To my dearest, Katsuki

𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳

"Let me come with you!" Tana yelled. Izuku looked back at her from his spot next to Tenya. They were surrounded by rubble; buildings had collapsed, and the country of Japan lay in ruins.

"No, you're needed here! You can't take that risk!" Izuku responded with a firm authority in his voice. He had come a long way.

Tana shook her head and reached into the top of her tattered costume. In her fingers, she held a rose-gold rectangular locket.

"Shigaraki killed my mother, Midoriya! I won't let him hurt anyone else!" Tana screamed.

Her chest glowed with the rapid beat of her heart, spreading warmth like the spring across her shoulders and up her neck. Her heart pounded with the memory of her beautiful mother, the hatred for Shigaraki, and the fear for her own life.

"Please, Izuku," she begged, dropping the locket back in its rightful place—close to her beating heart.

Izuku swallowed his refusal and nodded. They both managed to climb onto Tenya's back. The seconds dragged on painfully, even with Tenya pushing himself beyond his limits to get them to U.A. Island.

"I must stop here! I can't get through!" Tenya told Tana and Izuku.

"Thank you, Iida." Tana placed her hand on his warm cheek and smiled. He returned her smile, tears welling in his eyes.

Tana had used Izuku to propel herself to the cursed island. As her boots touched the rough dirt, her eyes locked onto the satanic red gaze of Shigaraki. This was it. She could feel a warmth spreading through her body, her skin shifting from a bloody pale to a glowing blue, pulsing in rhythm with her heartbeat. This was for her mother. Suddenly, she heard Izuku's anguished cry and turned her head. His body was stiff, and his eyes were wide with fear. Tana followed his line of sight to see what had caught his attention.

It all went silent. Her body became cold and dark. She could no longer feel her blood or the beating of her heart. Her chest ached.

"No."

One foot in front of the other, she started slowly.

"No."

Tana stumbled and broke out into a run. Her boots beat against the ground and soon did her knees.

"Oh god!"

Tana crawled toward the body on the ground. Oh, the body. His body. She grabbed hold of his cheeks and turned his head to face her. He was cold. He had never been cold before. This wasn't real.

This was real.

In that agonizing moment, the world faded away, leaving only the piercing echo of her scream—a raw, primal wail that shattered the silence and reverberated through the atmosphere like a haunting symphony of grief.

She ignored the voices pleading for her to "step back." Tana couldn't see his eyes through the barrier of tears, but she could discern their color—beautiful, deep red. The red she had spent countless nights dreaming about. The red she wished would gaze at her. And he was. He was looking at her now.

An excruciating pain surged through her chest, making it hard for her to breathe. She couldn't hear the sound of her heart. Was it still beating? Tana felt her shoulder hit the ground as she rolled onto her back and stared up at the sky. What was happening? Why did it hurt so much?

Tana patted the ground until she found a bloody glove. She grasped his cold fingers and turned her head to look at him once again, maybe for one last time.

No. Her heart wasn't beating.