𝐖𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐇 || ᵇ.ᵏᵃᵗˢᵘᵏⁱ

XXXVIII

🗡️🗡️🗡️

They'd been separated.

Bakugou had let go of her hand at one point and then his footsteps disappeared a second later. Aeri's heart pounded against her rib cage as she ran as fast as her legs could take her towards the familiar yelling of Midoriya—fear and motivation to find her lover overthrew the overexertion that creaked in her bones.

It didn't help that an announcement had gone off mere minutes ago saying that the villains were after Bakugou, and she'd just lost him. She didn't understand, he was holding onto her just as tightly as she was holding him, there's no way his grip would just slip like that not without some intervention from someone else and even then, surely she'd at least hear that intervention.

Midoriya's arms were broken when she reached him, dangling at his sides painfully. "Midoriya! Have you seen Bakugou? We got separated." She panted, dagger clutched tightly in her hand when she heard rustling in the bush next to her. Shoji emerged with Todoroki, just as out of breath as she was.

"I was with him a second ago, Tokoyami too but a villain snatched them away with his quirk... Using some sort of marbles," Midoriya explained. He looked devastated over not being able to save his classmates, even with both of his arms shattered.

"Which way did he go?" Aeri asked, pulling a second dagger free from its sheath. Midoriya nodded in the direction they headed and she took off running once more, Todoroki a few paces behind her. Shoji set Midoriya safely on his back and they ran too.

Aeri skidded to a stop when they reached a clearing amongst the endless trees. There were multiple villains scattered, including the one from the USJ incident who'd created portals. Todoroki almost crashed into her back when he arrived.

"The one with the top hat, he's the one who took Bakugou and Tokoyami!" Midoriya called as Shoji caught up with them, alerting the villains to their presence.

Aeri and Todoroki charged at the man holding the marbles causing him to yelp out in surprise. He surprisingly managed to dodge Aeri's punch but ran straight into Todoroki's ice, dropping two marbles in the process. Shoji lunged forward and caught them before backing away.

"I've got them! Aeri, Todoroki, let's go!" Shoji called. Todoroki grabbed Aeri's arm when she didn't move and tried to pull her back into the forest to retreat and get to safety.

"That's not them, it's too easy." She told him, tearing her arm away, not taking her eyes off the villain.

"Very smart!" The villain in the top hat snapped his fingers and the marbles turned out to be holding nothing but some dead leaves and sticks. He began backing away with the other villains just as the familiar purple portal opened. He pulled two marbles out from under his tongue and threw one back at them, Todoroki caught it and the villain snapped his fingers once more.

Tokoyami popped out in Todoroki's arms and Bakugou in the masked villains. Aeri's eyes widened at Bakugou's confused expression and she broke out into a sprint once more, she could hear the others running behind her, all of them reaching for Bakugou.

But Aeri was closest—and faster—though even at this speed she wouldn't reach him in time. She pushed herself to teleport one last time and blended into the shadows at the same time. She knew she wouldn't be able to pull him back to her so she decided to go through too, and get him out that way.

🗡️🗡️🗡️

They didn't know she was there. They dragged Bakugou through that portal and then cuffed him down in the middle of the barroom, directly under the ceiling light. He knew she was there. He would glance around the room every so often to try to spot her in the shadows.