Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ellysa blinked open her bleary eyes. Where was— oh right, she had been outside last night, she must’ve fallen asleep on the bench. 

While it wasn’t frigid outside, the crisp air was far too chilly to be comfortable. Ellysa shivered and reached to pull the blanket she had wrapped around herself tighter around her body. 

It was this motion that brought to her attention the arm slung lazily over her shoulders. She froze. Memories of last night came flooding back. 

Ellysa jerked her head up and was met by the side profile of Katsuki, who appeared to still be asleep. He was slouched slightly, head tilted at an awkward angle, blonde hair falling across his face. The morning air caused his breath to puff out in short clouds.

Ellysa panicked. Shuffling away from him as much as she could. I fell asleep on him? Really Ellysa? This is so embarrassing. Why didn’t he wake me up? 

Her attempt to untangle herself from his arms failed miserably. As soon as Ellysa touched his hand to lift up his arm, Katsuki’s eyes shot open and he sat straight up with a terrifying speed. 

His eyes met hers, and he looked alert yet drowsy at the same time. 

“What the— oh.” Katsuki puffed, seeming to emerge from the fog of sleep. “I’m sorry, I must’ve fallen asleep.” His gaze wandered to where his arm was still draped around Ellysa’s shoulders. His eyes widened and he jerked the arm away hastily. “I’m sorry-“ 

“Don’t worry about it, it’s fine, really.” Ellysa said. She didn’t miss the faint blush on Katsuki’s cheeks, she herself was blushing just as much. “I fell asleep too, I guess… sorry for keeping you out here.”

Ellysa hugged the blanket tighter around herself, the wind really was chilly out right now. She wondered how on earth she stayed asleep for so long with these temperatures. 

Maybe it’s because you snuggled all up on the human furnace all night, dummy. She scolded herself internally, feeling a tad humiliated. 

Katsuki had pulled out his phone and was looking at the time. “Oh shit—“ He swore, abruptly standing up. “We overslept, we’re supposed to be at the final location right now… shit, I never sleep in this late…”

Ellysa glanced at her own phone. It was 8:51 a.m. Huh, I guess I did sleep in, that’s super weird. 

“It’s, ugh, whatever.” Katsuki sighed, running a hand through his puff of messy hair. “I don’t think Jeanist will care, it’s our only assignment today and isn’t an all day thing, he should be fine with us being a few hours late. We should probably get ready, though.

“Okay, yeah…” Ellysa replied, extending her hand to grasp Katsuki’s as he pulled her up from the bench. His hand is so warm. 

Katsuki frowned. “Why are your hands so cold?” He asked, sounding concerned. 

“Well, it’s pretty damn cold out, and I’m not the human heater.” Ellysa chuckled. Her hands did feel pretty frozen. 

“I should’ve woken you up and told you to go inside…” Katsuki mumbled, he sounded strangely guilty, and Ellysa thought that was silly for him to feel like that. “Here, let me…” 

Ellysa had to stop herself from flinching back as Katsuki grabbed both her hands and covered them with his own. His hands were much bigger than hers, and they were like heating packs. Almost unconsciously, Ellysa noted how rough and callused his palms were, it was a stark contrast to his gentle touch. 

Not surprisingly, it worked wonders on warming her hands up, and Katsuki let her go after a few moments, looking somewhat conflicted about something. Ellysa shook it off, rubbing her hands together. 

“Uhm, thank you…” She said awkwardly. Why was it always so awkward? 

“It’s uh.. yeah, ‘course.” Katsuki grunted. He spun on his heel and pulled open the slider door to his living room. 

Ellysa watched him meander back into his penthouse and groaned inwardly. She wanted to pull her hair out. Why is he making me so nervous? She thought, gosh, this feels like highschool again, Lord save me.

The frigid morning air prompted Ellysa to quickly shove aside her mental turmoil and follow Katsuki into his house, which was wonderfully warm compared to the balcony. She immediately set to work on getting ready for the mission today, showering quickly and putting some extra thermals on under her suit. She tied her hair into a high pony tail before sitting on her bed to contemplate.

With a start, she realized that she had been in this universe for almost a week. She wondered if Izuku and his team were any closer to finding a way to bring her back. She was ready, she thought. It had been fun staying here, but she missed her life back in her universe more with each moment that passed. 

I’ll think about all of this once the mission is over with. Ellysa decided, pushing herself off her bed and making her way back into the living room to put on her boots. Katsuki was there, also looking freshly showered. His hair was always a little wild, but it looked… slightly more tamed than it had this morning. 

He was outfitted in the same black hero suit as he has been wearing the day before, and he nodded at her as she made eye contact with him. It seemed he had gotten over his awkwardness from a few minutes before and was now in ‘mission mode’, which Ellysa supposed she was glad for, since she was already much too awkward herself to deal with him being awkward as well. 

“Taxi will be here in a few.” Katsuki said with a nod in her direction. “Jeanist has been hard to contact, apparently the hostage situation across the city escalated, it’s sort of an ‘all hands on deck’ thing now. I got a message from Jeanist earlier this morning telling me that I won't be needed, we can continue with our assignment.” 

Ellysa nodded in understanding, and the rest of the morning went by in silence as she and Katsuki geared up and clambered into a taxi headed to the final scouting location. 

The car ride was silent. As per usual. Ellysa tried not to think about last night, was Katsuki thinking about it? Probably not, she should just forget it ever happened. 

A hand nudging her shoulder snapped her out of her daze a while later. 

“Stop zoning out extra.” Katsuki grumbled, opening the taxi door and climbing out. The gauntlets on his arms made the exit awkward, and Ellysa just stared at him. Had she really completely zoned out? For what, how long had it even been?

I need to get it together. She thought, snapping herself out of her current state of mind and making her way out of the taxi as well. 

Taking in her surroundings, Ellysa noticed that they must be pretty far out from the city. Weeds poked up from in between cracked sidewalks, and foliage was much denser than it ever was in the heart of Musutafu. It had warmed up slightly, the air no longer having the icy chill that had been so present earlier in the morning. 

Buildings were sparse and worn down, signs dirty and scratched. If it had been dark out, this area might’ve been abandoned enough to be creepy. Ellysa sent up a silent thanks that this wasn't some sort of secret nighttime espionage operation. She wasn’t built for that. 

The taxi drove off, and Katuki pointed to a building covered in foliage a few hundred feet down the street. 

“Target is that building over there.” He said monotonously. “Used to be a large brewery about ten years ago, but has been abandoned ever since.”

Ellysa joined him in walking towards the building as he continued. “The city sanctioned its demolition years ago, but as you can see, it’s still standing.” 

“Do you think whoever was using this place had a hand in that?” Ellysa asked. 

Katsuki nodded. “Most likely. They could’ve had someone with connections to the city board delay the demolition of this place, it’s quite easy to do.” 

Ellysa nodded more to herself than to Katsuki, taking in the large brick building as they rounded the back and approached a metal door. It looked largely unassuming from the outside, just like a normal… if not slightly overgrown structure. Katsuki gave the knob on the door a twist, and surprisingly the door opened with a low metallic screech, revealing a completely pitch black interior. 

Ellysa coughed as a wave of dusty, old air wafted out from the building. Katsuki flicked on some sort of flashlight device on one of his gauntlets, illuminating the space. 

Cautiously following, Ellysa took in the interior of the brew house, using a flashlight of her own to make sure she didn’t trip and fall on anything. She watched Katuki head over to what looked to be an old electrical panel and start fiddling with it. Much to her surprise, he flipped a few switches, and with a strange buzzing noise, a few overhead lights flickered on ominously. 

Now that the space had light, Katsuki clicked his own flashlight off and motioned for Ellysa to do the same. 

“This is the most recent operation site that my agency could find for this group.” Katsuki grunted, breaking the silence. “So be extra throughout in your sweep. Take pictures of anything that remotely piques your interest, and report to me if you stumble upon anything that looks new.” 

Ellysa nodded, and they split up to begin sweeping the building. The building was not as large as the previous two warehouses they had searched, but it was still an enormous space. Dusty steel drums lined one side of the massive open room, all empty after almost a decade of unuse. Cobwebs covered brewing equipment and leftover bags of grain, which looked to have been thoroughly picked over by rodents. 

Ellysa coughed, shining a flashlight down into an empty drum, kicking up a cloud of dust. It was silent, too silent. The wooden floors groaned under her weight and every once and a while she would jump at the sound of Katsuki rifling through things on the other side of the building. 

With nothing to stimulate her brain, Ellysa’s thoughts once again wandered to the night before. She was embarrassed to have fallen asleep on him, sure. But what baffled her more was the fact that he stayed. Why would he stay? He should’ve just woken me up, would that not have been the obvious option? 

Ellysa had long since given up on trying to decipher Katsuki’s behavior, but the events from last night were just too confusing for her not to ponder. 

