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With the unceremonious clank of heavy metal chains sliding off, cuffs and collars thudding onto the floor, it was finally free! All of its existence kept tightly bound as they did things to it, unspeakable things.
All of its existence was trying to break out and run and destroy every single thing that hurt it. Only to be kept drugged and too dumb to do more than drip acidic tasting bile from slack jaws.
But no more! It was finally free…
It should break out, fly as far as it could, and never look back. But it didn’t. It took in a slow, deep breath of the air, so different from the sharp, nose burning nothingness of the labs. It wasn’t a good smell. It smelled… wet… muddy? Like rain far outlasting its welcome.
It sneered at the odd sensation, the odd thought.
It didn’t like the rain.
It didn’t? Did it even know the rain? It felt almost like… like…
Unimportant.
For a second it kept still, relished the release of the extra weight on its form, always hunched to keep it bound, to keep it controlled. Keep it from destroying when it wasn't meant to. It enjoyed the simple pleasure of being able to roll back its shoulders. Arms heavy, always so heavy, but it was used to it.
It suddenly arched back sharply, the cracks and snaps of the joints on its spine beautiful music signifying the start of things. The game. It was set free to play a game.
And it would win. It always won. Behind the thick, black muzzle, it rumbled, lips pulling back in a long, slow exhale, the almost sweet scent of benzene within the gasoline intoxicating, revving it up for the only pleasure it could know anymore.
Glowing red eyes snapped open at last to survey its surroundings. Outside the captivity cube, it was gray. Everything was black, white, or gray, the edges blurred and unimportant. At a distance was the objective. The playing field. A large city with towering buildings reaching towards the sky. Its lips pulled back in a feral grin. It would be fun to bring it all down, wouldn’t it?
Wouldn’t it?
Sudden sharp pain in the back of its head had it screeching in rage, thrashing within the confines of its cage. It zapped at the tender meats at the top of its head, urging it on. ‘Get moving!’ it seemed to scream inside its head, making it roar back at nothing, tail lashing angrily at the reminder that it wasn’t truly free despite the lack of chains.
They always had to push, to ruin the anticipation. It hated them. Longed to taste the thick ichor of their blood as it sank in its fangs and ripped flesh from tender throat. But it wasn't allowed. It wasn't even allowed to blast the fuckers even a little. Too bad, it bet their charred flesh would smell so sweet.
Another sharp jolt to the back of its head and it was moving, screeching as it launched out of its containment cube. It snarled as the piping in its arms pumped them full of nitro, swelling to three times their original size. It never felt good, but it got it into the air quickly as released the gathered fuel to launch itself into the air and rush toward its target.
“DIE!” It crowed at the offending cage as it used the launching blast to simultaneously destroy its containment cube in its wake. Let those fuckers try to put it back in there now!
Smug at its accomplishment, it charged towards its target at full tilt.
Time to play.
The objective was simple. Destroy as much as it could, especially anyone that dared to oppose it. Oh, how it hoped they would! It could use something to blow some steam off.
But that was deemed a secondary objective. It was there to use its ability to destroy. To bring the world around it down to rubble, filling the world with smoke, ash, and the glorious scent of char.
It was too easy, mind-numbingly easy! Critical points and buildings lit up yellow in its otherwise grayed out world, highlighting his targets.
“Die!” Blasts spinning to critical velocity it launched itself like a missile through that skyscraper. “Die!” Then explode that particular structural supporting beam. “Die!” Then bring down that helicopter directly dead center into that building at full force. “Die! Diediediediediedie!” Yellow target after yellow target was brought down by its hands. Easy
Too easy!
Boring, boring, boring, boring, BORING!
Where was the fun?! The chaos?! Where were the challengers it had to beat?! What victory could it find in this?!
Where were the opponents to blast and kill and murder?!
Far below it, it could see the filth scurrying away, screaming in terror at the glory of its destruction. It was supposed to destroy them as well, turn them into black smudges on the floor.
Too boring.
Where was the challenge in that? They were unimportant. Simply extras not worthy of its attention. There for it to simply step on or ignore. And it was a god high above them. A chaos god of murder and explosions.
It liked the sound of that, actually. Maybe it should smudge a few of them into the ground. Really teach them who was better.
“DIE!” Growling out a gleeful sound, it launched itself down toward the fleeing extras like a shot, reaching forward with a hand that gathered its full power to turn the closest pebble into a smear on the pavement.
Only a blur of crackling energy slammed into it, knocking it off course and straight into another building, bringing it down into huge chunks of rubble all around them.
