Countdown to Reality
1. If you are still reading, well, thank you so much!
2. I am soooo excited about this chapter! (short one, but stillll !) get ready!
3. You are still here? Great! Enjoy ^^
Day 1. Night. Countdown 29:02:48
Deku was writing. Scribbling. Wasting paper.
Mumbling to himself. For fuck sake.
The constant noise of pencil scrapping on paper was beyond annoying, and the continuous flow of words escaping his mouth was beyond beyond-annoying. The one and only reason why he had not strangled him yet was because Deku was actually not too bad at gathering data.
The nerd was reading non-stop through websites, trying to get at least the beginning of a clue on what could have gone wrong and sent the world awry. So far, luck was not his side, and he was covering his notebook with useless crap.
Despite wishing nothing more than fucking silence, Bakugo had actually managed, so far, to keep from shouting at him and forcing the damn notebook down his throat. Deku was not always the brightest light in the room, but analysis was his hobby, his thing, his talent – if Bakugo would actually admit he had one. Preventing him from thinking would be counterproductive.
If that had not been the case, he would not have let him mumbling and scribbling all night long.
It was actually still early in the night, and a very reasonable time to be awake, but he really wanted the day to end. Since his parents – extremely reluctantly – left the Midoriya's apartment, he felt like shit. Sleeping in this place was still better than the basement, but he could not help but see it as charity.
They had not spoken much since then. Deku was apparently much aware of the level of anger he had reached, and the nerd was not taking chances. He had avoided conversation – wisely – and dinner had been one of the worst moment of their lives ever.
Deku's mother was still angry, but she also understood she had better quit asking him questions. As a result, all three of them had eaten in silence. Then she had given him a futon, a spare toothbrush, and he had settled in Deku's room.
Fortunately, the damn nerd was minding his own business, and had not even dared to spare a glance towards him. The situation was uncomfortable for them both, and ignoring each other was obviously, so far, the best solution they had found.
Bakugo closed his eyes, trying to find sleep.
Deku finally stopped his damn mumbling. He closed his computer, probably changed into nightclothes, and switched off the lamp. There was a last noise of ruffling sheets, and then, just goddamn silence.
He was about to dive into darkness, strongly hoping to wake up in his own bed ad U.A., floors away from the nerd, when his childhood friend sat up with an exclamation. Opening his eyes, Bakugo rolled on his back. "Deku, do you have a fucking death wish?! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
"Look!"
He held his phone out. Bakugo was a little blinded by the light, but quickly realized what he was staring at. This was a message from a name he knew, lost in the middle of dozens he did not.
"This is a friend request from Kaminari!"
"I can see that just fine! Why didn't you answer sooner?! That shit is from fucking hours ago!"
"I had so many messages….!" Deku stopped mid-sentence. His mother footsteps were instantly coming closer.
Less than a second later, there was a gentle knock on the door, and she did not wait for an answer to intrude her son's room. "Is everything all right?" She worried.
"Yes mum," Deku reassured her with a smile and a voice betraying how strongly he wished she would stop prying. "We will make less noise, I promise."
They both hopped she would leave, but she switched the light back on and sat on Deku's bed edge. She patted her son's messy hair, and Deku looked thoroughly embarrassed. "I know I may be intruding, but boys… you've known each other for much longer than just today, isn't it?"
Deku and Bakugo stiffened – Bakugo not as obviously as the nerd, though –. In Deku's defense, stiffening discretely with his mother hand on his head was probably tremendously harder to achieve.
Bakugo almost considered trying to tell her the truth, just to check if they could reason with people. Almost. It had not work with his parents, and he had heard what they told Deku's mother in the kitchen when they were arguing. "…he did not leave because he feels bad about how he has to live! He left because he is not coherent! He has hallucinations, he spouts nonsense one day out of two…but he is such a nice boy really, when he doesn't have these dreams…" He did not want to give her any material to start believing it was actually true.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She questioned, taking the absence of answer as a guilty yes. "Why didn't you tell me Katsuki-chan was alive all these years, Izuku?"
"M-mum I…"
"I told him not to," Bakugo lied before Deku could butcher a lie. "I was calling him behind my parents back and I did not want anybody to tell on me."
