DISCLAIMER: I don't own HeroAca, and if I get a CTRL+ALT+DEL reference in my reviews, I will YEET myself out of existence.
ISSA JOKE!
Since Katsuki Bakugo had graduated U.A. High School, life had been pretty good to him. He had become one of the Top 10 heroes in the entire world, alongside Todoroki and Izuku, and the fact that he had majorly mellowed out since his days as a teenager, cutting his once wild hair short, getting along with Izuku, and he had even met someone.
Her name was Kayaku Shimiroki. She had a quirk that let her create gunpowder from discarded locks of her hair, and with Bakugo, she assisted him with his hero missions, and became known as 'Black Powder'.
Even later, they had a little girl named Hanabi, who was only a month and a half older than Izuku's child.
(A/N: Odayaka, not Sameha. Just clearing that up, people.)
We now look into the Bakugo family, where Katsuki is playing with his 4-and-a-half-month old daughter, passing a ball to her.
"Come on, Hanabi, pass the ball to daddy!" Bakugo sweetly said, which Hanabi chewed on the ball. "It's okay, you'll get it eventually."
"Good morning." Kayaku called from around the corner, dressed in a robe, and coughing lightly.
Bakugo, turning towards his wife, got up and kissed her on the cheek. "How are you feeling?"
"Not that much better, to be perfectly honest." Kayaku responded, "My head feels like it's about to burst at any moment…"
"Well, in that case, we're going to the hospital." Bakugo told her. "Kaya, you've been sick for six days now. You've taken a bunch of medication to treat your affliction, and none of them have worked."
"But I-"
"No objections. We've got to quash this thing right now. Put your clothes on, we're going right now." Bakugo said, picking up Hanabi in the process of saying so.
Hanabi, the young girl, tilted her head at her mother, who simply said, "Don't worry, Hana-chan. Mommy's all right, she's just feeling a bit under the weather."
"Kaya?" Bakugo called out, not getting an answer. Bakugo placed Hanabi, who was dressed in a one-piece Tazmanian Devil romper, in her baby seat, before going upstairs to his and his wife's room. "C'mon, Kaya, I know you're not big on hospitals, but we gotta go now!"
Bakugo went upstairs, slowly opening the door, He saw no one. "Kaya?" He called out again, before going into the bathroom, which the door was wide open. "Ka-" What the Pro Hero saw completely made him lost for words. His wife, the woman he loved, the mother of his child, was passed out on the floor. She was bleeding from her eyes and nose, and her saliva was also pooled with blood.
"Kaya? KAYA?! Wake up! Please, wake up!" Bakugo pleaded, attempting to shake Kayaku awake, to no avail. "Dammit!" Bakugo whipped out his phone, frantically dialing numbers. "Come on, you son of a fat bitch! Pick up the damned phone!"
"Hello?"
"Thank God! Midoriya, I need you to watch Hanabi while me and Kaya are at the hospital!"
"Wait, Kacchan? What's going-"
"Dammit!" the blond man cursed. "Just do this for me, Deku! Please!"
"Okay, sure! But what's-"
Bakugo hung up the phone, carrying his wife to the car, and they sped off.
Later…
Bakugo was in the waiting room with Denki, Kirishima, and Todoroki, who was there with Momo, whom was 5 months along in pregnancy.
"So, she just fell? That's it?" Denki asked.
"Look, Kaminari, what do you want him say? He found the love of his life passed out in the bathroom of his house?" Kirishima snarked.
"Both of you, stop." Momo interjected. "The two of you don't even know what's going through his mind right now." Momo looked at Bakugo, who was pacing back and forth. "He's feeling all sorts of emotion that he's never felt before. Worry, helplessness, despair, nothing can compare to the feeling of having your partner-"
"Momo. Stop, please." Todoroki interrupted. But then Bakugo got up, and got in Momo's face, with his familiar scowl and angry glare.
"Having your partner what?" Bakugo breathed. "Die?"
"Listen, Katsuki," Shoto began, getting up from his seat. "I get that you're worried about you and yours, but don't even attempt to try to threaten my wife. Because if you do, the only person dying here… will be you. Got it?" Shoto narrowed his eyes at the last two words of his statement, leading to his right side becoming sub-arctic, making the explosion-user back off.
"Katsuki Bakugo?" a doctor called out, getting his attention.
"How's my wife? What's going on with her?"
"Well, a blood vessel burst in her brain, and it was caused by a clot, most likely caused by her quirk." The doctor explained, wiping the sweat off his glasses. "It was touch-and-go for a moment, but we were able to stop the bleeding."
