Panthera noire AU (TW: drowning, stabbing) (Kriptid: i put a read more for people who don’t want to read, hope that’s ok)
Your body can go a bit weird when it notices things in your lungs that are not meant to be there. Like water, or blood. See, when underwater there will come a point when the need for oxygen overcomes the knowledge that breathing will only bring water and then death. And so, you try to breath- and can not.
(You can drown without any water in your lungs. The muscles in your throat close and tighten and despite how much you claw at your throat nothing relaxes and you can’t breath and it hurts and it’s terrifying because while the water is scary right now your body is fighting against you and it just won’t stop and your vision starts to go dark too quickly and- you can drown without any water in your lungs, Juleka knows this.)
It is called Laryngospasm, or dry drowning, and is typically…well, not harmless but easily dealt with. She hates it. Juleka pushed the event aside for more reasons than one (dwelling on it too long, falling back into it, makes her throat feel tight). People can hurt Juleka, but it is a lot harder to fight when her own body betrays her. It is a lot harder when she can’t joke or laugh or bluster her way through things.
But looking down, a steel sword shining from her blood and the way her chest…hiccups before air starts to become scarce and her throat starts tightening again and she can’t breath and all she can fucking think is that she just wants it to stop. Juleka drowns again. But instead of being underwater in the cold with hands holding her down, she’s on stage under the weight of her family’s eyes and people’s cheers and a sword through her chest and she can’t breathe again (Ladybug looks so scared, and Juleka just wants to comfort her, wants to say it’s alright, she’s done this before, but the words just won’t come, all she can do is smile).
The lucky charm fixes it as if nothing ever happened- no blood on the ground, no sword through her chest, no torn costume, nothing. But Juleka’s throat still feels too tight, and her voice is tougher than normal, her hands are shaking, she is fine. She’s fine. This happens sometimes. She’ll deal with it. Rose is safe, Adam is fine, and no one really understands what happened. So, Juleka is okay (maybe if she says it enough times it’ll be true).
———Had a conversation about Laryngospasm with my cousin (she’s a nurse) and was just like…..Juleka copes through joking and laughing even while being hurt. Let’s take that away.
HOW DAMN THAT WAS GOOD! NICE JOB DUDE THAT WAS COOL!
