‘ achilles’ heel ’

━━━━━

Chaos in its preeminent form is poisonous fog punctured with screams and some heroes panicking. Bloodstained head, fallen bodies, and the sound of that wall crumbling. Fragile and cannot be rebuilt. The wall of trust.

Oh how she loved that satisfaction, that destruction and she would have given anything to feel the blood flowing from slashed skins and anguish, oh anguish from the youthful faces.

"Where's Midoriya?" Iida asks her amidst all that chaos and she knows where he is but even within the blissful chaos, Kaede maintains her act. She's been waiting a millenia for this, hours wouldn't be a problem.

"I-I don't know!" Kaede shouts and her excitement appears in her voice but she presses the back of her palm to her mouth to silence it. "I have to find him!" And goes to the forest opposite Midoriya's location. She was amazed at how she managed to escape the tedious boy's clutches but going deeper into the forest, she realized that it was easier to trap and navigate because of the smoke.

To tell time as it is, her quirk, to tell death. It was a wonderful quirk that made her feel like a God but considering present circumstances, she figured Gust was a pretty quirk with merits of its own.

Using a gust from her palms, she clears a path for herself and heads to the designated location. Shigaraki had already informed the others of her existence so along with whoever the target was, she was too be retrieved too.

Like hell.

Kaede was not an object, not a benign object. She was a weapon and weapons weren't retrieved like precious jewelry and breakblades that would immediately shatter at contact. Weapons were wielded for destruction. She was meant for destruction. No, she wanted destruction and that made her a weapon in its own right.

If things didn't go according to plan and they displease her like those mortals who offended gods— Arachne, Cassioepia, and all those other fools— she will not hesitate to
deliver heavenly judgment.

Labyrinthine paths spread out in the forest and even after she's heard several explosions, there were a lot coming from Midoriya's direction, Kaede still hasn't contacted one of her allies.

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Kaede counted again and climbed one of the trees, still using that breeze as a shield from the smoke and finding people, her people.

Although, there was a chasm in her body and at the very bottom, the desire to encounter one of the pro heroes and disembowel them with her abilities. It's been such a long time and she truly misses it. Truly needs the carnage.

"You must be Mizuki Kaede, yes?" a voice says and Kaede doesn't bother turning around to identify who it is. There were only six pro heroes in the vicinity, six adults and this man, magician clothes with a mask and ten clothed fingers, was obviously a villain. "Apologies for intruding so quickly, but I am afraid we have to delay the pleasantries, Kaede-sama. We shall proceed with the capture of Katsuki Bakugou."

Kaede nodded. "Did Tomura tell you anything?" she asked, voice chilly.

"Orders as they were. To be wary of you and be respectful, Tomoe-sama added," he announced and fixed the edges of his gloves before their eyes capture two girls, five boys nearing the two girls.

"That's them," she says and face remains placid as she trails over their features, never catching Bakugou's. Did they hide him? That wasn't plausible. He was a big ball of pride, he wouldn't be ordered, especially by Midoriya and Todoroki.

"There," the man said and inclined his head towards Bakugou and back to Tokoyami sulking at the back. "I shall capture this one first. With that spectacular power and then the target."

With ease, he managed to make Tokoyami disappear but Kaede's eyes has been trained to catch cheap acts like this. That was probably his quirk— something that allowed him to carry or hide objects at will, and when he unfurled his palm to reveal an object the same size and shape as marble, with Tokoyami inside it, she knew.

Creeping on shadows, he headed towards Bakugou next, but said personage managed to avoid him and counteract with an explosion sending the man backwards where he lunged again only for the man to retreat.

"Send him away from that group first," Kaede said, cornflower blue eyes wary. "They'll hear the explosions. He's purposely limiting his power in order to avoid attention— probably so that his escorts don't defend him; he's a prideful thing."

"I understand," the man says and before departing tells her that he is called Mr. Compress. Kaede is hesitant as to what she should do with the information. There is still the possibility that she is going to get rid of him— 80% give or take— and it is tedious to remember the names of corpses.

Fast forward four minutes and twenty one seconds, Mr. Compress is still failing (Kaede pushes the sixteenth itch to murder him) and when he's retreated again, Kaede decides to take matters into her own hands. She figures that they cannot carry Bakugou without his quirk so he must be alive.

"That kid is strong," he tells her as he holds unto a tree bark for support. "I have to change my whole act."

Kaede shakes her head and grasps at the detestable strands of silver grey hair. It got away. When she was still in her body— rosy lips, pale skin and midnight hair— her hair barely reached her shoulders. Now, in actual combat, the tufts of silver got in the way. She gathers up the strands and gets a knife tucked into her boots earlier, slicing the strands until it only dangled above her shoulders.

"There's no need to change your act," she said, eyes still like the steel that tore her hair apart. "I'll do something about it."

"Y-Yes."

