Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After dropping the last child back at her house, All Might was more than ready to go home and sleep like the dead. He had just finished escorting a bunch of kids from around Musutafu on their first Halloween outing to go trick or treating, and his energy after trying to keep up with them was nearly spent. Thank goodness his protégés, Midoriya and Bakugou, lived in the area and were more than happy to help him out. Well, Midoriya was happy, Bakugou dragged his feet before tagging along to make sure Midoriya “…didn’t accidentally become a broken-boned corpse while trying to save a black cat, or something just as stupid.” All in all, the night was a success, and now he was making sure his two boys found their way home.

“You know you don’t have to walk us home, right? We’ve got our provisional licenses, we’re not gonna die All Might,” Bakugou grumbled, trying to pick up the pace and get home faster.

“I know,” All Might replied, “I just wanted to take a minute to appreciate the atmosphere. It’s a crisp, autumn night, and you can see the full moon with how clear the night sky is.”

“Wow you’re right,” said Midoriya, excited to spend a little more time with his mentor. “It’s really bright, almost like the sun. Besides the moon, I also like the spooky decorations the neighborhood put out. Oh, like that one!”

Midoryia pointed towards a house with several tombstones and skeleton bones lining the front yard.

Bakugou scoffed, “You’ve gotta be kidding me. It’s so cheesy, and it’s not even scary. It’s nearly as fake as that house over there with the fog machine set to eleven.”

All Might and Midoriya turned to look at the house Bakugou was talking about, and yes, it did look like there was a ton of fog. Except… the longer they looked, the more the fog seemed to condense into shapes, and by the time they realized they were unconsciously walking towards the house, the fog had begun to take on… human forms.

The three quickly closed the distance just in time to see that a group of six apparitions had materialized in the front lawn of the house, and they were surrounding a little boy no older than four, with short white hair and bright lavender eyes.

“Back off!” Bakugou yelled as he aimed his sparks menacingly at the misty figures who backed away from the child. Midoriya grabbed the kid and brought him a safe distance away.

“Hi, what’s your name?” Midoriya asked the child.

“Seigo.”

“Hi Seigo. Are you okay?”

“Sort of,” Seigo replied. “I think I awakened my quirk for the first time.”

“That’s wonderful!” Midoriya exclaimed. “Do you know what it does?”

“Um, I think I just summoned a bunch of ghosts.”

“That you did kiddo,” said a man with similar lavender eyes who appeared suddenly from behind. Midoriya startled, “Oh, and you are?”

“I’m Seigo’s father, Shou Bukimina. Sorry for the scare! My quirk allows me to channel the ‘undead’ if I have a possession of theirs, so I help solve cold cases with a task force. I reckon Seigo’s quirk is similar, except he summoned a bunch of them.”

“You seem awfully calm seeing as your kid just raised the dead!” Bakugou blurted.

“Well I’m used to spirits, now if my wife was in town she’d be horrified. I mean, it looks like our property turned out to be a whole family’s graveyard! Looks like we bought a house with quite the... history.”

As they observed the family of ghosts, they began to differentiate between them. One appeared to be a woman with long, wavy hair who was gently coaxing the family closer towards the visitors. Two more were slightly shorter and a bit chubbier than the others, one with a bob cut and the other with much shorter hair. Yet another one was much smaller than the others, with two pigtails and a dress who hovered close to the woman. Leading the group from the front with an air of authority was a tall, lean figure, dressed in business-casual attire with a frown on his face. The last ghost was the tiniest and floated around on four legs, and upon further inspection appeared to be a corgi.

“Um, hello,” Midoriya said as he approached the family of apparitions. “We’re heroes and we’re here to help! Can you tell me your names?”

“Heroes?” boomed the tallest ghost, “Why did it have to be heroes? I refuse to speak with you.”

“Kotaro, they’re here to help,” chastised the ghost with wavy hair, “and we’re taking it. You don’t get a say in the matter, not after the last time we let you be in charge.”

The ghost, Kotaro, looked shocked and hurt, but slowly turned and floated towards the back of the group ashamedly.

