Chapter Text
It was hard to remember exactly what happened.
He knew it was dark. He knew it was chaotic. He knew he wanted it all to be over.
He remembered trees and rocks. He remembered the moon, vivid in the dark night sky. There were other people there too. People he knew. People he fought with.
He didn’t fight hard enough. They didn’t fight hard enough.
And now, Bakugou found himself without anyone by his side.
He thinks he remembers being captured. One minute he was running through the woods with his classmates, the next he was falling into darkness.
It wasn’t pleasant, he knew that. It was empty. It was claustrophobic. It was terrifying.
Bakugou prided himself on his confident nature, his resilience in battle, his bravery to face anything, but in a single moment, all his bravado fell away as he found himself in a black expanse of nothingness.
Bakugou never thought it would be loneliness that made him lose it.
But it was overwhelming and dark and crushing and infinite and there was nothing and no one and nothing and no one and he was alonealonealonealone.
He does remember being released. It felt suffocating, like his body was being forced through a space that it couldn’t fit through. It felt like drowning, like he was swimming towards the surface, but it was too far away. It felt like dying, like his heart was ripped from his chest.
His lungs constricted as he was grasped by his throat. He couldn’t think. His thoughts were scrambled. He wanted to fight back, he did, but his body wouldn’t listen. As he was pulled through the portal it took all of his energy to mumble those few words.
“Don’t come, Deku.”
Somehow the portal was worse than the marble prison. It reminded him all too much of the sludge villain, oozing goop that flooded his senses crawling up his nose, swarming his mouth, filling his eyes. It certainly didn’t help that tight fingers were latched around his throat, squeezing.
When he fell out of the portal he was left gasping for breath, clawing at his throat, trying to erase the memory of his greatest failure.
It wasn’t hard to restrain him after that. He couldn’t do anything to stop them, the villains. He knew who they were, he knew he should be able to do something, anything, to put up a fight. But he didn’t. His eyes wide, blown out in terror. His limbs trembling as they were strapped into a chair. His hands specially cuffed so he wouldn’t be able to escape.
His senses didn’t come back to him until hours later.
His heartbeat never slowed, but lucidity returned to him as he took stock of his surroundings. A small cluttered barroom. No windows. One exit. Possible weapons: three glasses resting on the bar, a corkscrew lying six feet away, a rusty pipe propped onto the wall, a piece of ceiling tile about to fall, stacks of half empty liquor bottles behind the counter, a tv attached to the wall.
A group of people sat gathered around the far end of the bar counter watching him curiously. Sneering at the villains he immediately locked in on the individual in the center. With stark light blue hair and the signature hand obscuring his face, Bakugou had no trouble remembering the villain from the USJ attack: Shigaraki. Looking at the other villains, he only recognized the infamous warp gate also present at the USJ attack, but the others remained nameless and unrecognizable in his mind.
There wasn’t much he could do in this situation, but he’d be damned if he didn’t do anything. So he did the one thing he could do.
He wouldn’t let them break him.
He wasn’t stupid. He knew what they wanted from him. It didn’t take much deduction skills to put two and two together: they wanted to recruit him.
Like Bakugou would let them do that.
If there was one thing Bakugou was good at, it was being stubborn. And the one thing he strived to be was a hero. Put those two together and you get a brick wall of determination; It would take a whole lot more than a kidnapping to loosen his resolve.
“Ah, the young hero finally joins us.” Shigaraki murmured.
Instinctively, Bakugou shrunk away at the villain’s voice, tensing his arms to release an explosion, before remembering the cuffs around his hands.
Better not risk blowing his hands off. If it absolutely came to it, he wouldn’t hesitate. He would quite literally do anything to avoid becoming a villain or, god forbid, a leverage against the heroes.
Which he supposes he is.
God fucking damn it.
“Fuck off you walking dead wanabee.”
A laugh pulled his gaze to a teenage girl whose blonde hair was messily tied up in two buns.
“I like him. He’s so fiery. I can’t imagine how cute he’d look covered in blood.”
He recoiled at the insane commentary.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, crazy bitch. Leave me alone! I don’t want any part of your crazy, fucked up gang!”
