The feeling of being watched was still clinging to Naoko like a second skin... She wanted to take a bath and scrub until the feeling was gone because, despite the fact that no one could be watching her, it was still there.

Aizawa had been droning on about the evolution of quirk laws for the last half-hour, ever since he managed to stop the other students from asking Naoko questions. For once that year Naoko was able to pay attention, but it was mainly to make the feeling go away. Her classmates were still sending glances behind them from time to time at her, apparently amazed that she wasn't staring out the window.

The truth of the matter was that Naoko was afraid of what she might see.

So she threw herself into learning about the steps law enforcement initially took when quirks appeared all those years ago.

It was dull, to be sure, but knowing that people had been arrested in the beginning for their unnatural behavior and thrown into testing facilities was better than wondering who could possibly be watching.

The class had already been going on for about an hour so far, and the longer she sat there, the more she struggled to pay attention.

Thank goodness Aizawa had made an effort to lower the capture weapon around his mouth, otherwise, Naoko would be left with nothing to distract her from her own thoughts... From personal experience, Naoko knew that would be a very bad thing.

Just as her body was settling in (A sad thing, because she had been trying to get it to do just that for the last handful of hours) something happened that shattered every chance of that happening... With a jerk, Naoko pulled away from the window she was sitting next to, nearly falling out of her seat in the process.

The whole class turned to look at her, but Naoko wasn't aware of that.

Her whole attention was focused on the window, her color had drained far more than was probably healthy, and she seemed to be mouthing something quickly enough that no one could tell what she was saying to herself.

Just a moment ago, there had been nothing but the boring rambling of their teacher, now Naoko looked about ready to pass out.

Aizawa immediately moved towards her. He had a lurking hunch that something was going on, especially after Chris had talked to him earlier that evening, and if this is what they feared...Well... Let's just say they were in for a bad time.

Everyone was asking Naoko what was wrong, but Naoko couldn't see them, and the moment Aizawa looked out the window as well, he realized why.

Blue flames.

The forest was on fire and the flames were massive.

A harsh cuss forced it's way out of Aizawa's throat as he grabbed Naoko and pulled her around, "Naoko," He murmured urgently and shook her. Her eyes weren't focused on him, so he shook her to grab her attention, "Naoko!" He hissed out, hoping he wouldn't have to do anything major to get her attention.

It only took a moment for her eyes to snap to him, wide with terror, "What do you sense?" 

Normally, he would never ask a student for their help, they shouldn't have to be in that kind of position, but this was bad. He knew enough about flames to know that this was no natural blaze, and his quirk couldn't help with something like this.

She shook her head, and Aizawa noticed her hands going to her wrists, stroking them. He hated putting her in a position like this... But he had no choice.

"No." Her voice was small and tremoring like a hummingbird. "Something's coming, Aizawa."

He nodded gravely and stepped back, looking around the room at some of his more... Problem students.

They were watching him with a range of emotions, from terrified like Naoko, to determined. This group of kids was already turning into pro's, even if he would rather they had more time to just be kids.

His face set as he made eye contact with each of them, "I need all of you to stay here," He said, his voice even, "We don't know what's going on, but I need to go check it out. If any of you step out of this room, you'll all be expelled."

They nodded, which was all the confirmation Aizawa needed before he was darting out of the room. Vlad King could take his position to watch the kids... He would have to.

As much as he was worried about Naoko, she wasn't the only kid who could be in danger. There were so many others. He had to at least know they were okay.

Vlad had been sitting in the corner of the classroom, watching all this go down and he nodded at Aizawa as the man tore from the classroom like a bat out of hell.

The other kids were worried and all, already they knew about the fire that was still growing, but they were more worried about their friends and classmates. There was no fear of their own safety. 

Naoko was the opposite. She had retreated all the way across the room as her eyes remained locked with the flames. She felt paralyzed. Her breath was coming in short gasps and it felt as though something was sitting on her chest... Something about this seemed all too fishy. The watching eyes, the way Levi and Chris had reacted... This was all too intentional to be a coincidence.

Was it the League of Villains? 

Gods. Naoko could feel the blood rushing from her head as the world started to feel a bit topsy turvy.

