(A/N)- Done for my Bad Things Happen Bingo card. Anon requested "Drowning" with Nejire Hado.
Quite an interesting challenge with this one, as I hadn't written for this character before. I hope it satisfies!
Disclaimer: Gee I don't see a big old pile of money around or a paper saying I own MHA. Drat.
Breathe
The water rushing into the corridor was almost deafening, but Nejire could still hear Tamaki calling over the sound of it.
"Is that the last of them?" he asked, yelling over the frantic screams and "thank you"s of the sinking cruiseliner's waterlogged guests, directing the latest handful up the stairs towards the outer decks, where they could be safely evacuated by the myriad of heroes who had teamed up for this crisis.
"I'll make a last sweep!" Nejire volunteered, turning and wading forward into the half-flooded corridor.
"Be careful!" Tamaki called after her. "The middle floors are getting structurally unsound!"
She nodded, peeling off down another hallway and checking through cabins, calling out to see if anyone would respond. The water pooled around her, the loose ends of her hair trailing in it, and Nejire shivered at the cold it brought, untempered by the heat of the fires raging above her head somewhere. The flames tore through the cruiseliner like the wooden walls were wet tissue paper, letting more and more water in from the initial gaping wound in the vessel's side.
She searched quickly. They had already cleared this floor, but it never hurt to be sure, just in case there was one more straggler, one more soul in need of help, one more voice crying out to be saved.
Nejire coughed a bit. Smoke from the burning floors above her was filtering down to this one, stinging her eyes. Above the din of fire and flood, she heard frantic banging.
She reached for the closed metal door to a linens closet, fighting the water pressure and wedging it open. A soaked slender housekeeping maid grabbed onto her arms, pulling herself from the flooding room with clawing desperation.
"Th—thank you!" the woman gasped tearfully.
Nejire smiled broadly, and pushed the woman ahead of her, towards the less-flooded part of the ship. "Go that way until you hit the junction," she instructed. "My friend will be there to get you up the stairs," she promised.
The woman nodded and fought her way through the flooding corridor towards the stairway atrium. Nejire turned to continue onwards.
A loud metal groan sounded above her head.
Startled, she looked up, eyes widening as the floor above her caved and gave way, dropping solid debris down on her head.
Nejire threw up her hands, drawing power to cushion the blow, but the metal slab knocked into her spiral barrier and tossed her into the same linens closest she'd just freed the other woman from. Nejire banged her back harshly on a couple shelves and hissed, then just as quickly had to take in a deep breath as the small room was inundated with rushing water, rapidly filling up and flooding the tiny compartment.
Nejire shook herself, getting her bearings. The linens room was tilting at an angle from the ship's rapid descent into the Pacific Ocean; the exit was just above her, over her right shoulder. She swam up towards the door, grabbing for the metal latch.
She depressed it and pushed, but it would not budge.
Worried, she tried again.
Now she could feel the weight of the debris that must have fallen across the opening, pinning the door in place.
Nejire shoved harder, a nervous prickle tingling at the back of her head.
The door and debris didn't budge.
The girl firmed her mouth harshly, glancing frantically around the small room to assess her options. Towels and washcloths floated in the water, the walls were solid, the only way out seemed to be the door, which was blocked by debris.
Could she make her own opening?
Nejire glanced from wall to wall, and picked the one that seemed the weakest. Treading water and bringing her hands in front of her, she charged up her powers, sacrificing her life force for the possibility of breaking through the side of the room and at least getting back out into the flooded hallway.
She waited, feeling a tingle building, and building...
She let the blast loose, saw the bright yellow energy spiraling forward, curling slowly into the nearest wall-
BANG!
The force slammed into the shelves with no effect, the recoil ricocheting her backwards, so that her head smacked against the metal door behind her, knocking a precious mouthful of breath out of her.
Nejire tightened up, clamping her mouth shut, blinking in the murky water. Her head stung sharply, the pain disorienting. Her lungs were beginning to strain from the lack of air.
She tried again.
She drew more power this time, more energy. She looked for a crack or seam or something she could focus on, something that would give more easily.
