Incinerate

by KyuukaKoinu

Bakugou Katsuki is a workaholic hell bent on never dating because it's too much of a 'distraction'. Enter Midoriya Izuku: A walking contradiction that is giving Katsuki an actual lethal goddamn migraine along with a mysterious set of arson crimes that walked right into town with him. But the most frustrating part is that Katsuki can't seem to get his fucking mind off either.

27. Inferno

Hello all! Welcome back to this very special chapter. First up like always, thank you to my other half, Luna aka nmatthews on AO3 for betaing! She's truly amazing and awesome.

Secondly, pls check out all of these songs! I have admittedly been sitting on these songs for a whole year for this specific chapter lol I am very excited to share them! :D

Let's get started! This is the turning point.

Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence' and 'literally and figuratively this is a slow burn'. Physical violence.

Song: Inside The Fire - Disturbed

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Chapter 27 - Inferno

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When Katsuki arrived at Kirishima and Mina's house after the final hearing, he wanted to get away from everything for a single day.

After the explosive confrontation with Izuku, the blond didn't know what to think anymore. Every thought in his head was swarming chaotically and clashed violently with emotions that were too ripe.

Rage. Fury. Shame. Humiliation. Embarrassment. Disappointment.

It took everything he had to swallow his pride and sit in that court for a month straight only to end with it being revealed it was Enji. The very man he mentored under was willing to let him be thrown behind fucking bars.

It twisted and hurt Katsuki's heart but truly he wasn't the tiniest bit surprised.

Enji was fucking willing to let him go to jail for ten accounts of first degree murder to cover his own ass.

The shoe fit too damn well and suddenly it all clicked into place. Enji wanted to keep his position as The Chief of Police and he was willing to make sure that it would stay that way. Him hiring a hitman made sense when Katsuki put the puzzle pieces together because all the officers assassinated were good cops. Good cops who probably were beginning to question his morality and challenge his authority.

When Judge Shimura banged her gavel and dismissed his case, Mirio turned to him with a relieved smile. His attorney extended his hand with an air of comradery and kinship.

But fuck that.

Katsuki slapped it away with all of his distaste for the blue eyed son of a bitch because fuck him too. Fuck Enji, Monoma and fuck Mirio. He had a week to allow the image of Izuku in bed with the attorney to fester and he waited for seven days for the other blond to say something. To retract it or apologize—fucking anything.

But he never did and with each passing day the thought of Mirio and Izuku in bed together had buried itself deep into Katsuki's inferiority complex and insecurities. He was about to lose his job and somehow in the process he lost Izuku too. If he had slept correctly the past thirty days, maybe he would think straight but all he wanted was to be alone.

Katsuki could feel all the eyes on him as he shoved his way out of the courtroom because it was all too much. He was tired of people looking at him—tired of all the whispers and prying questions. With each step he took, his head pounded and struggled to hold back tears.

Then hearing about Mirio out of Izuku's mouth burned like coal on his skin.

"I-I mean we did kiss, but he kissed me and I pushed him away so it's not a big deal."

But at that moment it was the biggest deal for Katsuki.

He had already decided he was going to offer up his position for Izuku's because he took responsibility for pursuing him. He knew deep down he shouldn't have, given his authority, but he made that choice as an adult and he was going to own up to it.

But to hear Izuku say it was no big deal that he shared a kiss with Mirio snapped the last thread of calm in Katsuki's body.

All his bottled up anger, hurt and disappointment tipped straight over the edge.

"I'm going to lose the one thing that's important to me in my whole life because of you!"

The sentence fell out of his mouth, scathing hot with his deepest fear: he let himself get distracted with a relationship and now he messed up his duty again.

Katsuki didn't even know if he meant it fully but he was hating himself so intensely at that moment.

He was so focused on Izuku this entire time while there was a serial arsonist out on the lose committing murder. How did he lose sight of the one thing he told himself four years ago?

Don't get fucking distracted.

Every time he gets distracted in his line of business and people die. And Izuku had been occupying his thoughts relentlessly for the last nine months.

"We weren't even together that long so it doesn't matter," he remembered muttering, thoughts clouded with self-hate.

"Katsuki," Izuku had responded slowly. There was a heavy precaution inside the other's voice that brought him down from the peak of his temper—like always. Izuku somehow always calmed him down. "You don't mean that."

At that moment, Katsuki weighed out everything but it was impossible to make a decision at that moment. He needed space and time to mull over everything that had occurred this last month and accept the fact that he had failed.

He had failed in more than one way, but the biggest failure to the work-centered man was how his whole career was now down the fucking drain. He had not a damn clue what to do next. Floating in that vast unknown dread of the future without a safety net made his anxieties spike.

He desperately needed space to re-evaluate everything in his life.

Just a day. Just a single day without all this shit after thirty consecutive days of nothing but hurt and betrayal.

Izuku could wait a single day until he got it together.

"I want to be alone right now so I can go clean out my office. I don't know what to think right now. We can talk more after I turn in my badge tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," Izuku had whispered. "We can talk tomorrow."

After that Katsuki left out of the side door he had discovered in the courthouse. It led out into an alleyway and away from the vulture reporters that steadily picked him apart. Katsuki's phone kept buzzing over and over again with various calls, texts, and breaking stories until it became too much even for him.

He texted Kirishima and Mina that he was on his way over to their place. He so desperately needed to be far fucking away from his apartment full of happy pictures of Izuku and Akira's sweet face that made the pain no better.

He needed some headspace.

So he turned off his phone in bitter spirits.

. . .

"How are you feeling?" Mina hummed with a sad look as she sat down next to Kirishima on the couch. It was currently just the three of them inside of the married couple's newly purchased cozy house. They were spread out watching the TV coverage of the day.

"I'm okay, just...thinking about things," Katsuki confessed while he stared at the black screen phone in his hands. "I never thought about the possibility of losing my job before. Not after everything."

"Which is understandable," Kirishima comforted. "To be honest, you've always been a lieutenant on and off the clock so I get this is hard for you."

"I wish I got to figure out what Dabi wants," Katsuki muttered honestly, subconsciously falling into his think-about-work-and-not-myself coping methods. "Out of all the cases, that one has been bothering me the most ever since he asked for me specifically. I can't help but feel like I failed in some way by not finding out why he's been torching countless buildings."

Kirishima and Mina shared a knowing glance between each other.

"Is there anything else on your mind?" Kirishima questioned and he tilted his head. "Nothing else going up in the blond noggin besides Dabi?"

Katsuki frowned and ignored the pull in his heart. "If you're referring to Izuku, him and I are talking it out tomorrow. I need some time to unwind."

"And unwinding includes thinking about Dabi?" Kirishima clarified with a taut, unimpressed look. "Bro, I love you, but you always do this. You bury yourself in trying to solve a case versus think about your problems whenever you're stressed and you're doing it right now even though you're about to turn in your badge tomorrow."

"Then let me," Katsuki hissed straight back with a scowl on his handsome face. He fully frowned at his friends with a disapproving glare. "I mean you guys aren't fucking bothered by that arsonist? Especially since he was the one to drop off evidence to Monoma and start this whole shit show? You're telling me that fucker doesn't bother you at all right now?"

Because he's about to make me lose my shit, Katsuki thought privately with a simmering rage.

After he had gone over everything in head, making a list of people who he was going to give a giant fuck you to for the last month of his life, Dabi was sitting pretty at the top of the list directly under Enji.

"We are deeply bothered by him," Mina agreed carefully. "I fully believe it's no coincidence that he dropped off some half baked photos of you to Monoma to make you look bad. That gave him enough time to burn down those homes on Zazen Ave."

"I want to know what his endgame is. Even if it's the last possible thing I do as a Lieutenant," Katsuki whispered, trying to pull his thoughts anywhere but on Izuku. "He said it was a puzzle so what is it? What fucking puzzle is it?"

Kirishima and Mina huffed silently and leaned back against their beige couch. The couple exchange one glance before non-verbally agreeing to entertain their best friend in hopes of making him feel better.

"Is it the number of buildings maybe?" Mina proposed.

Katsuki shook his head. "I looked at that. One building on Kaze Ave, three buildings on Ichirizuka Street, ten on Uchi Street and now seventeen on Zazen. None of the numbers have a connection. I literally stayed up one night trying to see maybe if there was some weird ass connection and even made Izuku's brainy ass run equations."

"What about the geographic locations?" Kirishimia proposed and once again Katsuki shook his head.

"None of the coordinates make sense either," Katsuki grumbled, throwing his head back. "All the attack sites have been randomly spaced out. I thought maybe he was drawing a square at first so I could predict the next attack, but Zazen Ave screwed that up."

Then a new idea clicked inside of Katsuki's head that he hadn't thought about.

The locations. His eyes widened and he sat forward with a start when he realized he missed putting in place the very last thing about the attacked sites.

"Shit," he cursed, running his hand through his hair.

"What?" Mina asked, furrowing her brows. Katsuki turned to her with an epiphany in his eyes like he had finally clicked together a new puzzle piece.

"The locations," he repeated. "I was looking at geographic location for a pattern but I didn't fucking consider the street names." Both Kirishima and Mina frowned.

"Like the meaning behind them?" Kirishima probed. "I thought you did that."

"I did," Katsuki rushed out, standing up in haste, fully dissolved in the moment. He reached for the nearest pen and paper on Kirishima and Mina's dining room table quickly. "All the meanings behind the names have no real value or connection but I never considered what if he's spelling something? With the street names?"