Bakugo's face lit up with joy. "Great! So, when can I take her home?"
The doctor, his face drooping, calmly told the man, "You can't."
"Excuse me?"
"Sir… does your wife have some sort of eating disorder?"
"Not that I know of, why?"
"Because of the nature of her Quirk, it seems that her blood has become corroded with years of overuse. By somehow ingesting small amounts of her hair, the hair that she swallowed, turned into gunpowder, and ended up breaking down and getting into bloodstream."
"W-What? No, this has to be some sort of mistake! We tell each other everything! I would have knew if she was doing something like that!" Bakugo said, his eyes wide in utter disbelief.
"Listen to me. At the rate that her blood has corroded, we can only do so much. Which is why this is the hardest thing you have to do now. We need your permission to end your wife's life."
Bakugo's eyes widened, his pupils shrinking in shock.
"If you refuse to, we can keep her alive to the best of our abilities, but she'd need round-the-clock care, and we could hook her up to life support, but there's little chance that she would recover, long term or otherwise. Her organs would fail, slowly, and her brain activity would cease. Eventually, she would just become an empty husk. Its better we cut the life support now so that she doesn't suffer." The doctor explained.
"N-No." Bakugo let out after a minute of contemplation.
"Katsuki, did you not hear what he said?!" Momo chastised.
"Momo's right, Katsuki." Shoto interjected. "Would you rather Kaya suffer the rest of her life if it meant keeping her alive? Or would you let her end her life right now, peacefully?"
"Bakugo…" Kirishima muttered.
Bakugo looked to his wife, who began to stir a bit. "Let me see her. I-I just need to see my wife, please.
Bakugo sat by Kaya, who's head had been shaven, but it was covered up by gauze and bandages, in order to stop the bleeding. The explosion-based hero held his wife's hand tight, and gave her a reassuring smile.
"Honey, how do you feel?" Bakugo asked.
"Tired…" Kayaku responded. "I'm very tired…"
"Listen, the doctors don't think that you're going to make it." Bakugo choked out. "B-But Todoroki is in the waiting room right now, and I heard from Deku that he knows some REALLY great doctors! S-So, if we go and get you transferred to another hospital, then we can probably get you fixed up, and we can be a family again! Doesn't that sound great?"
Silence. With the sound of the monitor being the only sound that was being made. It was about multiple minutes until one of them said something else.
"Hey, Kayaku… don't you want to see Hanabi grow up and become a wonderful young woman, and become a pro hero that we can be proud of?"
More silence.
"C-Come on, Kaya!" Bakugo pleaded, tears streaming down his face. "Tell me that you want to live! Tell me you want to see our daughter grow up! Tell me you want to stay with me forever!" Bakugo laid his head on Kaya's thigh. "Please… Please… Tell me…"
"Kat… suki…" Kayaku breathed, getting her husband's attention. "I want… Hanabi to grow up… without seeing her mother hooked up to machines…"
"What…?" Bakugo breathed. "N-No! This, this is just the medicine talking! You don't mean this! You don't mean-"
"I do, Katsuki."
Bakugo's eyes widened, his red irises shrinking, along with his pupils.
"We both know… that the only way that I'm leaving here… is in a body bag." Kayaku strained out. "This condition… is because of my own doing. And when I leave this world… I want our daughter… to be taken care of. To be loved. I know… that you can love and care for Hanabi… Just as you did for me."
"Stop. Stop talking like you're already dead! Stop! I'm going to make sure that you live, okay?! So please, don't lose hope! Don't you dare!"
"Katsuki… If you're ever going to listen… if you truly love me… let me go. Let me be free." Kayaku breathed.
Bakugo kissed his wife's hand tenderly, his tears flowing freely now. He then kissed her forehead, and her lips, one final time, a sorrowful look on his face.
After stepping out of his wife's room, he ended up facing the doctor, saying the words,
"Give me the papers."
Bakugo signed the consent form, and the doctors turned off all the equipment, took out her IV, and left her with Bakugo, for their final moments together.
"Hey," Bakugo spoke up, taking out his phone. "Let's take one last photo together, okay, honey? Just the two of us. Being as happy as we can be." As he said those words, more tears slid down his cheeks.
"I'd… like that…" Kayaku weakly breathed.
The explosion quirk user knelt down, so he was level with her gurney, and smiled at his wife. "Big smiles, okay, honey? Big smiles." Kayaku complied, giving a smile that out light up even the darkest room. "Okay, on 3, say All Might, okay, honey?"
"Mmm…"
"1… 2… 3…"
"ALL MIGHT!"