She didn't want to feel this way, but she just knew they were here for her.

Her back hit a wall and she instinctively slid down it, burying her face into her hands in a weak attempt to quell the terror rising up through her.

She hated feeling this way, this weakness that paralyzed her limbs and made it impossible for her to move. What could she do to help this situation? Was there anything? She could feel a panic attack welling beneath her skin which she quickly set to work beating back with a stick.

The last thing anyone needed in this situation was for her to have a panic attack. Sure, there was blood on her hands, but at least she could try to justify it by saying it was the blood of an enemy. If she killed anyone now, there wouldn't be that excuse.

As she tried to regulate her breathing, a hand landed on her head, pulling her slightly out of her panic and she looked up into the eyes of the pink girl who Naoko had neither known nor cared about before this. Mina was crouched in front of her, a kind smile on her face that contradicted the situation.

"Hey," She said, her hand gently combing though Naoko's hair, "It's okay. Aizawa's out there, so are the Pussycats and those other heroes. We're safe here." 

She said that with such confidence that Naoko couldn't help but admire her. Was it naivety or did she really think that they were safe?

Naoko really wanted to contradict Mina, but she chose the higher path and just nodded as Mina began to ramble on about different things, mainly the lesson Aizawa had been teaching. It was sweet but useless.

Kaminari stuck his head over Mina's and he shot a million-watt smile at Naoko, "Hey, you know those guys, don't you?" He asked, and Naoko could practically feel the static electricity flying off him, giving away his nerves that he tried so hard to hide.

She nodded mutely as she thought about Levi and Chris. They were in the thick of things, probably fighting to protect her classmates from the idiots who attacked them.

On their own, they would be fine. Naoko had no reason to worry about either one of them, especially if they were together. The problem came when they were trying to protect everyone else. No doubt Chris would do something stupid and get hurt to make sure her classmates were okay, and Levi didn't seem like it, but he would give his life to save someone else if he needed to.

They were too good not to.

The students continued trying to talk to her, but Naoko was too preoccupied. How did the villains find them all the way out here? It wasn't like this was a well-known area that UA used often. Naoko hadn't even known about this place until Aizawa told them where they were going on the bus.

Shit. This was bad.

The fact that they were in the middle of a dense forest far from society meant that there would be no backups coming... This was like the USJ, except so much worse and everything was on fire.

The longer Naoko sat there, the worse everything seemed, until... Well, until all her expectations were exceeded, by a lot.

With an explosion that caused at least one of her classmates to fall on her, the window broke inwards, causing glass shards to cover the floor.

The vibrations around Naoko were going crazy as she stared at the dark-haired man that was crouched on the window sill. Sure he was heavily scarred, and a blue flame was held in the palm of his hand, telling her exactly who had started the fire outside, but something just wasn't right about him.

She had felt a lot of humans in her time at UA, and all of them felt the same, a pulsing mass of solids, liquid and gas that was different from just about any other substance Naoko had ever felt. Even animals couldn't compare.

But this being. This... Well, Naoko wasn't sure what it was, but it certainly wasn't human.

The way liquid surged through it wasn't like blood rushing through veins. The way it took in air was different than a human. It was as though someone took a single anatomy class and then decided to build a human. It was close, but wrong at the same time.

All Naoko's classmates stood in front of the thing, and it occurred to her that the thing was speaking.

What it was saying was unsure, as the flame was wreaking havoc with the vibrations and it was all very distracting to Naoko. One thing was sure though, this thing, whatever it was, wasn't here peacefully.

With some difficulty, Naoko forced herself to stand, clutching at the wall behind her like a lifeline. Her quirk pooled out under her through her hands and she watched the thing like a hawk.

His flames were concerning, if he used them in here, it would be all too easy for the room to catch on fire. 

Maybe she could liquify the flames? That might cause more harm than good, but it could be her only option. The others here weren't exactly fireproof. Mina, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Sero... She didn't know about the kid from 1-B, but she had to guess that he wasn't either. If this thing started spewing flames at everyone, they would be done for.

Even as she was thinking about this and trying to get her panic addled brain to come up with a solution, Kirishima lunged at the thing.

