DRAGON'S BROOD (Kirishima x Bakugou)

Chapter 37: A Breath of Hope

Kirishima's PoV

The pain of seeing Katsuki like that was hardly bearable. Until just now I could banish my suffering in my blind rage, but when I now looked at the body of the dragonslayer, my agony hit me anew. Like a heap of misery, I sank down into myself and shift back into a human.

But my heart did not accept his death so easily. My mind told me that no one could survive such a direct stab in the heart and yet I had to make sure. It just couldn't be that the strong dragonslayer had died.

I covered the short distance to his lifeless body and went down on my knees. His skin was ashen and the blood began to dry slowly. The sight was terrible and yet I could not avert my gaze. Katsuki. Carefully I raised his head to my knees and stroked one of his blond strands out of his forehead. Tears obscured my view as I slowly lowered my head and held my ear over his mouth in desperate hope of hearing one breath after all.

I held my own breath and closed my eyes. Please breathe! And there it was. This little breath of hope. One breath. Flat and barely perceptible, but it was there.

"Kat! Kat, I'm here," I whispered desperately, even though I knew he couldn't hear me. Because as much as I had hoped that he was still alive, I became painfully aware that there was nothing I could do.

I couldn't bring him into town. There they would only be happy to finish him off and capture me on top of that. And further north, hoping that I would find someone to help us? In his condition he didn't survive a day, no probably he didn't even survive the next hour.

When I realized that, I started crying. I pressed his body against me and stroked his back. "I love you. I love you, Kat", I sobbed and buried my face in his neck bend.

Don't leave me. Don't leave me.

I cried unrestrained. At that moment I didn't care about anything. I didn't care that I was sitting here vulnerable on an open plain between countless corpses. I didn't care if I managed to flee the country or not. The only thing that mattered was Katsuki in my arms. My lamentation echoed across the plain.

I didn't know how long I sat there like this. But at some point, my tears stopped from exhaustion. Weakened, I straightened up a little. My whole body trembled from this small effort.

Wait a moment. Something was wrong here.

I was so weak that my vision blurred a little. I was confused and blinked several times to clear my vision. Trembling I stroked one of my red strands of hair from my face.

Then my eyes fell on Katsuki. His eyes were closed, his face still dirty with earth and blood. But his paleness had passed and his cheeks seemed almost rosy. With trembling fingers I brushed over his cheek and then wandered down to his chest. The blood made his shirt stick to his skin. Carefully I pulled on it and loosened it. Astonished I looked at his wound. Or rather, what was left of it. Because only a bright rose scar showed that he was injured there at all.

A miracle. That was the first thing I thought. But no, I didn't believe in miracles, it couldn't be. Then I remembered what Katsuki had told me about the dragon clan of the Kirishimas.

The Kirishima have special healing powers that are mainly used for self-healing. However, it is also said that especially powerful dragons were able to apply these powers to others.

I gave him a kiss on the forehead, carefully laid Katsuki on the floor and stood up, which turned out to be harder than I thought. My legs threatened to give in, and I got dizzy.

I myself would never have seen myself as an especially powerful dragon, but one thing was certain: I had accomplished it. I had healed him. My pain, my grief, my sorrow must have given me the strength to do something I could not even do in my dreams.

Katsuki would live!

The relief overwhelmed me, and I couldn't help but cry again, but this time out of joy. But now that it was certain that he would survive, it was also clear that our journey had to continue as quickly as possible. The dream of living together on the other side of the border could still be fulfilled.

Even if the healing had cost me all my strength, I was not allowed to let up now. I backed away a few steps from Katsuki and shift into a dragon again. For a moment I was happy to stand on all fours, because I was about to lose my balance. To keep it I spread my wings a little.

Would I really be able to fly that far in this condition? I closed my eyes and shook my head. There was no point in racking my brains over it. I had to do it!

Carefully I approached Katsuki, who still hadn't moved despite my healing. As gently as possible I grabbed his cape with my teeth and lifted him onto my back. When I made sure he couldn't fall down, I stretched my wings, ready to start.

I needed several attempts before I had enough momentum to actually fly into the air. But finally, I made it. With strenuous wing beats I headed for the mountains in the north.

The hours went by and I felt my strength diminishing more and more. But I clenched my teeth.

I wanted to spend my future with Katsuki. I didn't want to be hunted anymore. With every flap of my wings and every breath I took, I thought of it. I saw the mountains approaching and hope spread deep in my heart. The idea alone gave me strength to go on, even though my body signaled more and more from minute to minute that I had to stop.

My vision became blurry more frequently for a few seconds. Again and again I got into a spin.  But I had to go on. On and on. I shook my head to get it clear again, but it didn't help much.

The landscape below us changed gradually and the flat plain gave way to the first foothills. Without really intending it I flew deeper. My wing beats became irregular and I knew I had to land if we didn't want to fall like a stone from the sky. I made out a small plateau and headed towards it. And again I got into a spin, this time so violently that I didn't catch myself anymore. I felt Katsuki get into a dangerous imbalance on my back. But I didn't have a chance to save him from falling when my body finally gave up completely.

Fortunately, I was already just above the ground. Nevertheless, the impact was anything but soft. My last strength left me and my eyes closed fluttering.

But I felt relief. We had made it!