Title: I Will Save You

Summary: 'I will save you, no matter what it takes. I swear.'

Disclaimer: If I owned Free… nah. I'll probably still give a cliffy like I did with my other fic…

Pairing: None (though there may be hint of HaruMako)

Warning: SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 5/6. DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU'VE WATCHED EPISODE 5 OR WANT/HAVE BEEN SPOILED. OoC-ness; AU.

I Will Save You

"Haru-chan! Wake up!"

It was the sheer panic in Nagisa's voice that woke Haruka up from his slumber.

"Something really bad happened! Wake up!"

The first thing he registered was the way he was violently shook in a frantic attempt to wake him up and the other was the soothing sounds of the rain pouring down on their tents. Haruka briefly entertained the idea of ignoring the junior to go back to sleep as the rain fell, but still, the raven couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong―horribly wrong.

"Haru-chan! Rei-chan… Mako-chan…"

'Makoto…!' Haruka's eyes snapped opened as he stared at Nagisa, who was sobbing uncontrollably beside him. "What happened?!" He demanded, none of his usual coolness intact. "Nagisa! What happened?!" Haruka pressed, shaking Nagisa harshly.

"Outside… they… ocean…" Nagisa choked out, pointing towards the flaps of the tent with a violently shaking hand.

Haruka felt his heart stop for a moment. 'Ocean…'

"Are you okay with this?"

"…the ocean…"

"…I'll be fine."

'Makoto…!' Haruka was up on his feet in an instant, running out of the tent and into the pouring rain―no, raging storm. Cobalt blue orbs searched the ocean for his two teammates―despite Nagisa's barely-coherent crying, it didn't take much for Haruka to figure out what happened. The freestyle-swimmer didn't care about how this happened; he only cared about the wellbeing of his teammates. '…There! Makoto!'

Haruka was running again in an instant, his hands already moving to remove his outer clothes―he had never been so glad that he wore his swimwear inside all the time―only for Nagisa to cling onto him, "N-No! Haruka, no!"

"Nagisa, let go!" Haruka snapped.

"It's too dangerous!" Nagisa shook his head wildly, his eyes blown wide open in fear.

A part of Haruka knew Nagisa was right―that this was too dangerous; the ocean was too rough, even he may not be able to navigate it properly, let alone well―but the teen had already lost his rationality. All that was only his mind was that 'I have to save them―I have to save him'. And so with a snarl, Haruka shook Nagisa off, tearing his clothes off in an instant even as he ran towards the ocean. 'Makoto…' Haruka's eyes narrowed in pain as the memory hit him.

"Can't you be… honest with me?"

"…H-Haru-chan... A-Actually… I… I'm scared… I'm really scared…! I… The ocean… I can't…"

"…That's enough."

"…Haru… chan…"

"You don't have to be afraid. Because I won't let that happen. I promise―I swear. That's why… don't… don't be afraid."

Haruka never stopped; even with Nagisa's shouts ringing out behind him, he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. The waves were hitting against him hard, but Haruka kept on swimming. Adrenaline kept him going as he swim towards the direction of his teammates.

'I will save you, no matter what it takes. I swear.'

A/N: I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. But Free! episode 5 left me in a mess and I had to write this. Sorry. Thank you for reading as always. Ciao ciao~