“Aw, I don’t get a cute nickname?” The girl pouted, “Besides, I’m sure Shigaraki wouldn’t mind if we played around a little bit. I would just die to see you screaming under my knife.”
Honestly, what kind of crazy psychopath was she?
“Now, now Toga, we wouldn’t want to scare our new guest away,” Shigaraki scolded, absently scratching his neck, “He must serve his purpose.”
“Like I would ever fucking comply with you lousy excuses for villains.”
“Oh really?” Shigaraki stumbled towards him menacingly before forcefully grabbing ahold of his jaw, “Do you know what my quirk is boy?” Shigaraki tightened his grip around Bakugou’s chin and yanked him closer, “If I put just one more finger around your pretty little face, you’ll fade into nothing but dust to fall upon the floor.”
Bakugou pulled his head forcefully away. He couldn’t let them know how shaken that had left him. So he did what he was best at, he turned his insecurities into anger and spit in Shigaraki’s face.
He had expected some backlash, maybe a punch to the face or a cut across his cheek. What he hadn’t expected was for Shigaraki to start laughing quietly to himself as he swiped an arm over his cheek to wipe away the spit. His laughter slowly rose in volume and his hands began scratching at his throat more viciously.
It was beyond terrifying.
Bakugou had expected the villains to be a well coordinated group of people capable of devising horrifyingly awful schemes. But the reality was much worse. This entire group of villains was mentally unhinged. No, worse than that, they were literal psychopaths. There was no way they could be so methodical as to plan a successful attack on his class and pro heroes alone, meaning, there was only one conclusion to be drawn.
There was someone else who was leading them.
Someone capable enough to outsmart pro heroes. Someone sick enough to control these bastards. Someone he needed to fear.
His breath caught in his throat as he continued to watch the unhinged man before him laugh maniacally.
“What exactly do you plan to do to me you bastards?” He didn’t want to admit he was scared of the answer.
Instead of Shigaraki answering, a tall young man with scars covering his under eyes, chin, neck, and arms stepped forward.
“Well, we want to recruit you of course. What we have to do to convince you is really your choice to make. How much will it take to see your tenacity crumble?”
Bakugou sneered, “If you really think that you could make me a villain, you’re more ignorant than I thought. You fucking assholes won’t be able to break me. I’ll die before I let you do that.”
Standing up from his crouched position on the floor, Shigaraki approached him again, “That can certainly be arranged if necessary. In the meantime, I think you’ll find that we can be very persuasive.”
With that note, Shigarki motioned for the other villains to follow him as he led them into a back room Bakugou had failed to notice when he woke up.
He was somewhat relieved to see them leave. If he was alone, he could formulate a plan to escape without worrying about the other villains watching him.
Exactly how long had he been here already?
It couldn’t have been that long, he reasoned. A few hours at least, a day at most. His heart rate slowed considerably now that he was alone, but he was careful to keep his guard up. He tensed his wrists confined in the crude metal contraption, testing its strength. The harsh metal scraped his knuckles as he tried to wriggle free, but the cuffs held strong.
He let out tsk as he tested the other restraints. Tight leather straps crossed his chest and legs. If he had been able to use his powers, he could have blasted through them easily. But, as it was, the most he could do was move slightly to the right and left.
Bakugou considered his other options. The chair he was strapped to was reinforced with metal at the edges, but it was mostly wood. If he could just slam his weight down hard enough, he could splinter the chair and escape from the leather straps. The only problem with that plan was the specialized cuffs were weighted enough to pull his body forward, it would take a lot of strength and effort to slam backwards against the chair, not to mention how difficult it would be to garner enough momentum to break the chair. And even if he did manage to free himself of his constraints, he couldn’t remove the cuffs on his hands. And if he couldn’t use his hands, he couldn’t fight back.
Tossing aside that plan, Bakugou weighed his other options. If he could somehow trick the villains into letting him go, or even just loosening his bindings, that would be ideal, but that still wouldn’t solve the cuff problem. Not to mention, it was highly unlikely.
Quickly getting frustrated with his limited options, Bakugou let out a frustrated yell. There was nothing he could do in this situation.
