In the End

A BakuDeku Oneshot

One minute. That’s all it took for everything to go wrong.

There was lightning everywhere, and twice as much thunder. Let’s not even get started on the rain. Thankfully, we’d planned our team around exactly this type of situation. Rubber soles on everyone’s feet helped to minimize the damage. The torrential rain carried the currents through to everyone regardless, but it was still tolerable. I look back over my shoulder to the head of vivid blonde hair soaked from the rain and ask if he’s okay.

"Yeah. I’m fine, Midoriya. The lightning really isn’t helping with the fact that I’m about to short-circuit, though.” Kaminari was diverting the lightning strikes to his transmitter thanks to a new modification from the course. “I can probably take about ten more strikes before someone has to carry me. Thirty give or take before I’m completely done.”

Thinking fast, I look at the swaddled bundle I’ve got in my arms. It’s Eri, the whole reason we’re running for our lives in the first place. She’d fallen into the wrong hands again shortly after gaining some minor control of her quirk. She could activate it and turn it back off for no more than a few seconds before she would lose control. It wouldn’t seem like much to the eyes of an outsider, but to those who still held interest in using her quirk for their own selfish purposes, it was a god-sent.

Dropping back to Kaminari, I hand her off carefully and make sure she knows she’s still safe. “If he starts to slow down, Eri, you’ll need to use your quirk for a couple seconds, okay?” She gives a firm, frightened nod. I can sympathize with her fear. On that note, I think everyone can. Especially considering what we’re running from.

Nomu. Hoards of them. Grunts and ones of higher intelligence alike. There was absolutely no question that Overhaul was back, and banding with the League. Eri said it herself that she’d seen him and been forced to restore his arms. It had brought up a whole world of trauma that she had hoped would stay locked away. No, that they had all hoped would stay locked away.

Racing ahead again to catch up with Kacchan and Todoroki, their faces are also ridden with terror. There was no hiding the fact that if we slipped up once, this whole rescue would be a failure. The fact that we were still in high school certainly didn’t help, either. Sure, being senior students was great, but even though we’d matured -for the most part- and gotten a much better handle on our quirks, we were still kids in the eyes of society. We’d barely started the year and despite it feeling like we’d all come so far, we still had a long way to go before we could actually get our hands on our full hero licenses.

"Kacchan! How much further?” I ask, looking to my childhood friend and partner. No answer. “Katsuki!”

Instead of answering me, his crimson eyes turn directly to Kaminari. “Pikachu! We need backup. Bad. I can’t use my quirk in this rain. How much time do you need?”

He thought about it and glanced back at the hoard of Nomu. “A minute. I should be able to radio Kirishima, Sero, and the girls.”

My partner turned his eyes to me to share a look. I knew exactly what it meant. As soon as we had our window of opportunity, I would need to be Kacchan’s legs. He would be my arms. Like we planned. “Oi! Eri, do what you can to restore him. IcyHot, get as close as you can to them and do what you have to to keep them off. If you could do something about this rain, too, that’d be-”.

He didn’t finish before their surroundings were akin to a typical snowy day in December. The ground underneath us didn’t freeze, which was nice, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long. I’d have to be extra careful with my footing. Now it was time to act. Everyone got into their respective positions, Kacchan hopped up onto my shoulders, and the four of us stopped to face the wall of inhuman creatures. This would be a major test of everything we’d learned through the past two years at UA, plus our experiences in the field. A very real test where there was a possibility any of us could never make it back home.

One minute. That’s all we need.

Kicking off the ground hard, I charge in headfirst to the fray, making sure I have a secure hold on Kacchan’s legs. His first assault on the Nomu has them scattering around, and the tension in his body releases. I take that as my cue that he’ll be fine from here on out, and I let go, watching him for a moment to make sure he’ll be okay. Like it’s the last time I’ll be seeing that handsome face again.

