10

Chapter 10: Trapped Summary:

This chapter contains recent spoilers from the manga. Anime-only readers, you have been warned!

Chapter Text

"It is regrettable, but to achieve our goals, you will all be scattered...tortured...and slain."

~SPLASH!~

"Sorry kid, it's nothing personal! But you're chum!"

"Are you okay Midoriya?"

"I'm fine." Midoriya removed his waterlogged helmet and jacket before mentally brushing off his latest failure. "Everything is going to be all right."

'Okay,' He furrowed his brow in concentration. 'Obviously, using the boat isn't an option as long as they keep destroying it the moment the engines kick in.'

He'd never piloted a boat before, but Midoriya was confident in his ability to figure out the intricacies of the practice over the course of a couple of loops if necessary. He'd wasted a handful of loops trying to find the keys to the rescue vehicle they used as their refuge before he'd realized that they were probably in Thirteen's possession. From there, figuring out how to hotwire the boat in under four minutes been a bit more of a challenging, but it wasn't anything he couldn't overcome with his basic set of tools and some trial and error.

'Well, I can't say this has been a total waste. I learned something new, and I can keep this as an option once we deal with our most pressing issue.' Midoriya stared over the railing of the boat at a specific villain with amphibian features and a dangerous knack for hydrokinesis.

"There's only two of them!" One of the villains surrounding the boat laughed, "Let's just get in there and tear 'em apart!"

"Don't just charge in there, you idiot!" The amphibious villain barked, "Shigaraki told us not to get cocky. Judge them by their quirks, not their age!" The water around the villain began to bubble and writhe in response to his mental command. "And clearly, our quirks have the advantage in the water."

'He's obviously in some kind of a leadership role.' Midoriya noted, 'But he's not just powerful, he's cautious too. That guy is dangerous. We're obviously going to have to take him out if we want to succeed, but it'll have to be done from inside the boat…maybe we can jury rig some kind of ranged weapon with the equipment we have available?'

As he mentally measured the distance and angle between the boat and their target, Midoriya wished that he had his notebook with him to help organize his thoughts. He had dropped it when he was caught in Kurogiri's gate, so it was presumably sitting at the top of the stairs, near the entrance. While he was busy wracking his brain for a plan, a blade of water suddenly sliced the boat in half and the craft began to rapidly sink.

"Any bright ideas, Midoriya?" Asui asked, completely deadpan, "All I can think of at the moment is to swim as hard as we can and hope for the best, so if you've got something better than that, now would be a really great time to let me know."

Midoriya shook his head with impressed disbelief. He was basically immortal, so Midoriya didn't think his nonchalant attitude towards lethal situations counted, but Asui's ability to keep her cool under pressure and crack jokes like that while staring death in the face took some serious nerves of steel.

"Start swimming." He suggested, "Without the boat, my current plan is off the table this time."

"This time?" Asui croaked.

Midoriya shook his head and called upon One for All. "Don't worry about it. I'll distract them, but you only have a moment before I have to focus on saving myself, so get ready to go on my mark." Asui nodded. "Three, two, one, go!"

…

"It is regrettable, but to achieve our goals, you will all be scattered...tortured...and slain."

~SPLASH!~

"Sorry kid, it's nothing personal! But you're chum!"

"Are you okay Midoriya?"

"I'm fine." Midoriya tersely replied, "Help me gather every bit of equipment you can find on this boat. We need to make a weapon. Hurry, I'll give us a couple of minutes at most before they come for us."

Asui nodded and immediately began to gather materials as requested. "What kind of weapon are we making?"

"Something with at least 5 meters of range." He said, "Something that can be assembled quickly, and is preferably reusable."

"What about this?" Asui asked, holding up a small anchor she scavenged off of one of the lifeboats. "It's got a rope attached, and if you threw it with your strength, anyone who gets hit with this probably isn't getting back up."

Midoriya eyed the sharp edges of the anchor and shook his head. "Tsuyu, if I hit someone with that thing, it wouldn't knock them out, it'd kill them. I can't do that."