How could he have been so stupid? He had known the villains were after him. He knew he could easily take them down. But that marble clusterfuck had ruined everything. As soon as he was free, Bakugou swore to give that man exactly what he deserved.
He was startled out of his vengeance fueled daydream by the entrance of the blonde villain.
“Why hello, Katsuki,” she giggled, skipping over to where he was restrained.
Bakugou flinched at the use of his given name. It angered him that any of the villains had the audacity to call him that. As if he was already a member of their filthy league. He recoiled at the thought; Bakugou would never join them.
“Fuck off vampire lady,” He growled.
Rather than scaring her off, the threat seemed to excite her, as she let out a gasp in glee.
“I do get a nickname! I knew you liked me Katsuki.” She leaned in closer, sitting on the arm of the chair he was seated in.
“And you’re so vile too. Got a dirty mouth I see,” the girl giggled again, “And a dirty tongue. I’d love to just slice it off.”
Bakugou tried to lean as far away from the girl, but she just leaned closer, looming over him.
“Did you know that if the lingual arteries in your tongue are severed, you could drown in your own blood?” The girl gained a manic look in her eyes as she leaned even closer. “You would bleed out in minutes, and there would be so much blood.” She grabbed ahold of Bakugou’s chin and yanked him even closer. “I don’t think I’d be able to stop myself if that happened.”
Bakugou’s breath came in short, sharp bursts, “What- What do you think you’re doing?” He tried to sound as threatening as he could, but the girl's grip on his jaw was sending him spiraling again.
“I’m becoming your friend of course.” The girl finally released him and hopped off the chair to talk to him straight on. “Shigaraki said I wasn’t allowed to take any blood yet, but he told me we could play as much as I wanted. Oh! I almost forgot to introduce myself. I got distracted talking about blood.” A wide, crazed grin stretched across her face as she hopped onto a nearby barstool “My name is Toga Himiko. Let’s have some fun.”
~
It had to have been at least a day by now. Bakugou twitched uncomfortably in his chair, glaring down the posse of villains clustered in front of him. Granted, they didn’t pay him much attention. In fact, the group was pointedly ignoring him.
It was fucking annoying.
The previous day had been borderline torturous. While he hadn’t actually been harmed physically, the villains harbored no issues with invading his space and grabbing him. After Toga finally got bored of him, he had only two other visitors.
Another younger villain, maybe in his early twenties, introduced himself as Dabi, who had no qualms about voicing his dislike of both Bakugou and the entire league. It seemed he also had no qualms against reminding Bakugou he couldn’t fight back.
It wasn’t until hours after the both of them had left that Shigaraki returned to threaten him.
“I hear you’ve met a few of our members, have you?”
“Yeah. Real fucking obvious tactic you had going on there. Make friends with the bad guys so I would want to join. Did you really think it would be that easy, you fucking idiot. They’re psychopaths, the whole lot of them” Bakugou spat.
“I’d like to remind you, Bakugou, while we do seek to recruit you, you are first and foremost our prisoner. The only way out is to give up. Join us. Be who you were meant to be.”
“‘Who I’m meant to be’ is the number one fucking hero, and I’m not going to let some mentally unstable, shit villains change my mind.” Katsuki steeled his gaze, “Leave me the fuck alone. You can’t win this battle.”
Shigaraki began a low chuckle, slowly rising in pitch and volume as his hands rose to scratch his neck viciously, “That’s where you’re wrong. You had the chance to make friends here. Instead you turned up your nose at them. Now you’re all alone. No one is coming to save you. Everyone already knows you could never be a hero. You are a villain, Bakugou Katsuki, and you will accept our terms.”
The words cut deep. He had spent his whole life running away from those words. He had been told his quirk was only good for destruction, that he would only end up hurting people in the end, that he could never be a hero, let alone the top hero. So he had distanced himself from everyone, made it his mission to prove them all wrong. He was committed to being the best, no matter who got in his way. So there was never any time for people to care about him.
What hurt the most was the fact that Bakugou understood why no one would come for him. The villains weren’t the only ones who had seen the Sports Festival. Everyone saw him muzzled. Everyone already thought of him as the villain. Hell, even his own classmates hated him. It was his own fault that he was here. And there was no hope of rescue.
