"Wha-What the-?" Mineta rubbed his round eyes, shivers shooting up his tiny spine.
"Where did the cute girl go?" Kaminari backed away.
"Move!" Momo cried out.
Kirishima and Midoriya reacted fast enough, tackling their friends to the sidelines as the woman took off like a high-speed tire ripping through the air, aiming for class 1-A.
"What the hell-!?" Your classmates scattered, ignoring their confusion for now, and tried to focus on the issue at hand; not becoming roadkill.
"Hey-" Katsuki's voice pulled your attention. "-just stay behind me."
"What?" You dumbfound replied. Katsuki glanced over his shoulder to you.
"You think you're in a place to fight right now?" He nodded downward; your furrowed brow followed his gaze. You lifted your hands to see they were still shaking uncontrollably.
"I-" You tried to say, flashes of the kids you trained with strolled through your mind like a flipbook on repeat. The warmth of their blood still lingered over your skin.
"You don't have to make up excuses." Katsuki cut, "You went through hell, we can see that more clearly now, plus that damn Jell-O freak did a number on you. You need time to bounce back and that's what you'll do. So just stay outta my way so I can protect you!"
"How can you fight that thing without your quirk?" You retorted, stepping forward.
"(y/n)-!" Katsuki snapped, turning from the loud commotion of your class drawing the villain's attention onto them and off you and Katsuki. "-just-" He growled, looking away for a moment. "-let us be the ones to cover you."
"Kats-"
"Fucking listen for once!" Katsuki marched forward, roughly placing a hand behind your neck pulling you into a kiss. "Stay back and out of the way!"
"I can help-"
"No-" Katsuki shook his head, "-you can't, and that's...that's ok. You don't always have to be the strong one (y/n). I am here, I can be strong enough for both of us."
"But-" You went to say before a red flying blur cut you off. "-Kiri!" You called, seeing him slowly picking himself off the floor, pieces of the wall crumbled around him.
"We could use some help over here Bakugo!" Kaminari called out.
"They're fucking useless!" Katsuki cursed. "I mean it (y/n)-" He pointed, "-stay back!" He turned on his heel running full force towards the villain to join the fight.
You rolled your eyes, well clearly you weren't going to do as told.
Kneeling to the ground you placed your hands flat against the cool stone floor.
Katsuki was annoyingly right, you weren't in a place to fight. You could feel the fingerprints Shadow Jack left on you burning holes in your back. You could feel the fallen kids you failed to save breathing down your neck. Your body refused to stop trembling.
You licked your lips, still remembering Katsuki's kiss lingering.
You opened your eyes assertively looking at the fight. You may be down, but you sure as hell weren't out.
Before you could frost the ground in ice, a loud explosion echoed through the room. With wide eyes you locked onto him, his ash blond air caught your eye. Midoriya zoomed by in a green flash, as Shoto ignited his flames.
You felt your lip's part, feeling astonished. You spent years locked inside those collars but could barely squeeze your quirk through the restraint. But these kids did it in mere minutes.
You saw then just how much stronger class 1-A was than you.
Shaking your head clear, it wasn't the time to be starstruck now. White frost coated the floor as it dashed forward, as it did so a pillar of ice shot up from the ground racing towards the villain.
"Huh?" Jiro blinked, turning to look back at you.
"I told you to stay out of this!" Katsuki lectured, jumping out of the way of the rolling villain, grabbing Mina before she could be flattened.
"Yeah, well bite me!" You replied.
"Is that an offer?" Katsuki shot back, causing you to involuntarily blush.
"As much as I love this-!" Mina jumped to her feet, panting as her chest heaved. "-now is not the time you too!"
"Stupid ice quirk!" The villain roared, unbaling herself. The ground crunched under her feet. You watched, unable to move with the lack of energy scratching at your muscles as she dug her hands into the ground, picking up large slabs of concrete.
"(y/n)!" Ida called, dashing to your side just in time to wrap his arms around you using himself as a shield.
----
Taking a deep breath, you looked around the dim area. You blinked, Ida rested on top of you, his weight felt crushing as you squirmed beneath him.
"Mm." He stirred. "What...happened?"
"We got stoned." You replied, ignoring Ida's uptight glare you moved to sit up. Looking around at the three-foot stone box you were in.
"Are we in a different room?" Ida wondered. "Did he fall through the floor?"
"No." You replied hearing faint voices. "I think we got trapped under the shit that chick was throwing."
"You were told to stay out of the fight!" Ida lectured. "Why would you-!?"
"You thought I would just allow you to bench me?" You scoffed.
"(y/n)-" Ida breathed; "-if Bakugo didn't think you could fight then-"
"I have been through worse." You cut him off, not wanting to have a heart-to-heart with Ida of all people. "But thanks...for saving my ass." You mumbled, returning to running your hands over the stone trying to figure a way to move the heavy rumble.
"I saw you..." Ida said out of the blue moments later, slowly you turned to look at him.
"Ah...ok...that's kinda creepy but-"
"When you were using your ice quirk-" Ida stepped forward, "-you were aiming to kill that villain...weren't you?"
"You think now is the time for conversation?" You breathed out, sweat glistening to your skin.
"We don't aim to kill-!" Ida shook his head, you stared at him for a solid moment. The sounds of Katsuki and the rest of your class blurred out. You couldn't understand why Ida was harping at you instead of helping the two of you rejoin the fight. "-heroes don't do that-!"
"Have I ever said I wanted to be a hero?" Your question, watching the realization gush onto Ida's face was almost humorous.
"E-Either way i-it's wrong and-"
"That's rich-" You laughed, "-coming from you."
"What does that mean?" Ida scoffed offendedly.
"How's the view up there from your high horse?" You wondered.
"I-I am not-"
"Are we just going to skip over the whole Stain incident?" You bluntly asked, "I know we aren't supposed to talk about it, but you were the one who tracked down a known killer with the intent to murder him, we just brushing over that?"
"I-I-"
"Yeah, that's what I thought." You shook your head, "You want to judge me fine, but I'm going to do it right back."
"We have to do better." Ida replied, "The right thing to do is-"
"I have already stood in your shoes." You cut him off,
"Huh?"
"I have stood where you are now." You repeated, "I stood by and watched villains kill people because I thought killing them was wrong. I have lost everyone I have ever cared about by the hand of a villain, so no, I will never hold back against one when they are attacking my friends."
"Maybe..." Ida breathed, his views of the world shifting as he thought of his elder brother.
"Don't get the wrong idea-" You saw the change in his eyes. "-taking a life, good or bad is never easy. Staining your hands will always place a burden on your shoulders you can't shake off."
"But...you do it-"
"It is a burden-" You thought a moment, "-I will gladly hold so you don't have to."
"But-"
"You and them-" You pointed to where your class was. "-you belong in the light, making this world a better place."
"What about you-?"
"Ida you are the only person who looks at me the right way."
"The right way?"
"Like a killer." You answered.