Chapter 21

Katsuki let out a breath, his breath beginning to form a cloud of its own in the frigid air. He was coming down from the anger, but it wasn't enough to steal his motivation. Katsuki squat on the rooftop, watching any possible alleyways that that incredibly, incredibly stupid gang must've moved to. They were going to feel his fury in full force. Like they should've several years ago. Something hit him in the head. Katsuki looked down towards a ball of snow.

"What the heck was that for?" He snapped turning towards Todoroki.

"A cooldown, now what are you doing out here?"

Katsuki turned back to the streets.

"Kirishima told me what you're doing out here. You're not wrong to be looking for him, but you're wrong to be doing it on your own. I thought you were going to trust me."

"I only told you about the situation, so you could protect your wife and kid."

Todoroki sighed, "We both know that Momo is perfectly capable of protecting herself. You on the other hand, right now, you need help."

Katsuki scoffed, "I'm not the one that needs help right now."

Todoroki slid up next to him, quietly sitting by him as he eyed the streets, "I know how you feel, but at the rate you've been going you're going to get sick."

"I only found out about him yesterday."

Todoroki sighed, "Listen, you've been going like this way before knowing about Raiz. You've been going like this since right before Uraraka got injured. The rate you've been doing hours is getting worrisome and on top of that don't think that we don't know about your pastime of working at the hospital."

Katsuki glared into the streets. Todoroki knew. Todoroki knew how important this was. There was no reason that Todoroki should be out here attempting to stop him. "Raiz is out there alive, but literally decomposing do you know how much pain he must be in? And then he's being forced to commit crimes that he was ready to dedicate his life to stopping."

"Katsuki, you're killing yourself. Raiz wouldn't want this. You can't be out here all night looking for that man."

He grabbed Todoroki's collar, "He's not a man, he's a child. He died before he was even eighteen years old. A child. I am outside looking for a child."

Todoroki sighed, placing a hand on his wrist, "Listen. I understand how you feel. I would've burnt this city if anything were to happen to Elyon, but you're the one that's still alive right now. And I know Kirishima should be the one up here talking you down off this roof, but Kirishima is trapped at your house struggling just as much as you right now. Worse, even. Kirishima can't leave. He needs you."

"I know that, don't act like I don't, but Raiz also needs me."

"Kirishima is the one where you know where he is," Todoroki glanced towards the rising sun, "If you're not going to listen to me at least get down off this ledge before the police call me to escort you off it in the morning." Todoroki stuffed his hands in his pocket, beginning to walk away.

Katsuki tightened his hand into a fist. How was he supposed to explain this feeling? He could still feel Raiz's body as he moved him into a grave, the night made sure he was never able to forget, it came back clearly each day. Refining its details. A day he wished he could've forgotten, but it wasn't going anywhere. It was sneaking into even the smallest crevasse of his life. It was easy to hide, but that didn't make it easy to deal with. It was frustrating. And now, he was alive. What was he supposed to do with this information? Asking him to simply sit there was out of the question, that had never been in his nature in the first place.

Katsuki glanced towards Todoroki over his shoulder, he was ready to step off the ledge to the ladder. "Kirishima…" Todoroki silenced himself beginning to go down the ladder, assuming he wasn't told. There were questions that Todoroki wasn't saying running a crossed his face, but he kept quiet.

"Yo, icy-hot, finish what you were saying."

"Kirishima said that Uraraka didn't come back last night either."

Katsuki tightened his fist. "She probably just went home."

"Her keys are still at your place. I'll probably have to find her too." Todoroki sighed, glancing at the sky. Katsuki followed his gaze, it wasn't the first time he had seen Todoroki do this. Todoroki frequently glanced at the sky throughout high-school, glancing at something that he couldn't quite see.

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?" Todoroki moved, taking his time to sit down on the ledge of the building next to him.

"Get rid of the bad memories. Fight them off."

Todoroki brushed his hair-no-his hand moved towards his scar. "It's not easy. Sometimes there are good days and sometimes it just sneaks up on you. There's no sure-fire way to combat it. I haven't decided if it's harder when there's no trigger yet, it just comes in on its own. If there was a trigger for some of the things, then it'd be easier to avoid."

