A Tarnished Hero

Chapter 11: Cessation

Katsuki's heart thumped within his chest, the sight before him dredging up memories that haunted his past. Each step he took towards the figure waiting ahead of him made his knees buckle, his breathing haggard.

A children's playground surrounded the two, a reminder of what he had lost. It faded into the entrance to the USJ, the surrounding students looking at them in clear confusion. A reminder of what he had let go and trampled upon. The scrawny kid that refused to fade was now replaced by a towering behemoth... And that grin... That damned grin...!

Why didn't he hate him? No matter how hard he stared into those piercing green orbs, he couldn't find the deep loathing he should've had. There was a smidge of hate there, but that was drowned out by the pure apathy that swirled within his core.

Where was the hate he deserved? Where were the insults? The fucking punches!? Kicks!? Why didn't he do to him what he did all those years ago!? It was his fucking right!

He deserved it all! His hate! His grief! All the things he had ever done to him should've been rendered to him twice, no, tenfold! So where was it!?

"What? Cat got your tongue, Kacchan?" There it was. That impish grin. Like what he did to him didn't matter. Like all the torment he went through didn't matter.

He stopped right in front of Izuku, the teen... No, the man grinning at him while he stewed in his darkest thoughts. His mouth opened but refused to let out a sound. Clamping it shut, he swallowed a thick muck of saliva as he tried to get his thoughts in order.

As if sensing his thoughts, Izuku was content to remain silent, all the while that damned grin of his never left his face. A pat on the shoulder caused him to shudder, his senses going on overdrive as his spine tingled.

"Bakubro, you good man?" Shitty hair just had to look concerned for him. Fuck! He didn't need his concern!

Growling, Katsuki gazed back at the man who had haunted him for over the past year. Steeling his nerves, Katsuki glared into Izuku's green orbs, the mirth hidden underneath all too obvious to the ash blond.

"How are you here?" Izuku raised an eyebrow at his question. Seeing the greenette not answering his question, Katsuki let out a low growl and took another step forward. "I saw your fucking corpse at your funeral. I was there when they cremated your ass. I was there when they buried your ashes in your family cemetery. So how the fuck are you here!?"

He heard gasps coming from behind him and the peanut gallery, but he didn't care. His attention was solely focused on the teen before him, the teasing grin still present on his freckled face.

"I don't know." Izuku shrugged, the pieces of metal he wore grinding against each other producing a cacophony of chinks and clanks. "One moment I was somewhere else, then another, I was here inside that dome over there."

He pointed towards the dome where Katsuki and shitty hair came from. A pit formed in his stomach. Looking at the weapon that half and half bastard was toting along, struggling a bit by the looks if things, he put two and two together before he looked at the teen before him with fear and a bit of disgust.

"Was it you who killed those villains?" Shitty hair behind him made another gasp. He could imagine what his face was making. Who could blame the fucker? The villains were literally cut in fucking half, their guts spilling all over the floor.

If he hadn't seen, nor smelled the odor the first time it happened months ago, he would be retching just like shitty hair on the floor when they found the corpses. He knew he would. He did the same as well.

"So, what if I did?" The tone was strong, confident, and even a touch apathetic. It sent ice crawling down his spine. Shitty hair and the others were no different.