The battlefield was unrecognizable. What had once been a city was nothing more than craters, burning steel, and ash carried on the wind.

Smoke stung the air, and every breath Izuku Midoriya took was ragged, heavy, pulled through blood and dust.

The final war had swallowed everything whole. Allies and enemies clashed in the haze, quirks roaring against one another, screams drowned beneath explosions.

Heroes were running out of strength, out of hope, and still the villains surged forward like an endless tide.

Izuku staggered to his knees, One For All flickering violently inside of him, its power fraying his body beyond repair.

He had pushed too hard. He always pushed too hard.

Every limb trembled, blood dripping from his mouth as Shigaraki advanced with that awful smile, Decay crawling hungrily across the rubble.

He knew it. This was it. The end.

His chest ached, not just from his broken ribs but from failure. He thought of All Might, of his classmates, of the promises he had made.

He thought of the people who were counting on him. And in that terrible moment, he knew he couldn’t keep them.

The hand reached for him — that cursed, scarred hand that had ended so many lives — and Izuku couldn’t even move. His vision blurred. He whispered one last apology in his mind.

But then— Something struck like lightning between them. It wasn’t one of his friends. It wasn’t an ally. It was you.

The villain who had carved fear into heroes’ hearts for years. The one he had fought against, shouted at, sworn to stop.

Your power erupted in a flash, deflecting Shigaraki’s Decay back into the shattered ground. Dust exploded into the air, buying just enough space for Izuku to breathe again.

Shigaraki’s hand recoiled, his face twisting with rage. “You—what are you—?!”

You didn’t answer. You didn’t need to. Your body moved like instinct, like you’d made the decision before your mind could even catch up.

You stood between Izuku and death, back turned to him, daring to protect the very boy who had always been your enemy.

Izuku’s lungs seized. His entire world tunneled into the image of you — battered, defiant, standing guard.Why…?

He wanted to scream it, but his throat was too raw, too full of blood. Instead, he watched. He watched as you took the blow meant for him, redirecting power at the cost of your own body.

He watched as you faltered but refused to fall. And he realized, with a force so crushing it nearly broke him —

—You had saved him.

Izuku dragged himself up with what little strength remained, his fingers clawing into the earth. His vision swam, but through the blur he saw you still fighting, still shielding him as if his life was worth more than yours.

His heart hammered. You were a villain. You had taken lives, destroyed cities, stood on the opposite side of everything he stood for.

And yet… At the end of everything… You chose to save him.

“Why…” His voice cracked, barely audible, but the words spilled anyway, torn from his soul. “Why would you—?”

But you didn’t look back.

Instead, you pushed forward, your body the only barrier between Izuku and death, as if you’d decided — for just this moment — that his dream, his fragile hope for a better world, deserved to keep burning.