What was more confusing? It had been enjoyable. She had passed out almost immediately in his presence, was he really that soothing? Waking up in his arms had been… well that had been nice too. 

Ellysa felt her face heat up as she desperately tried to wrestle whatever emotions she was feeling back into their place deep deep down where they could never see the light of day. 

How embarrassing. She groaned inwardly. I was not supposed to get attached to the real version of Katsuki. Someone sedate me please. 

As if beckoned by the inward turmoil of her soul, Katsuki’s ashy blonde hair materialized in front of her the next second. 

Ellysa flew backward, cutting off a scream midway as it tried to force its way out of her mouth. 

Katsuki arched an eyebrow and gave her a once over. “What?” 

“uh.. you just… scared me.” Ellysa grimaced, finding her footing again. 

She noticed a hint of a smirk on Katsuki’s lips, before he smothered the expression entirely. 

“Find anything?”

Ellysa shook her head. “No, not yet, I’ve still got those to look in, though.” She pointed to about ten or so more steel drums.

“Nothing on my end, I’ll help you out here.” Katsuki huffed. 

Ellysa accepted his help with a nod and a ‘thank you’ because, well what else was she supposed to do. After about five minutes of utter silence save for the creaking of wood and the echo of the empty drums, Ellysa couldn’t handle it anymore.

“I’m sorry, by the way.” She blurted.

Katsuki didn't look up. “For what?” 

“For uh… last night. For falling asleep on you, I mean.” 

Now Katsuki looked up at her. He looked… Confused? 

“Why would you feel sorry about that?” 

“Oh uh, I don’t know… I just couldn’t sleep and well I didn’t think I was going to fall asleep at all that’s why I figured you could sit next to me but I guess I was sleepyandItotallydidn’tmeantofallasleeponyouthatwassoawkwardsoimmsorry—“ Ellysa cut herself off and slapped a hand to her mouth. Please Lord open a hole in the ground and swallow me just end this please end my suffering. “Sorry.” She mumbled. 

Katsuki looked baffled. Eyebrows furrowed, he just… stared at her for way too long. Finally, he sighed, gaze softening. “Don’t be sorry, I would’ve pushed you off of me if it was that awkward, plus…” He paused, seeming to debate continuing the second half of his sentence. “I wouldn’t have… well I wouldn't have come out to sit on the balcony if I didn’t want to sit with you.” 

Now that caused Ellysa to glance up in surprise. Katsuki had already turned back to his task, though, so unfortunately Ellysa couldn’t get a read on what he meant by that. 

Sighing, Ellysa gave up, feeling maybe even more confused than before. She resumed sorting through random boxes of stuff and peering into empty drums, finding nothing. It was all standard ‘old warehouse’ vibes. She frowned, disappointed. Pulling another large box of dusty brewing equipment towards her, Ellysa grunted as this one was much heavier than all the other ones. Frown deepening, she tugged at it again, nothing. Maybe it was caught on something? 

Ellysa tried lifting the box a little and then pulling on it. She was then flung backwards as the box came free and almost crashed into her, she scrambled to her feet, dusting her shoulders off. 

“Bingo.” She whispered, feeling smug. Now what had it gotten caught on?

Walking over to where the box had gotten stuck, Ellysa searched for any sort of obstruction that would catch the box. Feeling around on the ground, her eyes widened as her fingers brushed something metallic. Ellysa grabbed her flashlight, shining it on the spot. Sure enough, a small golden latch of some sort had apparently snagged the box. Or had the box been hiding it? 

Ellysa looked around, only then noticing that the box had covered an extremely well hidden trap door set against the wall, sealed with a small golden latch. 

“Katsuki!” She whispered loudly in his direction. 

“Yknow you don’t have to whisper, right?” He drawled. 

Ellysa rolled her eyes. “Fine, Katsuki?” She said at normal volume. “I found like, a trap door or something, you should come see th—“ 

He was at her side in a second, staring at the trap door and grinning. 

“Finally, something not fucking useless.” 

Ellysa watched him fiddle with the latch, because if it ended up being booby-trapped, well… she’d rather he get blown up than her. 

Because he was more durable, duh. 

Katsuki unlatched the door and pulled it open, causing another cloud of dust to fly into Ellysa face, making her cough. He peered down into the hole in the floor, looked at her, then hopped down. 

“Wait!” Ellysa cried out, peering down into the darkness where Katsuki just vanished. She heard a thump below her, followed by the distinct sound of Katsuki’s gravelly tone yelling up at her. 

“There’s a ladder dumbass, follow me.” 

Sure enough, there was a ladder. Ellysa gulped. This is the end, I’m sure of it, I’m going to die down here. 

Steeling herself, Ellysa decided that she would not be a pussy and chicken out. Slowly, she climbed down the ladder, leaving the trap door open so that she could see a little. 

Suddenly, a bright white light illuminated the room below her as she descended. What the? 

Now that she could actually see, Ellysa noticed that about halfway down the ladder, the wall had turned from cement to… metal paneling? She hurriedly scrambled down the ladder, dropping the last few feet and landing with a soft thud onto—

White, tiled floors. 

Wait, what?

Ellysa looked around in bafflement. Standing in stark contrast to the dingy brewery above, she now stood in what looked to be a lab of some sort. The floors were a pristine tiled white, and the walls were white, too. Desks littered with medical equipment (or something similar) were pushed up against walls, colored liquid sitting untouched in glass vials. She noticed papers and binders scattered throughout the room. The space was clean, but things had been thrown around. 

Like whoever was here was in a rush to leave. 

Ellysa looked up at Katsuki, who was grinning like a toddler in a candy shop. 

“Jackpot.” He smirked. “We fucking found it.” 

“What.. What do we do now?” Ellysa asked. She was nervous being down here, her gut churned with an intense feeling of unsease, but she wanted to be helpful and complete the assignment. 

“Turn on the recording feature on your glasses, sort through everything in this room. I’ll scout the area.” Katuki told her, gesturing to the doors on either side of the white room. 

Ellysa nodded, and they got to work. 

Papers with shipment details, buyer information, drug recipes. It was all here. 

Ellysa rifled tirelessly through stacks and stacks of incriminating paperwork, as well as vials of some sort of drug labeled ‘QR-V1.0’. She left everything where it was, as Katsuki had told her that Jeanist would have an official crew come in and completely sweep the area, now that it had a confirmed location. It took forever, but eventually, Ellysa finished up sorting through the room. Katsuki hadn't reappeared from the door he had gone through, but Ellysa didn't worry about him, he was being thorough, just like her. 

Eyeing the door that Katsuki hadn't ventured into, Ellysa decided to make herself useful and go explore. She kept her glasses recording, twisting the handle on the door and opening it to reveal a decently long white hallway. Two doors on each side, she noted, and one at the very end. 

Peaking into the first door, Ellysa’s heart dropped as she took it in. It looked like some sort of surgery room. Large needles and scalpels lay scattered on the floor and on the counter, various vials lay broken on the floor and in a small metal sink.

Ellysa closed the door. She’d let Katsuki handle those. 

The three other doors against the walls were the exact same. All held various kinds of medical equipment, and all of them looked like they were used for experiments. Ellysa closed the last door. The feeling in her gut had not gone away, but she continued on, determined not to be a nuisance. She approached the last door, the one at the end of the hall, and slowly twisted the handle. 

This room was different. 

In front of Ellysa was a large counter, set up with multiple computer monitors. Papers lay strewn about, keyboards and mouses having collected a small layer of dust. Ellysa approached the setup, finding that all the electronics had long since died, or been wiped, maybe. 

Above the desk setup was a medium sized window that looked like it was made out of very thick glass. Ellysa frowned, noticing a large door to the left of the desk that seemed to lead into the room the widow looked into. 

Dread washed over Ellysa as she realized what this was. 

This was the testing chamber. 

Ellysa walked over to the door, where she saw a small sign. 

“Test Subject: 4 

QR-V1.5 applied

10/02/25 - Unstable 

10/09/25 - Unstable

10/16/25 - Neutral

10/23/25 -      “

There was a small window about the size of Ellysa’s face in the door, standing on her tiptoes, she peered into the completely white chamber. Gasping, she stumbled back, one hand to her mouth. 

Sitting, knees curled to his chest and back against the door, was a man. 

Ellysa wanted to puke. They left him here? Is he test subject 4?! 

October 23rd was three weeks ago. How was he not dead? 

Ellysa took a deep breath. This just got a whole lot more serious than a scouting mission. She tapped her in-ear comm.

“Katsuki?” 

A crackle, then he answered. “What? Did you find something?” 

“Yes, uhm… you should come immediately, I went through the other door…” Ellysa tried not to sound like she was terrified, hopefully it worked? “I found uh… there’s a man here Katsuki, I think he was an experiment… he’s in a room that’s really heavily locked so I can’t get him out but it looks like he’s still alive. 

