Bakugo found himself panting, as he brought his shaking arm forward and let out a decent sized explosion. He felt the recoil of the blast, shooting white hot pain up his arm and down some of his back. His body was fired up on adrenalin, and yet he was still slightly aware of the strain it was going through.

Just three more…

The angry villains had just kept coming and coming and coming.

But their numbers had thinned out due to Bakugo's strict training and practicing schedule. He had maintained peak physical shape, even though his mental health declined at the same time. 

And the blatant determination to win was clouding his mind. He didn't want to give the Commission the satisfaction of having sent him on a suicide mission. Of getting rid of the blonde. 

So he let his anger and sadness envelope his fighting, powering him beyond his limits. 

Like the fingers break, break, breaking under the pressure of a quirk that was passed down nine generations. 

Like the will of a teenager with the weight of the world pressing down on his thin, quirkless shoulders. 

Bakugo grit his teeth as two of the villains lunged at him. Stepping back, he let off a well-timed blast. 

The blast echoed through the training facility. As the dust settled, Bakugo could vaguely see the trembling figure of his childhood friend, who had rerouted the force of the attack upward. A gaping hole in the ceiling was the product of the blonde's unbridled rage. 

Both men were hit by the explosion, and sent reeling. And yet the third had snuck up on the explosive hero, wrapping his arms around Bakugo's neck and mouth. Bakugo felt his hands heat up as he grasped at the arm attempting to suffocate him. The villain's grip hardly budged, even as the hero pulled and thrashed. 

The pressure around his skull was making him dizzy. The slime attempted to enter through his mouth and nose, effectively cutting off his airways. And Bakugo couldn't grip the green slime as he suffocated under the grips of a villain. His eyes almost rolled back in his head until a scream and a yellow blob entered his vision from the corner of his eye. 

A loud boom echoed from the dusty, old building as another explosion set off. Bakugo had put too much force in setting off his quirk, that it had not only knocked the two off and into the wall, but he could also feel his own skin begin to melt ever so slightly. 

He scrambled off of the villain he had landed on top of after the blast. The black-clad man laid unmoving. 

Two more to go.

He felt a warm liquid trailing down his forehead as his stomach also became enveloped in the red. And yet, once he blinked away the dust in his eyes, he found himself standing in front of the last two men. The fight was shortly over after he bashed their skulls together. 

"No, Kacchan! Don't hurt him, he did nothing to you! Kacchan stop, you're hurting them!" The small voice of Zu flew through the air like a group of fairy's they had read about in class. 

Bakugo found his body standing over the limp villains, yet his eyes couldn't focus enough to make out anything specific, like their chests moving or fingers twitching. 

Nevertheless, he stumbled backwards, away from the group of knocked out villains. 

Backup still hadn't arrived. It was just Bakugo and Deku fighting together against a plethora of villains that had somehow surrounded them. Their monitors weren't responding, and neither was their backup. The two fought vigorously beside each other, and yet they still seemed to be losing. Villains kept flowing from out of nowhere. Until they didn't. 

Bakugo could see the group around them thinning, and a new burst of energy flowed through his veins. He found his injured body working overtime as he started fighting tooth and nail against the villains. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Deku struggling, body becoming fatigued. And Bakugo found himself unable to make his way immediately over to his childhood friend to help. Nervousness clawed at his insides, but he refused to show it. Instead, he continued his efforts almost tenfold, no matter the screaming muscles. 

Blasting another person, he yelled out. "OI DEKU! THEY'RE THINNING, SO KEEP KICKING BUTT!!" 

He didn't have time to check up on his partner as he became preoccupied by dodging a fist to the head. But he knew Deku heard him. 

"Okay, Kacchan!" Came the tired, yet determined voice. 

Minutes pass, and once again Bakugo felt himself begin to slow. His body was becoming too stiff with overwork. He couldn't think with the smell of thick blood pooling around him. 

Suddenly a shrill scream sounded behind him, and Bakugo found himself snapping around to search for the source. His mouth fell open as he saw his childhood friend stumble backwards, the glinting of a knife impaling his stomach prominent. 

Red flashed across Bakugo's vision as he used his explosions to catapult forward and frantically attack the remaining few villains. His anger was opaque as it clouded his mind. 

