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Katsuki had spent the past several weeks numb, uncaring towards the world and its happenings. After all, what was there to care about when the person you loved was dead?
The itch in the back of his brain- the scratch he couldn't quite relieve- the niggling voice that sounded like Izuku- faint at first- had grown to be an all consuming thing, screaming at him to take action. In his final moments, the nerd had passed on One for All. Katsuki had felt the electricity singe through his veins, burning new paths into his very being. He had felt the quirk carve itself into his soul. Once, long ago, he had felt the rush, but it was nothing compared to what was now searing through him. With the true passing of the quirk, it dug itself a nice hole to be at rest in, weaving itself into his mind and body. Finally, Katsuki felt it nestle in his palm, clenching his fist around it just like he had seen Izuku do a hundred times before.
Katsuki hadn't dared to let loose an explosion. After Izuku's death, he had been put under close observation. His body and mind were subdued by suppressants to keep him from following Izuku through that oh so tempting door constantly at the edge of his dreams.
Upon being deemed sane and of sound mind, the suppressants were gradually weaned, and Katsuki was allowed to participate in remedial quirk training. He had been dreading it, and yet, some part of him itches to let loose- almost as though he was possessed by some clawed entity scratching at his palms, trying to escape. It was begging to be let out through the passage of sweat and blood.
He had just the cure.
~le skip~
He braced himself in the training room, inhaling deeply to calm his nerves. Calling upon the memory of Deku's breathing techniques before aiming those fingers in that familiar flicking gesture, he raised his hand. Focusing on the quirk training dummy across the room, he tried to remember what his two favorite people had said about controlling the wild animal that was One for All. Combined with his own quirk he knew that anything more than a fraction of power would be dangerous.
Katsuki let the image of a water hose steadily filling a pool take over his mind as he focused on the power building in his palm. In his mind, he imagined the water stopping as the pool was filled to his liking. It was an allegory his father had taught him to help control his birth quirk after a nasty case of burnt dinner and smoking cabinet. Once upon a time, Katsuki had envisioned a car's tank filling with gasoline, but that had proved volatile.
Exhaling calmly through his mouth and focusing on keeping the pool's water level where it was, Kastuki readied himself.
Let's see just how much this nerd had in him, yeah?
With practiced confidence, Katsuki let loose what should have been a small blast. It should have been not much more than a few pops, only enough to singe the dummy at best. Instead, orange-green lightning thrummed around Katsuki as the single largest explosion he had ever created decimated the training room and the building around it. He was sent flying into the opposite wall, ozone crackling in the white hot heat that seared through the room,making his hair stand on end.
Katsuki sat dazed, watching as the flickering lightning faded and small fires flitted like wisps around the room. All he could think was Izuku, Izuku, Izuku.
Well that wasn't supposed to happen.
And then the pain hit. It seared up Katsuki's forearm and through his shoulder. He swore he could feel the aftershock chattering through his teeth. It was probably a good thing he had his earplugs in.
And after that, in came the rush of people- Katsuki's friends and former classmates crowding in to check on him. They had been watching from the observation room, awaiting the new explosive force that would soon "grace the earth." His words not theirs. They had bore witness to the powerful blasts he had delivered the first time he had held a piece of a One for All, excited- albeit despondent at the thought of Izuku- at what he could now do.
Well, he thought to himself bitterly as he grasped his surely fractured arm, at least that nerd left something behind besides me.
Katsuki faded into a state of limbo between consciousness and unconsciousness, pain digging itself into his psyche. He watched as if from above as a water quirk user put out the fires and a medic stood over him, worry furrowed their brow. And yet, all Katsuki could really think was Izuku, Izuku, Izuku as he was carted off to the x-ray room.
~le skip~
When Katsuki awoke, it was with sweaty palms and a heart that hurt as it slammed in his chest, resonating through his body. Panicked breaths overtook him as he grasped his chest, trying desperately to forget the image of blood leaking out of the corner of Deku's mouth. Trying desperately not to think of the final breath rattling out of Izuku's lungs as Katsuki held his hand.
