~O~

It mischievously grinned,

"Hello there, Kacchan~!"

The ash blonde felt his left eye twitch. As if the situation wasn't already bad enough, there had to be another one of him that was most absolutely nothing like him.

One look in those wicked emerald green eyes and Bakugou could tell this one wasn't the innocent boy everyone knew.

That article Todoroki showed them clearly had it that these kind of quirks are under control of either a desire, a fear or an alter ego. What Bakugou didn't know was that what he was facing was all three of those options — making this thing way more stronger than anticipated by them.

And the green haired boy Bakugou had come for was... He looked like an emotionless doll. Those emerald eyes never had been so dull and void. They didn't have their usual shine in them. His lips sat completely horizontal, not even a twitch. He usually smiled so bright upon seeing the ash blonde that it could put the sun to shame.

But this time, he didn't....

He just stared at his childhood, eyes piercing into his soul. Did he even know Bakugou was there? Could he feel anything? Any emotion? Were there any memories left now? Did he even know the ash blonde?

Bakugou clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

Seeing that nerd buzzing around him, smiling, mumbling, fan-boying about heroes with fascinated eyes, helping every person he saw, crying rivers of tears on the smallest of things, treating the ash blonde like he was and always had been the superior one and so on — it was annoying.

And it might have been annoying as hell but this right here...

This enraged him to no end.

This enraged him against that faker standing behind Deku.

Something in the green haired boy's cold and lifeless body in the hospital, the forgetfulness of their classmates, the crying call from Inko and these dull eyes told Bakugou that this fucker gotta die by his hands right now.

The one behind Izuku chuckled, "What's wrong? Why so silent, Kacchan~?" It moved Izuku's hands with it's own ones, gesturing the question as it led his right hand's index finger on his lips while the left hand was led to support the right elbow, forming a dramatic pose.

"What the fuck did you do to him, asshole?" A low yet dangerous growl escaped Bakugou's mouth as he narrowed his eyes.

It gasped, releasing Izuku's hands that fell to his sides as if they were the ones of a doll's.

"Me? Poor little me?" It pointed at itself. "I would never do anything bad to Izuku!" It wrapped it's arms around the apathetic green head and rested it's chin on his shoulder, pouting.

"If I were to make a list of people who ever hurt him, you, my dear Kacchan, would see your name highlighted at the top." It smirked. Somehow, the glint of mischief in it's eyes seemed to rise.

"Get off him," Bakugou growled again, ignoring the previous statement.

Yeah, he bullied the green head in his Quirkless years. Sure, he hurt him, beat him up and burned him from time to time. Certainly, there was never an apology from the ash blonde. But there was that silent forgiveness from the green haired boy that made Bakugou wonder if he was the inferior one there, which led him to his infamous are-you-looking-down-on-me moments.

Sure, their bonds and connections resembled that of a string knotted from different places quite intricately.

But that didn't mean one was leaving the other to die.

That's right. The green head wouldn't leave him to die and neither would he leave the green head to die. If there was anyone who was going to kill the nerd, it was the ash blonde and no other extra had the rights to interfere.

The green haired boy's alter ego, on the other hand, seemed to only get more excited by every passing second. The ruby eyed boy just told him to get off Izuku! What a joke, it had been the one with Izuku for most of his life. Nothing was going to separate them.

After all, it was a part of Izuku's soul and mind.

It was never going to leave.

And it was time to put the plan into action!

It was...

It smiled and detached itself from Izuku's body as it took a step back, hands in the air, "Okay! If you say so, Kacchan!"

Though Bakugou didn't seem to change his angered expression. This little piece of shit was obviously trying to do something with the green haired boy that could never end in a good place.

So, he began to observe his surroundings a little while keeping the said action as unnoticeable as possible at the moment. There was practically nothing there. Just glass and mirrors stood in the shape of a fort, there were surely some stairs that led down to the ground.

Nothing else. No traps. No weapons. Nothing of harm.

Time for...

"What's wrong now, Kacchan?" It asked, floating next to Izuku as it placed a hand on his shoulder, "Why don't you come and get him?"

Bakugou swore, every time that clone opened his mouth and said something, he felt a twitch in his hands as if an urge to blast his face to mars or somewhere he would never come back from.

The ash blonde huffed and took a glance at his left and right before taking a step forward, closer to Izuku.

