AN: This chapter contains direct quotes from "My Hero Academia" anime English Dub Episodes 124-126. This also contains spoilers for the Paranormal Liberation War Arc for MHA.
Katsuki…Katsuki…
The voice of an angel kept repeating his name softly.
"Katsuki!"
No, not softly. Definitely not softly.
"Please!"
The angel's voice sounded pained. He didn't want her to be in pain.
"Wake up, please!"
Bakugo tried to get up for her but fuck if breathing didn't hurt. The yells of those fighting around him came swarming back first. His vision returned shortly after as he fought the intense need to keep his eyes closed and pass out.
"Och-Ochako?" His voice was strained and raspy. He could go for about a gallon or fifty of water right now. And fuck, he was pretty sure some organs had been pierced. Every breath was like fire in his lungs, but he had other things to focus on.
"Omg! Katsuki!" Uraraka's beautiful face came into view; she was kneeling next to him, and he could vaguely make out that she had not come alone.
Why was she here in the first place! He tried to sit up, but a pair of little but strong hands kept him down.
"Don't move!" She chastised him.
"Why are you here?" Bakugo tried to gauge his surroundings while he waited for Uraraka to answer him. Deku and IcyHot were standing in front of him with Endeavor near them. Four-Eyes and that Blue-haired chick (Nejire?) were also nearby.
"I need to stay here. I can't leave." Deku's voice cut across Bakugo's train of thought. "Shigaraki wants my quirk. He'll follow me if I run off. Uravity. Ingenium. You go. Take Kacchan and Endeavor."
This mother fucker. He's just as injured as I am.
Would Deku ever fucking learn how to not sacrifice himself.
"I'm not going anywhere." Bakugo half gasped, half shouted, as Uraraka was already poising to zero gravity him away. "And answer the fucking question, Ochako, why are you here? I left you back where it was a hell of a lot safer."
"First of all, don't talk to me like that." Uraraka snapped as she used her quirk on him despite his protests. She moved him a couple of feet back from the action, the zero gravity allowing her to carry him without jostling him. After she determined they were at a safe enough distance, she finally stopped near some fallen debris and sat him up against a piece of a fallen building. "Actually, maybe you shouldn't talk at all. Does it hurt?" Uraraka once more kneeled down next to him, gently looking over the wounds on his torso with shaking hands.
Bakugo was pissed she was here in the middle of all the danger, but a small part of him was also thankful. Having her near him always brought him strength.
"I came looking for you." Uraraka's voice quivered, "I had a feeling, and I-I just. I couldn't ignore it." She was trying hard to reel in her emotions, and Bakugo could tell. He was pretty sure that if he had to witness Uraraka getting impaled by a villain, he would fucking lose it, so he had to commend her professionalism.
"Hey," He said gently, pushing his anger and fear at having her here to the side for now and grabbing both of her hands, "I'm okay. I'm fine. I'm alive." He said firmly, forcing her to look up at him. Uraraka's eyes glistened with tears, but she nodded, taking a deep breath to reign in her emotions. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and shot her a smile despite the pain he felt.
Later, when they both made it out alive, and he healed a bit, they would talk about this, and he would show her that those books she liked to read had absolutely nothing on the type of "punishment" he was about to dish out for worrying him like this.
But they had to survive first.
"MASTER!" Gigantomachia's massive body barrelled through the battlefield, seemingly coming out of nowhere, and despite his injuries, Bakugo hopped up from his spot on the floor and maneuvered Uraraka behind him, shielding her from whatever was to come.
"Katsuki!" Uraraka tried to get him to sit down again, but he growled at her.
"Ugh! Fine." She stopped trying to drag him back down, moving to his side with determination and wrapping one of his arms over her shoulder to let him lean some of his weight into her, "But I'm not some damsel-in-distress so if you fight, just know that I will fight right next to you because somebody has to make sure you don't get yourself killed." She huffed, but her eyes were on Gigantomachia in front of them.
"Fine." Standing up so suddenly had definitely made some of his wounds worse, and despite himself, he found that he actually did need to support some of his weight on his girlfriend. Breathing felt like inhaling thousands of knives, and he was fairly confident he probably shouldn't be moving about with open wounds. Bakugo was still trying to get a handle on his breathing when Icy Hot and Nejire (he was pretty sure that was her name) were blasted away by Shigaraki.
"Oh no, Nejire! Shoto!" Four-eyes shouted from behind them. "Bakugo, you're awake!" Iida made his way and grabbed Bakugo's other arm, hoisting most of his weight up and onto him.
"Put me down, ya four-eyed robot!" He didn't mind Uraraka holding him, but Four Eyes could go to hell.
"I can't! Your organs were punctured." Iida stated matter-of-factly. If Bakugo could, he would punch him.
"I said put me down." He tried to get out of Iida's hold, but Uraraka stopped him from being able to move.
"Stop it, Katsuki! Let him help." She chastised, which was enough to get Bakugo to stop moving around, but he was definitely adding this to his list of reasons why she was getting punished.