"That's a real noble sentiment, Midoriya." Asui croaked, "But I doubt the guys down there feel the same way. I just stopped one of them from eating you a minute ago. We're outnumbered by adult villains who have demonstrated murderous intent. We're trapped in a situation where we can't reasonably expect to escape with our lives or receive authorized assistance. We're legally in the clear for any actions taken in the immediate pursuit of preserving our lives."

"I'm aware of the law." Midoriya replied. "But I won't kill them."

"But—" Asui began.

"No." Midoriya stated definitively, silencing her objections with glowing eyes and sheer force of will. "I won't do it. Not now, not ever. End of discussion." He paused. "We'll have to find another way."

He stared at the anchor speculatively, "Maybe if I wrap it in my coat and secure it with rope…no, it'd still produce way too much blunt force…if I tried it with my helmet though…that could work without necessarily being lethal." 

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"It is regrettable, but to achieve our goals, you will all be scattered...tortured...and slain."

~SPLASH!~

When he hit the water, Midoriya didn't open his eyes or even attempt to fight against the weight of his gear dragging him to the depths of the flood zone. As the seconds ticked by, he ignored the posturing of the villain, and the sensation of a tongue wrapping around him and dumping him onto the boat that had become his entire universe for who knows how long. Midoriya tried to ignored the person shouting his name, but ended up having no choice to respond when his nostrils were assaulted by the unmistakable smell and sensation of ammonia.

"Midoriya!" Asui's eyes were wide with concern and she let out a sigh of relief when he gasped and opened his eyes. "Thank goodness, you weren't responding at all…are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Midoriya stared at Asui for a second before he snatched his waist pouch out of her hands and tossed it overboard. 'No more smelling salts for you.'

"What are you doing?" Asui asked, "Why did you just toss all of your gear? Have you gone nuts?"

"Shut up." He shut his eyes and dropped his head back onto the deck of the boat. "I…I'm so tired…I can't think…I just…I just need some time to rest."

Asui made a choking sound, "What are you saying? Midoriya!"

Midoriya desperately needed mental respite—his body wasn't physically fatigued, but he had been in a constant fight-or-flight state for what seemed like months. To make matters worse, the frequent resets meant that the chemical receptors in his brain wouldn't become desensitized to the stress hormones surging through his body. He felt as if his mind was coming apart at the seams.

By using several of his colored smoke dispensers for cover, and his helmet—stuffed with filler and secured with copious amounts of rope—as a projectile, Midoriya could reliably take out up to four of the ten villains surrounding them before they caught on and cut the rope allowing them to retrieve the improvised weapon.

Unfortunately, the amphibious villain was far from the only enemy capable of destroying their refuge, and after robbing Midoriya and Asui of their ranged options, it was never long before the villains scuttled the boat in one fashion or another. Then, it was only a matter of time before the two teens were overwhelmed by their enemy's sheer numerical and environmental advantage.

On a handful of occasions, he'd actually managed to make it to the shore—usually at the expense of Asui or some grave injury to himself. However, once there, he was either cut down by the pursuing aquatic villains, disintegrated by Shigaraki Tomura—the pale man leading the League of Villains—or pummeled into paste by the blindingly fast and powerful creature called 'Noumu.'

'What was I even doing before this started?' Midoriya wondered. 'Some kind of training? How long have I been stuck here? I lost count a while ago, but I don't think I've been in a loop this long since...no. Don't think about that. Just breathe.'

Overwhelmed by the combination of Midoriya's inexplicable mental breakdown and the seemingly inescapable death awaiting them, Asui finally lost her cool and began to cry when a blade of water sliced the boat in half, robbing them of their sanctuary. Given her steely composure, Midoriya had been surprised the first time she cried, but he supposed that his presence must have been more reassuring than he gave himself credit for. He had felt guilty the first couple dozen times his lack of mental energy prevented him from giving her any kind of moral support, but now he just found her crying annoying.

'Ugh…and now here comes the crying…' He thought as his consciousness slipped in and out of the present moment, 'It's so distracting, I really wish that she would just—' 

XXX

(10 Years Ago)

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"—cut it out, Kacchan." Five-year-old Midoriya's voice was devoid of emotion. "He's crying already. Let him go." His gazed was fixed upon the ground, hiding sunken, haunted eyes that were chillingly out of place on such a young child.

