Face Me Like An Idiot

35

Katsuki’s eyes widened in horror, glued to the screen that held his fate in its hands. His mouth hung agape, lips quivering. The cooling nocturnal air only contributed to the cold and pricking feeling in his body. Shaking, his knees buckled from beneath him, making him collapse onto the stone ground.

“Ba-Bakugou?” Kirishima muttered, concerned for his friend. Katsuki didn’t answer — what was he supposed to say? That he was okay?

As crimson irises stared at the lifeless corpse of who was once his lover, Katsuki felt a heavy burden pull his heart down to his stomach. He felt like weeping, yet no tears leaked from his eyes. It all seemed so pointless, now — Izuku was gone.

Why did he want to become the Number One Hero, again? He wanted to impress Izuku. Well, it was meaningless now...

Izuku is gone.

“Todoroki? Where are you going?!” Iida’s yell inclined his attention.

Numbly, Katsuki tilted his head up and saw Todoroki running towards the direction they were all trying to avoid. Towards All For One. Katsuki’s eyes lit up dimly, and he shakily got to his feet.

“Bakugou...?” It was Yaoyorozu, this time. She looked panicked, with her usually tidy hair in tangles and eyes wide.

Katsuki didn’t answer her. Instead, he gritted his teeth and forced his body to comply with his will. He followed Todoroki. If Izuku was dead, then fine — Katsuki will get revenge for his lover. No matter what it took.

-

Shouto expected many outcomes to the battle against All For One, but never did he consider Midoriya dying even once. That was just how confident he was in his friend’s abilities.

Shouto knew that then. He realised how naive he was for thinking so highly of one individual. Midoriya might have many quirks at his disposal, but that didn’t make him invincible. After all, he was a mere human being.

Midoriya had grown in importance, to him. He felt more than just a friend, a leader, an ally... and maybe Shouto already found out what the warmth in his chest meant. Like a flower blooming on the peak of a snowy mountain. 

However, when he saw Midoriya close his eyes, chest halting its rise and fall, Shouto felt the heat disperse. Then, all he could feel was emptiness. It was familiar, but not comforting.

Fleetingly, he longed for the warmth to return. But it didn’t. Wouldn’t. He didn’t understand — couldn’t understand. What was Midoriya doing to him...?

-

Everyone was surprised when a bright light obscured the battlefield. When the camera refocused, the news reporters gasped at the sight of a dead man rising to his feet. Decipher grinned, licking his bloodied teeth as he stood back up once again. He promised himself that this would be the last time.

A skinny All Might held his broken fist, staring wide-eyed at the child. Decipher stretched his limbs and grunted, as if he had just woken up from a deep slumber — not as if he had just died momentarily.

Tears gathered in the All Might’s eyes, a relieved grin on his bony face. “You’re okay...!”

“Impossible,” All For One said, disbelief palpable in his tone. Even to him, it was unprecedented for a cold, lifeless body to regain its former warmth — quickly, at that. “How are you still alive?”

“I can’t die yet,” Decipher rasped, his voice equivalent to sandpaper. He coughed and rubbed his neck, wincing at the movement. Knives were still embedded into his thigh, arm and shoulder, and blood seeped from his wounds like waterfalls — it didn’t surprise him that everybody thought he was dead. “I still have to kill you, remember?”