“Copy.” Was all Katsuki said, and impressively, within seconds, he was throwing open the door and joining Ellysa in the room. 

“You’re okay right?” He asked. Ellysa nodded her head. 

Glancing around the room, Katsuki started muttering. “You’re right, this is a top grade holding cell.” 

“Can you get it open?” Ellysa asked, watching as Katsuki fiddled with the dead monitors. 

“Yes,” he replied. “But a holding cell like this means he could be dangerous, we don’t know what they did to him.” 

“This chart says he was neutral, though.” Ellysa said, pointing to the sign she had read by the door. Katsuki joined her in examining it. “That’s a good thing, right?”

“Potentially.” 

“We need to rescue him, though, what if he’s innocent?” 

Katsuki sighed. 

“Plus, if these dates were correct he hasn’t had anything to eat or drink in like a month… he can’t be very dangerous, right?” 

Katsuki stared at the door for a moment, thinking. He then proceeded to pound on it aggressively, turning to her. 

“You’re right. He needs to be saved. Also, I soloed All for One, I’m pretty sure I can take on whatever measly experiment they’ve created.” 

He said the last part with his signature haughty smirk, and despite the circumstances, Ellysa had to fight the urge to roll her eyes at him. Again.

“Hey!” Katsuki yelled, pounding on the door again. “Im knocking down this door, so if you don’t wanna get blown up I suggest you move!” 

Ellysa watched as the man looked up, startled, then scuttled over to the other side of the room just as Katsuki planted his palm over the large lock and detonated it with a resounding boom! 

The door fell with a massive crash, and once the smoke cleared, Ellsya could see fully into the chamber. 

The man, who looked to be in his late twenties, was shaking. Clothed in some sort of hospital gown, he looked… worse for wear. His short black hair was matted against his head, he was frighteningly skinny, and there were deep bags under his eyes—

What the hell was up with his eyes? 

One of the man’s eyes was deformed and skinny looking, the other was round, but the pupil was dilating and undialating at a rapid pace as he looked between them both from across the room. 

“Look man.” Katsuki grunted from beside her, waving away the last of the smoke. “We are here to rescue you, what’s your name and how long have you been here.” 

“Y-you’re heroes?” The man said shakily. Pointing at Katsuki, then to Ellysa. 

“Yes, if you must know you’ve been so lucky as to have been rescued by the Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight, I’ll have you know.” Katsuki paused. “And my trusty sidekick, of course.” 

“Oh~ oh my—“ The man started. 

Ellysa’s blood ran ice cold at his next sentence. With an eerie grin creeping its way across the man’s face, his eyes zeroed in on Katsuki as he said: 

“Oh how I’ve waited to be able to kill you— Katsuki Bakugo.” 

The man's skin started bubbling. That’s when Ellysa thought that maybe this had been a bad idea. ‘Neutral’ my ass. 

“Ellysa.” Katsuki said, calm, but deadly serious. Ellysa snapped into focus at the sound of her actual name coming from his lips. “run.” 

“What?” She sputtered. The man in the chamber was laughing now, but it sounded garbled, like he had thick molasses filling his lungs. “I can’t just leave?” 

“Yes you fucking can, get out of here, now.” Katsuki growled. 

When Ellysa saw his palms heating up and filling the room with the distinct smell of burnt caramel, she knew that this wasn't something up for debate. 

Katsuki will be fine, I’ll only get in his way if I’m a target. 

With that thought clear in mind, Ellysa turned on her heel and booked it out of the room. 

Yanking the door open, she scrambled down the hallway just in time to avoid being caught in a loud explosion that sent tremors through the entire building. Making her way into the main room, Ellysa sprinted towards the ladder as fast as her legs could carry her. Another explosion ripped through the building, Ellysa noticed the ceiling starting to crack as she scrambled up the ladder and out into the dimly lit brewery. 

Exit, exit… where’s the exit. 

Ellysa refocused her eyes, getting to her feet again and making her way to the door they had used to enter, which was still ajar, letting a faint line of outside light seep into the dark room. 

She got about thirty feet closer to the exit, but that didn’t matter, because another rumble echoed throughout the building, causing the ceiling rafts to groan. Ellysa was sent stumbling backwards as a figure crashed through the floor below her and out into the open space of the brewery. 

Dazed, she landed hard on the ground, staring up at Katsuki, who had gone rocketing up through the floor and was now mid air grappling with the man. Wait, was that the man? 

Her brain was completely static from shock, but Ellysa could swear the man looked more like a blob of liquid than an actual man anymore. Katsuki had him by the throat, the man’s eyes were wild and he cackled a bubbly laugh as he clawed at Katsuki’s arm. Ellysa watched as Katsuki swung his free arm and grabbed the man’s face, firing off a loud explosion. 

Or at least, Ellysa figured it might have been loud. 

The man’s face had warped itself around Katsuki’s hand, like his whole body was a water-like liquid he could control. When Katsuki tried to detonate his sweat, the liquid around his hand completely absorbed the blast, there was no noise, no smoke, nothing. 

Ellysa watched, horrified, as the man flawlessly countered Katsuki’s quirk. 

Katsuki ripped himself away from the man and landed with a thump on the floor a few feet away from Ellysa. The man landed about fifty feet away across the room, grinning wildly as his face and arm undulated and reformed like thick, flowing water. 

“Katsuki,” Ellysa asked, terrified. “What do we do?” 

“His quirk is way too fucking powerful.” Katsuki huffed. “Must be whatever drug they pumped him full of, he’s not even human anymore, told me he was ‘designed specifically to combat my quirk’.” 

“Ellysa’s eyes widened. “W-what will you do then?” 

Katsuki scoffed. “He can brag all he wants but at the end of the day, I can win this fight easy. He can negate my smaller attacks, his body is made up completely of water that he can control somehow, including whether or not things can pass through it.” Katsuki paused, and Ellysa felt a huge relief as a large grin broke out on his features.

“But water’s water.” He continued. “And all I need is a big enough blast and I can vaporize this fucker.” 

“Gotcha.” Ellysa said, finding her footing again. “What do I do?” 

“you?” Katsuki snapped, throwing her a serious look. “Get out of this building and try to contact Jeanist through your comm.” 

Ellysa nodded sharply. Katsuki nodded back, and they split up, Ellysa running for the exit and Katsuki rocketing towards the man. 

Except, the man wasn't there anymore.

Ellysa found that out quickly as she neared the exit, almost reaching it, before she felt a cool substance snake up around her ankle and calf, locking her in place. 

“Katsuki!” She screamed as she watched the man materialize in front of her, body moving in a distinctly inhuman way as he crawled up from out of the ground. 

Katsuki was all the way across the room now, and Ellysa screamed again as the water slithered further up her body, shaking around her spine. As a last ditch effort, she made a fist with her gauntleted hand and attempted to punch the man, hoping the shockwave it produced would be enough to free her. 

Her punch landed, the glove hissed and a blast of compressed power ripped a hole straight through the man’s body.

That victory was short-lived. 

As soon as the hole was made, the area around it turned translucent and reformed, trapping her hand in his abdomen. Ellysa yanked on her hand. No use, her hand was completely stuck. The liquid tendril creeping up her spines wrapped itself around her neck and squeezed. 

Ellysa gasped as her airway was completely blocked. Shit shit shit, She panicked, scrambling against his vice grip. It was no use, he had both her legs trapped and her free arm was completely useless against his liquid-like body. 

Her vision started to darken at the edges, and Ellysa’s struggling slowed as she was suffocated. She always thought suffocating happened slowly, that’s how it always was in the movies. 

She didn’t get that privilege, it seemed. Her life didnt even flash before her eyes, not really. The only thing she picked up on in those last moments were the faint incoherent rambling of the man in front of her, and the faintest blurry image of Katsuki aiming red-hot hands at said man. 

He will rescue me. She thought faintly, eyes fluttering closed as her vision completely blacked out. I’m sorry I wasn’t any help, Katsuki…

Ellysa slumped, arms falling limp at her sides as the oily fucker held her by the throat. 

Katsuki saw red. 

How fucking dare he go for her. 

Katsuki had felt from the moment they parted that something wasn't right, but even so, when he had turned around to see her trapped in the test subject's grip, he had froze. 

Him. Katsuki Bakugo, the kid who supposedly soloed All For One and came out victorious. 

He froze, horrified. 

Luckily, his battle instincts weren’t that out of tune, but the shock of it had rattled him. Why would he go for her anyway? The clearly weaker and insignificant fight? How repulsing. 

Now, he was just angry. 

He hadn’t been this furious since he had fought All For One over 6 years ago. 

Firing off a blast from both palms, Katsuki rocketed himself back towards the villain, just as Ellysa began to slump from lack of oxygen. 