Bakugo let out a laugh. "Hey look guys!" He said to the two cronies at his back, "It's Deku, the quirkless wonder! Still trying to play hero, Deku? Sorry, but the Bakugo Hero Agency doesn't have any room for quirkless weaklings!"

"I don't want play with you." Midoriya said quietly. "I want you to stop…and I'm not quirkless, the doctor said so."

"If you aren't quirkless, then why don't you show us your quirk, Deku?" Bakugo jeered.

"…I can't." Midoriya clenched his tiny fists. "My quirk…doesn't work like that."

"Then you might as well be quirkless." Bakugo let out a laugh, "Actually, it sounds like your quirk is a perfect fit. It's good for nothing, just like you!"

The rest of his cadre began to laugh along with him. "Deku, Deku!" They chanted rhythmically, "He's good as quirkless! Deku, Deku, he's totally worthless!"

"Stop it." Midoriya quietly pled, desperation leaking into his tired voice. "Kacchan please…please just stop…why do you keep doing this?"

"Get out of my way, Deku!" Bakugo demanded, ignoring Midoriya's words. He eyed the crying boy behind Midoriya menacingly and began to march forward. "I've got a bad guy to kill."

On instinct, Midoriya stuck out his arm to halt Bakugo's forward progress. "I said n—"

The sound of firecrackers was Midoriya's only warning before he was sent tumbling to the ground, leaving him with a split lip and the side of his face covered with minor burns.

"I told you to get out of my way, Deku." Bakugo growled.

"Ah! Kacchan!" The two other members of the "Bakugo Hero Agency" pointed at the fleeing back of Bakugo's original choice of victim. "The villain is getting away!"

Bakugo narrowed his eyes and stormed over to Midoriya, who continued to lie on the ground. Bakugo sneered at the sight of his former friend's quivering shoulders. "Deku, you idiot! Look at what you did!"

'What do I do?' Midoriya's tears stung as they ran down his burned cheek. 'Why won't it stop…why is this happening to me…why won't he just listen?! I don't know what to do!'

Midoriya had lost count of how many times he'd replayed this afternoon. No matter what he said, no matter what he did, the result remained the same—within a few minutes of this encounter, something would inevitably kill him and send him right back to his room, a few hours before Bakugo decided to "play hero." Talking didn't work, avoiding the park didn't work, telling an adult didn't work, preemptively attracting Bakugo's ire in the place of Bakugo's victim didn't work, getting the other boy to leave before the confrontation didn't work, the only thing he hadn't tried was fighting Bakugo directly.

'I can't fight Kacchan. I can't win…he's too strong. He always wins…he even beat up a middle schooler!'

"Look Kacchan!" One of Bakugo's cronies crowed, "He's crying!"

Bakugo sneered. "You useless little crybaby! Don't think that crying will get you out of your punishment! You helped the villain escape! That makes you a villain," a cruel smile appeared on his face, "and I am here to dispense justice!"

Midoriya inhaled sharply. "Fear not, citizens!" All Might's deep voice boomed in his mind. He had watched the video that particular line originated from so many times that the image of All Might's smiling face at that exact moment had been etched into his soul. "Help has arrived, because I am here!"

That simple statement had become a lifeline to Midoriya after his quirk emerged. It was something to hold onto when he felt as if he were about to drown in despair at his helplessness. Hearing Bakugo take that precious bit of hope and warmth, twisting and warping it with his childish cruelty into the plaything of a bully was too much for him to bear.

"Shut up." Midoriya whispered, barely noticing the sensation of his fingers wrapping around a nearby rock.

Bakugo's eyes narrowed. "What was that, Deku?"

Trembling with anger, Midoriya rose to his feet and hid the egg-sized rock behind his back. "I told you to shut your mouth, Kacchan." He said, louder this time. "You're nothing like All Might, so don't you dare use his catchphrase."

Bakugo bristled. "What does a useless loser like you know about All Might? I'm gonna be a hero just like him—one who never loses, no matter what!"

"No, you aren't!" Midoriya tightened his grip on the stone. "You aren't a hero, you're just a mean, stupid bully, and I won't let you use his catchphrase! Now shut up!"

