Born For War

Duty Over Love

Deku was quiet as he slipped into bed next to his wife, slipping his arms around her and holding her. He always got a little nervous, sharing a bed with her, scared he would have a nightmare and break her skull, but he also had never hurt her because of a nightmare before, so he figured it was fine. It was far from the time to start being less affectionate with his wife. He looked into her eyes as he fell asleep. He told himself that everyone else was right, that this was just another mission, that his dangersense was worthless and he was being paranoid. He really should have listened to his gut.

                                                                                         ******

Deku stared blankly at Kacchan as he debriefed him on what he had seen.

"A necromancing cat girl?"

"That's what I saw." Deku groaned "She was creating them from nothing too, I-I have no idea what is going on or how she's doing it."

"So you have no ideas for how to do counter attacks."

"No I-"

Bakugo cursed, punching the table beneath himself. Two months. They had been stuck in this town for over two months, fighting dead loved ones, and watching the city burn around them. Mass hysteria had struck less than a week after the heroes came to their town. People had bought into Deku's story about IVF for a while, but once the heroes were in town,whatever force was at the center of the hoards kicked into full gear. Waves of ghosts walking the streets, orphaned children following their parents to their own demise, civilians forced to disarm their loved ones until heroes could get to their side. Bakugo was terrified that if things didn't turn around soon, they may need to begin asking for help in less than ideal places. He pushed the thought away from his head, no. No more child soldiers. Not while he was standing.

Deku looked at him sadly "I'm sorry! I want this shit to be over just as much as you do! I-I'm terrified! I just-I couldn't get a close enough look." Deku had wanted to get closer, to try harder, but he hadn't been able to get his body to move. He felt like an imposter, the number one hero, incapable of making the sacrifice play. He just, he tried to go forward, and he thought about Ochaco, the promises he had made to her. Was it okay for him to prioritize getting home to Ochaco over the wellbeing of Japan? The whole reason he had gotten One For All was because he was willing to sacrifice himself, and now here he was, refusing to risk getting hurt because he wanted to go home and play house with his wife who had seemingly fallen out of love with him.

Bakugo sighed "I know. I know. I'm glad to see you in one piece." He nodded his head, "You were gone for so long, we were beginning to worry."

"It took a couple of weeks to follow one of them back to her." he sighed, "I was being cautious."

"I understand." Bakugo sighed, "I assume that's all you have."

Deku nodded once, "H-how is Kiri?"

"He's fine. Worried about cheeks."

Deku's heart sank "W-why?"

Bakugo sighed "I don't know. Guess she's been sick or something. Probably nothing, he gets his information from Ashido, and you know how she gets when she's bored." Bakugo rolled his eyes

Deku nodded once, but that didn't aid his concern. "I-I should probably go to check on her."

"Yeah. I think we're done here." Bakugo sighed

Deku stood up and sighed "thank you Kacchan."

Bakugo sighed, nodding his head once, "Thank you, Izuku."