I'm Sorry

Chapter Four

Izuku's POV
"And who might you be?" asks the grey haired man.

"I'm a UA student! And the pros are on their way so I suggest you stand down and surrender while you still can!" I declare, lying through my teeth.

The man laughs and glitches again. Flip! I have no idea where he's going to reappear. I stubble back, almost tripping on a crushed up soda can. I walk forward, catching myself. Then I feel a jolt of pain on the left side of my back. I scream, and feel warm blood pour out of my knife wound. I spin around, and notice the man is gone. Wait a minute! The soda can I almost tripped over is gone too! I look back to where the man was standing before he teleported. Sure enough, the soda can is there. So it seems his quirk isn't teleportation, he's swapping places with objects!

However, my loss of focus on him costs me and he lunges at me, slashing me across the chest. I kick him using One for All at 5% strength. It send him flying but he glitches again. Okay, I need to focus on the objects around me. He'll probably want to appear next to me since he fights close range. Aha! I notice an empty bag of chips about a meter to my left has moved. He appears in that exact place, and I kick him again. He didn't have any time to block so he takes the full brunt of the kick and is sent flying backward. He lands in a heap, and bounces up again.

"You figured out my power didn't you?" he asks. The villain is perceptive. I'm about to launch at him again, but he sends his knife flying at me. I dodge it and it skitters on the ground behind me before coming to a stop. When I look up, the man is gone, and a microwave comes crashing down. He must have teleported away! I have no idea where that man is now. He has a fantastic quirk.

Now that the adrenaline from the fight is fading, I start feeling the stinging pain from the knife wounds. I stumble, suddenly feeling light headed. I stumble toward to the wall to try and steady myself. I dig in my pockets for my phone to call an ambulance but it somehow was smashed to bits in the fight. Just my luck it's completely broken. I toss the phone to the side and slide down the wall, leaving a blood stain trailing down it. I'm next to Dabi now, my feet near his large puddle of blood. The metallic stench of blood everywhere is making me dizzy or maybe it's the blood loss.

"I guess we're both going to die here hero," says Dabi.

"You're still alive?!?!?" I exclaim. I can't help but weakly smile. I thought he actually died.

"I'm not going to die yet. I still need to do something before I die," he says.

"What's that?" I ask.

"I need to kill my old man. I'm not dying so he can just get away with everything he did. I refuse to!" he declares. There's so much hatred in his eyes. He's shaking with anger.

"You shouldn't kill someone no matter what they did. It's not right," I say, shaking my head.

"It's not like you'd understand, hero," he sneers.

"I do. I understand the resentment you have," I unzip my jacket and pull back my shirt collar, revealing the burn scar I have on my shoulder my father gave me a few weeks ago, "my dad gave me this. I... I was a late bloomer with my quirk."
I lie but keep going anyway, this was the closest thing I could say without revealing one for all, "My dad started beating me when the doctors thought I was quirkless, I guess he hasn't stopped even now. My mom gave up on me. My friends... turned on me, and would beat me everyday. So many times I felt like giving up. All the negative emotions were always there- hopelessness, despair, even anger. But I'd never kill the people that wronged me!"

I try wiping away the tears running down my face, but new ones replace them.

"Why not! They deserve it!" he shouts.

"Then you're just like them! Throughout it all I had a dream for myself that I had, that was all mine! Giving in to the negativity means giving in to them. If you do, you're destroying the future you could have by spiraling into resentment that's focused on them, instead of focusing on your own life. That's why I've already forgiven them all," I say.

He stares at me wide-eyed for a moment, then chuckles, "Sounds to me like we should just get better people in our lives."

"Well maybe they're not all too bad," I reply. An image of Kacchan appears in my mind. I'm too tired to even fight it right now. As much as he haunts my nightmares, he's in most of my happiest memories too. It's all so complicated.

"Maybe. Maybe if I lived for myself, had my own dream I would be happier. It's too late for that now," he says wistfully.

"It's never too late!" I exclaim, looking at him with the most determined expression I can. He smiles sadly at me.

"Whatever you say hero," he responds, getting up, and walking toward the end of the alley.

"You're okay?!?!" I call after him. Blood drips behind him, but somehow he's still walking. He ignores me and he disappears in a purple portal.

Well maybe I should try harder to get out of here. With all my might I get up on my shaky legs. Only to then collapse immediately.

"Someone save me..." I say weakly, losing consciousness, "Kacchan... "

Even after everything, the first person I think of as my savior, my hero is Kacchan. With that last thought, everything goes black.

Bakugo's POV
That damn nerd is really getting on my nerves! Him and icy hot are all over each other lately. When we were kids I was Deku's only friend, he didn't hang around anyone else. Now everything's changed. And what the hell, is he dating icy hot right now???? That seriously pisses me off for some reason.

To make things worse their stupid flirting in class today made me accidentally blow up my notebook. I thought I had better control of my quirk than for it to go off unintentionally like that but I guess not. That damn nerd got in my head like he always does.

I pull on a hoodie with an orange x kinda like on my hero costume. I have to get a new notebook from my house. Maybe a quick run to my house will help me clear my head. I exit the dorms and go outside. I start with a jog that gets faster until I'm running as my brain forces me to think about all the moments Deku and icy hot were close these few weeks.

As I'm nearing my house, I suddenly smell something burning... and the unmistakable metallic scent of blood. I look around me, when I see an alley with burnt pieces of trash and a few small blue flames that haven't extinguished yet. Then my eyes land on something that makes my stomach drop.

Deku. Laying on the ground, bleeding. I run over to him my heart racing. Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead.

I put my hand under his nose. I feel air hit my hand. He's still alive. I almost collapse with relief. But who did this to him?!?!? Was it Dabi? I see blue flames everywhere. I'm going to murder that son of a bitch! No, first I need to get Deku help immediately. I can't call an ambulance, they take too long. It will be faster if I take him there myself. I gather him in my arms.

"Kacchan..." says Deku softly, opening his emerald eyes. He smiles, giving me a look that makes the sun look dull in comparison.

"Deku, don't worry I'm going to get you to a hospital. Just hold on," I reply.

"I know... I always knew you'd save me," he responds. My face heats up and I can feel my heart beat faster. I hold him closer to me and bolt toward the nearest hospital. At some point he falls asleep or passes out again, occasionally muttering something like "Kacchan" or "hero" in his sleep.

Stupid Deku.