"Don't tell me what to do, Deku!" Bakugo growled. "I am here! I am here! I am—"

"SHUT UP!" Midoriya shrieked. He lashed out with the rock and smashed it into the side of Bakugo's head with a loud ~Crack~. Bakugo's eyes glazed over and Midoriya pounced on him like a rabid animal, howling with rage.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Stone in hand, he rained down wild, blows upon his helpless opponent while tears poured down his face. Each blow landed with a sickening thud, opening grisly wounds which splattered Midoriya with alarming amounts of blood. "I hate you! I hate you! I HATE YOU!"

The two other boys were frozen in shock at the sight of Midoriya doing his utmost to smash in Bakugo's skull, their faces ashen at the sheer volume of blood pouring out of their motionless friend.

"H-Hey!" The chubby, winged boy finally cried. He darted forward and grabbed Midoriya by the arms to pull him off the unresponsive Bakugo. "Cut it out, Deku! Kacchan is bleeding a lot! I think he's really hurt!"

"Crap!" The taller boy was falling into a panic and had tears in his eyes. "Tsubasa, this is really bad! We need to get an adult! I…I don't think Kacchan is breathing!"

"Let me go!" Midoriya snarled, "It's all his fault! Everything is his fault!"

He tried to renew his assault on Bakugo, but Tsubasa's hold on him was stronger than his flailing attempts to break free. Gradually, the animalistic rage that had overtaken him faded away and his senses returned to him. It was only then that he noticed the blood that covered his hands and dyed Bakugo's ash-blond hair a dark red. He let out a horrified shriek of anguish and he fell to his knees, collapsing into hysterical tears.

"Why won't it stop?" He screamed over and over at the motionless, glassy-eyed form of Bakugo. "Why won't it stop? Why won't it stop? Why won't it—"

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"—stop!" Midoriya shouted before immediately breaking out into a coughing fit from the excess water in his lungs.

"What are you talking about?" Asui asked as she hopped into the boat. "Stop what?"

Midoriya blinked and stared at his shaking hands, inspecting them for blood. 'Crap…I'm having flashbacks of the park. This is really bad. I haven't had one of those in a really long time. I need to get out of here.' He took a shuddering breath and tightly grabbed one of his wrists, cradling it to his chest in a desperate attempt to stop his trembling. 'Remember, Izuku. Remember who you are. You aren't that person anymore.'

'Who do you think you're fooling, Deku?' A voice whispered in the back of his mind. 'You know what you need to do to escape. Stop holding back and do what needs to be done. It'll be easy…just like riding a bike.'

Midoriya shook his head. "Shut up." He whispered. "I didn't know anything. I didn't understand what I was doing. I didn't know who I was."

'Start with the hydrokinetic one.' The little voice said, 'Use the anchor, like Tsuyu said. Just think about how satisfying it'll be to see that bastard bleed out through his crushed skull!'

"No." Midoriya muttered. "I can't do that. Have to find another way."

"Midoriya?" Asui stared at her class rep in disbelief. It was hard for her to reconcile her image of the powerful, charismatic, and fiercely competent boy who'd taken out Todoroki with the muttering shell of a person in the midst of a nervous breakdown. 

"Can't give up." He muttered, practically hyperventilating in his attempt to calm down. "Have to keep trying…remember who you are…you're a hero."

"Midoriya, what's wrong?" Asui glanced over the edge of the railing and let out a nervous croak when she saw the gathered villains beginning to grow restless. She walked back over to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Midoriya, you need to pull yourself together. I can't do this without your—"

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"Help!" The other children screamed as they fled the playground in terror. "Deku killed Kacchan! Someone please help!"

Bloodied kitchen knife still in his hand, Midoriya tilted his head and stared down at Bakugo with the detached, malicious curiosity of a child pulling the wings off of an insect to watch it squirm.

"D-Deku…" Bakugo moaned. He lay on the ground in the fetal position, shivering as he clutched his torn stomach in a desperate and futile attempt to staunch the flow of blood. "…w-why?"

"Why?" Midoriya echoed with a frown, seemingly stumped by the question. He set down the knife and knelt next to the dying boy. "Why do you do the things you do, Kacchan?"

