Fixing A Broken Mask

Leaning on a metal fence, Dream waited for All Might and his students to come out to the small city built for the school. As much as Dream didn't like to be confined to the school, especially All Might, he was very impressed that a school could own cities other than the ones he saw during the entrance exams. He had owned his land before, but seeing a place meant to educate kids, he was very curious about how much gold, diamonds, or netherite it would cost. After examining the city, Dream turned around, seeing the twin doors of the building, with a bold 'EXIT' painted on above, and sighed in irritation. All Might walked out of doors but soon started to talk nervously about "it's finally here!" or "You got this!" Not wanting to hear the same things he heard the night before, Dream went to the building All Might just came from and leaned right next to the twin doors.

 . . . . .

After finally changing into the newly designed Hero equipment, all of Class 1-A came out of the twin doors excited to finally learn and see the Hero Course. They all walked straight towards All Might, their new Hero Course teacher. Satisfied to see his student's new looks, All Might complimented on every costume. But after seeing Midoriya's hero costume's similarities to All Might, he had to hold in his laughter. Midoriya wore a green jumpsuit with white stripes, which had features of what could be easily thought to be rabbit ears but was referring to All Might's hairstyle. While trying to regain his composure, a student asked All Might a question.

"All Might?" The student wore a black one-piece suit with a high collar all in pale silver color, a metal collar around his neck and another around his upper arm, and a helmet covering his entire face. The helmet's sharp bevor was full of holes, and its upper piece rounded over his head with two larger holes on either side, two curved horns just behind, and a single spike sticking out of the back of his head.

"Yes, Young Iida!"

"Regarding the performance ground we'll be using, is it the mock city from the entrance exam!?" asked Iida.

"You'll see!!!" All Might excitedly stated. "It's just two steps away! It's an indoor battle trial!"

All the students stared at All Might in confusion. So, All Might explained why their first lesson was an indoor battle trial.

"You usually see Heroes take the Villains to justice out in the open," All Might stated, "but there are more situations where Heroes have to deal with Villians inside buildings. So, you will be separated into two different groups: 'Hero' and 'Villain.'"

The new experience All Might was witnessing as a teacher made him shake in irritation. Some students asked questions simultaneously without even letting him explain further. "I can't hear you if you speak all at once!!!"

There was complete silence after All Might's outburst.

"Ahem...." All Might calmly takes out a sheet of paper and starts reading it to the students, "For this training, we'll have some 'Villains' guard a nuclear weapon they intend on deploying! The 'Heroes' must stop them and secure the bomb before it's too late! If the 'Heroes' capture the 'Villains' or reach the nuclear bomb before the time runs out, they win. If the 'Villains' manage to keep the bomb the whole time or capture the 'Heroes,' they win."

All Might quickly shoved the sheet of paper back into his pocket and brought out a box with a circular hole. "Your teammates and opponents will be chosen by lottery!!"

"HUH?!?" The students needed clarification on the cliche way teachers assigned partners to their students.

"Well, if you think about it," Midoriya explained, "Pro Heroes can be forced to make improvised team-ups with others they don't know well, so this is probably testing that..."

A small laugh could be heard from the exit of the building. "Yeah, it's not because Mr. All Might doesn't know how to run an educational setting properly. I can't say anything about that; Tommy would say I'm the worst teacher ever."

After all the students had taken their pieces of paper from the lottery box, all ten teams were made, and now it was time to find out which teams would be going against each other.

"And the first two pairs to do combat will be the following!" All Might took out a card from the lottery 'Villain' and 'Hero' box: Teams D and A came out. "Team A will be the 'Heroes'! And Team D will be the 'Villains'!"

Midoriya and a short, spiky, sandy blond-haired boy wearing a tight, black, sleeveless tank top with an orange "X" across the middle, forming a v-neck, were both surprised to hear that they would be the first to battle with each other.

"Mr. All Might." A voice in the back cleared their voice to get All Might's attention but also attracted all the students to look back towards the building. A boy wearing a green hoodie and a white smiling mask stepped towards All Might and Class 1-A with a hidden grin. "Can I suggest being a hostage during this 'scenario'?"

