Chapter Text
Any man or woman with even a drop of courage would dream of joining the UA Guild at least once in their life. But Bakugou didn’t have just a drop of courage. He had an ocean of it and the strength to back it up.
He was raised by a woman that was once the chief of the largest nomadic barbarian tribe the continent had ever seen. His mother taught him the ways of her people instead of the ways of his father and the people around them, and he was playing with arrows and daggers before he could talk. He was fearless and he was going to be better than anyone that had come before him, or anyone that would come after him, including All Might.
The plan was to come in, impress whoever was in charge of recruitment, get sent to the guild’s main branch in the capital, and start making his mark across the kingdom.
“You will be assigned to groups and given a mission. Only those that successfully complete their mission and return with all group members alive will be considered for entry into the guild.”
Being grouped with a bunch of piss ants wasn’t part of the plan. Bakugou knew he would be the greatest hero the UA Guild had ever seen, but he couldn’t say the same for any others he was forced to group with.
“No way,” Bakugou said.
The man in front of them didn’t even look at Bakugou, staring down at the piece of parchment in his hand. Aizawa was a name Bakugou had never heard in association with the Postwick branch of the UA Guild, let alone as a man that was the veteran leader of the branch.
Aizawa appeared to be human, at least from what Bakugou could see of him. If he had the ears of an elf, they were hidden by his hair. Most of Aizawa’s body was hidden, covered by a thick black cloak that had been muddied at the edges, but he didn’t look too strong. Bakugou was sure he could take him. Maybe he could skip the group audition if he beat the shit out of one of the branch leaders.
Aizawa said, “Tokoyami, Bakugou, Jirou, and Kaminari are to investigate a village to the north where men are disappearing.”
“No way,” Bakugou said again, louder this time. “I’m not working with anyone else here. I’m not letting myself get dragged down by people that can’t keep up.”
Aizawa looked up from his piece of parchment, his expression unimpressed and wrongly free of any sort of intimidation. Aizawa just didn’t know who he was dealing with. If he had, he would be shaking his dirty ass boots.
“Katsuki, don’t,” Midoriya whispered quietly. Midoriya had it right. He was afraid of Bakugou like he should be.
Looking straight at Bakugou, Aizawa said, “If you wish to rescind your application, you may.”
“Excuse me?” Bakugou snapped.
“The only way to join the Postwick branch is to complete a group mission,” Aizawa said. “If you wish to travel to Wyndon or Ballonlea to join their branches, where they do not require a group mission for acceptance, you may do that as well.”
Everyone was looking at him now. He hadn’t given the rest of them any mind when they were all gathered together and now he couldn’t avoid them.
“Of course,” Aizawa said, “if you have a letter of recommendation from a veteran member of the guild, that bypasses the need for a test altogether.”
Bakugou ground his teeth together, balled his fists, and felt his fury flair.
He said nothing. If he had no choice but to be in a group, then he would carry their asses to and from their mission if it meant joining the UA Guild. He was going to be the greatest hero. He didn’t deserve the title if he couldn’t manage that much.
Aizawa looked at him for a moment longer before looking back down at his list and continuing on as if nothing had happened. “Next, we have Midoriya, Uraraka, Iida, and Asui, who are being tasked with investigating a village to the west where people are falling asleep and not waking up. After that, there’s…”
“Hey there!”
The blond guy had spoken two words and Bakugou already wanted to bury his axe into his skull. He was clearly human with light leather armor and muddy boots. Underneath the light armor he wore a shirt with a high collar that came up almost to his chin. On his back was a bag he wore over one shoulder and a longbow.
He blabbered on, “I’m Kaminari Denki. I’m a ranger. I bet we’re gonna kick some ass and get back before any of the other teams!”
He held out his hand, which had a leather glove over it, but Bakugou kept his arms crossed. Kaminari nodded stiffly then swirled to the side, his gloved hand now extended towards the only woman in their group.
“Jirou Kyouka,” she said, her voice neither firm nor weak. Bakugou hated indecisiveness. “I’m a bard. And, um, a half-elf.”