“I’m sorry for the trouble,” said the ghost, “My name is Nao. That was my husband, Kotaro. This little girl is our daughter, Hana, and the two behind me are my parents, Chizuo and Mako. And the fluffy little guy is Mon, our dog.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you all,” All Might greeted, “I’m Toshinori Yagi, and these are my pupils, Izuku Midoriya and Kastuki Bakugou. How can we help you?”

“Our son is missing.”

“...What?”

“Our son Tenko is missing, and we’d like to have him back. The last time we saw we… we hurt him badly, so we’d like to have him come back so we can apologize to him. Can you summon him?”

“Oh um,” Seigo fidgeted, “I don’t have him, sorry.”

“Well if he wasn’t summoned with the quirk,” Midoriya said, “then he’s probably alive and well!”

“Oh thank goodness,” Hana cried, “I’d feel terrible if he got dragged down with us too.”

“We can go look for him, his name’s Tenko, right? What’s your family name?”

“... I don’t know.”

“Whaddaya mean you don’t know?!” Bakugou shouted.

“I just don’t know,” Nao sobbed.

“Oh no don’t cry,” All Might soothed, “We can figure it out. Midoriya and Bakugou are at the top of their class, so they’re very smart. I’m sure we can piece things together if we go over the details. It’ll be okay, because we are here!”

“Kotaro,” Nao said, turning towards him, “I know they’re heroes, but please can you participate… for Tenko’s sake?”

“Please daddy?” Hana pleaded.

“... Fine. I’ll tell you what I remember.”

Chapter Text

It was a little after 8pm on a clear Halloween night, and the League of Villains were having the time of their lives. They had been waiting for this day ever since October started, and now that it was here, they had the perfect excuse to run around Japan and wreak havoc in the name of mischief. After all, what was the point of using the phrase “trick or treat” if “trick” wasn’t a valid option? It also meant that they could walk around without any attempt to disguise themselves, proven by the number of people they had already seen dressed up in their image to enhance the night’s frights.

So far, they had filled the fountains at Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall to capacity with black dye and bubble bath, threw eggs from the rooftops surrounding the statue at Kamino in a competition to see who could hit the All Might statue’s obnoxious grin, and had spray painted crude doodles in the passenger cars of each train they took as they travelled to other cities.

“So where are we heading now?” questioned Spinner as he sat down, finished with writing ‘YOU MUST DIE’ in green and red paint.

Himiko Toga quickly spun around from where she was covering the railings with glitter glue to give her opinion. “Oh oh oh, let’s go to the Tokyo Tower and shoot Roman candles down at everyone!”

“I’d prefer to go to a hero agency and strategically break all the nearby fire hydrants, that way the uncontrolled geysers of water eventually flood the buildings,” Mr. Compress chimed in.

“No wait, how about we find an abandoned house and pretend to be ghosts when people show up to explore it! Or maybe we could hide in an alley or under a bridge and blow airhorns to scare the pedestrians!” argued Twice. Dabi said nothing, choosing to zone out instead.

Straightening up in his seat across from Spinner, Tomura Shigaraki finally shouted above the racket, “We’re getting off at Musutafu, and here’s why. First, we're gonna hit up Takoba beach, where Dabi’s gonna use his quirk to turn all the sand into glass while everyone else can team up to dig the deepest hole right in front of the access point to the pier. Then, we steal all the toilet paper we can find from the convenience store and run around the area throwing them at whatever houses we find. Finally, we’ll hit up UA and launch the remaining rolls over the wall on the side where they’ve got those forests, that way they won’t realize it until it’s all rained on and dissolved and impossible to clean. If we have time, we can do some graffiti on those ridiculously high walls they got guarding the place before we go. By the time we leave, it’ll be early in the morning, so we can break out the airhorns and sound them off to piss off UA’s neighbors.”

“Oh my god this is gonna be hilarious! Nah, this’ll definitely go horribly wrong,” Twice agreed and disagreed. Everyone else was more than happy to go along with Shigaraki’s plan, and they counted the stops to Musutafu.

~

About two hours later, the league had ruined the beach and had obtained their endless supply of toilet paper. They were now meandering through the neighborhoods of Musutafu, the moon lighting their way as they walked past houses that were getting more lavish as they went.

“I can’t wait to see the news tomorrow!” squealed Toga. “Which pranks do you think they’ll feature? Will they figure out it was us?”

