strangers. bnha

storm.

ACT ONE.

"Technically, the weight of pain is the weight of shadow."

—Carl Phillips, The Rest of Love

—

"YOU DON'T HAVE to be afraid, Katsuki."

Thunder clapped, loud and rumbling with the anger of a great beast. His dull nails scratched against skin, a strong grip on his mom's arm.

"There are brave, strong people who protect us against things like this. They're outside protecting us right now."

It was no normal storm. The wind mixed with rain to form the shape of a large animal, sharp eyes and teeth made of freezing rainwater. Four-year-old Katsuki saw it on the TV before the power cut, leaving the two of them in the dark. The cold air made him tense. His mom explained to him what a villain was, and he hated it. Regular thunderstorms were bad enough, but a storm caused by a person looking for trouble was another scare entirely. He bit his cheek and squeezed his eyes tighter, hearing another lion-like rawr in the next clap of thunder. His mom patted down his soft blond hair and he nuzzled further into her side which he clung to.

"They're heroes, and as long as we have them, we'll always be safe."

The dead phone lines, lights and all power out in the house created an out-in-the-open vulnerability. He knew nothing but the darkness, his mom and the growls of a predator outside. When voices screamed, whether it be fighting heroes or poor civilians caught in the crossfire, it was drowned out by the storm.

"We'll be safe. . . if you're strong." The smooth and familiar voice he was accustomed to was gone, replaced with a raspy snarl. When Katsuki looked up to his mom in confusion, what looked back down at him was a rotting body. Dead skin and flesh scattered with a purple abscess, like spoiled fruit growing mold. Its lips parted and leaned close to his ear right over his shoulder where he could smell the scent of sewage and blood. "They always look out for the weak ones." Katsuki shuddered and tears welled up burning his eyes.

"Mom. . ."

Its lips brushed against his ear, rigid and rough like tree bark, they scratched harshly against his soft skin. "They can see you, Kacchan." The voice changed in tone, now higher but still just as damaged. He recognized it. "They're waiting for you." He blinked and the creature's hair was a dark green and covered in dirt. Terrified, he opened his mouth to scream, but he couldn't bring himself to make a sound. Its eyes were coated with dust and blood, the thing that looked down on him. Katsuki's heart thumped against his chest, the throbbing beat could be felt in his throat and temples. He breathed irregularly and the thing's jaw broke open, corners of the mouth ripping messily apart, dead grey flesh tearing on each side of its face up to its ears. One wide, sinister smile was directed at him, and Katsuki's scream forced its way out.

Sap-like skin threaded parts of the smile together with strings of bloody saliva. Atongue licked over sharp teeth. The bones rotted yellow and black, tiny insects crawling out from the cavities and over the lips onto the face. Its hair was red, slicked up in points with black tar acting as a gel and black blood bleeding from its hairline down into its eyes. Katsuki didn't hear its voice this time, but he recognized the corpse all the same. The stretched glomps of skin holding the jaw together fell thin, pulling and stretching to the width of single hairs before snapping. The chin hit flat against its neck, tongue falling with it, the mouth opened inhumanly wide, broken beyond repair.

Katsuki tried to back away, but as he pushed back he still stayed in the same place, putting no distance between them. He kicked his heels against the floor desperately and jumped out of his skin when the thunder sounded again. Louder. Much louder. The villain must have been closer, somewhere down on the street moving towards the house he hid in harbouring an entirely different monster inside. Its growling made the floor rumble, and the sound of heavy rain water smacked against the windows like bullets. What if they broke?