Protecting You (Katsuki Bakugo x Reader)

Chapter 65- Kiss of Fate

TW: Self-inflicted Burns, Depression

The night you tried to escape, you cried yourself into a dreamless sleep.

Immersed deep in icy-cold water, you looked upwards through the lake to see a bright light like the sun beaming overhead. Hope filled your heart as you used the last of your energy to swim towards it...towards the surface...only to realize that there was a sheet of glass above you. You pounded on the pane to break hrough. You stared up at your own reflection above you looking terrified, screaming at you as if they were trying to save you. Palms against the glass, water filling your lungs...you were submerged, you were drowning.

You needed to break through this surface...you needed to breathe on your own once again.

There was nothing you could do.

"It's okay to let go. You don't need to fight anymore."

A man with scarlet hair and bright blue eyes smiled at you so gently and sweet, scar-less hand extended. Toya's true self was reaching for you...and he wanted the two of you to drown in this darkness together. You wanted to reach for Toya and his warmth...his calming and adoring presence was absolutely intoxicating. You didn't have to try anymore...you didn't have to keep fighting. You could give up and everything would be okay.

"(Y/N)!" You looked above you to now see two people, this time your reflection was accompanied by a person you loved more than life itself. Katsuki was punching at the glass, screaming at it to try and break it before you drowned. "Don't you dare fucking leave me! You have to keep going! Please! I love you!" Katsuki's voice was calling for you and you couldn't answer thanks to the icy water saturating each breath. Your body was on fire and burning, yet you immediately tried to reach for Katsuki. 

Even with the sun blocked from view, you knew as long as Katsuki was on the otherside of this glass that everything would be okay.

"I GOT YOU BABY! JUST WAIT FOR ME OKAY?!" And with a final punch on the glass, he finally made a crack.

Your ice cold body jolted awake in your cot, and despite your blurry and mostly gray vision, you had bright golden irises for just a moment.

"Can't sleep, sweetheart?" You went to look over at whoever spoke to you until you realized your vision was still not absorbing light. Dabi was sitting next to you with a book in his hands, the scent of the old parchment and the sound of it closing alerting you of what he was doing. "Try dreaming of me next time and it won't be so bad." You leaned up on the cot and slumped against Dabi with little to no energy to hold yourself up. With a body so weak and broken, you were surprised you were even able to wake up anymore.

"I did. You were there," Your dry voice rasped out. Dabi's cerulean eyes looked over at you in shock, your dead eye stare at the wall showing that you were still blind. He took the moment to show genuine emotion, his black eyebrows furrowing and a slight empathetic frown taking over his scarred face. He lifted his hand for just a moment as if to touch your face, but he elected against it.

"Oh yeah? Was I as sexy in your dream as I am in real life?" He asked you in an attempt to hide his subtle excitement.

"I saw you as your true self...I saw you as Toya...with such vibrant red hair and a gentleness that probably doesn't exist anymore. If that's still you, then yeah, you were in my dream." Your words sat heavily in the air for a moment...leaving the villain in quiet thoughtfulness.

"Well, I'm sure you can thank your dickhead boss Endeavor of ruining that dream." Once again the room was quiet, but despite your absolute hatred of what Dabi did to your people, you couldn't find that anger in your heart for him anymore. He was there-, still here, as you suffered in the darkness. While you gave up on your chances of ever seeing the outside world, he was there to bring you back on your feet...you couldn't sink so low again...but the darkness was your own brand of poisonous comfort.