The Class 1-A students turned around in surprise towards the person behind them. One of the students was shaking in his boots. A young boy wearing a white, smiling mask wasn't wearing the UA student uniform. This student is a very short teenage boy with a large, round head, rather puffy cheeks, small, stubby, and a pointed, slightly upward nose. He has an unusually distinguishable philtrum, oval-shaped eyes, large black pupils, and notably thin eyebrows. His head is very short, and he has dark purple hair with four large ball-shaped clumps resembling a mohawk. He is wearing simplistic clothing, consisting of only a purple shirt and mask and a yellow cape, boots, and gloves. His white pants with a lighter purple trim stick out quite a lot around his waist. "Th-that-that's the rumored masked kid!!!!"

After clarifying who the boy might be, the students wondered what the boy was doing in their Hero class. "D-d-dream! Why would you want to be a hostage!?" Midoriya asked.

"Deku, shouldn't you be asking, 'Why are you here?'" asked a short, fair-skinned student with pink perpetual blush cheeks. The girl looked at Midoriya with her large, round, warm, auburn brown eyes in curiosity and worry. "And what do you mean by 'Dream?' Do you know him?" Midoriya started to choke up while he looked at the girl. This girl student's Hero costume consists of a skin-tight black full-bodysuit with a pale pink design down the middle of her torso, two black circles on her chest, and a black rectangle below her waist, running between her legs. Two more pink patches over her shoulders are cut off by darker pink armbands that match the thick choker around her neck. She has circular wrist guards, a dark pink handle on the back of each one, and wide knee-high boots with magenta soles. A two-piece belt around her waist, a circle embedded into the center where the pieces join up, and a helmet with a tinted visor sometimes worn on her head, all of which are the same pale pink color.

"You know this guy?!?" The very short, dark purple hair with four large ball-shaped mohawk boy screamed while pointing at Dream.

"I-I do know, Dream!" Midoriya confirmed. "But I didn't know he'll be here!"

While Midoriya explained how he knew Dream, All Might walked over to Dream. All Might looks straight at where Dream's eyes would be and sternly states, "Young Dream, this is not a game but an exercise for the Hero course students! I can't allow you to be in the middle of their exercise!"

Dream smirks. "But since this is an exercise, shouldn't there be a hostage to see how they could rescue while trying to find the bomb?"

All Might pondered and firmly stated, "I'll let you be a hostage for the first group to see how it goes. But if you are close to being hurt, you are not continuing to be the hostage! Do I make myself clear?"

Dream nodded and walked to the front with All Might. Still, while passing by the students, Dream asked a tall teenage girl with a mature physique and long black hair that is normally tied into a spiky ponytail that has a large strand hanging on the right side of her face if she could create two blank books and a pencil for him. The girl was surprised that he knew that her Quirk was able to create objects but quickly composed herself to create what was requested.

"Now, with the little changes to the scenario," All Might stated, "this scenario has the Villains and hostage inside the building first! Then, after five minutes, the Heroes will be let in!"

Dream was walking in front of Class 1-A students next to All Might. He places his hand and books behind his head while walking, like having a peaceful stroll and not having a care in the world. Everyone walked towards the building that would be for the first round of the Indoor Battle Trial. Behind All Might and Dream were the first teams: Heroes were Midoriya and the auburn brown-eyed girl Uraraka, and Villains were Iida and a spiky blonde-haired boy named Bakugou. Finally, the rest of the students were in the back.

"Everyone else can watch what unfolds through the surveillance cameras! The five minutes will allow Young Iida and Bakugou to get inside the heads of Villiankind! " All Might continued to explain, "This is a practical training exercise! So go all out when you are not around, Young Dream! Naturally, we'll cut it short if things get out of hand or Young Dream gets injured...."

 . . . . .

Iida, Bakugou, and Dream entered the building and walked to the floor with the fake bomb. The fake bomb, modeled like a rocket, was in a room surrounded by square, cemented pillars. Iida walks towards the bomb to examine it. Dream goes to a pillar closest to the boom and starts writing in one of the books, and Bakugou has his back towards the bomb, facing the entrance to the room.

