Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Nyctohylophobia
Bakugou Katsuki wasn't afraid of no punk ass bitchy little forest. And he especially wasn’t a quivering mess like Deku next to him. The loser kept grabbing onto him anytime a bush shook or one of the branches overhead shook. It made slogging through the woods late at night even worse because his arm holding the flashlight kept getting jerked around. The trail was barely visible underfoot this deep in covered as it was in leaves and bushes encroaching onto the path. It would be a pain if they got lost and he had to spend the night with cry baby Deku.
“Kacchan come on, let's go back already,” Izuku pleaded tugging at his friend's sleeve. “Haven’t we gone far enough yet? Nobody actually expected you to do it.”
Bakugou shoved him away causing Izuku to nearly stumble into a bush. In a second Izuku had righted himself and was right back to clinging to Bakugou for safety. “I ain’t no coward. And I’m going to prove to those fucking extras that I’m not afraid of anything. And you’re coming with me as a witness. So stop quivering and pick up the pace. We’re almost there.” He turned back to the trail and started walking faster, uncaring if he left Deku behind.
Izuku squeaked as Bakugou hurried along and started jogging to catch up not wanting to get left behind. He had been the only willing to go along with Bakugou after the other boy had been dared by his friends. He didn’t want to do this. Oh who was he kidding? He was absolutely terrified right now. But Kacchan had needed his help. And maybe he could also prove himse
“Ahh!” Bakugou nearly fell to the ground underneath the sudden weight on his back that came from Deku clinging to him.
“Will you stop freaking out from every single little noise! It’s not like you're going to get eaten by a wolf or something you dipshit.”
“I can’t help it Kacchan,” Izuku whined. “It’s just scary because you can’t see anything.”
“Oh come on. That’s not what you’re supposed to be scared of.” Seeing Izuku’s blank look he pressed on. “Didn’t any of those extras tell you about where we’re going?” Izuku shook his head. Bakugou felt a dark grin grow on his face.
“Well you see it all starts with this hermit who decided to live here. Or maybe he was a monk. Whatever, it doesn’t really matter which he was. What’s important is that he liked the solitude of the forest. He built himself a cabin, grew a garden in one of the clearings, and meditated or some shit like that. Anyway he liked living here.
“And then what happened?” Izuku asked curiously. This didn’t seem like any reason to be afraid. In fact it made the whole place decidedly less scary.
Bakugou was ecstatic at how hooked the damn nerd was on his story but tamped it down. He was just getting warmed up. “Well then the people came. And then more people. They started walking through his forest and ruining it. They trampled his garden and scared away the animals he liked. Teenagers he hated the most because they were always so disrespectful and loud he couldn’t even meditate. Some say that he prayed and cursed the entire place. The people who entered his precious forest got lost and starved or ate plants that were suddenly poisonous. The worst was when people died and it was only known because others stumbled on their rotting corpses.” Izuku gulped. This was where they were exploring? “When he saw what he had done he hung himself from a tree by his cabin. Of course that’s not the worst part.”
“I-I-It’s w-wworse?” Izuku was shaking like a leaf on one of the branches overhead.
“Oh yes,” Bakugou said with an absolutely feral grin on his face. “Remember how he prayed and cursed the whole forest?” Izuku fearfully nodded his head. “Some say he didn’t pray to god. Or at least not a nice god but a horrid wicked dark thing. He wanted revenge on all the intruders and he got it. It only cost his life!” Izuku shrieked at Bakugou’s sudden shout.
Bakugou had gotten fully into telling his horror story, pressing on despite how close to passing out Izuku looked. “His spirit couldn’t pass on because of how wicked it was and continues to haunt this forest. And he still doesn’t like people coming in and ruining it. Course you don’t got anything to worry about,” he added slyly.
Izuku started to look hopeful. “I-I d-don’t-tt?”
“Course not. For all the good people he ends their suffering quick.” Izuku paled and started shaking again. He felt like he was going to throw up. “He turns them into trees so they can be a part of his forest. It hurts a bit, but then it’s all over and you don’t feel anything.”
