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Izuku Midoriya felt him before he saw him.
He felt the way the air got denser, the way a fiery force filled the room, the way his own heart started to beat faster. He felt how his own spirit seemed to regain hope at the thought of what was about to happen.
He felt once more. After so much time fighting Shigaraki, gearshift after gearshift trying to maintain his distance his head went numb not knowing what to do next, not knowing how to move next, how to keep up but he had to even though he knew soon he would grow tired. It wasn't a matter of if he would have to take a punch but rather of when.
Then All migth came into the scene and Izuku felt like this was the end. All migth, the symbol of peace, his mentor, his idol was being held over All for one heads. He looked like a mere prey, just a piece of worthless meat about to be destroyed, eaten alive, his end was near and that meant that Izuku's end was too. That meant it was the end of it all, the end of an era that somehow meant the end of their fight.
Izuku's eyes filled with tears, he felt like a mockery to the title of “Hero” for he knew a hero no matter what would have a smile on his face, would find a way to bring comfort to the citizens watching him, watching the symbol of peace die, that so needed it but suddenly he felt like an innocent kid once more , he felt like the citizen in need of comfort but as he looked around he knew no one would come to save him, he was supposed to be the one saving them.
He couldn't brake gearshift, that would mean Shigaraki could escape and judging by the state in which he found himself, tired and weak, he would definitely get him before he could even get close to Allmigth, it would be useless he wasn't fast enough he knew that yet he couldn't just watch his mentor die in front of him.
He heard Shigaraki's mockery. It rang in his ears like a prayer, like something that you know by memory, a fact so obvious as the color of his own blood dripping down his face telling him it was time to go, time to give up. There was nothing he could do, no hero to ask help off, tears filled his eyes, salty and warm. The taste of them mixed with his own blood was horrid, something that no human should ever experiment, no kid should ever taste. His vision grew blurry and his eyes drowned in pain.
Suddenly, he found that he couldn't breathe. It was as if an invisible hand was choking him but there was no one around. He was too tired to fight back, too tired to get angry and rage out. He begged himself to think of something, anything that might help but he was so lost, so scared. How did he ever think he could become a hero and save the world if he couldn't even save himself in the first place?
Too cold, too painful, too unreachable.
He wasn't a hero, he never was. He had cheated his way onto the system, onto UA, and now that system was back to bite him and suck him dead. He was about to die in the hands of what he had dreamed of for so long, in the hands of his own useless quirk.
Too stupid, too childish, too insecure.
It didn't matter if he appeared to be strong if he couldn't think of a way to use that strength to succeed. He had thought that maybe just maybe he was all knowledgeable about his own quirk but maybe that was the problem, he had thought but he had never known, was never sure about it. Always doubting, always questioning.
It was all too much. Too much to take, to fight, to think of a way out so his mind was shutting down, his hands were going limb, his eyes were drying out. He selfishly thought of letting go of Shigaraki, deactivating his own quirk and letting himself plummet into his own death, surely he couldn't survive such a long fall.
He wasn't smart enough nor strong enough to get himself out of this mess. He wasn't a pro hero he was just a kid, a useless one none the less. He had tried for so long to pretend he knew everything about the world yet now the realization hit him that no matter how much he pretended to be grown up he was just a child that had been forced to fit in the shoes of an adult but wasn't big enough just yet. He had successfully walked in them for a while now but suddenly had tripped and to keep pretending that he could fill those shoes would be to keep being ignorant to the fact that he was just a lamb in the skin of a wolf.
He needed help. Somebody to save him, to save All Might. Why was it that when you most yearned for somebody the only body around to help you was your own.
Too cold, too painful, too unreachable.
Too stupid, too childish, too insecure.
It was all too much.
But then he saw him.
He saw how a slow explosion formed around a hill yards from where he was fighting for his life against Shigaraki. He saw him stand up and clumsy straighten up his back as best as he could. His eyes locked in him regardless of the distance, his senseless pride filling the room, his ashy blond hair moving with the wind like the voice of a singer moving alongside the melody, his winning mindset coming back to save them once more.
Bakugo Katsuki was alive. Not somewhere far away, not just a cold body that no longer bears a soul. Bakugo- no- Kacchan was alive and somehow standing on both of his feet, somehow having the strength to find Izuku through the mess and look at him as if nothing else mattered.
Kacchan was well when just not even hours ago Izuku had taken him for death. He had thought he would never hear the blond scream at him or analyze his moves on the battlefield. Shock overcame him, relief filled his body and thoughts overflowed his mind.
No time to think how, just time to act now.
But god, how could Izuku not take a moment, even if so small, to admire the blond.
His face withe as a porcelain doll painted red with his own blood that dripped down to decorate his face matching his red ruby eyes. Even as the world caved in, as it seemed to come to an end nothing could get them to not look at each other once more before returning to fight.
