A Reincarnated Sacrifice (A Dirk x Reader fanfiction)

Vulnerability.

A storm enraged. It was creating havoc and mayhem unlike your soul had ever known. It was unforeseen, or at least, ignored for what seemed like centuries. The storms crashed, the ships were overturned, and all seemed lost. But, you had found it. The waters calmed for a moment, feigning serenity, and a warm, orange light cast down upon you. Dark clouds surrounded the rest and a bright opening eluded that of solace. You were in its eye.

"...Are you good?" His voice spoke, quietly, as if afraid to shake the waters again.

The tears had stopped, but you remained in his arms. His warmth was too foreign to fully comprehend, and had your ears not been ringing from the crashing waves, you might've heard your inner-self pursuing the matter. However, unfortunately, you did not, nor did you know how to reciprocate a proper response. You still answered as truthfully as you could.

"I...I don't know." Your voice – still hoarse from the prior screaming and sobs – rasped out, and you felt his grip around you soften. Hesitatingly, you took a step back from Dirk, feeling his eyes on you, as if watching for any new developments.

Your body was weak, but still held itself together despite the barrier being broken. All that you had worked for – all that you had sacrificed – was gone in an instant. All that time wasting away in frozen pyramids or iced villages, being by yourself, trying to save yourself, had vanished, and all that was left was a confused and haunted girl. You felt nothing like you were before. You felt confused. You felt alone. You felt confused as to why you felt alone with people in front of you. You felt scared, but most of all, you felt...weak. Weak for, not only having shown emotion, but for having showed emotion this intensely. It was so intense, in fact, that your face felt malleable – like a piece of clay. A [Skin Color] hand reached up and pushed in on your cheek, just assessing if you could, as a short moment of curiosity. Then, you remembered – you had guests.

The one eye you still held was trembling as it looked up at the people in front of you. They kept silent, staring, observing, just what you might do. Your tear stains were found on Dirk's tank-top, a large spot of water being the main difference from the spout your other eye had made. Eyepatches are like sponges, apparently. Jake stared at you with a mixture between jealousy and empathy, with no chance of him mentioning the former. His hand had not been obviously placed, but it was subtly ghosting towards the handle of his gun. Whether he was doing this on purpose or as reflex, you didn't know. Jane viewed with a paranoid expression. She was always like this, but the way she looked at you made you believe that she would run if you moved even an inch. Roxy was wiping up her own tears, after having seen you involuntarily break through your own walls, and Dirk, well, you couldn't see him through his shades, but you could feel those bigarade eyes like a security camera. They were all watching. They were all waiting.

This is what you get for showing something. You're treated like a spectacle, an animal – a monster. "Something that should've happened a long time ago" – they've been waiting for this moment. A moment to get rid of you – a reason to. That's why they've been trying to get you to crack all these years. That's why they've hung around for so long, despite you disrespecting them time, and time again. They just wanted you gone. Suddenly, the image of you wandering around this world, alone, without any contact or sudden surprise visit from any of these people caused that new beating in your chest to stop. It twisted in on itself, like a spiral, causing your breathing to momentarily cease. A few moments ago, this idea would entice you. Now? It frightens you.

You need to fix this – even if it's not your mental state, you can at least try to remedy the situation. Anything to get this suffocating...emotion out of your body.