He was wary of her. Wise man. She would have cut his throat and wing the entire operation if she didn't like him. Shigaraki would not show his anger if she did, between the two of them, Kaede was the one who was angry at everyone and had a grenade for a heart.

Katsuki wanders through the forest, farther and farther away from his escorts who were yet to meet the girls still battling with another villain, his hands sparkling with explosions. If push came to shove, she may have to damage Bakugou. She wondered if that would spark Tomura's fury; a memory of aforementioned personage had him stating that she was the one who was always ensorcelled in wrath.

Kaede nods at Mr. Compress, a brief bob of the head to signal the beginning.

With the litheness and grace of a bird, a dove like Aphrodite's symbol, she lets the knife be planted into one of the tree barks, and with the power that did not belong to her, she wills two breezes to sway/topple four five six trees.

Biting her lower lip, Kaede resists the urge to count. It's been such a long time that she's been able to lower her defenses and peek through the cracks of the mask she wore, but Katsuki would notice. He would notice just like he always does, so she only counts one two three backwards in her head.

"Katsuki," she says voice carried by the wind, Yuko's wind. The two breezes she's willed earlier. "Is that you there?"

The airs mesh together to create howling sounds, and she cuts a portion from one of the breezes to create an air arrow. Squaring her fingers, she directs the air arrow to sail past her shoulders, nicking the same angle as where the knife landed in.

Letting her own weight carry her down, she slumps to the damp soil and lets her expression mirror those of her past victims. Afraid.

Her clothes are messy thanks to the earlier trek through the bushes. And she puts a hand in her mouth to force herself to vomit, to make her voice raspy and a scream wells up in her throat and she sets it free, "Katsuki! Katsuki! Help me! Help me! Help me!"

And Katsuki, Katsuki runs through the forest green bushes, catching a few twigs in the process and at her peripheral vision, she sees the sphere that is Tokoyami glint against Mr. Compress's tongue.

Katsuki Bakugou. Her Katsuki. With his obnoxious threats, askew morals and downright delinquency, she could see why Tomura would want him. But as unfortunate as it was, Kaede had a gut brewing at the pits of her now empty stomach.

"Katsuki, help me!"

Kaede confirms her gut the moment he nears her faux defeated form, sprawled on the ground, hair cut and skin sprouting signs of struggle. It's like unpeeling a tangerine, flesh seen and all those flimsy layers have disappeared, and he's so overwhelmed that his expressions are as pallid as the waves that lap upon the shore.

"Y-You came," the sugary delight in her voice is candid compared to the other lies she screamed. She coats them in chocolate and shoves it down his throat one after another so he has no room for suspicion. "Thank goodness."

She realizes it now. The similarity that ran among good heroes like ichor to golden gods. Purpose, will, weakness. All of it were the same as long as you had power in your fingertips. As long as you were a hero or had the desire to become one.

Kaede has realized that heroes were created to save people and give hope to those who need it. That was purpose. Their desire to save people and do good things that benefit others. That was will.

No matter how difficult it was, no matter how many risks it garnered, even at the cost of a life—

"What happened?" he questioned, breathless as he crouched by her side, holding unto her shoulders to make her sit upright. She knows that she can never beat him in a battle of powers. Katsuki was far stronger. But Yuko— no no no no no, her name was Kaede and Kaede was selfish, horrible and the compendium of every bad thing. She was Kaede. Not her. Not the girl who was foolish enough to harbor crushes on blond boys, not the girl who wanted to cry cry cry cry because, God I don't want to hurt anyone please and I love them all so much please.

K A E D E
MONSTER.

— Kaede is smarter.

"The villain," she rasped, fingers hovering over his nape in a desperate attempt to seek faux comfort. And she adds, in a soft, mellifluous tone like honey sweetening tea. "The villain has won."

She will never overpower him so she will outsmart him.

Fingers lined together and as fast as Icarus' wings that delivered him to the sun for an end— an end to this act, a pressure point of his body had been hit and Katsuki Bakugou falls unto her arms like the very same damsel she pretended to be.

Katsuki Bakugou was a hero.

And good heroes will always save others. That was weakness.

"I'm sorry," she whispers and cups his cheek with her buttermilk arms, cornflower eyes glace under the moonlight. "It was fun fooling all of you."

Shigaraki Tomura was wrong. He will never convince Katsuki to join his—no, their side, because Kaede was and always will be a villain. The side quest failed. She realized it the moment he rushed to her side to save her from something that wasn't there in the first place. Katsuki Bakugou wielded grenades and powerful explosions, but unlike Yuko (Kaede Kaede Kaede who was bad and lonely and evil and c r y i n g), he did not have a grenade for a heart (lodge deep within and explode destroying everyone with).

He was a boy who was made for heroism, a little jaded here and there,  but he would make it. He was made for marble sculptures and noontime show appearances. Made for coquering and saving, ivory statues and stories to tell of his glory.

He wasn't meant for wicked girls with wicked hearts.

He was never ever meant for Kaede.

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E N D O F C H A P T E R
— s a d n e s s