Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Swirls of dust spun in the air like small tornadoes, barely grazing the bare, lifeless dirt below. Every plant, animal, building, and stone had been completely leveled.

The world had been properly, completely, utterly destroyed.

The heroes had lost.

But it didn’t quite feel like the villains had won, either.

Kurogiri had been following Shigaraki for days after his big finishing move. One that had completely obliterated the coffin in the sky, and everything else around it. For a moment in the chaos, Kurogiri was almost certain Shigaraki had destroyed even the oxygen in the air.

Since then, not a cloud had crossed the skies, nor a bird, airplane, or insect.

And since then, Shigaraki hadn’t uttered a single intelligible word. He muttered to himself over and over the same gibberish, or perhaps a language Kurogiri did not know.

Kurogiri had opened warp gates at several coordinates around Earth to see if anything would fall through. Water from the Atlantic Ocean, plant matter from the Amazon rainforest, ice from Antarctica, but nothing came to fruition.

The planet was empty and dead without so much as a seed to sow nor rain to soak the soil.

Kurogiri paused, watching Shigaraki stumble and mutter, his eyes focused on the ground as if searching for something he had lost. Though Shigaraki was a powerful man, he was still human, unlike Kurogiri’s Nomu body.

Without food or water, he would likely die very soon.

“This will not do, Tomura Shigaraki.” He closed his eyes, sending his quirk out into the vast wasteland with desperate effort. “This will not do.”

Chapter Text

Katsuki Bakugou sat in the bloodstained dirt, his hero costume ripped nearly to shreds and his whole body burning from his injuries. His chest was still aching on the inside, his every heartbeat strained and tight.

Izuku sat across from him quietly while the rest of Class 1-A milled around them. They both had strict orders not to move until they could find someone like Recovery Girl to heal the majority of their wounds.

“So uh,” Kaminari looked around, “Is everything just… gone forever?”

Yaoyorozu frowned, her arms tight as she hugged herself worriedly. “I’m sure it’s just this immediate area. But if we survived the quirk’s power, it’s likely that others have as well.” She explained, “That’s why we sent the scout team to find survivors.” She held bandages in one of her hands, but they were tattered at the ends. It was obvious she was using the last of what her quirk could offer.

How the hell they had all survived Shigaraki's final move, Katsuki wasn’t sure. The whole world had gone pitch black and oxygenless after a manic, bloody scream from the villain. He remembered the feeling of floating and then crashing back to the dirt before regaining his vision.

The sound of running made Katsuki turn his head. Jirou sprinted at full speed toward her classmates, Shoji and Kouda behind her. “Run!" She warned, "That warp villain is-”

But she was too late. Katsuki felt the ground shift under his legs, a giant purple warp gate opening up beneath him.

Darkness swallowed Katsuki whole. His body twisted and turned in the air until he had no way to tell which way was up. His quirk wouldn’t let off a single spark in the airless portal.

His body landed in a swath of grass with a sharp thump. He coughed and choked as air rushed from his lungs, his ribs rattling with each breath.

“Woah, where’d you come from? Are you okay?!” A deep voice rang in his ears, but not one he recognized. 

His eyesight was cloudy and he winced at the light above him, but the first thing he noticed was the tree swaying in the wind and granting him just a bit of shade from the bright sun. 

The second thing he noticed was the sound of birdsong and honking cars. It almost felt like he had simply fallen asleep under a tree and everything that had just happened was a dream.

He could almost convince himself of that if not for his body screaming in agony.

The face of a girl with a strange hairband loomed over him. “I think he’s really hurt! We should go get help.”

But before anyone could move, a flash of green covered the landscape. Katsuki’s pain faded, but so did every other sensation in his body.

There was no darkness, no pain. Only himself and his thoughts.

For 3,700 years.

Chapter Text

It’s time to wake up, Hero Deku.

Whispers swirled around Izuku’s head.

Wake up. Move. It’s time.

Izuku couldn’t move. Couldn’t feel. Couldn’t breathe, though his body didn’t beg for air. Where am I? Am I… dead?

But the only response was louder whispering.

Get up.

It’s time. 

Move, Hero Deku!

Izuku shifted his arm, and with the movement, he could hear crackling. Sensation began to return to his fingers, then his wrist, then his whole forearm.

Suddenly, his lungs began to burn for air. He sat up with a sharp gasp.

He looked down at his half-naked body, his hero costume still partly intact though tattered from the fight. There were scars all over his skin, but his wounds had healed completely. Is this someone’s quirk? He looked along the ground to observe the pieces of stone that were slowly peeling off of his skin.

Where am I exactly? He wondered again as he noticed the grass that had grown in a body-shaped print around where he had been laying.

The sky was bright blue, full of puffy clouds and a flock of birds that passed by the sun. The trees around him were lush and mossy. Nothing like how the world was before he was turned to stone.

“H-hello?” He called out to the empty forest.

It’s probably not a good idea to call attention to myself, but I need to get my bearings. If there’s no one else around, then where are my classmates? He brushed off the rest of the stone pieces from his legs before standing, picking a direction at random, and walking through the thick underbrush.

But after a while of aimless wandering, Izuku stood at the base of a tree. I have to get to higher ground. That’ll give me at least a few hints, I think. He used One For All to leap up from branch to branch until he reached the treetop. 

As he clung to the bark of the tree, he expected to find a shoreline, or the glistening of not-too-far-away skyscrapers. But what he actually found made his stomach bubble with anxiety.

Green trees stretched for miles, only interrupted by mountains in the distance. There were no buildings or recognizable landmarks in sight.

Izuku tried hard to remember the last thing he saw before he woke up. Kurogiri had opened a warp gate, then he had fallen through darkness for what felt like a really long time. When he finally landed, it was in a grassy area that sort of felt like a park. He remembered hearing laughter, then a scream. But before he could get his bearings, a green light had flashed all around him and he suddenly couldn’t move.

Izuku began to go through the possibilities in his head. Was it the warp villain’s quirk? Something to do with One For All? His head spun and spun with questions he didn’t have an answer for.

Wait… He looked up at the sun. It’s about midday, and I don’t know where I am. He scanned the horizon one more time as if a city would magically appear. That means I’m going to have to survive at least the night. There’s no way I’m getting far before nightfall. 

“Okay,” He muttered out loud. “In a survival situation, what’s the most basic thing a person needs?” He held his chin in his hand. “I have to figure out a shelter for the night, at least. And fire to keep warm. Since I don’t know where I am, I don’t know what the climate is like.” He balled his fist. “Time to use everything I’ve learned so far to ensure my own survival so I can find the others!”

Tendrils from Black Whip spread out in every direction. Izuku concentrated on each extension of himself. Some tendrils shook leaves off of trees, others searched for thick branches to serve as walls for the makeshift lean-to he was about to build.

Concentrate. It’ll be faster this way instead of running around. I have to conserve my energy anyway. Who knows what’s in the woods? Animals, villains, who knows if Shigaraki is here, too!

After a few more minutes of concentration, he had gathered a decent pile of logs and branches. He secured them to the side of the tree with pliable wood and vines.

In front of his shelter, a pile of sticks laid in the center of a circle of rocks. How do I start a fire, though? He wondered. Maybe if I…

He grabbed two sticks and started to rub them together. But just basic human strength wouldn’t be enough. One For All… ten percent! 

After a few minutes, the bark began to wear away.

One For All… twenty percent!

His arms ached from the effort, but eventually, smoke became a tiny smolder that grew into a single dancing flame.

I can do this! I can survive and find my friends!

Chapter Text

The cave was always damp, but at least he could warm the whole area with a fire.

It had been one week since Katsuki had woken up covered in stone. He had traveled through the forest for miles but all he had come across were strange statues dotted along the land.

It was enough to conclude that he was, in fact, not in Japan. The warp villain had brought them to some abandoned forest where an ancient civilization had built hyper realistic statues for decoration.

At least that’s the story Katsuki had come up with.

What the story didn’t explain was the green flash that had come right before he had lost all feeling in his body, who the people were that had looked at him with concern like he was a lost child before it happened, and why he woke up covered in a thin shell of stone with a copy of his hero costume at his side to replace the clothing that had been tattered during the war, yet still remained mostly intact on his stone body- though he could tell the new clothing wasn’t made of the same material.

And it didn’t explain, either, how his wounds had perfectly healed with only scars across his chest and arms. The strangest part was some of the scars looked completely normal. Other scars were like thick black cracks around his body.

He looked down at his hands. He didn’t even have calluses anymore. His palms were soft and smooth, though now they were stained with blood and dirt. He grimaced at the filth, but had no water to wash his hands with.

I’d kill someone just for a damn shower… He curled his fingers to hide his hideous nails, white fur trapped under most of them.

The smell of roasting meat filled the air from the rabbit he had managed to catch. Damn thing just had the bad luck of becoming dinner. He wouldn’t admit to himself that he felt a little bit guilty about it.

Katsuki let it char over the fire as he rotated the body. Good thing Shitty Hair made me do that lame boy scout course last summer. 

He frowned as he thought about his classmate. Just like at the USJ, the warp villain had managed to separate the class from each other. It was completely possible that out there somewhere, the fight was still going on. Or the villains were terrorizing what was left of civilization.

Or the villains had been beaten by some other heroes while Katsuki was stuck in stone.

He took the rabbit off the flame and ripped off one of the legs, visually inspecting the meat to ensure doneness.

He had eaten a few rabbits by now, but this one was especially stringy. His nose curled in distaste. At least it isn’t a glorified salad…

His first time trying to forage for food, he had found something he recognized. He didn’t remember the name, but he could remember that it could be eaten raw.

If you don’t mind the taste of grass.

Or the stomach ache that came from it.

While it wasn’t toxic, it was still hard to digest.

I’m going to need something other than rabbit, though. Fuck if I know how nutritious it actually is. I’m trading a stomach ache for migraines…

Though, water would help…

He had found a stream a few days ago and had spent about an hour rehydrating and bathing, but he had ultimately decided to move on from the area in favor of trying to find any other human beings or any sense of direction.

Tomorrow, I’ll have to find another water source. If I don’t by midday, I’ll go back to the stream.

His lip curled at the thought that Bakugou Katsuki was in full survival mode. Right now, there was no enemy to fight besides nature. And nature didn’t give a damn about his explosive quirk.

Tomorrow, water. Then I’m going to find Shigaraki and that warp villain and kill them.

Chapter Text

Rain poured down over the forest as Senku walked away from the scene of his own murder, his flag waving proudly on his back as he ventured alone to search for the source of the campfire smoke.

At least the rain was warm and gave him the opportunity to collect water in a pouch he had made from the organ of the same deer he had made his clothes from. 

He kept moving forward, collecting water as he passed by leaves that were pooling from the rain.

This area is full of dogwood trees. But none of them are bearing fruit. They should be in season. He observed curiously. But as he took a closer look, it wasn’t that the trees had no fruit on them, but that the fruit had been plucked off the stems.

Senku held his chin in his hand. Was it an animal that plucked the fruit, or a human? If this is animal activity, the amount of berries that have been plucked means that there’s probably a large group of frugivores in the area. If it’s a human, then could it be our smoke-signaling neighbors?

The ground didn’t show any footprints or other evidence of human activity, though. So he kept traveling toward where he had originally seen the smoke.

But as he passed by one tree in particular, a sweet scent caught him off guard. He furrowed his brows at a burn mark in the tree. There’s no way possible… it can’t be. The sweet scent was definitely coming from the burn mark, though. It smells ten billion percent like nitroglycerin. Not the floral scent of sap or anything else natural. Could these people have already advanced to that level?

There were no other signs of a serious explosion, though, besides some burnt and scattered bark. This hit had to be much too precise to be an actual bomb. So where did this come from? His mind raced with possibilities from oddly-placed lightning strikes to some kind of gun with a small amount of nitroglycerin as an accelerant.

Senku looked east, peering through the trees and following a trail of similarly-burned trees.

He followed the trail to a small stream. There, he found exactly what he was looking for. Or he thought so at first.

Right on the shore of the stream were the remnants of a small fire pit. This fire is way too small to produce the amount of smoke we saw at the top of the mountain. Does that mean there’s two different people or groups in this area? 

Senku crossed the stream with a small leap. The smoke was coming from the south. I should be heading that way. He furrowed his brow at yet another burn mark in a tree. But whoever is making these marks in the trees is much more exhilarating!

The farther he followed the trail, the more evidence of human activity there was. In a bush, he found scattered rabbit bones and its hide. Intelligent enough to make bombs, Senku observed, But not the type to use every part of the animal. Unless they were saving it here for later? 

There was another fire pit not too far away. But after that, the trail stopped. There were no more burns to follow or any other clues. If the burn marks stopped after whoever this was had a meal, does that mean they’re using nitroglycerin to hunt somehow? 

He frowned. But using the resources needed to cause that much damage only to catch one measly rabbit is extremely inefficient.

Suddenly, a loud blast followed by a yell echoed through the trees. Senku ran toward the noise, tearing through the forest and hoping he wouldn’t end up blasted to bits by primitive age dynamite.

Chapter Text

“Dammit!” Katsuki yelled to no one besides the trees. His hands uncontrollably exploded with frustration.

He needed to find the stream. If he didn’t drink soon, he was certain his pounding headache and constant thirst would never go away. He would shrivel up into a mummified corpse!

I should have marked the damn trail so I could get back to it. Stupid!

He followed a vaguely western path through the trees. Above, he could see dark clouds and fog from where it was raining in the distance.  Even if I don’t find the stream there’ll at least be rainwater. But still, all this backtracking is starting to seriously piss me off. 

He was growing dizzy and his mind started to feel sluggish. Damn it… He leaned against a tree just to try to calm himself. The last thing he needed right now was to waste his nitrosweat, both in case he needed to defend himself, and because it would only exacerbate his level of dehydration even more.

The sun was beginning to set, the shadows around him growing longer and longer with each passing moment.

His vision grew blurry, but he stumbled forward anyway.

With each step, he reached out to the nearest tree to hold his balance as the world swirled around him.

Finally, though, he heard a splash under his boot. His knees gave out from under him and he landed face first in the stream. Rain cooled his overheating skin.

He slurped up the water, barely taking a second to breathe. His throat still burned, but he could feel the dizziness start to fade. The raindrops that fell across his back stopped.

Finally, he rolled over back to land. He laid on his back, the stars shining brightly above the trees. Dammit… He passed out under the night sky.

Meanwhile, Senku had followed Katsuki’s yell all the way to a group of trees and brush. The sweet smell of nitroglycerin still hovered in the air.

The sun was setting, and Senku knew he only had a sliver of daylight left. I have to find whoever this is. Think. Where could they be going? They were already at the stream not too long ago. He looked along the ground. The ground is dry now that it’s stopped raining. But there’s still a chance of footprints.

After some investigation, he found a square pattern dug into the ground. It looks like a partial print from a modern boot. But how did someone keep their shoes for 3,700 years? 

There was no way to tell if the print was pointing any specific way, but Senku soon found a twig that looked like it had been snapped under someone’s weight a few feet away.

He made his way through the darkening forest until he came to a cave that smelled like roasting meat and fire. In the middle of the cave was a firepit, pieces of rabbit meat still hanging over the leftover charcoal. 

Is this where they’re settling? He looked out to see the final minutes of sunlight. I’ll wait here. There’s a ten billion percent chance they’ll come back tonight.

But Senku waited all night, eventually ending up falling asleep by the cold fire pit.

Chapter Text

Senku woke up alone in the cave, a warm morning wind blowing through its entrance. No one came back… Does that mean they’ve moved on? 

But he remembered the loud yell from yesterday, too. Or they were hurt and couldn’t return. But I didn’t see any sign of blood or a struggle. 

He sighed and got up from the ground, cracking his sore back before going out into the misty spring sunrise.

Maybe I should go back to where I saw the signal fire. Whoever this other person was, it seems like I’ve reached a dead end.

He began traveling west again. But once he reached the stream, he heard an unnatural splash downstream.

His heart raced in excitement as he hurriedly followed the noise. Finally, he’d find this mystery nitroglycerin-wielding person and get some answers! The stream curved around a group of bushes and as he ran past, his foot collided with something on the ground.

He crashed to the dirt, flailing for a moment before a heavy weight pressed on his back. A deep, grumbling voice growled in his ear. “You tryna drown me? I’ll kill you!”

The body heat of the person above him nearly seared into his back. Senku couldn’t help but snicker at his assailant. “By the feeling of your body heat, I’d guess you only have a few days to live with that fever. But I can cure it if you tell me where you’ve gotten nitroglycerin in this stone world.” The scent filled his nose now. Every time this guy moved, the sweet smell of the explosive only got stronger.

“The hell are you talking about? Start making some damn sense or I’ll kill you.” The pressure lifted off Senku’s back. He turned to look at this newfound stranger.

He had blonde, spiky hair and piercing red eyes. What surprised Senku the most was that he was wearing what appeared to be modern clothing. His tank top had a bright orange X criss-crossing across his chest.

His skin was pale, but even though he was feverish, there was no sweat beading on his forehead like Senku would have expected. His eyes were outlined by thick black cracks from petrification and so were his arms. In between, regular scars sliced through his skin. This was a person who had seen battle, that much was obvious. 

The guy crossed his arms. “You got a problem with my nitrosweat?” His lip curled up at him meanly. “As if I give a damn about the opinion of a guy who looks like a mutated leek.”

“Nitro… sweat?” Senku blinked confusedly. Was this some kind of language barrier, or…? Though the guy seemed fluent in Japanese, he wasn’t making any sense at all.

But before any questions could be answered, the stranger’s body stuttered in place. With a weak thump, he fell limp and crashed to the ground. His face flushed pale and his muscles were quivering.

Senku asked him, “I bet you’re the one only eating rabbits, right? And those berries you were snacking on only gave you so many electrolytes to work with. You’re ten billion percent screwed if you keep eating like that.” He put his hands on his sides and looked down at him. This was someone who knew battle, yeah, but someone who knew little about survival. It was clear he hadn’t been part of the stone world for very long.

“Mind your damn business, Leekhead.” The stranger tried to stand, but his body trembled at the effort. His teeth were clenched together as the fever reddened his face.

Senku watched him shake and struggle for a moment. Whoever he was, he couldn’t just let him suffer like this whether he had precious information or not. “Give me a few minutes and don’t move. I’ll cure your dehydration, then you’re going to tell me what you mean by ‘nitrosweat’.” He dipped into the forest to gather supplies, not even bothering to look back. It was clear he wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

Katsuki had just enough energy to lay on the ground boiling with rage. He thought he had gotten himself to water in time, but apparently, it was too late to avoid the fever and weakness that came with serious dehydration.

Why the hell did I stay in that damn cave so long? His nose scrunched up in frustration. Of course rabbit meat wasn’t going to be enough to sustain me. 