"I…I d-d-don't..." Bakugo weakly replied, "w-w-what a-are you…?"

"You know what I think?" Midoriya asked, "I think you like to hurt people. You're always so happy when you play hero and beat me up, so I thought I'd play the hero this time." Midoriya smiled. "What's wrong? Aren't you having fun?"

"I…I'm s-scared." Tears slipped down Bakugo's face, washing away the dust of the playground and leaving tracks his pale, bloodless cheeks. "I d-don't wanna die."

"Don't worry Kacchan." Midoriya said. "This isn't real. Nothing is. You won't remember a thing when you come back. You'll be the villain again, and I'll stop you again. Don't worry." He repeated softly. "We'll play hero again."

As the sound of sirens approached them and the light faded from Bakugo's red eyes, an eerie grin stretched across Midoriya's round, childish face. He stood up, dusted off his pants and picked up the knife. "But for now,"

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"Let's go kill some bad guys." Midoriya muttered.

"Huh?" Asui laid a hand on his shoulder and gently shook him. "Are you okay?"

When Midoriya looked up and met Asui's gaze, she recoiled in surprise. Instead of his calm, kind, and genuine smile, the expression on Midoriya's face had an uncanny, mask-like quality; his eyes, normally vibrant and full of warmth, were cold and lifeless. Asui was uncomfortably reminded of a childhood visit to a wax museum—she found the incredibly lifelike sculptures so unsettling that she had been plagued by nightmares for months afterwards.

"M-Midoriya?" Asui's voice quivered.

Midoriya blinked and the dead look in his eyes disappeared, replaced by horror at what he had just said. "S-Sorry about that. I was somewhere else for a moment there."

"Don't worry about it. I think we have more important problems on our hands…like what are we going to do about these villains?" She looked over the railing. "It seems like they're not going to attack right now, but I don't know how long that will last." She glanced back his way. "Any chance you've got an idea on how to handle them like you did with Todoroki?"

"No." Midoriya replied. "But I'm going to keep thinking. Just give me a minute."

Asui eyed the increasingly anxious looking villains and leapt to the side with a ribbit when a blade of water flew towards them and sliced the boat in half. "Not to rush you, but I don't think we have a minute!"

'I just need to keep it together. Think, Izuku. Focus. There has to be a way out of here. There is something that you haven't thought of yet, something that you haven't tried.'

Midoriya closed his eyes, cleared his mind, and the world went black.

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When Midoriya opened his eyes, he found himself back at the playground that was the focal point of his longest, most traumatic loop so many years ago. The air in the empty park was eerily still and a heavy silence reigned over the space. The noticeable absence of rustling leaves, chirping birds, laughing children and the distant background noise of the surrounding city gave Midoriya a surreal feeling of timelessness.

"I'm still in my hero gear…" Midoriya noted. "This isn't a flashback…that doesn't make any sense unless…unless this isn't a memory." Midoriya's voice seemed deafening in the complete silence of the park, and he felt as if he were breaking some sort of taboo by disrupting the quiet.

Midoriya took off his helmet and continued to look around the park. "Am I…actually dead for real?" He walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. "Well," he sighed and reclined his head against the cool wood before closing his eyes, "it's not my first choice of location, but at least the afterlife is quiet."

"You don't actually believe that, Deku."

Startled by the unexpected sound of a young boy's voice, Midoriya leapt to his feet and saw a four-year-old version of himself standing a few meters in front of him. The doppelganger wore one of his old All Might hoodies, was covered in blood from head to toe, and stared at him with sunken, lifeless eyes.

"You know you can't die. You need to stop lying to yourself. It's pathetic."

Midoriya stared at the blood-soaked boy for a few seconds before he collapsed back onto the bench. "So, it's finally happened, huh?" Midoriya chuckled humorlessly. "I've finally completely lost it."

"Let's be honest," The boy's form flickered and he was now seated next to Midoriya, "we crossed that threshold a long time ago."

"So, what are you supposed to be then?" Midoriya asked. "Some kind of split personality?"