The situation didn’t seem like it at first, but I quickly started to realize that one moment had cost me dearly. Had cost us dearly. One by one, the hits from each Nomu I faced started coming faster than the last, hitting harder than the last, and it would take me that much longer to get my bearings again.

"Kaminari! How much time is left?!” There was no answer. “Kaminari!”

Swinging around with the Nomu I currently have in my grasp, I notice a dome of ice completely encircling Todoroki and Kaminari, both of which are inside. There are a handful of higher power creatures trying to break through the ice, each impact causing the dome to shudder. “Get away from them!”

I'm standing between the ice and Nomu in a matter of seconds, only one thing on my mind. Protect at all costs.

One-For-All, full cowling, one-hundred percent!

My whole body hurts, and it feels like my body is about to fall apart with every kick. But my legs aren’t breaking, which is a huge victory for me. I can’t focus on that right now, though. I need to protect my friends.

At some point, Kacchan s me, and he’s shouting at me to stop, take a breather and fall back with the others. I look around to see that the rest of Class 3-A has arrived with Mr Aizawa and Mic. I’ve stopped seeing red at the corners of my vision now, and the pain is slowly kicking in. Things are definitely broken that really shouldn’t be, and everyone’s looking at me like I should be collapsing right now. Well, I guess I could do that. I do feel pretty tired. I can hear Kacchan clearly now.

“Hey, Deku. C’mon, snap out of it already. Don’t move, okay? You’re hurt really bad-”.

“I’ll be fine, Kacchan. I just need a nap, is all. I’ll just sit down right here and rest.” At least, that’s what I thought I could do. Instead, I flopped backwards, though my partner was quick enough to catch me before my head could hit the ground. I really couldn’t ask for a better partner in my life.

The pain is trickling away now, and I can move again. Kacchan is panicking, telling me to wake up, that I could still make it to the hospital in time. There’s sirens around us now, and I open my eyes to see that we’re inside an ambulance. The only thing that’s concerning is that I’m watching my partner crouch over me on the gurney, trying to wake me up, and shouting at the ambulance driver to step on it, that they were losing me.

My body is all beaten up, and I’m motionless aside from the occasional jostle from the ambulance hitting a pothole. Anytime that happens, my beloved cradles my head in his hands to hold it still. There’s a steady stream of tears rushing down his cheeks and dripping down onto my neck. I can’t feel it, though, as horrible as it sounds. I want to feel him cradling my head, trying to wake me up, to keep me conscious at least until we get there. His attempts are getting more pitiful by the second, and I have to do something. I can’t let him give up like this.

“Don’t you dare fucking give up on me, Katsuki Bakugo! If there’s one thing that looks worse on you than defeat, it’s the face of a man who’s failed his lover! This isn’t the end, dammit!”

I know he can’t hear me, and it’s futile for me to even try shouting at him. But I’d beat myself up even more if I didn’t at least voice it aloud. I’m thankful that the reality he could lose me forever sets into his face, and his efforts pick back up again, along with the addition of chest compressions. Closing my eyes, I can feel a slight tug back towards my body, and sigh in relief. There’s still a chance, and he’s going to fight whatever fate the gods have in store for me, even if it only grants him one more day.

The next thing I can , my body feels like lead, and I hear a familiar voice sobbing close to my ear. “Don’t you dare fucking do that again, stupid nerd… I’ll kill you myself before I let you die on me.”

I manage a very weak laugh, and my voice is dry, cracking when I try to speak. “I won’t go anywhere, Kacchan… Let’s protect each other better from now on, okay?”

He nodded and buried his nose into the crook of my neck, erupting into more audible chokes of noise. In the end, we’re still together. According to him, Eri and everyone else is safe because I put my life on the line, but Kacchan would be damned if I was going to pull that shit again without him. That’s fine by me. Any time I get to spend with my love saving lives is time that I’ll carry with me for life.

——— ~ Fin ~ ———

—————————————————————#writingmatters

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Cover art is a picture taken by me