Chapter Text
"(Y/n)! You don't have to do this!" he begged on the verge of tears. It broke your heart to see him cry but it was either him or you. In the future, you knew he'd understand why you did what you did.
"I love you Katsuki," you kissed his forehead before using your quirk to make him lose consciousness.
You stood and faced the villain in front of you. You were scared. So scared. But you had to do it for him. Unlike you, he had a future, he had people who cared about him. Unlike you. You had no one, except him. You hated yourself for what you had to do.
"Well (y/n)," the villain smirked, outstretching his hand to you. You felt a tear roll down your cheek as you placed your hand in the villains.
10 Years Later
You fixed your sunglasses one last time before getting off the train. It had been ten years since you'd last stepped foot in Musutafu. You were no longer (y/n) though. You used an alias now. Your (h/c) was dyed and you wore eye color changing contacts. It would be impossible for any of your old classmates to recognize you. You wondered how they were. Your thoughts drifted to your first love, Katsuki Bakugou. Despite moving to America, you still kept up with the Japanese news. He had become an excellent hero, Ground Zero was his name. You were happy that he had finally gotten his dream. You were sure you made the right decision. You continued your walk down the street looking at how much your old home had changed. No, it was (y/n)(l/n)'s old home. You were no longer her. You were Anias Fletcher, American-Japanese. The employee of a small cafe in the busy city of Boston, MA. (y/n)(l/n) was dead. She died the moment you'd sacrificed everything for the boy you loved. Sometimes you thought back on your actions and wondered if you truly did the right thing. It was difficult to start over completely in America. Every now and then you imaged yourself standing on the graduation stage with your fellow 1-A classmates. You remembered watching their graduation on TV. It broke your heart. You yearned to be with them. But alas, over the years you gave up on your dream to go back home. America was your home now. It wasn't too bad. You did feel safer in America than you did in Japan. Owning your own car made it easier to get to college and work without worrying about any perverts trying to grab at you.
When you saw the familiar Japanese boba shop you wanted to cry. You could remember being in your first year and going there with your old best friend Eijirou Kirishima. He was the reason why you and Katsuki had started dating in the first place. You had actually planned to go get boba there with Kirishima, Katsuki, Kaminari, Ashido, and the rest of the class after the final exams of your second year. Unfortunately, you didn't get to fulfill that wish.
You ordered your old usual and sat down at a table. You saw no familiar faces. When you finished your drink you left the shop, walking back to the hotel you were staying at. You kept a steady walking pace. You had to remember to make sure your face was covered and that you didn't come into contact with anyone. If you did the power of your quirk would slowly unravel.
Your quirk was a memory loss quirk. You could erase yourself from anyone's memory for a period of time. But it could be undone if you came into contact with anyone who made physical contact with you. That's why you were being so careful.
"Alright rookie let's see what you got!" you heard a familiar voice. Disobeying your common sense you turned around. Your heart immediately started to ache when you saw him. Ground Zero stood there beside a rookie. He was even more attractive than he was back in high school. He was... 26 now? Maybe 27? Time sure does fly, you thought. You smiled and then turned around and continued your walk.
You heard footsteps close behind you and then someone snatched your purse right out of your hands.
"Shit!" you hissed and ran after the thief, it was difficult in heels and you were starting to feel hopeless. Your passport was in that bag and without a passport there was no getting back into America. You were about to scream when your ankle gave way and you fell to the ground.
Amidst the chaos someone reached their hand out to you, unwisely of you, you grabbed it and they helped you off the ground. A boy beside the person handed you your purse. You looked up to see who had helped you and your blood froze.
"Ka-katsuki," you let out a tiny whimper. You started to freak out. You bowed and then quickly rushed away. It was fine right? You had the glasses on, and you were wearing gloves. There was no way the quirk's effects would reverse now. You turned down an alleyway and took your heels off. It would be more beneficial to you to get a piece of glass in your foot while running back to the hotel than having to deal with twenty-one people suddenly remembering you. It would cause chaos. You broke into a jog. In college, for eight years you had been on the track and field team. It was turning out to be quite beneficial.
Hours later, you leaned on the balcony of your hotel room smoking. It was a bad habit you'd picked up in your first year in America. It was difficult to fit into the system. After ten and a half years in the Japanese school system, it was quite the wake-up call when you were suddenly dropped into a high school as a sophomore. For the first year, you struggled to get a grip of things, but with the help of a kind girl named Marley you somehow made it through high school, and now you were fresh out of law school. When you return back to America you were planning on handing in your two-week notice to the cafe owner.
"Ten years really does something to you," you sighed.
You put the cigarette butt into the ashtray and changed into your night clothes before crawling into the soft bed and putting ice on your ankle. You couldn't remember falling asleep, but eventually, your eyes grew heavy and you were lulled into that black calm void.
You dreamt of your time at U.A. It was a frequent dream of yours. You dreamt about your first day, ground beta, the U.S.J., the sports festival, the day Katsuki was kidnapped, the day you confessed, the first date. But the one dream that haunted you the most was the dream where you chose to not save Katsuki. You hated that dream the most.
Ground Zero stared down at his hand as the woman left quickly. There was something off about her. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but she had somehow felt familiar. He stared back at his sidekick and gave him a pat on his head. He decided to shrug the feeling off and continue on with his patrol. He did have a job to keep the people safe after all.
"Sir! It's time to head back to lunch," his sidekick told him.
Katsuki nodded and the two of them headed back to his hero agency.
