AN: Hello all, and yes I am still alive. Apologies for not updating any of my stories in a while, I've just been very busy with everything that has been going on, and not at all in the right mood to write. I'm still not really, which is probably why this chapter is shorter than my previous ones. Still I am not giving any of my stories up, and will get back to updating them all as soon as I can, hopefully once things start to calm down I'll get back to doing 1 a week. But I'll have to wait and see about that.

Other than that I hope you enjoy, I'm glad people have enjoyed this story so far, and hope you continue to do so.

Thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia.

( - )

(Last Time)

"It was close." Izuku replied, shaking off his own surprise as he offered a hand to the forlorn looking redhead. A hand which Kirishima gratefully accepted, as he allowed Izuku to pull him up. The red head then leaning on Izuku as they turned back to the wrecked stairwell, just in time to see the exhausted and battered looking Togeike fly down with Yui.

Togeike looking distinctly red faced and tired as she almost collapsed to the floor the moment her feet touched the ground, sweat dripping down her forehead as she took several deep, ragged breaths.

Yui meanwhile looked quite fresh.

In fact the only sign that she bore, which showed that she had been in a fight at all, was the fact that her short dark hair was far more ruffled and dusty than it had previously been, with her costume being likewise covered in dust.

Sending the girl a smile, Izuku received a solemn nod in return.

They had won, but they had gotten lucky.

It hadn't been a good victory.

( - )

Chapter 8

( - )

(With Izuku)

"Hey, Midoriya! Wait up!"

Turning around, Izuku looked to see the familiar, spiky red-haired figure of Kirishima running up to him, two of his other classmates, Kaminari and Sero, following along closely behind.

"What's up?" Izuku asked bluntly, furrowing his brow slightly as he paused in the middle of the hallway and waited for his grinning classmates to catch up.

The Combat Class training had just finished, and Izuku had been one of the first of the male students to get showered and dressed. He had been in no mood to talk much. His performance in the combat class against Kirishima and Togeike had been subpar to say the least.

Not that the rest of the class seemed to have thought that, in fact the rest of them had been really excited for their own turns at battling after seeing how messy the fighting had been once they had all started using their Quirks against one another. Which honestly wasn't that surprising, as for most of them this would be the first time that they got to use their Quirks in a proper combat situation, - fighting robots didn't count, even if it was in a heavily monitored and a controlled environment.

For him however, this was not the first time he had fought against another Quirk user.

When he had been back at Asphodel and had been learning how to properly control his Quirk, he had been encouraged to spar with other residents of the high-tech, high security facility. Or at least he had been, once he had shown he had sufficient enough control over his emotions so as to not go full Titan and kill someone, or destroy something, by accident.

As such he had experience fighting with his Quirk against a variety of other Quirk users. On top of which, he had trained himself rigorously over the years so that he would not only get into the U.A. Hero Course, but also so he could prove that he was one of the good guys, and that he could fight bad guys and remain in control, that he could be a hero and not the monster some people still thought him to be.

"Why are you running off so fast, man?" Kirishima gasped out as he, Kaminari and Sero finally caught up to the lean, green haired teen.

"Class is over, I'm heading to the cafeteria to get some food and drink, like All Might suggested." Izuku shrugged. He thought it would have been patently obvious where he was going considering the time, and the direction he was headed, and the suggestions All Might had made about them getting their energy back during the afternoon break.

"Oh yeah, of course. Still you should have waited up for us, I mean we're in the same class, yeah, we should head there, pick up some stuff and eat together!" Kirishima grinned.

"Yeah and we can talk about all those fights just now, some of them were pretty awesome!" Kaminari nodded with a grin, sending Izuku a cheesy thumbs up as he did so.

"Pretty damn manly, I mean the way you not only went toe to toe with me, but completely overwhelmed me! Like damn, that was so cool!" Kirishima grinned, pumping his fist up in the air in enthusiasm. "I thought I was pretty tough coming in, but you didn't even need to use your full Quirk!"

"I wasn't that great." Izuku shifted awkwardly. Although he had gotten to spar with some of the other residents of Asphodel, he hadn't really had the same opportunity to socialise with them. Not when they were all kept in individual contained units for eighteen hours or so a day, and tended to eat, sleep and live in their cells, save for when they trained their Quirks, or when the researchers wanted to experiment with a new facet of their power.