If I can aim away from her, she shouldn’t be affected by this blast. He thought quickly. The villain was distracted, prattling on about something meaningless as Katsuki approached him from behind at a terrifying speed. 

“Let her go you PIECE OF SHIT!” He roared. And all in one motion, he flew past the villain while simultaneously planting a counter blast with his right palm, placing him right in between the villain and Ellysa. Bringing his left hand up and being careful not to grab the villains face, Katsuki channeled all his hatred towards this creature as he pulled the pin on his left gauntlet, creating an explosion that thundered in his ears, ripping a hole in half of the building and sending both him and the man flying backwards in opposite directions. 

The liquid vines disintegrated, and Katsuki spun around to catch Ellysa as she fell unconscious. He wrapped his arms around her as they flew a few feet out of the building and tumbled to the ground. 

“Ellysa—“ Katsuki started. She was completely limp as he tried to hold her. Fuck. He checked for a pulse, and nearly fell over in relief as he felt a faint heartbeat. She isn’t dead, she isn't dead. Get it together Katsuki. 

He tapped his comm, no signal. 

“Jeanist, requesting fucking backup if you hear me.” 

A crackling on the other line, no answer. 

“Shit!” Katsuki screamed, letting out an angry huff. He tried to slow his breathing, his heart was beating too fast. Get it together. 

Setting Ellysa down a sizable distance away from the building, Katsuki made up his mind.

Backup wasn't coming? Fine. He would disintegrate this bastard right here right now. 

Standing up, Katsuki watched as, unfortunately, the man (who had been blown up into a million pieces), slowly reformed, limbs reattaching and bubbling. A head formed eventually, and with it a crazed laugh. 

“Too weak, Katsuki Bakugo.” The villain sneered, giggling to himself. It seemed whatever clothes he had on were permanently part of his being now, as they would’ve been incinerated by the blast. “Try again, won't ya?” 

“With pleasure.” Katsuki snarled, launching himself at the man. He could see better now, as he had blasted a hole through half of the building. Sunlight now streamed through the broken ceiling rafts and down onto the splintered floor. 

I need to give myself enough of an opening for a Howitzers. He thought quickly, analyzing the battlefield. I need to damage him enough to force him to regenerate his entire body, that’s the only way to give me enough time. 

Katsuki grunted as he engaged the villain in a close range fight, which was difficult, because the man could manipulate his body however he wished, giving him the advantage of extra limbs. Though Katsuki had noticed that the villain could only extend himself about 20 feet before being unable to control his body. 

Katsuki fired a concentrated blast into the man’s shoulder, which exploded into steam upon impact. The man laughed, body regenerating almost instantly and swinging an arm to catch Katsuki in a right hook across the face. Katsuki cursed as he was thrown back, blood streaming down his nose and onto his lips. 

The man laughed again. “So, so weak. You heroes are so weak. Pathetic.” 

Katsuki punched him across the face. 

“Stop fucking monologueing jackass.” Katsuki grunted, wiping the blood from his nose and grinning a bloody grin. “It makes you distracted.” 

“We will see.” The villain hissed, body undulating and arm shaking out to wrap itself around Katsuki’s throat. 

Grabbing the liquid arm and blowing it up with his palms, Katsuki smirked. “You’re not getting me with that move, stop try—“ 

Watery vines had extended up both Katsuki’s legs and now rooted him in place. He struggled against them but they were hard as stone. Shit. He thought. Guess the plan has to be sped up.

Straining against the villain's hold, Katsuki managed to free his left hand, quickly reaching over and pulling out the pin on his second gauntlet, blowing the man into a million pieces for a second time. 

Katsuki let the blast throw him high up into the air, which was no problem, seeing as the roof had been almost completely blown off at this point. 

Was he supposed to perform Howitzers Impact? Allegedly, no. 

His doctors (and Edgeshot), both explicitly told him that performing a move on this scale could put a dangerous amount of strain on his heart. 

Did he really care about that? Not a chance. Plus, you don’t fucking mess with Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight’s sidekicks. 

Sucking in a breath, Katsuki spiraled down in a motion that was all-to-familiar to him, gaining speed and creating a tornado of firepower. I need to make this one as hot as it can go. He thought, knowing that this move needed to completely vaporize his target. 

The villain had only reformed his head and shoulders, but that was good. It meant the last thing the pathetic creature would see was an absolute rain of hellfire as Katsuki screamed “DIEEEEEEE” and decidedly blew up the entire building. 

“Holy fuck that hurt.” Katsuki groaned, kneeling in the now brightly lit room. Well, it wasn't really a room. Occasional parts of the building that had been concrete  had held up, but the rest had been obliterated, leaving Katsuki to stare up at the bright open sky. He looked around the room slowly, brain muddled and eyes unfocused. His mask had been blown off his head, both his gauntlets were gone, and his hero suit lay in burnt tatters around his body.

(You may ask, wouldn’t his hero suit be fire proof? And I would answer yes, but, the pure power behind a Howitzer Impact blitzes even the most fireproof objects). 

Spitting out blood, Katsuki slowly made his way to his feet, watching for any signs of the villain regenerating. Nothing. 

Katsuki waited longer, still nothing. He let out a slow, deliberate breath. His whole body ached and he was sure he had broken a few ribs. His hands were shaking and bloodied, the gloves having been burned completely off. And he had a cut above his eyebrow, which was slowly leaking blood into his eyeball, that was annoying. 

After waiting about ten minutes, Katsuki decided that he had indeed vaporized the man.. creature, thing… and started stumbling across the wreckage with determination to go check on Ellysa.

I set her far enough away, right? He thought, suddenly overcome with a debilitating worry. He picked up the pace, trying to sprint—it was more of a pained, awkward jog—before reaching where he had set her down halfway behind a large rock. 

He checked her pulse, her heartbeat was stronger. 

Katsuki grimaced, letting out a sigh and slumping down to sit next to her. She was alive, but still unconscious. Katsuki felt unbearably guilty. How stupid was he? Why would he take her on this mission, no matter how easy it seemed at first?

Carefully, he pulled her body towards him, letting her head rest on his lap the best he could. He didn’t want her just laying on the dirt. He could hear Deku’s whiny, nasally voice in his ear. I can be a gentleman when I want, shut up.

“I’m- fuck I’m sorry.” Katsuki groaned after a moment of silence, he knew she couldn’t hear him but the apology tumbled out anyways. “I shouldn’t have taken you with me on this stupid- ack- assignment.” Gritting his teeth, Katsuki felt at his lower abdomen, which had been flaring with pain. His hand came away covered in his own blood. “Ah..” He chuckled, even though she couldn’t hear. “I’m also bleeding out right now, so that’s awesome.” 

Ripping off a piece of his tattered hood, Katsuki sucked in a pained breath as he pressed the fabric into the wound on his right side. It was deep, but pressure should staunch the blood flow. He exhaled shakily and glanced at Ellysa.

“please forgive me when you wake up, okay?” 

—Ellysa, if you are reading, this is a good stopping point halfway (if you wish) and is almost perfectly the first half of the chapter—

Bright, fluorescent lights. A low, whirring noise. 

Cold hands around her neck. 

Ellysa sat bolt upright, eyes wildly scanning the room. Her breathing was fast and heavy, and she almost launched herself straight out of the bed she was in before an arm caught her wrist. 

“Miss, you’re okay, please don’t leave so soon.”

Ellysa looked over at the small old nurse who was laying a hand on her wrist delicately. 

Her eyes widened, it was Recovery Girl. 

Ellysa calmed down a bit and actually took in her surroundings. She was in a small hospital room, a small pink flower pot sat on the windowsill, and a gentle breeze ruffled white curtains. How did she get here? The last thing she remembered was—

“Katsuki!” She blurted, grasping the old woman’s hand with her own. “I- I mean Katsuki Bakugo, I was with him, is he okay?” 

The old woman smiled. “Yes dear, young Bakugo is well and good, in fact he has been waiting in this very room for you to wake up. He left to grab something from his residence, I was told. He should be back any moment. 

Ellysa slumped in her bed with relief. He was okay. 

The relief was short-lived, however, as she realized she had no idea what was going on. 

“Do you know what happened?” She asked the nurse, worry lacing her voice. “How long has it been? Is the man dead? Did Katsuki well.. Yknow—“ 

“Calm down dear.” The woman crooned, stepping away from her stool and grabbing a clipboard, which she started scribbling in. “To answer your questions, it’s been about 32 hours since Jeanist and his team arrived on scene, and yes the villain young Bakugo defeated has perished.” 

Now Ellysa could relax. Everything was fine. She slouched a little more in the bed as the nurse continued. “You are in the healing quadrant of U.A., miss. I am Recovery girl, and you two were sent here because young Bakugo needed immediate attention.” She paused for a moment, “You, on the other hand, were not injured as severely, but had to be treated without the power of my quirk, as we are not sure if it would cause any negative effects.” 

