[UNDER CONSTRUCTION] The Fire of my Childhood

• 28 •

1175

My team and I decided to enter through a window instead of going straight through the front door.

"We've infiltrated successfully!" Uraraka spoke quietly but excitedly.

"There are a lot of blind spots, so let's be careful," Midoriya spoke matter-of-factly. He began to head down to the right, down a hallway.

I looked around the gray and dull building to distract myself from my hands that were shaking. We were careful around corners, checking them by leaning over and such. The fear that someone was waiting for us after every corner was immense but I somehow got a hold of myself.

We were quiet while walking down the hallways, the silence eating away at me. Flames licked at my hair and shoulders as I tried to calm myself, but Bakugo suddenly jumping from around the corner did nothing to aid.

He thrust his arm forward and gave a huge explosion, but Midoriya was quicker, and threw himself on Uraraka to protect her. I was a few feet behind her but I was still knocked off my feet.

"Uraraka, are you alright?" Izuku was also quick to sit up.

"Yeah, thanks. Deku?"

"It's just a scratch," he replied and leaned on the balls of his feet.

I didn't notice at first that his jumpsuit was ripped in half on his face. His mask was now hanging down around his neck.

"Deku-" I called out, but Bakugo swiped the dirt and dust away to reveal himself.

"Come Deku, don't dodge." His presence was menacing in this situation, and I was getting flashbacks of the random attack. His face was.. eerily emotionless. This side of him.. I hope to never see again..

"I figured you'd come for me first." Deku called back.

"I won't do so much damage that this fight gets stopped, but I'm gonna get close!" Bakugo glanced at me, his expression softening for a quick moment, but then he started charging, his hand raised.

He was ready to attack Deku again, but he managed to dodge the attack by grabbing his arm? Uraraka and I looked at each other, then she turned back.

"Wow, he's like a martial arts master!" She called out as Deku twisted his form.

He began yelling as he threw Bakugo over his shoulder and onto the ground.

"Bakugo-!" I reached out for him and was going to run when I paused after the first two steps. I caught my breath and felt my cheeks warm up heavily. Deku and Uraraka looked at me with confusion. I retreated my arm back at my side and decided to ignore it for now, but I know it will come back to haunt me.

"Kacchan.. You usually start with a big right swing," as Midoriya spoke, Bakugo was struggling to get up, "how much do you think I've been watching you? I wrote an analysis for all the heroes I thought were amazing in my notebook. In the notebook you blew up and threw away."

Bakugo sat in silence for a moment, as he was searching the features on my face. The fear must have been immense for his eyes to widen, but when he heard what Deku had said, and it registered in his mind, he turned to face him and growled.

"My 'Deku' isn't always going to mean 'useless'! Kacchan, my 'Deku' means, 'You can do it!'" Izuku called out with such a ferocity. 

"Deku..," Bakugo started, "even though you're scared... That's what I hate about you!" Explosions went off in his hands as he yelled at the poor boy. Conflicting thoughts of the blonde hedgehog were running through my mind at a million miles an hour.

As the two boys stood across from each other, Bakugo suddenly leaned down and pressed his fingers to his ear.

"Just shut up and defend! I'm really angry right now!" He must be talking to Iida then... The way he spoke drove fear into my heart. I haven't seen his fighting style yet, I thought. Suddenly, he threw his right arm downward.

"Uraraka-san, go!" He called out to us just in time for us to dodge Bakugo by rushing past him on both sides. 

"Looking away? You must be sure of yourself." I could hear him behind us, with another explosion going off soon after. I didn't dare look back though, we just kept running. Izuku must've gotten away because we could hear yelling coming from Bakugo, but it was fading quick.

"We need a plan!" Uraraka said to me as we ran. I wanted to stop and do something, but my body kept pushing itself forward.

"Well, it's clear that Bakugo wanted to fight Deku, s-seeing as he left us alone!" My boots finally skidded to a halt after a few moments of silence. I turned right at the nearest corner and hid against the wall, my breaths were shallow.

"If we were all to go against Bakugo, we probably would've run out of time," I said to her and she seemed to perk up.

"This gives us a chance to find the weapon and hopefully Deku comes in and helps us! A 3-on1 would be fantastic!" Her face lit up with a smile and her eyes shone.

"Y-yeah but we'd have to find it first." I mentioned to her and that seemed to dampen her mood, but she decided to keep going, as silently as we can for now.

It felt like we were walking for an eternity, but was definitely only a few minutes when we saw a clearing and quietly walked up to the pillars, thankful that Iida hadn't noticed us yet. Uraraka and I glanced at each other as Iida began speaking to himself about Bakugo.

He spoke to himself about being evil and I couldn't help but giggle. I looked over to her when I heard the boy call out to her. Shit, he heard us.

She stepped out from behind the pillar.

"I knew that you would come here alone the moment Bakugo ran off by himself!" I couldn't risk being seen even though I knew I had to get moving.

"Your quirk allows you to make the objects you touch float. That is why I put away all the things on this floor before you arrived! Now you cannot play your little tricks! You have blundered, hero!" He started laughing, which made me feel off. I looked over at Uraraka and she seemed to lose hope.

"He's starting to look... like a Villain!" She said quietly.

"And don't think I've forgotten about you, Todoroki! Your quirk is just like your fathers': Hell Flame. I've noticed you warm up the area around you when you're around, so this will be like a game of Hot and Cold!" His laughter made my skin warm, but what he said was true. 

I raised my shaky fingers to my earpiece.

"Deku, Iida found Uraraka. Sorry," I explained.

"Hono? How is it?"

"He's.. J-just come to us! We're in the middle of the fifth floor, he's laughing l-like a maniac!" I heard footsteps approaching but since I don't know his exact location, it's going to be tough to maneuver around.