I was transported to an open concrete field, the remains of buildings laying in my wake. 

"What..." I whispered, hearing the crashes and screams of civilians and heroes alike, looking upon the broken buildings with horror. My eyes widened as a figure stepped out of the rubble, slowly walking towards me. I backed away, my staff already out, extended.

"Who are you?" I demanded, trying to keep my voice firm when my heart was beating 100 miles an hour. "What do you want from me?"

"What do I want from you?" the figure chuckled, the voice distorted. "(L/N) (Y/N), I don't want anything from you." My throat closed up as I saw Shigaraki by his side.

"What kind of sick, twisted people are you?" I spat, my body immediately going into a high alert stance, arms both out. "Why are you doing this, and what are your plans?" The figure chuckled, arms hanging by his side as Tomura kept walking towards me.

"So many questions. Reminds me of when I was young." I sneered and tried to laugh, but it only came out as a weak sputter. I was absolutely terrified, and no confidence in the world could get the sunken feeling out of my chest at that moment. The figure stopped, holding out his hand, signaling for the blue-haired villain to stop as well.

"I go by 'All For One,' and I want to make a proposal." 

"Whatever it is, I don't want it. I won't be affiliated with filth like you," I hissed, pointing the butt of my staff at him, then to Shigaraki. "Especially you, Tomura Shigaraki. You freak." I could see the bluenette visibly shake, getting ready to charge at me, when he was stopped once more.

"Tomura." The figure's voice seemed to soften as he said his name, and almost immediately, Shigaraki relaxed. It was like a father chiding his son.

"(Y/N)-"

"Don't call me that."

"(L/N). I can give you something that I know you've always wanted." My mind stopped working, and the anger I had built up already had disappeared, replacing itself with pure fright. I knew what he was going to do. From the beginning, I was praying that he wouldn't offer this. Because I knew that I wanted it more than anything.

He held out a hand to me, a small pearl of light in the middle of his palm.

"You can finally have a quirk. Everything you've ever wanted, I will give to you. Everything you've ever dreamed of lies here. Money, power, the abilities you've always envied, you can have it. Being jealous of your classmates will no longer be the sad reality you live in. Instead, it will be a thing of the past.

"We're not so different, you and me. We've been hurt, we've all been rejected by society for being those of difference. I know what it feels like to realize that something you want just isn't there. How hard is life in UA for you without a quirk? How much harder do you have to work to be able to keep up with your peers who effortlessly glide through the courses? 

"You don't have to struggle. You don't have to be a person that is different. You can obtain all that you've ever wanted. Telekinesis? Got it. Super strength? Of course. Those two together? Anything. You can have it all, if you join us, join me on a fight for justice, a fight for a world of equality, a world without heroes."  

Tears were on the verge of falling, and my hands were clenched by my side as I choked up. How could I get out of this?

I had never felt so vulnerable in my life. This man, whatever he was, knew everything about me, everything that I had ever dreamed of. My ambitions, the harsh conditions I had to train through just to get on the same level as those who had quirks, even the simplest ones. 

My vocal chords couldn't work -- they wouldn't work, even if I had tried to scream my loudest.

"Are you perhaps, thinking about it?" he said, his voice remaining the same. "I can make you powerful. I can help you become the world's best. Just join us." The offer. The offer was taunting me, laughing at me. 

I'd felt all the shame and embarrassment throughout the years pile on top of me at this moment. I couldn't move, and held still, afraid if I even batted an eyelash, that I would fall to my knees. All the public moments where relatives had asked me where my quirk was. All the moments at school where students would show off their quirks, and when I was asked what my quirk was, I would make up an excuse and say that it could only be used at night, or under some special conditions. 

I'd pretended and lied to myself that it would be fine. I'd fueled myself with shame and anger all these years, and that helped me to train.

Yet, I still wasn't good enough. 

"I-" My vocal chords broke down, like strings snapping. I started to cough, my mouth dry. Tears rushed to my eyes and spilled down my cheeks, one hand clutching my throat as I hunched over, heaving dry retches.

I hadn't realized through all the different voices ringing in my head that someone had come to fight. So I just sat there, completely useless as the masked figure's voice toyed with me and played with me like I was some kind of puppet.

"You idiot." I stopped coughing and looked around, tears still blurring my vision. Bakugo? But no one was here. How?

"You're an idiot if you think that all your effort was for nothing." I stopped and bit my bottom lip, eyebrows furrowed.

"Shut up," I whispered, clasping my hands over both my ears. "You don't know anything."

"You're not weak, small fry. But I might change my mind when you join him."

"Be quiet!" I sobbed. "I don't need your sympathy!" I could almost hear him sigh at me. His voice faded away and I was left with the sound of crashing, as two figures fought in the dark in front of me. In the midst of all that ruckus, I could make out the footsteps of multiple figures around me.

The League of Villains had me surrounded as I was miserable, crying, trying to regain my posture as a confident person who wasn't afraid of anything.

"Aw man, look at them," I heard Spinner whisper to his comrade. "They're crying and stuff. I don't want to hurt them when they're crying."

"Yeah..." Toga replied, whining. "Even though I want to see pain, I don't want to see it like this..." 

The voices came back, whispering remarks in my head, telling me that I wasn't good enough, showing me evidence of my incompetence, shouting at me to not pursue the life of a hero. A rush of energy came through me, and with the stomp of my foot and a shriek, my body collapsed onto the ground, sending a shockwave, ripping through the dirt, sending chunks of rock and debris flying everywhere.

I hadn't even realized what I'd done until a few moments later, when I looked around and noticed that the ground was torn to pieces. Looking at my shaking hands, my pupils dilated and I heard just one voice, as clear as can be.

"Doesn't having power feel so good?"