The dreams had worsened in the following months since that first disastrous training session. It had set him back in his progress with One for All greatly. And yet, Katsuki Bakugou being no quitter, he slowly learned to converse with the quirk, getting it to cooperate and play along to his desires. He painstakingly mastered both quirks and all that came with them. His explosion quirk was now permanently altered, permanently boosted, even with quirk specific suppressants to block out One for All. Izuku would always be part of him now.
Doing his best to set aside the panic and despair, Katsuki slipped into his hero gear, new additions due to his quirk situation glaringly obvious.
In favor of more protective bracers, he had to ditch the grenade gauntlets, opting for more chic hand grenades on his person instead of two big bombs attached to his wrists. His leg braces were reinforced along with the added bonus of heavier, shock absorbent boots that'd keep his legs in pristine condition.
And then there were the honorary additions.
Adorning his suit, flashes of verdant green the color of rainforest mist shining in the morning sun shone brightly. Katsuki's signature explosive mask had been retrofitted with Deku's iconic steel mouthpiece. Katsuki had worked long and hard with the costume designers to honor Izuku's memory.
He made his way into the training center, eying the test dummies set up to move around the room in all fashions. There were green, orange, and red dummies. Each represented something different. Green stood for civilians, orange stood for a hostile under villain control, and red stood for hostile with intent to kill. There were around 10 civilian dummies, each protected by a total of 20 red and orange dummies.
Today was to be Katsuki's hero license retest under his new alias and quirk.
Tomorrow the headlines would read, “Shockwave (formerly Dynamite) Returns to the Hero Scene After Tragic Incident Involving Hero Deku."
He smiled at the thought.
Taking a series of deep, stabilizing breaths and once again imagining that pool filling with water, the tingling of One for All began to hum through him like a long forgotten song. He had trained for months. He had worked with each quirk within One for All, powering through the pain and constantly learning. The wild hum of the beast that was One for All combined with the roaring itch of Explosion, creating a symphony within Katsuki.
Green-orange lightning flashed around him, the smell of burning ozone crackling in his nose. His carmine eyes shot open as his signature deadly smirk plastered itself onto his face.
Katsuki motioned towards the observers to begin the test.
Shifting into a battle ready stance he watched as the dummies began to move around, gathering intel on the situation in the blink of an eye. After so much training and communication with One for All, the blasts came easily. Launching himself with practiced finesse towards five green civilian dummies surrounded by three red dummies and two orange dummies, he pivoted in the air and blasted the ground at their feet. The stunned dummies were swiftly taken down with sharp blows to pressure points and restrained.
Katsuki's old swagger beginning to crack out of its shell, he grinned as the battle's quickly unfolding information flashed across his brain in an instant. Effortlessly dodging a hostile attack, he twisted and dealt a blow to the back of the dummy's head. Katsuki spun further performing a judo style takedown not unlike Deku's hand to hand style, cuffing the dummy. Taking the incoming orange hostile's attack in stride, he rotated his hips, using the momentum of the dummy to launch it over his shoulder into a red hostile. The force of this movement carried his body to the side, seemingly off kilter. But in a quick flurry of footwork and flexibility, Katsuki angled his left palm downwards, setting off a small blast to send him up and into the air. Izuku's Air Force entering his mind, he danced through the air towards another red hostile dummy, grabbing it by the head and using his own momentum to flip forward and slam it into the ground- quickly pinning and cuffing it. Danger Sense spiking through his head, he spun just in time to duck as an orange made for the back of his neck. Heart hurting, he let Blackwhip flow from his fingertips, wrapping around the dummy, allowing for an easy cuffing. Swinging the tendrils of Blackwhip outward, he hooked onto three red hostiles, sending Explosion sparking through the staticky once green now orange ropes. Upon successfully incapacitating the three hostiles, he slapped cuffs onto each of them. Feeling Danger Sense prickle in his skull again, he let loose Smokescreen, then engaging Float in quick succession, once again utilizing Izuku's Air Force to silently push himself forward. Launching out of the smoky cloud, he laughed boisterously as he blasted the incoming hostiles.