"That would be really elaborate," Mina mumbled as she tapped her manicured nail on her chin thoughtfully. "But...Dabi is an elaborate man if he's taught us anything."

Katsuki sat back down on the couch between his two friends and jotted down all the street names in order that they were attacked. All three sets of eyes stared down at the four names on the piece of paper and frowned.

"Kaze, Ichirizuka, Uchi and Zazen?" Kirishima questioned. "Kiuz isn't a word?"

"Maybe he's still in the process of spelling it," Katsuki proposed, staring at the words hard as he tried to find an answer. "And maybe it's out of order? If I was a criminal mastermind, I wouldn't point blank spell out what I'm doing to the cops. Maybe if I unscramble it, I can figure out his next strike."

Four letters means sixteen possibilities of letter order. Katsuki frowned however when he realized that there were no real words outside of one that he could think of. "Only word I can think of is Kizu."

"Kizu as in scar or wound?" Mina pondered. "Kizu seems a little odd, don't you think? Maybe Dabi is still in the process of spelling whatever it is."

"Geez, I sure as hell hope this man isn't spelling zucchini or some shit," Kirishima exasperated. "That would be an awful, long and a really roundabout way to get your vegetables."

Katsuki glared at his best friend and clicked his tongue. "Zucchini is spelled with a 'C' you dipshit—"

A loud rustle of voices from the television cut off their conversation and pulled all their attention to the screen. Katsuki out of reflex frowned and was about to reach to turn off the TV because he was so damn sick of seeing his mugshot plastered across the television—but when he lifted his head to gaze upon the screen, he saw Izuku instead.

The pain inside his chest that he was trying to ignore tripled when he saw how many tears were covering Izuku's freckled cheeks.

"Katsuki is...he's the love of my life," Izuku's delicate voice flowed out of the television and into the small home.

Red eyes watched full of mixed emotions as the green eyed man's face fell into deep thought.

"I have never loved someone as much as I love him and I would do anything to let him know how much I care for him in the midst of all this chaos. He's not bad—he has a heart of gold. His job has always been something he loves and he loves all the people of Shizuoka City as well. All the citizens are lucky to have someone like him watching over them."

"But is it not true he's losing his job for violating policeman guidelines? The city no longer will have a Symbol of Victory," the reporter asked and moved the microphone closer to Izuku's face.

There, all three bodies sitting on the couch watched as an emotion equally parts loving and sad settled into Izuku's features.

Katsuki didn't know what to think as the youngest detective sighed, looking away from the camera.

"No, Katsuki is not losing his job," Izuku muttered, eyes glanced downwards. The camera zoomed in slightly on his contemplative face. "He's worked too hard for it."

"What does that mean, Mr. Midoriya?"

"It means I quit. This is my public resignation."

All three sets of eyes went wide and Katsuki's heart stopped.

He dropped the pen and paper in his hand like they were on fire when he realized one large fact: he hadn't told Izuku about the ultimatum. This was the whole damn reason he didn't because he fucking knew Izuku would do something like this.

Goddamnit 'zuku, what the fuck did you do?

"Holy shit dude!" Kirishima exclaimed with a scandalized gasp. "Did I just hear what I think I heard?!"

"You and the entirety of Shizuoka City," Mina whispered with a stunned expression. Her mouth hung open slightly while Katsuki's eyes were wide, still processing. "He resigned on television, Katsuki. You know what that means right? He beat you in resigning before you could. The Commissioner and Toshinori probably saw that."

"Why is he always so damn self-sacrificing?" He murmured to himself more than anyone else in the room.

Within the second his mind responded to answering his own question: because he's sweet. Izuku is the sweetest person you've ever met and it's part of the reason why you love him.

"Because like he said, he loves you, Katsuki." Mina smiled.

Katsuki glanced down at his lap to eye the shut off phone when his heart pulled painfully in several directions.

. . .

Several hours passed by with Izuku's confessional on TV ringing in his head and drowning out his thoughts about Dabi. As he replayed what Izuku had the courage to say on national television about him, Katsuki considered what he said in the courthouse to Izuku.

Maybe I was too harsh, he contemplated.

He quickly felt ashamed of himself the more he weighed out what Izuku had publicly done on city-wide television for him. Directly after he said some fucked up shit to the other man out of hurt and anger. But despite all of what he let spew out of his mouth, Izuku still stood tall on television and told the world how much he loved him.

Then to top it all off, Izuku quit.

Izuku quit his dream of being a detective so Katsuki could keep his job in the end.

A large part of the elder man was immensely pissed off at Izuku for, once again, sacrificing himself. But also an equally large side of him was touched, deep down. Izuku loved him so purely through everything and not a single person Katsuki could think of ever loved him in the same manner Izuku did.

Then he winced when he recalled the harsh words he yelled into Izuku's sweet, doe-eyed face.

"I'm going to lose the one thing that's important to me in my whole life because of you!"

The more he was alone, the thick cloud of hurt crowding his thoughts slowly dissipated. Katsuki began to heavily compare how much his job actually meant to him against his relationship with Izuku. His heart ached thinking about it because he never truly took the time to compare the two.

What was really more important to him deep down?

He pondered this because that ugly statement reared its head full force the second it came down to the wire. Then he thought about why his last relationship ended: over his zealous dedication to his career and Takeyama feeling neglected.

As if she was second place. It's why she left him.

But Katsuki always considered his love for his career and his love for Izuku to be equal. Or so he thought. However, no matter what he was struggling with internally, Izuku more than likely thought otherwise.

Izuku probably thought he was second place to his career just like Takeyama used to believe.

We need to talk, he told himself. We definitely need to talk tomorrow and I should apologize.

After hearing Izuku's saccharine words, Katsuki was more than confident that Mirio was indeed lying like he originally thought. The attorney must've been wanting to push his buttons because he was envious and drunk. A really fucking bad combo.

Gradually, the peaceful day turned to a lively night, but Katsuki kept his phone off to prevent himself from doing anything brash until he fully calmed down.

He peeled off the stuffy grey suit he'd been forced to wear by Toshinori and let Mina hand him his spare clothes. He had numerous garments mixed in with all of theirs after years of working undercover missions togethers.

Changing out of his modern day hangman attire and into his comfortable black joggers and an orange tee shirt was much better. Katsuki inhaled deeply because finally he was able to breathe properly wearing his usual athletic wear.

By the time he partially re-centered himself the Spring Lantern festival downtown was underway and his friends were encouraging him to come with them.

"It'll be good for you!" Mina insisted and he didn't disagree. "Fresh air and you can kick-off spring the right way."

Katsuki gave a nod of approval as he slid on his spare pair of black gyms with orange soles and shoe laces he left with his best friends in case of emergencies. By the time him and his married pair of friends made it to the festival, it fully settled in that he was going to keep his job that he valued so much.

His life was still on track.

Thanks to Izuku.

Sweet, loving Izuku.

The crowd at the festival was dense and full of laughter. People were dressed in colorful Yukatas like Kirishima and Mina or regular clothes like Katsuki. He admired Mina's cherry blossom colored wardrobe and the fierce red-dragon colored one of Kirishima's. Sparks of life were fluttering all around in the air as people rushed in and out of the downtown area holding lanterns, sparklers and flowers.

Katsuki breathed in the scent of various savory vendors when they made their way to the center plaza to hear the sounds of traditional music flowing in the air. The chime of the bells, strings and drums were loud over the clatter of the dense crowd gathered around the golden dragon being flown above the crowd by traditional dancers in white yukatas.

There was something peaceful and serene about seeing the people of the city laugh and talk. No one was paying him any mind for the first time in thirty days and he was grateful.

The tired man let his two friends usher him around the festival for a handful of hours, laughing for the first time in a long time. But as they were enjoying themselves watching the various traditional dances, Mina and Kirishima both received notifications on their phones that made their face's scrunch in worry.

"Yo, Captain Aizawa just put out a code red alert," Kirishima whispered. "Two policemen on patrol from the 1B precinct were attacked in the area. He's dispatching all on-duty officers for extra security around the city."

Katsuki's eyebrows shot up on his face, not expecting that.

"What? Are they okay?" He asked quickly in a hushed whisper, careful not to draw attention or cause alarm.

"Overall yes," Mina answered with a serious expression. "One was shot at but the perp missed then fled. But the other was physically assaulted by two guys. They took his gun and baton and beat him with it." Mina frowned deeply as she scrolled through the notification on her phone.

"Well, keep your eyes out in case this is targeted. You especially Katsuki," Kirishima murmured. "Your face has been plastered on the news for the last month."

The blond nodded, putting himself on high alert while they still tried their best to go about the festival.

When his friends were distracted by the taiko drum performance, Katsuki excused himself to stand off to the side of the dense congregation of citizens.

Once situated by himself, the Lieutenant reached in his pant's pockets to pull out his phone and took a deep breath in to turn it on. He realized that if someone was targeting police, he needed to have his notifications on since he apparently was going to keep his job.

But when the device was fully operational again, the swarm voicemails from Izuku and Shouto made his stomach churn.

A chill raked its way down Katsuki's spine as he read the notification sent out by Captain Aizawa. This was serious and they did not issue red-alerts frequently. Out of paranoia he quickly looked around, trying to search the ignorantly happy crowd for anything out of place but found nothing. All the citizen's faces were happy and shining all the way through.

However, when he scanned longer, he caught sight of a flustered looking Izuku and an overwhelmed Shouto heading straight for them.

The pair pushed quickly through the thick crowd towards the other three people and Katsuki took in both Izuku and Shouto's expressions.

