#the villains are silly without losing that threatening edge for our heroes

[reegahearth]

Its weird to say because Frieza saga is so hyped by the community but I really think the writing quality of that arc is very underappreciated for how well everything is executed.

[whimsicalfay]

Adrien, the true main character of Miraculous Ladybug. (And the reasons why this show doesn't work anymore).

Yes, I'm going to write a whole dissertation on this and no one is going to stop me. No, I don't like Marinette, but not because she's a creepy and annoying character, but because she's bland a boring. Yes, I'll elaborate on that, but firstly lest talk about what makes a good protagonist!

1.They have a problem that needs solving. What does this mean? That your protagonist needs to have some sort of conflict going on, it can be internal or external, but it has to matter to them and it has to drive them to act. It has to be personal. The protagonist has to be central to the story and to the conflict, it has to revolve around them.

2.A protagonist needs to take action. This means that they move the plot forward, because the conflict of the story is about them so every decision they make and every action they take ends up affecting the whole course of things.

3.A protagonists needs to have reasons to take action. This is and point two come hand in hand. The conflict needs to be of importance to the protagonist so they can have believable reasons to take action.

4.The protagonist has something to lose. If things go wrong, or even if they go well, something has to be a stake. That little thing that's a stake has to be the motivation, the reason, to take action. It has to be important enough to force the protagonist to take risks that otherwise they wouldn't even consider, because they can't afford to lose that something.

5.The protagonist has something to gain. Again we have things a stake here. If they do the things right they'll get a reward, something to look forward to. Without something to gain for the protagonist, why even bother to try, right?

6.A good protagonist has the capacity to change. A MC needs to learn along the way, they need to grow and show development. They need to learn from their experiences, otherwise they'll be making the same mistakes over and over again and that's not engaging.

7.A good protagonist has to have compelling personality traits and flaws. The MC needs to have something that makes the audience loves them, but also a trait that needs improvement because otherwise they wouldn't have the capacity to change.

8.A good protagonist has a secret and a very good reason to keep that secret.

9.A good protagonist has a good antagonist. The villain has to be of importance to the protagonist. Why are they enemies? Why the MC needs to stop the villain? Why does it matter?

10.A good protagonist knows that they want and makes the story happen.

And based on those characteristics we can start crafting our MC, that one person that we will have to follow throughout the whole story, the character we have to root for and relate to. The one who makes us care about the events of the story. And once we have crafted our main character we start crafting our story around them, usually following the three art structure or the hero's journey structure. Since this is a superheros show, it makes more sense to use the hero's journey, right? So let's write down this structure following both Adrien and Marinette's stories.

Marinette.

●The ordinary world: This is the original world of the hero, which "suffers from a symbolic deficiency." The hero is lacking something, or something is taken from them.

We get to experience Marinette ordinary world the first episode. We watch her interact with her parents, parents that absolutely adore her and support her on everything. We learn her family has a bakery shop and that it's the best of Paris. She isn't lacking anything, nothing has been taken from her. Her life is perfect and normal. She has a best friend, she has a wonderful part time job as a babysitter for a famous reporter, she has loving parents and goes to a good school. She lives good and nothing of that is in danger. She doesn't lack anything. She is presented as this perfect girl with an amazing life. A little bit silly, yes, but that's actually a good trait because isn't she adorable? Oh, she's lacking a love life I guess.

●The call to adventure: The hero is given a challenge, problem, or adventure. Often it appears as a blunder, or chance. This stage establishes the goal of the hero.

Marinette gets the chance to become Ladybug. Why her? Because she was a nice citizen that helped an old man and that's enough. Why does it matter if she becomes a superhero? Is that a blunder or a chance? Why? We already established that a good protagonist needs to have a conflict to solve, and usually the call to adventure is the first step the MC takes to solve that problem. Does the MC wants to become rich to help their poor family? Well, their call to adventure, the inciting incident, would be getting the opportunity to participate in a poker tournament where the winner gets 20M dollars. That is their call to adventure. But what's Marinette's call to adventure? In the ordinary world we learned that she isn't lacking anything, that nothing was taken from her. Refusing to become Ladybug wouldn't have changed anything for her. Yeah, she is a nice person and wanted to fight crime because she's that noble, but that's hardly personal. It doesn't have weight and the audience won't care.