“Now, now Toga, I’m sure all of our exploits will make it into the headlines,” soothed Mr. Compress, as he used his quirk on a nearby fire hydrant to create an impromptu geyser.

“Do we have any idea where we’re going?” Dabi asked, chucking a roll into a nearby tree. “We better be able to find our way back by morning.”

“Well, the houses down this street look pretty fancy,” said Spinner. “Maybe UA is down this road!”

“UA isn’t down this road. That street actually curves around a bit and ends at a park,” Tomura replied.

“Oh, you brought a map?” Mr. Compress asked.

“No I… I’ve been down this street before.”

“You have?” Spinner asked, “Since when?”

“I… think this is my old neighborhood.”

“WHAT?!” Everyone cried. “Well now we’ve gotta go down that street,” Toga cheered, “We’re gonna find your old house and TP the hell out of it!”

“There is no house,” Tomura said incredulously, “It got destroyed the night I awakened my quirk. It was a crater when I last saw it.”

“Well it’s been 15 years right? Maybe they built a new house,” Twice exclaimed, “Maybe it’s haunted! I ain’t going into no haunted house! ”

“Well now I’m curious,” said Dabi. “Not to be rude, but my interest is piqued too,” Mr. Compress agreed.

“Haunted house! Haunted house! Haunted house!” Toga chanted.

“You sure you wanna go?” Spinner asked Tomura. “We don’t have to if it’s too heavy for you.”

“Hmm, fuck it,” Tomura decided, “Let’s go TP whoever’s living in my old personal hell.”

“Alright!” The league cheered, and they started down the road to the old Shimura house.

Chapter Text

“I was an entrepreneur, and my family has lived here in Musutafu for eight years,” Kotaro began. “My mother was a hero, and when push came to shove and her life was on the line, she chose to abandon me to a foster family and pursue her hero work to the bitter end. There’s not much to say after that.”

“Oh that’s… a lot but also very little.” Midoriya commented.

“Well if you’ve got nothing else to say about that, what’ve you got about your son?” Bakugo asked.

“He was a sweetie and he couldn’t lie to save his life,” Hana blurted.

“His favorite food was ohagi!” Chizuo added.

“He was a bit of a crybaby,” Mako chimed in.

“He had black hair, grey eyes, and a mole by his right lip. He also had some kind of allergy that made the skin around his eyes quite itchy,” Nao described.

“My son wanted to be a hero too, but I forbid talk of heroes in our household,” Kotaro continued, “though that didn’t stop him anyway. He took more after his grandmother than I’d care to admit. He was stubborn, and when he thought something was the right thing to do it was near impossible to convince him to do otherwise. He had a habit of playing with the kids who were outcasts. I can’t count the number of times Mr. Koga had to walk him home after playing heroes even though I explicitly told him not to.”

“Mr. Koga?”

“Oh, a friend in construction. He’s the one who built the house for us. A good friend.”

“Maybe he knows your family name then!” Midoriya exclaimed. “What’s his company called? We can look it up, and maybe he’ll have your house listed as one of his projects on his website!”

“Koga Construction, a basic name.”

“I’m gonna find the house before you can!” Bakugou challenged. “You’re on!” Midoriya accepted, and the two students got to searching. No one noticed as Mon suddenly went alert and headed past the gate into the night.

“So, your mother was a hero?” All Might asked Kotaro.

“Yes… I don’t like to talk about her.”

“My mentor was a hero too. She sacrificed herself in an attempt to stop an all-powerful villain who was only defeated recently. She had to leave her family behind as well, because she believed if she stayed her family would be put into greater danger.”

“Would they though? No offense to your mentor, but any villain with a big enough grudge could’ve found her family with enough searching, especially if they were as all-powerful as you say.”

“Wha- you can’t just assume something like that!” All Might sputtered.

“Look, take me as an example, let’s say I was the target. I kept my last name through my fostering, so a villain could’ve found me with that. Hell, I became a pretty good entrepreneur, so that could’ve been used as a way in too. Hard to be hidden when you’re in the papers for awards every year.”

“That’s… you’re right, you really could’ve been tracked down,” All Might conceded. “I’m surprised you’re so blasé about how much danger you could’ve been in.”

“Luckily, I’m sure my mother defeated her villain, even if it cost her life. All she mentioned of him was that he was a ‘bad man’, so he couldn’t have been all that much if she didn’t feel the need to warn me further.”

