A Means to an End | Katsuki Bakugou x Male Reader

Chapter 11

It's my bday today so I'm blessing ya'll with another chapter

Enjoy :)

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What will break me?

This question consumed (M/N) over the next three days as they waited to be released from their prison of safety. What would break him into a million pieces so that he was beyond repair, beyond usefulness? (M/N) mentioned it to no one, but it devoured his waking hours and weaved itself throughout his nightmares.

Four more bunker missiles fell over this period, all massive, all very damaging, but there was no urgency to the attack. The bombs were spread out over the long hours so that just when he thought the raid was over, another blast sent shock waves through his guts. It felt more designed to keep them in lockdown than to decimate 13. Cripple the district, yes. Give the people plenty to do to get the place running again. But destroy it? No. Kaina was right on that point. You don't destroy what you want to acquire in the future. (M/N) assumed what they really wanted, in the short term, was to stop the Airtime Assaults and keep (M/N) off the televisions of Panem.

They received next to no information about what was happening. Their screens never came on, and they only got brief audio updates from Kaina about the nature of the bombs. Certainly, the war was still being waged, but as to its status, they were in the dark.

Inside the bunker, cooperation was the order of the day. They adhered to a strict schedule for meals and bathing, exercise and sleep. Small periods of socialisation were granted to alleviate the tedium. Their space became very popular because both children and adults had a fascination with Buttercup. He attained celebrity status with his evening game of Crazy Cat. (M/N) created this by accident a few years ago, during a winter blackout. He wiggled a torch beam around on the floor, and Buttercup tried to catch it.

It was on the third night, during their game, that (M/N) answered the question eating away at him. Crazy Cat had become a metaphor for his situation. He was Buttercup. Katsuki, the thing he wanted so badly to secure, was the light. As long as Buttercup felt he had the chance of catching the elusive light under his paws, he was bristling with aggression. When the light went out completely, Buttercup was temporarily distraught and confused, but he recovered and moved on to other things. That was what would happen if Katsuki died. But the one thing that sent Buttercup into a tailspin was when (M/N) left the light on but put it hopelessly out of his reach, high on the wall, beyond even his jumping skills. He paced below the wall, wailed, and couldn't be comforted or distracted. He was useless until (M/N) shut the light off. That was what Nezu was trying to do to (M/N) now.

Maybe this realisation on (M/N)'s part was all Nezu needed. Thinking that Katsuki was in his possession and being tortured for rebel information was bad. But thinking that he was being tortured specifically to incapacitate (M/N) was unendurable. And it was under the weight of that revelation that he truly began to break.

After everyone had gone to bed, (M/N) laid restless, unable to sleep. He carefully tiptoed through the cavern until he found Denki, feeling for some unspecified reason that he would understand. Denki sat under the safety light in his space, knotting his rope, not even pretending to rest. As (M/N) whispered his discovery of Nezu's plan to break him, it dawned on him. This strategy was very old news to Denki. It was what broke him.

"This is what they're doing to you with Kyoka, isn't it?" (M/N) asked.

"Well, they didn't arrest her because they thought she'd have rebel information," Denki said. "They know I'd never have risked telling her anything like that. For her own protection."

"I'm sorry," (M/N) said.

"No. I'm sorry. That I didn't warn you somehow," Denki told him.

"You did warn me, though. On the hovercraft. Only when you said they'd use Katsuki against me, I thought you meant like bait. To lure me into the Capitol somehow," (M/N) said.