P R O L O G U E

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K A T S U K I

I'M RUNNING.

I'm running madly, shoving people out of my and gasping for breath as I frantically scan through the crowds. She's nowhere in sight, but I can still hear her farewell words, an endless echo in my ears.

"I really hate you, you know that? I hate you for making me break Rule Six. I hate you for proving me wrong. Because I really was wrong when I said you were an incompetent hero who couldn't do anything for me. Isn't that right, Bakugo-san?"

I don't look any kind of heroic or strong as I clumsily sprint, desperately searching through the crowds. I just look lost and panicked and like I've got no command over the situation whatsoever.

She'd have command over the situation. She always looked so cold and calm and strong and like she was control of everything. But she's not here anymore. And I can't find her anywhere.

"I was wrong. So wrong. But, for the first time ever, I don't mind it. If anything, I'm thankful that you proved me wrong. So thankful. For you and your everything. And I'm sorry that I wasn't brave enough to say that before now."

The cold air shocks my face and lungs as I inhale deeper and run faster. With each footfall a jarring pain shoots through my legs but I know that I can't stop, not now, not ever.

"That's enough, Bakugo-san. You've done enough. You've done more than enough, so it's alright. I'm alright."

Hot, angry tears prick at my eyes and I furiously blink them back. Because this isn't right. This shouldn't be happening. It can't be happening.

"I was alone in the beginning, so I'll be alright."

No.

No!

Fucking NO!

"I'll always have the memories of the precious times that we shared, so I'll be alright."

Don't say things like that!

"And because I know that you'll be better off without me, I'll be alright."

No... things can't end like this. They just can't. I made a promise. I made a promise to her.

... didn't I?

Who... is this her?

My running slowly comes to a stop as the suffocating crowds begin to thin and clear. My head aches—I feel like it's being twisted. I clench my fists, digging my nails into my palms, as if that will help to ease away this frustration I'm feeling towards myself. What am I doing again? Who am I looking for? And why?

Why?

And then, in the distance, I see her.

A small and slender girl with long, black hair falling down her back.

Standing all alone.

She's still all alone.

Even after this time, she's still alone.

And what's more is that, by the second, she's slowly getting further and further away from me.

Shit.

"Hey!" I call out, dashing towards. "Wait up!"

Who is she?

"Wait!"

Do I know her? I don't really remember her.

"I said, fucking wait!"

But I feel like she was someone I wasn't supposed to forget.

"Fucking wait, bitch!"

My body suddenly slams into what appears to be large glass wall. "What the hell?"

On the other side of this frosted glass is that girl, that girl who's becoming more and more of a blur to me.

I slam and bash my hands against it, trying to either break it down or get her attention. "Hey! HEY! You there, don't ignore me! Who the hell are you?!"

Even if it's too late, I don't wanna hear that.

"What's your name?!"

Because I feel like I made a promise to her.

"But before I go, there's something I want you to know."

Yeah... I made a promise, didn't I?

"My real name... it's... it's..."

The ground beneath my feet shatters.

The last thing I see is that girl, now nothing more than a small speck in the distance. And then I fall down, down in the emptiness, because there's nothing here, it was a lie the whole time, it was always, always a lie, she tried to build our relationship on them but they were unstable and she knew it and it didn't hold.

As I fall, I kick and trash at first, but slowly, gradually, all that urgency drifts away. Time seems to stop here, inside this abyss. It's a shimmering, purpley-blue, like the edges of the Milky Way. A silver light glistens up above, a light that looks so close, but is somehow so far. I can't reach it, even if I try.

"It's..."

It is too late for that. It's too late for any of that now. I know that. Maybe I always did.

So, I close my eyes and let it all fall down, down, down.

。

。

。

。

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I woke up with a start, sitting up in bed and gasping for breath. I could feel sweat pouring down my forehead, and the twists and knots in my sheets confirmed that I'd been struggling in my sleep.

"What the... what the hell was..."

It felt like there was some kind of a black hole inside my stomach. I could feel it growing, and as it grew, it sucked on my insides, pulling at my lungs and heart. It made my body stiff. Tight. I wondered how much longer it would take for this feeling to swallow me whole.

My bedroom door then slammed open to reveal a very grouchy old woman, yelling at me to shut the fuck up. "DAMN IT, KATSUKI, YOU'RE GONNA BE SLEEPING OUT ON THE STREETS IF YOU DON'T STOP—"

She stopped when she saw that I was hyperventilating.

"Katsuki?"

I grabbed at my forehead, struggling to breathe. "It's that dream, it's that same fucking dream! It's not going away, why the hell isn't it going away?!"

I was inhaling and exhaling but the air just wouldn't go in. It was like my lungs were surrounded by metal bands and I didn't know what to do or how to get them back to normal. Panicking, I quickened my breathing, desperately trying to get in any amount of air that I could find, but that only seemed to make it worse and then I couldn't work out how to slow myself down which only made me panic more.

The old hag sat down on my bed, making a grab for my wrists. "Hey, hey, calm down, you shithead son. What's wrong, what's this dream you're talking about?"

I racked my brains, desperately trying my hardest to remember. "There's me and then there's... there's this girl and she's... she's..."

Thoughts were accelerating wildly inside my head, making it ache, and they wouldn't stop. I wanted them to slow so I could focus on breathing, but they wouldn't stop. They just kept barging their way in and banging at my brain, but none of them made any sense to me and I still couldn't remember anything.

Remember.

I've got remember...

Damn it, remember, remember, remember!

"And she's what?" my mom pressed on gently.
Something about the fact that she was actually trying to be nice to me just made me even angrier.

I gripped my hair, feeling like I was seconds away from pulling it all out by the roots. "I don't know! I don't know, okay?!"

My breaths continued to come in gasps and I felt like I would black out if I didn't get a grip. My heart was hammering inside my chest, like it belonged to a rabbit running for its skin.

"Every time I try to remember her, it's like there's nothing left for me to hold onto! She's just... gone and there's just this annoying sense of loss lodged in my chest and I can't get it out and I can't get it out and... and..."

The old hag thumped at me with a pillow. "Calm down and breathe! Come on, get it together, Katsuki. Is there really nothing about her that you can remember? Nothing at all?"

I desperately racked my brains trying to hold onto something, anything, trying to recall that dream, but it was already gone and far beyond my reach. Whenever I thought I was close enough to latch back onto it, it had already slipped away again.

Which felt nostalgic somehow.

"No," I snapped. "There's nothing. The second I wake up, that's all just gone. All can I remember is that..."

"Is what?"

"She was important? I don't know. I just get the feeling that she was important, so why..."

Holding my head in my hands, I spoke in a whisper.

"So why can't I remember her?"

"Bakugo-san."

This girl... who the hell was she?

__________

Skinny penis

Lmao this whole prologue will make sense in the future I promise

Jk I have no idea what the actual fuck this whole thing is lolzers BUT IT WILL HAVE REFERENCES SO WOMP WOMP WOMP

If you're reading this, just know I love you, you gorgeous human being 😘😘😘😘😘😘

Adios babas 😘