Chapter 11: Cessation (Patreon)

Katsuki’s heart thumped within his chest, the sight before him dredging up memories that haunted his past. Each step he took towards the figure waiting ahead of him made his knees buckle, his breathing haggard.

A children’s playground surrounded the two, a reminder of what he had lost. It faded into the entrance to the USJ, the surrounding students looking at them in clear confusion. A reminder of what he had let go and trampled upon. The scrawny kid that refused to fade was now replaced by a towering behemoth… And that grin… That damned grin…!

Why didn’t he hate him? No matter how hard he stared into those piercing green orbs, he couldn’t find the deep loathing he should’ve had. There was a smidge of hate there, but that was drowned out by the pure apathy that swirled within his core.

Where was the hate he deserved? Where were the insults? The fucking punches!? Kicks!? Why didn’t he do to him what he did all those years ago!? It was his fucking right!

He deserved it all! His hate! His grief! All the things he had ever done to him should’ve been rendered to him twice, no, tenfold! So where was it!?

“What? Cat got your tongue, Kacchan?” There it was. That impish grin. Like what he did to him didn’t matter. Like all the torment he went through didn’t matter.

He stopped right in front of Izuku, the teen… No, the man grinning at him while he stewed in his darkest thoughts. His mouth opened but refused to let out a sound. Clamping it shut, he swallowed a thick muck of saliva as he tried to get his thoughts in order.

As if sensing his thoughts, Izuku was content to remain silent, all the while that damned grin of his never left his face. A pat on the shoulder caused him to shudder, his senses going on overdrive as his spine tingled.

“Bakubro, you good man?” Shitty hair just had to look concerned for him. Fuck! He didn’t need his concern!

Growling, Katsuki gazed back at the man who had haunted him for over the past year. Steeling his nerves, Katsuki glared into Izuku’s green orbs, the mirth hidden underneath all too obvious to the ash blond.

“How are you here?” Izuku raised an eyebrow at his question. Seeing the greenette not answering his question, Katsuki let out a low growl and took another step forward. “I saw your fucking corpse at your funeral. I was there when they cremated your ass. I was there when they buried your ashes in your family cemetery. So how the fuck are you here!?”

He heard gasps coming from behind him and the peanut gallery, but he didn’t care. His attention was solely focused on the teen before him, the teasing grin still present on his freckled face.

“I don’t know.” Izuku shrugged, the pieces of metal he wore grinding against each other producing a cacophony of chinks and clanks. “One moment I was somewhere else, then another, I was here inside that dome over there.”

He pointed towards the dome where Katsuki and shitty hair came from. A pit formed in his stomach. Looking at the weapon that half and half bastard was toting along, struggling a bit by the looks if things, he put two and two together before he looked at the teen before him with fear and a bit of disgust.

“Was it you who killed those villains?” Shitty hair behind him made another gasp. He could imagine what his face was making. Who could blame the fucker? The villains were literally cut in fucking half, their guts spilling all over the floor.

If he hadn’t seen, nor smelled the odor the first time it happened months ago, he would be retching just like shitty hair on the floor when they found the corpses. He knew he would. He did the same as well.

“So, what if I did?” The tone was strong, confident, and even a touch apathetic. It sent ice crawling down his spine. Shitty hair and the others were no different.

The figure before them was a motherfucking murderer.

“You… You…!” Eyes alert, Katsuki felt his instinct kick in as his palms released sweat. Shitty hair probably did the same with his quirk, what with the fucking noise coming from behind him. Even his other classmates got ready for a fight, with half and half bastard no less.

“You bastard.” Shitty hair raised his voice and moved to punch Izuku, only to be stopped by a paw patting the back of his leg.

“Now, now, Kirishima. As much as a murderer deserves to get their face knocked in, you are all heroes-in-training, and assaulting a villain who has all but surrendered is in violation with the law.” The rat principal of the school gave a light-hearted chuckle but everyone there could feel the underlying threat underneath his tone. “Continue with your action and I may have no choice but to expel you on grounds of vigilantism.”

Shitty hair stood ramrod still with his fist cocked back, ready to punch Izuku in the noggin, only for him to lower it and click his tongue, all the while glaring at the greenette in armor.

“Now, if I may be so inclined to ask, who are you?”

[][][]

Izuku looked at the rat-bear-mouse chimera with a raised eyebrow. Not that he wasn’t thankful for calming down the redhead—he had no quarrel with him—but he was… confused, so to speak. He knew that quirks were varied and different, but one that made you look like a tiny animal? Yeah, that was a bit weird, even for his tastes. Still, even behind that cheerful facade, he could see a cold and calculating being behind that scarred eye of his.

