𝐃𝐄𝐈𝐓𝐘 || ᵇ.ᵏᵃᵗˢᵘᵏⁱ

I

dropping the first chapter randomly bc i can.

GET READY FOR ROUND 2 GUYS!! SOOO EXCITED TO WRITE THIS, I MISSED YOU AND THIS STORYLINE SO MUCH <3

It is recommended that you read 'Wraith' before this book.

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"You don't have to hover, babe, I'm fine," Bakugou grunted as he dropped his last box into his dorm room.

The second year of their hero training began tomorrow and after a spring break filled with night terrors and therapy sessions, the students were eager to get back into a normal, villain-free routine. Aeri held a lot of resentment towards both the League of Villains and the Heroes, both of whom were guilty of extorting and killing children. Bakugou nearly died, as did Jungwon and many other of her friends, and the only thing the school did about it was provide shitty therapy sessions twice a week which half the students couldn't attend because they were too busy rotting in their hospital beds in comas.

Aeri now understood why Bakugou was so shaken up when she was comatose, not knowing when or if she would wake up. She spent every day she could by his bed, watching over him, shaving him whenever she noticed his stubble was coming in, working his joints and massaging his limbs so he wouldn't be in so much pain when he woke up, all without knowing if he really would.

He was dead for a least a minute before Best Jeanist, Edgeshot and Dalnim teamed up to fix his heart and save his life. Aeri's biggest regret was being so torn up that she couldn't move, Dalnim had to eject herself from Aeri's body and intervene.

"Should you really be lifting that? What if—"

Bakugou cut her off with a brief kiss on her lips. "The doctor cleared me for physical activity, you know this. I'm allowed to start trainin' again so a few boxes ain't gonna hurt me."

"You're sure? You're not in pain or uncomfortable or anything?" Aeri fussed, cupping his cheeks with her hands.

"No pain." Bakugou grabbed her hand and placed it over his heart, letting her feel the light thrum of his pulse through his shirt. "Stop worryin' and let's unpack this shit so we can go to your room and nap."

"Okay," Aeri whispered, leaning up to press a kiss to his lips.

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Aeri couldn't sleep. She wouldn't. She knew the villains were gone, she was there, and she saw it with her own eyes, but in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but be terrified.

She hadn't told anyone about her predicament, not even the shitty UA therapist. Everyone had bigger things to worry about. Uraraka still hadn't woken up, Bakugou died and the only reason he was alive was because of a miracle, Jungwon was so traumatised that Aizawa had to send him to an institution because he couldn't look in the mirror at the scar running down his cheek and neck without having a panic attack, and UA was barely standing after Aoyama's infiltration. Her not being able to sleep was no one else's issue but hers.

She'd deal with it herself.

She waited until Bakugou fell asleep that night and then crept out of his arms, grabbed her dagger belt and sat on the end of the bed, the weight of the weapon feeling comforting in her hand.

The light from the moon illuminated the room and Aeri stared up at it, knowing Dalnim was watching her too. She felt safer knowing her deity was always there, but not safe enough that she could relax.

She wouldn't let anyone hurt him again. Bakugou's heart was the one that was physically broken, but the debilitating pain Aeri felt when she saw him lying there dead was something she never wanted to feel again. So she watched over him until the sun began to rise and then crawled back into his arms to wait out the half an hour before their alarm went off, starting off the day as she had been for the last couple of weeks, by pretending she was unaffected and well rested.

"How's Jungwon?" Bakugou asked as they changed into their school uniforms for the first day of school.

Aeri sighed, her heart dropping to her stomach as she thought about the twin brother she missed so dearly. He was diagnosed with PTSD and Paranoia faster than anyone else in the class and he was the only one not showing signs of recovering.

The nurses at the asylum said that Aeri and Hyunjin were not allowed to visit anymore because their presence got him too worked up, and Jinyoung refused to talk to their dad because he was angry that Aizawa was tarnishing the family name by admitting Jungwon. The family was crumbling and there was nothing Aeri couldn't do about it. No one listened to her when she voiced her concerns about the situation and they brushed her off as if stability wasn't the one thing she, Jungwon and Hyunjin needed right now.

"He's eating again, I'm still not allowed to see him." Aeri lethargically shoved her arms through the sleeves of her shirt.

"We'll that's somethin' if he's eatin' now, he'll start talkin' soon." Bakugou cleared his throat, trying his best to be supportive. He and Jungwon weren't the closest but Bakugou still cared for him even if he was reluctant to admit it.

He watched with a frown as Aeri silently dropped down at her desk, pulling out her makeup bag to cover the growing dark circles under her eyes. He couldn't help but notice that her eyes were dim, he hadn't seen the golden sparkle in her eye since he'd woken up.

"Have you been sleeping?" He questioned with a frown.

"Of course, I've been sleeping babe, I would've gone crazy already if I hadn't."

She was going crazy if the giant spiders she was hallucinating running across her walls each night were anything to go by.

She caked more concealer under her eyes than she normally did in an attempt to hide what looked like two black eyes before moving on with her normal makeup routine.

"Don't lie to me, Aeri." Bakugou shoved on his blazer, staring at his girlfriend through the mirror.

"Okay fine, I couldn't sleep last night but I have slept." Aeri made eye contact with him in the mirror, focusing on those gorgeous carnelian eyes. She felt awful for lying, but he wasn't doing too well either. She could see the nightmares that plagued him every night, the way he writhed under the duvet, whispering 'no' repeatedly as sweat rolled down his forehead, he didn't need the burden of her trauma on top of his own.

So she kept it a secret.

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Y'all thought the second book was gonna be cute huh? I just had to be realistic, ain't no way these kids weren't traumatised.

ALSO THANK YOU FOR 300K READS ON WRAITH!!!!

pls don't kill me if I don't update as regularly as i used to, I didn't have a life when I wrote wraith but I do now 😭