Only five hostile remain. He could do this. He was Katsuki Bakugou. He was Shockwave.
He broke into a sprint towards two more hostiles who were guarding civilian hostages. Using the energy stored in his body from all the movement, he engaged Fa Jin and Gear Shift, blasting himself forward with Explosion at breakneck speeds, cuffing the hostile dummies before they could even react. Wincing at the pain in his forearms and legs, Katsuki knew that had been overkill. Taking it in stride, he quickly turned towards the last three dummies. Slinging out his explosive Blackwhip, he pulled the final red dummy towards himself, cuffing it. He then twisted his body and hurled the incapacitated hostile at the remaining two oranges. Katsuki blasted his way into a slide, allowing him to sling himself around into putting the first orange dummy in an arm bar, subsequently restraining it. With a roar of triumph, he dodged the final dummies attack, shooting a blast towards the ground to right himself, another explosion rocking through his arms as he surged forward and tackled the enemy.
Lungs burning he turned to face the civilians, checking them for signs of injuries. Finding none, he made sure the enemies were restrained and incapacitated, checking the last cuff.
A loud tooth rattling buzzer sounded, and over the intercom the words “Katsuki Bakugou. You are a licensed hero once again,” rang throughout the room.
|The shouts of his former classmates grew loud as the beaten dummies faded into the floors and walls, carted off for repairs.
As Katsuki's friends surrounded him, he let himself be caught up in their celebratory whooping, allowing himself to yell with them, eyes scanning over them before he could stop himself from searching for those fluffy green curls.
With that single deafening absence the breath was knocked out of his lungs, head pounding suddenly. Everything was too close, too close too closetooclosetooclose.
Katsuki stumbled out of the gaggle of his people, garnering confused looks and questions. Those who understood and held the others back as he stumbled out of the testing room. He barely made it into the hallway before he was on the ground. Katsuki slumped down as he put his head between his legs, trying and failing to take deep breaths, images cutting into him.
The nerd smiling on the battlefield right before he got hit- racing to knock him out of the way- trying to yell but being there was no time. Katsuki couldn't move fast enough, doomed to watch as that viciously beautiful smile faded, body going limp, head hitting the ground with a sickening crack. He couldn't save him.
Fuck.
~le skip~
Katsuki had been back in the hero scene for around four years and some months now, roaring public support as he soared up in the rankings. New merch dropped, and with it, his previous merch became limited and collectable, making him all the more desirable. The hole that was Deku's death still dug deep, some days still feeling freshly excavated. But through therapy and the care of his friends, he was healing and growing as a person.
five years to the day after Izuku's final battle, Katsuki found himself on the same field, taking in his surroundings, thinking only Izuku, Izuku, Izuku. Energy thrummed around him, a reminder of his friend. Ghosts of strong caressing arms wrapping around him.
So caught up in reminiscing about Izuku, he didn't notice the red dot appear on the side of his head, he didn't hear Kirishima's panicked cry of “RUN BAKUGOU RUN!"
He didn't feel the bullet piercing his skull, he didn't feel his body slumping to the ground, spilling his head's contents in the same place Deku had died exactly five year prior.
Bakugo hadn't checked the date that day, but it was a certain irony that he had passed exactly five years later, in the same field. Perhaps it was planned by some higher force. Perhaps it was just some horribly ironic coincidence. Perhaps the Hero Killer (or perhaps a copycat) had returned to deal out that heavy kiss of irony. It seemed terribly perfect to have actually happened.
The city went into total lockdown, but the Hero Killer was never caught, leaving only a single note left in the field exactly two weeks later, found hours after a memorial for the hero once known as Shockwave.
“This was not a mindless act. Two years ago, we lost the Symbol of Peace, Deku, who took up the mantle after All Might, who then passed on his legacy to Shockwave. A fitting name, given what I have made of him. Had this foul hero based society learned, had Shockwave learned that ranks and power are not everything, this would not have happened. You would have lived quite happily with yourselves, never knowing the pain of losing two great heroes."
"Only one.”