Naoko was frozen with panic, she wanted nothing more than to be of help, but she couldn't move as the teenager was smacked across the room. It was terrifying, especially as Kirishima being hurt seemed to be the catalyst everyone else needed to jump into action.

She was right... This was so much worse than the USJ had been.

A moment of relief hit her as the 1-B teacher jumped in. He was a teacher, surely he could fight this thing. Surely this one being was nothing compared to the hordes of villains that had been at the USJ.

Thinking of the USJ had Naoko flinching and for a moment, a sea of red surrounded her... They were being attacked again. What if she had to kill again? What if her quirk gave her no choice?

A blast of blue fire went rogue and Naoko yelped as it came right for her. She was standing close to Kirishima, who seemed to be rather out of it, and if she got barbequed, then he would too. In a moment of panic, Naoko's quirk flared. This was a substance, a gaseous one to be sure, but still, the flames had a state of matter.

In a moment, the flames that had once been coming towards her were on the ground, a puddle of blue that was moving quickly.

Naoko gasped, she thought they were going to die.

Her quirk, as usual, left the flames as quickly as it had entered them, and before Naoko knew what was happening, the puddle had erupted right back into gaseous fire. The heat was intense, and Naoko could practically feel the heat singeing off her arm hair.

This hadn't happened before, normally when she shifted something like this, it stayed in the state of matter that she put it in. She had even liquified normal flames before, and they stayed liquid... Were these flames too hot to stay liquid?

Before the flames could reach Kirishima and her, she reached out once more and liquified them again, this time keeping her quirk in them to keep them on the floor.

They needed to get out of here. 

The flames were spreading, even in their liquified form, and Naoko knew without a doubt, that soon the whole house would be on fire if this continued.

Before Naoko knew what was happening, the thing had slammed a flame covered fist into the teacher's head, and the big man dropped to the ground. Naoko's whole frame shuddered at that, she tried to liquify more of the thing's flames, but it wasn't enough. The teacher would definitely have a concussion and some pretty nasty burns on his forehead after this.

She cursed herself, willing her legs to move, but nothing happened.

Tears filled Naoko's eyes (whether that was from the acrid smoke filling the room or from terror, Naoko didn't know) and she stood there powerless to move as the thing turned to face her.

The look on its face was enough to prove Naoko right. It was here for her... It took a step forward and Naoko had to stop a sob from bursting out. Did she give herself up now to stop more people from being hurt? Was she really worth the pain this was causing?

Just as a flaming hand was about to touch her cheek, a strand of white wrapped around the villain's hand, pulling it away from her.

Sero stood off to the side, a determined look on his face, along with Mina, Kaminari, and Kirishima. The boy from class 1-B was there as well, looking far more hesitant, but still ready to fight.

Words were said, but Naoko couldn't see them past the tears filling her eyes. They were willing to protect someone like her.

The villain turned to face them, a sadistic smile covering his face. It looked excited for this. Excited to maim a bunch of children who were just trying to defend themselves. What kind of sadistic asshole was this?

Blue fire erupted from its hand, but before it could reach the small group that stood up to it, Naoko caught the fire and liquified it, creating a bigger puddle of fire that was quickly becoming a struggle to contain. If this continued, Naoko wouldn't be able to keep up. She was already exhausted from the training, she couldn't do it all.

Everyone looked at her as though just realizing that she had done that, and Naoko grimaced back. 

They needed to get out of here.

With a sharp cackle, the villain threw back his head and began to laugh. It was chilling to watch, and probably much more chilling to listen to, but thankfully, it didn't last long.

Another firey burst shot from the villain, which Naoko liquified, but the villain moved along with it.

The students did the best they could, but this thing had beaten a teacher. What chance did a bunch of teenagers stand against this?

They were going to be hurt by it. Because of Naoko, they could even possibly be killed.

No.

No.

This couldn't happen again.

Naoko wouldn't let anyone else die because of her.

Sure, maybe her parent's death hadn't been her fault, per se, but it certainly meant Naoko had blood on her hands... And not just the blood from the USJ.

At that moment, something clicked for Naoko. The villains at the USJ, this thing. They were determined to harm others. Yes, they were still people who had families, who had their own paths that led them to where they were, but their path wasn't a good one.