The warp gate entered from the door behind Shigaraki, standing as his right hand man.
“Kurogiri,” Shigaraki addressed, “See to it that Bakugou does not receive any food or water for the foreseeable future. Maybe a little starvation will change our young convert’s mind.”
Shigaraki promptly left the small barroom, leaving Kurogiri to follow through on orders. It hadn’t been a pleasant night.
When he awoke, the entire league was present, sitting around the bar counter, although it was unclear what they were doing. Quite contrary to the previous day, the villains were quiet, whispering amongst themselves, unaware of Bakugou watching them. It was Toga who eventually noticed he had woken up.
“Katsuki! You’re awake!”
“Have you decided to agree to our terms yet, young hero?” Shigaraki drawled.
Bakugou’s anger returned in full blast, “Did I not make myself clear? You can’t make me do anything. So Fuck. OFF!”
“So you still haven’t learned your lesson yet, I see. Maybe you just need a little more persuasion.” Shigaraki turned to face Toga, “You have my permission to take as much blood as you want. Just leave him awake and alive.”
The gleam that shone in Toga’s eyes promised she’d do exactly that.
The other villains didn’t even bat an eye as she pulled out a collection of knives and syringes from seemingly nowhere as she steadily approached him.
Before he knew what was happening, Toga had sliced two clean lines down his face, starting at his ears, curving inward across his cheeks, before ending where his jaw met his throat.
Bakugou hissed in pain as Toga leaned in closer and licked one of the cuts from his throat up.
“Oh, I was right. You look so much better covered in blood.” She giggled, before transforming into a perfect copy of himself.
Bakugou inhaled sharply. So that was her quirk. As he looked at his own face staring back at him he became deeply unsettled. It may have looked strikingly like him, but the smile gave it away. Even if he ever did smile, it would never look anything like the terrifying grin gleaming back at him.
“You know, even after all that stuff we told you about how no one cares about you, I think there is one person who does.”
Bakugou’s head shot up, trying to figure out where Toga was going with this.
“You do have one friend. What was his name? Kirishima?” Toga’s grin widened as his eyes grew wide.
“What does he have to do with anything?”
“Why Katsuki, he has everything to do with this. I wonder how he’d feel if he saw us right now, how he’d look if he found your dead body in this chair, how he’d react when he saw you siding with the villains.”
“SHUT UP!” Bakugou screamed, “Stop it!”
“Ohh, did I hit a nerve?” Toga giggled again, the action looking absurd when it was his own face doing it, “I wonder how long it would take him to notice if I came back instead of you.”
“Toga.” Shigaraki cut her off, “That’s enough of that. Leave him be for now.”
“You’re no fun Shigi,” She pouted, “I barely got to do anything.”
“You can save it for later.”
Toga reluctantly withdrew herself away from Bakugou, frowning all the while and slumped into a seat at the bar table.
Blood from the cuts began dripping down Bakugou’s face, pooling in the juncture between his neck and shoulders, sticklily drying and clotting on his neck. The now familiar sense of panic began to set in as the dried blood tightened the skin around his throat. His breath began to come out in small, short bursts as he tried to regulate his breathing.
He refused to show any more weakness to these villains.
He had to stay strong.
“I’ll give you the day to rethink your predicament, young hero, then you’ll have to make a choice.” Shigaraki motioned towards the warp gate, “Kurogiri, if you will, we have matters to attend to. The rest of you are on strict orders to leave our prisoner alone.” With that last note, Shigaraki stepped through the portal and disappeared.
Not that Bakugou was very much aware of this fact. His eyes and hands were clenched, his fingernails digging into his palms to distract himself from the blood and the feeling of suffocation.
It took longer than he would have wanted to admit, but eventually, Bakugou calmed his breathing enough to come back to his senses.
As he opened his eyes again, he realized that the villains, minus Kurogiri and Shigaraki, were all crowded around a tv, all silent except for the newscaster on screen.
“--ou can see the damage behind me, what remains of the forest surrounding the training camp has been reduced to ashes. Thanks to a team of rescue heroes, the forest fire was put out before more damage could occur, but unfortunately, the main culprits escaped capture, taking with them the well known hero-trainee Bakugou Katsuki.”
