The Origin of something new (mha ff)

Chapter 99

She heard explosions and saw an outline that dragged her off the ground roughly before explosions sounded again. A violent shock wave swept her along and flung her away until she bumped into something. Air pressed her against something without her being able to breathe. "You idiot!" As Katsuki yelled at her, she slowly recognised him too, but she was still dizzy. "You should have told me that I had to get not only the others out of there, but you too." Kaede didn't respond to him, but looked around. They were crouching in the forest. Had they been flung that far away? Katsuki knelt in front of her. "What's wrong? Is something wrong?" She shook her head, but immediately regretted the movement. She felt sick and Katsuki helped her bend to the side. She wasn't just spitting up blood. "Shit." He put her in a sideways position. "Can you talk?" Her silence was answer enough. He scanned her for injuries but could find none. "It's because of your Quirk. Get some rest, I have to get back." He saw a brief nod. Katsuki went down on his knees in front of her and kissed her hot forehead. "You did well." With those words, he disappeared from her sight.

Kaede only had to close her eyes for a moment, just one blink, and it was too late. She fought the fatigue, tried not to give in to the exhaustion and pain that plagued her. But she did not have enough strength for this fight, she lost consciousness. In her sleep, she still felt the pain of Eijiro's injury and she had the feeling of being whirled through. Her body was still tense, as if it wanted to keep fighting, but her mind was at its end. "Someone help Katsuki." It's okay, it's just a dream. Of course she couldn't sleep unmolested, her fear haunting her dreams. "Please, no, please someone." What idiot was howling in her ear? It was annoying. She couldn't even sleep in peace. It got quiet, thankfully, because if Kaede kept dreaming shit like that.... "You see, you were left alone, now there's no one here to protect you." Kaede woke up when she heard Shigaraki's voice at her ear and hastily jumped up, but stumbled and landed ungently again. She heaved a sigh of relief. "No one is here, I guess it was just a dream after all." "Why don't you say something?" Her eyes widened as she felt the comm in her ear. "No." Without another thought, she hurried straight ahead. If Shigaraki had a comm, there were only 8 people he could have taken it from. And if that wasn't a dream, then.... "Someone has to help Katsuki." Kaede felt a heavy weight compressing her lungs as she ran. She ran as fast as she could and it still wasn't enough. That was when she reached the edge of the forest. At least the place where there were no more trees. "Oh." Apparently her attack on the Nomu had torn down half the forest. Trees were lying around, which she now jumped over, and in the middle of the place was a huge crater. But no one was here. "Where are you Katsuki?" She started to panic. She didn't know where to go. "Why am I sleeping anyway, why couldn't I pay attention?" "You see you were left alone, now there is no one here to protect you." But Shigaraki was wrong. Kaede had said it today and about a hundred times. She would protect her friends, that was her origin, that was all she wanted. She stopped for a second. She gave herself that one second to calm down. She brought her breathing under control, pushed the weight off her chest and concentrated. Then she made her way to Tomura Shigaraki.