“Ah okay, well it’s nice to meet you, Recovery Girl…” Ellsya said, smiling gently. Now that everything was apparently settled, a dire urge to see Katsuki hit her like a punch to the chest. “Can I… am I okay to get up and walk around?” 

“Oh yes, quite alright.” Recovery Girl smiled. “In fact, you are ready to be discharged once you feel fit to do so. Other than a few cuts and bruises you incurred, you only suffered unconsciousness for a short while.” 

“That’s great!” Ellysa sighed in relief, letting Recovery Girl unclip her from a pulse monitoring device and planting her feet on the ground beside her bed. She was clad in a loose fitting hospital gown, which felt a little silly to wear, but she supposed she had no other option. Wanting nothing more than a nice hot shower and warm bed, Ellysa hoped Katsuki would be back soon. She desperately wanted to see him either way. 

Suddenly, a thought popped into Ellysa’s head. She turned to Recovery Girl.

“Miss… You work with Izuku Midoriya, right?” 

Recovery Girl, who was cleaning up her equipment, replied, “oh! Yes, I work closely with young Midoriya.” 

“Do you know… if he had made any progress on bringing me home?” 

“Ah, yes yes of course. I am actually on the team that is working on that currently. And to answer your question, yes, significant progress has been made in analyzing the villain's quirk and finding a way to reverse it.” She pushed her glasses farther up the bridge of her nose. “We should have something definitive by the end of tomorrow, I would guess.” 

Ellysa felt like she could cry right there. A way home, they are really going to find a way for me to go home. She stifled her tears, though, as the sound of a door opening caught her attention. 

Ellysa turned around to see who was standing in the doorway, and the tears tried to flow yet again as she looked at Katsuki’s head of mussed blonde hair. 

He was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and a black tank top with a zip-up thrown loosely around his shoulders. He was holding a bag of what looked like clothes, and Ellysa thought: If those are a change of clothes for me I may have no choice but to kiss him out of pure joy.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind she banished it with vigor. Instead, she looked at Katsuki, who just sort of stood there, unmoving, and took a few leapings steps towards him. 

She wanted to hug him, in fact, she was so happy to see him looking well and okay that she almost did out of pure instinct. Then she remembered how awkwardly he had reacted to the time she had hugged him in Izuku’s office, and thought better of it, stopping a few feet short of him and coughing awkwardly. 

Katsuki continued looking at her. “You’re okay..” He said, softly. 

Ellysa nodded her head happily, “Oh! Yes I’m fine, just a few scrapes, youre going to need to tell me what happened back there because I don’t remember anythin—“ 

Katsuki took a determined step forward and pulled her into a warm embrace. Ellysa was silent for a moment, shocked. It wasn’t a crushing embrace, in fact it was uncharacteristically gentle. 

Ellysa felt tears at the corners of her eyes as she hugged him back wordlessly, feeling him exhale slowly against her. 

“I’m really glad you’re okay, Katsuki.” She mumbled against his hoodie, trying not to sob like a baby. “I’m sorry I was so useless, I’m sorry—“ 

Katsuki yanked her back, putting a hand on either of her shoulders. She sniffed. 

“Don’t ever say sorry to me again. It was my fault. I brought you along with me when it wasn’t 100% safe, I never should’ve risked your life like that.” He said sternly, eyes boring into her own.

“It wasn't your fault, not really.” Ellysa started, then chuckled wetly. “I don’t think I would’ve let you keep me locked up in your place anyways.” 

Katsuki sighed, letting her go and raking a hand through his already messy hair. “Whatever, it was my fault. But either way, Jeanist has already gotten an earful from me about how un-vetted that assignment ended up being. We should’ve never run into a villain period, much less of that rank.” He handed her the plastic bag and Ellysa took it gingerly. “By the way, I brought you a change of clothes… don’t complain I just.. grabbed stuff. It’ll do for now.” 

Ellysa grinned at the blonde, who was avoiding direct eye contact now, a faint blush high on his ears.

“Thank you, they look fine.” She laughed. Katsuki rubbed the back of his neck. 

“By the way, whenever you’re ready, of course, let’s head back to my place okay? I’m really goddamn sick of dealing with Jeanist and the press, I need a day to think.” 

“I’ll go change now and we can head out.” Ellysa nodded, agreeing with him wholeheartedly. 

Ellysa left to go change, leaving Katsuki alone with Recovery girl, who gave him a snarky grin and a ‘tsk tsk’ while she continued tidying the room. Katsuki glared at her. 

“What?” 

“Oh nothing,” Recovery Girl said, sighing wistfully. “You are just quite the character, young Bakugo.” 

“And what’s that supposed to mean granny?” Katsuki huffed. He was too tired for this. 

“Take a leap, son.” The old woman smiled. “It doesn’t always mean you’ll fall.” 

“Huh?-“ Katsuki started, but was interrupted as Ellysa stormed back into the room, looking much more like herself in her sweatpants and large tshirt. 

After saying their goodbyes and thank you’s to Recovery Girl, Ellysa and Katsuki at long last caught a taxi back to his penthouse. 

Ellysa felt positively drained. The last 48 hours alone had been more confusing and stressful and terrifying than anything she had experienced in the last like… at least 5 years of her life. She slumped in the back seat next to Katsuki, feeling like she was literally deflating. The only thing keeping her alive was the promise of a hot shower and a warm bed. 

Both of them much too tired to make it awkward, the car ride went by quickly and painlessly, and before she knew it, they had trudged their way up to Katsuki’s floor and dragged themselves through his front door and to their separate bedrooms. 

Ellysa took maybe the longest shower of her life, or at least it was damn close. And even then, she still thought she could probably sit in there for longer, but her skin started to wrinkle, so she sighed and toweled herself off. 

She changed into her comfy pajamas and decided to take a “Power Nap”, which didn’t work as it was intended, because she soon woke up to a gentle knock on her door and realized it was 9pm. 

Katsuki stood in the hallway. He looks cute in his sweatpants and hoodie. A thought Ellysa promptly ignored, again. 

“I know it’s late, but I made us dinner, if you’re hungry.” 

With a start, Ellysa realized that she was quite hungry, so she nodded and followed him out into the kitchen, where he had laid out two bowls of steaming Ramen on the counter. Ellysa thanked him profusely, to which he just gave a noncommittal grunt, and the rest of dinner was eaten in silence. 

Oh, right, how could I forget?!

Ellysa set her bowl down and looked at Katsuki. 

“Do you have popcorn?” 

“Uh, probably?” Katsuki answered, confused. 

“Okay great, I will make some, you go make yourself comfy on the couch, and you will tell me every single detail of what happened once I.. well you know… got choked out.”

Katsuki snorted ungracefully. “Don’t call it being ‘choked out’ ever again.” 

“Or what?” She retorted, poking him in the shoulder and standing up to go rifle through the pantry. “Couch, now. Story time, remember?” 

“Ugh, fine.” Katsuki sighed, and Ellysa knew he was being dramatic, she didn’t even need to see the grin playing at his sharp features. 

Quickly, Ellysa made popcorn and emptied it into a bowl. Katsuki had begrudgingly trudged over to his couch and thrown himself on one end, posture lazy as he scrolled through something on his phone. Bowl of popcorn in hand, Ellysa grabbed one of his throw blankets and sat down on the couch next to him. If she had sat on the opposite side of the couch there would be too much space in between them for her to hear, so instead she sat in the middle of the couch, bringing her knees up to her chest and popping a kernel into her mouth. 

“Want some?” She asked Katsuki.

“No.” 

“Suit yourself.” She shrugged, “Okay, go time, action!”

Katsuki sighed, but began his story of the whole incident at the brewery. He started at the beginning, right after he had told Ellysa to run and she had scrambled out of the test chamber. He described fighting the villain as arduous, claiming he had been wholly unprepared for a person with a quirk that strong. He told her this was why he ended up flying through the ceiling.

“I was unprepared, okay? I aimed a pretty powerful shot at him and he deflected it last second.” Katsuki sniffed. Ellysa noticed him eyeing the popcorn. 

“Just take some dude.” She laughed, reaching out the bowl to him. With a stubborn expression glued to his face, he eventually reached out and grabbed a handful. Ellysa rolled her eyes.

“Whatever.” Katsuki grumbled, continuing after a moment. “You know what happened next. Blah blah blah, he negated all of my attacks and I totally fucked up and didnt protect you in time. Once you were safe I figured I could incinerate him or something, so I tried that.” His eyebrows pulled together and he frowned. “Jeanist told me earlier today that the information you had gathered in the lab led to the discovery that they were messing with a tampered version of the drug they had been testing in Tartarus. His best guess as to why the villain was so powerful was that he had been pumped full of this drug, which ended up mutating whatever quirk he did have and created some sort of messed up zombie sort of thing.” 