"It may just be a training exercise, but it still pains me to be a villain." Iida proclaims while taping the bomb with his knuckle. "Though I suppose I just need to defend this thing..."

"So, Deku had a Quirk after all, huh?" Bakugou asked out loud in irritation.

Dream smirked, listening to Bakugou's irritation. While Iida looked towards Bakugou and answered, "You saw it for yourself, didn't you see it? That herculean strength? It looks high-risk, but you'll charge right at Midoriya."

Clenching his jaw together and fists, Bakugou angrily said, "YOU NERD!"

"I know you won't listen to me, but he did get his Quirk until recently," Dream stated, but Bakugou didn't pay attention to him as he expected.

"How do you know that, um..." Iida asked curiously.

"Dream, and the reason I know that Deku didn't have a Quirk until recently is that I saw when he first developed his Quirk," Dream stated while continuing to write. "You also saw him when he developed his Quirk."

"Oh, then that explains it. But we can talk more about this later," Iida turns towards Bakugou, "We need to make a proper plan to defend the bomb and Dream."

Bakugou doesn't respond to Iida and prepares his explosion, Quirk. Dream smirks, "I was right; he was the boy I saw with the slime monster dude." Placing the pencil on top of the book, Dream looked at Iida and stated that he knew how to get Bakugou's attention.

"Hey Kacchan, how was the slime?"

Bakugo slowly looks towards Dream with shock and fury in his eyes. "What did you just say?"

"Oh, nothing!" Dream casually changes the topic, "We were just talking about how you both will keep me away from the Heroes and defend the bomb."

Bakugou turns and starts walking towards Dream, "NO! YOU CALLED ME-"

Interrupting Bakugou, All Might states through the speakers: "THE TRIAL OF INDOOR BATTLE STARTS NOW!!!"

Grinding his teeth, Bakugou turns back towards the door and blasts through, saying, "WE ARE NOT DONE TALKING, CREEPY MASK!!"

Iida and Dream watched as Bakugou left, and then Iida cleaned the room so there wouldn't be anything in the room except for the bomb. Sighing, Dream picks up the pencil and book, putting them under his hoodie.

"You know, Dream, I was wondering what you are-"

BANG!!!!

"Well, Kacchan found Deku." Dream smirks.

After a few more explosions occurred, Iida placed his hand on the slide of his helmet and started talking, "Hey, Bakugou!! Tell me what's going on! What's happening!?"

Curious, Dream looks to see how Iida is communicating with Bakugou.

"Shut up and keep guarding...! I'm frustrated right now!!!"

Dream was intrigued by this new way of communication.

"When did I ask how you were feeling!? Hey!!!" Iida brings his hand down in irritation. "He hung up on me!! Why that little!!"

Dream gets up and walks towards Iida. "Hey, how did you communicate with him? You didn't use those phone devices."

Iida was confused by Dream's sudden question but answered, "Uh, it's called an earpiece. We can communicate with each other as you would do for a walkie-talkie."

Dream crossed his arms together and pondered to himself. He then asked questions about communication-related things, but Iida refused to answer them and started returning to his villain character. "I am now... quite evil!!" Iida said in a weird, 'villain' voice. Laughter was heard from the pillar closest to the doorway, Dream's cue to sit back at his pillar.

"So you've come, Uraraka!" Iida said in his 'villain' voice. "I know you'd come here alone as soon as Bakugou bolted off! Your Quirk causes whatever you touch to float. With that in mind, I moved everything out of the room! Now, there'll be no little tricks you can try! You've made an error in your calculations, 'Hero'!!! HAHAHAHA!!!"

"Man, this dude can't act at all...." Dream watched as the two stood before each other, but he closely watched Uraraka's actions as she seemed to communicate with Midoriya. Trying to figure out Midoriya's plan, a big blast shook the entire building. The blast caused Iida and Uraraka to tumble to the floor while Dream hit his head on the pillar, knocking him out.

 . . . . .

Midoriya woke up in the nurse's office in a panic, thinking he was still participating in the exercise, but was confused to see where he was lying on the nurse's recovery bed. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself and looked at his arm. "I still can't control it," he sadly thought.

