Be Careful What You Wish For

False Hope

Third death, not counting his own after Todoroki's, was Aizawa Shouta.

Everything started out promising. Izuku managed to escape the mist, along with Number Thirteen, Uraraka, Iida, Shouji, Sato, Sero and Ashido. There were a few close calls; when Thirteen had his own quirk turned against him, Izuku reluctantly considered resetting. But despite the teacher's disintegrated back, he stayed conscious and assured his students he would be fine. And once All Might showed up, a furious grimace twisting his face into something terrifying and so unlike his usual jovial smile, Izuku thought that finally, everything would be okay.

But then All Might dropped off the still body of their homeroom teacher by his feet.

"Take care of him," All Might smiled, strained, before he shot off toward Shigaraki and the noumu. Despite the hero's effort to keep the atmosphere positive, the sinking feeling in Izuku's gut told him it was already too late. There's so much blood...

He checked the pulse just to make sure. His mouth pressed into a thin, straight line as he wrestled to calm his roiling stomach at the sensation of still warm blood staining his trembling fingertips a deep red.

None.

With a heavy and shaking sigh as he forced his emotions down, he rose from his kneeling position beside Aizawa's cooling body. With a quirk infused dash, he landed in the path of a heavy blow aimed for All Might. There was shouting, but it was drowned out by the sound of his ribcage crushing and the rush of blood thumping in his ears.

Crack, snap, splash.

The noumu's fist ripped straight through his torso and completely obliterated his spine as it exited through his back. The pain was unbearable, but through his agony, he took some amusement at the expression of disbelief that seized the hand covered villain's face.