Izuku's eyes held deep fear and he was still dressed in his navy-blue patrol uniform, but he had taken off the jacket labeled 'police' and tied it around his waist. This left him only in the tight black t-shirt they always wore underneath. The white bandages on his left arm were on full display but his hands were shaking violently.

"K-Katsuki," Izuku rushed out when they finally came up to him. "We've been trying to reach you."

All of his nerves spiked at how terrified Izuku's eyes were, but he was confused when Shouto's were distant and tired seeming.

"What's wrong?" Katsuki quickly asked as he glanced wearily between the two of them. "What happened, Izuku you look shaken—"

"—Dabi tried to break into my motel room," Izuku rushed out and immediately Katsuki's heart stopped.

"What!?" Katsuki nearly yelled and it drew the attention of several festival goers around them. All of their eyes looked at them strangely before Katsuki resituated himself and spoke in a harsh whisper. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Izuku reassured. "The couple I lived next to scared him off and gave me a ride here, but he tried to kick down my door. He somehow knew where I was staying at."

Shouto shot Katsuki a concerned, tired gaze as he lifted up his phone showing the policeman notification he was previously reading. "Then around the same time when Izuku found me, there were two more reports of officers attacked around the area. Aizawa had all the sectors dispatch every on-duty officer working in the precincts to do patrol around the city and there's now extra security here because of the festival."

What the fuck was going on?

Red eyes glanced over the thick crowd in a worried manner.

"B-But that's not all," Izuku whispered.

But this time when Katsuki looked back at him, there was a tangible air of tension between Shouto and Izuku. The freckled ex-detective gazed at Shouto with an apologetic expression before continuing carefully.

"I-I think...please, please hear me out," Izuku said in a low voice, the sound of the drums and cheering of the crowd loud in the background. "I think Dabi and Touya are connected in some way."

This time Katsuki's face scrunched up at the mention of Touya.

Why was Izuku always drawing back to Touya of all people?

There was something bitter in the way Izuku kept mentioning his ex that never sat well with Katsuki. It admittedly bugged him mildly because it made him worried that Izuku never fully moved past the deceased redhead.

Now here he was, mentioning Touya again.

"Izuku, what are you talking about?" Katsuki questioned, feeling unsure.

"Dabi, when he tried to break into my room, he dropped this." Izuku reached down in his uniform's pants pocket with his shaky bandaged hand. Then slowly he pulled out an item that was wrapped up in a napkin and peeled back the white cloth to reveal what was inside.

"A lighter?" Katsuki said slowly, not following. "What does a lighter have to do with anything?"

"I know how it looks but please," Izuku said with his voice laced with desperation Katsuki had never heard. "I know this lighter—it was Touya's. He always kept it with him at all moments because he liked looking at the flame—it...it calmed him down."

"I think it might be any regular lighter," Shouto said in a low voice, also seeming unconvinced. But Katsuki saw a thread of skepticism in his face. "I do admit my brother did have one like it. I vaguely remember him carrying it everywhere but until we can run DNA on it there's no way to know for sure it's specifically Touya's."

"But it is," Izuku hissed, turning to Shouto clearly irritated. "I slept in the same bed next to the nightstand that held this lighter for two years. I know what it looks like. I-I don't know how Dabi and Touya are connected but all the signs keep pointing to Touya! It's right there!"

Izuku turned to him again, holding out the tiny item sitting in his palm.

"Kuromata is Touya's favorite place, he even called it his true home," Izuku continued, brows pinched with stress. "I saw Dabi's eye color up close now and it's the same as Touya's. Same as yours, Shouto, and your dad's. Dabi hates policemen just as violently as Touya did. I've seen Dabi in Yaizu too. He had a connection with AFO like Touya. And now you're telling me I'm supposed to ignore they had the same type of lighter?"

When it was all listed plainly, even Katsuki was given pause.

But what it was adding up was more than the two being vaguely connected.

It was adding up to the fact Dabi and Touya overlapped on a personal basis in more than one way.

"But we can't do anything based on all this speculation right now Izuku," Shouto sighed reasonably. "Dabi is a violent criminal and Touya was one too. Criminals have repetitive patterns and AFO was one of the biggest crime organizations in Japan's entire history—you saw how many people were involved with them."

Katsuki was going to say something when a distant memory was drawn back up. He flashed back to when the patrol car was T-boned by Dabi and how the man referred to him as Golden Boy.

Like Izuku said, the same way Touya did.

Katsuki frowned as he listened to the drums and cheering in the background get louder.

"I-It just keeps coming back to Touya and I can't keep ignoring this," Izuku reaffirmed himself and pointed to the lighter in his hand. "We need to run this for DNA immediately. If it comes back negative for anything relating to Touya then fine. But this is a lead on who Dabi is."

Shouto didn't say anything and Katsuki stayed quiet with uncertainty in his face.

"Please, I'm not crazy I swear," Izuku said softly and it wretched Katsuki's insides to hear Izuku mildly doubt his sanity. "There's...there's things not adding up in my mind and I need some affirmation."

His sharp scarlet eyes looked at the lighter in Izuku's hand and decided to go with Izuku's assessment of the object over Shouto's.

Katsuki knew how both of his team members operated well enough to understand Shouto was detail oriented for facts and memorizing information, but Izuku was heavily visually inclined. Izuku memorized pictures and how things looked easier than anyone at U.A due to his artistic inclination.

So, if Izuku recognized that old scratched up lighter as Touya's—then Katsuki believed him.

"Is there anything else? Even small things?" Katsuki asked, deciding to take this seriously. Izuku's face lit up with relief.

"Dabi, um," Izuku started but seemed hesitant. "The way he touched me, during the undercover mission before The Red Dawn. He grabbed my wrist and touched my earring in a way that reminded me of Touya. Then inside of Touya's file from the Shigarakis...there's no death day recorded."

"What?" Katsuki reeled back and this time Shouto's attention was spiked.

"No death date?" Shouto parroted. "I thought you told me it was three asterisks? I assumed it was Shigarakis' code for something else like maybe how he died."

"Well, yeah it's three asterisks in place of a day, like when you censor something," Izuku explained. "But I think it's odd when I consider it more. Especially after you said you didn't see anyone else's files like that."

All what Izuku was suggesting only implicated one thing.

A very, dark taboo thing to someone who grieved heavily for three years.

Katsuki assessed them both in that moment, and while Izuku was listing off nothing but facts and some speculation—even he looked terrified by what he was saying. Denial was fresh in those green eyes, but moreover, Shouto seemed like he was flat out rejecting everything all together.

Shouto grew quiet and turned his face away as if he was overwhelmed—something the youngest Todoroki didn't do often. Izuku clenched his fist with the lighter and turned to Shouto and placed a caring hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Shouto, I know this is really uncomfortable for you but I feel like we need to look into it as soon as we can," Izuku said as tenderly as he could. "I-If I'm only being paranoid then I'm so sorry."

"I will admit that is all strange, but I saw that burned body myself. I buried that body—not you," Shouto snapped in a taut tone and the green eyed ex-detective retracted his hand quickly. "I still see that disfigured body sometimes in my sleep. You're not the only one who gets nightmares about Touya, Izuku."

Shame fanned across Izuku's face as he dropped his hand and stared down at the asphalt under their shoes.

"But I'm not going to make you feel like you're crazy, okay?" Shouto sighed after a long stretch of silence. "All this is a bit much for me to process right now, that's all. I turned in my father less than six hours ago. My family is hurting right now and mentioning my dead brother isn't helping. I came here tonight to enjoy time with them."

"Wait—" Katsuki spoke up, blinking rapidly and shot a stunned expression to Shouto. "You turned in Enji?"

"Yes," the youngest Todoroki admitted with a sad look. "I found the hit list in his study and after being careful with investigating, I went to get a second statement from the Hero Killer himself. When I got there he said he was waiting for me and then gave a full confession on tape."

Katsuki pressed his lips in a thin line at the information. Suddenly the dismissive nature from Shouto made sense. No one would be in the mood to hear about their long, dead brother after breaking their family in two.

"I'm really sorry, Shouto," Katsuki said, extending sympathies.

"It's fine, it's just—" Shouto stopped with a heavy sigh and held his hands up exhausted. "—This is all a little hard to talk about right now and there's nothing we can do at the moment. It's 9:45 pm on Saturday and forensics isn't open past 6pm. Can we rain check this for Monday morning when we're all better rested?"

Katsuki watched Izuku deflate and the green eyed man sucked in his lips quietly.

Fuck. Katsuki took a deep breath in before exhaling loudly.

At the end of the day Kirishima was right, he was a lieutenant on and off the clock—so he did what he did best and took control of the situation.

"Can you look into the death date before Monday, Shouto? Maybe follow up on where the coroner is?" Katsuki asked, level headed. "Just to give some peace of mind in the meantime. I know the dental records match and all but give a look whenever you get the chance tonight or tomorrow, okay?"

Shouto seemed to reason with that command. "Okay, I will later tonight. For peace of mind."

Izuku offered a sad smile to Shouto who returned one. "Thank you. Sorry about all of this again."

"I think we're all a little tired right now from being bled dry by that trial," Katsuki reasoned, looking at them both sadly and getting equally dejected stares in return. "Shouto go enjoy the rest of the festival with your family. We can resume this conversation Monday at the station and Izuku, give me the lighter. I'll run it to forensics first thing tomorrow morning."

Katsuki held out his hand and Izuku delicately placed the wrapped up item inside of it.

The weight of it felt as light as air but the lead of finally having something of Dabi's was heavy. Katsuki rewrapped it carefully and placed it in the bottom of his jogger's pants pockets.

