Katsuki and Shoto faced each other, the wind blowing their hair and billowing in their clothes.
Shoto was startlingly awake like he hadn't been in a long time.
"I do not wish to fight"
Katsuki snorted.
"You should've thought about that before you killed all of these people"
"Then why did you tell me ?", asked Shoto. "You know me, you knew I was going to-"
"I don't know shit !", Katsuki cut him, an edge of anger in his voice. "I wanted you to show remorse, fuck, I hoped for once you'd care about somebody that wasn't you. Do you even realize how fucked up you are ?"
"Yes"
The admission momentarily shut up Katsuki.
"And yet you don't care about your actions ? How wrong it is ?"
"I know it's wrong", said Shoto. "I just choose to live with it"
Katsuki scrutinized Shoto, trying to find something familiar in this stranger's face, gaze darkening when he couldn't.
Katsuki steeled himself, jaw set and shoulders locked, knees bent.
"Surrender and I won't have to hurt you"
An ice sword materialized from the pommel to the tip in Shoto's palm. He stepped protectively in front of Hawks' laid-out body.
"If you think I'll ever obey anyone", Shoto said. "Then you truly don't know me"
The waves licking the island's shore were a sick pink, chunks of mucus floating aimlessly, arms still holding guns and bits of legs in orange uniforms rolling peacefully back and forth.
Katsuki and Shoto seized each other, neither backing down.
The wind blew and suddenly both disappeared.
The sound of flesh against flesh echoed with the might of a thunderclap.
They were fist against fist, swirling eyes against ruby red.
Katsuki had the sudden urge to scratch his ear raw, the voices dull muttering turning cacophony.
Shoto's tomoes were spinning hypnotically.
Katsuki scowled and pushed him back. Shoto stumbled.
"Get the fuck out of my head !"
The chakra tendril that had been subtly seeping into his organism was brutally severed.
The world shattered as though a mirror, chunks of glass falling around him like snow.
Katsuki blinked and all of a sudden he was in his old spot facing Shoto meters away, and none of them had moved.
Hawks' body wasn't there anymore.
"That was my last warning", said Shoto.
Katsuki spit defiantly.
"Very well"
Katsuki burst forward like a comet.
The ground cracked in his wake, chunks of broken cement flying everywhere.
He was so quick he didn't leave an afterimage.
Shoto raised his bloody palm and Katsuki was blasted away, uprooted from the ground like an old tree by a tempest.
Arms crossed in front of his face, black tendrils sprouted from his back and gripped the ground, a spider with huge legs. He righted himself mid-air. His senses tingled.
He spun around right as a titanic water hand shot from the sea, palm wide open to crush.
Black tendrils covered Katsuki's forearms.
He cut the hand with a sharp slash.
The broken water construct started collapsing but suddenly turned to ice.
There was a rumbling, a deep sound coming from the bowels of the earth that had Katsuki looking everywhere as he tried to pinpoint it.
That's when he noticed the receding sea.
Katsuki cursed, black whip out but floating in full action, explosions crackling in his palms.
Hundreds of ice arrows burst from the iced hand, intending to shoot him down before he could soar.
Katsuki dodged, flying between one salvo and the next, noticing a pattern intending to keep him down and not hurt him.
An arrow, quicker than the rest, grazed his cheek, a drop of blood spurting out.
He gritted his teeth. He had no time left.
Katsuki spun like a top, arms outstretched, sweat rolling down his neck and pooling on his chest.
Four tsunamis coming from four different directions crashed on him.
They collided right as a humongous explosion burst from his whole body, lighting the water red and blasting the waves away starting from the tip.
The water receded as though the sea had called it back, collapsing on the island and rolling back to the shore.
Katsuki landed on the soaked island, breathing ragged, salted foam coating his clothes. His arms were shaking but it wasn't from overexertion – the One for All had long ago removed his limits thanks to-
His head shot up.
A lightning strike was falling from the sky.
Sweat rolled down Katsuki's palm.
A controlled, precise explosion shot him away from harm's way.
Yet the lightning's blast had been too close : for a moment he couldn't hear anything but the echo of the strike, a continuous sound that drowned everything.
Smoke burst from Katsuki's skin, a black cloud enveloping him, and he ducked.
There was a swoosh as the air where his head had been a moment prior was cleanly slashed.
Two flashing red neon-like appeared, moving from side to side as they tried to pinpoint him.
Katsuki spun on his feet and burst forward with the might of a canon ball, fist colliding with something hard.
There was a gasp then a puff of white smoke.
Katsuki rolled away as the ground was cracked open, a fist embedding itself deep where he'd been previously.
Ice burst from the collision of the flesh with the ground, spreading everywhere like a fever.
