Chapter 2
Fuck fuck fuck.
Bakugo gasped and gargled around the blood in his mouth, hands gripping the blade that ripped through his stomach. A pitiful sigh sounded as a larger hand gripped his hair, choking on a groan as his head was tugged back.
“I was once like you.” all-for-one said ‘sadly’. God it was pissing him off. He’s trying to sound so.. understanding.
“Shu-hk” He choked midsentence and spat a glob of blood onto the ground.“..Shut .. the fuck. Up.” He growled weakly, glaring through him with his piercingly red eyes.
Deku got up with a small grunt, wiping his face; he blinked rapidly, wheezing as he rested on his knees before he looked up, searching for Bakugo. He eyes landed on the scene in front of him, and he paled.
Kacchan!
“KACCHAN!!?” He repeated out loud, running up behind All for One with a rare look of rage twisting his features. He didn’t even make it close enough to swing before the villain spun to deflect him, dropping Bakugo in the process and sighing. Deku got straight back up, preparing to go back at him again, but he froze, staring the villain straight in the eyes.
“Stop.”
Todoroki huffed, standing up straight. “Take it, take the crystal.” He held the Time-Stone out to him, pinching it from the thin air and holding it out with a shaky hand. All for one grinned hungrily, grabbing it with an oversized fist and throwing Todoroki out of the way. He turned to scan over the pitiful scenery, eyes landing on a certain mop of green hair before he opened a portal to his next destination. Earth.
Enraged, Deku launched himself at the blue, gloppy-looking smoke, face-planting into the ground when his body sailed through nothingness. He was too late. It’s gone. Bakugo had managed to sit up on his own, eyes closed with a hand over his now patched-up wound. It seemed like Deku had given up on getting up again, huffing in pain on the ground near him. The green-haired hero was biting his lip in frustration, tears pricking his eyes.
The others were bunched up in their own cradles of webs, credits to Izuku, and thankfully for the blonde, out of earshot. “..Izuku?” He huffed quietly, hoping he could hear him. “Izuku? C’mon answer me, you okay?”
He cracked his eyes open, spotting green hair stirring from its place on the ground. He blinked slowly, still feeling distant and dizzy. Izuku took a deep breath and wiped his eyes, shooting him a grin.
“Yeah Kacchan. I’m okay.”
Bakugo flicked his gaze back to him, not even trying to hide his relieved smile. “He got you good.” He chuckled, trying to get up. Deku smiled. “Not funny Kaccha- Hey! No! Stay down..!” He darted over and gently helped him back down, despite the inaudible grumbling. He was told to sit still while Deku ran around checking up on the others, leaving him to his thoughts.
Big mistake for a guy like him.
He quickly got lost in thought, what he could have fixed, how he could have stopped him. He got up after a while of drowning in his own thoughts and stumbled against the debris, regaining his balance before he moved out to his group of idiots. That is.. what was left of them.
Dust was suddenly filling the air, and the entire group was staring at themselves, starstruck.
What the fuck is happening?
“Something is wrong..-“ Tsu’s gone
“Oh no.” there goes Shitty Hair.
Jirou looked around in confusion, dropping her swords and checking up on herself. Nope, she was okay, but she looked around and watched everyone crumble in front of her, and shot an unreadable look of pity at Bakugo, who was stuck in the middle of it all. Before he even had time to process what was happening, everyone was uttering their last words before they crumbled away. He didn’t even take a specific person into consideration. Deku stumbled, hit with a wave of nausea, and bent over, squeezing his eyes shut to stop his surroundings from swimming around his head.
He breathed deeply, pushing the queasy feeling aside and opening his eyes, only to get hit with a feeling that was definitely worse. He watched with paralysing horror as hairline cracks splintered up his legs, the suit and limbs beginning to turn grey as soon as they passed. Although his throat was dry and he was definitely past the close-to-tears stage, he managed to blubber a few words to the nearest person. “Kacchan? I-I don’t-“
Bakugo spun around, already knowing what was going to happen. He didn’t want to let it happen.