"Sounds good," Shouto said with a tired nod. "Izuku, don't go back to your motel tonight and both of you be on high alert for anymore police officer attacks. I'll see you two Monday...or, er, Katsuki I'll see you Monday."

Izuku gave a sad understanding smile about the lack of his employment.

Shouto said his final goodbyes before parting ways and disappearing within the sea of happy celebrating people. Everyone in the crowd was joyfully, happily holding lanterns, writing wishes on them in marker before allowing them to float away into the deep blue night sky.

Green eyes met red and the awkwardness sitting between them could be cut with his knife.

Katsuki inhaled sharply and looked away, not knowing fully what to say because everything was always so overwhelming with Izuku involved.

He just wanted to clear his head and Izuku shooting off Touya conspiracy theories wasn't exactly how he planned to spend the rest of this night.

"I'm sorry," Izuku muttered into the silence between them. Katsuki watched with a heavy heart how Izuku nervously fidgeted with his hands. "This is a lot considering what happened a couple hours ago."

"I didn't want you to quit," the blond said quietly, head still pounding. "I was going to own up to my mistakes as a commander and figure out an alternative plan. You didn't have to drop your job for me."

"Yes, I did," Izuku replied gently. Green eyes shifted into a warm expression as Izuku looked into Katsuki's eyes. "You didn't deserve to get degraded any further."

In that moment Izuku glanced down at his wrist and suddenly an unexpected flash of hurt graced Izuku's freckled features before it was covered up. Katsuki followed the line of vision confused, but when he saw his bare wrist, he realized his mistake.

Shit. He internally cursed. I took the bracelet off at Kirishima and Mina's.

"And I know your job means everything," Izuku continued with a forced smile. Katsuki noticed how Izuku quickly hid his wrists behind his back to cover up the fact he was still wearing his puzzle piece bracelet. "I don't want to get in the way of something you care about that deeply so I quit."

"But why would you do that, Izuku?" Katsuki asked with a worried expression. "What about your dreams and all the stuff about your mom and dad? Why sabotage yourself like that for me?"

"Because we protect each other," Izuku said in a small, calm voice. "That's what we do...right?"

The amount of love and sacrifice emitting from Izuku's eyes made Katsuki's whole chest tighten.

We protect each other.

"...Right," Katsuki whispered while staring in shock at the man in front of him. He was entirely lost to his emotions and all the hurt he was feeling earlier dissipated into thin air. "Y-Yeah, that's what we do. We protect each other."

"Plus, like you said it's harder to get hired as Lieutenant externally. U.A is your squad, and your home in the end," Izuku continued, looking down at the ground with a distant smile. "I'm relatively new and I'll find another precinct to work at eventually. Preferably not at the 1B district but detective positions are easier to find. Might take a couple of months, but I'll manage."

Katsuki's heart pulled with deep longing.

Say something. You need to fucking say something.

He hesitated to open his mouth, unsure if this was the right time and place for such an extensive conversation. There was too much shit to go over: Mirio, making sure Izuku didn't feel like he was second place, then discussing whatever fucking kiss happened a week ago. It was a lot to address but the music here was too loud and his head was still pounding with a skull splitting migraine.

However, before Katsuki could decide what to do, fate decided it for him.

Izuku's phone dinged loudly, drawing the green-eyed man's attention. When Izuku pulled out his phone, a large grimace enveloped his face and he sighed loudly. He clearly was not excited about whatever he just saw. Apologetic green eyes glanced up at Katsuki with a gentle smile.

"Ah, this is Toshinori. It's my official resignation email," Izuku announced while holding up his phone awkwardly. Katsuki watched and felt conflicted as Izuku went through the email with a mixed expression. "It says he's down at the station now and wants me to turn in my gun and badge to him while he's on duty. Then we're going to begin filing paperwork ASAP. Preferably within the next thirty minutes so that he can manage all the police attacks and patrols."

Izuku sighed as he locked his phone again with a quick press of the side button.

The reality of Izuku no longer working at U.A settled into both of their bones and it felt wrong to Katsuki—but he knew there was no real other alternative after Izuku already dropped the bomb on live television.

"I guess I have to head out," the green eyed man said with a smile that was equally heartbreaking as it was loving. "I-I don't know where I'll go after. I'm not really in a festival mood after the motel incident and I don't feel safe at the motel."

"Here, take my apartment key," Katsuki offered up without thinking about it.

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the three small keys on a silver ring. One for the precinct, another for Ground Zero and finally one for his apartment. He carefully slid the gold one off the ring and held it out to Izuku.

Green eyes look up at him stunned, not anticipating the action.

Katsuki gave a small smile. "Go back there when you're done with Toshinori if you don't want to come back to the festival."

"Really? Are you sure?" Izuku whispered as he reached for the key. Katsuki smiled a little bit wider because it felt right to see his key in Izuku's hand again.

"Yeah I'm sure. We're not commander and subordinate anymore so, fuck it. Come back." Come back to me. "Go to my place and go lay down. You're tired and clearly shaken. I'll meet you there later, okay? You'll be safe with all the security in the building."

"Okay," Izuku said, returning the smile worth a thousand unspoken words. "Are you going to stay here?"

Katsuki nodded and shrugged. "Yeah, I left my suit and other stuff at Kirishima and Mina's house, so I need to stay with them and go get it later. But I do want to see the rest of the festival and enjoy myself for the first time in a long time."

"Good call," Izuku chuckled lightly. "You deserve to have an off day after everything."

The blond lieutenant stared at Izuku in front of him for a solid moment trying to piece together how one person could be so loving and selfless at all moments.

Quickly he scanned the crowd, catching sight of Sero and Denki off to the side shoving several types of baked goods down the other's throat. Katsuki huffed slightly when he noticed they were very much in their patrol uniforms, which meant they were actively on duty and still fucking around.

"Go grab those two dumbasses over there and have them escort you to the station and then to the apartment," he grumbled while pointing to Sero and Denki. "Safety in numbers but you might be better at defending them." Katsuki was extremely glad he did have his position intact because he was ready to shove his foot up his subordinates' asses. They must've gotten too comfortable without him around.

Izuku's eyes turned to the side to see the two officers goofing around and snickered slightly at the disapproving expression on Katsuki's face.

"Okay, will do," Izuku said with a lighthearted laugh. "Thank you, Katsuki. I really appreciate this a lot. I could use a nap after today to process everything."

"No problem, 'zuku," Katsuki replied, feeling tremendously better. Izuku gave a taut smile and the blond awkwardly shifted on his heels and offered a small smirk. "Truthfully, I can't wait to get a nap in too. Maybe later we can pop a bottle of champagne together to celebrate me not wrongfully going to jail."

At that Izuku let out a lively, short laugh and covered his mouth in a cute manner.

Katsuki couldn't stop himself from smiling wide. He noticed the weight that was pushing down on his chest lifted by the melodic tone of Izuku's laughter.

"And we'll talk later, right? About all the Mirio stuff?" Izuku asked with an unsure gaze.

"Of course." Katsuki nodded and pushed all his doubts about Izuku out of his mind. "We'll talk about it when I get home."

Home.

Izuku smiled brightly at the usage of the word. The beautiful freckled man held up the key with a shimmer in his emerald eyes.

"Okay, I'll see you at home, Kacchan."

Izuku gave a small wave goodbye and Katsuki gave one back as he admired the way Izuku's curls bounced when he turned away. Katsuki silently watched the freckled man walk towards the two other officers and how he greeted them with a friendly air.

There was a sharp, distinct tug on his heartstrings as Izuku faded into the distance but told himself that it would be fine and that he would see him soon.

There was an 'I love you' sitting on the tip of his tongue that he would come to regret not saying sooner.

. . .

Izuku glanced behind him once to see Katsuki turn around and head off into the crowd to enjoy the rest of the festival.

He pushed his tongue against his cheek because he wanted to say so much. However, the loud taiko drums being played in the background and the urgency in Toshinori's email made Izuku realize it could wait.

Plus, based on the look on Katsuki's face, everything would be okay.

We'll be okay, he told himself the more he looked at the gold key in hand while walking to the station with Sero and Denki. The two patrol officers were laughing and joking and even complimented his left arm.

"Oh dude that is so badass looking!" Denki said with a gasp, golden eyes glittering with the moonlight. "I thought it was just your hand but it's your whole arm wrapped up like that. Sweet!"

Izuku smiled slightly as Sero joined in the compliment, saying it made him look 'mysterious'. At that moment, Izuku realized no one on the squad outside of Katsuki had ever seen his arms fully bare. But his ex-comrades hadn't even blinked an eye at the scars and tiny burns on his right arm.

By the time they arrived at the station, Izuku felt calmer. He could hear off in the distance the happy sounds of everyone gathered downtown.

However, a radio-call on Sero and Denki's intercoms interrupted the peaceful moment.

The static filled the air the second the trio arrived in front of the station, halting their movements to go inside. The deep voice of Captain Aizawa echoed out making both Sero and Denki freeze with serious expressions.

"We have another incident of a patrol officer being attacked around Uchimizu Ave. There's two male-described perps on the loose and they are running northbound towards downtown. Any officers in the area need to track them down stat."

"Shit, that's us," Denki hissed, looking down the dark street and then wearily looking at Izuku. The freckled ex-detective could sense trepidation in both of his friends before he offered up a reassuring smile.

"You guys go check out that call and find the perps," Izuku gave a smile. "I'll be okay."