●THE REFUSAL OF THE CALL: The (often) reluctant hero has to be set along the correct path. They must weigh the consequences and be excited by a stronger motivation to proceed further.

Well, she had a moment of doubt before accepting to become Ladybug, but I didn't see the strong motivation that made her to proceed further. Remember that the motivation has to be personal and it has to matter. If it doesn't matter to the MC then it'll matter less for the audience.

●MEETING WITH THE MENTOR: The hero encounters a wise figure who prepares them for the journey. This figure (or item) gives advice, guidance, or an item, but cannot go with the hero.

Nothing to add here because it's pretty obvious that the mentor is that old man (forgot his name) and the item she gets is Tikki.

●CROSSING THE THRESHOLD: The hero has committed to his task, and enters the special world. Often he is met by a threshold guardian.

Nothing to add here either. Crossing the threshold for Marinette was turning into Ladybug for the first time and deciding it's what she wanted to do. Although her reasond to want it to do it are none existent.

●TESTS, ALLIES, AND ENEMIES: In the special world, the hero learns the new rules by meeting people and obtaining new information. There is often a "local watering hole" component. This is where the true characteristics of the hero are revealed.

She meets Chat Noir, she also learns about her enemy Hawk Moth, we see her making new friends and frenemies and what not. The thing is nothing of that feels important because she doesn't have a reason to be doing all that. There's no inner conflict, no goal other than to chase after Adrien. Yes, little problems raise for here here and there, but are not relevant to the big scheme of things. Her goals are momentary and achieved by the end of each chapter.

Now will get to a part that hasn't happened yet, but we can guess.

●APPROACH TO THE INNERMOST CAVE: Now our hero, and often his allies, have come to the edge of the dangerous place where the "object of the quest" is hidden. This stage often is the land of the dead.

This doesn't matter because, again, Marinette has nothing to lose or gain (nothing important at least, only short lived goals with no relation to the plot). She has no reason to be doing all that other than just to be a good citizen and that isn't interesting.

●THE SUPREME ORDEAL: The hero faces danger, often a life-or-death moment that is either physical or psychological.

Again, why should we care if Marinette faces danger when we know she doesn't even has a reason of weight to be there in the first place? How we, as the audience, are supposed to root for her when she doesn't have anything to lose or gain from that supreme ordeal?

●REWARD, OR SEIZING THE SWORD: After surviving, our hero takes possession of the object, typically a treasure, weapon, knowledge, token, or reconciliation.

It doesn't matter. If Marinette wins why should we feel like it all finally paid off when she didn't even have a reason to be there or something she wanted to gain? It's just silly. Unless that reward is Adrien's love, which would be pathetic and boring because this is not supposed to be a love story.

●THE ROAD BACK: The hero must now deal with the consequences of their actions. They may be pursued by remaining forces. They now face the decision to return to the ordinary world.

●RESURRECTION: One final test is required for the purification and rebirth of the hero. Alternatively, it may be a miraculous transformation.

●RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR: The triumphant hero returns to the ordinary world bearing the elixir. Common elixirs are treasure, love, freedom, wisdom, or knowledge. A defeated hero is doomed to repeat the lesson.

I didn't add anything to the last three points because I would just be repeating myself for like the fourth time. Why should we care about the consequences of Marinette defeating Hawk Moth? Why should we care if she goes back to her ordinary world when she didn't even have a reason to leave it? And that's justs makes the two other points unimportant.

