Countdown to reality
1. First and foremost… Thanks for being on this chapter and reading this story! I am so happy to share it, to work on it and to have you all reading! (Even one single person reading always make my heart jump!).
2. Short warning! "T" rating is for (1) Bakugo swearing. (2) Violence. It will still happen regularly. Stay safe and take care!
3. Hummmm… if you are still reading, continue enjoying this story!
Day 1. Middle afternnon. Countdown 29:08:01
.
Midoriya Inko had that shitty look on her face. The look Deku sometimes had too, when he was serious and angry at the same time. Bakugo could easily put her in her son's shoes, with dark-green energy arcs flaring around her face.
"Sit back down," She ordered, and Bakugo sat before he knew he had agreed to it. "I… I cannot believe your parents kept you in the dark and didn't tell you any details! For a decade! What did they expect? That you would remain a nice toddler forever? That you will never question anything? What world are they living in?"
Staying quiet always had one advantage. People never liked silence. They always felt the need to fill it with unnecessary babbling, avoiding the awkwardness silence brought. Usually, he found it annoying, especially when it came to Deku's constant muttering. Yet, sometimes, it was useful.
He just needed to stay put to learn more. Lying was not even necessary.
"Tell me, Katsuki, what is it that you know about people with Quirks as yours?"
So much for staying entirely quiet. He sneered. "My Quirk seem to be considered as dangerous or some of this shit. It could be. Sure, but I'm not a weakling who's incapable of fucking control."
"I don't doubt it, Katsuki." She replied, purposely not looking at the DVD player. "For the police, on the other hand, that you can be in control or not doesn't make a difference. If they learn about you, they will arrest you. There will not be a trial. You will have no lawyer. They will not even ask you questions. They will just arrest you, and take you to an incarceration center within the hour."
Deku's mother was not stuttering anymore. Her words were hard and cold. Bakugo wondered if she had witnessed one of these unfair arrests.
"A few years ago, a journalist managed to get hired in one of those places. He was undercover. At the time, the government had us believe these were just regular prisons, and even if there were heavy doubts about this being the truth, we could only listen to rumors. What the journalist revealed to the world was something different…. Entirely."
Deku's mother was staring at him with sorrow and pain, and with a kind of strength that he had only witnessed on heroes faces before. The strength to tell painful things, the strength to explain something hurting, hurting so deep and so terribly that it took everything she had to tell the words. The strength to tell it anyway, because it just was what she ought to do.
"Children or adult, it makes no difference. Human rights are just a sad joke. In these places, living conditions are terrible and people die every day. The prisoners, they are restrained at all times, and the only moment they are allowed to leave the cells is when they take them to study their Quirks. 'Studying' is a nice word for something filthy. The journalist said he saw horrors."
She paused, before continuing, "They would probably have a good look at your hands, Katsuki-chan, to check how it works. Then if you were lucky, they would find no use for your Quirk and they would let you to die. If your Quirk can be usefull and if it is not too damaged by the study, they would put you to work. Night and day... With no other choice, with no alternative, with no hope to be free ever again."
Deku's mom was looking at him straight in the eyes, and he found himself unable to look away.
"My husband, Izuku's father, he could breathe fire. When we first met I had no idea, but he told me at some point. I swore I would never tell on him, and I lived with him beautiful years. The fact that his Quirk was a dangerous one never scared me. I knew him as a person, as a lover, as a father, and I knew he would never do harm on purpose."
Bakugo did not want her to finish that story. He really did not want to understand why she sounded so hurt.
She continued, standing tall on her chair, no tears in her eyes.
"Someone sold him out." She declared, and her anger was almost brighter than any of his explosion would ever be. "I have never known who did. There is a reward, you see. The more dangerous the Quirk is, the more money you can get."
She sighed.
"Katsuki. I have never seen my husband again. Police came to my door and they told me the arrest happened at his workplace. They had not come just to inform me. They real purpose was to check if Izuku was truly Quirkless. He was six, and if he had had a Quirk, they would have taken him as well. My husband is probably dead, today. I don't know, and I will never know."
She got up, cleaned the sake spilled on the table.
The silence was unbearable.
"By telling you this, I want to scare you," She admitted. "Your head must be worth some nice amount of money, your Quirk is a dangerous one, and I can see your parents haven't told you much about the real world."
"I'm not scared!"
He was about to shout a bit more, but one of Inko's cold glare shut him up.
