Todoroki's POV

I see him falling and I feel my eyes go wide. His words... his face. It's pleased. He's happy.

I see his wavy green hair as it blows in the wind and the world around me stops moving. Time slows down, and it's just me and him. 

He's gone.

I'm letting him die... it's all my fault. Everything I've done is worthless. It meant nothing in the end.

I'm about to give up, but then my body jerks. I feel a jolt run down my spine and my body moves as I hear three words whispered in my ears.

A soft voice, calm and firm.

"Izu is here."

The voice said to me. I hear it clearly, and boldly. The voices... who are they? They... they're real...

The words...

I throw my body forward and partially off the building, leaning over the edge. I reach down blindly... and then I feel it. A wrist that I wrapped my hand around, holding on for dear life. I look down and meet the angry eyes of the villain, who dangles off the edge of the building.

I can barely hold him up. He's heavy, and I strain to keep him up with one arm. I'm partially leaning over the edge myself, threatening a fall.

"IZU IS HERE!" I yell before he can even speak. I choke as I try and keep him up, watching his face change.

His pupils grow larger, softer. His face goes from a scowl to a soft frown. He looks... conflicted. He looks like he wants to cry.

"...what did you just say?" He asks me, remaining calm.

I flex my forearm and yell out again. "He isn't dead! The person I knew isn't dead! Izuku Midoriya is there too! The only person that should die is Deku! Let him die!" I grit my teeth. "He is here. He's in your head. It's all in your head! Everything's on your fucking head Izuku! You're in control!"

He takes a shaky breath and looks at my face. "Please let go of me." He asks. "I don't want to live."

"Yes you do!" I yell back. "Everything we've done, isn't going to go to waste! You aren't going to waste your life. There's time left!"

I see a face I haven't seen in years. Softness and sympathy. He's... he's fighting with himself. His head is whirring I can see it in his eyes. The pain, the confliction...

He's in there.

I stick my other hand out, begging for him to grab it.

"Please Izu! Please..."

~~~

Deku's POV

Even though I've stopped moving, I feel myself falling deep, deep, deep.

It's like I've plunged into a pool of water. And I can't breathe.

It's like I'm drowning.

Did you know when you're drowning, you don't actually inhale until right before you black out?

It isn't the water that kills you. It's yourself.

You control when you open your mouth and when you don't.

The instinct to not let any water in is so strong, you'll hold on until it feels like your head is exploding.

And when you finally let it in, that's when it stops hurting.

That's when all the pain goes away, when you let the water into your lungs. That part doesn't hurt. The struggling to stay alive does. It's what eventually kills you.

The urge to breathe.

The urge to not drown is so present, that it brings you inevitable suffering.

But... if you're drowning and you're trying not to let the water in until that very last second...

What if you chose not to open your mouth.

That voice. So farmiliar... one I used for a very long time, but it slowly faded away form my lips, a new one replacing it.

That's not possible. It's just not physicallt possible. You do it eventually, it's  a reflex.

If you hold off until that reflex kicks in, you'll have more time, right? More time to be saved. More time to swim to the surface.

Not much time.

More time, to fight.

More time to to be in agonizing, killing pain. Time that kills your inner being, that makes you crave the air even more, like an addiction. It feels like your body is going to explode. Your head. Your lungs. The pain.

If it's about life or death... isn't a little agony worth it?

And what if it never gets better? What if you don't make it, and you die anyways. You just ended up fighting for nothing.

But... nothing is something. You're never fighting for nothing. You're fighting for a chance.

I feel my eyes widen from under the water, and watch as tiny air bubbles escape my lips.

A chance that you deserve. That we deserve.

A chance.

We deserve it?

I remember the child's words.

"You deserve to be saved!"

Do I?

No.

I don't.

But they do.

Todoroki, Bakugo, Kirishima And everyone. They put their lives on the line to make me happy. To save me.

To save Izuku Midoriya.

They all think I need anither chance.

They're weing. All of them.

It's them who needs to be saved.

And it's me who will save them.

I shut my eyes tightly and close my mouth. No water enters.

I begin swimming up and up. Up until I can see...

The light.

I reach out my hand and then it locks with another.

The hand of Shoto Todoroki.

And I feel myself being pulled out of the water.

And I can breathe once again.