“Warn you?”

“Yes, my mother was a bit of a ditz at times, but she was surely smart enough to know to warn me if the ‘bad man’ she was fighting would become a problem for me later in life if he was truly dangerous. Or at the very least have people in her hero circle check in on me to make doubly sure. I know she loved me, so she would’ve done whatever she felt was necessary to keep me safe, even though I hate the choices she made.”

“Kotaro…”

“I FOUND IT!” Bakugou whooped. “Wait let me see,” Midoriya urged.

“Boys calm down and let us take a look,” All Might placated.

Bakugou hurriedly showed off his phone screen, and there was a house listed as built 23 years prior. The windows were a different style, and there were clearly extra rooms for more occupants, but it otherwise looked exactly the same. The picture was captioned “Home of Entrepreneur Kotaro Shimura and Family”.

“Shimura. Our last name is Shimura,” Nao said with certainty. All Might inhaled sharply, his face hardening in recognition, and Kotaro noticed.

“You!”

“Me?”

“You know that last name, you knew my mother. She was your ill-fated mentor, wasn’t she?”

“Come on, that’s crazy talk,” Chizuo said reassuringly. “That has to be just a coincidence, right?”

“... Yes, I’m sorry but she was,” All Might confirmed, “Nana Shimura took me under her wing and taught me how to be a hero-”

“She’s the idiot who ‘left her family behind’ and did nothing to warn me about the all-powerful maniac she was going up against.”

“Now hold on-”

“No, you said it yourself! If she didn’t defeat that ‘bad man’ then that means he could’ve found me! He could’ve found my family!”

“Wait-”

“What was his quirk? What powers did he have?”

“Kotaro,” Mako interrupted, “you need to calm down, you’re making us anxious.”

“... He had the ability to take quirks from others and use them himself, but that doesn’t mean-”

“So he was capable of anything! Could he shapeshift? Change his facial features? His voice? He could’ve slipped right into my inner circle and I wouldn’t have noticed until it was too… Could he give those quirks away?”

“Kotaro, honey, breathe,” Nao said as she tried to rub her husband’s back.

“Well yes,” All Might said, unknowingly making Kotaro’s breathing grow harsher, “but I don’t see how-”

“Stop… my quirk is a floatation based one, my wife can mend objects with a touch of her finger. My daughter took after her mother’s quirk. So, answer me this: Why was my son’s quirk nothing like anything in our combined family lineage? Why did his quirk destroy everything he touched?”
All Might thought for a moment, then his eyes widened in horror.

“So, I’m right then,” Kotaro sighed. “He found us. He found us and got to my son. He took my son’s quirk and replaced it with something that kills, that destroys. He replaced it and watched as we undid each other in his final revenge against a woman who was too stupid to warn her kid how much danger he was truly in! And you knew, you knew what happened to me, you knew what happened to my son!

You knew we existed and you did nothing!”

“I didn’t-”

“It’s your fault! It’s ALL YOUR FAULT!”

And the winds began to howl.

Chapter Text

“Are we there yet?” Toga whined.

“You’ve asked that four times already. I bet you’re jinxing it,” Dabi complained.

“Well fourth time’s the charm,” Tomura replied, “See that house with the obnoxiously flat roof and the brick sidings down the road? That’s where my house used to be.”

“Whoa, we’re almost there then! Miles away! ” Twice exclaimed.

“Wait, stay back,” Spinner shouted, “There’s a ball of transparent fur coming straight towards us!”

The ball of fur was indeed approaching as fast as it could, ramming into Tomura before anyone could get out of the way in time.

Dizzy from the fall, it took Tomura a moment to recover and realize what was actually in his arms, after 15 years of cruel separation.

“Hi Mon, hello good sweet boy.”

“That’s your dog? You had a dog? ”

“Yeah, everybody this is Mon,” Tomura introduced, “He’s my childhood pet and the best boy in the whole world.”

“Sure he is,” Dabi muttered.

“He’s so cute! Can we pet him?” Toga pleaded.

“Yeah sure, he probably hasn’t been pet in years, unless dogs do go to heaven and he’s just back for a visit.”

Everyone gathered around and took turns petting Mon, until Spinner started shivering.