Bakugo took the picture, and it turned out to be one of the best ones he had taken at that point, as both heroes were shining brighter than the sun in that single solitary moment. Bakugo kissed his wife on the forehead again, saying, "I love you", before sending the picture to all his closest friends. Todoroki, Kirishima, Kaminari, Momo, and…
Izuku, who was playing with Hanabi, looked to his phone to see a notification from Bakugo. Unlocking his phone, he saw a picture of the husband-and-wife duo smiling brighter than ever. It was certainly the biggest smile that Bakugo had, which had put a smile on his own face. But it was followed the upsetting message:
Kaya's dying. Her quirk corroded her blood.
Bakugo ended up with Kayaku for over 2 more hours, holding her hand, and the couple ended up staring at each other lovingly. Over time, Kaya's grip slowly loosened, and her vision blurred. But when the time finally came, Kayaku finally said, "K-Katsuki…" her breathing was labored, and body trembling.
"I-I… Love… Y-You…"
Bakugo's eyes widened, realizing what was happening. "No! Please! Not yet! I love you too much for you to leave now! Don't leave me!" Kayaku's eyes slowly lost the light in them. "NO! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME! KAYA!" He fully broke down on her corpse, and his friends entered to calm him down. "No… Dammit…"
4 Months Later…
Bakugo woke up in the middle of the day, in his empty bed, to the sound of his alarm clock. He went downstairs, where his mother was taking care of Hanabi. "Good morning…"
"Good afternoon, Katsuki," Mitsuki greeted, slightly irritated. "Did you go on another drinking binge last night? Because you reek of booze."
"I spend my nights how I want to, old lady. What I do in my spare time, and what I put into my own damn body is none of your business." Bakugo snapped back.
"Don't you get the fact that you have a little girl here that needs you? And what about when she starts walking and going to school? Who's gonna go and encourage her to have a great day and do her best? Who'll comfort her when she has a bad day, or gets hurt? Will you do that, or will you just be out getting sauced at the local bar?" Mitsuki lectured her son.
"Look, I'll spend the day with her, if it'll get you off my back." Bakugo sighed, rubbing his left temple. "I just need to shave, shower, and then, we'll be on our way. Okay?"
Mitsuki sighed. "Alright, then. Until you get ready, I'll stay here with my adorable granddaughter! Aren't you the cutest baby in the world! Oh, yes you are! Yes you are, you cute little…" Bakugo groaned as his mother went into full 'doting grandmother' mode.
As Bakugo went into the bathroom, he locked the door behind him, and sat on the floor, his back against the door. He dialed a number on his phone, and it went straight to voicemail. The voice message said,
"Hey, Kaya here, and I can't answer the phone because I'm with the man of my dreams! So leave a message, and I'll get back to you! Kay?"
Bakugo hung up the phone, with a smile on his face. He then began to strip, entering the shower.
The explosion quirk hero sat on the park bench, his daughter in her stroller. He rubbed her feet, which made the small child laugh. Bakugo let out a small smile, seeing his daughter happy.
"Hey, Bakugo!" the blond turned to the source of the voice, seeing Ochaco running towards her, with Baby Odayaka being held in a baby carrier.
"Oh. Hey Uraraka." Bakugo plainly said, returning to staring at his daughter.
"Kaa!" Odayaka spoke, greeting Bakugo.
"Hey there, Oda-chan." Bakugo replied to the child, pulling up his hood. "So what's new with Deku?"
"Well, he's been usually out taking care of the latest villain, mainly by himself, and while he looks damn good while doing it, it's nice to have him come home every day, with a smile on his face, and ready to take care of our daughter." Ochaco explained.
"Papa!" Odayaka chirped.
"Oh, don't worry! We'll see him soon enough!" Ochaco rubbed Odayaka's head.
"Y'know, it's weird how your kid's speaking words already at 5 ½ months, but Hanabi hasn't said a single word." Bakugo said, looking at Hanabi, rubbing her head, which made her smile again.
"Some babies are different. Oda's been saying words per minute since she was 3 months old." Ochaco explained.
"3 months?" Bakugo asked, surprised. "Wow, Deku, didn't realize that you had it in you. Making a kid like this…"
"Oh, you have no idea." Ochaco replied, her kind expression turning into an angry, dark, vengeful one. "No… Earthly… Feasible… Idea."
"Uh, Ochaco?" Bakugo spoke.
"W-Well, I'll let you get back to it!" Ochaco spoke, returning to her bubbly disposition. "Oh, and Bakugo…" Ochaco put her hand on her husband's friend's shoulder. "I really hope you're doing well. I'm sorry about Kaya, but just remember, your daughter needs a father." Ochaco walked off, waving to Bakugo.