An explosion shot from Katsuki's left sole and sent him hurling out of the cloud, right as a gigantic glacier emerged.
It took mere seconds for the whole island to freeze.
Katsuki's shoes grazed the ground and the ice, as though sentient, seeped on his shoe like a snake, its tongue wrapping around his ankle and going up, up-
An explosion shattered the superficial layer as Katsuki's feet left the ground.
He floated, eyes roaming over the place. Nobody.
Katsuki blasted the smoke cloud to oblivion.
The cloud turned bright red, as though catching fire, before, as suddenly as before, his explosion, which had been going forward, stopped mid-air, as though time had stopped before it was hurled back at him.
Katsuki's eyes widened.
He crossed his arms to protect himself from the impact, black whip grounding him though he was hit by the full blast head-on, eyes reduced to two slits though he didn't snap them shut despite the burn.
A spot of frozen ground under him melted.
Shoto came out from the blazing tornado, wisps of vapor rising from his skin, exhaling a cloud of smoke, fire – or was it not Katsuki's explosion ? - dancing in his palm.
"Our Quirks are quite similar", he said casually, tomoe spinning lazily. "I'm surprised you never noticed"
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Katsuki's head snapped right and intercepted a blade inches away from slicing him in two from the shoulder.
The ice blade buried itself deep in his palm as he grabbed it, flesh torn, blood sprouting like a fountain.
"Last warning", said the sword-helding Shoto
Katsuki held back a frustrated scream.
"If I let you go", Katsuki panted "Will you stop ?"
The sword went down on its own, carving a deeper hole in the palm, while Shoto stood there casually.
"No"
Katsuki's eyes flashed. He turned the sword's momentum to zero.
Shoto's gaze lowered to the blade momentarily : a minute frown made his brow twitch.
Katsuki kicked him hard in the chest.
Shoto was blasted away, wind whooshing around him.
He righted himself mid-jump, landed softly on the ground.
Katsuki cradled his bloodied palm to his chest, shaking.
"I trusted you !", he screamed, eyes gleaming, and the raw pain in his voice rattled Shoto to the bones. "I would've done anything for you !"
Shoto straightened.
"Katsuki", repeated Shoto. "Leave"
"We were supposed to be best friends !" Katsuki's voice cracked. "We were supposed..."
Emotion overwhelmed him.
He gulped, looked at the sky hoping that the gesture would settle the burn in his eyes.
A gust of wind blew Shoto's hair all around his face.
"All Might said… I thought he was wrong. I still think he's wrong"
He extended his pale, unblemished hand to Shoto.
Shoto's gaze was locked on the bloody one.
"Prove me I'm right"
Their eyes met.
"You've avenged him, Shoto. He won't hate you if you live your life. He won't hate you if you move on"
Something shattered in Shoto's eyes, and the raw pain, the sheer suffering Katsuki saw in this gaze rendered him speechless.
"I can't move on", he said, his voice wavering and suddenly high-pitched. "I just can't"
Katsuki blinked to chase his tears away.
"Do not let anger consume you"
Shoto shook his head.
"You don't get it", he said. "He wasn't supposed to die. He shouldn't have died. I brought it to him. By merely being born in this world I sealed his fate"
Katsuki felt as if Shoto was slipping between his fingers and it terrified him.
"There's nothing such as fate"
"You don't know what you're talking about"
Katsuki took a tentative step forward and Shoto's eyes snapped to his, a warning not to step closer.
"Please", Katsuki said. "Please"
Blood trickled down his shirt, dripping softly on his pants.
"Don't make me do that", Shoto pleaded, his voice softer.
Katsuki shook his head, teeth ground to stop his chin from trembling.
"I have the One for All", he said before he smiled wryly, apologetically, tears glistening in his eyes "If I can't save you, then I'm compelled to stop you"
Shoto laughed and it rattled painfully in his throat, a sound between a sob and a sudden bout of hysteria.
"It wasn't about the people, was it ?", he said, addressing the sky, a tinge of madness coating the edges of his vision, raindrops falling on his face. "It has never been about who was the main character and who wasn't. All along it was about these Quirks"
His hair fell on his face as he leveled Katsuki with a resigned gaze.
Lightning crackled over his skin.
"I have the All for One"
Katsuki's eyes widened.
He shot up high in the sky right as a chidori-wielding Shoto tore apart the space where he'd been a fraction of a second prior.
Shoto flew right behind him, Hell Flame blazing, and they collided like two fallen stars.
Katsuki rolled repeatedly in the air, struggling to stabilize himself, his senses tingling right as he felt the heat.
He looked front and saw a meteorite-wide fireball blasted at him.
He cut off his floating ability and free-fell.