If someone was willing to harm children who still thought that heroes were meant to help others, then they couldn't be good.

Society was flawed, yes, but these people wanted to create chaos. They wanted to watch people to suffer for the pain they had been put through, and that wasn't okay.

None of this was okay.

And you know what? Naoko was sick of it.

The shift in perception was enough to harden something in Naoko. She wasn't going to sit here and let people she had grown to think highly of be harmed because some group of assholes wanted her quirk for themselves.

Steel entered her eyes and without any hesitation, she let her control over the flames drop. It was time to turn her attention to the source of the problem.

She had the power to end this fight, so that's exactly what she was going to do.

***

The flames were an inconvenience, to be sure, but it was nothing that Chris and Levi hadn't dealt with before.

A burning hellscape was actually pretty common for them, and the two had worked together long enough that they weren't phased by the atmosphere in the slightest.

A bunch of heroes in training who wanted to help? Now that was a different story.

"Would you stay together?" Chris barked, completely fed up with the situation. Sure, he had been a bit excited for the test of courage- especially since Levi hated the idea so much- but he was not counting on so much personal time with the more impulsive members of the class.

Levi had been the one to find the spikey teenager and Endeavor's son, who were forced into hiding by a crazy villain in a straight jacket. 

Sure, they seemed to have it under control, especially since the dark bird kid was able to take out the mad man easily enough, but that didn't change the fact that they were now running into danger.

Levi was keeping pace with Bakugou, sending him nasty looks every time the boy tried to deviate and Chris got the honor of sticking by Todoroki, who seemed to want to hunt down every villain in the area.

Already, each of them had to pull back the teenagers more than once and stop them from going off on their own.

It really didn't help that Midoriya was almost a quadriplegic, and incapable of moving beyond the arm boy's back. This small group alone convinced Levi and Chris that Aizawa had the worst job in the world.

Levi had been signing his frustrations for the last ten minutes, which Chris was studiously ignoring. Bakugou seemed to understand some of what Levi was saying and while he desperately tried to keep up his pissed off attitude, it had severely degraded into something close to terror as he picked up on a few of Levi's words.

Midoriya was babbling on about how 'Kacchan and Fujimura-san' were in trouble, and that this group needed to be so careful, and you know what?

Chris was over it.

Normally he was the one who kept his cool and was always polite to people, no matter what, but he was more than willing to make an exception this time. 

Did Midoriya really think that Chris and Levi weren't aware of the danger Naoko was in? Was he really stupid enough to think that her two father figures wouldn't move heaven and earth to keep her safe? 

Sure, the boy was worried, but did he need to say something every second? Aizawa was taking care of Naoko for the moment, and he was the only other person Chris trusted in this time to watch over Naoko just as well as they would. He was just two more redundant comments away from giving Midoriya a nice broken nose to add to his collection.

No... No. Chris was an adult, he wouldn't lose control because of some over-emotional teenager.

A quick shout gained the whole group's attention, and they looked back to see both Bakugou and Levi missing, though the sounds of a chase not too far away made it apparent that the abductor wasn't totally gone.

With Chris leading the charge, the group ran towards the noise, only to find Levi, standing in the middle of a nearby clearing glaring heavily at the sky.

Midoriya forced himself off the Shoji's back and moved to the deaf hero, "Sonar?" He asked hesitantly. He had to know that Levi couldn't hear him, but he really had no other way of figuring out what was going on, so his classmates didn't judge him too harshly for that.

The only ones who hung back at all, looking around the clearing cautiously, were Ochako and Todoroki, the rest crowded around Levi as Chris moved around to get a handle on the situation.

"Where's Bakugou?" He signed urgently, looking over his husband and noticing a few cuts that hadn't been there just a moment ago.

The smaller man was beyond pissed as he looked towards where the masked man had gotten too, "Someone got him. Whoever it was popped up out of nowhere right behind us and turned the boy into some kind of small thing before taking off." Levi was absolutely pissed. He was Sonar for god's sake, he sensed vibrations for a living so he should have felt that attack coming a mile away.