The doppelganger scoffed. "Don't be stupid, Deku. You know that's not how this works. You don't just develop a split personality out of thin air. I'm the metaphorical mental representation of your true, subconscious desires—the thoughts and feelings you try to bury away."

"…I see." Midoriya paused. "So what's the difference between what you just said and a split personality again?"

The boy growled. "I'm not a separate entity, I'm still Midoriya Izuku—the real Izuku."

"The real Izuku, huh?" Midoriya closed his eyes. "I can't say I agree with that…but if you're really me, I guess I'll call you…Boku*."

"Don't give me a name, Deku." Boku growled. "I just told you, I'm not some separate entity, I'm you."

"Well, if you're going to call me Deku, I'll give you a name too." Midoriya retorted. "If you were really me, you'd know I'm not exactly fond of that name."

"You know…" Uraraka appeared next to them out of thin air, making Midoriya twitch with surprise. As she spoke, her voice echoed in the empty park, seemingly coming from every direction at once. "I actually kind of like it. I think it's kinda cute, and it sort of sounds like the word for 'I can do it!'"

Midoriya blinked. "I forgot about that."

"You might have forgotten, but your subconscious didn't…you can call me Deku if you want!" He mocked Midoriya in his childish voice. "Please, please, pretty girl! Don't worry about me, nothing bothers me! I'm totally harmless, so don't treat me like a creepy freak!"

Midoriya frowned. "That's not…"

"That's not true?" Boku cut him off. "Really?"

Uraraka disappeared and Ashido appeared in her place. "You might not be a creepy perv, but you've got one heck of a creepy stalker skillset."

Midoriya flinched. "…What do you want?" He asked. "I'm a little busy at the mome—aaagh!"

Midoriya let out a cry as his midsection lit up in agony. Blood rapidly stained his uniform bright crimson before he split in half at the waist and his torso fell to the ground. He stared in disbelief at his legs still sitting on the bench for a few moments before his form flickered and he was whole again. "W-what the…"

"Looks like you died again." Boku informed him. "That's a new one too! We've definitely never been bifurcated before!"

"Even if it's me, it's weird hearing someone so young say something like 'bifurcated'." Midoriya muttered as he patted his suddenly restored body. "I've definitely never been conscious during the restoration process before either…Ugh, this is really bizarre."

"Let's get back on topic, Deku. Give me control." Boku's form flickered again, and he was standing behind the bench. "Let me run free and I can get us out of here." He whispered into Midoriya's ear. "I can get us free of this loop. You're too soft for this kind of action…let me free and I'll show those bastards exactly who they're messing with."

"Not a chance. If you're my dark subconscious desires that I keep buried away, then I have a pretty good idea of what you want." Midoriya shook his head. "I won't kill them. I won't kill anyone ever again. You were the reason I was trapped in that loop for so long."

Boku snarled, and wordlessly pointed towards a swirling mass of black mist with two glowing yellow eyes. Thin, pale, Shigaraki Tomura stepped out of the void, followed by several villains who had already killed Midoriya multiple times.

"It is regrettable," Kurogiri said, "but to achieve our goals, you will all be scattered...tortured...and slain."

"All Might isn't here?" Shigaraki whined. "I know…maybe he'll show up if we kill all of these kids."

"Sorry kid," the shark-like villain grinned, "it's nothing personal! But you're chum!"

"I'm getting bored." A fishlike, lipless villain complained. "Let's hurry up and kill them already!"

"He's jumping in? He's just a dumb kid after all," another aquatic villain laughed, "as soon as he hits the water, let's gut him."

"Noumu…kill him."

"You want to show mercy? Restraint? For those animals?" Boku pointed at the villains and bared his teeth. "They're different from Kacchan. They're murderers!" He shouted, "Child-killers! What are they worth in comparison to your life? To Tsuyu's life? Nothing. Less than nothing! They're trash, human garbage! Society will be an objectively better place without them!"

"That's not my decision to make." Midoriya replied. "I don't have the right."

The villains disappeared into thin air and were replaced by a large pile of Bakugo corpses. A horde of hysterical Mitsuki Bakugos appeared soon after, each of them sobbing, screaming and cursing as they clutched the tiny bodies of their slain sons. Midoriya swallowed the upswelling of shame that arose at the gruesome, gut-wrenching sight.