"Master, I'm here. What is your next order? I will do as you command!" Gigantomachia's loud voice boomed over everyone in the field. To make matters worse, little ants could be seen making their way out of Gigantomachia's back. He couldn't see them all too well, but they must be the rest of the League of Villains.
"Hey! There you are!" Despite his distance, Dabi's voice came across clearly to all those in the vicinity. "Ah, Shoto's with you. Perfect!"
"Dabi!" Endeavor's shout was labored and strained, but he still held his own.
"Hey, now don't be rude," Dabi said, pouring a liquid over his head. His black hair was slowly turning white. "You're acting like we never met." A sinking feeling hit Bakugo as he vaguely recalled a conversation at the Todoroki household that he would much rather have never been a part of, "Call me Toya. After all, it's the name you and mom gave me."
Bakugo heard Uraraka gasp beside her, but he focused on the two Todoroki's before him. He was pretty sure Toya had died in a fire, so what the fuck was going on.
"Yeah, I know my face is pretty disgusting now, but it's still surprising my own family didn't recognize me. It's honestly kinda crappy. Or maybe it's just depressing, you know?" Dabi continued dropping bombshells as if he were reading a cafe menu, "I didnt forget our family. I've been watching you from the shadows this entire time, you know. Out of everyone in the world, you should be beyond reproach number one, and so a prerecorded video of my life story is currently streaming on every device in the country."
Fuck. Bakugo was pretty sure shit had just gone from bad to worse. If they all somehow made it out alive from this, what fucking shitshow would they be walking into? Dabi kept spewing his mouth, but it didn't matter to Bakugo. This was Todoroki family shit, so why was he making it everyone else's problem.
"My son is dead. These are disgusting lies." Endeavor finally shouted up at the villain.
"Oh, I'm very much alive! You're just a broken man who refuses to accept the truth. How could you not recognize your child? Is it because fire quirks are so common? There's nothing special about someone who has one? If you doubt me, I'll happily give you some blood or a chunk of skin. You can do a DNA test. Obviously, I've already done one, and I released the results to the public."
"He's going to attack," Uraraka whispered softly. Her eyes, like everyone else's, were fixated on Dabi.
"What do you mean, Uravity," Iida said from his other side.
"Let me go." Bakugo tried again to remove himself from their hold. Uraraka was right. This psycho mother fucker is out for blood, and he wasn't going to stand here while it happened.
"Endeavor!" Dabi shouted suddenly, his whole body going up in blue flames.
"Dammit, he's fast. You ready, dad?" Half-and-half was at least ready for action, but Endeavor seemed frozen to the spot.
"Snap out of it! Please! We'll deal with this later!" This was the closest to "emotional" Bakugo had ever heard Half-and-Half get, and he didn't care for it. Not that he gave two shits about IcyHot, but he would make sure to get in a few good explosions into this Dabi motherfucker anyway if only he could get Uraraka and Iida to let him go.
Dabi was moving toward them fast, a bullet of blue flames, but just as quickly, a slew of metallic ropes whipped their way through the sky, wrapping around Dabi so thoroughly that it extinguished his flames. Gigantomachia was also victim to these metal ropes, and right behind the chaos came Best fucking Jeanist floating from the sky.
"Sorry, I'm late! As of this moment, Best Jeanist is back."
Bakugo couldn't help but laugh despite it taking an immense amount of energy at the moment, "And they said he was missing. Shows what they know."
"Katsuki, please." Uraraka admonished him.
"Yes, Bakugo, please refrain from exacerbating your injuries more." Four Eyes scolded from beside him.
"Tch."
The League of Villains was successfully caught in Best Jeanist web, but that didn't stop them from fighting it. Dabi managed to break out and threw a fireball at Nejire. Her piercing scream sobered everyone up after Best Jeanist's arrival, and Dabi's maniacal laugh made his blood curl in disgust.
"Endeavor! You let somebody get burned again, another kid with a bright future, ruined thanks to you!" Bakugo was definitely adding Dabi to his shit list now.
Iida let go of Bakugo to run after the rapidly falling Nejire, and Bakugo took his sudden departure as an opportunity to finally stand up on his own two feet.
"Katsuki," Uraraka said warily.
"I'm fine, Ochako. Seriously." He still sounded strained, but the appearance of Best Jeanist added to the strength that he was already gathering after Uraraka had shown up on the battlefield. He was pumped now. Maybe it was adrenaline, but he felt it in his bones. This fight wasn't over yet.
Gigantomachia roared out of nowhere with a burst of energy. Best Jeanist's ropes started snapping in half, and his former mentor was struggling to hold him down. Dabi and Half-and-Half were currently going head to head while dear old Endeavor still couldn't seem to snap out of it, and if it wasn't already a shitshow, a fucking flock of Nomu's were flying rapidly toward where Best Jeanist held Gigantomachia, Shigarki, and the rest of the League of Villains.
Bakugo needed to do something. He was about to try and speed off toward them when a very familiar (and annoying, he might add) voice rang across the battlefield.
"Power!"
Hadn't this guy lost his quirk? Lemillion permeated out of nowhere, knocking out the nomus that had previously been on the path toward Best Jeanist.