Even though a storm was raging inside her, she gave no hint of it on her blank expression. "Let him go." She stared at Shigaraki. He threw Katsuki in her direction, Kaede just caught him. His arm was shredded, he had similar injuries to Aizawa's at the USJ incident, only worse. Much, much worse. His right eye was full of blood, the whole side of his face was full of blood, his arm was full of blood, his upper body was full of blood. "Hey, can you hear me? I'm here, I'm taking care of you." "You're a little late, you know, he's already dead. I don't need him anymore, now that you're here. We just have to wait for Midoriya, then we're done." She knew she was too late. She had said she would protect and she had failed. But he wasn't dead yet. It wasn't over yet. She looked at him, his head resting on her lap and falling to the side so she had a view of the wound. He was breathing shallowly and seemed not quite awake, but not quite unconscious either. She brushed his hair out of his face and breathed a kiss on his forehead. "Don't die before I finish him off." "You know, I had my fun with him for quite a long time but it got boring. In the end he didn't even moan, he just hung in my grip like a dead doll." Kaede pushed Shigaraki to the floor, but he dodged. "You'll regret it." "Oh yeah, that was the best time in my life, why would I regret it?" "I always hesitated to hurt you villains because I knew how you felt. But it's over, I don't forgive you for what you did to him, I'm angry and you're the one who has to pay for it now." "You don't forgive me? I told you early on. Midoriya was even here before Kurogiri flung him away. Only you weren't there. Can you forgive yourself for that, because I don't need your forgiveness?" The second she hesitated was enough for him to twist her arm and fling her away again. "I like games, you know. Maybe I've lost my mind, maybe I'm the only one here who has any sense, who can know. But I don't feel like fighting you, you're not worth it to me. Your Quirk is strong, destructive, and it pleased the Master, but it's not enough. I'll fight Deku, you can wait until then. Long knives grew from his palm, pointing at Kaede. Something flashed in his eyes and he grinned. "I like games, remember?" He turned his hand to point at Katsuki and the knives flew. Kaede threw herself at him without thinking, she had no strength left. The sign she had given him earlier when they kissed was still glowing. The knives went through her back and impaled her and Katsuki into the ground. She gasped and spat more blood, but Katsuki met her gaze. Her heart leapt when she saw how little power there was in his gaze. "I knew you would come." "Yes, I'm here, everything will be okay, we'll make it, Areza will take care of your injuries-" SIe stammered confusedly, doing everything she could not to let Katsuki get a word in edgewise, but she faltered as he tried to smile. "It's okay." Her hands tightened and she couldn't hold back the tears. She didn't know if the pain in her chest came from the knives or from her heart that didn't want to accept the fact. "It's not okay, you can't die!" "I don't even have enough strength to hit you, idiot. But you have strength. Fight, live. I don't regret anything. Nothing in the past, anyway. For the future... I would have liked to stay with you longer. I would have liked to continue going to school with you, then we would have graduated, started an agency and we would have become heroes together. With Shitty hair, with Deku..." He coughed exhaustedly. "With all of them. Tell Deku that..." again he couldn't continue. "I can't believe I'm going to die before I could surpass him. You do it for me. Be better than him. Show him that my girl-" Again he contorted his face in pain. Kaede could not watch it any longer. She gently rested her forehead on his. She didn't even feel his faint breathing. "What... are you doing?" She smiled as her tears continued to fall. "I'm taking your pain, your doubt, your regret. You shouldn't die with it."  The extra pain made no difference. She had felt like she was dying all along. "You're really stupid, an idiot." "Says the dying idiot." The smile did not reach her eyes. "Can I feel your love one last time?" "It's surely philosophical to die like this." "Not stupid?" As she kissed him, she ignored the blood. She focused only on him, on his feelings for her. She was afraid. She felt so safe with him that she could forget everything else, but the stab in her heart reminded her that this moment wasn't forever. She let her hand run through his hair and held onto it, as if she could keep him with her longer with a tighter grip. But that wasn't the case. His feelings were ebbing away. She felt him slowly leaving her. "Please don't, wait, I'm not ready." She whispered against his lips but received no reply. She broke away from him and stared down. There was no light left in his eyes, no sign of life. "You idiot!" The tears flowed down faster than before. "No." A sob escaped her throat. A wail she hadn't thought she was capable of. She had felt him leave her, he was gone, there was nothing left, nothing. She had felt him lie, he regretted many things, he just wouldn't tell her. He didn't want her to cry over his death. But he was an idiot, how could she not cry? She had told him that she couldn't live without him, didn't want to. She didn't even want to think about life after this and yet he wanted her to keep fighting, to keep living. What else could she do but fulfil his wish? Shigaraki laughed. He was crazy, completely. Kaede grabbed the first knife and cut herself on it, but her body was filled with pain, her heart ached, nothing made a difference anymore, nothing mattered to her. The knife burst under her pressure, so did the other two. She stood up without faltering. Her look was one of mixed emotions. Anger, sadness, but one thing that could not be read over. Regret. She regretted not being here sooner, for then she might still have been able to save. Guilt. Yes, it was her fault. And she had no intention of pushing the pain and guilt aside, she would live with it. She wanted to remember the guilt, because the feeling of Katsuki by her side, his lips on hers, his hand in hers, it was all fading. Then she would only be left with the guilt. Shigaraki dodged her blow, but she had not aimed at him at all. A crack went into the ground, causing Shigaraki to stumble. His foot was stuck. She came towards him, very slowly, as if enjoying the moment. Maybe they had both lost their minds. She ran towards him and allowed him to grab her and lift her up. The skin was peeling off her neck. "I don't hate you." She took a rasping breath. "I just don't think this world is right for you." She tore his mind from his head, his emotions. The impact threw him back. His leg got stuck while his body was ripped away. But Kaede was not spared the blow either she was thrown away. It was as if she was floating above clouds, but she didn't quite realise it. The speed robbed her of consciousness, so everything quickly went black. But the darkness could not dispel her thoughts, for only now that everything went dark did they corrupt her mind.