Ellysa shivered at that information. The man had seemed inhuman.

“I managed to damage him enough to where he needed to regenerate, which is when I hit him with a Howitzers Impact, first time I’ve done that in years. Also,-“ Katsuki shuffled, yanking up his tshirt. “Apparently I cut myself open on a piece of debris or something, I don’t know.” Ellysa grimaced at the large, raised scar that now stretched across his lower right rib cage. The rest of the scars on his body were old, flatter and now a closer color to his skin tone. This scar, while completely healed, looked brand new, raised significantly more than the others and a much brighter pink. “Recovery Girl says that if I had sat for anymore than twenty more minutes, I would’ve bled out.” 

Ellysa’s eyes widened and she inhaled sharply, wrenching her gaze away from the scar to look him in the eyes. “Really? Are you- and you’re completely okay?” 

Katsuki pulled his shirt back down and sent her a look that said: “duh.” 

“Don’t worry about me. Recovery Girl always fixes me up, I’m basically brand new, minus not sleeping for the last fifty hours.” 

“Thank you… for saving me.” Ellysa said softly, fiddling with the blanket. She felt herself getting emotional but figured better now than in the hospital. “I knew you would but I uh, I was just so—” A tear made its way down her face and she wiped at it quickly, embarrassed. 

“Scared.” She heard Katsuki say. She looked up at him, causing more tears to streak down her face. Ellysa nodded, wiping at the tears again, though it didn't do much anymore. 

“Yes, I mean.. I just— well I’m sorry, this is stupid-“

If her eyes hadn't been so blurry, maybe Ellysa would’ve caught the expression Katsuki made as he sat up straighter on the couch, eyes lit only by the soft glow of a few lamps that had been turned on. Maybe if she had seen his expression, she would’ve been more emotionally prepared for when he leaned forward and pulled her tight against him for the second time that day. That was wishful thinking, she supposed. Ellysa would never get used to the feeling of his arms around hers, at least not like this. 

His calloused hands held her against him and he leaned back on the armrest of the couch, pulling her in to sort of lay on him in what Ellysa would look back on later to be a level of intimacy she truly would’ve never expected he would allow.

That ended up being a secondary thought at the moment, as she started crying in earnest. She supposed her body had been suppressing all of her intense emotions ever since she woke up in the hospital bed. Probably as some sort of trauma response. It all came pouring out now, though, as she sniffled against Katsuki’s chest as he held her. He didn’t do much else, though, no comforting words or gestures, and Ellysa figured he was way out of his depth, that he had acted on pure instinct and was now stuck in a situation he didn’t know how to handle. 

It was more than enough. His body was warm as always, and his presence alone was more comforting than his words could probably ever be. Eventually, when Ellysa’s breathing slowed to something more rhythmic and she only sniffed occasionally, he spoke.  

“It's okay to be scared. I was scared too. But you're fine now, we are. God, I sound like my therapist.” 

He shifted his position subtly and Ellysa took that as her sign to peel herself off of him and sit back, eyes red but feeling so much better. She nodded slowly. Katsuki pushed himself off the couch and let out a weary sigh. 

“Go to bed okay? Sleep in as long as you want, I’ll have breakfast in the morning.” 

He turned to go but stopped as Ellysa caught his wrist. He turned to look at her again, his expression confused. 

“I know I keep saying this, but thank you Katsuki, truly.” Ellysa had never meant something more in her life, and she hoped he could see that. She let go of his wrist slowly and he stayed. Motionless. His ears turned bright red and he yanked his eyes away from hers quickly. 

He’s so easily flustered. Ellysa smiled to herself. 

Eventually, Katsuki did say something, much to Ellysa's surprise. She had honestly expected him to clam up again and stomp off to his room. 

“I- yeah, you're uh… you’re welcome, extra.” His tone was extremely quiet, soft. It lacked all of the usual bite it usually held when he would call her that. “Goodnight.” 

Ellysa watched him retreat down the hallway into his own room, wondering how the hell she was supposed to deal with the warmth rapidly blooming in her chest.  

When Ellysa awoke the next morning, there was a sort of finality in the air. 

Grabbing her phone from off her nightstand, Ellysa peeled her eyes open and checked the time. She hadn’t slept in too long, thankfully, it was only 9:45. There was a text from Izuku, though. She swiped up and read it. 

From: Izuku

Goodmorning Ellysa! My team has finalized the drug that can send you home. Kacchan has already been filled in on the details, you two will meet me at U.A. To discuss how to move forward at around noon. Excited to see you!~

Ellysa just stared at the text for a while, unblinking. She was enormously relieved, she could finally go home, just yesterday it was unclear whether or not she would be able to at all. This was the dominating emotion, and she smiled as she hearted the message and closed her phone, throwing off her comforter and grabbing clean clothes to shower. 

It was as she was showering, though, that the small voice inside her head that—she had hoped she could ignore—started worming its way into the front of her mind. A voice that was sad to leave. A voice that didn’t want to walk into the kitchen and meet the eyes of a certain someone. 

I can’t let myself get dragged down by those thoughts. Ellysa told herself, shaking her head. Instead, she busied herself with getting ready for the day, shoving down every ounce of potentially negative emotion that tried to rear its head. 

Eventually, Ellysa made her way out of her room after throwing on a pair of jeans and a red hoodie, opting to just let her hair air dry. She couldn’t avoid Katsuki today, so she might as well not prolong the event. 

Delicious breakfast smells wafted through the hallway as she swung her door open, and Ellysa’s stomach rumbled in reply. Slowly, she made her way out into the kitchen area, where Katsuki stood with his back turned to her. She smiled, he had on that ridiculous apron and it looked (and smelled) like he was making pancakes. 

”I’m not too late, am I?” Ellysa said after standing awkwardly for a moment. Katsuki turned to look at her and she gulped as his eyes met hers and she noticed how cold his expression was. 

“Are you… good?” She asked tentatively, smiling and hoping it looked genuine. 

“Huh? Yeah.” Katsuki said, words clipped. He turned back to the skillet and said after a moment. “Good morning.” 

“Likewise…” Ellysa mumbled, taking her usual seat at the counter. “Did Izuku—“

”Yes.” 

Ellysa’s eyes widened. She knew he wasn’t a huge morning person or whatever, but this? He hadn’t acted this cold since the first day they had met, back in her universe. 

She tried to make more small talk during breakfast, but Katsuki remained the same. Stiff, uninterested, replies quick and short. Ellysa tried to brush it off, but was baffled by his behavior. Right when she had thought he had warmed up to her, when she had thought maybe he might call her a friend. 

Katsuki didn’t give her much to work with for the rest of the morning. After cleaning up breakfast, he retreated to his room and didn’t reemerge until it was time to leave for U.A., upon which they silently got ready and clambered into the back of a cab. 

Ellysa stopped trying after a while. If he wanted to be silent and broody, so be it. She hoped he would at least give her a hug before she left, though. 

The cab ride was silent, and Ellysa felt suffocated by Katsuki’s silence and the overall air of solemnity following them everpresently. Trying to stay positive, Ellysa focused on the fact that she was finally going home after nearly a week in this universe. A week that had been… lots of things, for a lack of words.

The bright, shiny doors of U.A. sparkled magnificently as the cab dropped them off and she and Katsuki made their way inside. Izuku was there, looking bright and cheery as per usual. Ellysa ran to give him a hug and Izuku returned it with gusto. 

Ellysa pulled away from Izuku as he looked between her and Katsuki, whose expression had hardened into something purposefully passive. 

“So! Straight to business? Follow me into my office.” Izuku smiled, waving them to follow him as they made their way back through U.A..

”You might be wondering why it’s only me.” Izuku started as they walked. “I was working with quite a large team on this, you see, and we finally were able to stabilize a drug that will work as sort of a reversing agent on you. This was quite the ground breaking discovery, though, and my team couldn’t spare the time to all meet you in person as they had to immediately move on to testing the drug in different fields. Therefore, you get just me.”

Izuku pushed open the doors to his office and let Ellysa and Katsuki in. Closing the door, Izuku pulled open a drawer in his desk and lifted out a small silver case. 

“Don’t worry, though.” Izuku said, “This has been tested and is confirmed to work how we think it will. On you at least.” 

Ellysa’s eyes widened as he opened the case and revealed a small vial of a purple-ish liquid. Carefully, she took the vial in her hand.

”How will it.. work?” She asked, spinning the vial in between her fingers. 

“Okay, so,” Izuku began. “When you came here originally, your body traded places with something in this universe, Same as when Kacchan swapped with that cardboard and came to your universe.”

Ellysa snorted softly in Katuki’s direction and he sent her a withering stare. 