The others however had not had that experience, which is maybe why All Might, in the after fight debrief, had been a lot harsher on him than on the others:

"Yes you are right there young Yaoyorozu, young Togeike and Kodai both deserve the MVP. Both of them remained focused on the task at hand and showed a phenomenal amount of initiative and tenacity when it came to fighting over possession of the bomb. Tenacity that young Kirishima showed as well when he engaged a strong opponent and stuck in there, distracting him. Though unfortunately you did get a little too wrapped up in the fight young man, which contributed to your loss. Young Midoriya though… you showed a disappointing lack of teamwork and self-control, and instead of retreating after the initial confrontation, you seemed to be more interested in fighting with young Kirishima, to the exclusion of all else. I expect to see a lot more teamwork next time, you understand young man?"

All Might's analyse had been tough, much more so that Yaoyorozu's initial conclusion, and honestly it rankled a bit.

"It looked pretty good to me!" Sero disagreed, clapping the shorter, green haired teen on the back, a crooked grin stretching across his oddly angular face.

"Thanks," Izuku shrugged, not sure what else to say.

"So you want to head to the cafeteria and eat with us?!" Kirishima grinned, gesturing off in the direction of the cafeteria.

"Sure," Izuku nodded after a moment, looking between the three friendly teens, before smiling slightly. "If we find a table Ashido and Hagakure can join us too!"

"Yeah and whoever else wants to come, I reckon we should stick together as a class, you know?" Kirishima nodded, clapping Izuku on the back as he did so, even as the four of them started heading for the cafeteria.

( - )

(A few minutes later)

Arriving at the cafeteria a few minutes later, and picking up a tray piled high with food from the Pro Hero, Lunch Rush. A Pro Hero who also happened to work as the cook for the school. The four of them quickly settled down on one of the tables, all of them still chatting amiably about the fights they had just been involved in or witnessed.

It was all small talk basically, but still pleasant nonetheless. All of them had only just met after all, just a few days previously, it would have been weird if they started trying to talk about something too deep.

Following the four of them, a couple of the other members of their class trailed into the cafeteria too in dribs and drabs. Both Hagakure and Ashido, with their new friends; Yaoyorozu, Uraraka and Jiro, quickly joining the four of them at their table.

The other students in their class meanwhile, those that had like them taken All Might's advice, arrived a few minutes later, and after some manoeuvring of the furniture, ended up occupying the table right next to theirs, all of them piling in, save for a few noticeably absences.

Todoroki, the guy with heterochromatic eyes and half red hair, and half white hair, was noticeably absent.

As too was Togeike, the new student in class.

Though her absence was at least explained by Mina, who told them all that the Pro Hero, Midnight, had come to collect her after the combat training. Something to do with finishing off the paper work, and getting her settled in, following her transfer to the Hero Course from the General Education one.

"Haha so there I was trying to find a way to get in close to Shoji and Uraraka, you know so I could use my lightning to put them down. Only before I even had a chance to, Shiozaki just up and KOed them both with a single move." Kaminari laughed good-naturedly, shaking his head at his own lacklustre performance. He didn't even really get to do anything, before Shiozaki used her vine like hair to burrow underground, and then erupt forth and bind both of the 'villains' before they even had a chance to start fighting back.

Uraraka flushed slightly at this. "Yeah it wasn't the best debut."

"We were unprepared." Shoji agreed, one of his tentacle like arms turning into a mouth as he glanced over at the green haired, Shoizaki.

Daintily dabbing at her mouth with a napkin, Shiozaki took a few moments to gather herself, before sending her partner and the team she fought against a beatific smile. "I was just fortunate. My Quirk is versatile and hard to counter, without knowing its full potential, it would be impossible to be fully prepared."

In response Kaminari gained a dreamy expression on his face, even as some of the others smiled at Shiozaki's humbleness. The girl had already cemented a reputation for herself as a kind, caring and gentle person, and it was still only the first week.

"You know what I was a bit disappointed about though?" Sato, a large, bulky, heavily built teen with big lips and friendly eyes chirped up. His gaze flicking over to Izuku as he did so. "I was hoping to see Midoriya go full Titan again!"

"Yeah that would have been cool!" Mina grinned, clapping Izuku on the shoulder as she did so.

"It wouldn't have made strategic sense if he had done that though," Yaoyorozu cut in promptly. "His massive gain in size and weight would have damaged the surrounding building, and would have probably brought the whole lot down on everyone inside. It would have been completely counterproductive."

"Yeah, but as the villain wouldn't that have made sense. I mean that's kind of what villains do, isn't it? Destroy stuff!" Sato argued.

Izuku winced slightly at the other teens words, but remained silent. He didn't know what to say to that.

"Maybe, but this was a training simulation. I think Midoriya was wise not to take on his Titan form." Iida bulldozed his way into the conversation. "Besides even villains have some shred of honour, if he had indeed taken his Titan form, he would have endangered his partner."

Several gazes flickered over to the silent Kodai at this.