The tip of his hair burned, instantly singed, as the fireball went right over him, and he slapped his head repeatedly to avoid it spreading.
The fireball exploded.
A fire ring burst from its core and spread like a sonic wave.
Katsuki, caught unguarded, was hit in the back.
Air and spit burst in a gasp from his mouth.
He was catapulted to the ground head first, carved a path in the rough ground for a couple of meters.
Katsuki spit out a bit of dirt, blazing eyes snapping precisely to Shoto who was walking calmly towards him, hands clenched behind his back.
"Leave while you-"
Shoto ducked a fist that would've obliterated the head of a lesser man, air whooshing above him.
Crouching, he kicked the kneecap of Katsuki, intending to shatter it, only for his leg to stop millimeters from said knee.
Katsuki went straight for the head : ice shards blew everywhere, thick ice wall crumpling to the floor, and behind only air.
Katsuki spun and moved his head backward, the tip of a knife brushing his Adam's apple.
He moved back and avoided stabs and thrusts, Shoto's frantic movements growing more precise and deadly with each passing second.
Black whips shot from Katsuki's forearms, one wrapping on the knife and a couple pouncing for Shoto's arms and legs, snapping shut on nothing.
Katsuki looked left and right, up and behind, swirling with Shoto's weapon at the end of a black tendril.
His brain tingled right as two hands shot from the ground, wrapped around his ankles, and harshly brought him down.
He sunk to his knees and kept going lower.
Katsuki raised his fist high, an energy boost amplifying his strength, and hit the ground with a scream.
The ground burst like a balloon popping, wind hissing in his ears.
An earthquake shook the island.
Cracks spread from Katsuki to the shore.
The island collapsed on itself, the ground caving in, what was left of the infrastructure falling in a meters deep and wide pit.
Generated wind from his hit grew wild and frantic : a tornado rose from which Katsuki was the eye.
Corpses and metal rods were uprooted, flying higher and higher, the sea rumbling.
Katsuki ground his nails raw as he dug the soil, face hard.
A small stream of water seeped from underneath.
Katsuki craned his neck up, wet hair flying around his face.
Far beyond the tornado, floating among the stormy clouds was Shoto, red eyes strained on Katsuki.
They seized each other, a god in his domain and a mortal defying him.
Katsuki bent his arm and with a powerful flicker of the wrist sent Shoto's kunai back to him.
It wheezed through the sky at breakneck speed, carved a swishing path in the tornado, and drove through a metal rod like butter.
Shoto cocked his head slightly to the side, the kunai flying past him, a drop of blood falling from a slight cut in his cheekbone.
A hundred of high speed pebbles, rocks, and rods were hurled up by black whips.
Shoto's eyes flashed from one to the next, predicting their course, anticipating what would happen next.
Katsuki jumped from the ground right as Shoto burst from the sky, hell flame ablaze, the projectiles in between, the powerful tornado screeching around them.
Shoto blitzed through everything, a protective layer of chakra mixed with wind nature coating his skin a luminous white, hands shaping in quick-paced mudras.
Katsuki went for a hit in the chest, his knuckle barely brushing Shoto's clothes before he burst into a cloud of smoke.
Katsuki coughed and cut off his momentum, eyes watering, nose flaring, throat burning.
Projectiles changed their course and flew around him,still aiming for the sky.
Only Katsuki's danger sense warned him about the smokeless Shoto who'd burst from what should've been pebbles.
They were coming from all sides, grabbing ankles, arms, and throat simultaneously.
Katsuki's skin barely crackled that all three burst in a roar of powerfully condensed lightning.
Katsuki's muscles spasmed ; he contortionned, veins popping neatly against a flushed skin, hands frozen in a claw-like posture.
Shoto appeared right above him, hand reaching for Katsuki's throat.
Katsuki's bloody hand clasped lightning-fast shut on Shoto's extending wrist.
Katsuki's eyes snapped open, locking with a startled Shoto's.
"Got you"
Katsuki yanked Shoto towards him then switched their places mid-air, gradually boosting their momentum until the friction was so strong their clothes caught fire.
They crashed in the crater's center.
The ground rippled, shock spreading from the impact outwards like a wave, then burst, pieces of the shattered island flying everywhere.
Shoto's back cracked loudly. Air burst from his gaping mouth, blood coated his dark shirt.
Katsuki raised his fist high and hit him square in the jaw.
Their flesh collided with the might of a thunderclap.
Shoto's head snapped to the side, his cheek bouncing, the ground underneath cracking.
Katsuki hit again and Shoto's nose broke, blood spurting everywhere.
Wind flew from the impact, instantly cooling the sweat rolling down Katsuki's neck.