Chris inhaled sharply, which must have been enough of a sign to the crowd of students, all of whom looked taken aback. Though Chris' favorite student seemed to take it hardest of all.

"Was he taken?" Broccoli asked Chris urgently, moving to put a purple hand on Chris' elbow, "Do we know where to?"

Sure, the kid was trying to get a good grasp on the situation, but that didn't stop Chris' stress from taking over for just a moment. "Shut up," He hissed, brushing Broccoli's hand off his elbow before turning back to Levi, "Did you see which direction he went?"

Normally Chris was the one who handled the hysterical people during missions, but this time he was stretched thin. They needed to get back to Naoko. The villains already had reached one of their goals, they were going to go for Naoko next.

Levi shot Chris a weird look before nodding and pointing east, into the sky.

That was all Broccoli needed before the boy was planning something, getting all their classmates to join in. Todoroki included, though he seemed slightly reluctant, as usual.

***

The main cabin was completely on fire...

Thank god Kirishima and Sero had worked together to get the teacher (The class 1-B student was the first one to inform everyone that the teacher's name was Vlad King, and he was better than Eraserhead in every way) out first, otherwise, the poor man would have died in the blaze.

Naoko was able to melt a path through the spreading flames to allow everyone a safe exit, ignoring the nervous looks they sent her along the way. 

Sure, she hadn't really hesitated to liquify the dude, but by the time she did, every student in the room had some kind of burn on them and the fire was only growing. If she hadn't melted that odd thing, then they probably would've died in the blaze.

If Naoko was relieved about one thing through the whole ordeal, then it was the fact that the thing, whatever it was, didn't liquefy into a messy puddle of red like last time. No, it was a messy puddle of grey, which wasn't a ton better, but it showed that she had been right. Whatever barged into the room wasn't human.

Not that she knew what it was, so that wasn't too helpful.

Naoko was the last one to leave the house, but it wasn't long before she knew that everyone was at a safe distance and she was able to release her hold on the flames. Those things were strong and so hot, and melting the villain thing had drained her. She was exhausted... But they were all alive, so it had been worth it in the end.

In the yard, Aizawa stood, waiting for them with a look of profound relief on his face. He must have been watching the blaze for a while, as there was evidence of a tear tracking down his cheek.

Without looking at the others- to be fair to them, they looked more concerned for her rather concerned about her- Naoko walked to her teacher and looked up at him.

Neither of them said anything. At that moment, nothing was needed.

Aizawa could see the pain in Naoko's eyes that went far deeper than anything physical. it was a look he knew well. It was a look he had worn himself in the first few years of being a hero. She had made a decision... One that may have consequences.

In his eyes, Naoko could see pain as well, but that was eclipsed by fear. He thought he had lost kids in the fire... He thought they would be safe when he left to check on the others and he was so mad at himself

If someone thought he didn't notice those burns on Mina's face, or the blood leaking from Kirishima's hair, or any of the other injuries, they would be wrong.

He saw it all, and he blamed himself for every last one of them.

And the look in Naoko's eyes? 

Gods... He was just so glad they were alive. He was so glad they were able to save themselves (and their teacher) from his slip up.

After just a moment, Aizawa was pulled out of his self-deprecating thoughts by Naoko, who broke first. With a burst of emotion very few had seen from her, she closed the gap between the two of them and wrapped her arms around Aizawa's waist.

The top of her head barely came to his collarbone, but that didn't matter. Her shoulders shook slightly and he caved, wrapping his arms around her as well, returning the hug.

It was something they both needed.

The other students came closer, but none of them dared to interrupt the two. It was such an unexpected moment, and after Naoko had melted the thing, it was clear she needed something.

If they had been allowed, no doubt the two would have remained there for quite some time.

"Well, well, well," A cold voice broke through the moment, making everyone tense, preparing themselves for another fight.

Aizawa reacted immediately, pulling Naoko behind him as two people stepped out from the forest.

It was hard to see what they looked like in the light of the blaze, but one seemed to be wearing a full-body suit and the other... well, they seemed to have weird skin.

"It looks like you have something we want," The dark-haired, bad skin one spoke, "If you hand her over now, I promise that no one will be hurt more than you need to be."