The stranger’s footsteps faded away after a few moments. And who the hell is that guy? His clothes look like a hero costume, but he doesn’t seem like a Pro. Could he be an amateur? He remembered the equation written on his collar. E=MC2 

Does his quirk have to do with physics? He wondered. If that was the case, he probably had a shelter nearby that had been built by his powers. 

A few minutes later, the leekheaded stranger barged through the brush. “Oh, good. You had the sense to stay put.” He frowned down at him. “Not like you’re in any state to go anywhere.” He kneeled next to Katsuki with a drinking bladder in his hand. “Drink this. It’s a mix of stuff that’s ten billion percent packed with electrolytes.”

Katsuki squinted at him. Could he be one of those Paranormal Whatever Society thugs? Either way, I ain’t trusting this guy with some mystery drink. “I ain’t drinking your damn potion, Leekhead.”

“My name is Senku.” He scratched the inside of his ear with his pinky and gave Katsuki a bored expression. “If I wanted to poison you, I ten billion percent could. But this is just a mix of dogwood berries, water, bone marrow from the rabbits you’ve slain, and I even managed to find some wild spinach.” He shrugged, leaving the bladder on the ground. “Of course it won’t taste like Pocari Sweat or Gatorade but it’ll keep you alive for now.”

Senku turned away and quietly began picking up some twigs from around the bank of the stream, only glancing Katsuki’s way any time he tried to shift his position on the hard ground.

Katsuki made it a point to drink more from the stream, ignoring the potential poison in the drinking bladder.

It was about midday when Senku began a fire.

“The hell you lighting that up for?” Katsuki sneered, “Trying to roast me so I’ll drink this crap?” His entire body was aching and trembling now. His head pounded blindingly like ice picks driving through his skull.

“I’m hungry,” Senku answered simply. “Lucky for both of us, I can get us more than just rabbit meat.” He began setting up a spit with a few fish hanging over it. 

When the hell did he catch those? Katsuki furrowed his brow. Everything was such a blur, he must not have noticed Senku fishing for them.

“So, anyway,” Senku said while tending to their meal, “you gonna tell me more about this nitrosweat before you die of dehydration?”

“It’s my quirk. That shoulda been obvious.” Katsuki growled at him. “My sweat glands excrete a nitroglyerin-like liquid that I can use to make explosions.” Dumbass. A child coulda figured that out. 

“What are you, some super-evolved hominid?” Senku asked with a laugh. “That sounds like something out of a comic book.” His brow was raised as if he actually didn’t believe him. 

Katsuki curled his lip. If he didn’t die of dehydration first, he was almost sure the amount of annoyance Senku was wracking up in him would lead to his death by murdered brain cells. “I’m guessing your quirk has something to do with physics or science or something based on the getup. What kind of costume is that anyway? No wonder you’re not a pro-hero I’ve heard of.”

Senku laughed again “Good one! You know, I almost believed you there.” He said, “Superpowers don’t exist, even in this science fiction world we’re living in where the entire population has been turned to stone.”

Katsuki snarled at him, just barely able to bite back his frustration. “Don’t tell me you’re some kinda quirkless loser making things up. The hell are you talking about? Those stone statues must have been built by some kind of ancient civilization or whatever.”

Senku stopped laughing, his face dropping into a serious look. “You really don’t know, do you? I guess not everyone knew they were petrified. But how did you get revived? And what’s the real answer behind the nitroglycerin? I know the smell. I used to use it a lot in rocketry.”

“I’m tellin’ ya, that’s my damn quirk!” Katsuki insisted. “And I’d show you just how far I could blast you if I had any sweat left!”

Senku looked him up and down as he spun the fish belly-up on the spit. “I guess we’re at an impasse then. I won’t get my answer unless you hydrate. And you won’t hydrate without the medicine I made.” He smirked at him. “You’re going to have to prove to me you really have these super powers, Dynamite Guy.”

Katsuki grimaced at the nickname. “It’s Great Explosion Murder God: Dynamight.”

“Huh?” Senku was, once again, apparently struck by the oddness of his response.

“My hero name is Great Explosion Murder God: Dynamight. But you wouldn’t know that unless you were on the battlefield with Shigaraki. So how do you know that?” Katsuki glared at him as if he could burn him to a crisp with just his eyes. 

“What?” Senku said, his eyes blank with confusion. “I just called you dynamite because you keep calling me Leekhead. I don’t know anything about this pro-hero stuff.” 

“Right,” Katsuki said sarcastically. “Don’t expect me to trust you if you’re keeping everything a secret.” But his hand was already around the bladder. He’s right, though. No matter how much I drink from the stream, I’m not getting any better. Damn it…

He bitterly threatened Senku, “Once I’m hydrated and can sweat again, I’ll blast you to hell until you tell me what’s really going on.”

Senku rested his arms across his knees as he sat by the fire. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I have no secrets, seriously. I never lie about science.” He said. “3,700 years ago, the entire world’s human and sparrow population were petrified by this strange green light. That’s the truth, like it or not.”

“Quit pullin’ my damn leg.” Katsuki’s nose scrunched up in disdain. If he had to hear one more damn lie from this guy….

“I’ll prove it to you.” Senku offered,his tone turning much more serious. “But I can’t if you die. So just drink up already, would ya? Food’ll be ready soon, too.”

Katsuki snorted in frustration, finally lifting the bladder to his lips and drinking its chunky, slimy, gritty contents. Disgusting… but do I have any damn choice? 

Senku served the grilled fish and dogwood berries on large leaves they could eat on like plates.

Katsuki managed to sit up, picking at the fish with roughly-carved chopsticks Senku had given him. “Where am I exactly?”

“Somewhere in Japan.” Senku answered. “From what I can tell, just a few miles from the southern coast.”

“Japan’s a wasteland.” Katsuki argued. “There were no trees left when Shigaraki destroyed everything. How do you explain that, huh?” He gestured toward the forest. There was no way they were still in Japan.

“Shiga-who?” Senku even tilted his head this time with another question. 

“You must have seen something on the news before evacuating.” Katsuki nearly broke the chopsticks between his fingers as he squeezed them too hard from frustration. “That’s why you’re hiding in the woods, right? To get away from the villains.”

“Seriously, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Senku frowned, chewing at several bites of fish as he thought hard enough that Katsuki swore he saw a vein pop under his forehead. “Okay, what year was it the last you remember?”

“2153. Obviously.”

“But that would mean you were never petrified. Unless…” Senku furrowed his brow. “That quirk thing you’ve been talking about, what is it exactly?”

“You know what a damn quirk is.”

“Assume I don’t.” Senku insisted. His eyes were clear and focused now, as if they lasered in on a mystery he wanted to solve. But the only mystery Katsuki could see was the question of where they really were, and what he should do next to make sure Shigaraki wasn’t still a threat. That was nothing Senku should be concerned with. “You seem like a guy who hates ignorance, right? So teach me about whatever it is you’re talking about.”

Katsuki clicked his teeth together. “A quirk is a genetic mutation that gives people powers. Like I have nitrosweat. And I’m assuming yours has to do with that equation on your clothes. So what, are you some kinda super genius or somethin’?” 

“I know this sounds crazy…” Senku looked up at Katsuki. “But I don’t think you’re from this world. There’s no such thing as quirks here. Not even 3,700 years ago.”

Katsuki was silent for several minutes. He hated how much things were starting to make sense if he thought about it like that. “That warp villain…” His voice trailed off a little. What Senku was saying was impossible, wasn’t it? No… impossibilities were spare in a superhuman society. He didn’t have much of a reason to think Kurogiri’s quirk couldn’t warp people to an entirely different timeline or universe. Especially if the multiverse theory was actually true. “If you’re right and not just messing with me…” He asked, “So you’re sayin’ we’re the only humans not petrified. or what?”

“Well,” Senku counted on his fingers for demonstration. “There’s me and two friends I revived. Then there’s Tsukasa and whoever made some signal fires a few days ago. So at least six humans left alive.”

“You revived them? You mean you can reverse the petrification?” Katsuki wasn’t sure why he was just going along with this story now, but on the other hand, there wasn’t much he could do to argue against it, either.

“Well…” Senku said, “I could, but I need nitric acid… which I could synthesize from nitroglycerin if you had some…” He cheekily asked, prodding his elbow toward him, “What, you have someone you want revived? Who could you know in this world?”

“All of my classmates.” Katsuki admitted. “Probably some pros, too, if they made it here. We all fell through the same warp gate. They have to be somewhere in this world.” Even if this guy was an enemy, that much would have been obvious, anyway.

“So let me get this straight,” Senku pointed two fingers upward toward the sky in thought. “You and your classmates, who are from another universe or timeline entirely where people have superpowers, fell through some kind of warp gate at the exact moment the population in my universe or timeline got turned to stone? That’s a hell of a coincidence.” 

“You’re tellin’ me.” Katsuki rolled his eyes. Of course he and his classmates would have that kind of shit luck. That factor almost made the whole thing even more believable. 

Senku continued to think out loud, “From what I can tell, the only way to get revived without the miracle fluid is to stay conscious while petrified and be exposed to natural sources of nitric acid.” He said, “Therefore, either your classmates are the ones sending signal fires, I haven’t come across your classmates yet, or, you’re the only one who stayed awake for thousands of years and met the environmental conditions needed in order to be unpetrified right now.”

Katsuki scoffed at the memory. It wasn’t even like he was trying to stay awake the whole time. Nor did he know how much time had passed. All he could think about the whole time was breaking out of whatever his body had been trapped in and finally defeating the villains.

“So, you know your classmates best.” Senku leaned back on his hands, the bones of his fish set to the side. “Anyone you think would have stayed awake the whole time?”

“No,” Katsuki lied. “None of those losers could have stayed awake that long.” But the truth was, one green-haired, freckle-faced student crossed his mind. I still don’t trust this guy yet. Especially if he’s asking about Deku.

“That’s too bad,” Senku tilted his head up toward the sky. “We could really use the manpower to build the Kingdom of Science.”

“What are you, then? Some scientist?” Katsuki asked, swirling the last bit of the electrolyte drink in the bottom of the drinking bladder, mostly to procrastinate tasting any more of the vile stuff.

But he had to admit, even if it was a placebo effect, his headache was starting to go down.

“Eh,” Senku shrugged. “I’m no Einstein or Tesla, I’m just a guy who’s passionate about science.”

“So you’re a wannabe.” Katsuki chuckled. “Hah, so this might actually be poison then if you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.”

Senku waved his fist in the air. “Hey, I never said that! I just meant it’s not my job or anything!”

“Oh, so you’re not even employable, then?” Katsuki kept prodding at the guy, not for any other reason than to laugh at his reaction.

Senku paused his fist-waving as he came to a sudden realization. “So if I’m right about you being from another world, do you even know who Einstein and Tesla are?”

“Tch.” Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Of course I do! They’re some old geezers who figured out science crap way before quirks became a thing.” He pointed to Senku’s collar. “Einstein did that equation.”

Senku looked down at the equation he had written in his own blood on his collar. “Yeah, you’re right.” He leaned forward curiously. “So, you gotta tell me something. How did science advance in a world where people have superpowers?”

Katsuki shrugged. “Well, it’s not like everyone has a quirk. About 20% of the population is what we call quirkless.” Katsuki leaned his weight against his hand, a little more relaxed now. It’s not like this is anything someone from the League or whatever wouldn’t know. “So technology still advanced, it’s not like everything stopped when quirks started popping up.”

“Did they end up inventing flying cars in your era?” Senku asked, his voice half-dripping with sarcasm, but Katsuki could tell he was genuinely curious.

“Nah, cars have been on four wheels since the 1800s or whatever.” Katsuki didn’t tell him about all the cool cars the pro-heroes had, though it was true none of them flew around in the air.

“Huh. Makes me wonder what’s actually different in your world besides the superpowers.” Senku stretched his arms out. “That’s it! You’ve gotta tell me everything! You’ll be pretty weak for a few days so it’s not like you’re going anywhere. I’ll stick around to make sure you don’t die or whatever.”

Katsuki squinted at him impatiently. He didn’t have time to recover! He had to keep going no matter what. “There’s no way in hell I’m sticking around here for a few days. I’m gonna find Shigaraki and blast him to hell.”

“Fine, tough guy.” Senku said. “Just try to get to the cave where you came from by yourself. If you can do that, I’ll whip up another batch of the Senku Electrolyte Special and we’ll get a move on in the morning!”

“The hell do you mean ‘we’?” Katsuki snarled.

“Well, if this Shigaraki guy is some kind of big bad villain, we’ll have to defeat him with science! I’ve already got to deal with Tsukasa, no way am I going to sit around worrying about some other scary dude.” Senku asked, “So what’s up with this Shigaraki guy, anyway?”

Katsuki grit his teeth again. Not just because he couldn’t trust Senku, but also because it was just straight up annoying to have to explain basic things to him.

But he eventually gave in. “Fine, I’ll tell you everything about my universe.” He sneered. “But then you gotta tell me everything you know about the petrification and this world so I can find my damn classmates.”

“Sounds like a deal to me!” Senku grinned.

And for the next few hours, they sat by the fire and the babbling stream, swapping stories and information about the worlds they came from.

Chapter Text

After a day of camping out by the stream and taking note of new smoke signals coming from several miles away, Senku decided it was best to find shelter so Katsuki could better recover.

Though he was doing a little better, the trek to the cave was enough to completely wipe out the rest of his energy. By the time Senku came back with another batch of the electrolyte drink, he was dead asleep.

Senku unrolled his makeshift bedroll and laid it next to the crackling fire. As the light danced over Katsuki’s face, Senku couldn’t help but stare.

Maybe it was the fact that he hadn’t seen many other humans lately, or maybe it was the hypothesis that he was actually from another world, but he didn’t look like anyone else he’d ever seen before. Every feature on his face was expressive, even if it was subtle.

And his blonde hair didn’t exactly scream that he was a native. Was he only part Japanese, or could it be a trait that had evolved into the Japanese population in his era? Then again, for all Senku knew, all Japanese people could have blonde hair in his universe. (Or timeline, or however the warp quirk had worked.)

Senku’s mind churned with curiosity. But mostly, he wondered, What if that warp quirk he was talking about is what caused the petrification somehow? The coincidence of landing in a universe at the exact same time as what was basically a mass extinction event was highly improbable. But what if somehow opening a gate across spacetime did something that no known science could explain? Senku chuckled at himself for that last part, though.

No… one thing I’ve learned is that science can explain everything, even in situations that seem entirely fictional.

I still haven’t seen his quirk in action yet. But somehow, I believe him. I can’t think of any other way a guy like him would have something as advanced as nitroglycerin.

Senku settled down by the fire, thinking about this new development until he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

The cave’s ceiling swirled around Katsuki’s vision as he woke with a start, suddenly feeling someone’s eyes on him. Oh. Right. The Leekhead’s still hanging around.

Katsuki clenched his jaw in annoyance. Wherever he went, no matter what universe, there would always be annoying green-haired extras attached at his hip.

“Drink up.” Senku’s voice echoed through the cave. “You look like you’re about to die. Can’t have that happen before I get ahold of your nitrosweat so I can study it.”

Katsuki looked over at the bladder, his stomach reeling at the sight of the green, slimy stew. “As if it worked the first time.” Katsuki grumbled, his voice barely a wheeze from how dry his throat was.

“You made the climb up here, didn’t you? You nearly drowned yourself in that river because you could barely stand before. Besides, hydration isn’t your only problem. I’m cooking up a storm just for you, Dynamite Guy. You need to get your strength up.”

“It’s-”

“I know, Murder whatever God Dynamight. You got a name that doesn’t take ten billion years to say, or what?” Senku kept busy with his hands as he talked, fiddling with something that looked like twine and a stick in his hand. Over the fire, a fish and a chunk of meat was roasting on a spit.

Katsuki clicked his teeth together. If he was called Dynamite Guy again, he would have to choke Senku half to death. “I’m Bakugou Katsuki. Don’t you dare forget.” He tried to sit up, but the pounding in his head knocked him back down. The best he could manage was an awkward lean to the side to drink the electrolyte potion. “Can’t you make this stuff taste any better?”

“If I had some more ingredients as electrolyte-packed as the spinach, I could replace it with something that pairs better with the berries.” Senku said. “I’m no culinary expert, but I could probably add some extra glucose to make it sweeter, but some studies suggest that too much sugar can negate the rehydrating effects of electrolytes, so it would be pointless.”

Katsuki looked down at his useless hands. If he didn’t get his quirk back soon, he was pretty sure he was going to lose his mind. There was just too much at stake for him to be laying around.

 If he was awake, that meant Izuku was probably awake, too. And if Shigaraki and Izuku found each other and clashed in this world, especially without a floating UA-sponsored island to prevent destruction, then they’d just have to deal with a wasteland again.

And there were other villains to deal with, too.

“Who’s Tsukasa?” Katsuki suddenly remembered Senku mentioning someone else that sounded like trouble.

Senku frowned, the fire casting shadows over his face as he turned the spit. “He’s a guy who’s been on a murder spree since I revived him. He wants to build an army where only the young and strong survive.” He said. “He’s been crushing the petrified people so they won’t get revived. That’s murder as far as I’m concerned.”

“Great.” Katsuki couldn’t help but imagine the worst case scenario. “If he and Shigaraki meet, they’re either going to have a hell of a fight, or become allies. I have to stop Shigaraki as soon as possible.”

“Tell me, Katsuki.” Senku leaned his chin on his knuckles. “You definitely weren’t the one who responded to our signal on the mountain, are you?”

“What signal?” Katsuki wrinkled his nose. “The hell are you on about?” Since when were we on a first name basis, anyway? 

“I figured. You were too busy helplessly wandering around the forest to notice the giant explosions. Unless…” Senku looked at Katsuki’s hands. “Nevermind.”

Katsuki rolled his eyes at him, taking the last grueling gulp of rehydration fuel. 

Senku leaned back and looked up at the ceiling of the cave. “You never told me what’s up with Shigaraki and why he’s so murderous. You really think he’d side with Tsukasa?”

“Probably.” Katsuki said. “He’s a villain who hates hero society. Thinks heroes are greedy and just do it for fame. But he’s unpredictable as hell. Either way, he’s damn good at gathering allies to get them to do what he wants.”

“Sounds like we have to make sure they never meet up, then.” Senku said. “Tell me, do you think you could beat him? Or will you need help from your classmates?”

Katsuki watched the crackling fire dance below the rotating meat. “I need to save their sorry asses first. It’d be just like Shigaraki to…” Katsuki nearly leapt up from where he was laying as he realized the biggest problem.

If Izuku or any of his other classmates hadn’t woken up from the stone yet, and Shigaraki figured out what the statues are, and found statues that he recognized… there’d be nothing stopping him from turning them into dust. “I need to go.” He pushed himself to stand, his knees wobbling and the whole cave spinning around him.

“You sure you can survive out there like that?” Senku asked him, though his expression implied he knew the answer. “You look like you’re gonna pass-”

Katsuki’s body failed him, crumpling under his own weight. If not for Senku catching him, he would have hit his head on the cave floor. But instead he landed on something bony, Senku’s thin arms just barely cradling him.