At this the alter ego seemed to get even more elated.

Bakugou noticed this and shot a death glare at it, "Get the fuck away from him."

It almost groaned before walking to the edge. Well, whatever, he could do what he wanted from afar as well.

Once the ash blonde was sure of it that Izuku wasn't in that faker's reach, he walked up to the green head without wasting anymore time.

And as he got close enough to the green head, he reached out a hand to grab the smaller boy — in the exact same moment, the alter ego chimed in.

"Do it, Izuku!"

Izuku's first kill!

The green haired boy immediately lunged at the ash blonde with a knife in hand that he pulled out if his pocket — provided by the alter ego everyone loved.

Bakugou acted on instinct and quickly grabbed Izuku's scarred hand tightly that held the knife, turned him over and put him in a headlock as the green head struggled in his grasp.

"Deku, what the fuck are you doing?! Snap out if it, you idiot!" Bakugou yelled trying to keep the smaller boy in one place as he kept struggling like a mindless wild animal.

Izuku's expressions turned from nothing to anger, his eyes held an urge to take revenge as he roared and thrashed.

Bakugou's grip was the tightest around Izuku's right wrist, not letting the knife anywhere near the two of them at an angle that could harm either one of them. The green head was pretty strong and the ash blonde could tell that he wasn't going to let go of the knife anytime soon.

The alter ego only stood in the corner enjoying the show, a smile plastered to it's face.

"Fuck it!!" Bakugou pushed the green haired boy to the ground and straddled him, trying to keep him in one place. The knife eventually got a release from the harsh grip Izuku kept on it and fell to the glassy floor with a clang. Bakugou grabbed both of the green head's hands and kept them above his head so he would stop trying to attack him.

"Oi, Deku!! Calm the fuck the down and listen to me! Hey—!" Bakugou tried talking to him — keyword tried — before Izuku released himself from his grip and delivered a strong punch to his face making the ash blonde fall back.

But Bakugou smacked the scarred hand away and pinned it down from the wrist, slightly burning it with his quirk in an attempt to stop the boy who was going wild as he ignored his slightly bruised bleeding nose.

Izuku stopped — or at least slowed down his movements as he felt something burn around his wrists. With a quick motion, his head shot up and he stared at his childhood friend, growls escaping between gritted teeth. His face must have have held the urge to kill the ash blonde but as they say; the eyes are the mirror of the soul.

Glossy emerald eyes now shone with tears of pain, silently pleading for the ash blonde to either help him or run away from this mindscape.

Knowing Izuku, it was probably the latter one.

"Listen, that little shit over there is controlling you. You know that. You're not fucking stupid. I know you know that. You can't let him do this. You need to fight back. Killing me won't do anything. I don't know the crap this fucker has done to you but you seriously need to get yourself together or else we're both dying in here. And if that happened, every extra back there is going to be blaming themselves. There are still people who remember you. Auntie Inko is waiting for you. All Might remembers you. Glasses, Round Face and Icyhot are going to be complete dramatic messes if you died because they remember you. You heard me, shitty Deku? They remember you. They're waiting for you. For fuck's sake, fight back. Use your head or something. Don't let him take over." Bakugou said in a faint voice as if he didn't want anyone except Izuku to hear his words.

Fortunately, that was what happened. The alter ego didn't seem to budge from it's place as if it didn't heard the ash blonde. Though Izuku did hear him.

And with every word, Izuku's eyes seemed to get glossier, a tear rolled down his cheek subconsciously.

He didn't want to hurt anyone. He just... Didn't want to hurt anyone because of a stupid thought that lingered in his mind years ago.

He just didn't want to drag others in his mess. But the ash blonde ended up here anyways. He didn't want to be a burden. He could deal with it himself. He should deal with it himself. That's what he learned in his entire life. If he ever had a problem, he needed to deal with it alone. No one was supposed to be a part of his struggles.

His mind was getting foggy. He didn't know what was happening. Maybe he was submitting into the darkness again to become the puppet. He didn't want to be the puppet again. He didn't want to hurt Kacchan. He wanted to fight back. Just a moment of freedom from this curse didn't do anything.

'P-Please, not yet.... Don't take my senses a-away again...' Tears fell from his eyes in a trickle.

He needed more time. He needed more time. He needed more time. He needed more time—!

Something clicked in his mind.

The keys...

The memory lane.