Finally she swiveled around in the water, making herself face towards the pinioned door. It opened outwards. If she could just force enough kinetic energy through, maybe she could dislodge the debris.
Her head was light, growing dizzy. She couldn't hold her breath much longer. With all her strength she focused on the flow of energy from her core through her arms to her hands.
They glowed brilliantly white with power.
She charged as long as she could and then, delirious, sent it at the door.
The spiraling blast hit the metal slab with force, ripping the door from its hinges and pushing it forward at the same time Nejire drifted back, sliding through the water. A vague blue-green light met her eyes around the sides of the door, and Nejire thrust towards it.
Her limbs moved sluggishly. It was a struggle to command them, her thoughts seeming to dissipate halfway to her limbs. She coughed, a stream of bubbles escaping her mouth, and looked up with blinking eyes towards the water-drenched sight of the flooded corridor. She could see the surface of the water, sloshing and glimmering yards above her.
She struck out for it, fighting the exhaustion in her limbs from expelling so much of her own life force, fighting the darkening spots gathering on her vision, the screaming sensation of needing air.
Her body seemed to move more and more slowly no matter how hard she fought. She coughed again, and water burned her throat, invading her nose. Nejire tried frantically to expel it, grabbing at her throat with one hand, still scrabbing for the air above, just out of reach, just a little further than she could swim in her current state.
She thrust out, and thrust out, and her lungs were filling with horrible burning fluid and she couldn't breathe, she wouldn't make it.
Mirio... came her wandering thought, as her body began to shut down and disobey her commands to keep paddling upwards. Lemillion will reach me... He can do it...
Her eyes began to blink slowly as darkness ringed the corners of her vision. She choked, water seeming to fill her every crevice as an uncomfortable black shadow closed in around her mind.
-MHA-
Her body was floating almost weightless, a lifeless doll suspended in the water, when a golden flash zipped through the walls. An arm wrapped around her belly and pressed her tightly to a solid chest.
Mirio thrust out with one arm and surged them forward, halfway through turning both of them incorporeal to slip easily through the metal and wood walls of the sinking ship.
He didn't even bother going through the same evacuation route, just pulled his friend as fast as he could to the surface, to air.
-MHA-
She lay on the dock for one terrifying lifeless moment before her chest gargled and she curled up, flinching harshly, convulsing inwardly with harsh coughs and long gasps in-between.
Tamaki and Mirio both gave simultaneous exhales of relief, scooting back a bit from her to give her room to recover. Nejire coughed and coughed and vomited out saltwater, turning over on her elbows and continuing to expel bitter liquid.
Her head cleared more and more, awareness swimming back to her. She coughed again and blinked, the sight of the safe dock slowly focusing in her vision. Cold gulps of air gasped down her throat, filling her lungs.
She shuddered and spasmed for several long minutes, the worried looks of her friends pinned on her.
When she felt like she could finally speak again, she let a wide beam spread across her face.
"I knew you would come get me," she said, voice watering, raspy.
Mirio broke into a brilliant smile, tempered only by the continued worry and fear in the edges of his eyes. "Of course we did," he bragged. "We're the Big Three. We're UA's top students," he told her, tremulously. "I wasn't going to let a little sinking ship tear us apart."
Tamaki grabbed up her hand, meanwhile, squeezing it tightly. "I'm glad you're okay..." he whispered, the look in his eyes betraying the worry and panic he'd felt, hearing the floors collapse onto her and being unable to help.
Nejire smiled up at both her boys and wrapped an arm around each of their necks, holding both of them close to her, their warmth driving away her body's chill.
"You aren't getting rid of me that easily," she whispered, and the three of them laughed in relief and shaking hope, clinging to her all the tighter as the ship that could have been her watery grave instead sank beneath the waves with no human lives claimed, metal and wood and glass slipping under and disappearing into the frothy foam.
(A/N)- You can request a prompt/character over on Tumblr. See this post: h tt [#]p s: / / tari silmarwen . tu mb lr . c[#]o m / post / 673415204767465472 / im- doing- a-bad-things-happen- bingo- because (delete the spaces and the special characters in the brackets)
