My Hero Academia: Nightfall

Broken Wings

Atsuhiro Sako stared at Mina and Aeon, pleased to see them both as adults.

"You both look great," commented Compress, tipping his hat toward the group. Aeon looked over at Mina, who seemed shocked and disturbed.

"You were Mr. Compress the entire time? You were a...a villain?" she blurted, causing Sako to change his joyful expression to a solemn frown.

"Don't misunderstand, I did not have ill intent when I was teaching you. A villain's identity sticks with a person throughout their entire life, and sometimes you must take drastic measures to hide it from others. I did not intend to hurt you in any way, but I will always put my safety above the pleasing of others," explained Compress, making sure to choose his words carefully.

Compress had aged fairly well, with few wrinkles and a youthful glimmer to his skin. For a forty-three year old, he could pass off as thirty five with little difficulty.

"Hey, actually, we could use some help with something if you-" started Aeon, but was interrupted by Compress placing a finger on his nose.

"Listen, Drakkon, I wouldn't want to be a burden to you. Don't get used to relying on villains for solving your problems," warned Compress, Aeon sighed, knowing that he was right. For all he knew, Compress could have a truce with the Villain Federation.

"We need help in taking down a group of villains. I thought from your experience you could help us track them down or something like that," reasoned Aeon. Compress shook his head at Aeon, discouraging the latter.

"Unfortunately, I would rather spend my life avoiding prison time. The second any knowledgeable hero sees my costume, there will quickly be tens of them after me. I like you a lot, Bi-Han, but that doesn't mean I should be getting myself in trouble for an old friend. Call me if you see Maelstrom walking around," joked Compress, tipping his hat to Aeon once more.

"It was nice to see you, whoever you really are," whispered Mina, not intending for Sako to hear her. He did, however, turning around to face his former pupil. "I don't think I'd still be standing here if you weren't there back then."

"Aw, dear-"

"WHAT!?" shouted Aeon, stopping Compress from replying. "Why...why didn't you tell me about this? What if you did that without me knowing and I never got to know at all?"

Sako didn't much care for Aeon's hasty response, stepping forward to separate the two. "She suffered more than you could ever know at Yokarusa Academy. Stop blaming her when you don't know the entire story, yes?"

Aeon immediately felt bad, but still was a bit frustrated that she never told him about any of this. If he had even once sensed that she wasn't happy with her new school, he would have abandoned everything to help.

"I'm sorry, Mina, I...you need to be able to trust me with anything," he apologized, but couldn't hide his personal feelings.

"Aeon, I was a scared, depressed girl back then. You can't assume that I was in my right mind at that time, and I really wasn't. I didn't know who to trust, except my teacher who I saw every day. It wasn't long before my mind started playing tricks on me, making me unsure what to do at any moment," explained Mina, trying not to get emotional in front of everyone.

"Stop apologizing," interjected Bakugo, keeping a serious face that did not reflect what he felt inside. He wanted to pull Aeon into a bear hug, but Bakugo knew that the situation wasn't about him and he needed to stay strong. "You both need to accept that mistakes were made, but it doesn't matter. Just forgive each other and move on."

Before Aeon could look at Mina, he saw a slip of paper on the ground. He picked it up to see a phone number, and also noticed that Compress was nowhere to be found.