Past the Mask [Nomu Deku Story]

⊛Prologue + A/N⊛

All Katsuki Bakugou can remember of that day was the fire.

It was blazing hot, even from afar, and it swallowed his best friend's house completely, showing no mercy to the occupants inside. The bright flames would've been beautiful, mesmerising if not for the fact that the faint smell of burnt flesh lingered in the air, the occasional, agonising scream coming out of the house. Heroes were standing outside, not doing anything about the house, the fire. They had only watched with fear in their eyes, eyeing the flames warily and in horror as yet another scream let loose. Katsuki couldn't take it anymore. He started running towards the house, not caring about how his quirk won't help at all; after all, he had only just gotten it, and couldn't use it properly yet. But Izuku wasn't so lucky; he was declared quirkless. In an attempt to help his friend, Katsuki had found out that there were many attacks that specifically targeted quirkless people because of higher ranking in jobs or other things, or in other words, hate crimes. Katsuki prayed that this wasn't a hate crime, he was sure that he would want to see his friend very much alive, even if he's not in one piece, thank you very much. He was just about to cross where the heroes were standing when one pulled him back.

"Hey kid, do you have a death wish?" The hero asked. "Stay away from the fire, you might get yourself killed, you know!"

"Why?" Katsuki desperately asked, a strangled cry escaping his lips. "Why are you just standing there? Why aren't you doing anything? Izu's still inside! You gotta save him!"

"Look here kid," Another hero said, looking at Katsuki. "It's not like we don't want to save him, we just can't. Our quirks aren't suited to be able to go into fire or stop the fire, so we're calling for backup."

Katsuki looked at the hero in disbelief. Right there, right then, his trust for heroes dissolved completely. All the respect that he built up, all his admiration, they shattered and broke, and his world went crashing down on him.

Modern heroes nowadays are so dependent on quirks that they had forgotten how the heroes of their ancestors from 200 years prior had fought without quirks. Katsuki wanted to scream, to cry, to thrash around and about and give those heroes a good hard smack on the face. Can they even consider themselves true heroes? Because true heroes will be able to save the victim or victims whatever the situation, wherever they are, whatever they're wearing, support gear or not. Katsuki was mad, fuming, sad and was crying.

He was sure that it had already been several minutes, and there was no more screaming. He was sure that Izuku and Auntie Inko were dead now. The backup had just arrived, but he paid them no mind. All he could do was look at the exoskeleton of an once lively, once cheerful family's house. Tears flowed down his face as he continued to stare at the house as the fire was slowly put out. He felt someone wrap their arms around him; probably his mother; murmuring on how this can't be real, how this is not happening, how this is only a dream, a nightmare, how...how nothing.

That day, Katsuki Bakugou's eyes had started to lose their shine, becoming duller with each passing day.

That day was when Katsuki Bakugou started becoming irritated and annoyed and just, mad and angry all the time.

That day was when Katsuki Bakugou decided that he will become the strongest hero ever, for both him and Izuku.

That day was when Katsuki Bakugou realised that he can no longer rely on heroes for help, that he had to someday take matters into his own hands, someday soon.

That day, Katsuki Bakugou promised himself that he would use the outfit that Izuku had drawn for him, along with the name of Ground Zero. He had to preserve as many memories with Izuku as he could so he wouldn't forget.