The nerd looked baffled. Bakugo was not lying usually, and even less to cover up for Deku's incapability to lie properly – he was decent at hiding big, obvious, unmissable secrets, though – but that time was different. Fuck. Lying was still better than having both of them in the nutcase category.
"I… I am sorry to hear that, Katsuki-chan… but I think understand. You and Izuku have always been friends since… then?"
Deku looked away, and Inko noticed. Bakugo felt like strangling him. Couldn't they just go with a short and very non-explaining "Yes"? He chewed on his anger and continued saving the day, because fucking Deku was working on making it more difficult. "No. We did not. He was a stupid and useless wimp. We had many fights, but we solved our issues recently."
Which was the shortest version he could give her. More details would lead to more questions, and he could not provide answers to all of them, lies or not. Inko did not seem very reassured, but Deku firmly nodded to agree – Thank god! – and she rose from the bed.
"Try to sleep, both of you." She said. "Don't hesitate to wake me up if you need anything."
"Thank you, mum." Izuku said, which sounded a lot like good-bye mum, can you leave us, please?
She took the clue, and after another short smile, switched the light off and closed the door. Her footsteps grew fainter, and they stayed silent until her bedroom door closed. Bakugo was mulling over what to say next, but Deku was faster.
"I-I am texting Kaminari now."
"…right."
Kaminari Denki could not find sleep.
He had read the article about Todoroki so many times that he was seeing the letters every time he tried to close his eyes. He had found another one with Tokoyami's name all over the front page. Monster, abnormality, beast, were printed in his mind, burning. Mina was perhaps even worse. There was this picture, this picture of a very tiny Mina, and this long article explaining how her Quirk had manifested itself at school… the police coming in the class, the little Mina burning the floor around her and the faces of the men trying to take her away… the last blow had been Bakugo. His story was terrible, he had been even younger than Mina, and…
He was so scared.
His own life had also changed, but apart from his parents now being Quirkless and thinking he also was – which he was not, of course – his life was apparently doing just fine. He was going to school, he was still friend with classmates from middle school, and he even had more pocket money than before.
He was not even scared to play pretend to be someone he was not. He was used to play dumb, he knew he could manage it, people would only think he was growing dumber.
He was scared for the others.
For his parents first, because what if they never remembered? What if they stayed trapped into believing this world was the real one? For Yaoyorozu next, because she was too smart and not thinking about her own safety. She had fake papers, it was dangerous for her to be outside, and she was not good at playing dumb.
He was also so scared – terrified – for Todoroki, Tokoyami, Mina, because he knew they were not as lucky as he was. He was scared they were hurt, alone, or worse… like Bakugo.
He hid under the covers of his bed, as if it could give him some sort of protection.
He was supposed to be a hero, he was supposed to save and help people, and he felt ashamed to have stayed in his room all day, when Yao-Momo had traveled half the city, checked the addresses she knew, installed a distress beacon at U.A. and did her best to understand the situation.
He slowly closed his eyes, and a terrible feeling crushed him.
He felt responsible.
What for, he had no idea. He just wished for sleep to overwhelm him entirely, and thankfully, it finally did.
He did not hear the buzzing of his phone, just below his bed.
Ice exploded from nowhere, busting the door. Fire followed, hot and unforgiving. Alarms started to ring, people to shout, but it was not making any difference.
He was not staying in this place any longer.
"Don't move!"
Heat soared, swirling in the narrow corridor, licking flesh, eating cloth. Ice melted, making boiling geysers, and exploded to thousands of shards, denting walls, doors and faces.
He ignored the screams. He knew too well how it hurt. He could not bear with listening.
Ice spurred out of his arm and shoulder, so fast it was unavoidable. It filled the corridor like a tide, imprisoning wounded men inside a cold, unmovable coffin.
Behind the doors, trapped people were silent. Some were staring, mouth agape and eyes so wide they covered half their thin faces. Some retreated to the further ends of their cells, barely avoiding shards of ice.
He ignored them.
He couldn't leave with them. He just couldn't. The others were just too many. They were too young or too old. They were too inexperienced with their Quirks. They would not… not looking, he walked past the corridor, past the men trapped in ice, and stepped into a wider area.