“I don’t feel so good.”
He was washed over with a feeling of deep dread and mortification; he was out of control. “It’s okay, it’s okay.” He whispered hoarsely, eyes stinging as he stumbled over and wrapped his arms around him tightly, his eyes trailing behind him and landing on Todoroki.
“That was our chance.”
Shit. Him too? He clung tightly to Deku’s small shoulders, arms wrapped tightly over his back in a near-crushing grip. A part of him was wondering- no, hoping- that he too was beginning to disappear. He brought his hands up behind Deku’s back, a shaky sob strangling past his lips when he realised nothing was happening. His grip tightened once again when all of a sudden he’s falling forward, and everything becomes too real for him.
They hit the ground, and the blonde makes the mistake of loosening his grip to watch his dearest person blow away into the atmosphere. Tears are streaming endlessly down Izuku’s face, mouth in a tight-lipped bittersweet smile as he focused too hard on his spiky blonde hair. His vividly red eyes. He whimpered ever so slightly, trying to hold back his sobs of terror as he felt his legs crumbling, hands tightening into fists behind Bakugo’s back.
“I-Idon’twannago! I don’t want to go,-“ His voice shook harder than it ever did when he was scared, it made the blonde want to scream angrily at the world. Why couldn’t it have been him? Why wasn’t he strong enough?
Why couldn’t he save them?
“Hey, hey, you’re gonna be okay, you’re gonna be okay.” The blonde murmured, his tightened throat getting in the way. “You’re gonna be fine.”
His voice threatened to wobble, giving way to the panic he was so desperately trying to hide. Deku broke into a small smile and brought a cold, shaking hand to his cheek. He barely wiped the smallest of tears on his face before that part of him disappeared too. He finally let a breath escape him, sucking in air after every full-body sob, his face shifting to a look of panic. Confused, Bakugo brought a hand up to grab Izuku’s, only to be met with dust that blew threw his fingers.
His eyes widened and he grasped at whatever was left of the small hero, gulps of air being stolen from his lungs from all the hitching and the tears that leaked from his eyes and invaded his mouth, silently begging to the universe: ‘no, no please, please, don’t let him go, please, no.” He grabbed at his shoulders again, pulling him up to bury his face into his neck, trying to fuse them together; trying to hide him away from the world, if that’s what would keep him here. His face was already drenched in the foreign feeling of tears, drying his eyes out, making them sore, making his head pound.
“It’s okay.”
Izuku’s soft voice was even softer, more distant, and though he was right in his ear, he could barely hear him. He cried harder, brows furrowing so hard they could touch, then suddenly his arms were wrapped around nothing. His arms gave way, hunching him over in confusion before he looked up, eyes red and puffy, face pale. He was alone. Face creasing into the ugliness of pain, he bent over with his hands clenched into the ground and let out a struggling scream.
He yelled until his throat was raw and his head pounded harder than before. He cried, punching the red dirt of this stupid planet he’s now stranded on, ending up curled in on himself, hands in his hair; angry and pain-filled sobbing was probably all you could hear for miles.
Jirou watched from afar, seeing as she had been slightly forgotten about, deciding it was better to come out at a better time. Well. Now is probably a better time. She quietly stepped out from the rubble, quietly making her way to him and crouching down, placing a hand on his shaking shoulders. He startled, grabbing her wrist, but after a moment of even more confused staring he let go, turning away and silently wiped his eyes with a deep breath.
“Um,” She cleared her throat, helping him get up. The blonde turned to her, eyes already sagging with tire and exhaustion. She sighed. “I’m not really.. good. At this but..” She held out her arms reluctantly, pulling him in and wrapping her arms around his shoulders hesitantly. “I think this is how you do it.”
Bakugo sniffed and replied with a weakly wet chuckle, wrapping his arms around her in return, resting his forehead on her shoulder.
“Thanks.”