Strings (BNHA x OC) [Rewrite]

50 || Run

Puppet sucked in air through gritted teeth, rolling onto her stomach and propping herself up on her uninjured arm. The adrenaline she'd had from the initial fight was fading, and soon, the full extent of her injuries would catch up to her.

Her head pounded, and even through she was laying motionless on the ground, it still felt like the world was swaying beneath her.

So many of her souls were being destroyed — so much of her work pointlessly wasted.

Even though her vision was blurring around the edges, she could see Endeavor approaching her.

When she went to stand, she quickly fell back down onto one knee. She needed to move.

Get up! she yelled at herself. Get up!!

She managed to get both her feet under her and stand, but she was unsteady and teetered slightly before getting her footing.

She looked up at Endeavor.

"You have two options..." she huffed, "either you knock me unconscious, or you kill me, 'cause I ain't going willingly."

"That's fine," the flame hero responded simply.

She sighed in exhaustion.

———

Puppet hadn't even landed a hit on Endeavor before he had launched her backwards and into a building. He was fighting to win, not allowing the villain to gain any traction in the fight.

She blacked out for a moment as she slammed hard into the building back-first. Her ribcage had taken a majority of the impact and it was excruciatingly painful, radiating all through her torso. When she came back to awareness, she found herself on the ground, sitting slumped against the wall.

Blood trickled slowly down her face from a gash on her forehead. In a daze, she lifted her hand to check how bad it might've been. Her hand came away with the expected red fluid, not too much, but that didn't make it any more preferable.

She realized with a start that her mask wasn't on her face. She looked around, locating the ceramic face-covering on the ground a few feet away.

She picked it up, noticing that the mask had cracked from the top down to the left eyehole. It didn't matter, it was still the same old mask — her trademark. She put it back on.

She braced her hand against the wall and used it to help her stand. She would've stayed down for a minute, just for her to catch her breath, but she didn't have that luxury. Her legs felt numb beneath her, and her arms ached from blocking hits and taking burns.

She knew she didn't have a choice; she needed to run.

Endeavor had knocked her so far back that she had the chance to. She probably wasn't going to get an opportunity like this again, and so she had to take it.

She pushed herself around the corner and along the side of the building, using the wall for support as she attempted to make her way from the fight. With every step she took, her injuries ached and her heart pounded.

"Puppet?"

Blearily, she looked up. Standing a few yards away from her, was someone she was relieved to see: Mr. Compress.

"Atsuhiro.." she meekly spoke his name.

After a moment of shock, Mr. Compress quickly rushed towards his friend. She pushed herself towards him and nearly collapsed into his arms, both physically and mentally exhausted. He lifted her to try and help her stand but she couldn't steady herself, and so he let her lean on him for support.