Notes: So this chapter and the next two will be from Bakugou's POV. That's on purpose. I basically wanted everyone to feel the same as Bakugou in wondering what the hell is happening to Uraraka and Todoroki, where they are, and if they're okay. (Spoiler alert: uh, they're not.)

"Stay back, Kacchan."

Bakugou froze on the spot. Having his words from years ago thrown back at him by Deku made it feel like the whole world had been pulled out from underneath his feet. If it wasn't for Kirishima holding him up, he would've collapsed. He had one arm slung over Kirishima's shoulders while his other hung limp at his side. He could only watch as Deku pulled Uraraka against him possessively, as if proclaiming, She's mine; you lose.

Uraraka mouthed the words that he'd never wanted to hear or see her say (I'm sorry) and then they were all gone, disappearing through the warp gate.

No, no, no, this wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. His mind was screaming at him to move, to run to her, to do something, but he couldn't do anything. His body wouldn't cooperate. Even if it did, he wasn't sure if he could do more than limp forward. There was nothing to reach anymore, but he couldn't just stand here.

"Uraraka- we have to-" He didn't know what he had to do. He didn't know where to go. His mind was trying to jump through hoops in order to figure out the next step, but it felt like he was leaping into a black hole and there was no solid ground for him to land on. "We can't just stay here."

"There's nothing we can do right now," Kirishima told him, regret lacing every word.

Bakugou tried to rip himself out of his friend's grip and snarled, "Fuck that," but then he staggered and fell down to his knees, almost falling on his face when his right arm buckled underneath him. The muscles in his arms were strained beyond belief and the veins were bulging from overuse of his quirk. Both of his gauntlets had been broken in the fight. At least he could move his right arm, but his left hung limply and was beginning to go from throbbing to sending sharp pains all the way up it, which probably meant it was broken.

His gaze fell on his left hand. It had been the one that Deku had been prepared to hack off with a knife until Uraraka had stopped him.

Her words bounced around in his head in between the pain and anger. Rude, selfish, and an arrogant bastard. They hadn't hurt. He'd heard much worse. He knew that he was much worse at times. She wouldn't look at him and he'd known that she was just saying those things to placate Deku. It didn't mean she hadn't thought those things about him before, but they'd moved past that.

Take me with you.

An angry, desperate growl fought its way out of Bakugou as he pressed his forehead against the ground and then he screamed. Kirishima let him, saying nothing, as everything spilled out of him. Rage, humiliation, despair, and shame all poured out of him with that scream, tears pricking his eyes. He hadn't let that happen in a long time, but the smoke stung his eyes and his entire body ached and he was so furious that things had fallen apart so much.

Uraraka had sacrificed herself to save him.

She shouldn't have had to do that - it was the last thing he'd wanted - but he had been weak. He was too weak. And it killed him to admit that, but if he'd just been stronger, if he'd paid closer attention, if he had gone straight for Deku instead of fighting with Dabi and getting stuck in that shadow villain's grip, if he'd been smarter, if he'd protected her more… None of this should have happened. He'd promised to take care of this - to keep her safe and to get Deku - and instead he'd lost them both.

He'd failed her. It hit him as hard as one of Deku's punches. He had to stop screaming or stop breathing and he sucked in a gasp of air, still bent over, now from the pain. Not only had Deku escaped them again, but he and his villains had destroyed the street, collapsed a building, and taken hostages. Along with Uraraka, they had taken Todoroki, which was an even lower blow than Bakugou had expected. Todoroki would have been fine, but he'd thrown up that last wall of ice at the last second to protect the heroes behind him and the blast of Deku's punch to the ground had hit him hard.

Bakugou hadn't just failed. It had been a disaster. They didn't even know if Kaminari was alive. It looked as if someone had dropped a bomb on the street. It was nothing but rubble, metal bars sticking out of the debris from the broken building and glass littered everywhere like sand. Red and blue fire flickered around them, reminders of Todoroki and Dabi, and a fire hydrant was spewing water like a fountain. There was no hiding this. They had worried about Deku's ability to cause destruction and he'd more than confirmed their worst fears.