Katsuki ran a hand through his bangs, "Dang. No way to just punch something."

"It might help."

Katsuki glanced towards him. That was a first. Todoroki actually agreeing with him. Todoroki pat himself off standing up on the ledge casting a lance glance over it, "The sun is rising, they probably won't come out tonight. I've got to go find Uraraka."

"Have you tried calling her?"

"She's been moving rapidly, I've been to her company a couple times to find where she was supposed to be. Apparently, she came back and checked in a couple hours ago but never went home." Todoroki shuffled something out of his pocket.

Katsuki caught it, "What's this?"

"Her sleeping pills. Since you two seem so close give them to her when she gets back to your place and tell her to call her company."

Katsuki stood up, "What's it for?"

"People have different ways they struggle with their problems. They're sleeping pills and the company was freaking out, so I'd assume she hasn't slept in a while."

"She was just over at my place-" Katsuki cut short, she had made a move, but when he turned she was already asleep. Or at least faking it. Her spot wasn't as warm as it should've been that morning. Katsuki's hand tightened on the bottle, he should've noticed.

"See close."

Katsuki felt his face light, "Get back here Icy-Hot! I'll kill you!" He darted towards Todoroki, his hands lighting like sparkles, fierce ones. Todoroki flashed the smallest smile at him, he almost missed it. "You, condescending bastard."

"I am one, but at least I don't lie to myself." Todoroki said, looking up two flights, "Text me when you get home."

"Go home Icy-hot I'll find Uraraka."

"Text me in about an hour if you don't find her. If you do too, I don't want to be called out here to talk you two down because of the way you search this town."

Katsuki waved him off, beginning to walk. If he only had an hour then he better get working, Todoroki was usually pretty stern on deadlines. Katsuki found himself walking from street-to-street, flipping the little pill bottle in his hand, in search of Uraraka. The pills were rather the strong sort. He wouldn't be surprised if she received these a while ago and it was still full. Uraraka had gotten herself an apartment in the shady end of town on purpose. Well, it had been the shady end of town, but it was kind of hard to make drug deals and do robberies or anything of the sort when Uravity was on your ankles within seconds of the slightest noise. Katsuki stifled a laugh at the image. He roamed the allies glancing in and out of each of them, the majority of them being empty. Not even the rag-tag people that usually hung around in the alleys were there. It was unusually quiet, but it was also approaching six a.m., drug deals didn't typically happen after the sun rose. Not out in the open at least.

Blood sticking out from one of the alleys drew his eye. Uraraka would have to wait. He sighed, flipping the bottle in his hands and searching for a pocket to stick the bottle in. She likely hadn't slept in a while considering how full the bottle was. It was a bit concerning. But the blood was also a bit concerning, and in front of him. So, he followed the trail.

At the end of the trail, he found three people. Two men surrounded Uravity as she lunged for one, locking them in a headlock and the other darting for her. Katsuki managed to stick his foot in front of him just in time to trip him. The man rolled over, anger glowing in his eyes, a slur half way to voicing itself.

"Say that again." He tested, brilliant anger and confidence rapidly switching to fear as their eyes darted between him and Uravity. Katsuki lowered himself grabbing the man's collar.

"Look, man, I didn't mean anything, she-"

Katsuki glanced towards Uravity, pulling the other man's arms behind his back, a bag of drugs falling out of his pocket.

Uravity sighed, "It's not what I was looking for."

"Look, lady, if not then let us go. We weren't harming anything."

Uravity swiped up the bag, taking a glance over it, "You think I'm dumb? I know exactly what these drugs are for. They're a type of highly addictive gateway drug that advances your quirk then drops it to unstable levels. All users of this drug have been in the hospital in less than three days after one usage."

"I didn't-"

"Sure, you didn't." Uravity swiped up the cash, running her fingers through the money. "Judging by this amount you've got a steady amount of people coming for it. And this isn't your first go around in the system." Uravity sighed, "I threw you in the first time. We can talk about this and get you some help too. You've got to want to help yourself." Uravity lowered herself in front of the man, rapidly talking to him. The man lunged, aiming to bite her. Uravity chopped the man down, holding him down by his shoulders. "Resisting Arrest, I'm sure that'll look great on a record while trying to get a job. Police will be here in less than three minutes."