"Congratulations! You aren't cut out for this."

Startled, Midoriya looked at Dream, sitting in the bed beside him. "Huh?"

"What type of 'Hero' would make such a decision?" Dream asked while looking out the window.

"What decision-"

"The decision you made." Dream stated, "From what I heard, you and 'Kacchan' were fighting, and soon, you were getting cornered."

Midoriya nodded. "Yes-"

"After feeling cornered, you decided to blast the whole building so your teammate could reach your goal: the bomb and the hostage, me." Dream's smiling mask looked straight at Midoriya. "You did something that I would've done without a care about what happened to the others in and outside of the building."

Midoriya was speechless; he couldn't deny what Dream had stated about his choice of actions. "I know how it feels," said Dream while exiting the bed. He walked towards the door and went to open it. "I don't know what you see in All Might, Deku. But I can tell you one thing about him. He won't be able to teach you properly, and because of that, you'll keep hurting yourself." The door opens and then shuts. Midoriya could hear Dream's footsteps quietly fade.

"'I know how it feels.' What did he mean by that?"

 . . . . .

Midoriya sadly walked back to the Class 1-A classroom. He couldn't get what Dream discussed in the Nurse's Office but needed to return to the classroom. Once he opened the door, he was greeted by one of his classmates, Kirishima Eijiro. Kirishima is a muscular young man of average height and a rather impressive physique for his young age. He has red eyes pointed slightly inward and a small scar above his right eye. He also has small eyebrows and pointed teeth. His hair is somewhat long, dyed a bright red, and spiked away from his head at all angles with gel, with two more pronounced tufts spiked on either side of his forehead like little horns. "Hey, Midoriya!!! Nice job back there!!"

"You dodged like a champ!" a girl with pink skin said excitedly.

"That first match was so intense it fired us all up!" a boy with fat lips said with enthusiasm.

"Yo, I'm Kirishima Eijiro!" Kirishima excitedly introduced himself. "We were just finishing up our review meeting about the exercise!"

"Hi," a girl of medium height, possibly set a little more broadly than some of Deku's other female classmates, with, according to the girl's profile, "healthy thighs." Due to her Quirk, her skin is a light shade of pink, and she has somewhat square-shaped eyes with black sclera and yellow irises and notably long eyelashes below and around the sides of her eyes. Her face is framed by short, fluffy, and unruly pink hair slightly darker than her skin. She also has two thin pale yellow horns protruding from her head, hooked squarely and leaning diagonally to opposite sides, which seem to be slightly flexible, able to bend a bit to each side. "I'm Ashido Mina! You dodged him well!"

"I'm Asui Tsuyu, but call me Tsuyu, okay?" said a short girl of a relatively slender build, has notably large hands and is rather frog-like; she has a very wide mouth, which dips down a little in the middle just like that of a common frog, and oval-shaped eyes with large, black irises, her lower eyelashes visibly pronounced. Her hair is a dark sea-green color and is very long, reaching to her waist with the ends tied together at the bottom in a large bow of hair. She has two shoulder-length clumps framing her face and shorter bangs between her eyes, some partially swept to each side.

"Heya!" greeted a tall, very muscular young man with a wide build. "Satou here!" Satou has short brown hair spiked upwards away from his head. He has rather small, square-shaped eyes with small black pupils and a pair of bushy eyebrows just above. He has very large and thick lips, slightly darker in color than the rest of his skin, and a notably large, round nose.

Not used to all the close attention, Midoriya was very startled and confused by the friendly greetings.

"Pipe down…" issued a short young man with the head of a black bird, possibly supposed to resemble that of a crow or a raven. He has a tan, yellowish beak, which is slightly hooked down at the end, light, red eyes with a small black pupil, one on each side of his head, and a red choker, which he rarely removes. Despite the appearance of his head, his body looks like that of a normal human, with rather fair skin.

"Stop sitting on the desk!" Iida commanded the boy with a crow or raven's face. "Stop this instant!!"