~~~

No ones POV

Bakugo And Kirishima run over and grab onto todorokis back, pulling both boys up. Midoriya kneels, looking down, until he cranes his neck upwards to meet their eyes.

"Fine. You win."

Bakugo looks at him skeptically. "What? You're giving up-"

Midoriya speaks calmly. "I'm not giving up. I'm giving in. This isn't a noble way for anyone to die. They don't deserve it. No one does."

Kirishima kneels down in front of him. "Where's the bomb, Midoriya?"

Izuku nods and stands shakily. "Our old classroom." He doesn't smile but they can see the smile in his eyes. "For nostalgic purposes."

It was almost amusing, that someone like that had thought of such a thing at a time like that.

Izuku began walking to the door before noticing no one was following him. He turned around. "Unless you all want to go kaboom, I'd follow me."

Todoroki was the first to move. His foot steps purposeful and soft.

Then Kirishima. He looked determined. 

Then Bakugo. He looked accepting of what was happening.

The door reached the door of the roof, and walked down the stairs, leaving everything behind. All the baggage. All the pain.

Five came up.

Four came down the way they were supposed to.

One came down a new way.

My dropping dead to the ground.

~~~

Silence.

No one spoke a word as their heels echoed agains the hall floor, paces slow and steady.

Bakugo swing his head back and then asked "Hey, why aren't we hurrying?"

Midoriya our hisbheas to the side and looked at him with one eye. He put his hands in his pocket. "We have time. Why not just... enjoy life?"

To the three, that moment didn't seem like a good one to just stop and smell the daisies, but to Midoriya, it was perfect.

He sighed. "You know, I'm gonna getvlicked uo after this. The cops are probably waiting outside the barrier. Ready to cuff me and haul my ass out."

Kirishima frowned. "But... they cant do that!"

Izuku shrugged. "Technically they can. I've killed 48... uh...49 people." To say 49 visually hurt him. He blamed himself for the child's death. He looked sad, depressed even. "I'm going away for life."

Kirishima paused for a second"Well... we'll defend you!"

Midoriya stopped and turned around, looking them in the eye. "No. You won't. There's nothing to defend. I'm not innocent. I just tried to blow up the school and kill innocent children and teachers." Slowly his footing crossed and he began walking again, looking out the windows to the side of him. "It's okay though. I'll need my entire life to relapse."

For the first time in three years a genuine izuku Midoriya smile crossed his face. His eyes scrunched up and his teeth showed. It wasn't sinister or cruel. It was real. "Make sure you visit me and make fun of how I look in the jail jumper, k?"

It was joking and took everyone off guard. 

Bakugo tsked. "Still the same old Deku."

Izuku turned and looked at him over his shoulder. "Still the same old kacchan."

"Still have the fearless smile? Didn't lose that in the years you were gone?" The blonde asked.

He didn't mean how he disappeared. No. He meant that Izuku had been gone. Completely gone.

Midoriya smiled again. "I have nothing to fear."

The three continued on in silence, reminiscing in the moment. It felt like the end of an era.

Midoriya looked out the window and admired the beauty. The true beauty of the world around him.

Finally, the three reached the tall classroom door of 1-A.

Midoriya places his hand on it, lingering for a second before pushing it open.

The smile dropped from his face and it went grim. 

"Dabi." He mumbled.

And there stood Dabi, right next to the large bomb, hand in pockets and anger on his face.

Midoriya has a feeling that this wouldn't go as easily as he thought.

Definitely nit as easy as he thought.

~~~

Next part soon.