Bakugou’s head jerked up at the mention of his name, they were talking about the training camp raid.
“All of the other students are accounted for, but some remain in critical condition, and pro-hero Ragdoll has yet to be found as well.”
Some of the tension in Bakuou’s shoulders lightened as he took in the information.
They were all okay. Everyone else was safe.
At least he no one died trying to save him, he wasn’t sure he would be able to live with himself if they did.
“-ing you now to the UA press conference, where pro-hero Eraserhead is giving the briefing on how the heroes plan to proceed and keep the students safe.”
“We are aware of how the public feels. This is the second direct attack on the hero class at UA, this time resulting in the capture of one of the students. Rest assured, we are doing everything in our power to ensure his safety, and the capture of his captors is our top priority.”
“Eraserhead, are you at all concerned that the captured student, Bakugou Katsuki, could be working with the villains? After the sports festival, it seems likely that--”
Of course. Everyone thought of him as a villain. Bakugou slumped down in the chair, ignoring the pang he felt in his chest.
“My student is not a villain.”
At the sound of his teacher’s voice, Bakugou sat up straighter. He was… defending him?
“The debacle at the sports festival was the fault of the UA staff, and the muzzling of our student has not gone unpunished. Bakugou is one of the best students UA has taught, and the fact that he was captured goes to show he proves a threat to the League. I have complete and utter faith in my student, and his rescue will--”
The feed cut off, and Bakugou turned to see Shigaraki, holding the remote.
But he couldn’t bring himself to care. Bakugou smirked. Hearing his teacher call him one of the best and arguing on his behalf filled him with a new resolve.
He was not a toy to be broken.
He was Bakugou fucking Katsuki.
And he was not a villain.
Shigaraki turned to his prisoner, oblivious to the regained strength in his determination.
“Well, would you look at that, the entire hero world already thinks you’re a villain. What kind of career could you possibly have if everyone is scared of you? And look at your precious teacher, trying to save face for the school by protecting your image. You honestly think he ever cared about you? You belong with us.”
No, Aizawa couldn’t be faking it. Bakugou tightened his jaw. He couldn’t break. He had to stay strong. He wouldn’t - couldn’t give up.
“Have you reconsidered our offer yet?”
Bakugou just glared back at Shigaraki. He had had enough of his petulant taunting, he wouldn’t be goaded again.
“Oh? No defying remark? I’d say that’s certainly progress. Maybe you’ve had enough punishment for now. How about a reward for good behavior? Huh?”
Bakugou tensed and sat up more. He couldn’t be certain that this wasn’t some sort of trick.
As Shigaraki approached him, Kurogiri reached out an arm to try and stop him.
“Young master, are you sure uncuffing him is the best idea? He has proven to be quite resilient and powerful.”
“I am aware of the dangers, but don’t worry, he’s been starved and bled for two days now, what little energy he has won’t be enough to do anything.”
Shigaraki brushed off the hand and once again approached Bakugou.
Bakugou pushed his back up against the chair, trying to put as much distance as he could between them. Even if he was being released, which he sincerely doubted, the villain was still terrifying in his own right.
To his surprise, Shigaraki adeptly worked the leather constraints and cuffs off him in a swift manner, releasing him from his prison.
Katsuki slowly made to stand up, cautious of all the villains around him. Though this was the best chance he’d been given of escape, Shigaraki had been right: they had starved him and cut him, and he’d been stuck in that chair for days- he wouldn’t be able to fight them all off. But the other option was staying here and becoming a villain.
He would rather die.
Eyes darting all around him, Bakugou stretched out his muscles and rubbed at where his hands had been cinched in metal. His head swam and his vision danced, dizzy from lack of food, water, and blood. But he was still standing, he wouldn’t back down.
He had to be practical about this. He knew that, since he was dehydrated, his quirk wouldn’t last long. He couldn’t make a move just yet. He had to wait for another opening, when they had their guards down.
Right as his mind was made up, a sudden pounding at the door distracted everyone in the room. All eyes landed on the barroom door.
“Umm, anyone there? I’ve got a pizza order here.”