"Are you sure?" Sero asked unsure. "You said Bakugou specifically said we should escort you back to his apartment."

Izuku shook his head dismissively with a sweet smile. "I'll be fine. Toshinori is waiting for me inside and that man is as big as a brick house. I'll ask him to drop me off in his patrol car after I finish all the paperwork."

"Ah, that makes sense," Denki laughed with a joyful look. "Nobody better than the Symbol of Peace himself! Alright, be safe, Izuku, we're going to go check out that call!"

Izuku waved and said goodbye to his friends as they turned around and answered Captain Aizawa's radio call.

The green eyed man headed inside the dimly lit precinct, he noted how all the lights in the office were turned off. Then he remembered what the notification from Aizawa said about all on duty officers being dispatched. The first floor had an odd type of silence that Izuku wasn't accustomed to but nonetheless, he pressed the up button on the elevator.

Patient green eyes watched how the button lit up red and how the digital numbers above on the elevator counted down to one. Izuku let his thoughts slowly fade into thinking about Katsuki and Shouto when the elevator finally reached the ground floor. He stepped inside the lift mildly distracted and pressed the button for the ninth floor to Toshinori's office.

He mulled over Shouto's reaction to him showing the lighter and felt mildly guilty. It hurt watching his friend's face twist in both confusion and denial.

Part of Izuku didn't want to believe even what he was saying but he couldn't ignore it.

He kept replaying over and over in his head the livid expression on Dabi's distorted face. He ran through an endless list of possibilities as to why Dabi had Touya's lighter, why he was stationed in Touya's favorite forest, and why they had the exact same shade of eyes.

He kept building up his own mental wall of denial higher and higher but told himself not to dive further until the DNA test was run tomorrow.

Shouto's face was appalled by what Izuku was saying when he first arrived at the festival. The look in those already heartbroken eyes was tired, and it seeded doubt into Izuku.

Deep down, Izuku felt like maybe his own grief was twisting what he saw through the peephole.

Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him—trying to revive back to life the person he had just let go of after so long.

Izuku sighed as the elevator came close to the ninth floor and ultimately decided to take Shouto and Katsuki's advice. There was nothing that could be done until tomorrow morning and right now both men wanted down time to enjoy the festival.

His heart warmed thinking about the golden key in his pocket and the handsome smirk on Katsuki's face that suggested coming back to the apartment with him.

Coming back home.

Izuku couldn't help but smile softly to himself thinking about returning back to the same bed with Katsuki. If he had to sacrifice his own position in order to have that slice of heaven back, then he'd do it all over again.

Besides, Izuku knew in his heart Katsuki's career was held on the number one podium in his life.

It hurt to think about it slightly, however, Izuku would never ask Katsuki to give up his career for him. Like the blond man had said himself: it was the most important thing to him.

The lack of the puzzle piece bracelet around his wrist tonight proved it.

Katsuki's career was number one in his life and Izuku couldn't ask him to change that.

Izuku would figure out a way around his lack of employment, though. He'd get hired elsewhere or maybe go into an adjacent field if no more detective positions were available in Shizuoka City. Either way, Izuku would figure it out and Katsuki would be able to keep the thing most important to him.

A soft ding rang out and the metallic elevator doors opened to reveal the vacant ninth floor of the precinct. Izuku peered around at the darkness curiously waiting to hear a sound from Toshinori but when he walked around he heard nothing.

Gradually, an underlying odd smell filled his nose that gave Izuku an unexpected pause. It was sharp like electric soldering as if someone had burned several wires and it made Izuku worry that there might be some sort of electric issue.

"Toshinori?" Izuku called out to the dim-darkness with a furrowed brow. "Are you here?"

He carefully crept around the pitch black corner to see the light inside of his ex-Captain's office shining brightly and felt himself slightly more relieved at the sign of life. Izuku walked up to the wooden door and twisted the door handle to open it.

He expected to see bright yellow hair, gleaming like the sun and Toshinori's fatherly smile. But that's not what was waiting for him.

Instead, sitting there on Toshinori's empty desk was a dead rose.

Green eyes widened and all the oxygen from his body was stolen by the crumbled flower on the wooden table. It was wilted, crumpled and darkened in color as if all the life inside of it was forcefully drained from its petals.

Izuku's limbs went cold as ice and his heart pummeled to the darkest pit in his being when he realized what it was.

And that Toshinori was not here.

Izuku turned around quickly, urgency surging through his veins as he struggled to breathe. He needed to get out—he needed to leave. But when the sound of the elevator dinging called out into the darkness, Izuku's entire world stopped.

Izuku froze in place when he heard the metal doors cling shut and an un-seeable body shift their weight around the corner.

With trembling hands, the ex-detective carefully drew his gun pointed towards the black void where the light from the office didn't reach. His mind struggled to make out what was lurking inside as the sound of heavy footsteps approached him and he started to take several steps backwards—unsure of where he was going. He was trying to map out where the stairs were in the darkness behind him as the walls began closing in.

With each heavy thud of his heart, the footsteps grew steadily closer until green eyes saw the one thing he never wanted to see come into the light.

Like a nightmare Izuku couldn't even imagine himself, a tall broad shouldered figure birthed from the obsidian colored shadows to reveal Dabi perched in his gasmask.

The urgency in Izuku's mind flared as he pulled the trigger on his gun only for Dabi to dodge it expertly.

Izuku without hesitation fired off several more rounds, aiming directly for Dabi's head. The loud gunshots pierced his ears as he tried to steady his trembling hand to aim in the dark. But Dabi moved quickly and Izuku struggled to work his footing to keep up with the tall figure that was advancing like a distorted daydream.

"Shit—" Izuku cursed desperately when he clicked his trigger handgun an eighth time to be met with nothing.

All his senses panicked when quicker than he could reload Dabi advanced fully onto him and grabbed his wrists. Izuku screamed out in pain as the rough hands harshly twisted his forearms unnaturally backwards until he lost grip on the gun and whimpered out in pain.

Izuku struggled against the overpowering man as both fear and familiar dread climbed into his spine the second Dabi slammed him into the nearest wall with an unforgiving thud.

Emerald eyes were wide and full of alarm as Dabi snapped one of his hands to grab him by his thin throat and squeezed. Izuku began to struggle harder, screaming and kicking as he was slammed over and over again into the wall as a warning to stop moving. He gasped for air until his vision blurred and he began to feel light headed the tighter the hand cut off his airway.

Izuku yelled loudly for help and tried to use his hands to claw at the gloved hand around his throat until his mind flashed back to when Touya had his hand around his neck. Izuku shook his head trying to push away the haunting memory but it was exactly the same.

This felt exactly the same.

Izuku began crying and panicking when he realized he had been pinned successfully against the wall with no leeway of escaping from the larger man overpowering him to stay down.

Kacchan— he squeezed his eyes shut as he hiccupped for air and couldn't stop the downpour of tears and fear. Where's Katsuki—I need Katsu—

Then with his free hand, Dabi gripped Izuku's chin harshly and forced the crying man to look at him.

Izuku wearily opened his eyes to see himself staring back at him in the reflection of the gasmask.

"Please, let me go," Izuku begged when he realized he wouldn't be able to escape. The burning smell of electrical wires became thicker and soon the smell of smog filled the air. "Please—" but his words were harshly cut off when the hand squeezing his throat gripped hard enough to force him to stop pleading.

Visions of the dead rose inside of Toshinori's office planted terror inside of him when he pieced together Dabi was his stalker all along.

Dabi followed him from Yaizu to Shizuoka and Dabi had Touya's lighter.

Which meant—

Like an undying ghost, Dabi slowly removed his hand off Izuku's chin and began unbuckling the mask's straps. Izuku watched, terrified green eyes widening with each loosened fasten as Dabi peeled off the gas mask.

Hair as black as the midnight sky was revealed then the next thing Izuku came face to face with was what he told himself he hallucinated.

But he hadn't.

Touya's teal colored eyes were staring directly back at him with a gaze as frigid as winter.

"Hello, Angel," Dabi's—Touya's—Dabi's voice spoke slowly and Izuku stopped struggling as he went completely numb from head to toe.

He looked at the face in front of him and fought against accepting the voice he heard.

A voice he only heard in his dreams.

"N-No—" Izuku whimpered, eyes glued on Dabi's—Touya's—Dabi's face. The burns and piercings faded away in his head to match the voice and black hair melted into the color of red roses.

"—No," Izuku hissed, trying to shake his head to no avail when he was bombarded with the visual of Touya bleeding out on the floor. The smell of smoke coming from somewhere inside the building forced Izuku to relive seeing the flames eat away at Touya's flesh.

"I saw you—" he choked out, squeezing his eyes shut, trying to tell himself he hadn't imagined it. "—I saw—" I saw you die. "—I know what I saw—I know what I felt—" his chest ached with three years of grief.

"Look at me," Touya's calm voice commanded him. The man's rough hand forced Izuku to confront the surreal image in front of him again, and they locked gazes. "Look at me and tell me what you see now."

Izuku gazed upon the gruesome purple burns and silver piercings and choked back a sob. What was he supposed to say? There were no words to describe the double vision of the phantom of his present and his past mixing together before his very eyes that shared the same voice. A voice he used to love. Eyes he used to adore.

He saw a ghost.

He saw both his worst nightmare and most vivid daydream become real because Touya was alive.

Dabi had Touya's face and voice. There was no way around denying it any longer, but that fact alone made it worse. Touya was Dabi. Dabi was Touya and Dabi killed. Dabi set his apartment on fire. Dabi tried to kill Katsuki, tried to kidnap him, Dabi murdered hundreds of people and strung the Shigarakis high in their own blood.