“Is it just me,” he asked “or did it just get really blustery?”

Mr. Compress turned towards where the sudden wind was coming from and remarked, “What on earth is going on over there?”

The league turned to see what looked like a cyclone forming from the ground up in front of the house Tomura pointed out as his own, strong enough that the winds reached them even at the end of the street where they were standing. As the cyclone grew bigger, it seemed to change shape until the top of it resembled a man consumed by fury, and Tomura cringed as he recognized the man’s face.

“Holy fuck that’s my father,” Tomura whispered, both in awe and a bit terrified, “I’ve only seen him this pissed off once, and the ending wasn’t pretty.”

“Was your dad really that tall? He’s a giant, and he looks nothing like you! ”

“Should we run,” Toga quivered, “or do we try figuring out what’s going on?”

“It’s up to you, boss,” Spinner said, “You can choose whether or not you want to confront them. You’re the one with the power here, you know?”

Mon looked at Tomura, the corgi’s eyes wide and body trembling, little whines breaking the silence. Tomura made his decision.

“We’re heading in. How else am I supposed to show you guys off to my old family?”

Chapter Text

“Well if it isn’t hell on earth. It’s been so long since the last time I was here,” Tomura remarked as the league carefully approached the spiritual mess that had engulfed the house.

“Is this really a good idea? We should run! I’m scared,” Twice yelled. It was a scary sight. The entire Shimura family had become a tornado-like funnel fusion, blasting wind outwards in all directions as the ghosts swirled in melancholy and fury. Kotaro was at the storm’s head, gigantic and entrapping Midoriya and Bakugou in each hand at a height that rivaled the house.

“Keep going!” Toga encouraged, “If we get close enough, we can throw a roll right into Tomura’s shitty dad’s face.”

“But then we’ll be next on his shit list!” Dabi cringed.

“Well, he doesn’t have his gardening spear on him so I doubt he can do much,” Tomura replied, stroking Mon to ground himself.

“Dude he is literally squeezing those two UA kids to death in his hands! He looks like a final boss!” Spinner hissed.

“Good. Finally someone other than me is getting the brunt of father’s rage.”

“That’s terrible, but also fair enough,” said Mr. Compress.

“Are you heroes too?” yelled a voice over the storm. The league turned to see a father and son huddling close to the house, trying to stay sheltered as the winds blew bits and bobs around the area.

“Nope,” Tomura replied, “just paying my old family a visit. As you can see, they weren’t the easiest to be around.”

“You’re Tenko!” cried Seigo. “They’ve been looking for you, and they miss you big bunches. Maybe if you talk to them, they’ll calm down and stop tearing everything apart!”

“Is that the League of Villains?” Midoriya wheezed.

Tomura paused for a moment, then straightened his back and marched forward towards the storm, the league following close behind.

“Move,” he said, stepping over a toppled All Might as he placed Mon on the ground and reached into the mist-driven whirlwind to grab at the first apparition he could.

“Hana, I know you didn’t mean to throw me under the bus, so we’re fine as far as I’m concerned. Now stop throwing tantrums like a three-year-old and act your age!”

Hana turned to Tomura with a furious look that quickly gave way to shock, tears welling up in her eyes as she took in her brother’s appearance for the first time in 15 years.

“Tenko! Thank goodness you’re okay,” she cried as she threw her ghostly form at him and pulled him into a hug, “and I’m only seven, you dingus!” she argued as she immediately switched to messing with her brother’s hair. Tomura pulled her off of him as he continued yelling at the spirits as they swirled around.

“Hey Mom, you could’ve stood up for me more often but I’ve already forgiven you since you always tried your best to support me.”

Nao ripped herself away from the cyclone and enveloped her son in the hug she never got to give him before she was untimely ripped away from him.

“Oh baby, I was so worried for you!”

“I’m okay now mom, promise.”

Tomura turned back to the storm, shouting, “Grandma, Grandpa, telling me to push my feelings aside was unbelievably not cool, but I know you didn’t have too many options when you depended on my father for shelter.”

“Your feelings were valid dearie,” Mako blubbered. “And we still should have done more,” Chizuo agreed.

Tomura smiled, then looked upwards towards his still enraged father, a plan coming into mind. “Now that we’re all calmed down,” Tomura continued, “can one of you lift me up so I can confront Father?”