Bakugou tried to drag himself to his feet, but he stumbled again and Kirishima wrapped an arm around Bakugou's waist to keep him upright. The pressure on his chest hurt, like his ribs had been broken again. His vision swam, going blurry and dark before coming back, and he forced himself to stand up straight. It took him a second before he realized his right eye was so blurry because blood was falling into it and it had started to swell.

"I fucked up," Bakugou mumbled, his energy draining. He was coming down from his adrenaline rush, so his body and mind were letting him know just how bad in shape he was and he felt like he was crumbling. "I told her that I'd keep her safe and I lost her and Todoroki."

"It's not just on you," Kirishima told him, like that was some sort of comfort. He didn't care if they were all in this together. He had promised her. Bakugou fell against Kirishima, in too much pain to be embarrassed about leaning on him. "Hang in there, man."

Ambulances could be dimly heard in the distance, but Bakugou felt himself fading fast. He did his best to cling to consciousness, using his pain as a focal point, but it was hard to do when his entire body ached, as if he'd been hit by a train. Maybe fighting Deku at this level was equivalent to that. Next time though, he'd have to force that train off the track and destroy it.

"Uraraka…" Bakugou's head lolled against Kirishima's shoulder, smearing the boy's bruised skin with his blood.

"I know," Kirishima sighed. "She looked…"

Determined. Accepting. Terrified.

"We've gotta get them back," Bakugou said, trying to clench his good hand but unable to muster the strength. He couldn't remember feeling so drained in his life.

"We will," Kirishima replied, his voice sounding far away despite being right next to him. The world started to blur and dim around Bakugou and he felt himself slipping further into darkness. "Bakugou?"

There was someone else in front of him, large and bright, orange like fire, and Bakugou grumbled, "Turn off your quirk, Half and Half…" before remembering that Todoroki was gone and then he fell forward into nothing, sagging completely in Kirishima's hold as the last of the adrenaline left his body. The last thing he thought of was the look on Uraraka's brave face and scared eyes, as if she telling him that she had to do it. She had to save him.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

The first thing Bakugou noticed upon coming to was that his body felt like one big bruise. The second thing was that he was surrounded by softness, like he was enveloped in a cloud. The third thing, when he opened his eyes, was that everything was fucking bright. He scowled at the whiteness and went to throw his left arm over his face to shield his eyes from the light, but pain shot like lightning down his arm from his elbow to his fingertips, causing him to stiffen his whole body until the pain calmed down to a throb.

"Oh, you're awake already," a familiar woman's voice said.

Bakugou opened his eyes again and found himself glaring into the face of Recovery Girl. Judging from the room and the smell of antiseptic, he was in a hospital instead of UA. Their injuries must have been severe enough where they had to bring her to them after stabilizing them.

At least that was all Bakugou could manage to come up with. His brain felt muddled, like he was in a bog. Even though he hated them, they must've given him some sort of painkiller. The hospital bed wasn't super soft, but it was better than the concrete rubble he'd been shoved into multiple times. His light blue clothes were loose and gentle compared to his hero costume. Monitors beeped beside him and he could hear muffled voices from outside the room. All of it made him feel incredibly removed from reality.

Still, Bakugou was stubborn if nothing else, so he used his good arm to shove himself into an upright position. To her credit, Recovery Girl didn't try to stop him, just eyed him with displeasure. When he was finally sitting up, he looked down at himself. His left arm was in a white cast from his elbow down past his fingers. He had bandages around his chest all the way up to his neck and multiple patches on his right arm for burns and cuts. He could feel stitching over his right eyebrow, but what he really felt the most, besides his left arm, was how sore his face was.

"My main concern was your face," Recovery Girl explained when he gingerly touched his left cheek and nose. It felt as if he'd been punched in the face a few times, but it was more like he'd been slammed face first into the concrete. Deku had managed to pull some of his hair out of the back of his head too while doing that. "Not to keep you handsome, of course - you're arrogant as it is - but you had a broken nose, fractured left zygoma, and a small orbital fracture."

So basically his whole face had been fucked. No wonder he'd had trouble seeing straight and his brain had been pounding when Kirishima had tried to help him stand. "And my arm?"