Katsuki turned, struggling to suppress a scoff, he couldn't. He glanced down towards the other man in his watch, "Look, man, I know. I'm sorry. Please? I can't have a record, I'm about to get into college, my girlfriend will kill me…." He paused glancing towards Uravity, "You know how it is…I don't want to let her down." The man shifted his gaze back towards him.

Katsuki glanced away, "We'll decide that when the police get here."

The man was quiet, lowering his head with only a slight, "shit" under his breath. He was likely going to get off easy, already repenting and it was going to be hard to prove since it looked like an impulse decision. The man didn't show the side effects of any drugs running through his veins.

"Why'd you do it? You don't look like the type."

The man's face heated, "It's a bit hard to explain, but sometimes there are things that you just want to forget, ya know? And I've tried everything, I mean literally everything except drugs. And I asked him for anything. And that's what he brought me. I didn't know. Well, more like I opted to ignore it hoping I could forget, ya know?"

Katsuki nodded. It wasn't like he couldn't understand. The police flared behind him. Uravity glanced between the two as the police hurried down, escorting the people they caught away. The police glanced between them. Katsuki ran a hand through his hair. "Hey, go easy on the kid." The police glanced towards him, blinking. It wasn't like him. He could see it running through his eyes wondering if they should escort him to a hospital. "It was an impulse of a bad day. We've all had them." The officer nodded then turned and got into their vehicle.

Uraraka stood next to him, glancing him over. "Thanks. I was good without the backup, but I think I'll let it slide."

Katsuki stifled a grunt. Whatever. "Don't come to me next time then." He turned reaching to throw her, her sleeping pills: a smirk a crossed her lips. His hands tightened on the bottle in his pocket. He would give them to her when they got back. He wanted to see that smirk, that glitter of "I win" dance in her eyes just for a moment longer.

Uravity got up moving away, further down the alley, swiping something up as she went.

"Let's go back. Kirishima's probably worried."

Uraraka glanced back towards him, eyes wide. A hollow laugh, unsatisfactory escaped her, the sparkle that was testing him in her eyes, gone. "I was thinking that I'd probably have to be the one to suggest that we take a break for the night. I'm not ready. It's barely been-"

"When was the last time you slept?"

"I sleep all the time."

"When?"

Uraraka glanced around, glancing towards the alleyway buildings as though they were going to provide her with some form of escape. Shit. They just might if she used her quirk.

"We can both fly, don't try it."

Uraraka sighed, shifting her feet.

Katsuki tightened his hand around the nearly full bottle. Todoroki was the one who had returned it to him. "You lost it at that party at Todoroki's didn't you?"

Her eyes darted back towards him, "Lost what?"

He threw her the pill bottle. "Don't lose it, I'll look into getting you a lower prescription if it bothers you that much."

Uraraka followed him out of the alley, grabbing the collar of his sleeve, a light pink briefly crossing her face, "I slept at your place." She paused, "I felt safe there." Her eyes darted down towards the sidewalk. The light pink coming and going as she mixed her hero training to hide what she was thinking with actual emotions.

"I'll have a key made."

Pink ran a crossed her cheeks.

"Don't think too highly of it." He grunted, hoping that her grip wouldn't slip from his sleeve to feel his sweaty hands.

Uraraka glanced towards the rooftops, her eyes gazing parts of the city he's likely never seen, "He was just a child. I can't-" Her voice faded, it wasn't exactly hard to figure out what she was trying to voice.

"We should figure out what to do about that woman's quirk."

Uraraka moved to unlock his front door, "And if her quirk getting deactivated kills Raiz?"

Katsuki sighed, frustratedly fluffing his hair, "I don't know, but if he's in pain. It's not like he's completely alive. According to the police, Raiz is-"

Uraraka opened the door, Kirishima stood there reaching for the doorknob. Shit.