That's Marinette's hero's journey. If we can call that a journey, because so far we haven't seen her face trials and dangers, and with this what I want to say is that she hasn't faced anything that threatens what she holds dear, not for real at least. When she faced the possibility of her best friend getting angry at her because she messed with something that was important to her? Oh, that was no biggie! After all Alya knew that would end up happening and was prepared for that, silly Marinette for even worrying! When she literally commits a crime and steals her crush's phone? Why she should worry? She even go rewarded by getting invited to the movies!

Marinette has no flaws (at least to the writers' eyes) to fix, nothing to gain (besides Adrien) because she already has everything, nothing to lose because everyone adores her and because she's so perfect she could never do anything wrong. That's a boring MC. Yes, she's quirky and pretty but that's no enough to make her MC material. She has the characterization of a support character at best. That's awful.

Now let's see Adrien's journey, shall we?

●THE ORDINARY WORLD: We learn that Adrien is a famous model with a rich father and absent mother (we later learn that she "disappeared"). His life is heavily controlled by his father and his assistant, to the point he can't even go to school like a normal kid or make friends, all because he has a reputation to maintain, after all he's a famous model. He's not happy with his life, he would like to experience normal teenager's experiences like going out with friends or attending school. That's his ordinary world. What he lacks is freedom, autonomy and love, and what was taken from him was his mother. There you have inner conflict, a problem that needs to be solved.

●THE CALL TO ADVENTURE: Adrien receives the opportunity to become a hero. It'd be a challenge, a problem and an adventure all at once for him. A challenge because he'll have to find ways to get away from his controlling father without getting caught, which can cause him problems, but is also the adventure he has waiting for, the opportunity to be free, that little thing he was lacking in his life. He decides to become Chat Noir because is the right thing, but also because it'll give him something that he always wanted: the opportunity to be himself. For him it's personal. And hey, maybe later on he could use his new cool superpowers to find out about his mom, right?

●THE REFUSAL OF THE CALL: He could get in so much troubles with his father for accepting this opportunity, it could also damage his career as a model. He has every reason to say no, but also every reason to say yes because he'll get to be what he always wanted. Is an opportunity he can't let go and he knows it.

●MEETING WITH THE MENTOR: Just like in Marinette's case his mentor is that old man. It's basically the same here.

●CROSSING THE THRESHOLD: This point is also similar to Marinette's. He also crossed the threshold the first time he transformed into Chat Noir, the only difference is that for him it matters and we know exactly why. It matters because he'll get the opportunity to be himself, to be free, to escape his real life.

●TESTS, ALLIES, AND ENEMIES: Also similar to Marinette's. He meets Ladybug, he starts to attend school so he makes new friends/allies, he meets his enemy Hawk Moth. We also learn a lot more about him watching his interactions with his new allies and watching him go through his tests. And most importantly, we learn that Hawk Moth is his father.

The next points haven't happened yet, but we can guess. We'll ignore the travesty they did to his character in season 4 and we'll just keep following the hero's journey like the writers should have done.

●APPROACH TO THE INNERMOST CAVE: He's getting closer to the enemy, but the closer he gets the dangerous it gets. Not only for Chat Noir, but for Adrien too, because let's remember that his father is Hawk Moth and that he knows, or suspects at least, that his son might be Chat Noir. He also did something creepy to his wife, the mother Adrien adores and misses so much. There's so much to lose, so much at stake.

●THE SUPREME ORDEAL: Adrien faces his father, Hawk Moth. He finds out the truth and that for sure will be the hardest thing ever for him. Imagine learning that your father is the one responsible for all the bad things happening in Paris, that he is the big evil you so badly wanted to defeat. His father was not perfect, but it was still his father and now he has to make a choice. What's more important to him? Family or duty? Can Chat Noir take down Adrien's father? If Chat Noir takes him down, would Adrien be able to forgive himself? Could he live with that?

