~*~ song used was "miss me" by Joseph Black ~*~

Yokohama City, Kamino Ward — x2XXX, August

Aizawa Shouta ~ Teacher of Class 1-A

The damage had been minimal, all things considered. Casualties were kept in the lower hundreds, with a few thousand injured or harmed in some way - which didn't even begin to come close to all those who would forever be traumatized - so why was it that Bakugo Katsuki had yet to be treated?

Shouta had not been a part of the raid to find his student - much to his frustration - but he had been able to escape the press in time to witness the aftermath.

There, in the distance, All For One could be seen being taken away to Tartarus where he would remain imprisoned for the rest of his life, and not too far away was All Might, or what was left of him anyways.

He was in his true form again, and though Shouta had seen his skeletal form many, many times before, the former Pro had never looked so….frail before. Once so powerful and bright, not unlike the sun most people would say, and now he was reduced to a thin, wary man.

Blue eyes like the sky on a cloudless day were now dull and sunken into his hollowed face; shoulders hunched and drawn in as if to protect him from a non-existent breeze that could blow him away. All Might just looked so tired and more worn-out than Shouta had ever seen the man, and that concerned him greatly. What was left of his Hero costume hung off his broken frame limply.

All Might was being taken away to an ambulance, cradling his broken arms close to himself, with several sidekicks assisting him, apparently it having already slipped their minds that that was once the Number One Hero. His fight must have rattled them much more than they were letting on, Shouta thought, as he recalled the man's short message:

Now, it's your turn.

Many would perceive the message as a warning to any future Villains; that even though All Might could no longer fight them, that a new Symbol of Peace would take his place.

Shouta hoped for the sake of his sanity and the safety of his students, it would be soon.

Deciding that All Might - now Yagi, Shouta thought grimly - was taken care of for now, he would go and find his kidnapped student, as he hadn't seen him with any Rescue Heroes or already in an ambulance being whisked off to the hospital and to his anxious parents.

The Erasure Hero navigated his way through the rubble and through the scattered, dangerous pieces of debris from years of experience and his capture weapon. Though he knew Yagi had tried his best not to damage too much of the city, they knew it would be inevitable considering just who the man had fought.

All For One was ruthless and cruel, and even with his silver tongue, it would be hard for someone to ignore the deadly aura around the Villain—Shouta could feel it from all the way over here.

He shook off the thoughts and continued through the maze of destroyed buildings.

After a few minutes of climbing and ducking through smashed concrete, shattered glass, and scorched bricks, Shouta finally came to the heart of where the fight had taken place.

A giant crater sat where buildings once had, some batches of dirt churned into mud, other parts slathered in the blood of the deceased, and more ground stabbed with the sharp edges of metal and glass. The whole place reeked of ozone and small fires still pumped plumes of black smoke into the already dark sky as Heroes worked to put them out and hull survivors and bodies from the wreckage that lay like tombstones on the horizon.

Something thick and heavy that he could not see sat in the air and burned his throat and stung his eyes, and Shouta knew it wasn't just smoke. Pure, raw, unimaginable Quirk-power still resided in the air he breathed and weighed like stones on his shoulders from the aftermath of the battle, leaving a foreboding feeling to flood the Hero.

His gaze was cast over the damage in the distance, taking in the dead bodies and severed limbs that poked from the gaps of buildings and holes that had been blasted into the dirt that now looked like bugs crawling up from the earth.

No matter how many times he saw it Shouta would never get used to seeing dismembered corpses.

Black eyes landed on a battle-worn blond in the middle of the crater.

Bakugo sat huddled over a prone form, shoulders shaking as quiet sobs escaping him.

Shouta's eyes widened in realization, and he made a move to rush towards his traumatized student, but the Space Hero, Thirteen, grabbed his arm to halt him in his tracks.

"Wait, Eraserhead—you don't want to-" they tried to say, but Shouta ripped his arm from their hold and pushed past to the trembling blond.

"That's my student," he snapped harshly, too on-edge to try and wrangle his emotions in check. Thirteen only cast him a distressed look, but did not try to hold him back a second time.

"Just—Just prepare yourself for what you see," Thirteen whispered helplessly, but Shouta was already gone.

…..

Bakugo Katsuki ~ U.A. Hero Course

Katsuki sat near-motionless over the body; the silent sobs raking his body had his heart howling in agony. A thick fog blanketed his mind and made him oblivious to the world around him.

No no no—the shitty nerd can't be dead, he can't he can't he c a n t-

Grief choked him up and kept him from trying to do something—anything—to try one last time to help the deceased boy he cradled protectively in his arms.

Sudden, firm hands planted themselves on his stiff shoulders, sending electric shocks through his body and jolting his mind from its dark thoughts.

A scream ripped itself from his raw throat - hoarse from crying - before he could even think of stopping it, and he whipped around to glare at whoever had touched him, because this fucker was going to pay for what happened to Deku and-

"Bakugo." A familiar voice. Deep, male—trembling. That single word ripped through the silent air and had his ears ringing like the after-effect of one of his Explosions and cleared the fog clinging to his mind.

Katsuki blinked through the blurriness of his eyes - since when had he started crying? - and came face-to-face with Aizawa. The man stood over him, eyes wide with an expression Katsuki had never seen on him before, and lower lip trembling.

Aizawa must have noticed the grief-stricken look on his student's face, because he bit down on his lip with a ferocity that could draw blood and buried the lower-half of his face into his capture weapon. He looked at a loss for what to do, but Katsuki could give less of a shit about what was going through his teacher's head.

