Heartbeat (Todoroki X Bakugo X Reader X Midoriya)

Chapter 71

I shut my eyes as hard as I could, not only because of the blood in them but because I was scared of seeing something that I didn't want to. There was no way this really happened, right? There's no way...

Deku took the hit?

I fell to my knees, jerking my hand away from his chest when Deku let out a sharp gasp. I focused on his face and avoided looking at the wound.

'It's going to kill him.'

"No..."

'He's already slipping away.'

"No!"

'He's already-'

I pressed my hands on my ears, trying to block out the sound that taunted me around my head. I was looking at Deku with a sort of tunnel vision, and I didn't notice Keres slipping away from the scene before other heroes came.

I was pushed back as a few medical heroes hunched over Deku. Something told me he couldn't be saved. I stared at my blood-stained hands, then back at Deku.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, silent tears running down my cheeks. "I'm so sorry!" I wasn't sure who I said that to, but with the heroes focused on Keres and Deku at that moment I slipped away.

Is this how Bakugo and Todoroki died? That lingering thought shattered my mind as I resisted the urge to picture their pain and suffering.

Now that I thought about it, it was laughable. How could you risk your life to defend something that could fall apart so easily? What's the point in being a hero if you can't protect something if you're already dead?!

Running away was a dumb move to make as a hand jolted from the shadows and closed itself over my mouth and dragged me to the shadows.

"Hello, again my Quirkless little friend. Ah, I'm afraid I have to use you again, after all, you're doing such a good job playing as bait. In fact, I have an offer for you- but that can wait."

His voice was poison to my ears, and I was blinded by the rage that overtook my depression. Deku was the last thing I had, and he died protecting me. Ha! Everything seemed so stupid at that point. Heroes were stupid, ideologies seemed stupid, people seemed stupid. If Bakugo, Todoroki and Deku weren't heroes then none of this would have happened.

Keres was awfully quiet for some time as he made sure it was clear before he makes a satisfied grunt, then pulled me by my arm and shoved me into the wall, a blade that reflected the moonlight pressed against my neck. "Turns out I do not need you anymore. I give you my thanks for playing as my mouse, as I finally caught another cat."

There was something sickly sweet about this. The image of my neck being sliced followed by the warm release of death was just amazing to me. I smirked and said, "do it." Keres' eyes glowed in an eerily way. I wasn't sure if he was surprised at my reaction, but he held the knife there for a few minutes and studied my face.

"Come on, hurry up. I wanna go to heaven and see them again." I grabbed his wrist, trying to bring the blade closer to my neck but it wouldn't budge.

The knife slowly retreated, but I wasn't having it. "Please kill me, leaving me alive is hurting me more. Keres, kill me. Don't leave me alive."

"Why..." he mumbled, his eyes unmoving as they piercing right into mine, "does my daughter want to die? Are they that precious to you?"

The ground beneath me started spinning like a record, a sort of glitching feeling ran through my body as my emotion wrecked brain tried to process what my worst enemy just said. "What?"

The knife clattered to the ground and he took a step back, pulling his bandana down as his eyes scanned me from top to bottom. "You... you look just like your mother."

I wasn't buying any of it. I was sure this was some sort of trickery, something to make me lower my guard. Maybe he knows things about me, maybe that's why he's trying to take advantage of me and make me play as his bait again, maybe-

"(Y/N), I am your-"

I slapped his hand away from my face, a new and bigger emotion rising to my head. "Don't finish that sentence. You're not. She told me he was a hero that died in a battle against another villain, and you're not him." I said sternly, hugging my body tightly.

He finally averted his eyes, and a clouded look overtook them as he went over his past. "Your mother was partially right. I was a hero, a hero that was fighting everyone's worst enemies; themselves. I was conflicted and torn as the world of villains started pulling me in, and it turned me into this," he gestured to his looks.

The corner of his mouth twitched. "It seems as though you took at least one trait of mine; you have that villain side of you, the true side. You're born to be a villain, (Y/N). I have watched you during the sports festival, but I have, associates, who have reported to me about your behaviours as they have been keeping an eye on you and others who have villain potential."

I was feeling an odd sense of relief which I waved my hands around in a panicked manner. "Stop, stop talking. I need to process this. First Deku dies, and now you're saying you're my dad, my dad who has been missing for the past 15 years- you can't just come into my life like this! No, this isn't happening... this is just one big, terrible dream. I'm going to wake up and be at home where I'm neither a hero nor a villain..."

Keres waited patiently as I rambled, a sense of recognition, familiarity, and comfort surrounded his aura. He seemed different with me now, in a softer way than previously.

"This isn't a dream, my dear (Y/N). This is reality."

"... then Shoto, Katsuki, and Izuku are dead. They're dead because of you." He nodded and watched as my fists and jaw clenched.

"'This is all for the sake of peace'," Keres nodded, "is what you would want to say. Care to explain, dad?" With one hand behind his back, he put the other on my back and led me down an unknown road, away from the distant sirens and rubble from destroyed buildings, away from the heroes that scrambled around like beetles, away from everything that I knew.

"You have much to learn, my dear."