“I can’t breathe!” Senku wheezed underneath him. Katsuki’s head was pressed right against his chest. “What are you, ten billion pounds of muscle?!”

Katsuki exhaustedly rolled off of him, his stomach heaving with nausea. The bitter taste of the rehydration fuel and stomach acid crept up his throat. “Dammit! Dammit!” Katsuki garbled through his vomit as green splattered everywhere along the floor of the cave. 

“I don’t think you’re going anywhere.” Senku crossed his arms. “Trying to push yourself in the stone world without doctors, even if you really do have some kind of superpower, you’re just asking for a death sentence. As far as I can tell, you’re still human.” 

Katsuki huffed in frustration as he managed to lie back down by the quietly crackling fire. “Don’t tell me what to do, Leekhead.” Though he stayed right where he was, just gasping for air and praying he’d be able to stand soon enough.

His body was weak, and Senku was the only one around that could make sure he survived. At this point, he had no choice but to try to trust him and just rest until he could get back on his feet.

Chapter Text

A few days had passed since Katsuki and Senku had made it back to the cave. Senku kept giving him his hydrating formula, hunting down food, and keeping the fire going. Every once in a while, he sent smoke signals to whoever might be out there. Though the risk of signaling Tsukasa himself was a big chance to take, it would be worth it if it meant finding other people.

More smoke signals were sent in response from far away. Too far for Senku to leave Katsuki behind.

While they waited for Katsuki to recover, they had time to talk about everything. Quirks, the history of All For One and Shigaraki- though Bakugou left out any details about One For All- and the warp quirk that had brought Katsuki here.

In return, Senku told him more about Tsukasa, their journey to find gunpowder, and even Senku’s brief death.

Katsuki couldn’t help but shiver a little. He still remembered what it was like to die. His heart had stopped beating, his body stopped feeling, and his consciousness was pulled from his body like a puppet on a string. It actually wasn’t so different from when he was petrified. 

As he watched Senku cook another fish, Katsuki asked, “So you’re really going to revive everyone? That’s all you want to do?”

“That’s the gist, yeah.” Senku smiled a little. “Restore humanity and all of the science and technology we left behind 3,700 years ago.”

Katsuki snickered at him a little. There was no way he could pull that off. “In one lifetime? Good luck.” 

But Senku shook his head. “Nah, not just my lifetime. But 7 billion lifetimes, all at once. If everyone pitches in, we can advance at lightspeed.”

“What a pipe dream.” Katsuki couldn’t even imagine what that kind of future could look like in the stone world. “As if you could get that many people to cooperate. In my world, there were always villains who wanted to take advantage of people.”

“If you count Tsukasa’s murder spree as villainous, then there are villains in the stone world, too.” Senku countered. “But the idea of taking them all down doesn’t move me one millimeter. The Kingdom of Science will have a place for everyone.”

Katsuki stared at him for a while. “So your plan is to save everyone no matter what.” He clenched his jaw a bit. “Sounds like someone else I know.” He turned his gaze toward the dim light of the cave entrance, the sun far below the horizon now. “Once I’m healed up, I’m going to find my classmates. Then you’re going to revive them if they’re still statues. Deal?”

Senku smiled, the crackling fire between them giving his face creepy looking shadows. “Sounds like a deal to me. The Kingdom of Science will revive all seven billion people who belong to this world, and the people belonging to yours.”

Katsuki still wasn’t entirely sure he trusted this guy. But now less so that he was with the enemy, and more so that he had a hefty goal that seemed impossible to accomplish. And when a person spends all their time chasing useless dreams, Katsuki was certain that they’d be blind to everything else around them.

But that was Senku’s problem. Right now, Katsuki only cared about two things; revive his classmates, and then find Shigaraki and any other villains and defeat them.

Chapter Text

Eventually, Katsuki was able to walk around and even help Senku hunt and fish for short distances. Thanks to Senku’s scientific knowledge of diet and nutrition, and Katsuki’s ridiculously resilient body, he was almost completely fine in record time.

And now, Senku and Katsuki stood outside the cave’s entrance to say their goodbyes. Senku said, “I’ve gotta find whoever’s been lighting those signal fires. It’s been a few days since I saw one last. Hopefully they haven’t gone into hiding. You gather your classmates, and if they’re still petrified I’ll figure out a way to revive them. The Kingdom of Science can use anyone we can get.”

“Yeah,” Katsuki looked out to the swaths of trees around them. “This is gonna be a pain in the ass. But if Shigaraki destroys everything again, it’s game over for real this time. There’s no way we’d be given another chance. I don’t plan on wasting this one.”

Senku smiled, his words full of hope and optimism. “Well, I’ll keep an eye out for ya. But if we don’t see each other in six months, let’s agree to meet back here at dawn in exactly 181 days. Sound good?”

“Sure.” Katsuki scoffed. “But I plan on beating him in a week, tops. If my nitrosweat can revive my classmates, we’ll take care of the villain problem and figure out how to go home.”

“Yeah, sure.” Senku turned around, giving him a small wave. “See you in 181 days, Dynamite Guy.” The Kingdom of Science flag was once again waving at his back as the breeze pushed them forward, and duty pulled them apart.

They walked away from each other without another word. As Katsuki travelled deeper into the forest, his shoulders started to feel heavy. 

The truth was, there was nothing that could have prepared him from the sharp, cold loneliness of a world without other people in it. His days before this were usually filled with the boisterousness of the dorms, or his mother’s loud mouth, or the sound of young kids playing on the streets.

But now the world just felt empty. There was no one to save, and nothing to win. At least until Katsuki found what he was looking for.

All he could do was wander cluelessly through the forest, hunt and fish using the skills he acquired through a quick tutorial from Senku, and do his best to survive and search for his allies and enemies.

Chapter Text

After a while- what felt like forever to Katsuki- of searching for people from his timeline, Katsuki finally found signs of human activity along the muddy earth, still wet from the morning storm.

Katsuki examined the set of footprints he had found. Whoever this is, they’re going barefoot. That means they either haven’t seen shoes yet or don’t know how to make ‘em. He looked around. The footprints are going toward that village I saw a few days ago. Are they just from those islands?

No, that wouldn’t make sense. The guards outside had been wearing shoes. So… who had left these prints behind? The Leekhead’s friends? Probably not. The size of the feet that made these tracks were slightly bigger than the tracks Katsuki left behind wearing his boots. Whoever this was, they were probably a very large person. Though the footprints weren’t very deep, either, which suggested they were either light or nimble, or both.

Katsuki heard a sudden explosion coming from the village followed by a panicked shriek. 

“Run! This village already has guns!”

Guns, huh? Katsuki blasted through the trees, leaping from branch to branch with his explosions propelling him forward. In this damn stone world, where there’s a sign of modern technology, that Leekhead has got to be nearby. What the hell is he up to?

When Katsuki burst through the brush, he noticed exactly two things:

Senku standing at the edge of an island on the other side of a bridge and holding a literal smoking gun, and a guy in a purple robe that was running away from him. “Hyoga! It’s not safe for you, either!” He was yelling toward a tall man with a spear and a mask over his face.

Must be one of the boss guys Tsukasa recruited. That’s who I’m going after first!

Senku tensed as he noticed another person tear through the bushes toward the bridge, the shadows of the night obscuring their figure. “Who is that?” He watched with surprise as something bright flashed from his palms followed by a loud rumble. But with another explosion, his silhouette was lit up enough to show his blonde hair and orange clothes. 

Senku knew exactly who this was.

But he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, either. Explosions came from his palms as he confronted Hyoga head-on, screaming insults and elegantly dodging Hyoga’s every attack as if it was as easy as child’s play.

“Another outsider?” Magma loudly yelled and cracked his knuckles. “I’ll take care of him!”

“No!” Senku agrued. “We need to get Kinro off the bridge while Hyoga is distracted!”

“On it!” Kohaku grabbed Ginro by the shirt collar and pulled him along the bridge with her. “Let’s go, Ginro!”

“So I don’t have to kill my brother?!” Ginro exclaimed as he was dragged off. “But that guy is scary! What are we gonna do? And who’s making fire with their hands?! This is far too much to handle, how are you staying so calm, Kohaku?”

Senku followed them swiftly, digging into his bag along the way. If Kinro was going to survive a stab wound like that in the stone world, science would have to act quickly.

He glance back to where Katsuki had been fighting as the noise from the scuffle started to fade away, but the flashes and explosions were now coming from behind the treeline.

It’s been 182 days. Damn, he must have come looking for me when I didn’t show up. But the Grand Bout was more important.

Senku poured medicine down Kinro’s throat and applied it directly to the wound while Ginro blabbered over his body. In the back of his mind, though, he was listening to the sounds of yelling and explosions, the scent of nitroglycerin heavy in the air.

“Kohaku. I’ve got an important mission for you. You’re the fastest out of all of us, but how are your stealth skills?”

Kohaku pulled out her knives from their sheaths. “I’ve been on plenty of covert missions. Hunting in this forest means you have to be stealthier than your prey!” She grinned. “Want me to follow them to their base and take out the long haired man like a trained assassin?”

“No! There’s no way that would happen!” Senku yelled in exasperation. “I need you to go find the guy who saved our asses and bring him back here. His name’s Katsuki. Think you can do that?”

“I got a good look at his face.” Kohaku said. “I’ll find him for you, Senku. Dead or alive!”

“Alive only! He’s an ally! Jeez.” Senku groaned. “Stop acting like you’re eager to kill someone already!”

“I got it, Senku! Leave it to me!” Kohaku rushed out to the forest.

Chapter Text

Katsuki had lost sight of his enemies a while ago after the boss guy’s spear had broken. It had suddenly split in half and a guy in a purple robe had been blamed for its destruction. Though Katsuki didn’t care at all for the enemy’s drama, under the darkness of night and in an unfamiliar part of the woods, it was easy for them to slip away after that. The guy in purple had disappeared in a cloud of white flower petals.

He followed their trail for a few miles, but it had eventually gone cold. So instead, Katsuki made his way back to his makeshift camp to make sure they hadn’t run into the few statues of his classmates he had gathered up.

In a clearing not too far from the village, he had set up a pretty nice base for himself. There was a small lean-to shelter, a firepit in the middle, and the statue forms of Kaminari and Sero laid down on the ground underneath a protective wooden structure.

As he checked over his stuff, Katsuki stiffened when he felt the presence of someone approach him from behind. He turned on his heel and let explosions pop from his palms. “Who’s there? Come out, coward!”

A blonde girl in a blue dress leapt down from one of the trees encircling his camp. “Relax. I’m on your side. I think.” She said, one hand on her hip. “Senku asked me to find you and take you to the village.”

Katsuki grit his teeth at that. All he had found were two of his classmates. And while both Kaminari and Sero’s quirks would be monumentally helpful in this situation, he couldn’t afford to stop looking for Izuku and Shigaraki at the very least. For all he knew, they could be fighting somewhere right now. It wasn’t like he had a news station or cell phone to get information from. 

“Tell the Leekhead I ain’t ready to be his guinea pig yet. I need more time.” Katsuki turned away from her. “But if those guys show up near your village again, I’ll kill them.”

“Okay…” The girl sounded confused. “That’s pretty intense, but I promised him I’d bring you back.”

Katsuki grumbled a bit, but the acrid scent of smoke interrupted their conversation. The girl turned in the direction of the village. “Is that fire?!” The treetops were lit up with yellow and orange.

The girl took off through the woods, leaving Katsuki with a choice. Stay and keep guard of his petrified classmates, or go on a damn rescue mission.

Katsuki was already blasting his way through the forest before he could even think too hard. If the guy who was supposed to revive everyone died in some stupid fire, then there’d be no point to anything he had already done so far. 

When he got there, the sun was rising with the roar of the flames. The primitive huts around the village were burning down, children and elders following the evacuation routes guided by the younger villagers. 

In the middle of it all, he found Senku directing everyone to leave their homes behind. Katsuki’s boots scraped against the dirt as he landed next to him. “Those bastards ran off. Are there any more of ‘em here?”

Senku’s eyes were wide with fear. “They didn’t come for a fight. It was all just a distraction! We have to get everyone out safely.” He directed a few more slower elders toward the bridge.

Katsuki grit his teeth. He’d much rather chase down the enemy that did this than rescue the helpless people of the village when there were already enough hands they could reach out to, but without a trail to follow, he couldn’t just stand around, either!

“Go follow the villagers.” Senku said. “Make sure they’re not attacked on the way out.” 

Katsuki’s palms lit up with small explosions. “You’re lucky I’m here. I’ll blast away anyone who tries to get close!” He took off into the air toward the evacuation route.

The early morning went on as Katsuki flew through the trees, keeping a close eye on both the forest around them and the exhausted, scared villagers below him. He kept his distance, though, since the explosions he was setting off only made the villagers more uneasy.

Eventually the villagers settled around what he heard someone call the science shed. They murmured to themselves worriedly, but the man who seemed to be the chief of the village stood tall amongst them. He was giving the villagers a speech about how they could always rebuild and that they should celebrate that everyone got out alive.

Katsuki didn’t pay much attention to what was being said, though. Instead, he kept watch on the treeline from the branches of a pine where he couldn’t be seen.

It was clear that strangers made this crowd nervous. And though Katsuki didn’t really care what the villagers thought, he knew that they were dealing with enough already. Might as well not spook them even more.

At least in his old life, people would see his costume and know he was a hero. Here, his clothes were an oddity, and in the stone world, oddities were dangerous. He could pick up that much from what the villagers were saying when they saw him, despite the blonde girl in the short dress telling them that Senku trusted him as an ally.

So Katsuki continued to keep his distance for a few days. He stayed close enough to the new settlement of the village to listen to them working, fishing, and gathering materials, but he continued his routine of searching for his classmates and hunting for food nearby.

The villagers were easy to recognize whenever he ran into them. Most of them wore blue clothing and white rope tied somewhere around them. At least Katsuki could tell they weren’t the enemy by just a glance.

One night, as he settled down to start grilling some fish he had caught, its scales shiny in the light from the fire, he heard the underbrush crackling behind him. He turned around to see who was coming, fully expecting one of the men he had chased off before to attack him while his guard was down.

But the person was neither man nor enemy. Instead, the one who came out of the bushes was a child with a melon on her head and a tied sack in her hand. “Senku told me to give you this.” She lifted the bag to him. “I’m Suika, by the way. Thank you so much for helping us before!”

Katsuki furrowed his brow as he took the bag from her. When he opened it, he found a sharp hunting knife, a corked jar full of some kind of berry jam, and- to his loathing- a deerskin bladder full of the electrolyte drink Senku had used to nurse him back to health before.

“Damn that Leekhead…” Katsuki muttered. “You tell him I’m just fine on my own. I don’t need his damn pity.”

Suika rocked back and forth on her feet. “I’m not sure I’m allowed to repeat that…” She mumbled, but then more excitedly said, “You should come tell him that yourself! I’m sure the others will want to thank you for what you did, too!”

Katsuki rolled his eyes at her. “Isn’t everyone in your village afraid of me or some shi-” He had to remind himself he was talking to a child. “Or something?”

“Well, kinda.” Suika said, fidgeting a little with her fingers as she spoke. “But we were scared of Senku at first, too. And now he’s the Chief of the village! He saved our lives and helped us a lot, so we trust him now.”

Katsuki glanced back toward where the villagers had been staying. He could see the dim torchlight from here. If Senku had already established himself as the chief of a whole village, things were starting to look a little more promising for his grand ideal to revive as many people as he could. “You should go back.” Katsuki warned Suika. “It’s dangerous to be in the forest at night by yourself. For a little kid.”

“I’ve lived here my whole life! I know the forest.” Despite her protest, though, Suika yawned. “But I’m getting tired, so I’ll go home if you promise to meet everyone in the morning!” She held her pinky up to him expectedly. 

“A pinky promise?” Katsuki wanted to laugh, but even though he couldn’t see Suika’s eyes, he could tell how serious she was being. He groaned a little out of annoyance as he wrapped his pinky around hers. “Sure, kid. See ya tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

The next morning, Katsuki stood at the edge of the village encampment with a deer slung over his back.

The days he spent watching the villagers work to the bone made it clear that they’d be powerful allies in the stone world. And without Senku, even if he found all of his classmates, he had no way to revive them, anyway. So it made sense to keep the promise he made to Suika last night.

Besides, it was getting boring as hell without anyone else around. So he stepped into the clearing while keeping a tight grip on the deer’s legs as he walked into the camp.

All work stopped as the villagers stared at him. They waited for him to make a move, and Katsuki waited for them to make a move.

It only took two seconds for that move to be made. Spearheads were pointed at him, one by the spearman with the glasses, and the other by a trembling blonde. 

Katsuki’s first instinct was to fight. To blast them away and show them he wasn’t someone to be messed with. But he took a breath to calm himself. 

3,700 years ago, he had lost one war. He wasn’t about to lose another one now just because he wanted to prove himself to anyone. 

“I’m here to see Senku.” Katsuki kept his voice as level as he could. “We might have a way to revive people without the miracle cave.” He gently slid the deer off of his back. “Feed your village with this. It’s not much, but winter is coming fast this year. You need all the help you can get, right?”

The two spearmen glanced at each other before the one with glasses nodded his approval. “He’s in there.” He pointed to a wooden building with the words science lab painted on the front.

Katsuki left the deer for someone else to handle and walked into the lab. There, Senku and the other nerd, Chrome, were in a passionate discussion about cotton candy and gold around an array of shelves filled with glass tubes and sparrow statues.

Senku lifted his head when Katsuki came in. “So, you finally decided to join us, Dynamite Guy?”

“I guess so.” Katsuki grumbled. Senku was looking just a bit too excited to start poking and prodding at him like a science experiment. “My nitroglycerin sweat, you really think you can make some revival fluid from it?”

“I don’t see why not.” Senku shrugged. “But it’ll take a lot of experimentation. Sit here and let me see your hand.”

Katsuki sat at the bench across from him and leaned against one hand impatiently as Senku inspected his other palm with a primitive-looking magnifying glass. “Are you done yet?” He complained, even though it had only been a few seconds.

“No way. I’m not stopping until I figure out your biology. The more I know, the better I can collect your precious nitrosweat.”

But Katsuki’s patience was, as usual, thin. “I can tell you everything you need to know. So quit holding my hand like a grade school girlfriend!” He tried to pull away, but Senku held on.

Senku insisted, “As much as I’m not a fan of getting handsy, I still need a basic understanding of your anatomy. So spill it already. What’s the real deal with your nitrosweat? I’ve seen it up close now, but I still don’t know how you do it.” He kept inspecting his palm with the magnifying glass as he listened to Katsuki’s answer.

“I sweat a substance similar to nitroglycerin from my palms and spark it at will.” His quirk was simple. There were no exceptions, no rules, not like some other quirks. It was just a natural offensive emitter quirk.

