K.BAKUGO X READER (Cover art by me)
In a life where I'd be safe in one moment and on the brink of death in another, I realized that he was the only force that could ground me. Of all the people in the world. My volatile co-worker. My menacing rival...
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part sixteen
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Once the enemy force realized they'd attempted to take in an emotionally deranged girl on the verge of completely melting down at the sight of the young hero laying lifeless in the snow, they were quick to tranquilize me. I still screamed from the shock, my eyes growing puffy and raw from the tears. Like silencing a dying animal. My skin froze in the wind.
The drugs acted quickly, stealing my strength to stand, let alone to teleport away. There wasn't time to properly make sense of the bloodshed that lay in front of me before I was shoved into the back of a humming vehicle and soothed by the brooding voices of enemy forces – only for my world to go dark once again.
There were glimpses of reality. Parts where I felt the vehicle jostle and shake. Others where I was hoisted and carried, the ground blurring underneath as they walked. I woke to a bright light above and a hard surface below. The droning beep of a heart monitor. Masked faces. Latex gloves. They rolled me out into the hallway. The tiles passed overhead in messy shapes. The doctors watched over me as the bed clattered on squeaky wheels. They wouldn't look me in the eyes. I'd seen this before.
If I had the strength to speak, I would've tried to pry them for answers. To put up a fighting chance against falling into the end. I thought I'd changed the fate that lay before me, shuffling the deck with the hope that I'd ended up with a future where we could live without war. Where I could be by his side.
But, as the man with the missing eye hovered over me, I knew that such a reality could only ever be a dream, laying frozen in my hospital bed. The cord buried deep into the nape of my neck left me shackled to whatever this man and his goal wanted from me.
Like I'd witnessed before, he suggested they sedate me further, as if my half-conscious, paralyzed state wasn't enough assurance for them. What did they really think I could accomplish like this, besides mourning the mistakes I'd made to get here?
He told me my sacrifice would make things easier for my colleagues. "...Except for one. I'm sorry. But it can't be helped. He's too much of a risk."
What did that matter? How could he be a threat? Bakugo was already dead.
...Or, at least, that's what I'd convinced myself. How can you take away something that is already gone?
If my partner wasn't already dead, he would be soon. I had faith that if he managed to survive, he wouldn't let them beat him down without a good fight, heck – even bleeding and crawling on the ground, I bet that idiot would still bite the devil in the leg if he could. They'd have to battle him kicking and screaming, and that wasn't going to be just a gentle walk in the park for them, under the fading sun, surrounded by the city lights, clutching a warm cup in my fingers, blowing the steam out the lid –