Bakugo, looking at Hanabi, smiled at his daughter, before he took out his phone once more, dialing a familiar number, and it went to voicemail again.
"Hey, Kaya here, and I can't answer the phone because I'm with the man of my dreams! So leave a message, and I'll get back to you! Kay?"
Bakugo hung up again, before calling another number.
"Hello?"
"Kirishima? It's me. I need you to watch my daughter again."
Ever since he retired from both Hero Work and Teaching, Shota Aizawa opened his own bar, known as "Aizawa's". As you can see, he was clearly inspired while naming the place. This was mainly a pub for Pro Heroes, and, on the rare occasion, normal people with Quirks. One frequent patron of the place was…
"Hey, Katsuki," Aizawa called out to the explosion user, who was fallen-down drunk. "You wanna pay for all that? Because if you don't, I'll have to kick you out."
Bakugo reached in his pocket, pulling out 50,000 yen. "Keep 'em coming, Goggle-daddy."
Aizawa sighed, pouring Bakugo one more drink. "Here."
"No. I want the entire bottle. Give it to me." Bakugo requested, the familiar smug smile on his face.
"Wha? Do you WANT to die?" Aizawa asked, concern in his voice.
"Do you?" Bakugo menacingly asked, setting off a small explosion with his fingertips. Taken aback, he hesitantly handed him the bottle, which Bakugo drank from without hesitation. And he handed Aizawa 30,000 yen.
Sitting down at a table, Bakugo slid through his pictures. One was with him, Kaya, and Hanabi posing for a family picture, and the other was during his Highschool years, with him, Kayaku, Ochaco, Izuku, and Todoroki at the beach, where he was scowling, but inside, he was smiling.
And the final picture… was the last one the couple took together, the one at the hospital. Bakugo sighed, opening his phone app, and dialing that familiar number.
"The number you have called has been disconnected. Goodbye."
At that moment, Bakugo's heart sunk into his stomach. The last he had of his wife's voice, and it was all gone, everything he loved, he cherished, gone. Bakugo took a giant swig of his liquor, putting his head on the table.
"Kacchan?" a familiar voice called to him. It was faint, but he could hear it. "Hey, Kacchan! Wake up!"
Bakugo woke up, to see his friend, Izuku Midoriya, sitting next to him, a concerned look on his face.
"Oh. Hey, Deku." Bakugo plainly said, taking another drink. "What? Came to try to be the fun police?"
"I'm here to take you home. Hanabi needs you." Izuku told him.
"Oh, don't worry! Kirishima's there, so there's no need to worry. Now go home to your wife!" Bakugo waved off Izuku.
"Kacchan, you're not hearing me! You've been getting drunk every single night since-" Izuku stopped himself, seeing Bakugo glare at him, with that all-too-familiar murderous glare.
"Since what? Since Kaya died?" Bakugo hissed out.
"Look, I get we grieve in different ways, but you have to help yourself, and your family! What are you gonna do when she grows up and gets seriously hurt, and you're still here, drinking your problems away?!" Izuku grabbed Bakugo's hand. "Now drop the bottle, and let's-"
"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF OF ME!" Bakugo snapped, taking his arm away from One for All's inheritor. "All I want is to have a drink, and you want to take this from me, like the world takes everything from me?! Fuck you!"
"Kacchan, I-" Bakugo smashed the bottle in Izuku's face, setting off an explosion as it did.
"Don't you dare tell me how to be a parent!" Bakugo got on top of Izuku punched his friend in the face. Hard. "DON'T! YOU! DARE! ACT! LIKE! YOU KNOW! WHAT! I'M GOING! THROUGH!" With each word, he punched him over and over. Izuku pushed him off, putting up a fighting stance, albeit a weak one.
"Kacchan, this isn't you. This is just you dealing with your grief." Izuku told him, trying to get through to his friend. "Listen, how about you calm down, we get you home, and-" He was cut off with another punch to the face by Bakugo.
"Just LEAVE ME! The FUCK! ALONE!"
More punches struck down the greenette, backing him against a wall.
"I don't NEED you! Hana doesn't NEED you!"
More punches ended up flooring Izuku.
"Don't you act like you know what I'm going through, you son of a fat bitch!" Bakugo yelled, his voice breaking in anger. "Your wife is still alive, you asswipe! You don't GET to feel sorry for me! You don't GET to tell me how to raise my kid! So don't you dare tell me what to do, or how to feel!" Bakugo kicked Izuku in the face and torso, breaking his nose and three of his ribs.