"They operated on it, which will help the healing process of my quirk," Recovery Girl explained, "but we must wait before I can use it on you again."

Bakugou shook his head. "Bullshit. I need it fixed now."

"You cannot-"

"Fix it now," Bakugou repeated in a growl, awkwardly shoving it in her direction despite the pain.

Recovery Girl did no such thing, instead fixing a hard gaze on him. "If I were to use my quirk on you so soon to fix such a strenuous injury, you would spend another two days unconscious." He clenched his good hand into a fist, fighting the urge to let off an explosion. "Simply put, your body cannot handle it. Would you rather be healed now and unconscious or healed later and aware?"

Her logic was sound, which just pissed him off even more. Bakugou grit his teeth and sat back in the bed, turning away from her. He couldn't afford to be unconscious any longer than necessary and that included regular sleep. He had to be awake so that he could think, plan, and prepare. Not only did his body have to recover, but he needed to recover Uraraka and Todoroki as well.

Damn him for getting caught too. Bakugou didn't want to think about what Dabi had been thinking when he'd decided to take Todoroki, but it couldn't be helped. Torture? Ransom? Or something worse? Could whatever had been done to Deku be done to Todoroki? It was a very unpleasant thought, but one he needed to consider and could not if he was lying unconscious in a hospital bed from overexerting himself. Damn his body for not being strong enough.

His gaze fell to the left, away from Recovery Girl, and he halted when he realized that he wasn't the only one lying in a hospital bed in the room. Kirishima was knocked out in a bed two meters away from him, for once sleeping quietly when Bakugou knew for a fact that the other boy snored something fierce. It must have been a sleep either induced by Recovery Girl's quirk or medicine, maybe both. There were bandages on his arms as well and a patch on the side of his face, which struck Bakugou as unnatural. His hardening quirk kept him from injuries that required things like that.

"He pushed his quirk past his limit," Recovery Girl told him even though he hadn't asked. The confused look on Bakugou's face must have clued her in on what he was thinking. Of course he knew that Kirishima had a limit - every quirk had a limit - but he'd never seen it so obviously. "When the building partially collapsed, he sheltered Froppy from the debris, but he was trapped under there for a while and was forced to constantly use his quirk or the two of them would've been crushed."

So focused on fighting Deku alongside Todoroki the second the green-haired shit had jumped down into the fight, Bakugou hadn't noticed that Kirishima was missing. He'd just assumed that Kirishima was off fighting another villain and couldn't get away to help them. All Bakugou had been able to think about was getting Deku once he showed his stupid mug. By the time he'd gotten the first semblance of a breather when Uraraka convinced Deku to not mutilate him, Kirishima had been there at Bakugou's side like he'd never left it, so Bakugou hadn't thought to ask where he'd been.

"Ironically, the second blast caused by Midoriya is what saved him," Recovery Girl continued. "It collapsed the rest of the building, but the aftershock knocked the large rubble off him."

"Great, he's still a fucking hero somehow," Bakugou grumbled. Unable to rub his face, which was healed but still had a dull throb of pain to remind him of what had happened, he laid back in the bed, careful not to flop since it would only exacerbate what he figured were a few re-broken ribs, and stared up at the white ceiling. "Can I at least get out of this room for a while?"

"Of course, I'll get a wheelchair for you."

Bakugou jerked to snarl at her, "I don't need a damn-"

"Unless you want to fall flat on your face five steps outside of your room, I highly suggest using a wheelchair," Recovery Girl interrupted without batting an eyelash. Bakugou had to fight the urge to throw himself out of the bed or blow it up entirely. She was treating him like he was a student again and it was maddening. He was a pro hero, damnit, and he didn't have time for this shit.

He didn't have time for his body to not cooperate with him.

After Recovery Girl fetched him a wheelchair, Bakugou shooed her away. He didn't need her help getting in it. She gave him one last look as he threw the covers off and swung his legs over the side of the bed, but then let out a sigh and walked out the door, washing her hands of him.

With her out of the room, he shoved the wheelchair away from the bed. Like hell he was going to use that. The ground was cold when he was feet touched the floor and he slowly stood up, testing his strength. He grit his teeth when he felt just how much his legs wobbled and how weak his body was. It felt like he might crumple to the ground like that collapsed building. Still, he forced himself to take one step, then another, and another until he was at the door.