Shigaraki quickly turned his attention to his lackeys, “Did one of you idiots actually order pizza here! Do you know how ridicul-”
He was cut off as, at once, the wall and door burst open in a flurry of branches and crashing cinder blocks flew into the room, followed by a team of pro heroes.
Bakugou didn’t waste another second, this was as good of a chance as he would get.
Rather than using his explosion, Bakugou began attacking with his fists. It was best to use as few explosions as possible, lest he pass out from quirk exhaustion.
A well aimed kick took out Toga in a flash. A punch or two to the stomach took out the masked villain. He was rounding up for an explosion to take out the fire freak, but just as he was about to make contact, a hand grabbed at his shirt, and before he knew it, the dark fluid of a portal invaded his senses once again.
Bakugou emerged in front of a dark compound, choking on air.
He couldn’t fall apart now, he was so close to freedom.
Despite his panicked state, Bakugou pulled himself to his feet, eyes darting to locate the villains.
As he frantically looked around him, he vaguely noted that he wasn’t alone; a battle raged across the field.
Surrounded in the fray of the fight, senses heightened in blatant panic, Bakugou couldn’t think clearly. He just knew he needed to escape.
Letting out a guttural cry, he launched himself full fury at Shigaraki, palms burning and itching to hit.
Shigaraki easily dodged his attack and seethed in anger.
“I put my trust in you, you ungrateful pig. You could have joined us and become a king, now you’ll become nothing.”
Bakugou didn’t hear him.
He didn’t hear anything over the blood rushing in his ears and the repeated mantra in his head.
YOU HAVE TO WIN. YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE THIS FIGHT.
And so, Bakugou let loose everything inside him.
His fists burned bright, outshining the fear in his eyes.
It didn’t matter if his form was sloppy; you couldn’t stop a supernova.
It was manic fear that drove his attacks, but he couldn’t stop. He had to make it out of there.
As he fought, the fatigue from using his quirk was beginning to show itself, he could barely think anything beyond the mantra still burning through his skull.
YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE THIS FIGHT.
But he couldn’t last much longer, he was aware of that fact at least. His fight was running dry.
Shigaraki, still angered, easily evaded everything Bakugou threw at him, and tried to grasp even just a brush of his fingers on him.
YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE
Bakugou’s movements began to slow, his footwork began to falter, he was swaying on his feet. It was a miracle he was still fighting, but he couldn’t stop.
Shigaraki, on the other hand, was gaining ground quickly. It was only a matter of time before he was wrapping his hands around his-
“-GOU! BAKUGOU! BAKUGOU! GRAB MY HAND! COME ON!”
YOU CAN’T LOSE.
Bakugou turned his gaze to the sky in time for his eyes to lock onto his best friend, his arm outstretched for him.
He had a way out.
He pushed all his remaining strength into blasting himself skyward. He grew closer and closer each second, so close to Kirishima, so close to safety.
And then his explosions began to falter.
Bakugou felt the panic rise in his throat, but he pushed it down. Only a few more meters and he would be there.
His vision began to swim, his body began to feel limp. NO! He grit his teeth, he couldn’t fail now, not when he was so close, not when he could see Kirishima right in front of him.
He put all of his effort into maintaining his trajectory, his panicked gaze locked onto his best friends hand. He was almost there.
His explosions pittered out slowly, but if he could just latch on, if he could just grasp that hand.
CAN’T LOSE.
“BAKUGOU!”
“KIRISHIMA!”
Bakugou locked eyes with Kirishima, he was right there, he could make it if he could just touch-
And the explosions stopped.
And fingers brushed.
And time held its breath
And he fell.
CAN’T
“NOOOOOOO!”
As the wind rushed by him, he couldn’t look away from those red eyes. He could see the anguish in them as Kirishima drifted farther and farther away. He could feel his heart ache for what almost was.
If only.
And in those few seconds he had left, Bakugou, for the first time in years, felt tears flow down his face.
He felt his body give up.
He felt his eyes drift shut.
He felt his heart beat louder and louder and louderandlouderandlouderandlouderanDLOUDERANDLOUDER.
And then his back hit the ground.
LOSE.