A Pillar Falls

Of course it had to be her.

"WELL, WELL, WELL, LOOKS LIKE EVERYONE IS FIRED UP TO SEE THIS ONE! THE FINAL BATTLES HAVE BEEN CHOSEN BY POPULAR DEMAND! I KNOW WE GAVE YOU GUYS UP TO TWO CHANCES TO BRING BACK STUDENTS WHO LOST THEIR MATCH, BUT YOU WASTED NO TIME PULLING OUR COLD STAR BACK IN!"

Izuku sighed as he walked down the corridor. Next to him was his last opponent for the Festival, her breath an icy cold mist.

"SOME EVEN SAID THEY VOTED FOR THIS BECAUSE IT'S LIKE WATCHING ALL MIGHT AND ENDEAVOR DUKE IT OUT! MAKE SOME NOISE, EVERYONE!"

Shouko rubbed the back of her neck, apparently not appreciating the awkward silence. "My bad for doubting you. You were right, there's no way you can do all that with just one Quirk."

He nodded at her, his expression growing into a smile without noticing it. "Todoroki-kun... it's okay, don't worry about it."

A few more steps were taken. The long hallway seemed endless at their pace, but he was just trying not to outpace her. Maybe she was having stage fright? He sure was, though the one-way mirror dome was helping a lot with that.

"Does it ever feel... unbearable, to use any of your Quirks?"

Huh?

"...that damn old man... I cannot bring myself to use his Quirk when he's watching. It just makes me sick to my stomach, knowing I'm playing his stupid games... Don't you dislike anyone in your family? Your Quirks come from them, right?"

Ah, that's what she meant. "N-No, not really... even though dad left mom and I a bit early on, I... Well, I never met him, and I've never seen mom distressed about it, so... I have no feelings about him. Nor for any of his family's side, I don't know any of them either. Mom, on the other hand, is just... the best mother I could have asked for, and my grandparents are so sweet too..."

"...yeah, I guess I'm the abnormal case here. I'll see you ahead-"

"Shouko." The deep voice startled Izuku, but when he turned to look at Todoroki, she had been frozen into a semblance of pure hatred. "Don't let me down."

"...screw you." With no other words, she simply kept walking ahead. Izuku turned around to see the source of the voice; Endeavor was towering over him, a few steps behind. The man's hulking stature and fierce flames discouraged most of Izuku's intent of telling him off for being a jerk to his daughter, but he still needed to say something.

"...Endeavor..."

"You. I watched your fight. So much wind pressure and sheer strength... comparable to All Might, even." His tone... it seemed neutral, if aggressive, but... no, deep within him, there was some sort of resentment or anger he was pouring into his words. Cold, ruthless anger directed at something far beyond the green-haired boy's own frame, away in the distance. "It is my Shouko's duty to surpass All Might. Your battle with my daughter will be an instructive test bed. Make sure you give her a good fight."

Flashbacks of Todoroki's confession in the cafeteria struck his mind. The reason she made her pledge. The hatred that emanated from her the moment she heard his voice, as if coming from a place of pure trauma. He could not let his comments stand.

"I... am not All Might." Endeavor's eyes widened, if only a bit - he didn't expect Izuku to talk back to him. "And Todoroki-kun isn't you either."

It took all the bravery and willpower in his heart to utter those words without stuttering or trembling in fear, but they needed to be said. He turned back around, walking towards the light at the end of the tunnel without hearing anything further from the #2 Pro Hero. Todoroki awaited at the other side of the stadium.

"A BIT OF A LATE ARRIVAL BUT WE'LL LET IT SLIDE! LITTLE MAN HAS GIRLS TO WOO, WE UNDERSTAND!" Mic's voice made Midoriya blush all over, as he just kept reminding the entire world about his stunt with Uraraka back there. With so many battles, the morning had given rise to noon, the sun high in the sky casting light right into the middle of the arena. "MIDORIYA IZUKU! VS! TODOROKI SHOUKO! ONE MATCH, ONE WINNER, INSANE POWER ON EITHER SIDE! WHAT DO WE SAY TO THAT, ERASER?!"

"Control yourselves and your Quirks. If you cannot avoid permanent injury or **** at a sports competition, you have no potential to be a hero."

