I woke up in a brightly-lit hospital room.

"Ugh, how did I get here?" I groaned, trying to cover my eyes from the blinding light.

As my eyes adjusted, I noticed All Might in the bed next to me.

"Hey there, hero." I smiled.

"Hey," he smiled softly. "Glad to see you're ok. Your buddy over there will be happy to see it to."

"Huh?" I turned my head and saw Katsuki sleeping in a chair on the other side of my bed.

I smiled at the sight. He's finally safe.

"He's been refusing to leave until you wake up... He's your biggest fan, you know that?"

I chuckled, "Feelings mutual."

I took a piece of paper off the clipboard hanging from my bed, crumbled it up, and threw it at him.

He woke up in a frenzy, "Oi! What the fuck!"

"What's up, killer?" I joked.

His eyes widened, "Y/n-sensei!! You're ok!" He rushed to the side of my bed.

"I'm glad you're ok too, Katsuki," I smiled.

His brows quickly furrowed, "I'm still pissed you fucking launched me in the air like that!"

I laughed, but it quickly turned into a cough where small traces of blood came up.

"Geez, you really are an old hag. Settle down."

I just shook my head, "Thanks for staying here, Katsuki. But you should really be getting some rest too."

"Yea, yea, whatever. I know." he grumbled, but stood there hesitating slightly.

"Y/n?" he said in a soft voice.

I cocked my head to the side in confusion.

"It's just... uh, what you said in that interview," he paused while rubbing his neck. "Did you mean it?"

I grabbed his hand softly, "Every word, Katsuki."

I saw a small tear come to his eyes.

"So, did you give em hell?" I asked with a smirk, knowing he wouldn't want to harp too long on his emotions.

"YOU KNOW IT!!!" he screamed which put a huge smile on my face. "I'll see you soon Y/n-sensei!" he called while leaving.

"You know, I think you were born to do this," All Might called.

I laughed loudly, "Will you make sure UA knows that? I think the commission has had just about enough of me."

"Aw, yes. The interview," he laughed with me.

"So, uh, what'd I miss? I'm guessing since you're alive, you won?"

"Maybe you should just rest for now, Y/n... I'm not the only one who has some explaining to do," he said almost in a whisper.

"W-what do you mean?"

He exhaled loudly, "It seems you were closer to some of the villains than you let on. Once you're feeling better, the commission as well as the police are going to want to question you."

"No one knows your full story, Y/n... but you're going to have to stop hiding things sooner or later."

I stared at the wall while quickly blinking away a few tears.

"Where's Shota?" I slowly looked over to him, afraid of the answer.

"Y/n, nothing you say or do will ever change the way he feels about you. You know that right?"

"Are you sure?" I whispered.

He smiled, "I give you the All Might promise!"

"Plus ultra promise?" I teased.

"Hey now, don't mock the motto."

I laughed before looking at him, "You're a good friend, Toshinori. Thank you."

"Get some rest, Y/n, or you'll never recover."

I smiled before rolling over and closing my eyes, welcoming the peaceful darkness.

••••

"Look! I already told you!! I am not working with the League of Villains!"

"Then explain how you know their most prominent members and leaders, Shigaraki, Dabi, All for One. They all know you!"

"For the twentieth time, they tried recruiting me! I've already explained that!"

"But why you!? And why, as soon as you get back, do they start organizing more attacks?"

I looked at Hawks who was standing to the side of this asshole detective, "Is this guy for real!?"

I awkwardly tried to adjust myself, but the chains clanked loudly against the metal table, reminding me that I wasn't supposed to be comfortable.

I was handcuffed in a room with Hawks, this detective, and Toshinori who stood far in the corner.

Two way glass was on the wall in front of me, and I was sure Shota was behind it, watching his newly criminalized girlfriend.

The whole thing was a bit over the top for someone who had just saved students.

"Don't look at him!" The detective yelled while smashing his hands against the table. "Look at me!!"

I rolled my eyes and resumed my eye contact.

He sat down and sighed loudly, "Ok. Let's just start from the top... again."

"I ran away from my parents at 10. Nezu found me at like, what, 13? I stared UA the next year. All for One found me after my first sports festival, and that's where I met Dabi and Shigaraki."

"Those two approached me again when I announced I was leaving for the States. And, until the sports festival this year, I hadn't heard from them."

