The Beauty Within (Bakugo X Black Fem Reader) Beauty And The Beast AU

Guilt🥀

Flexing your hand slowly you stared at the bandage wrapped around it. Replaying the altercation beforehand. Why did he refuse your help? Was he that concerned about making sure you got home in time? That can't be why, unless he hated you deep down and wanted you gone as soon as possible.

Your head fell into the headrest of the bed and you sighed through the wraps on your face. Looking our the window, you watched the leaves on the tree dance softly in the wind.

I hope Aridam is alright. You thought to yourself. It's been 3 hours. Hopefully he's with the others.

Suddenly you heard footsteps down the hall, and Kirishima appeared in your door.

"Hey Y/N, you okay?" He asked timidly.

You side-eyed him before sighing and looking away. He stood by the doorway before fully entering and closing the door. Kirishima fidgeted with his hands, the soft scraping if the metal sounded in the room where the silence was so loud.

"Sorry about earlier." He said dejected. "He's not always like that."

You continued to keep your eyes off of him while he spoke. Kirishima could see he was having trouble reaching you. Of course you would, it wouldn't be the first time his friend had pushed people away from him. "The thing is Katsuki, he . . . sort of blames himself for what happened." Your eyes were still away but he could there was an interest in his words. "The night we got cursed was his birthday, 11th to be exact."

"Up until then, I guess you could call him a stuck up prince. I mean he had some reason to be, he was a prodigy, top of his class smarter than most adults, a great swordsman, an expert in politics . . . not exactly a good person." He continued recalling the young boy he remembered growing up with.

Kirishima breathed in heavily before speaking again. "By the time his birthday rolled around his mother had passed after his father had died in a war 2 years before. His mood turned completely sour. He became more hostile, violent, just all around nasty. No one could get near him without being yelled at or insulted."

Suddenly his tone became more up beat. "So we had the idea that if we threw him a party, it would better his mood, you know make things a bit lighter for him. Despite all his attitude he did have moments where he was a good person and we wanted to bring that out of him. And it seemed to work, he was still sour but he enjoyed himself for the most part and it was fun. Katsuki had actually seemed happy, even if he was faking it we couldn't tell."

Kirishima stopped talking, the pause worried you, so finally you turned your face towards him. It would seem hard to read the emotions of a suit of armor, however, the regret and sadness was clear in his helmet crown. His head creaked softly as he seemed to turn his head with uncertainty. "Someone came to our door. It was an elderly woman, she came inside and approached him. She called him a handsome young man, that one day he would be a beautiful king. The woman told him a good king needs a queen. We just stared at wondering why she was here, why was she telling him that?"

Your eyes narrowed at his question, silently you contemplated what could have transpired that night. Suddenly, he continued. "She then told him that there was no love left in his heart. To redeem himself before it was too late she showed him a picture of a girl. I don't know her face, since it wasn't in my direction. The woman told him the girl was of humble origins, but smart, kind, and a heart of gold. No one loves her she said. Then she asked, 'Would you love her?'"

"Katsuki looked up at her and asked what use would I have for a girl that's poor? He told her to get out and stop ruining his day. Honestly we felt weirded out by her too. We wanted her gone also, she was just . . . weird. Then of course we found out she was a witch, and, things just . . . they went downhill from there, she threw the picture to the ground and pointed her finger at him. She told him that he was a selfish fool, there was nothing in this world he treasured but himself. So she would take that from him. She recited some words we didn't understand and we all passed out. I remember her words very vividly while I was asleep. When the sacred tool pierces the soul true and well, it is only the most sacred witch who will break the spell, or ye must abandon thy health, so the pith may flow for not one's self."

"When we woke up we were like this, Bakugou however . . . he . . . he was a monster." Your eyes narrowed at his description as the armor seemed to look off into space. "I don't mean character wise, but he . . . he was an actual monster. I can't even begin to count the nights he spent raging at everything around him. In the West wing we could hear him throwing things around and just . . . complete chaos. There was one night though, it was my turn to check on him. In case he . . . did something. Opening the door, he was 12 now, I saw him huddled in a corner. His back was turned to me, but I could hear him crying. Katsuki just kept on saying 'I'm sorry'. Over and over and over again he kept saying sorry. It didn't take me long to realize that he was apologizing to us. He blames himself for everything that happened that night."

"So on top of taking care of the kingdom, he was looking for way to break the curse. That phrase she told us, I would hear him, he would recite it to himself every night, just to see if there was something he missed. Anything that could break it. Katsuki's been letting this guilt eat at him for 17 years Y/N. Times almost up, and now he's antsy. On top of making sure you're healing right, he's trying to get us better before the deadline. He's guilty, Y/N. And he's scared, he doesn't want you to get involved in the curse because he doesn't want you to get wrapped up in what caused this for us to begin with. That's why he's so adamant about that deadline, he wants you out and away as soon as possible so that he knows that no one else will get hurt because of him."

You sat there silent at the story you were told. Of course it all made sense now. The reason he snapped at you. He became so sour loosing his parents. Finally he felt a glimpse of joy, and it was snatched away from him. Then to have such guilt eat away at him for 17 years. Such a fate sounded unbearable, cruel almost. As if the witch purposely knew this, and just wanted him to suffer. But what offense could an eleven year old commit to be dammned to such a fate.

Flexing your hand, you floated the book towards him. Thank you for telling me. I'm okay now .

The armor's head cranked as he nodded softly. "Sure thing. I just didn't want you to hate him with knowing the full story."

You nodded softly before tilting your head. Wait. The word burned into the page. The woman told you what again?

"Oh um." He started. "She said 'When the sacred tool pierces the soul true and well, it is only the most sacred witch who will break the spell, or ye must abandon thy health, so the pith may flow for not one's self.'"

Your brows furrowed at the words before your eyes widened. That's it.

Kirishima's eyes widened at your words. "What's it?"

Do you not know what a pith is?

He scratched his metal head softly embarrassed at the question. "Um no, we've been trying to figure that out for a while."

That's why it's taken you this long to break it. You wrote shaking your head softly. Pith is another word for heart.

Kirishima nodded softly at you understanding slightly. "Um okay."

You sighed laughingly at his ignorance. Replace pith with heart.

"Replace pith with-" He repeated the spell to himself a few times before his eyes jolted open. "The heart may flow for not one's self. Wait you're saying that."

In order to break the curse Katsuki has to fall in love.

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1449 words

I'm back and REALLY need to manage my time. SHIT!