Apparition (Vento Aureo x Reader)

Y'all Can't See My Tears If I Keep Rollerblading Away

Their lungs ached, sizzling in their throats as they waited for the man to walk away. In the watery reflections, she could see the man scattering bullets into the surface of the falls, Her stand had activated, keeping them tied to the bottom of the lake as the bullets paused a mere foot from them, rising to the surface from their high heat. Fugo had held his breath as long as he could, but any longer and he might pass out. Would they make it to the surface or would they both drown here in their escape attempt? He tried to worm out of her grip, each limb buzzing with a thousand wasps, desperate for air. They wouldn't make it like this, not with what limited oxygen they had.

The man still stood there, waiting for anything. He couldn't see past the sheet of foam from the waterful, fizzling out only to be replaced over and over. But those bubbles... Air! With what little energy (Y/N) had left, she made her way over to the waterfall, opening her mouth to catch the small pockets of air. They were minimal, but relieved her. Fugo didn't seem to understand, he couldn't open his eyes underwater, especially not with the rush of the waterfall next to him, why did she bring them there? He didn't understand until her face pressed against his, blowing the small amount of air she had caught into his mouth and he eagerly swallowed it down, circulating throughout his whole body and relieving him like a spring shower on a hot day.

Finally, the assassin had left, deeming them dead, and they rose to the surface, gulping in all the air they could. (Y/N) hacked up the water in her lungs as Fugo pulled her to shore, laying back on the rocks to catch his breath, heaving in the hot, humid air as if it was his first breath. He didn't have any water in his lungs, only patting her back as she coughed up more and more until her lungs were cleared. "Are you okay?"

"Oh yea. Just great." She heaved, swiping away all the soaked hair that clung to her neck and face like seaweed, turning over to bask in the midafternoon sun on the rocks. "Are all your missions this eventful?"

"Usually not." He wheezed, grimacing at his soaked clothes. They would stick to him all annoyingly, good riddance. At least his thong would be mostly unaffected, that's how thongs were anyways. "Usually not.."

"Ugh. Let's get out of here." She stood up, whipping away the spittle that hung on her lower lip. He didn't say anything, watching silently as she slipped the jacket off her waist and wrung out the water, shaking it a few times before doing the same with her hair, wringing the water and then shaking it loose. Once she was finished she turned to him and pointed at his shirt. "You should probably shake that out, it'll dry faster once you get rid of all the water."

He blinked, slowly pulling off the sopping wet shirt and doing the same as she looked for any other trails they could take. Her map was just ruined, so there was no use in trying to decipher all the smudged words and ruined ink. They didn't really want to  run into those assassins again, so that same path was most definitely off limits. She checked her pockets, finding a few lire, some stones, and the little stand piece that pizza guy gave her. Curiously, she checked through the hole, searching for anything that could help them. There didn't seem to be anything, possibly because she had forgotten about its existence and let it reside in her jacket pocket for whoever knows how long, but she did spot one Fugo, black and white and most definitely not in her pocket dimension stand. "What's wrong?"

"Hm? Me? Nothing really. I just think we might be a little lost, we shouldn't take the main trail back, just in case." She whipped her stand out, and Fugo blinked in confusion at the very pink stand. "Any big heat signatures in the area, SCF?"

"No. In a simulated environment, nothing would start to rise very soon." SCF turned over, standing sideways on the cliffside, her golden accessories dangling down towards earth. "You are safe to proceed, Master."

It took a moment for Fugo to translate. He hasn't heard english for a while, but it did raise some questions as to why her stand was speaking it. Does she know English? She was pretty fluent in the language seeing as her stand was speaking without a single accent. "Alright, let's go. Fugo, grab on."

He took her hand and let her lift them both up over the edge and walk back to the parking lot where another car had been placed, probably by a messenger from a different group. Most of the car ride back was silent, windows rolled down to try and dry off their hair and clothes as much they could. "I like strawberries." (Y/N) looked over at him for context, and he flushed a tad, feeling stupid for having to explain himself "You... You asked me to tell you something about myself."

"Oh, I like strawberries too." She grinned, reaching over to ruffle his damp locks a little. "Want to go get some cake? I could use something sweet right now."

"We should be getting home." He checked the side mirror, finding nothing there before glancing back at her. He hadn't noticed before, but there was a gash on the side of her neck. Did she get it while diving into the water? "What happened to your neck?"

She frowned as she was cut off, reaching up to pat at it in confusion. What was on her neck? Was it a leaf? It stung a little at her touch, maybe she hit it on something. Retracting her hand, a line of blood had been stamped onto her palm and the pain accentuated. She knew what it was from. The bullet, had it been only an inch to the side, would have embedded itself in her throat. Her adrenaline had almost made her forget her close encounter, but there was no erasing this fear anymore. It was constant, flicking from the operation table to the forest floor and everywhere in between. She was dead in the cupboards, she was dead in the alleyways, She was everywhere, and yet she was nothing. "It's nothing. I probably scratched it on a branch or something."

He was skeptical, but didn't push it. "Be more careful."

"Yea." Her voice was tainted, sour as milk. It wasn't her fault her death sentence had been decided from the moment she was conceived. "I'll try."