Wait a minute… Tiny animal in a suit, scarred eye. Ah right, the memories were coming back now. This was Nezu, the principal of U.A. High School. An actual animal with a quirk, not a person with a mutation… And with the various horror stories people had with interacting with said principal… Yeah, he’d better be on his best behavior. He didn’t want to complicate things any further and risk the chance of him seeing his mother.

“Midoriya Izuku.” He gave the rat a bow. Might as well lean into theatrics for the hell of it.

“Midoriya…?” Nezu hummed and his eyes grew a tad sharper. “Now where have I heard that name before…?”

Looking at Katsuki, the blond didn’t speak up, head tilted down as he averted his gaze. And here he thought the blond would make his life easier and just say that he died saving him months ago.

Still, he was cremated and buried, huh… He wondered how his mother would’ve reacted to his death. It was a no-brainer that the poor woman would wallow in grief…

He hoped that she didn’t take the way out like he thought to do so many times… So many times…

“Anyway, not important for now.” Nezu took a quick glance at the cuffs binding his wrists before he turned to face and muttered to himself, which his enhanced ears managed to hear. “Saving the kids is more important.”

At least he could appreciate Nezu’s priorities. Why bother with a villain who was clearly complying with authority rather than the others who were still hell-bent on resisting? That, and the other students who, frankly, got dealt a shit hand with this invasion.

“Oh, by the way, Midoriya?” Izuku’s attention snapped to Nezu, his tiny back facing him. “If you would please make this easier on the rest of us, sit down just right next to Midnight. I assure you; your rights will be protected as long as you comply with our demands.”

There was a threat if Izuku ever saw one, but one he had no problem with adhering to. As far as they knew, he was a villain who surrendered and then was simultaneously captured. Of course, they would still be wary.

Now as for sitting next to Midnight… Who was she again?

A waving woman caught his eye, and he had to bring down the wrath of the demi-gods before his junior could slam its head against the confines of his armor. It was just a figure of speech, by the way. Even after months of fighting, killing, and dying, teenage hormones will be teenage hormones.

“Midoriya? Do we really have to be physical right now?” Nezu’s eyes narrowed at him, and Izuku internally grimaced. Yeah, they were on edge. Might as well hurry along now to not cause them problems while they saved the other students.

Without further delay, he walked towards Midnight, who was eyeing him with a sultry look, but deep below he knew that the woman was as alert as can be, before he plopped his ass on the ground right next to her. The woman didn’t show any sign of tension but judging from how rigid she was, she was like a coiled snake, ready to pounce if he ever so much as moved wrong.

He wasn’t going to lie; he respected that action. Just because he was complying, doesn’t mean he wasn’t a threat.

His ass squirmed atop the hard concrete, the metal of his armor grinding against hard stone. The ground was hard and rough, but the exhaustion of the day caught up with him, so instead of sitting, Izuku laid down and closed his eyes. He forgot that he had been going for nearly the whole day now, and he was still feeling tired from the fight with Smarag.

And with his honed practice of sleeping wherever he wanted to as long as there were no threats, his mind blanked out as he embraced the soothing darkness of the void.

[][][]

“… Did he just go to sleep?” Kirishima pointed at the villain(?) with his right hand. Bakugo, meanwhile, had a mix of emotions on his face, something to delve into once the dust of this incident is settled.

That reminds him, he really should be increasing Hound Dog’s salary, what with the influx of traumatized students he’d be sending his way.

“Principal Nezu?” He was taken out of his thoughts as a student, one Asui, slowly made her way towards him.

“Yes, my dear student? Is there anything I can help you with?” Nezu gave a cheery grin and studied every facial tick the girl had. With her frog-like features, it was a tad difficult reading her mannerisms, but otherwise, not too much of a problem.

“A-about the villain, kero.” Nezu raised an eyebrow and Asui pointed towards the now sleeping armored villain that looked no older than the students. “He isn’t a villain, kero.”

“Oh? What did he do?” Nezu’s curiosity was piqued. It was already piqued before, but with this new revelation, his interest skyrocketed.

“He saved me… Saved us, kero.” She then pointed to Uraraka, Mineta whose injury was already giving him a headache on how to approach his parents, and surprisingly, an unconscious Aizawa.

“Did he now?” Nezu hummed as he stared at the downed form of Midoriya, who was quite comically, taking a nap right next to Midnight. If the press were to see this sight, they would immediately conclude that Midnight used her quirk on a surrendering villain.

Oh, he could already imagine the headlines made by those vultures. Is it any wonder why Aizawa detests the media so?

But alas, that was a thought for another day. Right now, his employees were scouring through the USJ and saving any student they come across. The pictures they painted made him sigh in relief.

It didn’t take long for the students to all be gathered just a few meters shy of the exit. All of them were fine, shaken and traumatized, but relatively fine. All Might did good in arriving early and making sure that the students in more dire straits were prioritized first.

Say what you will of the bumbling oaf, the man had a heart of gold and the wits of a seasoned veteran.