Which meant Touya was now the most powerful, ruthless drug lord in the province.

Izuku's body went limp when the pressure inside his chest felt like too much. He cried for entirely different reasons as he thought about the grey headstone and all the red roses left at his doorstep.

"Touya…" Izuku gasped out in between a soft weep. His hands switched from trying to claw off Touya's hand from around his throat to holding it in a confused—angry—terrified manner. "Touya, why? All this time—"

"It's Dabi now, Izuku," the revenant informed him and Izuku struggled to separate the two. The coldness in Dabi's blue eyes was as unnerving as watching the dead rise. The grip around Izuku's thin neck loosened ever so slightly as he continued speaking. "I've waited a very long time for this moment and you're coming back to where you properly belong—with me."

Izuku's world suspended in place and his eyes went wide at the sudden declaration.

His mind supplied a vision of a smiling Katsuki and as if on cue the phone in his pocket rang with Katsuki's customized ringtone into the dry silence.

Neither man moved as the device buzzed relentlessly and Izuku could only think of how to get away. The fear in his body was multiplying quicker than he could process and it stemmed from something deep seated inside of him that he never fully addressed.

Dabi's face remained impeccably calm as he lifted his hand to brush a curl behind Izuku's ear. His fingers slipped down to Izuku's ear and there was a pause as the ghost touched his earlobe.

His empty pierced earlobe.

"I won't take 'no' as an answer," the deep voice informed him with heavy distaste. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

The hand strangling his throat went completely slack and air slammed into Izuku's lungs as he doubled over immediately from the force. Panic was palatable on Izuku's tongue as his phone rang again with Katsuki's ringtone. The sound kept him grounded long enough to listen to the erratic beating of his own heart and slow it down.

Dabi prepared to take a single step backwards but green eyes glanced down at his waist and sitting there was a black handgun.

In a split second decision, Izuku lunged forward and used all his strength to slam his elbow directly into Dabi's jaw until a sickening crack and yell echoed out.

Izuku quickly grabbed the handgun out of the holster and cocked it directly at the ghost in front of him. His chest heaved uncontrollably as he backed up, putting a healthy distance in between them as he watched Dabi's hunched over body nurse his jaw.

The black haired man slowly rose back to his full height, and pulled his hand back to reveal crimson blood in his palm. The calm demeanor of the man in front of him dissolved and soon a familiar livid expression replaced it.

"Hard way it is then," Dabi growled. "You never were a good listener."

Izuku gave a dangerous warning expression at him as he placed his shaking finger on the trigger.

They both stood still and the smell of smoke got thicker. Izuku scrunched his nose slightly and wearily glanced around, confused as to where the gasoline like odor was rising from.

"The lower levels of your precious police station are slowly catching fire, if that's what you're wondering," Dabi said, a sadistic smirk slowly birthing on his lips. "I have a detonator in my pocket as well, fully ready to blow out the fifth floor and incinerate this whole building if you don't comply."

Izuku turned to him again, panic fully in bloom when he realized what was occurring. The precinct was going up in flames below his feet.

Without warning, Izuku's hands started shaking as he imagined flames eating away at his flesh again.

"You're not leaving out of here without my help," Dabi hissed as he wiped the blood off his face. "I'm so goddamn sick of watching you live in this system's corruption. You feed into it like everything isn't fucked up and think you can play good cop while people like my father who run it have always been rotten to the core. But most of all, I'm sick of watching you be Bakugou's fucking slut."

The last word was spat out like it was more disgusting than saying Katsuki's surname. Dabi's eyes transformed into nothing but vengefulness as he stared at Izuku.

The temperature on the floor spiked and Izuku looked up at the vent above his head to see grey smoke start to pour in. Viridian eyes wildly glanced back at the man he had the gun pointed towards.

"Why would you do this?!" Izuku nearly screamed through his bruised throat. It was a double-edged question.

Why fake your death? Why kill all those people? Why leave him alone all these years thinking he was in the world by himself?

The mountain of questions built in his throat but the urgency to get out of the burning building overshadowed them in that moment.

"W-We're trapped. Touya, y-you're going to ki-kill us—"

"I've been pulled out of an inferno once just like you have. The only difference is I'm not weak and I don't fear flames," Dabi informed him in a bored tone. "There are people in the fire escape waiting for us and they'll only let you pass to safety if you're with me."

Dabi advanced with a single step and Izuku took one back.

Blue eyes flickered down at the movement and slowly a wicked smile etched into his face as he took another experimental one forward and Izuku took another backwards.

"I embrace the fire and the new life it's given me," he continued, eyes locked onto Izuku's fearful ones as he continued their two step dance of terror until Izuku's back hit a wall in the darkness. "So, that's your ultimatum. Choose me or you're going to die here, burned alive just like your parents."

But Izuku didn't move. Izuku couldn't move.

His feet became rooted in horror the more the grey smoke clouded air and his body began to shut down again against his will like it had every time he was faced with flames. Izuku scraped up every piece of courage sitting inside of his spirit in order not to break down. But all he could do was fear being trapped inside of another inferno as he kept the gun point on Dabi—on Touya—on Dabi—

Nausea rocked his body when his eyesight blurred between the double vision of the redhead he knew and the black haired arsonist in front of him.

"Don't force my hand, I wanted to do this peacefully," the haunting voice called to him as Dabi stepped forward again. But this time Izuku couldn't step back and he slid against the wall causing his knees to nearly buckle.

"Don't come closer!" Izuku screamed as he held the gun up directly to the man in front of him.

"Go ahead then, Izuku. Put a bullet in me and fucking end it," Dabi hissed, face twisted in hate. He calmly walked straight up to the smaller man until the cold barrel of the gun was pressed directly over his beating heart. "Kill me," Dabi dared as he lifted his hand to grab the barrel of the gun and push it into his flesh more.

The abused man's hands shook as he stared at the steel placed directly over the other's heart. He tried to pull the trigger. He tried with everything he had to pull it—but his finger never moved.

The memory of the redhead bleeding out on the ground appeared in his head.

"You can't...can you?" Dabi chuckled deeply with a taunting devil-like smirk. A dark fire ignited in his eyes as if he was pleased with the sudden revelation. "How interesting. You could try and kill Dabi but not Touya."

Izuku violently flinched as the large figure loomed over him, mere inches from his face. The terrified man squeezed his eyes shut trying to wake up from the nightmare. But his began to body shut down the second two large hands slammed on either side of his head, caging him in.

"Tell me, Angel. What are you more afraid of, me or fire?"

. . .

Katsuki cheered loudly with Kirishima and Mina over the sound of the loud drums and crowd. The beating of the drums grew more intense as the dancers floated around each other in a powerful dance. They held torches lit with fire in their hands and hypnotically waved the orange and red flames around in the dark while others held up lanterns and the giant red dragon dancing in the back.

"You look like you're having a good time!" Mina commented in a loud voice over the noise in the dense crowd. She smiled at him and elbowed him in the side. "I saw you talking with you-know-who a little while ago. Did you hash everything over?"

Katsuki smiled with a shrug as he kept clapping in beat with everyone and the drummer musicians. "I gave him my key. He's going back to the apartment."

"Oh? Not the motel?"

"No, Dabi tried to break in around the same time as the other policemen were attacked," Katsuki informed. "I told him to go back with Denki and Sero to my apartment to make sure he got back safely."

Mina stopped clapping and frowned. "Do you think Dabi is up to something? Like coordinating mass attacks around the city because of the festival to stir up something?"

Katsuki slowly stopped clapping on beat as well when a buzz on his phone came in. Then on cue another with Mina and Kirishima's phone chimed.

"Shit, there's another attack near the station," Kirishima hissed. "Just another assault and run."

Katsuki furrowed his brow at the peculiar string of attacks.

Why aren't they going further than attacking the officers? It was a grim question but part of him thought it was odd the assailants were just beating and leaving—as if to draw attention away from something else.

Katsuki quietly thought about beautiful green curls and checked his silver watch, slightly antsy.

"I think I'm going to head out earlier than I planned," Katsuki mumbled. "Er, I'll grab my stuff from you tomorrow? Izuku might be a bit spooked and I kinda want to talk to him about the whole kissing Mirio issue. Maybe waiting until tomorrow wasn't the best idea."

Mina hummed in approval. "What made you change your mind?"

"I...I yelled something rather hurtful at him," Katsuki whispered, shame swelling in his chest. "I told him I was going to lose my job, the one thing important in my life, because of him...then I said we weren't together that long so his apology didn't matter."

Both of his friends fell into a silence inside of the roaring crowd.

He thought about Izuku's pained face from seeing the lack of puzzle pieces around his wrist. "I realize I should go fix that sooner than later. I don't want to repeat the issues with Takeyama with Izuku."

"Sounds like the right decision," Mina said with an understanding smile. "I'm so proud of you, working out communication versus burying your head in the sand! I also think someone wants some well overdue Izuku cuddles."

"Don't forget kisses," Kirishima snickered from beside his wife. "And possibly even some unsupervised adult time with their bunny, heh? Probably got a month worth of frustrations you two wanna, er, work out."

They both playfully poked his cheek until Katsuki's face flushed bright pink and he was glowering in embarrassment. The blond grunted and swatted their hands away with a huff as he gave them the finger with no real malice behind it.

"I'll catch you two later," Katsuki announced with a small smirk and did a two finger salute as he backed away.