"Well, I am. And your parents have every right to be. I'm calling them."
To say that Bakugo Masaru was having a bad day was a euphemism.
The euphemism of the decade.
He left his work, not even bothering with telling his boss about it and headed straight home. Trains had never been that slow. Noises had never been this stressful. People had never seemed this menacing.
Katsuki was somewhere out there, alone.
This was a nightmare.
His phone rang for what seemed like the thousandth time. He did not even bother looking at it. This Kirishima person was calling him non-stop.
They always kept the basement door locked from the inside, to give some sort of illusion of freedom to their son, to let him be responsible for his own safety… they had made a mistake. They should have put locks on the other side… and prevent this…
Katsuki… his son.
Masaru wanted to cry.
He got off the train, rushed to his home. The door was unlocked, and the moment he entered, he noticed the extra pair of red shoes.
What…?
"Mr. Bakugo!"
Midoriya Izuku was in the living room. He looked a little taller and bulkier than normal. Something else also felt unfamiliar. He looked less childish, more mature.
His wife was on the couch, holding one of their son's shirt as if he was already lost forever.
"Mr. Bakugo, please, can I see your phone?" Izuku asked, letting his wife alone in the living room.
"I-Izuku? What are you doing here?"
"I know for Katsuki," he answered, and even if Masaru was prepared to this eventuality, it still felt incredibly scary to hear his son's name pronounced by someone else. "I know he his alive, I know he had a bad… err… dream about a hero school tonight, and that we need to know where he went. So. I need your phone. There is this friend he tried to call, and I need to talk to him. Now."
"You… know this Kirishima person?"
"I do. Please. You know it is urgent."
Masaru handed out the phone. Izuku had never sounded this sure ever before. It felt as if he had taken responsibility for the whole situation, as if he knew more than they did, as if he had solutions to solve the hell that was currently taking place…
"Thank you," Izuku said, smiling. "Don't worry. Everything is going to be fine."
"I…no… it's not … and…"
"Mr. Bakugo. It is going to be fine. I am here."
Thank god. Bakugo's dad was finally answering.
"Man, man, please, don't hang up again." Kirishima Eijiro pleaded.
He had locked himself in the toilet, pretending since morning to have a grumpy stomach. The world was upside down, his parents were practically strangers, and on top of everything, Bakugo's dad was telling him his best friend was dead with no further explanation.
Which was obviously absurd, Bakugo had tried to call him. Times and times again.
"O-… Kirishima?"
This was not Bakugo's dad.
"Kirishima, this is Midoriya Izuku speaking. Y-you know w-who I am, right?"
"Man, of course I do! What are you doing with Bakugo's dad phone? Is he around? Is he all right? Are you all right too?"
There was a moment of silence on the other side. A moment Kirishima hated more than anything.
"Kirishima, can I ask something first?"
Enough was enough. Kirishima had used up all his patience for the day.
"Midoriya!" He shouted and he could almost see his classmate jump off. "Bakugo's dad just told me he is fucking DEAD! Stop joking around and tell me that's not… that's no true!"
Kirishima hated the sound his voice made, the breaking, as if he was about to cry, as if this was about to become true.
Silence.
No, no, no, god, no…
"… He is… he was not. This morning he was not. But…"
"Midoriya!"
"…he is gone. I believe he also remembers the real world… because you do to, right? Alright, you do, I am sure you do, or you wouldn't remember Kacchan, and his parents told me they faked his death years ago, and Kacchan had lived locked in the basement since he is four, I mean, this version of Kacchan, not our version of him, and yesterday he spoke to them about U.A. and he called you, me, All Might and Aizawa, but only your phone and mine still work, and he does not have his phone, and now he left home, I'd bet he would, he wouldn't stay there, and he…"
"Midoriya! Man, stop, you go too fast!"
There was another silence – Midoriya obviously catching his breath – then, Bakugo's childhood friend spoke again, a little bit calmer.
"Sorry Kirishima. I feel like this is Kamino Ward all over again, but worse."
"Way worse, man! My entire family is now part of a…" The word stuck in his throat. "… a crime syndicate, they all don't remember reality, and these Quirk policies… have you checked them?! Kamino ward was just Bakugo being gone, now, its Bakugo and the world."
Midoriya was silent again for a few seconds. Kirishima started to tear up toilet paper to very tiny shreds.
Stress. It was stress.
"I think he might first go to U.A. or to your place, Kirishima," Izuku told him slowly. "Is it safe for you to stay where you are and wait for him, just in case?"
