Author's Note: we have come a long way from the start and now things are going to be amped up to 11. here is a flashback chapter to shed some light and perhaps some foreshadowing?

One Year Prior...

Shigaraki barely spared a glance as the door to his room burst open and his adoptive brother dramatically threw himself onto his bed, the elder of the two sitting at his computer desk.

He was hoping to ignore the small teen and continue on with his game in peace.

Of course, Izuku had different plans for their time together.

The green haired teen let out a loud and obnoxious sigh, repeating this action when his brother did not immediately turn towards him. Shigaraki stubbornly refused to pay his brother any mind, forcing a pout onto the young boy.

"Sigh!" Izuku dragged the word out, glaring at his brother when his back stayed turned to him. Huffing, Izuku grabbed the nearest object - a hardcover book - and hurled it at Shigaraki.

"What the fuck, Rabid?" Shigaraki hissed, finally turning to his brother's triumphant grin. He rolled his eyes, throwing the book back at Izuku. "You're a shit, you know that?"

"Takes one to know one." Izuku stuck his tongue out, eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Go bother Dabi or Himiko, you parasitic douche bag." Shigaraki tried to focus back on his game, giving up completely when Izuku dove onto his lap with exaggerated puppy dog eyes aimed his way. "Fuck off."

"But dearest Tomura, were you not made aware that you are my most favoritest person within this establishment?"

Shigaraki gave Izuku an unimpressed look. "Are you trying to tell me that Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb aren't here?" Izuku blinked up at him, a shit eating grin trying to force its way onto his face. "Where did they go?"

Izuku huffed when Shigaraki stood up, making the younger fall onto the floor in a heap. He went to make a sassy retort but stopped when he saw Shigaraki casually unsheath the blade Toga gave him a few months prior. They all had one, it was a matching set and Toga thought it would be adorable if they all had matching weapons when they commit murder together.

She wasn't wrong, they did look adorable.

Dragging himself back onto his brother's bed, Izuku crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall as he watched Shigaraki twirl the dagger. "Dabi and Himiko went to pick up some takeout for us. Twice was hungry and Mamagiri has been on a cooking strike ever since we used his food as ammo during our last war...Himiko volunteered to go pick up some McDonalds."

"I'm pretty sure blondie can handle grabbing us dinner. Why did Dabi go along with her?"

"I honestly cannot tell if you are angry that Dabi isn't here to fuck you or that he isn't here to distract me from pestering you." Izuku tilted his head to the side, eyeing the leader. "Also, we're talking about Himiko here. You think she can handle grabbing dinner?"

"Right, right. She would come back with everything but dinner." Shigaraki sighed. "But you still could've gone with them."

"And what, leave my beloved brother to rot away alone in his bedroom? I wouldn't be able to live with myself." Izuku broke his straight face with a snicker when Shigaraki aimed the blade at him. "Okay, okay. I'm on house arrest again."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about the watermelon massacre."

"Those fuckwads had it coming and you know it!"

Sheathing the blade and placing it back on his desk, Shigaraki sat next to his brother, a contemplative look in his eyes. "You could've gone with them and I could've taken a page out of master's handbook, having a bunch of guns for hire kidnap you to bring back some excitement in your life."

Izuku stared at Shigaraki, something akin to betrayal flashing through his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

Shigaraki rolled his eyes once more, something he finds himself doing a lot in the presence of his younger brother. "Don't tell me you already forgot about how master had some of his followers kidnap you and your mom to try and take down All Might already. It's only been a few years and you're young, your memory shouldn't be this bad." Izuku glowers at Shigaraki and the older boy catches on. "Oh. Rabid, don't tell me you had no idea that master was the one behind that. I mean, anyone with half a brain cell could figure that out. It was obvious."

"Well, apparently not to me it wasn't!" Izuku snarled, jumping off the bed to pace. "Why would he do that? What did he hope to gain?"

"Are you purposely playing dumb right now?" Shigaraki held his hands up in the universal signal of surrender when Izuku snapped his head towards him with barely contained rage. "Shit, alright. I guess I have to spell it out for you, huh."

"And do it slowly, I am illiterate, after all."

Snorting at the way Izuku could still be a snarky asshole even during an emotional meltdown, Shigaraki launched into the backstory of how Izuku and his mother fell into the clutches of All For One. "Master has obviously been preoccupied with taking down All Might and he saw the perfect opportunity to do so through you and your mom. He had some of his people kidnap you after you two had been lulled into a false sense of security, believing you truly were safer without All Might around. He ordered his people to torment the both of you, experiment on you, break you physically, emotionally, and psychologically. His plan was to have the two of you join him after having no other option and then send the both of you to confront All Might, rubbing in his face the fact that he couldn't even keep his own family safe. He would use you two to crumble the Symbol of Peace's psyche and then swoop in to finish the job. Master just didn't account for his people to go rogue and have you...you know, unalive your mother."