He was unbridled power, a vessel of ancestral energy that disregarded time and space and was made for this very moment.
Katsuki hit and Shoto's lip split open. He hit and his cheekbone shattered. Hit and blood spurted from his brow, flowing to the side of his face.
The voices were humming, a chorus of priests sacrificing a lamb.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
And then, right behind a curtain of blood, Shoto cracked an eye open, a sliver of blue.
Their gazes locked.
Katsuki's fist came to a grounding a hair breath from Shoto's face.
A burst of wind shot from his skin, rubble was pushed away by the sheer force of the wind.
Katsuki blinked, the darkness creeping on the edge of his vision swept away.
Shoto watched him quietly, swollen-eyed, sprawled out in a pool of blood, disfigured.
"Kill me"
Katsuki pinned Shoto to the ground, his arm across his throat, frowning.
"Don't ever say again dumb shit like that"
Shoto snarled, eyes swirling to red.
"Kill me !"
Katsuki didn't budge, jaw set.
"You said it was okay to kill villains, remember ?" Veins throbbed like a heartbeat on his neck as he screamed. "I am a villain ! Fucking kill me !"
Katsuki grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him up, spitting in his face :
"I won't kill you because you're too much of a fucking coward to do it yourself !"
Katsuki's tears fell on Shoto's dirty cheeks. Anger morphed into despair. Shoto's mouth closed shut.
"I can't- I-"
He let go of Shoto as though the contact of his skin had burned him.
He fell on his ass and held his head as though it would explode.
"I shouldn't have accepted the One for All", he cried. "I can't do it. I can't"
He closed his eyes shut.
Shoto stayed on the ground, wide awake, the blood trickling down his temple and pooling in his ear not loud enough to cover Katsuki's crying.
As if on cue the rain fell harder, soaking them to the soul.
"He died because of me, Katsuki", Shoto murmured. "He died because I left Touya live. He died because I was too weak"
"He didn't die because of you" muttered Katsuki.
Tears trickled down Shoto's cheeks.
"They say I am the strongest, they say I can do whatever I want and no one can stop me. Yet what's the point of being the strongest if I can't save anyone ?"
Katsuki wondered the very same thing.
To pain succeeded self-loathing then rage.
"Kill me", Shoto said quietly. "Because if you don't, I'm going to destroy everything on my path"
Katsuki's heart broke.
Sorrow was swelling his throat.
He stood up on shaky legs, miserable.
He wasn't like All Might, unable to do what needed to be done. He wasn't like Shoto who bulldozed through life even if the world was falling apart.
He was just a kid in a costume who played Hero and hadn't ever bothered to wonder what it meant until now.
"Get up"
Shoto did, albeit more slowly.
He held a hand to his chest as he did so. He didn't bother healing himself or wiping away his tears.
Fire burst from the sole of his shoes.
Katsuki breathed in slowly.
He grabbed Shoto and both shot up towards the sky, rising higher than the settling tornado, higher than the thickest clouds, soaring until they were above the rain, above the world.
The rising sun was shining, pastel pink lighting the sky, brown gold atop the clouds.
Katsuki's shoe brushed Shoto's chin. He dodged a kick that would've concussed him at the very least.
They battled among the clouds, fists colliding, spitting blood one after the other, giving blow for blow to the other one.
They stretched time as much as they could but time couldn't be stretched infinitely.
Katsuki's hands wrapped around Shoto's stomach.
He started spinning, explosions bursting from his body, sending them both hurtling towards the ground.
They went through the clouds, fell through the rain, the ground approaching increasingly fast.
Fire burst from Shoto's back and he grabbed Katsuki's neck.
They spun and changed positions, Katsuki's back parallel to the ground, Shoto's to the sky.
Katsuki's hands shot up : he meant to push Shoto away, stop their momentum, do anything, but the will to fight left him in an exhale.
His arms fell limply
Shoto's eyes widened.
They collided with the ground.
It cracked in a web pattern.
A mushroom of dust and sand puffed up, encasing the whole island.
There was a growing pool of blood under Katsuki's body.
Shoto was kneeling next to him, his face above Katsuki's, rain trickling from the tip of his dangling hair to Katsuki's nose and cheeks.
He could feel them coming, so many warships and submarines, heard their boots crunch the sand.
A hundred of red dots appeared on the smoke cloud, swaying from side to side as they tried to pinpoint his exact location.
The sky rumbled.
Shoto wiped away a raindrop fallen at the corner of Katsuki's closed eye, looking like a tear.
His eyes hovered over his cheek for a moment longer.
The cloud of smoke settled.
The soldiers found nothing but Katsuki Bakugo, his face soaked with rain and streaked with blood thinned by the water.
Bargaining