“That’s it?” Senku’s expression dropped in disappointment. “Seriously? That explains almost nothing. Besides, if your body is pumped full of nitroglycerin, it doesn’t make sense that you had heart surgery. That’s basically a cure-all for most heart conditions.” Senku pointed at his chest. 

He must have seen the scars at some point in the cave, probably while Katsuki was washing his clothes after getting them all dirty from living in the wilderness. He hadn’t asked then, and he sure as hell didn’t expect Senku to bring it up now.

Anger bubbled up in Katsuki’s chest and he tore away his hand. “That’s none of your business! We’re done here.” He stood up sharply, nearly knocking over some glass instruments on the table.

“Hold on.” Senku held a hand up to stop Katsuki from leaving. “The Kingdom of Science thrives on the truth. That’s how science works, using known facts to discover something new. If you want to revive your classmates, I need to know every detail about your life in that other universe. I need to know the physics, the chemistry, everything. You already told me about the villains and stuff, but that doesn’t explain the basics.”

Katsuki froze for a moment, the hand Senku had been holding and curiously caressing every crevice of twitched in annoyance. He thought of the frozen faces of the classmates he had already found, but there was still no sign of Izuku Midoriya nor Shigaraki or other villains.

And maybe no one else had been taken to this universe or timeline or whatever it was in particular, but he was certain that at least Izuku was out there somewhere, either alive or in statue form. After all, they were only inches apart from each other when the warp gates opened.

So where the hell was he?

“Fine.” Katsuki turned on his heel. “But I want something in return.”

Senku grinned confidently. “You name it. If I can use science and your nitrosweat to create more miracle fluid, I’ll have plenty of manpower to make anything you want.”

Katsuki sat down across from Senku. “That brain a’ yours. It any good at geography?” He squinted at him, waiting for an answer. The guy was smart, sure, but he couldn’t assume he was good at everything. He had to have some kind of weakness, a lack of knowledge somewhere. There’s no way someone could master every single science topic, right?

But Senku laughed a little as if what he was asking was child’s play. “Of course it is! Geography is science!” He shook his head. “But I’m afraid if you’re looking for any particular landmarks, they’re probably gone by now. If they even existed in this world.”

“That’s fine. I’m looking for something I know is in this world.” Katsuki asked, “One of my classmates. If he’s a statue out there somewhere, you think you could find him?”

Senku rubbed his chin. “Well, that depends. If we knew where he was when he was petrified, I could estimate where his statue ended up. Assuming Tsukasa didn’t get to him first. Remember, he’s recruiting strong young people. If your classmates are ridiculously built like you are, he might revive them.”

“Tch,” Katsuki clicked his tongue. “I wouldn’t worry about that too much. On the outside, he looks like a shrimp. But I have no idea where he would have been petrified.”

“Well, what was the last thing you remember? If you saw any landmarks, maybe he was nearby.” Senku inquired.

Katsuki still remembered it clearly. “I landed under a tree. I could hear cars nearby, like a popular road.” Katsuki frowned. “And there was a girl with a weird headband standing over me, and a guy who was so loud he almost broke my damn eardrums.”

“Wait….” Senku’s eyes widened, his fingertips touching his forehead. “That was you! Taiju was talking to Yuzuriha under that tree! I barely got a look at you before getting petrified, but the black and orange getup is unmistakable!” Senku clapped his fist to his palm in conclusion. “That means your buddy is probably nearby, if he warped close to you. I know just the people for this job. Hang tight.” He got up and exited the lab.

Within moments, Senku returned with three people; “Kohaku, Detective Suika, and Chrome! If he’s anywhere nearby, they’ll find him!”

Kohaku crossed her arms. “So who are we looking for, exactly? We’ll need an exact description, there’s a lot of statue people out there.”

Senku passed him a parchment paper and charcoal. “Think you could draw what he looks like? That would help.”

Katsuki did his best to draw on the page, but out of all his skills, charcoal sketching wasn’t one of them. “His clothes probably made it through the thousands of years of wear like mine did. They’re made out of material that’s meant to withstand a hell of a lot more damage than what nature can deal. So if you see someone in a green costume, that’s him for sure.”

Kohaku took the finished drawing from Katsuki and studied the image intensely. “We’re on it, don’t worry!”

Senku told them, “We’re still working hard to prepare for an attack. Come back if you don’t find him in three days. We’ll find Katsuki’s classmate, but we can’t afford to lose manpower for too long.” He turned to Katsuki. “While you’re waiting for them to come back, I’ve got a job for you. That is, if you want us to win the battle against Tsukasa.”

Katsuki’s hands twitched, his teeth flashing with an excited grin. A chance to beat a villain and fight against the grueling boredom of living in a stone world where there was no television or video games or comic books? He cracked his knuckles. “No way am I letting us lose to that murderer. What’s the plan, Leekhead?”

Chapter Text

The next few days in the village were the busiest time of Katsuki’s life, even more so than preparing for war against the villains in his time. 

Between the search for Katsuki’s missing classmates, helping the villagers make a cellphone, hunting down food with some of the village warriors, and being a living experiment under Senku’s observant gaze, his whole existence was non-stop work. The only time he had to sleep was when he happened to crash in the science shed, Senku and Chrome snoozing in bedrolls across from him at the edges of the massive collections of minerals and other materials. 

And in the mornings, he had to listen to Senku snicker at him as he watched Katsuki jog in place while wearing the special black super-absorbent suit he had made to collect his nitrosweat.

“So…” Chrome muttered next to Senku, though Katsuki could still hear. “Explain to me again how the explosions he makes isn’t sorcery?”

Senku tilted his head a little. “You know…” He said with furrowed brows, “good question. Maybe it is.”

“Huh?!” Chrome shouted in surprise, nearly falling backwards as he jabbed a finger at Senku. “I thought you didn’t believe in sorcery!”

“I mean sorcery in the sense that the science we have now doesn’t explain it. But this guy is from a future where the world didn’t get petrified, so who knows what happened in that timeline that evolved humans to become this advanced.” Senku groaned a little, scratching his head in frustration. “I gotta admit though, his biology has got me completely stumped. His palms look completely normal. If only I had an MRI machine to really get a good look.”

“So it’s really possible to travel through time or go to other universes?” Chrome pressed his lips together in deep thought, the gears in his head visibly turning. “Maybe we should travel back in time before the petrification. That way we can gather materials from back then!” 

Katsuki snickered a little as Senku brutally shot him down. “Definitely not happening. The only reason he was able to time travel or travel to another universe was because of some insanely wild human evolution that gave someone a quirk that made it possible. Even in my time, we had no evidence we could actually build a time machine or anything like that.”

“Huh.” Chrome frowned. “I thought there was nothing modern technology couldn’t do. The future sounds so bad.”

“Even science has its limits.” Senku said. “If someone just isn’t possible, it isn’t possible. So we usually use science to work around those impossiblities to come up with alternate solutions.” He gestured toward Katsuki to stop him from jogging. “Anyway, that’s enough, Katsuki! We should have a good amount of sweat to work with.”

Katsuki caught his breath as he followed Senku into the lab, shedding the suit and quickly changing back into his hero costume. The material still felt odd on his skin since it was only a replica of the tattered clothing he wore into battle, but the design was so close he’d doubt anyone could tell the difference just by looking at it.

Senku stood over a vial of nitrosweat against the laboratory’s bench. “Your sweat seems to be less volatile than pure nitroglycerin. It doesn’t explode on impact like I’d expect it to. That makes sense, though, since your hands aren’t blown off already.” He carefully poured a bit of the substance from one beaker to another. “That’s why I don’t mind using it in the lab like this. It needs a spark to go off.”

“Get to the point.” Katsuki grumbled at him impatiently. “Can this stuff make your revival fluid or what?”

“That’s what we’re finding out right now!” He gestured to the stone sparrow on the table. “With any luck, it’ll be the same as making it with nitric acid! 70 percent of your sweat, plus ten percent alcohol and…”

He poured some of the liquid onto the sparrow. Silence cast over the lab, even as the weird guy in the purple robe peeked into the lab to see what they were up to. Katsuki still wasn’t sure if he was an ally or a spy, but the village didn’t seem to care much either way. Any pair of hands for labor were welcome in the Kingdom of Science.

“Is it supposed to be doing something or what?” Katsuki asked after several minutes of everyone holding their breath.

Senku started laughing, and laughing, and laughing, his fingertips pressed into his forehead in disappointment. “Of course it wouldn’t work! The ratio is all off!” He shook his head at himself. “Of course there’s other stuff in your sweat than nitroglycerin! There’s water and other organic materials, too!” Senku said, “Man, I keep disappointing all the scientists that came before me, huh?”

Chrome slammed his hand down on the table. “Are you really giving up just like that, Senku? No way! We gotta figure out how to make the revival fluid without the miracle cave! It’s the best way, isn’t it?”

“Well,” Senku sighed and crossed his arms. “Not really.”

“Huh?!” Chrome shouted. “The heck do you mean? The miracle cave is what we’re fighting so hard for! But if we lose, we gotta have a backup plan, right?”

Senku held up one finger as he told Chrome, “For starters, we already have a good amount of manpower. Revive too many people at once and we’ll run out of food, especially this close to winter. Don’t get me wrong, the revival fluid is still ridiculously important. But it’ll take more trial and error to get it right.” Senku added, “And for another thing, the miracle cave is important for more than just the revival fluid. But if all goes well, you’ll see what I mean once we take it back from the Tsukasa Empire.”

“That’s right,” Gen added, stepping a little closer into the science lab. “The miracle cave is a vital piece we need to win this war. Once we have control of it, it’ll be checkmate for the Tsukasa Empire.”

Katsuki curled his lip. “Don’t you forget one crucial thing.” He pointedly flicked some more of his sweat into the collection vial. “I still haven’t found Shigaraki, either. There’s a chance he’s out there alive and on a rampage. If he is, you’ll need more than the ragtag team of fighters you’ve got in this village. You won’t be able to scare him off with even guns or bombs if you had them. You need me and my classmates.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Senku said. “If that guy gets revived by the Tsukasa Empire, we’re royally screwed. I didn’t believe you at first, but seeing your nitrosweat gives me no doubt in my mind.” He looked over to Chrome and Gen. “We’re dealing with super-evolved humans here. With powers beyond our comprehension. Beyond the science we currently have. It’s crazy to think about, but it’s true.”

Gen had his hands tucked into his sleeves as he asked, “Katsuki, let me ask you something. Say we do revive your classmates, do you think that they will join the Kingdom of Science? Or will any of them turn out to be against us like Tsukasa?”

Katsuki tilted his head back. “I’m nothing like this Leekhead. I wouldn’t be rescuing my classmates if I thought they were going to weigh us down. There’s only one of them we won’t be reviving. He’s not particularly powerful or anything, but I refuse to use my nitrosweat on that Grape-headed extra if he’s out there.”

“Oh?” Gen smiled with a certain look in his eye. “Think he’d turn against us? Cause trouble for the Kingdom of Science? I must say, I’m intrigued.”

“Nothing like that.” Katsuki grumbled. “The guy’s just a damn pervert. Like that blonde spearman who clearly needs a reality check, but a million times worse. He’s pathetic.”

“Oh, come on.” Senku insisted. “There’s room for everyone in the Kingdom of Science. If he’s got hands to work-”

“No way.” Katsuki argued. “I know you want to save all seven billion people on this planet, but if you’re gonna be using my nitrosweat, then he’s gotta be the last one from my class you revive. Besides, there are better options to revive first. And if population’s going to be an issue, then we gotta be choosy. That’s the most logical. Right, Leekhead?”

“Sure, sure.” Senku smirked at him, his eyes glittering with a cheekiness Katsuki hadn’t quite seen in him before. “You know you’re driving a hard bargain, right? We still haven’t found any more of your classmates, and now you’re demanding that you get to choose which ones get revived?”

Gen complimented Katsuki, though. “You sure know how to leverage your worth. With the threat of this Shiga-whoever on top of the Tsukasa Empire, we can’t deny the buying power of nitroglycerin. What’s your move, Senku?”

Senku didn’t even skip a beat. “As long as all seven billion people are revived, I’ll have reached my goal. I guess it doesn’t really matter what order they’re revived in. That doesn’t interest me one millimeter as long as we don’t need him for labor or skill.”

“Trust me, he has no skill.” Katsuki grumbled. Because damn did he really hate that guy. 

Senku raised a brow. “Oh yeah? I thought all of you had some quirk, right? So what’s his deal?”

Katsuki grimaced. “Don’t make me say it.” Not a chance in hell…

“Come on, Katsuki!” Senku prodded his shoulder with a teasing fingertip. “If he really has no skills, then I won’t revive him any time soon.”

Katsuki grumbled, hissing through his teeth begrudgingly, “His hair is like sticky balls.” He just barely kept hold of his patience as Gen chortled in the background. “I doubt your Kingdom of Science needs something like that. There’s already someone else who can produce tape from their huge elbows and I already found his statue anyway. Trust me, you don’t need him.”

“Tape? Like actual tape?” Senku questioned, leaning in with excited curiosity in his eyes now. “How strong is it? What’s it made of? I can think of ten billion applications for something like duct tape!” 

Glad to change the subject, Katsuki tried to remember if he actually knew anything about Sero’s quirk. If it was Izuku here, he and Senku would probably yap about the technical aspects of quirks all day and then some. But Katsuki had to dig deep in his memories to try to answer. “I’ve seen him swing around using the tape while carrying someone else. So I’d guess it can carry at least 200 kilograms, probably way more.” Katsuki shrugged. “No idea what it’s made of though.”

“That sounds useful as hell, ten billion percent.” Senku said, his eyes nearly glowing now, sparkling with the prospective potential right in front of him. “The idea of having superhumans on our side like in a comic book is exhilarating. It’ll make things ten billion percent easier for us, and make the Tsukasa Empire’s goal ten billion percent harder. It’s time to get excited, people!” He stood up from the bench. “I’ll have the scouting team go back out there to look for anyone wearing costumes. If their outfits have survived all this time, that makes this expedition way easier.”

Chrome added, “And you guys will keep working on the cellphone in the meantime! The Kingdom of Science will win this!” He flexed his arm with a grin. “I’m so pumped!”

“Time to get to work.” Senku said. “We’ll bring the fight to the Tsukasa Empire, and with any luck, we’ll have quirked-up superheroes at our backs. Can I count on you to fight with us, Katsuki?”

“Hell yeah.” Katsuki couldn’t help cracking his knuckles, a sadistic grin twisting his face. “I’ve been waiting to kick a murderer’s ass, one way or another. Guess I’ll settle for this Tsukasa bastard for now.” 

The next few weeks were going to be hard as hell, but Katsuki was more than ready. The stronger the Kingdom of Science became, the better chances he had of finally winning.

He’d become the best hero this world had ever seen. Even if they were only in stupid old-fashioned comic books.

And when the battle came, he’d fight on the side of the Kingdom of Science.

Chapter Text

Katsuki’s whole body was sore as he collapsed on a bedroll in the science shed. His fingers were numb from twisting wire together and his shoulders burned from carrying Kaminari and Sero’s statues all the way across the forest to the camp and burying them underground so that only those on their side could find them and wake them up.

His nitrosweat had nearly run dry at this point as Senku collected as much as he could for experiments.

Senku was the only other person in the science shed since Chrome was already on a mission to plant the cellphone in the Tsukasa Empire. Katsuki wanted to go with them to just get it over with and tear this Tsukasa guy apart, but he had to admit Senku had a point that they were trying to win over the members of the Tsukasa Empire, not start a full blown war because they went ahead and assassinated their leader.

Not only that, but Katsuki’s presence in general led to a complication. If anyone saw Katsuki’s powers too close to their territory, they could take just the sounds and flashes of explosions as a declaration of war and the Tsukasa Empire could attack early, bringing his men to the village and endangering the children and elderly. Not to mention they still apparently had someone spying on them, though Senku had conveniently neglected to tell Katsuki this until the last minute.

So Katsuki obediently stayed in the stupid village doing all the patience-wearing tasks villagers had to do. Hunting, fishing, patrolling, guarding. Though it wasn’t really all that bad. After all, this was pretty much what the day to day of hero life was in his time. Patrol one area, move on to the next, take down a villain, repeat. Though instead of villains in this world, it was game animals he was taking down. And for every deer or other prey he caught, there was another source of meat, bones, and hide to process.

The villagers were patient in teaching Katsuki the things they knew for generations, but strict in making sure he was pulling his weight. He couldn’t just lounge around until Senku needed more nitrosweat, he was a full on member of the Ishigami Village and the Kingdom of Science. If he wanted to eat, he had to work. That was the rule.

And so work he did. 

But between those tasks, he watched everyone else closely. It was weird to be around so many people without powers. Everyone pretty much looked the same, too. No one had horns or body parts resembling animals, there were little variations in skin tones, and their faces were all very similar. As if they were all mostly related to each other. And they kind of were.

That’s what happened when there were no quirks to give people further variance in their genes, and were all descendants of a handful of lucky astronauts that missed the petrification beam.

How the village didn’t end up with messed up genes like any other community that was a little too close-knit from the history books Katsuki had read, he would never know, and he would never ask. But that didn’t mean it made being around a bunch of quirkless cookie-cutter clone-like people any less weird.

Despite their lack of powers, though, the villagers were all capable people. Katsuki often spent time wondering why their numbers were so low for being such an ancient civilization. After all, three thousand years to only have a 40-ish person village struck him as odd. 

But when he realized their primary source of food was fishing, that started to make sense. And while they did hunt sometimes, they just didn’t have the manpower to send out hunters when there were elders and children to guard and general village maintenance to uphold. There was talk of famines that were caused by bad fishing years that nearly wiped out the population more than once.

Now that Katsuki was here with boundless energy he needed to work out and a distaste for eating fish for every meal, the village had been provided more protein sources to build their strength. Not to mention Senku, who encouraged hunting so they could use the leather and other animal parts for building and other advancements.

There was so much more to life in Ishigami Village than building the cell phone and surviving. They were starting to thrive despite losing their homes to the fire caused by their enemies. And their fear of science and sorcery was starting to transition into excitement and appreciation for everything Senku had done, and everything he was promising them.

As Katsuki lay in his bedroll in the science shed, he could hear rocks clicking against each other as Senku shuffled through the materials Chrome had gathered throughout the years. But with only the dim moonlight, Katsuki had to wonder how he would find whatever he was looking for in the dark. “Oi, Leekhead, it’s kinda hard to sleep when it sounds like a rockslide in here.” 

Senku didn’t say anything, but the noise stopped, too. The science shed was too quiet now, like they were both holding their breaths for some reason. 

But finally, Senku said, “This mission ten billion percent rides on the infiltration team’s success. We don’t have a backup plan.”