A loud laugh tore out of Izuku's throat as he gripped and tugged at his hair. "That fucking manipulative piece of shit! I can't believe I bought into his whole revenge scheme, thinking I had a say and that it was all my idea. I am just a stupid, pathetic, mother killing pawn!" Izuku stopped laughing, his eyes narrowing as he stared off into the middle distance. "He won't get away with ruining my life."

"Rabid, are you forgetting the fact that master took you in and gave you the necessary resources to take down All Might? And that it is also All Might's fault for taking you and your mother's 'deaths' at face value and calling off any further investigation? That it is your birth father's fault for not finding you two sooner. That it's his fault you even got captured in the first place." Shigaraki shrugged. "I'm just saying, you can blame master all you want but don't lose sight of the other parental figure who made you like this."

Izuku slowed his pacing, turning to Shigaraki with a serene expression. "You're right. All Might is also to blame for my mother's death. The hero is lucky I haven't come across him yet, oh, is he lucky."

"Because you would murder on sight?"

"No, no, no, no, dear Tomura. That would be too quick, too painless. A reward rather than a punishment." Izuku looked down at his nails as he continued to talk, a certain indecipherable emotion dancing in his eyes. "No. You see, when killing someone, the act of snuffing out their life is the last action you take. You must be methodical about it. Lure them into a trap, give them false hope, put on a show for them. And when they are trusting you wholeheartedly and would do anything for you, that's when you tug on the fraying ends of the perfect life you gave them. You sabotage their relationships, their reputation, their job. You pick apart every aspect of their life until they are questioning their luck and are utterly, utterly alone. Except for, that is, you. That, Tomura, is when you start the final act. You show complete devotion to them and start to build them back up, and when they are finally feeling some genuine hope about their life...you tug the last thread loose. You reveal your machinations and part in the destruction of their life. And when they are feeling good and betrayed...that's when you murder them, showing them exactly what they made you into."

Shigaraki blinked. "And how would you finally kill All Might?"

"Haven't decided yet, honestly. I'm torn between beating him to death with my own hands, not using a quirk since he was so ashamed of having a quirkless child. My second choice is to kill him like I did my mother. This time, however, I would do it over the course of days, maybe even weeks. I would take little bits of his life force in small increments, letting him heal slightly before doing it again, draining him until he is practically begging for death. And then, I'd stop. Give him one last taste of hope and mercy before I snap his fucking neck and watch his stupid smile fade away."

The older brother whistled lowly. "Dang, Rabid...you really don't have a shred of sanity left in you, do you? I bet you could take down hero society through sheer willpower and spite alone."

Dabi and Toga opened the door to Shigaraki's room as Izuku cackled, eyeing the green eyed teen curiously as he responded. "Oh, Tomura. I will be the one to burn this world to the ground. And from the ashes I will give you three the lives you've always wanted." He brushed past the newcomers, pausing in the doorway. "That's not just a promise, it is a destined fact."

Izuku skipped down the hallway away from his friends and brother, humming to himself as he went.

Toga quirked her head to the side, eyeing the doorway her best friend had previously been standing in. Dabi cleared his throat, gaze locked onto Shigaraki. "So, want to explain what the fuck that was about?"

Shigaraki shakes his head slowly. "I have started the timer on a ticking nuclear bomb."

Dabi rolled his eyes. "So, a typical Tuesday, you melodramatic bastard."

"Yeah, Tomura, Dabi's right. I mean, at least three times a week Rabid is declaring how he will obliterate the world. What's so different this time?" Toga inquired as she sent a text to the rest of the group that they were not successful in retrieving food as Dabi had burned the McDonalds down. Again.

"I may or may not have added fuel to his ever burning revenge plot." Upon seeing his friend's blank looks, Shigaraki sighed. "I accidentally gave him information he didn't have before. About his past."

Dabi and Toga inhaled sharply. "You don't mean - "

"No, no. Not that." Shigaraki shuddered at the thought of Izuku finding out that bit of information. "Were you two aware that Rabid didn't know that All For One was the one behind everything?"

"Seriously? And he claims to be a genius." Dabi scoffed.

"So you unintentionally ignited a war in his brain between his mission to get revenge on everyone involved in his and his mom's kidnapping and his debt to All For One." Toga blew a raspberry. "This should be interesting."

"I think you mean catastrophic." Dabi dropped onto Shigaraki's bed. "Here's hoping he at least lets me take down Endeavor."

"Well, he did just say he was going to give us our dream lives...so that is looking pretty likely."

"Sweet. Knew we could count on the psycho for something."