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It was raining.
Ironic, because on the day of the actual funeral, it hadn't been. No, the sun had been bright; much more cheerful than it had any right to be.
...That had been four days ago.
But no. Here, now, it was raining. Clouds that covered the sun dimmed the world. The mood was fitting, he thought.
Here, now, red eyes were tipped down to stare at a gravestone. Red eyes, so used to carrying a burning flame, were currently dull. His arms tightened around himself— the weather was strangely frigid— and his eyes closed, pretending, for a moment, that the rest of the world didn't exist. This half-hearted illusion was shattered, however, by someone speaking from somewhere behind him.
"I'm sorry for your loss."
If asked, he'd vehemently deny tensing minutely at that. He wasn't surprised. He didn't flinch. He didn't. But he couldn't dismiss the voice itself. It sounded... familiar?
He'd heard it somewhere before.
"It's not my loss. It's the whole damn country's l—" He had turned to look at whoever had spoken, but immediately froze, red eyes widening slightly.
The figure offered a sad smile at Katsuki's stillness. "You remember me?"
Eyebrows furrowed together slightly, "I... Izuku?"
His small smile became a bit more genuine— and really, he hadn't changed a bit— although his tone remained solemn. "It's been a while, Kacchan. What happened to that nickname you gave me?"
What happened, indeed. "I... Like you said," he shifted to face Izuku fully, multiple questions swimming through his head as he regarded the green-haired boy. "It's been a long while. I'd like to think that I've changed a bit."
Izuku tipped his head in acknowledgment but stayed quiet. Curious, but Katsuki really shouldn't be surprised; undoubtedly, he's not the only one to grow as a person. Green eyes slid to gaze solemnly behind Katsuki, and he immediately knew what Izuku was looking at. Wordlessly, they both turned to regard the engraved stone.
"I still can't believe he's dead." It took Katsuki much too long to realize that those words came from his mouth.
Izuku, next to him, was silent for a moment before giving a small nod and a low hum in agreement.
There was silence, then, and Katsuki's eyebrows remained slightly furrowed all the while. He chanced a quick look at the boy next to him. Izuku carried himself different. Taller. More... confident, he supposed. Though, no thanks to him.
"Izuku..." Green eyes glanced over at him, curious. "Where have you been all these years? You and Aunty dropped off of the map... but now you've just... shown up suddenly?"
Izuku turned back to look at the gravestone unseeing as he formulated an answer. "It's like you said," he offered finally, voice soft. "I've been busy, but I've changed."
Katsuki hated who he had been, back when. He hated his quick temper, and how easily it turned on undeserving people. It had been a long time since he had felt that old anger. The intense determination driving him may not have left, but in the last couple of years, he had learned to control the angry flame burning low in his chest.
But here, now, he felt the same old ember sparking alive. He hated how easily it flared at De— Izuku's words. With sharp focus, Katsuki snapped his attention to the other, snarling.
"Busy? Busy with what? You dropped off of the face of the earth for years, and now just decide to suddenly show up like some kind of—"
"Are you still wanting to become Number One?" Izuku's sudden interruption stopped Katsuki short, and his eyebrows furrowed further at the sudden change in topic, words dying on his tongue. He clenched his jaw briefly, willing himself calm before replying.
"I..." He slowed, momentarily quiet, before, "Yeah. With... With All Might gone, the Number One spot is open for the taking—" Endeavor didn't count. After being publicly exposed, he was barely in the race anymore, "—and I'm going to have to work twice as hard to fill it as soon as possible."
Katsuki saw Izuku's gentle smile return for a moment at his words. "Well, I'm glad you still have that drive, Kacchan. I've always admired that about you, you know." Red eyes looked on curiously. "My whole life, I've always believed in your stubborn determination." There was a momentary pause. "So, Kacchan, I'd like to help you."
"...I'm sorry?"
Izuku turned to face him fully, offering a hand. "Let me help you reach the top. Let me help you become Number One."
There were many questions that Katsuki had, and with every passing minute, the number only increased. He didn't quite understand fully what Izuku meant, either. But all through their childhood— and Katsuki had learned to look back, now— he couldn't recall one time when Izuku wasn't trying to help.
Even though he had despised the boy growing up, Izuku had always been so full of hope, of light, of goodness. He... He trusted the green-eyed boy, even back then. And he supposed that that gut feeling carried over now, to the solemn boy standing in front of him who he hadn't seen in years. Dare he say, he still trusted Izuku. So, Katsuki may not have understood fully, but he took the other's hand nevertheless.
"Alright."
...He regrets taking Izuku up on his offer.
Because the next thing he knows, Izuku smiles, and it's not reassuring. It's a smile full of malice; a smile that sends chills down Katsuki's spine. Something strange glints in Izuku's viridian eyes and his hand tightens around Katsuki's. Something locks in place.
"I won't do you wrong, Kacchan," Izuku says. And for the first time in probably his whole life, Katsuki does not trust Izuku's words.
He should have reacted, he knows. But for some reason, he feels incapable of moving, completely detached and caged inside his own mind. His brain alerts him to flee, fight, do something; but his body fails to react.
A black portal opens behind Izuku, and he backs into it, pulling Katsuki along.
The air grows heavy, and the world goes black.