●REWARD, OR SEIZING THE SWORD: He either fight his father or they talk, get to some sort of agreement/reconciliation or bails out. What will he do? And depending on his choice, how is his road back going to be?

●THE ROAD BACK: He'll have to deal with the consequences of the choice taken in the previous point. Did he fight his father? Now he'll have to learn to live with it, maybe he'll feel guilty, maybe angry. Did they talk and got to an agreement? Maybe he was able to resolve things in a peaceful way, but now he resents his father. Did he bail out? Maybe it was to difficult for him to go against his father and decided to run away, and now he feels guilty and like a failure. So many possibilities.

●RESURRECTION: His last test. He'll have to learn how to live with the consequences of his actions and make something positive out of it. It'll be hard, but it can be done.

●RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR: After coming to terms with the things that happened he gets his reward. Maybe his mother comes back. Maybe he finally gets the freedom he so much wanted without having to hide behind Chat Noir's identity. Maybe he gets the girl. Maybe he gets the three of them.

See the difference between Marinette and Adrien's journey? Adrien has reasons, goals, things to lose and/or gain, there's so much at stake for him. He could lose what is left of his family, the life he has known, his reputation, his career, his money (although I don't see him particularly caring about wealth, it'd make an impact on him to lose it all), everything. His father is the main villain, how more personal could it get!

Adrien is the main character we deserved, his journey is the one we should be following. He had so much potential it makes me sad that is being wasted like this. He was the deuteragonist, now in season four he's just a side character.

So that brings me to the reasons why I can't keep watching this show:

Firstly, if you want to keep your audience engaged with your show the worst mistake you can make is making your MC perfect from the get go, because that lefts no room for growth. And what is the hero's journey? A journey of growth, but if your MC already has it all, then why bother? Marinette bores me to death and I can't keep watching the show just to see Adrien (one of the very few well written characters that actually made the show entertaining) appear like for two seconds.

Secondly, you don't assassinate your own characters for the sake of uplifting your MC. That's bad writing. That's character derailment and you should avoid doing that like the plague. I'm sorry, but if you have to make your characters act OOC just to uplift your MC and make her look like she finally is having some development after four seasons of static personality, then she hasn't has development at all, because it's not Marinette who changed, the ones who changed are the characters around her. They all became more incompetent than her, more annoying than her, more boring than her (when that wasn't the case before) and now she looks like she's finally growing, but it's just because the writers had to downgrade the other characters. I absolutely detest when writers do that.

I hate the constant addition of new characters that literally bring nothing to the table? But I mean, I kinda understand why they keep adding characters. When your MC is so bland that following her nonexistent journey would make the plot stall, then you have to add new characters to keep the audience entertained and advance the plot a little, because the MC can't do it for herself.

I just can't keep watching only for two or three characters. Thomas and his love for Marinette are literally ruining the show. He loves the character he created so much he refuses to make her go through anything remotely negative and he hates the other characters so much because they're not Marinette, that he destroys the their arcs. His childish and he ruined a show that had so much potential.

Sorry if you're a Marinette fan, but the truth needed to be told.

[maka-lucy-blog]

On the line

Here’s my submission for @bnhafest for the prompt: Todoroki/Midoriya established relationship; Todoroki dies and Izuku can’t handle it. 

“Shouto!”

Izuku shot up in bed, his heart racing.  The silence of the night pounded against his eardrums.  Moonlight spilled in through the curtains, illuminating his bedroom in a soft glow. Izuku closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief.  It was only a nightmare, nothing more.  Izuku rubbed his face, surprised to find it wet.  Tears streamed steadily down his cheeks, staining the bedsheets crumpled around his waist.

He was crying?  But why?

Images from his dream flashed through his mind, jarring him out of his stupor.  Shouto!  Izuku whipped around to his left, about to yell out in alarm for Shouto.  He stopped abruptly as his eyes landed on the other side of his bed.