"If he goes to my home, my real one I mean, I'm not there. We've moved to a… a… I'd call that a compound, or a… you've been to Yaoyorozu's place, man? Well, same deal, but half-traditional style."
"Can you go to your old house and check if he is there?"
"I could try."
"What do you mean? Kirishima… what problems do you have? Are you safe? Do you need help? What about your Quirk?"
Kirishima took in a deep, calming breath.
"What is it you don't understand in crime syndicate, Midoriya? This house is as big as Yao-Momo's, my parents work for the landlord, the boss, or whatever he is called, and there are guards outside. They have guns, and I am not even sure I am supposed to get out at all. My mom told me I am homeschooled. So, I can try, and I will, but I am one against many here, man."
"Ok… ok, ok… don't put yourself in danger Kirishima. I will go to U.A. check there, and… wait. Wait. My mum is calling Bakugo's dad for the fifth time. I put you on hold, just wait. I will text you my number."
He did not put him on hold.
He accidentally hanged up on him.
Kirishima almost threw his phone in the toilet.
From: Yaoyorozu Momo
This is... I can't find words
I will be careful.
Please, stay safe too
..
The only person I am sure is safe is Aoyama.
..
From: Kaminari Denki
He his traveling
I saw that
So lucky
I searched everyone already
Could find Midoriya, you, Aoyama
No one else
Or just relatives
From: Yaoyorozu Momo
Did you manage to get in touch with Midoriya or Aoyama?
It's still morning for Aoyama
From: Kaminari Denki
Nope. I sent friends requests
10 TIMES EACH
You think Midoriya and Aoyama are also brainwashed? ?
? ? ?
From: Yaoyorozu Momo
I hope it's not the case.
Did you find other articles? Like Todoroki's?
…
..
.
Kaminari-kun?
…
..
.
Kaminari-kun?
..
From Denki Kaminari
Yes
..
..
.
From Yaoyorozu Momo
who?
Kaminari?
…
…
..
..
.
Kaminari-kun?
…
..
.
Denki, please I need to know
…
..
Please
..
From Denki Kaminari
Mina. Tokoyami too. Same as Todoroki.
…
The others nothing
…
Momo
I also found article about Bakugo
Old article
…
..
I think he is dead
..
Momo?
...
..
.
Can we see each other?
.
Day 1. Early evening. Countdown 29:06:16
"Izuku?" His mother voice exclaimed, surprised, from the phone.
Kacchan's parents were in the living room and Izuku was still in the entrance hall, trying not to speak too loud. He had not want them to hear his discussion with Kirishima. It would probably raise many questions he could not exactly answer.
Which had been a very good idea.
Kacchan was not the only one capable of being loud. Kirishima could also do that just fine.
"Izuku, why are you not at school?" Was his mother first question. "…and why do you have Masaru's phone…?"
"I… I… huh."
What to say?
What to say to his mother? That his dead friend was missing, and that he needed to find him? No, bad idea. Definitely a no.
"I… dropped by?" He said stupidly.
"Put Mitsuki or Masaru on the phone, Izuku. Now. We will discuss you missing class later." She told him.
"I…mum…"
"Now, Izuku."
"It's… mum, it's not exactly really the right time… they… there is an issue at their house?"
"I bet there is! Put them on the phone!" She shouted. "NOW!"
Izuku instantly made for the living room, a little shaken by his mother anger. She had been angry before, but she had never sounded that angry. Was she also different, like Kacchan's parents seemed to be? He came by the couch and handed over the phone to Masaru.
Kacchan's dad looked confused, but took it anyway.
"Inko?"
Even if the phone's sound was almost at the minimum, Izuku heard his mother loud and clear.
"YOU HAVE LIED TO ME FOR 11 YEARS! YOU HAVE LIED TO ME ALL THIS TIME! YOU BOTH HID THE TRUTH FROM ME AND IZUKU! AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HUSBAND, YOU THOUGHT I WOULD TELL ON YOU?!"
Mitsuki stopped sobbing into Kacchan T-shirt. Masaru put the phone away from his ears. Izuku stayed standing, astonished.
What?
What was she talking about?
What had had happened to his father?
"We could have helped you!" his mother pursued, still yelling. "I could have dropped Izuku at your place from time to time! I could have showed up every time you went abroad! Life could have been so much easier! AND YOU DID NOT TELL ME?!"