“So?” Katsuki scoffed at him. “We’ve got the cellphone and they’re gonna plant it in the Tsukasa Empire. Then you can recruit as many of Tsukasa’s people as you can before the fight or whatever. I still think you’re wasting your time. A villain’s a villain, just take ‘em all down and revive people who aren’t murderers.”

Senku took a small, but audible breath. “That doesn’t interest me one millimeter, Katsuki.” 

Katsuki peered over to him, but couldn’t see his face in the dark. “If ya wanna win, just use your science to make weapons. It’s not that hard. Gimme five minutes with the old craftsman on a hot day and we could make a crap ton of grenades.”

“No.” Senku said, his voice firm and deathly serious for once. “We’re doing this to prevent bloodshed. No one from the Kingdom of Science or the Tsukasa Empire is going to die in this battle. We’ll use science to bring people together, that’s what it’s for. Labelling people as villains and never giving them a chance to see all the exciting things we can bring back from my time? Not happening.” He put back the rocks he had in his hands and brushed his palms off. “There’s no justice system in the stone world and I’m just a scientist who wants to revive everyone and bring back what modern humanity has to offer. I’m no hero or cop or anything like that and I’m not interested in playing that role.” 

Katsuki mulled over what he was saying for a while. “No bloodshed, huh?” He looked at his palms again, calluses finally starting to form along the skin. All he had ever done was train his quirk to be powerful, to make sure he was capable of doing the maximum damage as humanely possible. Bloodshed was just a symptom of hero society. It was unavoidable on both sides.

There were even special crews that would show up in hazmat suits after some fights to clean up blood and viscera if a hero or a villain had gone that far. Most of the time heroes would just knock out villains or restrain them, but as humankind was getting stronger with the generations, it was too easy to shed blood and still be praised at the end.

Even All Might, whose fights were often featured on television, didn’t hesitate much when it came to injuring an enemy. Or anyone, really. Katsuki still remembered what it was like to get slammed around by him in the final exam. It was just a test and yet both Katsuki and Izuku had walked away from the fight with moderately serious injuries.

There was no room in a hero’s life to even consider pacifism. But in Senku’s Kingdom of Science, that was the goal. And it was just as weird to Katsuki as their quirklessness.

At the same time, though, he couldn’t help but be curious if a plan like this would work. If there was such a thing as resolving conflict between two groups with strong ideals without bloodshed. “Fine, whatever.” He said. “I’ll play along with that for now, but the minute your plan fails, I won’t hesitate to do what I gotta do to beat anyone in my way. Especially Tsukasa and the other boss villains.” 

“It won’t come to that.” Senku said. “Just wait and see.”

Chapter Text

The clamoring of battle was sharp in Katsuki’s ears. But spears and primitive weapons were no match for his speed and explosive power. He carefully carved his way through Tsukasa’s men, making sure not to actually kill any of these fragile people. They didn’t have quirks to defend themselves, but Katsuki wasn’t the type to hold back his quirk just because of that.

Though what Senku had told him before the battle rang in his head. If we fight, people will die. The plan had gone fine enough for the first twenty seconds. The tank was enough to make people hesitate so that their weapons could be neutralized and the miracle cave taken.

But the moment the boss villains arrived, everyone on the enemy side found their courage to fight back. And now, Katsuki was making his way through the crowd right toward Tsukasa. 

He was just like Senku had described; almost double Katsuki’s height, with well-kept hair tied halfway down his back. He was clearly strong. “You’re the bastard that’s been murdering people, hah?!” Katsuki growled at him the moment he could get close. “Give up now. We’re going to take that damn cave and revive my classmates!” 

Tsukasa regarded him with eyes far too gentle to belong to a cold-hearted killer, calmly dodging an explosive swipe of Katsuki’s palm. “If there are specific people you’d like to revive, I’d be glad to help you with that.” He held out his hand to his opponent. “Why don’t you join the Tsukasa Empire? We need more youth like you to build a world much better than before.”

Katsuki curled his lip at him. “You don’t know a damn thing about me.” He leapt forward without hesitation, his palm reaching out to Tsukaka’s face. But even a direct blast wasn’t enough to knock him back, he only stood there with his spear.

“Come on, now.” He said. “I’m sure we can come to an understanding. You want your classmates revived? We can accomplish that easily.” Tsukasa spoke calmly even while taking the brute force of Katsuki’s blasts. Though his skin was burnt a little, small red blisters bubbling up on his chest, he didn’t even wince.

Katsuki grit his teeth. There was no way this guy was a normal person! He had to have some hidden quirk or power! He had heard the name Strongest Primate High Schooler from Senku a dozen times. But he didn’t think he’d be this damn tough!

Tsukasa went on, “I don’t know how you’re producing those explosions. Is it something the Kingdom of Science promised you?”

“I was born like this!” Katsuki huffed for breath, looking Tsukasa up and down and searching for some kind of opening or weakness. “I told ya, you have no clue who I am! I am the Great Explosion Murder God: Dynamight!” 

Tsukasa furrowed his brows a little. “Murder God? And yet… You have a problem with the way I choose to manage this new stone world?”

“Shut up!” Katsuki had built up plenty of sweat in his palms now. If he could just blast him away with one huge explosion…

Tsukasa’s attention was suddenly taken by something drifting in the sky: A paper airplane.

The hell? What’s that nerd up to now? Katsuki looked over to the entrance of the miracle cave where Senku was standing. Next to him, Gen was smiling that ugly smile he always had when he was manipulating someone. How anyone fell for it, Katsuki would never know.

“That’s right, everyone!” Gen announced, “The Kingdom of Science has the power of dynamite on our side! See our friend here?” He gestured over to Katsuki, “with his help, we’ve discovered how to create blasts of ten million megaton joules." 

But fell for it, they did. The weakling grunts of the Tsukasa Empire were practically shaking in their boots, mumbling about dynamite and explosions. 

The moment one of the paper airplanes struck a tree and exploded with a loud crack, Katsuki watched them all back away in fear. But they were too afraid to run, too.  We have ‘em in the palm of our hands. What are you gonna do, Tarzan? His hands twitched as he watched Tsukasa carefully assess the situation. Would he attack anyway, or would this notion of preventing bloodshed actually somehow succeed?

Tsukasa offered his thoughts aloud. “I can’t block this kind of attack or knock it away without it exploding. And while I’ve been able to take the brunt of your friend’s blasts, they’re controlled by someone with quite impressive battle prowess. But a paper plane knows no such restraint. Collateral damage is clearly an issue.” He regarded Senku for a moment. “Your own villagers could get caught up in an explosion, and it’s certain you’d never sacrifice yourself or anyone else.” His gaze shifted along the battlefield. “Not a single person in my army has been seriously injured by your crew, either. Only knocked out or chased off. So you’re not really here to battle, either.” He glanced down at Ukyo, who was still bleeding on the ground while one of the fighters from Ishigami Village started to patch him up with bandages.

“That’s right.” Senku said, still gripping his paper plane as if it was a real threat. To their core, even when things were looking grim, this group was non-violent. The spears they wielded barely left a scratch on anyone on the enemy side. “I’m here to negotiate. Sound good?”  

“Fine.” Tsukasa said. “Let us negotiate.” He tucked his arms into the lionskin cloak that draped over his shoulders peacefully.

“You were famous in your old life.” Senku started. “The whole thing doesn’t really add up, does it? This guy could have anything he wanted, but his big goal in the stone world is building a society free from the rich and corrupt. That’s the kind of man Shishio Tsukasa really is, not the man who shows up on TV shows and participates in those prolific fights like in the old world.”

Gen pressed a finger to his chin as he dramatically thought about the point Senku just made. “Hmm, I suppose I never really thought about it. Money was such a normal thing to want in our time it didn’t strike me as odd that he was after it before and not now.” 

Senku’s eyes dug into Tsukasa, pinning him down with a simple conclusion. “So what did you need all that money for? Or rather, for whom?”

As the rest of Tsukasa’s army started to fall back, Katsuki crossed his arms and boredly leaned against the nearest tree. Clearly, this fight was over. If Senku wanted to negotiate with a murderer, that was on him. But Katsuki wasn’t interested at all in the sob story Senku was laying out about Tsukasa’s sister. This guy was a villain, no matter his reasons.

Despite his initial thoughts, though, Katsuki had to admit to himself that he knew better by now. If they had an opportunity to negotiate with Shigaraki, maybe Katsuki wouldn’t have been impaled twice and killed once, and maybe he wouldn’t have been petrified for 3,700 years.

Or maybe this stupid stone world without hero society to back him up was turning Katsuki soft.

Either way, he held himself back no matter how much he wanted to blast this guy to bits. 

But one thing Senku told Tsukasa suddenly made a lot of sense. “Your sister was petrified in stone. But we found out that the petrification has an unexpected side effect. It can heal injuries and other ailments.”

So that’s how I woke up without a scratch. Katsuki thought. Just the scars from the battle against Shigaraki. 

“We can’t guarantee it will work, but it’s worth a shot.” Senku glanced behind him with a mischievous grin. “But it looks like we happen to have control over the source of the revival fluid!”

“So what are your terms, then?” Tsukasa’s tone was grave enough for Katsuki to be on guard again. He unfolded his arms and readied himself to defend Senku if need be. 

“The terms are pretty simple, really.” Senku said. “We’ll do our best to revive your sister. And in exchange, I’m asking for a cease-fire.”

“And why shouldn’t I believe this isn’t a bunch of lies?”

Senku glanced down at the paper plane he was holding, slowly lowering it to his side. “All you have is my word. I never lie about science. Is that not enough?”

Tsukasa hesitated for a moment, even closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Katsuki couldn’t tell if he was relieved, swallowing tears for his lost sister, or both.

“No. That’s plenty.” He finally said. “You’ve got a deal, Senku.”

“Wait.” Katsuki stepped forward. If this guy was willing to listen, then maybe this would work out. “There’s one more thing.” He stood face to face with Tsukasa, his height towering over him in a way he just wasn’t used to. Sure, Katsuki wasn’t the tallest in his class, and most teachers and pro-heroes were taller than him, too, but looking at Tsukasa was like staring at a brick wall that could decide to snap your neck in an instant. “I heard you’ve been going around destroying statues of anyone who looks old. But did you revive everyone else you’ve found so far who looked young enough?” 

Tsukasa looked him up and down for a moment, considering his answer carefully. “The revival fluid is only part of the equation. We can’t revive too many people at once without resources. So no, I haven’t. But those with potential, we do keep together so we can quickly revive anyone we need.”

He might have destroyed Shigaraki’s statue already. He was only, what, twenty-something? But his face could be mistaken for someone older. Or he could have my classmates. “Take me to them. There’s people I’m looking for.”

“Hmm,” Tsukasa shifted his gaze toward the cave. “Not as part of our deal with Senku, but out of respect for another formidable fighter, I will accommodate your request. Even without your strange abilities, I can tell you’re very skilled. It will be a long journey to find my sister. Let us go find your friends first.”

Senku added, “If Katsuki’s allies have useful powers like he does, that sounds perfect to prepare for a quest like this. Lead the way!” 

Tsukasa shook his head at him, though. “I’ll take him myself. Please stay here and make whatever preparations your villagers need for travel.” On his way out of the battlefield, he helped Ukyo stand, muttering something to him that Katsuki didn’t care to listen to. “And please give any of the injured what medical attention you can offer. 

At Senku’s hesitant look, Katsuki snickered at him. “Did you forget who I am or what? If he tries anything, this guy’s dead meat.” He jabbed a thumb in the direction he was pretty sure was the Tsukasa Empire’s base. “So let’s go.” 

As Tsukasa led him through the dense forest, Tsukasa asked him, “So I have to ask, how do you pull off those explosions?”

Katsuki rolled his eyes a bit. Having to explain his quirk to everyone he met in this world was getting exhausting. But leaving someone to wonder, especially someone like Tsukasa, could potentially lead to a dangerous misunderstanding. “Where I’m from, almost everyone has a special power called a quirk.” He flexed his hand. “Mine lets me sweat a nitroglycerin-like liquid that I can spark off at will.” 

“I see.” Tsukasa said, even though Katsuki couldn’t imagine that he’d have put two and two together that he was somehow from a different timeline or universe or whatever this situation actually was. “And where you’re from, aren’t there rich and powerful people who take advantage of the poor?”

“‘Course there are.” Katsuki knew that there were situations like that all the time. Though he grew up with a decent amount of money and he never really wanted for anything cash could buy, his friends in middle school were always complaining that their parents didn’t have spare funds to get them everything they asked for because they were underpaid. And he cringed as he remembered his own sentiments back in middle school, too. He wanted to be the richest hero of all time. What a waste that would have been if he stayed like that. “Lotsa people used their quirks to take advantage of people, too. But I’m going to be the number one hero, the greatest of all time. I’ll defeat anyone in my way and beat villains who are like that.”

“Then you and I are in agreement, then. We must protect people from that kind of future.” Tsukasa said.

“I’ll never agree with a murderer.” Katsuki curled his lip at him in disgust. “I’m a hero, and all you are to me is a lowlife villain who should be taken down. There might not be a prison for you here, but don’t forget who won this fight today.”

Tsukasa didn’t say anything else. As they travelled, the forest gave way to a mountainous area. They walked through a short canyon until Katsuki saw the garden of statues. 

There were plenty he didn’t recognize, but several he did. There was Uraraka, Kirishima, and in the very front was the wrinkly-faced nutsack himself.

Tsukasa had his arms tucked under his lionskin cape as he approached Shigaraki’s statue. “Is this who you’re looking for?” His brows were furrowed a bit. “To be frank, we weren’t sure if he was old or young. His face looked aged, but his body is that of a strong young adult. Perhaps you could shed some light on this person?”

Katsuki grit his teeth a little. On the one hand, he wanted to smash the statue to bits. If Shigaraki were revived, there’d be little hope for this new world. But on the other hand, if he were to do that, he’d be no better than the guy he called a murderous villain not even five minutes ago. 

“We should avoid reviving him at all costs.” Katsuki said. “He’s the boss villain. No doubt he’d kill everyone he sees the minute he wakes up.” 

Tsukasa looked the statue up and down. “He had a power like yours?”

“Tch,” Katsuki clicked his tongue. “No one has a power like mine. His quirk could reduce anything he touches to dust in seconds. That’s how he destroyed the world I came from. There was nothing left but dirt and a few survivors.”

“I see…” Tsukasa moved away from the statue. “I assume these two are your other friends. Their clothes have somehow remained intact like yours did.” He gestured to Uraraka and Kirishima. And just like he said, their costumes were still clinging onto their stone bodies.

Without another word, Tsukasa lifted each statue under his arms. “Let’s go meet back with Senku. He’ll be able to revive them once we get to the cave. And bring your enemy as well, we’ll let Senku decide how best to guard him.”

Katsuki grit his teeth as he grasped onto the cold stone of Shigarak’s body as he followed Tsukasa back through the woods. “He really knows how to revive people? How’s that even possible?” He had to admit he still had his doubts, but who knew what was possible in this science fiction-like scenario?

Tsukasa only said, “Senku can explain the science better than I can. But he’s revived several people before.” 

“Tch.” Katsuki clicked his tongue. It almost felt like everyone was damn near useless without the Leekhead.

… Including him.

But he knew science! He was smart as hell in most subjects, basically a genius! He was just a little rusty, that was all…

And if this really was a different universe, who was to say that everything from physics to chemistry would be the exact same?

But if that was the case, he’d just have to learn this new world and use what he knew to make sure Shigaraki would never be revived. The bastard was as close to Tartarus where he belonged as he could get.

He dragged along Shigaraki’s statue begrudgingly. He wasn’t purposefully knocking his hands into every tree he passed, but if they happened to fall off along the way, well, he wouldn’t complain, either.

Sweat dripped along Katsuki’s forehead as they finally got back to the miracle cave and placed the statues down. Senku and Chrome were inside, filling jars with nasty brown liquid. Katsuki raised a brow at them. “This crap will reverse the petrification?”

“Yep,” Senku said, handing him three jars of revival fluid. “Wanna do the honors? They’re your friends, afterall. Just pour it right on their heads and let it do the work. One for each person.”

Katsuki squinted down at the three jars in his hand. “One per person, huh? You really think I’m gonna revive the bastard who destroyed my world?” He tossed one of the jars back to Senku. “He can stay petrified forever.”

Senku followed him out of the cave toward the statues. “The Kingdom of Science has room for everyone. I’m sure whatever this guy’s deal is, we can deal with it with science. Now that we don’t have to worry about him joining the Tsukasa Empire, what’s the big deal?” 

Katsuki’s whole body lit up with frustration as Senku uncorked the jar and lifted it up. His hand shot toward Senku’s wrists, his fingertips digging in so hard that he could see Senku wince. He didn’t let go, though. “Science? You think if we coulda beat him with science, we just skipped that damn part for fun?” Katsuki couldn’t keep his voice down, his shouting echoing through the forest. “Ya think we were just too lazy or stupid to do that?” 

Senku argued, “We need all the help we can get. And we’ll find ways to utilize everyone’s quirks!”

Katsuki grit his teeth, a frustrated growl escaping from him. But he let go of Senku’s arm anyway, watching as Senku rubbed his wrist out of soreness. “You asked me why I had to have heart surgery, right?” He jabbed a thumb toward his own chest. “During the fight against Shigaraki, I fought so hard to win against this guy my damn heart exploded. Someone sacrificed their life to sew it back together.” His throat was tight. He hadn’t really thought about it before, but it was likely that Edgeshot was dead. He was so weak after he had saved his life, and the scouting team hadn’t found anyone else out in the wasteland…

Anyone outside of the known survivors of Shigaraki’s ultimate move were probably nothing but dust now. 

“If you think you can beat ‘em, fine.” Katsuki grumbled. “But when everyone in this world is dead, too, I’ll be telling you I told you so in hell.” 

Senku stared at him for a moment, frozen in place and eyes wide in shock. But with a shrug, he finally gave Katsuki a defeated look. “Fine, but my ultimate goal is to revive every person on this planet. That includes every one of your comrades and enemies. Once society is up and running, the military or whatever can deal with him. That stuff doesn’t interest me one millimeter. We’ll just keep his statue safe until then.”

Katsuki still wasn’t satisfied, but at the same time, he wasn’t exactly planning to stick around until Senku revived his whole planet anyway. This was fine for now.

With Shigaraki found, he now had two other goals to focus on: Find everyone still alive from his time, then find the warp bastard and go back home to rebuild whatever was left. That was his strategy for victory.

The first step was reviving his friends. He uncorked the jars and poured the liquid atop Uraraka and Kirishima.

He couldn’t help but feel a little awestruck as the fluid worked its magic. Stone crumbled from their bodies, fresh skin revealed underneath.

In true Kirishima fashion, the moment he was conscious, he lifted his arms high in the air and burst with life. “I’m alive!” 

Uraraka was much more calm as she awakened. She blinked a few times, her brows furrowed as she looked around. “Bakugou? Where are we?” She pursed her lips a little.

