Cut:End
BNHA fanfic by demuname
Disclaimer: I do not own BNHA.
Have you ever believed in fate and soulmates?
Midoriya Izuku believed, even though he didn't want to. He didn't have much choice, considering he himself could see the red string that binds to his pinky, which connects him with his soulmate.
Almost everyone had it. The red string of fate – it connects people to their soulmates. It could be tangled, knotted, but could never be broken. Or so what he had believed.
Midoriya had always looked up to Bakugo Katsuki. He idolized him. He had been his hero. Oh, how he wished things could go back to the times when they haven't manifested their quirks. When he hadn't found himself to be a quirkless loser. His childhood idol and best friend – turned into bully.
It hurt. It hurt when he threw him away like a piece of trash – as if their friendship meant nothing. It hurt when he left him with pain and scars because of him beating him up. It hurt so damn much when he crushed his dreams – by hitting, mockery; over and over again. It hurt to know that he would never want him to be equal, because he only wanted him to be always below him. He had become an object of his superiority complex, not that Bakugo himself would admit in a million years.
He never really regretted it though. If it weren't for Kacchan, maybe he would never meet his long-time idol, All Might, and took this path. The bullying had tone out drastically since high school – Midoriya had even gained Bakugo's acknowledgement, resulting in residual malice towards Midoriya that he couldn't seem to eliminate yet after years of strained, broken friendship. Through hard work, stress in physique and mentally, he did it. He was one step closer to his dream and even in building back their forgotten friendship.
Of course, he could forgive. Midoriya Izuku was a person with lots of forgiveness.
But then again, he could never forget. Even if he was a person with big heart, scars of the past that Kacchan imprinted into his soul for years of enduring torment could never be fully healed and covered. It had become part of him, whether he wanted it or not. It had created the person he had become.
That's why, Midoriya had long wished that, he could break the red string between him and Kacchan. It's for the best, after all. How could he become soulmates with someone who had made him gone through hell in the past? Midoriya himself also knew that a person like Kacchan wouldn't want to be soulmates with a person much like 'Deku' – a timid, (originally) quirkless nerd and fanboy. He, who stuttered when talking, who muttered while thinking. Kacchan hated his guts. He could even get mad just by watching Midoriya laugh with his friends.
Even in doing so, would hurt his feelings more.
He only wanted one thing or another. To never had the sight to see this cursed string, or to cut this string off. Without the sight, he would never know who his soulmate was, thus sparing him from his toxic thoughts and anxiety from the goddamn string of fate. He was glad that Kacchan couldn't see it. Who knows what he would do if the blonde knew about it.
One night when Midoriya was sleeping, he dreamt. A cupid had led him into a forest up above a mountain, to find an ancient temple deep inside it. Only few knew about the temple, which explains why it looked abandoned. It was a small and humble. He walked inside, to find a big, stone-made cauldron just beside the altar. It was filled with opaque, turquoise-coloured water, thus making sight blinded to what laid at the bottom. The cupid instructed him to reach to base of the cauldron. With his small body, he wetted his whole arm just to reach it. He could feel something inside it, waiting to be saved from the depths of water.
Midoriya took it out, to see a red, glowing scissors on his hand. He knew it wasn't just a scissors. There was something eerie about it, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Legend had said, the red string of fate could never be broken," the cupid said in her distorted voice, "and this, would put the story into the wrong."
Midoriya had his eyes widen in realization. "Do you mean-"
"Yes, it is a scissors that can cut red strings between two souls." The cupid replied, as if she could read his thoughts.
He touched the scissors conscientiously in his grasp. "How could this thing exist…?"
"The legend that people know is told within Fate's point of view, with Recusant's story left to be forgotten," she explained, introducing the tale she was about to tell. "Fate connects people together. Recusant couldn't accept the idea that people should be fated to others from they were born. Recusant had believed that people should be able to choose, regardless fated or not. Recusant's ideals had failed, resulting in Fate's ideals fulfilled in this world. However, before Recusant could disappear for good, Recusant had left Recusant's greatest masterpiece – which is the scissors you're holding – hidden inside here. That's why no souls know about this tool of opposing fate, because no one had lived to witness it."
His eyes travelled back to the red scissors. It was still glowing, with the same shade of red as his red string that bonded his and Kacchan's fate.
"Why me? Why… are you telling me this?"
The cupid smiled knowingly. "No mortal lived to tell the tale. But I am not a mortal," she hinted, moving closer to Midoriya. "Let's just say, I represent what's left of Recusant, and as a messenger, I come when I am called. That means you have been unconsciously calling for me, Izuku."
Right after she said it, her figure began to vanish, leaving Midoriya alone in the temple.
Midoriya woke up from his slumber the morning after. The dream that he had had felt so real. He still could see the red thread on his little finger. If dreams symbolized spiritual communication – just like what Ancient Egypt and Greece believed – the dream must be something that the gods or goddess up there entrusted to him for him to choose his own path.
Today was Saturday, and he wouldn't be attending school. He and the others would usually train together or return to their homes to spend time with their family on weekends, but Midoriya decided that this weekend would be different from his usual schedule.
