Protecting You (Katsuki Bakugo x Reader)

Chapter 93- Stage 5: Acceptance

The three of you were exhausted after venturing through the mountains. If someone wasn't as familiar with the environment as you were, it would take them three times as long just to make it to the base of the village. Not to mention the area was coated in snow and ice thanks to a blizzard that hit just before Christmas.

You were a bit anxious to be turning eighteen soon...and Katsuki tried not to think about the fact that with you being an adult and working as a pro-hero, you probably wouldn't be returning to UA next year. Within months, you were far more than just two years ahead of him. For once he wasn't wounded because of his pride over this, he was in pain because he didn't want you to leave him behind...he wanted to walk beside you.

Enji on the other hand felt like he didn't deserve the title of hero. He called himself a hero yet he struggled to identify the characteristics that made each of these burnt buildings a home. When he finally reached your house, you felt it was time to give them a tour.

"This was my home. Enji is standing where Shigaraki-" you stopped yourself. The memory flashed before your eyes so you closed them tight and took a deep breath. It was different this time around compared to when All Might went with you. On one hand, you have grown and were stronger physically and mentally than last time. But this snow...the fact your birthday was just a handful of hours away...it was nearly ten years to the day of when you lost everything. That wasn't something anyone could ignore...even a pro-hero.

"This...this was your home. It's so small...like a shed," Enji commented as he looked at the waterlogged frozen wooden remnants. The snow hid the stains that Touya's flames burnt into the stone...stains that were once people with families and dreams. Katsuki was silent. He remembered the way you sobbed into Mitsuki's arms months ago but this...this was different.

He could smell the agony and charred corpses that permanently were etched into the rock foundation. This place was tainted with the stench of death.

"(Y/n), are you gonna be okay?" Katsuki asked you. His eyes were dull and he felt a rock of anxiety lodge itself in his throat. His quirk wasn't terribly far off of something similar to Touya or Endeavor. His explosions were flame-based...so something as destructive and terrible as this was something he was capable of too. Knowing that his quirk could cause a level of pain like this made him relieved he was so tenacious about becoming a hero. If he gave in to the League of Villains as they wanted him to when they kidnapped him, who knew what kind of destruction he would cause.

"Yeah...I'm alright. It's been ten years since it happened but being here just makes the feeling so much worse. I feel like I'm staring the reaper in the eyes."

Endeavor couldn't stop walking through the burnt-down homes where your people once lived. There were families like his own, some with children or even infants...

If he just loved Touya like he was supposed to...if he supported him regardless and didn't force him to be something he wasn't...if he acted like the father his child deserved...

Enji knelt down in the snow and silently cried. Ten years ago, Touya would have been just a child. He would have been sobbing, terrified of what he was capable of. He was all alone, isolated with nowhere to go, and then manipulated into becoming a monster. Touya was one of the kindest children he had ever seen, and knowing his sweet baby boy was the reason behind all of this death and destruction, against his will, was a deep knife in Endeavor's heart. He should have been there to protect his son...Touya was all alone in a new place with no home to return to...no one to help him...abused by the one he was supposed to trust most.

"I'm so sorry Touya..." Enji cried with his large hands covering his face and his knees pressing deep into the snow. Hearing about what he did was one thing, but you were right. Enji had to see it with his own eyes. He had to see the pain he caused his own child.