Chapter 10: Katsuki's First Breath

Toga's giggles resurfaced throughout the night, the next day, and the day after that. The day after that as well. It's been a while… Maybe a week? A month?

Katsuki was just surprised he still could breathe.

His countdown seemed a distant thought in his mind, especially since Toga's latest bloody spree ended up with a couple slices very near his jugular and some open wounds from stabs in between his ribs.

Katsuki wasn't sure if Kurogiri fed him or Dabi patched him up. Or if Magne cleaned the dried blood from his skin. Or if Twice kept him company. Or if Shigaraki appeared alone to question him, which usually ended with Shigaraki losing his patience with the quiet blonde and kicking him. Or if Toga appeared alone to bite into his scabbing neck to get some fresh blood from the source.

He wasn't sure how much time has passed. He wasn't sure how much longer he could make deals with the devil to keep him alive until the next morning.

———————————————————————————————————

"Katsuki~ Today's the day!" Toga's voice rang out in the warehouse, just like every time she's visited.

The blonde could barely move his eyes from where they were focused on the dirty tiles beneath him. Her steps echoed around him, a weird sense of calmness flooding his body even though she had been torturing him for a year.

…Or was this three months?

Toga knew Katsuki couldn't respond, she had played surgeon a few days ago and ended up scratching his vocal cords. It did the trick on the small screams he let out when she got particularly creative. "One of your bratty heroes caught wind of us here so we're moving!! Isn't that fun? It's like a big happy family moving to a bigger house! Ahh! I love playing family!!"

Shigaraki clicked his tongue behind her, growing annoyed. "Cut to the chase, you bimbo-bitch."

Toga's giggles heightened in pitch as she dropped to her knees in front of Katsuki's face, trailing a small blade from the corner of his eye down to the corner of his lips. "Since we don't wanna go to the big house, we'll be leaving you here!! I'm sure the heroes will find you before the poison takes over, right?! Cute purple poison for a cute boy!"

"Good thing we got Mustard to sample some of his gas for this shit, it's pretty fast too. If our math's correct, when those losers find you, you'd be taking your last breath." Shigaraki's red sneakers came into view, and Katsuki could barely swallow at how close he felt the other villain's presence.

The cut going down his face didn't even sting, not even when his eyes teared up on reflex, and the saltiness of his tears mixed with the small gap of flesh.

———————————————————————————————————

Shigaraki later returned with a small bottle, a long needle, gloves, and some napkins. He expertly cleaned the area near Katsuki's shoulder with surprising caution, all the while he stabbed the needle into the bottle and pulled it out after getting more than enough of the poison created after Mustard's gas.

He muttered a count of three under his breath that Katsuki struggled to catch before the blonde sucked in a sharp breath as the needle punctured his skin.

"Yer at nine, brat. Uh," Shigaraki stood and cleaned off his hands from any excess liquid before removing the gloves with four fingers, "nice knowing you, I guess."

He left Katsuki to die.

———————————————————————————————————

Another cough escaped his mouth. Then another. And another. And another; now he tastes blood.

Toga and Shigaraki haven't visited him.

How much time has passed? Had passed? Was it autumn? Winter?

Did UA move on from the kidnapping…?

Did the pro-heroes give up after a week of searching? A month?

Katsuki swallowed the blood and spit pooling in his mouth, the metallic taste sent his mind in a foggy state but he was dehydrated. It's the closest thing he's got, even if it's not healthy.

He'll deal with that if he survives…

———————————————————————————————————

"Katsuki-kun, wake up," a voice rips through his ears.

The noise was clear and familiar, he tries with all his leftover strength to open his eyes. The blonde moved his eyes upwards, to face whoever woke him up. He still feels the poison in his veins, eating away at anything worth keeping him alive for. His wrists feel heavy and weak, even as they lay inside the cuffs over his body. He barely moves in fear of ripping open a healing wound or some of the patching up sewing and staples from Dabi. He really didn't feel like moving if it wasn't completely necessary.

The narrowed yellow eyes followed his own glazed over narrowed red eyes. Kurogiri sighed; he honestly felt horrible for the young hero-in-training. His misty darkness flared when he heard something far away from them, only clearing his throat when the noise didn't make itself present again.

"I'm sure you're probably wondering why I'm not getting rid of you, Katsuki-kun. I'll be warping you to UA, I've gotten ahold of the layout of their new dorms. You'll be dropped there. Shigaraki nor the rest of the League knows about this; I do believe everyone thinks you've passed." Kurogiri raised his right foggy hand, seemingly reaching into a small warp gate he created. "I'll give you some water. It should hold you over until one of your peers finds you.

"I know it probably doesn't mean much to you, but I wish you the best. If, in the future, our paths cross once more, I won't stop you from reaching Shigaraki or Toga-san. This is too far, what they did to you. I believe even villains like ourselves have morals."

Katsuki felt something tickle his bare feet, an empty feeling encompassing him up to his hips when he realized it was one of Kurogiri's warp gates. The last thing he saw was a small wave from the older man as his quirk took him back to UA.

———————————————————————————————————

Katsuki's limp body laid on a beige carpet for what felt like forever. He vaguely wondered if any of his blood stained the rug, feeling guilty for being in this situation.

It's not your fault.

A loud voice echoed in the room Katsuki laid unmoving in, the voice cheery and bright, and Katsuki's memory didn't fail to recognize it as Kirishima's. Two more voices seemed to respond to his boisterous laughter, and his mind supplied it as Uraraka and Kaminari.

Get closer! Get closer to here! Dammit!!!

A pair of familiar red shoes stopped near his face, the heels pointing towards his eyes. Katsuki wanted to yell, scream, groan, anything.

He was dying. In UA, on their beige carpets, like a mouse that a house cat had killed as a present for its owners.

His mind supplied his own conscience saying "Ten". He figured his last breath would be any minute.

Well… That's what Shigaraki and his goonies kept reminding him.

It never came.

He kept breathing as a pair of emerald eyes dropped fat tears from their height onto his own eyes after his focus landed on the missing blonde laying on their common room floor.