He had been to the mountain once when he was just a kid with his mother. It was quite a popular place for people to have a picnic, even though it was a sacral place. If he did remember correctly – the mountain where the temple stood was reachable by two-hours train ride from his city, continued by half a hour of bus ride, and ten minutes on foot. Didn't know how long it would take to find the temple, though.
Midoriya filled his backpack with necessities he needed, such as compass, maps, bottle of water, some food, and several other things for mountain exploration. He used his usual 'shirt' T-shirt with a jacket outside, cargo pants, a hat, and his trademark red boots. Without informing his other friends and without waiting any longer, he began his journey.
'If a red string between two souls is disconnected,
They stopped being a complementary puzzle piece,
Just strangers that used to be fated to complete each other,
Soulmates no more.'
Bakugo Katsuki never believed something chummy like fate. Ridiculous. Such things did not exist. It was a mere fairytale that people use to explain stupid, illogical things. Maybe someone like, Deku.
Yet, the truth had slapped his face when he started to see red thread bounded to his pinky.
Oh, he had heard about it once. It was one of the storybooks that his mother (re: old hag) used to tell him before sleep. If he recalled about it correctly, this red thread – known better as the red string of fate – was something that connects souls bounded by fate, a perfect puzzle to complete each other. They called it 'soulmate'.
He could never see it before. Before his fight with ex-best friend. Deep, unspoken, tangled, years-worth of feelings were sprouted out during their battle. Since then, he could always see the red thread sticking to his pinky. It was tangled in disarray. He tried to pry it off, but no avail. That damn thing couldn't be removed. He searched for information about it like madman – tens of articles and mythology in the internet with hours on library literature searching.
Bakugo was outraged when he found out that the other end of his string turned out to be Deku. This so-called fate was really pissing him off. Life must a bitch to him, or maybe, it was just his karma catching up to him.
No, he wasn't disappointed or disgusted or such. No. It just seemed impossible to destroy their barrier they had built up within the years – not to mention his wounded pride, his superiority complex, with his ego mixing up together; he still couldn't concede Deku as his soulmate. He would rather die that admitting about Deku being the person who understood him the most. That was one of the main reasons he kept pushing Deku away. Bakugo really hates it when people knew too much about him. He didn't like it when people knew his weaknesses. He rather had Deku far away from him to live up his own pride.
After all, Bakugo never really know how to express feelings. He never wanted to explore and understand what he actually felt and chose to vent out his feelings using anger and yelling. It had always been his blind spot. Thankfully, Kirishima – a person that he could consider as a friend – had pointed it out for him, much to his exasperation. It made him realize why he was always so irritable and wrathful all the time.
He kept his distance and mouth shut. Nobody was supposed to be able to see. This stupid string was invisible for a reason and many, after all.
There had been sleepless nights for Bakugo, just laying flat on his bed, mind raced in fountain of thoughts. It had always been about him. His obnoxious green hair, his freckled face, his smile – whatever. His newly earned information about his soulmate left him baffled and made him to see Deku in a new light.
Maybe it was the time they start anew. Maybe, it was a chance for him to redeem himself back, after years shattering Midoriya's soul. Maybe, they could turn their barrier into ashes, once and for all.
It was a long way to redemption, but he was willing to try.
One morning, when he woke up, a horrible feeling had pent up inside his stomach. The usual straight, messy red thread knotted in his pinky had become surged and much tangled than the day before.
Something was happening.
He got out of bed and storm to Deku's room to find the boy, to find the room unlocked, empty of human presence. The red string didn't guide him there. He then asked several of his classmates if they had seen the green-haired boy, but no one seemed to know where the nerd had gone to.
He got out of the dorms, to see the red string soar in length. He ran and ran, trying to find the end of the string where Deku should be. He didn't know how far he had run, but he knew he was damn exhausted.
Fucking nerd for storming off somewhere without telling anyone.
He gave in, reaching the train station and took the train aimlessly. The only scout he had was the fucking thread. He stopped at whatever station the string took a turn, renting a bicycle to follow the shit. Bakugo himself didn't understand why the hell he was doing this much for the nerd, but somewhere deep in his soul, his guts urged him to do so, and he couldn't just ignore it. That's why he did.
After forty-five minutes of bicycle ride, he reached a mountain. The thread showed the way up, which means shitty Deku was up on the mountain. What in the world was that nerd thinking, going up to the mountains far away from city in the middle of nothing?
Fuck, he was as good as wasted. Yet he kept forcing his legs to hike up the mountains. He climbed, and climbed, until-
He found an old, rusty temple, way deep inside the forest.
Why the heck was a temple standing there? No one would know, and maybe that's why it looked so abandoned. The temple was eerily silent, and it sent chills to Bakugo's spine. Ain't no temple was going to hinder him away though. Ignoring away the chills he felt, he barged inside, to find the boy he had been looking for. Deku hadn't noticed that Bakugo was intruding. He was going to yell at him for being dumb enough to sneak away very much in the morning to nowhere in the mountains without no one knowing where he went. The shitty nerd could've been lost without anyone to help and die in the middle of this goddamn mountain. His voice was caught up in his throat when he saw him holding a glowing red scissors, opening it wide, allowing him to cut their string-
"DEKU! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?"
