𝔄𝔫 ℑ𝔫𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔦𝔱𝔶 𝔄𝔴𝔞𝔶 | Katsuki Bakugo x OC

Chapter 44 - Black Abyss, White Gloves, Gray Skies

I'm baccccckkk!! Now back to the program with some mild angst, hopefully vivid action, and comfort from our loveable MC. 

Love you guys <3 Enjoy reading!

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Black was a color Katsuki loved on himself. His clothes, hero suits, shoes, even masks he wore on the daily or undercover. It complimented his complexion and made him seem edgier, unapproachable. Just as he liked it.

But black was a color he resented around him. The cover of night, the abysmal depths of oceans, the seemingly never ending pits of darkness. Black around him made him restless, made his nerves spark with instinct, his sweat bead at his temple.

His therapist said trauma was the cause. He argued it was the nightmares that followed.

Like the one tonight. With endless obsidian surrounding him in all directions he blindly trampled through vines of chains and occasional knives slicing his skin, feeling liquid dripping on him and from him.

He eventually found a clearing, no chains, no knives, just black all around. Then a flash of cerulean light-no, flames- blinded his eyes from the brightness.

Like black surrounding him, blue fire was something he learned he hated through his dreams.

After the flash, his vision cleared and the only color he could see was black once again. Then another flash, another wince, and back to black.

Again and again the cycle went, each time the flames licked closer to him, the heat burning more and eliciting raw screams of pain. It was when his breath puffed irregularly from his lips and numbness overtook his skin that the blue fire stayed away, letting him finally see what the shadows hid.

Dabi, of course was there, his grin wide and manic as his lips stretched and pulled his gold staples. And Hina was forced on her knees, burns littering her skin as tears fell from her chin.

"Katsuki." Her voice was hoarse and soft like a snapped thread. "Save me."

Deep foreboding chuckles reverberated through the room, a woman hooded in black stood behind the two and whispered something in Dabi's ear.

Then Dabi's eyes widened, his own fear making his hand shake and his fire flickering up his fingers.

"And the enemy already knows the ending."

Blue ignited, burning himself and Hina; their screams were the last thing Katsuki heard.

He woke up immediately, sitting up and clenching his fist to stop the explosion from waking up Hina in the morning. Two days he'd successfully left her to sleep when afflicted by regular nightmares. The last thing he wanted was for her to witness his pitiful weakness, his unbridled fear too.

The morning light shone through the curtains, the soft blues and yellows of dawn providing warmth as he snuck out of the covers.

Nightmares were made for a personal hell structured in one's mind, but these were just reminders of his hell on this earth. His time in captivity as a teen and now as an adult, his experiences with facing his worst fears through a fear-feeding mongrel, his horrors of living and surviving through a war. His sleep was something he genuinely cared about for his successes. However, when horrors became a part of his reality, sleep was scarce.

He swallowed, releasing shaky exhales from his nose, his hand dragging down his face.

"And the enemy already knows the ending."

The words echoed, again and again. Curses tumbled out of his breath, his eyes pressed tight.

There was no hidden message in the phrase nor was it sugarcoated to swallow the pill of reality's harshness. It was an explicit warning with no comfort and no leeway for finding another solution to prevent the devastating outcome.