She hesitantly reached up and flicked one of her long, pointed ears. Elves were rare in the Galar Kingdom, especially this far north. In fact, she was the first person with a single drop of elven blood that he had never seen in his entire life. Her ears looked strange and foreign to him, but he didn’t give a damn if she was an elf or a human or a dragonborn—as long as she stayed out of his way, he didn’t care.
Bakugou watched as Kaminari shook her hand a little too long and her ears shifted back just slightly. Kaminari noticed and quickly released her hand.
“You must be Tokoyami,” Kaminari said as he swirled once more to face the last person in their group.
Tokoyami slowly nodded his head once and said, “It appears our paths will converge for the time being,” but did not reach out to shake his hand.
When Bakugou looked directly at Tokoyami, there was something strange about his face. Bakugou scanned his head from top to bottom, searching for what it was that made it feel like something was off.
At first glance, Tokoyami’s eyes seemed like nothing special, a dark brown with a darker pupil, but then Bakugou realized that his eyes did not reflect the light of the torches and lanterns spread throughout the room. They showed no light at all and there was something about that lack of reflection that led Bakugou to believe Tokoyami was not entirely human despite looking like one.
Kaminari asked, “What do you do?”
Tokoyami said, “Whatever it is I must in order to survive this cruel existence we call life.”
“I totally understand what that meant,” Kaminari said, clearly not understanding. “But, uh, what can you do in a fight?”
Tokoyami reached down to his waist and pulled up a metal sickle. Kaminari swallowed and nodded. Tokoyami silently returned the sickle to his waist.
“I’m guessing you use an axe,” Jirou said as she pointed to the large battle axe strapped to Bakugou’s back.
Bakugou huffed. This whole thing was absurd. “This axe is all I’ll need. The rest of you can stand back and watch.”
“Success is such a precarious thing, so easily stolen despite being rightfully earned,” Tokoyami said. They all turned to watch him as he began to leave the room. Without looking at them, he said, “Shall we proceed to the stockroom? Aizawa spoke of free supplies. I am curious what wares they are willing to give to those unaffiliated with the guild.”
“Yes, let’s go shopping!” Kaminari said, hurrying after Tokoyami.
“I don’t think it’s shopping if it’s free,” Jirou said. Kaminari didn’t seem to care, his excitement undaunted.
When she and Bakugou did not follow, Kaminari stopped and looked back at them. Jirou said, “I already have everything I need.”
Bakugou jerked his thumb to her. “What she said.”
“We’ll go to the stables and get the cart ready. Just meet us there.”
Kaminari nodded and jogged off to join Tokoyami. Bakugou shook his head as he watched Kaminari run off. How could you come to the UA Guild, intending to join, and not be prepared?
“So,” Jirou said with a pregnant pause. “To the stables?”
“Where else would we go?”
“You don’t have to be so rude,” she said quietly, but loud enough for him to hear.
Bakugou began walking and Jirou followed. He didn’t care if she liked him. He didn’t care what anyone thought of him. His skills would speak for themselves. He didn’t need friends to be a hero. He just needed strength and power.
The Postwick branch of the UA Guild was a massive gray-stoned building with a red-tiled roof. It looked almost modular from the outside, as if large rooms and tall towers were added at different points in time as the number of members increased and there was need for more space. There were barracks for men and women, and private rooms for veterans that were permanently stationed at the branch, as well as a stock room, a mess hall, a blacksmith, a tailor, and anything else an adventurer could dream of.
Joining the UA Guild didn’t just bring respect because of its name—it brought resources to survive in a turbulent world that still struggled to recover from a war.
The stables were not attached to the main building, located past a dirt courtyard with straw-men, racks of common iron weapons, and wooden targets. There seemed to be two buildings—one for horses owned by the guild, and another smaller stable for horses owned by veteran members.
There, they saw two carts already prepared, each attached to two brown horses. One was empty and the other was being loaded by Midoriya and the three people unfortunate enough to be put on his team—a guy standing like he had a pole up his ass, a short girl with too-big eyes, and another girl with round pink cheeks and a mace.
Pole-up-his-ass spotted Bakugou and Jirou. He came over, his hand extended. “A pleasure to meet you,” he said. “My name is Iida Tenya.”