When Midoriya arrived at the bus stop, he stopped by on a souvenir shop near the mountains to buy a map for him to use as a guide. He held the map on his left hand, and a compass on his right. Finding the temple wasn't easy. He didn't know where exactly the temple was on the map, and he couldn't pinpoint its location just by using compass. It was almost impossible to find.
He wandered through the lush forest, walking practically aimlessly. He hadn't really thought how exactly he would go back down the mountains except by the incomprehensible lines we wrote down as the track he had been taking. He was lost, with no one to seek out for help.
Hunger took over him, and he rested underneath a canopy tree where he ate his lunch, replenishing energy he had wasted. A sparkle of light caught the corner of his eye, where something yellow was glistening. He packed his belongings and walked towards the sparkle.
There it was. Standing there, was the temple he had seen in his dream. His dream was real.
Gushing, he walked slowly into the temple, inhaling the fresh air and meditate to the atmosphere. Soon, all of this would end. It's for him and Kacchan.
The scenery was completely identical. A small altar with stone cauldron and the right, filled with opaque turquoise water. He plunged his right arm in, scrambling the depth in hopes of finding the thing he was looking for. When he touched the item, he grasped it out, to reveal the same, red-glowing scissors, colour matching to his own thread.
Midoriya took a deep breath. He was really going to do it. He was going to be the first mortal to cut off his fate and lived to tell the tale. Bracing himself, he slipped the scissors into his hand, opening it wide, as he moved it to the thread. One movement down, and the thread would be disconnected for good.
His hand muscles were about to move when he heard a scream. "DEKU! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?"
In shock, he let the scissors fall off his hand. "K-Kacchan? How did you find me here?"
He was supposed to be undetectable, unless…
Bakugo stormed his feet closer to Midoriya, his hand gripped the green-haired boy's wrist, pulling him away from the altar, cauldron, and the cursed scissors.
"Kacchan!" Midoriya hissed, resisting the blonde's pulling force. "Let me go! You don't know what you're doing!"
"Hah?" Bakugo growled, still holding Midoriya's wrist in his grip even after he dragged him out of the temple, "YOU'RE the one who don't know what you're fucking doing, shitty nerd. Do you realize what you could've done?"
Green, frustrated orbs met furious, red ones. "Kacchan, don't tell me you can see…" Midoriya asked, as each word become much more of a whisper.
"In fact, I can," he replied, words filled with venom. "Ever since our battle that night, Deku."
Midoriya's eyes widen in surprise, before his own pent-up vexation took over – like a volcano exploding. He gritted his teeth, screaming, "Then you yourself should more than understand to comprehend what I was going to do! I know you Kacchan! Why the hell you would want to be soulmates with someone you hate with your soul? Why should I be with someone who don't even feel anything but hatred towards me? Who picked me up and crushed on me like shit?"
Tears had long fell out from his eyes, as his sobs broke the silence of surroundings. His heart-wrenching screams pierced right through Bakugo's heart, and he felt like a bullet and shot through it. "The fuck you know!" He screamed back, "You don't know shit about how I feel. So stop acting like you know what's I want or what's best for me. I'm the only one who have the rights to do so, shitty nerd."
Just after the words came out from his lips, Bakugo closed off their space, his harsh lips connected with Midoriya's soft ones – silencing his sobs.
The kiss only lasted a second, but it did feel like eternity.
Both now red-faced in embarrassment, looking away from each other. Midoriya was the first to break off the awkward silence between them. "Wha-"
"I'm not going to say it, nerd. You get it now, don't you?"
"S-sorry, Kacchan."
"Fuck your sorry ass," Bakugo snapped angrily, "Stop acting like a know-it-all."
"I always thought you hated me, even after the battle we had," the boy replied hesitantly, receiving a soft smack on his head.
"I never hated you," he mumbled almost incoherently, blush was forming again in his face, betraying his angry expression, "Izuku."
With his name being called, Midoriya's face was hot instantly. He had never, in a million years, imagined the one and only Kacchan to treat him as gentle as he was now, to hear the reassuring words of about how he really felt towards him.
He felt relieved and happy.
And Bakugo had never felt the same.
Slowly and nervously, Midoriya reached for Bakugo's hand, holding it with his own. "Kacchan… let's go back."
Sound of his tongue clicking represented his agreement, holding his grasp on Midoriya's hand, leaving the temple and went back down from the mountain.
"Never do that again, asshole."
"I wouldn't even dare to, Kacchan."
Hand in hand, was how their new chapter together began.
Right after the boys' departure, sparkling lights formed into a body as the cupid in Midoriya's dream, picking up the red scissors that had been left forgotten. She put the scissors back to where it belonged, deep underneath the depths of water.
'Even when one chose to separate, the other would definitely hold on.
I guess that's the miracle of fate which you could never break… Master.'
The cupid vanished once again, leaving the temple abandoned once more.