Shouto slept soundly beside him, his features angelic in the pale light.  Red and white hair was splayed across the pillow.  His bangs had fallen to the side, revealing the scar over his left eye. Izuku reached out and traced the edge of the mark gently with his finger.  Shouto hated his scar and tried to keep it hidden as much as possible. Izuku understood why, but he personally loved it.  It was a testament of Shouto’s strength; everything he had endured and overcome in order to get to where he was today.

He must have pressed too hard, as Shouto stirred, groaning as he stretched his limbs.  “Izuku?”

“Sorry,” he whispered, withdrawing his hand.  “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“What are you doing up?” mumbled Shouto.  “It’s the middle of the night.”  He pushed himself into a sitting position, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.  His hair stuck up in odd places and Izuku couldn’t help but smile.

“I had a bad dream,” answered Izuku sheepishly.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No,” Izuku replied a little too quickly. Shouto arched his eyebrows and Izuku forced a laugh to dissuade him.  “It was silly.  I already forgot what it was about.  Let’s just go back to sleep.”

“You had another nightmare, didn’t you?”

Izuku kept his gaze locked on the bedsheets, unable to look Shouto in the eye.  “I don’t know why they keep happening.  I’ve never had this many in a row before.”

“We had a close call the other day,” Shouto said, rubbing his thumb in small circles on Izuku’s back.  “It’s natural you’d be shaken up by it.”

“But this is the job I wanted.  I knew when I chose to become a hero, that there’d be risks. We both knew that.”

“It’s easy to put your own life on the line. It’s harder to watch someone you love do the same.”

Izuku glanced up at him, but Shouto’s attention was focused on Izuku’s hand.  He wrapped his own fingers around Izuku’s, running his hand along the scars that adorned Izuku’s arm.  Shouto realized he had spaced out and turned his gaze back to Izuku.  He smiled softly and kissed Izuku on the forehead.

“It was just a close call.  Nothing to worry this much about.”

“What if next time we’re not so lucky?”

Izuku clamped his mouth shut, hating how childish he sounded.  Heat spread across his cheeks and he was unable to look at Shouto any longer. Shouto remained silent for a long time, watching Izuku with a stern expression.  Tears pricked at the corner of Izuku’s eyes and he wished Shouto would say something, anything.

The bed creaked as Shouto shifted his weight. He pulled Izuku against his chest, wrapping his arm around him and nuzzling his face against the back of Izuku’s neck.  Izuku flinched at the sudden contact, but quickly relaxed into Shouto’s touch.  The two lay back down, their bodies pressed tightly against each other.  Izuku took his hand and laced their fingers together, gently squeezing.  Shouto returned the gesture reassuringly.  No other words were needed.  They were both here, safe.  Within minutes, Shouto was asleep again, his steady breaths filling the silence of the room.

Izuku lay awake for a long time after.  He was scared that the nightmares would return, and once that night was difficult enough to deal with.  

Ever since he and Shouto had made their relationship official, dreams of Shouto getting injured—or even worse—plagued Izuku. Especially with everything they had gone through during their training days at U.A.  It had started out as a rare occurrence, but had quickly become a regular part of Izuku’s nights.  Part of being a hero was wanting to protect others, but never had Izuku been so close with another person to the point it caused him physical pain to think of losing them.  He couldn’t imagine life without Shouto, nor did he ever want to know what that was like.

“You worry too much,” Shouto muttered sleepily.

Izuku started.  “I thought you were asleep.”

“You’re thinking so loud it woke me up.”  Shouto hugged Izuku closer to himself.  “I know you’re strong and don’t need my protection.  But I won’t let anything happen to you.  And I’m not going anywhere either.  Okay?”