“As I was saying,” Izuku continued. “All you have to do is drink the liquid in this vial like a shot, and you will swap places back into your world almost instantly. If you want to take anything back to your universe, holding it in your hand before you swap should work. After you swap, whatever your body traded with, will return to this world, and you will be returned to yours.” 

“Sounds simple enough…” Ellysa breathed, setting the vial back into the case and closing the lid. “Do I uh… do I take it now or?”

”Oh! No no no!” Izuku said, shaking his head back and forth. “You don’t need too, I figured you’d want to at least grab a few things from where you’re staying… I just thought it’d be better if I told you how it worked in person and showed you out, I guess.” 

“Ah, I see…” Ellysa said softly, emotions swelling within her. She told herself she wasn’t going to cry, so, with a sudden motion she thrust the case into katsuki’s stomach, which he fumbled but eventually secured in a firm grip. Screwing her eyes shut and willing the tears away, she hugged Izuku again. 

“Thank you so much Izuku, really. For everything.”  

“Of course!” Izuku smiled more shakily this time, like he was trying not to cry as well. 

(Katsuki was aggressively rolling his eyes from the corner at all this blubbery emotional nonsense, which may or may not be a form of coping.)

”I think,” Ellysa started once she had pulled away from Izuku and taken the case back from Katsuki. “That I’m going to head back with Katsuki and gather some of my things before I go, do we have a cab Katsuki?” 

“I paid our driver this morning to stay and wait outside.” Katsuki shrugged.  “We can leave whenever.” 

Ellysa nodded. “Okay, let's get going now, then. Izuku, tell the rest of class 1-A I said hi, and who knows, maybe I'll see you again?” 

Izuku smiled cheekily at her joke. “Will do. See you next time!”

They waved at each other one last time before she and Katsuki made their way out of Izuku’s office, out of U.A., and back into the waiting cab.

What the hell am I doing? Ellysa groaned inwardly, idly fiddling with the glasses that came with her hero gear. 

She sat perched on the edge of her bed, door closed, case sitting motionless beside her.

She had told Katsuki that she needed to “decide what she wanted to bring home”. That was a lie, she knew already. The glasses were maybe the only item she had considered taking with her, nothing else really needed to go home with her…so why bring it. 

The truth was, she was freaking out. She was definitely freaking out and definitely putting off saying goodbye to Katsuki.

Even the thought made her stomach twist. 

It had only been a week, yet she had gotten so inexplicably attached to his gruff attitude and great cooking. She couldn’t believe she used to beef with a far inferior, AI version of him online back in her world. The real Katsuki was… well… yeah he could still be an insufferable douchebag, but beneath his spiky introverted shell was a person who was kind, who was thoughtful, who was funny (despite him not ever trying to be), and who made her feel safe, even with the incredible dangers his world posed. 

The strange tug she had felt towards him had only been growing stronger over the last few days. She couldn’t tell if he felt the same, but she stupidly, selfishly, wanted to explore where the metaphorical red string led. 

And, now what? Was she just supposed to snap it? I am, aren’t I? She thought, laughing at how dramatic she felt. I can go home, I need to go home. Me and Katsuki are from different universes, it was incredibly naive to think anything else would come to be. 

Even still, she didn’t want to just… say goodbye. Maybe she did?

Ellysa pushed a hand through her hair anxiously. She wanted it to be over, she didn’t want to have to try and decide anymore.

Maybe I could just, go? He seemed indifferent today, maybe he doesn’t care, maybe I can just take the drug right now and pretend this was all a weird dream. 

No, that was selfish. Katsuki didn’t deserve that kind of goodbye. She had to thank him for all he’d done for her. For giving her a place to stay, for making her food, for protecting her, defending her. 

Ellysa stood up. It was time to stop putting it off. She needed to confront him and say a true farewell. 

Grabbing the case, Ellysa let out a long exhale before she made to open her door. Hand firm on the handle to her bedroom door, Ellysa finally felt ready to move forward. 

Meanwhile…

Katsuki pulled at his hair. Honestly, he was surprised he hadn’t ripped it all out, as he had been pulling at it for the last hour, aimlessly pacing around his living room as he waited for Ellysa to gather whatever things she wanted to bring home. What the fuck is taking her so long anyways?

He felt like he wanted to explode. And not in the way he usually did. No, he didn’t feel like he was going to explode into a badass maelstrom of fire and destruction, rather he felt like he was going to explode into a disgusting, icky heap of emotions.

Goddammit. Recovery Girl should’ve let me bleed out.

The cold and defensive act had not worked like it should’ve. Katsuki had thought pretending to be non caring would make it easier to well… not care, but nope. Instead, he had made himself out to be a shitty person and made himself feel even shittier. 

In truth he wasn’t sure why he was making such a big deal about this. He had been waiting for this, hadn’t he? He could return to his regular hero work, he could resume his normal life, wasn’t that what he wanted? 

Why then, did it feel like something was being left unfinished? 

Katsuki sunk down onto his couch and cupped his face with his hands. He debated screaming in frustration but that would only alert Ellysa to his state of distress. God, Katsuki wished a sinkhole would open up below him and swallow him whole. He was twenty two for fucks sake, this shouldn’t be as large of an issue as he was making it. 

An idea wiggled its way into his brain, one which he immediately shot down and brutally murdered. It resurrected after a moment, and Katsuki let it linger, feeling the tips of his ears grow hot. He killed the idea again. 

“Take a leap, son. It doesn’t always mean you’ll fall.” 

Katsuki frowned. Recovery Girl always tried to wax poetic to him, why of all the things she’s said to him, did this one matter? He thought back to when she had said those words.

His hands fell quietly from his face, and Katsuki stood up. 

It was time for him to stop being a pussy and do something for once. Even if it was arguably the stupidest thing he might ever do. 

Slowly (okay, more like swiftly), Katsuki made his way down the hall towards Ellysa’s room. 

Katsuki was a creature of raw instinct, and instinct is what raised his hand to knock on Ellysa’s door. 

When—right before his fist made contact with the wood—the door swung open revealing a disheveled (pretty) but determined-looking Ellysa, Katsuki froze for a moment. Ellysa froze too, leaving them in a stalemate. 

Ellysa opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off effectively. 

For it was by a sudden and intense instinct, that Katsuki pulled her in by her waist and kissed her.

Had she wanted to confront Katsuki? Yes.

Had she expected him to be right in front of her when he opened the door? No… but he was an enigma sometimes. 

Katsuki didn’t look frantic, but he looked well… determined. If she hadn’t been so caught off guard by his sudden appearance maybe she would’ve noticed the blush high on his cheeks, or the way his gaze landed on her lips, and stayed there. 

Confused, Ellysa opened her mouth to speak. 

She didn’t get a word in. 

Large hands grabbed her by the waist and before she even had time to try processing that, he was kissing her and— holy shit?! He was kissing her. 

A gentle press of his lips against hers, not a peck, but something gentle. Sure but hesitant at the same time. His touch was gone a moment later, and Ellysa just blinked. 

Katsuki’s expression was wholly unreadable, Ellysa brain finally caught up and she blushed a bright red. Wait, that hadn’t been right though, she needed too—

“You were taking way too fucking long to grab your shit, extra.” Katsuki gruffed, perhaps trying to make a scathing remark as damage control since she hadn’t returned the kiss. 

”You caught me off guard this time, that’s for sure.” Ellysa laughed. Katsuki looked like he wanted to say something but she didn’t let him, standing up on her tip toes, grabbing the front of his shirt and kissing him square on the mouth. 

After a brief moment he kissed back. It wasn’t fireworks, like they tend to say it is in books and movies. It was something softer, more comfortable, it was just Katsuki. 

Pulling back, she and Katsuki looked at each other silently. In a way, Ellysa felt that this had been a sort of goodbye. A confirmation of feelings and thoughts unspoken, an understanding. 

Katsuki took her hands in his own, the small vial she cradled now, which was feeling more real than ever. 

”Go home, Ellysa.” Katsuki said, voice soft, resigned. He gave just the barest hint of a smile. “I’ve given you more than enough trouble anyways.”

Tears she had been desperately trying to keep at bay spilled over Ellysa’s cheeks as she hugged Katsuki tightly. He returned the hug, holding her against him as he rested his head on her shoulder. She cried harder.

”I’m going to miss you.” She sniffled after her eyes had dried a little. “It was fun here, even though I almost died, and you almost died…”

Katsuki snorted. “I’m glad you thought that hellhole of a mission was fun, bit off a bit more than we could fuckin chew.” 

Ellysa laughed in agreement, and they stayed like that, embracing, for a few precious moments. Slowly, Ellysa drew back and looked at Katsuki, who, for the first time in maybe their entire time together, merely looked back. 

It was then that Ellysa felt a weight lift off her shoulders. Something felt, finished. As much as her heart wrenched for whatever this chapter of her life was, she felt… well she felt that maybe she would be okay, that she could continue her journey forward. 