Their minds melting into each other, their feelings becoming one.
He thought back to when Bakugo got impaled in the stomach, how he had rushed over to save him, moving him out of the way in order to protect him. He thought about the countless times he was saved by the blond, how he was never late, not even for a second. Even in death Kacchan found a way back to life to help him, to win like a true hero. How could he have ever doubted he would be late now?
He was as certain as the sun rising and the moon shining that as long as Kacchan was alive he would have someone to come back and save him no matter what. It was a law, a tale told a thousand times that would only continue to repeat over and over again. There was no doubting that.
He thought about how lonely Kacchan must have felt in his final moments, no one reaching him in time, Izuku not reaching him in time like the blond had reached him before. How sad, for nothing is colder than a death one must bear alone, one that you must prepare yourself for yet can't do anything to stop.
How unreal his final breath must have felt, how comforting the thought of finally letting go after being in so much pain must have been, hugging him like a warm blanket when no one else would hold him.
Realife washed over the greenhaired and he felt as if now he could win any fight he encountered for now he had his own hero standing in front of him, so far away yet it made him feel safer than any other person that had tried helping him before.
He felt once again the love that he had for the blond resurface in his mind, the love that turned into rage when he saw his lifeless body in the ground, his eyes softened and the anger disappeared and instead a fiery hope, one that burned him from the inside out, was found forming inside of him, one that begged him to keep going.
It took no more than five seconds for each boy to understand the other and as soon as Bakugo came back they were fighting together once more, as it always has been, as it always was meant to be.
Bakugo launched himself towards Izuku and Izuku quickly positioned himself as best as he could to reach the blonde hand yet trying to not let go of Shigaraki. His arms felt like they were about to tear out of him and his head felt like it was about to explode in half yet he didn't care because no pain could make up for what he made Kacchan go through, dying all alone, he wasn't going to let that happen again.
Their hands interlink and Izuku uses all of his strength to push him towards All Might and All for One. Hands touching for merely seconds, merely milliseconds yet it was enough to confirm to Izuku that Kacchan is in fact alive, that he is in fact here and not a figment of his imagination created by his tiered brain. He felt the blonde warmth emitting from his quirk, he felt a burning sting from the explosions, he felt a living body ready to fight and that was enough for Izuku to regain the little strength he had left and launch Kacchan forwards.
It was only once he felt that warmth that he allowed himself to breathe once more, to dream of a future, to dream of an end to this war where they win this together because that was the only way in which Izuku wanted to win, with Katsuki by his side.
He almost didn't want to let go, he almost thought of embracing Kacchan right their and then, maybe dying with him this time, but there wasn't enough time to even fathom how to do that, there was one mission, to save All might, to save the world, to defeat Shigaraki and once they've done that then hugs would be exchanged.
Of course that was if they survived.
He still couldn't believe Kcchan was still going after all the pain he must be bearing, running on full adrenaline that would definitely cave out sooner or later. Would Katsuki's body break down then, would he die again? It made Izuku's body fill with rage once more knowing that them being just kids were forced to do all of these things that were torturing their bodies, torturing their minds, torturing them.
It wasn't fair, was it?
Bakugo got All Might, so fair didn't matter because justice would be served one way or another. He saw for a quick second how fast Kacchan had snatched his mentor out of All for ones hands like a shooting star burning through the sky, he let another breath out a deeper one knowing that at least for noe both of his heroes would be safe and he could return to focus on gearshift knowing he only had one more chance to use it wisely.
It was once again too much though. As he had launched Bakugo Izuku had heard OFAs second user, Kudo, warning him about how his body could only resist one more gearshift, one more chance to fight Shigaraki without having to get too close. Even though a problem had been solved a new one had quickly arisen.
He could think of something, he had to. His mind went through all of his years of note taking about others' quirks about his own trying to find a way out, but maybe there was no way out, maybe this was it.
He heard then in the distance a maniac laugh, one so deep so full of joy he knew exactly who it was coming from, Kacchan.
Agonizing, scaring his ears, scaring his heart.
It sounded through the air, the air of the city and people that had helped them get to where they were today, he heard it loud and clear. It was a laugh of victory, a laugh coming from the symbol of victory. So strong, so pure, so scary it gave the greenhair goosebumps but it also filled him with determination.
Kacchan despites everything was having fun. Whether he was delirious or at an all time high he was enjoying this, enjoying being the one to defeat All for One, he was quickly catching up to everything he had missed while dead.
More laughing, more shouting, more joy filled Izuku's ears and made him think about how he may just die now never to see the light of day again. Never hear that laugh again.
Maybe before that happened he could at least allow himself to have some fun, right Kacchan?