Izuku nodded, his eyes filling with tears again. He twisted around to his other side and burrowed his face against Shouto’s bare chest.  If Shouto noticed the wet against his skin, he made no comment. He simply wrapped his arms around Izuku and pressed his lips to the top of Izuku’s head.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

It had been a month, and each day hurt more than the last. There were traces of him in everything Izuku saw, everywhere he went.  His scent lingered on the sheets.  His best tie hung over the back of the armchair, already knotted and waiting to be worn.  The book he would never finish sat upside down on the nightstand, open to the page he was on.  Everything around the apartment was exactly as he left it, waiting for him to come home.

But he wasn’t coming home.

Izuku sat in the apartment, not eating, barely sleeping.  Every time he closed his eyes, he saw his face, alarmingly pale and peaceful.  He felt as though he was trapped in a nightmare that he could never wake up from.  He felt numb inside, constantly drained of all his energy.  It took everything he had just to continue existing, and even that seemed pointless sometimes.  He stumbled through his days, simply going through the motions of a life he once enjoyed.  The life they once enjoyed.

Uraraka and Tsuyu refused to let him waste away to nothing.  Their support was one of the few things that kept Izuku going, and their presence was a firm and appreciated reminder that he wasn’t alone.  They regularly brought him groceries, helped clean his apartment, and kept him company whenever they had time to spare.

Uraraka spent the night at Izuku’s as often as possible.  He couldn’t bring himself to sleep in the bed they had once shared, so Uraraka made a makeshift bed in the living room with various pillows and blankets.  It wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but Uraraka never complained, trying to make the most of what they had.

Her snores filled the apartment, loud enough to drown out Izuku’s thoughts.  Nights were always the hardest for him, as there was very little for him to distract himself with.  All he wanted was one dreamless night; one night without images of that day haunting him, mocking him.

He rolled over onto his side and looked up at the side table.  An old photo frame sat near the edge, a hand-me-down from his mother.  In the frame was two boys, dressed in graduation robes, holding diplomas high into the air.  The Izuku in the photo beamed at the one lying on the floor, blissfully ignorant of what was to come.  The other boy in the photo wore a much more reserved smile, but there was no mistaking the love in his expression.  He focused all of his attention on Izuku, as though the camera wasn’t even there.  He, too, looked so hopeful, so ready to greet the future with Izuku by his side.  The future he would never get to see.

Shouto.

“We need back up now!”

“Somebody, help!  I can’t find my daughter!”

“All civilians this way!  Evacuate as quickly as possible.”

Izuku retreated back to the police barricade, where the other heroes on the scene were developing a plan of attack.  Officers did their best to maintain control of the scene and give the heroes the space they needed to work.  Citizens tried to push their way to the front of the crowd behind them, eager to see some action.  Multiple ambulances and heroes with healing Quirks treated wounded civilians.

At the end of the alley, a villain had been cornered, but he made it clear he wasn’t going down without a fight.  He had already demolished several buildings in the area and was threatening to level the rest if the heroes didn’t let him walk away right then and there.

“How’s it looking in there?” Kendou asked.

Shouto shook his head, wiping the sweat off his forehead.  “Not good. So far we’ve counted three hostages.”

“So far?  You think there might be more?”

“We can’t tell.  He won’t let us get close enough.”

“Any idea of the Quirk we’re up against?”

“He’s got claws,” replied Izuku.  “I think they’re reinforced or made out of something strong, like steel.  He was able to tear through a brick wall like it was paper.”

Kendou nodded, then turned back to Shouto.  “So what’s the plan?”

“We need a distraction,” said Shouto, scrutinizing the villain carefully.  “Our main objective is to get the hostages to safety before we apprehend the villain.  We can’t attack him head on while there are still innocent people at risk.  Kendou, I’ll need you and Izuku to secure the hostages while I distract the villain.”

“By yourself?” asked Izuku.  “I can help—”

“No,” said Shouto sternly.  “The hostages are our priority.  I’ll simply buy you two enough time to get them out, and then I’ll be right behind you.  He loses all bargaining chips once we have the civilians safe.”

Izuku hated to admit it, but Shouto was right. His Quirk was best suited for this job. He nodded once and Shouto returned the gesture.

