Ardent Hope II. Chainsaw Man x Male Reader Insert.

1. Beneath Heavens Torn Asunder.

A tale of long ago.

Hell was a strange sight. Anyone unfortunate enough to visit and roam its lands could tell you that without a single doubt in their eyes or lips. Things liked to change, an entire horizon shuffling, falling apart, distant shapes wavering around, countless devils luring preys, the permanent stench of deeply and blasphemously consecrated dry blood forever staining the soil and running through rivers, and yet, those things weren't even close to be the worst Hell had to offer.

You wouldn't understand the worst thing about Hell if you didn't happen to remain there for a prolonged time, for a lifetime, for an entire eternity. The worst thing about Hell was the feeling of hopelessness, of solitude, of loneliness, the thwarting sensation you could feel beneath your skin, the randomized vortex of emotions you felt there.

It was certain that the Blood Devil wanted absolutely nothing to do with that putrid place, and her tears were proof enough of her will.

A flower of winter, lowbrow children, groves of inland. Her eyes, a reluctant shade of brown, stared into mountains and valleys, under the veil of the moonlight beneath skies and heavens, lines of clouds torn asunder, a starry night looking back at her. A small village she came from, and devoted her life to it, perhaps willingly, perhaps because she didn't knew anything else apart from it. Just a small child, she didn't deserve such a life, her beautiful blonde mane mistreated, tattered clothes, her dirty skin, she had forever longed for a single spark of joy.

A strange sight her eyes met, small threads, living wits, floating wisps, glowing a golden bright, traces behind rising up, and a particularly vivid scent of scorched flowers. She had never seen anything like that before, so she followed those traces, those living threads of fire, moving around like fairytale wisps, her bare feet rumbling through rocks and soil, her lips locked in a permanent smile.

She knew devils roamed these lands, she knew evil existed, yet she couldn't even try to stop herself. Was this the longing feeling she felt missing? Was this perhaps the elusive wish she felt trapped in a cage?

Hallowed soil, long blades of grass rustling at her side as she kept running around, almost unnoticeable thorns from flowers poking into her skin, drawing blood, but she didn't even realized it at the moment. Light breeze at her side, running through hills and pushing old windmills, she felt free, and when she couldn't keep a single breath, she came to a halt, a smile still on her lips, her eyes in a glowing spark, full of life, and she looked up one single time, trying to reach for the sky, trying to take a glance into the full moon just to see such guardian staring down at her.

And before she even got to acknowledge it, she was in front of a devil.

Was Hell itself truly this beautiful?

The monotone sound of the raindrops falling, reaching for the window, touching the glass, was the final straw to put him away from his dream, and yet, he knew something from deep beneath. Dreams of fire, scorched flowers and conflagration, those living wisps, claiming mountains as their own. He hadn't dreamt of anything like this in a very, very long time, he almost felt teary eyed when recalling them, but something crept into his back, the fearful longing, the reminiscing thought that meant that, if he had just started to dream things like this once again, something must've happened.

He reached for the woman at his side, familiar still, and embraced the slender touch of her body, a warm hug that perhaps could help him through the cold of this particularly harsh morning of January.

Perhaps a feeling born from the single tear that fell from his eye, perhaps born from a wish, but beneath these heavens torn asunder, as (Y/N) hugged Power, he knew, almost instantly, that the gears of a strange machination, something greater, a scheme, an archaic yet abstract thing he couldn't even describe, had just began slowly moving forward.