"What happened at the festival this year, Y/n," Hawks chimed in.

I looked at his golden eyes which were soft but suspicious, "Dabi said I made the wrong decision."

"He said that again at the summer camp, right?"

I nodded my head softly, looking at the cold, hard table.

"A student of yours reported that they called you his girlfriend. Is that right, too?"

I sighed loudly, annoyed with the question, "Yes."

"Why would they say that about you?!"

"I don't fucking know!? Maybe he has a thing for me!" I yelled in frustration. I knew I was lying, but I didn't care. I didn't want to let this all into the open now.

Toshinori left his little corner and started to approach me, "Y/n. Bakugo told us that when you were unconscious, Shigaraki wanted to kill you, but Dabi fought to keep you alive... Why would he do that?"

Hawks chimed in softly, "Come on, Chickadee. We need the full story."

I looked up at Toshinori with small tears in my eyes. I didn't want to say it, not with Shota listening, and he knew that.

He place his hand softly on top of mine, "It's ok, Y/n. Remember my promise at the hospital."

I nodded and looked back at the detective, "Dabi and I are pretty close in age... After I first met him, with All for One, he came back to see me on his own. We were just two lost, unwanted kids."

"I spent my first and most of my second year at UA with him... So almost a year and a half? I lived alone, and he pretty much stayed with me."

"Uh... well, we lost contact after a huge fight about me not wanting to give up on being a hero."

"The League hadn't officially formed yet, but I think it was in the making, or just beginning. I didn't see him again until I graduated and announced my departure."

"That's when Shigaraki and Dabi came back to try and recruit me one last time. Seeing Dabi after all that time, yea, I mean..." I trailed off, not really wanting to go into details about how I felt.

"We spent my last two weeks together before I left for America," my heart sank as I thought about our final conversation together.

I started again in a whisper, "I told him to run away with me. We could start a new life together where no one knew us... But he said he had unfinished business here, and I said that I would never be a villain."

The room was ice cold, everyone staring at me intensely, "I didn't hear from him again until the UA festival this year. And that's that."

I looked up at the two way mirror, hoping Shota didn't hate me. I hoped that he could see the sadness in my eyes...

The detective scoffed, "I bet you regret that now, huh?"

I shot my eyes towards him, "No. The only thing I regret is not saving Dabi." The tears began to flow freely with those words. The ones I had thought about countless times but never said out loud.

"There was a chance before I left. There was still a flicker of light in him. Now, all I see is darkness," I sobbed once as I tried to catch my breath.

"I let the first person to ever feel like family to me become someone I barely recognize... I will always wonder what would have happened had I not run to America."

"That is my biggest regret. My only regret. And that's why I will never be able to call myself a hero."

I looked down in shame, the horrors of my lifetime finally catching up to me, and watched tiny droplets hit the table.

Suddenly, Shota burst into the interrogation room, "Get her out of those handcuffs."

Everyone looked at him in shock. So he was watching?

"Now!" he yelled in demand as his eyes began to glow red.

Hawks shot a feather towards me, and it sliced right through the metal of the quirk-cancelling handcuffs.

Shota rushed over and pulled me to my feet, wrapping his arms around me.

"Shota, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," I was crying uncontrollably now.

His hand stroked my hair as he whispered in my ear, "It's ok, Y/n. I'm here for you."

"P-please don't hate me. Please." I muffled out.

He briefly pulled back, resting his hands on both sides of my face and looking into my eyes, "You're the love of my life, Y/n. There's nothing you could ever do to change that."

I nodded and he pulled me back into a hug. After a few moments, my breathing settled and the tears came to a stop.

As the tension in the room began to ease, the detective spoke up, "Amaterasu, this isn't over yet. Please take a seat."

Shota whipped his head to the detective, "We're done here. She loves these students more than any of us!"

I grabbed Shota's hand. "It's ok," I reassured him.

"Fine, but I'm not leaving."

I gave him a soft smile before sitting back down, Shota standing by my side with his hand on my shoulder.

"I believe you weren't working with the League. However, there's still something we need you to do to help us."

I nodded, "Fine. What is it?"

The detective sighed loudly, seeming almost afraid to say his next words, "We need you to visit some inmates."

My eyes widened. Inmates? As in plural?

"Who?" I choked out softly.

"Look, I know this won't be easy—"

I cut him off with a harsh voice, "Who?"