To be A Hero (BNHA)

Chapter 14

Rikuto was at a level of calm that she hadn't been able to reach in a long time. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of her friends breathing. Her hand was still resting on Todoroki's head. A small rest was okay, but she knew she shouldn't fall all the way to sleep. If she had another nightmare, it would probably be worse this time, especially after what they had seen. Not to mention that if she ended up flailing about, she would end up destroying this calm she had created, and also possibly punching one of her friends in the face. 

She tried to remember the last time she had been so calm. It was probably that time when Haru had made her try one of those meditation things with the sounds of the ocean or something. She had always preferred river sounds to ocean sounds, but she could remember the ocean ones more clearly right now. The sounds of waves rhythmically crashing on the beach, of water rushing over stones as it receded back into the ocean. Back and forth. Calming. 

For a moment she felt like she was really by the ocean. She could see the blue grey of the water reaching up and crashing against the stones in front of her, sliding up the rocks until it almost reached her bare toes, before receding back down to form a new wave. 

"This is nice, isn't it?" Came a girl's voice from beside her. Rikuto knew who it was before she turned to see. 

"Hello Haru." The girl with soft purple curls didn't acknowledge Terra's words. Instead she looked out into the water. 

"The whole Zen thing didn't really help with my anxiety at all, but if this is what you saw, then I guess I'm glad it worked for someone.  It's so peaceful here. She was wearing dress with varying shades of purple. She stretched out her bare feet and dipped it into the water. "I remember the look on your face. I know the lady on the tape said not to open our eyes, but i did anyway. You looked so... serene I guess. You didn't have any wrinkles on your face. Not even the ones you get when you smile. You didn't look sad without your smile, either. Just at peace. I was a bit jealous of that, at the time." 

Terra's old friend paused to look up at the sky. "Remember how right after you got so excited? Dancing around and going on about how we just had to go see the ocean one day. You, me, and Reiji of course. Do you remember?"  A tear slid down her face. 

Terra felt an incredible weight on her chest, like bricks had been set on top of them. She clutched a hand to her chest, struggling to breathe. She didn't want to dream any more. This all felt too real. She tried to open her eyes, to refocus on her friends sleeping nearby. But she couldn't. Her eyes wouldn't open. 

A sense of panic overcame her. The sky darkened with clouds and the waves before her became more violent. She felt the splash of droplets against her skin. Why couldn't she wake up? Her heart raced and she still struggled to breath. She looked over to Haru, who was looking back at her. Half of her face was missing, just like her corpse had been. 

"But we're here now!" Haru said, half of her face smiling. "Together." 

Terra's body was thrown forward into the water. She wanted to gasp in surprise but her head went under. The shore that she had just been sitting on was gone, and the water around her was dark and deep. She flailed her arms, trying to get a sense of which way was up and which way was down. She clawed at the water, pulling herself it the direction that she guessed was up. 

Her head broke the surface and she coughed up water, gasping and struggling to breath. The weight that had been crushing her chest seemed to be weighting her down. Her head bobbed below the surface but she fought fiercely go reach air again. She blinked through the water on her lashes and say Reiji standing above her, hole in his chests. 

"Stay with us Terra," he said with a sad smile. 

"What-" Terra started to ask what he had meant, but he put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back under. He was trying to drown her! She clawed at the hands, desperate to reach the surface. Other hands restrained her arms. She opened here eyes under the waves to see, Haru holding one and the boy who could engulf himself in fire on the other. They also smiled sadly. 

"Stay," Haru begged, her voice ripping through the water around them. 

Terra was almost out of air! Her lungs began to burn, screaming for oxygen. She kicked out and thrashed as hard as she could, desperate. She needed to breath! On instinct, her body desperately tried to inhale, sucking in nothing but water. She gagged and chocked, trying to cough the water up. More hands reached up and clawed at her, digging into her skin and pulling her even farther from the surface. The world around her was darkening, her body convulsed still trying to eject the water from her lungs. The burning was overwhelming and her head felt like it was going to explode. She didn't care if she died. She just wanted it to be over. 

Suddenly the water around her was gone and she was rolled onto her side so she could cough the water out of her lungs and gasped for air. Her eyes flew open but were too unfocused to see. She became vaguely aware that hands were still holding her arms and she struggled against them, though her body was too exhausted and lacked too much oxygen to fight. A strong set of arms wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her sides and hugging her at the same time. 

"Terra!" a familiar boy's voice called desperately. Someone took her hands, holding them tight but not painfully tight. One was warm and the other was cold. Panting heavily, but starting to get her breathing back under control. Her vision cleared and she was able to focus in on the face in front of her. One eye was a striking blue and the other was a sort of grey. They were both set with worry. Below the grey one, was a fresh bruise. 

"S- Shoto?" she panted in confusion. She looked down to see that he was holding her hands together. She wasn't sure if it was meant to be comforting or restraining. Looking down she saw that a strong arms were wrapped around her, holding her arms to her sides. It was Kacchan, she realized. He was holding her against him. His arms were badly scratched up and bleeding. The hands that Shoto was holding, her hands, were bloody. Had she done this to them? 

"Everyone out," Aizawa growled, looking more awake and concerned than she had ever seen him. Todoroki and Bakugo shifted, but Terra clung to them. 

"Stay," she pleaded, too terrified to be alone. 

"Fine," Aizawa huffed. "you three stay. Midoriya, Kirishima, you two talk with teachers outside about what you saw. Hand them this number tell them to get her here right away. I'd better not see anyone else from my class or they will be expelled." 

There were shuffling noises as people retreated, and Terra looked around at the destroyed room. Pillars of rock sprung up from the floor where she had tried to use her quirk. Things were broken and disheveled, but most concerning was the water. Terra had actually been drowning. She was soaked with salty water, and was surrounded by pools of what she had coughed up. She had bruises from being restrained, and claw marks from being dragged down. Both Todoroki and Bakugo had minor wounds. 

"What the hell happened here?" Aizawa demanded.