"Ka- Kaccha…" Izuku muttered.
"I fucking hate you, Deku!" Bakugo snarled, standing over his friend. "Do you hear me, you motherfucker?!" Bakugo's breaths were heavy, and his expression was a mix of rage and regret. "Do you hear me?! I FUCKING HATE- I- I hate... I hate that she was taken from me! Why?! WHY?!" Katsuki's tears flowed down his cheeks, kneeling to the floor.
Izuku slowly got up to his feet, Bakugo lifted him up, and got him outside, where it was raining. After they were outside, Bakugo stopped, kneeling on the sidewalk, clutching to Izuku.
"Kacchan?" Izuku asked, before Katsuki broke down once more, leading to Izuku comforting him. Katsuki bawled loudly into Izuku's jacket, and the greenette rubbed his back.
"I couldn't save her…" Bakugo muttered. "How can I call myself a hero when I couldn't even save one person?!"
"Kacchan, there's nothing you, or anyone could have done. We may be heroes, but heroes will eventually need saving, and just like civilians, there are some that can't be saved." Izuku comforted Bakugo, who was still crying.
"I loved her more than anything…" Bakugo blubbered.
The two shared a comforting hug, in the confines of the rain.
"We're back!" Izuku called out, and Ochaco immediately ran over to Izuku, examining his broken nose.
"What happened, Izuku?!" Ochaco asked, turning to Bakugo, "What did you do?!"
"Bite me." Bakugo simply replied. "Where's Hana?"
"Right here!" Kirishima called out, Baby Odayaka playing on his hair. "She was crying all night, and I didn't know what to do! Changed her diaper, burped her, fed her, everything!"
"Give her here." Bakugo told his friend, taking his baby from him. Bakugo smiled, rubbing her back, and kissing her cheek. In response, Hanabi smiled, falling asleep in her father's arms. As he felt his daughter go to sleep, he heard a single word go past his ear:
"Daddy."
Katsuki opened his eyes, and looked at his daughter, seeing her fast asleep. His lip quivered, and a single tear streamed down his cheek. A smile crept across his face, as he thought to himself, "I can't give up, not just yet. Because I've got someone depending on me. And they need me at my best."
15 Years Later…
Hanabi Bakugo placed a bouquet of flowers on her mother's grave, her blond-black locks flowing in the wind. Uncharacteristic of her, she wore a modest white dress, which went down to her knees, and had blue accents on the top.
"Hey, Mom. I know it's probably been a while since I've been here, but every year, I've come to this place with dad, and we've never said anything, just paid our respects, and left, but I wanted to say some things before we left." Hanabi took out a piece of paper. "I've manifested my own quirk, which is like Dad's but I cause bigger, more destructive explosions. Because of that, I've also gotten into UA, the place you met dad, isn't it? Except it was Class 1-B you were in, and not 1-A? Nevertheless, I like a lot of my classmates. But, with growing up, I tended to attract a lot of attention. From boys. Because I've… developed in lots of ways." Hanabi began to blush. "But to tell you the truth, and I've never even told Dad this, there's kind of this girl I've liked since Junior High. She's got Scarlet-and-Green hair, is super strong, and amazingly passionate. If I told her how I felt, she'd never really understand, I don't think. But most importantly, Dad told me everything about how you were. How I remind him of you, minus the liking girls thing, and how he tried to pick you up at first. I know he wasn't the best at it, but it's the thought that counts, isn't it?" Hanabi giggled. "Mom, I know you can't hear me, but… I love you. Even though I don't really remember you. And I want you to help me get the courage to push through life." Hanabi smiled, folding up her paper. "Thank you, Mom."
Katsuki was waiting at the car for his daughter, checking his phone, the date being the anniversary of his wife's death, staring at the final photo the two took together, which always brought a smile to his face.
"Daddy!" Hanabi called out, Katsuki looking up from his phone.
"Ready to go, Hana?" Katsuki asked, to which she nodded. "What did you say to her?"
"Oh you know…" Hanabi replied, looking to the side, blushing. "…girl things."
"Oh. Okay, not my problem. So, where do you wanna go? A Dennis restaurant?" Katsuki asked, starting the car.
"Hell yeah, I wanna go to a Dennis!" Hanabi chirped, returning to her brash, loud nature.
"I love you too, Hana-chan."
Hanabi paused for a minute, and smiled to herself, before she got into the car. "Dad, thanks for not giving up."
Bakugo smiled to his daughter, saying, "You're welcome, Hana." As they drove off.