The Emerald Prince

Chapter 31: Guilt

Todoroki, Shinsou and the rest of 1A found out soon enough why Izuku was terrified.

The fight was horrific.
Bakugou seemed almost feral, he had none of the control or calculative air of his previous matches. He shot off enormous explosions and every attack had unbridled bloodlust behind it.

(If Izuku copied Shinsou's quirk, they wouldn't be able to control each other... but it wouldn't work with mutant quirks and here it only means Izuku can't be burnt by the explosions - the air, dust and rocks displaced by the blast and the sound can still harm him...)

It was almost disturbing to watch, the crowd were very quiet.

Izuku  looked a little the worse for wear, but true to form, he hadn't used his own quirk (quirks) once. It was frankly unbelievable that he'd dodged all the explosions which seemed to mysteriously get stronger as the fight went on.

It was well past the ten move stage but Bakugou sent explosions in all directions making it nearly impossible for Izuku to get close.

Then it happened.

The pair were stood at opposite ends of the ring panting heavily when Bakugou raised both hands, his eyes almost crazed.

"NOW I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU ONCE AND FOR ALL IZUKU! YOU DESERVE  THIS FOR THINKING YOU CAN FACE ME QUIRKLESS YOU BASTARD!" He roared.

The blond raised his hands and Shinsou and Todoroki saw Izuku's eyes widen, though his expression was unreadable.
The explosion was incredibly powerful, the smoke billowing and obscuring the ring, the entire building shook to its foundations. The force actually cracked the walls of the stadium.

The arena was very quiet. Too quiet.
It had taken far less than that to drive his previous opponents to the walls of the stadium or unconsciousness.

The class yelled out inspite of themselves "IZUKU!"
Shinsou and Todoroki held onto each other... though they'd deny it later to all who mentioned it.
Aizawa gripped the desk, shoulders rigid. Even Yamada was silent as the smoke dispersed.
It revealed two figures, one standing, one crouched.
Shakily the crouched figure rose.

Izuku looked terrible. Blood trickled from his mouth and cuts littered his body, his gym uniform was in tatters. There were too many new injuries and too much blood for most to really see the litany of old scars beneath.
His emerald eyes slowly met red ones as Present Mic's voice came over the tannoy.

"AIZAWA IZUKU WINS!"

"WWWHHHHHAAAAAAATTTT!" The blond gave a gutteral roar, eyes wide and feral, as he looked down to see he stood out of bounds.
"G-gotcha Kaachan." Muttered Izuku weakly before collapsing.
"DEKU!!! D-Deku? Deku!"

Defeat forgotten, Bakugou raced forward and gently raised his fingers to Izuku's neck. His relief at the calm pulse was short lived as what he'd just done came back to him, in the cuts that crisscrossed Izuku's skin...
He hated how familiar it was. He felt disgusted with himself, and the silence of the audience reinforced that.

He gently lifted the greenette and carried him hurriedly to the exit where 1A, Aizawa and Recovery Girl rushed to meet him. He pushed straight past them all to Recovery Girl.
"Please..." his voice shook with regret, and he found himself crying. "I didn't-"
Recovery Girl only tutted as Aizawa gently took his son from the trembling blond and the pair left toward the infirmary.

The class formed an accusatory circle around Bakugou, but when Todoroki and Shinsou of all people moved to block them, shaking their heads, the group turned away reluctantly.