The Apple of His Eye (MHA/BNHA)

ch. 23: 𝓰𝓪𝓶𝓮

"Nabi, are you okay? You're so pale!" Midoriya worried as she arrived at the starting point for the game.

Although was feeling bitter, she knew that her fellow students weren't to blame. They were all looking at her altered appearance in shock.

Bakugo tried to shake off his concern. "This was for you to get stronger, you dumbass."

Nabi half-ignored Bakugo and addressed Midoriya. "I feel surprisingly fine, thanks for asking!" she said with a smile.

But she wasn't okay. She might have felt better physically speaking (although everything was an improvement compared to what she had felt a few hours prior), but her soul was filled with rage towards her aunt and the Apple and Prince quirks (her own and Shirley's). The only thing she could do was try to think of ways to get rid of hers. Nabi knew that if she went to bed she would wake up and would have to relive the torture. She wasn't going to let it happen. She was planning to run away, and the game in the woods was the perfect opportunity.

Unfortunately for her they were paired up for the game, and her partner was Bakugo. Nabi was surprised it wasn't Kaminari, but Aizawa was giving him and some other student remedial lessons while the others got to have fun. She was kind of relieved to be paired up with King Explosion Murder because she was hoping that he would storm off on his own and leave her alone. She couldn't have been more wrong.

The game started and each pair went their own way. There were checkpoints scattered around the forest where they had to complete a task to advance to the next one.

"Walk faster, dammit," Bakugo yelled at Nabi. They were on their way to their first checkpoint which was the most eastern one according to the mini-map.

She didn't reply, nor did she speed up. On the contrary: she started walking slower.

"Why, you little..." Bakugo raised his voice but gave up before reaching the insult. He stood and Nabi stood in response. It looked like a staring contest, but Bakugo's thoughts were racing. Nabi's weren't, they were fixated on her one and only goal.

"Answer me now," Bakugo was the one to break the silence, "are you going to give up?"

"I won't," was Nabi's response. Bakugo thought she meant becoming a hero, Nabi was talking about her mission.

"Do you have any apples on you?" He asked. "Dammit, I can't even call you 'Apple Cheeks' now," he let his frustration out again. "I am worried about you!"

Nabi was taken aback by the sudden confession, but she didn't have anything to say to that. She tapped her hands on her shorts. "No apples."

Next thing she knew Bakugo was holding her close to him. Next thing he knew was a knife pointing to his throat. "I never said I didn't have any weapons on me."

He pulled away with an angry expression. "Tch."

Nabi had hoped to scare him off, but the boy said, "I'm not stupid, Nabi. I won't let you out of my sight."

She clenched the knife in her hand to let out her frustration.

He continued, "You want me to leave you so you could kill yourself with that knife. I know you wouldn't attack one of us. You proved it this morning."

Suicide? No, it had never even crossed Nabi's mind. She had enjoyed her life so much before she got her quirk. That was the only thing she wanted to get back. She didn't want to die.

Suddenly the smell of burning filled both of their noses, and when they looked, they could see the smoke as well. Bakugo grabbed Nabi's arm and they started running. She stumbled as she was trying to put away her knife. They ran and ran until they reached the starting point of the game.

What they found were their allies wounded on the ground and villains. They were in a good position to surround them in mere seconds.

Bakugo grabbed Nabi's waist so suddenly she jumped out of surprise. He reached his hand back and they jumped again because of the explosion Bakugo created to propel them into the air.

A dark-haired boy lazily observed them and sent a burst of blue flames towards them. Bakugo kept creating explosions, but he struggled because his other hand was occupied with holding Nabi. They were struggling to fly past the villains.

"Let me go, Bakugo," she yelled. "You're handicapped because of me. I'll be fine!"

"You're such a liar," he said before gently putting Nabi down and blasting away. It seemed as though the news of this massacre hadn't reached the others still scattered around the camp.

Nabi was finally face-to-face with villains.