"YIKES ON PIKES WE GOT IT BUDDY! LET'S DO THIS! THREE... TWO... ONE... START!"

"Sorry for this, Midoriya." Shouko's eyes were filled with the same rage as her father's, but at least he knew who she was raging against. It felt... painful. He had to do something about all this festering hatred that she was not only pouring into her father, but her own body and power as well.

Throb

One For All activated throughout his entire body on reflex, after the headache-inducing ping his Danger Sense caused. Not an instant later, a terrifying frozen tsunami was nearly upon him, shot out much faster than he remembered it traveling during the last battle.

"SMAAAAAAAASH...!"

POW-POW-POW-POW-POW-POW-POW-POW

Izuku's blows, kept at 50% of his full power, were too fast to see and too powerful to freeze. The massive air waves that each of them generated tore through Todoroki's ice before it reached his skin, all while he kept advancing step by step towards her.

"You're getting more and more bruised with each punch. You can't win against me without using your Quirk. And while you were already bruised before the battle started, I can reset my body temperature before coming here. In a battle of attrition, I will win, Midoriya." He could hear her voice from behind the massive wall of ice as he grit his teeth.

"And what about you?! This Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall move instantly drove you to hypothermia when you used it back then! And this time it came out even stronger!" POW POW POW POW POW, his blows kept coming without end. He had cleared about half of the distance to her already, though being honest with himself, she wasn't wrong. 50% was about 5% off of his safe limit, and each blow was slowly but surely squeezing the vitality out of his arms. "You're freezing in place as you are right now, aren't you?!"

"Tch... shut up...!" She had changed her strategy. Her ice advanced more slowly through the front, but the many chunks that Izuku had blown to bits connected through a thin layer of rime spreading from her right foot. Once linked in this way, they started growing as massive spikes, trying to flank Izuku's sides while he could not stop punching ahead of him.

Crap, she's going to skewer me! Think Izuku...! Some move you may have for this... I can't stop punching, so I cannot just finger-flick at them... Think...!

For some reason, at that time, he thought about Mina of all people. Jeez, you're a fast learner! It's only been an hour and you can already breakdance really nicely! Right... Right! Breakdance!

"100% TEXASSSSSSSS SMAAAAAAAASH!" The blow carved through the entire remnant of the Ice Wall. The wind pressure pushed Shouko all the way back to the end of the stadium, though not with enough leftover **** to harm her in the slightest. He had no time to waste, as those ice spikes were shooting for his ribs as he threw this punch - Izuku went into a handstand, legs still being powered by his 50% full body boost, then rotated his entire body with his hands while his legs were stretched out. The result was a tiny tornado of sheer **** and wind pressure that devastated all attacks coming his way. "50% FLORIDA SMASH!"

"Time and time again... Why do you just bust through my ice if you have so much power left?! I thought you were smarter than this, Midoriya!" Another wave of ice shot towards him, but it was slow enough that he could dodge it with Danger Sense's aid, then run along its edge before he could be frozen by it. By the time Shouko had blinked, she was being put in an arm lock from behind with one of Izuku's hands, the other arm around her neck. Her left eye was emitting a soft, red flame upon contact with him.

"If you try to freeze me, we'll both be frozen in this position-" Before he could finish speaking, Shouko encased Izuku and herself in a moderately large ice prison, having gotten a second wind from her flames. Looks like he got that one right.

"Haaah... You're being far too reckless for no reason. You do know I could unfreeze myself and leave you stuck there if I wanted?"

"I-If you did, I can break out with my strength alone." He wasn't about to fall for such a bluff. She was nearing her limit already, thanks to going all out in an instant.

"... just speak whatever it is on your mind and let's get on with this battle. I can't bear to let my old man see his Quirk flowing out of me. It's driving me nuts."

"Todoroki-kun..." A flash of insight hit him right as he was about to speak. It was a memory. Just like he somehow saw out of Uraraka's perspective earlier that day, he saw himself in the perspective of a small child vomiting onto a wooden floor, while two enormous feet stood at the edge of his vision. White and red hair drooped down from the right and left sides of his head, respectively... this was Todoroki's childhood.

