Where Fear Resides (MHA X Reader)

Problem

This was supposed to be a normal patrol. One he had done a thousand times, something he excelled at, until he came face to face with evil itself.

Evil disguised as an innocent child, the sight of her tugged at his heart strings, she looked so terrified. Bruises and dirt littering her skin, eyes wide and pleading, a little hand reaching for him. Being a hero, of course he stopped to help, never imagining that just a natural response would turn into something so horrifying.

Even as he stands cowering in fear, nothing makes sense, how could a child instill fear like this? That innocent demeanor seemed to melt away, those eyes turning sinister, and then she spoke.

"What's wrong hero? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Something that can only be described as a projection lights up the dark alley, images of all the people he failed to save flashing right before his eyes, forcing him to relive that hell. Chunks of what used to be buildings fill the street, blood spilling out from underneath them, the blood of everyone he couldn't get to before the building crumbled.

"Help us! Someone please save us! That's what they said isn't it? They begged for you to come save them and you couldn't even do that could you?"

In that moment, he tries to deny it, something that would end up being a mistake. He did everything he could, fought so hard to do his job, yet he failed.

"No! That's not true! I did everything I knew to do, there was so much destruction. Please.. I did my best."

A laugh rings out, sounding more like an adult rather than a child, it is nothing short of a cruel sound. The voice speaks again, ignoring the way the hero frantically glances around, an unseen shadow continuing to torment him.

"Your best wasn't good enough. You let those people die and you call yourself a hero? How dare you."

Everything becomes too much to handle, hot tears begin to fall from the hero's eyes, there is no denying his failure. The once faceless shadow takes shape, the child from earlier steps out from the darkness, disgust is the only emotion present when her face comes into view.

"Please, whatever you're doing just stop it, I can't take it anymore."

At those words, the girl approaches closer, not stopping until she is just inches away. She is deathly pale, eyes cloudy and lifeless, blood pours from her mouth when she speaks.

"You can't take it anymore? I died because of you!"

Her features morph into something truly horrifying, mouth stretching into an unnervingly large smile, a corpse-like arm reaching for the hero. He doesn't move, even though everything in him is screaming at him to run, he is frozen in fear.

There is nothing he can do when little fingers wrap around his throat and squeeze. Maniacal laughter fills the alley, the laughter turns to screams, and then everything is silent. There is no child standing in front of him, a young woman takes her place, hand still wrapped tightly around his neck.

"You're lucky you get to live another day. If you ever let someone die on your watch again your life is mine."

The hero is dropped to the ground without a second thought, the woman turns on her heels, disappearing out onto the street as quickly as she appeared. When he finally manages to scramble to his feet, the hero rushes out of the alley, running as fast and as far as his legs will take him.

Once he is a safe distance away from the nightmare he just lived, he stops to catch his breath, trying to gather his thoughts so he can alert the other heroes to this new unknown threat. That task proves to be a difficult one, even when another hero approaches, he's still trying to steady his breathing.

The other hero barely has a chance to get a word out before the shaken man speaks, urgency in every word, the need to convey the danger lurking in the shadows. If one person managed to bring him to his knees like that, who knows what else they can do?

"Hawks! There's an emergency! You need to come with me!"

Before he gets to ask a single question about the situation, the distraught hero is running back down the street, heading straight for the alley he just came from. When Hawks finally catches up he sees the pro staring into the darkness, hands shaking, eyes wide and confused.

"I-I don't understand..it was right here! The buildings, the blood, everything!"

Hawks puts a gentle hand on the shaken hero's shoulder, throwing away his own confusion in an attempt to make sense of the situation at hand, something clearly happened here. This man is his friend and a great hero, he never acts this way and honestly, it's unnerving to see him so distraught.

"Hey it's okay man, what happened? You said something about blood and buildings?"

His friend turns to look at him, words suddenly escaping him, the fear he felt earlier returning in full force. Tears begin to well up, taking a shaky breath, he attempts to explain.

"I was on patrol and there was a little girl in this alley, she was alone and bruised, she looked terrified. I tried to comfort her and ask what happened and then there was just destruction and blood everywhere. It all happened so quickly, she was showing me the people I couldn't save in a villain attack, I saw the rubble. I heard laughing and screams, the little girl was dead and then she was an adult."

Hawks can do nothing but stare at the hero in disbelief, nothing he was just told makes any sense, there was no way any of that could have happened especially without any evidence of it.

"She was alive, dead and then an adult? And she showed you the exact same scenario from the villain attack? That sounds a lot like a nightmare. Falling asleep on the job again huh? Don't worry I won't tell."

The winged hero winks and places a finger over his lips like he's keeping the world's most important secret. This action does not earn the reaction he was expecting, especially not when the other hero breaks down into tears, just seconds away from a full on breakdown.

"Hawks I'm telling the truth! Whoever this was is dangerous and needs to be found! Who knows what havoc they could cause?"

Hawks sighs in defeat, wanting to end this conversation quickly, he gives the most logical answer he can muster up on the spot.

"Okay how about this, take the rest of the day off, get some well deserved sleep and I'll look into this villain for you. You've been working way too hard lately and you could use a break."

When the other hero seems to accept that answer, Hawks bids him goodbye, and heads to his agency with a little more urgency than usual. There is no way this is happening again, let alone in his city, he's supposed to be keeping people safe.

The moment he arrives back at his agency Hawks rushes to his office and heads straight for his desk. The chair is shoved to the side as he opens multiple drawers, tossing papers around, all in an attempt to find that one case file and when he finds it time seems to stop.

Flipping the folder open, he is greeted with multiple incident reports, all of them including a little girl and situations that could be written off as a horrible nightmare or even a deteriorating mental state. There have never been any suspects in any of the cases, some claim to see just the little girl, while others have seen a child and a young woman.

No one can confirm with one hundred percent certainty that this is the work of just one villain. Their own personal hell only lasts minutes and by the time it's over every hero involved has been too horrified to make any real sense.

With calculated movements Hawks picks up the phone, dials a number and presses it to his ear. After an eternity the trilling on the other end stops, there is barely a breath of silence before Hawks speaks, his words holding a nearly unbearable weight.

"We have a problem."