“Jirou.” She shook his hand.
Iida took one look at Bakugou and pulled his hand back to his side.
Iida asked, “Does your team have all sufficient supplies? I am happy to share our checklist.”
Bakugou huffed and jerked his chin towards Midoriya, who was standing in the cart holding a bundle of firewood. “I’d be more worried about you since you have that idiot to look after.”
“My teammates abilities are none of your concern,” Iida said coolly.
“Then stop worrying about our team, you damn hypocrite.”
Iida and Bakugou locked eyes. Then, from behind, Bakugou heard Kaminari shout, “We got healing potions!” breaking whatever tension grew between Iida and Bakugou.
Iida bowed his head to Jirou. “It was nice to meet you. May the Change Bringer watch over you.”
“Um, yeah, you too,” Jirou said with a stiff wave.
Bakugou knew religion was a touchy subject depending on where you lived. People in the tiny village he grew up in were religious, but it was more passive belief than practiced faith. The Change Bringer was not common where he was from since not many people in the village had use for the goddess of travel, merchants, adventure, and luck. Bakugou had seen more symbols of the Change Bringer on guild members and their equipment or clothing since arriving than he had his whole life in the village. Mercenaries had more use for adventure and luck than a farmer ever could.
“Wonder if he’s a paladin, or if he just worships her,” Jirou said.
“Does it matter?” Bakugou asked.
Jirou shrugged. “If everything goes well, we might be put on more group missions in the future. I think it’s good to know who we might be working with.”
Bakugou growled at the mere thought of having to do this again, especially as Kaminari ran like a dog wagging its tails towards Jirou to offer her a health potion.
“I already have one,” Jirou said. “I meant it when I said I have everything I need.”
Kaminari looked at Bakugou, who said, “Don’t even bother.”
His mother gave him her axe, and his father made him an entire batch of healing supplies before he set off. Bakugou was only going to need the axe, but he took the healing items from his father anyway.
From the corner of his eye, Bakugou saw Midoriya climb into the back of the cart. The short girl with too-large eyes and a long, mangled wooden staff was sitting at the front with the horses’ reins. Midoriya caught his eye and waved nervously, and Bakugou watched him go with a sour expression.
“Do you two know each other?” Jirou asked.
“He’s nobody,” Bakugou said dismissively as the other group left the guild, disappearing down the street.
He wasn’t going to lose to anyone, but especially not to Midoriya.
With food, water, and the rest of their supplies packed onto their cart, they set off with Kaminari behind the reins while Jirou navigated. There were a few awkward attempts at conversation spearheaded by Kaminari, but Bakugou didn’t want to talk, and Tokoyami wouldn’t answer unless he was asked a direct question, and Jirou quickly became tired of being the only one answering. So, they moved in silence until the sun began to set.
They moved the horses and their carts away from the road into the grass near a cluster of trees. Bakugou set up the fire after watching Jirou do it wrong, while Kaminari fed and watered the horses, and Tokoyami set about making dinner.
Just as they rode in silence, they ate in silence until the sun had set completely and the only light left was the fire in front of them and the moon and stars above.
“I’ll take first watch,” Jirou said.
“I’ll take whatever’s last,” Kaminari said. “I’m used to waking up early.”
“Then I shall claim the time between your steadfast watches,” Tokoyami said. “To those on watch, please ensure the fire burns brightly throughout this dark night.”
Kaminari grinned. “I didn’t think you’d be the type to be afraid of the dark. Should we tell spooky stories?” He lifted his arms, curled his gloved fingers, and hunched his shoulders to imitate some sort of creature.
“I only ask as it is best for all of us to keep the flames burning bright,” Tokoyami said ominously before lying down on his bedroll, placed within the orange light of the fire.
Before Tokoyami closed his eyes completely, Jirou lifted a hand and gently moved her fingers into the air like she was counting something. Four small globules of faint yellow light rose above them, spreading out overhead. Tokoyami looked towards Jirou, then closed his eyes.
Bakugou didn’t trust these people to protect him. When he lied down for the night, he kept his axe nearby, ready for whatever came next.