Endeavor's voice boomed into Izuku's mind's eye. "Get up. If this is enough to do you in, you can forget about defeating All Might. Even some stupid mook would-" Another, much more feminine voice spoke out about this, worried sick all the while - she reminded him of his own mom whenever he got sick or came home with bruises from Bakugo's bullying. "She's just five years old, Enji! Please stop this- agh!" A slap-like sound resonated through the room, making his perspective shift to look at Endeavor's face, towering even higher than usual. "She's already five! Don't get in the way!"

He was back to his senses, fortunately having seen all this in a flash - frozen tears adorned his cheeks, but so did they limn Todoroki's right cheekbone. "...do you really think you can win this tournament while half-assing it?"

"...h-huh?" She turned her head back to look at him, her eyes widening at the sight of his tears.

"We're all giving it our best... Ochako-chan puked her guts out just after the first fight... Kacchan couldn't make it even after two tries... My entire body is in pain... and you think you can just use half of your power and still be better than us?!"

He didn't want to sound this self-absorbed. He knew exactly what she was going through, and this was certainly not her mindset. But he couldn't bear to see her continue to shun her own body and power just because her abusive father may want her to use it.

"Why you...?! Do you think I'm looking down on everyone when I made my pledge?! I'm not gonna give that man the satisfaction of-"

"THEN FIGHT ME!" The sudden shout startled her, maybe because he was too close to her ear. "That power isn't his to control. Your fire and your ice are both yours, Todoroki-kun! If you truly want to reject your father with all your might, then show him he doesn't control you! Fight me with all you've got!"

"Bastard..." She broke off her ice, but Izuku quickly followed in a burst of One For All's power, landing a stomach punch at 5% that sent her tumbling away. "Kh... did my old man buy you off or something?!"

Another flashback hit him as he ran towards her. This time, it was Shouko's point of view as she cried in her mother's bosom, telling her how she'd never want to become like her dad. "But you want to be a hero, don't you? I think it's fine. You should become one, Shouko." Soon after, he flashed into a vision of Endeavor pulling the child by the hand back into a building, while she kept sneaking peeks at what seemed to be three white-haired girls older than her playing outside. "You live in a different world than they do. You belong here."

Shouko charged at him, sliding on a thin sheet of ice - she took another punch, this time to the face, with his natural strength alone. Her hand connected with his arm, covering it in rime, but the punch had shoved her away before she could keep freezing him. As she tumbled through the ground, a third flashback hit him. Why couldn't he read any of her thoughts, yet he kept seeing flashes of her childhood instead? Were these things the only thoughts occupying her mind?

His point of view, presumably child-Shouko again, was peeking through a half-open door into what he believed was her home's kitchen, her mother speaking on the phone while brewing tea. The steadily rising sound of a teapot with boiling water in it was really bothering him, for some reason - it felt unnervingly distorted and high-pitched. He had an idea of what he was about to witness here.

"Mother, I can't take it anymore. Every day, the children... become more like their father. Shouko, that girl's face... her left side... sometimes looks hideous to me! I'm scared. I feel like I can't raise them anymore... not in the state I'm in..."

Shouko had opened the door and sneakily approached her mother, asking her what was wrong in an innocent voice. The last thing he could see in the flashback was the expression of utter dread, hatred and exhaustion in her mother's face, the teapot's whistle growing louder and louder - and then, a scorching hot sensation spreading through Izuku's left eye.

The next few words he heard happened in total darkness - Shouko had been temporarily blinded, in all likelihood. "Your mother?" Endeavor's voice asked in an icily furious tone. "She hurt you, so I put her in a mental ward. For crying out loud... I even told her this was a critical stage of your development." Shouko's childlike voice came out in torrents of rage and sadness. "It was you... it was because of you that she became that way...!"

Back to reality, Shouko stopped herself with a wall of ice behind her back, sending a wave of ice spikes Izuku's way while she got up and started running up its arc... rather slowly. The rime spreading through her body was numbing it significantly, deteriorating her bodily functions and making her sluggish. The hits she had taken were not making it any easier - his 5% punch earlier had knocked the wind out of her sails further than she cared to admit, and her cheek was hurting like it got hit with a brick.