“Man!” Kirishima grinned as he took in his surroundings. “Looks like you found some survivors! Good job, Bakubro!” He lifted his hand for a high five, but Katsuki didn’t meet his palm. 

“No, you idiot. We’re in a totally different timeline or some shit. Don’t you remember what happened after Kurogiri warped us?”

Kirishima snapped his fingers. “Oh, yeah! That weird green light. What was that?”

Begrudgingly, and with Senku’s help to fill in some cracks, Katsuki explained the situation to them. 

Katsuki noticed that Kirishima’s whole body was covered in thick black cracks just like everyone else who had been revived from stone as he held out a hand toward Senku. “Thanks for helping us outta that rocky situation, man! Name’s Kirishima.”

Senku gave him a crooked grin, his hand meeting Kirishima’s for a firm- or as firm as a limp noodle like Senku could manage- handshake. “Good to have ya. My name’s Senku. And I hope you guys are up for some hard labor, cause we’re gonna need a hand with this next project.”

“Always happy to help!” Kirishima gave him an equally toothy grin and a thumbs up. 

“Hold on…” Uraraka frowned. She had managed to escape petrification with only a few thick lines running down her throat. “ What about Deku? And everyone else? What about our world?”

Katsuki crossed his arms. “Don’t you think I have a plan, Cheeks?”

Senku reassured her. “Don’t worry, we’ve got eyes out to look for your missing classmates. But there’s a chance they’re not anywhere close. Might as well stick around with the Kingdom of Science until you guys figure out what your next moves are.” 

“Nah,” Katsuki said. “Our next moves are simple. Find everyone, revive the warp bastard, go home and rebuild everything. We ain’t letting these villains win by taking our home. And your Kingdom of Science is gonna make that possible.” 

“Sounds good to me.” Senku said. “Uraraka, you have the gravity quirk, right? Go ahead and meet up with Yuzuriha up the mountain. There’s a special project your powers will be perfect for. Taiju will take you there. And Kirishima, what can you do?” 

Kirishima excitedly hardened his whole body in demonstration. “Need some demolition work done? I’m your man!”

Senku considered him for a moment. “Old man Kazuki,” He glanced over to the tiny old craftsman. “I’m sure you can put that strength to use, right?”

Kazuki wiped his tears from crying over the Steam Gorilla’s destruction, the car still stuck in one of the traps dug by Tsukasa’s army. “Oh, yeah! I’d be glad to have someone indestructible on board!”

“Alright!” Senku nodded in satisfaction. “Sounds like we’ve all got jobs to do. Katsuki, you and I have more experimenting to do with your quirk. The miracle cave was a huge win, but you’re still our backup plan with that nitrosweat.” 

As everyone split off to their own jobs, Katsuki followed Senku back inside the miracle cave. The air was thick with humidity and a musty scent. Senku set up a few oil lamps and got to work, using all sorts of flasks and pipettes to collect Katsuki’s sweat and mixing it with other materials before observing its effects.

Katsuki understood about eighty percent of what he was doing, which was enough for him to infer the rest. “So if you made nitroglycerin with nitric acid from the bat shit, all we gotta do is filter out the glycerin and increase the acidity of my sweat. That revival fluid is basically etching fluid, right?”

“Ten billion points, Katsuki!” Senku grinned up at him. “Your sweat isn’t acidic enough to be similar to nitric acid. After all, there’s definitely some stabilizing agents in your sweat. Otherwise you probably would have blown your arms off by now.”

Katsuki added, “The glycerin raises the pH of my sweat, that’s how regular clothes don’t just burn up when I’m wearing them. We gotta either remove the glycerin or lower the pH and make it more acidic.”

“Glycerin is an oil, which is why your skin is immaculate despite wandering out in the wilderness with no hygiene products for a while.“ Senku’s eyes glanced over Katsuki’s arms and face for a moment as if he was studying them.

But Katsuki had no time for a staring contest. “So we need to remove the oil. We need ice. Or something cold. We can skim it off the top like when cooking tonkotsu ramen.” 

“You’re right, we could totally try that!” Senku clapped his fist against his palm excitedly at the revelation. “That’s impressive, ten billion points!”

Katsuki couldn’t help but brag, “Cooking skills are just another form of your precious science. I used to be the best chef in the class when we lived in the dorms.” Which was annoyingly true. Katsuki couldn’t count the number of times his classmates had begged him to cook dinner on one hand. Everyone else just sucked. Though, some more than others. The one time Kaminari cooked, he was scrubbing the taste of burnt onions from his tongue for weeks.

“Well, we can’t wait until winter.” Senku said. “So we need a plan to cool down your sweat in order to remove the oil when it separates.”

Too bad Icy Hot was nowhere near the fight… I’ve got no idea where he could be. 

Katsuki suggested, “What if Cheeks floated it up to the atmosphere? It’s cold as hell up there.” He pointed to the sky, though it wasn’t visible from the dark cave.

“It would just warm up coming back down.” Senku tapped his forehead a few times. “Well, I guess it’s time to reinvent a good old fashioned refrigerator.”

Katsuki snickered before he realized Senku was serious. “First a car, now a fridge. Why the hell not?”

Senku stood up and cracked his back, that stupid smirk stretching on his face just like it did whenever they were starting a new project. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. You ready?”

“I ain’t scared of hard work to get what I want.” Katsuki said. It was better than just sitting around and waiting for these extras to get their crap together and get something done! 

“Let’s do this, then.” Their hands clapped together in a sharp high five, the cave warming up a little as sparks burst between their palms. “But first, let’s pay Tsukasa’s sister a visit.”

Chapter Text

Two wars, two different timelines. 

One won, one lost.

Though Katsuki refused to be defeated yet.

Along the way to the old hospital- now just an apparent mountain of dirt and grass-  to revive Tsukasa’s sister, Katsuki continued his search for his missing classmates. Uraraka and Kirishima joined in, too, with the help of Kohaku’s superior vision and mobility through even uncharted forests.

The trip was long and grinding on Katsuki’s patience, especially whenever he would find statues that bore a resemblance to someone he knew and yet upon further inspection they were missing a key feature that would identify them; A girl with the same face shape and haircut as Ashido, yet lacked her horns and wide eyes, and a silhouette that may have been Tsu, but was only a woman who must have been bending to pick something up off the ground the moment she was petrified. 

But eventually, while the stone world crew was busy reviving Tsukasa’s sister, he finally found someone he truly recognized.

Katsuki could smell the campfire before he saw the makeshift shelter through the trees. Thick blue denim was hung up between tree branches. No way… He knew exactly who was beyond those jeans. 

He pushed aside the curtainlike swath of denim, not even thinking to warn the resident of his presence. “Oi-” 

Katsuki turned away and hastily slipped out of the tent the moment he realized what he walked into. Just like he suspected, Best Jeanist was the person inside, but he wasn’t alone. Katsuki tried to blink the image away from his head of his mentor and Edgeshot making out shirtless in a pile of blankets. “Gross.”

“Dynamight?” Best Jeanist’s voice was muffled behind denim.

“Nope.” Katsuki wanted so much to pretend he didn’t see what he just saw. The idea of his mentor and the guy whose body was more or less still stitched into his heart having a thing just grossed him the hell out. 

He shrank away from the hand that touched his shoulder. Jeanist’s voice was shaky with disbelief. “I thought everyone was dead or turned to stone.” 

Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Surprise.” He turned on his heel to grumble at him, “Ya just didn’t look hard enough. I’m here, ain’t I?” 

The hero’s eyes were wide, partly in fear and partly in shock. “Is there anyone else? What about Deku and Shigaraki?” He looked around the forest behind Katsuki as if expecting a crowd to appear behind him. 

“We found Shigaraki’s statue and revived some others. De- Izuku’s still missing.” Katsuki looking his mentor up and down for a moment, wondering how he had fared living out here for who knew how long. Though the costume he was wearing was similar to his hero outfit, he could tell that it wasn’t the same exact one. Jeanist must have figured out one way or another how to craft denim in the stone world. Because of course he would. He and Yuzuriha would have a fucking field day if they had five minutes together.

“I see.” Jeanist swiped his fingers along his bangs, still perfectly trimmed to the millimeter. “I’m relieved to know there is still hope.” 

Katsuki eyed the complex denim fortress Jeanist had made. It was much more than just a glorified tent, there were pockets that could be folded away to make windows and different sections spreading among the trees with vents to disperse campfire smoke built in. “How long have you been out here by yourselves?” Katsuki couldn’t help asking.

Though Jeanist wasn’t the one to answer that question. “Approximately four years.” Edgeshot limped from the entrance of the tent. Now that Katsuki had a better look at him, it was clear he was still recovering from the battle. His midsection was inhumanely skinny, and his arms and legs were as thin and spindly as twigs. He barely had any muscle mass to him that Katsuki could tell underneath the black and red robes Jeanist had apparently fashioned for him. “Its good to see you, Bakugou.”

Katsuki’s chest clenched in on itself as he took in the poor state he was in. How the hell did this guy survive like this? A harsh wind could have knocked him over and blown him all the way to the shoreline of the next continent. “You’re…”

“Still not quite myself, no.” He looked down at his body. “I woke up from stone in the exact form I was before the battle ended. It’s taken quite a bit of rest to get this far. It’s thanks to Tsunagu that I was able to survive in the stone world.” 

Katsuki turned on his heel, his stomach crawling at the sight of the pro-hero. He swore he could feel something squirming in his chest, as much as he tried to ignore it. “You two should come with me to meet Senku. Beats being out here alone and he’ll probably have somethin’ to help.” 

“Senku?” Best Jeanist queried. 

“It’ll be better to show you. Come on.” Katsuki started walking in the direction of the hospital ruins where everyone was surely still bawling their eyes out at the sappy sibling reunion. 

Beyond the discomfort Katsuki was feeling, there was something else about the state of Edgeshot’s body that made him curious.

The petrification was supposed to have healing properties. He had seen it himself three times now. No one injured in the war woke up with anything but scars. But Edgeshot’s situation was clearly different.

Could it be that the healing abilities of the petrification were limited? And if that were the case, what were its limits exactly?

As they exited the wooded area and found everyone else around a fire and eating their dinner, Katsuki could hear an audible gasp from both Edgeshot and Jeanist behind him. Jeanist muttered, “All this time… there were so many people…”

Katsuki snickered. “This is nothing. Wait til you see how many extras these nerds revived.” He shoved his hands in his pockets as he got closer to the group. “Oi, Senku!” He called out.

Senku lifted his head, his mouth full of roasted meat as he analyzed what he was seeing. “Oh, you found more of your comrades! Nice job.” He set his plate down and introduced himself to the pair of heroes. “Welcome to the Kingdom of Science. Happy to have anyone ready to put the work in. So what are your powers?”

Jeanist and Edgeshot only stared at him for a moment. Katsuki did his best to muffle his laughter. Senku was not going to like what was about to happen next…

From his pocket, Jeanist conjured what looked like a comb made out of animal bone. “How rude, asking complete strangers about their quirks as if we’re simply tools for you to use.” He grabbed Senku by the shoulders and turned him around, his comb quickly working at his hair. “You should present yourself properly to build other’s trust. A Kingdom of Science, you say? A scientist should know this. Trust is a fundamental part of effective teamwork.”

In a flash of bubbles and combing- Katsuki honestly wasn’t surprised Jeanist would have shampoo at the ready even in the stone world- Senku’s hair was combed back and parted directly in the middle in proper Jeanist fashion.

Finally shaken out of his initial shock, Senku pulled away from Jeanist and ran his fingers through his hair to put it back the way it was, though somehow his hair made him look even more like a leek now with the way it stuck together. “I’m just a science guy. If your interest is psychology, Gen’s your man.” He gestured to the mentalist, still chowing down on his food. “The thought of impressing people with my appearance doesn’t move me one millimeter, I just let the science do the talking.” 

“I see.” Jeanist studied him for a moment. “As a man of science, your sense of curiosity comes naturally. It’s no wonder you tend to ask questions even if they are impolite.”

Katsuki watched as Edgeshot tried to subtly lean against Jeanist’s shoulder, though Senku caught the move in a heartbeat, too. “Look, no offense, but your friend doesn’t look good. We have medicine if that’s what he needs, and we’re willing to share what we have.” 

Jeanist glanced over at Katsuki with a doubtful glare. As if he was trying to ask him if these people were trustworthy without saying it out loud. “It’s fine.” Katsuki said. “Senku and everyone else has proven they’re capable as hell.”

The pro-heroes shared a look, then Jeanist said, “There must be a catch.”

Senku laughed. “Oh, yeah. There’s a catch, alright.” He told them, “There’s probably more of your comrades out there stuck in stone, but Katsuki’s been all over Japan without any sign of them. The goal of the Kingdom of Science is to revive all seven billion people on this planet. To do that, we’re going to have to travel all over. So we’re going to need lots of manpower to keep up with all the things we’ll need to do before a long trip.”

Jeanist considered what he was saying. “Though these are hefty goals for children, it seems like our goals are aligned. I assume you have some kind of solid plan?” 

“You bet I do!” Senku grinned. “The Kingdom of Science always has a plan, you’ll see! So, are you in?” 

They shared a glance again, suddenly reminding Katsuki of what he saw in the tent and he had to fight hard against the embarrassed blush coloring his cheeks. How the hell did they find time for romance in this situation, anyway?! 

Katsuki clicked his tongue at himself for even wondering. People always seemed to find reasons to fall for each other. Just watching Chrome babble about Ruri, Taiju pine for Yuzuriha, and even in his old life, Izuku and Uraraka skitter around each other like shy mice proved that.

And seeing everyone act so pathetic made him swear to himself he’d never act like that no matter how disgustingly cliche his feelings got. If he wanted to say something, he would just say it instead of acting so gross about it. 

Not that he had any feelings for anyone to talk about.

After a lot of muttering to themselves, odd glances toward Katsuki and Senku, and hesitation, Best Jeanist and Edgeshot had tentatively joined the Kingdom of Science on their journey back toward their base. 

On the way there, Best Jeanist mentioned to Katsuki, “By the way, there’s no reason to refer to us by our hero names anymore. Not until we get hero society back up and running.” 

“The hell does that mean?” Katsuki glared at him.

“It means we failed as heroes. Our world was destroyed. There was no sign of civilian life left. We must earn our names again.” He said. “You may refer to me as you wish, but I am no longer Best Jeanist.”

Katsuki snickered a little, considering what nickname he’d give his mentor if he didn’t want to be called a hero anymore. If he wanted the same treatment as Katsuki’s peers, he’d get it.

Also… Katsuki realized he didn’t actually know Best Jeanist’s nor Edgeshot’s real names. 

“Hakamada Tsunagu.” Jeanist answered Katsuki’s silent question. “I often forget our names aren’t as public as your teachers’ identities.”

Edgeshot, still heavily leaning against Jeanist as they walked along the way, offered his name as well. “Kamihara Shinya.” 

“Right…” Katsuki grumbled. “These idiots have been callin’ me Katsuki, but I won’t give up my hero name so easily. I’m going to be the number one hero, even if there’s no others left to challenge me, got it? I’m still the Great Explosion Murder God: Dynamight and no villain is going to take that away.”

“Of course.” Tsunagu nodded. “I wouldn’t imagine a universe in which you weren’t.”

Chapter Text

When they got back to base- now a small camp just a few miles from the Miracle Cave- Senku, Kohaku, and Chrome worked at a fire while Tsukasa went out hunting. 

Katsuki was tempted to go with him to make sure he wouldn’t cause trouble, but both Senku and Chrome had somehow convinced him to rest in this camp, saying it was more important for him to stay here to ward off any predators that might be interested in them after the commotion and scent of blood from the battle. 

And what they said was true, which was why Katsuki stayed put.

But just sitting around while a known murderer was running free made him want to grind his teeth. Just because this bastard didn’t actually kill hundreds of people since they could just be glued back together, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t just as bad as any villain who’d killed people for no reason. 

Despite his misgivings, Katsuki begrudgingly helped with the fire. He added chopped wood and tinder to the flame as they watched it grow to a hearty crackle, then to a dancing flame. The whole time, Senku was talking about the wood they were using- something about flavonoids that would make essentially any meat taste good- and Katsuki couldn’t help but snicker at the know-it-all.

“Sure,” Katsuki gave him a smirk. He loved to correct this nerdy Leekhead whenever he could. Though he hated to admit it wasn’t often. “You can tell what flavonoids this wood has by the color, right?” He looked down to the slightly reddish hue of the bark. “Even though it’s been thousands of years, and we probably lost dozens of species of trees while new species and hybrids evolved. But you forgot about terpenes. This smoke smells like lemon. I dunno about you but lemon and deer isn’t exactly appetizing to me.”

Senku laughed, too, giving him that smile he bore whenever someone proved he wasn’t the only one who knew a thing or two about science. “Well, well. Looks like your culinary knowledge strikes again. If you weren’t trying so hard to be a pro-hero I think you’d excel in food science. Maybe work for some fancy restaurant or something.” 

“I can be good at more than one thing, ya know.” Katsuki told him. “I’m gonna be the number one hero without a doubt. But I’m just as smart as you are, Senku. Don’t forget that.”

“Yeah…” Senku put his hands on his hips and watched the fire’s glow cast along the ground. He had this look on his face that made Katsuki wonder just what the hell could be going on in his head. “I won’t forget you’re a real scientist too. Even if that’s not your main goal. You still have what it takes to be a real problem-solver. And that’s important in all kinds of science.”

“Tch.” Katsuki clicked his tongue and turned away from him, if only to tear himself away from that look. “I just know crap. Don’t make it a big deal.” Senku could get real damn corny when he wanted to. Corny in a way that made him squirm.

Thankfully, their conversation was interrupted as Tsukasa came back with a spearful of fish perfect for roasting with lemony smoke. “There’s a beautiful river nearby stocked full of a variety of fish. We should take note of this location so we can come back for more.”

“Yeah,” Senku agreed, “We could start a breeding program depending on the species. That way we’ll have plenty of preserved fish before winter comes.” 

Katsuki could feel Jeanist’s- Tsunagu’s- eyes on him as he helped descale and gut the fish to prepare for roasting. When he was done, he washed his hands in a bucket and dried them with his quirk. When his neck still burned with his watchful gaze, he muttered in his direction, “Do you have a problem or somethin’?”

“No, I don’t have any problem with you, Dynamight.” Tsunagu said calmly. He leaned forward on the log he was sitting upon. “In fact, I’m quite impressed. You’ve adapted to this life splendidly, or so it appears. You’ve even made new friends.”

Katsuki almost spat that he and Senku were not friends. He was only sticking around with the Kingdom of Science because they were the best solution to his biggest problems in life. 

But that wasn’t reality. And he knew Jeanist would be able to tell if he lied. The guy had a downright creepy sense for how people actually felt, even if they didn’t say it out loud. Something about how he detects people’s heartbeats and how much they sweat through the fibers in their clothing like a human lie detector, Katsuki would bet anything. 