Then his right knee buckled and he fell. He would've fallen down completely had he not had a hold of the handle and he awkwardly caught himself, face smashed up against the door. He managed to pull himself up with a shaky arm, but was panting furiously and worn down by the time he was straight. Damnit. Recovery Girl's quirk really had done a number on him. His face must have been more jacked up than he'd realized.

Standing there and catching his breath, Bakugou eyed the wheelchair with disdain. He wanted to get out of this room and find everybody else. He needed to know what was going on. He had to do something. However, the idea of people seeing him use a wheelchair made Bakugou's stomach curl. He didn't want people to see him and know that he was feeling weak. He couldn't show that to anyone. He didn't need help. He didn't need anything.

His pride won out and Bakugou slunk back to the bed, nearly collapsing in it the second he was close. Just another hour of rest and then he'd be good to go. His body was screaming at him from the effort it had taken him to walk to the door and back. Even if his mind was raging, his body was quieting down. It still hurt like hell, but he could feel himself slipping back into sleep, his eyelids drooping heavily as his body sank into the bed.

He didn't want to sleep though. His mind was running wild. Thoughts of Uraraka and what she was going through - what Deku could be doing with her in his grasp now - surrounded by all those villains - not to mention whatever plans they had for Todoroki - and shit, he still didn't know if Kaminari was alive, if anyone else had survived, he needed to be awake-

When Bakugou woke up the next time, his body felt remarkably better, although he wasn't about to admit it. The downside was that his mind was nothing but rage. How dare his body fail him like this? He didn't have time for any of this. Only when all of this was over could he rest and recuperate. Of course, that wasn't how things worked, but it felt wrong to lie in a bed while Uraraka was who knew were. It made him sick to think that she had been gone for over a day already while he'd been stuck recovering.

Well the time for rest was over. Recovery Girl was going to fix the rest of him today and then he'd be good to go.

This time, when Bakugou got out of bed, his legs didn't shake. Kirishima was sitting up in his bed, watching warily as Bakugou tested his knees and swung his right arm in a circle to check his flexibility. Besides his left arm, he felt ready to go another round. Apparently he didn't look it, judging from Kirishima's expression, but Bakugou could not give less of a shit about that.

"Where's Kaminari?" Bakugou demanded.

"He came in earlier while you were still out of it," Kirishima told him, "so he's probably still around somewhere."

That didn't do a single thing to help him, but Bakugou said nothing as he strode out of the room. Kirishima had been awake and looking mostly healed by the time Bakugou had woken up and he'd explained everything that he had learned while Bakugou's body had been busy sucking.

It had been a great relief to find out that Kaminari was not only alive but barely hurt. Despite the fact that he had been the one kidnapped, his only injuries had been a broken finger, bruises on her wrists and ankles, and his right arm pulled out of socket. They'd popped it back in and healed his finger quick. He had been on the roof with Deku and Kurogiri when the fight had begun, bound too tightly and connected to a battery so that he would've only managed to shock himself stupid if he tried anything. It had been Tsuyu who had found him. Thanks to Kirishima protecting her, she had come out with minor injuries as well.

All in all, it could've been worse. No one had died, which was a miracle in itself, and they'd even managed to capture two of the villains, mostly because they had gotten caught in Deku's last powerful as hell blast. It appeared as if the League did not care about collateral damage on their side either. But Bakugou couldn't feel good about anything knowing that they had lost two of their own as well. It felt like a much bigger loss.

It felt like there was a hole in Bakugou's chest and no amount of anger could fill it. Uraraka was gone.

By chance, Bakugou found Kaminari, Iida, and Tsuyu stepping out of Aizawa's room, chattering quietly amongst themselves. Besides Bakugou and Kirishima, Aizawa had taken some of the worst damage. He'd been trying to stop the shadow villain from shielding Deku from his sight and therefore his quirk when Deku had let off that punch that had blown everyone to high hell. Todoroki's ice wall hadn't reached Aizawa in time. Recovery Girl had not been able to see to all of them; luckily, some doctors had healing quirks in order to lend a hand.

