Tamaki sat shivering outside of UA.

Arms wrapped like a protective blanket around his chest and shoulders, toes and hands so cold and sore he was sure they'd brittlely fall off. It reminded him of the funny question izuku had asked him the other day, before he disappeared into UA to carry out his duties:

'Would you rather have fingers on your feet or toes on your hands?'

(Personally I would have fingers on my feet, so I could smoke using my foot... don't ask.)

Tamaki thought it was a strange question at the time, but now he wasn't so sure now, because it literally felt like his limbs were about to snap off and become bird food.

I mean... no one wants to become bird food right? Well maybe you do, I'm not one to judge someone's life ambitions, considering I'm writing this in the psyche ward.

Shota had left him ages ago to talk with that woman, so he was here alone in the freezing, cold-desolate and quiet school, haunted by a literal ghost.

Could this get any worse? Honestly it probably could, Tamaki could have been inside that school for all he knew. But here he was, away from the dangerous claws of Izuku's wrath.

So maybe sitting in the cold wasn't too bad...

But still, he was fucking terrified.

Sure, he came to an agreement with the dead boy. But still he was sitting in the dark BY HIMSELF.

If Tamaki had learnt anything from horror movies, it was that this was the worse possible situation ever. Amijiki was literally the side character who gets left on patrol by themselves and gets killed by the murder first, he thought.

Fuck was this great.

Tamaki shivered and rubbed his hands together quickly, breath coming out as hot puffs of steam in the chilling air - the tips of his pointed ears red as well as his cheeks and nose.

The third year tried to convince himself all these silly thoughts were just a result of his usual anxiety and paranoia.

But... almost as soon as a bird in a nearby tree flew off in a hurry - Tamaki sprinted faster out of that school than Tenya fucking Iida on goddamn steroids.

Yeah no. That was his breaking point.
Hell no.

At this point, Tamaki was willing to have fingers on his feet if it meant running away from the school faster.

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Seemingly frozen, Iida stared at the powered-off projector. His gaze cold and stone-like.

They had just watched a pro hero die by some sort of fast working disease. It reminded some students of the black-plague. But this was so much more surreal than that virus though. This was something unhinged, unknown.

Everyone was silent in thought and shock. The very first signs of this 'disease' was black veins, and possibly even a smile? - many thought. Could the disease be passed on? Would they have to kill those with the symptoms before they could pass it on?

Either way... it was better not to take the chance.

This... was kill or be killed.

And no one was planning on dying. This simple little message had turned everyone against each other. Izuku really was playing games with their mind.

That glitched, eerie voice. That one statement they all replayed: 'find out who it is, or suffer the same fate'

That must've meant someone was infected. And they had to be terminated before it could spread.

An intense air of distrust spread between each of them. Eyes flashing between one another with caution. Iida slowly crept to the front of the classroom straying away from everyone else, the remaining class did the same - each distanced.

The atmosphere deepened as a sudden new found determination gripped the survivors consciousness.

Tsu took a deep breath and backed into a nearby desk, grabbing a pen behind her back as a precaution. Others also silently fumbled around for any means of self-preservation.

Clearing his throat, the class rep decided to take the lead as usual.

"Everyone... hold out your arms." He ordered in a weak voice, strong facade slipping away piece by piece, weakness permeating itself into his tone. He was planning on checking everyone for any sights of black veins, as it seemed to be very prominent on Midnight.

Jiro was the first to do so. Slowly followed by others like Sato, Todoroki, and the remaining.

Strangled, tense breathing circulated the room as each person tried to focus their eyesight to make out the details of each person's arms in the dark lighting.

However, in their inspection - everyone failed to notice the dim glow of green light at the back of the room - followed by the appearance of three neatly lined teddy bears... simply a little present from their former classmate is all.

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Katsuki had never felt so terrified in his life.

He was curled underneath a table in the dank, quiet defines of what used to be the practical room for Mei Hatsume, though now it was merely a place of his resignation now. Who knows what happened to the eccentric pink haired girl. Katsuki didn't want to think about it.

The blonde used to think of himself as a hero. Fearless and brave. Ready to take on any threat at any given moment. But now... Bakugou wasn't so confident about his arrogance anymore.

The teen's mind was playing tricks on itself. Driving erratically to pluck the strings of his amygdala- in a constant retelling of the dismembering process Izuku had inflicted on him.