“It’s not hard.” Katsuki grumbled instead. “Hell of a lot easier to keep up with training and your own physical strength without school n’ crap getting in the way. I’m stronger than I ever was back home.” Which was true. Every task in the stone world was a physical feat- whether that was hunting, fishing, gathering, scaring off the occasional lion or other predator that stalked the village, or helping out with science stuff- and his body felt the effects of a high protein diet paired with that kind of lifestyle. Hell, he could even swear he had gotten an inch or two taller in the past few months. 

The air filled with an aromatic scent as the fish finished grilling over the fire. Katsuki ended up settling down between Tsunagu and Senku, the pair talking on and on about the world they came from. It wasn’t much different than anything Katsuki had told him, but it was clear Senku was digging for some kind of hint or answer he didn’t have. 

Though, Katsuki didn’t blame him at all. For a scientist, finding out there’s a different universe where people had superpowers must be thrilling. Or exhilarating, as he would say it. 

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Tsunagu said, “Just what technique in this stone world would have been used to make a near-exact copy of Dynamight’s hero costume?”

It had been so long, Katsuki had almost forgotten how he had woken up with an extra set of clothes next to him. He had completely gotten used to the odd texture of the fibers in the clothing.

The answer wasn’t what he expected at all, though. Across the fire, Yuzuriha admitted, “Oh… Um, Taiju and I were on our way to join the Tsukasa Empire as spies when I noticed Katsuki’s statue still had clothes on it. But they were so bloodstained and torn it was scary so I made him new ones for when he woke up. I’m glad they were the right size for you.”

So that was it. Just a girl who was too kind for her own good leaving clothes for someone who may or may not have woken up anytime soon. Mystery solved. 

Tsunagu went on to commend her for her skills and Katsuki tuned back out as they talked about clothes and style. As long as the both of them stayed far away from his hair, he couldn’t care less. 

Katsuki’s attention perked up again when he heard someone else’s voice quietly talking under the chit chat around the fire. “Mirai, you still have some stone pieces in your hair. Why don’t you clean yourself up in the river?” Hyoga said. But the tone in his voice made Katsuki’s neck bristle. He was up to something. He had to be. And this time, Katsuki wasn’t just going to sit around hoping nothing would come of it. 

After the girl ate, Tsukasa and Hyoga wandered off together. Just a moment after, Katsuki made up some lame excuse to follow them. Thankfully, everyone was too busy cleaning up after their meal to pay attention.

Katsuki wasn’t exactly a master of stealth, but he managed to follow the three undetected toward the river right at the top of a waterfall. He stayed in the shadows of the trees. Listening, watching.

No villain would turn so easily when defeated, and the others were idiots to let them wander off together. They could easily be scheming something in the safety of distance and the noise of the water.

And Katsuki would do anything he had to in order to protect the Kingdom of Science. If he was going to be a hero in any universe, he had to stop villains before anyone got hurt. 

So he leaned against the rough tree bark, listening to the splashing of water. But no one was talking, not even Mirai. He peeked around the tree. No whispering or hand signals, either. Just Hyoga and Tsukasa standing guard while Mirai used the rushing water to rinse her hair. 

And then it happened in a flash, faster than Katsuki could react. 

The sound of an explosion far away. The motion of a speartip, the blur of a lion's skin cape, the splatter of blood, the rushed footsteps coming from the woods behind Katsuki, Senku’s voice shouting…

Katsuki leapt forward, his explosions flashing through the air as Hyoga kicked Tsukasa’s limp, skewered body downstream. “Damn it!” Katsuki’s hand reached for Hyoga, but came up empty as he quickly dodged his blast.

“I didn’t expect you to act so feverishly over someone you deemed a villain, Katsuki.” Hyoga said as he stood at the riverbank. Senku had just made it, barely holding on to Tsukasa over the sharp cliffside above the water. He scrambled at the ground and his body was trembling.

Hyoga went on to tease Katsuki. “Perhaps it’s because you secretly agree with us but you’re too focused on finding your old friends from your world to abandon the Kingdom of Science. Is that it?”

“Shut up.” Katsuki growled at him. His blood started to boil as he readied himself for battle, the threatening gaze of his enemy watching his every move. “Whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying it. Villains already tried to recruit me once in my old world and I’ll give you the same damn answer.” He took a step forward, his hands popping off with explosions. “I only do what I wanna do, and I won’t pretend otherwise! And I wanna be the number one hero, even if there ain’t anyone else to compete with.” Katsuki’s heart roared in his ears as he tried to think of a way to get to Senku. Though all he wanted to do was blast Hyoga’s stupid, smug face off from behind his mask, everything would be over if Senku drowned in the river.

But Hyoga was too close. If Katsuki moved, the villain could easily spear Senku straight through. But if Katsuki did nothing, both Senku and Tsukasa would go plunging into the waterfall below.

That’s when Katsuki noticed that another hero was in action. Shiny strings snaked their way across the field, reaching for Senku and Tsukasa first. Katsuki shot a look at the treeline, Tsunagu and Shinya standing together while Tsunagu used his quirk to pull Senku and Tsukasa to safety. 

Katsuki gave Hyoga a twisted smirk. He had no reason to hold back now. All he had to do was make sure he didn’t notice the rescue going on behind him. “You lured the girl here, tried killing her and ended up killing your villain buddy instead. That explosion earlier was the miracle cave, wasn’t it?” He spat. “I don’t care what your end goal is. It ends now.” 

Hyoga aimed his spear at Katsuki, spinning it round and around in a blur of sharpness. “You might have superpowers, but you’re still no match for my kudayari.”

“Tch.” Katsuki clicked his tongue. “If that’s what you wanna think.” He attacked without hesitation, lunging forward straight into the spinning speartip. All he had to do was keep his eyes on Hyoga’s hands to slip past the sharp weapon and aim a precise blast to its shaft. 

Wood splintered into the air, but Katsuki didn’t stop. He aimed a few bright, loud blasts right at the villain’s face for good measure. But what Katsuki hadn’t considered was that he still had a weapon, only now it was a more primitive spear with a wooden tip.

Katsuki lost his breath as Hyoga rammed the broken wood straight into his guts. He tumbled out of the air, just barely landing on his feet. I let my guard down… damn it…

But before Katsuki could attack again, he noticed something on the ground. A black powder at Hyoga’s feet. “Hey, Hyoga!” Senku’s voice called from a few feet away. “Have a dose of this!”

In a spark and a flash, the gunpowder along the ground lit ablaze. A whirlwind of flame encircled Hyoga and bathed the area in intense heat. But the flame didn’t last for long. Hyoga quelled the flames by using his own cloak, spinning it around himself until the fire dissipated.

His focus turned to Senku. “Too bad this won’t even be close to a proper fight.”

Hyoga only took one step toward Senku before Katsuki got in his way. His explosion was much bigger this time, aimed right for his chest at point blank and making him stumble backwards. His skin was singed and the look on his face was more panicked now. But it was clear he wasn’t defeated yet.

With his broken spear as his only weapon and no option for retreat, he charged at Katsuki with all his strength and speed. This time, Katsuki easily blocked the move and reciprocated with a blast to the face, but Hyoga crouched to dodge his hand and gave him another blow to the gut.

Katsuki held his ground, attempting strike after strike and yet barely able to leave a scratch on Hyoga. All of his combat skills, his speed and intellect and battle prowess were starting to feel useless against someone like this villain.

People from his world just didn’t fight like this. It was all about big, flashy moves to show off your quirk and intimidating your opponent. But the way Hyoga fought was old school. He didn’t take time to monologue, or make sure there was a camera watching. This was a man who simply wanted to harm, to achieve his goal and kill anyone who was in his way.

“You bastard!” Katsuki sent a big swing his way, an explosion readied at his palm. Frustration was starting to mount in him. While Hyoga couldn’t do much to actually hurt Katsuki, after all, a dull spear could really only bruise him, Katsuki couldn’t seem to land a good hit on Hyoga, either. Both of them were too quick, too agile to outdo or be outdone. They were locked in a stalemate of dexterity and swiftness. 

Throughout the fight, Katsuki could see Senku doing something in the background, crouched down low and watching their scuffle. The heroes and warriors in the crowd knew better than to leap into action unprompted, but Senku knew no such unspoken rule of the battlefield. 

And then Katsuki realized Senku was signaling something to him, his pointer finger held up with something shiny wrapped around it. 

This Leekhead’s gonna get himself killed! Katsuki grit his teeth, but if Senku had a plan, it was better than wearing himself out in this fight, anyway. He sent an explosion to the ground and leapt upwards, sending a strong kick to Hyoga’s chest and finally sending him toward Senku.

The moment he got close, Hyoga’s body froze and twitched, the smell of cooking flesh rising in the air before he dropped limply to his knees, then crumpled backwards into the river below. 

Katsuki was going to chase him downstream, but Kohaku stepped in front of him. “I’ll follow the river with Kinro and Ginro, you help Senku. You’ve done enough, hero. We need Tsukasa alive.”

Katsuki readied an explosion to follow them anyway, but the sound of gasping and shouting froze him in his tracks. His body locked up as he heard the familiar gurgle of a fatal wound. The chaos of trying to save someone’s life, the fabric weaved by Best Jeanist sharply zipping through the air. He hadn’t been conscious enough to remember the familiarity of this moment, but his body knew. He clutched his chest as his heart strained on itself with the feeling of tight stitches squeezing and cutting through his organs, slicing him to pieces until his heart stopped, the oxygen in his lungs dissipating in a final breath and…

There was a hand on his shoulder. A warm, but solid hand. “Thanks for backing us up earlier.” Senku said. “Don’t worry, Kohaku, Ginro, and Kinro can handle Hyoga, especially without his weapon of choice. I’d appreciate it if you stuck around here to make sure there’s no other nasty surprises.” 

Katsuki blinked a few times, taking several moments to come back to reality and register what Senku said. “Sure…” He shoved his hands in his pockets to steady himself. “What about Tarzan over there?” He nodded in the direction of Tsukasa’s bandaged body, lifted and carried on a stretcher by Taiju and a few other strong extras. 

“Tarzan, huh?” Senku looked over to the injured man. “Thanks to your friend’s abilities, we were able to bandage him up quickly. But he’ll need more than that to survive. I’ve got a plan to save him.”

Katsuki furrowed his brow as he noticed Senku’s voice shaking a little. “I’ll never understand this crap with you. Save the guy who killed you, and tried to kill all of those statues? You’re an idiot.” But he followed Senku anyway. 

“You wouldn’t save the guy who killed you in your time?” Senku questioned him. “I don’t know if it’s a difference between our worlds or something, but in mine, great heroes save their adversaries all the time. I’d imagine the greatest hero in the world would want to save everyone no matter what. But I guess that’s what happens when all the superheroes are fictional.”

Katsuki clicked his teeth together. Senku had no idea how close to home that hit. Because someone, somewhere out there would have said the exact same thing. That he would become the greatest hero, and he would save everyone no matter the cost.

No matter what universe he ended up in, there would always be annoying green-haired extras attached at his hip, and trying to save the whole damn world and everyone in it.

Senku went on, “I’m going to save everyone on earth and reverse the petrification. But I’m just a scientist, not a superhero. I’ll need strong people with high charisma like Tsukasa. And you, too.” 

“High charisma, huh?” Katsuki almost wanted to laugh. The hero that had just saved their asses from a literal cliffhanger was someone who accused him of the exact opposite once upon a time. “Whatever. You wanna be an idiot about it, fine. What’s the plan, Leekhead?”

Senku and Katsuki followed Taiju and the others as they carried the gurney to a safe place, hidden behind the same waterfall that Tsukasa nearly died in. But it was unlikely that animals or enemies would find him here, and it was the best place to start preparing everything they needed to piece his organs back together.

This cave wouldn’t be such a bad place to die, either. Warmed by the fire with the scent of hopeful medicine rising in the air as Katsuki and Senku worked together to save a man who had worked so hard to destroy the science that would either save his life, or prolong his passing long enough to make his final moments count.

And count, they did, as Tsukasa described the location of each and every one of the statues he destroyed to Ukyo and Yuzuriha. 

And Katsuki couldn’t help but wonder if villains from his time remembered the faces of the people they had destroyed, too.

Probably not.

The navy blue sky above Katsuki glittered with swirls of stars and gaseous astronomical clouds stretching for as far as the eye could see. The moon was waning, its light dulled and unintrusive to the twinkling stars above. 

The breeze was warm and the grass underneath him was soft as he stared upward. His hands ached from producing as much nitrosweat as he could. Senku said it would help with Tsukasa’s surgery somehow. Probably to keep his heart rhythm steady when they gruesomely cut him open without any anesthetic.

Katsuki didn’t stick around to watch. His body was still trembling from earlier and he just couldn’t kick the feeling he had in his guts. Something between butterflies and a horde of rats gnawing at his stomach. Or both.

He kept thinking about everything after Hyoga had been captured. Everyone- even those who weren’t pro-heroes- acted like they had trained for this moment their whole lives. Kinro, Ginro, and Kohaku had put Hyoga and Homura in makeshift prison cells, and news arrived that Uraraka, Kaseki, and Gen were able to detect the dynamite before it exploded, floating it into the air above the miracle cave.

The cave still collapsed a little, but it was intact enough to still use. No one was seriously hurt throughout the whole event except for Tsukasa.

Katsuki spent most of his time during the day patrolling and keeping an eye on things, watching Tsunagu comb the hair of a long line of extras excited to have someone who knew about fashion and self-care around, and listening to Kirishima and Magma brag to each other about who was stronger.

But now that everyone was asleep and there was already a numerous group of guards scanning the perimeter, Katsuki was left with time to himself for once. So he picked a patch of grass at random- one along a cliffside, the trees parted along the river so he could see the sky- and just stared at the universe.

And part of him felt like it was staring back. 

He knew exactly how incomprehensibly big the universe was. It was just a known fact that space stretched farther than anyone had ever been or observed. But to think that these stars might or might not be the ones he had seen from his dorm room window only filled him with a certain wistfulness. All he really wanted was an explanation. Where was he, and when? 

Could this simply be a timeline in which quirks never developed because humanity had turned to stone and couldn’t evolve? Or was this a whole other universe entirely, their times running parallel to each other instead? He wasn’t even entirely sure why it mattered so much to him, only that it did. 

He kept watching the stars even as he heard footsteps behind him. By the softness and cadence, he knew who it was, anyway. Senku sat right next to him, staring up at the same big sky. 

Yet when Katsuki glanced over to him, something about the way the stars reflected in his eyes that were so full of sadness and wonder was even more beautiful than simply looking up.

He tore his gaze away, though. If he had to explain why he was staring at him like that, he’d surely turn back into stone from embarrassment. It was clear this stone world was making him too damn soft. 

So they sat in silence for a while until Katsuki said, “I didn’t think you actually had real feelings for people.”

“Whaddya mean?” Senku didn’t sound offended or anything, just curious. 

Katsuki explained, “You’re always talking about how useful people are, how there’s a place for everyone in your Kingdom. And you never leave anyone behind. But I always thought that was a survival tactic or some moral high ground bullshit.” Katsuki managed to look at him again. “Your thing is logic and science. But you’re sentimental as hell, too, aren’t you? Even over a guy who killed you.” 

“I guess so.” Senku didn’t look back at him, he just kept his eyes on the twinkling stars above.

“You remind me of Izuku a bit. One of my classmates we’re looking for… no, not just a classmate. My friend.” Katsuki’s eyes stung with something like regret and something like longing. “It almost makes me wonder… if it were him instead of me here, would he have let you revive Shigaraki?” He almost hated himself for wondering. It didn’t matter, it shouldn’t matter. He knew he made the right call. So why the hell did he feel so… something about it? He couldn’t even put a word to how he felt, all he knew was that his mind was wandering to places it never had before. 

Senku finally glanced at him, his eyes shifting from the sky, to Katsuki, then to the ground below them. “I’m not gonna pretend to know anything about the world you came from. But I believe in giving everyone a chance in this stone world. Science takes experimentation and hard work. But doing things that are difficult are often worth it in the end. That’s what progress is all about.” 

Katsuki returned his gaze to the stars, his whole body tense from looking at Senku too long. He had already thought about the guy and how he might feel too much and it was starting to get to him.

He didn’t really understand Senku at all. The scientist always took the most logical route, but only when the logical route was non-violent if he could help it. When in reality, he had plenty of science and creativity to create weapons to take down almost any enemy. Just like how he had tased Hyoga earlier with his makeshift battery. But Katsuki was willing to bet that Senku had stepped into the fight to make sure no one got killed, now that he thought about it.

Maybe… Katsuki’s mouth filled with bitterness as the thought crossed his mind… Maybe a world without heroes was a world where people tended to try to find non-violent solutions to their problems. 

Though, any society with superpowered people was bound to end up like his did… right?

Katsuki tried to change the subject a little, if only to save his own sanity. “Back in your time, did you ever see skies like this? Musutafu was always too damn bright, you could barely see the stars half the time.” He traced each constellation in the sky, the North Star a little off-kilter from where he thought it should be. But maybe that was just this world, or this time, this universe. Wherever or whenever he was.

“Yeah, that was always an issue in my time, too. Used to take my telescope to parks at night, but the light pollution didn’t help.” Senku said. “Now I’ve got all the skies I could ask for and a telescope too big to carry along for the journey. How ironic.”

There was a lot of stuff Katsuki didn’t have anymore, either. A home, for starters, but all of the manga and comic books and trading cards except one was gone. His hand subconsciously drifted to his pocket, feeling the edges of his All Might trading card that had survived in the safety of his pocket through two wars, almost four thousand years, and living outdoors. Everything else… everyone else was gone. His mom, his dad, his room, the homework he never got to finish.

No matter what he did now, there was no going back.

“Hey, Senku…” Katsuki tried to steady his shaking voice. Maybe his world was totally screwed, but he’d be damned if he had to see another one collapse, too. “You better bring everyone back. All seven billion people, and everything science n’ shit has to offer. Don’t you dare let your world die like mine did.”

Senku smiled a little. “I’ll do everything I can to keep that promise. But with you and everyone else by my side, I’m not worried. The Kingdom of Science will win this, Katsuki.”

Katsuki leaned back in the grass, lacing his fingers behind his head. “Good.” 

And they stayed like that for a while, until the moon was high in the sky and the breeze started to get colder. The stars watched over them that night, the only witness to Katsuki’s stolen glances in Senku’s direction, and Senku’s stolen glances towards Katsuki.

Chapter Text

The breeze was salty and the fronds of palm trees danced together along the shore of a beach. In a scarred-up palm lay a piece of statue, a shard of petrified jawbone that had fallen off Kurogiri’s body.

Soft sand covered Izuku’s toes as he sat right at the edge of the waterline, waves softly crashing over each other and reflecting the bright stars above. 