His friends waved goodbye to him as Katsuki pushed his way out of the crowd to go stand off to the entrance of the gathering. He noted all the colored yukatas of the citizens dressed up and appreciated how they were paying him no mind.

It felt so damn refreshing not to be the center of attention. He was officially out of whatever vortex of hell he had been trapped in and it gave him a much clearer headspace to know things were going to calm down.

Or, at least, sort of.

As the tired lieutenant headed down the street in the opposite flow of foot traffic, he huffed while he proceeded to pull out the notes app on his phone.

Everything was going to calm down in his own life but that didn't mean Dabi would chill the hell out any time soon. The puzzle solver's brain was picking apart the new conclusion he came to. If Dabi was spelling out what he wanted, then Katsuki could predict the next attack.

The workaholic decided to use the time between walking from the festival to his apartment to write down the possible combination of street names again until something clicked.

He tried the order of the buildings that were burned down: Kaze, Ichirizuka, Uchi and Zaze. K-I-U-Z.

Then he tried that same order but backwards: Zazen, Uchi, Ichirizuka, Kaze. Z-U-I-K.

Then he tried the one word it actually did spell and frowned: Kaze, Ichirizuka, Zazen, Uchi. K-I-Z-U.

He continued like this, shifting the different possibilities until he wrote out all sixteen different possibilities. But as he came to the last combination, it gave him a mild pause at what he was seeing.

Ichirizuka, Zazen, Uchi, Kaze. I-Z-U-K.

His brow wrinkled in confusion.

However, before Katsuki could analyze this further, his phone buzzed yet again.

He frowned when he quickly switched out his notes app to see, yet again, another notification detailing an attack and run of a police officer. But this time it was somewhere far away from the precinct and it made his brows pinch together baffled by the lack of pattern in the attacks.

They're so different it almost seems like it's on purpose. A foreboding sensation crawled up his spine as Katsuki thought about Dabi and reconsidered all that he had thought about earlier today. Katsuki began walking back to his apartment quicker when he realized that he was alone and he felt the sensation of eyes looking on him.

Scarlet eyes narrowed at the crowd of people, feeling something off. At that moment he decided to call Izuku, if anything, to double check that the nerd made it to the station or at least was back at the apartment. The dial tone rang three times and went to voicemail. Katsuki frowned deeply because that was odd. Izuku always answered his calls, no matter what—even if to say he was busy and could call later.

So he tried again.

But got nothing again.

Just when he was about to try a third time, the name 'S. Todoroki' appeared on his screen. Katsuki quickly answered because an odd sensation in the air told him something was wrong.

"Hello?" Katsuki questioned immediately, feeling nervous from the lack of Izuku answering his calls.

"Katsuki, is Izuku with you?" Shouto rushed out and on the other end of the phone the blond could here papers shuffling.

"No?" The blond frowned. "Why, what's going on?"

"I-I couldn't get what he said off my mind," Shouto confessed in his haste. "Instead of going back to the festival, I went to look at Touya's death certificate and looked into who the coroner was like you said and—" There was a thick pause and the lieutenant felt his entire body ice over.

He stopped walking in the middle of the street as Shouto dropped the next piece of information.

"Katsuki, the coroner was one of the people killed in The Red Dawn. He was an All For One member."

Scarlet eyes widened by several fractions. "...That wasn't Touya's body?"

"No," Shouto whispered ghostly. "He faked the cross examination for the dental records. I went to Toshinori's place and pulled out the file for the coroner's name with him. It says here that the coroner helped the Shigarakis fake several deaths. The asterisks indicate faked death. Touya's death date means he is the third death he's falsified."

Out of everything in that sentence, what gave Katsuki the most pause wasn't the information about the coroner.

"Wait, what do you mean you pulled out the file with Toshinori at his place?" The lieutenant said slowly, heart increasing in rate. The world came to a halt when he suddenly heard his Captain's voice in the background of the phone conversation.

"Oh, um, I had tried to call him but he didn't answer so I drove to his place," Shouto answered, baffled by the off topic question. "When I got here he said he had gone to the festival but his phone got pickpocketed while he was there. You know how crowds are."

"Did...Did he send Izuku an email about his resignation before that?" He asked desperately, oxygen stolen from his body as he clicked the puzzle pieces in place.

"Um, I can ask him, but what does this have to do with Touya—"

"—Because Izuku got a goddamn email saying to go to the station from Toshinori!" Katsuki hissed. "I need you to ask him if he fucking sent Izuku that email right now."

His comrade on the other line immediately did as he asked because of the forceful tone and Katsuki tried to convince himself he was overthinking. He thought of the best-case scenario: Toshinori went to the festival, pulled his phone out to email Izuku, put it away and it was stolen from him. Then he somehow instead decided to go home rather than Uchimizu Ave—

Katsuki stopped breathing all together.

Uchimizu Ave.

Ichirizuka. Zazen. Uchi. Kaze. Uchimizu.

I-Z-U-K-U.

Izuku.

"He said he didn't send Izuku any email about his resignation, Katsuki," Shouto whispered, sounding like he was getting the picture. "He actually didn't even know Izuku resigned on television until I mentioned it."

Katsuki couldn't hear anything and the world around him ceased to exist.

The loud thumping of his heart pounded in his ears and his chest tightened with fear at the realization.

Shouto's distant voice in his ear called out his name as his breathing became steadily shallow. Katsuki forgot how to exhale when he came face to face with a happy couple walking past him holding hands. They were smiling and laughing at each other, holding sparklers and gleaming at each other.

He saw a mirage of him and Izuku doing the same and slowly the visual of Izuku happily laughing vanished into smoke.

"Shouto, I need everyone to get to U.A immediately!" Katsuki commanded into the phone as his mind sunk into overdrive. "Send everyone to the precinct and call the fire department!"

Shouto didn't waste a second and confirmed the command while Katsuki hung up the phone and shoved it in his pocket. The lieutenant's sight blurred with tunnel vision as he turned on his heel and ran in the opposite direction at full speed.

The rubber soles on his shoes hit the concrete with more urgency than he'd ever felt in his life as he weaved through the crowd, ignoring the loud calls and him accidentally knocking over people. Hurried apologies left his mouth but it all blended together with the pounding of his own heart in his ears.

Fury and desperation more intense than anything Katsuki had ever felt filled his veins as he prayed for the first time in his life.

His mind replayed all the moments with Izuku from the bar with his flirty smile to the shy glances at the office. He felt all the sweet kisses and 'I love yous' and could still feel Izuku wrapping his arms around his waist all the times they rode together on his motorcycle. He pictured Izuku cooking with him and sharing a kiss at the baseball game. The silliness when Izuku danced around, covered in paint in the art studio. Then finally he felt the warmth Izuku always radiated sleeping next to him at the end of the day.

"I'm your family now."

No. No, please no—

Adrenaline made Katsuki run faster than he ever had in his life as he looked at the cruel ticking on his silver watch go by with each second. All the loving memories of Izuku faded with each tick until he finally arrived at the precinct.

He came to a skidding stop, and all of his worst fears became a reality as he stared up in horror at the building in front of him. Red eyes widened at the small hints of smoke leaving several windows and tiny caged in flames pushed against the windows.

The desperate blond whirled around wildly and realized he was the first to make it on the scene. There was a three person crowd of bystanders pointing up to the building where a sliver of orange flames could be seen through on the lower floors.

Katsuki ran up to the glass doors without an inkling of hesitation with his thoughts clouded by Izuku. Losing Izuku. He was going to lose Izuku—

The inside of the lobby was crowded by thick grey smog and when he tried to yank open the doors they snapped back with a sharp thud. They're fucking locked. The blond furiously cursed and his heart rate tripled as he took one single step back and held up his elbow to slam it through the glass with all his strength.

The sharp material cut deeply into his skin drawing blood and the smell of carbon monoxide nearly choked him, but Katsuki pushed through it. He stood back and kicked out the rest of the shattered material and ducked his way inside.

The inferno that was waiting for him was something Katsuki would never have imagined in his own nightmares. Inside on the first floor fire was quickly catching on either side of him and the smell of gas was leaking inside the building indicating the gas line had been cut.

"Izuku!" He called out loudly. The smoke entered into his lungs and he choked back a cough. He covered his nose and mouth quickly to prevent the burning chemical smell from entering his body. "Izuku, where are you?!"

He looked at the elevator that was no longer working and made his way into the flames with little concern for his own safety, his mind solely focused on saving Izuku. He ripped off the sleeve of his shirt fearlessly as he used the orange cloth to cover his mouth as he carefully navigated his way around the room holding little fires igniting quickly. The proximity of the flames made his body quickly begin to sweat.

A single loud gunshot boomed from the staircase above him and red eyes widened as he turned on his heel to push his way towards the sound.

His mind kept repeating 'get to Izuku' over and over again as he did his best to make it to the staircase.

He dodged all the walls, furniture, and electrical equipment covered in flames that threatened to eat his skin. The hungry fire rapidly spread in every direction, consuming everything unlucky enough to be in its path. When he came to the metal staircase, he had several nicks on his arms that caused him to hiss out in pain.

The panicking man climbed up the staircase calling out Izuku's name, when he heard the crashing of several pieces of ceiling from the upper levels. He clutched the cloth over his mouth tighter because the higher he climbed the thicker the smoke became.

Suddenly without warning a loud blast shook his body and Katsuki nearly lost his footing. He crouched low on the stairs until a second unforgiving vibration shook the infrastructure. The building rocked dangerously, and horror sunk into Katsuki's skin when he realized what that was.

The temperature spiked several degrees as he continued his climb upwards when he heard a small whimper get louder.

