𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒚𝒓𝒊𝒆 || Hawks x Reader x Dabi

10 | As The World Caves In

She was floating. Then, she was sinking.

The air was thick. A glass lake stretched to the dark orange horizon before her. For a moment, she appreciated the beauty, but the tranquility soon twisted into something more sinister.

She was not floating any longer; she was falling. The young woman tried to scream. She tried to reach out and grab onto something--anything but kept failing. There was no sound; there was no feeling.

Then, she crashed into the glass-like lake below her. It shattered, and she kept falling until she splashed into the darkness below.

Every moment she tried to catch her breath, to breathe in an ounce of fresh air, her head was resubmerged. The young woman was supposed to feel wet, yet she felt nothing: zero sensation, only dread, only fear.

She kept sinking until the orange light dimmed into nothingness. Black was all she could see.

And finally, after what felt like decades, the soles of her bare feet touched the bottom of the lake. She still did not feel what was beneath her, and she still couldn't move. She sank until her back was resting against the aquatic earth.

She could not move. She could not breathe. The pain of being submerged caused her to panic, the feeling of having no control. She was running out of air, and she was running out of time. The young woman's eyes remained open, yet all she could see was blackness. The slight glistening of an unknown source rippled off the gentle waves at the surface.

Help. She wanted to scream. Please help me. I can't reach the surface on my own.

Then, her entire world shifted. She was still submerged, yet she was rising. Or, the water above her was sinking. She was moving, yet she could not feel. She was powerless and confused.

Am I dead?

There was nothing she could do as a pale, calloused hand reached towards her from above.

She wanted to kick her legs, desperate to reach whoever was attempting to save her. She felt as if she would forever be grateful to the stranger, a stranger who would save her life. She couldn't even open her mouth to yell, to release air bubbles that would guide her to the surface.

But her gratefulness dissipated when the hand reached past her cloudly vision. Her body convulsed as the faceless hand tangled its fingers into her hair, the grip snarling violently against her locks, disregarding any sense of gentleness.

At the feeling of her hair tugging against her scalp, the stranger's hand pulled her above the surface. It had to be God, whoever had rescued her from certain death, from an eternity in darkness and in pain, loneliness, and regret.

Finally, the young woman was able to gasp, sucking air into her deprived lungs. As she inhaled, the pain soon followed. She winced as her whole body ached, as she felt the discomfort of broken bones, of bruises forming along her skin.

The grip in her hair tightened.

"You don't want to be a hero." A familiar voice rang vividly in her ears. "Look what they made you do."

The person yanked her head backward, forcing her to stare them in the eyes, straining the already weakened muscles in her neck, once again making it seem as if she could not breathe.

"Heroism is what ruined your life." Shigaraki's cracked, scabbed, and bleeding lips greeted her tear-filled eyes.

He sneered down at her, malice laced in each word.