Nevertheless, as soon as all the villains were down, Bakugo ran towards his childhood friend. Now that there was no threat, he was able to begin treating Deku. 

He grabbed at the hero costume, gently ripping the once green costume  so he could get a better look. He gulped, noticing how discolored the wound was getting. He cursed in his head as he realized that the sword must have been quirk-made or quirk-altered. Meant to kill and leave no survivor. 

Quickly, Bakugo began ripping off the leg of his own costume to begin applying slight pressure to the wound. 

By this point, Deku was in a half-awake state. His gloved hands trying to grasp at the handle of the sword to pull it out. 

"No," Bakugo chastised as he pushed the shaking hands away from the sword. "Don't do that, it will make you bleed out." He mumbled. 

Once satisfied with what he could do, he dialed the number of the Commission, hoping to get an answer now that his phone was working again. After failing, he tried to reach backup via the monitors. Static was the only answer. 

Where were they? The backup said they would be there in less than ten minutes. 

Bakugo turned back to the ashen looking greenette. "They'll be here soon." He felt himself mumble at the greenette. 

"Kacchan…" 

"You'll get medical help that will fix the wound, and then you will rest until fully healed. They're gonna find out what the quirk does and find a counter for it–" Bakugo began to ramble about the ways Deku could get better. His brain was mush as he attempted to assess the damage of his friend. He ran a hand through his blonde hair, messing it up further. 

"...Kacchan…" 

Bakugo began to put his other hand back on the cloth, applying slightly more pressure than before to stop the bleeding. He felt himself shaking with the adrenaline waring off, exhaustion and pain slowly creeping up on him.

"Kac…chan…" A weak whisper came. Finally, Bakugo was able to snap out of his inner turmoil to notice his friend. 

His skin was almost grey, lips tinted a light blue. Bakugo could almost see all his veins and arteries. A tiny bit of blood leaked from the greenette's mouth, a sign he had accidentally bit his tounge. 

Green eyes met Red and a small understanding formed between the two. 

So much went behind the eye contact. So much pain, so many memories. So many broken promises. So many regrets. 

But still, the two had stayed together from birth to now. They had made it this far only for– 

"Backup's not coming." Bakugo realized, eyes beginning to water as tears found themselves falling. The realization that the two were never supposed to make it out of the mission alive hit the blonde hard. He didn't understand why they were sent to be killed. Why did the Commission want them gone? Why did the Commission want Deku gone? 

"Kac…chan…is so…cool." Midoriya mumbled, chest heaving at the effort of staying conscience. His eyes were slowly turning glossy as the red of his blood pooled underneath his body. 

That day, Bakugo was forced to watch his childhood friend die right in front of him, as a result of being sent on a suicide mission by the Commission. 

And once more, Bakugo watched as the redness pooled under him. Only now from a different angle. His own costume was the deep red that only blood can be. He felt himself swallow thickly, breathing becoming harder. 

I have to see Deku…

He stumbled forward, leaning on any and all surfaces that would take his weight. He had his arm pressing on his chest, as if it would stop the rapid bleeding as his heart pounded rapidly. 

His vision blurred and dimmed. It spun and shifted. It brightened before dimming, and yet after what felt like hours of struggles, Bakugo made it. At the sight of the statue, he let his body collapse, finally giving in to the pain of his wounds. The area was dark, the mission having been in the middle of the morning, where no one would be awake. 

But the lights that showcased the statue of the Symbol of Hope made the statue visible at all moments of the day and night. Bakugo began using his good arm and legs to drag himself closer to the statue. He could feel the ground opening up his wounds, causing blood to pour out faster and faster. At this moment, he knew that he wouldn't survive long, and that no one would spot his body until the next day. 

So with the last amount of strength he possessed, he lurched forward. His hand was barely able to touch the foot of the statue, but he felt better. 

Yes, from birth until death, Izuku and Katsuki would be together. One way or another, they would die next to each other both times.

Bakugo finally visited Deku. After years of mourning, he had finally seen the statue the community made to remember him by. His only regret was not seeing it sooner. Nonetheless, he felt a small, almost indecipherable smile cast itself upon his face as he ignored the pain. 

See you soon, Zu.