After hearing Kirishima, Mina, Tsuyu, and Satou, the concerned Uraraka went up to see her partner from the exercise, Midoriya. "Deku, your wounds! Are they not healed yet!?" Uraraka was concerned because she saw Midoriya was still injured and wasn't completely healed after Recovery Girl's Quirk immediately caught her attention. Recovery Girl informed Midoriya that he couldn't be healed with her Quirk every time he came to the Nurse's Office, so his injuries must heal naturally.

Midoriya answered shyly, "Ah, don't worry, this is just because my physical strength is a bit sapped…." He looked around the classroom but couldn't find him. "More importantly, Uraraka…"

 . . . . .

Midoriya ran to the school's entrance and finally caught up to him. "Kacchan!!!" Bakugou looked away from the gate entrance and slightly turned towards Midoriya. Both boys stopped in place and kept their distance from each other. "Umm…" Midoriya was flustered, "I think I need to tell you…! I obtained this Quirk from somebody else."

There was a moment of silence. Bakugou stared at Midoriya in confusion, which caused Midoriya to start explaining himself. "No matter what, I can't tell you who! But I swear it's true, even if it sounds like a story out of a comic book! In addition, I still can't fully use it how it's supposed to be. It's a 'borrowed' power; I can't make my own yet! That's why. I tried to win without using it! But even then, in the end, I couldn't win and relied on it anyway!"

Bakugou was starting to get irritated, but Midoriya kept explaining. "I'm still nowhere near strong enough! And so… one day, I'll have made it properly my power. And then I'll surpass you by my power."

Bakugou stared in shock and couldn't hold it anymore, "What the heck is that…? A 'borrowed' power? I don't get what the heck you're trying to say. Did you come to make an even bigger fool of me?! Huh?!" He clenched his teeth, "Even if not… so what!? Today, you beat me!!! That's all there is to it! That's all. And did you get a good look at that Ice Guy!? I thought he was nothing before!!! UGH! What that ponytail said sunk in. Damn it!!! Hey!! You too, Deku!! From here on out! I!! From here on out!! Are you listening!? I'm going to be number one!"

With those words, Bakugou shed tears but turned quickly towards the entrance gate and warned Midoriya, "And don't you dare get the idea that you'll ever beat me again!! Damn, it!"

As the conversation ended in a 'peaceful' manner, All Might charged right toward Bakugou to comfort him. As he tried to comfort the pomeranian, Dream walked right next to Midoriya. "Do you think that was the right choice?"

"Huh?!" Midoriya turned his head towards Dream.

"Do you think having more people know about your little secret is a good idea?" Dream asked again.

"Well, no matter how I think about it," Midoriya answered, smiling towards his childhood friend, "I can't keep this from him."

"They both are bad at keeping secrets. Sooner or later, their secret will get found out." Dream stated.

 . . . . .

In an isolated bar sat a slim man with pale skin, tinged yellow teeth, and plenty of wrinkles around his eyes. His lips are chapped and uneven, with a small mole on the right underneath with visible scars on his right eye and under his lip. He has messy, grayish-blue hair of varying lengths, the longest clumps reaching about his shoulders, left hanging over his face in choppy waves. His eyes and mouth are normally obscured, but when visible, they are usually stretched wide in a rather maniacal manner, their dark gray irises very small. He was reading the headlight of the newly published newspaper. "Have you seen this? He's become a teacher." said the man with a scratchy voice. "Hey, what do you think would happen once the Villians snuffed out the 'Symbol of Peace'?"

The man looked up, showing that he wore a severed hand on his face as the bartender cleaned a whiskey glass. The bartender's entire body is made out of a dark purple mist, except for his eyes, which are glowing yellow. He normally wears a very elegant suit with a tie and has a metal brace that goes from around his collarbone to just below his eyes. He covers himself in his dark fog, with only the metal brace around his neck visible. He didn't say a word and looked at the other weird customer. This customer is a large, black humanoid monster with a very muscular body with many scars. His brain is exposed on the top of his head while his large eyes surround it. He has a beak-like mouth with an array of sharp teeth. He only wears beige pants and metal knee pads designed to emulate skulls. His feet and torso are left bare. The man wearing the severed hand smiled at the thought of the Symbol of Peace's fall.