"Inko…what are you talking about?" Masaru whispered.
"DON'T EVEN START YOUR DIRTY SHOW! Take Izuku with you and come here now! I bet there is someone important you can't find today? Well, I found him breaking into my kitchen!"
Izuku's eyes widened.
"AND YOU OWE ME A NEW DVD PLAYER, MINE GOT AN EXPLOSIVE ENDING!" She added, hanging up.
Yaoyorozu Momo's car stopped again. The driver confirmed they had arrived and she got out. She was grateful for the fresh air. She still felt sick and she could not erase the article about the Todoroki familly from her mind.
She wanted to make sure her classmate was safe, she wanted to make sur they all were, but she had no idea how.
Focus. She needed to focus. Information first, action after. Understanding the world and how it worked was the best thing she could do.
She slowly walked towards the hill now facing her. The trees had not changed, but the rest of the scenery was nothing as she remembered. Instead of the tall walls of her hero school, she was facing two or three small stores and a board displaying a map of the hill trails. She looked for the tall buildings, the numerous dormitories and gyms on the map and found none.
"Sweetie, sweetie!" Momo turned around. An old woman with a cat on her knees was waving at her form one of the stores front doors. "Sweetie, it will be dark soon, you should come back tomorrow to visit."
"Oh.. Thank you. I was not planning to. I just… thought this place looked interesting."
"It is. Many strange things happened on that hill, people tell all sorts of stories and the scenery is truly amazing. You can buy the guidebook, it's almost for free."
Momo would have turned the old woman's offer down if she had not seen the guidebook cover. Her eyes widened and she grabbed one on display. "The Yuuei Hill Guide" she read aloud, staring intensely at the cover: On top of the hill, a building of "H" shape stood. It looked very much like her school, expect it was a drawing, not a picture. "Has… has this place existed for real?" She asked, her heart beating fast.
"Hum, yes it did, young lady. If you take the main trail, you can see the ruins."
"What kind of place was it supposed to be?"
"Hummm… why don't you buy the guide first?"
Momo already had a wallet at the ready and she gave the old woman the first bill she found, not even checking the price tag. The old woman smiled, and left her front door to put the money in the cash register.
"It is an old building, built about one hundred years ago. At this time, Quirks had just appeared and the world was a very nasty place to live in. People with Quirks made regular people lives a lot harder, and when the government first started to take actions, some of them assembled to resist, trying to prove having a Quirk could be useful to society."
"Was it a sort of school?" Momo asked, reading the book.
The woman smiled.
"Sort of. Not the kind of schools we now have for people with harmless Quirks... it was a much more normal place. Students would go home after classes, and live normal existences."
"Why was it destroyed?"
The old woman half-laughed. "You should pay more attention to history classes, sweetie! It was destroyed because it was obviously not allowed any longer. People who had learnt how to use their Quirks tried to overthrow governments and killed many citizens, making attacks a regular threat for the population. The only places to learn these skills were schools like that one. In that context, as a government, would you have kept such schools opened?"
Momo stopped her reading. She had found the page she was searching for. Pictures of the ruins. Only the ground floor remained, empty of any sort of furniture. The words left her throat.
"…hum. We found old pictures of the last students… the place was abandoned, but a few people remained until about forty years ago. Then, it was completely destroyed. One of those girls share the almost same ponytail as you do, sweetie."
There was an old picture on page twelve. Two people were standing side to side. The woman had indeed almost the same ponytail as Yaoyorozu did. She was floating above the ground, and had a hand around the shoulders of a very young teenager. He was barely above fifteen, tall, with fuzzy golden hair.
He was smiling.
She would have recognized this smile anywhere in the world. In any world.
"I need to check this place," she said.
"Tomorrow sweetie. It's too late and…"
Momo was already on the main trail.
From: Kaminari Denki
Momo, I sent my address
I told my mom you are a classmate
If you want to come, tell her you wanted to bring homework
I missed school today
She did not want me to go
Not with my hair
…
…
From Denki Kaminari
I dyed it already
It's ugly
Momo?
…
It s odd to be alone after so many months in dorms
I mean it's okay but
Can we call each other, at least?
…
..
From Denki Kaminari
Momo?
…
..
From Denki Kaminari
Momo?
…
…
…
From Denki Kaminari
You all right?
…
…
From Denki Kaminari
Yao-Momo
Please
Don't scare me
Where are you?
Are you all right?
…
…
…
From Denki Kaminari
Yao-Momo?