He had to get out fast, to find an exit before he was too tired…
Finding the main door would take too long. He looked up. The ceiling was made of solid concrete, but past a few layers, there would be the sky. He breathed in, breathed out.
He could do it.
Ice rocketed at top speed, and the white spear shattered to pieces, concrete holding up. It was dented, it was just not enough. The problem was not breaking through – that was within what his Quirk could do in no time at all – no, the problem was more breaking through without having the ceiling completely caving in and killing everybody underneath, himself included.
His body felt so cold, and he was tired, and he needed to be careful, and to have perfect control over his Quirk and…
… Again.
The spear shattered again, another followed. Time was running short. Voices were coming closer. The air was so cold it burned.
Concrete cracked and a big piece smashed on the floor below.
The hole was still too small, but above his head were the stars. Seeing them so close and so far reinforced his resolve and a final wave of ice crashed on the ceiling. Concrete exploded outward, ice covered the roof in every direction to prevent it from caving in. It also climbed towards the sky, making a giant forest of white pinnacles.
Finally.
"BE CAREFUL!"
He whirled around, and images superposed. The doors behind him, all cracked by ice. The girl melting her way out. The fire casting flickering lights over the corridor. Her scream, her voice, her black eyes, her horns, and one purple-pink hand extended towards him. The man whose fingers were not fully trapped in the ice coffin. The running steps of the pink feet over melted ice. The loud noise of something firing.
A noise he had heard before, but never from so close.
Kirishima heard Yu-something-chan call his name, rushing to the door and asking for help…
The world was still flickering hard. There were small, bright flashes of light, between patches of darkness.
He was seeing U.A. again, Aizawa coming to the dorms, saying something to Kaminari. The smell of a burned dinner was all over the place. It was early evening. They were not wearing their uniforms anymore. Lights going off and on again. Hagakure was happy, for some reason. Bakugo was furious. The papers he was reading were on the verge of catching fire. Aizawa was telling something important, so important he needed to remember what… and then the lights were off again.
And again.
And again.
Uraraka was worried, and Sato was trying – and failing – to calm Bakugo. Aoyama was wondering why Midoriya was out again with All Might. The dorms were half-empty and he had known the reason why… only he could not remember... Yaoyorozu was making calming tea. Tsuyu-chan was tying up her hair. Kaminari was being scolded for something he had done to the electricity…, dinner…, or both. Hagakure was smiling, and her smile had been so soft, her eyes sparkled with delight and…
…and that was not normal… Again. On, off, so fast it was maddening.
She was the first one out of the dorms, following a tired Aizawa, so excited…
Again. Off, on, the world was spinning. Bakugo slammed the dorms front door, slouching behind all of them. He had not been this furious since forever. Kaminari was calling him Kacchan in Midoriya's place and Hagakure was making fun of his enraged-attitude… Uraraka was telling them to stop, Kirishima was backing her up, and Bakugo was telling them all to fuck off…
Again.
The stars and the moon lit off and on. It was so pretty.
The world was spinning so fast….
Kirishima tried to open his eyes… but it was so dark again.
And again.
Worst nightmare ever.
Bakugo sat up abruptly, not remembering where he was and when he had fallen asleep. He reached for his bedside lamp… and found none.
He stopped moving.
This was not happening again.
The nightmare was still lingering in his mind. Something about lights going off, and on, and off again, and there were voices, voices from his classmates, dead angry voice from Aizawa, and Kaminari was crying, at some point… the nightmare was slipping away… he was breathing a little too fast… and when had he fallen asleep, and…
"K-Kacchan?"
Something – Deku's phone – lit up. For one fleeting moment, there was silence. It was his turn to hate this stupid, horrible, useless bit of silence that Deku was, for once, providing. Karma was always a goddamn bitch.
He felt mortified. He never had nightmares. Why was this happening with Deku around?
"What are you staring at?!" He shouted, and the nerd flinched.
"I'm not staring Kacchan. It's just… you were talking in your sleep." Deku reduced the phone's blinding light and sat up. "I did not want to wake you up, but for a few minutes, you wouldn't stop saying numbers, adding them, subtracting them, and then it was like… a countdown."
Day 1: End. Countdown 29:00:00
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Countdown + 00:05:00
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Countdown - 03:00:00
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Day 2: Start. Countdown 24:19:00
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