Chapter Text

“Go higher.” Tomura demanded.

“We’re higher than daddy,” Hana shouted, straining as she dangled her brother far above the house. “How are you supposed to yell at him from all the way up here?”

“I’m not gonna yell at him.”

“What?”

“I took a page out of your book. I lied to get into a better position.”

“How dare you! You’re supposed to learn from your big sister, not copy my mistakes!”

“Hana, I need you to do something you’ll think is crazy,” Tomura requested, “I need you to drop me.”

“What, no! You’ll fall and die.”

“Do it.”

“No, daddy can’t catch you, he’s got his hands full!”

“Just do it. If he’s truly sorry and cares like everyone says, then he’ll probably prioritize saving me over his grudge against heroes.”

“... Are you sure?”

“Either my plan will work or my league will catch me. I trust them. Can you trust me too?”

“... Okay, don’t die.”

Hana let go, and Tomura was falling.

The league was gathered below, All Might joining them, arms raised to catch Tomura when he crashed down to earth…

… but they didn’t have to.

Dropping Midoriya and Bakugou from his grip, Kotaro dove his hands outward, barely stopping his son’s fall and cupping him in his hands.

“Tenko!” Kotaro cried, “What were you thinking?!”

“I was thinking about how it took 15 years to get an apology out of you for being a shit dad, but it feels weird now that I’m getting it.”

“I haven’t even apologized yet.”

“I’m listening.”

“... I’m sorry for everything. For taking my anger at things I couldn’t control out on you. For striking you when you turned to me for help. For discouraging you from your dream.”

“Well, I kinda got to achieve it.”

Kotaro raised an eyebrow. “You became a hero?”

“Sort of. See that group of weirdos down there? They’re my guys, all the kinds of people that heroes would never try to save. I like to think giving them a place to belong is sort of like saving them. I take care of them, and they take care of me too.”

“Aw, our hero! We love you too!” Toga shouted, the rest of the league in various states of embarrassment but not denying her words.

“I can’t forgive you, not now or anytime soon.” Tomura admitted, “but I can accept your apology, and I can make sure I don't treat my league any way close to how you treated me.”

“That’s all I need to hear,” Kotaro smiled, and he gently placed Tomura on the ground with his friends, who quickly encircled him once more.

“I’m sorry again about the lying. I love you and you’re the best brother I’ve ever had,” Hana shouted, and she poofed out of existence.

“We’re glad you’ve come this far,” said Grandpa. “And glad you have the time to keep going,” said Grandma, and they vanished into the air.

“I love you, and I’m proud of you baby,” said Nao, and she faded away.

“Take care of them, Tenko,” Kotaro whispered…

…and the Shimuras were gone.

Chapter Text

“Are you sure we should’ve let them go?” Bakugou asked, as they approached UA.

“Not completely,” All Might admitted, “but with everything we just learned, I can only see myself regretting it more if we apprehended them right after all of that.” It was easier to allow Tomura Shigaraki, Tenko Shimura, at least one more day to roam free before the chase to bring him to justice continued. But with the concerns of his legacy, and the consequences of his master’s actions on full display, he wasn’t exactly sure what justice looked like now.

“Saving people that heroes never save,” Midoriya muttered, knowing he wasn’t going to get much sleep that night as he turned the phrase over in his mind.

~

“Well, we probably can’t go near UA tonight,” Tomura sighed. “Sorry guys.”

“It could’ve been worse,” Mr. Compress said, “At least we’re all safe, and I’d say we got a lot done tonight anyway.”

“We’ve still got all this TP left though,” Toga huffed. “Unless we get food poisoning in the next couple of hours then it’s all gonna go to waste!”

“There’s a whole rotisserie chicken in that garbage can over there,” Twice observed, “Let's eat it! ”

“Hell no,” Spinner shouted. “Let’s just go home. Tonight was exhausting enough as it is.”

Dabi paused for a moment, considering something before a manic grin spread across his face. “Hey boss, did you know that Endeavor’s house is also in Musutafu?”

In the span of a few seconds, the league all wore matching smiles. After a few more seconds, Dabi sprinted down the road towards the home of the current Number 1 hero, with Tomura and the rest of the league right behind him.