“Of couse all the bad ones he hunts down. And you run and run while he slowly steals you away. If you’re lucky you can escape but you’ll have always lost something. Your sight, an arm, your mind. The unlucky ones keep running until there’s nothing left for him to take. Then, no no I shouldn’t mention that,” Bakugou said shaking his head.
Izuku was already terrified out of his mind. He didn’t want to hear any more of this horrible forest that was probably going to end up killing him. But a morbid curiosity forced him to ask.
“Oh are you sure you want to know?” He didn’t trust himself to be able to speak so he simply nodded. “Well the ones that he hates the most he makes an example out of. He hunts them like the others, but he catches them. He wants them to suffer like he did when he hung himself. So he stabs them onto the trees and watches as they bleed out.” Izuku collapsed, his poor heart not able to take anymore.
He woke up to Bakugou laughing, tears streaming down his face and bent nearly double. “God you’re such a scaredy cat Deku. You couldn’t even handle a scary story. I can’t believe you fell for it.” Izuku’s protesting simply started up Bakugou’s laughter again. “You’re so pathetic. Now let’s go, we still need to get to the center,” he said sobering up. Izuku followed along feeling extremely miffed at how Bakugou had played with his fears.
Oh God! Oh God! Shit shit shit shit shit! “Kacchan where are you? Don’t you want to play?” Bakugou tried to run even faster away from that...that thing. Whatever it was wasn’t Deku anymore. He had heard Deku shouting when he was trying take a picture of the abandoned cabin for proof, but had just thought it was the nerd freaking out like normal.
It was too late. It was like Deku was splitting open and something was coming out. He shoved those memories out of his head and kept running. He wasn’t even sure he was running the right way but he needed to get out.
He kept expecting that monster to pounce on his back at any second. It was impossible to hear anything over his sharp gasps that fueled his frantic charge through the forest. His legs were burning, his chest was on fire, and his eyes stung from sweat. His whole body was fire like he was in hell. It was shock or terror, he knew that in some small part of his mind, but he almost wanted to be cut and clawed and bleeding because then it would be cool flowing over his flesh.
He was trapped. He kept running, but nothing was changing. The same horrid black trees with their grasping claws tearing at him, the terrible dark bushes with leafy maws that lashed out against his legs. Deku’s voice calling out again and again as he tried to escape. The dark pressing in like hooks undeterred by his meager flashlight.
Hell wasn’t some lake of fire. It was these damned trees and that horrible thing behind him hunting for eternity. He wanted to collapse but some dark urge kept him going past what his body could take. His legs slowly shattering each time they hit the ground. His chest ripping as his lungs swelled. His throat torn bit by bit by each breath that rushed down it.
Was it getting lighter? Were the trees thinning? Like a drop of water in hell was this some miracle? He didn’t slow down only pushing himself harder. Even if his body was torn to pieces, shattered beyond repair he wanted out. He wanted out of this hell even if he died. 30 meters until the tree line.
20 He could do it. He burned but he didn’t care.
15 He was going to make it. The fire was stabbing straight through his head.
10, 9, 8 It hurt, it hurt so much. The pain was overwhelming him. His tears were like lava on his face.
7, 6, 5 He was free. Free of this hell of trees and darkness.
“Oh there you are Kacchan.”
Detective Tsukauchi felt sick to his stomach at the scene in front of him. Two teens had gone missing in the forest near Mustafu and they had sent out a search party. They had found evidence for both of the boys, but it was not good. This was the work of one of the most twisted psychos he had ever seen.
The blonde, Bakugou Katsuki, was impaled over a small sapling by the side of a clearing. Each limb had had multiple branches shoved through just at the breaking point where the skin and muscles could still keep it from splitting all the way open. Clearly they knew what they were doing. The torso was the worst, like a pincushion with how the murderer had done his arboreal work.
The other, Izuku Midoriya, they could only find his clothes. Ripped and bloodstained it didn’t bode well, but maybe they could find him before it was too late. As he took one last look at the scene a horrid thought entered his head. The branches looked like bloodstained hands offering a twisted sacrifice, while blood clotted in a mossy patch of hair, and a hollow in the trunk screamed for all eternity. He shook his head dispelling the dark vision. He couldn’t let the horrific scene affect him. He had a kidnapping to solve.