He came up to the passageway between the fourth and fifth floor and saw what looked to be a dense cage of flames surrounding Izuku. The younger man was stuck in the corner, trapped from going further down the stairs by two fallen ceiling beams. The wooden pieces of infrastructure were crossed in the formation of an 'X'. were fully caught on fire blocking passage through.

The bright flames surrounded Izuku and from the other side of the sea of fire Katsuki could see all the tears, fear, and horror that filled the freckled face. Izuku sunk down onto the floor, breaking down in inconsolable mutters.

"Izuku!" Katsuki yelled out and his voice cracked.

Green eyes widened and searched around the inferno until they caught sight of him on the other side of the flames. The ghostly look encompassing Izuku's face was as if he had seen the true form of the devil himself and there were bruises wrapped around his neck matching his bloodied lip.

The blond quickly felt nauseous and his urgency tripled.

"K-Katsuki," Izuku weakly cried, face twisting in despair. "Katsuki, it's T-Touya—Dabi is—"

"—I know, I know," Katsuki rushed out, cutting to the chase. The lieutenant carefully watched his footing in the flames as he tried his best to get closer to the burning pieces of wood without nicking himself but failed and cursed when a flickering flame licked at his skin. "Shit—"

"I managed to shoot him in the a-arm then knocked him on the floor and ran," Izuku wept and curled into himself when more pieces of the ceiling collapsed near him. "I don't k-know how long until he comes again—but K-Katsuki, I-I can't movemy body. My legs—"

Izuku's sentence was cut short when more pieces of the infrastructure began to fall, and a horrified cry was torn from Izuku's throat.

Red eyes darted all around in the life-threatening heat looking for a way to reach Izuku. He zeroed in on the small crawlway opening at the bottom of the 'X' the burning beams made. The blond cursed when he realized they had fallen in a way Izuku could get through. The other man was small enough to get under with minimum burns.

But Izuku was terrified of fire—terrified to his core.

Katsuki took a deep breath in when he realized what had to be done.

"Izuku, I need you to grab my hand when I reach out to you," Katsuki commanded, steadying himself at a safe distance. Izuku looked at him and shook his head, completely petrified. "Izuku," he called again, trying to be soothing. "I know you're scared but you need to listen to me. Lay on your belly to crawl under the beams and I'll pull you to this side, okay? Don't worry, I'll carry you out but I need you to grab my hand."

Katsuki felt his spirit ignited with some hope when that seemed to do the trick and Izuku weakly began to sit forward on his trembling legs.

"It's going to hurt a bit but you need to get over here so we can leave before this building collapses," Katsuki informed when he suddenly heard the sound of firetrucks and police officers outside. Izuku looked out of the window at the flashing blue lights and back to Katsuki before nodding weakly.

The trembling man laid flat on his belly, prepared to crawl under the small space under the 'X' formation and Katsuki kneeled down. Once they were face to face, crouched low, green eyes locked with red and Katsuki felt his heart twist at how much faith was inside of Izuku's eyes.

The smaller man steadied himself, ready to push through his fears but in that same moment a loud metal bang echoed in the staircase indicating a door was kicked open.

Katsuki's limbs went impossibly cold in the vortex of hell he was stuck in.

Izuku looked up with increased fear in his eyes when the rushing of footsteps advanced on them. The trembling man quickly turned back to Katsuki and at the same time they reached out and grabbed each other's hands, wincing at the heat too close to their skin.

Katsuki tightened his grip on Izuku's hands and began pulling him through the small space ignoring the heat digging into his skin but a loud cry from Izuku startled him. Red eyes looked up on the other side of the fire to the dark figure wearing a gas mask and standing tall, bleeding out in his shoulder.

The lieutenant's heart sank when the arsonist quickly squatted and wrapped his arm around the other half of Izuku and the green haired man screamed.

Katsuki cursed as he used both hands to yank on Izuku's bandaged arm trying to fight the pull on the other side.

"Let me go! L-Let me go! Please, Touya, no!" Izuku begged and tried to kick at the other man clawing and pulling him backwards. Katsuki's hands slipped off Izuku's forearm until it was just his hands holding on desperately to Izuku's small hand.

The arsonist in the gas mask didn't say a word as he pulled Izuku back on the other side of the fire, causing Katsuki to fall forward.

"Fuck!" the blond yelled out in pain when a black foot stepped directly on his and Izuku's intertwined hands and dug into his bones. "Let go of him, you son of a bitch!" Katsuki screamed as he regained his footing, ignoring the intense pain in his hand.

But Dabi pressed his boot in further to their bonded fingers. Izuku cried in pain as he was relentlessly hauled back onto the other side of the fire and the grasp on their hands finally broke.

"No!" Katsuki screamed out. He desperately grappled at Izuku's hand, but only caught the small black thread around Izuku's wrist as he was pried away.

The thin bracelet snapped off Izuku's wrist and Katsuki fell backwards onto the fire on the wall behind him. The blond howled out in pain when the flames seared his back and burned through his shirt instantly. He rolled on his back in a second to smother the flames catching fire on his shirt but the burns had set in place despite the fire going out.

Panicked, Katsuki quickly sat forward and stared up in horror through the flames at the visual of the masked Dabi smothering a white cloth over Izuku's mouth and nose. The struggling man went completely limp and Izuku's eyes fluttered closed. Katsuki's chest tightened as he watched the freckled man's unconscious body fall directly into Dabi's arms helplessly.

Carefully, the large man effortlessly picked Izuku up in his arms and stared down at his unconscious face. Slowly, the nightmarish man in the gas mask turned to the fallen Katsuki on the other side of the fire and tilted his head.

"You figured it out too late," the distorted voice informed him in a heartless tone. "You don't get to have everything, Bakugou. You want him back? Come to my fucking playground and we'll see how well you fare."

Katsuki clutched the bracelet in his fist as the toxic chemicals filled his lungs. He weakly called out for the other man to stop but Dabi didn't. The arsonist didn't even spare him a second glance.

Dabi turned back upwards on the stairs and Katsuki weakly cried out Izuku's name. The police officer's mind started to swim in and out of focus as the edges of his vision blended with bright flames inside the rapidly forming inferno.

Katsuki felt his mind lose track of time as he slouched forward, his body finally overheating.

He closed his eyes, trying with all his might to reopen them and when he did, everything was covered in hellfire. He blinked back to consciousness slowly when he felt himself dragged upright and when he blinked again, he was being hauled back down the stairs by two firefighters. But a lack of green around him made him panic again.

The lieutenant started pointing towards the collapsing upper half of the building.

"There's another person—" he weakly informed as he was hauled back out into the burning lobby by firefighters. "S-Stop! There's another person up there!"

But the fire fighter just uttered an apology. "We can't go further up, the staircase is blocked and collapsing—it's too dangerous. We need to get you out now."

Katsuki wheezed and coughed as he was brought out to safety by the fireman holding him upright. He struggled against the two men who were pulling him away from the burning building, trying to tell them to go back inside but his body was too weakened to fight back. He cried out for them to stop and yelled out but nausea from the fumes caused Katsuki to choke on his pleas.

The fresh air hit his face as he was dragged back out into the open. Black soot covered his face as he choked back several coughs and his chest heaved violently.

He staggered out to the curb that was full of people now. Various police officers like Toshinori and Aizawa were gathered around, trying to push back citizens while firefighters attempted to drench out the flames with their hoses.

The firefighter hauled him on the opposite side of the street out of the danger zone with the paramedics and other officers witnessing the building crumble. Katsuki gazed ahead of him in terror as the building he was just in was now fully consumed by flames.

"Katsuki!" Kirishima's voice called out to him and quickly rushed up to him with Shouto and Mina. "Katsuki, wh-what happened?!"

The lieutenant couldn't form any words as he thought about Izuku's bruised face and Dabi's gasmask. He heard his friend's voice and held back a sob.

Katsuki winced as medics quickly rushed to him and held him upright. They forcefully stripped him of his shirt to reveal two intense burn gashes on his back as if someone seared his golden wings off like a fallen Icarus.

He buckled on his knees when he couldn't hold himself up right anymore and held his trembling fist up to his face.

He opened his palm to reveal the broken bracelet holding Izuku's puzzle piece and clenched his teeth in pain as ointment was applied to his newly acquired burns.

"Katsuki, w-we need you to tell us what happened," Shouto spoke quietly, eyes looking at all the disaster around them.

But his voice struggled to find the words.

Katsuki's soul broke in two as he stared up at the precinct being swallowed by the flames. He could feel his heart splinter painfully into several pieces like the gods had reached their hands inside of his body and tore him apart.

He couldn't stop the tears from streaming down his cheeks as he at last realized what truly was the most important thing in his life—now that it had been stolen from him.

"Izuku," he whispered in a broken voice, staring at the puzzle piece in his hand. "Touya...Dabi. He was spelling Izuku."

All the other U.A officers looked at each other confused but Shouto's whole body went stiff staring down at his lieutenant. Katsuki clutched the puzzle piece tighter in his hand.

"Ichirizuka. Zazen. Uchi. Kaze. Uchimizu," Katsuki spoke each street name slowly and dark understanding settled into every officer's face. "I-Z-U-K-U. Izuku. The answer to what he wanted was in front of me this whole time."

---

Thank you so much for reading! :D :D 💚

Let me know your thoughts/feelings/screams! Next chapter is the climax where Dabi, Shouto, Izuku and Katsuki's arcs all finally converge. *pops the bottle of champagne Izuku and Katsuki never got to open in celebration* We made it!