“I think…’ She said softly, opening her palm, “That I'm ready… I didn’t feel ready, until now.” 

Katsuki nodded. Ellysa relished the last bit of warmth from his hands as he let her own go and stepped back to give her some space. 

Slowly, Ellysa took the vial and unscrewed it. Feeling almost suffocated from sadness, yet more happy than she had felt in days, she turned her watery eyes towards Katsuki’s.

”Thank you, Katsuki Bakugo, for everything.” 

“No, thank you.” Katsuki said, words catching as he seemed to wrestle with his emotions. “I’m glad… that Best Jeanist ordered me to stay with you.” 

”Go to more of the class meetups.” 

Katsuki’s lips twitched and he smirked amusedly. “I might make more of an effort, extra. Take some fighting classes okay? Next time we spar you better be able to land a hit on me without dirty tricks.”

Ellysa nodded and laughed a wet laugh, endeared by the impossible notion that they’d ever see each other again. 

She brought the vial to her lips.

”Goodbye, Katsuki.”

”Goodbye, Ellysa.” 

Tossing back the purple liquid in one go, Ellysa felt one last trail of tears stain her face before the world swayed, then went black. 

Katsuki didn’t cry very much. In fact, he had only cried twice in his entire life. So, when he felt a lone tear streak down his face, he didn’t wipe at it angrily. He would accept it, maybe just this once. 

He turned, not wanting to look into her room anymore tonight. A soft clatter caught his attention and he whipped back around. 

Something silver caught his eye, and he remembered. Ah, right, she swapped with something.

Crouching down, Katsuki picked up the dainty silver necklace and held it in his hands, eyes landing on the small hummingbird pendant hanging on the end. He wrapped his hand around it absentmindedly, standing back up and walking over to his own room. 

He surveyed the dark space for a moment, eyes landing on his large dark wood dresser, the one he kept all of his All Might merch and trophies from high school on. Delicately, he set the necklace on the dresser, giving the small hummingbird pendant one last look before turning and flopping down on his unmade bed. 

Katsuki had no idea how long he had slept for. It had been peaceful, silent, black nothingness. A break from his routine nightmares. That was something he had never told Ellysa, he had figured it wouldn’t have helped. When he had fallen asleep with her on the balcony that night, it had been the first night that he had slept soundly, without any nightmares, in years. 

Katsuki rolled over and shoved his face into a pillow, letting out a noise in between a groan and a scream. He lifted his head and checked his phone. Wow, 3:13 am. He chuckled humorlessly to himself, maybe her presence has lingering effects. 

Dragging himself out of bed and into his living room and gazing out into the nighttime expanse of the city, Katsuki realized it had started raining at some point. Grabbing the throw blanket off of his couch, Katsuki opened the glass doors to his balcony and stared out into the rain. 

“For old times’ sake, I guess.” He muttered, though it held no bitterness. He settled himself onto his bench, wrapping the blanket around himself and listening to the soft patter of rain on the railing. After a few minutes, Katsuki tentatively stuck out his hand beyond the cover of his awning, letting the rain collect on his open palm. It felt, nice. 

Shrugging the blanket off, Katsuki stood up and walked over to the handrails of the balcony. Now out from under cover, rain softly poured overheard and started soaking him in earnest. Heating up his body with his quirk, Katsuki felt the rain hitting him begin to evaporate with small hssss noises. He smiled, lowering his body temperature and letting the rain soak him again. 

He would have never admitted this a few days ago. Hell a few years ago admitting it would’ve felt like a betrayal to who he was. 

The rain reminded Katsuki of everything wrong he had ever done in his life. It reminded him of how crappy of a friend he had been in his youth, up in that windy treehouse with Deku. It reminded him of heated arguments and lies told in anger. It reminded him of the cold, icy embrace of nothingness as he laid dying on that unforgiving soil. He had always hated the rain.

But,

Standing there, soaked to the bone, the rain reminded Katsuki of useless missions with an arguably even more useless sidekick. The rain reminded him of playful jabs and a mad scramble to escape a storm, it reminded him of a brave and brilliant smile even in the scariest moments. The rain reminded Katsuki of a comfort that he had never known in a person, a person who encouraged him to look to the future and embrace change.

He would have ever admitted this a few days ago, but for maybe the first time in his life, Katsuki simply closed his eyes and smiled:

Maybe the rain isn’t so bad after all. 

~Epilogue~

3 months later

“Yeah, mhm. Tomorrow should work out fine, noon? Great, see you then!” 

Ellysa sighed as her manager ended the call. Stuffing her phone into her back pocket, she absentmindedly punched in her floor number in the elevator, standing idly as the machine lurched into motion. 

It had been a long day. In fact, it had been a long few months. Her schedule was packed, she was finally gaining speed in her journey to becoming the content creator she wanted to be, but that also meant she had almost no free time. 

When she had returned from a different universe after having been missing for a week? Now that had been difficult to smooth over.

Her parents had been terrified. Filing missing persons reports, calling local and non-local police stations, going out on search parties, interrogating all of the friends she had seen in the past month. It had been a tearful and confusing reunion when she had woken up on the floor of her bedroom after what felt like years away. 

Ellysa had moved out a month or so after the incident. She had been planning to move beforehand, but the whole ‘I-got-teleported-into-a-different-universe’ fiasco sped up the process significantly. 

The story had been a truly bizarre one to try and explain to her family and her friends, who had ranged from mildly to extremely skeptical about the legitimacy of the tale. 

In the end, things had smoothed over, though, and her life had resumed at least some sort of normalcy. She still streamed as much as she could, branching out and doing more streams with other creators IRL. She pursued more modeling gigs, she cried over the ending of My Hero, she got a cat. 

Less and less did she find her mind wandering back to that fateful week. It felt like, a strange memory, real yet somehow unbelievable. She didn’t talk to the AI version of Katsuki as much on stream anymore, her chat failed to completely understand, but for Ellysa it evoked memories that were all too real. 

When she would sit awake at night listening to the gentle sound of rainfall out on her balcony, she would think about him. Miss him, sometimes. 

Shaking herself and exhaling as the elevator dinged and the doors opened, Ellysa tried to dispel all the daydreaming she had been doing today. It was just… a weird day. Something felt off. 

Unlocking the door to her apartment, Ellysa threw her bags down on the floor and looked around for her little black kitten, Puma. She called to Puma, who eventually meandered out into the living room and gave her a passive chirp. Ellysa leaned down to pet her, but the cat bolted off down the hallway towards her room. Ellysa chuckled, but when she didn’t follow, Puma slunk back into the living room and chirped again.

“What on earth are you so talkative about?” She cooed, trying to pet Puma again, who bolted off for a second time. “Want me to follow? If you’re leading me to your stash of stolen hair ties that would be useful!” 

Rolling her eyes, Ellysa followed Puma to where she sat nudging at the door to her bedroom. 

Huh, I could’ve sworn I left it open. 

Twisting the knob, Ellysa flung her door open without much thought. Puma zoomed in, probably happy to be able to lay on her bed again. 

Ellysa just stared. If she was holding something, she would’ve dropped it.

Sprawled lazily over her gaming chair, (Since when did that even get in her room), was the real and definitely not cardboard, Katsuki Bakugo.

“Holy shit.” Ellysa whispered, then raised her voice as the visual finally registered in her brain. “HOLY SHIT!”

Katsuki stood up and stretched his long limbs. He was clad in his hero gear minus the gauntlets, which, even a second time, was still a jarring sight to see in her small bedroom. 

“You took way too fucking long to get home, extra.” He scoffed, but the words lacked any bite to them, not with the way his lips were stretched upwards in a grin. “I had no choice but to raid your pantry—“

Ellysa barreled into him, almost causing them both to fall backwards if Katsuki hadn’t been quick on his feet. She hugged him with all the strength she had, before pulling away excitedly. 

“Why are you here? Can you go home? What happened? Are you okay? Did the villain-“

Katsuki groaned and rolled his eyes. “I’m fine, dumbass. I can go home. I came here on purpose, I have a proposal for you.”

Ellysa frowned slightly. “A proposal?”

Katsuki nodded, then dug in his pocket and handed her a small vial filled with purple liquid. “It’s been tested rigorously, and something that it’s able to do…” Katsuki paused and let his grim stretch even wider. “Is allow you and me to swap universes whenever we want. Want to be my sidekick one more time?”

“That’s- wow.” Ellysa started, gears turning in her head. She looked at Katsuki, who’s eyes were bright and eager in the dim lighting of her bedroom. “I do have a couple days I can spare I suppose…”

“Can’t promise you won’t be in dangerous situations occasionally.” Katsuki warned. “But I can promise accurately graded assignments from now on.” 

Ellysa grinned wide, taking the vial and unscrewing the lid. 

“I wouldn’t want it any other way.”