Iida caught sight of Bakugou barrelling towards them first. "Oh, Bakugou, should you be up-?"

"I need to talk to you," Bakugou cut in, snatching Kaminari by the arm. He knew that he didn't look much with his left arm in a cast and sling and in light blue hospital pants, shirt, and slippers, but at least all his bandages had been taken off. Besides, he could still fire off huge as hell explosions with his right arm if he needed to be threatening. The look on his face must have been good enough though since Kaminari didn't fight him at all and allowed himself to be dragged to an empty waiting room. "Talk."

Kaminari shuffled on his feet. "I don't know what you want me to tell you."

"Everything," Bakugou stressed, like it was that simple. "What did Deku talk about? Did the villains say anything that might give us a clue about what they want or where their base is located? Anything about what they might want with Todoroki or what Deku planned to do if he got Uraraka?"

"I don't really…" Kaminari clenched his fists at his side and looked down at his feet, shame written all over his face. It was a wasted emotion in Bakugou's opinion, as it did absolutely nothing to help them, but it was eating away at his gut as well no matter how hard he tried to drown it. "Midoriya was so calm. It was like he was actually pleased to see me. He just wanted to chat about how everyone was doing. It was weird. But the whole time he kept a tight grip on me and when he smiled... I thought he was going to break my arm if I so much as sneezed out of line."

Kaminari's quirk was a lot stronger than a lot of people realized. Had he let off one of his huge shocks, he could have knocked everyone out, Deku included. But of course Deku had been smart enough to realize that, using those thick rubber gloves to ensure that he was safe while holding onto Kaminari. By neutralizing Kaminari's quirk, it had kept him from fighting back. He might have gotten all the other villains, but Deku would've still been able to kill him. By staying alive, he could at least try to get some information, but that wasn't exactly Kaminari's forte.

"What did you tell him?" Bakugou questioned.

"Just like every day, boring stuff," Kaminari said. "I kept worrying that I might say something important and he'd use it against us, but he didn't really seem to mind. He liked hearing all of it. Said he missed us sometimes."

Sometimes. Bakugou snorted. How fucking quaint.

"What about the other villains?"

"They didn't talk much," Kaminari admitted, "but when they did, it was mostly in the kitchen where I couldn't hear what they were saying exactly." He unclenched his hands and finally brought his gaze back up to Bakugou. "I think they were kind of scared of Midoriya. Like they were worried that they might say something to set him off. Dabi and Kurogiri were the only ones that really talked to him and Kurogiri was the only one to stay in the room with him the entire time."

Well that was interesting. When Todoroki had been squaring off alone with them, Deku had knocked another villain out of his way. The hit and his crash into Todoroki's car had been enough to kill him. He'd also threatened Dabi after the latter had almost hit her with his flames. Plus, he'd also killed villains for Uraraka. Was Deku so unstable that he was attacking and snapping at other League members? To think that he was this frightening to both heroes and villains…

Did that suggest Deku might be easier to turn back or that he was a lost cause?

"The villain with the knives," Kaminari continued, dragging Bakugou out of his thoughts, "she talked to me some. Nothing about where they were or anything. She was playing with one of her knives, going on about how long it took to skin a person, trying to scare me, but Midoriya shooed her away. Being saved from torture by the guy who was planning on torturing me later made things so much worse."

"So kind of him," Bakugou said dryly. Gods, what was wrong with Deku? It was like he couldn't decide what he wanted to do. He had a set of rules that had to be followed, but none of them made sense.

"She did mention that she wanted to, uh, play with Todoroki," Kaminari said uncomfortably, fidgeting again, "but Dabi told her that Todoroki wasn't hers. Midoriya didn't say anything, just watched them, and then went back to asking me about All Might like he hadn't heard them."

They had known that Todoroki was a target, alongside Bakugou himself, but it seemed as if the League had planned on who took who. Deku had known that Todoroki would come to face him again. They had needed the debilitating strength of his quirk. Dabi had also been the one to suggest taking Todoroki with them instead of killing him. Bakugou couldn't be for sure, seeing as how his memory of those last few minutes were foggy and dimmed from the pain, but Deku had almost seemed relieved at the idea.

