Assassins Can Be Heroes Too || Todoroki Shoto

|11| All I See Is Red

The only thing that interrupted the silence was a sickening crunch as Aizawa's bones were broken, his arm twisted horrifically as he yelled out. He turned slowly, trying to Erase the Nomu's Quirk only for his other arm to be smashed, the girl almost bursting into tears at the sight. He gazed at her as she tried calming her frantic mind.

"Come now, the more you stall, the more injured he'll get... not to mention Thirteen's already dead and the students are struggling," he hummed, placing his hands up in a shrug, the Warp Gate appearing behind him.

"Let's go home."

She blinked.

"You're retreating?"

"You're a stubborn one, alright..." he frowned, the Nomu's attention drawn towards her as he held her in one hand, crushing her ribs as she yelled out, "oh yeah, before we do that... let's smash some of his pride as the Symbol of Peace!"

With that, he made a beeline towards the shipwreck section, reaching his arm out to attack Tsuyu as the assassin's eyes widened, struggling in his tight grip as the Nomu dropped her some feet, landing near her teacher. Shigaraki sighed.

"You really are cool... Eraser Head..." he murmured, gazing back at the teacher before his head was smashed into the ground, blood oozing out from his body as the girl's vision blurred drastically. She panicked, hearing the door slam open as her heart rate slowed down.

"It's fine now. Why?" The girl smiled feebly before bursting into a coughing fit, splotches of blood staining the lavender floor. "Because I am here!"

She gritted her teeth, pushing herself up as she collapsed, heaving heavily. Aizawa eyed her.

"Don't push yourself, Rie."

"You're one to talk..." she murmured, "you're bleeding..."

"Your ribs are crushed."

"You have head trauma."

He sighed.

"Look... I saw you getting all conflicted back there... you are not a Villain. Sure, you've killed tonnes of people-"

"But-"

"Be quiet and listen to me." She fell silent. "You heard what Thirteen said. Your Quirk can be used for killing, but if you think about it in other ways, you can save people."

"How?" her voice cracked, hearing her teacher sigh in irritation.

"You've been exposed to the outside world, up close and personal. You've had fear implanted into you and you've endured it, overcome it. You've grown from that experience and forgotten how to hesitate. You can control your opponent's blood flow, can't you?" She nodded numbly. "You can use that against Villains, cutting off their blood flow and knocking them unconscious. Your weapons?"

The girl found nothing to say in his statements as she fell silent.

"Even so... every time I activate my Quirk... all I see is red. No matter how hard I try, I can't get rid of it. I've tried, but it doesn't go away. All I see is red, and I've tried changing the colour to something else but..." Aizawa listened quietly. "It's no use. What good is there in becoming a Hero if I've killed too many people in the past..."

"I-"

His vision collapsed, the girl's vision quickly following suit as he frowned

The last thing the pair heard was All Might murmuring their names:

"I'm sorry, Aizawa... Rie..."