Fuck! That was lame! That was shitty! It was better than that!
But oh goody, the red ones had arrived. Finally! It could play.
Targets were yellow. Enemies were red.
There were five that it could immediately see. It hoped there were more.
It liked the red ones. The red ones were fun! Were supposed to be worthy of playing with. Of showing its full abilities against. Of defeating!
Winning!
Cackling excitedly, it launched itself free from the rubble, spiraling wildly to the closest one, gathering more and more power into its palms.
“DIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!”
“Ka- Kacchan?!” a crackling one called out, struck dumb before meeting its blast, only able to partially dodge because the weird word struck at its mind like a spike through its head, knocking it off kilter. Like the kind of shocks its keepers used to get it to obey them.
But different. More… more…?
“KACCHAN!!!” He screeched again, anguished despite the lack of debilitating damage and it had to get away, had to fight someone else first. That word… that word!
“Rrrrr…”
It was… more…? It reached something deeper inside it… somehow…?
It prickled over and over in its mind like it was trying to burrow its way in.
Kacchan…
Kacchan, Kacchan, kacchan, kacchanacchankacchankacchan-
It shook its head as if trying to knock something loose. The weird word. Or why it was prickling at it.
There was a flash of something different in its head. A… a thought… a blur of… green?
'You're amazing, Kacchan!'
What? What was- who was-?
Urgh! It already knew how amazing it was! He- it was the best! It didn't need odd voices telling it that!
'Kacchan, wait!'
No! Shut up! Useless prattle! Useless!
“De-”
Searing pain and fury lanced through its head and it roared loud enough to shake the walls around them, glass shattering. Gasoline spilled down the sides of its muzzle like miasmic bile and it panted harshly as it sparked inside its throat.
Focus! It had an objective to accomplish. Any and all opponents would be destroyed.
“Kacchan!” The crackling red called out again.
“Wait, Bakugo?!” Another joined in.
“No way!”
“It can’t be!”
Prickles. Annoying prickles in its head that it couldn’t shake free. Things that poked about things it should know, but didn’t. Should it know? No! Annoying nuisances that didn’t belong, buzzing, buzzing, buzzing away in its head digging in deep, wanting it to… to…?
It rumbled, breathing out more gasoline as if to try to soothe its own mind, shaking its head to rid itself of the prickles.
What was it?
What was it?!
“Uu…”
Dek-
More pain in its head, body jolting and convulsing from the shock, searing out all thoughts that were not directly implanted by its creator.
De… des…troy… destroy! DESTROY!
"DIE!"
Blinded with rage, it launched into a berserker attack, not caring what it attacked so long as it could smear them into the ground beneath its heavy palms. Painting them with red, red, red! Palms that seared with explosives that it shot out indiscriminately in every direction, needing it to hit someone! Anyone!
“BAKUGO!”
It ignored the prickles as it burst through a sudden wall of ice, using quick bursts to twist around a blur that tried to slam into it at a fantastic speed.
“Bakugo! Stand down! We’re your friends!”
Annoying. ANNOYING!
Enemies. Destroy the enemies!
“Bro! Don’t do this!” Barreling hardness slammed into its side as it once again dodged the speeding one, knocking it off its feet for a second, hard enough to force the air from its lungs. It recovered quickly despite how its insides throbbed, grabbing the hard one by the face and launching him away with a blast and a hard twist of its body.
He crashed through a building with a satisfying boom and it leered at the crater it had created.
But it couldn't let its guard down now. Shitty Hair would be fine, he'd taken worse knocks from him before.
Before… before what?
Fuck! It barely managed to dodge an electrical attack from an opponent with a stupid face pinched with worry. It roared as it lashed around and shot a blast at the Dunce from the tip of its tail, the idiot only spared by the quick work of the speedy fucker
AP Shot.
Huh, not a bad name.
“He has a tail?!”
“We can’t let our guards down, Kaminari! Even if he is our friend.”
“Is that thing even really him anymore?”
“Don’t say that!” The crackling one rebuked in a whining voice that grated its nerves. Grated at its mind. “That’s still Kacchan!”
‘You’re the best! That’s why I want to defeat you!’
Shut up! SHUT UP! It charged at the pest full tilt, both arms bulging with a powerful attack that would incinerate. That would stop the prickling in its mind!
“DIE!” It screeched, only to slam into a thick wall of ice that protected the bothersome pest that poked at its mind with useless details.
“Midoriya!”
Midoriya… Green valley.
Green…?