He turned back around and buried his spikey blond head into the corpse's shoulder. Katsuki wrenched his shoulders from his grip and hunched closer to Deku's corpse, shielding him from Aizawa like he thought he would try and take him away - which, in hindsight, he might.

The back of his throat burned fiercely like someone had fed him hot coals, and his eyes stung like all hell. Katsuki fought back the tears that had only just stopped and turned back to his best friend- but, no, they hadn't been friends for years, ever since Katsuki got his Quirk.

And they never would be again.

Exhaustion gripped him like icy claws and he had never wanted to sleep so badly in his life, but with the grief churning sickeningly in his stomach, he forced his eyes to remain open lest he throw up.

A wet sob garbled deep from his chest and out into the air around him when he set burning red eyes on the boy, but he had long-since stopped caring about what people would think when they saw him like this.

Deku- Midoriya- Izuku's body lay beneath him, cold and broken.

Empty viridian-green eyes stared up unseeingly at the darkened clouds overhead, eyelids glistening with tears that had since stopped flowing, his pale face frozen in a weak, wobbly smile. The idiot never stopped smiling, not even in the fucking face of death.

Izuku's right arm was crushed to shit, no doubt from his Quirk again, and his torso to his left shoulder was scorched to a charred-ugly black, crisp and ashy on Katsuki's fingertips. A jagged hole had been ripped through his side at some point during All Might's battle, but the shitty nerd had never once stopped fighting, reassuring Katsuki that he would save him as the blond raged at him that he didn't need his shitty help.

"We're here to save you, Kacchan, don't worry!"

In the end, Katsuki lived and Izuku died.

Where did that leave him?

Alone, broken, mourning.

"Don't- Don't leave me, Zuku," Katsuki whispered into his chest, clinging to the dead boy like a lifeline, fresh tears streaming down his dirt-stained face and leaving muddied tracks. "I- I never got to be your friend—you never got to be a Hero, you damn idiot! What the hell were you thinking?! I- I…please…

"I'm not ready for you to go."

…..

Katsuki was eventually dragged away from Izuku's corpse and driven to the hospital where he met his parents, but by then he had gone numb and the tears no longer came.

…..

"You'll be okay, Katsuki, you'll be okay-"

"Fuck off."

…..

Katsuki woke up one night from a horrible nightmare a year later—his eyes watering, chest heaving but he still couldn't fucking breathe—hands shaking as mini-explosions went off in them, sweat slick against his back and forehead.

Zuku laid out on the cold ground, eyes glassy and dull, searing into his soul—blood pouring from his side-wound and spilling past blue lips.

"Your fault, Kacchan, it's always your fault—"

Katsuki didn't go back to sleep that night.

…..

Musutafu, U.A. High — x2XXX, March

Three years had passed since All Might's fight against All For One, and 1-A, now 3-A, was graduating along with the rest of their year, lined up beside the stage in rows.

Reporters were only allowed to be on campus as long as they stayed in the back to not interrupt the ceremony, and could only interview the soon-to-be Heroes after the ceremony finished.

Families and friends gathered before the stage, snapping pictures and cheering praise as their loved ones were called up by Principal Nezu for their diplomas.

Katsuki stood confidently among his classmates, Hagakure in front of him and Yaomomo behind him. Each and every one of them - especially Shinso - had worked hard to become Pro Heroes and to stand upon this stage, and now it was worth it.

The staff were all lined up on either side of Nezu, with Aizawa next to the podium, as one by one Class 3-A was called up.

Katsuki cast a quick glance into the sea of parents, searching for his own, until his eyes landed on his mom, red clashing with red. Bakugo Mitsuki grinned like a proud mama bear when their eyes met, and she waved one arm high in the air towards him, jamming her elbow into his father's side to get him to look his way. Bakugo Masaru grinned widely at his explosive son, and held Katsuki's little sister, Himari, up higher so she could get a better look.

Scoffing at their antics but grinning back nonetheless, Katsuki thrust a fist into the air and turned towards the steps that led up the stage as his name was called.

Katsuki stood tall before the rat-dog-bear creature and puffed out his chest, accepting the diploma and encouraging words from the principal as the crowd cheered for his success.

The diploma weighed heavy in his hands, but it was comforting, proving that he had made it, that he was a Hero now. Releasing a small breath, Katsuki turned to his now-former teacher.

Aizawa stood before him, wrapped in that familiar capture scarf and dressed in his Hero jumpsuit. The Erasure Hero grinned at his former student through his capture weapon, and rested a comforting, scarred hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly.

"Well done, kid," he grunted encouragingly in a typical Aizawa-like fashion.

Katsuki scoffed half-heartedly. "You can hardly call me a kid anymore, old man."

Aizawa huffed in mock-annoyance. "Come on, now, just this once?"

The now-Hero rolled his eyes and his grin turned sharp as he said good-naturedly, "Yeah, yeah, Sensei. I'll be fine, okay?"

Satisfied, the Erasure Hero pulled back his hand and stuffed it into his costume pocket. A soft look entered his eyes as he looked down at the blond, and he said quietly, "Do good, for him, you hear?"

Katsuki's good mood sobered, but didn't falter. He nodded once in agreement, and walked off the stage to his family.

As he made his way through the crowd to his parents and baby sister, his eyes scanned the gathered people until his gaze locked with Midoriya Inko.

Dark green so like his met red, and Auntie smiled sadly at Katsuki, her eyes seemingly saying, it's okay, it wasn't your fault.

Chest tight and tears welling up, threatening to spill, Katsuki smiled, small and shaky, back at her, and as his parents came into view, he tipped his head back to look up at the sky.

Wish you were here, and I'm sorry.

His tears slipped freely and silently down his face as he cried.