had constantly been asking Todoroki to go places and hang out with them ever since Midoriya had turned up as evil. I guess they knew he was more affected then he put on display.

Todoroki sighed. He had said no to all of their invitations so far, but this time seemed different. Uraraka looked even more despaired than usual. Maybe he could help cheer her up.

"Sure." Todoroki eventually replied, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. "Should we head out now?"

Uraraka beamed, happy that she at least managed to break Todoroki out of his shell. "Yeah, let me just go get Iida, I'll be right back."

Todoroki nodded and watched as Uraraka sped away. Once she disappeared out of the door of the last class of the day, Todoroki rubbed his hands over his face. This is going to be a long day, he thought.

Iida, Todoroki, and Uraraka were strolling through downtown after eating enough ice cream to drown themselves in their sorrows.

Of course, that meant that there was a lot of ice cream.

Finally, after finishing their icy treat, they all began walking home together. It had grown dark and the temperature was increasingly dropping due to how long they had been in there.

Iida and Uraraka were trying to lighten the mood with some conversation, Iida moving his hands in extreme gestures with every word he said. Todoroki, not paying any attention to them at all, had wandered into his thoughts yet again.

Why would Midoriya want to become a villain, he wondered.

Speak of the devil.

Just as Todoroki thought that very specific thought, Midoriya, or rather, Deku, appeared right in front of them.

Since it was so dark out, and the three decided to take a backway in order to get home faster, there was nobody else on the streets at all. It was just Todoroki, Uraraka, Iida, and Deku.

He looked noticeably different, Todoroki realized. Midoriya's cheeks seemed sunken in, his eyes hollow. Their green tint had a tiredness to them that was never visible when he was at UA. Midoriya looked skinnier, too, as though he hadn't been getting enough food.

That wasn't what struck Todoroki about him the most though. There wasn't just tiredness in his eyes, there was madness. He looked like he was a completely different person.

Todoroki did have to admit, though, Midoriya looked pretty good in his costume.

Before Todoroki had time to process all of his thoughts, Midoriya was lunging at them, kicking off with great speed that can only be accomplished from the One for All. Todoroki sent a surge of ice at him, effectively halting him from doing any damage.

"Uraraka! Iida! Go get help! I'll hold him off!"

Without another word, Iida and Uraraka were off, leaving Todoroki and Deku all on their own.

The fighting continued.

Todoroki noticed that Deku was much faster than usual, despite his newfound stature. He was stronger too. Todoroki was barely able to keep himself from getting a direct hit from Midoriya.

The fight continued at a somewhat steady pace. Midoriya was on offense, constantly hitting Todoroki with shots that were unavailable to him months prior. Todoroki was on defense, shooting bursts of fire and ice as his will demanded it, successfully stopping Midoriya. He even managed to get a few bruises and cuts on Deku as well.

That was, until he tripped on a rather inconvenient rock.

I know, how cliché. But look, my job is to write the facts and that is what I am doing.

Anyways, the convenience of the rock aside, Todoroki fell. And as he fell, Deku took that time to seize multiple hits on Todoroki.

Pain. That was all Todoroki felt. Pain in his side and all over his stomach. and although Todoroki felt like he could die if he was hit the tiniest bit harder, Todoroki was confused. From the power Deku displayed, Todoroki was sure he could have killed him in one punch. So why was he holding back?

There Todoroki lay on the ground, bleeding and in the prime position to be finished off. But nothing happened.

Todoroki looked up to see Deku standing right in front of him, hands relaxed and down at his sides. He didn't do anything.

Finally, after an extended moment of silence, Midoriya said something. Something that pains me when I think about it to this day.

"Kill me."