“I’m okay, Todoroki! Don’t hurt Kacchan!”
Fucking useless!
“Hey. Nomu,” its newest opponent called out to it, shaded in two different tones of red split down the middle. “I’ll be your opponent now, so face me.”
It leered a full grin hidden behind its muzzle, gas filling the air. It just needed the dense idiot to even just spark a flame and this entire site would-
But… the half-colored bastard had only been using ice to deter it so far. Why would it think he had… flames?
“I won’t delude myself into thinking that you’re Bakugo right now,” the bi-colored enemy went on. “I don’t even know if any part of Bakugo is left in you, but I know there’s a chance he could still be in there. So… if you hear me… Bakugo… We’ve been searching for you for so long. We… we gave up hope, we let you down. And for that I’m sorry. But… we’re your friends. And we still want to save you!”
‘We’re friends.’
No they fucking weren’t!
With a deafening roar, it charged, ready to set off a spark of its own to end all of this nonsense. He’d start with the Half n’ Half bastard’s face! Add to the scar until all of it was disfigured!
But that crackling nuisance appeared in a flash, stunning it for just a second
He’d gotten faster again.
A second was all it took. Deceptively powerful leg aimed high then brought back down full force on the back of its neck, sending it crashing down to the floor and rubble. Another second and he was before it again, charging it, pushing it down harder against rock and concrete until they hit something solid enough to pin it down to, head bouncing off something sharp enough that its vision went white then exploded into a million colors.
Or… did it?
When it could focus its eyes again the world was still gray. The buildings, the rubble, the sky above. But then brilliant green took up his line of sight.
“Kacchan! Kacchan, please say you can hear me in there! Kacchan it’s me! It’s Deku! I don’t want to hurt you!”
Green… Green valley… or the green of the trees in spring when he enjoys going hiking the most.
Green hair, green eyes shining with crackling green energy that kept it pinned down.
Green in his mind, large and bright, wet with tears, always in tears, clinging, calling out, trying to reach him. Kacchankacchankacchankacchankacchan!
Always just out of his reach…
It… infuriated him! With a snarl, he wrapped his tail around the green one’s throat, yanking him off with a quick jerk and jumping to be the one on top, pinning him down under his greater weight, arms pinned and useless in one hand. The other he aimed point blank at a freckled face smeared with soot and gray and blood and green.
Still too green!
“Izuku!” One of the other extras screamed in alarm and he couldn’t help but grin ferally.
One down.
One down…
One…
It- He… he couldn’t. Why couldn’t he?! It was so easy! He was right there! Under him and helpless! One hard blast was all he would need!
He snarled, arm shaking, bulging with the full extent of the power he could gather in it, but…
But he couldn’t…
Those eyes… so green. Those lips, wobbly with sobs, but still perfectly forming his name.
Always calling his name.
“K-kacchan…?”
He knew that name. That was… that was his name. His name that only one person was allowed to call him. One person. A vision of green, always ahead of him, always reaching to him, needing him, calling him, calling him, calling him!
“De-” He swallowed thickly, his voice hoarse, his throat tight. It hurt. Why did it hurt?!
He had to… he had to reach back, pain be damned, he had to reach back!
His shaking palm went lax, the gathered fuel dispensing slowly. Fingers trembling, he carefully, so very carefully traced the speckles on a rounded cheek with a tip of a clawed finger, a constellation he knew by heart even when he closed his eyes. He traced them back until his fingers were lost in soft green curls, dirty, clumped, damp, but still the best thing he had ever felt.
“Dekrrrrruuu…” The word is thick and warbled, and he has to swallow hard before he could attempt to say it again. He had to say it again. Again and again and again. Until the world made sense. “Dekuuuu…”
“Kacchan!” Wiry, muscled arms wrapped around him like a vice, and for a second he thought he was being attacked, but he was simply pulled down to his green valley. His untold story. His everything.
He collapsed on top of him, chirring soft sounds he hoped would soothe, getting a hiccuping little laugh of a sound in return, though the sound was congested behind a wave of tears.
“Dekuuu…”
“It… it’s really Kacchan!”
His green valley felt surprisingly cool against the furnace of his own body. It felt good when he carefully curled his own arms around him in return. Gentle. Mindful. He’d been too rough with him long enough.
It was right. To be close, to hold on, though he had to be careful of his black crown as he lowered his head to rest against a damp, salty freckled throat.
Breath… just breathe. He knew that scent. So much better than the wet, the rain, the burning char. It was calm. It was home.
Home.