Worlds Apart - Mer Izuku x Shouto

Chapter One

Midoriya was dazed as a wave crashed down on him once again, driving his small body under the surface once again. He's only been out of his mother's sight for a minute at most, but it was enough time for him to slip off of the pier into the waves. 

Fighting weakly to the surface again, he gasped in a breath to call for his mom, to scream, but before he could, the merciless water plunged him down once again. At least this time he had actually gotten an okay breath before being dragged down by the waves, but he was tired, the cold water sapping his strength. 

'Mom...' Izuku's thoughts felt slow. 'I... I'm going to die...'  He pressed his small hands over his face, trying to hold his breath, hold on... just a few more seconds... 

He felt like he was crying, even though it was impossible to tell in the saltwater. He wanted his mom to hold him. To comfort him. To save him. To tell him he would be okay, just like that time after All Might's death, just like she did as he slowly came to terms with the fact that he was quirkless. But he was completely alone. 

'It hurts...'  

Somehow the waves pushed him back to the surface, but he knew it was temporary. He was exhausted as he pulled in a short breath before sinking below the surface. He coughed as water got into his mouth too, and desperately kicked to reach the air. After choking on the water for a second he took a broken inhale. He saw the next wave swelling around him. 

"Help me!" His voice was weak and desperate even to his own ears, and he knew no one would hear his cry over the sound of the rushing surf. Each wave dragged him farther from shore. As he gasped in a small breath an instant before the next wave washed over him, he dimly wondered how he had survived so long. His mom had taken him to some swimming lessons, but he had never been particularly spectacular at it, even in the safety of a swimming pool. He was only four and a half years old, after all. That was too young to die, wasn't it? And yet here he was. 

As the wave spun him every which way, he saw that below him was only an infinite mass of blue darkness. His fear, as if it wasn't bad just from the impending prospect of drowning, multiplied. He's been able to see the sand below him at first, but now there was just... nothing. Nothing but water, darkness, and death. 

'Is this what you saw, All Might?' Midoriya felt himself trembling as he weakly thrashed against the relentless current. 'Is this how you felt?'

Somehow, even though the fear made him want to cry again, the thought of All Might, his hero, brought a slight feeling of warmth and comfort to his heart as it did every time, even after the pro's death. 

Izuku's small chest convulsed as his body tried to get him to breathe, even as his mind knew he shouldn't. He couldn't stop the rush of bubbles that were forced from his lungs. He brought his hands up to cover his nose and mouth, in a futile effort to keep in his remaining air. He felt his vision start to darken, and at first he thought it was becoming night, before realizing sunlight still streamed through the surface, the surface that was so close, but so far. 

The water lifted him to the surface again, but this time he was so far gone he barely registered the air until he had gasped instinctively. Realizing he wasn't breathing in water, he began to nearly hyperventilate, both from the need for oxygen, and the overwhelming panic. 

He wanted to call for his mom, for anyone, but he couldn't get enough air. He was crying, and the sobs threatened to choke him. His heart thundered in his ears. His body dipped under the water every few seconds, as the water pushed him. This far out, the waves were less frequent, but it didn't matter. He didn't have enough time to catch his breath before the next one was upon him. 

'I just want this to be over...' 

The thought flashed through his mind as the wave dragged him down, much deeper than the last ones had. It was cruel, the way the waves seemed to be toying with him. Just when he thought it was over, the waves pushed him back up, only extending his torment. 

'You could breathe...'  He briefly considered inhaling the liquid death that inevitably awaited him, but even though he knew he was only delaying the inevitable, he couldn't bring himself to actually drown himself unless his body did it for him. His mind wanted nothing but to live. Just to live. Was that too much to ask?

He didn't know how many seconds it had been, but he knew it was too long. The sunlight above him was distant and distorted, and he reached out a little hand, trying to grasp the light, the air that he could see, but no longer reach. 

'I always wanted to be like All Might... but I never thought I'd get that wish by dying the same way as he did...'

He could feel his weak body sinking deeper, farther from the air and the light, but his body wouldn't obey him no matter how much he desperately wanted to fight his way back to the surface. He just wanted to breathe... 

The pressure of the water hurt his ears. It pressed in all around him, squeezing his already struggling lungs. A spasm raced through his body as he lost most of his breath. His heart sometimes felt like it was racing, but the next second it felt sluggish and slow. 

'Mom... I don't want to be alone. I don't want to die... I don't want you to be alone...' his heart clenched painfully. 'I'm so scared, mom...'

His body felt so cold, except for his chest, which felt like it was filled with fire. Before he registered what was happening, his diaphragm decided it was time for him to start breathing again. The ripple sent pain through his whole body as he sucked in salt water. Immediately his body tried to rebel against the foreign substance, and he coughed away the last of the air in his lungs as he tried to expel the water only to gasp in more. It hurt so much. He curled in on himself, small arms hugging his ribs as if that could somehow help. It wouldn't, but his muscles seemed to do it instinctively.

His vision went black slowly, fading in from the edges. He thought he saw a large shadow in the water below him, but he couldn't be sure with the way his sight was quickly disappearing. It felt like an eternity, but also an instant as his consciousness faded, his last feeling one of pure agony and terror, as well as immense sorrow at the fact that he was dying. Losing his mother, losing his dreams, losing his future, losing his life. 

He didn't feel anything after that. He didn't feel it as his chest stilled, his lungs too flooded to try to breathe anymore. He didn't feel it as his heart slowed, weakened, and after a brief battle to keep him alive, failed entirely, stuttering to a stop. 

He certainly didn't feel it when a strong arm wrapped around his little waist and dragged him through the water.