Putting down her fork, Kodai met their gazes levelly for a moment, before shrugging lightly. "Maybe."

"Still would have been cool to see!" Sato grumbled.

"Yeah I get that," Sero nodded, before he sent Midoriya a lopsided grin. "But I still reckon I can take Midoriya down in that form!"

A number of incredulous looks were sent to the dark haired teen at that claim.

"I admire your valour and bravery, Sero. But I fear you might be stretching yourself. To fight one such as Midoriya, I fear it might be too much for any single student to accomplish." Shiozaki spoke up, the gentle smile on her face widening slightly as she looked from Sero to Izuku.

"Nah, I still think I could take him. After all, the bigger they are, the harder they fall!" Sero grinned pumping his fist into the air enthusiastically. Several of the others laughing and shaking their heads at the tape using teens overconfidence. "Hey don't laugh, I have already thought of a fool proof method to take him down. Tell me, did any of you ever watched that really old film, Star Wars?"

"I'm not much for classical films…" Toru groaned, "They're just so cheesy and boring."

"Hey now, the crappy effects and picture quality aside, some of the old films are pretty great!" Mina shot back. "And yeah, Sero, I've watched all twenty seven of the Star Wars films. Which one are you talking about, the trilogy with Yoda's grandson in it? Or the standalone anthology film, where some Dark Lady used the force to turn all men into women, in order to establish a galactic wide matriarchy? That one is my favourite!"

"Urgh, no!" Sero groaned. "I'm talking about the really old school ones, you know the one where they take the big, metal, camel robot things down with wires?"

"Oh, Empire Strikes Back?" Mina nodded. "I didn't really like that one, I mean that one is like nearly three hundred years old."

"Erm, does anyone have a clue what those two are talking about?" Kaminari asked the rest of the group at large.

"They're just being nerds…" Jiro shrugged dismissively, rolling her eyes as Kaminari and Mina continued to chat about their newly discovered shared interest in classic sci-fi films.

Izuku smiled slightly at this, it was nice being sat here amongst his classmates, all of them chatting and laughing about random and innocuous things. It had a sense of normalcy about it, a kind that he had never experienced before.

Unfortunately though, this normalcy was soon to come to an end, as a few minutes later the sound of someone dropping their tray rang out across the half empty cafeteria.

The sound, then being quickly followed by a bellow of barely controlled rage. "DEKU!?"

Instantly silence descended upon the entire cafeteria, as the fifty or so people now in the room looked over at the source of the racket. A spiky, blonde haired teen, that was practically shaking with barely continued rage, his bloodshot, crimson eyes fixed on the tables that most of Class 1A were occupying.

"Who's that guy" Kirishima muttered to no one in particular. "He sounds pissed, and manly as hell!"

"More importantly, who is Deku?" Yaoyorozu chipped in, her brows furrowing as she saw the angry looking blonde storming over to their table, small explosions going off in his hands, even as several other students, some of whom looked familiar to the Class 1A student, tried to stop him.

"Bakugo, what are you doing? Calm down!" A blue eyed girl, with long red hair which was drawn back in a ponytail shouted, one of her hands expanding massively as she tried to grab the blonde's entire body in a single hand.

Bakugo however deftly avoided her, and his other classmates as a couple tried to impede him, even as he continued to stomp towards Class 1A, his entire body practically shaking, and his breathing heavy and ragged.

Forcing down the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat at the sight of the familiar looking teen, Izuku slowly stood up, much to the surprise of his other classmates.

"Midoriya?" Kodai muttered.

"What are you doing, Midoriya?" Hagakure hissed, grabbing onto his arm with both of her invisible hands. "That guy looks crazy."

"Katsuki," Izuku said instead, his gaze fixed on his one-time friend as he stepped out from around the table and walked forward to meet the furious looking blonde. He had not seen the other teen in over ten years, but he recognised him all the same. "So you made it to U.A. in the end after all, well done, I know that that was always your dream."

"Y-you!" Bakugo ground out, his hands and fingers flexing as he came to a stop barely a metre away from Izuku. His entire body still shaking with anger, even as the rest of his class caught up to him and tried to pull him away, or restrain him. Their own confusion about the situation clear to see, save of course for one of their number, another blonde teen - though this one looked more smarmy and slimy than spiky and angry, who just stayed back and looked at Izuku with barely continued hate and malice. "Why is a fucking murderer like you here!?"

The silence in the cafeteria seemed to gain a new weight at this.

"Murderer…" Izuku muttered, his gaze not straying from Katsuki's bulging, bloodshot red eyes.