The tearing of flesh, splintering bone, burning ligaments, streams of blood, constant death and resurrection. Katsuki was drenched in sweat just thinking about it. As if his body remembered the feelings exactly like some sort of torturous muscle memory.

The blonde twitched in his strained position regularly, cramps attacking his legs and back from stress and lack of mobility. It felt as if bones had no more strength and muscles were all out of power.

The elevating primal fear made Katsuki's head throb violently against the walls of his skull, logic and self-control decreasing by the second.

Katsuki's heart pounded irregularly, pulsing in his throat as he quaked silently at the sounds of his own trembling breaths. Paranoid that he might hear them. And... well, the teen's paranoia was quite justified this time.

"Ka-cch-an."

The blonde was suddenly encased in what felt like unbreakable concrete. The air thickened and coated his lungs as a rancid tar, horror clasped it's cold grip around Bakugou's guts as the boy instantly stopped breathing, body squeezed tighter under the confines of the table.

God, Katsuki wished he had chosen a better hiding place now..

Izuku's words were fragmented purposefully, his unannounced echoey voice circuiting the teen's brain on repeat. That stupid, childhood name. Katsuki hated it. He despised the word with every cell and atom in his body.

"This feels like Deja-vu ya know?' When you and Kirishima hid from me also, remember?"

Izuku's drearily glowing, red shoes came into Katsuki's tunnelled view. The ghost's footsteps having a slight taunting skip to them, as if he was playing some sort of sick, twisted game.

"You watched me slowly drain the life out of his weak, body"

Bakugou wrapped his arms around his sweat-soaked hair and shook his head violently, trying to get the image out of his mind. Kirishima's petrified expression in the mere moments before his death, how he screamed and begged for Bakugou to save him..

"So much for being a hero. You just stood there Kacchan"

'I know. I know'

Izuku stopped his steps, turning on the heels of his foot to point directly to the table Katsuki took refuge under. Slowly, oh so ever tauntingly the dead boy crouched down to the floor with a shallow grin - his gnarly face gradually coming to view.

Katsuki stifled a cry by biting his lip in terror, those cold, stoned eyes digging holes into his very being.

Sweat dribbled down his nose as Izuku tilted his head to the side with an unwavering stare.

"No snarky comeback Kacchan? Have I broken you already?" Izuku wondered, almost disappointed- yet pleased.

Katsuki shook his head, a little blood dripping from his lips. He couldn't find the courage to talk. Let alone argue with his childhood friend. How much he would give to just rewind time. Go back to before he.. killed Izuku.

"Let me show you a few memories."

The green haired ghost knelt down so his translucent legs were crossed underneath each other, tattered school uniform hanging raggedly on his ghastly frame. Bakugou was unsettled with the calmness izuku inhibited as he outstretched a hand and revealed a small flicker of light.

It came from his palm, little streaks of shining light hovering above the spirit's hand. Katsuki cleared the wetness away from his eyes in order to watch the light slowly take an interesting form.

Izuku grinned madly, watching the blonde's facial expressions with utmost hyper-fixation.

Katsuki felt his chest tighten as a little flowing image of him and Izuku formed unexpectedly. They were children, faces bright with sweet innocence. Before the quirks, before the bullying.

Their limbs floated together peacefully, smiles overshadowing faint childish laughter which could hardly be heard if it weren't for the inexplicable silence in the practical room.

"We were so happy" izuku whispered melancholy, tweaking the flowing image slightly so his child-self now had the attributes of his quirk.

The light in Izuku's hand seemed to fade a little as the blonde child became surrounded with faceless 'friends' around him, pointing and laughing silently at the mutated Izuku.

"You decided to let your ego take over completely. Amazing, little Katsuki with the excellent quirk never experienced the repercussions to his own actions"

The ghost's hand visibly closed a little in anger, the image flickering a little as he did so. Causing it to further morph into something more sinister.

Now it was just Bakugou, but grown as he was currently. That memorable night Katsuki tried so hard to forget. Izuku's burnt wings in his hands, face horror-stricken. As if a direct snap shot in time.

"I suffered. When it should've been you.. I'm merely returning the favour"

Izuku took a deep breath, suddenly snapping his hand shut - causing the light to completely disappear. Katsuki looked slowly into the ghost's eyes, aware of the growing anger which seethed off the spirit in strong waves.

There was no escape from the reminiscent of nightmares he'd felt so trapped within for months. There would be mo way out of this. He had endured countless deaths, repeated torture, pain...  so Katsuki decided he should be selfish one last time;

"Just kill me, please."