"I don't have the right to judge them." Midoriya softly repeated. "Not after everything I've done."

"None of that was real!" Boku argued. He waved his hand and the pile of corpses vanished, replaced by a scowling Bakugo in his hero costume. "Kacchan is alive! None of it actually happened! It doesn't count!"

Midoriya smiled humorlessly. "Who's lying to themself now?"

Boku made a frustrated noise. "These animals only understand force!" His voice grew louder in direct proportion to his increasing anger. "Demoralize them, teach them fear! You know that this is the only option! This is the most logical choice!"

"Logic has nothing to do with this." Midoriya replied evenly. Oddly, the angrier his doppelganger grew, the calmer he felt—it turned out that it was fairly easy to identify the source of his unsavory emotions when they were being put on display in front of him. "I have a desire to hurt them because they've hurt me."

Boku appeared directly in front of Midoriya. "How many times have they killed me?" He howled. "How many times have they killed Tsuyu? They're monsters Deku! And it takes a monster to beat a monster! Kill them!" Boku screamed, truly losing his temper. He began to cry, stamp his feet, and thrash his tiny arms. "I want them dead! I want them to suffer! I want to feel their bones crumple beneath our fists, I want to see their blood flow! Kill them, kill them, kill them all!"

Midoriya watched this temper tantrum silently. "You're wrong about me." He shook his head. "I've had a lot of time to think about this. I'm not a monster. I was just a scared little kid with a quirk I didn't understand…but it's all right now. I think talking to you reaffirmed why I've chosen the path I have."

An emaciated All Might appeared next to them. "A symbol of peace must never be daunted by evil. You said that I save people with a fearless smile…well, the reason I smile is to hide the pressure and the fear that I battle with constantly."

"I'm going to keep on smiling." Midoriya said. "I won't be daunted by evil, and I won't let a bunch of villains make me into a killer again."

"That's your answer?" Boku scoffed, "Just keep on smiling? I know that you think you're just being stubborn and illogical. What do you think that's going to accomplish? It's our methodology that needs adjustment, not our attitude."

Midoriya smiled. "Maybe I am. But it will be all right. I'll find a way to get past those villains, and get out of this loop without compromising my ideals."

Boku glared up at his older self. "How can you say that?" He asked. "Why are you so confident? After everything that's happened, how can you still think that you won't need my help? You're still trapped in this cycle of death! You're still all alone!"

"You're wrong." Midoriya stood up from the bench and walked towards Boku. The students of Class 1-A appeared behind him. "I'm not alone. I have my classmates, the next generation of heroes, who all put their trust in me to lead them."

He clenched his fist and channeled One for All. All Might appeared behind him, along with the shadowy, indistinct forms of seven other figures. "I also have this power, and I carry the accumulated hopes of eight generations of heroes." A determined light shined in his eyes. "With these quirks, I can't lose. As long as I don't give up, I can accomplish anything."

"NICE!" A loud voice cried out, startling both Midoriya and Boku. A large, unfamiliar bald man with a pair of goggles on his forehead walked forward and clasped Midoriya by the shoulders. "I like your attitude kid! You've got this man! You aren't alone anymore, so do your best!"

Midoriya and Boku exchanged a confused look in response to this unexpected development.

"Um…" Midoriya said, "Excuse me sir, not to be rude, but—"

"Who the hell are you?" Boku demanded.

AN: *For those of you who are unaware, Boku (ぼく／僕) is a personal pronoun. It is a boyish, somewhat childish way of saying "Me/I" in Japanese.

For those of you who keep up with the manga, I'm sure that you understand the significance of this ending. It annoys me a little to put out a chapter where Midoriya basically accomplished nothing, but I needed to set this up for him to have any hope of escaping the boat.

Without Mineta and his Pop Off to restrain the villains, I literally cannot think of any non-asspull way for Midoriya and Asui to escape this situation. No matter how skilled he becomes at controlling One for All—and he has picked up a couple of new tricks during the loops that I'm excited to show off—Midoriya's body cannot get any stronger in a time loop, so the amount of power he has access to does not change. The real action will begin next chapter.

Until next time, Plus Ultra.