Then the rest of Kaminari's statement hit Bakugou upside the head and he snapped back to attention. "Deku was asking about All Might?"

Kaminari nodded his head. "Yeah, he wanted to know how All Might was doing - if he was getting any weaker, how he had handled Deku's supposed death. Deku knew that he was still teaching, but that was about it." There was a genuinely sad look on Kaminari's face. "He seemed pretty...pleased when I told him that All Might had been crushed by his death. He even laughed with some of the other villains about it." He rubbed his face with his hands, as if trying to wipe the memory of the way. "It was so messed up, Bakugou, way more than I thought when Uraraka told us everything."

Deku's reaction towards All Might was troubling at the least. He, Todoroki, and Uraraka had talked over the idea that Deku's focus might switch over to All Might, but none of them had known what that focus might entail, if it would be (kind of) positive like Uraraka's or (very) negative like Bakugou's. He couldn't seem to decide what he wanted to do with Todoroki, as if whatever mental conditioning he'd gone through could only do so much.

It appeared as if they'd managed to twist Deku's view of All Might somehow though. Gone was the total admiration, respect, and love. Replaced by what though? It sounded like he'd enjoyed hearing that All Might was suffering. Was there anger towards his former mentor? Hatred even? What could they have done to turn Deku's adoration of All Might into that? Bakugou's real concern was if Deku planned on doing anything about it. Was All Might a target or an afterthought?

"I thought…" Kaminari's hands had started to shake and he shoved them into his pockets, probably hoping that Bakugou hadn't noticed. "I really thought he was going to kill me or Kurogiri was after Deku jumped into the fight. I'd served my purpose as bait, you know? What good was I alive?"

"Kurogiri didn't say anything or do anything?" Bakugou prompted, trying to pull him back on track. It wouldn't do him any good to dwell right now on what could've or should've happened. That was for later. He'd fallen into that pit a few times already and barely managed to pull himself out.

Kaminari scrunched up his face in thought. "Well, he was watching the fight, probably so he'd know when to make a warp gate. I think I heard him say something like, 'I hope he knows what he's doing,' but I'm not for sure. They'd already made me use my quirk while attached the battery so I was a little out of it."

What could that have meant? Did the League not have confidence in Deku? If not, then why were they practically letting him run lose and do whatever he wanted? Bakugou was certain that Deku's obsession with Uraraka could jeopardize the League of Villains' plans. It brought them all out into broad daylight. Not to mention that if anyone was going to snap Deku out of it, she had one of the best chances. Deku had loved her something silly. Did love her. When Bakugou had told Deku of those bruises on her wrists, he'd freaked out and almost split in half.

There were so many questions, little to no answers, and not nearly enough time. A headache was starting to build and Bakugou couldn't rub it away.

"I'm sorry, Bakugou," Kaminari mumbled. "I should've done more. I should've fought back harder. You wouldn't have let them get you like that."

Bakugou couldn't say anything. He had let them get him once, back during their first year at the camping trip when he'd been kidnapped by League and strapped to a chair so they could have a chat with him. He'd been in Kaminari's shoes before and he hated being reminded of it. Yeah, they were older and stronger now, but that didn't change the severity of Kaminari's situation. The fact that Deku had done something so similar with one of their friends when Deku himself had been part of the group to save Bakugou from those villains made this sting all the more.

"I let Uraraka and Todoroki down."

On some level, Bakugou knew that he should say something now. Give him some sort of comfort. Tell him that he was wrong. Remind him that they would get their friends back. Promise to smack some sense into Deku.

But then he thought of how Deku had forced him onto the ground with just his knee and the way the spots of fire around them had reflected off of the knife as Deku twirled it in his hand. He thought of how still he'd gone when Deku had begun to ramble about their childhood. The despair and rage in Deku's voice had cut him almost as deep as any knife. He couldn't move. Deku had been about to fucking cut his hand off and Bakugou couldn't move. In the end, Uraraka had been forced to save him.

And so he couldn't tell Kaminari that he was wrong, not when Bakugou thought the same thing about himself.