The three took their positions, waiting for Shouto’s signal.  Shouto flicked his wrist and Kendou and Izuku darted forward, keeping to the edge of the alley.  The villain laughed and launched himself toward them.  He barely got off the ground before a large ice wall formed in front of him.  He crashed into it, stumbling backwards.  He shook his head, looking for the source.  Shouto stepped forward, flames jumping off half his body.

Kendou leapt onto Izuku’s back, and he activated his full cowl, easily jumping the distance between them and the civilians. When they landed, the two small children ran up to them and clung to their legs.

“It’s okay,” Kendou said, stroking the little girl’s hair.  “You’re safe now.”

The children’s mother approached them slowly, her entire body trembling.  “Thank you,” she cried, nearly collapsing into Izuku’s arms.  “Thank you.”

“No need to thank us, we’re just doing our jobs.”

“Now let’s get you out of here.”  Kendou scooped up the kids and started back for the alley entrance, keeping her eye on the battle in the middle.  Izuku and the mother followed.

Shouto dueled fiercely with the villain, alternating between ice walls to keep him trapped and flames to bring him down.  His jaw was set in concentration as he dodged the villain’s claws and returned his own blows.

“Shouto!” shouted Izuku.  “The hostages are safe!  Get out of there!”

Shouto threw his right arm up and another ice wall sprang from the ground, trapping the villain on all sides.  Shouto turned to join his teammates, nodding to Izuku. Behind him, his ice shattered as the villain charged through, swinging his claws madly.

“Shouto!”

Shouto spun around and raised his left arm.  He shot a burst of fire, but the villain ducked, plunging his claws deep into Shouto’s chest.  Izuku screamed as Shouto crumpled to the ground.

Uraraka looped her arm through Izuku’s as they strolled through the quiet cemetery.   The trees were in full bloom, beautiful pink petals drifting lazily across the ground.  A fountain sprinkled lively on the side, birds flocking to cool off from the summer heat.  They walked in silence to the last row, the path all too familiar beneath their feet.

Izuku gripped the flowers in his hand a little too tightly, accidentally snapping some of the stems.  He hated coming here, yet at the same time, this was the only place he truly felt close to him again. They stopped at the grave and Izuku stared down at the marker.

Todoroki Shouto.

Uraraka stepped back to give Izuku some space. He knelt in the grass in front of Shouto’s grave and ducked his head.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.  His voice cracked as tears fell silently from his eyes.  He knew Uraraka could hear him, but she had enough tact to pretend not to notice.  “I should have been faster.  I shouldn’t have let you face him alone.  I should have… I should have…”

Izuku’s voice broke and he slumped forward, He pounded his fists against the ground as he choked out his sobs.  This couldn’t be real.  He couldn’t be gone.  It wasn’t fair.  Izuku needed him.  He promised. He promised Izuku that he wasn’t going anywhere.

Uraraka stooped next to Izuku and wrapped her arms around him.  He melted into her touch, burying his face against her shoulder.

“I can’t…” he cried, clinging desperately to her shirt.  “I can’t do this without him.  I-I miss him. I miss him s-so much.”

“I know,” Uraraka whispered, blinking away her own tears.  She stroked Izuku’s hair gently.  “I know, Deku.  I miss him, too.  But he’d want you to be strong.  He’d want you to move forward with your life, keep living.”

“I-I don’t know how.”

“I don’t know either.  But you’ll figure it out.  You always do.”

Izuku held onto Uraraka as if his life depended on it.  All of the anger, sadness, regret he had bottled up for weeks came flooding out at once and he didn’t know how to make it stop.  He wanted to be strong, for himself, for Shouto.  But right now, he simply didn’t have the energy.  He was tired.  Tired of hurting, tired of fearing, and tired of running.  Shouto was gone.  Every part of him ached, and Izuku felt like he’d never be whole again. Not without Shouto.

But he had to try.