"Hey Bakugou, how was patrolling?" his secretary asked him.
"Good," he responded before stepping into the elevator with his sidekick. His secretary was a decent woman. She had confessed to him a while ago but he turned her down. He wasn't interested in dating. He didn't exactly know why. There was just something deep down inside him that kept him from accepting the many confessions he had gotten over the years. It was like his heart already belonged to someone else but at the same time, not. He sat down behind his desk and opened his phone. His wallpaper was a picture of himself, Kirishima, and Ashido at the amusement park from when they went together back in their days at U.A. There however was something off about the photo. The space between him and Kirishima was oddly wide. It didn't make sense to him.
A sharp pain sliced through his head.
A girl was sitting beside him. They were, in his room?
"I like you," he told the girl. He hugged the girl and kissed her on the forehead.
Katsuki grunted and held his head. Who was the girl? He tried to remember but the face was too blurry.
He couldn’t quite figure out what triggered that moment to flash before his eyes. He knew he must’ve experienced it, but he didn’t remember it happening. Or did he?
“(y/n)-,” the name left his mouth.
When the name was spoken out loud Katsuki heard someone drop a glass. He looked up from his desk to see his friend Kirishima wide eyed and shaking.
“What did you just say Bakugou?” Kirishima asked.
“I don’t know. It’s- it’s just a name. I don’t know whose name it is and I don’t know how I know it, but… Nevermind. It’s confusing me. Hand me the documents I needed to sign,” Katsuki stared at Kirishima.
He’s acting weird. Katsuki thought. He wondered if Kiri had something to do with that weird memory.
Kirishima stood as still as a statue when he heard her name leave Bakugou’s lips. She had told him those many years ago that he was the only one who she left unaffected. That is, before she gave him a hug goodbye and vanished from the world completely. His old childhood friend. He missed her, and it pained him that he was the only one who remembered her. But now all the sudden Bakugou remembered her? Kirishima didn’t like the grim feeling it gave him.
Day after day passed by, and with every day came a new flashback or memory. It was always of the same girl too. Katsuki suspected the blurred face belonged to the one named (y/n). In his dreams that’s what he called the person. He called her that name so dearly too. Katsuki laid awake trying to figure out just who that person was to him.
It was their second year, Katsuki had just finished training and was headed back to the dorms to take a shower when he came up behind him and hugged his waist. It irked him that you were so clingy but at the same time he loved it. He loved everything about you. From your hair to your bright eyes that looked at him like he was the most important person in the world. Your soft lips, your beautiful smile, to be more precise Katsuki loved everything about you.
“Why are you being so damn clingy today?” he asked, gently removing your arms from around him.
“I’m not feeling happy. Those girls from the other classes were watching you train again,” you pouted.
Katsuki laughed, turning around to face you and ruffled your hair. “Are you jealous?”
“I mean any girl would be jealous if a bunch of nobodies were eying up their boyfriend like a piece of candy,” you mumbled. Your face planted into his chest.
“Dumbass. Like you said their nobodies, insignificant extras and if any of them think they can take me away from you they’re wrong!” he said.
“Promise?” you looked up at him with those eyes he adored.
“I promise. I won’t ever leave you. Not in this life and not even in the next. I’ll always find you no matter what. Now let go of me so I can take a shower,” he smiled.
“That was cheesy,” you let him go.
He took his hand and placed it on your face and pushed you back gently while laughing.
Some promises don’t last forever.
Katsuki woke up drenched in sweat. All of the memories flooding back into his mind. The first time you met, how he saved you at the U.S.J. When you two had fought in your first year at the sports festival, interning for Best Jeanist together. When he asked you out. The first date. The last date.
The day you disappeared.
All of those memories came back to him in an instant.
“(y/n). I need to find (y/n)...” he stumbled out of bed and immediately called Kirishima.
“ Hey Bakugou you know I wasn’t joking when I said you could call me anytime but it’s one a.m. what do you need? Is everything alright?”
“Kiri was there a girl named (y/n)(l/n) in our class?”
Silence on the other end of the phone.
“ You remembered ,” Kirishima muttered.
“Damn it Kiri I need to find her!”
“ What do you want me to do? I don’t know where she is! She might not even go by (y/n) anymore! ”
“Forget it, I’ll find her myself.”
You stood in the hotel room double checking all your suitcases. This would most definitely be the last time you would be in Japan so you couldn’t risk leaving anything important. Your head felt groggy since it was three in the morning but you had a flight to catch in Tokyo at six so you could be back in the U.S. by six in the evening. You’d land in L.A., spend the night with a friend then board another plane to take you back ‘home’ to Boston.
“Goodbye Japan,” you sighed and put your coat on
Katsuki swung the door to the hotel room open. After reviewing security footage outside his agency and seeing the face of the girl he’d bumped into he was able to confirm it was (y/n). Except you went by Anias instead.
His heart dropped when he found the room empty. No one was there. The only proof you even stayed in the room was a few wrinkles in the bed sheets and an ashtray with cigarette buds. Other than that it was like you never stayed there.
He felt his knees go weak.
“Damn it!” he yelled.
He had promised you ten years ago that he would never leave you. He had promised that no matter what he’d find you. But he forgot you for ten years. Everything made sense now, the weird feelings in his gut, the sense of missing something that was never there. The odd empty spaces in photos. All the puzzle pieces were fitting together again.
But it didn’t matter. Because even in the end, he still couldn’t find you in time.