"Yeah, murderer!" Bakugo growled, glaring at Izuku now as he tried to fight his way out of his orange haired classmate's massive hand. "What else would I call you?! Monster?! Freak!?"

"Here now, this is not at all seemly!" Iida burst out, the bespectacled boy apparently unable to hold his tongue any longer as he, along with a number of the other Class 1A students leapt to their feet in defence of one of their own.

"No, what's not seemly is the Titan of Mustafa coming to U.A.!" The other blonde burst out loudly, his malicious eyes still locked on Izuku.

A sudden ripple spread through the cafeteria at that, many of the students, those not in Class 1A, looking at Izuku now. Some fearfully, other curiously, and still others in confusion.

"He was five years old, a kid!" Mina suddenly burst out, the pink haired girl stepping in front of Izuku now, and putting herself between him and the still struggling and snarling Bakugo. "It's not his fault! His Quirk awakened in a bad way, he had no control over what happened! It was an accident!"

"People died!" The other blonde snapped back.

"Monoma, come on, leave it!" Another one of the Class 1B students said, this one being a particularly odd looking boy with straggly white hair, and a skull like face.

"Leave it!" Bakugo burst out, minor explosions still crackling across his palms as he continued to try and break free from his classmates grip. A futile effort as more of his classmates had piled in now, and were helping to restrain both of the blonde teens. More members of Class 1A however, like Kirishima, Sero, Toru and Kodai were standing in front of, or around the still silent and staring Izuku. "My parents are dead because of him, and so are hundreds of others! He shouldn't be here in a school, he shouldn't be learning to be a hero, he should be rotting in a hole somewhere! If he had any decency he would have thrown himself of a rooftop long ago!"

Once again a sudden ripple seemed to go through the cafeteria, as some of the gathered students started shouting down Bakugo. Others meanwhile, sent one another looks, as if agreeing with his words, or at least to some extent, but not wanting to voice them quite like the explosive blonde was. Still others, a minority, were nodding.

"That's not manly at all!" Kirishima shouted.

"Are you here to be a hero, or are you just here to cause trouble?!" Mina snapped. "What kind of a person tells someone to kill themselves?! What kind of a person, wishes death on someone else!?"

"Oh shut it racoon eyes!" Bakugo snapped viciously, "You don't know, you've not seen what kind of a monster Midoriya is!"

Once again the cafeteria dissolved into shouting and chaos, as Class 1B continued to try and restrain their two struggling classmates.

"That's enough out of you!" The orange haired girl suddenly said, using her other hand this time to chop Bakugo on the back of his head knocking him senseless for the moment, even as some of her other classmates dragged the silently glaring Monoma away too.

Turning to the scowling group of class 1A student, the orange haired girl shrugged helplessly.

"I think our two classes should eat separately." Momo suggested.

"Yeah, and at different times too!" The orange haired girl nodded as she and her class began to retreat from the cafeteria. "Sorry about all of this, these two, they're just angry, you know!"

"It's fine." Izuku spoke up suddenly, his soft voice catching the attention of those around him, including some of the students in Class 1B. "They have a right to be angry, I did horrible things. But I also have a right to be here, a right to try and become a hero, and make up for my past!"

Neither the orange haired girl, or any of their classmates said anything too that.

"Midoriya," Shiozaki's soft voice asked from his side. "Are you okay?"

Glancing around, Izuku saw that nearly all of his class was at his side, at his back or in front of him now. Many of them sending him comforting, worried or cautious looks.

"I'm fine," He replied, his voice a bit curt as he shrugged off a soft hand on his arm. Kodai had at some point grabbed it, either to stop him from doing something he might regret, or as an act of support. He wasn't sure which. "I expected some people to react to me like this."

"They shouldn't though!" Mina cut in.

"Yeah that Bakugo guy was completely out of line!" Hagakure nodded.

"No, he has a right to be angry. No matter how you look at it, I am the one responsible for his parent's death…" Izuku shook his head.

Silence followed these words, as many of the teens around him exchanged awkward looks. None of them seem to know what to say.

( - )

AN: So a bit of drama in this chapter, it'll be interesting to see whether there will be any fall out from this. Other than that not much else to say, except that I will be powering through the next few arcs, so I can get to some of the more exciting things, suffice to say there will be changes to canon. Changes that will become more and more noticeable as the story progresses.

Hopefully there won't be as big a gap between this chapter and the next update, but well I'm not promising anything. Especially since I've started getting into a new to me fandom, Worm, and have been having ideas. Still I will endeavor to start trying to write more, and who knows I may regain some of my lost enthusiasm and motivation. The recent opening of pubs is certainly helpful.

Hope you all stay well and safe, thanks a lot for reading.

Greed720.