"You want to be a hero, don't you, Todoroki-kun?!" Her ice shattered as Izuku's punch struck it, making her fall right into his bruised arms. Her left eye lit up once more. Izuku could suddenly see himself from Shouko's perspective, as his own face slowly warped into that of All Might's, and the surroundings into a cozy home with a TV encapsulating the top Pro Hero's face. Another flashback.

It was a TV interview Izuku could repeat verbatim even if he wasn't seeing it in a flashback, because he had linked it to the reason he always said his catchphrase... so repeat it he did. He spoke out All Might's words while Shouko was still undergoing her traumatic thoughts. "It's true that children inherit their Quirks from their parents. However, what matters is not that connection, but rather, your own flesh and blood. Your Quirk is yours and yours alone! That's a big part of why I always say, 'I AM HERE'. See?"

Shouko's eyes were tearing up even as she kicked Izuku away and staggered back to her feet. "M-My old man's -!"

"YOURS! IT'S YOUR POWER!" Izuku screamed at the top of his lungs while clutching at his costume's neck, moved to tears by living through Shouko's worst experiences himself. "USE IT LIKE WE'RE ALL USING OURS TO WIN! LET'S BECOME... HEROES LIKE ALL MIGHT TOGETHER!"

She froze, her eyes still unfocused, blurry and watery, shivering as if to make up for her body's stillness. Izuku heard her mother's sweet voice one last time, deep in the back of his mind.

Shouko, you aren't a **** to your blood. You can become... the woman you want to be.

Rather than tears, her left eye discharged a towering pillar of flame. The left side of her body soon joined in this effort, eventually coating her whole body in scorching jets of fire. "F-For crying out loud... even though you want to win this tournament... going out of your way to help your enemy... which one of us is half-assing it now, Midoriya?!"

Her frame emerged from the great flames unharmed, the rime melting off from her skin's surface as her temperature stabilized. Despite the pain she was suffering, a big, hopeful smile was taking over her previously enraged expression. It was like a phoenix reborn in her own pyre. Her voice came out shaky, but unable to stutter. "I want to become... a hero, too!"

Izuku couldn't help but smile wide, himself. He made it. He helped save Shouko from her self-loathing, if only a little... but could he win after all of this? There was a limit to how much adrenaline his body could produce, even with Heroic Body's help, and she had just become at least twice as strong...

"I don't know what you're smiling about... with your body in that state, in your current situation... you're nuts. But I don't care what happens anymore. I'll win and become the woman I want to be."

An immense wave of ice spread from Todoroki's right leg towards Izuku. He didn't expect her to open with ice after that display of fiery might, but he didn't care in the end. Powering his whole body up at 100%, he leapt at full speed towards the ice wave, swinging a terrifyingly powerful punch into the wave...

That was, at least, the plan. But the ice froze in place when the sound of metal and plastics painfully shattering to pieces came from above. What appeared to be a massive black-and-gold hexagonal pillar descended upon the coliseum, threatening to crush both Izuku and Shouko together. Now that the dome was no longer sealed airtight, the sounds of thunder and screams reached the two of them - was U.A. being attacked by villains?!

"WHAT?! MIDORIYA, HOLD THAT THING BACK!" Shouko yelled as she redirected her ice towards stopping the falling pillar, but the thing appeared entirely impervious to such attempts, easily crushing through the ice in its descent. Izuku's Danger Sense had rung so fiercely in his head that he had nearly passed out from the headache, causing him to hit his back against the smooth ice wall ahead.

"Gah... T-TODOROKI-KUN!" Even though he could barely think in his current state, his protective instincts had gone into overdrive. He would not let someone die here. The full power of One For All coursed through his body once again, getting himself primed to stop this thing at all costs... and yet, when it reached his outstretched hands, he almost found his strength wanting.

"Ghhhhh... Goddammittttttt...!" Todoroki's ice was shooting against the part of the pillar on Izuku's right side, and her fire was concentrating on the left, which led Izuku to assume she was a few steps behind him. "Todoroki-kun... runnnn... I... I don't t-think... I can stop this for much longerrrrr..."

A voice came from above, eerily distorted and glitchy like a faultily programmed AI. As it did, yellow dahlias bloomed through the field and under their feet.

"H-HeR-o-OH...? Ca-cAN t-tH-is o-oNe BECO-BECO-be-Be-BECO-(Become.) a HerO To-too-tWo-toO?"