"Lemillion!" Multiple voices shouted around them, including Uraraka's. Bakugo made a mental note to add that one to the list of reasons, seeing as she sounded a little too excited. Is it rational? Probably not. Should he be thinking about this right now? Definitely not. Did he care? Abso-fucking-lutely not.
Despite managing to catch them by surprise, the nomus were quickly recuperating and gathering their speed toward Best Jeanist and the Villains.
"Heya somebody! Help!" Lemillion shouted in his overly chipper voice. His peppiness might have been severely out of place given the hero's dire situation, but it succeeded in revving everyone up into fighting stances.
Bakugo felt the familiar feeling of a match being struck inside him. His explosions sparked. He remembered how it felt earlier when he jumped in front of Deku. They were way more intense. Stronger, faster, and more distinct blasts. He hadn't felt a rush like that outside of sex with Ochako. Maybe that's what happens when you face death.
"Whatever, I'll save everyone!" Bakugo jumped into action, using his explosions to propel himself toward the nomus and knocking them out of the way. Oh yeah, he was fired up now!
"Katuski!" Uraraka was not that far behind him; using zero gravity on the nomu he hadn't noticed, he punched in her direction, and then martial arts kicked him into fucking space. God, he loved her. "Don't just take off like that."
Another nomu showed up behind her, but before either could react, fucking Four Eyes kicked him away. He didn't care for him much, but at least he helped save his girl, so he vowed to make an effort to ignore him completely. "I can't take my eyes off you for a second! Ground yourself! You shouldn't be fighting." Bakugo takes it back. Four-Eyes can shove it.
Nejire, Lemillion, Iida, Uraraka, and Bakugo started fighting the nomus to give Best Jeanist time to hold down Gigantomachia and the League of Villains.
A nasty hit from a Nomu sent Bakugo flying down, but thankfully, Uraraka had used her quirk on all of them to help them remain floating in the air where the flying nomus kept dropping down on them, hell-bent on reaching the League of Villains.
Bakugo let himself fall since he was close to where his former mentor and pain-in-his-ass Best Jeanist was standing. He had a score to settle.
"Were you able to look beyond yourself, Bakugo?" Best Jeanist sounded as poised as he always had despite the blood that was streaming down his face and the clear strain in his body as he held down Gigantomachia.
"I chose a hero name." He had refused to tell anyone, even Uraraka, despite how much she tried to prod it out of him. "I wanted you to hear it in person first." Your hero name is a wish. How you want to be. Or how you think you should be. "From now on, call me …Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight, got it?"
He could hear everyone spouting off their opinions, but he could give two shits. He is Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight.
"That's an awesome hero name. It's super funny," Lemillion's annoying voice sounded off last.
"You take that back, ya moron!" He shouted as he landed back on the ground. Uraraka landed next to him with Lemillion in front of them.
"Without joy and laughter to balance the sorrow, this world can't hope for a bright future." The moron lept back into action, but Uraraka turned to give Bakugo a warm smile. The world was falling apart around them, but he could make it through it all if she kept smiling at him.
"I love it." She said genuinely, making Bakugo blush despite the battle in front of them.
Bakugo grumbled as they both shot back up into the sky to keep battling off the nomus. Explosions, shouting, and the occasional heat of Dabi and Half-and-Half's fire kept sprouting up everywhere, but nothing could have prepared them for Gigantomachia's seemingly never-ending bursts of energy.
The giant released himself from the ropes, and everyone seemed to be suspended in time, holding their breaths. The roars from the beast were enough to turn blood into ice, but then, just as quickly as his strength burst through, Gigantomachia passed out, tumbling down to the ground like a log.
Gigantomachia's giant thud on the ground seemed to snap everyone out of their trance. Fighting commenced all around them, and before he had time to react, a nomu came flying toward his direction. He wasn't going to be fast enough to punch him away, and Bakugo was pretty sure he couldn't take any more damage to his body.
Before he could think of potential options, Iida jumped in and kicked the nomu away. Fucking Four-Eyes!
"Get back, Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight! You're wounded! You're in no condition to fight." He shouted before resuming his fighting.
Bakugo wanted to argue, but he was already starting to see black around his vision, his earlier burst of energy nearing the end of its reserves. "Ugh! Dammnit! I hate that he's right."
"Well, at least he got your full hero name correct." Uraraka's voice was teasing as she floated down next to him, but her face betrayed her concern.
"Come here." He said, extending his arm toward her. Uraraka raced to his side in time for Bakugo to wrap his arm around her and let her carry some of the weight.
"Oh, thank god! I thought I was going to have to knock you out." Uraraka sighed in relief.
"Tch. You wish." He couldn't help but smile. The world was going to shit, but his girl was right next to him. He preferred if she were as far away from here as possible, safe and sound in a fortress somewhere on the opposite side of the world, but right next to him was a close second.
The fighting seemed to never end, but then that stupid masked villain that had turned him into a marble way back when turned the rest of the League of Villains into some, too. The nomu's made finally reached them, and Bakugo saw them running away.
Fuck.
After all this, they still managed to escape.