Izuku wasn’t sure how long he’d been without his classmates, or if anyone else was still alive. But he clung to the piece of statue like a ray of hope. No matter how long it had been, he’d find the others and figure out how to get home.

Then, they could repair things, somehow. Maybe they couldn’t reverse the damage, but if they could just bring nature back and rebuild their home from scratch…

But where home was, he didn’t know. All he knew was that it was far, far away where he couldn’t yet reach. He knew that, and one other thing for sure. 

He whispered to the sea. “I know you’re out there somewhere, Kacchan. I’ll chase after you even when there’s nothing left. I promise.”

Chapter Text

Life slowed down for a day in the Kingdom of Science. The ice-cold late March rainstorm made sure of that. No one was hunting or crafting or fishing for once. Everyone just stayed inside eating fish stew and sipping on warm tea.

The fires that crackled in the homes of the Kingdom of Science produced a clean evergreen scent from the burning of pine. 

And in one of those homes, Katsuki, Uraraka, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero were sitting comfortably upon the floor with bowls of warm stew and cups of tea. 

“Man,” Kaminari whined. “Days like this make me miss my bed.”

Kirishima flexed his arm in response, the thick black cracks from petrification along his arm stretching on his skin. “Rainy days are great for working out! I wonder if Senku could make me some weight training equipment?”

And Sero groaned, “Who needs weight training equipment when we have someone like Senku working us to the bone? Seriously, I think my elbows have gone numb from all the tape I’ve been making for him.” 

“You idiots are just weak.” Katsuki grumbled at them. “If you’re not fit for this kinda life you better figure out how to catch up.”

Uraraka nodded in agreement. “Bakugou’s right! We should be working hard and getting used to living like this. There’s no telling how long it’ll be until things go back to normal.”

“See?” Kirishima gave her a fist bump and a toothy, sharklike grin. “That’s the spirit!”

But Kaminari looked to each of his friends with a worried frown. “But… Things won’t go back to normal, will they? I mean, once we get back we’re going to have to start from scratch, right?”

Silence fell over the hut, the only sound coming from the crackling stove and pouring rain.

Sero rubbed the back of his neck. “I might have the unpopular vote here,” He said, “but would it be so bad if we just stayed here? I mean, our world is nothing but dust. Won’t we starve to death anyway?”

Katsuki curled his lip at him. “I’d rather starve than let the villains win.” He set down his finished bowl of stew and leaned back on his hands. “Isn’t it obvious? We ain’t starting from scratch once we get home. We’ll build everything we need here and beat the crap outta Kurogiri until he brings us and all the seeds and water n’ shit we need back to where we came from.” 

Sero muttered under his breath, “Yeah, no way that could go wrong at all.”

Uraraka insisted, “We have to try. Bakugou’s right. We can’t just give up. We belong in our own world, and we can’t just sit back and let the villains take it from us, right?”

The harsh wind outside started to howl, knocking at the door of the hut and causing it to shake. Sharp pitter-pattering roared against the walls and roof. But the home that had been built for them- just a simple one-room structure with bedrolls and a stove in the center- stood strong. 

Katsuki peeked out of one of the windows. The sky was dark gray and lightning flashed violently, but despite the weather, there was someone crossing the clearing toward the science lab. Katsuki watched the figure slink through the muddy ground, somehow able to avoid dirtying the tops of their boots or the hem of denim around their ankles.

The hell is he doing? Katsuki wondered as he watched Tsunagu slip into the lab and disappear. 

“Tch,” Katsuki clicked his tongue and made up some excuse to leave the warmth of the hut. He grit his teeth against the ice-cold raindrops along his skin, only getting some relief from the rain under the cover of the back of the science lab where he pressed his back against the wall, the roofing just barely covering where he was standing.

Tsunagu’s voice was muffled, but Katsuki could make out most of what he said. “--Utilize your extensive science equipment–” then something about “-- A chemical and biological need–”

Senku’s reply was much clearer, though. A small, casual laugh and an invitation. “All science is welcome, you don’t have to explain. I’ve got pretty much everything we need.”

Katsuki couldn’t identify the burning in his throat he felt from overhearing this conversation, but something in his guts just didn’t feel right. Were they working on the nitrosweat revival fluid without him? Why? Did they think he wasn’t smart enough?! 

Nah, he’d tell them exactly what he thought about that. He rounded the corner and burst into the science lab. “If you idiots think–” But he paused in his tracks at what he saw on the table.

Senku was wearing thick gloves and wielding a syringe, hovering it over a fresh organ of some kind. There was an odd yellow liquid in a vial next to him and Tsunagu was adjusting the flame of a bunsen burner. The sharp smell of ammonia filled the lab.

“Dynamight…” Tsunagu stared at him for a moment.

Senku continued working, sticking the syringe into the organ as if it was a completely normal thing to do. And to a weirdo like Senku, it probably was. “Hey, Katsuki.” Senku greeted him. “Looks like we’ve been discovered.” He removed the syringe and emptied it in the vial of yellow liquid. “We decided to take a break from the nitrosweat revival fluid formula to work on a personal project. But if you’ve got any more nitrosweat on hand, there’s a jar on the shelf you can use.” He gestured to a shelf that already had three small jars filled with his sweat and a Danger: Explosive sign on the shelf.

“A personal project?” Katsuki crossed his arms. “We don’t have time for you to be playing in the lab. The quicker we have a backup supply of revival fluid the better off we’ll be.” He glared at the organ, a shiver going up his spine as it squelched a little under Senku’s syringe. “The hell is that thing, anyway?”

“A goat’s bladder!” Senku answered. “And don’t worry, this project is ten billion percent important. We’re uh… making medicine! A very important medicine…” His voice wavered a little, but not from fear or nerves, but as he clearly realized how believable he sounded. 

Katsuki would have laughed if he wasn’t so peeved about the whole situation. Senku always said he never lied about science, but now Katsuki wondered if he was just a bad liar when it came to science without Gen around to back him up. 

“There’s no need to lie, Senku. It is a kind of medicine, after all.” He turned to Katsuki, his expression carefully steady and his words tight with apprehension. “We’re creating estrogen from goat urine.”

Katsuki’s hands twitched in annoyance. Why the hell was something like that so important?!  “Tch, someone going into menopause or some shit?” He waited for a real answer that actually made sense.

“Yes,” Tsunagu said. “In a way.” He told Katsuki, “Estridol is- or once was- extracted from the urine of pregnant horses to produce estrogen. The same logic may be applied to goat urine as well, though the levels of estradiol are lower. So when we discovered one of the goats we had harvested for meat was pregnant, I took this opportunity to extract the hormone directly from the source. Our scientist friend here is simply aiding me in this process. It brings me much relief not to have to rely on the gruesome and risky methods I used before joining the Kingdom of Science.”

Katsuki suddenly felt like he had been thrown into someone else’s weird dream. What the hell was Tsunagu talking about? 

Both luckily and unluckily for Katsuki, it wasn’t in Tsunagu’s nature to refrain from elaboration. “Long before the war, I decided to live in a body that felt like it belonged to me. That was not the masculine, male-aligned body I was born with.” He explained further, his voice still tense and his eyes darting from Katsuki to Senku and back again. “Much of it was simple, given the nature of my quirk. I could simply mold myself into the shape I wanted to be. And with the chemical assistance of estrogen, that form was both easier to manage and felt most natural. It was a small comfort I had in such a binary society; Good or bad, hero or villain, man or woman. But the petrification had ‘fixed’ my body back to its original state. And so I must find stone world solutions to these modern societal problems.”

Katsuki’s brain lagged a bit as he put together the pieces of what he was saying. There had always been rumors going around about Best Jeanist back home. The tabloids ate up every small detail. His acuity for fashion, his style, the way he spoke, his voice, the shape of his fingernails, everything. But even during his internship, Katsuki didn’t concern himself with any of it. Man, woman, whatever. The top third hero was the top third hero. He– or she?-- Best Jeanist was just Best Jeanist, that’s what mattered to Katsuki.

“I ask of you, Katsuki,” Tsungau said, “You need not change your perception of me. I am a woman, yes, but I am still the same person you knew in your internship and thereafter. Nothing has changed simply because you now know I’ve sought hormonal assistance with my state of being.”

Of course, Katsuki’s first instinct was to brush it off. Give him a shrug, a whatever and then go back to the warm glow of the fire. But he also knew what it was like to be seen as something you weren’t. In his case, a villainous brat who’d never get his shit together, and in Tsunagu’s case, a man. While they weren’t exactly the same, it all boiled down to self-identity and the frustration of fighting against the pre-conceived assumptions of the world. As Tsunagu had put it, modern societal problems.

Not only that, but navigating what identity meant in a world so close yet so dissimilar to their own was a challenge Katsuki knew well.

Who was he if not the next number one hero? And who was Best Jeanist if not someone who consistently broke through the gender binary? It was all so damn obvious.

“You think I’m that small-minded?” Katsuki grumbled at Tsunagu. “I ain’t gonna pretend you’re somethin’ you’re not just ‘cause some idiots decided to make dumbass rules based on a birth certificate. Since when did I listen to just any old geezer, hah?” 

Tsunagu’s shoulders dropped and he visibly relaxed as if he had been holding his breath the whole time. “I appreciate that. Please, as I said when we first reunited in the stone world, refer to me how you wish. It matters little to me. This identity is my own war waged against my body, not against the words used to identify me.” 

As they spoke, Senku had been working on the bunsen burner setup. Glass clinked against glass as he connected different tubes together. “The science is actually ridiculously simple. The problem is getting the dose just right. We might have to experiment for a while, but we have plenty of goats to extract from so we should be able to whip up a three month supply pretty easily!” 

Tsunagu glanced over at Senku. “I was under the impression you never lie about science, Senku. This will not be an easy task, even for someone as scientifically versed as you are. The chemistry involved is complex, which is why I insist once again that you not distract your own efforts. Dynamite is correct. The nitrosweat revival formula is critically important to both of our goals. Having an alternative to the miracle cave at the palm of our hands, that is the way we will ensure accomplishment.” 

Senku put his hands up guiltily. “You got me, denim hero. It’s a complicated process that will take some time, but I didn’t lie when I said that we could have a three month’s supply once we’re finally done. But you’ve forgotten my other goal.”

“And what is that?” Tsunagu asked.

Senku answered, “I’m going to bring back all the cool things my time had to offer. Medical advances are part of that. Everyone is welcome in the Kingdom of Science, and that means everyone gets what they need. That’s how science works.” Senku offered his hand to Tsunagu. “Giving up on something before even trying? That’s not the way of a scientist. We’ll work on this together.”

Tsunagu stared at his hand for a moment, taking it in an awkward, but polite handshake. “This Kingdom of Science of yours is truly starting to give me hope, Senku. Thank you.” 

Katsuki left it at that, leaving the science lab to let them plan out their roadmap to making estrogen for Tsunagu. As much as he felt a pull to watch them work out the science and see that stupid grin on Senku’s face whenever he was knee-deep in a project, Tsunagu had made a point. This was his own fight, and Katsuki wasn’t going to shove his nose into it unless asked.

Besides, there were other good points he brought up that Katsuki certainly didn’t want to rehash again. Hero society and becoming number one was all he cared about, and everything he had ever known. He’d be damned if he doubted himself now if he was fighting so hard to get it all back. Though he couldn’t help thinking far too much about Tsunagu’s points on self-identity, he had to keep focusing on what actually mattered.

Everything else was just a distraction from his plan: Find the rest of the people from his world, force Kurogiri to portal them back home, restore everything they could, and become the number one hero. Nothing else was worth his time, and nothing else mattered.

Chapter Text

As time went on, the Kingdom of Science started to slowly grow in numbers and technology. Right after revival, Ryusui was causing both chaos and a boost in efficiency with his new currency. Everyone was working hard to build the ship and earn drago, and those with quirks continuously used them to help where they could.

Not too far away from the makeshift shipyard was the original home of the Tsukasa Empire, the mountainous area where people had carved out manmade caves for people to rest, work, and live in. A cluster of people stayed there to keep up with statue reconstruction, farming wheat, and combat training. After all, even though these people were a peaceful group, there was no telling what animals could attack, or what humans could betray the Kingdom of Science. Staying combat-ready was a must no matter what.

The ship building crew had built wooden huts to stay in while they worked, there was a medical center where those with basic first aid skills took care of minor injuries and illnesses, and generators and primitive street lights that lit up at night and scared predators away. Someone had even built a replica of the science shed from Ishigami village that Senku, Chrome, and Katsuki slept in after long nights of talking about science and working on the Nitrosweat Revival Formula. 

The place was starting to feel like one of those small towns in old movies. Everyone was growing more tightly knit, and if anyone needed help, there was someone to help them. A few of the extras from the Tsukasa Empire had become new parents, too. The crying of babies almost always interrupted some conversation or half of their neighbor’s sleep. But growth was growth, and the idea of new families kept general morale high.

Meanwhile, Kirishima worked with Taiju to chop lumber, Uraraka would float the materials closer to Tsunagu, and Tsunagu would manipulate the fibers of the wood to both Kaseki and Ryusui’s specifications. Then there was Shinya, who kept himself busy by helping Yuzuriha glue back together the statue pieces they found, his body still not fully recovered from the events of the war. 

Sero used his tape for everything from securing medical bandages if someone had a mild injury to helping out with construction projects, and Kaminari kept batteries and generators charged and helped out where he could, too. Though he wasn’t ideal for any complex tasks since he tended to short circuit himself more often lately trying to keep up with all the power requirements of what was essentially a small city at this point. Not to mention trying to use his quirk with the help of Ukyo to track down the signal from Why Man.

The chaos around Katsuki was almost comforting, almost nostalgic.

While there was an air of excitement among the stone world crew, what motivated Katsuki and his comrades was a sense of duty. This ship they were building could be the key to finding everyone else if they had been teleported to other continents. 

The world might be big, but it was a whole lot bigger when you only had your own two feet to traverse it.

In between working on the ship, working on other science projects, and supporting the agriculture and material gathering teams, everyone was keeping a sharp eye out for those with quirks still trapped in stone. 

Though Katsuki could tell that one of his comrades in particular was getting impatient…

A scream ripped through the shoreline. Taiju’s shout came from the trees to the east. “Somebody help! He’s really hurt!”

Though at least a dozen people dropped what they were doing to check out the scene, Katsuki was the first to arrive. His explosions carried him through the air and past the trees toward the lumberyard. The ground was covered in stumps and woodchips from chopping wood, the dirt muddy as Katsuki landed with a squelch from his boots. 

“Bakugou!” Sero shouted his name from next to a pile of lumber. Underneath, a sickly pale, limp arm was pushed deep into the mud. The rest of the person was hidden under the heavy wood. “Blast away the wood! He won’t last long under there!”

A few feet away, he could see Uraraka’s body crumpled against a tree stump. “Damn gravity girl exhausted herself!” Katsuki grit his teeth as he readied his hands against the log pile. 

Katsuki unleashed his quirk on the wood. Smoke and char filled the air as the lumber shifted away from the victim underneath, and with the help of Taiju and Magma, the area was clear enough to reveal Kirishima in his Unbreakable state shielding someone from the full impact of the heavy logs.

Taiju yelled in relief, “Woah! I totally forgot about your powers, Kirishima! You look totally fine!” His voice was loud enough to make even Katsuki’s ears ring. 

Kirishima unhardened himself and stood up. “Yeah, I’m fine. But he needs medical help right away!” He shouted to the group of villagers that had run to the scene. “I think his arm is broken!”

The man he had saved was completely bald, a strange x-shaped scar on his head. He winced as he held his right arm. “Thank you so much for saving me!”

Kirishima grinned, offering his hand to help the guy stand up. “No problem! It’s what heroes do.”

The man- Katsuki couldn’t even guess his name. Unlike everyone else, this guy seemed to always keep to himself- turned to Katsuki. “You, too. Your powers saved our lives!”

“Sure.” Katsuki glanced over to Uraraka. Kohaku and Ginro were kneeling by her side, giving her something that might have been smelling salts to jostle her awake. 

Katsuki joined them, his arms crossed as he looked down at her. When she blinked awake, Katsuki grumbled, “You’re overworking yourself, Cheeks.” 

Uraraka gave him a guilty look. Her eyes had dark circles around them and her face was a pale green. With a weak voice, she whispered, “I just… want to find Deku… as fast as I can…”

“Tch.” Katsuki clicked his tongue. “You’ve been staying up all night looking for him for weeks. I’m tellin’ ya, he’s not here. You really think he’d still be stuck in stone when all it takes is to use a crap ton of mental energy to break outta the petrification? That nerd does nothing but think too much.”

Uraraka frowned, but didn’t say anything more. Kohaku reached a hand out to her. “Come on, you need to rest.”

“I’m fine…” Uraraka insisted, trying to stand. But her whole body wobbled from the effort. Kohaku grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away from the scene without further argument. 

Senku and Sero were already working together to set the injured man’s broken arm, Taiju and Magma carried the lumber down toward the shore, and the rest of the crowd had already dispersed. 

Katsuki turned around to find Tsunagu watching the scene, his face hidden deep in his denim collar. “You did very well.” He said. “I’m impressed how much you’ve grown in this stone world.”

“Yeah, well…” Katsuki looked away from the hero. His classmates were one thing, but something about having a pro-hero around reminded him far too much of home. Of the uneasiness that had grown in his chest whenever he remembered his old life. “I had 3,700 years to do nothing but think. I’m ancient now compared to when we last met, ain’t I?”

“That’s true…” Tsunagu watched him as he walked away, his eyes burning into Katsuki’s back. 

Yeah, Best Jeanist was a dizzying reminder of Katsuki’s old world, his old thoughts, his old self…

He had spent the last week watching people drool over money, manipulating each other for it, working harder than they really should have just to get a taste of what it was like to be rich.

I’m gonna be the richest hero of all time! He wanted to blow himself into smithereens just thinking about what he had told his middle school classmates. He wanted to be the best because he wanted to be the best. Who gave a damn about being rich when you could just be better than everyone else around you?

But there were also heroes out there who weren’t gunning for the number one spot. It would be a nice perk to them, sure. But some people just wanted to be heroes for the sake of saving people, or doing their part in the world. Just like Senku was commanding a whole Kingdom- no matter how humble he was being about it- just for the sake of saving all seven billion people on his planet and sharing science with everyone he could along the way.

That would be Senku’s idea of victory, and the Kingdom of Science’s. And Katsuki was starting to wonder if maybe there was something more to his own idea of victory than just winning and being the best at beating up villains for a living.

Just maybe… there were other ways to be a hero other than carrying a government-sponsored license that said he was one. He could be the best hero right here, right now, and the first step was within reach as long as he kept doing everything he could to make sure the ship was finished and they could find everyone else that was missing, plus help the Kingdom of Science solve the mystery of the petrification and make sure this kind of disaster would never happen again.

He could save this world, and what was left of his own. That would be his victory.