…
..
Had Deku's mom always been like this or was this version of herself a lot bolder than the original one? In any case, Bakugo was starting to feel some strong respect for her yelling ability. She would have fair chances in a competition with Present Mic.
After the call, though, she could have started an I-am-the-most-cheerful-person-in-the-fucking-world competition with Deku and Cheeks. She had cleaned the room, the tea, the sake, and she had done it singing. He had not interrupted. If she need mediocre singing and botched cleaning to calm down, that was her problem.
He had waited patiently, until she had her nerves more or less under control.
"Now, I understand better these trips they made. Canada, France, islands… do you know what is so special about them, Katsuki-chan?"
He continued his silence-strategy. It worked really well so far. Inko's face was still red with anger, but she managed to keep her shitty I-am-a-nice-and-polite-person smile.
"These are the countries with the most lenient Quirk Policies. Countries where it would be almost possible for you to have a normal life. Hong Kong, Taiwan, France, Canada, and there are others… many people try to get a visa and settle there, but obtaining them is getting more difficult each year. Your parents must have tried to find a way to have you leave Japan… but I don't understand how they could leave you alone for weeks. I cannot believe that! I really cannot…! I am having a dream…it is the only explanation there is. I could have shown up. I could have make sure you were safe…"
"Drop that. I do not need people to check on me. I do that very well on my fucking own."
She sighed. She was doing that a lot since his arrival.
"You do? What are you doing here, then?! Was I not clear enough, earlier?! Have you seen your eyes in a mirror?! You think people wouldn't notice?! For god sake, if nobody did, we will be so lucky!"
The doorbell rang.
Deku's mom stopped pacing through the room. She slowly and very carefully made sign to be silent.
"Let me check if this is your parents." She whispered.
She quietly tiptoed to the door, looking discreetly through the curtains first. A relieved breath escaped her lips, and she unlocked the door.
Katsuki rose from the chair he had occupied the entire afternoon.
His mother, father, and Deku came in. No one was talking.
Deku stared in his direction, and Bakugo felt a weigh he did not know was there leave his shoulders. The damn nerd was not starring as if he was a ghost directly coming from nappies age. He just looked half mentally exhausted, half relieved, and a little annoyed. He was seemingly normal.
"Seemingly" still left many possibilities he did not want to think about.
Inko closed the door, and locked it.
Mitsuki did not take her shoes off, half-pushed Deku out of the way, and ran through the room. Before he had time to escape, she had hugged him tightly, sobbing again.
"HANDS OFF, HOLD HAG!" He shouted, pushing her away.
"Oh… Baby, Baby, I'm so glad! Oh thank God, thank God!"
He was not being called that in front of Deku. He pushed his mother away harder, finally breaking away and clenching his fists.
"Drop the fucking drama! I…"
He never managed to finish that sentence. His father's hand collided with his face so hard he almost lost his footing. Inko and Deku gasped, and his own mother took a step back. Bakugo slowly rose a hand to his cheek.
His father stood in front of him, tears in his eyes, fists closing and opening.
His father had slapped him.
His mother sometimes did when he was being too insufferable, but never like this, never this hard. This time, it hurt for real and his head was ringing a little.
Bakugo had hit his head countless times. The worst time being when he had passed his first-term exam. All Might had hit him mercilessly, and he had done it several times, but even then, it had not hurt like that.
It hurt as betrayal would hurt.
Red flags rose in his mind. Was this the first time? Was this a first time – a last time, because there was no fucking way he was going to let that happen ever again – or was it something his parents did on a regular basis, in this world?
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" His father yelled. "We have warned you so many times! We have shown you, we have explained this to you! Katsuki! I – We cannot go through that! We would do anything to keep you safe, and if I need to lock the entire house, I will! I trusted you, and you did the most dangerous, reckless, stupid thing you could!"
A few sparks involuntarily popped in his hands, and Inko took a nice, big, prudent step back.
"WHAT'S FUCKING WRONG WITH ME?!" He shouted back. "There is nothing, nothing at all, wrong with me! There is something wrong with the world, with mum, and there is something wrong with you if you think hitting me in the face to show me how much you care is the right way to do it!"
He took a step forward, hands still popping.
"I am NOT going to let any of you lock me in. I am NOT going to be arrested and I am NOT going to be your son any longer if you ever do some shit like this to me again." He said, and his shitty dad bleached. "DEKU!"
The nerd jumped.
"We need to talk."