Smoke and Embers | Bakugo x reader fanfic

Sport Festival (1)

Y/N's Point of View:

Darkness swallowed everything around me. It was cold and suffocating, as if my own breath had turned to ice in my lungs. The familiar faces of those I cared about flashed through the void, and each time I tried to reach out, my hands passed right through them, slipping like water through my fingers.

My aunt appeared first, standing across a vast chasm. Her face was etched with terror, arms outstretched towards me, but when I tried to move, my legs felt like they were sinking into the ground. I struggled, pulling, clawing at the earth, but I couldn't reach her. A shadow loomed behind her, creeping closer, and my voice was gone—my scream buried deep in my throat. The shadow engulfed her, and she disappeared into the darkness. Her final expression was one of desperate hope that I could save her. I couldn't.

Mina's laughter echoed next, hollow and dissonant. She stood under a streetlamp, the light flickering. I ran to her, my legs suddenly able to move, but as I got closer, the ground beneath her cracked, and she fell into a darkness so deep that I couldn't see the bottom. My fingers barely brushed hers before she vanished, her laughter turning into a scream that echoed and echoed until it faded into silence.

Next, I found myself in an alleyway with Bakugo, who was fighting off waves of enemies. His explosions ripped through the air, but they just kept coming. He turned to me, sweat running down his face, eyes blazing with determination—but they softened when he saw me. "Do something, damn it!" he shouted, but my limbs were paralyzed. I tried to use my powers, to shift the ground or create a barrier, but all that came out was a thin mist, useless and weak.

Bakugo's face twisted with a mix of disappointment and something softer, something that almost looked like sadness. He reached for me, like he was trying to pull me out of whatever held me back—but a sharp, dark tendril shot through his chest, and the life drained from his eyes as he fell forward, blood pooling around him. I reached out too late, my hands covered in his blood, his weight cold and lifeless in my arms. His final breath was a broken whisper, and I couldn't even hear the words.

Suddenly, I was surrounded by all of them. Faces I had failed. Faces twisted in pain, blame, and sorrow. They surrounded me, closing in, each whispering accusations, their voices overlapping into a deafening roar: 

You should have saved us. 

You weren't strong enough. 

It's your fault.

I tried to shut them out, but their voices were inside my head, burrowing deep into my thoughts. My knees buckled, and I fell to the ground, covering my ears, but it made no difference. My power fizzled out around me like a dying flame, steam rising uselessly from my skin.

"What's the point of being strong if you can't protect the people who matter?" I heard my aunt's voice sink into my soul.

Mina's laughter returned, warped and twisted. "You thought you were a hero? That's a joke."

And then, out of the darkness, Katsuki's voice rang clear. "I thought you were stronger than this." His voice broke, filled with a pain that stabbed into my chest.

My chest heaved, and I felt the ground give way beneath me, pulling me into a free fall. As I tumbled through the void, their faces blurred and twisted, merging into a grotesque mass that surrounded me. I reached out, screaming their names, but nothing came out. My voice was gone, swallowed by the darkness that consumed everything.

When I hit the ground, I jolted awake. My heart pounded so violently that I could hear it in my ears, and my entire body trembled like a leaf in a storm. My breaths came in ragged, desperate gasps as I tried to remind myself it wasn't real, that they were all safe, that I could still fight, still protect them.